You know, So you'd be actually doing doing the movement. And you you could sell it. So I'm going like this? No, I'm doing it. Oh you're doing it. But you're you're you're providing the the motion. you know. Okay, ready? I'm not the force. No, I'm providing the the motion. Okay, ready? So you just you're just selling it. Okay. I'm ready to sell it.

Yeah. Hey, guys, Nikki Novak here in the Young Hollywood studio with Michael Malarkey. Great to see you.

Good to see you too.

Thank you so much for coming in.

My pleasure. Um, thank you for calling me ahead of time and you know, planning the stripe thing.

Well, I I thought, you know, stripes look great on camera. They do, don't they? Wait. Who told you that? Yeah. You did. I did. We're starting to roll. Um, wait. I just noticed something and I'm going to go really inappropriate to start off this interview. Are you ready?

What are you gonna say?

Because during Comic-Con, I was making fun of Paul and Ian because of their chest hair, because they grew their chest hair over the summer. Cause I guess it's the only time. Cause I guess Paul has to shave his chest on the show, cause he has to remain ageless. And I'm noticing that you're fine in that department. Uh, well, sorry. Yeah. Sorry to bring it up, but the cleavage is there. What? What show is it? Can I show a little little more? You can show more. You can show cleavage. You can do whatever you like.

No, I mean, I will I'd rather die than shave my chest.

Stage combat, fight scene. Yeah. Um, I read somewhere that you um, you know, you always see you have these stunt coordinators. And at one point, you guys actually used weapons instead of the rubber fake kind because you were so adept at it.

Well, this was my one diva moment so far on the show. But no, we we basically, we'd rehearsed with certain certain weapons, and when we got to shoot it on the day, they had the Like the fake light ones that look bad but they're not. Yeah, you know. But we rehearsed we went to shoot on the day and I can't really say anything more than that, but um, one of them was a little wobbly basically. A knife that was like, a little bit more like, I can't say it on the show, but you can use your imagination. Um, so

Yeah, sure. A whip.

So, anyway, when I was kind of blocking, or parrying, as they say, um, his weapon, it was like boinging, you know, like quite obviously. And I was kind of going through his weapon instead of actually blocking it. And I was just kind of, I broke three of them from just the sheer force of it, you know.

Cause you didn't know how to use it.

Yeah. And um, I just kinda threw one down at one point and it was like Like throwing down the mic. This is like giving shotsy a toy camera to shoot with. We need the real equipment, otherwise this fight we're not gonna sell it. And finally they kind of caved in and we're like, okay, okay. I was like, look, we haven't hurt each other. We haven't even touched each other's fingers or anything the whole the whole fight. And uh

And the time we use real knives is the time we're gonna really mess up and cut each other's fingers off.

Yeah, that's the worry. And obviously our stunt coordinator, you know, it's very important health and safety, um, as we all know. And um, however, there's certain times when you just kinda have to put your foot down and you're like, I wanna make this the best it can be.

Before we finish the interview, I really want a tip in stage combat or a little move because I'm not a badass at all, but I want to look like one on TV.

You look like a badass.

Do I? To a full bay. You looked at the shoes when you said that. Yeah, you know. I love it. I love you, man. Um, I'm going to bring up something else from Comic-Con that was revealed, um, that you have, and I know you were trained in I was cringe with these preamble. You trained in London at the London, what was it? The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Um, which is no joke. And you have like a warm-up, like some sort of an animal noise warm-up situation that your cast mates make fun of you for. Yeah. And what is that again?

Well, this this is something that I did not learn at LAMDA. I mean, they'll want to stay 100 feet away from this thing. But no, for me, it's not really a warm-up. It's like when I when I'm kind of um, I mean I do do a warm-up before, you know, just to kinda relax the voice and open everything up and feel comfortable. Right. Yeah. And um, but this is like when I feel I'm shooting a scene and I'm like locked in a certain pattern where I just can't seem to, you know, find the honesty in it, you know, where you're just kind of shadowboxing. And then I kind of need to do I feel like I need to do something completely stupid or weird to kind of feel free to to just do something different in the next take, you know. So, what I do is is normally just random kind of animal noises. I don't know where it comes from, but mostly it's a cat, you know, I do this kind of

And then some people obviously love. I heard the horse, too. What would that have been? What was it? Yours is way better than mine. Do recommend hosts do this before interviews?

I think you should.

I think I should. Yeah. What was it again? Yeah, open it up more. Look, I'm totally scared when I did that. Use your yeah, use your whole head. There you go. Feel free to cut that part out. Clearly, I'm not the actor in this equation.

Now leave it. We're gonna leave mine. We're going to keep yours in for sure. We're gonna cut mine out. What what quality does Enzo have that you, Michael, wish you had?

Great one-liners.

You seem to have good ones.

Oh yeah? Well, thank you. I wish I could script my day beforehand and have it all prepared.

