Blank Check with Griffin & David - Shallow Grave

Episode Date: January 22, 2023

UK house music, a *very* active camera, and Ewan McGregor looking like a SNACK…that’s right, folks - we’re covering Danny Boyle! With the England bit retired, we’re finally giving dual citizen David Sims the time and space to actually reminisce about his very British upbringing. A sensation in the UK upon release, SHALLOW GRAVE introduced Boyle as the cinematic voice of “Cool Britannia” - yet the film remains an under-seen gem in the States. In this episode, the boys discuss what they would do with a dead body (wouldn’t cut it up) and a suitcase of cash (would only skim off the top for a cheeky Nando’s); plus, they gush over the film’s incredible apartment setting…or should we say “flat”? Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com or at teepublic.com/stores/blank-check

I'd like to ask you about your hobbies. Now, when you sacrifice a goat and you rip its heart out with your bare hands, do you then summon hellfire? Or do you just send out for a podcast? This main series is going to be murder. Well, don't worry. We do leave Scotland eventually. I know.

At least you'll have to, you know. He went all over the world. Not to call my shot, I think my McGregor is better in the next episode. Can't say I know. You don't, at least you'll have to, you know. He went all over the world. Not to call my shot, I think my McGregor is better in the next episode. Can't say I remember. So, I don't know. I feel like that was one of those in and outs. You know? I think I did a better job.

It was a little in, it was a little out, but it was in, it was in. We recorded that one already. Mm-hmm. I just think this is going to be a tricky miniseries. Not just the McGregor of it, but all of it. Listen, it's going to be a good series, though. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David. It's a podcast about

filmographies, directors who experienced massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce. Baby, and sometimes the babies, crawl on the ceiling. That's true. Not in this. Sometimes those babies, yeah, I don't know. There's a creepy wind-up baby in this one as well.

That's true. It feels like a little bit of foreshadowing. A little foreshadowing, yeah. A little doll. babies uh yeah yeah i don't know there's a creepy wind-up baby in this one as well that's true it feels like a little bit of foreshadowing a little doll uh this is what's that wait a second you see off in the desert it's so hot the heat lines distortion i can't see there's like a man on a horse. Far off. Hello? Hello? Trying to invoke like Lawrence of Arabia, the Omar Sharif introduction. Who's that over there? Oh my God, he's slowly coming into focus. That's no man.

David, atop this horse. A new miniseries. Wow. Read a whole article while he did a mini-series a new mini-series riding a dang horse riding a dang horse honestly well what well i was gonna say like i feel like the director we're covering is sort of like the uh anti or the response to the sort of broad classical filmmaking that you're talking about david lean sure but you know you know he's done some more epic stuff but you know he's jittery and wild energetic don't you think he's more the direct response to merchant ivory who

were kind of running absolutely if you're the table on the perception of british film at that point in time but then of course he did did make his David Lean-esque epic yesterday. Yes. Today. Yes, today. Folks, we're talking about Danny Boyle. Welcome to 2023. Happy New Year.

I know it's like the fourth episode of 2023, but it's our first episode of 2023. We did some Selics. We did a Shyamalan. Has that already come out? No. That'll be in a couple weeks. And now we're talking about Danny Boyle. It's a miniseries called Trainspodcasting. You were waiting

with bated breath. Trainspodcasting. For that and that's what it is. It's called Trainspodcasting. Better the more quickly you say it. Trainspodcasting. Yes. Today we're talking his debut film. It's called Shallins Podcasting. The better, the more quickly you say it. Trains Podcasting. Yes. Today we're talking his debut film. It's called Shallow Grave.

1995's Shallow Grave. 94, 95. David is 20, 23, as you said. Mm-hmm. And we all know that the bit is retired for good. That's right. The bit is retired. No bit.

There's no bit. So I am going to say David's wearing David is truly He walked into the studio Wow Wearing his no bits shirt That's right

A real statement piece And so In the name of Starting the year off On the right foot I want to say That of course David grew up in England

yes that's right I will also say it David grew up in England when did I live in England what ages I've only said it a million fucking times 13 to 21 9 to 22

okay 1995 to 2008. I almost maybe could have done the years better than the ages, but yeah, the math in my head was clearly wrong. Yeah. Look, I'm recovering from a couple days of NyQuil. David? Yes?

I bring this up because, not to re-litigate shit, there was a Reddit thread I found very funny. What was it? Complaining about the notion that we were covering Danny Boyle and that we, a group of yanks, were unqualified. How dare a show without a British voice talk Danny Boyle. Weigh in on this guy. Right.

Even though we fucking did a Miyazaki miniseries. I guess people yelled at us about that, too. People yelled at us about all kinds of things. People yelled at us when we talked about Americans. People yelled at us when we talked about our breakfast. No, but I did grow up in Britain. And not only did I grow up in Britain, I grew up in Britain when this man was making movies

and changing British culture. So it's even more specifically. And I have a goddamn British passport. And I know I sound the way I sound, but I am English. This is why I'm bringing it up. You were very defiant about this. I am. Because the thread was like a bunch of people going,

the bit's retired. Yes. And then other people going, I don't think he's doing the bit. Oh, in the thread. Sure. But is this how we want to start our new miniseries? Because, because,

you have wanted to do Danny Boyle for a long time. And one of the many reasons you wanted to do Danny Boyle for a long time. And one of the many reasons you wanted to do Danny Boyle is we haven't done a proper British filmmaker making films in the UK. Obviously, we did Christopher Nolan. The man is English, but he did leave England right away, essentially. After the first movie. You know, he made like Dunkirk is obviously, you know, that's, well, he made that in France actually. So it doesn't even count.

But right. You know, so like we've never really done a British filmmaker. Obviously we've had plenty of them on the bracket. Oh, sure. Right. You know, Hitchcock, Lean. Heard of them? I don't know.

Who else have we had? The Powell and Pressburger we've had on the bracket. Mike Lee? Have we ever put Mike Lee we had the powell and pressburger we've had on the bracket most english film have you ever put mike lee on the bracket pound press we put i put mike lee on my personal bracket he would be he would that would be that quite a mini series that would be quite a mini series yeah uh the archers yeah yeah they are yeah um but uh danny boyle look we both like some of danny boyle's move you know we both like for example you and i long have long both cherished our love of his film sunshine a classic that is a shared film of ours that we love and in the early famous bounce that we both appreciate in

the very early days of doing this podcast when we were still in the star wars days and we were thinking about doing isolated one-off episodes we would throw out like what are movies that we'd love to talk about and then that initial batch of films I think before we even really settled on the director miniseries idea it was like I'd love to do a Hulk episode we'd love to do a Sunshine episode these are the kinds of things we think about right so Sunshine is a is an episode we've been building up to in our entire run. Steve Jobs is a movie you fight for constantly. I adore.

One of my favorite movies of the century. But very much a guy you've been pushing for a very long time. Who I'm a big fan of as well. Yeah.

Do you want to talk about your history with Danny Boyle as someone who, of course, I acknowledge, grew up in England when this man's films were coming up danny boyle well i saw these first two films that we're going to cover shallow graven train spotting at a young age and they were formative in that they were formative for everyone of my age in brit culture. They were the cool Brit movies. Richie is the other guy, obviously.

And he's been on our brackets, too. But, like, in my opinion, Guy Ritchie is... It's actually kind of wild that we put him on our brackets. Guy Ritchie? Yeah. You know, he has a thing. He has a thing. And he's made really, really weird projects.

He has. He's also made franchise garbage. But, like, you know, he's made, like, revolvers and stuff. The idea of having to do him at this point feels untenable it might be tough at this point oh but have you seen day of wrath no i hear it's good ben's putting up uh yeah he's a boxer you know but like when i'm a teenager in england the coolest english movies there's like there's this wave of exciting vibrant you know sort of often crimey british movies right like while america's having its quentin tarantino boom and then the wave that follows right everyone's like ah let's all do movies about gangsters who shoot each other

britain's doing its own version of that sort of except one of the launch movies for that is just a movie about three roommates who turn on each other over a bunch of money it is uh like when you see the cover of this like especially the classic um poster which is just the shovel yeah you're like oh is it like blood simple is this kind of like a really pulpy crime movie sure and it's like yes it is a crime movie yeah but really it's just about like yuppies turning on each other it's it's an odd film and i had to keep on trying to place myself i watched this movie as a 13 year old and was like wow so cool yeah what did i relate to in this movie that's the thing i i don't i don't say this backhandedly right but i wasn't the only one like me and my teenage friends we were all like oh you know i think this is a

good movie but i also had to keep on reminding myself while watching it like placing myself in the context of when this film came out you know and how much this movie was like a statement against what the status quo of british cinema was at the time absolutely and and that this film now like you have to understand this movie as sort of like the breaking point um right along with other movies obviously but it's just like that thing like and so when i'm a teenager he makes shallow grave and train spotting we're all like yeah yeah this is it you know and by the time the beach is coming out it's that post britain you know booming britain in the 90s you know where everyone's like okay the party's over we're getting lame you know what i mean sure and then he

goes on to have the most interesting career yeah yeah that hops through every genre yeah that works on big scales and tiny scales yeah Yeah, well, because the beach, Life Less Ordinary, Doubleheader, obviously in the reverse of the order I said, is tough and feels like a classic, oh, here's like a great local filmmaker who gets swallowed up by the Hollywood machinery. He starts working with big stars at studio budgets,

and it's just not translating, right it's i think it's also it's like ah you lost what's cool yeah you know like those you know like ah shit you had what was cool for a second it's so hard to hold on to that absolutely and now you're still trying to make cool movies and you've lost it and then with 28 days later it's like oh you got it back well that's what's fascinating is then he just becomes like a genre experimenter. He becomes one of these guys where he's like, I'm going to do every type of movie. Which is not what you would expect from the start of his career, right? Like you look at these first four films and you could easily see him becoming Guy Ritchie, for example.

For sure. Where it's like he goes in between. I have my thing. Steady studio hand stuff and being like, I'm gonna keep on making different versions of Trainspotting into my 60s. 100%. I'm looking at, like, the best

British film award. Of course, he did make a second Trainspotting in his 60s. Go on. That's true. He did. But, you know, people demanded that. Well, we'll talk about it later. We'll talk about it. We're gonna talk about all of them. But it's just one of those directors Where I kind of went all the way out on him Like a lot of people

Then quietly went back in And now He holds an incredibly dear place in my heart Despite the fact that he's made He's swung and missed a few times He has And so I've always wanted to do him And I wanted to do a modern British filmmaker

Be fun to talk about modern Britain Because it'll be great whenever we do Powell and Pressburger But those guys are the most British filmmakers of all time And they are about Sort of wobbly chinned guys with mustaches Who are like I just don't know about all this

And you're like look I'm horned I love it But it's a little bit of a yesteryear thing yeah you love it you're just thinking about roger lives here i am that's david that is exactly what i'm thinking about i mean why wouldn't you be yeah um but you know these are interesting vibrant movies i feel like i keep saying vibrant uh energetic have i what had you ever seen shallow grave before i had not didn't think so ben no because the thing with train spotting is that was the true crossover hit yes this movie was huge in

britain but it was a you know a niche film in america it's also it was the highest grossing local british film of its year yes with six million dollars pounds i'm excuse me pounds which speaks to ster Pound sterling Sure Trainspotting does three times that in the UK alone Maybe Jesus does it Let's see What are on pounds

Like the queen The queen is on one side Now it would be the king But back in the day it was the young queen And then on the other side You got various people Various sort of you know Well they switch them out sometimes I can tell you who's on the current pound notes if you want to know

Ralph Wearing his Las Vegas shirt So on the current pound notes Let's see Are apparently Winston Churchill's On the five Heard of him. Heard of him. Heard of him. A little boring. He's got a stogie. Uh, no.

Let's see. What's the picture of him look like? You know, he's... He needs a sandwich. He's just kind of, you know, looking like a big bulldog. Drinking some sherry. He did love sherry. They should have quotes. Ah! That's just his quote. I know he's got a lot of famous quotes. I'm just saying, it should be Churchill on the back of every bill

But each bill is a different face And a different quote That'd be great Jane Austen is on the 10 We love her We love her J.M.W. Turner is on the 20 Mr. Turner

Who dat? A painter, a famous painter Did like insanely cool sort of like uh beginning of impressionism look at that shit so good and the back of the bill is is the scene from the 1700s ben like that's how old that is huh the back of the bill is just exactly the scene from the movie when he grabs a woman's crotch he keeps his hand there for two minutes without looking right yes uh and the he's referencing the mike lee film turner which is really good from the movie when he grabs a woman's crotch and keeps his hand there for two minutes without looking. Right? Yes. He's referencing the Mike Lee film, Turner,

which is really good. And on the 50, we now call them computers, Alan Turing. But before then, you know, you had Charles. Fascinating guy, Turing. Wild story. When I was a kid, Dickens was on the 10. Okay. And, you know, Darwin was on the 10 for a while. Florence Nightce nightingale isaac newton you know britain's got a lot of people like bruce forsyth yeah how do you

know bruce forsyth i i knew i was gonna impress you you got me with bruce forsyth thank you sugs sugs for madness of course sugs yeah he's he's actually currently on the 100. Yeah. They don't have 100. Trying to get celebrity polls that will impress David. Suggs is less impressive to me because you knowing about madness makes total sense to me. Yeah, but Suggs. Because that's a fun bet. But Suggs. Suggs is a good poll.

Thank you. How do you know Bruce Forsythe? I'm not going to tell. What's a good comp for Bruce Forsythe? First of all, I believe Bruce Forsythe hosted an episode of The Muppet Show. I mean, that's possible. Secondly, there's... Looks like he did, yes.

There's a really good Bruce Forsyth bit on Toast of London. Okay. What's that? Toast of London, the Matt Berry show. Oh, sure. I've never watched that. Oh, it's phenomenal. I don't believe you.

