D A V E A N N A B L E
Interview} John Russo
Photographs by} John Russo
Location} Los Angeles, California
Produced by} Ken Waller for Photohouse Productions
Grooming} Kim Verbeck
Styling} Caroline DeJean
JR: How are you doing?
DA: I’m good, I’m good. I’m a fucking dinosaur trying to figure this all out, (zoom ) full screen, there we go! I’m great John, how are you?
JR: I’m good.
DA: I loved the pictures, they looked so good.
JR: I’m happy.
DA: Did you like them?
JR: Oh my God, I thought they were insane, like just the production value, everything about it, the styling, you look amazing, it tells a story, it’s really good stuff.
DA: Oh I am so happy, it’s been so long since I had anything done, I might as well go to the best.
JR: Oh you are the best. Are you back in Austin?
DA: No, I was in Austin, so I am doing another quick job, I am in North Carolina, Wilmington North Carolina right now, so that’s where I was flying yesterday.
JR: Wow.
DA: I am doing four episodes on a Kevin Williamson show.
JR: That’s amazing.
DA: Yeah it’s great.
JR: Look at you blowing up!
DA: You know, I mean, we got to ride it, we got to ride it while it’s hot. And it’s so nice because Odie and I were flying from the premiere, that’s when we did our shoot with you and got an offer for this one and I was supposed to go on a golf trip, literally this week and I had to pass on it, with the boys, which I am still a little sad about, but just cause I am like a golfer. But it’s time to work. I know how this can come and go.
JR: Well I love the show, I have to say it’s pretty addicting, you can’t turn it off.
DA: Taylor is unbelievable. He really knows how to create tension and story and characters and even in that sort of world that’s hard for all of us to kind of imagine, spies and espionage, he’s still able to engage the everyday viewer. And be so enthralled by it. Did you get to season two yet?
JR: Yes. So I am on season two episode one and then I’ll probably watch the next episode when I get back. But everyone I think was cast brilliantly and all the little storylines within storylines, I mean it’s pretty incredible the writing and how to keep each character almost having their own little storyline, which is so cool.
DA: Yeah it’s interesting with this one because specifically Neal could have been like just the plus one, like at the house were going to show the home life he’s just there to cater the kids and take care of the family and kind of one-dimensional. But I really loved how he flushed out a character and the sacrifices that Neal is making because he’s also the head of surgery for kids with cancer. So that’s a whole other world that he flushed out that I was so lucky to be a part of. I mean you get it, you see it. And then working across from Zoe is just…
JR: I know, I have known her for such a long time and she actually lives in Montecito where I live. And Nicole Kidman to me would be my dream photo shoot, she’s always been the one person that I’m dying to do a photo shoot with, so I keep putting that in the universe and hoping that will happen. But she’s just Nicole Kidman, wow.
DA: Yeah a monster, monster star. And it was incredible in the first season having one scene, getting to work with her. It was a dream, it was really a dream. And the fact that her character has this kind of superiority, I was able to use that as Neal, as Dave, because I am like holy shit, that’s Nicole Kidman! (laughter) I was able to use my kind of talent crush on her in the scene, which was very cool. And then you’ve got Morgan Freeman and Michael Kelly and Zoe and the cast is unreal.
JR: Oh absolutely. And do you know how many seasons it goes or is it just one or those things where you do a second season?
DA: I mean I hope it goes 75 years. I really do. I am not quite sure obviously, I think we got a lot of big contracts, a lot of big stars and I’m sure there’s probably an expiration date on that. But at the end of the day, Zoe and Nicole are producers on this as well and it might serve them to keep this going as long as they can. And with Taylor it shows he is so good, he’s so far above everybody else right now that I feel like if he wants to keep going, then we will keep going. And if he is done and he thinks the story is over, then we are done.
JR: Well I just think the production value and how it kind of takes you all over the world and I love that whole storyline with, and I don’t know the Latin actresses name, what is her name, she looks like a model and then she gets involved with the girl with the beautiful blue eyes.
DA: The main lioness in the first season, Laysla? Yes, oh my God, she’s incredible.
JR: Yes, she’s absolutely incredible, like incredible.
