William “Rusty” Russ Meets World Again

00:00:20
Speaker 1: We've got a little couple's date night coming up, right or not, we asked you to be a part of it. We wanted it to be a triple date. You had plans, So anyway, Will and I are taking our spouses to my favorite place ever, a casino for a comedy show.

00:00:41
Speaker 2: Which is my favorite place ever, so we get to double up. We're comboing, we're comboing up. And he's also arguably my favorite comedian right now, so I cannot wait to go see. Hell tell me, we're going to see Nate Bargatzi at the at the Yamava Casino. Oh my god, great, so good to watch his Netflix specials. He's so funny. He does a bit, one of my favorite bit. First of all, he's a rarity in the world because he's a completely clean comedian. He doesn't swear at all. And one of the bits he does, oh god, we quoted all the time is how your life changes when people invite you out as your age gets older. So he's like, in your twenties, your friends call you and they're like, hey, man, do you want to And before they finish the sentence, you're like, I'll go come in, I'll go wherever you want me to go. I'll light my apartment on fire. What are we going to do? He's like, then your thirties come and it's where are we going? Will it be loud? I will drive separate and he's like, in my forties, I'm not going. And I'm actually angry that you would even ask. It's just, oh god, he's hysterical. I saw that he was coming, and I was like, we have to go, so very excited to you know, have Danielle win a whole bunch of money, laugh the whole time, and I make all my money back on the buffet, so I'm really excited.

00:02:03
Speaker 1: Are you gonna gamble?

00:02:04
Speaker 2: Will I always? Do?

00:02:05
Speaker 3: You know?

00:02:06
Speaker 2: I like slot machines. I'll do twenty dollars or twenty five dollars something like that.

00:02:09
Speaker 4: Slot machines are the worst there when it goes weel.

00:02:15
Speaker 1: I like the hoopla yes plus bel yes those are good.

00:02:20
Speaker 2: But no, if you want to see Danielle turn into a different version of Danielle, fun daniel see sit her at a table. Oh I don't know if I'd say fun Danielle, sit her at a table, then go away for about forty five minutes then come back and you just see forty five minutes later, Danielle. It's very funny. It's she is just straight in gambling mode. Where what casino did we find ourselves in in the middle of a city somewhere? Where was Where was that?

00:02:52
Speaker 5: Uh?

00:02:54
Speaker 2: Was it like Cleveland?

00:02:56
Speaker 1: I don't yet it was Cleveland?

00:02:58
Speaker 3: Was it?

00:02:58
Speaker 2: Cleveland's just handel the middle of not the best casino I've ever been in. It wasn't the win And it was just her like, yeah, I'll see in four hours, like we have a show, Like, yeah, the show's in four and a half hours, I'll see you in four That.

00:03:14
Speaker 1: Is what happened.

00:03:14
Speaker 4: Yes, it's like, okay, have fun, bye you casino.

00:03:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, anytime I can smell them so much you can.

00:03:26
Speaker 2: But this is gonna be fun. You're missing on a great, great comedy night.

00:03:29
Speaker 1: We're gonna miss you, but we are turning it into a nice little night. We have dinner, we're gonna gamble, we're gonna see the show. We're spending the night you.

00:03:35
Speaker 2: Probably wake up. Yeah, I've never been to the ama have you.

00:03:39
Speaker 1: I have not ever been to the Amaba, And I'm very excited.

00:03:42
Speaker 2: Me too, because they have some like Killer concerts there as well.

00:03:46
Speaker 3: They do.

00:03:46
Speaker 2: People go, so, yeah, I'm pretty excited for this one.

00:03:48
Speaker 4: Have fun.

00:03:49
Speaker 1: Thank you, we will miss you. What are you doing?

00:03:51
Speaker 2: I don't remember what I think he's think it was a fake it he's got so October eighteenth, when we're going, Yeah, no, I'm just getting back from Ireland.

00:04:05
Speaker 4: I didn't want to leave town again, gotcha?

00:04:07
Speaker 1: That okay?

00:04:09
Speaker 2: Mission a fine show, sir, right.

00:04:13
Speaker 1: Welcome to Pond Meets World.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: I'm Daniel Fischel, I'm Writer Strong, and I'm Wilfordell.

00:04:17
Speaker 1: In recapping season five, we have seen a lot of new names enter the fold at Boy Meets World, and some theories have molded themselves about who was directing week to week and the quality of that product. So do we have a lot of confidence about an episode that wasn't directed by Jeff mccrackett, David Trainer or David Kendall. It's a crapshoot. So when we looked to the future and saw the name of a beloved co worker had joined the mix for Heartbreak Corey, one of the most memorable scripts in the show's history, we got nervous. But we should have seen it coming. William Rusty Russ is good at everything that's right. The beloved dad of the Matthews clan, Allen got to direct episodes of Boy Meets World, and this week we recapped his first the initial spark between Corey and the other woman, Lauren played by Linda Cardelini in a ski lodge, and though he wasn't actually in the episode, Rusty was instrumental to its success, something we all agree was overwhelmingly the result. And so just how did Rusty get behind the camera. A man who was directed in classic movies like Cruising The Right Stuff and American History X and TV shows like Saint Elsewhere, Miami Wece and The Sopranos not only helmed Heartbreak Corey. He'd go on to direct eight more episodes of Boy Meets World, an episode of Root Awakening Lizzie McGuire, and return for an episode of Girl Meets World for old times sake. So for today's episode, we welcome back our co star for a record third time appearance. It's actor, but more importantly, director, William Rusty Russ.

