"The Pitt" star Lucas Iverson | The Latest With Maya

 A conversation with Lucas Iverson.❤️ Watch Lucas in "The Pitt" on HBO Max!

Theme song by Austin & Colin! Follow them here:

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/austinandcolin/?hl=en

TikTok: 
https://www.tiktok.com/@austinandcolin?_r=1&_t=ZT-94danXYrfmo

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@AustinandColin

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/09D3Uv7yejstvSlTdkxHzT 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hi Lucas. Welcome to The Latest with Maya. Lucas Iverson currently stars as James Ogilvy in The Pip, which is one of my favorite shows. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm so excited to be talking with you.

SPEAKER_04 0:29

Thank you so, so, so much for having me, Maya. It's an honor to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Um, so who has had the biggest impact on you professionally?

SPEAKER_04 0:42

I mean, it's hard to distill it down to one person. I've had so many wonderful teachers, so many wonderful mentors in my life. Um I think, well, so there's a couple of aspects. Like my biggest inspiration, my favorite actor is Mark Rylance. I think he's amazing at everything he does. Um, I've had so many great teachers at grad school and before, Tamala Woodard, Ron Van Lu, uh, so many more, Gregory Walton, the whole list of the Yale faculty. Um, if I were to pick one person, I think the first person who told me that maybe I could do this was a high school drama teacher named Mr. Chris Gerritsen. So the seed comes from him.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Oh wow, I love that. Yeah. Um, so who has had the biggest impact on you personally?

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Oh, I'm gonna cheat and say two people, my mom and my dad. They're both such inspirations. My mom is such a badass, and my dad is so charismatic and such a storyteller and a cook. He's got an artistic flair, and my mom is filled with drive and yearning. She's so intelligent. So I think the combo of those two presences in my life that I've been very fortunate to have have um significantly moldened me.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Oh, I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:19

Me too. I love them.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yeah. Um so what small things bring you joy on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_04 2:31

Wow, I love this question. Um, I feel so bad because I feel like the like light motif of this interview is you ask for something specific, and I say like 20 things. But I think that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

That works.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

As long as that's legal, then I'm okay with it too. Um, I love reading every day. I love journaling. I love um going to the coffee shop on three streets above me in my little New York apartment. I was just thinking to myself today how how I started drinking coffee so that I would have something to do in the morning. But it's true, and it's great for me. Maybe not the coffee. Um, I love spending time with friends. Everything I see them all the time, thanks to living here in the city. Poetry. I have a wall of poetry right behind this computer. Yeah, there's so many things that just spark a little bit of joy.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Oh, I love that. Yeah, that's um your wall of poetry. That's so cool. I I love poetry.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

I'm glad. I'm glad.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Uh, what has been the biggest obstacle, either personal or professional, that you've overcome?

SPEAKER_04 3:46

I think it would have to be that I was kind of a sick child. I was born with a condition that was really rare and uh did not have a ton of um visibility around it, still doesn't, and I had a lot of surgeries growing up. So it sort of stamped the beginning of my life as um distinct and different from those around me, which was hard in addition to all of the physical hardship that it brought. Um, and I think that that left a lasting impression that took a long time to learn to appreciate, but now I know it to be the source of my big, big, big heart and my empathy and my vulnerability. And so that's I think that's probably at the time it was really tough. So probably that.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Oh wow. I'm so sorry that you've had to go through all of that.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

We all do at some point or another, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, um, yeah. So what uh motivates you on days you aren't really feeling it?

SPEAKER_04 5:03

Yeah, great question. I think I am largely driven by this like recurrent, incessant need to feel my life as it's happening to me. I think I love to live a very vigorous life that feels like I'm spending myself in a way that feels satisfying or gratifying. I feel very grateful to have been able to do that at large lately, thanks to this wonderful show. But when I can go to bed and feel exhausted and spent and something that I think is worthwhile, that feels like I'm I'm shaping my life, that is a good day. And the days when I don't have that, I regret it so much. I'm kicking myself and being like, ah, you only have so many of these, you know?

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Oh yeah. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Um, so The Pit is uh one of my favorite shows, like I said.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

I'm glad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Uh I I look forward to watching it every single week. Um what was the most challenging thing about joining the cast for season two?

SPEAKER_04 6:25

Um, well, first of all, thank you for watching. And I'm really glad you're enjoying it, and I hope that continues throughout the rest of the season. Um yeah, it was hard to come into something that feels like an established, well-oiled machine, you know. I think that by the time I got there, it it had already been a huge hit. This was before all the Emmys stuff and everything, so that it wasn't exactly the height of fame that it has become. Uh, but it was, it was still so intimidating because you you watch season one as a fan and you fall in love with all these characters and all these actors. And then especially playing Ogil V, you sort of come in as this antagonist and you feel like a disruptor, you know, as Garen would often say. And I think that that feels like a lot of pressure, and you feel really guilty for being the heel in something that was already working so so well. Um, so probably a combination of me being really intimidated and not having a lot of experience. This is my first real real job, um, and then knowing that the pit is the pit and you still get to show up. Wow, that felt crazy.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Oh wow, yeah. Um so the show is uh so intense. Um what do you do to leave the day behind when you're done filming?

