It's Saturday. The leaves are piling up. The games coming on, and your fall cleanup could use a quick assist. Need a blower, yard bags, or a few more supplies? Express delivery from the Home Depot can get you what you need delivered in a snap.
Order in the app or online, and track it along the way, so you can wrap up the yard before kickoff. Get what you need in two hours or less with express delivery from the Home Depot. Subject to availability. Order select in-stock items by four PM. Restrictions and fees apply.
Hockey on ESPN is blowing up. Hockey is back.
So, what does it look like now? The kids, Hughes, Sullivani, Schaefer—that's hockey. Ovechkin, Crosby—that's hockey. And with access to over a thousand out-of-market games, you can watch them and the rest of the league. Holy hockey!
That's more hockey to love for more fans who love it. The NHL's best on ESPN. Watch all season long on ABC, ESPN, ESPN Plus. And the ESPN app. This is the Rich Eisen Show.
Hey, everybody! Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to three Eastern.
Miss the show? We've got a podcast, so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part: our YouTube channel. Subscribe at YouTube.com/slashRichEisenShow, and you'll never miss a moment.
Now, on with the show. Comes a bad ball. Aaron Donald has the football. This is the Rich Eisen show. Kick on the way was partially blocked from the Rich Eisen show studio in Los Angeles.
And the Bills have won it all. Earlier on the show, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. Coming up, Steelers defensive tackle Cam Hayward, actor and director James McAvoy. And now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.
Director and actor James McAvoy is in our green room. He's going to come on out here and have a fun conversation with us in just about twenty minutes' time. He's got his new movie called California Schemeing. We've got a clip from it, and it's a fun, fun film based on an outrageous true story. He'll be coming out here in just about twenty minutes' time.
Eight four four two zero four. Which is the number to dial? If you missed our first two hours with Ian Rappaport and talking about last night's remarkable Rams Bills Week Five Monday Night Recap, there's our YouTube channel. There is our Disney Plus page. You can listen to this show as a podcast, however you get your podcasts.
And if you missed the first two hours, you missed a guy from. Portland, Oregon, calling and Sean in Portland, Oregon, who said his retirement gift to himself was to get Ram season tickets, and he said he was driving back from the game fourteen hours that he went to go see, pulled over in a Sacramento rest stop just to call in a chastise Mike Del Tu for for selling his tickets and not going to the game. Mikey, you gotta go, brother. That's what he said.
Well, there's somebody who's about to tell Sean in Portland, Oregon, to hold his beer. Josh in Idaho Falls. Oh, baby, is on the Weather Tech fan line. Remember, be quiet, Mike. Be quiet.
Just hit. You hit buttons. I'll do the talking. What's up, Josh? Just north of Baker, California, driving home from Idaho Falls.
Drove there to be with my mom after her stepdad. After my stepdad passed away, my birthday was on Tuesday, and I gotta tell you, if you have season tickets and don't go to a Monday night football game with Rams Bills, you are the definition of fudgyzy. Mind telling who fell and should have to eat your own hat? Eat your own hat. I mean, I'm not eating hats.
Take that. First of all, condolences. With all the love in the world for you, sir. No condolences on your stepdad, Josh. Where did you pull over?
Where are you right now? Just north of Baker, California.
Okay, where is that? Just in case those who are not familiar with Baker, California, it's yeah, up go up to fifteen until you're in the middle of nowhere, and then you might hit it. Yeah, hours south of Barstow.
Okay. Oh, so you got a long way to go until you're home. Yeah, ten hours and three minutes left on my drive, sir. Jeez, you know. And how long does it take you to get to the four hundred five from your house?
Ten minutes, not even four hundred five. I can say in service from the fit to the one hundred five. Like that's the speed freeway. It's so fast. Josh, you are making me on bad now.
You should. You should feel. What was the purpose? That was the purpose. Yeah.
Josh, thanks for calling and drive safe. Hopefully, we can make your ride over the next hour listening to us a little bit faster. Trying to make you feel. That's true. It's been great.
You guys are always awesome. Thanks, man, Josh in Idaho Falls. Pat in Horseheads, New York. Yes, even better. Pat, how's it going, Rich?
First of all, what is the great? What's the genesis of your of your your town's name, Horseheads? Is it the Godfather? Yeah, I don't know. They just found a bunch of dead horses here.
I mean, we're in Sleepy Hollow, so like Ernie Davis, Mark Twain buried close by.
So okay, Sleepy Hollow.
Okay, Sleeping Hollow. The rider of the horse had no head, Mike. I know. I mean, oh my god, just a bunch of horses. He's on fire today.
What's on your mind, Pat? I'm starting to think that the Knicks. Might have cursed all the New York teams. I mean, you got Star House Igor going down for the year. What are you talking about, Pat?
First of all, the Mets were cursed the day they were born. That's number one.
Okay, they got a world. I'm talking about the I'm talking about the A teams, not the B teams.
