WEBVTT - Jake Gyllenhaal 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.680 Welcome to River Cafe Table for a production of iHeart 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:05.720 Radio and Adam I Studios. 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:08.520 I mean, you've had quite a series of performers. I'm 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.800 honored even to be on your podcast. The sample tape 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.560 I get is Ray Fines doing the chocolate Nemesis. I'm like, 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:17.880 you know what, I just I'm going to give up now, you. 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:22.120 Know, never never, never, no, do the best. Michael Caine 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.720 was very, very sweet. It was very did I play 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:33.720 his actually anywhere in the world? And they have a 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:36.120 desserved which is my favorite? 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:42.639 That is so good. That is good recipe you want 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:49.960 to make. Michael Caine is so rude. Oh no, now 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:51.960 you just played me, Michael Kine. How am I supposed 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:52.919 to this is? 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:53.080 Like? 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.520 How the hell am I supposed to do this? This is. 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:00.800 But you got to I'm notta sauce. 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.520 Maybe I should do an intro to it. Okay, I'll 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:09.600 do this. Then I'm Jake Jillenhall, and there is truly 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:17.520 nothing like Ruthie's slow cooked tomato sauce. So I'm going 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.120 to do my best here to give you a recipe 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.720 that will hopefully change your life and the life of 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.840 many people that you love. So here's slow cooked tomato 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:31.840 sauce very fast. Heat one to two tablespoons of the 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.960 olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the garlic 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.800 until it is soft but not brown. Add the tomatoes 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.960 with some sea salt and black pepper, and cook fiercely, 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.080 stirring constantly to prevent the tomatoes from sticking as they 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.800 break up. As they cook, the tomatoes will release their 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:54.120 juices when this liquid has evaporated. Add the remaining olive oil, 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:59.880 the basil or regino, and more seasoning if necessary. Serve hot. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:06.240 So Jake, I think you were the first person that 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.639 I called when I had the idea of doing a recipe, 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.079 reading a recipe from the River Cafe cookbook. Twenty five 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.279 years of cookbooks and eleven books and so many recipes 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:22.200 that you could have chosen. You chose tomato sauce. I 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.720 know why, but maybe you could tell everyone else why 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:26.000 you chose. 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:30.960 Tomato sauce, because I think simple is the most difficult. 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.560 When you take just a few ingredients and you try 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.040 and cook with them, what comes through is the person 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:40.920 cooking them. Also, if you have the best ingredients, like 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:42.920 the ones that you showed me, how to make this 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:48.560 tomato sauce with or tomato sauce with, then you can't 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:49.160 mess it up. 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:53.320 I remember there was a time when Ruby, my granddaughter, 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:55.600 was I think about seven, and you made a little 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.520 She taught you how to make it. And food is 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.160 a connection, and it is a connection, and I think 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.400 that probably this pasta makes us feel close. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.880 I always think of that moment whenever I'm taking the 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:14.920 two knives and a calendar and I'm slicing the can tomatoes. 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.040 It almost was her favorite part when she was instructing me. 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.200 And I always think of that moment because it's it's 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.480 essential to the recipe. It's really when you empty those 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.320 tomatoes into the calendar and you have to slice them 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.680 to get the first sort of first juices out of them. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:34.680 And then over time, as they sawte they really do 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.320 turn into like a sugary glaze. And then how they 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.400 stick on to that pasta is like nothing else. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:45.720 I was trying to think how we first met, and 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.680 I think that I met your sister, Maggie, maybe before 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.120 I met you, I can't remember, but I remember that 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:55.160 you have a brother and a sister who love food. 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.800 Where your parents obsessed with food, did they make sure 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.200 that you always ate. Did you have meals at the table? 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.200 What was it wasn't growing up with food in your house? 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:10.840 I would say rather honestly, that food was and meals 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.120 were the only thing that really worked in my family. 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.800 And by that I mean the only thing really without 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.440 a sort of drama or tumult, though it was full 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.800 of wonderful drama. And you know, us being all sort 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:29.520 of competitive and partial control freaks, you know, as it 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:31.440 is in a kitchen, you know, there's a lot of 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.520 nudging and bumping around and you know, don't do it 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:38.200 like this like that. But the dinner table, and particularly 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.960 the I would say the market, which my parents, since 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.120 I was a very young age, took us to, and 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.840 you know, that was an experience in itself. And I 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.719 remember my mom, you know, holding my hand and taking 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.840 me to the woman at the Hollywood Farmer's Market where 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:58.839 I grew up in Los Angeles, and she was the 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.039 one who grew Japanese tomatoes and Japanese cucumbers, and we'd 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.919 always get sheis so, and then we'd move over to 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.839 the lettuce that she loved, and then citrus, and we 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.960 were always tasting things and in America in particular, that 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:16.039 is not so common, you know that experience. But so 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.839 from there, from the market and buying it from local 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.400 farmers and then knowing, you know, the beautiful thing you've bought, 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.000 and then cooking it in the kitchen. You know that 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.440 was the process. And then sitting down to the table, 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:30.680 you know that those are the things. You know they were. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.480 My parents were always trying to tell stories of different 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.840 kinds and really beautiful artists in their own ways. And 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.600 then you know, my sister and I were performing at 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.320 a very young age, and I mean that also like 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:50.400 as actors and then personalities. But the thing that was pure, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.320 the thing that was clear, at least to me, was 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.400 always the meal. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.640 Was it your mother in the kitchen or your father? 0:05:58.720 --> 0:05:59.839 Did you have someone cooked? 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.520 Did you both both? My mother was more of a 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.520 salads not much transference of heat. She was more of 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:14.480 a kind of antipasti cold kind of more person. Lettuces 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:18.200 and salads were specialty. And then my dad was more 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:22.400 of a sort of burn it roasted kind of guy. Yeah, 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.080 so he would always get lots of root vegetables and 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:32.200 carrots and potatoes and rosemary mushrooms. He was very close 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.840 to the mushroom man at the market. Yeah, I'd be 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.000 very close to him. I always remember going to the 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:41.679 mushroom inn and getting all these sort of funky little 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.720 mushrooms and he would then roast them with olive oil 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.840 and salt and you know, different nerves and things. But 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.840 they both cooked, and they both loved food. And they 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:55.400 always said to me, you know, if you and when 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:58.800 you make your own money, you know, if you're going 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:05.040 to spend money, anything should be a great meal. Yeah. 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:16.120 It was good advice, but not great advice. I would 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.280 probably say if you were to ask people closest to me, 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:21.840 I'm not always the most fun to be with in 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.200 the kitchen because I was. I did have my stent 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.480 in kitchens, you know, and I learned from professionals, and 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.760 it's a very tough place, a kitchen, you know. It 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.240 requires a particular type of focus and a sense of geography, 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:41.000 you know, like knowing small spaces and moving hot things. 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:42.800 And I think I might take it all a bit 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:47.400 too seriously. It's a general note for myself, but I 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.840 think that my sister likes it when I cook for her, 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.520 my nieces like it when I cook for them. I 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.880 love cooking for my nieces. I love asking them what 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.840 it is that everything that they want that to me, 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.600 like what is your favorite? What do you want me 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:04.920 to coming over? I'm going to bring you anything that 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.480 you want. We're going to cook it, you know, And 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:12.520 just the satisfaction of that is there's nothing like that too. 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.360 I always tell people work me, just say yes, no 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.160 somebody and we can and then at least you say yes, 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.200 and then I'll say no. But I thought it was 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.560 interesting you said you just had a stint. When did 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.080 you work in the kitchen? I should do that? What 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:27.240 kitchens did you work in? 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.840 Well? I worked in a few restaurants as a bus 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.480 boy for a while, and then I went and when 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.400 I was around sixteen seventeen, I started working as a 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:42.119 Sioux chef, like very prep chef really for Marco Knora. 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:48.800 He runs a hearth and Broto is another. He had 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.840 a restaurant in Martha's Vineyard and Edgar Town there and 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.120 I was for a while really a prep chef for 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.439 him and did a buckets of lemon comfee for months. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.719 That was quite an experience. And then I did my 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.679 one of my oldest best friends from childhood cooked in 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.880 New York for a number of years, and I actually 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:15.839 at times would join him in the kitchen when they 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.640 needed sort of extra hands here or there. They don't 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.800 have any You guys don't have any time. You know, 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:23.840 it's just all taken up. It's you know, from ten 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:28.360 am until midnight. You know, sometimes two in the morning, 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.600 you're all working, and so it's hard to have a 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.240 certain type of friendship and separate days off. So we 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.640 would spend our time. Sometimes i'd just joined the line, 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.240 and that was more in college. 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.040 But it's interesting because you also, I always think that 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.839 there is something well links between the theater with where 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.720 you were just describing the geography of the kitchen, and 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:51.840 I don't know what it's like to be on the stage, 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.319 but there is very definitely a geography of the kitchen. 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:57.840 And I remember we have an open kitchen, as you know, 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.840 when we opened the kitchen completely, there were no walls 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.200 at all. Richard Air, director came and said, I said, 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.720 isn't this theatrical origin? And he said, well, I've been 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.960 watching you, and actually I think it's more like ballet 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.400 because everybody's just moving. But I think that maybe the 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.960 reason a lot of actors like to work in restaurants. 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.360 Is there are parallels between theater and a restaurant. You know, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:27.560 everybody has to know their lines, and everybody has to 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.040 have made the part of the sauce. And if the 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.640 scenery has to be painted and the floor has to 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.360 be washed, and the curtain goes up, the curtain goes 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.040 up in a theater, and the curtain goes up in 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:37.760 a restaurant. 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.640 I think you could ask a lot of actors. They 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.160 would say a lot of times they started, you know, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.320 in a restaurant. But I do think that there is 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.320 a theater to a restaurant. And I think what I 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.400 love so much about the theater is going to the 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.960 same place nightly, sometimes daily when you have a matinee, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.319 you know, if you have lunch service, it's the same thing. 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:02.080 It's going to a matinee, you know. And I love 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:09.840 the preparatory sort of experience before that. I mean, well, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.840 you know, you arrive. For me. What I love is 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.280 you arrive at the front of the back of the theater. 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.520 On Broadway in particular. You know, I love coming through 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.000 the front of the house as I head into the 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.040 back of that. I do it because there's that that 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.160 feeling of the front of the house with all the 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.000 ushers and everybody's preparing, you know, playbills or you know, 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.800 whatever the program is for the for the evening, and 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.200 then you know, if the theater has a bar, you 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.199 know there's they're they're prepping the drinks and making sure 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.600 everything's in order and the cash registers in order, and 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.319 you know they're you're walking through people who may be 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.600 picking up their tickets or ordering tickets first. You know, 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.400 you get a sense of the majesty of what the 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.280 audience walks through before they sit down, you know. And 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.640 I think it gives me, as a performer, an appreciation 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.319 for every single night, though for us it may feel 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.160 sometimes monotonous and the same if you do two hundred, 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:09.280 two hundred and fifty five hundred performances, that you honor 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.360 the audience that arrives that night. That every audience is different, 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.800 and you do feel that once you're on stage, that 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.120 the energy from them is different. That some are a 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.280 wild ride. It is a wild ride. Some are very steady, 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.640 some are and they have their own personalities. But it's 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.200 something about walking through the front of the house to 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:36.120 the back of the house, oh man, that excitement. Oh 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.920 my gosh, nothing like that feeling, and it is it is. 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.760 I am so so grateful for it, and I feel 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.760 at home. I think that's what you know, home feels like. 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.920 Just describing that, I do very often before when we've 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.080 all cleaned down and everything is ready, and you know 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.120 you're in the past and you have your sauces and 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.360 you've done the menu with the team, I often go 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:03.000 out the kitchen door down towards the river and I 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.160 walk around and I come in the front door and 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:06.679 I do that, you know, I just come in the 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.920 front and thinking about just looking at the place and 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:14.199 feeling where everybody's going to be in about fifteen minutes time. 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.480 And it's the same with the audience. I can because 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.480 we have an open kitchen. I can look out there 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.720 and I could see somebody giving a taste of their 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:27.079 food to their partner, and then you're looking at them 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.520 to see whether they're liking it. You can tell, you know, 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.040 or you see people having an intense conversation. And then 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.200 just the noise, the way the noise builds up. It's 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:38.480 quite quiet in the beginning, and. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.440 You walk through those doors and the River Cafe, and 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.880 you feel that type of magic. And I also think 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:52.160 there's the process of going to a restaurant. It's not 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:56.440 even just the restaurant itself. It's the making of a 0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:02.440 reservation in the case of your restaurant, months in advance, minutes. 