Speaker 1: Welcome to Playback a Variety podcast. I'm your host, Variety
Speaker 1: Awards editor Chris Tapley. On today's show, a preview of
Speaker 1: the upcoming Critics Awards circuit and thoughts on Martin Scorsese Silence.
Speaker 1: A little bit later, I'll be talking to Heller High
Speaker 1: Water star Ben Foster, So stick around, all right, folks,
Speaker 1: I'm back with Varieti chief film critic Peter de Bruges.
Speaker 1: First time since Tell Your Ride exactly, we sat down
Speaker 1: and Tell Your Right to talk about those movies seems
Speaker 1: like a lifetime ago. And uh, Peter is fresh off
Speaker 1: of a screening that we're gonna want to talk about,
Speaker 1: which is Martin Scorsese Silence. Uh, kind of the last
Speaker 1: big movie to drop this year, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: there's an embargo in place, so we'll be careful how
Speaker 1: we discussed this. But what's your immediate takeaway. Let's let's
Speaker 1: just go with that. Yeah, well, let's let's keep my
Speaker 1: opinion out of it and we can just talk about
Speaker 1: some kind of general things. But the I mean, we
Speaker 1: all kind of knew this was eight hundred pound Guerrilla
Speaker 1: in the center of You've got a Martin Scorsese movie
Speaker 1: dropping in December, and the last time there was kind
Speaker 1: of a late you know, year less couple of times,
Speaker 1: you know, those movies have gone on departed, you know,
Speaker 1: Wolf of Wall Street to do really well in the
Speaker 1: awards season. Um, this is a different kind of movie
Speaker 1: in that I mean, I think it is closer to
Speaker 1: something like Coundon in the sense of it's not an
Speaker 1: overly commercial film. It's long, it's two hours and forty minutes. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's uh mostly intellectual, and it has a lot to
Speaker 1: do with how much work the audience is willing to
Speaker 1: put into it, you know, in terms of what you
Speaker 1: bring to the table. And uh, the and it's a
Speaker 1: movie about faith and you know, heavy interior kind of issues. Um,
Speaker 1: it's a period piece set in Japan. All these kind
Speaker 1: of elements, you know, kind of make it something where
Speaker 1: it's the kind of movie that's not going to be
Speaker 1: some runaway box office phenomenon that powers it into the
Speaker 1: award season. That said, I mean, the it is a
Speaker 1: film to be contended with in terms of all of
Speaker 1: the elements that any Scorsese film would be, from the
Speaker 1: way it looks to the acting to them, you know,
Speaker 1: there's uh, they're they're all the I mean, we know
Speaker 1: to be looking for Andrew Garfield. He you know, did
Speaker 1: a terrific job in Hack Saw Ridge and now you know,
Speaker 1: here's another leading performance to movies that kind of are
Speaker 1: both about these, um you know, these characters of profound
Speaker 1: faith on personal journeys kind of against all odds, you know.
Speaker 1: But the uh, you know, I actually don't know the
Speaker 1: name of the actor, but that there was one who
Speaker 1: kind of jumped out at me. And the movie is
Speaker 1: worth camp painting it. It's the villain of the movie anyway.
Speaker 1: Is the character's name is is basically like the Japanese
Speaker 1: Christoph Waltz. It's as kind of as someone else said
Speaker 1: on Twitter, but it's the hans Landa like the New
Speaker 1: hans Landa or something, right. But I mean it's like
Speaker 1: it's just it's I mean, it's one of the it's
Speaker 1: one of the performances that reads the loudest or you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like catches you in a movie that's very understated,
Speaker 1: you know. Um so, I mean I think they would
Speaker 1: be you know, smart to to just sort of spotlight him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a category that's very much open right now. It's interesting,
Speaker 1: you know, we had Garfield on the show a few
Speaker 1: months ago, and that was specifically for hacks All, but
Speaker 1: we talked about Silence, and I was like, both of
Speaker 1: these movies are about the hardship of maintaining one's faith,
Speaker 1: as you said, against all odds. Uh. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of a theme that Marty, excuse me, Scorsese like like
Speaker 1: he's my friend, like like we're on a first name
Speaker 1: basis us. All right. We just had lunch with Andy
Speaker 1: who came down to shake hands with all of the
Speaker 1: l a film cutter and you guys up. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like and I mean, you could tell that that's
Speaker 1: not something that was his idea and someone else, you know,
Speaker 1: wants him to do that. And to his credit, I
Speaker 1: think he's a very serious actor, has done to great performances.
Speaker 1: But go on, I greatly enjoyed talking to him about
Speaker 1: this stuff and Scorsese and Gibson both being interesting filmmakers
Speaker 1: and how they deal with those themes throughout their career. Actually, so, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, let me just ask a question that you're
Speaker 1: going to hate. I appreciate that you lead with some
Speaker 1: of the awards talk. I know that's not generally where
Speaker 1: you go, but is this the Best Picture Players is
Speaker 1: something that could unseat something like La La Land, which
Speaker 1: is perceived to be the front runner. It won't win, Um,
Speaker 1: it could be nominated in that if there's enough critical
Speaker 1: support for the movie, I think it could be, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the ten nine eight. However, many kind of
Speaker 1: get in there there. Um. I think that has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with this kind I've late late in
Speaker 1: the game play potentially, and the fact that Scorsese is
Speaker 1: so respected. Um, it's curious that this movie, I mean,
Speaker 1: it was being considered for a late last year release
Speaker 1: and then there was hope that it might show up
Speaker 1: a can or some of these festivals. I honestly think
Speaker 1: if it had premier it can say, it would have
Speaker 1: much better chances, because I think it's a movie that, um,
Speaker 1: there will be some very um big critical champions for it. Uh.
Speaker 1: I honestly, I'm going to take some time to digest it.
Speaker 1: I don't know that I could give my off the review.
Speaker 1: I don't know what side I'll be on. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you that, you know, it's like um the and um
Speaker 1: the because I have very mixed feelings, you know, and
Speaker 1: you've read the book. You said you're in the middle
Speaker 1: of your third read on the book, why you why
Speaker 1: do you keep reading this book? Well, I'll say that
Speaker 1: it's always been in preparation for this uh, and it's
Speaker 1: always been in audio book form, and I find that, like,
Speaker 1: I'll listen to twenty thirty minutes of it and realize
Speaker 1: I haven't been paying attention at all because it's very
Speaker 1: dense and it's a you know, a complicated story. But
Speaker 1: you know, there were times in the movie when I
Speaker 1: was having the same problem, you know, my my mind
Speaker 1: going to thinking about my sock drawer instead of what
Speaker 1: was on screener, instead of what, you know, was where
Speaker 1: it was supposed to take me. You know, it's it's
Speaker 1: not necessarily a gripping piece of material, and yet it's
Speaker 1: about this profound thing. I mean, we're talking about the
Speaker 1: themes of Scorsese movies. I mean, this is about a
Speaker 1: guy who um a priest, who travels to Japan to
Speaker 1: in in search of almost a kind of spiritual glory.
