Blank Check with Griffin & David - True Grit with Stavros Halkias

Episode Date: October 19, 2025

We love to pull the cork. Comedian (and probably the biggest Greek-American entertainer of our time) Stavros Halkias joins us to chat about 2010’s True Grit, the Coens’ true attempt to cash their post-Oscar blank check. We’re talking about Hailee Steinfeld’s incredible performance. We’re talking about Jeff Bridges’ distinctive mumbly delivery. We’re talking about how this film is a considerable upgrade over the John Wayne original in possibly every way. We’re also talking about how everyone probably smells awful in this movie. And we’re talking a lot about the Morris Chestnut network TV show “Watson” for some reason. Join us by the campfire, it’s a fun time! Check out Bugonia Read David’s Interview with Yorgos Check out the profile of the owner of Panathinaikos B.C. Check out Charles Portis’ other books Watch Booboo Kills Yogi" ending See Stavvy Live Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're blank check with Griffin and David Blackjack with Griffin and David Don't know what to say but you expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is blank check You must pay for everything in this world One way or another There's nothing free except the grace of pod cast. You didn't let me finish.

Oh, sorry. You're doing a sincere, kind of thoughtful kind of like, you know, sticks with you a moment. Yeah, you know why I chose that strategically? Because I feel like we're going to spend most of the next three hours going, oh, damn! Right, right. A saucy line will not get you

far with me is something I say to people all the time. Well, you say it that way? No. How do you say it? Well, I can't, can you do LaBeef? Do LaBeef. Well, this is what I finally cracked watching at this time. It's, it's Damon doing half a McConaughey. Okay.

Damon has a perfect McConaughey. He'll break out McConaughey on talk shows as like his party trick. And his McConaughey is the best I've ever heard. Sure. And this is him being like, I can't go full Mac. I can only do McConaughey saying MRI in inner style. Amrari.

MRI. M.R.A. M.R. MRI. It's that one moment. Yeah. Okay. So go ahead. Go ahead. Be Laibee. Let me see. I'm looking for a line here. and maybe hold your tongue. Yeah. Do you know how he did that?

This is another, I watch a lot of Damon interviews. Not for this, just generally. He talks. That guy run his mouth. Yeah. What is he, a podcaster? He couldn't figure out how to do it, and they couldn't figure out how to, like, build a prosthetic or anything to help him with it,

because it's the fucking tongue. Like, nothing's going to stick. And he was, like, helping his little daughters get ready for school, and they had, like, elastic hair bands. Oh, wow. And he was like, oh, let me try this. this and he was like, I just put three around my tongue. Wow. That's so weird.

Isn't that weird? Yeah, it's cute. But he was like, it was the only thing that's stuck that wasn't, like, toxic. Interesting. Yeah. I'm looking, I'm looking for a good LeBeef line here. I mean, what's the one about the lashings? Well, he says that he was, he was fixing for a kiss. You give out very little sugar with your pronouncements.

You know, while I sat. I can't do it. You had it better. Yeah. While I sat there watching, I gave some thought to stealing a kiss, though you are very young and sick and unattractive to boo. I'm just loving. The way they talk, man. It's awesome. Can we just talk like this again?

Can we get back to this? The dumbest character in this movie speaks better than the current poet laureate of the United States, who I believe is Ben Hosley. No, but it is like the guys who are about to be hung. Right, the guys who are called like, right, yes. Yeah. And they're still like, yeah, if I had shot the wreck, I'd be. And I'm like, yeah, this is the fucking discussion of one for Congress. It's philosophical.

Yeah. Every line in this movie, I mean, they've talked about the main reason they remade this. is because they love the book so fucking much, and they were like, we think Portis is like American Shakespeare. He is. And like, if you just literally put the book on screen

and transcribe every line of dialogue, people will be firing pistols up in the air in the audience. Which happened. Someone went, that's like a benevolent joker. Yeah. He's just like shooting a gun to celebrate

instead of the fucking... Maybe we should bring that back. We should bring that back. You can have a gun. And fire. And fire. a gun that only fires up. I'm pro.

Maybe you have like a... Right, if it's like this, a level or whatever. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? A little bubble level. And if it's going up, you can fire it.

It won't activate. This movie is so heavy on guys firing a shot in the air to mean something. To be like, all right, I'm out of here. How is not everyone fucking deaf? I think they kind of are. Yeah.

They should all be then constantly screaming at one another, basically, to hear what each other is. That is true. I mean, he, like, he empties his revolver at snakes in, like, a cave, like, one inch from her head. I don't know how she ever hears again. Brewster in particular keeps using his gun as, like, a multi-tool. Yeah, exactly.

Or sometimes he used it to, like, cut a piece of paper, you know, to tie his shoes. Yeah. I think I thought you were going to go with, I heard you were a man of podcast. Oh, sure. You know, and that way we just go, we just take the, the title. and this podcast in there. I mean, who knows?

Perhaps my instincts have dulled at this point. But I feel like there's a tough balance of there's a level of sweatiness where the actual line has become so abstracted by the way I put podcast in there

that is funny to me or it needs to be the line as mostly intact. If you would like to podcast in a coffin that would be all right. I love that guy. That guy rocks.

