#062: The Princess Bride with Phillip Iscove

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You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.
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Hello there, Radio Land, Welcome back to One Track Mind,
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the only commentary podcast that matters, because as far as
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I know, it's the only one. My name is Ryan
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Luis Rodriguez. You're wonky yet affable host for this series
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where every week we're going to analyze film through the
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prism of audio commentaries, features without which the entire medium
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of podcasting would not exist. Directors, writers, actors and crafts.
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People analyzing their own films in front of a microphone
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set the stage for the current culture, and it's about
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damn time someone showed the proper appreciation. If that sounds
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too stuffy, I promise there will be jokes. This week,
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we're thankfully joined by Philip is Coo, formerly of podcast
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Like It's nineteen ninety nine and currently from podcast Like
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It's the two thousands, for a discussion of the audio
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commentary for Rob reiners nineteen eighty seven beloved family classic
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The Princess Bride. Take it away Me, Phil, Welcome to
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One Track Mind. So happy you could be on the show.
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My pleasure. Thank you for inviting me.
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Now, I gave you a lot of options, some would
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say too many options.
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I wouldn't say too many. You never have too many options.
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Okay, good, then I'll give more next time.
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Okay, great.
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So tell the lovely listeners what you chose and why.
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So. I chose The Princess Bride because it's perfect. I
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think it's a perfect movie. I mean, I we'll get
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into it. But you know, I've watched the movie many times.
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I own the Criterion, and I had never listened to
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the commentary track. So this was like an opportunity for
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me to rewatch one of my favorite films and listen
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to the geniuses behind it talk about it, so you
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know what could go wrong.
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And it's a blast from the past. Because it's the
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nineteen ninety seven DVD audio commentary, they didn't re record
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it for Criterion.
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Some of them are no longer with us, so that
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might be part of.
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It, unless it's zombie Peter Falk showing up to mention
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two things and then disappear into the ether.
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Or zombie William Goldman. I don't think William Goldman's with
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us anymore.
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I'm like, no, that's right, he isn't.
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Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, had one of our greatest, one of
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our greatest indeed.
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Yeah, So for all three people out there who have
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not seen The Princess Brye, I am going to read
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the plot synopsis on the back of the four K
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blu ray. I'm going to try to do it Phil style,
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the way that he'll describe movies on podcasts, like it's
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the two thousands, and try to just get through it
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as quickly as possible.
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And just get it off, get it over with.
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Yeah. A high spirited adventure that pits true love against
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inconceivable odds. The Princess Bride has charmed legions of fans
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with its irreverent gags, eccentric ensemble, and dazzling wordplay. A kid,
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Fred Savage, homesick from school, grudgingly allows his grandfather Peter Falk,
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to read him a dusty story book, which is how
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we meet the innocent Princess Buttercup Robin Wright and her
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breakout role about to marry the nefarious prince humpered ink
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Chris Sarandon, though her heart belongs to Wesley Carrie always.
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The wedding plans are interrupted, however, by a mysterious pirate,
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a vengeful Spaniard, and a good natured giant in a
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tale full of swashbuckling romance and outrageously hilarious spoofery. I
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didn't realize that was a word directed by Rob Reiner
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from an endlessly quotable script by the late William Goldman.
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The Princess Bride reigns as a fairy tale classic. I
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think that went on a little longer than your typical
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plot synopsis, but I.
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Think no, but it was accurate. It was you know,
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it didn't lie. That's that's important. Many a time I
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get a Google synopsis that I'm reading for the first time,
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and I'm like, what is this?
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You can't tell it's it's completely it's invisible. It's the industal.
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So so let's get into it.
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Do it.
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What is the first thing that you learned while watching
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this this commentary for the first time?
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You know, it was William Goldman, who wrote several books
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about writing writing screenplays more specifically, it has always been
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very sort of droll and very kind of, uh, you know,
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dismissive of the industry. Let's let's just say that. And
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so I wasn't surprised to hear him be that way
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on this commentary track, but I guess I was a
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little surprised by how excuse me, how clear it is
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how much he loves this material. You know, he he
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wrote many scripts, most of which he was glad to
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cash the checks for, but did not seem particularly impassioned
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by and to hear him talk about, I mean, one
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of the first things he says on the commentary track
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is that this is one of two things that he's
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written that he actually likes, you know, and and and
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It's It's understandable why because I think both of those
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screenplays are hyper aware of the sandbox that they exist in,
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sort of lovingly kind of poking at the genre that
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they exist in. They're both incredibly smart scripts. But but
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this script, I think is also it's just a real
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love letter. It's it's clear very early on in the
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commentary just how important this material was to him, and
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how he just truly never thought it would ever get made.
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So he was just beside himself thrilled that it got
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to get made and made so well.
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Right, I mean, And it was amazing learning how dismissive
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he is about his achievements, because this is the guy
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who wrote Marathon Man, Magic, the deeply underrated Magic, All
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the President's Men, My God, how can you not be
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proud of all the president's men?
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Stupid?
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It's crazy, I mean, And you being a screenwriter yourself,
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I think you have to imagine like everything is special
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in some way. Everything is you bring yourself to every
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project in some small way. And to see that He's
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just like, yeah, I had two things I liked misery,
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other performances were good. It's like, that's what you have
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to say a by misery, not the fact that it's
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so well calibrated, just that the performances are good.
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He's you know. The other thing that I that I
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learned throughout this commentary that I that I don't agree
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with him on slavish to store and plot in a
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way that I actually think is surprising I I and
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clearly it worked for him. So whatever whatever works, right,
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I mean, as a writer, believe me when I tell you,
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whatever fucking works, you're thrilled that it works. But I
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was a little surprised near the end of the commentary
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him just saying like, yeah, it's it's all about the story.
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It's all about how do you like It's all about
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the narrative, right, and and and getting your audience on
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board with that narrative and I and I think there
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is elements of that that I agree with. I just
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don't think it's the whole kit and kaboodle in the
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way that he makes it seem. And I know that
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he's not being dismissive of character by any means. I
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don't think it's that he doesn't care about characters, but
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it's clear that to him, the narrative is what drives
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the characters, as opposed to the other way around. I
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tend to think it's the other way around, but that's
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just me.
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Yeah, I loved learning like and when he points out
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the death of Wesley in Act two, he flat out says,
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I had no idea that that happened. It just it
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just sprang for my pen. Yeah, and then I had
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to deal with it. And it's like it was.
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Very emotional for him, Yes, and he went into the
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bathroom store crying.
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As a fellow writer who unfortunately has never had anything
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published or or produced. It's one of those things. Were like, yeah,
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thank you, Phil, thank you. I appreciate that enthusiasm and
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I'm gonna take that with me and said, well, he
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thought I could do it, so damn it, I can
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do it.
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There you go.
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And it's one of those things where I have written
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scripts where I've had dramatic twists at the end of
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act two, where at the beginning of Act three and
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then thought to myself, so how did I get there?
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And I still have no idea? So I could relate
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to him so hard in those moments.
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Absolutely, I mean, it is interesting listening to him speak
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on this commentary track and reading some of his books
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as well. It does seem to him as though, and
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I would argue most writers feel this way. There's no
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magic bullet, there's no I mean, we've all got fucking
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Robert McKee's story on our on our shelves, and and
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lord knows, Robert McKee made it seem as though there
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were very rigid rules to which you had to go by.
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But I mean, who are we kidding. Near the end
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of the film, Goldman goes in this amazing, amazing brant
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about how studios don't fucking know anything and that they're
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all just I mean, I think he literally is like,
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oh my god, I thought I wrote it down.
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Nobody knows anything, which I believe is the title of
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one of his books.
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Nobody knows anything. Uh, No, one knows why movies work
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or don't work. It's all bullshit. And he's right right,
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which is like, if if they knew, they wouldn't make
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movies that don't make money, right, So don't don't tell
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me that you know what works and doesn't work. So
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I do think that the creative juices, as you're sitting
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in front of your computer or your typewriter or your
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pad and pen, whatever it is, you know, you just
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it takes where it takes you, and sometimes you're genuinely surprised.
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And I love that that nobody knows anything is basically
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a condemnation of the Monday Morning quarterback in Variety, it
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was like, well, let me tell you why this movie
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didn't play in rural areas as well as it did
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in cities. And it's like, how the fuck do you
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know that the movie's been out for three days?
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How are we still have that today? Right? I mean
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we we it's worse now because now it's a fucking
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all online and it's just a bunch of everyone thinks
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they know what the fuck they're talking about. Yeah, I
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don't know. I mean I think that I think it
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would be dismissive to say that there aren't some sort
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of maybe not hard and fast rules, but there are
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guiding principles that do kind of make this industry tick
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a little bit. You know, I worked at an agency
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before I became a writer, or a working writer, that is.
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And when you're inside an agency day in and day out,
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and it's all just people talking into their ass, right,
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Like everyone is just like throwing spaghetti against a while
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telling their clients what they want to hear, clients hoping
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that their agents will want to make, you know, go
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out with an idea, whatever it is. I think that
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there has to be some sort of north star, and
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that north star tends to just be playing it relatively
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safe or chasing something that's hot in the moment, as
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lazy as both those things are.
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But yeah, I call it the asylum complex. Sure, sure, sure,
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Oh Cocaine Bear is a hit. Well, today the date
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comes out, We're gonna make meth Gator. There you go,
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trailing it is quick, as close as possible. And of
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course we can all know Methgater was such a huge
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hit at the.
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Huge Yet who doesn't remember, you know those rental stores
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that don't exist anymore?
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Oh, it was huge there. Yeah, yeah, even though it
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was a year ago, but.
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I do think that there is you know, there's there's
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a wake, right like if a boat is going and
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it's piercing the water, and if you can ride the
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wake of that thing a little bit and glean some
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money off of it. There's a whole cottage industry of
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people that do that. Obviously, no one respects those people
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very much, but they make a lot of money.
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So I mean, what I loved learning about William Goldman
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through this was that he basically he wrote this because
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of stories that he would tell his daughters as bedtime stories.
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And he asked them pointedly, what do you want to
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hear in a story? And one said princesses and the
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other said brides, and says like, okay, I got it,
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Princess bride. There we go.
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It's great.