But there's an episode where a woman has had plastic surgery to look more like Bruce Forsyth. He had a very sort of pointy head, Bruce Forsythe. And Matt Berry in his voice, which I can barely imitate, just keeps on saying, Bruce Forsythe! Bruce Forsythe is a good example of when I left England.

When I would come back, and I would be hanging out with my friends, I'd be like, is Bob Monkhouse still alive? And they'd be like, no, he died. And I'd be like, ah, shit friends. I'd be like, is Bob Monkhouse still alive? And they'd be like, no, he died. And I'd be like, ah, shit. Like, I can't find out about that in America. He's not famous there. Like, no one's going to tell me when these guys die. Bruce Willis, I'm like, I'm not going to hear about that.

He lived until like 99, I think. He lived till 89. Okay. He died a few years ago. He put like, who's like, come on, who's like a perpetual game show host type guy in America? Chuck Woolery. Sure. Great poster. I don't know who that is, but sure. No, type guy in america sure great poster i don't know

who that is but sure no i'm saying he's a great poster chuck oh yeah that's the thing he's like a political figure now okay who does wheel of fortune yeah like say jack but the thing with say jack is like that guy hosts wheel of fortune sure bruce forrest heist hosted like five different game shows okay like whenever one would end he'd get another one okay i got a good example he was like one. Okay. I got a good example. He was like a consummate host. I got a good example. You know? Yeah. I got a good American equivalent. You know Mark Wahlberg, the other one who's not Mark Wahlberg but hosts game shows?

But not Donnie? No, his name is Mark Wahlberg. I don't. And he never changed it. But, okay. And he has been hosting game shows regularly since the 90s. Yeah, I see hosting games regularly hosts like antique road show and stuff but like famous bruce forsyth was famous like the queen knew him yes it's britain's weird to tell me that bruce forsyth's famous even you know who he is yeah um yeah this is a concept

this is the thing about britain where you're like why is that fucker famous and they're like he just is yeah and we love him and i'm like he barely seems talented they're like well shut up this is the thing i love i don't care it's it speaks so much to the the class obsession of uh of the uk right that someone like bruce forsyth is like formally referred to as a light entertainer yes light entertainment right absolutely that there's this type of celebrity where it's like are today's you know best example of but there's this sort of like diminishing kind of like what does he do he's a light entertainer that's exactly it though it's like what do you what do you do do you act in films

no no no not good at that yeah do you have a tv show where you like play characters no no no you don't do sketches no no no i sing a little i can sing are you a dancer dance a little i have danced what are you i'm just good at getting the guest yeah from the floor to the stage you know i'm good at that kind of stuff i'm good at two minutes of banter i'm a light entertainer um presenter is the official title right usually yeah but presenters more formal Light entertainer is like, know your place. In Britain, it's like there's this whole, I don't know why we're talking about this, because Danny Boyle is not really going to touch on this stuff. But although he made Who Wants to Be a Millionaire movie.

He did. And Chris Tarrant, who's the host of The British Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, is another great example of this trend. A light entertainer. Yeah, where it's like, well, why are you so rich? Well, I host a radio show in the morning. And then in the afternoon, I'm filming my BBC documentary where I tour the world's great railroads. And then at 5 p.m., turn on your TV.

I'm hosting a game show. And then at 9 p.m., I'm on the other channel hosting Strictly Come Dancing or whatever. Hosting some other competition show. I mean, Seacrest is our equivalent. Seacrest is, there you go. Or mean, like Seacrest is our equivalent. Seacrest is, there you go. Or fucking Dick Clark. Dick Clark is the example.

But both of those guys are thought of here as moguls. Well, now they're, you're like, they're business geniuses. No one's like, Dick Clark is the good example where it's like,

what are you good at? And the answer is nothing. Yeah. But he's okay at a lot of things. Regis was, he can kind of keep things. Regis was the best of them.

But Regis, at least, he hosted a fucking talk show. Yes. I know it was a morning show. No, Regis was the best of them. Yes, he was the best. Regis was funny. Yeah, and I'm not to, you know,

Bruce Forsythe had his problems, but, you know, he could be funny in his way. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't think Bruce Forsythe has any problems. He's my favorite light entertainer. The whole thing in Britain is like you eventually get canceled because you just eventually you're like you know Britain used to be a bit

jolly good back in the day and everyone's like what do you mean buddy? How back in the day are we going? Britain was pretty jolly bad. And what was the good part in your opinion? Did Bruce do that? Did Bruce step in it? All the time. Wow wow i was just thinking about when regis was shrek oh that was that that is actually the best that is like anti-comedy that

is like tim heidecker level brilliance yeah anytime regis went on letterman was just so good the sheer contempt wasn't letterman's line to him you look like you just ate some bad clam chowder Letterman's lined him, you look like you just ate some bad clam chowder. And then Regis, like, genuinely was like, took me eight hours to get in this make-up. Gonna have to watch that later. All right. This is Blank Check.

We're talking Danny Boyle, baby. We're not talking about British lie entertainers. I'll say, my history with Danny Boyle, I think, 20 days later was the first one I saw in theaters. I was mostly just, you know, that's the age. I'm like 13 or whatever. I'm starting to go see these movies, these cool specialty arm releases.

Yes. I'm getting into horror movies. It hits all the buttons, right? Yes. And everyone's like, can you believe Danny Boyle made this movie? And I'm like, who the fuck is Danny Boyle? So then I watched Trainspotting. But maybe you had heard of Trainspotting. I knew what Trainspotting was,

but I didn't put a name to it. So then I went back and watched Trainspotting. I had never seen Shallow Grave. I have not seen Life Less Ordinary or The Beach. I'm excited to watch both for the first time. The Beach is crazy. And then post 28 Days Later, I believe I see everyone in theaters

You saw Millions? Yep Sunshine? Yep Soundtrack Millionaire? Yep 127 Hours? Yep

Trance? Oh you know what I didn't see Trance And I didn't see You saw Jobs in theaters I saw Jobs in theaters And you didn't see T2 I didn't see T2 No

Okay But you know by and large you would keep up with him yeah i was in at that point yeah um shallow grave i first watched and i remember this very clearly i was in what you freaks would call the sixth grade and you would call it uh year seven what the fuck i know bizarre because kindergarten is one i don't fucking i honestly i don't have to if you're one ahead of us you're starting but kindergarten is one i guess it maybe it is because in england kindergarten at least when i was a kid was called reception which i've always thought is so funny uh i guess it's sort of like welcome you're in the reception of school the lowest grade

but then why would but maybe they start at four maybe that's how it gets offset you know what i mean like because what year one would be jack black and michael sayer obviously but it would also look all i'm going to tell you is that i was in what english people call year seven and english english listener knows that got it but i just want you to you don't have to reward me the restraint all right i'm just saying I'm just saying In year 7 Pavlovian I want to say how do you know that over and over again Every single thing you say We had music class Shush once a week in my school

And you know I pitied these poor music teachers Because they were essentially dealing with like You know 25-30 kids I'm like 11 or 12 Right And you know 25 30 kids sure i'm like 11 or 12 right and you know you're gonna try and teach us music for 40 minutes it's like once a week what kind of consistency can you really build up there obviously some of us take instruments so it's not that yeah what do you mean instruments are fun to hit your friends with you can make a lot of noise what yeah we can like i mean yeah no but but of

course yes there was a lot about mallets You're giving mallets to kids What did you play? What did I play? Yeah I played the piano And then In

When I was a teenager I tried to learn the drums David Sims tickling the ivories I tried to learn the drums And I Was alright at it But it's like You gotta really practice

And when it came to the like It's time to Like get drums in your house I was like I'm not I'm still pissed that my parents wouldn't let me play drums it would i i think that's that's a penny wise pound foolish decision on your parents part i think if they had uh put a drum set in your basement it would have or whatever yeah it would have redistributed a lot of energy that otherwise went into general tomfoolery and perhaps yeah and you've got drummer energy i mean it just it's something i was so

jealous of that my friends who were able to convince their parents to let them do it uh and i just think it's like a fucking cool thing to do don't you think it would have been a release valve for you absolutely yeah you would have stayed at home studiously playing your drums fucking get some aggression now yeah and then you would have come upstairs calm hair slick back yeah but then i might have ended up being in like bands and stuff that's that's where the road can get a little twisted okay yeah yeah um but still you know apply yourself could have been like a grindcore band i just remember it was the end of the it must must have been the end of the school year. And Mr. Smedley, God bless him.

I wonder if he's still teaching. Okay. We're talking, Jesus, I'm old. You know, we're talking almost 20 years ago. Yeah. Or fuck, maybe more than 25 years ago. Jesus. Was like, let's watch a movie.

You know, like it's like, it's the end of the year. Sure. was like, let's watch a movie. You know, like it's like, it's the end of the year. And my friend Asher, little troublemaker, had Shallow Grave, which is rated 18. It's like a, you know, adult movie. He was like, can we watch Shallow Grave? And Mr. Smedley clearly did not know. You just had the VHS on him?

Yes, because it was that thing where at the end of the year a lot of teachers were like, do you want to watch a video? And I think kids would bring, I would do it too. I would bring like videos like being like maybe we can like sneak South Park on here. So you know what I mean? I remember getting my math class to watch Back to the Future. That's fun. In a similar way. That's fun. That's fun for the whole

family. It was great. Yeah. You know we were a bunch of boys. I went to a boys school. Humble brag. All boys. Not a humble brag. Did you eat your meat? Did you eat your meat? Did I eat my meat? You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat What?

You're okay Do you smell bread? It's from the wall I just imagine That's what all boys school is We're all in our little I did wear a uniform. Single sex education and uniforms.

Very common in England. Can someone please make fan art of, of David in the style of the wall? Yeah. Someone do that. Okay. Mr. Smedley,

God bless him. Clearly did not know what shallow grave. Sure. Now maybe the title shallow grave should have been enough of a red flag for sure. But he was clearly like, huh? Oh, okay. And we put on Shallow Grave.

And I remember I had the initial thing of like, this is like a grown-up movie. I'm like 12 years old, maybe. Yeah. I'm like, is this going to be fucked up? And then we were all just like completely mesmerized by it. Wow. I think because it felt so grown up. Yeah.

And then when Carrie Fox was tits out early on, Mrs. Medley was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here but uh he didn't turn it off no he let us watch the first 40 minutes okay okay and then i think i like then you had to rent it yeah yeah okay yeah but that's that was my first clear memory yeah no mr smedley clearly was just like well i've taken the l here they're already watching it I'm in too deep You know what I mean Like what am I gonna do

Turn it off now And be like I didn't realize Shallow Grave was bad Like you know But he wasn't gonna It was kind of like Just please can no one mention this

He wasn't gonna finish it next class No it wasn't that One and done It was like Okay yeah sure Make sure Make sure you bring it back Don't rewind the tape

We'll pick up here Chris Reckleston's drilling holes It was like, okay, yeah, sure. Make sure you bring it back. Don't rewind the tape. We'll pick up here. Chris Ferguson's drilling holes in the ceiling. Wonder what that's about. Okay, so you said this right before recording. This movie has two doctors in it. Sure does. Peter Davidson?

No, no, no. I wasn't being, although John Hodge, who's Peter Davidson? Davidson? Am I I forgetting? Davison? Am I getting the name right? There's a guy in this movie who for a second I thought was one of the other doctors, an earlier doctor. Maybe I'm forgetting. Oh, oh, no, no. He's not.

Oh, yeah. Of course, Peter Davidson is, he was what, the third? No. Sixth? No. This movie has two doctors in it. Peter Davidson was the fifth doctor. There you go.

There's a lot of Peter Davisons out there What do you want from me? I don't know He's the one after Tom Baker Yes With the celery on his lapel Yes No, this movie has two doctors in it Who and Sleep

Swish You could put a swish And then the crowd going wild from NBA Jam Thank you There was someone in this movie I thought was Peter Davison I was proud of myself No I don't think so Okay well incredible joke

Five comedy points Thank you He's on fire And the movie does have Gary Lewis for a second He's one of the prospective roommates I think And he plays Billy Elliot's dad in Billy Elliot. A really good performance. Maybe him?

He's got a face you can remember. No, I don't know. Ken Stott is in it. He's one of the detectors. I think it was one of the scenes where they're watching TV and I thought the guy on TV was Peter Davison. Well, maybe it was. I don't know. I don't fucking give a shit. I suck. Shallow Grave.

It does have two doctors. Who and Sleep. Do you want to do the NBA Jam sound again? Maybe just once. We'll see. Okay. This movie came out in 1994 at Cannes.

Was released in Britain in 1995 and in America. was like rapturously received in britain yeah i feel like the american response was like you know interesting right like was kind of like sure like ebert gave it two out of four i mean and maslin was like at the times was kind of like a little sour for my taste A little misanthropic It was pretty parallel to the Tarantino thing This was sort of Reservoir Dogs-y Yes, that is a good call

Even though this movie is obviously a lot less Like Genre-y than Reservoir Dogs It is the same kind of thing of like Here's Danny with a little money Dan Trainspotting is like Here's Danny with a little money yeah then train spotting's like here's danny with some more money yeah and more of a sort of like let him off the leash vibe right and then you know we go from there right and train spotting and pulp fiction are both like

this thing is fully crystallized now and people are going to be ripping this off for the next decade and it's like so of the culture so at the moment but But I re-watched Reservoir Dogs this week, and I was reading... I don't know why. It's not a bad thing to do. I know. You know why? Because the Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction Steelbooks came out,

and I hadn't watched either one in a little while, and I watched both again. I just felt like it. Yeah. I just felt like it can get off my fucking back. You know what's good? What? Reservoir Dogs.

Reservoir Dogs is good. But it's funny. There are a lot of reviews of Reservoir Dogs is good. But, um, it's funny, there are a lot of reviews of Reservoir Dogs at the time that are similar to that. But even that are sort of like two stars, like, I don't know, it's a lot of flash, it's a lot of substance, it's a lot of style, you know?

