Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)! Plus, Johnny Pemberton!

Summary

Dear Movies, I Love You — Episode Summary

Episode: "Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)! Plus, Johnny Pemberton!"
Date: October 28, 2025
Hosts: Millie De Chirico & Casey O’Brien
Guest: Johnny Pemberton
Main Theme: A deep-dive discussion of the cult Japanese cyberpunk film Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), reflections on horror, body horror, film subcultures, and a special segment on non-actors in film.

---

Episode Overview

This Halloween-themed episode closes out the podcast’s month of horror, with Millie and Casey embracing the wild, gritty chaos of Shinya Tsukamoto’s experimental cult classic, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The conversation is energetic, irreverent, and loaded with personal anecdotes — from grad school days to Halloween playlists and notorious “shithead” phases. Later, comedian and actor Johnny Pemberton joins for a thoughtful (and hilarious) breakdown of non-actors in film, grounding the conversation in both industry insight and Midwestern camaraderie.

---

Key Discussion Segments & Timestamps

---

1. Halloween Kickoff: Costumes & Favorite Halloween Songs

[01:40–10:50]

• Millie is dressed as an Italian plumber, Casey as a skeleton; lighthearted banter about costumes and the practical challenges of fake mustaches.
• Nostalgia and hot takes about the 90s Super Mario Bros. movie.
• Favorite Halloween Songs: The hosts set rules (there are none), dig into what makes a song “Halloween,” and offer their personal top 3.

Millie’s Top 3:

1. “I Put a Spell on You” (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins) — “Hard to dispute... and you will lose if you try” (Millie, [08:57]).
2. “Halloween” (The Misfits) — “All their songs are horror-themed for the most part... The entire Static Age album should be a Halloween album as far as I’m concerned" (Millie, [08:31]).
3. “Werewolves of London” (Warren Zevon) — "There’s this line... 'I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s. His hair was perfect.' That makes me laugh all the time.” (Millie, [07:09])

Casey’s Top 3:

1. “Egyptian Shumba” (The Tammys) — “It’s kind of about getting... wooed by a mummy. It’s fun and dancy” (Casey, [10:15]).
2. “Graveyard Girl” (M83) — “About a girl obsessed with a graveyard... kind of goth-angsty” (Casey, [09:43]).
3. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (Bauhaus) — “It gets me in the mood. It’s very droning... spooky, gothy” (Casey, [09:19]).

Notable Quote:

“Some Halloween songs that have been ushered in through the years... suck.”
— Millie De Chirico, [04:57]

---

2. Life Updates & Film Diary

[16:20–29:48]

• Millie reflects on the chaos of buying a house as a single woman (“They don’t make it easy... America,” [17:56]) and shares Halloween event stories.
• Both hosts talk about horror film marathons, raising “Halloween kids,” and the joys of spooky traditions.
• Film Diary (“It is heavy. I’m a plumber, but this is also really hard work.” – Millie, [20:16])
  • Millie:
    • Re-watched The Shining ([21:08]) and shares grad school stories, paper on “modernist time traps,” and her love for horror hotels.
    • Saw EF (2024): “It is wonderful. The pacing is great... just so pleasant” ([24:10]).
  • Casey:
    • Children of the Corn II: “Everyone was telling me this is better than [the first]. I disagree...” ([25:29]).
    • Don’t Look Under the Bed (Disney, 1999): “Complaints from parents... actually too scary for Disney. Real monsters under the bed stuff.” ([27:14])
    • Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1995): “Very 90s, clever dialogue, kind of hinted at the Illuminati using Leatherface…” ([27:32])
  • Both reinforce the value of watching horror sequels, with Millie advocating for Exorcist III ([28:45]).

---

3. Tetsuo: The Iron Man — Deep Dive

[32:39–69:13]

Introduction & Cultural Context

• Shinya Tsukamoto’s journey from basement shorts to cult classic.
• Film described as “horror, science fiction, cyberpunk, experimental... transhumanism, industrialization, body horror” ([34:03]).
• Notable: The production was grueling; collaborators dropped out due to physically demanding, gross effects ([34:57]).

Personal Connections

• Millie: “Classic shithead phase movie.” Film-school parties, “living like trash, making art with trash.” House with wall of broken TVs and condemned conditions ([39:16]).
• Casey: Giddy cyberpunk fan. “I want to see a human being destroyed by technology!” ([37:27]). Cites love for The Fly, RoboCop, Johnny Mnemonic.

“Bruce Sterling called cyberpunk ‘low-life high tech.’ That genre of, like, kind of trashy criminal people, but there’s like high tech stuff going on. I love movies about this sorta stuff.”
— Casey O'Brien, [36:08]

Plot Breakdown & Memorable Moments

• Opening: Body horror from the start—man inserting metal pipe into his leg (“It gets juicy real quick.” – Millie, [43:49]).
• Transformation: Salaryman’s body slowly consumed by metal, surreal and experimental visual style (“Imagine a Nine Inch Nails video with just shit hanging down from the ceiling... trash... space trash.” – Millie, [51:06]).
• Fight scene & chase: Subway sequence where another commuter transforms into metal-creature; the early stage makes for “cute couple’s Halloween costumes” ([47:10]).
• Favorite Scene: Drill-dick sequence:

  “He starts kind of rapidly changing to the point where... his dick turns into a giant drill. And this is fun for me to see.”
  — Millie De Chirico, [52:29]

  • “This was cinema." – Casey [52:54]
• Sex & Destruction: Girlfriend initially “down to clown,” until killed by drill-dick.

  “You live by the drill, you die by the drill. That’s kind of what happens.” – Millie, [55:36]

• Finale: Oozing, goopy chaos, with a metal-cat, everything transforming, and the revelation of interconnected trauma between characters.
• Interpretation:
  • Technology/consumption run amok; “What would happen if your body just got taken over by all your shit... by all your technology?” – Millie, [64:00]
  • “The human experience is becoming digitized and optimized. We are becoming attached to technology... This movie feels applicable to now.” – Casey, [65:01]

Style & Influence

• Industrial/noise soundtrack; “clang, clang, clang... If you’re into kraut rock or experimental music, this is your jam.” ([57:09])
• Cites comparisons to The Fly, Hellraiser, Nine Inch Nails videos, and punk/industrial subcultures.

Notable Quotes

• “It’s easy to watch in the sense of time.” – Casey, [40:40]
• “I was preoccupied with chaos, so I was trying to integrate the horror with the science fiction that I had within me.”
  – Tsukamoto quote, shared by Millie [67:47]

---

4. Area of Expertise: Johnny Pemberton on Non-Actors in Movies

[70:09–99:29]

• Johnny, a son of Minnesota, talks Vikings and hometown roots before diving into the main topic.
• Topic: The art and impact of using non-actors in films (“when you see someone in a role who’s clearly not an actor, but they’re being used as an actor” – [72:20]).
• Midnight Run’s diner scene as archetypal; "This woman works at the diner... It's the most honest performance with the worst performance" ([72:33]).
• Importance in authenticity: “It grounds it more... brings some sort of reality to it” ([77:37]).
• Drawbacks: Sometimes it can highlight the unreal qualities of professional actors (e.g., Frances McDormand in Nomadland—“she's supposed to be salt of the earth but she radiates ‘movie star’ energy,” [78:07]).
• Non-actors in Coen/Safdie brothers films; musicians (Dwight Yoakam, Tom Waits) as standout examples.
• Fun stories about accidental casting, actors “too beautiful” for realism, and the blurry lines between acting and simply being.

Notable Quotes

"If you're around Margot Robbie, are you just— you can't look at her? Are you turned to stone?”
— Johnny Pemberton, [80:51]

“I just eat it. I just have to eat it and remember that... sometimes I’m really lucky that a lot of the stuff I’ve worked on is extremely collaborative.”
— Johnny Pemberton, on being in creative projects he doesn’t love ([95:05])

---

5. Employee Picks & Recommendations

[99:46–104:56]

• Casey:
  • Recommends Crimes of the Future (2022, Cronenberg)

    “What their body wants is to eat plastic. I think about microplastics... people becoming machine-like. It summed up that fear well.” ([99:46])

• Millie:
  • Recommends Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)

    “Watch it with a live score if you can... kicks it up a notch. One of the classics of world cinema.” ([102:12])

---

6. Closing Banter

[104:56–end]

• Reflecting on the end of "Horror Month," the joys and judgments of being spooky all year, and the value of keeping Halloween spirit alive.
• Advice for listeners: Send film advice, gripes, regrets, or “consensual film gropes” to [e-mail] ([105:45]).
• Next week’s teaser: Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another.
• Playful exit: Mario hats, competitive Mario Party with nephews, tough love Halloween energy.

---

Notable Quotes & Standout Moments

• "I was like convinced that this movie was so deep and esoteric and had all this messaging about who knows what... I want to live in trash and make art with trash." (Millie, [40:44])
• "I want to see a human be destroyed by technology!" (Casey, [37:27])
• On Halloween elitism:
  "I remember telling a group of people... we watch a horror movie every night of October. And they said, 'Just in October?' And I was like, I don't want to speak to you ever again." (Casey, [105:18])
• On live scores:
  “A long time ago in Atlanta, I watched the Passion of Joan of Arc with Cat Power doing the live score... she left halfway through the movie and never came back.” (Millie, [104:12])

---

Tone & Delivery

The episode is irreverent, enthusiastic, often self-deprecating, and deeply film-nerdish but never stuffy. The discussion is packed with asides, personal stories, and a sense of camaraderie—between hosts and with the audience—treating cult cinema as something to love, laugh about, and revisit with fresh eyes. The hosts celebrate both the artistic seriousness and the high-camp, gross-out fun of Tetsuo, and Johnny Pemberton’s guest segment provides a uniquely candid look into the world of character actors, authenticity, and those brilliant accidents that make film strange and wonderful.

---

For New Listeners

This episode is a living, breathing invitation to both love movies deeply—warts and metal-drill dicks and all—and to always keep a little “shithead phase” in your cinephilia. Whether you’re a die-hard horror/arthouse fan, a curious neophyte, or just someone who loves weird stories, you’ll find humor, heart, and an appreciation for all things offbeat and beautifully strange in cinema.

Transcript

[Millie De Chirico]

This is exactly right.

[Casey O'Brien]

So your AI agents, they make the team that uses them more productive, right? But if they aren't connected to other.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Agents or your data or your existing.

[Casey O'Brien]

Workflows, how productive can they really make your teams?

[Millie De Chirico]

Any business can add AI agents. IBM connects your agents across your company.

[Casey O'Brien]

To change how you do business. Let's create smarter business.

[Millie De Chirico]

IBM.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through November 4th. Shop the annual beauty event and save $5 when you spend $25 on select beauty products. Shop in store or online for items like Dove Body Wash Native Body Wash, Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Dr. Squatch body wash, Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel, Dio Liquid Hand Soap, and Olay Body wash. And save $5 when you spend $25 or more. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Lego Star Wars Advertiser]

When you say Lego Star wars, the first thing you think of is imagination or action. Or both. Definitely both. Like with Jango Fett's Starship. I mean, with Stud Blasters, seismic charges and three minifigures, your kid is gonna be creating stories until the Banthas come home. And for yourself, there's the Jango Fett's Firespray class Starship LEGO set from the Ultimate Collector series. Enjoy some Jedi Master level mindfulness during your building time. Shop now for Star wars lego sets on lego.com or in lego retail stores.

[Millie De Chirico]

Hi, Casey. How's it going, Millie?

[Casey O'Brien]

It's great. We're both in costume right now. We're feeling the Halloween spirit. I'm a skeleton. And you are an Italian plumber.

[Millie De Chirico]

Correct. As you can see, I'm in my workshop right now.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, yes.

[Millie De Chirico]

Where I have all my toilets and my pipes. I've got pvc, I've got cast iron. Whatever you need. And I will come in and fix things. I will install bidets if you need me to install a bidet.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. I really could have used you. When I moved into my house, I was installing bidets left and right, and I broke something on one of the toilets and I had to call a plumber. So.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, I'm about as real as it gets. Me and my brother. I don't know my brother Luigi. If you had met him before, he's just as great. He's a little taller than me, a little thinner than me, but he's quite good, actually.

[Casey O'Brien]

Did you ever see the 90s movie the Super Mario Brothers with John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins?

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, I Feel like I watched it when it came out. I remember virtually nothing about it.

[Casey O'Brien]

Uh huh.

[Millie De Chirico]

But I do remember it being a huge ordeal in my school when it came out.

