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The Viall Files

E1111 - Paul Walter Hauser – Balls Up!

17 Apr 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main theme of Paul Walter Hauser's new movie, Balls Up?

13.413 - 14.516 Nick Viall

Paul, welcome to the show, man.

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14.596 - 16.862 Paul Walter Hauser

It's good to be here. Am I pronouncing this right? Vile Files?

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16.942 - 18.887 Unknown

Vile Files, that's it.

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19.028 - 20.672 Nick Viall

Most people get it wrong. I get it wrong.

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20.692 - 30.459 Paul Walter Hauser

If it were Veal Files, it doesn't have the same ring. Yeah, it doesn't roll off the tongue. You need something that rhymes with Veal. The real veal. The real veal. The real veal.

31.04 - 34.604 Nick Viall

Oh, we're very excited to have you, Paul. I'm a huge fan of yours.

34.664 - 35.425 Paul Walter Hauser

Oh, thanks, man.

35.445 - 38.849 Nick Viall

So I hope that's okay to say. Sometimes it feels weird when you kind of out yourself.

39.33 - 47.86 Paul Walter Hauser

Kind of indifferent. It's nice to hear that from people, but I also try not to place my value on that. That's tricky in this industry.

Chapter 2: How does Paul Walter Hauser balance his faith and acting career?

217.862 - 218.683 Nick Viall

Okay, yeah, yeah.

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218.703 - 223.189 Paul Walter Hauser

And I did like 24 out of 40 episodes. And that was like, oh, I got to quit my...

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223.169 - 245.076 Paul Walter Hauser

waitering job like i quit my day job in 2015 for that and that was like a big like oh this is like real and then itania was the first time i was a part of something that was more um in the public consciousness and and kind of on a microscope level where people went oh we're actually everyone's gonna see this movie you know itania got me in the door for hollywood

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245.056 - 259.003 Paul Walter Hauser

I think Richard Jewell is where they shut the door and locked it and said, you can stay. And then Blackbird was like, hey, we have this whole other part of the house. Do you want to come to that? And it was like, that's fun. You know, you hope to get to take the tour along your career.

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259.243 - 272.887 Nick Viall

Like at what point, because I'm assuming you get like, you know, every actor, you get smaller roles and you get bigger roles. Like, I saw an interview with you, and you were just kind of talking about, maybe it was the YouTube video you did with your wife, which was really touching.

272.927 - 279.237 Paul Walter Hauser

Oh, yeah, where we talked about our marriage. It's like a video ministry thing called I Am Second.

279.257 - 292.258 Nick Viall

It's on YouTube. Yeah, but you were just kind of talking about how you saw yourself versus how you got into acting compared to your other siblings and kind of being the funny guy. At what point did you kind of see yourself as like,

292.238 - 307.879 Nick Viall

I could be like a leading person in a movie or I could be like the main, you know, the, the, the key person, because at first, you know, you're kind of doing like these character actor work and you're kind of dominating the scenes that you're in to be like, you know, doing a movie with Mark Wahlberg and being like the two main characters like in balls.

307.899 - 321.537 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah. Yeah. No, that it's interesting. I remember growing up, like certain movies I watched, certain people stuck with me, even though they weren't like the lead role. And one of those people I would go on to work with briefly. I didn't have any scenes of there, but yeah,

Chapter 3: What insights does Paul share about fatherhood and parenting?

556.584 - 560.208 Paul Walter Hauser

He could do it for about $1,000. Talking about the hit on Nancy Kerrigan.

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560.228 - 560.329 Unknown

Yeah.

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560.589 - 577.68 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah. And I thought, wouldn't it be funny if he said I shouldn't even be saying his name? Derek. Because it's like, who would be suspicious if you just say the first name? So it's like a little joke I threw in on take two or three. And they were like, oh, keep that. We like that. And that was cool.

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577.8 - 584.654 Nick Viall

I felt connected when I watched that movie. I was on Dancing with the Stars with Nancy Kerrigan. I got to meet her. We got eliminated the same week.

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584.674 - 589.145 Paul Walter Hauser

Well, I was about to ask how did it go? It sounds like it might not have went how you wanted it to.

589.245 - 597.506 Nick Viall

It wasn't the worst thing that happened to her. I don't know. She was the Olympic season. I made it like to the quarterfinal. I was like top five.

597.526 - 599.13 Paul Walter Hauser

Was it Nancy Kerrigan or Tanya Harding?

599.11 - 599.791 Nick Viall

Nancy Kerrigan.

599.931 - 601.152 Paul Walter Hauser

Okay, they both did it.

Chapter 4: How did Paul Walter Hauser's early career shape his acting journey?

