0:50 Hi, this is Adrian Paul, and you're listening to Highlander Rewatched.
0:54 Hello and welcome to Highlander Rewatched, the podcast where each and every week we examine a different facet of the Highlander franchise in detail! I'm one of your re-Watchers. I'm Keith!
1:06 This is Kyle.
1:07 This is Eamon.
1:08 Keith: And I bet a lot of you might be new listeners this week, and you might have found our show because we have a very special guest, as is evidenced probably in the title of our episode! So, for all our new listeners out there, a little background on the show!
1:22 This show was born out of our love of all things Highlander. We all grew up watching the show, the movies, and we love the franchise. Recently we took it upon ourselves to revisit it, and kind of chronicle our journey with the series, and the movies, and all the expanded universe that Highlander provides. So, this podcast chronicles that journey, and each and every week, we take a look at a different facet of the Highlander franchise. So if you go back on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or wherever you get podcasts, you can see all our episodes for free on... Season One. We've actually done a SEVEN episode retrospective on the movie! I think it surprised us the most, of how much we had to say about the original Highlander film, which is of course near and dear to our hearts. So, if you haven't checked us out already, make sure to go back and listen to all our past episodes. We also have some really great interviews. We had the executive producer, showrunner, and head-writer, David Abromowitz, which many would call the kind of heart and soul of the Highlander series. We also had a great conversation with Amanda Wyss, who played Randi McFarland in the very first season of the Highlander series.
2:30 Kyle: And we've got a special treat here today because we are having a conversation with Adrian Paul, the Highlander himself!
2:37 Keith: Absolutely! Welcome to the show, Adrian!
2:39: ADRIAN: Good morning. Good afternoon, wherever you are.
2:42 Eamon: Yeah it's evening here in Philadelphia, and I guess it's afternoon where you are, Adrian. Is that right?
2:45 ADRIAN: Yeah, you're in Philly, huh?
2:46 Keith: Yup!
Eamon: Yeah, that's right!
2:48 Kyle: City of Brotherly Love!
Eamon: That's right.
Keith: Have you ever been to Philly, Adrian?
2:51 ADRIAN: Yeah, the land of meat and potatoes and cheese.
2:56 That's right! Yeah!
Eamon: In that order, or maybe in reverse order, I don't know.
3:01 ADRIAN: Yeah, it's possibly in that order, but I think meat and cheese have a very close combat there, actually.
3:08 Right. Right
Kyle: Philly loves its cured meats, and its stinky cheeses. Anyway, we like to kick off any interview with anyone we talk to by asking "Would YOU want to be immortal?"
3:20 ADRIAN: Ah, gosh. It's a tough question really, I mean, there's some great facets of it, I mean that's why Highlander gets watched; or the idea of it was watched so often, because you know everybody's trying to stay young. Whether it's beauty products or fitness or anything else. They want to keep their youth. And yeah, you know, it does cause other problems, liKeith: You see people die that you loved and you got no choice, but you're eventually going to outgrow them and die, so there's a bit of both, in a sense. I'm not sure whether I'm up for either, at the moment. I'm not...
3:50 Kyle: So, unsure even if you could pick when, and where you could live? Not sure if you'd be immortal?
3:58 ADRIAN: Even if you picked where and when you could live?
4:00 Yeah. If you could pick any time period and... you know, any age to be frozen in.
4:04 ADRIAN: Yeah. I think the issues are exactly the same. It doesn't matter whether it's the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, Especially since our idea of what those eras are, they're really romanticized. They're not really what they were like. So, you know, to be totally honest I think we're in a very good space in THIS day and age, compared to what you actually had in other eras. Because, you know, you had diseases and everything else.
4:26 Kyle: Yeah, I was thinking about that. Like, oh it would be great to live in ancient Rome, but penicillin and the Internet...!
4:33 ADRIAN: Yeah, well something--screw the Internet, forget that, I mean that's the *hahahahah* you know, it's not even about that. It's about just simple, you know, catch a cold and die.
4:42 Keith: Right.
Eamon: Right.
4:43 ADRIAN: A simple thing we don't necessarily even think of, today, you know. So, I think it's not things we really realize we think of.
4:54 Keith: That's a great point you bring up, though, that the human condition is always the same, and I think that is something that keeps people coming back to Highlander year after year, is that the stories you tell, whether in modern day or in the 1600s, 1800s, all are relatable, in some way, to what the human experience is, which I think it makes the show really important.
5:13 ADRIAN: Yeah, of course it does. I mean that's part of the issue. The issue that MacLeod went through all the time was the same loves and hatreds and bigotries, and opinions, etc. really haven't changed from decade to decade, or era to era. You're just dealing with a different set of rules and regulations.
5:30 Keith: So, Adrian! To tell you a little bit about our show: Currently we are actually pretty much mid-way through the Second Season of the series. Just to kind of give you an idea of the headspace we're in, or the place in the show. One thing we talk a lot about on our show is kind of the evolution of the Highlander Series itself, and your character. Can you give us maybe an insight into what the character was like when you first started on the series? And then how it gradually changed through the second season, third season, and maybe what your influence was over the character.