[Casey O'Brien]

So I have a fondness for that movie that was a frequent rental from Mr. Movies as a child and it's considered terrible. It's always funny when you find out later when you're a kid, like this movie you loved as a child and then you reach adulthood and you're like, oh, everyone thinks this movie sucks. So I love the Super Mario Brothers movie. Maybe we'll do that on a future episode and we'll have you dress up again.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I will say this mustache is not very good.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay.

[Millie De Chirico]

It's. It's. First of all, it's light brown. As you can see. It's light brown. I. And I had to cut it because it was huge. It's not very realistic. And so I feel like they could have done better with the, with the mustache.

[Casey O'Brien]

You need to find one that's more your shade of your. The color of your hair.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes. And it's duct taped to my lip right now, which is probably not good. I use the duct tape for my shop to put on my own mustache.

[Casey O'Brien]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Millie De Chirico]

I don't know how long the mustache is going to last. I'm going to be completely honest with you.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, we're feeling the Halloween spirit, as everyone can tell. And, and Millie, you brought this up. In planning this episode. We were going to talk about Halloween songs and we were each going to say our three favorite Halloween songs.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, I figured since we both like music.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

And we've already talked about costumes and candy and decorations. You know, you got to think about Halloween jams. It's a part of the tradition. We're so close to Halloween, it hurts. And so these are. It hurts, it hurts. And there's probably like tons of this stuff playing already on the radio. And I will say this, I don't know about you, but some of these Halloween songs that have been ushered in through the years.

[Casey O'Brien]

Huh.

[Millie De Chirico]

Suck. Like, they're not good.

[Casey O'Brien]

Can you name names?

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, I'm gonna throw out the monster Mash.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, it's. I. That was the one that I was thinking of too, as not a good one, but I played that for my daughter, Patience. And just imagine hearing that song for the first time. She was like, this song rocks. She was very into it.

[Millie De Chirico]

I also, this is another thing too, we can also include, because there are songs that are purely about Halloween. Right. That discuss actual monsters. Halloween monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummies and these kind of things. Then there are songs that are kind of, like, played alongside Halloween songs because they have, like, spooky elements to it.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

And I feel like we can include those if. If you. If you feel that's fair.

[Casey O'Brien]

I think there are no rules in this. Just something that brings that spooky feeling. Because there are a lot of songs like the monster mash, like 1960s garage rock songs. Correct. That are about, like, falling in love with Dracula or, like, hanging out with Frankenstein or something.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. You know, or like, even a song like Weird Science by Boingo. Boingo. Let's like.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie De Chirico]

I'm sure they didn't intend for that to necessarily be a Halloween jam, but.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

You know, it is now, so.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, I want to hear your top three.

[Millie De Chirico]

Top three. I would say my third. I'm going to go from three to one.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Sure.

[Millie De Chirico]

Because these are in order. Okay. My third favorite Halloween song is Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon. Yes. And only because of this one line. I mean, that song is kind of like. It's about a werewolf. It is a Halloween ish song, but it also gets played in, like, your dad's soda shop basement when he's with his friends. You know, it's kind of like a boomer song on top of that.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, big time.

[Millie De Chirico]

But there's this line in the song that makes me laugh all the time. Time where he's like, I seen a werewolf having a pina colada at Trader Vicks. His hair was perfect.

[Casey O'Brien]

Excellent.

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, have you ever been to Trader Vicks? I would be. I would be stunned if I saw a werewolf sitting at the bar having a pena colada. And he had perfect hair.

[Casey O'Brien]

I've never been a Trader Vicks. It sound. I love tiki drinks, so I feel like I would love it.

[Millie De Chirico]

Is there not one in your town? Nothing.

[Casey O'Brien]

There's one here in Minneapolis in the Twin Cities. No. No.

[Millie De Chirico]

You might want to move. I mean, I'm just throwing that out.

[Casey O'Brien]

I want to move. Wow. All right. Number two.

[Millie De Chirico]

Number two. So Werewolves of London. Number three. Number two. I think you obviously know what this would be. It's the song Halloween by one of my favorite bands of all time, the Misfits. Oh, I'm feeling Jersey right now. As a plumber, I'm feeling very Jersey.

[Casey O'Brien]

I feel like any song by the Misfits is kind of a Halloween song. Even when Eagles Dare. Where Eagles Dare, which is one of my favorite Misfit songs. I feel like that puts me in kind of a spooky mood.

[Millie De Chirico]

I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch is what you're suggesting.

[Lego Star Wars Advertiser]

I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, exactly.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I mean, they're. All their songs are horror themed for the most part.

[Casey O'Brien]

Sure.

[Millie De Chirico]

And honestly, the entire Static Age album, it should be a Halloween album as far as I'm concerned, but they one of the greatest spooky bands ever. So that's my number two. It would have been my number one, but my number one is. Is amazing and is. You cannot be disputed. My number one is I put a spell on you by screaming Jay Hawkins.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's a great one. It's a fun one.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

I mean, hard to dispute.

[Millie De Chirico]

Hard to dispute if you want to dispute Dear Movies at exactly right. Media.com and you will lose. I'm just saying, you will lose.

[Casey O'Brien]

Millie will arm wrestle you and you're going down. Okay, my turn. That was all three, right? Those were two.

[Millie De Chirico]

And I had a hard time because there's so many others I could have picked.

[Casey O'Brien]

There's so many. So number three, I'm gonna put Bella Lugosi is Dead by Bow House. Love that song. And it sounds spooky. It gets me in the mood. It's very kind of droning. It feels like it's like a good. Just a spooky, gothy song.

[Millie De Chirico]

Good, Good choice, love.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Number two. This is maybe a little bit strange, but it gets me in that fall, autumnal, angsty mood. It's the song Graveyard Girl by the band M83. It's about a girl obsessed with a graveyard. So it kind of has a, like, kind of a goth. Another gothy feel, sort of. But it's kind of about an angsty teen who's like obsessed with being morbid, you know? And I just. I like that song.

[Millie De Chirico]

Sure, sure. Great, great.

[Casey O'Brien]

And then number one, I guess is going to be. This is sort of a silly song. It's called the Egyptian Shamba by the Tammies, which is a like 1960s girl group. And it's like, kind of about getting like wooed by a mummy. And it's really fun and dancy and I love that one. I like. I like that kind of like 1960s garage band, silly song. There's another song kind of like that by the Sonics called the Witch.

[Millie De Chirico]

So good.

[Casey O'Brien]

I like that one too. Well, Millie, we got a show today.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes, we do.

[Casey O'Brien]

A big one.

[Millie De Chirico]

We do. Wow. This is going to be quite an undertaking, I think, huh? Hopefully we can properly talk about it in a way that makes sense to you all, but would you say this.

[Casey O'Brien]

Is the weirdest movie we've ever done? I know that's sort of a strange disclaimer, but I would say it is.

[Millie De Chirico]

This is one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen in my life and is, as you will see, is an absolute shithead phase classic for me. Like. Oh, right down the line.

[Casey O'Brien]

Unbelievable. Put it in my shithead veins.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

I mean, this is.

[Millie De Chirico]

I can't even tell you how many times I thought that I figured this movie out.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. We're talking about Tetsuo the iron man from 1989, a Japanese independent horror sci fi movie.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I think that, you know, we've done pretty. Pretty awesome horror movies this month, by the way, our last episode for our horror month.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

And I think we wanted to go out with a bang in the sense that we wanted to do something that was probably weird. Like more weird, more experimental, foreign. We just figured, let's go do something totally different than the other weeks. And this one's for us. Yeah. And I've been wanting to see this movie again. So I was excited when he said yes. And I can't wait to talk about it. I'd never seen it before. I knew that's the weirdest thing, is based on everything that you've communicated to me since we started this podcast. Mike, he's gonna like this. So.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yep. Yes, indeed. Tetsuo the iron man from 1989. And then for our segment, my area of expertise, we have the wonderful Johnny Pemberton, who you may have seen in shows like Fallout or Superstore. He's going to be talking about his area of expertise, which is non actors acting with professional actors.

[Millie De Chirico]

Excellent.

[Casey O'Brien]

And it's a fun convo. I can't wait for you guys to hear that. But we got so much going on on our final Halloween horror episode of the month and.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. All right, folks, stay tuned. More spooky things ahead. You are listening to Dear Movies, I love you. Dear movies, I love you. And I've got to know if you love me, too. Yes or no. Check the box below.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this fall, take care of the little ones in the family. With Baby Club Savings now through November 4, spend $25 on select Baby Club products and save $5. Shop for items like Pediasure bottles, Pedialyte powder packs, Huggies baby wipes, Huggies diapers, Gerber Puffs and Gerber pouches. And save $5 when you buy 25 on participating products. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Lego Star Wars Advertiser]

Does anything go better than Lego and Star Wars? I don't think so. Kids will love becoming a part of the galactic action while playing out their favorite adventures. Like with Jango Fett Starship. I mean, this LEGO set is fantastic. It features a detailed recreation of Jango Fett's starship with four stud shooters, a seismic charge dropping function and wings that rotate with gravity. Plus it has three Jango Fett with two blasters and a jetpack. Young Boba Fett and Llama Su. Perfect for endless play. Now for the big fans, there's Jango Fett's Firespray class starship from the Ultimate Collector series. Packed with details and surprises for fans, this large scale set is perfect for anyone hunting for a mindful building escape. Plus, you end up with a fantastic display piece. You can build this while your little ones build the kids set. You'll be like Jango and Boba building an adventure shop. Now for Star wars lego sets on lego.com or in lego retail stores.

[Walmart Express Delivery Advertiser]

Okay, real talk. Ever have one of those need it right now moments? Like the dog just chewed through a leash again? A kid's school project needs glitter glue tonight and somehow the toilet paper is gone. Yeah, that moment has happened to everyone. That's where Walmart Express delivery comes in.

[Casey O'Brien]

Clutch.

[Walmart Express Delivery Advertiser]

Get all that pet stuff, school stuff, household stuff, all this stuff in as fast as one hour. One hour. That means chargers, diapers, candles, light bulbs, laundry detergent, real life rescue items. And it's all from Walmart. Just hop on the app, order what's needed, and boom, it's at the door. Before a toddler melts down or before halftime is even over. Yes, game day food can be delivered in an hour too. Try it now. And get free delivery on a first order with promo code Express. That's free delivery on a first order with promo code Express. Walmart Express delivery in as fast as 1 hour. Promotion valid for the first express delivery order. $50 men subject to availability restrictions apply.

[Millie De Chirico]

Hey everybody. You are listening to Dear Movies, I love you. This is a podcast for those who are in a relationship with movies. For those who love Halloween. On our last week of Halloween on the 28th, right before Halloween. Yeah, things have been a bit crazy in in my world. How about you?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, very crazy. You know, it's a busy time. There's so many festivities and trying to watch as many horror movies as possible, eat as much candy as possible. But yeah, it's been cuckoo. And I know, yeah, you have a lot going on in your personal life.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's right. As well. That's right. I just bought a house for those who don't know. So things are kind of nutty. I've never bought a house before. And if you remember my last podcast, when Danielle bought a house, it was quite an undertaking. If you remember all of her contractors and her hedgehog. What were they? Hedgehogs. Groundhogs. Groundhogs.

[Casey O'Brien]

There's all sorts of rodents and creatures living and taking over her house and property, it seemed like.

[Millie De Chirico]

Right. So I hope to have a little bit better of an experience than that. But it has been. It's like a complete and utter, like. I mean, it is an upheaval undertaking. I've been rocked by this process. It's been happening for months, by the way, and I just haven't been able to like, really articulate how annoying it is.

[Casey O'Brien]

Just a crazy pain in the ass.

[Johnny Pemberton]

It is.

[Casey O'Brien]

But there's always other more stuff.

[Millie De Chirico]

But, you know, I figured, hey, why not? I'm a middle aged woman, I should own a house alone. They don't make it easy for that, by the way, America. They don't make it easy for single women to buy homes.

[Casey O'Brien]

Just when you. My advice to you, Millie, is when you bought the house, don't get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you need to do to take care of the house. Because when I moved in, I was so overwhelmed by like, chores. This needs to be organized and this needs to be put away and this needs to be painted.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

You have your whole life, you know, to. To fix up the house. It'll get done.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. Thank you for saying that. I. I have a huge list already and it is starting to, like, make my chest hurt just about how much stuff. But I have to.

[Casey O'Brien]

I would wake up in the middle of the night.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Panicked.

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, yeah. I've been having stress dreams for months about like, well, just the simple act of like qualifying for home, a home, making sure you have the money for it and then going in there and being like the inspection, the appraisal, you know, like backsplash tile.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm Casey o'. Brien.