SPEAKER_04 7:51

I love this question. So nobody seems to do this, or at least if they do, then I don't know it. There are hot towels in the makeup trailer or in the hair and makeup trailer for when we're done our work. And when we're done for the day, we can change, and then when we we can go back to the trailer, they have wipes, they have skincare, they have everything that you could possibly want. And then at the end, you can take a fresh, steaming hot towel and soak it over your face and just like sit there for a second, especially when nobody else is in there, like if they're still shooting and you were done a scene early or something. Oh my god, what a great feeling! The quiet after the long day of work, the hot towel on your face, and then you get to get in your car and play whatever music you want and go home.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I love that. Yeah, that sounds so nice.

SPEAKER_04 8:45

Um I love that.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Um, so I am uh pop culture obsessed, and I mean if you couldn't already tell. Um I go in stages of shows that I cannot stop watching. Um, is there a show that you are currently obsessed with?

SPEAKER_04 9:14

There is. Um, I missed this train initially, and I have been pressured to watch Bridgerton, and so I am, and now I'm on the second season, and Jonathan Bailey is so good in it. Oh my god. I think it's I mean, I enjoyed season one a lot. I didn't think I would. I thought I'd be like, ooh, not my cup of tea. It was my cup of tea, and then uh the second season just like capitalizes on everything that the first had going for it and amplifies it. It's excellent, excellent, excellent television. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Oh yeah. I sorry. Um I thought I was about to sneeze.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Bless you.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Um, yeah, sorry about that. I suddenly just don't be sorry.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

If it comes, it comes. Better out than it.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yeah, exactly. Um yeah, I um I've only I haven't watched like the entire um series of like every season of Bridgerton, but I've watched a few episodes and I really like it.

SPEAKER_04 10:26

So yeah, yeah, yeah. I would really recommend at least getting up to season two. I've heard I haven't seen the other seasons, I've heard they're fun too, but I hear that season two is like a peak. And so far I'm finding that to be true.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Oh cool, yeah. Um, yeah, I just uh finished watching um I was watching an older show called Franklin and Bash. Um that is really good. I had never heard of it until it came on Netflix. Oh so it's on uh Netflix is taking it off at the end of this month.

SPEAKER_04 11:05

But oh my god, I'm out of time.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

But it yeah, I was like, I was like, I have to finish this before it gets taken off. So um I I finally I finished it and it's so good. So if you can find it somewhere else, I highly recommend that.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

I'll see what I can do in the next four days to try and squeeze it in.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Yeah, yeah. That's yeah, it's I mean, there's just four seasons and ten episodes in each season, so um, so yeah. Um, yeah, I highly recommend that show.

SPEAKER_04 11:42

Noted. Thank you for the recommendation. Can't wait to check it out.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Of course, yeah. And thank you for recommending Bridgerton.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

So hopefully, of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, um, yeah, and I just finished watching um another show called How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

I don't know that either, but what a great title.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah, yeah, it just came on uh it was just released on Netflix. And that's really good too.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

So okay, can't wait to check it out. Double recommendation, my lucky day.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Yeah, um, yeah, so if you had a warning label, what would yours say?

SPEAKER_04 12:32

I think it would say, uh-oh, I might spill your drink. It's not on purpose. There was this one time I was on a first date at um a paint and sip, and I sat down and I was so nervous, and um, they they bring you a drink and you start painting, and I did, and then I just like went to reach for a different color, and I knocked the drink over, and then the paint and the easel over, and everything went flying all around me. It was so humiliating, it was so unbelievably embarrassing. But I think I hate to say it, it's true to character.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

I like that warning label.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

Yeah, maybe you do, but the not everybody around me. 10 foot radius, watch out, splash zone.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

I like that.

unknown 13:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Um, so what uh song best describes your life right now?

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Wow, this is so this feels so important. Um what an enormous question. Here's what I think. I'm gonna go with because I feel so floored by this great fortune and so lucky to be here. I'm gonna say Outstanding the Gap Band. I'm obsessed with that song. It's so good. It's stood the test of time, and it's fun and free, and I just feel like everything right now is wow, you knocked me out.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Yeah, great song. Highly recommend. To anybody who doesn't know the gap band and outstanding, give it a listen.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Okay, I'm writing it down right now.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

Yes, returning the recommendation favor.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

Happily, happily.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Sorry, my brain just oh what was the title of the don't be sorry at all.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

It's called Outstanding, like the word, and then it's called by it's by the gap band.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm excited to go listen to it. So thank you for the recommendation.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

So good.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Outstanding, really good.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

You like it.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Oh, I can't wait to listen to it.

unknown 14:55

Okay, great.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Yeah, so thank you. Um, so what is something people are always surprised to learn about you?

