Speaker 1: M you're listening to playback a Variety I Heart Radio podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Variety Awards editor Chris Tapley. This week,
Speaker 1: I'm talking to Ty Sheridan, the twenty one year old
Speaker 1: star of Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, which opens tomorrow.
Speaker 1: You've seen tie in films like Terrence Malix, The Tree
Speaker 1: of Life and Jeff Nichols Mud. He also stars this
Speaker 1: year in X Men Dark Phoenix, reprising the role of
Speaker 1: Cyclops that comes out later in the fall. So sit tight,
Speaker 1: this is playback. Yeah, okay, can I move? This? Is
Speaker 1: that all right? Yeah? You're fine right now? Yeah? Okay, okay.
Speaker 1: So you were just in Europe? Yeah, I was just
Speaker 1: in London. How's that? We It was good, it was
Speaker 1: it was super cold when we got in it was snowing. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: so I haven't seen snow. I finally did for the
Speaker 1: first time in a long time when I went to
Speaker 1: Sundance this year. Oh yeah, how was that? I haven't
Speaker 1: seen no one forever. Other than that. You see a
Speaker 1: lot of movies, So I saw a lot. Actually I
Speaker 1: went for the second half with everything had cleared out,
Speaker 1: you know, all the people had cleared out. How what's
Speaker 1: he done? I guess he'll done. So we just were
Speaker 1: a rerecording. We are recording, and I want to just cool.
Speaker 1: I don't think i've ever done a podcast. Oh sweet episode,
Speaker 1: premiere episode. Yeah, sorry, I'm a little under the weather.
Speaker 1: So sorry from not my feeling best. Been one of
Speaker 1: those years everybody's got every other week. And how many
Speaker 1: podcasts are you doing per week? Okay, so it's just
Speaker 1: one a week? Actually your coach? I love that guy.
Speaker 1: What's called the Mountain? Yes, if you talk about it
Speaker 1: a little bit at the end, what did you say, Uh, well,
Speaker 1: you know, Jeff, it's just kind of yeah, it was great,
Speaker 1: and there's a young actor or we did that kind
Speaker 1: of thing pretty much. It sounds like a wicked movie though.
Speaker 1: It's it's yeah, it's it's crazy. Um, it's I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm super excited about it. So Rick Alverson, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're familiar with his work. He did interrupted.
Speaker 1: We're sitting here today with Ty Sheridan, the star of
Speaker 1: Ready Player one. No worries, I was. I was not sure.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're familiar with Rick Alverson, Um
Speaker 1: the filmmaker. He did a movie we did a movie
Speaker 1: together actually called Entertainment. He saw that with Greig Turkington,
Speaker 1: Tim heideckers in it. But his movies are crazy and
Speaker 1: I have a lot of fun working with him. And
Speaker 1: so we made a movie together with Jeff Goldblum and uh,
Speaker 1: that was in November and December, and that was a
Speaker 1: hoot for sure. Jeff's fun. Man, that's a whole energy.
Speaker 1: It takes you like a half hour to shake it
Speaker 1: after you've hung out for a little bit. No, he's
Speaker 1: he's a lot of fun. I love that guy. Well,
Speaker 1: like I said, the movie that you're kind of promoting
Speaker 1: right now is already Player one Steven Spielberg. It's about
Speaker 1: as big as it gets massive. It's not quite summer,
Speaker 1: but it's essentially a summer blockbuster. Uh. What I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you, you you know, you live in Austin, you're
Speaker 1: from Texas. What was it like to premiere this movie
Speaker 1: at south By Southwest? And yeah, I know it was
Speaker 1: the It was the coolest actually because we have been
Speaker 1: you know, for like a year or maybe even over
Speaker 1: a year, we have been talking about having the movie
Speaker 1: that's south By Southwest because it's really a perfect kind
Speaker 1: of place for it. Because you know, it's film meets um,
Speaker 1: you know, interactive in tech and um, this movie, you know,
Speaker 1: takes place in two thousand forty five and in the
Speaker 1: future where people spend most of their lives in a
Speaker 1: virtual world called the Oasis. So, uh, it kind of
Speaker 1: made sense for the movie to be there. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think it was a lot of it was just
Speaker 1: about whether or not we could convince Stephen and whether
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers could convince him to to actually play the
Speaker 1: movie there. But because he'd never I don't think he'd
Speaker 1: ever done that. He's definitely never had a movie at
Speaker 1: south By Southwest. And uh, so I had all my
Speaker 1: family because I lived there. I had all my family
Speaker 1: come down. They're all up in East Texas, so they
Speaker 1: came down. I had my parents, my grandparents, my little sister,
Speaker 1: my cousin's best friends, like everyone. So it was so special.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was a crazy weekend. I was a
Speaker 1: little overwhelmed, um, because you know, when you have that
Speaker 1: much family and no one, you know, you gotta like
Speaker 1: it's like hurting a bunch of sheep or something like. Um.
