Mare Winningham

break.

I did Every Grain of Sand on my last tour, actually, with Mare Winningham as a duet.

I don't cover Dylan's songs very often, but she likes that song.

And so we did it.

And, you know, so here we are and looking back at that and going, "Wow." Yes.

The, my real memories are really feeling a part of the co- I feel, and to this day, you know, John Cullum ended up working with my wife Mare, and I f- you know, all, uh, like, there, there's ...

But that time, like, doing that silly things like going to a Mariners game and throwing out the first pitch with you guys.

I missed that too.

Anyway, go ahead.

Okay, you threw out the first pitch at the Mariners games.

Yeah, I was just saying there was a lot of, like, really just great fun that was happening there, and it was also, for me, just personally, it was a time in my life when, I mean, I was shooting a scene with John Corbett, and, uh, uh, we were up, it was by a campfire, it was a beautiful, spectacular day, and I got a call, um, from, uh, my ex-wife, but my wife at the time, [laughs] and she had gotten pregnant.

And it was at a moment in my life when I was like, "I'm going to be a dad," and a wanting to be a dad.

It sucks.

You missed a chance to direct Mare Winningham.

I don't feel too bad

for you.

But yeah, these were kids who were not even old enough to go to college mo- to graduate college, most of them.

Well, I just keep going back in my mind to the scene with Mary Winningham and the scuba suit.

Because I just think it's so mean.

And that character that she played, plays it so brilliantly when she gets up and she's like, "I, I don't, I don't think we should ever talk again.

In the summer of 1985, seven friends fresh out of Georgetown University walked into a bar called St. Elmo's and onto movie screens across the country.

St. Elmo's Fire starred Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, and Andie MacDowell.

And it told the story of a group of friends trying to figure out who they are after college ends.

They face first jobs, first apartments, and first loves, and they discover that adult life is far messier than anyone promised.

The first thing that resonated with me going to school in DC is that everybody is so smart, and everyone thinks they're gonna change the world.

When I look at the collection of characters, it does remind me of school because everyone's so intense, and they're so passionate.

Mare Winningham's character to me, I knew girls like that who grew up in families where there's an expectation of them, and they tend to take a backseat about their own desires because it doesn't fit in with what their parents wanted.

Who is that person based off of?

Oh, well, a phobia is, that's one of the most fascinating things, Art, are the way, uh, phobias can often be explained, uh, away when, uh, and, and can actually be lessened when the person realizes, as is often the case, the phobia is connected with a UFO experience.

Uh, [clears throat] the, uh, actress, Mare Winningham, call... who was in the film Intruders, uh, called me and had me talk to a, a man she knew, um, who thought he might have had these experiences.

He had a terrible phobia of sharks when we discussed that.

And I said, "Well, [clears throat] I imagine," uh, trying to do a little leading, I said, "I imagine you must, when you're afraid of sharks, you must think of that great big mouth with all those teeth."