Peter Berg

Pete, talk a little bit about that, like about being an actor who's auditioning for jobs, then an actor who's in demand, and then turning that into, or having the vision, talk about what it was that inspired you to become a director, etc.

So I think one of the light bulb moments for me that got me really starting to think about directing, which was something I'd always thought about, and I think Jason always had too, and it was something we used to talk about when we were working together. I remember on the set of Hancock in particular,

So I think one of the light bulb moments for me that got me really starting to think about directing, which was something I'd always thought about, and I think Jason always had too, and it was something we used to talk about when we were working together. I remember on the set of Hancock in particular,

So I think one of the light bulb moments for me that got me really starting to think about directing, which was something I'd always thought about, and I think Jason always had too, and it was something we used to talk about when we were working together. I remember on the set of Hancock in particular,

You talking about filmmaking and me kind of sensing that you were going to move in this direction. But for me, I was an actor on Chicago Hope, which was a pretty successful medical drama. And we went up against ER every Thursday night at 10 o'clock. And they beat us every Thursday night. But we were still getting, you know, 23 million people watching us, which we thought was just horrible.

You talking about filmmaking and me kind of sensing that you were going to move in this direction. But for me, I was an actor on Chicago Hope, which was a pretty successful medical drama. And we went up against ER every Thursday night at 10 o'clock. And they beat us every Thursday night. But we were still getting, you know, 23 million people watching us, which we thought was just horrible.

You talking about filmmaking and me kind of sensing that you were going to move in this direction. But for me, I was an actor on Chicago Hope, which was a pretty successful medical drama. And we went up against ER every Thursday night at 10 o'clock. And they beat us every Thursday night. But we were still getting, you know, 23 million people watching us, which we thought was just horrible.

because we were coming in second and that was horrible but in looking back on it obviously it wasn't but I was getting kind of famous as as this doctor Dr. Billy Cronk on Chicago Hope and you know thank you and you know when you back then in particular got TV famous you were pretty famous so wherever I went people were like hey Billy how you doing Billy how's Diane and

because we were coming in second and that was horrible but in looking back on it obviously it wasn't but I was getting kind of famous as as this doctor Dr. Billy Cronk on Chicago Hope and you know thank you and you know when you back then in particular got TV famous you were pretty famous so wherever I went people were like hey Billy how you doing Billy how's Diane and

because we were coming in second and that was horrible but in looking back on it obviously it wasn't but I was getting kind of famous as as this doctor Dr. Billy Cronk on Chicago Hope and you know thank you and you know when you back then in particular got TV famous you were pretty famous so wherever I went people were like hey Billy how you doing Billy how's Diane and

My wife on the show went, hey, Billy, how's the... And I'm like, okay, I'm not fucking Billy. My name's Pete. And at a certain point, I started sensing that if I wasn't careful, my legacy was going to be Dr. Billy Cronk, the TV doctor. And I was on a plane flying from LA to JFK, and I was sitting in my seat, and people were walking by me, and a man stopped, and he said, hey, Billy...

My wife on the show went, hey, Billy, how's the... And I'm like, okay, I'm not fucking Billy. My name's Pete. And at a certain point, I started sensing that if I wasn't careful, my legacy was going to be Dr. Billy Cronk, the TV doctor. And I was on a plane flying from LA to JFK, and I was sitting in my seat, and people were walking by me, and a man stopped, and he said, hey, Billy...

My wife on the show went, hey, Billy, how's the... And I'm like, okay, I'm not fucking Billy. My name's Pete. And at a certain point, I started sensing that if I wasn't careful, my legacy was going to be Dr. Billy Cronk, the TV doctor. And I was on a plane flying from LA to JFK, and I was sitting in my seat, and people were walking by me, and a man stopped, and he said, hey, Billy...

And I said, my name's not Billy. He goes, hey, Billy, my wife has this rash. What do you think? Show them the rash. And she pulled up her shirt and stuck her elbow, which had a really bad rash on it, in my face. And I'm just sitting there. staring at this rash, and they're smiling at me. And other people on the plane are all kind of like, hey, Billy, what do you think the rash is?

And I said, my name's not Billy. He goes, hey, Billy, my wife has this rash. What do you think? Show them the rash. And she pulled up her shirt and stuck her elbow, which had a really bad rash on it, in my face. And I'm just sitting there. staring at this rash, and they're smiling at me. And other people on the plane are all kind of like, hey, Billy, what do you think the rash is?

And I said, my name's not Billy. He goes, hey, Billy, my wife has this rash. What do you think? Show them the rash. And she pulled up her shirt and stuck her elbow, which had a really bad rash on it, in my face. And I'm just sitting there. staring at this rash, and they're smiling at me. And other people on the plane are all kind of like, hey, Billy, what do you think the rash is?

And I'm like, that's it. I'm not doing this anymore. And I started writing, and I wrote a movie, Very Bad Things, which was my first film. And that was something that once I got a taste of that and figured out that I could do it, I never really looked back. And I do love acting, but I was not going to be Billy Cronk for the rest of my career.

And I'm like, that's it. I'm not doing this anymore. And I started writing, and I wrote a movie, Very Bad Things, which was my first film. And that was something that once I got a taste of that and figured out that I could do it, I never really looked back. And I do love acting, but I was not going to be Billy Cronk for the rest of my career.

And I'm like, that's it. I'm not doing this anymore. And I started writing, and I wrote a movie, Very Bad Things, which was my first film. And that was something that once I got a taste of that and figured out that I could do it, I never really looked back. And I do love acting, but I was not going to be Billy Cronk for the rest of my career.

Like, how did you get over the fear of... Because you had a real career as an actor. So you've got to make a leap a little bit and go like...