Yeah, and I did some I did some soaps. I got this recurring on a soap and cash my little checks, and I would just look at the stack of cash in my cupboard, you know, I put it up. I just opened the door and look at it, like, look.
At that, Look at that cash.
There must be a thousand dollars there.
You know.
It's just like right, so stupid, but so wonderful, you know. And just the fact that I kept going kind of always shocks me. I was so dumb, I didn't know to quit.
Hi.
I'm Garrett Dillant, and I was a little stoned for this entire interview.
Hi everybody, it's Brian Baumgartner here, the host of your absolute favorite podcast, I'm sure of it, Off the Beat.
Thank you for joining us today.
Is well from his own self introduction a second ago, you could probably already tell this is a fun one. You are in for a real treat with today's guest, Garrett Dilla Hunt. Now, I am not high, but we do have a lot of other stuff in common. We both started in the theater, we both knew Rain Wilson as a stage actor. We both guest starred on Criminal Minds, and we both appeared in a music video together where
we did a choreographed dance. This is all true, and honestly, all of it was pretty good, so you should go check it out. Garrett does, however, have a number of other credits that well that I do not. He is in one of my all time favorite movies Academy Award winner No Country for Old Men, and one of my favorite television shows, dead Wood, not to mention the fact that he was in Fear of the Walking Dead dead to me, Dawn of the Dead, The Dead Don't Hurt.
Yes, we're sending a theme here, Okay, Well, here we go.
There are some not dead titles to Raising Hope, The Mindy Project, Hand of God, and a brand new series called Ghosts of Beirut, which I am very excited about. Now, Garrett is going to regale us with tales from his college days in Seattle, his theater days in New York, and his current days in Hollywood. Sit back and enjoy this conversation with the fantastic Garrett Dilla Hunt.
Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeakano, Bubble and Squeak. I could get every mon lift over from the ninety four.
What's up, carrot? Hey man, how are you? I'm good.
It's been a long long time.
It's been a long time. Now do you remember the last time we saw each other?
Was it that music video?
Oh?
The music video? Okay, no, I don't think so. Actually, so this came to me. I think you were in it. If you weren't in it, disregard, but hand of God. Yeah I was in Hand of God.
Of course you were.
Yeah, that's right, but well, thank you. That's really what I was.
We didn't have any scenes together.
Well now, wait a second, so maybe now, maybe you weren't in it. And if you weren't, then that because I was trying to think, I was like, we had to have been together at some point, but I was all with Ron. But then there was a weird sex dream. Were you in the sex dream? And it was God,
you weren't in the set? You weren't in the sex dream? Well, because I was so distracted, because it was one of these things where I was, this is going off the rails already, But because I was like, and I tried to search to find out if you were there, because I was it was in the show with Ron the
whole time. Except this one weird sex dream and I was meeting everyone else kind of for the first time, and it was like in between Dana Delaney's legs and it was me and not Ron, and we were and I was just trying to stay very focused.
Its good? Was it always that way? Why is it always the first day?
Nice to you, Hi, Dana? How are you?
It's so this is I apologize for what's about to happen here for the next four hours.
I apologize that was not me.
I would definitely remember.
That you weren't in it, Okay, well that was the thing is it was a screaming rewatch. No, I know, we hand of God everyone Ron Perlman, Yes, I loved that show. It was it was it was gone too soon as far as I'm concerned.
You fit right in. I I remember because I saw the episodes. We didn't have any scenes.
I think we had no No, we had together all right, Well here you go failed. Yes, there was a music video though. That was that was Ingrid Michaelson.
Ingrid Michaelson. Who's so talented, isn't.
She so talented?
And what's funny actually is that I ended up in bed in a weird pajama silk thing in that too.
With with the.
On something here, pedal pedals all over me.
That's another one. Ingrid Michael music video good to see You again. I in going back and doing a little dive into you. I didn't realize how many similarities we have. We'll talk about that in a minute. But you grew up in Washington, I know, born in California. What were your earliest influences? What were you watching as a kid. What were some of your your favorite shows?
I really loved Alias Smith and Jones.
Okay, that one.
It was a Western with Hannibal Hayes and Kid Curry, the two most successful outlaws the West has ever known. Out of all the trains and banks they robbed, they never shot anyone. I know, right.
I love that.
I loved like six Million Dollar Man and Incredible Hulk, Bill Dixby and Luke Can the Wolf Boy. Do you remember any of these?
I don't, none of you.
Yeah, this is these are unexpected hits like yeah.
Well now rewart taste, I think, Yeah, when did.
You When did you first begin thinking about yourself as a as a performer or an actor? I mean, I know you went to UWU studied journalism. Were you interested in the arts prior?