It's not a lot of substance. Sorry, yes. It's a lot of, yes. And it's like, they didn't know who this was at this point. It feels like a posture, right. Yeah, right. And it's like, they didn't know who this was at this point. It feels like a posture, right. Right, it feels like it's trying a little hard and it's also, both of those movies

are so cynical or dark or whatever that you kind of exit with like, Jesus. You know, like, they're all dead. And those sort of middling reviews from The Elder State

has been a film criticism for both of these movies, for Shallow Grave and for Reservoir Dogs. You can tell that they're like, fuck, is this the beginning of a new trend? Right, right.

Someone like, I'm going to see where JJ pulled, but someone like Barry Norman probably was like, oh, I don't know. Whereas like Empire Magazine, which was like the cool British magazine of the day,

is like, here we are, baby. This is the best British film in years. This is it. We're cool. The middling ones are almost taking this defensive position of, I don't want this to be the next 10 years of film. And by the time the second movie has come out, Trainspotting, Pulp Fiction, everyone's basically surrendered and gone like,

this is a thing now. I mean, the winner, I was looking at the best British film category. It's a category at the BAFTA. It goes on to this day. It's become kind of embarrassing. And it got revived in the 90s. It's actually been a category in the 60s and then forgot about in the 90s.

In 92, The Crying Game won. That's an Irish film. Sure. I guess sort of British-Irish. 93, Shadowlands won. So that's a very old fad You know it's Richard Attenborough Movie about C.S. Lewis

Winger and Hopkins And the other nominees are Tom and Viv Which is similarly And then Naked which is the Mike Lee movie Which is that's more modern and aggressive I mean it's an incredible movie And a Ken Loach movie I don't even know

But in 94 Shallow Grave wins that prize Okay So it's like a year after Shadowlands Yeah BAFTA's like Best British film Shallow Grave

Wow You know A little bit of a like Alright We'll give it to the cool movie So You know Just to give you a sense of like

British cinema in the 90s. Can we crack open the dossier and get into Boyle? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about Danny Boyle. Outside of him coming from theater, I don't know much about his origins. Danny Boyle calling origins? Yeah. Danny Boyle, he has a twin sister.

I don't know if you knew that. Maria Boyle. No. Born October 20th 1956 Happy birthday To him? Yeah, in advance, I want to get out of the way

Okay, he's a Libra of course Born, he's from Manchester, he's from a little town called Radcliffe Which is north of Manchester But his mother is Irish Danny Boyle Exactly, he sounds Irish The name sounds Irish Okay. But his mother is Irish. Danny Boyle? Exactly. He sounds Irish. The name sounds Irish.

Yes. His mother had emigrated to England from Ireland in the 50s. She was a hairdresser. She met his father at a dance. Oh. In 1952. They married in 1954. Danny is born in 1956.

And he was brought up at a farm. His dad worked at a farm. Basically like a working class Catholic boy in Northern England. He passed the 11 plus, which is this like, have I talked about the 11 plus? I don't think so. Back in the day when you were 11 in Britain, you took a test, like a standardized test. And if you passed it, you got to go to the good school the grammar school and if you failed it you got to go to the like local sort of vocational school okay and it was one of those things that was undeniably like did

vault a lot of people out of the working class but it was also like you took one fucking test when you were 11 it determined where you like fell your whole fucking life yeah my dad pat my dad was working class londoner he passed the 11 plus and his one of his brothers did and his other brother and sister failed the 11 plus and literally like you just saw it in their entire lives like two of them entered the middle class two of them did not like when i was a kid like it was it was crazy they eventually got rid of the 11 plus it was it's too crazy that feels very in line with the whole is there like post-war like we shall help you know right take this test young boy oh you failed

carpentry for you you know like or whatever you're just sort of that weird kind of but like the whole british class obsession where they're like okay we understand this is a prison we're going to fix it it's bad for you one opportunity to raise your station at 11 and the door closed like yes you have one chance dad would tell me about like when he passed the 11 plus and started going to the grammar school like his uh friends who didn't were like well we won't talk to you anymore yeah you know it was like right then it was like well you're going to the fancy school now we don't want to deal with you wow geez anyway um my dad didn't even go to college he you know kind of fucked him up but anyway but he figured it out um you know. Anyway, my dad didn't even go to college. He kind of fucked him up. But anyway, he figured it out.

Shout out to my dad. He didn't like school, says Danny Boyle. But he pushed himself very hard. He was competitive with his sister. What does his sister do now? Do we know? Maria Boyle? Maria Boyle.

I don't know. I think his sister's like a teacher maybe i just remember when he i was at the premiere of yesterday hummelberg i know and he came out and introduced and he was like this movie is like my salute to teachers and then i watched the movie and i was like all right do you hate your sister but maybe i think he may have said, like, my sister's a teacher. I love English school teachers. Anyway, whatever.

But so he just, like, you know, he's a... Ooh, I love this. Thank you, JJ, for putting this in. His dad was, like, what you would consider, back in the day, a hardcore, like, working-class labor voter. Tony Benn type. Tony Benn is sort of, like, a famous politician on the left of labor, who I love personally as well. But, you know, so he passes 11 plus. He goes to a good school, you know, tough teachers.

He said he had an English teacher who changed his life, Mr. Unsworth. Okay. Who was like teaching him Jane Austen and Shakespeare and stuff like when he's a teenager and like getting him into it. And he thinks that's like what gets him into theater gets him into all that stuff right love that stuff right he he was at one point in his i don't know if i'm jumping ahead here you're not you're about to say it on on track to become a priest his mother wanted him to enter the priesthood it sounds like his mom really loved jesus many do that guy many do i found and in uh and boyle said when he was 14 years old a priest yes was like you don't want to do this like a priest was the one who was like

you don't want to go to seminary school right there was a line i saw from him where he was like i don't know if he was trying to save me from the church or save the church from me yes that's the priest very funny yes it's very very funny it is right i mean i don't know if he was trying to save me from the church or save the church from me. Yes. Which is the priest. Very funny. Very funny. It is. Right. I mean, I don't know what young Danny Boyle was like. Maybe the priest was just like, you're not going to have the energy for this. Or maybe the priest was like, this sucks.

It was either a great act of kindness or like judgmental exclusionary. Yes. So instead he starts doing theater. Right. That's his new like world. I did read a quote from where he said, I do find it fascinating how many filmmakers thought they were going to become priests.

They were on that track. And the ones he cited were M. Night Shyamalan, Martin Scorsese, and John Woo. And he's like, I do think there's something to the relationship between those types of positions where you want everyone to pay attention to you as you steer a story around.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And tell people what to think and how to think. And I think, especially for the Scorsese types, he's like, I don't want to run around and play sports or be a bad kid. I'm not in those scenes, so I'll just go here where I get to sit down and read books.

And lead conversations. And learn stories and do all this stuff. And deeply engage in stories.'s the other thing to like study stories like that yeah um when he was in sixth form which uh he was considered like junior high junior year of high school okay uh he directed a play about a polish cardinal um my guess is uh you know that was a sort of Catholic-y, school-y kind of thing. I don't know. In 1973, he sees a Clockwork Orange

at what he says the Boutique Porn Cinema in Bolton, which is another town outside of Manchester, right before it gets banned. Right before Kubrick is like, fuck it. Get it out of theaters

if you don't like it um and he says it was an overwhelming experience it simulates your senses so much uh it's the point of cinema to me to be visceral rather than intellectual or reflective the reflection can come later all of this obviously speaking to danny boyle's filmmaking style yes yes um i saw apocalypse now he also cited now turn on moment for him yeah um yeah he says the poster just got him yeah you just saw a poster that said apocalypse now and he was like oh shit um uh but it blew that movie blew him away uh he still calls that the ultimate action movie um it's all movement when the movement stops you get extraordinary crisis it's my absolute favorite film of all time ever it's mad it's flawed it's total filmmaking

on a gargantuan scale scale uh some other early movies for him battle of the bulge which is a classic old war movie sound of music when he was a little kid um and uh he came to the dg here's a dga story he tells. I guess he was talking to DGA quarterly, my favorite magazine. He says, I came to the Guild for a Q&A after Shallow Grave. It was my first film. It had gone well. And an older guy in the audience comes up to me afterwards and says,

Hey, good job, young man. And I said, Oh, thanks very much. And someone leans over and is like, This is Robert Wise. Wow. That's cool. Very cool. Never got to meet him again, he said. But it was so great to have that. Anyway, goes to Banger University.

Hell yeah. You just like bangers? Yep. And did he go to MASH for post-grad? No, he went to after MASH. Okay, thank you. Stupid joke. Alley-oop.

Was it? It's like we both alley-ooped it, and then we just collided. And the ball's over there. Bangor University, which is in Wales, he says he's a very glammy boy at that point. He loves David Bowie. He loves Roxy Music.

Starts doing more drama. You know, he's a cool, punky 70s british boy who does theater did a dissertation on samuel beckett uh directed a bunch of plays and then starts working at the joint stock theater company meets allison ritchie uh who i feel like i know who that is isn't that like an author or something i don't know anyway uh he's kind of interested in doing movies but is you know, plays Through the 80s, I think that's what he's doing He directed a Carol Churchill play, She Rules

If anyone, do you guys like Carol Churchill? No? I'm not familiar with her You've Hmm I feel like you have seen some Carol Churchill Really? Didn't you?

Have you never seen A Number? That was done Oh, I have It's Carol Okay Crazy old Carol. Yes. Top Girls is her most famous.

Very into the overlapping dialogue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of intense. Anyway. Main theater taught him, he says, love of actors. You can't do theater unless you love actors on some level, he says. He says, some directors are ghastly or unpleasant to them, obviously, but you've got to love the acting,

the craft of acting, and he thinks that was hugely helpful for him as a film director. He has always struck me as an unusually kind man. He seems like a real sweetheart. Right. And I've certainly never heard

any story about him that was remotely negative. No. In fact, one of the things... You don't really hear gossip about Danny Boyle. No. One of the things I've heard about him that was like remotely negative no in fact one of the things we hear gossip about danny boyle no one of the things i've heard about him the most prepared director that makes sense the most prepared organized the theater thing feels like the well-run part of it right but there's a certain like you know there's a manic quality to his films that i think you hear of other filmmakers achieving through like a sort of, uh,

planned chaos. Right. Right. Right. We'll just day by day. We'll figure this out. Right. Other people can do the planning shit.

Yeah. And, and he just seems like an incredibly enthusiastic, kind, thoughtful person. Um, starts making TV films for the BBC. Okay.

Um, uh, did some, um, inspector Morse's. Oh, for the BBC. Okay. Did some Inspector Morse's. Oh. We love him. Yes. He produced Alan Clark's famous 1989 film, Elephant, which I'm sure you've heard of. Yeah.

Because obviously Gus Van Sant. An excellent movie. Gus Van Sant was inspired by it for his movie, Elephant. Yeah. I'll give a hot tip. I was stocking up on a couple of builds i needed on like itunes weirdly i'm sure we'll talk about this as we go weird that there's a lot of stuff that's not available in in soil is oddly poorly represented in physical media several of his

films have never been released on blu-ray period And only two of his movies are in 4K. So yeah, iTunes and other rental places, the like. Anyway, I was looking at Danny Boyle on iTunes, and they sell the original Elephant for $2. Hey! Which is 40 minutes long. It's a pretty lengthy short. It's really cool.

But for anyone who... It's worth seeing, period. But if you are a fan of Gus Van Sant sant's elephants it's it's crucial it's crucial i highly recommend it anyway that's a hot tip i just bought it the other day while buying lifeless ordinary here is danny boyle talking about alan clark the director of that film um he was so easy and equitable with everyone it was a wonderful combination terrifying concentration and obsession with an idea but very garrulous he was obsessed with the rushes uh which is what the dailies yeah you know yeah uh i would try and get him to go out for a meal and he'd say no i'm eating my room watching rushes and i learned that from him watch the rushes watch the rushes watch the rushes watch what you're what you've done it's boring but you

learn all the time from it it's a huge thing for me okay okay that's danny boyle now mr john hodge Okay. That's Danny Boyle. Now, Mr. John Hodge. Okay. Not Hodgman. Nope. He's a doctor, a real doctor of medicine. He studied at the University of Edinburgh. So this movie has three doctors. That's true. And he had long aspired to write a screenplay. He'd loved movies since he was a teenager.

And he thinks up the premise of Shallow Grave, which he says wasn't startlingly original, but it was confined in terms of location. I thought it might be viable, and I just started writing, and I met Andrew McDonald, who's a friend of my sister's, who's working as a location manager for Taggart, which is a TV show.

Okay. And he wanted to be a producer. He gets the script. It is really one of those things where you're like, it's crazy that this happened. Yeah. That these two guys were just like, I don't know. One guy writes the script he's like is this good and another guy who like has the lowest level job in tv is like i like it let's see if we can get a little

money it's a little like mad max though yes well bad max is right yeah yeah similarly like a doctor meeting someone in film and being like what have we we just made this? It is also a testimony, as is Mad Max, to other countries having more robust government filming of the arts. Well, this is the biggest thing. Because it gets into the hands of Film 4,

which is, you know, an off-brancher channel for, which is a government-funded television channel. Yeah. And they like the script and they're like, here's a little bit of money

and here's Danny Boyle, who's like a TV director, who, you know, is we like, who's a little bit of money, and here's Danny Boyle, who's like a TV director, who, you know, is we like, who is good. And that's it. It really helps the culture of a country when your government does not almost have open contempt for the arts. Yeah, and so I think they met with a bunch of directors,

according to Andrew McDonald, and he said most of the directors who met them would be like, the characters are very unsympathetic. Can we, like, smooth that out a little bit? And Danny Boyle was the one who was like, don't want to do that. And they were like, great, you're hired. Right?

Yeah, yeah. The most important thing to Boyle is that he really wanted the characters to be rich. Okay. Because he was, and here's the quote, if they were poor, then you'd have more of an excuse for their obnoxious behavior. Okay. Because he was, and here's the quote, if they were poor, then you'd have more of an excuse for their obnoxious behavior.

