00:03Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter and we're in studio today with Michael
00:07Chiklis. Hello. Hi, how are you? I'm really well, thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you for
00:13coming in to talk about your new movie, 1985. Yeah, it's my pleasure. The first question I
00:18wanted to ask you is, what were you doing in 1985? Well, that's why I did this movie,
00:24because it resonated with me. I graduated from college in the spring of 1985 and I think within
00:31two days after, I moved from Boston down to New York City. So I was in New York City in
00:38the theater
00:38community in 1985, which was very Dickensian. It was the best of times and the worst of times,
00:45right? On the one hand, everything was new and right in front of me and I was so excited about
00:52starting my new career and at the same time, it was an incredibly frightening time as there was
00:59a plague that was taking the lives of friends of ours all over and it was scary and awful and
01:11you know, hard to explain unless you went through it, unless you were there. It was because there
01:17was so much confusion, especially at first in terms of what it was. You know, some people at first were
01:24saying it's some sort of blood cancer and that, you know, people were afraid to go near each other.
01:28It was just, it was awful. Yeah. So when I read this, I just, it resonated with me. I found
01:35myself,
01:36you know, crying a number of times. I was a little worried when, when Corey initially talked to me
01:42about it because he said, I'd be playing his super conservative dad down in Dallas. And I thought,
01:48I just was worried that, you know, it would just be wrought with, um, overworked cliches, you know,
01:58that, that he would just be this one note, uh, super conservative, you know, guy who, you know,
02:06was just hateful to him and awful. And though he, you know, uh, it isn't without that side of it.
02:14Mm-hmm. Um, what I, what I really, uh, thought was wonderful about the film and the way it was
02:20written is there's love in the movie. There's, there's tremendous love. And, um, things are much
02:27more complicated than that, just the, that, that two-dimensional, uh, look at things, you know,
02:33and that's, Yen, I think was wonderful about really getting, making these real people on the
02:38page and, and, and also in his direction. So, uh, that's why I really, really responded to the piece.
02:45Right. Yes. Because the, the hardline conservative father can often be a thankless role.
02:52Yeah. It's just sort of this one note, you know, cardboard cutout of a guy who is just hateful
02:57and unaccepting and blah, you know, and that's it. And that can just be, you know, I mean,
03:03it can be effective, I guess, for a couple of scenes. Uh, but, you know, um, I just responded
03:11to the whole film too. And, uh, you know, uh, Virginia's role in particular, uh, because they're,
03:17they love their son. Yeah. You know, they were raised a particular way and they don't know how
03:23to reconcile it, but they know they love their son. And that's what complicates so many things,
03:29um, in life is, uh, is our connection to each other and love. Right. Right. And it's a beautiful
03:37thing and, and, and an awful thing. Yeah. Uh, yeah, I, I, I just, uh, I thought it was a
03:44very,
03:44uh, super subtle and nuanced film. And that I really responded to, especially since so much of the stuff
03:52that I've been doing is just, you know, especially lately has just been head banging, you know what
03:57I mean? I don't, you know, that's not who I am, you know, that's a, that's sort of a brand
04:02thing
04:03that you get caught up in. Yeah. And, uh, I, I really sometimes like to do movies like that so
04:09that I
04:09can do movies like this, you know, uh, uh, you know, we all have to make a living, but you
04:14know, you
04:15won't, I like to play human beings. Hmm. Yeah. And Corey Michael Smith's character, you know, the,
04:21the other side to the hardline conservative father is the son that doesn't want to open
04:26up to his parents that is not willing to be honest with them because he's hiding who he
04:34is for whatever reason or what, it's a tale as old as time. Right. Especially with members
04:40of the gay community. Right. Uh, you know, the, especially then, you know, now we've come light
04:47years since then. Uh, and we still have a long way to go, frankly, but at that time,
04:52and I, and I also, uh, I was, I was concerned initially when he said it was going to be
04:57in
04:57black and white and when he explained the reasoning for that, I thought, yeah, that's, that's not
05:03only really smart, it'll be poignant and it'll be immersive. And I really get why he wanted to do
05:11that because, you know, 80s is known as the 80s, you know what I mean? Right. It was pretty glammy
05:17and fabulous and there was lots of disco balls and, you know, just craziness. And he wanted to
05:24contrast that with the, the, the stark reality of black and white, you know, and I just thought that,
05:30yeah, I get it. Your Gotham co-star Corey Michael Smith actually ended up coming out while he was
05:36doing press for this movie. Which, which, which I did, I didn't know that. I, I thought he was
05:40already out. Oh. But he was certainly out to, you mean to his parents? Um, I, I thought it was
05:47just public, publicly. Publicly, really? Okay. Mm-hmm. That's interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah.
