That Thing He Does ft. Johnathan Schaech

[Music] [Applause] hello and welcome to the FSF Pop guest as a reminder this is the show that is made by nerds for nerds so if you found your way here Welcome to our nerdery today our guest is an amazing actor writer producer who's been on many of the shows and movies that you have loved over the years there's been several that I have wanted to talk to him about that's why he's here I'm excited about that uh whether it was the guitar playing one hit wonder making genius Jimmy from that thing you do or it was Jonah Hex in the arrowe series or maybe you're more familiar with him as Justin Wise from Blue Ridge either way you know him I'm excited to welcome Jonathan Sheek to the FSF podcast welcome to the show Jonathan hey I'm excited to be here thank you so much yeah uh so like I said we're we're a bunch of nerds and so being so a nerd loves a good origin story pre-show you and I were talking about your character Jonah Hex his origin story all those different type of things and so we love a good origin story so in the origin of Jonathan Sheek what got you to the point where you said this is what I want to do for a career what made you think that or pushed you towards work in the entertainment field you know I uh I struggled in college I um I couldn't read the textbooks I had a really hard time I just remember these textbooks and having to sit down down and trying to get the information in my brain and then testing on it and I just couldn't do it um I really struggled I even went to my professors and I was like okay so can people read this kind of stuff like this is really hard to read and I went to my roommate he was a his first language you know was like Kenyan or something I was he was from Africa his third language or fourth language was English and I had him read it to me one time and he WR read it much easier than I did so I knew I had a problem and I knew I needed to you know I wasn't going to be successful with my life and I made a decision um after taking one acting class in college that I was going to be an actor really y that's cool and so I I learned later on in life that I'm dyslexic okay that's why I couldn't read the textbooks but you know no one told me that at the time they were like this do this you'll be fine it was just like right no one could had a solution for me and um yeah I figured out that I I stood a better chance of um going back and forth and being um creative I was very creative at the time I was an artist I I loved painting and drawing so I don't know how that turned into acting but it did and uh sure I got I found my way in that way yeah so what methods do you use or or did you use at that time and do you still use them to help you to be able to read your scripts memorize your scripts get yourself ready for acting roles you know my scripts uh they look like um an artist Journal like I just draw everything out I doodle um to memorize my lines and that's how I really memorize my lines I put the the word to an image and created this like like a painting with every scene and it probably wasn't the EAS EST way but it was my way it was the only way I I found you know I did it a million like a thousand times I'd run my lines but in in the process of drawing it so that I would remember that image if I got you know got it didn't roll off my tongue I could think back and think where I was and what it was all about so yeah I was drawing and painting but I learned in time that if I hear it I don't forget it so now I just use audio programs to you know read this scene or the script to me um yeah so that I've learned like audio and then if I take like I ask for more time I just always need more time than anybody if they if they have a certain amount of time I always need to have a little bit more time so always always ask for more time that's really cool yeah I I I know other people who use the the audio programs to help them and will read them to them uh because they're they're better auditory Learners than they are visual Learners and and so that part makes sense to me uh I had never thought about uh the Doodles and and having images tied to certain words to help to help spark that in your memory that's a really cool concept yeah you should I swear you should see some of my scripts my old scripts I kept the ones where I did it the most like that thing you do it's like it's a it's a artwork it's all piece of art yeah that's really cool man yeah I I think that that's uh a neat way to handle it because you know with with I mean there's no wrong way to learn if that what you do you use what works for you but and I think that if you found something especially that early if you're able to find something that early on that worked for you that's fantastic so you know I did learn that there's a lot of actors who are dyslexic like Anthony Hopkins Tom Cruz um and one thing about being dyslexic is you get to the root of what it is like you you have the meaning and the understanding the words are the last thing to come so there's a different way of you know acting teachers actually teach you like to find the purpose the goal and what you're fighting for and let let the lines come after that like the lines are meaningless you just need to fight for your goal so I think dyslexics do that innately like survival mode to be able to to really try to get to the understand what these words are so there's a benefit to being a dyslexic actor that's really cool all right well that's a neat origin story and and I think maybe the first one I've had described that way so very cool all right so let's move on to uh talk about the series Blue Ridge which I know you were recently working on you're doing some some things there and kudos to you on your success for that um but before we talk about anything Blue Ridge related I want to jump into something else now I read that you're you're 54 years old correct correct okay I'm 47 so you're only seven years older than me and I'm going to go ahead and say it uh you're a good-look dude uh you're pulling off 54 very well sir uh and