5:59 ADRIAN: That's a lot of talking I've got to do.
6:00 *hahahahahah* Well we can break it up into sections if you want!
6:04 ADRIAN: Well, you know when I first started, I got Highlander, it was a week before I started shooting. So, to have really decided who this man was, was a very quick process. All I could go off of was what the films had given me, and what the script was giving me, and any quick decisions I made of the information that I was given, much like a... a teacher of mine said "A good actor is a good detective. So you make as many informed decisions as you can." I think MacLeod started off as a bit of a... very... not opinionated, but was very idealistic in who he thought he was. And he became a detective for the first season, which I wasn't really keen on. I think it was always "Chase the bad Immortal of the week," which I think it the death of any show, because people are not tuning in to see how you catch somebody, or solve a crime, they're tuning in to see what the relationships are between the people that are doing it. That's why soap operas do so well. So, luckily as would have it, we really tried hard to put as much meat on the bones as we could as we went along. But then really, when David Abromowitz came in, the show really took a different turn and started to sort of delve into much deeper issues, which were the ones I thought were necessary to further a show that was so rich in so many different things. Whether it was history, romance, love, ideals, etc. There was so many things you could talk about and move it to, and still keep it interesting, not boring. And David really started writing those episodes that were character-driven much more, in a sense.
7:41 Kyle: So one thing that we kind of discussed as part of the balance in your character between being kind of stoic and serious versus being kind of playful or more sarcastic like some of what you'd see in the movies... what kind of drove those decisions? Is that something that you had to work through, either yourself or with the writers, in terms of finding Duncan MacLeod's voice?
8:04 ADRIAN: Well, you know the funny thing was I remember reading an article when the show first came out. It basically said that we were full of stereotypes, and the same-old-same-old type of stuff, and I always believed that: Yes, we have a serious subject matter, but we need to lighten it up a lot. And that again started with the writing, but it really had to come from a place of "Well, I think we should do this," and it really stemmed from the flashbacks. There we could really... I mean, MacLeod in the present was a guy that'd lived for over four hundred years. Then when he was younger (I say younger, because he was only a hundred years old) *hahahah* he was much more into "I want to live life! I want to have fun! I want to, you know, forget this Immortal thing. I want to--I've been given this gift! I'm going to love a lot of women! I'm going to drink a lot! I'm going to fight a lot! I'm going to do this type of stuff!" So, in certain times his persona changed slightly. And with that, it allowed us to open up the MacLeod world; or the Highlander world; into sort of... exploring different parts of that man's character as well as the Highlander universe, into making it perhaps a little lighter. I mean especially when we had characters on like Roger Daltrey, or Amanda, that were always trying to get MacLeod in trouble one way or another. MacLeod was a straight guy, and they came in and played the "What? I didn't do that," attitude. So, it was a mixture of several things, and it grew as the seasons went on.
9:30 Keith: You had mentioned that you got the part one week before shooting started. Is there a story behind the casting of that, or...
9:37 ADRIAN: I was the first guy they ever saw to cast the role. In Los Angeles definitely, and probably everywhere. I spent three months doing one interview and a screen test, and etc. etc. etc. The point came when I was like, this is gone. My agent actually said to me, two weeks after we'd done the screen test, "They're supposed to start shooting on Monday." This was on the Thursday, I think it was, or the Wednesday, I mean. He said, "At this point they've probably gone with the other guy." I said "Okay, fine." He went off on vacation--*snicker*--and uh, left his assistant in the room to carry on, and as luck would happen, on the Friday afternoon, I got a call--Friday morning, I got a call saying "Yeah, you got the role. You're going up to Vancouver tomorrow. And you start shooting Monday." And as luck would have it, the reason why I said it took a week is because Christophe Lambert hadn't been signed on yet and it was a last-minute thing that he actually decided to do the actual first episode of the series, so we got another week grace to actually have him on there, and I was able to do a little bit more character development and swordplay etc. So it was a bit of a process to start with.
10:46 Keith: So, you mentioned working with Christophe Lambert. Was it daunting to essentially take over a role that had been established by a previous actor? Was there ever backlash from fans, for that matter? Like you know: you're not MY Highlander, and you're the new guy, essentially.
11:00 ADRIAN: You know, the interesting thing was I've done that before in War of the Worlds when I took over somebody and I got--I did get that. I was not playing Connor MacLeod.
11:09 Right
11:09 ADRIAN: And that biggest luck that I had, because then everybody would look at me as being "oh, you're just the TV guy doing it, you're another guy, no Connor's better, he's this, he's that" Whatever it would be. I became... I WAS Connor MacLeod, before we actually started shooting. Until Chris came in, and then it was Duncan MacLeod. And we came through a couple of other names, that--Ian was one of them, and I don't know there was a couple of other ones, but "Duncan" seemed to be more manly. *hahahah* So, they basically just sort of made that name into the... and I was lucky about that, because I was dreading the fact... I'd seen the films. I knew they were very--I loved them. The first movie. I was thinking "Oh God, how's this going to go down?" and, as luck would have it, I didn't have to worry about that, because I became a different character which I could then develop on my own; to create somebody different.
