Speaker 1: Hi everyone, It's Sophia. Welcome to work in Progress. Hi
Speaker 1: with smarties. I'm so so excited about the gal I'm
Speaker 1: sitting down with today because not only is she, I think,
Speaker 1: one of the voices of our generation as a writer
Speaker 1: and a director, she happens to be a dear friend.
Speaker 1: We have known each other for so long. Today's guest
Speaker 1: is none other than writer and director of The Fallout
Speaker 1: and her latest My Old Ass, Megan Park. You may
Speaker 1: know Megan from her early days starring on the Secret
Speaker 1: Life of the American Teenager. You also may know her
Speaker 1: if you are a one Tree Health fan as Tyler
Speaker 1: Hilton's incredible wife. She is truly one of the most earnest, passionate,
Speaker 1: funny friends I have in my life, who happens to
Speaker 1: write so openly that, even though every single one of
Speaker 1: her stories is so unique and isn't something we've seen before,
Speaker 1: every single person who watches her films feels reflected in them,
Speaker 1: which is probably why they have such unbelievably high ratings
Speaker 1: on Rotten Tomatoes. And Megan has made her latest film
Speaker 1: with none other than producer extraordinary Margo Robbie. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to ask her all about Sundance, all about writing,
Speaker 1: how she finds each of these fascinating characters, and her
Speaker 1: creative process in general. Let's dive in with Megan Park.
Speaker 1: It is honestly, it's like so weird to talk about
Speaker 1: work right now, but also kind of incredibly healing. Like
Speaker 1: the week was really weird, and I had planned to
Speaker 1: go to the Wicked premiere and I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I can. What do I We're going
Speaker 1: to the movies, And then I was like, actually, the
Speaker 1: movies are exactly where I want to be, and this
Speaker 1: movie that's based or this movie that's based on a
Speaker 1: play that was based on the movie that was written
Speaker 1: in response to the Rise of Hitler actually feels like
Speaker 1: exactly where I want to go. Like I got there
Speaker 1: and I was like, we're here for like all the
Speaker 1: musical theater people and all of the artists and all
Speaker 1: of the gays and all of the witches that they
Speaker 1: couldn't burn, Like this was the movie that I needed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it really did. I felt like it really healed me.
Speaker 1: And then I felt so good after having seen a
Speaker 1: movie that the next night I watched your movie. I
Speaker 1: was like, this is exactly what I needed again, So
Speaker 1: I think I'm just going to become a film buff
Speaker 1: for the next four years.
Speaker 2: It's like I have this whole mentality when I go
Speaker 2: in Stad where I'm like, I think it's really important
Speaker 2: to remember that we're not saving lives like I tried,
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of like we're not Yes, there's
Speaker 2: going to be fires and things that go wrong, but
Speaker 2: there's nothing that can't be solved. But it is interesting
Speaker 2: because I have been thinking like post selection and just
Speaker 2: whatever the state of the world. I'm like, well we
Speaker 2: are art does save lives, you know, and it really
Speaker 2: there is that gravity to it. Yeah, you can still
Speaker 2: have that mentality on set of not like you know,
Speaker 2: putting out fires with that kind of yeah, like prenetic mentality.
Speaker 2: But I do feel like now, more than ever, it's
Speaker 2: reaffirmed my belief that I'm like, oh, yeah, it's so
Speaker 2: important to work the shit out and make art that
Speaker 2: feels makes people feel seen, especially people that are trying
Speaker 2: to be you know, stomped out of existence in America.
Speaker 1: Yeah. What a weird what a weird time. Well, the
Speaker 1: movie feels more important I think now than ever, and
Speaker 1: for me, especially stories that you know, send her women
Speaker 1: and are led by and feel so important. But before
Speaker 1: we get into how you made this perfect film and
Speaker 1: all of my questions about it, I actually want to
Speaker 1: like rewind in a big way, which might be more
Speaker 1: surreal for you than some people, because I wonder how
Speaker 1: it'll make you think about your own family. We got
Speaker 1: to know you as an actor so young. Ye, I'm
Speaker 1: actually really curious if we go back even further, Like
Speaker 1: if we could do what your movie does and you
Speaker 1: could sit down with nine year old Megan, who would
Speaker 1: she be? Was she a storyteller? Was she a performer?
Speaker 1: Was she a bookworm?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Who's the little girl that you were? And do you
Speaker 1: see how she turned into the adult.
Speaker 2: That you are. I thought a little bit about this
Speaker 2: because everybody keeps asking, you know, like would you want
Speaker 2: to go back and you know, talk to your younger self?
Speaker 2: Would you want to talk to your older self? And
Speaker 2: I feel like me and Amazing and Aubrey have all
Speaker 2: been like we rejacked the idea of going forward because
Speaker 2: it gets too scary because after your older self, but
Speaker 2: it would be so therapeutic. It feels like a therapy
Speaker 2: exercise to go back and talk to your childhood self.
Speaker 2: I think it's interesting because when you're from a small
Speaker 2: town and you don't have anybody in your family who's
Speaker 2: in the industry, but you have a desire to be
Speaker 2: in the arts in some capacity, you end up a
Speaker 2: theater camp. And I think that's sort of what happened
Speaker 2: to me, is like, my dad was a dentist, my
Speaker 2: mom was a teacher. Nobody was I didn't know. We
Speaker 2: didn't have a TV in our house. The first time
Speaker 2: I saw a movie in the theater, I was twelve.
Speaker 2: Although they took us to tons of theater and tons
Speaker 2: of ballet and the opera and things like that in Toronto,
Speaker 2: I just TV in film was not really at the
Speaker 2: forefront of like how I absorbed the arts, I guess,
Speaker 2: but I ended up in theater camp and that led
Speaker 2: to like being a full year round theater program, and
Speaker 2: that led to me being like, Okay, I really like this.
Speaker 2: And then you know, there's so many things that film
Speaker 2: in Toronto that like need to hire Canadian people, and
Speaker 2: so I started getting jobs. And when you have some
Speaker 2: six set it becomes like a bit of a like
Speaker 2: a you know, like okay, this is working, like this
Speaker 2: is I'm having fun doing this. And I got to
Speaker 2: meet so many incredible people that felt like my people
Speaker 2: for the first time. This is when I was older.
Speaker 2: I mean, my parents didn't let me start acting professionally
Speaker 2: until I was sixteen or seventeen, which is young now
Speaker 2: in hindsight, but I certainly wasn't doing it on a
Speaker 2: professional level at nine. But I think that performing was
Speaker 2: like the pathway to finding what I was meant to do,
Speaker 2: which was writing and directing. But even and you'll probably
Speaker 2: relate to this, like, really, I was in TV for
Speaker 2: most of my acting career, and I was on a
Speaker 2: lot of shows where creativity wasn't necessarily always at the
Speaker 2: forefront of what was the most important thing. And a
Speaker 2: lot of times, you know, after six or seven seasons
Speaker 2: of a show, the actors are really running the set,
Speaker 2: and so the directors would sweet some directors that would
Speaker 2: come in and and have really exciting ideas and stuff.
Speaker 2: But I never really saw the director in a lot
Speaker 2: of situations as somebody who was getting to really be
Speaker 2: super creative. So I never I look back, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: that's so crazy that I never really want I had
Speaker 2: end no desire. I never would have expected that I
Speaker 2: would end up directing or writing. The writers were just
Speaker 2: like we were on the sound stage in the lot,
Speaker 2: they were in another area. We never really saw them.
Speaker 2: It wasn't that type of a set where it was
Speaker 2: a super like the writers were constantly there, you know,
Speaker 2: throwing out dialogue. So it was very separate. And then
Speaker 2: but I just absorbed so much. I mean I spent
Speaker 2: like seven years making you know, twenty seven episodes of
Speaker 2: TV show, a TV and a season, and I feel
Speaker 2: so comfortable on a set, like I know everybody's role
Speaker 2: inside and out, and worked with so many different types
Speaker 2: of actors. So it was like this weird you know education,
Speaker 2: but I'm not like a cinophile. Nobody in my family
Speaker 2: was like I just saw Forrest Gump for the first time,
Speaker 2: catching up on the classics, and so I was always like,
Speaker 2: I can't direct, like I don't know anything. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think that acting it had to go the way
Speaker 2: that it went because I never would have just I
Speaker 2: never would have been like I'm going to go to
Speaker 2: film school and I'm going to study cameras and lenses.
Speaker 2: I would have it just wouldn't have interested me. But
Speaker 2: once I found it through acting, I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: this makes sense. In a way that acting, truthfully never has.
Speaker 3: Yeah, do you think that why do you think that is?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Was was acting too small a project for you? Do
Speaker 1: you think that directing gave you the full like the
Speaker 1: full scope? This is going to sound so stupid. I
Speaker 1: don't know why this just popped into my head, but
Speaker 1: the image that I had when I did this, I
Speaker 1: was like, I mactored like a piece of pizza and
Speaker 1: then a whole pizza, Like you know, is directing just
Speaker 1: more slices for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that there was. I thought a lot
Speaker 2: about it because as I've been doing press, a big
Speaker 2: press cycle for the first time because the Fallout came
Speaker 2: out during the pandemic and I was able to not
Speaker 2: have to really do any of that, I've been so
Speaker 2: triggered again in the same way as an actor, which
Speaker 2: is like getting my hair and makeup done, being in
Speaker 2: fittings like that stuff is so it truly is like
Speaker 2: it's not my favorite part of it. And I think that, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think that as an actor, I would watch my
Speaker 2: peers be so driven to like get these roles. And
Speaker 2: I remember shay Shane Woodley, who was on Secret Life
Speaker 2: with me. She specifically that movie The Descendants that really
Speaker 2: broke her out. She was so young, she was like
Speaker 2: sixteen or seventeen, and she auditioned and like didn't even
Speaker 2: get a call back, and she was like, no, like
Speaker 2: I know, this is my part, and she went to
Speaker 2: a new acting class and like fought to get a callback.
Speaker 2: And I was kind of like just sort of there
Speaker 2: for the ride, like I would be on side and
Speaker 2: be like, this is fun, but there was nothing about
Speaker 2: it was that felt like it was fulfilling to me creatively.
Speaker 2: I was having a lot of fun doing it. I
Speaker 2: was meeting really interesting people, I was having some success
Speaker 2: doing it, but I really hated certain elements of it
Speaker 2: as well, Like I really hated the hair and makeup trailer.
Speaker 2: I hated fittings, Like I just didn't love that part
Speaker 2: of it. And then truthfully, the first time I directed,
Speaker 2: I was like, wait a second. I get to be
Speaker 2: on set, which I love. I get to work with actors,
Speaker 2: which I love. I get to work with other creatives
Speaker 2: and be collaborative, which I love. And I don't have
Speaker 2: to go through two hours of hair makeup in the
Speaker 2: morning or ever do a fitting like I'm already this
Speaker 2: is oh yeah, wait I love this so much. And
Speaker 2: it's not that like, I don't know, shame on the
Speaker 2: hair and makeup part of it. Maybe I'm just like
Speaker 2: two insecure for that side of it. And I could
Speaker 2: never ever put myself in one of my own projects.
Speaker 2: You've always asked me, Yes, that's like my personal nightmare. God,
Speaker 2: it's just something I'm I'm objective enough, you know.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting. I have a friend who's such a
Speaker 1: talented right now and such an amazing comedian, and he's
Speaker 1: doing a show right now that he's also writing on
Speaker 1: and he was like, Oh, this is really hard and
Speaker 1: to do all of it, yeah, and to do it
Speaker 1: at the same time because he obviously writes his comedy,
Speaker 1: He's written his specials, right he writes them and then
Speaker 1: he performs them. And he was saying that having I'm
Speaker 1: a huge fan the best and he was just saying
Speaker 1: that having to do both is like so hard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I get that. It really made me think. And
Speaker 1: not to say that it's in any way, shape or
Speaker 1: form the same as I think it would be now.
Speaker 1: But one of the things I think they did really
Speaker 1: well for us when we were making One Tree Hill
Speaker 1: is that when we finally started directing. They really would
Speaker 1: do their best to kind of stack our scenes so
Speaker 1: that we could do two heavy days of acting and
Speaker 1: then we'd have seven days of just directing on set.
Speaker 3: Right, And yeah, I can't.
Speaker 1: Imagine like having to perform in a scene and then.
Speaker 3: Be like, hold on, was that funny?
Speaker 1: Let me rewrite my own lines right now on the fly,
Speaker 1: like I would die.
Speaker 2: I know. I think people that can do it, I
Speaker 2: feel like it's it's so admirable because you really do
Speaker 2: have to like really be removed from yourself and take
Speaker 2: a step back, and I so admire people that can
Speaker 2: do it, and a lot of people can do it
Speaker 2: really well. For me, it's like I also I find
Speaker 2: the actors that I cast become such muses to me,
Speaker 2: and I'm just like too insecure to be my own muse.
Speaker 2: Like you know what I mean, I can enny good
Speaker 2: one began.
Speaker 1: I don't know, you really nailed that, girl, pat yourself
Speaker 1: on the back.
Speaker 2: And nailed it. But yeah, it does take the ability
Speaker 2: to switch brains, and I think I just turned off
Speaker 2: the acting side of my brain too. I don't miss
Speaker 2: it yet. Maybe someday I will, but I just don't
Speaker 2: miss it. I don't miss it yet.
Speaker 3: Wow, you know what's funny.
Speaker 1: I I don't think I let myself miss it. I
Speaker 1: think we did One Tree Hill for so long, and
Speaker 1: I wonder if you felt this way it was secret life,
Speaker 1: Like we did it for so so long that I
Speaker 1: looking back, there's like certain projects I did on hiatus
Speaker 1: that I never should have, but I was just so
Speaker 1: desperate to like do anything else that I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't even care if the script isn't that good.
Speaker 1: It's the only movie that shoots in the days that
Speaker 1: I'm off. And then it was like I jumped into
Speaker 1: a show. Immediately I went onto Partners, and then immediately
Speaker 1: I went onto PD. Like I did not take a
Speaker 1: break for fifteen years, dangs, And now I've kind of
Speaker 1: allowed myself to take time in between things, and like
Speaker 1: the strike forced us all to take time.
Speaker 3: But even this year, I.
Speaker 1: Had these two movies planned and then one had to
Speaker 1: shift because you know what it's like with production and
Speaker 1: locations and whatever. And the space I got in the
Speaker 1: shift actually was such a gift to me. And now
Speaker 1: I'm doing this fun thing on grays and like I
Speaker 1: went to set.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh my god, acting is so.
Speaker 1: Fun, And it had only been three months in between
Speaker 1: the movie wrapping and the show. But I find that
Speaker 1: my bounce back into really enjoying what we do on
Speaker 1: set is faster and faster than it used to be.
Speaker 1: So I do wonder if you'll find that.
Speaker 2: I think so. And I think also, these projects take
Speaker 2: so long that it feels like you get as I'm
Speaker 2: you know, now, I'm already like I started a new
Speaker 2: project this week, and I'm already, you know, fifty pages
Speaker 2: into my next film. But you do have these I mean,
Speaker 2: we shot this movie almost three years ago or three
Speaker 2: years ago, and so it takes so long that and
Speaker 2: so much of it for me is in the writing
Speaker 2: of it, like in before you're ever even on set. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it feels like it's yeah, there's a sense of completion,
Speaker 2: you know, and you do get to kind of breathe
Speaker 2: through it and really see it, and once you put
Speaker 2: it out in the world, it already feels like it's
Speaker 2: in my brain. I've already moved on to the next
Speaker 2: creative thing. And I spend so much time in that
Speaker 2: quiet space. I'm not sitting in my computer writing every day.