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, I'm Millie to Jericho. I'm sorry, what were we doing? Were we just talking on the phone just now or are we doing a podcast? Well, listen, we have a great episode. Tons and tons of things happening in our personal lives. I've been going to a lot of Halloween events. I'm sure you've been busy with Patience. Your daughter, getting her ready for her Teletubbies debut.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm teaching her about Halloween. It's exciting to teach a child about Halloween. What little ghosts are and witches and pumpkins and stuff. She's very excited. It's fun.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, hopefully she gets the Halloween horror bug that her dad has.

[Casey O'Brien]

I feel like there's no. And her mother, so there's just no way she won't catch it.

[Millie De Chirico]

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

You know, that's good.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's the best you can hope for. So. All right, well, yeah, we've got a great episode. Tetso, the iron man from 1989 is happening. Johnny Pemberton is happening. Yep. And we also have, I don't know, quite a heavy. Do you have a heavy film diary this week or.

[Casey O'Brien]

Let's open it up, Millie.

[Millie De Chirico]

It is heavy. I'm a plumber. But this is also really hard work.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, it's heavy. It's thick.

[Millie De Chirico]

Mine is pretty big. No, actually, it's not. It's a couple.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh.

[Millie De Chirico]

But if you want to go first, big, as in title wise, we'll talk about it. So. All right. I have two big. Two big jams this week. I rewatched. I don't know why I rewatched this, because I've seen this movie literally, I would say 15 times, maybe 17 times.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow.

[Millie De Chirico]

And that is 1980s the Shining. Stanley Kubrick.

[Casey O'Brien]

I knew you were gonna say that for some reason.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, as you remember. You may not remember. I don't know if you were on the podcast, but when I was. You were. When I took that Shining class.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, no, Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

I don't think you were.

[Casey O'Brien]

I did.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I. We.

[Casey O'Brien]

You discussed it on the show, though.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes, I had. So I. I took. When I was in grad school, Dr. Jennifer Barker over at GSU taught an entire class about the Shining, the book, and the movie. And it was crazy because the whole movie's about the shiny. There's been a lot of academic work that's been written about this movie, but that. Because I was in the class, I watched this movie over and over and over again because it was part of what I was talking about every week. And I wrote my paper about the Shining and Twin Peaks just to let you know. I did a little two for one.

[Casey O'Brien]

But you love a big hotel.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. My paper was about. God, this was so complicated. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm like, holy fuck, why did I write this paper? It was about modernist time traps, and it was like, modernist time traps in hinterland environments in both the Shining And Twin Peaks. Wow. So it was basically like the conceit of the paper, which, by the way, I have no idea where this paper is, is that there's design wise or aesthetically. Both Twin Peaks and the Shining have moments of unnatural modernism in a rural environment.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, I see that. Definitely.

[Millie De Chirico]

And that is like part of the horror of both things.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. It's a surrealness that is spooky.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I don't know how well I articulated that, but yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Would you. What grade you get on that?

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, I don't know. 100, 105. They're like, we. We gave you five extra points because you're so smart. Wow. But yeah, re. Watch that movie. I mean, love the Shining. What else am I gonna say about it? It's like a classic.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, it's a classic. I mean, I feel like that's the first A24 movie.

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, shots fired there. Casey O'. Brien.

[Casey O'Brien]

What else?

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, in my other movie that I saw this week, finally had to do it. I saw ES from 2024.

[Casey O'Brien]

Nothing says Halloween like E. Fizz.

[Millie De Chirico]

It is about Halloween.

[Casey O'Brien]

It takes place around the.

[Millie De Chirico]

Let me tell you, it takes place on October 16th.

[Casey O'Brien]

I didn't realize it was that late in the year.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

And don't I look foolish?

[Millie De Chirico]

There are ads that get played in between. You know how they have these fake radio ads? They're Halloween themed.

[Casey O'Brien]

I. I completely forgot about that.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, you dumbass.

[Casey O'Brien]

I guess.

[Millie De Chirico]

Don't you.

[Casey O'Brien]

Don't you know I am a. I am a dumbass.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yep.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. Well, what'd you think?

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, it was delightful. Just as literally everybody has told me.

[Casey O'Brien]

Literally every person in your life, every guest we've had on the show.

[Millie De Chirico]

This. This movie has been brought up like virtually every week for the past, like three months or something. And I was like, I cannot be ignorant about it. I gotta watch it. And it was. It was very like, the pacing of it was great. It was very pleasant. It's like a pleasant film. It's just like watching an old man baseball league play, like their last game. And they're just like all. I mean, you're really just kind of like in the whole game, which I love.

[Casey O'Brien]

It is interesting. The structure of the movie is a baseball game. You know, it feels like watching a baseball game.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. It made me like, remember when I used to play softball when I was a kid, when I played forever and ever and ever. I even played for my high school team. And just the, like, you know, the shittiness of like the little Press box that Franny sits in towards the end and him, like, doing his scorekeeping and nobody showing up to the games. The light's not coming on, like, all that stuff. Like, it's great.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, I'm glad you watched it finally.

[Millie De Chirico]

It is wonderful. So, all right, I'm done. What about you?

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay, I watched a lot. I probably. I'm not gonna say everything I watched, because some of these were. There were some stinkers. I watched Children of the Corn two, the Final Sacrifice. Everyone was telling me, this is better than Children of the Corn one. I disagree. Basically, all the children from the town of Children of the Corn one move to a new town, and guess what? They want to kill adults again. And they do. So it was good, though. I had a fun time. Next up, I saw a Disney Channel original movie from 1999 called Don't look under the Bed. Okay, this. The premise of this movie is basically like imaginary friends. If they. If you stop believing in your imaginary friend too early, they become boogeymen and they haunt you and, like, play tricks on you. And it was actually kind of spooky. And apparently this movie got complaints from parents that were like, this is actually too scary for a Disney Channel original movie. And also, they have an interracial kiss at the end, which is very controversial. But the filmmaker fought to keep it in. And I thought this was really imaginative. It reminded me of Little Monsters, the Howie Mandel movie with Fred Savage, which was a movie I really liked as a kid. There's, like, this whole world under the bed, like, where these monsters live, and I liked that. So it was fun. It's sometimes fun to watch something meant for kids. So we had a good time.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Then I watched this. I watched this movie kind of at the suggestion of a future guest, Vera Drew.

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, oh, oh.

[Casey O'Brien]

She talked about the movie the Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Remember how she brought that up?

[Millie De Chirico]

Of course.

[Casey O'Brien]

Matthew McConaughey, Renee Zellweger, before they're famous. It is an interesting watch. It is kind of bizarre. It feels very 90s. It feels very kind of like, indie 90s. Like, it kind of. I. It sort of felt like a Kevin Smith movie, in a way. And, like, the dialogue's clever, and I enjoyed it. There's some really bizarre twists in it, like, spoiler alert for this movie that came out in 1995, but it sort of hinted at that the Illuminati are using Leatherface and his family to kill people to keep balance to the universe. It's very strange. So anyways, I enjoyed that. And that's my diary. My film diary, man.

[Millie De Chirico]

Incredible work this week.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Millie De Chirico]

A lot of horror sequels. A lot of horror sequels I like.

[Casey O'Brien]

You forget to watch the sequels sometimes, and I like to sprinkle them in because they're just. A lot of times the sequels are better than the original one or they're at least more outrageous.

[Millie De Chirico]

You know, One of my favorite horror sequels is the Exorcist 3. Have you ever seen.

[Casey O'Brien]

I've never seen the second one with George C. Scott.

[Millie De Chirico]

Fuck. I mean, that.

[Casey O'Brien]

People like that one.

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, that. It's so bizarre. It kind of reminds me. Reminds me of a. It kind of reminds me of an episode of, like, a crime procedural show that is in syndication and plays on, like, a channel like Ion, like the Ion Network. It's. It reminds me of something like that. And I don't really know why, but that's funny. Yeah, it's. But it's fantastic. And I mean, it's like. Yeah, I feel like you're missing out a lot if you don't go down the road. I mean, sometimes the sequels can be really, really bad, but sometimes when they hit, they hit.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, absolutely. And I just feel it's fun with those sequels because it feels like people aren't paying attention as much or something like the. The filmmakers are able to really get away with doing whatever they want sometimes. So, anyways, let's close it up. Millie.

[Millie De Chirico]

Bye bye. Film D.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this fall, take care of the little ones in the family with Baby Club Savings now through November 4th. Spend $25 on select Baby Club products and save $5. Shop for items like Pediasure bottles, Pedialyte powder packs, Huggies baby wipes, Huggies diapers, Gerber puffs, and Gerber pouches. And save $5 when you buy. $25 or more on participating products. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Lego Star Wars Advertiser]

Does anything go better than Lego and Star Wars? I don't think so. Kids will love becoming a part of the galactic action while playing out their favorite adventures, like with Jango Fett Starship. I mean, this LEGO set is fantastic. It features a detailed recreation of Jango Fett's starship with four stud shooters, a seismic charge dropping function, and wings that rotate with gravity. Plus, it has three Jango Fett with two blasters and a jetpack. Young Boba Fett and Llama sue, perfect for endless play. Now for the big fans, there's Jango Fett's Firespray class starship from the Ultimate Collector series series. Packed with details and surprises for fans, this large scale set is perfect for anyone hunting for a mindful building escape. Plus, you end up with a fantastic display piece. You can build this while your little ones build the kid set. You'll be like Jango and Boba building an adventure shop now for Star wars lego sets on lego.com or in lego retail stores.

[Walmart Express Delivery Advertiser]

Okay, real talk. Ever have one of those need it right now moments? Like the dog just chewed through a leash again? A kid's school project needs glitter glue tonight and somehow the toilet paper is gone? Yeah, that moment has happened to everyone. That's where Walmart Express delivery comes in.

[Casey O'Brien]

Clutch.

[Walmart Express Delivery Advertiser]

Get all that pet stuff, school stuff, household stuff, all the stuff in as fast as one hour. One hour. That means chargers, diapers, candles, light bulbs, laundry detergent, real life rescue items. And it's all from Walmart. Just hop on the app, order what's needed, and boom, it's at the door before a toddler melts down or before halftime is even over. Yes, game day food can be delivered in an hour too. Try it now. And get free delivery on a first order with promo code Express. That's free delivery on a first order with promo code Express. Walmart Express delivery in as fast as 1 hour. Promotion valid for the first express delivery order. $50. Men subject to availability restrictions apply.

[Millie De Chirico]

Okay, folks, so this week as we've talked about, we are doing a movie called Tetsuo the iron man from 1989. And this was written and directed by a experimental filmmaker, I would say. Right, art. An arty, arty experimental filmmaker.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, I would certainly say this is.

[Millie De Chirico]

Experimental, but it was written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. And you know, his origin story is really interesting because he basically was like making films at home, doing a lot of shorts, experimental films. Like, you know, he was kind of like what we were all doing when we were in college, which is just fucking around and doing weird shit. And, you know, he had like a little gang of people that he used to collaborate with. But for some reason, this movie became pretty popular outside of Japan.

[Casey O'Brien]

A sensation.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, it was a sensation. And by the time I realized what it was, it had been out for like over 10 years. And it just became this like, kind of essential, strange Asian cult film that everybody had to watch. And if we're going to do some cataloging for this film. Yes, right, we've got. It's obviously A horror movie. It's a science fiction movie. Cyberpunk, wouldn't you say?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

Experimental. More about cyberpunk in just a moment, I'm sure. Themes of the film, if you're curious. Transhumanism, industrialization, body horror.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

Are there any standout actors or famous quotes? I would say probably not. And we'll get to maybe why that is later. Yep. Because at one point, a lot of the collaborators on this film kind of dropped out. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

I think it was like, basically the filmmaker and the actor at some point were just kind of, like, bumming around a junkyard shooting stuff.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. And when we get into a little bit more of the. Of the Beat by Bait, we'll maybe understand why people were quitting, because there is quite a bit of. Of costuming, of makeup work.

[Casey O'Brien]

Sure. I mean, it doesn't seem like, necessarily pleasant physically to have making this movie.

[Millie De Chirico]

No, absolutely not. And I would feel bad as a filmmaker to ask people to put on that much, but that's just me.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's what I was thinking, too, because I'm like, God, I just don't have the end. Like, the energy and the. You really have to have a drive to be like, okay, let's take all the time to build all this, like, metal costumes and put it all over these people, and they're gonna be miserable. And. But, you know, we'll get the shot. You know, I don't know if I have that within me. I don't think I could have made this movie.

