Acting Masterclass with Sean Astin | SAG-AFTRA Foundation

I want to start off, Sean, thank you so much for spending the afternoon with us. I'd love to ask you about really how you came into the industry. Obviously, you were born into an acting family. How do you think that influenced your process? Well, I was born in 1971, before Nepo was a bad thing. The, my, my SAG, then SAG, Legacy SAG card was 1981. So, I sort of have a lot of people in the different boardrooms beat, which is fun. I started young. My mother, Patty Duke had a, yay. Yeah, my mom had a very turbulent life of a thrilling, exciting, powerful life as a dramatic performer. When I came along, I think she really wanted to try and prove that you could work as a young performer and not be subject to some of the trauma that she experienced. She basically came to me when I was, I think, seven or eight years old. They had offered for her to be in an afterschool special, which is, I miss the old afterschool specials. Introduce a subject. It's a problem. It's a crisis. 23 minutes later, boom, taken care of. So, that was it. My first moments performing professionally were my mother, opposite my mother with her saying, that's your mark. Stand on your mark. That's your light. Find your light. You have to know your words. The most powerful lesson that I learned from my mom in that first little thing was, it was so much fun. It was so much fun. There was, it was about child abuse, which is hilarious. But we, so, but, but filming, there was a scene with Nancy McKeon and Lance Gaston. I was off camera and I, someone gave me a hot chocolate and the dolly grip let me sit on the dolly, on the chair. And so I was sitting on a dolly and I was like this, and I said my line and I looked over to my mom and she, she was four foot 11 inch. She stared daggers. I mean, it was like, I thought I was, it took my breath away. And she says, you, you don't do that. I'm like, what? She goes, you be better off camera than you are on camera. You be there for your performers. There's never been, I did a movie once where it was called Boy Meets Girl. We did it in Toronto. Jerry Chikoriti directed it. Emily Hampshire was the star. We were, it was, we were the boy and the girl. And, uh, the night before we started shooting that Jerry, the director, he was a guy who carried himself with a flourish. You know, he had a, he had a scarf and a hat and he, he walked with, you just wanted to be in whatever world he was in, you know? And, and, uh, and he, he gave me a stack of, of tapes, tapes to read, you know, touch of mink and breakfast at Tiffany's and all these kinds of things. And, uh, he, so he had, he had the two of us together, the lead actors. And he said, uh, you know, I just want to know, you know, just to establish a little bit, like which one of you, you know, would like to go first in terms of coverage. I was like, what? Like, this is a conversation I was raised in a, in a world. He's an artist. I mean, he's a beautiful artist. I guess maybe as a director, he was wanting to anticipate any, you know, star tripping that might go on or something like that. And, uh, but you know, I was, I was raised in a world where, you know, you're as a professional actor in a movie or television show, you're supposed to do, you know, give the director what the director's looking for. And, uh, that's your professional responsibility. Uh, and, and so I just thought, well, Jerry, as long as you know that I'm always better off camera, it doesn't matter which direction you go in first. So, uh, anyway, it was one of the most fun shoots of my life. It was, it was great, but, but that's, that's it. My mother gave me as a young performer, she, she rolled out a, uh, a carpet for me to walk on. Um, in fact, for many years of my life, I didn't want to state that being a professional actor was what I would necessarily do when I got older, I was, uh, uh, you know, it's, it's, uh, it's strange when we live in a world where we're all fighting to get the next gig, that the idea that you wouldn't sort of like be so grateful. I was grateful, but I also, I also didn't want to have, uh, my future or my dreams or my identity, uh, put on me by my mom or by growing up in Los Angeles and being in the entertainment industry. Like I was, I was grateful as wonderful as incredible opportunities, but maybe I'd be a teacher. Maybe I'd be in politics or maybe I'd do, you know, be a lawyer. I don't know, like whatever. I just didn't want, it wasn't until I was 18 and I did Memphis bell, uh, Memphis bell. We filmed in England. I graduated from high school, uh, university high school right here in Los Angeles. Uh, uh, I was at crossroads and, and uni, anybody here knows that there's, you know, uh, well, I, when I was at crossroads, I was a year behind Jack black. So yeah, right. It that's how long we got. I can tell you all these stories, but, but, um, but in Memphis, it was this world war two movie, uh, B 17 bomber, true story. Uh, William Wyler, the director, uh, had made this documentary film during the second world war sort of, uh, depicting, you know, or capturing the, the experience of these, uh, you know, army air force, army air corps guys. Um, and David Putnam produced it, David Putnam, you know, chariots of fire and the mission and, uh, so many other amazing films. And he, uh, we were sent, we actors, the 10 American actors who were flown to England to shoot in this on July 3rd, um, 4th of July didn't go as well. And you know, um, but there was research here. We're sending you material. This is, we, we expect you, but when you get off the plane that you have, uh, been, you know, dipped into this experience and the world of these, uh, service members and, and what their life was like. And then we did a real rehearsal process and a training process. And it was, uh, it was a really, you know, it was, it was cinema on a, on a really big scale. David Watkins was the, uh, was the, um, cinematographer who did out of Africa and catch 22. And so, you know, being at Pinewood studios and, you know, like there, it was just, it was a really, it was an important movie. Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, D.B. Sweeney, Harry Connick Jr., uh, Neil Gentoli, Reed Diamond, uh, who else am I missing? Anybody? Courtney Gaines, like it was the 10 guys on the plane. And, uh, at that moment at 18 years old, watching these other people, these other performers, uh, except for Harry Connick, Harry Connick, it was his first movie. He'd never acted before. He's this jazz musician from another planet. And, uh, and he, he was, I remember Michael Caden Jones, the director brought us in and, uh, he said, I want you to, you know, do some backstory for your characters. And, uh, I, I didn't, I, you know, and then he brought us in to sort of test us, but he brought us in in couples. So Harry and I come in and we sit down and he's like, so Sean, where is Rascal? That's my character. Uh, where's, where's Rascal from? And I just started making shit up. I just, I was like, well, you know, I lived in this small town in Missouri and there was a circus that actually came through the town. I went, I like at a certain point, Mike was like, okay, I got enough. And Harry is looking at me like, I don't know how to do that, man. I'm just a jazz musician. But, uh, but these performers, um, and David Strathairn was in it and John Lithgow. And they, they were, uh, these are performers with training. These are performers who had made a commitment, commitment of, you know, a life commitment to this craft and this profession. And that was a defining moment for me about whether or not I was, you know, flirting with all of the different things I might do. And I was like, well, if I'm going to actually, you know, persist, I need to study. Um, I need to study. And I, I was lucky enough to study. I took a masterclass with Stella Adler and some other classes at the Adler, uh, conservatory here and, um, you know, went to, uh, yeah, anyhow, that that's a long answer to a short question. But, but, but you brought up so many things that are so important for actors preparation. Okay. So we're talking about a couple of different things. First of all, it sounds like your mother had taught you a lot about onset behavior, about techniques down there. There's your light, right? This is camera technique, perhaps that she's teaching you. And then you're talking about getting training with Stella Adler, where we're getting into breaking down a script, text analysis, you know, objectives, all of these things, as well as research, right on the job research. So now cut forward, um, so many credits later, how, what is your approach taking all of these tools throughout your experience to let's start with research for a role? Is it intellectual fit? You know, where do you begin? I want to, I have a story to tell. And, uh, this is the place for that. Uh, so, but it's, it's not, um, I don't know if it fits into a box with the way we have these conversations in a, in a masterclass. I'm just going to tell you about an experience that I had and you can take from it what you will, um, which I guess is what we do anyway. But I, so a lot of times when you tell a story, you like build a point and like, this is the point. This one's a little bit strange. So after, after Lord of the Rings, um, my daughter Allie is here, uh, who's getting her PhD in drama and, uh, anthropology. And, uh, I called her this morning and I'm like, there's a story I want to tell, but I'm not sure I should tell it. And I brought it up to her and she goes, dad, you told me that story and it was so good. It's in my dissertation. So it's a good thing. So just, I'm hyping it up right now. Okay. So Lord of the Rings comes out and I'm invited by these graduate students, a student organization at Harvard. Yeah. Ooh, Hey, Ooh, Hey, Ooh. So, uh, to come give a talk about Tolkien, about J.R.R. Tolkien and my experience on Lord of the Rings. So, you know, that feels like at that point felt heavy, felt important, you know, like, man, I'm going to go in, I'm going to, I'm going to be in an academic setting or a university setting and get to bring my, you know, knowledge and experience and stuff. And so we get there and these, these guys, my hosts, you know, the night before they're giving me a tour of Harvard yard and all these things. And they said, you want to see the space where you're going to talk? I'm like, yeah, sure. So we go in and it was the Roosevelt room. And I walked in and I saw this massive portrait of Theodore Roosevelt and I was like, I have to play him in a movie, you know? And when you grow up around a family of actors and my dad, John Aston Gomez, you know, everyone's always saying like, oh, you know, you, you'd be one, you should do, you should play puck where