Well, you know, like a lot of us, pretty shy, you know, particularly in those days, you know, really shy. And I never never would have thought i'd be an actor. I couldn't conceive of getting up in front of people and doing anything. But I wanted to be a writer, you know, so that was artistic. And I like to draw, but my pursuits were more solitary, I think, originally interesting, but yeah, and I didn't This is always the weird
part of these interviews. When I was a senior in high school, my older brother was killed in a drunk driving accident, which totally threw me for a loop and sent me into college in a very you know, fucked up, you know, as you can imagine. And everybody has tragedy of one sort or another, but I was. I was really lost and drifting and I didn't know. I did journalism because that's what the plan was, because I was a star on the school newspaper in high school and thought, well,
this is what I'll do. And I really stumbled into an acting class. Basically it was a I thought I should write some plays, So what's that about? And everyone had said you should take an acting class so you know what you're writing for, and which was a terrifying prospect. But I just thought I'd take this one class and get out. And that was my last year of college at you dubbed there, and I just loved it. I just was like, oh, I'm sure it was therapeutic, you know,
I was. I could not I could be someone else, someone else tell me really smart things to say that I never could have thought of. You know, you have this idea about yourself it's sort of worthless or whatever. It was just I just I just dove in. I did. I was doing so many things at want because I just I just want to I just want to be somebody else. Then I just loved it. I finally found something I could do. I felt like, and uh and and give me a scape. But it established some habits.
I'm still kind of doing that. I still kind of go from one thing to another and maybe should be a little pick here, you know, but I don't know. So, yeah, that that was my first inklings.
Well that I mean that that one. That's surprising to me that it was, that it was so late. I mean, I certainly share with you and and it's it's even hard for my mom to understand that that that that attention isn't something that I want or ever really wanted that, you know, for me, it's when you begin to transform into that character or.
I don't know's I know you feel you feel cheesy talking about it, but it's true.
Yeah, but but for you for it to have happened so late is very surprising. Did you then begin taking other classes? I know eventually you landed in the mattress program at NYU. Was that immediately after school or how did that come about?
No?
I kind of got out of school and thought like, oh, now what and I just kind of acted around Seattle for a year and then and then I thought, you know, I was doing tons of plays whatever I could do, and sleeping and stairwells. He didn't care. You didn't care when you're young, you know what I mean? Yeah, I could sleep anyway, you know, But I just got I don't know what I'm doing. I need some training, And so me and a bunch of other people there were
these things called the leagues. Back then, it was a certain it was just a collection of schools like Yale and Juilliard and n Y U and a lot of others that kind of comprised this supposed superior actor training. But there was tons of schools across the country, and they held auditions in three places at that time. Now it's everywhere, or you can probably zoom it in, but you had to get to Chicago, New York, or San Francisco to audition, and there'd be a ton of schools there.
I was a security guard at a bank, like the night shift at a bank, which would keep me free to audition or do stuff.
During the day.
And that's where I honed all my monologues from my audition, powder blue security guard uniform in an empty conference room, right, practicing as a monologue. What a dork, but what what flun Anyway, carpooled some tiny dots in with a bunch of friends of mine who were also auditioning down to
San Francisco and slept in somebody's hallway. And I didn't have any money for the application fees, which seemed exorbitant at the time, you know, seventy five bucks or something just to apply, you know, and it was you know, it limited your choices. So I just had to crash. I just had to crash. Everybody. I just went up to the desk and this is my name. I don't have the money for the fee. Do you have an empty slot? You know? And a lot of them let you in. You know. Julliard did not Yale.
Yeah, you know.
I wasn't playing by the rules, you know, So I understand. But YU did and act and UC San Diego. There's a place called the Denver Center, real good places. And Rain Wilson had left UDUB just before I did to go to n YU, so that was maybe in my brain a little bit too. He was a kind of wonder kind at the undergrad program there got all the juicy parts.
Did you know him?
And then you know him? I knew him a little bit. I mean I knew from around we were. My roommate was another great guy named Matt Ross, who was mainly directing now he does. But those two were great and got cast and everything, and I was, like I said, just starting. So I'd see them at callbacks and stuff and think, well, they're going to get it. Or I would always say something stupid or do something really naive
and stupid. So I felt like he liked to me very much, just like, oh god, you know, but yeah, he's a he's a good dude, good friend.
Well, by the way, you always expect that he's he's not gonna like you very much. I mean that is sort of par for the course, even after Yeah, it's just his face, his smug face, the.
Asshole solving the world's problems. Yeah, exactly, smart.
Bad about myself.
Let's start a boozeline, you and me. But anyway, Yeah, so then I chose en by You just because I'd never I got into NYU and a couple others, and I'd never been east of Montana. That was my logic. I wanted to see the east. I went to NYU, and thank god I did.
What did that experience give you?
I think it was just a safe place to land. You know, I'd gone from my small town to Seattle and the size of that city was mind boggling to me, and it seemed so confusing. And then it went from there to New York, which you know, I was I was like John Voyden midnight cowboy there. I just was so out of place and like dressed like an alien found you know, human clothing from nineteen seventy nine. It
was just it was, you know, amazing. You know when there was a group of people waiting for me that would helped me out, and it was a good experience for me. I think being very inexperienced helped, you know what I mean. I wasn't coming in with any real barriers at the breakthrough or anything like that. But I don't think it's for everybody, conservatory training, but it was good for me.
Were you focused at that time on the business at all or for you was it just about Was it about learning the craft?
Yeah?
I wasn't really aware of the business that much.
Mhm.
