We’ve got another acting podcast today! Actor Will Rothhaar (NCIS: Origins, Will Trent, The Rookie) joins us on the Box Angeles podcast episode 355. Will stops by the bungalow and discusses the career drought he went on after his last appearance on the podcast, the struggle to make health insurance, how he is always cast as the bad guy, and the desire to move to the energy of New York City someday, and more!

“It can be a pretty thankless, treacherous road. But if you have the passion for it, you have the love for it, then keep going.”
— Will Rothhaar

Beats

00:00 – Will slates.
00:12 – Introduction.
03:12 – A 7-ish year career drought after doing the podcast the first time.
09:50 – Making SAG insurance.
14:47 – Residuals.
17:14 – Thoughts on current state of the business.
19:35 – Having to start taking on side jobs.
28:50 – Still love for acting and in it for the long haul.
34:24 – These podcast interviews becoming more reflective lately.
35:05 – Self tapes.
41:56 – Gun and weapon classes.
43:20 – Always playing the bad guy.
49:00 – Two characters in the NCIS universe.
49:55 – Ever considered moving to NYC for theater.
56:45 – Who took a chance on Will.

More Will

 
– Check Will’s IMDb.
– Follow Will on Instagram @therealwillylamar.
– Listen to Will’s first episode of Box Angeles, #016.

Transcript

 
WILL ROTHHAAR (00:00)
Okay. Hi, everybody. My name is Will Rothhaar.
 
MIKE ELDER (00:13)
Welcome to the Box Angeles podcast. I’m your host, Mike Elder. Bless your heart for listening to the show. It means a lot to me. Thank you. I’m gonna do the fastest housekeeping I’ve ever done on the show. Are you guys ready?
 
3, 2, 1. Go to the YouTube channel, YouTube.com/boxangeles click subscribe. It’s the best, easiest way to support the show. It would mean a lot to me if you did that. The other option, the other alternative is to tell a friend. If you’re an actor, tell a friend. I would love more actors to find the show.
 
So if you’re an actor and you like the show, or if you think it’s okay, tell a friend. Housekeeping complete. That’s pretty fast, I’m not gonna lie. So there you go. We’ve got a really great episode this week.
 
Actor Will Rothhaar returned to the podcast after 11 years. I met Will 11 years ago. Isn’t that crazy? We were nothing but 20 something year old gentleman with positivity and love in our hearts. Are we still that? That’s what this episode will determine.
 
But I digress. First off, Will, you’d know him from movies like Killing Kennedy and Battle Los Angeles and shows like NCIS: Origins, SWAT, JAG, The Rookie. Will Trent, he’s been on TV forever. He started out as a child actor. If you want to hear more about that, go to the previous episode. The previous interview I had with him, but this time we talked about the state of the business. If he’s optimistic about the business, getting SAG insurance.
 
His lull after he did the podcast last time. Most people, they do the podcast, they get a bump in the business after it. Well, he had a lull. He didn’t book as much. He went like seven years, he said, where he didn’t book much work. How did he get through that? How did he handle that time? He had to eventually start doing side jobs. His response to that, how he felt about that, is a really honest conversation about the state of the business and the state of our hearts and minds.
 
So are we still 30 something year olds with love in our heart? You’ll have to listen and find out what an ultimate teaser I just pulled out of my butt there.
 
Anyways, I love Will. He’s a good dude. This was a really fun conversation, so I don’t want to waste any more time. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Will Rothhaar.
 
🎵 ROCKFORD (02:25) 🎵
You wanna talk to me? You wanna talk.
 
MIKE ELDER (02:30)
Will!
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (02:30)
Hey.
 
MIKE ELDER (02:31)
It’s good to see you, buddy.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (02:32)
Good to see you, bud.
 
MIKE ELDER (02:33)
Dude, a couple things. First off, you realize we met on this podcast 11 years ago.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (02:39)
I was doing the math. Yeah, 11 years.
 
MIKE ELDER (02:40)
Isn’t that wild?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (02:41)
It’s a trip. Yeah, I remember. Hallee’s the one who put me in touch.
 
MIKE ELDER (02:44)
Hallee Hirsh, who’s left since left the city and the business.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (02:48)
Off the grid doing her thing, making donuts. Wildly successful in Asheville. Her and her husband have been in Bon Appetit like three, three or four times. Like. Yeah, they’re killing it.
 
MIKE ELDER (02:57)
You. You look exactly the same. You look.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (02:59)
So do you. More.
 
MIKE ELDER (03:00)
Okay. I lost a lot of hair. You look just. You’ve, like, grown into your handsomeness. You are always like a charming fuck, but now you got, like a handsomeness about you.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (03:09)
Thank you, brother. I appreciate. No, I just like. Like, I think the last time I saw you, it was interesting because, like, I. Yeah, I guess right after I. Right before I met you, I had just done Killing Kennedy.
 
MIKE ELDER (03:21)
Yes, yes.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (03:21)
And then, like, honestly, from. Because I was, what it was in 26 or 27 when we hung out last time, and 27 to like 34, I’m 38 now.
 
Was just like crickets. Like, I didn’t work really at all. Yeah, because it was weird. I was in this strange zone where I couldn’t be, um. Like, I wasn’t high school or college anymore. You know, I wasn’t going out for roles like that, even like grad school. But I was too young to be like, the dad, the detective, the lawyer.
 
And I just stayed in that zone for like a while. And I didn’t like, age into myself until maybe the last, like two, two or three years. So it’s been kind of. It’s been interesting because now I am getting these appointments where they’re like, hey, it’s this father of, you know, two. Or this is the lawyer. This is the detective. So. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (04:09)
Yeah, I can definitely see lawyer, detective.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (04:11)
More fun, for sure.
 
MIKE ELDER (04:12)
That is cool. How do you. Well, now that brings up this question. How do you, like, push through that? If you’re like seven years where you’re saying you didn’t work really at all, how do you persevere and stay with it?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (04:24)
I mean, it’s. It’s still. Yeah, I mean, it was. It was rough. It was definitely a lot of. I don’t know. Yeah, you’re. I mean, and also because I’ve been doing this my entire life, it’s sort of you get into this position where you’re like, am I just one of those washed up child actors?
 
Am I like, over the Hill with this, you know, and of course, like, you’re in your 30s and it’s like, no, there’s more to do. And the thing that I like about what we, what we do is as performers is that we get the chance to, you know, our careers and our, the trajectory of everything kind of goes in seasons, in eras, right? So, you know, I was in a particular era at that point and sometimes there’s gonna be a lull and then you move into this other place. Like my mother, for example, she’s 82 and she’s working more now than when she was in her 40s because she’s aging into this like, you know, shit talking, older, sassy older woman, you know, like, and that’s what she does. And she works constantly because of that, you know. So, yeah, my dad, the same, you know, he should be working more than he is, but he’s kind of come into this, you know, older, grumpy guy situation and. Yeah, and that’s the one thing that I love about, about our, our work in this business.
 
But yeah, the, the low was. It was a bitch and, and it still is.
 
It’s getting easier. My wife, bless her heart for sticking by me through all of it, but I know that, that all of it was, you know, super frustrating for her. Anytime I wouldn’t book something, she’s. She’s more of a grudge holder than I am. She’s like, I hate these people. You know, why, why do they see it?
 
You know, and. But it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s getting, it’s getting easier. The other thing too, and I’m sure you know about this is just like, I’m just a big fan of make. Make your own stuff. You know, my, A friend of mine, one of my best friends, Brendan Weathers, he wrote, started writing a script in 2021 and he just sent it to me draft it. I’d give him pages and notes, he’d rewrite. We did this for three years and then, you know, he finally saved up enough money.
 
He’s like, let’s just pull the trigger and do this. And then my boy, London Shover, had a little spare money. He matched whatever budget we had. My wife produced and I’m the lead in it and my boy directed it and we like made a, we made a full feature.
 
MIKE ELDER (06:50)
That’s great. When’s that coming out?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (06:51)
We’re in the process of doing. I mean, now we’re in post right now. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But we have it with an editor in Columbia who’s just going in on it right now to make sure everything is in order, and then we do color and sound mixing and all that, and we’ll have it. We want to be running the festival circuit probably early next year.
 
MIKE ELDER (07:10)
Yeah, I love that I’m very similar in the sense that mine wasn’t as ambitious, but I just quit my day job. I was working the same day job for, like, 10 years, and I just quit it. And part of my agreement to myself was if I quit it, I have to shoot the short film that I’d been sitting on for a couple years.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (07:25)
Dope. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (07:25)
So we shot it in June, and I’m in the process of editing it right now, too.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (07:29)
Congratulations.
 
MIKE ELDER (07:29)
So it’s like. Yeah, it’s one of those things where it’s like, if you can’t find your voice out there, make shit that is your voice.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (07:36)
Or anyone who will listen to your voice. That’s the other thing too, man. I mean, you know, listen, I’m super, super grateful to this industry, and you know what? It’s. What it’s given me, what it’s given us. But, like, it’s not the same that it used to be. You know what I mean? Like, you. You’re. I don’t know.
 
