The Paul Thomas Anderson Movie Character Draft

Summary

The Big Picture – Episode Summary

Paul Thomas Anderson Movie Character Draft

Date: September 12, 2025
Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins, Chris Ryan

---

Overview

In this lively, character-driven installment, Sean, Amanda, and Chris gather for a highly anticipated “Paul Thomas Anderson Movie Character Draft.” Before diving into the draft, they tackle major industry news—including the potential Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros.—offer thoughts on the surprising announcement of a “Social Network” sequel, react to Sydney Sweeney’s Oscar buzz, and reflect deeply on their personal histories and connections with Paul Thomas Anderson’s (PTA) films. The episode then shifts into a fun, contentious, and revealing fantasy draft of PTA’s most memorable characters, with draft structure, rules debates, and plenty of signature banter.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Paramount Skydance Bids to Buy Warner Bros. (02:00–13:00)

• The Big News: Wall Street Journal reports Skydance is making a majority cash offer to buy Warner Bros., further consolidating Hollywood.
• Reaction:
  • Amanda: “Hollywood seems fucked like the rest of the world.” (02:54)
  • Sean: Speculates about legacy, streaming wars, Paramount’s theater focus, and optimism for their movie slate, but wonders about layoffs and more uncertainty.
  • Chris: “If this goes through, we just arrive back to where we were 20 years ago…there’s a big three, Netflix, Amazon and Paramount Warner Bros.” (03:49)
• Concerns:
  • Layoffs and job duplications, potential splitting or spin-offs (like CNN, HBO).
  • Real estate anxieties: “I’m concerned about the lots and the real estate here…Prime old school lots.” (13:43, Amanda)
• Skydance as a Studio:
  • History of action-heavy projects; Amanda: “They're only making movies for Chris. Have to figure out something else.” (12:54)
  • Questions of diversity in what they produce; optimism for theater-driven movies, but unknowns.

2. Social Network 2 Announcement (14:23–18:14)

• New Movie: Aaron Sorkin writing and directing; Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg, Mikey Madison as Frances Haugen (Facebook whistleblower), Jeremy Allen White as Jeff Horowitz (WSJ reporter).
• Reactions:
  • Amanda jokes: “I just want to help. This can be a group project. Me, Aaron, David Fincher...” (15:05)
  • Sean: Praises the focus on whistleblower rather than a “Jan. 6 movie.”
  • Light ribbing of Jeremy Strong playing a “swole” Zuckerberg.

3. Sydney Sweeney’s Oscar Buzz for Christy (21:31–24:32)

• Mixed Reception: Praise for Sweeney’s performance but lukewarm film reviews; Amanda ponders Sweeney’s many PR stumbles, and critiques typecasting attractive actresses.
• The “Fight Movie” Trope:
  • Amanda: “How many more punching people movies can we do as a society?” (24:34)
  • Sean: “It's one of the oldest styles of Hollywood movie around.” (24:45)
  • Chris: “We haven't even begun to get UFC movies.” (24:56)

4. Paul Thomas Anderson: Personal Histories & Evolving Work (25:38–38:41)

• First PTA Watches:
  • Chris: Discovered with Boogie Nights during late 90s “Tarantino mania,” found himself waiting to see if PTA was just “pulling moves.” Now considers him one of the greatest.
  • Amanda: First saw Punch-Drunk Love: “that's a good one for me... it's a romantic comedy of sorts.”
  • Sean: PTA’s movies “impacted people. You can feel in the atmosphere of moviedom, like, this is kind of happening this year.”
• PTA’s Recent Themes: Later films (Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread, Licorice Pizza) seen as “much sweeter,” more about love, versus darkness of There Will Be Blood and The Master.
• Rewatching Magnolia: Sean’s take evolved: “I was like, this is one of the best movies ever made. Its ambition is not a bug, it is...the feature.” (31:59)
• Amanda on gender and the PTA “bro culture”: “Not a ton of women...probably the bro-iest phase of the thing…but Phantom Thread is when my heart opened up to him.” (28:43–29:06)

5. The Character Draft: Rules, Categories, Strategy (38:06–52:00)

• Draft Mechanics:
  • Categories: Leading Actor, Leading Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, One Scene Star, Needle Drop, Wild Card (eventually morphs into “Who Would You Want to Be in a Committed Relationship With?”).
  • “Is this actor lead or supporting?” debate: especially for Magnolia and The Master.
  • Notable quotes on drafting:
    • Amanda: “Magnolia is all supporting performances.” (80:39)
    • Sean: “How many Boogie Nights characters is too many?”
    • Amanda, one-scene debate: “Does Dirk Diggler's penis count as its own character?” (82:01)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Industry Consolidation

  • Amanda, sardonically: “Hollywood seems fucked like the rest of the world.” (02:54)
  • Chris: “If this goes through, we just arrive back to where we were 20 years ago...” (03:49)
  • Sean: “Warner Brothers finally doing something really good for movies and everyone being excited about it and then immediately getting bought is a little like, God damn it, what are we doing this for?” (13:16)

• Social Network 2 Casting

  • Sean: “Aaron Sorkin is the writer and director…Mikey Madison will be playing Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower.” (15:16)
  • Amanda: “Okay, I'm concerned about that. I have concerns.” (16:19)

• Sydney Sweeney Discourse

  • Amanda: “If we’re gonna give Sydney Sweeney an Oscar, it was for being really, really hot and using that.” (23:13)

• PTA’s Place in Film

  • Chris: “He’s not capable of making a bad movie...Every movie he makes stands up to almost endless rewatches. He’s one of the funniest filmmakers, one of the most technically dazzling filmmakers...he’s awesome.” (27:01)
  • Amanda: “I think I must’ve gone back...and went to other places and was like, oh, I really understand this wavelength.” (32:12)

• Draft Hijinks

  • Amanda (one-scene star): “Does Dirk Diggler’s penis count as its own character?” (82:01)
    • Sean: “That Dick...is like Harry Lime in The Third Man...” (83:15)
  • The committed relationship category gets laughs as hosts consider who they’d most want to be with among PTA’s beloved—but frequently damaged—characters.

• On Needle Drops

  • Chris: “I'll do 'God Only Knows' from Boogie Nights. Just because of the way that it's employed…is just so bittersweet.” (91:51)
  • Sean: “Journey Through the Past from Inherent Vice…They run through the rain together and make out. It's magical.” (90:27)

---

Draft Highlights (52:00–End, character attributions abbreviated)

Categories:

• Leading Actor / Actress
• Supporting Actor / Actress
• One Scene Star
• Needle Drop
• Relationship (Wildcard)

Notable Picks:

• Frank T.J. Mackie (Tom Cruise, Magnolia) – Amanda, Supporting Actor (51:51)
  • Amanda: “One of his best performances, his most against type...eventually the wheels come off, but there’s a lot of potential in this performance.” (53:13)
• Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood) – Chris, Lead Actor (55:13)
  • Chris: “This marked...a change in the road for DDL...he just feels like you're watching, like, a god behave in front of you.” (56:24)
• Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master) – Sean, Lead Actor (59:06)
• Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps, Phantom Thread) – Sean, Lead Actress (62:53)
• Cyril Woodcock (Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread) – Amanda, Supporting Actress (65:52)
• Roller Girl (Heather Graham, Boogie Nights) – Sean, Supporting Actress (74:17)
• Bigfoot Bjornsen (Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice) – Chris, Supporting Actor (69:20)
• Dean Trumbell/The Mattress Man (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Punch-Drunk Love) – Chris, One Scene Star (77:51)
• Dirk Diggler’s Penis (Boogie Nights) – Amanda, One Scene Star (82:01)
• Let Me Roll It (Licorice Pizza) – Amanda, Needle Drop (67:08)
• God Only Knows (Beach Boys/Boogie Nights) – Chris, Needle Drop (91:51)
• Journey Through the Past (Neil Young/Inherent Vice) – Sean, Needle Drop (90:27)
• Shasta Fay (Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice) – Sean, Relationship (101:08)
• Committed Relationship Choices:
  • Amanda: Lance Brannigan (Skyler Gisondo, Licorice Pizza) (98:51)
  • Chris: Claudia Wilson Gator (Melora Walters, Magnolia), changes to Deputy District Attorney Penny Kimball (Reese Witherspoon, Inherent Vice) (101:09)

Categories debate:

• Ongoing, spirited debate about who qualifies as a “lead”; some flex lead/supporting per personal logic.
• Amanda pushes the envelope: “It's fine. These movies are about men. These are mostly supporting parts.” (84:10)

---

Other Fun Moments

• Real estate/Lot jokes: Amanda expresses concern about Paramount and Warner lots becoming “apartments or CBS headquarters” (13:46).
• Draft banter:
  • Amanda worries about picking Magnolia’s Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore) as lead vs supporting.
  • Category exploration: Should Dirk’s penis count as one scene star? Group enjoys the “metaphysical” question. (82:01)
• PTA's recurring actors: Discussion of his “troupe” and how certain actors, like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore, leave bigger imprints as “people” than as distinct characters (39:46)
• Needle drop love: Comparing notes on editing, song rights, favorite musical moments (“Do Your Thing,” “I Think He Needs Me,” “Wise Up,” “Life on Mars,” etc.)

---

Important Timestamps

• 01:20–13:51: Hollywood merger news and analysis
• 14:23–18:14: “Social Network 2” discussion
• 21:31–25:04: Sydney Sweeney’s Oscar campaign, “fight movies”
• 25:38–47:04: Reflections on PTA, history, filmography, prepping for the draft
• 51:50–111:58: PTA Character Draft, including explanation of rules, picks, debates, jokes, honorable mentions
• 91:35–93:26: Needle Drop discussion
• 104:15–108:34: Honorable mentions and not-picks
• 110:01–111:58: Draft recap

---

Tone and Style

The episode balances reverence for Anderson’s art with typically sharp, funny, and self-aware exchanges. Amanda’s dry asides (“Hollywood seems fucked...”), Chris’s deadpan, and Sean’s enthusiastic moderation keep the energy high. Glimpses of Hollywood-insider anxieties, mixed with candid admissions about personal taste, mean-spirited character arguments, and left-field digressions (sports, actor trivia, pop culture snark), make for engaging, well-paced listening.

---

Conclusion

A perfect episode for PTA devotees: it honors the range, humor, and heart of Anderson’s characters, while showing the hosts’ critical acumen and joy as cinephiles. More than a pulp-picking contest, the draft morphs into a fond, funny, and appreciative meditation on what makes Paul Thomas Anderson movies so fun to revisit—and what makes his characters so hard to forget.

---

Notable Quotes for Social Sharing

• “Hollywood seems fucked like the rest of the world.” – Amanda Dobbins (02:54)
• “Is Dirk Diggler’s penis its own character?” – Amanda Dobbins (82:01)
• “He’s not capable of making a bad movie… he’s awesome.” – Chris Ryan (27:01)
• “Journey Through the Past… They run through the rain together and make out. It's magical.” – Sean Fennessey (90:27)

---

Draft results, categories, and picks are recapped in the final minutes of the show (110:01–111:58).

Transcript

[Sean Fennessy]

This episode is presented by State Farm. Life's full of decisions, big and small and sometimes you make movie ones you can really stand behind. For example, I was wise enough to stick around through the mid credits during Ryan Coogler's Sinners. And unlike my co host Amanda, I got to see a very special sequence with a great buddy guy, among other things. State Farm gets it. Making confident choices can make all the difference. That's why with the State Farm personal price plan, you can choose the right amount of coverage to help create an affordable price for you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the 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. This episode is brought to you by the HBO original drama series Task from the creator of Mayor of Easttown. Set in the working class suburbs of Philadelphia, an FBI agent heads a task force to put an end to a string of viol violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man. Don't miss Task, starring Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelfrey. Now streaming on HBO Max with new episodes every Sunday. I'm Sean Fennessy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm Amanda Dobbins and this is the Big Picture.

[Sean Fennessy]

A conversation show about Paul Thomas Anderson. CR is here. It must mean we're drafting Chris. Welcome back to.

[Chris Ryan]

Thank you guys for having me. It's been too long.

[Sean Fennessy]

Has it been. Has it been two months?

[Chris Ryan]

It's been most of the summer.

[Sean Fennessy]

Two months since you've been on a big Picture? Since we were in Chicago. Yeah, since we were in Chicago. Which is remarkable. Welcome back. We are going to draft very special Paul Thomas Anderson movie characters today.

[Chris Ryan]

The well adjusted all stars.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. A lot of normal men and women for whom everything is going fine. I'm very excited to do that. But a lot of news has struck.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Today, some more consequential than others.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes, one very large piece of news that we should discuss. We don't have a lot of details around this piece of news, but it is really, really relevant to what we do on this show on a daily basis and what you do on the watch as well, which is that it has been reported by the Wall Street Journal that Paramount Skydance is making a majority cash offer to buy Warner Brothers. Not Warner Brothers movie studio, not the networks. The whole kit and caboodle.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Warner Brothers is about to break off into two companies. The sort of discovery section of the company is spinning off and then the other assets, the assets that interest us most prominently. And of course, Skydance just closed the deal to buy Paramount, which is one of the most legendary movie studios. Warner Brothers, also one of the most legendary movie studios. First reactions to this news. Amanda, what do you make of this potential acquisition?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think the first thing I said to you was, oh, that happened because it has been rumored for a while or there were indications, and especially if you listen to the Town with Matt Bellamy, tea leaves suggest that people were maneuvering. And so this was the. We got some of the deal points, I guess, on this one. I mean, sure, I guess. Hollywood seems fucked like the rest of the world. So, you know, I don't. David Ellison owns Paramount at this point, I think, but all I really know about his tenure is that he's trying to hire Bari Weiss. So have some questions about cnn. Otherwise, like, we all. All we have is Skydance to go on, which, you know, I like the Mission Impossible movies, but it's. It's a lot of Hollywood history all under one roof that we don't know much about.

[Sean Fennessy]

Chris.

[Chris Ryan]

It would seem to me that if this goes through, we just arrive back to where we were 20 years ago, where there's a big three and that we have Netflix, Amazon and Paramount. Warner Brothers, with Apple being like, yeah, we like to make shows to put on our phones and stuff.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you think that that diminishes Disney's standing in the.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, right, so Big four. Sorry. Yeah. So Disney. Disney still has its network arm.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is a man who has not seen Lilo and Stitch clearly.

[Chris Ryan]

No, I have not. I mostly go to the Disney app for Alien Earth at this point, but I saw the first news story that I thought you were referring to. I guess I thought this morning was. I mean, among others was that I saw that Larry Ellison had added $100 billion of personal wealth over because of Oracle's stock performance.

[Sean Fennessy]

The stock is surging for Oracle, while.

[Chris Ryan]

Skydance's acquisition of Paramount was marked by a lot of like, can David pull this money together? I do not think that that seems like to be truly an issue. Like, it was more like what's Paramount actually worth? If it was just. If they are going in with an all cash offer, it seems that he does have the cash. And it also seems like this, this administration will probably wave that through, given their attitude towards mergers, I would say.

[Sean Fennessy]

At least mergers from the right ownership groups. You know, it's impossible to know what the intentions of the new potential owners of A movie studio are going to do. There are some things that we do know about Paramount. For example, we know that they have made a lot of noise about preserving the theatrical experience and hiring the Duffer brothers to move over to Paramount so that they can make theatrical movies away from Netflix. As far as I know, amongst people I know who work here, there's a lot of optimism about what Paramount is attempting to do, which is to, you know, they bought a James Mangold, Timothee Chalamet heist movie. And that was one of the very first things that was announced that they did. They signed an overall with Will Smith to make theatrical movies. Like, there's clearly something, at least in terms of what we do here on the show, that is trending in a positive direction. Warner Brothers has been this awkward media conglomerate for about 25 years. Right. The time merger. Famously like time AOL, kind of a time warning.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Kind of a disaster. Right. The Verizon era of ownership for the company, Was it Verizon? The AT&T era of ownership was problematic at John Malone.

[Chris Ryan]

And that's where Zazzle comes in, right?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. Now, the Discovery Group owning the company has been, up until about nine months ago, I would say, defined by inconsistency and a lot of show, a lot of tell and not show. And now, at least on the movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Side, you're being so diplomatic.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I'm. I'm trying to. I don't really know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, there are.

[Sean Fennessy]

Consolidation is very dicey in Hollywood, but it is also the story of Hollywood.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like, historically, a movie studio starts and then another person realizes that if they bring their skills to one group and another group and they come together, they can be more powerful.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And that sometimes creates good outcomes, but it also sometimes squeezes people out of jobs. If you work at Warner Brothers and your parent company also owns Paramount, will they keep them separate or will there be duplication? Will the tastes of the two studios, whatever the emerging taste of Paramount is, versus if you look at what Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy are doing at Warner Brothers right now, it is fucking working. I mean, it is working more than any other Visa Paramount. Right, Right.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, they have Jeff Shell and they have all these people who are working on that stuff. And then so you have to ask yourself, is that a purchase for certain assets and then a fire sale for others? You know, so like, do they buy it? And then they say, but we're going to spin HBO off or we're going to spin off X, Y or Z.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't Know, it's certainly possible, obviously, and it majorly affects the world of tv because of cnn, because of hbo, because of a handful of other networks that are there. HBO is one of the only things that in the tumult of the last 20 years of Warner's ownership, it's been doing just great. I mean, they've had ups and downs, I guess, but it still basically has that platinum reputation for quality programming. You're in the midst of a task recap. I'm in the midst of a I promise I'm going to watch task one day conversation, maybe this week. I hope I will. I am, like, a little bit nervous about this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It doesn't feel great. I would agree. And. But I mean, you're right that the history of Hollywood is these studios being mushed together or traded or being owned by like, golf and Western and other. So we have seen this before. But I mean, again, the world doesn't feel good right now. It is like a pretty shaky time in the industry if you are living here in Los Angeles and trying to work. And I think you're right to read that, like, no matter what, it probably means layoffs. It probably means just. It's more uncertainty. So. And I mean, it doesn't seem like we're getting another boom as a result of it. Right? It doesn't seem like they're just going to start green lighting even more stuff and even more people will get jobs. So that's. That's alarming.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's funny because, you know, Amazon obviously acquired mgm, which at the time of that acquisition was a very. Had an incredible library, but was a relatively small movie studio. Disney absorbed Fox before that. And Fox was a massive studio with an incredible history, but it really just kind of very quickly got subsumed by the Mouse House. They kind of just absorbed the ip, what was valuable, and then kind of more or less dispensed Alien, et cetera, using some of that, that library, that catalog to make more stuff. In this case, we don't know what Paramount Skydens is. We don't even really know what they're going to do. And so the idea of them potentially absorbing the home of Stanley Kubrick and Clint Eastwood and for many years Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve and all of these filmmakers, and now maybe more Ryan Coogler movies and so on and so forth, it's interesting. And we will continue. I'm sure Matt will be all over this consolidation thing.

[Chris Ryan]

Is this. Because even as I said, oh, there's going to be a big three, but there's also Comcast, Universal, so there's a big four, there's a big five. But does consolidation end there? You know, does a tech company turn around and say, well, we'll buy one of the last legacy studios? Or, you know, does it. Does it become harder and harder to compete if you're running a. A studio like Sony that doesn't have a streaming arm per se, you know, and is probably going to go through a leadership change at some point soon, like, it's. There's going to be a lot of tumult in the industry, I think.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Also, you didn't say Netflix and I.

[Chris Ryan]

Didn'T say Netflix, I guess.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, so. Which is a different thing. But also.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, the one last kind of like open piece out there is Lionsgate, which has been rumored to be on the block for like a decade. And another studio that has actually quite a good library of films, but, you know, has had kind of a tough couple of years in terms of the box office, so. But everything else, you're right, is kind of like super powering up, you know, Amazon is doing movies in theaters next year. Apple off the success of F1, I think will try to do events like this. Netflix doesn't seem to be changing their tune, but maybe they are. That's something we don't really know. K Pop, Demon Hunter, Sing Along Style.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, they put it in theaters.

[Sean Fennessy]

Something that happened while we were on break.

[Chris Ryan]

What studio made the Beekeeper?

[Sean Fennessy]

I believe that was Amazon. Mgm. Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

I believe that's who I'm betting on.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, cool. They just seemed to be.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It was Amazon. Mgm.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I just follow David Ayer into the Fire.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Just pulled up a list of Skydance films. As Skydance. That is.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, it's not the best history.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I mean, it's. But it's. It's specific.

[Sean Fennessy]

It sure is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is there a man with a heavy artillery in his hand? Yeah, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, I won't read them all, but as Skydance, as opposed to Skydance Productions, we start with Star Trek Beyond, Jack Reacher, Never Go Back, Baywatch, Annihilation for you and you.

[Sean Fennessy]

Nice.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Mission Impossible, Fallout, Gemini, man didn't work 6 underground for both of you. A Terminator movie also.

[Chris Ryan]

That sounds like they just made classics.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The Old Guard, Tomorrow War, the Atom Project, Top Gun, Maverick. I have to be honest, I'm really grateful for that. Thank you, David Ellison.

[Chris Ryan]

I also kind of like to that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And that Only Luck Air some more Transformers, Spy Kids, Armageddon, the Gorge, Fountain of Youth.

[Sean Fennessy]

You love the Gorge.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Old Guard 2 which we watched for five minutes on our computer right here.

[Sean Fennessy]

Before Guy and Gal with a Gun. Very Movie Star Forward. Their formula is pretty straight. It's like straight down the middle. Now, that's fine when you're running a big production company that finances studio movies and that's what they do. They finance streamers, they finance theatrical releases.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't think I said ghosted. Remember that?

[Sean Fennessy]

Terrible movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

The trick will be, can they make any other kind of movie? Movies for kids, movies for women, movies for old people, movies for, you know, like, they're only making movies for Chris. Have to figure out something else.

[Chris Ryan]

It's not true. There's a lot of different kinds of people in the tomorrow war.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a diverse cast. It's very, very true. Okay, well, that's by far biggest news of the day.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, good luck, everyone.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good luck to Warner Brothers finally doing something really good for movies and everyone being excited about it and then immediately getting bought is a little like, God damn it, what are we doing this for? But maybe it'll turn out great.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, Amanda's right. We just have to remember that, like, it was at Paramount at Gulf Western Company. You know, like the stuff.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. So the one thing. Didn't Coca Cola own Colombia at a certain point? I mean, that's.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's movies.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's a movie business.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm concerned about the lots and the real estate here.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Because these are. These are two prime locations. Prime old school lots.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yep. Love both of them, actually.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I love both of them.

[Sean Fennessy]

They're really fun. That's a fun part about being in this world is getting to visit the lots and see movies and.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But I'm just. I'm very nervous about them. Consolidate. We. We can't. We can't change them because they're real.

[Sean Fennessy]

I will buy the Warner Brothers.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh. But I would take care of them.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, Wasn't there a report that, like, though that like, they were going to make the Paramount lot like the head CBS headquarters.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. I'm like, also an apartment building or something. I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

We don't know. We shall see.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's my fave.

[Sean Fennessy]

Lesser. Lesser news in the world of entertainment, but not necessarily to this world here of the big picture. Is the Social Network too.

[Chris Ryan]

We're just calling it that. That is what it's called.

[Sean Fennessy]

The Social Networker. The Socialer Network. The Social. What's a good title? Too Social to Network. Too Social to Network.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There we go. That's me.

[Sean Fennessy]

That is you. That movie's Happening apparently. It is apparently gonna begin shooting in one month. And the film is cast.

[Chris Ryan]

We're gonna be on the east coast in October. Field trip to the set.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do you think it's being filmed there?

[Sean Fennessy]

There's a large picture of Amanda outside of that set that says, do not allow this woman within 100 yards of this shooting set.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I just want to help. You know, I think this can be a group project. Me, Aaron, David Fincher, other people who.

[Chris Ryan]

Know how to shoot movies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's just a thought.

[Sean Fennessy]

Aaron Sorkin is the writer and director of this movie which he is making for Sony. It stars Jeremy Strong, Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White. Apparently, that is confirmed. Mikey Madison will be playing Francis Haugen, the former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower who exposed the Facebook files. That, you know, I think that that is a good area of focus for this story.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

That actually gives me some relief around the attempt to make this a Jan6 movie.

[Chris Ryan]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm sure that that will be a component in the story, but making it process oriented, making it successful, I had.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Totally blocked that out until just now.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Not ideal.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Jeremy. Ellen White will portray Jeff Horowitz, the author of the Wall Street Journal piece around these revelations.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's what all financial reporters look like. And then Jeremy.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, you know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All on camera now.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, you know, Amina Kimes, our friend was once a finance.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She likes to start businesses to their knees.

[Sean Fennessy]

She doesn't look like Jeremy Allen White.

[Chris Ryan]

Who's Jeremy Allen White playing?

[Sean Fennessy]

He's playing this Strong is Mark Zuckerberg. Jeremy Strong is Mark Zuckerberg.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, I'm concerned about that. I have concerns.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you think he's going to bulk up? Jeremy Strong? Well, with like, Zuckerberg in his MMA.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Era, what is this? This is like 2000, 15, 16.

[Chris Ryan]

Wasn't. Wouldn't it be 20? It would be.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But didn't. Didn't Zuckerberg get swole after that? Wasn't it like pandemic school in the.

[Chris Ryan]

Last couple of years?

[Amanda Dobbins]

And then he re.

[Sean Fennessy]

The Facebook Files piece was published in 2021. I don't have in front of me when. The day that Mark Zuckerberg became sweat.

[Chris Ryan]

Did you see Mark Zuckerberg at Oasis?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Mark Zuckerberg Fitness timeline from Business Insider. Guess they're doing the work.

[Sean Fennessy]

Very useful.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I guess this happened. Okay, so the. The sunscreen photo was also 2021.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So the makeover was after that. And then. So 2023 is when he's competing in jiu jitsu tournaments. We live. We live Truly in hell.

[Chris Ryan]

And he was at Oasis. But you didn't bump into him.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He was there. Yeah, I heard Leo was there too. I know he left early.

[Chris Ryan]

That was big. Like, Leo dipped with, like, 15 people and got into a party bus and left.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you think he also checked his email during Noel's set? Like, Amanda.

[Amanda Dobbins]

One talk tonight would have been fine.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All right, cool. It kept going.

[Sean Fennessy]

I am a little nervous about this movie. I'm on the record about that, of course. I'm kind of glad that movies like this are getting made. That's something. I guess it's a sequel, but not really. I mean, it's a docudrama from a big studio. I think it's SODI which made the original. The first film. You have some doubts?

[Chris Ryan]

I was just wondering if it would pass the Ellison family smell test at this point.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, it's a very good point. Obviously, Sony is a bit inoculated to some of those concerns given their ownership, but they're also making four Beatles films.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes, right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Directed by Sony twenties. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So we have to hang on to 2028.

[Sean Fennessy]

Hang on where?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Hang on to what?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, we should do, like, what are the things we're hanging on for?

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, that's a good draft. Like the next three years draft. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Like, I want to see Tim Chalamet become Worm King of Arrakis.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, spoilers for sure. And then when the final thing happens, we all jump off the Golden Gate Bridge together, arm in arm. But we're wearing parachutes. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And it turns out we are in Avatar 5 and we have become.

[Sean Fennessy]

So if Avatar. Did I tell you that we have confirmed that we will be doing an Avatar the Way of Water. Watch along for this show that you'll.

[Chris Ryan]

Be.

[Sean Fennessy]

So December 1st.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, that's what it is.

[Sean Fennessy]

Me and you and Amanda, we will go to the theater here at the Spotify HQ and we will watch the film Avatar the Way of Life.

[Chris Ryan]

That's the second one.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's the second one. Now you have a choice.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

You can watch the first movie if you want.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do it. Don't.

[Sean Fennessy]

Or you can just sit down and experience the story of Avatar.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Or third option. I don't want to spoil spoil things for people, but Sean and I had a delightful film going experience last night which did start with a Previously on starring two characters from the or two actors from the film. So Jack Sanders could perform previously on Avatar the original for you.

[Chris Ryan]

What about option three? I come to this theater and we're an Apple Vision Pro. And watch Sicario Day of the Soldado while you guys watch Avatar. And that is a comment on Sicario.

[Sean Fennessy]

Day of the Soldado 2.

[Chris Ryan]

Great sequels.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, they have something in common, is what I'll say.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Narratively. Yes, they do. Yeah. In terms of protecting the young children of refugees, sure. That is a huge theme of both.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I don't remember either film, it turns out.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did you see Day of the Soldado? That was definitely Chris and Sean episode, I can assure you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean that.

[Sean Fennessy]

I know, but it was a rare case where Chris asked me if he could see. Sit in on the conversation with Stefano Solima, the Director of Sicario 2.

[Chris Ryan]

What's wrong with you, Chris?

[Sean Fennessy]

I think that's the old. Is that the. No, I guess we did once. We did Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg together in the early days. I don't. I can't think of another time when you sat in on an interview on this show.

[Chris Ryan]

It must be, like, crazy making for you, because I'm just like, hey, Stefano, so how did you get the echoes of automatic weapon fire?

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm happy that you were there. It was a fun podcast. Okay, last thing. This is very small by comparison, but there's a new movie called Christie starring Sydney Sweeney, about the female boxer Christy Martin that just premiered at tiff, that got very seemingly loud raves for her performance in the immediate aftermath of the premiere. And then the reviews of the movie hit, and they were a little bit more middling. But the feedback for the movie has been mostly positive for Sydney Sweeney, trailer hit today. It's kind of a crowded Best Actress race this year. Sydney Sweeney nominated for an Academy Award. Setting aside the sort of subjective taste about the movie, that's very good for the Oscars, that would be very good for the Oscars for someone like this to be vaulted into that level of respect. I've asked you both to watch the trailer. What did you make of it?

[Chris Ryan]

It's quite long. I think most of the movie is in the trailer. I wonder whether or not the trailer sells a movie that it is not so. It seems to be a very uplifting story of overcoming adversity. I don't know Christy Martin's actual biography, but I feel like now with fight movies, they just.

[Sean Fennessy]

She's the VP of Finance at Skydance.

[Chris Ryan]

No matter what the movie, if it's a fight movie, they show it like it's Creed. Like, they present it as if it's.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like, this is something that's going on with the Smashing Machine right now as people are seeing The Smashing Machine marketing materials. And I will say that they're not entirely accurate to what the movie is. Right.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know. I mean, Sydney Sweeney was really good in reality. Like, I think she has got.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think she has dramatic chops. I've said this before. On the Anyone but yout Pod. I was like, super dumb aged. Yeah. Just in the middle distance. Yeah, Totally just checked out. Can we get, like, the slow Altman zoom on Amanda's face while Chris and I talk about Sydney Sweeney's acting chops?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Can I tell you actually what I was saying?

[Sean Fennessy]

I think she's actually a serious woman with grace and. And fine taste. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Can I tell you what I was.

[Sean Fennessy]

You obviously haven't seen your head up.

[Chris Ryan]

You know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What I was actually doing while you guys were talking about this was I was thinking through, like, every single, like, PR fiasco that Sydney Sweeney has stepped into the last three to six months. Like, obviously, the, you know, MAGA birthday party or whatever, but then being at the Bezos Sanchez wedding. The American Eagle stuff.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, the. She thought that was a good campaign.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. You liked that. And you also like the original Brooke Shields.

[Sean Fennessy]

The.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She's dating Scooter Braun. Don't know if you guys know that.

[Sean Fennessy]

I heard about this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, It's. It's a lot. And what. Anyway, you know, we watched the trailer. She looks fine. This is a classic Oscars move of the hottest person in the world. Makes themselves dressed down, less conventionally hot. I wish that if we were gonna give Sydney Sweeney an Oscar, it was for being really, really hot and using that.

[Chris Ryan]

Well, for Madame Webb.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, we don't have. No, she wasn't that hot. You know, she has.

[Sean Fennessy]

Specifically.

[Chris Ryan]

I think she wore glasses in Madame Web.

[Sean Fennessy]

She did. She did. It was a she's all that situation. It was like, look at this dork.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm not saying, like, give it to her for anyone but you. That was terrible. And.

[Sean Fennessy]

But I just think she's not that she's not a comic actress, but I think she actually is a. A skilled dramatic actress. I think in euphoria, she's doing something that the filmmakers are asking her to do. But she's really good at that thing, that, like, frantic mania of that character on that show. And I think she's good in reality. There's one other show.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's okay to be hot, especially if you're Sydney Sweeney. I, like, you guys are agreed on.

[Sean Fennessy]

This, so I think it's okay to be hot, too. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Look at you. Every day you get out of Bed. You put your glasses. Look at all this. Yeah, I'm looking forward to this movie. Sounds fine, Tiff. We will talk about as much as we can with Adam naming on Monday, which will be fun.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Let me ask you one more thing.

[Sean Fennessy]

Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

How many more punching people movies can we do as a.

[Sean Fennessy]

Movies where people get punched in the face?

[Chris Ryan]

It will never end well.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, specifically competitive punching people.

[Chris Ryan]

Like fight movies. There are a lot of fight competitive.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's one of the oldest styles of Hollywood movie around. Don't like the Wallace Beery wrestling film history.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, I just think that we.

[Chris Ryan]

Haven'T even begun to get UFC movies.

[Sean Fennessy]

I totally agree with that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, my Lord. Okay. All right.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is the most popular rising sport.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Sounds like two Skydance VPs sitting on either side of me.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, you cut the check. You know, I'm. I got ideas. This is. This is a movie about next to the lot.

[Chris Ryan]

Seems convenient. You know, you should be both the.

[Sean Fennessy]

Executive producer of 60 Minutes and run the film division.

[Chris Ryan]

No, you know, what I want to do is buy, like, I'll get a condo right where they're trying to, like, expand the Paramount lot, and then I'll be like, eminent domain. Like, I will not move until you make me the editor in chief of 60 minutes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, that's not gonna work, I don't think. Okay. Paul Thomas Anderson. So.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So it begins the month of Paul.

[Sean Fennessy]

So it begins the month of Paul. Amanda and I have both had a chance to see One battle after another. Chris, you've not yet seen it. One battle after another will not be eligible for this draft. So we will not be drafting any of the characters. I will say. How many characters, without revealing anything, do you think you would be interested in drafting from that movie?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Two. Three. Four. Four. At least, like, off the top of the movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

Four was my answer as well. It's a good sign. There's some very memorable characters in that movie, as there are in all of his movies. Let's just talk about our histories with the guy. Chris, do you remember the first Paul Thomas Anderson movie that you saw and how you saw it?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I mean, I think by the time that he was really cranking, it was not hardy. It was Boogie Nights. And by the time he had kind of hit mainstream, well, somewhat mainstream cultural consciousness, I was, like, pretty into movies, and it was the late 90s, and I probably greeted him with, like, just the, like, lightest bit of skepticism because I first get introduced to Boogie Nights, and I'm like, I really think this is quite great, but it Is one of the first times I was like, I have seen that before. Like, I've seen guys pull some of these moves before coming right after, like, the really height of Tarantino mania, you know, in the mid-90s. So I think that my relationship with him has, like, been pretty uncomplicated over the years. Like, I don't think he's capable of making a bad movie. Every movie he makes is, like, stands up to almost endless rewatch rewatches. He's one of the funniest filmmakers, one of the most technically dazzling filmmakers. And I don't have a lot of, like, I don't have any take. There's no zag. He's awesome. He's one of the best. Best fucking guys in the world.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, He's. Did you always have that relationship to his movies?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. And I would say so. I was trying to think it was probably punch Drug Love was the first that I saw because that came out the year that I graduated high school. And then I'm sure that it's.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did you like it?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think so, yeah. Because, again, it's also. That's a good one for me because it has Sandler, but also is a romantic comedy of sorts. And it's like. And I was at an age where I was like, oh, you can do different things with this. Interesting. You know, so, yeah, I did like it. And then I assume that Boogie Nights happened, you know, in college at some point because of, you know, some boy.

[Sean Fennessy]

And this probably a cool guy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Do you want to call in?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I can't remember.

[Sean Fennessy]

Does he work at Skydives?

[Chris Ryan]

He showed Amanda Boogie Nights. Please write.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I hear from far too many people, I went to college, like, hey, man, can Bill Simmons send me a cameo? Anyway, it's a true story. I don't know when I saw Magnolia, but so whatever. There Will Be Blood and Inherent Vice was, like, a very interesting run. Right? There Will Be Blood is obviously a masterpiece.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, the master came in between those two.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, that's right. Okay. So that is. But same point, though. Not with the exception of Amy Adams. Like, not. Not a ton of women and probably, like, the bro. Iest phase of the thing and also corresponded with a very bro culture moment around him. So I think that.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't know what you're referring to.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think that I really. Phantom thread is when my heart opened up to him. And then I think probably I went back to Magnolia and went to other places and was like, oh, I really understand this wavelength. But There Will Be Blood, the master Moment. Those are two phenomenal movies.

[Chris Ryan]

I think you're dead. I think that there is something happens when he makes Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread, licorice pizza. There feels like a kind of like, you know what? Let's open up the.

[Sean Fennessy]

Much sweeter. These movies are much sweeter. They're much less. They have kind of the same, I think, thematic concern, you know, like, all of his movies have a very similar kind of thematic concern about, like, the tenseness of relationships and the way that people fit into society and what their roles are supposed to be. But those three movies are, I think, ultimately about love. And the Master and There Will Be Blood are. The Master is about love, but it is about a very dark, painful love. And There Will Be Blood is about hate. You know, it's really about division. I think, obviously, I've very similar to you. I don't think I. I can't remember if I saw Boogie Nights in theaters. And I can't even remember what I said on the rewatchables a few years ago when we did it. I know that when I saw it, I was like, I have to watch this a hundred times in a row. And I was not. Since I'm a little bit younger than you, I wasn't immediately like, oh, this is Goodfellas, or, oh, this is. I've seen these moves before. I was like, it kind of shattered my mind. I was like, this is the most exciting thing I've ever seen. That and Pulp are the two movies where I was like. And, you know, unfortunately, I am in some ways an Avatar for an entire strain of guy who likes movies, who is an annoying guy. I don't think that that changes anything about how special I think his movies are and how much they have impacted people. And so it's very. It's very cool that we can feel in the atmosphere of moviedom, like, this is kind of happening this year, it seems like. And it's a lot of fun, in part because we'll talk about it a lot more when we talk about the movie. But the new movie, to me feels like this kind of accumulation of both of these two strands that Amanda's talking about. That it's like it is the movie that he has been kind of working towards that pulls in all that stuff from 96 through 2012 and then also all that stuff from 2014 through 2023. So I rewatched Magnolia a week ago, and I hadn't seen it since we did a rewatchables about it. And on that rewatchables, I was Kind of like this movie is really messy and kind of. It's not a miss. But going back to it, I don't feel the same way I did when I was in high school. And then when I watched it last week, I was like, this is one of the best movies ever made. And its ambition is not a bug. It is like. It is the feature. And it is like, so feeling. And it is. A lot of what you've seen in the last couple movies is all in that movie, too.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Absolutely. Which is why I think I must have gone back. I must not have seen it until later in. Because it doesn't have the rewatching. I rewatch Inherent Vice or parts of it for this because again, lots of characters in there. And also we're going to be talking about another, at least inspired by Pynchon PTA film very soon. And I was essentially. I was pissed off again.

[Sean Fennessy]

And Inherent Weiss.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, and Inherent Weiss, like, famously caused one of the worst fights between me and my now husband that we ever had. But I just really.

[Sean Fennessy]

Was it over Reese Witherspoon or what was it about?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, it was about having watched the Eagles game straight into this. And I was just like, I would like my Sunday back, you asshole. But it feels.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you think if you smoked more weed, you would enjoy in her advice.

[Chris Ryan]

More or the Eagles?

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do you think weed would be the drug that. I mean, I understand that weed is. I understand weed's the direction.

[Sean Fennessy]

Maybe nine light beers. That would also help. You know, I. I don't know. I don't know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm not very good on weed.

[Sean Fennessy]

I do think that that's a movie that has always been near the bottom for my. My list of. Of PTA's movies. But near the bottom is like, so it's four and a half stars and not five. Yeah, it's well made.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Everybody's good in it.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's just like once you give up on trying to understand it, it's just.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, you're just like, oh, yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

You're just kind of flowing through it. Yeah, but I hear you. We all have differing taste. Do you. Have you had any kind of rediscoveries or any ones that you have clicked into more in the last 20 years?

[Chris Ryan]

I haven't had the kind of moment that you had with Magnolia about any particular movie because I think that as he became sort of like up in, up and around, the greatest living filmmaker. Chalk conversation. Each movie feels like an event when you go see it. It's kind of like Going to see a Tarantino movie. So I remember going to see the Master at midnight and, like, stumbling out of the arc light at like, 2:30 in the morning.

[Sean Fennessy]

Me and you and Papadema.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. And just like, staring at you and staring at Alex and then just being like, I just want to go home and think about my dad for a while, you know? And it's like, it's just an intense experience to go see his films and. But then when you go back and sort of check them out in different context, and outside of that sort of first night mania and tizzy that you're in, there's just so many different emotional shades to them. I think that with. The reason Phantom Thread was so successful for a lot of people was that those emotional shades immediately revealed themselves. There were people who were like, oh, this is funny. Like, I think it's funny in the moment to watch this film rather than like, oh, what a trenchant, like, analysis of a deeply broken relationship. And then you find out it's funny later. Like, so I think that as he's gotten older, he's gotten almost better at dialing in, like, the desired effect of his films. I don't know. But, yeah, I don't have, like, a film that I like, disliked and went back and liked. I think the Master is the one that's the hardest to watch for a variety of reasons. But I think it's also among his best movies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Saw the Master at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York with Zach Baron and then had dinner afterwards with Zach, Annie Greenwald and Chuck Klosterman. So imagine that table.

[Chris Ryan]

And then. When did the Eagles have that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

That was Inherent Vice. Oh, Inherent Vice.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm sorry.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Wait, that was. And that was the first time I met Chuck.

[Sean Fennessy]

Andy, Chuck and who else?

[Amanda Dobbins]

And myself.

[Sean Fennessy]

The four of you guys?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

After the Master. So I.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did you talk about the Master?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, we did. I mean, I.

[Chris Ryan]

Did you feel like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think I was mostly just like, uh, huh, huh. I was just like, imagine that's the first time you've met Chuck and you've just seen the Master, and then you're just like, in some basement restaurant that Andy insisted on walking 10 blocks to.

[Sean Fennessy]

Chuck is also in the cult of Paul. He really is a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fan.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It was great. It was really fun. But I just remember it was an overwhelming night.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I mean, all these movies are good. I saw one battle after another, and then I immediately went and saw it again. To your point about rewatchability, I'll probably see it in theaters four or five times. It's. They're. It's not that they're like these densely packed info, you know, philosophical mind fucks either. They're not those kinds of. They're not Nolan esque, you know, they're not like Kubrick movies where you're like, what does it all mean? Like, it's not. They're not mysterious in that specific way, with the exception of the Master, which I think is still kind of like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

You can define it in many different kinds of ways, what it means and what it's about, but they're just. They're fun. They're just very fun.

[Chris Ryan]

What is. I was curious, without talking about the film itself and getting into any spoilers, like, what was your reaction to seeing a PTA movie that was actually set in the era that it was made?

[Sean Fennessy]

I thought he achieved it in his own way.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

It's often. It wasn't really a knock, but it was a running piece of commentary about Paul Thomas Anderson movies was that he's somebody who's disinterested in making art about our current moment. And, you know, you could say that's because he doesn't like cell phones. Or you could say because. Lots of different reasons. But it was. I'm. I'm fascinated.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

This is the first time. Since Magnolia.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, since Punch Drunk Glove.

[Chris Ryan]

Punch Drunk.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. You'll see.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You'll see. It is like, that's true, but it's not a.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's not a looking at your phone movie.

[Chris Ryan]

Cool.

[Sean Fennessy]

In a good way.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But it's also, you know, it's all like PTA World, basically, which is, you know, and that was kind of what was fun about this was you just like, it's eight different movies to pick from.

[Sean Fennessy]

Nine.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Nine.

[Sean Fennessy]

But, well, Junon, too. Did you. Will you be drafting any of the musicians from Junon? No.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Anima, the Thom York short film.

[Chris Ryan]

Did you pick any of the Heim sisters from any of the Heim videos?

[Sean Fennessy]

I would like to.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, okay, but they're all, you know, and they're set in different places at different times, but they all have a flavor, you know, It's a clubhouse.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's all like paper dolls, right? They're all connected to each other in some way. You can see the. And I was saying to Jack before we were recording this morning, this is not. You get Goodfellas or you die in this draft. Like, no one's gonna lose. No one's gonna be like, how could you take. Like. I think.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

There's enough to go around for the creation.

[Chris Ryan]

So, you know what I wanted to ask you guys before we get into the drafting itself. And I don't really know if there's an answer to this question, but I. Obviously, we podcast about movies and television a lot, and you are referring to the plots, and sometimes you refer to the characters by the character names. And sometimes you will be like, De Niro does this or De Niro does that. And so I try in my mind, when I'm talking about something element of performance to do the actor name. But if I'm doing plot, I'm trying to talk about the character name. But I was always going through all these PTA characters to choose who to draft from. It's funny how often I'm like, that's Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's not a character. And it's like, maybe he's a very specific case because of their relationship, but that, like, how often I feel like Paul Thomas Anderson seems to almost find something about the actor or actress beyond the character. Like, it's. I associate Julianne Moore with these people. And being in these movies to the extent where I'm like, that's what Julianne Moore was like back then. Which is a strange phenomenon iconography, I don't think. I don't think Robert De Niro is Jimmy Conway. You know, like, when I'm talking about Goodfellas, I'm like, yes, like, that's Jimmy Conway and that's Tommy, and that's Henry Hill. But with these, I'm like, right. And then. And then Adam Sandler does this, right?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, he does. He uses, like, he has a troupe, you know, so the same people, the same actors show up in different movies and are, like, sort of associated with PTA world. So in that sense, you do start thinking about, like, I mean, the number of Philip Seymour Hoffman things, characters that we could draft. And I probably will. But I think it's natural that in that sense you start grouping them under him.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I think part of it is that he has gotten the best work out of people's careers out of a handful of his favorites. Right. John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, Phil Hoffman. Like those. All of those people who pop up in three, four, five movies. William H. Macy, he's great at that. He's also really good at. And this can be an entree into the categories. But the kind of, like, one scene contained space with a character we haven't seen yet in the movie who takes over the movie for five minutes or 10 minutes, and he obviously Writes a lot of ensemble movies. He writes a lot of movies where people are kind of moving around a lot of places and going to new spaces and you're discovering things in real time. They're not like plot engines, his movies. They're really more kind of more journey, like. And so you just get a ton of people introduced to you all the time. And some of them are very famous actors, and some of them are actors you haven't seen in 30 years. And some of them are people you don't think of as actors at all. You know, I will never forget seeing James Downey, the SNL writer, pop up and There Will Be Blood and thinking like, I don't think I've seen this guy in a movie. Except for Billy Madison when he was, you know, hosting the trivia contest at the end of the movie. That's the only James Downey performance I could think of when I saw the movie. And he just has a tendency to kind of like, pluck people that he thinks are interesting. There's plenty of that in the new movie, too. So, yeah, he's got a robust bench, for sure. Categories. Do you feel that I navigated this?

[Chris Ryan]

Have we ever done a character draft before?

[Sean Fennessy]

No, no. We have done drafts of actors careers and directors careers, I think.

[Chris Ryan]

Will our next character draft be Skydance characters?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yep. We did Tom Cruise.

[Sean Fennessy]

That'll be a live event, though. On Larry Ellison's Island.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do we do.

[Sean Fennessy]

We did Clooney and Pitt.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Denzel.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, Denzel. Clooney and Pitt.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Have we done directors?

[Sean Fennessy]

Maybe not.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[Sean Fennessy]

Maybe not.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

We never did a Marty draft.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We were maybe going to, but did we do a Marty draft with Jack?

[Chris Ryan]

Documentary's coming.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I know. I've watched two fifths of it crack. I don't think so, Amanda.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, Martin Scorsese draft. The Big Picture. Yeah, I felt like it was on the schedule at some point, but got.

[Sean Fennessy]

Something I can share with you guys about that off mic.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Sorry, everybody.

[Chris Ryan]

About the draft or about Martin Scorsese?

[Sean Fennessy]

About Martin Scorsese, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, great. I know I gotta watch it, but I have to see, like, 45 movies.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a busy time. So category wise.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Leading actor. Leading actress. Supporting actor. Supporting actress. Twist. One scene. Star. Mega twist.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, I forgot to prep needle drop. Oh, shit. Okay, well, I can do it. Well, I'm just. I have to do it right now, though.

[Sean Fennessy]

And then Wild Card. That's seven categories.

[Chris Ryan]

I had a twist for Wild Card that I would Just like to present right here because sometimes it gets a wild card and it's like I will also pick something cool.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

What about PTA character you would most like to be in a committed relationship with?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, easy. That's funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

Super easy. Okay, now will you draft to kind of take characters away?

[Chris Ryan]

I'm just saying it's interesting to consider.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I can think of a few. I can think of a few. Yeah. You want to. Do you need five minutes for needle drop?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I mean, you know, if. If you guys are nice, then it's. Then it's fine. But you're probably not nice, so I'll just.

[Chris Ryan]

No, there's so many. I know, exactly.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know.

[Sean Fennessy]

But like there are multiple listicles that are like, here are the 20 best pt.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, but I don't like to do it like that.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, she likes to just know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Tell you what, we'll stop down, you go back, watch all nine movies again. We'll wait here. Chris and I will sit here, we'll catch up. We haven't seen each other too much recently.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

We'll talk about the Tomorrow War.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yep, we'll re. We'll revisit the tomorrow war. Record a live. A live YouTube pod where we watch Tomorrow War.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Uh huh. Oh yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

You come back, you say, I love all the needle drops in the master. Here are my favorites. Okay, you want to draft?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, let's draft.

[Sean Fennessy]

Any other. Any other stray thoughts?

[Chris Ryan]

No, I don't think so.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's kind of looming over your shoulder here, right behind you, just so you know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Which. Oh, that's. Okay. That's a nice photo. Good job, Paul.

[Sean Fennessy]

Wow, Jack, we have to set the draft order.

[Chris Ryan]

Bill just asked if I would trade Drake May for two. A tag of viola in our fantasy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What?

[Sean Fennessy]

Wait, he wants tua?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, no, he wants to trade me to A for Drake.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, Chris, under no circumstance can you do that.

[Chris Ryan]

I know that, but I'm also just like. I didn't draft Drake. He's not my guy.

[Sean Fennessy]

You should. You should say yes if we can do Sicario next week.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, that's great.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Ooh, that's good. This is exciting. Things happening in real time.

[Sean Fennessy]

I would be willing to let Bill have Drake. Cause, you know, we don't know with Drake. Maybe we don't based on what we saw last week.

[Chris Ryan]

I didn't draft.

[Sean Fennessy]

He may not be here.

[Chris Ryan]

Tate picked him first for contest.

[Sean Fennessy]

How are you feeling about your team?

[Chris Ryan]

Well, it depends on whether A.J. brown ever gets any targets again, but.

[Sean Fennessy]

Got to talk to Jalen hurts about that. Yeah, it's a tough one. Yeah, he'll be fine. He's going to catch 80 balls for 1200 yards.

[Chris Ryan]

I need the kid from the Commanders to be consistently awesome.

[Sean Fennessy]

The kid from the Commanders, Bill. Yeah, sure, Bill. He scored a touchdown in week one.

[Chris Ryan]

He did. He had 82 yards. But I just. Now I'm like, I made a GM decision with him starting him.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

So I need him to play well. Jerry, Judy's on the bench.

[Sean Fennessy]

My team sucks, but my two best players might be on the jets, so that's been exciting thus far. Breeze hall is back. How you feeling? You feel caught up now? We did a little fantasy football talk, sort of.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I wasn't really listening to that. I was googling things and then I found a very funny tweet about one battle after another. Needle drop that. But you know what?

[Sean Fennessy]

I can't take those.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know, I know. I understand.

[Sean Fennessy]

Can't take those.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think I'll be okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's all Chapel Roan. One battle after another. It's 15 Chapel Roan songs.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I really am working through Emerald Fennel doing like all Charlie XCX for Wuthering Heights. Yeah, I mean, I hope Charlie got a lot of money.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's been so fun to watch everything kind of come back on Amanda. You know, like, first they came for my beloved IP and remade it with Devil Wears product.

[Chris Ryan]

She was like, haha, you guys have to watch all these bad Star wars movies.

[Sean Fennessy]

But now, yes, now it's like pained romantic period pieces.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, like I said, I'm not a Bronte gal. I'm much more concerned about the Sense and Sensibility remake and the Pride and Prejudice series. I think it'll be okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Anyway, your boy, Jack Loden, Mr. Darcy, he's the best. But they had to use body doubles because their kid arrived and so he's on parental leave.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, wow. Body doubles? Where?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like on set to finish up shots? I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

He's on parental leave in the middle of a film?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, they had a baby. I think it was at the end. I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

He doesn't work in tech. What does that mean? He's a fucking actor. Okay, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve parental leave. I'm just saying, like, he's on camera. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

This is according to the Daily Mail and in the uk they do have much better parental leave than we have expired.

[Sean Fennessy]

I know you messed up. I'm still going to take it. I'm going to take six months of parental leave. Just because I have a four year old, I need parental leave. Sorry, guys. You think that'd be okay?

[Chris Ryan]

I'm going to trade Drake May for Tua and your parental leave, and then I'm going to take your parental leave.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's. If that's all you get out of this trade, then that's not enough. Okay, you need to get. You need to get Sicario and what else? If you could do a rewatchables on any Paul Thomas Anderson movie, what would you do? Obviously, we've done a handful.

[Chris Ryan]

I think the expectation is eventually we'll do all of them. Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

I honestly don't even know if Bill has seen in her advice. I know he really likes Phantom Thread and licorice pizza.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Phantom Thread would be my pick, obviously.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good pick. That's a very rewatchable movie with many great scenes.

[Chris Ryan]

I just think that the mastery rewatchables would be the funniest thing we could possibly.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's my number one pick. It is probably my current number one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, well, yeah, but.

[Chris Ryan]

Pig fuck.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But here's the thing, is that it can't be all three of you. It either has to be you and Bill or it has to be you and Bill or it has him.

[Chris Ryan]

It has to be you two. No, it has to be him and Bill.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, and that could. And then no Bill. And that would be funny too. But it has to be two men enter a room.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think it should be Van and Kyle Brandt. I would love that. Honestly, I don't know if I could love something more than Van and Kyle Brand talking for two hours.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Have they done Casablanca yet?

[Sean Fennessy]

No.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's not going sad.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's too bad. Okay, so we've got our categories. We got to get draft order. Jack Sanders, you ready? Yeah. Just really quickly before we set the draft order, I can't stop thinking about Amanda suggesting. Amanda suggesting me reenacting all of Avatar to cr. And there is nothing that would bring me more joy than not telling him anything. Showing up to the studio, painting my full body blue.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Getting some costume design and acting it out.

[Chris Ryan]

All right, look, this is your big opportunity.

[Sean Fennessy]

Draft order time.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, right.

[Sean Fennessy]

We have the weird Dungeons and Dragons cube. Oh. Selecting first, Amanda Dobbins.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Wow.

[Sean Fennessy]

Wow.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Stress.

[Sean Fennessy]

Stress. Selecting second, cr. Sean third.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Wow. This episode is presented by State Farm. You know what's even more impressive than being an expert at movie trivia? Being smart about saving money. And a great way to do that is by choosing to bundle home and auto insurance with State Farm. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the 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. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn ads. The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals and 130 million decision makers and that's where it stands apart from other ad buys. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority skills, company revenue so you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. That's why LinkedIn Ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of all online ad networks. Seriously, all of them. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com TheBigPicture Terms and Conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by Pretty Litter. Keeping your house clean when you've got a cat is no easy feat. But with Pretty Litter, you don't have to choose between a fresh house and a healthy cat. This litter is practically magic. It's low dust, controls odors and lasts up to a whole month. But the best part? It monitors your cat's health every time they use the box. Plus, Pretty Litter ship's free right to your door so no heavy bags to carry and no last minute pet store runs. Right now. Save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy at Pretty Litter.com BigPicture that's PrettyLitter.com BigPicture to save 20% on your first order AND get a free cat toy PrettyLitter.com BigPicture. Pretty Litter cannot detect every feline health issue or prevent or diagnose diseases. A diagnosis can only come from a licensed veterinarian. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details. Okay, draft time. Amanda has the very first overall pick and I don't know what you're going to do.

[Chris Ryan]

There's no bad choices.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There's no bad choices. But I think I have some clarity about what's probably the most shared between the three of us. And watch me be incredibly wrong. But I am going to in supporting actor, take Frank TJ Mackie AKA Tom Cruise from Magnolia.

[Sean Fennessy]

Interesting. Now I was actually going to ask is this a lead or not? Magnolia is so hard because it's like 15 supporting characters, but also 15 leads, you know? Cause those characters are so deep.

[Chris Ryan]

Was there discussion about did he get nominated for this?

[Sean Fennessy]

He did.

[Chris Ryan]

And for supporting actor or actor?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Supporting, yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay. I would still consider him lead actor in this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

So I wrote down lead as well. But I definitely would let you take him and support him.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes. I think that I. I have everyone in Magnolia. In supporting.

[Sean Fennessy]

As supporting?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't have everyone else in supporting.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, and you have him? Oh, I do. Just because it's such a giant performance. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's like he headlines the movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, he does, but he's the.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think he's the kind of the fulcrum of the movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In some ways, but he is like one of a web of people.

[Sean Fennessy]

Anyway, did you notice that a character, an actress who interacts with him in that movie is in one battle after another?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, we'll talk about it afterwards.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But I have only seen it the once, so that's fine. Anyway, this is one of his best performances, his most against tape performance. And I would imagine in the moment felt like, oh, this is like, really what, you know, Tom Cruise can do. And it starts off he does Magnolia, then he does Eyes Wide Shut. He works with Spielberg. You know, he's really in a cool zone, and eventually the wheels come off. But there's, like, a lot of potential in this performance, in addition to him just being absolutely, like, psychotic and insane in the best way. And it does. Like, it is a performance, but you're like, it sort of helps understand Tom Cruise. It's like, oh, this is why you're so weird. Like, there is. This is a little bit of a skeleton key. Yeah, there's something going on here with you.

[Sean Fennessy]

So I always loved that he agreed to do this, because you can feel PTA writing into Tom Cruise's oddity. You know, his unusual.

[Chris Ryan]

Just, like, when he's just weird. It's like, such a weird thing to come out of his mouth. But then, like, the whole thing is like, that's what you used to call me. And like, you know, the scene where.

[Sean Fennessy]

He breaks down in front of his father is obviously the one that is the most cited in terms of, like, the greatness of his performance and how he kind of choreographed a lot of that. And PTA always gives him credit for that. But to me, rewatching the movie last week, it's the scene when he's being interviewed and when the interviewer reveals to him that she knows the truth about his parents and his mom and that she's died. And Cruise doesn't say a lot, but the camera is holding on him and his wheels are turning so hard and he's so mad and so sad. Very special. Might be his best performance. I mean, it's definitely up there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, it's like his best Capital A acting performance. You know, then there are some Tom Cruise serendipitous moments. Sure. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. That's a very good pick. Okay, Chris, you have a pick.

[Chris Ryan]

I will take Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood as Daniel Plainview. And I was. You know, there are many Daniel Day Lewis performances, or at least two that you could think of for this character draft. But I was trying to put myself back in the mindset of seeing this for the first time, you know, and I think that this marked a. A sort of change in the road for ddl where it was like, he's only going to act every couple of years, and when he does, he is going to be like a storm cloud arriving over your head and, you know, just complete force of nature. He was that before, but on a much more like, kind of tactile, like you could reach out and touch him. And this. He just feels like you're watching, you know, like a God or something behave in front of you. And I just remember just like feeling like I'd never seen a performance like this before. I don't really know if I've ever seen one since. The immediacy with which, like, the ticks of this performance and the lines that the character delivers and the way he behaves and the way he moves and the way he stands next to his kid and the way he digs for oil have all been, like, ingrained in my memory. Is. Is pretty distinctive among, like, I think most acting performances that I've ever seen. So it's. It's a. It's great to get it. Get him number one. I mean, this is why I was coming number two. But, yeah, my first pick.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. It's funny that he's back in the. In the media right now. We have not heard a word from Daniel Day Lewis in seven years since Phantom thread. He has not appeared in a movie. He will be in a movie that opens in. He's been marking around the week.

[Amanda Dobbins]

West Village, though.

[Sean Fennessy]

But you haven't been speaking to him?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did. Has anyone been speaking to him? Is he popping out? Is he on, like. I mean, I like, side talk about the Knicks.

[Chris Ryan]

If you found yourself in line with Daniel Day Lewis at Joe's Pizza, would You really.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, never hand them.

[Chris Ryan]

But I don't need the red pepper.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't like to. Oh, I'd be like, excuse me, I need this if I needed something. But, like, I wouldn't be like, hey, man, such a fan. Can we have a selfie?

[Sean Fennessy]

I would very quietly saunter up beside him, put my arm around his shoulder, but very gently, softly, and I would start whisper, singing Danny Boy into his ear. Do you think he would receive that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, yeah, I think that would go.

[Chris Ryan]

I think that would go great.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I think he'd be like, this is what I do it for.

[Sean Fennessy]

Please feel free to come on the Big Picture. Daniel. He's in a new movie, Anemone, directed by his son, which comes out in three weeks. So he's back and he said that he didn't mean to retire twice. Yes. Which is something I hope to be able to say at some point in my life.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, he talked in Rolling Stone, I think about. He did an interview with Rolling Stone where he talks about, like, oh, I wish I hadn't made a big deal about retiring. I just could have gone and done other stuff. But he mentions that, like, it was like the stuff around Phantom thread that ushered on that quote, unquote, retirement. And I just. What do you think it is about, like, that experience that. Is it. Because people were taking pictures of him getting ready to go on set in London and there was all that, like, sort of.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm not sure. I mean, I think get the impression that he really pours.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Everything's harder for him to get it.

[Sean Fennessy]

He kind of goes into it and then it's hard to get out of it. And that, I don't know. Seems to be interested in his family life and.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. And he's inevitably nominated for an Oscar. So then it's the awards thing of it all, which they need to promote the movie. So it's. I mean, it seems like a lot of work. And he's, you know, he likes making shoes.

[Chris Ryan]

Maybe he's just. He knows he's never going to top the Charlie Rose interview with Paul Thomas Anderson. He gives you this script and you say, what?

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. Amazing. Arguably, the performance of the 21st century, in my opinion, as great as Frank TJ Mackie's performance is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, that was 1999, so.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good point.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, good point.

[Sean Fennessy]

The two greatest male performances of the last two centuries have been selected in the Paul Thomas Anderson draft. We're doing great. So great. Maybe the third greatest performance would be Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd in the Master. I will take him, I guess, in supporting actor. I will say I put him in lead now, which is.

[Chris Ryan]

He isn't the master.

[Sean Fennessy]

He was nominated in supporting at the Academy Awards. Now I originally placed him in lead and then after I heard you talk about Frank T.J. mackie, I moved into supporting. So what's the move?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I. I think that we can make our own decisions.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We are. They have not let us into the Academy yet. And we also don't always agree with their category.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like, do you think you'll get into the Academy before you die?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I don't.

[Sean Fennessy]

You'll. You. You think you will. Not you. They will never add a podcaster.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I really don't.

[Chris Ryan]

But if she starts making Odyssey our updates.

[Sean Fennessy]

Right, right. As a documentarian. Yeah. Okay. You can get into the nonfiction branch.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

As Chris's personal cinematographer.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The most open hearted and you know, and pop branch of the Academy.

[Sean Fennessy]

Definitely. You'll fit right in. What do you think there will ever be a jam tasters branch for all the jam session fans out there?

[Amanda Dobbins]

It was just business reporting. Okay. And I followed through.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. Maybe another branch you could get into. I think that there will be a podcasters branch one day.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Well, that's depressing. Honestly, I think that the Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Master is like a much more central. You know, that's about two guys. That's a. It's a two. Obviously there are other people, but it's a two hander.

[Sean Fennessy]

There's a. There's a mermaid sandcastle. She figures prominently in the film.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

But you know, a couple coconuts, definitely. Yeah, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But Magnolia is unstable and that has two leads, which is why I feel.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like the Hooch is really the star in the Master.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, that's fine. I actually, I have some questions later on about what's eligible as the definition of a character, but we'll get there.

[Sean Fennessy]

Intriguing.

[Chris Ryan]

Interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

Philip Seymour Hoffman, the late. Great.

[Chris Ryan]

I think you could take it in either one. I would say it's a two. I would. I would probably if I was going back and watching. I don't know how much we see Philip Seymour Hoffman without Joaquin Phoenix's character being present a few times.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, there are scenes with Amy Adams alone where they're talking about him. They have dinner at one point without him and talk about it. You know, he famously is furiously masturbated.

[Chris Ryan]

She cranks it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Freddy Queddle's not in the room during that scene.

[Chris Ryan]

We don't think.

[Sean Fennessy]

We don't think you can see most of the room.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Because there's a mirror. It's a small bathroom, you know, I guess I don't know if he's hiding behind the shower curtain.

[Sean Fennessy]

There's definitely a reading of the movie that those two characters are the same person. Yeah, they're the two. The two strains of masculinity. Right. Like the searching mind and the beast. Right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Jesus Christ. Would you like.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is what I bring to the table.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I just want to do.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is my thing.

[Chris Ryan]

I can't believe Bill doesn't want to talk about Amy Adams, of all people, cranking Philip Seymour Hoffman. And then you could talk about the man in the middle.

[Sean Fennessy]

We don't know that. He doesn't. He might want to. If you give him Drake. May. Maybe he'll give it to us. Can we bundle. Can we get a package of Sicario and the Master together? So definitely Lancaster Dodd, which is okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But did you decide category?

[Sean Fennessy]

I would like to have him in lead, if that's achievable.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So I think that that is. I accept that.

[Sean Fennessy]

Thank you for your comfort. We've taken three men at the top of this draft. What do you make of that? What do you think it says about the work?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I'll start by taking a woman now and the leading actress. I'll be taking Vicky Crates as Alma Ellson in Phantom Thread, which I don't know if it's the best female acting performance in one of his films, but I think it is his most wonderful female creation up until the new movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And she is remarkable in this movie, to me, a total discovery. I'd never seen her before. The fact that she, a younger and less experienced actress, is toe to toe with Daniel Day Lewis in Phantom Threat as Reynolds Woodcock is amazing. And the fact that she generates the power that she does in that movie, the movie really hinges on her. It does not hinge on him. And not just her performance, but the way that that character is written in, the way that the story is structured is beautiful. And she's really great. And she's like another person who he kind of like, vaulted to a very cool career in Hollywood. So she will be my leading actress.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's a good one.

[Chris Ryan]

So I picked second here. I got my second pick, rather.

[Sean Fennessy]

How do you feel about that category, the leading actress category?

[Chris Ryan]

Well, I think this will be where probably there's some maybe disagreement, because I'll pick my leading actress right here.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

I was gonna take Julianne Moore as Linda Partridge.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I haven't written down have her in supporting.

[Sean Fennessy]

I have her written down as leading.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And I have her. She. I. I mean, that's.

[Chris Ryan]

Don't call me supporting.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

How about that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Don't call me lady.

[Sean Fennessy]

In the same.

[Chris Ryan]

Way that Tom Cruise, I think is so sort of like one big pull. I think that her character, to me, at least in my last viewing of Magnolia, which probably isn't honestly much after the rewatchables, I just remember her as being. I know that there are other characters, but, like, I just remember her being like this huge sort of fulcrum of the movie. So I had her in leading actress. I don't know if the jury will accept that.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm fine with it. I have her. Literally.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I had her in supporting, but I don't. That's fine.

[Sean Fennessy]

I have her listed as leading actress. I think she has the most prominent female role in that movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

But I would take Malora Walters and we can talk about that too. I think she has the most. The sequence with the lawyer, the doctor and the pharmacist.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Those are three of the ten most memorable sequences in the movie. Plus, she gets part of. She is part of the sing along.

[Chris Ryan]

Yep.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

So I accept.

[Chris Ryan]

That's what I'll do then.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, so lead actress. Yeah. Okay. It's running thin now. Julianne Moore. Is that even her best performance in a. In a. In a PTA movie?

[Chris Ryan]

It's up for debate.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Would you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, it's kind of. That's such a bummer to take the other one. But you can.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not your turn necessarily. It's your turn.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, no, no, I just meant, like, you know, emotionally.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. Are you my mom? Can you be my mom?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes. I rewatched all the child custody stuff too, and I was like, I mean, it's a great performance, but Liz is a bummer. Less of a bummer. But back to this is definitively supporting actress. But you know, the women, they're thinner on the ground. So I will take Cyril Woodcock, AKA Leslie Manville in Phantom's res.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Who says very little and controls everything. And is this movie Rules is so funny. And balances out both the Alma performance, the Vicky Cripps performance, and then. And gives room for DDL to just.

[Chris Ryan]

But like has gravity against him, which is hard.

[Sean Fennessy]

That famous moment where she's like, I'll go right through you, you know, don't come for me.

[Chris Ryan]

There's like a couple of different ways to go, you know, like we've seen over the course of the two DDL movies that Paul Thomas Anderson made, but you could either get Try to get as loud as him. Or you can like, you can zero in. And it's interesting to watch her kind of. She does the latter and she's like, I'm just gonna be still and like command you.

[Sean Fennessy]

That in that scene in particular, you know, he doesn't cut away back to Reynolds. He stays on Cyril the whole time. And her, like, she doesn't. And she doesn't look at him. She's holding the teacup and she's sipping the tea and she's like very quietly like this. And she's saying. She's speaking, but she's not even. She's like, we've done this before. We've had this fight before. And you know not to fuck with me, because if you fuck with me, this whole thing falls apart. Great pick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And then in needle drop, I will take. Let me roll it from licorice pizza.

[Sean Fennessy]

Great.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Which set my heart on fire the first time I saw it and is still excellent.

[Sean Fennessy]

Best part of the movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, there we go. Licorice pizza.

[Sean Fennessy]

A lot of haters out there, are there? Yeah. Can't say I get it.

[Chris Ryan]

Age gap deniers.

[Sean Fennessy]

Meaning that they think it doesn't exist.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You already, like, tried to put Jack on the age gap.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, right. Jackson thought there should be more age gap. It should be a wider older guy.

[Chris Ryan]

That is correct.

[Sean Fennessy]

Much older guy said. Yeah, it was really more like. It should be like 70 and 18. Like Bob Euler. Yeah. Yeah. I still think licorice pizza is great. It's a totally different kind of a movie from a lot of these movies, but it's so great.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What's interesting now, I rewatched it since seeing One Battle after another. And now that we have one battle after another and it's. And it's big and it's major. I'm sorry, we're not going to spoil it. But it just like this, it's an event. I felt like a lot more warmth and enjoyment for licorice pizza that it could just be what it is.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

If that. If that makes sense.

[Sean Fennessy]

100%. It reminds me a lot of Punch Drunk Love where when it came up, people were like this. From the guy capable of that. But then when you remove it from that anticipation and you accept it on its own terms, it's phenomenal.

[Chris Ryan]

It's like his tenet. Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

Definitely. Just like his tenant. Just as scrutable as his tenant as well.

[Chris Ryan]

But it's like tenet was like, oh, wait, this was gonna. This was gonna save us all.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And it didn't but then when you go back, you're like, this is. This is the best movie ever made.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, you have one more pick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I just did two. I did.

[Sean Fennessy]

You have no more picks. You know, Chris has a pick. Yeah, I always do that. What happened? Even we have this beautiful board up here now, too, and I still can't do it correctly. I'm sorry.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, it's the. The color coding is ingenious, but also, my head hurts. You have to concentrate.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I just can't see. I'm blind.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Are you wearing your contacts?

[Sean Fennessy]

I am.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We gotta talk about upgrading your contacts.

[Sean Fennessy]

Imagine if I wasn't wearing my contacts right now. I wouldn't be able to make it out the door.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know, but that's nothing compared to if I weren't wearing my contacts.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, yours is worse than mine. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

So in supporting actor, I'm going to take Josh Brolin as Bigfoot Bjornsson.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Inherit vice big time. Cr. Piss.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I was rewatching this to try to pick up what I could. Fast forwarding through. I was like, this is Elite Brolin. I was like, should I do this?

[Chris Ryan]

And I don't know. He's very, very, very, very, very funny. As a pretty racist cop in this movie, I think.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think he's the best part of the movie. No, Cielo Drive for Bigfoot is the funny. I think that's the funniest line in the whole movie where his whole intention is to just be a super famous cop. And everything that he's doing is in an effort to get that. Yeah, but he's such a dickhead that of course no one's willing to give him anything. He's so funny.

[Chris Ryan]

Just a great haircut. I mean, Brolin really is the, you know, really, really adept at fitting into these larger ensembles and has probably at this point of his career, he's maybe a little bit bigger than this, but, like, I feel like he would just be like, yeah, I'll just be. I'll be in the movie for six minutes.

[Sean Fennessy]

What's his comp as a. As a movie star? Like, I can't think of another person who is so comfortable doing that part, which is like the third supporting character in that movie, but also be the star of no country, but also be the third supporting character in weapons. Like, he's such a.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Was he Thanos?

[Sean Fennessy]

He was Thanos. Like, I can't quite put my finger on it. It's a good thought exercise.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Did you guys read Zach's Glen Powell interview, which was very exciting. Well, I just it's great piece about Glen Powell, but Josh Brolin steals the show as a secondary.

[Chris Ryan]

Josh Brolin goes up to him.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Incredible stuff.

[Chris Ryan]

I can't remember what were they making? Or they were making something at the same time in the same town or something.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Chris Ryan]

And Brolin goes up to Glen Powell and like, when they, like the first day they meet, he goes, are you a bro?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. He's like the litmus test for people are as. Are you a bro or not?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Are you a bro?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Are you going to make it all about, like the. The fame and the bullshit? Or are you about the work?

[Amanda Dobbins]

But I think. But then there are definitely some more quotes about weightlifting or. Or, like putting on or. Or training or something.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, but Brolin comes back. Brolin has a lot. It's really, really good. So shout out to both of them.

[Sean Fennessy]

I would like to once again recommend the Josh Brolin episode of wtf. It's the best in which they talk about Zinn for the first 12 minutes off brand Dubai.

[Chris Ryan]

Zinn.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. And the insane heart palpitations that are created by leaving them in overnight. It's some of the best content you'll ever find. He's very special.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Good pick.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good pick. Cr.

[Chris Ryan]

Thanks. Thanks.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, I've got lead actor and lead actress. I'm gonna look around at supporting performances. I think I know where I'm going. I think I know where I'm going in both of them. In supporting male performance, I'll be selecting John C. Reilly as Reed Rothchild.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh.

[Sean Fennessy]

Which is one of the funniest performances. Now, some would say, maybe you should take Burt Reynolds. I would say, no, I thought, I like Jack Horner.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think he's great. I think what Burt Reynolds fame represents is very powerful for that movie. To me, Reed Rothschild is the pick. John C. Reilly. I went to see this movie on Sunday night and Monday night. John C. Reilly was there both nights.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I did. I saw him Sunday night.

[Chris Ryan]

One battle after another, you mean?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Oh, wow. And that's fucking cool. That's like. When you direct your 10th film. I'll show up to the premiere and to your interview with Steven Spielberg.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Which is Steven Spielberg just doing the last time on. But for the entire audience, it was very cute. Illustrious footsteps you're following in, Jeff.

[Sean Fennessy]

John C. Reilly. Reid and Dirk meeting for the first time at Jack's party is what it was like when Ciara and I met for the first time. When we talked about weightlifting and we talked about. I said, people say I Remind them of Han Solo and I made him a margarita and you said it was the best margarita you'd ever had. And we were friends forever.

[Chris Ryan]

The same relationship to Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly meeting in stepbrothers, unintentionally or intentionally, it's just the best.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did we just become best friends? Yeah, literally. I feel great about that pick. I love Reed. Okay, supporting actress. You know what? I think I'm going to pivot. No. How many Boogie Nights characters is too many is a question.

[Chris Ryan]

Don't you do it?

[Sean Fennessy]

Should there be variants?

[Amanda Dobbins]

How are you going to do it?

[Sean Fennessy]

What am I going to do?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, if you're doing supporting actress, Boogie Nights.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I've got two thoughts.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't want. Is it wrong to reveal the thoughts? They're both Boogie Night's thoughts.

[Chris Ryan]

You're going to be able to pick, so go ahead.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I'll take Roller Girl.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Fuck off. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I can't believe I got myself into this jam, you know?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Delete.

[Chris Ryan]

I could have just done this earlier. Nobody was going to take Bjornsson.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, there are literally three other characters in Boogie Nights that I want to be able to draft. Obviously won't be able to because I don't even have that many picks left. But the one scene, Scott, you could.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Be in a committed relationship with, should you be saving this for Wild Card?

[Sean Fennessy]

It was never going to get that far.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, that's right. That's true.

[Sean Fennessy]

It was never anything, but you could.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Take it right now.

[Sean Fennessy]

And there are many other complicated women that Paul Thomas Anderson has put on screen that I will happily consummate my love with.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, you could. It doesn't have. You can take it now in Wild Card.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, but I. This weakens the supporting actress pool. Like, it weakens pretty prominently. This is Heather Graham's best performance, and.

[Chris Ryan]

You may want to run for president someday. So you don't want to pick Heather Graham's Roller Girl as the woman you'd wish you could be in a committed relationship.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, I need to pick an adult woman like Laura Dern as Helen Sullivan in the Master. That's like, that'll be who I'm in a relationship with. It's like I drafted a 48 year old woman who's. Who's responsible. I govern from the center. Well, there was. I've told the story before. There was a Details magazine cover featuring Heather Graham all in gold, wearing roller skates, nude on the COVID which I. It was a trifold cover. I think it might have been a bifold. I ripped that cover right off. Put it on my wall. When I was a teenage boy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Heather Graham changed all of us.

[Chris Ryan]

Because you love photography.

[Sean Fennessy]

I love acting. You know, I love. I love performance. I love the art of movie making. And yeah, Roller Girl, I think, kind of set the template for a certain kind of movie love. And her performance is really good because she does have this journey in the movie where she starts out as this, like, fairly innocent seeming young porn star and eventually becomes yet another victim of the awful nature of that world and that time and kind of like strikes back and needs to defend herself, but then also gets caught in the throes of addiction. And it's just a really good use of Heather Graham's skills. And, you know, we were talking about Sydney Sweeney earlier, and they have a very similar. I think they're going to have very similar trajectories.

[Chris Ryan]

Heather Graham, you think Sydney Sweeney is going to have Heather Graham's career?

[Sean Fennessy]

I think that they're confronted by the same problems in terms of how they're cast. You know, like, you have to fight to not get typecast, to want to be taken seriously as an actor if you are someone like Heather Graham or Sydney Sweeney.

[Chris Ryan]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

And, you know, like, Heather Graham got her start in Drugstore Cowboy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's true.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, like, she started out as a very serious actor. That's true. But she's also incredibly beautiful. And so inevitably, at first, it's played for gags in Austin Powers, too. And then all of a sudden, you're in the Hangover, breastfeeding a child on screen, and then that's. That's who everybody thinks you are in movies. You know, it's tough. It's hard out here.

[Chris Ryan]

You get typecast.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Happy to get Heather Graham.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Excuse me. Thank you.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, Chris, I got Roller Girl and Reed Rothschild.

[Chris Ryan]

All right, so I got lead actor. I got lead actress in a controversial move. I have supporting actor.

[Sean Fennessy]

Freddie Quell is on the board for you for Wild Card.

[Chris Ryan]

What's that?

[Sean Fennessy]

Freddie Quill, right from the master.

[Chris Ryan]

But I would have to be in a committed relationship with him.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's my point. Well, he might not be able to commit to you, but you could commit to him.

[Chris Ryan]

I think that I will have a little bit of fun here and take from my one scene wonder. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the mattress man in Punch Drunk Love.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think that's a really good number one overall pick, I think.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Think I've got a couple ideas, but it's. Yeah, it's pretty good.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't really even know what to Say about this? Shut the fuck up. You know, like, it's just really one of my. One of those, like, this movie leaves planet Earth when that happens and you're just like, anything could happen for the rest of this film. I would believe it. He's in two scenes, I think technically in this film. But the, the phone is the really, the main one. And great phone acting. Really, really good phone acting. I wonder if they must have done that conversation for real.

[Sean Fennessy]

I wonder. That's a good question. Yeah, it's amazing. There are some bonus materials on the Blu Ray that feature the mattress man commercial that I think people should check out. I think it's on YouTube as well. There is some cutting room floor stuff with Hoffman, but yeah, Shut shut, shut, Shut shut is the best. Okay, Dobbins, you got two picks.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. I have two in lead actor. I'm going to take Reynolds Woodcock, which, you know, you guys, I mean, maybe you want to be in a committed relationship with him.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, clothes would be nice.

[Sean Fennessy]

Honestly, like, seems dangerous.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I could go back and forth.

[Sean Fennessy]

Poison involved there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. But you wouldn't have to be taking it in that.

[Sean Fennessy]

Dealing with it. It's like I accidentally licked my fingers one day.

[Amanda Dobbins]

This is the funniest and most memorable and like, instantly quotable of all the characters and performances. So, so funny and useful in everyday life. You know, I really do feel like if either I am just, you know, displaying Reynolds Woodcock esque energy or my partner is, or you are, or, you know, my podcast partner, I guess.

[Sean Fennessy]

When would I be exhibiting Reynolds Woodcock energy?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I rewatched the asparagus scene this morning, which is.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you have a gun?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Are you a special agent sent here to ruin my evening? I mean, it's really, really so good. But also the breakfast scene, the first one with the pre Alma. And then I began my day with a confrontation. Please.

[Sean Fennessy]

But I love. I love the order, the ordering breakfast and then meeting and her noticing him and him noticing her back and that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And the scene when they're. When he's fitting her. That is, you know, essentially the sex scene, but so is the eating scene. Then the first breakfast when she's spreading the toast. And the sound mix is just so. It's like so, so loud. I mean, this is my favorite PTA movie. I really love it. So I'm very happy to have that. And then I also have lead actress.

[Sean Fennessy]

But wait, I don't understand. You took Tom Cruise as Frank T.J. mackie and lead actor. So are you taking.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I'm taking Tom I took him in supporting.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, you took him in supporting. Okay, got it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Because to me, Magnolia is all supporting performance. And maybe I think we can all draft according to, you know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

Personal preferences.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So I do need a lead actress.

[Sean Fennessy]

But gonna pass on that because you don't care for women.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, you guys already have your lead actresses.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So I think that I'm probably. Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

I need a supporting. So this is gonna get tight.

[Sean Fennessy]

He needs a supporting. And I need a woman to spend the rest of my life with. This is the other thing I ask, does Chris.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's fine. I still have a couple options because I see the work of women everywhere, you know, and I can honor them.

[Sean Fennessy]

So it's fine.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I have a robust side.

[Sean Fennessy]

I just want to say. Not on my board with UNESCO sites too often.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He's honoring them.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not on my board for spending the rest of my life with Isa Gwyneth Paltrow's Clementine and Heartache.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, same.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not a contender.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So let me just for interest, let me bring this to the board.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In one scene, and this is, I guess, like a parliamentary question, but also perhaps an existential question.

[Sean Fennessy]

You always do this, and then you make us make a tough choice, and then it kind of sours the mood.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, this is not. This is a. You might have to explore something about yourself that you don't want to. Oh, but yeah, this is about intoxicating.

[Sean Fennessy]

Perfect for this draft.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So this is for one scene.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Does Dirk Diggler's penis count as its own character? Discuss.

[Chris Ryan]

Well, you know, I mean, it's a great, great thought.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's an amazing thought. Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And you two have experience with, you know, so you decide.

[Sean Fennessy]

Chris also has a giant cop.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, yeah, there is a prosthetic part of it, but also just like, as a. Is that a separate. It's. Is that a separate entity? It is doing its own work in the film in the context of the story.

[Chris Ryan]

Wait, sorry, this was first supporting it. What is this one?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Scene one.

[Sean Fennessy]

I love it. I love what you're doing after.

[Chris Ryan]

I actually would be pretty into this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Is what I'm saying. Either one. But, like, it's a separate.

[Sean Fennessy]

I fully approve and I think it's a great idea.

[Chris Ryan]

It's great to see you iterating.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Now that we're on draft 410.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But so, okay, so it can be.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm so glad it's not like, oh, well, they were actually in four scenes, but that's what I thought you were gonna hit us with. And instead you gave us a Scene with one key figure in one scene.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The movie is built around it thematically and structurally. Pun probably intended, and I just. I think. But it's not Dirk Diggler. It is specifically his penis. So we're counting that as a separate character.

[Sean Fennessy]

That. That Dick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is like Harry Lime in the Third man, where for an hour all we hear about is, like, this guy, this guy, this guy. And we're waiting for him to show up, and we're waiting for Dirk because, you know, the Colonel gets to see what Dirk is working with.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Jack gets to see what's wrong with Ruler Girl gets to.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But we do not. Until the very end.

[Sean Fennessy]

Until the very end.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, great. I'm so pleased.

[Chris Ryan]

Nice job.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Thanks. Thanks very much.

[Sean Fennessy]

Great pick.

[Chris Ryan]

I. So I have to do supporting actress here. There's now kind of options versus some earlier logic. But I'll do Amy Adams from the Master here.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

You can argue that she is the female lead, but I wouldn't say that.

[Sean Fennessy]

I had her in lead.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. It's like a kind of activism that's just not really helping us in the end.

[Sean Fennessy]

A kind of activism?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. You're just, like, trying to put all these women in lead, and it's fine. These movies are about men. These are mostly supporting parts.

[Sean Fennessy]

Wow.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You're saying.

[Chris Ryan]

So would you say Alana Haim is not the lead actress?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. I do think that she is, because it's about the two of them.

[Sean Fennessy]

So my point of view on the female characters of Paul Thomas Anderson to you is utter woke nonsense is what you're saying.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm just like, you think you're helping, but you're not.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, trust me, I'm helping every day.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's keeping us down.

[Chris Ryan]

Donating to Klobuchar. Just keep the money, man. Minnesota is not your problem.

[Sean Fennessy]

I can assure you I was never ensnared in that trap. Okay, so you selected Amy Adams as Peggy Dodd.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes. The Crank master.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

One cranker recognize.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. We've moved on to the Dick portion of the podcast.

[Sean Fennessy]

I can't believe it's well known to pull. Yeah, I. It's a great performance.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Who was it supposed to be? It wasn't supposed to be Amy Adams. It was supposed to be. Because it was supposed to be Jeremy.

[Chris Ryan]

Renner as Freddie Quell and Marion Cotillard.

[Sean Fennessy]

No.

[Chris Ryan]

The Masters.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's what we would like. You know, it's always like, I think I was supposed to be Marion Cotillard.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, that would have been a little bit confusing. I think I got you. Hold on. It was Reese Witherspoon. That's what it was.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh.

[Sean Fennessy]

And that's. That would have been better.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You think so?

[Sean Fennessy]

I do.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Here's the thing.

[Sean Fennessy]

And she shows up in Inherent Vice in part because they wanted to.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right? No, I know. I love Rhys.

[Sean Fennessy]

I know you do.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I love her films. I don't think she fits in Inherent Vice.

[Sean Fennessy]

I love the part when it's revealed that she is also a stoner and they're, like, hanging out. And that's the real her. I think the thing is she is Peggy Dodd to me in real life. Like, this is what I think she's like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like, okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Where she's like a power driving.

[Chris Ryan]

See, I think she's Lancaster nod.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I think she's like. We are pushing into the AI future. And I will. I will be. I'm getting on the Lifeboat.

[Sean Fennessy]

Are they. Are they. Is her. Is her organization really into AI?

[Chris Ryan]

She's pretty fired up about AI.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, Greece. I mean, that. That company's not making money, so they.

[Sean Fennessy]

Gotta figure something out.

[Chris Ryan]

The Ringer does a really cool college football podcast called Something Rear Tailgate.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And the. The first. After the first North Carolina game, Van and Joel were talking about what's wrong with Bill Belichick. And Van was like, he doesn't have any pep because his pep is being drained on a nightly basis.

[Sean Fennessy]

Immediately thought Peggy Dodd. You saw Peggy Dodd's face.

[Chris Ryan]

Draining Lancaster's pep.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's a good meme for you to make. Yeah. Is it's. It's the shot of Amy Adams looking in the mirror. And superimposed is Bill Belichick's face over.

[Chris Ryan]

That wouldn't be weird.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

What if that was my first tweet in six years? Just jump in. Hey, guys. Missed what's. I don't know what you guys are talking about.

[Sean Fennessy]

I gotta say, you've missed a lot on Twitter in that time. A lot's been going on. Yeah, I'm good. A lot of news.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

You guys been following the news? Okay. Sierra, that was a good pick. Peggy will always be a lead to me, but then again, I don't hate women.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Or don't you?

[Sean Fennessy]

So I have two picks.

[Chris Ryan]

So you have needle drop and relationship.

[Sean Fennessy]

Needle drop. One scene. Star in relationship. I love that. We just changed Wild Card to relationship. That was a very good idea because.

[Chris Ryan]

Wild Card, you could just be like, I love this. Also awesome performance.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right? I mean, I think I had some fun ones, though, that I will no longer pick to be in relationships. Including all of the sisters from Punch Druck Love.

[Chris Ryan]

Right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And the phone sex operator from Punch Drunk. You know, But I probably won't. It's not a good financial decision.

[Sean Fennessy]

One scene star. There's a lot of ways to go here. And you guys have both taken your one scene stars. So I think it would be fun to talk through this category a little bit with you guys because I don't think.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Wait, has. He has.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Chris took Philip Seymour Hoffman as Mattress Man. That's right. And you took Dirk Diggler's penis.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Now, this is really hard. I'll go from the bottom up.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Benny Safdie is Joel Walks, the.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The.

[Sean Fennessy]

City councilman candidate.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

In Silver lion winner. Benny Safdie, silver Lion winner. That's right. Henry Gibson is Thurston Howell. And Magnolia as the guy who Needles.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

William H. Macy in at the Bar. Hong Chow as Jade and Inherent Vice. Jenna Malone as Hope Harlingen, an inherent vice. Michelle Sinclair, AKA the porn star. Belladonna as Clancy Charlock, AKA in Inherent Vice. Real ones. No. Martin Short as Dr. Rudy Blattoid, DDS in Inherent Vice.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is so fucking funny. For three minutes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Harriet Sansom Harris as Mary Grady, the agent in Licorice Pizza, when she's like, you are a fighter. That scene is fucking crack to me. Robert Ridgely as the Colonel in Boogie Nights.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Powerful stuff.

[Sean Fennessy]

Philip Baker hall as Floyd Gondoli in Boogie Nights.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Really, really, really good.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm a simple man.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Butter. Yeah. Butter and lollipops.

[Sean Fennessy]

Feel free to say it. Butter and lollipops.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. We know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Bradley Cooper is John Peters in Licorice.

[Chris Ryan]

Try sand.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And I think I have to do this now. I'm getting a little bit Boogie Nights heavy here. But I have to take Alfred Molina as Rahad Jackson.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. That's a guy you got to acknowledge.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is the best single scene thing, arguably in his entire career. These other parts are really fun and funny and Floyd Gondoli means a lot to me. But Molina as the coked out maniac has to be where I go with that. So that's. I'll take that there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Needle drop. I'll tell you one that hit me pretty hard.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is maybe not the most conventional one that you could go with.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

My conventional pick would probably be from Boogie Nights.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And the song that I listen to, the most that he's ever put is from Boogie Nights. But I'll take Journey through the Past from Inherent Vice. You stole mine by Neil Young.

[Chris Ryan]

Them walking by the.

[Sean Fennessy]

They're using the Ouija Board. And then they think that they have gotten a message about where to go to get something. And they run outside. The rain. Yes. They run through the rain together and make out. Which is beautiful. It's magical.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. And age appropriate.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. And it is age appropriate. That's true. And what film was that in, Sean? Inherent Vice.

[Chris Ryan]

A lot of Inherent Vice Dab.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's coming back. It's coming back in a big way. Inherent advice. I mean, it's a pinch in season for pta. You could make the case that what is so great about One Battle After Another is what held Inherent Vice back a little bit, which is that using the material as a jumping off point as opposed to the source text. Inherent Weiss is like, literally line for line. Stuff out of the book is in the movie. That's not the case for One Battle After Another. But. Yeah, I love that one. There's another one I would love to talk through, but I know Crystal has to pick in this category, so I won't stumble over everything. Okay. Cr.

[Chris Ryan]

For. Well, for needle drop. I'll just get this out of the way because I'll leave the relationship talk to the end. I'll do. I'll do God Only knows from. From.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Just because of the way that it's employed is just like. It's. It's so bittersweet because, like, you know, you think a bunch of those characters do have, like, nice Ish endings. But I always remember Roller Girl, like, staring out the window in class and being like. Like, you know, like. And it's the way that that drops with Cheadle coming out to do the ad or whatever is just so great.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, it's an I. How did he even. How did they even get that song?

[Chris Ryan]

I don't even understand whether, like, it's hard to get songs anymore. I was watching, like, there's, like, Amazon shows. There's just like, here's with or without you. And I was like, isn't this expensive?

[Sean Fennessy]

I know. Everything that we were taught in the 90s about the challenges of securing songs is over. That's a great one.

[Chris Ryan]

Robert Plant, A Letter to Ask. You know, it's like, now. Yeah, I don't think so.

[Sean Fennessy]

The. The one that I would have chosen from Boogie Nights is Do your Thing, which is the song that is used. Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Band. That is played during the sequence when little Bill discovers that his wife is cheating on him again in the bedroom. And he goes out to his car and gets a gun at the New Year's eve party on December 31, 1979. And that scene, I would just encourage people to rewatch it. If you want to see the masterclass in editing and pacing in a story where the way that the music fits to what is happening in the sequence is unbelievable. And that song is so cool because it starts out like a regular old funk song and then it turns into a really weird electric guitar solo. Jazz freak out. And it ends. The final note of the song is. The final note of the scene is the gunshot. And it's not the most beloved song of all time, but it is such a perfect use of music in movies. He does this over and over again.

[Chris Ryan]

Would you say that Nina Hartley would be the person you would also want to be in a committed relationship with this.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, we're not there yet, Chris. I have to wait because Amanda has two picks. I have two picks. Can talk about all the porn stars who appeared in all these films whom I love.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So I have. In lead actress, I'm going to take Emily Watson as Lena Leonard in Punk Struck Love, which is a favorite of mine, PTA wise. And also, like, she has to be believable as someone who would actually be interested in the Sandler character, you know, despite everything that's going on. But when they're sitting across from each other and he's explaining the pudding, like, frequent flyer miles scheme, and she is. She's not like, what a weirdo. She is, like, warm and interested and intrigued and like, it's just. It's very lovely. And I think it's very hard to be that present when you're just kind of like the girl and the object of this person and she's not quite the girl. So she has more to do. So that's a good performance. And then who do I want to be in a relationship with?

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, you've got an amazing row of goddess.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Pitiful. I do. Well, you. I could also. You know, I'm deleting Peggy Dodd here from this list because that's been drafted.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, you're toying with spending the rest of your life with a woman. Oh, I.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Listen, you gotta keep all your options open. It's a spectrum.

[Sean Fennessy]

It is. It absolutely is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I do. I think that all this little bill dies.

[Sean Fennessy]

Just for the record, I don't think he's.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Trunk Love. Long time would be like, a little alarming for me, but they're really good.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Marilyn Rascomb, you know, she's. She's a goat.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She means well. Okay, so there's the practical choice here, which is Just like, well, let me.

[Sean Fennessy]

Ask just a point of order question. Is Dirk Diggler off the board right now?

[Chris Ryan]

For you or for Amanda?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, but just in general. Well, this is what I was asking him because I drafted his, his penis.

[Sean Fennessy]

Right. So if I were to draft him, would he be cockless? Like is that. And you, you retain rights to his memory?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think so.

[Sean Fennessy]

And then he is a eunuch with me.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I guess so, yeah. Which is in some ways, you know.

[Chris Ryan]

She could give you visitation rights. You never know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Yeah. What did he shoot, Jack?

[Amanda Dobbins]

You want to spend the rest of your life with him in a committed relationship?

[Sean Fennessy]

I really do not.

[Chris Ryan]

You guys probably have similar taste in action movies though.

[Sean Fennessy]

Me and Dirk? Yeah, he's kind of a Skydance guy. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So like the practical answer here, just, you know, on paper, the, this is a person who you can probably, I don't know who's good hearted. Unless I'm forgetting a part of the movie where he does something fucked up, but I don't think so. Anyway. Phil Parma, AKA Philip C. Moore.

[Sean Fennessy]

Hoffman. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He just buys a magnolia.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's nothing wrong with that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Another guy who wants to crank it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But sure, you know, but you want that in a committed relationship, right? And then just, just. And, but this, you know, this is the scene in the movie. You want someone. Now here's the thing. Would that actually, would that niceness become a little boring?

[Chris Ryan]

Well, it's also like when you're like, honey, how is your day?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

Not a lot of laughs.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Which then leads us to Bradley Cooper as John Peters, which, My God. Well, I, I, I didn't say that's who I'm picking. I said I'm going through the options here. You know, like there, there is a lot going on. But like, good enough, let's keep talking.

[Chris Ryan]

What about Eli Sunday?

[Sean Fennessy]

Why not? Why not Paul and Eli Sunday together?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Listen, it's a nice house.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

John Peters house.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I might be Barbra Streisands, I don't, you know, so that's tricky. But it's, you would never get bored. But then I think that honestly on my list here, I'm not going to get into the age debate. So it's a small character.

[Chris Ryan]

Are you picking Cooper Hoffman?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I said I'm not getting into the age debate.

[Sean Fennessy]

He's of age now. Now. Yeah, but in the movie, you know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like we came revisiting it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Wait, what was the movie that I saw that had a direct lift? Oh, Freakier Friday had a direct lift of licorice pizza.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, really?

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah. It's like she.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a purposeful homage. Did you see.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know if I didn't. But isn't it. She's like old, dating a young guy.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, like her soul is. No, that is in the movie. But there is a visual. I think they shot at the same school, and there's a scene where they're walking. You know, there's like that walkway with the overhang in licorice pizza that is recreated perfectly in Freaky or Friday. And I was like, are the filmmakers nodding to the 2022 masterpiece Licorice Pizza?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Maybe not. Because, you know, young women have wide tastes and probably also enjoy Freeker Friday and licorice pizza. There you go.

[Sean Fennessy]

Great. Okay. What an incredible pod for women.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. You know, that's what we're doing here.

[Chris Ryan]

Against all odds.

[Sean Fennessy]

They've got Dirk Diggler's cocktail. You know, they've got all these great performances.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You guys remember.

[Chris Ryan]

So you're not picking.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm doing Lance Brannigan. Who is Skyler Gozag?

[Sean Fennessy]

I wasn't sure where to put him. It's like, is he a one scene star? Is he a supporting actor?

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, I mean, he's definitely got charisma. I really relate to the. The dinner scene. We're just absolutely putting your foot in your mouth around the dad and all the other, you know, we've all been there.

[Sean Fennessy]

Just throwing it at Alana Heim on the plane is elite. That scene is amazing stuff.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So that's.

[Sean Fennessy]

And that's Jimmy Olsen now, too. You know, he's thriving, right?

[Amanda Dobbins]

What's he do with the newspaper?

[Sean Fennessy]

He's a photographer.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He puts things right into the scene.

[Sean Fennessy]

But he also has relationships that help draw out necessary investigative information. We saw that he was a critical part of that story. Did you see the film Superman?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, we talked about this.

[Sean Fennessy]

Pretty good. No, I think on the watch you talked about.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah, I thought it was good.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, it's good. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Did you guys see what the new Superman is about?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes, Sean told me two minutes ago before we started the podcast.

[Sean Fennessy]

It was actually Chris who told you. So that tells you a lot about how you see men.

[Chris Ryan]

For the purposes of the podcast, we're.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Not teaming up, you know, to fight another evil.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes, Lex and Supes, one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

One and the other. You know, I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you think that that film will then be accused of valorizing billionaires?

[Chris Ryan]

It's possible, but who knows? You know, it depends on who actually winds up releasing it.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's a Very good point. Okay. Chris Ryan, Amanda, you're done.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm done.

[Sean Fennessy]

You're. You are wedded to Lance Brannigan.

[Chris Ryan]

Well, you'll have to be married. You have to put a ring on it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

You just date that person.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yep.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, along the same lines as Amanda. She was saying, how would this. You know, you could say, like, wouldn't it be cool to date Shasta? But I think it would probably get pretty one note after a while.

[Sean Fennessy]

Completely disagree, but continue.

[Chris Ryan]

We know I like to keep things lively, and that's why I'm going to be in a committed relationship with Claudia Gator.

[Sean Fennessy]

How would your ears handle the volume at which she likes to hear music?

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know. If I was doing a blow, it'd probably be like, sounds great.

[Sean Fennessy]

You and Claudia Gator would get into some trouble. I think you guys would get into some trouble. Yeah. Do you think that by the end of the movie, she's okay?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I think she's on her way to being a little bit better off.

[Sean Fennessy]

You think she and Jim Curry make.

[Chris Ryan]

It bored of him?

[Sean Fennessy]

You do?

[Chris Ryan]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, yeah. And that's kind of like, who are you afraid about being bored of?

[Amanda Dobbins]

She was Phil Parma.

[Chris Ryan]

Phil Parma.

[Sean Fennessy]

Phil Palma.

[Chris Ryan]

So maybe, like.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Magnolia, everyone's in their feelings too much to be with them long term.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, My true answer would be if you could.

[Sean Fennessy]

Would you be with TJ Mackie?

[Chris Ryan]

My true answer would have been Rhys from Inherent. But you took her.

[Sean Fennessy]

I didn't take her.

[Chris Ryan]

Somebody took her.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right? No, we just talked about her.

[Sean Fennessy]

No. Deputy District Attorney Penny Kimball.

[Chris Ryan]

Then I'm. I'm with her.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm with her.

[Sean Fennessy]

So it's like an attorney in the streets and a freak in the sheets.

[Chris Ryan]

She just seems like a gray hang.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yep. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

All right. So do you have one more?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I'm obviously taking Shasta Faye Hepburn. I would let Catherine Waters and destroy my life. The whole movie is about not being.

[Chris Ryan]

Able to get over.

[Sean Fennessy]

What the hex that someone put on you. When someone comes along who has that incredible power that she has in that movie and the whole first scene and then whatever second to last scene is like, you just can't shake it. And, yeah, for me, definitely. I mean, what are my other options? I'm definitely not choosing Claudia Gator. That sounds.

[Chris Ryan]

And not Nina Hartley.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I love Becky Barnett.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Nicole Ari Parker from Boogie Nights. Chocolate Love.

[Chris Ryan]

Most recently on in Just like that as a documentary filmmaker.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. So I was talking with Eileen a couple weeks ago about and just like that, which apparently the last season was like a war crime and everything.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I still haven't finished it. Did you finish it?

[Chris Ryan]

No, I did not.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Did Eileen?

[Sean Fennessy]

She did finish it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she loves it and loves to hate it and is obsessed with. With, you know, that's like. That show is a religion to her. The origin of Sex and the City. But she kept talking about, you know, like, the new characters that they added and then how they kind of like, pulled back on some of them in the. In these future seasons because of the backlash and what was missing and what wasn't there. And she was explaining the Nicole Ari Parker character to me, and I was like, oh, who plays that character? And she looked it up, and she was like, oh, it's Nicole Ari Parker. And I was like, oh, Becky Barnett. And she was like, who's Becky Barnett? And I was like, Becky Barnett from Boogie Nights? And she was like, I don't know what you're talking about. And I was like, the. The black porn star who dates, you know, Buck Swope. Like, Becky Barnett. And she was like, that doesn't register with me.

[Chris Ryan]

And I realized, has she not seen Boogie Nights?

[Sean Fennessy]

No, she's definitely seen Boogie Nights, but just that in my mind, I'm like, Becky Barnett, one of the signature characters of the 1990s. This is one of the key women we've seen on film.

[Chris Ryan]

Clarice Starling, Becky Barnett.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. And she just didn't. She didn't hold a lot of interest for Eileen. She said she was fine on the show, though. Nicole Hart Parker.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, she was fine. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Bad show. Don't know how it ends. She was the. Carrie was writing historical fiction.

[Chris Ryan]

Yep.

[Sean Fennessy]

Historical fiction.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. About the ghost or the woman who used to live in her Gramercy Park.

[Sean Fennessy]

Was she writing it in the fashion of her column from the original, but.

[Chris Ryan]

Wonder when the suffragette movement would come along?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Unfortunately, no. It was like the woman did this. Like, the character doesn't have a name.

[Sean Fennessy]

She should have done it like an epistolary diary novel in her Carrie voice, but set in the 1800s. That's a good idea.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Maybe that happens in episode eight.

[Chris Ryan]

Maybe Carrie could somehow time travel back to the Gilded Age and show up there.

[Sean Fennessy]

Now we're talking. That's some HBO IP crossover. So we have a great number of also rants, honorable mentions. So we mentioned quite a few of them. Not. Not taken here. Dirk Diggler. Not taken.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Freddie Quell.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not taken. No Joaquin selected here.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know.

[Sean Fennessy]

No Larry Doc Sportello.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Felt sad about that.

[Sean Fennessy]

But what do you think about one battle after another if it's Joaquin instead of Leo? I'm not saying that it was going to be. I'm just curious what you. Because he was. He was on a Joaquin kick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. I mean, I think it still works, but I. There is something very special about. And softer about what Leo's doing that I. Is perfect.

[Sean Fennessy]

I agree with you. Gary Valentine still on the board. Cooper Hoffman because he was too young for Amanda. Sidney Brown. Philip Baker Hall's character from Hard Eight.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

Philip Seymour Hoffman's craps player as a one scene.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't wait for old people. That was on my list.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, I forgot to put. Put him down on the one scene start. But he would have been great. God. Philip Seymour Hoffman. I mean. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, Sandler is Barry Egan. Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He's on my. On my leading men list for sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is the movie. Right. That resets the trajectory of his career.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Punch drock love.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Like this is the movie where we were like, oh, yes, he can do this. And now is becoming increasingly more known for doing parts like this than the comedy.

[Chris Ryan]

I think it almost feels more like he's doing the slop to pay. Right to J. Kelly or right. You know, whatever.

[Sean Fennessy]

Happy Gilmore too.

[Chris Ryan]

I didn't see it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All the. All the golfers are in it.

[Chris Ryan]

I know I saw some of them.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And I could ID them.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, that's. That's just.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There you go.

[Chris Ryan]

You're a wife guy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Amber Waves was not selected.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Like I said. I mean, I. I looked at. She's very, very good.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's. It just too depressing for you?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Pretty bummer town. Until. Until the God. On Leno's montage. Sort of.

[Sean Fennessy]

Alana Heim as Alana Kane.

[Chris Ryan]

Pretty good.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I had her in my list.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I heard my list. I was. I had. Would you consider Kevin J. Oconnors performance in there will be bloody one scene wonder.

[Sean Fennessy]

I guess I think of it as supporting, but it's really only about three scenes.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's when he comes to the house.

[Chris Ryan]

Swimming in the house in the fire.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Well, you see that? Look at that. Just like right off the dome. We just know exactly what Kevin J. O' Connor does. And that's why that day I made that margarita for him. Best friends ever since Little Bill.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Scotty J. Buck Swope.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, you could have just done a Boogie Nights cast draft.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. We could have one performance that I really loved upon revisiting it this week. Was Owen Wilson as Coy Harlinger. There's the scene where they're whispering to each other and he's kind of explaining the entire plot and the world of the movie and the Golden Fang and all that. That is magical. And that's what I was saying. When Weed had. Amanda comes around whenever that is. In your 50s and your 60s.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Just try it again.

[Chris Ryan]

They've got to get weed back down to at least the 1990s.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I just like. I don't. That's not. I don't relax like that. You know?

[Sean Fennessy]

How do you relax?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well. But that's also. That's just not my vibe. I'm either having fun or I'm asleep.

[Chris Ryan]

There's no third. There's no third way.

[Sean Fennessy]

Got it. Smoking like a true crackhead. Either. Having fun while you're asleep.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I would say that's not my wavelength. It's important to know these things about yourselves.

[Sean Fennessy]

Knox just pressed pause on his phone. 20 years from now in therapy. This is what my mom said in public. Okay. What else? Todd Parker. Todd Parker. Thomas Jane.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Who else?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No one said Paul Dano at any point. We just haven't said it.

[Sean Fennessy]

We talked about Paul and Eli Sunday.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's right. Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

You know Guzman from Boogie Nights.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. TT Needle drops.

[Chris Ryan]

I had Vitamin C from Inherent Vice. I had Jesse's Girl. Boogie Nights.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yep.

[Chris Ryan]

There are some sweet tunes in. In the Master.

[Sean Fennessy]

Get the Behind Me Satan.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's an important one.

[Chris Ryan]

Jams that I like to throw on.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yep. Boogie Shoes. Yeah. By Casey and the Sunshine Band. And Boogie Nights is a big one. I think he needs me in Punch Drunk Love. One of the most famous ones. Wise up by Amy Mann. Life on Mars in. In Licorice Pizza. What else?

[Chris Ryan]

Do you think the categories worked for this?

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, it's not up to us to decide. It's up to the listeners to tell us if we've done a good job or not. Jack. Do you think this worked? 100%.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Thank you for your support.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. And your brevity. Jack. You really. I was going crazy across three Google Docs and Google Sheets.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I honestly. I might have to listen to this episode. I blacked out, like, half of it. I feel good about it. So you're excited for one battle after another?

[Chris Ryan]

I am. You know, it's a shame that this draft wasn't as contentious as usual, but I think we had some interesting.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We had some fun.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Who do you think won?

[Chris Ryan]

I think we all did because we get to live in a Time where this man makes movies. You know, it gives us.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's really beautiful.

[Chris Ryan]

Belladonna on screen.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, Amanda is going to crush the Instagram results with Dirk Diggler's penis.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I think you.

[Sean Fennessy]

You.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Thank you. I was thinking outside the box, but, yeah, it was.

[Sean Fennessy]

Honestly, it's like you put a dick in a box.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. Literally, as soon as I saw the category, it was instant, you know, so you had.

[Chris Ryan]

Should we recap?

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, yeah, let's recap. Did you put it in the dock, Jack?

[Chris Ryan]

It's up.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You did, but it's.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's in both.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, but if you want to do it in the.

[Sean Fennessy]

Let's do it in order. Yeah, let's do it in order.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You wanna.

[Chris Ryan]

You go first.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, that's right. In lead actor, I have Daniel Day Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock. In lead actress, I have Emily Watson as Lena Leonard. In supporting actor, I have Tom Cruise as Frank T.J. mackie. Supporting actress, Leslie Manville as Cyril Woodcock in One Scene star, I have Dirk Diggler's penis. In Needle Drop, I have. Let me roll it from Licorice Pizza. And in Wildcard, which is actually a committed relationship, I have Skyler Gozzano as Lance Brannigan.

[Sean Fennessy]

Chris, you're up.

[Chris Ryan]

I have. In lead actor, Daniel Day Lewis is Daniel Plainview in lead actress, Julianne Moore as Linda Partridge from Magnolia. In supporting actor, Josh Brolin as Bigfoot Bjornsson From Inherent Vice. Supporting actress, I have Amy Adams, one crank after another. Peggy Dodd from the Master One scene star, Philip Seymour Hoffman is Dean Trumbull, AKA the Mattress man from Punch Drunk Love Needle drop, I got God Only Knows by the Beach Boys from Boogie Nights. And I will go back and I will say I was right the first time. Committed relationship with Claudia Gator.

[Sean Fennessy]

Cr.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, you're changing it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good for you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good for you. Yeah, that's. That's truer to your essence, for sure. Okay. In lead actor, I got Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd and the Master. In lead actress, I got Vicki Crapes as Alma Elson in Phantom Thread. In supporting actor, I got John C. Reilly as Reid Rothschild in Boogie Nights. In supporting actress, I got Heather Graham as Brandy, AKA Roller Girl in Boogie Nights. In One Scene star, I got Alfred Molina as Rahad Jackson in Boogie Nights. In Needle Drop, I got Neil Young's Journey through the Past from Inherent Vice. And in committed relationship, I got Shasta Faye Hepworth as portrayed by Katherine Waterston in Inherent Vice. Good draft.

[Chris Ryan]

Fantastic draft.

[Sean Fennessy]

It worked.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He makes good movies.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, just nice to go back. Just pop him on.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's really nice.

[Sean Fennessy]

Just hang out. Let him roll.

[Chris Ryan]

Is this dropping tomorrow?

[Sean Fennessy]

This is. We're gonna put this out in about seven years, so. Feeling good about that decision. Thank you to.

[Chris Ryan]

I just want to say thank you to David Ellison.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Your lord and savior. Yeah. Your. Your owner.

[Chris Ryan]

You check the tapes?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Love Taylor Sheridan.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. You love the Tomorrow War and all of his other works. Jack Reacher Never go back. Yeah. Thanks to Jack Sanders for his work on this episode. Next week, we will dig into the Toronto International Film Festival. That amendment. And we will talk about weapons with Chris Ryan and Amanda Dobbins.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Everyone at this table has seen weapons.

[Sean Fennessy]

We've all seen weapons. Okay. See you then. Mike and Alyssa are always trying to outdo each other. When Alyssa got a small water bottle, Mike showed up with a full liter jug. When Mike started gardening, Alyssa started beekeeping. Oh, come on. They called a truce for their holiday and used Expedia trip planner to collaborate on all the details of their trip. Once there, Mike still did more laps around the pool. Whatever. You were made to outdo your holidays. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel.