The Wicker Man w/ Jonah Ray (HDTGM Matinee)

Summary

How Did This Get Made? — "The Wicker Man" w/ Jonah Ray (Matinee)

Date: October 7, 2025
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guest: Jonah Ray

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Overview

In this episode, the HDTGM crew (Paul, June, Jason) is joined by Jonah Ray for an in-depth and hilarious breakdown of 2006’s infamous Nicolas Cage vehicle, The Wicker Man. The team dissects the cult-favorite “so-bad-it’s-good” thriller, exploring its bizarre plot twists, clunky dialogue, and legendary overacting. The episode also features a call-in interview with Liam O'Donnell, co-writer and producer of Skyline, who provides an inside look at making low-budget genre films. As always, the hosts weave between acerbic wit and genuine bewilderment, making for a riotous examination of cinematic catastrophe.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Scenes & Confusing Set Up

• Opening Disconnection:
  The crew immediately notes the movie starts with a coffee shop scene unrelated to the rest of the plot, featuring apparent cameos and unfollowed threads (03:30).
  • June: “Where do we start on this movie, I mean.” (03:30)
  • Paul: “The beginning of the movie, which has nothing to do with the rest…” (03:32)
• Cameos & Unused Threads:
  Surprise over Aaron Eckhart’s random, unreciprocated appearance (03:57).
  • June: “And I was like, oh. Because it’s Aaron Eckhart. I was like, oh, that’s part of the movie. It took me a long time. He’s not coming back.” (04:10)

2. Nicolas Cage’s “Performance” and Character

• Stilted Acting:
  The team is baffled by Cage’s oscillation between a sedated first half and a cocaine-crazed finale.
  • June: “For like 3/4 of this movie, Neil was secretly giving Nicolas Cage like downers… then the last 30 minutes … crack cocaine…” (07:29)
  • Paul: “His sleepiness feels like they taped the rehearsals.” (07:47)
• Questionable Police Work:
  Discussion on how Cage’s character displays zero detective skill and acts irrationally, especially interrogating everyone with no authority. The bizarre school scene is highlighted as a peak example. (13:05–14:20)
  • Jason (as Cage): “You little liars.” (13:49)
• Best Overacting Moment
  • June (about the classic line): “Can we just play it again? — How’d it get burned?! How’d it get burned?! I don’t know. Kill me.” (26:44)

3. Plot Absurdities & “Twists”

• Pointless Clues, Hallucinations, and Plot Holes:
  Paul and June question which events are hallucinations versus real, how everyone seems careless about hiding clues, and the logic behind the community’s rituals. (16:33, 28:29)
  • Paul: “What is a hallucination and what is not…?” (28:29)
• Bizarre Tone Shifts:
  Abrupt black-and-white flashbacks to earlier scenes (17:15), redundant red herrings, constant twin sightings, and increasingly unhinged behavior from Cage.

4. Pagan Island Antics

• Female-Run Island & Bee Economy:
  The group mocks the isolation and weirdly matriarchal honey-centric society, from “Mead is one of the pleasures of our island” (10:21) to the iconic “what’s in the bag? A shark.” exchange (11:07).
• No Jurisdiction, All Nonsense:
  June: “He has no jurisdiction. Zero.” (11:43)
• Bees & Allergies:
  Paul: “The whole rub of the story is that Nicolas Cage is allergic to bees and he’s going to an island where their main output is honey and bees.” (22:16)
  • Ridiculous attention is drawn to Cage’s EpiPen case and his habit of leaving medicine behind.

5. Legendary Scenes & Unintentional Comedy

• Unhinged Climax:
  The last act, featuring Cage’s bear costume, woman-punching, karate bouts, bike theft, and full meltdown are given special attention.
  • Paul: “[He] puts on a bear costume to get in a processional… You can clearly see it’s not Sister Beach.” (31:12)
  • Jason: “He’s the only bear, though.” (31:11)
• Iconic Torture Finale:
  The infamous “Not the bees!” sequence is recapped for both horror and hilarity.
  • Paul (playing clip): “No, not the bees... my eyes!” (36:05)
• End Tag & Deleted Scenes:
  The post-credits reveal (in the unrated cut) with James Franco and Jason Ritter as new victims sets up the cyclical cult plot and confounds the hosts.
  • June: “So basically, it turns out they’re gonna do to these two guys what they did to Nicolas Cage.” (34:16)

6. Listener Reviews & Second Opinions (39:27)

• Amazon Highlights:
  The team reads select, unintentionally funny positive reviews.
  • Paul: “So what? He punched three females? It was required. Get over it.” (39:27)
  • June (cracking up): “Oh my God.” (39:27)

7. Nicolas Cage on ‘The Wicker Man’

• Cage’s Own Take:
  The hosts play audio of Cage discussing the film’s intentional absurdity.
  • Cage (clip): “I might have known that that movie was meant to be absurd… You have to let the audience have its own connection and bash it or not bash it or love it.” (40:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Have you ever had mead, Paul? Oh, it’s crazy. It’s tough stuff.” – Jonah Ray (13:05)
• “I felt like this whole movie was shot in order and then they edited it way out of order.” – Paul Scheer (28:05)
• “He pulls a gun on her to take her bike. Step away from the bicycle.” – Paul Scheer (23:40)
• “That was so upsetting… It was like Mormons. Mormon making out.” – Jason & Jonah (24:48–24:52)
• “You little liars.” – Jason, imitating Cage in the school scene (13:49)
• “How’d it get burned?! How’d it get burned?! How’d it get burned!? I don’t know! Kill me!” – Nicolas Cage (clip, 26:44)
• “Killing me won’t bring back your goddamn honey!” – Paul, quoting Cage during Wicker Man climax (35:49)
• “Not the bees! Not the bees! My eyes!” – Paul/Cage (36:05)
• “He is like one second away from Gary Busey.” – June Diane Raphael (40:56)

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Key Segment Timestamps

• [03:30] – Start of movie discussion: opening scene confusion, Aaron Eckhart cameo
• [07:29] – Cage’s performance: doped-up then hyper-caffeinated
• [10:21] – Arrival on the island: mead, matriarchy, and “what’s in the bag?”
• [13:05–14:20] – Nicolas Cage interrogates the school children (“You little liars”)
• [16:33] – Hiding clues: “They want him to find these clues?”
• [22:16] – The bee allergy/EpiPen subplot
• [24:48] – Awkward romance and the world’s worst police detective
• [26:44] – The “How'd it get burned?!” meltdown
• [28:29] – What’s a hallucination vs. what’s real?
• [31:12] – Bear costume infiltration
• [34:16] – Extended cut ending: Franco/Ritter as new victims
• [36:05] – The “Not the bees!” scene
• [39:27] – Second opinion: reading wild Amazon reviews
• [40:23] – Nicolas Cage’s perspective

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Post-Movie: Special Call-in with Liam O’Donnell (Skyline Writer/Producer)

Interview starts [41:15]
Paul welcomes Liam O’Donnell for a behind-the-scenes chat on the making of Skyline:

• Making an indie alien invasion film outside the studio system (42:17)
• Writing the script under pressure in a month (42:11)
• Many scenes cut for time and the MPA (45:06–48:26)
• Plans for a sequel and gonzo new projects (46:00–51:43)
• Liam’s attitude toward criticism: “At the end of the day…I see all the criticisms, so correct me if I’m wrong, but it seemed like you put this whole project together fairly quickly, kind of outside the traditional studio system.” (42:11)

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Conclusion

The hosts agree The Wicker Man is an unintentional masterpiece of bad moviemaking—a surreal, incoherent, occasionally horrifying stew of odd acting choices, nonsensical plot, and unforgettably funny moments. The consensus: the movie, while disastrous, is an essential watch for lovers of cinematic trainwrecks.

