Dennis
Hi, I’m Dennis VanDerGinst join me in a series of entertaining and interesting conversations with entertaining and interesting people. We’ll explore various aspects of the human experience and what makes life more fun. This is Uncommon Convos.

Dennis
Welcome, everyone. Thanks for tuning in. I’m Dennis VanDerGinst here, as usual with my lovely co-host Dana Watkins.

Dennis
And before I get started, I’d like to ask all of you to be sure to like and subscribe to Uncommon Convos wherever you get your podcasts.

Dennis
Also, you can simply go to uncommonconvos.com to register, watch video of the interviews, suggest guests and leave other comments. That way you won’t miss out on conversations that we have with great guests like the one that we have today.

Dennis
Jason London is an artist, singer, writer, producer, and actor, probably best known for roles in such movies as The Man in the Moon, Dazed and Confused and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. But he’s been in dozens of productions and is currently involved in an exciting new project that I’m sure we’re going to talk about.

Dennis
I’ve been happy to call Jason a great friend for about 12 years and we’ve seen some highs and lows in that time.

Dennis
So it’s a lot of fun…

Jason
Yeah we sure have.

Dennis
…to have him here now. Thanks, buddy, for being here. Good to see you.

Jason
Oh, man, thanks for having me, brother. This is cool that you’re doing this.

Dennis
Yeah, it’s kind of fun. Like I mentioned off camera, before we got started, it’s it’s a little strange kind of preparing to interview somebody that you’ve known for so long and try to think of things that might be interesting to the, the folks that don’t know you. So we’re going to do our best.

Dennis
But along those lines, the first I’m going to throw the softball at you right now. The first question.

Jason
Yes, please give me the softball.

Dennis
The softball question is going to be for you to come up with your own question, for yourself to answer.

Jason
I guess, I guess, I guess it would be can you maybe not take things so seriously?

Dennis
There you go.

Jason
You know.

Dana
That’s a good one.

Jason
I think that there’s a lot of times, especially in the past, as I’m getting older, I’m able to let things roll off of my back a little easier than I used to. I used to get really super melodramatic about stuff. And I now I just find it like just so much nicer to be able to go, OK, well, this is the situation. This is what it is.

Dennis
I’m glad you say that because I actually made a note to myself. We’ve obviously had a lot of fun over the years and, you know, a little bit of partying here and there.

Jason
Yeah.

Dennis
But the one thing that has always stuck in my mind when I asked, you know, describe, well, what’s Jason like? It’s always been, he’s intense.

Jason
Yeah, well, especially I mean, you saved my you know, remember Christmas, I mean.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
Just we had a weird experience where thank goodness he was there for me during. I was kind of abandoned during a Christmas at one point. And he was, you know, luckily I was there with him and got to stay with him and his beautiful family. And it was a really emotional time. So they got, they had babysat me for a few days while I was insanely emotional.

Dennis
Yeah, well.

Jason
Yeah, that was crazy.

Dennis
That, you know, obviously our pleasure. Not, you know, nothing that would not be expected under those circumstances.

Jason
It was just I mean, it was literally like, you guys are your angels. I mean, I can’t imagine if, if it hadn’t happened. I don’t know what I would have done.

Dennis
Well, I appreciate that. And there’s a lot of things I obviously want to kind of explore with you today. But before we get kind of deep in it, I want to make sure that the audience gets acquainted with you on some level. So beginning with, you know, I’m not going to be your psychotherapist here, but but I do want to start with your childhood.

Jason
You wouldn’t even want to try that.

Dennis
No. Right. But I, but I do want to start with your beginning in, in acting. And you know, what some people may not realize is that you have an identical twin, Jeremy, who’s also an actor, and you’ve both had some great successes and some some tragedies.

Jason
Yeah. We’ve had some crazy stuff happened. But we’ve had some amazing, wonderful, incredible things happen as well.

Dennis
Yeah. So talk a little bit first about your relationship with Jeremy. And, and what I’m leading up to is, is how you got your first big break.

Jason
I tell you what, I it would, if it wasn’t for Jeremy, I wouldn’t we wouldn’t be talking right now. What happened was we had, we had signed with this agency, like just to do like some modeling and things like that, like little commercials, things like that. I never really thought about anything.

Jason
And the guy that ran it, David Payne, that ran the agency was his agency, he actually was really dear friends with a woman named Sherry Rhodes, who was actually given the job as the casting director on a movie called The Man in the Moon.

Jason
And the director was Robert Mulligan, who was the director of To Kill a Mockingbird and Summer of, Summer of 42, Up the Down Staircase, and a few other things. And the, his thing was that he, just like he did in To Kill a Mockingbird, he doesn’t want kids that have acted ever before. He wants them to just be fresh and real, because he says once they once they do a movie, then they become a professional and they sort of lose their childishness or whatever.

Jason
So they auditioned across the southern United States about, probably about 40,000 kids, something like that. And Jeremy wanted to go. I had a car at the time and Jeremy didn’t. And Jeremy wanted, he was like, can I, you know, borrow your car and go to this audition? I’m like, no, I’ve got a date with my girlfriend tonight. I’ll drive you down there, but make it fast.

Jason
And so we, we drive there and we show up and it’s like American Idol it’s like 2,000 people there.

Jason
And I’m like, you gotta be kidding me right now. OK, well, I guess I’m not, you know, going on my date tonight. And so I just wanted to was just like I was like, just go in and get it done, dude, try to get out, you know, as fast as you can because I got to go.

Jason
And so I just, I sat there and I watched and I wasn’t going to audition for it at all. Jerry was interested in it. But I sat there and I watched, you know, dozens and dozens and dozens of guys do the same couple scenes over and over and over again.

Jason
And I guess I was just really judgmental. I just kept going. No, no, that’s not how you do it. That’s, what are you doing? You’re doing it wrong. So I said to Jeremy. I’m like, dude, you know? Because, of course, it was the you know, the theater crowd, which, you know, it was more of the, it was the guys that are on the sort of the other side of the fence as far as being a farm boy, whatever, they were completely not.

Jason
And so I just said to my brother, I’m like dude, I mean, you know, we’re farm kids. You’ve got this. And Jeremy went up and he did a he did a good job. But I think that he was just you can just see he was a little nervous.

Jason
And so I was like, you know what, I I’ve got the lines memorized already. I’ve seen dozens of people do it. Hell, I’m here. So, like, really not really caring, I went up and did it and we left. And it was probably about I guess it was probably about four or five weeks later the, our phone rings and, you know, back before cell phones, all that. So, you know, whenever your landline rings at midnight, something’s wrong with grandma.

Dennis
Sure.

Jason
You know, or something’s going on, you know? And so the the the phone rang late at night. And, you know, of course, my first thing was like, oh no, you know, something, did something bad happen?

Jason
And I go and I pick up the phone and it’s David Payne saying, Is this Jason London? I go, Yeah. Well he goes, is this the movie star, Jason London? And that’s how I found out that I got the part in The Man in the Moon.

Dennis
Nice.

Dana
What did you brother say?

Jason
My first audition, first audition, ever went on, first audition. Got the role.

Dana
Was your brother mad?

Jason
No, not at all, because he was so excited that, because he didn’t get it. So at least at least somebody did in the family, right? And also, he was my he was my stuntman. He was my photo double. He he’s actually got a close up in the movie. This is a little Easter egg in the movie that people that know us love to see it.

