 If you've seen the hit TV show Ghost or you've seen Succession, then you're familiar with Asher Grotman's work and we're super lucky that he's voicing the main character, Puck, in Terrestrial. And as always, I don't want to waste time. Let's get to the conversation with Asher. Good morning. Hey, good morning. There he is. How are you? I'm good. Well, then let's not waste any time. The self-serving question right off the bat, what drew you to the project? Like, what was exciting to you besides, you know, his friendship and like, knowing things about what he's doing? Once you write the script and you got into this, like, what was interesting to you? Well, I will start with this just because it deserves to be said. I know Dimitri. I love Dimitri. I think he wrote a short film that it could be, it was the shortest film that anyone could possibly do. That was just brilliant. And so I am enamored both with Dimitri as a person, but Dimitri is an artist, so any chance to work with him, I'm down. And then also, I think, you know, in terms of this particular project, you know, the kind of cycle of fatherhood, I think, spoke to me. I do not have kids, but I'm certainly, you know, the heartstrings get pulled at the idea of living in someone's shadow and then trying to make your own mark inside that shadow. And usually having to make that mark in a way that is not the way you were planning to make a mark, you know. Often, you know, this is a guy who is looking to find a way to make his name for himself externally in the world and kind of in a larger, you know, I don't want to say historical narrative, but like, you know, make an impact in society or in terms of fame or something like that. And then the impact that it seems he's going to make to him feels very small. But then when suddenly he has a life in his hands, it's a very huge impact. So the scope gets smaller, but the profundity gets gets exponentially larger. So that that hit me a lot. And of course, you know, I think it's in a young guy you would resonate with. Just trying to make your own way, you know, when when we got you involved in this project, you were just kind of starting with ghosts. And so in many ways, like since we since we recorded this with you, like your trajectory with this character is kind of aligned a little bit. You know what I mean? Like you you play you play Puck Paters, who's like he's an astronaut, but he's also like he's a celebrity astronaut. And he's he's his his fame has risen to a societal impact what he said. And so it's just kind of I'm just noticing a bit of a parallel that now you've at least you've gotten that that taste of what that's like. And and you can relate to that character even more. I think the journey I think there is a terror in the when you suddenly like get what you've always wanted, you know, it's a deep terror. But at the same time, the journey that he's going on as as kind of being responsible for a life, I have no idea what that's like. You guys probably know a lot more that than I do. But the last couple of years have been really validating. And I think definitely the Puck would I'm doing what Puck was kind of thinking that he would like to have done. Right. Like I was I thought we were going to go over there and instead I have this thing. So I'm very lucky in that regard. But also that clip that we just sent me that one of that play that's when you're recording with him to really have a rhythmic feel like really separate the words like like like stick up his butt like that sort of thing. You why don't you just for time sake? Can I can I give you a can I give you a two passes at this real quick? Because I think I know what you want. Yeah, yeah, it's just OK. Let me just stick up his butt pompous dinosaur. He had his time. It's my time now. But no, he can't share the spotlight, not the amazing one and only commander Oberyn Patters. Yes. And really take your time between each like like make every single thing land and take your time with it and then on. Let it build towards the amazing commander Oberyn Patters like like make it really like explode or like land on that one. Like you're really mocking him. Right. Stick up his butt pompous dinosaur. He had his time. It's my time now. But no, he can't share the spotlight, not the amazing one and only commander Oberyn Patters. So question. Thanks for throwing a clip where I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dimitri, just just give me a second. I'll do it myself. I loved it. I loved it. I thought it was awesome. I love the transformation from like, all right, like, all right. Let me like I'm reading and reading and then like the performance comes alive. Like, oh, OK. And then and then like, but then, you know, and then it gave you like a slight little adjustment and you like nailed it. I mean, that's like that's what a pro does. It's like, I thought it was a perfect example of why you're awesome and and how good you are at this. I think working with you on this gave me a little, you know, working in film and television, it's usually especially at most actors started theater, which is a very oral medium. Yeah. And it's all about language. And that's usually because of the proximity of the audience. In film and television, the audience needs to be a lot closer and it's a visual medium because we're telling stories, you know, in pictures. And so it all becomes about behavior and then kind of switching into a third sphere where I don't I'm not responsible for any of the visuals. I'm just responsible to support those visuals. And there's there's a much longer leash. In terms of where you can go vocally, because we're playing with things that are, you know, the sense I got from you is that not that there's a tone to it. I guess there is, but you've created this visual world. So what my barometer of like realistic or whatever, you know, can actually get expanded, you know what I mean? I get to play with it almost in a more like Shakespearean way. There's a there's a there's a broadness to it, which is fun. So I kind of learned that on the fly work review on this. I think even that clip was not noticing is I'm starting to get a little more physically comfortable. Yeah. Because like I've seen I've seen the clips of I mean, the best one is I'm watching Mark Hamill do the Joker and you see that he is like doing all this. And and I felt that in the in the shooting of it, I'm sure there are moments of there where I'm acting like a like a maniac physically or or what also can happen is the opposite where where because Puck is so kind of like like it's it's so kind of boring. Yeah, he's kind of unexpressed in a way, right? So that may be another thing that you can kind of see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so so maybe that I get the freedom to play and my body is something for you. You've been on on an episode of Succession, right? Yeah. Were you observing that ensemble cast and like taking things in because you're also an ensemble cast with so many other actors. What was that? How was that different? Did you like pick some things like I want to use this for later? I learned a lot on that. That's that's a really wonderful cast. And what was the coolest thing about it is that they all work so differently. Brian is lovely and he is like a theater guy. You can see his theater roots in him. And he uses his voice. Yeah, brilliantly. Kieran Culkin is is like everything that comes out of his mouth feels like it's improvised often. Sometimes it is. Yeah, where there's like the joke here. And then he's going to say that and probably try two or three of the jokes. He's so good at it. He's he's really fantastic. Jeremy is very, you know, I know there's been a lot of rhythm. He's very controlled and very everything is thought out and done. And he's kind of in his own in his space. And so people just work very differently than everyone works in a different way. So being able to see like all those different kind of approaches kind of mix in one room and how they all play was a lot of fun. That that was a weird job for me. I love that show. I think it's a genius show and the writing. Fantastic. It was a tricky thing where that character I was playing, like his entire purpose was really just to exist. Yeah, you know, I mean, like he's not supposed to be this like scary dude, like Logan's the scary dude. He's just supposed to be this guy who you know is going to get access to everyone's phones. And he's just going to do it. That's it. So like as an actor, I remember feeling like I really is not very much going to do. And everyone is talking about how scary and how, you know, like that character drives so much to plot of that episode. But it was very little for me to do. So it was a fun kind of lesson and actually having to kind of sit and observe. And I remember there was a scene that we shot that never made it into it. That was a very dark scene involving Tom. We it was it was a vague thing. But basically what we were in is this beautiful set where there was this pool, this empty pool at that that place where we were. We were all kind of standing over him and laughing at him. As he stood at the the bottom of an empty pool and it was just very sinister. And it didn't make the episode. I think it was just a swing. It just tried to. But when he walks in that next morning to breakfast and he's kind of like we're playing that oh, something happened at night. And you take that scene out and it's actually kind of richer without that scene because it lets your imagination kind of go as to what happened. And I remember like my character kind of gave him a little bit of a smirk as he walked in, you know, and that's always I have a point of view. Right. Yeah. For a lot of it, my there isn't much for a point of view. I'm just there to do a job. I mean, that that is a point of view. But it's not as much fun as saying, oh, I know what you did last night, you know. Yeah. But I think the coolest thing about that show, sorry, no, go ahead. The crew and there they I think they usually shoot three cameras or at least that was my experience, the way they kind of push in and push out or zoom in and zoom out and they kind of play jazz in that. And they're working with an already very kind of improvisational improvisation is the wrong word, but very kind of chaotic in the best way cast and the camera kind of joins in that game where you're pushing it. So those guys are master technicians. Yeah. So yeah, with that cast, you want to get as much coverage as you can in the moment because, you know, depending on you can paint the camera and any one of them at any moment and get like a master class of acting. Yes. But that's the thing, right? Is is you, yes, you that's the risk that they take, which is you want to get as much coverage as you can, but they do those pushes, those punches, which obviously cut down on your coverage, right? So you're making a choice there. You're saying, I think it's going to land here and they push in and get it, you know, so it's it's a they're playing like high stakes poker like there and it works out so beautifully. So puck patterns, you know, celebrity hotshot astronauts living in the in the shadows of of his legendary mission commander, you know, father, Oberyn Patters, who we haven't cast yet. Right now we we've only cast you. You know, JD and I have been kind of talking about who do we want? Who do we see as this like legendary hero character? And we have our ideas, but since you're here, I wanted to get your input. Like, is there anybody that you have in mind that that you want to play your father, that you want to have that relationship with? Um, well, first of all, never ask an answer to this question, because we don't have any idea what we're talking about. But we want to be your father. You want to be my father? Yeah. I mean, I brought him up earlier just because I've seen him do. I've seen the video of him do his voiceover work. I think Mark Hamill is amazing. And yeah, he's so good. I had a plea. He's a big ghost fan and we're all like pleading. Yeah, I'm going to show up and show up and play our fathers. So maybe if he doesn't do it in ghost, he'll come and do it in this. But yeah, like when you see him do his do the Joker, like when you see the video, he might be doing it. It's so they should they should just they should just sell videos of that. It's actually you're so patient. You're you're you must go through interviews and stuff like that all the time. So I really appreciate that. But this is I mean, you get to talk shop here like that. That's a four and a half minute, you know, getting get out. This is always because you get to actually talk about like what's, you know, the neurosis of all this process of this. So it's a lot of fun. All right. Well, should we let Asher go? Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. Again, thanks so much, guys. It's so interesting. It's really interesting to hear just a different perspective from like someone who actually, you know, does it for real and does it properly, but it's it's so cool. So thank you. Thank you so much. No, thank you. This is the, you know, this is the stuff that I sit and perseverate about. So it's always fun to the commiserator to the people. All right. See you guys. Thank you so much. Go Jagwars. Yeah, baby. Bye. Bye. There you go. That was the end of part three in the description for part two and part one in case you haven't seen them. But on behalf of Dimitri and I, thank you for watching. I hope it was entertaining and interesting. We can't wait to move forward. This project is going to be awesome. And hopefully we can share more in the future.