Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week. They're right. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you
Speaker 1: for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Vic Zerbst
Speaker 1: and Jenna Owen, who are the content creators and stars
Speaker 1: of Nugget Is Dead, a Christmas Story which drops ONSTAN
Speaker 1: Australia today. I have always found the Christmas movie phenomenon
Speaker 1: to be quite unbelievable in its popularity. I have friends
Speaker 1: who live for the holiday season just to watch endless
Speaker 1: amounts of new Christmas movies that drop across all of
Speaker 1: the streaming platforms, and I usually avoid them like the plague.
Speaker 1: But this year I was excited to join the craze
Speaker 1: because of the people behind Nugget, who are whip smart,
Speaker 1: hilarious and have their finger on the pulse of social commentary.
Speaker 1: It's almost the anti Christmas movie in a way, and
Speaker 1: I have to say I'm here for it. Vick and
Speaker 1: Jenna talk about their own experiences with Christmas and why
Speaker 1: they think all families at Christmas are a hotspot for
Speaker 1: hilarious content. We unpack some of the film's influences and
Speaker 1: find out if Muriel's wedding was something that made an
Speaker 1: impact on the writing of Golden Nugget. I will get
Speaker 1: to find out if this story is based on something
Speaker 1: that actually happened to either Vik or Jenner. You guys
Speaker 1: are going to get so much out of this chat
Speaker 1: in terms of how we view our own family, why
Speaker 1: Christmas makes us a bit nutty, and why this film
Speaker 1: is the perfect pre Christmas homework. There is actually so
Speaker 1: much to talk about, with so many inside revelations on
Speaker 1: how this film was made. So sit back and relax
Speaker 1: as we unpack the wonderful world of the stand original
Speaker 1: film Nugget Is Dead a Christmas Story. So excited to
Speaker 1: talk to both of you because I was doing this
Speaker 1: show with like a digital breakfast show, very COVID time,
Speaker 1: like it was very bizarre, but we were always mining
Speaker 1: for like good content and funny content, and anyway, we
Speaker 1: came across all of your work and we were just
Speaker 1: sitting my co host Alana and I and watch your stuff.
Speaker 1: So when this opportunity came across my desk to talk
Speaker 1: to you both about this film, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is so exciting, that's.
Speaker 2: So nice, that's so nice. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: We're so proud of that, that your are, that body
Speaker 3: of work. It was not an easy and easy time.
Speaker 3: I don't know why we, of all people were allowed
Speaker 3: to keep making things.
Speaker 1: It was so good because you know, I grew up
Speaker 1: with a family of our Sunday lunches, was always sitting
Speaker 1: around talking about politics. But at the same time we
Speaker 1: grew up watching sort of fast forward in the comedy company.
Speaker 1: They were doing all of that. They were mocking politics
Speaker 1: at the time, which when I stumbled across your work,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, they are doing something very similar
Speaker 1: to what I grew up enjoying.
Speaker 3: Oh that's not dreams, that's saying exactly the people and
Speaker 3: the show.
Speaker 2: So we relied. Thank you, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You know, I thought that this film is also a
Speaker 1: very interesting subject matter for you because social politics and
Speaker 1: politics itself is actually very close to family politics, and
Speaker 1: that is really the essence of what we're talking about
Speaker 1: here today.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3: Basically, this film it's you know, we had this big
Speaker 3: era at the feed, you know, doing our political satire,
Speaker 3: and then this film is kind of definitely like a
Speaker 3: departure from that.
Speaker 2: Emotionally a little bit.
Speaker 3: It was something that we kind of just wanted to
Speaker 3: be able to have an experience that was warm and
Speaker 3: beautiful and made us feel vulnerable, made us feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, happy, was something that we could watch with
Speaker 3: our parents, who would also leave that movie feeling.
Speaker 2: Lighter instead of heavier.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of like how we felt about the
Speaker 3: writing process, but also like being on set with you know,
Speaker 3: all the most amazing Australian actress you've ever seen in
Speaker 3: your life.
Speaker 4: And I think for us it was moving from kind
Speaker 4: of a political satire space into like social satire or
Speaker 4: social commentary. It's like, yeah, character based comedy and all
Speaker 4: those same insights that you have into the way.
Speaker 2: That the world works.
