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Paul Feig on the Twists, Tones, and Signature Martinis in The Housemaid · Kyle Meredith With...

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are.
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• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's me, Kyle Manit today, get the catch up with Paul Feek.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: He was just here, not too long ago, talk about the movie, a jackpot.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: He did with John Cena and Aquafina.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: This time around, we're talking about the housemate.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, he adapted the housemate from the, from Friedamick Fadden's best seller.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: It stars Sidney Swenny, Amanda Seifried, Brandon Schelnar, Michael Marone, and Elizabeth Perkins.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: And follows a struggling woman, played by Sidney Swenny.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: who is happy to start over as a house maid for an effluent elite couple.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Suspense is the genre, and we're going to talk about shaping its sligh, tonal shift from fun unsettling to full-on psychological thriller.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: and why he ultimately added entire pieces to the story that actually aren't in the book.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Paul is going to dig into the dual POV structure, explain his aversion to lazy voiceovers, and break down how the film balances an hour of questions with an hour of answers.
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: He'll also get into building nuanced female lead stories as he's done in bridesmaids,
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: and letting actors define their characters through wardrobe and imposter.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: And because this Paul Feak, we're also going to talk about Martini's, how he slipped them into the movie this time.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: All that and more, as we're talking about the house made in theaters, it's Kyle Meredith with Paul Feak.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, Guy, how are you doing?
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Good.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's good to see you again.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you too.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: You too.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: How you been?
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm alright.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: Congrats on another fine film you've made.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ah, thank you.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, very proud.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: So this one, we get adapted from the book, right?
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, like, when you get something like this, like how close to the source material,
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you want to stay?
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because because you pull off this really interesting, it's like a, it's like a fun, unsettling tone for most of it.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, the book's really good, you know, and the book is so popular and it already been on the best seller list for like a year and a half when I came to the project.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I hadn't read the book.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got sent the script first that Rebecca Sunnenshine did the adaptation of.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that really pulled me in.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I was able to then go and read the book and go, ooh, I know Rebecca, you had to shorten things to get it into a screenplay size, but now let's bring this back, let's bring that back and then she was able to work it in.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you did a brilliant job with it.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: And like is that tone there because you do go from this like the first part of the movie it's what do you call it's not camp it's not the word i'm looking for but there's there's this shift in tone that goes from like am i watching reflection a caricature of something and in almost to like nearly a horror movie yeah yeah i mean that well that's what drew me in uh to this is that we spend the first hour
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: making you root for everything you're not supposed to be rooting for.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then we make you pay for it the second hour.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that tone was always, it's in the in the in the book because the book is written in a very funny, I'm not going to say snarky way, but there is a snarkiness about the way that milly relates because it's all
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, free to make fadden's books and her writing is so brilliant because she does a lot of first person narration.
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the whole first half of the book is Millie's voice in how she's reacting.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you're in Millie's head and you don't know what's going on with Nina.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then the second half of the book, now you're in Nina's point of view and Nina's head and you're hearing curse out of the story.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: it's really fun because all my movies I've always very hung up on like it has to be one person's point of view so reading this I was like oh this is the one one of the times that this actually I'm not going to do that and I think it works great because is my producing partner Laura Fisher says this movie the first hour is all questions and the second hour is all answers that's interesting I think it's really satisfying for an audience to do that to get that and we'll be
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome back, it's Kyle Manis with Paul Feag.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Speaking of, you know, your style in your movies.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you've carved out a great run of actress-led films that you've been on.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is that, is that chance?
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is that something you look for?
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just love telling women's stories.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I love working with, with actresses.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: and you know there's you know plenty of movies about men so you know I'm always just looking for like great three-dimensional portrayals of women you know in whatever genres in that I feel that I can put my voice in my stamp on yeah so it's just I just I'm just more interested in that that's all like kind of seek out in our our company we're just always looking for women's stories basically
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: The female lead stories.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: And speaking of one of those, by the way, the great Elizabeth Perkins.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, my God.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Who's brilliant always and and her.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, she is the representation of unhealthy toxic bonds in this movie.
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Actually, it's there.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, what like I'd love to hear about working with her on this and the direction you gave her because Because you can use some cliche turn like ice queen and that's that's very icy demeanor, but what were you hoping to get from her?