Unfortunately, you know, I wish I was. I wish, But to this day, I'm not great at it, you know what I mean. But I'm also not afraid of it, you know, which I think was the more important factor of that, you know, because it's it's a part of it. If you're not if you're not going to play a little bit, then you're just wasting your time. You're just going to be sad, you know, right. So I was, I was not. It took a while. I just I just was going to do plays and that that that that's all I need.
So that's that's sort of our first similarity. I mean, I started and for you know, seven years out of out of college, for me, I was I was a theater actor, and that's where I thought my life was. That's that was all I saw and really wanted to be. I know, you, it's a great life.
If you could get just a little better pay, be a great life.
Right.
What is it for you about live performance? What do you like about you say it's a great life.
It is. I mean, I haven't done it play in a while, It's been maybe six years or so, neither. But I feel very fortunate in the things I've gotten to do on film and TV, Brian. I feel like an actor, you know, I feel challenged, you know most of the time, you know, and that's I am aware that that's that's a huge stroke of luck. And I feel very fortunate to get to play interesting characters because a lot, you know, I have a lot of very talented friends that get stuck playing one thing or repeating
that thing over and over or whatever. I think to theater trained people, that's we always knew, that's what it was. We're going to play a bunch of people. And that was the interesting part to stand in all these different shoes and learn and culture and grow your empathy. So I don't want to sound I say all that to say like I don't. I don't want to come across as like I'm I fancy myself as some amazing theater guy.
You know, I.
It's a mistress. I haven't visited in a while, and it's I feel guilty about it, but I sure loved it. When I was exclusively doing that, it gave me. It gave me everything I'm doing now right, And I think I loved I loved I loved the work. I love. I love having time to really get in there with a bunch of like minded folks and and spend some weeks figuring out exactly what's going on here, and then how to tell it the best. I think I really love that process. And then and then that the fact
that every night is different. You know that the audience is an actual factor in the way this is gonna gonna work tonight. You know what I mean? It's different every every night, just a little bit can knot get way off course or to a whole new exciting place that you didn't expect.
Isn't that interesting? Because You're You're exactly right, every night is different. Yet on the face of it, you're doing the same thing everything right, and yes, and now you're exploring a character or a story.
For as short as a week to you know.
Three or four months on a film or you know, years and years. But still every day you're doing something, you're doing something different. But you're right, it is about the immediacy and the feedback that you're getting from a particular audience at a particular time.
I mean, yeah, it's certainly an important part in the equation anyway. I know if it's the biggest, but it's big. It's great to be in places where there's just moments of inspiration, isn't it? You know what I mean? When when everybody's present, it's miraculous that anything gets made with all those egos in one room or so many people and entities to satisfy, and you still come up, you come up with the show. You're like, hey, we did it, we did it. It's miraculous.
It is.
When you began transitioning to film and television, was this an abrupt shift? I heard or you have have been quoted as saying that you did theater until you got hungry, literally hungry. And that's when I was scared it auditioning for film and television?
Now, is that true?
Kind of you know? It was. I remember the day I lived in this great little apartment on seventy first in Columbus. I mean, the walls built to the side of the bathtub comprised one you know, it was like three hundred square foot place. I mean, but I loved it so much. It was so cheap, and it allowed me to travel around the country and do theater whatever else. You know, I didn't have to find a sub letter necessary, right,
but I was. I was hungry that day, and I was like, the cupboard was kind of bear and I was like, you know, I'm going to make for dinner tonight. And I was and I went outside, like where am I going to get some dinner? And I passed a classmate of mine, someone who graduated sometime after I did, and he was just like, man, dude, I saw you the bentioned doing the New York Times. That was such a great review or what you know, whatever thing I
had been doing, right, like, you're doing so good. You're working NonStop, and and in my head I was thinking, I'm doing good, Oh my god, you know what I mean, I'm like, oh my god, he's I don't know where dinner's coming from, and you know what I mean, And it just it skewed me a little bit. And I just was like, I deserve I deserve to be paid something, a livable wage, you know what I mean. I'm not here and cancer, but you know I'm working hard for you, and I don't know. It just made me wish i'd
branched out earlier before. There's no reason I couldn't if no one was saying not to. I just didn't know how to do it or what I was doing. Yeah, and I did some I did some soaps. I got this recurring on a soap and cash my little checks and I would just look at the stack of cash in my cupboard, you know, I put it up. I just opened the door and look at it, like, look at that, Look at that cash. There must be a thousand dollars.
You know.
It's just like right, so stupid, but so wonderful, you know. And just the fact that I kept going kind of always shocks me. I was so dumb. I didn't know to quit. But I really enjoyed being on a set. And then Deadwood made me have fun.
Yeah, I want to talk about dead.
What I first want to ask you just and this is this is just for my own personal edification. I feel like character based procedural show NYPD. Early in your career, you were cast on NYPD Blue, And just want to ask you, was this a show that you were a fan of yourself, and just a little bit about your experience on that show because it was so early for you.
Yeah.
I think I got my SAG card on that or that or that was the one job I did where you didn't have to join yet, you know. That was my first one, not too far out of school, So the early nineties. I guess I don't remember a ton about the experience. I remember because Jimmy Smith's was in it at that time, and I think Dennis Franz was still.
