Ed Begley Jr. Says His Agents Told Him to ‘Back Off’ Activism to Land Roles: ‘It’s Hard to Get You a Job’

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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Ed Begley Jr. is looking back on how his environmental activism negatively affected his career.

The “Better Call Saul” star admitted that his agents told him to “back off” his eco-friendly dedication so that he could land more roles — and, at one point, after crew members on film sets were stressed the recycling bins had not been properly disposed of in Begley’s presence. Begley was also approached during the 1994 film “The Pagemaster” by a producer who anticipated the actor would not want to film a scene involving him driving a car.

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“I gave people the creeps,” Begley told Page Six. “People were afraid that I was going to point at them exiting their limo or their SUV and go, ‘How can you drive a car?’ I was like, ‘This is what I do and if you want to do it, I’ll tell you how I did it.'”

He added his agents told him, “You’ve got to back off a little bit because, you know, it’s hard to get you a job.”

Begley continued, “Joel Schumacher gave me two weeks on ‘Batman Forever’ and Brian Grazer and Ron Howard gave me six weeks on ‘Greedy.’ That’s it. [Then] Chris Guest bailed me out of movie jail with ‘Best in Show’ and I’ve been working ever since.”

“The West Wing” alum credited his lifestyle choices with not having a financial strain on him, especially when work was slow.

“Bills are very low because of all the stuff I did,” Begley said. “I grow a lot of my own food, I collect my rainwater, I have my own electricity, I heat my water with the sun. All of it makes for a very inexpensive life.”

His advice?

“Just do what you can, Whatever you can afford, do it today,” the “To the Temple of Tranquility…And Step On It!” memoirist said. “You know it’s not all or nothing, you do what you can … everybody has to do what they can, what they can afford, what you have time for and there’s a lot that everybody can do now.”

Begley and his family founded website Begley Living in 2017 to promote their “Begley Belief” about green living. “This need not be, and should not be, a partisan issue,” the website states. “There are many cheap and easy ways to save energy at your home and office. We intend to show you how you can get started on a cost-effective path to greater efficiency.”

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