Jason
But there’s a scene where Reese Witherspoon and I are we have to go into town to get some, I think, some salt for ice cream. And they actually just took a B unit crew out and shot with my brother. And he’s, that’s actually him, it’s not me.

Dennis
That’s funny.

Jason
People never, we looked a lot, we don’t look so much alike anymore, but we look a lot alike.

Dennis
Now that was in ’91.

Jason
Yeah.

Dennis
Then by 93, then comes Dazed and Confused. Now was Dazed and Confused, really like a direct result of the success of The Man in the Moon or how’d that?

Jason
Oh, no, no, no. I had to. They didn’t know me from Adam. What they did was we had we were at Universal. Don Phillips, who was the casting director, had his office there.

Jason
And what it was, is that they they brought in it was probably 40 of us for an all day, like, mix and match thing.

Jason
And they got pizza for us, you know, the little pizza party kind of thing or whatever and, and so as you kept auditioning during the day, if you were still left, you were still left.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
So at a certain point, at a certain point, Richard Linklater comes out and he goes, hey, you guys are still here, you’re my cast. And so it was a really fun day of it was a really fun day, because what they did is they basically had every guy read for what my role was Pink, and they had every girl read for the role of Jodi. And then what they would do is they would see their characters like, you know, who who they were as people, and then they would assign them to the roles that they had in the movie.

Jason
And then they would come back in and they would audition on those those scenes. And so luckily, I got to be the one that got to just keep doing the same thing that everybody else was doing.

Dennis
Well, you know, and for the audience, those of those of the audience who are not familiar and I can’t imagine there are many but Dazed and Confused, probably a few years ago, I would have said was had this great cult following.

Dennis
But frankly, it’s become, I think, a piece of mainstream movie Americana.

Jason
Yeah. It’s kind of iconic at this point. It’s ridiculous.

Dennis
It really has been. And Jason, has, plays one of the leads, Randall Pink Floyd, the high school quarterback who’s, you know, the epitome of, of teenage angst and rebellion and all that.

Jason
And remember, like, I was young. I’m like I’m almost 50 now, so.

Dennis
He still looks young. But, yeah, this is also Matthew McConaughey’s first movie. Ben Affleck’s in it. Great cast.

Jason
And another great thing about it, people don’t realize is that Renee Zellweger, you know, two time Oscar winner was essentially an extra. And I mean, she she was kind of part of the girls groups. And then it was one time when she walks by and I kind of look, you know, give me a look on her butt or whatever, something like that.

Jason
But that was, that was it, and then look where she turned out.

Dennis
You know, and a few months ago, I think I might have mentioned this to you. You had the table read. I guess as kind of a fundraiser. And I sat in, I got in on the tail end of it, but it was so cool to see so many. I mean, most of the cast seemed to be back to do the table read.

Jason
It was so much fun.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
It was. And I for some reason, I don’t know what was going on technically, but my, the, because what they do is they shut your mic off while somebody else is talking so that they can do it. But for some reason man kept opening up and I was laughing. I was enjoying it so much that it’s completely covered in me laughing the whole time. Yeah. There could be worse problems I guess.

Dennis
Yeah. It seemed to me, and again, I missed the beginning of it, but it seemed to me that most of the leads, except for Ben Affleck, who by the way, who, Ashton Kutcher.

Jason
No it was well, and I had just an incredible moment with Ashton Kutcher. I mean, he just, the dude made me cry. He, he was, he was so genuine. And, you know, to have somebody that’s reached the success that he has and he basically said that I was sort of his inspiration for being an actor.

Dennis
And I think he said he basically followed your lead as far as That 70s Show, right?

Jason
Right. He was basically, he basically that, you know, if you look at, you know, my character in Dazed and Confused and you look at him in That 70s Show, he was basically, he was basically playing the sort of, you know, dumb, dorky version of Pink. But but he was brilliant in that. And he really just it was it was just wonderful. It was that was so cool to to get to do that.

Dennis
That was very cool. So as you’re making the movie, did you have any sense of how impactful it was going to be at that point?

Jason
No. The answer is no. In fact, I don’t think anyone realized it. And a lot of people called it you know, it was an Linkletter’s sophomore slump. It was his second film. And it just kind of, just bombed, because they didn’t do there was no way to do great publicity for it.

Jason
I mean, even the trailers for it on TV were obscure. You were like, what kind of movie is this? I don’t I don’t get it. And so it actually didn’t really do very well in the theater. In fact, it didn’t do well at all. But what happened was by word of mouth and people that actually did see it and people that did appreciate it, they started telling their friends.

Jason
And then before you know it, every every college dorm in the country had it. You know, it wasn’t like, it wasn’t, it wasn’t it was the one where they were. They were they would not take it back to Blockbuster. They would rent it and just go, well, well, we’ll we’ll pay the fine. We’ll pay the fee. Yeah.

Jason
And so, yeah. So every like every dorm. And so that’s how it caught fire. And then once it caught fire it became, it became what it is.

Dennis
Yeah. You know, and I told you I think before we started today that I had read an article where they were talking about you and your brother Jeremy having been kind of the, the epitome of this rebellious teen angst ridden character in these 90s movies and television.

Dennis
And they were trying to basically examine, well, why is it why is it that they’re not doing more big, big budget productions now? And they you know, basically, I think what they had observed was, well, first of all, you guys, you are that that 90s, that 90s…

Jason
Yeah, yeah. That was a different thing. And also, remember, we were we were doing movies whenever it was actually made on film. And what happened was digital. When digital came in, it, it really changed the dynamics of everything. And then the worst thing in the world is the Internet and pop culture popularity. If you have, you’re more likely to get a big studio movie now if you have like a million followers on Instagram rather than having talent.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
And so it’s a combination of those things is really what happened with a lot of us. And another thing, too, is that people need to realize is that, you know, I’ve made over 100 projects since the Dazed and Confused. I work all the time. And I’m Executive Producer and creator of a TV show right now that we’re doing right here in town.

Dennis
Yup and that’s exactly where I wanted to go with this is the fact that, you know, this might be the outsider looking in and not realizing you’ve both been very successful. And we’ll talk a little bit about that. And I think it’s important that people understand that regardless of the, of the trials and tribulations you go through, especially in light of the last year with the pandemic, the political divisiveness and all that type of thing, you can rebound. You can kind of set yourself, you know.

Jason
You have to I mean, you can you know, everybody goes through crazy stuff. And, you know, my brother and I definitely have both gone through our trials and tribulations, as you say. And you can, either it can bury you or you can grow from it. And and we’ve both, you know, I guess the stubbornness in us would never let us give up, you know?

Jason
There’s, like my brother’s a hustler, man. I’m so impressed with him. I mean, he he’s not even really making films and stuff right now. He’s, he’s, he’s got this incredible, beautiful garden. He’s, he’s got a cooking channel on YouTube. He’s got, he’s got this incredible pepper jelly that he makes that he’s killing it with it’s called London’s Most Wanted Pepper Jelly. There’s a hot one and a sweet one. It’s incredible. You guys get to try it. It’s amazing.

Dennis
There’s the plug.

