Nicholas Hoult Returns

Summary

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard: Episode Summary – "Nicholas Hoult Returns"

Release Date: July 7, 2025

In this engaging episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, host Dax Shepard welcomes back the charismatic actor Nicholas Hoult to delve into a wide array of topics ranging from Hollywood experiences to personal anecdotes. Joined by Monica Padman, the conversation offers listeners a deep dive into Hoult's career, personal life, and his upcoming role in the highly anticipated "Superman" movie.

1. Welcoming Nicholas Hoult

The episode kicks off with Dax Shepard expressing his admiration for Nicholas Hoult, highlighting his Golden Globe nominations and his roles in films like Warm Bodies, About a Boy, and the upcoming Superman, set to release on July 11, 2025.

Dax Shepard [03:23]: "I've never bleached my hair before. This is a first."

2. Hairstyles and Public Image

Nicholas Hoult discusses his recent decision to bleach his hair for a role, emphasizing that it hasn't altered his personality but signified him having more fun.

Nicholas Hoult [03:25]: "I'm kind of into it. It hasn't changed my personality yet, but I'm gradually migrating into treats."

Dax playfully comments on the transformation, comparing it to a teenage look from the '80s, while Madame shares humorous remarks about body image and attractiveness.

3. Golden Globe Nominations and Industry Insights

Hoult reflects on his two Golden Globe nominations during tumultuous times—first during the COVID-19 pandemic and the second amid the Golden Globes boycott. He shares his disappointment about missing out on attending the ceremonies and his feelings during these periods.

Nicholas Hoult [04:03]: "It's brilliant. And such a great celebration of the stunt industry."

He also touches upon his thoughts on the potential introduction of a stunt category at the Oscars, thanks to director David Leitch's efforts.

4. Fitness, Body Image, and Parenting

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around fitness and body image. Dax humorously admits striving for a fit physique and acknowledges Hoult's naturally athletic appearance.

Monica Padman [06:00]: "You come up as the perfect male body."

Nicholas opens up about his fitness routine and a recent setback—torn ACL from a casual basketball game. He details the incident and his recovery process, highlighting the importance of physiotherapy over immediate surgery to maintain his role in an action-packed film.

5. Racing Adventures: Motorcycles and Cars

Hoult shares his passion for racing, recounting his experiences with motorcycles and cars. He narrates a recent motorcycle crash where he tore his ACL during a pickup game and his subsequent involvement in the Ferrari Challenge at Daytona.

Nicholas Hoult [14:03]: "I lost the back end into the tires."

He discusses the thrill and fear associated with high-speed racing, his commitment to improving despite setbacks, and compares his experiences across different racing events.

6. Working with Directors and Playing Villains

The discussion shifts to Hoult's collaborations with notable directors like Clint Eastwood and Justin Kozell. He elaborates on the challenges and rewards of portraying complex characters, particularly villains such as Lex Luthor in Superman.

Dax Shepard [36:10]: "What seemed like an easy anchor for that character was the hate and the bigotry and all that."

Hoult emphasizes the importance of understanding a villain's motivations and humanity to deliver a believable performance, showcasing his dedication to the craft.

7. Philosophical Influences and Acting Approach

Nicholas reflects on the philosophical teachings from the Bhagavad Gita, which influence his approach to acting and life. He shares a favorite quote that underscores the importance of working for the sake of work rather than the outcomes.

Nicholas Hoult [27:34]: "There's something very fun about playing Bill."

This philosophy aids him in embracing roles without the anxiety of results, allowing him to deliver more authentic performances.

8. Personal Life: Family and Parenting

Hoult provides insights into his personal life, including his role as a father to two children. He discusses the challenges and joys of parenting, such as school drop-offs and the influence of his American accent on his son.

Nicholas Hoult [22:37]: "We live not far from here in the hills. And then whenever I was leaving town for work, she would go down there to be closer to them."

Dax and Monica humorously explore topics related to parenting styles, gender roles, and the dynamics of raising children in a high-profile family.

9. Interactions with Other Celebrities

The conversation takes a nostalgic turn as Hoult shares his interactions with legends like Brad Pitt and Gene Hackman. He recounts meeting Pitt at the Venice Film Festival and working with Hackman on films like Unforgiven.

Nicholas Hoult [45:12]: "I ran into him last year at something and it was lovely. Cause you had a proper catch up and a good little giggle."

These stories highlight Hoult's admiration for seasoned actors and his desire to collaborate with them again in the future.

10. Challenges and Personal Reflections

The trio touches upon various personal challenges, including Dax's torn ACL, Monica's experiences with public perception, and the pressures of maintaining a public persona. They discuss coping mechanisms, such as hobbies, racing, and shared laughter, to navigate the complexities of life and fame.

Dax Shepard [63:57]: "What's the word I was condemning customarily? Not necessarily helpful."

11. Upcoming Projects and Final Thoughts

As the episode nears its conclusion, the focus shifts back to Hoult's role in Superman. He shares his excitement about auditioning for Lex Luthor and how his instincts led him to this iconic villain role.

Nicholas Hoult [49:03]: "So it worked out perfectly."

The hosts express their anticipation for the film's release and reflect on the themes discussed, reinforcing the episode's blend of professional insights and personal camaraderie.

Notable Quotes:

• Nicholas Hoult [03:25]: "I'm kind of into it. It hasn't changed my personality yet, but I'm gradually migrating into treats."

• Nicholas Hoult [14:03]: "I lost the back end into the tires."

• Nicholas Hoult [27:34]: "There's something very fun about playing Bill."

• Nicholas Hoult [45:12]: "I ran into him last year at something and it was lovely. Cause you had a proper catch up and a good little giggle."

Conclusion

This episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard provides a multifaceted look into Nicholas Hoult’s life, both on and off the screen. From his commitment to his craft and physical fitness to his experiences as a father and interactions with Hollywood veterans, Hoult offers a candid and insightful narrative. The hosts seamlessly blend humor with depth, making this episode a must-listen for fans seeking an authentic glimpse into the life of one of today's versatile actors.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondri plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome welcome to Armchair Expert. It's an exciting week. It's the beginning of Superman Week.

[Monica Padman]

This is so exciting. I love a week. I love when we do a theme.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, and to kick that week off, we have a returning guest, someone I've pursued passionately for a friendship, as you'll learn unrequainted. Still am in love with him. That's how charming he is.

[Monica Padman]

How could you not be?

[Dax Shepard]

What a smoke show. Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Hoult is a Golden Globe nominated actor. The Great Warm Bodies About a Boy the Order Now Superman in theaters July 11th. I mean, go check it out.

[Monica Padman]

Check it out.

[Dax Shepard]

Please enjoy Nicholas Holt we are supported by Audible. Thanks to Audible for being the presenting sponsor of today's episode. We could all use an escape these days and the best way to do it audible. With over 1 million titles in their selection, there's more to imagine with Audible. We are supported by Twizzlers. What a fun product.

[Monica Padman]

I love Twizzlers. I love a Twizzler in a movie theater.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, the fun never stops with Twizzlers. It's the candy that lets you stretch out the fun. It's the perfect level of sweet and comes in the fun, chewy twist that everyone knows and loves. Yeah. Nine on one in a dark movie theater.

[Monica Padman]

This is so fun.

[Dax Shepard]

I like to put my teeth between the ridges. Do you ever do that?

[Monica Padman]

Tell me more. Go on.

[Dax Shepard]

It's got the grooves in it. And then I put my incisor in the groove. Yeah, I love that. Twizzlers is there when you're in an afternoon slump and need a pick me up when it's time for a little treat yourself moment. And when you want to be the hero of your next group, hang. Reach for a bag of Twizzlers. They're perfect for sharing and they're clutch for outdoor adventures and road trips because they don't melt in the sun. Talk about a snack hack. Grab a bag of Twizzlers and stretch out the fun. We are supported by Audible from Scott Z. Burns, the writer of Contagion, with special guest appearances from director Steven Soderbergh, Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer L. Don't Miss what Could go Wrong, a deeply thoughtful, occasionally frightening and often hilarious Audible original podcast that delves head and heart first into today's burning question can humankind and AI actually work hand in hand? Follow Scott and an ever expanding cast of AI generated partners including Lexter, an extraordinarily gifted sharp tongued AI as they co write and pitch Hollywood execs the Contagion sequel. Listen to what could go wrong now on audible. Go to audible.com. what could go wrong?

[Nicholas Hoult]

He's an upchurchman.

[Dax Shepard]

He's an upchurchman. He's anchor. Let's talk immediately about this gorgeous hairdo. Yeah. Because it really answers the question I've always had, like, what if we were peers in the same age and we grew up together and I think this would have been your look in junior high in the 80s. Very skaters.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I've never bleached my hair before. This is a first.

[Monica Padman]

How are you liking it?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm kind of into it. It hasn't changed my personality yet, but I'm gradually migrating into treats.

[Dax Shepard]

You're having more fun. Oh, yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Of course. That was the first thing right out of the gates. I walked out of the salon and I threw those brunette shackles away and here I am.

[Dax Shepard]

All of a sudden you realize, oh, that's right, I do own a convertible. I'm gonna put the top down. I haven't done that yet, but I'm.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Kind of liking it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's fun.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Is it for a role?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. It wasn't just me.

[Dax Shepard]

Panic meltdown.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's for a role, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, fine.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it for the David Leitch?

[Nicholas Hoult]

It is for the David Leitch movie, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, how exciting. Did you see Fall Guy? You must have.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw Fall Guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Do we agree? It's a perfect film.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's brilliant. And such a great celebration of the stunt industry. And that's what's so exciting about what David's done recently as well, in terms of getting the stunt recognition category in the Oscars as well.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, did he succeed at that?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, yeah. I think in two years or something there's going to be a stunt design category, I think is what they call it. So that will be part of the Oscars.

[Dax Shepard]

I'll expect them to give me a lifetime achievement award in that department.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Get on it.

[Dax Shepard]

I never thought I had a route into the Academy awards, but this could be it.

[Monica Padman]

That's like they just added podcasting to the Golden Globes. He just shit on the Golden Globes publicly. I'm like, well, there goes our shot.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We'll redact that quick.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, come on, it's a little late.

[Nicholas Hoult]

You've got to start. Send some good things about The Globes.

[Monica Padman]

I know. We got a campaign.

[Dax Shepard]

You've had to play that game. Have you ever been on any weird lunches?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was lucky. I got nominated for the Globes twice. The first year was Covid, so we didn't get to go. I just sat at home with a laptop.

[Dax Shepard]

Is that good or bad?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was kind of like, oh, it would have been fun to go. I'd been nominated and been like, yeah, okay, this is an achievement. And then the following year, I got nominated again. And it was when everyone boycotted the Golden Globes, so again, nobody went. And I was like, what? And then the following year, I didn't get nominated.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, sure.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And everyone was back there having the best time. They loved the Golden Globes again. And I was sitting at home ruining it, being like, ugh, stewing.

[Dax Shepard]

If you get nominated again and then there's another event, we will have to conclude that's a you problem. It's definitely a Nichol problems.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. How have you guys been? It's been a while since I've been on. The house is looking lovely. You're looking very strong. We can talk about that more.

[Dax Shepard]

I'd love to. I'd like to do an hour.

[Nicholas Hoult]

What are you doing?

[Monica Padman]

We should pull up a picture. Robbie. Picture of the last one. Because I want to see how different you look.

[Dax Shepard]

You would be probably shocked with how often we have talked about you since you did the podcast. Every up. And specifically your body.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, truly.

[Monica Padman]

Not to put you on the spot, but yes, you come up as the perfect male body.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, thanks.

[Dax Shepard]

According to me.

[Monica Padman]

And women.

[Dax Shepard]

And me. Here's what happened. I had my own journey with your body. Yeah. I got big. And then there was a moment. It was actually when you were on. You left. It was a moment of clarity. I go, that's what women like. They don't want a fucking 220 pound dum dum.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Right. My body is unbelievably. I'm in the gym a fair bit, I'm playing sports, but I actually don't really look like it. And everyone just talks about how scrawny I am online.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no, no, no, no. No one's talking about that. Every woman I know is talking about how it's pretty much perfect. And I myself conceded to that when I left you, I was like, yeah, that's what every gal's looking for.

[Monica Padman]

You are very fit. But it doesn't look like you are trying too hard. There is a sweet sense.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Look how cute we are.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

What's happening?

[Monica Padman]

We just look younger.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you do the same thing I did? Let's be honest, you've got Nicholas in the photo.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Really? Your eyes should go there. And then I look at myself, I go, oh my God, what happened to my face? What's wrong with me? And did you do the same thing, Monica? Did you find your own face and then just get locked in? Well, yeah, start criticizing.

[Monica Padman]

I was just like, oh, we're getting older.

[Dax Shepard]

Uh huh. Okay.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Like I can tell from these, we're all getting older. Yeah, this is three years.

[Dax Shepard]

No, you look younger for sure. With a fun blonde hair and clean shaven.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I guess you're not clean shaven, you're aging backwards.

[Dax Shepard]

Get that off there, Rob. But I'm already kind of big there.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, especially you look muscular there too.

[Dax Shepard]

But you left. It was like a reckoning. And I was like, I gotta be honest with myself, I'm clearly not doing this for women. I know that this is the dream.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Well, now you're doing it for me because I walked in and saw you and I was like, woo.

[Monica Padman]

It was like a moth to you.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was like, woof, woof.

[Monica Padman]

And it works. Men love his body.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Now we do.

[Dax Shepard]

I speak on behalf of women are out, men are in. Let's go. Yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

So you'd stop doing it for men, but result of that, I've actually done it even more for men.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, it's all for men. It's probably always been for men, but it took me a while.

[Nicholas Hoult]

As long as you're fit and healthy and happy, it's all good.

[Dax Shepard]

What is your routine?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Well, at the moment I've got a different routine because I've torn my acl.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you have?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Three weeks ago.

[Dax Shepard]

Shooting?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, playing basketball. That pickup Saturday morning game, I was really feeling it.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you appoint yourself power forward? What role are you playing?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, power forward. It was rough. The most embarrassing thing was it went. I was laying there and I was in a little pansy about it.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, ah, oh, wow, hyperventilating.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Someone I was playing with, they were like, someone get help or something.