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But I love that he wrote this book in I
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think nineteen seventy three. And the amazing thing about the
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book is that he basically call it the cutting out
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the boring parts version, where he would tell a fairy
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tale story, but whenever it wasn't interesting, he would cut
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to the author saying, well, I don't think this part's
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very germane to the plot, so let's just move on
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to something else and manage to keep that structure in
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the movie itself, although it's much less pronounced. I'm always
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surprised how much little you actually see of Fred Savage
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and Peter Fall, Like they pop up like every twenty minutes,
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but in my memory it's always a lot longer.
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Yeah, yeah, you know, it's funny. When he said that,
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it was a real like, of course moment for me
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as I was watching it, thinking like, yeah, I mean,
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one of the brilliant things about this movie is that
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the sort of the narrative device or the framework, whatever
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you want to call it, of the grandfather telling the
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story to the grandson allows you to skip to where
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you want to jump to, right, It's not all that
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dissimilar to and this happens more times than not in television,
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a fractured narrative that allows you to be able to
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sort of start at one point and jump deep into
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said islet or whatever, and then be able to jump back.
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So it's like hook him by jumping deep into enough
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of the story that the audience goes like, huh, I
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wonder how we got there, and then we rewind and
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we see how we got there. It just allows a nimbleness,
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but also, you know, an audience with no intention span
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to be able to sort of glom onto the parts
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that are the most interesting. And when when I heard that,
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I was like, yeah, I mean that that is it's genius.
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And many people have ripped it off since, and probably
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people were doing it obviously before Goldman too, But that
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ability to be able to sort of, like you said,
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tell us the fucking best parts. I mean even he
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says near the end of the or mid part of
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the movie that the movie is like the third act
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of the book. He's like, I just I just got
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as deep in and as to the you know, get
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to the good parts. And that's what you did.
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I listened to the Criterion four K disc HAZ the
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audiobook version where Rob Reiner reads the book, and it's
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amazing how a lot of it it doesn't translate comedically
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when being read aloud. Yeah when but somehow it transformed
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through the pen, through the cinematic pen of William Goldman.
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He makes that dialogue sparkle, and it doesn't work as
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well on the page, which is weird because scripts are
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ultimately a page, and I can't imagine people like reading
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this script and going, well, this isn't that funny. I'm
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not going to green light it, because it is one
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of the funniest movies that has ever been made.
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I agree. I mean, they talked a little bit about
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the development process of this of this film and sort
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of the fits and starts that it had in the
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seventies and eighties, and how I mean I didn't know this,
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but that it was a sort of notorious, oh that'll
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never get made thing because Goldman was Goldman, and I'm
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sure everyone sort of knew that there was this script
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of this book, and you know, anyone who's anyone obviously
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wanted to sort of touch it and make it and whatever,
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and then with a couple sort of false starts, they're
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just like, fuck it, it's never gonna get made. It's
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done whatever. I mean, I didn't know this, but Rob
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Reiner talking about how the day before shooting he didn't
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even know if he was going to shoot this thing
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because he didn't know if Norman Lear was gonna give
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him the money to make it. And then begrudgingly, it
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seemed Norman Lear was like, yeah, I go make your
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fucking movie, like he just which I think is amazing.
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And he made for half of the amount that they
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were anticipating in the seventies, so that only had to
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grow with inflation, made it for half the amount of money.
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And I love learning that. When Rob Reiner talked about
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how he got the book was that his dad gave
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it to him, And having just lost Carl Reiner, that
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made me a little misty that little moment.
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Yeah.
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I mean this is the other thing too, when you
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when you hear Rob talk on this commentary or even
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when you see him in you know, video or what
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have you, he is you know, he's one of those
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guys that I would argue, one of the guys that
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00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.359
you could point to and say like, holy shit, what
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a run and then just off a fucking cliff, right
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like just absolutely in a crazy way, final.
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Tap to a few good men, and then the American
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President and there a little bit, but then after that
321
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the story of us and the bucket list, and it
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just goes right into the crapper.
323
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Yeah, and it's you know, people talk a lot, myself
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included about filmographies and why a filmmaker loses their fastball
325
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and how that happens. And I don't know how it
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happened with Rob Reiner obviously, because he was just so
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in the pocket. To think about a guy being able
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to do this and Misery is crazy to think. I mean,
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I just really I watched Misery for the first time
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in a long time a couple months ago, and I
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was just like, how is this the same fucking guy? Like,
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it really is just shocking to see how adept he
333
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was tonally. But to your your your point earlier about
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how do you read this script and not think it's brilliant?
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It sounds to me as though Goldman did various versions
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for various filmmakers over the years, and this was the
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one that happened because of his conversations with Reiner, right,
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like they sort of figured out how to crack it
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and how to sculpt it. And Ryner obviously being such
340
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a comedic, brilliantly comedic director. I just don't think, I mean,
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what does what does Norman Jewison's version of this look? Like?
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No shade on Norman Jewison, but like what is that?
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Like, I don't know what that What is Robert Redford's
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version of this? The second they mentioned read for him,
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like wait a second? As a director, really the legend
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of bagger vance, Robert Redford.
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00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:59.119
Runs through it. Robert Redford, Okay, yeah, No, So that, that,
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to me, I think is just that's the secret sauce, right,
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that's those two guys getting together and just just completely jiving.
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I mean it sounds as though that first meeting they
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were just like peas and a pod. They just had
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00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:13.480
like the best time and knew exactly what it was.
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00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:17.759
It helps that Reiner at this time as a producer director,
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so basically not only can he call the directorial shots,
355
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he can basically call the financial shots. Yeah.
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I mean it sounds like when you hear his producing
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partner whose name escapes me unfortunately, Andrew, who was his
358
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producing partner at his company for a few years and
359
00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:40.559
then they parted ways. Andrew speaks of Reiner as so
360
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producorially smart, of like doing all of the cuts at
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the script stage, so that once they're on set, they
362
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.759
know what they're shooting, they know how they're shooting it,
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they know how much is going to cost. A lot
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of that is because Reiner grew up in television, a
365
00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:04.000
lot of TV writers, filmmakers, what have you. I think
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00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.519
Ron Howard's another example of this, to some degree of
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like people that grew up in a very sort of strict,
368
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rigid TV format, And I think it can make your
369
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filmmaking feel a little anonymous because TV directors don't necessarily
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have a tremendous I mean, at least back in those days,
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they weren't visionaries.
372
00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:26.559
Right, they were just like a writer's medium totally.
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It's also I mean it used to be. I couldn't
374
00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:31.279
tell you what it is now, but it was.
375
00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:35.079
Now it's a pilot directors medium and also a writer's
376
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medium kind of sometimes medium.
377
00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:39.599
Yeah, it depends on who the fuck you and I
378
00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:42.559
mean who you are. But I do think that back
379
00:20:42.599 --> 00:20:44.960
in the day, these were guns for hire. They knew
380
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where to point the camera, they knew how to do coverage,
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they knew how to get the performances, and that was that.
382
00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:52.240
And I think that Reiner and Howard, maybe to a
383
00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.279
lesser degree, but both those guys just sort of knew
384
00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:58.640
how to get shit done on budget. They're really smart
385
00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:01.240
and funny and knew how to do like, knew how
386
00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:04.039
to do the chemistry of your cast and all that
387
00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.480
sort of stuff. And I think that another reason why
388
00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:09.759
Reiner crushed it for as long as he did is
389
00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:13.480
because his movies were reasonably budgeted, like they were not
390
00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:17.400
expensive movies, particularly got movie stars, and you know, it's
391
00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:18.440
just that they.
392
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.559
Worked, and that he he covered a wide swath of
393
00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:25.920
of genres, like you move from It's it's amazing to
394
00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:28.519
me that he moves from spinal Tap to the sure Thing,
395
00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.119
which couldn't be more different, and then goes to stand
396
00:21:32.119 --> 00:21:34.680
by Me, which couldn't be more different than that, and
397
00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:39.079
then this, and then I think, isn't Misery the next
398
00:21:39.079 --> 00:21:42.640
one after this? Or directly? And then a Few good Men?
399
00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:46.039
And uh, I think I've loved I think I forgot
400
00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:46.920
one in there somewhere.
401
00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:49.799
Uh, hold on, I can tell you exactly what it was,
402
00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:53.200
because that he had a weird sort of like it's
403
00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:58.440
it's a great run, but it's also like it's it's okay,
404
00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:01.680
So it's spinal Tap, sure Thing, stand by Me, Princess Bride.
405
00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:03.039
When Harry met Sally.
406
00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:05.519
Oh how could I forget on such an idiot? I
407
00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:06.559
fucking love that movie.
408
00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.799
It's a perfect movie. It's one of my top five.
409
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.000
When Harry Metally, Misery, Few good Men, then he sucks
410
00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:13.319
up with North, then he.
411
00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:15.559
Kind of you're not kidding.
412
00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.319
But that's a sign of things to come, is the thing? Right,
413
00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:21.240
It's like he takes this swing and he does this
414
00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:23.519
weird thing that people like, what is this? And then
415
00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:25.079
he's like, oh no, no, no, don't worry, don't worry, and
416
00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:28.319
he goes right back to safe Shore with another sorkinscript
417
00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:30.519
who obviously did a few Good Men, and he does
418
00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:32.519
The American President, which I like, I think it's I
419
00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:33.839
think it's a really lovely movie, a.
420
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:36.160
Very decent movie, a good TNT movie, and.
421
00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:38.920
Then it's all it's all garbage from that. It's just
422
00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:42.799
it's I mean, I think part of it too, And
423
00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:45.440
I don't want to psychoanalyze Rob Ryiner too much here,
424
00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.359
but I do think that Ghosts of Mississippi, which is
425
00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.160
the movie that follows The American President, is him legit
426
00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:55.359
chasing an oscar. Like that's when he's just like, how
427
00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:59.720
do I give the Academy what they want? And I
428
00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:04.279
think he loses his He loses it there, and then
429
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:05.920
Story of Us is an attempt to kind of get
430
00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:08.599
back to a whin Harry met Sally type situation, and
431
00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:10.559
then he's just he's completely lost from that point on.
432
00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:12.079
He doesn't he doesn't know which wind is up.
433
00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:14.640
I don't even know when. The last time he made
434
00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:18.079
a movie was like, had to be Ten's.
435
00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:21.680
Well. No, ironically, he's made a lot of them. You
436
00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:23.799
just don't know they exist. He did an LBJ movie
437
00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:25.119
in twenty sixteen.