Jason
Yeah, right. No no, I’m going to say honestly, I mean, it’s it’s incredible. I mean, it really is incredible. And I’m so impressed with that. And he’s making this like beautiful art, artisanal breads and stuff like that. Like what are you doing man?

Jason
But he’s really been enjoying doing that. He’s met a great gal. He’s up, just north of, I live right on the coast in Mississippi, in Ocean Springs. And he’s he’s up just north of Jackson up there in Madison. And they just, they’ve got a great life. And he’s just really he’s really kicking butt right up there right now.

Jason
And he also does you know, we have an acting school. And so he’s doing a, you know, Zoom acting classes and stuff like that.

Dennis
Now, is is the Zoom just because the Covid, I mean.

Jason
Yes, yeah.

Dennis
Normally it would be live.

Jason
Yeah, exactly. But whenever, that’s how I how I came down here was, you know, I was living in L.A. for like almost 30 years. And my brother came down here to Ocean Springs and he started this acting school and he and a couple of his students wrote this really funny, clever little short film called Monsters Anonymous.

Jason
And you can watch that, that’s another plug. And, and so he he just asked me to come out and help him help him do it and help him make it. So I came out I was his assistant director on it, basically. And, but what happened was I just fell in love with the, down here in the bayou, on the coast with the, we’ve got the water right here. We’ve got all of these beautiful little, you know, waterways, airboats, you know, shrimp.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
Lots of craw, lots of crawfish. The food, the food is amazing down here.

Dennis
Oh, yeah, for sure.

Jason
And we’re right near Biloxi. I’m not like I’m not a casino guy, but if you want casinos, you get tons of them there.

Dennis
Right. Well, you know, you kind of alluded to the fact that, you know, Jeremy’s been through it and he’s come out the other end doing well for himself.

Jason
Yeah.

Dennis
You’ve been through it, too. You had the issues a few years ago, you know, and also actually fairly recently, you got, got jumped.

Jason
Yeah.

Dennis
Let’s talk about that.

Jason
So ridiculous. So, like November 20th, we’re out, I’m at a friend’s birthday party at a restaurant nearby here. And, you know, we’re all just having a great time or whatever, and I was, I live right nearby. They wanted to go somewhere else. And I was like, well, I’m tired. I’d like to just go home if, if somebody could just drop me off at my place. You guys go on.

Jason
So go out to the parking lot and get in the car. And just as I’m pulling my seatbelt on the door, the door opens up and a human, a man that I’ve never seen, never talked to, never met in my entire life, just smashed me in the mouth. Broke all my teeth out, and that’s why that’s why my lips looks like that right now, had 18 stitches.

Dana
That’s crazy.

Jason
I had a brain bleed that kept me in the hospital for two days and kept had to do these neurological scans on me, like every six hours or something like that.

Dennis
Wow.

Jason
Yeah. Broke a couple of ribs. I have from the thing that happened in Arizona eight years ago, I have a titanium plate under my eye and right near that there was I had two many fractures as well. So the guy the guy could have killed me. And this was the thing is crazy about it is that these are both of these incidents or people I had never seen met, talked to in my life. And I have a very punchable face, apparently.

Jason
I don’t know what the deal is with that. And I don’t I’m not and I’m definitely not one of those people that goes out and starts stuff with people. I mean, I’m the you know me, bud, you know me.

Dennis
Oh yeah.

Jason
I’m a lover. I’m not a fighter.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
I’ve never been I’ve never been an aggro, like, aggressive, you know, talk crap kind of person. It’s just, you know, when it comes down to it, because I’ve you know, I’ve had to have some therapy about this. You know, there’s a there’s a jealousy that happens.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
There’s a there’s a thing that happens with someone maybe not being super happy with their life and for some reason thinking that my life is some sort of magical miracle or whatever. And they don’t understand that I deal with the same crap that everybody else does. You know?

Jason
You know, I’ve done a lot of I’ve done independent movies my whole life. I’ve never, you know, I’m not a rich guy. But for some reason in their brain.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
They they there’s something that makes them want to punch me.

Dana
That’s, that’s…

Dennis
What were you gunna say, Dana?

Dana
No, is that what it was over, just jealousy?

Jason
I mean, honestly I don’t know. I’m just trying to, on a psychological level I’ve tried to figure out where it came from because it’s happened it happened to me eight years ago in Arizona and then it happened to me on November 20th this last year. And these were human beings I’ve never said a word to, never talk to, never seen, I couldn’t pick them out right now, I couldn’t pick them out of a lineup. And it was it’s so there’s got to be something sort of some sort of psychological reason that they’re feeling that sort of need to take it out on somebody, you know.

Jason
And he was in, he was you, of course, he was arrested. And Mississippi’s a weird, weird state when it comes to stuff like that. They don’t, the D.A. doesn’t really prosecute. They have what they call a grand jury and they have a bunch of strangers come in and you go in and you you sort of tell your side of the story and then they decide what they’re going to charge the guy with. And that if you saw the pictures of what the guy did to me, you know, even the D.A. himself was like, this is clearly a felony, you know, assault. Nope.

Dana
Oh, my gosh.

Jason
The grand jury, the grand jury didn’t see enough evidence to charge him with a felony. So I now have to go civilly and all of that crap and have to go after the because he was working at the restaurant at the time, came out of that, came out of the restaurant where he was working out to do this to me. So I’m going to have to try to see if I can go after them, I guess.

Jason
And it’s nothing, that’s not something I want to do. It’s just I don’t think I have.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
Somebody’s got to pay these damn hospital bills.

Dennis
Dana, do you have any suggestions for what he should do as far as that?

Dennis
I mean, I know one. I know of a personal injury attorney, if you need assistance there.

Jason
Do you know one in Mississippi?

Dana
I haven’t an in. I don’t know. He seems to know a lot of people.

Jason
If he knows somebody in Mississippi, I could sure use the help.

Dennis
You know I can help you wherever you’re at.

Jason
Yeah, I know that.

Dennis
But no, in all seriousness, you know, we would be happy to talk to you about that later.

Jason
Yeah. You know, you know, it’s the thing is that I’ve tried to this time I’ve said, you know, I’m not going to let it affect my quality of life. The one that happened eight years ago, whenever it happened, it really, it really screwed me up because there was a lot of things that came along with that, that the when you know, whenever you, when, basically when you get your brains bashed in, you know, you poop yourself. And that did happen. And the police ended up making a thing out of it and sent it to TMZ.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
And TMZ, kind of, TMZ had a field day with it. And the thing that they don’t understand is that, that none of that, the way that they the story that they have is completely wrong. You know, I basically went from being basically almost dead on the ground to being thrown into a cop car.

Dennis
You were…

Jason
So all the other stuff was like ridiculous.

Dennis
You went from being victimized to being villainized and.

Jason
Yeah, yeah. And yeah. And there’s the thing is that, you know, there’s nothing I could do about it.

Dennis
Yeah, well, we should, we should mention you’ve been exonerated and have had, you know, everything fall in your favor as far as all the aftermath.

Jason
So I got a settlement, my charges, all the charges were dropped. They tried to make some charges against me for some stupid reason. Charges were dropped. I was I got a settlement. And not that I saw any of it, thanks attorneys.

Jason
Not now, but, you know, you know, in that sense of it. But, you know, TMZ is never going to tell anybody that the charges were dropped or that I was exonerated. They like the I pooped myself story.

