Alan Ritchson Talks ‘Fast X,’ ‘Reacher’ & More with Rich Eisen | Full Interview — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00fastx again it's currently in theaters
2. 0:01Nationwide and Alan Richardson is here
3. 0:04on the program it's too bad that nobody
4. 0:06else famous is in this movie
5. 0:10limited cast I feel I feel for you that
6. 0:13you finally joined this incredibly
7. 0:15popular series and there's nobody else
8. 0:16in it to talk about it's tough it's
9. 0:18tough yeah it's funny that like the uh
10. 0:21the barrier for entry is like an Oscar
11. 0:22you know at this point for this thing
12. 0:24it's incredible right exactly but you
13. 0:26know you you cracked you cracked the
14. 0:28cast obviously yeah I weaseld my way in
15. 0:30there somehow so um how much of the
16. 0:33first nine films have you been taken in
17. 0:35and that you get a call saying hey do
18. 0:37you want to be part of fast X or what
19. 0:38what do you got I want you know I
20. 0:40watched them all I'm going to say this I
21. 0:42was mortified as these words came out of
22. 0:44my mouth I was like this is you are the
23. 0:46dumbest person alive I had watched the
24. 0:49first one in high school
25. 0:50and it was Transcendent I was like this
26. 0:53is this has elevated the action genre
27. 0:55this is a new way to to to show the cars
28. 0:58and race I mean it's just like a whole
29. 1:00new ball game now for a film
30. 1:02and then they want to do I like like Vin
31. 1:04you know you sort of feel like oh that
32. 1:05was a cult classic you know like maybe
33. 1:06we shouldn't do another one you know and
34. 1:08so I didn't watch any other ones and I
35. 1:11let Vin know oh my god there I go hey
36. 1:14man I hadn't really watched any of them
37. 1:15I watched the first one in high school
38. 1:17but I you know and I'm now now that I
39. 1:20got the part I've seen them all you know
40. 1:22and I just love what you've been doing
41. 1:23with the last two decades and he was
42. 1:25like I thank you I appreciate that but
43. 1:28he but uh you got a sense not so much
44. 1:31what I you know he's spent 20 plus years
45. 1:34this is his baby yeah you know I mean
46. 1:37I've spent a couple years working on
47. 1:39Reacher it's such a fixture in my life
48. 1:41if somebody was like yeah
49. 1:43thanks for having me on Reacher man I
50. 1:45haven't watched any of them you're the
51. 1:47stupidest
52. 1:49say that and this dude is decades in I'm
53. 1:52an an idiot no you're no but I'm just
54. 1:55wondering what he might have been more
55. 1:58um he was deeply offended by is that
56. 1:59that he hadn't seen it or the fact that
57. 2:01you were in high school at the first one
58. 2:03of them you know hey old man I haven't
59. 2:05seen much of your work the last 20 years
60. 2:07but thanks for having me on you know
61. 2:09thanks for squeezing me in before you
62. 2:10retire
63. 2:11uh yeah no he was he was very he was
64. 2:14very polite though um but no so I hadn't
65. 2:16been a huge fast fan of course I did my
66. 2:19homework I watched all of them yes and
67. 2:21the more I saw it develop the more I was
68. 2:23like oh no wonder this is like a
69. 2:24multi-billion dollar franchise this is
70. 2:26the funnest thing in the world yeah
71. 2:27right uh and then of course you start to
72. 2:29go like oh man now I have to live up to
73. 2:31like what this thing has become oh my
74. 2:33gosh can I be a part of this yes
75. 2:36um but it's you know uh it works and you
76. 2:38know I think I I am so grateful to be a
77. 2:41part of it at this point in space and
78. 2:42time because I feel like you know both I
79. 2:45I'm at a point in my career where it's
80. 2:47it makes sense yes and this uh franchise
81. 2:50is at a point in the career where it's
82. 2:51it's uh although it's sort of the
83. 2:53beginning of the end there's something
84. 2:54so fresh about where this story has
85. 2:57matured and you know the the the cast
86. 2:59that's assembled and it's just a fun
87. 3:01point to you know to take part in this
88. 3:02oh my gosh Tyrese Gibson and obviously
89. 3:04Vin Diesel Jason Momoa Jason Statham I
90. 3:08mean John Cena
91. 3:09I mean uh what was your time with seeing
