Speaker 1: Good a. Peter Helly here, welcome to you. Ain't seen
Speaker 1: Nothing Yet the movie podcast where I chat to a
Speaker 1: movie lover about a classic or beloved movie they haven't
Speaker 1: quite got around to watching until now. And today's guests
Speaker 1: who spoke to me with my rather croaky voice. My
Speaker 1: apologies is my great mate, TV vet broadcaster photographer, doctor
Speaker 1: Chris Brown. Do you any think you have a chance
Speaker 1: against us?
Speaker 2: Mister cowboy?
Speaker 1: Open the pod bay doors.
Speaker 3: Hell, I'll have what she's happen.
Speaker 1: Happening right, don't see nothing yet. Doctor Chris Brown is
Speaker 1: one of the ad time great blokes in Australian showbiz,
Speaker 1: both on screen and off screen. He's much loved. He
Speaker 1: burst on our screens in two thousand and three when
Speaker 1: he appeared on Harry's Practice with Doctor Harry Cooper, and
Speaker 1: he was nominated that year for the most Popular New
Speaker 1: Talent at the Logis. But certainly it was his role
Speaker 1: as the Bondive Vet which sent him into the strata sphere.
Speaker 1: It became a global TV hit and Chris was obviously
Speaker 1: the face of it. He actually did mouth the mouth
Speaker 1: to a dog once. Yeah, just keep that in mind.
Speaker 1: And when you look at his face and Remember how
Speaker 1: handsome he is. Just remember he passes docs. Just remember
Speaker 1: that I love Brownie. He's become a really great mate
Speaker 1: over the years. You've seen him, of course in the
Speaker 1: Living Room, A wonderful show with Amanda Cala. Also what
Speaker 1: a legend. Hopefully a guest on this show one day soon,
Speaker 1: Barry Dubois and of course Miguel oh mcgal, what a legend.
Speaker 1: Also he teams up with his great mate and my
Speaker 1: great mate to hilarious Julie Morris and I'm a Celebrity,
Speaker 1: Get Me out of Here. Those two have formed a
Speaker 1: formidable combination, waxing, lyrical, just a great pairing and have
Speaker 1: really become not just because of the celebrities, but they're
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why people tune in to I'm
Speaker 1: a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here. Currently, you can
Speaker 1: see him on Channel ten's hit The Doghouse Australia. Brown
Speaker 1: is generous despite the fact, and this may come up
Speaker 1: in the episode. Myself, Sam Mack and Brownie went to
Speaker 1: Chinatown in Sydney together and let us say he skimped
Speaker 1: when the bill came. He didn't do a runner, but
Speaker 1: he claimed he had no money on him. Really I mean,
Speaker 1: do you work on that many shows? The fon divet
Speaker 1: the living Room. I'm a celebrity. Harry's practice money will
Speaker 1: still becoming, and I imagine Brandy's become a great mate
Speaker 1: over the years. He obviously has co hosted and filled
Speaker 1: him many times with us on the project. He was
Speaker 1: always such a pleasure hanging out with him again, both
Speaker 1: on screen and off screen. I love Brandy because he
Speaker 1: doesn't take himself too seriously. He's genuinely hilarious. He is
Speaker 1: a great mate, he really is. He is as genuine
Speaker 1: as they come, and I'm bloody stoked to be hanging
Speaker 1: with him today.
Speaker 3: Well, hello, it's Chris Brown here. Dr Chris Brown's I'm
Speaker 3: not confused with the other one. My three favorite films
Speaker 3: of all time are with Top Gun.
Speaker 1: You will screw up just as much.
Speaker 2: You'll be flying a cargo plan full of Rubbert dog
Speaker 2: shit out of Hang Kong.
Speaker 3: Sir, Dumb and Dumber Austria.
Speaker 1: Well then Good Day Mate, and the.
Speaker 3: Secret Life of Walter Mitty The Ace.
Speaker 1: Jeez, she moves like a woman.
Speaker 3: I'm like that. The film I haven't seen is Chopper,
Speaker 3: the Australian classic Chopper.
Speaker 4: Donk sore at it, trying to be general made.
Speaker 1: You're fucking rip into it, slash it off.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the other one. I'm not gonna get me for
Speaker 3: this later.
Speaker 5: Just get on with it.
Speaker 3: Your fucking fairy into it. Get a screw, would you?
Speaker 3: I can bleed, chop.
Speaker 1: Please, you gotta stop a bleeding. Okay, you can get
Speaker 1: any cob. What are you got to get yourself into
Speaker 1: the shower?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: Are you talking to me now?
Speaker 3: A Hey?
Speaker 2: After all I've done for you, I took you from
Speaker 2: tears to fucking glory and you do this to me.
Speaker 2: I'm not angry at you, Jim, just broke my heart
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 1: Yes, It's the movie that almost made us forget that
Speaker 1: there was once a time when Eric Banner was Australia's
Speaker 1: premier Ray Martin Impersonator two thousands Chopper took everyone by
Speaker 1: surprise the story of Celebrity hit Man. Yet that's right,
Speaker 1: that's inking celebrity hit Man Mark Brandon, Chopper read, who
Speaker 1: had become a best selling author despite being semi illiterate.
Speaker 1: It not only marked the arrival of Eric Banner on
Speaker 1: the global stage, but also director Andrew Dominic, who went
Speaker 1: on to direct the assassination of Jesse James by the
Speaker 1: coward Robert Ford. Great film, starring with Brad Pitt and
Speaker 1: Casey Affleck and also killing me softly brad Pitt again.
Speaker 1: It became the highest grossing R rated movie in Australia
Speaker 1: until The Wolf of Wall Street came along. It's violent,
Speaker 1: it's intense, and somehow really funny. This, of course is
Speaker 1: thanks to Eric Banner, whose performance is utterly mesmerizing and
Speaker 1: maybe one of the best screen performances by a local doctor.
Speaker 1: Chris Brown. Chopper was a big deal. Do you reckon?
Speaker 1: He could have made it on too. I'm a celebrity,
Speaker 1: Get me out of here.
Speaker 3: It would have made the eating challenges a little interesting
Speaker 3: to pick which ear you were you were consuming at
Speaker 3: the time. You know, there's already a lack of sleep
Speaker 3: in the in the jungle camp, but I reckon if
Speaker 3: you were, if you were sharing a campsite and a
Speaker 3: number of hot pokers with with the Chopper, you probably
Speaker 3: wouldn't sleep overly. Well, what a what a character? And look,
Speaker 3: I want to say what a film, and we'll get
Speaker 3: to that. But I'm mesmerized by the fact that I
Speaker 3: haven't seen it. I don't know how I judged this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, walk us through that, because I mean it's been
Speaker 1: nominated on this show as various people's favorite films for memory.
Speaker 1: Samuel Johnson nominated it. I think Hughes he may have
Speaker 1: nominated as well. Much Loved was made a lot of
Speaker 1: noise because of Eric Banner's performance, you know, succeeded around
Speaker 1: the world. You have dismissed it. Why why aren't you
Speaker 1: supporting Australian cinema and Eric Banner? Chris Brown?
Speaker 3: You know me, I mean I despise all of those things. No,
Speaker 3: I think it just happened at a weird in time.
Speaker 3: I think it came out in two thousand and you
Speaker 3: know that for me was that was a very critical
Speaker 3: time in my veterory career. I was, I was in
Speaker 3: what fourth year of my my veterory studies. I was,
Speaker 3: that's pretty a pretty pretty tricky time to to really
Speaker 3: sneak out and see a film. But at the same
Speaker 3: time it was it was one of those films that
Speaker 3: was so heavily quoted angst your mates, like the lines
Speaker 3: from Nevill Bartos, like the I've got no cash, mate, cash.
Speaker 3: Anytime someone didn't have money, you would say that line.
Speaker 3: I even used that line, but I didn't even know
Speaker 3: what it meant or the context.
Speaker 1: I think I've been there when you've used that line
Speaker 1: as a certain incident in Chinatown with our good mate
Speaker 1: Sam Mack.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, it was it was unfortunate that I didn't
Speaker 3: have cash. I mean ironic really now, but I didn't
Speaker 3: have cash to pay for that meal. But you know,
Speaker 3: I would like to think you've got more than one
Speaker 3: hundred dollars worth of value out of retelling that story
Speaker 3: and insinuating to the nation that I am arguably astray
Speaker 3: as premier tighter, which which has been something you haven't
Speaker 3: even gone close to stepping away from in terms of
Speaker 3: an accusation.
Speaker 1: No, no, but the already is that. So we had
Speaker 1: a meal in Chinatown and and there's the three of
Speaker 1: us are having a great time, and you did you
Speaker 1: didn't have any cash and in need of the cash,
Speaker 1: so you had no cash. You said your cards, they're
Speaker 1: only accepting cash. And we have turned that into yes,
Speaker 1: you being the biggest Titus in the world, because the
Speaker 1: irony is the fact that we've made such a big
Speaker 1: deal kind of insinuates that where the tight ass is
Speaker 1: really because the mayor was probably it was probably forty bucks.
Speaker 1: That's probably what it was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you're not letting it go. I have
Speaker 3: felt many times that I would just like send you
Speaker 3: an envelope with cash in it just to put an.
Speaker 5: End to this.
Speaker 3: But I've started to enjoy it because it gives me
Speaker 3: an interesting peaking to your mindset and the fact that
Speaker 3: you just simply cannot let things go. And they were
Speaker 3: good Din Sims don't or dim sum don't get me wrong,
Speaker 3: get it right, get it right. Yeah, but we need
Speaker 3: to we need to move on. We need to find
Speaker 3: a way through this.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, let's move on to your three favorite films,
Speaker 1: and they respect to you, Chris Brown. Often people come
Speaker 1: on to this show and they feel the need to
Speaker 1: you know, big up there, hybrow, highbrow. You know there's
Speaker 1: no French classics here, no French new wave. Let's start
Speaker 1: with Dumb and Dumber. I mean to be honest, Dumb
Speaker 1: and Dumber has been nominated a few times. Actually, so
Speaker 1: you're not alone. I'm forgetting who nominated that. It's been
Speaker 1: quite a few guests have nominated that Dumb and Dumber,
Speaker 1: So you're not alone. Tell us about your love of
Speaker 1: the of the of the classic.
Speaker 3: So it's not just in my top three, it's actually
Speaker 3: my number one film right all time.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: I just I love it, and I love it deeply,
Speaker 3: and if I'm ever at a loose end, I will
Speaker 3: put it on because I love the absurdity, the complete stupidity,
Speaker 3: but I love the comedy and the setup to the
Speaker 3: payoff of some of the best visual physical comment you'll
Speaker 3: you'll ever see. And I you know, there are some
Speaker 3: some really incredible moments in there, like the and and
Speaker 3: incredible lines, you know, like the John Denver's Full of
Speaker 3: Shit man is is just they're in a in the
Speaker 3: they're in a van shaped like a dog, which like
Speaker 3: a sheep dog, and and and they you know, they
Speaker 3: believe they're in the Rocky Mountains, and then they wake
Speaker 3: up and they're on the planes of like Idaho or something.
Speaker 3: It's just just, you know, and it's not the rocky
Speaker 3: mountains that John Denver had sung about, so I and
Speaker 3: then the you know, the taking the motorcycle through the
Speaker 3: rocky mountains and the frozen solid to each other. It's
Speaker 3: it's a movie that it's it's tricky to explain and
Speaker 3: do justice to without it sounding so absurd that it's
Speaker 3: it's it's actually ridiculous. But I love I love the
Speaker 3: character arcs. I love Mary's Sampson, Sampson Ightes Wanson, I
Speaker 3: love I love the fact that it is a love story.
Speaker 3: It's a story of unrequired love, but in the most
Speaker 3: absurd way. And I love the endings as well, the
Speaker 3: fact that they get to the end and they're just
Speaker 3: trying to be somebody, They just want to have somebody,
Speaker 3: and the the the bus pulls up with the with
Speaker 3: the American Bikini Model team on it, and they they
Speaker 3: need someone to rub oil on them before they compete,
Speaker 3: and the guys don't realize that they're offering the opportunity
Speaker 3: to them, and they think that they're best served going
Speaker 3: to the nearest town because there's heaps of people there,
Speaker 3: and it's you know, it doesn't have the class classic
Speaker 3: Hollywood happy ending. It goes off in a different direction.
Speaker 3: And I hear that Jim Carrey they wanted him to
Speaker 3: shoot the ending where they did with the two guys
Speaker 3: did get on the bus with the American Bikini modeling
Speaker 3: team and it all ended happily, and he would not
Speaker 3: even shoot the scene because he said, the studio will
Speaker 3: use it. These guys have got to be losers to
Speaker 3: the end and completely missed the opportunity. And so I
Speaker 3: respect that. I respect the story, I respect the narrative,
Speaker 3: I respect that the costumes I respect. I just respect
Speaker 3: the whole thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we're getting a good look into
Speaker 1: your soul right now, but you know, before respect It's
Speaker 1: funny I chatted to Jim Carrey, had the honor of
Speaker 1: chatting with them just after the Oscars. Actually, it's quite
Speaker 1: an interesting week because of the Will Smith and Chris
Speaker 1: Ruck incident. But what I learned about Jim Carrey in
Speaker 1: that interview is actually, to be honest, out of all
Speaker 1: the interviews I've done on the project, it was the
Speaker 1: most where I felt like I came away going, I reckon,
Speaker 1: I've learned a little bit about you, you know, like
Speaker 1: because what what what came out of it for me
Speaker 1: was that Jim Carrey is an artist, you know. And
Speaker 1: I kind of knew this, like I knew he painted,
Speaker 1: and like I knew I knew that he considered himself
Speaker 1: an artist, but talking to him, I could actually see
Speaker 1: it made more sense to me, and he he would
Speaker 1: do things like when he was becoming famous, like sabotage
Speaker 1: his own stand up comedy gigs because he was like
Speaker 1: he goes in his mind, he was saying to the audience,
Speaker 1: you think you know what you're going to get, and
Speaker 1: I'm not going to give that to you. And so he'll, yeah,
Speaker 1: sabotage his own gigs. And I think, and that's such
Speaker 1: a great thing that he didn't shoot that ending, because
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been in situations, you know, and I
Speaker 1: think Rove taught it to me where you're be doing
Speaker 1: a photo shoot and a photographer say, Okay, let's just
Speaker 1: get a silly one, and Rover was no, and they're like,
Speaker 1: oh why not, And he goes because you'll use it,
Speaker 1: like you know, like don't give him if you don't
Speaker 1: believe in some thing, don't give them the option to
Speaker 1: use it.
Speaker 3: It's completely I had a really interesting lesson in that.
Speaker 3: A couple of had a really interesting lesson in that
Speaker 3: a few years ago, a you know, the end of
Speaker 3: the year, you have to give your You often get
Speaker 3: approached by the newspapers to give your news resolutions. Yep,
Speaker 3: and they just want they just want to cut. They
Speaker 3: want one sentence, they want simplicity, because it has to
Speaker 3: be put next to a photo of you with twenty
Speaker 3: other people from neighbors, home and away or you know,
Speaker 3: and and you're like, okay, But I decided to try
Speaker 3: to like be a little bit out there and give
Speaker 3: them something unexpected. So my news resolution was was and
Speaker 3: and I quote because we always do the opposite of
Speaker 3: our news resolutions. My news resolution is to work less
Speaker 3: and party more. And when it came to when they
Speaker 3: published that article, it had doctor Chris Brown news resolution
Speaker 3: work less, Hardy Moore, which raised a few eyebrows around
Speaker 3: the network.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and less. People were bringing their dogs to be
Speaker 1: put down, you know by you. That is hilarious. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta be careful. You gotta be careful. But the
Speaker 1: thing that I really got out of the Jim Carrey
Speaker 1: thing was he he knows that he lives in a
Speaker 1: crazy world, like he lives in Hollywood. Well, he works
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, and he knows he recognizes that it's crazy,
Speaker 1: so he does things to make sure that he is
Speaker 1: constantly aware that it's a crazy world. Where Will Smith,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, I think it got to the
Speaker 1: point and I've interviewed Will Smith over the years a
Speaker 1: few times, and I've always come away from the interviews
Speaker 1: been really impressed with Will Smith. I'm not This is
Speaker 1: not me slagging Will Smith, but I think he maybe
Speaker 1: got to a point where he forgot that he lives
Speaker 1: in a will, that this is the things that happened
Speaker 1: around him and that orbit around him are not normal.
Speaker 1: Hollywood's on a normal place. The things, the way these
Speaker 1: people are treated by the people around them is not normal.
Speaker 1: And I think Jim Carrey recognized that. And I think
Speaker 1: potentially someone like I'm just using Will Smith because he
Speaker 1: was the big story at the time, he maybe lost
Speaker 1: I guess it's the whole concept of losing touch. He
Speaker 1: lost touch with reality.
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, rather than drinking the kool aid, it
Speaker 3: feels like Jim Carrey spikes it and and then sits
Speaker 3: back and watches the results. Almost He's an interesting guy
Speaker 3: and very clearly a very deep thinker, despite what his films,
Speaker 3: his comedy Dumb and Dumb and they suggest. But I
Speaker 3: think the thinking that goes into the stupidity is what
Speaker 3: I really like. And when you see it and you
Speaker 3: see the depth of it, and you also appreciate the
Speaker 3: fact that he his role call of films. There are
Speaker 3: very few people who could have brought the characters to
Speaker 3: life like he did, you know, Cable Cable Guy, and
Speaker 3: you know, all of the mask and all those things,
Speaker 3: which a lot of people were sort of put off
Speaker 3: sometimes by the absurdity and by the level of performance.
Speaker 3: But he just he just gives so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it takes a lot, and it's genuine skills
Speaker 1: to do what he what he does, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I love I mean, Cable Guy was my introduction to
Speaker 1: Jim Carrey. For some reason, I was actually put off
Speaker 1: by the bigness of Jim Carrey. So it wasn't until
Speaker 1: Cable Guy, which I saw because I love Matthew Broderick,
Speaker 1: and I thought, ah, I get it now. And then
Speaker 1: I kind of went back and watched those films again
Speaker 1: and kind of had a new appreciation for them and
Speaker 1: then his work obviously when he goes through his Robin
Speaker 1: Williams deep Pelt Society stage and you know with The
Speaker 1: Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine, the Spotless Mind, incredible, incredible performer.
Speaker 3: The warm up sequence when in Cable Guy, where Jim
Speaker 3: Carrey's gone to play basketball with him and does a
Speaker 3: warm up sequence where he does the shuttle runs back
Speaker 3: and forth. It's one of my favorite scenes of any
Speaker 3: movie ever. It is quite extraordinary.
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen Cable Guy, you get the bonus
Speaker 1: of early Jack Black, early Owen Wilson in that very
Speaker 1: funny film, kind of dark comedy. And I do remember
Speaker 1: the line I love was I learned the facts. I
Speaker 1: learned the facts of life by watching the Facts of Life.
Speaker 1: That was one of the sitcoms that was pretty popular
Speaker 1: now House growing up.
Speaker 3: And Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey also gave I reckon one
Speaker 3: of the most authentic performances of rhinoceros being born in
Speaker 3: Acepentura Pet Detective too, that scene where he's stuck inside
Speaker 3: the fake rhinoceros and births himself in front of the tourists.
Speaker 3: That is I don't think you'll see a comedy performance
Speaker 3: better than that.
Speaker 1: You're a vet. Was it accurate?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Were you watching it? They've nailed this, They've nailed this.
Speaker 3: That's what I was drawn to it. It's remarkably authentic,
Speaker 3: and I mean they could have included that in the
Speaker 3: vetory science syllabus. It's that good.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to a top gun.
Speaker 3: My next typer Ow film.
Speaker 1: I know it's yeah. We did this with Tony Martin
Speaker 1: had never seen Top Gun, believe it or not, and
Speaker 1: we watched it. It's funny when you watch it as
Speaker 1: an adult, and I watched it because I loved it
Speaker 1: as a kid, and I like and I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not turning my back on Top Gun. But when you
Speaker 1: watch it through the eyes of somebody you're watching it
Speaker 1: for the first time, particularly like a cinephile like Tony,
Speaker 1: you kind of go you see everything that's kind of
Speaker 1: silly and wrong about it, as opposed to when I
Speaker 1: watched it in the cinema in eighty six and then
Speaker 1: many times on VHS afterwards and just just loved it.
Speaker 1: You know, I was all on board the tom Cruise Express.
Speaker 1: It's it's a very different experience. So do you see it?
Speaker 1: When did you first see it?
Speaker 3: I saw it in the cinema when I when I
Speaker 3: was a kid. And I mean I should preface this
Speaker 3: by saying that that as a kid, I all I
Speaker 3: wanted to do was be a pilot, okay, sex with planes,
Speaker 3: And still to this day, I'm I can you know
Speaker 3: if a plane flies over, I can tell you what
Speaker 3: sort of plane it is and probably where it's going.
Speaker 3: It's a it's a little bit, it's a little bit
Speaker 3: rain Man esque. Another great film, but it's I've always
Speaker 3: been fascinated with with aviation, and and I've had a
Speaker 3: few flying lessons, but I've always been hampered by the
Speaker 3: fact that I am significantly color blind, and so I
Speaker 3: think a little bit of this film was me living
Speaker 3: vicariously through this this this film, this film, and this experience.
Speaker 3: So I when I watched it, I just fell in
Speaker 3: love with the action. And it's an action film, but
Speaker 3: it's an action film at you know, ten thousand feet
Speaker 3: like it's and sure that the whole film is predicated
Speaker 3: upon the you know, the time that Tom Cruise is
Speaker 3: inverted upside down with a MiG and they get the
Speaker 3: polaroid shot between him and Goose, get this polaroid shot
Speaker 3: of them flipping the bird at a MiG pilot and
Speaker 3: the two canopies of the planes are about like ten
Speaker 3: centimeters apart, and it completely ignores the fact that the
Speaker 3: tales of those planes are about twenty meters high, and
Speaker 3: like that was an aviation accident that should have occurred
Speaker 3: but didn't. And so somehow the tails are ignored in this,
Speaker 3: they get upside down inverted, they get they have this
Speaker 3: close contact. It makes Maverick Tom Cruise a star within
Speaker 3: the Air Force, within the US Air Force, and he's
Speaker 3: sort of propelled into Top Gun all based on a lie.
Speaker 3: If you could get past that, then then you're in
Speaker 3: for a rollicking good time.
Speaker 1: I suspect Tom Cruise is also launched into the stratosphere
Speaker 1: based on his volleyball shirtless volleyball skills.
Speaker 3: Have you ever have you ever tried to play beach
Speaker 3: volleyball on a summer's day in nothing but jeans?
Speaker 1: I'm not sure why. Yeah, I mean put some boardies on.