Long gone are the days when you walk into an audition room and nobody knew who you were, but they’d go, you know, I don’t know why. I don’t know who you are at all, but you have that thing, and I want you to come and.
 
Come and play with me. Let’s do it. Now. It’s. You know, how many fucking followers do you have and how many views do you have on your thing? And it’s just like that, you know, influence. No offense, influencers. I love y’all. I appreciate y’all, but, like, you know, the people are casting people that are, like, YouTube influencers and things like that. It’s like.
 
But they don’t know the way around a set. They don’t know, you know, I don’t know. It’s just.
 
Yeah, it’s just a different game. So.
 
MIKE ELDER (08:29)
Yeah, it’s a weird quantity, quantity game to something that is historically not.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (08:33)
Yeah it’s free publicity, which I get, like, from a marketing standpoint, like, I totally understand that, but. But also, I’m like, the rest of us need jobs.
 
MIKE ELDER (08:40)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (08:40)
Can we. Can we go. Can we get to go do our thing, please?
 
MIKE ELDER (08:44)
Yeah, but you also came up as a kid and obviously it was way different then, but you could, like, book a commercial and make probably a good amount of money off of those commercials you were booking As a kid.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (08:54)
I mean, as a kid. Yeah, for sure.
 
And I don’t. I would love to go out more commercially. And I mean, so much of. So much is fi-core these days as well. It’s like non union, which is.
 
Which is amazing. And I have friends that book constantly, you know, But I miss that. I did, like, I did a stint of, like, three Hyundai commercials back in 2021, which was really fun, but that was the first national that I’d done in 20 years.
 
MIKE ELDER (09:21)
Right. But even at that, like, how much did you make? 20 grand?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (09:24)
It was enough. On those commercials?
 
MIKE ELDER (09:28)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (09:28)
No, more than that.
 
MIKE ELDER (09:28)
Okay.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (09:29)
Which is good. Yeah. Which is good.
 
Like, but I. But I also, you know, I forgot, like, what national, how it works with Nationals.
 
MIKE ELDER (09:36)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (09:37)
And.
 
MIKE ELDER (09:38)
But to get three helps, too, obviously. Well, my point was going to be, like, you could book a commercial as a kid, and it could probably last all year.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (09:43)
Set for a while.
 
MIKE ELDER (09:45)
It seems like you have to book 10 things in a year to even have a fighting chance or make insurance or whatever.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (09:47)
100% as, you know, like, that’s the. Exactly. With the cap on the insurance. And when. I mean, like, I. I got booted off of my SAG insurance during the strike. And. And I just got a letter from them.
 
They’re like, hey, you didn’t make the cut. So you, like, next. The beginning of next month.
 
You can go on COBRA if you want. So I was like, we’re in the middle of a strike. And I wrote them, like, a letter. They’re like, if you have any questions, you can write it to the review board. And I wrote it to them. And I was like. I basically begged them.
 
I was like, you guys, this is what’s going on. Who is making enough money to meet their medical insurance right now? At the time, my wife was pregnant. I was like, I have a kid on the way. Like, I said all these things, and I never really heard back, which was unfortunate.
 
MIKE ELDER (10:38)
So they did boot you?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (10:39)
They did.
 
MIKE ELDER (10:40)
Oh, my gosh. I thought they were giving out, like, didn’t The Rock give, like, 5 million to the SAG foundation to, like, help, support?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (10:46)
Yeah. I mean, it sounds like something he would do for sure.
 
MIKE ELDER (10:50)
That’s so annoying. So did you get back on the insurance?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (10:51)
I did. I was able to, yeah. Because then it was. It was like, that happened and then.
 
MIKE ELDER (10:54)
From Hyundai?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (10:54)
Well, no, not even that. It was.
 
That was a year. A year prior, I think. But it was. Yeah, it was. It was one of those weird things. Once we came out of the strike, I. I booked like, three guest stars back to back, like NCIS: Hawaii, Will Trent, and then SWAT.
 
And it was just like, One thing it was.
 
MIKE ELDER (11:15)
But how is that enough? Isn’t like a guest star like what, four grand a week or whatever? Five grand a week?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (11:20)
It depends. If it’s top of show, I think it’s like 10 now it’s between 7 and 10.
 
MIKE ELDER (11:24)
Wait, what’s top of show? I don’t know.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (11:25)
Top of show is like if your character like plays out through the whole episode. If you’re like a focal point.
 
MIKE ELDER (11:33)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (11:33)
It’s also just something that your team can negotiate for you.
 
MIKE ELDER (11:37)
Oh, good for you.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (11:38)
If you get like a guest. You know what I mean? Cause it just varies. If you’re like a one day guest star versus a top of show, it changes it. But for some reason. Then I got a letter. They’re like, hey, you’re back on.
 
But I was floating there for a few months where I was just like, I don’t.
 
MIKE ELDER (11:53)
Wait, are you on right now?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (11:55)
What the hell?
 
MIKE ELDER (11:56)
Insurance.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (11:57)
I got back on. Yeah. Finally. But.
 
MIKE ELDER (11:59)
But have you kept it up like.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (12:01)
Yeah, I was able to just. Just with residuals.
 
MIKE ELDER (12:03)
Oh, residuals, Damn.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (12:05)
Yeah, but that was. That was just because of those. Those shows. Other than that.
 
MIKE ELDER (12:09)
Yeah. It’s so wild.
 
I talk to people lately and it’s just like. Like I Talked to Frank Caeti, who you probably know from like Mad TV.
 
Four seasons of Mad TV. Very funny guy. He hasn’t made health insurance in like seven years. And he’s like early 50s and he’s like having an existential thought about what am I doing with my life.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (12:24)
100%.
 
MIKE ELDER (12:25)
I got kids and a family and it’s just like. It’s just so such. It’s so wild right now.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (12:30)
Yeah, dude, it’s. Yeah. Are you. Are you on SAG insurance?
 
MIKE ELDER (12:33)
I am not even. I’m SAG eligible.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (12:35)
You’re SAG eligible?
 
MIKE ELDER (12:36)
I’ve. I keep saying this. I probably shouldn’t. I’ve been must join for a long time, but they just have not made me join. I’ve booked a couple things. Like I booked Kimmel last year and they didn’t make.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (12:45)
Oh, they didn’t make you join for that? Really? Oh, wow.
 
MIKE ELDER (12:48)
If they’re not gonna.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (12:49)
They’re not gonna twist your arm into it.
 
MIKE ELDER (12:51)
Do their due diligence. I’m. Because I get so many non union commercial auditions. Like, this year I have. I just shared this on Instagram recently. In July, I had had more commercial auditions by July of this year than all of the previous year.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (13:04)
Wow.
 
MIKE ELDER (13:04)
And that is union as well. Like more union through July this year than all of last year. So, like, that’s all that to say. I’m going out a lot commercially. The majority of them are non union. So I’m like, why would I just stop doing.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (13:15)
Just stop doing it. I mean, until you. Yeah, until you get something. I think with sag, that’s like. Or that’s union, that’s, that’s steady and you know, going to keep bringing in money for you.
 
MIKE ELDER (13:23)
Yeah, until they bang my door.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (13:24)
But that’s awesome that you are eligible and then you just, you know.
 
MIKE ELDER (13:28)
Yeah, I’ve been eligible forever. It’s wild. But like, I had that job with health insurance forever, so, like, I didn’t need it. Now I’m at the point where I’m like, suddenly I’m signed up for covered California because I don’t want to pay the COBRA rates.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (13:40)
I get it. I did that for a little bit too.
 
MIKE ELDER (13:41)
So I would love to get SAG insurance too, but like 20, what is it? 28,000. That seems so daunting to me.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (13:47)
26 actually, I think. But still, whatever. Two grand.
 
MIKE ELDER (13:50)
Split hairs. I haven’t booked anything in 9 months.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (13:52)
Yeah, 100%. Well, the thing is, the thing that, that bugs me out about it too is that if you go on, you know, if you’re a member of site, you can go on your web pages has like a residual tracker or whatever and on there it’ll say how much, you know, you’ve made. And right when they were gonna boot me, I went on and I checked and they were like, oh, you’ve made over this. And so I called them and I was like, what’s going on? They’re like, oh, that’s not the actual figure. It’s if you go to the pension and health website for these amount of quarters, basically this is what you have to have made. And you’ve like, didn’t quite make it.
 
And I was just like, you guys, come on.
 
MIKE ELDER (14:31)
I don’t even understand when they, when the strike was happening and this figure came out, I was like, why do they even have a minimum to support that? Like, why is it not zero? If you’re a SAG member you should just get it.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (14:41)
It should just be zero. We’re like paying our dues. Yeah. Should be able to, you know, we’re paying you to protect us.
 