Okay, okay, you're a Yankee fan, huh, Pat? Yankees, Rangers, right?
Okay. Well, the range, the Rangers, as you all know, broke the curse in '94.
So let's put that aside. The Yankees are just not perfect example, Pat. The Knicks didn't curse anybody. That's number one.
When I talk about the players, Knicks won.
Now the all the players are getting so Jackson Dart got hurt. You are three one and one right now. The Jameis Winston experience. Um, you got you're in first place, and you got you got a new coach who's definitely knows what he's doing. Yeah, the Knicks didn't.
Pat, God bless. Thanks for the call, Pat. Really appreciate it. The Knicks didn't curse anybody. Perfect.
Let's go here as as Cam's working through some technical problems at home. A perfect example of why the Yankees are a flawed team. Last night, the Cleveland Guardians got two home runs off of a pitcher. The Yankees were no hit by for six and a third.
Okay, and the two guys who hit the home runs off of. Rasmussen, De Laeter, who is a is he like the Ben Rice, if you will, of the Guardians? Sure, yeah, I like. Let's just make this analogy, right? Yeah, I like that.
Okay, he's a big dude, and Patrick Bailey, who couldn't hit a lick for the Giants, took one out, okay, and then. They kept hanging around and hanging around and hanging around, and when they had a one-run lead in the ninth, and a guy in scoring position, and Jose Ramirez at the plate, I turned to Cooper and I said, "This is an insurance run as the day is long." And what did he do? He put one in left field. Always comes through, and he got, and then, and then. He steals second, and then on a hit and run with two outs, here comes a big inning.
Game over. Yep, Yankees couldn't do that, and Knicks winning had nothing to do cursing him. I know he's making a point about how the Giants' quarterback got hurt because the Knicks won it all. That's fun, but. When I say fun, not for Dart or the Giants fans, I'm just saying Nick didn't curse anybody.
As a matter of fact, what's coming is a repeat of what championship.
Okay, ooh, that's all I'm saying. Cam Hayward is back on the Rich Eisen show. Everybody, how are you, Cam? Everything good in the neighborhood? What do we got there?
Better now.
Now I get to see you.
Okay, we got technical difficulties. Yeah, yeah. Zoom was not working for me, so I had to restart everything, and I started freaking out. There you go. No, but it worked out.
So you you cleaned house, and it worked out, right? Wow, sort of really, really, really. No, hey, we talked about my words there, brother. Your coach said we got to clean house a little bit, and then boom, thirty four points. You're all over the Colts.
You know what I mean? I'm trying to figure out who we fired because everybody was thinking we were going to fire everybody. You fired nobody. You stayed the course, and look at that performance. I mean, that that that looked really good on Sunday, Cam.
It's one game. It's one game, but our offense has been humming. Defensive wise, I thought we did some good things against Jonathan Taylor, but I definitely think we can keep more points off the board.
Okay, so how did it feel afterwards, though? Right, like it felt like. That things are are in a better spot, clearly, or what? Like, what's the general sense? I know it's just one game, one game at a time.
It's year sixteen for you. You've been around the rodeo here. It's fine, but it just it did look like things are beginning to cook a little bit. You know, I think it felt very. Synonymous with having a good performance, you know, our offense going out there and scoring 34 points—that's nothing to sneeze at.
You know, Jalen Warren was on fire. He's so good, man. He's so dang good, and he doesn't get enough credit for his his contact balance and just taking it deep. You know, I think being able to catch out the backfield is one thing, which was an amazing play to start off. I know Aaron took a bit hit on that one, but then just a running game just felt like everything was full tilt for our offense.
And after the game, I felt like our defense, our our team, just addressed and said, "Hey, we won." But now we got to stack. It's been up and down every every game, so we got to put together quality quality games and quality opponents, and make sure we have more stacks and more wins because everybody likes a good short stack, right? Everybody likes pancakes. Nice. Oh, who doesn't?
Clearly.
So, when you say you talk about it, guy or a waffle guy, me both, me. Oh, listen, I have no background to the country of Belgium, but the Belgian waffle, sir. Yeah, t here is nothing better than better than that. I mean, I grew up on the Eggo waffle. Oh, everybody grew up on the Eggo.
Oh, yeah, what's better than mine or the cinnamon toast? Oh, just straight up, straight up Eggo waffle with syrup on top. Oh, the cinnamon egos are like. I'm a French toast guy myself. You know what?
So, so if somebody hold on a minute, I'm gonna go here.
So, somebody grabbed your cinnamon ego. You told him the Lego your ego. Cam, but did it Lego? Lego that that that was a commercial. Yeah, can we get a sponsorship going between me and you?
Lego, I I think we just did. Rich, who's going to tell Cam the Lego the Lego? Nobody, nobody. He's nobody. It's like that that that chant.
