Speaker 1: Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, and welcome to Movie Crush Friday Interview edition.
Speaker 1: We've got Andy Sira virtually in my basement this week.
Speaker 1: Andy is an old friend of mine. I told the
Speaker 1: story a bunch, but if you have not heard, uh,
Speaker 1: Andy and his older brother Joey, we're in the band
Speaker 1: Henry Clay People, and they became friends of mine through
Speaker 1: the Stuff You Should Know podcast and eventually recorded the
Speaker 1: theme song to our TV show, as well as having
Speaker 1: me on stage to play with them, and me going
Speaker 1: to see them a bunch of times. And they're just
Speaker 1: good dudes. And Andy is now a movie writer, everybody.
Speaker 1: He wrote that great new movie that's out right now
Speaker 1: on Hulu and at a drive in here you called
Speaker 1: Palm Springs starring Andy Sandberg. And it's really great. And
Speaker 1: I'm super excited and proud and kind of blown away
Speaker 1: that Andy has dipped his toe in the pond as
Speaker 1: a screenwriter, and uh has had such success so quickly.
Speaker 1: It's really really great. It doesn't always go that way.
Speaker 1: And Andy knows that he's very humble, sweet guy, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you will love him as much as I do.
Speaker 1: So here we go with Andy Sarra on the Great
Speaker 1: Great movie from two for masure. How you doing? How
Speaker 1: you guys hanging in there? You know, it's sir, weird time. UM,
Speaker 1: I feel you know, lucky that to kind of break
Speaker 1: up the monotony. You know, we we had to move
Speaker 1: during this whole uh pandemic and quarantine. UM oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask if that was the same now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we moved to Eagle Rock, um from Culver. We kind
Speaker 1: of backed ourselves into a corner because the new baby
Speaker 1: is coming in five weeks now, and I forgot Amanda's
Speaker 1: doctor and our hospital is on this side of town.
Speaker 1: So we just we always knew we had to I
Speaker 1: mean for the past whatever eight months, seven months, we
Speaker 1: knew that we had to move by um summer for
Speaker 1: this baby, and we did not know that the world
Speaker 1: would be shutting down. So it definitely made it made
Speaker 1: it a little more difficult. Um where over an Eagle
Speaker 1: you don't have to name your address, but where an
Speaker 1: Eagle Rock generally am we are in the the armpit
Speaker 1: of the of the two and the one thirty four
Speaker 1: up behind that that target. Um there. I never actually
Speaker 1: been up on that hill there. Um, I didn't really know.
Speaker 1: I knew it existed because I drove by it so
Speaker 1: many times. Um. But it's a it's a great quiet
Speaker 1: neighborhood up here. Um. And yeah, it's like this this
Speaker 1: old I think fifties subdivision that has just now been
Speaker 1: like you know, it's gone through the whole renovation process
Speaker 1: over the you know, twenty years, and it's just I
Speaker 1: don't know, but very kind neighbors, just walkable, you know,
Speaker 1: but but still hilly. And I don't know, I'm into it.
Speaker 1: I dig it. I love it, man, I'm glad I
Speaker 1: know exactly where you're talking about. Uh, look what I'm
Speaker 1: wearing today in honor of you guys, my Henry Clay
Speaker 1: people T shirts. Everyone knows the story. So I'm not
Speaker 1: going to bore the listeners for the million time with
Speaker 1: how we met. But I did want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about you're growing up life and what it
Speaker 1: was like. Always I'm interested in sort of the culture
Speaker 1: of the household and how movies and and TV and
Speaker 1: stuff comes your way as a kid. Um, Well, where
Speaker 1: to begin. I mean, I think I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 1: my dad took me to see Batman, and that was
Speaker 1: the very first movie I saw in the theater and
Speaker 1: which original? Um, okay, and I that's what I've been told.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's just you know, that's the
Speaker 1: story that's been told throughout the years. But I mean
Speaker 1: to me, uh, when we we moved from Whittier in May,
Speaker 1: end of May of ninety three, um to your Belinda,
Speaker 1: Orange County birthplace of Richard Nixon something something they are
Speaker 1: still proud about for some reason. Uh. Yeah, birthplace of
Speaker 1: southern California concerned. It's it's it's it's weird that I like,
Speaker 1: I like, I had to seek at a library. Uh
Speaker 1: and um, but we moved there in yeah, the end
Speaker 1: of May. I was that was the end of my
Speaker 1: second grade year. And but we we moved during this,
Speaker 1: you know, right at the top of summer. So and
Speaker 1: I was a shy kid, and Joey and I were
Speaker 1: not close buds yet. Um, Joey my older brother, I know,
Speaker 1: I know you know that, but too you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: we we weren't close yet, and I was I didn't
Speaker 1: have the courage to go knock on neighbors doors to like,
Speaker 1: you know, come hang out and play. Um. And since
Speaker 1: I wasn't in we weren't the third grade headn't started yet. Um,
Speaker 1: I didn't have like the forced friendships that come with school.
Speaker 1: So I was just I was a lonely but fine
Speaker 1: but still lonely depressed. But again it's not that depressed
Speaker 1: because time it was, you know, I fine middle class kid. Um.
Speaker 1: And then on June my dad took him in to
Speaker 1: see Jurassic bar and then, uh, it all changed, changed
Speaker 1: everything I saw nine times that summer. Um. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: knew that was a big, big thing, and I saw
Speaker 1: that it was it was taken already, So therefore I
Speaker 1: can't we can't talk about that today. Uh I've I've
Speaker 1: talked about that one to death. But yeah, my mom
Speaker 1: and then my mom's best friend gave me her that summer,
Speaker 1: or maybe that Christmas gave me her like old VHS
Speaker 1: shoulder amount camera, and I started making a bunch of
Speaker 1: short films like I'm really bad bad short films. Um. Like,
Speaker 1: but I would convince my my teachers throughout the end
Speaker 1: of elementary school into high school to like, let me
Speaker 1: um instead of writing book reports, Uh, let me do
Speaker 1: like a let let me do the Western Game. But
Speaker 1: a five minute short of the Western Game, or Romeo
Speaker 1: and Juliet or in high school we did The Crucible
Speaker 1: but then make but just making little short films about it.
Speaker 1: Um so but asked for like the way movies came
Speaker 1: into my life, it was know my I remember I
Speaker 1: remember very clearly from like Jurassic Park until you know
Speaker 1: ninety seven night that was very much of my dad's
Speaker 1: son in h we you know River Wilde. Uh remember
Speaker 1: seeing this the double feature of Twister and Mission Impossible
Speaker 1: at our theater multiple times in intim That's why, that's why,
Speaker 1: that's why I suggested, you know, maybe talking about Twister.
Speaker 1: Uh went on the really really loved disaster movies for
Speaker 1: a while, um because I was just kind of that
Speaker 1: perfect age. Uh. Dante's Peak was another huge one for me,
Speaker 1: deep impact. Um. And then there was the Magical Year
Speaker 1: of nine, um, which I just yeah, I just read
Speaker 1: this this book that Joey got me for like and
Speaker 1: I read it back in December. It was about how
Speaker 1: nine was the best year for film, um and you
Speaker 1: know perhaps history. Uh what's it? What's it's I should
Speaker 1: is it called? I think so it was something like that.
Speaker 1: I lent it to a friend, Otherwise I would just
Speaker 1: grab it right now. Um, I find it now. That
Speaker 1: sounds cool. We cover a lot of ninety great and
Speaker 1: and it goes just from um. And it was cool
Speaker 1: because I was reading it right up right before we
Speaker 1: went to Sundance for our movie. And the whole first
Speaker 1: chapter is about like Blair Witch Project, and and it
Speaker 1: goes month by month um and covers the year the
Speaker 1: movie that came out the year, so that was like
Speaker 1: it also had this whole story about Sundance. So it
Speaker 1: was kind of a nice primer for me going to
Speaker 1: Sundance for my first time. But yeah, that that year,
Speaker 1: I was also that perfect age of very impressionable age
Speaker 1: of I think twelve or eleven and twelve that year
Speaker 1: or twelve, twelve and thirteen, um and yeah. So therefore
Speaker 1: I become obsessed with Spike Jones and Condrey and Kaufman
Speaker 1: and Pete Anderson and Alexander Payne and David Russell and
Speaker 1: uh yeah. And so then from and and Joey had
Speaker 1: kind of like shown me, you know, he had his
Speaker 1: his VHS box set of Kubrick Um that I think
Speaker 1: came out the year before, maybe like right before I
Speaker 1: was White Shut, And so I kind of started like
Speaker 1: dabbling that but didn't. I didn't as a as a
Speaker 1: twelve year I didn't quite understand Clappercorn. Uh. It was um.
Speaker 1: But from that point on through you know, the next
Speaker 1: several years up to college, that's those kind of became
Speaker 1: the movies that I obsessed over. And now it's I'm
Speaker 1: just you know, my goal is to combine my love
Speaker 1: of big budget disaster films or monster films or alien
Speaker 1: films like Independence Day. That was another big one that
Speaker 1: my dad still talks about, like, uh, like how we
Speaker 1: went and saw that I think four or five times
Speaker 1: in a theater together. Um and uh. And it's funny
Speaker 1: because he actually he brought it up to me the
Speaker 1: other day. It's like, remember when we went and saw
Speaker 1: July four And I'm like but and then he's like,
Speaker 1: you know, the the alien one and and then that's
Speaker 1: how he remembers it for some reason. Uh and yeah.
Speaker 1: And so now I just I just want to you know,
Speaker 1: combine my the the prestige films of you know, the
Speaker 1: you know, nine on that I kind of filled up
Speaker 1: with two like with that this on on, this this
Speaker 1: adventury part that I grew up with and I didn't
Speaker 1: really grew up with many like too much in the
Speaker 1: sci fi world. Uh my, I think on the spectrum
Speaker 1: of adventure films versus like sci fi films to get
Speaker 1: with the Indiana Jones on one side and uh and
Speaker 1: Star Wars on the other side, that we were we
Speaker 1: were far more of an Indiana Jones family. And then
Speaker 1: I've now come to like love the Star Wars world. Um.