92. 3:12it like and all the audience Charlize
93. 3:15I mean yeah the women too are
94. 3:17Juggernauts and uh you know Dame Helen
95. 3:19mirror The Living Legends yeah I mean
96. 3:22you're right I mean every one of them is
97. 3:24like
98. 3:25um which one which one could you take
99. 3:27Alan let's be honest let's just let's
100. 3:29just go throw down right now like I mean
101. 3:31why are you fishing for controversy
102. 3:38I mean we know there's nobody in that
103. 3:40cast that I can't have you seen Richard
104. 3:44[Applause]
105. 3:45s
106. 3:47unfortunately for everybody else I'm
107. 3:49sorry I'm sorry I'm just being honest
108. 3:51yeah it's what I do you could take all
109. 3:54of them out I felt underutilized in this
110. 3:56film as far as the actions
111. 3:58throw that out there we got to fix that
112. 4:00in the next one fast 11 yes fast x i I
113. 4:04guess would that be that's right okay
114. 4:05very good
115. 4:06um so Cena could take him so you could
116. 4:09take out you could take out Aquaman too
117. 4:11you could take him out okay the best
118. 4:13Aquaman okay yes you know I'll take my
119. 4:15rage out on him the fact that he got the
120. 4:17better Aquaman wetsuit okay have you
121. 4:19seen his costume versus mine uh let's
122. 4:22not do it side by side I'm sure there's
123. 4:23some fans of yours out there that are
124. 4:25already photoshopping those together I
125. 4:27got Egypt I had like the 1990s like thin
126. 4:30paper thin orange Speedo that zipped up
127. 4:32from the front you know and he I don't
128. 4:34even know what he's he's wearing leather
129. 4:36what is he in it's beautiful whatever it
130. 4:38is his superhero costume looks sweet so
131. 4:40what do you mean it zipped up from the
132. 4:41front what are you talking about there's
133. 4:42a zipper in your Aquaman my Aquaman
134. 4:45think yeah dude I had to zip into it and
135. 4:46it was just because I actually went to a
136. 4:48leather shop which I didn't mind
137. 4:51and they were they were building this
138. 4:52they were building this sick superhero
139. 4:55suit and then the producers go like he
140. 4:56would never wear leather under and so
141. 4:58then I then they they unravel this
142. 5:00little they flick out this little Speedo
143. 5:02that you know this onesie yeah and step
144. 5:04into that please and zip it up and get
145. 5:06to set and I was brand new you know so
146. 5:09that's what I yeah so don't look at the
147. 5:10costume you were brand new or the or or
148. 5:13the or the costume was brought both both
149. 5:15because uh because maybe your
150. 5:17interpretation of Aquaman is is a
151. 5:19leather Aquaman Leather Man becomes
152. 5:22Aquaman right maybe so you know right I
153. 5:25think they were overthinking it not you
154. 5:26exactly how about that we need to we
155. 5:28need to fix this but yeah yeah even even
156. 5:30Mamoa yeah I mean and I love Momoa you
157. 5:33know I will say you you mentioned Cena
158. 5:34that is he's the most have you met him
159. 5:36he's the kindest human being I've ever
160. 5:39met in my life it was I was blown up I
161. 5:42mean it was why you were thinking you'd
162. 5:43have a little bit of wrestling attitude
163. 5:45or something like that I meet a lot of
164. 5:46people that are like threatened and I'm
165. 5:48not like I don't I'm not here to fight
166. 5:50people
167. 5:54let's just be nice to each other but
168. 5:57like a lot of dudes are like you know I
169. 5:59could take you you know you're like why
170. 6:01do we have to do that and I just sort of
171. 6:03expected especially from you know
172. 6:05somebody who like you know looks like a
173. 6:07big piece of walking testosterone but he
174. 6:10was the uh no kidding loveliest man in
175. 6:13the world okay so there wasn't like any
176. 6:15arm wrestling or anything like that on
177. 6:16the set of fact so there's always the
178. 6:18next film though I'll make sure I bring
179. 6:19that up okay very good Alan richson is
180. 6:21here on the Rich Eisen show so the the
181. 6:24uh success of Jack Reacher has that kind
182. 6:27of blown you away a little bit yeah you
183. 6:29can't look I've been in this business
184. 6:30for I don't know 18 19 years yes I've