you should play puck. You should, you know what you, you know, Hamlet, you Ophelia, you'd be a perfect Ophelia. And we're always like trying identities on for each other and, and imagining with each other and stuff. So I, and I, I had learned enough from that to, to know that that was a feeling I could have. And, you know, cause somebody, they're always like, I'm doing a one man show of Mark Twain or I'm doing a, so I'm like, someday I'm going to play Roosevelt in the movie. Well, 15 years later or something like that, I'm on the set. And by the way, so my undergrad degree is history and American literature and culture. And so a lot of like, you know, passionate reading about Roosevelt in that time period in our history. And I get cast in Stranger Things and we're filming in Atlanta and I get this call TNT is doing the alienist, uh, in Budapest or something. And one of the most important characters in the book is Roosevelt. And they're starting like in a few days and they don't have their Roosevelt. So I go, so, you know, I'm in, I'm in a scene with the kids or something like that. And I, you know, and cut. I'm like, I'm going to be right back. So I go into my, you know, three banger dressing room and, uh, set up my phone and I call either Allie or Elizabeth or Bella. We have three daughters and we all are readers for each other. The other two basically work for us is the way that works. Um, so, uh, yeah, so we're not going to talk contract negotiations right now. So I do this, uh, this self tape and, you know, you can only see like from here up, it's in the, it's in the dressing room. A lot of us have had this experience. Um, but the scene is really, uh, like just a right down the middle. I get it. You know, I'm feeling the confidence you have when you're working on something, something that's like, you know, doing really well and you carry yourself in a certain way. And, uh, and I get the part and, uh, and I, it was so, but it was like, okay, but you have to leave, you have to fly to Budapest. You're going to shoot like three or four days in the year, come back and finish your scene in Atlanta. And I'm like, I'm in this, you know, let's go, baby. Let's go. It's, it's where things are firing on all cylinders right now. Uh, I read the Caleb Carr book, the alienist. It is an amazing turn of the century book, uh, set in the Southern tip of Manhattan and with all of the, that was going on at that time. And the character of Roosevelt, the historical, it's historical fiction was a part of the New York film, uh, New York, not the New York film commission. That's entirely different. A police commission. He was one of four commissioners and it was, you know, he was making his bones in, in New York as a, as a political, uh, as just kind of a dynamic force. And it's a murder mystery. It's a serial killer mystery. And he ends up, uh, kind of working with the, uh, this strange, uh, mercurial guy. Who's like, you know, kind of like any of the ones we have now where they're solving the crimes in interesting ways. And the journalist who's following him. So it's this kind of three hander. And, um, so I, the book is just incredible and we get on the plane and we're going, I'm flying to Budapest and I hadn't read the script yet. Oh, there we go. There we go. For those of you watching at home, a light murmurs rolled through the crowd in eager anticipation of this story. So, uh, so I, uh, I'm reading it and I'm like, oh no, like I, like what I loved about the book, the people who were telling, making the television show had taken it in a different direction. Uh, they had basically decided that what is a, you know, in the book is this wonderful kind of unlikely conspiratorial relationship where Roosevelt is, um, showing his kind of forward is, you know, thinking about allowing some, this kind of like research to go on that wouldn't normally happen. Uh, while, and so he's, he's, his reputation, you know, he's very combative guy and, uh, and they, you know, the cartoonists, you know, will savage you. And if you're, if you're seen to be doing something weird and creepy like this. So, but there was something about the relationship of those three characters that was so special to me. And as I'm reading the script, I'm like, oh no, he's, he's chosen to make Roosevelt a bit of an antagonist at the beginning to give them a little bit of conflict to push against like a totally legitimate, uh, you know, interpretation of the, the people who made the show or their, their geniuses. But I was like, I, I couldn't not, I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop the true feeling I was having like, oh no. So we, they wanted to, uh, I land, I go right to wardrobe. Uh, you know, the Neds pier, pier, what a Pence glasses on and, uh, and you know, the thing, you know, whatever. And you, the, everything about this production was world-class. I mean, all of the props and all of the costumes and the sets, they rebuilt lower Manhattan in 1900 in Budapest. And you were like, you could watch the horses go by and you could see, it was just incredible. So, uh, so I do all that kind of stuff, no rehearsal, no nothing. I was like, went from, you know, zero to a thousand in one second. And the showrunner invites me to, uh, let, let's get a drink or let's, you know, let's meet tonight before you go to work tomorrow. So we meet and I'm sort of tired, uh, from traveling