Speaker 1: But you know, but I think because we as a scity,
Speaker 1: we were told every day that this is this is
Speaker 1: what we're supposed to love, and yeah, you have to.
Speaker 1: But then then I've kind of just I have grown
Speaker 1: to love it though I've just I've just given in
Speaker 1: to the pressures of marketing. When did you start playing guitar? Um?
Speaker 1: It was it was sixth grade. For Christmas, my brother
Speaker 1: gave me his his first guitar, and so that was
Speaker 1: my first gude. It was at the squad Fender Squire
Speaker 1: um and see I got that and it was it
Speaker 1: was covered in stickers of you know, O C punk
Speaker 1: bands and SKA bands and then I played remember that
Speaker 1: it was the sixth grades and I played the talent
Speaker 1: show that year and me and um, a couple of
Speaker 1: buddies covered Damn It by Blankney two, and that was
Speaker 1: it was the that was the beginning of the music phase,
Speaker 1: which is now done. Wait, actually I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: even know if I own guitar anymore, because I because
Speaker 1: I don't say that. I'm so mad at you right now.
Speaker 1: We part. Part of that is because Joey and I
Speaker 1: would because for all of my twenties and when we
Speaker 1: were in the band and we're living together. You don't
Speaker 1: make any money as a band, so like we would
Speaker 1: just sell each other's equipment back and forth to each
Speaker 1: other to like help pay rent. And I think the
Speaker 1: last exchange was, like I needed money, so I sold
Speaker 1: uh the guitar that I was playing to Joey. And now, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to be honest, I don't. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: I ever even owned the s g outright. I think
Speaker 1: I think it may have always been Joey's. But then
Speaker 1: I kind of like really co opted it. And then
Speaker 1: but he's been using it, so he came and picked
Speaker 1: it up, and then he picked up my amp to
Speaker 1: go record, and so now I have a I have
Speaker 1: this acoustic guitar like that I would I would use
Speaker 1: for like the songs for kids stuff, um, and that's
Speaker 1: that's on the wall in the living room that I'll
Speaker 1: take down every uh every a few weeks to play
Speaker 1: down by the Bay or old McDonald for But otherwise like, yep, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just giving you a hard time. Of course,
Speaker 1: you've moved into a the professional phase of your career
Speaker 1: and there's nothing there's no shame in like leaving behind
Speaker 1: traveling around in a stinky van and not making any money.
Speaker 1: And you had that experience, which is super cool, and
Speaker 1: that's how I met you, guys. Uh, but don't ever
Speaker 1: stop playing, is all I gotta say. I think you'll
Speaker 1: get back into it one day, like you'll have an
Speaker 1: old man band when you're my age. That's maybe, I
Speaker 1: don't know. It's I've noticed with um with Joey and
Speaker 1: then Noah. I don't know if he ever met Noah.
Speaker 1: He was our He was the original bass player in
Speaker 1: our band. He and I. He and I met in
Speaker 1: a creative writing class at u C. I bonded over
Speaker 1: pavement and then it just happened to be like the
Speaker 1: day I met him was a day our bass player
Speaker 1: quit and I was like walking with Noah. I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: do you play bass. He's like, no, I play guitar,
Speaker 1: but close enough, like gold you want to be you
Speaker 1: want to be in a band. And then he he
Speaker 1: joined Henry Clay People and was um with us for
Speaker 1: up until like the touring years started. Anyway, the reason
Speaker 1: to bring him up is that he and Joey both
Speaker 1: have that that's I don't want to call it a
Speaker 1: like a disease, but it's um where if they walk
Speaker 1: into a room and there's ever a guitar that's like
Speaker 1: just sitting there, they have to pick it up. They
Speaker 1: have to play. They're the guys that will always bring
Speaker 1: the guitar to like camping trips or because they always
Speaker 1: have to have it. Um. And and I remember, and
Speaker 1: I remember and like high school, Uh, I was just
Speaker 1: you know, I was just watched watching a movie in
Speaker 1: my room with my high school girlfriend. And then uh,
Speaker 1: you know it's like private time. Um. And then Joey
Speaker 1: just really just walks in just like strumming the guitar,
Speaker 1: like not not thinking. It's like it's it's another part
Speaker 1: of his brain that just like it's it's just I
Speaker 1: don't know, he zones out, uh, and I and he
Speaker 1: he and Noah always had that. I never had that, UM,
Speaker 1: And I think that's why once we called it a
Speaker 1: day on the band, like, it was kind of easy
Speaker 1: for for me to not look back too much. I do.
Speaker 1: I do love playing live. We had our we did
Speaker 1: this other kind of side band, um Fakers for two years.
Speaker 1: But I saw one of those shows, and what I
Speaker 1: loved about that was just I mean, I love playing live.
Speaker 1: I think it's just fun to perform, but I hate recording,
Speaker 1: I hate practicing, so all those things that you actually
Speaker 1: need to be good at for being a successful band.
Speaker 1: I I just what was the highlight, uh, before we
Speaker 1: move on to screenwriting stuff, what was what was like
Speaker 1: the highlight for you band wise? Either coolest moment or
Speaker 1: biggest gig or if those are one and the same,
Speaker 1: covering t Rex the Tabernacle with you, it's pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: Come on you guys, Yeah, that that was cool just
Speaker 1: because I had, you know, been to coach Alla every
Speaker 1: year right from from two thousand four when UH was
Speaker 1: in high school. And I remember that's when Pixis played
Speaker 1: right before Radiohead, and that just just incredible. UM and
Speaker 1: get que and not you remember that was the first
Speaker 1: band we saw that day. And I was a big
Speaker 1: que and not youthan and um, and so going to
Speaker 1: coach Alla I think every year from that point um,
Speaker 1: and then getting to play in Yeah, it was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't need this. I had a feeling
Speaker 1: in the moment actually, or like just leading after the show,
Speaker 1: like yeah, this is probably the best it's going to
Speaker 1: get for the bands. And we remember after we you know,
Speaker 1: for an hour before our set and we're just kind
Speaker 1: of just you know, hanging out until we go and play.
Speaker 1: I just said, you know, I'll see you guys in
Speaker 1: a little bit to my to the band and to
Speaker 1: my family and just I just kind of walk the
Speaker 1: grounds on my own and just to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: soak it in because there was Yeah, I always I
Speaker 1: always knew there as a shelf life. Just didn't know
Speaker 1: when my shelf life was gonna um you know. Of course,
Speaker 1: So did Joey come walking up with his guitar and
Speaker 1: interrupt your moment? Part of me thinks that I maybe
Speaker 1: did hear him like go back onto the stage like
Speaker 1: check check his guitar sound, and I'm just trying to
Speaker 1: like be at peace, and then I hear him like
Speaker 1: I could see that. There's many images that are burned
Speaker 1: in my brain of like being on stage or recording
Speaker 1: of Joey, you know, his head down to the amp
Speaker 1: um to try to find that perfect sound. And that's
Speaker 1: the other thing of like he and I know you
Speaker 1: guys have talked a lot about you know, passing back
Speaker 1: and forth pedal pedal knowledge. Yeah, and yeah, that he
Speaker 1: has had I don't know, hundreds of of pedals and
Speaker 1: guitars and amps over the years. Um and he's always
Speaker 1: in search of that perfect sound. But you will never
Speaker 1: find that perfect sound soon. That's the well, the uh
Speaker 1: the For non musicians, it's called gas. It's called either
Speaker 1: guitar or gear acquisition syndrome. And it's real. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: can tell you. Yeah. So I want to talk about
Speaker 1: screenwriting for a little bits because rarely do I get
Speaker 1: a bona fide big shot Hollywood screenwriter in here. That
Speaker 1: tiny shot definitely not big shot. And I thought we
Speaker 1: should could talk about a f I for a little
Speaker 1: bit because you went through the a FI program and
Speaker 1: I think it would be instructive for people who consider
Speaker 1: film school or programs like a FI. So what was
Speaker 1: that like and and was it worth it? And just
Speaker 1: sort of walk us through a little bit what a
Speaker 1: f I was all about. Um, I mean, it's it's funny.
Speaker 1: I think it's important for listeners to know that you
Speaker 1: wrote one of my letters of recommendation for IF. I
Speaker 1: I bet it did have a huge, a huge part
Speaker 1: of it all um af I was it was great.
Speaker 1: I it's it's it's hard. I have a it's very
Speaker 1: expensive to go there, and I did not. I mean,
Speaker 1: I my parents were are lovely, but we didn't have like,
Speaker 1: they're not made of money, so I I They're big
Speaker 1: thing was to help me with undergrad. But then once
Speaker 1: I have that, I'm good to go. Uh. And so
Speaker 1: I didn't. They didn't want me to enter the world
Speaker 1: buried in debt. And then I spent the next six years,
Speaker 1: five years after undergrad in the band, not buried in debt,
Speaker 1: but definitely like living in debt. Uh, Hans Joey writing
Speaker 1: a song called living in debt. Uh, It's because like
Speaker 1: but that was always you know, just credit card bills
Speaker 1: here and there, but we didn't have any school debt.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, the band's done, and
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't, like, there's nothing else I know
Speaker 1: that I want to do with my life. I didn't
Speaker 1: know how to do anything else, not that I could.
Speaker 1: I even knew if I knew how to do that either.
Speaker 1: But I was like, Okay, well, if I have to
Speaker 1: go two hund dollars in the debt, I mean, at
Speaker 1: that point, it's just monopoly money. It doesn't make that
Speaker 1: that's not real. Uh. And so I did that, and
Speaker 1: I'm still in debt for that UM and that's terrible
Speaker 1: that that's the that's the terrifying thing about it is
Speaker 1: that like it's it's so much money. And that's that's
Speaker 1: my problem with you know, the top film schools is
Speaker 1: that like I was only able to make that kind
Speaker 1: of UM. But it can be looked at as a
Speaker 1: foolish decision, uh to go to school to go into
Speaker 1: that much debt when you can you know, you can
Speaker 1: download script notes. Uh. And that's like that is a
Speaker 1: it's a public service they're doing, UM and you can
Speaker 1: learn so much from that. UM. But I can only
Speaker 1: make that decision to go to film school and go
Speaker 1: into that much debt because I knew still in the
Speaker 1: back of my head, I had a safety net of
Speaker 1: like my wife was successful and working. Um, but you
Speaker 1: would we're just we're just boyfriend girl friend of the time.