[Monica Padman]

Call nine.

[Nicholas Hoult]

They did. So eventually, like 10, 15 minutes later, I'm up and like people are helping me out the gym to get in the car to try and get home. My wife had told me that day, she was like, don't go play tomorrow morning because you're playing on Sunday anyway. Just chill. And I went anyways. And then I was like, oh, right, I shouldn't have been here. And now I've done this now she's.

[Dax Shepard]

Got an I told you.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And then two fire engines turn up, and all these firefighters jump out with all their emergency gear. And I'm running towards her, and I'm hobbling out, and I was like, no, guys, it's really okay. I was like, this is so embarrassing. It's fine.

[Dax Shepard]

That's rough. The fire.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. They all looked at me like, what is your problem? Why were we called for this?

[Dax Shepard]

Because you probably already were regretting your reaction by the time you were up and walking.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. I was like, am I overreacting?

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It felt pretty bad.

[Monica Padman]

It was horrible.

[Nicholas Hoult]

My knee went outwards. And then people kept on asking me, did you hear a pop? And I was like, I don't think. But also, I was probably shrieking in my mind at that point. It's a complete terror song.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

All I'm looking for out of you right now to help me in my future. Do you know. You know, you go, that's torn.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Looking back. Yeah. I was like, that's not good.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Nicholas Hoult]

That was pretty obvious. There's something definitely disconnected. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Hey, and did you get surgery for it?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No. Yeah. I've got to go do the film first, because if I did the surgery now, I wouldn't be able to walk.

[Dax Shepard]

But this is an action movie. You'll be running and jumping.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. Yeah. So that gets back to your question about what I'm doing. I'm doing physio three times a week, just kind of trying to get full motion back and strength because people can survive without an acl. It's just not good if you are, like, in an action, changing direction, trying to run and rock banks and whatever else. But we'll figure that out.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you have to call Dave personally, the director, David Leash?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I did. I called him. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Tell me about, like, leading up to that phone call.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was just like, oh, I'm an idiot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. For a second, my wife's gonna say, I told you so. And then next is this.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Well, at that point, I didn't have all the information. I hadn't got my mri, and I didn't know when I was gonna get. So there was a lot of unknowns at that point. So I just called him. I was like, hey, this is the deal. And David's great. He's one of the nicest people in the world. He was like, oh, I've had that. It. Don't worry. We'll figure it out.

[Dax Shepard]

I've had six of those. Don't worry.

[Nicholas Hoult]

He was lovely. He was like, just keep me Posted what we can do and how we're gonna make this work. So then luckily, when I went to the doctor, he was like, yeah, well, I wouldn't do surgery now anyway. Cause of this and this. So we'll do it after the film. We'll get you up on your feet. Then I called David Stray after that, and I was like, we're good.

[Monica Padman]

Good to go.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Let's go run some magnets.

[Monica Padman]

Let's get it done tomorrow.

[Dax Shepard]

Josh Brolin was stabbed in Mexico days before starting a movie.

[Nicholas Hoult]

That was wild recently. Today now is his news break. Is he okay?

[Dax Shepard]

What film was that on?

[Monica Padman]

I don't remember.

[Dax Shepard]

He in his using days, and he was taking a quick holiday before he started production when he got stabbed in the chest by a guy and had to come home. And he also. He broke his arm, like, three days before. No country for Old Men. But it kind of worked because he's doing it on purpose.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Monica Padman]

Rugged.

[Dax Shepard]

I just think in the scheme of things, worse has happened where he shows up with a fresh stab wound. We're gonna have to make this work. That swimming scene's out. I have a hole in my chest. Fresh stab wound.

[Monica Padman]

God, I think I would be tempted to just show up and be like, yeah. So I also tore my ACL so they couldn't recast me. They wouldn't have time to recast me.

[Dax Shepard]

I did that for a commercial, if you recall.

[Monica Padman]

And you got fired.

[Dax Shepard]

I could not book commercials. I auditioned for eight years from commercials, and I got two of them. This would be a third. But on the weekend before the shoot, a guy punched me in the nose as I was sitting down. Crisscross.

[Monica Padman]

Criss cross, applesauce.

[Dax Shepard]

I was sitting like that and got my nose broken.

[Nicholas Hoult]

You were sitting like that? Is that why the guy punched you? Because he was like, not crisscross apple.

[Dax Shepard]

He thought I was the broken.

[Monica Padman]

Calling it Indian style.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he was. I don't even know who's mad, Native Americans or Indians. No one knows.

[Monica Padman]

No one knows.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, but severely broken. And I was like, I'm just gonna go and hope that they can put makeup on it. And they couldn't. It was like this big. I had black and blue eyes, and it was crooked.

[Nicholas Hoult]

What was this commercial for?

[Dax Shepard]

It was for Carl's Juniors. Carl's junior.

[Monica Padman]

Carl's junior.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't need to say Junior.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's all right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. The Michigan in me came out. I want to catch everyone up. So you came on. I was very charmed by you as Most people are. And I was like, you know what? This is going to be my new young friend.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I know. And then we haven't hung out once.

[Dax Shepard]

I know.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We've text a fair bit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm pursuing you a little stronger.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, I'm just very unavailable.

[Dax Shepard]

You are, which is probably why I'm so attracted.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And I'm such a bad texter as well. When I opened my messages today to text you and then I was like, oh, shit, I haven't responded to this message and I felt bad, so I apologize for that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're in a relationship with a hot guy.

[Dax Shepard]

I know what they feel like.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, I'm very good when it's like, oh, we're going to meet.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But like that, just a casual check in.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Well, I've got kids and this and that and everything. I'm just like bouncing around a lot. I'll do better at that.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's not an excuse.

[Dax Shepard]

I wanted to out myself as heavily pursuing you.

[Nicholas Hoult]

You were riding recently down at Coda, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. On motorcycle.

[Nicholas Hoult]

How was that?

[Dax Shepard]

It was incredible. Have you driven that track?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I have. I did that track, yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you crash?

[Monica Padman]

I love stories.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, I didn't crash. We were there for south by Southwest and I was there with my two best friends. We'd gone out the night before and I was like, we're going to go to the track tomorrow and maybe drive. And then we, like, hadn't slept and I turned up at the track and then they were like, oh, there's a bike session out now. Do you want to go out? And me being young, I was like early 20s, mid-20s.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was stupid and I was like, yeah, okay, sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you went out on a motorcycle?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. So I went before the car session. Went out on a bike?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How did that feel?

[Nicholas Hoult]

It felt like I shouldn't have been doing it.

[Monica Padman]

Pretty dangerous.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Like, in hindsight, dumb decision. But I was like, well, I don't know when I'll be back again. Might as well. But it's a fun track. It's a beautiful track. It's surprising how much elevation change there.

[Dax Shepard]

Is that, as I say, it's like if you want to experience what it's like to ride inside of an American flag. Yeah, yeah, that's what it is. It's so. So colorful and I love it. So have you been driving?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I've been driving. I was at Daytona.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you in the Ferrari challenge?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yes. This time I was in Track Attack. We had a Bit of a rough weekend. Daytona. Have you done Daytona?

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Nicholas Hoult]

So it's a fun track because we do like the banking of the tri oval, but then you go into the infield. It was my first time there. I did have a crash.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you did?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm in the wars at the moment. I had the crash. I've done the knee. Everything's like, oh, Z, I should stop doing all this.

[Dax Shepard]

You start questioning.

[Nicholas Hoult]

There's a little bit of doubt creeping in occasionally now where I'm like, oh, this never used to happen. But it was, yeah, my second session out there of Ferrari challenge and I was probably pushing a little bit too hard. There's a brake zone on the back straight where you're breaking down for the bus stop chicane sort of thing. And you're coming, breaking from like 170 or 180. And I lost the back end into the tires.

[Dax Shepard]

Ah, oopsies.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

There's no level of embarrassment for me worse than if I fail in a vehicle.

[Nicholas Hoult]

First of all, it was that weird feeling.

[Dax Shepard]

How many times have you crashed motorcycle? Once. Four pieces, the clavicle and the whole thing. So really, I've had that. That's the only thing I've had.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I've. Go ahead.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, no.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. In the neighborhood. You purchased yourself on a bicycle. Bicycle.

[Dax Shepard]

I did crash an electric bicycle after I had already had the shoulder.

[Monica Padman]

And it was bad.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it broke all the hardware and stuff.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it was really bad.

[Dax Shepard]

But there's some level of embarrassment for.

[Monica Padman]

Me when it's vehicular because it's Dax's whole identity. Is it your whole identity? I don't think it is.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I wouldn't say it's the whole.

[Monica Padman]

What percentage?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I think if it was the whole identity, and I'm not that good at it. If I was really good at it, then I could be like, oh, yeah, it's more of my identity, but I'm not good enough for it.

[Dax Shepard]

Mine's disproportionately more any than it deserves to be. So you shouldn't let that rule.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I can't put all of it, but it depends what I'm obsessing about at that time that suddenly becomes my thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it's got to be a big chunk of your identity.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. I do enjoy it and I enjoy the obsession about it and the details and whatever else. But, yeah, I was embarrassed. It was that weird thing when I felt the crash happening. I was like, ah. And at that moment, there's nothing you can do about it. It's Too late. There's a little bit of time slowing. The only time I've come off a bike on track as well. I remember the thought was, oh, this is what it feels like.

[Dax Shepard]

Right?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Which is a weird thing. But you just go, oh, this is what's happening. This is what it feels like because it's out of your control. Then I hit the tires. Ferrari. The team were kind of happily surprised. There wasn't as much as there could have been to the car.

[Dax Shepard]

It was on a 24 hour.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, no, no. It wasn't an endurance thing. The next day we got back out in the car and that was the weird thing was then trying to get back out because that's the first time that's happened where I was like, oh. And we lost the data in the video, so we don't know what I did wrong. I'd be coming up to that turn, I'd be real tentative because I was like, oh, what happens if something happens again?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it's very scary to not know why it happened.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, yeah, that was a weird thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, two more things, Monica. I promise we'll move off.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, yeah, sorry.

[Monica Padman]

Remembering last time, there was a fair portion of.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Before, we just monopolized the conversation about race and.

[Dax Shepard]

My bad.

[Monica Padman]

No, no.

[Dax Shepard]

But when you're at Daytona. So when I did the Lamborghini thing, we did Fontana, which has the bank, I had the advantage of someone in that series. Well, two dudes in that series were NASCAR drivers. So I got to go out in practice and do the bank with them. But there was a moment before I went out behind him where I had done it, and I was like, fifth gear flat. That's as fast as a human can go through this turn. I came and I started talking to the NASCAR guy. He's like, oh, no. A sixth gear flat through there. I'm like, there's no fucking way. And he's like, well, just get behind me and follow me. And I'm like, okay. And I did. And lo and behold, you could. But I'm just curious, did you have that learning curve with the bank where it's like, oh, my God, you can go.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, yeah. The first time I went out, I went out with my coach, and he did three laps, four laps. I came in. I thought I was gonna cry. I was like, that's so intense.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I gotta do that.

[Nicholas Hoult]

My eyes are just a little bit misty. And I was like, I'm not gonna cry, but I just feel a little bit overwhelmed by everything that's just happened. And it's so fast. Yeah, it's like 31 degrees, the banking wherever, and you are flying. I think the fastest we hit there was 190.

[Dax Shepard]

190, turning left.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Nicholas Hoult]

So it was like one of those where they came in, they were like, go on, Nick, hop in the driver's seat. Off you go. At that moment, I was a bit like, oh, I don't know about this. But then you do build up to it, obviously. Also, I've done the track on the sim before, getting there, and that banking feels like it's like six lanes wide and no worries. And then suddenly you get on it and you are leant over as far as you are, and it's technically three lanes wide, but it feels like there's only room for one, maybe two cars. And you're looking up out the window over there.

[Dax Shepard]

All your peripheral vision is now moving by you. It's the only time you really feel speed. Everything out the window is going by at 190 and you're like, oh, I'm flying.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. It's a bizarre thing. But then also, I'll end race chat.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, you're good.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no. We have one more thing. I told her, there's two. Okay.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Okay. There was a beautiful moment. So on the Sunday, we'd finished, basically, and I was just like out there lapping a little bit, and the sun was setting and I was on the banking and I wasn't really pushing, but I was just kind of out there just enjoying like the sunset, Daytona, cruising around the banking, and I was like, this is a once in a lifetime experience that felt very special.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, oh, yeah, okay, last race thing. You'll like this one, though. It's more fun. Are you still following Formula one?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Great. How do you feel about Max this.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Season, particularly watching how far his car is off the pace, watching what he's doing? I'm really impressed by.

[Dax Shepard]

Just to say Monica, teammates, almost without exception, always finish within two places of each other. Max's whole season is finishing in the top three, and his teammate's 14 regular. He's 11 places ahead always.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's remarkable what he's doing this year and in qualifying and in the races. It's really impressive.

[Dax Shepard]

I bring him up because did you hear that they did a screening for F1 in Monaco?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, I didn't know this.

[Dax Shepard]

It's perfect. I saw it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, you saw it?

[Dax Shepard]

It's excellent. It's everything you want it to be. Every driver's in the movie virtually, and so they invited all the drivers to see a screening of it at Monaco, and everyone went except for Max, because he had a sim race scheduled.

[Monica Padman]

I think it's great he's prioritizing his real job.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, sim racing's not his real job. That's a hobby. But he is so obsessed with it. It's part of the reason he is Max. But when I saw it, I leaned over to Kristen and I'm like, fucking Max. He's in a movie with. With Brad Pitt. There's some sequences where it's he and Brad Pitt, and he's like, I don't need to see that.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Maybe he's just excited to see it another time. Well, maybe he's got tickets for opening day.

[Monica Padman]

I think he doesn't care, and I think that's cool.

[Dax Shepard]

I do, too. It's part of why I don't care.

[Monica Padman]

About these movie stars. I'm a race car driver.