00:05:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, great, I'm here too.

00:05:55
Speaker 3: About Bill. I know, thank you Bill, Oh my gosh, yeah, you know it's interesting. I watched the episode and will you weren't in it.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: No, that's probably why your first directing gig went so smoothly, pro.

00:06:15
Speaker 3: Man.

00:06:16
Speaker 1: We just watched the episode. We all agree it's so good, just so much fun. And do you what, let's talk about what is your What is the thing you remember most about directing this episode for us?

00:06:32
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I have a lot of thoughts on it, and it was that it was so easy in a certain way because you guys were great, the crew was great, the you know, I just kind of came in and went, all right, let's start here. I was kind of thrown on me, if I remember correct. It was the first one I directed. Yes, and uh, it was just one of these things where Michael we were in the elevator or something said you see, he said you're ready. I said yeah, I said you're doing next week. I went, oh, okay. And I'm a person and I've realized this as I've got older, is that my greatest asset becoming an actor and whatever I've done is that I'm a person that doesn't know how much he doesn't know. So you just jump in, let's go, Oh you have to put gas in the car. Oh, I say, okay, but it's interesting as you get older because I'm learning new things that I'm watching, Well how do I do this? But yeah, that was like one of the most but actually it was you guys except for you, Yeah, we're also great. I mean I just watched it, and I enjoy watching everything that you all were doing. And thank god we had camera guys who knew where to put the camera and right, you know, and it just was a joy. And I was a really happy the way it came out with a couple of things that I had said, well, let's do this, and let's try this, and and then it was up to the actors.

00:08:16
Speaker 1: I have to know was we have talked about on season five especially, but we have talked about how many times we have missed insert shots. We didn't do a ton of insert shots on Boy Meets World, and then in your episode we got an insert shot, and we literally for weeks have been saying, why wouldn't they have just done an insert shot? So truly, thank you forgiving us are.

00:08:38
Speaker 2: Showing us the thing we're talking about, which is there's two times.

00:08:41
Speaker 4: There's the there's the blueprints right where you get the concerner of the blueprints, but also that wall where we finally see you know, the fourth frosted the frosted.

00:08:49
Speaker 2: Window, right, if you've bought for that, you made that happen.

00:08:54
Speaker 3: For that I asked for that.

00:08:56
Speaker 2: Was they would have just been looking at a light.

00:08:57
Speaker 4: They're just talking about the moon, but you know, you have you can't turn around and see the moon, but you figured out a way to show what they were looking at, which is the window. It's perfect.

00:09:06
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, I mean because what I asked for that as soon as I had read it or whatever, because just the whole atmosphere of being in this cozy lodge outside it's cold, and I wish I don't know, I can't remember there was snow in that scene exactly, but I wanted to get that feeling of this little intimate moment of two people in this little womb, you know, and things happen you don't have to see, but you can just see the intimacy even from outside. And yeah, I was luckily kind of and you know, I asked them, and again I give kudos to Michael and everyone. They said, oh, that's a great idea. Let's try that. And they built that whole thing and we just said, let's just do this shot from outside.

00:09:52
Speaker 1: That's cool.

00:09:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it did add because I was watching it and I went, yeah, you don't see that much. And I remember saying, oh, that was my you know, that's I thought out of the I think a certain intimacy to the scene that you could just feel.

00:10:10
Speaker 2: It. Did it make any difference to you it's your first episode ever. Did it matter to you in any way, shape or form that you were shooting on a set that you were completely unfamiliar with. It wasn't like you were shooting it's the the you know, it's the living or kitchen, boys bedroom, it's a kitchen scene and stuff that you, as an actor had been in the set. You knew the sets intimately. Did it make a difference to you either way that you were now shooting on a set you'd never seen before.

00:10:34
Speaker 3: No, because I didn't know what you're doing. No, it really didn't. I mean, I have to say it was again, kudos to you guys and the and the production team and Michael and all the producers. It just it went very well and I really was a pleasure.

00:10:54
Speaker 4: I know that Michael told you in the elevator, like you're doing it next week. But how did you become how did you it was part of a negotiation contract thing that you got an episode to directly. How did you get decided that you would direct? Did you say I want to direct an episode next season or how did that hang?

00:11:09
Speaker 3: I think that's basically it. I said. At a certain point, I said, well, if you know, I I just said, let me I'd like to do this. I think I can do it. Like I said, it's the audacity of idiosity. You know, it's whatever you want to call it, the cow you know, the bravery of the ignorant. And I just said, yeah, let me do that. I think I can do this. And and again you know, I mean, gosh, no, you all know that you're taken care of too. If I don't know something, someone will. You know, if you're open to listening, and that's the key, if you're opening the scene, you know, then I knew it would be in good hands. I knew it'd be hard to up because no one would let me go.

00:11:59
Speaker 1: They're going to support Ethan.

00:12:00
Speaker 3: Use the language. But yeah, yeah, I knew that. And fortunately that that that piece was there with all the people around.

00:12:09
Speaker 1: Well, we have told you this before. But I'm going to say it again. We have focused so much on the adult acting during our rewatch because a couple of reasons. For one thing, we relate more to the Amy's and Alan's and mister Feenees of the show now that we are middle aged, but also because the acting is just remarkable. You guys are all so good, and we have kicked ourselves a million times that we were not one paying more attention to asking more questions, three appreciating more it was. It's really some top notch stuff. Do you remember feeling pride and proud of the work that you were doing on Boy Meets World when it was happening, or did you think of it as just doing a sitcom?