This is another thing. Every guy in this movie rocks. This is a movie. about how being a guy back then was pretty weird. Because it's like, if you're the coffin guy in like the Wild West, that's a weird job.

Not like kind of weird, but like basically sucked. Everything sucked. Everything's bad. And like, my favorite character is the guy she trades with, right? You know, Dick and Matthew. Who I always, right. You always say that he's the one who says

he likes to pull the cork, but it's another guy who says that. We'll talk about it. But Dick and Matthews has the two literal horse trading scenes. Right. And like, just where he's just like, can I be real with you? living in this town it sucks. I'm ill all the time.

I'm sure I'm going to die because I've moved beyond civilization. And all I do is like haggle about the cost of a horse. Like, I'm just going to fucking die. One of our great American philosophers, a poet laureate in his own right, made the profound statement.

There are a million ways to die in the West and all of them are terrible. Seth MacFarland made an entire movie about this. And it was too trench it for America. They couldn't handle it. Really ahead of his time. Have you seen that movie? I think it's pretty good.

I have no desire. I think it's pretty good. I've come around, I don't know. I've come around. I did a lot of watching family guy on tour. I was on a bus and I bought DVDs. Yeah. And I bought early family guy and then I bought the Star Wars family.

I could whatever. I would just find DVDs at a grocery store to play them in the bus. It's DVDs. It's so funny that it's streaming. Because they have the built-in. No Wi-Fi. Built-in TV DVD. You were just saying every town you stopped and you go to Goodwill.

I would go to a goodwill and I would find... The next four days of entertainment are defined by what they have. Yes. And actually, the coens were big. Those were probably the only good movies we allowed ourselves. Because it was a lot of dog shit. It was a lot of like late period Seagall. It was a lot of like, you know, we had some Chuck.

You get a lot of three packs with Seagull, a lot of four packs. Yeah. A lot of Chuck Norris three packs that you can find it a WinCo in Eugene, Oregon. We're talking like Seagal, like Russia, Order of... Lenin Segal, right? It's right at the beginning of that. Okay, so not the now where he like does it in a chair. No, exactly. It's not chair, which is a great, yes.

I believe my boy Nick said the donut, he's got a goatee that's like a donut, like a black, like a chocolate donut, not chocolate donuts ago right before that, like in between, when he's trying to figure out. When he's like, shit, I'm out, I'm direct to video now. Like, what is this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like chocolate donut

Segal also has a thing where like there'll be a stunt chase with a guy on a motorcycle and the guy's wearing a helmet. The helmet. And then they've literally superimposed his face over the helmet. Yes, yes, yes, yes. They've done that. Or just print it out and taped it on front of the helmet. Do you remember his energy drink?

Seagall? I don't remember. Steven Seagall's Lightning Fall Energy and it had two flavors. I have to look them up because they're so funny. Asian Experience and Cherry Charge. But I think about Asian experience all the time. The flavor is Asian experience. Oh, no, dude.

Do you know what's the most interesting thing? That that guy, look, he has his quick rise and fall, right? in the late 80s the early 90s. It's 10 years. Right. And then it's sort of like this guy, he went crazy. He made, you know,

he wanted, Undeadly Ground is the one that he directed. Yeah, undeadly ground is the one where he's like, we're going to save the environment. Right.

And everyone was like, this guy's cooked. And then like three years later, Joel Silver takes him out of the junk pile and is like, here's the formula. If we put you with a rapper, yes.

It works. And he had like four hits Seagal plus a rapper movie. What's crazy about those movies is like DMX ax him off the screen Like DMX is like out of his gourd I saw the DMX one in theaters No, that's exit wounds

Exit wounds is the DMX one And it's pretty good And then cradle to the grave Cradle to the grave Oh no is that DMX and Jet Lee? That is DMX and Jet Lee Right Yep, yep

I never saw that one But then there's a what is it called Half Pass Dead? Yeah which is a great title That's what John Rule. John ruled yeah Oh I got to throw that If only we'd come across that in the DVD pile

Right, that's Ja Rule and Morris Chestnut. Yes. So who's a real act? By the way, I've been talking about stuff that sucks. I love another thing we would watch on tour is Watson. Morris Chestnut sort of like, what if House was also... Well, what if House was Watson from Sherlock Holmes? It's tied into the...

And it's Morris Chestnut. It's Morris Chestnut. And he goes back to being a doctor and Moriarty is involved. I think is Randall Park Moriarty. Randall Park is Moriarty. And like, you know, they have twins for no reason. Like they do the classic two of the people, two of the hot shots,

two of the hot shots doctors that, you know. Oh my God. Yeah. This guy plays identical twins. It's, it's so bad, but I can't stop watching it. America can't stop watching it. It's so funny that we, I know it's because Sherlock Holmes is like public domain or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. That like every two years, someone's like, what if we do something with Sherlock? We literally did this rant

And it's like, okay, is it set in like On a recent episode? It's like, no, it's set in Chicago. It's like, who cares? It's like, Pittsburgh, actually. We did this rain on the recent episode. But like, first of all, you're saying that Watson is,

what if House was, was Watson? What if, yes, what if Watson was a sexy black guy? Oh, no, what if House was a sexy black guy that used to also be Sherlock Holmes assistant? But you know the whole day. But do they say Sherlock Holmes? Yes.

