We Have to Protect Paul Walter Hauser: A Candid Interview With 'The Luckiest Man in America'

Happy Friday, folks!

Today, I have a special treat for you, as I’m joined by actor Paul Walter Hauser, who stars in the new movie The Luckiest Man in America, which marks his first time as an executive producer.

The first time I saw Hauser — as scene-stealing henchman Shawn Eckhardt in Craig Gillespie’s excellent Tonya Harding biopic I, Tonya — I knew there was something special about him.

I was the Editor in Chief of The Tracking Board at the time, and I immediately called Hauser’s reps and offered to make him the site’s Up-and-Comer of the Month for December 2017.

That recurring feature serves dual purposes, in my mind — first, it allows us to get to know an actor beyond the work they’re promoting, and second, it’s my way of telling the industry, ‘This is who I think you should be hiring,’ and telling readers, ‘This is who I think you’re going to be watching for years to come.’

That turned out to be an understatement.

After playing a Klansman in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and a comedy writer in the Mindy Kaling vehicle Late Night, Hauser’s breakout moment arrived when he landed the titular lead in Clint Eastwood’s drama Richard Jewell, which cemented him as one of Hollywood’s brightest young stars.

However, more supporting roles followed — another henchman turn in Disney’s Cruella, a webhead in Silk Road, a loss prevention officer in the comedy Queenpins, and the recurring role of Stingray in Netflix’s Cobra Kai series.

Hollywood was hiring Hauser, but I’m not sure it understood what he was truly capable of.

It wasn’t until the 2022 Apple TV+ series Black Bird, in which he starred opposite Taron Egerton as suspected serial killer Larry Hall, that Hollywood — and the world — saw what he could really do when given the opportunity. Hauser’s chilling performance earned him an Emmy and a Golden Globe, as well as the respect of his industry peers.

Since Black Bird, Hauser has been on a roll. He voiced ‘Embarrassment’ in Pixar’s Inside Out 2, joined Matt Damon in The Instigators, and has five movies set for release this year — all in theaters, mind you — with a sixth (Peter Farrelly’s comedy Balls Up) already in the can.

Just yesterday, on the final day of CinemaCon, Hauser appeared in two new trailers, as he plays George Kennedy’s son in the new Naked Gun movie starring Liam Neeson, and he plays guitar tech Mike Batlon in the Bruce Springsteen movie Deliver Me From Nowhere, which stars Jeremy Allen White as The Boss.

Hauser also has a top-secret role in Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which will hit theaters a few weeks before Lionsgate finally releases Americana, a crime thriller that debuted at SXSW in 2023 and pairs the actor with Sydney Sweeney.

However, we’re here today to discuss that fifth movie, The Luckiest Man in America, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival last year. The film tells the incredible true story of Michael Larson, an ice cream truck driver who won $110,237 dollars on a 1984 episode of the game show Press Your Luck. That’s the equivalent of more than $333,000 today.

Was Larson’s record-breaking game show performance pure luck? Not exactly. 

As it turns out, Larson was something of a con man who studied and memorized the light patterns of the board, shifting the odds in his favor. The resulting scandal prompted CBS to launch an investigation, but at the end of the day, Larson was allowed to keep his winnings, as every contestant technically had the same opportunity.

The noteworthy incident is dramatized in Samir Oliveros’s indie drama The Luckiest Man in America, which the director co-wrote with Maggie Briggs. Walton Goggins co-stars as Press Your Luck host Peter Tomarken, while the supporting cast includes David Strathairn, Shamier Anderson, Maisie Williams, Haley Bennett, and Johnny Knoxville. Brian Geraghty and Patti Harrison also appear as Hauser’s fellow contestants on the show.

I had the opportunity to speak with Hauser a couple of weeks ago, and he’s still the same down-to-earth guy I remember back in 2017, before he became a name-brand actor. He still moonlights as a wrestler, and not only has he become a family man thanks to his wife, Amy, but he has also become a man of faith.

I’ve had faith in Paul Walter Hauser for eight years, and he has rewarded that faith by delivering one memorable performance after another. I can’t wait to see what the next eight years bring, but for now, enjoy our chat about The Luckiest Man in America, which is currently playing in theaters courtesy of IFC Films.