00:13:01
Speaker 3: No, of course I felt pride in the work. And and and again I told this story many times. I've never had never done a sitcom before, and I haven't done one since. I don't know what that means, said, but it was a fascinating journey, and thank God, especially when I came in on the first shows, you guys were so welcoming and and you know, because you had another father before, Matt, who I saw not too long ago. And and again I was so ignorant of the genre of the style, you know, and I just you know, at that point, I said, well, it's banging me on the head, so I'm going to go do it and I'll figure it out. Unfortunately, I had people like David Traynor, and he was there, and he would point something to me, I mean and say, you know, I shouldn't do that, and I go, oh, really, And I've been doing it for twenty thirty years on film sets and other plays. You know, here we do this, and I went, oh, okay, all right. And I tried not to take it personally and I went, okay, all right, I'll figure it out, you know. And yeah, no, I was. I was really happy that I could get through a scene without cracking up with you guys that didn't.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: That wasn't always the case towards the end with you and I, Rusty.

00:14:29
Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't always the case.

00:14:32
Speaker 4: And that's fine.

00:14:33
Speaker 3: You know, if I'm going to get fired, I better get fired laughing. Yeah.

00:14:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just watched a couple episodes ago. Was the episode where we're skydiving.

00:14:42
Speaker 4: Oh my god, that's my favorite episode.

00:14:45
Speaker 2: And it's just just remembering the shoot of just screaming at each other as we're then jumping out of the plane and shooting that, and and we we were I couldn't remember, Rider asked, I think, and and I was vaguely recalled, but couldn't really remember. Do you remember the set for that? I remember the interior. But then did they just flip that scene set around and shoot the exterior or did they have a separate exterior that we jumped out of.

00:15:14
Speaker 3: No, I think I think they just went inside and outside. That's okay, I think so. I don't really remember the specifics, but I didn't exactly anywhere I go. But yeah, and you know again, I'm going to go back to you guys on this episode the intimacy, Danielle, you and Ben and Ryder. I mean the scene on the couch where he sits in and then totten here.

00:15:39
Speaker 2: Yes, and I remember that.

00:15:42
Speaker 3: I remember just saying you got you guys, just let it go just and and the life and the and and and it's so true that you can't help but laugh as an audience, you know. And I watched that and I just went, that's so wonderful and you all got it there, and then of course kicked it off with that moment, But there are you know, there's so many moments that I looked at, how that was great and you're you outside and the whole thing with you and Corey, you know, did you do anything else? I mean those It was a very intimate show. And part of me is, you guys are also at an age. How old were you then when we were doing this.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: We were on the show. We were supposed to be seventeen.

00:16:23
Speaker 3: Right, and how were you?

00:16:25
Speaker 1: I will see if this was in I was about to be seventeen, I was about to be I was sixteen seventeen.

00:16:30
Speaker 3: And that's what struck me actually about watching the show, and it was, you know, at the end of that year and you guys, just as young adults were having these things, you know, certainly on a different kind of level. Yeah, but it was part of that world, that discovery that oh I could do this or this would happen. I never saw that coming and and it just seemed like it was very fascinating to watch because I could see you as people being that age at this point in your life too, and you brought all that to it. Right.

00:17:06
Speaker 4: Well, we were talking about how in that ski lodge set around the fire, you know, when we're sitting around the on the couches. It's like our characters were allowed to be adults for probably the first time. Like we're not in the school setting. We're not you know, we didn't get dropped off. We like kind of are comfortable as grown ups and we're allowed to just talk to each other, play grown up games, asking questions and I don't know, it was cool. It's it's very relaxing.

00:17:31
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it was. It was. It really struck me as it was also that journey that you were a certain places. Obviously you're you know, you weren't as you know, uh innocent, I think, as you know, your characters were in a certain way. But it was still a fascinating moment to kind of watch because there were these really subtle, intimate moments that could have been in a you know, and and anywhere on the stage and another movie and a different thing. It was, you know, the life and the and the beauty that you guys brought to it wasn't you know, confined to those three cameras.

00:18:14
Speaker 4: Yes, you know.

00:18:15
Speaker 3: And that's why again I go back to liking the window because I think it gave it another intimacy from being outside and getting the audience consciously or unconsciously to feel there. They're in this safe wound for a moment.

00:18:27
Speaker 4: What do you remember about Linda Cardelini. Did you actually audition her or was she.

00:18:34
Speaker 3: I don't remember if, because I don't know if I was as a director before they did the audition, they usually they cast it. I just remember she was very sweet and came on and it was very good, and you know, and she wasn't intimidating. You know, everyone would come on that show and be in a certain way imitated because you guys been working there for five years and you got the whole thing. You know. I've done this in many shows myself, and I feel like, you know, but she was great, very sweet, and and she brought it and you brought it.

00:19:07
Speaker 6: Rid mm hmmy, I forgotten that line, and I've al so fun in my head and I still see it.

00:19:17
Speaker 3: I laugh out loud.

00:19:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, And Danielle, do you guys remember feeling different on the set, not just with Rusty as a director, but knowing that your director was also an actor. Did that change kind of how you acted on the set, blocking on the set?

00:19:37
Speaker 4: I mean, I have such fond memories of this week. Like I just remember thinking, this was so much fun. And I think it's because the characters are more mature, you know, it's it's funny stuff. And I remember just Linda was so incredible and just was immediately was part of our gang. Like it just felt like it didn't feel like a lot of times you'd have guest stars, and you know, they have their own personalities, their own securities, throwing whatever. But I remember with her it was like, oh, you're just one of us, and we all just were hanging out and laughing and having such a good week. Yeah. So yeah, I mean I think it created a wonderful atmosphere, like having Rusty direct. I just remember being wholly positive. It was so fun.