Dennis
Right. Right. And one of the unfortunate long term problems that came from that is, of course, people do a search on Google for Jason London. And for a long time, that was…

Jason
The very first thing that comes up is that stupid mugshot.

Dennis
Right. Now it doesn’t anymore. It’s been it’s been pushed…

Jason
Oh, really?

Dennis
Yeah, it’s been pushed down considerably. Yes.

Jason
What? Oh my God. Thank you. I’m gunna cry right now.

Dennis
Keep pushing it down. But, you know, I wanted to kind of circle back to something that we’d discussed about you mentioned all the independent films that you’ve done and you’ve had some successful ones. And one, you did a mini series that I love that, Jason and the Argonauts.

Jason
Jason and the Argonauts, yeah.

Dennis
And one of the things I loved about that was that it also starred Dennis Hopper, who is a personal favorite.

Jason
One of the great honors of my life.

Dennis
Absolutely. And so along with Dennis Hopper, and I know you mentioned that he was it was a thrill to work with him. Who are some of some of your favorite actors that you’ve worked with over the over the years?

Jason
Oh, goodness. So, you know, there’s too many to actually name. But what I will say is, I guess on an honor level, I mean, Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard and I got to, you know, be in like Zach Galifianakis’ second movie, you know, I got to be in McConaughey’s very first movie. I got to be in that. I got to be on film with him the very first time he was ever on film. Reese Witherspoon, you know, Sam, Sam, Sam Waterston. There’s, there’s so many, Ed Asner like I could I could literally keep going, like I if I keep thinking about it, like, I’ll just go and go and go because there’s so many times where I’ve been blown away.

Jason
I got to do the last, the last scene that Peter Boyle ever did. I got to be with him in a movie and I got to do his last scene he ever did before he passed away.

Dana
Are you still with any of the people?

Jason
Well, you know, when people are working as much as we work, like, it’s basically one of those things. It’s kind of like with me and Dennis, like we could go a year without talking, it’s like yesterday when we talk. So it’s basically how it is with us as well as I could. Just whenever the time comes where we get to actually see each other, got to cross paths. It’s just it’s just like time, you know, just stood still and we’re fine.

Jason
You know, what you do is, is there’s just this incredible joy that comes from, watching people’s careers explode and watch, watch where they go and what they’re doing, and, you know, that first day that McConaughey came in and just being his normal self, and then as soon as he sort of went into character, his sort of eyes dropped like, hey.

Dana
Yeah, yeah.

Jason
And as soon as he went into that, I was just like, oh, we’re seeing we’re seeing something special.

Jason
Yeah. And I said, Dude, I don’t know what it is, but you’ve already you obviously got it. And I just said to him, I can’t wait to watch, can’t wait to watch what happens with your career. And then of course, it’s, I never imagined that it would be to the point it is now.

Jason
And he’s doing the Cadillac commercials.

Dennis
Yeah, right. I know at that table read there were there was discussion among a lot of the cast to do a reunion or have a reunion and get together. Is that being planned?

Jason
Well, I don’t know. I mean, we’ve had we had the ten year reunion. And then we had a 20 year reunion. And then every single time, less and less people are there because people are more busy. You know, people are actually like they’re all doing their thing. I think the last one we had was in New York. And I think it was just me and Anthony Rapp and Parker Posey and and Rick Linklater. I don’t think anybody else even made it.

Jason
So I think at this point, it’s like kind of like, OK, well, been there, done that, you know. But the movie is still, you know, you think that’s, something like that was going to sort of like sort of peter out a little bit, you know, it’s kind of like kind of go away.

Dennis
No.

Jason
No. It’s stronger than ever. I just, I literally just, I just had to send them off yesterday, but I just got a package of like 3,000 Dazed and Confused pictures that I had to sign. And so I spent I spent like four days signing all of those things.

Jason
Like my hand was like (shows warped hand).

Dennis
Now not to name drop, but Shannen Doherty is your daughter’s godmother, isn’t she?

Jason
Godmother. Yup.

Dennis
So how did you meet? Did you have a movie or a role with her?

Jason
I did. I did do I did do a movie with Shannon. What was it called? You just if you just Google Jason London and Shannon Doherty, it’s like it was, I forget what they always change, you know, they change titles and stuff. So that’s, but it was basically I was in a band and she was she actually recorded an album and she did all of her own singing. And I was, I’m a guitar player, so I played the guitar.

Jason
But I had met, we were friends. We my daughter was born way before that or well before that, I should say.

Jason
I met Shannon just through friends. A buddy of mine was dating her and we were living in like a duplex together. And he, you know, brought her over one day. And I’m like, oh, well, that’s that’s you know, that’s the girl from 90210. And she and I just became, you know, friends really fast. And then her parents, who are dear friends of ours, and her father, who was, you know, my, my, my, my, my daughter, you know, of course, that was like the closest granddad she had, you know, and she just loved him so much.

Jason
And when he passed, I had to be the one that told her. And it was not, it was it was not easy. And then praise the Lord. Shannon made it through her breast cancer that she had about a year and a half ago, two years ago, something like that.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
And and so that was that was that was a little scary.

Dennis
For sure.

Jason
But yeah. I mean, you know, it’s the same thing is like you, once you once you’re like out there in L.A. and all of a sudden you start meeting all those people like, oh, I’ve seen you before in a TV show and I’ve seen you before and this or whatever. And then you realize everybody, you’re human beings and everybody’s just real people. And then you just stop thinking about that part. And you know, and what you do is you support you just be great, do it.

Jason
You know, it’s, you know, good for my buddies and I, we would audition for a role, you know, in a movie, and we would all be auditioning kind of against each other. And it would literally be a celebration for the one that got it.

Jason
It would never be it would never be the thing of jealousy or anger or anything. It was like if I didn’t get it and, you know, my buddy got it. Holy cow. That’s a, that’s a miracle. That’s, it’s wonderful. And so we would we would, you know, party on that.

Dennis
That’s a that’s a great attitude.

Jason
That’s the way to do it. Now the girls girls in L.A. are a little crazier, now, I’m going to get myself in trouble here. I have seen girls listen like they’ll put their ear up to the door and listen to the other girl auditioning. I think guys maybe have too much like ego or pride or something. Like, we’re like I’m just going to do my own thing.

Dennis
That’s funny.

Jason
The girls are like, what that bitch doing.

Dennis
I’ll do it differently.

Jason
I’m going to do it, exactly, I want to hear what she’s doing. Oh, wait. Actually, I like that part. I’m going to keep that part.

Dennis
That’s funny. So, so what is it that got you into acting. I mean, and Jeremy, I suppose. You know you mentioned the modeling.

Jason
It’s a weird, it’s a weird story. It’s and I think I’ve of course told you this story before. But what happened was my life was sports. I mean, I literally like the baseball, basketball, football, anything I could, anything I could do.

Jason
And my only, we we had five kids, two parents. We weren’t rich in any by any means. And, you know, my parents had basically said before, you know, we’re not going to be able to afford, you know, college for five kids, you guys gotta, you know, you got to do good in school. You’ve got to, you know, try to do something.

Jason
And if you don’t do something in sports, you gottta do something, you’re going to have to go to the military. And so, which was kind of looking forward to and I knew that I was never going to be big enough to sort of be a professional athlete. But I was like, my dad was in the Navy, I was like, that’s cool, you know, I’ll go be in the Navy.

