Speaker 1: Welcome to Playback, a new weekly podcast here at Variety.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Chris Tapley, Awards editor of Variety, and
Speaker 1: on today's show, with the film Awards season around the corner,
Speaker 1: we break down a few oscar possibilities from the first
Speaker 1: half of the year. A little bit later, I'll be
Speaker 1: talking to Seth Rogan about his raunchy new animated comedy
Speaker 1: Sausage Party, opening in theaters tomorrow, So stick around. Welcome everyone,
Speaker 1: I'm here with Janelle Riley, Variety's deputy Awards and Features editor.
Speaker 1: I got your title right, didn't Yes, I'm sorry. It's
Speaker 1: a very it's a long, one convoluted title. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: but it sounds very important. I can arrest people. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a deput your deputy. You've been deputized by Variety
Speaker 1: and uh you know, yeah, weekly podcast here. This is
Speaker 1: our pilot. Things might be a little rusty. We're gonna
Speaker 1: give it a shot. But this being uh the kind
Speaker 1: of cusp of awards season that makes that makes the
Speaker 1: it makes all the sense in the world to start there, right,
Speaker 1: So let's look at some deserving contenders from the first
Speaker 1: eight months of the year. We're in August now, already
Speaker 1: if you can believe it. And as you say, the
Speaker 1: season is here already. It seems like every year that
Speaker 1: offseason gets smaller, but here we are. And as we
Speaker 1: wrote in a column recently, there's you know a number
Speaker 1: of films every year that tend to just get forgotten
Speaker 1: because the studios back backload the year and before you
Speaker 1: know it. You know, every once in a while there's
Speaker 1: a Grand Budapest Hotel that can stick out, but there's
Speaker 1: just great stuff from earlier in the year that deserves
Speaker 1: a shout out. So I heard that now some people
Speaker 1: want to follow the Grand Budapest model and actually come
Speaker 1: out early year in the year so that they can
Speaker 1: you know, be in the awards race later in the year,
Speaker 1: which I don't know that that really works unless you're
Speaker 1: Grand Budapest Hotel. It's hard. It's like it's alchemy, right,
Speaker 1: Like you can never tell how it works out. I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone thought that Grant Budapest was going to
Speaker 1: do what it did when it released, even when it
Speaker 1: was a huge, critically acclaimed movie in March of that year.
Speaker 1: And so I think it would be wiser to push
Speaker 1: stuff off because a it keeps you from just having
Speaker 1: that bottleneck at the end of the year and be
Speaker 1: it gives you an opportunity to have your film breathe
Speaker 1: in its own space. Yeah. Absolutely, just in general, like
Speaker 1: if a movie can pop, Like you know, Hail Caesar
Speaker 1: had its fans in February of this year. Was one
Speaker 1: of them, and you were one of them. We were
Speaker 1: just talking about. Okay, now his his name old we
Speaker 1: know is his first name, Reich is the gentleman's name
Speaker 1: playing Han solo? And you found out what his uh,
Speaker 1: his his DJ name was. No, that's an See, there
Speaker 1: we go. I'm confused. That's why you were confused. That's
Speaker 1: why I was like, had was Oh no, Ansel El Courts.
Speaker 1: I hope I'm pronouncing Ansel's name right. Apparently his DJ
Speaker 1: name is on solo. That's interesting. So that that's what
Speaker 1: Now you know why I was confusing it because who
Speaker 1: will be? He sounds so old Ansel El Gordon Hell
Speaker 1: Caesar Alden erin right, gentleman, those kids those kids today off.
Speaker 1: But speaking of Alden, he's awesome, but a fantastic breakthrough performance. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I spent the whole movie just going who is this guy?
Speaker 1: And then you know, look at me, I'm up. I
Speaker 1: guess he'd done like some episodic TV. And you know,
Speaker 1: obviously I was not alone because after that he booked
Speaker 1: the Han solo role. He has the Warren Baby movie
Speaker 1: coming out, um, and I think he has like three
Speaker 1: other things. He's everywhere. He's on the rise. He's one
Speaker 1: of these like like seven or eight guys that were
Speaker 1: up for Han solo and it's like who was going
Speaker 1: to pop out of all of them? I'm a big
Speaker 1: Emery Cohen fan. Oh sure, I was kind of kind
Speaker 1: of holding out for him. But this guy has the
Speaker 1: face and he has the disposition. And then Hale Caesar,
Speaker 1: he just holds his own against Ray finds tearing down
Speaker 1: the scenery with you know. That's That's the other thing
Speaker 1: Ray finds is like found like a new He's a
Speaker 1: comedy god like between this and I think he's amazing
Speaker 1: and Bigger Splash, which is was someone that I was
Speaker 1: going to mention in this conversation as well. And uh,
Speaker 1: he's in then Grant Budapest, speaking of earlier, He's just
Speaker 1: got this timing that's like impeccable. Who knew the Nazi
Speaker 1: from Schindler's list would be so amazing in the comedy room.
Speaker 1: Although this is a little embarrassing. I met him during
Speaker 1: press for the movie he directed, Um, the one where
Speaker 1: he played Charles Dickens. Was it not Oh yes, no, no,
Speaker 1: you're right. Uh the Unknown Woman Woman, Yeah, look, I
Speaker 1: really am it played te d speaking of festivals, and uh.
Speaker 1: I had to tell him, as silly as it sounds,
Speaker 1: I was like, you know what you were really great
Speaker 1: in was Maide in Manhattan And it sounds like a joke,
Speaker 1: and he like, but he understood what I was saying,
Speaker 1: which was that it is hard to do that light comedy,
Speaker 1: especially and you know how the movie is going to
Speaker 1: end and make it work. And he is very light
Speaker 1: and funny and charming. Invisible Woman, Invisible Woman. Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: so embarrassed. Great Felicity Jones. Between Alden and Ansel and
Speaker 1: Invisible and Unknown. I mean, we we can be forgiven,
Speaker 1: I think. But yeah, he's just found this new calling
Speaker 1: as a comedian. I hope he keeps going. I remember
Speaker 1: interviewing interviewing him this year about that, and he he
Speaker 1: certainly doesn't come at it with a comedian comedians approach.
