Helen Hunt

Summary

Podcast Summary: “Helen Hunt” Episode of Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)

Release Date: July 2, 2025
Guests: Helen Hunt
Hosts: Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes

---

Introduction

In this heartfelt episode, Ted Danson welcomes acclaimed actress and filmmaker Helen Hunt to the podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes). The conversation delves deep into Hunt’s illustrious career, her artistic philosophies, personal anecdotes, and her venture into directing.

---

Personal Connections and Anecdotes

The episode opens with Ted reminiscing about a delightful story involving Helen dancing at a concert featuring Paul Simon and Sting. Hunt recounts how her spontaneous dancing caught Mary (Ted's wife)’s attention, inspiring Mary to write a song about her.

• Helen Hunt (00:45): “Everyone should dance like Helen Hunt. I'm crying.”

Hunt shares a touching memory of her father’s late-blooming directing career. He began directing television episodes at age 70, notably winning a DGA award for an episode of Mad About You where he worked with legends like Carl Reiner.

• Helen Hunt (05:35): “He just was the most lovely guy. Worked so hard, so talented, and he got his day and a lovely father.”

---

Artistry and the Essence of Being an Artist

A significant portion of the conversation centers on the concept of artistry. Ted expresses his admiration for Helen as an artist, emphasizing the importance of purpose and consciousness in creative endeavors.

• Ted Danson (07:33): “I do consider you an artist.”

Hunt agrees, highlighting that true artistry involves reflecting humanity to make the world a better place. She draws parallels between directing and motherhood, suggesting that both roles require guiding and nurturing.

• Helen Hunt (50:03): “I care about mothering. Good mothering.”

---

Helen Hunt’s Directorial Journey: “Then She Found Me”

Helen Hunt discusses her debut film, Then She Found Me, detailing the challenges and triumphs of bringing the project to fruition over a decade. The film, based on Eleanor Lippman’s novel, navigates the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and personal betrayal.

• Helen Hunt (29:28): “It's based on a novel by Eleanor Lippman.”

She explains the creative decisions behind adapting the novel, including the introduction of original characters like Colin Firth’s and Matthew Broderick’s roles. Hunt emphasizes the importance of a central theme and “magic sentences” that drive the narrative.

• Helen Hunt (31:34): “The central character has to want something, and you've got to have the magic sentences of the movie.”

Ted praises the film, noting its emotional depth and Helen’s dedication to authentic storytelling. He recounts his own experiences with difficult roles and the impact of genuine performances.

• Ted Danson (29:54): “Please listen to us. It is absolutely spectacular.”

---

Acting, Directing, and Personal Growth

The dialogue shifts to the intricacies of acting and directing simultaneously. Hunt shares her strategies for managing both roles, including working closely with dialect coaches and maintaining separate scripts for acting and directing.

• Helen Hunt (38:58): “I worked with Larry Moss, who was a coach I've worked with a lot alone in a room.”

They discuss the evolving nature of film technology, from traditional film splicing to digital editing, and its impact on the directing process. Hunt reflects on the emotional rollercoaster experienced when her film's distribution company collapsed.

• Helen Hunt (42:22): “And then you can start to make it better when you cut it.”

---

Influence of Upbringing and Mentorship

Hunt highlights the significant influence of her artistic family background, mentioning friends and influential figures like Henry Gettles, Floyd Collins, and Steve Kellogg. She credits her upbringing with nurturing her creativity and passion for the arts.

• Helen Hunt (08:42): “We'll do artistry, but he's an artist for sure.”

Ted contrasts his scientific upbringing with Hunt’s artistic environment, noting how it shaped their respective career paths.

• Ted Danson (09:21): “See, I had the scientist father, but everything he did went right over my head.”

---

Reflections on the Entertainment Industry

The hosts reflect on the blurred lines between television and film, discussing how industry perceptions have evolved. Hunt shares anecdotes about meeting and collaborating with industry legends like Paul Scheer and Mel Brooks, underscoring the importance of chemistry and authentic connections in creating memorable work.

• Helen Hunt (26:37): “We got to be working in that style.”

They also touch upon the mentorship roles artists play, with Hunt likening directors to nurturing figures akin to good mothers who guide and support their teams.

• Helen Hunt (50:03): “That's a good motto, I think.”

---

Aging, Grief, and Legacy in Art

Towards the end of the episode, the conversation navigates sensitive topics like aging, grief, and memory loss. Hunt articulates her desire to impart meaningful and authentic stories to younger generations, emphasizing the therapeutic and healing power of art.

• Helen Hunt (48:07): “It's a beautiful movie. And it's a movie about healthy sex, which I can think of almost none.”

Ted shares his aspirations for the podcast and his reflections on legacy, underscoring the deep bond and mutual respect between the hosts and their guests.

• Ted Danson (57:25): “Find out what you care about and write it.”

---

Closing Remarks

The episode concludes with warm exchanges between Ted and Helen, expressing gratitude for their enduring friendship and collaborative spirit. They encourage listeners to watch Helen’s film Then She Found Me and continue supporting each other’s artistic endeavors.

• Ted Danson (63:34): “It's really fun to talk to you.”
• Helen Hunt (65:17): “You are not dwelling on yourself. You're caring about the people around.”

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Helen Hunt (00:45): “Everyone should dance like Helen Hunt. I'm crying.”
• Helen Hunt (05:35): “He just was the most lovely guy. Worked so hard, so talented, and he got his day and a lovely father.”
• Ted Danson (07:33): “I do consider you an artist.”
• Helen Hunt (31:34): “The central character has to want something, and you've got to have the magic sentences of the movie.”
• Helen Hunt (38:58): “I worked with Larry Moss, who was a coach I've worked with a lot alone in a room.”
• Helen Hunt (48:07): “It's a beautiful movie. And it's a movie about healthy sex, which I can think of almost none.”
• Helen Hunt (50:03): “That's a good motto, I think, because you do not know, you know what's going to happen.”
• Ted Danson (57:25): “Find out what you care about and write it.”

---

Conclusion

This episode offers an intimate glimpse into Helen Hunt’s multifaceted career and her unwavering dedication to authentic storytelling. Through candid conversations and shared memories, Ted Danson and Hunt celebrate the essence of artistry, the importance of meaningful connections, and the enduring impact of creative expression.

For more episodes, visit Team Coco’s YouTube channel or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Ted Danson]

Where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson sometimes is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Helen Hunt]

If we had an IMDb off, I think I would win for most obscure credits.

[Ted Danson]

Were you on BG and the Bear? Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. Today I am thrilled to be talking to Helen Hunt. She's a brilliant actor who's won an Academy Award, multiple Emmys and Golden Globes. You know her from her many roles as Good as It Gets, Twister, Castaway, Mad about yout, the Sessions she writes and directs as well. And I can't say enough good things about her 2007 film then she Found me, which she directed and co wrote. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, here's Helen Hunt. This is for my amusement. It won't probably be on the podcast. Okay, almost guaranteed not to be on the podcast. But Mary, you know, was delighted to find out that I was talking to you and sends much love and respect.

[Helen Hunt]

Please send her my love and respect. I will.

[Ted Danson]

But in the meantime I just have to do this because we were laughing and just the last.

[Helen Hunt]

I don't know Helen son. I sat beside her once at a concert of Paul Simon and Sting. She stood up on Rough Thin. She never sat again. Helen hun danced like a beautiful wild thing and I wanted to be her Lost in all the wonder Moving to the beat 50 ways to leave your lover Tossing her hair blissfully unaware of the square pair of stick in the mud's aside just right behind her. Everyone should dance like Helen Hunt. I'm crying. And we just started. That's incredible.

[Ted Danson]

I love that. We might. I'll ask Mary. I mean you. You recorded it but it depend on you and Mary and all of that. But I love the story that you were. Can we. You were.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes, of course.