MIKE ELDER (14:45)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (14:46)
And you know, I don’t know.
 
MIKE ELDER (14:47)
Wait, I had Mo Collins on a couple days ago, who also is from Mad TV coincidentally, and a bunch of Fear the Walking Dead. She was saying her residuals are not what they. She did a bunch of Parks and Rec.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (14:57)
Oh, not what they used to be.
 
MIKE ELDER (14:59)
But you’re saying. I don’t mean to pry, apologize, but you made SAG health insurance off residuals. So what. What is that? Is that just a culmination of everything you done?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (15:08)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (15:09)
Or is there one that really sticks out that is really taking care of you like ER or JAG or something?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (15:15)
No, not necessarily. It’s. I mean, the residuals that got me over the hump were the. The mostly for the three guest stars that I did.
 
MIKE ELDER (15:23)
Oh, the recent one.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (15:24)
The recent ones. Yeah. So. So that was. Cause before that, I didn’t have the health insurance, and then I got those three jobs, and that, like, kicked me over the hump. So that was really what it was. But honestly.
 
Yeah, I mean, I’m, you know, I’m still getting residuals from, like, episodes of JAG. I just checked the other, you know, yesterday, and I got one for like, 3 cents from, you know, Jack Frost or whatever. Like, it’s from when I was, you know. Yeah. When I was like, 8, 9 years old.
 
MIKE ELDER (15:48)
I mean, this is so how far out of this I am. But to me, that’s fascinating that the residuals for like an NCIS would be that big.
 
Like a new NCIS. I guess. Because of the streaming. I guess.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (15:58)
Yeah. It’s really what it is it like. Because they. And they send you the list of. Of why it looks like that. Like, they’ll be like, it played this, this, this, this, this, this an amount of times, you know, So yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (16:09)
I don’t get that. I was getting residuals for Kimmel for a little bit.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (16:11)
Nice.
 
MIKE ELDER (16:11)
It didn’t break it down at all. I was cut from Kimmel. That’s the. Funny. I didn’t even make the final cut, but I was getting like, $30 checks, and it was just like, just streaming. Streaming didn’t give the breakdown of, like, how other than thay.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (16:22)
How it does that. Yeah, um.
 
Yeah, it’s just. It’s just what it is on the side website, so I don’t know. Yeah. Interesting.
 
MIKE ELDER (16:29)
That’s. That’s dope that you can make that much. So, like, have you ever thought about doing the residual check lottery or whatever? Like, it’s a popular trend on TikTok where people, like, open. Pick a random check, open it and say what. How much it is and what it’s from. And then they talk about the experience.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (16:42)
Okay. Oh.
 
MIKE ELDER (16:42)
The guy from Hook, Rufio does it.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (16:44)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
 
MIKE ELDER (16:45)
Just pick a random check and open.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (16:46)
It and like, what the.
 
MIKE ELDER (16:48)
How much it is and what it was and.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (16:50)
And what the experience was like shooting it. I’ve never seen that before.
 
I’m also not really on TikTok, but. Yeah, that could. Fun.
 
MIKE ELDER (16:56)
I think it’s fun if you got a pile of them or whatever.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (16:57)
With a little stack. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it’s like with SAG finally got out of the Dark Ages and now they have direct deposit, which is great. Because I’m also like, save the planet. Like, do we need to, you know, sometimes. Well, you. Right, And I’m like, it costs you more to, like, send this check. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (17:14)
Wait, are you generally. Okay, so you went through that.
 
You survived this big lull. We all had this lull, obviously. But, like, are you generally optimistic about where you’re at or where the industry is right now? Or are you still nervous? Are you. What is your thought?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (17:27)
I mean, I just. As a. As a general, I try to. I try to stay optimistic in, like, all facets of my life in general, just because I do feel, I don’t know, as. As much of a downswing as there is. Things. Things will work out.
 
You know what I mean? As long as you keep. Keep your passion for what you’re doing. Keep the. Keep leading with love in every way that you can. I think. I think everything’s gonna be okay eventually.
 
With the industry right now, it’s like, especially living in la, it’s really. It’s tough, man.
 
I mean, we’re not. Nothing shooting here, you know, and even. I mean, my. My reps, any producer friends that I have, everybody’s like, I’ve never seen this before. It’s like, super unprecedented. Everything shooting in Vancouver, Toronto, Atlanta, New York. And it’s.
 
And I just. I mean, I heard some rumor that there was a tax incentive that was just passed, so. But when is that gonna kick in? And when are we gonna start seeing things produced here again? Because it’s just. And everybody’s feeling it. I mean, my wife is in entertainment marketing, and everything is, like, trickling down. So it’s.
 
It’s not just us as performers that are seeing it. It’s, you know, it’s her as well. Like, her company’s losing business left and right because, you know, nothing shooting here. Less people are going after marketing campaigns because they just don’t have any content that’s being produced. And, you know, I mean, her. Her and every manager at her company just had to take a 20% pay cut. I mean, six.
 
Six or eight months ago. Like, it’s been like this for the better part of a year. So I hold on to the hope and I’m like, I think it’s gonna be all right, but it’s. But it’s also.
 
It’s scary, you know, and it. You know, I’ve jumped into, you Know, juggling a bunch of different side hustles to just, you know, you know, help. Help keep us where we need to be. I mean, she. My wife works so hard and so I’m, you know, juggling a bunch of other things to try to pick up the slack with her. And. And I.
 
Yeah, I found something that I. That I really love to do. Shout out to Fulcrum. It’s this company I work for, a team building company. I’ve been doing that since February. And we do you know what a ropes course is? Like a high ropes course where you like, get harnessed in and you climb up a tunnel. Sure. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (19:49)
Yeah. And then you jump and.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (19:50)
Exactly. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (19:51)
One in high school.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (19:51)
Yeah. So, you know, we’ll get a busload of kids from. For whatever grade. We mostly are 5th through the 12th grade. Half of them will go to a ropes course for the first half of the day. The other half will come down to a park and we run them through all kinds of awesome team building games. We just run them through games and teach them how to, like, communicate better with each other, build leadership skills, things like that. And. And I’ve just been.
 
I’ve just fallen in love with it. I love that my team is amazing.
 
My bosses are amazing. And. And what we do is just really cool. So. And it’s. It’s been, you know, something that has been really consistent and I’m out of. I’ve worked a lot of side jobs throughout my.
 
My life in general. And this is definitely my favorite thing I’ve.
 
MIKE ELDER (20:34)
I was just going to ask you. I don’t remember from our previous conversation, but you have historically been a side hustle person, like a day job person. Because I was under the impression after. I mean, this was 11 years ago, so.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (20:45)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (20:45)
My memory’s not what it used to be. I’m 39. We’re same age.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (20:48)
Yeah. Same age.
 
MIKE ELDER (20:48)
But like, I felt like you were surviving off of acting the last time we talked.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (20:52)
I was. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (20:52)
From forever.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (20:54)
I was. Yeah. Basically.
 
MIKE ELDER (20:55)
You’re talking since seven year lull.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (20:57)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (20:57)
You had to start doing all these.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (20:58)
Since we saw each other last, for sure.
 
MIKE ELDER (21:00)
Okay. And what did. How. I’m thinking about, who’s that Cosby guy?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (21:07)
Malcolm.
 
MIKE ELDER (21:08)
No, no, no. The guy that was caught. Caught. I hate that that’s even my verb. But like the guy that was working at Trader Joe’s. The older uncle or whatever.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (21:16)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (21:16)
And they like found him working at Trader Joe’s and they’re shocked that the Cosby show guy had a job. And there was a big news story I don’t know, five, six years ago, Was it, like, when you suddenly had to start doing that? Did you view that as I must provide, or did you view it as, like, a humbling experience? Like, I guess, like, for somebody that survived so long just purely off of your craft, what was that experience like to suddenly have to do that?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (21:41)
I mean, it was. I guess it was a little bit of both. It was just. It was just a matter of bringing in more income for.
 
For us, for. For my wife and I and trying to do that. I mean, she, you know, her job has paid her really nicely throughout her career, and she’s, you know, thankfully has taken really good care of us over the years, and I sort of have always helped manage everything else in her life to make everything sort of easier for every. Easy and smooth for her. And when she, you know, in the last couple years, especially when she took a pay cut, I was. I mean, I was working side jobs before that, but this last time, it was like, all right, I need to get at least like, two things going that are gonna consistently be bringing in cash because, like, the. The other side hustles.
 
I was working, it was. They’re great, but they weren’t as consistent as I needed them to be. And, yeah, I mean, it’s. It’s. It is a humbling experience, for sure. And. And it, you know, especially when I would.
 
I would rather be. I’d rather be acting, you know, to.
 
To be making my money. And when you do that for so long, you sort of. When you’re doing something else, you kind of go like.
 
Like, it’s just like. I don’t know. One of the things that I was working for a while is I was a sales rep for Orange Theory, like, the fitness studio. Which is fine. Thank you. I appreciate that.
 