00:20:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. It was very special, like I said, and as I said, I owe it all to the people around me, you know, I mean really I just kind of walked in, you know. You know, obviously I had an idea what to do, but I mean it's really just watching what you guys do, and then just as you know very well, as you all know now, you know, it's really a matter of letting actors be in the reality and the truth they're in and then just getting it on camera the way it should be.

00:20:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, yeah, I remember that being a feeling the whole week is like knowing how natural and relaxed Rusty is. As an actor, imagine your director bringing that to the table for you. It makes you natural and relaxed and you do get to live really in the reality. That intimacy you were talking about Rusty is obviously an intimacy that the four of us writer, myself, Trina, and Ben had developed on set. There was that was that real friendship and being able to see us as adults for the first time really lended itself to Wow, I feel elevated. It felt like the elevation of our relationships for sure.

00:21:21
Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah it was. It was a special episode and I enjoy I watched it a couple of times, and yeah, it was. It was kind of special to see what you guys brought to it and the said you just kind of lived in it. Yeah, lived in the set and lived in the moment, lived in the story.

00:21:49
Speaker 1: Now, for season five, we have talked a lot about the fact that we had a new director to us, Alan Myerson. What do you remember about Alan Myerson as a director. I think at this point he had had started he did like the first six.

00:22:03
Speaker 3: I just remember Alan as being very He was an experienced director, so I kind of I think he you know again, I you know, I think he came in with a lot of ideas that the way he did things. I mean, I really don't remember much, yeah, except that he was very kind of you know, this is the way we're going to do it this way, right, you know, very I said, I don't even know how many episodes I did that year with him, So what did you guys think.

00:22:38
Speaker 4: We've been reflecting on it because I had wholly positive memories of Alan as a person, because because he gave me he made all these mixtapes for me. He gave me two shopping bags of jazz and folk music that he wanted me to listen to because we were talk music. He introduced me to Billy Collins, a great poet who was I think the poet laureate at the time. He gave me that fir so like I just had like, oh, Alan was such a great guy. But then watching these episodes, I'm realizing, like, oh, he at the time the kind of director I liked with somebody who just didn't talk to me about like character or motivation or story. They would just say stand over here, go over there, and then you exit here. And I'd be like, I can figure out the rest. But now I would I wouldn't want to work with a director like that, Like I don't want a director who's going to get into the process with me or empower me to like make new choices, you know. And it seems like Alan was much more of a like tell you where to go, when to do it.

00:23:31
Speaker 2: Grab you by the arm, bring you to your mark, this is where you stand, say this, walk out this way. So at the time I had I wouldn't want that. Now, you know, I had the same experience. He and I got along really well, but it was I can see how some actors would not have appreciated his style.

00:23:48
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, and as you've all learned over the years, I mean, directors are different and and actors are different, right, Yeah, I mean, I it depends. I mean a lot of times, I mean, and I mean a certain way. That's a lot of respect for you guys, because he says, you know the characters you know, and I'm going to trust you to be spontaneous in your job right, live and do your job, but you have to do it over here.

00:24:13
Speaker 2: Right, but do it facing this way.

00:24:16
Speaker 3: It came.

00:24:19
Speaker 4: Well, I think, you know, I think so much of what like David Traynor was doing first season was teaching us, like he was teaching all of us because all of us were new, right, Like I mean, so we all needed to learn the sort of rules of the form, like this is how you stand, this is how you open, this is how you know you hold your body or sit in a in a formation, how you turn it? And we needed that. But then it seems like Jeff McCracken coming in was like, what about your character? How do you feel about these things? And you know he talked about it when we had him on the podcast. He really opened us all up to take these things a little more seriously, ask questions, and you could see Sean become a character. You could see everybody like elevate their game by emotionally informing and really thinking like real actors. So it's interesting now that it seems like Alan was kind of going back to a more old school sitcom let's just do our job thing. But I kind of I like the idea of you know, sitting around and letting actors.

00:25:15
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and that's what you should do. And I don't know about you, but even when I be rehearsing, or well, let's put this color on and see what happens exactly. Yeah, you know, as opposed to just stand here and do it. Well, why don't you try this? You know that as an actor you try to do because if you're worth your assault as an actor, you have ideas, yes, yes, wow, what yeah. As a painter, if you're painting, I need this paint. Let me try what this looks like. You know, it's not by numbers. It's the worst thing you can do what Alan was doing basically saying, your job as the actor is to explore this and figure out what you want to do or not do. My job as a director is to put you in the right spot where I can get the camera and I can get the shot that tells my part of the story right, And as actors, yours to come in and say, wow, what, what's the behavior? What's going on? How would you know? In different colors? You know?

00:26:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, but that was.

00:26:12
Speaker 3: That's kind of what Jeff. You know, Jeff and I went to the same acting school, you know, and that was all about exploring, and nothing was the same in any scene because you're hopefully he used the old cliche moment the moment and everything's changing because it's luck.

00:26:31
Speaker 1: I want to ask you one question that doesn't really have to do with directing, but do you remember anything about Tony Quinn leaving the show? So earlier in the season, he's in like a couple of episodes and then he's just off the show. Do you remember anything in particular? Did they tell you he was not going to be coming back. Were you aware that was going on or was it just a surprise to you.