DA: I will pass that along to her because she will love that. I mean, she really you can tell, she gave it everything she had in that first season for sure. She is just a talented actress and I’m glad the world got to discover her on this higher level working with movie stars and holding her own out there. And we caught a bit of a bad break when the first season was coming out because we aired during the writer’s strike, and our premiere was supposed to be the week after the writer’s strike started, so we got to do no Press, no Nicole on Fallon or anything like that and we came out of the gates hot and set a record for Paramount Plus without any promo.
JR: I didn’t even know about that show before you.
DA: Yeah.
JR: When they said you were going to be on it, I did my research and was like oh this show, wow. And then I watched it and I was like this is a hidden gem, this is ridiculous.
DA: I feel like, and I got my fingers crossed, but I feel like nowadays there’s so much content, there’s so many streaming platforms, you don’t know where to turn until you really get a good word of mouth type show, like hey have you seen this, have you seen this? Once you have heard that a few times you are like okay sure I’ll check it out. And I feel, I hope, that Lioness is that show, because the word of mouth, it feels like it’s spreading.
JR: Everybody I’ve turned it onto it freaking out over it, they are like oh my God, this show is, you literally can’t turn it off. It’s so funny, I played Pickleball with Ellen DeGeneres, she’s one of my good friends, and of course I was bragging about the show and of course she’s friends with Zoe and then she started watching it and then our whole little Pickleball group started watching it and now it’s like every time we all talk to each other we are talking about the show.
DA: That’s amazing!
JR: Something I never do, which is kind of interesting and somewhat refreshing for me to do.
DA: Well first of all thank you, I appreciate anybody spreading the word about it because it’s sort of under the radar. But I think Yellowstone didn’t even really start blowing up until Season Three and I feel like if we are able to keep up the same momentum because the second season is unreal so far.
JR: I cannot to begin to tell you how excited I am about it.
DA: It is so good. And Zoe is on another level. She clearly, it all clicked and she is just literally fascinating, because I see the family stuff, I am acting across Zoe in all the home stuff or whatever and she’s fantastic, so Odie and I are Joe fans, whenever it’s Sunday and we are watching the new episode and I get to see everybody else’s work and the production value and the action and I am like holy shit, this is so good. (laughs) I was like I get to be this small part of this amazing engine that is Lioness.
JR: You are awesome. So first of all I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to work together, but I’m so happy that we are working together and we worked together and that’s amazing. And especially the whole connection, how life comes full circle, that’s really amazing.
DA: It is. And I remember when I told Odette I was going to do this shoot with you and she’s like oh my God, he is not only the best, but he’s the best. And it was very cool our world, and your praises have been sung by everybody and it tracks. It certainly tracks and it has, shit, Brothers and Sisters is going to be 20 years ago in 2026, and I can’t believe that was 18 years ago, unreal.
JR: Unbelievable and you got to work with Sally Field who is just brilliant.
DA: Yes.
JR: And I, fortunately got to photograph her which was such an incredible experience, it’s like one of the icons that you get to capture in your career, which is such a great thing.
DA: here was an original actress actually playing the mom in the Pilot of Brothers and Sisters. And when we got picked up, I got the phone call that the original mother was replaced and they are going to replace her with Sally Field. And I remember going whoa! I told my mom, I said mom, Sally Field is playing my mom and she goes ahhh! I literally saw her just pass out from excitement. And for a young actor, I was kind of just a couple of years out of acting school and really just very new to the business, very new to the craft, to walk on set and call Sally Field mom and have Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths and Matthew Rhys and Ron Rifkin and this incredible group of really talented actors, I mean we are talking Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, the hardware was insane. And even more I think for me, it’s kind of an impressionable age coming into Hollywood when you are like 23, 25, so you can go a couple of different directions. But they were all so attractive to watch as people, not as just actors, they are all such good people and they kind of steered me often in the right direction which is something you need when you come and get a popular show at that age, cause you can make a hard right for sure.
JR: One hundred percent. So after Brothers and Sisters you had a few other projects. Did any of those projects give you the freedom to exercise your best work or do you think your best work is ahead of you?
DA: That’s a great question. I hope my best work is ahead of me because I think, I will never forget my first day of acting class, neighborhood playhouse, Richard Pinter goes look, I am sure a lot of you have talent in this room, but nobody in here is going to be a great actor for twenty years. And I had no idea what he was talking about, but it’s life, it’s life experience, it’s going through the ups and downs and all of that so you can put it in your sort of emotional bank and then work. And when I am 30 years old playing a day with a kid, without a kid you are full on imagination, just what is this like? But when you have a kid, and you got to do these scenes with a child, whatever it is, you are like oh, I get it. Even married or anything, just being a husband, now I know, sixteen years with Odie, I am like oh I know what that’s like, it ain’t always great. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I hope she doesn’t read that. (laughs) But no, it really is, I do hope the best work is ahead of me, because I feel like I am just living life.