Speaker 1: He just he's still very serious and just plays what's
Speaker 1: on the page, and he just finds the right kind
Speaker 1: of spots to nail it. And uh, if you watch
Speaker 1: our Actors on Actors episode with him and Christoph Waltz,
Speaker 1: it is two people talking about comedy in the most
Speaker 1: deadly serious terms and almost unintentionally being hilarious because they'll
Speaker 1: they'll go off on these like long philosophical discussions and
Speaker 1: then end by saying and that's why it's funny. It
Speaker 1: almost makes you wonder for deep down they know exactly
Speaker 1: what they're doing exactly. They're smart guys. Well, I think
Speaker 1: we're both fans of ten Cloverfield Lane, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about that because her a movie and genre
Speaker 1: movies are not really taking that seriously when it comes to,
Speaker 1: you know, major awards, and I think that both Mary
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman her friend so great. She
Speaker 1: should have been nominated for Smashed. Yeah, yeah, that was
Speaker 1: that was a shame. Um. And she just consistently does
Speaker 1: great work. And I think for a long time I
Speaker 1: sort of dismissed her as you know, just a you know,
Speaker 1: a generic starlet, and she's proven to be so much
Speaker 1: more than that, and as good as John Goodman is
Speaker 1: in ten Cloverfield Lane, and no one's going to argue
Speaker 1: that he's fantastic. Men's never been nominated. Yeah, it is,
Speaker 1: um you know, she's there holding her own with him well.
Speaker 1: On top of which, I don't think he would be
Speaker 1: as like have the impact that he has in the
Speaker 1: performance if she wasn't doing what she's doing, because you know,
Speaker 1: this is a very claustrophobic movie and she has to
Speaker 1: play a lot of internal just strife, kind of just
Speaker 1: just trying to understand the situation she's in, what kind
Speaker 1: of danger she might really be in, or maybe she's
Speaker 1: not in as much dangerous she thought she was in.
Speaker 1: It's a consistent discovery that she's going through the whole movie,
Speaker 1: and it's fascinating to watch her play it. John Yellow Jr.
Speaker 1: Is also very good. I feel bad there's three people
Speaker 1: in this movie and everyone keeps praising the other two.
Speaker 1: It's like when Brooke Back Mountain came out and everyone
Speaker 1: but Anne Hathaway got nominated, although she, you know, probably
Speaker 1: had the last laugh there. So indeed, uh, you know
Speaker 1: a recent movie that is actually I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: plug it because later on I'll be talking to Seth
Speaker 1: Rogan is a sausage party. Have you had a chance
Speaker 1: to see that yet? Oh, you don't know my feelings
Speaker 1: about sausage. I don't know your feelings. I'm you know what,
Speaker 1: I Am going to see it. I'm sure it's hilarious.
Speaker 1: I will probably really like it. I have a problem
Speaker 1: with thinking about my food having us all, or for
Speaker 1: that matter, my food having sex. Well, the soul part
Speaker 1: is interesting because the entire movie is kind of it
Speaker 1: ends up going in theological directions, and the idea is,
Speaker 1: you know, if food doesn't think that it gets eaten,
Speaker 1: what does food think happens to it? Well? And also
Speaker 1: if food is made of other things like hot dogs
Speaker 1: are made out of well, you know, we don't know
Speaker 1: what they're made it out of. But like, so do
Speaker 1: all those things have a soul? And I'm sure these
Speaker 1: are way deeper than the movie bothers to get. But
Speaker 1: it becomes a just like Preacher and just like this
Speaker 1: is the end, it becomes a way for him to
Speaker 1: explore like ideas of religion, and I like those pology.
Speaker 1: It's it's very it's a very interesting movie, a very
Speaker 1: standout movie in animated race. Not not a chance in
Speaker 1: hell of getting the nomination from the animators. What about screenplay? Nah,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it's just you're dealing with pushing
Speaker 1: a rock uphill at that point. But I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: sitting here banging the gong. Really I love the movie.
Speaker 1: It's really I feel like I haven't the choice but
Speaker 1: to put it on my top ten list at the
Speaker 1: end of the year. But I was a huge This
Speaker 1: is the End fan too, and I put that on
Speaker 1: my top ten. But I just again, I think that
Speaker 1: in the realm of comedy, he's he's playing with interesting
Speaker 1: ideas that no one else is so in any case,
Speaker 1: Also coming out this month is Florence Foster Jenkins poor
Speaker 1: opposite of Sausage Party. But but and yet we both
Speaker 1: love it, don't we. It's undeniably charming. It's I think
Speaker 1: it's the first real um. We can talk about Captain
Speaker 1: Fantastic later, but that's a dark horse, whereas I think
Speaker 1: Florence Foster Jenkins has the opportunity to go all the
Speaker 1: way in all the major categories. It really does. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was a little surprised. It opened in the UK
Speaker 1: in April, so it's been around and I just thought oh,
Speaker 1: this will be a golden Globe thing. It'll maybe maybe
Speaker 1: it'll be a play for Meryl, which it obviously will
Speaker 1: be that, but it can go further than that. I
Speaker 1: mean you could get screenplay, it could get Best Picture
Speaker 1: for Paramount, who has tons of movies this year director
Speaker 1: Stephen fa I mean, it's better than stuff like uh,
Speaker 1: you know Phil Amina, I think, oh, how dare you?
Speaker 1: I'm sorry? I mean in terms of just softer plays
Speaker 1: for for lack of a better term, that that have
Speaker 1: managed to make it through in the past. It's better
Speaker 1: than for years, did uh miss Henderson Presents, which was
Speaker 1: a nomination for Judy Denser. He did. Then he also
Speaker 1: did the m Lance Armstrong movie that nobody saw from
Speaker 1: last year, which I even remember the title of either
Speaker 1: Isn't that terrible? We really do know our stuff were, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're on top of it here. But in addition to Meryl,
Speaker 1: I mean, how what a revelation is Simon Helberg And
Speaker 1: of course you know that I for years have found
Speaker 1: Hugh Grant one of the most underrated actors on the planet,
Speaker 1: and I would love to see him get nominated for this.