There, right, yeah, yeah, he would have been, yeah.
Because I think he was there in this conversation. But I remember Jimmy Smith's, you know, I was just I just marveled at how much work they were doing, you know, I just had my little scene to do. It was this I think some art dealer who was fencing some stolen paintings, and I remember his name was Bryce Cooper Smith and I had a horrible vest but it was diferent times Brian judgment when you dig that up. But
I just remember him. He's doing this scene, He's learning the next episode while we're doing that, like he was, he was his head was spinning, you know, And I think that was his actual problem with Milch, was that he didn't get the material in time. So it was always just breakneck speed. But it was daunting to me, but also kind of I wanted. I wanted to feel that challenge.
In two thousand and four, you just mentioned it one of my favorite series of all time. Dead would your role I want to talk about Francis Walcott just terrifying. But you did play a different character in season one? So was this just they They just wanted you back, and they decided that they didn't care that you had appeared as a different character in season one?
You know?
David Rutt writes about that in his book, I wish I could. I wish I'd thought to queue that up. Well, but uh yeah, I don't. I don't know why he did unless they're I don't know. I'll talk as if it was me in that moment, because I was sad to leave. I really was enjoying myself on that show. It still to this day the kind of experience on set that I try to replicate, and apparently a lot of my former cast mates do the same thing, which is stupid. We're just trying to make everything dead with
you know. They because because David comes out before we shoot anything, comes out of the writer's room and he sort of sets the scene in the most poetic, beautiful manner you've ever heard, and it was so motivating to us all because he just he just reminded us that this was sort of a spiritual experience and I didn't expect to get so kind of cheesy an actory today.
It's really not how I usually do things, but it's like it was wonderful, you know, and it was I don't think I've ever worked with someone who was so who was so good at sort of incorporating everyone else around them, if if that makes sense. He because he's
written this incredible stuff that's in n Iambic Pentamin. It's blank verse a lot of the time, you know, and you wouldn't think that someone that could write this brilliantly would be open to it, but it's it's what informed everything and he would see you do something, he'd be like, oh, yeah, yeah, now this time say this, like, if you're going to do that, which I liked, let's add this dialogue to it, which would then inspire you know, Joe behind the camera
to change the shot, well, if he's going to do that. It was just this whirlwind of creativity where everybody was completely involved, and we'd go when we weren't working, just to watch. I haven't experienced that before or since.
Yeah.
Did you feel like the fact that it was set as a western well affected the work for you? I mean, I've heard tell that the practical the practical environment was very difficult for all of you, but it feels like it was so rife with creativity that that just became an obstacle to overcome.
But it was still exciting to be there. Is that Is that accurate? I think?
I mean we were at the Melody Ranch in New Hall, which isn't far from la and it's a set, but it's built real intelligently, you know, because you're in your trailer, you get on your costume, and Jennie Bryant was the costume designer and she does have to work for you anyway, like you put on I put on a wall cotton at a completely different posture. You know, I didn't think right.
But then you walk around a corner and you can't see anything but a western town with some incredibly dedicated background performers who've invented whole life stories for themselves, and you know, giving up semesters of law school to be there for the season.
It was.
It was crazy. We had like Deadwood Checke's you know, from day one, and they gave us so much atmosphere in life, so it was really easy to click into the world, I think, and and the fact that it was so elevated it really pushed us to be on our game. It's have you Have you had the good fortune to shoot on film? Like anything, you must say yes.
But it's been a long time.
It's been a while. I've had a few experiences with it and it's I really miss it, and I miss it because of what it does to It does to everybody that I mean, you walk on, it's a completely different atmosphere because everybody's primed, everybody's ready. We have to be ready, you know, because this is going to roll and it's going to cost a lot of money. There's no stopping and backing up and going oh my bad, whoops, this is back up and we'll do this, you know,
like we've gotten used to digitally. It's made us a little lazy. But that was the atmosphere every day on Deadwook, you know, and everybody really wanted to not be the weak link and to support support everybody else. And I don't know, it was it was a good time.
That's so I haven't thought about that in so long though.
Shooting on film immediately ups the ante and the meetings for you're exactly right, because there's no farting around because you were literally just costing money.
If you're far around, you know your stuff. Yeah, are you ready to shoot this? You know they've rehearsed it to death. You know, the stunts are like, you know, queue it up. It was amazing on Looper. Looper shot on film, and I'm nervous anyway every time I for some reason, I can own a television set just fine, and then I get on a movie set and I'm just like, oh, never been here before. But I'm with Emily and you know, Joseph Gordon Levitt and I have a gun. On Joseph and it's this big scene and
I'm immediately thinking, like, where's everyone so tense? You know, it's it's because it's on film, You're like everyone's it's like we're about to start a play, you know, like time to go, and it's time to be one hundred percent. And I and I went up. I went completely up, and I'm looking at down my gun, at Joseph, and Joseph's acting and then I can see him realize I've gone up, you know what I mean, So then he's trying to help. It was so awful then just caught.
Immediately Ryan comes out, you know, like you know, we're good, and it was so humiliating, but the boy you felt alive, you know what I mean, You're it's exactly right. You've got to I don't know.
Yeah, what do you think the legacy of dead Wood is?