[Millie De Chirico]

Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

And anyways, we can get more into that as we go beat by beat.

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, and honestly, like, people that you collaborate with, not everybody's gonna be Divine. Not everyone's gonna eat dog shit for you. You know what I mean? So let's just throw that out there.

[Casey O'Brien]

But of course, Divine was in Pink Flamingos by John Waters, and Divine ate poop that came out of a dog's butt.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. Well, okay, so I want to know, like, when you watch this film, this is the first time watch for you?

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

What. How did it make you feel personally? What's your personal connection?

[Casey O'Brien]

This made me feel like a child. I was giddy with excitement. I love cyberpunk. I love the writings of William Gibson, who kind of invented cyberpunk. He wrote Neuromancer, and he wrote the scripts for Johnny Mnemonic and other cyberpunk things. And, like, the Matrix is kind of based on his work. But I love dystopian futures. I love body modification, transhumanism. Bruce, the writer Bruce Sterling Called cyberpunk. Kind of like low life high tech, which I kind of like that genre of like, kind of trashy criminal people. But there's like high tech stuff going on. And I love movies about this sort of stuff. I like the movie Titan. I like Robocop. I like Johnny Mnemonic, like I mentioned, where people are like kind of turning into machines. But I want to stress I don't like it the other way around. Like with the movie Bicentennial man, where it's a machine becoming a human.

[Millie De Chirico]

No, that's a dragon. Nobody cares if a robot wants to be human. Like, but, you know. Yeah, I feel. But the feel good crowd would. I mean, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, like, oh, a robot wants to become, like, falls in love with a person and now wants to be.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, like, no, thanks.

[Millie De Chirico]

I want to see a human be destroyed by technology.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes. I also, like, this isn't necessarily like, I like the Fly, which I think you mentioned in your notes. I like. Was it District 9? That's also like a guy transforming into, like a bug. Anyways, I love that stuff. So this was like, right in my wheelhouse.

[Millie De Chirico]

Sure.

[Casey O'Brien]

I was psyched to watch it.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes. Well, for me, I mean, obviously I picked it this week. I wanted to watch it again. And as I said in the intro, this was literally like classic shithead phase movie for me. The person who introduced it to me was my roommate in college, Blake Myers. He was the king of horror movies. When we were in the film program together at gsu, he actually went on to become. I mean, he was on the Walking Dead for many years. He was like the blood guy on the Walking Dead. Whoa.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, we need a blood guy on this podcast.

[Millie De Chirico]

I know. He will be our blood guy, by the way. He loves to make blood. And when we used to make little shitty films together in his house, which became my house, we lived in the same house, which. That's a whole other story, by the way. That was a legendary house that we lived in. Also horrific. And he used to have these Halloween parties there every year. And it was so scary that people couldn't believe that we actually lived there. It was condemned. It was actually condemned. But his mom's friend who ran a auto shop next door said that he could have it for $100 a month. And I lived there for almost a year. Anyway.

[Casey O'Brien]

Would you say that was when you were at your shithead powers were at their peak?

[Millie De Chirico]

199%. Yes. I was like a fucking shithead from the ninth level of hell. Like, I Was watching trauma movies. I was watching, like, I was super into, like. Well, I obviously had been into Nine Inch Nails since. Since high school, but I was sort of like in a, like, kind of like I'd wore all black. I was really into. I'd go to like goth and industrial nights here in Atlanta, you know, all the people that I knew were like film school weirdos, like just a bunch of maniacs. And we were obsessed with Russ Meyer, John Waters, you know, Herschel Gordon Lewis, you know, we were obsessed with misfits and punk rock. And we were all just like in the swirl. And, you know, I was in. We were all like, trying to look for weird Asian movies, you know, just like weird violent shit and real weird sexual things. And so, yeah, when Blake was like, you haven't seen Tattoo of the Iron Man, Millie?

[Casey O'Brien]

Like, what are you doing?

[Millie De Chirico]

Of course I was like, I mean, yeah. I mean, yeah, I should watch it, huh? So we watched it. And it's easy to watch. It's an hour long. That's one of the benefits.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's easy to watch in the sense of time.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's probably the only part, though. And I was like convinced that this was. This movie. What? It was so deep and esoteric and had all this messaging about who knows what at who, whatever. I conjured up and was like, I want to live in trash and like make art with trash. And I remember our house at the time was very Tetsuo the Iron man influence because there was a wall of broken TVs and Commodore 64 monitors in the living room for some fucked up reason. Yeah, I mean, it was very, like everybody living in the house was like a weird art person. So it was like very highly influenced by this film. But anyway.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's great.

[Millie De Chirico]

My personal connection to this movie. And that's why I love it. Let's talk about it.

[Casey O'Brien]

Absolutely. Well, maybe you should. Let's get into the damn thing. I just want to say, tonally, you know, we're talking about all these kind of like, you might think this is like a serial. We're talking art house. We're talking cyberpunk. You might think this is kind of like a serious movie, but this is a goofy ass movie. I mean, it's like, funny. Yeah, I would say it's. And it's supposed to be funny.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, it's real over the top and yeah, it's like zany when we get into this. I mean, like I said, it is online. You can watch it online in many different places. It is an easy watch. I Think it's like an hour and.

[Casey O'Brien]

Six minutes or something like that.

[Millie De Chirico]

Change black and white. It will remind you a lot of sort of indie films from the late 80s, early 90s in that way. But it really is just kind of hard to describe. So I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna try to go beat by beat, but it's gonna be a little weird. So just strap the.

[Casey O'Brien]

Watching it the first time this week, I was. There were times where I'm like, I. I do not know what's going on.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes. Because the style is very experimental. It uses like. It switches sometimes from like live action to like stop motion animation. It's visually just really chaotic. It sort of doesn't really have. It doesn't really like give you a lot of plot. You're just kind of thrown into things. But I'll. I'll attempt to give you the, you know, main beats. Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

Huh.

[Millie De Chirico]

So at the beginning of the film, it's basically like you're just like brought into this like crazy workshop slash. I don't know, like it just looks like a pit of trash and gear and electronics. And you're immediately like brought into this guy's life who starts. He's like driving like a metal pipe into his leg. And it gets.

[Casey O'Brien]

He's doing some self surgery on his leg.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

And he's inserting a metal pipe into it.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. It gets juicy real quick. Just wanted to point that out.

[Casey O'Brien]

It sort of seems like it keeps cut. It cuts to like a lot of pictures of marathon runners or Olympians. And so you get the sense that maybe he's trying to become like a bionic type person by cutting open his leg and installing a metal rod in there. But you also aren't entirely sure.

[Millie De Chirico]

And of course he's like hurting as he's doing this. He's screaming, uh huh. Sometimes there's a cutaway and you come back to it. There's like maggots and stuff. So it's like you don't know if he's in a dream state. You don't know what's actually happening, but you just see this chaos almost immediately. And then he kind of like runs out of his little shit shack and gets hit by a car.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yep.

[Millie De Chirico]

Which is unfortunate. And so that kind of sets up one thing, one part of the movie, like maybe a character. We don't even know these people's names, by the way. There are no names. Then it cuts to this other guy who would be best described as like a Japanese salaryman, like a businessman. He's like, clean cut. Has, like, kind of Buddy Holly glasses, and he's wearing a suit and he's at home and he's shaving his face with an electric razor. And then he notices protruding out of his cheek, this, like, little device. It almost looks like. It looked to me like a cactus needle or something. It just was that small.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's like a metal thorn coming out of his head.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, it's kind of like inner space with Dennis Quaid and Martin Short. Feels like a little get like a tiny little receiver that can go into your skin. But he, like, fucks with it. And then it pops open, all this blood. It's very disgusting, by the way.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's nasty.

[Millie De Chirico]

But then this salaryman, like, ends up, like, I guess he's going to work. He, like, goes about his day and he goes into the subway and he's, like, sweating. Very sweaty movie, by the way.

[Casey O'Brien]

And a lot of breath. You hear a lot of like. Yeah, like the whole movie. A lot of breath.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

The sound is also layered with all these other sounds. Like it's kind of. Again, it's disorienting, I think, on purpose. But he basically, like, sits in the subway and meets, like, sitting next to this kind of. I don't know, equally as sort of like, nerdy, kind of younger Japanese woman. And then she sort of turns into a little bit of like a half metal monster.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, this was. This part I was. This is where I first was really confused because there's, like, some sort of metal creature that kind of is nearby, and she tries to pet it, and then it latches onto her hand and she starts to turn into a half robot, half person.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I couldn't tell, like, how if it was. Cause I wasn't sure if it was setting up the scenario of, like, if you touch something, you become it consumes you type of feeling.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

But it happened really fast. And then all of a sudden, she kind of is like a like a half metal goop, half human hybrid. And then starts chasing the businessman.

[Casey O'Brien]

This guy.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie De Chirico]

And then so. And at the time that it was happening, as it was rolling out, I was actually like, this would be kind of a cute couple's Halloween costume.

[Casey O'Brien]

I think so, too, because they haven't gotten quite gross yet. Like, her hand has transformed, but she's in kind of cute, like, secretary, like, business outfit. And he's in his, like, suit and Buddy Holly glasses. It would be pretty easy.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. Get him early so you don't have to put on all the crap that he eventually puts On. But that would be kind of cute. Like 50s little Japanese business people with like weird, disgusting turning into robot. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

I feel like that would like, absolutely, like, crush at a very specific film art house costume party.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I mean, for my own satisfaction and to like, let all the people that know what I know think I have good taste. Yeah, that'd be fucking fantastic.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'd be like, that would be good, man.

[Millie De Chirico]

That lady and her boyfriend dressed like the beginning of Tetsu the Iron man. And they're like legends.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm trying to think of what this party is, that it would get recognized like that. But it's out there.

[Millie De Chirico]

I think it's at your house. Let's just get serious.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's at my house and it's just me. Millie, do you have a favorite self surgery scene in movies?

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, let me think about this. I mean, I kind of like the no country for Old Men thing with. Yeah, it's a good one, I think. I mean, honestly, I think my favorite is like. I don't know if this is. This is technically not surgery, but when in Terminator 2, Arnold is like. Cuts his arm open. He's like, let me show you I'm a robot. Guys like, you don't believe me. That felt really intense when I was in middle school.

[Casey O'Brien]

Is it in Terminator 1 or 2 where he pulls the big thing out of his nose? I think that's one.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's one. Yeah. What about you?

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, I would say the ones that come to mind are Prometheus with Numi Repache, where she has to get this alien cut out of her stomach. That was pretty crazy. And Cast Away when he pops the tooth out of his head. Those are the only two I can really think of.

[Millie De Chirico]

Should I see Castaway?

[Casey O'Brien]

You've never seen it?

[Millie De Chirico]

What do you think?

[Casey O'Brien]

I don't know. Yeah, that one might have missed you. You're too busy. Too busy in these Tetsuo the Iron man streets.

[Millie De Chirico]

Cast Away.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, do you need to see Castaway? That would be a good one to watch, like with your dad. That's a good dad movie. It is good. I like Castaway.

[Millie De Chirico]

I don't think my dad would want to see Castaway. He likes comedies.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's good.

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, it's entertaining as Fred Armisen in Castaway. Maybe my dad would see it.

[Casey O'Brien]

Does he like Fred Armisen?

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, he loves. Because he does a lot of accent work.

[Casey O'Brien]

He does?

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, yeah, my dad loves.

[Casey O'Brien]

No, I don't know. I think you. I think it might be too late for you. I think Castaway just might not be a part of your life. And that's okay.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's fine. So then we move on to this, like, kind of middle sequence of this hour and six minute up little gem, which is that.

[Casey O'Brien]

That. That's that fight scene, though, where the woman is attacking him. That's a lot. That's long. Yes, That's a big, good chunk here.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's a good. But. But then it kind of moves into this new scene, right? Which is basically like.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

So the businessman is sort of slowly changing. Like, he looks. He's looking more and more gnarly with his, like. And how would you describe what this stuff is that is consuming his body? Cause it looks just like fucking rubber hoses and pipes and metal trash. It's like. Trash.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, it's like really gross because it's not just like he's turning into a robot. It's not as simple as that. It's like he's turning into, like, part octopus, part tv. I don't know. It's like a mix between. Because it's very gooey and squishy, but also metallic.

[Millie De Chirico]

I don't know. Just imagine like. Like a Nine Inch Nails video with just like, shit hanging down from the ceiling. It's like rubber hoses mixed with like, the inside of VHS tapes mixed with, like, black goo mixed with metal pipes. It was just like. It just looks like space trash. Like, I don't even know how else to describe it. It will make you feel gross.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm glad it's in black and white. Yes. Because makes it feel less gross watching it.

[Millie De Chirico]

It feels a little elevated when it's in black and white.

[Casey O'Brien]

Elevated. Yes.

[Millie De Chirico]

So this. This Salaryman guy is getting real crunk, right? His body's changing. He sort of like, has been having these, like, sexual visions of him and this woman who we find out is sort of his girlfriend. And they're in his apartment and they're having sex at one point. And then he starts kind of rapidly changing to the point where. And this, I have to say, is my favorite part of the film.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'd say it's mine too.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, I think it's hard to resist, but they're having sex. They're pretty much in human form at this point. But then after they're done, I guess he cooks her some noodles. They start. They sit down to eat a little bit. And then like, slowly his body starts changing and his dick turns into a giant drill. And this is fun for me to see.

[Casey O'Brien]

This was cinema.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

So big.

[Millie De Chirico]

It.

[Casey O'Brien]

It drills through the Table. He gets this, like, drill boner and it, like, comes through the. The. The coffee table. I mean, it was amazing.

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, quite frankly, if I had one of those, I'd be going up to anything that's wooden and just drilling holes and everything. It'd be so fun.

[Casey O'Brien]

This is a conical drill, too. It would be like, at the front of a boring machine, you know, this isn't like hand drill. It's like. I don't know what they use at.

[Millie De Chirico]

The bottom of the ocean to, you know, plow. Plow into the earth. But It's.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's like Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog, I feel like, has a drill like this.

[Millie De Chirico]

Anyways, it's very intense. And here's the. Here's the thing, though. The girlfriend is kind of, like, cool with it. I think she's kind of down to clown at first.

[Casey O'Brien]

She's tantalized. Like, what that thing do?

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. You know, and he's, you know, he's doing the whole thing, of course, where he's like, oh, don't look at me. I'm a monster. Like, no, get away from me. And she's kind of like, no. And she says to him multiple times, listen, I don't scare easily. And I. I started thinking about this and I'm like, you know what? Not to toot my own horn, but I'm actually the kind of girlfriend, too. I don't really scare that easily. Not gonna lie.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's good. So you would be the girlfriend in a horror movie. I feel like this is a common thing, you know, like where the girlfriend sticks by her man who is transforming into some monster.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, I would, in fact. And maybe that is something that people really don't clock about me, but, you know, you're not in a relationship with me. You don't know what goes on. Yeah, I'm pretty. I'm pretty down. Like, I'm pretty. Like, you know what? Like, yeah, nobody's perfect if you have a drill dick. I'm not saying that we have to use it, but I'm not going to run away that you have it. That it's present. That it just destroyed our dining room table. Yeah, I. I liked that for him, though. I was at the bo. At that tiny moment, I was like, oh, well, it seems like she's cool, so, like, don't worry. Maybe she'll love you even if you turn into, like, a heaping pile of metal trash.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

But then as it turns out, it gets more complicated, and I think she tries on the drill dick. For size and then dies, basically. You live by the drill. You die by the drill. That's kind of what happens. And you know what? Like, I'm glad she took it for a spin. Even though it had tragic consequences, but.

[Casey O'Brien]

Took it for a spin. I don't know. Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. But I mean, to be honest with you, Drill dick is real fun. Like, it's a fun part of the movie. I don't know what you thought when you first saw it. I mean, I. I personally, this whole sequence when we were talking about the Fly, this is what really reminds me of the Fly.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

Is when somebody's, like, physically changing in front of their partner. They're just kind of like, huh, okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. But I don't know if Gina Davis was as down as the girlfriend in this. Gina Davis seemed like she was kind of like, whoa, you're really climbing up that wal.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, Gina Davis wasn't quite the industrial girlfriend that this. This guy had. Yeah, she seemed like she was kind of up for a lot.

[Casey O'Brien]

So you.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I.

[Casey O'Brien]

You put a note in here about the music. Yeah, it's a lot of industrial music.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I actually don't know who did the music. I don't know if you. If you know, but I don't.

[Casey O'Brien]

I think it's a. It was a friend of his that had never done a score before, but was a musician.

[Millie De Chirico]

Okay. Well. And like, here's the thing about this movie. This. And this is, I think, why it appeals to, you know, like, I think it appeals to a certain type of person, which is that.

[Casey O'Brien]

To shitheads.

[Millie De Chirico]

To shitheads. And. And primarily, like, maybe the Hellraiser kids that we were talking about from last week. Right. The goth kids, the industrial kids. Like, the music is definitely like, clang, clang, clang. Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

Like the trolley, it's going clang, clang, clang.

[Millie De Chirico]

If you're really into, like, kraut rock or any kind of experimental music, this is your jam. And I feel like, visually, to be real, like, it almost felt like this movie felt like an industrial film. Like, it felt like a Nine Inch Nails video. It felt like a front 242 video or like something like that. And you think about the. The year 1989, this. This music was really popular. Like, industrial music was really popular in the late 80s and early 90s. So it's like, to me, it felt like kind of part and party of that whole, like, musical scene almost.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, you know, totally.

[Millie De Chirico]

It's a bit like Durfan meets Hellraiser meets Cyberpunk. So.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah. I Kept. I love the band, Big Black, Steve Albini's Big Black, of course, and which is an industrial band and a lot of, like, drum machine and, like, clanging guitars, and I love it.

[Millie De Chirico]

Did you ever. I saw Shellac. Did you ever see Shellac when they played? Never Saw, man, what a great show. Probably, like, top five for me.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow.

[Millie De Chirico]

It was fantastic.

[Casey O'Brien]

I haven't listened to that much Shellac. I've only listened to Big Black, Thousand Hertz ep.

[Millie De Chirico]

Gotta Get It, Gotta Get It. It's fantastic.

[Casey O'Brien]

Gotta get in there.

[Millie De Chirico]

RIP Steve Alvini.

[Casey O'Brien]

I know a real one.

[Millie De Chirico]

All right, so speaking of real ones, okay. Pretty much the third act, the final act, if you want to call these acts, right? Because it's kind of hard to pace this out a little bit. But the last third of the movie is that, you know, the girlfriend's dead, the bathtub, then all of a sudden, everything around him starts turning into things. Like, one of my other favorite parts of the movie is that that little kitty starts turning into, like, a little metal goblin. And I just kept thinking, how the hell did he get a cat to, like, strap on a bunch of fucking pipes and shit?

[Casey O'Brien]

That's dedication.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Filmmaking, man. Whatever it takes.

[Millie De Chirico]

I mean, I. Have you ever tried to, like, force your pets to wear Halloween costumes, for example? Like.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, I used to have a dog, Dolly, who we loved. We lost her last November. And, yes, we tried to get her to wear all sorts of funny costumes, nun costumes, witch costumes. And Dolly was what you'd call a biter. And she would bite us, and she was a shih Tzu. But we still tried because it was funny. We also. Trish and I wrote a web series together that I directed called Lucy Follows Her Dreams. You can still watch it. Dolly acts in that movie. And that was a pain in the ass, too, because we had a few scenes with her as an important character in that. And it was. It was challenging.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. My dog Sophie, who is 15 years old as of last week, hanging in there, but grumpy as fuck. She was never good with Halloween costumes either. Like, I tried at one point to, like, dress her like a T. Rex, and she just fucking thrashed it off. She hated it. So I'm really impressed that this director got that cat to, like, yeah, you know, wear all that crap, but hopefully no animals were harmed. I'll throw that out there.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, but. Or people.

[Millie De Chirico]

Better people. Right? Yeah. Because here's the thing, is that this last half gets really crazy with the goo. With the goo, the goopy, oopy and this becomes like sort of, I don't know, just the most intense in terms of visuals and sort of the back and forth between like, what is real and what is not real. Like in terms of the structure of the film because it's like the girlfriend sort of turns into this other person who, as we find out, is the guy from the beginning of the movie.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

And you know, who got hit by.

[Casey O'Brien]

A car with their car.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. And had the pipe as like. And I guess.

[Casey O'Brien]

Did we say that this guy, the salary, the businessman, is the guy who hit the first guy with his car? Because it isn't quite revealed until later.

[Millie De Chirico]

Right. So, like, they're connected and I guess.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

The first guy, the pipe in the leg guy, was having sort of like some kind of like connection, like mental connection to this guy. And obviously they're connected through this accident. And then he sort of just like shows up and he's like. He's just kind of saying, like, hey, your future is metal. Like, join me. And they kind of form a weird, like, metal, goopy Voltron, don't they, towards the end. And that's kind of how it ends.

[Casey O'Brien]

I would say it's kind of, I don't know, sort of a homoerotic. There's some homoerotic imagery. We didn't mention this, but the businessman has a fantasy slash dream that he's getting penetrated by like a metallic pipe. So, yeah, there's a little bit of that.

[Millie De Chirico]

He's having a lot of different sexual dreams, by the way.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

And yeah, I think you're right. I think there is some kind of homoerotic undertones. The guy's real horny, which I feel like stands in line with a lot of Japanese businessmen, I would say. But yeah, and it kind of just like, again, like, it is. It kind of just ends and it is a huge spectacle. And you do sit there and say, what did I just watch?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. You know, my theory about, plot wise, why these things happened was basically the guy at the beginning was trying to make his body metal. And him getting hit by a car was kind of the lightning strike, like the Frankenstein lightning strike that made him combine with metal and it is infectious. So it infected the businessman. They're like connected through car and metal and violence. And so they kind of create this syndrome, that metal syndrome, and that's what takes over them. So that was sort of how I logically came to it, but there isn't really a clear explanation of why it happened.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, okay, so a couple things I would like to say, probably in Closing for Tetsuo the Iron Man. Perhaps you're right that this movie is short, but also packs in a lot of. In that short period of time to the point where it probably shouldn't have gone on any longer anyway. And it definitely had to be a black.

[Casey O'Brien]

Slightly tedious.

[Millie De Chirico]

It's tedious. I would say it's really kind of an assault of the senses at all levels.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

The thing that is interesting to me, though, and I'm trying not to, like, be too, you know, film scholar about this or whatever, but, like, it kind of had this. There was this feeling when you watch it about just, I don't know, consumption. Right. The idea that our whole lives at this point are consumed by technology, but also just shit. We're all just, like, iced out in stuff. Right. That, again, will eventually probably become trash on a barge or in space or. You know. But then if you think about just, like, the ways in which, like, the world is so about products and consumption and plastics and gear and things like that, I don't know, it kind of feels like this movie, in a way, is sort of like this almost kind of like complete exaggeration of something like that. Where it would be basically like, what would happen if your body just got taken over by all your.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, I. Yeah, no, I think you're totally right. And I think it's like a very good visualization, visual representation of that happening in this movie. I often think about kind of like, how the human body or, like, the human experience is becoming, like, digitized and optimized in a way. Like with phones and technology and computers and stuff, we're becoming attached to technology in a way. We are an extension of technology where, like, the human body and the human mind are, like, connected to. Com. The Internet at all times. And even though that's not metal, that is, like, machine that we're kind of integrating with. And I feel like. So this. This movie feels applicable to now.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. Have you ever. I'm kind of obsessed with this concept of gray goo. Who ever thought. Have you ever read about this?

[Casey O'Brien]

No. I think you brought this up when I saw what you did.

[Millie De Chirico]

Of course I did, because it's like one of my doomsday scenarios that I think about constantly, which is that it's basically like nanotechnology just can't stop replicating itself and then just takes over every. Everything on Earth that is living.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

So, like, for example, if you had a little machine in your cheek when you were shaving, a little metal thorn. Right. That that thorn would replicate itself and Just take over your entire body and just consume you as a human. And then it would consume, like, it would just. Wouldn't be able to stop replicating, and it would just take over everything on Earth. I like to think about that sometimes when I'm. You know, when I had a couple too many Diet Cokes and I'm just laying in bed.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Sure.

[Casey O'Brien]

But we're getting real cozy. Curling up by the fire.

[Millie De Chirico]

Of course.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thinking about Grey Goop.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. But this. This movie is kind of maybe the. One of the best, I think, visual representations of what that might actually look like.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, totally. It's, like, gross and not neat, and it does not take. It's violent. And it doesn't take into consideration, like, human pain or human feelings whatsoever.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I was trying to read some director interviews and quotes and stuff to say, like, so what's the deal with Tetsuo, the Iron man dude? And one of my favorites that he's. This is. He said something to the effect of this, which is I was preoccupied with chaos, so I was trying to integrate the horror with the science fiction that I had within me.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's good.