[Dax Shepard]

He doesn't even care if he's in a movie with Brad Pitt. To be in a movie with Brad Pitt and not go see is so next level to me. Yeah, you'd go see it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I would go see a movie with Brad Pitt. If I was in it, I'd go see it. If I'm not in it, I'll go see that movie.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right.

[Monica Padman]

You might be in a movie with Brad Pitt.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Hopefully one day. I got to meet him, and he was lovely.

[Dax Shepard]

Where did you meet him?

[Nicholas Hoult]

At the Venice Film Festival. I was chatting to a friend of mine, and Brad came over and he'd seen the great and really liked it, and then was just like, hey, the show's really funny. You're funny. I was pretty starstruck. I don't get starstruck very much, but Brad was one that I was a.

[Dax Shepard]

Bit like, he's overwhelming.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. I just kind of stuttered a little bit and then didn't say anything, and then now looked back, and I was.

[Monica Padman]

Like, oh, but he liked you. That's awesome.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, it was very cool.

[Monica Padman]

He is in the Beyonce category that I'm not sure if they're real. There's, like, a certain echelon of people. It's not even how famous they are. It's just there's something about them that I'm like, are you real?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Well, he's also just given for me so many iconic, brilliant performances.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he's incredible.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was like, no, you had things you could have said to him, but my brain wasn't working. I just stood there like a lemon.

[Monica Padman]

Can you imagine how many people he talks to that have that everyone.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It must be difficult. He's like, I can't have a conversation because look at all these people. They just shut down.

[Monica Padman]

People.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. Just mumble.

[Dax Shepard]

It is kind of my main obsession with him is the loneliness of it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I could have talked to him about that.

[Monica Padman]

Are you lonely?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. Hey, I like the show. Are you lonely?

[Monica Padman]

Let's talk about your loneliness.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you watching it because you felt lonely at home and you didn't know what else to do?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Reaching out to me.

[Dax Shepard]

What's the thing that people almost come up to you for?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Sometimes they're great. Sometimes still skins. Surprisingly. Sometimes X Men.

[Dax Shepard]

It varies.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I just thought maybe it was one of these situations where, like, people who have been in tons of big movies and then they're in a TV show and they're not expecting that, but that somehow is so much bigger.

[Nicholas Hoult]

The TV thing is different because it's on every week and it's in people's houses. Being on TV makes you more recognizable than being in films in some way.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. In the case of the great, they've got 30 hours of watching it versus two. And then also, I would imagine people are still probably watching the Great for the first time right now.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Hopefully.

[Dax Shepard]

I was heartbroken to see it end. It has since ended, since we saw you last.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. I think that was season one or two.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you sad?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was very sad. I loved playing that character and Tony's writing and working with Elle and all that cast. I was very sad. Our last day shooting the scene when my character drowned. Drowns and Spider. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

We just told people to watch it.

[Dax Shepard]

Watch the Great.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Leave that out.

[Dax Shepard]

Is that what really happened to him?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's all pretty fictionalized, and it was emotional scenes anyway. There were fun scenes to play, but I remember doing the first rehearsal. I think El and I were just both crying.

[Monica Padman]

Aw.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Cause it felt like the end of an era and something that we loved doing so much.

[Dax Shepard]

I was blown away to learn. You live in Long Beach.

[Monica Padman]

Long Beach, California?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Long Beach, California. How did you end up there?

[Nicholas Hoult]

My wife's family are from down that way. We live not far from here in the hills. And then whenever I was leaving town for work, she would go down there to be closer to them. It got to, like, starting school time and all that. And I was like, why do we live in la? Just move down there.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And I really like it close to the water. There's some good food and coffee. You can walk everywhere. The community is lovely and very welcoming. It's a good Little spot. So come on down.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Did you have a wife and kids last time we saw you?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Three years ago? Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He had a girlfriend and one kid.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Girlfriend, one child.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, got it.

[Dax Shepard]

Are they three and seven right now?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Two and seven.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so seven is first grade.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Finishing first grade.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're going to school like I do. I imagine I try and do drop.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Off and pickup when I'm home.

[Dax Shepard]

So when you do drop off. Because I do drop off. Let's be honest, it's primarily moms. I don't know how it is in Long Beach.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's a mix.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I should be more fair. It's a mix.

[Monica Padman]

All you see is the women, probably.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I see the dads. Because you gotta talk to the dads.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Are you wearing a shirt when you go to school?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Off and on. Depends what the weather is.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Straight out the gym, sweatband on, pouring water over the head.

[Dax Shepard]

There is a mom I see at drop off that I often see on the hiking trail. And that feels weird, like I'm having an affair with her or something.

[Monica Padman]

Why?

[Dax Shepard]

Just because we saw each other, I think. And now we're hiking together. We're not hiking together, but it looks like we're hiking together.

[Monica Padman]

Your brain jump. What?

[Dax Shepard]

But I would argue I'm a 6 and you're a 10 and I get attention.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I love coming on this podcast.

[Monica Padman]

It really come on anytime.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And I'll be like, oh, babe, I feel a bit rough. I might see if I can go on Armchair Expert.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. You're not going to answer that. Do the moms flirt? The moms must be fucking pulling their hair out with you. Dropping the kid on.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I don't think so. I think I was just like, oh, look, it's a bit boring and normal. Oh, look, now he wants attention. He's dyed his hair blonde. Oh, he's limping. We're not giving you enough attention.

[Dax Shepard]

He's holding a picture of his fiery car crash.

[Monica Padman]

It could go either way if you're with your kid. I think that gets neutralized a little bit. Oh, I think you think it's hotter.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's the opposite for dads. And lucky for us, the hits keep on coming for the moms.

[Monica Padman]

It's so true.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so unfair. But no, a guy with a kid for a woman is very attractive.

[Nicholas Hoult]

One of my friends says this, he had a baby not long ago, and he was like, oh, a man with a baby is almost more attractive, actually.

[Dax Shepard]

If you're a good dad, thousand percent mark. So you're like, oh, that's a partner that was willing to have a child, and he's caring for the child.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Look at him.

[Monica Padman]

Look at him.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Doing the least amount, probably. Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Taking all the credit, taking 10 minutes.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Of work that day. And we adore him. Let's celebrate him. What a guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Dad of the year.

[Monica Padman]

I know. Oh, these poor moms.

[Dax Shepard]

I know.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Father's Day is coming up.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you asked for anything for Father's Day?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

No, but I need to think on it, because for Mother's Day, I take the kids away all day. I think the favor should be returned for me. Like, she should rent a track for me.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow. And you. Yeah, us. We'll bring motorcycles and cars.

[Nicholas Hoult]

This sounds perfect.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe we're alive at the end and maybe.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. So she can maybe be a widow at the end of all this.

[Dax Shepard]

They might both be happy with it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We'll take out policies on each other before as well.

[Dax Shepard]

Another thing I was thinking about today was you're playing an American way more often now. Is that true? It feels like you're playing in America more often than you are.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's probably 50. 50. Great. Was English. Nosferatu was English. But then the order, Enduro number two, those were American, and Lex Luthor's American.

[Dax Shepard]

And when you're shooting something, are you inclined to just keep talking that way after work?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, I don't go home and be.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, hello, yeah, hey, kids.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Although sometimes my older boy will be like, if I'm practicing an accent a little bit, I stop doing that. Dad, stop talking like that.

[Monica Padman]

But he has an American accent, right?

[Nicholas Hoult]

He used to have more of an English accent. He'd say, water, and now he says, like, water.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm like, say it proper. So he's got more of an American accent now.

[Dax Shepard]

He's probably more likely to pick up the words from you and not have the accent. Like, he'll probably say wilst and shit.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. I think he says garage.

[Dax Shepard]

Does he say controversy, or do you.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We'd never say that. We steer clear of that because it's pot. So I would say controversy.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. But that's a polarizing word in England. Is it?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

A friend of mine's a journalist there, and he says controversy, and I was like, what have you done to the word controversy there? But it's split. I think it's a class thing.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I think that might be.

[Dax Shepard]

You must have been a shitbird.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm not as posh to say that.

[Dax Shepard]

Controversy, controversy. It's nice.

[Monica Padman]

No, but it's missing an R. You're saying controversy contra.

[Nicholas Hoult]

There are weird words like that.

[Monica Padman]

Occasionally there's a controversy. So you are dropping an R controversy.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's just so posh. You don't even need to. Controversy.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe. Maybe they just don't.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't need all those letters.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

That's reporting.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Talking about.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, it's three letters. Okay. Since we. Well, not since we saw you. But I think I overlooked this the first time. When did you do Rebel in the Rye?

[Nicholas Hoult]

That was when I was like, 26.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. You did Rebel in the Rye. And you're playing J.D. salinger. I'm quite intrigued by J.D. salinger. Did you learn neat stuff about him?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I learned a lot about him at the time. Most of which I probably can't remember now.

[Dax Shepard]

All I know is he became extremely reclusive and was really, really allergic to fame. What was all that about?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I think. I mean. I mean, I'm not.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you are. You're the next best thing we have.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm gonna talk as if I. I have the right to. On there. I think there was somewhat an element of not wanting the judgment of critics and things like that because. And I'm butchering this completely. This is so long ago since I learned all this and thought about it. But I think there were some poor reviews of some of his later work. And he hated that and didn't agree with it. And it kind of made him more and more reclusive. And the fame and people putting their own things on top of his work and thoughts on him.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, there's all these serial killers. Not serial, but assassins that carry the book. Yeah, Carry the book around.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Catches such a monumental work in terms of that character and the voice of him and the dialogue and just everything that it represents. And supposedly, a couple of years ago, I remember reading there's still in his vault all this unpublished work the family have got and are considering maybe binding into a book somehow and releasing it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really?

[Nicholas Hoult]

But that's one thing that I found really beautiful about him. There's a quote from. Again, I'm gonna butcher this, but the Bhagavad Gita. Is that how you say it?

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Okay. Okay. There's a quote in there that you have the right to work for the work's sake only and not the fruits of its rewards, I think. And that was something that I found very beautiful about how he went about. It was almost like he became like a tribute to this holy spirit or whatever you wanna say, whereby he was doing the work for just the Love of the writing as opposed to the idea of judgment of it or putting it out and it becoming something else other than what it is for him. And that's kind of a beautiful way of looking at how he worked and what he did.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a maybe it's apocryphal story that when Nicolas Cage was dating Patricia Arat, he asked her to marry him, and she said, I'll only say yes if you get me a black orchid and J.D. salinger's autograph.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

And he produced those and they got married. If I ever get to interview him, I need to know if that's a true story. And if so, how did he get this autograph? I will ask, please, because I now realize you've done two movies with Nick. I've done two movies with Nick, Weatherman and Renfeld, which I was there opening night to support my boyfriend, who won't text me back.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Let's get him on the show. He's wonderful. I love Nick. Such a brilliant actor to work with. But I feel like that story's probably true. If anyone can manage to get those two things, it's him.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so what he's famous for, I've heard, too. I try to collect stories in Nick Cage, but he's apparently super famous for his rap gifts that he gets, like, incredibly personal and incredible rap gifts.

[Monica Padman]

For people who don't know, a rap gift is a gift at the end of a shoot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep. At the end of a movie, exchange raps.

[Monica Padman]

You might hear saying rap. Like.

[Dax Shepard]

Like a rapper.

[Monica Padman]

A rapper.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, he writes a rap.

[Nicholas Hoult]

So true for you. He gives gifts which would also be iconic.

[Dax Shepard]

Like a producer friend of mine produced a movie he was in, and he had just mentioned in conversation who his favorite author was. Long dead author. And for the rep gift, he presented him with, like, an original copy of his most famous work signed by him. And then I've heard several stories.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Like collecting signatures.

[Monica Padman]

I know that's like his thing. It sounds like there is a theme arising. He's like J.D. seldran. He's just photocopying everything.

[Nicholas Hoult]

They're not even real. People just presume because they're from Nick.

[Dax Shepard]

He's just a forger.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, you want a copy of that?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

All right.

[Dax Shepard]

I got a copy of the Bible signed by Jesus Christ from Nick Cage.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Posted it on ebay. There you go.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. You know how we all have that one friend we go to with all our financial questions? I'm talking the one who Gives you advice like no one else can. Well, meet Experian, your bff. And by that I mean big financial friend. I'm telling you, Experian is gonna be your go to app when it comes to taking control of your finances. And this big financial friend is always there for you. Just hanging out on your phone, where we all kinda are. Anyway, Experian has a bunch of legit ways to help you save. And get this, the Experian app lets you check your FICO score. Matches you with credit cards and a bunch more totally BFF kind of things to help you manage your finances. Bet your other BFFs can't do all that, huh? Anyway, it's easy to have this big financial friend by your side. Just download the Experian app and get started for free. Trust me, you'll be up to speed with this BFF in no time. Results will vary. Credit offers, approvals and reward programs based on FICO score. 8 model and subject to lender terms. Offers not available in all states. See experian.com for details. This is Nick and this is Jack.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We're best friends, ex finance guys and resident 90s experts. And every week on our podcast, the Best Idea yet, we're bringing you the untold stories behind your favorite products.

[Dax Shepard]

For instance, can you guess which billion.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Dollar fashion company went viral thanks to a rhinestone covered tracksuit? Or which cartoon turned four turtles into a global toy empire by accident? It started as a joke. Last one. Which cold beverage was so hated by.

[Dax Shepard]

Starbucks they actually ended up acquiring it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

The Frappuccino. Howard Schultz apparently thought cold coffee was super lame and then he bought it. From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Juicy.

[Dax Shepard]

Couture to the Orange Mocha Frappuccino.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Join us every week to learn how your favorite things got made.

[Dax Shepard]

Follow the Best idea yet on the.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Wonder app or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

[Dax Shepard]

And if this podcast lasts longer than 45 minutes, call your doctor.

[Monica Padman]

Is a black orchid that rare?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know and I might even have the flower wrong, but it was some orchid that's impossible to get.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I want one. Can you ask Nick Cage if he'll get me one?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, I lost for three.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, funny enough, he was in Adaptation and it was all about orchids. And I remember watching that thing going, is that the orchid she wanted?