I don't know. I really want to to read David's book. It's called Life's Work. I think you'll find it really inspiring. I don't know. I mean, it was a golden era of television, wasn't it. I mean the Wire and Sopranos, and I don't know if I know what the legacy of it would be, you know, but it sure as a benchmark in my career, and I guess I'm glad
it came so early. You know, it's something that you wanted to feel again, it was there was beauty in something that's so articulate, and the audience was not condescended to you know, and we could they could handle the language, and you could tell a story that just moving man's making order out of chaos located in the town of Deadwood.
It's beautiful, beautiful.
I mean the office must have been kind of that way, right. I mean, I've never been on the show that's gone that long, that maintained excellence for so long. I mean that last day must have been insane for you guys.
Yes it was. I mean that was ten years.
That's you know, as I I mean, it's so stupid to say this, but to me, it does kind of put it into perspective. It's like high school and college and then a couple more years, like just in terms of just the length of time, and also.
I mean that's the start of my entire career.
Right and also just as you how you grow as a person for your life and changes and all of that. Yeah, No, absolutely is it.
Hard to move on from something like that, like it, I've never experienced it, so I'm genuinely curious and like, I struggle when I have a good experience on one thing, and how will I ever equal that? And what was the biggest hurdle for you?
I'm sure Deadwood was was similar? Well, I think that, you.
Know, the last oh, let's call it five years, right, so kind of from after the writers strike of two thousand and seven eight, which was kind of in the middle early middle of our run. You know, we were doing essentially thirty episodes a year, so there was you know, when it was over, it was like trying to re enter what other life?
What other life is?
Just the rhythm of life became so different and obviously, you know, in a lot of ways, not for the better because you're like, oh wait, what what how am.
I filling my time now?
But yeah, no, just the relationships that we had in the amount of time that we spent together.
I mean it's like such a cliche, but.
That you know, spending way more time with these people than your family.
For ten years.
Yes, yeah, you're a company, Yeah, you know, you know, every little nuance. I mean, it's why it's such a rich experience watching it.
Well, and I think Deadwood is very much the same, which I'm sure is partly in your brain why you're bringing it up. You're all sort of immersed in that world which is so specific, with such rich characters and interactions that because it takes place just like the Office is a controlled environment, is you know, essentially with all within this small town and the potential for you to have interactions with multiple people just by walking in one
storefront or whatever. Right, Yeah, yeah, Mindy Kaling, Yeah, I mean the Mindy Project.
Oh my god, what a force of nature that woman is. Huh, what a fortunate I mean, did you have I have no idea what it must have been like on the office, and I'm so jealous of that experience, But did you have any inkling of what was laying and weight laying in wait inside that mind? You know?
I think it was all there.
I mean, look, you saw she was a baby, she wrote, she wrote, I mean what she was? Was she twenty five? I don't I mean she wrote the first Dundee's episode that we did, like the beginning, and I don't know she wasn't old.
Let me just I'll spoiler alert.
She was. She was a wonder kid from the jump.
Yes, she was just Yes, and she I mean she ended up over the seven eight years writing some of the best episodes. I mean, I mean the Dundees, the injury aka Michael burns his foot on a George Foreman grill, that was hers, you know it.
Uh, she's amazing.
Yes, she's a lot of respect for her. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like I'm not a lazy person, but oh my god, when I'm around her, I feel like I'm standing still, I'm earth bound. And you know, she's just a whirlwind of creativity. It's it's amazing, It is amazing. I love her. If you're listening, I love you, and I wish she returned my calls quicker.
Oh yeah, well there's that.
I have to ask one more question about that, because you you brought it up. It's it's funny because when I was thinking about Francis Walcott, I was thinking about your posture and physicality. How important for you is physicality when you're when you're working on a role or when you create a role. How important is physicality for you?
Well, it's I'm trying to think now, if it's most of the time. It's kind of the way infamy, and it might be I didn't think it was, but I'm thinking. I keep thinking, like do I well, I guess that one. I kind of did that. Even on Deadwood, I wanted to be shorter as Jack McCall than Keith was. Keith Caring is about my height, so I was always slouching down with that. And then I don't know if you put these limits on yourself. I'm sure you do. We all do. But I for the longest time thought no
one was going to buy me in a suit. I don't know why, but I was, no one's gonna buy it. I'm you know, I'm from a trucker's family and I work in the orchards, and I kind of I don't own a suit. You know, no one's gonna buy it. It's just the dumbest thing. And then Jennie Bryant puts me in a two sides it's too small, you know, duster for Wolcott, and I'm just suddenly like I'm I'm tall and upright. And it was such a big help, you know. It's such a big help. And I think
sometimes opens the door to everything. Do you feel the same way, is that where you're staying totally.
For me, shoes are very important. Yeah, and it makes me feel bad when I'm doing something.
Like very small.
I don't know, I don't even know how to say that, but like where I'm like, dude, nobody cares about your shoes.
You know what I mean. When I'm like talking.
Having caught a conversation with with the with the with the wardrobe person on the show I was just working on, I was like, man, I don't want to be that guy, but it is for me, it is it is important, it is important.