Speaker 1: He's watching all these you know, peasants who have converted
Speaker 1: to Catholicism being tortured in these gruesome ways, and he's
Speaker 1: almost envious of them, which, of course we know is
Speaker 1: like a venal sin. You know, it's like the uh,
Speaker 1: he's envious of them for uh, like you know, being
Speaker 1: martyrs when that's what he wants, he wants you know,
Speaker 1: the uh. And interesting refraction for today. Yeah, yeah, some
Speaker 1: of the things that's going on in the world. Well,
Speaker 1: it's I mean, it's curious to see a movie that's
Speaker 1: looking at Catholicism in a way that um, you know,
Speaker 1: our own countries and others and then in the world
Speaker 1: are kind of turning against you know, Muslims coming in
Speaker 1: and being very threatened by them. You know. It's like
Speaker 1: and also a flip on the kind of Catholic stories
Speaker 1: that the Crusades, the you know, Inquisition, all these kind
Speaker 1: of things where it's like there's been a very brutal
Speaker 1: history with Catholicisms towards you know, the Catholic religion towards
Speaker 1: other faith or non face and uh. And here it's
Speaker 1: you know, the they're the victims. They've they've come in
Speaker 1: as colonialists into a into a Buddhist culture, and the
Speaker 1: you know, the authorities they're kind of want to like
Speaker 1: rip this um, this vine, this you know kind of
Speaker 1: thing out by the roots, and the roots are the priests,
Speaker 1: you know. But I mean it's it's an interesting but
Speaker 1: not at all cinematic kind of set of themes or
Speaker 1: ideas that Scorsese being Scorsese, has found a very visual
Speaker 1: way to engage with. He's got a great DP. Has
Speaker 1: worked with Rodrico Prietzo the last couple of times and
Speaker 1: went back to film on this Fall Street was mostly film,
Speaker 1: but they dabbled with digital for nighttime stuff. But uh,
Speaker 1: I mean it is a gorgeous movie. And to me,
Speaker 1: the movie, it kept reminding me of his Apocalypse. Now.
Speaker 1: I mean it's this is a heart of Darkness story,
Speaker 1: except instead of it being I mean, you've got fog
Speaker 1: and missed as this kind of motif throughout the whole thing,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of the visual through line. But he's
Speaker 1: going in search of this lost priest who may be dead,
Speaker 1: may have been killed, may have apostasized. Uh and uh,
Speaker 1: the there's that kind of similar journey to you know,
Speaker 1: Martin Sheen's in that film. Yeah, maybe Rodrigo can finally
Speaker 1: get his oscar he managed. I thought he was gonna
Speaker 1: win for a broke Back Mountain, but I think he
Speaker 1: dropped it to what was that two thousand five Best Cinematography.
Speaker 1: He won't. But anyway, Yeah, you make a good point
Speaker 1: though about the late break. I mean, this does seem
Speaker 1: like a movie that would have benefited from I mean, look,
Speaker 1: we already are enough space with awards where it seems
Speaker 1: like in order to win Best Picture you need to
Speaker 1: lay a lot of track out, and that's why the
Speaker 1: last six seven, however, many winners have played Tell Your
Speaker 1: Ride or Venice. You know, they've they've come early enough
Speaker 1: to kind of get their message going. Well, let's say
Speaker 1: movies like Manchester by the Sea, Yeah, you know, which
Speaker 1: I gave a fresh look to on Monday of this week,
Speaker 1: you know, just to kind of clear up my own,
Speaker 1: you know, idea before going into the l a film
Speaker 1: critics voting this weekend. But or certain Women, these are
Speaker 1: movies that, by virtue of having kind of been looked
Speaker 1: at and championed early at Sundance, kind of had this
Speaker 1: chance to build interest and build a claim and be
Speaker 1: received kind of almost like comfortably enough by critics with
Speaker 1: the push that they needed and in a shorter span.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Moonlight had a direct kind of
Speaker 1: as has La La Land, you know, momentum directly off
Speaker 1: of the fall festivals. Um, so you know, Silence only
Speaker 1: has the fact that it looks prestigee and is a
Speaker 1: Scorsese film. I think kind of doing that work for
Speaker 1: it and people, you know, there are people who will
Speaker 1: go because this is a Scorsese film, but it's so
Speaker 1: unlike any other film of his that you know, that
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily translate into love or appreciation for it. But
Speaker 1: that will, you know. But otherwise our voters going to
Speaker 1: see this movie apart from its being a Martin Scorsese movie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, and you mentioned couldn't done there. I
Speaker 1: know that I interviewed Filmo Schoolmaker for Wolf of Wall
Speaker 1: Street and they were just about to go into this one,
Speaker 1: and they were like, this definitely part of a trilogy.
Speaker 1: With that and the Last Temptation of Christ, this get
Speaker 1: the kind of spiritual trilogy feway. So that's very fascinating.
Speaker 1: I look forward to seeing it. I see at the weekend,
Speaker 1: So actually when you're voting, I'll be seeing it. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about the l A film critics, uh and
Speaker 1: the New York film critics, which are going to happen
Speaker 1: the day this air is actually, so who knows what's
Speaker 1: happening while this is up. But what do you think
Speaker 1: the critics are gonna do this year? What do you
Speaker 1: think are some spots that they feel like need some
Speaker 1: some some uplift you know, well, I mean just having
Speaker 1: sort of shared a lunch with a lot of the
Speaker 1: l A guys, it was you know, kind of a
Speaker 1: chance to read the room a little bit and uh
Speaker 1: the and do some informal polling almost. But I would
Speaker 1: not be surprised if this happens that one of the
Speaker 1: groups and the New York gets first salvo because they
Speaker 1: vote on Thursday. Uh, the one of the groups chooses
Speaker 1: Manchester by the Sea and the other one chooses Moonlight.
Speaker 1: I think that will likely happen. Uh. And the question
Speaker 1: is which way goes which? I know that the l
Speaker 1: A critics, while they would never admit this as a group,
Speaker 1: is very conscious of what New York is done and
Speaker 1: tries not to just kind of be redundant. It's not
Speaker 1: that it never happens, but it needs to be pretty
Speaker 1: like undeniable for it to happen. Like whenever you guys,
Speaker 1: I think hurt locker, maybe have hurt locker, you know,
Speaker 1: like l A confidential saving provat Ryan. They're very specific ones.