185. 6:33had so many there have been so many
186. 6:35moments that you know this the town is
187. 6:37going like this is it man this is it
188. 6:40this is going to be nuts just keep your
189. 6:41head on the ground hey I'm calling from
190. 6:43the studio I'm just the guy my only job
191. 6:46is to make sure that you're like not
192. 6:48getting in trouble we're gonna take good
193. 6:49care of you it's going to be a rocket
194. 6:51ship you know and you're like okay and
195. 6:52then nothing ever pans out the way that
196. 6:54you expect you know and and so you know
197. 6:56it humbles you and you start to learn
198. 6:58like oh you know
199. 7:00I just need to be in this for the love
200. 7:01of what I do and master this craft and
201. 7:05uh and just see how much a value I can
202. 7:07add to every project and then and then
203. 7:09let you know what what comes you know
204. 7:12from the audience like that just is what
205. 7:14it is right
206. 7:15uh and so I sort of go into it with that
207. 7:18mentality you know especially just
208. 7:19having come off a DC show where you know
209. 7:22I I was on Titans I played Hawk and and
210. 7:24there was this huge Warner Brothers
211. 7:26rolling out with DC this uh the new
212. 7:29platform and they're like this is gonna
213. 7:31be monstrous and it didn't fizzled out
214. 7:33the platform's not there anymore I got
215. 7:35swallowed up by HBO you know it just
216. 7:37sort of disappears uh you just never
217. 7:40know you never know what to expect and
218. 7:41so I sort of going expecting that you
219. 7:43know
220. 7:44um and uh you know manage my
221. 7:46expectations that way and you know and
222. 7:48and uh you know I walk down the street
223. 7:50now and I've got like 80 year old
224. 7:53grandmas that are like reach
225. 7:57this napkin you know and you're like wow
226. 7:59everybody is watching this thing oh cool
227. 8:02everybody one of the most watched shows
228. 8:03out there so you've never been chased by
229. 8:04grandmothers is it what you're saying
230. 8:05this is the first few yeah okay yeah
231. 8:08yeah I was well you know I was on a show
232. 8:10called Blue Mountain State in my younger
233. 8:11years first first show that I was on as
234. 8:13a regular I played a character named
235. 8:15Thad Castle and it was like an animal
236. 8:16house you know kind of frat show yes and
237. 8:19so I've been like put in headlocks by
238. 8:21you know like drunken 18 year olds I'm
239. 8:23gonna walk by college Camp that's sort
240. 8:25of what I'm used to yeah so for like the
241. 8:26demo to be like over 65 is uh it's a
242. 8:30treat and I know uh Sarah is deep into
243. 8:32the the reach your books there's 23
244. 8:34books right I think a little more now
245. 8:36his brother's writing them now they're
246. 8:38still coming yeah Sarah my lady is
247. 8:40through 18 of them oh wow she's super
248. 8:42jacked on what uh season two which book
249. 8:45that's gonna be kind of based on yeah we
250. 8:47shot bad luck in trouble and I love you
251. 8:49know if people enjoyed the first season
252. 8:51I yeah I kept saying as we were in
253. 8:53production I was like just championing
254. 8:54if we can just get through the first if
255. 8:56we can get picked up for a second season
256. 8:58We're Off to the Races uh you're Off to
257. 9:00the Races then we are The Killing Floor
258. 9:03was the first book you know the first
259. 9:04season was based on Killing Floor it's a
260. 9:06great book it introduces the character
261. 9:08really well it's very different kind of
262. 9:09protagonist uh but there are better
263. 9:11books in the series you know sort of
264. 9:13liberally hit his stride to start to
265. 9:15figure out how to use Reacher uh and uh
266. 9:17you know we're bad luck and trouble is
267. 9:19one of those books you you essentially
268. 9:20have four reachers running around it's
269. 9:23he reassembles the old one tenth which
270. 9:25is where he learned his set of skills
271. 9:27and these are these these uh uh old
272. 9:30colleagues are are solving the case of
273. 9:32somebody picking off
274. 9:33um you know the 110th and so you get the
275. 9:35best of what this uh what this world