muscle and fitness did a really big piece on you and uh so I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that that article uh lead things leading into it when did you discover that Fitness a fitness routine needed to be a more important part of your every day and what you do and how you do you know I when I was in college and I was trying to figure out you know what I was I I was played lacrosse for University of Maryland Baltimore County and I was little I was in high school I was a 98 PB wrestler um and so I started lifting weights because I I kept getting cut from the teams and um I just trained really hard like really learned about bodybuilding and building my body up and read all muscle fitness I read muscle fitness all the time so yeah I just I learned that I was an athlete and that you know and then when I became an actor like my my what I was good at was anything embodied like I was really good at physical stunts and very good at okay action oriented things and and so I always kept my my body fit and they always hired me for that very reason I did a film called how to make an American Quilt it was the first time they actually had a trainer train me for the role and so I you know that's been my my go-to I think the body okay training the body training the body okay so how cool was it for you then being having someone who read muscle and fitness as a young man to have them come back and do a feature on you to talk about your muscle and fitness well yeah that was I I love that article I thought it was very really well done I thought I was grateful that they wrote such beautiful things about me um and all my you know being a father um like I fit for fatherhood was always my thing like you know my little girl she's four years old I'm 54 by turn 55 so when she's older I'm gonna be old man you know age-wise but I I don't think it's fair to her that I don't stay in the best shape that I possibly can the things that I can change I change and my body is one thing that I've I've learned how to you know put proper food into it train it certain way um I have more energy that way I could be there for her I could pick her up still even though that hurts more than anything oh God no that's cool that's a that's a that's a great outlook on it as a father myself I I understand I don't try to pick up my kids anymore I got started early in life so my youngest is 17 that that's gonna that's really gonna gonna hurt if I try that man being a father is a boy it's just a it's the hardest thing I've ever done the most gratifying exactly right it's a huge responsibility but it's also at the end of the day one of the like you said most gratifying things you're you're ever going to do um but it's cool that you you have that Outlook and that's that's your prospect as to why you do this and and everything else I don't think enough fathers actually have that same Outlook so I think that's really cool man thank you all right very cool well kudos to you and and I'm sure your daughter when she gets older that will be something she appreciates uh moving forward so uh speaking of blue rid is how we got to this whole part of it now I understand that the the uh our last episode of Blue Ridge for the season is going to be airing soon um and so uh this this is something that's transferred from being a movie to being a television series so what do you appreciate most about Blue Ridge as in the television format over the movie format well it's all it's the same storyline all the way through so it's about you know a man who goes to a small town in the South to be closer to his family he he changed his job from being a um military man to a sheriff in this town so they'd be closer to his family and um he thinks it's going to be an easier job than what it is because every single T something happens in that town he's got to figure it out um and in the same time he's trying to win his wife back bring his family back together so when we made the movie you know I had literally just left California moved to Nashville Tennessee for my family U so that I could be closer to them and not be um a part of this grind this like you know this treadmill um workout that they had out there in California I wasn't I didn't want to do that anymore so I moved to Nashville Tennessee and to you know to hold my family close and to get my son in these schools out here be around being around um my my mother-in-law my father-in-law closer to my family in Maryland um so I felt like I was doing the same thing my character was doing art art was imitating life and then when they called me up and said they wanted to turn into a series that they had done very well with the movie and they could see you know from the response of the audience that that that people would really gravitate towards it and that we could have a a show that you know really would resonate with a lot of people uh that right there alone something that it's entertaining is most important thing that we can put out there so I was thrilled that we got this opportunity to turn this movie into um into a series and just carry the characters along and and the people I have to tell you the people that are making it uh you know I worked with Tom Hanks and that thing you do and I say this in all my interviews if Tom working with Tom and and Gary gsman was like the Pinnacle of my career was like the best thing I have ever did it was the most fun they were the most kind um I felt good off off you know when I wasn't working it was when I was working I was challenged um and the same thing with blidge the people are very kind they they uh strive for Success you know like good good work very good work and it's achieved in a in a manner which is kind and on time um no one's there's no craziness around it like um which breeds more kindness and um everyone's taken care of and they they really the creative aspects of it are enriched because of these guys being so um kind is the word I got the word kind in my mind yeah that's cool yeah I I think sometimes uh people worry that there's a you know when when something gets