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's a great film. So he found them. Did they get married? I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

They got married. They've since divorced.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We Gotta find out where that orchid and the signed copy is.

[Dax Shepard]

What would you say his personality is like?

[Nicholas Hoult]

The word I would use is very pure authentic. It's very authentic. But, you know when you meet people that have got larger than life personalities, but they're kind of fake, they're put on and they're trying to be interesting. Nick has stories like you were just mentioning all this wild life, but it's coming from the most, most pure place you can possibly ever imagine.

[Dax Shepard]

He couldn't be boring if he wanted to be.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's just a zest and love for everything and passion. And it's authentic.

[Monica Padman]

It's not for attention.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No. He's just one of the most idiosyncratic people I've ever met in a wonderful way. That's how I kind of describe him.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm such a fan of his. I wonder if I were acting opposite him, if I would get taken out sometimes.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, I get taken out. When you're working with someone like that, because you've watched them so much in so many things, and they're so unique.

[Dax Shepard]

And what he's doing in that movie, too, is outrageous.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. So there's definitely moments where I'll be like, oh, look what I'm getting a front row seat to see Nick Cage do. So there's moments where you recognize that, where I'm like, oh, this is fun.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I saw the Order we had Jude on. You were phenomenal in that.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

I could imagine some actors today not wanting to play that role. Cause you're playing a real dude, Bob Matthews. Bob Matthews, who is a white supremacist who robbed all these banks.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, right.

[Nicholas Hoult]

To fund his terrorist organization, essentially.

[Dax Shepard]

Terrorist organization. Any reservations for you? Or like, I would leap at that role? You know, I shouldn't say that. That sounds like I want to play.

[Monica Padman]

Dying to get off for the white supremacist.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That didn't work.

[Monica Padman]

But it's juicy.

[Dax Shepard]

I do it for free. I'm just gonna go ahead and practice.

[Monica Padman]

On my own until this.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Don't even need the script. I'll improv the whole thing, make a movie. Dax, what are you doing?

[Dax Shepard]

His character.

[Monica Padman]

It's scary, though, to say yes to a role like that in a time of cancellation.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Thanks, Monica. That's what I was trying to say.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. You know what? The thing was going into that. I'd worked with Justin Kozell, the director before, so I trusted him and I knew his approach to making these movies and telling difficult stories. Like, I played a villain in his other movie. As well. And it was so unexpected, the process of working with him. Cause his movies are pretty dark and intense and wonderful performances. So I got to the set for the first film we did together, and I was like, ooh, how's it gonna be? And then it was so relaxed and caring and nurturing, and he was so warm. And I was like, oh, this isn't what I expected. So when it was him directing and he sent me that script, I was like, I trust the process, and I'm gonna be okay with him.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But it's one of those. To be good, which you are, you have to find sympathy. You have to be believable. You have to understand the point of view of these awful people. And that's tough.

[Nicholas Hoult]

That's interesting as well. You have to put judgment aside in some regards. But that's, again, how Justin's so good as a director. He'll look at the characters, obviously, as the audience. You can have your opinion. But he tries to look at them objectively and give them as much context around their lives.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What seemed like an easy anchor for that character was the hate and the bigotry and all that. That, to me, is kind of like the downriver symptom of something else that this guy clearly had, which is like he wants to be a leader of people. He wants to be an elder. He feels small. These things are kind of human things we could latch onto. And I guess it's a testament to that director, because that, to me, was palpable.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. From the outside, you look at it and you clearly see the hatred and all the terrible ideology that he's spewing and what's not true about it. But then when you're researching and learning about that person in their life and their beliefs, you have to kind of. Of understand what it is that convince them that those things are true. And also what they believe they're protecting and the love that they're believing that they're presenting for themselves and their family and their dreams and all this sort of stuff. They have to believe in that. So you have to kind of switch your brain around a little bit into that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess the reason I said I would. No.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm going to revisit that statement.

[Monica Padman]

Circle back to that.

[Dax Shepard]

Dig the hole deeper. How about this? This is a much more PG way to say. Say it. I do think there's something crazy exhilarating about playing someone you're not supposed to be.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. In life, we're all trying to live and do the best we can. It's a majority of the time freebie.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like you can go for three months and play Lex Luthor, play a villain and be an asshole. I only got to do once. I was a bad guy in one comedy, and it was the most fun I think I've ever had.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Did you feel it was quite freeing in a way?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. It's like, oh, every time I think of what you should not do, that's what you do.

[Nicholas Hoult]

There is something very fun about playing Bill.

[Dax Shepard]

Totally. Like, you walk into a room, you see a guy in a wheelchair, and the first thought you have is like, don't say anything about running or anything that might make this person feel awkward. Okay. You got that?

[Monica Padman]

This has really gone off the rails.

[Nicholas Hoult]

What would you do as a villain?

[Monica Padman]

No, I almost.

[Dax Shepard]

Does it appeal to you at all to be a villain?

[Monica Padman]

Yes. We all have dark parts, and to be able to not suppress those, but release those. Yes. I get that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I don't see someone in a wheelchair and go, like, I don't know what to say.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you don't?

[Monica Padman]

I don't. And I know that's my only thing. A lot of people do. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like, oh, fuck, this guy doesn't have an ear. I just panic about what I could do wrong.

[Monica Padman]

You think it's accidentally gonna, like, come out and you're gonna hurt someone?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

I don't have that.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't have it? Do you have it at all where you, like, quickly evaluate what not to say in a room?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Maybe too late.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't evaluate quick enough after Brad Pitt walks away.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And then I'm like, oh, shouldn't have said that. In hindsight, now I realize that was not the thing. I don't think I have it as strongly as you do.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe I'm happy to be unique with it.

[Monica Padman]

I think you're right. I think it might be almost like an OCD tendency.

[Dax Shepard]

I think so.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I think it's a common thing. There's definitely a memo, and that's built into us since we're being kids as well. It's like, don't say, don't do this, don't do that. Don't say that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I'm the opposite. If I'm with you or our friend Jess, who's similar, I'm just aware of what you're going to do or what he's going to do. That's a problem.

[Nicholas Hoult]

You're putting out fires in your brain already.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Already. I'm like, how am I going to counteract with. When he stares.

[Dax Shepard]

So we're engaged in the same battle.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm like, the battle of good and evil.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't do this cottage. You're like, if he does it, what am I going to do?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, that's great that you're working on the same teammates.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know why you're upset.

[Monica Padman]

I know it, I know it.

[Dax Shepard]

What were we talking about?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, just pretending to be evil.

[Dax Shepard]

I just saw you were so great in that.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I do want to ask you about juror number two, just for a second.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Clint Eastwood. I've had friends that have worked for him. He was 94 when you guys worked together.

[Nicholas Hoult]

93. He's now 94. I think he's going to be 95 next.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And he famously does one take. I even heard a story, a friend that worked with him where it's like they were doing a rehearsal and they rolled down rehearsal and was like, bombs and pyrotechnics. And some of them didn't go. And then he was like, okay, great. And I was like, no, no, that was a rehearsal. But he's, like, kind of famous for this. Is it nerve wracking.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was lucky. I had a really good experience because I went from doing Nosferatu straight into the order, straight into juror number two. So I had literally a weekend between each shoot. And Rob Eggers, you shoot on film, and it's kind of long setup takes where you might end up doing 30 takes. Cause you needed to get it all right in that single shot. Cause that's the scene you can't cut around and edit things. And then Justin, for the order, Justin goes, oh, you're shooting a film. And he's exploring a lot with the character. You know, you walk away at the end of the day and you're like, oh, I don't know what that will be in terms of how that'll play. The scene in the edit, what they're gonna pick up on. And then Clint. Yeah. Is basically one take, sometimes two. Which is quite a jump for me coming from the other two where I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. But there's a wonderful thing where you're like, well, is Clint. And he's made countless brilliant movies and given so many wonderful performances. You're like, so if anyone, he knows, yeah, this is the guy to trust with that. He plays jazz piano and stuff. And it's like playing jazz, I suppose, in a way, where you just trust the process of it and it's difficult to let go. I Wouldn't say if the first take. It's always my best take. We stood there one day and sat, and I was like, so how do you act? Hey, quick question. How do you act? Because I'm trying to figure it out. I.

[Dax Shepard]

We're pretty deep into this, and I should have asked you earlier.

[Nicholas Hoult]

This is the end of week one, and I don't know what I'm doing here. He was like, oh, well, it's an emotional art form, so you don't think too much. Just do. Just feel it. And I was like, oh, that's so simple. With everything else going on, sometimes in our brains and whatever, you can kind of forget those things, I guess, just to keep it simple. And I think he's a believer in the story and a believer in the process and trust in the audience, and he just puts it out there. And I think that's why his movies are so good.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you feel a kind of crazy pressure when you had, like, a bigger scene in it? Like, I'm only gonna get one of these. I gotta really deliver immediately.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, I feel pressure with that, even if I'm getting more takes. And I think it's probably good for me in some ways because otherwise I'd keep going, keep going. I'll do one more and more. And it's like, really, am I making any difference at this point?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I learned that about you in a different interview. You said that that is who you are on set.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the only chance. And then, in theory, lives forever.

[Dax Shepard]

When I want extra takes, it's because they've let the reins off and they're letting me improv and I'm finding a fun thing and I want to see where it can go. So it's totally driven by fun.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm driven by pure fear.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it fear? Yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Have I done? Have I given what it needs? Are they going to be able to tell the story here and there? It's a little bit of that.

[Dax Shepard]

Has that evolved over time?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, it probably should now. You say it, but, you know what you say about having fun. I do find that normally if I'm having fun doing a performance, then people react better to it.

[Monica Padman]

They can feel it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And it's not even to say that I'm having fun in a way, like, oh, this is a fun character. It could be like having fun playing an evil person. There's still something where I'm enjoying the process of it. So people seem to pick up.

[Dax Shepard]

That seems very, very on display in the great.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, yeah. That would Be an example of that where I was having a great time.

[Dax Shepard]

Burberry. Oh, you didn't expect that one.

[Monica Padman]

That's a left turn. But I like it.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm a recent convert.

[Nicholas Hoult]

How come?

[Dax Shepard]

Beckham, the doc.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, really?

[Dax Shepard]

Did you watch the doc?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I didn't watch the doc. I've only seen that brilliant clip where Victoria's talking about being driven to school and then David just sticks his head through the door.

[Dax Shepard]

You were driven to school in a Rolls Royce?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Shut up. Yeah, that's the best part.

[Monica Padman]

I grew up in a mob modest house.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's such a brilliant clip. I need to watch the full documentary. But what is it in the documentary?

[Dax Shepard]

He's so cool. I can't see. We must have already thought that because you're from England.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I was just chatting to someone yesterday. One of the first times I remember crying at a sporting event was when we got knocked out of the World cup in 98.

[Dax Shepard]

Was that the pink card thing or the red card?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's when England turned on him.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We were very unhappy because he kicked someone.

[Dax Shepard]

But not really when you watched the.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Dog really, but you get a red car for it. He was off.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, no. Were you one of the haters?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, I was too young to really be a hater. I was just heartbroken.

[Monica Padman]

They would like build puppets of him and then burn.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, it was 98. I was 8 years old.

[Dax Shepard]

You didn't go to the pub that had him hanging from a news.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I built that.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Eight year old. I was just at home crying on the sofa. I remember.

[Dax Shepard]

But he's so fucking cool. And he's clearly wearing lots of Burberry. One of his teammates has a Burberry hoodie I had to order while I was watching.

[Nicholas Hoult]

The Burberry hoodie?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And then I learned this whole history I didn't know about from my aforementioned English friend. That hooligans were. Were Burberry.

[Nicholas Hoult]

This was the thing. And I don't know if Burberry have kept this in, but you know when you do like the little stuff behind the scenes clips or whatever, they were like, when did you first learn about Burberry? And I was like, oh, it was going to like a market in Liverpool.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And they had all like the knockoff fakes. And that's when I first became aware of that pattern and how iconic it was, the brand, I suppose, in many ways, because I was like, oh, people are imitating this and you can buy it cheap here in the market.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Burberry Hated that fact that the hooligans took that on as their official wardrobe.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, they probably don't like me talking about that. And they're like, let's just get some fun social stuff. And I'm like, yeah, I learned about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Those four guys were beating up those two men in their Berber. I thought, I want to wear that. That looks incredible.

[Monica Padman]

So are you a, like a. What are they called?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I just did one of the campaigns.

[Monica Padman]

You don't have to like wear them on red carpets and stuff?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I don't think so.

[Dax Shepard]

It wasn't a lifetime contract.

[Monica Padman]

You laugh. It's a real thing. Emma Stone has one with Louis Vuitton. So she has to wear a certain amount of Louis Vuitton on the red carpet. Natalie Portman has Dior. I know a lot of stuff.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Maybe if I keep saying it in this interview, maybe they will lock me up for life.

[Monica Padman]

They should.

[Dax Shepard]

He was in the it's always Burberry weather camp campaign and he was in rain and it was rom com. It was like not tribute to the.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Old English rom com.

[Dax Shepard]

And then he had to do press about it. And then they would ask him what his favorite English rom com. And it's Nodding Hill, if you're curious.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I do love Nodding Hill.

[Dax Shepard]

I do love Nodding Hill.

[Monica Padman]

What did she say? I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking her to love him.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, well, Magic.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you follow? I imagine you have to.

[Monica Padman]

It's a great movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you follow Hugh Grant?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Do I follow him? Just in general.

[Dax Shepard]

My experience with them is I just watch Heretic. We both saw Heretic.

[Nicholas Hoult]

So good, isn't it?

[Monica Padman]

So good.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I love watching here. He's someone who's having fun.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, absolutely.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And it's fun to watch. And he's so smart, he's brilliant, he's perfect.

[Dax Shepard]

He's just had this interesting ebb and flow to his career. It's like you keep getting reminded he's perfect.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was watching some of the old Merchant Ivory movies the other day before I guess, his jump into that iconic, iconic rom com era of his career.