Jason
And then the summer between 11th grade, wait, yeah 11th grade and 12th grade, My brother and I were working with our our stepdad down in San Antonio. He was a construction guy. And what we would do is we would just be the guys that cleaned up stuff and we would pile on a, on a forklift. We’d pile a bunch of the junk and stuff up in the forklift and we would take it out.

Jason
And we had this little method where, you know, if he was driving, he would go out and he would lift it up because it’s like he’s got the hydraulics, you know, those hydraulics, that sort of accordion down into each other, you know, so that little the forks go up like that, right? And so lift up his platform. So we, one would stand on top and push all of the debris off into the dumpster. And so my brother and I had a method where because you had to put your foot in between those those hydraulic parts that closed so you knew you were going to be screwed if you’re if you were there.

Jason
So we would basically look up. And then as soon as we would go pound-pound like pound on the top, that’s whenever you were able to close it down. Well, it was the end of the day, my dad was in a little bit of, my step dad was in a little bit of a rush to get out of there. And so he decided to go ahead and drive the forklift while I, while I pushed everything off for the last one.

Jason
And he didn’t have our little method down, And he closed the hydraulic down on my foot and he cut two, well, he didn’t but but I got two of my, not my big toe, but the two next to it got squeezed off inside my shoe.

Dana
Oh my gosh. Disgusting.

Jason
So I, I, yeah, got my toes cut off. And so that get, there went the military and there went sports.

Dennis
And that’s how the identical twins could be discerned.

Jason
Jeremy was the, he was there, he saw it happen. He, he was, he was I think it affected him more than it did me, you know, I was in so much shock, you know. So what happened was he got his back hurt or something like that. I think it was in football or something like that. So he wasn’t going to play sports the next season either.

Jason
So once we went back to school, we both had really good grades. So we had to have an elective. And, you know, we were like, yeah let’s take drama. Let’s just, that looks like fun. You know, we had friends that were in it and it looked, you know, seemed like a lot of fun. And so he and I took drama because I thought what I was going to be doing was building the stages. I didn’t even get, I wasn’t even in it for the acting part of it. But you had to, if you’re in the class, you had to act.

Jason
And in Texas, you actually compete in these these tournaments. Like every weekend you go to like a different school. Just like you have a basketball team or whatever, and you compete in, say, like a, you know, like group improv or solo monologue. And Jeremy and I just started coming home with armfuls of every weekend.

Jason
We were just like, holy crap. All of a sudden our name is the ones being announced on Monday morning, you know, over the school PA system, because it definitely in sports that never happened, I think maybe once.

Dennis
I hear ya.

Jason
But yeah. So we started doing that. And so my my mother was a waitress at the Holiday Inn and there was this beautiful, like sixty year old lady who came in all the time, was just gorgeous. And my mom, she just, she just said to her she’s like, I’m sorry I just I have to tell you, I just think that you’re just so beautiful, are you, that you must be a model or something?

Jason
She goes, oh yes, you know, I’m a model and an actress and and my mom goes, well, my I’ve got five kids and they’re all pretty talented. Can you maybe sort of tell me, you know, kind of how to do this, what to do?

Jason
And she goes, oh, I’ll, I’ll take them right into my agency, to David Payne’s agency. And so that’s how she she just basically took us right in there, you know, and and we met the guy and, you know, we weren’t, I wasn’t there a couple months before the audition for The Man in the Moon came through.

Dennis
Crazy.

Jason
It wasn’t something that I even comprehended, you know, it was the first audition ever. I just like I just went in. And apparently, apparently, maybe that’s kind of what helped me get the job.

Dennis
So how do you get roles nowadays? How to get jobs nowadays?

Jason
Well, luckily, I’ve been doing this for 30 years now and over, you know, 130 or something like that roles. So I’m usually I usually kind get new offers.

Dennis
Got them lined up?

Jason
Yeah. But also, and also, you know, the thing that we have to do these days, like I said before, is that, you know, digital killed the film industry in the sense of the way that we used to do it was on 35 millimeter film. And, you know, you have to do 10 movies to get paid what you used to get paid for, one you know.

Jason
But the, the, the smarter people make their own make their own product. And so that’s what that’s what I’m doing now.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
And a dear friend of 30 years of my name, Corin Nemec, he did a TV show called Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. And then he was on a show called Stargate. If you look at Blackwater Blue’s TV or Blackwater Blues on Facebook or Instagram, I think, or Twitter or Castor and Pollux Bennington on Twitter. Cornin and I basically look like brothers anyway. And we both just had to shave. But we both had our like, bushy Blackwater Boys stuff going, on.

Jason
But what happened was he he came through town because he was doing a reality TV show called The Love America Tour, where he and his buddies were traveling across America in an RV. And he was coming this way. And I was like, man, you have to definitely come down here. You have to you know, you have to come see Ocean Springs. And the same thing that happened with me is what happened with him. The second he got here, he went, oh, I’m taking this RV back home and I’m getting my stuff and coming back. I love it here.

Jason
And so I started, I showed him a couple of scripts that I had written and we just started talking about some story ideas that, that, that we both had. And I introduced him to all of these different businesses here. I showed him the piers. I showed him the bayou. I showed him the the the shrimping docks. I showed introduced him to the wonderful, wonderful man here named Scott Hoberman, who owns a place called Three Alarm Comics.

Jason
He’s literally the reason that we’re all here. Cornin met all these guys and after the conversations that we were having about the stories that we were talking about, he just kind of like put them all together in one story and within four days brought us a 60 page script.

Dana
Wow, that’s impressive.

Jason
Like the dude went home and went nuts. And, you know, somebody’s going to write 60 pages in four days, it’s going to be crap. This was, we were, we’re reading it, we’re like, get out of here right now.

Jason
And so what we, what we were, the initial funding that we had for it to do the full pilot, unfortunately, circumstances, you know how that stuff goes. They sort of over budgeted themselves on another project and they weren’t able to provide the funds for that. So what we did is we did a little crowd, crowdfunding thing and we got enough money to to do what we call a pilot presentation. So instead of instead of 45 pages or 50 pages, whatever, it’s about 25 pages.

Jason
Which is fine anyway, because the truth is, is what we were the way that it ended up working out, we were kind of liking that format a little better anyway, because you need time, you know, if you’re going to be on a Hulu or a VuDu or something that’s going to have advertising, you’re going to want to have that little sort of…

Dennis
Breaks.

Jason
Spaces for, those breaks for it. Yup. And so what we, what were the most fun part about it was that we were able, because of the talent down here on the coast is it is it’s hard to explain. It’s unbelievable how incredibly talented people are down here as music, the acting, everything.

Jason
And we were able to just use a lot of our friends. And they came in and played these great character roles for us and they killed it. One of the top lawyers in town, this guy named Billy Miller, he’s, he was a sort of rock star back in the day, but he’s like a rock star attorney now. And he came in and played a role for us and he just knocked it out of the park, you know. And so it was just so cool to get to it was honestly the smoothest three days of filming I’ve ever had.

Jason
And it’s it’s weird because I didn’t sleep or eat for three days, because I’m you know, I’m the creator and the executive producer. I’m like that up all night, like, oh, I hope tomorrow goes well. And then it would go so much better than I would than I ever dreamed that it would go. And it was it was incredible.