438
00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:27.079
With Woody Harrelson, with Woody Harrelson.
439
00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:29.319
Then he did another movie with Woody Harlson called Shock
440
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:32.359
and Awe. Then he'd actually did a he did the
441
00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:36.000
Albert Brooks documentary Defending My Life, which was from Still
442
00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:39.880
it's really fun. It's because they're they're like old friends,
443
00:23:39.880 --> 00:23:41.119
and it's just fun to see the two of them
444
00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:44.000
sitting down and shooting the shit. And then I guess
445
00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:48.359
he's doing a spinal Tap sequel. Yeah, come out sometime
446
00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:48.960
next year.
447
00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:52.640
I I don't know what to think of that. I'm
448
00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:55.160
cautiously unoptimistic.
449
00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:56.759
Yeah, I don't. I don't think that.
450
00:23:56.920 --> 00:23:59.680
I mean, listen, I love everybody involved. It's just it's
451
00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:00.839
been a long time.
452
00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:05.599
It's been a long time. I guess the question is,
453
00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:08.519
and I guess it's the it's the reason that it's
454
00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:13.839
being made. Perhaps, But like Chris Guest hasn't exactly been
455
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:17.400
throwing heat the last couple of times out.
456
00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:21.240
Like Family Tree is like the outlier for that.
457
00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:24.839
Yeah, and even then I didn't love that show. I
458
00:24:24.839 --> 00:24:29.720
thought it was fine. I never watched mascots, so who knows,
459
00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:35.799
no idea, you know. And and Michael McKean crushed it
460
00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:38.400
on Better Call Saul and has proven himself to be
461
00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:42.319
quite a dramatic actor. So to bring all these guys
462
00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:44.880
together again, I don't know if it's gonna work, but
463
00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:46.079
who knows? Who knows?
464
00:24:46.359 --> 00:24:50.279
I hope, I can only hope. I would like in
465
00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:54.319
my lifetime see a spinal tap movie in a theater
466
00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:58.240
as opposed to discovering it on DVD. Because my my
467
00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:00.599
friend's older brother said, do you got to watch it?
468
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.519
Is good? Fuck change your life, which is exactly what happened.
469
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:07.160
Yeah, because it's I mean, I watched it probably I
470
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.240
watched it in the mid nineties. I had the Criterion
471
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.559
DVD of it. I think I still do somewhere if
472
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:14.039
I'm second, I do oh with.
473
00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:18.119
The non in character commentary where they actually talked about
474
00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:20.240
the movie instead of the one that's on the DVD,
475
00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:23.079
which I love, But I always wanted to hear what
476
00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:25.680
they honestly thought about the movie that they were making
477
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.119
and I never got around to affording the CRITERIAVD.
478
00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:34.160
It's I have it here. It's spinal tap is I mean,
479
00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:37.519
it's it's groundbreaking, right, Like I can't imagine in eighty
480
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.240
four sitting in the theater and being like, what is this?
481
00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:46.000
I mean, you never had a mockumentary really before. I
482
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:48.160
mean to this extent, I mean what you real life?
483
00:25:48.599 --> 00:25:50.359
Yeah, about as close as you can get.
484
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:55.359
Right, So there is, to your point, something lovely and
485
00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:59.720
cyclical about the idea of a Spinal Tap sequel for
486
00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:05.720
years later. Maybe maybe I don't know.
487
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:08.200
I just don't want it to be the Zoolander two
488
00:26:08.359 --> 00:26:12.640
of of spinal Tat movies, Like we wanted us all back.
489
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:15.160
You kept on threatening us and saying, hey, you better
490
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.160
come back to the screen. Look what you got there,
491
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:18.319
you go, sucker bye bye.
492
00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:20.640
Yeah, it's it's a real uh, it's a real cursed
493
00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:23.680
rabbit paw situation, rabbit foot.
494
00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:23.960
Yeah.
495
00:26:24.039 --> 00:26:27.359
I don't know, I we'll see. I think Ryner's are
496
00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:31.680
really really was a really talented guy. It'd be lovely
497
00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:34.920
for him to get it back in the end. Similarly
498
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.319
to I think my Hope springs etournal for before I
499
00:26:39.319 --> 00:26:43.920
sat down in the Theater for Megalopolis, where I.
500
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:47.119
I that has actually come up in past episodes of
501
00:26:47.319 --> 00:26:50.599
just like, well that was a movie. I think there's
502
00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:52.559
some elements of a movie in there. And I don't
503
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:57.200
know what he was trying to say, but wow, wow Latim.
504
00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:03.480
Wow Wow Platinum indeed, I I you know, I I
505
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:06.279
love that it exists. I'll just say that I love that.
506
00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:10.160
Princespharcoppola was like, fuck it, I'm making this and there's
507
00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:12.079
a lot of interesting stuff in it. And I think
508
00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:15.839
that there's a lot of great performances in it. There's
509
00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:18.680
just stuff where it doesn't work, but there's there's cool
510
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:20.400
stuff in it. I don't I kind of respect it
511
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:20.920
for what it is.
512
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:23.599
But I loved listening to the episode of the Flop
513
00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:25.279
House on it where they said it was either the
514
00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:27.720
work of a very young man or a very old
515
00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:30.400
man and they couldn't decide which was which at any
516
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:31.400
given moment.
517
00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:34.880
That feels right, that feels right it is. It is
518
00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:36.400
one of those films that you sit down and kind
519
00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:38.920
of disbelieve and you're just like wow, I mean, choices
520
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:39.759
were vineyard.
521
00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:42.680
It's a vineyard for this.
522
00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:45.920
I think the other thing that I thought was interesting
523
00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.839
was hearing Goldman talk about Terry Gilliam almost making it.
524
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:52.559
That that would be like Terry Gilliam making Watchmen, like
525
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:54.680
one of those things where it's just like, I can't
526
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:57.880
believe that that was ever an option, But I want
527
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:01.680
to peer into the multiverse and see that version of
528
00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:04.359
the movie. As much as I love Rob Ryder's vision,
529
00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:08.000
there's something about the gonzo Terry Gilliam that he would
530
00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.119
have taken like a jabberwockee approach to it. Probably a
531
00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:16.240
lot of shaking cameras, probably a lot of gnarly designs.
532
00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:19.160
I can only imagine what the Gillian version would be,
533
00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:20.559
and I, yeah, I want to see it.
534
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.480
I think I think it probably would have had a
535
00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.000
little bit of a little sprinkling of Holy Grail in
536
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:29.880
there as well. Yeah, you know, I think that I
537
00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:32.400
think we are much much much better off with the
538
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:34.920
one that we got. That's not to say that I
539
00:28:34.920 --> 00:28:39.759
wouldn't love to see, as you said, the alternate version. Sorry,
540
00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:42.440
someone just walked into. My roommate walked in and I
541
00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:48.799
can hear per boat. Yeah, I I don't know, I'm
542
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:52.640
I'm I'm a little sort of Terry Gilliam's movie would
543
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:57.440
have been more expensive. It would have been visually beautiful, right,
544
00:28:57.480 --> 00:29:00.559
we would have. But then I also think about how
545
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:04.880
beautiful the Princess Bride is, those matte paintings, the Cliffs
546
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:07.119
of Insanity, you.
547
00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:12.759
Know, the castles, the rolling hills, Adrie and Biddle. God
548
00:29:12.839 --> 00:29:15.119
rest his soul, we all miss him. I mean, this
549
00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:18.599
is the guy who shot Aliens, shot Willow, shot Thelma
550
00:29:18.599 --> 00:29:21.279
and Louise, shot the Mummy. This guy had a courier
551
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:24.079
that was all over the map. And this I think
552
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:26.279
this might be his most beautiful looking movie. Like it
553
00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:30.359
literally is the sun. When Buttercup and Wesley are kissing
554
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:33.400
in the sunset is behind them is one of the
555
00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:36.799
most iconic moments in not just eighties cinema, but like
556
00:29:36.839 --> 00:29:38.599
of all cinema, Like it's.
557
00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:42.160
Beautiful, beautiful shit and to have the score kicking in.
558
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:47.599
Oh yeah, it all must be paid attention to. Yeah yeah,
559
00:29:47.640 --> 00:29:50.240
And I love that he only made the movie. He said,
560
00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:52.680
I'll make it if you can put the hat that
561
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:56.319
you wore in spinal Tap somewhere in the movie, and
562
00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:58.839
knowing that this was a fantasy movie, probably no one
563
00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:01.440
in the fantasy portions could wear it, so he put
564
00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:04.400
it somewhere in Fred Savage's room, and I've already forgotten
565
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:05.799
where it is, but I remember.
566
00:30:05.640 --> 00:30:07.559
It's hanging on his spots somewhere.
567
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:10.799
Yeah, there you go. And I love that. That was
568
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:13.279
his like, oh you're going to do that. Okay, cool,
569
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:17.920
now do your movie. It's like Marknoff, are you amazing bastard?
570
00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:18.680
I love you.
571
00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:24.359
It really is a you know that the Andrew, the producer,
572
00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:26.960
talks about how shooting this in the UK was such
573
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:28.799
a gift in and of itself, right, which is that
574
00:30:28.839 --> 00:30:32.559
there's so many talented people overseas that don't get to
575
00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:35.799
work nearly as much as they should. So when you're
576
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.079
over there, or at least back in the eighties, there
577
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:41.880
was this, you know, a bunch of amazing people you
578
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:45.079
could just kind of pull out of the ether. And
579
00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:48.200
I think that's again part of the secret sauce of
580
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.720
keeping this movie under budget and keeping it where it
581
00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:53.400
is budget wise, was that you were not paying all
582
00:30:53.440 --> 00:30:57.880
of these very expensive American below the line players. You
583
00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:01.400
were able to get just as not more talented people
584
00:31:01.400 --> 00:31:02.839
for quite frankly a bargain.