Speaker 1: I think that's those are to that. But I feel
Speaker 1: like both those two movies, Manchester and Moonlight are ones
Speaker 1: that you know, having kind of there is such critical
Speaker 1: love for them and having the critical kind of you know,
Speaker 1: muscle behind it kind of powers it forward. Of course,
Speaker 1: National Boarder Review just picked Moonlight, so that's already you know,
Speaker 1: it's like if that and um, I mean of the
Speaker 1: two Moonlight is the movie that I adore, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like without any sort of reservations. Well, I
Speaker 1: mean those that's my number one and number two of
Speaker 1: the year right there, Moonlight and then Manchester. They're two terrific,
Speaker 1: terrific movies. Yeah. The question though, is like and not
Speaker 1: that critics need to think this way. I mean, certainly
Speaker 1: there I think their mission ought to be to just
Speaker 1: be honest with what they think the best of the
Speaker 1: year is. But those are two movies. They don't have
Speaker 1: a problem having a footprint in this awards season. Sure,
Speaker 1: you know, so is it is it worth it? The
Speaker 1: champion something else that could could use that kind of
Speaker 1: I think when it comes to those two groups and
Speaker 1: voting on Best Picture, they tend I mean, you've everyone's
Speaker 1: engaged with that category. It does go to something where
Speaker 1: the room really feels passionate about, you know, those films
Speaker 1: there you're not second guessing strategy. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: that the limit of that is just that question of
Speaker 1: you know, not trying to look like we're just echoing
Speaker 1: what another group said. And it's unfortunate that it's even
Speaker 1: a factor, you know, It's like, but what you do
Speaker 1: see with the l A Film Critics is and almost
Speaker 1: all of their other categories, some real eccentricity come out,
Speaker 1: you know, and they do. I mean, this is a
Speaker 1: group that you know, recognizes Korean and Romanian actors when uh,
Speaker 1: you know, when there are terrific performances in the race
Speaker 1: and they are looking internationally. Every year they go out
Speaker 1: of their way to find animated films at least to
Speaker 1: consider so that we're not just kind of rubber stamping
Speaker 1: the latest Pixar movie. And uh, I think that could
Speaker 1: be a shame this year because Utopia is such a
Speaker 1: terrific movie as the Disney kind of Behemmeth in the
Speaker 1: in the Race. But there are so many great Lindy
Speaker 1: ones and I know that my critical cohorts in the
Speaker 1: group are are giving them all a look. And I
Speaker 1: mean it's like a movie like Your Name, which opens
Speaker 1: Friday and uh in Los Angeles. Uh, you know that's
Speaker 1: that movie is done almost two hundred million dollars in Japan.
Speaker 1: So it is like I didn't know it had done
Speaker 1: that well hundred and seventy million dollars. I mean, this
Speaker 1: movie is the number one grossing movie of Japan this year.
Speaker 1: Is a phenomenon, and like we will as Americans look
Speaker 1: at it as like, oh, it's this little underdog from Japan.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is like there's Utopia and and it's
Speaker 1: a terrific, terrific movie. So I just hope that people,
Speaker 1: you know, give it a chance. And you know, it's like,
Speaker 1: I know, you know, a friend of mine is an
Speaker 1: Academy voter and just you know, was showing me that
Speaker 1: he was about to pop his screen or that in
Speaker 1: you know, kind of next to watch. They're required to
Speaker 1: look at them all, so it's like, you know, they'll
Speaker 1: get considered. It's just you know, Asian talent does not
Speaker 1: get compensated very often in the Academy Awards. Um silence
Speaker 1: is one thing. You know, It's like and it would
Speaker 1: be great if you know, the actor we were talking
Speaker 1: about were uh, you know, nominated. But when it comes
Speaker 1: to animation, unless you're Miyazaki, you know, it doesn't really happen.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like um and unless you're like Angle.
Speaker 1: Uh that's kind of where the list ends on the
Speaker 1: l A critics side. I know, you guys often you
Speaker 1: were talking about actors. I think lead actress is typically
Speaker 1: a spot where uh, you know, they they'll go outside
Speaker 1: the beaten path. I kind of feel like, well, who
Speaker 1: pair feels too obvious this year, though for for l A,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't. I don't know if it would
Speaker 1: be too obvious in the sense that I don't think
Speaker 1: that I don't think she's necessarily going to win other groups,
Speaker 1: and so I think from the it's I mean, those
Speaker 1: are the kind of statements that our group has made.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've given it to the lead actress of
Speaker 1: Mother Um, the lead actress of Seraphine. The yellon Moreau
Speaker 1: might be miss messing up the title of that film,
Speaker 1: but you know where she played the autistic artist the
Speaker 1: I mean, what was the there was a year that
Speaker 1: Vera Farmiga one for couples. The name of the movie
Speaker 1: something bone down to the bone, play it to the bone.
Speaker 1: You know that must have been because I don't think
Speaker 1: I've even ever seen that movie. That must have been before.
Speaker 1: I but but I feel like I feel like she
Speaker 1: won that year. It was it was before she was
Speaker 1: vera Farmiga. You know, So they kind of, I mean,
Speaker 1: they really do look for the best performances independent of
Speaker 1: because we don't have It's not like casting an awards
Speaker 1: show the way that you know, the Golden Globes is
Speaker 1: where you go to the biggest stars and you want
Speaker 1: them to show up. You know. In our case, it's
Speaker 1: like you go to the best talent and you know,
Speaker 1: the there's no guarantee. You may vote for the biggest
Speaker 1: star and they don't come. And you might vote for
Speaker 1: as we did, um Emmanuel Riva the Year of a Moor,
Speaker 1: and you know, we get a video acceptance speech. It's
Speaker 1: all the same. To us. It's like we've voted with
Speaker 1: our conscience, you know. The I mean, Easabel loop Air
Speaker 1: is the greatest living actress. This is not the this
Speaker 1: is not even her best performance, but it is I
Speaker 1: think the one that is likely to um get her
Speaker 1: seen by the whitest you know, contingent of different awards voters.
Speaker 1: It's a you know, it's a movie by Paul Verhoven.
Speaker 1: So it's like, you know, you've got a lot of
Speaker 1: factors working in her favor. Like now she's going to
Speaker 1: be in a Marvel movie in three years, let's hope
Speaker 1: not that you never know. I mean, like the fact
Speaker 1: that Tilda Squinton is like, you know, I never saw
Speaker 1: that coming, and yet that's a brilliant piece of casting.
Speaker 1: You know. It's like, I think Easabel Looper would only
Speaker 1: make a Marvel movie if it had an O tur director,
Speaker 1: which these days they're kind of getting, so it could happen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Uh what about something like do you mind if I
Speaker 1: mentioned what your favorite movie is? Oh no, go ahead,
Speaker 1: Hell or high Water? Uh? Do you do you think
Speaker 1: that could pick up some more steam in other areas
Speaker 1: other than bridges, Like for instance, Ben Foster received a
Speaker 1: Independent Spirit Award nomination. He's the I'm interviewing him on
Speaker 1: the show today. Uh could he maybe get subtraction or
Speaker 1: you know, just like the cinematography of a film like that,
Speaker 1: a screenplay certainly liked. I mean, I have to say
Speaker 1: that I tend to be a little blinded by my
Speaker 1: own enthusiasm when it comes to movies like this. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, I suddenly see all possibilities being open. Do
Speaker 1: other people like that movie as much as I do?