Speaker 1: But still, like, you know, I knew that I had
Speaker 1: that my parents are of good health and if worst
Speaker 1: case scenario, I can always just like I knew, I
Speaker 1: could fall back and live with them at some point
Speaker 1: if if if I needed to. UM, And I don't
Speaker 1: know that's that's because of that. It's a shame because
Speaker 1: it weeds out so many more unique points of view
Speaker 1: than than my own. To be honest, that's that's your village,
Speaker 1: you know, and we're lucky to have villages around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I hope that especially now, I hope that you know,
Speaker 1: I know that s C has kind of made some changes.
Speaker 1: I think if like you come, if come from a
Speaker 1: household that has that makes less than I think it's
Speaker 1: eighty thousand a year it's tuition free, or if I
Speaker 1: think that's what it is, I'm it could be wrong.
Speaker 1: But I know they're trying to change, and I'm hoping
Speaker 1: that a f I does too, because I do think
Speaker 1: that the education I got an a f I was incredible. Um.
Speaker 1: And it's the best part about it is this like
Speaker 1: immersive experience where it's two years where you the reason
Speaker 1: you go with so much that is also you're getting
Speaker 1: you have to cover your living expenses because you should
Speaker 1: not be going to do other jobs. So you can
Speaker 1: actually really immerse yourself for two years in the program
Speaker 1: and focus on nothing else, nothing else but just making things.
Speaker 1: And I thought so, well, one of the coolest things
Speaker 1: to me about going to going back to school was
Speaker 1: I look back on my uh high school years and before. Um,
Speaker 1: I have one really close friend from those years. You
Speaker 1: know Ryan, You've met Ryan before. Yeah, he's like, you know,
Speaker 1: my best buddies since third grade. Um. Otherwise I'm not
Speaker 1: that close too many many people from high school. I'm
Speaker 1: still you know, Facebook friends or Instagram buddies whatnot. But like,
Speaker 1: I'm not that close to as many people from high school.
Speaker 1: And same thing for college. My one friend from college
Speaker 1: is Noah, who became you know, one of my other
Speaker 1: best buddies. Um. But and I think part of that
Speaker 1: is that, like I I had Entertainment Weekly. My favorite
Speaker 1: favorite day of the week was was Friday's when I'd
Speaker 1: come home and go through Entertainment Weekly or the the
Speaker 1: Summer movie preview or Winter movie preview, and then I
Speaker 1: would every Sunday, read the calendar section. UM and uh
Speaker 1: E E had their coming attractions. UM, like we're you
Speaker 1: know before that you can just go on YouTube and
Speaker 1: watch any trailer like that, and those were that's had.
Speaker 1: I loved all that so much, and no one else
Speaker 1: I grew up with gave a ship about it all. Um.
Speaker 1: And the same thing for in college, like I wanted
Speaker 1: I think I wanted that I wanted to be around
Speaker 1: people that that loved movies and then eventually TV shows
Speaker 1: as much as I did, but they weren't I couldn't
Speaker 1: find those people back in high school or in college.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, I go to grad
Speaker 1: school and then the first day a f I'm like
Speaker 1: surrounded by a hundred fifty people who people all all
Speaker 1: want that we're all trying. All we want to do
Speaker 1: is just play in the sandbox. And that's what That's
Speaker 1: the best thing about a a grad school and especially
Speaker 1: a f I is that you're making things you're uh.
Speaker 1: I ended up writing six shorts to two bigger thesis
Speaker 1: films and four these like cycle films are called, which
Speaker 1: are just like um, these you know, twenty twenty minute
Speaker 1: shorts and just to be able to like truly experiment, um,
Speaker 1: and like that's such a helpful part in like finding
Speaker 1: a voice. And that's where you know, just just listening
Speaker 1: the podcasts or or going to school so that don't
Speaker 1: have any production side. Um, you know, that's that's where
Speaker 1: you you miss out because so much of I don't know,
Speaker 1: the finding your voice of just is through the actual
Speaker 1: making of a product in a way. And and I
Speaker 1: also you know, I can draw a direct line from
Speaker 1: Palm Springs to A five because on the very first
Speaker 1: day or second day of a FI, I met Max Barbaco,
Speaker 1: the director, and we we bonded over um, I think
Speaker 1: he's found it down, had just wrapped up, and I
Speaker 1: was just we're both like we're both blown away. Like
Speaker 1: how they those those guys are able to go from
Speaker 1: these moments of like slapstick comedy to a real like
Speaker 1: emotional gut punched within the manner of like a moment
Speaker 1: or a scene. Um, and like where we're in tears,
Speaker 1: like genuine tears. And so yeah, we remember responding over
Speaker 1: that and Pavement and the replacement. Uh and and I
Speaker 1: was like, and both of us are little brothers, so
Speaker 1: I think there was like this kind of you know,
Speaker 1: growing up in the shadow of we had a shared out,
Speaker 1: we had we had a shared outlook on life because
Speaker 1: of that too, UM. And so we made our first
Speaker 1: short film together there and then made one of our
Speaker 1: our thesis film together and we just became like, you know,
Speaker 1: true kind of collaborators in the in the best of
Speaker 1: the best of sense is um? Is that the kind
Speaker 1: of deal? Now? Are you guys? Um? I mean, are
Speaker 1: you looking to work together again, like project after project?
Speaker 1: Are you just kind of taking it as it comes? We? Uh,
Speaker 1: not every single project, but we have a we're we
Speaker 1: have some TV things we're dabbling in. We have a
Speaker 1: movie that we're gonna be doing together, another movie. We
Speaker 1: we know that this is a very like a you know,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a unique when you find someone so
Speaker 1: that you, I don't know, connect with creatively like that.
Speaker 1: That also brings something different to the table. Um. It's
Speaker 1: it's a it's a special thing and you want to
Speaker 1: hold onto that. And I think that's what you know totally.
Speaker 1: We definitely found um. And that that's again too on
Speaker 1: to the positive of going to a school like a
Speaker 1: f I is that Yeah, I found that there and
Speaker 1: and we were able to practice and and and also
Speaker 1: learn how Like there's many classes that are like talk
Speaker 1: about like learning how to really find your story, but
Speaker 1: like access these deeper emotions like shame and fear and whatnot,
Speaker 1: and and the whole Palm Springs like kind of when
Speaker 1: we were just kind of trying to come up with
Speaker 1: the idea and whatnot for it, so much of that
Speaker 1: was just us two in a room kind of acting
Speaker 1: as each other's therapists in a way, like like nothing
Speaker 1: what We didn't hold anything back. And I think that's
Speaker 1: and we were able to And it sounds super pretentious,
Speaker 1: but like we were able to access that part of
Speaker 1: our are subconscious. I don't know, Uh, yeah, that's not pretentious.
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's the deal, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's where the great art comes from. That's not superficial.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things I loved about Palm Springs.
Speaker 1: And Um, if I had not liked the movie, I
Speaker 1: would just said, hey, buddy, so proud of you, good job.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have gotten specific with my with what I
Speaker 1: liked about it. But I really did like it, and
Speaker 1: I think it was um a really fresh spin on
Speaker 1: a concept that people have seen and love, which is
Speaker 1: sort of the repeating of the day, the groundhog Day thing.
Speaker 1: But you you took, you got an angle that we
Speaker 1: hadn't seen before, and it was it managed to be
Speaker 1: sweet and romantic and funny but also had a little
Speaker 1: bit of philosophical underpinnings and there was this sort of
Speaker 1: heavy sub subtext and I think you wove it in
Speaker 1: just the right amount, you know, And it was it
Speaker 1: was more than just this sort of silly fun movie.
Speaker 1: But it was also that which I think is for
Speaker 1: a first movie, is like like, congratulations, man, was so
Speaker 1: proud of you, so proud of you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Uh and you know that part of that is yours too,
Speaker 1: because again, you wrote that first letter, that first letter
Speaker 1: of wreck, so uh, you know you own a piece
Speaker 1: of palm springs? Uh? Did your Are your parents freaking
Speaker 1: out or they just like over the moon about all this? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: they I feel like I feel like it's made them
Speaker 1: part of me thinks that they've been contacted uh more
Speaker 1: by friends, like by more friends than I. Uh. I
Speaker 1: think it's made them pretty feel pretty cool. And it
Speaker 1: was it was funny. After the Wall Street Journal reviewed
Speaker 1: it and that's that's where like all of their friends,
Speaker 1: um are big Wall Street journal people, and that's where
Speaker 1: like it gave I don't know, it adds added some
Speaker 1: points uh to their their coolness, I think. And then uh,
Speaker 1: and I'll in that review they refer to me as
Speaker 1: Mr Siara um uh. And so I think that that
Speaker 1: was I think that definitely he makes my dad like,
Speaker 1: you know, the tears, the tears of fatherly pride. And
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure. And I got a text two nights
Speaker 1: ago for my dad saying we we couldn't agree on
Speaker 1: what to wash tonight, so so this and he was
Speaker 1: a picture of of palm springs on the screen. Yet again,
Speaker 1: I think I think I'm pretty sure they've seen it
Speaker 1: about eight or nine times now. That's adorable. Uh. It's
Speaker 1: it's been very well reviewed too. That's got to feel good.
Speaker 1: I was, I was a little nervous. Um anytime someone
Speaker 1: close to you make something like this big, it's always
Speaker 1: a little nerve wracking. It's like, oh God, Andy's first movie.
Speaker 1: I'm so nervous. And then I I did a little
Speaker 1: peek at a couple of pre reviews, but I didn't
Speaker 1: want to really read read. But I just would scan
Speaker 1: a few of them and I was like, hey, I
Speaker 1: told him, he's like, this one's getting good reviews, and um,
Speaker 1: that made me feel a little bit better. And then
Speaker 1: I watched it and then read a lot of the
Speaker 1: reviews and it's it's like everyone seems to really like it.
