Latest / How To Talk To Humans / What the Movie "Obsession" Teaches About Communication, Storytelling & Human Connection | Part 2

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What the Movie "Obsession" Teaches About Communication, Storytelling & Human Connection | Part 2 · How To Talk To Humans

• 0:00
  Larry Wilson: Hi, this is Larry Wilson, and this is How to Talk to Humans.
• 0:04
  Larry Wilson: This is the podcast that shows you how to improve your communication skills.
• 0:10
  Larry Wilson: Are you looking to get a better job?
• 0:12
  Larry Wilson: Are you looking to find a relationship?
• 0:15
  Larry Wilson: Are you trying to do things in your life that have frustrated you and eluded you so far?
• 0:22
  Larry Wilson: I can show you so easily how to change that.
• 0:25
  Larry Wilson: Now, I can only do it with humans.
• 0:27
  Larry Wilson: If you're looking to deal with vampires and zombies extraterrestrial, this is not the show.
• 0:33
  Larry Wilson: But if you're really looking to improve your communication skills, I can show you what I've learned for 40 years in the show business working with the biggest celebrities and superstars in the world.
• 0:47
  Larry Wilson: And their secrets are unbelievable.
• 0:52
  Larry Wilson: What I'm going to be teaching you during the course of this podcast every week are tools that you can use to communicate toward success.
• 1:05
  Larry Wilson: Hi, thanks for joining me again for part two of last week's show.
• 1:13
  Larry Wilson: There was so much I wanted to share with you, I didn't want to take up too much of your time.
• 1:20
  Larry Wilson: So here's all the good stuff that follows up the good stuff from part one.
• 1:27
  Larry Wilson: Your assignment is to go and see Obsession.
• 1:31
  Larry Wilson: I I would see it in the theater if you can.
• 1:35
  Larry Wilson: Eventually, I'm sure it will wind up on some streaming service.
• 1:39
  Larry Wilson: But I don't think it's going to happen soon.
• 1:42
  Larry Wilson: Because I think it's going to continue to make money in the theater, my guess, if I had to guess, another six months at least.
• 1:52
  Larry Wilson: I think this definitely through Halloween is going to be making more and more money every week.
• 1:59
  Larry Wilson: But I think it might go all the way through Christmas, could easily.
• 2:06
  Larry Wilson: And what's so interesting about this, and why it is so germane to this training, is that it's phenomenal communication.
• 2:20
  Larry Wilson: The writer and director, who I guess, if I'm understanding this correctly, I think he made it when he was 25 and it's released.
• 2:30
  Larry Wilson: He's 26.
• 2:31
  Larry Wilson: I think his name is Curry Barker.
• 2:35
  Larry Wilson: I think is his name.
• 2:36
  Larry Wilson: If I have that wrong, my abject apologies.
• 2:40
  Larry Wilson: Because I I say he, maybe it's a woman.
• 2:43
  Larry Wilson: I don't know.
• 2:44
  Larry Wilson: Maybe Curry is the woman.
• 2:46
  Larry Wilson: Whoever this Curry Barker is, is a gifted filmmaker.
• 2:52
  unknown: Really.
• 2:54
  Larry Wilson: No fooling around.
• 2:58
  Larry Wilson: There's no guessing in this.
• 2:59
  Larry Wilson: From the very first frames of the film, you get a sense of tremendous confidence in the choice of shots, in the way the story unfolds.
• 3:14
  Larry Wilson: I mentioned earlier these people making content online for audiences with very short attention span.
• 3:24
  Larry Wilson: Curry Barker doesn't care about your attention span.
• 3:28
  Larry Wilson: No rushing, Curry Barker.
• 3:31
  Larry Wilson: This film unfolds in its own very believable, very realistic rhythm and time.
• 3:42
  Larry Wilson: And the reason I chose to speak today about it, and why I would go so far as to assign it to you to go and see, is because I believe with all my heart that this film is about the state of decaying communication skills, especially in people maybe under 40, under 30.
• 4:10
  Larry Wilson: It's about young people.
• 4:12
  Larry Wilson: The two main lead characters and their friends seem to all be in their 20s, I think.
• 4:19
  Larry Wilson: And Curry Barker has really portrayed the way people communicate, younger people communicate, or fail to, how they try to, how they have such difficulty feeling things and expressing how they feel, and most of all, connecting with other people.