Speaker 1: But it was good. You know, I got really excited
Speaker 1: as we were backstage about to show the movie, and
Speaker 1: I knew they were all out there about to see
Speaker 1: a film, Steven Spielberg, movie that I've worked on. So,
Speaker 1: I mean it was a pretty pretty cool feeling. But
Speaker 1: I wasn't there, but I certainly saw in the reports
Speaker 1: it seemed like he was very touched. Did he seemed
Speaker 1: very nervous backstage, you know, right before he was about
Speaker 1: to unleash this movie. I think so, I mean he was,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think so, because he had made
Speaker 1: his decision and he knew what he was getting himself into. Um,
Speaker 1: He's very rational in that sense, so he, uh, he
Speaker 1: did get I mean, everybody got a little flustered because
Speaker 1: at the most climactic part of the movie and then
Speaker 1: in the third act, um the sound went out. Actually,
Speaker 1: and they had they had installed they had installed a
Speaker 1: new Adulby sound system so that we could play the
Speaker 1: movie at the Paramount Theater that night. Um, so when
Speaker 1: the sound went out, it was you know, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: my my heart kind of stopped. And I was looking
Speaker 1: around the executive producer, Christafarian, the producer Donald's line, We're
Speaker 1: sitting like right next to me. We're all kind of
Speaker 1: looking at each other. And and then they started. So
Speaker 1: they played the movie again and at the same moment
Speaker 1: the sound went out again. Um. And then they did
Speaker 1: it again the same thing. Sound went out and they
Speaker 1: were like, Oh my gosh, so this is not this
Speaker 1: is this is this is terrible. Um. And then the
Speaker 1: third time they tried it, it worked. The third time
Speaker 1: was a charm and then the crowd just it was
Speaker 1: crazy because the crowd just went nuts. Yeah, because it
Speaker 1: was the It almost like helped build up the that
Speaker 1: moment in the third act where um, you know, I
Speaker 1: can't say what happens, but on the totally yeah, I
Speaker 1: heard they were kind of supplying their own soundtrack even
Speaker 1: whenever it was silent up on the screen. Uh. I'm
Speaker 1: always curious with Mr Spielberg because we all know him obviously,
Speaker 1: his spectacle is considerable in the canon of film and
Speaker 1: and his place in that spectrum. I'm always curious to
Speaker 1: talk to actors who've worked with him, how he works
Speaker 1: with actors, because I think it's, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: an underappreciated element of his repertoire. Frankly, yeah, I mean sure,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people, you know, we look
Speaker 1: at Steven Spielberg films and we think like adventure and
Speaker 1: you know, I know he's made a lot of history
Speaker 1: rcle dramas, uh lately like Lincoln and The post or Um.
Speaker 1: But we look at his movies and we think like,
Speaker 1: you know, big and scope, big and scale, like really fun,
Speaker 1: family kind of oriented films sometimes. Um, but I think
Speaker 1: we you know, sometimes we don't isolate or single out
Speaker 1: the performances. But you know, there's that they make those
Speaker 1: type of movies though. That's I mean, I think that's
Speaker 1: the glue that kind of you know, and you see
Speaker 1: such a great, such a great camaraderie amongst like young
Speaker 1: characters in his movies, like whether it's Et or even
Speaker 1: films that he was you know, he produced, like the Goonies. Um.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of that stems from him, you know,
Speaker 1: having being a child on set, Like he's just he's
Speaker 1: like a big kid and he's like the biggest film
Speaker 1: nerd I know, and he just gets so enthusiastic and
Speaker 1: he's he's nervous every day before he goes to work.
Speaker 1: And that's something that you you know, is you share
Speaker 1: with him. Um. You know, obviously working on a Steve
Speaker 1: Spielory movie, there's you know, some you you you don't
Speaker 1: want to let the man down. So I think that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he's he's incredibly engaging and I don't think
Speaker 1: i've ever we shot in this movie in motion capture, So, um,
Speaker 1: he was you know, he's literally right. You know, I
Speaker 1: was doing a scene with Olivia Cook. He was like
Speaker 1: right in between the two of us and talking to
Speaker 1: us through the scene. He was there with us, almost
Speaker 1: like he was performing as well. But um, and I
Speaker 1: think that's you know, that does as as an actor.
Speaker 1: I think psychologically it gives you that extra you know,
Speaker 1: whatever it is to keep to push the performance even
Speaker 1: you know, to the next step and elevate it even more.
Speaker 1: And um, so I think he's really great with actors.
