Actor and director Josh Leonard launched into the spotlight as one of the stars of The Blair Witch Project. After a bit of a wayward youth (getting in trouble for having alcohol and Playboys at school, time spent in a boys home and legal emancipation) followed by a bit of a wayward next-phase-in-life (culminating in heroin addiction), Leonard was only a few months into sobriety when the indie movie he’d made in two weeks became the Next Big Thing. In the years since, he’s done time on many a TV series (including Hung and The United States of Tara) before 2009’s Humpday put him back in the indie spotlight. Also a successful director, Leonard has done both music videos (Morcheeba, Fitz and the Tantrums) as well as feature films (2011’s The Lie). He’s also maintained not only his sobriety but also his humility, which wasn’t so easy in the beginning (stick around for the white limo story, which comes hear the end). In this episode, he and I talk about how as a kid, he used to try to work through recess to avoid getting his ass kicked, the letter he wrote that helped his brother get sober and whether crying out of gratitude is “girly” or not.
Speaking of podcasts, I was a guest on Pat O’Brien’s new podcast on the Carolla Network this week. Even though he was the host and I was the guest, I semi interviewed him about his scandal. [O’Brien was, by the way, one of the first AfterPartyPod guests.]
Get the podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud or Stitcher. Find Joshua Leonard on Twitter. Photo courtesy of Joshua Leonard; used with permission.