But so you literally there was a conversation verbally said we have to stack like that's happened. Yes, we led that. You did you start it? All of our vets. We all talk about it.
I think it's just when you get to a situation where your road games are going one way, your home games are another thing. We we got to stack. We got to make sure it's not just a home and road thing. It's got to be. We take this on the the show on the road, and we're able to perform at a high level.
Yeah, and obviously the Thursday night game that started Week Five is a perfect way for everybody to, in your locker room, to say you can't overlook anybody because that's the team that beat the Cowboys, and that's the team you got to go down and hand a loss to to start stacking this week. The the Bucks have done a great job rallying without Baker Mayfield, who is you know really good in this league. But I thought Daniels played very well. I thought their run game was exceptional. I you know I can't say enough good things about Kenneth Gainwell because he was our team MVP last year.
Then he goes over and joins Bucky Irving, and so having those two together, that that's that that's like how we had last year between Jalen and Kenny and.
So now we have Rico, but I think it's it's really synonymous with winning this game that we stop the run and then be able to get after the passer. They don't use Kenny Gainwell enough, though, Cam. I mean, and that's one thousand percent spoken to somebody who has him in a fantasy league and is in a fantasy league that is not surrounded by a bunch of suck up dads like you're in right now, Cam. Yeah, yeah. I got on the waiver wire.
I picked up the Atlanta Falcons. They they started off very good. They got that touchdown. I was like, "Oh man, I'm riding the high." Yes, sir. It didn't end up that well with that defense.
But luckily, I had George Pickens who played amazing. I had Dak. Who else did I have? I had Trey McBride who had an insane catch this past week. That's true.
And then Justin Jefferson. You know, having that wide receiver crew, I think this is you're able to just you know, I'm able to laugh about the embarrassment of riches I have in my fantasy league.
Well, I mean, and again, that you're in a league with a bunch of dads. Like, oh, I'm in a league with Cam Hayward. Let me draft. There is kids too.
Okay, I love it. Cam Hayward here on the Rich Eisen show. Pay your respects to another guy you are going to be seeing this week, Vita Vea. How good is he? Vita Vita is.
I don't know how Vita does it. I think you look at the size of the man, and you're like, "Damn, that's going to be a problem for anybody." But Vita's able to move. He's able to, you know, be a effective pass rusher, and it always takes two to block him, and sometimes three. And obviously, you know this being Aaron's ninety millionth rodeo, the pressure plan I'm sure is going to be in place because Todd Bowles is, I think, already blitzed. He's already blitzed five times, and it's not even noon out here on the left coast here on a Tuesday.
And and again, that that's where Warren can come into play. I mean, Jeremy Bernard had a really nice game. You know, my guy and Roman Wilson, Friermuth with two touchdowns. That's you know, I didn't even mention DK. That's part of the conversation, I imagine, this week for your team.
And if I if I can mention, there was a play from our pass game where Jalen caught the touchdown. Yes, but what is not mentioned is DK's blocking, and I thought DK did an amazing job.
So so many times we talk about just a wide receiver catching, and in Pittsburgh, we're known for having really great blockers as wide receivers.
So I got to give a shout to DK for that those two blocks he had on that play because without those, it might just be a long run and not a touchdown.
Now I'm sure you didn't see the end. Of the any of these games because one ended in London while you were out there warming up for the Colts, and another one ended probably a half hour. You're probably doing post game interviews and locker room stuff. Unless was did you see the end of the Giants and Commanders? I did.
What what are your two cents on that subject matter, Cam? As a defense, you punch the ball out from Scadaboo, right? Yep. And you're thinking, "Oh, we're about to go win this game." You go down there. You're wasting time, and you don't think there's a conversation that happened that said, "Hey, we need to either spike this ball, get this ball out of bounds immediately, because we got to stop the clock." I was I was dumbfounded when I watched that.
I was really shocked. You feel bad for Dan Quinn. Hopefully, there was communication there. But as a quarterback, you got to be able to understand the situation more than anybody.
Now, if you're a defender on the Commanders, do you go in the locker room demanding answers? Do you walk up to somebody and say what happened? Do you go to your quarterback, your coach, and demand an answer for what happened? I'm probably already spazed out, so I'm not asking any questions at that point. Is that right?
Seriously? Yeah. Yes. Yes. I would.
I would been. I've been. That just can't happen. That is a game you have to win a hundred times, not ninety-nine. A hundred times when you're going in and you're controlling the clock, that cannot happen.
The next day, we're probably going to have a conversation about it, but. I I need everybody to understand every situation we go into. That you can't go into that drive and not saying, "Hey, we need to stop the ball. We don't have any timeouts left. We've already used them.
We we definitely can't take a sack on this, and we can't fall to the ground and act like everything's okay." I I'm just I was I would have been pissed to be in that locker room. Yeah, and I'm, you know, and the the aftermath. We're we're going to see how it all does play out from here on out for for the Commanders. Can you do us a favor here and try from afar? Obviously, you're not in that locker room, but the Cowboys hired Mike Pettine to come in and help with their defense, and they're moving Christian Parker, their coordinator, from the field.