[Dax Shepard]

Then I was thinking, for you, being a little boy, having worked with him, do you also watch him and then have even yet another layer of like, just stoked you know him and you've known him for most of your life.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, it's fun. You know, I ran into him last year at something and it was lovely. Cause you had a proper catch up and a good little giggle, which was nice. And I'm hoping that we're Gonna do something together again.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, nice.

[Dax Shepard]

About a grandpa. Yeah, just a pitch.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Just me hobbling around going, oh, my knees. We were.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, about a boy. That movie, it gave me the feeling.

[Nicholas Hoult]

What feeling?

[Monica Padman]

So I have a thing called the Feeling. It's not a good feeling. I can't really put my finger on it, but there are certain movies and TV shows that give it to me. I think in that movie it was so real and sad and scary because the mom dies. Yeah, that's at the beginning of the movie. It was a long time ago. As soon as that happened, I was like, oh, my God, this movies too much for you? Too much.

[Dax Shepard]

Overwhelming.

[Monica Padman]

I was little, I mean, I was sad.

[Dax Shepard]

You were supposed to say, I'm sorry.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, this is your fault.

[Dax Shepard]

So this is your chance to apologize.

[Nicholas Hoult]

What else? Have you recently had the feeling?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's a great question.

[Nicholas Hoult]

So I would say my recently would be. Did you watch adolescence?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Nicholas Hoult]

The end of adolescence. Oh my gosh. I was just sitting there shattered. That was the first time for a while I turned something off and just.

[Monica Padman]

Sat there and been like, I know that one is a hard watch, but an important watch.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Great show. And you have a little boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Does that scare you?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. Internet culture, I mean, we didn't grow up with it. When the Internet was first coming around for me, it was dial up. You went and sat on the desktop.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. Downloaded a picture of boobs for like seven minutes.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Like, here they come.

[Dax Shepard]

You had to really earn your boy.

[Nicholas Hoult]

If you were downloading music, it'd be like, this file is corrupted after a while. You wouldn't be able to find one that wasn't like, hell, I need this song, whatever. And then your parents computer would shut down and they'd be like, why is it that computer completely fried? And you'd be like, sorry, I know.

[Monica Padman]

And these kids have so much access now to everything.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's a worry. That's what the brilliant thing about that show is bringing away. Because even all the emojis and all that sort of stuff, I was reading about those afterwards and I was like, huh? Oh, would you look at that? It's bizarre. It's an interesting thing. Whenever you learn about playing these characters, you go into this kind of little hole of learning and then you watch your algorithms and you watch everything change. And the things that are recommended to you and you watch them and you go, oh, it's so easy. You see how fragile our brains are in terms of how easily manipulated they are. And a few different inputs and Sudden, suddenly you're like, down the rabbit hole. So it's an interesting thing to be aware of.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's interesting. I didn't even think about that. If you're actively researching white supremacist. Yeah. You're constantly kind of resetting your algorithm.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. You watch different things pop up where you're like, huh, that's not in agreement with what I believe or think.

[Dax Shepard]

That happened to me in January where I had to reset my algorithm on Instagram. It's either from several comedians I follow or some of these off road accounts I follow. But all of a sudden I was just seen blatantly racist posts which I didn't even think were on Instagram, to be honest. And I was just like, what happened? And it happened really quick. I was like, I gotta reset this.

[Nicholas Hoult]

How did you reset it?

[Dax Shepard]

You can reset your algorithm. You just go in to your settings and it'll have wipe your thing and reset your algorithm. And you can do that. Like you should probably, after every roll, go and reset. Okay, let's talk about Superman.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Am I excited that you're in Superman.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Me too.

[Monica Padman]

That is so exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you have to earn this one? Because I'm assuming a lot of these you've been.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, no, I auditioned for Superman. Auditioned for Superman.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, did you?

[Nicholas Hoult]

And then James called me and was like, how about playing Lex Luthor? And I was like, yeah, okay, great. Which is interesting because I talked to James and P a little bit and then I read it. There was a little gut instinct where I was like, huh, I might be a better Lex.

[Dax Shepard]

While you were reading it, I was.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Reading the Lex scenes and I was like, oh, this could be fun. And then was like, oh, no, don't get distracted. So then when he called me and said that, I was like, huh, this makes more sense. So it worked out perfectly.

[Dax Shepard]

I just imagine the bad guy's gonna have like three blockbuster scenes. The intro to the bad guy is gonna be a great scene.

[Monica Padman]

Hopefully you've seen it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I haven't seen it. Oh, you have have not seen it yet. Just seen a few little bits for doing ADR and stuff and it looks epic. And I mean, the script that James wrote was fantastic.

[Monica Padman]

We're having him on as well. So it's gonna be a Superman week.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, Superman week. It's finally here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, Superman week.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Have you had him on before?

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, great. You'll have fun with James. I think I messaged him on Instagram at some point and was like, hey, cool that you're the Head of dc. If there's ever a role. I don't usually slide into people's DMs, but here I am.

[Monica Padman]

Nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, nice. You were proactive.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. Which I don't normally do, that I've.

[Dax Shepard]

Heard for some of these superhero movies. So much is being bet on it that they'll film your audition and actually show it at a theater and they'll show multiple. Did that happen to you?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I think there were screenings of different versions of combinations of cast put together.

[Dax Shepard]

Get a little test audience.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I don't know if it was in front of an audience or just other DC and Warner Brothers people. James will probably be able to give you better answers.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nicholas Hoult]

They certainly put people through the wringer a little bit.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you know who your competitors were?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Well, David, who got cast?

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Congrats, David.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was so happy for him because genuinely, when I met him, I met him there, and it was funny. Superman gets his powers from the sun. We were in one of these studios in la, and I walked out from doing one of the scenes, and there was mostly shadows from how the sun was setting. But then in one patch of sunlight, David had taken a chair and sat down and was just enjoying the warmth of the sun. And I was like, God damn, he.

[Dax Shepard]

Was born to play.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I was like, look at this guy. He lives. Embodies everything that you'd hope for that character to be.

[Dax Shepard]

How's his physique?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Brilliant.

[Dax Shepard]

Gorgeous. Did you guys lift together?

[Nicholas Hoult]

We did a little bit. Silly story. I remember I was chatting to my wife one night. She was like, it's so nice to be held by someone bigger than you. And she was like, you don't really get that, do you? And I was like, no, I guess I don't. We were sitting there, and she was like, yeah, no one's really big enough to hold you. And she was like, david could hold you.

[Monica Padman]

Why don't you ask him?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I did.

[Monica Padman]

You did?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. And it felt warm and safe. But I felt the same thing when you held me, when you hugged me today. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's the strength I need. That's the support I need.

[Dax Shepard]

I was one time picked up like a baby by Shaquille o'. Neal. And it was one of the most fun feelings I've ever had, where he put his hands under my armpits and lifted me up like a child.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Did you ask him to do this?

[Dax Shepard]

No. I was walking into a premiere in Westwood, and I was behind him, and I had never even met him. It was again, one of these huge swings. Oh, excuse me. I like to be the tallest person at these things. You're gonna have to leave, sir. I just say that from behind him. And he turns around and then did know who I was, thank God. And then he picked me up like a baby.

[Monica Padman]

Did he kiss you on the cheek?

[Dax Shepard]

No, he didn't kiss me. I would have loved it if he tickled me. Yeah. Kiss my neck. Smelled my head and told me I smell so good.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, my God. It is a weird feeling. It's nice to be like, oh, yeah, I'm a little person again.

[Dax Shepard]

The coach of Detroit is insane. He was a player and he's enormous. He looks like a water buffalo. He's just like all traps. And I hugged him right before the game in the playoffs. And I was telling Monica. It was such a weird feeling to think, oh, if Lions came into the arena, Dan's got it. I'm off the clock. Someone here is definitely in charge. It's not me. It was a very comforting feeling.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, you feel safe.

[Dax Shepard]

If all hell breaks, Dan is the one who's supposed to go deal with it.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And that's genuinely what you were thinking at that time. You're like, if Lions get into this.

[Dax Shepard]

Arena, I generally self appoint myself the person that's going to have to fight. Fight the Lions. Interesting as you should, your tallest.

[Nicholas Hoult]

If Lions broke into the stadium, I'd be like, we're all just running, right? I wouldn't be like, don't worry, guys, I'm gonna fight.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. See, that's a different personality.

[Dax Shepard]

That's not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to go, I got all these rewards for being tall. And now here's the thousand people there.

[Nicholas Hoult]

And I go, I'm the one.

[Monica Padman]

It's me.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm the one.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, we're saying Lions and the team.

[Monica Padman]

I was about to say Detroit Lions. You mean Lions the animal. Not when the team comes in.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. The team is the real.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Lions have escaped. I'd get on the PA system and be like, everyone stay in your seats. Watch the this. I've got it. They just watch me get.

[Dax Shepard]

Everybody get your cameras ready.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Limb from limb and eatin. And I keep watching.

[Dax Shepard]

You're gonna wanna run video, not pictures.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'm still pretending to be asleep. They can see my spleen being pulled out of my body. Sorry.

[Monica Padman]

Like, is this some sort of art project? Do you think if you're on an airplane because you drive cars.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, is this the thing about if you could land it?

[Monica Padman]

Yes. If the pilot has a seizure, God forbid, and they say, who knows how.

[Nicholas Hoult]

To fly a plane?

[Monica Padman]

Would you offer yourself up for that?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I saw this. This is, like, a fact that two men think that they could, right? My dad was a pilot.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, no. So you definitely think you can.

[Nicholas Hoult]

So, no, I think I probably more air on the reality of, like, I probably can't.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's good.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I had one flying lesson. It was really surprisingly difficult because I was like, I want to learn to fly. I'm competent in cars and bikes and things. And I'm like, okay, there's so many more controls, even in the tiny little airplane, where I was like, oh, my gosh. And trimming and this and that, and.

[Dax Shepard]

You'Re just staring at dials.

[Nicholas Hoult]

If they were like, hey, we need someone. And there's no one. And they're like, look, dude, can you call your dad? Can he tell you what to do? And I'll call him and be like, dad, Daddy, Daddy, you're on FaceTime. Which button do I push? What do I do? I'd like to think then that perhaps it would still be a disaster because also, you gotta try and hit the Runway. Right?

[Dax Shepard]

Daddy, I'm flying a commercial airliner.

[Nicholas Hoult]

This is BA Flight 456. He's like, what are you doing?

[Dax Shepard]

You want to hear how arrogant I am? I'm more afraid of having to talk in that gibberish over the CB than I am actually landing. Landing the plane. Like, I can't say, seven niner cleared for. You know all that.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Well, I think if you're stepping in, they don't expect you to do all the radio.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank God.

[Monica Padman]

Sure, sure.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, they're like, you are not cleared for landing. You have not done the code right.

[Dax Shepard]

To be clear. I don't think I can land one. Like, I just think I can land one. What I think is once we've asked, are there any pilots on board, and there aren't, I do think I'm the next best option if someone has to hear what to do and implement it. I think I'm a good, good pick.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can follow instructions. That's basically my job.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but isn't it very. I mean, but I guess you guys are mechanical, but we decided that actually the best person would be the video gamer.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't trust.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

No, this is like sim guys who think they're fast on a track.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I trust the SIM guy who's landed planes on the sim, who's done, like, sim flying. I'd be like, well, at least roughly.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a great point.

[Nicholas Hoult]

They should come over the time and be like, hey, we got a pilots. Okay, have we got any guys who like to fly planes on video games?

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Nicholas Hoult]

None of those either. And Dexter's like peep pee.

[Monica Padman]

I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess they have like a sheet they go through. Any pilot? No, there's no pilot. Any gamers? No. Any model airplane, hobbyist? Okay, back to Superman. James Gunn, one of his signature talents is pairing these sequences with perfect songs. And I guess I'm curious, are those pre planned to the degree. Does he ever play the song that would be in the movie for you when you're doing a scene?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Not specifically for this, but he did send me like a piece of the score before we started filming. So I had part of the score that's for the finale, I guess of Lex's part of the story that I had for months before we started shooting, which was interesting. And I realize now it's a slightly psychotic behavior perhaps, but I got into cold plunging. I'd say it was like part of the prep. I was trying to get strong and blah blah and all this. And I was reading all these things and then I was cold plunging and I would sit in the dark in this cold plunge listening. So this music, like full Blair on repeat over and over again. And then whilst we were filming that scene, James had that playing through the speakers on the set. I listened to it so many times thinking about that moment. Being in the cold water is kind.

[Monica Padman]

Of a torturous situation.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, somewhat. But then you're kind of mind over matter. You're kind of putting your body through some sort of wall. So there's a bit of that. And then being put into the filming scenario and having that same thing, it was interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

That's where it started for me. And I think a lot of people can relate to. To this being a kid walking with my walkman on and you're like, I'm.

[Monica Padman]

In a movie imagination.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Oh yeah, you're sitting on the bus and you got a sad song on. You're looking out the window.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You're like. You start really envisioning your own experience as a movie.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you really do.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah, it's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's so standard. I think everyone does it. Like my 12 year old, she'll say to me all the time, she's kind of obsessed with this notion of the Truman Show. Sometimes I think I'm in the Truman show and I go, I know, I used to think that all the time.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Too. I wonder if that's like a. A of hell in terms of how you're always meant to be able to put yourself out of your experiences in some way to understand that. I wonder if it's a healthy thing to imagine it like a movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, minimally. It's just interesting that this thing we've all probably. I think a lot of us have been doing for 100 years is only a hundred years old. No one in 1850 could walk around hearing music and even imagining what a movie is. Like, what a weird space.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but music's been around since the beginning of time.

[Dax Shepard]

You just couldn't listen to it while you were doing something. Yeah, like you couldn't be scoring your own life. There's no Walkmans. You might walk by, some guy's tooting up trombone. Ding, ding, ding. He studied trombone as a kid.

[Monica Padman]

I don't remember. That also kind of sounds like a sex thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it is the rusty trombone, but.

[Nicholas Hoult]

When you follow it with ding, ding, ding as well, makes it super sexual. I was like, oh, no.

[Monica Padman]

Music. Music, I feel like, has always instigated memory or, like, your place in time. Even though we didn't have all these other layers on top of it, which now we do. I think that was, like, the initial.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just interesting. You think of how, like, technology changes your brain. The famous one is that book Weirdest People on Planet.

