Brock Lesnar
By Frito, for Matt Nute's birthday.
LIPTON: In our continuing series on television's highly successful
series X-Project, joining us tonight is a young
athlete-turned-actor.
In his senior year of high school, he had a remarkable undefeated record as a amateur wrestler. He continued his athletic career at the University of Minnesota, where he wasan NCAA All-American, and the NCAA heavyweight champion in 2000. He then took his amateur wrestling background into the world of professional wrestling, rapidly becoming one of World Wrestling Entertainment's fastest rising stars, becoming their Undisputed Champion - in fact, their youngest Heavyweight Champion ever, in 2002.
He took on the role of Cain Marko in X-Project in 2003, and balanced that role with a career in professional wrestling for over a year before retiring from professional wrestling. Tonight here to talk about his experiences, ladies and Gentleman, please welcome Mr. Brock Lesnar.
[applause]
LESNAR: Thanks. It's great to be here.
LIPTON: You've been an actor now longer then you were a professional wrestler. Why acting?
LESNAR: It's not that different. You're doing a lot of the same stuff. Playing a role, doing what someone thinks that the guy you're playing should be doing. But there's less traveling. And not as many guys get out of acting because they end up breaking something they're gonna need later. It's - you know, we shoot all the time, but after I'm done for the day I go home, to my place. Not some hotel room, unless we're on location. Dwayne, uh, The Rock, he did the same thing. Wrestling just wears on you, man. I wasn't happy and I had to get out. I got lucky that this was something I could do.
LIPTON: Dwayne Johnson? The Rock?
LESNAR: Yeah, I owe him for this. The casting agent, he approached me, and I wasn't going to do it. I'd only been in the WWE for, what, two years? That didn't see fair to Vince. He gave me a pretty good offer right outta college - how many guys can say that? Kurt Angle can't say that. And I told the guy I'd think about it, and Dwayne, he basically said I'd be stupid not to.
LIPTON: Your first year on the show was met with some strong criticism. How did you react to that?
LESNAR: I thought about quitting. Even took some time off the show. There was a lot of people saying, he's a wrestler, he can't act, he's just this big monster of a guy. And I was still wrestling, so I had that going for me. And then Bob Holly broke his neck. And Kurt had to go out for surgery, and ... well, a lot of guys all at once, it seemed like. On Raw, on Smackdown, all I had to do was about half an hour of work, maybe tape some promos. It was a lot harder in a lot of ways. But, like I said, I was unhappy with the WWE too. And I figured - there's nobody in wrestling who can do what I can do, but maybe that wasn't all I could do but wrestle and end up having to replace half the joints in my body before I had grandkids.
LIPTON: How have you had to adapt?
LESNAR: What, to being an actor? Well, I had to learn how to act.
[laughter]
LESNAR: (continuing) I had help there. Callum (Keith Rennie), and Patrick Stewart both have been big influences, big helps. I had to do a lot of scenes with them early in. They threw me some tips. I think the directors, they got that it was gonna be hard for me. The first year, maybe two, I did a lot of action stuff. Cain's huge - bigger then me, and I'm a big guy, and so he's the heavyweight of the team. Goes out there, hits things, doesn't get hurt when somebody drops him from a jet.
LIPTON: About that scene. You know, there's a rumor that you insisted on wearing that particular football jersey personally.
LESNAR: Don't believe everything you hear on television. *laughs* The costume folks, they didn't have a uniform for Cain yet, when we did the season finale. He didn't join the X-Men until the next season. At the catering tent, one of them asked me what football team I thought he'd root for. Asked me, like they thought I had thought about it. Thats when I decided that I was going to really give this thing 150-percent go ahead. When they asked me. So, yeah, I suggested it, but I didn't insist. I'm not some spoiled actor who needs a trailer just for her hairdresser, you know?
LIPTON: How physically demanding is the role?
LESNAR: I still gotta keep in shape. Cain's an ex-Marine, still looks like he's a Marine, only he's seven, eight feet tall. They want him to look like he can throw around tanks, but not like he's a bodybuilder. So I work out, keep in shape. He does a lot of fighting, that's a lot like pro wrestling, so it's demanding, and I go home tired, but not usually bruised up. It's hard, you gotta hit a guy without breaking his face. And they like to show that stuff. Juggernaut and Wolverine punching dinosaurs is good ratings, I guess. I know I'd watch it. I know I don't gotta watch my weight when we do one of those episodes where I shoot two hours of throwing Hugh (Jackman) around the set so they can show fifteen minutes of it on television. I come outta that, me and Hugh go have steaks. Maybe I outta do my own workout tape.
[laughter]
LIPTON: I'm given to understand that you do as many of your own stunts as possible?
LESNAR: As many as they'll let me. A lot of stuff is on a blue or green screen. But I worked with some stunt guys, learned what I could. I'm strong, I've got great conditioning and a hard head. There's not a lot that'll break me, as long as I have that, I'll do as much as they'll let me do. There's not a lot of guys who look like me, getting some stunt guy or computer to draw it doesn't look the same. It's like cheating, and I'm not gonna cheat people.
LIPTON: Moving on to the less physical part of your role, we've seen a lot of Cain Marko doing things that aren't hitting people or throwing tanks in the last several seasons. How difficult has that been?
LESNAR: Pretty hard. But I think I'm doing okay. They keep giving me these things, some funny stuff, like Cain teaching history class to the kids, or getting Yvette to cut his hair. And some of it's serious too.
LIPTON: Cain's relationship with his brother, and nephew?