Hauser is a fun interview who offers his candid thoughts about the industry, and as with all interviews here at The InSneider, this one is not behind a paywall. However, if you’re an unpaid subscriber who digs it, I sure would appreciate it if you had a little faith in me and made the leap to a premium subscription for a month — or two, if I’m pressing my luck.

And now, here’s Paul…

You’ve worked with some of the top directors in this business, so how does an up-and-comer like Samir get your attention, and what was it about his pitch and his script that made you want to work with him? And what additional responsibilities did you assume as a first-time executive producer on this project?

Hauser: I watched Samir’s first feature, which was [made] on a shoestring budget, and then I watched his AFI short film, and I just thought, ‘This is a guy you want to work with. This is a guy you want to get in with on the ground floor — people like him or this guy Tony Tost, who wrote and directed a movie I did called Americana. They're the type of people who have a real vision. They're uncompromising. Their references are really exciting.

You know, they're referencing and making you watch films like Paris, Texas. So that was really inspiring, and it really made me go, ‘Wow, I think this person might tell a great story. Let's be there on the ground floor.’ I think the prevailing things, if I could pick out two qualities of Samir, our director, is that he has a big heart and great empathy.

And he also has style, I think. Whenever he showed up to set, he'd be wearing these cool pants or this [cool] hat. [His outfit] almost looked like it was partially inspired by a trip to Nicaragua or Mozambique. You felt like he was this wholehearted, fully lived, well-read world traveler/storyteller guy, and that was very attractive to me, too, I think. Because I like people like that — people who have a fresh perspective and probably know a lot more than me.

You know, Lorne Michaels famously said, ‘If you look around the room you're in and you're the smartest person, you're in the wrong room.’ So yeah, I find a guy like Samir or Spike Lee or Craig Gillespie, and I'm like, ‘You're smarter than me. Let me be a part of your story. I don’t want to commandeer.’

But as an executive producer, my main goal was just to promote the film and to try to get the best people we could involved.

In this case, you know, there were certain actors I reached out to personally, like Brian Geraghty from The Hurt Locker and my buddy Damian Young, who’s a brilliant New York theater actor you've seen in House of Cards and Ozark. There were other people I talked to to try and [raise] the overall quality of the film. You always want to get the best people for any job.

I love Damian Young, who is an amazing character actor. I was actually about to ask you who the unsung hero of this ensemble is — the co-star who deserves a little bit more credit for what they do in this movie?

Hauser: Oh, golly. I'm looking at the poster right now. There are so many good [actors]. I think the one who sticks out to me quite a bit is Shamier Anderson, who [deserves] credit as one of the leads of this story.

I think Shamier gives a terrific performance — the kind of performance that’s sort of like Peter Sarsgaard in Shattered Glass, where it's very grounded and not showy. It's a very unselfish performance, in my estimation.

So, I would give props to him, and I love my two game show partners on either side of me — Brian Geraghty and Patti Harrison. I think they’re just pitch-perfect. I loved working with them.

Yeah, they're great, and you do a good job playing off of them. But your character’s not being honest with them, either, so I’m curious — how do you approach playing a character with a secret? And what do you like about having something to hide on screen?

Hauser: It's great, man. I think it's great, and it gives me motivation and helps breed some of the layers necessary in playing a complicated person.

Sometimes, you don't play a complicated person. If I look at my character in Cobra Kai, that's way more instinctual. I don't have to overthink that character. I can just show up and do it.

With this guy, you do have to think about, ‘What are his layers of strategy and security at play?’ You have to figure out, ‘Where is he strong and where is he weak,' and then decide when to reveal those things based on the page.

Michael Larson succeeded because he recognized patterns. So I'm curious, after a decade in show business, what are the patterns that you've recognized that have led to your success? 

Hauser: The crappier films want to pay you a lot of money, and the really good ones know that you're privileged to take part in them, so they don't want to pay you.

Sorry, that's an overly specific answer that I [gave] just to try to get a rise out of somebody.

Um, I would say a pattern of Hollywood behaviors. It’s almost like an algorithm, where one movie hits really big somewhere, and then everybody tries to copy it somehow. When really, instead of copying the actual product, they should copy the methodology that went into creating the product. You're supposed to copy methodologies, not products, or you’ll never create your own product.