Like, they say, like, I used to work in London. Right in the in the show Watson he said I had I did miss the first 12 minutes of the pilot Oh huge so apparently it's one year after Sharcombe fell down a waterfall yeah yeah yeah so that's so that's thing I caught it because it was playing after the NFL playoffs okay you know they were like oh after the a FC championship we got to hit a this is we're gonna have a eyeballs we got to make sure people watch Watson I had gone you know I was pissed off

the Ravens lost and I had gone and been fucking sad and whatever I left and then, or actually, wait, we lost before to the Bills. Actually, the tie-in to Haley Steinfeld, unfortunately, makes it, that's the only thing that that does tarnish my fandom is that it's another reminder of the rate. Every time I look at her, it's like, oh, the Ravens haven't gone to the Super Bowl. Like the Bills, her husband has beaten us multiple times. Anyway.

But the Bills haven't gone to the Super Bowl either. You guys are joint losers. I do like Josh Allen on, like, that's, it reminds me of the grudging respect I have for a great rival of the Ravens, you know? Even his wife is like insanely talented, you know, and it's like, anyway, whatever. Let's wrap up the Watson Convo before moving on to, you know, it's important we finish this. But I missed, I missed the first 12 minutes, but I was so, the context clues, this movie, this show makes no sense with all the information.

But imagine being thrust into it and being like, wait a second, what, he's fucking Watson? Sherlock Holmes. Where the fuck is Sherlock? And then you're like, oh, he died. Mori already threw him off a, I'm now finding a waterfall. I didn't realize it was a waterfall. I did see some, there are some aquatic flashback. So this actually makes a thank you so much for making that clear, David. But yes, and I decided I'm never going to find out how it starts. I just need to figure out through beautiful, the economy of storytelling of Watson, I'm going to figure it out. That's how fucking television used to worry is the crazy thing to think about. Television used to be, you started the episode of Law & order midway through and you're like, I guess this guy's the guy who did it. I don't know. And you're like, I guess I start watching the show from this point on and maybe reruns are playing at some point. And like seven years

into watching reruns, you might be like, oh, this is the first episode. Yeah, I can't wait. There's no Wikipedia. You can't like just quickly backfill it. Exactly. You got that fucking Simpson's episode guide. You're like thumbing through it being like, I hope the B Sharp's one comes on someday. Yes, yes. No, I hope someday, 12

years from now, I am on 2B and the pilot episode of Watson comes up. It auto plays and that's what it But it has to happen by chance. It has to have. No, that's, I've become a Luddite, basically, where it's like, I'm on 2B and I'm just letting, or I'll go to those random movie channels. And I'll just

like, you know, Inglorious Bastards was on one of those random movie channels. That's what I'm fucking watching. Just watch. Just watch. Right after. Yeah. This is my whole thing. I don't need to detonate society. I just want to take us back to the 90s. You know what I mean? I think you could make so much money. If, The criteria on random is a little too random

because it's like, look, I don't want to watch some fucking black and white Danish shit. You know what I mean? Like, I don't want the, like, half the random shit on there is like, all right, I get this important or whatever. You're like, oh, let me throw it on. And like, it's just like Jesus carrying a cross. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like a silent movie. And you're like, well. Exactly. They just have the one like criteria in 24-7. Right. They need a couple to be like channels. Right. They need like 70s noir or whatever.

Yeah. I think you would make. so much fucking money if you, my big idea and someone's gonna steal it is just essentially a hard drive and you load it up with a hundred bangers

and it's just a randomized absolute fucking bangers and of course for me it would be like you know dumb guy core it's like give me every fucking give me all the the Scorsese

with guns in them give me give me all the none of the Scorsese no again yes yes yes I don't want Daniel Day Lewis to be like ooh yeah no disrespect

age of innocence but that ain't going on my fucking hard drive I'll watch it but it's not what we're talking about here, right? Give me Michael Mann. Give me, like, the Seagulls, all the rappers Seagull. Like, you should be able to click a box and be like,

click a list and be like, I want 200 movies randomly playing on this hard drive and I could just hit component. And it's essentially gives you like a rate. I think that would be, you would make so much fucking money. Criterion should even do it. No, they should release random boxes and just be like, and I want it to be physical, right? Because also I want the quality to be good. You don't want streaming to be a proper.

You want, like, a fixed curated Roku stick. Yes, exactly right, exactly right. The fucking scanning through is a nightmare. I got to close the loop on this, on this Watson talk, okay? And I want to just make it clear. We absolutely did this run at some point in the last four months and have already forgotten it. I totally forgot about it. Because he already played some other hot doctor called like Redwood or what you're like,

Morris Chesa. Justa just has a show every five years where you're like, he still has an age, cool. He looks incredible. He's an insane. Did he play Iron Sight? We figured this out. No, no. Blair Underwood played out.