585
00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:06.920
Next, I want to talk about the cast, because this movie,
586
00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:10.240
as great as the script is without the cast assembled,
587
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:14.000
I don't know if it would be as memorable. And
588
00:31:14.519 --> 00:31:16.440
the first one I have to bring up just because
589
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:20.799
of some internal continuity on this podcast, we have a
590
00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:24.119
three timers club. So far, the only member of this
591
00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:29.039
club is our mutual friend Mike Natally been on the
592
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:31.799
show exactly three times. I plan to have him back
593
00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:34.079
three more times so that he can be part of
594
00:31:34.119 --> 00:31:38.839
the double three timers club. Sure, but this movie has
595
00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:42.119
Chris Sarandon, the great Chris Sarandon, who has now been
596
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:48.279
in three one track mind movies, Child's Play, The Nightmare
597
00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:52.880
Before Christmas, and this Sure, And the second I noticed
598
00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:54.559
that and I was like, oh my god, it's three.
599
00:31:54.920 --> 00:31:57.559
Oh my god, the threw of threes. It's been Oh
600
00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:00.200
this is great. Even though he kind of has the
601
00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:03.559
least impact of basically anybody in the ensemble cast, but
602
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:07.640
he's still tremendous in this film. So funny, I have
603
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.160
a wedding to plan and a bride to kill. I'm swamped.
604
00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:14.599
I'm swamped. He also has a physical comedy. There's a
605
00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:16.319
beat that always makes me laugh at the end of
606
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:20.519
this movie, when Wesley is able to stand up and
607
00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:22.519
he says he tells him to sit down, and he
608
00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:27.839
like grabs his sides of his jacket in such a
609
00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:33.759
like like over the top, silly Broadway. And he's, as
610
00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:36.079
you said, he's the straight guy in most of this movie.
611
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:38.799
And I mean, he's playing very level headed in comparison
612
00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:41.119
to all the other kooks around him. So when he
613
00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:43.519
does that moment, it just makes me laugh. I just
614
00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:44.200
think he's great.
615
00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:49.359
And similar to that is like Wallace Sean, who gives
616
00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:52.759
such an outstanding performance that you forget how little of
617
00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:56.240
the movie he's actually in. He's basically in three scenes
618
00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:00.960
and then he's dead. But the fact that they utilized
619
00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:04.880
they were so happy with his speech impediment of saying
620
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:08.200
inconfeevable that it was just one of those things where
621
00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:11.480
it's like, that's such a that's such a Looney Tunes
622
00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:16.720
weird thing to capitalize on. But it makes that character
623
00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:20.759
so absolutely memorable that the second he's gone, you're like,
624
00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:22.920
oh my god, he's gone already, Is he going to
625
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:25.599
come back? At some points like no, he's dead, that's done.
626
00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:29.000
He does leave a real vacuum. It is funny, you know.
627
00:33:29.039 --> 00:33:32.480
On the commentary, they talked about how I think Reiner
628
00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:36.240
was saying that he was that Wallace was convinced he
629
00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:40.920
was doing a terrible job and that that they were
630
00:33:40.920 --> 00:33:42.960
going to excuse me, that they were going to replace him,
631
00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:44.759
and he didn't understand why he was in it. And
632
00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:46.519
I guess in the beginning they tried to have him
633
00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:49.960
do a Sicilian accent, and that obviously didn't go well.
634
00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:52.319
So Rob Reiner was like, it's fine, this Sicilian has
635
00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:55.640
an American accent, like when you're playing in this sandbox,
636
00:33:55.680 --> 00:33:58.119
you can do shit like that. And I think that
637
00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:04.119
fast and looseness that comes from obviously from Reiner's improv background,
638
00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:06.200
from his comedy background, of being able to kind of
639
00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:09.480
just keep it really loose, I think is part of
640
00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:13.639
you know, that that crackle that this movie has, that
641
00:34:13.800 --> 00:34:15.719
magic that it has, for lack of a better word,
642
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:19.719
I would also say to him talking about Kevin Klein
643
00:34:19.880 --> 00:34:21.880
was the only other person he considered for an ingo.
644
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:26.719
I could see it, but it needs to be Mandy.
645
00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:27.880
It can't be anybody, but.
646
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:31.719
Oh my god, Mandy Patanken so hot in this movie,
647
00:34:32.280 --> 00:34:36.519
so unbelievably hot. It's not even fair. Like I look
648
00:34:36.519 --> 00:34:38.360
at him and I go like, you know, what if
649
00:34:38.360 --> 00:34:40.400
I could look like you for a day. I'd be
650
00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:42.559
a happy man. If I could look like you for
651
00:34:42.599 --> 00:34:44.599
an hour, I'd be happy. But I can't, and it
652
00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:46.320
makes me physically frustrate.
653
00:34:48.039 --> 00:34:51.159
He's also just I mean, he is the heart and
654
00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:55.199
soul of this movie. As lovely as the love story is,
655
00:34:56.320 --> 00:35:00.440
it's an ingo that keeps this thing ticking, know you
656
00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:08.079
his The moment when Chris Guess throws the knife into
657
00:35:08.119 --> 00:35:14.199
his gut is still powerful to me. Still just it's
658
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:15.320
a gut punch.
659
00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:19.199
Every time I forgot it was gonna happen, rewatching it,
660
00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:22.480
and the second it does is like, I can't remember
661
00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:24.840
if he lives at the end of this movie all
662
00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:28.039
of a sudden, and that is causing me stress, Like
663
00:35:28.119 --> 00:35:30.239
I don't want to I don't want this to be.
664
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:33.360
You can't do this to him. He needs to get
665
00:35:33.400 --> 00:35:35.199
revenge for his father. He needs it.
666
00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:39.480
Yeah, I mean it is you know. I remember as
667
00:35:39.519 --> 00:35:43.039
a kid. I watched this movie innumerable times as a kid,
668
00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:48.000
and the six Finger Man just always scared me. It's
669
00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:52.440
always left just a real impression on me. Chris Guest
670
00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:54.320
is legitimately scary in this movie.
671
00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:55.159
Oh he's chilling.
672
00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:00.320
He's really chilling, so good. He's dead eyed right, he's
673
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:03.599
just got this this menace about him, and this you
674
00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:06.360
can tell this man just does not care about anything.
675
00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:10.599
I also just remember the insert of the of the
676
00:36:10.719 --> 00:36:13.920
hand with the six fingers always creeped me out as
677
00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:16.400
a kid, because it moves just a little bit. It's
678
00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:18.360
just like, I just I don't know, there's something about it.
679
00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:23.280
But it took me forever to figure out that he
680
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:25.440
was in a Few Good Men and that he was
681
00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:27.960
that he's the doctor that takes the stand and a
682
00:36:27.960 --> 00:36:30.360
Few Good Men. And I'm just like, Chris Guest is
683
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:34.480
a chameleon, Like we just don't give him his flowers,
684
00:36:34.599 --> 00:36:36.159
but he is fantastic.
685
00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:39.800
Yeah, Like Reiner himself says that he basically disappears into
686
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:42.119
any role. And he told a story about the rap
687
00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:45.880
party where everybody was sitting around having dinner and he
688
00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:48.239
noticed that Christopher Guest was sitting at the table and
689
00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:50.440
he said, well, that's nice of Chris to show up
690
00:36:50.440 --> 00:36:52.239
to this party and sit down and have dinner with
691
00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:52.760
all of us.
692
00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:53.280
All.
693
00:36:53.320 --> 00:36:56.119
Wait a second, he's in the movie. I should know.
694
00:36:56.400 --> 00:36:57.639
I just directed him.
695
00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:02.119
Yeah, I mean that that is that's crazy. I mean,
696
00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:06.000
that's that's bordering on Like you know, mental disorder, but
697
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:09.360
it is, it is truly he's that good. He's that
698
00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:11.800
good in this movie and and and in all the
699
00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:17.239
things that he's done. Yeah, I mean, Mandy is bringing
700
00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:23.239
something to this film that's that's almost hard to hard
701
00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:26.039
to really pinpoint. I think, I think what it is.
702
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:33.119
It's it's the father's son mirror with the grandfather grandson thing. Right,
703
00:37:33.199 --> 00:37:37.760
there's this generational kind of connection there of sort of
704
00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:41.599
the love between an elder man and his son, right
705
00:37:41.800 --> 00:37:46.440
or right, something to that effect, and you you feel
706
00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:50.840
that void in Mandy's performance, that love of his father
707
00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:54.039
that just is is, I would argue, might very well
708
00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:57.719
be the most power Like I'm trying to think of
709
00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:02.199
another child loving the parent as much as this one.
710
00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:04.400
And we never see the guy like we never see
711
00:38:04.440 --> 00:38:07.519
the father. He is literally just spoken of, and yet
712
00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:11.960
Mandy's performance is so powerful that he manifests and you
713
00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:15.800
feel like he needs to be fought for. It's a
714
00:38:15.800 --> 00:38:16.199
crazy thing.
715
00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:19.400
And the amazing thing is that in the book, William
716
00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:23.239
Goldman wrote the scene in which Christopher Guest kills his
717
00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:27.519
father and you Rob Reiner read it out loud, and
718
00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:30.000
I was like, Okay, that's fine for a book. But
719
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:33.519
if you take that out, you don't miss anything. In fact,
720
00:38:33.599 --> 00:38:37.199
not having it is probably the best impetus for that
721
00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:41.639
character to exist, because you have to see the love
722
00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:44.559
and the how haunted he is. You have to see
723
00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:45.880
it in his eyes, you have to see it on
724
00:38:45.920 --> 00:38:49.400
his face. Absolutely, and he carries away that entire moment.
725
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:52.000
And Billy Crystal even says that he should have been
726
00:38:52.039 --> 00:38:55.519
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and
727
00:38:55.559 --> 00:39:00.480
I wholeheartedly agree, like that was a complete oversight on
728
00:39:00.519 --> 00:39:03.400
the Academy's part, and probably just because it's genre and
729
00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:06.880
they don't like genre. But there's got to be a
730
00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:09.079
million other reasons. I mean, you're more in the know,
731
00:39:09.239 --> 00:39:10.480
you would know better than I.
732
00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:13.480
I don't. I think. I hate to say it, but
733
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:15.159
I think it really was more of a kin to
734
00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:17.599
It wasn't as successful at the box office, So I
735
00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:20.480
just I just don't think that this movie hit. And
736
00:39:20.559 --> 00:39:24.320
I don't mean to say that the Academy cares necessarily.
