Michael Nouri On Flashdance Fame And A Life In Theater

New Season And A Dream Guest

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the Heart of Show Business. I am your host, Alexia Melocchi. I believe in great storytelling and that every successful artist has a deep desire to express something from the heart to create a ripple effect in our society. Emotion and entertainment are closely tied together. My guests and I want to give you insider access to how the film, television, and music industry works. We will cover Dreams Come True, The Road Light's Travel, Journey Beginnings, and a lot of insight and inspiration in between. I am a successful film and television entrepreneur who came to America as a teenager to pursue my show business dreams. Are you ready for some unfiltered real talk with entertainment visionaries from all over the world? Then let's throw sound and action. Well, hello to everyone here at The Heart of Show Business. We're entering a new season. I thought I was gonna go on hiatus, but just like in The Godfather, when you're trying to get out, they pull you right back in. And why? Because I have some amazing new guests this season. And the my first guest this season is not just an incredibly insanely talented actor, but he's also a dear friend. And little backstory on this, and now you're gonna guess who he is. Um, there's two people that I dreamt about meeting when I moved to America, and maybe because the movies that I watched them in represented something about my dreams of you know being a Hollywood producer and working in Hollywood. One of them was Don Most from Happy Days, and because I grew up watching Happy Days, and lo and behold, life comes full circle, and he comes on my podcast, and I was like so starstruck. And then another one is this gentleman I grew up watching this movie, Flash Dance. Hello, Hottie Man that every woman was swooning about because everybody wanted to be taken on a date on I think it was a Porsche, he'll tell me about it and bring flowers and bring the dog and just support our careers. I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with this hottie, right? And this Hartie happens to be on my podcast. Fast forward, we're not gonna say how many decades, maybe 20, we'll just stick at 20. But here I am with this incredible actor, Michael Nori. His career spans decades, genres, reinvention. You know him from so many iconic films, like obviously Flashdance, but also so many movies with so many Alice directors, and even most recently, his uh work on Yellowstone for quite a few years. And he just announced a new project, which he will tell me about. Uh, what makes him so still hot as an actor is his longevity, but also his evolution. I've noticed him. He's an artist who navigated Hollywood through so many industry shifts, as we have all, personal reckonings and moments that just require also a lot of truth. So, this conversation we're gonna have is gonna be so juicy and so great. So, Michael Nuri, welcome to my show.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yashu Morey.