[Millie De Chirico]

Are you preoccupied by chaos, Casey? Do you think that's true of you?

[Casey O'Brien]

Preoccupied by chaos? Sometimes. Sometimes having a child throws an element of chaos into your life that is sometimes terrifying.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

So I do say. I would say I try my best, but I am preoccupied with chaos.

[Millie De Chirico]

I do have horror within me. I don't know if I have science fiction within me, but I try to mitigate the chaos. I don't like it.

[Casey O'Brien]

I don't like chaos.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. No, but, you know, I feel like there are people.

[Casey O'Brien]

I know, that, like, their natural state, they are thriving. They are at their best in a chaotic environment.

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, a hundred percent. They get juiced.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

I might have been one of those people for a long time. That's what. That's what I'm like, making conscious decisions to, like, slow down, not take on too many projects. You know what I'm saying? As you get older, your body just doesn't have the design for it, I feel. But as a younger person, I was like, cool. I have five jobs, and I've got, like, all these little side hustles and side quests and stuff. Now I'm like, no, I'm no longer preoccupied with the chaos. I just gotta be. I gotta just hang out with my drill dick and just be chill.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, that's right. That's right.

[Millie De Chirico]

We did it. I think. I don't know. Did we do it?

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm. I mean, Am I changing into a half man, half metal goo guy? Kind of feels like it, but I think that means we did it. All right, everybody, it's another installment of our segment. My area of expertise. And ooh, we got a great guest today, a fellow Minnesotan. I'm a huge fan. You may know him from the shows Son of Zorn Superstore, most recently the show Fallout. You can also see him in the movies, older movies, but you can see them in The Watch from 2012. Yeah. Band of Robbers from 2015. Johnny Pemberton is here. Thank you so much for being here, Johnny.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Thank you for having me. I'm here.

[Casey O'Brien]

Real pleasure. A fellow Minnesotan.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

Johnny, have you been following our beloved Minnesota Vikings this year?

[Johnny Pemberton]

I was at the game last week. You were? Yeah, I was at the Falcons game.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, that was a real.

[Johnny Pemberton]

That was a rough one. That was a rough, rough, bad game.

[Casey O'Brien]

That was. Was that a home.

[Johnny Pemberton]

That was.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, that was a home game.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah. I was in town for a couple days and I. Well, my whole family, we all went.

[Casey O'Brien]

We won't talk about the Vikings forever, Millie, I promise. But have you.

[Johnny Pemberton]

That's the most unpleasant thing for someone doesn't want to hear about. Like, it's the worst thing to talk about if you're talking about people who don't know about. It's like, you might as well talk about, like, the ingredients on some cleaning products or something like that.

[Casey O'Brien]

Have you seen there's this Viking documentary that came out, I think it was two years ago.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Have not. Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's. It's really good. It's. It's by this company called Secret Base.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Oh, I know about them. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

They do like a lot of weird avant garde sort of sports stuff. Yeah, it's. It's really interesting. And they do this whole narrative on the Minnesota Vikings and how. And they're not Vikings fans. Right. They're just pick the Vikings because they're like. The Vikings are historically a very strange team.

[Johnny Pemberton]

They really are.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's kind of why I like them.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I think, you know.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, me too. There's like, there's like a tragedy to them, but there is sort of like a weird narrative. And there's been so many different crazy characters and events throughout the history of the team. It's like, in some ways it's like almost better that they haven't won a Super Bowl. I mean, need to see them win a Super bowl, but they're. They're very interesting. But yeah, you should check it out. It's really okay. It's really interesting. Okay. That we're not here for Vikings.

[Johnny Pemberton]

This is not Viking podcast.

[Millie De Chirico]

All right.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Skull.

[Casey O'Brien]

Johnny, I wanted to ask you. So we bring people on experts, you know, we bring people on to talk about their area of expertise. And the area of expertise that you pitched was non actors used as actors in movies?

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

Can you kind of explain exactly what that means to you?

[Johnny Pemberton]

Well, it's pretty simple. It's when you see someone in a role who's clearly not an actor, but they're in a small role in a film and they're being used as an actor, but they're clearly not.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I think the best example of it is the one from Midnight Run with Charles Grodin and Robert De Niro. It's towards the end of the movie, they're at that diner, and Charles Grodin asks this woman working at the waitress at the counter at the diner. He asked her, the special is chorizo and eggs. What is chorizo and eggs? And she explains what chorizo and eggs is. And it's just very clear that this woman works at the diner. If she doesn't work at the diner, I mean, I guess it's possible that she is like a background actor who got a line and is just super, super nervous because she's a local hire. That's possible to me, but I think that that's almost the same as being a non actor. You know what I mean? And the way she says it, it's a combination of this is the most honest performance with the worst performance. There's something about that where it's like, I love when you know it, when you see it. At least I know it when I see it all the time. I constantly pick them out and I love it. I think it was funny because I watched. Well, I have some more examples, but that's the best example right there.

[Casey O'Brien]

Is that the first one you kind of, like, keyed into that concept, or.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Was that kind of.

[Casey O'Brien]

When it kind of sparked your brain?

[Johnny Pemberton]

I think so. I also know that Peter Berg is famous for using a lot of non actors in his movies, especially if it's a historical thing. A lot of times the director or the producers feel a need to insert someone who was involved in the instance. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Because Peter Berg's doing a lot of.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Military stuff or, like, things that are tragedy sort of things. So it's like, I think it's kind of therapeutic to have these people involved in the story because they're there for part of this to help tell the story of what Happened. They were there. Yeah.

[Millie De Chirico]

The minute you said that, I was thinking, this is like quite an old movie. But he actually won an Oscar for this role. But I think about the actor Harold Russell that was in that movie, the Best Years of Our lives from the 40s, like, I guess 1946. And he was. He actually lost his hands when he was in the military in World War II. But that was like, what his role was in the movie is that he played a soldier that was coming home from the war, and he's kind of readjusting to his life at home. But he basically played himself in the movie and was actually amazing and won an Oscar.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Wow. I haven't seen that. I've never seen that before. But that's like, maybe that's one of the early instances of it.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's so cool.

[Casey O'Brien]

What do you think about. This is sort of an offshoot of the non actor. But, like, when you can tell. I feel like this happens a lot where you can tell it's like the author of the book the movie's based on, like, they have a line in the movie or like, I feel like it's very immediate when you can tell, like, is that somebody connected to this.

[Johnny Pemberton]

They feel shoehorned in. And it's sort of like they're acting. They're acting sort of stilted, but not quite like a non actor. They think that what they're doing is okay, but they feel so uncomfortable because it's just like this thing where. Yeah. I don't know. It's stuff is so interesting. I can't think of an example of that.

[Millie De Chirico]

I gotta lie. I mean, this is kind of a stretch, I suppose, but I think about Tarantino in his own movies.

[Johnny Pemberton]

That's a classic one.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, totally.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I think I was watching Rewatched Nebraska on the plane probably like a week and a half ago. And that movie, I think that. Why can't I think of his name right now? I'm having. I have name issues in the last couple years. Like, I think my brain has filled up with names. I can remember everyone in my third grade class. Yeah. But I can't remember, like, my. Literally, one of my favorite directors who is alive right now is Alexander. Alexander Payne. Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's been happening to me so much. And I host a movie podcast now, and it's becoming, like, an issue for my livelihood. It's like. It really does, like, bother me.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I think it's just that the brain. It's like, you know, it's unfortunate, but it's just. It's Just the nature of age. But Alexander Payne in Nebraska. There's definitely. I might. I didn't research this, but there's gotta be some non actors in Nebraska.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, I'm from Minnesota, obviously, and I have some relatives in Nebraska, and I happen to know that one of my relatives, doctors, is in that movie.

[Millie De Chirico]

Are you serious?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Oh, my God.

[Casey O'Brien]

Can. Can confirm that there's a non actor?

[Johnny Pemberton]

What part? What part is it?

[Casey O'Brien]

I can't. There's a scene where they go to the doctor and they're like, stitching up Bruce Dern. I think he got, like, stitches or something. He's like one of the doctors or one of the nurses helping.

[Johnny Pemberton]

That's hilarious.

[Casey O'Brien]

So, yes, there are. Yeah, it definitely. And it definitely has that vibe.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah, it really makes the movie so much better. Like that movie. I watched it when it first came out and I liked it a lot, but watching it again, I, like, love it so much. I can't believe how much I loved it.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, what do you think? Like, you know, why do you like this concept so much? Like, what does it do to the movie having a non actor, you know, mixing it up with professional actors? What is it? How does, like, the tone of the movie sort of change?

[Johnny Pemberton]

I think it grounds it more. It also brings. It just brings, like, some sort of reality to it. Especially if you're doing places that are small towns or sort of. You're having something that's kind of like maybe bleak or sort of dark. There's like, sort of the reality of a real person talking. I think the best example of it is in that. What's that movie Frances McDormand did, where she was. Is it called Nomad? The one where she's traveling around?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, Nomadland.

[Johnny Pemberton]

So you watch that movie. That movie is filled with non actors on purpose. But I think that movie uses them in a bad way because all it does is show you how incredibly beautiful Frances McDormand and David Strathearn are. Because you see these real people. Like, she's supposed to be playing, like, this salt of the earth person. And you see her next to a real person, you're like, oh, my God, like, this is not working. These are not the same people. She does not experience life the same way as other person does because she's just stunning and radiant.

[Casey O'Brien]

It almost needs to be commented on within the film. Like, this woman's beautiful. What is she doing here? It almost ruins the reality of the world.

[Johnny Pemberton]

That's why that movie was ruined for me, because I felt like I don't believe this for a second because there's too many real people around her. It makes it feel like she's some sort of. She's not experiencing the same thing they are.

[Millie De Chirico]

I think about this actually all the time because I moved back, you know, I lived in LA for a few years, moved back to my hometown in Atlanta recently. And you know, Atlanta, there's a lot of productions here and there's movie people that live.

[Casey O'Brien]

All of them?

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh yeah, all of them. But it's funny because when you're in la, you're like, everybody sort of looks preserved and like fresh faced in this weird way. Even if they're not like even acting or they're just like, you know, we're all just like in this, you know, weird town that. Where everybody just kind of looks like they're an actor.

[Casey O'Brien]

Got a skincare routine.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then when I moved back to Atlanta, the difference between actor and the normal person is really vast here. And I was like, it's funny because when you are at a restaurant, for example, you're just like eating at a diner and all of a sudden somebody walks in and they're just like, elevated. They've got that like, elevated Frances McDormand look. You're like, oh, they're an actor and they moved here from Hollywood. They don't live here because everybody else looks like a fucking goblin. And you know, and you're just like, the line between that. I think that's really important that you say that because it's like, yeah, when you're in a movie environment, you're like, oh, here are all these normal looking people. And then all of a sudden, hot ass David Strathairn walks in and you're like, well, he's not old homeless guy, he's beautiful.

[Lego Star Wars Advertiser]

I know.

[Johnny Pemberton]

That's the thing is a lot of these people, they're older and they play character roles and you're just like, they're fucking stunning. And you can't imagine what is it like to be around someone who's like, like if you're around Margot Robbie, are you just. You, you can't look at her. Are you turned to stone or is it the opposite? Does she look hideous in person? Because there's some sort of, like a, you know, you, once you go over the top, you fall off the back or something like that. I don't know.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, even on her worst day, even on her worst day, she still looks like a beautiful alien, like. Cause she's still gonna be beautiful and thin and Gorgeous. Even if she hasn't fucking slept and was on a bender or whatever. Like, she's gonna be beautiful still.

[Johnny Pemberton]

You just can't help it. They can't help it at all.

[Casey O'Brien]

This happened a lot when I saw the movie the Safdie, bro. So the Safdie brothers, I feel like.

[Johnny Pemberton]

They do a lot of that. Yeah, they're great with it. They, they do a great job of that.

[Casey O'Brien]

They do. They do. But I really. And I really like this movie. Good Time. But again, it's like Robert Pattinson, I'm like, well, he's like a super hunt. So hot and stunning. It's like, why is no one in this film commenting on that?

[Johnny Pemberton]

You know, I feel like it's. I don't know why I somehow feel like it works in that one. Maybe because it's so fast. It worked for me.

