Speaker 1: M m m. You're listening to Playback, a Variety I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio podcast. I'm your host, Variety Awards editor Chris Tapley.
Speaker 1: This week, I'm talking to director Brett Haley, whose recent
Speaker 1: films I'll See You in My Dreams and The Hero
Speaker 1: have helped establish him as a prolific voice in independent cinema.
Speaker 1: His latest is called Hearts Beat Loud, starring Nick Offerman,
Speaker 1: kirsy Clemens, Ted Danson, and Tony Collette. We talked about
Speaker 1: that film, which is sort of a love letter to
Speaker 1: Red Hook Brooklyn, and about the state of independent cinema
Speaker 1: in general, among other things. So sit tight. This is
Speaker 1: Playback was in April. Yeah, that's awesome, dude. It's almost
Speaker 1: two turns two in June. That's awesome. Going back east
Speaker 1: for that North Carolina. Yeah, yeah, totally. That's great man,
Speaker 1: living the life. I know. We both met our our
Speaker 1: women in college. I didn't know that. Yeah, Linda. Linda
Speaker 1: was in the drama program. Oh I didn't know it. Yeah, wow,
Speaker 1: she's like she's the Burrife. She gets some stories. Then,
Speaker 1: oh yeah she did. She did not like me back
Speaker 1: back in in actual college. It was a it was
Speaker 1: a thing. Yeah, probably probably the same way. Well, we're recording, um,
Speaker 1: you know, half hour chat about your flick dive right in.
Speaker 1: I'm here with Brett Haley everyone, director of Heart's Beat Loud,
Speaker 1: which was your Mr. Sundance lately. Man, you keep going
Speaker 1: to Sundance with your stuff. How's that? Thank you for
Speaker 1: doing the show. Oh well, thank you for having me, Chris.
Speaker 1: I mean, being at Sundance three times in four years
Speaker 1: is certainly you know, it feels good. I mean, getting
Speaker 1: the Sundance deal of approval is always a big deal.
Speaker 1: And I'm never sure I'm going to get in, and
Speaker 1: I think we'll see you in my dreams. It was
Speaker 1: like a total shock, you know, I just submitted and
Speaker 1: had you know, didn't know anybody over there, and the
Speaker 1: fact that it got in and did so well, and
Speaker 1: and then the hero and hearts to be Loud. After that,
Speaker 1: it's you know, if you you want to sell your movie,
Speaker 1: you go make a true independent film. That's the place
Speaker 1: you want to be. So I'm very I'm very grateful
Speaker 1: to them. I'm glad they liked my movies. Absolutely. What
Speaker 1: was it like this time compared to the other couple
Speaker 1: of times, you know, with coming in with Hearts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we were the closer closing. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: a little bit different, just because we premiered so late,
Speaker 1: and obviously it's a you know, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: business driven week for every filmmaker. They're trying to sell
Speaker 1: their movies. So we had like some press screenings and
Speaker 1: early screenings for buyers. Then Sundance was very good about that.
Speaker 1: They they you know, gave us a lot of screening
Speaker 1: so that people could see the movie early. And um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think everybody felt, um, you know, a
Speaker 1: little bit more pressure this year than other years, just
Speaker 1: because certain buyers weren't making moves and you know, the
Speaker 1: industry is constantly changing and evolving, and you know, but
Speaker 1: if you look at it, there's really strong movies coming
Speaker 1: out of Sundance this year. You've got Hereditary, You've got
Speaker 1: Blind Spotting, You've got you know, um American Animals, and
Speaker 1: it's a lot of really good films, you know, coming out.
Speaker 1: And the film that I saw you at um Search Search,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean there's some really great films coming
Speaker 1: up that I think are going to feed you know,
Speaker 1: audiences this summer and the fall. And I think it
Speaker 1: was a good sundance all like when the dust settled.
Speaker 1: I think everyone was kind of freaking out at the festival, like,
Speaker 1: oh things are a little slow. Yeah, I came in.
Speaker 1: There was that feeling. But if you look at it,
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, sorry to that. He was getting a
Speaker 1: huge release and blind Spoty is getting a massive push.
Speaker 1: We're getting a push. I think it's I think it's
Speaker 1: when the dust settles. I think we'll look back and
Speaker 1: go everything's the same, it's what people are looking for you.
Speaker 1: I was there for the tail end for the second
Speaker 1: half of the festival, so I came in on Tuesday
Speaker 1: already it's like, oh, this is a week's sundance, blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. First thing I see a hereditary I'm like,
Speaker 1: what is it all down after this or something? And
Speaker 1: and everything I saw I really liked. And I think
Speaker 1: people are just expecting it to be another big, sick,
Speaker 1: mud bound kind of year. Call me about your name.