Speaker 1: You know? Is kind of the question. I grew up
Speaker 1: in Texas, so there's even a part of Hill or
Speaker 1: High Water that just reads as being kind of like
Speaker 1: the most It's even a more authentic version of No
Speaker 1: Country for Old Men for me. You know. It's like,
Speaker 1: and there's a film that we gave Best Picture too,
Speaker 1: So when the movie comes along, that's better than a
Speaker 1: movie that we gave Best Picture to. Suddenly I see
Speaker 1: all these possibilities. But does everyone kind of you know
Speaker 1: that way we meaning Afca exactly. I think Lafka gave
Speaker 1: it to there will be blood Now, you're right, so
Speaker 1: I should probably, but fair point anyway, Uh, you're right.
Speaker 1: That was the year that New York did the No Country,
Speaker 1: taking it off the table and clearing the way for
Speaker 1: us to or there. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: movie that has stuck around longer than I thought it would. Honestly, Um,
Speaker 1: I liked the movie, but I kind of thought it
Speaker 1: was going to remain this late summer Indi Jim and
Speaker 1: you know those kind of fade away all the time.
Speaker 1: I think that. I mean, the thing that's so gratifying
Speaker 1: about Heller High Water is that a movie like that
Speaker 1: found its audience and it had a release date that
Speaker 1: was counterintuitive to that. Um And I mean it felt
Speaker 1: almost like it had been kind of buried at the
Speaker 1: end of summer and instead it kind of found open
Speaker 1: sailing for a while. It had some real critical support,
Speaker 1: including I mean it's beloved by my colleague and Cleberman
Speaker 1: who saw it. It It can and um, you know the
Speaker 1: uh and I think a lot of critics have come
Speaker 1: on board with it, you know, the I think it's
Speaker 1: got a terrific, terrific screenplay. Um, it's got Chris Pine
Speaker 1: playing so much against type in terms of the I mean,
Speaker 1: he's just a handsome leading man. Who here is playing
Speaker 1: you know, just this this humble Texan farm boy. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like who um is, like his his appearances, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, persona is no part of that identity, and
Speaker 1: he's kind of reinventing himself for that role. Ben Foster.
Speaker 1: We've seen him play crazy before he does it. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like that intensity, Um, and like, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is like yet another you know, home run for
Speaker 1: him in that range that we've you know, kind of
Speaker 1: grown familiar with. So it's almost two very different options
Speaker 1: there in terms of, you know, an actor who's challenging
Speaker 1: his um, you know, the way that he's perceived in
Speaker 1: another who's kind of like comfortably playing within his range.
Speaker 1: But Ben's like, you know, I was way more comfortable
Speaker 1: in this role. And he's like, don't tell too many
Speaker 1: people that this is kind of weird, but yeah, he
Speaker 1: seemed extremely at ease in the part. I mean Jeff Bridges.
Speaker 1: Of course, it's like he could practically do this kind
Speaker 1: of thing in his sleep. And yet that's what's so great.
Speaker 1: This is like a cop on the brink of retirement.
Speaker 1: So it's like he needs to look these are like
Speaker 1: comfortable Janes. You know. Um, have you ever talked to
Speaker 1: Taylor Sheridan before I met him at you know, an
Speaker 1: event that they did for the DVD launch? It like
Speaker 1: the barbecue thing. Yeah, the best barbecue joining Angels. That
Speaker 1: was good. I was probably hugging Taylor shared and you
Speaker 1: know it's like, no, seriously, I mean, like he and
Speaker 1: I have Texas in our DNA and so it's like
Speaker 1: it was kind of fun to compare notes. Yeah, definitely, Uh,
Speaker 1: last thing here, I guess, you know, like New York
Speaker 1: I said, will be announced by now, but maybe some
Speaker 1: of your l A brethren will be listening. What what
Speaker 1: What is one movie that you don't think maybe everyone's
Speaker 1: going to go in there thinking of that they should
Speaker 1: probably think about with you know, whether it's a certain
Speaker 1: performance or a certain screenplay, or certain just a certain
Speaker 1: element of a movie. Even is there is there just
Speaker 1: something out there that seems really unsung that you hope
Speaker 1: that the critics and particularly maybe your group can speak
Speaker 1: up for. Well, here's what I'll say to that is that, uh,
Speaker 1: I have long detested the musical biopic genre. To me,
Speaker 1: it's like they almost always hit the same formula, which
Speaker 1: is the kind of like you know, coming out someone
Speaker 1: coming out of nowhere, rising to stardom, starting to you know,
Speaker 1: do drugs, falling off, you know, and then having to
Speaker 1: kind of like have either dying doing that or coming
Speaker 1: to Jesus and getting their act together. I'lla ray and
Speaker 1: you know, um, the this year the movie that I
Speaker 1: need to catch up with before voting, because I can
Speaker 1: sense the Love from the group is Born to Be Blue.
Speaker 1: A lot of people really adore Ethan Hawk's performance, and
Speaker 1: so my homework between now and Sunday voting is to
Speaker 1: watch them move. You're gonna bring up miles Ahead. Actually
Speaker 1: Miles Ahead, on the other hand, is like the directorial
Speaker 1: debut of the year for me. I mean, I just
Speaker 1: think that um Don Cheatle does such crazy inventive, creative
Speaker 1: things with the way that he gets in and out
Speaker 1: of the way he kind of moves in and out
Speaker 1: of time. Uh, you know, it's like, uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a wacky comparison to make. But you know,
Speaker 1: my almost like one issue with Manchester by the Sea,
Speaker 1: apart from the fact that it's, you know, a story
Speaker 1: about just more average white people in a year when
Speaker 1: I'm really looking for stories kind of outside of that scope.
Speaker 1: But you know, the please bring those stories to me.
Speaker 1: It's not like I'm going to crucify a movie you
Speaker 1: know that is good for omitting them, but it would
Speaker 1: be nice to have some people of color or some
Speaker 1: well rounded women in that movie. But my real beef
Speaker 1: with it is like this weird way that he plays
Speaker 1: the flashbacks, and they're very confusing and I get what
Speaker 1: he's going for. He's doing it the way that our
Speaker 1: minds where perceiving. Yeah, and so it's meant to be subjective.
Speaker 1: But I mean don Cheatle who just has like you know,
Speaker 1: in his first film, demonstrates this kind of understanding of
Speaker 1: of cinema and the way that like you know, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, something will be designed to kind of feed
Speaker 1: from a memory, you know, from the present into a
Speaker 1: memory into a fantasy and it's like you know, jumping
Speaker 1: and weaving through in through time. I mean I was
Speaker 1: just like, I mean, that movie is cinematic jazz. I mean,
Speaker 1: he understands, you know, kind of like what Miles Davis
Speaker 1: contributed to music, and he's trying to kind of find
Speaker 1: a like a visual I mean it's not just visual,
Speaker 1: but using the elements of cinema, you know obviously sound
Speaker 1: of music as well to kind of create you know,
Speaker 1: something that that mirrors that are captures that And I
Speaker 1: just found it intoxicating and electrifying. Yeah. I like both
Speaker 1: of those movies, Miles Ahead and Born to Blue. Maybe
Speaker 1: they'll get some love. We'll see what the critics do again.