I think that's well said. Now, you and I last spoke in December 2017 when I made you the Tracking Board’s Up-and-Comer of the Month.

Hauser: I was, and that was very generous of you to give me a shout. I remember, dude.

Oh, stop. I've always believed in you and thought there was something special about you, Paul, and I'm glad Bryan [Walsh, Paul’s manager] made that happen.

Eight years have gone by since that interview, and you've made a name for yourself in this industry and created a beautiful family with your wife, Amy. So do you feel “lucky,” or do you think we make our own luck in this life?

Hauser: I think I'm very lucky. But once again, you know, there are certain actors in my community who lean on their faith and really believe that things do drop into your lap.

You know, I'm a big Jesus guy — I’m afraid to even use the word “Christian” with all the connotations that are attached to it nowadays, politically. But I will say, I'm a big Jesus believer guy, and guys like me and Denzel and Mark Wahlberg genuinely believe that your job is to prepare, because these things do kind of fall into your lap.

Richard Jewell was not the kind of thing that I sought after. I got a phone call that said, ‘Clint Eastwood wants you to star in his new movie,’ and my answer was, ‘Sure. Yeah, right.’ And then it was true!

Or, in the case of Black Bird, they had a much bigger star attached, and he fell out for one reason or another. And then somehow, I was on Taron Egerton's radar, and my reps pushed me, and Taron pushed me, and I got the part.

So I think it's always a combination of that which you cannot control, but being prepared to do the role. There are roles that I would have wanted back in the day that I never would have been ready for because of immaturity or just not being far enough along on [my] creative journey.

I know you're a man of faith, and I think that's beautiful, Paul. You’ve mentioned a few filmmakers you've worked with, but I wanted to ask if there’s an update on Tony Tost’s Americana and why you think that project has been sitting on a shelf at Lionsgate for a while.

Hauser: Oh, that was a big snafu with BRON Studios, which famously went public with their bankruptcy, so I think it was a lot of, like, legal paperwork and stuff. Lionsgate was also trying to figure out, like many studios, what to do when you have something you think works, but maybe it doesn't work.

When you have giant hits like Hunger Games or one of those faith-based films that actually do well, you go, ‘Oh, maybe we need to make more of these,’ so I think Lionsgate's been trying to time it out well and figure out how to show a film from a young auteur that doesn't fit neatly into one genre. They can’t say, ‘Go see the horror movie,’ or ‘Go see the western!’ This movie is a real kaleidoscope of brilliant emotion and intellect, and it's something I'm wildly proud of.

Do you think we'll see it this year?

Hauser: Yes, you will see it this year. I believe you’ll see it in August of this year.

Do you think we'll see Clint Eastwood back behind the camera again, or do you think Juror #2 will prove to be his swan song? 

Hauser: Oh, I would never really want to speak to that. But I'll quote Clint Eastwood himself for my answer. He says, ‘You never let the old man in,’ so I would love to see one more film from him. But I did enjoy Juror #2, and I think Nicholas Hoult is a tremendous actor.

Agreed. Now, you also co-starred in the 2020 movie Silk Road, so I'm curious how you feel about Ross Ulbricht being pardoned and released from prison.

Hauser: I don't think I knew that. Was that recent?

I believe Trump may have pardoned him, but yeah, and he's out now…

Hauser: Of course, he did. Yeah, I think Trump will end up pardoning anybody. Any flavor that tastes similar to his own. I think he'll give a lot of social nepotism to the birds of a feather. But yeah, good for him. Good job, dude. Way to help that other corporate money-grubbing dork do Fyre Festival 3, or whatever.

In Anchorman, there's a brilliant moment where Will Ferrell says, ‘News team, assemble!’ And they all hear the call of the wild. I think there's got to be one of those from, like, Andrew Tate or Logan Paul, where he goes, you know, ‘Angry Dorks With Money, assemble,’ and then everybody starts coming out of the woodwork. You know, they can start their businesses and rip people off.

You've got the Amazon MGM movie Balls Up on the way, which is a comedy from Peter Farrelly and the writers of Deadpool that pairs you with Mark Wahlberg. Do you think the comedy genre is primed to make a comeback on the big screen?

Hauser: I think it is, and I think studios are really talking about wanting comedies to go theatrical and finding those hits again and not playing it safe and trying to please everyone.

