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Getting LUCKY at The Kentucky · Movie Meltdown

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hi, this is Monty Hellman.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: You're listening to Movie Meltdown.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: The following feature has been rated R by the Motion
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Picture Association of America.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: It is intended for mature audiences and parental discretion is advised.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: It's showtime, folks.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Enjoy the show.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power.
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: Five more cooling in the containment chamber.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: To your stations, we have a movie meltdown.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: See, an ordinary person spends his life avoiding tense situations.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Repo Man spends his life getting into tense situations.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: What's up, and welcome to Movie Meltdown.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I'm Brian.
• 1:36
  Speaker 6: I'm Wesley.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: And we're coming to you live via digital recording from
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  Speaker 2: the outskirts of the Kentucky Theater. right here in Lexington, Kentucky,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the home of Harry Dean Stanfuss.
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: Yes, we can see the glorious marquee just a few
• 1:48
  Speaker 6: feet in front of us.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: It's flashing. It's a beautiful light. Look at it.
• 1:51
  Speaker 6: It's sparkly. I want to go toward the light.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, or any old school theater, which we, again... Most
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: towns around here don't have any more. So it's one
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: more reason that Lexington's kind of awesome because they still
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: have their theater. They didn't knock it down like a
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: lot of places seem to do now.
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: Add the Kentucky Theater and the Lucy Jones. That's a
• 2:12
  Speaker 6: one-two film combo.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I'm sure that's what brings everybody to life. I just
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: kind of assume that now. When I find somebody who's
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: either from here or knows people, I just go, so
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: you know Lucy, right? And sometimes they don't and they
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: think I'm insane. No, everybody knows Lucy.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I love this event. I'm thrilled that I get
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: to come to all three days this year. I took
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: some vacation time off.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you sent me that message. I'm like, that's kind
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: of cool. You actually don't live here, and you made
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: a trip all the way up here, not just for
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: this one opening night event, but you're here for the
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: whole festival.
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm about three hours away, but it's definitely worth
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: it for Mr. Stanton.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: That's a good haul. Definitely, yeah. became way more of
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: an interesting year, I think, than even we would have
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: realized a few weeks ago.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Like, as putting this together, you know, I saw quite
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: a while ago when Lucy was announcing the lineup and
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: working on different, you know, bringing in people. And, yeah,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: it was, I don't think we could have, I mean,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: it seems like we should have seen it coming, but,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: you know, he lived forever. He'd been around forever.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: He was always so sharp, too.
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: Like, in interviews, that's like... He always seems so together.
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: That's so impressive.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: I think we'd all just sort of fooled ourselves into
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: thinking he'd be around forever. It is funny how much
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: I've heard more people talking about him lately. And some
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: of it is because of this movie. But I think
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: some of it, again, it may have just been a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: weird universal thing. He may have just been put in
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: everyone's minds for some reason. Maybe some cosmic reason that
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: he probably doesn't believe in.
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: It was weird because I was listening back to shows
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: that I downloaded talking about movies and like they went
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: on this like 15 minute tangent about Harry Dean Stanton
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: that had nothing to do with this movie. They were
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: just talking about him as an actor. And I'm listening
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: to it like two days after he died. But it
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: had been recorded weeks before because I hadn't had time
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: to get around to listening to stuff.
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: Have you listened to the Marc Maron interview with him
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: from a couple years back? Did he re-release it? Yeah,
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: I think he put it back out. I listened to it,
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: I think, the first go-around. But yeah, it's one of
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: the last two or three. You should definitely check that
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: one out. It's a great interview.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: He's an interesting character.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and as I was telling you before we started recording,
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: a friend of mine said, like, what festival is it
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: you're going to? And I told him what it was.
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: He's like, I think I heard an interview with Marilyn
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: Manson where they were talking about him. And I was like, oh, yeah.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: And he played the clip for me. And there was
• 4:48
  Speaker 6: a mansion. I can't remember all the details because it
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: was at work when he showed it to me. So
• 4:51
  Speaker 6: I didn't catch everything in the break room. But apparently
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: there's some sort of mansion that's like a hub for
• 4:57
  Speaker 6: artistic people out in California. And Marilyn Manson was there.
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: And Dita Von Teese, this was at the time when
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: they were married. There were a few other celebrities there.
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: And Harry Dean Stant was there and apparently was throwing
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: dinner rolls at Dita Von Teese, which is hilarious. The
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: merry prankster.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he did seem like he just liked to mess
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: with people a little bit.
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and it's like a very grandfatherly thing because I
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: grew up in a Kentucky town too and my grandfather
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: was good with the jokes for sure.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: That's the thing. We were trying to decide how much
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: of it. He always seemed like you know, he certainly
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: had no problem pulling off grumpy old man if that's
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: what you needed out of him. But it's like, if
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: you look a little deeper, like there's definitely so much
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: more to that and so much more that like he
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: takes from things. And again, he's sort of aware of
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: it and doesn't even want to let people know he's
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: aware of it. Like he's, he kind of wants people
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: to tune out and be like, ah, that's just the
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: way Harry is. But like there was always a little
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: more going on.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 6: He's a very deep man. And, uh, one thing that
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: they said tonight was that there's a guy working on
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: a biography of him for the university of Kentucky press,
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: which is super exciting. I definitely want to read that.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: There's a lot to work with there.
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Like when you, I mean, just think about like what
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: happened before he even got into acting, like his, his
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: early days, you know, and off in the middle of
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: nowhere in Kentucky. And then like, he goes off to
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: war and like, he comes back and is going to
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: school at UK. And then like, as I heard this story, like, his,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: his like professor is acting coach more or less at
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: the school was just like, you need to.
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: Get out of here.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Like you, you know, again, he just recognized talent and
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: he's just like, you, you got potential. You could probably
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: make a go of this, go ahead and head out there.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: So like, it's funny that encouraged him to leave school,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: you know, it's like, it's probably not what, you know,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: professors and your teachers are supposed to do, but I'm like, good,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: good for him. Like he, he kind of broke away
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: from that. It was just like, no, I, this guy
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: is actually talented and he could make it work. And
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: he obviously did for decades upon decades.
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: So yeah, the sweetness, uh, he's like so good at
• 7:06
  Speaker 6: that too. Uh, you, you said you haven't watched all
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: the new twin peaks, right?
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: No, there's just so many.
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: I won't, I won't give anything away. And it is
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: a very frustrating watch, but he is, he is an
• 7:16
  Speaker 6: amazing part of the show. And there are like two
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: scenes in particular that I'm thinking of that I won't,
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: won't mention that he's just, There's like an otherworldliness, which,
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: you know, was a common thing with him. But it's
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: just there's some looks. And there's one involving music where
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: he's singing, which in the film we saw tonight, there
• 7:30
  Speaker 6: was also a singing scene.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: He does a lot of singing. Or always did.
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: Yeah. The segment tonight was one of my favorite segments
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: of the film. He's got such a wonderfully expressive voice.
• 7:41
  Speaker 6: And it was also in Spanish, which was kind of cool.
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: I love mariachi music. But, yeah, it was a great film.
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: What did you think of it?
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't totally break it down. So this is
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: the opening night of Harry Dean Stanton Fest. And the
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: big focus of it was that it was the premiere.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: They actually, and again, they've been planning this and normally
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: it actually hits a little early in the year. And
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Lucy was working to kind of push things back specifically
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: to coincide with Lucky being finished and getting through post
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and like being able to premiere it at Harry Dean
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Stanton Fest. And this is, As far as I know,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: this is, you know, outside of the people working on it,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: this was the first real premiere of the film.
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: Red carpet and everything.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's red carpet. You could pose by the banner.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: We have to go do that as well. But how
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: else can we be fancy film fest goers if we're
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: not standing.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: In front of a banner?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: But, yeah, it is funny that it was so much
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: work to get it to this point.
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Again, odd timing because had it happened earlier in the year,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: had even the festival happened earlier, it wouldn't have been
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: on this weird note that it is now. But again,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I think it kind of needed to be. It's kind
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: of the way everything needed to come together. If he
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: was going to pass on, it's interesting timing that he also,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: within a few weeks, gets this huge tribute that ties
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: into the last lead role that he ever had. One
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: of two lead roles he ever had. And the last,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: you know, big film that he really worked on.
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and thematically, it couldn't have been a better final
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: film for him.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it makes me question some of his reasoning
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: for it, and I'll get to that later. Yeah, it's interesting.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: It's a weird place to come to, you know, just
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: in life, when you realize, you know, what a fan
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: you are of a performer. And when you see them
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: getting older, and I guess we all start to question,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: we all question our mortality, but as you start watching
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: the characters that you love getting up there, you do
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: have to kind of stop and maybe prepare yourself. But again,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know that we were ever really prepared.
• 9:51
  Speaker 6: The plot-wise, how would you go about breaking down the plot?