737
00:39:24.440 --> 00:39:28.239
I mean they do to some extent about the box
738
00:39:28.280 --> 00:39:31.480
office success, but I think it's about just people knowing
739
00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:35.880
about the movie. This movie's legs and tail over the
740
00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:39.519
many many years that it's existed is because of video
741
00:39:40.440 --> 00:39:44.559
and you know, my generation loving this movie and watching
742
00:39:44.599 --> 00:39:47.360
it eight million times, showing their kids this movie like
743
00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:50.840
it's just it's become this totem that's passed from kind
744
00:39:50.840 --> 00:39:55.679
of generation to generation appropriately so, but it is I think,
745
00:39:55.719 --> 00:39:57.840
in its moment, was a bit of a blip.
746
00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:00.199
It was one of those movies that I saw when
747
00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:02.760
I was very young, but didn't retain much of it,
748
00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:08.639
and then I was obsessed with Don't Judge Me here, okay,
749
00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:11.199
but I was obsessed with the VH one I Love
750
00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:15.760
the series and they featured it. It was the final
751
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:19.840
movie in the nineteen eighty seven episode of I Love
752
00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:22.199
the Eighties Strikes Back, and it was one of those
753
00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:25.360
things where the segment was so good and the clips
754
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:27.320
that they showed were so good that I went and
755
00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:32.320
literally later that day bought the DVD. Did not have
756
00:40:32.360 --> 00:40:34.400
it in my collection previously, and I was a big
757
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:38.000
physical media collect you should know. I showed you the
758
00:40:38.760 --> 00:40:42.119
pictures which you had to choose from. That's like a
759
00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:46.920
good nineteenth of my physical media collection. Wow wow, So
760
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:49.360
I'm a pack rat. I keep all that shit. But
761
00:40:50.039 --> 00:40:51.599
that was the first time I ever bought it. And
762
00:40:51.639 --> 00:40:54.440
I was like, I was so grateful for that series
763
00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:57.960
for reintroducing it to me, because that for me, I
764
00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:01.440
know that for people of my general that might be
765
00:41:01.519 --> 00:41:04.239
the first time people are actually seeing clips from it.
766
00:41:04.719 --> 00:41:07.119
Sure it might actually go like, oh, oh, they're not
767
00:41:07.199 --> 00:41:09.440
making fun of it, so it's actually good. Oh, then
768
00:41:09.440 --> 00:41:11.599
I should actually give it a chance. And I have
769
00:41:11.639 --> 00:41:13.719
to think I can't be the only one who was
770
00:41:13.880 --> 00:41:15.400
brought back to that movie from that.
771
00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:20.039
I think that this, I mean, this movie is I've
772
00:41:20.119 --> 00:41:22.800
yet to meet a person that doesn't like this movie.
773
00:41:23.719 --> 00:41:27.960
You know, I think that you your love might vary
774
00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:30.440
from person to person, but I have yet to meet
775
00:41:30.480 --> 00:41:33.559
a person who doesn't understand and respect and see the
776
00:41:33.679 --> 00:41:36.400
love on the screen and understand why people love it
777
00:41:36.440 --> 00:41:39.719
as much as they do. I just I think it's
778
00:41:39.800 --> 00:41:42.840
really really funny and really really heartfelt. You'd have to
779
00:41:42.960 --> 00:41:45.519
kind of have no heart to be able to not
780
00:41:46.519 --> 00:41:49.239
connect with this movie on some level, right, So, you
781
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:50.079
know what.
782
00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:52.480
I love about it is that it's a fairy tale,
783
00:41:53.079 --> 00:41:56.280
but it's also a subversive satire of a fairy tale.
784
00:41:56.280 --> 00:42:00.400
It's both things at once, and neither cancels the other out,
785
00:42:00.599 --> 00:42:03.480
Like have you been watching only murders in the building.
786
00:42:03.800 --> 00:42:06.840
Uh yeah, I think I might be done. But yeah,
787
00:42:07.199 --> 00:42:10.360
I'm you know, yeah, watch three and a half Seasons
788
00:42:10.440 --> 00:42:10.880
or whatever it is.
789
00:42:10.920 --> 00:42:12.960
Yet it's one of those things where it's it's a
790
00:42:12.960 --> 00:42:17.880
prime example of the being about something and then also
791
00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:21.880
satirizing the thing that it's about. It's satirizing murder mysteries,
792
00:42:21.880 --> 00:42:23.679
but at the end of the day, it's a legitimate
793
00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:26.920
murder mystery in itself. It's one of those kind of
794
00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:29.960
ineffable things that only comes around every once in a
795
00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:35.000
while where it's completely sincere. Yeah, but something is both
796
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:39.000
making fun of gently and being the thing that it's
797
00:42:39.039 --> 00:42:39.679
making fun of.
798
00:42:39.960 --> 00:42:42.000
You know, I agree with you, And I would say
799
00:42:42.039 --> 00:42:46.440
that my problem with one of the problems I have
800
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:48.519
was sort of where we are now a little bit
801
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:52.920
in film. We did an episode recently, well near the
802
00:42:52.920 --> 00:42:56.079
beginning of our two thousands podcast on Shrek two, and
803
00:42:56.159 --> 00:42:58.880
I think that the word that should be underlying that
804
00:42:58.920 --> 00:43:03.360
you just said is sincere. We've lost that we are now,
805
00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:05.599
We've crossed some sort of rubicon and we are now
806
00:43:05.840 --> 00:43:09.960
in a jaded territory where everything needs to be super
807
00:43:10.119 --> 00:43:13.000
super self aware. It needs to be deadpool, it needs
808
00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:14.840
to be Shrek. It needs to be something of that,
809
00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:20.800
akin to that stuff because audiences, I don't know if
810
00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:22.920
it's a generational thing. Who's to say. I don't know.
811
00:43:22.920 --> 00:43:25.519
Maybe just hasn't been done well enough. But we've lost
812
00:43:25.679 --> 00:43:31.280
that ability to be able to see earnestness and sincerity
813
00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:35.360
as anything in the process mocking. Yeah, it just bounces
814
00:43:35.400 --> 00:43:35.840
off people.
815
00:43:35.840 --> 00:43:38.639
Now. Yeah, I have to agree. It's one of those
816
00:43:38.639 --> 00:43:42.320
things where I mean, like I as somebody who grew
817
00:43:42.400 --> 00:43:46.760
up as a very bitter, ironic teenager. Sure, it's one
818
00:43:46.760 --> 00:43:49.800
of those things where, like I can understand these movies
819
00:43:49.840 --> 00:43:52.679
coming out nowadays, if they came out in say two
820
00:43:52.760 --> 00:43:54.800
thousand or two thousand and one, I'd be like, yeah,
821
00:43:54.920 --> 00:43:58.639
that movie knows what's going on, because I'm just like that. Yeah,
822
00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:02.519
if Deadpool came out when I was fourteen, it would
823
00:44:02.559 --> 00:44:05.079
be the greatest thing in the universe, of course. And
824
00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.239
now dead Pull and Wolverine comes out and I'm like,
825
00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:10.280
shut the fuck up, what are you talking about? Oh
826
00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:12.159
my god, what is this garbage?
827
00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:16.880
I agree, I think it's part of its age to
828
00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:19.039
some degree, right, I Mean, when you're a teenager, there's
829
00:44:19.039 --> 00:44:22.480
just no stakes. You don't feel real threat to your
830
00:44:22.519 --> 00:44:27.679
livelihood in the way that you know other people do, right, Like,
831
00:44:27.800 --> 00:44:30.719
it's as you get older, you realize that life is
832
00:44:30.719 --> 00:44:34.320
hard and you got to work for it, and I
833
00:44:34.360 --> 00:44:37.760
think that that cynicism gets kind of drained from you
834
00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:41.760
a little bit. And part of it's, you know, relationships
835
00:44:41.760 --> 00:44:43.400
and having kids and all that kind of stuff. But
836
00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:47.599
I just think that I do think that that Shrek
837
00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:50.039
kind of broke people's brains a little bit. I know
838
00:44:50.119 --> 00:44:51.880
that that I said that on our episode, but I
839
00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:53.719
really believe it to be true, which is that a
840
00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:57.840
generation kind of had its brain broken and being like, oh,
841
00:44:57.880 --> 00:45:00.719
we can make fun of everything. It's free game, there's
842
00:45:00.760 --> 00:45:03.800
there's there's no like why not? And then Deadpool is
843
00:45:03.840 --> 00:45:05.800
just that times a million, right where you literally have
844
00:45:05.840 --> 00:45:07.480
him looking down the fucking barrel of the lens and
845
00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:09.000
being like, I'm in a movie, Like it's just like
846
00:45:09.039 --> 00:45:10.119
fuck this, I just can't.
847
00:45:10.199 --> 00:45:12.960
Oh look at me, I'm such a scamp.
848
00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:17.199
Oh it's just it's it's too much. So but that's
849
00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:20.039
I think part of one of the magical things about
850
00:45:20.079 --> 00:45:23.679
this movie is as you're watching it, at least I do,
851
00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:26.880
I just get so swept up and it's heartfeltness, like
852
00:45:27.280 --> 00:45:30.280
just like this movie loves what it's making fun of.
853
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:33.360
It's I suppose, yeah, where's Deadpool? You just you're just
854
00:45:33.400 --> 00:45:35.360
like this guy? Does this guy care about anything?
855
00:45:35.559 --> 00:45:38.719
It's like, Okay, another Ryan Reynolds movie. Great, what's he
856
00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:44.119
doing now? Oh he's looking at the camera. That's wonderful, spicacular.
857
00:45:43.480 --> 00:45:44.480
So so clever, coric.
858
00:45:44.599 --> 00:45:47.400
Oh he takes the fairy tale book and wipes his
859
00:45:47.480 --> 00:45:51.920
ass with it. Oh yeah, so fun. I remember my
860
00:45:52.119 --> 00:45:56.440
dad worked at the company that built the the servers
861
00:45:56.480 --> 00:45:57.360
at PDI.
862
00:45:57.800 --> 00:45:58.360
Oh, very cool.
863
00:45:58.400 --> 00:46:00.599
But we got to see the first Shrek at an
864
00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:05.000
early screening and I was the one person I'm not exaggerating,
865
00:46:05.079 --> 00:46:07.559
I was the one person in that theater going the
866
00:46:07.559 --> 00:46:12.039
fuck is everybody laughing at? Seriously? What what is this?
