Outer Banks Star Rudy Pankow on Playing Tom Holland's Brother in Uncharted

Hello. Hello. How are you doing?

Good. How are you?

Dandy. Dandy. Thank you for asking. Are you shooting anywhere right now or are you chilling?

Well, I'm not quite sure if I can say that, but I'm currently chilling as of right now.

There you go. There you go. Well, congrats. So Uncharted is out to the world. How do you feel?

I feel one honored to be a part of the uncharted and a fun cinematic universe that is also a gaming universe, and I think uh, yeah, it's a fun feeling. Uh, and I'm just happy that people are liking it.

Yeah. Have you been in LA recently or to see all the billboards and everything all over of the movie?

I saw one, but I'm currently not in LA. So I left kinda right before the billboards, I think, kinda came around. Uh, I saw one of them. They're all over. They look sick.

So, congrats on that by the way.

Thank you.

So, when did you find out that you actually got the role in relation to filming it and now it being out?

Yeah. That uh, I found out I got the role pretty much the day before I left for the job. So like uh, it was a pretty quick turnaround. I got a call and all of a sudden they were like, "Yeah, you're getting on a plane tomorrow, but we have to figure out if we can get all like the green card, all the stuff." And so,

Right. That was a whirlwind. So you found out and then you went, you booked it. You didn't really have time to process probably what was happening.

Mm-mm. No.

And also, okay, so when you get big parts, so when you found out you got Outer Banks and you found out you get this movie and the other big roles that you've starred in, uh, do you have like a certain celebration? I know you didn't have much time with Uncharted, but do you celebrate? Do you text someone?

Yeah. I mean, in the hotel room I tried to like, you know, I mean I called my girlfriend and then I was like, "Hey, I did it. I'm here." And then we like kinda cheers and it was fun. Uh, and uh, that was, yeah, I celebrated it in the hotel room. That's, that's the main thing. I couldn't really do that cuz Covid at that time was pretty tense, uh, and so like I couldn't really go out to anything. You know. Celebrate that.

And what was the conversation like if you're just when you're not filming, what was it like just talking talking to Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, like your other cast members? What was the vibe behind the scenes?

It was, it was very fun. I think what made me so what drew me into that uh, the first day on set was Tom was there and he was talking to Young Nate. And it just felt like a very supportive like kinda like, "Hey, we can do this," kinda like, like, you know, we got this trying to calm him down a little bit cuz when you're on a set like that large and stuff, it can be a little overwhelming and like that was really it. It was kinda more just kinda business oriented of like, let's do this, let's create this and it was just by the time that I got uh, you know, a part of this project, it was already an oiled machine kind of, you know, that's how I can put it.

Do you have any like memory from set either with someone else or just with yourself that you just won't forget? Like it was like iconic. You're like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that happened to me."

Oh yeah. I mean, there's countless things. I think playing cards with Taran, my little uh, Young Nate. Uh, that was, we had a blast doing that. But also like the sets. There was this one set uh, in Madrid, Spain, which is where we shot. And it was like the the real Museum of Ferdinand or Ferdinand Magellan and his like picture is and it's the real painting of him. And it's just so fascinating to see like these real artifacts in in the movie. Um, and be used for the movie. So I will never forget that.

That's so cool that you got to experience that too. Like not only you're shooting like a huge movie, you're also being able to experience, oh, that's crazy. Yeah. Experiencing history too. It's just so cool. Do you prefer after filming the movie, do you prefer TV shows or movies? Are you like both? Uh, in terms of watching or like, I mean,

Or series, yeah. Like certain like episodes or like just one long movie. For sure. I think I mean, it depends on the mood. It depends on the mood like there's nothing like, you know, long day, going home, putting on a series and not like half paying attention to it. You know, there's nothing that's, that's a great feeling. But then there's another feeling of where it's just like, no, I'm putting aside this time to enjoy a story all the way through and I think that's the other side of the corner is like if you're cutting out time to watch something and enjoying the full story from start to end, obviously movie.

Totally. Is there a certain movie or role that you'd want to do like in the future? Like would you want to do crime? Would you want to do thriller?