Speaker 1: Said I I feel very lucky, Um, because it was
Speaker 1: I don't know, yeah, I feel I feel lucky. Um.
Speaker 1: It's I always I keep going back to there was
Speaker 1: a moment when we premiered at Sundance that it's kind
Speaker 1: of like burned into my mind. Um, and you know
Speaker 1: where it was the first screening, Max and I were
Speaker 1: sitting in the back corner. Um, and like I knew
Speaker 1: where Joey and my parents. It's not at all I
Speaker 1: knew where Joey and my parents and and Amanda we're sitting.
Speaker 1: I knew where his his family was sitting, cast and crew,
Speaker 1: you know. And it was there was there was some
Speaker 1: like buzz leading into the premiere, but no one had
Speaker 1: seen the movie. It just you know, and and buzz
Speaker 1: usually is like buzz can off and go the other way. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I remember when like lights went down and the
Speaker 1: sun Dance little up preview thing came up, and I
Speaker 1: got a little chanel because like and grab Max, and
Speaker 1: you know, I could flash into my mind of us
Speaker 1: meeting seven years almost exactly seven years earlier, and to like,
Speaker 1: you know, we never once expected any of this, uh
Speaker 1: we you know we when we've so many of those
Speaker 1: years before it even got to lone the Island, it
Speaker 1: was just like no one cared about us. Uh No,
Speaker 1: it was just us wanting to try to make there
Speaker 1: have had this dream of making some kind of dumb movie.
Speaker 1: Um and then to get to that point, it just
Speaker 1: it was just a lot of feelings and then uh
Speaker 1: and then when the Lonely Island classics um card came up,
Speaker 1: that little like everyone in the theater started laughing, and
Speaker 1: it was like this this sigh of relief. But but
Speaker 1: like I kept on thinking about like that moment, like
Speaker 1: this was the last moment where the movie was like
Speaker 1: it was no longer ours after minutes, Uh, it's out
Speaker 1: into the world and people might hate it, and that
Speaker 1: that could be the end of our end of our
Speaker 1: journey as like, uh, young filmmakers. So I don't know,
Speaker 1: let's well people love it, man. I was, um, I
Speaker 1: was a little sad at first because the pandemic happened
Speaker 1: and I knew that your movie was teed up and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, ship man, I wonder if they're
Speaker 1: going to delay it or whatever. And um, I wasn't
Speaker 1: sure about just the overall release plan before this, But
Speaker 1: it seems like it's kind of worked to your advantage
Speaker 1: because a lot of tension has come your way and
Speaker 1: there's not a lot out there, so it's sort of, uh,
Speaker 1: it's sort of stood alone as a new movie that
Speaker 1: you can watch, and it seems to have, like, in
Speaker 1: a weird way, kind of benefited from this whole thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I don't I don't know how I feel about that.
Speaker 1: It's uh, I'm not saying that it's the only thing
Speaker 1: out there. So people like it because it could be
Speaker 1: the only thing out there and it stinks, but uh,
Speaker 1: it's weird. I think it's gotten a lot of attention
Speaker 1: because of the unique you guys release schedule, like you
Speaker 1: guys did Hulu and then this big drive in drive
Speaker 1: ins all around the country, which was so super smart
Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah that was like like we we luked
Speaker 1: out with a very forward thinking uh you know, distributors
Speaker 1: between Hulu and and beyond to have that kind of
Speaker 1: like that partnership there. Um. But yeah, I'm obviously the
Speaker 1: state of never in a million years that I think
Speaker 1: that I'd have a the first movie would be a
Speaker 1: summer midsummer release and have pretty much no competition. Um,
Speaker 1: and the competition, you know was It's it's uh the
Speaker 1: Old Guard and Greyhound, which are all different types of movies,
Speaker 1: and and those were kind of the only like the
Speaker 1: next Hulu movie Isn't isn't out for I don't think
Speaker 1: it's out for a little while. And and so therefore,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I think we're a normal year. We'd
Speaker 1: be up against Fast and Furious and and Tenant and um. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I mean it's a movie that makes you feel good too,
Speaker 1: and I think people really just the timing of it
Speaker 1: all I think came together perfectly. You know. It's a
Speaker 1: movie that is warm and and funny and romantic, and
Speaker 1: I think people need stuff like that right now. Uh.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of curious about just the process of working
Speaker 1: with Andy and Lonely Island and whether or not you're
Speaker 1: on set and notes and revisions and just sort of
Speaker 1: walk us through a little bit of that. Um, they're
Speaker 1: the best. They're the absolute best. Um I picked I
Speaker 1: pitched them once he wasn't there, but it was we
Speaker 1: I got hooked up with the manager after like the
Speaker 1: script was done and it's still it was just me
Speaker 1: and Max Um like me like Max Max attached as
Speaker 1: director and but we knew that it was going to
Speaker 1: be harder to find financing for a first time director
Speaker 1: when this, you know, on my side, on just the
Speaker 1: writing side, it was, you know, a script can speak
Speaker 1: for itself. But um, but yeah, well my manager took
Speaker 1: the script out and within like a month or or so,
Speaker 1: I think a month or two, we gotta call it.
Speaker 1: Andy Sandberg wanted to meet Um and so we had
Speaker 1: that first meeting with Um, Andy and Akiva and Becky
Speaker 1: Becky sloven Or who was who was running their company
Speaker 1: at the time. And to me, it was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, but it was. It was kind of funny
Speaker 1: that I got there like five minutes earlier. Then I
Speaker 1: just had to go to the bathroom, and then in
Speaker 1: the bathroom I ran into Andy. But obviously I know
Speaker 1: who he is at the time, but he doesn't even
Speaker 1: know who I am. He doesn't know that I'm about
Speaker 1: I'm a guy he's about to meet with, and so
Speaker 1: I didn't introduce myself, but you know, he gave the
Speaker 1: the courteous like hey, because it's like it was a
Speaker 1: small bathroom. Um uh, it's a little awkward moment. Anyway,
Speaker 1: after that meeting, it was so clear to me that, oh,
Speaker 1: they see the exact same movie. They see that the Yeah,
Speaker 1: they see the same movie that we wanted to do,
Speaker 1: but also know how to do it and know how
Speaker 1: to make it, you know, infinitely better. And and he
Speaker 1: gets this character better than I do. Um. And I
Speaker 1: remember going to the parking lot afterwards with Max. Um.
Speaker 1: It was kind of a shorter meeting. It's like like
Speaker 1: a forty five minute meeting, and it ended with a
Speaker 1: lot of it was like Max kind of just describing,
Speaker 1: you know how he would, you know, want to do
Speaker 1: the movie too, just because it's like, you know, you
Speaker 1: have to just kind of sell himself a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I remember after in the parking lot talking to Max,
Speaker 1: like both of us were just I saying, I hope
Speaker 1: to God they want to do this because this would
Speaker 1: be perfect. And the next day we get a call
Speaker 1: that they do and um, yeah, and it was And
Speaker 1: from that point on, I think we uh they there
Speaker 1: was some further development things we wanted to do for
Speaker 1: like a lot of the third act stuff. Um. But
Speaker 1: I remember like maybe a week later, like we went
Speaker 1: in on a Monday to their office and went page
Speaker 1: by page for notes and it just but it was
Speaker 1: just kind of like it it felt so so or
Speaker 1: like there are little two person team that saw this movie.
Speaker 1: Now has had grown too. The room just got bigger,
Speaker 1: and but it was all people that were wanting the
Speaker 1: same thing. And I remember spending that that Monday with
Speaker 1: them doing you know, going through the notes, and then
Speaker 1: I turned around the script by Friday and the probably
Speaker 1: this is why Becky Slobaer is, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the best producers ever and now now she's running her
Speaker 1: her own division at MRC. But I remember turning and
Speaker 1: scripted on Friday, and then Saturday morning she texts me
Speaker 1: and says, read it. Let it come back in on Monday,
Speaker 1: um for for more notes. And it was like it
Speaker 1: was never this like okay, here to script and then
Speaker 1: in two months we will get on the phone and talk.
Speaker 1: It was very clear to me that they all were
Speaker 1: like they wanted to make the movie and what what
Speaker 1: that did was it also just energized me to like
Speaker 1: turn scripts around faster. Uh. And so there was that
Speaker 1: was about like a three month roughly three months span
Speaker 1: of that. That the middle of that was when my
Speaker 1: daughter was born, and so I just took a little
Speaker 1: break obviously. Um. But then after that we took it
Speaker 1: out for financing. Um uh got financing pretty quickly from
Speaker 1: this company, Limelight, and then we were like from the
Speaker 1: time we I think we I don't want to say
Speaker 1: we first really started working on the script and maybe
Speaker 1: April of with them April eighteen and we were shooting April. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's super fast. I mean for people listening, that's it's
Speaker 1: not usually the way it goes. Uh. It sounds cool.
Speaker 1: It sounds like they really understand creative momentum and how
Speaker 1: important that is because things can go away, you know
Speaker 1: how it is, Things and go away just because it's
Speaker 1: and emails are stuck in someone's emails inbox for too long.
Speaker 1: That can kill I was waiting for this thing to
Speaker 1: just fall apart at every single moment. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: was nerve wracking his ship. Yeah, it was. It was terrifying.