12:02 Kyle: For the record: you are OUR Highlander.
12:04 Eamon: Yes, that's right!
12:04 Keith: Yes. Definitely. For all three of us, you're the guy we think of, so...
12:08 ADRIAN: Thank you. I did cut off Christophe Lambert's head, so...
*hahahahahah*
12:10 Keith: That's true! That helps, that really makes it final!
Eamon: You are literally the Highlander. I had a question. Um, Lambert's Highlander and your Highlander: They are kind of different in some ways. I know you have a background in Kung Fu, and you're a very physical guy, Taekwondo... I'm wondering, did those past endeavors of yours, and your interest in physicality and martial arts kind of help inform who Duncan MacLeod became?
12:39 ADRIAN: Yeah, absolutely. Any TV show would be dumb if they didn't go to the strengths of the actor they choose to go with the role. So, you know, at first... if you look at the first season, and even the beginning of the second, actually more the second season than anything; when they figured out I could do a lot of the sword-stuff and I could do a lot of the martial arts, more of that, →bugychoswans← actually because of budget restraints etc. we would get some six-day shows. I had a six-day show where I had thirteen action sequences to do!
13:08 Eamon: Oh my god.
Wow!
13:11 ADRIAN*badly distorted*"And since--low--sdjfalsjfme -This is getting ridiculous. This is becoming a second-rate B movie, and that's NOT what this show is about!" And luckily they kind of heard me. To me that's the mistake that Highlander the films made, is that they turned them into action sequences and explosions and everything else, and they didn't rely on the core of what it was really all about. I think that's why the series did so well, because it eventually got on to that line of thinking, and people really related to it all over the world. It wasn't just--it went into over ninety countries, around the world, and it was successful in many, many countries, because it was the type of show that touched different societies in different ways. And I think you just--I mean, yes the action one is translatable, but there was a lot of history, and a lot of love, a lot of--you know--a lot of relationship things that happen in every single society--
14:00 Keith: It's interesting you mention the different facets of Highlander. I know we've talked about this on OUR show, that, for ME, I started watching Highlander maybe when I was in third or fourth grade. And for me it was about the action sequences , a cool guy with a sword, trenchcoats... it was really cool. It was such a fun adventure show for me. But, as I grew up, and I watched it again in high school, and I'm watching it again NOW, in my early thirties, the things I like about the show have changed. Now I'm all about the cores of the characters, the philosophical arguments that are brought up in the show... Is there anything that has changed in YOUR relationship to Highlander over the years?
14:38 ADRIAN: Eh... you know, starting the show off, I was a fan of the shows so, you know, my idea of what the show was informed me, and changed as I went through it. Again, I want to mention the people that were involved in it: The David Abromowitzes of the world, the David Tynans... I mean all the writers and all the producers, and a lot of the people that worked on set, they were really pushed all the time, and it just kept evolving because they were allowed to evolve in a creative sense of the word. And I think that's really what made the show successful, and changed the show, and changed the way I looked at it. And yeah, it was different. It was very different to see a film that I'd admired as a young man, and then be the lead character in it, and, you know, sort of take over the mantle to a degree, at the time. So it was quite something for me to sort of look at and get my head around.
15:34 Keith: We had the opportunity to talk to David Abromowitz, and he spoke a lot about what it was like being on the other end of the camera for the early seasons, and the writing process and how hectic it was early on. As the star of the show, and someone in front of the camera, what was the experience like trying to launch this show with some of the insane scheduling demands that it sounds like it put on you? It sounds like it was a crazy ride trying to launch this show with all the different production companies involved, and the tight shooting schedule.
16:05 ADRIAN: Yeah, I mean listen, we had a saying. We either got six hours sleep and didn't have a life, or we had four hours sleep and then had a life. The schedule we had was... I mean, my schedule was very hectic, as was other people's, I mean. But for my degree, because I was the lead in the show, I was dealing with the edit, the choreography, at some point working on the next week's sword fight. I was working on the script I was shooting... you know, so it was extremely... I was six, seven days a week working on that show. And it was... I don't know if I could do it, now. It was such an all-consuming type of event. That's what it was. But I still am very--I do a lot of... I spend a lot of time working, now. Not quite as much as I used to.
16:54 Kyle: Obviously the action sequences are so detailed, and the sword fights really had some intricate movement, and you know, tried to look really authentic. How difficult was it, and how much lead time did you have to prepare for some of these action scenes? Especially when you had twelve to crank out in an episode?