[Ted Danson]

Randomly in a hospital in or someplace or recovering someplace in Italy. And you said in this letter that you wrote her saying. You just sent it to me and it was very sweet.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes. I mean should we tell the whole story or are we not doing there? Well, what I know is that very, very, very recently this year I ran into you guys and Mary told me that she'd written a song about me which I could not believe. What could that song possibly be about? I don't have like one thing I'm known for. Do you know what I mean? And so she sent it to me, but she told me that you two were at a concert. I feel like it was Sting and Paul Simon.

[Ted Danson]

Sting and Paul Simon.

[Helen Hunt]

Okay. And I guess was I sitting right in front of you?

[Ted Danson]

Right in front. I had you in back, but I think maybe in front. Whatever, go ahead.

[Helen Hunt]

Well, I guess I stood up and danced. She could have written a song that went, sit the fuck down, Helena. You're blocking me from sing Sting. That's a less beautiful song, but also accurate. But I guess I stood up and danced because, you know, you play Graceland. What are you gonna sit there? I just had to dance. And I guess she noticed and wrote a song about it. So the idea that that would be my. You know what? Someone as beautiful, clearly a person as Mary is that that would be who I am to her. That's amazing. And yes, I was just making a wonderful lesson. A wonderful lesson in get up and dance.

[Ted Danson]

Yes. Don't be self conscious. Get up and move and dance and be like Helen Hunt.

[Helen Hunt]

Well, I'm just gonna wear that. I'm gonna wear that. Yes. So I have so many places my mind is going. But my dad always. Who you met when he saw a performance he loved, he wrote a letter. Always, never, didn't. And I tried to do it, but he always did. And so she sent me that song and I happened to be doing a movie in Italy and I had some weird stomach thing and had to go to the Pisa hospital a couple of times. And in my inbox is this image of me as, you know, dancing in Graceland. It was lovely. It was lovely.

[Ted Danson]

I love that. We may have to keep this.

[Helen Hunt]

You may have to keep it.

[Ted Danson]

If it's with your permission.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah. So you have my permission.

[Ted Danson]

Officially, Mary doesn't, you know, Mary writes beautifully and, you know, she's award winning songwriter and all of that, but she doesn't sing. Doesn't. She'll sing in a movie when you can control it and be in a booth and all that stuff. So I'll have to ask her if she's okay if we use that. But yeah, let's start with your daddy. I remember you coming on the set of Ink and I think your dad had directed or was going to direct an episode and we loved him. But I remember you came and you were so sweet. I think we're coming to visit. But you hung around and it was like. And I can't remember had you done. Mad about yout by then, Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

I think his first television directing job at age 70. He started this career at age 70 after a lifetime of working in the theater and teaching acting and being a casting director at the Taper. He started his television directing career at age 70 doing an episode of Mad about yout where he directed Carl Reiner in it.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, wow.

[Helen Hunt]

And then he won a DGA award for it. Bang.

[Ted Danson]

How wonderful.

[Helen Hunt]

I mean, it was so wonderful. It was. Honestly, I could say it's one of the best nights of my life sitting there and they were reading off the list of nominees who were all the fancy people, you know what I mean? Everybody in that world who we've both worked with. And then Gordon Hunt and Michael Lembeck said his name and I almost fainted because he just was the most lovely guy. Worked so hard, so talented, and he got his day and a lovely father.

[Ted Danson]

I mean, one of the things I want to talk about. And we'll get to the movie you made that I knew you were interested that I would see it and I went, okay. And devoured it. So we'll get to that. And another thing I was thinking on the way here, and I haven't verbalized this before, but I want to talk about artistry and being an artist. And usually if you're an actor talking about being an artist or other actors, you run the risk of signing, oh, how highfalutin. I know Picasso is an artist. Not you. I know, but defining. And I was talking to my friends who you just met about what does that mean, artistry? And it has something to do about being conscious. I think about what you put out into the world and being purposeful so that you are hoping to make the world a better place or reflect humanity in a way that'll make it a better place. So we'll get to it. But I do consider you an artist.

[Helen Hunt]

I consider you an artist.

[Ted Danson]

And I want to talk about that in a second, but let's stick with your daddy for a second. And how you grew up because you were raised to be an artist. You were surrounded by artists. Your mom.

[Helen Hunt]

My mom is painting now, so here we go. But a photographer who's a photographer who now is painting. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't know if I was raised to be an artist. I don't think that was their intention, but I was surrounded by art. And, like, what a gift, you know, Had I been raised by a molecular biologist and gone to the lab with him, would my life have been different? I have no way of knowing. But I Not only my dad who was directing plays in New York, our circle of friends included like their best friends were Henry and Mary Gettle. Who are they? So Henry Gettles maiden name was Rogers. Richard Rogers daughter Adam Gettle's mother, who won a Tony for composing Light in the Piazza has Floyd Collins on Broadway. Now he's like a bit of a genius, which we don't want to make him wear that word. But I won't be the first to.

[Ted Danson]

Say I won't do the genius.

[Helen Hunt]

We'll do artistry, but he's an artist for sure. And then there were Helen and Steve Kellogg. Steve Kellogg is a life for children's book illustrator. Sort of in the Maurice Sendak vein. They grew up as best friends. So I was around art and music. And by proxy with Mary was Leonard Bernstein Sondheim. And so we would sit in the living room and listen to what Sondheim had written. Yeah, amazing. And watching the adults in my life listen for every note and every way the. The way the thing is composed is reflecting the content of the thing. Like I watched them be interested in it and I got interested in it.

[Ted Danson]

See, I had the scientist father, but everything he did went right over my head. And I went out and fantasized and played with my friends. You though listened, didn't you? You were not. You soaked up your parents and your upbringing.

[Helen Hunt]

Well, imagination, you know, more and more as an actor, I'm using my imagination. I studied and still study and studied when I was 9 years old and am really still going. But maybe. Cause there's some mileage there. Now I'm finding the work I enjoy doing the most has to do with imagination. So rather than calling on the tragic event to play a dramatic scene, you know, my dreams are affecting what I do and what I imagine. As I drive here, I'm trying to remember it. Cause it might not be. It might be interesting to use as an actor.

[Ted Danson]

Wait, what do you mean when you were driving here?

[Helen Hunt]

Well, I'm just saying you never know. Walking around when an image comes to you. And I've now learned like grab that grab. It might seem mundane, might be really interesting in a piece of work you do.

[Ted Danson]

Some of my favorite writers have said, you know, I get this weird image in my head that just delights and tickles me. And then I'll work backwards to find out how to get in a reasonable fashion to that image. That's Jonathan Ames, who's one of my favorite writers. Do you work with people I'm bouncing around. Do you work with an acting coach who does work with dreams. Because I know somebody who does.

[Helen Hunt]

I do. Kim Gilliam.

[Ted Danson]

I haven't worked with her, but yes, yes.

[Helen Hunt]

She's incredible. I don't want to. Don't. She's terrible. Don't go to her, because I'll never get in if. Now, if everybody listens to this podcast, her work's not very interesting. Stay away. She's amazing. She's amazing.

[Ted Danson]

She's so cool.

[Helen Hunt]

And she's one of my closest friends. And she'll never say who she worked with, ever. It's almost like a therapist. She will not discuss it. And then I'll hear Benedict Cumberbatch on a podcast say, I worked with this woman. So she's incredible. She's incredible. And she's very well trained as an actor and very well trained in this sort of Jungian world of imagination. So she's just. She's the whole package that I'm interested in. And I work with other people, too. You know, I'm not in acting class anymore. I teach sometimes, but I'm not in a class. But my class is that I get ahold of a piece of material and get to bounce it off someone. I just did a play and I worked for all year. I'm proud and embarrassed to say I worked all year with different.

[Ted Danson]

Tell me about it. And where was it? I read it.