Speaker 1: He is so charming and he does that light thing.
Speaker 1: He also does some heavy things. He's just fantastic across
Speaker 1: the board. He's really the heart of the movie. He
Speaker 1: I mean, just the love he has for her, you know,
Speaker 1: the relationship they have together, how much he protects her.
Speaker 1: It's like it kind of can choke you up at
Speaker 1: times just to really understand what the character is going
Speaker 1: through with her. And did you cry? No, I but
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a little heartless, so don't use me as
Speaker 1: a gauge. But I was thoroughly I thoroughly enjoyed them.
Speaker 1: It was so charmed. I just walked away smiling. I
Speaker 1: was really I thought it would be good, but I
Speaker 1: was surprised by just how good. And once again, I'll
Speaker 1: be talking about this more in a column, probably later
Speaker 1: this week. I don't know when this comes out, but
Speaker 1: um yeah, Hugh Grant is is really the secret ingredient.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking about Meryl Streep's leading men and
Speaker 1: how a lot of times they just don't register. It's
Speaker 1: like Stanley Tucci in Julie and Julia. That's the last
Speaker 1: time I really remember thinking about her amazing chemistry and
Speaker 1: Hugh Grant is up there. Why do you think that is?
Speaker 1: She just dominates maybe, or it's also the stories she
Speaker 1: tends to pick I think are very central on a woman.
Speaker 1: And and this is a good thing. I guess, like
Speaker 1: a relationship is secondary if they're at all. So it's
Speaker 1: really kind of fun to see her in like a
Speaker 1: loving relationship or playing a romance. Yeah, well, she's probably
Speaker 1: all set for her twentieth nomination. Let's see a few
Speaker 1: more here. You know something. Have you seen Hell or
Speaker 1: High Water yet? You know, I haven't. I heard. It's fun,
Speaker 1: It's really fun. It's you know, it's Taylor Sheridan wrote it,
Speaker 1: the writer of Cicario, and it's it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: this playground for the actors like Jeff Bridges, especially Ben Foster,
Speaker 1: specially great actor who was Lance Armstrong in The Steven
Speaker 1: There you go synergy that that's these guys just chew
Speaker 1: on everything in this movie. It's just they really dig
Speaker 1: into the characters. And I really liked it for that
Speaker 1: um particularly Bridges. I feel like Jeff Bridges hasn't wanted
Speaker 1: to be to be the oldest man in the world
Speaker 1: for so long he was born so well, he just
Speaker 1: just wallows inside this character with this like stilted gruff
Speaker 1: like Texas accent, and he plays a sheriff that's after
Speaker 1: these two bank robbers played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster,
Speaker 1: and it's it's just a really good genre movie for August,
Speaker 1: I do want to see it. I'm hearing really good
Speaker 1: things and I and Ben Foster is an amazing actors.
Speaker 1: A lot of mustaches in that movie. I notice there's
Speaker 1: a lot. And Foster put on some weight too, because
Speaker 1: he's he's chunking, so I didn't even know it was
Speaker 1: him at first because so check that out. You know. Again,
Speaker 1: not sure if a movie like that can can stick around,
Speaker 1: but you know, you never know how actors take to performances.
Speaker 1: SAG as you know, is its own beast when it
Speaker 1: comes to awards. So I think SAG is gonna love
Speaker 1: Florence Foster Jenkins. Oh god, yeah there again. I think
Speaker 1: ensemble nomination is absolutely possible, just just with the handful
Speaker 1: of people that spark in the movie. You know, it
Speaker 1: would be enough for the actors and it's about performing
Speaker 1: and just and they love that. Have you seen Indignation?
Speaker 1: I have not, but I am really like James Samis. Well,
Speaker 1: let's skip it and go to UH one. Of your
Speaker 1: favorites recently, Captain fantastic. Oh now have you seen this yet?
Speaker 1: You finally saw it? What did you think? Uh? I
Speaker 1: struggled with the the characters, not that they weren't well wrought,
Speaker 1: but just that they annoyed the hell out of me. Um, sure,
Speaker 1: I can see that. But did you think Vego was great?
Speaker 1: I mean, no one else could have played that role?
Speaker 1: That role, It was like it was written for hid,
Speaker 1: which it wasn't. But um, you know, more or less
Speaker 1: should have been Matt Ross, the writer director. Uh told
Speaker 1: me that, you know, he's sent Viege. Morton sent a
Speaker 1: bunch of books on philosophy and nature to prayer for
Speaker 1: the character, and Vigo already owned almost all of them.
Speaker 1: Not surprising. He is another It sounds crazy to say
Speaker 1: underrated when he, you know, started the Lord of the
Speaker 1: Rings movies. But you know, he's a guy who I
Speaker 1: don't think really has any interest in stardom. I think
Speaker 1: that's pretty obvious. And you start him as an opportunity
Speaker 1: to do movies like this in the Road and Eastern Promises,
Speaker 1: and he makes this movie. He plays a father who
Speaker 1: is raising his six children off the grid in the
Speaker 1: Pacific Northwest and they're sort of forced to go back
Speaker 1: into society for um, their mother's funeral. And it's but
Speaker 1: it is funny, though, isn't it. I Mean, like I
Speaker 1: laughed a lot, and it's weird and offbeat and everyone
Speaker 1: is so good in it. Um, Frank Angela, you know,
Speaker 1: plays his father in law. Like it's just it's a
Speaker 1: movie made with like so much love and heart and yeah,
Speaker 1: I was really taken by it, and um, I really
Speaker 1: hope that people remember it at the end of the year,
Speaker 1: especially for Vigo. Yeah, for me, as much as the characters,
Speaker 1: just as people annoyed me, the the interpersonal relationships are
Speaker 1: really well crafted on the page, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: great script for that. And did that start at Sundance
Speaker 1: or south by Southwest Sundance and then what I think
Speaker 1: was the only other Sundance movie to go to can Okay?