You wish you had writers walking around with you tell you what to say before you say it. But don't we all have that those moments where somebody says something to you and then later on you're like, yeah. You just gotta call your Vampire Diaries writers and have them. And an earpiece. Um. So if you could have any actor you could write your own script, and you could have any actor come on the show and play opposite you, it would be, um, my father meeting my father for the first time.

Can I guess? Jeff Goldblum.

How did you know? What are the odds? Sorry. Let's start it again.

No, no, no, it's fine. Who would it be? You give the big reveal. Would it be Jeff Goldblum? I like I like my spoilers being spoiled.

Yeah. I well, um, I just I just love the guy. I think he's one of our cookiest in in in the business, you know, and He teaches an acting class in LA. And you don't need it, but you could go and just, you know, hang out and. Yeah, kind of introduce him to my dad. Or actually, I just love to do a play or something where I played his son or something, you know, opposed to doing on Vampire Diaries. I don't think he he'd probably come to do.

So it would be some so one of the classics would be your choice.

Yeah, yeah, I'd love to do actually Arthur Miller's um, the man who had all the luck is is one that I would absolutely love to do. Play the lead role.

Now your fans are gonna start reading these plays. Do it. You inspire them. You put them on your Instagram. I know you put books on your Instagram. To encourage people to encourage people to read. I know you have an EP coming out called Knots. Why was it called Knots?

Cause I get a loads of knots in my back.

Is that really what it is?

Yeah, you know. Goes to chiropractor every week. No, it's basically, um, although I do have a terrible knot in my back. I'm sleeping on my brother's brother's couch the past couple nights. Um, it's called Knots um, basically one of the lyrics in the last song, The Beauty of Running Circles, which you can actually um, get now if you pre-order the EP on Bandcamp.

Out now, ladies and gentlemen.

And look. Yeah. And um, it goes, I'm the only one who's tangled up in here, but I've grown to love the knots. The beauty of running circles is that you never seem to stop.

So how can you say that you don't have one-liners and you're not good at it if you wrote that?

They're pre-planned. Right. You can give the right to know. Just write out a bunch of one-liners and just have them in your pocket for when you need them.

Yeah, there you go. But um, you are you voice is unbelievable. Your singing voice. And when I was listening to your stuff, you do sound like Johnny Cash. Okay. Have you been told that? Or no.

I have actually on two one of the tracks in particular, uh, The Greatest Trick I Know. Um, it's a very two-step kind of rolling thing and um, yeah, I think there's a little cash channel in there. I'm sure.

I think you said at one point, one of the things you said, I don't want to misquote you. Something about have a backup plan? Yeah. What's your back what was your backup plan before? The number one. That's why I know. It's the best advice. I was careening. Were you?

I mean, you know, it's it's tough because when people normally, you know, I didn't find out I wanted to be an actor until I was about 21.

Oh, really?

Yeah. Yeah. So it was it was I initially was um, you know, I didn't go to university. I I played in bands and just was hanging out, man, you know. And when I finally got into acting, it was like, all I could see was wanting to do that. And I think a lot of people when they go into it, they're just so focused on what they want to do um, that sometimes you can become a slave to that. And when things maybe don't work out, you just have no idea what to what to do with the rest of your life. I think it's important to cultivate your life experience. And this is not just having a backup plan. It's I think it's about not being a slave to your profession, whatever it is, you know, read books, travel, be interested about stuff, talk to people who are outside of your business and gain perspective. Before we go out, I'll teach you stage combat thing. Okay. So, basically, stage combat is all about one of the main rules for it is victim control. So, when the person's doing the attacking, for example, if I am pulling your hair, you know, I'll be

There are extensions. They'll come right out.

Are they? You're ripping them out? Yeah. Okay, basically, I would be not actually holding your hair firmly. I kinda have a fist like this around it, and you would be holding my hand. And you'd be actually pulling my hand around as if I'm pulling your hair. So you'd be, you know, and maybe

Has the face. Oh, that's great. Here, do it to me. I'll show you. You're like, let me show you.

So, for example, you know, so you'd be actually doing doing the movement. And you you could sell it.

I'm going like this? No, I'm doing it. Oh you're doing it. But you're you're you're providing the the motion. Okay, ready? I'm not the force. No, I'm providing the the motion. Okay, ready? So you just you're just selling it. Okay. I'm ready to sell it. Yeah. No. I mean, I will I'd rather die than shave my chest. No, it felt good. It was kinda like a music video. You know, you do it on Baywatch. Anyway, that's that's a little little something something for you.

Well, thank you so much for coming in. This is a lot of fun. I'll give you a massage now in return. All right. Great. Cut the cameras. Vampire Diaries. Check it out. Knots. He's amazing. You're awesome. Great actor. Great having you here. Come back anytime.

Pleasure. Thanks.