05:51Um, because, you know, I, I've, I knew from the, from, upon meeting, uh, Corey that he was gay. I,
06:00that's just interesting. Go on. Yeah. How do you think this film showcases
06:05how difficult a process that can be for people? Brilliantly. And I think that that's another
06:12thing that, you know, I, I just found so compelling, especially, you know, growing up in the theater
06:17community and seeing this play out. I, you know, I happen to be a, a, a heterosexual man, but I
06:23watched this play out with so many of my friends and the trauma that some of them went through in,
06:29in, in just contemplating coming out. Yeah. Um, nevermind actually doing it. Uh, so it's super
06:37important. I, I, I'm really heartened by my children because really if you speak to like my
06:44kids and their friends, it really shows you how different it is now. Uh, and that, and in a wonderful
06:51way. Right. That people are allowed to speak their truth and, and be true to themselves. Whereas, uh,
06:58at that time, you know, well, it's not that that's over. It's not like you just, you know,
07:04any more than, you know, racism just doesn't exist anymore. It's just not true. Um, and we, again,
07:11we still have a long way to go. Uh, but I think that it's, it's about teaching, right? It's about
07:17learning about the other. And that's how you counteract xenophobia and all kinds of phobias is by
07:26being exposed to people and realizing, Oh, I don't need to be afraid. I don't need to know.
07:34I'm going to get really deep with you right now. You ready for this? I just think that, um,
07:39you know, that this is something that I've been talking about a lot. I think that,
07:43you know, we're born and we live and we die. And because of that nagging truth, that reality,
07:48people are afraid and people seek things like religion and other things to make sense of it all
07:57and to find some solace. And that's okay. And that's fine. But then when here, here I am,
08:04I believe in, I have the set of values and beliefs that have been taught to me by my parents
08:09and family.
08:10And now here you come and you believe in something sort of radically different than I believe in.
08:16And it shatters my security. It takes my blanket from me. And people then experience fight or flight
08:27syndrome. They're afraid. So they either get mean and fight, you know, my God's better than your God,
08:35whatever it is, you know, or they run. And it's just a, it's a, you know, I, I study human
08:42behavior.
08:43And that's, that's just something that I've seen over and over again.
08:47Yeah. Do you think the younger generation has forgotten what the AIDS epidemic was like in the
08:53mid eighties? I don't think they think about it at all. It's, it's kind of miraculous. And I guess
08:57that's our fault. Um, um, there are some wonderful examples of, you know, there's, there's shows like
09:03angels in America and others that they could go and, and, and see about it. But I guess also when
09:09you know something intellectually, it's just really, really different than when you understand
09:14it viscerally when you've gone through it yourself. So I think that intellectually, a lot of, uh, younger
09:21generation, uh, the younger generation understands it, but they don't get it in their guts because they
09:28didn't live with that fear. They didn't see friends die. So it's just not visceral. And I think that
09:35that's another reason why films like this are so important. Yeah. And another thing that this film kind
09:41of tackles is a very familiar feeling. I felt it also somebody who went to New York to go to
09:47college, that
09:48feeling of leaving your family to find a new family, which is your friends. Right. Did, was that your
09:55experience when you were young? Well, absolutely. And also to reinvent, right? Because everyone knows
10:01you as Mariah, who we grew up with, right? And they knew me as, you know, uh, you know, little
10:09chicky because my brother was chicky and I was little chicky, you know what I mean? So, you know, you
10:15want
10:15to break out of that as it were, you know, and you want to form your own identity and become
10:21your own
10:21person. And that's part of what college is. And then just after college is sort of finding out
10:27who you are and galvanizing that. And then, and in my case, I, it was a hardship. I had to
10:33move
10:33away, completely away from my family and stay away from my family. And that's different than most folks,
10:40you know, they grow up around their family. They stay around their family. And that's a blessing.