867
00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:15.719
Is it a fairy tale or is it not? Like
868
00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:19.320
and it's like, oh, so the message of the movie
869
00:46:19.400 --> 00:46:21.719
is it's okay to look ugly as long as you
870
00:46:21.800 --> 00:46:25.400
have someone who's as ugly as you are. Okay. And
871
00:46:25.440 --> 00:46:27.480
then we get to Shrek too and there's literally like
872
00:46:27.519 --> 00:46:30.559
a joke where the cops plant coke on Puss in
873
00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:34.920
boots yep, And the DVD has Far, far Away Idol
874
00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:38.679
with Simon Cowell reprising his American idol Judge. It says
875
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:43.119
like we've reached the Nayder of culture, and that was
876
00:46:43.199 --> 00:46:44.280
two thousand and four.
877
00:46:44.960 --> 00:46:45.199
Yeah.
878
00:46:45.679 --> 00:46:49.719
God, we're twenty years away from Shrek to and it
879
00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:52.440
feels like all we've been doing is just sliding down
880
00:46:52.519 --> 00:46:53.719
that slide.
881
00:46:53.400 --> 00:46:55.239
And just and we have to come.
882
00:46:55.760 --> 00:46:59.440
Yes, oh god, the rebooting it that's right. Oh god, Phil,
883
00:46:59.559 --> 00:47:00.679
you're me and me here.
884
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:04.119
Oh no, I'm sorry, I mean it's I do think
885
00:47:04.239 --> 00:47:07.559
part of it too, is there's a little bit of
886
00:47:08.079 --> 00:47:13.039
Austin Powers Mike Meyer's influence mixed in there too, a
887
00:47:13.079 --> 00:47:15.599
little bit. I think Wayne's World's a masterpiece. And I
888
00:47:15.639 --> 00:47:18.679
love that movie to death. I you know, we watched
889
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:21.239
the second Austin Powers for the ninety nine podcast, and
890
00:47:21.559 --> 00:47:25.719
I was surprised that I didn't hate it. And you know,
891
00:47:26.840 --> 00:47:30.639
we will invariably, I'm sure talk about Austin Powers deeper
892
00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:35.320
into the two thousands. But I just think that that
893
00:47:35.679 --> 00:47:38.480
sort of I'm trying to think of that, like there's
894
00:47:38.519 --> 00:47:40.760
literally it's not to keep coming back to the Deadpool thing,
895
00:47:40.800 --> 00:47:45.800
but there is something about you know, Wayne Campbell looking
896
00:47:45.920 --> 00:47:51.400
at the camera and and and doing product placement. You
897
00:47:51.440 --> 00:47:55.920
know there there is something there of Austin Powers winking
898
00:47:56.000 --> 00:47:59.800
at the camera that that acknowledgment of the audience that
899
00:47:59.840 --> 00:48:04.159
I think is a permission structure that we fucked up
900
00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.320
and don't really know how to put that genie back
901
00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:07.800
in the bottle.
902
00:48:08.039 --> 00:48:11.159
No, precisely. It's one of those things that's like, well,
903
00:48:11.239 --> 00:48:13.800
it was inventive at the time and you got to
904
00:48:13.800 --> 00:48:18.920
go yes, keywords there at the time. Yeah, just because
905
00:48:18.960 --> 00:48:22.199
something works doesn't mean you need to capitalize on and
906
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:24.880
go like, well, that's what every that's what every comedy's
907
00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:28.719
got to be. Nowadays, you can't have a single sincere emotion.
908
00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:31.920
You can't have a single scene that isn't like, look
909
00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:35.400
at what we're doing. Huh, we're doing it. It's just
910
00:48:36.360 --> 00:48:39.679
got it. If I'm not a big fan of nostalgia,
911
00:48:39.880 --> 00:48:42.280
I don't believe in it. But at the same time,
912
00:48:42.559 --> 00:48:45.800
I am nostalgic for The Princess Bride. I wish we
913
00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:49.599
had more comedies like it, and we just don't. And
914
00:48:49.719 --> 00:48:51.079
it's it's criminal.
915
00:48:51.159 --> 00:48:55.199
Frankly, Yeah, you know it's funny. I so years ago,
916
00:48:55.519 --> 00:48:57.440
I had an idea for a TV show that I
917
00:48:57.440 --> 00:49:00.400
wanted to do about Oh my god, why I think
918
00:49:00.400 --> 00:49:03.119
of dread Pirate Roberts. I want to do a show
919
00:49:03.159 --> 00:49:06.480
about the dread Pirate being passed from person to person
920
00:49:06.679 --> 00:49:10.119
and doing sort of that backstory, and like it wouldn't
921
00:49:10.119 --> 00:49:13.440
even touch on really any of the Wesley stuff or
922
00:49:13.480 --> 00:49:14.880
any of that stuff, Like it was going to be
923
00:49:14.880 --> 00:49:18.920
its own, siloed off thing. And you know, my agent
924
00:49:18.960 --> 00:49:21.000
pitched it to Castle Rock and they were like, you
925
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:23.199
know what, this is, this project is just kind of
926
00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:24.960
too special when we don't really want to touch it
927
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:26.400
and we don't really want to do anything with it.
928
00:49:26.400 --> 00:49:27.679
We want to just kind of let it be what
929
00:49:27.719 --> 00:49:31.039
it is. And I completely fucking respect that, right, Like
930
00:49:31.119 --> 00:49:36.000
I think that that is that is the right instinct.
931
00:49:36.239 --> 00:49:39.480
You know. I think that dred Pirate Roberts is just
932
00:49:39.519 --> 00:49:41.719
a great name and it's got a lot of potential
933
00:49:41.760 --> 00:49:43.360
to it, and I think you could do something fun
934
00:49:43.400 --> 00:49:45.440
with it. But I'm also like, you know what, like, yeah,
935
00:49:45.639 --> 00:49:48.440
don't don't let anyone touch it. Don't anyone do anything.
936
00:49:48.519 --> 00:49:50.719
And weren't they talking about, like a couple of years
937
00:49:50.719 --> 00:49:55.199
ago of remaking Princess Bride And I remember carry always
938
00:49:55.239 --> 00:49:57.480
came out and like no, just.
939
00:49:57.800 --> 00:50:01.519
No, Well, it's not carry always to say, but sure.
940
00:50:02.599 --> 00:50:04.599
I mean, he had a quote where he was quoting
941
00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:07.000
he was quoting a line from the movie There's so
942
00:50:07.360 --> 00:50:09.920
there's so few perfect things in this world? Why mess
943
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:12.199
with this one? And I was like, you said, well,
944
00:50:12.239 --> 00:50:15.199
I don't think this movie is perfect per se, but like, yeah,
945
00:50:15.239 --> 00:50:17.519
I got to agree with you, Carrie, that's a damn
946
00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:20.280
good point. Why are we messing with this? Because you
947
00:50:20.320 --> 00:50:22.239
know it's going to be people turning into the camera.
948
00:50:22.760 --> 00:50:23.679
It's gonna be that.
949
00:50:24.119 --> 00:50:27.840
Yeah, I think that. I mean, listen, Rob Reiner is
950
00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:30.480
no spring Chicken, but he's still going to be with us,
951
00:50:30.480 --> 00:50:34.320
hopefully for a while. And my guess is that it's
952
00:50:34.480 --> 00:50:38.679
probably one of a couple movies in his filmography that
953
00:50:38.719 --> 00:50:41.599
he would not let anybody fuck with. So my hope
954
00:50:41.679 --> 00:50:43.679
is that no one will touch it, you know, but
955
00:50:44.599 --> 00:50:50.440
who knows, right like at some game version. Yeah, I
956
00:50:50.519 --> 00:50:51.079
still haven't.
957
00:50:51.239 --> 00:50:53.920
I still haven't because I feared it when I when
958
00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:56.079
I heard that it was happening, and I looked at like, oh,
959
00:50:56.159 --> 00:50:58.719
that's a lot of interesting people to be in this
960
00:50:58.719 --> 00:51:01.119
this little short thing. But I don't know if we
961
00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:02.760
really need to be retelling it.
962
00:51:02.800 --> 00:51:06.960
But how don't think that counts. It's when I say
963
00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:08.920
I don't think it counts. I mean, first of all,
964
00:51:09.159 --> 00:51:11.960
it feels like a fever dream from the Pandemic, where
965
00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:14.000
you know what I mean, Like, it felt like it
966
00:51:14.079 --> 00:51:18.000
was one of those Jason rightman calling everybody he knows
967
00:51:18.440 --> 00:51:22.199
to do a thing.
968
00:51:23.159 --> 00:51:23.599
Narrator.
969
00:51:24.079 --> 00:51:28.760
Yeah, basically, yeah, So it wasn't It wasn't anything. It
970
00:51:28.800 --> 00:51:31.320
felt just kind of like a cute little exercise. It
971
00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:33.599
didn't feel like anyone was trying to take a legitimate
972
00:51:34.039 --> 00:51:37.719
run at doing the Princess Bride. And I don't think
973
00:51:37.719 --> 00:51:40.599
anybody's going to I think it's I think it's I
974
00:51:40.639 --> 00:51:45.199
think it's safe for a while. Anyway, who knows there
975
00:51:45.519 --> 00:51:49.079
is there might be a world, unfortunately, where someone buys
976
00:51:49.119 --> 00:51:51.800
the rights to the book and tries to do something
977
00:51:51.840 --> 00:51:55.599
with the book, because it's possible that those rights are
978
00:51:55.599 --> 00:51:57.679
separated off and you could actually kind of do the
979
00:51:57.679 --> 00:52:01.559
book as long as you know whatever. Maybe someone tries
980
00:52:01.559 --> 00:52:03.719
to fuck with it in that way. I'd be disappointing,
981
00:52:03.760 --> 00:52:05.239
but I guess it's possible. Well.
982
00:52:05.280 --> 00:52:08.440
Goldman pointed out that when he wrote the script, he
983
00:52:08.639 --> 00:52:11.480
sold the book but had the rights to the screenplay.