00:26:52
Speaker 3: I'm sure was a surprise to me. I know, I don't really remember. You know, I wasn't privy to any of those decisions obviously, and I'm not sure. But did Tony ever talk about it?

00:27:06
Speaker 2: He did, Yeah, he was a surprise to him too. It was a surprise to him too. He he thought he was coming back, and then he was kind of called in and told that you're not. And then and then hey, go, you know, go pursue other options. And so when he came back, he has haircut, he did all the stuff, and he went to go pursue other options and then they kind of stepped in like, well, wait, you're with us, and he's like, wait, he told me that I wasn't and I was going to pursue other options. So it was very muddled for him, I think would be the polite way to say it.

00:27:36
Speaker 3: At the end, Yeah, I mean, who knows what happens back there. We decided, well, this storyline isn't going to go where. Yeah you know, then you know, why are we keeping Tony around?

00:27:50
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:27:50
Speaker 3: All right, but as an actor you're barely expendable.

00:27:56
Speaker 2: Exactly very time.

00:27:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to mention a few season five episodes and see if you have any memories from them. There's no, there's no guts, no, Corey. This is the episode where you go back in time to World War two and they have you doing your best patent. It is much better than the Russian accent from the last time travel episode.

00:28:22
Speaker 3: It wouldn't take much.

00:28:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were like the grizzled sergeant with the with the cigar in your mouth.

00:28:29
Speaker 3: And play all those World War two movies that you remember that. I remember Alan Myers, I remember us directing that.

00:28:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were in a bunker.

00:28:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh my god.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: Do you have a favorite episode of the show that you remember.

00:28:52
Speaker 3: Uh No, I think if you watching this one was really one of my favorites and again watching it again again, I give kudos to all you guys because it was the intimacy and the life and the bravery to not do stick to be there, you know, which was what you guys had learned over those years. So when you left that show, you you had a lot of skills.

00:29:21
Speaker 1: Thank you. There was a very tapanga Christmas. This is where I become extremely annoying and try to alter the Matthews Christmas. We wouldn't wouldn't really be shocked if this episode rings no bells to you.

00:29:33
Speaker 4: But yeah, did you know that Matthew you were a proponent of aluminum trees. Aluminum Christmas tree, like that's what Alan wants in the house.

00:29:45
Speaker 1: Do you remember this, Well, there's a really important one for Alan called Raging Corey. This is a true Rusty standout where you and Corey get into a physical fight playing basketball and then you have skydive. Will mentioned we talked about the plane with you guys having to scream at each other. Do you remember that those run throughs where you were having to yell over the noise. Do you remember taping that?

00:30:12
Speaker 3: Oh, I totally remember taping it. It was so much fun because it was like you're on a World War two movie set, and when you watch all those movies and you see those guys in the plane, you imagine the noise. I watch a lot of things now going wow, and I'm looking off the frame and wondering, Okay, all these guys are over there smoking a cigarettes and getting these things ready, and all the actors are over here going I got to get lunch and get into this scene. And you know, I'm looking at the at the the work. I'm actually reading Kubrick's biography and all the work that goes in to even the sitcom, you know. And what I remember again about what was so fun to me was it was like, it's like all those World War two movies I grew up on watching, and here I get to be in a plane with the sound and the wind. Then the actors jump out.

00:31:02
Speaker 6: You know.

00:31:03
Speaker 4: It was great, so much fun.

00:31:05
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:31:17
Speaker 1: So talking about when you decided you thought you could start directing, when you were working in film with people like William Friedkin and on TV with James Burrows, was it a job you thought Hey, I think I could do that. I think I could handle it or was it really once you were on Boy Meets World and then realized you thought you could do multi caam.

00:31:38
Speaker 3: Well, I think you know, I always admired the directors and I had no desire really at the moment. But what I what I did know I could do is work under pressure. And but again, the you know, my ignorance of being ignorant is the only thing that kept me going. So in a certain way, I would have if I'd been on a show, say, you know, one camera, single camera show and it was shows long enough, I would have I would have said, yeah, let me let me go in. I actually started to on a show we did called Mister Sterling, which was with James Berlin and it was a political show by Lawrence O'Donnell.

00:32:18
Speaker 2: Huh.

00:32:18
Speaker 3: I was hoping that that would go for a year or two or whatever, and I started kind of following the directors around.

00:32:25
Speaker 1: As we do yeah shadow, yeah, and it was.

00:32:28
Speaker 3: It didn't happen, But yeah, I think I would have eventually if I'd had the opportunity. And but again it's like there's so much I don't know that I don't know that I would have had to go really understand.

00:32:45
Speaker 1: Was there a director that we had in the first couple of seasons that you would have said you modeled your style after or took inspiration from.

00:32:53
Speaker 3: Well, I think mainly what I looked for in directors that came in that show were how they treated the actor and how they worked and moved the cameras. Whether there's any style that I noticed or not, again, I don't. I don't really know. I mean I certainly learned from certain directors, but they have so much knowledge in their heads about how this frame works, and how this doesn't work, and why this doesn't work and why we should try this. I was just really going on a lot of instinct and a lot of good people around me. Really, I was very lucky.

00:33:29
Speaker 2: Were we ever tough to work with? Like as as the more episodes that you did, were we ever too big for our breches or you know, getting to the point where it's been seven years, we know what we're doing, Rusty, Just point the camera at us and let her do our thing. I mean, were we ever tough? Were we ever tough?

00:33:44
Speaker 3: That's good? Yeah, just do it.

00:33:45
Speaker 2: Just put the camera on us, Rusty, We'll take it out.

00:33:49
Speaker 3: We'll make the magic.

