Richard Speight Jr.: Band of Brothers & The Scene He Wrote That Made It to Screen | AJ Buckley Show

What happens when an actor walks into a room with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg and nearly has a panic attack before landing the role of a lifetime? This week on The AJ Buckley Show, AJ sits down with Richard Speight Jr., the actor, director, and musician whose career spans from Band of Brothers to Supernatural, and whose stories about fatherhood, filmmaking, and the cost of ambition will leave you inspired and emotional. Richard opens up about growing up in Nashville as one of five kids, starting tap dancing as a young boy because he wanted to be Fred Astaire, doing local theater, and landing his first acting gigs in Disney Channel movies shot in his hometown. He shares the story of working on Ernest Goes to Camp, getting exposed to being on set as a teenager, and the moment he applied to the University of Southern California film and theater school, where he learned the mathematical precision of comedy, the rhythm of storytelling, and why Steve Martin albums and Bugs Bunny taught him more about entertainment than anything else. AJ and Richard dive deep into what it means to understand story, why some actors have a film IQ that allows them to see the heartbeat of a scene, and how Richard trained himself to never just point out a problem without offering a solution. Richard talks about the difference between problem solving and problem creating, why changing lines as a guest star is a no go but as an indie film actor it's all hands on deck, and the responsibility every storyteller has to make the story as good as it can be. Then comes the story everyone wants to hear. Richard walks AJ through the audition process for Band of Brothers, the moment he almost had a nervous breakdown in the waiting room when Tom Hanks walked by with a giant beard while losing weight for Castaway, the angry coach voice in his head that told him to shut the fuck up and go in there, and the callback at Lantana Center where Steven Spielberg unclipped the camera from the tripod and went handheld to shoot Richard's audition while Donnie Wahlberg chain smoked his face off. Richard shares the months of waiting, the assumption he didn't get the job, and the phone call that changed his life when his agent told him he was the first guy cast. Richard opens up about the nine months in England shooting Band of Brothers, the responsibility of playing Skip Muck, a real man who died in the Battle of the Bulge, and how he tracked down Skip's family through the Chamber of Commerce, opened up wounds that had been closed for 40 years, and received letters that he plastered all over his room. He talks about the monologue he delivered about swimming the Niagara River that wasn't in the script but came from a letter Skip's sister sent him, the moment he got into it with HBO because they weren't going to invite Skip's family to the premiere, and why he told them they could uninvite him but his people were coming. Richard also shares the story of going to Tom Hanks and telling him Skip Muck wasn't being established enough in the story, the fear that he might get fired, and the night Tom asked him to write a scene that would be shot in a deuce and a half with five characters. Richard wrote the scene, including the line feet hand neck balls extra socks warms them all, and Tom Hanks asked if it was a real World War II rhyme. Richard also talks about the disposable camera Neil McDonough used to take a photo of Tom Hanks peeing, the eight by ten he framed and titled Battle of Draining the Bulge, and why Band of Brothers affected everything in his life, how he views himself as an actor, as a man, as an American, and as a patriot. Follow Richard Speight Jr. Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dicksp8jr/ Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/p/Richard-Speight-Jr-100045112053422/) Follow AJ Buckley IG: https://www.instagram.com/ajbuckley/ Fb: https://www.facebook.com/AJBuckleyOfficialPage TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ajbuckleyofficial Follow AJ Buckley Show IG: https://www.instagram.com/ajbuckleyshow/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/ajbuckleyshow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ajbuckleyofficial Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aj-buckley-show/id1885802753 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Em0btYFt8QNKJPX2tFJhq https://www.ajbuckley.com Sponsors: http://www.ghostbed.com/buckley Code word Buckley for 10% off http://aj.purerx.co write "Time to shine" In notes http://www.bornofdiscipline.com http://www.coretrex.com