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I mean, I love Elizabeth.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: We work together, and you know, I first met and worked with her on weeds when I directed a bunch of those, and then she was in Ghostbusters, you know, and she was not in theatrical one, but she's in the extended cut, and then she, you know, stepped into Jean Smart's role and another simple favor, so I know who really well, and honestly for this.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't give her much direction.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, she came in with that character set, that icy kind of, you know, oh, you know, this is how you allow the help to dress in your house with, she's, she's kind of spooky, you know, like the way she's, you know, and it's, yeah, I would just kind of like, wow, Elizabeth, I love what you're doing.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, it was a couple of times, I would be kind of like just stare at her for a long time.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I did a lot of that on this movie.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're somebody like with Amanda's character too.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm always going like, just stare at people for a long time before you say anything, because it's just like, it's so unnerving.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's something that you, and Elizabeth is so good at it with that, just in, and she wanted it, you know, that's kind of her hairs sort of that color now.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, let's just, you know, let's stick with that.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then she came up with kind of how it's styled and all that.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: My actors set their looks with, you know, the costume department and with makeup and hair and all that and, you know, I'm part of it, but I'm more kind of like, what do you want?
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do you want to do?
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Cool.
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, go ahead and do it.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure a lot of actors really appreciate the kind of relationship.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, I was an actor for a long time and what some directors and other department heads don't realize is that what you're wearing and what you look like is as much a part of your research and your, you know, you know, comfortableness with the character as is the lines in the setting.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you jam somebody in a costume, they don't feel like the character that you're hurting the actor by doing that.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that does, I don't know if I'd say half the job, but so much of the job right there is a costume.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that puts you in the frame of mind.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: It sounds obvious to say, but it's right.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Every person, yeah.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I also want to say, I don't know if the criteria for casting here was everybody has to be unbelievably good looking.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Even the gardener is like the greatest gardener you've ever seen in your life.
• 9:43
  [UNKNOWN]: Exactly.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I know, I got a good looking cast.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, you know, there was times like John Schwartzman, my D.P.
• 9:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: and I were just like, wow, this is a golden cast.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and it's nice because you can shoot them from any angle, too, you know?
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's not any of this, like raise that camera up and don't be this angle.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're just beautiful, no matter where you shoot them.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm able to do my further stuff.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's get down low and all this, you know, which some actors don't love when you do it.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't shoot them down here, right?
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Which is the worst thing you can ever say to a director.
• 10:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: I speak a good looking, by the way, there's one shot, we're in the restaurants, and this is beautiful shot of two martinis.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's one of my movies if there's a martini.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's, I don't know if this was in the script, but this feels very Paul right now.
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, I, that's my, those are my cameo's.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's really my martini's.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my gin, what's in my gin bottles, he had an all over the place too.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love the, I love the little hallmarks, like any director can leave those.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, I'm very specific about my, by martini's and especially the twists.
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know,
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the property part would brought out these two martinis with those little curly cue pig tail.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, kind of lemon twist and like get that out of here, bring me a lemon and a knife.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to show you how to do this big twist.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's how you do it.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you get an extra credit for that?
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Some kind of set credits.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: There should be, you should be like lemon and wrangler or something.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
• 11:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Where are the things that you had to cut from the book?
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like when I saw the diary, I think I expected more of the diary and then wandered later as like, I wonder if there was more of the diary.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, no, the diary wasn't even in the book.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, okay.
• 11:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: The thing was, you know, I'm really weird about voiceover because,
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it can be used as a crutch a lot of times.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: So to me, the voice over has to be justified.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why we came up with, for millions, it's the journal that her parole officer says she'd be should be doing a journal.
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then for Nina, it's writing the letter to CC.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I see.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that gave you the allowance right there.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because then you go, oh, now I know like this person's just talking to me out of the blue because there was a few things in our original script where you would just hear Millie just say something like in response to Nina like with this girl's this woman's crazy or something and I was like, no, we can't have any of that in because
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not something she'll be writing, you know, it has something that is in the moment she's writing.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we had some, we had a few more diary scenes and we just, we took them out.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: But no, the book, honestly, we added to the book.
• 12:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We added the ending because the book ends, I don't know spoilers, but it kind of ends before the movie.
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: It ends very satisfyingly in the book, but it's not cinematic enough for the movie.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so we were able to add that.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nina's story in the book is told in a much snarkier way and we knew we needed to rebuild everybody's love for Nina in that section because you just hated God's by the middle of the movie and so what I love is by the end of the movie you're in love with Nina again because you realize all of this poor one what you went through.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: not an easy task and all the puzzle pieces you had to do for a movie, which you did beautifully, as usual, seriously, congratulations on this and seeing it on the big screen and everything else.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're back in theaters, back in theaters.
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: All right.
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Paul, it's such a pleasure.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's always a talk to you.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Good to talk to you, Matt.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: And we'll be right back right after this.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome back, it's Kyle Meredith.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I want to also include my most recent conversation with Paul, well, the most recent one before this.
• 13:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: They came out in 2024 when we got to talk about his movie Jack Pots with John Cena and Aquafina part two of Kyle Meredith with Paul Feag.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, Kyle, how are you doing now?
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, making grants on Jackpot.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was looking around with what you've been up to right now.
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: you just get back from Italy for shooting one thing go immediately into promotion for something you shop before that as you're getting ready to start out another project that's in the news how you doing I'm great when I'm working nobody's happier than myself I just I love love to work you know I tried my whole life to get to make movies and there was one point where it didn't seem like they're going to let me make movies anymore so I now just I love to do it
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's all it takes, right?
• 14:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just that moment when you think this can all go away.
• 14:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, if you've been to movie jail ones, man, you do not want to go back.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, this is such a fun movie.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is one of those movies where I am meeting, like if I were 15, 16, I'd probably would have watched it three or four times in one weekend, memorized all the lines.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, in my 40s, I have to go back with a pencil and paper to remember.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, sucks getting older, right?
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll always be younger than me, my friend.
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just remember that, right?
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, when was I hearing about the, you said this, like, you guys did this in 40, the shoot itself was 40, a quick shoot?
• 14:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right?
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, very channeled.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was the hardest part about this movie, as we really didn't have enough time, but we did it.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: We pulled it off.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I, I, I,
• 15:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank God for my great stunt team.
• 15:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had it up by the great James Young who does a lot of the Marvel stuff, but they were so organized and able to come in and help us out with the stuff that we couldn't get with the main unit and get extra our second unit stuff that we needed and just get some of the stunt gags that didn't require my cast.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we all pitched in and got it done and I'm so happy with the final product.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure you've been through just about every scenario at this point, but when you've got such a high-octane movie like this, but in such a limited amount of time, how much does that affect the actual job for you?
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you get the rush out of it?
• 15:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Does it help at all?
• 15:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, I like what I call runaway freight trains.
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I always look for projects that are like ready to get going or if it's something we're developing like sell it and then like put on on a very tight schedule, at least to get it done.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, sometimes it's nice.
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a little more breathing room when you're actually shooting the movie, but there is an energy that comes from moving fast.
• 16:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, and I still, even though we're on a short schedule, I still do, and what's called French hours, some call the continuous hours, which is,
• 16:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: 10 hour day with no lunch or anything with there's food being passed around, but we never stop.
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the energy of that, I think you get more done than you do on a 16 hour day with a lunch and meal penalties and all that kind of thing because you're in it, you're focused, you're doing it, and then by the time everybody's tired, you go home.
• 16:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: you're making the argument for the four hour or four-day work week.
• 16:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's like that's a little tight for my days.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: But it seems like you've really found this great footing in action comedy.
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, over the past few, of course, you're doing other things too.
• 16:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, it's part of your greatest hits, I think, is what's happening here.
• 16:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, what is it about it that attracts other than what I would say fighting seems like it lends itself to being funny anyway.
• 16:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: yeah i mean it's definitely that i just i think physical comedy is great but i also think action comedy is fun because there's so much else that you're hanging the comedy on and and the main thrust of it is not the comedy it is the
• 17:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: the dramatic underpinning of the story of the characters of the character arcs and then you just build the comedy up from there.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I always say that my movies are dramas that are funny because, you know, you have to have that dramatic core.
• 17:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, when you see movies they're just all comedy and all jokes, they're really fun.
• 17:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, there's a moment sometimes you look at your watch.
• 17:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, okay, I'm just kind of going joke to joke here.
• 17:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: What I'm not vested in this and what an action comedy does also
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: is that you are pulled along by your fear of these characters being hurt or being killed.
• 17:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's why you can't have a funny villain.
• 17:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can have a villain who has funny moments, but you can't have a silly villain.
