It’s been 12 years since Friday Night Lights went off the air, but Taylor Kitsch still gets mentions of Tim Riggins every day on the streets of Texas. The actor, 37, joined the “Watch With Us” podcast while at the 2018 ATX TV Festival, where he revealed what fans always ask him, what he looks for in roles today, and why Waco really worked.
Listen to the full podcast above, and read the highlights below:
On finding new roles after Friday Night Lights:
I think we were lucky. We weren’t crazy ratings, so you got to learn a lot more of your craft. I was so green and it was like a master class of just celebrating failure. You got Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton – two veterans, them kind of leading the way. They’re like still incredibly close friends. So, it was kind of the perfect storm really. And I did have a relatable guy in Riggins that I understood or I felt I did right away, so we hit the ground running with him.
On Riggins’ drinking and how it’s affected fans:
Riggins drank every scene and we were very conscious of that. By the way, he was the only guy that the studio would allow to have a beer in his hand. So if you look at all the other underagers, they had to have cups. But because it was a “a drinking problem” with Riggins, I was allowed to go to the fridge and have a beer … So that’s what I get a lot of, guys and gals who want to get drunk with me. They think I’m Riggins 15 years later and it’s just like, ‘Hey, what do you mean you don’t want to have back to back to back to back shots?’
On his strange connection to the real David Koresh:
I got guitar lessons in South Austin Music. I think it was my second practice session or lesson and I’m like literally scratching the guitar at that point … Koresh went into this guitar store, gave [the owner] his card: Messiah Productions. And he still had Dave’s card, which was pretty incredible. So Dave wanted to play around and he’s like, “Hey, if you know anybody or a bar that wants a cool band from Texas.” So that was pretty incredible.
On not relating to Koresh:
I think the beauty of it was I couldn’t. I think that’s where that risk and that fear comes in and how you deal with it. I don’t know, I take pride in taking some big risks. This was definitely kind of the epitome of all of that. I can’t really relate too much to Koresh, to be honest. I mean there’s beats for sure. Look this guy was a guy that could be at that bar 10 feet away having a beer too. Or he could be the opening act on Dirty Six.
To listen to the full interview, download the “Watch With Us” podcast for free here.
