How Did This Get Made? – “Deadfall” LIVE! w/ Chelsea Peretti (HDTGM Matinee)

Podcast: How Did This Get Made?

Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guest: Chelsea Peretti
Recording: Live at The Wiltern, Los Angeles
Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Episode Overview

This live episode dives deep into the 1993 crime noir disasterpiece, "Deadfall," directed by Christopher Coppola and starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Biehn, and James Coburn. The panel of comedians—Paul, June, Jason, and guest Chelsea Peretti—joyfully unravels the infamous and confounding elements of the film, relishes Nicolas Cage’s career-defining unhinged performance, debates the plot’s logic (or lack thereof), and revels in the movie’s spectacular weirdness. Expect spirited audience interactions, extended riffs on locket etiquette, production slapdashery, over-the-top acting choices, and of course, a prolonged debate over the meaning of its very title.

Main Discussion Points and Insights

1. Discovering “Deadfall” and Initial Reactions

• Paul sets the tone, calling this Nicolas Cage performance the hidden gem of his career:

  "This is like finding treasure in your backyard. Nicolas Cage. This crazy and no one told me...This doesn't even make the clip reels of people showing you how crazy Nicolas Cage is." (02:00)

• Jason expresses disbelief that this movie had not come up sooner:

  “I blame you fucks for this.” (04:00)

• June did not enjoy the ride, immediately bracing herself for the show’s signature “let’s make June suffer” running joke.

  “I was glad we hadn't done it yet. And I was sad that we had to do it.” (06:43)

• Chelsea Peretti confesses she almost watched the wrong "Deadfall" (2012's Olivia Wilde thriller) by accident due to a hyperlink mishap.

  “I watched a whole snowy hellscape...I missed my child’s opera debut at the Met.” (11:05/12:42)

2. The Name “Deadfall” – The Most Prolonged Title Debate in HDTGM History

• What does “Deadfall” mean anyway?
  Extended confusion and jokes about the title dominate the early show. An audience member, Clark, finally provides a definition: a deadfall is a trap using a heavy object triggered to kill or catch prey (14:05). Still, the hosts admit the metaphor eludes them regarding the film’s plot.

  Jason: “I will agree. This has a title that is a...benign, weird, nonsense thing.” (08:35)

  June: “I don't know what that word means.” (08:00)

• “How Did This Get Titled”

  Jason: “I'm going to predict this right now. We will not talk about this movie...and we will only talk about the fucking title. How Did This Get Titled episode one.” (16:03)

3. Production Oddities and Trivia (19:50–21:15)

• The movie's author, Nick Vallelonga, won an Oscar for “Green Book.” The hosts are floored:

  Paul: “When I saw his name on the screen I bolted out of bed.” (19:50)

• The lack of production and sound design is a recurring theme:

  Paul: “...it's deadly silent. I mean it’s sound design. It’s...unnerving.” (21:13)
  Jason: “And you know where it’s most evident? In the sex scene...like slow people having sex who didn’t turn any music on.” (21:14)

4. Lopsided Noirish Logic, Plot, and Performances

The Sex Scene and the Locket

• Locket discourse:

  June: “Do men wear lockets? Not to make it heteronormative, but it doesn't seem like...” (31:47)
  Jason: “...he takes it off before sex. Like, hold on. But props it up over so mom can watch him fuck.” (32:11)

• Too Much Boob (TMB):

  Paul: “Too much boob.” (25:43)
  Jason: “Beg to differ, but I mean, that’s fine.” (25:51)

Classic Film Noir Parody

• The hosts dissect “Deadfall’s” attempt at noir tropes, especially the femme fatale:

  Jason: "This is like the archetype is a classic film noir...the femme fatale seduces the guy...Their chemistry is a straight zero." (26:04/27:14)
  June: "She seems like a person who has access to a femme fatale's closet, but is not the femme fatale." (27:28)

5. Nicolas Cage: The Performance

• Everyone agrees: Cage is on another planet ("half Tony Clifton, half Al Pacino’s Scarface"), with a voice, look, and commitment unmatched in any other film.

  Jason: “I feel like he was like, hey, do you dare me to do this whole movie as Tony Clifton?...I'm obsessed with it.” (34:12)
  Paul: “I picked that scene because literally every line is a different...voice.” (37:54)

Favorite Cage Moments (36:44–38:14)

• Paul plays one of Cage’s bar scenes, revealing Cage’s wild, almost improvisational delivery.
• Chelsea offers perhaps the episode’s best line:

  "His performance feels like...between takes, you're joking around with the other actors—'see my line like this?'—and then he actually did it." (33:51)

6. Directorial Nepotism and “Deadfall” Cinematic Universe

• Revelations that director Christopher Coppola is Nic Cage’s brother spark theories:

  Jason: “It makes so much sense as to why Nic Cage is allowed to do what he’s doing.” (28:11)

• Sequel shock: Paul announces that Cage reprised his “Deadfall” character in 2017’s “Arsenal” (aka an unofficial Deadfall 2):

  Paul: “Nicolas Cage took this character and made a sequel in 2017.” (39:25)

7. The Plot...A “Masterful” Mess (43:07–47:10)

• Hosts attempt and repeatedly abandon efforts to explain the con at the movie’s core:

  June: “Can anyone up here take a stab at just what ultimately...the con was?” (42:57)
  Paul: "...the dad fakes his death...so the son starts working for his brother to get involved in this big diamond con..." (43:12)

• The Cake!

