Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / 'Everything is a seed of truth' Creator of 'Nobody Wants This' on sisterhood and faith

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'Everything is a seed of truth' Creator of 'Nobody Wants This' on sisterhood and faith · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: It turns out a show called Nobody Wants This is
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  Speaker 1: in fact the thing that millions of viewers can't get
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  Speaker 1: enough of. Season two of the Netflix hit comedy has
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  Speaker 1: it All. A hot but still mature relationship, a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: and complex depiction of sisterhood, poignant discussions about faith and
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  Speaker 1: an overbearing mother, wreck league basketball. I could go on
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  Speaker 1: and on and on, but let's see some of it
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  Speaker 1: for yourself. It has come to my attention that you
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  Speaker 1: hold some opinions.
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  Speaker 2: Your approach is all wrong.
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  Speaker 1: That's what it is.
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  Speaker 2: You need to treat her kind of like a mob boss, right.
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  Speaker 2: You got to shower her with compliments, pay her the
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  Speaker 2: utmost respect. I don't know if I can do compliments.
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  Speaker 2: Let me take a crack at it. I speak being
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  Speaker 2: a okay, god, she is not your biggest fan right now?
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  Speaker 2: Huh yeah?
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  Speaker 1: I thought I couldn't get worse.
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  Speaker 2: That's what it's crazy. Can you just write worse? Oh shit? Now.
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  Speaker 1: This show is loosely inspired by the creator Aaron Foster's life,
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  Speaker 1: although she's been careful to say that her mother in
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  Speaker 1: law is not inspired by that woman, right there. Bina
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Foster, the creator and writer of Nobody wants this
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  Speaker 1: is here live and joins me. Now, it's so good
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  Speaker 1: to see you. Thanks for coming in. Congrats on all
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  Speaker 1: the success in the show. I heard Kristen Bell talk
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  Speaker 1: about the second season as a love letter to sisterhood. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: is that what you think or is that what your
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  Speaker 1: intention was?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I don't really go into a season with
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  Speaker 2: this sort of like overarching intention.
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  Speaker 1: Of what the messages.
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  Speaker 2: But then as we start to write in the writer's
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  Speaker 2: room and map it out, it kind of reveals itself
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  Speaker 2: a little bit, you know, and it really did become
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  Speaker 2: a sister story, which was really cool. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I mean that makes sense. Yeah, because you and your sister,
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  Speaker 1: your sister Sarah, have such an amazing relationship. Now, for
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  Speaker 1: people who don't know, you did not grow up Jewish.
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  Speaker 1: You converted after you met your husband Simon, and the
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  Speaker 1: show you created the character Kristen Bell sort of based
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  Speaker 1: on you. But I should I want to make clear
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  Speaker 1: to our viewers your husband Simon is not a rabbi.
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  Speaker 2: He's not a rabbi, although when we do Shabat dinners,
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  Speaker 2: people tend to ask him to do the prayers and
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  Speaker 2: he's like, I'm just a Jewish guy. I'm not a rabbi.
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  Speaker 2: I don't have all the answers.
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  Speaker 1: Well, a lot of the tension around the show is
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  Speaker 1: navigating the relationship between hot Rabbi and Kristen Bell because
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  Speaker 1: of Joanne is her name in the show, because of
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  Speaker 1: the fact that she is not Jewish and she's trying
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  Speaker 1: to figure out if that's something that she wants to do. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and how much. I mean, this is probably an obvious question,
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  Speaker 1: but can you talk about your own journey as it
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  Speaker 1: relates to what you write in the show?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, everything is a seed of
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  Speaker 2: truth for me. My journey to being Jewish was different
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  Speaker 2: than Joanne's. But in season two, she's really waiting to
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  Speaker 2: feel this thing that she wants to feel. And I
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  Speaker 2: had a similar experience in the sense that I was
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  Speaker 2: thirty seven years old getting married. I was this fully
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  Speaker 2: formed person who was then sort of taking on this
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  Speaker 2: new identity and I really wanted it to be meaningful
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  Speaker 2: and I didn't want to fake it or phone it
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  Speaker 2: in to get married. I really wanted it to feel
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  Speaker 2: like something that was connected for me that I would
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  Speaker 2: carry throughout my life, you know, with or without the
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  Speaker 2: partner that I was doing it with and that's something
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  Speaker 2: Joan really struggles with. And so for me, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I sat there in the mikvah like the final step
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  Speaker 2: to becoming Jewish, and I didn't feel this sort of
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  Speaker 2: like earth shattering experience that I was wanting to feel.
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  Speaker 2: It really wasn't until I was living as a Jewish
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  Speaker 2: person in the world that I really felt so connected
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  Speaker 2: to being Jewish. And obviously experiencing anti Semitism as a
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  Speaker 2: Jewish person was a really different experience than sort of
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  Speaker 2: learning about it or hearing about it before.
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  Speaker 1: That's really interesting to hear. So you talk about the
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  Speaker 1: little steps that you took in your own journey, and
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  Speaker 1: that is a little bit of a spoiler alert. That
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  Speaker 1: is how this season culminates. And I want our viewers
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  Speaker 1: to watch this exchange between Esther and Joanne.
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  Speaker 2: Your true kibitzer. You're always getting in everybody's business. You
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  Speaker 2: ever heard of a yenta, Joanne?
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  Speaker 1: That's you.
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  Speaker 2: You're a yenta. You're a yeah, of course you are.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you're obsessed with your family, even though they
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  Speaker 2: are so nuts Jewish. You're always eating the fala before
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  Speaker 2: you're supposed to. We all do that Jewish, Like I
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  Speaker 2: don't really know what you're waiting for, whether it's a
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  Speaker 2: sign or the water's depart or what.
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  Speaker 1: But the whole thing is just a feeling, and enjoying
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  Speaker 1: all those little things.
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  Speaker 2: Is the feeling.
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  Speaker 1: And you can see the light bulb going off over
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  Speaker 1: Joanne's head there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think being Jewish is there's a
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  Speaker 2: big question mark around what that means, right, Is it
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  Speaker 2: a race, is it a peoplehood? Is it a religion?
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  Speaker 2: Is it a culture? And I think that it kind
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  Speaker 2: of is all of those things. I think when you
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  Speaker 2: convert to Judaism, it is a lot of the culture
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  Speaker 2: that you're converting to. And for me, I really enjoyed
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  Speaker 2: all of the aspects of Judaism that was about family
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  Speaker 2: and togetherness, and there's this concept in Judaism that all Jews, past, present,
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  Speaker 2: and future were all at Mount Sinai at the same time,
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  Speaker 2: and that you have this connection with that person. And
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  Speaker 2: I really felt that once I became Jewish.
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  Speaker 1: That's fascinating. Okay, I have to ask you about the
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  Speaker 1: hot Rabbi. Let's give the people what they want.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, let's talk about Rabbi.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, entire generation swooned over Adam Brodie when he was
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  Speaker 1: Seth Cohen in the OC. Was that something that you
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  Speaker 1: thought about, You thought, Okay, now those people are a
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  Speaker 1: bit old they would love the same character as the
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  Speaker 1: hot rabbi Or did it just kind of fall into
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  Speaker 1: place and the stars aligned.
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  Speaker 2: No, it was tricky. I mean, casting is so interesting.
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  Speaker 2: You know. Kristen has such a commercial appeal and Adam
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  Speaker 2: has such a commercial appeal that I sort of didn't
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  Speaker 2: know what it was going to look like together because
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  Speaker 2: I really wanted this show to have emotion and depth
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  Speaker 2: and contrast. And the truth is that they have. They
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  Speaker 2: have such layers in them as actors and as people
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  Speaker 2: that I got incredibly fortunate and very lucky that they
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  Speaker 2: really just fit the roles perfectly. So I didn't know
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  Speaker 2: I was creating a millennial fantasy, but I'm really glad
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  Speaker 2: that I did. You're welcome, everybody.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm not a millennial and I'm here. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much, Aaron, thanks for coming in.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice
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  Speaker 2: to see you too. And I love your favorite Daughter Jacket.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I thought you would never notice.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, guys, we have to acknowledge Favorite Daughter our brand.
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  Speaker 2: He's wearing the top. It looks so good.
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  Speaker 1: But nice to see you.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Nice to see you too.