WEBVTT - What are the Movie Industry's Biggest Secrets? 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.760 Guess what, mango? What's that? Well, al right, over the weekend, 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:06.440 I was doing a little reading up on Peter Segal, 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:08.480 because you know, I think you know this about me, 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:10.280 but that's what I do every Saturday night. I don't 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.680 know how people have spend their Saturday nights. But one 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:15.720 of the facts that I saw this week, and I 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.360 had actually not seen this before, was that he wrote 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:22.119 a screenplay. Did you know this? I had no idea. Yeah. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:24.880 It's called Cuba Mine, and it's based on a real 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.000 story about a fifteen year old American who moves to Cuba. 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.160 And this is right before the revolution. So he writes 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:33.839 this serious script and it's in the nineteen nineties when 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:36.559 he's writing this, and it's got executions in it and 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:40.200 real politics, but it's also kind of a romance too. 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:42.320 So he writes it and it just sits on the 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:45.120 shelf for over a decade, like so many scripts do. 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.240 But two thousand four somebody finds it dusted off and 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:53.240 finally the movie gets made. Now, the movie's title Dirty 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.800 Dancing to Havannah Nights. So you're saying, Peter Sagel wrote 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.600 Dirty Dancing too, I know, but the it is true. 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:02.080 I mean, it's kind of like one of those things 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.160 in Hollywood where even though Peter Segel wrote the movie, 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:07.880 they cut out all the words he wrote. In fact, 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.319 he was quoted as basically saying this, like he claims, 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.759 there isn't a single line of dialogue left from the original. 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:16.959 They also stripped out all the political stuff, but you know, 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:18.959 they had to put something there, so instead they just 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.959 filled it all with dancing, which you know, because stays 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:23.880 true to the name, and so it makes sense. That's 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.120 pretty funny, you know. It does remind me of those 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.800 poor writers in Hollywood who make like two hundred or 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.560 three hundred thousand dollars and they live in fancy houses 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.800 and and dry fancy cars, but their parents are super 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.640 suspicious of what they do because they only work on 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.840 the fourth or fifth draft of bad movies, and these 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.120 movies never ever get made. It's crazy. Yeah, it is 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.000 very very strange. But anyway, thinking about Peter Segel made 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:51.120 me wonder, like, why are movie economics so weird? How 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.120 does so many terrible movies get made? And of course 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.800 why is it so hard to make a movie with lions? 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.240 I know we both wondered this for a year, so 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:24.359 I only going to answer that today, so let's dive in. Hey, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.959 their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.200 Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.840 Mangesh Ticketer and sitting on the other side of the 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:35.240 soundproof glass. This is one of my favorites. Mango dressed 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:39.440 today as Dwayne the Rock Johnson from his favorite movie, 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.400 The Tooth Theory and such a good movie, such a 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.639 great actor. But that's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil, 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.240 So Mango, I know, we wanted to talk about movies today, 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:53.200 like little secrets about how they get made and kind 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.239 of what makes a one star movie a masterpiece, and 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.920 other funny stories from movie sets. But before we get started, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:01.720 you know, one of the things I love to tell 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.120 people is that used to work in a video store, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.560 because especially for the younger generations today, it kind of 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.240 feels like nobody knows what a movie store is anymore. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.600 I know, it's from like a different era and and 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.560 I honestly loved video store so much. Like going there 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.560 as a kid, you'd spent so much time looking at 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.680 movie covers and deliberating over which movie you'd want to 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.600 watch because you don't only get to pick one and 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.640 and then finally picking it out like and as a clerk, 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.320 I actually really loved recommending movies that I thought people 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.720 would dig. But you know that this is in the side. 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.680 The best part of the video store I worked at, 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.200 which is called Vizar and Durham, it was that it 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.839 was this really fun and welcoming place. But everyone who 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.800 worked there except for me, was a lesbian. And it 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:43.880 was perfect because, like, I didn't know how to date 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.120 or talk to girls, and and this woman joy Like 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.920 she'd give me great advice on that my car broke 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:50.720 down all the time. She'd helped me fix it all 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.120 the time. And when she wasn't solving all of my 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:55.760 life problems, we were just watching movies and talking about 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.120 movies and it was so good. It's a good thing here, 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:02.600 part time genius. We never deal stereotype. That's great, that 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.600 worked out for you. But you know, the funny thing 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.920 to me was that even at like an arts movie 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:09.760 store like that one, like and it was one of 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.960 those places where movies were organized by director by country 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.159 of origin, you'd still find so many terrible movies on 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.320 the shelf. And you know, Jerry and I would would 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.720 often flag them with these little post its that they 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.479 had around. Uh so, I think there was a terrible 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.480 one of Pam Anderson and this really horrible movie and 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.000 we put like scn on pps on the cover. Or 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.279 there's this like horrible low budget adaptation of the Bible 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.119 and it just looked so bad and we put better 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.360 than the book on the cover, you know, just really 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.840 super helpful stuff. I'm guessing you probably had at least 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.440 a couple of frustrated customers over the years, but it 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.960 was such a great store. I remember it really well 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.200 and love spending time there. But just to be clear 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.080 for all of our listeners, we're not snobby movie watchers, 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.320 like we love terrible movies. And in fact, I know 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.279 you want to talk at some point about why tomb 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.839 Raters considered such a master piece. But before we do 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:04.040 that that there was something I've been collecting, just some 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.839 quotes here. I wanted to read you a few of 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:11.520 these quotes from Roger Ebert, and specifically about movies he hated. 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.400 So I've got a few of them written down. But 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.440 here are a couple examples of just how brutal Roger 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.039 Ebert could be when he talked about these quote alleged comedies, 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.320 so trying to decide which ones to share here. So 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.479 here's one from Freddie got fingered. So here's what he says. 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.240 This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.719 movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.880 deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels. 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.480 I don't really know exactly what that means, but it's 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.000 still just such a great quote. All right, And here's 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.760 one about Spice World. Here's what he has to say 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.640 about it. Spice World is obviously intended as a rip 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.239 off of A Hard Day's Night, which gave the Beatles 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:53.080 to the movies. The huge difference, of course, is that 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:56.080 the Beatles were talented, while let's face it, the Spice 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.560 Girls could be duplicated by any five women under the 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:02.080 age of thirties standing in line at dunkin Donuts. I 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:03.960 love that dunkin Donuts is the players that you need 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.240 to find talent. Wap that that's obviously where you find it. 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:09.039 But man, he could be brutal when he didn't like 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.760 a movie. Yeah, so, so obviously being a movie critic 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.440 comes with its downsides. And being forced to review movies 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.240 you might not want to watch. But you know what, 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.240 one of the things I think is funny is that 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.760 Roger Ebert loved Laura croft Tomb Raider. He gave it 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.560 three stars, and and that's despite the fact that it 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.719 was almost universally panned. So I also found some quotes 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.040 like that, This is from the Washington Post and they 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:34.080 called it quote remarkably joyless. The Wall Street Journal called 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.760 it quote flavorless, drab, violent and a bloodless way, and 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.680 sexy in a sexless way. And the Austin Chronicle said 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:43.760 the game is great fun, but the movie should be 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.359 taken out back and shot. So obviously people had some 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.000 pretty strong opinions of it. But whether you loved or 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.359 hated this movie, what's fascinating is that it's considered a 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.760 total masterpiece in Hollywood. And that's purely because of how 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.120 the movie was financed. So I got this from the 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.719 writer Edward j Epstein, who discussed why and and basically 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.599 he showed that executives at Paramount only spent nine million 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.760 dollars to finance the movie. Like this was a massive production. 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.920 It's a total popcorn movie, a cost around million dollars 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.800 to make, but before the camera started rolling, Paramount actually 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.720 signed away the distribution rights to six European countries for 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.160 sixty five million dollars, and then it decided to shoot 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.760 part of the film in Britain, which I guess allowed 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.800 it to qualify for some sort of tax relief. So 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.440 there was this complicated scheme where they sold the film 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.840 to British investors who got this massive tax break, it 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.400 was like multimillion dollars, and then they sold it back 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:40.000 to Paramount, so Paramount actually got another twelve million dollars 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.120 that way, and then they did the same thing in 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.960 Germany and before shooting a single frame, Paramount had already 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.840 collected ninety million dollars I know. And once they sold 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.760 the TV rights to paramount sister company, they actually netted 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.840 money before tomb Rader hit theaters, like it was actually 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.920 profitable before they released it, which is just so insane 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.560 to me, and it also kind of makes me wonder like, 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.080 why was Laura Croft spending so much time rating tumbs 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.040 when the real treasure was just finding a good accountant. 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.760 That is pretty incredible. So for all you British investors 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.600 out there interested in helping part time genius. Find some 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:18.160 tax breaks. You know, we could use twelve million dollars. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.880 let's let's look into that. Well. You know, actually, every 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.840 time we talk about tax shelters, it actually reminds me 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:25.600 of the episode we did a while back. I think 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.160 we titled it Where the Sunniest Places to Hide Your Taxes? 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.640 And in doing that episode, we realized that basically every 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.880 James Bond movie takes place in a tax shelter. You 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:41.439 think about Panama, Switzerland, Monico, the Cayman Island. It's it's 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:43.559 pretty funny when you come up with the list of these, 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.360 But I know you learned a few more unusual things 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.360 about the economics of movies. So do you want to 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.160 share just a few of those. Yeah. So one of 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.320 the things I love is that product placement hasn't always 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.320 been worth the money. So this is an extreme example 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.000 of it. But in Natural Born Killers, there's a story 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.280 that Abilene Boots actually offered to give free boots to 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.800 the entire cast if Oliver Stone put the name on 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:09.320 a truck. So there's this one scene where Juliet Lewis's 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.040 character is driving in a convertible and she's driving towards 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.280 the truck, and to get the shot of the logo, 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.200 they had to get the car and the truck passing 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.920 each other at the exact same time. But you know, 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:21.520 Oliver Stones and artist, he wanted in one take. So 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:23.959 they started the shot a half mile away from each 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.920 other and then drove and use these walkie talkies and 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:28.319 and they were trying to get the pace of the 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.920 vehicles just right. And it didn't work out for all 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.480 of our stones I it was just a disaster. So 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.080 they try it again. They tried it again. They basically 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.960 lost a whole day or two of shooting, and it 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.880 cost them about three thousand dollars a day. It was 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.080 all just to get a free pair of boots. Isn't 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.160 that the same thing was just related to this product placement. 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.760 I still don't fully understand the the starting half a 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.600 mile away thing. What what what would that achieve? I 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.240 think you just want to get a long shot of it, 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.520 like you want to get a beautiful long crane shot 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:00.959 of it. But M yeah, I mean, and now I 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.120 guess there's digital stuff that you could figure out and 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.480 slip in. But at the time, dollars a day for 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.079 a pair of Boots is definitely not worth that. I've 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.160 never spent that much on Boots. The other thing that's 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.240 totally crazy to me, and and this might answer a 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.040 little bit of the like why do terrible movies get made? Question, 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:19.520 is that director has actually claimed that they have to 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.800 water down their movies just to make them suitable for teenagers. 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.920 And according to Epstein, who's you know, the Hollywood Economists, 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:27.640 that there are a few reasons why you want to 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.440 market two teens. So some of them are obvious, like 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:32.920 if you have product tie ins or merchandise or fast 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.239 food mentions or whatever, teens are just much more susceptible 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.200 and likely to buy that stuff. They're also predictably clustering 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.960 around the same shows, like it's a less fragmented group, 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.600 so you can buy ads and kind of reliably know 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.840 where they are to build awareness. But the big reason 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.720 movie studios make movies that are PG thirteen and targeted 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.760 teens is that they're the only demographic that's desperate to 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:57.880 get out of the house, Like they're looking for any 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.600 excuse to get away from their parents or their kids siblings. 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.200 So they're the group that needs the least convincing to 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.280 go out on opening day and buy tickets. And apparently 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.360 there's this whole marketing formula. I think marketers try to 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.040 hit you up with seven ads before a movie comes out, 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.480 like you need that much exposure to build awareness. And 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.920 and I don't know, it's really crazy to me, but 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.839 but it also makes sense. Yeah, it does make sense. 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.000 And and I had a feeling that you were going 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.800 to talk about teenagers and the movies, and so, you know, 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.679 I keep hearing this thing from classic directors saying that 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.480 they'd never be able to make their artsy movies today 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.400 because they have to cater to teens so much. In 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.520 looking around at this there's actually some pretty funny stuff online. 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.719 But here's a little clip. I just wanted to share it. 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.760 Someone cutting up the Ten Commandments to play like a 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:46.280 teen movie. So just take a quick listen to this 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:51.320 fair high Ramsey's was the biggest player around, no doubt. 