759.952 - 778.351 Nick Viall

The best part is, we are always on the go. We're traveling. No matter where we are, 1-800-Flowers is there to brighten up my wife's day, even sometimes when we're staying in a hotel. I just have to call 1-800-Flowers. They will find the best florist in the area for the people you love. Mother's Day is Sunday, May 10th, and bouquets are selling out fast.

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778.451 - 791.91 Nick Viall

Trust me, don't wait to claim your double roses offering before they're gone. Visit 1-800-Flowers.com slash V-I-A-L-L. That is 1-800-Flowers.com slash V-I-A-L-L. One more time, that's 1-800-Flowers.com slash V-I-A-L-L.

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792.532 - 797.158 Paul Walter Hauser

So your initial rise to stardom came with The Bachelor?

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797.278 - 798.58 Nick Viall

Yeah, it was on Raleigh TV.

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799.061 - 802.906 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah, my buddy Elon, E-L-A-N. Elon Gale. Yeah.

802.926 - 804.288 Nick Viall

Close friend. Close friend of ours.

804.468 - 813.38 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah, I love him to death. I just made his acquaintance recently, but his big start was The Bachelor, and now he's killing it in film and reality.

813.4 - 815.923 Nick Viall

Yeah, we're doing some work together. He changed my life.

815.903 - 820.469 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah, I like that guy a lot. He's someone I just want to be around. He's so funny.

Chapter 5: What challenges did Paul face in his breakthrough roles?

930.957 - 934.824 Unknown

This is nuts. No pun intended. Multiple.

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934.884 - 950.552 Nick Viall

Yeah, multiple things. Because at first you're watching and you're like, what am I watching at first? And you see Molly Shannon. But then the premise is so like... It's a comedy playground. I was saying to Natalie when we were watching the movie, they're like, if this actually happened in real life where a guy...

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950.532 - 978.497 Paul Walter Hauser

stopped a goal from like a world cup like this would be one of the most insane like it's an insane premise but it's based off of like what if this actually happened it's based off the the reaction of unhealthy tribalism and i don't think that's really that out of the orbit i remember in the late 90s early 2000s you would hear stories about kids who like brought a switchblade to school threatening some other kid for their beanie baby pokemon card and it's like yeah

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978.477 - 1008.484 Paul Walter Hauser

that's just that's evocative of the psychotic nature of fandom and so that part isn't so crazy the crazy part is of course you know there's an alligator and there's they're getting shot at on a boat and that stuff and the like condom that's covering the balls too it's like I mean I didn't expect that either you know like why haven't you why hasn't anyone thought of it it was like the through line yeah multiple people came up to me they're like that seems like a good product I'm like

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1008.464 - 1017.918 Paul Walter Hauser

Maybe. I don't know. I literally, I lost my virginity to my wife. I like waited. So I'm not a condom guy in general. I don't really know much about them.

1017.938 - 1019.28 Unknown

Speaking of, how many kids do you have?

1019.421 - 1019.741 Paul Walter Hauser

Three.

1019.801 - 1020.302 Unknown

Three.

1020.562 - 1027.593 Paul Walter Hauser

Two boys. Two boys. And then the youngest is our eight-month-old baby girl. And they are a whole bunch of fun. Is this your first?

Chapter 6: How does Paul Walter Hauser approach improvisation in comedy and drama?

1147.025 - 1149.61 Nick Viall

It does. It does ground me in a great way.

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1149.708 - 1172.791 Paul Walter Hauser

I think it helped me reprioritize in a way, which a good relationship or children will do. It also makes you have a better fortitude for things. Things that you thought were hard really aren't hard in comparison. But I think, too, it's really, I don't know, I think it makes you a better person in general, maybe.

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1172.911 - 1174.653 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah, I hope I answered that correctly.

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1174.974 - 1186.81 Unknown

I'm teaching our two-year-old to go, pretty please, to her dad. I'm like, use your eyes. And so she'll be like this, pretty please.

1187.15 - 1202.631 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah, you can weaponize them or make them part of the Peace Corps. It depends. It's funny, though, the things they pick up on, too. Sometimes the thing you're most perturbed by is a character trait that you yourself inhabit that they're somehow sponging.

1202.611 - 1206.418 Unknown

You see it in them and you're like, oh, that's me.

1206.438 - 1210.365 Paul Walter Hauser

I'm like, oh, my poor parents. I probably didn't give them enough credit, obviously.

1210.725 - 1226.273 Nick Viall

It's the insurance commercial that really hits for me. Are you growing up to be like your parents? And as I get older, I feel it in my bones. I'll do something and I'm like, oh, fuck, I'm my dad. I used to never think I was like my parents.

Chapter 7: What lessons does Paul share about maintaining relationships in the entertainment industry?