Jason
So right now we’re obviously in the post production part. But like I said before, the talent down here, we’ve got endless music, you know? We’ve got, one of the, one of our one of the characters, and it’s a guy named Blue, it’s a buddy of mine named Gary Cooper, and he’s the drummer, and he started a one of the top jazz bands in Mississippi called Blackwater Brass. And so that’s where we got Blackwater Blues from.

Jason
So, um, so and then we got some sponsorship here because, from Dixie Dixie Beer Company, these guys, they have to change their name now because of all of the…

Dana
Yeah.

Jason
You know, the stuff. Which is weird because what about Dixie Cups?

Dennis
Right. Right.

Jason
What about Dixie plates like are they gunna…

Dennis
What about Dixieland, too?

Jason
What about Dixieland? Yeah. Yeah. Like it’s just so weird, man.

Jason
And so yeah they’re changing it to like Faubourg or something like that now like come on man.

Dennis
So it’s in post-production now and then, what do you have to do next in order to get it distributed?

Jason
Once, once, once we get it, you know, color timed, edited the sound done right. There’s the music on it. What will then do is we’ll take it to Netflix, HBO Max, VuDu, Hulu.

Dennis
Start hocking it.

Jason
And some, you know, someone’s going to hook into it, you know? It’s it’s a good show. And and the stuff that we shot, we were, I was blown away by what we were able to get in the three days that…

Dennis
Yeah.

Dana
So how long do you think it’ll be before we’ll be able to see it?

Jason
Probably, now before you’re able to see it? There’s no, that’s really kind of hard to tell. The edit should be finished in about, I’d say about a month and a half, two months, something like that. And then of course, that’s when the producers have to take it to L.A. and do their schmoozing and all that. So there’s just no, you know, it’s it’s hard to tell.

Jason
And like I said, you know, because of us being here having so many resources that that we don’t have to pay for. Locations, cars, you know, extras, things that would normally in L.A., you would you would it would be outrageous.

Dennis
You’d be busting the bank.

Jason
Yeah. So we basically our attitude is if this one doesn’t work, we’re going to start another one right up after it. We’ll figure something out and we’ll start right back into it and do it again.

Dennis
You know, I want to diverge a little bit away from the acting because you mentioned the fact that you play some guitar. And I have to, have to say he’s, Jason is a great performer. I mean, he sings, he writes his own music, plays his own music, and he also does art. I happen to own a couple of Jason London originals.

Jason
That’s right man.

Dennis
So so, tell them all how you know how you got into those areas of the arts and what that does for you as far as you know…

Jason
It just satisfies that part of your brain.

Dennis
Yeah, right?

Jason
You know, I think that if you’re a if you’re if you’re a creative person, you have to create, you know? I can’t I, I can’t relate to the like the math brain, you know? The person that’s really incredible with numbers and and things like that, in fact, I absolutely suck with that kind of stuff.

Jason
But that side of my brain, that’s the, the artist has just always been there. You know, my brother and I started when we were really young. My grandmother got me my first guitar and we started playing. I used to fall asleep, I just I would fall asleep with my guitar on me, you know? And I would wake up and I saw my fingers were so sore and, and but there was nothing like being in the dark and actually hearing something that that’s coming from my hands that sounded so pretty. You know, it just it was such a bizarre, weird thing that happened.

Jason
And and then my brother and I both we got brave enough to start actually writing lyrics, you know, writing. When we grew up, my dad wrote a lot of songs and so did his father. So we used to sit around and watch them. They would play the guitars and they would sing their songs. And I actually have, I have a couple of albums, records like the old the small ones.

Dennis
The old vinyl. CD’s, or the vinyls? Oh, the 45s.

Jason
72? The 45s. Right, right, right. I have a couple of those. That’s my grand, granddad, and my sister. Yeah. And so, and my dad recorded, you know, some of his own music and stuff like that. So it was sort of a thing that we just kind of grew up.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
It just sort of seemed like the natural course of things to do. And I turned out to be pretty good at it.

Dennis
So some of my fondest memories with with Jason going back, you know, when we first met, I actually met Jason through his his now wife separated, but lovely, lovely Sofia.

Jason
Yes. Best friend, but separated. Yes.

Dennis
Sofia had introduced us and we happened to be in a group of very talented, creative people and, no I just happened to be there. I wasn’t one of them. But but but these guys would just, guys and gals, would just take turns performing, singing, playing music and doing this all night long for a couple of days hanging out. And we’ve had several opportunities to do the same thing. And that was just great.

Dennis
And speaking of Sofia, I was fortunate enough to be at the wedding back in 2011.

Jason
Yes, yeah.

Dennis
Was that Vermont or something?

Jason
It was in Vermont, yeah. It was in…

Dennis
And, and you mentioned that she, I love these stories, you know? They’re separated, yet still best friends.

Jason
Oh, yes.

Dennis
It’s great to hear that that can happen. As a lawyer…

Jason
Oh, it absolutely can happen. And that’s the thing is that people don’t understand that it’s like, you know, things don’t have to be hateful or crazy or whatever. You know, you can just simply say, look, the shoe didn’t fit, whatever it would be, whatever, you know? And I was a pain in the ass, so, you know. The fact that she still loves me and still is one of my best friends, I’m the one that’s lucky, right?

Dennis
Sure, sure.

Jason
But so she, she’s a, she’s a person that I can that I can count on all day, every day. And I’m the same way for her.

Dennis
And as a lawyer, even though I don’t and never did to divorce work, I’ve been around that kind of of practice before and see the ugliness that often accompanies divorce and separation.

Jason
Oh gosh. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Dennis
So that’s great to hear.

Jason
Yeah. Yeah. It’s just, it’s just, it’s just unnecessary, you know?

Dennis
Right.

Jason
I just I feel like, it’s like, you, the person came into your life for a reason. Maybe it wasn’t for that initial thing that you thought it was for, but there’s there’s a reason for it. So go ahead and embrace that.

Dennis
You know, that’s a good segway into this other topic I want to discuss, which is, you know, divorces can be and separations can be divisive, and so can politics. And of course, we really have been through a hell of a time over the last year, several years. You know, on this this podcast, we’ve talked to some people who are far right, far left, in the middle, etc.. You happen to be one of my buddies on the far left of things and have been very vocal over the over the years.

Jason
It’s it’s not really about us being so far left. It’s just I actually just hate Donald Trump as a human being.

Dennis
OK, well, fair enough.

Jason
I don’t care about him as a pres… I didn’t actually have a problem with a lot of his policies. It’s just him as a human being is a disgusting pig.

Dennis
That aside, so…

Jason
Hell, I mean shit, even with, even with Biden, every time he talks, I get nervous. Is he gunna fall over?

Dennis
Right. It’s just still politics and who knows. But, you know, you’ve obviously been able to navigate a successful separation with someone you cared about. How do we do that as a country and, you know, address and repair the political and social divisiveness?

Jason
That’s a great question. You know, I think that, A) I think that it’s already hopefully kind of, because, you know, it was like on 9/11, remember how the, the whole country just has never been more just like one country, one bond. And I think Covid’s kind of done that a little bit, helped a little bit with that, which is a strange thing to say, but it’s true. And I think getting a volatile human being out of the office and inciting people, I think it’s going to make another difference.