and working, whatever. And I'm not quite on my toes, uh, you know, interpersonally or like, you know, social politically or whatever. And, uh, and he goes, so how are you? And he's good. He said, do you got the script? I was like, yeah, no, I got the script. I got the script. And he said, what do you think? I was like, well, well, the, it's the relationship is, and I'm trying to do the analysis in my head about what it is that's actually they've achieved or they're going for and what I had was so excited about. So, uh, and he hit me hard right out of it. He goes, well, that's what the way it's going to be. And I was like, Whoa, I like, I didn't, what happened? Like just something, the earth just shifted under my feet. So I go to work the next day and, um, the director is lovely. And the other actors, Luke, uh, uh, Luke Skywalker. No, uh, no, but just the, the other actors were wonderful. And we go to do the scene and we're staging the scene in this little office. And it's just a box. The room is just a tiny box with a desk in it. And I had all these historical pictures. Oh, I forgot. One of the coolest things, one of the coolest things was in between the time of being from Atlanta to, um, Budapest, I went to Harvard back to Harvard these years later at that time, Allie was finishing her undergrad, uh, experience at Harvard. Harvard houses the Roosevelt library. So she goes, dad, I can set up like a private viewing for you of like Roosevelt artifacts. And I was like, Whoa, yeah. So we, we get in there and she, and, and they have them out on the table and you're looking at like his diaries and like these photos and certain things she, she had told the curator, uh, what period I was interested in. And so you could, you just couldn't, I mean, Siri and what chat couldn't do like this kind of research. And, uh, and it felt, I felt like I was carrying with me the weight of, or not the weight in from a, uh, responsibility, but I felt like I was standing on important ground as a, as a, as an ambassador of the nature of depicting a historical figure. I had, I had the passion for a long time. I had the education to back it up. I have experience. Now I've got this like competitive advantage in like the acting preparation, uh, Olympics where from, from this, this university. So when I get there, I was, I kind of felt, I didn't feel cocky. I was humble. I felt humble. I was grateful, but I felt empowered by my background. Okay. So now the first day of shooting, we start to do it. And I literally don't know where to stand. And I, I don't know, I'm not sure you were like, you want to go over there? Like, okay, sure. I'll go over there. And you learn in your career. A lot of times you're doing procedural shows or whatever. It doesn't matter. Just go there, stand there. You're fine. You're going to be fine. You know what? Just like own it. It doesn't leave. I'm not sure when I sit, but I stand, it doesn't matter. Just like I can sit or stand. So, uh, so, but, but in this moment I was like, you know, um, I wasn't feeling the pressure of being on a big marquee show. I wasn't feeling the pressure of, uh, depicting a historical character where, you know, when you watch a show like, oh, so-and-so did, uh, you know, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Day Lewis did Abraham Lincoln, you know, it's like, oh, he set the bar for Abraham Lincoln and tons of actors have done Abraham Lincoln. So, but so, you know, you're going to be scrutinized. That was the pressure was coming from inside the house. The pressure was coming from the fact that there was something that I felt I was connected to with the book that I wasn't connected to with the script. And the other thing was language. The, um, there's a recording that survives of Teddy Roosevelt. He stands in the great state of the United States of America and is a ranked debater. You know, and it's like, it's, it's sped up because it's weird old, you know, audio and stuff, but it sounds like the, and, and he, and he also was known for being pugnacious and his, his, his vocabulary was, you know, like truncated words and stuff like that. And, uh, and the way that they had written the dialogue was, it was kind of ornate, you know, it was like, it was, it was, it was well-written that it made sense. It was mellifluous in its way, but it was just not Teddy Roosevelt. And, uh, I feel like I should transition in my Stella story, but anyhow, I'll finish that. I'll finish this story. I'll finish this story. So, so I basically couldn't get through the lines. I mean, I got through the lines. I'm a professional, but they were really hard to memorize when I can go out for an episode of law and order and they can give me, or I, there was one, one procedure they were going to do LA, uh, no LA suits LA or something, one of those. And it was like an eight pages of dialogue audition. And it was with the casting director in person. Let's just have a moment of reflection on that. And, uh, and I, I looked at it and in, in, you know, 20 minutes, I had all eight pages fully memorized. Uh, again, Elizabeth or Bella daughters would run the dialogue with me, but I felt so calm and comfortable. I went in, had a great time with the casting director. It was the person with the video, her and me, and I came in a hundred percent prepared. She was a hundred percent prepared and generous. And we worked, we did the scene. She's