Speaker 1: But I also like, I don't know I felt so
Speaker 1: just to their grid. I felt so protected by by them, um,
Speaker 1: because you know, I think, you know, those guys have
Speaker 1: made some movies but also just been making making a
Speaker 1: ton over the past fifteen years, and and I don't know,
Speaker 1: I always felt like they created this nice, like protective
Speaker 1: cushion um from the scary industry world to just kind
Speaker 1: of always always protect the script and as hard as
Speaker 1: it as hard as it maybe got, like once you know,
Speaker 1: we were shooting and stuff like, it was still like
Speaker 1: we all saw the same movie and that's what was
Speaker 1: guiding our way along. And I don't know, I felt
Speaker 1: ill that just I learned. I learned so much from them,
Speaker 1: like you like, I don't know how quickly their brains work, um,
Speaker 1: and how like you know, five five minutes with any
Speaker 1: one of them is more valuable than like ten hours
Speaker 1: with with a lesser person in a way like when
Speaker 1: I when it comes back. Yeah, And it's sort of
Speaker 1: the true of any industry where the people that rise
Speaker 1: to the top like they're there for a reason, and
Speaker 1: when you if you're able and lucky enough to be
Speaker 1: around them for a minute, even if it's a professional
Speaker 1: baseball player or a CEO, or a Andy Sandberg like,
Speaker 1: there's there's special people and they're they're in that position
Speaker 1: for a reason because they're super talented and their their
Speaker 1: minds to think super fast. And it's impressive. I've been
Speaker 1: around it before. Um, it's it's cool man. And now
Speaker 1: you've got uh currency in the business, which is the
Speaker 1: hardest thing that Thanks to them, this this movie, this
Speaker 1: movie would never even if it wasn't for um. You know,
Speaker 1: Becky and Andy and Kiev and you am I wanting
Speaker 1: to do it? So uh were you on? Yeah? Every
Speaker 1: day as how that I was. It was in the
Speaker 1: writer's room for this other show, for the show Angeline
Speaker 1: them that's coming on Peacock once we can start shooting again. Um,
Speaker 1: but the writer's room is in Silver like and we'd
Speaker 1: end around four thirty and then I would hop in
Speaker 1: my car and drive an hour to two hours up
Speaker 1: to up to set whether it was in like Santa
Speaker 1: Clarita or Palm Dale wherever I said was in and
Speaker 1: finish around two or three. I am drive back to
Speaker 1: our house, sleep for a couple of hours and then
Speaker 1: just do that every single day. But there was there
Speaker 1: was no world where I was going to miss um
Speaker 1: you know, the filming of my first movie, because all
Speaker 1: along the way and I'm still I will stand by this. Now.
Speaker 1: It's like that could be the only movie I ever
Speaker 1: have made, and so therefore I can't miss that. Uh
Speaker 1: and I'll how you got to look at it? I think,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, not take anything for granted. Um and boy,
Speaker 1: I think this is where we say, Amanda your wife,
Speaker 1: I'm awesome and amazing because she was. She was clearly
Speaker 1: holding the fourth down during that time. It was it
Speaker 1: would not have been possible if it wasn't for Amanda.
Speaker 1: I think what we we knew that there was it
Speaker 1: was Luckily it was a short shoot. It was only
Speaker 1: twenty one or twenty two days shoot. Um. So like
Speaker 1: that month though it was the month was a blur. Um,
Speaker 1: but we all, you know, we knew it was just
Speaker 1: a month. And then after that, I was like I
Speaker 1: made very clear rules for myself, like when the right
Speaker 1: of room is done at four thirty, I'm coming home.
Speaker 1: And now it's like I'm gonna be home. H yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she she was pulling double duty, triple duty that month.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. So cool. Uh, what's well? Can you talk
Speaker 1: about what's next or should I just text you and
Speaker 1: get that story privately? M. Yeah, I have. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of things that are in varying degrees of real uh,
Speaker 1: and nothing is like I mean because some stuff is
Speaker 1: not like deals aren't like totally locked in yet or
Speaker 1: whatever like there and it sounds so stupid. Let's just
Speaker 1: let's let's text about all right. I I My main
Speaker 1: thing is I have a show that I'm we haven't
Speaker 1: taken out yet to networks. Just who knows, you know,
Speaker 1: the industry is everything is um. But there there's a
Speaker 1: show that I I wrote on Speck and then I'm
Speaker 1: doing with Sam s Mails Company. They're the one, you know,
Speaker 1: the guy who did like Mr. Robot and Homecoming and
Speaker 1: UM it's it's uh, it's called their Resort And hopefully
Speaker 1: a network wants to do that once once we take
Speaker 1: it out. But we haven't taken that out. But the
Speaker 1: part of the reason I pick Force Masure for today
Speaker 1: was it was that was like a huge influence on
Speaker 1: on this, on that script in that show. For me, Um,
Speaker 1: this kind of yellin exploration of relationships and the people
Speaker 1: in them. You know, yeah, that's a good segue. Um,
Speaker 1: you picked Force Masure after some back and forth, and
Speaker 1: this was I'm really glad you did, because this is
Speaker 1: a movie that I had not seen and was not
Speaker 1: on my radar other than knowing that it was recently
Speaker 1: remade into an American version with Will Ferrell and Julie
Speaker 1: Louis Dreyfuss is Downhill. And I think I remember just
Speaker 1: seeing briefly like Downhill not very good. Uh, the original
Speaker 1: much better. But boy, oh boy, did I love this movie. Dude,
Speaker 1: I loved loved this movie. Uh. And it's it's still
Speaker 1: in my brain and I watched it last night and it's. Um,
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on in this movie, very subtly
Speaker 1: sort of going on in this movie from a very
Speaker 1: simple premise, which is if you haven't, um, if you
Speaker 1: haven't heard of it, and you know of Downhill. It
Speaker 1: is the movie of of a family on vacation in
Speaker 1: the French Alps on a ski trip, and very early
Speaker 1: in the film there is uh an avalanche controlled avalanche,
Speaker 1: which they do at these places to keep avalanches from happening,
Speaker 1: and uh this the family thinks that the snow and
Speaker 1: in the avalanche is coming their way as they're dining
Speaker 1: al Fresco out on this beautiful um scene, like a
Speaker 1: whole movie is so gorgeous, and the dad the mom
Speaker 1: huddles with the kids to protect them, and the dad
Speaker 1: bolts and it's all very fast, and then the whole
Speaker 1: rest of the movie is just sort of the repercussions
Speaker 1: from that incident. And that's just sort of a very
Speaker 1: surface level way to say it. It is a much
Speaker 1: much deeper film. Yeah, it's uh, I haven't I haven't
Speaker 1: seen Downhill yet, but I I don't want. I love
Speaker 1: everyone involved in that movie, and I'm a huge, huge
Speaker 1: fan of every from directors to writers to the stars.
Speaker 1: And actually heard from you know, some other close friends,
Speaker 1: um that you know that having watched it since Sun
Speaker 1: Dance like that actually is it's pretty good. Um, I
Speaker 1: just haven't visited yet, just because I watched Forest Masure,
Speaker 1: um twice a year at least, uh, and since I
Speaker 1: came out, I just have I don't know. It's just
Speaker 1: this deep, unfiltered examination of like of gender roles and
Speaker 1: masculinity and was one of the most uncomfortable yet funny
Speaker 1: movies I I think I've ever seen. And also but
Speaker 1: I guess, let's say I don't know everything from writing
Speaker 1: to directing, the acting, the cinematography, the score, like top
Speaker 1: to bottom. It's um. Yeah, And there are so many
Speaker 1: images and scenes that are that are burned into my brain,
Speaker 1: even just when I washed it again this week. I
Speaker 1: I just I was just writing down, like you know,
Speaker 1: the list of scenes that I just you know, stood
Speaker 1: out to me or like your standouts me in the moment,
Speaker 1: and I realized all I was doing was just writing
Speaker 1: down every single scene I know, right, yeah, it's um.
Speaker 1: I mean the first thing that jumped out on me
Speaker 1: at me it was just how how much um, how
Speaker 1: much currency the writer and director who's Reuben Oastland it's
Speaker 1: a Swedish film, how much he gets out of just
Speaker 1: the composition of some of his shots in these, and
Speaker 1: how he made the ski resort into like this weird
Speaker 1: mechanized sort of Uh. I ke a like utopia. Um,
Speaker 1: it's like part Stanley Kubrick and part Michael Hankey. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's it's just really remarkable how a shot of like
Speaker 1: just them on a little conveyor belt is funny, funny
Speaker 1: and also weirdly sort of disturbing at the same time,
Speaker 1: so unsettling. Uh. And then like you know, the the
Speaker 1: cannon fires of like the two have these controlled avalanches
Speaker 1: that like, you know, it's constantly going on. And he
Speaker 1: talked about it being it's like the war zone of marriage.
Speaker 1: Um uh, and that just yeah, it's it's like a
Speaker 1: it's a weird war movie to a point as well. Uh,
Speaker 1: it really is, um And he he uses sound a
Speaker 1: lot to his advantage, whether it's those cannon fires or
Speaker 1: or the family when they're brushing their teeth with the
Speaker 1: tooth the electric tooth mechanical toothbrushes that sound like you know,
Speaker 1: buzz saws in their mouths. Uh. There's there's nothing accidental
Speaker 1: in this movie. I feel like every single thing has
Speaker 1: such purpose. Yeah, whether it's a prop or a camera
Speaker 1: angle or or anything, it's so purposeful and intentions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a remember I saw this before I saw scenes
Speaker 1: from a marriage. Have you seen scenes from a marriage?
Speaker 1: Bergman's um oh yeah. And I didn't realize like the opening,
Speaker 1: I don't know if this was intentional or if this
Speaker 1: was just like a happy accident, but you know both.
Speaker 1: That's kind of similar filmmakers to a point. I guess. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's the first scene for this, it's it's the family
Speaker 1: being having their their photo taken. This kind of like
Speaker 1: you know the picture perfect family that we that he
Speaker 1: deconstructs and the same that's the same thing in scenes
Speaker 1: from a marriage. It's the family having their photo taken.
Speaker 1: And uh and how just like one single shot of
Speaker 1: of a and hearing an off and off screen photographer
Speaker 1: give instructions on like on you know, basically make it
Speaker 1: look like you like each other. Um, it's just so uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: And they did the same thing and transparent. I think
Speaker 1: it was maybe top of season two or season three. Um,
Speaker 1: but opening with like this or having just one long
Speaker 1: like photo taking scene, um, which that's doing the same
Speaker 1: thing for that with that show that I mentioned. It's
Speaker 1: just that, like you can tell so much, there's there's
Speaker 1: so much subtext and when he let the camera just
Speaker 1: sit there and and if you have performers that understand
Speaker 1: these things like like what what they're going for on
Speaker 1: like a deep level, Um, I don't know, it's it.