He was another guy who basically didn't crack. Oh, you want to talk about piece of ass. One of the hottest guys. But Morris Chestnut did play Redwood or whatever the fuck his name. It was called, I'm gonna find Rosewood. Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr. And it's like, what's it about? And it's like, he's a doctor.

I don't know. Get over it. This is the point I want to make. House is based on Sherlock Holmes. Yes. The premise of House was, what if Sherlock Holmes was a doctor today. And there are all these fucking illusions

and the number on his office door and the address. He's an addict too, right? It's all supposed, it's basically like he's a social, he's got a weird computer brain, he's super smart

but he's also tough to be around. It's a fucking 10 things I hate about you for Sherlock Holmes, right? And then that leads to the 2010s where you have the two Downey Jr. movies. Right. You have Cumberbatch Martin Freeman show.

And you have elementary. So like the Downy Jr. movies is, right. Downy Jr. is like, what if Sherlock was a boxer? The big boxing? Right. The fucking Cumberbatch is like,

what if he had a Blackberry, right? Like, that was his big thing. And then the elementary was just like, just Sherlock Holmes in like Chicago? And I want to be clear, the only media based on Sherlock Holmes that I have ever, including books or movies,

is Watson on CBS. I have never seen a single, I've never read, I guess maybe the Wishbone episode where he's Sherlock Holmes. Yeah, that is the only, or something like that, right?

He has to be. there's, I don't know if it was Sherlock, but I distinctly remember Wishbone and a little hat and the pipe. Absolutely. That and Watson. It's probably the Hound of Baskerville. Yeah. Oh, maybe that.

Exactly. Maybe. Probably both. They probably did both. Either way. If there's a Wishbone Sherlock Holmes, that and Watson, I've never read a book. I've never. So that's all.

And you know what? I love it that way. Yeah. So to me, I'm like, whoa, this is pretty fucking good. Yeah. Watson's fucking cool. Like, Morris Chestnut just looks like an AI filter where you're like, it can't be too symmetrical. It's so smooth.

Everything's so perfect. You know, it looks like. that the guy in the newest Solnier movie, the Rebel Ridge. Yes. Oh, Aaron Pierre. That guy is, his facial features are so extreme. He's literally, to me, that's the uncanny valley. Yes.

It almost hurts to look at him. It's trying to beat off to like dead or alive volleyball. You know what I mean? It's like, he's too hot. Yeah. This like, I'm struggling to jerk off to him. How hot he is. You can't come looking at Aaron Pierre. Yeah. Yeah. Dead or alive volleyball is such a good

example. Like, that is just the pure nonsense where they're like, no, it's a volleyball. It's a volleyball. And there's like 18 guys my computers like doing boom physics or whatever.

But you think back to like the 90s and the early 2000s and just the like getting horny for just the abstract hint. Didn't take much. Just being like, look, we have not cracked this technology at all.

No, and that's definitely another form of being a Luddite. We got to get, there's got to be a streaming box of that as well. Where it's like you don't get pornography, you get boobs from a Sears catalog, you get, you know, you get like, we have to roll it back to catalog. The seasons of friends where they weren't wearing bras, you know what I mean?

Like, Charmed, Charmed was big. Caroline in the city, man. Just every eighth episode of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just think back to what a, like, cultural revolution it was of like, oh my God, Laura Croft is so hot. They have made the first fuckable video game character. And you look at that first game and she looks like a cyber truck.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And people were like, home and hoom and hoo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could do the cheat code to get those triangle nippleless tits out.

And at the time, you're like, yeah. You're just like, it's so hot. And you're like, oh, what's the game?

It's like, you mostly jump on rocks trying to like, it's so annoying. It's kind of Zelda, I guess. It's like hot Zelda. It's really,

really extended puzzle solving. Yeah. Whatever, man. All right. I got to ask. Watson fucks? What? Yeah,

he got a girl? Watson's ex-wife. has left him but she's a piece of ass too and now she's also by I guess and now she was a hot woman so it feels like it feels like Watson's kind of trying to fuck them both

but he's out interesting this is something that network TV is doing more and more of without anyone talking about it because I threw on that show Dr. Odyssey but now cancel RIP RIP but that was like a show where it's like yeah it's the love boat with doctors and you're like

I get it and they're like three episodes in, they're like, I think they're going to be in a thruple. Yeah. And they're like five episodes in and they're fully in a throuple and one of them's pregnant. Like it's just,

and I'm like, don't grandmas watch CB? This is on CBS. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System. That is what they are. Yes. I will say Watson is a little more chaste.

Like I think he wants, I think he loses love. Right. Oh, sure. And I think that's really like, and so he's really focused. He's also dealing with some kind of, kind of mysterious brain ailment

that Moriardi already seems to be making worse through his nefarious agents. Yeah. They hit him with the Havana syndrome gun. Shooting weird waves in him. Mori already infected him with the woke mind buyers. Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, Watson is he, they?

And that's his big problem, you know? But yeah, there's not an, they use Morris Chestnut, but they don't make him explicitly. He's just so focused on medicine. Yeah, he loves the medicine. And, you know, piecing his life back together that I think he's not, hopefully is season two, maybe, you know,

he's made peace with his ex-wife, leaving him for a hot woman. Then he can move forward and he can fuck in season two. But I think right now it's about solving, you know, the mysteries that come his way and maybe thwarting Moriarty as well. It's been renewed. Seven million viewers a week. We wish them all about it. And I'm one of those, I am one of those seven.

I'm one of those seven mill. Hey, uh, this is a blank check with Griffin and David. There you go, baby. I'm David. It's a podcast about filmographies, directors who have massive success early on their careers or giving a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear

and sometimes they bounce. Baby, this is a mini-series on the films of Joel and Ethan Cohen. Together and separately. Oh, you're doing separate. We're doing the separates. We're doing the separates. It is called Pod Country for Oldcasts.

Today we were talking about true grit, their blockbuster. People forget... That's insane. I didn't realize that. How fucking big this movie was. This movie made a... $170 million domestic. Their second highest grossing film, I believe, is No Country, which made $70.

Yeah. No, it's... This is their only, like, fucking four quadrant smash. It's not just that. It's like that they... This is them cashing the No Country Check. They win Best Picture, and they go to Scott Rudin, normal guy. And they're like, hey, we want to do True Grit.

And he's like, that's like a famous movie that won an Oscar with John Wayne in it. Right. the first one of John Wayne won it was kind of like it was kind of like a retirement Oscar okay

it was kind of like a year old I did as well it was a piece of shit I think it's a bad no no and like that's the thing

they're like yeah but that movie sucks and we love the book and we want to do it and he's like okay and they're like

and it can be like a PG 13 Western and then he's like okay and then it's a huge like they were totally right like this like weird

niche pitch they throw and they're like but maybe families will go see it released it at Christmas but their pitch was hey the language is in the book

is really great. We want to make a more faithful adaptation of the language. We want a more literary western than 2010. And then he also was like, the book is solely from the perspective of the little girl. And the movie kind of centralizes it more around John Wayne.

We want to tell it more from the little girl. And Discovery's like, great. So now we got to find some fucking 12 year old who can talk fast and ride a horse and shoot a gun. That's an insane pitch because this movie is an absolute banger and it does not work. I mean, Haley Steinfeld is so

Like when I first watched it It blew my fucking mind I watched it in the context of like We were in a huge movie family Like kind of growing up And I had this summer where I was I worked at Blockbuster on the way out And oh like the dying days

Dude the dying days I'm a freshman in college I can never be your woman days Yeah yeah yeah actually yeah it started It started when I was in still in high school And so this is like 2007 right Like right before when No country was that year

Was 2007? seven yeah yeah um and i got into the co like the cohen brothers were a bit of a blind spot for me and i i in like i went through and like watched a bunch of their shit and i watched this movie as just sort of after that after no country where i was it i actually you know it's funny i weirdly which is a bad take in hindsight but i watched all their sick movies right i watched their bangers i watch, you know, Labowski, Fargo.

Fargo. The Furr, Blood Simple. And I'm like, holy fuck, these guys are the incredible. And then no,

I see no country in theaters. I'm like, these guys fucking rock. What the fuck else is next? And then thank you, or, Burn after reading.

And now I love that movie. Yeah. But as a fucking idiot, as a 19 year old idiot who wanted fucking sinister killers and shit, I'm like, what the fuck is this bullshit? And it turned me off of,

so I didn't see True Grit in theater. Okay, because that's the next one after burn. Right, so it pissed me off. And then so I watched it later as just sort of like, all right, I was wrong about burn after reading. Let me fuck. After I've been scorned, let me go back and watch all this shit I missed. And I just thought it was going to be solid, but not as good as no country for old men, whatever. Because it's like, it feels almost like AI generate Cohen Brothers movie where it's like Western, cool cast, what, you know, revenge, whatever.

The second she's on screen, I'm like, what the, I didn't even consider. the kid actor being like a part I thought that would be the worst part of the movie right you're like I'm here to see bridges with a gun drinking whiskey yeah yeah yeah you see a little kid on the fucking poster you're like this I hope she's not in it that much and and it's like

and then she's fuck she is you're so breathtaking just her man her her power she's like this like there's like her power level like a dragon ballsy you put the reader on her dude yeah she's fucking her power levels are out of

just standing there just having a conversation and it blew me away more than any other aspect which I don't think is a hot take is that I think did she get nominated for this she did. They put her in supporting the thing they always do with kids even though she is the lead of the movie I mean without question

and that blew me and a movie that fucking rules she is so fucking good so anyway she's astonishing it was crazy the fact thinking about you think about them pitching this and they're like oh yeah and obviously it's going to star a kid like who the fuck let them make this movie It's crazy.

Was she even an act? Like who? No, did they just not found her? She had like two like sitcom guest spot appears. I believe she's on an episode of Back to you. Oh, hell yeah.

