Shawn Ashmore's 1 Degree of Kevin Bacon

Hey, what's up? This is Sean Ashmore from The Following.

From The Following. You okay? I am here with Sean Ashmore. Great to have you here.

Good to be here. How are you?

Fellow Canadian.

Yeah. Yes.

But you're like a Canadian, you've like traveled.

Yeah, uh I started in BC. Yeah. Then went to Alberta, then went to Ontario and then came to LA.

But how do you say Toronto?

Toronto. Toronto. Yeah, not Toronto. I learned that the hard way when I moved, I think we're in fifth grade and friends were asking like, how do you like Toronto? And I was like, oh, Toronto's nice. And they're like, no. No, no, no, no, no. So I learned, I learned fairly quickly.

You are not the cool kid. You just got to figure it out, you know, you got to learn. But you just said out. You didn't say out. That's, that's the anatomy.

The out and about changed because I did a TV show uh in Toronto, but I was uh it was an American show. So I'd have to go do ADR and change the way I said it every single time. So I was like, okay, I'm going to learn. I'm going to figure this out as quickly as I can.

And you're a twin.

I am a twin. My brother uh Aaron is actually uh lives in Toronto who's uh on a TV show called Warehouse 13 up there.

Did you have fun growing up? Did you have fun with people pulling pranks to do all that stuff?

Um, we didn't really have to pull pranks because people mixed us up all the time anyways. Right. And in high school, we purposely took different classes and we went to a really big high school. So, there would be people that would walk by my locker and be like, hey Aaron. And as opposed to me explaining that I was Sean and having to get go through like a 10-minute conversation.

You just go with it.

I just go with it.

But have you done roles together? Because I know a lot of times that can be really handy.

Yeah, we did. When we were kids, we did stuff together. And then the thing that we did most recently, um, was an episode of Fringe, uh, a couple years ago. That was a blast. And we didn't work together in about 10 years because we tried to distance ourselves. Right. Um, and just do our own thing.

Each other.

Yeah, you know, you're, you're stuck with each other forever, so.

So The Following. Yeah. There is so much buzz about this show. People are saying for network television, it's really, really edgy.

It's very, very edgy. I have to say that um, this year I read, I don't know, 50 pilots. But this, this show completely stood out to me. When you read that many scripts, you can sort of see plot twists coming. You can sort of see character development. This blew me away. There was two moments in the script where I I was totally shocked. And I think Kevin Williamson wrote not only great characters and an intriguing story, but sort of really broke them all and surprised me.

And he nabbed you. He nailed you.

He got me. He got me. And so I was in and I knew that Kevin Bacon was doing it. I knew that. So he was already attached to it. And James Purefoy was in. And between all those people, I mean, you know sort of.

Great pedigree.

An amazing pedigree. An amazing pedigree. And so when I was reading the pilot, I I was picturing these actors in their parts and I thought, you know, if if I can be a part of a show this year, this is the one I wanted to be a part of.

I know your character, he kind of, he kind of worships or hero worships Kevin Bacon's character a little bit because he's this FBI agent who Kevin Bacon has solved this incredible, you know, serial killer case, but then the guy escapes. So then you're, you're sort of thrust into this situation where you've sort of studied this and analyzed it and and hero worshiped. And so is there anybody in your life that you could see yourself getting thrown into the mix and you just be like, wow, this is this is super surreal.

I think when I did the first X-Men movie, Brian Singer was somebody I loved The Usual Suspects. And I was like, wow, I get to work with this guy that created a film that I was so into and and so excited about. And even working with with Kevin uh Bacon, it's like, you recognize him. He's a great actor. He's someone that I've I've watched over the years and watched as I've grown up. And so for the first kind of five minutes, you're like, wow, I'm playing a scene with with Kevin.

You're first first degree, Kevin Bacon.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's not even the six degrees anymore.

I uh that's been brought up a lot. So now I'm second degree Kevin Bacon because I've interviewed you. You're probably second degree Kevin Bacon before. I don't know. Let's try to figure this out. This this might be I'm pretty sure though. You've probably, you've probably been second degree at some point.

Possibly.

Okay, so I have a little something here that Fox sent over. Okay. And don't be, don't be alarmed. It's just going to come up slowly. It's a disturbing Edgar Allan Poe mask. Yes. Can you explain sort of

Yes. Okay. So yeah, it's really, really disturbing.

We guys got that in the mail?

We did. Yes, with no warning. Right. Yeah, yeah. Good. Good. So, um, Joe Carroll played by James Purefoy. Yes. Um. He's a serial killer in our show. Um, he's the main villain, basically. And his murders are basically based around Edgar Allan Poe's um, writings. And he worships Edgar Allan Poe. And throughout the series, let's just say that there are many references to Poe's poetry, to his literature, and some of the killings are are closely based and inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. So

Do you feel like there's like a third wheel sitting on the couch at this moment? It's kind of weird. I mean,

Well, there's your Halloween costume for next year.

I don't want to wear that. Okay. So he just wanted to address your Twitter for a second. Yeah. Because I noticed a lot of your tweets, it's almost like you are constantly, you must be like a movie TV buff because there was like references to like Homeland, Gladiator, The Gift. Yeah. During Halloween, it was like that you're watching like all the Halloween sequels, Elm Street, Pet Sematary.

Yeah. I don't know what else to put on Twitter. I really don't. I'm like I I start typing stuff and I'm like, I don't know if anybody's interested in that. But people are always interested in in film and television.

Yeah. In film and television. I would just want to ask you a couple of your favorite like genres, favorite romantic comedy. So you're going to make a recommendation?

Let's skip, let's skip over that one. We'll come back. I have to think about that.

Is The Vow, isn't that the obvious choice?

No, no.

Okay. Horror.

I love The Shining. I love The Exorcist. Recently, Insidious scared the crap out of me. I love I love ghost stories. Those are the movies that really scare me. The supernatural stuff really gets to me.

And X-Men obviously would be your favorite like superhero movie.

Yeah, yeah. Definitely, definitely X-Men. I love I love Batman, I love The Dark Knight stuff. I love Avengers, but yeah, I have to go with X-Men.

Okay, romantic comedy. I mean, I have to I'm I'm going through my brain to my wife's favorite and I think that you just nod and smile and go, that was great, honey. That was amazing.

No, she loves, she loves Matthew McConaughey. So um Magic Mike. That was a chick flick. That kind of qualifies. Yeah, no, I I I want to say like How To Lose A Guy Is probably one of her one of her favorites.

Tell her she has she has fan. She does have great taste. I want to know. And because this is The Following and we are talking about Twitter, if you could follow only follow one person, who would it be? And you could have one person following you, who would it be?

Well, that's easy. My wife. Done.

You just scored major points. You just scored major points with your wife. Can't wait for the show. Um. Oh, so excited for people to see it. And be terrified. And I'm going to put this thing on. It's definitely creepy. It's definitely creepy. He's not going to bite. Thanks, Sean.

Thank you.