[Nicholas Hoult]

What's that?

[Dax Shepard]

It's this incredible book about how weird Westerners are. Weird stands for Western educated, industrial, rich, rich, and democratic. Democratic. And that the process of learning to read, which is so new, really, until Martin Luther In 1492, the literacy rate was like under 1%. And then he goes on this mission to teach everyone to read so they can read the Bible. And then within decades, the numbers are going up and up and up, so you get to like, nine. Well, the cognitive action of reading rewires your brain. You lose certain things and you gain certain things. For everyone who read, their brains were structurally different. So they're like computing the world differently, all because of this technology that came out. A book reading this abstract thing we do. And then I just think, yeah, and the movies are a thing. And then for the last hundred years, I think most people daydream of themselves in a movie or some movie version of their life.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Is it the same sort of daydreaming is when you daydream about a book, the movie that you play in your mind, is it still the same sort of daydreaming?

[Dax Shepard]

So I was just thinking that same thing. As I was saying is like. Yeah. Where people reading Little Women and they were walking to the store and they're like, oh, I'm one of the little women. Maybe you put yourself in books.

[Monica Padman]

I think more so with books. You are at the center of a book when you are reading. And it's whatever third person or first person, it's you. I mean, with like a mask on, obviously. But you're walking through the world in a movie. There's some separation. So I think with books, probably even more so.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. People probably just thought of their lives as a novel.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. I'm the lead character of this novel.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Is that where all that lingo of like the end of this chapter, the beginning, is that where comes from?

[Monica Padman]

Maybe.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Just another chapter of your life. Okay, now let's talk about the people who have come before you. Jean Hackman as Lex Luthor. Not just in general. Everyone that's been born before 1990.

[Monica Padman]

Take a while.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Monica, get the list of everyone born before 1990. Yeah. Did you see that movie as a kid or did you have to watch it as an adult in preparation for this?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I'd seen it as a kid, but I watched it as an adult again. I love Gene. I mean, what an actor.

[Dax Shepard]

Come on.

[Nicholas Hoult]

He's given some of the all time performance performances. I was just watching Hoosiers again the other night.

[Dax Shepard]

No one gets angry like Gene Hacker.

[Nicholas Hoult]

He's the best. One of my favorite films is Unforgiven and Clint directed Gene in that. We screened it whilst we're filming during number two. We rented out a theater and watched that on the big screen. And watching him in that again was just magical. All time. Great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Okay, now shaving your head. Do you have any fear? And it's now compounded by this blonde thing. Do you have any fear when you shave your head? Like, I wonder how much is going to grow back.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, I'd shave my head. Had before for Mad Max.

[Dax Shepard]

It grew back and now you're dying. Every time I had to do this, I'm like, how much is going to come back?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess I'm more conscious of that now. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Where I'm like, when they're putting all the chemicals, I'm like, is this going.

[Monica Padman]

To kill all the pigment?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What are we going to be dealing with at the end of this?

[Nicholas Hoult]

The fear is actually settling in more now here talking to you guys. You can probably see the fear on my face more and more.

[Monica Padman]

That's what we do here, you know?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah. When you have me on in two years time. You bring up another phone, you'll be like, remember when you had hair?

[Monica Padman]

Remember that?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Remember that?

[Dax Shepard]

Look how different. I'll be like, remember your last hairdo?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God. Did you see Friendship?

[Nicholas Hoult]

No.

[Monica Padman]

What's this Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Tim Robinson. Tim Robinson movie. It's just now.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you want to think you should leave that comedy show on Netflix?

[Monica Padman]

It's like a sketch. Oh, it's so you're out to launch. You've got to. It is so funny, so bizarre. He's a one of one comedian. Anyway, they have a new movie and Paul Rudd is wearing. I mean, it's a spoiler, I guess, a toupee, but you don't know until towards the end of the movie it falls off. It's just so wild and bonkers and it falls off. And he looks crazy. And I did think, oh, wow, so much of him is his hair.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It really is doing a lot. We take for granted.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Building the pressure. Yeah. You're compounding. This is getting worse by the second.

[Dax Shepard]

There's very few things you can feel bad for boys for, but this is one. It's like you're a boy and you're just like, wow, TikTok. When is this, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Well, for women too. It thins out.

[Dax Shepard]

It thins out. Yeah. Women generally don't have male pattern baldness.

[Monica Padman]

Generally.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, generally.

[Nicholas Hoult]

You gotta get rosemary oil. It's the thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, I'll do that. I'm in a full, full fledged battle to keep my hair. I think that's something I have a topical. I'm putting on night and evening.

[Monica Padman]

Probably just rosemary oil twice a day.

[Dax Shepard]

I do it at 7pm and at 9pm what's your emotional attachment to all of it in terms of. I'm fearful it's not going to last forever or you've been doing it for so fucking long. You do have the confidence it's going to last forever. Do you have that rumination? How many days off from a movie before you start panicking or is that past?

[Nicholas Hoult]

There's still that, like. And it's still very much the thing of, oh, I've got a lot to prove. I feel like I'm just at the beginning of like, let's grind. Yeah. Let's get to work. Yeah. In a fun way. But also after doing Nosferatu in the Order and Juror back to back, the end of that year, I sat there on my birthday and I don't always do this, but I sat around and I was just Contemplating normally. It's. Everything's happening so quick that I don't. I sat there and I was like, oh, this is kind of exactly where you wanted to be 10 years ago. You could have said you worked with those three directors back to back. That's prime. What you wanted career wise. So great. Proud of that. But then also, where do you build on. What's the next steps? I'm just putting my legs up. Not because I'm a bad guest, but just because my legs start. Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Cause you've been here with so long.

[Nicholas Hoult]

No, no, no. My knee is just say because it's.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, we should have propped it up earlier.

[Dax Shepard]

Do we need to rub your legs?

[Nicholas Hoult]

I've got my sleeve on and everything.

[Dax Shepard]

Cumbersome pants off you.

[Nicholas Hoult]

First of all, I brought some of my ointment and oil with me.

[Dax Shepard]

Get you out of those restrictive pants. I've got a plane to land.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Get the mic nice and close. People can listen.

[Dax Shepard]

Nicholas, I adore you.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I adore you.

[Dax Shepard]

I do hope we end up on a racetrack at some point.

[Nicholas Hoult]

We've got to. I haven't been on bikes for a while.

[Monica Padman]

Let's deal with your leg first.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we'll do cars now.

[Nicholas Hoult]

It's probably not the time to be back on a bike.

[Monica Padman]

I would give yourself a second.

[Dax Shepard]

Take it easy. I'm happy in a car. Let's do cars.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Father's Day.

[Dax Shepard]

Father's Day. Oh, yeah, our Father's Day.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Like a lemons race or something.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, that would be fantastic. Superman comes out July 11th. 7 11.

[Monica Padman]

7 11.

[Dax Shepard]

Can't be an accident. Everyone's like, we got to get that date. 7 11. Everyone knows 7 11. July 11th. Everyone go see Superman. And I cannot wait to see how to rob a bank. Thanks you plus David Leech. What could be better? Come back again.

[Nicholas Hoult]

I will.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert. If you dare. I sure hope there weren't any mistakes in that episode. But we'll find out out when my mom, Mrs. Monica, comes in and tells us what was wrong.

[Monica Padman]

So we're Zoomies today.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, we're zoom recording summertime zooms.

[Monica Padman]

And you are in Nashville. You made your way there.

[Dax Shepard]

I am. Do you want me to spin my camera around so you can see? What? My looks out my window?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, here we go. I'm doing a bad job looking out my window. Well, you can't even see. Can you see the lake? You can't even see.

[Monica Padman]

I can't see the lake. I see a lot of trees.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, that's good. Trees are Good. Did you have to curb your good time last night so that you could wake up so early?

[Monica Padman]

No, I was out late last night, which I was unexpected. I don't really stay out late anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no. You're, you know, this year you're a middle aged woman.

[Monica Padman]

How dare you. I'm still early actually. That reminds me that on. Maybe it was on an armchair. Anonymous. I can't remember. I said something like I look young. And you. And you said you were like, do you? And I don't know if you were just nagging me, but we had a tiff about that. And then since then I've been carted basically every single place I go.

[Dax Shepard]

Really? People think you're 20 or less.

[Monica Padman]

So I went to Cookbook, which is a very cute grocery store store here in Los Angeles, and I bought a bottle of wine and she, the girl asked for my id and then she looked at it for a minute and then she gave it back. And like 30 seconds later she was, she looked at me and she said, you look so young.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh really?

[Monica Padman]

And I like. And she was kind of like mad. I think she. Maybe she thought it was a fake idea. Like, I don't know. She was very, very. She was like, like, you look 20. And I said, oh well, I'm at the age where I will take it. And she, and I said, how old are you? And she said 25.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh wow.

[Monica Padman]

So she thought she was older than me.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow. Let's go back to your night last night because you had a late one and I want to hear what was happening.

[Monica Padman]

So it's our. In a couple days is our friend's birthday. Ana.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay, great. How old is she turning?

[Monica Padman]

Jesus is age 33. We went to Atwater. Atwater is a new place I've been going to a lot. McCall's is there. Butcher that used to be down the street from us that moved to Atwater, which is the bane of my existence.

[Dax Shepard]

Heartbreaking for me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, so sad.

[Dax Shepard]

Best ground beef in the city. Maybe 50% fat, I'm guessing. I mean it's so fatty, which I love. You can't. If the grocery store, they're not going to push it beyond 20% fat. And I don't want to get sued by McCall's. But I will say I think they're in the high 50s and you can taste it.

[Monica Padman]

And they have like farmers market vegetables and fruits and sauces and treats. They have all kinds of things there. I love it there. Anyway, there's also all these cute stores on the street and little restaurants and bars. And so we went to this outdoor little restaurant and we hung out there, and then we went to another one.

[Dax Shepard]

Pub crawl.

[Monica Padman]

I guess it turned into a little bit of a pub crawl. The second location I defined as rustic. That's a word I took from Cali, which means kind of shitty.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. With charming. Shitty.

[Monica Padman]

Right. But okay, so does everyone consider rustic that?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, rustic is definitely shitty, but charming. Ye olde rustic in. You wouldn't name your bar Ye olde Rustic in, like, yield shithole. They're saying, like, yeah, it's a fucking dump, but hey, it's got some charm. You're going to have a good time here. Ye olde rustic in.

[Monica Padman]

I thought rustic meant, like, woodsy. Like, I have a very. I thought it meant. Meant like a cabin is rustic. Yes, but I thought rustic is, like, equivalent to a cabin. I didn't know it meant, like, charming shithole.

[Dax Shepard]

Instead of saying, it's a shithole, you go like, oh, it was rustic.

[Monica Padman]

I know, but that's. But so it's a euphemism then.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, for dump. But implicit in that euphemism is it has to have some charm, or it would just be a lie.

[Monica Padman]

Right, But I didn't know that. So when one time Callie and I went to a hotel in. And there were some problems with the hotel. It was a nice hotel, but there were, like, some issues with it. And. And she kept calling it rustic, and I. I thought it was very funny. And I also thought it was a total misuse of the word. But turns out I was wrong. I guess I owe her an apology.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no, you are right. She was making a great joke. If it's supposed to be nice and it's rustic. No, no, no, no. If it's a dump. But you find yourself very charmed by it and going, oh, I want to go back. Even though it was kind of a dump. That's rustic. If a Four Seasons doesn't. The commode's not working in the Four Seasons, you can't say it's rustic. You go, it was a fucking terrible Four Seasons. They need new management. Right. You clear now on rustic?

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I still have some questions about it, but I. Overall, I get it more. Anyway, I was saying that that place was rustic, but now I think I was using it correctly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Charming and not nice.

[Monica Padman]

So we went to one rustic location quickly. I didn't really partake there. And then we went to dinner down the street. We didn't leave there until 10:10.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really? I don't know if that's terribly late, Monica, for a Saturday night. I'm gonna open this door. Maybe that'll give me more bandwidth.

[Monica Padman]

To me felt really late because, you know, I go to bed, I get in bed quite early. But it's a, it's a ding, ding, ding. Actually we went to the restaurant called Spina, which came up for our really deep Cut listeners in the Chris Pine episode. He brought up Spina. He said it was a really good restaurant and it is.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, is that the Italian place? And Rob went, and Rob was like, oh yeah it is. The dynamite.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's great.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm jealous. I want to go. I should have gone. So I'm going to suggest something that I. Here's my hunch. So we haven't seen each other in, let's see, what day did I leave? We're on Sunday and I left on a Wednesday night after we recorded a.

[Monica Padman]

Week and a half.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, nine days or so or whatever. 10. 10 days. My hunch is that my 10 days feels four times longer than your 10 days. Do you feel like the last 10 days off kind of blew by or.

[Monica Padman]

No, I do feel like it's, it's moving too fast.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And have you been panicked at all about that?

[Monica Padman]

A little. I put an out of office on my email, which is a new thing I tried.

[Dax Shepard]

Uh huh. I was that going?

[Monica Padman]

It's only okay because I still, I still check it and I respond that.

[Dax Shepard]

You have an office, that there's an office you're normally at that you're not at now. By the way, I'm going to email you just so I can experience the automatic reply.

[Monica Padman]

I think today was the last. I think it ended today.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it did, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But maybe I'll try it again.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So for my 10 days, I feel like it's been about a month and a half. Half in fact. Just yesterday I was saying to the girls, oh my God, guys, how long ago were we in Idaho? Which was technically four days ago, but it feels like two weeks ago.

[Monica Padman]

Great. So what happened in Idaho?

