Blank Check with Griffin & David - Almost Famous

Episode Date: July 15, 2016

The BC crew sets their sights on the Academy Award winning, semi-autobiographical film, Almost Famous. But what are some of the differences between the theatrical release and Untitled: The Bootleg Cut? What are Griffin and David’s thoughts on Marc Maron and Jimmy Fallon’s cameos? How has Billy Crudup’s career trajectory drastically changed since 2000? Together, Griffin and David discuss Philip Seymour Hoffman’s stellar performance as legendary rock critic Lester Bangs, Kate Hudson’s boyfriends over the years, Led Zeppelin rumors and locking the gates.

Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex and sex disguised as love. And let's face it, you got a big head start, you know, because the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're podcasting. Yeah. Hey, everybody, my name is Griffin Newman. David Sims. This is a podcast. It's called Blank Check with Griffin and David. Yeah.

We're hashtag the two friends. David is in a Dracula mood today. This is a podcast where we talk about filmmakers who have success. Cinema. Cinema. Cinema-shiness. Oh, boy, am I loopy. I spilled half a bottle of lemonade on my way to the studio,

and now my entire genital area smells like lemonade. Good. I love lemonade. I'm in that mode. David's in loopy mode. You're flying away to London for two weeks. I am. Tomorrow.

Tonight, tomorrow morning. Early tomorrow morning. But you got that rush about trying to get all your life business in before you get in the plane. Yeah. Well, this is a movie about a guy who's trying to, in a rush to get a story together. Sure.

I don't know, trying to connect something. Hey, so. We're going to talk about, well, the name of our miniseries. We pod a cast. We go over filmmakers. We pod a cast. We do miniseries based on filmmakers. Yeah.

Who have had careers ups and downs. Who got blank checks at a certain point because of an Oscar, because of big financial success, sometimes both. And today we're covering the film that won the subject of our miniseries, his only Oscar. Cameron Crowe, We Podcast is the name of the miniseries, the film we're talking about today is almost famous. That's right. And more specifically for this episode, we watched Untitled, colon, The Bootleg Cut.

David is jerking off a very thin penis, but it's long. It's very long. It's like a Coney Island hot dog. Untitled. Please. Colon, The Bootleg Cut. Yes, The Extended Cut, I suppose. The Bootleg. Well. It was real underground, this cut. Yes, the extended cut, I suppose. The bootleg.

It was real underground, this cut. Yeah. It was released on mass market DVD. They had to smuggle the reels into the editing bay, and then they had to smuggle the DVDs into Best Buy. It was a fucking bootleg cut. Yeah, so the film was about two hours long.

The bootleg cut is almost two hours and 40 minutes long. Yeah, I think the theatrical version's a bit above two. Two hours, two minutes. And the bootleg cut is a bit under three. Yeah, it's long. It's like 2.45, something like that. Something like that, yeah. Yeah.

And here to talk with us, a famous bootlegger, also famous for producing. Sure, bootlegging and producing. Ben Hosley, producer Ben, producer Ben, the Ben Ducer, the poet laureate, the Haas, Mr. Pazza, Berthe Benny, the tiebreaker, the fuckmaster. He's not Professor Crispy. He is the poet laureate. He is our finest film critic.

Boy, is he a peeper. He's graduated to certain titles in past miniseries, such as producer Ben Canove, Kylo Ben, Ben Eichamlon, and Ben Say, let's all greet him with a hearty hello fennel. Ben Huxley. That was like a marathon.

Lock the gates, guys. Lock the gates. You do definitely have a Maron-y quality, Ben. How so? Vocally, okay. A little raspy, but no, Marin's got it real, you know. But when you said it just then. Alright, what the fuckanistas.

When you just said it, it was pretty spot on. Say lock the gates again. Lock the gates. Yeah, I mean, that's really Marin-y. Hopefully I don't complain as much. No, that's what I was saying. Marin's great in that scene. He's great in that scene. Why didn't he do more movies? I don't know. His horrible

personality? Yeah, I think thaton's great in that scene he's great in that scene why didn't he do more movies I don't know his horrible personality yeah I think that yeah if only if only there were thousands of hours of podcasting I could use

to figure out why Maron was burning bridges after the release of Almost Famous and how and who with will never be able

to piece together the full story what do you think of Fallon in this movie pretty good what pretty good I mean he's got more Fallon in this movie? Pretty good. What? Pretty good.

I mean, he's got more to do in this cut, actually. Yeah, this cut's, yeah. Do you know why I like- You've been in like one scene in the actual cut, right? Yeah, it's the intro scene, but it's a very truncated version. Right. Do you know what I like about him in this movie? I think this is the only movie that kind of shows

that Jimmy Fallon is kind of slippery. Yeah. He's usually working so hard to be the nice guy. I think in this movie it's like, okay, he's personable but you get the sense that he's a little too slick. Yeah, so that's the podcast.

We did it. We reviewed Marc Maron and Jimmy Fallon's performances in the film Almost Famous. Two luminaries of comedy who wield a lot of power. We've now thrown both of them under the bus vaguely. And yeah, wish us luck in our future endeavors in the world of podcasting and comedy. Do you guys watch Maron, the show? I do not. Do you?

Yeah. Lock the gates! I mean, it's fine. I don't know. It's whatever. But it's interesting that, you know, you could have a podcast and then get a TV show. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Just throwing that out there. Yeah. You talk about Blank Check Babies? The pitch we've been working on? Yeah, exactly. The three of us in a playpen and we overanalyze animated films? Blank Check Babies? I watched the first few episodes of Marin

And it never quite clicked for me But it's okay Yeah I have heard it's okay You know a movie I like a lot What Almost Famous Yeah okay So you like this movie

Yeah old lemonade dick over here Loves Almost Famous Okay so Let's hear. Yeah, you know, I saw this film in the United Kingdom when I was 14, 15, whenever it came out September 2000. In the year 2000. Yeah, I'm not sure when it came out in the UK.

In the year 2000. Yep, I liked that bit a lot on the old late night. It was great. Let's throw Conan and LaBamba each a honorary 10 comedy points for that bit. Love it. Love it. Conan's the best. LaBamba's the best. Lock the gates! What am I talking about?

What's wrong with me? Come here, cat. What are the names of his cats? Boomer lives! Come here, Boomer. Anyway, wow, and we were ragging on Karina Longworth. I mean, not ragging on her, but we've been mimicking her. We've been mimicking all the great podcasts. We're going through all the, yeah.

Yeah. Anyway, this is Blank Check. I'm Ira Glass. Trying to think of other podcasts. Aren't you going to be on This American Life? Yeah. I mean, I don't know when it will happen in relation to when, because we're recording this episode in advance but at the time we're recording this episode tomorrow i am uh recording a segment with ira glass for this american life

interesting yeah no spoilers tune in but i uh i'm i'm i'm telling a story on this american life that that's being recorded tomorrow it's very exciting crazy um we're just ready for that plug i just wanted to plug Blank Check. You better fucking plug Blank Check. He's got to plug Blank Check. I don't want to plug Blank Check. I want him to go Griffin Newman

who hosts the podcast Blank Check. Great. So I saw Almost Famous with a bunch of my teen friends and I didn't like it that much and that's been my relationship with this movie ever since

and I've seen it many times. I always watch it and I'm like this, it's going to spark for me. Because it's such a popular film among our peers, right? Yeah, I think generationally. Generationally big movie. Big movie, yeah. And I don't despise it at all. I like a lot of things about it, but it's never worked for me quite.

And I certainly don't have the emotional connection that I think a lot of people do. And every time, I'm like, this'll be it. It'll, it'll get me this time. It never does. And this time I watched your famous bootleg cut that you found under a truck

or wherever you found it, you know. Well, let's not say it's famous. You broke into Columbia Records. It's almost a famous bootleg cut. And, you know,

thinking, oh, this'll finally be what I was looking for, and I still haven't found what I'm looking for, to quote the great U2. Yeah, the great U2. That's another podcast we can ape right now. Oh, I love that one. You talking U2 to me, that's a great podcast.

No, I'm not. I'm talking about the movie Almost Famous. So here are two questions I have for you. Yeah. One, would you say that you don't like this movie very much, or you dislike this movie? I just don't like it very much. I don't dislike it.

It's like a three out of five. Comme ci, comme ça. Yeah. I just, because I know this film is so well liked, I've just always been kind of on the back half. I don't know. You have to plant your flag more firmly because everyone else just sort of assumes like,

oh, you must love Almost Famous. Exactly. Especially for people like us, I think it's a movie that like, you're a writer and you write about pop culture. You must love Almost Famous. I think I like this film about as much as I like Vanilla Sky. Interesting.

It's like both of them are like, to me, very interesting, noble failures with a lot of elements I appreciate. I think Almost Famous is a better movie than Vanilla Sky in that it tells a story a little more completely and doesn't swerve between 18 genres wildly. But Vanilla Sky is more ambitious in that sense,

which makes it more sort of exciting. Vanilla Sky's got some lucid dreams. But I do think you're right. I mean, this is a very big movie first generationally. I think a lot of people our age, when we saw this film, it was like... It's a bit of a bridging movie for people our age, I think a lot of people our age, when we saw this film, it was like, it's a bit of a bridging movie for people

our age, I think. Why? Because, can I tell you? I wanted you to tell me why. I do want you to tell me why. It's an adult film about a young character going into an adult world. Yeah, sure. So I feel like when I was a kid, I saw this movie and I was like, oh my god, that's what being a grown up is like. You were like, lock

the gates! I was like, yeah. I'm not giving that up. No, we're doing it the entire episode. Did you see it in theaters? Did you see this one in theaters? You were probably pretty young. No, I can tell you when I saw it for the first time. I saw it, I guess, about nine months after it came out.

When did it come out? September, October 2000. It came out September 15th, 2000. I saw it the following June at Sleepaway Camp. Yeah. And it was like my summer camp was run by like you know sort of ex-hippie

rock yuppie people. Sure. And these fucking Gen X fools who like the Allman Brothers band and God knows what else from this movie. No comment. But it was like a big deal where like they'd play movies on the lawn. They had a screen and a projector and they'd play movies on the lawn. It was very cool.

But it was like usually it was like, hey, I got to play like a kid's movie or a teenager movie. A little big age range. Right. But they played this movie that was rated R because to them it was like they loved this movie so much. And they thought the spirit of it was so big. It's a soft R. It's not. it was so big. It's a soft R.

It's not too... It's a soft R, but when I was 12 and it was a summer camp... But I'm trying, you know, it's got a few fucks. Yeah. But the theatrical version is pretty light on the fucks. It's got like a glimpse of nudity maybe. Yeah, you see a Hudson titty or two. It's pretty mild, maybe one of

my criticisms about the movie, but you know. But it was like, you know, I was watching it with a bunch of contemporaries It's pretty mild, maybe one of my criticisms about the movie. Yeah. But I was watching it with a bunch of contemporaries on a lawn, and it was like, that's kind of an ideal setting to see that movie in. It was on a lawn in the summer with a can of soda pop. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah, but I saw it then.

I've seen it. You know, I was watching it today, and it's one of those movies where I was trying to even figure out how many times I've seen it. You know, I was watching it today, and it's one of those movies where I was trying to even figure out how many times I've seen it. I definitely have a few distinct memories of, like, putting it on. Right. I was also while watching this, because I own the, there was, like, the two-disc DVD that had the bootleg.

Okay. And the original. Is it in, like, a black cover, like, with Like with a sort of like the poster is very small? Yes, exactly. I remember that. It had three discs. It was the bootleg cut, the original cut, and then a Stillwater EP. Yep.

Which at the time. Beep-a-dum. At the time that was like a cool fucking DVD set. They locked the gates on that set. It was a limited run. But I would sometimes be in the mood to watch the movie and I put on one disc or the other and watching the bootleg cut,

I was like, oh, I don't know if I've ever watched this from beginning to end. Interesting. It's a movie I will often, I have a hard time going to sleep at night. No? Too bad?

Yep. My brain drives me insane. Sure, it sort of just spins. It spins. Another thing that may not be surprising to listeners of this show, that I can't stop over-obsessing about stuff at night, but there are certain movies that are sort of

comfort movies for me that I will throw on, and if I just watch something where I've seen it a thousand times, and sort of background noise, it lulls me into whatever, right? For me, it's Ponyo. That's a good one. I just watched Ponyo the other day. I was in a horrible mood all day. I was barking at my girlfriend. And then I put on Ponyo

and she was like, what are you doing? And I was like, don't worry about it. This is a good idea. And like 20 minutes out I was like, look at Ponyo. She's in the sea. Like it just calms me right down. It's mostly the Pixar movies for me. Sure, those are good ones. Although some of them are, you know. But I even like that. I don't want something

that's just... I was waving my face with my hand so people don't, you know, to get rid of my tears, I think, is what I wanted. Yeah, I'm not looking for something that just placates me. Sure. I'm looking for something that I have a sort of comfort in because I know it. Yeah. And I like it. You don't have to concentrate and you just, you know. You know?