Speaker 1: It communicates so much more than some fancy editing or
Speaker 1: writing can communicate. Yeah, he really um he really lets
Speaker 1: that cameras sit there a lot and there are a
Speaker 1: lot of really long unbroken takes. Um that you don't
Speaker 1: even realize until you're three minutes into it. You're like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I don't I don't even think there's
Speaker 1: in a cut or an edit. And then you rewind
Speaker 1: and go back and you're like, Yeah, that camera's just
Speaker 1: sitting there. And the composition sometimes is he'll cut people
Speaker 1: off at the neck, uh, and what is in the
Speaker 1: frame is sort of interesting. But someone will walk in
Speaker 1: and uh and they'll just be They'll be framed from
Speaker 1: like the neck down as a major part of the scene,
Speaker 1: and Uh, it's just I don't know, it's a very
Speaker 1: ballsy filmmaking anything. Now. I don't know if you've seen
Speaker 1: The Square his follow up, and then, Uh, I'm dying too.
Speaker 1: I saw the trailer after this week, and I think
Speaker 1: that he I'm the most excited about him as a
Speaker 1: filmmaker that I think I've been about anybody. I think
Speaker 1: since I saw Boomy Nights, um, which is it's his
Speaker 1: nuts and I his his next movie just also just
Speaker 1: sounds incredible to um that, yeah, the same him. And
Speaker 1: then the guy that did the lobster and killing him
Speaker 1: a sacred deer what's his name? Your ghost? Uh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: they for some reason, they sort of remind me of
Speaker 1: each other. The films aren't the same, but just really
Speaker 1: really unique points of view. I think from both of
Speaker 1: those guys. It's interesting because like and when I when
Speaker 1: I saw this and it hit me, it was it
Speaker 1: was back at film school and it was um at
Speaker 1: back at A five came out. I think it and
Speaker 1: uh are we at this? A world cinema professor teacher
Speaker 1: um he had recommended it, so I watched it and
Speaker 1: end up writing a paper on it back then. But
Speaker 1: it immediately hit me and sunk his teeth, and I
Speaker 1: think and it was right around the same time that
Speaker 1: UM that movie We are the best, uh the about
Speaker 1: the Swedish um punk rock teens. Uh, these these teenage
Speaker 1: teenagers that started punk band. Um, it's also incredible. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then I started getting the more like more in
Speaker 1: a Bergman. And then I've realized like one of my
Speaker 1: the big bands from my childhood that I loved was
Speaker 1: refused and and then they became international noise conspiracy. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I think as part of also Swedish, I started
Speaker 1: thinking like, do I have some some sweet Swedish blood
Speaker 1: in me? Because like I I get these on a
Speaker 1: I get the point of view on a on a
Speaker 1: deeper level than I do for most most you know, artist, creators, filmmakers. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's it's it's, it's it holds this movie
Speaker 1: holds up a weird but very honest mirror, um to
Speaker 1: you know yourself, then to society. I think, so, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's um, there's a lot like you mentioned earlier, and
Speaker 1: I had the same exact note, like, there's so much
Speaker 1: about gender roles and your role in the marriage and masculinity,
Speaker 1: and a lot of this movie is about the just
Speaker 1: sort of the fracturing of the male ego, especially with
Speaker 1: the main character. And it's, uh, it's all just so subtle.
Speaker 1: Like I think, I don't want to see the American
Speaker 1: version because I know it's not going to be subtle.
Speaker 1: I can tell from watching the trailer it's not subtle.
Speaker 1: But there are so many uh, like the scene, for instance,
Speaker 1: masterful scene is when that camera's locked down, and this
Speaker 1: is after this guy's feeling shit like shit about himself
Speaker 1: for you know, a not doing the right thing and
Speaker 1: be lying about it and saying like no, that's not
Speaker 1: what happened the whole time, still not owning up to
Speaker 1: it and uh, go skiing with his buddy, the dude
Speaker 1: from Game of Thrones and does some primal screen therapy
Speaker 1: up there, and then they go back and they're having
Speaker 1: a beer at the ski lodge or whatever, and that
Speaker 1: woman comes up it's one of my favorite scenes in
Speaker 1: the movie and says, you know, my friend thinks you're
Speaker 1: the best most best looking guy at the bar, and
Speaker 1: uh he you can see him start to feel good
Speaker 1: about himself and sort of he sort of laughs. And
Speaker 1: then they sit in that for like a minute and
Speaker 1: she comes back and just eviscerates him, but not even purposely.
Speaker 1: She's just like, I'm sorry, I was mistaken. She was
Speaker 1: talking about somebody and you just watched like there this
Speaker 1: this sense of the brain. I know the exactly it's
Speaker 1: it's exact time that it's exactly a three minute long
Speaker 1: shot too. It's three minutes and if this yeah, this
Speaker 1: long pushing. Um and I I had like a movie
Speaker 1: club with some friends. Um that every time every before
Speaker 1: we like watch a movie, we sometimes like show our
Speaker 1: favorite scene from another movie. And I've that that's the
Speaker 1: scene that I showed them, because it still is like
Speaker 1: it's burned into my brain. Um. With that that that song,
Speaker 1: that m song really really uh well, and not only
Speaker 1: like that would have been enough in that scene, I
Speaker 1: think was just that happening. And then they come back
Speaker 1: and apologize and you just see he's just like feeling
Speaker 1: bad again. But then they had that little cherry on
Speaker 1: top at the end when this other guy comes up
Speaker 1: and starts to sort of pick a fight with them,
Speaker 1: because I guess they think I read it as I
Speaker 1: guess he thinks that they're starting ship with these ladies,
Speaker 1: because he was kind of like, how you messing with us,
Speaker 1: you're working around with us, and it and just that
Speaker 1: extra little bit about guys that get in fights, and
Speaker 1: they didn't get in a fight, but it was all
Speaker 1: just so real and like you feel dirty, like you're
Speaker 1: just eavesdropping like a voyeur or something on this on
Speaker 1: this guy's life. But I also like, it seems there's
Speaker 1: so many people like that, and I I think, what
Speaker 1: what is I think another just brilliant thing about the
Speaker 1: movie is that that the very next scene like that,
Speaker 1: that's when you know, you know, this this cracking of
Speaker 1: this male ego really starts to it. It's really pronounced.
Speaker 1: In the next scene is when he's locked out and
Speaker 1: then he goes wandering and there's just that this like
Speaker 1: the running of the bulls in a way, just of
Speaker 1: these verse and then it cuts that scene of just
Speaker 1: like you, they're in a up or in a tent.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but all these shirtless men just screaming
Speaker 1: and chugging beers and like roaring like just gross Neanderthal
Speaker 1: men uh and vomiting uh. And he's kind of lost
Speaker 1: in there. It's it's just it's so disturbing and funny
Speaker 1: and and I love how he runs away at the
Speaker 1: beginning when they're coming out. It's like it was another
Speaker 1: avalanche exactly. I don't know, it's it's it's and I mean,
Speaker 1: for if you know, for Palm Springs, Max had made
Speaker 1: this um it's kind of sizzle reel like to kind
Speaker 1: of almost almost like just to prove his his idea
Speaker 1: for the movie in a way and just taking a
Speaker 1: bunch of clips from other movies, um, sicking health. I
Speaker 1: don't know capture the feeling we want in Palm Springs.
Speaker 1: But one one brief shot and that says a real
Speaker 1: is when Thomas the man guy is is crying like
Speaker 1: that that real, true, ugly guttural cry. Uh. When he's like,
Speaker 1: first he's like, it's the the he's not really crying,
Speaker 1: and she calls him out. Then I think it's true
Speaker 1: that yeah, but then I think that like it really
Speaker 1: just he just, I don't know, crumbles uh after that,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, it's it's that whole I don't
Speaker 1: think the pretty much that whole run from when the
Speaker 1: scene that you just talked about where you know they're
Speaker 1: they're fragile, male Ego is attacked to him on the
Speaker 1: ground in back in their hotel room, crying and his
Speaker 1: wife doesn't even know what to do with them anymore.
Speaker 1: And then the kids come up seeing that, seeing their dad,
Speaker 1: and like I go, I go from laughing to feelings
Speaker 1: feeling so uncomfortable too. I was like in watching it
Speaker 1: again last night, I was I was crying, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, having a I'd imagine, you know Ramona like
Speaker 1: sometimes I'll Romona, but she doesn't like that at all. Uh,
Speaker 1: And having you know, just to see your father like that,
Speaker 1: like this, this crumbling, blubbering mess. It's it was seen
Speaker 1: as brutal, so heartbreaking, and then the daughter yelling at
Speaker 1: the mom like come on, oh god, that scene is
Speaker 1: so brutal because the mom knows and we should just
Speaker 1: say Lisa Lovan Congsley, who plays the wife, is just
Speaker 1: fucking amazing in this movie. Um, But in that moment,
Speaker 1: she she has built up this whole movie as the
Speaker 1: most important thing to her is her kids and she
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be the perfect mom. She's not saying
Speaker 1: she's a perfect mom, but that is her priority and
Speaker 1: that's the thing that she cares about the most. That's
Speaker 1: why she protects them during the would be avalanche. She's incensed.
Speaker 1: They're her friend who is out sort of having flings
Speaker 1: and leaving her kids at home and like doing for herself.