adapted from a movie into a television show that there's something lost and that there's uh there's a change of the characters there's a change of the storyline the change of of what the character's uh motivation was or things like that but that doesn't seem to be the case with with Blue Ridge yeah I think the only thing that really changed was the hat that I wore like I wore a fisherman's hat in the movie and then I got a a literally a sheriff cap in in the yeah you're wearing more of a ball cap style in the yeah the TV show so those are things that changed my deputies changed because um one of our deputies couldn't make it because she was on the TV series The Chosen so okay you know she's doing really well but we do miss Lara Silva very much um but we got great I love my deputies they're fantastic and the story lines fit perfectly with with the with the series so that was the only big change I think from the one to the other yeah it seems to be a pretty seamless flow from one to the other it doesn't seemed that anybody has other than the the one who decided to keep with their old show whatever uh you know but it seems to be pretty seamless otherwise and a good experience for you so I'm I'm happy to see that so uh but let's talk about my first experience in meeting Jonathan Sheek uh or at that time I knew you as Jimmy maddingly uh in the movie that thing you do and I'm sure you talk about this movie uh quite often and uh just have a couple of I just have one quick question about it because this is a movie that my wife and I we saw it in the theater and we said the second this comes out on DVD we're going to buy it so I bought I have since that time I've bought it on DVD Blu-ray I own a digital copy of it uh we absolutely love this movie we take it with us on trips we watch it on airplanes everywhere we go it's just one of those movies that's kind of become part of our family core we watch it all the time uh and when something doesn't work out right around the house we oftentimes walk around just going I quit I quit so I I had to tell you that so I could tell you ask you this um I read that somewhere in order for you guys to be the oners uh in order to play the roles the four of you either had to a learn how to accurately play the instruments or you had to fake it really well is there any truth to that and if so do you still play the guitar yeah so when I was cast I I didn't know how to play the guitar and nor could I sing um and Steve Z could play some he could pick Ethan Embry could play the bass Tom Mt Scott could not play the drums so what they did was we had private trainers that we trained I I felt like we trained all day I know that I even when I wasn't I still trained all day because I I had to do vocal lessons as well as playing the guitar now they told me when we first started that they were no matter how good I got at singing they weren't going to use my voice they already had what they wanted to do and because the movie revolved around this one song they right they they couldn't they couldn't take that risk and not to put that pressure on me so not to worry I'm just to focus on my acting which coming from Tom Hanks you you know you just focus on the acting yeah no no pressure yeah so yeah we we practice and then they put us together and we we just became a band we we really became a band because we were working really hard towards a goal and then they put us all together to work towards that goal and they would you know I they're good coaches I think you know Gary gsman knew that we would have we should perform prior to actually filming so that we would had the Jitters and we started perform We performed in front of everyone at the table reading um and look I could play I could play those songs I could play some other songs but I never became a guitarist it was overwhelming um the big thing of like you know I play I play a musician I'm not a musician um I even know I love it I would wish now that I live in Nashville I wish I could play the guitar so I could just go play for some of my friends out here and sure venues but I'm just not that guy I just I don't I don't get up at at weddings and play my song you know I just don't do it it was it was thrilling but I learned I learned the craft of acting by doing it because I learned everything in the character character needed to do he was a musician um and he was a singer and the reason why I won the role at the beginning with is because I probably was the only one that auditioned and Sayang ah I quit I quit I quit it was I quit I quit Mr White that was the line but I sang it and I won the role oh that's cool so that so you improved that during your y yeah I read it and um I was working with an acting coach and he said you know he's a singer sing it and I was like oh my God yes that's it and so I even pretend like there was a microphone up there Hi and as soon as I did that man I watched I watched in the corner of my eye Tom Hanks just go I was like I won I won the role I'm in oh that's a very cool story yeah yeah that's awesome I you know I always wonder I tell you this so I remember doing it and then I sang it and then it was the end of the scene and I literally walked out the door just with like with an inner smile like I just won I just changed my life I just want Tom Hanks over he's laughing and he came out and got me get back in here kid yep that's cool yeah that's cool um so there's a great con so there's a great great connection between that thing you do in Blue Ridge and all right one of the guest stars is one of the Wonders I got one of the Wonders that come out and play probably the most critical character in the whole storyline nice and hopefully I do it every season I bring I bring a new Wonder out and hopefully Tom Hanks will come out there and play a part as well oh that'd be awesome yeah yeah that's uh there's so many things about that movie that are that are great you guys each have your own comedic moments and the things that you guys do in that movie and the way that you guys interacted um yeah it really felt like because you know