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.760 But when the new kid in school I am a 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.480 stranger in a strange land, realized hanging with the in 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:02.800 ground wasn't so easy, he took a stand. Man shall 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.600 be ruled by law, not by the will of other men, 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.360 Moses mos. Now the battle is on to see who 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.439 can get the girl who will rule the school and 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.960 if a zero can become a hero, so let the 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:21.760 games begins. So that was a little mash up trailer 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:23.920 called ten Things I Hate about the Commandments and it 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.199 was by Mike Dow. I definitely go see that. And 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.319 will I know you've got some great facts you want 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.680 to share about animals at the movies. But before we 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:48.320 get into that, let's take a quick break. Welcome back 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.040 to Part Time Genius where we're talking terrible movies. So 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.560 will I know you wanted to tell some animal stories, 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.440 which is usually my domain, but I like that you're 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.520 tackling it today. But before that, can I just read 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:01.400 you a little list of things that you used to 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.880 see that the movies and you no longer see. Just 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.840 comes from our old pal caricaval Chick. But here a 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:09.600 few things you no longer see it the movie. So 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.120 some of these are obvious, like ash trays. There used 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.640 to be signs that read ladies, please take off your 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.959 hats everywhere, you know, just as a reminder, because that's 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.320 when people used to get super dressed up for shows. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.080 But theater is also used to come with cry rooms, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.040 which were these glass enclosures and soundproof rooms in the 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.160 back of the theater, and that's so that parents could 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.680 take their crying babies and still watch the movie without 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.280 disturbing anyone. I didn't know what you're gonna where you're 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.000 gonna go with that. I was just assuming like if 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.640 people just got too emotional, that could go somewhere without 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.040 out being heard. So this was for the babies. Yeah, 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:46.480 for the babies who also get very emotional. Um. This 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.880 one's also interesting to me. Theaters used to be much grander, 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.600 so you think about those like red curtains that used 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.000 to open up for the screens, and and just how 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.120 elaborate ornate theaters used to be. But all that change 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:02.480 in with this Americans with Disabilities Act. They actually required 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:06.440 that newer renovated theaters with more than two seats needed 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:11.040 wheelchair access to all rows. So suddenly theaters started splitting 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.320 up their bigger theaters or just started making smaller theaters 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.400 to counter that. And it's crazy, but that's also why 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.440 you started seeing three or four theaters at a place 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.440 showing the same movie at similar showtimes. Yeah, I've never 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:26.040 thought about that. So my favorite old thing about these 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.200 old theaters was that, especially during the depression, it was 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.400 hard to get people to come to movies, so to 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:35.040 get people to spend their money, they'd have these collectible 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.560 dish nights. And the whole idea was that movies where luxury, 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.000 but husbands and wives could both agree that they could 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.640 spend for a ticket or splurge for a ticket if 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:45.600 they could also come home with a gravy boat or 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.200 a coffee cup and saucer, and suddenly it made it 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.160 more worth it. So these have been all across the nation. 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:54.520 And uh, speaking of the depression, this is the last 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.240 one that's actually part of what lifted popcorn sales. And 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.080 I didn't realize this, but initially popcorn vendors would actually 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:04.120 stand outside of theaters and they were independent sellers and 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:05.880 it sell to the public who were coming in. But 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:09.240 then theater's got greedy realized they can sell the stuff themselves, 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.720 and now popcorn is obviously this hugely valuable thing and 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.840 keeps theaters alive. But you know, apparently ounce for ounce 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:21.000 movie theater popcorn actually costs more than filet mignon. Oh wow, yeah, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.440 and they sell a ton of it. Yeah. I've actually 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.320 read that theaters put things in the popcorn to make 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.120 the smell waft more in that that's not that surprising, 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.560 but I mean it does explain why when you're sitting there, 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.400 it just fills up the theater makes people more hungry 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.960 for it. So anyway, all right, Well, on a different 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.880 topic related to just weird things and movies and funny 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:43.360 things about movies, I know, one of our favorite facts 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.720 is is how the Cohen Brothers complained that the cat 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.200 that they used in Inside Lewin Davis was so awful 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.560 to work with. Of course, this comes as no surprise 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.280 to me. They kind of just had to wait for 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.080 the cat to do what they wanted. Like you'd find 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.080 a cat that liked to jump, and then you'd put 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.520 it in a scene, start rolling, and then you just 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:04.520 have to wait for it to jump. And it drove 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:06.800 them crazy, and something I haven't thought a ton about, 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:08.760 but I can only imagine how difficult that is when 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:10.720 