• 4:49
  Larry Wilson: It's a romance uh that uh has problems, or it's uh someone seeking love, or you can think whatever you want.
• 4:59
  Larry Wilson: That's kind of the beauty of art.
• 5:02
  Larry Wilson: You're allowed to feel whatever you want to feel and think whatever you want.
• 5:06
  Larry Wilson: But I think those of you who are particularly interested in Wilson Method will immediately glom on to the fact that the people in this story suffer tragically because their communication skills are so wretched.
• 5:27
  Larry Wilson: Now, I'm sure there's some of you sitting back in your lazy boy lounger, if you really have a lazy boy lounger, thinking, well, Larry, this is all well and good, but what has this got to do with me?
• 5:40
  Larry Wilson: I'm not a filmmaker.
• 5:43
  Larry Wilson: No, but you are a storyteller.
• 5:48
  Larry Wilson: If you've been with me this long, then by God, you better understand the power and the importance of storytelling.
• 6:00
  Larry Wilson: Curry Barker does.
• 6:02
  Larry Wilson: Curry Barker is going to be a force to be reckoned with.
• 6:07
  Larry Wilson: I don't know.
• 6:09
  Larry Wilson: Like I said, I don't even know if that's a man or a woman.
• 6:11
  Larry Wilson: I don't know, you know, but I can tell you what my gut feeling is.
• 6:17
  Larry Wilson: My gut feeling is it's a man.
• 6:21
  Larry Wilson: And I completely believe that he's in his early 20s because of certain elements he captures so exquisitely in this film.
• 6:34
  Larry Wilson: His ear for dialogue, for the way young people try to communicate.
• 6:43
  Larry Wilson: It's it's spot on, it's unbelievable.
• 6:48
  Larry Wilson: I said I opened this by saying it was a masterwork.
• 6:52
  Larry Wilson: I stand by that.
• 6:54
  Larry Wilson: It is a masterwork.
• 6:55
  Larry Wilson: And if you want to know why it's so scary, it's the same reason why it is so financially successful.
• 7:08
  Larry Wilson: And this had better get your attention if you are an entrepreneur, if you're a small business owner, if you're anyone who is ambitious enough to create something of your own that has value.
• 7:26
  Larry Wilson: This is mission critical for you to understand.
• 7:32
  Larry Wilson: Obsession is doing more business every week that it's out because people are going home and telling their friends, oh, it was so real.
• 7:50
  Larry Wilson: Now some of this I'm making up.
• 7:52
  Larry Wilson: Maybe they're saying, uh, I know someone that who's just like that, or whatever they're saying is irrelevant.
• 8:00
  Larry Wilson: But here's what they're feeling.
• 8:03
  Larry Wilson: They're feeling an authentic connection with the way this story is told.
• 8:11
  Larry Wilson: And boy, oh boy, this is great news for all of you.
• 8:18
  Larry Wilson: Me too.
• 8:20
  Larry Wilson: It's great news for all of us because it's not like someone came up with some wild storyline that we've never ever seen before, like clockwork orange or something like that.
• 8:38
  Larry Wilson: It's a very simple story.
• 8:42
  Larry Wilson: I won't give it away.
• 8:44
  Larry Wilson: And the things that happen, but because we feel authentically connected, we we don't feel like someone's manipulating us, we don't feel like someone's trying to sell us something.
• 9:02
  Larry Wilson: Everything that happens, we think, yeah, I could see that.
• 9:07
  Larry Wilson: Yeah.
• 9:08
  Larry Wilson: Oh, I I've done something like that, or I've thought, what if such and such happened?
• 9:13
  Larry Wilson: Or I knew somebody who had it's so grounded.
• 9:18
  Larry Wilson: Considering that it's uh a wild tale, and then obviously all kinds of crazy, you know, scary stuff happens, it still feels grounded in reality.
• 9:29
  Larry Wilson: And there's some things in it, subtle things that are so brilliant, really, really genuinely brilliant.
• 9:39
  Larry Wilson: There are no beauty shots that I can remember in the film.
• 9:44
  Larry Wilson: The there's a leading guy and a leading girl, and they're both attractive people and fantastic actors.
• 9:54
  Larry Wilson: Let me just say, everyone's performance.
• 9:57
  Larry Wilson: There's a lot of supporting actors, everyone is great, and they all hit a certain tone.
• 10:05
  Larry Wilson: They're all right, it makes us feel like we know these people, or we know people like them.