17:11 ADRIAN: The best thing you can think of there is really it's about your opponent. Because you're really only as good as the person you're facing, and you're only as bad as the opponent you're facing, because of injuries and other things that could happen if you have somebody that's not as experienced, or somebody that is over-zealous in different aspects. So, it was a challenge every week to see who it was that was going to come in, and face you with a sword. I don't think there was one actor that ever didn't want to do his swordfight, or her swordfight. Not one.
17:42 Eamon: Wow!
17:42 ADRIAN: It was interesting. I mean, it was a challenge to see the different--I mean, I had different Sword Masters during the run of the show. I had three different Sword Masters, during the run. Different styles, different ideas, different concepts. And, when teaching the new guest stars, who were also very new, was again another challenge. So it was... I always loved sword-work. And I took to it very quickly, and you know, I love physicality. I've always been very, very physical, and so I've got no issue with picking it up and facing different people over it!
18:16 Kyle: So, you mentioned training with various different guest stars, and things like that. Who was your favorite guest star to work with on The Highlander? You have a lot to choose from!
18:23 ADRIAN: Wow! I--I probably... a couple of hundred people over the course of the series. There were a lot of very interesting people. There's either guest stars or recurring, because you know obviously we had people like Elizabeth Gracen and Jim Byrnes, and Stan Kirsch, ah, we had Peter Wingfield. There was the normal suspects that were there all the time. Then we had people coming in like Roland Gift, and Roger Daltry, and I mean some people... Today I actually just released an audio book so, I was talking about all the people that came in, what they were like, and I didn't really even think about it until recently, as to how MANY people that came in then went off to have very big careers afterwards. I'm not sure, about favorites... I mean, it's always fun to play with certain people, you know? And for the character that they were playing. There are memorable characters, so it's really hard to say did I have a favorite. I think I had some that I loved working with constantly, which was... I had a great time working with the people that were there all the time, and came in all the time, as--those I just mentioned. You know, I was pleasantly surprised that the people--the other guests who came in were equally as enjoyable to work with.
19:38 Keith: So you just mentioned your new audio book. We've seen some buzz on the Internet about it. Can you tell our listeners about the new audio book?
19:45 ADRIAN: Well, it's really about my... the first part of the audio book is about my early rise to becoming an actor. Leaving England, coming to America, the shows that I did. You know, all the different things that happened to me along the way, and then it goes into the Highlander portion of my career, where I talk about all the different people I worked with and the things that happened on-set. You know, just a bunch of stories that happened. So, it's about an hour and a half, just over an hour and a half. I think an hour and forty minutes. It's a two-disc set, and we're just about to set up the store, now. And the next... probably in the next day and a half, that we will be releasing it online.
20:32 Keith: That's fantastic! So, the people listening to this podcast: head on over to the Adrian Paul Official Facebook Page, and click on the "Shop Now" button, right at the top of the page, and that'll take you to the Adrian Paul official store, where you can pick up a copy of his brand new audio book, "My Immortal Journey" today! Make sure to check it out.
20:50 I wanted to ask you about your fan club. It must be... I don't know. For me, at least, it might be a kind of a shock to rise to stardom, in the way I think you did. I mean, you also were on TV before the age of the Internet, where, you know, there were Facebook pages and fan pages for all sorts of things like... people literally were--must have been writing you hundreds of letters! And you had your magazine... was it an interesting or odd transition to kind of get that sort of stardom and have that amazing fanbase that supported you through these years?
21:23 ADRIAN: Yeah. Really, I mean, the interesting thing was I had... I'd done other shows before Highlander, and I was getting fanmail from different areas. You know, I mean I did get them, so I wasn't... I'd gotten it, but to see what I... the amount that I actually did get at the end of it through Highlander was quite amazing. You know, see, it did really explode once Highlander took off. It was weird. I think the weirdest thing was going to different places like the Vatican or places like that, and get mobbed!
22:01 Wow!
22:02 ADRIAN: It was that... That was really the weird spot, because you're not expecting to be walking down the street and you... you can't! You can't walk down the street because everybody's trying to get your autograph, or trying to get your photo, that was bizarre... It was really great to have, and then it became an annoyance, and then... because you can't do anything at all, because you just can't. You can't walk down the street without being--people asking you for your autograph, or a photo. So I was... but then again, then when it lessens, you kind of go, "Oh. That's kind of changed now." So, I think you like it, you don't like it. People make such a big stink about it, but in reality it's a blessing that you actually have fans that'll follow you, and will spend so much time invested in what you're doing and how you're doing it.
22:59 Keith: Were there any specific fan interactions that stood out to you? That were particularly touching? Like, for me personally, I'll give a personal anecdote: When I was a young kid, I actually had long hair. I had a ponytail. And then I found this show, Highlander. And it was liKeith: Wait! The hero of this show has a ponytail? It was something as a kid, I was actually sometimes teased for being a boy that had long hair. But one reason I never cut it was because my hero on TV was Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, and he had a ponytail! And that was, you know, a very small way, of many of the ways the show impacted me, but it was something that kind of gave me strength when I was a kid. Were there any... really touching fan stories you heard? Or ways that you maybe impacted other people that you weren't aware?
