Michael Beach Interview | 'I'll Be Right There' & 'The Perfect Couple' (2024)

and so me Michael Beach my connection with my wife um is is for me even more important in my connection to my kids uh and I have eight children and I'm I'm close to all my children but uh it's my wife it's my wife and I and your brother is in jail what why did it take all fre of you to come and get me that's what family does if they ever strap you to the electric chair we'll all be sitting right there in the front row when they sa Thank you Grandma that's very nice what's up man Michael my guy how you doing today good look at that shirt baby come on now what I appreciate you brother as always and once again I'm not J Chambers I'm from bigo belt media and we're back with another project cuz my man is always working and this time we're talking I I'll be right there coming to theater September 6 and September's already about to be a big month for you so let's just start there man I I I I I know that we've been watching you on our screens for years and years and years and you just continue to get better much like wine man you know with time it gets better uh for you man just just um because I know every time we talk we kind of talk on a spiritual level here so just when you talk about about what keeps you going to this point to day what do you what do you attest that to um happiness man I I really really like what I'm doing you know I mean I I enjoy uh you know outside of the business I'm not a business guy but as a as a uh as a Craftsman you know to be able the joy to be able to get to do what I do um for 40 years now and still enjoy it and love it and love the people love the stories and the characters and and it's just I just I'm just so fortunate dude so so so yeah I just I'm just enjoying the fact that I still get to do it I love that for you and big fan of yours and can and and want to just continue to see you working 40 more years and I don't know man the math don't math because you like 40 years I'm like my brother's only like 45 like what what you talking about I appreciate that man you know no doubt no doubt oh man so you know one thing I always say anytime I review any of your projects is like you take very intentional projects like you you yes you can do character work um but I think a lot of these characters and and roles that you take are always layer and now we're with Albert which in a story that has so much relatability for so many different folks Albert comes in as a character that I truly have the most questions about um first of all let's start off with this what does Albert represent in Wanda's life that's a good question I think I think he I think Wanda you know is um being you know right now she's questioning whether or not how she's mothering her you know adult kids you know and trust me I'm there myself and you know everybody says why are you doing this for them why are you doing that why you and and and because of Albert's history with his daughter he you know I think he is one of the stabilizing forces for her and able to say you know what that is this is what life is yeah this is the joy of life to be connected to our kids to our to our mothers or fathers or whatever and why is there supposed to be a time when that's supposed to go away and that's supposed to stop yeah you know what I mean and I think and and you know him one of the great lines is if my daughter called me right now yeah I would drop everything I'm doing I would leave you in a second and I would be right there powerful and that's that's the you know that's what she does and that that's what she's questioning and he's going no that's absolutely what you should be doing yeah you know what I mean and so I think that's what he you know he uh helps her you know comes come to grips with yeah I I said a lot of what I got from this um from this film is it's something I continue to practice in my day-to-day is about giving myself Grace but also about the folks around you and that that's what really in this film is that when I saw Albert and obviously I'm like oh there's my guy Michael working again but but but but I realize that and again as I said you you always take very intentional roles is that this character comes in with there's being so much complexities with so many other characters that he instantly comes in as a safe space for her um he doesn't really over insert himself in terms of what's going on in his life you know the quick mention of like yeah I hit the gym because you know I got recently through a divorce but he becomes a safe space for her somebody that you know kind of helps her navigate and it wasn't until the end of the film where some of these very important things about who he was started to come out but I think that was at a point now where we where we understood that like the two of them have a lot in common and there's a lot they probably can discuss that could help the two of them progress so I'm curious to go back to my initial question when you first saw Albert um and you kind of was lining yourself up about how you wanted to like really bring this character to life what were some of the things that really stuck out to you about him well I thought I the one thing I mean for me I love what I loved about it is I think that he you know he has a lingering crush on W I've s that a little right he's had it all these years you know even through even though he's been married as a kid he's been divorced and and and uh so he sees her again and I think uh I think it's really just about what was so simple because you know I mean okay I'm I'm so I'm in my 60s now right I've been through a bunch of stuff and this nobody believes you about the age by the way but go ahead well I appreciate it but it just now it's just I just reinforced the fact that what are the things that are important you know it's it's it's so it it I and I obviously hopefully I have another 30 years to go but I think the more and more the older and older you get and the closer and closer to the inevitable death that we that we move towards yeah uh you you it really starts to become more and more simple yeah you know that the people we love the connections the joy of get being able to making sure you wake up yeah and that you get to experience it again and so me Michael Beach my connection with my wife um is is for me even more important than my connection to my kids uh and I have eight children and I'm I'm close to all my children but uh it's my wife it's my wife and I and obviously raising our kids I'm not you know there's no competition but yeah um it's just more and more that the value of that above everything else you know I love acting I love what I do I love these characters and I don't I don't think I have to stop doing it in order to value my other stuff but that that is not valued over my family yeah you know and I think that's who Albert is you know and and he is he his thing is through loss yeah you know he he he has had to experience that because of L and so that's that's one of the things I think that um that helps wander see that wow I'd much rather be in the situation I'm in and doing the things that I'm doing than not you know then not have that opportunity you know yeah I I the the end of this film is so damn powerful man like the moment of like her making a statement about like people think I'm boring because I service my family and how you counteract that with how the sun has been waiting for you to come outside like man man man man yeah uh I gotta go back to the first interaction I sh I say your first introduction in the film and you know we gotta give a shout out to uh Jim who's the writer of this film and then Ed who's just a fantastic uh actor but listen man I I feel like since you know that moment you went viral I feel like now people are probably taking these little funny Jabs at you about we always got