Speaker 2: I'm that's not at all my process, Like I spend
Speaker 2: so much time just kind of living and thinking about
Speaker 2: the characters and just figure out what the next story
Speaker 2: I want to tell is. And I think that's why
Speaker 2: I've been so like passionate about the things that I
Speaker 2: have been able to work on, because it's I've had
Speaker 2: that room to breathe in between.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors who make the
Speaker 1: show possible.
Speaker 3: How did that start for you?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: How did you go from TV? You know, set life,
Speaker 1: actor life. Where did the writing come from? How did
Speaker 1: you know that this is where you wanted to go?
Speaker 2: I didn't really, but truthfully I don't. I'm feeling I'm
Speaker 2: figuring out my own brain, still in my writer brain.
Speaker 2: But I worked with this actress writer director named Zoe
Speaker 2: Kazan who's very talented, and we played sisters, and I
Speaker 2: just was so obsessed with her and looked up to
Speaker 2: her so much, and I thought she was like the
Speaker 2: smartest person I'd ever met. She's very smart and very cool.
Speaker 2: And I was just coming Secret Life had been canceled,
Speaker 2: but we were still had to film like ten episodes
Speaker 2: or whatever, and so for the first time I was
Speaker 2: kind of thinking about what was next, and I had
Speaker 2: this idea about a show that I want to write
Speaker 2: about this child, this girl who was like, you know,
Speaker 2: almost thirty, who was playing like a fourteen year old
Speaker 2: on a Disney show, who was just always like high
Speaker 2: out of her mind. It was called Calver Collins Is High.
Speaker 2: And I was pitching it to Zoe as an idea
Speaker 2: and she was like, you should write it, and it
Speaker 2: was just literally I knew she was so smart and
Speaker 2: so talented. Her even thinking that I could do it,
Speaker 2: it was like a light bulb went off in my head.
Speaker 2: Nobody had ever said to me before, like have you
Speaker 2: ever thought about it? I don't know. I just had
Speaker 2: never had anybody that I believed in so much believe
Speaker 2: in me in that way. And I remember she kind
Speaker 2: of read the first draft of it and thought it
Speaker 2: was really great, and I ended up just sending it
Speaker 2: to my agents and everybody, of course, was like, we
Speaker 2: love how There's there's no structure to this show, like
Speaker 2: it's just very and I was like, because I don't
Speaker 2: know what I'm doing, I don't know how, I don't
Speaker 2: know how to write act breaks or anything. But I
Speaker 2: end up CBS ended up buying it and we actually
Speaker 2: went through sort of like they hired a showrunner and
Speaker 2: I learned a lot. It never got made, but it
Speaker 2: was immediately I was like, oh, this is so therapeutic
Speaker 2: for me to write. I didn't even think about directing
Speaker 2: it at that point, but just the writing process was
Speaker 2: so fun for me, and I knew then that I
Speaker 2: was like, I'm going to write forever, whether people are
Speaker 2: reader it or not, Like this is something that I
Speaker 2: can't not do. This is for me, Like this is
Speaker 2: just so personal. And then that didn't get made, and
Speaker 2: the fallout was something that I'd been thinking about. I
Speaker 2: was still acting and just like taking like whatever kind
Speaker 2: of roles came my way. And I was in Vancouver
Speaker 2: at the Sutton Place, like film something I just couldn't
Speaker 2: stop thinking about. I mean, obviously, unfortunately there wasn't one
Speaker 2: specific event, but I started thinking about just the reality
Speaker 2: of being a teenager in an American and going to
Speaker 2: school every day. And I grew up, of course, like
Speaker 2: a millennial and going to school in Canada, and I
Speaker 2: never ever felt scared. I never felt scared going to school,
Speaker 2: not once, never even entered my mind. And I think
Speaker 2: I was starting to think about having kids and I
Speaker 2: was like, well, fuck, like this is just I can't
Speaker 2: believe this is actually a reality. I would for sure
Speaker 2: not be able to go to school every day if
Speaker 2: I was sixteen right now, Like I just knowing who
Speaker 2: I am, I couldn't do it. And I just kind
Speaker 2: of started thinking about how can I talk about this
Speaker 2: in a way that's palatable, because it was so triggering
Speaker 2: to me, Like I have a really hard time, you know,
Speaker 2: watching stories about gun violence and school shootings, but yet
Speaker 2: I felt like there hadn't been this story about kind
Speaker 2: of somebody who wasn't directly affected by it necessarily, but
Speaker 2: was obviously, you know, greatly affected by it. And so
Speaker 2: just this veda character was very much a part of me,
Speaker 2: and it was just a story that I wanted to tell.
Speaker 2: And maybe it was nice that I am a millennial
Speaker 2: and I am Canadian and had the sort of like
Speaker 2: a removed perspective on it in a sense that helped
Speaker 2: me to kind of of tap into that in some way.
Speaker 2: But I talked to a lot of people who had
Speaker 2: been through Beta's experience. I talked to a lot of
Speaker 2: people involved with every town and did a lot of
Speaker 2: research and had a lot of people read it and
Speaker 2: give me notes and feedback, and unfortunately, there's so many
Speaker 2: people who who could give perspective into this story, and
Speaker 2: it was important to me to make it, you know,
Speaker 2: not triggering for people who had been through that experience.
Speaker 2: But once I thought about it and talked about it
Speaker 2: so much, I wrote it in like a week or
Speaker 2: maybe two weeks. It came really, really really fast because
Speaker 2: I knew who all the people were, and it was
Speaker 2: the same with mild Ass. Soon as I figure out
Speaker 2: the characters, then everything just kind of flows. I never
Speaker 2: write an outline and never like do anything like that.
Speaker 2: I'm just kind of like, Okay, I know the people,
Speaker 2: and now I can just sit and write a scene
Speaker 2: and their voices will kind of come to me. But yeah,
Speaker 2: that was sort of like the prime and then I yeah,
Speaker 2: two weeks and then somebody wanted to make it. We
Speaker 2: made it for a million dollars, which I was like,
Speaker 2: that's so much money to make a movie. And then
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, that's not a lot of You're.
Speaker 1: Like, actually, when there's a whole giant set and locations
Speaker 1: and rentals and transfer and gas you have to buy
Speaker 1: for the transfer cars and the.
Speaker 3: People and like a lot like The Office.
Speaker 1: It suddenly you realize when you employ that many people,
Speaker 1: you're building a world goes fast.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we shot that movie in like fifteen days,
Speaker 2: I think, and we edited it and not even thirty
Speaker 2: And I thought that was normal because it's just the
Speaker 2: first time I'd directed something, but you know, it was
Speaker 2: it was also really special to have such a small,
Speaker 2: yeah crew like we had. It made it like a
Speaker 2: really intimate, cool experience.
Speaker 1: Which I think you can feel and the movie feels
Speaker 1: so intimate, and I think for the subject matter of
Speaker 1: The Fallout, that probably enabled people to feel a little
Speaker 1: like safer to be open. What what was it like then,
Speaker 1: because that film was, I mean a such an amazing film,
Speaker 1: be so critically acclaimed, like it brings all the attention
Speaker 1: and all the things and puts you in front of
Speaker 1: so many people. How was the process different with my
Speaker 1: old ass?
Speaker 2: It was? It was so different because I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: we took The Fallout to south By and won, you know,
Speaker 2: the Grand Jury Award, and we won the Audience Favorite,
Speaker 2: and also I won the Directing Award and I was
Speaker 2: at home and the festival director called me because it
Speaker 2: was you know, twenty twenty one. Everything was virtual. She
Speaker 2: was like congratulations, you know you won, and it was like,
Speaker 2: thank you, and then I hung up the phone and
Speaker 2: went back to doing whatever.