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Quick Highlights

• “No, not the bees!” and “How’d it get burned?!” enter the HDTGM lexicon of legendary scenes.
• The film’s original ending, deleted scenes, and post-credit tags are unraveled and compared.
• Listener reviews are more surreal than the movie.
• Cage himself all but admits it was an absurdist project.
• A behind-the-scenes chat with Skyline’s writer/producer adds industry perspective and extra laughs.

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by the limits of bad filmmaking, Nicolas Cage mythos, or just looking for a hilarious, detailed teardown of cult movie insanity.

Transcript

[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Paul Scheer]

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Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

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Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T Mobile commercial like you. Teach me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So Dana.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

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Jeffrey, you heard them.

T Mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on.

[June Diane Raphael]

Us with eligible traded in any condition.

[Paul Scheer]

So what are we having for lunch?

Dude, my work here is done.

The 24 month bill credits on Experience beyond for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 device connection charge credit send and balance due. If you pay off earlier, Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 and new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Ooklab Speed Test Intelligence data 1H2025 visit t mobile.com Nicolas Cage goes to a pagan island run by women to solve a crime of a girl that may or may not exist and definitely not get stung by bees. We saw the Wicker man, so you know what that means. Now it's time for have a discovery. We're gonna have a good time, celebrate.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Some failure not just be a hater.

[Paul Scheer]

Did you know you wonder how did this get made? Let's wallow in the mediocrity of subpar art.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question, how did this get made?

[Paul Scheer]

Hello, people of Earth, and welcome to how did this Get Made? The show where we try to make sense of the movies that make no sense. We have actually a really big show for you today. Not only are we going to talk about the Wicker man, but we have a special call in guest. That's right, the producer and co writer of Skyline is going to call in and talk a little bit about the movie, answer some of our questions, and we will get to that a little bit later in the episode. We got a lot of show today, as always. I am Paul Scheer and I am joined by June Diane Rayfield and.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And Jason Mantzoukas.

[Paul Scheer]

How are you guys?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Hi, Paul.

[Paul Scheer]

Hello, everybody.

[June Diane Raphael]

What's going on?

[Paul Scheer]

Nothing much. For all of our new listeners here on Earwolf, this is how the show works. We watch a bad movie, we sit around, we talk about it. That's it. Each week we have a special guest. This week is no different. We have a fantastically. A fantastically great guest. You know him from the Nerdist podcast. Please welcome Jonah Ray. Hello, how are you? Good to hear.

[Jonah Ray]

It's me, Funtastic.

[Paul Scheer]

Don't, Rae.

[Jonah Ray]

Don't you ever call me fantastic.

[Paul Scheer]

I like funtastic. Well, all right, guys, the Wicker Man.

[June Diane Raphael]

Where do we start on this movie, I mean.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, the beginning of the movie, which has nothing to do with the rest of the movie, opens up in this coffee shop and it's like he's looking at a self help book on tape. But it's like the weird dialogue that was like written in a high school play. Like, if I just ate one of them burgers, I'd be in a trance too. Like just.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, it's like the bad part of a horror movie where you just like.

[Paul Scheer]

Get to the horror part of the movie, you know, and you know that that guy was Aaron Eckhart in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

But that's all because it's a Neil Abute movie. I assumed. I'm like. But. But it did that thing to me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Where I was like, I'm sorry, the guy at the diner was Aaron.

[June Diane Raphael]

The first guy. Not the. No, not the cop. The guy that pays first and leaves is Aaron Eckhart.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, wow.

[June Diane Raphael]

And I was like, oh. Because it's Aaron Eckhart. I was like, oh, that's part of the movie. It took me a long time. He's not coming back.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like that opening scene was just like, hey, this is what happens when our characters are not in the movie. It was. Had nothing to do with anything. Just a small talk.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's almost like somebody was like, hey, Aaron, Eckhart's gonna stop by and say hi today. Should we just shoot a scene? Why not? I mean, we got some wardrobe. What if we just sat in that diner across the street?

[Paul Scheer]

All right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I love the picture that was on the COVID of the. Everything's okay.

[Paul Scheer]

I wanna know who that is.

[Jonah Ray]

You know, it's someone's friend or dad.

[Paul Scheer]

You know, I love it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cause this gesture was so like. I know, I know. It's not.

[Paul Scheer]

It's not.

[Jonah Ray]

And that only comes back once.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, one time.

[Jonah Ray]

And then there's like a. Like a comedy of errors where it's like. It's called Everything Is okay.

[Paul Scheer]

All right, well, here's. I mean, basically, the movie starts off with Nicolas Cage as a motorcycle cop who may or may not be bored with his job. I don't know what they were trying to set up there, but a girl throws a doll out the window. He picks up the doll.

[June Diane Raphael]

Of a moving car.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, yeah, sorry. Of a moving car. He picks up the doll, he pulls over the car, and he gives the doll back to the girl, who is very rude.

[Jonah Ray]

Very rude girl.

[June Diane Raphael]

Very precocious girl.

[Jonah Ray]

And you think it'd be foreshadowing, but it's not really.

[Paul Scheer]

And then she throws the doll back out the window of the car. Nic Cage goes to pick it up, and the car is promptly hit by a giant tractor trailer, and the car explodes, killing two people inside. Not killing two people, but then not killing two people. Wait a minute.

[June Diane Raphael]

This is immediately where the movie becomes absolutely unt for me, because I was like. He's Then, like, he's been given, like, commendations and awards.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

For what, though? Because he's like, well, they're still having fun. The bodies in the car. And they're like, no, the charred car had no bodies in it. So basically, he was exploded next to an empty car and got out citations for it.

[Paul Scheer]

He tried.

[Jonah Ray]

He got an effort. Effort, you know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

For what, though, by the way?

[June Diane Raphael]

It's outside eyes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The accident.

[Paul Scheer]

He did.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. Okay. So that's what he was commended for.

[Paul Scheer]

He was commended for not getting hit by that Mack truck, I think. And then it's like. Then the movie again. It's like, have we started this movie? I'm not sure. Like a cop comes over to his house. This is all just. You're. What am I watching? Like? And he gets this letter from an ex that he reads.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's like a letter.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's a beautiful calligraphy.

[Paul Scheer]

I was just gonna say the letter.

[June Diane Raphael]

Is like from Anne of Green Gables. He is like, so be still my heart.

[Jonah Ray]

It's nice quill pen writing, I thought.

[Paul Scheer]

And Nicolas Cage gives one of his best react of all time. Like reading this letter. His hands are to his head. The letter basically says, we had a daughter. I didn't tell you, but now she's kidnapped. Come find her. I live on this crazy island.

[Jonah Ray]

Oh, she doesn't say that we had a daughter. She says, I had a daughter after we left.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And that was the strangest storytelling ever.