You can get excited about it. But this is a book. So Almost Famous is one of them. Yeah, I'd say, you know, once a year when I'm like, fuck, I've watched like Ratatouille too many times this week, you know. I'll throw on Almost Famous. I'll be like, oh, that's an offbeat one that will have that sort of effect on me. I put on one or the other.

So I've watched like some of it and then fallen asleep a bunch of times of both cuts. That's fine. And I also at certain times just pull it out and I'm. And I also, at certain times, just pull it out, and I'm like, I just, I mean, specifically. Pull it out? Lemonade dick itself? I pull my lemonade dick out, and then I, once the dick is out, I go to my DVD cabinet, and I find the almost famous DVD. I very often, especially since he passed,

will just watch the Philip Seymour Hoffman scenes. Well, they are the best scenes in the film, so it's a smart thing to do. Right? Unquestionably, you almost won a whole movie of him. He was, you know, I like to throw out hyperbolic statements, but I think

it's fair to say he was my favorite actor of all time. You love PSH. And I went through a really tough time when he died. Perhaps affected me more than anyone I've known personally who died, which speaks more to the people who have... It's my problem and also maybe some better people got to start dying in my life. Oh, well, come on.

Hey, wait a second. I'm getting on a plane. Jesus. Not you. Not you. I know. I just don't like that kind of talk. I don't either.

Okay. I was, you know, bad joke. But, you know, I'm constantly still sort of grieving over Philip Seymour Hoffman. And this movie is, I feel like, such a good encapsulation of what made him special where it's like three scenes, four scenes, arguably. You know? I'd say two of those scenes are continuous and it's really four scenes.

And there is such detail and messy humanity and depth. And he was always good at playing kind of broken people and embarrassing people. You know? Like the dark side that we all try to hide. But this is one of the few movies where that is balanced with also him being very lovable without being saccharine.

Yeah, his parts are not saccharine. They're not saccharine, but when you see him in the movie, you want to hug him. This movie is fucking saccharine as shit. His parts are not. But yeah, he is a... Go on, Ben. Go on. Well, we should parts are not. But yeah, he is a, go on, Ben, go on. Well, we should mention who he's portraying, which is Lester Bangs, a pretty famous rock critic.

Yeah. He's actually, I mean, a lot of people say they were the first to use the term punk, but he is definitely one of the first journalists to use that terminology. I mean, he's one of the people who really shaped our perception of music, you know? And how we talk about music today is still sort of the ripple effect of how he started talking about it.

Yeah. And he was a real-life mentor to Cameron Crowe. Yeah. And when Philip Seymour Hoffman got the part, he, like, obsessively listened to tapes over and over again so he could try to get the speaking rhythms. Which I think, you know, when you listen to him, they don't have the same sort of voice pitch. Sure. And they don't physically look that similar, but he got the spirit of the guy down really well.

And it's just such a good fucking character. I also believe, if I'm not mistaken, Philip Seymour Hoffman had the flu the entire time he was doing this movie. He seems pretty run down. Or pneumonia. I don't know. It works for the character but it also is like he only worked a couple days and he's sick the whole time and it's like one of the best performances. It's a great performance. It's one of my favorite performances. I don't know if I'd even put it in his top five

though. That's how good he is. That's the problem. I mean that's the problem with ranking his performances is every one of his performances was great. Yeah. And every moment in every one of his performances. He's great in happiness. Yeah. What about those prank calls? I don't even remember.

I can't even do the joke because I forget the name of that movie with Ben Stiller. Along Came Polly? Yeah. I'll take you to the fucking mat on this one. That's a great performance. Full stop. All right. I don't want to talk about it.

That movie blows. It's basic as shit. That performance is unbelievable. Yeah. That movie blows. It's basic as shit. That performance is unbelievable. Yeah, okay. So, almost famous. Okay, almost famous. I've seen it at summer camp. I've seen it a number of times since then. I watched the Fulton Hoffman scenes probably seven times. We got it. You said it.

So this is Cameron Crowe. He's made Jerry Maguire. Talk about, blank check, talk about a hit. Dude, do whatever you want. Hollywood's like, what do you want to do? Whatever you want. What do you want to do? So, DreamWorks, the relatively nascent studio.

Yeah. Right? I mean, they start up the year after Jerry Maguire comes out. Spielberg, Geffen, Katzenberg. SKG. SKG SKG but you have to imagine DreamWorks starts up the year after

I mean the first release is 1997 which means they were probably in you know development and stuff looking for people in 96 so I'm guessing pretty soon after Jerry Maguire they like come to him and they go like what do you want we want to be a filmmaker friendly studio we want to get you go like, What do you want to do? What do you want? We want to be a filmmaker-friendly studio.

We want to get you in the fold. What do you want? And it takes four years for this movie to come out. Yeah. I think it takes him a long time to write it. You have to think, especially with Jerry Maguire, which is such a good movie star movie, right? Yes.

Like he took Cruise. Also took him about four years to make that one. Yeah. But he took Cruise to a whole other level. The dude was already the biggest movie star. He unfolded new dimensions to him, right? Yeah. And then Cuba, good character actor, made him an Oscar winner. Okay.

Renee Zellweger, pretty much unknown, overnight movie star. You have to imagine everyone's lining up to work with him. Okay. You know? The obvious thing would be make a star vehicle, cash in your chips. Okay, sure. But you already made Tom Cruise. I mean, is there a bigger star?

I just love that he goes, okay, my next film is, I know for a while Brad Pitt was going to play Russell in the film. Sure. Okay. I mean, he might have been good. He might have been good. But I don't think that was a, like, he was writing a movie for Brad Pitt. I think he was like, well, all these big stars want to be in my movie. You know, he must have played this.

Sure. Penny Lane was originally written for Sarah Polly. She would have been much better. Who's a great actress, but also not a big star and wasn't a big star then. No, but neither was Kate Hudson. No, I'm just saying that's interesting to me. I mean, because Brad Pitt, like, dropped, and then they went with Billy Crudup, who was one of those guys who people thought was on the cusp.

Yeah, I'm looking him up now because I'm trying to remember where Crudup was in his career when he got this role. Like, uh... He'd been in, like, you know... Inventing the Abbots? Yeah, and he'd been in, um, you know, Without Minutes, which was one of the two Prefontaine movies. Yes.

Might have been the worst one with a bigger release. One of them is a little worse, but got at least a little more exposure. It's Jared Leto and Crudup, right? Yeah. And one of them is Donald Sutherland, and the other one is Prefontaine is the one with Crudup. Prefontaine is the one with Leto. Yes, I'm sorry. And Without Limits is the one with Crudup, but they're both playing Steve Prefontaine. Right.

And Sutherland is in the Crudup one. That sounds right. And almost got an Oscar nom for it. Got a lot of the precursors. Yeah, he got some of that traction, I think just out of that sort of like, oh God, he's never gotten an Oscar nomination. He's also still never gotten a nomination.

That's crazy. He's one of the best living non-nominated actors. Okay. Right? Yeah. Someone just sent me a Venmo request for $100 million. Who? A co-worker of mine.

Tis a joke? A bit? Oh, an exciting business opportunity. A bit? Seems like he might have been hacked. Yeah. Seems like a bit. Anyway, so he'd been in that, but it hadn't hit.

He'd been in The High Low Country. Oh, and he'd been in Jesus' Son and Waking the Dead. So he was, I mean, these are not big movies, obviously. But The High Low Country, which is like a western-y kind of thing with Woody Harrelson and Patricia Arquette. Right, it had like a little Oscar buzz, but then it didn't land. He's also one of these guys where they're not big movies

it's a lot of Sundance-y things. Jesus Son is like not a big movie at all but it's like ooh like this is a charming man. Well that was the thing I was going to say he was the lead

in all of these. And then have you seen Waking the Dead? Waking the Dead's kind of an underrated little movie with Jennifer Connelly. Was that a what's his name?

It's like falls in love with Keith Gordon. Yeah Keith Gordon right from Christine. So you know he's got a little traction certainly not a star but Was that, what's his name? It's like falls in love with Keith Gordon. Yeah, Keith Gordon, right, from Christine, yeah. So, you know, he's got a little traction. Certainly not a star, but you can see what they saw in him. He's an incredibly handsome man who's very charismatic, and he's a good fucking technical actor.

He is handsome, which is why it's kind of funny that he's now become a go-to creep. Yeah. Which is, he's suited to. Right. But, like, in the film lawless no no no it's not lawless it's in um public enemies yes where he plays jay agar hoover this like just snake like like little freak he's great but like that's the role he plays and he also in same in spotlight

in the watch he plays a creep i haven't Literally, he plays a creep who throws sex parties, and they think he's an alien. Yeah. I mean, his character might just be named Creep in that movie. But yeah, he's become... And that was the thing, because for a long time, people were like, why didn't Billy Crudup happen?

It felt like it was all right there for the taking, and people went, well, is it because Almost Famous bombed? And it was like, no, but Kate Hudson happened off of that. And I think it was that there was something always a little too slick about him. Sure. I'm not saying. No, he's got that call.

I'm not saying to his detriment as an actor. I'm saying to his detriment as a quote unquote movie star. Sure. Because movie stars need to have some sort of like it's not just being charming. It's a likability. You're rooting for them. Yeah. And Crudup always felt, to use the sort of, like, it's not just being charming. It's a likability. You're rooting for them. Yeah. And Crudup always felt, to use the term again, a little slippery.

You know? Yeah. He seemed a little too confident in, like, himself. Yeah. And, yeah, that's, like, the role that he's fit into. He's great in Spotlight. Great in Spotlight. Really great in Spotlight.

What else is he? He's a good actor. He just never. Loves him in Spotlight. Really great in Spotlight. What else is he? He's a good actor. He just never. Loves him in Big Fish. I know you and I divide on that movie, but I love him in Big Fish. No. We don't divide on Big Fish. We divide because I think it's a.

I like Big Fish a lot. He's my least favorite part of Big Fish. I think it's a masterpiece and you think it's pretty good. I think it's good. Yeah, right. So there's a bit of a divide. All right. A little.

But we're both on the one side. Because that is a movie which most people are anti. Yeah, which is dumb. But yeah, I mean, you know, the three leads of this film are, you know, supposed to be Brad Pitt, Sarah Pauly, and an unknown kid. And then Sarah Pauly drops out because she feels like she can't pull off the role. Kate Hudson. She would have been great because the sweet hereafter is two years ago right she's she would have been great but maybe i don't know why she didn't think she could do it uh kate hudson was originally cast in the day chanel role as the older sister um interesting and he bumps up kate to Penny Lane now Kate Hudson

me and Ben birthday Benny we're talking about this she's 21 and when she makes the movie 2021 the character's supposed to be 16 she doesn't seem 16

the only thing that works her character's supposed to be 16 she says she's 16 that's the whole scene when they were like 18 no I'm 17 and she's like no I'm 16 isn't the truth I were like, 18. No, I'm 17. And she's like, no, I'm 16.

Isn't the truth? I interpret that scene differently than you do. No, it's her saying she's 16. That's how old she's supposed to be. I don't think she's 16 because he's 15. Right. He's 15. Because the whole point is she's like, isn't it funny? The truth just sounds different. And he's like, I'm 15. To her, the truth is 16. She's 16.

She's saying, I'm 16. I have never interpreted that scene that way. How do you interpret the scene? What are you talking about? That's what the scene means. I interpret that scene as she's lying back to him to prove to him how much it sounds like lying. Yeah, but then when they hit 16 she's like, isn't it funny?

The truth sounds different. And she's saying, I'm 16. I thought you were saying that to him saying his age. No. She's 16. She's supposed to be 16. That's how old she's supposed to be. Have you verified that? It's in the movie. See I interpret that scene as being like she's calling him out and saying like isn't

the truth sounds different and then he goes yeah I'm 15. Like he realizes he can't fight anymore. No it's like an awkward moment. He's like I'm 15 and she just has been you know her like weird little fairy talk has been proven kind of ridiculous. That's how I take that. I don't know.

I never. She's 16. Ben. I mean, yeah, I can see your interpretation, I guess. But you've always taken it that she's 16. Yeah. Interesting. I mean, because also, isn't it supposed to be sort of like gross that these guys are

taking advantage of these young girls? Oh, yeah. Definitely. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. And Anna Paquin's like a little baby in this movie. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, I don't know. To me, she's supposed to be 16. I mean, my problem with Kate Hudson, one of my many problems with this performance, is that she just seems a little too old and wise for the character. Or not wise is the wrong word, just seems a little too old and wise for the character. Or not wise is the wrong word, but just a little too mature.

Yeah. Yeah. Here's my problem. I mean, we have to remember when this movie came out, she landed like huge. It was people were like, this is the next thing. She's the next thing. This is incredible, this performance. And everyone thought she was going to win the Oscars. A hundred percent.

She was considered a near lock. Yeah, and it was one of the biggest upsets of the last 20 years. She lost to Marcia Gay Harden and Pollock. It's a weird upset. And it was a weird case. It's inexplicable. It was a weird case where Hudson had won every precursor, and Marcia Gay Harden had not been nominated for any of them.