Finding Acting Through Theater

SPEAKER_01 3:20

See? Okay, so origin story. Origin story. Michael and I met because we were gonna do a movie set in Greece, and that's why. And we met at the peninsula because that's where all meetings happen, and he came in this impeccable suit wearing the role because he's supposed to play an Aristotle Anassis character. So there you go, and here we are. I finally convinced him on my show. Thank you for the Greek welcome. I want to get right into it, Michael, and I want to talk about how you got into acting and when did you realize that this was a path that you wanted to not just get on, not just make money off of it, but also commit to it on a soul level.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you very much for inviting me to be with you on your show. And um, hello to all of your viewers and your fans. Um, I'm really happy to be with you. Um, we've known each other for quite a few years. Um, you've known my dog Charlie since he was a baby. He's now 12.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Um my goodness. The um journey back to the beginning of my uh acting was in high school. I was at a boys' boarding school in Connecticut, and I was in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury, which is a musical, and that's when I discovered how much I loved singing and acting and making people laugh. So uh that was in my sophomore junior year of high school. Uh then I went to college and I majored in theater, and um I just loved theater. Um, the rest of the curriculum made no sense to me at all. I I I um I I anyway, I I I had a wonderful time uh doing theater in in school. Um and then when I got out of college, um I enlisted in the army because it was during Vietnam. Uh 1967, 68, 69. Uh and I was in the Army for maybe only a year. Uh I got an honorable discharge. So uh that was wonderful. I was very blessed and grateful that I didn't have to go to Vietnam. Um I got a job waiting tables in New York in a bar. Uh my dad used to come in. He thought I was crazy. He wanted me to move in to take over his or work with him and eventually take over his life insurance agency. Well, life insurance, yeah, no, I don't think so. Um God bless him. He did very well. He was able to put me and my brother and my sister through the finest schools. Um, but he thought I was really um misguided in wanting to pursue a career in theater or movies or show business. He encouraged me to do, you know, do community theater, Michael, but you know, you have to have something that's stable and reliable. And um those words fell on deaf ears. Uh, what is stability and reliability when you're 20 years old? That's the age when you're going for broke. You're you're putting all your chips on one color. Um so I committed myself to uh to theater and to acting. And I auditioned for uh no, I did not audition. I was in California uh on a chance meeting at Paramount Studios with a director named Larry Pierce, who was directing a movie called Goodbye Columbus, starring her first movie, Allie McGraw and Richard Benjamin. And I was playing Allie's boyfriend, and I had one line to say in the movie. That was all. I was 22 years old, 1969. Um, and the line was, may I have this dance? I walk up to Allie McGraw. All I have to do is say, May I have this dance? Well, I was so nervous that I walked up to her. Larry said, Action. I walked up to her and I said, May I have this dance? And Larry said, Jesus Christ. All right, let's do it again. Come on, take in another take. Go ahead, Michael. So I somehow I mustered through it. I was able to say, but in a much higher register, may I have may I have this dance? That was my introduction to being on on camera and being on film. After that, I I was terrified. I was terrified about being on on camera. I was so self-conscious. I had no training. Uh all I had done was acting at school and playing parts, but I had I had no training. Um but I I as I said, I went back and was working on this in this bar. My dad would come in, order a hamburger, and leave me a$50 tip, which was a big deal back in 1970. 50 bucks? Whoa. Um I auditioned for a play called 40 Carats, as in Diamonds, starring Julie Harris, who was the queen, the grand dame of American theater for many, many years. Uh an exceptional human being and actress. And I was cast uh in a supporting role in the understudy for the lead, and the lover of a fabulous actress who you may know of. Her name is Nancy Marshawn. She became very famous in uh um um the James Gandalfini series. Um Help Me Out. Sopranos. What Sopranos Sopranos. She played Tony Soprano's mom. Yeah. So I took over the lead opposite Julie Harris, and I did that for um a year. Uh it was directed by um Abe Burroughs, who wrote Guys and Dolls uh and many other amazing projects. The stage manager was James Burrows, uh, who went on to become very famous and creative.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Um and so that was my introduction to theater. And um then I did a couple of soap operas in New York and flew out to Los Angeles for the first time. Uh that's when I met Larry Pierce, and I also met the legendary George Cooker, who directed all of Audrey, I mean Catherine Hepburn's movies and Cary Grant's movies. And um he offered me a role in a movie, which was come on. And he died, unfortunately, before he got to make the movie. But that was a very short visit to Los Angeles. That's when I got the Larry Pierce movie, uh Goodbye Columbus. And I came back to New York, worked on um worked on a couple of soap operas, uh, and then I had a contract with um Universal Studios. That was in the day when you could have contracts with a studio, and I had a like a three-year contract with Universal Studios, which was great, during which I played Lucky Luciano in a wonderful series called The Gangster Chronicles. Um I loved that. Um had a wonderful time doing that, and um moved to Los Angeles. That's when I moved to Los Angeles uh for the first time. Uh, the second time would be in 1982, when I came out to California to meet the legendary Sam Peckinpaw for a movie that he was doing. And I met him, and he I think by now I have probably over-commented on your question.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

He's writing a book, people.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

I'm here's you didn't ask for my my my more my memoir, but here it is. I'm just I'm sorry if I'm just going on and on.

The Flashdance Casting Decision

SPEAKER_01 12:35

I love I love listening to you. No, no, I think it's great. No, I love what you because it it's important for people to know. You don't have to have, you know, uh the technique or the the you can just do theater, and theater is the best practice of which I love. And even like the story that you talked to me about your dad, I think it's so fabulous because you know, my dad has been kind of like your dad when he always said, Oh, you're always up in the clouds, but why don't you go into the smaller clouds so that when you fall, you're not gonna hurt yourself. But then the difference is your dad, he kind of said, Yeah, I don't know if that's gonna work out, but here he comes and gives you a$50 tip, you know, when you're working at the bar, which I think is so moving and so touching and so supporting. But what I do want to know, fast-forwarding a little bit, is how did you get the movie Flashdance? Because of course, everybody and their mother, who's you know, I was born in well, let's put it like nearly 1970. And so everybody and their mother who's in my age group, but even people in their 30s, you know, and they love that film. So, how did you get cast to be this brooding, handsome, you know, irresistible, irresistible irrewardly, of course, because you got like the whole Middle Eastern European thing like me. How did that happen? Did they just say he's gorgeous, we're gonna cast him, or did you have to go through the audition?