But yes, no, it was like, that's the craziest part of the pitch, right? Is that like burn after reading, I believe they're already, they already have in the can before No Country wins all the Oscars. They were on a like one a year movie clip. So Burn After Reading comes out like six months after No Country sweeps the Oscars.

But this is the movie they set up with the Oscars. Oscar cachet. See, if it had been right after No Country, this might have been like my favorite movie. I saw it in the 20th. But that was like,

they already had that in the can. They go to this pitch and then it's the craziest part of the pitch is like, and by the way, we can't start making the movie until we find the kid, right? Like, I feel like

they get Damon and Bridges attached really quickly. Awesome. They've announced this. And then I think the status they said they auditioned 15,000. No, they got 15,000 tapes. Okay.

They didn't auditioned 15,000. But the crazy thing is they didn't find her until three weeks before shooting. She was, they sifted through, like, so much shit. Yeah. They said, I mean, the Coens were obviously, like, we didn't watch that. Like, our casting person did it. Like, most of it was just immediate, like, now, no, this isn't an actor.

And then they find her really late in L.A. Because they're looking across the country. They're like, let's find some other kids. And they're also, like, her name is Haley Steinfeld. Right. This doesn't sound right on paper. Right. And she's actually, like, a quarter Filipino or whatever.

Like, it's like nothing about her tracks. And, like, a quarter African American. Mm-hmm. That's part of the sinners thing. Yes, she's talked about it. I know it's true in the sinners. No, no, that's true in real life. I think it's true.

I think, yeah. Sure. It might be one-eighth. She's got a mixed descent. Yes, she has, yes. And they were like, yeah, but she could read the language. Like, that was the whole thing immediately. Like, it's like, it's this complicated weird language.

Yeah. And she's just nailing it. And then there's that story Damon has where he's coming aboard a couple weeks in. The Cohen's come in, they do a take. The Cohen's come in give her a crazy complicated adjustment. They do the next take. She nails it. And Damon goes over to Roger Deacons.

And he's like, this is what she's like. She's this good? And Deacons is like, yeah, this is what she's like. Just like right out of the box. Like, she's like just fucking nailing everything. You know, in the, in the John Wayne movie. And by the way, our guest today is Starrows hockey. Oh, yeah, right.

From Stahl's Harold. How are we doing gang? From Bogonia. That is true. Which will be coming out around the time this episode comes out. It comes out around Halloween. Yeah. Oh, fuck it.

Yeah, you're right. Wait, this is perfect. Yeah, this is perfect. It's out in a week. Hell you need me doing promo for it, for sure. Absolutely. They're expecting you to pull the train. They were like, listen, man, if you can swing blank check around the release of the movie, we'll let you get the part.

And that was a big risk for me because we didn't even know each other when I got the movie. No, this lined up very well. Yeah, your ghost is like, so you can do blank check? Yeah, man, whatever. I can dance. I can do eight access. I can fence. I can jet ski.

Whatever you need, big dog, put me in the. fucking movie. But you can hang with the two friends? Yeah. Is your ghost chill? I interviewed him once a long time ago, and he's the one of the only interviews I got with a press person called me before him being like, hey, just so by the way, just so you know, he's really weird.

Like, just like, get ready for like a really weird guy. Now, that was a long time. I think now he's not as awkward. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, the context is different. I mean, I can't imagine like doing press sucks dick. So if you're, if you're like an autore who's like, well, I don't fuck. even though, you know,

and like not a performer. And it's like the lobster era where I feel like the first question everyone probably has still. It's like, hey, why does every character in the movie talk like a weird robot?

Yeah, yeah. Like, what's going on? So what were you smoking and where can I get? I assume he just got years of those questions. Yeah,

no, I mean, he was the man. And look, I know, I know art kids and I know Greek people. And so like, you know,

I grew up around both of that type of type of guy. And so it's your ultimate guy. And he's a bad. He's a hoops guy. He played hoops. Wow. We had a lot. He's big.

He's big guy. And yeah, there was a big part where we were talking about, we talked about like hoops. And he's a big European hoops. Like he still follows it. Yeah, yeah. He literally, he thinks, which is an insane take. But, yeah, he thinks it's better. He thinks better than the NBA.

Do you ever see that? I mean, like, isn't that like where the arenas are just filled with people like shooting off fireworks every 30 seconds? Okay, the vibes are way better. Don't get me wrong. Like people give a fuck. The basketball is bad. The basketball is just not as open.

I like a more open game, but what can I say? That was when I really was like, wow, I am Greek-American, not Greek. Like you actually like to spread the floor. I like to, yeah, exactly. And now has three-point shooting got a little out of control? Yes, it has. So as a, so maybe I can see what he's talking about in that like the games are harder fought. But at the same time, I don't want to go back to, you know, Piston, Spurs, finals where it's like 63 to 71.