LESNAR: Exactly. Cain still doesn't like his brother, but he's coming around to, maybe tolerating him, or being able to talk to him without wanting to kick his chair down a flight of stairs. And he gets along with Jim. David. I'm never sure what we're supposed to call him. I didn't take psychology in college. I wanna think he almost understands. Cain's got, had, this anger that he couldn't control, that got out and he had to keep it hidden. Jim, I'm gonna go with Jim, he's got the same thing, only he has two other ones too. Milo (Ventimiglia), he keeps all four of those straight, and one of them's a girl. I don't think I could do that.
LIPTON: Play a role that required four personalities?
LESNAR: Play a woman.
[laughter]
LIPTON: You're also having to expand your range with regards to... ahem, romantic scenes... The recent development with Wanda, for example?
LESNAR: *laughs* Well I wasn't gonna say no! The first time, they sprung it on me. Last minute script changes. It was supposed to be Alan Cumming. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but Cain, well, a guy's in a coma for twenty years, he's not gonna know what the hell he'd doing with a woman like that either. So it worked out. The second time, they warned me, and I think we filmed it about eight times anyway. Both though, man, Carrie-Ange, she was pretty patient with me. But she had to work with Keanu Reeves on those Matrix movies, and I heard that guy's not too bright.
LIPTON: Cain has been on the show since midway through the first season. Does that put you at odds with any of the newer cast members that you work with?
LESNAR: Well, like I said, I get along with Milo. And, you know, I'm the same age, or younger then a lot of guys there. But Cain, he's in his sixties, and he plays that up. He's the guy yelling "You kids, get off my lawn!". He was at odds with a lot of the other characters, so I almost felt like I had to be at odds with the rest of the cast.
LIPTON: And that has changed?
LESNAR: Yeah. They did a lot to make Cain less of a jerk. Which made him harder to play for me, playing a jerk was easy. It wasn't too different from being "The Next Big Thing" in WWE. It came out on the show too. Katie Holmes, she played Amanda Sefton then - Amanda and Cain didn't get along, and well, Katie and me didn't think so much of each other. I watched some reruns on a plane couple of months ago and it's no lie. You can see it.
LIPTON: So your working relationship with Billie Piper has less friction?
LESNAR: Billie's a good kid. She doesn't have that, you know, she's not some prissy actress who goes off to marry Tom Cruise. A lot of the new folks, they're good to work with. We get scenes done, we can go grab a meal, or a beer, or just shoot the shit. Greg (Cipes), he's out there, but hey, if a guy doesn't wanna eat beef, more for me.
LIPTON: Speaking of Greg Cipes, you had a reunion of sorts on the show.
LESNAR: Kevin Nash, yeah. He plays Kyle's dad. Guest stars every once in a while. We get together, compare notes about stuff, get even on Greg for pulling pranks.
LIPTON: And a major guest star very early this season, for Most Dangerous Game?
LESNAR: The Rock. Do you know, they asked me if I'd mind if he was on the show? Why would I mind? I owe the guy for telling me this was the right thing to do. I wasn't part of that, but I came by to watch them shoot it. Dwayne had a lot of fun playing Kraven, played him totally right over the top and back down the other side.
LIPTON: Of the episodes you were a part of, what is your favorite?
LESNAR: Tough question. We did some episodes that were just about all Cain. Shattered, The Enemy Within. I did some good work there. And I said before, punching dinosaurs, that was a lot of fun. But I gotta say, Thirteen Days, the space episodes? I really enjoyed that. It was Cain, and he went out there, did his thing, but there was this other part to it. The guy was in a coma when we went to the moon. He didn't grow up wanting to go into space like every kid in America. So he got out there and it wasn't awesome for him. It was just huge and black.
LIPTON: Alright. To wrap this up - count it out, you'd say in wrestling, right? There's a series of questions from Monsueir Pivot.
LESNAR: Who? Okay, shoot.
LIPTON: Your favorite word?
LESNAR: Strong. Not just physical, that's important but you can be a little guy and still be strong inside. Nothing'll break you if you're strong like that.
LIPTON: And your least favorite word:
LESNAR: Fake. I know a lotta guys, they talk big, and don't do anything with it. I will say this, if you're gonna do something, do it. Otherwise keep your yapper shut.
LIPTON: What turns you on?
LESNAR: Can I answer that on TV? Uh. Confidence. Women who aren't hiding behind their hair too shy to talk to the guy a foot taller then them. Get out there, say something.
LIPTON: What turns you off?
LESNAR: Giving up. People who fail at something once, and decide it'll never work for them ever again.
LIPTON: What sound or noise do you love?
LESNAR: My alarm clock. It goes off, it starts my day. I workout, I go to the set if I have a scene, I go back to the gym if there's time. The clock starts it all off. Hey, I bet you're gonna ask me what noise I hate after this.
LIPTON: You'd be right.
LESNAR: Camera clicks. But only when there's nobody I can see with a camera. Usually that means someone's taking pictures to sell to a tabloid. A guy's live is private, tabloid reporters shouldn't be nosing in.
LIPTON: What is your favorite curse word?
LESNAR: Now, I know I can't say that on television!
[laughter]
LESNAR: The F-word. It's useful, you can use it all kinds of ways.
LIPTON: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
LESNAR: I honestly and truthfully haven't really given it all that much thought. I stick by my philosophy that's been successful for me, and that's take it one fight, one match, one thing at a time. Maybe pro football. I could do that, sure.
LIPTON: What profession would you not like to do?
LESNAR: Anything that'd chain me to a desk. If I wanted to do that, I'd have been an accountant.
LIPTON: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
LESNAR: Here's your sword, here's your wings, go kick some demon's ass.
LIPTON: *chuckles* And that's all the questions, and all the time we have for tonight. Thank you for joining us.
LESNAR: Thanks for having me, this was great.