MIKE ELDER (23:11)
You’d be great at that. I feel like a lot of dudes would buy from you. A lot of the Orange Theory dudes would buy from you.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (23:17)
But, like. And it was. It was fine. It was great. I’m really glad that I got the opportunity. I really appreciated it, but it wasn’t. My heart really wasn’t in it.
 
You know what I mean? And it was one of those things where I’d go to work and I kind of like, man, is this. Is this where I’m at right now? And am I ever going to go get to go back to do what I’d love to do? And. And that, you know, that takes some, like, some ego swallowing, I think, for sure. And. Which is.
 
Which is necessary. Cause, you know, I Don’t know. At the same time, I also think that none of us are above or below anything. You know what I mean? Like, you. I don’t know.
 
Make it work. Make it happen. And I had to remind myself. I was like, no, no, no, of course this is temporary. I know that. You know, and then things, like, things come up.
 
Like, I don’t know. I was.
 
So I’m about to go shoot the second and third installment in these with. Of these two, this trilogy of films. The first film is on Paramount+ right now it’s called First Shift, and it’s like a New York cop drama with my boy Gino Pesi, who was in Battle Los Angeles with me. He’s the lead in it. And, yeah, I play the serial killer that him and his partner are tracking down.
 
MIKE ELDER (24:37)
Oh, fun.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (24:37)
So I’m gonna be shooting that in Brooklyn for, like, a month. But, you know, while I was working at Orange Theory, I’m also, you know, but. And my team is incredible. I’m also like, we all need to be hustling at the same time, right? So I’m on Actors Access, you know, every other day, just seeing what’s. What’s on there with what’s happening, even if it’s like, you know, again, like, find, like, a dope short film. And I’m just like, that sounds interesting. Cool. Oh, what?
 
It’s like, with $300 a day to just go play. Let’s go. You know, And I know there’s a lot of actors are like, well, I don’t want to do that. And, you know, it’s like, that’s, like, below me, I’m like, that’s. You know, like, if we’re all. We’re all part of the same family, right? So if we’re helping each other with our craft and help to, you know, elevate things, elevate projects. Like, why.
 
Why not go do it? Especially if you’re getting paid.
 
Yeah, but I was on. I was online, and a year ago, when Gino was doing the first film of this. This First Shift, he had had a character that he had me in mind for, pass my stuff along to the director. Timing didn’t work out with that. And then I went on Actors Access and saw that he was the casting director on this feature, and it was this audition to be, like, the. One of the leads in it, and it’s the same director. And I called him or texted him, and he was like, yeah, don’t.
 
Don’t submit on Actors Access. Let me give your stuff to the director.
 
And he did. The next day, the director was like, oh yeah, I remember him. He’s like, if we can get him, let’s get him. That’s awesome. But while I was at Orange working the front desk one day, that’s when like the call came in and my manager was like, hey. He’s like, you. They made you the offer.
 
Let’s like go over this and yeah, close it out. But yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (26:12)
Yeah, there’s something to like all these jobs, even if you don’t love them, it’s like taking pride in your work and like, yeah, I don’t know. At some point as a society we started like belittling labor as if it’s a bad thing. But like, that’s what this country’s founded on. That’s what you know. And it’s like taking pride in that. But it’s just so funny to hear you talk about this because, like, for me, the only way I know acting is with a side. I’ve never not known acting as a side hustle until recently quitting my job.
 
And it’s funny because now I was literally texting my friends this morning. I was like, I’m busy. I feel busy right now when I’m not having a job. And yet I was working a 9 to 5 every day and doing the podcast and auditioning. And now I feel like I’m back to doing a podcast every week and I’m doing all these in person auditions I’ve had lately. And it’s just like, I’m like, I don’t know how I did this job.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (26:59)
How you did this with a job. Yeah. What were you doing?
 
MIKE ELDER (27:02)
I worked from home, so I was just sitting at the desk. But it was like a tech startup. I was doing like operations stuff. But like, it’s just, it’s just an interesting perspective to hear you be like, yeah, it is humbling and you do have a swallow little ego. But to me I’m like, it just is what it is.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (27:17)
It is what it is. Yeah, for sure. No, no, no. 100%.
 
MIKE ELDER (27:19)
And until they figure out like a way to subsidize artists, which I don’t think they ever necessarily will on a mass scale. I know there’s little pockets and I know some European countries do that. But like, until they subsidize it, like we have to do this. And to your point about like the short films, like, why would we not want to lift other people up.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (27:37)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (27:38)
And help build the thing that their dreams are founded on.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (27:41)
100%. And yours as well. I mean, it’s like, I don’t know, sometimes I’ll like read a project. I’m like, this, maybe this isn’t super great on the page, but let me, let’s. And I talked to the director and director’s like, this is a, you know, this is a skeleton of what I want. So let’s like, let’s talk, let’s talk about how to elevate it, how to shift it, how to, you know, and you got to think about for yourself as well. You know, when you read a project, you’re like, if, if I were to do this, like, what would I bring to the table that would elevate this? And, and, but I mean that collaboration mentality that, you know, taking care of each other, looking after each other, because it is, you know, unfortunately there’s a lot of aspects of this industry that are, you know, it’s, you know, based on money, what’s going to sell, what’s going to this and that, but it’s, and there’s a lot of times less attention paid to, you know, the artist and artists in general.
 
And so, you know, taking time to take care of each other and look after each other, I think is the most important thing.
 
MIKE ELDER (28:36)
I agree.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (28:36)
So, yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (28:37)
And it’s crazy how many of us there are.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (28:39)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (28:39)
I literally was in an in person audition earlier today and one yesterday and I didn’t see anyone I didn recognize and I’m like, this is, there’s so many of us.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (28:45)
So. Right. You can’t spit on the street without hitting a fucking actor out there.
 
MIKE ELDER (28:50)
Have you, have you in this lull and you know, doing side hustles and all this? Have you waned in your love of acting? Like, do you see yourself being an actor until your 80s, like your mom?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (29:00)
Oh man, that’s such a pregnant question.
 
MIKE ELDER (29:03)
I mean, and I say this too because I just talked to Mo Collins who I just mentioned, and she was like, I was, I was confiding in her. Like, I’ve never questioned it until recently. Really. Just because it is of everything going on and how it’s, it feels like a lot. Yeah, but like she was like, yeah, but that’s all part of the process. Right? Like your love needs to be like a wave that goes in and out and then it gets stronger if it goes out because it comes back in.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (29:30)
Right, right, 100%. And I, and I would agree with that for sure because it’s, you know, there, there are times when I do feel it kind of slipping off or waning a little bit, but then I’m that’s an interesting analogy. I like that. I want to take that with me. Because. Because. No, because it’s. It’s true.
 
It’s like sometimes I feel it kind of waning off and I’m like, damn, am I just, like, over this? Do I not love this as much as I used to? And then when it comes back, it’s like I get. I book something, I go work something or whatever, and I get slapped in the face with like, no, no, no. This is.
 
Remember why you love to do this. This is why you love to do this. And it’s like you’re falling in love all over again.
 
I’m like, oh, yeah, right now. I remember. But it’s tough in those lows. I mean, even my mom, you know, she’ll. When I hit the down slope or downswing or whatever, she’ll. She’s always asked me, check in with me and be like, are you sure you still love to do this?
 
MIKE ELDER (30:21)
Oh, that’s cool.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (30:22)
Oh, yeah. Because both my parents are actors.
 
MIKE ELDER (30:23)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (30:24)
My dad as well. So it’s. You know, they’ll both be like, are you.
 
Are you sure you’re. You’re still in it? You know, your heart’s in it? Because they’ve always said to me, they’re like, if you love to do something more than this, go do that. Because there’s no reason to stick around for it. Because it can be a pretty thankless, treacherous road. But if you have the passion for it, you have the love for it, then keep going.
 
The thing that’s really. That’s interesting, though, is even, you know, I don’t know. I don’t know if I felt like this last time I saw you, because 11 years can do a lot, but, you know, I’m 38 and I was like, this is all I’ve ever done.
 
MIKE ELDER (31:00)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (31:02)
At this point in my life, I don’t know what the fuck else I would do. I don’t know.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (31:05)
There’s nothing else that I. That I have in my pocket that interests me quite as much. I mean, the job that I’m working, you know, for the team building company, like, I really love working for them. I love doing that. So that’s something. But that’s not. It’s not like a career for me.
 
You know what I mean? But it is something that I will continue to do because I really enjoy doing it. But just in terms of thinking about something where I’m like, I’m gonna start here and work my way up for the next 20 years, like, then I’m what am I saying? You know, it’s like, no, I don’t.
 
MIKE ELDER (31:36)
Yeah, we’re gonna have a lot of if. If it keeps going the way. And if AI gets involved, we’re have a lot of actors being like, what do I do now? Not to mention all the truck drivers and shit that are gonna be out of the business.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (31:48)
Oh my God. The whole fucking crew.
 