984
00:52:11.920 --> 00:52:16.000
Correct so maybe somebody's gonna find a loophole to get
985
00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:18.920
in there. I don't know, I just I mean, but
986
00:52:19.039 --> 00:52:23.599
it seems like we're getting such such fewer original projects
987
00:52:23.960 --> 00:52:27.119
as serious tent poles like we used to have. We
988
00:52:27.199 --> 00:52:30.840
used to have mid budget movies. Imagine that that used
989
00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:32.480
to be a thing, And now it's something that you
990
00:52:32.639 --> 00:52:37.039
find on Netflix that is dumped out there with no fanfare,
991
00:52:37.079 --> 00:52:39.840
with no promotion, and just like, Eh, you're you're home,
992
00:52:39.960 --> 00:52:42.639
you're gonna watch it? Who cares? Like, sure, why not
993
00:52:42.679 --> 00:52:45.239
watch this? Why not watch Hot Frosty? You know, you'll
994
00:52:45.239 --> 00:52:47.119
be talking about it for two weeks and then everybody
995
00:52:47.159 --> 00:52:49.920
will forget it just because it's Twitter. Nobody will remember.
996
00:52:50.440 --> 00:52:54.800
But yeah, I it's funny. I was having this. We
997
00:52:54.840 --> 00:52:59.840
recorded an episode today on The Last Samurai, which we
998
00:52:59.840 --> 00:53:02.760
can coming out in January for our Tom Cruise mini series,
999
00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:05.679
and we had to build a Berrian from Vulture to
1000
00:53:05.679 --> 00:53:09.880
talk about it with us, and we kind of spoke
1001
00:53:09.960 --> 00:53:13.599
wistfully through the lens of The Last Samurai about the
1002
00:53:13.639 --> 00:53:16.559
fact that we don't even make movies like that anymore, right,
1003
00:53:16.639 --> 00:53:21.840
Like we don't make practical, historical, you know, fiction action movies,
1004
00:53:21.920 --> 00:53:23.800
right like we're just we're just not even doing that.
1005
00:53:25.519 --> 00:53:27.440
There is a part of me that feels like there
1006
00:53:27.599 --> 00:53:31.079
is the pendulum is always moving right. You don't have
1007
00:53:31.119 --> 00:53:33.880
to go and just go back thirty forty fifty years.
1008
00:53:34.239 --> 00:53:37.880
Someone's complaining about some new advanced technology and why it's
1009
00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:39.559
going to ruin everything.
1010
00:53:39.199 --> 00:53:39.719
That we love.
1011
00:53:40.639 --> 00:53:42.639
I don't think that that's what's coming down the pie care.
1012
00:53:42.679 --> 00:53:44.199
I think we need to sort of figure out our
1013
00:53:44.239 --> 00:53:48.800
ways to make not just make money, but make movies
1014
00:53:49.039 --> 00:53:53.559
for smaller audiences. You know, we don't need to be
1015
00:53:53.639 --> 00:53:57.000
where we are in television or in movies. And I
1016
00:53:57.039 --> 00:53:59.880
would argue that it's bad for everybody, but you know,
1017
00:54:00.199 --> 00:54:01.519
we're going to figure out our way through it. I
1018
00:54:01.519 --> 00:54:04.400
don't think that the solve is the Princess Bride personally,
1019
00:54:04.559 --> 00:54:06.760
Like I don't think that the Princess Bride remaking the
1020
00:54:06.760 --> 00:54:09.559
Princess Bride is a good idea for a bunch of reasons.
1021
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:13.360
But you know, I've gotten to a place now where
1022
00:54:13.400 --> 00:54:16.400
I feel like the studios have sort of raped and
1023
00:54:16.440 --> 00:54:20.079
pillaged so much nostalgia now, so many things that I
1024
00:54:20.360 --> 00:54:22.480
that I loved as a kid, that I've just sort
1025
00:54:22.519 --> 00:54:24.199
of come to this place now where I'm like, they're
1026
00:54:24.239 --> 00:54:27.199
just separate. This is just this is its thing, and
1027
00:54:27.239 --> 00:54:30.760
this is its thing, and they don't really speak to
1028
00:54:30.800 --> 00:54:32.800
each other. They don't really mean anything to each other.
1029
00:54:33.119 --> 00:54:36.079
And the thing that I loved still exists and I
1030
00:54:36.079 --> 00:54:37.880
can watch it as much as I want, and that's
1031
00:54:37.960 --> 00:54:38.880
just how it's got to be.
1032
00:54:39.119 --> 00:54:41.760
I think that is the perfect note to end on.
1033
00:54:42.440 --> 00:54:47.320
It's beautifully wistful and romantic and hopeful, if not a
1034
00:54:47.320 --> 00:54:53.360
little a little wary, but hopeful and podcast a little
1035
00:54:53.400 --> 00:54:56.679
bit of hope and a little bit of fear. Phil.
1036
00:54:56.800 --> 00:54:59.639
It was an honor having you on the podcast. Tell
1037
00:54:59.639 --> 00:55:01.920
the love listeners what you do when you're not stuck
1038
00:55:01.960 --> 00:55:02.920
here talking to me.
1039
00:55:04.639 --> 00:55:07.519
I have a podcast called podcast Like It's the two Thousands,
1040
00:55:07.519 --> 00:55:10.480
where I do a miniseries on the films of the
1041
00:55:10.480 --> 00:55:15.039
Oughts with my co host Emily Saint James. We did
1042
00:55:15.039 --> 00:55:17.440
a mini. Our first miniseries was the top ten box
1043
00:55:17.480 --> 00:55:20.199
office of the two thousands. As as you heard me earlier,
1044
00:55:20.239 --> 00:55:23.880
we're doing a Tom Cruise miniseries. That's that's coming right only.
1045
00:55:23.760 --> 00:55:26.599
It's the Oscars currently, it's the Oscars.
1046
00:55:26.679 --> 00:55:29.719
Yes, we just wrapped the Oscars. We'll be doing our
1047
00:55:29.760 --> 00:55:33.199
Christmas mini series which is coming out started this past week.
1048
00:55:34.280 --> 00:55:36.760
I don't know when this drops, but in December, we're
1049
00:55:36.760 --> 00:55:39.960
doing Christmas middle of December, so yeah, so we're doing
1050
00:55:40.039 --> 00:55:43.039
Christmas stuff, and then we're doing a Chaos pick. To
1051
00:55:43.239 --> 00:55:46.719
end twenty twenty four, we're doing The Cat in the Hat,
1052
00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:49.039
which was a full nightmare movie that no.
1053
00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:50.559
One should allow platinum.
1054
00:55:50.599 --> 00:55:54.119
Oh boy, Yeah, terrible movie. And then at the top
1055
00:55:54.119 --> 00:55:57.239
of January we will start our Tom Cruise two thousands
1056
00:55:57.719 --> 00:56:01.159
miniseries and then on a on the Patreon where you
1057
00:56:01.159 --> 00:56:03.920
can sign up at ww dot Patreon backslash podcast like
1058
00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:06.800
it's I am covering the films of the nineteen nineties,
1059
00:56:06.800 --> 00:56:10.159
where I do miniseries that break down the various films
1060
00:56:10.199 --> 00:56:14.000
of the nineteen nineties. And currently I'm doing a miniseries
1061
00:56:14.159 --> 00:56:17.800
with Tom Mason, who starred in Sleepy Hollow, where we
1062
00:56:17.880 --> 00:56:21.599
talk about Michael Crichton's films from the nineties, which has
1063
00:56:21.639 --> 00:56:23.519
been a lot of fun to do. And then at
1064
00:56:23.519 --> 00:56:25.760
the top of the new year, I'll be doing Tom Cruise.
1065
00:56:27.039 --> 00:56:29.920
Got I think it's been clear throughout this entire conversation,
1066
00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:35.400
but I'm such a fan, absolutely a total fanboy. There
1067
00:56:35.480 --> 00:56:39.719
is the Sacred Six podcasts. There are screen drafts, which
1068
00:56:39.760 --> 00:56:43.400
you've been on multiple times. I have been blank Check,
1069
00:56:43.440 --> 00:56:46.199
which You've had Griffin on your show. Have you had
1070
00:56:46.280 --> 00:56:49.800
David as well? You must remember this, you had Karina
1071
00:56:49.880 --> 00:56:53.800
Longworth talking about the player. Yeah, the Flophouse. We got
1072
00:56:53.840 --> 00:56:54.880
to get you on the Flophouse.
1073
00:56:54.920 --> 00:56:56.679
I don't know how that's I would love to make
1074
00:56:56.719 --> 00:56:57.079
that happen.
1075
00:56:57.199 --> 00:57:01.000
Yeah, and of course you're missing out, which I gotta
1076
00:57:01.039 --> 00:57:04.320
thank Mike Nattelli again because without him this would not
1077
00:57:04.440 --> 00:57:08.880
have happened. And I am legitimately honored that you are
1078
00:57:08.920 --> 00:57:11.119
on my show because I've been a fan for so
1079
00:57:11.199 --> 00:57:15.199
long and I hate to get all sincere and no
1080
00:57:15.719 --> 00:57:18.360
therapy about it. It's just I really do. I love
1081
00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:20.880
what you do and a big fan of Sleepy Hollow
1082
00:57:20.920 --> 00:57:21.239
as well.
1083
00:57:21.320 --> 00:57:26.400
But I am I don't take compliments well, so I
1084
00:57:26.760 --> 00:57:31.800
appreciate everything you're saying. It is. You know, what we
1085
00:57:31.840 --> 00:57:33.840
do is a lot of fun. I'm just I feel
1086
00:57:33.880 --> 00:57:35.800
so lucky that I get to do it quite honestly,
1087
00:57:35.840 --> 00:57:38.079
as I'm sure you do with your podcast. It's just
1088
00:57:38.400 --> 00:57:41.079
it's an opportunity for me to just, you know, nerd
1089
00:57:41.079 --> 00:57:43.440
out about the things that I love with people that
1090
00:57:43.480 --> 00:57:46.360
I respect and think are far smarter than I am
1091
00:57:46.519 --> 00:57:50.880
about the industry. I really do just feel, you know,
1092
00:57:50.920 --> 00:57:53.119
when Kenny and I both started nineteen ninety nine, which
1093
00:57:53.159 --> 00:57:55.559
is the podcast that predates the two thousands that we're
1094
00:57:55.559 --> 00:57:57.800
doing right that I'm doing with Emily, Kenny and I
1095
00:57:57.840 --> 00:57:59.719
Bart and I did four and a half years of
1096
00:58:00.559 --> 00:58:04.000
nine and it was just fun. We just started it
1097
00:58:04.039 --> 00:58:05.679
as a lark and we were just like, this will
1098
00:58:05.719 --> 00:58:08.159
be fun, and then slowly but surely getting access to
1099
00:58:08.159 --> 00:58:11.360
the people that we got access to is just insane.