JR: That’s awesome. And it’s so good to hear because it’s kind of all we can do. Is just live life and have a good time and it seems like you are having a hell of a time right about now.
DA: Right about now is a nice little pocket. I know it doesn’t last and this is the experience that I have learned. You are 25 and I am on Brothers and Sisters and like oh, this is great, this is easy, I am going to have a great career. And then you got a show and it doesn’t work and you get another show and it doesn’t work, then you get another show that doesn’t get picked up and then all of a sudden you are like is he alive, what happened to him? (laughs)
JR: Trust me, I have so many actor friends that are like my age that I have watched the rollercoaster ride that they are on and continue to be on and there are super highs and there are super lows and then it’s like maybe I should do something else and then it’s maybe no, but this is my craft and I want to go back to it. So I see what goes on and it’s definitely a hard world to be in. But it’s one of those things when you are on the way up and up there, it feels amazing, you are on that high. And like you said, you have to ride that wave as long as you can ride that wave.
DA: Yeah I mean tough to pass on a golf trip, but at twenty years, that experience told me shut the fuck up Dave, you better go take a job when you can. And there’s nothing like for me, I absolutely love acting and I fell in love with it as my career has gone on and as I’ve learned more. But everything else about being an actor sucks. (laughs) The lack of control, the lack of steady paychecks. And we have two actors in my family, my wife and I. So that even really ups the ante.
JR: Wow, I didn’t even think about that, you are right.
DA: She just had an audition, so we are based in Austin, we got two kids, the kids are in school. I am shooting Lioness in Fort Worth now, we are kind of rocking and rolling. But she got an audition for a comedy, cause nothing shoots in LA anymore, a single camera comedy that shoots in Montreal. So, and I am asking literally, like what the fuck do we do if she gets to be a series regular in Montreal with two kids? It becomes those questions which are like holy shit, heavy.
JR: It’s like how do you juggle that? I guess it’s just you make it work, that’s what you do.
DA: Yes, you just make it work. And luckily enough we got a great family so great support system and help with the kids. But schools, once kids are a school age, that’s a different thing. Ideally you wouldn’t want them to leave, but they need their mom, so it’s really this thing. We are blessed and I love it and there’s nothing like once you get on set and you get to act and connect and pretend, again, I have said this before but the absolute favorite part of my job is like just learning a little about a lot of different things, even being a doctor or being, in this one I am playing a Real Estate developer and I don’t know shit about Real Estate developing. It really is very cool.
JR: So I have a cool question for you, in the show you play a doctor who is married to a tough CIA operative, Joe, played by my buddy Zoe. And you guys have amazing chemistry in the show. How is creating that intimate chemistry with someone you have not worked with before? How do you manage that process?
DA: You know, in this specific case there was no concerted effort. And I think Taylor what he’s doing and I do think that he’s able to put together this cast that really all works together, I mean every show that I have been on or with friends that are on, like it all works. And then also it’s pretty easy to have chemistry when you are standing across from Zoe Saldana and I have an incredible talent crush on her and the fact that she’s beautiful and just a great wife and parent and it’s all the things. And I am pretty disarming, I am not out there to butt heads, I am pretty affable out there, so it’s been great. But in the first season, literally season one, day one of shooting, was all of our sort of intimate stuff in the first season. And to have one conversation really with Zoe before we were lying in bed all day was pretty bizarre, I will be honest with you. But she was so kind and giving and she ordered a lot of sorbet once we were done with it because none of us had eaten and I was panicked. But I don’t know if it was part of some master plan but it worked because we got a lot of the nervousness and all of that stuff out of the way and we were like alright, let’s settle in. Right, let’s settle in. And I think once you get that out of the way and once the person is super cool like her and like you, it’s like you know what, this is just work and we are just going to make it happen. I really do believe that these two characters are married. I really do believe these two characters are in love with each other because I think that’s a very important part that needs to work in this show because if not, you wouldn’t necessarily understand or care about the pull of her family to come home, to leave the job or put her life at risk.