276. 9:37could be you know there's a shorthand
277. 9:39there it's a lot of fun
278. 9:40did you ever reach out to Tom Cruise or
279. 9:42anybody connect you guys you know Don
280. 9:44Granger uh who uh you know runs film at
281. 9:48Sky dance and has produced like all the
282. 9:50Tom Cruise he's been partnered with Tom
283. 9:51Cruise for many years and
284. 9:53um helped put this together with Tom I
285. 9:56he's my boss on you know he's he's a
286. 9:58producer on the show yes and I said
287. 10:01should I should I reach out to Tom like
288. 10:04out of respect I feel like I you know I
289. 10:06wrote him a letter and I was like should
290. 10:07I give this thing would it be like
291. 10:08inappropriate or whatever and he goes
292. 10:10you know I think
293. 10:11I think it's best just to if you know he
294. 10:13wants to move on from this
295. 10:16um this is you know he gave it his
296. 10:18Blessing he's totally fine with what's
297. 10:20happening right now like I think we
298. 10:21should just leave it you know
299. 10:23um so no I never so I've never never
300. 10:24talked to him about it um but you wrote
301. 10:26him a letter I did I just felt like it
302. 10:28was a respectful thing to do like you
303. 10:30know I appreciate your time yeah dear
304. 10:31Tom Mr Cruz I appreciate what you did
305. 10:34for
306. 10:35the for the brand I mean you know I
307. 10:37think a big part of why Reacher's so
308. 10:39successful is because of the eyes that
309. 10:41he brought to it I mean say what you
310. 10:43want about uh whether he was right for
311. 10:45Richa or not most people know about
312. 10:47Reacher because of Mr Cruz you know I
313. 10:50have a huge debt of gratitude for him
314. 10:52and what he what he brought to the show
315. 10:53and so he he gave a check mark to you
316. 10:56Alan Richton being Jack reachers I don't
317. 11:00know I don't know okay well it works but
318. 11:03either way it works it's pretty cool
319. 11:05um so let me I I I I gotta ask
320. 11:09um what's a cheat day look like for you
321. 11:11Alan what's a cheat day look like for
322. 11:13you here's the thing yeah here's here's
323. 11:15what people need to know if your
324. 11:18lifestyle yes is one of health and
325. 11:21fitness yes every day can we come and
326. 11:24cheat day I mean okay it's about
327. 11:27Temperance it's moderation throughout
328. 11:29the day you don't have to let go in
329. 11:30these insane calorie deficit deficit
330. 11:33sprees right you know and then like like
331. 11:35punish yourself in the gym like I work
332. 11:37out 30 45 minutes a day I get it in get
333. 11:40a little pump I might have a slice of
334. 11:43pizza for lunch because you don't feel
335. 11:44like it you know and I heard it I had a
336. 11:46Sunday last night a giant Sunday at
337. 11:48dinner with my agent so you know we were
338. 11:49hanging out I got ice cream so what I'm
339. 11:51gonna work it off today because I know
340. 11:53every day I'm gonna be getting something
341. 11:54in you must have the metabolism of a rat
342. 11:57because I mean if I have honestly if I
343. 11:59have a Sunday I I am gonna it's gonna
344. 12:01sit on me for 48 hours
345. 12:04yeah that's uh thank you yeah that you
346. 12:09had a son that you didn't have a Sunday
347. 12:10the night before this Photograph uh bro
348. 12:12I had uh I had pizza I had probably two
349. 12:15pizzas the night before that and and uh
350. 12:17Craig's cookies the best cookies
351. 12:19okay you know okay Craig says in the
352. 12:22Craig's Restaurant oh I was there last
353. 12:24night I love uh do you have Donuts I had
354. 12:26that Sunday
355. 12:27[Laughter]
356. 12:35I've been doing this for decades decades
357. 12:38people think it's like well how long
358. 12:40would it take to go 20 years 30 minutes
359. 12:43a day for 20 years come tell me if you
360. 12:45have a weight problem or you don't have
361. 12:47some kind of ABS after 20 years of at
362. 12:50five days a week yeah come talk to me
363. 12:52you need to see a geneticist or
364. 12:54something some kind of ass I mean yeah I
365. 12:56mean even washboards are jealous right
366. 12:58now looking at this Photograph feeling
367. 12:59bad about all my life all right you're