Speaker 3: I just like finished my laundry.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I yeah, Whennie had just been born, my daughter,
Speaker 2: and so yeah, it was a very very removed. I
Speaker 2: like still don't feel like I made that movie and
Speaker 2: it went out into the world like it's still shocks
Speaker 2: and we were like the Fall and I still have
Speaker 2: never seen that movie on the big screen with the
Speaker 2: cast or an audience, which is also so surreal. The
Speaker 2: whole thing was really really removed, but also kind of
Speaker 2: freeing because I got to just I really was like
Speaker 2: just so not in my head about it because I
Speaker 2: was like, no, no one's going to see this movie. And
Speaker 2: then HBO Max bought it and people saw, which was
Speaker 2: really exciting. And then this time I was definitely having
Speaker 2: like sophomore album anxiety because I was like, oh, fuck,
Speaker 2: like this feels it was out of sort of the
Speaker 2: COVID of it all. The set experience was really different.
Speaker 2: We had like big time producers. I felt like there
Speaker 2: was more eyes on me to you know, succeed or fail.
Speaker 2: But luckily again I've got so lucky with the group
Speaker 2: of people we were making it with where like creativity
Speaker 2: was I was so protected from the bullshit of everything.
Speaker 2: And we got to film it like in this small
Speaker 2: town in Canada on a lake and we were like
Speaker 2: voting to the boating to base camp and it was
Speaker 2: just it was very disarming, I think for everybody. So
Speaker 2: it was a really like incredible experience on set, and
Speaker 2: then it was so I think it really honestly all
Speaker 2: hit me at Sunbance opening it, which Hillary was there
Speaker 2: with job, which was so sweet. But to sit there
Speaker 2: in an audience and it was like a packed theater.
Speaker 2: It was the biggest theater. I don't even know how
Speaker 2: many people it was. I think it was like close
Speaker 2: to a thousand or something, insane. And to have the
Speaker 2: movie start and then then being like you have to
Speaker 2: like go out and introduce it and you know, go
Speaker 2: on stage afterwards, it's like, oh my god, people are
Speaker 2: going to see this, which felt so it was terrifying.
Speaker 2: It was probably the most top five terrifying moments of
Speaker 2: my life for sure, that that first thirty seconds of
Speaker 2: the film starting and then we got a laugh and
Speaker 2: like part of me relaxed. I was like, Okay, here
Speaker 2: we go, and then the roller coaster since then has
Speaker 2: just been it's like amazing, it's it's been surreal. And
Speaker 2: everybody kept saying, you know, this is a sundance experience,
Speaker 2: and people dream about having like soak it up, you know,
Speaker 2: to be in the middle of a bidding war and
Speaker 2: having it was just the whole thing was I mean,
Speaker 2: it was insane. It's hard to metabolize moments like that.
Speaker 2: You know, it's really crazy.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, where do you do you now being
Speaker 1: not exactly on the other side of the process, but
Speaker 1: you're at the point where now it's out in the world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, And you talk about you filmed this movie
Speaker 1: three years ago, you know, up on a tiny lake
Speaker 1: in Canada, like it was so removed and now it's everywhere.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you have a different perspective on
Speaker 1: where the idea for the movie even came from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I feel like I don't know what parts
Speaker 2: of myself I'm figuring out while I'm writing until much
Speaker 2: later in the process, or I'm seeing certain parts of
Speaker 2: myself in different characters every step of the way, And
Speaker 2: I think it's yeah, I mean, so much of my
Speaker 2: life has changed too since I made the movie, Like
Speaker 2: I had a second kid, I lost my dad really
Speaker 2: tragically and unexpectedly. So the movie definitely has like a
Speaker 2: whole new meaning to me in a way that I
Speaker 2: never could have expected or you know whatever. But I
Speaker 2: think that, yeah, it's interesting even it felt like such
Speaker 2: a moment in time. And really that movie had nothing
Speaker 2: to do with the idea initially of talking to your older,
Speaker 2: younger self or doing the mushrooms. No, it was really like,
Speaker 2: there's two moments in the film. One is the idea
Speaker 2: that there was a last time you played pretend with
Speaker 2: your friends and you didn't know it was the last
Speaker 2: time you played pretend, And like, how sad that made me.
Speaker 2: It was that idea, and also that led to me
Speaker 2: thinking like I was home during the pandemic and I
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, there was one night when
Speaker 2: my family as a nuclear family before like my sister
Speaker 2: moved off uent University or this, and that change that
Speaker 2: we all slept here under this roof for the last
Speaker 2: time and we didn't know that it was god like
Speaker 2: as that you know, before things changed. And that thought
Speaker 2: made me so sad and I was like fuck like,
Speaker 2: and then I started thinking, if you know it's the
Speaker 2: last time for me, I would it would definitely ruin it,
Speaker 2: like I am somebody. I would be like no, like
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Yeah, And that
Speaker 2: sort of snowballed into this idea of like how much
Speaker 2: do you want to know about the past and the
Speaker 2: future and and is there some sort of full ignorance
Speaker 2: and like not knowing this something is the last time?
Speaker 2: Or or is it nice to be able to savor it?
Speaker 2: And just that kind of thought had me spitballing on
Speaker 2: just that conversation. But really I was writing the movie
Speaker 2: very much from like old ass's perspective, and I had
Speaker 2: just become a mom, and I think so much of
Speaker 2: this movie was like me reflecting on my childhood and
Speaker 2: like you start to think about what kind of world
Speaker 2: do you want to curate for your own children? And
Speaker 2: I started thinking about this beautiful place in Canada that
Speaker 2: I grew up in that I was so excited to leave,
Speaker 2: and then I came back and I was like, it's
Speaker 2: so magical here. Why did I ever want to leave?
Speaker 2: So it was it was those feelings really that set
Speaker 2: the tone like for me wanting to explore this weirdly,
Speaker 2: like that was really the core of the whole movie
Speaker 2: for me, and then everything else was just like an
Speaker 2: avenue to explore that again in a palatable way, like
Speaker 2: it's kind of a heavy, heavy thought, but I was like,
Speaker 2: how can I how can I make this not so dark?
Speaker 1: But the interesting thing is the idea of lasts and
Speaker 1: you know, the stuff you can't wait to leave and
Speaker 1: then how much you miss it, Like they're so universal,
Speaker 1: you know that obviously what happens in the film is
Speaker 1: very specific. This group of friends that decides on one
Speaker 1: of their last weekends to you know, have a slumber
Speaker 1: party and take mushrooms. Like maybe not everyone's had that experience,
Speaker 1: but I think the themes of the film are so universal.
Speaker 1: We've all felt that sort of longing to leave the
Speaker 1: nest and then the craving for the nest. And I
Speaker 1: don't know, there's so much I want to talk to
Speaker 1: you about in the movie, but that I don't feel
Speaker 1: like I can talk about on the podcast because I
Speaker 1: don't want to give anything away. But what has it
Speaker 1: been like for you to see audience reactions? Because I'm
Speaker 1: imagining you get some pretty emotional feedback. The movie is
Speaker 1: so funny, and the second the second sort of fantasy sequence.
Speaker 3: I was cackling.
Speaker 1: It's such an uplifting film, but it does deal with
Speaker 1: like some really you know, raw emotional ideas. So what
Speaker 1: does feedback look like for you.
Speaker 2: I've had a lot of people sob to my face,
Speaker 2: you know, like it's a lot of people which is
Speaker 2: so beautiful, and it's almost like it's a huge responsibility.
Speaker 2: You know, people have been really moved by the film,
Speaker 2: which you don't ever at least I don't ever think about,
Speaker 2: Like you don't even want to put your hopes there.