[Helen Hunt]

I did Betrayal at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. What a beautiful theater. Oh, my God. It was loyal patrons who are interested that you're doing Pinter. And it was sold out from the first preview. And that was partly because the actors were terrific and partly because it's Pinter and partly because it's a city that loves the theater.

[Ted Danson]

And you knew you were gonna do this for a year.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, which I almost never. You know, you don't get that luxury. And I had a dialect to get right. And so I got to spend a year working with someone that I know in the UK from a play I did two years ago because I'm bad at accents. Until I work. Until you work. Until you work. You know, you chip away at it, and you suddenly it's nine months later and you're doing it. So now I'm bouncing around.

[Ted Danson]

I've only done that once on Damages, and it was that Minnesota, you know, And I knew I was bad, so I spent three months in advance, and it was literal. It wasn't like, I have music in my heart and soul or dialect. I don't. But I finally got there. And what was wonderful was it Literally informed my character.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

Just, you know, you don't just learn every word, you learn every syllable.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

And are familiar with every syllable, and it takes you someplace.

[Helen Hunt]

A few times I've had to do an accent, or wanted to, and I've said to the dialect coach, I'm just going to do a little. That's the worst idea in the world. It's a horrible idea. You've got to commit and you've got to sound bad for a long time until you suddenly realize, oh, I'm kind of doing it.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Going back. I'm not through with Peter. Your uncle?

[Helen Hunt]

Yes. Yes. Did you know Peter?

[Ted Danson]

No, but I know of him. So were you exposed or.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes. So he won a Tony award for directing 1776 and did a lifetime of theater up until. And after that. And then my dad directed the national tour of it. So it's a strange, obscure musical for me to know every syllable of. But I do. But I do. And he ran the Williamstown Theater Festival for a while.

[Ted Danson]

Quite different from my art.

[Helen Hunt]

From your scientific. Yes, quite different.

[Ted Danson]

It's miraculous that I get to sit here and talk to you. Okay, child. Well, maybe not child actor, but you started acting when you were a child.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah. That's a nice way to say it.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

When nine, I went to an actor.

[Ted Danson]

How did that happen? Was it in the making for a while and you finally had.

[Helen Hunt]

No, I had no plan at all. I have an aunt who's my age. That's a whole other story. My mother and my grandmother were pregnant right around the same time. And so she was. I grew up with her as my contemporary, and my sister and I lived in New York City and we'd come out to California for the summers, and I would just do whatever she did. And so she was going to ballet class. I would go. She was going to an acting class. All right, I'll go. But I got in there and I really liked it. I didn't ever imagine. I really didn't think, I want to do that on a big stage or I want to do that on camera. I liked being in the room with these older, fun, creative people telling some kind of story, whether it was silly or I just wanted to be around them. And she had a kids class from, like, 12 to 3 and an adult class from 3 to 6. And I just begged her, just let me be in the room for the whole thing. And then an agent walked in and I found myself in Alberta, Canada, running through a wheat field in some TV movie. Pioneer Woman, obviously. Ted.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes. You Say, uh huh. Yeah. What's your favorite movie?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

If we had an IMDb off, I think I would win for most obscure credits.

[Ted Danson]

Were you on BG and the Bear?

[Helen Hunt]

Were you a princess from outer space on the Bionic Woman? Mic drop. I hate that I always win this contest, but I always win this contest.

[Ted Danson]

I so loved. I started late, you know, I was fresh sophomore in Stanford. When the lights were late.

[Helen Hunt]

It's only late when you're looking at me. It's really not. It's the perfect time to start.

[Ted Danson]

I had no idea at all. And then I was just. And I still am enamored with going to work. I love driving through a studio gate.

[Helen Hunt]

Me too.

[Ted Danson]

I love Universal because I take a right on Jimmy Stewart. I cross over Gregory Peck. Drive. You know, these are all people that. Not Jimmy, but who I met. Anyway. I love it. But I would be an extra in a commercial. Joyfully.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

No shame.

[Helen Hunt]

No, I love it too. I love it too.

[Ted Danson]

I didn't care if I was in an acting class or I was being paid to work.

[Helen Hunt]

But see, that's it. I get asked a lot. I'm sure you've been asked a hundred thousand times. What's your advice for young people? I'm like, you better love it in the crappy room in Studio City, because that's the thing. Doing that work in whatever room is the thing. And then you have the big fancy moment and then you have the I can't get a job moment. But if you don't love that, you should tiptoe out of it, because that's the thing. And I think a lot of the art of it, which my dad was so good at, is what do you do when you're out of work? You're never out of work. I don't feels like you're never out of work.

[Ted Danson]

It looks that way, but I am.

[Helen Hunt]

Okay, I'll take your word for it, but that's a lot of TV shows.

[Ted Danson]

Okay.

[Helen Hunt]

I'm not very. Thank you. Nice of you to offer it up, but how do you stay acting? You know, if you and I are painters, Mary, if she's writing songs. It may be frustrating that no one's looking at the paintings, but you're painting every day. How do you stay acting? And I don't know the answer, but I've had play readings in my living room. I'll invite you both if you want to come.

[Ted Danson]

You know we want to come.

[Helen Hunt]

Really?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

Okay, I'll throw it out there.

[Ted Danson]

Maybe not to read, but to listen until maybe the second time.

[Helen Hunt]

Well make you read. You can read stage directions the first time, but like getting in a room with actors and acting and not waiting for someone to say we choose you. You gotta find a way to do that. And my dad had sort of a PhD in that.

[Ted Danson]

I've just heard about a serious but rare heart condition called ATTR Cardiac Amyloidosis or ATTR cm. If you have ATTR cm, you may experience symptoms related to heart failure like breathlessness and swelling of the legs, but also have issues that seem unrelated like carpal tunnel. There's a treatment option that may help called Atrube or Acharamidus. Atruby is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with ATTR CM to reduce death and hospitalization due to heart issues. In a study, people taking Atrube saw an impact on their health related quality of life and 50% fewer hospitalizations due to heart issues than people who didn't take a truby, giving you more chances to do what you love with who you love. Tell your doctor if you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding and about the medications you take. The most common side effects were mild and included diarrhea and abdominal pain. If you have ATTR CM, talk to a cardiologist about ATTRUBY or visit ATTRUBY.com that's a T T R U B Y.com to learn more. Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Whole Almonds makes for a wholly amazing, wholly delicious experience that's well holy Hershey's. Everyone should get to experience the satisfying surprise of a whole almond tucked inside creamy Hershey's Chocolate. And if you have already tasted Hershey's Milk Chocolate with whole almonds, then chances are you're already a lifelong fan of this confectionary delight. Because let's face it, everything's better when you put your whole self into it. Why should an almond chocolate bar be any different? This is a chocolate bar that gives 100% and that's something to celebrate. Nowadays, late at night I wake up, but I want a little something to go. You know, a little taste treat before I go back to bed. Quarter of that little chocolate covered almond scrumptious. Shop for Hershey's Milk Chocolate with whole Almonds now at a store near you found Wherever candy is sold, Nature's bounty is the life hack we've all been needing. And being rather lazy myself, I enjoy a good shortcut and I just said that because I want you to know that I know what hack actually means. In this case. So Nature's Bounty has a bounty of solutions to supplement your health and wellness. New superfoods plus energy packs. Nutrients from a powdered blend of 23 fruits and veggies in just one capsule per day. I love that. I take a lot of pills and I love adding just one and not a fistful. Help reduce the appearance of wrinkles. You just got my attention. And improve skin elasticity in just 12 weeks with new ultra collagen booster. All right, I'm 77. I'm going to make this a test. I'm loving the thought of it. And new probiotic gummies contain prebiotic and postbiotics for gut health, regularity and immune health in just one gummy per day. Nature's Bounty. It's in your nature. Learn [e-mail] these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. I keep holding back the reins on talking about you as a director. Um, because I want to keep going. No, sorry. Then she found me. It is your first. It wasn't your first directing period. It was your first film.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Is that correct?