[Dax Shepard]

So we drove up. Well, we left. Kristen was in Vegas doing like a speaking engagement and she was supposed to fly home Wednesday night. And then we were going to leave super early Thursday morning, but I decided the girls were anxious, I was anxious. So we just left Wednesday, we drove the bus to Vegas to my father in law's. We have a dog with us now. Frank has joined the trip. Right. Whiskey didn't make the cut. He's at home with Peggy, his girlfriend. That's fine. That's great for him because he's in love with Peggy. And Frank was a pretty good boy. No complaints there. I did get into a major traffic jam right when I entered Nevada. Nevada if I'm remembering correctly. And we did about two hours at 11pm just kind of sitting in the bus in traffic. Rough start. Doesn't matter. Went to my father in law's house, we went inside, we slept for about four hours. I was completely ashamed of myself because we were on like a Murphy bed that my feet went off the end of and it was quite warm in that office that we were sleeping in. And I really couldn't sleep. So I just ended up waking up very early on Thursday morning and just got the bus ready and was ready to go. And I was ashamed of myself because I realized when Aaron and I were on our road trip after high school, I would have blown a donkey to have that bed in that room because we were living in the car. And I realized this is how spoiled and soft I've become that I can't even sleep unless the temperatures right in my feet aren't hanging off the bed. Anyways, who cares? Got on the road. Probably the best trip we've had. In the bus there were a single issue was the passenger window broke off from the contraption that holds it shut. So I was putting pulling every over every few hours to reduct tape it because we'd be driving down the highway and the window would just fly open. But that's light. That was no sweat. Got into Swan Valley, Idaho at a very reasonable time. I think 9 o' clock that night on Thursday. And then this year's trip was different because it was cold, which was shocking because we had just left Vegas where it was 115 and then was it. And it was like 60 degrees the first day, then 50, you know, in June. Kind of wild. But what was lovely.

[Monica Padman]

That is weird.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. But what was lovely is I normally have to go whitewater rafting with the girls, which I've now done four or five times. And it's like an hour drive there. The trip, you know, down the river is a couple hours and then it's an hour drive back. And I was so exhausted from our previous month of, you know, nose of the grindstone. And so you couldn't really do many activities, which was such a blessing. So I took a nap every day, which was heaven. I had my new electric dirt bike, my Stark, which is so amazing. I had ridden it. So I would just zip around on my dirt bike and lots of time chit chatting and just being social and hanging out. And it was just the most lovely, relaxing version of the trip. It was completely different. And everyone agreed. Everyone was like, oh, oh, it's kind of. Kind of drowsy and lazy version, but everyone there. You know how it's in the ethos sometimes. No, the ether where everyone that had come to the trip had also seemingly had the same month leading up to it. Like, everyone I ran to was just like, oh, my God, I'm just. I barely made it to this trip. Everyone was napping. Yeah, nice. Yeah, it was. It was great.

[Monica Padman]

How was our best. Best boy?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, best boy was very exhausted. He's maybe who I'm referencing the most. He looked like he maybe just barely made it up there alive, but he was lovely.

[Monica Padman]

Well, he's doing the Lord's work.

[Dax Shepard]

He is. He's out there doing the Lord's work. Have you ever participated in a silent disco?

[Monica Padman]

No, but I. I know about them.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, I'm gonna out Will back. I think you're generally supposed to protect the anonymity of who's on that trip, but I. But I'm going to out Will Speck, the director. Very sweet, hysterical, fun, flirty. He pined over his. Oh. So the way a silent disco works is everyone wears headphones and there's three channels on the headphones and there's three different colors, so there's red, green and blue. And you put playlists on each of those channels. And if you're dancing and you don't like the song, then you flick. But you're also like monitoring everyone else that's dancing. Because if you see people going extra hard and they're on red, you're like, oh, fuck, I got to get over to red. So Will Speck had pined over his playlist, I think, for a month leading up to this silent disco. In the way Jess would. Right. Like, hoping it's. Everyone's going to love it. There's some song he wants to introduce everyone to. There's some new tracks. You know, he's very hip to new tracks. Tracks. And it was just so fun. Those are so fun. And then when you walk out onto. Because we were dancing outside, it was cold, but we were dancing outside. And you walk outside and there's just 30 people going berserk and it's dead quiet. All you hear is like, footsteps on the ground of people.

[Monica Padman]

It's insanity. I feel like there's something about it that kind of like, freaks me out.

[Dax Shepard]

I already guess that for you, it might be dicey.

[Monica Padman]

It's. I mean, I think it's a beautiful thing. God, I. I sound like such a curmudgeon because, you know, I. I famously don't like dogs, and now I'm gonna famously not like dancing, which is like two of the.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Things that every single person loves. But it is weird that you brought it up, because Jess and I were at a store yesterday, and we were telling the guy that we were about to go to Atwater, and he asked us if we had ever been to this one bar. I guess it's a bar. And I said no. And he said, it's awesome because there's a huge dance floor and, like, people are dancing. And Jess is like, oh, yes. Like, I want to do that. I really want to go there. And I kept my mouth shut, but I was like, oh, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand, I understand. But what if it was the old wound?

[Monica Padman]

It's an old wound.

[Dax Shepard]

It's an old wound, but it's two different things. I think you're thinking of just dancing with strangers, which is. Which is one thing. Now imagine our pod has a dance party at Amy's birthday party. That's a different experience.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it. It is. And I. I am happy to dance with people I love, but I still. Although, God, I used to booty bump. The booty bump was different. I actually think this is kind of like my, you know, my stance, that holding hands is actually more intimate than anal.

[Dax Shepard]

Anal. Yeah, that's your. That's on your headstone.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is kind of similar where I feel like dancing. Regular dancing is more vulnerable than booty bumping because everyone knows how to do that. That, like, it's. It's easy and it's kind of crass. There's no vulnerability in it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. You've got a Persona going. Booty bump. Mlp.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's me. That's my rap name.

[Dax Shepard]

Really quick. You could host one of these silent discos in an. In a nursing home at night, and no one would wake up. That's what's so funny about it. But the highlight for me was, was both my girls danced for four hours, right till, like, one in the morning.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Both my girls can dance, which I love, and I danced with them so much. And at the end of the night, I just thought, oh, God, I hit the lottery. I, like, I have two kids that love to dance like I do, and as. When as a family. We're a dancing family.

[Monica Padman]

That's nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it was so. It was just so sweet. Lincoln in particular. Not a shocker because we're so similar. You just couldn't get. I gave up. I. I was. I wanted to go back and go to sleep at one point, and Lincoln wanted to keep going hard and. Yeah, it just tickled me to no end.

[Monica Padman]

That's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Speaking of. Of this, I feel like it's, you know, obviously the reason that I find it sort of uncomfortable. Well, I did not grow up in a dancing family, so that's part of it. But also, I don't like attention. I don't like people looking at me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. Let's take a minute to thank our presenting sponsor, Audible. With Audible the leading audio entertainment app, it's easy to discover new stories and ideas while going about your day.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And with over a million audiobooks, Audible originals and more, it's basically impossible to run out of things to listen to. Plus, there's just something about audio storytelling that hits a little different.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it really does. Especially Audible originals that feature performances from celebrities and top voices. It's like watching a movie in your head. One on my list is Treasure Island.

[Monica Padman]

Aha.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is an Audible original drama. It's a timeless tale of pirates, lost treasure maps, and mutiny. What more could you need?

[Monica Padman]

That sounds really fun. I'm more of a psychological thriller girl.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you're dark.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I'm dark and I'm broody. And I've been hearing all about the author, Freda McFadden, and I love that I can listen to her audiobooks on the Audible app when I'm connected commuting, taking my logs as you know, or just like doing laundry and chores.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, with Audible, you can find the genres you love and discover new ones. There's more to imagine when you listen. And to make it even better, Audible has a special offer for armchairs. Sign up for a free 30 day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.comdax that's audible.comdax.

[Monica Padman]

Ironically. It's so strange. Whatever. But this reminds me, I want to talk about something because. Because we haven't done a fact check since our Brad Pitt episode came out.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. First of all, do you see it opened at $140 million?

[Monica Padman]

I didn't. That's awesome. Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Makes me so happy.

[Monica Padman]

So the episode came out, a lot of people said they really liked it, which is super fun. Obviously, it was fun for us to release that and give that to the arm Cherries. I did not anticipate and I guess very dumb of me, but I just wasn't paying. I just didn't think about this, that this would take on a life of its own. And there were so many headlines, lines about the episode. Well, specifically saying that he talked about his divorce, which he did not talk about his divorce. And it was really making me feel crazy. I was like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Like, no wonder people of that level, like, don't do interviews and don't do things because people just make up lies.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. Headlines.

[Monica Padman]

When there's a.

[Dax Shepard]

We're saying that we discussed that in We. He didn't. Yeah. And I thought the same thing. I was like, he probably can't ask answer a question like what his favorite hamburger is without them extrapolating what they want him to talk about.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. That. Yes. If he says he likes in and out, it's like, well, because Angelina notoriously likes McDonald's.

[Dax Shepard]

Right?

[Monica Padman]

He has. They don't get, they didn't get along about that and they got a divorce. Like, it's so, it's so wild. And what I will say, I respect him so much because even though I was shocked, I know he wasn't shocked. He's like, this is what happens. This is what happens every time. This is my life. And we, we do have people who come on who are very concerned about what will be said, you know, after the fact of the conversation, who often like, it won't be, it won't be talked about, you know, and this man is definitely going to get talked about. And he didn't tell us anything. He didn't tell us to cut out anything. He was so chill. He was like, you, you guys do your thing. It's your show.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he, he didn't care at all.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Like, he.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of behind the scenes talking to people's publicists and dealing with a bunch of stuff. And there was none of that with this the most high profile guest we've ever had on. And I, I not only did I appreciate it, it made me. I was like, God, he just like, un. He just knows. He, he knows what's going to happen. And he just decides, I guess, like, oh, well, I think he, he, like has a calmness about it.

[Dax Shepard]

I think he has full acceptance of what his life is, which we did kind of talk about, which is like, I think you fight for a long time and it makes you uncomfortable. At some point you go, oh, I'm gonna drive myself bananas. Or I, I Just have to not give a fuck anymore. And it seems like he is at that point.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I know. I really. I think it's awesome. But what I wanted to say is, so, yeah, there were all these headlines, all these things which were, like, making me feel like I already was like, I don't like that. And I even had like, like, our publicists tell one of the magazines to tell them. And they did remove the headline, which I thought was nice, but then I saw a hundred other places, and I was like, oh, my God, this is. This is too much. But then I was listening to a podcast that I listened to a pop culture podcast. I just. It's. It's in my rotation. I enjoy it. I found it a couple months ago ago, and they start talking about the episode, and I. As soon as it started to come up, I, like, got, like, sweaty. I got so anxious about what they were going to say. And it was so interesting because this podcast has, like, a host and then guest hosts every week. And it was interesting because she started off by saying, I. I've never listened to the show before. Have you? And then the guest said, unfortunately, yes. And I was like, oh, no. Oh, my God. Of course I feel defensive. My feelings are hurt. And then they proceed to talk about the episode for a while. What's so funny to me is pretty much absolutely everything there saying is. Is positive.

[Dax Shepard]

Huh.

[Monica Padman]

Except they then, because of that, because I think overall they, like, liked it. They had to just insert jabs like, like. But I just to say I don't really like the show, but, you know, or I don't like them.

[Dax Shepard]

They never elaborated on what their issue.

[Monica Padman]

With the show was where I'm not obnoxious.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, we're obnoxious.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But not what version of we are obnoxious. But what version of obnoxious are we? They didn't specify.

[Monica Padman]

They didn't say, okay, but they just were saying, like, I don't know. It was just very interesting because I did think, oh, you can't just say you liked it. You have to say something negative. And I think, Nat, people. People feel like if they're just positive or kind or whatever, then they're, like, dumb. Like, I worry that that's the. That's where we live right now. We're like, if. If you are only saying positive things, they're not critical. They're worried that, like, they're not critical thinkers. This was like a podcast I put on to go to bed. Big mistake. I'm now up for, like an hour and a Half just laying there kind of spiraling about this. And I DM'd the host, and I, I. I don't regret it. I don't regret it. But it didn't make me feel the way I thought it was gonna make me feel.

[Dax Shepard]

How did you think it was gonna make you feel?

[Monica Padman]

I thought it was gonna make me really feel like. What's the word? Not like, Like, I caught you.

[Dax Shepard]

Gotcha.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I didn't really do that. I mean, I did. I did feel. And I do feel that it's. You don't know who's listening ever. To your show, to your pro, to. To whatever you're doing, whatever you're putting out there. And I think it's important when you're speaking openly and when you have platforms that you do consider that, like, is this something you would say if that person heard it? M. And that's how we. It's literally what you learn in kindergarten.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Like, if you want to say it to their face, don't say it at all.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Anyway, so I just said, hi. You know, I listened to your show. I like your show. I. It was wild to hear the. Our interview come up. I wish I could unhear some of those things.

[Dax Shepard]

But.

[Monica Padman]

But overall, like, thank you for listening, whatever. And then she responded very nicely. Yeah, I just. That was that you said it's a.

[Dax Shepard]

Pop culture podcast, right?

[Monica Padman]

Yes, yes, yes. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So for me, like, pop culture, anything. Pop culture means gossip. And I'm not shitting on gossip overall because I think gossip in general gets a very negative kind of. You know, it's. It's a pejorative in a way. But, I mean, there is a huge utility to gossip. We've talked about it. Like, when you're in a tribe of a hundred people and you're gossip even about the leader who's, you know, mistreating people. That's. It's how we regulate. So I don't think it's, you know, it's not useless or should never be done, but I don't think the ethos or either edict of. Of culture today is to be negative. But gossip is. Gossip is inherently catty. You can't just bring up. You have to say, her shoes didn't match her outfit. You might be in love with her and worshiping her. But, like, gossip. The nature of it is like. And now I'm gonna say something shitty. Cause that's what gossip is in my mind. I'm taking full responsibility for this. My hunch is that if she didn't like, the show. It wasn't because you. It was probably cause of me, or at least in my mind, I. All the responsibility for that. You should. I'm relieving you of any responsibility for.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's not how I look at it.

[Dax Shepard]

Obnoxious factor.

[Monica Padman]

Whatever. I. I said that it made me. I felt kind of good for, like, 14 seconds, and then that was over. And then I thought, oh, I just. I guess I just feel really, like, exposed.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, sure.