Speaker 1: He's incredibly patient. You never feel like, you know, he
Speaker 1: might give you two or three takes to to kind
Speaker 1: of settle into the scene before he starts giving you
Speaker 1: big notes. Um. And that was something that I really,
Speaker 1: you know, I really admired his his his supportiveness and
Speaker 1: like he makes you believe and understand and field confident
Speaker 1: in playing your roles because he's you know, he will
Speaker 1: say to you, you know, I chose you because you're
Speaker 1: the one person that is supposed to play this role
Speaker 1: and uh so knowing that and even like him vocalizing that,
Speaker 1: UM was super comforting and honestly, like I just you know,
Speaker 1: this is the best, I think, the best learning experience
Speaker 1: I've ever had. I mean, I've learned more on this
Speaker 1: movie than I have on any other film in the
Speaker 1: past that I've worked out for sure. How long was
Speaker 1: the shoot? Shot? For? Four months? How long that was?
Speaker 1: That was some performance captured? Yeah, so, I mean of
Speaker 1: our production schedule was motion capture, I believe. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: shot over the course of the first eight weeks that
Speaker 1: was all motion captured. What do you think of that?
Speaker 1: I mean, I've never done it before, So it was
Speaker 1: a it was a great crash course, you know, I was.
Speaker 1: I learned so much and to be at the cutting
Speaker 1: it because Ready Player one was really pushing the envelope
Speaker 1: with you know, what we were doing on on set,
Speaker 1: and you know, we were doing things that hadn't been
Speaker 1: done when you know, to to to date. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: for instance, we had you know, I LM and Digital Domain,
Speaker 1: who are the visual effects companies who kind of brought
Speaker 1: this this world together and created this world, spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time in pre production building these environments, these
Speaker 1: three dimensional environments, so that when we were on the set,
Speaker 1: we could see although we were in a motion capture volume,
Speaker 1: we could see ourselves driving our avatars and walking around
Speaker 1: in those environments. And we can even take it. We
Speaker 1: could even take a step further and put on a
Speaker 1: a VR headset that was tethered. Um, it was spatially tracking,
Speaker 1: so we could walk around the environment to have a
Speaker 1: three dimensional perspective on the environment. So it really helps you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really helps you understand because just a blank root,
Speaker 1: it's just and there's no and it's you know, there's
Speaker 1: a white carpet and scaffolding with a bunch of lights
Speaker 1: and infrared sensors and and you're wearing like this, you know,
Speaker 1: thick onesie with these tracking markers all over you and
Speaker 1: and at helmet with four facial capture cameras um and
Speaker 1: polka dots all over your face. So it's kind of
Speaker 1: a crazy, kind of a crazy thing, like you know,
Speaker 1: you feel completely stripped down and there's there's nothing except
Speaker 1: for you and the other performers around you. So um,
Speaker 1: and for that aspect, I mean I loved it because
Speaker 1: it allowed me to revert back to that place where
Speaker 1: when I was eight years old, you know, pretending with
Speaker 1: my friends and recreat and creating a scene in a
Speaker 1: magical place. It was literally felt like that. You know,
Speaker 1: all a lot of it was left up to your imagination.
Speaker 1: You know, you could jump into the r world and
Speaker 1: taking the environment. But then when you when it came
Speaker 1: time to perform, obviously you had to take it off.
Speaker 1: And so, um, that was a great tool to help
Speaker 1: us kind of get into it. Um, and then everything
Speaker 1: else was just you know, you're purely collaborating with your
Speaker 1: cast and the rest of the crew and you the
Speaker 1: visual effects supervisors and Stephen and um, so everybody's you know,
Speaker 1: ideas and visions. It all kind of comes together to
Speaker 1: create one and um, you know it was this this
Speaker 1: movie is The visual effects are like just incredibly stunning.