[Helen Hunt]

That's correct.

[Ted Danson]

Because you did.

[Helen Hunt]

You did. Mad about you and a bunch of other stuff.

[Ted Danson]

Do that get us into. First off, Mad about you.

[Helen Hunt]

I know. It's a big. It's a long career.

[Ted Danson]

No, no. But I mean, that's. That is when they. Sometimes the research people say connections you have. It wasn't that we had literal connections. It was both in massive hits, and.

[Helen Hunt]

We got to be working in that style. I don't know about you, but I grew up on I Love Lucy. I Love Lucy raised me partly. And so there I found myself. And my mother was legitimately concerned. Shouldn't I be going to drama school like I believe you did or something? And instead of sitting in my room watching I Love Lucy, and then I find myself on a sitcom about a married couple in New York City going, well, it's kind of. Arguably, it kind of worked out.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah. So I met Paul, who you had on your show. I know. He's the best. I love him. I love him, too.

[Ted Danson]

Gentle, sweet, funny.

[Helen Hunt]

He's the best. And like my dad, Renaissance artist in ways you don't know. Oh, you majored in music. Oh. Kaminsky Method, where you suddenly have transformed yourself into a character that makes you cringe and laugh at the same time. So I'm his biggest man.

[Ted Danson]

I'm a remarkable, remarkable man.

[Helen Hunt]

We met because his wife and my roommate in the 1990 or something were friends and I had a dinner party and he was suddenly in my kitchen.

[Ted Danson]

And is that where working together came about?

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah. Well, two days later he said, can I send you this pilot? And I went, oh, God, this might be awkward. And I had just started to do. You were around for this. It used to be if you were in TV shows, you didn't get to be in movies. You know what I mean? It was like a hard line. And I remember when Robert Redford put Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People as an actor. It was like an earthquake happening. We all looked around and went, is that real? You can't do that.

[Ted Danson]

And she was nominated.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah. And was brilliant in a lasting performance that you and I could both quote. She was so impactful. But you didn't. A TV person, especially a sitcom person in a movie, which is so totally absurd now, just the phrase sitcom is so diminishing. It is so diminishing to what we've devoted our lives to. But then. So she knocked down the door and then Michael J. Fox suddenly was doing Back to the Future and George Clooney, and then I got Twister and then as Good as It Gets. So thank God that stupid fake wall disappeared. What were we talking about?

[Ted Danson]

Technology also helped because now the biggest movies in the world, as I like to tell Woody Harrelson, who I'm slightly competitive with, the more successful his movie is, the smaller the instrument I will look at.

[Helen Hunt]

I know.

[Ted Danson]

You know, I'll watch him on my.

[Helen Hunt]

Cell phone, on your phone at the airport, interrupted by flight updates just to.

[Ted Danson]

Get back at him.

[Helen Hunt]

Were we starting with Paul? Oh, yeah. So I didn't want to do a sitcom because it was exactly what you didn't do if you were starting to make movies. And I was starting to be in some movies. And then I read it and thank God was smart enough to go, that's juicy. Yeah, that's juicy. That's 12 page scene. That's funny. But they want something, you know, all the ingredients that matter.

[Ted Danson]

12 page also saying you're doing theater. Basically, yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

And two of us. I mean, the good news and the exhausting news of that show is I didn't have a big group. It became more and more and more the two of us. Because instead of bigger and bigger, the aspiration of the show is that it would get smaller and smaller until we did one episode that my dad directed, which was one locked off shot of the two of us.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, you're kidding.

[Helen Hunt]

We did one that was. We were Sitting outside, I feel like you would like it. We were sitting outside our baby's room trying to sleep, train her, but feeling like it was the wrong thing to do. So it was one locked off, 22 minute shot.

[Ted Danson]

What a brilliant concept.

[Helen Hunt]

Directed by my dad. Take one is what ended up on the air. We did it twice. So the good news about that is, as an actor, it was just juicy. And the hard news is on the weeks when the table redraft was not perfect and you got the script on Wednesday night or Thursday for the Friday shoot. That's a lot of learning to do and a lot of remembering and a lot of. But there's next week's outline. So it was, I like to say it was the opposite of everything I feared. I thought it would be easy and I'd be home at 9pm we were there till 1 in the morning. I thought it would get boring. It was never boring. It got more and more fun to do. But the whole experience, really, it was the writing and it was Paul, you know, that we happened to immediately have whatever this thing is that we have, still, it was effortless and right, right there. From the minute I met him.

[Ted Danson]

People talk about chemistry and I always go, chemistry is take really two or three or whatever. Two really accomplished actors who are good actors and really good material. That's your chemistry.

[Helen Hunt]

That's your chemistry. I think it's 80% of your chemistry. And then I've had the experience where I've had the thing happen where you don't get along, but there's chemistry. And when there's no chemistry, it's really, really hard. So I think I have come. Even though Paul and I used to roll our eyes at the word, I've come to believe it's a little bit true. There's gotta be something that you can't point to that's there.

[Ted Danson]

But my joke on myself is I was the one who. And this is why no one ever takes what I say. Well, they take what I say and do the exact opposite and are very successful. I looked at Shelley Long when we were auditioning for Cheers. I went, no, no, no, no. Do not hire her this way. It'll ruin the show. She made the show. She came out hitting a home run.

[Helen Hunt]

Day long in that form, but not like before.

[Ted Danson]

But we were so different. Grew to love her absolutely, but different. It was hard for us to sit around and just talk, but when we got in front of a camera, it was like a prize fight.

[Helen Hunt]

So I think that might be chemistry a little bit.

[Ted Danson]

Well, It's. Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

It's poking a hole in your theory.

[Ted Danson]

No, but it's two good actors.

[Helen Hunt]

But it's two good actors with good writing. That's true. That's true. Maybe that is the.

[Ted Danson]

I don't know.

[Helen Hunt]

Both are true.

[Ted Danson]

I think your idea is probably smarter. Okay, so how did you decide? Oh, I'm gonna direct. One.

[Helen Hunt]

I never had and still don't have an aspiration to be, like a journeyman director. Get me my next job to direct. Because, I mean, have you. You've directed?

[Ted Danson]

No.

[Helen Hunt]

You've never directed? No. Desire. Are you one of those people paid not to? You're paid.

[Ted Danson]

Not paid well not to.

[Helen Hunt]

I mean, at its best, you are the most creative element. And at its worst, you're like a traffic cop. You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Especially tv.

[Helen Hunt]

Well, tv. I've done a lot of tv. And I always say you're a little bit like, you know, the concierge. They would like more salt in your performance. Okay. Oh, they would prefer to do it more slowly. No, they want you to speed it up. You're just kind of the messenger. Yeah, but when you write something, directing becomes the next draft.

[Ted Danson]

Every choice you make, you've already visualized it.

[Helen Hunt]

Well, yes, but also, you discover things and I don't know whether to talk about. Then she found me. But I made this first movie that meant a lot to me.

[Ted Danson]

We're in. We're in.

[Helen Hunt]

We're in. Okay.

[Ted Danson]

So let me start and then. Hold that thought. It's easy. It's brilliant.

[Helen Hunt]

Oh, thank you so much.

[Ted Danson]

You know how some movies are really good because you like this and this and this. But maybe. Whatever. It's perfect. It's a perfect film. And I'm really glad you asked me to watch it. Cause I missed it when you were.

[Helen Hunt]

Well, it's not your fault. So it took me 10 years to make, which is what most independent filmmakers say, doesn't just happen. Took me 10 years to make. It fell apart. It came together. It fell apart. It came together and then it got chosen to go to Toronto, and it had the biggest sale of the year. And then the company went bankrupt the Friday before it opened, so it really disappeared. Which is sort of, you know, the creative wound of my life. But if you want to watch it, it's on Amazon.