[Jonah Ray]

One of the many reveals don't make or sense or matter.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then he brings the letter and shows it to his buddy. And his buddy's like, I mean, ignore this, right? I mean like, who is this? What is she, an ex girlfriend? He goes, no, ex fiance. And I was like, oh.

[Jonah Ray]

Then he says, and then he says he's like my ex fiance. We were close.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

Oh, I'd hope so. I hope you were close. When? Before you got engaged to the lady?

[June Diane Raphael]

It was, I feel like for like 3/4 of this movie, Neil was secretly giving Nicolas Cage like downers because his performance is like really kind of sleepy. And then the last 30 minutes I feel like he just gave him like crack cocaine and was just like, go mental. Everything's crazy.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, yeah, cuz it feels like the, his sleepiness feels like they taped the rehearsals. They were just like. Or I'm just reading this. I'm just reading this for the first time. Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay.

[Paul Scheer]

All right. Yeah. And everyone's saying stuff with importance, but I feel like no one really knows what they're saying. It's like.

[Jonah Ray]

Well, the guy, his buddy though is the. It's like a comic actor in the middle of a movie that has no comic actors where he's like, oh, the plot thickens. I didn't even know there was a plot.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. He goes, I didn't know you had a plot. He goes, I didn't know either. Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now I'm realizing. So he must have been suffering. Was he suffering from anxiety before this all happened and then it began. Yeah, because then he was on medication after.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, he's not wearing sweaters.

[Jonah Ray]

Wearing comfy sweaters.

[Paul Scheer]

But is he suffering from anxiety or does he just have crazy hallucinations? Because this whole movie he's having, like, his hallucinations. Have hallucinations? He hallucinates, then he jumps into the water to find a dead girl. Then he comes back out and then he like, oh, God, that was a bad hallucination. Looks down, finds a dead girl in his life. Then he wakes up again, he's like, oh, okay, I'm back.

[Jonah Ray]

No, but he does that reaction where he's like. It's like it happens all the time where he's like, oh, man, again.

[Paul Scheer]

And he just has to pop a pill immediately. Whenever he has a hallucination, he pops a pill.

[June Diane Raphael]

But you think it's gonna be like a pain medication, but not like a crazy medication. I feel like the movie every 15 minutes, somebody or every couple of days, somebody would whisper into Neil Butzier, like, hey, this is a horror movie. And he'd be like, oh, fuck, fuck. I'm sorry, sorry. We gotta shoot something kinda scary today, you know? Like, I feel like he would forget and then be like, waterlog one of the kids and put him in Cage's lap. Let's roll on that.

[Paul Scheer]

Do it, do it. It really makes those sense. So Nicolas Cage goes to find this girl who's on this pretty much female run. Pagan Island. That makes honey.

[June Diane Raphael]

Not the island where Wonder Woman is from?

[Paul Scheer]

No, no, no. Different Pagans. And he gets on the island by a helicopter pilot who's like, I wouldn't want to. I can't. I can't risk my pilot's license. I can't. I can't get. I can't bring you there. I can't bring you there. And then Nick Cage is like, how about here? 150 bucks. And he's like, oh, okay, yeah, sure. Like that was it. Like this guy's whole life and contract. 150 bucks.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then like one of the worst green screen flying shots. Oh, just the angles. Terrible.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah. And it wasn't a helicopter, it was a seaplane.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, it was a seaplane, you're right. And now they get to this island run by women, and this is where the movie takes off to. Full on weird.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah. One of my favorite lines is he arrives on the island, he's like trying to walk, he's trying to get his bearings, and he goes to like, the bar or whatever, and the woman is like, this here is Mead. It's one of the pleasures of our island. And I was like, what? What the fuck is happening? It's the same woman who, when he says, do you think you can see?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But you mean like the blonde Kathy Bates?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay.

[June Diane Raphael]

He goes, do you think you can, like, I need a room for the night. Do you think you can swing it? And she's like, swing it? What is that? City talk?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

I was like, what this movie?

[Paul Scheer]

This is like the island of furtive glances too. Everyone here, it's like a lot of close ups on people's eyes going from left to right, like, ooh, ooh, ooh. And it's super weird, like when he first gets to the island, like these guys are carrying a bleeding bag and.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It'S like, oh, that's crazy.

[Paul Scheer]

And it's like wiggling around and they're talking to him like, oh, you're a cop, are you? And he goes, what's in the bag? A shark. Like that was his first.

[Jonah Ray]

No, the best was the sassy 20s response. Like, it's like he's all.

[Paul Scheer]

It helps to look at the picture.

[Jonah Ray]

When you're trying to figure it out. And then they're just like, oh, you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Know, by the way, he keeps on asking everybody on that island where if they recognize this picture of Rohan. It's like, there are 12 people on this island. It's a population of 20 people. They're all lying to you.

[June Diane Raphael]

And is immediately treats everyone like they're a hostile witness. He has a no jurisdiction.

[Paul Scheer]

None.

[June Diane Raphael]

Zero.

[Paul Scheer]

They keep on telling him that too. He's like, I'm a cop from the mainland. You're from California. We're an island off of Washington. This is private property. He has no business being there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's also like, I just don't understand why he didn't question what the fuck was happening on this island. This child is the least of our concerns. There's systematic child abuse and potentially there are bigger things happening.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, look, when he goes to the shark bag, when he goes, what's in the bag? The shark. And they open it for him, he looks at it, he's like, oh. And then he walks away.

[Jonah Ray]

We don't know. They all laugh at him.

[Paul Scheer]

They laugh at him. But what was in that fucking bag?

[Jonah Ray]

Embarrassment for Nick Cage. I really wanted him to. I kept on imagining the movie was a lot more fun for me when I imagined him as the same character from Bad Lieutenant.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking too. Like, this is a prequel to him. Yeah, exactly. This is before he gets really into.

[Jonah Ray]

Drugs and really crazy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I also love that he wore that wool suit like every single day on that island.

[June Diane Raphael]

And that terrible hair. Every day he had to get up and put that horrible hair on.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That hair was like jet black. That was a black thing. That does not occur in nature.

[Paul Scheer]

Now, once again, these people are being weird to him, but they're not being outrightly. They're not being outright mean to him. And when he does that thing with the mead, he takes the glass of mead and starts banging it on the thing, like a gala. All right, you're all suspects. I'm interviewing all of you. Like, what. Where did that come from?

[Jonah Ray]

Have you ever had mead, Paul? Oh, it's crazy. It's tough stuff.

[Paul Scheer]

I just thought, like. I was like, of course they want to kill this guy. He's abusing them. I have a clip, actually, from when Nicolas Cage breaks into a schoolhouse to question a teacher and kindergarten students. Here you go.

[Jonah Ray]

It's all the girls from Village of the Damned.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Will you tell us what man represents in his purest form? Yes.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Phallic symbol.

[Paul Scheer]

Phallic symbol. Dare you stand there and frighten my children? Sorry.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm Edward Malus from California.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh. I'm a policeman. What? See my badge? Put that back. Put that back. Sorry.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You're gonna have to bear with me. You little liars.

[Paul Scheer]

He's accusing the kids, and you're the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Biggest liar of them all. I am warning you. You tell me another and I'll rescue myself. That is a promise, Ms. Rose.

[Paul Scheer]

Sister Rose.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Of course. Another plant rose.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. That is. That is the level of dialogue that you're getting. That is the scene where he interrogates people in a school, like you said. Girls from the Children of the dam. And he's calling everybody liars.