  • The engagement ring “cake box” plot device bewilders everyone for a solid ten minutes.
  • The “cake” is a figurine-like box containing an engagement ring, but nobody can explain why it’s shaped like a cake (44:49–53:12).

8. Noteworthy Side Characters and Production Quirks

• Charlie Sheen as Morgan Grip (“Fats”), the pool hustler:

  • Referred to as doing “femme fatale Halloween every year.” (27:38)
  • The pool scene includes an awkward Mark Twain monologue:

    Charlie Sheen: "Mark Twain, the genius behind Huck Finn. Tom Sawyer, personal favorite of mine, a Connecticut Yankee and King Arthur's Court…” (60:06)

• Villains and Gang Comic-Bookery:

  • The bizarre lobster-claw-handed diamond dealer:

    Jason: “That guy and Nicolas Cage are in the same movie...They're in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead...somewhere they're linked up. It’s called Eddie and the Claw.” (61:41)

• Mickey Dolenz as a pretzel salesman (from the Monkees):

  Jason: “Shouts to whom, dude, Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees...as a pretzel salesman.” (35:38)

9. Real Audience, Real Questions (66:02–70:15)

• Crowd Q&A in Nicolas Cage impressions—ranging from confusion about the boiling oil death scene to hypothetical twin reveals.
  • Standout moment:

    Annabelle: “The murder scene in the vat of boiling oil is so vile, violent, and so disgusting. How did you, like, justify that in your, like, brains?” (66:36)

  • Panel acknowledges that the movie’s sudden Nicholas Cage death is a devastating drop in entertainment.

10. Second Opinions (71:22–75:59)

• Song parodies from the audience echoing the confusion and delight.
• Readings from genuinely sincere and sarcastic Amazon rave reviews.

  “The dark scenes are blacker than noir and the dialogue is riper than pulp Fiction…The musical sore is straight out of history.” (75:27)

11. Final Stats and Nonsense

• Budget: $10 million

• Opening weekend: $9,183 | Total gross: $18,369

• Only 7 movies made LESS money in 1993. Rotten Tomatoes rating: 0%

• Sequels exist. “Zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes. And we thank our producer Avril…” (77:27)

• Notable quote:

  Paul: “This was a wild ride, this movie. I enjoyed the abject nonsense of this trash.” (65:16)

Memorable Quotes

“His performance feels like...it’s between takes, you’re joking around...‘see my line like this?’...and then he actually did it.”
—Chelsea Peretti (33:51)

"I feel like he was like, hey, do you dare me to do this whole movie as Tony Clifton? I will do it."
—Jason Mantzoukas (34:12)

“I was glad we hadn't done it yet. And I was sad that we had to do it.”
—June Diane Raphael (06:43)

"This is like finding treasure in your backyard. Nicolas Cage. This crazy and no one told me."
—Paul Scheer (02:00)

Key Timestamps

• [02:00] Paul’s disbelief this movie went unnoticed
• [06:43] June expresses dismay at having to watch “Deadfall”
• [14:05] Audience member Clark explains “deadfall” trap
• [19:50] Revealing the “Green Book” connection
• [21:14] “Aggressively low budget” sound and production talk
• [25:43] “Too much boob”
• [28:11] Jason on Coppola/Cage family enabling
• [33:51] Chelsea on Cage’s performance as ramped-up riffing
• [34:12] Jason: “Do you dare me to do this whole movie as Tony Clifton?”
• [37:54] Diversity of Cage’s scene performances
• [39:25] Paul reveals Cage made a sequel in 2017
• [42:57] Defining the “con” becomes futile
• [44:49–53:12] The “cake” box debate
• [60:06] Charlie Sheen delivers the infamous Mark Twain monologue
• [61:41] Jason proposes a Cage/Lobster-Claw villain buddy film
• [66:36] Audience Q&A highlights
• [71:22–75:59] Second opinions and wild Amazon reviews

Tone and Style

The language is loose, raucous, and playful—filled with asides, running bits, tangents, and joyfully affectionate mockery for both the movie and each other. The hosts improvise, pounce on non sequiturs, and continually escalate their own jokes.

Summary

TL;DR:
The “Deadfall” live episode delivers an epic, hilarious dissection of one of Nicolas Cage’s battiest movies, filled with as much confusion about its title and plot as delight in its pure, bonkers Cage-ness. The panel’s irreverent, sharp banter (plus Chelsea Peretti’s dry wit and audience participation) ensures that even those who have never seen—nor ever plan to see—Deadfall will savor every moment.