[Ted Danson]

Please listen to us. It is absolutely spectacular.

[Helen Hunt]

Thank you. And if you forget the title, you Google Helen Hunt and Bette Midler and Colin Firth and it'll pop up.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. And then you found the film. Yes, and then he found.

[Helen Hunt]

Then she Found me.

[Ted Danson]

And then she found me.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah. Yeah. It's based on a novel by Eleanor Lippman.

[Ted Danson]

But you wrote the adaption.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, well, no, it had a. A beautiful, very loyal adaptation that was lovely, but I couldn't get it made. And then I rewrote it with a writing partner. Couldn't quite get made. And then I just took the whole thing and shook it and kept sort of the central DNA, this mother, daughter story, and changed everything else. The Colin Firth character, the Matthew Broderick character, they're not in the book. In the book, she's not wanting to get pregnant. She's a high school teacher in her 20s. And I just sort of.

[Ted Danson]

How did you then bring that? Why did you. And how did you think of doing that? Because it's brilliant.

[Helen Hunt]

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I told my daughter, when I die, just play that movie because that's everything I care about. You don't need to have a funeral. Just play that. Because.

[Ted Danson]

But it was your idea to do the woman. Trying to. And not have.

[Helen Hunt]

Because I was trying to have a baby. And you know, you know, enough about the basics of storytelling. The central character has to want something. And that wasn't quite there. And there I was in my late 30s, really wanting a baby, and I thought, well, if I'm gonna play this part at my age. And I was late 30s, I thought, this woman either wants a baby or doesn't want a baby. At 39, as a woman, you don't nothing a baby. You know what I mean? And so I thought, maybe that's what she wants. And then I also read. Do you know James Hillman's writing?

[Ted Danson]

Not really. Sorry. I'd like to fake it.

[Helen Hunt]

So I'm as smart as you Will. I will not. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't really. He was a beautiful essayist, Jewish Jungian writer, and he wrote an essay called Betrayal that I read. And it's incredible. And the two things I know about movies from the great movie filmmakers I've worked with is the central character has to want something, and you've got to have the magic sentences of the movie. Do you know what I mean? Like, this movie is about. Jim Brooks told me that as Good as It Gets was about that which you cling to, to keep you safe, ultimately imprisons you. So once you have that, she clings to that. Her kid is sick and she has to be there, and she has to let that go. Jack clings to. Don't touch any cracks on this. He has to let it go. The Greg can earn character clings to being beautiful and successful. That's beaten out of him. So you gotta find that sentence. And it took me the better part of a decade to find that sentence. But I found it partly from this essay about betrayal. And you can't really love till you've made peace with betrayal. Once I had that sentence, you can't.

[Ted Danson]

Really love until you make peace with betrayal.

[Helen Hunt]

And the good, the best one of those is if you can argue about it over dinner. Like we could. The four of us could go to dinner and you could say, that's not true. You can't if you don't trust them. And we'd all be right. That's a juicy magic sentence. Am I making sense?

[Ted Danson]

Totally.

[Helen Hunt]

Okay, good. Thank you. So once I had that, I got rid of the characters and created the Colin Firth character and the Matthew Broderick character. It all sort of fell into place once I knew what I wanted it to be about.

[Ted Danson]

My daughter at age 44, had our kind of brand new grandson, Sunny. She was a doula. So everything that you were talking about in that movie I felt an emotional connection to.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. It was amazing. And then there's Colin Firth. Give me a fucking break.

[Helen Hunt]

I know as proud of him.

[Ted Danson]

He's so charming, isn't he?

[Helen Hunt]

So good.

[Ted Danson]

But that's just, you know, who cares? Talking about an actor's charm is kind of side the point.

[Helen Hunt]

Isn't he good? I'm as proud of his performance I. I had whatever little bit of director. Whatever little bit of credit a director can take is all I can take. Cause it's him. But the New Yorker wrote a review of his work in it and said he was like a storm cloud when he gets, you know, he gets angry cause she betrays him. And boy, I think he's good in that movie.

[Ted Danson]

So good.

[Helen Hunt]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

And so little. You know, these little character things of before he blows blows when he's really betrayed by you. Um, he gets up and walks.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah. And that I wrote. Cause I remember hearing the phrase go take your anger out for a walk. So I made his character just. That's who he was.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. But it's kind of brilliant because it's not. Oh, he's being mad and you're forcing an act and you're allowing an actor to be like. I don't know. It's so not on the nose, you know. Oh, here's the scene where he gets angry and da da, da, da, da. You see, here's the scene where he Gets up and walks briskly. And it's so interesting and different.

[Helen Hunt]

Thank you. I think without meaning to or meaning to, Jim Brooks's work made a big impression on me, both before I worked with him and after I worked with him. And I don't know how to sum up his characters, but they're filled with emotion, filled with real struggles, and can articulate it at the same time. Think that's what the magic sauce might be.

[Ted Danson]

Yes. And you are talking about things that matter.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Not just your characters, but to all of us, I think. And so that can be medicinal unless you add humor. And there is not jokes. There are no jokes. But there is humor that makes it so much. I think the medicine go down, you know, I think.

[Helen Hunt]

I think I heard him.

[Ted Danson]

It's not medicinal.

[Helen Hunt]

I shouldn't say that. No. The darker parts of the story. I think I took this from Jim, so I'm going to give him credit. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

I was about to say he does, though.

[Helen Hunt]

But what I think I took from him was it's a comedy until it refuses to be.

[Ted Danson]

That's great. I don't think I've ever heard that.

[Helen Hunt]

I mean, you just. That's what we're making. We're making a comedy. Whoops.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Helen Hunt]

Deborah Winger's sick. Do you know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Helen Hunt]

It's a good motto, I think.

[Ted Danson]

And it's a little bit acting, you know, it's Neighborhood Playhouse. Don't do anything until the other day.

[Helen Hunt]

The other actor makes you do it. Yes, it is.

[Ted Danson]

Don't stop being funny until your story.

[Helen Hunt]

Just runs into a wall.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, you're fun to talk to.

[Helen Hunt]

You're fun to talk to. We're members of this weird tribe.

[Ted Danson]

Let's bring Bette Midler into the story.

[Helen Hunt]

People have to see the movie now or this is going to be super boring.

[Ted Danson]

No, no, they know.

[Helen Hunt]

People see. Yeah, they know Bette, certainly.

[Ted Danson]

And anyway, this is my podcast.

[Helen Hunt]

Good. So the story is about a very not fancy, rich and famous woman played by me, a very flying low to the ground school teacher, elementary school teacher in Brooklyn, not a stitch of makeup on her face, who finds out or is told by an emissary that her birth mother is a famous talk show hostess. So I had to find an icon. Couldn't do it. To be a terrific, solid actor, in a way, it had to be. That's what was funny. There's this theory. My dad used to say, every love story, everything's the Odd Couple. Every story is the Odd Couple. Every love story is the Odd Couple. Think about you and Shelley Long. Right, That's. And so for this movie, I didn't have a ton of money to pay anybody either. So they were going on some good feeling about me and the script that they read. But she's an icon for sure. So I just drove to her house, and she thought I wanted her to wear big, loud, purple, feathery outfits. And I didn't because it's a story about betrayal. So I said, if you come out in rich jewel tones and my character's gonna be more likely to trust you than if you're an obviously frivolous person. Anyway, she agreed to do it. And I have Bette Midler out in Brooklyn in a little Indy going, hope she doesn't kill me, because these aren't the movies she usually makes.

[Ted Danson]

And the show hostness of her. I mean, talk show host. Enabled her to still be.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes. To be her funny, fun self. Yes, absolutely.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Which was great. And you don't. Anyway, you're right. We're going into the weeds too much on this.