You agree, right? Yeah. Well, here's what I was going to say that I actually can contribute to this. Yeah. I don't know if you know this. His brother works in European basketball. My brother works in European basketball. He works in the French basketball league,

but his team has also now become part of the Eurobasket league. Oh, they got into the Eurobasket. Nice. I feel like has its own contum. This thing we're saying, like every basketball fandom culture is different in every country. No, it's incredible. It's incredible. And like, I go to the Parisian games and there's a drum circle.

There's like, he's like, those are the drum guys. They always buy this corner and they come with 20 drums and they're just banging them. And that's what they do, right? And I'm like, is this a Paris thing? is kind of a France thing. But then they'll play the Euroleague games and Turkey will come over and Turkey will be throwing smoke bombs.

Yeah, they're like, what is this? And they're like, yeah, that's their culture. Any Turkish basketball game you go to, people are throwing smoke bomb. Like, anytime they have a visiting team from a different European country and some of them are not European countries but they go into the EuroLeague

because there's nowhere else to go, they all have their own thing where it's like, yeah, these guys love to throw marbles on the court. No, no, the Greek championship series was suspended by the police this time. It's so funny that the owners... Division II basketball.

Like the owners were like banned from being... Like, there's, like, they literally... This has happened multiple times, and it sucks for me because I'm an Olympiacos fan and Panath Naikos, unfortunately, has been better recently, and they're the ones that the Kumbo brothers play for, and they have, like, a... There is a great profile about the Panath Naikos owner

who's just an insane guy, and you should look that. It's very funny. in England, and it's, it's very interesting to hear you pronounce that correctly. Yeah, Panathanoikos. Yeah, but we're playing fucking parathenicose or whatever, you know, because like, that's the same, the football team's the same name.

You know, it's the overarching. Olympiaco. Oh, yeah, fucking Olympiara, Galatasarai, you know, all these like, sort of, like, Greek, Turkish, I know, oh, I know, I know. Every time Arsenal would play Galatasarai, it would be one of those things where, like, one fan would die.

Of course. Like, once a year, like, some fan gets stabbed. Yeah, yeah. stayed out too late, went to the wrong bar after or whatever, and you'd just be like, that's fucking welcome to the NBA, baby. And I do love those five. Yeah. I'm trying to remember which country it was, but there was some

home game of my brother's team that I went to where they made all of the away fans sit behind their basket. Yeah, they got to be in like a cage basically. No, they truly put a net around. And they had riot

cops. Because like both ways it's bad. You know, like everyone's going to try and attack them And they might start fights. Right. Yeah, yeah. And then like, yeah, it's just the whole thing in America where it's like, well, what's your thing? It's like, well, we have a brass band in Britain. It's like, what's your thing?

It's like, we're racist. We're like allowed to be. It's like culturally acceptable for us to be like screaming Jewish epithets or whatever, like something like that. You're not a real fan if you have all your teeth. Right. You got to lose them in a fist fight during. There is something to that. Hooligan is a great term.

Hooligan's a great term. Yeah, yeah. And it's just like this country where their emotions are not allowed out. until they're in a football stadium and then they just become maniacs. David, this episode is brought to you again by Mooby, a curated streaming service dedicated

to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From iconic directors to emerging hauteurs, there is always something new to discover with Mooby each and every film is hand-selected so you can explore the best of cinema streaming anywhere anytime. But what, David? What if the cinema

is actually kind of TV. Wait, this is a debate now. This is a debate. No, it's a very cool thing. We allowed to log this ad read on letterboxed is the debate. To mark the 35th anniversary since the release of the ground-breaking television show Twin Peaks. The complete original series, plus its 2017 follow-up, the limited event series, are all available for the first time on movie. It's very exciting.

I see people, even just last week on the Reddit, saying, hey, I still haven't watched Twin Peaks. I listened to the episodes, so they're going to spoil things for me. People catch up with the back catalog. We did all Lynch last year. We did all the Twin Peaks. Maybe you want to watch along. Maybe you want to re-watch. Maybe you want to watch for the first time.

It's a great, great opportunity. David Lynch's distinct vision and, here's the word I always mispronounce, aesthetic, have made his name synonymous with a unique cinematic style. Lynchian. Oh, this is a very lynchian show. He breaks the borders of reality to expose the unsettling truths, hidden behind the American middle class happiness

and allow the viewer to indulge in a bittersweet and dreamlike confusion. Why has this become like a wrestling promo? Because I'm trying to hype people up. Okay. Obviously, you should go watch Twin Peaks if you haven't on movie and then you can go listen to our long discussions

about it on blank check. That would be exciting. There's also really cool other television on movies such as Coriata's Going My Home, Laura's Friends Truths, The Kingdom. Which they restored, yeah. William Kentridge's self-portrait is a coffee pot.

And coming up, one car wise, blossoms, Shanghai, and Mussolini's son of the century from old Joe Wright. Old Joe Wright. And we do have a big Joe Wright fan who's silent in the studio with us, who's giving me a double thumbs up. Yeah, Mark Frost and David Lynch's twin Pete. We love it. Just dream the best of cinema.