To the booth, can you help us figure out like what what as somebody who's been in locker rooms and obviously on that side of the ball, what do you what does that tell you about what the Cowboys are attempting to fix here, Cam? I think I think they're attempting to fix communication, one that's on the sideline and one. What are they seeing from a bird's eye view? I think sometimes there can be too many cooks in the kitchen and. I don't know if that's the case here.
I think bringing in an outsider in Mike Pettin, a great defensive mind, but where does he place in all this? Where do you put him with your staff? Is he more focused with your linebackers, your DBs, your defensive line? But you're looking for cohesion. You're looking for everybody to build on what you've done in the past and say.
Hey, we've done this. Let's let's improve. Let's continue to keep growing, but we can't go backwards. We can't have these lapses that we're having. You know, because look at their defense; they have all the success they want.
They have the prime time players. I look at Quentin Williams as one of those top ten defensive tackles that's going to get the job done. You have a guy like Caleb Downs on your back end that is going to be a player from here on out, and he's just going to continue to get better, but he's An instinctual player, and so having that guy have you know eyes on him and making sure he knows what he's looking at is huge. But you know, what can they do in the meantime? Is buy in, have their coaches have a message, and be able to simplify.
Is there a generality that you can communicate to those listening and viewing right now about? A coordinator going from downstairs to upstairs. What does that mean? What what are they? What are you looking to gain from just that physical move for a coordinator, Cam?
So, for a coordinator, I like my coordinator, and we just did this change as well because I like for our coordinator to be on the field because then you can have constant communication. You can update things. You can check plays that you want to run. When you go from field to booth, that is an eye problem. Maybe he's too focused in on one part of the game.
That's got to be something that you look from a bird's eye view and say, "Hey, they're twelve or eleven or thirteen. This puts us in a better situation." But you know the antics on the sideline might be getting the best of them. Interesting.
So and and moving somebody upstairs is makes it more difficult to communicate. I would say you're communicating with your staff coaches, right? And so you're not going to have the TJ Watts of the world that are able to get on the on the headphone every time and timeout. For a lot of established defenses, they want to have communication over and over again, so you can you know build on what you're doing, change what you're doing, and have that communication.
Sometimes it can get lost in communication if a guy's not on the sideline.
So that could be something that you want to address, and it might be something where they feel like he's too close to the situation. We need him from the sideline. He may be spazzing out. You just never know in those situations. And so, Patrick Graham was better to have him down on the field this past Sunday.
Much better, I think. For our group, we're able to have direct communication. We're able to communicate things that we're seeing, and then apply it instead of just having one guy at headphones. I think you're able to. Have everybody in tune to your plan, and it allows everybody to feel a lot more confident in that.
And if you don't mind me asking, you can you can pass on you can swim move me on this one. Was it you, T.J. Watt, who who asked for that, or did you go to Mike, or how did how did that come about? No, no, I don't think we. I can only speak for myself, but I don't think our guys went to him.
I think PG kind of understood what was going on, and you know, I think. Mike and PG talked about it, and you know, at the end of the day, it's all about winning games. And so, when we get the result we want, we're going to keep PG on the sideline.
So there'll be no more shots of TJ getting on the on the headset. Huh? There's some other coaches, but I don't think I don't think TJ is going out of his way to talk to those coaches.
Okay, pretty wild though. You're going back to where Mike Tomlin once belonged, right? Tampa. This is this is kind of a full circle in a way. You know, yeah, Mike Tomlin.
Got to give a big shout out to Danny Smith, who's down there right now.
Okay, a lot of love for him. He chewing gum. Is he still chewing gum right now? Still chewing gum. How many?
How many? How many pieces of gum have you watched him put in his mouth? What's the? He's at least got ten going into it. Come on, jeez, come on.
No, no, no. Like what in his pocket or in already? No, in his mouth. Ten. Yeah.
Wow. Yeah. Danny's Danny's always prepared, so I love Danny. Danny Danny brings some energy to any special teams meeting you have, and he is always tearing tearing someone apart when it comes to getting everything right for your team. All right, Cam.
Great to see you. Great to see you. Congrats again on that dub this past week. Wait, did you forget about our our thing we were going to work on? What we going to work on?
What is it? Remember, we talked about the rule changes. Oh, that's right.
Okay, all right. Do you want to? I have a new rule.
Okay, pardon me. That we end this segment with a rule that Cam Hayward would like to change. He's he. I forgot. I I.
We came up with a homework assignment. Yes, my bad. Here we go. What do you got?
Okay, okay.
So we did you watch the Rams game? Of course, the Rams Bills game. Yes, sir. Yes. Did you see Aaron Donald sack?