SPEAKER_04 15:09

Um this is really embarrassing, what I'm about to say. And before you ask, the answer is no. I I will not do a demonstration. Um because it's a communal activity and it requires multiple people to participate because it's about fun and being brave and risking failure together. Um, I really like and am mildly decent at freestyle rapping.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 15:39

Isn't that humiliating?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

No, I love that. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Nobody expects it, nobody ever expects it. And um, I used to practice, I was so determined to get good. And I guess it kind of only kind of worked, and now I'm so rusty. Whenever I do it with people, I feel the blood rush to my face out of embarrassment. But it's also so fun to just kind of throw caution to the wind and and see what comes out. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Okay, now I'm tempted to ask you for a demonstration.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

I'm so sorry. I I have to politely decline your ask. When you see me in person somewhere, we can do it together. Deal?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Okay, deal.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Deal.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Yeah, okay. I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Me too, not as much as me.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Um, so what uh subject could you give a TED talk on, even though you're totally unqualified on that subject?

SPEAKER_04 16:37

Yeah, so glad you asked. Um the I I mean it would be wrong, but here's what I would say how to dig your car out of snow. I mean, I think I don't know that I have the best way. Actually, I think I might have one of the worst ways because it takes me, it feels like it takes me so much longer. But when I was in grad school, I was just back up at um in New Haven for an event, and I was looking at the place that I used to park all the time, and the cars were totally snowed in. And I was like, I could get those cars out, but the last time I tried, it took me 90 minutes. Do you know what I mean? But I think I put I have fun. I could what it is is how to have fun while digging your car out of snow. That's the TED talk.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 17:25

I hope somebody would.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Yeah, I I like that how to have fun while doing that. I think you need to yeah, have fun with like everything you do in life.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

So right, while you commit physical harm to yourself through through the shoveling breaking your back.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

I like that.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, one of us.

SPEAKER_04 17:50

That makes one of us.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah. Um so if you had the opportunity to put a message on a billboard for everyone to see, what would that message be?

SPEAKER_04 18:11

Um, I think I would just put the poem I worried by Mary Oliver on a billboard. Do you know that one?

SPEAKER_01 18:23

I somebody had just mentioned it to me, but I don't think I've read it.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

It's so beautiful and it's short. Should I s do you want to hear it? Should I say it?

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_04 18:37

Is that good podcast material?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Okay, let me look it up.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

I don't know that I haven't fully memorized, so I am going to be incredibly precise. Aha. Alright, this is the story of my life. Ready? I worried by Mary Oliver. I worried a lot. Will the garden grow? Will the rivers flow in the right direction? Will the earth turn as it was taught? And if not, how shall I correct it? Was I right? Was I wrong? Will I be forgiven? Can I do better? Will I ever be able to sing? Even the sparrows can do it, and I am, well, hopeless. Is my eyesight fading, or am I just imagining it? Am I going to get rheumatism, lock jaw, dementia? Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing. And I gave it up and took my old body and went out into the morning and sang.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 19:46

Me too.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Yeah. Oh, that's a great poem. I would love to see that on a billboard.

SPEAKER_04 19:53

Me too. It's on a billboard, but this thing back here feels related to it because um it was this thing that uh a neighbor who passed away uh said I could have. But it's it's a hand stitch from 1901, and it's two birds in a tree, and it says, the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those who sang best.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

And it made me think of that poem, and I was like, that's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Yeah, oh, I love both of those.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Me too.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah. Um, so my final question for you is uh today, what are you most grateful for?

SPEAKER_04 20:46

I think I feel a stubborn and furious love from the majority of people in my life. That feels authentic and real and humbling, and I feel so fortunate to have such great company. People who make every day so exciting and open and worthwhile. And I feel completely and totally in love with my life and the people in it, and even the hard, scary, stressful parts. I feel so grateful. Yeah. For that. Those people, those small experiences that mean so much to me. The opportunities that have been provided. I'm forever indebted to those people who made that happen. It's luck beyond comparison.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

I love that.

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Yeah, me too. I live this beautiful little life.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Yeah. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Yeah. Well um that was my final question for you. I've had the best time talking with you. Thank you so much for joining me. You've made my day.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

You've made my day, Maya. Thank you so, so, so much for having me. What a delight and what great questions. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Thank you so much. Um I can't wait to keep watching um The Pit. And um, yeah, I hope you have a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

I thank you so much. I hope the same for you. And thank you for watching. I hope you love the season.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Thank you so much. Uh, and that's a wrap on today's edition of the latest to admire.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

It's the latest fire. Oh girl, what's she gonna talk to me?