[Casey O'Brien]

I was fine with it. They kind of make him look insane, so I feel like that was sort of the workaround.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I also think there's a lot of men out there who are like him, who are sort of crazy, have a lot of energy, maybe crime adjacent, who are very beautiful. And that's sort of why they're able to do that, is because they get away with a lot of shit. Because one time my wife and I were walking to, like, the farmer's market, this is years ago, and some guy comes up to us, some young man, probably younger than me at the time. And he was, like, asking to borrow our phone, so he had to call someone. I'm like, what's going on here? But he, like, he winked at my wife in this way. He was like, oh, this guy is used to getting away with shit. I'm like, we're not giving you my fucking phone, man. But he's used to people being like. Because he was, you know, sweet. Like, oh, yeah, I got this problem. Clearly, this man just got kicked out of someone's apartment. Like, he's in.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

He was almost like, Like a, a minor version of that character from Good Time. But I'm like, oh, my God. This guy is so used to just getting, getting by with a wink and a smile.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

And I'm like, oh, man.

[Millie De Chirico]

Do you remember. Do you remember when the Jesus guy in LA was alive? He died, right?

[Casey O'Brien]

Do you remember the Jesus? You mean like from the biblical Jesus.

[Millie De Chirico]

That used to walk around Hollywood, he just dressed as Jesus?

[Johnny Pemberton]

I sort of do, I guess so.

[Casey O'Brien]

I missed him. I'm sorry.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, I, I don't know. I, I. Every time I would come to LA before I Moved there when I'd be working, you know, over by the Chinese Theater in that whole Hollywood and Highland area. Right. Which is, like, rife for people to be.

[Casey O'Brien]

Cheers.

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, my God, yes. Like Jesus.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie De Chirico]

I would always see the Jesus, like, he was eating a Baja Fresh or, like, walking around. And he wore, like, a full white robe. I actually think I have a picture of him somewhere. But he was effectively like an unhoused guy, I suppose, or maybe just, like, living in squalor. But he was just walking around. He was goddamn gorgeous. Like, his. Even as an old Jesus guy, he had this, like, silky long hair. He had perfect skin. And I was just like, damn, man, LA is wild for this. Like, why are they, you know, like, pumping out these. These street characters who are basically. They could literally walk onto a set and be in an actual movie.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah. I mean, it's a different life, I guess. It's such an interesting thing.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. You know who else actually, speaking of the Safdie brothers, you know who else does. I feel like directors that really use a lot of non actors in, like, the best way are the Coen brothers.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Oh, really? I'm trying to. What are some examples of that? I don't think I've noticed that, honestly.

[Millie De Chirico]

Well, you know, it's like if you're watching some of their movies, like, normally people who are, like, working in the offices and in the background and stuff are typically, like, locals that they've hired to, like, play. People that own gas stations and are secretaries and stuff. And I just think that they have such a good eye for that. Like, I feel like they're always looking like they. That to me, is what I like about a Coen brothers movie, like. Or directors that use non actors. Sometimes it's because they're going into the community and they're actually picking, like, people that kind of look. Look like a part. And the people that they pick are just so fun. They're just like older people that have, like, kind of weird dewdrop glasses or, like, crazy mustaches. And you're just like. I don't know, like somebody. Like somebody's grandpa is, you know, playing the guy that, you know, owns the diner or whatever. And I'm like. I don't know. I think it gives it kind of a personal touch and kind of makes me like them a little bit more because I.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Absolutely. Yeah. I love that so much.

[Casey O'Brien]

There's a. My.

[Johnny Pemberton]

One of my favorite examples of all time. I'm not sure if this is true, but it feels like it. I guess it just feels like it's real because. Peter Berg. You've seen Patriots Day?

[Casey O'Brien]

I haven't seen it.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I mean, most people who like movies haven't seen it. I like. I like a lot of. I have a thing where I love every Peter Brook movie. I love. I love. I've seen them all a couple times. I love all the Fast and Furious movies. Like, any kind. Like Block.

[Casey O'Brien]

They're effective.

[Johnny Pemberton]

They are. I find them to be.

[Casey O'Brien]

I understand.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I love them so much. There's something about them. I feel like they're the last movie movies, you know what I mean? Like, in a classical sense, where because they're outside of the critical evaluation, no one's reviewing them. And people who watch them don't care if they have reviews, they're just going to watch them. But Patriots Day, there's one scene where they close in on the bad guys. And there's like a little bit of all the different cops, all the different types of cops, like the local. The sheriffs, the police, they have their guns trained on this place with the. It's. The Sarnara brothers are hunkered down in that boathouse behind this person's. Behind this person's house. And there's this woman who comes up on the rooftop. She's like this butch lady with short hair. She's a cop. And the FBI is like, you can't be here. It's not your jurisdiction. She's like, kiss my ass. It's not my jurisdiction. I'm a local Boston PD Cop. I'm gonna be here, right here. And it just, like, she has so much energy and the way she delivers that you're like, this. This lady's for real.

[Casey O'Brien]

This is like a real cop.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I just love it so much. It's like the best moment in the entire movie, I feel like, because you just sasses this guy so hard, he's like, okay, you got.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's interesting because it's like, you know, non actors are limited in their ability to act because they're non actors, but they are able to punch a moment up. Or like, when given the right tools, they can, like, really do something with so much more reality and enthusiasm than, like, a real actor could ever do.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Right? It's like this woman who's a cop in Boston, she's probably been taking shit since she was born. You know, you can just see all of her history in that moment that she's so tough and so, like, leathery. She's so used to dealing with all these men who are. You know, you can just tell that's her reality. If she is an actor, that's even great too, because it's a great performance. But she's not. I'm also like, this is just the reality of her life. And she's literally being talked to in that moment, how she's probably been talked to her entire career. So she's so used to just sounding off against these. These dudes who think they can just dismiss her. That was like, oh, my God, this is just great. You feel like she's the one where going to be the one who saves the day because of that attitude she's got.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I mean, it's funny because I was. When I was really going back and thinking about this, because, I mean, there's obviously like this huge tradition of these. Of like musicians who become actors. And like, you know, there's people like Tom Waits and, you know, I don't know, people who kind of like appeared in a movie and then continue to act. Dwight. Yocum, Whomever.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Dwight. I think Dwight. Oh, go ahead.

[Millie De Chirico]

No, Dwight's amazing. By the way, when I saw Sling.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Blade for the first time time, I was like, who is this actor? He's the best part of the entire movie. And I'm like, he's a famous country musician. Like, this isn't fair. This isn't fair at all.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. Oh, my God. I mean, all I have to say is Crank. Like the Crank movies. Like.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, yeah, he's in Crank.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, I think Crank too, which is.

[Casey O'Brien]

To me, he's a doctor.

[Millie De Chirico]

The better crank. But I. He is absolutely fucking wild in that movie. Just like his look, his everything he says the greatest. Yeah, he's really great. But I was thinking about. Actually, I was looking this up because I was like, there hadn't. She couldn't have been an actual actor. But then I think she started in a movie and then again, like, kind of started appearing in more movies. But do you remember the movie True Stories? That was about the talking heads and.

[Casey O'Brien]

It'S the talking heads movie.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

From the.

[Millie De Chirico]

There's a character who I think is just called the Lying Woman. And she's. She's got this like, really thick Southern accent. And she was just always telling lies to people when she would meet them, and she'd be like, you know, I used to date the. I used to date Rambo, the real Rambo, and he was obsessed with me. Like, he. And you're just like watching this woman. And I'm like, first of all, that's a completely authentic Southern accent, which I appreciate. And I actually would Rather have a local non actor playing a Southern person than a Hollywood person playing a Southern person.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

Hollywood really loves to. They love to chew on that Southern accent.

[Millie De Chirico]

And it's bad. As a Southern person, I'm like, no, that's not an authentic Southern accent. But this woman comes out the gate with an authentic Southern accent, and I'm like, who is she? And, yeah, I think she was just like a poet and a performance artist. But then I think True Stories was her first movie. And then she's been in movies subsequently. But, like, she's my favorite character in that entire movie. And I was like, man, I could watch an entire movie with just her.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I gotta look at a watch that. I haven't watched it in 20 years, I think.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, that is good. That is good. Johnny, have you ever worked with a non. Have you ever been in this situation as the actor working with a non actor?

[Johnny Pemberton]

Oh, gosh, I forget everything. I really do. Like, I forget so much stuff.

[Casey O'Brien]

I have.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I. You know what I did, actually, sort of. But it's like a weird story. I work with someone who. It's too long of a story. It's like the longest story of all time. But I did work with someone once who, right before we started shooting our scene, she asked me, do I look in the camera or do I look at you?

[Casey O'Brien]

Fascinating.

[Johnny Pemberton]

And I was like, oh, just look at me. Just pretend the camera's not there. And I was thinking like, oh, my God, it was her first time acting on anything ever.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah. And it was. They hired her by mistake. And it was a whole. It's a long. It's the longest story I have, and I can't even tell it.

[Casey O'Brien]

But that is wild because that kind of goes like. Have you ever seen a movie or are people looking in the camera? They're not, but I don't know, you.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Know, but like, I could see how you just.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

In that moment, there's a lot of people. You totally always forget that. Some people, they just. They think that being on set, they can't understand how it's possible not to be extremely nervous.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I have good friends of mine who were comedians and stuff who asked me that. They're like, how. Aren't you nervous? And I'm like, no, I don't know. I mean, I'm not like. I'm not like, you know, picking my nose and doing nothing, but I can definitely. It's like a weird sort of thing where. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

I don't know.

[Johnny Pemberton]

It's like a disconnect.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

But So I can see how certain people and all you should be. If you look at it objectively, it should be this thing where there's no possible way to be relaxed because all these people are looking at you. Yeah, like hundreds of people are looking at you.

[Casey O'Brien]

Johnny, I just wanted to ask you, as a fellow Minnesotan, when you moved to Los Angeles to pursue comedy, were there people in Minnesota in your life that were surprised or sort of shocked by that decision?

[Johnny Pemberton]

I mean, I think there probably was some surprise and not. I didn't have a lot of support. I was just dogged, you know, I was like, yeah, I didn't give a shit about what anyone thinks. I still think it's crazy that people care so much about what their parents think. I think it's absolutely. I think it's almost a weird sort of mental illness that we have that you care what your parents think about what you're doing. Like, I don't give a shit what they think at all. I could care less. It's like a thing where I just wanted to do it, and simple as that. I don't know. I think a lot of it was me being truly ignorant to anything whatsoever. And I think I still have that ignorance to where it's like a weird type of confidence that. That is based in a type of ignorance, I think. But also just because I just don't, like, there's nothing else I would be happy doing. So I would just be so miserable otherwise that I would be, you know, I don't want to do anything else, I guess. Simple as that. Someone said once, like, you can't have a backup plan because then you'll just do that backup plan. I talking with, you know, Shea Wiggum, right?

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, yes.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I was talking with him the other day. He was saying something about, you know, just like, you know, he was like, I could live in a. In a. Anywhere. Live in a cardboard box and do this. I don't give a shit about anything. I don't care what I drive. I don't care where I live, because you just want to do the thing. And that's. I think that's what I was thinking about when I first started, is it was all about, was what you're doing good, and that's all that mattered. Didn't matter who made most money. It was. I was completely and totally blind to anything other than, is, is this good? Is this respectable? Because sometimes people would. There'd be people who are, like, famous or for something. I'm like, yeah, but that. That thing sucks. That's a stupid show. Why would you. Why would you feel be like, oh, I'm on this show? Like, yeah, it's a. It's a dumb, unfunny show. Like, I'm. You're stupid. You're not cool at all. You're not cool. You're boring.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. I was gonna say, how do you reconcile if, like, if you're in something that you know? Cause as an actor, you have such little creative control sometimes it's like, how do you reconcile if you're in something where you're like, this is the wrong creative decision for this project? But I can't affect change.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I just eat it. I just have to eat it and remember that for a while. I would do that once a year to remind myself I would make a mistake. I would do something. I'd say yes to a thing, and I'm in there. I'm like, what am I doing here? And I would be like, God, okay, I just got to be nice. I got to be nice. Because otherwise, you know, you have these stories about people who say yes to something, and they're just fucking miserable and they're mean to people all because they don't want to be there, but they had a choice to be there or not. So, yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I don't know. It just. I have to just remind myself that as much as possible and. And try to work on my own things as much as I can, because if I'm doing that, then I feel good about it. But also, sometimes I'm really lucky that a lot of the stuff I've worked on is extremely collaborative. And this movie that's coming out probably in March of 26, called Mermaid, and that was, like, I was the lead of that film, and it was extremely collaborative in a great way. And that's the kind of thing where I love that. Same with Fallout. That's extremely collaborative in terms of just everything about what's going on there. And so, yeah, that stuff is great. I do love that. But every once in a while, it's not, and I just have to eat it and remind myself to have to be careful about what I decide to work on.