I did, and it got wiped out. That needs to be changed. What are you talking about? We need to have a stat for when a D lineman beats an old offensive lineman in sacks, and he has no. He has no problem, no nothing against him, nothing affecting him when it comes to the DB holding or anything.
We need to still make that a sack because I thought that was a brilliant move. I just think we need to acknowledge more of the D lineman getting the sack in that that chance. But what if the receiver that Josh Allen was looking at? Wasn't open because somebody was illegally draping himself on him, and that gave enough time for Donald to get home. Cam, I have a rebuttal to that.
He can throw it out of bounds. Hmm.
Okay. Good.
So, so what do we call that? A would be sack. What do we call it? I don't know. Ask PFF.
They got something for that. Cam Hayward with a new with a new stat. There you go. All right, I like it, Cam. We'll chat next week.
My bad. Thank you for correcting me. I appreciate it. That's Cam Hayward right there. It's not just football podcast.
Check it out wherever you get your podcasts. Good stuff right there. Hiring for a small business is hard. You don't often have a team of people helping out. That's why LinkedIn built Hiring Pro.
It's like having a true hiring partner, and you can chat with it. You would just chat with it like you would a recruiter. Hiring Pro listens, adjusts, and shows you the people that actually fit your needs. Eighty-eight percent of small businesses say they trust LinkedIn's candidate recommendations.
So be confident in your hiring decisions with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/slash. Eyes and terms and conditions apply. James McAvoy, the director, executive producer, and actor. Coming up next, in person.
Rich Eisen here for Gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much. Small businesses are no different. Payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, and all the details that keep things moving may not be the most visible part of the job, but they still have to be handled right.
That's where Gusto comes in. Gusto is online. Payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use.
So you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. Automatic payroll, tax filings, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers' comp, 401k—you name it. Gusto makes it simple, and has options for nearly every budget. And it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more. Plus.
You get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees. No surprises. Try Gusto today at gusto dot com slash rich and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto dot com slash rich.
One more time, gusto dot com slash rich. Rich Eisen here. At Hyundai, the SUV trophy shelf is getting a little out of hand because U.S. News and World Report named Hyundai the best SUV brand. That's five out of six years with hybrid SUVs like the premium and capable Palisade, the adventure-built Santa Fe, and the tech-infused Tucson.
Which means at this point, the shelf will need its own structural support system and a dedicated construction crew. Probably need those little visitor hard hats too. Visit U.S. News Best Cars at cars.usnews.com and visit. HyundaiUSA.com for more details.
Check engine, ABS, or maintenance light on. Take the guesswork out of your warning lights with O'Reilly VeriScan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians. And if you need help, we can recommend a shop for you. Ask for O'Reilly VeriScan today.
O O O O'Reilly Auto Parts. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. That's the neat part about this movie. James McAvoy is here on the Rich Eisen show, feature film directorial debut, also with a role in it. We just saw for our radio audience just just rejoined us a clip from the film, and James McAvoy is here in person for this.
Thanks for showing the clip, man. It's really can no. And again, I know it's by the way for our radio audience. You're like this is not cinematically beautiful. The film's got a lot of scale and scope and beauty and.
Dynamism, and then we keep showing that clip just 'cause I'm in it, and I'm like the most well-known person. Understood. And I'm like every time it comes on, a part of me dies. The film will deliver way more than two people, three people sitting in a car. I, I promise you.
So, what do you, what do you like about the story? Where you're like, okay, I want to make this film, and I want to do it as the director as well. I'm from the film's called California Scheme, and it's called that for a couple of reasons. There's a scheme in the film. But also something that I don't necessarily explain in the film is that the boys come from a kind of neighbourhood that you guys would call a project, and I would we would call a council scheme.
That's why it's called California scheming. I'm from a scheme, and whenever I see movies made about the kind of project or scheme that I came from in Scotland and. Even in America and the rest of Great Britain, was usually fairly sincere, earnest, depressing, exploitative over the poverty kind of situation. And whilst this film definitely embraces those things, it actually feels a lot more like what my childhood was like when I went out the front door, just full of adventure and opportunity and peril and flight and. The opposite sex and like bad things and good things and fun and all the stuff that actually movies are about.
And so I wanted to make a film about that kind of neighbourhood where it propelled and it was an adventure and it was fun and it was a ride. And this was the opportunity to do that while still being a true story about artists from the lower end of the socio economic ladder trying to bust into show business, which is something that I've experienced and. Walk that tightrope for thirty-one years.
So, whilst it was a true story about real guys. I also felt incredibly personal to me.
Well, and again, it's available now in select theaters and expansion to additional theaters. This coming Friday, based on that true story, California Scheme, and everybody should go see it. Just so many things I want to ask you about with your career, James. You know, obviously Band of Brothers, Shameless, but I do want to you know hit you the first thing with something else. The The film, The Last King of Scotland.