And I said, no, no, no. The whole point is that these people don't need the money. They've got good jobs. They have a nice secure profession. They have this beautiful flat, but they're bored with each other and they need this new ingredient, the new roommate. And so he's just kind of like, you know,

like the satire, if it's just about like people at the end of their ropes who are desperate for the money, then it's a different kind of movie. Like it's not the movie that it is at all. Yeah, it was very surprising to me watching the film when they don't make that part of the setup. When you you go like, wait, did they skip the part where they explain why they need the money? Then getting the past due bill for the electric company or whatever. Right. They don't know. They actually know. They're're little yuppies this is a yuppie satire she's like a doctor he was an accountant and mcgregor's a journalist like they all have they have like yeah yeah um so

another thing he loved the coen brothers and he did love blood simple yes uh the grifters is another one oh sure and he mentions those movies during the interview and they're like yep yep you understand the vibe we want first is kind of an interesting outlier we talk about the state of british film at the point where oil is entering i would say stephen frears at this moment in the early 90s is a very exciting filmmaker yeah um and he's not doing the stodgy prestige stiff upper lip he made movies about real life yeah like the hit and my beautiful entree sammy and rosie get laid and all that but then he could also give you dangerous liaisons exactly he could give you i mean the grifters is a different thing but that is a period movie. It's a crime movie.

It's pulpy. It's intense. But he could jump around. Similarly, yeah, like a genre hermit crab. He is a real hermit crab. Have you seen that guy, too? He looks like a hermit crab. Yes.

I say that with all due respect. There's some Jack Black interview where he's, it's one of those fucking timeline of my career videos, where he's talking about working on High Fidelity, and he says that he calls Stephen Frears the warlock. Cool. He's got these great bushy eyebrows he does um but but like yeah if you go like on one end of british film at this point in time you have like the real sort of like ken loach uh mike lee working class humanist realist you know and then you have this sort of Merchant Ivory the Richard Attenborough whatever Frears is someone who's maybe

more of a career model for what Boyle could want to do and then Boyle's adding a new sort of energy and countercultural sort of bent to it John Hodge continues practicing medicine because he's like not sure if this is going to work out It's just an interesting thing

And Here's a Boyle story about Apparently during Scottish medicine The doctors and nurses would have acronyms That they would use with each other It's just a funny story To like you know communicate with each other Without the patient understanding

Oh that's okay FLK funny looking kid It's just a funny story to like, you know, communicate with each other without the patient understanding. Oh, that's okay. FLK, funny looking kid. Fun. But the most extreme one, and this is God's honest truth, Danny Boyle says, is TF Bundy, which stands for totally fucked but unfortunately not dead yet. Wow. Anyway. Shallow Grave.

Mm-hmm. A very interesting thing. No guns in this movie Yes Boyle said we didn't want to use guns There's something wholly false about people with guns in Britain Because there are very few guns around You know we wanted it to feel realistic In that way

I saw a quote from him where he said Even more specifically we didn't want to Americanize The story which America found dead in a shallow grave. Put him there. Yep. And, you know, the thing with his pre-production process, like you were saying, he's very prepared.

He gets a big book. He puts photographs in them. He shows it to actors and talks to them about the photos and stuff like that um he doesn't storyboard though so that's interesting re-preparation he said it was like a million pounds and they said most of it was spent on the apartment set yes um they lived in the flat for 10 days, rehearsing, watching movies. The three actors and Boyle.

Yes. Um, they watched The Grifters. They watched Goodfellas. They watched something called The Day I Believe. I don't know what that is. The quote I saw, I don't remember if it was from Eccleston or Fox, was the main thing we, Boyle wanted us to all live together so we could learn about each other.

And the main thing we learned about each other for 10 days was that we didn't like each other very much. One billion pounds, as you said. Not one billion, one million. One billion would be a bit of an inflated budget for this film. Dr. Evil over here. That would be kind of like, quick, did someone walk away with some money?

That plot is nice. It's nice. It's fucking nice In these days I'm gonna go for a billion dollar Housing market as it is It meant they could cast who they wanted They wanted the female character To be an outsider

So they cast not Scottish They cast Carrie Fox We all know from New Zealand She's in Angel at My Table Ewan McGregor had been in A Dennis Potter Carrie Fox, obviously we all know from New Zealand, she's in Angel at My Table Oh shit, yeah Ewan McGregor had been in a Dennis Potter I think a TV movie called

Lipstick on Your Collar and yeah where he's young and pretty I mean look at him Yeah, it kind of sucks how hot he is in this movie Does it suck? Kind of sucks He has charms coming in this movie. Does it? Does it suck? Kind of sucks.

He has charms coming out of his eardrums. It is absurd how much of a star he is in this. Ewan? Yeah. The hair alone. You're just like, get this guy whatever he wants. Yeah. Eccleston had been in this movie called Let Him Have It,

which is this very good British movie about a person who is hanged. Okay. Like, even though he probably... Essentially for yelling, let him have it, during the commission of a crime, and he was probably, like, mentally challenged in some sort of way, and, like, you know, it was crazy

that the British government executed him. Like a sort of social realist film, but Eccleston gives this very committed performance. Eccleston is also a Mancurian? Yes, he's from Manchester, so he's not Scottish either. You know, Ewan's the only Scot here. Eccleston, I think he's from Salford,

which is another, you know, suburb of Manchester. But Carrie Fox is far and away the most established of the three because she's been in a proper... I would say so, right? Movie. Yeah. And then the other two guys are like theater and have done TV films, basically, right? must establish of the three because she's been in a proper i would say so right movie yeah and then

the other two guys are like theater and have done tv films basically right essentially like the only major movie eccleston has done is let him have it and that's like a small english film sure and he'd done some tv he's in cracker do you know cracker robbie coltrane correct he's he's one of the guys in cracker okay um ewan is this you know young pretty guy he was in that surfing movie what's the surfing let me look it up he was in like you know the scottish blue crush okay oh right it was called blue juice wow and katherine jones is it but even that i think comes out after shallow grave he's nobody but these two guys are basically just sort of like tapped as like these are probably future leading men and as you say yeah ready for the

grabbing yeah fox is the closest thing to they didn't test her yeah like they tested the guys they didn't need to test her because she'd been an angel at my table yeah and uh robert carlisle was the original choice for mcgregor's part yes um and uh i think he didn't make sense he for it he would have been too severe for this i think and he's not a yuppie like he he can't do yuppie the way that you and you and put that sweater on him his hair's all feathery yeah you're like yeah that's who this guy i get who this guy is also it's fascinating because uh eccleston has such an extreme face right just what a what a crazy guy right and no wonder he's played a million villains yes hollywood yes and even something like when when he played the doctor it was sort

of pointedly casting against type and playing with his menacing energy yeah right and then having him play this intellectual, benevolent, you know. Obviously, you know what Ewan McGregor's major connection at this point is to the movie industry. His uncle is Wedge Antilles?

Yes, his uncle is Dennis Lawson. Right. Who is Wedge in Star Wars, but is also in like, he's in Local Hero, he's in a ton of British movies and TV.

Huh? Ultimate Nepo Baby. Oh yeah, Ewan, oh yeah, embarrassing. Nepo Nephew, let's say. That's my new ton of British movies and TV. Huh? Ultimate Nepo Baby. Oh, yeah, Ewan. Oh, yeah, embarrassing. Nepo Nephew, let's say. That's my new pitch of Altered,

the Nepo Nephews. Yes, drag them. Ewan dropped out of school at 16. What I was going to say, just before we move on, Eccleston, as opposed to Carlisle, let's say, and I know they were up for different roles, right?

Eccleston's face is so extreme, and yet you are surprised at the beginning of this movie how well they were able for different roles, right? Eccleston's face is so extreme and yet you are surprised at the beginning of this movie how well they were able to style him to sort of soften him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if you could ever do that to Carlo. Not in the way this movie needs,

in my opinion, although I love Robert Carlo. Yes. Keith Allen, who plays the roommate, and obviously he is also in train spotting as a drug dealer perhaps the same drug deal possibly the same character at this point is known he's quite well known in britain like as sort of like a comedy guy mostly and so i think that's why that's part of the casting with him is when he shows up you definitely are not like this guy will be dead in 10 minutes right he's supposed to be surprising.

It's supposed to be the biggest name in the movie, or at least the most well-known face. And you're like, am I going to see this guy's soft penis anytime soon? Yeah. And, you know, you are. All in for him. Keith Allen, as I also mentioned in the next episode,

Lily Allen's dad. Also Alfie Allen's dad. Yeah. Speaking of Nampo babies. Crappy dad, though. Apparently, Keith Allen loved being naked in front of the whole crew. Most actors want as few crew around as possible

and take their clothes off at the last possible second. Keith was naked in the breaks sitting around smoking. He's a guy who's got a tricky reputation, right? I think so. People were angry at Lily lily allen for pushing back on the nepo baby thing and it's like not that we need to fucking litigate this but it's like a well-known fact that he like had multiple term with multiple women and did not raise any of them yeah he's definitely right i i yes he has like six kids by four women and he's he's one of

those guys in britain who's always getting in trouble yeah like most of his kids like a tabloid have met him twice well no look look what's important is that you should put out a statement in response to the nepo baby article if you are a nepo baby that's the thing that's the best way to deal with it it's that'll diffuse the situation yes and no one is going to get upset at you yes no that's always the best. Just a wide statement. Everyone should comment on everything all the time. My thing with Jamie Lee Curtis, and then we can stop talking about this,

is like, I feel like she's just kind of like, I can, I don't care. I'm Jamie Lee Curtis. I can throw myself in front of this. Yeah. You know, I'm not like

some of these guys where it's like, why are you famous? She's like, look, I'm Jamie Lee Curtis. Even if people get mad at me for a year, I'm still Jamie Lee.

I'm still like in Halloween. Jamie Lee Curtis in interviews for years Halloween We need to stop talking about this Has always said like It was down to me and another girl And I'm absolutely sure I got the part Because I was the daughter of the one from Psycho I've never denied for a second that that gave me an advantage So she put out a statement

No one should ever talk about anything Everyone should get off of social media Why are you doing a podcast right now? It's over, last episode John hodge is in the movie brief briefly he likes to use his screenwriters uh in movies yes yes a little joke of his yes uh although he says he could never persuade alex garland to do it who he did many movies with yeah because alex garland's too shy uh film shot in glasgow set in in Edinburgh, much like the train spotting, which did the same thing.

They got a little bit of money because they shot in Glasgow. Almost everything's set in the apartment. They use, like you said, that's their big thing. They spent 10 days doing exteriors and they made a blood pact that once they were done with that,

they wouldn't go back. And after that, they were in the studio. We'll talk about this in the next episode, too. Yes, you're right. Trainspotting has a good blood pact. Yeah. And Eccleston, you know, got freaked out by the mortuary scene.

He didn't want to get pushed into the locker. We're talking the final bit, right? The thing I read was that... I would also not final bit, right? The thing I read was that... I would also not like that. Yes. The thing I read was that... So there's, like, another open... Whatever the fuck you call it.

Chamber above him, right? When they open the door, it's, like, two stacked on top of each other. That they had, like, a crew guy... Going there with him. Yeah, at the top bunk, essentially. Yeah. To, like, assure him

so that when they close the door he could like recite to him like you're gonna be fine you're gonna be fine they're gonna open the door we're not gonna be stuck in here um they ran out of money the last day of filming is the scene where the policeman comes to interview them okay and they had to sell most of the set like the furniture yeah to buy get enough money to buy enough celluloid to film that scene. That's wild. That is pretty cool. They asked for a little bit more money

and Channel 4 was like, no. So they were like, I guess we're selling this furniture. But the apartment is such a cool set. Yes. Right? Yes. The flat.

Yes. I should say. Inspired by Edward Hopper paintings? Yeah. And Caravaggio, apparently. And, you know, I think the set is like the big secret star of this movie.

Yeah. Like when Eccleston's going up to the attic, you get where he's going. You know what I mean? Just like the geography of the set's really clever. Ben, you've never seen Margaret, right? I have one of my favorite movies. One of the things I love about it is you can tell a movie that was actually shot in real New York apartments because every angle is like an angle of necessity of like, oh, this thing is built like this and there's only one corner and the shots are this tight or whatever.

And you immediately feel the difference between that and any movie or show you've seen that's set in New York, but they built an apartment. Totally. but they built an apartment. And it's like, you have to build these weird dimensions that end up on screen looking like a pretty nice apartment, but allow you the flexibility to actually be able to put the camera in different places. Right. Yeah.

Anyway, go on. Yeah. No, I say let's talk about the plot, right? Okay. Yeah. I mean, you know. Opening of the film is... Christopher Eccleston

delivering a monologue to the camera. Quite clever of this movie. Yes. It's a pretty good trick. Camera spinning. Because he's dead. Yes. We don't know that. No.

Spoilers for viewers. I think he's in bad shape. He looks pallid. That's true. But still, I feel like the first time I watched this movie, I definitely was, you know, fooled. Oh, I... Yes. No.

Did not see it coming. Yes. And, you know, he. Oh, I, yes. No, did not see it coming. Yes. And, you know, he's delivering this little monologue about friendship. Oh, you're friends. She's life. And the first chunk of this movie is him and his flatmates. He's David. His flatmates are Alex.

That's Ewan. Yeah. And Juliet. That's Carrie Fox. I related a lot to Ewan McGregor in this movie, by the way. Why? Because he keeps saying, David. David.

David. David. And they need a new flatmate. Although, like. Do they? I don't know. I guess they have a spare room, right? In their giant apartment.

Yeah. They all seem to be doing fine. They all seem to be doing fine. Because, like, Ewan is a journalist. They all seem to be doing fine. Because like, Ewan is a journalist, Juliet's a doctor, and David's like an accountant or whatever. Like, why do they even live together?