Speaker 3: It's it's it's so impractical, and you know, jeans limit
Speaker 3: your movements in every in every sense, the sand, the sweat,
Speaker 3: it's it's so I watched that scene wondering why. And
Speaker 3: but then in the Top Gun Maverick sequel, they do it,
Speaker 3: they do it again, and I was just like wow,
Speaker 3: Like you're standing by your position on the on the
Speaker 3: denim on the beach, whereas you know where I'm from
Speaker 3: in Newcastle, you don't you don't wear you don't wear
Speaker 3: denim on the beach unless you are a Westie and
Speaker 3: you've never been to the beach before in your lot.
Speaker 3: So like the even even in Bondi now, like if
Speaker 3: the lifeguards see someone turn up to the beach in
Speaker 3: jeans and go for a swim, even in jeans, like
Speaker 3: they start rolling on Bondo Rescue because they know they're
Speaker 3: onto They're onto something.
Speaker 1: Immediately half of bond I Rescue people from the subcontinent
Speaker 1: who are swimming in Wranglers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's I'd be
Speaker 3: surprised if there isn't some sort of secret Wranglers sponsorship
Speaker 3: of the program because there's so much branding that you
Speaker 3: see during during an episode of Bondo Rescue.
Speaker 1: It is incredible Top Gun. It really is the birth
Speaker 1: of a megastar with with with the with Tom Cruise,
Speaker 1: like he just from there, he just explodes. He made
Speaker 1: I think a few films, you know, all the right
Speaker 1: moves and taps and the for them, but I think
Speaker 1: that kicks off, like you know, rain Man comes after that,
Speaker 1: and then the Born of the July and and it
Speaker 1: really did this. He exploded after that.
Speaker 3: Jerry Maguire, Yeah yeah, And I think that the passion
Speaker 3: that he delivers his role with and but also he's
Speaker 3: just obscene cleanliness in every scene. He's always perfectly manicured,
Speaker 3: and and he's you know, the heart frog and the
Speaker 3: the you know, the Kelly McGillis character call signed Charlie
Speaker 3: she you know, is she's caught up in this. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's an HR department nightmare. The fact that Kelly mcgillis's character,
Speaker 3: Charlie she is she's working at Top Gun as an
Speaker 3: instructor and as an advisor, and Tom Cruise is courting
Speaker 3: her at the same time. And you know, but all
Speaker 3: these things shouldn't happen in the workplace, but this is
Speaker 3: the eighties, so so they're allowed to happen in the workplace.
Speaker 3: And you know, the singing of you've lost that loving
Speaker 3: feeling in the in the air Force bar, which you know,
Speaker 3: somehow miraculously impresses her. It's it's it's it's quite remarkable.
Speaker 3: But but I think just Bite, despite its sort of
Speaker 3: being this this incredible eighties action flick that's set in
Speaker 3: the air, it does actually bring you, i mean quite
Speaker 3: literally crashing back to Worth with the death of Goose.
Speaker 3: And that's that comes as such a surprise and and
Speaker 3: and really hits you hits. It's a real gut punch
Speaker 3: of emotion. And and I think that that moment is
Speaker 3: is something that I actually I really enjoyed the film
Speaker 3: because I feel like it's it brings brings a bit
Speaker 3: of depth to the to the film, which which may
Speaker 3: not have been there originally. But I just love I
Speaker 3: just love the action, and I love the adventure, and
Speaker 3: I love the excitement and and and I love the
Speaker 3: fact that when Tom Cruise is finally like it looks
Speaker 3: like he's finally won over Kelly mcgillis's character, he inexplicably
Speaker 3: decides he has to leave and go and have a shower.
Speaker 3: He's having drinks at a house. She's invited him to
Speaker 3: his to a house. They're like making out, and then
Speaker 3: for no reason at all, he just gets up and
Speaker 3: leaves and goes and has a shower. Like what is That's?
Speaker 1: To me?
Speaker 3: Is the biggest story? Like what how bad is Tom
Speaker 3: Cruise's body?
Speaker 1: Over?
Speaker 3: How bad is Maverick's body? Odor that he has to
Speaker 3: leave and have a shower right when he's about to
Speaker 3: achieve his goal.
Speaker 1: And the other big question is which we approach with
Speaker 1: Tony and nobody really seems to be able to answer this.
Speaker 1: In fact, I was able to interview Myles Taylor and
Speaker 1: I asked him, so I didn't get a chance to
Speaker 1: ask Tom Cruise. But who are they fighting at the end?
Speaker 1: Who is the enemy?
Speaker 3: It's an unknown or unnamed com in a state because
Speaker 3: they have it's red. The helmets of the opponents are read.
Speaker 3: But they have a star like sort of that communist star,
Speaker 3: but it's never stated. No, and maybe maybe they don't
Speaker 3: need to know, maybe they don't want to know, like
Speaker 3: it's it's It is odd, isn't it that they've never well,
Speaker 3: they've never named.
Speaker 1: It because if you follow the logic, and I think
Speaker 1: it's kind of smart that they didn't, you know, give it,
Speaker 1: you know, name the country. It doesn't need that kind
Speaker 1: of movie doesn't need that. But what but the inference
Speaker 1: is basically is America? Because these guys are you know,
Speaker 1: we're in San Diego. I think top gunanies. Yeah, basically
Speaker 1: this doesn't this mean America is basically being invaded? How
Speaker 1: far away does this happen?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like it's a long way away. I
Speaker 1: kinda forget. Maybe in the graphics they explain where it
Speaker 1: is in the Indian Ocean. But yeah, that's the biggest story,
Speaker 1: that America is being invaded and they stopped that invasion.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it's a it's sort of a rogue
Speaker 3: state vibe. But you know, from from you never hear
Speaker 3: the enemy speak as well, so there's never any accent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a very conscious decision not to not to
Speaker 1: get themselves in hot water with any with any country
Speaker 1: by by not naming them.
Speaker 3: And even the pilots when you when they cut to
Speaker 3: the cockpit of the pilots that they have visors down
Speaker 3: so you can't even like identify some sort of ethnicity.
Speaker 3: It's completely it's there's no reference to it whatsoever. But yeah,
Speaker 3: before I can tell it's it's kind of one of
Speaker 3: the sort of more this week invasion forces you've ever seen,
Speaker 3: because it looks like they've got three planes and that
Speaker 3: they decide they're going to take on the US with
Speaker 3: three planes and that's and that's it.
Speaker 1: It's incredible. It's incredible, you know, you know what, I
Speaker 1: never thought of it at the time. It was only
Speaker 1: many many years later I thought, So, there we go.
Speaker 1: They made the right choice.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know, I've kind of it sounds like
Speaker 3: I'm shitcanning it. But the reason I love it is
Speaker 3: because of the kind of similar to Dumb and Dumber.
Speaker 3: It's it's the escapism of the whole thing and the
Speaker 3: adventure and and that's what I get out of That's
Speaker 3: what I get out of films is I just love
Speaker 3: to be transported into this alternate universe and and and
Speaker 3: go on on a rollicking good time and feel like
Speaker 3: this is, you know, just a beautiful distraction from from
Speaker 3: everything else. And you know, with Top Gun, it's it's
Speaker 3: the flying and the high speed sequences and and you know,
Speaker 3: and Goose Goose's demise and and and the redemption for Maverick. It's, yeah,
Speaker 3: I just I've just always associated with with just this
Speaker 3: feeling it gave me when I first watched it, and
Speaker 3: then as a tribute, I actually my twenty first birthday
Speaker 3: party was Top Gun theme. Oh oh my god, I
Speaker 3: have photos of this and everyone came in like aviators
Speaker 3: and flight suits and I sang, you've lost that loving feeling.
Speaker 3: Of course at my twenty first oh my god, it
Speaker 3: was it was on. It was actually at a surf
Speaker 3: club in Newcastle, and which which which gave it that
Speaker 3: sort of San Diego vibe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It happened at night annoyingly, so we couldn't play you know,
Speaker 3: jeans clad beats volleyball. But it was just it was
Speaker 3: like we were We're at fighter school, and that's that's
Speaker 3: why it was just the perfect, the perfect thing.
Speaker 1: I I am requesting that you provide a photo that
Speaker 1: we can put on Socials when this episode goes out.
Speaker 1: The Segaret Life of Waldemity. Ben's still a bit of
Speaker 1: a passion project, I think for Ben Stiller, but a
Speaker 1: really really amazing film. And when I think about the
Speaker 1: secle for what a MIDI I think about sometimes you
Speaker 1: get a movie and maybe even this for the trailer
Speaker 1: where there's a song that marries up perfectly to that movie,
Speaker 1: and that song of monsters and Men, which is I
Speaker 1: think they I think they're Icelandic, aren't they?
Speaker 3: They're from Rakvic?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And that I remember thinking what a perfect
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, the trailers are so good and
Speaker 1: and the and that song I just thought fit it perfectly,
Speaker 1: and then the movie delivered as well.
Speaker 3: That the soundtrack to the whole film is one of
Speaker 3: my most played things in you know, on my my
Speaker 3: Spotify because it is it's escapism music, and it's it's
Speaker 3: it's music that's a soundtrack to adventure. And I think
Speaker 3: that's what I love about the film is the fact
Speaker 3: that it is kind of the this ultimate adventure travel
Speaker 3: film where you are transported to this sort of magical
Speaker 3: part of the world, this mysterious part of the world
Speaker 3: where you know, Ben Steeler's characters is trying to find
Speaker 3: this missing photographer and and and this missing photo. And
Speaker 3: I love photography, I love travel, and I love Scandinavia
Speaker 3: and and so all those elements. It's it's like my
Speaker 3: sort of dream trip combined into put into a film.
Speaker 3: And I just I love the the little sidebars of
Speaker 3: an adventure and experience that that that Ben Steller's character
Speaker 3: has along the way. So it makes it just a
Speaker 3: really aspirational watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember really loving it. And because it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a Kirsten Wig as well, isn't that She's
Speaker 1: Ben Stiller film because goes on this incredible adventure and
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen The cigare Life of Water Meta
Speaker 1: Get Onto It's it's a cranker. But at this time
Speaker 1: we should talk about the film that we are here
Speaker 1: to talk about. Written and directed by Andrew Dominic from
Speaker 1: the year two thousand, starring of course Eric Banner, also
Speaker 1: I mean Vince Colossimo, David Field, Dan Wiley, Kate b
Speaker 1: and Simon Linden. The cast is incredible. The movie is Chopper,
Speaker 1: Doctor Chris Brown, did you enjoy it?
Speaker 3: Be honest?
Speaker 1: Yep, No I didn't.
Speaker 3: Okay, I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is a film. This is
Speaker 1: and I say this always on this podcast. People will
Speaker 1: watch a film and they you know, oft in the
Speaker 1: morning of the night before. I think, in this case,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot and this is a this is
Speaker 1: a film that is well, it is divisive, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing in a way that so many people
Speaker 1: love it because it is it's it's a bit full on.
Speaker 1: It it's a bit full on. And and I always
Speaker 1: make the point that people are often still processing a film.
Speaker 1: We've had example, and I'm not saying this is going
Speaker 1: to happen to you, Chris, but we've had examples where
Speaker 1: people have come on and the more we talk about
Speaker 1: the film, the more they may start to think about it,
Speaker 1: the more and enjoy it a bit more but this
Speaker 1: is this is that weird mix of violence and comedy,
Speaker 1: which it doesn't doesn't always work for everyone. But what
Speaker 1: what we what were your what were your thoughts?
Speaker 3: Look, it's gritty, it's dark, and I don't know, you
Speaker 3: probably had had a bit of a scary insight into
Speaker 3: into the way mine my mind works. When it comes
Speaker 3: to cinema and into film. I like, I like escapism.
Speaker 3: I like to go on an enjoyable ride. And when
Speaker 3: the first half of Chopper is set in a prison,
Speaker 3: a very dark, sort of gray prison, the concept of
Speaker 3: escapism is not surprisingly a little foreign when you are
Speaker 3: stuck inside a prison, and it just the dark humor
Speaker 3: of it. I just I just found it a little,
Speaker 3: I don't know, a little confronting. And I just find
Speaker 3: Chopper's character such so confounding, like he's so contradictory. But
Speaker 3: I know that's what made Mark Chopper read such and
Speaker 3: a enigma in a way, was the fact that he
Speaker 3: could combine humor, this dark charisma, but then this complete
Speaker 3: brutality and and this you know, bordering on being a
Speaker 3: psychopath where he just doesn't seem to feel pain or
Speaker 3: sense any sort of sorrow for anyone.
Speaker 2: That you.
Speaker 3: Just found and found it so so confusing, but not
Speaker 3: in a but not in a good way.
Speaker 1: Well it's crazy and that's why I kind of highlighted
Speaker 1: it in my intro. It is nuts. And I know
Speaker 1: that celebrity and has almost gotten out of control with
Speaker 1: you know who. It used to be that you did
Speaker 1: something you apply to trade, whether it be whether it
Speaker 1: be comedy or presenting or singing or acting or dancing.
Speaker 1: And that's and then and now, of course you can
Speaker 1: get famous through a number of different things. And I'm
Speaker 1: not that's not a complaint. Like you know, I think
Speaker 1: it's great that people can make YouTube videos and find
Speaker 1: fame through that because you know, like they're finding an
Speaker 1: audience and obviously people it's a response. But the idea
Speaker 1: that now, you know, twenty five years ago there was
Speaker 1: a guy who became a best selling author and a
Speaker 1: celebrity who was a hit man, yes, a Gang Lang
Speaker 1: Gang Lang figure. This is all before you know, the
Speaker 1: underbelly juggernaut is still incredible to me. Like he was,
Speaker 1: and I remember he was on talk shows, you know,
Speaker 1: he was doing the talk show circuit, he was on
Speaker 1: the footage show, he was doing I think some stand
Speaker 1: up comedy like it was. It was bizarre and everyone,
Speaker 1: I'm sure there were some dissenting voices at the time,
Speaker 1: but everyone seemed to be going along with it. Now,
Speaker 1: Chopper was it was a Melbourne identity being in Newcastle?
Speaker 1: Did did did he permeate? They your your psyche? Did
Speaker 1: he did he?
Speaker 3: Kind of?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Was he as big in New South Wales or
Speaker 1: or Newcastle? Was he was in Melbourne?
Speaker 3: Not not as as big? And I think that that underworlds,
Speaker 3: that Melbourne underworld was was quite far removed and was
Speaker 3: kind of seen as you know, what what was happening
Speaker 3: down there? And I was like whoa, like what what?
Speaker 3: What the hell? Like?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 3: How how they not got this this whole thing under control?
Speaker 3: But he was certainly a character that was a cult figure.
Speaker 3: And and you know a lot of a lot of mates,
Speaker 3: often poorly, would would do an impression of of Chopper.
Speaker 3: A lot of people did Chopper impressions, and and so
Speaker 3: you know, I think you had an appreciation for this,
Speaker 3: this searing character that had such a remarkable presence. But
Speaker 3: at the same time, like the darkness was never was
Speaker 3: never too far away. What I found remarkable was was
Speaker 3: just how seemly and I think this is like part
Speaker 3: of the comedy of it. But the how contrive, how
Speaker 3: sorry he is, like, you'll pull a gut on someone
Speaker 3: and and and go to kill them on the spot,
Speaker 3: execute them in cold blood, and then something will make
Speaker 3: him not do it, and then he's like, oh sorry,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. And it seems it seems
Speaker 3: so real that he is he is apologetic. And I
Speaker 3: found that that that side of his character so is
Speaker 3: so intriguing the fact that he gives the impression of
Speaker 3: having such a deep conscience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I I I completely agree, and it's see And
Speaker 1: I do wonder if he was if he was contrite
Speaker 1: in those moments, you know, and he was remorseful and caring,
Speaker 1: or was it part of his part of his act
Speaker 1: was a performative, you know, the idea, because it's kind
Speaker 1: of scarier in a way that he can stab somebody
Speaker 1: and go, are you okay, mate? You know, like you're okay?
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, at the same time, it's probably
Speaker 1: it probably is real because there's a scene, of course,
Speaker 1: when he is attacked by Jimmy, and I figure, if
Speaker 1: if the mask was ever gonna slip, it would be
Speaker 1: when he actually has had a few knives. You know,
Speaker 1: the ship's gone in a few times. In fact, let's
Speaker 1: have a listen at at that scene where Jimmy Lafman
Speaker 1: played by Simon Lindon tries to take down Chopper.
Speaker 3: Give me mate, sorry, top, that's all right, that's all right.
Speaker 2: H shit, Jimmy, if you keep stabbing, you're gonna kill me? Right, terrific,
Speaker 2: snake gay, jim bloody terrific. You obviously listen and learned, well,
Speaker 2: didn't you always give credit where credit is due? Jimmy
Speaker 2: in the top mark for treachery.
Speaker 1: I mean it's I mean, if it keeps stabbing, stabbing me,
Speaker 1: you're gonna kill me. I mean, there's genuinely great lines
Speaker 1: in it. But yeah, it makes me think that he
Speaker 1: was it was just part of his his DNA, that
Speaker 1: there was obviously a little bit of there was performance,
Speaker 1: I think, but the fact that he's being stabbed and
Speaker 1: he's still the same chomper makes me think that this
Speaker 1: was actually who he was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's it's almost a little bit like Terminator esque
Speaker 3: where you just realize that you cannot kill him, and
Speaker 3: and the fact that he is so emotionless, to the
Speaker 3: fact that this. You know, he supposed best mate is
Speaker 3: stabbing him repeatedly, yet he's completely unmoved, unperturbed, and just
Speaker 3: carries on with with it. Doesn't break character, doesn't doesn't
Speaker 3: it doesn't show any emotion and almost shows pity for him. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but I think it's it is quite chilling in a
Speaker 3: way that that he's able to do that, And you
Speaker 3: can see in that cell the mood amongst sort of
Speaker 3: Jimmy and Dan Wiley's character just instantly changed with the like,
Speaker 3: oh no, we've made a We've made a terrible mistake,
Speaker 3: because it would be easier if he fought back, or
Speaker 3: if he if he was if he was angry, to
Speaker 3: continue and actually kill him. But the fact that he's
Speaker 3: just impervious to these attacks, they just become incredibly frightened
Speaker 3: by by that very thing.
Speaker 1: The fact that his mood can can switch on a
Speaker 1: knife's edge does give an intensity when he goes later
Speaker 1: on to visit Jimmy because he suspects he's heard that
Speaker 1: he may be going to carry out a hit on
Speaker 1: behalf of Nevil Barchas, and he's one minute he's telling
Speaker 1: that the kid look look hello, hello, Hello. He's doing
Speaker 1: all of that, and then he's having a laugh and
Speaker 1: this is a bit swank, isn't it. This is a
Speaker 1: great old laugh, I mean. And then to go into
Speaker 1: now Jimmy, I need to you know, and and he's
Speaker 1: serious and he's got the gun to his head, you know,
Speaker 1: like seconds later. It's that kind of those characters who
Speaker 1: you just don't know when they're going to switch a
Speaker 1: gold as far as you know, a writer or a
Speaker 1: director goes or an actor to be able to switch
Speaker 1: it up like that is just it gives a very
Speaker 1: because the audience a very intense feeling and experience.
Speaker 3: And this is I guess this is the important thing
Speaker 3: that I think Eric Banner's performance is actually like actually remarkable. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, it's it's it's chilling, it's compelling, it it
Speaker 3: has it has humor. You know. He does give like
Speaker 3: one of the worst, one of the worst auditions for
Speaker 3: a role in The Wiggles with that scene with the kids,
Speaker 3: with the with with with Jimmy's daughter where he's doing that.
Speaker 3: It's that's so disturbing because it's his take on how
Speaker 3: hard a parent. But I yeah, I just I find
Speaker 3: so many parts of the film so so challenging. That
Speaker 3: it's it's hard for me to relax into and enjoy.
Speaker 3: If you like it's it's a harder watch of a
Speaker 3: film rather than an enjoyable watch. It doesn't make it
Speaker 3: a I guess, a terrible It's just it's just for me.
Speaker 3: It's it's a harder film to watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think we should point out for those
Speaker 1: who are too young to remember. You know, this came
Speaker 1: out of no seemingly came out of nowhere. Eric Bandal, I,
Speaker 1: I was about to use you about it. I remember
Speaker 1: when Eric Banner was cast. Before the movie came out,
Speaker 1: we just heard that Eric Banner was going playing Chopper.
Speaker 1: It was like he was the biggest sketch comedy star
Speaker 1: in the country. He was doing impressions of of you know,
Speaker 1: Ray Martin was one of his famous ones. He had
Speaker 1: his character Peter, you know, and you know, this bogan
Speaker 1: kind of character. And then to hear that he was
Speaker 1: playing it took a while to get our heads around it,
Speaker 1: you know, like what And I remember doing a joke
Speaker 1: on stage that I said, Eric Banner has been cast
Speaker 1: as Chopper. I said. And in more breaking news, Mark Mitchell,
Speaker 1: who was from the Comedy Company, played on the Fruiter.
Speaker 1: He's been cast as Martin Bryant. You know, like it
Speaker 1: kind of it seemed you know, like it seemed like
Speaker 1: there was a mix of excitement but also like, wow,
Speaker 1: this is going to be interesting and and your fingers
Speaker 1: crossed for Eric and then for him to deliver I
Speaker 1: think one of the great Australian screen performances is incredible
Speaker 1: and that and that launches him. Brad Pitt basically sees
Speaker 1: this movie. He casts him in Troy. Then he then
Speaker 1: gets the director Andrew Dominic to direct, you know, the
Speaker 1: assassination of of just James, and everyone just goes from
Speaker 1: there and it's it's just it was an incredible performance
Speaker 1: and the charming you know, like it was really like
Speaker 1: I can understand. And one of the reasons I get
Speaker 1: people to, you know, tell me their top three films
Speaker 1: at the start of the show is you are giving
Speaker 1: us a little bit of an insight into what you
Speaker 1: love and what you what you like. So to be honest,
Speaker 1: and I didn't really think about because I you know,
Speaker 1: I basically you know, heard your three films as you
Speaker 1: said them. But if you think about the three films
Speaker 1: you nominated, Dumb and Dumber Top Gun and the Secret
Speaker 1: Life of Walder MIDI. It's probably no shock that Chopper
Speaker 1: didn't sit well with you.
Speaker 3: It's probably in hindsight, Yeah, it makes a lot more sense,
Speaker 3: doesn't it.
Speaker 1: But you know, but it is you.
Speaker 3: You do witness, as you say, a truly great performance.
Speaker 3: And and I never once questioned Eric Banner as Chopper.
Speaker 3: You know, and at a couple of moments you just
Speaker 3: assume you're watching Mark read like youtually feel like that
Speaker 3: that's that is actually him And it's almost a documentary,
Speaker 3: it's almost real life vision because it's so it's such
Speaker 3: a believable portrayal, and and he just commits so wholeheartedly
Speaker 3: that you you know, it's it is a tribute to him.
Speaker 3: I did spend a lot of time in the film
Speaker 3: looking at his ears, though, and I really, I really
Speaker 3: wanted to know what they've done with the years. And
Speaker 3: I was at one point, I'm like, they've just stuck heir,
Speaker 3: They've just stuck hair over them to hide where like
Speaker 3: they haven't chopped off part of his ears prosthetic, Ye,
Speaker 3: what's going on? I was so obsessed with the years,
Speaker 3: which are such a defining feature of the Chopper story,
Speaker 3: and continually are used, like as a as a punchline
Speaker 3: throughout the film as to why people don't like him
Speaker 3: because because of his the fact he's missing his ears
Speaker 3: and he's going to scare the children because of his ears,
Speaker 3: and you know that they constantly back reference the years
Speaker 3: and I'm like, which I think is a risky It's
Speaker 3: a risky play given given the relatively short views that
Speaker 3: the Chopper has, but hey, they go there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the dad cheers big ears. I mean,
Speaker 1: there is absolute craft, you know, in this movie, and
Speaker 1: that's why Andrew Dominic has gone on and become you
Speaker 1: know this, you know, one of the most sort of
Speaker 1: after directors in the world. Not only does it look
Speaker 1: great before, he gets great performances. But yeah, I love
Speaker 1: where the movie starts. It's Chomper in e Cell watching
Speaker 1: himself back do this interview. And I think that interview
Speaker 1: is which you know, I think he's almost verbatim in
Speaker 1: an interview he gave and he's you know, a couple
Speaker 1: of the screws are there watching and enjoying it with him,
Speaker 1: and it kind of tells us a lot from the
Speaker 1: get go. He tells us that, you know, he's charming,
Speaker 1: enough to you know, have the screws, you know, almost
Speaker 1: be entertained. He's on TV, and the stuff he's saying
Speaker 1: in that interview I think actually rang true. And that's
Speaker 1: why when we talk about how was there a hitman celebrity,
Speaker 1: it's been because I think the feeling was and I
Speaker 1: think you kind of even sense it with the gang
Speaker 1: land wars that go on now. I think the community
Speaker 1: are like, if you guys, keep it in your own areas,
Speaker 1: if innocent people aren't getting, you know, affected by this,
Speaker 1: we'll just watch on his entertainment, you know, like, but
Speaker 1: as soon as you can cross that line where a
Speaker 1: civilian and a civilian gets gets hurt or harm, that's
Speaker 1: when we're you know, that's when we're going to demand
Speaker 1: action in a way. But otherwise just keep it to yourselves.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And that constant through line of the fact
Speaker 3: that he's having these regular meetings with the police who
Speaker 3: are trying to just corral him into the place they
Speaker 3: want him to be, and he keeps on wanting them
Speaker 3: to admit the fact that he's almost running above the
Speaker 3: law with his operations. I did find that quite quite
Speaker 3: enjoyable thing to say, and I think You're right, that's
Speaker 3: probably how the public assumed things were going. They probably
Speaker 3: didn't want to know the reality of the fact that
Speaker 3: he was he was killing people in cold blood ultimately,
Speaker 3: but these people were bad people, and so that was
Speaker 3: how it was. It was justified, and and so we
Speaker 3: were able to sort of sleep at night. And he
Speaker 3: does does talk about the fact that, you know, most people,
Speaker 3: most people shouldn't be worried about Chopper because he's not
Speaker 3: he's not he's not in their world, he's not them,
Speaker 3: he's not coming after them. And I think that's a
Speaker 3: that that that would that would certainly that would certainly
Speaker 3: explain it. You know, his his celebrity status, but but
Speaker 3: he you know, he does make for a chilling figure
Speaker 3: when you're taken front row two to what what are
Speaker 3: some some pretty robust killings of you know, Sammy the
Speaker 3: Turk for example, which when you're talking about the director
Speaker 3: Andrew Dominique and and what he does with that, that
Speaker 3: the dramatic reenactment of that killing in almost like a
Speaker 3: cartoon esque way is I found it's sort of maybe
Speaker 3: sit up and go what what is what is this?
Speaker 3: But they almost make a comedy out of a cold
Speaker 3: bloody killing. It's but it's done. It is done beautifully.
Speaker 3: It's done very well and almost humorously.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And we'll have a listen to the bow
Speaker 1: Jangers recital maybe soon. But it is like, it's those
Speaker 1: kinds of stylistic decisions that Dominic makes that propels this
Speaker 1: film into something else. It's it's it's bad its performance obviously,
Speaker 1: but it's also yeah, I love it when you get
Speaker 1: this situation where it's the director or the creative team
Speaker 1: just are all on the same page and and like
Speaker 1: this this is not necessarily a tragedy, like it's a
Speaker 1: it's kind of a tragic comedy. I mean a lot
Speaker 1: of this is also about, you know, a man who
Speaker 1: who are more comfortable on the inside than the outside,
Speaker 1: and that's we've seen that many times. But sure Shank
Speaker 1: Redemption is very much about that. And it's that they
Speaker 1: don't overegg that point. But it's quite clear that Chopper
Speaker 1: runs the show inside, you know, H Division. But as
Speaker 1: soon as he gets out, he's looking over his shoulder.
Speaker 1: You know, he doesn't know, he can't shake he can
Speaker 1: never shake H Division. It's always going to be part
Speaker 1: of him. And that's that's not a nice way. It's
Speaker 1: not a nice way to live.
Speaker 3: It's not, but you know, he finds ways of spicing
Speaker 3: it up by catching up with his good mates, like
Speaker 3: like Nevil Bardos.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's just lean into Nevil Bartos for a second,
Speaker 1: Vince Colossimo. I mean, it's hilarious from the get go
Speaker 1: that Chopper can't remember his name, despite the fact he
Speaker 1: did actually shoot him in the leg.
Speaker 3: In the knee, right, yeah, which he takes credit for
Speaker 3: because he could have shot him in the head, but
Speaker 3: he decided to shoot him in the knee. So he's
Speaker 3: looking for praise and thanks, yeah, from the.
Speaker 1: Outset, because Chopper is the great think about the character
Speaker 1: I think and the way Eric plays him. He is,
Speaker 1: like he points out that he, you know, he can
Speaker 1: barely read or write, but he's become this great author.
Speaker 1: These you know, all these academics and intellectuals, you know,
Speaker 1: can't get published or trying to get get their books
Speaker 1: on shelves and they can't do it. But here he
Speaker 1: is in his cell So he's not well educated, but
Speaker 1: he sees himself as intelligent. You know, the way the
Speaker 1: way he talks. You know, one of the early quotes is,
Speaker 1: you know, even even Beethoven had his critics, you know,
Speaker 1: name three, and Nevil Barts I think is a similar
Speaker 1: kind of thing. He sees himself as a businessman, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's you know, I mean Vince Colossimo. I've had
Speaker 1: the chance to work with Vince before. He directed him
Speaker 1: in an episode of It's a Date. You know. I
Speaker 1: won't say he's an underrated comic actor because I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people will realize how how good he is.
Speaker 1: He's also really good dramatically. But he's so good in this.
Speaker 1: And then there's there's, of course a famous scene where
Speaker 1: Chopper goes this is this weird relationship they have and
Speaker 1: and you're not sure if Chopper is playing Neville. Is
Speaker 1: it a cat playing with a mouse, you know, or
Speaker 1: or are these this instinctive choices that Choppers making along
Speaker 1: the way we instinctive It's like, I need money now, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go see Neville. Then he's apologizing, and then
Speaker 1: he's fucking him up again like that. The fucking around
Speaker 1: with Nevill Bartos's head by Chopper is quite incredible. But
Speaker 1: he finally goes to the house, and of course he
Speaker 1: wants some cash.
Speaker 5: Never all.
Speaker 2: Bloody sorry, mate, I've had a couple of dreams, so
Speaker 2: I get a bit bloody carried on. I've just been
Speaker 2: out you fucking sorry, atty bit of goy.
Speaker 5: I don't know who you think you're talking to him,
Speaker 5: but you've been very rude. You understand, show me some respect.
Speaker 3: We are very very rude.
Speaker 5: You have money.
Speaker 2: I'm very embarrassed. You know I'm fucking embarrassed. I'm fucking sorry, Nev.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. All right, apology accepted.
Speaker 4: Now let it go.
Speaker 3: We relaxed, take it easy.
Speaker 5: Fuck, I'm trying to relax over.
Speaker 2: But seriously, Nev, like how you holding for cash? I'm
Speaker 2: a big bloody break.
Speaker 5: This the mate.
Speaker 3: What are you talking about.
Speaker 5: Cash?
Speaker 4: There's no cash here here, there's no cash, all right, cash,
Speaker 4: no Robbie.
Speaker 3: No cash.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what you try getting from where you're
Speaker 2: sitting to the front door, because I reckon I could
Speaker 2: shoot you from where you're sitting to the front door,
Speaker 2: because that's about as long as you've got to produce
Speaker 2: some money for me right now. I'll give you twenty
Speaker 2: seconds to produce some cash as a fucking shoot you.
Speaker 1: One two.
Speaker 3: I've got no cash, mate, for I told you to
Speaker 3: achieve this.
Speaker 1: You come here, we shut that fuck down.
Speaker 5: What fifth?
Speaker 3: Oh god, what the fuck are you doing?
Speaker 5: Mate?
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ relaxed.
Speaker 2: He's not any where fucking is now, wouldn't he?
Speaker 1: And then and then supposedly drives him to the hospital,
Speaker 1: which is again a very funny scene when he explains
Speaker 1: that driving he's victim to the hospital defeats the purpose
Speaker 1: of shooting him in the first place.
Speaker 3: Which is it's probably one of the main Chopper quotes,
Speaker 3: isn't it that that he that he gave and just
Speaker 3: explains sort of the absurdity and the contradiction of of
Speaker 3: his life almost perfectly in one in one statement. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: you're pretty convinced he did he did shoot him. I
Speaker 3: mean he doesn't. He doesn't have a short views, he
Speaker 3: doesn't have a fews. It's it just flips so so
Speaker 3: instantly into into deciding he's gonna play this game with
Speaker 3: him and shoot him if he doesn't produce cash in
Speaker 3: twenty seconds. But it's it's again, it's that chilling nature
Speaker 3: of the character where you never know exactly when it
Speaker 3: could turn. And I think that's what makes him so
Speaker 3: so terrifying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, because the only time he really seems to
Speaker 1: get emotional is with Tanya. He's he's he's sex worker
Speaker 1: a girlfriend, which I imagine, you know, like if somebody
Speaker 1: is prone to being jealous, and I think Tanya points
Speaker 1: it out, you know, you're seeing who are you fucking?
Speaker 1: And she's like, I'm I'm a I'm a sex worker,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's and I mean there's that scene
Speaker 1: of course where he goes to her house and and
Speaker 1: and this is what the sharpest example of that, in
Speaker 1: a way, the tone of the movie of violence and
Speaker 1: you know, in a way comedy kind of going so
Speaker 1: closely he actually he's strikes it's off camera, but you
Speaker 1: see him kind of you know, striking Tanya, and it's
Speaker 1: really really hard to watch. It's it's horrifying and any
Speaker 1: headbuts his mum, and that's really hard to watch. But
Speaker 1: then he and you know that he kind of tries
Speaker 1: to gather himself. He's apologizing, and then and then he
Speaker 1: says this line which like should not be funny. It
Speaker 1: should not be but he says, your mum's upset. Man.
Speaker 1: It's it's like it's funny, and that is that is
Speaker 1: the movie in it like it should not this guy
Speaker 1: should not be funny, and and and and it's a
Speaker 1: really tricky balance because like I don't come in I
Speaker 1: don't come out of this going, oh I really you know,
Speaker 1: I really like Chopper or you know, I'm you know,
Speaker 1: I'm even condoning his actions because on top of yeah,
Speaker 1: he may have murdered some people that as a society,
Speaker 1: we may we may not care about the drug dealers
Speaker 1: and you know, you know, getting murdered wrongly or rightly.
Speaker 1: But there is you know, like that that scene was
Speaker 1: there were innocent victims there, and and then he turns
Speaker 1: around and and it's kind, but it's also it's inherent
Speaker 1: in his character. He's you know, he headbuts at the
Speaker 1: mom and says, now, your mum's upset. But it's it's
Speaker 1: the same thing with with Neville, like he's he's basically
Speaker 1: shot him in the leg some years earlier. He found
Speaker 1: out that he's got crime compensation for it, and then
Speaker 1: feels like he deserves some of that money because it's
Speaker 1: like we almost like we worked it out. This is
Speaker 1: you know, where's my where's my cut?
Speaker 3: It's like he feels like he's been the greatest entrepreneur
Speaker 3: of his time because he's found his niche where if
Speaker 3: he if he maims people, they make money out of it.
Speaker 3: So he's the good guy in all of this. He
Speaker 3: he doesn't tend to own his his mistakes mistakes too much,
Speaker 3: but but more celebrates his his achievements has been the
Speaker 3: greatest gift in there in their life. And the fact
Speaker 3: Nell never can barely walk is beside the point. I mean,
Speaker 3: as a side note, I think the fact that Nevill
Speaker 3: Bartos can't walk is more due to the fact he's
Speaker 3: carrying around sixty kilograms of gold chains around his neck
Speaker 3: at any given opportunity, which would surely hamper his mobility.
Speaker 3: But I think, yeah, it's it's incredible the way his
Speaker 3: mind works. I think that's what makes him so so compelling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, the I wasn't sure if I was gonna
Speaker 1: actually talk about this or bring this up, and I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if I've ever said this. Probably I met
Speaker 1: Chopper really, he's a drink at my local pub in Collingwood.
Speaker 1: I was living in Collingwood for a couple of years.
Speaker 3: I mean, I wanted to make the point that I
Speaker 3: think it's unlikely would have had such an open chat
Speaker 3: about him if he was still alive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, And I was certainly gonna be telling
Speaker 1: this story. But it was basically, it was a pretty
Speaker 1: quite a little pub, and I was there with my
Speaker 1: mate who you know, we we were sharing a house together,
Speaker 1: and we're playing pool and look over at the other
Speaker 1: side of the bar and Choppers there with his girlfriend
Speaker 1: and he, you know, maybe have a few drinks. And
Speaker 1: he recognized him, and he comes over and we start
Speaker 1: having a chat, and then we start we start having
Speaker 1: a couple of laughs, and I'm you know, Chopper was
Speaker 1: chopping like I was, like, you know, I started asking
Speaker 1: questions and some ball laughs, and then you know, a
Speaker 1: couple more beers, and I remember at one point going
Speaker 1: to the bathroom and maybe splashing a bit of water
Speaker 1: on my face, maybe metaphorically doing that, and kind of
Speaker 1: reminding myself, don't get fucking too comfortable, don't get too cheeky.
Speaker 1: This guy has murdered people. You know, it's probably time
Speaker 1: to go home because, yeah, who knows he's drinking, you're drinking,
Speaker 1: Who knows, you might just get one of those wrong.
Speaker 3: Yeah, had you seen the film by the time you
Speaker 3: did that this encounter.
Speaker 1: Yes, I would have seen the film actually, because this
Speaker 1: is I saw it in cinemas as soon as it
Speaker 1: came out, and this would have been around about a
Speaker 1: year after the film came out. I reckon, so so
Speaker 1: I had I felt like I had, you know, reference
Speaker 1: points and things to ask about.
Speaker 3: And then to not mention as well, well, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I kind of just went, no, you don't need to
Speaker 1: know if he's killed people or you know, in details,
Speaker 1: like just just kind of keep it light, keep it
Speaker 1: about footy, you know. But then what happened, like, you know,
Speaker 1: I bumped into him again. It was almost this very
Speaker 1: similar situation. He was like, there was a few more
Speaker 1: people around, but he came up to me. He had
Speaker 1: a bit of a chat, and he came and then
Speaker 1: he went back to the bar and we went necessarily
Speaker 1: hanging out, but you know, we past each other as
Speaker 1: we go out to the bathroom or something, and he
Speaker 1: came up to me and he gave me this like
Speaker 1: clicklock bag of drugs, I'm telling you, like, and I,
Speaker 1: to my to my untrained eye, not not a drug user,
Speaker 1: but it seemed to be I would say, marijuana laced
Speaker 1: with speed, which seems like two competing forces to me.
Speaker 3: I mean, at least call it at least call it goey.
Speaker 5: I mean, just.
Speaker 1: So, just give me the bag of goeye. And and
Speaker 1: I I I put it in my pocket at me
Speaker 1: because I was like, I don't want to get spotted
Speaker 1: with this, and and I kind of you really say much,
Speaker 1: And he goes out there, mate, that's some fun, you know,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, what, And then I remember going home,
Speaker 1: you know, I say, there for a while, going home,
Speaker 1: I had this bag and I don't know what to
Speaker 1: do with it. I said, not a drug user. And
Speaker 1: in no way I was going to you know, tending
Speaker 1: or even give this to anyone. I was like, so
Speaker 1: I put it in my bedside table and it was
Speaker 1: around the stat at that time I was, I was,
Speaker 1: you know, seeing my now wife Bridge, and I took
Speaker 1: a little while for me to tell her. I said, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, this weird thing happened that Chopper gave
Speaker 1: me this bag of drugs. As she goes, really, what
Speaker 1: did you do with it? And I said, I just
Speaker 1: this in my bedside table, and she's just what the
Speaker 1: fucking like, why didn't you get rid of it? And
Speaker 1: I didn't really have an answer. I think the only
Speaker 1: thing I could think of was I just thought, what
Speaker 1: happened if Chopper says to me, do you have that
Speaker 1: bag of drugs for me? Like it was he giving
Speaker 1: it to me for me to use or was it
Speaker 1: giving it to me to hold until like it seemed
Speaker 1: to me, Yes, it seemed to me like a significant
Speaker 1: amount of drugs. It wasn't like a tiny little click
Speaker 1: bag with you know, somebody you see the tiny bit
Speaker 1: of drug like the little bagges what do they call
Speaker 1: them with with cocone? It wasn't. It wasn't that. It
Speaker 1: was like a significant could you could fit you know,
Speaker 1: a decent sandwich into this into this bag?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: Like my god, Yeah, it was a lot. So I said,
Speaker 1: you're right. You know, a few months had passed, I
Speaker 1: think since he'd given it to me, So I threw
Speaker 1: it out. You know, but I remember when he died.
Speaker 1: For those who don't know he died of I think
Speaker 1: you might have been cancer or it was a liver
Speaker 1: living cancer. Yeah, yeah, I think what liver related. But
Speaker 1: there was a part of it is like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: thank god, he's not going to come back for the drugs.
Speaker 1: He's I'm not gonna get a tap on the shoulder.
Speaker 3: I feel like you had. Yeah, you go to those
Speaker 3: charity options and they you can like money come by experience.
Speaker 3: I feel like you've got the Chopper experience. Someone someone
Speaker 3: at an option bid for Peter Hellier to have the
Speaker 3: full Chopper experience, and it was it included two drinks
Speaker 3: and a bag of Goeye with Chopper in a pump.
Speaker 3: And people would have bid, you know, sign like one
Speaker 3: hundred thousand dollars for that experience, and someone someone's bought
Speaker 3: that for you and you got to live like you
Speaker 3: went on the chopper ride. Yeah, and very few people
Speaker 3: have done that and then lived or like or not
Speaker 3: had a life of drugs and addiction after it. So
Speaker 3: what what what an experience?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it didn't get stabby, you know, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: it was the last time I saw him too, So
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not sure when did the actually chop
Speaker 1: a dive thirteen?
Speaker 3: I think in the because it says it at the
Speaker 3: end of the film.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, okay, so it was it was a bit
Speaker 1: longer after that. So there's plenty of opportunities, perhaps for
Speaker 1: us to bump into each other. But fun times, let's
Speaker 1: have it. Let's obviously I did want to ask you.
Speaker 1: I mean, it takes a certain kind of individual, doesn't
Speaker 1: it to you know, to be having a quiet chat
Speaker 1: at a pub with the police officers and they get
Speaker 1: the Johnson out at the same time. I mean, that's.
Speaker 3: That's I didn't want to know whether whether he got
Speaker 3: it out when you're in the public him and what
Speaker 3: was It wasn't as significant as as as it would appear.
Speaker 1: No weird because I'd seen the movie. I got mine
Speaker 1: out and he noticed, nobody noticed, So it was very
Speaker 1: you know, how embarrassing it is to have it out
Speaker 1: there for fifteen twenty minutes and nobody's saying anything.
Speaker 3: You thought it was like almost the way Chopper shakes
Speaker 3: hands and you just get it out and that's that's
Speaker 3: the greeting that you use. It is. I've never done
Speaker 3: that personally, but I find a remarkable way that I
Speaker 3: just to carry yourself quite literally in a pub. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I do find that it's again like just one of
Speaker 3: the many layers of the man.
Speaker 1: What's interesting about this film its structurally it's a really
Speaker 1: impressive film because it just it gives you what it
Speaker 1: wants to give you, Like the idea that he gets
Speaker 1: taken out, he chops his years off, he gets taken
Speaker 1: to you know, another prison, because he knows that there's
Speaker 1: that they're coming for him. I mean, first of all,
Speaker 1: his plan to get out of the way was was nuts.
Speaker 1: Like the reason that Jimmy you know, tries to kill
Speaker 1: him is because he knows that this this plan, this
Speaker 1: guy's insane and either he's going to get me killed
Speaker 1: or kill me or I have to take him out.
Speaker 1: The idea that they're going to basically basically knife everybody
Speaker 1: into you know, basically paralyze or make everybody paraplegics.
Speaker 3: He was going to take multiple hostages and then use
Speaker 3: an ice pick to take out the spines of all
Speaker 3: of his rivals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is when everyone in that prison like it's
Speaker 1: batshit crazy. That's what happens. So then basically you cut
Speaker 1: from him getting transferred, when he's gloating about getting transferred
Speaker 1: to mister Beasley and all of that, and then it
Speaker 1: just cuts to him walking down the street. He's obviously
Speaker 1: put on some kg. So that's all we need to
Speaker 1: know is time is obviously passed and now he's out.
Speaker 1: We have no I think it's even I think it's
Speaker 1: like a ninety four minute film that a lot of
Speaker 1: people are talking about these days. I see even Netflix
Speaker 1: now has a category ninety minute films. I think people
Speaker 1: are kind of wondering why everything that needs to be
Speaker 1: you know, two two and a half hours now. But
Speaker 1: it tells us what it was. We don't we start
Speaker 1: in prison. He doesn't tell us. It tells us why
Speaker 1: he got into prison. He kidnapped the judge. But you know,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a version of this film where you
Speaker 1: start with the kidnapping of a judge, and that you
Speaker 1: can imagine that being a pretty interesting and intense scene,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't. It goes exactly where Andrew Dominican wants
Speaker 1: to take us.
Speaker 3: And that's why I think it's funny you touch on
Speaker 3: that because I watched it last night and I was
Speaker 3: watching it and it was it was getting late, and
Speaker 3: I just pressed the remote just to see. I assume
Speaker 3: that there must be an hour to go, because it
Speaker 3: was still very much in his crime phase. You know,
Speaker 3: he was dealing with Jimmy, in the fact, Jimmy wanted
Speaker 3: to killing And I looked at and it said the
Speaker 3: film had twelve minutes to go, So what how?
Speaker 1: How?
Speaker 4: How?
Speaker 3: How are we here? How are we How are they
Speaker 3: going to wrap this up?
Speaker 1: How is this?
Speaker 3: How's this going to finish? And it was sort of
Speaker 3: it's it's a film that doesn't have a clear arc
Speaker 3: in a way or a clear resolution apart from the
Speaker 3: fact that Chopper Dog eventually died, but it's it's it's
Speaker 3: I like that, I do respect that, I know I'm
Speaker 3: doing what you said I might do, which is sort
Speaker 3: of coming around to the majesty and the magic of
Speaker 3: the film, But I do like the fact it doesn't
Speaker 3: necessarily follow the rules of a classic a classic crime drama,
Speaker 3: whether there's some sort of beautiful tied in a bow
Speaker 3: resolution at the end. It's it's sort of it just
Speaker 3: continues to be dark, and the story of Sammy the
Speaker 3: Turk is kind of the lasting sort of legacy of
Speaker 3: the whole thing and the stats around how many people
Speaker 3: he apparently killed versus how many people he ever got
Speaker 3: actually charged and then acquitted for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fascinated because every film usually it's about a journey.
Speaker 1: It's about your protagonist journey and he starts, they start
Speaker 1: at a at a certain point and then they they
Speaker 1: may want something, but usually it's you know, we don't
Speaker 1: give them what they want, they actually get what they need.
Speaker 1: And that's and that's the journey with with with Chopper.
Speaker 1: There's not there's not really those there's not even really
Speaker 1: the traditional kind of obstacles you put in their way,
Speaker 1: because he seems impervious to obstacles. He just walks around
Speaker 1: the obstacles. So there's no sense of this journey that
Speaker 1: Chopper has gone on from seeing one to you know,
Speaker 1: the final scene, it's he's not he's not rehabilitated. You know,
Speaker 1: we know he doesn't really you know, see the light
Speaker 1: and you know, and whatever comes out of his mouth.
Speaker 1: To be honest, where can we believe it? I mean,
Speaker 1: the fact that even that there's you know, I think
Speaker 1: the opening you know, credits on the green like this
Speaker 1: is base of the paraphrase, it's something like this is
Speaker 1: based on the autobiography. But we had no idea if
Speaker 1: this is true or not. You know, it's I think
Speaker 1: the tagline of the film was the truth, the half truth,
Speaker 1: and nothing like the truth.
Speaker 3: You know what's interesting about the film, when you have
Speaker 3: your ninety three minutes all about Chopper, you would think
Speaker 3: that it ultimately glorifies his character. But I didn't really
Speaker 3: feel that way. I didn't really feel like, by the end,
Speaker 3: you think the world of this guy, you're happy to
Speaker 3: sort of let go of the murderous, murderous ways and
Speaker 3: really love him. You don't come out of it loving him.
Speaker 3: You sort of come out of it intrigued by the
Speaker 3: contradictions of his life. But I sort of came out
Speaker 3: of it with probably the same feeling about him that
Speaker 3: I had before, which is sort of just a bit more,
Speaker 3: a bit stand offish and a bit sort of confused
Speaker 3: by about how we sort of reach this celebrity status. Yeah,
Speaker 3: which is which is interesting in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think I think it's a beautiful final
Speaker 1: scene and we'll get the same same the turk in
Speaker 1: the second. But the final scene, maybe it is Maybe
Speaker 1: the journey is that he starts off it's almost a
Speaker 1: reverse journey. It's he starts off being happy and watching
Speaker 1: himself on the TV, and we go back to that moment,
Speaker 1: you know, we see him give the interview to Renee Brack,
Speaker 1: and then he's he's watching it back and we you know,
Speaker 1: the bits of what we've seen before, but then you know,
Speaker 1: the screws, it's all laughed it's all like, you know, oh,
Speaker 1: this is great publicity. How much will that you know
Speaker 1: costs usually you know, and he's really wrapped with himself
Speaker 1: and he's he's the king, he's living the life. And
Speaker 1: then the screw's kind of you know, leave him alone.
Speaker 1: They lock the door and he's in a he's in
Speaker 1: a cell by himself, and it's and then what a
Speaker 1: horrible way, what a horrible existence that is? So I
Speaker 1: think you're right in the same way that you know,
Speaker 1: somebody thought the train Spotting was glamorizing Heroin. It's like,
Speaker 1: how can you watch that movie and come away thinking
Speaker 1: that Heroin was a good option for any of those characters.
Speaker 1: It's it's I feel the same with Chopper.
Speaker 3: It's a it's a tragic end in a way because
Speaker 3: you see this man when there is no bluster and
Speaker 3: bluff and and performance that it's it's actually it's a
Speaker 3: front to what is a fairly sad existence.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, let's see send me to Turk. So he's
Speaker 1: basically a minor character up until the end.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a few glances and I love those
Speaker 1: at first nightclub scene where Chop ends up shooting the
Speaker 1: place up because it feels like he's going through a
Speaker 1: haunted house and it's like he doesn't know who's out
Speaker 1: there getting there's never Bartos over there. There's this guy
Speaker 1: that sen me to Turk that's looking over him, and
Speaker 1: he's just he's scared. I actually see for the first time,
Speaker 1: even though there's no doesn't seem to be any imminent danger,
Speaker 1: like he's been in a much more dangerous place in
Speaker 1: h division. But all of a sudden you actually see
Speaker 1: fear on his face for the first time, which I
Speaker 1: think is really interesting. But towards the end, Sammy to
Speaker 1: finally gets his attention and and takes him out to
Speaker 1: the car park.
Speaker 4: Because you'll touch me for t you buddy, homosexual or something?
Speaker 4: Why are you scared?
Speaker 3: I don't touch you.
Speaker 5: I'm scared.
Speaker 3: Just don't touch me, you buddy.
Speaker 4: Where's your car?
Speaker 2: It's not there?
Speaker 3: Which one kick gowing?
Speaker 1: Where? Hey? Here is that gun?
Speaker 3: Huh? It's a gun.
Speaker 5: It's fucking porn to act.
Speaker 2: You know who's taming you on?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 4: Whose team are you on?
Speaker 5: Team? That's great? Fucking comedian too?
Speaker 3: Are you?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: What'd you fucking bring me out here?
Speaker 3: What? No? Chop?
Speaker 5: You you you bring me here.
Speaker 4: Huh, fucking good answer.
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm good.
Speaker 1: I'm friend to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, you're a fucking friend. Ancher bringing me
Speaker 2: out here in the middle of the fucking night.
Speaker 5: Before sick line.
Speaker 3: Huh, sick line.
Speaker 5: What what's that mean?
Speaker 1: You are? You want English?
Speaker 5: Fucking English a slayer?
Speaker 4: Fuck you and know it's English.
Speaker 1: And then and then Chopper again goes into his like
Speaker 1: almost apologetic and you came out it's it's it's quite.
Speaker 1: It's yeah. I mean, he's himself to the end. And
Speaker 1: then of course we we we go to you know,
Speaker 1: we learn what actually was supposed to take place and
Speaker 1: and and what went wrong or right, I guess in
Speaker 1: Chopper's case with again Lovely you mentioned it before, Lovely
Speaker 1: Flourish from writer director Andrew Dominic. To do this like this,
Speaker 1: I think was a it was just a beautiful touch.
Speaker 1: But this sometimes you can go for these. You have
Speaker 1: these ideas and these creative ideas, and you're seeing films
Speaker 1: and it doesn't quite fit. It's a bit jarring, but
Speaker 1: this is fit the mood and the vibe of the
Speaker 1: film perfectly. This is the Bojangles recital.
Speaker 4: Jimmy and the Boys will be in the car.
Speaker 2: You helped set up the big fella. It'll make you
Speaker 2: a star. They said they had it farmed out, they
Speaker 2: had it costed, but when I walked out the door,
Speaker 2: they just left me posted.
Speaker 3: The game was for real.
Speaker 5: It was no lark.
Speaker 3: But the twitch took him out of the wrong car park.
Speaker 3: Silly boys.
Speaker 2: That's all the chop I had to say, Poor little
Speaker 2: semi god, blown away.
Speaker 3: The knuckleheads.
Speaker 2: I could have shot him in both knee caps and
Speaker 2: finished a game of cards before this crew of retail
Speaker 2: It's got there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a bit of a chop referring to himself
Speaker 1: in the third person as well. He doesn't he doesn't
Speaker 1: mind doing that.
Speaker 3: From the opening scene to the last that that is
Speaker 3: a recurring, a recurring theme of the third person. But
Speaker 3: but you're also he's almost poking it spends a lot
Speaker 3: of time in the film, I think poking fun of
Speaker 3: just the lack of intelligence of of most criminals and
Speaker 3: the fact that he does see himself as being above
Speaker 3: above that because he's a he's a smarter operator, and
Speaker 3: it stands out and that that's I think what he
Speaker 3: enables him to endure through those moments. And that's one
Speaker 3: great example, where just bumbling fools a lot of the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a mesmerizing performance by Eric
Speaker 1: Banner and everyone is so good. We had Jimmy Luffman there,
Speaker 1: Simon Lyndon, you know, Kate b And as Tanya I
Speaker 1: think is great. David Field as Keithy, you know at
Speaker 1: the start he's one of my favorite Australian actors. David
Speaker 1: Field is awesome that he's in the great One called
Speaker 1: Every Night, Every Night, if you ever get a chance to,
Speaker 1: if you're like a prison drama, it's seemed a bit
Speaker 1: more full on than than Chopper.
Speaker 3: You know, Dan put boot polish, boot polish in your
Speaker 3: hair to hide a bald spot. That is a that
Speaker 3: is a master class in that as well.
Speaker 1: It really is mate, mate, thank you so much. You
Speaker 1: are one of the busiest men in the Berz and
Speaker 1: for you to watch a movie about h division when
Speaker 1: you would rather be following Ben Stiller through the scenic
Speaker 1: landscapes of Iceland, it was quite quite remarkable that we
Speaker 1: chose this film.
Speaker 3: You know what, I not two months ago I did
Speaker 3: actually go on a Ben Steller inspired journey through the
Speaker 3: fjords of Iceland almost retracing the secret life of Walter
Speaker 3: Mite journey.
Speaker 1: So I look, this was.
Speaker 3: Coming needed a reality check back to the underworld of Melbourne,
Speaker 3: and you provided it. And for that I will be
Speaker 3: eternally grateful. I had I feared nightmares last night.
Speaker 5: I didn't.
Speaker 3: I didn't have them. But but I am now so
Speaker 3: across the world of Chopper, of Bojangles and the fact
Speaker 3: that if someone asks you for cash, just give them
Speaker 3: the cash. That that is my advice.
Speaker 1: And next time you see me, maybe you know at
Speaker 1: the logis you know, if I'm at a bar, just
Speaker 1: just cast your eyes downwards. I might have a little
Speaker 1: surprised for here.
Speaker 3: Just look in the pocket in the skyrocket, Like when
Speaker 3: you said you throw it out. I don't believe a
Speaker 3: word of that.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 3: I think it's it should be in a museum. That
Speaker 3: should be a museum piece somewhere. The bag that Chopper
Speaker 3: gave you, I think is the remarkable piece that I think.
Speaker 3: You know, how how is the Victorian Museum not snapping
Speaker 3: that up?
Speaker 1: I wish I forget, which have been if I threw
Speaker 1: in the recycle being all the garbage, But yeah, I
Speaker 1: want to I assume it's it's been dispensed. Maybe somebody
Speaker 1: found it. I don't know. I certainly wasn't going to
Speaker 1: be responsible for giving it to anybody, but yeah, fun times,
Speaker 1: fun times with Uncle Chop Chop.
Speaker 3: I had a similar experience in an LA nightclub with
Speaker 3: with Courtney Love and Lindsay Lowe and and a bag
Speaker 3: that was just was appeared in a bathroom that I
Speaker 3: just saw and took a photo of because I thought,
Speaker 3: you know what, that's going to be a fun story
Speaker 3: to retail one day. And I don't know who owned it,
Speaker 3: which are those people owned it? But one of them did,
Speaker 3: and that's enough for me.
Speaker 1: I just I mean, I just remind you that both
Speaker 1: those people are still alive, at least at least Choppers there.
Speaker 3: In hindsight, a terrible, terrible retelling story.
Speaker 1: But you're a legend, and thanks for joining us and
Speaker 1: we'll catch up against so no doubt really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, mate.
Speaker 1: That was fun. And I think another episode where somebody
Speaker 1: maybe didn't love a film, but then maybe the more
Speaker 1: we discussed it maybe came around a little bit. Maybe
Speaker 1: not completely, but just a little bit. It's interesting when
Speaker 1: we actually get a chance to discuss films it's you know,
Speaker 1: we do find appreciation. And the fact is every week
Speaker 1: on this podcast we're talking about a classic movie. So
Speaker 1: the you know, as my dad will say, they're classics
Speaker 1: for a reason, and so sometimes when you just do
Speaker 1: a little bit of deep diving, you start maybe appreciating
Speaker 1: it a little more, hopefully.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: Chris well, I know that he enjoyed that. He said so,
Speaker 1: and I believed him. Thank you, Chris, and apologies for
Speaker 1: my voice being a bit croaky. We had some some
Speaker 1: farewell drinks from my colleague Curry bit More couple of
Speaker 1: days ago before this episode was recorded, so it's it's
Speaker 1: unblaming her. It'd be better for next episode. I'm sure
Speaker 1: Derek Myyers and Casways Studios dot com au is in
Speaker 1: the building of course, as he always is in the studio. Derek,
Speaker 1: you'd be a big Chopper Fanily.
Speaker 5: Chopper was amazing. It was just that weird thing kubrick
Speaker 5: esque kind of vibe where there's someone you're kind of
Speaker 5: tricked into sort of barracking for who's just not good,
Speaker 5: not a good person.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think with movies generally, I mean we
Speaker 1: always it's always a protagonist that we kind of root
Speaker 1: for you know, like I very rarely do you not
Speaker 1: root for the And there's a reason Tony Soprano. We
Speaker 1: love Tony Soprano. You know, there's there's a reason, you
Speaker 1: know what. We're white, you know, they're we We're okay
Speaker 1: with people doing bad things in movies, you know, like
Speaker 1: as long as we can see and understand them a
Speaker 1: little bit more. Now, Chopper is a fine line with him,
Speaker 1: whether we how much insight we get as to why
Speaker 1: Chopper became Chopper. But it's a fascinating character study. And
Speaker 1: I think it's a brilliant, brilliant film, I really do.
Speaker 1: All the elements from production came together and and I
Speaker 1: think it's a cracker.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Did the production team and the writers and the
Speaker 5: director and Eric Banner and the other actors in there
Speaker 5: you've seen years and years later doing amazing work I
Speaker 5: know their names. But did they make him seem funny?
Speaker 5: Did Chopper love this? Afterwards? I also ran in him
Speaker 5: in a bar he did, Yeah, And you just go.
Speaker 5: I wonder if he is that same a year or
Speaker 5: so after the film.
Speaker 1: I wonder if he was a.
Speaker 5: Real funny guy or whether they just whether the movie
Speaker 5: was just a genius. It was just really well made.
Speaker 1: I think he was a pretty charming guy, you know,
Speaker 1: like he I think he certainly had that. I think
Speaker 1: he had a good turn of phrase as far as
Speaker 1: you know, the way he would put things. I think
Speaker 1: it was. I think it was pretty funny, you know,
Speaker 1: like whether that you know, there's probably a reason why
Speaker 1: it's down up comedy didn't take off for you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you can be funny at a bar, and
Speaker 1: that's a very different thing as being funny, you know,
Speaker 1: being professionally funny. I guess if you like, but a
Speaker 1: fascinating guy, and yeah, you're right. The cast is incredible.
Speaker 1: You got Dan Wiley, you got David Field, kateb and
Speaker 1: Simon Linden, Vince Colossimo of course you're really really strong cast.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's it's a real good one, all right.
Speaker 1: If you if you want to get onto us, you
Speaker 1: can send us an email at Jesney Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. That's the that's one way you can do it.
Speaker 1: What we would love is to hear your voice and
Speaker 1: you can get onto our speak pipe through the there's
Speaker 1: a link on the on the page and leave a message.
Speaker 1: But actually love to hear your voice with loving to
Speaker 1: speak pipes coming through, and I believe we have another
Speaker 1: one today, Derek.
Speaker 5: We've got a great one here from Pete Davis from
Speaker 5: the lyrics of the Lost podcast.
Speaker 4: Hello Team YASNI loved the podcast. Last episode with Dave
Speaker 4: Callen was great. Those stories of mistaken identity, the actors
Speaker 4: signing up with the wrong director and directors hiring the
Speaker 4: wrong actor with the same name. I have one for
Speaker 4: you from the same era. I heard it at a
Speaker 4: film industry talk in the mid eighties. Rosanna Raquette was
Speaker 4: getting really big and she noticed this exciting new Australian director,
Speaker 4: George Miller, who had so far done a couple of
Speaker 4: brilliant Mad Max films plus the only good chapter in
Speaker 4: the Twilight Zone movie. She eagerly signs up to his
Speaker 4: next project, The Aviator, with Christopher Reeve of Superman. Oops,
Speaker 4: she's got the wrong Australian George Miller. She got the
Speaker 4: one that did the Man from Snowy River, but also
Speaker 4: Les Patterson, says the world and Cybermutt the Bionic Dog.
Speaker 4: Hope she can laugh about it now.
Speaker 1: Thanks Pete, bye, Well, thank you, Pete. That's I never
Speaker 1: heard that story. Before that is another great case of
Speaker 1: mistaken identity. I think Peter was referring to. I think
Speaker 1: we spoke with Dave about Joel Cohen, who Bill Murray
Speaker 1: famously signed up to do the Garfield movies, thinking that
Speaker 1: Joel Cohen, that Joe Cohen was the same. Joe Cohen
Speaker 1: is in one half of the Coen Brothers, the famous
Speaker 1: iconic legendary directors, the Coen Brothers, And it was only
Speaker 1: when he got to set that he realized that completely
Speaker 1: different guys, completely different guys. So thank you. That's great
Speaker 1: lyrics a the Lost podcast. Yeah, I haven't heard that podcast,
Speaker 1: but I will to check it out. And yeah, fans,
Speaker 1: if you love movies, it sounds up Pete's loves his
Speaker 1: movies too, so check that out. And I believe we
Speaker 1: have a couple of emails. In fact, there's a debate
Speaker 1: that's not right. I won't say he's raging. It hasn't
Speaker 1: got too and that fun of Cello stages just yet.
Speaker 1: But we had a conversation during an episode where we
Speaker 1: were speaking about Tom Cruise and it's actually with Todd
Speaker 1: Sampson when we short shak Redemption and we're talking about
Speaker 1: Tim Robins height, and we were saying I made off
Speaker 1: the carf remark because I had to shoot around Tim
Speaker 1: Robins height. It was quite tricky that this is why
Speaker 1: you'll never see Tim Robbins and Tom Cruise in the
Speaker 1: same movie. Somebody got in touch with me pointed that,
Speaker 1: of course they were in Top Gun together. They also
Speaker 1: pointed out that Tim played Goose. He didn't actually play Goose.
Speaker 1: So I'm calling out a draw, but I believe we
Speaker 1: have another email on this subject.
Speaker 5: Yes, the saga continues. This is called Tim and Tom
Speaker 5: from Christopher Hi Pete love the podcast. I've been stewing
Speaker 5: over the debate whether Tim Robbins and Tom Cruise had
Speaker 5: ever acted together, and then thought it was to be
Speaker 5: settled at the end of the Josh Lawson episode. Yes
Speaker 5: they were in Top Gun together, but they also had
Speaker 5: shared a pivotal scene in War of the World's thank
Speaker 5: you for doing what you do. Cheers Chris.
Speaker 1: Oh, Chris, Jesus is getting bigger. We're through the looking
Speaker 1: glass now. I didn't realize it was a second film
Speaker 1: out there. Okay, so Tim Robins and Tom Cruise have
Speaker 1: actually appeared in Top Gun in our War of the World.
Speaker 1: I can't remember that scene. I think I've only seen
Speaker 1: the movie once or maybe twice. Yeah, I have to
Speaker 1: go back and watch. I mean, I take your word
Speaker 1: for it. I'm not disputing it, but I'll go back
Speaker 1: and check that scene out. I want it'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how they frame that scene. Yeah, Okay, if
Speaker 1: anyone knows the third film that Tom Cruise and Tim
Speaker 1: Robbins have been starring in together, let me know. Let's
Speaker 1: crack this thing wide open. Thank you Chris for getting
Speaker 1: in touch. I'm very much amused by this next episode
Speaker 1: of You Ain't Seen Nothing yet. We complete the Holy Trinity.
Speaker 1: We have the third member of Nie Donna. We've had Broden,
Speaker 1: who did each wonderful life, Mark did Citizen Kane. So
Speaker 1: next week Zach will be joining as Zach Ruan will
Speaker 1: be joining us to talk about film that up until recently,
Speaker 1: it was my favorite Australian movie ever, first strained film
Speaker 1: to win the Palm Dior at the Kahn International Film Festival,
Speaker 1: starring Edward Woodward, starring Jack Thompson, Brian Brown, Chris Hayworth,
Speaker 1: Olf Floody Stewart, Rod Malner, Bud Tingwell. They're all there,
Speaker 1: Lewis Fitzgerald in his film debut It is you probably
Speaker 1: worked it that by now. Breaking Morant an amazing, amazing
Speaker 1: film that is still timely to this day. If you
Speaker 1: haven't seen Break Him Morant, check it out. You will
Speaker 1: thank me later. A little fun fact. One of the
Speaker 1: source materials i'musure I don't believe it was based on,
Speaker 1: but Kick Denton wrote a great book about Breaking Round,
Speaker 1: which formed some of the background for this movie. I
Speaker 1: believe Kick Denton is the father of mister Andrew Denton.
Speaker 1: So there you got a little fun fact. But next
Speaker 1: week on the show, you won't say nothing yet Zach
Speaker 1: Formoni Donna Breaking Morant from nineteen eighty It'll be fun.
Speaker 1: Trust me, love Zach Love Breaking Morant. Until then, by
Speaker 1: for now, and so we
Speaker 3: Leave old Pete, save fan soul, and to our friends
Speaker 3: of the radio audience, we've been a pleasant good name.