I want to verify that. I believe Marha Gay Harden did not get the Globe or the SAG nomination and Hudson won both. She lost the SAG. Who lost the SAG? Hudson?

To whom? Judi Dench in Chocolat. That is so fucking weird. Very strange. That's the weirdest fucking thing I've ever heard.

And that's coming from old lemonade dick over here. Judi Dench won the SAG for Chocolat? Yep. Kate Hudson won the Golden Globe. Dench won the SAG. Can you imagine being in the year 2000 and seeing Chocolat and going, yeah,

that's probably one of the best performances I've seen all year. But you remember, Dench had not won the SAG in 98, the year she went to the Oscar. So maybe they're trying to make up for it.

That's so weird, but she won the Oscar. Okay. I mean, so she had lost the SAG. And Marsha Gay Harden was nominated for neither. She wasn't nominated

for the SAG because she was entered as lead. Interesting. And SAG has weird rules about that. Yeah. And yeah,

I think she may not have been in the Globes because, you know, what do the Globes know from Pollock? Yeah. So it's really weird. I yeah, I think she may not have been in the Globes because, you know, what do the Globes know from Pollock? Yeah. So it's really weird.

I mean, it is a lead performance in Pollock and that might be why Marsha Gay Harden won because it's a very, you know, dominant performance.

Have you seen that film? Yeah, yeah. And, oh, you know, maybe Frances McDormand, obviously, you know,

that could be the other thing who's also nominated for this film and is also wonderful in it. Maybe she took some votes. Maybe. I don't know. There's an argument.

It's an odd loss. There's an argument, too. Kate Hudson's, that character's in a weird nether zone between lead and supporting, too. Which one? You could almost make an argument that Hudson is lead in this movie. You could almost. Yeah, no, for sure. It's probably not, but it's a little weird.

It's so close. I mean, it's the classic problem of there's definitely a male lead in a film, and the largest female role is that supporting her lead. She's the female lead in that she's the most substantial female character. But does she have enough screen time to constitute being a lead? I don't think she has enough screen time. She has probably enough of an arc. I was going to say, the movie's kind of about

her. I mean, the crux of the movie is their relationship. The movie is about him, and he's in love with her. I don't think the movie's about her enough for it to quite work. I think his arc is entirely about her. That is not true. That's ridiculous. It's about a lot

of different things. It is not entirely about her. That is ridiculous. I think that's the core of the. It is not entirely about her. That is ridiculous. I think that's the core of the movie. No, his relationship with the band is also very important to the movie. I think it's secondary to his relationship with her. What's his relationship with her? She's this sort of incandescent little fairy sprite. It's this introduction to here's someone who's living an adult life the opposite of what I have lived, especially

if they are supposed to be only a year apart. Sure. You know? Where like he's lived this super shelter environment and she's done everything full tilt. Yes. And he's so sort of drawn in by that. I can't get over the Judi Dench one for sure. That's insane. Go on, carry on.

That's the weirdest win I have ever heard. That Miramax money, man, it really... What were the other four nominees for the SAG that year? Hudson? Was McDormand nominated? I'll look it up. Finish your point. Okay.

I think that she represents him struggling with who he wants to be in the world. Yeah, but then she, like everything else, kind of falls apart where he realizes, oh, you're ridiculous and you don't do anything and everything you say is kind of vapid. Hence the struggle. When he meets her, he wants to be her. And at the end of it, he realizes that he maybe wants to be with her. Maybe.

I think he also realizes that she's... Her life's a mess. She's a pretty sad person. Right, yeah. And that he's got a long road ahead of him. Yeah. And that he's an insightful dude. And he's found a lot of insight into them and into her.

I think she's the real eye-opening. He's going to be a newspaper journalist. I mean, he's going to- Magazine journalist. Yeah. Everyone thought she was going to win the Oscar. The other SAG nominees were the three of the Oscar nominees minus Marsha. So you've got your Frances McD. Katie

Hudson. Kate Hudson, Judy Dench for Chocolat, the winner. Jesus Christ. Julie Walters and Billy Elliot, who is wonderful and should have won. So good in that. And then Kate Winslet and Quills. Everybody's favorite movie, Quills. Quills, Quills, Quills.

That is so strange. 2000's an odd year. You've got your Gladiator and your Traffic, which are very male movies that don't have a lot of theme. I mean, Connie Nielsen's pretty good, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is pretty good for some reason. Neither of them click with the awards voters. I think you could have nominated Zee Zhang for Crashing Tiger.

Yeah, but there was a whole fuck up there where they campaigned her as supporting when she's the lead. And they should have campaigned her as the lead and Michelle Yeoh as supporting. They did the other way around and they fucked the whole thing. That was their problem. It was literal. I mean, she got a BAFTA nomination. For supporting. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Guys, can we get to the music? Lock the gates. Great times. Boom, I just shit my pants. Just coffee.co. Oh, God. He says that all the gates. Great times. Boom, I just shit my pants. That's coffee.co. God, he says that all the time. Remember when all the podcasts were just WTF?

That was like the only podcast you could listen to? Yeah, that was the only format that people wanted to do. Oh my God. And then you were like, great. They're like two years in, you're like, I've now heard every comedian give an interview. Four times. A long-form interview. Yeah, to each of the other comedians. Right, right. It got to a point where it was like, so you've been every comedian give an interview. Four times. A long-form interview. Yeah.

To each of the other comedians. Right. It got to a point where it was like, so you've been doing open mics for a couple years. Tell me about your process. Like, what? Why are you interviewing? How much time you got at this point? You got what?

You got 40? You got a tight 20? It was one of those things where it's like, you know, is there a saturation point? Like, will they eventually do all the comedians? And then a couple years later, you're like, yep. Yep. They did it they eventually do all the comedians? And then a couple years later, you're like, yep. Yep, they did it. They did all the comedians. David, let me ask you a question. Who are your guys?

Ben, who are your guys? What do you mean, Mike? Cosby. Who are your guys? Who are you watching? Who are you growing up? Who are your guys? I also think Cosby.

George Carlin. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he was the best, right? I love that when he asks people who their guys are, and then when they say it, he just wants to talk about those guys rather than that person's career. Yeah. I always find it lame when he talks about music.

Oh, boy. Yeah. Because he's, like, really passionate, but he's also just, like, some weird old guy that's, like, going on and on about some dumb band. By the way, I'm recording WTF tomorrow. Okay, that'd be great. Tomorrow I'm doing This American Life and then WTF.

I'm going straight from WKRP in Cincinnati. That's where This American Life records, right? I don't know. Okay. Anyway. All right, so the film. Let's get to the film. Okay, the Hudson thing.

Okay, Kate Hudson. Right. She was going to be big and she was going to win the Oscar. She's get to the film. Okay, well, the Hudson thing. Okay, Kate Hudson, right. She was going to be big, and she was going to win the Oscar. She doesn't win the Oscar. Right, she already does a couple big movies after that that all sort of underwhelmed. Four Feathers was like a massive flop that people thought was going to be a big Oscar play. Yeah, talk about like a sign of the times, that one, because what is it, Wes Bentley. It's got Heath.

It's Heath, Wes Bentley, and Kate Hudson were the three. Isn't there another girl in it? Another lady? No? Jaimon Honsu is in it? Yeah, I don't know. So it doesn't land. She's in Gossip and About Adam, which she certainly shot before.

Almost famous. Right, I think those two both were. She's in Le Divorce with Naomi Watts. Me and Richard Lawson. Oh, no, Richard, was he talking? Yeah, Naomi Watts Syndrome. He talked about it. Yes. On the podcast that's going to come out next week.

Yeah. But that was Merchant Ivory, right? Yeah. You've got Alex and Emma. Uh-huh. It's a real string of shit. Oh, but the first, theatrically, of those three movies released in 2003 is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which is a massive hit. Huge hit.

And everyone goes, there we go. That's how she fits in. Then her next movie is Raising Helen, which bombs really hard, the Gary Marshall picture. Then her next movie is The Skeleton Key, which is a horror movie that's okay that doesn't do very well. And then her next film after that is You, Me, and Dupree. And then she's stuck in Thinkless. Like, her career just doesn't go anywhere. And her next film after that is You, Me, and Dupree. And then she's stuck in Thinkless.

Her career just doesn't go anywhere. Because then we go, okay, she's playing the girl in a Dane Cook movie. Yeah, is that My Best Friend's Girl? Yeah, she's doing a shittier McConaughey follow-up. You didn't mention the skeleton key, did you? I did mention the skeleton key. I said that didn't do that well. There's, excuse me, Bride Wars. Comes the year after.

In which her hair is blue. Yeah, like a smurf. My hair is blue. Now, let's talk about who she dated. It's blue! Okay, because she dated a bunch of terrible people. Well, at the time of the Oscars, sitting next to her when she had to pretend that she wasn't angry that she lost, it was the guy from Counting Crows, right? Yeah.

Robinson? Keith Robinson, yeah. Not Keith Robinson. Keith Robinson's the guy. Oh right? Yeah. Robinson? Keith Robinson, yeah. Not Keith Robinson. Keith Robinson's the guy. Oh, Chris. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's see. Here's some of the people she's dated. Matt LeBlanc. Oof. Hey, that's a good choice. In the 90s. Yeah, and we said last week, or however many weeks ago it was, we made it clear we would date Matt LeBlanc.

We've got an hour. Okay, sorry. Eli Craig, son of Sally Field, whoever that is. Okay. Chris Robinson, as you guys said. Was married to him. From the Black Crows, not counting Crows. Oh, yeah, sorry.

Yeah. Are we talking Dax Shepard right next? Then they divorced, but they had a son called Ryder. Ugh. The National Enquirer said that she was painfully thin, and she sued them and won. Hey. I assume said she had like an eating disorder.

Yeah, get it. Get it, kid. Then Muse front man Matthew Bellamy, the guy, the sort of screechy guy. Yeah. Then that's over. And so now I'm not sure what she's up to. I believe she's with one of the Jonas Brothers now. Okay. I don't know if I'm talking out of school. She played a lesbian in Mother's Day. Oh, yeah. I believe she's with one of the Jonas Brothers now. Okay.

I don't know if I'm talking out of school. She played a lesbian in Mother's Day. Oh yeah, how was she in that? Bad. Oh yeah.

I'm pretty sure she was with Lance Armstrong too at some point. Yes. Isn't that Sheryl Crow? They both were with him, I believe. I believe

Lock the gates. Kate Hudson met Lance Armstrong on the set of You, Me, and Dupree where Lance Armstrong plays a pivotable supporting role. A pivotable? Yeah, a pivotable supporting role. A pivotable? Yeah, a pivotable supporting role.

Is he like Piven? He's very Piven-y. A film that will now be really weird to watch because it's all about how Lance Armstrong is unquestionably a figure of integrity who we should all aspire to. That happens in Dodgeball too. He did that a lot. Yep. Anyway. Anyway. You, Me, and Dupree. And she dated Alex

Rodriguez. Oh, yeah. You mean Dupree from the directors of Captain America Civil War. Yes, that is right. The Dewarster brothers. Almost famous, though. Yeah. But anyway, so, yeah, we said Crudup never quite finds his spot after this movie.

Hudson, same deal. Yeah. Hudson is more famous, but she's famous for some sort of weird, almost like, you know, cover of tabloids type fame. It's like she's sort of a brand. Yes. More than she is like a respected actress. Like, I remember Nine was supposed to be kind of a comeback for her. That flopped.

Twas not. You know, I don't know what the answer to Kate Hudson's star problem is. Well, here's my answer, and this is what we were saying. Like, you go like, man, but she was such a good actress when she started out. Look at Almost Famous. And then you rewatch Almost Famous,

and you're like, now we know all the tricks, you know? I watched this performance, and it feels very studied to me. I don't think it's a bad performance. I'm not a big fan of this performance. I don't think it's a bad performance either. I think it's fine.

But I think at the time, everyone was like... Incredibly mannered. Yes, it's fine. But I think at the time everyone was like. Incredibly mannered. Yes. That's the thing. She has this thing she does where she kind of like rests her cheeks on her hands. Yeah. Over and over again until you just want to like, you know, shake her.

I think. I don't really want to shake her. I think she. Good. Good apology. I think she is someone who is incredibly aware of how she plays on camera. And going into this movie, knew exactly what, like, smile at this angle, the camera's here, she knows where the light catches her, you know? Right.

And she's got a sort of effervescent personality. And I think she popped in this movie because it was like for someone I've never seen before that person just seems like they're so flowing and so like charismatic and natural but also the film

is so obsessed with her exactly you know I mean the film is she's such a I mean the whole thing the whole idea that Cameron Crowe

invented the manic pixie dream girl with Elizabeth down is kind of ridiculous because it's like it's all here and Vanilla Sky and Vanilla Sky although Vanilla Sky is so half-hearted I's all here. And Vanilla Sky. And Vanilla Sky, although Vanilla Sky

is so half-hearted. I'm sorry. Vanilla Sky. Vanilla Sky. Vanilla Sky. Vanilla Sky. You know who's great in this movie? Who? Zooey Deschanel. You know who's great in this movie? Who? Michael Anagarro. Agreed. I think the opening chunk's the best.

Anagarano? I've never known. Anged. I think the opening chunk's the best. Anagarano? I've never known. Angarano? However you say his name. I've never known. And PSH, great. Jason Lee, terrific. Let's dig into the movie.

That's pretty good. Yes. Let's dig into the movie. I just, sort of this final thesis thing about Kate Hudson is, I think looking back at the film now, it's clear that she had a very limited set of tricks. This film utilized

them all really well. Sure. And like diminishing returns, like I think her performance doesn't play as well now because we're like, well those are the same six moves she does in Raising Helen. And Raising Helen sucks, you know? Like we know what her moves are. It's like you know, it's like Barry Manilow coming out and playing the same four songs

over and over again. Yeah. At the Copa. Lock the gates. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's like if someone ended every single episode by saying, Bulma lives.

I just shit my pants. Pow. It says coffee.coop. By the way, go to our store. You can get our blank check blend. Breaking news, by the way. Yeah. On my phone.

Adnan Syed of Serial getting a new trial. The Maryland man's murder conviction has been vacated or whatever. He's getting a new trial. Well, I want to remind our listeners that on episode one. We talked about it in episode one. Episode one of this podcast when we threw down the gauntlet and said we were a greater mystery show than serial and we were trying to solve the mystery of what star wars episode one the phantom ass then we dropped the whole serial thing yeah

yeah but we said just so you know anon is guilty we established that in episode one of this podcast maybe you know maybe he's innocent well i think we got to stick to what we said on this podcast. Maybe, you know, maybe he's innocent. Well, I think we gotta stick to what we said on this podcast. We gotta have a consistent mythology. Almost Famous. The year is 2000.

The film opens with, I think, yeah, I think, you know, save for Philip Seymour Hoffman who's an entirely different class, my three favorite performances in the film

after that are Anne Urano, McDormand, and Zooey Deschanel. Anne Urano is so good, and it's just very tough for Patrick Fugit to live up to in this film. I think he is also excellent. Fugit? Yes.

I think that Fugit is just, he's got such a great look, and he's really sweet. He's got a really funny vibe. But when he has to do the dramatic moments, it doesn't work for me. Do you know what I like about him in those dramatic moments? And this is his first movie, pretty much. This is his first movie.

What I like about him in those moments and whether or not this is intentional, I think it works. It feels like a kid out of his depth. Yeah. Like, even if it feels like, okay, as an actor he's out of his depth and he can't pull off the full weight of this.

It feels like someone trying to be an adult and not knowing how to behave in those situations. You're talking about, like, the scene in the hotel room where he's trying to save her life and stuff. Yeah, and there's a scene a little bit before when he has this sort of confrontation with Hudson. Yes. You know, and he's kind of like— Tells her off. Yeah, he's kind of, like, pumping his fists. He's doing this funny—

They sold you for $50 and a kiss on Heineken. That doesn't work at all for me. That's the scene I'm thinking of the most. You just did it almost better than he did. There's that little impression there. It's clunky, but I think it works because he's a guy who doesn't know how to pull off what he's trying to do. Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's fair.

The movie gets away with it because, yeah, you can have a Sarah Pesce kid. Amazing. I think Andy Rondo's definitely better. Andy R anirano's you know he's just so perfect he's so perfect and he's so funny and it's we're talking about the lipnicki thing i mean crow is great with kids yeah and even when you get to the more problematic crow movies that we're gonna cover and yeah the kids in zoo are amazing i think the daughter in aloha is incredible um yeah she's really cute she's a good actress and the daughter in Aloha is incredible. Yeah, she's really cute.

She's a good actress. And the boy in Aloha is also great, Jayden Liebmanhart, who was a kid from Midnight Special. Oh, yeah, he was good in... Yeah. Okay.

He's really good with kids because he's a behavioral filmmaker with kids. There's less study behavior that you have to tear away to get people in a sort of organic state. Yeah.

And Anurano is an excellent actor. He's grown up to be an excellent actor, but was an excellent actor from a young age. This is a throwback to Eating on Mike, right? Yeah, I know. I've been doing it the last few episodes. We should mention, this film comes out in

2000. In 1999, he was the second choice to play Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. We talked about it, I believe, on one of the Attack of the Clones episodes. I wonder how he would have been. It's hard to know. Saw his audition.

They have it on the DVD. It's pretty good. But also, it's weird because his style of acting, which is more human and naturalistic even as a young, young child, doesn't totally fit in with the dialogue of Phantom Manor. Lock the gates. Lock the gates.

So the film is an autobiographical tale of Cameron Crowe's life. I think it's, I don't know, I have never listened to the commentary, so I don't know how exact this tale is, you know. I forget which version it's on. It's either on the bootleg or the theatrical, but on one of the two, there are different commentary tracks for each one.

On one of the two, the commentary is Cameron Crowe with his mother. Oh, yeah, I've heard of this commentary. Is it good? It's very good. Yeah. And they talk about it a lot.

Of course, his mom was in Jerry Maguire. She's in Vanilla Sky briefly. She's not in this, though. She was in a scene that was cut out. There's a really good deleted scene where she has a group that tries to get him off of rock music by showing him that's satanic. And I think he tries to win them over by playing Stairway to Heaven. Right, right. And they couldn't get the rights.

They shot the whole scene. They couldn't get the rights. But his mom is in it as someone else who hates the rock and roll music. It's pretty accurate. I forget which band it is. But I think there's a specific band that he toured with that it's pretty one-to-one on. He did write for Rolling Stone. Lester Bangs was his mentor.

There's a credit at the end of the film that says... I'm trying to find the exact band it was, because he says it's based on the Allman Brothers band and the Eagles, and there's another big one. Leonard Skinner, and then there's some band named Poco that I've never heard of. Sure, right. So it's like an amalgamation.

Yeah. The title card at the end of the film says, this motion picture is a work of fiction. The character Penny Lane is loosely based on an actual person. Most of the other characters in this photo play and all events are fictitious. Alright, buddy. What's interesting is them

singling out Penny Lane. Well, there's a real person who had the name Penny Lane spelled differently. P-E-N-N-I-E Lane. So do you think they had to put that in to make it clear it wasn't her? Yeah. Penny Lane Trumbull was her name. But apparently there's also a couple other famous

quote unquote groupies, band-aids, whatever you want to call them, who he probably was inspired by for that character. Now, I don't know if Cameron Crowe went on tour with the band and then had this sort of like from afar crush on a groupie and then like rescued her when she took a

Quaalude overdose and then like she you know I'm sure that a lot of this romance was compressed into this story to you know give it more of an arc and sort of an amalgam thing I mean I feel like if he was following enough bands on the road this sort of thing probably happened a couple times, and he

made it into the one that mattered. Yeah. You know? Yeah. In the same way that, you know, it sounds like it was a couple bands, but more specific incidents. Yeah. I want to say even that Poco was maybe the main influence because they were the band that never totally

made it. Sure, never hit. You know? But so, okay, so the beginning of the movie, never totally made it. Sure, never hit. You know? But so, okay, so the beginning of the movie, the best part of the movie, in my opinion. I agree. Which is when he's little, buddy, Cameron, he's like, thinks he's 14, but he's 11? Is that it? Or he thinks he's like 13, but he's 11? He thinks he's 13,

but he's 11. Right, and it's sort of like, he's a little shrimp, and it's like about this moment where he figures out because his older sister prompts the mother like you gotta tell him how old he really is. Because she's been kind of pushing him. He like skipped a couple grades. Deschanel is so good. Deschanel is wonderful.

She's like 19 in this movie? I mean this was when she was just starting to pop up and stuff right? I mean how old was she? She's like 20. She's incredible. It's surprising to me it actually.

Her eyes are just insane. I mean, she's got incredible eyes. Yeah. I mean, I always have made the argument that Zooey Deschanel is really like a sort of old studio system movie star in that way. Like an old MGM movie star in that she has like the defining facial characteristic and she's got a very specific energy and vibe. She's like a Greta Garbo type person,

where it's like, there are the aesthetics that come with Zooey Deschanel, there's an attitude that comes with Zooey Deschanel, but if you know how to use that palette, that color from the palette on the canvas, it's incredible. It's so powerful. It's too bad she doesn't make movies anymore.

Yeah. She's made one movie in the last five years. Do you know what it was? Trolls? Rock the Casbah. I think Trolls is the next one. Yeah, well, she's a voice in Trolls. She's very good on New Girl.

I just wish she was doing movies again, too. Yeah, but I mean, apparently that's a really punishing show to make. That's always been the story. So she just doesn't want to work when they're done with the season? Everyone says that that show is a nightmare to me. I like watching it. Me, too. Love watching it.

Thanks for making it, guys. But, whew, boy, I mean, you don't even have to read between the lines with interviews with, like, Jake Johnson or Max Greenfield. It is clearly a crazy show to make. And obviously she's in, like, most of the scenes. Yeah, yeah. Whew, anyway. Interesting.

So, there's this conflict between the mother and the sister. Crowe has said the conflict is actually much worse in real life and that they never totally reconciled, at least at the time when he made the movie. Whereas in this movie, they seem to reconcile by the end. This is somewhat of a happy ending, yeah. The mother is this, like, I mean,

it's one of the best things about the movie because she's not a stereotype. She's kind of hard to figure out. She's controlling, but she's also, like also artsy and very expansive in some ways. She wants her kids to be smart, but she's afraid of them being corrupted. It's like this weird push and pull. I think very true to life. The reason she's not an archetype is because I think,

especially when you listen to the commentary track, this really is who his mother was pretty accurately. Maybe she's mellowed out in the intervening years. I don't know. There's a line I'm going to paraphrase later in the film where they say, you listen, you hear stuff. Most people are just waiting for their next chance to talk. Yeah.

And I think that's Crowe's great ability when he is great is that he gets these very specific characters across because he actually does study human behavior. Right. And he doesn't reduce people to archetypes. Right. I have a friend I will not cite on the podcast for obvious reasons, but a friend whose mother is very, very similar to this, where there is the sort of,

there's that early moment where she walks by the store and she corrects the guy painting in the window. It says, Merry Xmas. Yeah, right. She's like, Xmas is not a word. Right. But she's not saying it to be mean. He goes like Yeah, right. And she's like, Xmas is not a word. Right. But she's not saying it to be mean. He goes like, thank you.

And she goes like, you're welcome. Like, she feels like she has an obligation to help uphold the standard of culture that she feels is slipping. Yeah, and I mean, I guess it is the early 70s, so she is beholding like a relatively new influx of sex and drugs, sort of open, you know, free sex and drugs.

Right. You know, like, so it's all a little terrifying to her. But she's not a nag. She's just like, this is not good, you know? Right. And she's, like, trying to get everyone to, like, cut through to them, like, compassionately. Right.

But she is an incredibly square woman. Yeah. She's a real square. Yeah. She is. Benny, you got something to say? Well, I was just thinking, it's like, she isn't the kind of stereotype which you have in Forrest Gump with Jenny's parents, who just kind of are like the typical, like, you're

participating in this counterculture, you get kicked out of the house, never want to see you again. So it was refreshing to see that. I think it is a master stroke of this film that she lets him do it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and that all the time she calls

and she disapproves and she says you should come back. He wins her over. Yeah. There's never the sort of line in the sand moment where it's like if you leave, you're not coming back home. I agree with you. There is, it kind of has to happen for the movie to happen. And there, but yeah, I agree with home. I agree with you. There is... It kind of has to happen for the movie to happen. But yeah, I agree with you.

I agree with you. Yeah. I agree with you. Yeah, because I think it makes it human. It makes it real. Yeah. He's 11. She thinks he's 13.

Frances McDormand. Because she's an amazing actress. We're lucky any time we get to watch a Frances McDormand performance. Tis true. Another actress who has never done bad work. Tis true. Another actress who's never done bad work. Tis true. Yeah. A pleasure and an honor.

Thank you, Frances, for all the years of art you've given us. Yes, thank you for all the years. Yes, Frances, thank you for the art. God, we're both in a great headspace right now. Oh, boy. The sister hates the mom there's the great scene where she tells her off yeah and you know says you know we moved christmas to july because it was less commercial all of this and she goes like well you know everyone hates you william

hates you and he goes i don't hate you and she goes you do you just don't even know it yet right and there's this sense of like she just just has had enough. She now views the mom as the enemy. Yeah. William's in a place where he's frustrated with all the things that the mom does,

but also does still love his mother. Yeah. And respect her a lot. I think her commitment to her values, you know? Right. And her intelligence.

And he's also on the cusp of puberty, and he hasn't quite discovered all these emotions yet. And he doesn't have friends. No. You know? He doesn't have allies.

There's a shot he almost directly repeats from Say Anything, where it's when all the guys are outside, like, the grocery. Yeah. And you go down the line, and then the last guy is... Is the little kid, yeah. Right.

He does this again with all the guys stroking their facial hair. Right. And then they make fun of him for not having pubes, and he makes it into a joke. Right. I did. I just shaved them all. Right. And then they're like, hey, pubes, you're pretty funny.