[Monica Padman]

Like, we put something out that a lot of people saw and heard and have an opinion on now.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it felt. It felt scary. Like, it felt very, like, I guess out of control. You know, I. I love our listeners so much, so I guess I'm, like, putting them in their own category, like, our consistent listeners.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But it did make me think, like, oh, I really like this job. For the job itself. I. I really am not in it for us putting it out. Like, I. I don't like that part, actually. That part's scary. And even when people are being positive, it's still, like. But they, like, heard it. I don't know. I don't know. It's weird.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's. It's inherently vulnerable to go, okay, everyone, go ahead and listen. I mean, that's just. I think.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because I protect myself so much from it. I don't look at comments. I don't. But this was it just. I think that was it. It's like, I'm very active about not taking in any of that. I know it's out there, but I don't. If it doesn't exist, if I'm not seeing it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But this just, like, landed. I couldn't even help it. It's something that I listen to on my own.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And it found me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it was really strange.

[Dax Shepard]

But you were just admiring Pitt, right?

[Monica Padman]

I know. I want to be. I aspire to be like him.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So weirdly, maybe the universe put this whole thing right. Like, it's an extreme example. Like, this guy has a deal with the whole country that read those headlines, thinks he was talking about that it wasn't. And somehow he's just like, yeah, and what can I do? And I'm still gonna be me and be radical in movies and look sweet driving race cars and whatever, because I want to do that.

[Monica Padman]

Be so hot.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, I was even thinking while we were just talking, I'm almost tempted to start rubbing my head like this because it was so cute the way he would circle his shaved head.

[Monica Padman]

He did touch his head a lot. I thought. I also thought it was so cute and hot.

[Dax Shepard]

It was so cute and hot. And a lot of people in the comments thought it was like every. Someone said every time he rubbed his head and there was like fire SP signs and it's like his power is. He's so powerful. Like just rubbing his head. We're like, oh my God. Like I don't even know what we want like him to rub our head that way or just he's being sensual with his own body and we want to rub his head like that.

[Monica Padman]

I think it's more like, well, I couldn't get away with that. Like he's doing something people can't get away with.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. The shape tell us start with a shaved head. So few dudes can play. Pull that off.

[Monica Padman]

I think some good takeaways were that I did realize that I like the process of it more than the result, which I think is important.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And healthy. It'd be bad if it was reversed. If you're like, well, I hate this, but I love the reaction.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. Yes. And it made me feel this is not, not to sound like self righteous because this just happens to be what we've decided to do on this show.

[Dax Shepard]

Show.

[Monica Padman]

But I'm happy that our show isn't about that isn't about breaking things down and tearing, you know, having to say something negative. Like, I'm glad it's not.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I'm. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So it was great. I loved it. I loved it. You know, it's. It's all directly proportional to the attention. So it's like I'm delighted so many people listen to our. And yeah, a big handful of them were mad he was on our show. But it's just all like, it's a one to one. You bring in more folks and then you get more voices. And I guess it's worth it to me. You know, I agree. I was mad about Headlines. I was just very feeling very protective of him, which is hysterical. Like he needs me to look out for him.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I felt that too. Do.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's just about the principle. It's not about him specifically. Well, let's, let's maybe. Let's do some facts.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I love facts.

[Monica Padman]

Let's do some Superman.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, this is incredible. Because last night I went to the movies. Oh. And we saw the trailer for the first time in the cinema for Superman.

[Monica Padman]

And did it look so fun.

[Dax Shepard]

It looks awesome.

[Monica Padman]

Ooh, yeah. I can't wait.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm. I'm a little mad. We had Superman one week why? And we didn't get to see the movie. Oh, like we got to see F1.

[Monica Padman]

I know, but you're being greedy.

[Dax Shepard]

I am? Yeah. But if they do a whole week, I feel obligated to have seen the movie.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I just want to.

[Monica Padman]

I really want to.

[Dax Shepard]

It's crazy. He's so hot with a bald head.

[Monica Padman]

He's so hot.

[Dax Shepard]

What a dick.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Any guy who can just shave.

[Monica Padman]

Such a nice guy. That's why.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like anyone who can just shave their head out of nowhere and still be hot. It's.

[Monica Padman]

Remember the first time he came on and he told that hilarious story about when he was dating Jennifer Law and he got food poisoning while she was. She had booked the Silver Linings Playbook and was, like, in the other room talking to Bradley and while he was, like, puking and sweating.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's right. I forgot about that.

[Monica Padman]

It's such a good story. Oh, cutie pie.

[Dax Shepard]

I was thinking when we had him on, because of course it popped up that he had dated her. It's in his Wikipedia.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I thought, what's going on with Jennifer Lawrence?

[Monica Padman]

She's married. She has a kid.

[Dax Shepard]

But was she acting?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, she was just at Cannes.

[Dax Shepard]

She was?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

She must. She took a break, right?

[Monica Padman]

Well, I think kids.

[Dax Shepard]

She was in every movie. And she's so incredible.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, she's so good. Yeah. She has a new movie that premiered at Cannes that a lot of people are talking about, so I'm sure she'll be in the circuit for the awards.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, get her on Monica.

[Monica Padman]

Come on, Jen.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you think I can text Nicholas? Who doesn't text me back to text her? His ex girlfriend?

[Monica Padman]

I think you should probably not.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that's probably a better way in.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, some facts. What years was Nicholas nominated for the Golden Globes? He thinks the first year was Covid and the next year was the boycotted year 2021 nominee. Best performance by an actor in a TV series musical comedy. Great. 2022, same thing. He was right.

[Dax Shepard]

He really got screwed on both occasions. Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Poor guy. How did Peter the Third of Russia die in real life?

[Nicholas Hoult]

Mm.

[Monica Padman]

Peter III of Russia died at 34 under mysterious circumstances. Some say he was assassinated while behind bars. Some say he was assassinated, but not behind bars. Others say it was suicide. Regardless, most believe Catherine was behind it. Of course they think that.

[Dax Shepard]

Good for her.

[Monica Padman]

The official cause of death was a severe attack of hemorrhoidal colic.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that sounds. That sounds like it's combining hemorrhoids and cholera.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but colic. You know colic when you're a baby.

[Dax Shepard]

You get that? Yeah, he was a baby.

[Monica Padman]

He was a. He. He Benjamin buttoned and became a baby.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, but. But what could be worse than dying from diarrhea while you have hemorrhoids? That sounds like a uniquely colic.

[Monica Padman]

Isn't diarrhea.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not. It's just gas pain.

[Monica Padman]

No, no, it's like. It's like basically agitation. Like they're just crying non stop.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's.

[Monica Padman]

Is it gastrointestinal?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I do think it's gi.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Really?

[Monica Padman]

Let me look. Okay. Characterized by excessive, inconsolable crying in a healthy infant, often defined by the rule of three. Crying for more than three hours a day, for more than three days a week and more than three weeks. While the exact cause remains unknown, it is a common condition that usually resolves on its own by 3 to 4 months of age after they cry themselves out. Oh, it says symptoms. Symptoms. Okay. Clench fist and curled up legs.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

These poor babies. Reddening of the face. Probably because of the crying.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Tense, bloated belly. But I think that's because of the crying.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, crying makes your belly bloated? Yeah, I think GI stuff makes your belly bloated.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Passing gas or having a bowel movement might. Might offer temporary relief. All right, fine.

[Nicholas Hoult]

You might get it.

[Dax Shepard]

I feel like it's related to you.

[Monica Padman]

But nobody's saying that. Why are.

[Dax Shepard]

I just know that I was colicky. I couldn't have anything, which is why we went from formula to Caro syrup. Somehow that was related to my colickiness.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. I mean, yeah, because that made you not cry all the time, but maybe.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I wasn't having an upset stomach.

[Monica Padman]

But don't you think that would really make you have an upset stomach?

[Dax Shepard]

Carol syrup.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I think you can't possibly get an upset stomach from Carol syrup.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. It's like inert.

[Monica Padman]

It's just calories, but it's sugar. Sugar isn't good for you.

[Dax Shepard]

No, but if you beat his butt. Cherry red. I think my dad was beating my butt cherry red.

[Monica Padman]

No, he wasn't.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he lost. I know. I was just saying good things about him. But he did.

[Nicholas Hoult]

He lost.

[Dax Shepard]

He.

[Monica Padman]

He spanked.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. We would get into power struggles.

[Monica Padman]

Not when you were a baby.

[Dax Shepard]

When I was a baby? Yeah. I would jump off. This is where my mother would have to intervene. I would jump off the deck.

[Monica Padman]

How old are you?

[Nicholas Hoult]

2.

[Dax Shepard]

And it was a really tall deck. And he kept telling Me not to.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you. Can you break your legs.

[Dax Shepard]

Spank me. And then he'd put me down. And I would look at him. According to my mother, this is my memory. And I would say, don't you p me.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I would run. I'd look at him and run and jump. Drop directly off right after he spanked me. And then he would grab me and spank me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And he put me down. I'd say, don't you pank me. And my mom would have to intervene because this cycle would go on forever. Like, I would not. And he wouldn't quit. It started at 2. We were locked in that battle. I don't know what he's supposed to do. I mean, I would just been like, go break your leg. That's. That's better than me beating you.

[Monica Padman]

That is not true.

[Dax Shepard]

Me beating you.

[Monica Padman]

Was it like. It's probably like that. No, my mom would not to defend.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no, no. My mom. My mom will say, she. That it would go too far.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because he's. You're making him go nuts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. The two year old's making the adult.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I find I look, I do.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm sympathetic to what he did. I don't think it's the right. I think we can both agree that's not the right way.

[Monica Padman]

You can't beat your children.

[Dax Shepard]

And when you recognize your kid, it's on you as an adult. When you recognize your kid will die in the fire.

[Nicholas Hoult]

You.

[Dax Shepard]

You can't then push them in the fire.

[Monica Padman]

But you also. But that's the, the opposite. In his head, he's like, this kid is going to die.

[Dax Shepard]

No, he, no, he's like, I got to break this kid.

[Monica Padman]

Are you sure? He might. He was probably scared that you want yourself.

[Dax Shepard]

He was definitely afraid for my safety.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

There's no question.

[Monica Padman]

And he felt out of control.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And so he decided to smack.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Me a lot.

[Monica Padman]

That's bad.

[Dax Shepard]

And he, as the adult should have seen, oh, this kid won't quit. One of us has to quit in this scenario. He's not going to. Every time I spank him beyond the pal, he then looks at me and jumps off.

[Monica Padman]

But do you think you jumped off regardless of the spanx? Like what was.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, no. Now I was in a power struggle with it.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was saying, don't spank me, I'm going to keep doing this. And I kept doing this. And as the adult, you'd have to go, okay, so he's never going to stop. Am I going to Stop. Or am I going to spank him for the next three hours?

[Monica Padman]

Hours. Right. Or.

[Dax Shepard]

And that was on him at that point. Now, mind you, he was only 24 years old.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. And of course, spanking is. Spanking is bad. That's like, obvious.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So that's. Let's take that off the table. But I do. I do understand the instinct of. How do we. Oh, God.

[Dax Shepard]

Stop him from hurting himself.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. He should have tied you down.

[Dax Shepard]

When you're in a power struggle with somebody and you fully acknowledge they're never going to quit.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're smarter and an adult.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

You got to be the one.

[Monica Padman]

You have to leave. That's a boundary. They're not going to stop. You have to leave. But he is your dad and you are, too. So this gets more complicated.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah. Colic. Yeah. So he died. When did Nicholas do Rebel in the Rye? Year and age? 2017. When he was 27. But filming started the year prior. So he was 26 or 29 years ago. Yeah. Oh, what is the Bhagavad Gita quote that he referred to? Okay. You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working. Never give way to laziness either. Okay. Extended version. Perform every action with your heart fixed on the Supreme Lord. Renounce attachment to the fruits. Be even tempered in success and failure, for it is the evenness of temper, which is. Is meant by yoga. That's kind of what we were talking about. Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety. In the calm of self surrender, seek refuge in the knowledge of Brahma. They who work selfishly for results are miserable. That's basically the Hindu like Bible. It's the closest thing to. They don't have one. But that's like. That's the religious.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's a long conversation between two people.

[Monica Padman]

Did Nicholas Cage get Patricia Arquette a black orchid, an autograph from J.D. salinger as a condition for marriage?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. Great.

[Monica Padman]

Patricia said in an interview with the New Yorker during severance interviews that she met Cage in an la deli but wouldn't go out with him unless he obtained unattainable objects for her. After the list was completed, she was supposed to marry him. He started getting close to finishing the list before they even went on a date. The list included a Salinger autograph, which he got. It also included a black Orchid from the jungles of Peru or Brazil. He completed this task, but it was actually a spray painted orchid.

[Dax Shepard]

He cheated a little bit. I'm glad this isn't completely.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Made up in my mind.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Great. I want to know if we ever interview him. We got to find out how he got Salinger's autograph.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, exactly. Do you think he has some like psychosexual. No, like some masochistic qualities. Cuz that's kind of masochistic. It's like go do these.

[Dax Shepard]

Go.

[Monica Padman]

You go get these things from me.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you sub? Yeah, I don't think so.

[Monica Padman]

I'll ask.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Ask him that. Are you a sub?

[Monica Padman]

How rare is a black orchid? Black orchids are unique because in nature, plants rarely bloom in black. True black orchid flowers do not exist in nature. Black orchids were created by geneticists by crossing three species of orchid. They are also not truly black. They have maroon, dark purple and blue pigments.

[Nicholas Hoult]

Ooh.

[Monica Padman]

Does rosemary oil help with with hair growth? Rosemary oil is believed to encourage hair regrowth like Rogaine does, and to prevent hair loss. It contains compounds that may have antioxidants, anti inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, support wound healing, promote nerve growth and improve circulation. More research is needed to confirm this.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, I'll take a jug of it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah, you could try it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Add it to my 70 minute routine at night.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Well, that's it for Nicholas Holt.

[Dax Shepard]

We love him. I can't wait for a next round. Yeah, I'm charmed. Every time. Butterflies. Every time. Time.

[Monica Padman]

Bye.

[Dax Shepard]

Love you. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in free the the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey.