Richard Curtis vs. Hugh Grant; Inside Menendez Bros

Summary

The Daily Beast Podcast: Richard Curtis vs. Hugh Grant; Inside Menendez Bros Release Date: November 27, 2024

Hosts: Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee
Guest: Ben Sherwood (CEO of The Daily Beast)
Beast of the Week: Richard Curtis (Director, Writer, Producer)

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Introduction

In this episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, co-hosts Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee delve into two captivating subjects: the enduring intrigue surrounding the Menendez brothers' case and a celebratory conversation with legendary rom-com auteur Richard Curtis. Balancing serious true crime analysis with lighthearted celebrity dialogue, the episode offers listeners a rich tapestry of insights and engaging discussions.

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Inside the Menendez Brothers Case

Guest: Ben Sherwood, CEO of The Daily Beast
Timestamp: 14:36 – 43:02

Overview of the Case

Ben Sherwood provides an in-depth examination of the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Eric, who became infamous in 1989 for the brutal murder of their parents in Beverly Hills. The case has long been a subject of public fascination due to the brothers' claim of self-defense, alleging years of sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of their father.

Key Developments:

1. Historical Context:

   • [03:05] Sherwood recounts the initial shock of the murders, noting the brothers' immediate disappearance into a spree of extravagant spending, including a Porsche Carrera and multiple properties.
   • [16:33] He highlights the dramatic turn when one brother confessed to a therapist, leading to their arrest after the therapist's girlfriend informed the police.

2. Legal Proceedings:

   • The brothers were tried separately, and the first trial ended in a mistrial.
   • In the second trial, held together, they were convicted of conspiracy and murder, receiving life sentences without parole.
   • [20:12] Sherwood discusses the ongoing legal battles, including a recent resentencing hearing sparked by progressive District Attorney George Gascon and the involvement of high-profile supporters like Kim Kardashian advocating for their release.

3. Current Status and Future Prospects:

   • [22:37] Lyle Menendez's personal life comes under scrutiny with revelations of his separation from his wife and a new relationship with a 21-year-old from the UK.
   • [26:31] Sherwood explains the divided opinions within the family and the legal system, emphasizing the incoming DA's cautious approach towards the resentencing hearing scheduled for January.
   • [29:09] The cultural impact of the case is discussed, noting how true crime media and celebrity endorsements have reignited public interest and debate over the brothers' guilt and the possibility of their release.

Notable Quotes:

• Samantha Bee: "There are a lot of different things. There's a lot to talk about for sure."
• Ben Sherwood: "The truth is that the evidence in this case, the law in this case, very different from what appears in the tabloid press... the facts and the law are very different from what we have been sort of shown." [08:17]
• Joanna Coles: "For our Beast of the Week, we're speaking with the legendary director, writer, and producer Richard Curtis." [03:12]

Insights and Analysis:

Sherwood emphasizes the complexity of the case, highlighting discrepancies between public perception shaped by media portrayals and the actual legal evidence. He underscores the evolving societal views on sexual abuse and psychological trauma, questioning whether these factors should influence judicial outcomes after decades of incarceration. The involvement of celebrities and modern media platforms like TikTok has created a "perfect cultural storm," amplifying calls for reconsideration of the brothers' sentences.

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Beast of the Week: Richard Curtis

Guest: Richard Curtis, Director, Writer, Producer
Timestamp: 47:53 – 71:43

Celebrating a Rom-Com Icon

Richard Curtis joins Joanna and Samantha to celebrate his illustrious career in romantic comedies and his philanthropic efforts through Comic Relief. The conversation transitions from his filmography to his recent Oscar win for humanitarian work, showcasing his multifaceted contributions to both entertainment and charity.

Key Topics:

1. Richard Curtis’s Career:

   • [47:53] Joanna introduces Curtis as a titan of the rom-com genre, mentioning classics like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually.
   • [51:15] Curtis humorously comments on the performance quality of animated characters versus live actors, reflecting his lighthearted nature.

2. Comic Relief and Philanthropy:

   • [59:58] Curtis explains the genesis of Comic Relief, detailing its simultaneous but independent creation in the UK and the US in 1986.
   • [62:58] He discusses the merging of British and American Comic Relief efforts, leading to the successful fundraising campaign that has raised over $2 billion for various causes.
   • [64:44] Joanna and Curtis talk about the upcoming Comic Relief gala, highlighting the star-studded lineup featuring Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, and Amy Schumer.

3. Impact Producing:

   • [60:16] Curtis introduces the concept of "impact producing," advocating for films and media to not only entertain but also drive social change. He cites examples like The Invisible War and Barbie as projects that have had tangible societal impacts through targeted activism and policy changes.

4. Cultural Influence of His Films:

   • [54:02] Discussing the depiction of London in his films, Curtis acknowledges both the romanticized and realistic aspects, noting areas where modern perspectives have shifted, particularly regarding diversity and sensitive topics.
   • [57:19] When asked about his favorite movies outside his own work, Curtis shares a diverse range, including international films that tackle complex social issues.

Notable Quotes:

• Richard Curtis: "I think if there were as many serial killers as is implied by the output of movies, most of us would be living with a serial killer. So I do think that to write about something as ordinary as family and friendship and love is just fine." [56:52]
• Richard Curtis: "Once you've made a good movie, try and get it out there... use it for activism, charity, law, change, rather than just saying, there it is." [60:16]

Insights and Analysis:

Curtis articulates a visionary approach to filmmaking, where stories transcend entertainment to become catalysts for societal improvement. His emphasis on "impact producing" aligns with a growing trend in the industry where content creators seek to address pressing global issues through narrative media. The discussion also touches on the enduring appeal of his films, balanced with his awareness of evolving cultural standards and the necessity for more inclusive storytelling.

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Conclusion

This episode masterfully intertwines a deep dive into a high-profile true crime case with an uplifting conversation with a beloved figure in the entertainment industry. Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee adeptly navigate these diverse topics, offering listeners both intellectual stimulation and heartfelt celebration. The inclusion of Ben Sherwood provides authoritative analysis on the Menendez brothers' case, while Richard Curtis adds a dose of charm and inspiration through his reflections on film and philanthropy.

Notable quotes punctuate the discussions, providing memorable takeaways:

• Joanna Coles: "We have a wholesome episode in honor of the holidays about family."
• Richard Curtis: "Once you've made a good movie, try and get it out there... use it for activism, charity, law, change."

For those who haven't tuned in, this episode promises a blend of gripping true crime exploration and the infectious enthusiasm of celebrating cinematic excellence and humanitarian efforts.

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Upcoming Events:

• Comic Relief Gala: Scheduled for December 9th at Jazz at Lincoln Center, featuring performances by Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Amy Schumer, and more. Proceeds support various charitable causes through Comic Relief.

Final Thoughts:

The Daily Beast Podcast continues to deliver engaging and thought-provoking content, making it a must-listen for enthusiasts of both in-depth news analysis and entertaining celebrity interviews. Tune in every Thursday for more captivating conversations.

Transcript

[Joanna Coles]

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[Samantha Bee]

A little self care can go a long way, especially amidst the hustle and bustle of the holidays. That's where Vegamore comes in. Trusted by millions, Vegamore is all about giving your hair the love and care it deserves. With their vegan and cruelty free formulas, you can nourish and revitalize your strands while indulging in some much needed pampering. Because let's face it, who couldn't use a bit more me time this time of year? Go to vegamore.com acast code acast that's v e g a m o u r.com acast code acast Where'd you get those shoes?

[Joanna Coles]

Easy.

[Unknown]

They're from DSW. Because DSW has the exact right shoes for whatever you're into right now. You know, like the sneakers that make office hours feel like happy hour, the boots that turn grocery aisles into runways, and all the styles that show off the many sides of you from daydreamer to multitasker and everything in between. Because you do it all in really great shoes. Find a shoe for every you at your DSW store or dsw.com.

[Samantha Bee]

Don'T. Joanna, stop rustling your papers.

[Joanna Coles]

I think we're going to rustle. It's fine, we'll just say we have papers. You may hear some rustling of the script cuz we don't have an autocue. We're doing it all remotely today.

[Samantha Bee]

In my Canadian family, we would roast a turkey two days before any turkey holiday and then microwave the turkey on the day of. So what if I was cooking a turkey right now?

[Joanna Coles]

Okay, that's good.

[Samantha Bee]

I'm not. You just cook it three days in advance. You cook it for three days at 150 degrees and then you microwave it right before you eat it. It's delicious.

[Joanna Coles]

That's the Canadian way.

[Samantha Bee]

It is all right.

[Joanna Coles]

Welcome to the Daily Beast Podcast. I'm Joanna Coles, Chief Content Officer of.

[Samantha Bee]

The Daily Beast and I'm Samantha, be chief content officer and keeper of Matt Gaetz's cameo. Passwords 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9. You know, get it.

[Joanna Coles]

I'm going to get him to leave you a Thanksgiving message.

[Samantha Bee]

Sam, do not put $1 in his pocket.

[Joanna Coles]

This is supposed to be a MAGA free zone. We're having a wholesome episode in honor of the holidays about family. So we're talking about two people who shot theirs sharing his insider knowledge on the Menendez brothers. In the download, we have the Daily Beast CEO Ben Sherwood, who grew up in the same neighborhood.

[Samantha Bee]

I swear to Jesus Christ, my lord and savior, I cannot wait to have that conversation.

[Joanna Coles]

No one knows more. And for our Beast of the Week, we're speaking with the legendary director, writer, and producer and someone I have known for 35 years, Richard Curtis. His movies glow with the embers of the warmth of a fire on Christmas Eve. You know them? They're, I think American's favorite movie is about British people. Love, actually. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill. And he's got a new animated film called that Christmas on Netflix in Britain. He's basically the equivalent of the Crown Jewels.

[Samantha Bee]

It's going to just take wild horses to get me to not quote his own movies in his face, which I'm sure he experiences all the time and as a proper British person, absolutely loves. But before I embarrass him so thoroughly, we did have some fun together last night. Should we tell people about it?

[Joanna Coles]

Yes, let's tell people. You kick off. I just want to say that you are wearing the most fabulous pair of boots possibly I've ever seen. I've never seen you in heels before because normally you come in sneakers or flat boots. These were magnificent. Why hugging your legs all the way up to the knee.

[Samantha Bee]

They were hugging my legs and they were like a nice, like a muted red, like a very fall, just fall vibes, actually kind of the color of my eyeglasses right now, which, if you're listening, you obviously can't see. Okay, so we went to. I don't even know how to characterize it. Okay. Very exciting. Gloria Steinem has these salons in her home from time to time. I don't know how often she has them, but you were invited to last night's salon and you took me as your plus one. So, first of all, I just want to say that being in Gloria Steinem's house is exciting. I have been there once before, and I want to. I was trying to describe it to my friend today, and I said it looks exactly as you think it's going to look, look, it's very beautiful and homey and it's just filled with just kind of like historic, like artifacts of her career in life. It's very, it's warm and beautiful. And when I went to get white coat, I looked in the secret inner sanctum and she has a beautiful garden.

[Joanna Coles]

She does have a beautiful garden. It's a beautiful apartment. It's full of sort of amulets and things she's collected along the way. It was very nice of her to invite women round for. How would we describe it?

[Samantha Bee]

Women of the media? Like it was a pretty. A fairly large group and I think it was, it was mainly kind of heavy, some real heavy hitter media, women kind of talking about what comes next. What does it all look like under the new administration? A chance to kind of express. A chance to, I don't know, just think kind of big ideas for the future. And there was a, you know, it was very, it was very interesting. I'm sure we can't really speak to specifically. Everything was really like safe and off the record and all of that. I told you that I went to a different Gloria Steinem event and afterwards somebody at the party sent me a gigantic floral bouquet.

[Joanna Coles]

How nice.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah. In the shape of a vulva with a clitoris made out of, I guess labia minora made of like darker colored flower. Anyways, it was so gigantic I was not expecting it. And then it arrived and it was huge. It was like a. Such an impressively sized bouquet. It was like something that like Missy Elliott would have in the foyer of her home. Like large enough for a large foyer. So it just dwarfed. It was larger than my apartment.

[Joanna Coles]

Imagine being the florist asked to put that together. You're like, yes, I want, I want lots of roses in the shape of a vagina. I can't even begin to imagine what, what that was like. And also there'd be lots of thorns in it if it was roses.

[Samantha Bee]

Well, I think they probably. Well, it's vagina dentata. Is there a theme you have to reach right in and then it's a horrible experience.

[Joanna Coles]

Last night it was a little bit. I felt like it was a little bit like being caught up in a primal scream a little bit.

[Samantha Bee]

I liked what you said. I liked what a lot of people said. And then I put an idea out into the world that is more evil. I was like, I have an idea and it's evil. And I think that we need to get better at playing the long game and maybe real Quick, getting a billionaire to invest in my offshore troll farm that because I would like to go out and just correct disinformation. I feel like this was the election of unchecked disinformation, like from top to bottom. So you can have a lot of conversations about a lot of different things. There's a lot to talk about for sure. But ultimately people went into those voting booths believing complete untruths. They just went in believing things that were just the opposite of true. And I think the only way to combat that is to get very good at the techniques that the GOP employees and that requires shamelessness.

[Joanna Coles]

The point you made got a lot of clicks, a lot of people were snapping their fingers when you said it came sort of bursting out of you. And I do think this has been described as the podcast election, but for me it was actually the TikTok election. 40% of Americans get their news on TikTok. I think young people get their news from TikTok. Lots of it is unchecked, lots of it's self appointed news experts that are just grabbing it from all sorts of unknown sources. There's no effort to make sure that it's balanced or that it's true. And I think that we have seen a lot of the fallout from that. And as a journalist, it really concerns me. At the Beast, we make a lot of effort to make sure that the stories, we're always trying to put any accusations to people so they have the chance to respond to them. And I agree, agree with you that the misinformation and disinformation, which the point of it when it's led by bad actors like Russia or China, is to confuse people. It's not necessarily to give people a different view of something, it's just to.

[Samantha Bee]

Confuse them and to create discord, to get people fighting, to get people fighting, to get people just an ons, like just it's shock and awe. And people go into the voting booth and they go, yeah man, Joe Biden overturned Roe. And you're like, excuse me. So I think it's wonderful and it's really great to talk about like building a bigger network of women and podcasting and all of that stuff is great, but it's, you really have to think in a very advanced way about using tools that everyone else is using, using them for good. There's a pass. You can use those tools for good. I do believe that you just need a totally altruistic cadre of billionaires who.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, if there are any billionaires listening and they want to fund Sambi's troll farm. I am struck whenever I do television. If you go on X or Instagram, less so Instagram. But if you go on X, the response is always incredibly unpleasant. And then you look at the bios of the people that are supposed to have created this comment on what you've said and it's. They're obviously all made up.

[Samantha Bee]

If there are any billionaires out there who expect no ROI whatsoever, except, per chance, having people be better informed, I think it's a very worthwhile endeavor and I'm happy to hold your hand and do something evil together. Are you. Do you celebrate as a British person? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

[Joanna Coles]

Of course I do. Of course I do. Because I have two American children who love Thanksgiving. My youngest son is cooking. He is a very good cook. He taught himself to cook from YouTube. During COVID he and a couple of friends actually set up a cooking business, delivered meals round the hood that we were staying in. It was very fun. And so he never cooks for me, obviously, but I appreciate his cooking anytime I can. So I don't know what he's making. Probably turkey. If he is, he'll be spatchcocking it and stuffing it with all sorts of things. But it's really fun for me to enjoy his cooking.

[Samantha Bee]

That's so nice. What do you do on Thanksgiving? It's hard for me to. You're such a busy person. You're always busy. It's hard for me to imagine you sitting around in pajamas with your feet up.

[Joanna Coles]

I've never done that in my life. I've got my niece coming to stay for four months from the uk, which I'm very excited about. So I'm taking her to a friend's apartment which overlooks the parade entirely. For her benefit, of course, not for mine. Although I will say I find the parade actually very moving. I'm not someone that's easily moved, as we've discussed Ambridge, so I have no feelings, but I do find it quite moving, the parade. So I'm excited to take her. What are you doing? You must be cooking.

[Samantha Bee]

I am cooking because I do love to cook. A small, kind of like family affair. I hope that one of the balloons there was a year and I don't remember when it was.

[Joanna Coles]

I know what you're going to say. When the balloon knocked over the lamppost.

[Samantha Bee]

No, when one balloon slightly deflated and nestled his face into the ass cheeks of another balloon. It's my favorite.

[Joanna Coles]

Rude balloons. Was it Charlie Brown?

[Samantha Bee]

I feel like it was Spider Man. And Maybe a. Maybe a Power Ranger. It could have been Santa. It was just. Just full. Just ass play on Central Park West. And you know what? That's my Thanksgiving. Just looking at that photo over and over again.

[Joanna Coles]

Not a family affair. That's not what we're expecting.

[Samantha Bee]

So much joy. I'm so excited to one day turn this podcast into a skincare professional podcast because I got a sample of a moisturizer that turned my skin pink like a baby mouse.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, was that the point of it?

[Samantha Bee]

I don't know.

[Joanna Coles]

Can you tell us what it was?

[Samantha Bee]

Can I. I don't know. It's a clearance moisturizer, and it has, like, rose in it. And I put it on my face and I was like, oh, look at me. I'm a newborn. Newborn baby mouse. Look at my skin. It's kind of glow. It's kind of pink right now.

[Joanna Coles]

Have you got it on right now? I do.

[Samantha Bee]

Look at how pink it is.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, it's looking a little flu. It's looking like. But you are looking young. You're definitely looking young.

[Samantha Bee]

I'm a newborn baby mouse. Of course I look young.

[Joanna Coles]

You've figured out your lighting better than I have. You've got some sort of orange rose tint on it. I feel like I look a bit like Joe Biden in the debate today when he just sort of went. Do you remember how he just disappeared? And you were like, is he still there? What's going on? Is he there? And he was like, translucent, translucent. You know what he should get? He should get some glasses frames like yours. Then you would be able to see them. You need a. A feature. You need a feature. One feature. And his. He's just.

[Samantha Bee]

That'll solve it.

[Joanna Coles]

It's like transparent door. It's like one blue vein faintly pulsing.

[Samantha Bee]

Oh, my God. This is a relaxing Thanksgiving episode. This is for people to be spatchcocking things and whooping potatoes, I guess. And that's why we're going to talk about something.

[Joanna Coles]

You're making Thanksgiving dinner sound sexual. How are you managing to. Spatchcocking chickens, Whipping mashed potatoes. I'm learning a lot from you.

[Samantha Bee]

Silky potatoes. Silky, silky puddings. Spotted dicks are everywhere.

[Joanna Coles]

Absolutely not. This is just. It's going south. This is a family podcast. This is a family podcast.

[Samantha Bee]

And so we shall talk about a murder.

[Joanna Coles]

Joining us is Ben Sherwood, the CEO of the Daily Beast. Ben is a media powerhouse from his days running ABC News and the one to thank for America's favorite news zaddies, David Muir and Michael Strahan. To start our day. But today, what matters is that Ben grew up in the same vicinity, the same neighborhood as the Menendez brothers. And he's here to take us on a deep dive into one of America's most compelling cases. If you've been living on one of Jupiter's four moons, then you may have missed this. But if you're unfamiliar, Lyle and Eric Menendez shocked the nation when they shot their parents at close range in their Beverly Hills home, one of the most gruesome crimes the local police had ever seen. The question that's haunted the case is why the brothers claim they acted in self defense after years of sexual and psychological abuse. So recently, Netflix reignited the national conversation with Monsters, Ryan Murphy's dramatized take on the story. And a companion documentary has come along featuring the brothers speaking from prison. The buzz has drawn support from voices like Kim Kardashian and even led the LA County District Attorney, George Gascon, to file a resentencing motion, potentially making the brothers eligible for release. Ben has been following this case since 1989, when he first joined ABC News, and he brings his insider perspective to this extraordinary saga. And we actually have a name for him at the Beast, Bernadez. So, Ben, do you love it?

[Samantha Bee]

Do you love it? Will it last forever?

[Ben Sherwood]

Spent my entire career waiting for this moment.

[Joanna Coles]

I thought, so, Ben, just explain to us why now? Why is this happening now? Why is the documentary and the drama happening now?

[Ben Sherwood]

Well, since 1989, this case has riveted true crime lovers everywhere. These boys, seemingly out of the blue, shotgun, blasted their parents 16 times, including a kill shot to their mother, Kitty Menendez, in the face as she climbed and crawled away. They reloaded their weapons in the middle of this shooting, by the way. And so there was this mystery initially, how could this happen? On a leafy, beautiful, quiet street in Beverly Hills, the boys were found in the fetal position on the front lawn of their home, crying and wailing that someone had killed their parents. And for the first six months, it was a mystery. There were allegations that it was a mob hit because the father, the murdered father, Jose Menendez, was an immigrant from Cuba and supposedly had shady ties. The boys, meanwhile, went on an incredible spending spree. They spent around 600 or $700,000 right after their parents died. They bought a Porsche Carrera, they bought fancy watches, they bought two properties. And then there was a break in the case when one of the boys confessed to a therapist and the therapist's girlfriend told police. And the boys were picked up. And they've Spent every day since then, 34 years, 35 years in prison. First, they were tried separately. And in that case, as you said at the outset, the defense argued that they killed their parents in self defense after years of physical and psychological and sexual abuse. The prosecutors argued, no, these are cold blooded killers who killed their parents for their 14 million dollar inheritance. And those first two juries, they were tried separately. It was a national television trial. It galvanized viewers on Court TV everywhere. The first trial ended in deadlock, a mistrial. And so they were tried a second time together. And in 1996, a single jury convicted them of conspiracy, murder and sentenced them to life without the possibility of parole, never getting out. And the judge in that case excluded a lot of, not all of, but a lot of the evidence of psychological and sexual abuse. And so what's happened in the interim is countless documentaries, countless television series, countless books about this crime. But what really happened was two things, Joanna. First, the advent of these true crime podcasts and television shows that spring people from prison. And second, the Ryan Murphy drama Monster on Netflix that has captivated audiences and gotten people very interested in the case and specifically allegations of sexual abuse. And then finally, a third factor cut. Kim Kardashian, she's gotten involved in this case. She went to visit the boys at Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. She wrote an opinion piece that the boys had served long enough and should be freed because of sexual abuse. And so it's that perfect combination of podcasts that are freeing people, reconsideration of the case and of course, the power of Kim Kardashian.

[Joanna Coles]

So there was a re sentencing hearing this week, wasn't there, which pushed a decision because there's a new AG in town. Can you give us the latest on the legal discussion? And I don't want us to forget the other celebrity that's become very involved in this and actually claims she is their sister now her adopted sister, Rosie O'Donnell. But will you give us the legal lowdown first?

[Ben Sherwood]

It was an incredible day yesterday in Van Nuys, California. Early in the morning, crowds descended on the courthouse, an ordinary courthouse, where Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jessic presided over a re sentencing hearing. What had happened, as you mentioned earlier, is that the outgoing district attorney, a progressive named George Gascon, suddenly out of the blue announced that he thought that there should be a re sentencing for the brothers, that they should have their sentences reduced from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years with the possibility of parole. That would have made them immediately eligible for a parole hearing. And possibly release. So the first step in that process was in Van Nuys courtroom, and the judge pleaded that there were 17 boxes of evidence and documents to go through and he needed more time. And the incoming district attorney, a law and order D.A. named Nathan Hockman, who campaigned as a moderate, has been a lifelong Republican, a former prosecutor, a former defense lawyer. He has asked for more time to review the case. And so this has been pushed to the end of January. And so many people had thought there was an actual chance that the brothers would be released by Thanksgiving, that they would spend Thanksgiving with their families, that they would be able to celebrate Joan Vandermolen, their aunt's 93rd birthday, next Tuesday together as a family. And those dreams have been dashed. This has now been pushed until January, when there will be another hearing in which evidence will be presented in which the arguments will be made. Should the boys, the brothers, be resentenced. I keep referring to them as boys because remember when they were convicted of these crimes, they were 18 and 21. It's an incredible thing to think that they are now 56 and 53. One of them has been married since 1999. The other shocking news this week. It's been revealed that he is separated from his wife, Rebecca Sneed, of 21 years. This is Lyle Menendez, the older brother separated from his wife of 21 years and purportedly in a new relationship with Millie Buxy, 21 years old from the.

[Joanna Coles]

UK how did he meet Millie Buxley, 21 years old from the UK he.

[Ben Sherwood]

Met Millie Buxy, 21, from the UK reportedly in a Facebook group that is devoted to his freedom and release. A Facebook group, no less, that is managed by his wife of 21 years, Rebecca Steve.

[Samantha Bee]

Wait a second.

[Ben Sherwood]

And it's alleged that he impersonated someone else to get to know Millie Buxy and then revealed who he is. And then she became very interested in him. She has visited him supposedly in the San Diego area. There are photographs of her that are online. Millie Buxy with Ly Menendez. And so his long devoted wife, Rebecca Sneed, who was a journalist and magazine editor, became a lawyer and now manages the Facebook pages for her husband. She published on Facebook. No, this is not a cheating scandal. All caps, exclamation point. Not a cheating scandal. She and Lyall remain best friends and family. She is dedicated to his release. They have been supposedly separated from some time. Yeah, but she has committed like 23 other family members. 23 family members have joined together, arguing that the brothers should be released immediately. That they've spent their time, they've served their debts to society, and they are not a threat to the public, and that they should go free. And so that's coming in January when that resentencing hearing will happen.

[Samantha Bee]

You have followed this case so closely since 1989. Is there any lesser known detail or is there a lesser known angle on the case that you think deserves more. More attention or more scrutiny?

[Ben Sherwood]

It's a fantastic question. You know, I think that this has been poured over extensively by book writers, by documentary filmmakers, by entertainment producers. I think that the truth about this case, as Nathan Hockman, the incoming district attorney, told me in an interview for the Daily Beast a couple of Sundays ago, the truth is that the evidence in this case, the law in this case, very different from what appears in the tabloid press, very different from what appears in a fictional recreation, a docu series from the imagination of Ryan Murphy, who has dreamed up a whole bunch of different scenarios and grounded some of them in fact and pulled everything together in his show. And I think that the facts and the law are very different from what we have been sort of shown. And the question will be, Sam, whether 35 years later, sexual abuse, psychological abuse of young people 18 and 21, is an extenuating circumstance and whether they have been rehabilitated over 35 years in prison. Supposedly, according to the California correctional authorities and the District attorney, they have been model prisoners. They have graduated from a University of California institution, they have conducted meditation classes. They have been dedicated to their fellow inmates. So the question is, at what point has justice been served? And will society? Has society moved in some way on the question of psychological sexual abuse? Has it moved to a place where perhaps These young men, 18 and 21, when they brutally murdered their parents, whether they have paid their debt and are no longer a threat? The question at the heart of it is that the DA's office is divided over this.

[Samantha Bee]

Really.

[Ben Sherwood]

Gascon, the progressive DA, wants the resentencing. But in fact, some. Some prosecutors in the who were on the case in the 90s, they think, no, there's no way these guys should go free. And in fact, there is one family member of the dozens who are arguing for their release. There is one Uncle Milti, as he's known, Uncle Milton Anderson, who, according to his lawyer, Kathleen Katie, continues to believe that the claims of molestation were made up, they were false. And he believes that the correct verdict was issued by the jury and the correct sentence was also committed. And so he is the one family member in January who will stand in opposition to a re sentencing into their release.

[Joanna Coles]

Ben in the Ryan Murphy version, when the boys confess to the therapists, sexual abuse is never mentioned as a reason for why they killed their parents.

[Ben Sherwood]

There was evidence that was introduced in the first trials that there was sexual abuse. A cousin named Anthony Cano testified on the stand that one of the brothers had told him that he had been sexually molested since an early age, since the age of six. Cano died in 2003. He's not here to render testimony again. But two new pieces of evidence have been introduced in what's called a habeas corpus petition. This was submitted in last year by the Menendez lawyers. The habeas corpus petition is a totally different track to freedom. Track one for freedom would be a re sentencing by the judge in Van Nuys. Track two for freedom is a so called habeas corpus petition in which new evidence has been introduced that would render a different verdict if the jury back in 1996 had considered that evidence. And the two pieces of evidence are one, a purported letter, a handwritten letter from one of the brothers to the cousin Anthony Cano in which he says that he was afraid of his father coming into his room. And the second piece of evidence introduced is a sworn statement from one of the Menudo brothers, the Puerto Rican boy band, one of the Menudo brothers who alleges at the time, contemporaneously he, the Menudo brother was sexually assaulted and abused by Jose Menendez, who was a RCA music executive at the time who signed the Menudo brothers. So those are the two pieces of evidence. The, the, the bar is very high for a habeas corpus petition to be granted and a new trial to be given. That's a very high bar. And many people believe that that's, that the evidence, these two pieces of evidence are not sufficient to trigger a new trial. But we'll see. That's a whole separate track. And there's a different judge in LA County Superior Court Judge Ryan who has to evaluate that and whether to grant that habeas corpus petition. There's a third track, you guys, a third track for freedom for the brothers. And that's a clemency petition that was made to Governor Gavin Newsom, the Democrat, very ambitious Democratic governor of California. But Newsom has said that he is waiting for Nathan Hockman, the new DA to study the case and allow the elected District Attorney of Los Angeles to render his judgment before Newsom were to get involved. Newsom, of course, has big political ambitions, probably wants to run for president in 2028. There's a big question about whether he would ever let these two brothers go free under clemency or to show clemency for them.

[Samantha Bee]

What do you think was the most powerful catalyst for the reevaluation of this case? Was it because Ryan Murphy did, or was it, like, kind of becoming so huge on TikTok? Like, what was the most powerful reason why everybody is looking at this with fresh eyes all of a sudden?

[Ben Sherwood]

It's like the perfect cultural storm. It's the culture has changed and it's thinking about sexual abuse and sexual assault and psychological trauma. It's Netflix is ubiquitous and all powerful in terms of true crime stories and the release of the wrongly accused or the wrongly convicted. And it's the power of celebrity and TikTok and all of these, Rosie O'Donnell and others rallying around this case and bringing it to the fore. In the neighborhood that I live in, where the original murder took place in 1989, there is a nonstop procession of cars and tour buses and tour vans of people coming to the site to stand in front of this home that has a construction fence in front of it because it was recently purchased and it's being renovated inside. And people stand in front of the house, they take selfies, they play the music from the Netflix series, and they talk about how these brothers deserve justice and should be set free. Or they talk about how these are, these are murderous criminals who should never be allowed out. But there's a debate on a street in Beverly Hills, on the grassy lawn in front of this house, starting in the morning, probably around 8am and going all the way till late at night. And the police department in Beverly Hills has had to increase its patrol cars in the neighborhood and on this block. And sometimes there's even a patrol car or a private security car stationed out in front because of the volume of tourists who are coming. So it speaks, Sam, to this moment culturally, where people are watching the show, they're talking about the show. They come from all over the world. When I was on that street and when I was talking to some of those tourists, they were from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and they had come and they were interested in the Menendez brothers, who've been behind bars for 35 years.

[Samantha Bee]

I mean, this story has captivated the world for so long. Do you think that it's going to move the needle? I mean, just from observation, think that the pace at which society has even begun to grapple with sexual abuse toward men and boys, like it has been so slow for society to even begin to come to terms with it. Do you think that this case has the capacity to open people's minds and open people's eyes?

[Ben Sherwood]

So Joanna knows, is my partner, that I am terrible at predictions and have been incredibly wrong at all recent predictions, says Sam with humility. I'm not going to make a prediction. I would say that I don't think that this is the case to bring sexual abuse and sexual assault to the foreground. It could be for some, but I think that unfortunately in our society, it's too prevalent and there are too many instances that are black and white, clear as day, and that, by the way, do not involve the brutal murder of two people in their prime with shotgun blasts in a mansion in Beverly Hills. And so I think that it is focusing attention on the criminal justice system. One other interesting detail about this case, remember the convictions happened in the 90s in Los Angeles, where, remember, O.J. simpson was not convicted by the district attorney, Gil Garcetti, in a case that many thought was a slam duck. Remember, Rodney King had been beaten by police officers, and the police officers were not convicted in that case. So remember that this district attorney, a man named Gil Garcetti, was under tremendous pressure when this case came forward to get convictions in a case that was a slam dunk. The boys did it. There was no doubt about it. They absolutely killed their parents. The question was, what was their motive? And so I think that in the context of Los angeles in the 90s and those two big cases, there's lots of reason to wonder whether or not a jury today hearing the exact same case would render a very different verdict and might come up a very different sentence. But I don't know whether it is going to be the banner for sexual abuse and sexual assault in our country and sort of a way to rethink that particular heinous activity.

[Joanna Coles]

I'm just fascinated by Rebecca Snead and Millie Buxy, 21, British student. I mean, what on earth is in it for them? I can slightly understand why someone might want to marry someone who never comes out of jail. But Rebecca snead has spent 20 years of her life trying to help this guy, and now she's cast aside. It also goes to show that men, even when they're in solitary confinement in jail, can somehow figure out how to be unfaithful to a loyal wife. I mean, Rebecca Sneed's presumably had temptations on the, on the outside, and yet it's the guy in solitary on the inside who's, who's Managed to find a new girlfriend. What is in it for them?

[Ben Sherwood]

So, as you know, Joanna, there is a deep, rich literature, documentaries about women who love men behind bars. There are lots of interesting psychological insights. I'm not expert in any of that. What I do know is that Lyle was married in 1999 to a woman named Anna Erickson, and he divorced anna Erickson in 2001 after she caught him cheating in letters to another woman. And so many, many years later, we don't know the facts of this situation. We don't know what happened between Rebecca and Lyle, and we don't know how their relationship, how they, how they drifted apart. We don't really know any of those details. We're just beginning to sort of learn a little bit about the case. So I don't want to speculate about what happened, who did what to whom, and by the way, I don't want to indict. All men are all male prisoners behind bars. I think instead, what we know is that there is a long tradition of women writing letters to inmates and finding a desire. Eric Menendez's wife, Tammy Sacaman, whom he married in 1999, had been in a terrible situation herself. She felt empathy for him. She had been in an awful situation. She reached out to him, they became friendly. They knew each other for years through correspondence. And both men have actually said in interviews with People magazine and other publications that they had meaningful relationships with, with these women for long periods of time. They were not distracted by all the different things that happen in the world. These relationships were very stabilizing for them, very healthy for them. They gave them a reason to go on living. I wouldn't speculate about what's in it for a 21 year old university student who meets him on Facebook and ends up coming to Southern California to meet him in prison. I have no idea. But if you look at the photographs that are published online, these two people seem to be quite happy with each other.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, I hope she gets a book out of it. Or her own version of Ryan Murphy. Ben, what do you think it would do for me if Ryan Murphy came and made a drama about my life?

[Samantha Bee]

Oh, my goodness. Oh, Joanna.

[Joanna Coles]

I think he's a change agent. That's all I'm saying.

[Ben Sherwood]

Joanna, the bold type was the start.

[Joanna Coles]

This is all about Ryan Murphy power. All about Ryan Murphy power.

[Ben Sherwood]

If Ryan Murphy were to take on your life, I would fear for all of the family members in your life and I would fear for all of the characters around you, including your business partner and your podcasting partner. Because it's not entirely clear what would happen in the incredible imagination of Ryan Murphy, the incredibly powerful imagination of Ryan Murphy. And it would also be not entirely clear who you would end up with in this entertainment series. Who would be your romantic interest in this, because Ryan's imagination is very powerful.

[Samantha Bee]

I actually think it's a, it's a big red flag if you get a call from the Ryan Murphy production team and they want to make tv.

[Ben Sherwood]

Well, I don't know, Joanna. Would it be an American horror story? Would it be an American crime story? Or would it be an American love story? That's the question.

[Joanna Coles]

That's so good.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay, I'm just putting the phone down. But this is all about the power of Ryan Murphy, isn't it? His shows are. I, I thought impeachment was so good, the OJ Story, so good. I don't know if I have bored you at great length, either of you, with my dinner with O.J. simpson after he was found not guilty. And they were trying to figure out how did they roll out O.J. simpson after the trial, which obviously was huge.

[Samantha Bee]

Pardon me. No, I don't believe you've ever told me the story of your dinner with O.J. simpson.

[Joanna Coles]

O.J. simpson was trotted out at the Oxford Union as part of his, you know, rehabilitation campaign. And I sat next to OJ in the 1400. What was it, 1400 or it was built in 1400, Oxford Union, which was the most extraordinary place anyway. And I do remember the place was crawling outside. It was absolutely crawling with press. And at one point the photographers, somehow there was very little security because sort of, I don't think anybody at Oxford had quite understood this scale of OJ Celebrity. And I remember at one point the window of the library where I think we were having dinner just went dark. And it was what felt like hundreds, it must have been scores of camera lenses up against the window. And it was like looking up and seeing all these Cyclops eyes at the windows. But we had this extraordinary dinner where he talked about having been found guilty of nothing. That's what his terminology was. And he had a. I remember a couple of things from the dinner because it was sort of 25 odd years ago now, but he had a very thick glass, he was drinking water and he kept drinking water and the glass had a very thick bottom and he kept missing his lips and he would spill down his front, down his tie, down his suit, and he kept saying, how can I miss my lips? They're so prominent. And then laughing, he said, it three times. And then he described what it'd been like being in the prison cell. And he said it was like a cage tiger. It was just pacing the whole time. He was like a tiger. And then at one point, I said to him, and I haven't had very much notice that I was going to be going and doing this, sitting with AJ at the Oxford Union before he went out to talk to the students. So I hadn't done a wild amount of research, but I did know that Nicole had his wife, obviously. Nicole had put into a police safety deposit box photographs of herself from previous beatings by OJ With a note saying, if anything happens to me, I want you to know it was OJ that did it. And when I asked him why she had done this, he was clutching this water glass with a very thick glass bottom, at least sort of half an inch of glass, and the glass just shattered. It went in a thousand pieces. It was the most extraordinary moment and the whole evening was quite surreal. But left. He had no curiosity about who'd killed Nicole, if it wasn't him. I asked him, who did you think did it then? And he was like, I can't afford to find out. I don't know. I've got no money to do this. But he'd just come back from a holiday in the Caribbean, and he had no sense of anger at having been falsely accused. It was the most extraordinary, extraordinary evening. And his then publicist, Max Clifford, who was a poised little man, then went on to be accused of having sex with girls and was himself imprisoned, where he later died of a heart attack in jail.

[Samantha Bee]

I'm having a heart attack right now. I'm having the heart attack, Joanna, because I need to know more about this story. But in the meantime, I think, Ben, we have to let you go. I feel like you have a hard out.

[Joanna Coles]

You have a hard out because you've got a business to run. Ben, Shawn, I want you respect your.

[Samantha Bee]

Time and thank you with. With everything I have for the insight into this story, which is just. It is captivating. It really is.

[Ben Sherwood]

I'm a lucky person. I get to work with Joanna and you, Sam. I also get to occasionally write about a case that has fascinated me since 1989. And I. I wish I could tell you I know what's going to happen. I really don't. I think it's very unlikely that the new law and order district attorney is going to recommend in his first big act as district attorney. I think it would be very surprising if he recommends freedom for these brothers it would just not seem to be consistent with being a law and order anti criminal platform that he ran on. I think it's unlikely that Governor Newsome would intervene. But this case has had all kinds of incredible twists and turns and I will be continuing to cover it as Benendez of the the senior correspondent on the Menendez beat for the Daily Beast and Joanna Coles partner.

[Joanna Coles]

So you must come back in January and fill us in on what happens next. And yeah, it's fascinating story. No one tells it better than I'd.

[Ben Sherwood]

Like to come back and hear more about you and Arenthal, James Simpson and the Oxford Union. That's an incredible, incredible story. That's what I've never heard before. Joanna. That's amazing.

[Joanna Coles]

More to come. Ben, come back in January and talk to us. But again, thank you very much for an incredibly interesting recap of what is an extraordinary story.

[Richard Curtis]

Thank you.

[Ben Sherwood]

Jojo Dancer. Thank you, Sam.

[Joanna Coles]

Ben Sherwood is a man who speaks in perfect paragraphs. It's extraordinary. Isn't it incredible?

[Samantha Bee]

It is actually incredible. It's he was made for this. It's almost like he's professionally worked in the news.

[Joanna Coles]

And also the fact that he knows the neighborhood. He remembers the time, that sort of weird time in the 90s of O.J. and Rodney King and the Menendez brothers. He just gives it such rich context that he's the perfect observer of the story.

[Samantha Bee]

Also, literally, don't you dare change the subject away from the fact that you had dinner with OJ Simpson right after he was acquitted.

[Joanna Coles]

Do you know what I want to do for a future episode? I want to bring you in the COVID of the feature that I wrote because the art desk at the Guardian, who I was writing it for, made it up like a kind of faux photo album. So it's like me and O.J. pass the salt and me and O.J. at the Oxford Union. It was so funny. The whole thing was so extraordinary. I wasn't expecting to do it. I got a call that afternoon saying you've got to get up to Oxford, that OJ Is going to be there. But it was one of the most extraordinary evenings, certainly of my journalistic career because it was A, unexpected B, everybody wanted to do it and C, it was so damn interesting. And he just bought a tie that morning. He just bought an outfit. He was very concerned about what he looked like. He'd just come back from holiday. He was talking about how much more tanned he was now he'd been on holiday. The whole thing was just extraordinary.

[Samantha Bee]

This is, I don't Even this is like a. This is a Ryan Murphy show. Just your dinner with my dinner with O.J.

[Joanna Coles]

I think he did that show. He did the People versus OJ which was fantastic. But I will bring you in the COVID of it and tell you more about it because it was a crazy evening.

[Samantha Bee]

I sat next to a murderer by Joanna Calls.

[Joanna Coles]

I do remember he wouldn't let me. I wasn't allowed to take notes. I wasn't allowed to have a notebook. So I wrote on my leg. I went to the bathroom a couple of times and actually wrote on my leg things that he'd said so that I knew I had the quote accurately because there was so much going on. And weirdly, Max Clifford, who was the somewhat poisonous little man who was representing him and later ended up in his own sex scandal of sleeping with underage girls and went to jail and had a heart attack and died in jail. He had a daughter who he'd brought with him who went missing. She just sort of disappeared during the evening, which was also another sort of odd detail. The whole thing was very surreal. But I promise you I will fill you in. In didn't you to detail it another time.

[Samantha Bee]

Okay? Yes, please. Oh my goodness.

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Samantha Bee]

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[Joanna Coles]

Taxes and fees.

[Samantha Bee]

Extra speed slower above 40 gigabytes of details.

[Unknown]

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[Joanna Coles]

We're thrilled to be joined by this week's Beast of the Week. Richard Curtis, a true titan of the rom com genre. His credits read like a masterclass in the genre Four Weddings and a Funeral, which earned him an Oscar nomination. Notting Hill, Bridget Jones, Diary, Love actually, and About Time. And he hasn't just defined the rom com, he's elevated it, proving that these films can be as nuanced, as existential and as deeply felt as any great work of art. He set the bar so high you'd need stilts to even brush the bottom of it. And beyond the screen, he's made an indelible mark as the co founder of Comic Relief UK and now USA, helping raise over $2 billion in 40 years and changing the lives of more than 170 million people. And now Sam and I are just two girls in a zoom waiting to talk to Richard Curtis. Congratulations on your Oscar, which you picked up last week.

[Richard Curtis]

Jenna's a surprise to all of us.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, Hugh Grant described it as a better than nothing Oscar. Can you tell us what it was like being in the room? Because it's a separate ceremony to the Oscars that are televised, isn't it?

[Richard Curtis]

Yeah, it was a, it was a lovely night. There were four Oscars given out. They're kind of the Governor's Oscars. And yeah, my son described it as the Oscar. For someone who's never made a movie good enough to win an Oscar, which is classic trials comment about their parents, which is harsh. But it was, it was a, you know, gorgeous evening one because you know you're going to win. I mean, can you imagine? I was once up for an Oscar and we didn't win. I just remember an enormous sense of relief. But this is the Gene Herschel Award, which was sort of for humanitarian works. And I was just imagining how grim it had been if there had been nominees. You know, this person has raised 2.3 billion, but this person has raised 7.1 billion. So unfortunately the winner is. But it was quite relaxing to know that it was coming my way. And it was a sweet night. And my sons were with me and were very excited to meet some people in the room that was particularly fun.

[Joanna Coles]

And it was for your work around Comic Relief, which we're going to talk about in a little bit. And also the gala for Comic Relief, which is coming up soon. And I'm very excited to be co chairing this year.

[Richard Curtis]

Right. And I'm so thrilled you're doing that.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, let's see if we raise any money. I'm. I feel like you've got your Oscar now. I'm going to have to sort of frantically run on your. On your coattails and try and hustle up some more money from people.

[Richard Curtis]

Yeah. I can't promise you an Oscar for your efforts, but I will be very grateful. And you could borrow. You can borrow mine for a week or two.

[Joanna Coles]

I'm happy to borrow your Oscar. It's certainly the nearest thing I'm ever going to get near. But it's shocking that you haven't got Oscars for your movies because they depict a particular version of England that I think has really resonated with viewers. Notting Hill Love, actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral. And you've got a new movie out, an animated movie which actually launches on Netflix, called that Christmas. And I wanted to ask you which is a better actor, an animated figure, or Hugh Grant?

[Richard Curtis]

I mean, it's hard to think of anyone who isn't a better actor than Hugh Grant. So I don't think that's really fair. Ha ha. But I mean, to give you a proper answer, this little movie that we've done, that Christmas, has a lot of kids in it. There is sort of a lot. And I'm so glad that's the kids movie I made because the faces are just so unbelievably expressive. And I think when children make movies, it's quite tough. They're like 60 adults looking at them one Thursday. And the great thing about an animated movie is you can get the kids into 10 times to do all the lines again and again. And the little faces are so expressive, they kind of can do four emotions in four seconds. So I think an Animated version of Hugh Grant would definitely be a better actor than the real Hugh Grant.

[Joanna Coles]

I think I do want to tell people they should go onto YouTube and look at Hugh's introduction speech for your Oscar last week, because it's one of the funniest things I. I've seen for a long time. He calls you every swear word that a British person can. Under the sun, that he can get away.

[Richard Curtis]

I thought there'd be some concession to the occasion, but no, it's just seven minutes of hardcore hostility.

[Joanna Coles]

It is, but it's the British way.

[Samantha Bee]

I feel like, from my perspective. Hello. We haven't spoken. I'm such a big fan.

[Richard Curtis]

How lovely to meet you.

[Samantha Bee]

It's so lovely to meet you. I watch Notting Hill at least once or twice a year without fail. It's one of my favorite movies of all time.

[Richard Curtis]

How's it holding up?

[Samantha Bee]

It holds up beautifully for me. I cry at the end every single time, without fail. And I'm a very well.

[Richard Curtis]

Thank you very much. I probably owe you money, but I don't know how the funding works now. Would you actually get rewarded?

[Samantha Bee]

We can just go directly. It's a direct Venmo. I feel like in some ways that you and your movies are fully responsible for, like, American Anglophilia. Are you responsible for that? Because your depictions of London at Christmas time, I feel like we are all moving. We. That's the one we want. Is that how it is in real life? Please tell me.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes.

[Richard Curtis]

I don't know the official statistics from the Office of Tourism. I have been told by people who work down the street in Notting Hill that it's still helpful. And if you. The little blue door that Hugh ostensibly lives behind, there's still people taking photographs in front of it. So I think there is an element of that. And, you know, London is beautiful, and it's not like I'm made up any of those places. And so I think if people come to London, they will, you know, find a lot of what we portray. But it obviously is a fairly optimistic view of a very complex city. I think I have to come clean.

[Samantha Bee]

Although Joanna tells me that Boxing Day is not a good day and that it's cold and wet and everyone's muddy. And having hailed from Canada, I can. I can agree with that.

[Richard Curtis]

Yeah. No Christmas, you know, the big. In my new animated movie, it's snowing. And that happens about once a century now.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah.

[Richard Curtis]

In the uk. So, yeah. Don't raise your hopes up too high.

[Joanna Coles]

So have you. Have you, Richard, have you met Ellen DeGeneres yet because she's moved to the Cotswolds and she's obviously moved because she thinks it's going to be like Richard Curtis movie. I'm concerned she's going to get there and it's not going to be, well.

[Richard Curtis]

The Cotswolds are particularly pretty and I haven't met her there. And I think she'll be delighted how few people recognize her in the Cotswolds. If she was worried about being hassled by autograph seekers, I think I can put her mind at rest.

[Joanna Coles]

Very funny. So I do want to ask you one thing, because I remember I left London just as you were making Notting Hill. And I did see that one of your children had suggested that actually Notting Hill didn't age as well as you would have expected it to. And she was sort of in the way that only children can be, sort of talking about what she felt was missing in Notting Hill or love, actually, the depiction of Britain. And I wondered if you'd felt that she was right.

[Richard Curtis]

Yeah, I'm, you know, I support Scarlett completely. I don't think you can make a movie in whenever we made Notting Hill 1997 and expect it to be, you know, up to scratch in terms of things like diversity and some of the jokes. And certainly she comes hard at me for lots of stuff in love, actually. And I think she's right. There are things that I would write differently now, things that I would say differently now. So I don't think it was a mistake then, but I think there are one or two things which are off color now.

[Samantha Bee]

Well, I'm still going to watch Notting Hill with my family and we're going to enjoy it thoroughly.

[Richard Curtis]

That's okay, too. You know, in lots of World War movies, two movies, all the Germans are bad and we know there are lots of nice Germans. So things change. And I think it's. I'm really grateful for your understanding and tolerance.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah.

[Joanna Coles]

And I remember once, actually, when we were doing an interview, I want to say 30, 35 years ago, you talked about one of the criticisms of your movies had been that they focused on family and love instead of being big, violent, Die Hard type movies. And I remember you saying, and the audience was very moved by it. It was at the Hay Festival, you said, well, you write about the things that actually are important to which are relationships and love and friendship. And friendship often doesn't get enough attention, I think, in the movies. And that actually those were the movies. And you referred to the sound of Music as, you know, as a family escaping Nazism. What could be more moving than that?

[Richard Curtis]

Well, look, I mean, I do think if there were as many serial killers as is implied by the output of movies, most of us would be living with a serial killer. So I do think that to write about something as ordinary as family and friendship and love is just fine, because I think there are millions of us in the thick of that. But it doesn't mean I don't, like, really admire movies that deal with more tricky things. And some of my favorite movies are really tricky movies.

[Joanna Coles]

What are your favorite movies? What are the top five Richard Curtis movies to watch?

[Richard Curtis]

The ones in my wheelhouse that I love this century are. I do sort of know this. I love Worst Person in the World. I loved a movie that Felicity Jones was in called like crazy. I love 500 Days of Summer. But then, you know, there's a movie called the Sun's Room, which is the saddest Italian movie ever made. I love that. There's a brutal movie called Lilia Forever, which is a Swedish movie about sex trafficking that I think is just bewilderingly powerful. So there's a French movie called Let et Montreal. But the movies I used to love and the ones that made me write, that's breaking Away. Do you remember that amazing cycling movie?

[Samantha Bee]

I remember that movie. That's.

[Richard Curtis]

And Dinah and Gregory's Girl. So I've seen lots of movies that I've liked, a lot of them.

[Joanna Coles]

In your acceptance speech for your Oscar last week, you talked about the power of narrative to change a society's perspective on something. You talked about Philadelphia for aids. You talked about Erin Brockovich for the environment. What are the sorts of subjects that you think could be tackled now in big narratives? What's missing from the movie movies right now?

[Richard Curtis]

Wow. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if it's what's missing. I mean, I remember there was this amazing movie called Raining Stones that Ken Loach made, which was, I think, about parents trying to buy their daughter a christening dress or something. But I thought, I've learned more from watching that movie about the texture of what it feels like not to have enough money, you know, than reading a million articles, Obstacles in the Guardian. So I do think that, you know, to write about poverty is really interesting to write about, you know, in these days, about how intolerance hits us. And then the big challenge that everyone's really hoping that will crack again and again is to make the whole climate issue somehow narratively alive, which is quite hard because it's so epic and quite how it hits us as individuals is harder to, you know, to put a finger on. But, you know, I think that it should be one of the great endeavors to see whether or not you can make a movie that changes people's hearts and minds. And then, as you know, Joanna, I've been obsessed, once we do that, with the kind of idea of impact producers. I'm really this idea of once you made a good movie, to try and get it out there, because I think sometimes we sit back and hope for change rather than, as it were, fighting for it.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, so explain a little bit about what an impact producer is and then let's talk about some of the work you've done with Comic Relief, where your idea for it came from and how it actually has merged with another idea of Comic Relief in the us. But talk to us about impact producing. What is it?

[Richard Curtis]

Well, let me give you an example. I think there was a movie about. I think it was. I think it's called the Invisible War, about rape in the American armed forces. And the people who made that movie, as it were, took on some impact producers and they organized a screening in the Pentagon for everyone in the Pentagon, compulsory to watch this film. And the result of that was that every soldier who joins the American armed forces now, part of their training is to watch that. That movie. So that they actually went to the heart of the issue and got a change. So they weren't hoping, they were, as it were, directing it. And I think that's what I mean, that when you make a movie, you know, it's so puzzling when you watch a TV show about, let's say, a complex mental health issue. It says afterwards, if you have been affected by this, get in, go to this website. But it never says if you would like to have an effect on changing this, if you'd like to be part of the battle against this, then join this campaigning group. Look at these charities. These things are interesting. Write to this minister or everything. There's that strange feeling that. And particularly now when we're watching so much online, it's a button to press. It was harder 50 years ago. You had to pick up the phone and look up the Samaritans and make a phone call. But now if you see something that moves you, you should be able, able to very swiftly act on it. And that would be what impact producers do. And even, you know, take a movie I mentioned, like Barbie, you know, which is just a brilliant, as it were, outpouring of Feminine positivity. I don't know whether or not they said, well, how could we use this for girls in schools? How could we repackage it? Has it been edited so that it could be used in the right kind of way? You know, it's stuff like that. It's just saying, put a tiny bit of your budget aside and when the movie is finished, use it for activism, charity, law, change, rather than just saying, there it is. Let's. Let's hope something comes of it. We're not going the final lap having run the marathon and making a movie. We don't sort of come into the stadium and take full advantage of it.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, and you're. Exactly. And you're not taking advantage of the emotion that's stirred up in someone which you can channel into actually doing something. Tell us a little bit about Comic Relief. Where did you get the idea from and what is it? Because I think some people get confused with the British Comic Relief. And then there was an American Comic Relief. And now you've brought them together and you've raised over $2 billion, which is an extraordinary achievement. Many congrats. And you got the Oscar for it last week. For people who've not heard of Comic Relief, can you explain, you know, what is it?

[Richard Curtis]

This was a strange thing. Literally two different pairs of people were sitting at two different tables on the same day, I think in 1986, and thought of the same pun. So we were over here and we thought, comic Relief after Live Aid, let's do a comedy seven hour telethon and give the money to a variety of charities. Meanwhile, someone in America who might have been Billy Crystal or Whoopi Goldberg or Robin Williams, Thor. Comet Relief. There's a good word play. And so at exactly the same time, not knowing each other, they set up the brilliant Comet Relief, which was a series of concerts on HBO year after year for homelessness. What happened is, in the UK we got very institutionalized. I mean that in a good way. So that we. And we added the name Red Nose Day. And what happened is it became something that every kid in every school did. And there was lots of programming on the BBC. And we've gone on with our version of Comic Relief, the climax of which is Red Nose Day. Meanwhile, in America, eventually, Comic Relief for homelessness wound down after, I don't know, about 12 years or something like that. And what happened is we decided it would be brilliant to bring Red Nose Day to America. We had the name Comet Relief, so, as it were, which was relatively dormant. And so what's happened is that we took the name of Comic Relief. We've done Red Nose Day on the strength of that. And now Comic Relief, you know, is like the gala moving into new areas of fundraising and the cash is going to all sorts of projects across America and across the world.

[Samantha Bee]

That is amazing. I can't believe that happened.

[Richard Curtis]

Yeah, no, we was. We could have sued each other. Instead, we decided to become Fred.

[Samantha Bee]

Just obliterate each other.

[Richard Curtis]

Yeah.

[Joanna Coles]

And so I'm excited because this year's gala is actually not a traditional gala. It's actually a live show. And we've got Billy Crystal, we've got Whoopi Goldberg, we've got Matt Friend, we've got Phoebe Robinson, who I absolutely love. We've got Amy Schumer, we've got Al Jankovich. So it's an incredible lineup. It's going to be a very funny show. You can still get tickets for it. All the proceeds go to Comic Relief. It's at Jazz at Lincoln center on December 9th. And I want to make sure that we're giving the right address for people if they want to buy Tickets. It's comic relief.org Would it be overclaiming.

[Richard Curtis]

Joanne, to say that it's going to be the best night in the history of entertainment? I think that.

[Joanna Coles]

I think it is. I think it is.

[Richard Curtis]

I think it could be. And to get that and to be doing good, I mean, the idea, I'm so moved by the idea of, you know, Billy and Whoopi and that I think some of Robin Williams family is turning up and they were so unbelievable when covert release started in America and so brilliant and so funny. And the idea of bringing that team back together again, as it were, in the bosom of these distant cousins who are now in America, I think it's going to be, you know, very touching and I hope very funny. I particularly the idea that Weird Al Yankovic is going to be there. Now this is a guy. Most people write one funny song. That's just it. As you have you, you're a one hit wonder. But Weird Al has written more punied funny songs than anyone else. I think he's a legendary figure as well. And my friend Alex Adelman is on and I adore him and he's so smart, amongst other things. So, yeah, I think if anyone wants to know the best thing to do this Christmas, I would strongly recommend avoiding love. Actually, I think that's. That's a. That's a wasted night.

[Samantha Bee]

Impossible.

[Richard Curtis]

That's a wasted night. And so, and you know, a cheat date Full of, you know, unwanted sexist remarks, and instead go online. Look at this great show. Come. And I think it's going to be a marvelous evening.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah. Come and join everybody. And also, if. If Hugh Grant turns up, obviously we'll have security on the door. He won't be allowed in.

[Richard Curtis]

No, I mean, you don't need him anywhere near any charitable.

[Samantha Bee]

No, I'll be your Hugh Grant spotter, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

[Richard Curtis]

Well, he's a horror movie hack now.

[Joanna Coles]

He's a horror movie hack. Richard, thank you for joining us. I'm really excited for the gala. Dec. 9, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Extraordinary lineup of comedians, which is a great testament to the work that you've done with Comic Relief. But if you can join us, do. And also, I think a great way of either entertaining your family because you don't have to talk to them, or entertaining your clients because you don't have to talk to them. And you will laugh a lot, which goodness knows, we need to laugh.

[Richard Curtis]

That'll do. And, you know, getting through Christmas without trying to help other people is a shame. Hugh Grant, he's Scrooge. Don't go there and be like. Don't go there. Be with, you know, Keira Knightley and Emma Thompson and all the sweet people who want to help others.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah. And the dear, late Alan Rickman, but extraordinarily good in love, actually.

[Richard Curtis]

Well, thank you very much for that, Samantha. Very good to meet you.

[Samantha Bee]

So good to meet you.

[Richard Curtis]

Congratulations on having been funny for however many years it is, but I've got a feeling it's at least 20.

[Samantha Bee]

Bless you. Thank you.

[Richard Curtis]

I think, you know, we can all. We can all stop now. You can become a new.

[Samantha Bee]

Take a rest.

[Richard Curtis]

Become an impact producer.

[Ben Sherwood]

Exactly.

[Joanna Coles]

You can. Well, our. Our impact is. Yeah. Our impact is to drive people to attend the gala.

[Richard Curtis]

Yeah, exactly.

[Joanna Coles]

And if you can't attend the gala, give to Comic Relief because you know that the money will 100% go to extraordinarily well run causes.

[Richard Curtis]

Please. Yeah. Well, lovely to see you both. Have a great show. Merry Christmas.

[Samantha Bee]

What a lovely man. Oh, my God. Is it wrong for me to still love Notting Hill? I'm allowed to. I'm allowed to love it with my whole heart. Right.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah. Notting Hill is a wonderful movie. And, you know, after Four Weddings and a Funeral, Richard and his now wife, Emma bought a building in Notting Hill, just off Portobello Road, that they then carved up into rooms for freelance people, writers, film producers. And for the first six months, it was open we actually had one just before we moved to America, and it became the sort of production center for the movie Notting Hill. And I always regretted leaving America in 97, just as they were building up to the film production of it. But I caught a little bit of it, and it was a wonderful time to be in the uk. Tony Blair had just won the election. It was Cool Britannia, which Vanity Fair had just declared, and everybody was running around feeling fabulous, and it all felt very exciting. And Notting Hill sort of epitomized that moment of cool Britain and the wonderful houses that are all painted pastel shades. It was a really wonderful time.

[Samantha Bee]

I don't even have any comment to make. I just want to go live in Notting Hill.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, well, it's still very nice. Funny enough, I was there two weeks ago, and I just thought this. It's still a really beautiful area. And those lovely communal gardens they have where people have parties and hang out. It's a lovely area. It's a lovely place to live.

[Samantha Bee]

It's lovely.

[Joanna Coles]

But he's a great guy, and he's made a huge difference in lots of people's lives with Comic Relief.

[Samantha Bee]

I'm very excited to go to Comic Relief. I'm gonna have to wear a very nice outfit.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, please wear a spectacular outfit. Okay.

[Samantha Bee]

Is it. Were we talking gown? We're not talking gowns here.

[Joanna Coles]

No, we're not. You can wear a gown. You can wear whatever you like. You could certainly wear your red boots that you wore last night. Glorious.

[Samantha Bee]

I'll wear a wedding dress. I'll make it. Make it weird.

[Joanna Coles]

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please, like, subscribe or share it with a friend.

[Samantha Bee]

And send us an [e-mail] we might just read your question or your query on an upcoming show.

[Joanna Coles]

And if you're not yet a subscriber to the Daily Beast, it's easy to subscribe. Just go to thedailybeast.com as my muse.

[Samantha Bee]

Once said, be best.

[Joanna Coles]

Sam, come on. It's Bebeast.

[Samantha Bee]

I am so sorry.

[Joanna Coles]

Happy, happy Thanksgiving.

[Samantha Bee]

We did at the same time.

[Joanna Coles]

That's good.

[Samantha Bee]

We're so in sync. This is a very fun holiday episode.

[Joanna Coles]

This is a very good episode, isn't it? Weren't they both good?

[Samantha Bee]

Joanna, you are on fire.

[Joanna Coles]

The Daily Beast podcast is produced by Sarah Demoft, Sphere, Baron Reinstein, Jesse Cannon, and Seamus Calder. Additional writing by Sasha Seinfeld, and it's edited by Deanna Chapman. An entrance pioneered by Cameron Shenken.

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