Speaker 4: Like, I mean, everything is inherently political, but it's just
Speaker 4: leaning into the human side of all the things that
Speaker 4: affect us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's what our life is like. You know,
Speaker 1: there's so much silliness that goes on and some of
Speaker 1: the most awkward moments are the funniest things that happened
Speaker 1: to us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like my family makes me laugh more than anyone else,
Speaker 3: Like the specific things things that they say after a while,
Speaker 3: I mean it is in the movie.
Speaker 2: But I you know, I always laugh.
Speaker 3: My parents just have no concept of anything secondhand. Like
Speaker 3: they are always saying that my clothes look like they've
Speaker 3: come out of a bin, or like that my furniture,
Speaker 3: Like I remember when they first saw my share house
Speaker 3: and I was like, you know, trying to do that
Speaker 3: mid century thing that's actually you know, a reference definitely
Speaker 3: in the movie.
Speaker 2: I remember my dad was like, it wasn't good then
Speaker 2: and it's not good now.
Speaker 3: And I was just like, so funny to talk about
Speaker 3: like the things that I consider aesthetic or important and
Speaker 3: those cultural differences.
Speaker 2: And that's also what this movie is about.
Speaker 3: The journey for both Vick and I a feeling more
Speaker 3: resentment over those differences. I definitely when I first moved
Speaker 3: to city and I was trying to shed that kind
Speaker 3: of skin. And then I'd come home and I thought
Speaker 3: that some of my friends were having these like very cultured, elegant, worldly,
Speaker 3: amazing Christmases where you know, everything was mid centrally modern
Speaker 3: and it was all you know, the curated from model
Speaker 3: ANGI you know, cookbook kind of Christmas.
Speaker 2: That thing. I used to feel really resentful when you know, my.
Speaker 3: Parents would make that comments about the fact I was
Speaker 3: wearing a sack or that you know, I smelled like
Speaker 3: Grandma's closet.
Speaker 2: But I think now I just find it's so funny.
Speaker 3: And I also see like how they're right in a
Speaker 3: lot of ways, not necessarily about aesthetics.
Speaker 2: I would never say my family is right about aesthetics, but.
Speaker 3: I would say that their heart and their values and
Speaker 3: their ability to read people is quite accurate. And I
Speaker 3: think that was something that I was lacking when I
Speaker 3: first moved to Sydney. I mean, you see it in
Speaker 3: the film with the way in which Steph is like
Speaker 3: and you've had a similar experience with these like upper
Speaker 3: echelons of society.
Speaker 2: You're very wooed by them. Actually you come up.
Speaker 4: On a pedestal and then you go back home and
Speaker 4: you just go I wish my family was like that,
Speaker 4: or I wish that I would more comfortable in these spaces.
Speaker 2: With these really you know, smart, worldly people.
Speaker 4: But it's never really your authentic self, And it's just
Speaker 4: accepting and learning to love kind of where you come
Speaker 4: from and seeing the value in that that makes you
Speaker 4: an authentic person. And it very much is about like
Speaker 4: how to turn up authentically in a space. Because the
Speaker 4: character's staff is chronic people please are always trying to
Speaker 4: say the right thing.
Speaker 2: And I think that.
Speaker 4: She has got so much resentment towards her family for
Speaker 4: having to play a certain role, and she doesn't want
Speaker 4: to play that role anymore. And believe it or not,
Speaker 4: like sometimes really a difficult events or like coming together
Speaker 4: over the sickness of a dog, makes you actually have
Speaker 4: to turn up authentically because you don't have the time
Speaker 4: and energy to put on airs and graces. In the
Speaker 4: process of being authentic and speaking truth, like being honest
Speaker 4: about where you are and not lying to your family
Speaker 4: anymore about you know, what your life is and whether
Speaker 4: your boyfriend's borrowed money from you or not. It actually
Speaker 4: forces you to come to terms with like being authentic,
Speaker 4: because real connection can only come from that authenticity, and
Speaker 4: connection based on a fraudulent part of yourself is never
Speaker 4: going to feel as good as what it means. They're
Speaker 4: really connected to who you are, and that is part
Speaker 4: of connecting to where you come from.
Speaker 3: You know, there's this middle ground, Like I think that
Speaker 3: if I completely pleased my parents with my actions, I
Speaker 3: would have remained somewhat regressed in you know, my emotional state.