These guys are probably... It is a nice apartment. Yeah. So I guess you want to keep it going. This is where I'm like, how do they even know each other? They probably went to university together. Sure. That would be the vibe, I would assume.

Yeah. Like they're like uni friends. They to have a nice like living dynamic together they like they sit down to have dinner yeah they drink wine together they cook for each other i mean i think it's like it's just that they have a good relationship yeah yeah yeah and they're you know they're having so much fun interviewing all the flatmates. Being mean. Yeah, but I feel like it's also that they are like, we are cool. Yes. You know, British, Scottish, you know, intellectuals.

This is the 90s. We are not fuddy-duddies. And a lot of the people they're interviewing, they see as like fuddy-duddies. The guy with the red hair is a real wanker. Yeah, where they're just like, we're cooler than this guy. We can like pick him apart. You know, like that's like the cool like the table five you can't bring our i mean i david yes david uh i'm sure you've experienced this as well where like uh they were the fucking new york fox

and you go to like some house party at some apartment some loft in brooklyn in like 2008 and you'd be like was there a central casting call for roommates? Like you have, there's an aesthetic, there's a vibe to this apartment that feels like it is extended to who is allowed to live here. A little bit, yes, yeah. You know, I just immediately recognize

these types of people and their whole thing. Have you ever, I mean, it continues. I mean, it's just evolved as far as the Brooklyn roommate goes. It's like that meme where it's like someone named Grass can't wash the dishes because, you know, it's like

emotionally they're unable to. Come on, you don't know what I'm talking about. I don't know this meme. It sounds funny and interactive. Have you ever done the thing, Griffin, because i did this when i moved to new york where you're like you know looking at listings on craigslist and applying to be a roommate like i had no money to my name and i had like barely any credit so i couldn't like get my own apartment so instead i was like visiting apartments where that need it was exactly this that needed a roommate and then you're doing the kind of thing of like they're showing you around obviously but So instead I was like visiting apartments where that need, it was exactly this, that needed a roommate.

And then you're doing the kind of thing of like, they're showing you around obviously, but also you're like, am I impressing them? Like with like, yeah. Am I roommate material? You never did this.

I feel like. No, I guess I did. I only ever lived with friends. Right. Whereas I lived with strangers. Yeah. My first two apartments i had the same roommate for like nine years basically well we love so much uh and then i had two other one

year situations but both of them were with uh you knew the people i had friends i did i do think i looked at places like that but it was just the stress of like oh i'm not cool i think that's why i then pivoted to like i remember i saw this one apartment on avenue b yeah and it was this girl and it was clearly one of those things where she was like this is my bedroom that's your bedroom we would need to walk through your bedroom to go to the bathroom yeah and i was like okay because clearly the bedroom was probably supposed to be a living room or whatever and then she was like and we like to party a lot and i was like all right uh cool you know but i was just immediately i was like they're not gonna pick david sims yeah i don't think david sims is gonna be the one they want to walk through

his room to get to the bathroom uh you know you just want it to look cool and instead sometimes you meet a real you know juliet alex and david yeah there's also something to the fact that they're like like three different types yes go on how do i even put this uh i mean david and alex are definitely different types yes you know juliet's the girl but she's kind of also the smartest one right like the most whatever she's sort of the boss. The fact that they have like... David's more serious and Alex is more silly. Eccleston is more serious.

They each have their own vibe. When you cut to that shot of the three of them in the chairs, their sort of side of the interview, it does almost feel like they're cartoon characters or something. Where they're like three designed... You know? Hugo, Keith Allen Shows up

And he's like And I feel like immediately that Ewan's whole thing is He's like well this guy's cooler and scarier than me I wanted to be my roommate He's like this guy's got me beat He's the one guy who alphas them And I think they like that the idea of him living with them Seems to give them more edge

Right This is a swerve for us right not like the sort of busy buddy who goes to work every day yes this mysterious weirdo he's got a great who likes to be dick out on set in between takes what what's that a great look he does have a good look he's got this like sort of like car coat i think is what they call it like that mid-length kind of like leather jacket he looks like a tough cool guy that i would want to have a pint with well down at the pub and when they're like hey buddy you want to play scrabble creek oh dead from drugs money on bed yes um now we've covered a simple plan Is there anything else we've covered like this?

Great question What would you do? Because Ben's response to simple plan Plain full of money Was like pocket the money Don't get caught Easy Bingo bango

No problem Sugar in the gas tank If I'm in that movie It ends with me on an island So shallow grave. Like here's what I would do. You know, 911, ambulance, please. Dead man in my house.

Absolutely. Because here's the thing. The characters in these movies never think about. Always more complicated. Why would he have so much money? He definitely didn't just save it. It's not his pocket money. It's never like a one and done.

So you wouldn't have the thought of like, because what they do, obviously, they do two things. Yeah. They keep the money and they chop him into pieces and bury him in a shallow grave. Now, would you be tempted to call the ambulance? Hey, this guy died of a drug overdose in my house. Can you come deal with that?

And they'd be like, great. And there was nothing else on the bed. And I'd be like, nope. Nope. Just him. And put the money in my closet. Right. And then anytime I want a cheeky Nando's,

just peel a tenner off. That's my nut. Sure. Right? Or even just take like a thousand off the top or something like that. Like do the classic like cops in a drug bus where they kind of stuff a few things in their vests right you know i think i'm enough of a worry

wort right that i would be too terrified to even you'd be sweating those bills the money yes right who knows when push comes to shove what i would do in that exact situation i can say with 100 confidence i would not chop up the body. That is a thing I would never do. Yeah. Any temptation I would have money-wise would never lead me to, well, time to cut some bones.

I would say this, actually. I don't think there's any amount of money that would lead me to cut up a body like they do. This movie makes it look so unpleasant. Now, I've never seen a movie that makes it look fun. Right. It's not one of those things that I think would be easy.

No. Easy breezy. And a lot of it's maybe Eccleston doing a very good job playing the displeasure of it. He plays displeasure well. Yeah. But it really does seem like an awful day's work. I guess it's like they do have she works at the hospital yeah so she's got that and it is pretty cool that kind of like look hospital has an

incinerator you know yes like i'll just chuck some stuff in there hands and legs yeah but the some stuff is the part you know it's even like look i wouldn't want to carry around a full dead body but if the task was if you can get this full dead body to the incinerator, we're in the clear. But they don't do that. No. No. Cut it up. I don't think there's any circumstances under which I would cut up a body.

Like if I robbed... This is what I'm saying. Roger or Robert Durst. I already forgot. David, thank you. I was about to bring this up. Is it Robert? Robert Durst.

If I Robert Durst- where he i uh accidentally killed someone i'm putting accidentally in quotes there you know durst's response was like well i guess i'll chop up this body do you remember this part of the story he got off for this he got quit it i kind of don't fit he was already under suspicion for a murder that had happened maybe a decade earlier yes if not two, I can't remember if this was, no, this was number two. This was number two. At this point, it was only the wife, right?

But had been a suspect. And had maybe sort of narrowly avoided you know. Conviction. Getting caught. Thank you. Yeah. His claim was,

I got into a fight with my landlord who was my downstairs neighbor. Yes. This is when he's like living in Texas. Yes, correct. In the middle of the fight, he took out a gun, threatened to shoot me,

and then accidentally shot himself. Mm-hmm. I had nothing to do with his death. But here here i am alone in a room with a dead body and i'm already under suspicion for a previous murder what am i supposed to do if not chop it and dump it in the ocean or whatever and they were like why wouldn't you call 9-1-1 and he's like well if they find me here with a dead body they'll think that I did it. So the less suspicious thing to do is take a bone saw, separate it into ten different garbage bags.

Obviously, I believe he got off on murder. He pleaded guilty. But he was like, yes, I absolutely did chop and dispose of the body. I believe he was like, maybe found guilty of evidence tampering, which was hard to disprove because he chopped the body up. But I remember that was one of those things where the forensic guy was like, that guy knew how to chop a body yeah no like that wasn't like

an amateur job no like anyway um if i'm in that situation the durst situation yeah 911 please absolutely dead man in house yes but ben would you keep the did you take the money i would skim off the top just for Shiki Nando's. Definitely. Well, I mean, because like, I would take like a couple of stacks. Yeah. What do the cops know? You know what I mean?

Nothing. Like they could have cut that in half and still called. That's what I felt like. I felt like the mistake was they were obviously too greedy, but like this was an opportunity to, yeah, take a good amount of that money and still get away with it. I'm glad we're just all on the same page, which is team never chop up a body. Never, never, ever would I do that. And I just want to also mention there is another movie that is in this wheelhouse, which is

The Killing. And I still stand by that I think I could have pulled off the heist. The thing with The Killing is that it's I could have pulled off the heist. The thing with the killing is that it's a lot of personalities at play there, too. You're dealing with a lot of guys who are like, I'm really down on my luck. I'd do anything for this. And you're like, well, I don't want to be associated with someone with that energy.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I want someone just like, I'm a professional. I do this all the time. And if I don't get the money, that's okay. I'm fine. I'm set. Not someone who's like, oh, Jesus, my wife's gonna kill me if I don't get my 10 grand. Fl i'm fine yes i'm set not someone who's like oh jesus my wife's gonna kill me if i don't get my 10 grand flop set sweat thrillers yeah uh movies like this stress me out so much where they're like it's easy it's easy it's a perfect plan it's one step and then we're in the clear and you're like okay but it's minute 15 and this movie is 100 minutes long yeah what

if you actually you you check the time oh there's only 20 minutes in this movie yeah and the next movie is the next scene is just them being like the rest of the movie is just they move into a nicer apartment host dinner parties nothing ever catches up to them but before the devil knows you're dead is another one where i'm just like just stacking bad decisions atop one another to constantly think like if we just do this then we'll be fine yeah just one more move and then we're fine but this i like that it's less about them trying to outrun and more about how much it breaks their brains what i love about it is yes you're see you're cutting to these guys who are looking for the money but they're just fucking other people up yes and it's just kind of danny boyle's being like that's the tsunami it's 50 miles away yeah

but you know that'll hit them eventually right but when we're coming to them they don't know that that's happening they're just bougie little fucks yeah who are like yeah well we did that we can do anything and they're not even spending the money well like they go to some new year's like uptight like party and they're not having a good time at all. Clearly. I mean, it's like you're not even doing a good job with this, guys. So here's my question. Who's fucking here?

Great question, because there's this early scene where the aforementioned Carrie Fox sits out. Right. Where it seems to imply that no one's fucking. Exactly. But she's kind of doing this power move because Ewan's being a little shit. Yeah. Like banging on the bathroom door with her mail or whatever. Oh, right. Because she's got like a note from a lover that he's like reading aloud.

Yeah. And she like opens the door naked and like grabs it. Right. And that shuts him up. And it's like one of those things where you're like, oh, this is like saucy roommate stuff. Right. Where like, but like no one, there's no romantic element. No.

Specifically. The tenor of that scene to me reads as this is not the first time he's seen her naked, but also it has never been in a sexual capacity. Yeah. And she knows it. And that's why he's shutting up because she's like, shut up. Right. Fuck you. I fuck who I want, not you.

I would say based on their relationships and how they kind of unfold, it seems like theirs is like less sexual than the other two. Because there's like the moment where they're very drunk and cross-dressing. That's exactly what I was getting to. Right. Where they do have this kind of brother-sister thing or whatever. But also, yeah, you know, it's like they're messing around. It's blurry. But also the way that Carrie Fox is able to weaponize her sexuality

against Eccleston in her own defense makes me think that she has not pulled that ripcord before right well he's the more straight and narrow one right so maybe yeah like he doesn't call her outside the lines like right there's a moment at actually I just referenced this at the at the new year's party where they're dancing and she's swinging Ewan around, and he falls to the ground. And there's a shot of him, you know, perspective looking up at her, and you can kind of see just a little bit of her dress.

And I said out loud, hachi machi. Oh, you said that out loud? I did. Were you sitting in your lounge in the 50s when you did that? I was in my den. In a vinyl chair? Uh-huh. Your rumpus room?

That's correct. We were wearing a satin smoking jacket. I was. Hachi machi. Did Nelly punch you on the arm? She did. Good. What does Eccleston want with this fucking money? Obviously he draws a short straw That's why he has to chop it up

But like he doesn't even have any fun At least they have stupid fun That's the thing I mean he's fundamentally kind of a joyless guy Yeah Right? It feels like I mean and I get that like it's good to have that roommate It's good to have the roommate It's good to have the roommate

Sure Who kind of keeps the clocks running in the house Absolutely You know it's like Would you be surprised to hear That was never me That wasn't you? No

Oh no you weren't the one Who was like hey We kind of need to figure out Who cleans the bathroom when I really appreciate the value of Having an Eccleston at the home Here's a funny thing about me Same

Well I Hmm i was that person but i was at times sure but i would say i was never the best in that your verse i'm more versed than you two yeah but i probably i'm i'm more the social chair like in a room in a in a house like i would be the the social chair yeah but but I'd also say The one who's kind of like making plans and like having people over You are the Eccleston in the structure of this podcast being rubbed Yes, I am, but maybe that's a suggestion that this podcast is somewhat unevenly balanced I don't know about that

I'll never forget when I told Fran your birthday It was your birthday Okay And I said to Fran, it's Griffin's birthday. And she was like, he's a Pisces? And I was like, uh, I guess so. She was like,

they're all water signs, David. That's why it's so hard. And I was like, yes. But I didn't think about it until then. Okay. Two water signs. You know who else is a water sign? My daughter. Yep.

Yes, it's true. Have a fun one. Anyway, Eccleston is kind of, I just feel for him. He just doesn't even, you know, he chopped off some arms and legs and he didn't even get to have like a. You feel for him? He didn't even get to have like a fun evening. I think this guy sucks.