SPEAKER_00 14:04

No, no, no, no. Well, I to pick up where I left off, um, I I was in New York doing an off-Broadway play uh when I got a call from my agent saying uh Sam Peckinpaw would like to meet you for a movie that he's doing. Now, I don't know if you or your audience remember who Sam Peckinpaw was, but he's a legend. Uh, he was um very famous for being difficult and for being incredibly artistic and uh a real iconoclast. And I I he was a hero of mine, so I I they said you're gonna have to fly yourself out to meet him to California. And he was a 20th century fox on the lot, and uh so I went to meet him, and he was smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes, and he had a red bandana on. And he had a very gravelly voice. And uh I was really kind of starstruck meeting him. Um and he said, Um, I don't know how he knew my work, it was probably from the Gangster Chronicles, uh playing Lucky Luciano. But he said, um, I'm doing this movie, he told me about the character, about the movie, and he said, I'd love you to play this part. He said, You don't have to audition. I know I think you're a wonderful actor, and I would love you to play this part. I was over the moon. I couldn't believe it. Uh, I was on Cloud Nine when I left Fox Studios that afternoon. That was on a Thursday afternoon. That very afternoon, my agent sent me a script with a very weird title across the title page saying Flashdance. I looked at that and said, what the heck could this be about? Well, I read it and it was wonderful. And I liked it much better than the Peckinpaw movie, God help me. How do you say no to Sam Peckinpaw? You don't say no to Sam Peckinpah, especially with this um unknown director, Adrian Lyne, who at that time was was not known, who has gone on to become a legend. Um, but I really liked the story, and I liked it much better than Sam Peckinpah's story. And I had to make a decision, I had to make a choice. First of all, they said you're gonna have a meeting with Adrian Lyne at Paramount Studios on Friday afternoon. Uh before you before we accept the Peckin Paw movie, we want you to meet with Adrian Lyne about Flashdance. I went in. Um the other actors who were up for the role in Flashdance, Kevin Costner, Mickey Rourke, those two that I know of. Um, I made some choices. I went in. I didn't even have to read for Adrian. Um and he was trying to get hold of Jennifer Beals, who was 17 at the time, to get the two of us in the room together to see if we were visually compatible, chemically compatible, and so on. They couldn't reach her. Um so I was in the catbird seat. I was in this enviable position of having two offers. Uh so my agent was able to say to Paramount once I said to my agent, it's very difficult to say no to Peck and Paw, but I would really rather do flashdance. So they went back to Paramount, who were kind of not committed yet. And my agent was able to play this because we were in a leveraged position. It said, Well, we've got this offer from 20th Century Fox and Peck and Paw, and Michael's gonna go to work in two weeks. So, you know, uh, or get off the pot. And uh so they made the offer. We closed the deal that Friday night to do flash dance. We called Sam Peckinpaw, thanked him profusely for his interest in me. Uh, as a side note, Sam Peckinpah's movie, God bless him, was out for maybe one week. And never happened. And then he died. Um and the rest was history with flashdance. It went from being unknown. I mean, I was known in in television. I I'd been in the business at that time for 15 years. Uh, I was principally known for for television and for Lucky Luciano. Um so here I was going into this major movie with an unknown actress, and um we had no idea. Everybody, everybody asked the question. Did you have any idea that flash dance was going to uh become flash dance? No, nobody knew. Until it was in the theater, and I went to a theater in Los Angeles, and I sat in the audience, and the credits came up at the end of the movie. And I have never seen a movie get a standing ovation. The audience were on their feet cheering, clapping. It was fabulous. And then they went from the movie theater to Tower Records, which exists no longer, to buy the album.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

So Adrian and Jerry Bruckheimer uh were sitting outside the theater watching this like a trail of ants going from the movie theater to Tower Records, and they were just like ka ching, k-ching, kit-ing, ka-ching.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

My gosh.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

It it changed the trajectory of several lives, including mine. Um so that's the that's how I got Flash Dance. Uh it was it was about being in the right place at the right time. And that recurred about a decade or so later, when I got Victor Victoria with Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews on Broadway.

unknown 21:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

It was also one of those synchronistic uh events that I can talk about if you're interested in hearing about that.