Speaker 1: Well really? Yeah, We're won an award for Matt Ross,
Speaker 1: one of our ten directors to Watch this year, best
Speaker 1: known as Gavin Belson on Silicon Valley. There he goes,
Speaker 1: probably my favorite show on TV. It's the best show
Speaker 1: on TV, and he is like one of my favorite actors.
Speaker 1: I didn't know his name until recently, but he was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite actors just by his face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's you know, that's the kind of thing that
Speaker 1: could find a pocket of support, get a screenplay nomination maybe,
Speaker 1: or people love it certainly when it comes to independent
Speaker 1: uh you know, like the Indie Spirits or the Gotham Awards,
Speaker 1: you know, those become terrain where films like that can
Speaker 1: can stand out and maybe get a second win later
Speaker 1: in the year. So yeah, and again v go for Vigo.
Speaker 1: The word that always comes to mind with him when
Speaker 1: I think about him is just commitment. I mean, he
Speaker 1: commits to everything. And to this day he's the only
Speaker 1: guy that I interviewed him at a junket for History
Speaker 1: of violence eleven years ago. Now, God and we were
Speaker 1: Katrina stuff was on the news as we were talking,
Speaker 1: and we started talking about politics or whatever, and then
Speaker 1: I don't remember the nuance of the discussion, but it was,
Speaker 1: you know, not about the movie, talking about politics discussion.
Speaker 1: And we talked for a while and then it was
Speaker 1: over and I left and I'm getting on the elevator
Speaker 1: and he like ran me down because he wanted to
Speaker 1: make another point, like he had more he wanted to
Speaker 1: talk more, not talking soundbites. No, no, yeah, he is
Speaker 1: a very smart, soft spoken intelligence, very thoughtful. Yeah, which
Speaker 1: doesn't lend itself well to say talk shows, right, but
Speaker 1: he was just on something where oh it is Bill Maher.
Speaker 1: Really he just kept he just kept kind of going
Speaker 1: on and on and you could tell Bill Maher wanted
Speaker 1: to just move on to the next bit. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, he just he has he's very thoughtful and
Speaker 1: uh does not talk in sound bites. I appreciate that personally.
Speaker 1: Do the characters bother you because they're hippies or yeah,
Speaker 1: it's literally just a philosophical thing. I'm just like, shut up, Like,
Speaker 1: but what else have we had this year? I was
Speaker 1: gonna talk about Indignation. It's it's a recent release as well.
Speaker 1: Um James Shamus, uh, Logan Lerman fantastic actor. It's Philip Roth,
Speaker 1: a Philip Roth adaptation. Philip Roth is not often given
Speaker 1: to cinematic you know, I've seen terrible Philip Roth adaptations
Speaker 1: like The Human Stain. Yeah, yeah, it just it rarely
Speaker 1: works out. This one kind of works out. I mean,
Speaker 1: especially because there's there's a great tete a tete between Lerman,
Speaker 1: and Tracy Letts in the movie. Oh my god, Tracy
Speaker 1: lets is in it. I forgot that. Yeah, Tracy Letts
Speaker 1: plays like the the you know whatever, the head of
Speaker 1: the college, and they have this sparring in their office,
Speaker 1: just a sparring of words. That's just delicious. And I
Speaker 1: think partly because of just Tracy Letts knows how to
Speaker 1: make that kind of thing. Land and that kind of
Speaker 1: stuff is really good in the movie, and it's one
Speaker 1: of the better Roth adaptations. There's two Roth movies this year.
Speaker 1: There's also American Pastoral coming up, which is you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see how Ellan McGregor does with that, but oh
Speaker 1: his directorial debut feature. Sure. Yeah. For me, the best
Speaker 1: films I've seen, uh so far this year are still
Speaker 1: to Sundance films, The Birth of a Nation in Manchester
Speaker 1: by the Sea. They're both going to be coming back
Speaker 1: around in the fall festivals. I think they're both going
Speaker 1: to be dominant players. I mean the amount of money
Speaker 1: the Amazon spent on Manchester by the Sea, I mean,
Speaker 1: I imagine they will keep spending money. Because Aleck is
Speaker 1: a great actor. You can kind of forget that he's
Speaker 1: the polar opposite of his brother, you know, which is
Speaker 1: fine because Ben Affleck works in populist kind of vain
Speaker 1: you know. He he makes Argo, Casey makes uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Assassination of Jesse James with the coward rubber Ford, which
Speaker 1: is one of the best movies ever made. So you know,
Speaker 1: they just have come copletely different sensibilities and that seeks
Speaker 1: out into how they how they how they are as
Speaker 1: actors as well, and in Manchester by the scenes working
Speaker 1: with Kenneth Lahnergan, such a great filmmaker who is so
Speaker 1: humanist and you know his his movies really do play
Speaker 1: out like novels. The standout for me and not really
Speaker 1: the standout because Casey is amazing. But I think that
Speaker 1: Michelle Williams, despite having like five minutes of time to
Speaker 1: do stuff, she's so good. You never would have guessed
Speaker 1: watching Dustin's Creek all those years ago that she was
Speaker 1: going to be like Jen was going to be the
Speaker 1: amazing breakout actress of her generation. Totally she and she
Speaker 1: was gonna play this year too. That was very well received. Yes,
Speaker 1: Jerry d she I believe she was nominated. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: didn't see the play. Unfortunately, I didn't make it out
Speaker 1: to New York this year, but I wanted to in
Speaker 1: this again. She has very limited screen time, but it's
Speaker 1: like Bittra Straighten Network. When she gets her moment, it's
Speaker 1: like whoa, Yeah, I mean it stops you dead in
Speaker 1: your tracks. And I do think she could be a
Speaker 1: supporting actress nominating. I absolutely think so, and I hope so. Uh.
Speaker 1: Similar to the Birth of a Nation A, Naomi King
Speaker 1: has a supporting role as um Net Turner's wife, and
Speaker 1: it is also like, you know, she doesn't get as
Speaker 1: many big moments as Nate Parker, who plays Nat Turner
Speaker 1: and also wrote and directed the movie. But in the
Speaker 1: scene she has, she's just she's so strong. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: whole cast. I mean, Armie Hammer is great in that movie.
Speaker 1: He is That movie sensational to me, I I was.
Speaker 1: I went into it expecting like I had lowered my expectations. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because people were saying, oh, it's not as good as
Speaker 1: everyone said at Sundance. It's traditional to a fault. I
Speaker 1: heard that a number of times. What does that mean.
Speaker 1: I don't know, because in fact, I don't even think
Speaker 1: this is quote traditional, because this I would consider twelve
Speaker 1: years of slave traditional. I would consider the Birth of
Speaker 1: a Nation something else, and it's I hate to be
Speaker 1: reductive and compare the two movies, but that's going to happen.
Speaker 1: They're from the same studio and with Fox Search like
Speaker 1: picking up Birth of a Nation and Sunday, and I
Speaker 1: just felt like Birth of a Nation came right out
Speaker 1: of uh Nate Parker's heart. And he is so good
Speaker 1: as a writer director, and he's always been a good actor,
Speaker 1: but his performance in this movie is like nothing I've
Speaker 1: seen him do. The question is will Academy types feel
Speaker 1: like they're pressured to vote for a movie like that
Speaker 1: because of the diversity dust up, because of all because
Speaker 1: if anything has ever been proven, it's that the Academy
Speaker 1: doesn't like to be strong armed into stuff like that.
Speaker 1: You know. In fact, I thought that was going to
Speaker 1: work against twelve years of Slave that year and it didn't.
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that if they see it, they'll just recognize
Speaker 1: how great it is. Well, that's always the hope, and yeah,
Speaker 1: reward it from a sincere place. Is that naive? Not really,
Speaker 1: because I do think that sometimes movies are undeniable, and
Speaker 1: I actually feel that way about this one. I feel like,
Speaker 1: you can't see this movie and uh not think that
Speaker 1: it's something extraordinary, and then you know, onward into the season,
Speaker 1: big filmmakers on the horizon like Ben Affleck and Angley
Speaker 1: and Martin Scorsese. And we'll be here talking about it
Speaker 1: every week. So are you ready to do this week
Speaker 1: after week? I'm so ready. Everyone listening, I'm I'm enjoying
Speaker 1: hearing Chris and his professional voice on the radio because
Speaker 1: I never sound like this in the person. It's always
Speaker 1: just fart jokes, weird noises. All right, Well, thanks everybody
Speaker 1: for listening, and stick around. I'll be talking to Seth
Speaker 1: Rogan right after this. What you're saying, it's true. I
Speaker 1: gotta tell everyone very normal, little sausage but also very pointless.
Speaker 1: No one will believe you. I have to try. Everyone
Speaker 1: will die otherwise. Oh yeah, that's a good point me right, Wait,
Speaker 1: do you guys have any proof of this? Go get
Speaker 1: the dark guile. Oh you'll see. But I warned you.
Speaker 1: What do you see that ship? It'll fuck you up
Speaker 1: for life? Good luck, have fun. Welcome back. We're here
Speaker 1: with Seth Rogan, the writer and producer of Sausage Party.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being my first guest man. Thank you
Speaker 1: for thank you for having me your first guest. You're
Speaker 1: like my Billy Crystal exactly. I was Bill Murray. I
Speaker 1: think I was Conan O'Brien's first guest, were you Yeah,
Speaker 1: and beat us to it on one show. Well, let's
Speaker 1: talk about sausage party. Let's talk about You've been talking
Speaker 1: about plenty of the last couple of weeks. I'm sure
Speaker 1: I have. But honestly, like when when I like the
Speaker 1: movie and when it's a fun when I when I'm
Speaker 1: genuinely proud of the movie, and when I really like it,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's not uh that much of a you know,
Speaker 1: promotion on the grand scale of things I get to
Speaker 1: do with my day or is not the most fun thing.
Speaker 1: But when I really love the movie, it's much easier
Speaker 1: and much more fun. Well, since you brought it up,
Speaker 1: what's the ratio of stuff that you're not proud of? Almost?
Speaker 1: But honestly, if I'm even like one percent off, it
Speaker 1: makes it way less fun to promote. And I'm very
Speaker 1: hard on the stuff we do. And often you know,
Speaker 1: you know, i'd say it's like I'd say, it's like
Speaker 1: split Honestly, let's say, and you could probably get it's
Speaker 1: like in general, you know, it's not shocking which ones
Speaker 1: are which, sure, yeah, I think, well, this one's awesome.
Speaker 1: Comicon was a great place to screen it. Obviously a
Speaker 1: great crowd. Uh you know, it's look, it's raunchy, it's vile,
Speaker 1: all the reasons you probably want to go see the movie.
Speaker 1: It's going to deliver on those. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about this. It's interesting because it's more than that.
Speaker 1: I mean, with this and this is the end and Preacher,
Speaker 1: you're interested in theology, man, I mean, it's it's prevalent
Speaker 1: in your work lately, and I just let's start there.
Speaker 1: What's up with that? I mean, it's it's one of
Speaker 1: the most relevant things you could be discussing. It's kind
Speaker 1: of argue doably the source of most of the conflict
Speaker 1: most people have in their day to day lives. And
Speaker 1: you know, because of that, it's just something we're fascinated by.
Speaker 1: Me and Evans specifically, we talked about it a ton,
Speaker 1: And we were raised Jewish, so like you know, we
Speaker 1: and so that you know, we were raised under a
Speaker 1: specific theology that we don't really subscribe to that much anymore.
Speaker 1: And so I think because of that, it was always
Speaker 1: a part of our lives, and as we got older,
Speaker 1: we really became fascinated with analyzing it and seeing if
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's just basically you want to
Speaker 1: make comedy or movies whatever it is about what you're
Speaker 1: thinking about. But what shocking though to me is how
Speaker 1: few other people seem to make movies about it, Like
Speaker 1: there isn't that many other movies about it that are made,
Speaker 1: Like I guess so, But it's weird that even I
Speaker 1: recognize how weird it is that me and of Ben,
Speaker 1: you know, between those things you just said, have probably
Speaker 1: tackled it more times than most people, yes, like ten years,
Speaker 1: which is strange. Totally smarter people should be doing this now.
Speaker 1: Is a plead of more intelligent filmmakers. Chris Knowledge should
Speaker 1: be making theological movies. He's wasting his time with time
Speaker 1: travel and ship totally. Well, no, I think you guys
Speaker 1: are really smart with it. I mean, one of the
Speaker 1: things I thought was really brilliant about This is the
Speaker 1: End is how it interrogated kind of the minutia of
Speaker 1: dog mind, the parsing of dogma. I mean, these guys
Speaker 1: are confronted with this Judeo Christian apocalypse and it's like,
Speaker 1: what are we supposed to do? What's the manual thing? Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: and and that that just hilarity and sus as they say.
Speaker 1: Preacher obviously is about this based on this comic where
Speaker 1: God no longer or he's missing, and uh, that's the spoiler,
Speaker 1: I guess, and how you guys structured it. You revealed
Speaker 1: that in the final episode of the season. But in
Speaker 1: this Preacher that's just headed up to here with the
Speaker 1: hypocrisies of religious people actually in that town, and he
Speaker 1: feels like God, he feels like God is is missing
Speaker 1: and then finds out he is basically. And now with this,
Speaker 1: I mean you get into it's it's kind of a
Speaker 1: deep dive into tolerance in many ways. Sausage party, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a deep dive about how I think
Speaker 1: I think overall some of the things that you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of ideas in it, obviously, but I think,
Speaker 1: you know, religion I think was probably started from like
Speaker 1: a very good place, you know, and at the time
Speaker 1: it was started, it was probably very helpful for you know,
Speaker 1: helping people act in certain ways and believe certain things,
Speaker 1: and who knows if it's real or not. But this
Speaker 1: is just like my interpretation of it, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And and like a lot of good ideas,
Speaker 1: they get, you know, bastardized over the years and warped
Speaker 1: and distorted, and people appropriate them for themselves and you know,
Speaker 1: reapply them to their own interests basically. Um. And I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of what the idea of the movie
Speaker 1: that we ultimately after years realized was the ultimate message.
Speaker 1: But because because we got smarter as we were making
Speaker 1: a movie over the years, honestly, and I think that
Speaker 1: was what we realize is like the message needs to
Speaker 1: be like faith isn't bad, and hope isn't bad, and
Speaker 1: believing in things that aren't tangible isn't bad. Letting those
Speaker 1: things divide you and and prevent you from doing things
Speaker 1: that you know are not destructive to society and would
Speaker 1: make you happier as a person. Um, that's where we
Speaker 1: start to have conflict with it, you know. And that's
Speaker 1: and that starts to be the idea that we like
Speaker 1: to explore, you know. Um. And that's what Sasage Party
Speaker 1: specifically gets into more than any of our other movies.
Speaker 1: I think, in what better way to explore that than
Speaker 1: in the aisles of a supermarket exactly. I mean it
Speaker 1: is a very uh harmless you know, uh we I
Speaker 1: honestly remember with forty year old virgin, like Judge saying
Speaker 1: specifically like I want to make this movie seem stupid
Speaker 1: and then people will go see it and realize it's
Speaker 1: actually a really smart movie. And like that was very
Speaker 1: because I remember when with the title even I was like,
Speaker 1: why are we calling ario version? It's such a stupid
Speaker 1: title and it's such a like I thought it was.
Speaker 1: It's such a smart movie, I thought, And he was like,
Speaker 1: that's the point, Like people will go to it, you know.
Speaker 1: He's like, if it's good, hopefully it'll get good reviews.
Speaker 1: And if you're one of those people who actually cares
Speaker 1: about that, then you will be aware of it. If
Speaker 1: you're not, if you're just one of those people who's like, oh,
Speaker 1: if already a virgin that looks funny, then you will
Speaker 1: get so much more than you hope you're gonna get,
Speaker 1: Like you'll get an actual intelligent movie hopefully, you know.
Speaker 1: And it was a really big lesson honestly, and ever
Speaker 1: since then, in a lot of ways, it's it's been
Speaker 1: a cue we've taken which is the best comedy seemed
Speaker 1: to function on both those levels. They seem you know,
Speaker 1: at the you know, the funniest things at times are
Speaker 1: just really stupid and that's what makes them funny. But
Speaker 1: in order to bolster those things, you need deeper layers ideally,
Speaker 1: you know. And so um, that's I think a lesson
Speaker 1: that we really tried to take over the years, Like
Speaker 1: this is the end. I remember, were just like, this
Speaker 1: movie has like the biggest margin of difficulty probably have
Speaker 1: any movie we'd never made, because if it turns out bad,
Speaker 1: it's like not only bad, it's like the most self
Speaker 1: indulgent piece of ship you could ever hope for, and
Speaker 1: and and then. But that to us is kind of
Speaker 1: the fun of it is, how do you take an
Speaker 1: idea that people are like, there's no way they could
Speaker 1: stretch this out into an actual good movie, and then
Speaker 1: doing it, you know, and actually delivering on that And
Speaker 1: and sometimes we do frequently. I mean, you're putting your
Speaker 1: fingerprints on the stuff. It's not just broad you know, humor,
Speaker 1: it's that they're there's thought behind it, there's something there,
Speaker 1: and for sure, yeah, I mean we really try. We
Speaker 1: work all these things for so long that ultimately if
Speaker 1: they're not, if they if they don't have more to
Speaker 1: them than just the initial idea, then we would lose interest,
Speaker 1: you know, like it's mostly just to keep our interest,
Speaker 1: Like how you know that's why they ultimately get all
Speaker 1: these deeper ideas and sauces. Party really evolved a lot
Speaker 1: over the years. You know, there's a moment in the
Speaker 1: movie where Frank, it's a way to talk about it's
Speaker 1: a serious movie. There's when where Frank my hot dog
Speaker 1: is talking to the store and he kind of has
Speaker 1: to learn the lesson that you can't just shoot all
Speaker 1: over people who do you think are stupid for being
Speaker 1: religious basically because it's a not productive and be who
Speaker 1: the funk knows, Maybe you're wrong, maybe they're right, Like
Speaker 1: you don't know, you know. And that was actually a