10:44It's a beautiful thing to be able to, you know, like one of the hardest things about raising my two
10:49children is I couldn't just go, Hey dad, I'm dropping the kids off mom. You know what I mean?
10:53That, that was difficult, but we made our own family with the, with surrogate brothers and
10:59sisters and aunts and uncles. And, you know, and, um, and thankfully we've done really well with that,
11:04but that's what you do when you, when you're a young adult, you, you make a lot of mistakes
11:11and hopefully you grow and you mature and you learn who you are and, uh, and you have the sense
11:17of
11:17identity and you can move forward with things. How did you enjoy working with Virginia Madsen?
11:22Well, she, she's amazing. I, you know, this was such a, a small film, right? And, and, and it was
11:29a
11:29short experience and yet I feel such an affection for it. And I've, I've done films where I worked
11:35months on the film and was like, uh, that's over. You know what I mean? And, and there's other
11:41experiences like this where, you know, you're there a couple of weeks and you really have a bonding
11:45experience with people and, you know, we're still getting together and hanging out. My wife and
11:50Virginia and, and, and Nick and I, um, and, you know, as friends, because we, we connected and I just
11:57think we, we sort of related to each other. We're in similar places in our lives and, you know, I've
12:02always admired her work and, um, but she's also a really cool person. So, yeah. And, and I think she
12:10does really, really magnificent work in this film. It's been a decade since your Emmy winning role
12:16on The Shield. Yeah, I know. Time to, time to get on that. I mean, if you look at television
12:25today,
12:26can you see the influence of The Shield and programming now? Well, uh, what do they say? Uh,
12:33uh, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and, and there's definitely things that we've seen over,
12:38over the last decade that have made us go like, Hey, Hey, Hey, you know, and, um, it's not, it
12:47is
12:47lovely to be, to have been a part of something that started a sea change in the industry. It was
12:54a
12:55historic change. Uh, you know, I mean, there were, there was HBO, I guess, and some premium cable,
13:01but the basic cable was, it was a wasteland. There was reruns, you know, and NASCAR, there was no,
13:08there was no original programming there, not to knock NASCAR. It's just, you know, not my bag,
13:12but anyway, um, you can cut that. Anyway, uh, no, but you know, uh, it was cool to be part
13:21of
13:21something where, you know, uh, all of a sudden we did this, we were, we, we, it was sort of
13:26a David
13:26and Goliath thing, you know, where we, we gave the big guys a black guy and it was, it was
13:32pure.
13:32There was something really, really sort of like, um, the early days of the Sundance Film Festival
13:38where a really smart group of people went, you got this much time and you get this much money,
13:43but go and make the show you want to make. That's really exciting. Yeah. Cause you sort of go,
13:50wait, especially if you'd done a lot of network television, like I had done up to that point,
13:54you know, and networks tend to be sort of micromanaging about things and to have that
14:01kind of freedom to be able to just go and make the show you want to make is an extraordinary
14:05experience. Excellent. Excellent. Uh, last question to you. How is Tom Brady doing?
14:12Which one? My dog or, or the TV 12? Um, well, my dog is awesome. He's amazing. And, uh, he
14:23loves
14:24watching the Patriots and as you know, he likes to see his namesake. Yeah, of course he does. And
14:30he roots for him. He barks at him. He's really, really enthusiastic. He's cute. So obviously you've
14:38seen him, so you know how adorable he is. I'm just also a fan of irony. So I thought, you
14:43know,
14:43you know, you've heard the expression pug, pug ugly, right? So a pug named Tom Brady. It's just a natural.
14:50That's perfect. Michael Ticklis, thank you so much for being here. The movie is 1985.
14:56Cheers.
Comments