[Helen Hunt]

People should go see it.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

Truly, I appreciate it.

[Ted Danson]

It's a really lovely film.

[Helen Hunt]

I really appreciate it.

[Ted Danson]

Beyond lovely. It's great.

[Helen Hunt]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Let me talk. We can talk about this a little bit. And it doesn't have to be about this, but directing something you're in, terrible idea.

[Helen Hunt]

Don't ever do it.

[Ted Danson]

How do you handle that?

[Helen Hunt]

I. Well, I worked on the part first. I said to myself, if I'm gonna do this, it has to be like, this is the eighth month of a run of a play where. In myself for you and your character. Yeah. Cause I'm not gonna have time to talk to myself. I gotta know it that well as an actor.

[Ted Danson]

So how did you do that? Alone in a room or.

[Helen Hunt]

No, I worked with Larry Moss, who was a coach I've worked with a lot alone in a room, making sure I knew all my little things. What does she want in this scene? You know, all the work that we do as an actor. And I had two scripts. I had an acting script and a directing script. And I had lunch with Warren Beatty and said, I think I'm gonna be in this movie. Is it a terrible idea? And I thought he'd say yes, but he said, there will be someone in the movie who sees it the way you do. And he was right, in a way. Cause when you're a director, you're trying to download what's in your head into the mind of the production designer and the actors. Well, at least what's her Name is taken care of. What's her name? Me is gonna do it the way I see it. And then you just prepare like crazy. I had a wonderful DP named Peter Donahue who read the script and said, kramer versus Kramer. And I went, yeah, it should be that simple. And the frame should be that still.

[Ted Danson]

I was gonna say it was beautiful. There was a shot that stuck out of my head. The. I think it's his apartment. It's his, not yours. That it's near the water and the street kind of goes down towards it and there's a break and it looks so. I don't know. It was just so beautiful. It was like, oh, paint that kind of.

[Helen Hunt]

But beautiful. Not fancy beautiful.

[Ted Danson]

No, that was the picturesque or something. It wasn't rich, but boy, are you lucky. You found the most beautiful little poor place to live.

[Helen Hunt]

You're not kidding. Every location manager, when we're actors in vans, we're like, oh, the location manager's gonna talk to the restaurant owner who's yelling. But when you're a director, you're like, you just found a piece of my movie.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

So the fun of directing something you wrote and care about a ridiculous amount is that the directing and every decision you make becomes another draft. Editing becomes a whole other draft. Scenes you thought you die without, you suddenly throw in the trash. You loop one line and everything makes sense. I mean, there's magic you can do to make the horrible movie you've shot. Because it is so horrible. When you look at a first assembly of a movie, it's the worst experience ever. And then you can start to make it better when you cut it.

[Ted Danson]

Technology is such that. You shot on film.

[Helen Hunt]

I did. You shot on film.

[Ted Danson]

That's amazing. But you can edit, right? With digits, so it goes faster.

[Helen Hunt]

I'm older now, but I never did the movie. Ola version.

[Ted Danson]

No.

[Helen Hunt]

Which I heard that Steven Spielberg still. Well, maybe still, but certainly did long after he needed to, because he said his brain used the time when you took the film off and put it on another. Actually cut it and spliced it, that it was good for his brain. But can you imagine now, in this sped up world, everybody would go, that's adorable. Get on the Avatar.

[Ted Danson]

You can look at 20 different choices in the time in one cut. But now you can even. Pardon me. You can take a scene with two people and somebody crosses behind the other person. You can take different takes and make them as if magically.

[Helen Hunt]

It's incredible.

[Ted Danson]

I think that's good. Or it's scary. I don't know which. Anyway, anyway, I'm not overdoing how much I loved it, but we can move on.

[Helen Hunt]

I appreciate it.

[Ted Danson]

Did you become a raving alcoholic when the film company went distribution company crashed.

[Helen Hunt]

And burned with your picture. I'm not kidding. It was a dark day. You know, this comes back to our thing of you better love it in the room. Yeah, you better love it in the crappy room. You better have loved making it. You better love the times when you meet someone you respect who sees it and says, I saw what you were trying to do. You better love the heartbreak of losing a location and the thrill of getting Colin Firth. You better love all that part because you do not know, you know what's going to happen.

[Ted Danson]

Maine, where life, the way it should be, transforms all who encounter its spectacular landscapes. Rugged coastlines, pine scented trails, sandy beaches, sparkling lakes and tranquil forests inspire you to reflect and make meaningful moments. They offer endless opportunities for adventure and exploration. Whether pedaling or paddling, hiking or biking, Maine has more than enough outdoor spaces to make the most of long summer days. Relish in exquisite flavors harvested from the ocean and the rich soils of orchards and fields, Maine's makers are rooted to its heritage while boldly branching into new ways of thinking, doing and being. Connect with its people in warm and authentic towns which beckon you to stroll art galleries and locally owned shops where generations of artists, writers, entrepreneurs and craftspeople see the world anew. It's tempting to do it all when you visit, but take a beat and a breath. Get a feel for the time and tempo of Maine simple pleasures, scenic adventures where every route is the scenic one. Discover [e-mail] Close your eyes, exhale, feel.

[Helen Hunt]

Your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-contacts.

[Ted Danson]

Mary's son, Charlie McDowell is a wonderful writer, director, and he just shot a film in Finland. I'm going to mess this up. I know, but Glenn Close was in it and it's called Summer Book and it's from Tove Janssen, who created the Newmans Moomins.

[Helen Hunt]

I don't know anything you're saying so you're smart now and I'm done.

[Ted Danson]

No, no. Charlie's listening and going, oh, for God's sake. But it's a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant movie. And it doesn't have a strong narrative because that's not the story. The story is basically. It's almost like you have a meditation around these three characters and nature and the island they were on. It's absolutely beautiful. It's a huge hit in Finland and Europe because people still go to movies there. Here you have to have. For marketing. You have to have. I exaggerate. But, you know.

[Helen Hunt]

But then adolescence comes along. You've seen adolescence?

[Ted Danson]

No, I haven't yet, but I've heard. It's just. But we usually watch TV at night, and that may be a little tough.

[Helen Hunt]

It'S a little heavy, but it breaks all the rules. We've said they don't splice magically shots together. And it's brilliant.

[Ted Danson]

And wait, so did they literally.

[Helen Hunt]

Ted, one take or did they. I know we're doing your podcast. I'm not gonna spoil it for you. You have.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

And then you have to make them hire both of us, whatever they do next.

[Ted Danson]

I don't do one takes.

[Helen Hunt]

Well, you would in this.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I know, but they rehearsed.

[Helen Hunt]

We don't learn anything about it. But after you watch it. We're now plugging something neither of us are in. This has been terrible. We're failures.

[Ted Danson]

No, we're not. We're looking for work.

[Helen Hunt]

Okay. We're looking for work. You gotta see it. And don't look at any of the behind the scenes. And then watch all the behind the scenes. But just keep in mind, when you watch it, there was no splicing of one take into another.

[Ted Danson]

That's a fact.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, that's a fact. Got them another job. What about us?

[Ted Danson]

All right, I want to bounce.

[Helen Hunt]

Good.

[Ted Danson]

If you had to say what your artistry, your talents, your. You know, your. What you want to. What is it you want to put out into the world? What do you care most about, you know, what is it you want to impart to your child? What is all of that kind of airy fairy stuff?

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, that's not airy fairy, but it's not totally real. It's not airy fairy. And my dad, really. My dad tells a story. I will get to your question, which you might have to repeat if I've forgotten it. Exactly. But my dad tells a story about being in some hospital waiting room and some couple holding hands and God knows what they were waiting for. You know, what results from what surgery. And all in the family's on. And he watched them start to laugh. He was like, that matters. So I do believe that art matters. So.