23:44 ADRIAN: You know what I always get? I get this constantly, actually now, which I think is really touching to me is: I get a lot of people turn around to me and saying "You know, my father and I" or "My mother and I, we didn't see eye to eye, but when Highlander was on, we sat down, and we could sit down and we could meet and have a discussion about things, and it brought us closer together." And I think that, to me, was probably the most touching thing, and I hear it a lot. I hear about sons that didn't necessarily spend a lot of time with their fathers, but then when the show was on, they would hang out and talk about the episodes and the things that were happening on it. To me, that's... something that the show was able to bring. And I thought that, to me, was really something special.
24:26 Eamon: Yeah, I mean for me, I used to watch the show with my grandmother, who's passed some time now, but it... whenever I watch it... We do this podcast, and it brings me fond memories every week where I can think about when I watched this episode with my grandmother. Like, "Oh, that was nice!" It's a nice, warm feeling to have, every week, so...
24:45 ADRIAN: Yeah. I think one of the funniest ones I ever had, and this was a... this was when I was in Spain, when the show was on, I actually went to Spain on a... I can't remember what it was. I went to see some friends or something. And then, as I was in Spain, I visited this hair-dressing salon or something, it was in this old building. And this old lady... I came out of this place, and she was just about to take the steps up, and she looked at me and nearly had a heart attack. "Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my!" And she said in Spanish how much she loved it and how--"Oh my GOSH!" My friend was like, "Oh, that's so--" We helped her up with her bags and stuff. And she was just so sweet, and I was like "Oh my goodness! I just affected an eighty-year old woman!" *hahahahah* So, I thought that was really something really, really fun, that I really enjoyed.
25:33 Kyle: We've talked a bit about the shows, and the shooting on that. How was that different when you then transitioned to doing the Highlander movies that came after the show's run? Like Endgame and The Source.
25:44 ADRIAN: How did that transition into that?
25:47 Kyle: Yeah. What was the experience on your end? How is it different from working on the show, versus being part of the movies.
25:53 ADRIAN: Well, you know, [the] movies a totally different crew. So it wasn't the people I'd worked with from day-in, day-out. The idea of it, and it was a slightly bigger concept, of course... the weird thing about Highlander: Endgame, was by that point I had much more experience than Christopher did, in sword-work. I kind of became his... his reflection, in a sense. Because we wanted to sort of look at the two characters as, not only being different characters, but also having different ways that they fought, ways that they did things, so my style was much more flowing and Christophe's was much more of the Samurai-traditional way of fighting, so the funny thing was that Christophe was coming to me, asking me if it looked good once we finished a take. And I was like, "Wait a minute, the Highlander just asked me...!" You know--*hahahahah*--so, it was kind of a weird--that transition was strange. You know, it was a very odd thing when I was... when the whole thing happened and taking Christopher's head, well Connor's head. It was a... you know, losing a friend, losing a brother, and I always take things very personally when I do a character that, you know, it's... you can't not do that. You have to... So, it does touch you somehow. And especially when we went on to The Source, which was probably not one of my favorite movies, but.... You know, losing Jim Byrnes, I was losing a brother! I'd worked with Jim for a long, long time, so it was a hard thing to sort of see happen, when, you know, he did die! So it was, you know...
27:27 Keith: You mentioned obviously losing Connor, losing Jim Byrnes, were those... were you happy with the way those storylines progressed? If you had to do it differently, would you have written those stories a little differently?
27:38 ADRIAN: Highlander Endgame, I didn't mind. I thought it was not a bad movie. You know, it was... the concept of it was pretty good. I think some of the things in them could've been adjusted, slightly. I think the brothership-relationship between Connor and Duncan was pretty clear, and it was a lot of fun, we did establish a lot of that. In The Source, unfortunately, I think the issue was the script. And the way the script was developed. Because it wasn't really ready to shoot when we started shooting it, so I don't think we had a clear idea as to what the endgame was in The Source. In other words, what was the final result, and what was the special effects considerations put together. Like I said before, I think it wasn't dealing with the issues that Highlander would normally deal with, and dealt with a lot of extraneous issues that then came to... the journey wasn't bad getting there, but then the end result wasn't clear.
28:38 Kyle: So, do you have any Highlander stories that you WISH you had the opportunity to tell, that you didn't get the opportunity to?
28:42 ADRIAN: A couple of people have asked me that, before. It's kind of a weird thing, really, in a sense because, you know, you've got the Highlander stories. I went from Japan, to Korea--sorry, Cambodia, to Paris, to Italy, to London, to the Northwest, I mean I was everywhere. I'm sure there WOULD be stories that I think would be interesting to take on; you know, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, we did some of those stories, and I'm sure there are many more that we could've tackled. But I think we did a lot of them, so, until somebody says "How about this one?" and I could say "Oh, that's a great idea!"