00:33:52
Speaker 4: I could do. I could see we'll saying that.

00:33:57
Speaker 2: Do you remember I remember this? Do you guys are will?

00:34:00
Speaker 4: You started giving Rusty so much you called him the directator. You were like, oh, Rusty's a directator? Which is doing it for non or was not? Like has just been a joke? The most open like he would like, what do you want to do? Like, he would marry everything about the actors. So you started calling him a directator. That's what I remember.

00:34:23
Speaker 2: Well, that's the favorite part about working with Rusty's, especially later in the episodes he was doing, was he would direct us while also acting and were and we're being filmed. So he'd be like, because that's the way it's supposed to be, Eric and now turn in the middle of.

00:34:46
Speaker 3: You know that's from you know, that's old theater training, baby, Because you would get on that stage and all of a sudden, that knife isn't there, That wasn't you gotta beat him to death, you gotta figure out I can't find a knife, directator.

00:35:05
Speaker 2: I love that it was you.

00:35:09
Speaker 3: I want to say also, Danielle, the moments when you dealt with that letter and all that stuff, it was just beautiful. And I was watching, you know when it kind of went to the next episode and it was you know, but it was again. I think, you guys just again. I loved the episode because it's about maturing, Yeah, and it's also about relationships and even even the you know, you have to be truthful in a relationship. You know. The whole story was so poignant, and I think at a certain time in your lives, it was very interesting to be there with it, and you guys just brought it.

00:35:48
Speaker 1: Well, you're very kind. You're constantly deflecting it back onto us, but you know, it has a show. Is it a lot to do with you? We were all so blown away by Linda Cardelini in this episode, and you also got some nice Bill Daniels scenes. Uh directing Bill? What's it like to direct Bill Daniels?

00:36:11
Speaker 4: Bill?

00:36:12
Speaker 3: Bill was so much fun, and I think, and I've been told that he was really glad I had been there, and you know, we had worked like two we had done two TV movies or I'd done Saying Elsewhere Right episodes with him, and we had done a TV movie not two years before ward Jeff Goldbloom and Robert Preston and Lynn Red Gray, Oh my god, you know, and so he was a known quantity and for whatever reason, I didn't annoy him as most people you.

00:36:48
Speaker 2: Know, yes, yes, not all of us here can say that.

00:36:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, whatever is We got along Gray, and I remember standing there on that set and just talking to him and saying, yeah, you come down the stairs and blah blah blah, you'll be fine, don't worry about it. And then you know, you didn't have to direct him or do anything, just just don't confuse him, which really wasn't an issue. But you know, he didn't like the hooplas you know. Yeah, and once he got over that, he knew what was going on and he knew you know, he loved directors that would take care of him and knew what was going on and what was important to him. Did he get back to his dressing room and get to his book.

00:37:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he's like a.

00:37:32
Speaker 3: Joy, a joy to work with.

00:37:34
Speaker 4: But do you remember, did we have an audience this week or did we do this without an audience?

00:37:40
Speaker 3: That's a good question. I don't think we had an audience because yeah, and you know, when and I watched and was kind of jarring when when Ben and Linda kiss that I went, where's the audience going? Yeah, oh, that's right. We probably didn't have it on. But then of course we had laugh track, But no, I don't think we I'm trying to remember, but.

00:38:10
Speaker 4: My instinct is that we didn't shooting off to the side with on the on a weird news set for most of the episode, and and then the fact that we had that insert at the ski launch, it just makes me think that we decided to not have an audience this week, and and I think it it actually lends itself to a more intimate performance from everybody, it doesn't, you know, it does. And then it's interesting to point out that kiss moment because if we had had an audience, they might have wooed.

00:38:40
Speaker 3: Oh, would have been a minute, no.

00:38:46
Speaker 4: Reaction, but it would have been a great way to gauge like, how do people feel about Corey and Tapanga at this point? Like it would have been. But we didn't have an audience, so there's nothing there because they didn't add it in, you know, But but the editors could have decided, like how to want to make the audience feel about this, but they leave it vague. It's interesting, which is great.

00:39:07
Speaker 2: Are you absolutely gray in the area. It's so strange because there's a part of me that, having watched it, not been in it and just watch it as a as a fan, I could feel that maybe there wasn't an audience there. But at the same time, I would think as an audience member, I mean, what a perfect show to watch because you're on one set essentially the entire times, like the entire shows would take place right in front of you, So something like that would have been interesting. But I think you probably benefited from not having the audience there that week exactly. Yeah, it was wonder.

00:39:42
Speaker 3: And again I'll say that I think in the bigger overall picture, it was an interesting show because you guys started, not that you started, because you always have been, but you're growing into a different maturity as characters but also in your life as people, and I think you know, and that's and and honestly, I'm so glad there wasn't an audience because I know there would have been a who I just know it. You know it. You watched a million of these shows and there's something like that unless there isn't an audience, right, And as you say, it was an interesting choice. And I'm sure they had to make this choice, and somebody said, do you want to woo exactly because I wasn't in the you know, I'm not in the final mix, if I remember.

00:40:32
Speaker 4: Correctly, directors, you turn it one cut.

00:40:36
Speaker 3: But again, like I said, it was really interesting to watch this, and again the whole idea of in this other little world, you guys are born yep, you know, to a different level of maturity as the characters. And I think also, as I say, at this point in your life, you were really coming into your own as people.

00:40:57
Speaker 1: I wonder how intentional it was too. For that same reason, the intimacy this episode required that you were the person who directed it. Do you remember there being any sort of like, hey, Rusty, the episode you're directing, like some pre warning this is gonna be.