MIKE ELDER (31:48)
See that. Although that’s the interesting thing. It’s like, maybe there won’t be a specific artist subsidy, but there’s got to be some sort of universal basic income coming that just allows us to live because automation is. I mean, isn’t it like 30% of the workforce drives and it’s like, if that’s the first thing that’s gonna be automated. The Waymos are all over the. But to your mom, I wonder how much of her asking you is her checking in on herself too?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (32:12)
Oh, I’m sure. I’m sure it’s a reflection as well. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. I mean. Yeah, we got to ask ourselves that question as well.
 
MIKE ELDER (32:19)
I do also equate it to, like, the idea of the wave going in and out. It’s like I find my relationships where they’re not always, you know, pleasant. Like, where we butt heads a little bit like family members, where we go head to head on politics or whatever. A little bit. I find that makes a bond stronger, you know what I mean? Because we’ve been through it, and I wonder how much that applies to a career in the sense that, like, I hate this thing, but I love it so much. And those are so intertwined.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (32:45)
100%. I mean, I think. I think they are. Yeah. I think they’re entirely intertwined, for sure. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (32:51)
I can’t. I can’t wait to be your mom’s age, though. I’ve said this many times.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (32:54)
Oh, yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (32:54)
I think I’m just gonna hold out so long.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (32:56)
You should.
 
MIKE ELDER (32:57)
I’m the only white, bald guy in his 80s. You know what I mean? So all the sitcoms use me when I’m in my 80s.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (33:03)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (33:04)
I’m on. Like, I’m just jumping around the sitcom circuit because there’s only four bald white guys in their 80s that they can choose from.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (33:11)
Start bringing them all back. They’re like, you know, Everybody Loves Raymond’s son. Grandson.
 
MIKE ELDER (33:15)
But there’s just so many in their 20s. And from my understanding, talking to casting directors, like, the older you get, the smaller your. Your group of actors.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (33:25)
Exactly. Because people start falling off.
 
MIKE ELDER (33:27)
Exactly.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (33:28)
They’re dying or they’re quitting. You know, that’s the thing. With my mom is that she’s. She’s booking all these jobs because most of the people that were her peers are, like, decided they’re gonna retire. They don’t want to do the same thing. Yeah. You know, so.
 
MIKE ELDER (33:39)
Or they can’t physically.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (33:40)
Totally. Yeah. So it’s. It is.
 
I think there’s a certain something to be said for just, like, just stick it out.
 
MIKE ELDER (33:47)
They used to say that about improv, too. It’s like a couple of my favorite improvisers were like, I wasn’t the funniest, but I stuck around the improv theater long enough where everyone sort of went on to the next thing rather than grind it out.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (33:57)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (33:58)
Which is. I mean, I hate. It’s kind of discouraging that I have to wait 60 years to get my SAG card, but.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (34:05)
Says you, you’re eligible now. You’re like, I’m not gonna pay this 3200.
 
MIKE ELDER (34:12)
I don’t have a job. I don’t know if you heard, but I quit.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (34:17)
I quit my job, Will.
 
MIKE ELDER (34:19)
I can’t just afford insurance.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (34:21)
That’s right, damn.
 
MIKE ELDER (34:24)
I do. I love, though, that. I love that I can have these conversations now because I do feel like when everything’s, like, nice and perfect, these conversations are way different.
 
They’re much more affable.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (34:35)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (34:35)
But this was, like, a real honest conversation right now. And all my podcasts lately have felt like that, where we’re, like, reflecting on what we’ve been through and where we’re going and. Yeah, it’s very existential in that way.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (34:45)
Yeah, I love that. Yeah. And it’s fun. It’s fun having these conversations now with you because I feel like we’re both in, like, entirely different places in a lot. Well, obviously, as we should be. It’s been 11 years, but. Yeah, just, like, I feel like there’s been a lot of life that’s been lived in this amount of time, and it, like, it reads on you, you know, I’m sure.
 
I hope it reads on me. You know that. Yeah, we’ve evolved and shaped, shifted and changed. So.
 
MIKE ELDER (35:08)
Yeah. Do you. I would love to hear your take on. So you strike me as somebody who is very charismatic. Well, like, when I meet you in person, you just have an aura about you that I don’t necessarily get in a headshot.
 
So. Have you. I don’t know if you agree with that or not, but how have you, like.
 
Do you like self tapes? Do you hate self tapes? What’s your vibe with a self tape? Do you book off of self tapes to me, it seems like you gotta be in a room with you.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (35:36)
Yeah, I, that’s the thing. I just. During the pandemic, I was like, I mean, obviously not a lot was shooting, but that’s when just self tapes kind of became the norm and, and I, and I loved it because, you know, I’d always say people are like, what’s the hardest thing about being an actor? I’m like, the hardest thing about being an actor is sitting in my car for two and a half hours to over four hours a day, you know, driving to read for producers at 5:30 on a Friday when everybody’s exhausted from the week and they’re all just sitting there and you having to put your best foot forward to kind of do the thing. And you know, I was like, man, I can do this as many times as I want. I can get it super tight, I can hit the beats that I want to hit and I can literally do it 30 times until I figure it out what works best for me. And now I really want to be back in the room.
 
I miss that because it’s like when you’re rehearsing for a play, you know, you do, you know, six weeks of rehearsal and you don’t have bodies in the house. And then the first night you have a preview, you got on stage, you can’t mess it up and you say a line and then you get a laugh or you get a reaction, somebody gasps or something. And suddenly you’re feeding off of that energy and you’re helping each other out and it’s like there’s nothing else in the world that’s like that. It’s a feeling where you’re just. I’m like, oh, I love. This is what, again, a reminder of why I love to do what we do. And so, yeah, I like, I really wish we would.
 
And I know it’s, you know, casting directors have. There’s so much less overhead and all these things because nobody has to rent a space. You know, producers don’t have to drive to wherever you have to go. But I’m missing that. And any chance that I have now to be able to go in the room or even do a live zoom audition, I’ll do it just because, you know, when you do that then, you know, usually even on a zoom, like I’ll get notes, you know, like, producer, director will be like, great. Can you just like go back and pepper this in or tweak this and, and it makes it, you know, gives. Bring some of the, the old days back a little bit but yeah, I mean, self tapes are fine and like I said, but like. And I have booked off of them for sure, you know, and like I said, you’re able to get it as tight as you want in whatever way you want to be able to have the confidence to be like, all right, when I send this out, I know, I know that they’re getting exactly what I want them to see, you know, but it is.
 
Yeah, it does detract from the experience, I think, when you don’t have a chance to be in, you know, feeding off the energy.
 
MIKE ELDER (38:16)
Yeah. I think though too, to your point about it, you. You can make it fine tune it. I think that’s almost detrimental though, because I just talked to a director, Tara Miele, who did like the last two episodes of Lessons of Chemistry and she said they had a guest star on and now I’m speaking out of pocket, but whatever, who couldn’t for the life of him get his lines. And she was like, okay, I’m just going to read each one. We’ll just do each one. And I was like, I wonder how much of that is like this guy just, you know, teleprompted a self tape or like did a thousand takes of a self tape or whatever.
 
I think there’s some detriment to like, because also this is my, my self tape wall. So it’s like.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (38:55)
Oh, yeah, nice.
 
MIKE ELDER (38:56)
It’s like, right, so it’s like there’s some safety here. Where to your point about you get that first laugh. You’re not turned on in the same way. You’re not like in performance mode. Those nerves aren’t cooking.
 
This is a safe space.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (39:08)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (39:09)
It’s not going to be the same when all of a sudden you’re on set and there’s cameras and pressure and all this. And I think it’s doing us a disservice to that degree to make it perfect or have this safe space where I can theoretically do it in my underwear. You know what I mean?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (39:22)
Totally. I have.
 
MIKE ELDER (39:23)
The old Donald Duck style. Put a tie on, you know.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (39:27)
Winnie the Pooh. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so something that, that might be a fun tip for you, for everybody out there, myself and my boy Aryeh-Or who you’ve seen in a million things, incredible actor and one of my best friends. He and I both had an audition for two different roles on like a military video game. And he suggested and we’ve since like ran with that, run with this a bunch of times. But he said, you know, he’s like, we both have these two different roles. They’re like very action oriented scenes. It’s like, you know, I’m coming into a room and there’s a soldier that’s laid out and I gotta put it turn, you know, you know, quick clot on his gunshot wound and he’s laying on a table and I’m talking to this guy.
 
And then he’s got, you know, scenes where he’s clearing a house and then, you know, throws a grenade at like a tank that’s off in the distance. And he said, he’s like, why don’t we just shoot these scenes? Like, let’s shoot him. As if it was this, it was the scene first. What that does is it really like it puts you in it and that like sort of having to get the lines perfectly or being distracted by that because, you know, on the day you’re not going to be standing in front of a wall, you’re going to be moving, you’re gonna have action. Right. So. And the other plus side to this is that, you know, for casting directors, for producers, for directors that, you know, it, sometimes it’s.
 