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, that's why I love Simo, Lou and this movie is he's, you know, he's really intimidating, but he also, he can land some really good jokes.
• 18:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, his run about La Croix is one of my favorite joke runs I've ever had in a movie.
• 18:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: When you're saying that, of course, I'm going back in my head and you're completely right.
• 18:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was even like I've heard you talk about obviously Jackie Chan.
• 18:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think it was a big part of this, but even the three stages.
• 18:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: And earlier today, I was watching, was it was Abbot and Costello meets Dr. Jekyll in the hide.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah, although I grew up watching those movies.
• 18:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, because I was just thinking there's so many different versions of like comedy duo, very, you know, and movie monster, what I'm pretty sure that's the correct combination of it.
• 18:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: But even the physical comedy that comes out of that and thinking like they had that so perfect, you know, we're coming out nearly 100 years ago is what we're looking at over 100 years ago for some of it.
• 18:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you're looking at a chaplain.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: you know and then you come into a movie like this and maybe you don't have to reinvent the will but you got to find what's you know fresh i mean how much is that a part of the equation that's a huge part of the equation i mean you know you can't people don't put up with like an old idea or it's really hard to get people excited about that
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: execution is definitely a big part of things and it's they you know say there's only seven stories in the world or however they break that down really and it's all variations off of that but you know it's you have to have a fresh idea in the middle of it that's when I first read this script I was like
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is great because it's a really insanely high stakes core of this, which is you will get killed.
• 19:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then somebody who doesn't even know what's going on accidentally gets put the situation where they are the target.
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right there you've got the audience is sitting forward like, oh my god what's going to happen.
• 19:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So then I can hang all this comedy on it.
• 19:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know comedy works the best when there is danger.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, and if it's a Ruanic comedy, there's a danger of being sad of having your life fall apart of whatever, and the next in companies about the danger you're going to get killed, and that just raises everything so much in a way that, you know, just a joke fest doesn't.
• 20:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, I love that it's set sort of close enough in the future with everything that's happening today that seems like that could be possible.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, like I don't think it's going to get there, obviously
• 20:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, because anything's possible at this point, like what was it the depression of twenty twenty six?
• 20:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, because we, uh, great to be able to join this guy, like oh man, only that part right now.
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I know exactly.
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got to go dark to begin to get light, you know.
• 20:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, no, it's true.
• 20:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's true.
• 20:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: But like, but it is one of those things, like, how far, how far can you take it without getting too real if that's,
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's the, well, to me, the big thing when I read this script that made me go, I have to do this other than loving the whole concept was the fact that Rob, Yeska, who wrote it, put in that the only rules that there's no guns.
• 20:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think if there's guns we're allowed in this, it'd be a much different movie.
• 20:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it'd be a less fun movie.
• 20:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it would be kind of an ugly movie.
• 21:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's what made me happy.
• 21:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was like, okay cool.
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we're just down to primal Grab what you can and try to take somebody out and then it levels the playing field too because you know If it was all guns you go like well, she's dead and so if it's just a lot of people shooting and missing then okay Well, that's you know We've all seen episodes of cannon or with his little gunning shoot guys and nobody can seem to hit this big guy running around You know, so that's that's the kind of
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: thing that I think makes it, makes you buy into it and not be so worried about the person that you can enjoy yourself, you know, and again, we're still a comedy, so you still, you want to have the ability to people that have fun, even though they're worried.
• 21:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: And without giving anything in the way, the other thing I really loved about the wrap-up is, while there is a wrap-up and there seems to be some lessons learned by people, as an overall, it's not like the world becomes a better place.
• 21:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, these part of me, these dipshits are still gonna be dipshits, right?
• 22:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, I feel like by the end of it.
• 22:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no totally, you know, I mean, it's really about finding humanity in the middle of a sort of inhuman situation.
• 22:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the thing I love about this concept, unlike the purge, which nobody loves those movies more than me, I really think those movies are great, but in the purge, everyone's in it.
• 22:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody in society has an exit card, so it's terrifying.
• 22:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: this you voluntarily join up.
• 22:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're somebody who is desperate enough or thinks you're enough of a badass to get in there and either win the lottery and fend off everybody from killing you or you're going to get in there and take out whoever did it, whoever wins, that's your choice.
• 22:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that to me makes it a little less dark because we're not saying all humanity sucks.
• 22:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're just saying there's just a portion of humanity that's
• 22:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: probably a little less moral than the rest of us.
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I believe that, I believe that, of course, John Cena and Aquafina, I mean, they're perfect, perfect pairing.
• 23:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: How did you land on them?
• 23:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, was they have them?
• 23:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like was that the idea from the beginning?
• 23:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: How does that process work?
• 23:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I was very lucky because when the script was sent to me, they were already attached.
• 23:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So talk about getting a great script, a great idea, and two amazing cast members right out of the gate.
• 23:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I have to say if they weren't attached, I think I would have ended up casting both of them because they're just perfect for the role.
• 23:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, Nora is so funny, but she's so relatable and she's such a surrogate for the audience.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the fact that she hasn't, even though she's been in action movies, she hasn't really done action, I had no interest in putting somebody in the leader of this who we've seen kick ass before because what fun is that?
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: The fun of this is like, this is a normal person who suddenly in way over their head who has to learn how to fight on the fly, and then John,
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: What I love about John is he's not coming in as a sort of toxic, masculine, you know, superhero.
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's coming in as this sweet guy who just wants to do the right thing.
• 24:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: He just happens to be a big gentle giant of a guy who's willing to fight, but he's also not willing to hurt anybody.
• 24:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: He really wants to make sure he's just doing enough to keep them away from her.
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it makes it, I want everything in my career to be good nature.
• 24:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Even if it can get super dark in the middle, it always needs to kind of have a positive message at the end.
• 24:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: you still want to put the helmet on the person before you throw the matter put the helmet on the person you're not a monster just get him out of the car was the uh was the uh the teenage read Ninja Turtles song in the script yeah that way that was scripted in uh uh uh uh uh uh uh full disclosure i'm not a teenage mutant ninja you know a knowledgeable person but i just thought was such a funny runner for him and we added it in a few more times just because i thought it was
• 24:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: and so the fact that he's comparing himself to, you know, one of the, you know, he's, he's not down to Tello, he's Michael Angela, Michael Angela, exactly, thank you so much.
• 25:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and so we had a lot of fun with it, just because there's something funny to me about, you know, having been a loyal Comic Con goer for 30 years and growing up as a sci-fi nerd, adults who are still into that stuff.
• 25:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a special place in my heart because I'm one of those people and so I just thought it's really fun.
• 25:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just think it's so fun that the idea of a big giant guy like John Cena is obsessed with the Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• 25:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: So that's that I come out of from the music nerds side of things with the parts of my eyes.
• 25:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Even even in that world, that's sort of a deeper cut.
• 25:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: even in the musical landscape of that world and the Ninja Turtles, so that's right.
• 25:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We go deeper.
• 25:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: We got some of our wrestlers, my favorite weird thing that we have is that Nora's character in her audition chooses to do the Samuel Jackson monologue from Deep Lucy, which the audience has never laughed at when the woman goes, is that from Deep Lucy?
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's the funniest joke in the world.
• 26:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I know there's some people out there that get it.
• 26:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and that'll mean the world to them, but you know, it was that deep of a cut.
• 26:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Exactly, I love it.
• 26:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I mean, I'm just, you had Sean Williams Scott playing first girl, you know, in the whole thing in GK, which I always, I'm always surprised at how much I enjoy seeing him in film roles.
• 26:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: MGK is such a super talented guy who people want us sometimes put down and I think he's the greatest.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's so smart and funny and so open.
• 26:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: We got to call from his people.
• 26:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's kind of interested in doing something like this.
• 26:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, really?
• 26:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was trying to think of who to put in that cameo.
• 26:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: A few people were thinking about.
• 26:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, but he also like, oh, it's a rock star, he's going to say, he wants to want to do this and do that.
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: He showed up, he was ready for anything, and you see the movie, shoot the guy in the face with drag him down stairs, we throw him in a pool, you know.
• 27:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, you got to have a good sense of humor to be put through that.
• 27:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, did you, did you see him in Cameron Crow Throaties?
• 27:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, he was the heart of that show, and that's what caught me by surprise.
• 27:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, I never saw that.
• 27:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I saw a good morning, which I really think is really fun.
• 27:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, guys multi-talented.
• 27:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you hate them.
• 27:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: You hate them when they're that talented.
• 27:22
  [UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: You love them and you hate them.
• 27:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: There you go.
• 27:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: All that to say, Jack Potter is so good.
• 27:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: And just watching all the other stuff you're doing and your drinks, I wanted to say, is it fair to say that a martini is the greatest drink of all time?
• 27:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, it's the only truth statement in the world.
• 27:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing better than a good cold driver to any.
• 27:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: would it destroy you if I said that lately I've been doing my dirty with vodka?
• 27:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm ending the interview now.
• 27:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry.
• 27:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's all over.
• 27:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's okay.
• 27:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll let it go.
• 27:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: At least you get the dirty in there.
• 27:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So at least you're tasting something because vodka doesn't have any taste.
• 28:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: That means it's made to not have any flavor.
• 28:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you have a vodka martini, you're just basically having water that can get you drunk with a little bit of a movement.
• 28:10
  [UNKNOWN]: So
• 28:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Tom, so I get it.
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm based in Louisville as Kentucky.
• 28:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: So of course, we're bourbon cup country and you know the whole thing like you don't put the mixers in I love bourbon Yeah, and that's my thought is like am I completely bastardizing this martini and here I am with the dirt and thing that we're not supposed to do No, they're on the dirt just get take the vodka put in the gin and then you'll be much happier and put in already stalls brilliant London dry gin because that's the best because that's mine I appreciate that
• 28:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to be doing it, I'm only left to say simple favor too.
• 28:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I know it was the next big thing and we're so excited to see that six years later, like, did you maybe think that there was a, like, is this the first sequel you've done?
• 28:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, first sequel, nothing I never wanted to do a sequel before, but I had an idea for this, and I love those characters, and it was like, maybe we do have more to tell with them, and I'm so happy that we did it, because I'm in the middle of my director's cut, but we did our first test screening last week, and it scored really, really high.
• 29:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a lot of fun.
• 29:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm really, really happy with it.
• 29:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's as nuts as you think it should.
• 29:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: it's really interesting when you when you have that opportunity.
• 29:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like I think I'm surprised in I'm not surprised in the, again, in the folks who say I would never, I don't like to do sequels that the story's done.
• 29:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: As I am surprised in the people that would just be tempted all the time to continue those stories.
• 29:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you know, all the characters.
• 29:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I mean, there's definitely a seduction about doing sequels and continuous stories, but you were in the middle of something, because in your middle of it, you're so in love with your cast and you're having such a good time and so creatively in that world that you're like, let's do the next one, let's do the next one.
• 29:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it's only once you kind of finish the whole process,
• 30:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: that either you're like, we got to do another one or you're most of the time like, okay, I need to break from that, you know, and it's not that you didn't have a good time, it's just kind of, you know, you want to try new things or I do, you know, so sometimes when I see people who are just doing, you know, who are in the big machine and doing them one after another, I know they're having a good time, but at the same time I'm like,
• 30:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad I'm not doing that at the moment just because it's really fun to create a new situation, you know, with new characters, it's a fresh, it's like, you know, getting new friends, I don't know, it's really fun.
• 30:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: You wait about 10 years and, you know, you do it then.
• 30:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Or six years, like I do with Civil life for six years, you know, what is statue of limited, there's got to be something in there.
• 30:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's like, okay now it's cool now it's fine.
• 30:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll let you handle the math.
• 30:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: There you go.
• 30:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Here's a mock congratulations on Jackpot.
• 31:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's such a fun movie.
• 31:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm so happy you got to be a part of this and I'm looking always looking forward to what you do next So thanks for taking the time my my pleasure.
• 31:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks so much and more fun to come and my thanks to Paul House made look for it's in theaters Thanks to you for checking out the episode hit that subscribe button before you get out of here to keep up with all the interviews And I put out every single week at Spotify Apple podcast NPR WFPK dot org consequence YouTube for the video versions or anywhere
• 31:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: you get your podcast from you can subscribe to Kyle Meredith with and please do leave a rating and a review wherever you're listening from after that you can head over to wfpk.org or i do a show Monday through Friday starting 6pm eastern
• 31:45
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• 31:47
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• 31:49
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• 31:51
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• 32:06
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• 32:14
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• 32:20
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• 32:22
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• 32:24
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• 32:26
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• 32:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: That does it for another edition of Kyle Meredith.
• 32:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'll see you next time.
• 32:44
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