Speaker 1: It's insane. You were talking, uh, you were talking earlier,
Speaker 1: you know, just about just the world split Spielberg has
Speaker 1: given us, obviously, and that he's the biggest kind of
Speaker 1: movie dork movie nerd you've seen. Uh, do you share
Speaker 1: that quality? I mean, did you grow up? I Mean
Speaker 1: that's kind of silly question, probably, but you grew up
Speaker 1: on these movies, right, Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean I
Speaker 1: told him the first time I met him, because I
Speaker 1: didn't know if he was gonna cast me in his
Speaker 1: movie or I said, Um, Mr Spielberg, I just want to,
Speaker 1: you know, thank you for all the films that you made,
Speaker 1: because without et that, you know, that movie played a
Speaker 1: hundred times, hundreds of times during my childhood. With out
Speaker 1: that movie, you know, or any of your movies, I
Speaker 1: feel like I would be a different kid in some way, um,
Speaker 1: a different storyteller at least. And and so you know,
Speaker 1: I really i'd like to to think that I took
Speaker 1: advantage of the opportunity case. You know, like there were
Speaker 1: times where we would just sit around and he would
Speaker 1: do this you know, dolly shot and catch up, you know,
Speaker 1: and I would ask him why we were doing that,
Speaker 1: why this camera moving this? And then he would get
Speaker 1: so enthusiastic about and you know, talking about filmmaking and
Speaker 1: what and you know, on this great shot and in
Speaker 1: this movie, and he could just reference films. He's like,
Speaker 1: you know, encyclopedia on that stuff. So um, but all
Speaker 1: like that, do you have like a deep historical context
Speaker 1: for I know, I wouldn't say so not near. I mean,
Speaker 1: not nearly as good as that guy. Um. I mean
Speaker 1: I like movies and sometimes like I know, weird facts
Speaker 1: about obscure movies. But I would say there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people that I worked with in I mean much
Speaker 1: more um like as far as just like an archival
Speaker 1: a collection of movies in their head. I think that,
Speaker 1: you know, not that impressive. It's always interesting just to
Speaker 1: see how people respond. I mean there's famous, famous actors
Speaker 1: that literally just have no desire to learn a ton
Speaker 1: about you know, film history or anything that like that,
Speaker 1: and and obviously there's plenty who just are immersed in it.
Speaker 1: So it's just always interesting to find out, you know
Speaker 1: what you know. Yeah, And I think for me I
Speaker 1: was I was always really like interested in the technical
Speaker 1: aspect of filmmaking because that helps me do my job
Speaker 1: better in front of the camera, believe it or not.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I understand the you know, the frame,
Speaker 1: and I understand how I fit into that frame, and
Speaker 1: now you know how how close I can we're close
Speaker 1: focuses and how close I can come to the camera,
Speaker 1: like all that all that stuff really um helps me
Speaker 1: do my job better. So I feel like a lot
Speaker 1: of those questions are you know, one because I aspired
Speaker 1: to and all aspects of filmmaking and and behind and
Speaker 1: in front of the camera, but also because you know,
Speaker 1: it does help me do my job better. It's great
Speaker 1: to be able to give the cameraman something, you know,
Speaker 1: like the gold. Speaking of him, I've never seen a
Speaker 1: guy give the photographer so much in a photo session,
Speaker 1: just you know, giving him all these looks and all
Speaker 1: these like he's basically singing and humming. He gets everybody
Speaker 1: so much, very generous. Uh. You probably have been asked
Speaker 1: this a bunch on this particular tour. But where you
Speaker 1: much of a gamer growing up? Are you a gamer? Um?
Speaker 1: On the gamer? I mean not I wouldn't say like
Speaker 1: I'm an avid gamer, but I mean I grew up
Speaker 1: playing some games we were, but it was typically I
Speaker 1: mean gaming for me was something that was social and
Speaker 1: something I wanted to do with my friends. And even now,
Speaker 1: you know, like I think there's only handful of games
Speaker 1: that I really play, the only games I actually played
Speaker 1: by myself or like VR games. You know, I know
Speaker 1: you can do multiplayer and VR and the same as
Speaker 1: you do like online with people when you're playing PS
Speaker 1: four or whatever. But um, yeah, so for me, I
Speaker 1: mean I like to get with my friends and black FIFA,
Speaker 1: but first person shooters and stuff like that. Like I think,
Speaker 1: even like our our our movie is largely a reference
Speaker 1: and pays on Launch two. You know, games from the
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties and where the Atari um even arcade games. Um,
Speaker 1: I think that you know, the the eighties arcade games
Speaker 1: I was familiar with on I'd never actually played in
Speaker 1: Atari when it came time to shoot this movie, and
Speaker 1: so there's a there's a scene in the movie which
Speaker 1: is a really prominent scene actually, where my character plays
Speaker 1: an Atar game. Uh. And so I mean I've done
Speaker 1: I've done like as much research as I possibly could
Speaker 1: without actually getting to play the game. I've seen videos
Speaker 1: of people playing it. I read up about the game,
Speaker 1: and so when when we you know, I was nervous
Speaker 1: when when it came time to shoot the scene because
Speaker 1: I'm going to look out of place playoff game. And
Speaker 1: so I had to pull Stephen over to the side
Speaker 1: and say, you know, Stephen, I don't know, can you
Speaker 1: teach me how to hold the Atari control? Because I
Speaker 1: want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. So I
Speaker 1: got Atari lessons from Steven Spielberg and Zach pent Our screenwriter.