Oh, I mean, yes. I mean, throw it all at me. But at the same time, I think like a time piece, like a time piece, bio piece, uh, a biopic would be amazing. Uh, but you know, who knows? There's there's some rumors. But at the same time, I'm I'm always down just to like kind of explore the and let those come to me, but at the same time, I'm putting that energy out to get some biopic out there. That'd be really fun.

And you posted on Instagram. So you had two pictures side by side. You had you working, I think doing dishes, right? You were on in LA doing dishes and then the Outer Banks picture like doing the red carpet. So when you look at that, what goes like, is that insane to you? Like how do you feel?

It's a fun nostalgic feeling. Yeah. It's um, so I feel like when we have those jobs that you know, that it's a stepping stone or something, you know you're working towards something. I'll be honest, when I was in that dish room, doing what I was doing, I was always thinking about like my half of my brain was focusing on the dishes. I will say that. I will say that. Yeah. Uh, but uh, the other half was like what was the thing I need to focus on with if it was like lines the next day, if it was the audition that I had to do, if there was the emails that like my brain or if it even was like thinking about doing a red carpet or something like that. It was always focusing. So then when you I post that pic because it's kinda what my brain was like thinking, it was just like I'm focusing on one thing, but I'm also thinking about the other of like the future and like that in moments like that. So that's kinda what I like it is fun to look at that pic and just kinda be like, wow. All right. Well, we'll keep moving forward, you know.

Have you been back to that restaurant or wherever it was?

Actually, no, I have not. I have not been back.

One day. It'd be so good when you walk through those doors.

I've talked to a couple of people since I left though. Yeah. For sure. Keep in touch, you know.

Yeah. And then also, so when you have like all the Outer Banks cast, you know, you've all done independent projects away from Outer Banks. But when you get something big, are you guys very supportive of each other? Like did your cast members from Outer Banks text you like, "Oh my God, dude, like the movie's great."

Oh, yeah. No, there's it's a huge supporting uh, cast here on OBX in terms of any role anyone gets. It's just always like, "Hey, congrats. And you're gonna go." Uh, and yeah, some people got some exciting stuff. I can't reveal that, but some people got some exciting.

Yeah, that's awesome. You guys seem very, very close. I mean all your interviews. You're obviously like best friends, but it's so fun.

Yeah, they're a great they're a great bunch.

Okay, so we're gonna play a quick game before we end. It's this or that. So there's two scenarios and you're gonna choose. Okay? All right. Okay, perfect. So, this or that: Islands or mountains?

Island. Damn. Um, okay. I grew up on both. Uh, island. Island. I like water. Water is the best.

Um, stay up late or wake up early?

I'm gonna say wake up early.

What time do you usually wake up right now in life?

Like 9:00 AM, but no, this week, this week it's been uh, pretty early. It's been at least 5:00 AM usually.

Oh my gosh. Okay, yeah. You're an early bird gets the worm. Okay. Your Instagram comments or TikTok comments you read? About you or about things in general?

Uh, I probably, I mean, Instagram. I don't really look at TikTok.

You know, you know when when Outer Banks came out season two, did you read all of the, did you see any of the TikToks that were about you? I saw

Like your friends sending to you?

There were some, there were some on, yeah. I I couldn't ever really tell which was an Instagram, which was a TikTok whenever I saw it. You blew up on TikTok. You were the like everyone's For You page when that season came out.

There you go.

Date night in or date night out?

Uh, date night in.

There you go. Uh, Jonathan or Chase?

Ah, I can't make him choose between my boys like that. Uh, neither. I'm gonna say both at the same time.

I love it.

And then Uncharted or Outer Banks? I've got some trick questions for you.

Well, I mean, both have their pros and cons. That's like, I'm gonna say both again, because I think they're different launches. But yeah. Similar, I will say that. But you know, if you're a Tom fan, if you're, you know, it's a whole thing. It's a whole thing going on.

I love it. Well, thank you so much. Congrats on everything too. You've been killing it.

Oh, thank you so much. And thank you so much for having me.