1360.443 - 1383.198 Paul Walter Hauser

My wife and I were able to laugh about the pain. We're able to laugh in the pain. We're able to make things fun. And I just think you can't stop dating your spouse. You've got to keep finding ways to make it fun or interesting or just convivial in some way. Yeah. Because I see a lot of marriages and my own went south, you know, vastly because of my behavior.

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1383.558 - 1403.19 Paul Walter Hauser

And I corrected that and got sober, but yeah, But I just see a lot of marriages that go south, and I really think there's a lack of effort. It's called the pursuit of happiness because the root word is not happy. It's pursuit. You have to pursue each other, I think.

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1403.305 - 1419.973 Nick Viall

Yeah. And it's always encouraging to, you know, I said, I watched that YouTube video and, you know, people are often afraid to kind of talk about the dark times or sad times. And it's very inspiring when someone like yourself and your wife kind of are open about that because you guys seem like you're in a great place now.

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1420.053 - 1435.214 Nick Viall

And that's, you know, it's not always easy to get through those moments and get to the other side. And I think nowadays in this day and age, I feel like couples date, they hit a wall and then they end, that is end things, you know, and they don't know how to kind of work through some of those issues.

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1435.615 - 1457.157 Paul Walter Hauser

So what I'm about to say, a lot of people in the manosphere would take offense to it and think that it's me being feminist. It's actually just me being honest. And some people can't handle honesty. Honesty to them is a differentiation from their ideology and thus they feel the need to lambast verbally and punish via keyboard anybody who doesn't align with them.

1457.356 - 1482.651 Paul Walter Hauser

But the reality is such, the vast majority of the problems in the world are because men, and especially wealthy men, don't take responsibility or accountability for their actions. Give me 10 minutes to Google, I'll find you 7,000 answers for what I'm talking about. So the same way that if someone says something untrue about me, I will violently hit back.

1483.111 - 1491.058 Paul Walter Hauser

You'll never see, if someone were to accuse me of something I didn't do, you will never see me put out a statement where it's like,

1491.038 - 1513.958 Paul Walter Hauser

an attorney proofread it or something yeah it will be me being that bitch as they say to whomever is slandering me because that's welcome to the real world that's how i respond i'm not an actor i'm not a entrepreneur i'm a person if you say something that's not true i'm going to be offended if you say something that's true i need to take accountability for it

1513.938 - 1531.885 Paul Walter Hauser

And just the same way that I'm quick to fight back. If it's untrue, I will be the first to sit down and, and swallow whatever chewed up food I put out there and, and, and be the first to say, yeah, I screwed up. Let's talk about it. I think that's hugely important.

Chapter 8: How does Paul envision his future in directing and producing?

1608.055 - 1630.328 Paul Walter Hauser

We met and went on our first date July 19th, I think, of 2021. No, 2019, July of 2019. Then we reconnected during COVID when we both, our jobs stopped and we were both in LA at the same time. And it was, and we didn't forget about each other. It was just, we're busy with other things and suddenly no one was busy with anything.

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1630.308 - 1632.691 Nick Viall

That's kind of right around when we met.

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1632.731 - 1657.765 Paul Walter Hauser

Yeah, it was, I think, you know, for the many problems I have with the COVID fallout, among them transparency, which I don't think there was, and that's not a partisan issue. I think it's pretty bipartisan to say we were not told the entirety of that story. I do, I am grateful for the fact that it made me pause and forced me to fall in love, which I was so career obsessed at the time.

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1657.825 - 1664.855 Paul Walter Hauser

I don't know if I would have seen what was in front of me. The gift that my wife Amy is and was had it not been for COVID shutdown.

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1665.015 - 1679.016 Nick Viall

How does she kind of keep you grounded as your star continues to rise? And I feel like this is really the only beginning of your career. How does she keep you centered and keep you grounded so you don't like kind of lose yourself in this kind of crazy city that is Hollywood?

1679.257 - 1703.532 Paul Walter Hauser

She's the perfect person for me. Because she both appreciates what I do for a living and will celebrate it with me. And has even been a part of it. She worked for a record label at one point. She worked for a production company and was an associate producer on a movie with Dennis Quaid and Queen Latifah called The Tiger Rising. So she gets it, but she also...

1703.512 - 1719.908 Paul Walter Hauser

will tell me like time to put the phone away time to let's, let's pray. Let's stop and eat a meal with our kids. Let's eat at the dining room table, not in front of the TV. Like she has these wholesome sort of like black and white values that, that are helpful for me for sure.

1720.109 - 1725.354 Nick Viall

Natalie does the same thing. It's like those little things that you feel like, you know, little things matter so much. Yeah.

1725.534 - 1726.255 Paul Walter Hauser

God, they matter.

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