Jason
So I think that we’re in a sort of like healing phase right now. And and as long as we don’t have somebody in there, you know, literally causing harm.

Dennis
Stirring the pot?

Jason
Yeah, stirring the pot. Yeah. You know, like I said, you know, Biden, you know, definitely sort of has this stutters and stumbles and he says some goofy stuff and he does the weird sniffing thing and all of that stuff.

Jason
But but what he doesn’t do is he doesn’t tell people to go out and cause harm to other people. And so I think that if we’re in sort of a healing process from that, you know?

Dennis
Yeah. I hope you’re right.

Jason
I hope I am, too. Yeah. I don’t know. Believe me, I’m not claiming to know.

Dennis
No, no.

Jason
I hope, I hope I’m right.

Dennis
Now, you know, speaking of the pandemic and you know the way it probably has unified people to some extent. But one of the funny things, the phenomena that has certainly occurred is that because people have had to be more more stationary at home, et cetera.

Jason
Yeah, yeah.

Dennis
The big thing has been binge watching, you know, Netflix. So. So have you done any business watching and what have you been watching?

Jason
Yes. Well, my my my girlfriend and I are both really obsessed, well first of all Andy, I think I’ve seen every episode of Andy Griffith.

Dennis
Absolutely. Barney Fife is my favorite character.

Jason
Dude, I love Barney Fife. And whenever Barney left, I’ll tell you this, we watched it so much that we actually watched it to the point where it turned it, it started being in color and Barney wasn’t there.

Dennis
Also, that’s Jim Nabors. It was Goober.

Jason
And believe me, I love Jim Nabors and love Goober. But but it just wasn’t the same. But that’s how much we watch it. And Twilight Zone. You know, we went nuts on that. I love, we love the older stuff.

Dennis
The Rod Serling Twilight Zone.

Jason
The Rod Serling Twilight Zone. That’s exactly right.

Dana
Well, what’s your favorite Bill Murray movie?

Jason
My favorite Bill, oh, my gosh. It’s Stripes.

Dennis
So Dana is a Bill Murray, well, best friend.

Dana
He’s my best friend.

Dennis
He doesn’t know it yet.

Jason
I know, he’s honestly one of my favorite human beings on the planet.

Dennis
Great.

Dana
Right?

Jason
And the truth of the matter is, is it would be like all of them. I mean, I mean, I’ve never seen him in anything that he wasn’t perfect in.

Dana
It’s hard to choose.

Dennis
I actually like Groundhog Day.

Jason
I love Groundhog day. Love that movie.

Dennis
It’s brilliant for so many reasons.

Jason
It was genius. Oh, and him in, in, why am I going brain dead all of the sudden?

Dennis
Any McDowell?

Jason
The golf, the golf movie.

Dennis
Oh. Caddyshack.

Jason
Caddyshack. Caddyshack.

Dennis
OK, since we’re talking the movies, strange question, but who plays Jason London in the biopic of his life?

Jason
I don’t think that that person is born yet.

Dennis
Can’t be Jeremy, by the way.

Jason
I was going to say hopefully, hopefully that person’s not born yet.

Dennis
Right?

Jason
I hope I get to live long enough to get a biopic.

Dana
What would it be called?

Dennis
Yeah. And what would it be called? Yeah, for sure.

Jason
What would it be called? I don’t know. It’d be called Shitshow.

Dennis
I like that. I like that.

Jason
I did, I did a, it was fun. We got we got to do a, because being down here where I live a lot of like I said, the Lifetime movies and SyFy movies and stuff like that are filmed down here. And some buddies of mine are, they produce a lot of those, and they, he called me, they called me up a couple it was about two years ago and he said he’s like, we’ve got this, got this little film we’re going to shoot actually in Ocean Springs where you live and in your town, I’m like, woh, that’s amazing.

Jason
He’s like, I said what is it? He said, Well, it’s called Mississippi River Sharks.

Dennis
Oh, geez. Sounds like Sharknado to me.

Jason
It’s, it wasn’t as bad as Sharknado, but it was definitely, and what was another thing, too, is that I discovered that actually sharks do come into the rivers here.

Dennis
They do.

Jason
Yeah, into the brackish water here. So it wasn’t completely lost on me, but it was it was written in with a real sense of humor anyway. So my my buddy, who was the producer on it, he calls and he goes we have a character in the movie named Jason London.

Dennis
It’s a shark right?

Jason
No no. He’s an actor. He’s famous actor. And he’s a complete butthole. He’s a complete, he’s a complete ass. And when I read it, I was laugh, I was on the floor. It’s like it’s me playing myself, but as like just a complete douche.

Dennis
Kind of like Matt LeBlanc in Episodes.

Jason
Yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, yeah, yes. Exactly, exactly. And so when you get to do that and you get to make fun of yourself like that, it was you know, it was like the kind of thing like it was like, you know, I have like a popsicle, like a, you know, like an icicle kind of thing. And I’m sucking on it. And we walk up and there’s some lady that her, a shark is taking her head off and her body’s in the water. And I go, Oh! Brain freeze. I don’t even care about the dead body in the water.

Dennis
Is this out? Is this something I can watch?

Jason
Oh yeah, it’s called Mississippi River Sharks.

Dennis
For sure. That actually sounds fun.

Jason
I mean, it’s a lot of fun. It’s actually really silly. It’s not meant to, it’s we did it, we did it tongue in cheek and we did it to, but yeah. So it was fun to to play myself as just a complete, just the opposite of how I would ever be as an actor or human being.

Dennis
That’s great. I love that. I got to go check that one out for sure.

Jason
It was fun. It was fun. And it was also right here in my home town.

Dennis
Well you can’t beat that.

Jason
Yeah, you can’t.

Dennis
Now, I know, I know Dana is going to have some some biting questions and we have to, before I let you go today, we have to play a little bit of, of would you rather. So but before we do that…

Jason
Oh, hey, bring it.

Dennis
Dana, I know you’ve always got some great, really insightful questions.

Dana
I mean, not really, but…

Dennis
Nevermind, we’ll move on then.

Jason
She just shut you down.

Dana
He teases. So, what was your favorite thing to pretend as a child?

Jason
My favorite thing to pretend as a child? Damn, uh. I guess that, to be a cowboy.

Dana
Yeah, that’s a common one, I feel like.

Dennis
Well, you’re a Texas boy, too then, right?

Jason
Oh, yeah. Yellowstone is amazing.

Dana
Right?

Jason
And I’m a Texas boy. I grew up on a cattle farm. So it was like there was sort of always like, I’ve got to, we got to ride horses all the time and things like that. So there was always just sort of this cool thing about being able to get out on a horse anytime we wanted to and and be a cowboy.

Dana
Yeah, that’s awesome.

Jason
I wanted a gun. I wanted a gun, I didn’t have one. I had a BB gun.

Dennis
Be careful, you’ll put your eye out with that.

Jason
Exactly. And then I would be the one that did it too.

Dana
Okay, so if you were to die tomorrow, what would you want people to remember you most?

Jason
If I were to die tomorrow, what would I want people to remember? Well, you know, it’s I have you know, I’m a little luckier than most because I have, like, 150 movies that people can remember me for forever. I would actually like, it was such a compliment what Dennis said before. I actually prefer people liking my music.