like, okay, well you don't, you wouldn't know this, but this is what's just happened. Oh, okay. Let's do it again. Work with it. Do you feel good? I felt great. Great. No problem in Budapest, a little paragraph like that. I was struggling and struggling and struggling to memorize it. And it's because something inside of me knew it wasn't right. And I did, at least for me, it wasn't right. And so I was like, you know, I did it and everyone else was fine. But I, I went to Atlanta to do those last few scenes, went to LA to visit my family, got a call from my manager saying, Hey, I got a really distressing call just now. And I was like, I'm not going back to finish. And he goes, no. I was like, whew, he goes, wait, he goes, you okay? I said, I'm relieved, man. I mean, I would have gone there and gutted it out and done whatever they wanted me to do and look the way I'm supposed to look and sounded the way I'm supposed to sound and done the meter and the pace and the time and the emotions I would have done everything I'm supposed to do as a professional actor. But frankly, it felt wrong. It felt wrong. I didn't feel right. And, and the dude, he gave me an opportunity to try to fix it. He had me to his apartment like the night before I left. And he was like, just remember you're Roosevelt. You go into that room, you can walk where you want. You can, you can do, you can own, you know, he has a command presence. And in a weird way, the way he was saying it to me, it was all right. It was all accurate, valid direction for the character. But what I was feeling was like, I can't come in and like impose. I can't like exude Roosevelt to solve a problem that the TV show is having. I it's the, I'm going to work with the actors. I'm going to work with the camera. I'm going to do, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, perform and deliver what you guys want. But, you know, you can't, you know, you can't just pose, you know, and what I found myself doing on the, the, I think I shot two days. The second day, what I found myself doing was getting super like small and little moves and looking and making sure that I didn't do anything that didn't feel right. And so it was like being in a box and stuck. So anyhow, it was the other actors sent me messages. The director called and he was so sorry. And I was relieved and they cast another actor who turned out. I watched it. It was a good show. It was a good movie. I think the problem with it was that our TV show, it was is that there are so many similar types of serial crime dramas that like the coolest part about like, it'd be a better like, go to, go to, go to a theme park and walk through the sets that they built. Like they, they made the experience so good. And Caleb Carr, I hope he liked, you know, I hope it's anyhow. So, so preparation to me, like you can, you can see is, is an organic. Yeah. Which probably differs for every role. But I think that is an incredible lesson for actors when you think about what was right for you, because something like that could be crippling for somebody, but, but you, you know, it wasn't right. And you know, you'd done the research and you knew you were right. I was trying, I was, professionals need to know, like whatever you feel is important for your character is important, but if someone's paying you to do a job, you have to go there and deliver what it is they they're hiring you for. So don't take the job. I, I, I, the, the thing was, I didn't read the script beforehand. It was a question of things moving too fast. I swear with all the money that they offered and all of the cachet that was going to come from being that and all the glory of, or the gloriousness of working with, with those ideas and with those actors and those sets and everything else, I would have turned it down. I would, and it would have been another, like, that would have been the first one. It would have been the first one that I turned down when it went on to be successful. Everyone's like, do you ever turn something down that went on to be successful? It's like, nope. I've auditioned for a lot of stuff I didn't get, you know, but yeah. I want to talk to you a little bit because you've worked in so many mediums about the difference and if there is a difference, I mean, you have so many brilliant characters and you talk about the scrutiny of playing a well-known one. You know, I was thinking about likening Raphael to Hamlet, just because the same thing. So many people have played this character. Are you particularly trying to distinguish yourself from somebody else's performance or it's exactly the same in terms of finding the truth for yourself in this person so that you can inhabit them? Raphael as Hamlet. Come on! Same, same. To be or not to be? That's the question, Leo! Well, there's no one in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune! There's no one in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune! Okay, so I think what you're referring to is the fact that Rob Paulson, the extraordinary actor and, you know, legendary voiceover performer, played, who is the voice of Raphael in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In the 2012 iteration, Nickelodeon iteration, he played Leonardo and I got cast as Raphael. So I'm sitting here with the microphone and OG Raphael is sitting right here. So every time I would do something, Stop talking and start fighting! I'd