It is Yeah. I'm kind of glad to hear you say that because I only recently have I been able to like swap out into more comfy shoes if I'm off camera. But for the longest time, I'm just like I have to I don't.
Have to have run I know. I know me too.
Don't get me wrong. I will go through on some flip flops these days, I mean occasionally off camera.
Only well they didn't they things changed with those feet.
Yes they do. I bring this.
Very small blip on my IMDb page and you have it as well. To me, the hardest job I have ever had was on Criminal Minds. Yes, and I saw you. Yeah, because it's a show that's run that ran for one hundred years, right and by the way, I mean no disrespect for all the regulars that are there, but in my mind, the lead of every episode is the guest star.
And so you are walking in to a show that is that pre exit that it pre exists, and everybody knows everybody, and they've been working together for twenty seven years and now.
Here here's some pressure and here's.
Yeah, you're now the lead this week.
I found it just like mind just it was just a mind bend for me.
Did you have that too? Ye?
No, you don't care, No, no, not at all.
I had.
I was having a completely different experience though, because I mean I needed a paycheck at the time, you know, Okay, And so I walk I walk in there like we're gonna give you two episodes, and I'm just playing a guy laying in a bed like I never leave the bed. He's completely paralyzed. You know, there's a breathing machine for him. But he's the mastermind manipulating is you know, less less intelligent brother to do these horrible crimes like okay, all right,
No one will see this. I'm embarrassed maybe or I think I should be, but I'm I'm like, I just want to work, you know, I need to work. I love to work and work off. And I showed up in one of the regulars. Like she just was simultaneously so you know, flattering and also just humiliating because she she just went crazy. She was this massive fan. I didn't know, you know, she just was like, why are you doing this show? Why are you here?
What are you doing?
Oh my god?
Like so I was.
I was simultaneously like super flattered and like really embarrassed, like because I'm like, I just need to need a paycheck, man, what do you mean? Why am I?
Oh that's so funny, that's so good.
And then I think I'm in and out and you know, no one will know or something. But that's everyone. Everyone watches that show. Like everyone you've experienced that, like ten years at the office. But like, oh, I loved you on Criminal Minds all the time. Well no, but no, thank god.
I get it all the time, man. I mean I don't know what channel it's on, but it's still playing. Yeah, because I get it. I get it a couple of times a month. It is always surprising to me. Yeah, well, your job was much easier. I found it. I found it so difficult, and I love it, and I'm always so when someone comes up and mentions it, I'm I, oh, you know, it does make me feel good because I was very self conscious for a long time about it.
It's just like, I think I was terrible.
How often does that happen to you too? Is that happened? Snakrd A bit like when I think I did my worst. Other people think that was the best thing I've ever seen you do, or you see it and you're like, oh, that was actually pretty good.
I have no taste.
You're in one of my favorite television shows of all time and also, no joke, my favorite movies.
Of all time with the Coen Brothers.
Talk to me a little bit about that, and also just the huge success obviously at the Academy Awards No Country for Old Men.
Your experience working on that and how it came about.
It's amazing how long ago that was, and I think it was after it was after Jesse James and I only bring it up because Roger Deacon shot both of those movies. Okay, I went from one to the other and I got to be there with him for two movie experiences. So that was fantastic that I was company with the DP already, but it took a while to get that gig. I was a big fan of Cormack McCarthy's stuff. I found him in college and just ate him up, like a lot of dudes did, I think.
But he was just an amazing writer, and I vowed I'd be in every Cormtt McCarthy movie ever made. I failed, but I got an auditioned for that one for Llewellyn Llewellyn Moss, who eventually was played by Josh Brolin, but Josh wasn't the original choice. I think this is I'm not breaking some story here, you know. I think Josh talks about it. But I think they went to Heath Ledger first and I had auditioned for him. Heath said no. Then they had another round of auditions. I auditioned again
for Lluellen Moss. I think they went to Joaquin Phoenix at some point, and so there's a story out there that it was more times than it was, but I think I think three times I auditioned for the boys for llewell and Moss and I kind of always imagined that character being kind of longer and lankier and coyote ish. But look, at some point, you know, you got to have someone more famous if we want to get this movie made. And and also I think Josh was so
fucking perfect in it. He was just great. I thought he was a worthy adversary for Sugar. But I think they liked me enough to at least see me those times. I really liked them, even though I was really nervous every time I went to their offices. And then they had how about this guy? Would you read this guy? And auditioned again for a different part. I guess it's just an audition story that I took ten minutes to tell. Yeah, I auditioned.
No, but that's no. But that's interesting. Yeah.
And you know, I've gotten a lot of jobs like that, like we want you in this somewhere, we don't know where, but we'll be it and not I think back on it, those are some of my best experiences. So I got I got Wendell, and then we went to New Mexico and shot the thing and it was just a lot of fun. I can't tell you who does what still? When the two are working with you. They were always together, at least when they dealt with me, and they'd walk up sort of kick rocks a little bit and like, well,
what'd you think of that? I was like, I don't know. That was pretty good, Like, yeah, that's pretty good. Do you want to go again?
Yeah?