Directors Who Changed His Work

SPEAKER_01 21:29

I have to say, oh my gosh, I should have you for multiple episodes here. This is amazing. No, I have to say though, uh we know Adrian Lyne too, of course, as well. You know, we've met with him several times, and uh and obviously Chair Buckenheimer. I don't think there's anything that he touches that doesn't succeed, I guess, even from the early days. But he really what you said reminds me, I love hearing this backstory on flashbending. It reminds me of a similar situation with a little movie called Dirty Dancing, which when we were distributors back in The day there was a gentleman called Mark Damon, who you know very well, who was selling this movie, and everybody was unknown too. I mean, there wasn't like anybody's like, wow, the biggest name in the thing. And buyers would just not want to sign up. I mean, Mark had to literally like lock them in in the booth to try to sell them on the film. And I remember our German distributor ended up buying the film. And because we told him, I said, listen, there's something here. And then once he bought it and it became overnight box office in Germany, he really could not believe it when he started getting the you know the royalty reports. Unfortunately, he had a heart attack a week later, which is we're going, oh my God, just in this moment in the of success, you know, this happens. But again, it's something completely unexpected. This little movie called Dirty Dancing, same thing, you know, same thing with the soundtrack and flash dance with a soundtrack, which I absolutely love. I taking you into Victor Victoria, and there's a seek to this, and I think you can put us into the Victor Victoria space. Um is there every actor has a director that where they truly shift their internal compass. And so is there a director that you deeply admire or someone that you feel has permanently elevated your work? Would that be Victor Victoria?

SPEAKER_00 23:30

For sure. Blake Edwards.

unknown 23:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Blake Edwards, Adrian Lyne, Gus Van Zamp. Uh, these are the actors who have really um influenced my life. But uh of the three, and there are there are others. Of the three, Blake Edwards is the singular most influential on my career and on my life. Uh we became dear friends. Uh and I'm happy to tell you the story about how I got Victor Victoria. It's one of my favorite stories.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

I was doing in 1993, I was doing a production of South Pacific with Sandy Duncan here in Los Angeles. It was a matinee day Wednesday. Uh I was going to the Matinee down in Long Beach, and I wanted to pick up some lunch on my way to the theater. So I stopped at my favorite Italian restaurant and ordered an eggplant parmesan sandwich. While I'm waiting for my sandwich, I'm approached by a gentleman, very well dressed, introduced himself, asked me, Have you ever met Blake Edwards? I said, No. Uh, why do you ask? And he said, Well, he's uh, would you like to meet him? And I said, I'd be honored to meet him. He would like to meet you. Follow me. I went across the room. There was Blake sitting at a table. Uh, and he said, Do you sing? And I said, Does your dog bite? Imitating Clouzeau in the Pink Panther.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

He cracked up. That broke the ice. He said, Look, have you ever seen my movie Victor Victoria? And I said, Yeah. Uh, I've also seen the Pink Panthers, which are my favorite movies ever. And Breakfast at Tiffany's wasn't bad either. Um, he said, Um, we're gonna take Victor Victoria to Broadway. Would you be willing to sing for me? Do you sing? Uh and I said, Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am doing a uh production of uh South Pacific, um, one hour from here in Long Beach. Um, and I would really love to invite you to see me in it, rather than being in a rehearsal hall with an upright piano doing an audition in which I would be nervous. And here you have an opportunity to see me doing my thing. Um he said, I'll get back to you. I said, Fine. I got my sandwich, I go to the matinee, I tell Sandy Duncan, I just met one of my heroes, Blake Edwards. I invited him to the pull to the play. She said, Oh, that would be unbelievable if he would if he would come. Do you think that his wife, Julie Andrews, might come? I said, I don't know. I have no idea. Okay, that was Wednesday. Thursday morning, my phone rings. Michael, yes, this is so so. I'm Blake Edwards' um assistant. He wanted me to tell you that he and his wife were going to be attending the performance tonight, Thursday night. I said, really? Yep. Um, I said, can I arrange for transportation, a car, a limo for this? No, they're fine. They they they have a driver, they're okay. Uh they will be there and they would uh they're looking forward to seeing you. Okay. I thought, no, I'm over the moon. Um, and I'm thinking, okay, don't get too carried away. They may stay for till intermission and then leave, and then they'll give me a call maybe tomorrow. Well, no, as fate would have it, they um came backstage. There was Dame Julie Andrews, there was the legend Blake Edwards. Of course, the cast was just all everybody was so excited and thrilled to see Julie Andrews. Oh my god, can you imagine Julie Andrews backstage saying hello, so gracious, saying hello to everybody. Blake walked over to me, extended his hand, and he said, Let's go to Broadway, kid. And that's how I got Victor Victoria. Julie came over, gave me a hug, and she says, Darling, I'm so excited that you're going to be joining us. Well, needless to say, I have no recollection of how I got home that night. I I really don't. I have I have no memory of it. All I remember is Blake Edwards shaking my hand, giving me a hug, and saying, Let's go to Broadway, kid.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