JR: : One hundred percent, no I totally get that. So you have had and/or are having such an awesome ride in your career. How do you stay in the game this long without burning out?
DA: Well as we were talking before, I think it’s learning to manage the tough times. It’s learning how to process adversity, difficulty, the quiet moments when no one is calling. So it’s outlook, I think it’s really understanding that what your priorities are and mine is my family and work is amazing and great and I truly love it and hope to keep doing it, but it’s not everything. And I think when the actors and I’ve had a lot of friends over the years where this is their first and foremost, even if they have kids or a marriage, it’s the most important thing. And inevitably when you hit that down moment, it can be debilitating for some and they don’t recover, drugs, alcohol, blah, blah, blah, it can be a difficult ride. So patience and I tell my wife that now, because she’s gone two, three months without working and I think that’s the longest she’s ever gone without working, so she’s having her moment and I am like yo, this is a great time to accomplish this or accomplish this or whatever it is. But I mean, I remember we were listening to a podcast Odie and I, and it was Ethan Hawke and he was saying different times in his career where he thought he was done, just completely done and finished and he’s Ethan Hawke. And it gives us some solitude, like oh okay, it’s not just us, it’s really everybody, no matter how big you are, you are going to have the downtimes and the great times. So persistence.
JR: Isn’t that the darn truth?
DA: Right? About everything.
JR: So the dream role, some actors have had it, some actors are searching for it. Have you had your dream role and if so what was it, or if not, what would you like it to be?
DA: Well it’s funny, I think to this point, playing Neal is my favorite part that I’ve had. Or I loved Lee Dutton, I loved being a cowboy, I didn’t love getting killed in the first episode, still stings, (laughter) and my buddies like to mention it to me all the time, like hey didn’t you die on the number one show on the planet? Yeah, thanks guys, I appreciate that. No, I love playing Neal, but it’s funny, who knows what the future holds and I got to play a villain in a little show on What/If for Netflix with Renee Zellweger and it was really fun to play the bad guy. I just really hope that I get to keep working and I think with that comes again, like all these different pockets of learning, of really like oh what’s it like to be a cowboy, what’s it like to be a surgeon, a doctor? So I just keep grinding out there John, hopefully it keeps coming. (laughs)
JR: So is there an actor or a director that you have not worked with that you would love to work with?
DA: Oh yeah. I think there’s the big ones, Christopher Nolan, Spielberg, Scorsese, the obvious choices. And actors, I think there’s just so many talented actors and it’s so fun because not every actor is a movie star or even a big TV star but when you are standing across from an actor and you get to, you feel it, it’s very cool, it just popped in my head, but Pedro Pascal, who is just one of the best, one of his first jobs was on Brothers and Sisters and he played my best friend on an episode that Matthew Rhys was directing. And I remember he had this monologue, we were both veterans and he had this monologue and I am staring at him, I am like holy shit, this guy is unbelievable, like literally unbelievable, he is so good. And then it was so great to see his career blow up. And I had the same type of experience on 666 Park Avenue, a little show I did in New York. Tessa Thompson came on and played a buddy of mine for a couple of episodes and I was like man, she is in it, she is so good. So it’s really great to see these actors, the good ones, the good ones will find the top, they really will, it’s very cool.
JR: Social media is a blessing and a curse and it allows fans to get closer to celebrities and allowing them into their world but there’s also a dark side, where everything you say can and will be used against you. How have you dealt with balancing this balancing act coming from a generation where there really wasn’t any social media?
DA: I miss those days.
JR: What do you do, are you that person that is like, I ate this sandwich and I am going to take a picture of it or are you just like, you really don’t give a fuck? (Laughs)
DA: I couldn’t give less of a fuck. And I remember as this was all starting, first of all I remember Rob Lowe on Brothers and Sisters and he’s like, we were in this scene together and he was like yo, there’s this thing called Twitter, check this out. And he’s like we can take a picture and then he posted it and whatever and then the comments started coming in and I was like whoa, what the heck is this? And I really sort of fought against it, because I’m already really bad at getting back to people and texting and emailing and it felt like another thing that I would sort of be responsible for. And it turns out I was right because I’m still awful at it. But I remember my agents at the time sitting me down and being like, I don’t think you can afford to be a dinosaur in this moment, I think you need to learn and get with the times. And now, they are right, it’s one of the first things people do when they are looking you up or anybody, I remember hiring a Nanny and I was like okay, does she have an Instagram, what are we looking at here? So I don’t necessarily think I have a love/hate, I think it’s like a like/hate relationship. And there’s this great quote, “comparison is the thief of joy” because it’s so easy to look at everybody else’s life and everyone is posting the highlights and you are like I am jealous I missed this or I am jealous I missed this, but it’s all fake. Everybody is struggling, everybody has got their shit and nobody’s life is as good as it looks on Instagram, I can tell you that much.