[June Diane Raphael]

What has been cut out of that scene? Yeah, I mean, like, I can't believe we didn't keep it in. Shame on Us. Is the part where he opens a desk and finds a bird in all the.

[Paul Scheer]

I was gonna leave that in the desk, but it would. You can't. You can't see it. He opens up a desk. Yeah. And it goes, oh, why was that crow in there? It's like, because we were trying to keep it and see how long it would live inside that desk. And he's like, what a terrible assignment. Yeah. Everybody's weird.

[June Diane Raphael]

Also, like, erases the blackboard and writes his own.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like what?

[Jonah Ray]

I had a fantasy that that island was there just to try and figure out a theorem, like a mathematical theorem that was gonna solve world hunger. And they almost had. He's like, hold on. He just erases all the work.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, again, he writes nothing important.

[Jonah Ray]

And then, like. And then, like, he goes and gets the. They say, no, they Never heard this girl. They never heard this girl. And then he gets the class registry and he sees her name. And it's just a line.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's beautifully written.

[Jonah Ray]

Beautifully written. And it just. It's just crossed out with one line.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can I ask you guys a question? Cause there was something I was not tracking in this movie for a while. I felt like they were saying she had already been killed the year prior. And that's why the harvest was so bad. And then it was that she was going to be killed now because the harvest was so bad. Somebody explained that to me, the little girl.

[Paul Scheer]

I think there's a rebirth and birth thing. Didn't they have that whole thing where.

[Jonah Ray]

They'Re like the celebration of death and rebirth?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. So maybe she was killed and then rebirthed, but then they have to kill her again because the harvest is gone.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know. I couldn't figure out. Cause I was like. At a certain point, I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. She's dead already.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

So he's searching for a dead girl. Cool. Okay. And then, nope, she's not dead. Why? Well, who knows? And the mother's just like, that's not her grave. And he's like, okay, I guess I believe you now. Rowan.

[Paul Scheer]

Rowan.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Also, that red sweater. That red sweater showed up in, like, five different spots.

[Jonah Ray]

He's always in different condition.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, he definitely is having these hallucinations. But then the hallucinations turn out not to be hallucinations because they are real.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Like he is finding the red sweater all over the place. Like, he is seeing this girl. And I mean, the whole. The island is terrible about hiding clues, by the way, too. If they wanted to cover up that this girl was here, when the guy comes to the island, just hide that. Hide all the clues.

[Jonah Ray]

A lot of brush you can put over things.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. Basically every. Everywhere he went, he was like, I gotta find a picture. Oh, here it is. Like, nothing was ever hidden.

[June Diane Raphael]

I guess that. I mean, like, without spoiling the end of the movie. Spoiler alert. Kill him. With that being said, like, I'm assuming, like, that's the point of it. They want him to find these clues they want to put him through, but who fucking knows?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why are we going through all this trouble?

[Paul Scheer]

Because it just to burn him in the Wicker Man. Which. Spoiler alert. But that. But I mean, that's basically the end. They burn him alive in the wicker Man. They go, you came here to be.

[Jonah Ray]

Burned as part of.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

And you realize, like. Like the last you know, 10 years are all set up, this moment, which is crazy.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, first of all, I want, I want to go back to one other thing too, which is about 25 minutes into the movie. They do black and white flashbacks to the first 25 minutes of the movie. Like literally they have a 5 minute sequence that relives the first 10 minutes of the film.

[Jonah Ray]

Like that crappy Friends. Like remember when we were at that party? Yeah, man, it was great. It was good time.

[June Diane Raphael]

I love that. There's this shit in this movie where Nick Cage, it's, it's, it's lost at its worst. When something obvious happens that you should just ask a definitive question about and you simply don't. It's like he's talking to Molly Parker in the school, right? The teacher. Then he walks down the hill and sees Molly Parker again because apparently there's twins everywhere on this island. Oh yeah, he sees Molly Parker again. Oh, maybe the little girl was a twin.

[Paul Scheer]

I was thinking that there was two of them.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, the creepy blind twins.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, I didn't like them.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, yeah, they weren't any good.

[June Diane Raphael]

Anyway, so he sees Molly Parker again. Then he goes, hey, wait, didn't I just talk to you? And she's like, no. And he's like, all right, yeah. I'm like, wait, you are literally the worst police officer. You're a police detective and you are doing the worst job.

[Jonah Ray]

Well, he's like when he's a bike coping anything together.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, cuz you're right, there were twins. Everywhere he went, all he saw were twins. So yeah, he's not. There's nothing connected.

[June Diane Raphael]

There's also like Frances Conray talks to Frances Conroy in her house. She's the doctor and photographer. And then two girls in beekeeper outfits show up and like escort her away.

[Paul Scheer]

And I'm like, scary, scary beekeeper out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Very nice old timey beekeeper.

[June Diane Raphael]

And instead of following the people, he.

[Paul Scheer]

Breaks into her house, hiding behind the.

[June Diane Raphael]

Bush and running over the worst.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, I also the back of the scene with the bar when he, he's like yelling at everybody and then the bee goes. And like he slams the mug down on the bee and kills it. She's like, why would you do that? I really like when I first saw the movie, I was like, they're all bees in human form. Oh, this gonna be great.

[Paul Scheer]

That'd be. No, not.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I did love though during the end Harvest festival when they were all in their costumes getting ready to kill the Wicker man, that there were two little girls dressed up as bees.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh those?

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah. No, my girlfriend Deanna, she's like, we have to be those bees for Halloween.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Mess with them. All these elaborate weird like carnival costumes and then just like store bombs.

[June Diane Raphael]

Do like blind melon.

[Jonah Ray]

Blind melon festivals. Yeah, exactly.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Paul Scheer]

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[Paul Scheer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Liam O'Donnell]

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[June Diane Raphael]

Mission control, dude, you coughing.

[Paul Scheer]

The Nine One One season premiere Thursday 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean, the whole idea too, that, I mean, this is the whole rub of the story is that Nicolas Cage is allergic to bees and he's going to an island where their main output is honey and bees.

[Jonah Ray]

I like the shot of him putting, like, he has his gun in and then he's gets like, the little bee allergen stuff.

[Paul Scheer]

He has an EpiPen with him and his EpiPen, by the way, is giant. Like, he has like a metal box with two, like. It was like a comical sized box of EpiPens. Like, all right, well, I feel like.

[June Diane Raphael]

They made so many, like, wickedly obvious moves to be like, and here is his bee medicine.

[Paul Scheer]

You better have this. But he also doesn't travel with his bee medicine. No, the bee medicine stays in the hotel.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Travel with his tape, though.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God.

[Jonah Ray]

That's what they want.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's the craziest moment. The morning that he woke up in that hotel lodge place, he looks downstairs over the banister and those two fucking creepy twins start talking in unison. And his response is, who moved my everything okay?

[Paul Scheer]

Tape?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, that is.

[Paul Scheer]

He was really worried about who took his. And why did they take his audiobook in the grand scheme of everything. Take his gun.

[June Diane Raphael]

Take his gun away from him.

[Jonah Ray]

Well, maybe that would make him feel safer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

One of the best moments, though, is toward the end when sister, Mr. Rose, is. I think she purchased him on her bicycle. He gets so mad at her and he pulls that bicycle.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's like, get off the bike.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Pulls a gun at a woman.