[Ted Danson]

And we are curing cancer.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes. And we are. Or at least we're making this. Yes, exactly. Essential workers, they say, but.

[Ted Danson]

What do you want?

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, so it's not gonna be one. Cause I'm bad at one. Like, whatever. So I made a movie called the Sessions, and that was about.

[Ted Danson]

Also brilliant.

[Helen Hunt]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Thank you.

[Helen Hunt]

It's a beautiful movie. And it's. And it's a movie about healthy sex, which I can think of almost none. So I felt like I wanted. I'd like young people to see that movie because there's so many, so much footage out there, whether it's on the Internet or in movies where sex is either fake and beautifully choreographed and pretend beautiful or dark and punishing, especially to women. And so here's this movie about this man, true story, about a man who had polio and was getting on in his adult life. And he wrote a book called How I Became a Human Being. And one chapter was that he said he felt like he was up against a big glass window. And on the other side, there was this banquet that other people got to enjoy that he didn't, which was having a sexual life. So he hired this sexual surrogate to do these sessions with him where he could have sex or learn about sex or be in his sexuality. And so. Because I think the disability in that movie took away the chance of making it perfect and choreographed. And it was just human and awkward and funny and sexy and not sexy at all, like, the way real sex is. So I like that I've left that movie behind, and I hope young people see it so the only vision they're getting isn't all the other stuff that's out there. I mean, what do I care about the most in the world? My daughter. You know, like, I just. My daughter is sort of kind of everything. So this I made. Then she found me. She was 2. I did a reading of it in my living room when I was pregnant with her, so. And it's dedicated to her at the end. It's this. For McKenna. Language.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

So I care about mothering. Good mothering. I care about good mothering. I think directors are good mothers. They always have this image of directors as, like, leading you into battle. Yes, absolutely. Heart of Darkness. And a good mother says, I want to hear your opinion. I'm in charge, but I want to know what you have to say. I know where we're going. I've looked into it. Come aboard. It's gonna be okay. Let's not panic. All the things a good director says is what I think a good mother says. And then just making people laugh. I mean, my God, during the pandemic, my daughter was 15, turning 16. I mean, there's no good time, but that's a bad time to be locked in the house.

[Ted Danson]

That was a horrible time.

[Helen Hunt]

It was horrible. And if you have a teenager, my God. And so we put in these Nancy Meyers movies and there we are laughing at Marty Short. But that like mattered so much. A break from the worry and the futurizing, you know, So I want to make people laugh. I would love another opportunity. I want, you know, I don't know if you ever feel this because you keep working on show after show, but I would love a chance to really let loose in the way I got to do on Mad about yout and be funny.

[Ted Danson]

Me too. And there's all sorts of funny. I mean, Mary did Stepbrothers.

[Helen Hunt]

I'll take it.

[Ted Danson]

More people come up watching.

[Helen Hunt]

Sure. You know, the pleasure that's given people.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. And a huge laugh. So what I'm about to say sounds like if I could be in a Stepbrothers, I would love it and would. Except I don't think I'm good at that kind of thing.

[Helen Hunt]

I think you absolutely could walk into that movie. I mean, there are some people who you don't. Aren't going to walk into that movie. You could walk into.

[Ted Danson]

Thank you very much. But I'm working now with Mike Shore.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes, again.

[Ted Danson]

Again.

[Helen Hunt]

I read his book that your first show was based on. About ethics. Right.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

Okay. I'm so glad I have it. All right.

[Ted Danson]

No, you did. You do. Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

And he's amazing.

[Ted Danson]

And he. Ethics. How do you do a show about ethics?

[Helen Hunt]

And he did it.

[Ted Danson]

He did it. He wrapped it in nine year old fart humor and beautiful visuals.

[Helen Hunt]

And a big idea. He took a big swing of the bat.

[Ted Danson]

They had two at all times on their speed dial in the writer's room. Ethics professors from around the country. It is taught in. I think it was Notre Dame or someplace taught it. Many colleges have as a part of their syllabus or whatever in their ethic classes. So it's. And kids love it that 11, 12, 30 morning, 15 year olds who are coming into their own about and observing what makes them laugh and caring about it. And my whole fan base is now 11 to 14, you know.

[Helen Hunt]

Good to see you.

[Ted Danson]

I know I know. Amazing and good on them that they saw something and cared about it. He put that out in the world. And then the thing I'm working on with him now, and I'm gonna work with. Work with Mary. She's. We're going to be together. We're going to go to work every day together.

[Helen Hunt]

Oh, my God. How fun.

[Ted Danson]

So excited is a man on the inside. And it was about 8. Let's talk about aging and grief and memory loss, which we don't want to talk about in this country. And he did it again, and he did it with grace and humor.

[Helen Hunt]

And you tell him in his spare time.

[Ted Danson]

I will.

[Helen Hunt]

I'm ready to go to work. I mean, if he's not busy running your entire show after running your last show.

[Ted Danson]

Okay, but then you have to get me a job because you're guaranteed to get on this.

[Helen Hunt]

No, I read that book. And that's sort of. Here's why I like the sort of imagination, Jungian mythological influence on even a comedy on TV or a big action movie. Because people, kids, in the case of your show before, can feel when the story's right and they can feel when it's off. And so when it's right, they can forget and they can laugh at what you're doing. So, like, the bones of the story matter. Calling the ethics professors matter. When I did Twister, I was like, how am I gonna act this thing? Talk about. I'm not the person you would expect to walk into that movie. But I talked to one of the guys they hired to rewrite it who said he was thinking about Ahab and the whale and how she was going down under to follow this thing. Nobody comes up to me for an autograph. And Twister is thinking about, you know, Melville, but I had a thread to pull. Yes, she is drawn to this thing that could kill her, but killed her. And she's gonna. And it just made me able to show up what people like is all the big flying cows and the fun and my hair blowing. But I knew and the writer knew. Gotta get the story right. Whatever the form is. Something silly, something serious. It almost.

[Ted Danson]

It's the way it was that your first huge box office. I can't remember.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, it was.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

I had done a season of Mad about yout and I got a call. You know, Jan De Bont and Steven Spielberg want you to come over for lunch. I went, what now? Sorry, what? But I had seen Speed that Jan de Bond directed. You know, Sandra Bullock is a clown on top of being a serious. In the highest sense in that Carol Lombard sense. And he hired her. And when I went to talk to him about this movie, he wanted me and Bill and Phil Hoffman and theater. Why does he want these kind of actors in his movie? Well, Cause he's smart and he knows that he'll take care of all the wind blowing. He needs good actors to show up. And it seems to matter sometimes. I mean, it matters to me.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, it matters. You can't chalk it off, you know.

[Helen Hunt]

No, seriously. Bill and I are taking our fight about whether to chase the tornado, and it. Again, people are eating popcorn and waiting for the next tornado. But in some, the movie did really well. And I don't think it was in spite of the good acting, you know, or the theater actors and that.

[Ted Danson]

I miss Bill Paxton.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, he's so good. And Phil Hoffman. Oh, my God.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, God, that's right. I forgot.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I miss him too. Woof.

[Helen Hunt]

I know.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, well, I know we live on.

[Helen Hunt]

We live on.

[Ted Danson]

This sounds really lame, but the whole hanging your hat on something. I get research on people, the amazing research department. I watch things that they recommend or that I know and I need to catch up. And then I sit down and I go through the phase of, how can I be interesting in this podcast? And it dawns on me that ain't the point. And I go, wait, what am I really curious about this person? For real, Ted, just you alone in the room. What do you really care about this person? And that's today. I was so excited to see you because I wanted to talk about artistry. I wanted to talk about being an artist. And you are. And it's been like this effortless for me conversation because I had this. I could hang my hat on this and go anywhere with you. Yeah, sorry this is turned it about a podcast, but it is true. Find out what you care about and write it.