368. 13:02an inspiration sir I mean uh I don't I
369. 13:04don't even know uh what else to say so
370. 13:06you have pizza and ice cream and all
371. 13:08that stuff yeah okay whatever I will say
372. 13:10testosterone helps
373. 13:12but you know here's what's funny I
374. 13:14talked about this once before I talked
375. 13:16about this once before and I've been you
376. 13:18know like I this is pretty this is over
377. 13:20here I don't care like people people are
378. 13:23gonna eviscerate me no matter what who's
379. 13:25eviscerating you everybody
380. 13:27I did a thing for Men's Health okay like
381. 13:29an expose on my you know after after
382. 13:31reach everybody wanted to know like what
383. 13:33my what I do yeah sure for reach I was
384. 13:35205 when I got Casper I was a scraggly
385. 13:37scrawny I thought I was big everybody
386. 13:39was I was always playing superheroes
387. 13:40yeah I look back at those photos now and
388. 13:42I'm like oh my God I look like a kid
389. 13:43like a like a marathon runner yeah I was
390. 13:46205 63 205. I needed to put on 30 pounds
391. 13:50for the roll okay I needed to be at
392. 13:52least 235 that was like my mandate from
393. 13:54the studio you cannot show up to set
394. 13:55without being for reaches I had eight
395. 13:57months to do it okay I built a gym in my
396. 13:59house okay and I worked my ass off you
397. 14:02cannot believe how hard I worked okay
398. 14:04every day like it was my like my life
399. 14:05depended on it hour two hours a day to
400. 14:07so in that amount of time I could like
401. 14:09put the muscle on yes and I did it
402. 14:11without any help no steroids no
403. 14:14testosterone nothing good for you just
404. 14:16hard work so I get through it but it
405. 14:18also killed me I was like I had to get
406. 14:19shoulder surgery after the season and it
407. 14:22was rough and and uh so I so I get done
408. 14:24with the season I'm super fatigued I'm
409. 14:26like things aren't working on my body I
410. 14:27can't breathe I'm like I don't know
411. 14:29what's going on I work out all the time
412. 14:30it should be feeling better and uh I go
413. 14:33to the doctor and let's do a blood panel
414. 14:34he's like oh you have no testosterone I
415. 14:36was like okay you know I guess I beat it
416. 14:38out of myself
417. 14:41and it was like oh my God like a new me
418. 14:45like a new me and uh and and ever since
419. 14:48then you know it makes the my job easier
420. 14:50there's going to be less wear and tear
421. 14:52because I don't have to push it's not
422. 14:53it's I don't have to do what I did to
423. 14:55replicate that again
424. 14:57um but it's been great you know and if
425. 14:59you're you know I'm 40 years old
426. 15:01if you're you know late 30s early 40s
427. 15:03and you're you know just starting to
428. 15:05feel like you're slowing down yeah it's
429. 15:06it does it's a so many it's it's so
430. 15:08instrumental in so many mechanisms in
431. 15:10your body it's a mood stabilizer you
432. 15:13know it it Crea it helps uh you know
433. 15:16take hemoglobin into your cells you
434. 15:17oxygenate your cells you just feel
435. 15:19better more more alive more awake and
436. 15:21and uh you know helps process fat and
437. 15:24then building muscle it's just it's like
438. 15:25a wonder drug and you have three
439. 15:28children right
440. 15:34[Laughter]
441. 15:39but it's important that people know I'm
442. 15:42not lying about I didn't I never took
443. 15:44testosterone until well after season one
444. 15:46so like it's possible to do it on your
445. 15:48own you know but uh you know but if you
446. 15:51if like me you're after longevity I
447. 15:53would like to I would like to to help
448. 15:54people enjoy 20 seasons of Reacher yes
449. 15:57if we're gonna do that like we're gonna
450. 15:59have to do it smart okay and you're from
451. 16:00Florida originally is it where you're
452. 16:02from yeah so did you ever there okay so
453. 16:04do you ever any like football coach ever
454. 16:07pull you aside and say let's get a
455. 16:08helmet unpacked I was a senior so I was
456. 16:10a late bloomer very late bloomer it's my
457. 16:12whole life has been like that my career
458. 16:13has been like that sure you know I'm 40
459. 16:15and just now sort of you know breaking
460. 16:17and uh you know I've been a late bloomer
461. 16:20and I've enjoyed and I've come to really
462. 16:21enjoy what that what that means for for
463. 16:23my life right um yeah I was like
464. 16:26prepubescent at 17. okay no hearing I
465. 16:28still remember this dude cafeteria one
466. 16:30day I wore shorts and he's like Richton
467. 16:31doesn't have any
468. 16:35am I one shorts publicly
469. 16:38you know no armpit here and so I wanted
470. 16:41to like force the issue so I was like
471. 16:42you know what I'm gonna make my body
472. 16:44change yeah and I went every day for one
473. 16:47year Saturday Sundays rain snow done I
474. 16:50never missed a day I worked out at this
475. 16:52set of monkey bars push-ups pull-ups
476. 16:54dips and sit-ups I ran to it every day
477. 16:57for a year because that guy said
478. 16:59something new about your legs a lot of
479. 17:00people a lot of people were like you
480. 17:01know I was like a chorus boy so I was
481. 17:03singing and I rollerbladed the chorus
482. 17:05practice because it was the most
483. 17:06efficient way to get there you know and
484. 17:08they're like you're like and I'm in Deep
485. 17:10South Florida you know like the
486. 17:11Panhandle where it's you know okay you
487. 17:13know like they're like rolling in on
488. 17:15their mud muddy quads with their mullets
489. 17:16you know and they're like and they see
490. 17:18me in my rollerblades going to chorus of
491. 17:20course practice like I had to do a
492. 17:21little something about that so I started
493. 17:24working out and uh by my senior year
494. 17:27near the end of my senior year likes you
495. 17:29know then and also I hit puberty at the
496. 17:31same time so it just kind of worked okay
497. 17:32so so my senior my senior year the
498. 17:34football coach was like you gotta come
499. 17:36play for us I was like these guys I
500. 17:38don't even know what like the routes
501. 17:39would play right yeah he's gonna be
502. 17:41playing for 15 years you know half of
503. 17:44them are already like you know bald and
504. 17:45almost retirement age
505. 17:48like they look like they're ready to
506. 17:50retire so I don't know uh I don't think
507. 17:52it's for me but uh do you want to go
508. 17:54back to the Panhandle with a camera and
509. 17:55find these people today yeah I'll find
510. 17:57them on the docks yeah hey guys
511. 18:00Alan's got hair on his legs now
512. 18:04anybody want to go see fast X and we
513. 18:07want to go and stream Jack Reacher
514. 18:10that would be good fast exit you know I
515. 18:12really hope people enjoy fast X it's uh
516. 18:14they already are it's such a fun it is
517. 18:16such a fun I love seeing that you know
518. 18:18so many people around the world are
519. 18:19still enjoying this kind of thing but
520. 18:20it's important to escape for a moment
521. 18:23um and uh it's such a it's such a great
522. 18:25story there's a great Cliffhanger at the
523. 18:27end first time there's been a big
524. 18:28Cliffhanger at the end of a show and
525. 18:29then people are talking about it and
526. 18:30enjoying it and looking forward to
527. 18:31what's next I love it I hope people
528. 18:33enjoy it congratulations on Fast Tax
529. 18:35Jack Reacher
530. 18:37um you know your cheek days get out of
531. 18:40here man every day I never say that to a
532. 18:42guest at the end of an interview but get
533. 18:43out okay no uh congratulations on all of
534. 18:46that thank you so much uh and enjoy your
535. 18:48your dad uh your dading and your dad
536. 18:50botting and all that sort of stuff thank
537. 18:52you for being here appreciate it come
538. 18:53back anytime whenever you're back in
539. 18:54town at Alan Richton on Instagram with
540. 18:57the rest of the Free World check him out
541. 18:58in fast X currently in theaters
542. 19:00Nationwide and season two of Reacher is
543. 19:02coming soon is that what we're saying
544. 19:04coming soon coming soon okay just keep
545. 19:05an eye out for that catch the Rich Eisen
546. 19:08show every single day on the Roku
547. 19:10Channel 12 to 3 Eastern for free