[Paul Scheer]

He pulls a gun on her to take her bike. Step away from the bicycle.

[Jonah Ray]

My favorite was a callback to Con Air. Step away from the bunny rabbit.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God, that's amazing. One of my favorite things is anytime Nicolas Cage was anywhere and heard a sound, he would think it was his daughter.

[Paul Scheer]

Rowan.

[June Diane Raphael]

Rowan. It's just, like, who.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He has no connection.

[Paul Scheer]

He's on a fucking island. He was never animals. And I mean, also, he loves to get information, but cut people off at the same time. Just tell me what I need to know. It's like, okay, well, listen. Okay, where's the thing? I'll tell you now. We all go over here. Okay, shut up. Where do you go? Like, cutting them off in the middle of what they're saying.

[Jonah Ray]

I love the bike riding. Every time he was on a bike, me and Deanna would just crash.

[Paul Scheer]

He's on, like, an old school bike and you don't even see when he originally gets the bike because he just shows up. He shows up on a bike. Can we also talk about his love interest who looks like Fiona Apple, and they met 10 years ago, which means that she was, like, in her early.

[June Diane Raphael]

20S, if not younger. She's a child.

[Paul Scheer]

And Nicolas cage is just 10 years ago they met and she. They have the most awkward kiss.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, that was so upsetting. That was so upsetting.

[June Diane Raphael]

There was that.

[Jonah Ray]

It was like Mormons. Mormon making out.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah. There was also him being like, what happened? You know, like, he wants to talk about how she left him at the altar. Whatever her daughter is missing. Like. Yeah, there are things that are more important right now than her giving you an excuse as to why she left.

[Jonah Ray]

What about the tongueless men?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

There were so many other bigger things going on on this island. But, like. And he was only concerned with the very basis of it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Like, why don't you call in some backup? I mean, first of all, he doesn't have a phone that works, which is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, he didn't get reception.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, they don't get reception after parade. But this is one of the scenes. He finds the doll that was thrown out the window earlier in the movie. He digs through a grave and then finds that doll again, but the face is slightly burnt off of it.

[Jonah Ray]

And also, he thinks at this point, the girl was burned to death. Maybe.

[Paul Scheer]

Maybe. Right, so she was burned with the doll.

[June Diane Raphael]

She will. She will. Or she will be burned to death. Because Molly Parker is like, she'll burn to death. And he was like, what did you say? And she said, she'll. She.

[Paul Scheer]

She.

[June Diane Raphael]

She burns to death.

[Paul Scheer]

I.

[Jonah Ray]

Pulling at her collar.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, like, really, like, really obvious.

[Jonah Ray]

She's right behind me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm sorry to backtrack. Can someone explain to me the wordplay of the day of tomorrow?

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, I wrote that down.

[Jonah Ray]

I don't know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I don't understand.

[Paul Scheer]

He was like, what happens the day after tomorrow? It's like, oh, in two days. Yeah, nothing. No, no, I mean tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow. Like, it was like there was some weird ass word.

[Jonah Ray]

And then. Take me with you.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah. Lily Sobieski. All right, well, this is a clip of him trying to get some information.

[June Diane Raphael]

About the burnt doll from his Girlfriend movie became amazing.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. At this point, it kicks in here in the third act, where it goes bonkers. Here you go. How to get burned. How'd it get burned? How'd it get burned? How'd it get burned? I don't know. Kill me.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can we just play it again?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Because I need to hear this again.

[Paul Scheer]

How'd it get burned? How'd it get bur. Get burned? I don't know. Kill me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait a second. Is he talking to the fion. Apple woman?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Thank God. I forgot about that.

[Paul Scheer]

Who?

[Jonah Ray]

You don't know where she's coming from the entire time.

[Paul Scheer]

The entire time.

[Jonah Ray]

You're like, is she just really bad at covering up the conspiracy? Is she happy that he's going to die? Is she sad?

[Paul Scheer]

I have no idea. No idea. My favorite part is when he gets. He's interrogating someone and, like. And they're doing gardening, and some bugs fly into his face. So he's, like, asking her questions, and a bug flies into his eyes, like, oh.

[Jonah Ray]

That'S foreshadowing.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

I love that. It's the middle of the day. He finally is talking to Ellen Burstyn, who runs the place, right?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Yeah. And looking beautiful.

[June Diane Raphael]

Looking radiant. Radiant. Until she's wearing, like, football fleeces.

[Jonah Ray]

No, it's like, her.

[June Diane Raphael]

I was like, is she like. Is she, like, cheering on, like. Like fucking Utah or something like that? Like, what is happening?

[Paul Scheer]

She was the cheerleader for Miami Dolphins there.

[Jonah Ray]

I was gonna say it was a little. Kind of like a Braveheart. Cause he's from a bunch of po. They may never take our lives, but they'll never take our hunt.

[June Diane Raphael]

Anyway, he's talking to Ellen Burst, and he's like, so do I have your permission to dig up the grave? And she's like, well, I think I already gave it to you.

[Jonah Ray]

Right?

[June Diane Raphael]

It's the middle of the afternoon, and it's like, okay, gotta dig up that grave. Guess I'll do it. In the middle of the night?

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

Near the creepy cemetery.

[June Diane Raphael]

Literally goes and digs up a child. Like, you're a police officer. Like, there's a worse time to gather evidence.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. Well, I said to June, I said, like, I felt like this whole movie was, like, shot. Like, they shot it in order and then they edited it way out of order. It's like, when did he get the bike? Why is it night? How many days has he been here? Like, is it night already? Like, what is he doing to pass his time during this time?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

How he was planning on enforcing. Should he Figure out this crime. What was the plan beyond figuring it out?

[Jonah Ray]

That's true.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He could not enforce anything.

[June Diane Raphael]

No power.

[Paul Scheer]

But when does. I guess my biggest question still is, what is a hallucination and what is not a hallucination? Because he gets stung by bees.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

He runs into this bee field and he's like, oh, bees. And he starts running and he runs deeper into the bee field, gets more stings, he passes out and he wakes up with only one bee sting on him.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, wait a minute. And then. And then. And then Francis Conroy's like, we did it the old fashioned way. And I was like, what is that?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm so interested in that.

[Paul Scheer]

And then he walks around the house and he opens up all these weird doors.

[Jonah Ray]

Oh, the beard.

[Paul Scheer]

And there's a beard. A woman with a bee beard. And then a guy in a bed with, like, bee stings all over his.

[Jonah Ray]

Face and his eye missing.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. And I was wondering.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then he walks by Ellen Burstyn's room and doesn't go in.

[Paul Scheer]

No.

[June Diane Raphael]

And he's trying to find her.

[Paul Scheer]

And Ellen Burstyn is in a bed that's like. Like a shining light. And she's like sitting in this beautiful.

[June Diane Raphael]

She's the queen bee.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, it's.

[Jonah Ray]

Oh, let's be honest.

[Paul Scheer]

The.

[Jonah Ray]

The movie is.

[June Diane Raphael]

Guys, the movie uses a metaphor.

[Jonah Ray]

The movie is pretty gorgeous, though. It's like if you're not paying attention, it seems like a capable, really well shot movie.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. The silence. Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

Like, the locations was all. It's all very. I want to go there. Wherever that is.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

I want to go to Disney's summer isle.

