Mason Thames And Stephen Colbert Bond Over Their Love For "The Thing"

Hey! Welcome back everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, you know my next guest from How to Train Your Dragon, For All Mankind, and The Black Phone. He now stars in Black Phone 2. Please welcome to The Late Show, Mason Thames. Oh my gosh. Welcome to The Late Show. This is insane. Welcome to the Ed Sullivan Theater. Hi everyone. I understand we were just talking backstage. You were telling me this is the first late night show you've ever been on. This is, yeah. You are. Yeah, this is like... You're getting in just under the wire, my friend. How's it going so far? This is insane. I mean, I've always wanted to be on a late night show, and I'm such a big fan of yours. I've been watching you just since I was a kid, and I love you. So this is, thank you. Being my first late night show. Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. Insane. That's so great. Well, they're not always this good. Now, you're having a busy year. Let me get all this down here. You starred in the live action How to Train Your Dragon. You're now starring in the Colleen Hoover romance, Regretting You, as well as the sequel to your first film, Black Phone 2. And on top of that, you also turned 18 this summer. I did. I did. That's a lot to take in. It's crazy. That's a lot to drink in. Are you giving yourself time to enjoy all this? I mean, this year has been just an insane period with just all that's going on. I'm just genuinely so lucky and just trying to take it all in. And yeah, yeah, it's been great. So wait, so first movie was Black Phone. Black Phone, yeah. How old were you in that one? I was 13. 13, okay. Five years ago. Okay, okay, so big milestone of being a teenager is getting your license. Have you? Oh no, don't tell me. Have you not? That has been my biggest dream since I was a kid. How many movies have you made? Why can't you? Have you taken any driving lessons or anything like that? I mean, I know how to drive. I've not taken driving lessons, but I've driven vehicles in movies before. You're just a natural. You're a natural. Wait a second, did you say you've driven vehicles in movies? Are you confessing to breaking the law on national television? No, no, no, I had police escorts. I had police escorts, so it was different. I've driven an ice cream truck, a taxi, a Honda Civic, a lot. And it's so funny, I'm driving illegally with police escorts. Are other people in the car with you? Yeah. And do they know that you don't actually know how to drive? Yeah, I mean, I did Regretting You, and my co-star, McKenna, I had this scene where I was just pulling out, and she knew I didn't know how to drive, and she was terrified, so on purpose, I just kind of stepped on the gas a little bit. Yeah, but I can drive. Enough. You can't drive me. Okay, all right. That's crazy, that's crazy. Okay, so your first movie, as you said, was Black Phone. How old were you, 12? I was 12 when I got the job, 13 when I filmed it. So what was that rated? That was rated R. Yeah, I legally wasn't even allowed to see the movie. You couldn't go see the movie? Did you get, like, a copy at home or something? Well, when I walked into the theater, because, I mean, you can watch it if you go with your parents, but, like, me and my friends, obviously, just want to go enjoy it. You didn't want to go with your parents. Yeah, and, sorry, but, like, we'd walk into the theater, and then they'd just be like, oh, you're not 18, can't walk in. My friends would be like, he's in the movie, and, like, point at the poster, and the guy would just look at me and just be like, I don't care. That doesn't keep his job? No, no, but what we would normally do is, this was, like, our method. Right, you guys figured that one out, did you? Yeah, that was great. You got to act, I mean, pretty, for a first movie, to act opposite Ethan Hawke, that's got to be a lot of fun right there. Did you know, I'm just curious, as a 13-year-old, were you familiar with Ethan Hawke? Did you know of any Ethan Hawke? I was not. I hadn't seen any of his work. You hadn't even seen, like, the Dead Poet movie? No, nothing. I mean, if I watched that at 13, I think I'd have had a lot of problems. Yeah, to me, he was just Ethan, and he was just a scary guy in a mask. Aren't we all, though? Aren't we all ultimately just scary guys in masks? Yeah, I mean, the fun part about it is getting to work with him, and I was so young at the time, he just made sure, because the scenes we had were terrifying and just really creepy, so he would just make sure I knew all the time that we were just having fun, and we were making a movie, and then later on in my life, I'd watch all of his work, like Dead Poets, and now that I got to work with him again, I just drilled him on questions, and he's so fantastic, and I'm so lucky. Yes, he is. He's very good. Horror. I don't do that well with horror, so I can't promise I will see Black Phone or Black Dog. Fair enough. But I understand you have a clip. Oh, I do, I do. Yeah, so in this movie, we're basically at this winter camp, and yeah, the Grabber, spoiler alert, he dies in the first film, and he comes back as a ghost. That's Ethan Hawke's character. That is Ethan Hawke's character, yes, and he comes back as this ghost figure haunting us, and this is kind of my first conversation with him since I killed him. You bond? Yeah. Hello, Finney. What do you want? It took me a long time, but now I remember. You're dead. Oh, Finney, you of all people know that dead is just a word. Tell me why you're here. Why do you think I'm here? That stuff, I don't, that's not it. Not your thing. Do you like horror? I mean, I can appreciate horror, but I jump scare very, very easily. I do, I love horror. Really? Do you have a favorite horror film? My new favorite one is, which I just watched recently, which I get a lot of crap from when I tell people, but The Thing. John Carpenter's The Thing. Yeah, is my favorite horror film. Paradoxically, because I'm not a big horror fan, that is my favorite. I know, they told me backstage. Oh, really? That's crazy, that movie is so good. That's my comfort film. Yeah, that is. Just like the practical effects, the acting, just the setting itself, and the score, it's so fantastic, and it's like, which is crazy to me, because when that film came out, it didn't do well, because it came out the same year as E.T., so it was kind of. And everyone wanted like the fuzzy, touchy. Yeah, yeah. Not the kind that head just chomps off your arm. Basically. Stuff like that, yeah. That's crazy to me. Quick question, is Child's The Thing? Oh my God, what do you think? I'm the host. I mean, see, I've seen so many things about the breath, and. Right, and the whiskey bottles, and who's got facial hair and who doesn't, and all that kind of stuff. I'm going to say he isn't. All right. I'm going to say he isn't. We'll all find out when we die and go to heaven, I guess. Mason, thanks so much for being here. I'm glad to be here, man. Black Phone 2 opens in theaters Friday. Mason Thames, everybody. We'll be right back.