JR: You are so right. And even with me, when it first came out, I just jumped on it, but my feed is just about my work. I don’t post my house, where I go,etc. I am just about the work. Because then you let people too into your life and I come from that world of sometimes everything you say can and will be used against you. So I never post any shit about politics or this right or that right, it’s like why would I want to alienate myself and have fifty percent of the population hate me? (laughs)
DA: Yeah and leave room for literally all this hate. I mean I sort of took the same path. I do like to show my family, I mean because I am a terrible texter and like my family, my cousins, that’s the only way they get to keep up to date on our life or whatever and work. But other than that, I don’t tweet, I guess I am on Twitter just to follow the news or whatever, but I don’t tweet because it’s exactly what you said, everything can go back twelve years on some text or tweet you sent that you can burn for and I am like that ain’t worth it.
JR: You are so right because what was socially acceptable then is not socially acceptable now. And then people go and dig shit up and they are like in 1987 you said this and that. And it’s like okay, I was in high school, you can’t hold this shit against me, but in our awful cancel culture, if someone is going for the witch hunt, they will hold that against you.
DA: It’s so easy to cancel people because of all that stuff. it’s crazy.
JR: So is your last name Italian?
DA: No, it’s actually old English. I guess my family, my grandfather was really into genealogy and he tracked our family and we came over I guess on the boat after the Mayflower, which was pretty cool and I was like oh shit, thanks gramps. Cause I was like I am too busy checking my fantasy football team to know about that shit.
JR: So I am writing the Dave Annable script to the biopic on your life, who in the current Hollywood would you want to play you?
DA: Would you accept, cause it’s not current, but nothing touches for me vintage Michael J. Fox. And I am obsessed with Michael J. Fox and as an actor he was the reason why I wanted to be on TV and entertain and growing up with Family Ties and his movies, I was like this is it. So if you would kind enough to accept the peak version of Michael J. Fox, that’s absolutely who I would take. He’s so charming and likable and cool and such a great actor.
JR: That is such a great answer and not an expected answer, I would never, ever thought that you would pick him.
DA: Who would you pick John, who would you pick?
JR: Oh God, to play you or to play me? (laughter)
DA: Both.
JR: To play you, who would I pick in the current Hollywood? (thinking)
DA: You know what, you are right, there’s no one really in the current Hollywood that I would probably pick, I would have to go back. Of course there’s DiCaprio who I think is the ultimate, he is a tremendous actor.
He’s such a star. Going to the movies these days, there’s very few now where you are like watchable, but he is a ticket, he is a ticket where you know what you are getting, you know it’s an outstanding movie, and you know he’s going to be terrific in it.
JR: One hundred percent., Leo is the man! Well I think that’s awesome to end on and thank you so much for taking the time on a Sunday morning to talk to me and I am super stoked for this cover and the magazine is so beautiful, I can’t wait for you to see it, I think you saw a copy when I was there.
DA: Oh, it’s gorgeous.
JR: And yeah I am super proud of it and super happy to have you on the cover.
DA: I mean, honestly it’s such a treat, I really am so grateful and I think it’s high quality and you are high quality and I believe truly let’s go for a little ride here and see if we can make something happen.
JR: Absolutely. And I have to say Melissa Kates, Bria and the team over there at Viewpoint are the nicest, kindest, amazing publicists and I have worked with so many publicists in my career. And all day long, Melissa Cates for me, if she repped everybody, I would probably have the easiest career.
DA: (laughs) Yes.
DA: Well that’s great to hear. And she was the one I went with to start my career and it’s been such a beautiful ride. And fortunately for me, I get to work with her again, because it was like don’t need you, love you, don’t need you, love you. But now it feels just wonderful to be back and hopefully this is the sort of beginning of a little ride we can string together and keep it going for a bit.
JR: Keep it going indeed my friend! Thanks again.
DA: Speak to you later man!
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