00:41:11
Speaker 4: Because of Aspen extreme right, they knew.

00:41:14
Speaker 2: You were movie, don't even start. Great movie, great episode, scenes, great movie.

00:41:25
Speaker 3: I think Michael, again, if I remember correctly, I wasn't. You know, it was a surprise to me. But I remember when you asked me that that. I think he said, it's a really good episode, yeah, and I went, okay, good. And again, what how I ended up with that? Episode. I'm not sure. Maybe you had me in mind the whole time but just didn't tell me until we But that's again memory, you know, is that.

00:41:53
Speaker 4: You, I mean you and I ended up in Aspen with Michael, skiing together at one point. So when you going to Aspen and skime on a regular bass with Michael.

00:42:01
Speaker 3: No, no, I had skied and ass and Aspen extreme, and I had been an Aspen during the Don Johnson days.

00:42:12
Speaker 2: That's when Aspen was as when you got Don Johnson and William rust.

00:42:19
Speaker 3: Hill.

00:42:20
Speaker 2: Since yeah, really that's awesome.

00:42:23
Speaker 3: I actually broke my leg and Aspen.

00:42:25
Speaker 4: But that's another story.

00:42:31
Speaker 2: Speaking of speaking of things like that we talked about. We told the story not too long ago about me driving for you when you were hang gliding. Yeah, are you still doing any hang gliding stuff? And okay, I was wondering about you.

00:42:44
Speaker 3: After I had my big bicycle accident, I went back flying for a couple of years. But it's the kind of thing that's just it's a pay attention sport, right, and it's also a highly skilled sport where if you don't keep your skills up, you know, if you don't die, at least to me, if I didn't fly at least two, three, four times a month or even more. Then you know, your skills get a little rusty, and it's it's not just where, it's not golf. Right enough, stop flying, you can really cop. Yeah, I loved it. It was a great sport. And thank you for driving.

00:43:24
Speaker 2: No, it's fine. I ended up buying your truck after that. So it worked, worked like a charm. Yeah, I work like a charm.

00:43:29
Speaker 3: No, I don't do that anymore. I'm still on my bike though. Okay, you know I wish I could.

00:43:34
Speaker 1: But was this the first time you had seen Heartbreak Cory since you directed it, or have you watched it in the year since.

00:43:42
Speaker 3: I think it's the first time I've seen it.

00:43:44
Speaker 1: And so what did you think of your directorial debut.

00:43:47
Speaker 3: Well, I wasn't even thinking of that, but I think it's pretty darn good. Yes, I'll go back to it. You know, I'm just a traffic cop. I mean the stuff that's there. You're the thing that people see. The writing is the thing that people hear, and hopefully the directing is the thing people aren't aware about.

00:44:06
Speaker 1: Do you think you critique you're directing the same way you critique your acting.

00:44:14
Speaker 3: No, I don't think so, because the acting is so spontaneous. Well, in a certain way. I mean, all of them are about telling stories, and you know, I think I told the story. Yes, episode, and that's what it's about. And as an actor, that's what you're doing. Although in a certain way. The interesting thing about being an actor is every time you do a scene, it's like writing a story, except you can use different words. Yeah, literally words. I'm talking about different colors, you know. So every time I do this scene with you, hopefully there's something alive in it that changes because life, just even this exchange we're having here will be different in thirty seconds. Yes, but it's interesting. Good question.

00:44:58
Speaker 1: So after this episode to Boy Meets World, a few years later, you got to direct an episode of Lizzie Maguire. How did that happen?

00:45:06
Speaker 3: Well, gosh, wonderful producer i'd worked for. I did a series for it, was producing it and I just kind of bugged them. I said, I come over and do one of these shows. Maybe can I observe and go do the show? And I was trying to man, I'm looking for work. Yeah, and he was great, and he said, sure, come on over and we'll throw you an episode, and I was lucky to do it, and it was really a silly episode and I had a lot of fun. The crew was a little burnt out. I mean, yeah, I have to say, you guys, we're all lucky that we always had good crews that were always to be there and they're happy to be there a lot because of you guys and who they were working with. And you know, you've been on sets where it's not quite that all the time. Yeah, And I think these guys had you know, I remember, never forget. They had what they called the flail meter, you know, like we're flailing and they would have the flail meter on the set and they would be like, Okay, we're really flailing.

00:46:15
Speaker 2: Oh god, it's like a death con meter for a nuclear war.

00:46:19
Speaker 4: That's what I said.

00:46:21
Speaker 3: But you don't And again, you guys are you know and I know you know this. It was a very special thing. And other shows have this too, I'm not. Yeah, but it's not always the rule that everyone gets along together and everyone goes to work, and god knows, personalities get in the way and he goes and and everything. But it was still a great shoot. Stan Rogo producer, and I had done a I had done a series with him called Middle Ages with Gosh, Michael O'Neill, know, with a Michael O'Neill and Peter Riegert were three characters and Amy who went on to be a big star anyway. But you know, we had done a series called Middle Ages and that's how I knew Stan Rogo.

00:47:09
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:47:09
Speaker 3: So that's how I ended up on Lizzie McGuire.

00:47:13
Speaker 1: Well, then you would come back and be behind the camera for Girl Meets World. You directed season two called Girl Meets Hurricane. Did Michael reach out to you for that? One? Was that a similar situation? Elevator pitch?

00:47:25
Speaker 3: Which one was that Girl Meets Hurricane Comes Back?