29:21 Keith: There are a lot of amazing stories Highlander gets to tell, and part of the reason we started this podcast was because we wanted to share our experience with those stories with other people. I know I've shared this experience with my family; girlfriends; other friends... Are there any kind of shows, movies, things from your youth you can't wait to share with, let's say, your kids? Those sort of things that have impacted YOUR life?
29:44 ADRIAN: With my kids? Yeah my kid's into--my son's into swords. *hahahahah* I don't know where he got that from.
29:52 Eamon: Yeah, really!
29:54 ADRIAN: Soccer, to me was--we call it football in England--that was always something I would have loved to have my kids, and he does, he loves that too, so, I think the stories that... I'm already sort of giving them ideas. I don't think I would try to steer any of my kids, either of my kids, to follow a path that was my path. In other words, I don't think it's fair to sort of say to your kids "You should do this," or "let's go and do your--" I think every kid is different. And every kid happens to have a want and a desire to do a certain thing. If they don't like it, they're not going to do it. It doesn't matter how much you press them into doing it, and how much you want them to do it. They're not going to eventually be good at it, because they're not really interested in it. Even though they might show that they're interested, kids are not as dumb as people make out them to be. They shouldn't be seen and not heard. Kids should be listened to. Sir Roger Moore said that to me when he was on my radio show. He said, you know, years ago that was the case, but today it's not. Kids, you know, have a mind of their own, even at a very young age. And so, listening to what their desires are, is one of the things I think you should be very clear about as a parent.
31:13 Fighting Immortals will give you a Mac-attack-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak, you oughta know by now... 🎶You oughta know by now... 🎶
31:20 Kyle: We have a little segment we like to do after each episode, we call Mac-Attack. Which is where we talk about the lessons we learned from you in the various different episodes. So, I know you've got The Sword Experience coming up, where you do a sword-training seminar with people. What's the lesson that people can learn from you by doing The Sword Experience?
31:43 ADRIAN: Respect. Respect your opponent, and respect your weapon. Because your weapon's going to do one of two things: It's either going to save your life, even if it's wood, it'll save your life, OR it'll make you a lot of money if you become an actor. *hahahahahahah* So, respect that portion of it, is why I teach, and the other thing is respect your opponent. And the opponent comes to the fact of--you know you work with a lot of people in your daily life. You work with--you face other people in your daily life so, respecting that person and understanding who they are, whether they have experience or not--this comes down to The Sword Experience as well--you can take that into your everyday life, because it allows you to work with different people and understand how different people work differently, and how you have to adjust, given those factors. So I think that's really what The Sword Experience gives people, as well as it being a lot of fun! You know, we film things for people, we take their photos, we give them a set to be on, like they're on a movie set. So, it's a fun day of doing stuff, as well as learning the difference between the real fighting and the movie-fighting. You get taught some techniques, you get taught small different things, but it's a fun day for people to sort of spend rather than sitting in front of the TV.
33:03 Keith: So, for some of our listeners that might not know: The Sword Experience is essentially a class/workshop/interactive experience with Adrian Paul, where you get to learn a lot of these sword techniques. Can you tell us about some of the upcoming dates and exactly what people can expect from these events?
33:18 ADRIAN: Yeah. I've got one coming up in London on June... I want to say 19th. It's at Cressing Temple, which is like an old medieval barn, where we're going to be doing some really fun... I'd say English-style fighting. Then I've got one in Stuttgart, Germany. It's actually Ludwigsburg, in Germany, where it's a music hall, so it's a more turn-of-the-century type of venue, so we'll be addressing that fight for there. And then I have Pensacola coming up in August, which is going to be at [the] Museum of Commerce, in Pensacola, which is all 1920s, 30s artifacts. We'll be doing it in that space. We're just about to launch Manchester New Hampshire, which is just outside of Boston, and that one... we might have something kind of fun with that one. We're not quite... we're about to launch that actually today or tomorrow. And then we have another one in Los Angeles, maybe Denver. And I'm also doing the Wizard World Cruise at the end of the year. We're just going to the Bahamas, so I'm discussing with them whether we're actually going to be taking The Sword Experience onboard a ship.
34:33 Keith: Oh wow! That's amazing! And so each of these experiences are completely unique, right? None of these are the same, right?
34:39 ADRIAN: Well, none of them are the same, and that's the fun part of it is you can go to one, and learn one choreography, and be in one place; and you go somewhere else, it's totally different. You meet a bunch of different people, you're in different choreography, it's a different temperature, different weather, different background. You got to learn something different all the time.
34:58 Keith: Awesome! And how do people find out more about this and buy tickets?
35:02 ADRIAN: At www.theswordexperience.com. It's pretty simple. *hahahah*
35:05 Kyle: So you mentioned earlier your radio program, can you tell our listeners more about that, if they want to follow you?