Okay, all right, let's go good. And then they'd walk off. Then we go again. And sometimes I'm in scenes with Tommy and he's also a director, so he'd be help him. Like once off camera he goes like this, I'm on horseback, and so I knew my feet were out too far. He wanted me to put my toes in. I kind of had three directors there, but I didn't care. I liked him. Well, Tommy is the handful. I'm glad he liked me.
That's awesome. Yeah.
I watched it again recently on a plane. I apologized to the Colen brothers in advance for watching it on a plane. I feel like they're just and Roger because every every shot is framed so well, but the movie holds up incredibly, incredibly well, not edited strangely. On this plane, I'm glad there wasn't a child sitting next to me. So in twenty ten you start raising hope. How was it for you working on a comedy on television? I mean, how was that did you? Were you nervous about that?
Did you just consider it another job?
Well? I wanted to do a comedy. Actually, my first jobs were all comedies I did. At the same time I was doing Deadwood, I was doing a minute with Stan Hooper, which was this half hour with Norm McDonald's Yes, okay, I loved it. And the pilots I got when I first decided to do pilot seasons, and I got like three pilots my first time ever out, and I just thought, why what have I been waiting for it? Look, this will fund the entire year of theater for me if
I do. So, I didn't feel like anything new to me, you know, I think I might have lost track about how many you know, awful people I've been playing or scary people or whatever, just dramas. And so I said, I think we just finished Last House on the Left, and I was like, can we do some comedy please, you know, let's find a comedy. And you know, it took some hoop jumping, because by that point you're the drama guy. Or the murdering drama, and I thought I
didn't I didn't understand that. So I was like, oh, oh sure, I'm happy to audition, of course. And Martha was already cast. Martha Plimpton and Lucas Neff were already cast, and I went and read with them, and yeah, I think it's actually the most like me of any part I played.
Really.
Yeah, I'm kind of I'm not the brightest bulb, and I'm just I'm goofy. I like to I love I love that stuff. I love a goofy childhood. So it is.
Chloris Leachman.
As you mentioned, Lucas Neth, Martha Plumpton, you got a nomination for Critics' Choice Awards.
That's right.
The story I mean, having having your son adopt the you know, or you take over as the father of a serial killer mom who's been put to death. I mean, this is this sounds like dark stuff on the surface, but incredibly funny. I find it so interesting that you think that that character is is most like you.
Yeah.
It was just very comfortable. And Greg had had a hard time talking to David Milch. You know, we both were too sort of awkward socially awkward people, and so the conversation was awful, you know, but I loved him, you know, and I wanted him to know. And Greg was different. We just Greg Garcia, I know, you know who that is, And yeah, he's a We just had the same sense of humor and we just would riff
on ideas with each other all day. I just loved working with him, and I wanted to do well for him, you know what I mean?
Right?
And Martha's a fucking gift from God. You know, She's like a food source in a scene with you, I loved it.
You.
You also, around this time, right after this, you join a long running historic franchise, Fear of the Walking Dead.
Did you get scared on set? Or do you just the zombies come on?
You know, I mean we're seeing how the sausage is made, you know what I mean, we see him smoking and on their cell phones, you know, between takes. It's you know, it's not it's not super scary for us, but we want to make it scary obviously.
Yeah, did you enjoy that world, the zombie world, because this is the departure for you as well.
Yeah, I got a I got a whole bunch of boxes and comic books in there. And you know, I've always loved sci fi. I love sci fi and Westerns. I just think he can tell any story without offending anyone. You know, you can locate any theme and those genres. So I was a fan of the walking Toed comic books, you know, and.
You were you were a comic book.
Okay, Yeah, They're like storyboards, aren't they. And they taught me a lot about about framing and you know, expressiveness physically, you know, because just it's always at the most heightened moment of every scene they draw in those boxes. But but yeah, and then there was a moment I was talking about with Scott Gimble about being Meagan on the on the on the shows. He was looking at several people,
I think, yeah, and it couldn't work it out. And it was during the Hand of God and Hand of God came back and Jeffrey Dean Morgan ended up playing that part as he probably always would have. But that started a relationship with me and Scott. And so when then they were kind of rebooting Fear in the fourth season, they brought in a bunch of new people and and he had a role for me. This sort of gunslinging, click draw artist cowboys.
So it's still a cowboy.
It doesn't matter what the genre is, it's still it's still a cowboy.
I'm gonna I'm from I'm from Washington State, you know what I mean. It's not like.
Not Texas, No Ghosts of Bear Root. I'm very excited. I'm very excited about this show. Have you seen it yet? It's about it's coming out folks here in the second May nineteenth.
May nineteenth streaming. I think yeah, twenty first on air.
The story is so interesting.
Talk to me about playing a real person and how many of the people who who knew him were.
You able to communicate with or did you not want.
To do that? Yeah, that's that's funny that you ask about that. Have you played have you had to play characters that are biographical? You've done biographical kind of work.
I have done biographical but old Yeah, nobody would be around.