00:47:29
Speaker 4: It was Trina? Was Trina's only episode of Girl Meets World?

00:47:33
Speaker 2: Right, Oh, you were already on set.

00:47:36
Speaker 3: You were around and trying to make a buck.

00:47:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, you would come back.

00:47:40
Speaker 4: For the same episode. I came back for the holiday episode to act it.

00:47:43
Speaker 1: Right.

00:47:43
Speaker 4: We all went back for that, and then you ended up just sticking around and becoming Michael Michael.

00:47:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Michael was very sweet. He called me and because I was out in Tahatchebe as Claire was working in the emergency psychiatric and he you know, i'd come out and we've done that, and I said, you know, I'd be interested in directing if you could find a slot for me or something. And I don't know if I started coming to set just hanging out, but I think he called me and said, would you like to be the dialogue coach?

00:48:14
Speaker 1: Right?

00:48:16
Speaker 3: Thought about it?

00:48:17
Speaker 4: Sure?

00:48:17
Speaker 3: Why not? You know, if I got a job, I got a job, and you know, I love you know, I'm very fortunate again that I was able to find this world that made sense to me. And I understood as soon as I was backstage somewhere in the theater or somewhere or on a lot or showing up at four am for breakfast to shoot something, I said, this is the world I understand.

00:48:43
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:48:45
Speaker 3: I almost get a little bit clemped thinking about it. And I love just being on the set. Yeah, I would have been you know, I'm the guy, you know, I'm the guy in the circus shivel in the elevent doing this like a what which show biz? Yeah, I love it. I'm very fortunate to find it and I still feel fortunate about it. So yeah, that and that's how I ended up over and girl, and it was a great exercise and watching yeah girls and obviously watching Sabrina lately. Yes, I'll take off. It's fun And it was great being around you and Ben and and again I go back to Michael. He always had good people around and it was always a joy. And I think I think I contributed just being able to be there and breathe when things got stressful weird, and things get stressful at times, like remember when Will came on and.

00:49:42
Speaker 1: He was such a problem child.

00:49:45
Speaker 7: Will I like it the way I like it because I'm right, but not again, I you know, as I say, I, you know, I won a lottery.

00:49:55
Speaker 3: It was really quite special time. And all you guys, by.

00:50:00
Speaker 2: The way, it was Amy Brenneman with you in Middle Ages.

00:50:02
Speaker 3: Amy Brenneman, right, That was an.

00:50:04
Speaker 2: Incredible cast, by the way.

00:50:06
Speaker 3: Oh and she was great. Oh, it was a great cast. And I remember that very specifically because I literally picked her up at the studio and took her to a rented apart because she had just flown in and it was during the La riots. Oh jeez, and because we had we kind of had to postpone things. All this stuff was going on, and.

00:50:30
Speaker 2: Welcome the Los Angeles.

00:50:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, what it was, it was, you know, and thought about that.

00:50:37
Speaker 2: She's from Connecticut. Her her mom was a was a judge. My parents know her mother because she was a judge in the court system. So she went on to do a show about her mom called Judging Amy.

00:50:45
Speaker 3: That's yeah, there you go.

00:50:48
Speaker 1: Well, Rusty, thank you as always for coming and spending your time with us. It was so great to talk to you about your directorial debut. We will have to have you back when you have another episode that you direct. We always loved talking to you and love seeing you. Thank you for being generous with your time with us.

00:51:05
Speaker 3: Wow, thank you for being you and you and you and you all right out.

00:51:16
Speaker 1: So much fun. I really did wonder like if Michael thought ahead to the fact that this is going to be a softer, quieter, more vulnerable boy meets World episode and thought, let's let one of our own direct it.

00:51:30
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:51:31
Speaker 2: Well I also picked one that he clearly wasn't in, yes, which which I mean is also helpful where it's you know, he's not doing double duty for especially his first episode.

00:51:39
Speaker 4: You did that a lot, I guess because he was in the other Oh yeah, Like I never had to do. Like when I was on Girl Meets World, I didn't. I never directed an episode that I was in. It's a different thing.

00:51:49
Speaker 1: It's always so nice to talk to Rusty, and there's just I don't know, you know, it comes across, but there are just those people that no matter how much time passes, it's always so comforting when you see him again and you're just like, it's just like, exactly like the last time I saw you and hung out with you and talk to you, and it's as if no time is passed.

00:52:05
Speaker 2: So he's also such an inspiration when it comes to the type of actor I'd like to be, the type of the entertainer I'd like to be where nothing is beneath Rusty. I know, it's like, no, this is another aspect of the industry that I want to learn or that I could be good at. And I, like you said, I want to be on the set. I want to be part of it.

00:52:21
Speaker 5: I want it.

00:52:21
Speaker 2: And it's just it's so inspirational because there are times where you're like you meet actors where it's like I wouldn't do a commercial, or I wouldn't write this, or I wouldn't do this part. And he's like, no, this is this is my job, this is my business. I want to learn every aspect of it and I could be good at every aspect of it. And it's just it's great.

00:52:37
Speaker 1: It really is such an inspiration. Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode of Podmeets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com, and we have merch.

00:52:50
Speaker 2: Now turn.

00:52:53
Speaker 1: Merch pod Meets Worldshow dot com. Well send us out.

00:52:58
Speaker 2: We love you all. Pod dismissed. Podmets World is Niheart podcast producer and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Ryder Strong Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Sudbasch, producer, Maddy Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World superfan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon and you can follow us on Instagram at Podmeats World Show or email us at Podmeats Worldshow at gmail dot com