Speaker 1: It's like that, that's a that's a big year. But
Speaker 1: like this year, I thought they were solid films. It
Speaker 1: was more spread around. There wasn't and that's always I
Speaker 1: think that's good when there isn't one movie that everyone
Speaker 1: is talking about from the festival, but rather like five
Speaker 1: or six or seven movies and everyone's like, I really
Speaker 1: like these movies and they're doing well, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's more ideal than anything. So I'm excited.
Speaker 1: And all these movies are getting big theatrical pushes and
Speaker 1: and we sold our movies. It's Sundance, and mean, that's
Speaker 1: the whole goal. So you know, every every can, every Sundance,
Speaker 1: We're always going, oh, what's going to happen? And I
Speaker 1: think it's just you know, it's evolving. It's about staying relevant.
Speaker 1: But I think those festivals continue to be extremely relevant.
Speaker 1: You guys are with Gunpowder and Sky. Yeah, what do
Speaker 1: you think about this company? I really like the Powers. No,
Speaker 1: they're great. I mean they did such a good job
Speaker 1: with Jeff Nis film last year, The Little Hours, and
Speaker 1: there are obviously a new company, but they're all people
Speaker 1: who have been doing this a very long time. You've
Speaker 1: got a lot of film buff people. And then Van
Speaker 1: who ran MTV and was you know, a huge part
Speaker 1: of MTV films. You look at the films he put out,
Speaker 1: like he put out Napoleon Dynamite, he put out Election,
Speaker 1: he put out you know Varsity Blues. He put out
Speaker 1: all these movies that I think really you know, hustle
Speaker 1: and flow, and Van just knows he's he's It's a
Speaker 1: great partner for us because he knows music, he knows
Speaker 1: the music world, and he knows the film world. And
Speaker 1: I think they've been very smart about how to approach
Speaker 1: this movie. And frankly, I went with them over other
Speaker 1: companies because they were just really passionate about this film.
Speaker 1: They really understood it and how to get it out there.
Speaker 1: And you know, they're they're really they're putting their money
Speaker 1: where their mouth is. They're putting it out and we're
Speaker 1: gonna get a push, and obviously we have to do well.
Speaker 1: You know, we have two people have to come see
Speaker 1: it opening weekend, and we're doing an expansion on Father's
Speaker 1: Day weekend, which we think could be a good thing.
Speaker 1: But they've been great, and I think that the more
Speaker 1: of these companies that come out, the better for the industry,
Speaker 1: because what's happening with the bigger companies is they're doing
Speaker 1: stuff from the inside. But I think there's got to
Speaker 1: be room right now for filmmakers to be able to
Speaker 1: make something completely outside of the system and for companies
Speaker 1: to pick pick it up. I think it's crucial that
Speaker 1: everything isn't developed within and and that's happening more and more,
Speaker 1: and I think that's good. Hey you get an Amazon
Speaker 1: deal or deal, that's great. But I also think there
Speaker 1: should be room for like, nobody really wants this, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go make the movie anyway and then sell
Speaker 1: it and see what audiences think. Because I've made all
Speaker 1: all of my movies that way. I've never had a
Speaker 1: big company be like, yeah, we want to make this
Speaker 1: within the system. It's always been after the fact that
Speaker 1: the finished product speaks for itself and audiences are responding
Speaker 1: to it, and then it gets it finds it's you know,
Speaker 1: it gets a distribution deal from from there. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I had you know, had Cats on the show a
Speaker 1: few weeks back, and we were talking about his film
Speaker 1: and his take on just kind of the state of
Speaker 1: independent cinema and what it's like out there. Uh, you
Speaker 1: tell us what's it like for you guys? I mean,
Speaker 1: I for me, it's been an incredibly healthy you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've had the opportunity from the you know, minor
Speaker 1: success of my films to go and make more films.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that the level at which you
Speaker 1: can make films is is going to be limited. And
Speaker 1: that's just that's just how this this works. You're not
Speaker 1: going to get the five or ten million dollar completely
Speaker 1: independent movie with no distribution in place. It happens, but
Speaker 1: you've got you know, John Apatow or something behind those
Speaker 1: types of films. So what I've had to do is
Speaker 1: I've had to change my vision basically to create these movies.
Speaker 1: And Mark Bash my co writer, and I think, right,
Speaker 1: write it down. You know, it's like, hey, we wanted
Speaker 1: five million for this movie, we got X. You know,
Speaker 1: we got much less than that. How do we go
Speaker 1: about now approaching this right? So I think that it's
Speaker 1: a challenge in a way. But also as a filmmaker,
Speaker 1: you want to feel like you have the ability to
Speaker 1: flex your muscles, that you have the ability to do,
Speaker 1: to have more time and more money to do more
Speaker 1: interesting things with coverage, with blocking, with cinematic beats. And
Speaker 1: I think I've done all of my movies in eighteen days.
Speaker 1: You know, there's no time for that. And I try
Speaker 1: my best to put whatever I can into it. But
Speaker 1: what I have to do as a director has put
Speaker 1: my my eggs in one basket, and that basket is
Speaker 1: the script, and it's the performances, and in this movie
Speaker 1: that obviously the music, and and so for me, it's
Speaker 1: like it's a it's a gift to be able to
Speaker 1: make a film, any film, and so I've been very
Speaker 1: pleased with it. I do look forward to the moment
Speaker 1: in which someone is like, Hey, we're gonna give you
Speaker 1: a little bit more time and money to to actually
Speaker 1: execute something, because I think you're getting some version of it.
Speaker 1: But the independent I think it's it's vibrant. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you look at all the avenues, there's so many
Speaker 1: avenues for movies to get out now. So I think
Speaker 1: more movies are being made, more good movies are being made.
Speaker 1: There's obviously always going to be bad movies, but no
Speaker 1: one is trying to make bad movies. Everybody's trying to
Speaker 1: make good films. And I don't see it as a
Speaker 1: big like red alert, Oh my god, what are we
Speaker 1: gonna do? I I still think movies are you know,
Speaker 1: We've got these huge movies and we've got this these
Speaker 1: kind of you know, you can go see Solo and
Speaker 1: go see Hearts to be Loud in this this summer.
Speaker 1: They're both sitting there for the audiences to see. So
Speaker 1: I'm not freaking out about it in any way. You
Speaker 1: have strong feelings about the streamer world about you know, uh,
Speaker 1: companies like Netflix, that the amount of product they're putting
Speaker 1: out is crazy. Yeah, it's a lot. It's part of
Speaker 1: their business model to have like a stranglehold on on
Speaker 1: that in a way. But you know, do you do
Speaker 1: you have any strong feelings about people seeing your stuff
Speaker 1: on screen on a big screen or not or anything
Speaker 1: like that. I think that there are certain movies that
Speaker 1: play really well on a big screen. I can tell
Speaker 1: you from people who have seen Heart Speed Loud on
Speaker 1: their computer versus seeing Heart Speed Loud on with an audience.
Speaker 1: It's always better with an audience. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think as old school kind of you know, our generation
Speaker 1: that there was not a streaming service growing up, it
Speaker 1: was like we had to go to the movies and
Speaker 1: Blockbuster was our you know, our Netflix if you will,
Speaker 1: and it was a big deal. We had to wait
Speaker 1: like a year to see a movie on video. So
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's an adjustment to be like, but
Speaker 1: then you look and you're like, look, at the movie.
Speaker 1: Look at the who Netflix is giving their money to.
Speaker 1: They're giving them to people who maybe normally wouldn't because
Speaker 1: the studio system, and I don't blame them, is relying
Speaker 1: on I P it's relying on big things that everybody knows.
Speaker 1: Netflix is giving avenues for big, big movies, for filmmakers
Speaker 1: and a tours that maybe normally wouldn't be there. Amazon
Speaker 1: is the same thing. I said. It's to me, it's
Speaker 1: all good. You know. I think that whether your movie
Speaker 1: lives on it, you're just looking at different stakes. Basically,
Speaker 1: like when your movie comes out in the box, in
Speaker 1: the in the theater, you've got to deal with how
Speaker 1: are the critics going to respond because that's going to
Speaker 1: drive business, how is the box office going to be?
Speaker 1: And then there's awards at the end of all of that.
Speaker 1: It's just stress upon stress upon stress. And there's something
Speaker 1: about this idea of like, oh my movies on Netflix,
Speaker 1: there you go. I'm moving on with my life, you know,
Speaker 1: moving on to the next project. I've to some degree
Speaker 1: I'm very much that kind of filmmaker. I like to
Speaker 1: just be like I'm I've done what I can for
Speaker 1: this movie, and now I'm moving on. There's but there's
Speaker 1: nothing better than knowing that my movie is going to
Speaker 1: be out in theaters, but of course no one could
Speaker 1: come and see it, and then it's like, oh, well
Speaker 1: that's a bummer, or it could be a hit and
Speaker 1: everybody comes see and that's a really good feeling. But Netflix,
Speaker 1: you know, while you don't get those highs, you don't
Speaker 1: get those lows either. It's just sort of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm done the movies out, people can see it. I
Speaker 1: mean I read somewhere that like eight million or nine
Speaker 1: million people streamed Roxanne Roxanne. Like people are watching movies
Speaker 1: on them on on this on this platform. So um,
Speaker 1: I'm open to all of it. I really am. I
Speaker 1: would love to make a movie for Netflix or have
Speaker 1: Netflix by one of my movies. I like my movies
Speaker 1: being in theaters. I think it just I think they
Speaker 1: know exactly what they want and what we'll play on
Speaker 1: the platfor form. I think there. I think they're doing
Speaker 1: smart things, and I like, I like how many options
Speaker 1: there are for for movies. How many you know avenues
Speaker 1: there are absolutely Uh, let's talk about how prolific you are.
Speaker 1: Pretty pretty prolific lately, stacking up projects, walked in here,
Speaker 1: you said you were working on another one. I'm working
Speaker 1: on like six other ones, on a number of them.
Speaker 1: How do you stay motivated to keep writing like that?
Speaker 1: It's hard. I couldn't do it without Mark Bash, my
Speaker 1: co writer. I mean, like, if it was just me,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have I wouldn't be nearly as prolific as
Speaker 1: I've been. I think Mark and I have a really
Speaker 1: great working relationship, and we push each other, you know,
Speaker 1: we say like, look, we've got to we've got to
Speaker 1: write a movie. And I think now we're looking to
Speaker 1: kind of graduate, to get to the next level. As
Speaker 1: I was kind of talking about to try to get
Speaker 1: a bigger movie. And I'm not talking like a Marvel movie.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, which, by the way, if you're listening, Marvel,
Speaker 1: I'll take the job. But it's been meeting the meeting
Speaker 1: at least, just you know. I love all those I
Speaker 1: love big movies, like you know. I went and saw
Speaker 1: Deadpool two as soon as it came out. I saw
Speaker 1: Infinity War the second it came out. I really do
Speaker 1: enjoy big movies. I also enjoy these small films, and
Speaker 1: and I think that to be as prolific as I've been.
Speaker 1: It's because I've I've chosen to make small films, four
Speaker 1: small films basically in a row, three very very close together.
Speaker 1: And for me it was sort of like, well, I
Speaker 1: can sit around for two or three years trying to
Speaker 1: get the next big thing going, or I can just
Speaker 1: keep making movies. And I'm really addicted to being on
Speaker 1: set and working. I just love it, and I feel
Speaker 1: sort of empty if I'm just writing, if I and
Speaker 1: not being and not directing. So I'm driven, I think
Speaker 1: a lot by just the allure of being back on set,
Speaker 1: because I'm happiest and kind of the best version of
Speaker 1: myself on set. So that sort of addiction keeps me
Speaker 1: like going and I and it's been something that you know,
Speaker 1: God bless Mark for just kind of sticking with me
Speaker 1: and pushing and working really fast and hard and rewriting
Speaker 1: on set and doing everything we can to get to
Speaker 1: the next thing. But I think, you know, my goal
Speaker 1: is to do a movie a year at least for
Speaker 1: a while. You know, that's a pretty difficult thing to do.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that'll be something that I can accomplish,
Speaker 1: but if you can shoot them all in eighteen days
Speaker 1: to be able to do that, and at some point
Speaker 1: we got it, Like I said, we gotta get Maybe,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'll take twenty four. It's anything anything
Speaker 1: more than eighteen Uh. This one hearts beat Loud. It's
Speaker 1: about a guy on his record shop. Uh, widow, widower,
Speaker 1: single father. Um. He and his daughter kind of strike
Speaker 1: up a band and they have a sudden hit kind
Speaker 1: of Uh in the summer before she goes to college.
Speaker 1: Where did this idea come from? You know, it's something
Speaker 1: that like I I love, you know the I think
Speaker 1: I wear my inspirations pretty squarely on my sleeve on
Speaker 1: this one. You know, there's a dad ash of high fidelity.
Speaker 1: There's some that thing you do. There's a little inside
Speaker 1: Leewin Davis, there's a bit of once. I love those movies,
Speaker 1: and I specifically high fidelity and and that thing you do.
Speaker 1: I kind of grew up on and really feel a
Speaker 1: connection to those films. So I think that it's always
Speaker 1: been kicking around, Like as a filmmaker, I'm constantly thinking
Speaker 1: about ideas and genres that I want to kind of
Speaker 1: be in. I'm a huge musical fan. I love musicals
Speaker 1: like full on musicals, but I also love band movies
Speaker 1: or movies about music. I'm a bit of a music snob,
Speaker 1: and this was an avenue in a way for me
Speaker 1: to to kind of get that part of me out there.
Speaker 1: And then working with Keegan and knowing how talented Keegan
Speaker 1: de Witt is and knowing that he could write these
Speaker 1: songs like I, I just had a feeling. It just
Speaker 1: sort of kind of came together because of a mix
Speaker 1: of influences and things that I wanted to do in
Speaker 1: the kind of movie I wanted to make. And once
Speaker 1: I had the premise mark and I through the writing
Speaker 1: of it, really that's where the themes really started coming in.
Speaker 1: And I think there's this film on the surface is
Speaker 1: quite simple. Even even if you look at it and
Speaker 1: watch it and walk out of the theater enjoying it,
Speaker 1: you can say that was it was pretty simple. It
Speaker 1: was pretty straightforward, but it's actually quite layer. There's a
Speaker 1: lot going on beneath the surface. I think of all
Speaker 1: my movies, but particularly this one, that there's more going on,
Speaker 1: and I really like that. I really like the subtlety
Speaker 1: and and and what is beyond behind the dialogue or
Speaker 1: behind the scene or behind the moments and what the
Speaker 1: movie is really saying about family, what it's saying about creation, art, music,
Speaker 1: about lost dreams. There's a lot going on in this movie,
Speaker 1: and I think people are hopefully connecting with that aspect
Speaker 1: of it. But you know, it's something where I knew
Speaker 1: I wanted to do a musical for lack of So
Speaker 1: this is kind of my version of a musical, like
Speaker 1: an indie musical. Yeah, big school rock fan. I love
Speaker 1: School Round. I mean, you can watch that movie. If
Speaker 1: that movie is on, you're watching it. It's one of
Speaker 1: those movies high fidelities, so top top five, side one
Speaker 1: track ones good Man. Yeah, I almost could do it,
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to. Uh, this one kind of
Speaker 1: lives or dies by the chemistry between these two obviously,
Speaker 1: Nick Offerman and Kersey Clemens. What what made them the
Speaker 1: right match? You know, it was a bit of magic.
Speaker 1: You know. I like to think that I know how
Speaker 1: to cast a movie and I have a feeling about
Speaker 1: like who's going to be good together? And frankly, I
Speaker 1: didn't know with Nick and Kerssy, I just I just
Speaker 1: they didn't know each other. I I knew that Nick
Speaker 1: Nick's one of those actors and people who just everyone
Speaker 1: who meets him loves him. He's just that kind of guy.
Speaker 1: He can And great actors, by the way, are like
Speaker 1: that because your job is an actor. One of your
Speaker 1: jobs is to connect with the other actors you're working with,
Speaker 1: whether or not you have a connection with them in
Speaker 1: real life or not. It's like part of your job
Speaker 1: is to create that chemistry. And Nick is so open
Speaker 1: and he's so genuine and Kiersy, you know, I didn't know.
Speaker 1: I just knew of her work and I was a
Speaker 1: huge fan of hers, and when I discovered she could sing,
Speaker 1: I just made the offer. And so I was like nervous,
Speaker 1: you know. I was like, Nick and Kirsy are literally
Speaker 1: meeting like three days before we start shooting, and we've
Speaker 1: got to do band rehearsals and all this stuff. And
Speaker 1: they met, and immediately I knew because we started a
Speaker 1: text chain and immediately they started like busting each other's
Speaker 1: balls and banter, and I was immediately like, Oh, we're
Speaker 1: going to be fine. But I think Kirsy and Nick
Speaker 1: just have that talent of of sort of opening themselves
Speaker 1: up and and allowing themselves to be able to connect.
Speaker 1: It requires sort of opening the Gates and saying I'm here,
Speaker 1: I'm available, Let's let's do this. And they both have
Speaker 1: that ability. I mean, Kirscy Clements can walk into any
Speaker 1: room and just own it without being just she just
Speaker 1: walks in and you're like, watch out, here comes Scarcy.
Speaker 1: And their chemistry was just, I think, really genuine, because
Speaker 1: I think both Nick and I have this with Cisy
Speaker 1: where we're trying is so cool. We want her to
Speaker 1: think we're cool. So I think it was like Nick
Speaker 1: was all he said that a lot that he's just
Speaker 1: like I was just trying to get her to like
Speaker 1: me and think I was cool, and that's very dad,
Speaker 1: and it just sort of fell right into that. So
Speaker 1: they just had this natural thing and then the music
Speaker 1: and but I really just they're both just such open
Speaker 1: and genuine people that I think it was just just
Speaker 1: we got We got really lucky with that. Now, what
Speaker 1: was the conversation like convincing Ted Dancing to play a
Speaker 1: bartender again? It was actually way too easy. And I
Speaker 1: just remember Ted because I remember saying that would be
Speaker 1: such a big deal to get him back behind a bar,
Speaker 1: but he probably won't want to. But Nick his friends
Speaker 1: with him, and Nick is an executive proaster on the movie.
Speaker 1: So Nick called him and he's buddies. They worked together
Speaker 1: on far Ago, and he's said, look, I want you
Speaker 1: to come the way Nick puts it has come play
Speaker 1: with me. Come play with me for a couple of
Speaker 1: days in Brooklyn. You get to we get to be
Speaker 1: my buddy in this movie. It'll be it'll be fun.
Speaker 1: And Ted read the script and he's like, I really
Speaker 1: like it. I want to do it. He goes, but
Speaker 1: can I be a pothead? And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can be a pothead. So Mark and I wrote
Speaker 1: rewrote pages for him to be a pothead and send
Speaker 1: it back to him and he's like, I love it.
Speaker 1: I'm ready, let's go. So and he's man, he's I've
Speaker 1: just gotten so lucky, like working with people like by
Speaker 1: Dan Or Sam Elliott, Rea Perlman, June's Squib, Mary kay Plays.
Speaker 1: All these old school people have been in the industry
Speaker 1: for song there's they're all incredible. And Ted just adds
Speaker 1: to that list of just like this is a guy
Speaker 1: who has every right to kind of just be checked
Speaker 1: out and like, I don't care. I don't He is
Speaker 1: so passionate and kind and giving and so so fun
Speaker 1: to watch work. I mean it was. It was the
Speaker 1: first two days of shooting with him, and I was
Speaker 1: just giddy. You know. My brother came to set. He's
Speaker 1: like Sam all Own was like, my god, you know
Speaker 1: when I was a kid watching Cheers, And we all
Speaker 1: feel that way. We all feel like we know Ted
Speaker 1: Danson and he's better than you think. Like you think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be amazing, he's actually better than you think.
Speaker 1: And I don't take it for granted how big of
Speaker 1: a deal it was to get him behind a bar.
Speaker 1: But that's Ted for you. He didn't he didn't think
Speaker 1: of it that way. He's just like, oh, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the role. Let's do it. Where was that bar by
Speaker 1: the way that you shot down? So that's sunny is
Speaker 1: that's a that's a famous Red Hook bar, really old
Speaker 1: school bar. So the name of the bar in the
Speaker 1: movie is the actual name, and it's it's in the
Speaker 1: heart of Red Hook near the water, and it was
Speaker 1: an old um sort of like the doc workers and
Speaker 1: the and the boat guys used to come off the
Speaker 1: piers there in Red Hook back in the day. They'd
Speaker 1: go to Sonny's at like five am and have coffee
Speaker 1: and whiskey, beers and breakfast. So it's it's been there,
Speaker 1: you know, forever, and it's just this incredibly down to
Speaker 1: earth like authentic place and they have music every weekend
Speaker 1: and it's just it's quite. It's quite the place. Were
Speaker 1: there any challenges, like, obviously you wrote a lot of
Speaker 1: this with places in mind. Where did you have to
Speaker 1: let anything go, whether anything, anything didn't come together? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like like I was talking about, when you
Speaker 1: have only so much time and only so much money,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to say, well, I can't
Speaker 1: do that. You know, Mitski is in the movie on
Speaker 1: a computer screen, and originally we were going to go
Speaker 1: to a Mitsky concert, you know, I wanted, you know,
Speaker 1: Kirsty's character to go to a mit Sky show and
Speaker 1: be inspired in person by her. But with just you know,
Speaker 1: the second you start looking at logistics, well that's half
Speaker 1: a day shooting, Well, we need the venue. I need
Speaker 1: at least a hundred extras, and even that's gonna look thin.
Speaker 1: Then we've got to like figure out the logistics of
Speaker 1: the how is the performance going to be immediately like well, shoot,
Speaker 1: that isn't like one million percent necessary at least in
Speaker 1: that way, to tell the story. Shoot that's got to go.
Speaker 1: So stuff like that. That's what you have to do
Speaker 1: on these level of films. You have to say, well,
Speaker 1: I I can't get everything, so how can I make
Speaker 1: this work? But for the most part, you know, when
Speaker 1: we wrote Baked, which is a coffee and bakery in
Speaker 1: in Red Hook where uh Nick's character, here's the song
Speaker 1: for the first time, you know that was written and
Speaker 1: Sonny's was written, and I'm trying to think, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: like Stinky. The shop is actually in green Point. It's
Speaker 1: called Academy Records and it's a huge space and that's
Speaker 1: why I picked it because it was just a big space.
Speaker 1: So it's not actually in Red Up. There's there is
Speaker 1: a little record store in Red Hook, but shooting there
Speaker 1: would have been especially for how much of the movie
Speaker 1: takes place in the record shop, it just would have
Speaker 1: you know, we wouldn't have had the real estate to
Speaker 1: kind of keep things dynamic and have that. I was
Speaker 1: really looking for that depth, to be able to shoot
Speaker 1: through the record rows and things like that, and also
Speaker 1: to do the performance. Okay, I've got to get thirty
Speaker 1: people in here do a performance. So we shot that
Speaker 1: in green Point, um, but read it was always going
Speaker 1: to be a made up record store, Red Hook Records.
Speaker 1: So but for the most part, we got you know,
Speaker 1: we got what we wanted. I think again, just time money.
Speaker 1: It handcuffs you a bit. You can't go out and
Speaker 1: shoot all the stuff you want to shoot. But that,
Speaker 1: you know, it also focuses you getting put into a box.
Speaker 1: You're like, all right, now I've got to what's really
Speaker 1: important to tell his story? It's like, and that's what
Speaker 1: the script was. The script was like eighty pages and
Speaker 1: it was just what was necessary. And still stuff got
Speaker 1: cut in post. You know, you're still so in some
Speaker 1: ways it's a great exercise in narrative storytelling. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about Tony. Collette just had Tony on the show
Speaker 1: an hour ago. She sends her love she's the best.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, that's what I was gonna say, She's the best.
Speaker 1: She really that was gonna be my hope that you
Speaker 1: would launch from that. So yeah, let's go from there.
Speaker 1: She's the best. Well it was. It was amazing because
Speaker 1: I met Tony at a party It's Sundance. Uh not
Speaker 1: this year, but last year when I was there with
Speaker 1: the hero and she was there with Fun Mom dinner
Speaker 1: and I went. I know Adam and Naomi Scott and
Speaker 1: they're they're amazing and they produced that movie, and um
Speaker 1: they invited me to their little party after their premiere,
Speaker 1: and so I went and Tony was there, and you know,
Speaker 1: I try to be cool around celebrities and I'm not
Speaker 1: like I'm I'm a big like I get really nervous
Speaker 1: around celebrities. Um, I still get nervous around people like
Speaker 1: I've worked with, Like I just love could because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a movie guy. I love actors, and so I
Speaker 1: get a little nervous. And so I saw Tony and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I can't, you know, go up
Speaker 1: to Tony Klett and tell her how much I love her.
Speaker 1: She's at her party. I don't want to bother her.
Speaker 1: But eventually, at some point I just was like, fuck it,
Speaker 1: I'm going I'm gonna go talk to Tony Klutt and
Speaker 1: I I just sort of like it was on the
Speaker 1: dance floor and I was like, Hey, I'm Brett, I
Speaker 1: have a movie here at the festival. I think you're
Speaker 1: amazing and I just really want to work with you,
Speaker 1: Like can I can I write something for you? I
Speaker 1: was like, is there something that you like, If there's
Speaker 1: something that you feel like you're missing in your career,
Speaker 1: I'll help you because I love writing for actors and
Speaker 1: and um, you know. She smiled and was very nice,
Speaker 1: and I thought, well, you know, at least I tried.
Speaker 1: And then, to my surprise, a few months later, I
Speaker 1: got a call from my agent saying, Tony Klutt wants
Speaker 1: to sit down with you and have a coffee. She's
Speaker 1: in New York. And so we sat down and we
Speaker 1: had coffee and we talked and she told me about
Speaker 1: some ideas and we just kind of talked. And at
Speaker 1: that time, heart Speat Lot was really kind of just
Speaker 1: still up in the air, and I wanted to do
Speaker 1: something where Tony was the lead. I was like, that's
Speaker 1: what our conversation was about. But when it came up
Speaker 1: and the role of Leslie was available, I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm gonna I'm just gonna ask Tony.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you guys talked about this,
Speaker 1: but she told me. I think she was just coming
Speaker 1: off of Hereditary and she was like, I just needed
Speaker 1: a break, like I just needed a break before Hereditary,
Speaker 1: like lighter stuff. And then she got this like heavy
Speaker 1: heavy script with Hereditary. But I mean, she's obviously incredible.
Speaker 1: I mean, I cannot wait to see that movie. Oh
Speaker 1: I haven't seen it. No, man, I know I'm excited.
Speaker 1: But it's like I keep telling people they both come
Speaker 1: out the same day, and well, obviously New York and
Speaker 1: l A. Hereditary is going to be all over the
Speaker 1: country on Janet's But I tell people like, hey, go
Speaker 1: see Hereditary feel like shit about your family, and they
Speaker 1: come see my movie and feel good about your family.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. It's a great double feature.