I got home. I probably didn't sleep that night, or I called everybody in the world that I know. Friday morning, phone rings, Michael. Yeah. This is Blake. I this is uh Henry Mancini. And I said, um, really? And he said, yeah, this is Hank. No, he said, this is Hank Mancini. This is Hank Mancini. And I said, You mean as in Henry Mancini? And he said, Yeah. And he said, I understand you're going to be joining us on Broadway. And I said, Yeah. Um, he said, Blake and Julie saw you last night and they're thrilled that you're going to be joining us. Um, I have a couple of questions to ask you. I said, Go ahead. He said, Um how long have you been singing? And I said, my whole life. And he said, Okay. Are you a tenor or are you a baritone? Um, I don't know. He says, What do you mean you don't know? You're a singer. You have to know if you're a baritone or a tenor. I said, I'm I'm sorry, I apologize. I don't I don't know. I just I just sing. He said, Do you read read music? And I said, No. And he said, How the F did you get this job? And I said, You wanna you want to know how the F I got this job? I stopped off to get an eggplant Parmesan sandwich.

Depression Loss And Recalibration

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Love that story. Again, all the synchronicities, like it's like everything was leading you to your destiny. Those are such great examples of all that happening. And of course, of course, going into every person's life, we all have a lot of victories, but we also have challenges in our lives, right? So, and we call them the dark night of the soul, and usually that's something that triggers our research for our spirituality, our inner life, connecting with our inner life. Have you ever had any moments that you like to mention without going always into personal details about where you felt the need for recalibration, where you felt the need to connect with yourself, where things seemed to fall apart. And did you have a spiritual practice or or any inner work process that helped you get through that?

SPEAKER_00 30:48

The answer is yes. Um I, like every other human being on the planet, has had challenges. Um I've experienced depression. Um I have had to negotiate that. Um I have um been very grateful to have had um therapy and to have had good um good people in my life, a good support system. Um I have great empathy for people who experience depression. Um and let's see, yes, I mean there's been loss, loss of loved ones. I lost my brother last year, my younger brother. Um which um really does uh call for a recalibration, as you as you said. The upside to loss of a family member is that it really solidifies and amplifies the importance and preciousness of the existing family. So the result of my brother's death uh has been a profound strengthening of my relationship with my sister and her kids and her grandkids and with my daughters and my grandsons. I have three grandsons, I have two amazing daughters. So, as you know, I'm assuming without even knowing you well, that you can relate to what I'm talking about and that you have experienced loss. And it indeed shapes us, it reshapes us, it forms who we are. I have just turned 80 last month.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Thank you. And it's a big number. Uh I mean, chronologically 80 is depending on how you look at it. Um you don't want to get morose or morbid about it or negative about it. But um I'm at the end of the trail. Uh it's been an incredible journey. I don't think of it that way. I don't think that I am at the end of my journey. If I did, I'd it would depress me. I'm living with the same thought patterns. Well, no, that's not true. That's an exaggeration. But I'm living my life as if I am 30, 40. I'm not looking at the chronologically, I've got maybe 10, 15 years, because we know this time is gone in a nanosecond. It is going so fast, and I don't think it's imaginary. I really believe that there is an acceleration in time. Somehow I can't explain it, describe it, account for it. But the older I get, the faster time goes. I can't believe my daughters are 50 and 51. I can't believe my sister is 76. I can't believe that in 10 years, God willing, I'll be 90. I am thankful for good health. I'm unspeakably grateful for great health. I mean, that is my my wish for everybody that I meet. My wishes for people, my my top priorities are peace of mind and good health and love. Oh that's it. That's the package. If we have that, we're good to go. I mean, good to go, literally, and good to good to go from the planet.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

I absolutely loved how vulnerable you you shared in this moment. I had uh Didi Pfeiffer on my show a few seasons back, and she was talking to me about obviously overcoming and becoming sober over, you know, and overcoming addiction. And it was a beautiful, beautiful um, you know, testament of the will of the human spirit. And and yes, I do relate to you. I lost my dad this year, um, and it made me go closer with my cousins in Italy and with some family members, and there were like some stupid family dynamics. And then I'm like, does it all really matter at the end? You know, it doesn't really matter who called who and why we had a fight at the table. It's like you said, life is so precious. And the good news is today with technology, you know, people can live to 100. I mean, 90 for sure, and even to 100, 105. Um, you know, look at Lorman Lear, you know, he passed away at 101.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

So Dick Van Dyke.