For any of us, it’s hard to like envision somebody in the role when they’re just standing in front of a gray backdrop. Helping paint the picture for the people that you’re gonna be working for is super helpful because you’re like, you’re like, oh, oh, that. Oh, it’s the scene.
 
Oh, I can. No, I can see that. And so, you know, just on the iPhone, we throw it on at, you know, 24 frames a second and just shoot it.
 
Like a piece of film.
 
MIKE ELDER (41:19)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (41:20)
And we used my entire house. He brought, you know, it was a military thing he brought over. He had like a tactical shotgun and a flak jacket. And we both like put it on at different times and shot the scenes and it. And of course we submitted them. And then like a week later, the video game union went on strike.
 
MIKE ELDER (41:38)
Oh, no.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (41:38)
So we were like, damn it.
 
MIKE ELDER (41:41)
Well, now you got footage for your.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (41:42)
Reality, but it also just makes it, it gives you like a little more of like creative control, a little bit of an outlet to kind of just be like, okay, well how, what, what can I create with this? How can I go play? You know. That’s fun
 
MIKE ELDER (41:56)
Sure. That just made me realize you’ve done so much military stuff or gun adjacent stuff. Have you taken like gun trainings ever to be better, a better actor? Like, you know how we can take acting classes? Have you ever taken like a gun class to be better with weapons?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (42:11)
I haven’t. I Just found this. This website, like, Tactical Hive, I can’t remember on Instagram, and they’re offering, like, tactical classes, basically, like gun classes, which I. I. Yeah, I would actually like to go to. Like. Yeah. Just to sharpen that.
 
That tool in my box. But when I did Battle Los Angeles, we had three weeks of boot camp for that. So, it was, you know, I was learning how to, you know, be smooth with everything and how to clear rooms and all this stuff. So I remember a lot of that training.
 
MIKE ELDER (42:44)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (42:45)
And it’s funny. Like, I will.
 
You know, I’ll watch a TV show where somebody has to do, like, tactical work in clearing a house or something. And, you know, somebody’s with their rifle and they have their elbow all up, and I’m like, tuck that fucking elbow.
 
What are you doing? You know, I’m calling things out. I’m like, that’s not right. That’s not right. That’s right. He’s moving. Well, I like that.
 
But, yeah, no, I’d like to do.
 
MIKE ELDER (43:04)
Yeah, well, you don’t strike me as a gun guy in general, so I would think you would need some sort of training if you’re gonna have.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (43:09)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (43:10)
This much.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (43:11)
This much. This much. Military. It’s always, like, the military. The cop or. Yeah. Or the.
 
Or the serial killer. I always play the bad guy.
 
MIKE ELDER (43:19)
I know.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (43:20)
I love that guy.
 
MIKE ELDER (43:21)
Well, you have a menacing quality.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (43:24)
Do I?
 
MIKE ELDER (43:24)
Well, particularly in your. In your headshots and stuff. Like, in your vibe. Is that. But, like, that’s what I’m saying about you in person. Give a completely different, like, aura. Like, you give a much more charming aura.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (43:34)
Well, thank you.
 
MIKE ELDER (43:35)
You give, like, a badass in, like, headshots.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (43:38)
In headshots. Interesting. Yeah. My. Because all my friends and family are like, what, another. You’re playing another bad guy.
 
Like, why can. But you’re not. You’re so nice. Like, why can you just. Like, why. Why can you just play, like, the romantic lead? Just, like, one time, I’m like, I’m. I’m down.
 
This isn’t how they see me, though. And I asked my wife.
 
I’m like, why? And she’s like, well, you’re very good at being charming and charming and creepy at the same time. Charmingly creepy. And I’m like, okay. I’ll say. Like, that’s the thing that I like when I played stuff that are, you know, bad guy characters, is I want you to. I don’t know if sympathy is the right word, but some.
 
Some aspect of me for you to be like, do I like You. I don’t.
 
I’m not supposed to. You’re like a terrible person, but I kind of. You’re kind of endearing in this weird way. And that’s like the fun.
 
MIKE ELDER (44:31)
Yeah. What do they call that the anti hero or something like that.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (44:32)
I guess. Yeah, yeah. Anti hero. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (44:35)
That’s definitely the goal. For sure. Have you ever taken a class where like, I took John Rosenfeld’s class.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (44:40)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (44:41)
And the first class, they literally had to sit in front of everybody and everyone just shot off what they. The vibe they’re getting.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (44:46)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (44:47)
Have you ever done that before?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (44:48)
Oh, oh. We’re like you said. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
 
MIKE ELDER (44:50)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (44:51)
Brad Greenquist, who’s another amazing. If you’re looking for a class to take, go take Brad Greenquist class. Brad’s class.
 
Just Google it. He’s amazing and you’ve seen him in a million things. He’s a working actor, but he teaches us acting for film class where. Yeah. He’ll put you up in front of him, everybody.
 
MIKE ELDER (45:05)
Yeah. I find those endlessly fascinating.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (45:07)
So cool. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (45:08)
Because first impressions are such an obviously important part of what we do, and a lot of people can’t handle hearing that. But I think it’s really interesting because I think of myself as like a big teddy bear.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (45:18)
Yeah. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (45:19)
To women, I’m a six foot, really heavy. Not great. You know what I mean? If I’m walking up behind you, you’re not comfortable, but I’m just like, hey, I’m a big old gummy bear. What do you mean? I’m very sweet, but it’s good to know what you’re giving off so that you can either lean into it or lean away from it.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (45:39)
Exactly. Pivot however you need to.
 
MIKE ELDER (45:41)
I remember taking a class off. I’m gonna blank on her name. I took a class and this lady. The first week we did like a. It was like a drama scene. And she’s like, you are a very mean. Not mean, but like, you give off a very anger energy.
 
And I’m like, what? Wow. Maybe I just absorbed in the character.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (45:57)
Right, right, right. It’s like, that’s.
 
MIKE ELDER (46:00)
But like. And then I couldn’t shake that the rest of the class, because that’s what she remembered me as. But it’s just really funny to like think about that stuff.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (46:05)
Were you able to play into that, like, during the scene? Like, did you do scene work with her? Or is it just like.
 
MIKE ELDER (46:12)
We would bring in a scene every week.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (46:14)
Okay.
 
MIKE ELDER (46:14)
So. Yeah, but like, that was. I think that was the only drama because then we tried to do comedy and like, she couldn’t see me comedically at all, which was so funny.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (46:22)
That’s hilarious. I was like, I can specifically see you comedy.
 
Yeah, right, Exactly. That’s awesome.
 
MIKE ELDER (46:30)
But those first impressions are wild. And again, that’s why I think you need to do in person, because you do have this. That’s probably why you’re getting all these villains, because you give that sort of. It’s not. It’s honestly like a. It’s like. It’s what you said. Like, unsure.
 
Like, who do I trust this guy?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (46:47)
Do I trust him? I’m not sure. Yeah, yeah, no, I know.
 
Just Hollywood, please. Can you bring us back in the room? Just, please.
 
MIKE ELDER (46:54)
I don’t know if it’s gonna happen.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (46:55)
I don’t know if it’s ever gonna happen.
 
MIKE ELDER (46:56)
Because I talked to a lot of casting directors, and they’re like, it’s not us. It’s the studios and the production. Like, if they budget enough money, we will do it, but they’re not. And then I had a producer on last week from Point Grey, Seth Rogen’s company.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (47:07)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (47:07)
And she wasn’t even, like, thinking about this. It wasn’t even on her mind. And she’s like, okay, now I’m gonna start thinking about this. But, like, if they’re cutting, just cutting, they’re not thinking about actors and auditions. Even though it’s a detriment to everything.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (47:20)
It is. Because, I mean, yeah, if you’re. If you’re hiring some people off of self tape, and it’s like, what happens when you get on set? If it doesn’t work right, then you’re spending more money to recast, if you want to recast. And when you could have just spent the extra change to get an office for the afternoon and let’s come in and do our thing.
 
MIKE ELDER (47:36)
Yeah. And there’s nothing more fun than driving onto a lot for an audition. It’s like my favorite thing you feel important..
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (47:42)
You know. We’re watching. Have you. Have you. Have you watched The Studio yet?
 
MIKE ELDER (47:43)
Oh, yeah. Fucking love it.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (47:44)
Okay. So we’re like.
 
MIKE ELDER (47:45)
That’s why I interviewed Alex. She’s an executive producer on The Studio.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (47:49)
Yeah, we watched. We’re like five episodes in. And it’s. It’s so interesting to watch because it hits so close to home in so many ways where you’re just like, well, yep, that’s how. That’s how it works.
 
MIKE ELDER (47:59)
It’s also lampooning it, but also, like, celebrating it.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:02)
Yeah. And there’s things where I’m just sitting there. I’m like.
 