35:13 ADRIAN: Yeah, I have a radio show that I've had for about three and a half years, and it's called Peace Fund Radio. And you can find it anywhere if you call it Peace Fund Radio, you look it up. We talk about a lot of things to do with kids. My charity, the Peace Fund, which stands for Protect Educate Aid Children Everywhere, has been going for about eighteen years now, we've dealt with a lot of different issues. And we bring in different celebrities, and different organizations, that talk about what they're doing in different parts of the world, and how we can address it, and how we deal with educational problems, and how we talk to the issue of autism, or homelessness, or medical aid for kids, or kids in hospitals, or whatever that is. And we have a bunch of different celebrities that come on and it's been a very successful show so far, because... well, we're still going. So, you know, it's a show that really is informative, to let people figure out what's going on in the world and some of the things that might matter to them, especially we have "Kid Heroes of the Week" as well. Who are youngsters who have done something extraordinary with their lives. Even though they might be eight or nine or ten years old. So, we sort of talk about them. We talk about how to do it. And then we put organizations together. From that show we've put different organizations together to help them fulfil some sort of mandate that they might have. Or work with El Salvador. We've done... we've put organizations together for a book drive, and computer drive, as well as a Luci Lights, which is a light that actually will illuminate a lot of the home, that we're going to put into El Salvador. We dealt with computers that we were putting into schools in Los Angeles, and we now have a book drive that we're doing. And all of this is sort of hand-in-hand with Peace Fund Radio.
37:13 Kyle: And how could people contribute if they want to be a part of that?
37:15 ADRIAN: Well the Peace Fund has many outlets at the moment. We're just about to launch our new site, and we are thepeacefund.org is the website to it. But we really have organizations in--well, people in different places that are fundraising, that are coming up with ideas of how to help. How can we put different organizations together. You know, we have a whole new section where we--which I launched a while back--and we lost our Webmaster, unfortunately, so we were unable to bring--let the site run. But it was called Celebs For Kids, where I had celebrities from different walks of life do a Peace sign, and people could download that for a donation. And that's about to be re-launched as well. So, there's a couple of different ways that you can help, and there'll be fun ways. Because I think there are a lot of fun things that make sense for people. We had a Peace Fund poker event that we've run for two years in a row, that did very, very well. We had a paintball event that we did. So, we do things that, they're a little bit different. I mean, poker sounds normal, but we have a slightly different format on that, so I believe that people want to help, but they also want to have fun doing it, as well. Because it's a much better way to actually do it while you're having fun as well, and you're helping other people at the same time.
38:33 Kyle: What is your special poker-format at the Peace Fund?
38:36 ADRIAN: Well, we incorporate online as well. We allow people to help the players on the table, online. And you can see it when you go to thepeacefund.org, you'll see the format. We're about to re-announce in another two or three weeks, probably around a month, we'll re-announce the new format. The new site will go up, and last year we had about... oh, I would say about forty celebrities, thirty-five to forty celebrities turn up at that event. We had a hundred and eighty people turn up. This year will be a slightly smaller, higher buy-in, with higher level celebrities and we're trying to figure out which cause we're going to be focusing on this year. We've done... we built two wells in Niger, West Africa from the Peace Fund Poker. We helped a young kid. We helped some kids in Haiti through our last one... Each one has a focus, because I think you really want to know what you're playing for. And so, we really are looking to do that. It should be launched in another three of four weeks.
39:44 Keith: That's amazing. What drew you to charity work? I think it's really incredible that, for all of us, I think, you know you played a hero on TV for so many years, but now you get to actually in real life be a hero to a lot of people in need. What drew you to charity?
40:00 ADRIAN: You know, I think we all have a walk in life. I always truly believed my walk in life was to... I had something in the back of my head. Way back, way back, that I was going to be doing a lot of travelling, that I was going to help kids, and I was going to meet a lot of pretty girls. *hahahah* I did two of those, and then I went on to the third: which was helping people, so I was able to fulfil that through the Peace Fund, because I saw the excitement kids had, meeting a celebrity. And in our day, even back then there were so many challenges that kids have to face, even more so now, that being able to have somebody that they admire spend time and effort to think or listen to their cause or their problems, really does change a kid's life, and can change a lot of things down the road. That's what kind of drew me to do it, because I believe that in this life fame means absolutely nothing. Fame's great, it's fabulous, but it can even... it can fade in twenty, thirty years. The kids of today don't even know who Duncan MacLeod was, or who the Beatles were. Or who The Who are. They don't know it, because they live in a different world. But what we did, twenty or thirty years ago, to affect community or affect a family, or affect some kid's life, has a very long-term affect. So, your legacy are the things that you do, not who you are, in a sense.
41:28 Eamon: So, you mentioned some of your goals. One of them was to meet beautiful women. So you do have a huge female fan following. I know my grandmother was a big fan.
41:41 Kyle: My mother as well! She used to--
41:42 Keith: Yeah, absolutely! *hahahah*
41:45 Eamon: Was that a weird experience, or was it... you know, did you feel like "Oh, my goal was met!"