[Millie De Chirico]

How is voice acting in comparison to live acting? Do you prefer one to the other, or is it just kind of different things?

[Johnny Pemberton]

I mean, they're super different. I think that there's a huge misconception about voice acting. People are like, oh, you should show up in your pajamas. It's easy, right? Voice acting is so much more difficult than live action acting.

[Millie De Chirico]

Wow.

[Johnny Pemberton]

It's so much More difficult because you have to generate. Everything that you're doing has to come through your voice. So if there's like a moment there, you don't have the benefit of the camera seeing things and having an environment that tells the story along with you. It's all told through your voice. So you have to do. I mean, I would do this. I did the show Pickle and Peanut for Disney Channel for a couple years and man, we do like a four hour voiceover session with a couple episodes. I would be so incredibly exhausted afterwards just because it's so much. You're doing so much. It's this weird thing where your body's not exhausted but your mind is. And so it feels like this disconnect. But I mean, I love voice acting. I love it so much. That's the one thing I'll always. Even the smallest thing, if I have time, I'll do it just because I find it to be so fun. Because it's almost like it's kind of psychedelic in a way because you're. You're just. It all lives inside the sound. And I think sound is. We don't talk about actors, voices as much as we should. I think there's a lot of actors who have. Who. Who can't fail because their voice is just so unique and you just love to hear them talk, you know, like Dwight Yoakum. Like, I could listen to him talk in Sling Blade for. I could watch him just reading anything because just his voice is so lyrical and everything about it. And I think that the voice is. The voice is kind of everything in a way. That voice and physicality and the rest of it's just magic.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. Well, Johnny, thank you so much for being on the show today. We really appreciate you coming on. This was fabulous. Getting to talk to a fellow Minnesota.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah, always. Are you kidding me?

[Casey O'Brien]

Another Minnesota?

[Johnny Pemberton]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Is there anything you'd like to plug?

[Johnny Pemberton]

Oh, I don't know. I mean, I'm Mermaid. Right.

[Millie De Chirico]

Coming out.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Mermaid.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Johnny Pemberton]

When Mermaid. I wish I had a. I'll probably find out in five minutes when it's coming out. Yeah. Look out for Mermaid for sure. Otherwise I'm doing a bunch of live shows coming up. I'm taping my first comedy special in the new year. So I'm running the special a bunch of different theaters. You can find it all on my website, johnnypemberton Dog. And that is what my website is. That's what it is. Yes. It's fun.

[Casey O'Brien]

Good. That's good. Well, thank you again, Johnny. We really appreciate It.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Love talking with y'. All.

[Casey O'Brien]

All right, we are back. That was a great convo with Johnny Pemberton. Love talking to Johnny.

[Millie De Chirico]

He's awesome, dude.

[Casey O'Brien]

What a delight.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Love talking to a fellow Minnesotan. Check him out in Fallout or Superstore. He's got a lot going on.

[Millie De Chirico]

He's great.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay, now it is time for employees picks where we have a film recommendation. Based on the theme of the discussion. I'm going to recommend David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future from 2022. This is a futuristic dystopian sci fi movie where human evolution has accelerated to the point where they. We no longer feel pain or it's like, greatly reduced. So there. The movie is about a performance artist played by Viggo Mortensen. His character's name is Saul Tenser, which I think is a funny name. And he, like, cuts himself open on stage and that's like. There's a lot of, like, performance art of, like, people slicing themselves open because they don't feel it anymore. But another aspect of this movie is people are evolving to the point where they can't eat food anymore. Their body does not work with eating food, but they need sustenance. So people are starting to evolve to the point where they need to eat plastic. And that is what they survive on, is eating plastic. And what their body wants is to eat plastic. I think about microplastics. I think about. There's kind of the conversation Millie and I were just having about industrialization and people becoming machine, like. And Crimes of the Future really summed up that fear well in that movie. So check out Crimes of the future 2022. It's great. It's gross, though. If you don't like body horror, maybe stay away. But.

[Millie De Chirico]

That'S a good recommendation.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thank you.

[Millie De Chirico]

For sure. Not surprising that you. Yeah. Not surprising that you would recommend Cronenberg at all. Not surprising whatsoever.

[Casey O'Brien]

I love him.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. Well, we know my recommendation is even more of a obvious layup than a Cronenberg movie from Casey. I'm going to recommend. I'm going to say this. There's a caveat. I'm going to recommend that you watch Fritz lang's Metropolis from 1927.

[Casey O'Brien]

A shithead suggestion if I've ever heard one.

[Millie De Chirico]

I know it is one of the biggest of the shithead suggestions. However, I'm gonna dare I be even more shitheaded and suggest that you watch this with a live score if you can.

[Johnny Pemberton]

Oh, cool.

[Millie De Chirico]

It is actually really great to watch it with a live score. Like, if You. I mean, this is a type of movie, by the way. It's a silent film. It's a German film. It's about industrialism and, like, class warfare and evil Android ladies. There's a lot going on in this movie, much like Tetsuo the Iron Man. However, this movie is. This has done a lot. And I've seen it in Atlanta. I've seen it in la. I've seen it in a couple of other cities where people, you know, they'll have, like. They'll bring in, like, a musician or a orchestra to do a live score. And it just really makes the experience so much better. Like, it's really great. And if you can access it, like, it might happen in your town once in a while where you live, or maybe if you're in a town where it happens, go and see it. Because it can be really, really.

[Johnny Pemberton]

I don't know.

[Millie De Chirico]

It just really, like, kicks it up a notch.

[Casey O'Brien]

But that's cool.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. I mean, this is one of the classics of world cinema, so watch it. But also. Watch what? Score.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's cool to see a movie with a live score. That's, like, a really cool experience. I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a live score. That was the first time I'd ever seen it. Wow. It was amazing.

[Millie De Chirico]

One of my favorite hilarious stories about seeing a movie with a live score is that I. A long time ago in Atlanta, I watched the Passion of Joan of Arc with Cat Power doing the live score. Oh. And she left halfway. Halfway through the movie and never came back. And that was weird.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. Was there any explanation ever given?

[Millie De Chirico]

Is there ever an explanation in these instances?

[Casey O'Brien]

Sure. I just remember just having a hard time.

[Millie De Chirico]

She was playing the piano, and then all of a sudden she did the thing where she just slapped the keys. Like, said I, kitty cat that's jumping on top of a piano key. And then she just closed the piano and left the stage and then never came back. And we were all like, wow. I guess we should go. I think we should go.

[Casey O'Brien]

Did you watch the rest of the movie or was it over?

[Millie De Chirico]

Hell, no. We're gonna watch it in complete silence, like, I guess.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, that's true.

[Millie De Chirico]

Good try, though. Good try, I guess.

[Casey O'Brien]

Good try. Long.

[Millie De Chirico]

So I get it.

[Casey O'Brien]

Anyway. Oh, my goodness. Wow, Millie, we did it.

[Millie De Chirico]

That's the end of Halloween, folks. Thank you for being with us all month and being spooky with us.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm sad.

[Millie De Chirico]

Are you?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes. This I look forward to this time of year all year long.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah, I know. Well, you can make the good times last. Who says that you can't keep it going?

[Casey O'Brien]

You know, there's like this. I feel like sometimes when you're running in these shithead circles, there's a lot of judgment. And I remember telling a group of people, like, yeah, I'm excited for October. My wife and I, we watch a horror movie every night of October. And they said, just in October. And I was like, I don't want to speak to you ever again.

[Millie De Chirico]

Listen, I'm gonna take my mustache off for this. That's cruel, and I don't think you should be friends with people like that. All right, so let's wrap this up. I. I personally think that if you have anything to say to either one of us, if you're in need of film advice, if you have a film gripe, if you have a consensual film grope, if you have a film regret, which is also called a grit. A film grit, any of the G's, please email [e-mail] and one further. If you want to leave us a voicemail with any of those things, please do so. Just record it on your iPhone or your Android or Google phone or your Metropolis mobile device.

[Casey O'Brien]

Record it into your Metropolis robot woman.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

And she can email it to us.

[Millie De Chirico]

Exactly. But just make sure it's under a minute. We would really appreciate that. And email it to Dear Movies at exactly right, media.com.

[Casey O'Brien]

That'S right. You can follow us on our socials at Dear Movies, I love you on Instagram and Facebook. Our letterboxd handles are at Casey, Leo, Brian and at Mdecherico. And please listen to Dear Movies, I love you on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast next week. Wow.

[Millie De Chirico]

What you want to do? What you want to do?

[Casey O'Brien]

We're doing one battle after another by Paul Thomas Anderson.

[Millie De Chirico]

Have you seen it yet?

[Casey O'Brien]

I haven't seen it. I'm seeing it this week. I'm very excited. This is all your homework to go see it because we're going to be talking about it. Maybe mildly spoiling it it, or maybe not so mildly. Maybe just straight up spoiling it.

[Millie De Chirico]

Yeah. So I feel like they're going to be spoilers, so please stay tuned for it. But yeah, it's gonna be. It's the opposite of Tetsu the Iron Man. It's three hours long, so just strap in for that. But yeah, I can't wait to discuss it with you. It is a.

[Casey O'Brien]

Me too. Me too.

[Millie De Chirico]

It is a barn burner.

[Casey O'Brien]

Very Excited. All right, Millie, please have a happy Halloween.

[Millie De Chirico]

Don't you mean Mario? Please have a hobby.

[Casey O'Brien]

Mario. Mario.

[Millie De Chirico]

I could keep this hat, by the way, because it is m. Yeah, I.

[Casey O'Brien]

Actually just wear that out.

[Millie De Chirico]

I steamed it because it was wrinkly. So this is an actual hat I can wear.

[Casey O'Brien]

When was the last time you played Mario or the Super Mario Brothers?

[Millie De Chirico]

Oh, it wasn't too long ago because I played. Is it Mario Party? Super Mario Party. That's kind of like one of the new games on the switch with my nephews. And one of my nephews was so pissed that they were losing that he like had a temper tantrum. And I walked out of the game. I was like, no, we're not going to do this. You gotta be a good winner in this world. And yeah, I don't care if I have too many fucking coins. I'm older than you.

[Casey O'Brien]

You're not gonna take it easy on these kids.

[Millie De Chirico]

No, I'm not. But it was fun.

[Casey O'Brien]

Heck no.

[Millie De Chirico]

It was fun. Okay, very good. All right, well, thanks, everybody. Thanks for listening, everyone. Thanks, Casey.

[Casey O'Brien]

Bye. Goodbye.

[Millie De Chirico]

Goodbye. Goodbye. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Halloween. This has been an exactly right production hosted by me, Millie de Chirico, and produced by my co host, Casey o'. Brien.

[Casey O'Brien]

This episode was mixed by Tom Bryfogel. Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain. Our guest booker is Patrick Cotner, and our artwork is by Vanessa Lilac.

[Millie De Chirico]

Our incredible theme music is by the best band in the entire world, the Softies.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thank you to our executive producer, producers Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark, Daniel Kramer and Millie Decherico. We love you. Goodbye.

[Millie De Chirico]

Be kind.

[Casey O'Brien]

At Hill's Pet Nutrition, we know that pet parent guilt is real. Leaving too long, playing too little. New home, new babies. Waking them up when they look so comfy. Running out of patience. Running out of treats. Running the vacuum.

[Millie De Chirico]

You can only do so much.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's why there's hills.

[Millie De Chirico]

Science led nutrition to help you give more love than humanly possible.

[Casey O'Brien]

Because you're only human. There's Hills Find the right [e-mail] science does more.

[Millie De Chirico]

The Chase Inc. Business Premier card is made for people who make things happen. Like me. I'm Sam, founder and CEO of Manifesto, a product design company that makes everyday products design Smarter. I get 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more, plus unlimited 2% cash back on all other purchases, which helps us make more smart ideas into a brilliant reality. The Inc. Business Premier Card Chase for.

[Casey O'Brien]

Business make more of what's yours.

[Lego Star Wars Advertiser]

Real business owner compensated for their participation cards issued by JPMorgan Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval terms apply.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this fall, take care of the little ones in the family with With Baby Club Savings, now through November 4, spend $25 on select Baby Club products and save $5. Shop for items like Pedias Shore bottles, Pedialyte powder packs, Huggies baby wipes, Huggies diapers, Gerber Puffs and Gerber pouches. And save $5 when you buy $25 or more on participating products. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com.