Speaker 1: lesson that like us as filmmakers learned throughout the process
Speaker 1: of making the movie, and and and the movie didn't
Speaker 1: always have that lesson learned. That was a lesson that
Speaker 1: we learned, and then we were like, oh, we need
Speaker 1: to put this in the movie because it needs to
Speaker 1: be one level smarter than it was. Basically, you worked
Speaker 1: on it for ten years, right, it really did I
Speaker 1: want to switch gears here and talk about Sony. Actually
Speaker 1: you've been there working there for a number of years. Uh,
Speaker 1: I'm not privy to these kind of things, but I'm
Speaker 1: just curious what your deal there is, Like, is it
Speaker 1: like under a certain budget you have a certain amount
Speaker 1: of freedom. We don't have a deal, you know, but
Speaker 1: but just as far as like the relationship, I mean, basically,
Speaker 1: we try to leave as little in the hands of
Speaker 1: the studio as possible. And I say that with as
Speaker 1: much love for my friends at the studio, says, you know,
Speaker 1: as as as possible, Like we try to package everything actors, producers, director,
Speaker 1: cast and then just kind of and then we try
Speaker 1: to give it a budget that is incredibly reasonable and
Speaker 1: not just the highest budget we can get. We try
Speaker 1: to do it for a budget basically that will let
Speaker 1: that'll that'll make it so they leave us alone and
Speaker 1: let us do what we want. UM. We do have
Speaker 1: a deal with Good Universe, who we make a lot
Speaker 1: of our movies with UM, and that has also like
Speaker 1: deeper layers of protection, Like you know, I think there's
Speaker 1: final cut in that and stuff like that. It's never
Speaker 1: really come to that, you know, if because again because
Speaker 1: we're not the most expensive movies. What we learned while
Speaker 1: we were making The Green Hornet was just like, never
Speaker 1: be their biggest problem. Like while we're making that, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're their biggest problem, and like because of us, other
Speaker 1: people are getting to make cool movies because they're distracted
Speaker 1: by this, and we were like, oh we need we
Speaker 1: like we would rather be those guys. That's who we
Speaker 1: were in the past, and that's now what we've been
Speaker 1: ever since then is the people who like, the studio
Speaker 1: isn't thinking about that much honestly because they're focused on
Speaker 1: their bigger, more expensive movies, and because of that, we
Speaker 1: get to do whatever we want house things after the interview,
Speaker 1: do you ever get like the side eye from people
Speaker 1: on the lut had their emailed down for however long
Speaker 1: because the north has decided. I mean we never left,
Speaker 1: like we were always there. We just always were on
Speaker 1: the lot. We were there the whole time, Like I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know, there probably with some people who
Speaker 1: are sure msity in resentment towards us, but uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't our fault. I was happy to watch that
Speaker 1: movie on Christmas Day at home. Yes, that was that
Speaker 1: was tumultuous. Tumultuous to say the least. Well, speaking of Sony,
Speaker 1: what do you think about the Ghostbusters bruhaha, And and
Speaker 1: just kind of the misogyny that was flying around. Is
Speaker 1: is fandom out of control or it? Does the Internet
Speaker 1: just amplify all of that? I think if you pay
Speaker 1: attention to it. I do think some movies unfairly get
Speaker 1: just kind of targeted. I wouldn't don't know if like
Speaker 1: fandom is out of troll because I don't know if
Speaker 1: there's like I can't definitively tell you there's like a
Speaker 1: tangible effect to it, you know what I mean? There
Speaker 1: seems sometimes to be movies that all these fans are
Speaker 1: up in arms about and hate and then they do really, really,
Speaker 1: really well. And then there's other movies that it seems
Speaker 1: like people are really going to champion and that core
Speaker 1: group really like and they fucking eat ship and so
Speaker 1: I doubt it's tangibility. Always when people are talking about
Speaker 1: uproar and controversy and things like that, I that's where
Speaker 1: my head goes, is like, well, this actually affects how
Speaker 1: much money this movie makes or anything like that, Like
Speaker 1: you know that, and I don't know if it does,
Speaker 1: and my instinct is it doesn't, honestly, and so I
Speaker 1: don't know if Ghostbusters. I haven't seen it. I should
Speaker 1: first say, Um, I want to see it. It's not
Speaker 1: only just because I've been selling my own wears. I've
Speaker 1: been too busy serving my own interests yet. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see it. Um. But but yeah, there's it's
Speaker 1: not shocking. I mean, is misogyny shocking? Is it surprising
Speaker 1: that there's tons of misogynists out there? No? To me,
Speaker 1: that wasn't surprising. Um, you know, misogyny is par for
Speaker 1: the course when you even but there's so much misogyny
Speaker 1: that when you suggest that there's misogyny, misogynists get angry
Speaker 1: for the mere suggestion that misogyny exists. That's how much
Speaker 1: misogyny there is. They won't even acknowledge it exists. I
Speaker 1: think you're right, by the way about the tangibility factor.
Speaker 1: I mean, I always think, you know, does my mom
Speaker 1: know about all this stuff? And she doesn't. Well, it's
Speaker 1: so funny. That's actually probably one of the best things
Speaker 1: to come of the interview. It was a real lesson
Speaker 1: in tangibility. Like, you know, there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: who say they're they're wrapped up in controversy or that
Speaker 1: there's something happening with their movie, and there's uproar and
Speaker 1: and the interview was the only time when I actually
Speaker 1: saw it cross into tangible ability, and that was like
Speaker 1: as extreme a situation as you could ever have. And
Speaker 1: I really think almost anything short of that is not real.
Speaker 1: You know, it's words on a phone somewhere, which I
Speaker 1: don't know how much. I honestly think that most of
Speaker 1: the people who take the time to complain about something
Speaker 1: so much, we'll still go and see it. Like I
Speaker 1: finds there's an early draft of a Sausage Party script
Speaker 1: that is floating around on some redd it or some
Speaker 1: ship like and it's really all and it's not very good,
Speaker 1: and it has a lot of stuff that like I
Speaker 1: would say, was in our experimental phase of really pushing
Speaker 1: some things too far and it didn't quite add up.
