Carl Weathers Talks New Season of The Mandalorian, Raiders Days & More w Rich Eisen | Full Interview

we've had this gentleman on once before chris it was uh a no-brainer to have him call in when we were in philadelphia for the draft he came in he came in he did not yes he did yes he did he did that's right he did we were in like a carl weathers came in empty up in this office building i forgot about that it made me feel like i was about to get whacked yeah well at the time um he was not yet part of one of the best streaming shows around um season two of the mandalorian premieres uh this very friday on disney plus he plays the role of grief karga the man himself carl weather's back on the rich island show how are you carl well rich i'm fantastic how are you this morning and how dare you forget that i was actually there at the draft you know what carl come on no i know you were there i remember it was great to see you it was great to see you in philadelphia it was such a great event to be a part of and certainly back in philadelphia where it all began what is it like for you to walk around the city of brotherly love carl weathers what is that how about no matter where i am anyone from philadelphia who meets me who comes up uh they first of all are just so fantastic happy to see me but on top of that they just want to make sure i know that they're from philly and that their beloved rocky was from philly and did they hold you responsible in any way shape or form about anything that's uh that's happened yeah they hold me responsible for all the success of the rockies of course of course they do you know it's interesting uh we we had a conversation about that and before we get to um you know other aspects of your career as well as uh other parts of um what's going on with with uh disney plus when you first received that script for rocky what did you think carl when you first got out oh man well i i mean that was a lot of years ago of course and right be honest with you i thought it was one of the best scripts i've i'd ever read and i'd read a few before that but uh it was something that just grabbed me really by the heart man and i thought oh my god this is me this character apollo creed um this is the one you know and uh lo and behold through obviously some struggle and some uh some effort to convince the producers to meet me because i was you know quote unquote a nobody at the time uh nobody knew me outside of some roles i'd done on television uh and some commercials i've done of course but uh you know i wasn't a name i wasn't that that movie star that they were looking for at the time and uh as it turns out uh thank god that uh i was the right guy in the right place at the right time and um i i like to call it carl um rocky is not a sports movie it's a love story would you agree with that i agree with you completely it happens to be a love story set in the world of sports uh um so yes um and a wonderful love story in fact uh i think rocky and apollo make a great couple don't you uh you know what um carl it's it's a love story between uh obviously uh him and adrian rocky and adrian but then again the blossoming friendship between you know apollo creed and and rocky as uh obviously the series moved along well you know the thing is it depends on how you interpret it i certainly see love between rocky and and adrian without a doubt but then you know athletes have love for each other you were just talking about all the all the uh events and sports in this last week football players appreciate and love their opponents uh even if it's called hate there's a love there because you have somebody to test yourself with the dodgers certainly certainly love what happened last night uh with the jays and uh i mean with the rays and so uh you know there's love there love that the guys on the other side were the ones who suddenly and somehow lost the game so i think there's always love with athletes man and and maybe they're some of the most loving people on the planet because they know what it takes to be where they are carl weather's here on the rich eisen show um acting as well as directing episodes of the mandalorian on disney plus season two is available coming up on this friday and we'll get to that in a second when was the first time you met al davis when was that when was that oh whoa in the wayback machine did you meet him when when uh when when you were i imagine uh two years with the raiders of course of course no he i mean let's face it uh mr davis was literally there all the time you could not be a raider and not have met mr davis [Music] he was a phenomenal phenomenal owner a phenomenal football talent a leader of course of that team and that franchise and uh i just remember i i remember him as very generous because i was a free agent and of course as a free agent uh there wasn't a heck of a lot of money there you know but uh i got a small check for for signing with the raiders but after i made the team uh not a lot of people know this uh we were in training camp and mr davis came was in in the the restaurant there we were at that time we were in santa rosa california uh at the el rancho motel which we took over and uh mr davis was in the the restaurant and i went up to him because i received a check for i think a thousand dollars of fifteen hundred dollars and i went up to him and i said mr davis thank you so much for that check and he just looked at me almost astounded me said you earned it and that was the end of that oh and your head coach was john madden did he do do you have any recollection of a good conversation you had with him i uh uh you know when you first arrived or when maybe you you got sent uh away from the raiders well of course i remember it all john d john madden yes was a heck of a coach and of course at that time was considered a really young man and um daily on the field uh one way or another you'd interact with john and uh i was reprimanded a number of times for uh for uh penalties that were caused as a result of my exuberance and uh finally finally when it was time to um you know make some decisions in the second year uh you get that call and that call is uh you know uh carl coach wants to see in his office bring your playbook at that time we didn't have ipads and all that sort of gear you know so you know that uh when it's bring your playbook their writings on the wall but i went in and uh you know he was actually a very very kind guy the only part of the whole conversation that i think to this day still stings is he said basically he said to me you know you're just too sensitive and i went what i'm a football player how the hell can i be sensitive but on the other hand i think he knew something about me that maybe i didn't realize at the time football wasn't really the calling it was something i was able to do because i was physical and and had some athleticism that was god-given but you know being in front of the camera being on the stage that was the calling carl weather's here on the rich eisen show let's talk about the mandalorian here on disney plus i mean talk about um a remarkable career arc for you carl to be part of the rocky series and then now being part of star wars i mean if you want to talk about i mean star wars and rocky came out in the same year back in 1976 and now you are part uh on disney plus of a remarkable extension of the star wars genre and you're directing some of these episodes as well if i told you back in the day when you were apollo