1100
00:58:11.800 --> 00:58:15.639
Having Sarah Pauley come on and talk about death becomes
1101
00:58:15.639 --> 00:58:19.480
her for our ninety two podcast last year, nuts, it's nuts.
1102
00:58:19.519 --> 00:58:21.920
It makes no sense. So I'm just like I am,
1103
00:58:22.039 --> 00:58:24.960
so you know, you you might very well be nerding
1104
00:58:24.960 --> 00:58:27.280
out with me right now, but just know that I've
1105
00:58:27.320 --> 00:58:29.239
done the exact same thing with the people that I've
1106
00:58:29.280 --> 00:58:32.239
had on my podcast. So it's that's just that's that's
1107
00:58:32.239 --> 00:58:34.039
how it goes. You pass passed the love.
1108
00:58:34.440 --> 00:58:42.199
Phil, Thanks again, my pleasure. So that was one track mine.
1109
00:58:42.199 --> 00:58:44.000
But before we take off for the week, it's the
1110
00:58:44.039 --> 00:58:52.719
moment you've all been waiting for. It's Ryan's recommendations for
1111
00:58:52.800 --> 00:58:56.039
this week's recommendations. I'm in an a tourist mood, so
1112
00:58:56.159 --> 00:59:01.000
let's discuss one of my favorite directors, Yasujiro Ozoo. Nobody
1113
00:59:01.079 --> 00:59:06.519
did quietly devastating work quite like Ozu understated and precise
1114
00:59:07.079 --> 00:59:10.760
humanists to the bone. First up, from nineteen forty nine
1115
00:59:11.159 --> 00:59:15.760
Late Spring, Ozu liked his Seasons. It concerns a widowed
1116
00:59:15.800 --> 00:59:19.039
father who feels compelled to marry off his only daughter,
1117
00:59:19.320 --> 00:59:22.880
and it sounds absolutely basic and simple on that premise,
1118
00:59:23.280 --> 00:59:26.280
but for one hundred and eight minutes, Ozu has you
1119
00:59:26.480 --> 00:59:29.760
in the palm of his hand. The static camera work
1120
00:59:29.840 --> 00:59:33.519
forces the audience to breathe in the atmosphere and connect
1121
00:59:33.559 --> 00:59:36.480
with the characters, with actors doing what has been what
1122
00:59:36.559 --> 00:59:39.519
has come to be known as the Demi stare after
1123
00:59:39.599 --> 00:59:43.000
director Jonathan Demi, where they seem to be staring directly
1124
00:59:43.079 --> 00:59:45.840
down the barrel of the camera lens, and it places
1125
00:59:45.880 --> 00:59:49.440
you in the scene and makes you an active participant.
1126
00:59:50.079 --> 00:59:53.000
The best bonus feature on the Criterion, Blu Ray is
1127
00:59:53.039 --> 00:59:57.719
a documentary by Vim Vendors from nineteen eighty five Tokyo Ga,
1128
00:59:58.039 --> 01:00:02.320
which covered the director's affection for Ozu's work. Next up,
1129
01:00:02.440 --> 01:00:08.039
another deceptively simple work nineteen fifty three's Tokyo Story. On
1130
01:00:08.079 --> 01:00:12.079
its surface, it's about an elderly Japanese couple Duh, who
1131
01:00:12.159 --> 01:00:15.280
visit their children in Tokyo. But it's also about the
1132
01:00:15.280 --> 01:00:19.320
westernization of the Japanese nuclear family in the aftermath of
1133
01:00:19.360 --> 01:00:23.000
World War Two, and other things. I definitely didn't have
1134
01:00:23.079 --> 01:00:26.519
to look up. Look I'm a dummy, but even I
1135
01:00:26.599 --> 01:00:29.119
know that Tokyo Story is one of the greatest works
1136
01:00:29.119 --> 01:00:32.760
of minimalism to ever be projected in a theater. The
1137
01:00:32.800 --> 01:00:35.400
best bonus feature on the Criterion Blu ray is a
1138
01:00:35.400 --> 01:00:39.039
big one, a two hour documentary from nineteen eighty three
1139
01:00:39.199 --> 01:00:44.360
called I Lived, but which covers Ozu's entire filmography through
1140
01:00:44.400 --> 01:00:47.639
interviews with former cast and crew members, and of course,
1141
01:00:47.760 --> 01:00:52.400
given that this is Criterion Critics, finally we have an
1142
01:00:52.480 --> 01:00:56.960
Autumn Afternoon from nineteen sixty two, Ozu's final film before
1143
01:00:56.960 --> 01:01:00.079
his death a year later on his sixtieth birthday, I
1144
01:01:00.199 --> 01:01:03.880
Know Less, and It follows an elderly man sound Familiar,
1145
01:01:04.199 --> 01:01:07.199
who feels compelled to arrange a marriage for his young daughter,
1146
01:01:07.519 --> 01:01:12.239
Sound Familiar. It revisits common themes in Ozu's Arsenal, but
1147
01:01:12.320 --> 01:01:15.039
at no point, does it feel like you're watching outtakes
1148
01:01:15.039 --> 01:01:18.519
from Late Spring? Mostly because it's the rare Ozu film
1149
01:01:18.519 --> 01:01:21.599
that was shot in color, but also because it feels
1150
01:01:21.639 --> 01:01:24.880
like a master's final statement, like he could see his
1151
01:01:24.920 --> 01:01:28.480
own mortality slipping away from him. It reminds me of
1152
01:01:28.559 --> 01:01:32.119
Robert Altman's Prairie Home Companion, which he made without the
1153
01:01:32.159 --> 01:01:35.199
intention of it being his final statement. But it's kind
1154
01:01:35.239 --> 01:01:38.800
of perfect that it's how things worked out anyway. The
1155
01:01:38.840 --> 01:01:41.960
best bonus feature on the Criterion Blu ray is easily
1156
01:01:42.000 --> 01:01:46.320
an audio commentary from film scholar David Bordwell, who sadly
1157
01:01:46.400 --> 01:01:48.840
passed away this year and who can be found on
1158
01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:52.440
various film breakdowns on the Criterion channel. He was the
1159
01:01:52.480 --> 01:01:56.280
author of Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema. Boardwell was
1160
01:01:56.320 --> 01:01:59.960
an extremely knowledgeable and analytical man, and if you're going
1161
01:01:59.920 --> 01:02:03.639
to listen to an alternate track over Ozu's visual poetry,
1162
01:02:04.119 --> 01:02:07.760
you could do far worse. For more reviews and recommendations,
1163
01:02:07.840 --> 01:02:11.480
check out my Letterbox page at letterbox dot com. Slash
1164
01:02:11.519 --> 01:02:18.920
one track mind That'll do it for this week? Is
1165
01:02:18.960 --> 01:02:21.639
there anything I overlooked? Reach out to me at one
1166
01:02:21.760 --> 01:02:25.360
That is the Numeral one track Mind Podcast on Instagram,
1167
01:02:25.559 --> 01:02:30.480
onetrackmind dot bsky dot Social, on blue Sky, on Facebook,
1168
01:02:30.559 --> 01:02:33.679
on Podchaser, or send an email to One Track Mind
1169
01:02:33.760 --> 01:02:37.480
Podcast at gmail dot com. If you enjoy what you hear,
1170
01:02:37.880 --> 01:02:41.000
please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
1171
01:02:41.400 --> 01:02:44.360
or the source of your choice. Positive feedback helps keep
1172
01:02:44.360 --> 01:02:46.639
the show alive and I want to keep making it
1173
01:02:46.960 --> 01:02:49.880
until it just isn't fun anymore. Also check out the
1174
01:02:49.920 --> 01:02:53.760
official Patreon page at patreon dot com slash one Track
1175
01:02:53.800 --> 01:02:57.039
Mind Podcast, where you can get every episode early and
1176
01:02:57.079 --> 01:03:00.760
commercial free, and an archive of three one hundred hours
1177
01:03:00.760 --> 01:03:04.440
of bonus content, including every episode of The Coolness Chronicles
1178
01:03:04.719 --> 01:03:09.519
and The Shirley Chronicles which are now Patreon exclusive episodes.
1179
01:03:10.119 --> 01:03:13.360
Also check out the other podcasts that I technically co host.
1180
01:03:13.480 --> 01:03:16.880
Reels of Justice a fake Court of Opinion. We're in
1181
01:03:16.920 --> 01:03:20.599
a prosecutor, defender, judge, and jury try to conclude whether
1182
01:03:20.679 --> 01:03:23.519
or not a movie is guilty of being a bad movie.
1183
01:03:23.760 --> 01:03:26.519
You can find it anywhere you listen to this podcast.
1184
01:03:27.440 --> 01:03:30.760
Special thanks to the amazing Lacy Barker for the podcast artwork,
1185
01:03:31.079 --> 01:03:34.719
build Schirm for original themes and special special thanks to
1186
01:03:34.760 --> 01:03:40.320
our equally amazing patrons. Rose R. Case A, Katherine H.
1187
01:03:40.719 --> 01:03:46.000
L and I, Kathleen DZ E T, Bobby L, Michael A,
1188
01:03:46.599 --> 01:03:51.880
Ian C, Kitty K, Kelly B. The Vern, Mary M,
1189
01:03:52.159 --> 01:03:55.719
Bill M and Tracy R. Thanks for listening and until
1190
01:03:55.760 --> 01:03:57.480
next time. You're gonna cut that.
1191
01:03:57.519 --> 01:04:11.920
Right, darn, that's the end. Hello.
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This is Chris Haskell from They Live by Film. For
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those that don't know us, Adam Zach and I we
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built the podcast over the last two years. That's a
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combination of film discussion from three very different perspectives, as
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well as industry interviews with the leaders in Boutique, Blu Ray,
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and four kaid community. We started with dev Crocodile, but
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over time we've been lucky enough to speak with Aero Video, Severin, Manda, Macabre,
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Vinegar Syndrome, Radiant Syndicator, most of the OCN partner labels.
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It's been a blast. You can find us wherever you
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podcast and also actually recently as part of Someone's Favorite
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Production Podcast Network. We hope to see you online.
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Thank you for listening to hear more shows from the
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Someone's Face Favorite Productions Podcast Network. Please select the link
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in the description