Yeah. So you're getting like, okay, this guy's starting to figure out that his value is in being smarter than the other kids and using that, you know? Yeah. The sister runs away with her boyfriend. She does. I mean, she kind of leaves. So it's sort of a formal runaway because she leaves like in front of her mother. Yeah.

But she leaves the records. A bunch of vinyl records. And she tells her brother to listen to Quadrophenia by Tommy by The Who. Yes, with a candle. With a candle and then he could see his future.

And you hear that, you know, what's the song? Sparks by The Who. That's so good. That's the best part of the movie. And then he's going through the records.

There's a great sequence I love of him just stroking all the record covers. They're so gorgeous. And it's like these windows that are opening up. He's been locked in this room, and now he's seeing how wide the world can be. Flashes ahead to Patrick Fugit. He is now a- He's a 15-year-old high schooler.

Yes. He likes rock music. A 15-year-old senior. Oh, he loves that rock and roll music. He's being mentored by Lester Bangs, and he's been writing freelance for like Cream Magazine or something, like the San Diego paper, I forget. Walks by a radio station where Pauly Perret of NCIS is interviewing Lester Bangs

and sort of goes up to him, and Lester Bangs is like trying to act like he's cooler than the kid, but can't hide the fact that he isn't any cooler than the kid. Yeah, sure, sure. You know, they're both smart. They just love music, and they're both nerds. They're both big nerds. But Bangs...

Bangs is banging on about the Guess Who, who are the lamest band, but he gets it. He's like, they're silly. Hey, hey, hey. Guess Who is not a fucking lame band, David. Ben, I love the Guess Who, too, but what I'm saying is, come on, at the time they were not quote-unquote cool, right? What he said, they have the courage to be buffoons? They have the courage to be silly.

That's what I love about that defensive thing. He's like, rock and roll should be silly. There's no pretension. The Doors are pretending that they're profound, and the Guess Who is like, let's make some songs that make people want to dance. Okay, you're right. And yeah, they start this mentorship mentorship and he gets him a little assignment writing for Korean Magazine.

Yeah. He goes, you know what? It's Black Sabbath is in town. Right. You should go try to get him with them. So he goes outside. The mom drops him off at the concert. Yeah.

I love you. Oh, I love you. I love you. Everyone yells out. You know, she says the love is embarrassing. I like that she does don't do drugs right

yes but I like that that she you see it dawning on her that she can't do this shit yeah you know as she's like driving away

yeah that's not gonna help it's so shocking to her and she just lost a kid so she doesn't want to lose another one yeah right no that's the thing she does

that's why she lets him go and that's why she's moderating her behavior slightly. Right. Is because she knows she's like, I was just trying to do the right thing. Did I not? Like. Right.

She's having a conversation with herself that I think probably a lot of parents have when their kids become teenagers. Yeah. She's like, I'm going to let him do the thing that he wants to do and just try to instill in him the right set of values so the thing doesn't corrupt him in her mind. Right. So he sneaks and he meets Kate Hudson. He meets the band-aids. The guys won't let him fucking in. They won't let him in no matter what. They won't let him in her mind. Right. So he sneaks and he meets Kate Hudson. He meets the band dates guys won't let

him fucking in. They won't let him in no matter what they won't let him in. Yeah. The big guy who's also in Jerry Maguire that big guy.

Yeah. I don't know what his name is and he talks to the band dates and they try to get him in but the guards still won't fucking let him in and then he sees

still water still wanted the band who are a fake band. Right. And they're waiting outside. You've got Billy Crudup as Russell

Hammond and Jason Lee as Jeff Beebe. Beebe? Beebe. Beebe. Because they almost call him Beebe. And a couple other guys. Yeah.

Two other guys. And the great Noah Taylor is their manager. Yes. And he introduces himself as a journalist, and they're like, oh, the enemy. Yeah, the enemy. Ah. And then he's like, you know, your guitar is incandescent. Incendiary.

Incendiary. That's what it is. Then he can't pronounce it, and he goes, like, you're the truth. And then they go, like, don know, your guitar is incandescent. Incendiary. Incendiary, that's what it is. Then he can't pronounce it, and he goes, like, you're the truth. And then they go like, don't stop now, come with us. Come on, man, I'm incendiary too. They pull him in. He's with the band, and he's talking to them. And this is where Crow is great, and this is where he's fucking playing with fire. It's the best.

It's so exciting. This is the experience, and he renders it perfectly. He's great at the positive. That's what this movie excels at, is the fun stuff and like the excitement of this. And I'll say this too. As someone who did not live through this time period or this scene, right?

You sort of just get a sense sometimes when you're watching a movie where you're like, this feels like what it must have felt like. You know? Where like, you can't compare it to a real life experience, but you're like, this feels like it was accurate. Right. As someone who was part of a massively unsuccessful attempt to reproduce what it feels like to be in the music scene in the 1970s.

Right. This just feels right. The dynamic of like how everyone kind of knows each other. Yeah, yeah. The banter, even just the visuals of it. kind of knows each other. Yeah, yeah. The banter, even just the visuals of it. It feels pretty unstudied, you know, and just effortless and fun. And, I mean, the psychology of Jason Lee in this movie is really, really strong. This is one of my favorite performances in the movie.

And I've really been ragging on Jason Lee, but he's great in this movie. He's great in this. This is probably his best performance ever, right? This has to be. Trying to think of other Jason Lee performances. The Incredibles., but he's great. He's great. This is probably his best performance ever. Right. This has to be. Trying to think of other Jason Lee performances. The Incredibles. He's good in The Incredibles. Yeah.

I don't know. Oh, he's great in Cop Out. What? I don't even remember him in Cop Out. Yeah, he's funny in Cop Out. Is he the guy who's marrying his daughter? Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, he is, right? Yeah, or he's married to his ex-wife. No, maybe that's it. I think that's what it is. Maybe that's it. What a shit movie. Yeah, that movie fucking blows. We've blown.

We've talked about that movie a lot on this podcast. Yeah, we've given that movie a lot of negative blones. Yep. Yeah. Negative blones. Let's have it catch on. Tweet it at Barack Obama every morning at 10 a.m. No, no, no.

We already did that one. Okay. So he gets backstage. He meets everybody. He realizes. He tries to introduce Penny to Russell. Sure, and then he realizes they know each other. Yeah.

But that's my favorite Fugit moment in the entire movie is he goes, oh, Russell, Russell, you got to meet Penny Lane over here. And she goes, hi, nice to meet you. And he goes she goes hi nice to meet you and he goes hi nice to meet you and they pretend they don't know each other and they cut to a shot of Fugit like holding he's like holding his notepad in his teeth and he's so excited that he's making connections right yeah

it's just a great reaction shot and now they're like you gotta come with us you gotta come with us to California you gotta come with us in these other stops and he goes to his mom and negotiates with her. And she's like, as long as you don't miss any tests, as long as you're there for graduation. Yeah.

But also, yeah, he kind of gets this cold call from Ben Fontouris, who's like the famous editor of Rolling Stone. Yeah. And who's like, yeah, like, William Miller, how are you doing? He's like, yes, hello, I am William, you know. Stillwater, you know. How about that? He's like, great, hello, I am William. You know, Stillwater, you know, how about that? He's like, great, 3,000 words.

He pitches Stillwater to him. Yeah, exactly. $700. Yeah. Right, he's like, yeah, I can just get you $700. And he's silent. He's like, fine, $1,000. And William Miller drops his pencil.

Yeah, because, I mean, what was that? I mean, that's a lot of money. Yeah. And the game is on, as Sean Connery would say. He's on the road with Stillwater. Lock the gates. Oh, my goodness. Sean Connery is Mark Maron.

Pow, I just shit my pants. Boomer. So who are you guys? Colin. Pryor. Cospi. No, see, because I used to work the door At the comedy store

I was with Sam Kinison and that whole crowd Oh my god What's the lawnmower guy's name? The lawnmower guy's name? No What did you say? Jeff Faye

The lawnmower guy Jerry Orbach? No the comedy guy What did you say? That's Jeff Faye. No, no, the Law and Order guy, you know. Who? Jerry Orbach? No, no, the comedy guy. What the fuck is his name? Richard Belzer? Yeah. I remember when Richard Belzer used to MC.

It took me so long to get to that. My mind went blank. What's that guy? I could see him, you know. Belzer. The Belz. The Belz. The Belz was great.

I remember the time that Keenan Ivory Wayans came up to me backstage and said, I'm just going to do a jazz set. People who like this movie are so mad at us. It's Damon Wayans, but he tells that one story fucking every other episode. Does he? Yeah. I saw Damon Wayans. I said, what material are you going to do tonight?

He goes, man, I'm just going to do jazz. I love this movie. We're just both loopy right now. Yeah, we're loopy. I don't love this movie. I think it's okay. Loopy Lou. He goes on the road with them. I mean, there's not much plot to this movie. No, there's not. I mean, especially if you're watching the untitled cut, then there is an hour and a half of

not much plot. Right. Of them bouncing from town to town, the relationship between Penny and Russell deepens. William keeps trying to get interviews with Russell. He keeps, like, this recurring thing. He keeps trying to interview him. Russell keeps blowing him off. Which, let's say this.

For movies like this that are kind of anecdotal, right? Yeah, yeah. And that are just sort of like a series of events and are not very plot-driven, they do need something like this. Like, Crow is smart enough dramatically to understand, like, he's gotta get the interview.

It's the one thing he can't do. So that everything else that's happening is, like, a sidetrack from and it's like, but in this podcast, you know we gotta get to the end of the movie that we're talking about. We do. And boy, do we. So all the side tangents are just like, okay, but we know where we, come on, guys, move it along. You know? Right.

Um, it works. It works in that way that every scene they keep on reminding you, he needs to get an interview with Russell. So, I mean, there's a lot of little story things going. Like there's this sort of tension between Jeff and Russell over like, who's the front man. Yeah. Cause it seems like Russell's the songwriter and the guitarist and he's very handsome.

Yeah. Jeff's not unhandsome, but he's kind of, you can tell he's sort of the John Adams and he's very handsome yeah jeff's not unhandsome but he's kind of you can tell he's sort of the john adams yes to russell's george washington you know he's kind of abrasive yeah and a little full of himself yeah yeah he's just something annoying about him when he tries very hard yeah he's constantly saying like just make us look cool just make us look cool and rewriting his stuff yeah and russell is more animatic like he's yes which makes him cooler is that he's harder to pin down whereas jason lee wants to seem enigmatic now the struggle of this movie is the negative stuff i would say but i think it does a pretty good job making it clear that russell is not a soulful guy in a way. He's a little hollow.

He wants to party. Yeah. He wants to hang out with chicks. He wants to play his guitar, you know, and just, like, space out. He doesn't seem to be in it for, like, you know, whatever, in it for the music, in it for the art. He doesn't dislike the music, but, you know,

like, it's not trying to make him out to be some visionary. And there's this constant refrain from Lester Bangs of, like, that's over, you know like it's not trying to make him out to be some visionary and there's this constant refrain from lester bangs of like that's over you know that was the 60s and we lost yeah and now it's like a corporate thing rock you know but it's even the difference between like you know what what lester bang says about like at least they have the courage to admit that they're buffoons yeah like jason lee won't admit that he's a buffoon. Yeah. And Russell just kind of goes like, Russell's like, oh, come on, man. I don't know. I don't know.

I just like doing this. That's why he won't be interviewed, maybe. But there's this refrain from everyone around him that, like, he could be great. Like, he could be a rock god. And it's because he has the look. He's got the look. And he has the aura.

And he has the technical skill. Right? Right. But you get the sense that, like, because a couple times people go, like, this band is good and you could be great. Why are you there with right? Right. But you get the sense that like, because a couple times people go like, this band is good and you could be great. Why are you there with them? And Noah Taylor even says that to him a couple times.

Just like, finish up the tour and then you're going to go on to bigger things. Sure. You know, this is the band you started with. Right. But it feels like, I don't know if he has enough of his own kind of, to paraphrase Lester Banks in this movie,

has enough spine to do it on his own. No, he, and like... He has to be a piece of someone else's thing, and he can be the most exciting piece. But they're kind of an echo of better music. Yes. And like, the movie doesn't make that explicit, but it's sort of implicit.

You know, like, you know. They're like, pretty good. They're not exceptional. There's nothing really thrilling about them. That's one thing the movie does well, considering that obviously the impossible challenge of having a fake band with new music is that it's never going to sound like they're the Beatles.

You're never going to think, oh, these guys are obviously. So it's not trying to make them be the best. They're mid-tier, and they might be getting better. Yeah, well, they had Peter Frampton write some of the songs. Yeah, they did. Yeah, it's not going to be good. And those ones came alive. Ben's got a lot of opinion.

Let's say that. Those songs came alive. Good. Let's pause for the songs. Yeah, they did. Yeah, it's not going to be good. And those ones came alive. Ben's got a lot of opinion. Let's say that. Those songs came alive. Good. Let's pause for the joke. Thank you. Okay. Ba-dum-bum-ching. So, yeah, what happens?