Speaker 1: The l A Film Critics announced on Sunday, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, all the various regional groups will be chiming
Speaker 1: in throughout the rest of the month. So thanks for
Speaker 1: coming on. Man, we've got Ben Foster coming up, Star
Speaker 1: of Hell or High Waters. To stick around for that, brother,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get that money. They're going over the drawers.
Speaker 1: You got a gun on you all, man, You've damn right.
Speaker 1: I got a gun home. Do all are gonna steal
Speaker 1: my gun too? When you see him from you were
Speaker 1: sent from the bank. Wow, do you hear about these
Speaker 1: bank robberies? They get to have some fun before they
Speaker 1: send you off to the rock and chair. Yet, oh,
Speaker 1: may have one hunt left in me, Sam having its
Speaker 1: been a while, three months bank breathing out her neck. Everybody,
Speaker 1: get you've been here for a while a long. That's
Speaker 1: watch banking. Robb has been robbing me for thirty years.
Speaker 1: The boys all exactly what they're doing. They're kind of
Speaker 1: have raised a certain amount. That's my disk totally. It's
Speaker 1: a good thing. Here does more Dona very step of
Speaker 1: the way. Welcome back everyone. I'm here with Ben Foster,
Speaker 1: who's had a very busy year. Actually, uh four films
Speaker 1: Hell or High Water, Finest Hours, Warcraft and Inferno, which
Speaker 1: is out now. Thanks for coming on the show today.
Speaker 1: First of all, been really appreciate it. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: first of all, we were just talking briefly before we
Speaker 1: started recording. Uh, Hostiles, you're coming off of Scott Cooper's
Speaker 1: new film Western down in New Mexico he was shooting.
Speaker 1: It's curious how how you liked working on that film,
Speaker 1: What what the experience was like for you. I'm a
Speaker 1: huge fan of the genre and you've been in a
Speaker 1: couple of westerns now, so what was that like for you?
Speaker 1: Joy to play with Scott, I mean, your pals with him.
Speaker 1: He's he's such a positive, spark, cinephile. He loves people,
Speaker 1: he loves stories. So again, to play in his world
Speaker 1: was it was terrific. A great cast, I mean Christian Bale,
Speaker 1: one of my favorites, Jesse Plemons, you know, just good, solid,
Speaker 1: beautiful builders. Yeah, he puts together great casts for his stuff.
Speaker 1: And Uh, in that movie, you tackle a really gnarly character,
Speaker 1: which I'm going to talk to talk about your characters
Speaker 1: coming up, but I just want to start with kind
Speaker 1: of a cliche question, if you'll forgive me, which is, uh,
Speaker 1: when and how did you know you wanted to be
Speaker 1: an actor early. Uh, I wasn't much of a student
Speaker 1: and was very much drawn to TV. I suppose, like
Speaker 1: a lot of kids uh uh TV and movies and plays,
Speaker 1: and I just I wanted to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: Not not so much as uh to be in the box,
Speaker 1: but I just looked her there. So I got into
Speaker 1: school plays when I was about eight years old, and
Speaker 1: and uh, just about in town of Iowa, and I'd
Speaker 1: be a box mover is what they call it. You
Speaker 1: just move boxes for the guys who had lines right,
Speaker 1: and then slowly I'd be given a line and it
Speaker 1: was just better. I liked building early on. I like collaborating,
Speaker 1: and like I said, I was a terrible student, so
Speaker 1: that worked out so far. Did you feel like you
Speaker 1: took to it immediately? Sure? Yeah? Did you like? What
Speaker 1: did you like about it? Just the the ability to
Speaker 1: escape into another persona or what it even is escape
Speaker 1: even the right word. Well, it's it's different at different
Speaker 1: ages and and it evolves. What what I saw was
Speaker 1: was just something so exciting and different and other. And
Speaker 1: then getting a taste probably when I was about eleven
Speaker 1: or twelve doing a one act play. It wasn't pursuing
Speaker 1: it professionally. I blacked out during the performance. I don't
Speaker 1: remember what happened, And people came up to me afterwards saying,
Speaker 1: how did you do that? What did you do? And
Speaker 1: I said, I have no idea what happened? Uh? And
Speaker 1: that was that was the first real hit of the drug.
Speaker 1: Was trying to get back to that place of getting
Speaker 1: lost or released or some people in athletics they call
Speaker 1: it the zone, or some people call it the pocket.
Speaker 1: Always chasing that dragon, something like a trance even sure,
Speaker 1: or a good dance when you just do you feel
Speaker 1: that song? How did you first get your SAG card?
Speaker 1: That's a question my colleague Jenelle Reiley always throws around
Speaker 1: at these Q and A s. I don't remember. You
Speaker 1: don't remember commercial or anything like that. No, what was
Speaker 1: the first job? Like, yeah, my first job was I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't remember the date of it. Um,
Speaker 1: that was my first job as a Disney show. So
Speaker 1: I relocated from from Iowa to Toronto. And I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was a kid, So it was fourteen, so the
Speaker 1: adults figured out what the car. I didn't know what
Speaker 1: any of the business was. I wasn't like I wasn't
Speaker 1: chasing industry. It just I was lucky. Yeah, I knew
Speaker 1: I wanted to make believe I knew that much. I
Speaker 1: had been writing plays. Uh So I didn't really know what.
Speaker 1: I didn't know the value of a SAG card, did
Speaker 1: none of them. I didn't know what a mark was
Speaker 1: on a set. These were all I learned as I
Speaker 1: went still learning. Yeah. Well, like I said, uh, I
Speaker 1: feel that your work is really uh kind of marked
Speaker 1: by very memorable characters, very just kind of leap off
Speaker 1: the screen at you. I specifically think of stuff like
Speaker 1: three Tender Yoma obviously Hell or high Water. It's a
Speaker 1: very interesting character there. You have this gnarly character to
Speaker 1: play in hostiles even something like Hostage I think of,
Speaker 1: or Alpha Dog. These these guys just really are are
Speaker 1: larger than life characters. I'm curious where you start to
Speaker 1: build on the character after you read the script. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously it starts with what's on the page, But where
Speaker 1: do you start to go from there. It's it's a
Speaker 1: it's job to job. It changes. I suppose that at
Speaker 1: its best is you read something and uh, it resonates
Speaker 1: in a particular part of your heart, your mind, or
Speaker 1: you understand some part of that story and and and
Speaker 1: making that a personal connection to it. And then it's
Speaker 1: about bleeding the lines and doing research to support that connection.