Speaker 1: Well that's awesome, Yeah, pretty awesome. That's something you talked
Speaker 1: about the Yeah, I guess you were you know a
Speaker 1: lot of that's before your time. I mean you were
Speaker 1: born when the Nintendo sixty before was coming out. So yeah,
Speaker 1: which just makes me feel we've played. We played Nintendo
Speaker 1: sixty four a lot in my cousin's house. I mean
Speaker 1: I was over at their house, like you know, every day,
Speaker 1: here my child and there they're you know, my cousin Austin.
Speaker 1: My cousins, Austin and Allison had an older brother, Christopher,
Speaker 1: who had a Nintendo sixty four, and he would just
Speaker 1: set us up and you know, we blow in the
Speaker 1: cartridges and camm in and rock on the Nintendo sixty four,
Speaker 1: all those antiquated techniques. Um. I met your parents I
Speaker 1: think at Sundance from when you were there with Mud
Speaker 1: and the dinner at some upstairs at some restaurant, and
Speaker 1: I remember sitting I guess I was sitting there with
Speaker 1: your dad or something. But very cool family. And I'm
Speaker 1: just curious what they think of your career. I mean,
Speaker 1: you kind of well I mean, they're obviously proud and supportive,
Speaker 1: but they've always been even when you know, after I
Speaker 1: did my first movie, which I kind of just randomly
Speaker 1: fell into. I never really had thought about acting or
Speaker 1: or working in movies when I was eleven, and you know,
Speaker 1: when I was eleven years old, which is when I
Speaker 1: got cast in that movie. But you know, it was
Speaker 1: something that intrigued me and it was something that I
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of see through. So there were three
Speaker 1: years where my mom would help me send in audition
Speaker 1: tapes on and she would take me over and over
Speaker 1: and over and I would never get anything. And they just,
Speaker 1: you know, we're so supportive for three years when I
Speaker 1: didn't when I couldn't get it, when I wasn't getting
Speaker 1: any callbacks, and I know I was young, and you know,
Speaker 1: but they were you know, if I if I told
Speaker 1: my parents that there was something I wanted to do,
Speaker 1: they would go to the end of the earth to
Speaker 1: help me achieve that. And uh So without that love
Speaker 1: and support from them, you know, I wouldn't I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be here obviously. I mean, they're they're like my rock,
Speaker 1: my everything, and uh yeah, and they're now, you know,
Speaker 1: like it's nice to be able to have them come
Speaker 1: down to things like south By Southwest and you know,
Speaker 1: to see the Ready Player one that was really cool
Speaker 1: for them. Um, just to trip up the interstate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's absolutely, but it's now it's now become like a
Speaker 1: you know, I have a hard time explaining to them
Speaker 1: what I'm doing or what you know, and they have
Speaker 1: a hard time keeping up and you know, it's uh,
Speaker 1: but it's good when something comes out and they can
Speaker 1: see it and they can do something tangible they can
Speaker 1: kind of sink the teeth into. But incredibly supportive. Even now,
Speaker 1: my dad says, you know, that's great that you know
Speaker 1: you're doing what you're doing, and I'm so happy that
Speaker 1: you're you know you're doing you're being successful at it,
Speaker 1: and um, but you know, beyond that, I just care
Speaker 1: that you're being a good person and you're treating people
Speaker 1: the way you want to be treated. And he said,
Speaker 1: that's that's what success is to me, and that's what
Speaker 1: makes me happy. And so as long as you're you know,
Speaker 1: a good human and you've got a good heart and
Speaker 1: you never lose that about you, then I think you're
Speaker 1: you're always going to be successful. So my parents thought.
Speaker 1: You know, especially in this this industry, can be kind
Speaker 1: of crazy and you can get uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people can get jaded, and uh,
Speaker 1: is that why you're staying in Texas? Um? You know,
Speaker 1: I have a I think I just have a really
Speaker 1: interesting relationship with l A. And it's not Oh, please
Speaker 1: expand that I thought, because I probably feel the same.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious. Yeah. I mean I would say I
Speaker 1: respect the city much more than uh, I love it, um,
Speaker 1: because I could say I have a love hate relationship.
Speaker 1: But I don't hate the city. You know, It's just
Speaker 1: it's a tough stay. Yeah. I think it's can be
Speaker 1: very lonely at times. You know, you don't have people
Speaker 1: drive around in their cars. They sit on the freeway
Speaker 1: and you're in this You're in your tiny little bubble
Speaker 1: in your own world, and you know, you don't really
Speaker 1: walk anywhere you don't, you know. And also like people here,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people moved to l A
Speaker 1: to to secure in or to achieve a goal that
Speaker 1: they set out and that you know, that's understandable. I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people get sucked into a lifestyle
Speaker 1: that can be sometimes very vain and um. Sometimes they
Speaker 1: focus on the things that you know that don't truly matter,
Speaker 1: and and they forget why they even came here in
Speaker 1: the first place. I just think so for me, there
Speaker 1: was always that danger in this city, which I think
Speaker 1: as long as you understand it, as long as you
Speaker 1: acknowledge it, you can't really, I mean you can, but
Speaker 1: you have it. It's it's gonna be it's gonna be
Speaker 1: harder to let it affect you, for sure. It's an
Speaker 1: acquired taste. Thirteen years and took me a really long
Speaker 1: time before I really loved it. And I love it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it comes eventually, I think anything and and
Speaker 1: I mean I spend I spend so much time here.
Speaker 1: I'm here like every every other week because I have
Speaker 1: a I have a tech startup and we're based here
Speaker 1: in l A. So I'm you know, whether I'm out
Speaker 1: here doing press for a movie for Ready Player one
Speaker 1: or you know, you know, I have I have to
Speaker 1: be here for other meetings. Talking about that startup. What
Speaker 1: is that? It's it's well, I mean, I can't tell
Speaker 1: you too much because under reps. It's yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: a little bit, we're you know, it's something we've been
Speaker 1: working actually even before we started making Ready Player one,
Speaker 1: or I even found out that I was going to
Speaker 1: be doing the film. It was, um, you know, I
Speaker 1: was working on with on this company with my best friend.
Speaker 1: We we co founded the company together. And uh, it's
Speaker 1: called ether A E T H E R ether Um
Speaker 1: and it's it's you know, it's geared towards interactive TV
Speaker 1: UM in immersive media. Um. So, I mean that's pretty
Speaker 1: much all I can say because we have you know,
Speaker 1: we're getting ready to make some announcements soon that we're
Speaker 1: really excited about, but we can't. You know, deals are
Speaker 1: still being fine. That's awesome, but hopefully I'll have more
Speaker 1: to share with you soon. Good luck with it. I
Speaker 1: want to jump ahead to x Men briefly. You've got
Speaker 1: x Men Dark Phoenix coming up this year. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: I asked you if you were a big gamer. Were
Speaker 1: you a big comic book fan growing up as well?
Speaker 1: I mean it's I was not. Actually, I mean I liked,
Speaker 1: I liked, I think comic book movies. I was obsessed
Speaker 1: with Batman as a kid until I was about eight.
Speaker 1: I think I would run around the house and about Batman.
Speaker 1: We constantly have that com Yeah, for sure, I think
Speaker 1: that's a lot of kids. I don't think it's that
Speaker 1: weird to admit. It's popular, for sure. Batman's popular guy,
Speaker 1: so I uh yeah. But but the the X Men franchise,
Speaker 1: I think i'd only been I'd only actually started watching
Speaker 1: X Men movies like like months before I even found
Speaker 1: out that I was going to be auditioning for one.
Speaker 1: So um, and you know I was. I became a
Speaker 1: huge fan of the franchise and went and watched all
Speaker 1: the films, and I think that you know, that franchise
Speaker 1: of any you know, out of all the marvel in
Speaker 1: DC kind of comic book superhero movies, I think it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's the one that has the most complex
Speaker 1: characters and and it's has the most humanity for me,
Speaker 1: you know, and there's still a lot of action and
Speaker 1: it's exciting, and they're you know, entertaining movies. But um,
Speaker 1: I think for me, that's why I was so excited
Speaker 1: to become part of the franchise. And uh, this the
Speaker 1: new one coming out, Dark Phoenix, I'm really really excited
Speaker 1: about because it's it's it is really gravitating towards you
Speaker 1: know that aspect of of the of these films, you
Speaker 1: know that that element that is really grounded and uh
Speaker 1: and it is really human in this film, I think
Speaker 1: is more human than we've seen of any of the
Speaker 1: X Men movies, so are so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1: Uh and it's uh yeah. Simon Kimberg kind of handled
Speaker 1: the transition and directing absolutely. I mean, this is his,
Speaker 1: this is his baby for so long. Yeah. Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: this is excuse me, his it's his directorial debut and
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's like a two and a million
Speaker 1: dollar movie. Yeah, it's kind of crazy, but he you know,
Speaker 1: he you know, and I asked him about it. I said,
Speaker 1: do you feel pressured by that? And he said no,
Speaker 1: because like what other what other first time filmmakers have
Speaker 1: a two and a million dollar budgets to work with?