Working Today And Staying Relevant

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Yeah, Dick Van Dyke, exactly. Betty White, she lived up to 99 and plus. So I think, like you said, if we have peace of mind, good health, and love, you know, we stand a pretty good chance. And yes, time does move fast. I've noticed it myself, and I'm in my 50s, and I noticed it, you know. And but you have a dog that loves you, and and and you are working on yourself. I love what you say in your signature and your email, which is cherished, treasure every moment. It is true. We do have to treasure every moment, and we all have our challenges, and you know, so thank you for being open because people think that we in Hollywood are all these perfect people, like getting into the red carpets and going on set and making movies, and everything is just handed to us. And yes, there is synchronicities like Eggblund Parmigan and and Blake Edwards coming on your show, but there is also a lot of struggle, and and you know, I wanted to with this one, I actually wanted to ask you because of course, direct, I mean actors today are having it harder than I feel, you know, in your time or in my time, in my early days, you know, there's so much competition and there's so much less avenues of getting work. You were very happy because you got very lucky too, again, with Yellowstone, I feel. Um is what excites you uh about today's television landscape? Because we don't have movies a whole lot, do we? You know, and how do you choose your roles as an actor right now compared to the earlier chapters um of your career?

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Well, it's much easier to choose now because there are far fewer choices.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

So um you say yes to everything that comes your way. Pretty much. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

I've been very fortunate. Um, most recently, um I was invited by my dear friend Noah Wiley to be a guest star on The Pit.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

Um and I am very excited, and it's going to air this Thursday, the 22nd, and then the following Thursday, the 29th. And I get to play this wonderful madcap character in an otherwise very graphic intense show. Uh and uh God bless Noah Wiley, who is one of the dearest people uh I know. Uh I there is nobody more gracious, more self-effacing, uh, more creative, more loving, more generous. Uh, but there are not enough uh adjectives to describe this wonderful person. Um and um I had a great time. I'm playing a character. I'm playing a character who cannot sit down because he broke his tailbone. So he's waiting for treatment. And as he's waiting for treatment, he's in a hospital gown, cruising the ER, flirting with all the nurses, and his hospital gown is open in the back.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

That sounds like you.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

So the world is gonna get a chance to see Nuri's Derrier. Um some people have said it's my best angle.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

There you go. So grateful for that. Um I have in the last couple of years um worked with Ryan Murphy on his shows, uh, most recently in one called All's Fair. And before that, um The Watcher. Um and then I had a wonderful time with Glenn Close playing her husband on damages. Uh, that's about oh my god, that's 20 years ago. See what I mean about time flying?

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Yeah, it's a time where 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Flash Dance is 40 years ago. Wow. Come on. Wow. That's really what am I gonna do with the rest of my life? That's the question. Answer to that is because as we know, it's very important to have a sense of purpose. Now, at my age, uh a major source of depression f as we get older is feeling irrelevant. And I think, especially for a man, uh a man has to feel relevant. You don't want to feel like a has been. It's very easy to do that in this business, especially. I mean, most guys my age are retired. They're golfing. I don't golf. Um, so I talked to my sister about this, having a sense of purpose. And I took a stab, I started to write a memoir, and she said, Why don't you let your memoir be your purpose and really get into it and totally uh commit yourself to it? So that's what I'm doing. I belong to a group of extraordinary individuals, men, including Brian Cranston, Lawrence Fishburn, Rob Morrow, Spencer Garrett, um Jason Alexander, Kevin Pollack. Um there are twelve of us, LeVar Burton. And we get together at least every other month. And at one of our gatherings, we just looked around the table and we said, the stories at this table. Come on, the stories that each each one of us had stories that could last the evening. Among the twelve of us, we should write a book and sell the book and have the proceeds go to our favorite charities. So Brian Cranston, who is a published author because he did his autobiography called My Life in Parts, um went to his publisher, pitched the idea, and came back to us and gave each one of us an assignment to write a memoir, which will be in a book in book form. So we have all done that, and the book is going to come out um December of this year.