Speaker 2: But I think there was.
Speaker 3: A level of growth that happened that for me, for
Speaker 3: anyone that kind of moves from, you know, their hometown
Speaker 3: to the city.
Speaker 2: That was quite inauthentic.
Speaker 3: And I think, if there's one thing I can say
Speaker 3: about my parents, they don't always get me in this
Speaker 3: way that we like try to kind of straw man sometimes.
Speaker 3: But whenever I have brought a partner home, or whenever
Speaker 3: I have been in an unhappy sort of relationship, be
Speaker 3: it romantic or with work, like, it's so clear for
Speaker 3: them and it's quite painful for them. And it's something
Speaker 3: I've been talking more about my mom to my mum
Speaker 3: about recently, of that weird feeling of kind of seeing
Speaker 3: your daughter and knowing their knowing their heart, knowing their nerdiness,
Speaker 3: knowing their you know, hang ups, and seeing them with
Speaker 3: a new partner that's just so feel so disconnected from
Speaker 3: the person.
Speaker 2: That you know they are.
Speaker 3: It's almost like a more loaded version of how your
Speaker 3: friends feel when they see you, you know, with that partner.
Speaker 3: It they're like, why do you speaking like that? Why
Speaker 3: are you talking like that? Why are you dressing like that?
Speaker 2: Like why are you suddenly caring about that?
Speaker 3: Like it's exactly you feel like you that thing, and
Speaker 3: that's basically how Steph comes home and the family is actually,
Speaker 3: I would say in the movie, is more even subtle
Speaker 3: and accepting of that than even like I think sometimes
Speaker 3: when I've.
Speaker 2: Come home, they're like, what the fuck is up your us?
Speaker 1: Like, you know, that's what you nail the most in
Speaker 1: this You nail that feeling inside of all of us.
Speaker 1: I think when we go away from our families, the
Speaker 1: more time away we start to think about how embarrassing
Speaker 1: they are. And then you go back to Christmas in particular,
Speaker 1: which is just a gold mine for this kind of content,
Speaker 1: and you slowly realize that you are these people and
Speaker 1: that is kind of comforting. And so I relate to
Speaker 1: Steph in that way where she's like, you know, she
Speaker 1: comes home, she's like, oh, yeah, you guys are kind
Speaker 1: of embarrassing, and I I'm trying to be this person.
Speaker 1: And the more she tries to be this person that
Speaker 1: she's created in her head, which sort of distances herself
Speaker 1: from her family, the more of an asshole she kind
Speaker 1: of comes across as. And yet there's a bit of
Speaker 1: an aha moment which I don't want to give anything
Speaker 1: too much away, but she then realizes this is her tribe,
Speaker 1: these are her people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an idea of like fairweather friends as well.
Speaker 3: I think it can be applied to just relationships in
Speaker 3: general in your life, Like this is not like a
Speaker 3: fair weather family, Like they're not necessarily the family that
Speaker 3: you're going to have fun with day to day, but
Speaker 3: when things go down, like they are going to be
Speaker 3: the ago that to have your back.
Speaker 2: And I think that's a really important thing.
Speaker 3: Like we've all had relationships in our lives if it's romantic,
Speaker 3: and in this movie, that's part of it. When Step
Speaker 3: starts to feel when Step asks for anything, when like
Speaker 3: she has needs and expresses them, like, that's when the
Speaker 3: zeb relationship starts to crumble because it's kind of like,
Speaker 3: hold up, I didn't sign up for this, whereas like family,
Speaker 3: for all their flaws, they did sign up for that,
Speaker 3: and they know they've signed up for that. And I
Speaker 3: think it's like sometimes that is a safer space for
Speaker 3: a family to be in crisis. I know for my family,
Speaker 3: like day to day is hard, mums and you know
Speaker 3: nagging me, like it's you're snapping at each other. I'd
Speaker 3: rather do the day to day with my friends but
Speaker 3: sometimes like the real crisis moments, you can really have
Speaker 3: those with your family because that's where you're all leveled and.
Speaker 1: There's not through the bullshit, don't they With our friends,
Speaker 1: we've sort of also got a lens that we put
Speaker 1: over ourselves where we're like we have to frame everything
Speaker 1: so people understand where with your family, they can literally
Speaker 1: be there at a crisis and straight away have all
Speaker 1: the tools to access everything because they literally have the
Speaker 1: blueprint absolutely.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just like where the crisis can actually unfold.
Speaker 3: I think we're so all used to putting on some
Speaker 3: level of a mask, you know, away from family, and
Speaker 3: I think it's it's funny. It's like why the Christmas
Speaker 3: like crankies are like such a thing, because it's like
Speaker 3: you spend this whole year being like having all this poison,
Speaker 3: having like going and going and like having this big
Speaker 3: mask on and like, you know, being around people who
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways know you better than your
Speaker 3: family does. But then you go home and literally like
Speaker 3: I will just times get on the couch and not
Speaker 3: move for like five hours, and my mum will sort
Speaker 3: of help her around, ask me questions.
Speaker 2: I'll snap at her and then.
Speaker 3: She'll kind of bring me a cup of tea and
Speaker 3: then be like more chill. And you know, that's the
Speaker 3: kind of process. It's learning that there's different people for
Speaker 3: different things, and I think that's really important. Like I
Speaker 3: don't think that, you know, my family is ever going
Speaker 3: to satisfy that like deep culture. I'm not going home
Speaker 3: and having my mum share, you know, an incredible poem
Speaker 3: that she's you know, stumbled across, and I'm not having
Speaker 3: this conversation with my dad that's like what do you
Speaker 3: think about the latest Archibald Winner? Like, you know, I'm
Speaker 3: not having those conversations, but I can find those conversations and.
Speaker 2: Seek them out in this new world.
Speaker 3: I think that what this movie is kind of about
Speaker 3: is like, you know, reassessing the value that people have
Speaker 3: and putting that on the same level.
Speaker 4: And also updating the stories that you have around your family.
Speaker 4: I think it's an interesting place. We call this a
Speaker 4: bit of like a set in Return film. Like Seth
Speaker 4: is a character who's returning back to her family and
Speaker 4: has noticed that since being away, dynamics have shifted and
Speaker 4: families aren't always the same narrative that you grow up with. Sometimes,
Speaker 4: you know, you come home and your brother is so
Speaker 4: much more mature and so much more able, and so
Speaker 4: much more.
Speaker 2: Emotionally intelligent than you remember.
Speaker 4: Sometimes your parents like they're newly separated but still living together,
Speaker 4: so their dynamic is also shifted, and you have to
Speaker 4: update your narrative with what that family is and your
Speaker 4: role within that. So we call it like a Christmas story,
Speaker 4: and it's about very much the idea of like updating
Speaker 4: the stories you have about yourself and your family, because
Speaker 4: you can come back and things can change. You're not
Speaker 4: stuck in these fixed positions in this Sometimes that dynamic
Speaker 4: requires that truth of like I used to feel this way.
Speaker 4: I don't want to feel this way anymore. How do
Speaker 4: you make space for this new version of me? And
Speaker 4: that's not just Step, that's everyone's family unit kind of
Speaker 4: growing and changing together. And it's usually around the Christmas time,
Speaker 4: especially if you spent some time away, you notice, oh
Speaker 4: my god, there's massive shifts in the family dynamic.
Speaker 1: I think what was really interesting for me and I
Speaker 1: think for what viewers will find. I think anyone that
Speaker 1: comes across this film will see this is see themselves
Speaker 1: in a lot of this. It reminded me of something
Speaker 1: that I'd never thought about since it basically happened, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's just been lying dormant in the back of
Speaker 1: my head. But I remember on one Christmas my uncle,
Speaker 1: who was sitting next to me, started talking about wigs,
Speaker 1: and I was like young, and I hadn't come out
Speaker 1: and was very closeted and very unsure of my sexuality.
Speaker 1: And he just all of a sudden turned to me
Speaker 1: and said, well, Ben, if anyone here knows about wigs,
Speaker 1: it would be you. And I was like what It
Speaker 1: was so like the entire table looked at me, and
Speaker 1: I just nearly was swallowed up, and he was like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're in Sydney and we're walking down the
Speaker 1: street and we saw all of these shops on Oxford
Speaker 1: Street and these drag queen's wigs. And I was like, well,
Speaker 1: why are you saying that to me? The whole table
Speaker 1: was like, bekiuse ye're gay, but they didn't say that,
Speaker 1: And I just isn't it interesting within that family dynamic
Speaker 1: is that we all try to bring we try to
Speaker 1: Maybe my naive or maybe this is untrue, but I
Speaker 1: think we all try and help bring people along with
Speaker 1: who they who we as family think that we think
Speaker 1: they should be, do you know what I mean? We
Speaker 1: bring this out of them in a way. And I
Speaker 1: just felt like as I kept watching this film, there
Speaker 1: was just more and more of those moments that sort
Speaker 1: of reminded me of that. And in some ways, it's
Speaker 1: kind of the anti Christmas film. We've been watching it
Speaker 1: Christmas films for so long, where it's all perfect and
Speaker 1: you're like, h hague myself because that's not my Christmas.
Speaker 1: Where this reminds you of all.
Speaker 3: Of that, it makes me so happy. That's like the
Speaker 3: most apt kind of Really. I think you're so right.
Speaker 3: I think family, rightly or wrongly, have this idea of us,
Speaker 3: and they feel this ownership over us and our identities,
Speaker 3: and I think they drive us forcefully sometimes into that
Speaker 3: version of ourselves, and we're just never that. It's never
Speaker 3: that simple. Like there's things that they are right about,
Speaker 3: and there's things that are just so much more nuanced
Speaker 3: that they'll never understand. And I think it's that's the pain,
Speaker 3: right when you're getting driven by your family into something
Speaker 3: you are this kind of person. There were so many
Speaker 3: parts of my journey, same as you, that were really
Speaker 3: hard for my family to swallow.
Speaker 2: Because they were just like, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3: That's not that's incorrect, that's you're being influenced by X
Speaker 3: y Z, but you were actually this person, and you
Speaker 3: kind of go that is rooted and I was this person.
Speaker 3: There's parts of me that are this person, but I'm
Speaker 3: also this person. And it's them learning to let go
Speaker 3: of their expectations of you, whilst also you like taking
Speaker 3: some having some ability to listen to you know who
Speaker 3: they think, your heart, your core is, and I think
Speaker 3: that's really important. It's really easy to lose your core
Speaker 3: when you have all new friends in an all new city,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And it's just opening up what that story is about
Speaker 4: who you are and your identity, knowing that so many
Speaker 4: things can be true at once and we just kind
Speaker 4: of grow larger and more expansive and who we become,
Speaker 4: and instead of having a fixed idea of one thing,
Speaker 4: it's just allowing more and more space for the multiplicities
Speaker 4: of dynamics and people and the chaos within that. I
Speaker 4: think you're right and saying it is a bit of
Speaker 4: an anti Christmas movie because it does try to lean
Speaker 4: into those moments of imperfection, like nothing is easy it's
Speaker 4: chaos and it's real. I think we were really we
Speaker 4: really cared about the details and the specificity and the
Speaker 4: truth of the characters. All of the actors just brought
Speaker 4: out the truth and just it always felt so real
Speaker 4: and we were there. It felt like you're in this
Speaker 4: big families, big ensemble that would all move in one
Speaker 4: kind of blob, like we were always moving around from
Speaker 4: location as this unit, and it felt like it actually
Speaker 4: really did feel very connected and very family like. Also,
Speaker 4: just working with people from all different age groups and
Speaker 4: just different different experiences like that adds so much to
Speaker 4: the complexity when you come.
Speaker 2: Home to family life.
Speaker 4: It's some of the only times now we have to
Speaker 4: be around people who have very different day to day
Speaker 4: experiences from us, and it's having to contend with all
Speaker 4: those differences. That can be so ripe for comedy because
Speaker 4: you're having this conflict. But I think that's one thing
Speaker 4: and so we get all you know, and society we're
Speaker 4: not having as many of those moments because we're siphoned
Speaker 4: in these groups and areas where we feel safe in
Speaker 4: this version of ourselves. But like Christmas is one of
Speaker 4: those times where like actually you have to talk to
Speaker 4: your own people who you know works in engineering and
Speaker 4: has no idea about this in this but how do
Speaker 4: you connect to him? And I think this movie is
Speaker 4: very much about connection and like the kind of vulnerability
Speaker 4: you have to offer up to find that connection exactly.
Speaker 3: And I hope this movie is coming in a good
Speaker 3: time for like that exact thing. I predicted that this
Speaker 3: Christmas is going to be hard. I think there's lots
Speaker 3: of things happening in the world that are going to
Speaker 3: make for really hard conversations. I think it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: when we're in our city slicken little bubbles, it's pretty
Speaker 3: easy to like sit in the echo chamber and just
Speaker 3: kind of like go around and around saying the same
Speaker 3: thing with all your friends who will agree with you.
Speaker 3: I think it's like a different thing entirely to go
Speaker 3: home to Christmas and know how to stand your ground
Speaker 3: with like softness and empathy. And I think that's definitely
Speaker 3: what we kind of wanted this movie to be about.
Speaker 3: Step give some You know, she brings softness, she apologizes,
Speaker 3: but she also stands her ground on things that she
Speaker 3: still deserves and needs from her family. But I think
Speaker 3: you touched on it, like the other thing for me
Speaker 3: is like I just remember, for no reason other than
Speaker 3: the unrealistic expectations of social media, I have always carried
Speaker 3: a bit of shame and guilt around Christmas. I feel
Speaker 3: the shame of not having, you know, the family, the
Speaker 3: artist kind of ilk upper echelon family that I think
Speaker 3: that I always dreamed of when I was a kid.
Speaker 3: I feel shame about that, and I have the guilt
Speaker 3: that I don't actually spend.
Speaker 2: More time and value my family more So.
Speaker 3: It's this absolute weird mix of these emotions of like,
Speaker 3: you know, the thing that I snapped most of my
Speaker 3: family about is when they kind of go be nice
Speaker 3: if you stayed a bit longer, you know, that.
Speaker 2: Kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I also don't want that as well, because I can
Speaker 1: also say to you that I went out with this
Speaker 1: guy for like five years and he was the opposite
Speaker 1: of my family, Like my family is literally this family
Speaker 1: from this movie. Yeah, I was always like and sorry
Speaker 1: my boyfriend at the times family was exactly the opposite,
Speaker 1: which was the family that we were constantly sort of
Speaker 1: comparing yourself against the family that we have in our
Speaker 1: mind that even doesn't exist that we're comparing ourselves against.
Speaker 1: To be like that's what Christmas should be, where we've
Speaker 1: always got that. But I went there to this fancy
Speaker 1: Christmas where everyone sat far away from each other and
Speaker 1: they all had gin and tonics, and I remember after
Speaker 1: five hours, I went in their laundry, into his laundry,
Speaker 1: his parents' laundry, and screamed into a basket of dirty
Speaker 1: laundry because I was like, I can't fucking do this anymore,
Speaker 1: like as in exhaust it wasn't what I wanted as well.
Speaker 1: And then I mean I did break up with him. Sorry, James,
Speaker 1: if you ever listened to my podcast, I'm I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure you don't, but I just remember being like and
Speaker 1: like the relationship crumbled from that point of that moment
Speaker 1: realized that if I was to stay with this man,
Speaker 1: these are the people I will be in twenty to
Speaker 1: thirty year time, and I would prefer to be with
Speaker 1: the shag carpet of my embarrassing family's home than these
Speaker 1: wooden floorboards and conversation that was just as wooden as
Speaker 1: the floorboards.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, You've just nailed it, like,
Speaker 3: you've just nailed it that exact thing, and I've definitely gone.
Speaker 2: We've both gone.
Speaker 3: Through through that asically what you've just described, it's just
Speaker 3: this pedestal. It absolutely and that's so good about getting older,
Speaker 3: Like I think it's also a film that's like you know,
Speaker 3: we say, well you say more so, but since steps
Speaker 3: in her Satin return in this movie, it's that like
Speaker 3: you know that twenty seven twenty eight where you're still
Speaker 3: just like having the growing pains of like who am I?
Speaker 2: Like, what do I actually value? It's all that identity stuff.
Speaker 3: And then it is nice getting older because exactly what
Speaker 3: you said, you kind of like all these.
Speaker 2: People come off the pedestal, like all of them come
Speaker 2: off the pedestal, and you realize what makes you feel good.
Speaker 4: You connect back to your feelings about things and when
Speaker 4: you feel like you can feel it in a space
Speaker 4: where you don't feel good and you used to in
Speaker 4: the like in the past, even I just feel like
Speaker 4: I pushed past that feeling, so I go, that's actually
Speaker 4: what's right and I'm wrong and like the world is right,
Speaker 4: but I need to be better or is it a
Speaker 4: switch being like maybe I'm like fine and I'm okay
Speaker 4: and I can be myself and the world that I'm
Speaker 4: in maybe.
Speaker 2: That's just not it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think it's that switch that is the
Speaker 4: biggest switch, and it's the most helpful switch you could do,
Speaker 4: because you spend your whole life being like I've learnt
Speaker 4: my whole life from the movies, from the TV, from
Speaker 4: everything around me, that this is these are the kind
Speaker 4: of things I need to do to be, you know,
Speaker 4: a good person, or to be a valued person in society.
Speaker 4: But then it's like, actually, the value, it's a questioning
Speaker 4: values movie.
Speaker 2: The value is much more.
Speaker 4: Suited to people who actually see you, who care about you,
Speaker 4: who are present for you, who might have imperfections, but
Speaker 4: they care and they try. They want to understand you.
Speaker 4: And I think that's always the conflict is the you know,
Speaker 4: Steph's family. They want to understand her, they want to
Speaker 4: be in her life, they want to ask questions, they
Speaker 4: try to connect, and sometimes that tension is just like
Speaker 4: their attempts don't really fit in with her, like what
Speaker 4: she needs or how she feels that she needs to
Speaker 4: be connected to. But there is never an absence of
Speaker 4: care and love. And it's being able to see past.
Speaker 4: And this is the main thing going back to family,
Speaker 4: being able to see past all the superficial kind of
Speaker 4: things that you see that shadow what it is is
Speaker 4: like true people just trying to connect. Yeah, and our
Speaker 4: whole Like when we're doing political sat type was always
Speaker 4: like what are the human stories?
Speaker 2: What are the human experience?
Speaker 4: Is one of the empathetic responses to what's happening politically
Speaker 4: And if we can find a way to connect back
Speaker 4: to the human and to see someone like I to
Speaker 4: eye first and know all of this stuff is decoration
Speaker 4: and noise and silos and information, But what is it
Speaker 4: the core of this? And do we both care about,
Speaker 4: you know, caring about each other, caring about you know,
Speaker 4: people like I really do believe people do care and
Speaker 4: they do have an open heart. When they're told they don't,
Speaker 4: they will be very defensive. And I go work playing
Speaker 4: into that same dynamic. But if we say I want
Speaker 4: to see you, I want to connect to you, can
Speaker 4: I come with love and softness?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys get it. You guys get it so well.
Speaker 1: Like honestly, it's just so fun to watch. I always
Speaker 1: think of your work. Well, I will continue to think
Speaker 1: of your work as you find the murial in people.
Speaker 1: If you love Mural's wedding, and I don't know if you.
Speaker 2: Do, but it's sure it's.
Speaker 1: My favorite austrained film. But yet I always think the
Speaker 1: best humor to me is Finding the Murial, and that
Speaker 1: is that Muriel was actually not a great person. She
Speaker 1: was kind of flawed, and yet there was some real humor,
Speaker 1: but there was some real depth in that humor that
Speaker 1: meant that not only were you laughing, but you felt seen.
Speaker 1: And I think the two of you, with your work
Speaker 1: so far up into this date, I just I feel
Speaker 1: it's really exciting because I relate to that. I feel
Speaker 1: like you find the murial in comedy.
Speaker 2: Saying that means the absolute world honestly, which is like
Speaker 2: that's all we could have really dreamed of.
Speaker 3: And I think that this movie was, yeah, departure for
Speaker 3: us from like more of a cynical brain that satire
Speaker 3: sometimes operates, and more of it just like what is
Speaker 3: at our core is like trying to bring people together
Speaker 3: and have conversations that are you know, maybe help people
Speaker 3: remove some tension, can make people laugh, but like remove
Speaker 3: that spikiness that we feel. Yeah, like everyone relates to
Speaker 3: that feeling that comes up when your mom or dad
Speaker 3: says something and you just do that politically incorrect and
Speaker 3: you just shut down and you're just like I am
Speaker 3: shamed and I hate it here and I hate you
Speaker 3: and you're an idiot and there's like no further conversation
Speaker 3: to be had.