• 10:14
  Larry Wilson: We know the world they're in, we know the job they have, we know the place they work, and the boss who we see on screen.
• 10:27
  Larry Wilson: So, what I mean is, you know, in a bygone era in the 40s and 50s, when you had movie stars, Greta Garbo, Rita Hayworth, when you had people like this in the movie, there'd be close-ups on their faces that were beautifully lit and made them look like demigods.
• 10:50
  Larry Wilson: Men, too, not just women.
• 10:53
  Larry Wilson: You know, Robert Mitchum and Carrie Grant and these they wouldn't have a film.
• 11:02
  Larry Wilson: This film it's dark, it's dark themed, but it's also lit in a sort of dark way.
• 11:11
  Larry Wilson: But it's not like some of these younger directors who don't know how to shoot a scene that's dark, they actually turn the lights out where you can't see what's going on.
• 11:25
  Larry Wilson: No, this Curry Barker, I don't know.
• 11:29
  Larry Wilson: I I'm anxious to find out more about Curry Barker because there's tremendous confidence in this director, in the writing and in the directing of the film, in the shots, in the way the story is put together, in the way things are revealed to us, in the way sometimes Curry Barker refuses to uh spoon feed us anything.
• 11:59
  Larry Wilson: He has respect for us as an audience.
• 12:02
  Larry Wilson: Curry Barker gives you credit for watching this film closely and really studying the frame and seeing what's going on.
• 12:13
  Larry Wilson: Just incredible confidence.
• 12:17
  Larry Wilson: And great, you know, Akira Kurosawa making films in his 80s, and they're great.
• 12:26
  Larry Wilson: But you figure by the time you're 80, you should have learned a few things wrong.
• 12:30
  Larry Wilson: I don't know where Curry Barker learned this stuff when he was in preschool or something.
• 12:35
  Larry Wilson: I don't know, but tremendous confidence and great, fantastic control of the rhythm of the film and the performances, so that we feel, and that's I would think I was saying it's one of the reasons some parts of it are so scary, because we're buying into it a hundred percent.
• 13:01
  Larry Wilson: And so then certain things happen, and we're like, and then by the same token, it's so easy.
• 13:09
  Larry Wilson: If I had seen this film uh in a screening, like in Los Angeles, if somebody had been screening it for uh film critics or something like that, if I'd seen it before anyone knew anything about it, I would have predicted it was going to be a huge hit.
• 13:28
  Larry Wilson: Now, I don't mean to say I would have predicted$380 million making more each subsequent weekend than the prior.
• 13:39
  Larry Wilson: That's crazy talk.
• 13:41
  Larry Wilson: I would never have predicted that.
• 13:43
  Larry Wilson: But if someone told me, I mean, it looks like it cost a million or two million dollars, I would have said, oh yeah, this is gonna make 25 million, 30 million dollars.
• 13:52
  Larry Wilson: You know, if you make a film for a million dollars and you make 30 million, that's a huge hit.
• 13:59
  Larry Wilson: It's not a bigger pile of money than a film that makes a billion dollars.
• 14:05
  Larry Wilson: But proportionally, if every year you make a film for a million dollars that returns 30 million, you're gonna work the rest of your life.
• 14:16
  Larry Wilson: You're gonna have a huge career.
• 14:18
  Larry Wilson: And quite frankly, in Hollywood, they wouldn't let that happen.
• 14:24
  Larry Wilson: You make a couple of million-dollar films that make$30 million, people are gonna be throwing money at you.
• 14:29
  Larry Wilson: Oh, here, here's$50 million.
• 14:32
  Larry Wilson: Let's see what you can do.
• 14:34
  Larry Wilson: This is a million years ago, of course, but I talked with guys who worked on the first Terminator film, James Cameron's Terminator.
• 14:43
  Larry Wilson: Some people might argue this is what really made Arnold Schwarzenegger an international movie star.
• 14:52
  Larry Wilson: And if you go back and watch that original Terminator, it's a fantastic, fantastic script, fantastic film, great acting, fantastic.
• 15:02
  Larry Wilson: But the guys who I met who talked about, they said, and this is however many years ago, that is what, 40 years ago?
• 15:09
  Larry Wilson: They said something about, oh yeah, uh, yeah, we told people it cost uh five million dollars to make it.
• 15:19
  Larry Wilson: It blew their mind, they couldn't believe it.
• 15:21
  Larry Wilson: And they said, but really, it cost less.