MIKE ELDER (48:04)
It’s very stressful.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:06)
Oh my God. It’s very stressful. I’m like, yep.
 
But, you know, watching them, you know, ride the carts around the world, they’re all at Warner Brothers, right? So I’m just like. I walked down that street to go to, you know, Ted Danson’s office.
 
MIKE ELDER (48:17)
You know, I did The Warner Brothers 5K a couple months ago, and my. My buddy’s a Warner Brothers tour guide.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:24)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (48:24)
And he was, like, pointing out everywhere they filmed, like.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:26)
Oh, yeah, I know. It’s so fun.
 
I love it. Yeah, it is, it is.
 
MIKE ELDER (48:30)
I miss going in the lots.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:31)
Me, too.
 
MIKE ELDER (48:32)
Like, that’s the.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:32)
Oh, I know, I know. I did a. I did an episode of NCIS: Origins a few months ago, and the day that I got it, they were like, no, no pressure, but we’re doing a table read for. With the. For the episode, if you want to come. And I was like, yeah, of course, of course. And they, like, had the pass for me and, like, a little parking, and I, like, showed up and.
 
I don’t know. Yeah, it was at Paramount, and I was like, so nice being here.
 
MIKE ELDER (48:58)
That’s great.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:58)
It’s been a while.
 
MIKE ELDER (48:59)
Paramount’s my favorite.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (48:59)
Paramount’s so nice.
 
MIKE ELDER (49:00)
Wait, when you got NCIS and then another NCIS, do they care at all that you’re on other NCIS? Isn’t it the NCIS Cinematic universe?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (49:10)
It used to be. This was. Up until very recently, it was a thing. They’re like, if you’ve been on any other NCIS in the last six years, doesn’t matter if you were, you know, a guest star, co star or whatever. They were like, you just don’t tape. Just don’t even audition for this. And I had that question as well, but I didn’t say anything to anybody.
 
I just was like, I, like. Because I did NCIS Hawaii.
 
MIKE ELDER (49:31)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (49:33)
Which got canceled right after my episode, which I was like, was it me? Was it something I said?
 
I don’t know. But, like.
 
MIKE ELDER (49:38)
Yeah you took down the whole thing.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (49:40)
But they, I got there and they’re like, ah, fuck, no. This is canned. Let’s not do that. But, yeah.
 
And so when I got the audition for Origins, I was like, I’m just. I’m just not even gonna. Not even gonna say anything. Yeah. I’m just gonna. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (49:55)
Maybe this is an unfair question because you’re a family man, and I’m in a very different place in my life. But you came up doing so much theater. Like, weren’t you in, like, a Mamet play?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (50:03)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (50:04)
He directed it.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (50:05)
No, no, A man named Michael Bloom directed it, but it was at the Geffen Playhouse.
 
MIKE ELDER (50:09)
Right. Right in.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (50:10)
That was like 12.
 
MIKE ELDER (50:12)
Have you ever considered going to New York and like, doing theater?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (50:14)
I would love to, honestly. Yeah. And I’m not my wife and I actually don’t have kids, but.
 
MIKE ELDER (50:22)
Oh, I thought you did.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (50:22)
Yeah, yeah, no, it’s all good. So we, we have a little more leeway to be able to kind. And she works remotely, so, you know, I mean, I did. I went and did a play with my.
 
My dad directed a show and what. At the Washington Stage Guild in D.C. in 2021. Mrs. Warren’s Profession. And I went out there for two months and my wife came with me the whole time because she needs wifi. As long as there’s WI fi, she can work.
 
So, yeah, we definitely have talked about that. New York theater obviously actually pays, which is the tough part about doing theater here. I’m a member of a few companies that do incredible theater. Are amazing people that I’ve grown up around. And sometimes, you know, unless timing is really works out, it’s really tough to be able to say yes to projects anywhere because it’s just the time commitment and everything. It’s. It’s not, it doesn’t.
 
MIKE ELDER (51:18)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (51:18)
You know, and LA theater is really rough that way.
 
MIKE ELDER (51:20)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (51:22)
Unless you have a job that like pays you, like, really well and you can afford to be like, well, I’m going to spend my evenings, you know, rehearsal, whatever. But I would, I would prefer it.
 
I mean, my dad is. My dad is in a play right now, actually. Go see Miracle on 55th Street at Pacific Resident Theater in Venice. My dad’s playing Zero Mostel and it’s. It’s a play, original play by Greg Ostrin about Jerome Robbins and Zero Mostel and Hal Prince, all in the rehearsal room when Fiddler on the Roof was going into their very first production. And it’s their kind of dynamic and how they talk about working out the show. It’s a really good play.
 
My dad is brilliant. Michael Rothhaar. But yeah, I would love to. I would love to move to New York. I mean, I’m excited to go back to shoot these films.
 
MIKE ELDER (52:08)
Yeah. What is that?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (52:09)
That’s going to be September to October.
 
MIKE ELDER (52:11)
Okay.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (52:12)
So. And it’ll be like the perfect time to be there. It won’t be too hot.
 
MIKE ELDER (52:14)
I’m there for a couple of weeks. Over Labor Day. Last week of August to first week of September.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (52:19)
First week of September. Okay. Yeah, hit me up for sure.
 
MIKE ELDER (52:22)
I want to move there. I’m flirting with moving there because I turned 40 this year and I’m flirting with it. Are you being submitted in New York, do you know? Are you submitting you New York or Atlanta?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (52:31)
I tell them to, yeah, for sure. Because I can work as a local hire. I can also work as a local hire in Atlanta as well. So.
 
MIKE ELDER (52:38)
Are you getting many auditions out there?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (52:40)
Not. Not too many, no. No. But I will, like, when I go on Actor’s Access, I will, you know, change my.
 
My search to be.
 
MIKE ELDER (52:48)
I’ve never thought to do that. I should get New York emails.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (52:50)
Do it. Yeah. Well, you don’t even need. It doesn’t need to be in New York email, just like, just go on. If you want Actor’s Access, go, you know, hit New York instead of LA.
 
MIKE ELDER (52:58)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (52:59)
It’ll give you all the projects in there in Jersey. If you can, you know, if you’re gonna move there. Cool. If you can, you know, have a place you can stay for a couple of weeks or something like that. Just submit yourself for stuff there. There’s so much shooting there, like a ton. So. But yeah, I would really love to.
 
I would love to go do some theater out there. For sure.
 
It’s, you know. Yeah. I mean, even like a. I mean, Broadway contract is depending on what the role is. It’s like, you know, it’s like 1500 bucks a week or something like that, so that’d be not bad. So. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (53:28)
Yeah. Because you were.
 
How long did you live in New York? Remind me, because you were born.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (53:32)
I was born in New York. I moved when I was.
 
MIKE ELDER (53:33)
But you grew up here.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (53:34)
Five or six years old.
 
MIKE ELDER (53:35)
Did you ever live in New York then? After that?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (53:38)
Not after that, no. This will be the longest time I’ve. I’ve spent there. Since I moved there, since I moved away.
 
MIKE ELDER (53:44)
Okay. And you still love it? Because I love it. I got some people in my life being like, you’ll hate it when you live there.
 
I’m like, no, I think I will fucking the love the grind.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (53:49)
You’ll love it. 100%.
 
MIKE ELDER (53:51)
I get so much energy when I’m there.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (53:53)
Well, that’s what I mean is like, I just. The, the pacing is different. It’s like, yeah, come out of your apartment, grab a cup of coffee, and then when you feed on the street, you’re just swept up in the energy.
 
And I love it. Like, I love every time I’m there, it feels like home, even though I didn’t live there long enough.
 
MIKE ELDER (54:07)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (54:07)
To really be home, you know? But, yeah, you get into the rhythm of the city and it’s a whole different thing. It’s just like, okay, let’s go.
 
MIKE ELDER (54:14)
Yeah. And like the short film I just shot, I literally spent a week in New York with my buddy and we just had so much fun. It was literally inspired. No, it inspired.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (54:22)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (54:22)
Like I came home and I just knocked out this 10 page script in like no time because it was just everything we were doing in New York felt like a funny bit in the script.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (54:31)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (54:31)
And that’s just like, if I can get that much like energy from it. Plus I got all these great coats. I don’t get to wear out. I got like three peacoats. I never get to wear.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (54:40)
Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. Can’t do it here. Although the winters here have been like, crispy. I brought my peacoat out a couple of times for sure. But there, you know, definitely wear it. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (54:51)
I’m from Minnesota, so I’m the master of layers and I can’t layer out here. I just wear a T shirt. I’m wearing a polo today randomly because the audition said dress like nice casual.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (55:01)
Nice casual. I’ll pull this polo out. That’s a good color on you, by the way. I like it.
 
MIKE ELDER (55:08)
Oh thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, I would love to move to New York, so maybe we’ll see each other out there.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (55:13)
Yeah, for sure.
 