Speaker 1: She just can't, like I think she's sort of jealous,
Speaker 1: but she can't even process that. But in that moment
Speaker 1: when he is crumbled and the kids are screaming for her,
Speaker 1: she she sort of hates him right then, but she
Speaker 1: knows that she has to go over there and comfort
Speaker 1: them for the sake of those kids. And it's just
Speaker 1: so real. I think, like, I think we've all been
Speaker 1: in moments like this, especially when you're married and when
Speaker 1: you have kids, uh, where you know that you have
Speaker 1: to do the right thing, but it's so hard to
Speaker 1: like you have to get over yourself so much as
Speaker 1: a as a spouse and as a bearance. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think that that's it's done so beautifully in the
Speaker 1: scene that follows, when like they go up on that
Speaker 1: on that ski run um and it's a you know,
Speaker 1: it's really snowy up there, and yeah, you could you
Speaker 1: just totally tell that, like she knows they have to
Speaker 1: put on this like performance in a way so that
Speaker 1: the kids can feel protected by their father again to
Speaker 1: like I don't know, reinforce those those gender roles, like
Speaker 1: the father being the protector and so you know mother, Uh,
Speaker 1: the mom she pretends that she's you know, either hurt
Speaker 1: or lost. Dad has to go, so she is she
Speaker 1: pretending Is that what happened there? I'm I'm fairly sure
Speaker 1: because it's after this like triumphant heroic moment of the
Speaker 1: dad carrying her back to the kids and the kids
Speaker 1: are and then like the music is crescendo ng, and
Speaker 1: then the music stops and then she just gets up
Speaker 1: and walks back to go get her skis. So she did.
Speaker 1: She didn't she didn't need to be carried obviously. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was just like two so the kids don't don't
Speaker 1: think their dad is is you know, worthless? Uh, And
Speaker 1: I don't know it's having having I love my parents
Speaker 1: so much, and they've been incredibly supportive of my pursuit of, um,
Speaker 1: not doing what you're supposed to be doing, but not
Speaker 1: doing this the straight narrow job, UM, not doing the
Speaker 1: responsible job, just kind of going after these you know,
Speaker 1: be it in a rock and roll band or be
Speaker 1: chasing this you know, this dream to make movies or
Speaker 1: TV shows or whatever. They've been incredibly supportive. But I
Speaker 1: remember very clearly when I was I. I was in
Speaker 1: wrestling in high school. I uh, I got the coaches Award.
Speaker 1: I was I lettered varsity like the end of my sect.
Speaker 1: My sophomore year. It was. It wasn't on like normal
Speaker 1: varsity team, but I would have been on varsity and
Speaker 1: junior year, but I played some varsity tournaments and we
Speaker 1: had there was the wrestling banquet and one of the
Speaker 1: coach gave this big, long speech about like this this
Speaker 1: wrestler that has just like that's made him so proud
Speaker 1: and just like this good character. And then at the
Speaker 1: and he's like, and that's that's Andy Sarra. And I
Speaker 1: got the Coaches Award, and my dad's crying his eyes out, um,
Speaker 1: but so proud of me and that I got the
Speaker 1: Coaches Award. And I'm like, you know, I'm very that's
Speaker 1: a manly, manly sport. And then the next day I
Speaker 1: tell him like, yeah, I'm gonna quit wrestling, so can
Speaker 1: go join Video Yearbook? Um, And I think I think
Speaker 1: I it crushed him and he I mean he even
Speaker 1: offered to buy me a new Um Gibson Les Paul
Speaker 1: to keep if I would stay in wrestling. But that's
Speaker 1: the thing is I just like I have never been
Speaker 1: one too um you know, be into sports really or
Speaker 1: be naturally gifted at that. I've always I've always drifted
Speaker 1: more in the like let's get weird realm um. And
Speaker 1: I always I wanted to, you know. And the reason
Speaker 1: I wanted to join Video Yearbooks because they had these
Speaker 1: nicer cameras too that I can go, you can I
Speaker 1: can check out. Um. But why why I wasn't even
Speaker 1: going down that path. But what I feel like I
Speaker 1: had I've had a point to make, I think, but
Speaker 1: I lost that point. Um. Something happened to do with
Speaker 1: like reinforcing that that hole of like you know, the
Speaker 1: masculine man. And I'm hoping that the you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh he recommended this book about like this
Speaker 1: memoir about like toxic masculinity and stuff. And I think
Speaker 1: that like, uh and I just I'll try to find
Speaker 1: it before we and um to tell you what it is.
Speaker 1: But it's it's great because it's like it talks that
Speaker 1: this guy talks about how uh his dad who is
Speaker 1: like this always you know, very masculine man um at
Speaker 1: the end of his life he is he basically said, like,
Speaker 1: if you can change one thing, it's like he wouldn't
Speaker 1: he wouldn't want to care, he wouldn't care about that
Speaker 1: being that masculine man as much is it's just so
Speaker 1: so not important at all. It's so it's so stupid,
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's the reason we have. It's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons we are in the situation, the
Speaker 1: shitty situation that we are in is because of this,
Speaker 1: like of all the stuff that that Ruben Oslin kind
Speaker 1: of explorers in this from like the roaring drunk shirtless
Speaker 1: men to like this did the the need to kind
Speaker 1: of like you know, when when you when you're even
Speaker 1: when you're attacked like that the the long three minute shot.
Speaker 1: When you feel like your ego is is attacked, you
Speaker 1: have to, like you you you stand up for it.
Speaker 1: Or when I found it so incredibly fascinating when the
Speaker 1: multiple times when Thomas lies, when when Ebba she she
Speaker 1: shares the story and he's like, that's that's your version
Speaker 1: of events, that's not what happened, Like you're allowed to
Speaker 1: have two different versions of events. And then she's she's
Speaker 1: just like, well it's on it's on your phone though,
Speaker 1: so well let's watch you see you see it on
Speaker 1: his face. It's it's like it's a it's a shameful
Speaker 1: man that is being caught. And I like, it's it's
Speaker 1: so so powerful yet but even it's it's the instinct
Speaker 1: of his of the of the Game of Thrones guy
Speaker 1: um Matt's uh to still defend him, to still like
Speaker 1: to still defend his his bro in a way. And
Speaker 1: I think and that's where like you see this this
Speaker 1: crazy snowball effect of just you know, just just people
Speaker 1: are flawed, and I think I acknowledge that, I think
Speaker 1: people we need to acknowledge that people are so so
Speaker 1: flawed and and try to like fight against these these
Speaker 1: natural instincts. Uh. And I think that's what the of
Speaker 1: this movie just really highlights all of that to me.
Speaker 1: And so in so many moments, big, big and small. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, it highlights that I think
Speaker 1: a lot of men are just you know, less evolved creatures. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Another part that I want to talk about, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite scenes was when h And another part that
Speaker 1: was so sort of instructive as to be able to
Speaker 1: make such a subtle scene works so well as you know,
Speaker 1: people that write movies and stuff. It's such a lesson
Speaker 1: in that is when she goes off skiing by herself.
Speaker 1: She wants to have like a day on the slopes,
Speaker 1: and she's in the woods and she's peeing, and she
Speaker 1: kind of gets away from everyone. There's no one around.
Speaker 1: She you know, takes off her little ski suit and
Speaker 1: she's sort of squatting down and peeing, and she sees
Speaker 1: sort of hears first and then sees her family kind
Speaker 1: of throw the trees out there and doesn't like, doesn't
Speaker 1: say anything, and they're right there, and it's just I
Speaker 1: thought that was such a powerful scene and so simple
Speaker 1: that she's just sort of in the woods behind them
Speaker 1: and she could go join them, and and so much
Speaker 1: of the movie is about her struggle with her as
Speaker 1: a parent, um and as a mother, and uh, I
Speaker 1: just I just love that scene. So simple, but it's
Speaker 1: it's uh, it's funny because this time around, I actually wondered.
Speaker 1: It's not not to get crass, but was she taking
Speaker 1: a ship this? I always thought she was peeing before,
Speaker 1: but I think that this time when watching, I think
Speaker 1: I think she might have been, uh, might have been
Speaker 1: going number two? What do you think that? Because it
Speaker 1: was this, it was the way that she was breathing,
Speaker 1: and there was and I thought I heard maybe like
Speaker 1: there's some slight sound effects in there. Um. And and
Speaker 1: because it's it's a longer like she's she's squatting there
Speaker 1: for a while. Um, I don't know. It's it doesn't
Speaker 1: it doesn't change the beauty of the scene at all.
Speaker 1: But I didn't notice it. This is the first time
Speaker 1: I thought that maybe she wasn't actually peeing. She was
Speaker 1: you know, it was something more. But it's yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know that, Yeah, that was. There are so many
Speaker 1: so pronounced moments like that. And then I'm looking at
Speaker 1: this old paper that I wrote at a if I
Speaker 1: that I pulled up about it. And there are so
Speaker 1: many also, just like short little glances here and there, um,
Speaker 1: I feel tell so much of a story. And like
Speaker 1: one of them is when Thomas is brushing his teeth
Speaker 1: while Ebba while Evan is like she's going pe behind him, um,
Speaker 1: and she stands up. She doesn't have her shirt on,
Speaker 1: and when she stands up and turns around, it's it's
Speaker 1: really as if to not let him see her naked
Speaker 1: because he just got them trying to like have sex
Speaker 1: with her and she kind of that that got you know,
Speaker 1: pushed aside, and he's he's checking her out, and you see,
Speaker 1: like the dumb ape that he kind of is, and
Speaker 1: like many men are, is that he can't help. Even
Speaker 1: though she turned around, he can't help but look at it,
Speaker 1: look at her ass you follow his site line, he
Speaker 1: just he's and she's clearly not happy with him in
Speaker 1: the moment, and there's no and there's no sense of
Speaker 1: emotional or sexual intimate intimacy whatsoever. Yet he still can't
Speaker 1: help but check her out. Uh. It's and like and
Speaker 1: that like that that that stuck out for me. And
Speaker 1: also in the final bus ride, um, like once once
Speaker 1: they cut to the final bus ride. The first people
Speaker 1: we see when we cut into the bus are it's
Speaker 1: Matts and Fanny the Mats they and you know, he
Speaker 1: had already demonstrated his insecurities in this relationship. You know,
Speaker 1: he's significantly older than his twenty one year old girlfriend. Um,
Speaker 1: but the last time we saw them, like it seemed
Speaker 1: like they may have worked out that minor tiff. Uh.
Speaker 1: But because they're the first people we see when the
Speaker 1: film cuts inside the bus and we see Fanny is
Speaker 1: laughing while texting someone. Um, and you just see he
Speaker 1: can't help the glance over as if as if he's
Speaker 1: jealous that someone else is making her laugh and and
Speaker 1: who is it? Is? A guy he doesn't know, and
Speaker 1: like why is she texting? And a guy? And you know,
Speaker 1: to make it worse, she catches him looking and then
Speaker 1: angles her phone away to intentionally hide it from them.