You know, I love Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and the reason I like them so much is they don't spare any feelings. They do whatever the heck they want to do, and they skewer everybody — unapologetically — and that's part of being a human, you know.

Guess what? There are people on the internet who make fun of me for believing in a God I can't prove [exists]. There are people on the internet who make fun of me for wrestling or being overweight, and big deal. Welcome to being a human being.

So, I think in the world of comedy, if you don't like it, tune out. Some people are ugly with their comedy, but you know, freedom of speech.

I hope there are more comedies that come out that show a range of diverse voices but also are not hindered by the fear of being shut out from the world.

Off the record, do you pop up in Matt & Trey’s new movie with Kendrick Lamar?

Hauser: On the record, I will tell you… I was one of the first people cast in their new film, and then I was uncast because of rewrites. The script went through so many rewrites that the role ended up becoming kind of tertiary [in the] background. It was one of the great losses of my career because I thought I was gonna work with Trey, Matt, and Kendrick, and it broke my heart, but I will be the first in line to go see it. I can't wait.

That's interesting. If you could join the cast of any active TV show, what would it be and why?

Hauser: Oh, dude, I would want to be on The Traitors on Peacock. I desperately want to be in one of the upcoming seasons, and I'm going to shout that out as much as humanly possible.

I love it. I know you’re a big wrestling fan as well, so if you could produce a biopic of any wrestler, who would it be and why? And keep in mind, you don't necessarily have to star in this movie, but whose story would you want to tell?

Hauser: I think Lex Luger has a really compelling story, especially having been able to get out of his wheelchair on his own by doing DDPY, the exercise system Dallas Page famously created. He just got welcomed into the WWE Hall of Fame, so I think there's a triumphant story there of a student-athlete who became famous and made a lot of bad decisions and was eventually humbled, but he had a redemption story. So, that would make sense to me.

I'd also love to play Mick Foley in a biopic about his life, as he was a guy who famously hurt his own body to entertain people. There's something interesting there…

Fascinating. On that note, any update on the Chris Farley biopic? Have you read a finished script yet? 

Hauser: [Scott] Neustadter and [Michael] Weber wrote an amazing script. They did a couple of rewrites and just knocked it out of the park, and New Line Cinema has given their thumbs up. They're ready to go. We're just waiting on Warner Bros., as the studio has to give us the greenlight. So, we are not so patiently waiting. We hope to hear word from them soon. We'll see…

I know you're in The Fantastic Four, and I'm not going to “press my luck” by asking you on the record who you play, but you worked closely with Taron Egerton on Black Bird, so if you were to recruit him into the MCU, which Marvel character would you like to see him play?

Hauser: Wow, Taron Egerton as part of the MCU? Um, I think there's a chance, you know. I heard that he was rumored to play Wolverine at one point. And I know Hugh Jackman is a very similar actor, where they can both sing, and they're both quite charming, but they can also play very intense characters. Maybe Wolverine would be a good character for him in the new X-Men movie…

Okay, last question. You have a handful of movies coming up, and they're all theatrical. I know you've done movies for streamers before, but does that make a difference when you're picking projects, and why is it vital for audiences to come out and support movie theaters? 

Hauser: I am so blessed to be in theatrically released movies. I have The Luckiest Man in America, then Fantastic Four, then The Naked Gun, then Americana, and then Deliver Me From Nowhere, and all of them will have some form of theatrical presence.

I think that’s important because the best way to absorb a film is to watch it with other people. It was meant to be shared with other people in a setting that is actually quite romantic. You've dimmed the lights, you have a glass of wine — or a soda and popcorn — and you are sharing a moment with people you don't even know.

It's beautiful and unlike a concert where you have all these idiots holding their phone up the whole time and not even experiencing it. With a movie, you actually tuck your phone away, for the most part, and I think that's just a really cool, neat thing that needs to be protected.

You know how in hip-hop, they have certain things where they say, like, ‘We got to protect so-and-so.’ ‘We’ve got to protect Kendrick at all costs,’ they say to the fans, and I think we have to protect the theater at all costs, as grateful as I am for all of the streamers.

Well, that's my time. Thank you very much for talking to me, and congratulations on the movie, Paul. Take care…

The Luckiest Man in America is now playing exclusively in theaters.

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