He goes around. He tries to write the story. He keeps on calling up his mom. He keeps on going, one more week, one more week. Mom keeps bugging him. You know, so you got Penny with her Band-Aids

who are played by, like, Fariza Balk and Anna Paquin. Bijou Phillips. Bijou Phillips, right. And they de-virginize him in a hotel room. Yeah, which is like fine. You know, that scene's fine. That scene kind of almost feels like an afterthought.

What do you think of that scene? That's a scene. Yeah, I like it. It's a little cutesy because then he like gets the call from Ben Fontouris like the morning after. Yeah. And like the girl answers the phone and he's like hey man like I'm not paying you to blah blah blah. Yeah I mean that's a running thing in this movie is that like

he'll call up and be like kid we need this story and then he'll say things that are so exciting to them that they're like fine. You have twice as many words. Right. Another week to work on it. Yeah. Like the story keeps on getting bigger and bigger even though he has shown them none of it. Yeah, which is hard to wrap my head around as a person who writes things. And I know the 70s were different.

The thing that's really hard for me to wrap my head around is the end, though. That's what I actually can't understand. The idea that just Billy Crowe denying it would kill the entire story. We'll get to that. Whatever. kill the entire story but we'll get to that whatever um there's uh i you know i have a hard time remembering what's in the original and what isn't i feel like there aren't that many wholesale scenes in the bootleg cut that weren't the original it's a lot it's more just a lot of expanded stuff the scenes are are more spaced out sure the film is more leisurely i think um

i like the theatrical cut better oh before, before you said not. I know. Yeah. And now re-watching it, and I'd seen the theatrical cut pretty recently, I think watching the bootleg cut feels like reading the novel that the movie was based off of. Yeah, sure. Where it's like, all this is interesting information. It's not crucial. Yeah, and all

of it adds value, but I think the movie flows better in the theatrical version. I do think there movie flows better in the theatrical version. I do think there's a gain from the length just in terms of you really feel like you're on the road with them because you're spending so much time with them. Yeah, I buy that. And the scenes have that sort of looseness to them. But I think Cameron Crowe's good when he's precise. Yeah, I do too.

When he's kind of cutting and sharp. McGuire's really long. But it's also sharp. Yeah, you don't feel it at all. Yeah, that's a lean movie, even though it's, because that is a lean film for how much story it's telling. Yeah.

This movie, I just don't ever get much more than a surface sense of Russell or Jeff. You know, like, I just, I can't grab onto those guys. I think that's kind of the point. But it's so long. Hey, can I talk about a scene I like?

Yes, please. I like when he goes to the high school party. Well, that's right. We should mention that. Big high school party scene. Yeah, yeah. That's like in the middle of the tour. Yeah, we might just talk about scenes in a random order now

because it's hard to remember what order the scenes came from. Russell drinks about a bunch of acid. Yeah, they give him a red Solo cup full of acid and beer. And he gets on the roof and he says, I am a golden god. You're cutting over the best part, though. What's the best part? I like when he's talking to the kids and he's like, you're real, man. Yeah.

Your friends are real. I literally could have heard him do that for like 10 hours. It's really good. And also, the kids are so well cast. Anytime they cut to one of the kids listening, and it's just like some teenager who doesn't know how to close his mouth. You see this table here, man? This is real.

Yeah. That clock on the wall? Real. And he sort of says that he's going to move there and just live there with those kids. He's found his nirvana. When Noah Taylor wraps him up with a blanket and tries to get him out of here, he's like, just finish the tour and you can come back here. You can live here the rest of your life. That's what he has to tell tries to get him out of here. He's like, just finish the tour and you can come back here. You can live here the rest of your life.

That's what he has to tell him to get him out of there. There's one scene I think is worth talking about that's only in the bootleg cut. Okay. Which is the Kyle Gass radio scene. It's a fun scene. It's a fun scene. Where Kyle Gass falls asleep and they all start going like, they're saying the F word.

They're on a radio show where the host presumably is on heroin or some sort of sedative. Sure, maybe lewds. Right, lewds and is sort of spacing out and repeating himself and getting the details wrong. And then at one point just full on snoozes off. And they just start like, oh, let's fuck with the system. Let's yell fuck a lot. But then it becomes the two of them airing out their bullshit. Right, right.

Or it's like, why won't you say that you think I'm great except for now, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, all right. That seems really good. I mean, I do think the crux of this is like

he can't figure these guys out because there's not much there. But also he's really excited to, you know, be friends with them. And so there's that bleeding edge of his like objectivity yeah

which is like what Lester Banks is warning him warning him off it's like they're gonna try to be your friend and like give you drugs

and give you alcohol and you're gonna party you got an honest face he's so good in those scenes just promise me one thing it's almost you be honest

and unmerciful it's almost the problem with the movie is that he lays it out so perfectly in those two minutes, Lester Bangs, that when it's happening, you're like, yeah, no, I get it because Lester Bangs already said it. The two scenes, I mean, the first one where he lays it out and then the only currency left in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool,

is those two scenes encapsulate everything the movie's trying to say in and of themselves. Those two scenes encapsulate everything the movie's trying to say in and of themselves. Right. They're beautifully written. Right. And they featured the greatest film actor of all time. He's great. Yeah.

He's a good actor. Was. Sure. He's very dead now. I know. Yeah. Have I ever told you I have this stupid thing where, like, it happened when Ledger died, too, where I, like, don't believe it, and until I hear the autopsy report, I'm like, maybe he's going to wake up. I don't feel that way, but I was certainly shocked for both of those actors when they died.

Yeah. But I didn't have to wait for the autopsy report. I was like, oh, fuck. Maybe he was just sleeping, but now they cut into him, so even if he was sleeping, he's dead now. Uh-huh. I'm an emotional child. Yes. think he's dead now uh-huh uh i'm an emotional child yes um the crux of the film becomes i really think uh his relationship with penny lane and this feeling that um she is in love with russell russell's ex-wife and now current girlfriend is back home and he's never gonna

leave her for penny lane wait they're they're he's that's her his ex-wife they at one point say his ex-wife current girlfriend whatever okay huh i didn't pick up on that i just thought she was that his wife or whatever i i think i i don't know they say i'm not challenging you this and there's the affair they had he's got a particular woman it's been on and off but but the idea is he's never going to fully leave her. Right, no. And, of course, Penny's supposed to be much younger than him. Like, it's unrealistic.

And she is supposed to be, like, this above-it-all, super cool, like, band-aid. You know, she's like, I've seen it all. Like, I know not to have sex. I know not to fall in love with these guys. She's, like, the progressive groupie. Like, she's the one who. All the other girls call her she's their den mother and she

shows them how to respect themselves and she's part of this thing of it's about the music. We're not here to sleep with the guys. It's about the music which is what she's telling herself. She says a bunch that Russell could be great and I'm here to help make sure that happens.

Right. Like she feels like she has a responsibility to help the band reach their potential. Yeah. Which is very self-aggrandizing. But the whole time she's sort of in denial of the fact that she's just like a kid with a crush. Yeah. You know she's a kid in love with a guy. Much like William is a kid with a crush.

Yeah. Yeah. They're not so different the two of them. They're not so different, the two of them. We're not so different, you and I. Lock the gates. Pow, I shit my pants. But they, you know, she thinks she is worlds beyond it, which she is in a certain way because, you know, she's lived so much more than he has in such an unsheltered way.

But mostly all she's done is hang out at rock shows and done a lot of drugs and drinking, right? William has a greater emotional intelligence. You know? Yeah. And, yeah, you know, here's what I find interesting about their relationship. Yeah. He gets really upset when he sees her run to Russell over and over again, knowing that Russell is never going to take her that seriously. Right.

He doesn't get that seriously. Right. He doesn't get possessive. No. Which I like. Yes. He gets upset. Yeah, he's sad. Yes.

But he's not, no, yeah, he's not. He doesn't think he's going to wrestle her away from Russell or whatever. I don't know. No, and I think he also is like, if she's happy with him, that's fine. But he has this pain that's like, she should be with someone who appreciates her which he thinks he does right but in reality and I think the film acknowledges this he only views her as like a manic pixie dream girl uh for sure I think the film that's that's fair constructs her enough I agree even though she's a mystery at the end that you realize it's like well she's putting on putting on this air. I think you're right. I think the film is smart enough to realize that, yeah, it's that she's being treated like an object and acknowledge it.

And that she also tries to present herself that way because that's how people find her exciting. And obviously she's traded for some beer. Right. But she just wants to seem like this random figure who runs into people's lives and makes everything more exciting, you know? And she's in denial about her name, where she's from. I mean, all of this. Right. Yeah, and it isn't until, you know, he sees them make the deal at a poker game to trade her to a different band for $50 in the case of Heineken.

Yeah. He still doesn't tell her. He's really offended by that. Russell sees it. Well, because it's insane. It's insane. Yeah. Is that a sees it well cause it's insane it's insane yeah is that a thing I presume

it must yeah it must be something right yeah we live in a terrible world that definitely has happened before it's like the only moment in the movie that is really realistic

about that groupie culture yeah I mean I was even just looking before we recorded like some of the legends about

Led Zeppelin. You know, like the shark incident. What's the shark incident? Oh, God. It's awful. Basically, at a festival in Seattle in 69, there is this legendary story that Zepp's road manager, Richard Cole, wrote in a biography. This is very much alleged, by the way.

Yes, but the story is that they took shark parts and put it into a groupie. So that's a real thing. And then also, it's confirmed that Jimmy Page dated a 14-year-old girl. Oh, yeah. That kind of shit happens. That's very well known. And you know what?

It's this thing where like, how many years later, and we're like, you know what? Wag. I'm wagging my finger at you. Yeah. You can call us.

Jimmy Page. Hashtag the three waggers. We're wagging away in this studio. We're wagging our fingers. That's a cool. No, no, no. Just to spare us from any legal trouble, there is absolutely no evidence that the

shark thing happened. It was just a story that got sort of told a lot. Nobody knows if that happened. That hasn't been said. Ben, are you saying they fucked up with the shark thing? That's what I'm saying. And I don't think that's cool. I think all that shit was terrible. I don't either. You know who I bet didn't like that?

The shark. Well, I think the shark was already dead. Well, that's what I'm saying. He probably didn't like that. The shark. Well, I think the shark was already dead. Well, that's what I'm saying. He probably didn't like that part either. All right. So what of the shark? I say after a lot of. Well, there's the teen party.

The I am a golden God. It's a fun scene for Crudup. All that stuff. After all that, the band kind of starts to splinter. Right. There's the scene where they all sing Tiny Dancer, which is kind of them making up. Which is after the Golden God. Yeah, after the Golden God, when he's all washed out on drugs. And William Miller says,

I need to get home. And she goes, you are home. And then she does a Kate Hudson. Fucking Garden State nonsense. Listen to this. It'll change your life. Hold me closer. Lock the gates. Yeah, but he did it first the gates yeah he did it first you know i mean that's what i find fascinating what i find fascinating about cameron crowe like creating the archetypal manic pixie dream girl in elizabeth town is like he was like oh you have to explain

how she's playing a part yeah like you have to explain that she's playing a part. Like, you have to explain that, like, she's lying to herself and she wants to seem like she's just effervescent because she's in denial about, like, her real life. And then he just went like, no, what if it's just someone who acts kooky all the time? Whoop-a-doop-boop-boop-boop-boop. They sing Tiny Dancer, great song. That's a sweet scene.

And then they get, they have this sort of accident. You know what song it was supposed to be originally? What? Fishbone. Yeah, right. I did actually know that, which is crazy. Tidy Dancer's a good choice. That was a joke.

That's Fishbone's The Say Anything song. Oh, fuck, no, but there was a different song it was supposed to be. Yes, but I can't remember what that was. No, but it's some ridiculous fucking song. I just read this. All right, carry on. Okay, look it up. There's the thing where he electrocutes himself.

Keep doing the plot while I look this up. Oh, well, this is the most important scene to talk about. The electrocutions? Yes. Okay. Yes, because, okay, so they're on stage. Is it because it's old-fashioned technology? They're on stage.

Yes. I mean, Ben, what do you think of it? Oh, I love it. As a man of the mics. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. You got to ground your wires, baby.

You got to ground them wires. baby. Got to ground them wires. He gets on stage. Billy Crudup goes to the mic, I guess, to do some background vocals for some crowd work. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, it's Crudup. And can I sidebar something I really like in this movie? Sure. Most movies where you have actors playing members of a band, specifically the singers, it is very unconvincing.

Yeah. A, because most of the time you have the actor lip syncing and it's very visibly evident that is the case. And B, this sort of physicality of a musician on stage is very specific and sort of organic and I feel like when actors do it, it usually feels pretty studied and mimicky. I agree.

Jason Lee does an excellent job in this movie. He's very good. He's lip syncing, but they chose a vocalist who sounds enough like Jason Lee's speaking voice that works. And also just his sort of movements on stage and his mic work and everything are really, really spot on. I can't find this song. They go to the concert. It's literally like a Blue Waster Cult song or something. Fear the Reaper?