He does suck. He is the one that's the most suspicious. I think that's his own doing. Because it's like. I feel no pity for him. Do you feel pity for anyone in this movie? Not really. Right. No, but I like the others more. because it's like i feel no pity for him do you feel pity for anyone in this movie not really right but like i like the others more i enjoy yeah the others and they're silly and so that almost

there's more logic to them doing something so insane where you're like ah these people are like arrogant and kind of ridiculous yeah eccleston you're like you should know better what the fuck is wrong with you and the second of course that's that's why it for me it does track that he goes paranoiac sure because he's the one who's just his brain is like wait a second this is gonna come back to haunt me why why would this guy have money there people must want it like right he like immediately starts figuring out like no i'm just in trouble in a weird way the movie that uh this reminded me of obviously a far more recent movie but one i had seen before this is the um the comedy the rick alberton movie which is a bleak movie that's yeah that's a bleak very bleak that makes shallow

grave looks like fucking disney oh absolutely but it's similarly about these sort of like But it's similarly about these sort of like Rich, disaffected Sort of like Needing to find some challenge In their lives Like creating conflict Apology for the crude word but this is a British miniseries Cunts you might call them

But in the comedy they are obviously Those are people where you're like Oh they never had a job Like they've always had money Because of whatever And the conflicts they're creating Are job like they've always had money right because of whatever trust and the conflicts they're creating are more like small scale social disasters yeah but but it is that same kind of thing of like i need to create danger in my life because my life is so insulated i mean

that movie is very interesting i haven't seen it since it came out and i remember being very arrested by it when i saw it um but obviously that movie really poses the challenge of like can you stick with this when you really hate everybody yeah whereas in shallow grave you're like you know i might not like any of these guys but their demise is accelerating so quickly that i'm compelled just by that right you know this is a crime movie he's got right the sort of B-noir hook to it. I mean, there was some review I saw that said, the magic of this movie is that it takes

what is kind of a very traditional American 50s B-noir plot and marries it to an essential 90s Britishness. It puts it in a milieu of... And social satire. Yes.

Like, modern British social satire. Like modern British social satire. Like watch these yuppies get their due. Cultural setting that you're not used to with this sort of plot. So we're sort of seeing their relationship disintegrate and then at the same time we're seeing these sort of like violent guys

it's you know Peter Mullen and the other guys played by Leonard O'Malley. We love Peter Mullen. And if Peter Mullen comes knocking at your door that is worrisome. it's um you know peter mullen peter mullen and the other guys the great by leonard o'malley we love peter mullen yeah and if peter mullen comes knocking at your door that is worrisome you don't want that guy showing up and they're beating the fuck out of people looking for this money look he one of the best actors he's incredible have you ever seen my name is joe no you would really like that movie yeah that's a ken loach movie as well yeah but he won can best actor for it where he plays now i'm familiar with it yeah um but he's a Ken Loach movie as well. Yeah. But he won Ken Best Actor for it, where he plays an alcoholic. I'm familiar with it.

It's such a good movie. Yeah. But he's a great actor and a great filmmaker. Great filmmaker in his own right. But yes. No, the way they set this up, I think, is kind of ingenious. But the sort of cross-cutting to these acts

of like violent interrogation. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah not understanding what the relation is until the threads start to come together of these these guys are looking for the man they just killed right and so these guys are going to end up on our leads doorstep sooner or later they and then there's this separate thing where the flat below them gets broken into the cops show up that kind of sets everyone on edge. Sure.

Even though it has nothing to do with them, right? Well, I was kind of thinking it was... Yeah, that was my read, too. That's them looking for them? Correct. And they just go to the wrong floor. They miss the floor. Right, that was my read.

Yeah, that's probably true. But then just the interaction with the cops where they're like, yep, there's three roommates. No fourth roommates. And the cops are like, we weren't asking about a fourth roommate. And it's like, well, you shouldn't, because they don't exist, and they never have. Never had one. And you can't check.

You know, which is what I, again, if some detective was at my door and was like, what's your name? And I'd be like, I don't know, what's your name? You know, I would just immediately crumble. You know what's low key, maybe the most psycho decision they make in this movie? What's that? They just kind of like sit on the dead body for a couple days and go like well let's not rush to any it yeah sure they just show them opening the door if you're sitting on it for

more than a few hours you kind of do have to chop it up because at a certain point it's like you don't want to do the call they're like let's just all sleep on and come back to this tomorrow it feels like they take a couple days before someone even really pitches a plan sometimes dishes can sit in the sink for weeks you know what i mean i guess they're thinking themselves they're thinking to themselves like well we still could plausibly be like i don't know man he was in his room we didn't check he's we don't know the guy yeah but at that point no i agree you're almost in too deep because the 911 comes they start asking questions and you're lying about the timeline even if you haven't done anything wrong this is why you just pick up the phone when you find a dead body you know it's too complicated yes um david christopher eccleston

david david makes the decision to take the suitcase, move into the attic, drill holes in the floor. Normal. Normal. Normal. Good. Looks good. I love the lighting scheme. I love what he's done with the place.

Really nice up there. Right. I mean, it's. Definitely will chill you out to be up there. Right. This is the beauty of casting Eccleston is. Oh, right. It takes very little work to make him look demonic.

Yeah. He looks like the, you know, and also he's just got the body like gary oldman is the spider monster and lost in space right he's got this like spindly frankenstein body yes and so he's like yeah future smith him like you know kind of crouched on the floor like peeping through the peepholes yeah this is bad peeping oh real bad if my roommate did that i would i would not trust them i would move out i thought you were gonna go that far but you instead just well that's what i think is funny that they're just like well i guess he lives up there like right you know well he's got the money too he does have the money he does i still might like be like you know what i'm gonna go home for

we're gonna go see my parents yeah eccleston moved into the attic he's drilling holes i'm gonna i'm gonna get the fuck out of here but they just sort of hang out and he's just up there well i think it's like you know they're all already starting to mull over how can i be the only one with the money but i think that's a good point like he gets angry when he comes home and they bought the camera right yes how dare you spend this how dare you go around spending the money right now here's a key difference. They're having fun. They are having fun. He seems to get no joy in life from anything. And it's like for him, the value of the money is having the stack of money. Like it almost feels like he has nothing that he wants to spend it on. There is no pleasure that he can derive from the use of the money it is truly just having the money

it's it's like fucking golem with the ring or something and i think that's what i would do i would be too afraid to spend it you're a money monster i am a money monster and i guess i would just be like well at least it's there just pat patting patting my suitcase of money at least it's there yeah no i like my plan of Cheeky Nando's. Yeah. Right? The old thing of like, you know what? You just continue to live your life.

Yeah. And then once in a while, you peel off a bill. Go do something fun. As long as you don't go buy a fur coat or whatever, right? Here's my pitch. I'd buy a fancy car with cash. Here's my pitch. Scrooge McDuck, but with paper money.

This was the thing I never fucking got about scrooge why is this guy so heavy into coins let me let me he wants to take a lap let me throw something at you but you can't really swim like paper won't hold you up swim better than you can yeah two things one you can't swim in coins either you can swim easy. To paper cuts. Uh-oh. As opposed to what? Fucking copper cuts? Again, I'm not pro-coin pool either.

It's a punch up from coin to paper. Yeah. It's a fair question. I don't know. We need to develop a softer currency. Oh, like a sort of nice, squishy, fluffy currency? Yeah.

Like a sort of a velvet, maybe? What are those fidget toys? The pop'em? You know the new fidget toys that the kids are obsessed with where it's like rubber and you pop the things? Yeah, my daughter has a bunch of those. That's what money should be made out of. I call it a dimple.

I think it's called a dimple. Yeah, I want dimple dollars. That used to be 20 minutes in the car The guys show up David kills them with a hammer Bad move Because now the guy just seems to like murder Or at the very least Has made it part of his regular rotation of solutions here's what i

would do yeah and i love how this is what this episode is turning into yeah they'd show up and be like where's the money i'd be like right here yeah please relieve me of this terrible burden yes it clearly has driven me mad horrible mistakes well maybe they're like all right we'll take the money and you have to die right you know that's the coin flip there sure but you know maybe they're just like great thanks here's the thing that i've always said murder a slippery slope i think you do it once becomes a lot easier to do a second time and that's the real scary part yeah it's it's it's not great no um and so that's when the You know that's when things get from bad to worse

That's when it's over Right when he kills those guys And then adds them to the shallow grave When the second guy falls down the stairs Like this movie is It's a hard watch at times It's really gruesome It's interesting to me that it's an 18

Which is the highest rating in Britain Because it's not that violent really but those little moments are very shocking i also think it's it's the nihilism of the thing 100 i think i i view that rating as a we cannot let young people watch this morally um do you have the criterion i do yes i love that cover with all the tools it's beautiful have you seen that i'll show it to you and And there's a Kevin MacDonald documentary making of. Oh, that's cool. From the production of the film that I believe is like his first credit as a documentary filmmaker. That's interesting.

Kevin MacDonald who goes on to do Into the Void. Oh, that's like from the hardware side. Yes. That's cool. Really clever. Obviously, the original poster was just a shovel. Sure. On a grave. David, the score of this just a shovel on a grave.

David, the score of this film. Ah! Simon Boswell's score. I think it is when they're first burying the pieces of the body in the shallow grave. And the score does this very intense, like, Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum. And I was like, why does this sound so familiar?

Tell me. It was the trailer music for Toy Story 2. I swear to you. That's really funny. Isn't that bizarre? And it's such an odd sting that sounds kind of generic. That when, look, I obviously watched the Toy Story 2 trailer once a week. Look, I obviously watched the Toy Story 2 trailer once a week.

I always assumed that was some just basic, like, royalty-free trailer music library, generic suspense. Like, the Toy Story 2 trailer oddly treats the kidnapping of Woody like it is an Ashley Judd movie in how it's presented. And they use... I'm watching it now.

It's true. It this really a desperate plan look i'm gonna watch it later yeah and then it goes from that to uh danny offman's main men in black theme sure to uh hold on i'm coming by sam and dave great Just an odd collection. Three bangers. Yeah. Simon Boswell, he'd also done the score for The Crying Game. Yes. And so that's cool. I don't know. He's not a big... No offense to him, but he's not got a lot of... Sansa Sangre?

I think he did the Jodorowsky movie as well. Yes, he did. That's a good score. That's cool. Yeah. But yeah, obviously he doesn't stick with uh boyle but it's it's everything in this movie is very accomplished given the like tiny um budget like brian brian tifano who also will shoot train spotting who's like kind of just like a guy like he'd done so

much he's like a real old hand he also shoots Life Less Ordinary I think they finally split for the beach And then Masahiro Hirabuko Hirakubo, sorry Is the editor And he does Trainspotting He does the beach Yeah, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, he kills them with a hammer

Sure You know, at that point we're in the final act, right? That's when she's she buys a ticket to Rio. I really like that scene with, is it Tony Curran? Oh, yes.

Yes, it's Tony Curran. It's his first appearance in a movie. He's really good in Zillionaire. He's really good in Red Road, the Andrew Arnold movie. But like that scene where he's like, direct flight, 700 pounds or whatever. And she's like, great. And he's like, or, right? Isn't that the scene?

Yeah. Yeah. And he starts like throwing other roots at her. And I feel the stress of her being like, we already got it. Like, why are you throwing me more roots? I don't know. I really like that scene. Yeah.

But this is when she also tries to make the sort of she does the seduction survivor style strategic alliance with eccleston to survive yes yes uh and get some money from him to buy the plane ticket yes yes um and alex as a journalist is then sent to cover the story of three bodies are found in a shallow grave in the woods Right And so that's when it's kind of like okay We're in the last stage of this That's such a funny scene with his editor in the bathroom

Where he's like Three bodies found dead And he's like I know nothing about three bodies He's like yeah I know I'm assigning you to research You're a journalist Why are you acting Yes you're the one who has to write the story. I only have two roommates.

Not three. Okay. You listen here. Another room is an office. It's so funny to be like, I haven't heard anything about that. Yeah, I know. You write the news. I'm telling you so you can report it and other people know about it.

How does he realize that Juliet and and david are sort of going against him because that's when the big fight breaks out yes uh like i i can't remember how he exactly puts it together but they have the big confrontation that ends with um uh juliet stabbing you know carrie stabbing eccleston through the neck. After Eccleston stabs McGregor through the shoulder. Yeah. Pinning him to the floor. Yes. Which is a great shot.

Yes. The neck gag is pretty impressive. It is, right? For a movie of this budget. It's one of those things that really gets you. Yeah. Like, if you're looking at it, you're like, oh, okay, sure. Yeah.

It's fake. I get it. Right. But, like, the way it's staged where it's suddenly him, I don't know. It just really works for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. And it doesn't look like a a splatter movie gag exactly yeah i mean carrie fox makes the decision that i would make decisional leave yeah like i'm not gonna be like all right ewan let me help you with this knife in your shoulder right Right? Mm-hmm. I might at that point be like, you know what? I'm out of here.

Sure. Right? Like. I mean, but did he do her wrong at any point? No. She's really, like, being pretty, like, callous and just. She is. Leaving him for dead.

Taking the money and running. Yes. Right. Which is generally frowned upon to take the money and run. You're saying she's making the decision you would make in this situation. I can't even do that mental exercise because I would never get to this that's why i'm interested by it whereas like would i be like let me get this knife out of your shoulder because i think i would just sort of be like i don't even i'm gonna end up killing you or you're gonna end up killing me see i'll do it by mistake or you'll do it on purpose i would just

so obviously be the mcgregor in this situation that I can't relate. You would self-shoulder stab. I'd just be pinned and I'd turn to cops and be like, I'm the victim I guess. Well, that's the thing. I feel like if they got together and really made sure they had a good alibi all of the kinks worked out,

they could have gotten away with the money together. Yeah, but they're assholes. I love movies that end with a person... blanket blanket thank you i love movies blanket oh i love blanket thank you you're right i'm so sorry i thought you were saying that end with blanket and i was like i mean i do love a nice blanket comfy yeah no that end with like i'm fucked I guess I'll just Move forward anyway Like she opens the briefcase There's no money and she's like well I'll just get on the plane

Right it's just all the newspaper It's the copies of the paper reporting the three bodies That's how he's screwing her Yes Pusher I just watched Nicholas Winding Refn That ends with spoiler alert The character being like I'm probably going to my death right now But I guess I'm just going to do it

And you don't see it Trainspotting somewhat similar Trainspotting has a bit of that There's another one I was just thinking of I mean the killing kind of has that You know the kind of like well Might as well go this way Even though it's over

Toy Story 2 And he's going to grow up Might as well go this way Towards his end of his adolescence even though it's over. Toy Story 2. Uh-huh. And he's going to grow up. Might as well go this way towards his end of his adolescence. Listen to Wheezy sing. I guess she's just like, what's her plan at that point?

