Sam Brigger
speaker
1,127 appearances
24 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 6 Jun
Sam Brigger’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 8 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 2.
Appearances
He's in the new movie The Life of Chuck by director Mike Flanagan, who adapted the movie from a Stephen King story. You might be surprised to hear that the film is not a horror movie. Flanagan's best known for horror films, and Stephen King is, well, Stephen King.
If it is horror, the life of Chuck is of the existential kind, asking questions like, are the length of our lives predetermined by supernatural forces? Does fate control us? Are we actually the product of someone else's imagination? Mark Hamill plays Chuck's grandfather, Albie, a hard-drinking accountant, a kind man, but haunted by his secrets.
When you hear Mark Hamill's name, it's hard not to think of an epic story that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, as Hamill played one of the most iconic heroes in movie history, Luke Skywalker in the 1977 film Star Wars, a movie that changed Hollywood and the larger culture. Hamill was Luke in the original trilogy and reprised the role in the last trilogy that began in 2015.
Hamill's other big recurring role, one that he had for three decades, was as a villain. He was the Joker in Batman the Animated Series, part of his long career as a voice actor. He said he would stop doing the voice of the Joker, though, when the actor who played Batman, Kevin Conroy, died in 2022. This is not the first time Hamill has worked with the director of The Life of Chuck.
He also appeared in Mike Flanagan's Netflix horror series, The Fall of the House of Usher, as a lawyer and fixer named Arthur Pym. Let's start with a clip from The Life of Chuck. Here Albie is going over his grandson Chuck's math homework. Chuck lives with him since his parents died in a car accident. Chuck's good at math, but his passion is dancing, and Albie's about to give him some tough love.
You have art in you. That's a scene with Mark Hamill, our guest in the new movie, The Life of Chuck. Mark Hamill, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you, Sam. So you've worked with Mike Flanagan before. Did he come to you asking you to play this role? What did he tell you about it?
The movie itself might be indescribable, but one thing that is describable is the mustache you have in this movie, which is like a Wilford Brimley, soup-straining, walrus kind of mustache. So is that yours? Did you grow that thing?
But that's okay. We just listened to this clip, and what the listeners aren't seeing is how the speech is going over with the young Chuck, and his eyes are as big as saucers. I mean, it's a nice speech you're making, but you're basically kind of crushing his dreams. You're like, don't be a dancer, be an accountant.
Well, I was wondering, did you ever get that version of that speech when you were young and full of acting ambitions?
So you were doing research on the people.
Mark, I thought we would start this part of the conversation with a cameo you did on The Simpsons. You're appearing, I think it's a comic convention. You come out of a spaceship dressed like Luke Skywalker, and with a lightsaber, you knock over a bunch of cardboard cutouts of stormtroopers and also Wonder Woman for some reason. Let's hear the clip.
Well, let's use this as a segue to talk about being Luke Skywalker a little bit. I think when you auditioned for Star Wars, you came in and didn't know what you were auditioning for, and you auditioned both for Carrie and Star Wars at the same time. Is that true?
So, you know, I imagine as an actor that an important part of your job and something that helps you do your job is like the feedback you receive from other actors in the scene, like from their energy, from their expressions, like you probably work off of each other. But for you, some of your most famous dramatic moments. scenes in these Star Wars movies, you're acting opposite a puppet.
And even though it's Frank Oz, great puppet master, was that difficult? Was it difficult to stay in the moment when you're expressing yourself to Yoda, who is not a real person, of course?
Well, Mark Hamill, thank you so much for coming on Fresh Air. Of course. Actor Mark Hamill. He's in the new movie The Life of Chuck, which is adapted from a Stephen King story. Fresh Air Weekend is produced by Teresa Madden. Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer today is Charlie Kier.
Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly C.V. Nesbert. Our consulting video producer is Hope Wilson. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Sam Brigger.
You might be surprised to hear that a movie with Stephen King and Mike Flanagan's names attached to it is not a horror movie. Flanagan's best known for horror films... And Stephen King is, well, Stephen King. If it is horror, the life of Chuck is of the existential kind, asking questions like, are the length of our lives predetermined by supernatural forces? Does fate control us?
Are we actually the product of someone else's imagination? Mark Hamill plays Chuck's grandfather, Albie, a hard-drinking accountant, a kind man, but haunted by his secrets.
When you hear Mark Hamill's name, it's hard not to think of an epic story that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, as Hamill played one of the most iconic heroes in movie history, Luke Skywalker in the 1977 film Star Wars, a movie that changed Hollywood and the larger culture. Hamill was Luke in the original trilogy and reprised the role in the last trilogy that began in 2015.
Hamill's other big recurring role, one that he had for three decades, was as a villain. He was the Joker in Batman the Animated Series, part of his long career as a voice actor. He said he would stop doing the voice of the Joker, though, when the actor who played Batman, Kevin Conroy, died in 2022. This is not the first time Hamill has worked with the director of The Life of Chuck.
Showing 701–720 of 1,127 · page 36 of 57
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