I've watched other movies about other bands and other things and it you watch it and you're like yeah so it's a movie about a band but this one actually felt like yeah it's a movie about a band and it felt like you could feel the closeness of the four of you kind of radiating off the screen the chemistry that the four of you had uh was was really good so that was cool until he brought in Wolfman but that is that's a whole another story so all right so uh Jonathan you've played lawmen you've played singers you've played a Roadhouse bouncer you've played a superhero you've done all kinds of things um and we're not your IMD IMDb list is just huge it's really what it shows that you have a wide range of abilities and you're able to tackle uh all these different roles but of all the characters that you've played was there one that you had a more difficult time getting in touch with the what the character needed uh perhaps identifying with that character to be able to portray him I'm very um I have a very open Center so um I don't judge characters you know like playing a killer in prom night MH that was it was a little bit more difficult but when I when I found out when I found it in him why he was doing it it made complete sense so he was in love with the main character and so anyone who got in the way he realized there wasn't a rationale to it so he had to get rid of them so he got rid of all the people and in his way so that he could be with his love that made sense to me um so that's when I played those kind of characters I've always trying to find the rational you know good guy the bad guy never thinks he's bad thinks he's anything no if you're if in fact if your your villain is a truly a villain they believe that they're in the right for what they're doing yeah I played a zombie like um bub in Day of the Dead and he he was difficult cuz he was really a brutal human being um a rapist and uh I had trouble with that but as soon as I turned that he was he just didn't know any better with his life and he was trying to change his life when he turned to this creature then this creature had this element to him because the creature wouldn't kill uh her like why wouldn't the creature kill her it's because he was dealing with that dilemma inside of himself so I've always been able to to find those different players and the characters that I've played I'm sure there's been some that I've just was like oh I know um I did this film um God was Texas rising and I played Colonel Sherman and it was what was written on the page was very good script very well written but okay but the true character the the what he was a real person in life what he did wasn't in the script now he wasn't the star of the script so um you know it was a big uh it was a bit big historical uh story about how Texas uh became its own state after it was won over by Mexico and then we won it back so it was this whole big historical thing and I did a lot of research because I always do that because of Tom Hanks taught me that and I literally had to call Tom and said I don't these are completely different what do I like this is they're lying about this part of the story and I know it's very important um how do I address it like do I talk to the writers beforehand do I just go along with it and he um he gave me great advice he goes you know just bring it up to him see where where where that conversation will lead you because the writer could have just went down that road because they needed to and if you're bringing all this bringing this to the party you know to to your part they they may very well might say you we this is great you we should include this this is important can you can we do it so that it still fits in with what we're trying to tell and that's what happened the writer was completely like oh like he literally goes oh my God you're right Jonathan I remember reading that I just took it down that road because I was I was the main charact it would help the main character if you had better difference and um and we came to we came to a a good place and it still wasn't completely the true truth but um you know I got to tell the story and and got to be a little bit more honest about my character so that was one time all right cool all right now in a similar vein sometimes we do something and years later we'll look back at it and we'll say you know what I could do that better now is there a character that you've portrayed in the past that you would love to take another crack at or either to continue their story or perhaps retell it or reframe it restructure it well I don't think I did anything wrong the first time with Jonah Hex but I would love to explore deeper like we talked about earlier the complexity absolutely of his origin story uh and how he dealt with life his moral um Credo was was just so unique and and and true I think and but his actions and the way he did things you know I think people really could relate to it in today's society the things that he was he was put up against um people could could get behind him I would love to do that no and like we talked about pre-show I think you did a fantastic job with Jonah Hex and so I for one would be thrilled to see a Jonah Hex series a Jonah Hex movie with you at the at the helm and and running that um running that character because I do think that there's so many stories uh with that character because of his moral complexity uh because of his background his history and like we said earlier you know he's wearing the Confederate suit but he was a slave himself self and once he realized what was going on he it wasn't what he wanted to do anymore but it's interesting how he got to the point of wearing the Confederate suit and what he was doing and why and it's it's a really interesting and very very complex character that I think needs to have an opportunity to be better told yeah you know um William Shatner went up in space remember when he did that when he came down he had this Clarity and when one of the things he did which blew my mind he was like Jonathan Sheek needs to play Jonah XX on