Speaker 1: And that's the best part of the job as the
Speaker 1: research for me is Ideally there's a period of time
Speaker 1: to to explore the world or talk to somebody who's
Speaker 1: lived in a similar world to get a better connectivity
Speaker 1: to the material at hand, and then go through the
Speaker 1: script of the director, ideally page by page and start
Speaker 1: cutting it out, just cutting pages down. So so many
Speaker 1: scripts are feverishly overwritten and underdeveloped, where if if you're
Speaker 1: living in the skin, you can your behavior can speak
Speaker 1: for you. And that's ideally the middle ground we try
Speaker 1: to find because I'm a contractor, you know, come in
Speaker 1: and build a character and we got to see eye
Speaker 1: to eye on that. Could you elaborate on that idea
Speaker 1: of scripts often being overwritten underdeveloped, Well, as you know,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a business and you've got to pump
Speaker 1: out product. I mean, look at what happened with Samsung.
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's a lot of money put into
Speaker 1: a lot of technology that just didn't didn't quite work.
Speaker 1: It isn't different with with films, except the film won't
Speaker 1: blow up in the air, right. The problem is is
Speaker 1: that it may blow up in a narrative form of
Speaker 1: the character doesn't land. So my job is once I'm hired,
Speaker 1: is to go do my recon. I do a lot
Speaker 1: of field with recordings of people that have lived similar
Speaker 1: lives and spend time just asking questions. Once I feel
Speaker 1: that I have something substantial to bring back to the director,
Speaker 1: we talk about it and then we say, well, we
Speaker 1: can lose this, we can lose that. What if we
Speaker 1: we emphasize these elements so on the day we're not
Speaker 1: we're not intellectualizing it. That homework is done and we
Speaker 1: can we have we build a language where we can
Speaker 1: just be with each other and I know what he
Speaker 1: wants before he even says it, or I know what
Speaker 1: she's going to say before she says it. We can
Speaker 1: just like musicians, listen to each other subtle cues. I'd
Speaker 1: rather get all the chat out of the way and
Speaker 1: just go feel on the day, let's drill down specifically
Speaker 1: with all that in mind on hell or high water
Speaker 1: and this character of Tanner, and who did you talk
Speaker 1: to that kind of lived in this world? To help
Speaker 1: you develop this. Let's start there. Well, Ah, for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: I'm drawn to the South, and I take you. This
Speaker 1: is the first year I haven't taken an annual solo
Speaker 1: road trip across the country from the South. So we're
Speaker 1: part of North Carolina. Nice. Yeah, it's uh, it's if
Speaker 1: it draws you, it draws you. And I can't quite stay.
Speaker 1: I just got back from Nashville last night this morning. Actually, uh,
Speaker 1: the hours are blurring together. Good North. This life goes quick,
Speaker 1: so I and it might travel and I save a
Speaker 1: lot of field recordings. And I've met some rascals over
Speaker 1: the years, and Tanner is Uh. I think a kinder
Speaker 1: word would be to call him a rascal. M It
Speaker 1: started with the script. The script was it was the
Speaker 1: easiest fit I've had in a very long time. Those
Speaker 1: words felt very comfortable. His I knew what he looked like,
Speaker 1: I knew what he sounded like. I just I it's
Speaker 1: it was. It was less of an investigation with him
Speaker 1: and more of an unpacking. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, he's already
Speaker 1: in there. Let's uh, let's let him loose. Getting out
Speaker 1: of him. On the other hand, was that was curious
Speaker 1: winding out of them. That was He's very seductive to
Speaker 1: live in. Is that strange to say or feel, given
Speaker 1: who this guy is. Yeah? Sure, Yeah, well the best
Speaker 1: quality because it's like, uh, you can't talk about my friends.
Speaker 1: I can talk to it about my friends. It's that
Speaker 1: you can't tell mama, joke about my mama. That you
Speaker 1: just don't do that. So it's being critical of the
Speaker 1: people you you you fall in love with, and that's
Speaker 1: a character. It's just you have six weeks, two months,
Speaker 1: fall in love with someone, think about him every day,
Speaker 1: go to bed with them, wake up with them. You
Speaker 1: just spend time with that person. Uh, and then when
Speaker 1: it's done, sometimes you just you want to be with
Speaker 1: somebody real quick to wash him out of your system
Speaker 1: or east. They kind of float around and Tanner, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I almost moved to Texas. I didn't go. I didn't
Speaker 1: come home to New York. I just kept I stayed
Speaker 1: down South, almost bought a house. I was interesting if
Speaker 1: I fell in hard with him. He's Taylor did something
Speaker 1: did some good juju in that script. Yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: great writer, and he really feels he feels out the
Speaker 1: stuff that he writes really well, Like it feels like
Speaker 1: he knows what he's talking about what he's writing about.
Speaker 1: It feels well lived in, which is a term that's
Speaker 1: flying around a lot on this movie. Actually lived in. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it's true. And in fact, I saw a featurette recently,
Speaker 1: I think with you talking about how how much you
Speaker 1: identified with just kind of the disposition of this character,
Speaker 1: and you were like, don't don't tell anybody that I
Speaker 1: might not want to say that. Oh, now you're repeating it,
Speaker 1: but it's true. Um. And is that is that often
Speaker 1: the case for you that it takes long to to
Speaker 1: wind down out of it? It was a specifically a
Speaker 1: thing with this or is that consistently a thing for you?
Speaker 1: It's really like it's it's for me. It's like a
Speaker 1: bad crush or falling in love. Some of them actually
Speaker 1: get in and some of them you're like, what was
Speaker 1: I thinking? Others you they mark you? This one marked me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The political climate this one lands in is very interesting.
Speaker 1: Obviously the script was shaped by the political climate in
Speaker 1: many ways. How did those socio political elements strike you
Speaker 1: when you first read the script? Wow, they're they're they're
Speaker 1: impossible to ignore after you've seen it. But in terms
Speaker 1: of making it, I was I didn't go in with
Speaker 1: with with an outsider's perspective, it was. I mean, the
Speaker 1: man that I'm playing is is recently released from h
Speaker 1: from prison and he's asked by his brother to help
Speaker 1: him save the family farm in the only way that
Speaker 1: they know how that plays to the strengths that the
Speaker 1: guy that I'm Tanner has, which has been a mayhem
Speaker 1: and a lust for life and just crazy enough to
Speaker 1: do the craziest thing for the right reason. M politically,
Speaker 1: just on an emotional level, I can speak to the
Speaker 1: question is what would you do for somebody love? How
Speaker 1: far would you go if their back was against the wall,
Speaker 1: What would you do to to to to ease their pain,
Speaker 1: make their life easier? And if you dig down deep
Speaker 1: inside your heart? Uh, that's something we all should probably
Speaker 1: ask ourselves at some point. Yeah, you have a little
Speaker 1: brother too, I do, so I'm sure those elements were
Speaker 1: bubbling up quite a bit. Oh yeah, yeah, let's talk
Speaker 1: about the director here, Mr Mackenzie. Uh, that's the other
Speaker 1: interesting thing. I mean, not that these issues are necessarily
Speaker 1: rooted in America, they can travel, but it's interesting to
Speaker 1: me that the Scotsman came in and handled this material
Speaker 1: so how did you like working with him and working
Speaker 1: on a character with him? I mean, David David, it's
Speaker 1: a true forgive the word artist's He's a deep feeler.