creed oh by the way this this this is going to be a remarkable film um arc and i can't even call it a trilogy um and now as well as star wars what would you said you got to be kidding me as well i bet right um you know not a million years quite honestly had i thought about it or imagined it or anything else my dream has always been to just be in good projects and with good people and and excellent writing and to do my best to be to be a standout in that and this opportunity came along and as a result of of knowing uh john favreau through the director's guild and john's saying to me i've got this you know this project i'm doing and i really want you to be a part of it and at first it was really all about acting and and when we talked and i really realized what a great role it was and what a great project i thought it was going to be i i said to him you know uh or through my agents anyway uh i you know what i really want to do is direct and i had been directing so it wasn't anything new but if we have a second season i'd like to direct and john said okay we'll see if we can work that out and true to his word it came about so in the second season carl weathers is also a director that's fantastic i can i can only imagine um it's uh quite a challenge um with uh how it looks i mean it just pops off the screen carl i mean is it is it anything have you directed anything remotely close to an episode of the mandalorian well no no rich it's it's such a magnificently orchestrated uh group of artists and and craftsmen who put this show together and of course uh the the uh uh the stage was set really you know with star wars i mean when you look at those movies and you see how how much uh how well put together they are um and you look at the the amount that goes on in a frame in in front of you on the screen and the stories as they're told in the number of characters um how you know how could you imagine that we could as a as a group as a company through with you know with john favreau and dave filoni really leading uh with the great writing that's done how could we have imagined that we could even come close to doing that on the small screen and of course you've got lucasfilm and disney and they're not slouches so you're going to have you know you're going to have a great show and we're very proud of the mandalorian and people who seem to be embracing it all over the world well it's a good thing carl that at least it's not a fan base that doesn't have any attention to detail and doesn't get totally outraged if it's not something that they think passes the smell test at least you got that going for your car absolutely absolutely and and again i think uh you know john favreau has done an amazing job of marshalling this thing through and and uh all the computer graphics people are just brilliant they're absolutely brilliant so what you get and what you see is something that looks like you've you know you're in that that outer universe so a couple more minutes left with you carl um i i i want to go all over the map with you because i i can the best running back the best running back that you ever tackled in your day college whether it's at san diego state when you were the fred dryer or with the raiders who's give uh i mean i i don't remember ever ever hitting anybody and really literally bouncing off of him was uh zonka larry zonka with uh the dolphins uh i mean the man was massive and had you know thighs like tree trunks uh so that to me was one of the toughest ever okay and then um we there's a movie that might not get brought up to you quite a bit carl at all but you were uh in close encounters of the third kind yeah uh what was it like on the set of that movie with somebody that was phenomenal i mean i was a young young actor and it was only uh gosh it was only maybe a couple months after rocky or maybe three months four months after rocky and uh my agent got a call and they wanted me to do that and of course steven spielberg and what do you say yes and uh has the british say yes please and uh i got the sides really i only had my side of the conversation or the script and never read a full script flew down uh went to wardrobe makeup went to the set uh met some of the actors who were involved in it as well as you know truffaut was involved uh of course steven spielberg uh rick dreifus we rehearsed the scene we did the scene i went got a bite to eat was back on a plane and home within 24 hours so they didn't give you the full script it was that top secret they they didn't want to know no right many many companies do that these days but back then i mean it was i i'd never experienced it before but again you know the great steven spielberg and and that company and and the wonderful movie that turned out uh as a result of it well it prepared you for happy gilmore right that was the same way for happy gilmore right you didn't get the full scripture from samurai but a little different it was sort of the opposite end of the spectrum with adam and uh right you know so many wonderful actors in that uh that was a lark and it was one of the one of the most fun times i've ever had making a movie because it was just uh you know a bunch of comedians and comedic actors and there i was trying to keep up with them well i mean you you know at least in close encounters and you had use of both hands um very true would you base the character of chubs was very good with one hand yeah of course you can handle a club just as well as uh any guy who had two hands versatile just like you uh who did you base the role of chubs on uh you know i didn't i just dug down and as i said really tried to keep up with all those great comedic actors and uh always loved a good laugh you know when somebody was funny yeah and uh just did my best to you know to to be funny without trying to be funny well i mean you must get that from tom does it surprise you when people come up and give you chubs whenever you um no not at all are you kidding me chubbs is in the cannon man there are so many people and particularly particularly those college age people who just love chubbs peterson and of course now you know these days with television being as prolific with reruns as it is and you have so many more stations you know you see everything you've done at one time or another and sometimes it's there on the loop it's like all day every day carl really appreciate the time a lot of fun uh just going down memory lane with you um and congrats on getting the the second season and the directing gig gig that you said hey you'd be interested in and what uh what a show what a show the mandalorians it's such a great uh pleasure to visit with you again and uh we'll see you down the road you got it right back at you that's carl weathers uh disney plus the new season starts streaming this friday right here on the rich eisen show

Channel: The Rich Eisen Show

Views: 1,180

Rating: 4.7948718 out of 5

Keywords: Rich Eisen, sports, NBA, NFL, MLB, baseball, football, basketball, pop culture, NBC Sports, coronavirus, covid-19, pandemic, quarantine, Peacock, NBC, streaming, NFL Network, Carl Weathers, Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler, Stephen Spielberg, Steven Spielberg, Chubbs, Chubbs Peterson, Rocky, Sylvester Stallone, Apollo Creed, The Mandalorian, Baby Yoda, Star Wars, Raiders, Oakland, John Madden, Al Davis, Jon Favreau, Pedro Pascal

Id: xdN9kN2N4RQ

Length: 15min 54sec (954 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 28 2020