It's not that, but yeah. He grabs the mic and he electrocutes himself and he passes out on stage and they're like, fuck, we're getting the fuck out of here. Lock the gates! That's why we gotta talk about that. Of course, that's the lock the gates scene. This is the most important scene in the movie. Yeah, they bail on the concert. They're the opening act

and they don't give him 25 minutes or whatever and so they just, you know, Noah Taylor is like, just get in the band, mates! Hello, mates! And Mark Maron's like, whoa! He's great! What's going on here? What's going on here? I didn't get my 20 minutes. And so they just, you know, Noah Taylor's like, just get in the band, mates. Yeah. Hello, mates. And Mark Maron's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's great. What's going on here?

What's going on here? I didn't get my 20 minutes. And he's like, you endangered my band. It's like short hair Maron. Yeah. Yeah. And weirdly,

like no facial hair. No, I thought he did have, maybe not. I can't remember now. It doesn't matter. I feel like he doesn't. You don't see, I mean,

you kind of mostly see his back because he's kind of in Noah Taylor's face. I think I peeped a little soul patch. Oh, he's got a little soul patch? Hold me closer, tiny soul patch. So he says, and I'm going to do a perfect impression of right now, he says, lock the gates. And they do, but then they go through the gates.

Yeah, they go through the gates. He's got a bunch of really good lines that he always talks about having ad-libbed Where when the guy grabs him Oh wait no he just did that on the spot Not lock the gates That was in the script But the ones he ad-libbed are Hey man watch the shirt

Whoa wow that's a memorable line When Noah Taylor's trying to fight him He goes oh what is that some Bruce Lee shit Oh yeah that's right Maybe those are the only two that were improvised, but he talks about that a lot. Off the cuff. Off the gates. And then, so after that incident, a little while later.

Well, there's a really good visual gag at the end of this sequence. What is it? Frieza Balk doesn't make the bus. Oh, yeah, she runs into a pillar. Yeah, and it's one continuous shot, which is like, that's when it's shot. It's in the trailer, I think. Yes. That's also where you see that this movie cost $70 million.

Because that's like a tough sequence that they had to allot like half a day to pull off. Yeah. And it's one continuous shot, a moving bus. And when you've done a take, you have to go back. There's a monologue where she's like, your mother called and she told me to tell you that she knows what's going on. And like, you know, like, because the mom keeps calling and she calls, she talks to Russell at one point and really

puts the fear of God into him. The Frieza Balk scene I think is really good. The phone one. The Frieza Balk scene's great where she, Frieza Balk is like, you know. You raised a boy who respects women. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's like, I appreciate, I see what you've done and you did a really good job for your son to turn out this well. Which is accurate. Yes. A hundred percent. Right. but the mother is also like,

listen to me, I know what's going on. And then, if Frusabock thinks she's going to win her over, she hears that she doesn't, she goes, by the way, I'm the maid.

Right, right, right. Yeah, Frusabock runs into a wall while trying to relay the message and running alongside the bus. It's a really good visual gag. Sure. And then within the same shot without cutting,

William just looks forward like terrified. Yeah, yeah. And it's a really good, William just looks forward like terrified. Yeah, yeah. And it's a really good moment. Yeah, so then eventually Jimmy Fallon playing the guy who manages the Rolling Stones. The slick guy. He has a different name in this,

but he's based on the Rolling Stones manager. Old Jimbo Fallon. He looks like early Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs? You know Steve Jobs? Yeah, he looks like early Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs? You know Steve Jobs? Yeah, he looks like early Steve Jobs who invented the Apple's twos. He does, though. He's got the Apple's twos glasses on.

No, he does. And the Steve Jobs' hairs. Yeah, sure. And the Steve Jobs' beards. Fine, fine. I thought his hair was more, what's that documentarian who did the Civil War? Ken Burns. He's got a Ken Burns kind of do.

He does have a real Ken Burns cut. That's what he has, and he promises a more professional setup, including a charter plane, which means pennies out of the band, you know, out of the entourage. But they'll be able to make more dates if they get on the plane. He doesn't want them to miss dates. They want to make more money. He goes,

you want to give up on all this, the t-shirts, the everything? We haven't talked about the t-shirt scene. But they say... T-shirt scene's good. I like that scene because it's Noah Taylor's like, the everything. We haven't talked about the t-shirt scene. The t-shirt scene's good. I like that scene because it's Noah Taylor. It's like, all right, mates, got the new t-shirts. Great. And he picks up and he's like, forget about it. Don't worry about it.

He just leaves with the box. But this gives them, right, the t-shirt is Billy Crudup and then the other three guys are out of focus. It's so silly that would never happen, but it's perfect. It's a very good scene to symbolize what's going on. Yeah, and they now have an excuse. They're able to go, well, Penny, you can't because we're on a plane. But they traded her for some Heineken maybe or something.

Right, but they make it sound like that was the only reason. And she's like, oh, it's okay. I'll just get to New York myself. And William freaks out and he's like, don't you get it? They don't care about you. Correct. There's a really weird addition in this. like, don't you get it? Like, they don't care about you. You know. Correct. Yeah. There's a really weird addition

in this. Oh, what's the weird addition? Director's cut, which is the Fallon scene, which is longer than it is in the theatrical, where he goes on the big speech and he, of course,

has to work in his famous Mick Jagger impression. Yeah, yeah. And then he goes like, so what do you guys think? And they go like, well, think it over. And he goes, oh, no, no, no think? And they go, like, well, think it over.

And he goes, oh, no, no, no. I'm not auditioning for you. You're auditioning for me. Like, I came here to debate whether or not I want. So I'm going to step outside and decide whether or not I want to work with you guys. Yeah. And they walk out, and there's silence. And they go, what do you think?

And one of the guys goes, I miss them already. Uh-huh. And at theatrical, it cuts straight to Fallon in the foreground, the band behind them walking out of a plane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a really good cut. Yeah. In the bootleg, they add in a three-minute sequence of Kate Hudson dancing with flower petals in a gymnasium to Cat Stevens.

Oh, yeah. Right, right, right. To the Wind by Cat Stevens. Yeah. Which is a song I love. Nice song. Nice song. You know, in a sort of Malick-y kind of just like, oh, it's music and physical movement kind of way.

The scene's fine. It's the absolute worst place they could have put that scene. Well, that's where I put it. Because it has nothing to do with what's happening before, after, and the whole joke is in the cup between those two images. When you have sex with someone, your body makes a promise. Whether or not, you know. You swallowed my cum, that means something.

That's a little teaser for our next episode. Lock the gates. And so they go to New York. Pow, I just shit my pants. And I guess they're in New York. Who lives. They're in New York City. Yep.

What the fuck even happened? In New York. Right? What happens? Hungry jungle. Oh, no, no. What happened? Forget New York.

It's the big, this big scene is where they're on the plane and they think it's going to crash. Knock on wood. Please, come on. I hate that song so much. It's like the worst song. You have to admit. It's the worst song.

It gets to me sometimes. You know, like the city. But there's the plane scene where they all confess it to each other, which I think is like so horrible and contrived. I like it. Yeah, but you got to admit, it's a little horrible and contrived. Classic comedy. KK.

Classic comedy. They all slept with his wife and one of them's gay and obviously William lays into, you know, the whole band, Russell in particular, for treating Penny like shit. Yeah. And then, oh no, in New York, of course, is when Penny tries to kill herself and William rescues her. That's what happens in New York. Oh, no, hold on.

You guys skipped over a really important detail. What? At one point when Rolling Stone is really pressing the character to send them something, they refer to that old piece of technology called the Mojo. The Mojo. It's almost like a fax machine, but it's even older. You can send text over the phone. And it's really fast, 18 minutes a page, which is inaccurate.

But it's a cute line. I like the detail of the Mojo. There are a couple times in the movie where they make the jokes like that that drive me crazy. Jimmy Fallon does a similar one where he goes, do you think Mick Jagger's going to be up on stage like this when he's 50? And it's like, yeah, we know. And then he breaks. We live in the future. And then he breaks. We live in the future. And then he breaks

and then Horatio Sanz comes on and they slap each other on the back. They go to New York. There's a scene I like where they go to dinner and the wife is there

and he hears from Jay Baruchel, a young Jay Baruchel who's also very good in this movie, who's following around Zeppelin. He plays Vic Munoz.

He's been following around Led Zeppelin. Uh-huh. He hears that Penny is there with... With Bowie? Yes. Maybe? I can't remember. She's a Bowie groupie now, a band-aid. But they're at dinner,

and then they see Penny Lane there and sit next to the wife, and then she keeps on looking at them, and the wife says, like, do any of you know her she's giving us a lot of weird looks and like four of them in unison go like yeah she's me

and it immediately gives it up and there's it's just a great moment of looks where then she kind of puts her head down she knows what's going on and he looks over to her while she's looking over to him and all of it is good well done Cameron Crowe is really comfortable stalking people she tries to kill herself with the quaaludes knows what's going on then he looks over to her while she's looking over to him and all of it is good. Well done.

Cameron Crowe is really comfortable stalking people. She tries to kill herself with the Quaaludes. She tries to kill herself with the Quaaludes.

William kisses her when she's passed out which is creepy. Yeah real creepy. The line though when he calls the hotel desk and he says my wife's had an accident with

some Quaaludes is an excellent Cameron Crowe line that is very funny. Yep. Nick Swardson plays a Bowie fan. Yeah, he does. A lot of weird cameos. Eric Stonestreet plays a desk clerk

who was freaked out by William's mom. Rainn Wilson plays an almost famous reporter, a Rolling Stone reporter. Yeah, who has like a cigarette holder. Yeah. Marin, there are a lot of comedy people in this. Sure. Marin plays the guy who says,

lock the gates earlier in the film. Oh, that was him? That's Mark Marin. Did you know he actually ad-libbed a bunch of his dialogue? I did hear that. Do you know that he used to be the door guy at the Laugh Factory? I've heard that before. It was like in the 80s, right? It wasn't the comedy store. I don't even remember. Oh, yeah, Laugh Factory.

Comedy store. I think he worked at the I think he got passed at the comedy store. He was the door guy at the Laugh Factory. Did you know he auditioned for SNL? No, really? Almost got it. To do what? Weekend Update?

Yeah. Oh, God. He would have been a good fit for that. But I bet he was too difficult to work with. Well, the thing is that he had a weird interaction with Lorne Michaels. Oh, God. Did he try to take the candy on the desk? We've got to go in 10 minutes.

10 minutes. Do you think Marc Maron has a good relationship with his parents? Ed Asner plays his dad, right? In Maron? Yeah. I think for the pilot and they reshot it. Oh, they did?

Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Anyway. I bet his parents were narcissists and it feels like he grew up with them rather than was raised by them. So then the film finishes rather fast,

I would say. There's like the confrontation at Rolling Stone. He saves Penny Lane. She tells him her real name, which is Lady Goodman. We should acknowledge that. Yeah. Her name is Lady Goodman because her mother thought she would marry into aristocracy.

Goes, gives the story. They're like, this sucks. No, no. They love the story. The first scene is this is a puff piece. Yeah, sure. No, right, right. And he goes, goes hey you said

show me what you got give me a knight to work on it then he gives them the real story he calls it Philip Seymour Hoffman he's got all

that's when it happens no he does that before incorrect he goes give me the knight he goes there with the typewriter blank page

with all of the Polaroids and he's trying to figure out how to write the story that's honest and he calls it Philip Seymour Hoffman then. What does he say? It's the only currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else for your own cool.

Okay. I thought that was earlier. All right. No, it's when he's trying to write the piece. Okay. And I heard that Philip Seymour Hoffman, because they were having a hard time getting Patrick Fugis to cry, Philip Seymour Hoffman called him up and said, It's a pretty great

experience you've had, huh? Uh-huh. Tried to get him worked up about the emotions. He got to work with all these creative people in the last three months. Got to meet Jimmy Fallon, and now it's all going to end. He got him bawling. Huges is really good in this scene. Shrug.

Clearly, I don't even remember the scene. This is the most important scene. This is the famous, iconic Philip Seymour Hoffman scene. Are you serious? Yeah. This is the most famous scene in the entire film. Not for me. I don't know. This is Philip Seymour Hoffman.

That's what all the best art's about is love disguised as sex and sex disguised as love. I can't tell if you're doing a bit now or not. I'm not doing a bit. This is not a scene that made an impact on me. Ben, can you back me up here? I believe you're right. Yeah. I feel like this is the iconic scene. This is the thing that everyone played when Philip Seymour Hoffman

died. Oh, yeah. But I mean, I just remember Lester Bang's stuff. This is the Lester Bang scene. But he's in some scenes. He's got some scenes where he says cool stuff. This is the big scene where he says the coolest stuff. That's great. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to do a bit. I don't remember. He writes the big scene where he says the coolest stuff. That's great. That's great. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to do a bit.

I don't remember. He writes the piece. I remember him writing the piece. They love it. They go, great, we'll just fact check it. Because it's so cruel and truthful and honest. Unmerciful. Unmerciful.

Makes them look like buffoons, you know? And they can't handle their fame. Yeah. And they go, it's sophisticated, it's sharp, it's funny. I do love the moment when he walks into the office and they all can't believe that he's a kid. It's a good moment. Yeah, it's a good moment. Yeah.