MIKE ELDER (55:15)
What I’m turning. It’s literally like this year I’ve learned quitting my job. I’ve kind of learned like when you jump, when you leap, you fly and like, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but something, something catches.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (55:29)
Something happens. I think, you know, doing something like that, you know, it’s shows the universe. Forward motion. Right. So, yeah, like, you’re like, I’m just gonna trust that this is gonna be a thing and then things start to fall into place in my experience, you know, because when you have the safety net, you’re gonna use it, you know, and so if you just take the mesh away and go do your thing and, you know, it tends to work out, but it can be scary. It’s really fucking scary.
 
MIKE ELDER (55:55)
I just like what you said. That was great. Put that motion out there.
 
Oh, man, that’s beautiful. It can be scary, but, like, that’s where growth lies. And honestly, this is now, this is my existential moment I’m giving you. I appreciate it, but, like, to me, it’s like I want to live in New York at some point in my life. And to me it was always like, when I could afford it. But I’m like, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow and I never live in New York, I’m gonna be so disappointed in myself.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (56:19)
So disappointed. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (56:20)
Because, like, I Just love it so much.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (56:22)
Yeah, Yeah. I mean, do it just. It sounds like that might be the next jump, though. You know what I mean? And here’s the thing, is that with, like, you know, nine to five stuff, that’s always gonna be there.
 
MIKE ELDER (56:33)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (56:33)
You can always go back to that if you need to.
 
MIKE ELDER (56:35)
Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (56:35)
But in the meantime, if you’re doing okay, then who cares? And that going to New York sounds like it might be the next great adventure for you.
 
MIKE ELDER (56:43)
I agree.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (56:43)
So do it.
 
MIKE ELDER (56:44)
I agree.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (56:44)
Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (56:45)
Well, the last question I ask is, who took a chance on you? I’ve been asking that to people lately, and people really like that question.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (56:50)
Who took a chance on me?
 
MIKE ELDER (56:53)
We all need somebody to send the elevator back down, it seems like. Who did that for you?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (57:02)
Who took a chance on me?
 
MIKE ELDER (57:04)
It could be personal. It doesn’t have to be professional.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (57:06)
Yeah, yeah. Being personally. Personally, I think. I think my wife, Jess, she not, like, necessarily took a chance on me, but I think that she didn’t really. I don’t think she really knew what she was getting herself into in terms of dating an actor and my career and my life choices when she was with me. And she’s been there every, every moment and just, like, been my fucking champion forever. And I. I can’t. Yeah. Words can’t express how much I appreciate her for.
 
For doing that and taking a chance and sticking it out, because it is. It’s not an easy life, you know, being with me and being with.
 
With my work, for sure. And I love her for that. And. And the other person that took a chance was the. So I have a film that we shot in Mexico for six weeks, and it was written by.
 
Do you know Max Arciniega? Did you ever watch Breaking Bad?
 
MIKE ELDER (58:30)
Oh, yeah, yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (58:31)
You know, Crazy Eight.
 
MIKE ELDER (58:32)
Okay. Yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (58:33)
So, yeah. So that’s a friend of mine that I know through a community of actors here in LA. Oh, funny. And his director and co writer on the film, Alonso Alvarez-Barreda. Alonso, is an incredible director. He’s like. He’s Mexican, you know, one best short film at Cannes when he was, like, 17. Like, he’s a monster. Amazing. Tells a story with a lens in this incredible way.
 
But he and Max had written this film called the Wingwalker together for about 10 years. And I just, like, this is so funny with, like, the forward motion of the universe. Right. Like, I. I was. My wife and I were rewatching Breaking Bad one day, and I. You know, I hadn’t talked to Max in a while.
 
He moved to Chicago during the pandemic he’s from there. And, and he came on and I saw his scenes and I just was like, man, he’s so good. And so I just texted him. I was like, hey, man, like, you just keep doing what you’re doing. You’re killing it and I’m really proud of you. And next time you’re in la, let’s grab dinner. And he’s like, yeah, it’s great to hear from you.
 
And called me a few days later and said, man, it’s. It’s wild that you hit me up because I’ve been going into pre production on a film that I’ve been working on for 10 years with my partner, and we’ve gone through certain production companies and it fell on its face a few times and we finally got picked up by Disney Mexico and we’re under their umbrella. We’re going into pre production in a month or month and a half. He goes, we’ve been looking for the guy to play the main character’s brother in law. And I just, we’re seeing some, like, a handful of guys for this and I, I would love it if I could just give my stuff to. Can you humor me and make a tape, hear the scenes? And I just want to give it to my director because I think it’s.
 
I think you’re the guy. And so, yeah, I made this tape and Alonso was like, I love this.
 
Never heard of him. And, and let’s just, let’s do it.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:00:30)
Oh, hell yeah.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:00:31)
So it was him, Max Arciniega and Alonso Alvarez-Barreda. They, they both took a, took a shot and brought me on to this, like, really beautiful project that, that’s been their baby for a long time. And they trusted, they trusted me and, and, you know. Yeah. And now friendships have gotten deeper.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:00:49)
That’s dope. When’s that come out?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:00:51)
It’s. So it’s out in Mexico right now. We were like the number one film in theaters for like a few weeks. And then we’ve, We’ve. We’re still in the top 10 on Disney Plus down there. It’s. We’re gonna have a US release here. The theatrical release will probably be much smaller, but we will be on Disney plus hopefully in the next month. So I’ll keep you posted.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:01:12)
I completely forgot you speak Spanish. Yeah, when you speak, when you say Alfonso, it sounds so good.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:01:19)
But it’s funny though, because in the, in the movie, I wasn’t allowed to speak any Spanish.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:01:24)
Oh, really?
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:01:24)
I was supposed. My character is sort of a.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:01:25)
Stupid gringo.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:01:25)
A little Bit. Yeah, he’s, he’s, he’s the, he means really well, but he’s kind of a fuck up and he’s the, he is the catalyst that kicks off the journey that the brother that my brother in law has in this film. And the whole film is, is a big commentary on immigration in this country and how backwards it is and the hoops that this guy, the brother has to jump through to like get back across the border. He gets deported, has to come back because his daughter has a crazy heart condition and needs a transplant. And so it’s, it’s a beautiful story and it’s super heart wrenching and wonderful, but. And it’s very poignant with everything that’s going on right now. So, so it needs to, yeah, it needs to be seen for sure.
 
But, but in this, I was just, I told Alonso, I was like, can I just like, can I just say, let me get like a sentence in there. He’s like, no, no, not this one. He goes, the next one, Next one. I promise you, you can speak some Spanish, but you can’t fucking do it this. But it was so dope working on the project because I, you know, I came down then went down to Tijuana for my, for my, you know, hair and makeup wardrobe fittings and all this stuff the week before we started and came in and the hair and makeup girls are like, hello, it’s so nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. You know, and they were just like, and they were just like, oh my God, this is gonna make things so much easier.
 
But it was fun. It was like, it was an all Mexican crew. Everybody was so incredible and took such good care of me and I made all these new friends, but they, you know, and, and Alonso would, he’d come and direct me in Spanish sometimes he’s like, okay, Papa Seresto. And he gives me the, you know, give me the breakdown of exactly how we’re going to go through the scene. But he would switch from like Spanish to English to Spanish to English. But the fact that he was like, could do that with me was really fun for him. Yeah.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:03:19)
That’s awesome. Oh, I wish I could speak Spanish. That’s.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:03:20)
Yeah, man. Duolingo. Yeah. Seriously. I’m learning French and Italian right now and it’s like. Yeah, it’s super helpful.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:03:27)
Is it working? I feel like my brain can’t learn anything anymore.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:03:30)
That’s well, you know, we are getting, we’re getting older, kid.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:03:34)
I’m like teaching myself Premiere the last, like years and I feel like that’s a new language that I’m learning.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:03:39)
That seems like a little more lucrative of an idea than learning Spanish at 39, you know, but.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:03:46)
Will, this was a pleasure. Good to see you, buddy.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:03:47)
Such a pleasure to see you. Yeah, you too, bud.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:03:48)
You keep kicking ass.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:03:49)
You too.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:03:50)
If you didn’t live in Marina del Rey, I’d say let’s get dinner sometime.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:03:52)
Let’s do it. I mean, no, I will travel for friends. I don’t give a shit. Let’s go. We’ll go to, you know. That’s fine. I get it, you know? We’ll make it.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:04:01)
Because I’m not traveling. I’m the worst friend.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:04:03)
All right, I guess that settles it. Nah, I’ll come through. It was such a pleasure brother.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:04:06)
This is great, Will. I appreciate you. Tail slate.
 
WILL ROTHHAAR (1:04:09)
Yeah. Will Rothhaar. Appreciate you guys. Be well.
 
MIKE ELDER (1:04:12)
Lovely.
 
🎵 ROCKFORD (1:04:12) 🎵
MTV and the channel E!. A thing for a celebrity.