Speaker 2: I wasn't trying to write something. You know, it's almost
Speaker 2: too scary to think that anyone's going to even have
Speaker 2: any reaction to anything you make. That's like too scary
Speaker 2: a hope to have to be let down by that.
Speaker 2: I think you think about jokes working or not working
Speaker 2: because that's easier to try to nail. But the emotional stuff,
Speaker 2: like you really and in the edit too, you can
Speaker 2: kind of get a feel for the comedy of what's
Speaker 2: working and what's not. But you really are just so
Speaker 2: insulated in that process that you do not know how
Speaker 2: that's going to hit people until you're in your real
Speaker 2: first big screening like Sun Dance, but to hear people
Speaker 2: actually during the there's a moment at the end that
Speaker 2: I don't want to spoil, but there's like quite an
Speaker 2: emotional moment, and there was it was so quiet that
Speaker 2: I started getting nervous as something wasn't working. And then
Speaker 2: I looked around and I saw people going like this,
Speaker 2: and I thought, oh my god, people are laughing, and
Speaker 2: I started freaking because I was like, oh, oh no,
Speaker 2: this is like the pinnacle of the movie and if
Speaker 2: this moment doesn't hit like, we've failed, we fucked up.
Speaker 2: And then I realized that people were crying so hard
Speaker 2: that it looked like they were like laughing, like they
Speaker 2: were were eaving sobbing. And then it started to really
Speaker 2: hit me. I was like, oh my god, this is
Speaker 2: not fake. This is not like, oh, you know, sniffle,
Speaker 2: people are being so gutturally, not everybody, but you could see,
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of people really really really moved,
Speaker 2: and it was again quite shocking and hard to metabolize.
Speaker 2: And one of the most interesting things is we keep
Speaker 2: joking about this, but it is not you know, it's amazing,
Speaker 2: it's beautiful. But old men have fucking been destroyed by
Speaker 2: this movie. Like men over sixty, I swear to God,
Speaker 2: have the most viscerally emotional reactions to this movie because
Speaker 2: I think there's something about regret and time specifically for
Speaker 2: old men that really hits them in this film. And
Speaker 2: we would never in a billion years like even think
Speaker 2: to target. I'm like, to me, I'm making a movie,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, if men like it, cool, but who cares,
Speaker 2: Like that's not who I'm making movies for, so whatever,
Speaker 2: But old men have really been fucking moved by this movie,
Speaker 2: which has been really interesting to see and it's also
Speaker 2: cool to see. There's such different takeaways for people. Like
Speaker 2: when we tested the movie, young people really related to
Speaker 2: the younger characters and definitely understood the bigger feelings of
Speaker 2: like nostalgia and time passing, but they definitely had a
Speaker 2: different takeaway than people who are sort of the old
Speaker 2: asses as we would call them, the people over you know,
Speaker 2: thirty five. I think that feeling of time becoming sort
Speaker 2: of your worst enemy, that's really your only enemy as
Speaker 2: you get older is time in so many ways, and
Speaker 2: that was I think a big, really interesting takeaway for
Speaker 2: the older audiences. But it's been really beautiful. And when
Speaker 2: people come up and say, you know, I called my mom,
Speaker 2: I called my dad, you know, I apologize my parents
Speaker 2: were being such an asshole when I was younger, things
Speaker 2: like that. It's really it's really beautiful and so surreal,
Speaker 2: so surreal to see somebody like move to tears. It's insane.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I wept no shock there.
Speaker 2: Now. I've had many friends send me these voice notes
Speaker 2: after the movie and they're like, they can't even they
Speaker 2: can't even breathe. Their crimes are and I never know
Speaker 2: where there to be. It is like amazing. It's so
Speaker 2: cool to hear people so moved. But you're also like,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to like fuck you up.
Speaker 2: So it's so hard, but it's I know, my bad.
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors. When you talk
Speaker 1: about how you wrote it, you know you relate so much,
Speaker 1: obviously to Aubrey's character, to the older of these two women.
Speaker 1: If you ever had the opportunity to go back and
Speaker 1: talk to your seventeen year old self, what do you
Speaker 1: think you would say.
Speaker 2: I would say some things that I couldn't say on
Speaker 2: this podcast that I would say.
Speaker 3: To you, love it.
Speaker 1: You and I both can't wait to talk about it
Speaker 1: in an hour.
Speaker 2: I think you could probably know all of them. I
Speaker 2: think I would try to encourage myself to live more
Speaker 2: consciously and to be more aware that life doesn't necessarily
Speaker 2: have to happen to you, like you can make things happen.
Speaker 2: I feel like I was almost late to kind of
Speaker 2: become alert and become aware, and I was just sort
Speaker 2: of following whatever kind of came to me. And I
Speaker 2: wish that I could sort of like wake myself up
Speaker 2: a little bit and be like, life, whatever you want
Speaker 2: to have happened in life, you can make have happened.
Speaker 2: Life isn't happening to you. And I was really inspired
Speaker 2: by Mazie because she and a lot of younger people
Speaker 2: that I've worked with, they are so alert and aware
Speaker 2: and so conscious, and she and also so blissfully young
Speaker 2: and naive in so many beautiful ways. I think the
Speaker 2: movie touches on it's like this bravery that young people have,
Speaker 2: but it was really cool to I was just not
Speaker 2: like that at her age, Like it was amazing working
Speaker 2: with her and she was already kind of like, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, like my mom and really like connected with
Speaker 2: those feelings of like, I don't want to be an
Speaker 2: asshole my mom and time is going by so quickly
Speaker 2: and really knows what she wants and is like going
Speaker 2: after it. And it was really inspiring and beautiful to
Speaker 2: work with so many young people who already have that,
Speaker 2: and it made me wish I could go back, and
Speaker 2: I wish like a seventeen year old we could hang
Speaker 2: out with seventeen year old Mazy and be inspired by
Speaker 2: that energy.
Speaker 1: Yes, I totally get that, you know, even you saying
Speaker 1: that you wish you could tell your younger self that
Speaker 1: you can be a little more in control. I feel
Speaker 1: like I've intellectually understood that that was true. I don't
Speaker 1: think I've understood that that was true for me until
Speaker 1: the last I don't know, twelve eighteen months. Maybe, Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I realize that, and it's even a thing I
Speaker 1: like about myself. I My reaction is often to serve,
Speaker 1: to be in community, to gather, to want to, you know,
Speaker 1: create goodness in the face of things that are. But
Speaker 1: I've really thought a lot this year about, well, what
Speaker 1: if it wasn't so reactive, and what if I shifted
Speaker 1: into more proactivity, Like what if I cared about my
Speaker 1: own life the way I care about everyone else's lives.
Speaker 2: You know, yes, no, it's exactly that I mean. And
Speaker 2: you know it's so funny is everyone's notes to me
Speaker 2: always in scripts, are your lead characters aren't active enough?
Speaker 2: They're so reactive? They always tell me that, and I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: that's part of the journey. But yeah, I feel the
Speaker 2: same way, like I say, you don't say yeah, and
Speaker 2: I think that's I don't know if it's like also
Speaker 2: our generation. I hate to like say, are but there wasn't.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I felt like, especially being an actor
Speaker 2: and just being a young woman at the time that
Speaker 2: we were, and I don't know, really like in that position,
Speaker 2: I never felt like I could say anything like I
Speaker 2: was just I was just there and people were telling
Speaker 2: you what to do, and it was not the vibe
Speaker 2: to even have an opinion. So maybe that's why I
Speaker 2: didn't let myself go there.
Speaker 1: Well, what I also think is sort of wild is
Speaker 1: at least for me, I'm like, oh, I had plenty
Speaker 1: of opinions, but it was.
Speaker 3: Always a fight.