Jason
So hopefully at some point I’ll be able to like share that with, share that a little more with people.

Dana
Yeah, that’s great.

Jason
Well, except if I die tomorrow, kind of screwed.

Dana
We’ll find it somewhere, right? Everything’s somewhere. Everything’s on the cloud now.

Jason
Right. Right.

Dennis
Do you have another one? Oh, OK. Well then we got… OK.

Jason
That went well.

Dennis
So I’ve got, so I’ve got some, some good would you rather. So would you rather go back in the past and meet your ancestors or go into the future and meet your great great great grandchildren.

Jason
Past, I’d rather go to the past.

Dennis
Why is that?

Jason
Because I’m not going to have any great, great, great grandchildren.

Dennis
Well, it’s good reason.

Jason
Maybe I will, I don’t know. No, I just I’m always fascinated with the past, you know? My Irish English, my grandmother on both sides, dad and mom, was full blood Cherokee Indian.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
So it was just it’s always been something that I always, gosh, I wish I could have got a chance meet them.

Dennis
I get that. That’s cool. So, OK, would you rather have to talk like Yoda all the time or breathe like Darth Vader all the time?

Jason
Talk like Yoda, of course.

Dennis
Like Yoda, he would.

Jason
He’s a, he’s, Yoda, I would talk like. Yoda, talk like Yoda.

Dennis
There you go. So this one is particularly appropriate, having seen you in some of your multiple movies and projects in the past. Would you rather always have to wear a mullet or always have to wear a ponytail?

Jason
Oh, my God. That’s a great question. Oh, my God. Neither, but if I had to, I guess ponytail? I hate both of them.

Dana
Like a man bun ponytail or a low ponytail?

Jason
Oh, man, screw the man bun.

Dennis
Yeah the man bun.

Jason
Oh, I don’t get that one. These are good questions, man.

Dennis
Here’s what I really like. Would you rather, as a grown man, have to be bathed by your mother or your grandmother?

Dana
I’m out. You guys are gross.

Jason
My mother.

Dennis
Oh, my gosh.

Jason
He just said as a grown, as a grown man. Would you rather be, he’s asking would you rather, as a grown man, would you rather be bathed by your mother or your grandmother?

Dana
For those of you who can’t see, Jason is talking to his producer.

Dennis
Oh, my gosh. Oh, OK. OK, last last one. And then I’ll get a little bit serious.

Jason
That’s funny.

Dennis
OK. Combination. What are your top five movies of all time if you can.

Jason
Oh my god.

Dennis
And top five actors that you haven’t worked with that you’d like to work with.

Jason
Well, you just asked me to answer like then things.

Dennis
I know, right?

Jason
You do realize that, right?

Jason
It’s just, it’s weird. It changes. I guess it sort of changes, fluctuates. But if I had to, like, sort of go the what would come to my mind first. I love, I love Hot Fuzz, you know the movie Hot Fuzz.

Dennis
Yeah, yeah.

Dana
Is that Nicole Kidman?

Jason
No, it’s, it’s the British movie Hot Fuzz. The guys that did Shaun of the Dead.

Dennis
Yes.

Jason
Oh, Shaun of the Dead is a great one too.

Dennis
For sure. Yeah, I love those guys. They’ve done a few.

Jason
Yeah, those guys are amazing. Pegg. Simon Pegg. and Nick, Nick, Nick Frost. Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather. You know, I mean, I’m going to probably pretty much say, you know, the sort of classics or whatever, you know, Scarface, things like that, the movie, I mean, you know, you can’t you know, you can’t not say Citizen Kane.

Dennis
Oh, sure.

Jason
Right, you can’t. You know, there’s a few of them from, from, from back then that are just, It’s a Wonderful Life. I mean I mean…

Dennis
Absolutely.

Jason
It’s you know, it’s like I could go on forever.

Dennis
What do you think about…

Jason
And honestly, like, if I could have ever worked with, like, a lot of those actors. Oh, God. That would have been just great.

Dennis
How about the directors? What do you think of like a Quentin Tarantino or…

Jason
Quentin Tarantino, he’s a, he’s a, he’s a hero of mine. I mean, he’s honestly just a, I mean, he’s a nut ball, but he’s but he’s our nut ball. We want him to be that way. He’s, if he wasn’t that way, he wouldn’t be the creative genius that he is. And and, you know, literally all of his movies, except that one thing that he did with with Rodriguez, where they did like the sort of like that, you know what I’m talking about.

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
That sort of thing where it was like a 70s, like drive-in movie theater.

Dennis
There was like two titles wasn’t it?

Jason
Yeah. I wasn’t nuts about that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I wasn’t, I wasn’t crazy about that. Yeah. But other than that, I mean you know he’s the man can’t go wrong.

Jason
And it was cool that I got to, Sofia would tell you this too. We went to the the premiere of Machete, you know, the Robert Rodriguez film. And so we were invited to go down to the to the green room afterwards, which was basically a lounge with a bar and food and all of this stuff and everybody sitting around and yapping, and standing over in the corner right by the bar is Tarantino. And I said to Sofia, I’m like holy crap, holy crap.

Jason
And she’s like, what? I’m like, Tarantino! She’s like, I’ve known him for years, come on. So I’m like, what? You never told me this. And so she pulls me over there and he she was leading me, right? And he looks up and he’s, you know, talking to somebody, or whatever.

Jason
And he looks up and he goes, oh, my gosh, Sofia. And he gives her a hug. And then he looks behind her and he sees me and he literally, and she’ll tell you this. He pushed her to the side and went, Jason London!

Dennis
Nice.

Jason
Jason effin London. Holy crap. And so that was really cool. I have actually a really cool picture of us from that night in that moment. And he was just like, you know, of course, he yapped my ear off. And the one thing that was really cool was he’s like, you know, the one thing that’s what I love about Dazed, you know, it’s one of my favorite movies, obviously.

Jason
But he goes whenever I travel overseas and I go places that maybe they don’t speak English and I go places where I’m gonna have to sort of be isolated by myself for a while or whatever he’s like, I take a few things, he goes to one of the things that I always take is my copy of Dazed and Confused, because no matter what I’m doing, I can be writing a film, I can be doing something else or whatever, but if I put that on, I’m hanging out with my friends.

Dennis
There you go.

Jason
And that was one of the coolest compliments ever. It was one of the coolest statements ever. And it was really, you know, it’s such an honor to get to hang out with him.

Dennis
You know, and that’s a good note to end on. I mean, I could go on forever with you, but I know, you know, by the way, this tells you how much I love you is the fact that we’re both missing the tournament, the NCAA tournament right now to record this.

Jason
Dude, we totally are.

Dennis
Now he’s like, damn it, why did I agree to this?

Jason
Oh, that’s OK. Yeah, I’ll take you over that all day.

Dennis
Oh, I love you, man. I appreciate you coming on.

Jason
I love you, too, buddy. Give the girls my love please.

Dennis
Absolutely. So I want to thank the rest of you for tuning in today. Again, please subscribe and like us and also check out uncommonconvos.com to suggest topics, guests, leave comments, et cetera.

Dennis
Also, check out our other podcast, Legal Squeaks. Make sure you join us next week. And in the meantime, have a great day. Stay safe. I love you all.