It's a little cutesy because you've got Rainn Wilson with his cigarette holder. And Terry Chen is kind of weird as Ben Fong Torres because he's kind of like a fool. of weird as Ben Fong Torres because he's kind of like a fool. You know like he's like really easily fooled by this child who's in you know pretty childish. Yeah. And then Aaron Foley comes

back. My guess is Cameron Crowe ran it by the real Ben Fong Torres. Yeah cool. She comes back and goes like it's bullshit. All of it. You fucking fake the whole thing. Well, no, you see that scene. Maybe it's only in the extended cut or is it in both?

I can't remember where Jimmy Fallon basically says like, it's fine. Russell, you deny it. And like this all goes away. Right. They all have gotten a call fact checking things that happened. Right, right, right. And they all were like angry about it. And then he was like, well, Russell hasn't said anything yet.

If he just denies everything, they'll kill the story. Now, I have no idea why this would work. Speaking as a journalist, it makes no sense. That doesn't make any sense at all. Especially if other band members had already corroborated stuff. Think about how untested he is as a writer, though. Especially now that they know he's 15. It's perfectly plausible, but the way the movie does it is so quick to me

where they're suddenly like, they get one phone call and some lady comes in and she's like, it's all fake. And they're like, ugh, fine. And then they leave and it's like, you spent a lot of money on this story. You sure you just want to drop it? It feels a little concise. A little concise. Didn't they book Annie Leibovitz to shoot for the cover?

Yes. Like, what? Yes, they did. And then you've got... Also, you wouldn't... You wouldn't show... It doesn't matter. You wouldn't show the story to the band

before it... You might fact check stuff with them, but not like... I don't understand it. I can't even begin. It's a little neat. It doesn't make any sense. It's a little neat, but we're at the end of the movie now. Well, that's the thing, and it needs to happen fast. So Russell has this epiphany where he's like, Penny, I got to make my amends to her. Yeah.

And he calls her, and she's like, yeah, no, sure, sure. You can come see me. Here's my address. Give Sam Williams a dress. Very cute of her. Yeah. Because she knows. She's over it now.

Right. She's had her moment of clarity with him, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And she knows- Oh, did we talk about how she overdosed? We kind of glossed over that. Yeah, we talked about-

No, no, no. She had an accident with some quaaludes. Right. I just- The stomach pumping scene really got me. It's good. It's good. It's gross.

Awful. It's real gross. But she's in San Diego, or at least in Southern California again, right? She lives in the same town as William. Yeah, he says that we live in the same town. Yeah. Or Russell says that to him. Yeah, Russell says that when he meets her. Yeah, he says we live in the same town. Yeah. Or Russell says that to him. Yeah, Russell says that

when he meets her. He's like, you should hang out with Penny. Yeah. But he goes to the house. Russell thinks he's there to fuck Penny Lane. The door is answered

by Francis McDormand. because at least it's not like he doesn't have a moment of like a total moment of like, oh, I need to make it better for this kid. Right.

He does need to get nudged into it and then he's like oh. Because he goes like is she here? And Francis McDormand goes like who's Zoe Deschanel? She's right here. She's right here. Star of the future? Yeah. Although he has already called Rolling Stone at this point I guess. So maybe he is a good guy. Yeah. Right. Because he says like I called

you know and I said it's all true. Yeah. Let me give you that interview. But he still wasn't going to say it to his face. The interview, you know? He gives him the interview. William sits there at the tape recorder and he starts rolling. What do you love about music? Well, let me turn my chair around.

He fucking AC Slater's that chair. Hell yeah. Really AC Slater's it. Yeah. And we see Penny picking, taking a plane to Morocco like she always talked about. She said she has a lot of partial tickets. So she gives them, like, a stack of, like she always talked about. She said she has a lot of partial tickets so she gives them like a stack of like 40 papers

and goes like Morocco please, window seat. And then you see the 74 van the title of the tour the most famous tour now it's the No Planes Tour 74.

Don't you see one other piece maybe? I feel like there's one other piece you see of something kind of? I feel like there's one other piece you see of something kind of of people's lives coming together. Oh, they show the cover of Rolling Stone. Oh yeah, you see the cover. And you know,

Russell is indeed at the front. They're all lined up and he's closest to the camera. He's hot. But Jeff doesn't seem that angry about it. It feels like they kind of came to terms with their places. Eric Stonestreet comes back, and he's like, look for me on Modern Family eight years from now.

Yeah, there's that weird epilogue of the movie where all the characters plug the things they're going to do 15 years later. Rainn Wilson's like, I'll appear on eight seasons of The Office. First Six Feet Under, though. Don't forget about that. You know, a lot of movies have super titles that tell you what happened to the characters after the movie. Yeah, they tell you what happened to the actors.

This has the actors themselves break character and say it to lens. Yes. It says that it was also brought to you by Stamps.com. That is true. But it was. It was brought to you by Stamps.com. Which is so weird. Yeah.

Can I ask you guys something? And according to the next episode that we're going to air, Al Gore hasn't yet invented the internet when this movie comes out. So it's pretty hard. This is great recording episodes out of order

so we can plug bits that we'll establish in the next episode. Can I ask you guys a very serious question? Absolutely. You should lock the gate. No.

Always lock your gate. No bits. No bits. No bits. Okay. No bits. Pro smits. It's a serious question

I have for you guys. Okay. why wasn't Jimmy Smits in this he should be in this movie uh they're all made of shit I'm trying to find a mattress

that could be shipped to me in a box the size of a mini fridge do you have any idea oh boy any idea I want that mid roll where I could find that

uh this has been our episode about Almost Famous. This has been Pod Most Cast Miss. September 2000. I also have a merch spotlight. You have a merch spotlight? I'm going to kill you, Ben. Benny, merch spotlight. Go. Okay. So on Amazon,

you can buy the Stillwater t-shirt. Really? Yeah. You mean the one with Russell in the forefoot? And then the other guy's completely darkened out in the background? That's a cool shirt. I might buy it. All right. Thanks, Ben.

That was a great merchandise spotlight. Hey, no problem. You're a great guy. Cool. Okay. Fucks up his game. So the... Where is it?

Jesus. Wait a second. Let me find it. Okay, so the movie came out limited release on September 15th. And then did it go wide the next weekend? And it went wide the next weekend. So in limited release, it opens at $130 theaters to $2 million. Pretty decent, you know.

And then wide release. And that weekend, number one was The Watcher with eight five point. No, no, I want to do the next weekend because that's sort of the weekend. Oh, you're saying the limited release weekend, it was The Watcher with eight five point no no i wanted the next weekend because that's sort of oh you're saying the limited release weekend it was the watcher right the watcher 5.8 million for number one that's pretty bad number one two or three weeks in a row but they were second week they were all low the first weekend was like eight and the second weekend was five yeah number two is bait with jamie fox interesting okay and you've got some all right so number uh the next weekend almost famous Famous expands to 1,200 theaters. Uh-huh.

Maybe a mistake. They probably should have built it a little bit. Because the movie tanks. It goes to number three, $7 million. And in total, it grosses $32 million domestic, $47 worldwide. Never enough. It's not even close to the budget. People who love it, love it, but it doesn't do well.

It wins an Oscar, like we said, an Academy Award for screenplay. Which I remember being kind of a surprise at the time. Slightly surprising. Yeah. But again, it was that year where, like, Gladiator was your favorite, Traffic's Over and Adapted. You know, so it's like there wasn't an obvious, you know. But I even remember going into Best Picture that year,

people were like, it could go Traffic, Crouching Tiger, or Gladiator. All three of those felt like they kind of had equally good chances in different ways. Sure. It was a weird year. Quills was in there. Yeah, Quills. Chocolat.

Yeah, well, that's, yeah. It should have been nominated for Best Picture over Chocolat. Yeah, okay. I mean, I'm not the hug been, but nominated for Best Picture over Stoke a lot. Yeah, okay. I mean, I'm not the hugest fan of it. So let's go through the box office. Number three is almost famous with seven million. Correct. Number one, give me a hint.

Was it a new release? New release. Give me a hint. It's a sequel to a horror movie. Well, it's not Blair Witch 2 Book of Shadows. It's not. It's not the old booko shadow but that did come out this year right that's it i believe that is a 2000 release it's a sequel to a horror movie you're never gonna get it there's like a guy in a fencing mask on the poster

urban legends 2 yes urban legends final cut i was almost gonna guess that was the subtitle yeah okay so that opened to 8.5 million now here's the crazy thing and almost famous could beat neither of these the second film is a re-release of a classic horror movie the exorcist yeah that's crazy yeah that was a big re-release no it was i remember i had the spider walk sequence oh my god yeah it is insane that almost famous couldn't crack either of these. Come on, man. It's two horror movies. You can't be one of them?

Is The Watcher number four? Watcher's number five. Number four is in its fifth week of release and is kind of a sleeper hit. It's grossed $56 million. Teen movie. Very good film. By a director we've talked about a lot on this podcast.

It's a teen movie. A very good film. By a director we've talked about a lot on this podcast. It's a teen movie, a very good film by a director we've talked about. Well, Old Dogs didn't come out until 2011. Fuck you. Give me one more hint. Oh, boy. It's hard to give you a hint on this one. 56, Sleeper. What does it end up at?

It ends up at a 68, 90 worldwide on a $28 million budget. You know, it's a high school movie. It's got some sports elements to it, but it's a female-focused film. Bring It On? Correct. Pretty good. That was really sticking in there. It was really sticking in there.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good job, Bring It On. Yeah. And then number five is The Watcher. You've got Bait. Yeah. You've got Ugly. Sorry, Nurse Betty. Not Ugly Betty. Yeah. Yeah. Good job bringing it on. Yeah. And then number five is The Watcher. You've got Bait. Yeah. You've got Ugly.

Sorry. Nurse Betty. Not Ugly Betty. Yeah. She hasn't come around yet. It's yet to come. What Lies Beneath. Great.

Great. Great little thriller. Never seen that one. Oh. It's Zemeckis. Yeah. I know. It's weird.

It's a weird one. It's the only Bobby Z film I think I haven't seen. Okay. There's Space Cowboys. Clint Eastwood goes to space. Another one sticking in there because that was like in early August I think, right? Yeah. It's a taped week. It's doing very well.

And then number 10, a film we're going to discuss next week, Woman on Top. Oh, that's another teaser for an episode we've already recorded. Woman on Top. Wait to end the show. Yeah, we'll end. I'll just tell you who Crow beat for original screenplay. Gladiator, I know. Gladiator, Aaron Brockovich,

which would have been a decent winner, Susanna Grant. Yeah. Billy Elliot, which also would have been an okay winner, Lee Hall. And then you can count on me. Which is an incredible screenplay. Which probably is your winner if I'm picking. My dude. So, you know, but a weird year.

And you can see how he won. My friend Jordy Fish, who's a listener of the show, friend of the show, he had a joke that the only reason directors make extended cuts to their film is to add in more scenes of Anna Paquin. Because Margaret and All the Famous and X-Men, yeah. Good, good. Good joke. Great. Thank you, Jordan Fish.

Great, very nerdy film joke. Yeah. That's his specialty. Yes. I was just going to say, I've never seen What Lies Beneath, but I worked on a movie where the hair woman was the woman who did Hair and What Lies Beneath. She worked on a lot of films. I asked her, she said she liked props from movies.

When they had the prop sales at the end of a production, she'd try to buy little things. I said, is there anything cool you have? And she said, yeah, I have the bathtub from What Lies Beneath. It's an iconic bathtub.

It's the poster from the movie. I also can't think of another thing you would want from What Lies Beneath. It's the only thing in the movie. But I was like, they let you buy that? And she was like, yeah,

they made a big mistake. Yeah, they did. How much did she buy it for? She was like, I don't know, like $100. It's a good bathtub. Yeah. It's like a a claw foot bathtub i think you can't use it but she's got it in her living room it's the bathtub with the blood marks

on it if i remember correctly i thought that was crazy to imagine that well uh i hope all of you are the only other thing you could buy is like michelle pfeiffer's foot right right i don't know what else is in that that's just like such like such an iconic, I haven't seen that movie and I know how iconic that thing is because it was all over the trailer and the poster and all that shit.

So we're not going to see each other for a while? Yeah, you'll see us next week. But you'll see us next week? You'll hear us next week. I'll be back in a couple weeks, Griffin, and we'll lay down

some Lizzy Town and some Zoo Buy-In and some... I mean, this is going to be confusing to the audience because there are two episodes in between the ones you're talking about doing and the one they're listening to

we've already done them but we binged ahead because David's going out of town and yeah you'll hear us without any interruptions keep on listening have a fun time listen to Blank Check and as always don't forget to rate, review, subscribe, all of the above sure feel free to tweet us in with your

burger reports anything of the kind absolutely and as always of course lock the gate the above. Sure. Feel free to tweet us in with your burger reports, anything of the kind. Absolutely. And as always, of course, lock the gate! This has been a UCB Comedy Production. Check out our other shows on the UCB Comedy Podcast Network.