you've got animals and you're trying to get them to 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.360 do like a very specific thing, and especially with cats, 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.000 I know him with tight budgets and directors wanting to 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.160 play god, you know, not having an animal act to 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.800 your will as I'm sure difficult. And I actually love 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:26.080 stories of animals ruining scenes. There's this story from Raiders 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.119 at the Lost Arc where Steven Spielberg was really irritated 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.080 because instead of fleeing from a fire, the snakes kept 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.120 going closer and closer to it to warm themselves, And 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.440 at one point he was so frustrated that he picked 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:39.240 up a snake, looked in the face and told him 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:44.520 something like, you're supposed to hate fires. You're ruining my movie. Well, 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:48.520 I hope they listened to him. You know, I do 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.640 love the care that animal handlers use on set, and 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.359 it even extends to the smallest of creatures like insects 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.680 for examples. There was a few examples of this. But 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.560 of course, you know the old movie Shaw Shankra such 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.360 a terrific movie, and you know the old prisoner Brooks. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.840 In the film, he fed a live maggot to his 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.960 pet crow, and it went against all animal regulations when 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.879 he did this. So the crew actually found a grub 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.160 that had quote died of natural causes and used that 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.680 for the film. But that's actually not even the craziest 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:21.720 case that I came across here. I think the best 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.080 story might be from Silence of the Lambs, where they 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.720 had over three hundred tomato hornworm moths on set, and 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.240 and they were all treated like these little divas. So first, 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.200 when they traveled, the moss all flew first class. I'm 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.439 sure this was in all of their contract riders and 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.240 I don't know why we know this detail, but we do. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:41.119 And then they were put up in a room with 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:46.600 perfect climate for them, so exact humidity, temperature conditions, everything 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.960 that was ideal for them. But the craziest part when 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.119 they were on set, they were all put in these 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.760 tiny little harnesses for those high speed stunts. And it 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:57.800 almost makes me surprised they didn't outfit them in these 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:01.200 tiny little helmets as well, But it's just pretty great. 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.399 Like Silence and the Lamps is still held up as 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.160 the prime example of how to care for animals on set, 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:08.879 because not one of those three D plus moss was 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.600 hurt on set. Plus the producers even found a retirement 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:14.760 home for all the malls, and that they know that 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.600 became roommates with the animal wrangler on set and lived 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.600 out the rest of their natural lives with them. So 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.720 I love that tiny harness fact. And I never would 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.280 have imagined that there were three moths involved in the filming. 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.400 But you know, I am curious, what is the life 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.199 band of a tomato moth? Well, I think it's like 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.399 two to three weeks, But but don't pay attention to that. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.840 The key part is that they were comfortable, manga comfortable 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:39.960 for the rest of their lives. I do like that. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.719 So what else have you got? All right? Well, I 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.560 wanted to talk for a minute about the movie Roar, 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.000 which is, you know, the craziest and possibly worst movie 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.200 that involves animals. Actually, there's some photos of the making 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.200 of this movie from Life magazine that are just bizarre 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.360 to look at. You should you should look them up online. 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.480 They're photos of Tippy Hedren looking into her ridge and 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.560 a lion peeking in two there's one of a lion 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.280 asleep at her feet, which just makes lion looks like 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.520 these giant house cats. But then there's another one of 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.560 a lion with its jaws and its paused, just kind 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.800 of gently placed around the kid's head at the swimming pool. 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.240 You've seen this before, just pulled us up. It's ridiculous. 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:22.040 How is the savy's name terrifying? I have no idea, 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.639 but this it actually kind of ties back to the 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.600 economics here because roors considered one of the biggest disasters 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.680 of indie filmmaking. Basically, Tippy Hedron, who was terrified of birds. 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.440 Of course, if you remember that's Alfred Hitchcock, took advantage 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:37.480 of this by throwing live birds at her in the 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.520 movie Birds. But she was not at all afraid of lions, 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:44.480 like she'd somehow fallen in love with these creatures. On 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.000 a trip to Africa, she and her husband at the time, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.200 his name's Noel Marshall, they dreamed up this idea of 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.600 doing a movie with real lions, and the plot was 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.760 about a family of conservationists who go to a home 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.160 in Africa. They're told that the lions at the place 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.480 won't harm you if you just don't act scared or 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:03.880 something like that. I mean, the movie doesn't really make 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.600 sense and the plot isn't important to this story. But 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.800