[Helen Hunt]

We're also separate as actors especially. You know, I'm home working on my thing, and you're home. And then we get to the set. Hey, how are you? Good. But we never got to compare notes on the process of it.

[Ted Danson]

At least we have award shows.

[Helen Hunt]

That's where we can really connect with each other, really be who we are.

[Ted Danson]

Because you are not dwelling on yourself. You're caring about the people around.

[Helen Hunt]

You're there to serve, to be of service in the highest way.

[Ted Danson]

Can I just quickly do this? I was nominated. I got the Carol Burnett Golden Globe.

[Helen Hunt]

No, you did.

[Ted Danson]

And, man, did that mean everything.

[Helen Hunt]

Of course it did. She's the queen she's the queen. You know, she played my mother in Mad about yout.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, my God, I forgot that.

[Helen Hunt]

I know. I'm making it about me. It's nice about your little award. That's amazing.

[Ted Danson]

We'll keep taking the ball back.

[Helen Hunt]

Oh, by the way, she was my mother in Man.

[Ted Danson]

Okay, going back.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

Dick Van Dyke played my father on Becker.

[Helen Hunt]

We've been here a minute, Ted. Dan said, oh, my God.

[Ted Danson]

That made me so happy. I stalked him because I loved him so much.

[Helen Hunt]

I think Paul may have said this on your show, but I'll resay it is that we found ourselves early on. We had, like, asked Jerry Lewis to do an episode, and he said yes. And honestly, the studio was like, okay, but we were just, you know, comedy geeks. And then suddenly. Not suddenly. We begged Mel Brooks to come and play. We literally went to his office, which was on our lot in Culver City, and got on our knees at his desk and said, please. Which he liked, I think. And he showed up. And then there was Carl Reiner, and then there was Sid Caesar, and then there was Fred de Cordema. And then. I mean, I think, because one came, they all said yes. And we looked at each other like, we're getting to be in the room and play with, like, the ancestors, you know, the people who set the whole thing in motion that you and I are talking about. The joy of getting to do Cheers and the joy of getting like, they're the boat launchers. And they came on the show.

[Ted Danson]

I'm so grateful to be part of this, in whatever way, lineage.

[Helen Hunt]

Me, too. Me, too.

[Ted Danson]

So happy.

[Helen Hunt]

Me, too. And like I said, it saved me as a kid. It really did. I sat there watching I Love Lucy and Bewitched, by the way.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Helen Hunt]

You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Oh, my God. Montgomery.

[Helen Hunt]

Yes. Again.

[Ted Danson]

She's amazing.

[Helen Hunt]

She was amazing. She was amazing. So I feel the same way. Like, just getting to be in that stream of that kind of performing.

[Ted Danson]

I did. I used. I worked with Bill Hurt early on.

[Helen Hunt]

I know you did. That's an example. I'm gonna hijack your podcast of watching a movie. Who's that? When you came on, it was like, what's happening? That's a new thing.

[Ted Danson]

Nice.

[Helen Hunt]

That's exciting.

[Ted Danson]

Let's just leave it there.

[Helen Hunt]

Okay. Good night.

[Ted Danson]

Good night.

[Helen Hunt]

Good to talk to you.

[Ted Danson]

But Bill, who is going through. He's very intellectual. He was a very intellectual Brian.

[Helen Hunt]

I worked with him very recently, and he's a very intellectual actor.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. And he can get confused in his head. And before he Was sober. He was really difficult to talk to and all of that. Yeah, brilliant.

[Helen Hunt]

Yeah, yeah, brilliant.

[Ted Danson]

But we had this argument about, oh, Cheers was coming up for me. Anyway, you don't want to be a television actor. And I went, wait, well, now you know, look at James. Sorry. Well, anyway, I named some actor whose name just escaped me, who just won, I think was nominated for an Oscar and had done wonderful films, what, Mary Tyler Moore, you know, all of these people. And he was not having any, any of it. But then my bad to Bill later in life was I would always, when I would take a part on some television or do something, I'd always have Bill as my. Over my shoulder going, ah, Ted, like you so not really living up to da da, da da. Which was my bad to him. I shouldn't have done that. And later in life, Damages, he said something really nice about Damages. And then we saw each other and everything. But I realized, oh, that's not fair to take people in a moment and then use their voice against.

[Helen Hunt]

As a weapon against yourself. I also loved, I remember Jim Brooks looking for Greg Kinnear to play this part. And he auditioned everybody, the fanciest actors you can imagine. And what mattered to him is that he wanted to tell this story that I described to you. A shallow guy, has depth beaten into him. So an interesting, complicated actor wasn't quite right.

[Ted Danson]

No.

[Helen Hunt]

And he didn't care that Greg Kinnear had been on E. Television or whatever the talk. Whatever he did, he was right for the part. Robert Redford didn't care about the stigma of Mary Tyler Moore. And when I was a kid, Dolly Parton was a joke. She'd come on Carson and he'd make jokes about her breasts and she'd make jokes, right. She was like, wrote these little songs. And over time, we all now know one of the great American songwriters, one of the most generous Americans in our lifetime.

[Ted Danson]

Philanthropic.

[Helen Hunt]

Philanthropic. And the talent.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Helen Hunt]

So the smart people, the Jim Brooks's of the world. No, don't go for the fake of. Don't do a TV series like Stay with the Work. Stay with the Work. And now it's easier to do that because really people just want to make money. So if you're on a TV show, come be in our movie because people will watch it, which is a smarter way to operate, I think.

[Ted Danson]

One last thing. Okay, Mike, Sure. Call us. Sorry. Another little short story called us in at the beginning of the fourth season of the Good Place and saying, okay, this will be the last season. And we had just become this hit and it was like we so respected because he said I will have told my story and I don't want to go on. I don't want to vamp. I just want to tell my story and end it when it should be ended. So I'm doing that a little bit because this has been a dream for me.

[Helen Hunt]

For me too.

[Ted Danson]

Conversation. It's really fun to talk to you.

[Helen Hunt]

You too.

[Ted Danson]

Really cool. Ladies and gentlemen, the magnificent Helen Hunt. Her film Then She Found Me is available on Prime Video and you can catch her in season four of Hacks out now. That's it for our show this week. Special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, please send it to someone you love. Be sure to check us out on YouTube where you can watch full length episodes. As always, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts. If you have some time and are in the mood means a lot, we'll have more for you next week. Where everybody knows you're in.

[Helen Hunt]

You've been listening to where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Sometimes.

[Ted Danson]

The show is produced by me, Nick Leow.

[Helen Hunt]

Our executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and myself. Sarah Fedorovich is our supervising producer.

[Ted Danson]

Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with.

[Helen Hunt]

Support from Eduardo Perez, research by Alyssa Grohl, talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Batista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson.

[Ted Danson]

Antony Gend, Mary Steenbergen and John Osborne.

[Helen Hunt]

Hey, I'm Paul Scheer. I'm June Diane Rayfield.

[Ted Danson]

And I'm Jason Mantzoukas.

[Helen Hunt]

And we're the hosts of how did this get Made?

[Ted Danson]

A comedy podcast where we deconstruct, make fun of and celebrate the best of worst movies ever made. Have you ever seen a movie that's so bad that it's actually good? That's what we're talking about.

[Helen Hunt]

From blockbuster franchises and made for TV romances to bonkers 80s action flicks and.

[Ted Danson]

Obscure sci fi musicals, we cover it all. You can find. How did this get made? Wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to follow the show so you.

[Helen Hunt]

Never miss an episode.

[Ted Danson]

Idiot.

[Helen Hunt]

At Strayer University, we help students like you go from Will I to why not? For over 130 years, we've been innovating higher education to make it more affordable, accessible and attainable so you can reach your goals. Go from thinking can I? To yes I can and keep striving. Visit Strayer Edu to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Chev and its many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street north in Arlington, Virginia.