Memoirs Legacy And Leaving A Stamp

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Wow. See, there was a reason, Michael, you and I had to be on this podcast show in this very moment in time. I told you at the beginning of our conversation, just as if I knew it, I said, your story should be a book. And it's like I almost pictured it. And it's interesting enough, I don't know about this latest news for anyone who hasn't been following my social media, but we've opened a publishing company. It's called Little Studio Films Publishing. And my book is two of my books are bestsellers. Well, the second one is interviews, some of my best guests on the Heart of Show business, and there will be an expanded edition. And you're certainly going to be in that one because, you know, in this one, I've had Blair Underwood and I have Didi and some people, but I couldn't fit all my 100 plus guests. So, you know, I am doing also a book version of that. But my mother, who you know and love, she also just wrote a book, which is a bestseller and it's being published through our company, not a memoir. It's called Machiavelli Princess, because you love Italy, and it's about the lover of Niccolò Machiavelli, and it's a thriller set in Renaissance, Italy. And so my mother also having the same dilemma, not dilemmas, but the same tool about having leaving a legacy that is not just movies and having a sense of purpose. She wrote the story, which was a movie script, by the way, back then and converted it into a book, which I'm gonna send you, by the way, so that you know she would love for you to have it. But she just did the same way. And I feel that you, not the older people, you the people who have had a rich life, let's define it. Because I'm I'm in my 50s, so I could be considered a senior in my way, but all of us who have had a rich and diverse life full of experiences, full of wonderful synchronicities and worldliness, we ought to leave a stamp or like a footprint in the world for the future generation with such stories. We live in this era where people feel they're creating stories by doing freaking social media content. Those are not stories, those are not experiences like the ones that you have had in your life, like working with Blake Edwards and Adrian Lyne, working through your depression and finding purpose and having this incredible men's group. So, yeah, I'm getting off my soapbox now, but this is this is so timely. And and I can't wait to see your book. You're gonna have to send us all the links because of course we will republish the episode when it's um when it's time. God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

Thank you.

Kindness As A North Star

SPEAKER_01 45:31

And I love it, I absolutely love it. And I have to say that you know, in closing, we are in an industry that is so obsessed with youth, speed, visibility, and your your path as a human and as an actor reminds me that death still matters, and um you the soul of an artist is not something that you age out of, it's something that you grow into. And I I thank you for reminding us that the heart of show business has very little to do with show and everything to do with heart, and you, Michael, my friend, yeah, you really, really embody that. So it's a perfect time. Everything happens at the perfect time, even you coming on my show right now. Um, in closing, how would you define Michael Nuri in three words? Just improvise it, actor studio style.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Kindness and do it in one word.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

I think that's it.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

Kindness, it all comes down to being kind. That's it. If I had a religion, my religion is kindness. Yeah, if I can if I can live every day at the end of the day saying, uh, what opportunities did I have today to be kind?

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yeah, and to be kind to ourselves as well.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

Amen. Thank you for yes, yeah, putting a fine point on it.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

I love that. Well, it's been so wonderful having you on my show. Um, anybody who loved this episode, please subscribe, rate, review, share it, share it with your friends. Michael, I'm truly blessed and honored to know you, but also I'm blessed and honored that you came into this new season eight of my podcast that I keep saying I'm gonna quit, but people like you show up and then I'm like, I can't quit. So there you go. Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

It's been my pleasure and an honor to be with you uh and to visit you. And I want you to give mom a big hug for me.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

I will.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

And congratulations on all of your successes on your two books. That is really admirable. I I respect that. Um, and I I've really enjoyed our time together today. Thank you so much for having me as your guest.

SPEAKER_01 48:00

Oh, thank you, Michael. And this is the heart of show business for everyone. Over and out. Are we gonna say yasu or ciao?

SPEAKER_00 48:09

Say yasu, kala kristuyana.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

Well, that's Merry Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 48:14

We're not gonna that's all the Greek I know. Sagapol More.

SPEAKER_01 48:17

Okay, it's still Christmas. It's Christmas every day. So, yes, ciao to everyone in the heart of show business. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of The Heart of Show Business. If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend. You can also subscribe, rate, and review the show on your favorite podcast player. If you have any questions or comments or feedback for us, you can reach me directly at theheartofshowbusiness.com.