a TV series he did it online he he made a whole pitch online I'm sure he didn't just think that something came up to him or someone said something to him but like I found him like I'm like looking at him at all like he's he's seeing the world a whole different way at 90 years old coming back from space and S there fighting for me to be have my own television series for DC I just thought that was great I mean hey uh if you're gonna have somebody in Hollywood you know pitch for you to take over a series he's right up there among the probably the top five guys with a little bit of you know little bit of juice behind him still you know they say hey this guy thinks he can get it done Captain Kirk steering the ship yeah who knew man that's crazy all right yeah so yeah Jonah hack would be a great one uh yeah you definitely didn't do anything wrong with it you you portrayed him very well but yeah that would be an opportunity to continue the story so that'd be great that'd be great all right well Jonathan we've reached a point uh where we like to ask our guests a silly question now uh in your honor we're asking two silly questions because you're Jonathan sha so we're gonna ask you to so the first one uh now I belong to On Facebook there's a a music group uh that I belong to and we all share videos and that thing you do is actually very popular inside of that music group we we have that thing you do day we share you know quotes and memes and gifts and gifs however you want to call them uh inside that group all the time and I asked them hey I'm gonna I'm gonna be interviewing Jonathan sha is any questions anybody wants to ask of him this is the question that got asked the most they want to know are you still alone in your [Laughter] principles oh man well T today I think I was alone in my principles I uh I picked my little boy up he's 10 years old he's about turned 11 and he's playing football his first 30 year and the big kid on the team tackled him and he he got squashed and he was on the sidelines and he was you know thinking he was hurt and I said what's wrong buddy where's it hurt and he goes he goes Dylan tackled me and I go okay so I know that that hurts inside like you big the big kid tackled you but where physically does it hurt he goes daddy Dylan tackled me Dylan's like three times his size I was like okay um so I'm alone and my principles are here buddy because I'm trying to get to the point like you're not hurt you need to get back in there so that was my alone in my principal's moment today very good okay all right and now here's our our second silly question this is the one that we typically ask everybody and this is how we like to close out our interviews because now typically my my co-host Kathleen is here but she's under the weather and wasn't able to make it today um so her daughter was out she has a 5-year-old daughter uh she was out and about somewhere with her daughter and they asked her daughter this question and Kathleen thought it was a little bit rude that it wasn't asked of adults so here it is Jonathan Sheek what's your favorite dinosaur T-Rex nice yeah I like T-Rex just grew up with T-Rex can't get enough T-Rexs fair enough no that's a that's a good answer and it's a it's a pretty solid answer I think the the the three most popular responses to this question so far have been number one is T-Rex uh number two is either probably a tie between the Triceratops and the stegosaurus uh with the pterodactyl bringing up a a Noto distant third they're they're right on the heels of the Triceratops so yeah and if I knew the bigger the bigger T-Rex I probably would have said him what's the bigger yeah I can't remember is that the Allosaurus the megasaurus something like that we'll go with that we'll just call him megasaurus make up a new one we'll call him megasaurus all right very cool all right so Jonathan thank you so much for being on our show today we I have I have just enjoyed talking with you been a blast uh but where can our guests our listeners our followers go to find out more about you and what you've got coming up well they they can look for Blue Ridge on in P it plays every Sunday night at 900 p.m. Eastern and there's other you could if you go to INSP you'll they'll they'll guide you to where to find Blue Ridge um there's different providers that they they they work with um and then you can find me at John Sheek on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook Facebook's not so Facebook um someone stole my account for like three years so people don't know if it's me or not but yeah that's me out there trying to get back my audience on Facebook but yeah Instagram and uh X or Twitter um I'm I'm on those platforms I like to check and talk to fans that's what I love to do all right very cool well we'll make sure to put those those links Down Below in the show notes so that people can follow you and and see what you've got coming up and what's going on uh out there as well uh and this guys seems like a prime time to remind you that subscribing is the single most important thing you can do to help the FSF podcast continue to grow it's how we get amazing guest like Jonathan Shea here today to come on talk to us and share some really cool stories uh about what they were doing and have some funny moments for you guys to be able to listen to so please subscribe it helps us more than we can ever explain and make sure that if you're going to subscribe to us go follow Jonathan on his platforms as well so you yeah don't don't don't forget the guest click follow do the thing for Jonathan but uh yeah again Jonathan thank you so much for being on the show and uh for everyone watching and listening thank you so much and and goodbye goodbye everybody thank you copyright 2024 FSF podcast referenced any specific product or entity mentioned on this podcast does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by FSF podcast the views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent if you have any questions about this disclaimer please contact us via email at info FSF podcast.com [Music]