Originally Friday, August 24, 2018 filed by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Actor Brian Austin Green does a podcast which is almost de rigueur for hundreds of celebrity types and he's coming to Atlanta to tape an episode Labor Day weekend.
It's part of a fundraiser for Generosity.org, a humanitarian organization dedicated to ending the clean water crisis in developing countries.
For $45, you can meet him at Switchyards Downtown Club
in Atlanta on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 6:30 p.m. For $110, you can also hang out with him and eat turkey legs at Medieval Times in Lawrenceville the night before. (Buy tickets here.)
"Derek and I are big fans of 'The Cable Guy,' " said Green, the 45-year-old "Beverly Hills 90210" vet who does his podcast with Derek Russell and references a 1996 Jim Carrey film where "Medieval Times" figures prominently.
Green said he originally tried to piggyback on DragonCon, which happens the same weekend. “We were willing to use one of their broom closets,” he said. “We thought we were deserving of the smallest room they had. They said no.”
So they found Switchyards instead. “It’s not about selfies and all that,” he said. “It’s just hanging out and having fun.
Green said he and Russell became friendly while he was a guest on Russell's podcasts to discuss his roles on"The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and "Smallville." "We just kind of hit it off," Green said.Russell suggested a year ago they just do one themselves along with a friend Steve Glossom.
“We tend to make mountains out of molehills,” Green said. “We don’t plan. We talk about nothing.”
The podcast has no sponsors and he has no idea how many actually listen. “I have to ask Derek,” he said. “I honestly don’t care. And we can’t get cancelled. It doesn’t work that way unless we choose to stop it.”
You can listen to their latest podcast here:
The charity in question Generosity.org is a pet project of his and his wife Megan Fox. They builds wells in poor areas of the world. "The clean water crisis can be solved within our lifetime," Green said. "We can actually see it ourselves."
Green, who is often in the tabloids because of Fox, is currently raising their three young kids and a teenager. The pair almost divorced in 2015 but got back together.
“I’m sort of just in daddy mode,” Green said. “I’ve worked pretty consistently since I was nine years old. Being my age now and my kids being their ages, I found it’s really important for me to spend time with them. Megan and I have our ups and downs as far as work goes. Right now, it’s time for her to work. While she’s gone, I get to be home. It’s important for the kids see and experience this, of us being parents. Next year, I’ll go back to work. I’d much rather be at home right now and work from home than be on set.”
The podcast gives Green a chance to talk to another adult once a week and reflect on his life and career. Russell, for instance, reminded him that he once did “Circus of the Stars” in 1988 and dredged up a childhood commercial he did for Game Boy he has no memory of - at all. “I was ten years old,” he said. “I probably did 75 commercials before ‘90210.’”
Credit: Jonathan Leibson
Credit: Jonathan Leibson
Getting back to his podcast, he said he hopes to have his "90210" buddy Ian Ziering stop by since he's in town for DragonCon after six "Sharknado" films kept his name in the spotlight.
He hopes the event doesn’t go too late. “I go to bed at like 7 p.m. with my son,” he said. “I’m up at 5:30 a.m. You’re partially rested when you sleep in bed with a baby. You’re scared of rolling over. Any movement in the bed and you’re up and looking!”
That’s a big change from his 20s when he would stay up until 5 a.m. in the music studio. “That’s all done,” he said.
When he and Fox have an anniversary or Valentine’s Day dinner, “it hits 8 o’clock and it’s dark and it feels like 2 in the morning. We’re like, yawning. ‘Check please!’”
He tolerates the paparazzi in Malibu. He says they camp out at the supermarket he goes to for diapers or eggs. “I can only assume the last ten times a picture was taken of me, I’m probably wearing the same thing. I change my pants once a week. My shirt is every other day!”
"I love acting," he added. "I love being self deprecating. I think there's a line. Do you want to be an actor or do you want to be a celebrity? I'm not that fu**ing interesting. My life is really boring in comparison. It's much more interesting to lie and pretend to be someone else. I've been doing it my whole life."
Here is Green on "Conan" in 2012:
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