[Paul Scheer]

Summer isle.

[June Diane Raphael]

I did think that one of the cool moments in the movie that I did enjoy actually is when he's getting stung by the bees and is like racing through the bee fields and then it pulls out into like an overhead shot. And the trails that walk through that area are all honeycomb. That was so, like the whole field looks like a honeycomb. I thought that was neat.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait, so I'm sorry. Did we ever find out what the old fashioned way was?

[Paul Scheer]

My theory on it was that you.

[June Diane Raphael]

Guys watched the unrated cut. Well, I didn't.

[Paul Scheer]

My theory was that he. That she transferred all of his bee stings to that guy in the room who had all the bee stings because he had no bee stings on him. Like he was getting stung in the face and he. Like two minutes later, he's totally fine.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't get it, guys. I really wish I did. Guys.

[Jonah Ray]

I think there's something there, but you just got to be real dumb.

[Paul Scheer]

Now third act kicks in. It's amazing. Like he's having a full on meltdown. He gets into a karate fight with Lulis Obieski, like literally kicking her in the gut. And she flies back into the world.

[Jonah Ray]

With the weirdest, longest pass out scene where she just keeps on going, huh?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

By the way, what was her end game? Because she seemed to want out and then.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, she didn't. That's the end.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's all a trick.

[Paul Scheer]

Who fucking knows?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm so sorry.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm so sorry to upset the patriarchy. I don't understand, man.

[Paul Scheer]

It made no sense. And then the best part of the movie, in my opinion is after he cold cocks another woman, he steals her bear costume. Oh, yeah, he puts on a bear costume to get in a processional of other people. That. That's where the bee costumes were. He's in a bear costume.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's the only bear, though.

[Paul Scheer]

He's the only bear because it's because he's stealing the mother bear. Sister Beach, Sister Beach's costume.

[Jonah Ray]

Which is a great conversation they have. Oh, I can't fit in the bear guys. I'm gonna have to get some bear guys.

[June Diane Raphael]

That is so crazy because that is one of the only scenes in the movie in which we are watching people that aren't Nicolas Cage. And it stuck out. Like, you almost never have scenes that don't feature him in it, right? Because that would be misleading. But there is one scene where Sister beach and the other woman are talking and it's all about how Sister beach can't fit in the bear costume anymore. And it's really big and blah, blah, blah. And then, oh, here's Nicolas Cage. So he can get.

[Jonah Ray]

He misses the conversation.

[June Diane Raphael]

I was like, this is absolute insanity that this is what they're doing.

[Paul Scheer]

It's so crazy. I mean, but he's even in. When he's in that bear costume, you can see his face. You can clearly see it's not Sister beach.

[June Diane Raphael]

But he. Then when he runs into Fiona Apple, lifts the mask up to be like. Even though we're walking in public with everybody else threatening Island, I'm going to show you my face. So you know, hey, it's me. I thought I told you to stay at the house. And she's like, I had to come cause we're about to kill you, you maniac.

[Paul Scheer]

By the way, I found this out today looking on Wikipedia. Who were two actors in the movie that were bar patrons? Did you see it?

[Jonah Ray]

Oh, no. James Franco.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes. What?

[Jonah Ray]

And someone else.

[June Diane Raphael]

And Jason Ritter.

[Paul Scheer]

Right? Jason Ritter, Yeah. Box. I did not see that. Where were they?

[Jonah Ray]

I looked on Wikipedia, too, and I think it was a deleted scene.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wait, it was in my movie when they.

[Jonah Ray]

When Lily Sobieski and. And Fiona Apple goes to a bar afterwards. Yeah, see, that's what happens. And I read that, and I was waiting for it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wait, it's so weird because I didn't see the bees scene.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, wow. There's two cuts of this movie out there, right?

[June Diane Raphael]

End of the movie.

[Jonah Ray]

He saw it. I just woke out.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, so at the end, day of the. Of the movie, right? They kill Nicholas Cage in the Wicker Man.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's like.

[Jonah Ray]

And also another.

[Paul Scheer]

Legs are broken.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, that's the thing.

[Paul Scheer]

The legs.

[Jonah Ray]

Did they break his legs in your version?

[June Diane Raphael]

I didn't see it. You just hear him ADR line.

[Jonah Ray]

That's the thing.

[Paul Scheer]

My legs.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, they. In the unrated version, they break his legs violently with a mallet.

[June Diane Raphael]

They hobble him like Kathy Bates. Okay, so. So they burn him in the Wicker Man. And then it cuts to six months later. Okay? There's a tag. This is six months later. And it's a bar scene. And it's James Franco and Jason Ritter. And they're sitting there like, oh, man, this sucks. Yeah, man. They're looking around. It's all like, yuppies or whatever. And then one of them catches sight of a hot girl walk by, and they're like, come on, let's go. Yeah, bro. And they walk over, and it's Lili Sobieski and Fiona Appler sitting there. And they just instantaneously sit down, and they're like, thank God you guys are here. We thought this place was all lawyers and stuff. And they're like, hi. And then the guys are like. Instantly, the girls are like, dtf, right? Jersey Shore. The girls are dtf. And the conversation they have is absolute insanity.

[Paul Scheer]

Whoa.

[June Diane Raphael]

James Franco pairs up with Lili. So basically, it turns out they're gonna do to these two guys what they did to Nicholas Cage.

[Paul Scheer]

Right, Right.

[June Diane Raphael]

These guys are also.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They're the next Wicker Man.

[June Diane Raphael]

They're the next Wicker Man. These guys also, inexplicably just graduated from the police academy, so they also prey on policemen.

[Jonah Ray]

Well, it's because they'll have the drive to, like, be. I can come by myself and help out.

[Paul Scheer]

Why two this time? Why two? They had a really bad harvest. They need.

[Jonah Ray]

They got it. They got to set it up years in advance. You never know what's going to happen.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Ten years, a decade long.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, exactly. It's so dumb. So they got to hang out with them and then get pregnant by them.

[Paul Scheer]

And then almost get married.

[Jonah Ray]

Almost get married, bail, and then other girls come and join the force as well.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow, that's pretty.

[Jonah Ray]

You know that was revealed.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

That the female cop was.

[Jonah Ray]

Yeah, the weird, like, buddy.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, yeah. Who came in to visit him to give him the letter. Y. She gave him the letter.

[Jonah Ray]

She had a lot of weird looks. If you watch the scene, she just has, like, a little. She's kind of. She walks away.

[June Diane Raphael]

The effort that these women have gone to.

[Paul Scheer]

To just get honey.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, like, the effort they've gone to for their harvest is. I mean, like, millions of dollars were spent on this.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, the woman had to get a job as a policewoman, send them to the mainland.

[Paul Scheer]

And also, in a very specific. And not even off the shore of Washington, D.C. no. California. Far away. Well, Jason, you missed the part that we saw, which I actually do have a clip of, so can we play that clip of. This is the torture scene that happens.

[June Diane Raphael]

So this was not in the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This wasn't in the cut that you saw.

[Paul Scheer]

Now he is getting his legs broken by mallets in this. You can't see it, but you can. You bitches. This is murder. Murder. You'll all be guilty.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God.