Oh, wow! Yeah, yeah, I, I love this movie. You were nominated for a BAFTA for this, yes. And you know, Forest Whitaker. Oh my god, he was amazing.
He was the he was the Oscar man, right? He's the Oscar man. He got the Oscars. He got it for that. When when you were making that, did you did you know this had some?
Possibility of not just an Oscar or a BAFTA, but putting you on a map that you've really not been on at that point in time. I was so scared to think like that when I was twenty three. That's how old you were. I was twenty three. Yeah, I was so scared.
I'm not scared, but I was so aware that you know you you're lucky to make it any to any level in your business. Sure, and if you can pay your bills as an actor, for me that was my goal. Success, right? If I can put a roof over my head and pay my way, yes. From performing that, so anything else beyond that felt like I'm getting lucky here, and it might my luck might run out.
I might get found out. They might at any point say, "Now you're done, your time's over." Oh, we get it, we found you out. That's how you entered this project. That was just how I. That's just was kind of generally my thinking at the time.
And then you get there, and you're not all depressed and down about it. You're like, I've got nothing to lose because this could be over at any minute.
So I'll give it my best shot at every opportunity. I was never in. Inhibited by feeling that sort of pragmatism or realism or pessimism, all the isms, and but I had a strong awareness that you know the favor of showbiz and the favor of the people that finance things can be fickle. And great actors sometimes go missing for decades and never come back again. And so I was like, enjoy it while it lasts, and work really hard, give it my best shot every time.
It's my turn to stand on the mark, and every time the guy says action. But yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't even thinking about this could be my shot. This could be my opening to Hollywood. This could be anything. What I was aware of and really sort of owning was what it was like to be around Forrest Gump in that moment, in that.
Time in Uganda when he was given the performance of a lifetime as Idi Amin. Yeah, what was that?
So, what was it like? I mean, Idi was such a massively many multifaceted character in terms of what he did—the horrors and the atrocities that he committed, of course—the good things that he did for the country, the humor of the man, the physical sort of intimidation and dominance of the man, the the Human being that was in there as well, and so watching Forrest do all of that, and I don't know what Forrest was doing. I don't know if he's a method actor or not. I don't know, but he certainly wasn't just like you know waiting till action and then doing it. There was something of him connected to the character, away from it, away from the camera, also.
And I was invited into that also, and he shared that with me, and that was just as well as just being a nice person to be on set with. He was, as a young actor, getting invited into somebody going that deep and going and being that complex. Yes, but then ultimately, when the cameras roll, it becomes very simple. That was like part of my education in film. Wow, James McAvoy here on the Rich Eisen show.
I'll be honest with you; I'm freaking out a little bit because in the answers that you're giving in this interview, you're touching your temple with your finger. I don't know if you're aware that you're doing that. I'm always touching myself. No, no, hey, no. But I mean, you're you're doing the Professor X thing.
I don't know if you're aware. You're trying to read what I'm going to ask you now. I've got nothing. I've got nothing. I'm just getting blank messages.
When you got offered that role for the first time, what'd you think? Do you know what I really thought? I go. I was a fan of the cartoon, and I was a fan of the original films. I was also a Patrick Stewart fan because I was a big Star Trek fan.
Yeah, so I did play a young him. I didn't really see myself as a young version of him, but I was like, oh, that's interesting, and. I needed a gig. I'd stayed off work for a little while because my first kid had just been born, and we weren't in debt or anything, and we owned the house, but we didn't really have much money in the bank. This was a big gig, three movie deal, and it also shot like thirty minutes from my front door in London.
And I was like, I don't even need to read the script. I'm doing this. I remember my agent phoning me up and going, "Like, what do you think of the script?" And I was like, "It's a, it's a work of heartbreaking genius. We got to do this." And I, I, I like flicked through it. I was like, "I'm doing it." Smart move.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It worked out. When did you meet Patrick Stewart for the first time? Not until the second movie. That's it.
I mean, I tell a lie. I had met Patrick in the past.
Okay, but for the first time, the first portraying character that he Charles. Charles. That was the second movie, and there was two casts. There was the the older cast. Yes.
Than the younger cast, they didn't mix. We didn't cross over except for Hugh, and me. And so my first day was their last day, and we had we got to do a scene together, and that was that was pretty wild, pretty wild. Especially scenes like like I say, I've been watching them since I was a kid, as a captain of the Enterprise, and loving what he did because he brought this whole different tone to it. He brought this whole different attitude to the Star Trek world, in this kind of classical.
Energy, this classical sort of authority, and and I loved I loved what he did with that.
So it was it was a part of a fanboy in me as well, kind of rejoicing. And what do you say to you? What do you say, mate? The good thing is, I was in there for about eighteen. I had hair this long, okay, and I decided my part of the movie was set in the seventies, and we were still trying to present a different visual thing for Charles than what Patrick represents.
So he had no hair. We were like, "I need to have too much hair." So he gave me like these hair extensions that went down to my shoulders. And I mean, I think that was in a seventeen-hour, eighteen-hour hair extension session. And I am sitting there with this hair down to my bum. We chopped it to here, but halfway through the process, I need to get this chair.
I've been in it for ten hours and take a break, and I go around the corner. There's a trailer, big trailer, and I see Sirians in there, and he's like, "James, you come in," and and I'm sitting in there, and he's like, "Patrick's making salmon." I do a terrible Sirian. By the way, I think it sounds great. We're good, we're not James. And he says, "You know, Patrick's done a bit of Macbeth, and I've done Macbeth." He's like, "James, you just finished Macbeth, I'm sure," and I'd just finished Macbeth in the West End, like two weeks earlier.
I'm like, "Why don't we all do a bit?" And I was like. Oh man! And they start doing Macbeth at each other, and I've only just come off stage two weeks ago playing the the lead character Macbeth. I cannot remember a word. They must have done it like forty years previous.
So so that was that was that was funny. It was really it was really funny, and I think I. I think Serene had seen Macbeth as well, but Patrick never talked to me about that stuff.
So you blanked. You just I blanked. I was like, "Oh, you guys, no, you you do your Mac. You guys, I've got to go back and put hair extensions. I'm like getting the script.
I'm like." Do you do a? Oh yeah, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Do do you do a Patrick Stewart? Um, I used to, I used to engage.
Okay, it's not. It's not. If I worked on them, I think it'd be better. Oh god, it's like confessing I haven't done my homework. That's all right.
It's like riding a bike. Yeah, but that's so cool though. That was he, Sir Pat Stewart, just yeah. They were both sirs.
Okay, both knights of the realm. But um, nobody was nobody was asking anybody to call him Sir Patrick. Not at all, but that's that's pretty cool. I mean, that photograph, like that, you're you know, your your mates, right? Pretty much friendly, definitely friendly.
Okay, I didn't want to. Oh, you mean with Patrick? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Look, we get along really, really fine.
I've not seen him in a long time. Yeah. Or is there any possibility of doing more X Men stuff? Look, there's always possibilities. I'm not involved in any way.
I'm not at all. No, no, no, no.
Okay, because I just didn't. I mean, you're you're seeing, you know, a. Mixture of these worlds now on screen, like in the latest Spider-Man, that actually happened, where there's actual mixing of these worlds. No, look, I did ten good years in that, and it was amazing. To be honest with you, I don't.
I think some people stay in the same gig for decades, and it's and find that's great. The joy for me in my career so far of thirty-two years is that I've never really fallen into one thing, and that's not something that the industry really affords every. But I've been afforded a certain level of. Dexterity and and and variety in the work that I'm allowed to do, and that's really the kind of the stuff that fuels me. Is constantly pushing myself.
Is why I'm directing now. I want to challenge myself in that field as well, and and not kind of falling to just doing the same thing again. Of course.
So I I would feel weird going back anyway. I understood. Last one for you, other than California Scheme, in which is again a directorial debut. I'm sure you're very proud of that. Oh yeah, excited about it.
What's the one thing that you have done in your career that people don't talk about enough that you're that you're proud of? I love that. Is like done. I wish people would tell me I was good in this one. What's the one thing that I've done that you're proud of?
Like you know, you know what? I acted my ass off in that thing. Do you know? I I think about the theater that I've done sometimes, and and the beauty of it is it's when it's when it's over, it's over. And even like you know, if you do a hundred shows, the first night that will never.
Happen again like that, and that's over. And and I I sometimes mourn the passing of those that they're not recorded, that they're not. I can't see them again, and people can't enjoy those again. In terms of film, what's the one thing that I feel is under? I mean, I I made a movie called *Filth*, which is another very Scottish film, which is one of the things I'm most proud of in my career.
Is it's really dark and it's really funny and it's like tragic and it's grotesque, but it's also heartfelt and you care about this guy. Who's so repellent in some ways, but we make you care about him. And it pushes and pulls the audience around in this kind of psychological comedy, and is from the the creator of *Train Spotting*, Irvin Welsh, and this amazing director, John Westberg. That's the one I'd say that it could it could it would benefit from more exposure.
Okay. Well, speaking of filth, you said earlier that you married into an Eagles family. Is that what you said? I've married I've married an ear of Eagles. Yeah.
Okay. I I only say that because things aren't. Going very well.
Well, look, they just played. I live in North London near the Tottenham Stadium, so I'm a plastic Tottenham fan. My kids are Tottenham fans proper. I'm a Celtic fan, and and so I think the Eagles have played London more than any other NFL team, and we usually do all right. But they just got they just got done in the last final minute, right, by the Jaguars.
Very much so. Yeah, I know. That's that. They they're hurting right now. We were talking about maybe scene of the family.
We come out from Philly to London. To come and catch the game, kind of glad you didn't. That'd be a long ride home, you know for sure. California Schemein is available now in select theaters with an expansion to additional theaters again this Friday. The feature film directorial debut of James McAvoy.
Pleasure to see you. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming here.
Next time, any other time you want to come back? I mean, we just scratched the surface. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.
That's James McAvoy right here on the Rich Eisen Show. We're back to wrap this. Tuesday show up in a moment. Today's forecast: falling leaves, football, and an eighty percent chance you're going to need a few more things for that backyard project. Running low on yard bags?
Need a leaf blower? Let Express Delivery from the Home Depot bring them right to you. Get fall project essentials delivered fast, so you can get it done with plenty of time left for the game. Get what you need in two hours or less with express delivery from the Home Depot. Subject to availability.
Order select in-stock items by 4 p.m. Restrictions and fees apply. Hiring for a small business is hard. You don't often have a team of people helping out. That's why LinkedIn built Hiring Pro.
It's like having a true hiring partner, and you can chat with it just like you would a recruiter. Hiring Pro listens, adjusts, and shows you the people that actually fit your needs. Eighty-eight percent of small businesses say they trust LinkedIn's candidate recommendations.
Be confident in your hiring decisions with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com. Rich Eisen. Terms and conditions apply. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
Back here on the Rich Eisen show, the SUV trophy shelf for Hyundai is getting a little out of hand, people. Because guess what? U.S. News and World Report named Hyundai the best SUV brand. That's five out of six years now.
With hybrid SUVs like the premium-capable Palisade, the adventure-built Santa Fe, and the tech-infused Tucson, the shelf's going to need its own structural support system at this point, with a dedicated construction crew. That's because they keep adding trophies to it. See what I'm saying? View U.S. News best cars right now at cars.usnews.com and visit hyundaiusa.com for more details.
So during the commercial break, you come up to me like, "There's trade rumors galore right now. What's going on?" Trade rumors are starting to pop off. You know we're a couple weeks from the deadline, and I think some wide receivers might get moved. You see, Jawan Jennings' name is being thrown about the Niners. Jerry Judy is now in a rumor mill, so I think we're getting ready to see some movement.
Here it comes. I don't know how Jawan Jennings left San Francisco in terms of being welcome back there or not. I don't know. Yeah, all I know is it. It's Definitely better than he left.
Better than than Brandon Ayuk is in terms of still there, right? But Jaquan Jennings would have been the MVP of the Super Bowl played in in Las Vegas between the Chiefs and the the Niners. He would have if they won it. He was awesome that day, dude. That was in Vegas, right?
Hold on, was it the Miami one? Yeah, no, they played twice. Yeah, so was the Vegas one. Jawan Jennings would have been the MVP if they if they had won that in overtime. I think so.
He was that good in that game. He was he was everywhere.
So you won't have to bring him up to speed, pretty much, if that's the case. Man, let's get everyone back. Which is not a reason why Ayuk. Like you gotta be kidding me. What's going on there?
What is going on? If they're welcoming back Debo, and if Jawan Jennings goes back, just keep running it back. You know, Jerry Rice, John Taylor. Do they have any? You know, can they give me?
Do they have any more? You know, Jerry can give you. Jerry can play. Give me some. Hundred percent.
Jerry can play. Man. I'm just looking down to see if there's anybody who's further away from Idaho that's driving back from the Rams game. That's calling. Anyone else driving somebody from Oregon and someone from Idaho is like, I'm driving home and Del Tufo couldn't even go to the game.
And disrespect is real. And again, man, the Dodgers lost last night. The Rams lost last night. For you, man, who's a diehard fan of neither. Yeah, it's got to be rough.
Forgot my aura ring. I just sleep. Oh my goodness. You're walking aura ring. Yeah, I actually have a ring that I wear.
You know, you like it. My health, different type. Right. I have a walking aura ring. All right, Mike.
Is Otani going to get benched for Game Three? When are we making this decision? We're probably going to find out there during the show tomorrow. Yeah, Game Three tomorrow night here in LA. You going to that one, Mike?
I think I'm going to both. He's not. I'm going Thursday. He's going to one for sure. Yeah.
Oh, which one is that? I don't know which one, but I know one that Fox is doing. No, Fox is doing both. No, oh, no, Fox is doing both, right? Yeah, I'm going to one game, and I'm taking also rumors.
He's gonna, you know, slide down to eighth in the lineup. Yeah, eighth. Man, postseasons. Man, shouldn't have been pitching. That's what I've always been telling you.
Oh yeah, I was on that first. You're stupid. Do I imagine if I just start hijacking it? Don't you? All your all your compatriots, all the people in your position, tend to yeah.
Dan Patrick calls it remind them that it was me who said. Dan Patrick calls it sampling. Man, what he calls it sampling. Yeah, I've been telling everybody. Wow, we're out of time.
Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to three Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