Speaker 2: And I've had so many of those screaming crying in
Speaker 2: the room, like you know.
Speaker 3: But I think what's what we wanted from this movie
Speaker 3: is Yeah, that's softening.
Speaker 2: Like I think, and that's the healing, and that's what
Speaker 2: we've all experienced.
Speaker 3: I think we love characters so much because I think
Speaker 3: Vick and I have both had so many different stages
Speaker 3: as people personally, like literally like transformation like every year.
Speaker 3: And I think that we can tap into different journeys
Speaker 3: between the two of us quite well. But yeah, and
Speaker 3: I think that's in I hope that's in the movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a good thing for people to watch. If
Speaker 1: anyone that's listening to this right now, I honestly can
Speaker 1: say that you should watch this film because it will
Speaker 1: help you with your own Christmas.
Speaker 2: That's the true family move. Watch it with the family.
Speaker 3: And I don't think the conversations that come from it,
Speaker 3: I would imagine are good ones.
Speaker 1: Not a conversation. I don't want to watch it with
Speaker 1: my mom because I'm afraid that she's going to ask
Speaker 1: me all those questions. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 3: My mom's seeing it for the first time on Monday,
Speaker 3: Like I'm quite nervous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all our.
Speaker 4: Parents conversations, conversations that we've both had with our.
Speaker 2: Moms, Like family from Western Sydney's coming.
Speaker 3: I'm interested in you know, they are very heavily inspired
Speaker 3: the like Rodinson side of the family in the movie.
Speaker 3: I'm interested to see how they feel. I mean, we're
Speaker 3: feeling vulnerable because the week's about to begin of like,
Speaker 3: you know, the people in our lives seeing this movie
Speaker 3: and like be interesting to see how they feel those
Speaker 3: representations are. But you know, it's just it's just funny
Speaker 3: for non TV people as well to just be like,
Speaker 3: oh is that what is that? Is that mean?
Speaker 1: Is that I want to be there for this screening?
Speaker 1: By the way, I just want to watch the family.
Speaker 1: You know. I finished the podcast every time with a
Speaker 1: quick question, and that is something from behind the scenes
Speaker 1: and something that maybe the audience won't get a chance
Speaker 1: to know. And I was going to ask you guys,
Speaker 1: if there's something in this film that you've actually borrowed
Speaker 1: from a real life situation that's made its way to
Speaker 1: the film that maybe you might be a little bit
Speaker 1: nervous about having in the film because someone's going to
Speaker 1: see this and realize it's then.
Speaker 3: The juiciest one apart from the obvious the film is
Speaker 3: based on a Christmas you know, I actually had with
Speaker 3: my family and the dog.
Speaker 2: The jusiest one, or one.
Speaker 3: Of the juiciest ones, I would say, is the boyfriend
Speaker 3: said intonation and way of speaking I think would be
Speaker 3: quite obvious to people that know me about a certain x.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, his therapized language that he likes to kind of
Speaker 3: throw out. So that's probably and you know we've all
Speaker 3: had that. Yeah, that is one thing that makes me nerves,
Speaker 3: I guess.
Speaker 4: And just the certain styling certn styling choices. He's a
Speaker 4: cool guy, he's a We hope the character Sab. We
Speaker 4: want every girl to be like, oh my god, hi,
Speaker 4: i'd and it is.
Speaker 2: It's it's a stranger than fiction. Yeah, I just hope
Speaker 2: that my SEB doesn't feel too attacked.
Speaker 3: You know, there was this whole thing on set like
Speaker 3: Justice for Seb, like some people with Team SEB.
Speaker 2: I don't know, so you know, people watching go he's
Speaker 2: not that bad.
Speaker 1: Well, he exists in the real world, and all of
Speaker 1: these characters exist in the real world, whilst they be
Speaker 1: leveled up or amped up a little bit. The film
Speaker 1: does what it says on the box nugget is dead
Speaker 1: Christmas story. It's kind of the anti Christmas film and
Speaker 1: I can't wait for people to enjoy it. Girls, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for being here and chatting with me
Speaker 1: today about this film. I am obsessed and I'll be
Speaker 1: in your audience.
Speaker 3: Thanks your luck to meet you, and thank you for
Speaker 3: your amazing questions.
Speaker 2: It were so good.