[Paul Scheer]

And you're doing it for nothing. Killing me won't bring back your goddamn honey. What is. Is it?

[Jonah Ray]

Who is it?

[Paul Scheer]

What is it? They're putting a bee thing on his head. What is that? What is that? What is it? No, not the bees.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God, not the bees.

[Paul Scheer]

I love my eyes. Oh, my God. Must die. The drone must die. So that is right here.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

If I knew it, I was going to be killed, and the first thing I felt was bees. I think I'd be actually kind of relieved.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

Like, oh, this will kill me before I burn. But then they do. They revive them, and then just to make sure they cut that.

[June Diane Raphael]

Really?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, they revive him.

[Jonah Ray]

She. She shows up. The lady who did the old shows up with one of his things where they call.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jonah Ray]

And then, like, goes up. She's like, okay, we'll do it your way this time.

[Paul Scheer]

What? You know, make him alive so they can burn him alive now.

[June Diane Raphael]

Holy shit. That's insane. None of that was in the cut. Ice. How about the fact that at the end of the movie, it is dedicated to Johnny Ramone?

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah. How fucking weird is that?

[Jonah Ray]

I forgot about that.

[Paul Scheer]

All right, remember the machine knows if you're lying. First statement. Carvana will give you a real offer on your car. All online.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

False.

[Paul Scheer]

True. Actually, you can sell your car in minutes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

False.

[Paul Scheer]

That's gotta be true.

Again. Carvana will pick up your car from your door. Or you can drop it off at.

[Jonah Ray]

One of their car vending machines.

[Paul Scheer]

Sounds too good to be true. So true.

Finally caught on.

[Jonah Ray]

Nice job.

[Paul Scheer]

Honesty isn't just their policy, it's their entire model.

[Jonah Ray]

Sell your car today too, Carvana.

[Paul Scheer]

Pickup fees may apply.

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[Liam O'Donnell]

Did you see the game last night?

[Paul Scheer]

Of course you did.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Because you used Instacart to do your grocery restock. Plus you got snacks for the game. All without missing a single play that's on multitasking. So we're not saying that Instacart is a hack for game day, but it.

[Paul Scheer]

Might be the ultimate play this football season.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Enjoy. $0 delivery fees on your first three orders.

[Paul Scheer]

Service fees apply. First three orders in 14 days excludes restaurants. Instacart, we are here. Alright, now it's time for a second opinion. Here are some reviews from Amazon, from people who like the movie. I can't believe the negative reviews. So what? He punched three females? It was required. Get over it. Put yourself into his situation. He's trapped in a cult and discovery he can't escape. So you feminist groups need to chill out and stop bashing this film. Yeah, feminist groups really were against this movie. Spooky Chick wrote. I love it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh my God.

[Paul Scheer]

While I'm not lucky enough to be a mother myself, I dream of birthing children. So this type of story really hit.

[Jonah Ray]

Whole small windows of just the sad lives.

[Paul Scheer]

Did she like this movie because she hasn't have children? She goes, you can really feel the agony of this woman's lost daughter, especially if you're a parent or have, or. Or if you have extensive childcare experience like me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is an advertisement.

[Jonah Ray]

Wait, this is Rebecca De Mornay from.

[Paul Scheer]

And then the final one. I like this one. This guy agrees with you, Jenna. I like the settings. I like the colors. The acting was excellent. The plot confusing. The end. Gross. Four stars. What am Hartman.

[Jonah Ray]

Wow. He's coming from a different angle with this.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, my gosh. Now you may think, what is, what does Nicholas Cage think about this movie? And let. Let's let him explain. He has a hoarse voice, but you can hear it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There is a mischievous mind at work on the Wicker man, you know?

[Paul Scheer]

You know what I mean? But.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I finally kind of said, yeah, I. I might have known that that movie was meant to be absurd, you know, but saying that now after the fact is okay, but to say it before the fact is not. You know, it's like you gotta let the movie have its own life, you know, you have to let the audience have its own connection and bash it or not bash it or love it, whatever they want to do with it. That's up to the audience.

[Paul Scheer]

Pretty, pretty Piggy Sue. That's the Biggie sue voice he had.

[Jonah Ray]

In Peggy Sue Got Married.

[June Diane Raphael]

He is full blown. He is like one second away from Gary Busey.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, my gosh. Well, we have a very special segment here on the show today. Two weeks ago, we reviewed or two episodes ago, we reviewed the movie Skyline. We were contacted on Twitter by the writer and producer of Skyline, Liam o'.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Donnell.

[Paul Scheer]

So we're gonna go to the phone to him right now to talk to him about Skyline. Please welcome Liam o'.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Donnell.

[Paul Scheer]

Hello. How are you?

[Liam O'Donnell]

I'm good. Thanks for having me on. Yeah. I'm a longtime fan of Human Giant. I followed Paul on Twitter. I saw it come up and dreaded it for two weeks, but ended up actually enjoying all the things you guys had to say about the movie and got a real kick out of it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Did you take issue with anything that we said? Were we mean? Did you feel like we were mean?

[Liam O'Donnell]

No, I didn't feel like it was mean. I thought it was like one of the. There was a couple. I like that you guys at least acknowledged that it was done with this kind of independent spirit and that there was like a lot of cool things about the world, but it just didn't really come together the way you wanted, which is kind of of, I think, how we feel about it, too. So it was. At the end of the day, I kind of, you know, I see all the criticisms, so correct me if I'm.

[Paul Scheer]

Wrong, but it seemed like you put this whole project together fairly quickly, kind of outside the traditional studio system.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, we really just kind of did it on our own. And it's kind of like we had, like, a three to five page treatment and, like, some artwork, and people already, like, gave us, like, we already got, like, investments for, like, 800 grand. Like, go do it. Because it was all going to be said in Greg's apartment. So there was really, like. And it was so low budget. So I think it was one of those things where you got, like, such early success off of, like, minimal amount of figuring things all the way through. Like, you guys even said you're making fun of Faison's quote about, like, yeah, they wrote it in a month. Like, we literally did write it in a month. There was a point where we were going to just do improv, and we're like, yeah, maybe we should write something down. So we wrote a draft in a month and then kind of rewrote it in another month, and then it was, like, already cast and ready to go. And so, yeah, I think it was just one of those situations of being so frustrated with development and how long it takes to get something done and then being like, we have the cameras, we have this visual effects facility, we have this setting. We've got talent signed up. Let's just go, go, go. And there was really no reason to go so quickly other than our own kind of, like, ambition and naivete about how difficult it was going to be.

[Paul Scheer]

I didn't know what Donald Faison did. Was he a movie star?

[June Diane Raphael]

No, no, he was a visual effects guy.

[Paul Scheer]

He was a visual effect guy.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, you're right. He's a visual effects guy.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's actually based on I Just Won a Hundred Dollars.

[Paul Scheer]

He's based on you.

[Liam O'Donnell]

He's based on Greg Strauss, one of the directors.

[June Diane Raphael]

And you're saying that that was Greg Strauss's apartment you guys shot it in?

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, it was his apartment. It's his Ferrari and.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[June Diane Raphael]

And it's his automatic blinds.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, it's his kind of attitude. My other. My co writer, Joshua Cortez, it's kind of when he came out here, like, 10 years ago, it was kind of the Wild west days of visual effects, and there was all these kind of young nerds with all this money, but that gets translated into cooler stars with money. Yeah, that was the real story.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay. And then my other question that we were talking about in the movie was, how did they. There was kind of a question of the cheating.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right.