Speaker 1: He's uh really too smart for his own good. Uh.
Speaker 1: He has a dangerous understanding of the human condition. He's
Speaker 1: not a Scotsman first, He's a He's a human being first,
Speaker 1: and he comes with his own personal experience and an
Speaker 1: openness to others. His bullshit meter is very high. At
Speaker 1: is open to play. It's it's an ideal scenario for
Speaker 1: this kind the world. You know, I'm already a fan
Speaker 1: of his work after seeing Young Adam and start Up.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is truly a filmmaker who's
Speaker 1: a who's a thrill to work within watch. I wanted
Speaker 1: to circle back on that question about developing the characters. Uh.
Speaker 1: Something I've noted is just how much clothing is a
Speaker 1: part of a lot of your characters. Uh. I think
Speaker 1: of again three tend to hum. I think of Alpha
Speaker 1: Dog just kind of outwardly, How what what these guys
Speaker 1: are presenting. And I'm just curious if you ever like
Speaker 1: get involved on that level with like the costumers and
Speaker 1: and is that something that you're really big on for sure. Uh.
Speaker 1: I mean, no matter how subtle you think your clothing
Speaker 1: is that you're we're we are. We are transmitting a
Speaker 1: symbol on a signal of community. We're communicating part of
Speaker 1: ourselves that we don't care. But I don't care in
Speaker 1: this way or this is how I care about things.
Speaker 1: This is how I want you to think that I look.
Speaker 1: In terms of what I do, it's always a collaboration.
Speaker 1: It's the best part of the job being on a
Speaker 1: script or how they look or how they sound. It's
Speaker 1: a build. I'm a builder. That's as simple as I
Speaker 1: can say it. Come in and we'll I'll go out
Speaker 1: buy my own clothes. I've also worked with phenomenal uh
Speaker 1: wardrobe designers. You know, it's it's per job. I did see.
Speaker 1: I was in a restaurant, an Italian restaurant, I think
Speaker 1: I was actually in Italy at the time, and there
Speaker 1: was a giant nine sixties poster of Tarzan. It was cartoon,
Speaker 1: was like pop art, and there was a hunter that
Speaker 1: was chasing Tarzan through the jungle with a rifle and
Speaker 1: he was wearing a red button up shirt with rolled
Speaker 1: up slaves. And this is right before we started filming.
Speaker 1: That's Tanner. So I came to David and I said,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about Red? He said, well, how
Speaker 1: about maybe at the end? I said, okay, so then
Speaker 1: we don't it. Did that mean anything to you beyond
Speaker 1: just visually how it struck you or was there something
Speaker 1: about the feeling of what Red might mean for this character?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I saw the guy because Tarzan, right
Speaker 1: is supposed to be the hero of Tarzan's story, right, Well,
Speaker 1: that Hunter is the hero of his story, right, and
Speaker 1: that that means a lot to me in terms of
Speaker 1: how Tanner views his world. He's in the right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's a lot of your characters are you know,
Speaker 1: you've played a number of bad guys really, you know, objectively,
Speaker 1: I guess, but like when it comes to subjectively dealing
Speaker 1: with the characters and not judging them as an actor,
Speaker 1: I mean, that seems like something you relish, I guess
Speaker 1: is what I'm getting at, absolutely uh it as a
Speaker 1: journalist or an actor, builder or human being. The best
Speaker 1: time that I know that I feel is when m
Speaker 1: Because it's easy to get piste off at people. It's
Speaker 1: easy to to to feel disappointed or or or angry,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. By exercising empathy and saying well why
Speaker 1: and trying to find a connection to people rather than
Speaker 1: distances a great privilege. My heart feels better that way.
Speaker 1: In terms of doing that and work, it's it seems
Speaker 1: like a great excuse to learn about things. I don't
Speaker 1: know anything about work. The work some compassion in there.
Speaker 1: Now you've dabbled in uh, you know, I think you
Speaker 1: thrive in some of these films like Hell or High
Speaker 1: Water or you know, Alpha Dog I talked about earlier.
Speaker 1: But you've certainly dabbled with X Men and war craft,
Speaker 1: these bigger Hollywood movies. I mean, how do you like
Speaker 1: that part of the business or do you Well, I'm
Speaker 1: I don't know how to answer that other than I
Speaker 1: think it's great to have a job. And having a
Speaker 1: job keeps me out of trouble. Uh. Some some summer
Speaker 1: jobs and summer Valentin's Hell or High Waters of Valentine. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about just curious working with Duncan Jones, because
Speaker 1: he's to me, he's an independent from my great heart.
Speaker 1: Certainly where it came from working on something as large
Speaker 1: scale as that. Uh, how did you like that collaboration
Speaker 1: with him. It was really tough. Really, yeah, it's there's
Speaker 1: so much money at stake. And I really loved Moon,
Speaker 1: but that was a tough shoot. The technology in these
Speaker 1: kind of pieces was the show center. It was the
Speaker 1: center piece, and we were pushing technology further or they were.
Speaker 1: Uh then any film had been pushed in terms of narrative.
Speaker 1: The legendary guys came in to to protect their material.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of built in audience. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure, I think, well beyond anybody's ability, um
Speaker 1: to process, and a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: I think, uh, you know, I I in all honestly,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the film. Um it's it's a corporation
Speaker 1: that and what I do know, what I have seen
Speaker 1: of it in terms of effects blew my mind. I
Speaker 1: mean absolutely blew my mind. The and I would do
Speaker 1: another one, Um, maybe not. I don't think we're going
Speaker 1: to be doing another warcraft. But the shape of the
Speaker 1: size of it isn't isn't the deal. It's uh, oh man,
Speaker 1: it's a miracle anything gets made at all. Did that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff get in the way of your relationship
Speaker 1: with him? Like, would you work with Duncan again. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. I does mean it's a tough shoot. It's
Speaker 1: in general, it's just it's it was. I don't mean
Speaker 1: like tough on me. I just mean it was a
Speaker 1: tough shoot. Uh, there's a lot to there's a lot
Speaker 1: to a lot of moving parts that I was not
Speaker 1: a part of. I don't know how about that suddenly
Speaker 1: we have mood lighting well at last, I think listeners
Speaker 1: know that sometimes the light cuts off because I always
Speaker 1: mentioned it. But I do want I do want to
Speaker 1: emphasize like Chuck Roban and and and and Duncan Jones,
Speaker 1: these are these guys are are brilliant at what they do.