Speaker 1: It was always so hard to even be heard that
Speaker 1: the idea that you could fight for more than just
Speaker 1: being heard, not even necessarily being listened to, but the
Speaker 1: idea that you could take control and write a narrative
Speaker 1: for yourself. Like it never, it didn't cross my mind
Speaker 1: for so long.
Speaker 2: No, I think it's just crossing my mind right now. Actually,
Speaker 2: as we're having these conversations good morning, I just look up.
Speaker 2: Yeah I know, No, it's I mean, and yeah, it's
Speaker 2: it's it changes so much. I actually this thought as
Speaker 2: I was driving the other day because I've realized, like
Speaker 2: you were saying, sort of your go to is to serve,
Speaker 2: and now my go to as I'm processing some many
Speaker 2: crazy changes in my life and different things, is like I immediately,
Speaker 2: instead of dealing with them myself, I like create a
Speaker 2: character or multiple characters that are all pieces of me,
Speaker 2: and I like come up with a story that is
Speaker 2: not a direct reflection of what I'm trying to figure out,
Speaker 2: and then I work out what I'm going through through
Speaker 2: that story, which is what I've done in both of
Speaker 2: my movies and when I look back on it, but
Speaker 2: I was like, what is what do other people do?
Speaker 2: Because I'm like, if I didn't have this, if I
Speaker 2: didn't have this ability to write and create these characters
Speaker 2: and have these conversations that I want to be having
Speaker 2: with people secretly, you know, with two other people, or
Speaker 2: about something else. But it's really about what I want
Speaker 2: to talk about. Yeah, layered in, I don't know what
Speaker 2: I would do because it's like the only coping mechanism
Speaker 2: in so many ways, maybe the healthiest coping mechanism that
Speaker 2: I have.
Speaker 1: I think yours is a really good one. Like I
Speaker 1: have not known what to do with myself for a week,
Speaker 1: and so yesterday I spent six hours that my storage
Speaker 1: in it like cleaning out, making donation piles, organizing. Right,
Speaker 1: I was like I needed a tactile, physical thing, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, god, it would be so cool if instead
Speaker 1: I just wrote myself a movie.
Speaker 2: I mean, let's do that. No, that's what I do.
Speaker 2: It's it's but it's so yeah, it's a you could
Speaker 2: totally do that. You could totally do that. I believe
Speaker 2: that you could. We can do that together. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's really it's an interesting And I also like, literally
Speaker 2: as I'm writing, I will put on one song on
Speaker 2: repeat for like thousands of times, and it helps me
Speaker 2: to just like literally go into another dimension and like
Speaker 2: figure shit out, and then I like, what was your
Speaker 2: song for my old best It's it's so so random
Speaker 2: that I don't think anyone knows it besides Macie. I've
Speaker 2: never said it. Okay, I'll tell you if you want.
Speaker 2: It's not like that embarrassing. It's a good song.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's up to you. If you want it
Speaker 3: out in the.
Speaker 2: World, I'll put it on in the world. Okay. So
Speaker 2: I mad respect to this artist. I actually I think
Speaker 2: it's the only song of hers I have on my playlist.
Speaker 2: I don't know how it came into my stratosphere. I
Speaker 2: don't know how it got on there. And I don't
Speaker 2: even know why it was this song because there's nothing
Speaker 2: to do with the movie at all. It was The
Speaker 2: Bones by Maren Morris. Oh my god, love great song.
Speaker 2: But just like how random is that I would put
Speaker 2: on the Bones and I would write for I mean,
Speaker 2: I listened that song thousands. There was also a few
Speaker 2: like later on that came in like it was sometimes changed,
Speaker 2: but I remember initially and I would always screenshot that
Speaker 2: and send it to people, like a few people who
Speaker 2: knew what and they'd be like, oh, you're writing you know,
Speaker 2: and for the fallout. It was like something else, really random.
Speaker 2: It was like some kind of rap song. I don't know,
Speaker 2: it's so funny.
Speaker 1: But the Bones, I'm going to have to tell Maren.
Speaker 1: She came on the show, and I just think she's
Speaker 1: the best, absolutely the best We're all going to have
Speaker 1: to have.
Speaker 2: She's the best, and I owe her so much. Thanks
Speaker 2: for like helping me write the movie. The song should
Speaker 2: have been in the movie, but we did an all
Speaker 2: Canadian soundtracks, so that's the only reason why The Bones
Speaker 2: was not in the movie. But great songs.
Speaker 1: Sweet Okay, So Maren Morris influenced the film.
Speaker 3: We love that.
Speaker 1: Also, we have to talk about the fact that Margot
Speaker 1: Robbie produced this movie with you.
Speaker 2: What is it like.
Speaker 1: Working with her? Like, what how does she work as
Speaker 1: a producer like tell us? Because obviously we know she
Speaker 1: has an amazing track record from this incredible film to
Speaker 1: you know, the biggest blockbuster of all time, Barbie. What
Speaker 1: is she like as a collaborator.
Speaker 2: I wish I could say she sucks.
Speaker 3: Well, she clearly doesn't.
Speaker 2: She's the opposite of that. Like she is. She's so
Speaker 2: amazing and I've known her now for three years and
Speaker 2: there's not a fucking crack, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: Like it's very real. She's just like an amazing, amazing human.
Speaker 2: She's really kind. She just just like she is such
Speaker 2: like a nerdy cinophile, like she loves movies. She's such
Speaker 2: a hard worker. She was on set with us up there,
Speaker 2: you know, at the monitor. She was using my bunkie
Speaker 2: as her office and literally cleaning it, making my bed,
Speaker 2: cleaning my bathroom for me so that when I came
Speaker 2: home it was like nice at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: it brought me a present to set. Like every single
Speaker 2: day it would be like, I, here's some gluten free,
Speaker 2: dairy free banana bread I got you at the farms market.
Speaker 2: I'd be like, thank you. But she's so so smart,
Speaker 2: and she has really incredible notes and thoughts. But she's
Speaker 2: also very hands off and very protective of, you know,
Speaker 2: the creativity and like that sort of sacredness of a set.
Speaker 2: She treats everybody the same. There's no hierarchy, which is
Speaker 2: how I love sets to be and how I want
Speaker 2: them to be. And she's a dream of her and
Speaker 2: her husband Tom, who was up on set, and Bronte
Speaker 2: Payne and Josie that the company they're all amazing, and
Speaker 2: it's just really real. And they really protected me and
Speaker 2: protected the process and the film and just believed in
Speaker 2: me such an incredible way. Right on the heels of
Speaker 2: the fall, they saw that film and just reached out
Speaker 2: and we're like, what do you want to do next?
Speaker 2: And I mean, I'm doing my TV show with them
Speaker 2: and my next movie with them. So I think that's
Speaker 2: like they're it's not a surprise to me that they
Speaker 2: get so much repeat business because they just they are
Speaker 2: like the real, the real fucking deal. They're so great, They're.
Speaker 1: So great, so happy. That's wonderful. You would love, Margo,
Speaker 1: And that's exactly how it should be, you know. And
Speaker 1: I love that we're in a moment, and I mean
Speaker 1: the moment has been years in the making, but it
Speaker 1: really does feel like so many great groups of creative
Speaker 1: women are building teams. Yeah, and we all know what
Speaker 1: it's like not to have that, So to not only
Speaker 1: to see your people have it, but also to see
Speaker 1: the work that is then created out of it is
Speaker 1: so like relieving to me.