Speaker 1: Tony Colletts in both. But you know, Tony was so great.
Speaker 1: She came, you know, she brought her family to Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: Her and Nick had amazing chemistry right off the bat,
Speaker 1: which needed to happen. And she's just kind of a legend.
Speaker 1: When you kind of look at her career, she's she's
Speaker 1: like as Sam Elliott or a bly Now you forget
Speaker 1: how many amazing things she's done over the years, from
Speaker 1: Muriel's wedding to six Cents. Do you want to talk
Speaker 1: about a performance? I mean, I'll go, but I go
Speaker 1: back to that all the time. I go back to
Speaker 1: that car scene all the time. I can't watch that
Speaker 1: scene in the car at the end of six Cents
Speaker 1: without crying. It's amazing. And that's her ability. And it
Speaker 1: was fun to work with Tony on this where she
Speaker 1: just got to have fun and got to be sweet
Speaker 1: and got to I think she I can't speak for,
Speaker 1: but I think she really enjoyed the process. It was
Speaker 1: just a fun shoot, so you know. But day one
Speaker 1: was like, hey, Brett on the call sheet, Ted Danson,
Speaker 1: Tony Collet, Nick Offerman, good luck And I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, how am I gonna do this? So
Speaker 1: you know, but they they're just also great and so
Speaker 1: willing to kind of play and have fun, and um,
Speaker 1: I was just an honor. And I really hope I
Speaker 1: get to work with Tony again. I would. I think
Speaker 1: I will. I think I will, uh if she'll have me?
Speaker 1: Of course? Is your next Your next thing is not
Speaker 1: announced yet, right, No. I've just got so many things
Speaker 1: kind of in the in the burner, you know, and
Speaker 1: I don't know what it will be, Mark and I
Speaker 1: are constantly writing there's a few things, you know that
Speaker 1: are independent, or a few things that are with companies,
Speaker 1: or you know, a couple of jobs circling and you
Speaker 1: just kind of have to stay very active and lenient
Speaker 1: and flexible because you never know what movies gonna go.
Speaker 1: You never know what's gonna go or when it's gonna go,
Speaker 1: and it's hard. It's been hard for me to adjust
Speaker 1: to that because I think there are filmmakers that are like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm done with this now, I'm gonna go make this right,
Speaker 1: but those are very few. You got what the Cohens
Speaker 1: and and Garrimo now can kind of do what he
Speaker 1: wants and you know, they're the heavy hitter guys and
Speaker 1: gals can do that, or like, Okay, now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go do this now, like Ava du Verney and Ryan Coogler,
Speaker 1: like these are amazing people who have totally earned their
Speaker 1: stripes and saying all right, now I know my next
Speaker 1: movie and then everyone's like, great, let's go make that now.
Speaker 1: And for me, I'm still at the place of like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going to be next. I'm saying, oh,
Speaker 1: i'd like it to be X, but there's no guarantee
Speaker 1: that that's going to happen. So I just try to
Speaker 1: try to I'm trying to adjust to how that feels,
Speaker 1: because it's hard it is hard to not know what's
Speaker 1: you know, where your next paychecks coming from, what you're
Speaker 1: going to be focused on, is it the right next movie?
Speaker 1: And I think people often forget that sometimes we don't
Speaker 1: really have a choice in that if we want to
Speaker 1: continue to make a living and put food on our
Speaker 1: family's table, we've got to sometimes go do movies that
Speaker 1: maybe maybe it's not the ideal follow up or something
Speaker 1: like that, but you just have to go and and
Speaker 1: believe that, Okay, there's something in this story that I
Speaker 1: need to tell, and and and try to attach yourself
Speaker 1: to things that you feel like you can bring value to.
Speaker 1: So it's a mix and it's so many different things.
Speaker 1: But I'm hoping. I'm hoping to be back in cinema
Speaker 1: the next year. That would be great. You'll get there,
Speaker 1: You'll figure out whatever. Whatever it counts on laptop screens. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fine. I'm you know, I'm watching um not it's not.
Speaker 1: I'm watching Evil Genius right now, and I love it.
Speaker 1: It's great. Well, movie is called Hearts Beat Loud. June
Speaker 1: eighth is a release date and New York l a
Speaker 1: and then getting wider on Father's Day we can and
Speaker 1: then it'll be kind of nationwide by the third week.
Speaker 1: Go check it out with that if you can. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a great dad. Good for that. Yeah, Well, thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on the show. Brett really appreciate it. Yeah, Chris,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. Man