Speaker 1: And now you know, we leave with him now thinking
Speaker 1: that she's hiding something from him. Uh. And that that
Speaker 1: that downward spiral of negative thoughts is all captured so
Speaker 1: well in that one single glance, um, And the movie
Speaker 1: is just is just filled with so so many of
Speaker 1: those those kind of moments that it's it's it's yeah,
Speaker 1: it's masterful in a way. Yeah. I mean, like I
Speaker 1: said at the beginning, like there's there are no accidents
Speaker 1: in this movie. I think everything is so intentional and
Speaker 1: he's so uh as a writer and director. He is
Speaker 1: so comfortable with making the audience sit and being uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: and these awkward scenes that are just like, oh, just
Speaker 1: like you want to crawl out of your skin. Some
Speaker 1: of them are so painfully awkward. They have they have full,
Speaker 1: two full scenes with two different couples where she is
Speaker 1: she has her first try where she calls him out,
Speaker 1: tells the story of what happened, and he denies it.
Speaker 1: And then they have a take to and she does
Speaker 1: the exact same thing in front of their like really
Speaker 1: good friends, and um, he denies it again and he
Speaker 1: doubles down. I was like, well, surely he's going to
Speaker 1: own up to it this time, and he fucking doubled
Speaker 1: down like a coward. And uh, Like you think they're okay.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think I love the movie so much.
Speaker 1: Is you when you first see them, you think they're fine,
Speaker 1: and like it just shows how these how a tiny
Speaker 1: little crack can just become this fissure in a relationship
Speaker 1: if and it's clearly not solid. He admits to being
Speaker 1: unfaithful in his big breakdown outside the hotel room. Like,
Speaker 1: I feel like a third of this movie was shot
Speaker 1: right outside their room on that little hallway. It's so
Speaker 1: funny how many scenes are like set right there. Nice.
Speaker 1: It's uh, it's it's incredible that it's made me want to,
Speaker 1: like true, like try to dig deeper in my own writing. Um.
Speaker 1: That just a couple of quotes that that I I
Speaker 1: pulled up that Rubin Austin had said, Um, kind of
Speaker 1: around the movie. He said two main goals. He had
Speaker 1: two main goals, uh for the movie. First one was
Speaker 1: to create the most spectacular avalanche scene in film history.
Speaker 1: And the second one was that we should increase the
Speaker 1: percentage of divorce in society. Uh. And you can use
Speaker 1: the film as a relationship tests. And it's it's interesting
Speaker 1: when he when like hearing him talk about like what
Speaker 1: makes him want to do movies and stuff and so
Speaker 1: many movies, like a lot of his ideas. He talks
Speaker 1: about how like he's inspired by YouTube, like videos on
Speaker 1: YouTube that he finds like the whole end the whole
Speaker 1: last scene, it was like, there's a it's a bus,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a YouTube. It's from a YouTube clip
Speaker 1: of a bus driving down a very similar winding road. God,
Speaker 1: that scene was so fucking tense, Like after this whole
Speaker 1: movie of tension, they're finally on this bus out of there.
Speaker 1: You're thinking, all right, this movie is winding down, and
Speaker 1: it's just like there's nothing more terrifying than a a
Speaker 1: big bus on a windy mountain road and then someone
Speaker 1: driving that shouldn't be driving. And it's what is so
Speaker 1: nice is that, like it's so complicated and and ends
Speaker 1: it out on a very complicated thought because the whole
Speaker 1: time we've been watching this this deconstruction of like this
Speaker 1: of masculinity and this and this guy's like psyche in
Speaker 1: a way. And then when faced with a different type
Speaker 1: of danger, the mom have abandons her kids, abandons everybody
Speaker 1: and gets off the bus and leave leaves everyone behind
Speaker 1: and uh, and then everyone kind of follows in this
Speaker 1: kind of like this this sheet mentality, and who is
Speaker 1: the one person that is still on the bus that
Speaker 1: stays on is the one that is the is the
Speaker 1: one who and he he's talked about this before too,
Speaker 1: but like the one who is not fall I mean
Speaker 1: the traditional roles of society, and it's the friend who
Speaker 1: who she is kind of calling out for like you know,
Speaker 1: hooking up with different men and whatnot, uh not not
Speaker 1: being what not doing what a normal mother or wife
Speaker 1: is supposed to be doing. She is the one person
Speaker 1: that stays in the bus and the bus drives off
Speaker 1: and they she makes it down, uh presumably while everyone
Speaker 1: else is kind of like stranded there, like, well, what
Speaker 1: do we do now? Oh? That was so great man,
Speaker 1: because they all follow her because she clearly, I mean
Speaker 1: she doesn't say come with me, but she she takes
Speaker 1: that lead and everyone follows her because no one felt safe.
Speaker 1: Um and and it's you're right. It's so complex because
Speaker 1: I think she realizes very soon after, like did I overreact?
Speaker 1: She's sort of questioning herself, and everyone else is kind
Speaker 1: of like, well thanks a lot, lady. Like no one
Speaker 1: says anything, though, but you can just read that the
Speaker 1: mood of the crowd of like, well, fuck, now we're
Speaker 1: out here on this road. And it ends with that
Speaker 1: great shot of the dad. Uh you know, the guy
Speaker 1: asked if he wants a cigarette he's holding his son's hand,
Speaker 1: little Harry, and he says no, but then he says yes,
Speaker 1: and Harry asked him if he smokes, and he says yes,
Speaker 1: and it's like he's he's finally like he's finally done
Speaker 1: something honest in this movie. Yeah, at the very end. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's it's great. Um. I don't know, I could.
Speaker 1: We could continue to break it down for another five
Speaker 1: hours if you want, but I know now I think
Speaker 1: we did it. Uh, such a great movie. You definitely
Speaker 1: got us check this out. Um, if you're listening to
Speaker 1: this and you haven't seen it, or if you saw
Speaker 1: Downhill and I didn't love it, see the original. It
Speaker 1: is so good. And this is a filmmaker. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see the Square. Um, I told you watch
Speaker 1: the trailer right after this, and he's he's on my
Speaker 1: list now. It's like a new favorite. So thank you yea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I wanted there's another quote that I found that
Speaker 1: this this interview in The Guardian that he had I
Speaker 1: wanted to feel as m important to share because he
Speaker 1: talks about how he he never kills characters in his movies. Um,
Speaker 1: and that's like and so this with the quote is
Speaker 1: that the industry is perverted when it comes to violence.
Speaker 1: Of course, it's an easy way to create a dramatic event.
Speaker 1: But my view is that human beings are copycats. We
Speaker 1: imitate what we see. If you're reproducing pictures of men
Speaker 1: running around with guns, people will imitate that. Look at
Speaker 1: any high school shooting and the images of killers, the
Speaker 1: images that killers take of themselves in the mirror. It's
Speaker 1: so obvious to me that they're copying a character. And
Speaker 1: and so like he that was that stems from this
Speaker 1: idea that he doesn't it doesn't kill people, doesn't have
Speaker 1: people die in his movies. Um, and they're really like
Speaker 1: they come from a deeply internal place. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's a it's another thing that I'm it's it's made
Speaker 1: me now look at what I'm what I'm doing. And
Speaker 1: I think that's that's the power of a of a
Speaker 1: great filmmaker is just you know, inspire others. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's not killing anyone in his movies. I feel like
Speaker 1: the fate of his characters is even worse. He's brutalizing
Speaker 1: them still. Yeah, but he's not He's not letting them
Speaker 1: off easy by telling the death of shame is almost more.
Speaker 1: It's that's more like when you have to live with
Speaker 1: deep shame is more painful than a quick death. I
Speaker 1: could be heading so and that's put his characters through. Alright, brother,
Speaker 1: that was great, Thanks again for turning me onto that movie.
Speaker 1: This is a new favorite. I can't wait to watch
Speaker 1: it again already. I'm gonna watch it with Emily, I
Speaker 1: think soon, because she didn't get to see it. But congratulations,
Speaker 1: dude on all your success. So proud of you. I've
Speaker 1: known you and Joey for so many years now, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad that we've stayed pals, and I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see what you do next. I'm I'm the charter
Speaker 1: member of the ndcr A fan Club. Thank you, buddy,
Speaker 1: I am. I am. You know, I still feel like
Speaker 1: I'm one of the one of the earlier stuff you
Speaker 1: should know fans of course, back in the back in
Speaker 1: the days when we had our our CD spen know,
Speaker 1: all full of episodes to listen to on the road.
Speaker 1: So I am. I'm a friend and family member and
Speaker 1: fans for life. So I'm happy we gotta catch up
Speaker 1: like this. Thank you for having me on. All right, everyone,
Speaker 1: check out check out Palm Springs on Hulu. Leave a
Speaker 1: review online going Rotten Tomatoes and juice that score up
Speaker 1: even more but very good movie. Go check it out,
Speaker 1: Andy Sara, thanks for being on my friend. Thank you
Speaker 1: all right, everyone, I hope you enjoyed that. Sure did.
Speaker 1: It was good talking to my friend and he is awesome.
Speaker 1: Forest Massure is great. We had a really good conversation
Speaker 1: about it. It was also great to pick his brain
Speaker 1: about screenwriting and sort of his process and how he
Speaker 1: got to where he is now. I'm very excited for
Speaker 1: my friend and I just can't wait to see what
Speaker 1: comes next. It's just the best thing ever. The next
Speaker 1: best thing to me being a screenwriter is Andy. So
Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoyed that. Big thanks to Andy.
Speaker 1: H check out Palm Springs again, really fun movie on
Speaker 1: Hulu and leave a good review for it. And uh
Speaker 1: big thanks to Andy for dropping in in the old
Speaker 1: virtual basement, and thanks to you guys for listening. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next week. Lulie Crush has produced, edited and
Speaker 1: engineered by Ramsey Unt. You're in our home studio at
Speaker 1: pont City Market, Atlanta, Georgia. For I Heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts, for my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.