I'll just go to Brazil, be wanted for murder. Yeah. Have no money. See if I can figure that out. But this is what I'm saying. Don't get to that point, baby. You think that's your takeaway

look if my takeaway is no mistakes made here if i hold any sway with our listeners heed my call do not murder i just love the thing of rather than me seeing crime paying uh-huh or whatever like the cops taking her away away Or the gangsters getting her Or whatever That she's just sort of like I don't know And I'm like yeah she's probably screwed But I like the open endedness of it

She's kind of fucked she can never go back home She's going to be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life And the cops find Alex pinned to the ground and grinning Because he's got the cash on the floor That's how he screwed her He stole the money already He's a cheeky bugger His intention is that he lives because he's got the cash on the phone. That's how he screwed her. He stole the money already. Yeah. He's a cheeky bugger.

Well, his intention is that he lives. But there seems to be people who misinterpret it as he is going to die. Yes. I think that's why they add that final voiceover, right? Yes. Like, because some audiences were confused that they thought he was dead, too.

I think maybe there was a shot initially because some audiences were confused that he, they thought he was dead too. He kind of, I think maybe there was a shot initially where he just kind of was like laying there glassy eyed. Okay. Like, or what it looked like he was. Sure. And he was like,

ah, fuck people aren't getting it. Well, let me look at the post-production here. Um, they edited the post-production also short. They edited for six weeks. That's short.

Yep. Um, uh, they have this really good soundtrack, which is obviously going to... That continues for all Bull. Yeah. Bull likes music. Describes himself as a bit of a raver at the time.

So you've got Andy Williams and Nina Simone. Not Nina Simon, right? Nina Simone. Nina Simone. Yeah. He wrote Simon here. JJ, I'm sorry for dragging you i didn't mean to i was just confused uh but also there's like those left field songs which is like cool british house

music from the 90s right um it's i have a hard time picturing danny boyle at a rave there's something so goofy about him pumping glow sticks he's got a big fucking head he's got like a big round head i think he was bright smile i think he was kind of cooler looking in the 90s maybe i mean it's you know i'm trying to find like danny boyle on set of like you know train spotting or whatever yeah because he is funny he's a very open face he's such a sweetie pie yeah anyway the movie was funded by channel 4 it was distributed by polygram which had just done Four Weddings. And it had this huge success.

Big crossover success. Exactly. He sees the movie at some test screening, like where they're trying to, and he was like, this is mine, Polygram. Polygram wants this. They put it in Cannes.

It premiered there. I think out of competition. but got kind of immediate lightning bolt response exactly like it was one of those things where like they thought they might be in competition in some form and then they were not but polygram squeezed like a midnight screening out of them right and then they had to add additional screenings uh right and it took off um but it doesn't come so that's in may It doesn't come out in the UK until January 95. Wow. It comes out in America in February.

Okay. It was a huge hit in Britain. It was a tiny thing in America. High school local film that year. Yeah. It was a little impactful. It vanished in America. It was sold as a Hitchcock film there, says Boyle, which he thinks was a mistake.

Okay. Whereas in Britain, it was more sold as like, this is a cool pop culture moment. You know what I mean? But that probably affects the way they so deliberately market Trainspotting. That they... 100%. The success of Trainspotting, which we'll get into the next episode, was so much them selling it as like, this is a movement. Yes.

This is the thing. Okay, this is what I was trying to find out. Polygram is basically like, we can sell this like an american movie we don't need to sell this like some boring british thing like that it's a british film sure like let's just sell it as a fucking movie which is exactly what they did because i guess there weren't cool british movies at that point you're like it's either light comedies or or costume dramas yes right and or like art house British films

like Mike Lee or whatever where it's like this is a slice of life from another country working class neorealist yeah

so you know like I said the reviews were mostly positive but a little sneery about the sort of like this is a very MTV

is this the British Tarantino you know like that kind of thing sure Boyle says the sort of like this is a very mtv is this the british tarantino you know like that kind of thing uh um boyle says he finds that comparison embarrassing because he thinks they're very different but he does say we do both love music and he thinks like that's probably why people are making the comparison because we both like to have like vibrant soundtracks um but you know like just just they had a little money They had a decent script

They got some good actors They built a cool set They made a little movie People liked it It's a classic first movie I wouldn't say this is the guarantor I'd say this is the sort of call and card film And then Trainspotting is the guarantor

You're right It's more just how it was done back then. You make the tiny movie, then you get to make the little movie. The little movie is... We've covered some people on this show who have surprising, just hit the ground running, great first movies. And we cover people where their first movie

feels like a rough draft of something. And this is sort of the more standard first film, which is someone figuring their thing out fairly successfully and just kind of planting their flag and going, watch this space. This is a proper functional movie, but now I really know what I'm doing.

Right. Yeah. What did you guys think? Liked it. Good. I liked it. It made me feel a little queasy at times. I don't love blood. Really? Don't love blood? Makes me a little lightheaded at times. I don't love blood. Really?

Don't love blood? Makes me a little lightheaded. What about guts? Hate them. This movie doesn't have any guts. Look, we recorded Trainspotting before this episode just because of guest scheduling. That's the only other boil we've recorded, so we just flipped the order of these two. Yes.

And this has happened before in the show. Movie suffering a little bit from me just recently having watched train spotting a pretty phenomenal film yeah that's true that i hadn't seen in so long this movie yeah i was so jazzed re-watching train spotting and this i'm like yeah good yeah this movie is so just indelible to me as like whatever just like a movie i saw as a young person makes perfect sense yeah uh i do think it's good though yeah and it's also just nice to see young hotties you know it's nice to see eccleston and you and just like you know as they they're just kicking off we talked

about it i feel like on the angel on my table episode but just yeah carrie fox truly never got the career she deserved no i mean she's had a career but yeah no it's never stopped working but it is funny that it's not surprising at all that obviously ewan quickly explodes out of this and trains but that's not the least surprising this is you watch this performance and you go you could place this guy in anything and he is going to be watchable and it's not surprising thatccleston's career going forward in film is mostly like British art films playing villains in Hollywood movies

and like stuff like, I don't know, Elizabeth or whatever where it's like, yeah, you're like the third lead in a pretty big British movie. You know, like not you're not going to be. He's got an odd, interesting career. He's a great actor. He's a good really, interesting career. I mean, he's a great actor.

Yeah. He's a really good television actor in Britain. Done lots of great theater. He's got a wonderful career. He's got heroes and leftovers here. So good in leftovers. Yeah. His Doctor Who legacy is obviously very complicated and odd.

But I think he actually did the right thing in a way where he's kind of like, I left it on the table. I did one season. Everyone kind of thinks of me fondly yeah i helped relaunch the brand yes and every time they want me to come back for like the eighth doctor meets the twelfth doctor in the ninth doctor's house you know he's just like fuck that i don't want to do it well you know i was digging in after watching this movie he had always been like i i had a really bad falling out with all the creatives on the show Russell Teeters and co

and so I was like he worked with a lot before Doctor Who he was basically like I was done halfway through filming the first production block of that season I knew I was done which is why the first season ends with David Tennant like they already

were loaded for bear being like we gotta move on and then he always would be like I don't really want to talk ends with David Tennant. Like, they already were loaded for bear. Right. Being like, we gotta move on. It's one season and done. Right. And then he always would be like, I don't really want to talk about it. I don't like the whole culture of that show, all that stuff.

And then in the last, like, four or five years, he's come around to it and sort of made peace with it. Yeah. And now has been doing, like, audio dramas as Doctor, as the Doctor from his timeline. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And basically has said,

I would now come back and do it and BBC doesn't want me back. Every time they do the meetup. I don't know. I don't either. I fell way off on Doctor Who. We all did. That's from a different time. I know it's relaunching. So we'll see.

It's now Disney now. It's going to be on Disney Plus, right? Yeah, Disney's now. I mean, that's good for them. But now But you know maybe I'll watch the new series Do you love Doctor Who? No Doctor Who may be some of the most Un-Ben shit ever

Nope I actually can't even see it You're like Jeffrey Wright in Westworld It doesn't look like anything to me It's just a white screen If it was ever on But yeah Carrie Fox We did kind of talk about this already

She does a lot of movies A ton of TV Works all the time But it kind of does feel like she deserves to be even more famous I don't know It's also funny I feel like she always talks about Intim intimacy which is obviously the movie she does with mark rylance that has like unstimulated sex in it on screen and she's like it felt like that changed my perception that was like sort of a door closed for me in hollywood after that movie whereas like

at that point in rylance's career, he's mostly a theater guy. He's not doing a lot of film. It feels like people forget that he was the guy in that movie, and then he just sort of, like, reinvents himself as Mr. Mumbles, highbrow 15 years later in movies, wins an Oscar, and now has his

space. Yes. I feel like we already talked about that, but I just, you know, I mean, it is what it is. talked about that but i just you know i mean it's it's it is what it is it's an interesting movie you know intimacy i like that movie um anything else no oil no oh but the box office game jeez motherfucker got the box office game oh wait we've done this one have we yes interesting and fairly recently too let me see is there an expansion do the brits have a different name for the box office no no okay i was trying to think of a joke i could do but no i'm just i just think you should i don't know jolly roger you know should I don't know Jolly Roger You know like I don't know What would they call it Probably not Jolly Roger

No The Tally Booth The Tally Booth Let's The booth where you take the tally I guess let's do This week Uh huh

Oh yeah This is a weird week Where it's at the It's expanded the most The weekend It is In like a few theaters Is the Quick and the Dead's weekend.

Oh, okay. So we did that like a year ago. Yeah, yeah. That's a little boring. Sure. So in its highest week Let's make that a rule. It has to be more than a year.

It's gotta be, right. Like if it's like the fucking Aliens weekend then it's like, well that was we did that seven years ago. You probably don't remember that. Do you still play the box office game online? No.

I stopped all of them. Wow. I went cold turkey in all the, you know, daily games. No, I stopped all the word ones and everything. That's the one I still play. Obviously, you love the box office game. Yeah. But there is that funny thing sometimes where I'll be like, why is this weekend?

And then I'll remember like, oh, this was an episode six years ago. Right. Yeah. It stirs. It stirs. It stirs something. But. Yes. The movie's in 84 theaters.

This is its widest expansion in America. This is March 3rd, 1995, Griffin. Okay. Okay? Okay. And number one is a new film. Mm-hmm. It's from the Walt Disney Company.

Hmm. And it's a comedy. They should go back to calling from the Walt Disney Company. Hmm. And it's a comedy. They should go back to calling themselves the Walt Disney Company. It's from Buena Vista Distribution. Yes, that's my favorite. BV. It's new this week. Mm-hmm.

It is a solid, mostly forgotten entry in the genre of the kid is in charge now, not the dad. Is it Man of the House? It's Man of the the house but there's also getting even with dad yeah i feel like there's a third obviously there was a general 90s streak of like kids rule dad's drool right now getting even with dad was sort of famous folly because it was like a macaulay caulkin high paycheck and ted danson is the dad have you seen getting even with dad i've never seen Getting Even with Dad. But that was the one where it felt like

Macaulay was close to his top quote and the movie bombs and people were like, will audiences go see anything with this kid? Man in the House used to play on the Disney Channel a lot. Of course. Man in the House, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Chevy Chase, Farrah Fawcett. So it's very interesting to me because uh jonathan taylor

thomas is obviously what that's like right at the start of yes or whatever home improvement is hot shit right i guess lion king has come out the year before and when does home improvement start yeah but i'm saying he hasn't really been doing movies. No. He's been on a home improvement for years. Yes. He's getting big. Yeah. You know, people my age, they're always like, oh, my first crush was Jonathan Taylor Thomas with his little hair.

He was like a little sophisticated. He seemed like he had grown up serious. And I remember when I was a kid, I was like, I know who that is. That kid is cool. Yeah. Yeah. I want to do whatever that kid's doing. Chevy's kind of fallen star at this moment it's a little like chevy's like oh he's got to do one of these he's got i have to share billing with this kid and then

even like farrah fawcett being the mom and that is really like this is what farrah fawcett's crew i remember that movie being weirdly kind of good. The secret to it is, and this feels like a real Ben's Port classic. Have you ever seen this, Ben? I have not. But I love as a mischievous kid. Yes. Fucking with an adult.

It's like fucking with Chevy Chase. Chevy wants to marry his mom. Right. And he's like, well, if you want my approval, whatever. This feels like a real Ben, like. Definitely. Jonathan Taylor Thomas is essentially playing Bart Simpson or Dennis the Menace. Hell yeah. Andvy chase is the guy he's fucking with but the supporting cast

is like george went uh uh david shiner that's a pretty good little clowning clowning partner of bill irwin like it's got good people in it uh you've got uh art lafleur yeah this is what i'm talking about uh yeah tooth fairy himself yeah exactly uh zachary brown can't say no him but yes look it's 96 minutes of fun what do you want from me i know i like directed by james orr who also directed breaking all the rules put him on the bracket and uh well when i hold your horses um yeah I don't know well I've never seen it but it is number one it's on Disney Plus I might watch that tonight but doesn't it kind of

it has a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes that's not screaming watchability to me I'm telling you this thing hit for me and I feel like it's probably the lesser known man of the house even though the other one is about Tommy Lee Jones and Christina Milian hanging out. Yes. Kelly Garner.