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: Because it's kind of like almost like he's playing himself
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: and like a lot of the a lot of philosophies
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: he espouses are worked into it now they said the
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: co-writer was his assistant correct like for yeah i think if.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: You'd seen i think it's partly.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: Fiction Okay, I haven't gotten a chance.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: To see that. I think he's maybe in both of them,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: but I know one of the two recent documentaries they've
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: done over the years, I think you get a pretty
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: good window into that guy's life, and he has spent,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: what did he say, like 12 years or more as
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: his personal assistant. So it is interesting that this isn't
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: just like a random... you know, movie that kind of
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: has similarities to his life. And, like, so they decided
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: to stick him in it. Like, the people writing it
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: are both friends of his, one of whom has spent, like,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: most of the days. Like, as you watch that documentary, like,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: he was just with him a lot of the time.
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: I almost asked during the Q & A if, like,
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: he advised him on the philosophy of it. I mean,
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: I know he knew a lot of it from working, but, like, if, like,
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: he went through the script and corrected this or that,
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I get the feeling from just what I've seen of
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Harry Dean over the years, if it was wrong, he
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: would have corrected it.
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: I believe you're right.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Or he just wouldn't have told him and would have
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: said the lines that he would have preferred to have said. So, yeah,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I feel like Harry Dean would have taken care of
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: his philosophies getting out there the right way.
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: Definitely.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, plot-wise, again, it's just coming out. We're not going
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: to throw too much out there. But as far as
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: a general idea, because I don't think I knew much
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: about it other than it was you know, another starring
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: vehicle for Harry Dean. But it's, it, I think it
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: goes into like what life is like when you're the
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: kind of, again, it mirrors his life because Harry Dean,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: so the stories go, spent like a lot of his
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: life just sort of hanging around his house that he
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: bought a long time ago back in Mulholland. And like
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: when nobody, when it was, you know, kind of run
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: down and falling apart. And now as time's gone on,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: A lot of it has come up and become a
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: fancy area in L.A. at this point, but his is
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: still the same. He hasn't done anything to it. He
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: just sits there and watches TV and smokes his cigarettes
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: and drinks and leaves to go to Santana's and occasionally
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: make a movie or a TV show. I feel like
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: it's sort of doing a low-end version of that. Lucky
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: certainly isn't living in L.A. This is a little more
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Is that Arizona?
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: Is that where they shot it?
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly looks like it. So yeah, he's not
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: quite as well off, I suppose. But other than that,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: it feels like it really is trying to tap into this, like,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: what do you do when you're an older person and
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: this is all you have. Again, he doesn't have to
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: go to work, so what do you do with your day?
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: So we get a little of this snapshot of a
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: day or so of his regular, in quotes, regular life.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: And then you start to see things change and you
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: start to see how him aging and him starting to
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: deal with him aging comes into play maybe in his
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: head and then in the people that are around him.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: It's like, he seems like he's kind of closed off
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: and alone, but you come to realize he's has this
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: little like makeshift family that he comes across, you know,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: in his daily wandering around. So it's, yeah, I don't know.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: I think that's the cool part for me was we
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: start to see these other people notice this change in
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: his life and start to interact with him a little
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: differently than they did in the, the normal day to
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: day process.
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: The cast is really great. Like I love David Lynch
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: as an actor.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: David Lynch is amazing across the board, but like, You
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: really have to strap yourself in when you're doing David Lynch,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the director. David Lynch as an actor, I don't know
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: how you can not love him. He's so much fun.
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: Wholesome, old school, almost like a Jimmy Stewart quality about him.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: But a lot of yelling. He's always yelling.
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: Especially as Gordon Cole.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: He's not far removed here either, but God, I love him.
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: He has the coolest hair too.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Again, for an old dude, he has hung on to
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: that hair and it looks awesome. yeah man it's so
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: that yeah jumping from our harry dean crossing over into
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: the new twin peaks so if you didn't know yeah
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: david lynch is a an actor in lucky and it's
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: if it wasn't already worth seeing you need to see
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: david yeah you need to see i.
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: Want him to do i know he doesn't direct as
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: much as he used to i would like for him
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: to do more acting i think.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah that i would think would be a lot
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: less overwhelming so you'd think it would be a little
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: easier to lure him in but I guess we'll see
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: what else he does post Twin Peaks now.
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah, hopefully more Twin Peaks. I know a lot of
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: people are frustrated by the new go-around, but I want
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: to be in that world more, even if it's frustrating.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Again, the little I got into it, it is interesting
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: that I just sat down and it started rolling. I
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: got that feeling. Again, I was there watching that first
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: run through, and then I kept finding friends that wanted
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: to watch it and sort of rediscovering it again. So
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: just sitting there in the dark, listening to that music
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: kick on, it was just kind of, like, nostalgic and
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: creepy all at the same time. So then as I
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: got into it, yeah, just that little bit I got
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: in that first episode, I'm like, no, this, like, there
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: is a weird homey quality if you like the old
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Twin Peaks, but even the parts that are very different,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I just want more David Lynch stuff. Even
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: if you don't like it. There's tons of people that
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: don't get Eraserhead. But I love that it's out there.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: I love that it exists and I'm giving David Lynch
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: freedom to do whatever the hell he wants to do.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: We need to do that. As a society, as artists,
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: we all just need to let him do some weird stuff.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Even if you don't like it. I like knowing that
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: it's out there. Especially as he's getting older too. Again,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: He used to do two-hour movies. Now that he gets
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: to do an entire span of this series, that's a
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: lot of hours of his artistic, creative mind at work
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: that we get now, that we all get to have forever.
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: More or less.
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: And not to sound too repetitive, but man, Harry Dean
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: is so good in the new Twin Peaks. It's just
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: a wonderful performance, for sure. And not to go too
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: far off topic, but if you haven't read the Twin
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: Peaks books that they put out with this season... The
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: first one's already out, the next one comes out next month,
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: and both those will definitely increase your enjoyment of the shows,
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: for sure.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: If nothing else, yeah, lucky. I was also impressed with
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Harry Dean stepping up on this one, and like, As
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: much work and time as it took. I mean, they're
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: shooting this, he's 89 years old.
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and he's like pretty much in every scene.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: And he's in pretty much every scene and wandering through
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: the desert sometimes.
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: Oh yeah, with the jacket on.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just like the level of commitment alone plus just
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: like how personal he lets it get for a guy
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: who doesn't get into that. Yeah, it's amazing. For sure.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: But yeah, in addition to all that, the other big
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: event here tonight was we also had John Carroll Lynch,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: the director and, you know, an impressive actor in his
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: own right. And I definitely, you know, wanted to sit
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: down and talk to him just as an actor alone.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: But also the fact that he was here, you know,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: with this film to discuss this film and was there
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: to kind of witness those, you know, this this last
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: big performance of Harry Dean Stanton is like just. if
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: nothing else kind of wanted to, to round things out
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: with that and have him kind of give his take
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: on what he got out of making this movie. So yeah, I,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: I'm glad to welcome him on the show and I
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: think we should go talk to him right now.
• 17:44
  Speaker 8: Yeah. I usually try to start early on and sort
• 18:08
  Speaker 8: of get.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: A feel for where everybody's inspirations come from, and kind
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: of like where they started off. So was it Boulder
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: that you were originally born?
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I was born in Boulder, Colorado. I was raised mostly
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: in Denver. I moved from Boulder when I was five
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: years old, so I was a Denver dreamer.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Did you initially latch on to the arts, or was
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: it something that you found later on?
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: I always did plays in elementary school and stuff. There
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: was a young woman named Dewanda Lynn Reese who wrote plays.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: She was in my class. until I was out of
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: elementary school. I did plays in, I don't think I
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: did any plays in junior high school, but by the
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: time I got to senior high school, I really knew
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I wanted to participate in theater. I was a football
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: player for my freshman year in high school, and I
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: never played again.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Did that go over well? The crossover?
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, at that particular time, there was a we
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: were still stuck in a kind of a viewpoint on that.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: That's changed.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: It's still kind of a fight now.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: As long as 15-year-old boys are as stupid as they
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: were then, I don't think that changes. I think they'll
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: always have a problem with it. But that being said,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I was very happy to have made the change. I
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: had lost my taste for that individual sense of violence.
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, is it something that was specifically theater? Or
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: did you, again, at the same time, were you kind
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: of latching on to film?
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, I watched movies all the way through my life.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I was obsessed with certain movies. I watched them over
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: and over and over and over again. I mean, I
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: saw Blazing Saddles probably 19 times and Young Frankenstein into
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: the teens. I saw Paint Your Wagon into the teens.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: I would go to the Biograph and the Bluebird in
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Denver and watch retrospective films, both with my parents and
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: without them. And also I would see everything that came
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: out because that was the primary form of entertainment at
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the time I was growing up. It had yet been...
