The 900th-Episode Mega-Voicemailbag!

Summary

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The Big Picture – Episode 900: The Mega-Voicemailbag!

Date: April 21, 2026
Hosts: Sean Fennessey & Amanda Dobbins
Producer: Jack Sanders
Special Guests & Contributors: Sophia Ramvari (filmmaker), Griffin & David (Blank Check), Ben David Grabinski, Chris Ryan, and numerous Big Picture listeners

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Episode Overview

The Big Picture celebrates its monumental 900th episode with a mega-voicemail extravaganza! Sean and Amanda answer listener-submitted (and often deranged) questions on movies, food, baseball, relationships, podcast history, and more. The hosts reflect humorously and thoughtfully on their podcast journey, the evolving state of film culture, and their own quirks and friendship. The episode also features an in-depth interview with filmmaker Sophia Ramvari, whose debut feature Blue Heron is Sean’s favorite film of 2026 thus far.

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Celebrating 900 Episodes: The Show’s Evolution

Timestamp: 03:43 – 06:22

• Milestone Reflections

  • Amanda expresses mild amazement at reaching 900 episodes, “It's nice. It's a nice round number…900 is pretty good.” (04:01)
  • Sean jokes they're only “about halfway done.” (04:41)

• Podcast Journey

  • Amanda reflects on how the show has matured: “You were talking to directors…now we just natter about this and that as much as we do about movies.” (84:05)
  • Sean notes, “We do see a lot of movies...but now the show is as much about how movies drive us crazy as anything.” (85:29)

• Audience & Impact

  • Both are amazed by their audience’s youth: “I'm consistently astonished by how young the audience is.” (87:39, Amanda)

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Mailbag Madness: Listener Questions

Red Flag/Green Flag Movie Choices for Kids’ Future Partners

08:04 – 15:00

• Bob from Toledo’s hypothetical: What movie would be a red flag or green flag if your child’s first partner named it as a favorite?
• Sean’s Red Flag: “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. That's a red flag…you have to turn around and leave my home.” (10:23)
• Amanda’s Red Flag: “Snyder Cut. That indicates a level of…evil auteurism.” (10:29)
• Green Flags: Tarantino, Sofia Coppola, Nancy Meyers, Lady Eve, Singing in the Rain.
• Both agree, “Probably ‘I don’t watch movies’ is a red flag.” (13:01)

Movies They’ve Persuaded Each Other To Love

20:17 – 26:15

• Griffin & David of Blank Check call in: Which movies have Sean and Amanda gotten each other to appreciate?
• “One of my favorite episodes we did…Sense and Sensibility and Spider-Verse. That was, I think, when the show became sentient.” (22:39, Sean)
• Amanda thanks Sean for turning her onto Ari Aster and psychological horror: “I love Midsommar…not something I would've thought 15 years ago.” (24:32)
• Both discuss their blending tastes: “Our taste is definitely getting closer… not further apart.” (25:05)

“Number 16, Limitless” Movie Picks

26:32 – 31:10

• Matt from Brooklyn asks: What’s your version of a “so-so but beloved” movie you’d irrationally put high on your list?
• Sean: Congo (if pre-2000), Deadpool (“I just always have fun watching those movies.” 29:18)
• Amanda: Two Weeks Notice (“They work together, violate all acceptable office romance norms…then ultimately fall in love.” 28:31)
• Producer Jack: “Nacho Libre. I’ve seen that movie probably 50 times. Fucking 500 times.” (31:13)

Most Memorable Walk-Outs

92:37 – 94:36

• Donnie from Athens asks if they’ve ever walked out of a movie.
• Amanda: “I wanted to leave Pain and Gain, but my husband wouldn’t let me.” (92:51)
• Sean: “I walked out of Last Christmas…did not think it was very good.” (93:07)
• Both agree it's rare to walk out in theaters but more common at film festivals.

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Movie & Industry Discussion Highlights

Avatar: Would You Trade It For Two New Cameron Films?

41:31 – 47:19

• Avatar Man delivers a musical voicemail: If Pandora vanished and Big Jim made two original films instead, would you trade?
  • Sean: “I would never…take away Avatar for anything in the world.…It was a step in a progression of moviemaking.” (45:31)
  • Amanda: “I don't know…those movies have kept theaters afloat…do you want to take away $6 billion?” (44:07)

State of the Rom-Com: Where Did All the Good Ones Go?

55:14 – 65:06

• Ben in DC asks Amanda for five obscure-but-great rom-coms.
  • The Cutting Edge, The American President, Morning Glory, Enough Said, Set It Up, Long Shot.
  • Amanda laments: “All those Netflix movies…those are Hallmark movies, not romantic comedies.” (59:54)
  • Sean: “When you look at the origins of the genre…The Lady Eve is for everybody. When Harry Met Sally is for everybody.” (62:16)

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Friendship & Podcast Chemistry

The Chris Ryan Lovefest

66:25 – 71:38

• Listeners ask: Why is CR so beloved?
  • Sean: “Chris is unthreatening, and I don't know many men who are unthreatening. Most men are, like, kind of aggro and competitive and not supportive…He’s not full of shit and not anxious.” (68:08)
  • Amanda: “You talk about the moment you meet Chris Ryan and you’re like, wait, are you real?” (67:04)

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Personal & Recurring Podcast Bits

Food Takes: Aioli Is Mayo?

31:46 – 35:47

• Chance Spivey from “South Carolina” insists: “Aioli is mayo.”
• Amanda exposes Sean’s food hypocrisy: “The real reveal…the true deal breaker. It's mustard.” (33:30)
• Sean: “When I taste it, it's like my body goes into shutdown. I need to get it away from me.” (33:54)

Canadian Geography Challenge

47:36 – 50:40

• Adam from Toronto challenges them to name all Canadian provinces/territories (spoiler: they don’t quite get there).
• “Our apologies and our love and affection to the people of Canada.” (50:40)
• Later...“Ontario, we see you. Sorry we forgot, but we see you.” (132:18)

Physical Media High Council

104:26 – 106:44

• Listener asks about requirements to join the “High Council.”
• “First and foremost, it's about integrity and how you live…think of it more like a knighthood. If you’re willing to die on the sword for the future of physical media, you'll at least be considered.” (104:48)
• Amanda: “Size doesn't matter…but that's okay.” (106:21)
• Sean: “You don’t have to be a sad middle-aged man… but it does help.” (106:16)

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Movies with Their Kids

101:17 – 104:23

• Listener Nico (age 9!) from the school commute asks: What’s your favorite movie to watch with your kids?
  • Amanda: Paddington. “There’s nothing better than Knox laughing, full belly laugh.” (102:41)
  • Sean: Moana “That's the one [my daughter has] rewatched the most that I like the most.” (104:03)
  • Sean: “I was absolutely moved by that phone call though. And I'm a little worried about a nine-year-old listening to the show, but…this is a family program now!” (104:15)

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Guests & Special Segments

Sophia Ramvari on Blue Heron

132:52 – 178:17

• Blue Heron is Sean’s favorite film of 2026 so far.
• Sophia discusses growing up on tiny Gabriola Island, early exposure to European art cinema, and transitioning from aspiring actor to director:
  • “I actually went as far as trying to audition for acting schools. Then…I got into…film program and…I just really had one of those moments of aha.” (136:53)
  • On mixing documentary and fiction: “For me they're just different tools to access true but not real. Performance-wise or script-wise…authentic, but it’s always an illusion of authenticity.” (150:14)
  • On showing family films about their own family: “When I was making my short films, it was more complicated…not as nuanced in my understanding of what my parents had gone through…but once I was making those for a while…there became a real sense of trust and…understanding.” (164:23)
  • On structure: “There were many different iterations of how that time jump [in the film] was going to happen…It was always my intention to do that bifurcated structure.” (166:45)
  • On audience response: “It's heavy. But for me, the heavy part is people…who are relating to it and it’s unlocking for them their own experience…wanting to be able to help hold those things is heavy.” (172:55)
  • Recommends: Out West to Zapata, a Cuban documentary shot in black & white. (177:01–178:12)

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Fun, Offbeat Highlights

• CR Army Down Under: Listener stages an Australian welcome for Chris Ryan, referencing inside pod jokes and “Rango Sheriff.” (65:17–66:49)
• Recasting Each Other: Who would play Sean and Amanda in a Big Picture biopic?
  • 70s: Jane Fonda (Amanda) & James Caan or Michael Murphy (Sean).
  • 90s: Amanda as 90s Sigourney Weaver or 90s Sandy Bullock; Sean as Edward Norton or Bill Pullman. (95:52–101:17)

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The Big Picture’s Mount Rushmore

106:54–113:08

• Listener Jack from Pittsburgh asks which four movies are most important to the podcast's identity.
  • Sean & Amanda’s evolving picks:
    • The Social Network (“I think that's Roosevelt.” 109:32)
    • Casablanca (“Probably Washington.” 110:08)
    • Singin’ in the Rain (“Jefferson.” 110:14)
    • A Few Good Men or Mission: Impossible—Fallout as possible Lincoln/Reagan choices.
  • Key Episodes:
    • Roger Deakins Hall of Fame
    • Dark Knight Rises Commentary
    • 2000 Movie Draft
    • Tar & Marriage Story episodes
• Sean insists: “Everybody needs to shut up and relax…I'm coming up with games all the goddamn time. Some of them are going to be good. Some of them are going to be even better.” (107:44)

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Memorable Quotes

• On movie taste as a filter for potential partners:

  “If a boy comes home and he's like, ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,’ that’s a red flag…you have to turn around and leave my home.” (Sean, 10:23)

• On taste convergence:

  “Our taste is definitely getting closer… not further apart.” (Sean, 25:05)

• On the importance of friendship (Chris Ryan):

  “Chris is unthreatening, and I don't know very many men who are unthreatening…Most men are kind of aggro and competitive and not supportive. Chris is really positive and encouraging.” (Sean, 68:08)

• On the podcast’s history:

  “You were talking to directors…now we just natter about this and that as much as we do about movies.” (Amanda, 84:05)

• On making personal films:

  “I think that the reason I like documentary form…is just different tools to access true but not real.” (Sophia Ramvari, 150:10)

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Conclusion

The 900th episode encapsulates The Big Picture’s blend of sharp film talk, irreverent humor, and warm, lived-in friendship—plus listener engagement that reflects its unique reach across generations. The voicemail format brings out the show’s breadth: from deep dive film discussions, to debates over condiments, and earnest listener life questions. It’s a banner celebration and snapshot of a show deeply invested in both the future of film and the silly-serious culture of movie fandom.

See you at episode 1000…or 2000!

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Transcript

[A]

Hey everyone, I have some news for listeners of the show. I am starting a newsletter. It's called Projections. It's on Substack. You can find it and [e-mail] I'll be writing on a weekly basis to start essays about new movies and happenings in film culture, recommendations for new releases that fall through the cracks of this show, and dedicated physical media coverage on an ongoing basis. Stray reactions to casting, Box office and all other kinds of news. This isn't changing anything about what we are doing on the Big Picture. This is a relative, not a sibling exactly, but definitely a cousin. If you only know me as a podcaster, I spent roughly 15 years as a writer and editor in my career, first as a blogger, then as a music critic, then a features writer and story editor at magazines. And since I formally stopped writing a movie column for the ringer in 2019, give or take the occasional extended letterboxd review, I've really been missing writing a lot. So I'm going back to it and this will be a place where I'll host chats with subscribers, post quick reactions to the news, and maybe the occasional Mets panic note. Again, you can find [e-mail] thanks as always for following along with what we've been doing here over the years. I hope you'll check this out. I'm Sean Fennesee.

[B]

I'm Amanda Dobbin and this is the

[A]

Big Picture 8 conversation show. About 900 and going strong today on the show we are celebrating our 900th episode with your thoughts, prayers, well wishes and demented questions as we are doing another voicemail bag. Later in this episode I will be joined by Sophia Ramvari, the writer director of Blue Heron, a finely textured personal feature debut. It's my favorite movie of 2026 so far. Sophie has been making fascinating short films for the past decade. Blue Heron is the announcement of a major new voice in movies. This is a special film blurs the modes of narrative filmmaking. Likes getting the chance to chat with Sophie about it. Go see the movie, listen to our conversation. Amanda and I will also talk about it here on the show, but first we need to hear from you. It's all coming up right after this. This episode is brought to you by the Autograph Journey credit card from Wells Fargo. The Autograph Journey credit card from Wells Fargo is built for travel. You can earn rewards wherever you book your favorite hotel site your go to airline and more. You get five times points with hotels four Times with airlines, three times on restaurants and other travel, and one point on other purchases. Whether it's a big vacation or a quick getaway from booking your stay to that first meal when you arrive, you're turning your trips into rewards with the Autograph Journey credit card from Wells Fargo. Learn more@wells fargo.com autographjourney Terms apply.

[B]

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[A]

Okay, Amanda, happy 900.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

How do you feel?

[B]

I mean, it's not a thousand, but, like, it's. We're getting close.

[A]

Yeah. I like. I like centennials.

[B]

You do? You like round numbers?

[A]

I like round numbers. I like reaching milestones. I like feeling as though we're marking time.

[B]

900 is pretty good. We did one for 300 and I was like, eh, you know.

[A]

Yeah. And that was. We were, what, 26 then? How old were we? That was a lot.

[B]

It feels great. It's nice. It's a nice round number. Our producer, Jack Sanders, got us all of this lovely stuff. Great, great producing, great set dressing. I feel, you know, I haven't had balloons for any, like, personal occasion in my life. Like, number balloons.

[A]

Like, oh, that's just not something someone's done for you.

[B]

Yeah. And not that I would really want it in a personal context, but here it feels great.

[A]

Okay. Because you don't want your age being exposed in balloon.

[B]

No. I think everybody knows that. I'm 41 on Netflix. How brave of you said those words.

[A]

I'm really happy for you. Yeah. We're 900 episodes old. Been an interesting journey so far. I think we're about halfway done.

[B]

Okay. That's what you're setting.

[A]

What do you think?

[B]

Okay. 1800.

[A]

Can we get there?

[B]

At that point, we got to go to 2000, but, like, have we mapped out. When do the four Beatles movies? What episode number will the four Beatles movie?

[A]

It definitely won't be 1800.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

That's only two years away. So if we can do 900 episodes in two years, things have gone terribly awry. Yeah, I think. No, I think we're doing good.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And yeah, the prompt for this episode, there's no news you want to talk about. Right. Is there anything you really want to get into that happened over the weekend?

[B]

No, I don't think so. I did read deadline. Deadline.com Congrats to Tom Hooper, who's directing Millie Bobby Brown's new film.

[A]

Yes. Will that be on Netflix about World

[B]

War II, I believe for Netflix. Yeah. Will you finally see a Tom Hooper film that isn't Cats?

[A]

Well, I have seen the King Speech, but I've not seen Les Mis. I've also not seen the Damned United, which is his soccer film.

[B]

Oh, right. With Michael Sheen, I believe.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And so, you know, didn't think we'd be talking about Tom Hooper today. Didn't think that would come up. Didn't think that'd be a reason for celebration here on the 900 list.

[B]

Well, you asked about the news, and that's really. If that's all the news we have, then let's get into it. You know, let's.

[A]

Let's just get right into the mailbag. So as I said, voice mailbag, which means we had folks write in and Jack Sanders is going to help us read some of those questions. But we also had people call in. They called us at a special number demarcated for questions, hopefully mostly questions and not stray rants. But I'm sure we'll get a couple of rants here and there. Jack, how do you want to do this? Where do we go first?

[C]

Just to let you know, I will not be reading the emails. I had a special guest read some of those emails for us. So the entire show will be entirely voicemails.

[D]

Wow.

[C]

Just a note, if you submit a question with Go Braves, I immediately deleted it. That happened at least a dozen times. Sorry.

[B]

Can I just say also that yesterday the Braves and the Phillies were playing last evening and I did have. Sean was at my home with his family and Chris Ryan was at my home. And despite the me renouncing them on the record of this national podcast, I still got shit. So I don't know what else there is to do. Yeah, not from you, but that's because they weren't playing the Mets.

[A]

I really don't have a leg to Stand on when it comes to talking about baseball right now. I've really never, never been in such a bad place with the sport in my entire life.

[B]

Vegas was really up and down for you in that respect.

[A]

We are down down right now. There has not been an up in several weeks.

[B]

And I keep saying to you it's April 20th. Is that what it is? And it's. We're not even a month in. We're not even a month in.

[A]

How many games in a row do you think the Mets have lost?

[B]

I know it's like 7ish area.

[A]

It's 11.

[B]

11. Oh dear.

[A]

It's 11.

[B]

Okay. That I know they played the Dodgers and that didn't go well.

[A]

That was tough. But you know that happens when they played the Dodgers in la. You get swept. It happens. You know, you play like the Giants, the Cardinals, you know, kind of middling teams in the sport and you lose. You start to feel worried in the beginning of the season. Now we're just in a place where we're just. They're hopeless. Truly hopeless. And as you say, it's April 20, right? There's time to turn it around. But I'd like to talk about movies.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

Hey, Sean and Amanda, this is Bob from Toledo, Ohio. Hey, calling in because I have a, I think a good hypothetical question. I'm here with my six month old daughter Violet. I have a hypothetical question. I know you guys have gotten plenty of questions about what films you'll show your kids. I want to switch it up and instead ask your respective children. Bring home their first boyfriend or girlfriend and they say, oh, I'm a big film buff, I love movies. And so of course you ask them what their favorite movie is. What would a red flag response be from them? And what would a green flag response be from them?

[A]

Okay, Bob, red flag.

[D]

Which one make you kind of lean over to your son or daughter and say, I think you shouldn't see this person anymore.

[B]

Right?

[D]

And green flag, you gain a lot of respect. And Sean, you probably show them your Blu Ray collection. Thanks a lot guys. If you ever want, come to Toledo, do a, do a pod. This is the home of Katie Holmes. So you guys could do a great hall of fame episode. That would be an amazing 10 minute episode. Thanks a lot. Have a good one.

[B]

First time writer, director Katie Holmes. Or at least director. I don't know whether she wrote the feature film.

[A]

Didn't she direct that film about, about hosting Thanksgiving. Isn't it like April something?

[B]

She did write and direct Happy hour. But let's what else we had here?

[A]

I think she had another. Maybe she was just the star. I thought she was the director of that film.

[B]

I'm looking, I'm looking. But director, six credits here.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I think she's made some films.

[B]

Rare Objects Alone together. She directed one episode of all we of the Kennedys after Camelot.

[A]

Oh, sure.

[B]

And then all we had. I'm sorry. To Katie Holmes. This is the.

[A]

I can't remember that Thanksgiving movie that she made. That was pretty good too. I thought she directed that. Anyhow, Bob from Toledo, really interesting question. Leaning right into some of our child focused concerns on the show over the last few years. So the question was about what's a movie that your child's potential partner, future imaginary partner, would identify as their favorite movie? And what would be a red flag? And what would be a green flag? So red flag is like assuming Alice is bringing a boy home. I think if a, if a boy comes home and he's like, batman versus Superman, dawn of justice, like, that's. That's a red flag. Yeah, that's like a. That's more red than Superman's cape. That's like, well, you have to turn around and leave my home.

[B]

Let me take it one further. Snyder Cut. Because then that indicates a level of. Okay, okay, someone's logged on, but they're making the wrong decisions.

[A]

But maybe that indicates a level of interest in autourism that I could explore with him. Maybe he could be turned.

[B]

But it's evil autourism. You know, the hooks. And also suggests an overfamiliarity with the Internet and with posting and with. Could be subcultures.

[A]

We're talking like it's like 10 years from now.

[B]

Yeah, but already been so. Oh, so you think in 10 years Snyder cut will be like historical?

[A]

Maybe it'll be reclaimed.

[B]

Oh, okay, maybe you.

[A]

Probably not.

[B]

So when the person says Snyder Cut, will you then take them to your bootleg DVD of the Snyder Cut?

[A]

You know, I think they sell it.

[B]

I'm surprised.

[A]

I think you can buy it, but

[B]

you don't own it.

[A]

I don't. I do have a Snyder stack. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a Snyder stack. You know, fan of the dawn of the Dead remake. You made kind of a fan of 300. Everything else after that's kind of a mess. Okay, Green flag is an interesting question. I think any of the kind of Gen X classics would be lovely to hear. You know, your Tarantino's, your PTAs, your Soderberghs. Your spikes. You know, if any of those movies came across the Transom and they were like, you know what I really love is Jackie Brown, I'd be like, now, now we're cooking with gas. Like, have you bought the ring yet, sir?

[B]

But you wouldn't. You wouldn't feel threatened at all because then.

[A]

No, no, I think that would be magical. I think that'd be wonderful. I mean, in all likelihood, movies will be dead by the time this happens, so I'm not too worried about it. Well, what about for you?

[B]

Well, I'm trying to think, so. Snyder. Cut. I would not receive with hope. I think probably any sort of. I mean, if someone's like, Super Mario Galaxy, like, you know, blew my wig back, I would. That would indicate like, a teenager came

[A]

home and said that and was like, my favorite movie is Super Mario Galaxy.

[B]

I would be a little bummed about it.

[A]

That's concerning.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's a movie for seven year olds.

[B]

Well, I agree. So that's why I would have some issues with that. And I think probably if we'd spend the next 10 years doing video game movies and it's someone being like, you know, they didn't show us any real footage of Call of Duty, but they did show us Peter Berg being like, I have a Taylor and I have a respect for, you know, special operations.

[A]

So what if the person who came home was like, I don't watch movies, but I'm really into Lioness Season nine.

[B]

That would also be a red flag. Okay, Probably I don't watch movies would also be a red flag, don't you think?

[A]

You know, it would be an interesting challenge for me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not impossible. The way in which I'm raising my daughter, the idea of her being interested in someone who's like, I don't watch movies would be a little weird. But you know what? She might break away. She's gonna go find her own path. She might be interested in something completely different.

[B]

Yeah. And it may also be that they are engaged in other types of culture and not movies specifically because it's a different generation. It would be hard for me if someone came home and was like, I don't do culture.

[A]

You know, that would be interesting. So that would be like, I'm not interested in art. Yes. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But what if they came home and they're like, I'm really. Here are my two passions Hacky sack and devil sticks.

[B]

Would you be into devil sticks?

[A]

You know, the devil sticks, like the two sticks you gotta balance. Would you be into that? What If I started doing those things

[B]

on the show, can you do those? Are you good at those?

[A]

I used to do both.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not well.

[B]

Not really not well. I was gonna say, like, do you

[A]

have any sort of talent professionally performing with devil sticks, like at a Grateful Dead show? Yeah, but I owned devil sticks as a young kid. Yeah, I had a hacky sack, for sure.

[B]

I don't want you to do that. Cause then my sons will see a clip and be like, can I have those? So what's a green flag? I mean, I agree with you. Any of you know of our classics, generational, seminal favorites. We are, you know, narcissistic people. And we want to be pandered too. So I would throw in Sofia Coppola, I would throw in Nancy Meyers, I would throw in Nora Ephron. I would throw in like any of like the golden Hollywood classics. You know, if someone wants to be like the Lady Eve or Singing in the Rain or whatever, I'd just be

[A]

like, like a 13 year old is going to come to your house and be like, my favorite movie is the Lady Eve.

[B]

They're, they're sophisticated these days. You know, they have the Internet, they have letterbox.

[A]

Sure, yeah, sure do.

[B]

I don't know what they're up to, so.

[A]

Well, let's say your son's future partner comes over and says, I've got 25,000 followers on Letterboxd. Okay, well, you're like, this is exciting, or this is concerning.

[B]

Well, I'd have to look at the profile, you know, and kind of see what we're doing. Both from like a. Like, what is the taste displayed? But also is this person a little too professional at it? That would weird me out at age 13. Or maybe this is just someone with a passion. And if it's someone with a passion, that's okay.

[A]

Do you want to go to Toledo?

[B]

Sure. I don't think I've ever been to Ohio.

[A]

I've not been to Toledo to Ohio?

[B]

I don't think so.

[A]

Have I been to Ohio? Maybe I haven't.

[B]

Good luck. Six months. Six months. Things are turning, you know, with a child and they can almost like sit up. They can respond to you.

[A]

Yeah. I don't really wish for anyone to have to experience zero to 18 months. I think that that wasn't a pleasant time. I didn't enjoy it since then. It's gotten better and better every year. The first stretch, not my favorite. Just putting that out there. But you know what, Bob?

[D]

You're getting in there.

[B]

Hang in there, Dada.

[A]

Hang in there. Dada. Okay, what's next?

[E]

What's up, guys? Matt here, big fan, longtime listener. On a recent episode of the Blank Checkpod, Tracy Letts was discussing with Griffin and David how Sean and Amanda can, from time to time, quote, get weird regarding what is and what is not considered a key film within an actor's filmography. In particular, Tracy mentions he and Amanda's love for Witness and how, quote, sean gets a look on his face like his ass is sucking lemons when they praise it as a key film in Harrison Ford's career. I'm wondering, could Sean please do his best to recreate this face just so we as viewers can recognize it when we see it going forward?

[A]

I feel as though that is my resting face.

[B]

No, there's. I mean, there is an angry face that you get, but it's like you're not going to be able to recreate it. And I know when I've really got you, and I actually do know when I have to start back.

[A]

But do you think that that's what the face that's being described is? Not you teasing me a little bit?

[B]

A little. Because there is a little bit of disgust in the back off, you've gone too far face, definitely nostrils flaring and eyes getting a little wider. And you sit up a little because you're spoiling for a fight. And then you do look a little disgusted that anyone would think differently than you and. Or provoke you in this way. So normally, like, a little more color in your face also, but I don't think it's something that's a different face. You're right. Sucking lemons is more just like, you know, general disinterest.

[A]

I think it's. Yeah, I think it's like a mild disdain for someone strongly held opinion and

[B]

impatience, like, with me specifically, you're just like, stop doing your bit. I don't want this anymore.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

I certainly understood what Tracy was talking about. Witnesses, an interesting example, which is a movie that I like, but that I find has kind of like, had the horseshoe theory of praise, where now it's like people are like, this is the greatest movie of all time.

[B]

They built a whole barn.

[A]

I get it. I listened to your episode on Blankjack. It was wonderful. You were an amazing guest. Thank. You know, I think Peter Weir is incredibly gifted filmmaker. I have no negative feelings. In fact, I looked on letterboxd last week to see what did I rate Witness when I watch it during COVID Yeah. Four stars. Put a heart on it. I'm a big fan of the movie.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

The point that I think Tracy was making when he made that comment, and the face that is being described is sort of like, is this movie a masterpiece? Which is like a haughty attitude about something. But I'm like, this is a very good adult crime drama for adults, and that's great. It's good to do that.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But the overextension of this movie deserves to go into the hall of fame for xyz, for Amish films, certainly, but for Harrison Ford, sure. We did it.

[B]

His only Oscar nomination just by the.

[A]

But is that. Is that correct? Like, is that right?

[B]

Well, no, he should have several Oscars and all he has is a SAG award that they made up. But, like, you know, I. It's. It's really good. Since we brought up this segment of the Blank Check episode featuring Tracy Letts, he goes on to compare. He. He puts the films in context and he's like, I mean, it's obviously not a Kurosawa film, Witness, but if you're talking about how A Few Good Men and Pelican Bre Beef are classics, and I said this to Tracy directly, and I. But I will say it now to the public at large, A Few Good Men and Pelican Brief are not equal.

[A]

They're not.

[B]

They're not equal.

[A]

Nor did. Okay, I certainly never indicated that they

[B]

are A Few Good Men. Way up here, up high. Pelican Brief. It's just a legal thriller with Denzel and Julia Roberts. Like, we're having fun. One's very, very good. One's a little long and a little weird, but I like it.

[A]

Here's the thing about Tracy's comments. A lot of people want what the big picture has. You just got to keep that in mind. What's next?

[G]

Hello, Big Picture.

[A]

Hi.

[G]

Happy episode 900. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin.

[A]

I'm David.

[G]

I'm not saying this is now Blank Check. We're not seizing your podcast. I'm just introducing ourselves. One of my favorite things about the Big Pic is how different Shawn and Amanda's taste can be. They're obviously zones of overlap which are interesting to discover. But also I feel like there is lively discussion often in how different their sort of go tos are in film. Watching David, I feel like there are moments in the history of our podcast where one or the other of us has successfully sold the other on one of our favorite movies.

[B]

Okay.

[G]

I think about the moment where you finally got me to understand the Matrix

[A]

sequels tariff is a login screen I

[G]

don't know if you have a moment where I've successfully convinced you of.

[A]

I feel like there's so many movies you should.

[G]

I was trying to put you on the spot and this was. I was trying to do. I want an honest answer. But while you're thinking about it, my question to Sean and Amanda is.

[A]

So many fucking things I have to look at now.

[G]

Can each of you name a movie that you feel like the other one successfully got you to understand and appreciate in your time doing the podcast that you don't think you would have watched or really locked in on otherwise? This is. I'm trying to set up an opportunity for the two of you to appreciate each other.

[A]

Obvious example, Griffin, what is it? You have talked me into many a movie.

[G]

Hotel Transylvania.

[A]

Well, that's a good point.

[C]

All three.

[G]

That's three movies. That's a big three right there.

[A]

Actually. That's actually a really good point.

[G]

And those movies are good. A good opportunity to call out Sean, who's been dismissive of the Hotel Transylvania trilogy, or trilogy, if you will, during the Adam Sandler hall of Fame vnoc canon.

[D]

Right.

[G]

Fourth movie doesn't count. Well, Sandler's not in it.

[A]

Yeah.

[G]

So my first question, I guess is, when are you guys going to do a Hotel Transylvania hall of Fame? Yes.

[A]

A Hotel Transylvania Maxisode. Yes.

[G]

And my second question is, what are the movies that you thank each other for exposing you to and making you understand?

[A]

Great question.

[B]

That's nice.

[D]

Thank you.

[B]

It's about healing here on the blood. Blank on the big picture, briefly taken over by the blank check. Good sequencing Jack on those. Mine's gotta be a horror movie, right?

[A]

Well, I will say one of my favorite episodes we did, and I can't remember if it was the first movie swap that we did, but we did Sense and Sensibility and Spider Verse.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And that was, I actually think, when the show became sentient.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You know, or sort of like our differences is like part of the programming strategy. And then.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think both of us were very open minded and open hearted about both of those movies. I think you really. I think I had not seen Sense and Sensibility. Right, you hadn't and you hadn't seen Spider Verse, Right?

[B]

Correct.

[A]

And those are two very specific kinds of movies that I'm usually a little bit allergic to. And you're usually a little bit allergic to one. Animated and superhero me. Costume drama, kind of literary adaptation. And both films are, of course, like hugely critically acclaimed and beloved. So it's not shocking that we Both liked it, but I think it has led to some interesting tributaries of exposure in terms of the kinds of stuff that we're excited about over time. So that's the one that jumps into my mind. Not every movie swap has been as successful. You know, we have. Not always.

[B]

You were quite rude about the English patients.

[A]

I didn't love that movie.

[B]

And I had already seen. Seen Fargo and appreciated Fargo, so that wasn't as effective. The most recent movie swap, I can't remember what I gave you. Oh, Mamma Mia. Yeah, but that was different.

[A]

Which was fun.

[B]

Yeah, which was fun. And I think rounded out again. We're working on, you know, your. Your blank spaces, your blind spots. But I really liked the Strangers, which you gave me. And I do feel, especially as horror has been going in a more. Well, you know, there are different tributaries, but you've been getting me on the. More, like, psychological and, like, the types of horror movies that I would like.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I mean, really like everything having to do with Ari Aster. I mean, I love Midsommar. Like, I just straight up think that's a great movie. And that is not something that I

[A]

would have thought about maybe 15 years ago. You wouldn't have thought, that's a movie I'd like. Yeah, that's a good. That's a. Ari is a really good example.

[B]

So that. And I'm really, really glad that I have not missed out on. On all of his work. So I think. And that's an extension, right, of the movie swap of just, like, expanding a genre. You let me put Lost in translation on 25, not lost in Translation. You let me put Marie Antoinette on 25 for 25 over lost in Translation. And you were gracious about it. And we're also like, I get it. I get why this is the one. So that was nice.

[A]

I'm a big fan of that movie. I've obviously come to appreciate and understand Sophia's work more, working so closely with you over the years and hearing you talk about her and what you like about her. And I think you just have an interest in certain aspects of moviemaking that are not always at the forefront of my mind. And so even if it's movies that we like together, and I will say spending so much time with you, making so many episodes, like, our taste is definitely getting closer and closer over that time. Like, we're not getting further apart. No, I'm sure for a variety of reasons, we're at similar stages of our life. There's, like, an inherent kind of cultural sameness that you sometimes adopt, but also you want to kind of be able to get along when you're making episodes all the time too. I don't want to be sniping at you in every episode. To me, that's not fun.

[B]

Well, I do also think we see more of the same movies now. That's honestly what it is. Because our natural tastes and when we're not doing it for work are pretty opposite day.

[A]

It's funny though, because last week you saw a movie that I didn't see and yesterday I saw a movie that you didn't see. We could talk about them both later in this episode. There still are these, like, paths that it's like, that's for Amanda, this is for me.

[B]

You know, that's fine. And that's how it works. You can't do it all. So that was healing. That was nice. Do you think the rest of the mailbag is going to be that friendly?

[A]

Probably all divisive, mean spirited voicemails, I would imagine. Is that right, Jack?

[C]

Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Okay.

[D]

Hey, guys, this is Matt from Brooklyn. Longtime listener, first time caller, proud DGA member, proud jets hater. Sorry, Sean. Go Pats. My question is quick and simple. Okay? You were ranking either your most rewatchable movies or your favorite movies. What is your version of the number 16? Limitless take. What is your number 16? Limitless. Thanks, guys. I'll hang up and listen to your answer off air.

[A]

Is the question about 21st century? Like Bill's list was?

[B]

I mean, he didn't specify. Do you want to.

[C]

He didn't specify, but maybe we should take it that way.

[A]

Okay. If we're not doing 21st century, it's Congo.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Frank Marshall's masterpiece adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel about evil apes, Diamond Technologies. Laura Linney being in charge.

[B]

Right.

[A]

The CIA's desire to control Africa, and Dylan Walsh coaching an ape to learn how to speak. That's one of the worst movies ever made. That is very important to me. And I just watched it again this year and had a grand old time. 21st century. Probably need to think about that for one second.

[B]

I know. I'm trying to think here. You know, we've made bits of most of the Amanda movies, but I don't really think that, you know, Thomas Crown Affair, 1999 is eligible for this.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I mean, I think that it's too good and too widely appreciated. You know, people are getting on the. Getting on that train. Apollo 13 is another one. But Apollo 13 is probably in my top 10 lifetime. It's released in 1995 and is also good. So. Yeah.

[A]

And people.

[B]

Most people agree it's nominated for Oscar. It's not like what is a really. I mean I love plenty of trashy movies. I guess a lot of them are romantic comedies. It's probably two weeks notice.

[A]

Good one.

[B]

The Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant early 2000s movie. He's a real estate developer, she is a do gooder lawyer. They work together, violate all acceptable office romance norms and then ultimately fall in love and also save a community center. We'll say there's a. There's a brief Donald Trump cameo at the end.

[A]

Cool.

[B]

We should probably. We could just edit that out. I would, I would pay for that DVD release. Is it on DVD or Blu ray? Two weeks.

[A]

Don't own the film.

[B]

Okay. That's your loss.

[A]

It is directed by Mark Lawrence. Not one of my guys. Got nothing against him. You know, a lot of people love music and lyrics. That's a beloved film.

[B]

That's right. I think this one is better just because I like Sandy and Hugh Grant and they have good chemistry.

[A]

That's a really good pick. You know, I think my like least reputable opinion is just that I think that the Deadpool movies are really funny and I've always liked them. And I kind of loathe Ryan Reynolds screen Persona. And yet I think he is the perfect Deadpool. And I think those movies which most people think are obnoxious fourth wall breaking superhero garbage and hyper violent, I wouldn't really like argue with that per se. But I just always have fun watching those movies. And would I put any of them at 16 on my list? Probably not. But like it was just reported over the weekend that Ryan Reynolds is writing another Deadpool movie. And what he said was, I won't be centering Deadpool in my Deadpool movie. Which is a very funny way of putting it. He's like, I'll make Deadpool a supporting character. Which is kind of amusing of him continuing to move Deadpool out of the center of the movies that he is working on with that character. But I know that I can't look at you or any sincere movie lover and communicate about the greatness of Deadpool. It's just like you have a kind of lizard curling its tail inside of your mind.

[B]

Have you watched it enough times for it to be number 16? I'm obviously working on number 16 salt, but I haven't seen it enough times yet. Right.

[A]

Here's the big challenge. Because of what our jobs are now and because of how I live my life I can't rewatch movies all day long. That I love. Of course. Like so many people and so many listeners of the Rewatchables podcast. When I was in college, I watched the same 25 movies a dozen times. 25 times. I've seen the Big Lebowski. I've seen Clerks. I've seen Pulp Fiction more than anything. They're all great. I don't know if one can replicate number 16, limitless. I think that is an individual accomplishment.

[B]

That is. That's the magic of Bill simmons.

[F]

Yes.

[B]

Number 16, salt.

[A]

Wait, Jack, what's yours?

[C]

Probably go like Nacho Libre.

[A]

Oh, that's good.

[C]

I like that one because I've seen that movie probably 50 times. Fucking 500 times.

[A]

Interesting. Would you say you're a Jack Black person?

[C]

No, I wouldn't.

[A]

Cool.

[C]

But I vividly remember renting that movie from the library almost every single weekend.

[F]

That's very cute.

[A]

I run from the library now. It's called Canopy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What did I watch on Kanopy? I watched a movie called Tomorrow to prepare for the Robert Duvall hall of fame.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

1972 film. Never seen it.

[D]

Never heard of it.

[A]

Interesting movie. We'll talk about it next month. Okay, Jack, what's next?

[D]

Hey, this is Chance Spivey from War, South Carolina. I'm just tuning into the show mainly because I just want to know, Sean, you know, that aioli is mayonnaise. That's all. Bye.

[A]

Was that fella's name Chance Spivey from.

[B]

I couldn't hear where in South Carolina?

[A]

I think he said Warriors.

[B]

Warris, South Carolina.

[A]

Well, now I'm just Chance Spivey from. That's. That guy's name is definitely Nate golden from, you know, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. Chance Spivey. My goodness. What do you say? He said aioli is mayo.

[B]

Aioli is actually mayo. It's flavored mayo. He knows this. So here. Here's the real. There's no consistency to these food takes. They are capricious, irrational, and annoying. Last night, I had to do a separate dill bowl for this guy.

[A]

That was nice.

[B]

That was kind of no 1. Zach and I both remembered independently that Sean doesn't like dill. No broccoli, no salmon.

[A]

That's what I call you when you're not around. Dill Bull.

[B]

Dill Bull, yeah. It was fresh dill. It was dill. From the farmer's market to Sunrise Farms.

[A]

The meal was outstanding.

[B]

Thank you so much.

[A]

Some of your best work.

[B]

Thank you. You know, it's just what happened was we opened The Alison Roman cookbook. And we said that, well, she knows what she's doing. She really does. But the real reveal, the thing that makes me angriest about Sean's food preferences, and I learned this while he was eating an open faced sandwich in Stockholm, Sweden, was that it's not actually mayo that is the true deal breaker. It's mustard.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which I don't understand. I don't. And you would rather eat a dry sandwich than eat a sandwich with mustard. But if there is mayo or aioli, if it has flavor to it, you remember in. But mustard does have flavor. It's just that, a flavor that you like.

[A]

In old school, Frank the Tank, Will Ferrell's character, you know, he drinks beer and he says. Oh, you know when it hits your lips.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

He kind of has this like convulsive, orgasmic reaction to drinking beer. I'm that. But in reverse for mustard. I don't know why the neurons are firing in my mind saying, repel, repel. Whenever I taste mustard, but when I taste it, it's like my body goes into shutdown. I need to get it away from me, you know, no way drugs, no way condiments, obviously one of the great catchphrases.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Am I inconsistent with it? Sure.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Mustard.

[B]

I will never waver in your defense, and I can't believe I'm defending this. An aioli is often not white. It has a color to it.

[G]

It has a beige.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Or even like. Or a chipotle aioli.

[B]

That's a good one.

[A]

That has a pinkish quality. Yeah, well, that's the thing. And that's why we don't claim aioli in the no white drugs, no white condiments. You know, phylum.

[B]

Here's the thing, though. So often aioli will have dill. Like, where are you on tartar sauce?

[A]

No, thank you.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. There you go.

[A]

In fact, I would never.

[B]

All right, well, do you. Do you eat it like a po' boy, though, in general or just dry?

[A]

I mean, I'm not like hanging in New Orleans on the regular. I guess I'm not opposed to.

[B]

I mean, I guess tartar sauce is remoulade. Please. New Orleans people don't come for me. And tartar sauce would be more like fish and chip, you know, New England type thing.

[A]

But you serve fish and chips and they put a tartar sauce next to it. No. No, thank you.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I'm good.

[B]

Remoulade?

[A]

Yeah, I think so. Remoulade's white. It's not white.

[B]

It's a cold mayonnaise based sauce. I mean, I think it has a little. It's mayo, mustard, hot sauce and spices.

[A]

Yeah, I used to. Jackie, I don't know if I can eat that anymore. As I said, it's inconsistent. But I appreciate this attention to detail because frankly, these discussions have not been as common in recent years on the show. Well, but that is, that's a real head to know about the, the, the no white drugs, no white condiments. And I appreciate that. Love that attention to detail by you as well, Jack.

[C]

Thank you.

[E]

From Parker. Hey, Sean and Amanda. My wife and I have two daughters, 7 and 5, and we live in Austin, Texas. My undergrad was in film, so movies are a big part of our household. A few weeks ago, my 7 year old came home asking if I knew about Star Wars. The boys in her class. I are fired up for Mandalorian and Grogu. My five year old added that the boys in her class play laser swords at recess. By the time we got home, we'd struck a deal. Watch episodes one through nine. Then they each get to pick out their own lightsaber. We watched A New Hope as a family. It was a hit. The girls were pumped for Empire for the following Friday. Then disaster struck the next week at School. My 7 year old went to school the next day and told a boy in her class, Thomas, that she'd watched

[B]

the first Star Wars.

[E]

Without hesitation, Thomas told her Darth Vader is Luke's dad. I kept my cool, confirmed it was true, and then watched my daughter burst into tears and run into her room. Heartbreaking. Now, I try not to be a petty person, but Thomas needs to learn his lesson for spoiling one of the great twists in movie history. Here's where you come in and no, I can't pull a blanchette and tar at the next school drop off, as tempting as that may be. What is a canonical movie that a seven year old boy like Thomas is bound to see one day that I can show my daughters first, with the explicit goal of sending my 7 year old to school to ruin that movie for Thomas. I sincerely appreciate your help in plotting my revenge and restoring balance to the Force.

[B]

Parker, you're a great dad.

[A]

That's very.

[B]

This is. This is beautiful. So three options come to mind. The first is that this happened to me not about Star wars, but Dark Knight, a young man who I was sort of dating at the time, which really puts everything that you need to know in one sentence.

[A]

That's sort of doing a lot of work.

[B]

Yeah, just as soon as I said, and by the way, I'm gonna spoil the Dark Knight. But I said, I'm going to see the Dark Knight. And he was. And he said, oh, yeah, she dies. And I was just like, what the fuck? Why did she say this?

[A]

Didn't even use the word Rachel.

[B]

No. Yeah, and then. Because. Do you really know her name? Also, they had recast her, remember?

[A]

I do.

[B]

You know all women names. I know.

[A]

I see women, I acknowledge them, I recognize their.

[B]

Maybe he even said Maggie Gyllenhaal dies to differentiate from the fact that Katie Holmes played Where's Rachel? Right. So that was pretty messed up. But that seems down the road. It was effective though. I was very pissed off throughout the entire movie just being like, well, I know she dies. There's no tension here.

[A]

What a weird response to immediately say she died. Is that your first takeaway from the Dark?

[B]

As I said, sort of. Dan, you could be like truck flips. We all make mistakes, you know, Harvey, Dentist, Two Face.

[A]

Listen, Joker blows up a hospital, you know, like, you could go in any direction here.

[B]

It's like it's a long game the next two, but at some point this child will see both Sixth Sense and Psycho. And so you, you know, just ground it early on.

[A]

That would be a weird thing for 27 year olds to be talking about. Well, again, you don't know this yet, but in seven years you'll be seeing the film from 1960, directed by the master auteur Alfred Hitchcock. Psycho.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In this film, a lowly motel proprietor will welcome a young woman in peril into his hotel. Turns out he's dressing up every night as his mother and murdering people who stay at the motel. What are you going to do with that? What is the. What was the seven year old boy's name? Let's use his name. Let's use his full name on the podcast.

[C]

The first name is Thomas.

[A]

I can't believe they even gave us that name.

[C]

I have an idea that he gave us a fake name.

[A]

Hopefully that's good.

[B]

Thomas is a nice name. It was on my list.

[A]

Thomas.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Interesting. He's quite patrician.

[B]

Okay. That was Zach's feedback for a lot of names.

[F]

It's fine.

[A]

This is my son, Thomas.

[B]

I'm happy. I'm happy with where we landed.

[A]

I think, gosh, what's a more realistic. Well, do you have a third? What's your third one? Oh, he said Darkness.

[B]

Psycho.

[A]

Okay. What is something that is a little bit more in the realm of the seven year old viewership?

[B]

Harry Potter. But presumably Harry Potter has already been spoiled for him because he reads the books. I don't know.

[A]

I know we're just about to start Harry Potter, So I think 5, 6, 7 is right in that zone. When you read them, Jack, what comes to mind? Is there something that could be spoiled for. For a young boy and ruin their lives?

[C]

Lucas had said bing Bong dies in Inside Out.

[A]

Great one. He's probably seen it.

[B]

Oh, Lucas.

[D]

If he.

[C]

If he hasn't seen it, I would say the Lashawn. Lashawn McCoy ripped my dog Tony Stark for Avengers Endgame. Because that's probably coming up in four or five years.

[B]

Okay, I don't even know. I don't know what that is.

[C]

Lashawn McCoy was a running back in the NFL and he saw the Avengers endgame early and then he tweeted that out before people saw it, spoiling the film.

[A]

That's. That. Is that. Is that. That. That's the best answer. The best answer is Tony Stark dies at the end of Endgame.

[B]

Okay, that's.

[A]

That is the absolutely correct answer. And the LaShawn McCoy poll is also quite good.

[B]

I also had a different. This was a friend of a guy I was actually dating.

[A]

Wow, what a checkered past for you.

[B]

But, so I remember we were at some bar in Brooklyn and this is about a TV show, but someone was on the third season of the Wire and he just yelled out, stringer Bell dies. Which is so messed up.

[A]

Yeah. Actually, if we can get a seven year old girl to tell a seven year old boy Stringer Bell dies to his face, then we've accomplished more than I ever could have imagined on this podcast.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Anyway, hopefully nobody listening to the show has not seen the Wire, one of the masterpiece achievements of our lifetime. Okay, what's next?

[D]

Big pix fam. It's Avatar, man. Who's Avatar Man? I'm the number one Avatar fan in the goddamn land. And I got one question I need y' all to stand. Avatar, of course, altered the game. It put the whole service screen up in 3D flame. Y' all even did a whole pod just watching the water, riding the wave of James Cameron. But here is the twist I'm presenting to. God damn you. If we wiped out Pandora, if we faded the blue, if these game changing movies had never existed in the whole course of cinematic history. Twisted. If instead of the world where the Avatars play, Jim had given us two totally new joints. Damn what I say? Would you make that trade? Would you give up the Avatar crown to See what else Big Jim might have ended up laying down. So, Sean and Amanda, I leave it to you. Would you rather have had two originals and never seen Avatar or goddamn, would you stick with the motherfucking.

[B]

This is.

[A]

I mean, bravo, Avatar Man. Yeah, I salute you.

[C]

Probably the greatest voicemail we have ever gotten or will ever receive.

[A]

Wow, I'm moved. The question is effectively, would you remove the three Avatar films from James Cameron CV and replace it with two different James Cameron movies if you could?

[B]

So for me, this is less about losing the Avatar films themselves. I don't have the personal connection to the Avatar films that Avatar man does.

[A]

Yeah, one assumes, but we don't know.

[B]

I guess that's true.

[A]

What if he's anti Avatar but has assumed the mantle of Avatar Man?

[B]

That seems unlikely.

[A]

He didn't indicate one way or another. Right.

[B]

I mean, he did kind of see that. The use of motherfucking. Yeah. Cinematic achievements anyway. So what I'm doing is not necessarily to preserve Pandora and. And the whales and everything, but you have to think about what role the movies play in cinematic history, positive and negative. And I do see Chris Ryan's point that this is one of our great spectacle filmmakers who's just been like, living in a blue land for 20 something years. On the other hand, those movies have made billions of dollars and sort of kept theaters afloat at a. A pretty dark time in. In cinema theater history and have, like, papered over a lot of holes.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

In the, in the finances of an industry and then allowed other great things to be made. So, you know, you do. Do you want to take away $6 billion? Because I think whatever I like, I love Big Jim.

[A]

I don't really care about the money.

[B]

You don't care about the money?

[A]

I don't. I think it's an amazing accomplishment that he's been able to get people to come out for these movies, these original stories that he invented out of nothing. And I think, to me, it. I think the first two movies especially are just a major achievement, and I think they're really good, and I think we forced Chris to watch them under duress. But if he were with me in 2009 and saw the film wearing 3D glasses at the AMC in. In Lincoln Plaza like I did, that's one of my favorite moviegoing experiences. I thought it was amazing. I thought it was like. I thought I was witnessing the dawn of a new age of movies. I can only imagine how insufferable I would have been on this podcast if after having seen the movie, I Loved it. Now, is it a flawed story narratively? Does it borrow from lots of other things that have come before it? You know, is it, is it a little oddly rendered and hard to watch at home? All that stuff is true, right? But like, I think those first two movies are huge, huge, huge creative accomplishments. So I would never, I don't know, not to be too stick up my ass about it, but like, tell an artist, like, don't do that, do this. Like, I try, I try to avoid that if I can.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And in this case, now, the third one, I think you and I were both pretty mixed on because it did feel a bit redundant to the second film and overlong and it felt like it was spinning its wheels a little bit. It had some great stuff in it, but was not the level of achievement I thought the first two were. So if you told me you could lose the third one and replace it with one other Jim Cameron movie, I'm open minded about that idea, but I wouldn't take away Avatar for anything in the world. I mean, we were just joking around about Babylon with Matt Bellamy and the idea of Avatar appearing at the end, but I think that it was very justified that Avatar appeared at the end of that movie. It was a step in a progression of moviemaking around the world. So. And you know, what is the other movie going to be? Is it an original story that James Cameron's going to write? Well, sure, that could turn out to be the Terminator or it could turn out to be True Lies. You know, like, I like True Lies.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But is True Lies a bigger deal than Avatar? Of course not.

[B]

It might be to me, but I don't know. I don't know. But again, that's just because I agree with you that they are an accomplishment. But in terms of what I want to go to the theater to see.

[A]

Yeah, I get it.

[B]

I might. I might prefer to see True Lies again and certainly the possibility for Titanic or Terminator 2.

[A]

I think one of the things about signing on for a filmmaker's work and getting interested in it, it doesn't mean that you can't dislike anything that they make at any given point, but I think it's also trying to have some empathy for like, what's guiding them towards different choices in their career too. So, like, his interest in ecology and the environment and the world around him, like all that stuff becoming a much bigger part of James Cameron's interests over the last 25 years is what led him to these movies. And it kind of makes sense when you think about how he's interacted with the world, the kinds of stories, this like sci fi fantasy that kind of enlivened his interest in creativity as a young person. So I don't know, I wouldn't want to. I don't mean to be so self serious about it, but I wouldn't want to take it away from him.

[B]

I think that's beautiful. You've always been an Avatar guy.

[A]

I like Avatar.

[B]

Would you redo the papyrus font?

[A]

It wouldn't have been my first choice.

[B]

Okay, yeah. All right.

[A]

It wouldn't have been my first choice.

[B]

There we go.

[A]

But you know what? The papyrus font led to billions of dollars.

[B]

It did.

[A]

What's next?

[D]

Hey, this is a message for Sean and Amanda. My name is Adam. I'm calling from Toronto. Longtime listener, first time caller. I have a two part question for Sean and Amanda. The first question is, without recourse to Google or a book or any notes that you've been passed by your producer written on your hand, could you name all of the Canadian provinces and territories on air for the big picture? I want to know how many between the two of you guys could do. And hypothetically, if you were to ever come to Canada, which is the, you know, the big country above you guys, what is one thing you've always wanted to do in Canada? Skydiving off the CN Tower doesn't count. I think this is a really important set of questions for your 900th episode, and I look forward to seeing them both answered on air.

[B]

That was, of course, our pal Adam Naman. Okay, here's the thing that I recently, in addition to Blue Heron, which we're gonna talk about later, which is a Canadian film, also recently watched Mile and Kicks, another Canadian film we're gonna talk about in a couple weeks. So, like, in the last week, I've been more saturated in Canada.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Than I have in some time, having quite literally never been to Canada. So, okay, provinces, so Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba. Vancouver. Are we missing one? Yes, we are.

[A]

Is Alberta a province? Alberta, Alberta.

[C]

Vancouver is not a province.

[A]

Vancouver is a city.

[C]

There are 10 provinces and three territories.

[A]

I don't know. I couldn't do the territories for you. I don't think. I mean, Nova Scotia, that is a province. Newfoundland.

[C]

No.

[B]

Okay, so what is Newfoundland? What's British Columbia?

[C]

That's correct.

[B]

Vancouver, British Columbia. So that's what I was thinking of. I know that because of the Vancouver, BC at the end of like half.

[A]

I don't know what we've named so far.

[B]

I need, I need, like, I Said Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba. You said Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia. So that's five. There are 10.

[C]

There are 10 provinces, three territories.

[B]

Can Adam name all 50 states is what I would like to ask.

[A]

Good question. I don't know.

[B]

Okay, you know,

[A]

you know. I just don't know.

[B]

What are the other five?

[E]

No, you've.

[C]

Or wait. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. You've named six. I also have New Brunswick, Ontario. Prince Edward Island, Ontario.

[A]

That's a terrible.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

We just needed to take more time on that. We would have gotten Ontario. I was thinking of New Brunswick for Newfoundland. My bad.

[C]

The territories. I would. No shot. Northwest Territories, Nunavut. And you?

[A]

Yukon.

[C]

Yukon.

[B]

Yukon.

[A]

Yeah, okay. Yeah, sure. The Yukon territory. Okay. Well, our apologies and our love and affection to the fine people of Canada. Maybe we will be seeing you maybe later this year. Maybe we will be seeing you later this year maybe. What was the second part of the question?

[C]

What is one thing you've always wanted to do in Canada? Skydiving off the CN Tower.

[A]

I want to play the rivoli.

[B]

That's a good one. I can't top that one.

[A]

Okay, what's next?

[C]

Also, I think the tenth one that I missed was Labrador, I believe.

[A]

Labrador, I believe. So that's the name of a Canadian province.

[C]

I'm googling just to make sure to make all of our Canadian friends New Foundland and Labrador. Canadian province.

[A]

I said Newfoundland.

[C]

Oh, right. They're connected. They're one.

[A]

New Foundland and Labrador. We get credit for seven. Yeah, we did good. We put up a good performance.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg.

[A]

Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg.

[B]

Yeah. Where are you feeling? Where, where, where are you on your emotional roller coaster?

[A]

I think it's good.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I think it's. What do you think? You haven't seen it. So you don't.

[B]

I haven't seen it. I had to have family dinner. We had lentils. I, I, I'm really nervous.

[A]

I know, I know.

[B]

But every time I'm nervous about Jeremy Strong doing something, he's never the problem. He's always really good.

[A]

I agree. I think he, his radar is not strong on when to avoid something, though. Yeah, he will misstep at times. He, he, he's a transformer. He's our, our closest transformer. Like, for example, the Apprentice is a movie that I think is, like, pretty unsuccessful, but his Roy Cohn is fascinating. It is a standalone Art piece. And I kind of feel like this movie's gonna end up being somewhat similar where it's gonna be like a predictable docudrama about a lot of things that we already know and there's gonna be some really interesting performances inside of it, but the movie's not gonna be able to get out of its own way. And I'm fine with that. And I think what Matt was saying on the show is true, which is like, there's a real chance that he is kind of gliding into a best Supporting Actor nomination and maybe even a win just because I do think that for all his self seriousness, he's really admired. People think he's a fucking good actor. And also Mark Zuckerberg, there's not a really high popular opinion of Mark Zuckerberg. So him being the villain of this movie I think will gratify at least a lot of people in that community. So I'm interested, I'm paying attention. I really just wish it was like, gosh, Kevin McDonald directing this movie instead of Aaron Sorkin, you know, just like a very seasoned professional maker of movies. I actually would feel a lot better about it if it was just his

[B]

script, as you know. I agree. I had forgotten that Jeremy Strong is in Molly's game.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So that makes three Aaron Sorkin movies.

[A]

It's his guy. Yeah, it's his guy.

[B]

That's beautiful.

[A]

Trial of the Chicago 7. How many times do you think you'll watch it before you die?

[B]

I think I've seen it twice.

[A]

Pretty good.

[B]

Maybe I'll rewatch it before Social Reckoning. So that's three. Three is my answer.

[A]

Pretty good. Okay, what's next?

[D]

Hey, Don and Amanda, this is Ben M. Calling from Washington D.C. i actually have a question for Amanda about rom coms. I'm in a relationship with a woman that I love very much. We both love movies, but we don't always love the same kind of movies. Rom coms are sort of like that middle of the Venn diagram for us. And we've watched all the great all time classics, or at least the modern classics like Notting Hill, Four Weddings at a Funeral, how to Lose a guy in 10 days, when Harry Met Sally, you've Got Mail. We've run the gamut, but wanted to know if there are any examples of rom coms that you would recommend that are like you did Witness with Blank Check recently. And you talked about how that movie was huge when it came out, but it sort of fell out of the zeitgeist. So I was wondering, what are Some of the like, what are like the five rom coms you would recommend that maybe aren't as popular or relevant today but are still like exceptional films and are worth watching for rom com lovers. Because I love sharing movies with my girlfriend, with my partner and I want to make sure that we're continuing to explore a genre that she really loves. So I really appreciate the insight. Thanks Amanda and Sean, I guess you could also answer too. Thanks guys. Huge fan.

[F]

Sure.

[B]

Thank you. Ben. It was Ben, right? Ben. I have more than five obviously so I kept this list to modern rom coms but I would definitely recommend also checking out everything from the 30s and the 40s. One of my fondest memories of early dating my now husband was we went out to dinner with some friends of his who became friends of mine. I caught the bad oyster, had had a bad night and then the next day he very sweetly took care of me and one of the things he did was he put on Philadelphia Story. So you know, you don't have to really go deep cuts on that stuff. But those are great. I'm defining modern period as everything after When Harry Met Sally. So I apologize to the 70s and the 80s. Tracy Letts like don't email me. I mean do Tracy. I always want to hear from you but in this case this is more 90s, 2000s and and later. So I already mentioned two weeks notice but two weeks notice is a good one from the 90s. I'm going to throw out the Cutting edge. I'm in it, which is a Olympics romantic comedy, essentially figure skating. Really, really good. Written by Tony Gilroy, the American President. Speaking of Aaron Sorkin, 1995 starring Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, the president falls in love. I saw it four times in theaters with my dad. And you know what? Dave is a romantic comedy. Sure, Dave is wonderful. We also you and I did a rewatchals about it with Bill Simmons. Okay, then we have two weeks notice Morning Glory, which I've talked about a lot and that is written by Aline Broche McKenna who also wrote the Devil Wears Prada and the Devil wears Prada too and 27 dresses, which I don't like as much. Think Morning Glory is slept on teen dresses. I mean pretty much live in my head. And let's see. And Morning glory stars Rachel McAdams, Patrick Wilson, Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford. Maybe you've heard of them. What else do I have here? Enough said. The Nicole Hollis center film is, you know, a little more left field in the rom com space. It's not quite as shiny. But it's a really, really, really beautiful movie. Set it up starring Glen Powell. That's one we all knew. It may also remind you of a website and media company that you consume content from, and Longshot, which I think, which is the one where Charlize Theron is the secretary of state and running for president and Seth Rogen is her speechwriter. And no one saw this movie and we all really liked it.

[A]

Yes. Often cited as the market indicator of the downfall of the rom com theatrically released.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Now, I wanted to ask you about this. Related to this question. I guess you could make the case. The materialists kind of broke this up a little bit. But it does feel like this subgenre is still a little theatrically threatened. Imperiled by streaming. Yeah, Streaming in particular. This is a category where people have just said, I'll just, I'll watch this on streaming. I'll watch the Netflix version on streaming. I'll wait for it to come to whatever service I subscribe to, sort of. We've seen other movies kind of like Beat Back, like Fight Back the Dawn on this and Come Back. You know, the drama being successful recently is very encouraging for what people want to see at the movies. Do you think there's a world where rom coms can come back to, if not When Harry Met Sally Peak, Nora Ephron, at least even into that, you know, late stage Hugh Grant period, you know, mid-2000s, then the Kate Hudson 2000s. Yes.

[B]

Yeah, sure. And you'll notice I didn't. I really like Kate Hudson, but that era of rom coms is not on my class.

[A]

But, you know, J. Law or JLo and Sandra Bullock and like Reese Witherspoon, like the icons from that period of time.

[B]

So first of all, I would argue that the drama is a romantic comedy.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

But it wasn't marketed as such. So what you're talking about is like we're putting on the package, like, hey, find love at the Movies, which Universal is trying to do this year with One Night Only, the Callum Turner, Monica Barbaro movie from Will Gluck, who also did Anyone but you, which again, like that, is a romantic comedy. Those are both also being marketed more as sex comedies, which is different. In most of these movies, people do have sex, but it's not like the forgive the pun thrust of the.

[A]

You don't show up for the decolletage.

[B]

Exactly. So the thing is, is that all of those Netflix movies, those aren't romantic comedies. Those are Hallmark movies. And there is a difference in the eye of the beholder. And so the problem, really, and not to step on Yuumi and Tuscany, is that we have just people will now accept or people will slap on the label of romantic comedy to things that do not meet the criteria of like, actually good writing, movie stars, some thought into production design and, you know, any sort of budget. So I don't know, I'm not that optimistic because it seems like everyone has realized you can just make a bad version for less and put it on streaming and people will watch it. And I'm kind of bummed out about that. There have been a couple TV versions of it. Like, Starstruck is probably the best romantic comedy that's been made in the last 10 years, and that is Rose Manifeo, three season but British series. And so each season is about two hours long, like a romantic comedy.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I wish people would try, but I don't know, hiring directors and spending money on girl stuff. It's historically not been what studios want to do.

[A]

It's true. But when you look at the origins of the genre and you look at what the kind of collision of farce and witty repartee, right? And you got the hired hands in the 30s, the Ben Hechts of the world, writing a lot of those movies who are great at that rat a tat dialogue. You got Ernst Lubitsch coming over from Europe. Then you've got folks in the 40s, Howard Hawks and later Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges, all those filmmakers who were so good at that work. There was no boy movie, girl movie thing. It was like they were date night movies. They were movies that you went to go see with someone who you were interested in or who you were married to. And they kind of. They gave both parties something interesting, exciting, fun, entertaining. And so I think part of. I know it's a bit of a joke on this show of your thing. My thing. But the lady Eve is not for girls. No, Eve is for everybody. And When Harry Met Sally is not for girls.

[F]

Girls.

[A]

It's for everybody.

[B]

Right. But I'm, you know, we just sat through a week of presentations that were just. What is the. What is the most that we can pack into a movie? What is like the most ip, the most recognizable names, the most explosions, the most video game tie in. Just like this is this. These are not movies. These are events. These are amusement parks. And like, obviously we were at a convention for theater owners. They're playing to that particular audience. But I think what we've learned, the industry is about premium formats and getting everyone's attention for as much as possible and high concept.

[A]

And when you were talking to Matt about One Night Only, he's like, I don't get it. I don't get it. Why is it the Purge? But it's like, that's why it's the Purge. The Purge Rom com is happening because there has to be an extra layer to sell it, which I think is fine. I mean, as long as the movie

[B]

is great, it's totally fine with me. And hopefully that also it looked. They at least filmed in New York City, you know, like, they at least hired real movie stars, like Will Gluck.

[A]

Do you think that was a real pizzeria that they were in, in that

[B]

sequence that we saw? I don't know about that, but I did see paparazzi photos of them on the street, you know, in New York. So they're at least trying for some of that. And I'm great with a premise. I mean, all of the things that I just named, like, have a premise of sorts. It's a, like, hockey player and a figure skater, and they've got to team up. Like, it's the secretary of state and the. And a speechwriter. It's the president and a lobbyist, you know, so premises are fine.

[A]

I love that. I mean, one of the things I think about growing up in the 80s and 90s is that you can almost feel the screenwriter pitching the idea in the room when you're watching the movie. And sometimes that leads to a really fun movie. It's a movie, it's not a documentary. It's supposed to have an idea that makes it exceptional so that you're spending time watching it.

[B]

Yeah. And the other thing about them is that romantic comedies are like a very set, recognizable structure. They are a genre just like any other genre. And then half the fun is. Is the premise or the situation. Right. So Morning Glory is a newsroom. The cutting edge is the Olympics. Like, there's. I did several political ones.

[A]

Let's go somewhere where we don't usually go.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. And someplace you don't normally have access to, obviously. In the 90s, it was like 55 magazines, which is then why I became a magazine writer. So, you know, so I guess now it has to be influencers or whatever. But there are. But as much care is put. Is put into developing those worlds.

[A]

Worlds.

[B]

Right. And. And making them real believable places. And you just don't get that on the streaming, in the streaming movies. So it's just about, like, spending money and hiring Good talent it is. And as long as people keep watching, I don't know, whatever on the Irish Wish or whatever, then I. I don't know. What did you say? I didn't see Irish Wish. I don't. I don't care about that stuff, you know, like, I wish I care about you Irish.

[D]

Thank you.

[B]

But yeah, like, I don't like the Hallmark stuff. I want real romantic comedies.

[A]

I'm with you. What's next?

[C]

This next voicemail isn't precisely a question, but I do have a follow up that will be a question afterwards.

[A]

Fire away.

[D]

Yeah, g', day, CIA, mate. I'm here waiting at Sydney International Arrivals Hall. Hang on, is that you? Oh, no, that's just some old bloke in an Oakland ace cat. Anyway, mate, yeah, so when you get in, we've got a special surprise for you. Me and all the officer class members of the Australian arm of the CR army are going to put on that moved reading at the Jan6committee hearings you said you wanted to see on the JMO pod and made a special, special edition. We've got a tattoo artist coming along so we can all get inked with third chair for life shin taps. Yeah. So hopefully you get this when you get off the plane. Mate, if you're trying to find me, I'm holding up a picture of Rain. Grove says I've got a couple of moves I can make here. See you soon, dickhead.

[C]

So we had another question, another voicemail that was left, by the way. Just amazing voicemail that was basically asking what makes CR so likable? What makes him the best? Why does he have such a great approval rating? I thought this would be a nice way to clear out and show him some love.

[A]

Uh, it's weird to be getting these questions now. Like, I have actually answered questions like this in the past on the show and have talked about, like, my history of my friendship with Chris. And I actually felt like in the past I was like, still doing what I was doing in 2007, where I was like, is no one else seeing this? Totally. This is the funniest person I've ever met. And now it's we're over the mountain here.

[B]

So everyone's seeing it.

[A]

Yeah, we got the Australian army lining up, ready to do battle.

[B]

He gets a welcome off the airplane. I do think, like.

[A]

But is it unknown? What is so great about Chris? He's on eight pods a week.

[B]

Like we know to a person though, both as a listener but also the people in his life. You talk about the moment that you met Chris Ryan and you're like, wait, are you real? Like, is this really, really happening? How did I not? How did I not. How do I not already know you? And also, how are you? How are you? Am I the only person hanging out with you? Because you're, like, the coolest, funniest person in the world.

[A]

Everybody either wants to be or thinks they're his best friend. That's obviously something that has become even more clear as so many millions of people have spent time with him in their cars, doing the dishes and stuff like that. I think, you know, I'm also, like, a little selfish, like, a little greedy with my friend. You know, I'm like, I really. I put the time in. I love this kid. Like, I really love this guy. So. But I'm so happy that CR Month was very special. That was very cool because, you know, you and I are as close with him as anybody, and he deserves to be feted in that way. But I don't know. There's also a lot more going on with Chris that he doesn't usually let out. He did a little bit on Talk Easy. Did you eventually listen to that or not?

[B]

No, I still haven't. I've only seen the clips.

[A]

Yeah, it was nice to hear him in that frame as well. But the one thing that I'll say is this is gonna seem like it's undermining, but it's actually the opposite. Chris is unthreatening, and I don't know very many men who are unthreatening. Most men are, like, kind of aggro and competitive and not supportive.

[B]

True.

[A]

Chris is really positive and encouraging and, like, even if your joke is bad, he'll laugh at your joke. And if he knows you're interested in something, he'll ask you about it and not performatively on podcasts in life, like, he's actually connected to you in a sincere way. And I think that that ports over to all the work that he does publicly. And people can feel that, like, he's just not full of shit and he's not anxious and he's not, like, worried about what you think about him or whatever, or even if he is, it's completely masked by the infectious energy that he brings to things. So it's actually ultimately not surprising to me that we are where we are with this thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it did take, from my vantage point, 20 plus years. For people who. For Andy, it's 30 years. You know, like, it's people who've known him even longer than I have.

[B]

That's true. Yeah. I mean, the thing about it is that the magic of Chris is that Rango Sheriff is possible and is there, and it's not even, you know, and the voices. And I know. Don't. I can't even name all of the rewatchables characters that he does. Sure.

[A]

Robert Lo is still my favorite.

[B]

Sure. But, like, that is. That's just, like. Right. He can reach that at any point. It can come out whenever. And sometimes the best ones are just kind of like, in passing, you know, when he's not even doing the full voice work. But he's not like that all the time. He's also just like a. Like a loving, like, friendly, reliable guy who knows, like, a lot about the special forces. Speaking of Taylor Sheridan and like, geopolitics and soccer and other things, like, one of the. One of the great things about Chris is you can just be like, text him and be like, so can you, like, bring me in on what's going on here with this British newspaper and. Or like, Venezuela?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And he's like, okay, so here's what the message boards are saying.

[A]

Yes. You know, if you want to know the breadth of his knowledge, it's like, don't go to the Rewatchables or the Watch or a sports podcast. Go to. Wait a second.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

His show with Jason Concepcion and Tyler Parker. Those episodes are.

[B]

That.

[A]

That's. That's where Chris is spending a lot of his free time.

[B]

And he will. And he'll bring you in. He wants to share.

[A]

Yeah. How do you think he really feels? Like, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep down in his heart of hearts about the third chair controversy.

[B]

I mean, he's. He's welcoming, and I think, as you said, he comes. Chris isn't like a threatening guy, but he's also not threatened. He knows, you know, like, it's. He's not in danger. He lets people come to him, and I think that's his power and that's his confidence, and I think he's going to be fine. I honestly think he doesn't spend that much time thinking about it. I think he's just on the message boards.

[A]

Could be. He did send me a note yesterday that said, I miss being on Big Pic.

[B]

Oh, that's nice.

[A]

Because it was a cr. Month. My gift to him. Our gift to him was not a $2 bullsh. You know, we gave him a little bit of a break as he was visiting all of the other spaces. But he'll be back with a fury, I think, in May.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. What's next?

[E]

Hi. Sean and Amanda. This is from John and Carly from Chicago. My fiance and I are getting married this summer and bonded over the podcast when we first met back in 2019. My question is, which movie couple do you feel best encapsulates your respective marriages? P.S. my fiance is a woman and she got me into physical media. Hashtag breaking stereotypes.

[B]

Wow.

[E]

Hashtag physical media. Hashtag open the schools.

[B]

That's beautiful. And I'm glad, you know, representation matters. So that's really. That's great.

[A]

There are dozens of women.

[B]

What do you think? They have a registry that's just like DVDs or Blu Rays that they want?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

And is this happening yet? Are there physical media registries?

[A]

I don't know. I'm reluctant to share this, but when I was at a screening that we did a year ago or so, maybe, maybe one of the American cinema tech screenings, someone I was introduced to someone who was getting married and they were having a physical media themed wedding where the party gift, the favor.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Was a Criterion Collection Blu Ray. And that. They had gotten Criterion to kind of sponsor that wedding.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And they gave away like 75 Blu Rays, all individually curated for the guests.

[B]

That's nice.

[A]

Which was a great, really beautiful idea that I liked. And I will share with other people. I cannot promise you the Criterion will participate with you. I think this person knew someone who worked there. Nevertheless. Gosh. A couple that most represents our individual marriages.

[B]

I think so.

[C]

That's correct. I was really close to putting this in the doc to prep, but I thought hearing it in real time wouldn't be more fun.

[B]

I was afraid they were gonna say what represents our dynamic. And we were having a conversation at Cinemacon where I was like, you know, I'm the ginger to his Fred. Always backwards and heels. But you thought that that wasn't fair. And I didn't. Yeah. And that. So it was more of a Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant sort of thing. Which is really complimentary to both of us.

[F]

I agree.

[B]

Which is why I was.

[A]

I feel that that is more accurate. A little bit of bickering. There's chemistry. Independent minded.

[B]

Sure. You know, I'm solving crimes. That's fine. That's what I do. In cool hats.

[A]

Yeah. I think I'm making important decisions. But you're doing the work. I think that was a better comparison.

[B]

Okay. My marriage. I don't know. What's my marriage like?

[A]

Mine is kind of like Dave and Hal 9000. I'll say. And Eileen is like why are you

[B]

doing this to me?

[A]

And I'm like, I'm sorry, Eileen.

[B]

That's funny. What's. What's mine?

[A]

Gosh, how to not make a joke here. I've got so many good jokes.

[B]

No, say the jokes turn. Her jokes are funny. Yeah, it's funny.

[A]

What do you guys like?

[B]

So let's see.

[A]

Probably Shia and Optimus prime in Transformers.

[B]

Okay, who's. Who?

[A]

You're Optimus prime, obviously. Zack has got Shia energy for sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not in real life.

[B]

We love Zack.

[A]

That character.

[B]

We're positive.

[A]

That character. I mean,

[B]

what are some other.

[A]

What about Linda Blair and Pazuzu in the Exorcist?

[B]

Yeah, sure. Absolutely.

[A]

Is that accurate?

[B]

That seems good.

[A]

I mean, you could be like, one of you is Harry and one of you is Sally. You know, that's.

[B]

But not really. That's also. No, that's not really. That's not how it went down. We weren't friends first. We also aren't. You've got male. No, we weren't really friends.

[A]

You were lovers then. Friends. That's great.

[B]

Let's see. We're not any of the Nora Ephrons because, I mean, you know, we could be Julia. Julia. Not Julia. We could be Julia and Stanley Tucci.

[A]

Maybe you're like Anna Paquin and Matt Damon and Margaret.

[B]

Okay, that's be really good. We definitely were sitting very quietly after we saw Margaret together. Being like, I hope. Yikes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, this was fun.

[A]

How about Cap and Iron Man?

[B]

Well, then who's dead?

[A]

Well, Robert Downey Jr. S back.

[B]

Sure, but not as cap as Dr. Doom.

[A]

He was never Cap. He was always Iron Man.

[B]

Oh, he was right. He was always Iron Man.

[F]

Sorry, I didn't know Spidey and MJ

[B]

is MJ Kirsten or is mj?

[A]

You tell me. They're both mj. They're both MJ Zendaya and Kirsten Dunstrom.

[B]

And then who was Emma Stoned?

[A]

Emma Stone was Gwen Stacy.

[F]

Okay.

[B]

I don't wanna be her.

[A]

The good thing about Gwen Stacy, if you be her, and I'm happy to share this with you now, is, you know, there's alternate tellings of the Gwen story.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And in Spider verse, that's also Gwen Stacy. The Hailee Steinfeld character. The blonde girl who Miles loves and is a crime fighting partner with. And she's a hero.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And that Gwen in Spider verse, I think is probably my daughter's favorite character. Spider Gwen.

[B]

Oh, great. Okay. I don't Ghost Spider. Okay. We don't really do ghosts in my House.

[A]

Well, she's not actually a ghost. I think it's more of speaks to her styling.

[F]

Okay.

[A]

I think you should also show your sons empowered women who have web shooters.

[B]

That's great that. We had to have a long conversation this morning about how we don't shoot lasers at people, and I was gonna have to take the Lego ship away.

[A]

Gonna have to disagree with you on that one. We do shoot lasers at people.

[B]

And by we, not in real life, just in the movies. And we can't build a Lego ship to shoot our brother. Laser. Shoot lasers at our brother.

[A]

I, Hank, Seth, might have something different to say about that.

[B]

All right,

[A]

what's next? What was that? What was up? The Australia. Oh, geez. What was the Australian guy who was like, jmo?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

What about.

[C]

Oh, he didn't leave a name.

[A]

That he's not a subscriber to jmo. I have a list of all of the subscribers to jmo, and he's not on that list. So that was a funny. That was an affront to what JMO has been accomplishing over these years. And we're making progress on that show, I feel. What's next?

[D]

Hey, it's been David Grabinski, longtime listener, first time caller. Just wanted to say I wish I talked about the Gilmore Girls scene more in our interview about Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice. More specifically, I wish I asked Sean who he thought was the best boyfriend for Rory. And also, I think you guys really underestimated the box office for Coyote vs. Acme. If I know anything, it's this kids love legal thrillers. That guarantees at least 600 million domestic. But in all seriousness, I think you should both weigh in on the Rory Gilmore of it all. The people want to know. And the people is me. All right, thanks.

[B]

Okay, so have you seen any Gilmore Girls?

[A]

I have. I've seen multiple episodes of multiple seasons, but I'm not.

[B]

Okay, so your. Your prime options here are. Dean, that's the first boyfriend.

[A]

Yes, that's the second boyfriend.

[B]

And Logan.

[A]

So I'm not as up on. Logan's the college boyfriend.

[B]

Yeah. Logan is the college rich kid boyfriend. And in the. And in Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice is. Did I get the names right? Yes, you did.

[F]

Yes.

[B]

Great. It is argued that Logan is actually the best for Rory of the boyfriends. Which is. Which is correct.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But is sort of controversial because he's like. He's a rich kid. And Rory, like, drops out of school because of some trouble that they get into, and her life is like very up and down when Logan's around. And people blame him for that. But it's actually Rory that's the problem.

[A]

Well, thank you to Ben David. Was he asking who would be the best. Who was the best boyfriend for her?

[B]

What's your opinion? Because that's the Jamie.

[A]

Well, the energy between Rory and Jess, I think is the most interesting energy.

[B]

That's correct.

[A]

And that's what you want.

[F]

That's correct.

[A]

Milo Ventimiglia. Right. He was Jess. And I thought the show was most interesting to me when he was in the mix because he was like, you know, he's playing a Shawn esque role.

[B]

So later on in the show, and it's when she is with. She's with Logan. She's in college. I think she actually, she's dropped out of college right now because they steal a yacht.

[A]

Geez Louise.

[B]

And then she's. Because his dad is a newspaper guy and tells her that she doesn't have it what it takes to be a newspaper person. And so she spirals. She drops out of college, she joins the dar. She starts living with her grandparents. It's like pretty dark. And so during that, she goes to Philadelphia and she goes to where Jess is lit. Jess is now living in Philadelphia and he is running like a small indie book imprint. And they have like a coffee shop and they're doing like, really cool stuff. I mean, it is like so, so in our alley. Obviously for us, Jess is the answer. I think that there are some younger kids who think that Jess is like, too bad a boyfriend and that he's not nice. He's not nice. And so that, like, Dean was so nice, but Dean's a loser with nowhere to go. He's really needy. Then he cheats on. On his wife with Rory. And it's like, I feel bad for him, but that doesn't mean that he's right for Rory. So I think.

[A]

So what happened? So it was Jared Padalecki and then he went on to be on. What was that show on?

[B]

Smart. Something.

[A]

No, come on, what's the insane Supernatural, right? Wasn't he on Supernatural? Jared Padalecki. Wasn't he on like 14 seasons of supernatural?

[B]

Jared Padalecki. I mean, I know what show you're talking about, but I don't. Supernatural.

[A]

Yeah, he was on. I think he left Gilmore Girls and then went to supernatural for 15 seasons.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I'm going with just.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, the thing is, is that it's not Rory's. It's not Logan's fault that his dad is a jerk and he Tries to warn Rory about her. And honestly, Logan is, like, very smart and charming, and then he starts a business by himself, and then he proposes to her, and he's, like, ready to commit, and it's her issues. So I honestly kind of vote for Logan still. But, you know, Jess would have wrecked my life for sure.

[A]

I.

[B]

The thing is, is that Gilmore Girls is a show about two total narcissists in Lorelai and Rory. Like, they're the problems.

[A]

Sure. Do you think. Did. Did Alexis Bledel. She did eventually show up on Mad Men, right?

[B]

Yeah, she was.

[A]

She was Pete. Was she Pete's future wife?

[B]

I think so.

[A]

Is that how the series ended?

[C]

Google AI Says that's correct. I've never seen the show.

[A]

I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the idea of the real life couple of Vincent Karthizer and Alexa, Alexis Bledel being represented on screen and that. And I like to think of that as Rory's spiritual partner.

[B]

Right. I'm trying to think.

[C]

Also, this is the take that the characters have on Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice. Right. This is where they land as well.

[B]

Yeah, they land that Logan is the best for Rory.

[C]

Oh, no. So we're saying Jess and they say Logan.

[B]

Well, so they say Logan is the best for Rory, which is true. But they also say that, like, Rory's a. That they're both spoiled, so they deserve each other. And I would argue that it's not. Nothing's really Logan's fault. It's Rory's fault. So I think Logan is the best.

[C]

Understood.

[B]

But Jess definitely is our flavor.

[A]

What's next?

[D]

What's up, guys? My name is Brent. I am 28 years old for Amanda. I live in San Diego. And my question is for Amanda. Amanda, I'd like you to recast X Men. No, I'm just kidding. My real question is, congratulations on 900 episodes. How has the show changed and evolved in ways that you guys were not expecting? How has the show become different than when it started on day one in ways that you didn't think that it would change or evolve or grow? Big fan. Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks, guys.

[A]

That's a nice question.

[B]

It is nice. I'm 41 on Netflix, so that's a change. Yeah, that's an answer.

[A]

You weren't on the show when it started.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

It's a huge change. It changed for the better.

[B]

You were talking to directors.

[A]

It was just me interviewing directors for almost a year, at least six months. And then you started coming on more. Other guests started coming on More. And then I want to say it was the fall of 18, maybe when you officially joined, and we just started going to two a week.

[F]

Yeah.

[B]

And doing the Oscars.

[A]

Right, right. So that was almost eight years ago since that took place. So that's probably the single biggest change. And it led to the show becoming as much about us nattering about this and that as it did filmmaking and movies and everything else.

[B]

We do see a lot of movies.

[A]

A lot of movies. How has the show changed?

[B]

I mean, we did used to do this in a windowless room, just the two of us, and it would get really, really wacky sometimes.

[A]

It would.

[B]

And I think that we still have that ability. And every once in a while, you let me steer things off the rails. But there was a sort of a claustrophobic, insane quality to the early episodes.

[A]

Yes. Well, when we went back into the studio, but Bobby Wagner had moved to the east coast and it was literally just us. And I was pressing the buttons and Bobby was engine during the session remotely, where. Yeah, we would get a little weird. And that was fun. I enjoyed that. I think it was very helpful for coping with whatever was going on in the universe at that time.

[B]

I mean, we say that, but, like Frog Sheriff was also. Before the pandemic.

[A]

I was also on camera.

[B]

Yeah. There was something about it that was still. We haven't lost it.

[A]

No. The design of the show, though, I mean, it hasn't really changed. I think it's a pretty honest reflection of how we feel about movies. What they mean to us and the ways in which they drive us a little crazy. Got us really excited about things. I feel like we still have a lot of passion. I certainly have a lot of passion for it right now. I'm tired a lot, but I really like doing the show still a lot.

[B]

I do, too. And it's also. The other things have fallen away in a nice way. I just don't watch TV anymore. I don't really have to. It feels great.

[A]

The same is true for me. And that is one thing that has really changed, because I am just really checked out on television and. And there's plenty of good shows or whatever, but I actually, per Chris's nudging last night at your house, watched the first episode of Euphoria. And I like Euphoria. And I was like, do I need this? What's this giving me? And that show's more well made than 98% of all TV shows, but it just feels much more incidental and much less essential to my cultural consumption nowadays. And it doesn't mean that movies are so much more important than they were five years ago.

[B]

I think they're, hopefully they are a little bit better.

[A]

It feels like they're tipping back towards something for sure. But I don't think we're going back to 1995 anytime soon. What other things have changed?

[B]

Well, I mean, we are now on camera.

[F]

We're on camera.

[A]

I'll tell you. A lot of people are aware of the show, which has upsides and downsides.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I've had some nice conversations with some extremely successful, well known people who are aware of the show. And that makes me want to die.

[B]

That is a little weird because I don't, I don't really feel that it's, it's for them. I appreciate them, I admire their work, but much in the way that I don't ever want to talk to a celebrity or someone whose work I admire. We're not doing it for them because they know more than we do. Correct. And so this is for people who are as enthusiastic about movies from afar as we are. I guess another thing that's changed is that, that we've met the next generation. Do you think that the audience has gotten younger?

[A]

I'm consistently astonished by how young the audience is.

[B]

And I just, I want to say, like, I love you guys and I'm so grateful, but also like we are two people in our 40s talking about movies. So like anytime you feel like you need to graduate, like mom and dad love you and support you and it's okay.

[A]

I'm going the other way. You can never move out. You have to stay here forever.

[B]

We'll pay for your phone until 25. Okay.

[A]

Yeah, you can keep the gas card if you don't move out of my house, which is exact, I think exactly what I'll say to my daughter in about 20 years. Okay, what's next?

[D]

My name's Zeke. I moved to LA about two years ago from New York City. I'm 27 years old. I've never really wanted a relationship or have been looking for that. But since I moved to la, I feel like I'm more around my people. And now at 27, I really feel like I should start considering it. And you know, who I'm going to eventually be with for hopefully the rest of my life. So my question to you, Amanda, is what kind of factors should I be looking for? I really do love film and so often I feel like I'm looking for that shared interest. But I found that a lot of the times that's not really who I connect with the most. So. Yeah, just getting for some advice and I feel like Amanda Dobbins and the Dob mob is who I should ask. Thanks,

[B]

that's beautiful. And it's nice that you're open at this point in your life. I do wanna how are we switching from not interested in a relationship to suddenly settling down for the rest of our life? That seems like a big swing, right?

[A]

Zeke's in Saturn return. You know, I mean he's at that age, sure.

[B]

But I think probably, you know, meet some people first. You know, date around a little. Date one person respectfully and be upfront about your intentions. But, you know, you don't want to go from zero to.

[A]

It's not useful when meeting new people to say I'm looking to be married.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

They don't like that. They don't want that. They get nervous and scared.

[B]

But it is also not useful to say, hey, I'm only going to spend three hours with you every two weeks and I won't respond to text messages.

[A]

I'll tell you what else is a challenge, telling them, hey, would you like to be my first relationship? That's not going to go well.

[B]

So yeah, I would cast around a bit. But the crux of the question is like how shared do your interests need to be? And I have found that some overlap is good but, you know, separate things are nice. You can have shared bedroom, separate interests. That's, that's, that's worked for us. Again, I still cannot identify a Jawbreaker song, which is something that we learned on my episode of Bandsplain that is one of my husband's favorite bands. I think what you really if movies are a very important part of your life, which if you're sending a voicemail into this podcast, I assume so. So you don't need to look for like an exact copy of your own likes in your own letterbox. And in fact I think that would be kind of weird and not be particularly interesting. But to go back to our first question of what's a red flag? What's a green flag? You probably want someone who's seen a movie in the last year, two years, maybe not. Maybe movies are what you do on your own time and then you spend. There are lots, there are lots of different ways, but you don't have to find yourself. You don't have to find a carbon copy. And I actually, I think that would probably be pretty boring.

[A]

I think the biggest challenge or thing that it's easy to forget when you're in this situation, not that Zeke asked me, but I'll share my feelings anyway. Is to continue to be open to the other person's interests. You're right, I think to have your own demarcated spaces and things where you don't need your partner to be interested. But if there is something that really matters to you, making sure that you're making yourself available and open minded about those other things. Find my wife is very good about this. And very. Like this morning I was playing the Rolling Stones for Alice. We were just like getting ready in the morning and Eileen came out of the bedroom and she was just like, sweet Virginia, I think maybe is the best Rolling Stones song. And I was like, all right, this is like a nice little. This is our kickoff to our conversation about this. And then Alice was like, what's sweet Virginia? And then, you know, she didn't have to have an opinion about that, but she knew that that would get me perked up and interested in a conversation. And. And I find that that's helpful. But more importantly than anything, this is something I always think about is the person has to be able to make you laugh. That's the thing that I need is I need somebody to kind of snap me out of my shit and make me laugh a little bit.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So if you could, I would search for that.

[B]

Yeah. But it's not comparing letterbox fours, that's all.

[A]

No, I couldn't even imagine trying to.

[B]

Can you?

[A]

No, that would. No. No, I can't. Okay, what's next?

[D]

Hey, Sean and Amanda, this is Donnie from Athens, Georgia. Has there ever been a movie that you've walked out on? I once saw X versus sever and I had to take off after about 20 minutes. Thanks, gang.

[B]

I wanted to leave Pain and gain, but my husband wouldn't let me.

[A]

Pain and Gain. You guys were together when that came out?

[B]

The Michael Bay. Yeah.

[A]

This is a great film.

[B]

It wasn't for me. I also was just kind of like, I get it. You know what I mean?

[A]

I do. So much so that you watched you and Juliet watched me walk out of last Christmas.

[B]

That's true. Yeah.

[A]

Which I did not think was very good.

[B]

But you actually don't know how that ends. And I don't want to spoil it for the people at home. That's for Thomas, the seven year old with the fake name.

[A]

Oh, Thomas. Yeah. Your future son. I don't regret that. I don't walk out of a lot of movies I try to sit through and really get what went wrong. Even when things are going wrong, I will check out on a movie at home.

[B]

Right. But that's different. Once you've made the effort of going to the theater.

[A]

Yeah, I won't really leave. I don't really understand that festivals are

[B]

slightly different because you're trying to see different things.

[A]

Yeah. I don't want to be rude. I've definitely walked out of. I walked out of a couple of movies when we went to Sundance, for sure. Cause you're trying to navigate the trailer.

[B]

And there are a couple that I walked out of. I haven't really walked out of Venice too much.

[A]

Maybe one or two things that Telluride over the years, but not really because there's also just like a quality factor. Most of the time. Sundance is. The slate is so big, it's like a crapshoot. You're taking a chance on things. We'll find out. It can, you know, I guess so there's definitely gonna be things that we're not clicking with.

[B]

Yeah. But even there, because it's ticketed, it's not like you can leave and then go jump into another one, which is the reason at festivals that you would do it. So I quit books all the time. I just want to say that for the record, and I feel like life is too short.

[A]

Thanks for letting me know.

[B]

You know, if you're not clicking, move on. But that's only for books.

[D]

Cool.

[A]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Upsizing to a large popcorn. Smart move. Staying for the post credit sequence.

[D]

Smart move.

[A]

Finding ways to be financially savvy. Very smart move. Maybe the smartest. Especially when you choose to bundle home and auto with help from one of State Farm's 19,000 local agents. Bundling. Just another way to save. With a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. What's next?

[D]

Hi, Sean. Hi, Amanda. This is Sarah, longtime listener, first time caller. Thank you so much for all of the accompaniment on dog walks and house cleans and kitchen activities. Huge job. Mob member. I would like to ask a question

[B]

that I hope has not been answered 700 million times.

[D]

I apologize if it has. Like, if you had to cast someone to play each other, ideally, civilly, who do you think would actually be a great casting fit?

[B]

Like if they were going to make

[D]

a big pic movie? I don't know why they would, but if they would, who would you cast as each other? Thanks again. Love you both. Bye.

[A]

Okay, we've done this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Let's do different decades.

[B]

Okay. Than currently.

[A]

Yeah. So 70s. I would just say Jane Fonda.

[B]

Oh, my God, that's so nice. Okay, 70s for you. It's hard because I don't want to do full character actor, but I'll tell

[A]

you who I think would do a good job playing me. Michael Murphy. Do you know Michael Murphy? Yeah.

[B]

Oh, I. I can see that. Sure. Yeah.

[A]

The.

[B]

The friend in. Is that the friend in Manhattan?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah. I was gonna say, and this is nice, but I started just thinking through the Godfather and I think James Kahn could do it.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Which is nice for you. I'm being nice.

[A]

Wow, that's exciting.

[B]

Well, you gave me Jane Fonda.

[A]

That's very exciting.

[B]

You gave me Jane Fonda. But there like the fast talking, a little hot headed part of him that you could.

[G]

Absolutely.

[A]

A little more aggro than you'd expect. Yeah. Do you think I could beat the shit out of Carlo like that convincingly?

[B]

I do. Okay. I mean, that's kind of what was. You know. And then you meet an untimely death, but in a dramatic way.

[A]

Well, James Caan in Thief is my platonic ideal performance.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Like that. To me, I've not seen a film more perfectly cast and I've not seen a character more perfectly realized. You know, the Joe Boss of my own body. That guy, you know, let's get on with this big romance. Like all of that stuff. They're like, come on, let's go.

[B]

Yes, that's what I'm saying. You have a certain aspect of it. Some of it's like. Aspect of it.

[A]

I wish I looked like James Caan.

[B]

Yeah. But if you cut the hair like you style the hair and then at least he's tall enough. He's got that nice tall you. It's pretty easy because you just put on the wig for anybody and then they have your head shape.

[A]

I put on the. Someone put on.

[B]

Someone puts on. Yeah, someone puts on a Sean wig. And then there was.

[A]

Can we sell those?

[B]

No. I mean, we could. There was someone. Maybe it was in Vegas last week or something. But you were standing next to me. And then there was someone else who was like, Sean from behind, like over on the other side of the room.

[A]

Handsome fellow.

[B]

I was like, very confused. No, it was. It was Sean from behind. So he just had the head shape,

[A]

you know, It's a nice shape. Thanks, Jack.

[B]

Okay, you're just doing 70s, so now you want to do 80s.

[A]

80s. Bonnie Bedelia.

[B]

That's nice, but the hair is.

[A]

The hair is not great. She'd need to get a straightener. But there's something attitudinal.

[B]

Okay, I can see it.

[A]

I'm thinking 80s, a very. No bullshit actor. Bonnie Bedelia.

[B]

Yeah. I'm trying to think like Michael Keaton when you're being affable, but that's not that often. It's like Michael Keaton is one half of you and James Caan is the other half. You know what I'm saying?

[A]

James caan of the 80s is different from James Caan in the 70s. True.

[B]

Let's see. Anybody else? I feel I'm pretty affable, but not with me. And that's the point. But so is this. Is this a biopic about the big picture or about each individual person?

[C]

I think she implied big picture because she says, I don't know why they would make a big pic movie.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah, I know why.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

This is the story of our time.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Exactly right.

[B]

I'll give you. I'll give you Keith.

[F]

Okay.

[A]

That's great. 90s.

[B]

Well, I think 90s is when my true answer comes onto the scene.

[A]

The person that you feel you are closest to.

[B]

No, for you.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

The real answer is Edward Norton. Who plays Edward?

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

And that would be. I mean, it could be 90s or 2000s, but that's the answer.

[A]

But see, I feel like 90s Sigourney Weaver would be an interesting move for you, which is different than what we've talked about in the past.

[B]

I mean, I love Sigourney Weaver, so I would accept that.

[A]

You know, you can do sternness, you can be light, you can be Zul, you know, you can be Ripley.

[B]

Yeah, but is she doing that in

[A]

the 90s when she's got not one, but two Alien films in the 90s? Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection.

[B]

But we accept Alien 3.

[A]

We accept it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

We accept Alien Resurrection. Far less.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

We don't love Alien 3. We wish it was more.

[B]

I'm trying to think of other 90s people that could be you. Pullman, Bill Pullman.

[A]

Okay. I accept that.

[B]

Yeah, but you can't see it.

[D]

Right?

[A]

Yeah, that's pretty good.

[B]

And the hair a little bit.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. This is our Independence Day. Remember when he said that when he was in a fighter jet?

[B]

Right. He also gets dumped in Sleepless in Seattle and. Yeah, but he gets the girl in while you were sleeping.

[A]

Yeah. Is he the brother in that?

[B]

He's the brother. Yeah.

[A]

You Got some Sandy energy as well.

[B]

Okay, thanks.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I accept. Yeah.

[A]

90s Sandy.

[B]

Well, yeah, but she's very winning.

[A]

Yeah. Sandy at 61, looking very good. Knocked my socks off.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just could not believe it. Just really special stuff. Very happy for her. Okay, what's next? Let's do like a few more.

[D]

Hi, Big picture. My name is Rodrigo and I'm a big fan and listener, and myself and my kids listen to the podcast every day on our way to school each morning. So my son Nico, who is 9, has a picture, has a question for you guys. Sean, Amanda, what is your favorite movie to watch with your kids at the 900 episode?

[B]

Bye, Nico. Hi. Thank you for listening, really. And I'm sorry for using bad words. Okay. My favorite movie to watch with my kids this weekend we watched Paddington again. The. The original. And Knox, my 4 year old, doesn't like Paddington too, because the nuns are scary for him, but he likes the original very much, even though. And it's funny. And I think that he and I enjoy the same things about it. We've oftentimes we're watching movies and I think something's funny or Knox thinks something's funny, but we both think the scene where Paddington comes sailing out of the bathroom on the bathtub is equally funny. And when Knox started laughing, he cracks up. And there's nothing better in the world than Knox laughing like, full belly laugh. So I like any movie that makes that happen, but Paddington is the most recent example.

[A]

That's a great answer. Truth be told, Alice doesn't rewatch a ton of movies anymore. She has at multiple stages of her life. The number one movie she probably rewatches the Most now is Frozen 2, which is a movie I don't like, but she loves Frozen and Frozen two, as do many young children. The one I would say the one that she has rewatched the most that I like the most is probably Moana. And that's the one that I have been most like. Disney still got it. You know, I remember Jason Gallagher saying that to me years ago at the beginning of the Ringer and him being like, moana dog. This is. You don't understand. Because his son at that time was very young and was really into it, and I could watch that movie any time of the day, and I think it's really, really great. But she's. I mean, we're now pretty. I looked at the list of movies she's seen. I think we saw the Land Before Time at Vidiot's on Sunday, and that was the 136th movie she's seen. So she's knocking some stuff out and she wants to see new stuff. She's constantly looking for something new. After we saw the movie, we went to the video store and she's like, what have I not seen? What have I not seen? So we don't rewatch as much. I was absolutely moved by that phone call though. And I'm like a little worried about a nine year old listening to the show. But also if something has changed about the show, that's the thing that has changed. It's just what our mentality is around movies and how we think about it and who maybe is even as interested in the show. I would have assumed it would have been just burnt out, sad Single Bros in 2018 and now this is a family program. This is a very different experience.

[B]

Very sweet. Thank you, Nico.

[A]

Thank you, Nico.

[D]

Hello all at the Big Picture. This is the question in regards to the High Council and wondering what is required for entry to the council and how to maintain membership status in the council. This is all just for the spirit of transparency and accountability for all. Thank you very much and have a good one.

[A]

Well, it's not a club that has any sort of subscription fee. There's no dues. You're not going to be judged on the size of your collection. First and foremost, it's about integrity and how you live in the world. Secondarily, you have to think of it more like a knighthood. This is really more of a royal court experience and we don't really have jousting in these modern times. But I think if you're willing to die on the sword for the future of physical media, you will at least be considered for membership. But I don't act alone. I don't operate alone on the council.

[B]

Yeah. How many seats are there at the rad table?

[A]

Well, we can build furniture as we've built shelves and, and this is not an exclusionary space. What I want is I want people to join us.

[B]

All right?

[A]

I want to take over these studios. There was some awful news about the Disney Corporation last week. They laid off a thousand people, including the home entertainment group, almost in full. Which doesn't necessarily mean they won't be still making home entertainment. But the group of people who work really hard on that stuff are not there anymore. It's very sad. So we're fighting back against that. That's what we're doing on the council. And we're also being sad middle aged men. You don't have to be a sad middle Aged man to be on the Council. But it does help.

[B]

And that's why you led with Size doesn't matter by talking about the collections. Okay.

[A]

Size matters sometimes.

[B]

I was going to say that's delusional, but that's okay.

[A]

Sometimes. Well, you know, CR is at the beginning of his journey, his collecting journey. He was not. He was. He was welcomed warmly despite the modesty of his collection, which has grown even since that episode. The High Council, I'd like to report, will return.

[C]

How many more do you want to do?

[A]

1, 2.

[C]

This is a good one to end on.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And I have a follow up, kind of to make it a double parter, too.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

Hello, Amanda and Sean. My name is Jack from Pittsburgh, birth year 2000. And I do know what voicemails are. My question is, could you guys assemble the Mount Rushmore of big pics, most important movies? Which four movies have been the most important to the show? My guess is Die Hard with a Vengeance would be George Washington. But I'm excited to see yours. Thanks, guys.

[C]

We got another voicemail that I couldn't include which was also asking about the Mount Rushmore Big Picture episodes. So I figured this, this two parter, just what is most representative of this show is good to end on?

[A]

Okay, great, great. Question one. I want to do more Mount Rushmore episodes. They say that those episodes don't work and they're incoherent. I disagree.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Specifically identifying which president a film is.

[E]

Sure.

[A]

It's just a fun game.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And everybody needs to shut up and relax. All right? I'm coming up with games all the goddamn time.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

Some of them are going to be good. Some of them are going to be even better.

[B]

Beautiful.

[A]

In this case, it was better.

[B]

All right.

[A]

The Mount Rushmore. Who's on Mount Rushmore? It's Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.

[B]

Teddy.

[A]

Yeah. Teddy Roosevelt.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. In fdr, I've got a giant head in my backyard.

[B]

Right. Well, but I think because of the

[A]

New Deal and all that.

[B]

Wasn't Teddy, like, buy the land? Didn't Teddy build Mount Rushmore and then put himself on it? Wasn't he involved?

[A]

I don't think that's part of what happened. I don't think so.

[B]

Anyone? No one in the booth.

[C]

You definitely should not be looking at Mount Park.

[B]

You didn't get to this part in,

[C]

you know, probably history. Was not my strong suit.

[A]

Okay, let's say Teddy Roosevelt built Mount Rushmore.

[B]

No, but like Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Wasn't he. Didn't he, like, make a big Push for national parks.

[A]

Well, that is true. Yes.

[B]

Right. So then, isn't it sort of what am I look. Oh, I'm looking at the national parks.

[A]

No, this was 1927, so that's well after Teddy Roosevelt's time.

[B]

But I'm just like, didn't he, like, lay the groundwork? Whatever. Okay, but look for it. Look for my upcoming book, how Teddy Roosevelt. If you could remove grandfathered.

[A]

If you could remove Roosevelt and put any American leader up, who would you put up there?

[B]

Chris? Riot.

[A]

I said leader

[B]

up to see our heads who are here in America and also Australia.

[A]

These are zealots. You know, I'm talking about men and women in organized society.

[B]

Teddy Roosevelt. I'm just trying. I'm also trying to show the limitations of this game when it comes to our understanding of American history, but that's. Okay.

[A]

Okay.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

So you want to do movies or episodes first?

[A]

Movies.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Social Network's going on.

[B]

Yes, absolutely.

[A]

I think it's Roosevelt.

[B]

You think Social Network is Roosevelt?

[A]

I do.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I do.

[B]

Because it laid the groundwork for the national parks.

[A]

No, because he was, like a buccaneer Roosevelt. Much like Mark Zuckerberg, he was forging a new path across this American terrain.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You know, he was the wind and the lion.

[B]

I love your interpretation of American history.

[A]

Kind of freewheeling it here.

[B]

What else you got?

[A]

Well, I know you'd say Birth of a Nation for George Washington, but I would never allow that, of course, because of the terrible ideas in that film.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Casablanca, I think, is Washington. Probably.

[B]

Okay. You would do Casablanca over Singing in the.

[A]

Nope. Yes, I would do Casablanca, and I would do Singing in the Rain as Jefferson, because those two presidents are sort of close together historically.

[B]

All right.

[A]

And they both represent something about the golden age of Hollywood stepping forward.

[B]

Great. But you think we need two Golden Age of Hollywoods. Okay.

[A]

And then for Lincoln, I'd say Congo.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Just, you know, a fearless leader, the great emancipator.

[B]

I think Mission Impossible and Singing in the Rain. Oh, sorry. I said Social Network and Scene of the Rain. But I think we need Mission Impossible Fallout on there.

[A]

You don't think we need Mission Impossible Fallout? Yeah, on the Mount Rushmore.

[B]

Like, not of the greatest movies of all time.

[A]

Just that are representative of where we're at.

[B]

You don't think we need Fallout?

[A]

If you want to make Fallout, Abraham Lincoln, that's fine by me.

[B]

Well, I mean, instead of Congo.

[A]

Well, I was joking about Congo. What if we were, like, all the President's Men or, you know, something. Well, we need a fourth historical. Yeah, we got Social Network, Casablanca, Singin

[B]

in the Rain, Casablanca and Singin in the Rain. They're two of my favorite movies, but both of them. Okay, fine, fine.

[A]

What about. Well, you love Song of the South. You want to put Song of the south on there?

[B]

Okay, as who? As which president, ye great scholar of national history. Of American history.

[A]

God, I don't know what else I mean. And, you know, Few Good Men's a big one for us. Okay, that's a. That's a. That's a.

[B]

All right, so you want that to

[A]

be the Tom Cruise's protestations.

[B]

Okay, so Social Network, A Few Good Men, Singing in the Rain, and what's the fourth?

[A]

Probably Other Mommy.

[F]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, there we go. All right, now, episodes.

[A]

Deacons hall of Fame.

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[D]

M.

[A]

Dark Knight Rises commentary.

[B]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[A]

That's a funny episode.

[B]

Is it?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I just remember that I got Girl Scout cookies and kept trying to give you guys the Girl Scout cookies, and you were like, we do not want Girl Scout cookies. That's really my only memory.

[A]

We were extremely focused on Bane.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I think

[D]

the

[A]

2000 movie draft was that with Mal Van and Joe.

[B]

Oh, right. And that's when I had my perfect game, because that's when I got Bring it on and Coyote Ugly and Virgin Suicide.

[A]

Literally. No one has ever said that. You just saying that out loud as though it were something written in textbooks.

[B]

It was incredible.

[A]

You couldn't knock me off myself. Coyote Ugly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

As if that were a good choice.

[B]

And, I mean, there were, like. There were several more amazing ones.

[A]

Yes, for sure. That's definitely what I was thinking.

[B]

Okay. 2000 draft.

[A]

2000 movie draft. I mean, we've done good episodes, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You don't want to put those on there, I think. Yeah. I think we've. Some of the better episodes we've done. Anatomy of a Fall is a good conversation. Brutalist is a good conversation.

[B]

TAR was good.

[A]

TAR was a good conversation.

[B]

One battle after another. And then also you've got Leo and. And PTA on that. Just two great American filmmakers, two Mount

[A]

Rushmore candidates for this show.

[B]

I think Marriage Story was good.

[A]

Marriage Story. There's a certain once upon a time in Hollywood. There's a certain kind of movie that I think kind of brings out the best in us that gets us really, really engaged. You could debate whether or not you think that's the best version of this show. I think some people want this show to be stupid.

[B]

Well, with Mount Rushmore, don't we get all four.

[A]

I don't know how to do this.

[B]

Okay. I also. The only other ones. The only other one I thought of was obviously Deacons hall of Fame, but I had to Google what year Iron Man 3 came out. But the year that. Chris. The draft where it's 2013. Yeah. So the 2013 draft, Iron Man 3 first pick, would be the top forever. Also, the very first auction was also really chaotic.

[A]

I think explaining barbarian to you, that was a fun, memorable one.

[B]

Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

[D]

yeah.

[A]

We're just doing the work here.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Every day we have to do 900 more episodes in the next two years, which is something we agreed to on this episode.

[B]

Okay. And then. So 200. So then it would be 50 episodes for each of the four Beatles movies, and then we make it to 2000 and we're out.

[A]

Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

[B]

Okay, that's great.

[A]

And maybe we should do it like the one Heat minute podcast where each episode breaks down one minute from the film.

[B]

Okay, perfect.

[A]

Okay, that sounds good. Jack, do you want to add anything to what we've just discussed?

[C]

The Chicago movie draft's the most special one for me personally. Just very fun meeting Tracy, solo producer, us going out. It was very rewarding seeing everybody in person. And when I'm back here doing this show, I'm not really actually using my brain. It's down so much to a muscle memory that getting me out of my comfort zone, having to collaborate with other production people is really fun.

[A]

That's nice. I'm sorry about your brain. It's tough to hear.

[C]

It's doing really, really, really good.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, good. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn ads. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first but didn't live up to the hype? Marketers know that feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great. Impressions reach and reacts. But when they don't show revenue, well, that's a not so great conversation with the CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bullspend. Instead, why not invest in what looks good to your CFO? LinkedIn Ads generates the highest roas of all major ad networks. Reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads you can target by company, industry, job title, and more. So cut the bull. Spend advertise on LinkedIn, the network that works for you. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com thebigpicture that's LinkedIn.com thebigpicture Terms and conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Upsizing to a large popcorn. Smart move. Staying for the post credit sequence.

[D]

Smart move.

[A]

Finding ways to be financially savvy. Very smart move. Maybe the smartest. Especially when you choose to bundle home and auto with help from one of State Farm's 19,000 local agents. Bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Let's talk about a couple of movies real quick before we jump to the conversation. So as I mentioned, you've seen you me in Tuscany.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And I haven't seen it. Yeah, this is a new film from Cat Coiro, was hotly debated amongst black creatives and its success at the box office, something that Van and Rachel talked about on higher learning, which think.

[B]

Yes. So this movie stars Halle Bailey and RA Jean Page and then a lot of Italian people.

[A]

Okay. Takes place in Tuscany.

[B]

Most of it takes place in Tuscany. Anna, the Halle Bailey character, is at a just lost in her life. In her young 20s, she's mostly a house sitter and she meets a young man who describes a Tuscan villa that, that he has built but then is basically sitting empty. And wouldn't you know it, she has a ticket, a plane ticket to Italy, but really no other money. So she goes to quote unquote, house sit, the Tuscan villa. His family's there. Somehow she winds up telling them that they're engaged and so she pretends to be his fiance. Sort of like a while you were sleeping situation where she becomes endeared to the family while also falling for the brother who's played by Raje Jean Page.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

This movie is a rejoinder to my belief and my insistence that locations can make or break a movie because this is filmed in Tuscany and otherwise really is a Hallmark movie. There is no imagination in the script. There is no imagination in the cinematography. I mean, it really looks filmed for tv. Like it's a real waste of Tuscany. I don't really feel that Halle Bailey and Raje Jean Page have any chemistry and she in general just looks a little uncomfortable on screen in this movie. I don't really know what's going on. So I did not think that this worked from a creative point of view.

[A]

Yeah, that's too bad. I. I similarly didn't. I had a ticket to this movie and I skipped It And I was like, is this something I can really do right now? Part of it was we were traveling to go to Las Vegas. Part of it is just trying to catch up on a lot of stuff we've missed over the last couple of weeks. The film has, I would say, somewhat disappointed, not dramatically disappointed. But this does speak to that concern that we had about how do you make a movie like this theatrical. And this has kind of a high concept and it has that location that

[B]

you're describing, but then it doesn't use any of it. And the problem is that this is not, as it is made a theatrical movie. They made a streaming movie and put it in theaters. You can just kind of tell.

[A]

Do you think it's a wrap for Raje Jean Page as a theatrical star?

[B]

Well, this plus his performance in Black Bag, I would say two examples of him not really holding the screen. So in Black Bag, he was surrounded by heavyweights. Not so much in Yuumi and Tuscany,

[A]

but he's not just being blown off the screen by Fassbender and Blanchett, but Naomi Harris and Mercer Abella are blowing him off the screen. So not ideal if you're him and he's in Dungeons and Dragons. Honor among Thieves. He was in the Gray man, like been a little Rocky.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Since his breakout in Bridgerton. I just has not really hit, I,

[B]

I, this did not hit Amanda.

[C]

I don't know if you stayed for the credits, but I thought it was like a real indictment of the film not working. That the blooper reel was entirely the secondary characters.

[B]

Of course.

[C]

And those were the funniest moments of the movie. And they are 5% and. Yeah, it was, it was.

[B]

I mean, you know, this is the other thing where like romantic comedies, despite everything I said about, like, you do actually need to have a script with a brain and good writing and you need to spend time on the setting and the production. There need to be ideas. But like, if you don't have two actors who can stand on their own and also have chemistry, it's not gonna work. And, and these two, it's, it's not an. They just look uncomfortable. It's not that they're not talented. It's just there is, it doesn't, it doesn't fit. So I feel for them, but it did not work.

[A]

Okay, let's talk about the Christophers. Yeah, there's a new Steven Soderbergh movie out there.

[B]

Sure is.

[A]

This is a very low key film. Not in massive wide release. It stars Ian McKellen and Mikaela Cole. It is about a woman who is approached by the two estranged children of a very well known artist who has entered a kind of funky final stage of his career. Ian McKellen plays the elder artist. Cole plays the woman who is approached. And she is a. Help me figure this out. A sort of a former art student who is an artist herself and also has an incredible ability to mimic, to replicate.

[B]

She has a restoration business, but yes, she is, without being too rude, like a forger. She has real abilities as forger. She's like the really hot model at the end of the Thomas crowd affair in 1999.

[A]

And she is approached by these two children of this famous artist to effectively complete these incomplete paintings and keep them, prepare them so that they can be sold by these children who have kind of been cut out of this artist's life. The movie's written by Ed Solomon, who's made a handful of projects with Soderbergh over the last couple years, including no Sudden Move in Mosaic. What did you think of the Christophers?

[B]

I really like it when Steven Soderbergh does stuff. And this is obviously in my wheelhouse, which is that it is, it's sort of an art heist movie. It's a, it's a caper, I guess, but then also a two hander of two great actors. It's, it's modest. It's. I like watching Soderbergh movies now because, you know, he obviously works at such volume and so efficiently as we know that I, when I watch him, I try to figure out, okay, so what was it about this movie that interested you that you said, okay, like, I want to try to figure this out.

[A]

What do you think it was here?

[B]

I thought that, I mean, I thought that it was a little bit the Ian McCalla character and that there is, there's not autobiography, but there is someone who makes a lot of work and who is an artist and who does things in various reasons and starting to think about one and why you do stuff and what's good and what's bad. And so much of what the Ian McKellen character is, is he's wrestling both with his, his actual art, but also his legacy and his fame and, and doubt about what's good and what's not. And the disconnect between what is received as like, quality and what isn't, which, you know, I, Soderbergh is like a very smart guy who's thinking about a lot of these things. So I think that was probably an interesting idea to him. And then I assumed it was the actual art and the making, the making of the paintings, and then also the destruction of the paintings and the forgery. And how do you communicate the physicality of the artwork that I did think was interesting. So those are my guesses. But, you know, it's also two good performances. I think Michaela Cole's really good in this and is not the type of performance that Soderbergh usually uses in a movie. It's very still, and she's receptive and she's watching. So I thought maybe that was interesting to work with a different type of actor.

[A]

Yeah, I was a little more muted on this. I think the ideas that you're talking about are definitely there, and it's interesting. I think McKellen and Cole have good chemistry. I think they're both realized characters. I found the movie a little claustrophobic, and that may have been its intention, but we're now working on, like, the fourth or fifth Soderbergh movie in a row where I'm like. I kind of feel like we're just trapped in somebody's house here.

[B]

Right. I mean, we are.

[A]

Yeah. And part of that is, like, the scale with which he is making these movies. Black bag accepted. You know, when you think about let them all talk and no sudden move and this film and Kimmy and Presence, like, these are all very. They're very modest frames. You know, the mise en scene is limited, and it's on purpose. Right. Because he can control those environments a lot more. This was the first one where I was like, kind of want to go outside.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I know that a lot of the movie is meant to be about this aging man who's kind of, like, trapped in his past and trapped in his ideas. I thought it was very appropriate. So I don't mean to hold it specifically against it, but as you know, I always think about the arc of the filmmaker and how different or not different the previous work is. And he's so renowned for mixing it up. You know, from going from Traffic to Aaron Brockovich to Add a Site to Schizopolis to Ocean's Eleven, you know, to hopscotching from Space to Space. And this one felt for the first time in a while, I was like, okay, I kind of know what you're doing here. Like, I know how the camera's gonna move. I know what the tempo and pacing of the story is gonna be. It's not bad. He doesn't make bad movies. It's just. It was. It felt a little iterative for me.

[B]

I Definitely had the thought of, okay, so he spent 15 days on this total. And there is this sense of. This is. It's just a small thing that he did. And I like that Steven Soderbergh is just trying all sorts of stuff, and he has, like. He has an amazing. He has amazing skill, and he can work at volume. And so if he wants to just do a single. A nice little. Just a bloop, it's fine. But I agree that it just feels sort of, if not a side project, then something that he spent a month on.

[A]

Yeah, it's funny to think about it in relation to the news of him not being able to make the Ben Solo movie, which is the kind of movie that would take a year to make or two years to make. And that these movies where he's getting these pretty sharp scripts from real old pro screenwriters, right? Your Ed Solomons, your David Kepps, your Scott Burns, these guys who I'm sure what they submit is probably pretty close to what they're gonna end up shooting, and so that they can move quickly and they're getting super gifted actors in all of these movies. The casting is always so good in his films, but there's a part of me that wants to see him do Ben Solo, that wants to see him do something a little bigger and stretch himself in a different environment. And it seems like he does too. So I'm not holding it against him. He's being told no on a couple things. Right. He said he pitched James Bond recently and they didn't get it. So it's just one of those things where because he has been so productive, it now feels like a hundred slices of pizza and sometimes you want to have a lamb feast.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

You know what I mean?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

And I love pizza.

[B]

That's fair.

[A]

I fucking love pizza.

[B]

Yeah. I just, I. I was thinking about this movie in the context of Cinemacon and, you know, the continued like, what's the biggest, loudest what's. Like, what is every director's Ben Solo, which is kind of where we are as an industry.

[A]

Very true. You're right. But few people are as talented or

[B]

as interesting as him. And that's. I mean, and that is the problem is that's like Soderbergh is one on one. Like Soderbergh is also. This movie would be wonderfully enjoyed at home, you know, and it's like, if everybody could make streaming movies, like, with the quality that Steven Soderbergh made streaming movies, then, like, you know, maybe we would have adult dramas again. Maybe we would, but I agree. But, you know, you can say that if everyone could do what Steven Soderbergh does, then we would be living in a much happier place, a functioning society on a lot of different fronts.

[A]

That's absolutely true. Let's speak briefly about Blue Heron. So it's not out in a lot of theaters yet.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So I certainly don't want to spoil anything about it for people who haven't seen it. We got into some of it when I spoke to Sophie. But this is a film that our friend Adam Naiman has been telling us about for a long time that has been in the works for some time because Sophie's been making movies for a while, but premiered at TIFF last fall. And it's a very personal movie about a family of six that settles into their new home on Vancouver island, which is a place that we know is not a province in Canada.

[B]

It is in British Columbia.

[A]

It's in British Columbia, which is a province. Thank you to the people of Canada. And in the film, the dynamics of the family evolve because of their eldest son. And the movie, at least in the first half, is seen through the eyes of an eight year old girl who seems to be, at least in part inspired by Sophie's own experiences. And it's a very contemplative, complicated, I would say, emotionally tumultuous piece of work. What did you think?

[B]

I was quite moved by it. And it's also one of those, without spoiling it, where you keep thinking about not just the structure and the filmmaking choices. And it is, without spoiling things, kind of. There's a meta textual aspect to some of it, but in a new way, in a way that I thought was really engaging. The first half of what I'd seen, I started thinking about, okay, so this is what you've already shown me and now I'm seeing it a different way. And this is why you showed me that, which is very cool. But also it's a newer way of exploring a familiar and very sad story, which is a complicated family dynamic. But it was effective enough that I have just been thinking about it in my own life since I saw it. So it really connected with me or I connected with it.

[A]

Yeah. I think the first half of the film is very well made and interesting and uses like, like documentary strategies to create dramatic intensity. The second half of the movie takes some pretty bold chances structurally and the way the characters interact that I could not really think of a comp in a drama. I think there are a lot of comedies that do Some of the things that Sophie does in the movie, but the sensation that the final 30 minutes of the movie gave me, I could not really think of. Of a way that she had kind of elided our general expectations for how a story like that should be told and kind of wrapped up as much as it can be wrapped up.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's a very sincere movie. Even though it's structurally dynamic, it's very straightforward. And I thought really, really cool and a step. And if you look, all of her shorts are on the Criterion Channel right now and you can look at what she's doing and we talked about this in the interview. But. But you could feel her figuring out all the moves she's gonna make in the feature as you go through each of the short films. We're always a little tough on short films on the show.

[B]

It's not. We're just.

[A]

They on the Oscars.

[B]

Yes, on the Oscars. They won't show.

[A]

When you like a director, I always think it's interesting to see what they're putting on screen in the early stages of their careers. Martin Scorsese, for example, you can buy a collection of his shorts from the Criterion Collection. I would encourage people to do it. Cause you can see him figuring some things out out about what interests him. About how to move the camera, how to look at someone's face, how to cut a scene. The same is true for this. I think she gets really, really good performances in this movie. A Le Gouven as Sasha. The eight year old girl is really good. She's not asked to do a lot. There's not a lot of dialogue in this movie. There's a lot of withholding information and feeling, even not enunciating what's going on specifically. But yeah, I was really, really impressed by this. And you mentioned Milan Kicks and this film and Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie and Canada. It's all happening.

[B]

Yeah. Ontario, we see you. Ontario. We're sorry that we forgot, but we see you. What cities are in Ontario? Toronto.

[A]

No.

[B]

Are you sure it is in Ontario? Yeah.

[A]

What else?

[B]

And then Montreal's in Quebec.

[A]

Yep. Calgary is in Alberta.

[B]

Yeah. What's in Saskatchewan?

[A]

Saskatchewan city.

[B]

All right. Canada, we love you. We're grateful for your cinematic works.

[A]

Should we go to my conversation?

[B]

Yeah, please.

[A]

Let's go to my conversation now with Sophia Rori. For the first time. Sofia Rombari. Thank you for being here. Congratulations on your first feature. Now, I know you've been making shorts for some years. I was curious if there is a movie since I know You've seen a lot of films in your life that kind of turned the engine on for wanting to become a filmmaker when you were a young person, or even a little older, when you were studying film and thinking like, can I really do this as my vocation?

[F]

It's a great question that I feel like I should have a canned answer for at this point. But I think there's so many. There's so many. So many of the films that I love are not films that I would want to make myself, but there's films that have just moved me so much and made me feel like I want to be involved in the medium in some way. But I'm trying to think of like an early interaction because I think I did grow up with parents that were very avid movie watchers. They would watch a lot of movies and invite us into that world and to watch a lot of films, and not always just kid friendly movies. So I saw a lot of foreign films or just art films that I think I wasn't quite ready to digest at the time.

[A]

Were they showing them to you at home or were you going out to the theater to see them?

[F]

Definitely at home, yeah. I think so much of my movie watching was actually at home. I grew up on a very small island, Gabriola island, which is even smaller than Vancouver island, which is what you see in Blue Heron, which didn't have a movie theater. So so much of what we were watching was rented tapes or things that would screen on. On the TV or things that they would record from the TV onto VHS tapes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I didn't answer your question at all.

[A]

Do you remember a movie that they showed you that you thought maybe I shouldn't be seeing this or. I don't understand this.

[F]

Oh, yeah, many. I was thinking recently, I mean, I don't remember what ages I was, but I remember. I do remember seeing Pawnet pretty early on, which is. I mean, it's not for kids, but it's a complicated movie. There's a lot of big emotions in that film and it's quite difficult because it's about a child going through grief of a parent. And I remember being very feeling a lot of empathy for the child and having that be a unique experience because there's not that many child performances that are that evocative, I think. And they also. I remember watching. I've been thinking about this movie a lot recently. It's La Ceremonie, the Claude Chabrol film, because they also are. My parents also have a lot of Actors that they love to follow the work of. So I think they're big fans of Sandri Bonaire and Isabel Hubert.

[A]

So I've been thinking about this a lot because I'm raising a little girl and we're not quite at that place where I would show her less ceremony. But I thought, when will be the time when I start showing things like that? Do you think that it transformed your sensibilities or what do you think it gave you that maybe some of those things came into your life too soon?

[F]

I think at the time I was not really in the right headspace to accept them as art. And I was just being shown images and films that confused me and were complicated. But I also now, in retrospect, I think that did open up my mind to the possibility of what films can be and what films can do. And I think at first I actually wanted to be an actor. That's what I thought women did in films was an act. And I actually went as far as trying to audition and apply to acting schools. And the reason I went to film school is because I didn't get into any of those schools because I was not a very good actor.

[A]

And yet you have performed in some of your films.

[F]

I have. I enjoy acting, but I think that acting is not for the faint of heart as a career. And it's something that I'm. I have a lot of respect for, but it's not something that I have like the trained craft in. So when I'm in my films, it's out of necessity, you know, I'm available. I'm. I'm the one that is kind of putting myself on the line in those films. And I'm also playing a sort of a version of myself. So if someone gave me a script and asked me to memorize and do different versions, I don't know that I could do that. But I like acting for fun. But I think when I was applying to acting school, it was out of a false sense of what involvement I wanted to have in film. And I applied to film as a sort of backup plan, actually. And when I got into the program, it was very early on in the semester, I think there was an exercise to. To direct a film. And I just really had one of those moments of aha. This was what it was the whole time. I just didn't know. And I really haven't had like a look back moment, which I'm so grateful for.

[A]

When you had that feeling, was it more related to learning about something technical or something emotional or like what triggered the sense that you'd found the thing.

[F]

I think just the cumulative nature of film, of getting to work with different elements, the production design and the performance and the camera and all these different things you have to learn about and also work in tandem with other people. And I think realizing how much craft goes into that and how many decisions you get to make and have to make, I think I fell into that really naturally. I think it's something. I think in my own life, I have a lot of trouble with trying to not be a perfectionist and. And have so much control over everything. But in film, it's like that's the. That's what you're being asked to do. And so I think I can thrive in that environment. And I think when early on in film school I was definitely called a micromanager more than once. So, you know, it's something that lends itself to the job, but I think it's something. When you're a young person, you have to learn how to do that in tandem with other people and collaborate with other people and communicate better than any other job. I can imagine you have to communicate not only your vision, but also what other people's needs are to have their vision be heard and translated.

[A]

Yeah, it's funny. I definitely share that sensibility and I've often wondered why I'm so attracted to interested in filmmakers. And I think it's because there's a like. Makes like experience of someone who's maybe thinking a little too hard about making sure that everything is just right. But do you feel like sometimes you have to combat that when you're trying to be creative? Because some things you can't control when you're making something.

[F]

Oh, for sure. I think it's a false sense of control because I think you can control as much as you want with preparation. But then, of course, when you're making a film, there's so many live elements that you're having to react to. And I think that's really where the preparation is necessary is because once you've prepared to a certain extent, you're ready to face the actual spontaneity of what's going to happen. Because it's going to rain, someone's going to be sick, someone's not going to do what you want them to do. All these different things that you then have to, in the moment, decide. And that's where you're actually directing the film, because you're having to funnel in your intentions and your vision. And unless you're working in animation, or something. There's going to be so many uncontrollable elements, which is what makes film beautiful and also what I think makes film always kind of a documentary, regardless of what the genre is.

[A]

It's very interesting because your films really puncture that imagined line between what is documentary. I want to talk to you about that before we do that. I know you got your, you studied film in undergrad and got your mfa. The whole time you were studying. Did you think, this is how I will, this will be my career, this will be the way that I make money, support a family? Because it's a very challenging, like, it's a very bold thing to say. I'm going to try to do this professionally.

[F]

To be honest, I've almost never thought about anything long term. Maybe not what filmmakers want to hear, but I really think of my life in sort of six month increments. I've always kind of been that way. Like how, you know, will this gig get me through the next, you know, six months of rent? Will this, you know, I, I don't really attach my work, my career, I don't attach filmmaking to the word career because I think career implies longevity. And I don't know, I don't think any of us can really know that in the arts. I want to, I want to keep making films for the rest of my life. I don't even want to retire. I want, I think that's going to be, if I'm lucky, a very iterative thing that I can grow and change as a person and the films will evolve with that. And that's such a privilege. But I don't have a plan for like, this is what my career is going to look like. Because I think I'm always going to be a filmmaker who's responsive to like, what I'm experiencing, what the world is experiencing. And I think that's hard to plan. Obviously, financially we're so dependent as filmmakers. It's not the same thing as being a painter or a poet. We have to rely on other people. We have to rely on financial means to make work, even if you're making low budget work. So I try not to think too far ahead.

[A]

How did you. Well, I want to understand a little bit about maybe the Canadian system and how you worked making the shorts, working towards making Blue Heron. And then also how do you support yourself when you're going through that process of like, okay, I'm sharpening my craft, making more shorts, trying to work toward getting to a feature. I assume that's how you Were thinking about it, but. But how do you do both of those things?

[F]

With a lot of false confidence. No, really, I think when I talk to students or more emerging filmmakers, that is a question that comes up a lot is like, how did you get to this point? And I think it's such a cliche thing to say, but there's no one path. And I do believe that, for me, the path was needed to go through making all these short films in order to make this feature. But I didn't know that the feature was at the end of this road. I wasn't making the shorts in order to get there. I think once I had made all the shorts that I had made, I had done the work I needed to do to explore different modalities of filmmaking and also emotionally, things that I had to kind of excavate. And so then I was only once I finished those shorts was I ready to start conceptualizing the future. I didn't have this sort of like, oh, now I can start applying for funding for this project that I've been thinking of all this time. But the project is obviously cumulative. At the same time, it feels like

[A]

a culmination in a lot of ways. If you look at the shorts now, but I just looked at them, like, in succession, basically, over the last few days, and it does feel like you're very clearly working towards something and trying to, like, deconstruct something at the same time. How are you. This is a dumb question, but how do you get, like, the shorts paid for? How do you actually go about trying to make something like that? I'm sure, again, students are asking this question, but, like, sure, yeah.

[F]

No, it's a great. I love talking about it because I think it's part of. I think part of why I'm glad that my shorts are available is because I think they're a good tool for deconstructing the myth of you need a lot to make a film. Because almost all of these films are no to very, very low budget. Like, the. The budget of Pumpkin Movie is literally two pumpkins. Like, it's, you know, it's like my

[A]

best friend and a Zoom account, maybe.

[F]

Yeah, right. No, it's actually Skype.

[A]

Yeah, Skype.

[F]

Rip, rip, Skype. But no, it was, you know, it's my best friend from high school who's, you know, playing herself and me, and we're shooting in a friend's apartment. And it was just very minimal resources. And so many of the concepts were just things that I thought of really, really kind of off the Cuff and did them very quickly. And that. That's my biggest skill, if anything, is just not waiting. I have an idea and then I go and I make it, especially with the short films. And Norman, Norman, also a short film about my dog. He was just very old and I wanted to document him. And I kind of had this vague concept of how I could depict this emotional experience. And filmed in just a couple of hours. So I think the limitations are actually what breed the creativity. So many of the shorts are very intuitive and the feature is much more. It's much more intentional than anything else I've made. And that was purposeful. I wanted there to be intention behind all the decisions in the future.

[A]

Looking at the shorts, I was thinking to myself, did you know that a lot of people were going to see these? Because it's available on the Criterion Channel now. And so a lot of people can look at your work. And I think it works well to see the feature and see kind of the continuity of the body of work. But they're very personal and they do feel, at times, like experiments, a sort of, like, will this. Can this withstand a short film, this idea that I have?

[F]

Yeah, yeah, I think. Yeah, I feel the same way, actually. I only recently watched them all in succession because they were playing at a festival, sort of in a mini retrospective. And I did have this moment where I was like, these are really personal,

[A]

these are really vulnerable.

[F]

And I think, you know, they were all made in my 20s. They were all made in a time of my life when I was genuinely going through all the things that you see in the films. And I've just been using film as a way to process these things, you know, since the beginning of making my work. And I'm glad there's a documentation of that. And I think I've accepted that vulnerability. And I think, again, from like. Like a perspective of learning from other people, like for other people, maybe it's interesting to see, but I do see them now as. Yeah, the vulnerability is almost surprising to me in a way. And now I see the feature and I feel like I've found the right distance to make the work.

[A]

Yeah, it reminded me a little bit of. I'm friends with a lot of writers and just a lot. How we wrote in our 20s, which was a little bit more open and you felt like maybe you were looking to be understood, but also had less to protect. I thought Blue Heron was very special. And I'm very interested to hear how you conceptualized it and effectively why you wanted to tell the story, because Some of your shorts kind of glance at or even directly look at what this film is sort of becomes about in some respects. But it's a very dangerous thing, I think, to put so much autobiography in a movie. And so when did you start thinking about doing it, since it wasn't part of this big master plan, as you say? And why was this the one to be the first feature?

[F]

Yeah, I think, like you said, I think that there's a general. An openness and a sort of. Yeah, that desire to be seen and understood. And I think that's a very common thing as an artist in your 20s, because you're also trying to understand yourself. And I think that by the time I'd finished making those films and started to develop Blue Heron, I had just a greater maturity as a person where I no longer felt that need as much. But I also knew that it wasn't possible to be understood by, you know, never mind everybody, you know, it's just. It's this. When you're making films, not only are you going to be misunderstood, but your intentions are going to be misunderstood, and your artistic intentions. And when you make personal work, people are going to make assumptions about you, about anything that you put into the work. And I can say, as much as I want that this film is fiction and that so much of it is complete fiction, and people are still going to make implications. And I just. I have to accept that as a filmmaker who's not only made really explicitly vulnerable work, but also this film is publicly known to be autobiographical. But in my understanding, when I watch the film, I don't see myself. I see a version of my experiences, but there is a distinct creative difference. And I think the most obvious one to me is that the character who's playing Jeremy is so dissimilar from my brother, because that was part of the acceptance of making this film, was that I couldn't recreate, you know, I couldn't recreate this person. And there's. That impossibility is part of the point of making the film and part of the point of using film to access that acknowledgment, if that makes sense. You know, like, just trying to acknowledge this art is the limit to which I can access this person.

[A]

And how did you think about making that distinction then? Like, making that. Because you're going to be confronted by schmucks like me being like, is this your life? So then what material decisions do you make to say, well, this. I don't want this to seem too close, or I want to Find divergences from my own experience, but that still feel. I always say true but not real.

[F]

I love that.

[A]

You know what I mean?

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

So how did you think about that?

[F]

I think that is kind of the line. I love that you said that. True but not real because. Because I think the reason I like documentary form and the hybridizing between fiction and documentaries because for me they're just different tools to access true but not real. Performance wise or script wise or whatever it is. Accessing something that feels more authentic, but it's always an illusion of authenticity. And I think that's true for documentary and true for fiction. There's just different actors to get to that outcome. And so I think those are the kinds of films that I've watched over the years that have been the most exciting to me are films where that line is blurred and you can't tell as a viewer, like, what is the contract here? Is this real or is this not? And just having to accept that and move through the work. And there's so many great films that dissect that. Like Symbiosychotaxeplasm is like a very formative film for me when I watched it, because that it's within the deconstruction within the film. It's commenting on that. Or Chronicle of a Summer is a film that I watched early on as well, where I was, you know, they're actually talking about the access to authenticity and how you can achieve that. And I think that's what motivates me more than anything is to try to root the work in naturalism. But naturalism is very constructed. It's extremely constructed. It's not something that is just occurring. You have to create. Create a very tightly curated environment with the camera, with the production design, with the cinematography and editing. Everything is actually so tightly wound, but that it gives the sense of, oh, it's just occurring in front of us and it's a documentary style or it's very hard to actually do in a way that feels natural.

[A]

Do you find yourself intellectualizing it when writing or conceiving of it? Or isn't primarily instinct to say this just feels like what it should be? Especially it's a period piece. It's got kind of echoes or reflections of personal experience, but not one to one. So how much of it is I'm sitting down and my brain is imagining, well, thematically this will make sense, or is it just. This feels right to me.

[F]

I think there's only so much you can do until you're making those decisions on set. And we did shot list the film as much as we could. But then, of course, once you're on set, you're discovering things that are more interesting. And the thoughts that you had before were built upon assumptions of how things would feel and look. So there's room for the spontaneity. And especially because we were shooting on this very long lens, this zoom lens, and we were always shooting from a distance. It gave a lot of room for that play. Oh, wow. If we move the camera over here, we can throw. Shoot through this, and that creates more distance here. And, you know, Maya has a lot of experience as a cinematographer in every genre, in documentary, in television, in fiction, narrative. And so she's very responsive to the environment. And so we were able to be responsive, but then develop a consistent cinematic language together. So we're not like just slapdash putting things together. It was admittedly very addicting to shoot on a zoom lens. We did not think we were going to have as many zooms, but every time we would put the zoom lens on, we were like, well, we could do another shot on it and another shot, because you can be so economical. And it's like a fun challenge. It's like, how can we shoot this entire scene in one shot? And that became a fun challenge for us.

[A]

That's really interesting. One of the things I was thinking could have been the. The reasoning behind that was when shooting young performers, having distance from the camera sometimes draws out better performance or better material. That naturalism that you're describing occurs maybe more comfortably. Was that part of the design of that choice?

[F]

Yeah, it was twofold, because it was pragmatic from a performance level, which was very much inspired by Cassavetes and reading about just his desire for performance over technical precision and how that turned into an aesthetic and. Yeah, just using that as an ethos. And then also aesthetically, it made sense for the film. And it made sense for how I wanted the film to look and feel as a sort of recreation, but also memory. So it's like, is this a film that we're watching that this character is making, or is this a memory that she's having? And I think both can be applied, right? Yeah.

[A]

How was it directing actors in this way over a period of time?

[F]

I loved it. I mean, I think so much of the performances is in the casting process. Of course, especially when you're casting children. You're also casting the dynamic between the children. And so much of the rehearsal that I did was actually just chemistry. Chemistry building and sending the boys on Play dates, and they were playing video games together. They were going to the water park, and. And half the time I wasn't even there. I was just having them build their own world and their own relationship. And then with the parents, there was really an important sort of chemistry in their auditions. And we auditioned many different actors and combined them and saw them in different arrangements, because that's everyone's pet peeve, is you watch a movie about a family and you're like, these people just met. Right.

[A]

That is definitely not the feeling I took away from your movie. I assume many people have come to you and said this by now, but I grew up with a Jeremy. Not in my family, but I knew a Jeremy. And it's a very extremely emotionally challenging thing to be proximate to. And similarly, that person just is not in my life anymore. And I'd like to hear a little bit about your thinking about how you who wrote and framed him, because he doesn't speak very much. I think maybe he only has one or two lines of dialogue in the whole film, and he seems to be drifting to the side of the frame a lot, and we're not really ever getting. He's never down the barrel. You know what I mean? And so I just kind of wanted to hear about conceiving and portraying the character from your perspective.

[F]

Yeah, I mean, it's a challenging thing because obviously we've all seen the film with the. The bad teenager, the teenagers acting out the. You know, the teenager who's. There's a lot of people who watch this film and assume that there's going to be some sort of, like, really violent act that occurs. And so I knew I was up against sort of these cliches of depicting a teenager that's having any kind of, you know, behavioral problems. And I didn't want to fall into that because I didn't want this character to feel unsympathetic or like a caricature. But I also wanted this character to be complicated. So it's a fine balance. Because, I mean, that's also the fine balance I've had to grapple with, with my feelings about my brother was I did grow up with a lot of resentment and frustration, like, why can't you just be normal? Why can't you just make things easier for mom and dad? And, like, this kind of feeling that when you're young, there's not much nuance to it. And then when you're older, you're applying the lens of an adult and then the perspective of understanding that you didn't actually have all the information, and there's more empathy. So I think it was important to show both the child's perspective and the adult's perspective and how those things change over time. But the character itself is based on my family's experience. But the character Jeremy is. Yeah, I think I've spoken about this a lot. But he's so dissimilar from my brother in the sense that my brother was very. I don't know, he was just very bizarre. Very. The way he would speak and the way he would move his body and the way he was. He was always kind of clownish and joking around, and you could never tell if he was lying or joking or what was happening. So this very complicated person and almost very childlike, like, through his entire life. And so he was provoking people. This is something he would do a lot, is he'd provoke. And I tried to hint at this at moments when he's on the roof and it ends with a little smile. And these were just little performance things that I knew that Edik the actor could pull off. But if I started axing him to perform the way that my brother was, it would not work. It would be a very, very different movie. And that's one of those lines I drew, was like, this isn't important. It's not important to try to recreate what my brother was like, because first of all, it's impossible. And second of all, Edik as a person is. Is such a special person. It has such a special presence that I'm gonna lean into that instead. So it changes the trajectory of the film entirely because I'm not recreating this character or this person in my life anymore. I'm leaning into what this actor is giving me. And I think that's one of those things you have to do when you're working with non actors. New actors is what are they bringing to you, and how can you utilize that? And. And his silence was so much more powerful. So, yeah, I just leaned into that.

[A]

The movie creates a tremendous sense of unease, and I feel like a big part of it, as near as I could tell, was due to the sound design. And I really felt the cereal container sliding across the kitchen table and the ball bouncing against the house. And it's sort of ominous, especially in the first half of the film. How did you think about that? Am I. Am I picking up on something that you were going for?

[F]

Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Yeah.

[F]

Yeah. I think people really underestimate the work of Foley artists. Foley is a very, very important part of every film. And you don't want to feel it. You don't want to actually know it's there. But it's a nuanced thing. And I think we were. Every sound in the film was calibrated to be exactly the volume. You know, every slide of the cereal box, every time a glass of water is sipped from, every time one of the parents sighs. Like, these are all decisions that I can see when I watch the movie. And it's something that really does create the majority of the atmosphere and also the sense of it being in the past, the memories. And there's such a funny thing of, like, everyone who watches the film remembers the sound of a lawnmower and remembers this feeling of the summer. The sound of the summer. And it's funny because as adults, we still should hear those sounds.

[A]

Yeah. No, the present doesn't. It feels untextured. But the past is so. It has a lot of ripples. Right. It's a strange thing.

[F]

I can only assume it's because we were newer to the world, so we were paying attention to these things more or something.

[A]

But it's less distracted now than we are, too.

[F]

Yeah, that's true. And it was important for me to have. The majority of the film is just kids that are bored. Kids that are bored. And that's normal.

[A]

That is what it was like.

[F]

Yeah. That's what it was like.

[A]

How about music? A couple of needle drops. Very powerful. How did you think about how it should work inside the movie?

[F]

I could do a whole TED Talk on music.

[A]

One of my favorite topics.

[F]

Yeah. Just because it's such a complicated thing, because it's such a big part of this film and always was going to be. Was written into the script that there was going to be diegetic music in the film. But I'm sure everyone knows it's very expensive.

[A]

Yes. So do you put song titles in the script?

[F]

There was some. There was some. Yeah. I think the music. It was important to me that the music. Yeah. Was coming from a source, that it was diegetic. And that was inspired by looking back at, again, the home video footage that my dad had shot in still processing, but also just other clips that he'd shared with me. There was almost always music playing in the background, and the music felt like score, and it felt like I was watching something intentionally paired. The sound and the image were intentional, but they were always mismatched in terms of the importance of what the image was and the grandiosity of the music. So there'd be something very Mundane, just, you know, kids doing kid things. But then there'd be this beautiful, like, Mozart score going on in the background. And it created this sense of importance. So I really. I borrowed that and tried to have the same atmosphere being created from this dad character. And so. So much of the music in the film is inspired by just the music I remember growing up and what my dad would play and his taste, which is obviously, consequently my taste now, so.

[A]

King Crimson. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's very powerful. And it's tricky to know, like, what is. What is, like a personal memory versus what is gonna connect with a wider audience. The final song that is played is a very powerful song. And it's like, if you know it, it's a big deal. And if you don't know it, then I think it's like a little bit of a portal, too.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't know how much you wanna talk about that.

[F]

Yeah. I mean, it's hard to end a film on any level.

[A]

It's.

[F]

You know, I think, because I also. It's. I know that the film gets to an emotional place on its own, and then how you want to leave people is. It's a question. And I know that song does what it does.

[A]

It does what it does.

[F]

Yeah. So I think as soon as I tested it out with my sound designer, we kind of looked at each other and we're just. We just knew that it just felt right. And I think also. Yeah, we can talk about should we spoil what it is or not?

[A]

No, let's not spoil it.

[F]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[F]

Okay. Yeah. It just felt. It was very, very evident that it felt right. And also it was also the final note that I wanted to end on for my parents, because my parents are also a fan of this artist, and I knew that I wanted them to have end on a note, that it was a final gesture toward them, I think.

[A]

Do you share what you're going to do when you're making something that is connected to your family or seek consent or permission or something like that beforehand or maybe after you've completed something? What is that experience like?

[F]

Yeah, definitely.

[A]

You do?

[F]

Yeah. I mean, I talk to my parents almost every day. We're very close. I've long since called them like my digital parents because they're just always in my pocket, you know, and we talk. We talk a lot. We're very conversational. Very. Yeah, we're very in each other's lives. And when I was making my short films, it was more complicated because I was also, you know, not as nuanced in my understanding of what my parents had gone through and what my family had gone through. But I was still needing to process those things. So I was kind of making these films wanting to acknowledge these experiences. And they were still grappling with their own feelings. And so I think there was more of a tension to begin with. But once we. Once I was making those films for a while, and especially Still Processing, there became a real sense of trust and a real sense of understanding. And Still Processing was the first film that I really do feel I made for my parents. And in the thesis paper that I wrote about the film, which is all about using film as a way to process grief and to process grief and to actually process trauma, and this is something I'm actually interested in teaching eventually, is that using film as a tool to reckon with difficult memories and complex memories. Because I think there's something very powerful that only film can do when you're watching back a reflection of your experience and sharing it with other people collaboratively. And it's like a communal experience that I don't know that any other art form can really access. And so I think there is an untapped tool there therapeutically. Yeah.

[A]

It's so interesting that you frame it that way because I felt that same feeling, like only a film can do this. When the film takes a sort of structural shift shift, or we move towards the present or whatever, the perceived present. And just even how the film is kind of working, like how it is narratively operating shifts pretty dramatically. And it's not so confusing that anyone couldn't follow it. But it's a bold choice stylistically and I loved it. I thought it completely worked. And I've seen films try to do something like that before and fall flat on its face. So can you talk about. Was it always part of the design to make the movie in that structure? Is it something that you came to over time? How did you think about it?

[F]

I mean, it was. Yeah, it's what interested me because I think this film easily could have been a coming of age narrative drama which stays in the same register as the first half, which was enjoyable to make and I think to watch. But I think the point at which it cuts is kind of when it exhausts its originality. Like there isn't anywhere to go from there. I think had it continued in that register. And I think I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to be this perspective shift between a child and an adult. And originally when I was writing this script, I was trying more superficial things to Distance myself from the character. And so originally she wasn't a filmmaker. She actually becomes a social worker. And then I realized I was doing that thing that filmmakers do, which is like, here's a thin facade and. And behind it is a filmmaker. And so it wasn't actually until like the last six months or so, I think I was talking to a friend of mine and he just. Yeah, just encouraged. He was just like, why are you trying to. Everyone's gonna know it's you anyway, so what are we doing? And once I unlocked that and allowed that to be the case, then it just made the meta elements of the film make so much more sense. And also, I think there is a connection between social work and filmmaking in terms of the. The research elements and trying to understand human behavior from a perspective that is very universal. And I think, yeah, so I found there was a way to marry these two things. And also because narratively, we see the social worker in the first half of the film who arrives to the house and she's doing a house visit. It was an easy access point for why Sasha comes back. And so rather than she's just visiting her home from like an emotional, you know, catharsis, she's actually performing a house visit as a social worker. So I realized from a narrative perspective that this could actually be wrapped into this performance that she's doing. And so I liked that. So, yeah, just to answer your question, yes, I did always want it to be bifurcated because I think there's a lot of films that are wonderful, but they cross cut these two things. You know, when you're. When you're dealing with the past, it's very natural to want to cross cut between the past and the present. And the thing that excited me was not doing that because that to me feels more realistic to my experience of growing up and becoming an adult is you get to the certain point where you start to look back. And I think if I was cross cutting, it would be less jarring. And I wanted it to be jarring because that's. The experience is zero. You're suddenly an adult and you can't go back and you can't access those things and you're grasping at them and they're disappearing.

[A]

Watching it, I was thinking of a lot of heavyweight stylists like Linklater, Nolan, Wong Kar Wai. They all have tried things like this in their movies. Sometimes they're a little bit more. They're very showy and audacious and exciting ways sometimes. But the editing style is very like Clean and invisible, especially in the second half of the film. And I'm not like, I don't really know how it works. I don't know how you do that. So how did you try to. Because at first it seems like, oh, this movie's trying to wrong foot you. And then it becomes something more ethereal. And then it becomes a very practical experience of watching this character inside of this timeline. And maybe you can explain how you did that.

[F]

I mean, yeah, I worked on the script for a long time because I was really wanting this script to make structural sense, especially because we were taking this kind of big swing halfway through, and there was many different iterations of how that time jump was going to happen. And then once I landed on the phone to phone. And as you saw in my shorts, I do include a lot of screens and cell phones. So it made sense to me that that would be the first image we see of the present day is the iPhone. Because it's the quickest way to say we're in present time. Like, immediately we're gonna get there. And I was like, how can I communicate to the audience 20 years later without putting 20 years later on the page? And that was a big.

[A]

Which is something we always talk about on the show, that most modern filmmakers are afraid to do that. And they make a lot of period pieces because they feel like a phone somehow indicates a loss of attention or it's just not very cinematic, I guess. But you're using it in the opposite direction.

[F]

Yeah, I mean, I understand that because it creates. It's very insular to be on a phone, to be on a computer. You're not interacting with anyone else, really, but that's how we communicate. So to me, it feels impossible to avoid. And it's been how I have communicated for so much of my life. And, yeah, all of my films are characters communicating through digital means. And so it made sense to me because the second half of the film is very similar to the experience I had making Still Processing. So in many ways, it's like a fictional recreation of me making that film. And I think I wanted it to be a little confusing, but there was a concern that it could be too confusing. But it really doesn't seem to be.

[A]

It wasn't to me at all, but it did have me kind of leaning forward and trying to figure out what you were trying to accomplish until you sort of realized what it is that you've accomplished.

[F]

You have to commit to the journey. I think, like, obviously, if someone walks out at that point, they're Gonna have a very different experience. But it's. Yeah, I think I wanted that moment to feel like the experience that I've had, which is that you have conversations with your parents when you're a kid, and then by the time you're an adult, you're still having those same conversations. And I wanted to kind of show almost seamlessly, like this is still occurring. And you can actually hear the sound of the trampoline in the background, as though the time just disappears. But you're still having these same conversations, and you still don't have answers to these questions. And that's really the point. You're still stuck with these curiosities without clean answers. And I think that's so much of life, really.

[A]

What has it been like showing the movie over the last seven or eight months?

[F]

Has it been, like, heavy? Yeah, for sure.

[A]

And this is not like you made an action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, and people are like, I was entertained. Like, it's a very. It's very heavy. And personal.

[F]

Yeah, it's. The personal aspect, to be honest, is not the hard part. Like, I think because I have spent so much of my adult life now thinking about and talking about and looking at from different angles, the grief that I have experienced with my brothers losses and my parents, their experiences. And I'm very aware of it. So I'm much more able to talk about it now, which was not the case, obviously, even when I was making Still Processing. So there probably is sort of a disassociation. I'm sure on some level that is occurring. But for me, the heavy part is the people who are watching the film who are relating to it, and it's unlocking for them their own experiences. And wanting to be able to carry and help hold those things is heavy. But also I'm so grateful that that is happening. Because when you make personal work, I'm really not interested in making work that is just accessible to me and to my family. I want people to be able to reflect or feel reflected in the work. But I think I didn't know the extent to which that would be true. And I've met many people who have lost siblings. I've met many parents who have lost children. And I've met many people who relate to Jeremy and who have gone through foster care systems, who have come out the other side and are grateful for having done that. And many who feel represented by that experience, but also many who feel. Yeah, just devastated to know that this is such a universal experience. And so I really. It Seems like every character has a foothold for people and. And that, as an artist, is very validating, but also is a very heavy thing as a human being to know that that's such a shared thing. Because growing up, it really did feel like we were in isolation.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Is the plan to keep working in this literally personal register?

[F]

No, I don't think so. I mean, I think even the shift between still processing and this film does feel to me significantly more at a distance. And I think. Think that feels more comfortable to me now as an artist because it gets much more creative freedom. And I'm sure the work I make will always be personal on some level and kind of rooted in my point of view. And I'm probably always going to be interested in, like, the metatextual elements and filmmaking, its process. And these are just fixations. But I think. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

[A]

You haven't written anything yet.

[F]

I haven't written anything yet.

[A]

Okay.

[F]

Yeah. I haven't had five damn minutes.

[A]

Why not? Like, what? Just because you're just sharing this with as many people as possible to get as many people as possible to go and see it.

[F]

It's been. Yeah, it's just been going since August. Basically. It's the festivals.

[A]

It's a weird job.

[F]

It's a weird job. It's not even a job, actually. That's why I don't say that you're a weird non.

[A]

Job.

[F]

Yeah, it's not. It's. It's. It's a insane privilege to get to share your work with a lot of people. But it is very time consuming and it's something that you. In order. Because the film is personal, I'm the person that's going to be talking about it as well. You know, that's just the nature of it. And now that the film is coming out, there's a new wave of that, which is very exciting. And I'm on record, I believe, at Locarno saying, oh, there's no way this film will get distribution.

[A]

You're getting very hallowed distribution.

[F]

Literally. I know it's insane because I fully was like, this will maybe stream because the industry tells you there's no way the theaters are dead. It's over. So I'm still in the process of believing what's actually happening with this film. Yeah.

[A]

Congratulations. We end every episode by asking filmmakers what's the last great thing they have seen.

[F]

The last great thing I've seen saw less films in the last year than I've ever seen in my entire life.

[A]

Everyone always says this. Oh, God, this is the problem. I know once you start making them, you can't watch them anymore.

[F]

I know that is true. Well, I was on a jury which forced me to watch movies in Spain. And I saw this film by a filmmaker from Cuba called David Zim Sim. David Sims. And it's called out west to Zapata, I believe. And it's this documentary that he shot by himself in Cuba. It's black and white photography and it's phenomenal film. It's the film that we awarded the best of the festival. I don't know that it's accessible at all, but it was an unbelievable film. And it was made just himself. And he was shooting a couple who are taking care of their child. And the father of the family hunts crocodiles with his bare hands. And you see the footage of this actually being shot. And it's some of the most incredible footage I've seen in recent years.

[A]

And what was the name of the film?

[F]

I think it's called Fuck. I think out west to Zapata, I believe out west to Zapata.

[A]

Okay.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

That's an incredible recommendation. Hopefully we will all be able to see it. Sophie, thank you.

[F]

Thank you so much. This is such a pleasure. Thank you.

[A]

Okay. Thanks to Sophie, thanks to Chris Ryan, thanks to Griffin and David, thanks to Ben. David Grabinski. Thanks to every single person who sent a voicemail or wrote an email for this episode. Thanks to everybody who's been spending time with this show for. We are in our 10th year. We're not quite 10, but we're in our 10th year, which is fucking crazy. Thanks to Jack Sanders, thanks to Lucas Kavanaugh. A lot of whiplash coming later this week, our pal Yassi Salik is going to join us. We're going to talk about two music movies. What are they?

[B]

Michael and Mother Mary.

[A]

What's Michael about?

[B]

I can't believe I'm not on vacation for this. Can't believe I didn't, Didn't. Didn't arrange this. But no, we'll all be there together.

[A]

Yes, it's the Michael Jackson biopic, which I explained to some friends over the weekend and they were like, what? That's real?

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not only real, it's probably going to be one of the biggest movies of 2026. We will talk about it with you on Friday. See you then.