Yes, I mean, my guy's not around either, but certainly people who knew him were. But I think it's it's really daunting, especially at least at least the way I work and the way I get jobs. I don't have generally months in advance to prepare yes, And I rely a lot on sort of on set inspiration anyway, you know,
I'm open to that. But when I play someone and it seems like there's been a ton of them all of a sudden, you know, I feel a real onus to represent them well for the sake of the people that are that are living and knew them, and especially
the ones that talk to me. You know. I did talk to one person who knew him, and it's you know, it's been a long time for her since she saw him, but she remembers those days and I really enjoyed talking to her, getting to know her a little bit, and then she helped me get to know this guy who I do not look like. You know, I don't know what he sounded like. You know, he was a spy.
There's there's no tape on him, you know, other than other than a horrifying tape at the end, you know, So I don't know what he sounded like for sure. I don't know what his rhythms were, and I'm relying on the script, so a lot of it feels out of my hands. I don't know if that's how it felt for you, But I'm just like I'm doing this with a full heart. I don't I'm not trying to insult your guy, but you know, this is this is
what it feels like to me. If this is a situation and you tell me this is what he's like. I think it was something like this, and that detective work is fun, but I'd rather, I think, play someone that I can create from the boots up.
Yeah, but that's very interesting. I didn't think about that when I was reading about this project. The fact that he was a spy. It was in the CIA, so there is yeah, there isn't that. There isn't a whole ton of knowledge. I mean that was his job was to stay private.
You didn't have a family, didn't have children, you know, so we're relying on co workers. Oh, he was always dressed well, he was special Forces, he was he was kind of a hammer. He's a blunt instrument. But it's fun. In fact, Chlorus Leachman said that to me once. I asked her, how are you still so excited about this? Because she had stories, man, she had amazing stories, And
she said, I just I just love it. I feel like a detective come on a set and you go, oh, that's who she is, and you pick up a little piece and then another piece. She's ninety, you know, and she's still excited about it. And I'm struggling with being jaded.
You know.
It's like it was so inspiring because that is fun. It is fun to figure it out, isn't it?
It is fun?
I don't know.
Yeah.
And by the way, she doesn't get any if you're if you're needing a pick me up at any time, just get yourself a dose of Chlorus Leachman.
There's no there's no question about that. Well.
You also have, by the way, uh, golfing buddy of mine, Michael Panya and you a million miles away about the first Latino in space.
When is that coming out?
You know, I'm not sure when it's coming out.
But okay, thanks for the specific, specific answer. I appreciate that.
I don't think they know.
Okay, well, there you go.
We just did the A dr for it, so I know they're in their final stages, you know, and are very excited about it. It's a great director, and I like Michael a lot. I'm jealous at your is golfing buddy that must that is a funny round of golf man, is a that is a lot of laughing.
It's always it's always fun.
I well, congratulations and good luck when that comes out. But uh, Ghost of be Rout. Guys, this is a four part story. Talk to me a little bit about I'm sorry, is it immod.
It's a it's a hard name to say, and I'm glad I never had to say.
Okay, yeah, it's well, it's about.
It's kind of the no country for old men in terms of.
Terrorists in the CIA.
Yeah, yeah, you know, it's about this decade long search for the in mad Moutinier, the ghost. He had all these nicknames, but he was just bedeviling the CIA and Mosad with these hits, and he kind of reinvented terrorism. It was something we'd never seen before, the suicide bombers, you know, driving truckloads of bombs. I mean, I was I was a kid in the early eighties. I mean I was in high school in the early ladies, and
I remember these stories like another day. It just seemed there was this new kind of chaos, there was a new fear, you know, that we're still dealing with today. And Greg Barker, who's much smarter than I am, who wrote this script, he's done this thing where it's it's almost like like there's real journalists interspersed in here giving interviews about what's going on and introducing it to characters, and it's it's I think it's pretty well done, and
it's and I know it's very tense. I haven't seen the whole thing, but it spans forty years almost the new terrorism.
Well, a political thriller. No Country for Old Men. Uh take.
That is the new law. That's you got me with that? No, I find it. I find it fascinating. Good luck with that and with everything else. You know, Look, I just admire your work so much, truly, and I'm half jealous of the dramas that you've gotten to work on.
So I mean, you could take that too. You can take that to the bank.
That's awful kind of It's it's so nice talking to you, man. This is a really fun conversation. I really appreciate being here.
Thank you, Thank you, Garrett Dilla Hunt. Go back watch his Criminal Minds episode.
We've got a lot.
We've got a lot here to go back and check out find his vest in NYPD Blue. Garrett, thank you so much, and I hope to see you soon a music video.
Sure you time Machine Ingrid Michael's and me and Brian in the.
Sheets time Machine, we sang, we dance. I have rose petals on me, Garrett, thank you so much.
I love it.
Well, it looks like I've got some homework to do.
I have.
I have to go rewatch the music video because that was that was a fun time, but long ago. I must find Garrett in that vest on NYPD Blue And we all need to start watching Ghosts of Beirut streaming now on Showtime. And you know, I think it might even be time to watch Deadwood again, because well that's a great show. Thank you Garrett for well for your incredible body of work, and also for taking the time to talk to me. Listeners, you have some homework too.
You need to go interact with our Instagram page, leave us a review, make sure you come back next week for another episode.
Oh and one more thing, this is very important, Okay, have a great week off.
The Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lead. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is Sammy Katz. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one Only creep Rid