Speaker 2: It's incredible, like what their company set out to do
Speaker 2: and what she set out to do and is doing
Speaker 2: to such a high, you know level, and the amount
Speaker 2: of multitasking that she does is truly inspiring and just
Speaker 2: how much of her heart she puts in everything. And
Speaker 2: then there's also so much support behind the scenes too,
Speaker 2: Like it's not just she really is, like you know
Speaker 2: when we're like supporting Maisie, you know, like helping her
Speaker 2: now as an actress to get like the right team together,
Speaker 2: and just so she's just she's doing so much, not
Speaker 2: for herself. She really like walks the walk, you know,
Speaker 2: she's really behind the scenes also doing so much incredible
Speaker 2: work and support of female filmmakers and just trying to
Speaker 2: like make good shit and and help people tell the
Speaker 2: stories they want to tell. And she's not always in
Speaker 2: everything that she's making. It's not about her, it's about
Speaker 2: like helping other people have She's using her platform to
Speaker 2: just like genuinely help as many people as she can
Speaker 2: that she believes in. And it's like such it's there's
Speaker 2: not that many people who are doing that in such
Speaker 2: a real and authentic and like high caliber. She was
Speaker 2: like taking production meetings for a movie in her Barbie trailer,
Speaker 2: like in her wardrobe. Who are you like me? Just
Speaker 2: never stops. It's really amazing.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. And what a cool
Speaker 1: thing too, for Mazie to get to really dive in
Speaker 1: with like in this stage. I can't imagine being, you know,
Speaker 1: eighteen and like being with you and Margo, like it
Speaker 1: would have been so cool.
Speaker 2: She is the sweetest and it's funny because she even
Speaker 2: jokes about it now she's what almost almost twenty one now,
Speaker 2: And yeah, she was like I thought I was so
Speaker 2: like I was like Elliott, you know, I was like,
Speaker 2: I haven't all figured out as a memehile she was
Speaker 2: very much going through so many of the exact same
Speaker 2: things that Elliott was experiencing at eighteen, and you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: she's handled this with so much grace. And I remember
Speaker 2: asking her, like, did you feel so nervous that you were,
Speaker 2: like I'd never been number one on a call sheet
Speaker 2: of like a major movie, Like I'd never had to
Speaker 2: carry that. So I really tried to like not put
Speaker 2: that pressure on her. Yeah, and she was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: she was like I was so fucking scared every single day,
Speaker 2: Like I really was so so nervous and wanted do
Speaker 2: a good job. But you'd never have known, Like she
Speaker 2: just really was cool, calm, collected and just so open
Speaker 2: and joyous. But it's been really beautiful to kind of watch.
Speaker 2: I mean I knew it from like the first day.
Speaker 2: I was like, I can't wait to watch her when
Speaker 2: the Golden Globe for like something at some point at
Speaker 2: the Oscar like this, what she can do is is
Speaker 2: so endless, and she reminded me so much of Jenna,
Speaker 2: who obviously has just like gone on to do incredible,
Speaker 2: incredible things. So I feel like I have become her
Speaker 2: old ass and she is my young ass, and it's
Speaker 2: really fun to like watch just all these amazing things
Speaker 2: happened to such a talented, deserving person.
Speaker 1: How do you think because knowing what it's like to
Speaker 1: be on a set from a young age as you do,
Speaker 1: as I do, how do you think you wanted to
Speaker 1: cultivate freedom and as little self consciousness as possible for Mazie,
Speaker 1: knowing what the pressure can do in such an intimate way.
Speaker 2: I mean I had to have like some serious conversations
Speaker 2: with like people before about like people don't take I
Speaker 2: had very very strict guidelines on like how any kind
Speaker 2: of scene that might make me see feel vulnerable would
Speaker 2: be shot? Who would be there? And I got pushed
Speaker 2: back from people sometimes, you know, people in certain department
Speaker 2: heads like, no, this is my job, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I don't care, Like this is how it's going to be,
Speaker 2: and this is what's going to make her comfortable, and
Speaker 2: this is what's important to me. And so it was
Speaker 2: interesting that there was some pushback on that because there
Speaker 2: is like a way things are done historically on sets,
Speaker 2: and if you try to buck against that, a lot
Speaker 2: of old school people just like, don't, don't vibe with it.
Speaker 2: But again, that's when you have great producers who are always
Speaker 2: there to back you up and protect that. But I
Speaker 2: put it, like honestly top of my list because I
Speaker 2: was in so many really icky, uncomfortable situations as a
Speaker 2: young actor that have stayed with me forever, and I
Speaker 2: never wanted to ever put anybody, any actor of any age,
Speaker 2: but especially a young woman in that position. And so
Speaker 2: it was a constant, constant check in with her to
Speaker 2: make sure she was comfortable. And yeah, you just know,
Speaker 2: as an actor there's even little things like if you
Speaker 2: don't feel confident in a certain piece of wardrobe or
Speaker 2: you feel self conscious, that will throw your whole fucking
Speaker 2: vibe or your whole day, like if it's not you know,
Speaker 2: part of the care and you're supposed to be feeling good.
Speaker 2: You know. There's things like that that I think. And
Speaker 2: also something that's so specific to me and how I
Speaker 2: like to run things on set is I used to
Speaker 2: find that like the small talk when they would put
Speaker 2: all the actors' chairs together, you know, when trailers are
Speaker 2: like too far away, base camps too far as I
Speaker 2: have has to be on location, and so they're just like, Okay,
Speaker 2: here's a small room. We're gonna put everyone's chair in here,
Speaker 2: and like for the the ten hours that were not
Speaker 2: actually shooting of the day, everyone's going to be stuck
Speaker 2: in this room and making small talk. And I found
Speaker 2: that to be so draining as an actor, especially when
Speaker 2: I was making especially thinking about the fallout and the
Speaker 2: energy on set. It was really heavy shit, you know,
Speaker 2: and I wanted people to be able to preserve their
Speaker 2: preserve themselves, and so I always make sure that every
Speaker 2: actor has their own space if the trailers aren't around.
Speaker 2: So and everybody gets so annoyed with me because it
Speaker 2: is a hassle. You know, if you have a lot
Speaker 2: of people there that day, it's like, well, we don't
Speaker 2: have enough space. And it's like just put a pop
Speaker 2: up tent somewhere over there in the trees and put
Speaker 2: a chair, and if people want to hang out, they
Speaker 2: can hang out, you know, and they can put their
Speaker 2: chairs together, they can go to crafty. But give everybody,
Speaker 2: all the actors some space, because like acting cannot be
Speaker 2: not be on set, cannot be an introverts like favorite
Speaker 2: place sometimes. So I try to like just do stuff
Speaker 2: like that that I remember feeling really uncomfortable, you know
Speaker 2: with as an actor or just very drained by and
Speaker 2: some of it's like weird and quirky and little things
Speaker 2: like that. But and I just always listen to them
Speaker 2: and check in with them and talk to them, and
Speaker 2: you know, if it's like I'm not going to put
Speaker 2: them on the spot in front of them, it's like,
Speaker 2: let's let's go over here and let's like talk away
Speaker 2: from everybody, like how are you feeling? For real? What
Speaker 2: do you need? Just constantly kind of having those conversations
Speaker 2: and creating that sense of trust and safety from even
Speaker 2: the pre production, you know, like amazing. And I just
Speaker 2: sat in a boat house for three days and talked
Speaker 2: to the script and there was moments of the character's
Speaker 2: life that she could experience in moments that she hadn't
Speaker 2: shared with anyone else. That's share with me. And there
Speaker 2: are parts that she hadn't experienced and that you know,
Speaker 2: she was asking me about that I could kind of
Speaker 2: talk to her about. So we really created like a deep,
Speaker 2: you know, trust and sense of understanding right away. And
Speaker 2: I really like cherish that and take it very seriously,
Speaker 2: and especially with young young people.