[Paul Scheer]

Cause in the beginning of the movie, like, they.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, you guys totally ripped apart this. Like, this whole thing that got cut. It was a whole different location and, like, a dancing scene at a nightclub.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wait, we missed dancing?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, you missed out.

[June Diane Raphael]

How dare you cut out dancing, Liam. How dare you?

[Liam O'Donnell]

So they exactly cut around, and you guys are like, how did they warp upstairs? And people are in the bathroom? And it's one of those things where you, like, you know, just hands over your eyes in the editing bay. But, yeah, so that whole part's a bit of a mess.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, so that was just cutting for time. I imagine.

[Liam O'Donnell]

You're cutting for time. You cut a whole scene where there was, like, more conflict between them before that fight. And. Yeah, and it made sense. You actually saw Faison kind of pair off with the younger girl. Crystal Reed was the actress, and go into the bathroom. And as far as the camera, she was established as it was actually her camera. And all this stuff got cut.

[June Diane Raphael]

You're answering all of our questions. Answering all of our questions.

[Liam O'Donnell]

It was actually her camera. It wasn't the New York guy's camera because she was supposed to be kind of a young photo girl who worked for him in the visual effects. All on the editing room floor. But very astute viewers that you guys are now.

[Paul Scheer]

Is there a potential for the sequel? Because I feel like it's set up so clearly for a sequel. It was successful at the box office, wasn't it?

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, I mean, it was. It was disappointing, but it. It ended up making around 80 million worldwide.

[Paul Scheer]

It's amazing.

[Liam O'Donnell]

China and Japan, but domestic. Yeah, I was just. It was. Obviously would have been a little more. Because when you do an independent like this, you sell all the foreign and you don't make anything off of it.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, that sucks.

[Liam O'Donnell]

But, yeah, no, I mean, that's a big enough number that it's possible. It's just trying to figure out how to get something that tells the kind of more epic story that we're trying to tell.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, but when the movie ends. When the movie ends, they're like, deep inside the sky, Gina. You know, like, I feel like that's. That sets it up perfectly.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah. And it's. It's one of those things where, like, the script, like, it was originally, like, okay, they just get sucked in, and we want to End super bleak. And that's it. And then like, you know, your team is like, you gotta do something at the ending. And we started with like, okay, how about she just wakes up and there's like a mysterious voice on there and you know, we'll get to that later. And then it just kept getting people wanted more and more what was on the ship. And then it ends up being like it's an entire prologue for another movie, which is where it all all kind of ended up.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. And his brain was effect. His brain was affected because he had seen it enough that he became like. That's how his brain became that hybrid.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, it's just like venom, you know, like bitten by enough snakes. And you know, the idea was that he had been exposed enough that he was no longer affected. But yeah, so that's why it ends up being like. It's like it feels like it's the beginning to another act and then it kind of ends.

[Paul Scheer]

But yeah, but it was a kick ass ending. I mean, it's like it comes up because you don't think that that's gonna happen. I mean, there's that great scene at the end where they kind of get sucked up, which is really awesome to look at. And then it just goes on. Yeah, and it really takes a turn there.

[June Diane Raphael]

I really enjoyed it when I felt like it was really bleak when they ripped. When you guys ripped Eric Balfour's head off.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, shit.

[Liam O'Donnell]

That was so much better before the MPA got it because it was in the wide and we cut to a close up and you really saw his head get ripped off. And I do like throwing his limp body into the waist.

[Paul Scheer]

Is there anything else that was cut out or anything that you couldn't do for the theatrical cut?

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, the whole red brain, blue brain thing, which is just completely asinine. That is because of the mpaa. It was actually like just kind of wet normal brains. And his brain had kind of the veiny effect on it. And they said you can't do that. You have to make these brains look sci fi. So we had to add glow. But then when they're all glowing blue, how could you tell his part and someone's bright idea was make it red. So that's one of those things that really pisses me off from the MPA and just there was cooler brain ripping shots from David Zayas in the garage and. And stuff like that. They just said it was too like prolonged violence too like, I think he might have beat up that the big vagina drone for a Longer period of time.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, you gotta beat up those big vagina begging for it.

[Paul Scheer]

And David Dea said you wrote the part for him. Did you know him before the film?

[Liam O'Donnell]

No, we didn't know him. We just knew Dexter. Oh, you know what? There is something else that got cut off because the whole pregnancy from the first act, that was a reshoot because. Because originally they had known they were pregnant, but they weren't sure if they were going to keep it. And that's why Zais character was kind of a. The tension between him and Balfour. He was a little bit of a traditional Catholic badass. And so they had a different scene together at night where he was kind of giving them a little shit. And of course the studio, when they bought it, they didn't want to touch any abortion thing with the ten foot pole, which I don't necessarily blame them. But so that all got cut out. And that might have helped explain some of the. I think it was a little bit more of a meatier role for David. But yeah, we were big fans of Dexter and so we wrote for him.

[Paul Scheer]

Now I see here that you're producing a movie right now that's directed by Barry Levinson. What's that?

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, that's kind of more through just kind of us doing the visual effects for it.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, okay, cool.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Not really as much of a creative impact, but it is an awesome script and it's gonna be really, really creepy. It's kind of the next step of the found footage movie, kind of making that a little bit more epic.

[Paul Scheer]

Cool. Now what is coming up? What is the thing that you're most excited about that's coming up next?

[June Diane Raphael]

What is the movie you're doing that you hope we don't do on this show?

[Liam O'Donnell]

I think it's kind of perfect for the show, even if it's successful, because it's a kind of gonzo crazy concept. It's called War of the Ages. And so it's pretty much like, like Bill and Ted meets 300. All of the emperors and conquerors from history kind of get brought together into a big epic battle royal.

[Paul Scheer]

So you're bringing in this movie sounds amazing. So you're bringing in all famous people from history to fight each other.

[Liam O'Donnell]

It's like Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. And it's a lot of big epic battles like that, but it's with its sense of fun. But I actually met Keanu Reeves once and I was telling him about it and I pitched it as Bill and Ted meets 300. And he put his hands over his head like the guitar thing and did excellent in his best tour.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's awesome.

[Paul Scheer]

That is amazing. Well, Liam, thank you so much for calling in and taking talking to us.

[Liam O'Donnell]

Yeah, thank you guys. Keep up the good work and you know, hopefully I'm not on the next one.

[Paul Scheer]

See you later. Bye. Bye. So that is the end of how did this get made? Thank you to everybody. Jonah, thank you so much. Where can people find you? What do you want to tell people?

[Jonah Ray]

I can go to jonahray.com they could get onaray on Twitter and they can listen to the Nerdist podcast or watch the soup.

[Paul Scheer]

All right, perfect. Anybody else got anything else? Isjunedian I am at Paul Shear.

[June Diane Raphael]

Jason I'm not on Twitter. I'm but follow Bob Dukas Twitter Very funny plug Bob Dukas Twitter also, just.

[Paul Scheer]

A reminder, NTSFSD SUV is still on Adult Swim. We're in our final episodes here, so check that out. Thursdays at 12:15. Thank you very much. Tune in next time. Bye Bye.

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

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