41:52 ADRIAN: It's never met! It's that--*Hahahahahah!* It's never met. I mean, you know. Let's see, is it weird for women to love you? Uh... no, it's great! Um, you know, it's a fabulous feeling. Everybody wants to be loved and admired. I don't think there's a man alive that doesn't say that. Yeah, so... to be admired. Anybody alive--a woman--to be admired is a fantastic feeling. But obviously sometimes it goes too far. And it might not be the people that you WANT to admire you. A few go overboard. But you know, that's the price you pay.
42:47 Keith: Well Adrian, we do want to thank you so much for joining us! This was such a treat for all of us, and I'm sure our listeners, to hear some of these amazing stories. Is there anywhere... where can people find you online to follow you and connect with you?
42:39 ADRIAN: Well, I'm on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, @adrianpaul1 is my Twitter, and then Adrian Paul is my Facebook and Instagram. I think my Instagram is Adrian Paul. I can't remember. Unless it's Adrian Paul Fanpage. I think it might be Adrian Paul. I can't remember. One of the two.
42:54 Keith: Awesome. And yeah, we want to remind all of our listeners to definitely check out thepeacefund.org and definitely listen to the Peace Fund Radio Show. Our podcast is available, you know, on iTunes and Stitcher. You can also find the Peace Fund Radio Show. I listened to it every week, I've enjoyed a lot of the interviews. I loved the Heroes of the Week. It's an amazing segment, and it's really great that you highlight that segment of the population that's doing such great work, and shows such promise for the future. And of course, go to www.theswordexperience.com to sign up for the many, many experiences coming up in London, Stuttgart, Pensacola, and in New Hampshire, L.A., Denver, and some more stuff coming down the road, which is really great!
43:32 Kyle: And you never know, you could ride on a boat with Duncan MacLeod! *hahahah*
43:36 ADRIAN: That is true. Yeah. Hahahah.
43:38 Kyle: Are there any final stories that you want to leave your listeners with? Was there one crazy experience that stands out to you when filming the show?
43:44 ADRIAN: When FILMING the show... you know, I mean, there are so many little stories, and I eventually will bring out a book that will really delve into all the behind-the-scenes stuff of Highlander. I think one of the funny stories--I mean, this is a fan story more than anything else--was when I was in Paris. And as I said to you before, I was very recognizable in a lot of places, especially since I had long hair, and I'd walk down the street, and people would kind of run past me, as if I didn't see them running past me, and then stop and turn to see whether or not it was actually me walking down the road. And so these two guys did it, and then they walked on past me, and they walked way up, and I'm talking--I can't remember who I was with--I'm talking and I've walked another two hundred yards, and I get to the corner light, about to cross the street; one of them's on his knees on the floor, the other one's got his arm raised, an imaginary sword in his hand, chopped off the guy's head and does a Quickening in the middle of the Champs-Elysees.
44:40 Hahahahahahahah!
44:41 My God! That's amazing!
44:43 ADRIAN: I was, ah, to say that...taken aback. And that was just one of them that I've done, so that was kind of a fun memory for me.
44::53 Kyle: I know what we're doing after we wrap here!
44:57 Keith: Uh, well thank you again, Adrian, and also, we should also plug the book! Of course when this comes out, make sure to go on... do you have a website, Adrian, for the audio book?
45:06 ADRIAN: Yeah, it'll be under store-theswordexperience-com.3dcartstores.com All the stuff, there'll be other stuff on there as well, like the The Sword Experience t-shirts, the audio-book, there'll be photos, there'll be stuff coming out on that. So, um, we're launching that in the next two days.
45:20 Keith: Awesome. Well, thank you again! Everyone, make sure to check out all the stuff that Adrian is up to these days. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and definitely buy the audio book. I know we are going to definitely buy it, and just to let you know, Adrian, you mentioned having a legacy, and having an impact on other people. You've definitely had an impact on US, and I think all our listeners, and you've left a great legacy to all of us, with Highlander and all of the amazing charity work you do. You've touched so many people. So we appreciate that.
45:44 ADRIAN: Thank you. Well, thank you for having me on, gentlemen, and keep the flag up.
45:49 Keith: Right!
45:50 Eamon: Thank you so much!
45:51 Keith: Thanks, Adrian!
45:52 ADRIAN: Take care.
45:53 🎶 Princes of the Universe! 🎶
45:57: Keith: Thanks again to everybody for joining us out there, for our sitdown with the Highlander himself, Adrian Paul! If you're new to this show, make sure to head on over and subscribe on our Facebook page, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get podcasts! And join us next week for another installment of Highlander Rewatched! We've been your rewatchers, Keith, Kyle and Eamon, and there can be only one! See you next week!
46:28 Hello?
Hello?
46:29 ADRIAN: Yup.
OPE! Sorry about that!
Keith: We thought we'd lost you for one second, there.
Kyle: Yeah.
46:33 ADRIAN: No, I'm still here.
Okay!
*hahahahahah*