A 2nd Look at Dastmalchian and Hoogenakker

I Survived Theatre School

Interview: We talk to Dave Dastmalchian and John Hoogenakker about a special moment with F. Murray Abraham, finding friendship in a cutthroat environment, having substance abuse and authority issues, mind-f***ery, the cloistered nature of conservatories, using skills gained at TTS on set, taking an eclectic approach to acting, the tricky dance of teaching an art form, PR Casting, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie, when William Burroughs discovered a copy of the Fledgling Press, a zine which Dave created.

FULL TRANSCRIPT: (unedited):

1 (10s):
And I'm Gina Polizzi. We went to theater school

2 (12s):
Together. We survived it.

1 (14s):
He didn't quite understand it. 20 years later, we're digging deep talking to our guests about their experiences and trying to make sense of it all.

2 (21s):
I survived theater school and you will too. Are we famous yet?

1 (31s):
Hello? Hello. Hello survivors. What's up? How you doing? Please answer that question, even though I can't hear you. I like to imagine everyone checking in, even if it's just mentally, I for 1:00 AM surviving, but I did not want to come back from my vacation. I had a great vacation. I'll be talking all about it in the next episode, but I, I didn't want to come back and, you know, and it's because I went on vacation that we are not airing a brand new episode this week, but instead we were looking back at a previous episode, I'm going to say it's a hidden gem. Not that nobody listened to it, but that I don't know that it totally got the, quite the play that it should have.

1 (1m 19s):
It's a great conversation with two fantastic actors. The second reason is they both have so much going on right now, Dave in particular, you know, he just came off of dune and suicide squad. He's got a bunch of other things in production right now, including things that he's written. I don't know what is public knowledge or whatever. So I'll just leave it out. He's got a lot of stuff going on. And John is in every commercial I read, literally I feel he is in all of the commercials. So he's very busy with his life and his career. And also he was in dope sick, which if you haven't seen it, you really should.

1 (1m 60s):
It, it, it is both an excellent and well-made P piece of television as well as an important piece of television. Those Sackler people, man, fuck those guys. Disgusting. Anyway, they were delightful. We could have talked for two hours. Maybe one day we'll get a chance to do a part two, but I just thought it would be nice to take a look back. I am not including the first part of the episode, the, our usual intro. And let me run this by you because it's pretty old at this point. But if you want to listen to that, the original episode is still up as this.

1 (2m 43s):
Anyway, please enjoy our conversation with David, a small shin and John who can anchor.

3 (2m 49s):
You got to call her up again and ask her to do

1 (2m 53s):
All right. I'm going to make a note of that right now. Anyway. Congratulations, John and Dave, you survived theater school. No, not barely. You guys. I think you both had excellent theater school careers, but I'd like to hear it from you. Yeah.

4 (3m 16s):
I'm so glad that you're our first duo that we've had on today. The fancy friends. And I wanted to know about your experience like together as well as apart, but like my first question for you is did you love each other right away?

5 (3m 32s):
I don't, I don't know John did you?

3 (3m 36s):
Well,

5 (3m 39s):
I've known Gina the longest and by the way, so good to see you. It's only been 20 years like this. I mean, we've, we've messaged and emailed a lot, but Jesus, this is amazing. Oh my God. So I was roommates with Gina and we were very close and then I left school for a year. And so the school moves forward. Jen, you and Gina were in the same grade. You guys all moved forward. And when I came back, it was a whole new group of people to get to know. And John was one of the first people that I knew when I got back. So I felt very out of place and it was hard to come into cause it's such a competitive environment and it's such a intense environment and I was both competitive and intense.

5 (4m 26s):
So to jump into the fire with a whole new group of people, to kind of, it's hard because you're posturing, you're sizing up, but at the same time, you're looking for connection. You're looking for support and it's, it's such a conflict. And John, I'm not going to get emotional today. I swear to God, but it was like one of the first people that extended such a kind generous since he's got that, that, that inimitable, I'm a cuddler sincerity, which is what makes him such a brilliant actor. But he had that like, look me in the eyes in class and like, Hey, he has a little bit of a draw.

5 (5m 6s):
Like I'm really excited. You're here. And I want to get to know you and I hope we get to work together. And then we went and hung out at his apartment soon after that and maybe smoke something. This is recorded, sorry, John. And then we watched star wars stuff together and that was our bond. So that's my version of this story.

3 (5m 26s):
No, God, we, we had a lot of fun. I have old pictures of you and I, and I Aisha and a snuggling ghanaba you snuggling and which I'm going to send you guys, but yeah, we, jeez. I just remember, I remember Dave's it bullions from day one, his like drive in his, in his positive energy. And I think that is the thing that ha that has, that has been such a, such a driving in Dave's career is that he just never stops. It comes down to energy and positivity and he's constantly pumping that into the world.

3 (6m 8s):
And I think Dave has known for many, many years that it, you know, that that kind of stuff comes back to you. And I think I was drawn to that in Dave. Yeah. From the giddy-up

1 (6m 20s):
You also recognize somehow that he needed you to take on that, stare you in the eye and tell him you want to get to know him vibe. Did you know that he felt overwhelmed coming back?

3 (6m 32s):
I D I think from my perspective, the thing that drew Dave and I to one another was a sense that, you know, in the theater school at the time that we were all there was such a, there was, so it was a lot of mind fuckery going on. And there was a lot of, I think a lot of us in the acting track, especially I know this was the case throughout the school wanted positive reinforcement from teachers. And sometimes I think my perspective was that people were manufacturing emotions and things to achieve that positive reinforcement. And Dave just seemed to be Dave to me, which I really, really enjoyed and appreciated.

3 (7m 18s):
And yeah. And so I think that was, that was, it was, it was Dave's his, his sort of genuine vibe that I was

4 (7m 30s):
Both of you when I've run into you. I mean, you know, I don't, I live in California now, but I've seen you like at PR and Dave ag ran into you, one set of Starbucks in Chicago, the genuineness is unbelievable. So I, I think you're both fancy and I'm sort of sorry, star struck. I, but when I, but there is this sort of, both of you have this sort of face to face, like, look you in the eye, I'm going to have an actual conversation with you. And I think that makes you not only great, great actors, but what's more important to me is great human beings. And I, I don't know. I'm just so glad tha...