Speaker 1: I mean I should, I should feel confident, if anything,
Speaker 1: because it's you know, it's more support and there's more
Speaker 1: you know, I can I can get more with that
Speaker 1: and um and he's he's he's a great storyteller and
Speaker 1: he's got great story and history instincts. I mean, so
Speaker 1: it was really great to work with with him, um
Speaker 1: on this film because he's he's interested in all the
Speaker 1: things that I think I'm interested it in. And and
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes these movies tend to leave behind, like
Speaker 1: you know, and they tend to just kind of glide
Speaker 1: over those problems are not really let you know, those
Speaker 1: elements breathe. And I think this is something he really
Speaker 1: wanted to explore in this film. So I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it can, it might. I'm really excited to see what
Speaker 1: it'll do to an audience. And you got just a
Speaker 1: chaste in again the Tree of Life co star. I
Speaker 1: had just gone the show before. She's the greatest person
Speaker 1: in the world. Yeah, she's a sweetheart. Speaking of Tree
Speaker 1: of Life, I did want to go back to that.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious what you retained from the experience of
Speaker 1: working with someone like Terence Malock so early. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know what, what is something you learned on that
Speaker 1: production or from a guy like him that you've carried
Speaker 1: with you. I think he's really good. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: hard to say because it was my that was my
Speaker 1: first experience ever were on a film set. This is
Speaker 1: exactly what he wanted, I'm sure. I mean that's what
Speaker 1: he was like, what he looking for. Um, And so
Speaker 1: for us. I mean it was it was it was
Speaker 1: a normality. You know. It was the fact that I
Speaker 1: never saw a script and that I didn't know what
Speaker 1: we were going to be shooting until literally at the
Speaker 1: moment we arrived on set was for me, I thought
Speaker 1: that was normal when I was eleven years old working
Speaker 1: on this movie. Um, but I think, you know, he's he's,
Speaker 1: he's I think there's from I guess what I retained
Speaker 1: from that experience is two you know. Always, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's good to rehearse, and I think it's good to
Speaker 1: think things through. But I mean when you overwork something
Speaker 1: and you get stuck doing one thing, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: when you dig yourself so deep and invest yourself in
Speaker 1: in one you know, I guess one style, it's it's
Speaker 1: hard to dig yourself out, and it's hard to go
Speaker 1: different directions. And so I think what being working on
Speaker 1: his movies, Um, you know that he allows you as
Speaker 1: an actor, I think, to do so much and go
Speaker 1: us many places and and uh and he's you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you're you're on set and you're shooting it a
Speaker 1: scene where you know it's a it's a a dinner scene,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden he sees birds out
Speaker 1: the window and then he just wants to shoot that,
Speaker 1: and which is cool. So he just you know, you know,
Speaker 1: he kind of I think he's really fascinated by capturing
Speaker 1: moments that are you know, hard, extremely hard to capture,
Speaker 1: Like there's a moment in the Tree of life or
Speaker 1: a butterfly lands on Jessica Chastain's hand. And I remember
Speaker 1: when that, even when I was eleven years old, watching
Speaker 1: that happen in front of me, that was so magical,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's just there there are things like
Speaker 1: that that only happened in his movies. Um that I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, not a lot of other directors
Speaker 1: can can you know, bottle up? And then what kind
Speaker 1: of movies do you want to make going forward? I mean,
Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know, this was obviously a burning desire
Speaker 1: for you when you were a kid. Your parents were
Speaker 1: helping you send out tapes and everything is something you
Speaker 1: really wanted to do. Why do you want to do
Speaker 1: it so badly? And what kind of movies do you
Speaker 1: want to make out? I mean, I think I want to,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to continue to tell stories that
Speaker 1: that move me and will move other people like me.
Speaker 1: And um that also relates you know, extremely important messages.
Speaker 1: And I think that's something that you know, I'm becoming
Speaker 1: more and more interested in and fascinated byas how how
Speaker 1: stories cannot only entertain you, but but also you know,
Speaker 1: teach you something. And my favorite movies or something, you know,
Speaker 1: our movies that that taught me something. And so I
Speaker 1: think those are the type of films that I want
Speaker 1: to continue to make. And also films that you know,
Speaker 1: challenge me personally and uh speak to me, um in
Speaker 1: a sense of you know, at a certain place in time,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's something that I'm going going through
Speaker 1: with my family or and my with my friendships or whatever. Like,
Speaker 1: I always try to find things that that you know
Speaker 1: that are timely and they connect with me, honest, you know,
Speaker 1: in that moment um, And I think it's I think
Speaker 1: it's really important because I think you know, that's sometimes
Speaker 1: when it's when you you're able to do your best work,
Speaker 1: is when it's closest to you or sometimes like maybe
Speaker 1: it's something you don't understand, and through working on a
Speaker 1: film and telling a story you know similar to what
Speaker 1: you're going through in life, may help you better understand
Speaker 1: yourself translate that the Ready player one, what what was
Speaker 1: it about this movie? Had to say that that I
Speaker 1: really spoke to you. Sure. So I'm kind of on
Speaker 1: the fence about social media, and I'm kind of on
Speaker 1: the fence about a you know, all these digital platforms
Speaker 1: that we have and how accessible they are, but and
Speaker 1: also how how much time people are investing themselves into
Speaker 1: um these platforms. And so I actually, up until about
Speaker 1: a year ago, I was and this is very ignorant, um,
Speaker 1: but I had I had a flip phone until about
Speaker 1: a year ago, and then I switched to an iPhone
Speaker 1: because I realized, like, you know, I think, I've I'm
Speaker 1: contradicted because I see, you know, people are constantly connected
Speaker 1: to a screen and there they forget to look up
Speaker 1: and engage with people all around them, and there's like,
Speaker 1: you know, there's so much you can see and there's
Speaker 1: so much you can learn just by looking up and um.