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:07.760 Come on, did you ever book a table? 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.480 But you know you got to you gotta make you 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:17.960 gotta make friends, real friends. But that idea of when 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:22.400 you decide to make a commitment to an experience, you know, 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:26.800 and the anticipation of that experience is part of the experience, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:31.160 and then you know, I think that this very special 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.280 thing about the River Cafe is that when you're there, 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:38.360 your experience is never what you expect because you know 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.080 in one thing, one way. The menu always changes. So 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:46.240 you have your consistencies, you have your certain desserts that 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.320 you know will always be there, you have certain pieces 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.360 you know you can always ask or or look towards. 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:57.160 But then there's the unexpected. And I love that about 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.720 the experience and I do feel that way. If you're 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.320 going to compare theater to restaurants. In theater, that's what 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:04.800 I love about theaters. 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:06.960 Tell me about the what's that? What do you mean 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:08.280 that unexpectedness? 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.720 Well, you bring your life with you to the to 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.240 the theater every night, and your life obviously changes on 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.240 a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis, and so all 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.520 of the things that happen within your day, within your week, 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.560 be they joyous, be they tragic, they come to you, 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.000 with you to your work, and and there's a way 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:28.720 what I'm grateful for is the ability to express those 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:33.320 things through in a safe, sacred space, you know. And 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.720 then also things that happened with the audience. You know, 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.320 the last show that I did, you know, I was 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.560 an open monologue with the audience, and so they really 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:46.720 had the ability to we at least sort of implied 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.920 that they could speak to us, you know, in a way. 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:50.240 What was that like? 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.360 Magical and sometimes disturbing. You know, the piece that I 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:59.560 did was very emotional piece and about birth and death, 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.080 and and there was this really amazing moment that would 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.760 happen if it happened every night, where I would feel, 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.040 as you're speaking to an audience, they would click in 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.480 and then they would ride their own imagination and all 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.880 of the experiences they had in their own life with 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:23.440 losing someone, or with having a child or or you know, 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.840 all the things I was speaking about would begin to 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.880 emerge and then they would tell you where they wanted 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:34.840 you to go. It was it was that which Monolague 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:38.280 was that monologue I did called there are two of them. 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.360 One was called Seawall and the other one was called 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:43.160 A Life that I did A Life, and Tom Sturge 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.760 one factor. Tom Sturge did Seawall, and we did them 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.920 as an evening pretty much all of the year before 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.760 this worldwide pandemic began, and we spent the year first 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:56.680 of the Public Theater and then we moved it to Broadway. 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:00.200 But in that in that space, that's what was is 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:06.399 really really incredible. You know, people weeping sometimes, people getting 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.720 up and walking out, got walking out, you know, and 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.080 because you can see those things, because you were facing 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:15.200 the audience, it was unlike any other experience I've ever 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:16.280 had in my work. 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.720 It's interesting how when we opened the River Cafe after 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.359 the first lockdown, people came and cried, you know, people 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.800 were very emotional just being in a restaurant, being with 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.520 people again. And if you ask waiters, it's interesting that 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.840 they will tell you that people do cry and in 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.280 the restaurant, you know that there as you're saying, what 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:38.800 do you do in a restaurant? What do you do 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.360 opening up? And it is quite emotional, and I think 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:47.040 we really have missed that contact of people being together 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.520 someone who loves food so much. Have you had to diet? 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.879 I mean, have you had to lose weight for a part? Oh? 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:07.760 Yeah, I have. I have done that, and you know, 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.840 it depends. Sometimes I find that you're satisfied in different ways. 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:13.760 You know, for instance, you know, if you have a 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:17.080 goal for a movie and you know that that goal 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.560 is going to be a part of telling the story, 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.000 you know, you constantly have that to go back to. 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.520 I did this film Nightcrawler. I lost to you know, 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.800 close to thirty pounds or so, and then doing it, 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.440 I supplemented certain things sometimes with running, you know, I'd 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:39.600 run a lot, and then I learned different safer processes 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:44.879 of eating and being able to to lose weight, like 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.080 you know, giving yourself proteins and it's possible too. You know, 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.440 I was kind of like I was doing it safely, 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.920 but you know, I didn't really have all the knowledge. 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.440 I've learned that over the years, though, I think more 0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:00.240 and more for someone who loves food, your take making 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:02.720 not only the food out of your life. You're taking 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.080 the experience of being with people because you know you 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.320 can go and I would at times I would when 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:12.639 I was preparing for that film in particular, I would 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.600 go to dinner with friends and I would, you know, 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.400 drink a glass of water something like that. But you 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.919 realize that oftentimes you'd say you can't go to dinner, 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:27.600 and you're missing out on that more than anything. What 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.399 I realize is not just really the food, it's really 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:32.959 the connection with the people that I'm missing out on. 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.160 And and it helped from the character at the time 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.440 because he was he was a very lonely man, and 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.520 all those things I could use knowing that I had 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:44.200 a space to use them in. And if it's for 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.560 something that you know, you you really do believe in that, 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.920 it's for sort of the the expression of something that 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:55.840 I'm now very proud of. You know that that was worthwhile. 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:58.480 I think it becomes confusing when it's other things. 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:01.520 And then thing I just wanted to ask you is 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.879 when because for me, when I go to a city, 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.399 I always head for the market. You know, if I 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:11.600 saw you and as you said, you've been to Spain, 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:13.440 I probably would have said, oh, you know, did you 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:15.359 did you go to the product? Did you go? 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:16.680 What did you eat? 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:18.760 You know, we might say what we pretend to first, 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:20.600 to ask what museums or what you don't do, but 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.560 really what we want to know is the story, because 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.959 we love stories, don't we. We love a story. And 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.000 you might tell me how you found a restaurant in 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.880 some dark alley, or you met somebody and they took 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.160 you to a you know, a place by the beach. 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:38.040 Is your curiosity for restaurants wherever you are or food 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.119 wherever you are? Do you want to know the food? 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.040 The only thing that matters to me. It is the 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:50.040 only thing that that day I didn't have no other interests. 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.560 It's like when I when I think of going to 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:58.919 a city, that's the first thing I always and you know, 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:04.199 you know, as insufferable as my friends can say that 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.400 I am, the one thing they cannot deny is that 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:10.000 they will always go to a great meal with me 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:11.439 in whatever city we're in. 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.359 That that's that's that's good. 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:16.199 Yeah, I mean, And it's also not like I'm not 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:18.520 that Like I actually had a dream the other night 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:22.960 about that, about just being in an unknown small town 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:24.919 sort of in the middle of nowhere and going to 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:27.879 the market, and you went to the market to the 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.199 marketing my dream. And when you said that, I was like, 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.560 it made me think, that's really where you you learn 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:35.679 the most about where you are now. 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:37.520 It is if you're in Venice, you go to the fish. 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:39.639 If you're in a small town, you go to a 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:43.080 little place and there might be only four little stalls 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:44.080 in Venice. 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.359 There's this incredible I'm sure maybe you know that that 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:52.720 black Redicio Tagletaliti that at this small restaurant. Yeah. Never, 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:59.080 I'm in Venice. I like that's where I go. I've 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:01.280 had a few films that I've gotten into the Venice 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.960 Film Festival. And as exciting as that is, it's not 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:06.760 as exciting as knowing I'll be able to go get 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:08.159 that that. 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:14.080 I'm really here for many reasons. You might think I'm here, 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:14.760 but I'm. 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:18.600 Really Sadly, I've just admitted that my deepest truth. Yeah, 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:22.760 that is it. Well, it's good, it's not sad at all. 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:27.080 You know to me with you are connection, the fact 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:32.879 that you are so endlessly supportive of your friends, and 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:37.639 you are an open heart and have given me confidence 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:39.600 to do things in my life and my work. That 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:43.800 I wouldn't normally have had and you're cooking well, yes, 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:45.760 but just the thing that you gave me some cooked 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.959 tomato sauce as a recipe, makes me want to strive 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:51.120 for more. You know, you say, Okay, you can have it, 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:52.360 but you got to earn it now. 0:22:52.880 --> 0:23:01.359 I love you, Thank you, Jake. To visit the online 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:05.800 shop of the River Cafe, go to shop Therivercafe dot 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.040