I'll tell you this, Griffin, and this is really sad news for you. Yeah. The film is streaming on Disney+. Uh-huh. So, for free, you know, if you're a subscriber. The sad news is now my plans are made for the night. Yeah, I think that's unfortunate. Yeah. Look, David, I thought the movie was good when I was five, which means it has to be good,

and I will dig my heels in, and you cannot tell me otherwise. Look, you got a B-plus cinema score. There we go. Number two at the box office. We can't talk about this anymore. You don't want to? No, because we're going to devote an entire episode to it later.

Number two at the box office was number one the week before. It is a very funny comedy. It's based on a television show. It's based on a television show. Is it The Addams Family Values? No. So it's not maybe that good. Sure.

But it is a good movie, kind of on those vibes. Knowing Arch. Oh, is it the first Brady Bunch movie? That's correct. Betty Thomas' The Brady Bunch movie. Betty Thomas, yes. That's a good movie. A funny movie. Right? Yes. Ben?

The Brady Bunch movie? Gary Cole? Shelley Long? Christine Taylor? Sure Jan? That's from the first one, right? Have you never seen it? No, I did. I saw it in the theaters. I don't remember anything about it. You know, the joke is like, oh, they're like out of time. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

Right. They've just been frozen in time, but they're in Gen X 90s California. Yeah. You know, the whole weird origin of that movie is that there was like the L.A. show that I think Joey Soloway was one of the people behind. I know Andy Richter was part of it. Melanie Hutzel, who ends up on snl uh but it was like this la comedy show where they would restage brady bunch episodes verbatim and it was like it's so weird it's funny like just the show itself just done again is funny and it would play really well

to this sort of like arch ironic LA alt comedy audience and then that got so big that Paramount was like oh fuck does like Brady Bunch have ironic appeal for this generation

and they basically wrote the movie based on the success of this like ongoing LA comedy show that's insane I didn't know that and then did carry over

any of the actors but it was like Melanie Hutzel got on SNL because of that Andy Richter basically gets on Conan because of that it was sort of one of these like it wasn't quite the uh the infamous production of godspell but it was like a show that that launched a lot of careers because it

was such a it was called a hot ticket the real live yes right yes and it was chicago yeah it was crazy chicago kids annoyance theater it's annoying yes it was annoying theater sorry sorry no no but that's interesting and And then I think it transferred to LA at some point. But it became... But it's just funny that someone's like, so can we do this? Not this, because they would want our money, but don't we own the Brady Bunch? Can we just do that? Yeah.

It's just also funny that... Gary Cole's just really good. It didn't transfer to Broadway or anything. It was a rare example of a studio kind of being not ahead of the curve, but early on it, where they saw kind of being not ahead of the curve but early on it yeah where they saw the beginning of the bubbling of the thing yeah and you're like oh this is selling out 100 seat theaters we should make a 15 million dollar movie and it worked and they made a sequel they made a sequel that i remember being less good yeah right one of those

sequels that comes out like nine months after the first movie right where they were like right yeah probably a mistake okay number three is not a movie i automatically know it is a horror film hmm uh-oh uh-oh starring jeff goldblum it's a horror film starring jeff goldblum uh no uh horror uh i'm scared oh boo horror I'm scared boo it's directed by a guy who made it's directed by a guy now that's a clue for you to stew over

Spielberg it's in between his two best known movies and both of his best known movies are like VR classics. They're vaporwave ass, weird 90s relics. Is it the director of Lawnmower Man? Correct. Brett Leonard.

Okay. And Virtuosity is the other one. Right. You know, those two movies where you's you're like huh 90s vision of the future wrong but cute yes this is a movie that he made in between them that's like a more i think a straightforward horror movie huh where jeff goldblum plays a guy who dies in a car accident is revived and starts to get weird visions and realizes he's like connecting to a serial killer i truly might have no idea what this movie is. I didn't know it. It's called Hideaway.

Yeah, no? Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lottie, Alicia Silverstone, Jeremy Sisto, I think, playing the serial killer, Alfred Molina, Ray Dawn Chong. Wait a second. Sounds great. Yeah.

Hmm, I'm seeing it got negative reviews. What's going on? Not a big hit either. Okay uh it's new this week number four this is why i wanted to do this box office game i really don't know these movies okay number four a crime thriller okay you thrilled yet kiss kiss bing bing sean connery is the star. Hmm. Okay. I think this movie foiled me in trivia. I could see you getting foiled by this anonymous-ass movie. I'll tell you this. Is it called Just Cause?

That's right! Yeah. Wow. Because I got it wrong. I will now forever remember. What'd you say it was called? Just Friends? You idiot!

That movie has Ryan Reynolds in it! It was a question. This was what the movie trish mudd on rip this was a question where they referred to like uh was 95 like a 95 sean connery action thriller sure and i believe the rock or whatever i guess rising sun rising sun sure which maybe that's 94 that's 93 93. Wow. But then I looked up Just Cause, and most people classify it as a legal thriller. It's a legal thriller.

It's not an action thriller. Bit of a misnomer. Lawrence Fishburne is the second lead there. Right. But it's one of those, it's like a capital punishment movie or whatever. He turned down the role of the villain in Braveheart to be in Just Cause.

Wow. I'm seeing here it got negative reviews. Number five of the box office. It's another film from Disney, but my guess is it's a... Rerelease? No, a touchstone. Let's see. It's a Hollywood actually. It's a Hollywood picture?

This one's from Hollywood. Okay. And that's how you know the movie's authentic. It's from Hollywood. Straight This one's from Hollywood. Okay. And that's how you know the movie's authentic. It's from Hollywood. Straight from. It's a comedy drama. Okay. A dramedy. Starring two, you know, older guys.

Now, we're not talking grumpy old men. Oh, damn. We're not talking Lemon and Math Time. No, but, you know, kind of in that vibe. Hmm. Two older guys. You know, one of of them is really they're pretty old they're pretty fucking old you know what they're old it's a comedy from 95 comedy drama comedy so it's not gone fishing no that was pure laughs top to bottom uh you know what i guess it's really just one old guy It's starring an old guy

This film was nominated for an Oscar In what category? Makeup Fuck And I think I don't know It's basically like an old guy moves in with his grandson And hijinks ensue

It's not Dad No What is that again? Dad is Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Ethan Hawkes, three generations of the same family,

but there's a weird amount of old age makeup on Lemmon who was already old at the time. Okay, so it's exactly the same vibe as that. Okay.

Because I think that the main character who's being played by a guy I think in his 70s is like in his hundreds in this movie or something. What fucking movie? I don't know here's the here's the tagline nomination for makeup old age makeup that you're saying specifically okay

give me the tagline some people talk some people listen when you're 107 and going strong you do whatever you want and the old guy moves in with his younger... He's like grandson. I have could not... I don't know. I have no idea what this is. Peter Falk is in this movie. Columbo himself. Is he the old guy? Yes. He sure is. He's the young guy. And he, here's the twist.

This guy's young as fuck. Grandpa, why are you riding me? Is this Peter fucking D.B. Sweeney? Yes, that's right. What's this movie called? D.B. Sweeney plays his grandson. We all know him.

I know this VHS box. The voice of the dinosaur in Dinosaur. Aladar. Very cute. Wow that you pulled that name. It's a running podcast to ride. Aladar. Running podcast to ride bit i gifted

scott gerdner uh an aladar good that sounds like something you would do i did you know the recent thing i did where i gave uh scott scott gerdner from podcast the ride his son uh you gave him 80 kingo toys or whatever 15 kingos because his son genuinely likes kingo from eternal his son loves kingo from eternal name right. His son loves Kingo from Eternals. That's his name, right? It's a Camille's character. Yes.

Now, Scott has started to say he thinks that at this point he thinks Kingo is the name of Funko Pops. Like, for him, Kingo is squarehead dot eyes. Right.

But all he knows is he owns 15 Funko Pops of Kingo. Okay, sorry. This movie is called Fuck. All right. I'm just going gonna give it to you

I keep on thinking it's the thing about my folks Which is the Peter Falk Paul Reiser movie I'll tell you that this film was directed by The great Peter Yates Who's made a lot of good movies And so maybe this movie is good It's called Roommates

Dude I never would have gotten that title in a billion years. Roommates. That's wild that I knew what movie it was and the title was nowhere close to me. The poster says Peter Falk, D.B. Sweeney. Yeah. Roommates. And it was Oscar nominated.

That's wild. Lost to Braveheart. For makeup. Speaking of Roommates, I found the meme I was talking nominated. That's wild. Lost to Braveheart. For makeup. Speaking of roommates, I found the meme I was talking about. Hit it. Having roommates in Portland be like, Sock wants to know why you're weaponizing

your neurotypical privilege by asking them to do the dishes. Yeah, that one's good. Now I know what you're talking about. You know why it's funny? Sock. Ah, those youngsters. Shallowgrave. Shallowgrave. David. Yes. out of those youngsters um shallow grave shallow grave

David yes final thoughts as we launch into Danny Boyle a man you've been waiting for years to cover on this show we sort of settled into this rhythm we've talked about now with the the way we schedule this podcast yes we're basically

our March Madness will usually start in the second half of the year, run about towards the end. Yes. And then we usually try to start off each new year with a David and a Griffin. A David pick and a Griffin pick. This is the David.

This is your pick, and this is one that's been in the hopper for a long time. So it's hoppy. This is like a double IPA at this point. Absolutely. And then your pick is pretty hoppy too yeah hopping yeah your pick is like fucking the wb frog it's a swing uh so those are planned yeah those are booked those are going to be very exciting yeah mostly i'm just like

anyone who's complaining about this um you know forward to like it's just a lot of wild swings between genres between like sort of industries even who would complain about this is like this is like a classic blank track no one complains about anything on the internet no no 2023 you're not being British enough 2023 positive

energy and I think we have a lot of great stuff coming up this has been our classic guest list First episode of the miniseries Where we're kind of both like Get ready But I think Transpotting's a corker And we're also just going to try to

Mostly be in person For these episodes We'll have a couple zoomers With some LA folk or whatever We got a couple Sock from Portland, one of the zoomers he is Look, we got our studio now We'll have a couple Zoomers with some LA folk or whatever. We got a couple, but... Sock from Portland, what a Zoomer he is. Look, we got our studio now.

It's coming together nicely, but more than anything, it is the true pleasure of having a stable home that we can invite people into and do these records looking at other human faces in real life. Yes, I love faces. I love them. Thank you all for listening. Yeah.

Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe. Thank you to Marie Barty for our social media and helping to produce the show. Thank you to JJ Birch for our research,

AJ McCann, Alex Barron for our editing, Lee Montgomery, the great American novel for our theme song, Joe Bone and Barron for our editing, Lee Montgomery, the great American novel, for our theme song, Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. You can go to blankcheckpod.com for some links to some real nerdy shit,

including our Patreon, Blank Check Special Features, where we do commentaries on some of Hollywood's biggest franchises. And what franchise is bigger than the Cotsy Trilogy? Not quite Cotsy february 1st spoiler in contention for the worst movie we've ever covered on either feed the vibes start good and then around minute one things start to curl we're talking by minute two we're out alice in

wonderland we're talking things that are not movies it is arguably worse than you know what i mean it's like vibes minute zero we're like this is fun minute one we're like i don't i'm not sure what's going on in minute two we're like worst piece of shit we've ever seen i think it's a fun episode oh it's great we go full comedy central roast we're just trying out jokes but uh i will say as a movie if i'm just viewing it as a movie that we have discussed on the show as a movie it is worse than the duncan donuts cup that ben barfed into in the backseat of a car on the way to atlantic city i agree with that if i'm just judging it as a film yes that's a better movie

that cup yeah um so listen to that uh and and and and a thing we want to start uh reminding people of more regularly because we've been doing this for the last year, but we've been forgetting to mention it. We unlock all Patreon episodes after three years. Yeah. So our first year of Patreon 2019

is now completely open for everyone. And every 10 days on our Patreon, if you are subscribed, if you are a checkmate, you will get a new episode., if you are subscribed, if you are a checkmate, you will get a new episode. But if you are not subscribed, there will be an unlocked, accessible to anyone episode from essentially the 2020 archives. All this is to say, all of the Marvel commentaries are now unlocked from 2019. 2020, you'll be getting the Star Wars commentaries.

Yeah, and then other stuff. Coming up, Toy Story. Yeah, a lot of weird pandemic commentaries coming up, but they're pretty fun. Yeah, there's some... Look, if you like hearing us talk about Toy Story and Star Wars, two franchises that are important in the history of the show, those are things you can listen to. All the Marvel commentaries unlocked.

Also, obviously, other things like the Atlantic City episode we just talked about. THX, American Graffiti. Fix. All sorts of fun stuff. Marvel Performance Review with Gethard. That's a great episode. That is a great one. So, yeah, you can check it out the 1st, the 11th, and the 21st of each month. It'll be available

noon Eastern Standard Time. Yeah. You just want to go to patreon.com slash blank check, and those will now just be unlocked posts. Also, new merch. Yeah. Yeah, we got some new merch. Anyway, tune in next week for Trainspotting

with returning guest Charles Rogers of Search Party. Yep, great up. Great up. I think really, really, really... Great up with a great bit. There's... That lands. Woo!

Move! Yeah. Especially listening to I was gonna say it's very visual very visual maybe one of the most visual bits

ever done on this show don't get too alarmed guys I'm talking about like a two minute moment of the episode it's just funny to think about it's just funny

how visual it is and labor intensive yeah incredibly labor intensive not by us but no by Charles a gentleman

and a prince. And, as always, don't chop up bodies. I'd like to ask you about your hobbies. Now, when you sacrifice a goat and you rip its heart out with your bare hands, do... I've got to start this over.

Jesus Christ. You got this. This is going to be a tough miniseries.