Speaker 1: So that was a frustration of mine, and so that's
Speaker 1: why I wanted to go against the grain, I think.
Speaker 1: But then I realized, like, it's beautiful that we all
Speaker 1: have that tool, which is we have a computer in
Speaker 1: our pockets and at any moment in time, I can
Speaker 1: google something and learn something that I didn't know, and
Speaker 1: it's it's at my fingertips. And so in Ready Player one,
Speaker 1: you know, our movie is set in two thousand forty
Speaker 1: five where people spend most of their lives in a
Speaker 1: virtual world called the Oasis, and uh, it's a social world.
Speaker 1: It's you know, you can play games there, people even
Speaker 1: work inside of the Oasis. It's a it's a it's
Speaker 1: a you know, it's it's a photo real, uh fantastical
Speaker 1: replica of kind of a real world reality. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think that stands as a large metaphor to social
Speaker 1: media's on these digital platforms that we have and how
Speaker 1: we balance them, you know, with our real lives. And
Speaker 1: that's something that that is like the greater that's like
Speaker 1: the greatest theme in in Ready Player one is embracing
Speaker 1: reality and embracing and accepting yourself or who you are.
Speaker 1: Because I have a I have a seventeen year old
Speaker 1: little sister, and you know, some very sensitive to to
Speaker 1: all of this stuff, because you know, she has Instagram
Speaker 1: and all the social media platforms, and you know, I
Speaker 1: can see sometimes like maybe in a positive way, maybe
Speaker 1: in a negative way, she's affected by what people say
Speaker 1: on those platforms, and she you know, we're all seeing
Speaker 1: images of people, but they're only the images that they're
Speaker 1: choosing to show you, and that's the profile that they're curating,
Speaker 1: and sometimes we have a hard time understanding that. So
Speaker 1: when you see whether celebrities they're posting, you know, glamorous pictures,
Speaker 1: if they're their travel or what they're doing, or the
Speaker 1: hotel that they're staying in. You know, sometimes it's it's,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's impossible not to compare yourself to to them, um,
Speaker 1: because you're seeing it and then you know you're just
Speaker 1: it's it's sometimes it's the psychology and the psychology of
Speaker 1: it's like it can be it can be depressing, and
Speaker 1: it can make you think like, oh, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: so far from that, I'll never achieve anything in my
Speaker 1: life or whatever. Like you know, it's that's that's not
Speaker 1: true because um, you know these I just I think
Speaker 1: that those are the images they're they're choosing to shoot you, right,
Speaker 1: and you know they're not showing you like all the
Speaker 1: bad days that they're having. Um of course, like nobody
Speaker 1: wants to show you that. So there's there's a layer
Speaker 1: there that doesn't allow for that transparency, and I think
Speaker 1: that it can be dangerous, it can be extremely helpful.
Speaker 1: I'm actually a big you know, I'm a big believer
Speaker 1: in a digitally connected world, and I think the Internet
Speaker 1: and social media is such a new thing, and social
Speaker 1: media has become a new form of entertainment, whether or
Speaker 1: not you want to knowledge or accept it, um it
Speaker 1: has and people actually spend hours a day strong through
Speaker 1: their Instagram. So you know, it's just I think it's
Speaker 1: about a lot of it is. You know, we're in
Speaker 1: a place now where we're just there's no rules and
Speaker 1: no rules set in place, and we're just trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how to go about it and how to
Speaker 1: incorporate it as as as a as a positive tool
Speaker 1: and and get rid of all the negative effects. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well we're talking today on a day when Facebook's being
Speaker 1: investigated by the government, so you know, yeah, there's there's
Speaker 1: even darker elements to it. Also, good thing to keep
Speaker 1: your eye on movies called Ready Player one. It opens
Speaker 1: March twenty nine, and we've talked about X Men Dark
Speaker 1: Phoenix that's in November, So check out both of these movies.
Speaker 1: THI shared and thanks for coming on the show. You
Speaker 1: appreciate so much