Speaker 1: It was it was that particular film had a lot
Speaker 1: at stake And all I know is that China loved
Speaker 1: it sure did helped it out a lot. What what
Speaker 1: drew you to that one? To begin with Duncan Jones?
Speaker 1: It was Duncan Yeah. I do want to talk about
Speaker 1: a couple of other filmmakers that you've worked with that
Speaker 1: I really love Orn Moverman Rampart and The Messenger. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's a guy I wish would be able to make
Speaker 1: more movies. He is able to make move movies. How
Speaker 1: do you mean well, I mean he's he's making more,
Speaker 1: but I just mean I wish, I wish he could. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think about him. I've also got the Polish brothers
Speaker 1: down here, like, these are interesting filmmakers to me that
Speaker 1: I wish could have the same opportunities that other lord
Speaker 1: bigger filmmakers have. You know. In terms of Oran, I
Speaker 1: mean Orang's my brother. He's the reason I moved to
Speaker 1: New York. He uh, he has director's cut. I mean
Speaker 1: that that he does what he wants how he wants it.
Speaker 1: I think more people should want careers like or and
Speaker 1: movermil That's the shame that I have the wrong perspective
Speaker 1: on it. Well, it's it is true that he seems
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not like he's getting backed into anything
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to do. He's not even built. He's
Speaker 1: not people to He's the most uncompromised person I've ever
Speaker 1: worked with. And I feel privileged to call Oran Moverman family. Um.
Speaker 1: He just he just directed a film called The Dinner
Speaker 1: that will be out this spring, which is absolutely fearless.
Speaker 1: I'm in awe of that man. And you say he's
Speaker 1: the reason you moved to New York. I was gonna
Speaker 1: ask earlier, as you were talking about how much you
Speaker 1: like the South, there are two different environments really, So
Speaker 1: do you do you feel like you thrive in New York? Well?
Speaker 1: I did thirteen years in l A And and and uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I like I'm a walker. I like to walk, So
Speaker 1: New York is I'm better suited for that, I think.
Speaker 1: And if we're gonna choose coasts in terms of work,
Speaker 1: we don't even have to anymore. Businesses popped up in
Speaker 1: Nashville and it's popped up in Austin, And I mean
Speaker 1: it's a it's a it is a digital world, and
Speaker 1: we can travel and we're willing to. But I've been
Speaker 1: in New York nine years and I suppose I'll always
Speaker 1: have a base there. But in the future, I imagine
Speaker 1: raising kids if they are to show up at some point, um,
Speaker 1: probably something a bit more rural. Yeah, well, the way
Speaker 1: I was raised, which is a small town you know, Iowa, right.
Speaker 1: What was that experience like for you? How that develop
Speaker 1: your sensibilities when it comes to the arts. Uh, I'm
Speaker 1: bouncing around here. Channel surfing is not a problem here.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, how does your childhood inform who you are?
Speaker 1: It completely shapes you. H What I'd say is that
Speaker 1: I'm really grateful for the time I had alone in nature,
Speaker 1: as I feel that it informs who I am as
Speaker 1: a person. I feel much more comfortable in a in
Speaker 1: a forest than I do at a Hollywood party. And
Speaker 1: then to bring it back around to Heller high Water,
Speaker 1: I had Bridges on the show a few weeks back.
Speaker 1: I love that guy. Most of your stuff is with Crispines,
Speaker 1: so you didn't really get to work with Jeff unfortunately.
Speaker 1: But uh, just this crew of of people on this movie.
Speaker 1: What what has that camaraderie been like for you with
Speaker 1: with David and with Jeff and Chris and just the
Speaker 1: whole crew. I've had some fun stories. Yeah, well yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a group of goers. You'd like to
Speaker 1: have a good time all of us. So, uh, Chris
Speaker 1: is so much respect for him, and and care and
Speaker 1: Jeff and I didn't share scenes, but it's been He's
Speaker 1: just as you've interviewing him, he's he's he's everything he
Speaker 1: wanted to be totally. He just he is. He's one
Speaker 1: of our greats and he's he said such a beautiful
Speaker 1: thing when he was talking about music. He said music.
Speaker 1: Has been a good friend to me. Just that turn
Speaker 1: of phrase. That's so much about him. Man, So that's great.
Speaker 1: David's uh, you know, I feel very close to him
Speaker 1: and Taylor. I feel like I've I've gained a brother.
Speaker 1: I mean, that is just a beast of a talent
Speaker 1: and a human being and a man. Just I just
Speaker 1: I enjoy his presence an awful lot. In this racket
Speaker 1: and the business that you do, you know, you come
Speaker 1: in contact with a lot of people. These people are
Speaker 1: are after it for the right reasons, as far as
Speaker 1: I can tell, reasons that are felt. Bridges is one
Speaker 1: of those guys that you have this idea of him
Speaker 1: and you finally meet him, and he just makes you
Speaker 1: glad that he didn't fail you, you know, when you
Speaker 1: finally get a load of him, because you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that you are anybody really that
Speaker 1: you finally meet and they're just not who you hope
Speaker 1: they would be. It's not a character. He's he has
Speaker 1: that curiosity, that big hearted interest. There's a there's a
Speaker 1: Buddha brain that's just vibrating out of him. He's a
Speaker 1: big being and and vital and yeah, he's just a
Speaker 1: beautiful Bill Older. Yeah, Jeff is that word again, Jeff,
Speaker 1: motherfucking Bridges, the Beautiful Builder. I'll say that as a
Speaker 1: children's book, it's gonna be pop up though. Get somebody
Speaker 1: interesting to narrate it, maybe Bridges maybe. Well, what do
Speaker 1: you have next other than Hostiles? Um? Do you think
Speaker 1: cooking anything you're able to talk about? Yeah, I'm developing
Speaker 1: a few things with Oran Overman. Um. I'm hoping to
Speaker 1: direct something next fall distrected music video called Packing Nobody's
Speaker 1: by the artist Emily Wells. I'm doing uh this film
Speaker 1: called Galveston in the early year, Uh, with all fanning.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm excited, It's I'm yeah. So it's it's good
Speaker 1: to be busy. Yeah, directing something you want to keep doing? Well? Uh?
Speaker 1: I like telling stories, so I'll hold a light or
Speaker 1: if i'm if I'm giving the opportunity to direct a
Speaker 1: motion picture talkie and technicolor, I'll do that as well.
Speaker 1: I hope evans Man well, like I said, the movie
Speaker 1: is Hell or high Water. If you haven't seen it yet,
Speaker 1: check it out. He's got Inferno out in the theaters
Speaker 1: right now. Ben Foster, thanks again for coming on the show.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate, appreciate your talk. Thanks for listening everyone.
Speaker 1: Remember to subscribe and check back next week when I'll
Speaker 1: be talking to Lyon and the Man Who Knew Infinity
Speaker 1: star Dev Patel. You've been listening to playback f Variety