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously television was there and we were watching
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: television too, but that was... Movies were special.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: And it's still, I mean, it's just in these last,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: maybe the 2000s, you had that kind of push of
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: TV getting, well, again, because it left network and became
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: like the pay TV cable offshoots. It found sort of
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: a new footing as far as trying to contend with film.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, once you stop forcing the writer to write to
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: six-act breaks and make sure that people get back from
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: the soap commercial.
• 21:03
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: It changes the dynamic quite a bit. It makes it
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: kind of unfair to the people who are still doing that. Although, man,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: when you can write really good network television, that's impressive.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: It's still its own... And yeah, I've had people say that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: They're like.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: When you're still trying to set it up so that
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: you go into a commercial break on a cliffhanger. It's like,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: that's still writing TV the way it was meant to be.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: The way it was meant to be, to sell soap.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Otherwise, you're just doing a 16-hour movie.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: But even then, television as a format, even in long-form
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: television like you're describing, the relationship with the audience is
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: so vastly different. Especially with binge-watching. Which I have done.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Massively, yeah.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: It changes the relationship because, first of all, you don't
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: have to say previously on because I just watched the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: last one. You just sat there, yeah. And secondly, the
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: chapter of it stops being so prevalent because when you
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: meet out even in a pay-per-view or like an HBO circumstance,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: when you're writing, when David Chase is writing The Sopranos
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and he knows he's meeting him out once a week,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: he has to drive that to a climax that makes
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: you want to watch the next one. And it makes
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: you want to wait a week to watch the next one.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: And even he didn't. That was somewhat recently. But still,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: there was no binge watching when he started.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: No, that's what I mean.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: He was still planning.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: There was no concept that you wouldn't be writing episodes
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: or chapters. The first season of the... Did I say
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: the wrong guy? I did. I called it David Chase.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: David Chase didn't write Sopranos. He wrote The Wire. So
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: we'll have to cut that out. Anyway, The Wire, the
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: first season of The Wire is like a book. I mean,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: it's chapter headings. And it's arguably one of the best
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: pieces of writing for television ever. And yet, you know,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: as the seasons go by, which they were all excellent
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: seasons of that thing, they still maintain their chapter-ness. Whereas
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I watch... I binge watch something like a television show
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I like a lot. It's the Man in the High Castle.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And they have much more leeway not to drive things
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: towards some climax, although they do, because it's an individual story,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: even so.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: I think it is, and it's like a constantly changing format,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: so it's also a constantly changing art form, because that's
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: what I've said about so many of those now is
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: the creators are still not even fully understand how to
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: pace at this point because some of them just get
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: repetitive because they're like oh wait we have 13 episodes
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: to fill and like so it becomes like if you
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: plan it out right you don't run into that problem
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: but i think again this is sort of being thrown
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: at people as they start working in it.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Yes it's very i think i think you're right it's
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: very difficult to um to not feel as if there's
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: placeholders seen in those circumstances yeah That's why when you
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: see one that doesn't waste an instant of it and
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem to... No scene you seem to think, we
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: could cut this and nothing would change.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: There's almost... I mean, that's... But it's... Boy... My hat's
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: off to people who write that well at that level.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: It's an almost impossible task.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: I kind of like having all these new options. Again,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: as long as it's the ever-expanding art form, I kind
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: of like that. It gives you just different options.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: By ever-expanding, what do you mean exactly?
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Again, there's no way you could have done... You either
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: had a 90-minute film or you had a week-to-week sitcom,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: maybe an hour-long drama. but the fact that now you
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: can tell like you can if you want to you
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: can still do it as chapter breaks or if you
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: want to do literally a 16 hour movie you can
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: write it as one big arc one big continually you
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: know moving forward kind of a plot so again I
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: think it's new freedom again it comes with all the
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: same problems and new additional problems but again it's art
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: in general like the more freedom we have the more
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: great things come of it and problems trying to get
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: it out there but I like the idea behind being
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: able to do that.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: It's great if you can match the story you're telling
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: to the medium that you want to tell it in.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: And just to clarify, David Chase wrote, David Simon wrote
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: The Wire.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: See, it all came together.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Davids and Davids. Davids and Davids. Anyway, I think that's
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: what's interesting is if you can find a way to.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Naturally write the story. And the opportunity is going to be,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: in a lot of these circumstances, is to tell, say,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: this is a 17 episode show. There's not going to
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: be any more than that. There's not going to be
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: like you'll have to match it up to what it is.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: I recently did a half hour sitcom for Comedy Central
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and the CBC in Canada called Crawford and it's 12
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: episodes and It has the potential of going on. But
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: hopefully those 12 episodes will be a cohesive whole as intended.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: And the most important thing in that circumstance is that
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: they be funny. That's a crucial thing about comedy. It's
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: a little bit. It's really kind of a deal breaker.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: You would think. There's some weird audiences out there.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's also things that aren't really comedies that
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: are listed as comedies for a wide variety of reasons.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Partly because they don't fit into drama. because our sense
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: of drama is so limited to... I don't know. Drama
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: is a... We like melodrama a lot. We don't necessarily
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: like drama a lot.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: And there's ones that do skate the line, and you
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: don't know where to file them.
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: No.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Because they work on both levels.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: No, exactly. They don't know. They're not intending to define
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: themselves by those genre names.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Well, on all those mediums, I guess going back to
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: when we had a few less, when you started out,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: did you have a plan? Like, was it just you
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: wanted to pursue theater, or did you actually have, like,
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: I want to get into film?
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: I really had no understanding or conception that one got
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: into film or television.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you just followed that path?
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: No, I just went into the theater because that's all
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I thought I'd do and all I thought I wanted
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: to do and it sounded great to me and my
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: dream was to be a member of a regional theater
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: company which they still had at the time I was
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: getting out of school and I ended up in one
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: in short order really. I was asked to join the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Guthrie Company in Minneapolis by the time I was 24
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: so I learned how to act there so for eight
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: years I I applied my trade almost exclusively inside one building.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and found a really well-respected group. Yeah, that worked
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: out well. Yeah, yeah. And that is something like, is
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: it when you want to go outside of that? Do
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: you start looking to like, okay, I want to expand
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: my horizons and try to get into film?
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I think what happened was I started to feel as
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: if I had come to kind of a glass ceiling.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: there that that um i needed to find other opportunities
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: to grow that didn't necessarily fit into the plan of
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: the the company or the or the um you know
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the people running the place yeah um but this was
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: not to say they they i mean i came back
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: after i had made that decision So I went to
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: New York for a little bit. I had planned to
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: try it out. I went and started auditioning and got
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: an offer to do a play at the public lab
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: in a very short time to be in New York,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: probably about six weeks I had an offer for that,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and that was from a general cattle call. So things
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: were going well, and then I was offered a.
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: By.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: This time, I think I'd done two pieces of film...
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: The Cure. Interestingly enough, I got my SAG card first.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: I didn't get my equity card first. When I was
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: 19 years old, I did a Red Cross industrial film
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: called Bleeding Control, and I called 911, and that's how
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: I got my SAG card.
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: Beautiful.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: So jump forward a little bit. I'd gotten an after
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: card after my equity card by going to do some
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: commercials for Northwest Teleproductions in Minneapolis. That group made all
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: of the public service announcements for the armed services. So
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: when they show network television overseas, they don't show commercials.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: What they show are PSAs. And at the time that
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I was in Minneapolis, that's where they made them. So
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: you gave... you did performances in these commercials that were
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: about making sure people, you know, got a military clause
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: in their lease, stuff like that.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: I think they've gotten away from those industrial films, but
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: not really. I don't know. I think they've just changed
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: now because I was thinking, like, that's how a lot
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: of early filmmakers started. And then, like, thinking now, like
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: the people I know that are kind of involved in
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: indie film, half of them are, really making their paycheck
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: working for, like, the local hospital outfit that's doing videos for, like,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: in shop or for the entire corporation. And I'm like, yeah,
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: that's still kind of going on.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: No, it's the same kind of thing. And then I
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: got into two films, Grumpy Old Man and The Cure.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: And then I came back from, went to New York,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: got these offers, and I was offered a season at
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the Guthrie. I couldn't turn down. I love these roles.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: And people thought I was nuts to come back to
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: a place that I'd already felt I'd started to outgrow.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: But I just needed to do these pieces of work.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: And also my longtime girlfriend at the time was there.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: She's now my wife, so that was also a compelling
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: reason to come back and to work with her in
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: one of the pieces, so that was great. So then
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: while I was working on that season, Fargo came to Minneapolis,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: and one of my buddies in One of the plays
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I was in said, I read this screenplay, man. You've
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: got to go in on it. It's great. You're made
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: for this part. And that's where I first read Fargo
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: and I first auditioned for Norm and ended up getting
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: that part. So suddenly you're a legitimate film actor because
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: the Coen brothers have said you're okay.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. I definitely wanted to get to Norm. Beforehand,
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: I did want to ask because It is interesting kind
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: of talking to different people and watching these kids that
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: get into the industry really young and then are 19
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: and in a blockbuster movie. Do you think it prepared
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: you a little better? Because you were certainly further along
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: than some people. Again, the Hollywood system is by the
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: time you're 25, you're old news.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, the good news for me was I'd
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: played 50 since I was in my mid-20s. To play
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: a character that was in their 40s, I was built
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: to come later. It was never going to be... There
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: was very little career for me in film and television
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: at 25, I think. Sometimes it works in your favor. Yeah, no, no, no.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Now you get this long stretch.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: No, this was.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: As far as that was concerned, my instrument fit right
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: in when it needed to.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: But emotionally, if you would have been thrust in there
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: at 19, would you have been able to handle it?
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: No, I would not have been able to handle it.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: And in terms of certain circumstances in my career, I
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: think I've not handled it well even after that. But
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: I think that over the course of time, if you're
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: fortunate enough to work, you slowly begin to realize it's
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: not about you at all.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: So.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: So that was, yeah, I mean, I was grateful that
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: that happened, but that changed everything because once I'd done
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: that and I thought, well, this would be silly to
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: not try to do this, and so I sold my
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: house and moved to Los Angeles, and three months later
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: I started working. I did my first TV show then,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: and then I started working consistently and gratefully have been
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: ever since.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: So norm changed everything everything rightfully so like i remember
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: at the time just watching that the first time through
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: and like that moment comes with the two of you
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: in bed and it's just what is this like this
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: is such a different dynamic that's going on right now
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: and i think that's that's that's so impressive when you
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: see that just like that the characters as a whole
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: but specifically the way that both of you know you
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: and so i guess i was going to see what
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: what the dynamic was like between you and Frances McDormand
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: as you enter into that?
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: I can't. I mean, I can't say enough nice things
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: about Fran McDormand. Frances is incredible. She's an amazing actor,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: and she's such a warm spirit and such a thoughtful
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: and open-minded collaborator. She and I had wonderful discussions before
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: we started working, and then when we worked with Joel
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: and Ethan, I had to throw a lot of that out,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: which was great. And even now when I get an
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: opportunity to see her, it feels like you're at the
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: same party and she's just turned away to talk to
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: somebody else as have I. And when you come back together,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: it's like you're starting the same conversation that you've had.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: And I love where she's gone and where her work
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: has gone and what she supports in her work and
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: how she's never not lost. She's just fierce and true.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: I love her work.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: I can't wait to see that.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to see Three Billboards. That mixes a
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: lot of people that I really admire, including the director
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: of writer whose work is great, but Woody Harrelson and
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: Sam Rockwell. It just goes on and on. Yeah, it
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: looks great.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Again, you mentioned working with the Coens. What Because, again,
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: it's pretty early on for your film work. Was it
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: jarring dealing with that? Because they have a very specific
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: way of working. And did it seem different at the time?
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: And now that you've worked with a lot of other directors,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: does it seem different to look back at what they
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: were doing?
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Well, what I didn't know then when I walked onto
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: their set was how much of the drama of film
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: sets which can happen just don't exist on their sets
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: because everybody knows... who's in charge. Everybody wants those two
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: people to be in charge. There's nobody who questions why
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: they're there. They're, everybody's there and they're, the writing is excellent.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: You don't want to, you don't want to, you know,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: I remember thinking, no, no, I remember, I remember, I
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: don't remember ever some thinking in Fargo. These lines are
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: heavy lifting. Do you mind if I nudge them around
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: a little bit? Um, no, they didn't. It's not like
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: that at all. So you want to say what they,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: they've written. You want to, live in the world that
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: they've created but also they're open to your ideas when
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: you have them and there's a couple of those in
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: the movie that Fran and I had talked about and
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: that worked out quite well for the film.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: How in sync are they between each other?
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: I mean again I've only worked with them for such
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: a short period of time but it's my experience that
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: they've already had all the discussions they need to have,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: and by the time they're on the set, they're not
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: in doubt about where they're headed.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: They don't question themselves.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I don't know that they don't question themselves.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: I just know that if they do, it's at a
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: place where they don't. It's at a place where they're
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: not insecure about it.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not wrong. They're finding something better.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: They're searching.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, finding a better option.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: It's a searching that's happening, yeah. It's a search. It's
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: a search, not a question.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Well, again, you've done so many great things.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: I can't hit them all, but there were a few
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: I wanted to as we moved forward. I definitely wanted
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: to talk about Zodiac. I mean, that's, again, and I
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: was kind of hitting some of these themes of directors.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's, again, coming into Fincher, He's already kind
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: of found his place. He's made his name to some extent.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: So how different is that?
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: And then.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Approaching that role, because again, within the context of that story,
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: how they unfold, it's a pretty heavy role.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Well, his aesthetic, his sense of what the camera does
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: and how to do it, and the stories he seems to...
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: really intent on telling all uh are all um harrowing
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: and dramatic there's humor in them um and there's always
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: a a core of human evil that he seems to
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: want to explore yeah and uh and zodiac was no
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: different than that i had been an admirer of his
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: work for years i obviously I loved Seven and the
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: game and I mean I just thought he was incredible
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: so the idea the.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: Way he looks at that that isn't even like it
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: isn't even damning the evil it's almost like scientifically almost
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: examining it without passing judgment.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: I actually really appreciate the way in which he does
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: it because it never loses its humanity as dark as
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: it gets it never loses the fact that it's people
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: doing this to people which makes it more important, I think.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: It's more reflective.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: A little darker in the big picture, but I think
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: you don't lose sight of what you're doing.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: You can't dismiss it. You can't dismiss what these people
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: are doing with each other and to each other. So anyway,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: I auditioned for that part and went in and met
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: with him and Loray, the casting director. I had a
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: fantastic talk with him and saw the exhaustive research that
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: he had done with a historian to explore the books
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: and build them into the film that they became. And
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: then when I got the part, I was sent videotapes
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: and books and transcripts, and really I could have kept
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: on going through that. But eventually you have to act,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: and it comes down to the actors you're working with
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: and the director and the crew, obviously, so. When we
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: got to that point, I sat down with Marty Lodge,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: a guy I knew from D.C. He played the manager
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: of the place I was in. And then Elias Koteas,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Edwards. And we sat down and
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: spent a day and a half on that scene in
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the center of the movie. And all three of us,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: all four of us at the end of that day
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: and a half, just looked at each other when we
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: were all wrapped up and go, that was really fun.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: It still is. it's close to the best days I've
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: ever had on a set to work with those guys.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: And David was spot on with his notes and, and, uh,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: and we explored and explored and explored, which some people drive,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: it drives them crazy. I could have, we obviously the
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: four of us could have kept on going, so we
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: didn't have any problem with it. But, um, on that,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: on those days and then to work with Jake again
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: in the circumstances that I worked with him in that
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: movie and to be the whale to his Ahab was, uh,
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: was a lot of fun. I had already played his
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: father and already played his tormenting boss, his tormenting, you know, miniature, um,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: fascist boss in the good girl. So I, we had,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: we had strange experiences together, but, um, yeah, that was
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: a good, that was a good time. And then to
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: go back and look at it and see the kind
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: of care that's taken in terms of every single frame,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: every single choice in every single frame, every single, Added
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: every single... The encyclopedic knowledge that Fincher brings to filmmaking
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: is awe-inspiring.
• 41:53
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: It's pretty amazing to watch. It is one I try
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: to revisit in the last several years.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: It just gets deeper every time you look at any
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: of his work. It always just gets deeper.
• 42:03
  Speaker 7: Thrown like a star in my life, I sleep, I
• 42:06
  Speaker 7: open my eyes to take a peek. To find that
• 42:11
  Speaker 7: I was by the sea Gazing with tranquility Then when
• 42:17
  Speaker 7: the hurdy-gurdy man Came singing songs of love Then when
• 42:23
  Speaker 7: the hurdy-gurdy man Came singing.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: Songs of love Hurdy-gurdy, gurdy-gurdy, gurdy-gurdy.
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: Sad.
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: Yes folks it's intermission time so how about taking a
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: break get out and stretch a little and relax before
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: the show begins again And why not make it refreshment time, too?
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: We have lots of tasty, delicious treats waiting for you
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: at the refreshment center. Our courteous attendants are ready and
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: waiting to serve you with a wide and wonderful variety
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: of good things to eat and drink. So step right
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: up and make yourself at home. In space, no one
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: can hear you scream. Alien, rated R from 20th Century Fox.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: So this is a great episode, right?
• 43:54
  Speaker 11: Well, if you'd like to keep more awesome discussions like
• 43:57
  Speaker 11: this one coming your way, you need to join the
• 43:59
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• 44:02
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• 44:04
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• 44:08
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• 44:12
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• 44:16
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• 44:20
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• 44:22
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• 44:24
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• 44:28
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• 44:31
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• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Cool stuff, and keep the Meltdown rolling! Damn the man.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: Save the Meltdown.
• 44:38
  Speaker 9: Hey there, this is John Doe. You're listening to Movie Meltdown.
• 44:52
  Speaker 9: Glad you are, because otherwise you'd be wasting your time
• 44:54
  Speaker 9: playing some stupid video game.
• 44:57
  Speaker 8: All the toys were out in black and the.
• 45:01
  Speaker 9: Boys had to.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: It's part of your problem, you know.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: You haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: answered in the movies. And now, on with the show.
• 45:15
  Speaker 6: The End.
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Well, then I'm kind of skipping over a
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: couple of other directors along the way. But I wanted
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: to– there's a couple that I've hit recently that I
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: wanted to discuss. And, again, one was just by chance. Actually,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: just the last episode we did, one of the people
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: on the show was like, oh, let's watch The Invitation.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: And I didn't know– like, I didn't know– pretty much
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: anything about it, including that you were in it. So
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: I'm watching it through the first time, and I'm like, oh,
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: I'm going to talk to him next week. So it
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: was really strange going in, kind of blindsided on that
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: one as to what was going to happen. Because again,
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: I hadn't even seen the trailer, so not knowing what
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: you're getting yourself into in that film. So I don't know,
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: were you approached early on to become Pruitt, or was
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: that just.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Years ago I'd worked on a film called Bug, not
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: the one with Ashley Judd, a different bug. It's a
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: kind of a Rube Goldberg kind of story about a
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: young boy who smashes a bug outside a Chinese restaurant
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: and then everything that happens flows from that experience. And
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: I played this fantastically fun character, just a great character
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: that was written by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, and
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: they directed it. It's a lovely movie. It's got a
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: nice cast, Jamie Kennedy and Sarah Paulson, myself, Ed Begley,
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: Brian Cox. It just goes on and on and on. Anyway,
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: it's a fun and weird movie. So they've been friends
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: ever since, and they started talking about it. And I
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: met Phil's wife, Karin, after they married. And they wrote
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: the script for Karin to direct, and they wrote Pruitt
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: to some degree for me. They had hoped I would
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: be interested in it. And I really kind of love
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: those guys so much, pretty much. If they call, I'll come.
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: They gave you the wife monologue. Maybe the best. That's
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: the money thing.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: It's an incredible piece of writing. The character, the whole piece,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: but it's really director dependent. Karin did such a fantastic
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: job of playing the interior journey of Logan Marshall Green's
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: character against the exterior expectations of a social event. And
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: she drives an audience so deep into a picture without
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: them really knowing anything that's actually going on. And the
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: suspense is incredible and it's done with such meticulous care
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: and with such a disciplined palette, both in editing and
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: in visuals. Incredible. And then it just... Off the rails.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: It just goes off the rails and you just... And
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: then the ending is... is spectacular. So all of those
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: pieces are done so beautifully, and it's really a testament
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: to her embodying the vision that they had in the
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: screenplay to begin with. Because the screenplay was exactly like it.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: But as an actor who's read a lot of screenplays,
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know if we're going to make,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know if we're going to get, I don't
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: know if we're going to be able to drive an
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: audience all the way into this picture.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: It's a long way.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: You do go two thirds of the way through at least.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: It's a long way, sure.
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: And you're still questioning it. You're still questioning our main character.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're still questioning his sanity and whether he's watching it.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: And then you go, oh no, he is crazy. Well,
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: maybe he's not.
• 49:34
  Speaker 5: Maybe, yeah.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: There's a fake out in the middle. It's fantastic. It's really,
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: really brilliant. It's amazing.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: But then the other thing that I, the question that
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: I raised, and I wanted to see coming from the inside,
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: because then as I was thinking, I was like, well,
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: there was, you know, there was, I was, you know,
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: sound of my voice, and then there was like Martha
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: Marcy and Maggie Marlene. I was like, what? In the post-2000s,
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: there's this weird resurgence of cult films.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Films about cults.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: About, yeah, not just cult movies, but movies about cults.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: Maybe more so than even that 70s run that is like,
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: it is just, Is it a weird returning underlying fear
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: that America as a whole has? I don't know.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: It seems to me that we are, even in the
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: most recent season of American Horror Story, it's called Cult.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: They have the show on Hulu that Jessica Goldberg writes,
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: The Path. There's a lot of these. I think it's
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: a a response to our echo chambers. And that two
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: people can sit across from each other and experience the
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: same event. And one of them will go, well, of
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: course it's about this. And the other one will go, no,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: it's about that. And literally not be able to speak
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: to each other about it because our fundamental belief of
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: what we see is so.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Is so sunk into the foundations of team or of
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: worldview that we cannot hear anything that disregards, that questions us.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: We've gotten out of the conversational, even the debate part
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: of it. It's just right or wrong, I'm right. There
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: is no.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: Other way to look at it. There is no debate.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: I'm right and you're evil. That's where we've come. That's
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: what we're at and And I do my best to
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: reject that in terms of talking to people about any subject,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: particularly about politics and all those other things. However, there
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: are things that are just wrong. And how do you
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: address those things in a way that can change minds?
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Because that's not, I don't want to get into a
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: fight with somebody. I want to have an opportunity to
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: change your mind. And I don't think you can change
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: your mind unless you listen.
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's even something as basic as this over
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: the years. It's like all I want it to be
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: is conversational. All I want it to be is expanding
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: these takes that we have on things and maybe finding
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: something in someone else's version of it that you didn't see.
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: People have lost that in general conversation anymore.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: No, and I don't know whether or not it's... I
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: think there is a lot has to do with the
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: reinforcement of the drama of social media that I can
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: go on to my Twitter feed and never, like, I mean,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: my Twitter feed seems to be entirely about Lucky, so
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: I just assume that the whole world is talking about Lucky. And,
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: of course, that's not the case. It's just, you know,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: I hope they are, but likely I'll never know.
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: I've thrown those hashtags out there.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: Good, good, good.
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: That's also what I keep seeing everywhere.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Hashtag Harry V. Stanton. Hashtag Lucky Film.
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Lucky Film. Well, again, I'm going there. But before,
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: the only other one lately that was just so amazing was,
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: and I've now talked to both McDonald's brothers. Last year,
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: I sat down with your brother. With Nick. With Nick, yeah.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: And I was like, it was, I think, right before
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: I'd seen it. So now having gone back and watched
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: this and seeing the founder, And it's one of those,
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: I think it kind of sneaks up on you. I
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: think you go through and it plays like a drama
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: for the most part. And Michael is amazing and you
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: guys are both amazing. And you get to the end
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: and you're like, huh, that's a weird story. And then
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: as time goes on, and I've seen this with a
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: lot of other people because I keep, I'm like, you
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: need to watch this. And there's one in particular that like,
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: I don't even think that's his type of thing. He's
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: like an action movie kind of guy. And I just
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: started talking about it and he got kind of sucked in.
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: And he went home within the first couple of nights
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: and watched it. And now, probably not a week goes
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: by that it's not constantly being referenced between the two.
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: And I'm just like, it's funny how much it sort
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: of gets its hooks into you because it's about something
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: so much bigger. I don't know. I was just like, again,
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: that's another one of those I kind of wanted your
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: take on it thematically.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: John Lee Hancock, another director who's a master director who
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: I admire very much, he is an ambitious... This is
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: my take. I've never asked him about it. He's ambitious
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: to make movies for people other than cinephiles. He's ambitious
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: to take the scale of studio films and make them
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: say something beyond simply getting you to buy toys or
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: get a Happy Meal.
• 54:46
  Speaker 4: Literally.
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: Pardon the, uh, plug, but, but he, he takes, he
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: takes movies, he makes them on a studio scale. He's
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: visually ambitious. He knows how to, he knows how to
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: do that really, really well. He tells story with, with
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: editing and color and with cuts. Um, so well, he
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: plays with a lot of sentiment in his movies. And
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: yet there's always this fist that hits you right in
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: the face. And, and he's just setting you up for it. And, and, um,
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: There's a scene in Saving Mr. Banks, the movie you
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: made just before, the founder, which I love, and the
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: acting is wonderful in it. And it's a movie that
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: I watched and went, this is just a little... It's
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: a little too studio for me. I'm watching, going, I
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: love John, but this is a little too studio for me.
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: It's a little too colorful. It's a little too... And then.
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: I've told him this too, and then Tom Hanks, as
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: Walt Disney says, when he's trying to talk P.L. Travers
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: into coming back to work, he talks about her father,
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: and then he talks about his father, and you've seen
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: the little sign of Elias Disney's livery on Main Street
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: at Disneyland. And he tells the story of his actual father,
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: and he says, there isn't a day goes by where
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think of old Elias Disney with a belt
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: in his fist. And Hanks delivers it. And every time
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: I say that line, I get goosebumps. And I think
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: that's what he's been setting me up for the whole
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: time is for me to accept the truth that not
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: everybody wants to see their parents for real on film.
• 56:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: Like maybe they need a little redemption.
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: And I think characters in general, like it's so rare
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: that you get somebody that wants to put a questionable
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: character in the front of a movie. And again, what,
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: what Michael Keaton's doing there, it's like, I'm in that.
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: And I kept coming back to that. I was like,
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: I'm most of the way through this movie and I'm
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: still like, he's made a few questionable moves along the way,
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: but like, he's still just, he, you kind of have
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: to have pride because he's driven and like he's in,
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: He does see opportunity and he wants like everything about
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: him is like it is the American dream. He's going
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: for this great thing that he wants to build and
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: be part of. And then you see this turn and
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: it's a real subtle turn in the beginning. And then
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: it just becomes once you get to the real estate,
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: it's just a hard turn. And you're like. That's what
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: does it. You're led down that path.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: Well, the things that I love about the movie in
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: terms of how I root for Ray Crocker don't. He's
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: a hardworking man. He's a salesman. He's a fighter. He's
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: a fighter. He's cunning. He takes advantage of circumstances. He
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: understands the heart of capitalism much more, the pure dark
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: heart of capitalism far more than the The McDonald's brothers do.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: The McDonald's brothers in the movie, their understanding of capitalism
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: is a harnessed. It's the difference between theirs is a
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: harnessed ox and his is that bull on Wall Street.
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: He doesn't want it harnessed. They want it to do
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: something good for people. And he just wants it to
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: run rampant and destroy it. And when the McDonald's brothers
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: are talking about quality and service and the need to
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: be a part of the community, in the film, Ray
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Kroc only sees those as ways to dress up what
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: he's actually selling you, which is sawdust. Because he doesn't
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: care whether or not it's good. And he doesn't care
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: whether or not it's nutritious. And he doesn't care whether
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: or not it serves you. All he cares about is
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: how much money he can make from not putting milk
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: in the milkshakes and putting Coca-Cola at the bottom of
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: the menu. And all of that makes perfect sense if
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: you don't care about anyone. You don't care.
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: And you kind of see that change. Like in the beginning,
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: I feel like he did kind of care. He did
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: seem like he wanted, at least if nothing else, he
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: wanted it to be uniform. He wanted to create this
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: thing and have everybody on board with this idea, which
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: at the time was still built on quality food.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: Well, he definitely understood that what they had could not
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: be messed with. That what they presented, that the speedy
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: system required the simplicity they engendered. And, of course, you know,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: the speedy system, we'll not name that anymore, transformed the
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: way in which we eat to not a very good degree.
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: But I will also say this, that I kept on
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: saying this at host show discussions about the founder and
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: will continue to. Mac and Dick McDonald were American success stories.
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: They had nothing at the end of the Depression in 1929.
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: And from 1929 to when they sold, they both became millionaires.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: They were the American dream. After that, the American dream changed.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: The American dream stopped being about those things that we
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: were talking about, about community, about republicanism with a small r.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: And became essentially what a lot of people seem to
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: be describing as corporate capitalism.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just success at the cost.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: Yes, success at the cost of people.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, specifically at the cost of others.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: And specifically at the cost of others. And that the
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: sociopathy of a corporation which only is intended to make profit,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: which does not intend to make people's lives better or
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: to protect anything, it is a rapacious... And again, I
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: benefit from so many corporations. So it's a rapacious instrument
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: of capitalist greed that sucks money towards it like a magnet.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: And that's what it's supposed to do.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: It's an amazing film. Yeah, I think it is one
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: that's still kind of finding its way. I think it
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: is one in 10 years more people might be referring to.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: It's going to.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: No, I feel it now as people watch it. They they.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: they have questions about, like, why didn't I watch this
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: in the theater? What was it about? What was it
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: about how it was marketed or how it was released
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: that made me not think I would be interested in this?
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: Well, and even the Academy. Like, it seemed like it
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: really should have been taken into consideration.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: Well, there's no comment there for me, pal.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I just... Yeah, that seemed really strange
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: to me, how much it got ignored.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: There was some... It certainly was built as a prestige picture.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: It was intended to be a prestige picture. It kind
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: of is. It is intended to be award bait to
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: some degree. And the crafts are good in it. The
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: story is good. The writing is excellent. The pace is terrific.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: The acting is good. There's nothing wrong with the movie
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: that perhaps some different creation of marketing might not have cured.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: But then again, you roll your dice, you take your chances.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: The film is still the film.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: It's still that good. It's still that good. And boy,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: I'm just so proud of him. I'm so proud of
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: John Lee's work in it. I'm so honored to have
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: been in it. And especially since a lot of the
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: craft work that I had only known intellectually up until then,
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: I was in the process of doing when the movie opened.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: So I got to see the film and talk to
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: him briefly. as somebody who had now experienced the process
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: of directing, you know, face-to-face and moment-to-moment. And that made
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: me appreciate his work even more.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: Well, then, yeah, that's what I was sort of getting
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: to eventually here is after all these years of working
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: in front of the camera, what made you finally want
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: to go into directing?
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: Well, first it came, you know, it started to come
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: to my understanding that I wanted to do that about
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: 15 years ago. I just felt like I wanted to
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: try to figure out how to tell stories that I'm
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: not necessarily right to cast in. I wanted to support
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: themes in work that one can't necessarily from the point
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: of view of acting when one's a hired gun. Because
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of movies that are made that I
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: participate in that I'm more than happy to participate in.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: And they may not necessarily say fully what I would
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: want them to express. Most of them have some piece
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: or degree of it, otherwise I wouldn't pursue them. But
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: there are very few that I feel like I've made
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: the mistake of being in that didn't have the ambition
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: to say something I wanted to say. That being said,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to be directly involved in the storytelling process
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: from the very beginning attracted me, and so I tried
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: to do that for a while. Why this one is
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: kind of a two-fold thing, well, three-fold. Circumstance or happenstance. I,
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: Dragos Shumanya, one of the two co-writers I'd known for
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: a long time, and he knew that I wanted to direct,
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: and he was the one who eventually suggested it to Logan,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: his writing partner, and then we had a conversation, and
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: we all agreed that was a good idea. So there's
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: there's odd circumstance. I had simply acted with him in
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: a short film almost 20 years ago, and that was
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: how we became friends. And then there was the material.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: The story of this screenplay, the theme of this screenplay,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: was palpable to me. I had recently lost my mother. Myself,
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: I had had some health scares. I was diagnosed with
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: prostate cancer, so I had to treat that, and that
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: was part of why I did it. And my father's
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: was at the time of shooting, 84. He's now 86.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: So I was thinking about him, and this movie seemed
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: to talk about the choice of living in the valley
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: of the shadow of death. In that phrase in the Bible, Yea,
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: I shall fear no evil, for you are with me.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Okay, so
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: what this screenplay said was, Yea, though I walk through
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: no evil, because there.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: Is no.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: You are with me because there is no Robin Staff.
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: For lucky, there is no Robin Staff and there is
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: no you. So that extremist fascinated me. And also, it
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: seemed so true.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: And the answer to the question in the movie that's
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: provided seems so true, too. And that really made me
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: want to talk about that. I could see I was
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: passionate about that. And then the third and probably most
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: important thing in terms of getting the movie made, as
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: well as a very compelling artistic argument, was the opportunity
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: to work with Harry Dean Stanton.
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: Even as an actor, I said yes. But as a director,
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: when you could look down on your call sheet and
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: have Harry Dean Stanton at number one, you were in
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: a good place to succeed.
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: Especially knowing how little you'd seen people take advantage of that,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: other than Ben Vendors. No one made use of him
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: as a leading man. It gives you a whole new palette.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: To play with that people haven't done.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: Well, that's, I mean, it's true that he is an
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: actor who makes five seconds look interesting, let alone two hours,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: or in this case, 88 minutes. He's fascinating to watch
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: for any length of time. This material was so personal
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: to him, was so vulnerable, was so revealing. And it's
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: not that he hadn't made documentaries with this material before.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: It's not that. It's that since it kind of sprung
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: from his life, it was an interesting opportunity, I think,
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: for him to kind of say some things that he'd
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: always wanted to say in a theatrical context. And also,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: for me, I discovered with him, it also created a
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: really complicated acting problem. Because he is playing a character...
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: that is inspired by him. That is not him in
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: circumstances that don't match his life in which you're taking
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: autobiographical material and rearranging it into a different context to
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: go to a different place than his life is going.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: And to do all that, uh, with one of the
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: greatest actors of his or any generation on film. Yeah.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: But also to do it in 18 days with first
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: time director and, uh, There were a lot of.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: 15 days is a pretty quick turnaround.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: It was a complicated acting problem. So those were all
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: things that were... Well, I would have preferred more time,
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: but those were all things that were fascinating to me.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: The limitations are what they are. They are what they are.
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: But I was, yeah, especially as I saw what this
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 2: film was as it was coming together and the promotion started,
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 2: it made me wonder, and now I can ask, how
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 2: early on was he the center of it?
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, they started writing it with him in mind
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: from the very beginning, and even when they sprung it
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: on him, which I had been telling a different story
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: than the one that I heard the other night, that
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: he had been an alt. No, apparently he wasn't. They
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: wrote it. They had their first draft done. They had
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: talked to friends of his to be in it. And
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: then they sprung it on him. They wanted to make
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: it a compelling package because he was saying no to
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. And he'd said no to things
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: by things that, not similar in material, but well, They
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: are because they were about a man that age, but
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: there were movies that came to him that he was
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: offered that were expressed and explained to him that he
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: read and that were fantastic pieces. And he went, hmm,
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: it's too much work.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: I'm not really interested in that. That's kind of how
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 2: he looked at a lot of stuff.
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. I don't think so.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 2: I just want to play my music.
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So this thing had something to it. And
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: partly it had to do with the fact that friends
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: were willing to come play with him and all of that.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: But then there was something else, and I've been thinking
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: about that a lot. I think there was something he
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: wanted to say in this, and I'm glad he got
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: a chance to say it before he died.
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it does make me wonder, because even
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 2: just seeing him in this theater that we're in right now,
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: just a few years before, he stood up here, and
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 2: this entire room stood up and applauded, and they gave
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: him the key to the city. And I think there
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 2: was sort of that, like, Number one, it was him
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 2: sort of accepting how much people... He was always so...
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 2: He just kind of rejected so much of the stature
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: that came with who he was. He just seemed like
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: he had no interest in any of that. But there
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: was almost this moment of him kind of allowing that
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 2: in for one night, maybe. And he was still very
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 2: funny and very humble, but there was at least a
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 2: little bit of him kind of accepting of that. And
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 2: it's made me wonder, looking at these choices, like, Is
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 2: it him sort of dealing with, you know, do I
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 2: want to get one more story in that tells this?
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 2: Did he kind of know? I mean, time-wise, I guess
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 2: we all know it's coming. But, like, you know, as
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: you're winding down, like, you're in your 90s at this point,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: you know, you, I guess, have to start thinking, is
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 2: there a story left that's worth me devoting my time to?
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: That's a great way. Well, if it wasn't, he wouldn't
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: have done it. I mean, the fact of the matter
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: is Harry didn't do anything he didn't want to do.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 6: No.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: Definitely not.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: Definitely not in these last 30 years.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: He turned that corner.
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: No, he's like, nope. If I don't want to do it,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing it. And it didn't matter whether it
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: was an interview or selling something or whatever it was.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: When he wanted to go home, he went home, and
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: he never didn't think about it twice. And so there
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: was something about this that he wanted to do, and
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: he worked his ass off to do it. And he
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: did it in circumstances that for even a person half
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: his age were exhausting. So it was an impressive piece
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: of work. And then to watch the material and to
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: watch over his performance and to help it, sharpen it
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: and put it into the context of this character's story
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: that he had it. He still had it.
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 2: I guess for you, being there, what was... Again, now
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 2: it's so poignant that, you know, I guess it'd be
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 2: different if he could have come to a premiere somewhere,
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 2: even if it was just in LA, because he didn't
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 2: like to fly. But on top of that, like.
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: Most of the reason why he didn't like to fly
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: is because he couldn't smoke anymore. I really do think
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: that's true. I don't think he cared about the flying
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: so much as the smoking.
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 2: They give you liquor, but they wouldn't let me smoke.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: No, they wouldn't let me smoke anymore. I'm sure it
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: was like.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 2: It's probably part... That's why, yeah, it was amazing that
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 2: he came here that night.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: What are you talking about? I mean, I can't... What
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: the hell? But then... I think they actually flew him
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: here in stages.
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so he could stop and have a cigarette.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they stopped him in Denver or something. Like,
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: they stopped him so he could walk outside and have
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: a couple cigarettes and then walk back in. I honestly
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: think that's how he got here.
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 2: That does make me wonder, like, how was that experience? Like,
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 2: you watching it, you know, what is his... legacy is
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 2: what i'm trying to figure out is we especially moving
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: on with this festival every year and what was your
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 2: take on it being that close to him those you
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 2: know the last movie well.
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: The the the legacy of this film festival was set
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: i mean people can't have um started this film festival
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: in celebration of harry dean sam himself.
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 2: I'll say lucy She's amazing.
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, I do. My hat's off to her in
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: terms of she's a force of nature.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 2: The whole city has sort of rallied around this idea.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: Sure. And the dynamic may change with him dead. But
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: they couldn't have done it for him.
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: I feel like it would almost gain perspective now.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 5: I agree.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: Because it's so hard to do.
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: Now it's a compendium. Now it's a tome. It's capped off.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: Now you have the end.
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: But that's the other thing. You had to have wanted
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: to do it because of the work. Because you didn't
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: know him. He didn't want you to know him. Yeah.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 2: That's what it kind of seemed like. Especially once again.
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: That's what's so interesting.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 2: Maybe always.
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: That's what's so interesting about him being willing to do
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: a movie with autobiographical material.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: That he was like, I don't want you to know me.
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: except for these.
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 2: This is my presentation.
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: And even at times in the shooting of the movie,
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: there was a, there was a moment where we were
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: going to shoot this one sequence about, uh, you know,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: this one story about him and the mockingbird that took
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: place here in Kentucky. And, uh, and he, uh, called
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: up Logan night before we're going to shoot and said,
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: I don't think I'm going to say that. No, I
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: don't think I want to do that one. And they
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: were like, yeah, but, It's in there now, and you
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: said so, and we're set. We've got a whole day
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: around it. And also, not that any of those would
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: be compelling to Harry. So they had to find a
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: way to be compelling for him. And they managed it,
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: because by the time I got to the set, it
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: was all taken care of. And he did it not
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: just once, not just twice, but three times at his request.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: And then he went home. We did a bunch of
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: other stuff, but he went home after the end of
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: that day, and he turned to, I think it was
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: Drago driving him. I'm glad we did that. I'm glad that's.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 2: In the movie. Again, watching these last several documentaries, I
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 2: feel like there's a presentation that he always had of
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 2: this I don't care persona, but there's such the heart
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 2: of an artist that I was watching his work over
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 2: the years, I'm like, he does care. He cares about
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 2: the important things.
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: Even watching him in the documentary, he's... he can't not
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: be aware after 60 years of filmmaking, he can't not
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: be aware of what the, I mean, even there's, there's
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: a piece in that documentary where he's telling the, he's
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: translating the lyrics of a mariachi song. He's about to sing.
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful shot, straight up hero shot him underneath
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: the mic. And he's just with that kind of beautiful
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: voice that, that sounds from the outside as if it's monotonic.
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: It's just, enough air over his vocal cords to create
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: the words. And there's a moment where he's talking about
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: something and he says, that's the break. And you know
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: he's aware of the rhythm of the words that he's creating,
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: the poetic rhythm of the words that he's creating and
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: the caesura he creates in the midst of the discussion.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: He can't not be aware of it. Now, because of
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: the level and degree of his artistry and mastery of it,
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: He never lets you catch him at it.
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 2: It really is how he operated, just watching him.
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: But he's not... He's fascinating. It's not unaware. And that's
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: one of the reasons why he's so captivating and so compelling,
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: is that he never... He does what most people want
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: to do and can't, which is make you never catch
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: him at any moment that doesn't feel completely to the
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: bone true. And that's one of the reasons, too, I think,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: why he has been an actor who has whose the
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: acknowledgement has been inside the the the guild has been
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: inside the branch of the the academy but doesn't necessarily
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: reach the outside because There's so many performances that are
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: spectacular that are responded to. And they're spectacular, but they're
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: responded to partly because of the effort with which they
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: were made. That you see the effort, that it's pointed out.
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying people are intending to create that aesthetic.
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that. I'm saying that the material itself
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: and the actor itself is such a... I mean.
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredible in Capote. Incredible. He should
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: not have been cast in Capote. He's not the right size.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: And yet, unbelievable. So you watch it and you go,
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: that's incredible acting because I know he's not Capote. I
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: know he isn't.
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 2: But you find some new version of him.
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: That just works. The spirit, the essence of it.
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: The way in which he's shot helps that. The other
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: people that cast, so he could maintain some sense of
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: diminutiveness inside the rest of that, because he wasn't my size,
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: but he was a big man. And so, you know,
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: they did all of that. And he is riveting. a
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: riveting performance, but it is a performance. You feel it.
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: And Harry Dean, you never feel is performing, ever, even
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: when he's singing.
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, everything about him is Harry Dean to
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 2: some extent.
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: Well, that's his guiding principle, is that if it doesn't
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: fit me, I'm not interested. And I appreciate that. The
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: challenge of directing that was interesting for a first-time director.
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: particularly in material that was autobiographical in nature, so at
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: least in inspiration. But we found our way.
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 2: So all that having been said about how awesome Harry
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 2: Dean is, what's the best way for people, assuming you're
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 2: not going to be at the premiere here at the
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 2: Kentucky Theater, what's the best way for people to either
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 2: see it in the meantime or look for it in
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 2: the future?
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: Well, it opens on the 29th of September, depending on
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: when you edit this, It opens on the 29th of
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: September in New York and L.A., which is two nights
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: from now. And then after that it opens, it kind
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: of does a traditional platform release over the course of
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: the next few weeks across the country. Those places that
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: it's going to be opening are fluid and can't expand
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: with the passion of the audience. So they can go
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: to magnoliapictures.com, find Lucky among their films, go to the theaters,
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: find theaters that they are And if they are not
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: nearby a theater, they can call their local theater and
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: email them and have their friends email them and demand
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: that that theater program, Lucky Starring Harry Neenstanton.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 2: You can do that at this point. It's a changing system.
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: It is. They will try to find you because they
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: want you to see it. And then it will come
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: out a lot more old school. It will come out
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: in a streaming and video format. and a DVD and
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: a Blu-ray, but that'll be in several months because of
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: the way in which Magnolia has decided to honor this
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: throwback movie with the throwback release.
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 2: And hit the social medias.
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: That's right. Start using that hashtag. Hashtag lucky film. Hashtag
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: Harry Dean Stanton.
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you very much.
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 10: It's really our honor to be here and share this
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 10: film with you and to.
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 4: Realism is the practice of accepting a situation as it is.
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: What you're saying is what you see is what you get.
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 4: But what you see is not what I get. They
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 4: call me lucky.
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 6: President Roosevelt escaped. How does a 100-year-old tortoise escape?
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: I hope he turns up soon for Howard's sake.
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 4: I got this anxiety attack.
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 9: I fell.
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: Lucky fell down.
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 9: Let's not make a production.
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 4: Out of it.
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 6: No sign of concussion. Lungs are great, even though you smoke.
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 6: You get much exercise.
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 4: I walk around all the time. I do five yoga
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 4: exercises every day.
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 6: Nice outfit there, cowboy.
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 4: I was scared to death. I started thinking there's nothing
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 4: out there. It's all black.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 9: The void.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: Do you have any kids, Lucky?
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 4: None that I'm totally sure on.
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: You know, most people don't get to where you are.
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 6: They never get to the moment that you're in right now,
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 6: where you have.
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 4: The ability to witness what you're going through and clearly
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 4: examine it. I know the truth and the truth matters.
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 4: And you have to face that and accept it.
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 3: There are some things in this universe, ladies and gentlemen,
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 3: that are bigger than all of us.
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 9: And a tortoise is one of them.
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: I'm U.S.
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 10: Devotee of the Church of Hurricane Stan. have an extant
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 10: responsibility to make sure that you convert others and get them.
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: To see this movie.
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 10: Please use any means necessary in social media to make
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 10: that happen. Make sure that you speak from the heart
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 10: about how important this movie was to you, and make
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 10: sure people get it to the theaters. It's not an
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 10: easy sell when you say, well, it's this 90-year-old man
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 10: who's thinking about death. Not a terrific sales pitch. And
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 10: it's not about a man who's thinking about death. Of course,
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 10: it's a man who's thinking about living.
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: So, you know, use whatever you can.
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 8: Hashtag lucky film.
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 9: Hashtag Gary Dean's tank.
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 6: Thank you.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 9: Thank you so much.
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 2: So a big thank you to John Carroll Lynch for
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 2: sitting down and discussing all of that. And as he said,
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 2: go find the movie and help spread the word because
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 2: it's a key part of any process anymore. Making a
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 2: film is okay. We'd made it. It's done. Now, how
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 2: do we get it to people? How do we make
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 2: people realize that it's out there and go find it
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 2: and seek it out and sometimes ask for them to
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 2: play it near you.
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 6: So, I got a feeling the word of mouth is
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 6: going to be really strong, especially after night, because I
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 6: don't know that I've ever seen the Kentucky this packed.
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 2: It was, yeah, it was really full. It usually gets
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 2: a good crowd, but this was, yeah, this was packed.
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 2: And I think that's, you know, sad timing, you know,
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 2: but at the same time, maybe that will get a
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 2: lot more people to see it than, you know, had
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 2: this come out and then six months later it happened, then,
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 2: you know, you would get such a small crowd probably
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 2: compared to what, you know, this attention that it will
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 2: get being his last, you know, big starring role. So
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 2: in a way, maybe that's, you know, the, the, again,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 2: the timing is the way it needed to happen to
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 2: get it out there to more people. So I guess
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 2: we'll take it as it comes.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 2: Anything else to tell?
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 6: Uh, no, I'm, I'm looking forward to the rest of the, I'm,
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 6: there are a couple of films that I'm going to
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 6: get to see that I've never seen before that he's done. Like,
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry to admit this. And I know it's going
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 6: to make me sound like a horrible fan, but I've
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 6: never seen Paris, Texas. And I'm definitely going to check
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 6: that out tomorrow.
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 2: It's pretty amazing.
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 6: I think it's going to be great to see it
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 6: in a theater.
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 6: From what I understand, it's really visually appealing.
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 2: It's amazing.
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 2: The Avengers kind of knows how to shoot a movie.
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: Definitely. Definitely.
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 6: And I'm excited to see John Doe play, which he
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 6: was in town. A few years ago, I think Lucy
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 6: had something to do with this event, too. It's Lexington Film.
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 2: They played his movie here, and then, yeah, he kind
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 2: of came to my town, too. So he was making
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 2: his little tour around this area.
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 6: I had a chance to talk to him, just not
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 6: on mic or anything, just back on the couch. He's
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 6: a real chill dude, and I'm looking forward to seeing
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 6: him play. I really like his solo material.
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 2: And as an odd tie-in, as we were sitting there
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 2: getting ready for the movie to start, he came up
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 2: and sat in the row in front of us. So
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 2: John Doe is hanging out. In this very area right now.
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 2: As we speak.
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: But yeah.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 6: Straight story too. That's the, I haven't seen that one either.
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 6: I'm looking forward to it. I know they're showing that
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 6: one for free on Saturday, like outdoors, which will be neat.
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 2: Another David Lynch.
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 2: Maybe David Lynch tie. Well, if nothing else, you know,
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 2: you obviously have to go look for Lucky, but I mean,
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 2: a huge thank you to Lucy for not just letting
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 2: me come to this and be part of it and
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 2: talk to John, but.
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 6: Just for putting this together. She works so hard. Every
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 6: community needs a Lucy Jones. She's a big inspiration for
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 6: me in my own work in my hometown. I work
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 6: at the public library. We do a lot of film stuff.
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 6: I see what she does. It's very inspirational. She's a
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 6: great person.
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 2: Just so dedicated to what this was going to be
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 2: when she came up with it and now what it's become.
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 2: It's definitely... Again, you've driven... Hours to be here. It
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 2: is worth planning a trip next time around.
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 6: For sure. This is a great event worth driving three
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 6: hours plus for.
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 2: Just go to harrydeanstantonfest.org, and that's the basic layout. And
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 2: then I know if you're on Facebook, they do a
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 2: really good job of kind of keeping up with everything
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 2: on the Harry Dean Stanton Fest Facebook page. So go
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 2: and join that, and that way you'll know what's coming
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 2: next time around. So I say, yep, start. Go get
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 2: in the car. Start driving now. Or at least start
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 2: making plans for next year's Caridin's Den Fest.
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 6: I'll be here.
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 2: You can come hang out with us.
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 2: Load her outside the theater and talk about movies.
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: For sure. All right.
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 2: Well, it's been a great kickoff to the event. And, yeah,
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 2: I can't wait to see what else they do this
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 2: year and in the future.
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 6: Same here.
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 2: Otherwise, that about does it. We will return next time.
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 2: Same Geek Feed. Thanks for listening.
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 7: Este amor apasionado. And I'm going to go back to
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 7: Taro for a moment. I'm going to go to madness.
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 7: I'm going to torture myself.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 2: If you want.
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 7: Voy camino a la locura, hay un que todo me tortura.
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 7: Sé querer. Nos dejamos hace tiempo, pero me llegó el
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 7: momento de perder. Tú tenías mucha razón, he dado caso
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 7: al corazón. Y me muero por volver Y volver, volver,
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 7: volver A tus brazos otra.
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: Vez When in the course of human events, it becomes
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: necessary for one nation to divide itself from another. Not, yeah,
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: not milch. There's no milch involved.
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 5: This episode is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 5: edited by Theodicy Studios, with opening music performed by The Empires.
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 5: For more on how to sponsor or support the show,
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 5: email producer at moviemeltdown.com.
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 3: Talk hard!
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 2: This program is a proud member of the Battleship Pretension Fleet.