Speaker 1: And it was an early it was really just a
Speaker 1: very early draft of the script. And um, what's funny
Speaker 1: is like so many there there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: comments and like, oh man, people are saying this Sausage
Speaker 1: Party script online is terrible, and all I think is like,
Speaker 1: if you're taking the time to read the fucking Early
Speaker 1: Sausage Party script, you're probably gonna go see a movie.
Speaker 1: And I think that has to do with a lot
Speaker 1: of these people also, is like speak into its lack
Speaker 1: of tangibility. Is like, I think a lot of them
Speaker 1: still go see the movie so they can complain about
Speaker 1: it more. Absolutely, just to add more credence to their complaining.
Speaker 1: They need to see it. Um And so, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know how much it actually affects reality now here.
Speaker 1: You let's talk about California's Proposition sixty four. How do
Speaker 1: you think that's going to go in the fall with
Speaker 1: the recreational marijuana use. I hope it goes in favor
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah great, Did Seohn Parker call you up
Speaker 1: and say, hey, I need you on the front lines
Speaker 1: for this every kid? You could have been like the
Speaker 1: John Lewis of the Arian Salted? Yeah, it could be
Speaker 1: a big advert recreation. What's happened? I'm losing my edge?
Speaker 1: Have you seen that everyone's kind of losing their minds
Speaker 1: about Malia Obama being seen smoking supposedly smoking a joint
Speaker 1: at Lallapaloosers. Really, just like I'm more shocked that Wallapaloosa
Speaker 1: still exists, right, it's in Chicago. Now, that's shocking. Is
Speaker 1: that ever? Annoying? By the way, I was actually curious
Speaker 1: about that. When people ask you a weed question, just
Speaker 1: I guess Seth is the guy for the weed questions.
Speaker 1: I'm it is. I It's something that like, I guess
Speaker 1: I get it. It's funny because Jimmy Kimmel I've talked
Speaker 1: to me about it, and he's just like, he's like,
Speaker 1: you have to get it. He's just like, it's so
Speaker 1: rare that people are willing to talk about it. Like
Speaker 1: he's just like as a as a person who interviews
Speaker 1: people for a living, he's like, it's it's it's too
Speaker 1: irresistible not to mention at times, just because it's such
Speaker 1: a rarity to have someone who's willing to be honest
Speaker 1: about it. And so did that end. I get it.
Speaker 1: But I mean, just like any question that one would
Speaker 1: get asked, you know, repetitively. It's the only thing My
Speaker 1: parents like are generally incredibly proud of me, and like
Speaker 1: are very proud of my work, and even you know,
Speaker 1: even you know, sausage party, which people's instinct would be
Speaker 1: like what are your parents gonna think of that like
Speaker 1: they love it, like they genuinely appreciated and laugh very
Speaker 1: hard at it. And the only thing Dad's ever said
Speaker 1: to be along those lines, it is like you have
Speaker 1: to talk about marijuana so much when you're on television
Speaker 1: in these interviews. Do you have to mention marijuana so much?
Speaker 1: You don't know, my dad, that's a very good impression.
Speaker 1: I apologize to you, but it is a news angle
Speaker 1: because we do have the proposition on the bill and
Speaker 1: get that we could use them. We could use the
Speaker 1: money exactly. Um. And then last thing here, you know,
Speaker 1: last last time we talked I think was tell you
Speaker 1: Ride almost a year ago. Yeah, and you were there
Speaker 1: with Steve Jobs, which I thought was one of the
Speaker 1: best movies of the year. Uh. Is that something that
Speaker 1: you're interested in doing more drama roles? Is? Are you
Speaker 1: careerist in that way? Do you think in those terms
Speaker 1: or is it just as they come? Um? I mean
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it. I don't think in like a
Speaker 1: career is sense that I would I just for I
Speaker 1: just as an experience. I would like to do more
Speaker 1: of them because he really enjoyed it. But mostly what
Speaker 1: I enjoyed about it was work was like the people
Speaker 1: I got to work with, like working with Danny Boyle
Speaker 1: and Aaron Sorkin and Windsled Michael Fastbender and like like
Speaker 1: that was really amazing. And um and the fact that
Speaker 1: I ultimately like did not ruin the movie among those
Speaker 1: players was was ultimately a very validating experience. And so, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I always I always heard I think it
Speaker 1: was Woody Allen or something who said, like, you know,
Speaker 1: you want to make the type of movies that you
Speaker 1: grew up loving. And I grew up loving all kinds
Speaker 1: of movies. I grew up loving action movies and serious
Speaker 1: dramatic movies and I FI movies and you know, um,
Speaker 1: and comedies. But that was if you asked me what
Speaker 1: my favorite movies are, probably less of them are comedies
Speaker 1: than any other genre, you know. Um. And so I
Speaker 1: think to that end, it's very attempting to make other stuff.
Speaker 1: And that's why actually Preacher was so much fun because
Speaker 1: and continues to be, and we're getting ready to do
Speaker 1: a second season and we're you know, um, it's it's
Speaker 1: as a director, it allows us to do so much
Speaker 1: more because it's not just rooted in comedy at all
Speaker 1: the time. So you know, I feel like stylistically it's
Speaker 1: given us a chance to like really grow and try
Speaker 1: new things, because again, you're not just serving this one
Speaker 1: thing all the time, which is comedy. Yeah, and that
Speaker 1: pilot for a Preacher was just sensational. You guys killed it.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. It was alive in so many
Speaker 1: awesome ways and really great new series. Hopefully everybody's watching it,
Speaker 1: but for now, Sausage Parties opening August twelve, that is tomorrow.
Speaker 1: As for witness errors, and be sure to take your
Speaker 1: kids exactly and again, thank thank you for being my
Speaker 1: first guest man. That was a great night, a good time,
Speaker 1: fill up with the movie. I like your little room here.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. Everyone. Be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: because we'll be back starting September eight with a new
Speaker 1: show every week. Once again, I'm Chris Tapley and this
Speaker 1: has been playback at the Right a Food Fair.