to talk about my man physique here so when he com like little Alber stick figure Alber you look like you're wearing body aror I bust out laughing were you aware that that was in the script was that improv like what was your thoughts about that well we actually to be honest with you we started we were talking about that and what I would what I would wear because I actually I put on a lot of weight yeah uh and not good weight for a job uh a little bit before that and I wasn't able to I didn't take it off you know so if you look at if you look at that film and you also look at uh even uh mayor of Kingstown I've got this uh Netflix movie uh TV series coming out called the the perfect couple it's called the perfect couple thank you I was I was kind of heavy I was a little chunky right not kind of I was for me and yeah make that disclaimer for you yeah for me I was I was pretty chunky and so it wasn't until actually it wasn't until we started the Tulsa King season two where I said okay I gotta I got to end this right now and I got to get back to who Michael Beach is and so I started I got it back into it and now I'm like really in a Groove and I I I mean I'm doing a bunch of stuff now and I'm feeling like uh the next year is going to be just this new discovery of me really seeing what I can do with a 60y old body 61 year old body um and so no that that I felt like I was out of shape for that and so we we had to change a couple of lines and they wanted me on a in a tightest shirt I was like no that's too tight look at my gut you know this and that so you know so we put on a which is weird because I'm I'm I'm never in a movie or Series where my body is relevant like you never you don't see me with my shirt off or in tank top or doing action films because it's actually not a part of my professional life right it's it's way way way a part of my personal life that almost never is used in in in the the jobs I'm doing yeah so so for that to happen you know like oh you look like you you ate a tank or whatever it was you know body armor is one of the very few times when when my body is even mentioned or used or whatever uh so that's funny that's that's pretty funny yeah maybe the first time maybe one of the few times in the movie but I don't know how how often you scour the internet but every other comment your picture pop up board I like well that's because of my Instagram you know uh there have been a couple of times over the 40 years where you know where I had a shirt off or I had a you know but it's very very very few however to be honest with you I'm thinking you know what throughout my 60s why not make that a thing now yeah you know what I mean inspiration my guy yeah yeah and that's part of my thing on my Instagram because I'm only I'm not on social media just Instagram yeah and part of my thing is really to encourage older people to take care of ourselves yeah and that it's not too late and that we can do things and we can achieve and whether or not you've been working out your whole life or or you haven't and you're just starting it it will make a huge difference in your life and it doesn't take a long time yeah you know from so from being kind of you know sanitary or seditary and unhealthy or whatever to to changing how your body starts to work that that can happen in a in a matter of a couple of months has Men's Health made the call yet I actually did Men's Health a couple of years ago okay yeah actually I do remember yeah they have a few a couple of pictures but again I don't have a whole bunch of pictures with my shirt off there's only like a few of them and most of them are from one particular time but I've been kind of you know taking care of myself most of my life and and uh and I think uh like my brother right now was not in good health my older brother and so I'm just trying to get him to walk and and one of the things I really love is that it doesn't you don't have to become like this big uh gym guy and do these amazing things it's the simple things that will improve our health and stay away from sugar and stuff like that um so that's kind of my personal thing that I'm really uh without trying to tell people what to just trying to maybe be an example of it you yeah normalizing it not making it like part of the brand or not making it like a staple like I'm this Fitness Guru like n it's very normal things that you can do yeah because I'm not trying to sell anything I don't I don't work for anybody I'm not selling like you know uh Fitness this or or preworkouts or I because I don't do any of that stuff it's just literally about I I I tell you what I know I feel much better and much healthier when my physical being is stronger right yeah it helps me mentally it helps me emotionally and so uh I just want to share share that idea let me hit you off with one last question my brother now you've been having an insane last few months here uh one with the very highly anticipated release of the film Shelby Oaks which made his Premiere at Fantasia Fest and then as you mentioned September 5th you're back on Netflix here with the perfect couple and you're playing this character Dan Carter uh what might you be able to say about that character Dan and what might you be able to say about your work about Shel with Shelby dos well uh for Dan Carter Dan is um you know there's this the whole show is about this very old school wealthy Nantucket family right a white family with big pockets uh and big Power and there is a there's a wedding that's going to be happening but then somebody somebody gets hurt somebody gets hurt permanently they get killed and um the question is was it is it a is it an accident or is it a murder my character is the the sheriff so he's basically tasked with finding out if it was and you know we find out pretty quickly it was and then who is the murderer um and so it's uh it's it's pretty cool man the actors are very good the story is great the director Susan be was is just so good it was such a a fun project to be a part of you know so so that's that and then Shelby again was uh like um like I'll be right there a very small film uh small budget um a new director yeah Chris who right who is also a great reviewer yep and um and I got I don't know I don't even know how he got in touch with me um but my man Keith David's in it and that's like one of my you know I look up to Keith big time um we both went to juliard uh he went you know he was done just as I was getting there um but that film I think is is again really smart now I haven't seen it uh so I don't know what the end result is but I love the idea of him um you know bringing in different kind of um different kind of film Styles you know the stock footage idea he uses a lot of stock footage and that idea and so I I hear it's really really interesting so I wanna I want to check it out yeah same same I don't know I don't know do you know when it's coming out I have no idea I know it's I mean you know that's kind of the state of the world and I'm sure even with this one here you know you do a Premiere at a festival and then fingers crossed that it just land somewhere for the world to see it and and that's why I'm such a pro pro advocate for independent films cuz this was a film just like Shelby o I had heard about last year and I'm like I need to see this my guy Michael's in it it gota be good you know so right right so yeah but um you know once we get word we put it out there and just like with this one I'll be right there it comes to theater September 6 Michael it's always a pleasure and I know we'll keep talking because you're going to just continue working I know you say you 60 you're looking 45 don't want to hear anything else so we'll just leave it at that but truly my brother it's always a pleasure to talk to you my man a pleasure thanks for the interview I appreciate it absolutely [Music] anytime SU [Music]