Speaker 1: I love that, and I think it's so important. It's
Speaker 1: like this idea that you're always supposed to be on
Speaker 1: and always supposed to have time for everyone and always
Speaker 1: supposed to be perfect and conversing, and the amount of
Speaker 1: mental gymnastics that it takes to do our job, for
Speaker 1: some reason, is not often taken seriously, and if you
Speaker 1: try to take it seriously, you'll often get a lot
Speaker 1: of pushback. And so I think for someone in your position,
Speaker 1: for a director to say, no, I'm gonna I'm going
Speaker 1: to take that expected performance on this away so my
Speaker 1: performers can do their job when the cameras are rolling,
Speaker 1: and then the rest they have space to decide what
Speaker 1: they need. That's really pretty profound. Hats off to you.
Speaker 2: My friend, thank you. I want to get on a
Speaker 2: set with you and let's say no, okay to say
Speaker 2: a space and make profound shit hopefully.
Speaker 1: Oh my god so much. Well, I mean, the idea
Speaker 1: of that feels amazing to me. I realized I was
Speaker 1: responding to you personally and starting to ask a question,
Speaker 1: and was like, I just combined the two and in
Speaker 1: one sentence.
Speaker 3: My brain is mad potatoes since last week I.
Speaker 2: Have two sick children. My veriest mashed potatoes.
Speaker 3: Great.
Speaker 1: By the way, I'm loving the Christmas cup. I saw
Speaker 1: this woman out in public on Friday. It was my
Speaker 1: first time leaving the house, and she had her Starbucks
Speaker 1: cup and we looked at each other and we just nodded,
Speaker 1: and I was like, your Christmas cup is my first
Speaker 1: joy in four days, and I'm going to go home
Speaker 1: and put up a Christmas tree because I need it.
Speaker 2: I ubered this Starbucks one Starbucks, which was pretty fucked up,
Speaker 2: but I really needed it. You know. I've been up
Speaker 2: since four thirty this morning with two six children, and
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm going to treat myself. And when
Speaker 2: it came in the Christmas bag with the Christmas it did,
Speaker 2: it brought me a little bit of joy. I realized
Speaker 2: that it's that time. Yeah, it's my first one of
Speaker 2: the season, and it brought me a lot of joy.
Speaker 1: It's that time, and I'm like, I might need to
Speaker 1: put up a tree like today and now a word
Speaker 1: from our wonderful sponsors. We're sort of in this amazing
Speaker 1: moment for you right where you're your creation. This film
Speaker 1: Child is out in the world and you're, like you said,
Speaker 1: fifty pages into the next and you're working on all
Speaker 1: these things that are to come. And I think as
Speaker 1: a as a creative, it's it's almost like a really
Speaker 1: delicious limbo.
Speaker 2: That you're in right now.
Speaker 1: So when you think about this moment, this sort of suspension,
Speaker 1: and you look out at what's to come, what feels
Speaker 1: like you're work in progress.
Speaker 2: My work in progress is actually trying to not focus
Speaker 2: on what's happening right now with the success of the
Speaker 2: movie in any in any way besides supporting the movie,
Speaker 2: because it is so important for me to you know,
Speaker 2: maybe like there's been so much love put into this
Speaker 2: movie by so many people, and this does feel like
Speaker 2: a child to me, So I want to put everything
Speaker 2: I can behind it to make sure that it gets
Speaker 2: like seen by people who want to see it. But
Speaker 2: I think it's really easy in this in this industry,
Speaker 2: in this town to get caught up in sort of
Speaker 2: what's not real and the stuff that is not serving
Speaker 2: me as an artist or as like a human. And
Speaker 2: I also think that I'm not really you know, I
Speaker 2: don't think yet I don't have even had the skill
Speaker 2: set to be like a writer and director for hire,
Speaker 2: you know, Like, I think what is so exciting to
Speaker 2: me is creating these worlds and people and it's so
Speaker 2: personal and therapeutic that I have to kind of block
Speaker 2: out all of the other stuff and just focus on
Speaker 2: the stuff that I'm dealing with internally and channeling through
Speaker 2: these characters in this new world that I'm creating. And yeah,
Speaker 2: it might, it might take a little bit of time.
Speaker 2: And I think there's always this like, you know, take
Speaker 2: advantage of the moment and keep your foot on the gas,
Speaker 2: and these opportunities only come around, you know, once in
Speaker 2: a lifetime. And that may be true. And I've been
Speaker 2: really enjoying the ride and it's been really beautiful and
Speaker 2: I'm soaking in it as if it may never happen again.
Speaker 2: But for me, the part that I love more than
Speaker 2: anything is the writing. It's like the part where I'm
Speaker 2: listening to the bones seven hundred times and I'm hearing
Speaker 2: these voices and I'm figuring out things about myself and
Speaker 2: I'm alone in a room with my computer. That is
Speaker 2: like the most sacred of the process for me. And
Speaker 2: it's not very glamorous, and nobody kind of sees it happen,
Speaker 2: and so it feels like it never really happens. But
Speaker 2: I'm trying to just focus on that. And maybe it'll
Speaker 2: take me three years to write this next thing. Maybe
Speaker 2: it'll finish it by December. I don't really know, but
Speaker 2: that part of it has to be protected because then
Speaker 2: I think that's when you lose like what you make
Speaker 2: and what's what makes your stuff, I guess specific and
Speaker 2: unique is knowing what you can do and knowing what
Speaker 2: you can't do. And I know what I can do,
Speaker 2: and what I can do is I can like open
Speaker 2: my computer and figure out my shit through fake people
Speaker 2: that I create. So I just have to keep doing
Speaker 2: that and then hopefully when it's done, it's done and
Speaker 2: people like it. But that's out of my control. But
Speaker 2: what is in my control is that special sacred part
Speaker 2: of it. So that is very much my work in
Speaker 2: progress is to just turn off the noise and just
Speaker 2: keep doing that because I need to do it. I
Speaker 2: need to do it. It's not even like a want,
Speaker 2: it's like a need for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's very inspiring.
Speaker 2: Give it a try. Put on the boat, see what happens.
Speaker 1: Honestly done, I'm excited for what's next for you though.
Speaker 1: I'm very very exciting.
Speaker 2: Thank you. We'll come play anytime.
Speaker 3: I'm coming. I'm ready to get on a boat. Let's
Speaker 3: do it.
Speaker 2: I mean, there are some boats and the next thing
Speaker 2: I'm writing, you think I would be smart enough to
Speaker 2: be scared from filming on boats ever again, because that
Speaker 2: shit is really annoying. But it just looks It just
Speaker 2: looks so beautiful.
Speaker 3: It just looks so good.
Speaker 2: Though a mazy he had so much fun on that
Speaker 2: piece of shit. Tenner. She was just having the time
Speaker 2: of her life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, by the way, that's what I mean. I'm not
Speaker 1: talking like I don't expect a yacht. I'm like, give
Speaker 1: me that little pup pup boat.
Speaker 2: It was, so let's go. I don't need a yacht.
Speaker 2: Yachts are boring. You get to drive or so boring.
Speaker 1: I think they should all be impounded for tax, but
Speaker 1: that's a separate converse.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent, they should go.
Speaker 3: I love you, Thank you, I love you.
Speaker 2: It was so nice to see your beautiful face and
Speaker 2: your famous to me background.
Speaker 1: Also, I would be remiss at the end of day's
Speaker 1: episode not to say thank you all so much for
Speaker 1: the fan feedback on Lego Masters.
Speaker 3: You guys know that Lego was my.
Speaker 1: Obsession as a child, is still such source of joy
Speaker 1: for me as an adult, and getting to compete on
Speaker 1: the show was honestly the most amazing fun adventure for me.
Speaker 1: I can't believe I had to keep this a secret
Speaker 1: from you all for a full year because we taped
Speaker 1: this special last December. But I can't wait for you
Speaker 1: all to see Episode Tuba air next week on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: December seventeenth on Fox. You can also stream it on Hulu.
Speaker 1: There are surprises coming, friends, So for my fellow Lego
Speaker 1: fans out there, let's go