• 15:25
  Larry Wilson: And I was like, what?
• 15:27
  Larry Wilson: They said, yeah, it really costs uh three and a half million.
• 15:33
  Larry Wilson: But Cameron was worried if we told people what it really cost, they'd say, well, cost three and a half million.
• 15:41
  Larry Wilson: Here's four million.
• 15:43
  Larry Wilson: Now let's see what you can do.
• 15:44
  Larry Wilson: And uh they were right.
• 15:46
  Larry Wilson: So I don't know if that's true.
• 15:48
  Larry Wilson: I can only tell you I was there, and this is what I was told.
• 15:53
  Larry Wilson: But if you made a couple films like this obsession, but uh there's nothing like this obsession, there never has been.
• 16:03
  Larry Wilson: I I don't I hope you understand.
• 16:05
  Larry Wilson: I don't mean the actual film itself, although it's very original, very clever, beautifully done, extraordinary piece of art.
• 16:14
  Larry Wilson: Really a piece of art.
• 16:16
  Larry Wilson: It has a very powerful message.
• 16:20
  Larry Wilson: Whether all the audiences are getting it or not, I don't know.
• 16:25
  Larry Wilson: But it's a powerful message about communication and how absolutely crucial it is for human beings.
• 16:37
  Larry Wilson: But there's never been anything like this.
• 16:41
  Larry Wilson: This is a phenomenon.
• 16:44
  Larry Wilson: I want to emphasize again, for some of you saying, Well, I'm not sure I am a storyteller.
• 16:51
  Larry Wilson: Oh, yes, you are.
• 16:54
  Larry Wilson: If you've been here with me, you know how important this is.
• 16:58
  Larry Wilson: Does it mean you're a storyteller like Curry Barker?
• 17:03
  Larry Wilson: No, not necessarily.
• 17:05
  Larry Wilson: How devoutly to be wished that we could be, but no, that's there's something else going on there with focus and drive and ambition and all kinds of other fantastic things.
• 17:18
  Larry Wilson: But you are a storyteller, you have a story about yourself and about your business.
• 17:28
  Larry Wilson: You may not have clarified it yet, but I want to work with you on that to clarify.
• 17:37
  Larry Wilson: It can only make you more successful.
• 17:42
  Larry Wilson: It can't backfire.
• 17:45
  Larry Wilson: If you have a business that's doing reasonably well, but it sort of feels stuck for the moment where it is, and you we work on this story of yours and really polish that up, it can't make your business less successful.
• 18:04
  Larry Wilson: It can only make people feel the way they feel about this film obsession, where they want to share it with other people they know.
• 18:17
  Larry Wilson: Oh my god, you've got to see this.
• 18:21
  Larry Wilson: You really have to see this.
• 18:23
  Larry Wilson: I hope that you will go and see it.
• 18:25
  Larry Wilson: And I hope you'll share with me your reaction to it.
• 18:28
  Larry Wilson: It would be fascinating if some of you see it and then say, Oh, I didn't think it was scary at all, Larry.
• 18:36
  Larry Wilson: Or you see it and go, it's okay.
• 18:40
  Larry Wilson: I don't understand what all the big I'd just be curious to know.
• 18:43
  Larry Wilson: But I would be betting against those reactions.
• 18:46
  Larry Wilson: If you really watch it, really dig into it, you will see that this film is talking about how your communication skills are a matter of life and death.
• 19:03
  Larry Wilson: And they really are.
• 19:05
  Larry Wilson: That's all I'm gonna say.
• 19:07
  Larry Wilson: Thank you for being here.
• 19:09
  Larry Wilson: Thank you for listening to all my crazed rantings.
• 19:14
  Larry Wilson: I look forward to seeing all of you very soon.
• 19:17
  Larry Wilson: This has been Larry Wilson.
• 19:19
  Larry Wilson: I want to thank you for spending this time with me, and I hope you found this information useful.
• 19:26
  Larry Wilson: If you're looking for more, you can find it at thewilsonmethod.com.
• 19:30
  Larry Wilson: There's a ton of stuff there.
• 19:33
  Larry Wilson: But if you want, you can even speak to me because I'm human.
• 19:39
  Larry Wilson: Send me an email at info at wilsonmethod.com because I read every single one.
• 19:48
  Larry Wilson: I hope that you'll join us next week in this continuing journey.
• 19:54
  Larry Wilson: And you'll be with me for the next episode of How to Talk to You.