look over at him and he'd be like... Mmm. I mean, mimicry is, there's a place for mimicry. Sometimes, you know, what an audience really wants to see or what, you know, is, you want to give, you want to give that. But with, you know, with that, it's comic books and it's movies and it's things and the character is so, it's so established in the, its identity is established in the hearts of children for generations. So it doesn't matter how you do your voice necessarily. Like, if it's just like this or just like that, you just go in there and do it. That one, that was another one. I was playing Special Agent Oso. It's all part of the plan. Special Agent Oso was a Disney Playhouse thing that I did for two years. And I was walking out of the Burbank recording studio one day and I, the agent said, do you, what, do you like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? And I said, of course, love it. They're like, well, they, they found, I get a lot of parts like this. They found, they're about to start recording on Monday. They have the other three turtles. They don't have Raphael. They love the idea of you. But you got to go over there right now and audition. I'm like, let's go right over to Nickelodeon. So I go to Nickelodeon and there's more people in the, in the area, in the engineer space behind the glass, I say, than as they could fit comfortably. Because they have, it's a big tent pole thing for them. And I walk in and they all look at you and you're like, hey, hey, how's it going? And I get in, uh, into the booth and there's a few scenes and I do the first line of dialogue and I look behind the, uh, you look through the glass and they're all, it's like the Superbowl and I, and their team just scored a touchdown. I've done like, like one, I didn't even do anything yet. Like I barely started and they were so relieved. All they, all they needed was to hear the sound. Did it sound right? Come on. That's it. That's, that's Raphael. So, uh, so I walked out and called my agent and they were like, well, how'd it go? How'd it go? I said, if I don't get this job, I have to quit the business because, or actually quit like I, my powers of observation were clearly wrong. So that was a good one. Oh, I got more casting stories. What do you want to know? Well, so this is the point where I invite you to come back for a career retrospective because we have so many stories to tell and, and we need you to teach the masterclass today. But right before we move, I do want to just cover a little bit of ground because we spoke about the sides that we were going to give the actors for the masterclass today. And it was really important for you that they tackle political conundrums or scenes or sides. And I wonder if you just have something that you can share with us before we begin about the nature of presidency, the idea of presidency. Yeah. Thank you. So yeah, I know when we first started talking, it was like, well, should, should, like, how do you make it interesting to do a master master's class? And, and like, do you do scenes from your own movies? That's weird. So I thought, well, I'm the president of the union now. And I was, I told this story of an epic fail with me playing a president. I personally love some of my favorite films are depicting presidents and government. And, and so I thought, I thought it would be sort of thematically interesting to, to suggest some of those, some of the, I don't know if we keep it as a secret from them what's coming up or if they're supposed to know, but, but they, they one of the, one of the scenes is from a film that actually I got my master's degree in public administration and public policy. And this movie, what I did three weeks and a big essay, you know, deconstructing this, the, the policy ramifications of this particular movie and the scene is there. So I, I just feel like, you know, we live in interesting times. And one of the things about SAG-AFTRA that is a policy decision that we've made as a union is not to is to try hard not to be a partisan in our approach. And that is right now proving extremely useful as we're trying to get this federal tax incentive. So I just put that out there. But whether you love what's happening in America right now with the, with the current occupant of the White House, with the presidency, with President Trump, there is no arguing that American historian, that historians, world historians will be studying this moment in time for centuries because of the way in which it's different from all the presidencies that have come before it. So I think it's cool to take a moment to just kind of like reflect on what that role is, what that role means to us, what that, what the function is, not just the, not just the, the governing realities that are present, you know, the signing of legislation and the managing of wars, but, but like, you know, we, there's iconography, there is mythology, there is, there's a lot about the American project that is, you know, up for consideration. And for whatever reason, human nature, you look to the chief executive role and somehow that carries a lot of weight. And so I think it's great for us to inhabit it and play with it and think about it and enjoy it and be scared of it. And yeah, so that's why I wanted to do that. Yeah, not a, not a better time ever than to jump into this acting class. So Sean, thank you so much for being with us.