You can try a movie for free for 30 days at Blank Check. That's Mubi.com slash Blank Check for a month of great cinema for free. Here's the thing I'm going to say To trigger it To the point of them finding Haley Steinfeld so late And her being like such a miracle Months and months of auditioning people I guess right

At a certain point they were just like We just have to put this thing into motion And hope that we find the kid I had a friend Who was kind of like had a pin in her for months. She must have been 20 or 21

but looked kind of young. And they were just sort of like, we're keeping you on hold in case we don't find an actual kid. There was this notion of like, there might not truly be a child who can do this dialogue, carry the emotional weight,

and handle the stunts. Right. And so, like, I'm sure they had a couple of those, of course. But it was that close of like, If we can't find a kid, it might be you. And it could still be a good-ass movie if it's like 19, 17, whatever year old.

But it's not the same. It's magical. It's like magical that you're watching a child do. And I also think the ending, which to me is the whole thing that makes this movie profound, doesn't work if it isn't actually a kid at the beginning. For sure. And you watch the John Wayne movie, which is really hokey. But one of its biggest issues is that it's, what's your name?

Kim Darby. Kim Darby. She's like 25 or whatever. Right. She looks young, but yet not like a literal child. But it is a grown-up playing a kid, right? And in, like, a 60s film with, like, you know, without a sense of, like, naturalism in its performances, you can kind of get away with her wearing a wig and being like, Jeanie Garland. She willickers, yeah, please, Mr. Rooster.

But you read, like, it was supposed to be Mia Farrow. Wow. And then she turned it down after Rosemary's baby. She was, this was supposed to be her follow up to Rosemary's baby. Could you imagine after Rosemary's baby, Mia Farrow showing up and being like, hi, I'm a 12-year-old. Right? And then they go... That's fucking insane.

Right. They go through like Sondra Locke Tuesday Well, John Wayne won a Karen Carpenter. They offered it to Sally Field, all of them over 20 years old. And then you end up with Kim Darby who at least had the benefit of being an unknown where there wasn't the previous association

in the same way of like, I've seen this person play a grown-up yet. But it does totally change the vibe of the movie versus this movie starts with her. And you're like, who the fuck is this kid? which is what the whole story is driven by, that, like, this is a girl who you believe can, like, trick fucking Deacon Matthews into buying back selling her at a discount, the horses she just sold him at an upcharge.

Yeah, and what I love about those, I mean, the early feeling of, like, they show how powerful this character is because basically when she's dealing with people that will deal with her, like, the danger here is that she's a child, she's a girl, right? it's like two people like the kind of people that are not treated well in the fucking wild west and when people will deal with her as a human being well just a guy trading with her and it's wits versus wits she's more she's fucking she's better than everyone like she's tougher she her only dangers are the most fucked up things possible which is like someone can pick her out and strangle you know what i mean like yeah yeah like yeah exactly exactly and

so that it was really cool this they established her as like yeah this only some really fucked up shit can stop this person and she knows she's susceptible to it she's constantly walking this tightrope and she doesn't give a fuck because you know it's bigger than her she has a she has a real goal here not to go all thesis but like what is so

magnificent about this movie because in the movie I saw in theaters and I was like that rocked love that Western like had a great time and then as I kept watching I kept being like this might be the best movie they ever made this might be like one of the best movies of the century or whatever is I'm just like it's like America

then, right, is like kind of civilization's kind of arrived, but everyone who lives out here is basically just a weirdo or a criminal or a drunk or some like diseased person or an immigrant who can only operate like, you know, out here in the wild or whatever. And, you know, bad shit happens all the time. Someone argues over a dog and gets shot. And it's like, yeah, it sucks and we'll kind of deal with it. And she's just like, a great wrong has been done. And like,

like, I want this addressed because, like, a bad, this is not fair, like, that this happened to me. And, like, she just slowly infects everyone in the movie. Like, right. The beef is in it for money. Like, and he, and pride and, like, you know, being a, you know, showboat, right? The beef is very, I'd love to really crack in the movies. We're going to talk about. We're going to roosters in it for whiskey and money and just like, he just can only do this, right? Like, you know, and it's like by the end of the movie. And everyone's driven by ego as well. The idea of reputation in the West and being seen as a big man and a tough man. Which is what matters out

there. And by the end of the movie, Rooster is like this, like, he won't say it out loud maybe, but you can tell that he's like, this is important that we like do this. I don't want to say this always works for me. And it's like just this like glimmer of civilization, you know, like, in a lawless way. I don't want to say it always works

for me because that's what America is. Which is not a great country. I think it is a great country actually with no problems. But no, no. But like that is what is going on. You have to execute it. I'm not going to go for the shittiest version of it that you haven't earned. But any time you actually put the muscle into building properly, guy who doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone.

Right. And then at the end, he won't say it, but he'll do something that shows he cares so fucking much. The end of this movie gets me so worked up every time. And it is like John Wayne plays the part a lot more sentimental. And they treat it much more like, this nice guy is helping this little girl, right? And they have this sort of begrudging like,

okay, little girly, but it does feel like the two of them are much more like, we have to help her. The whole thing in this movie is that these two guys are just like, fuck you. And then both of them

keep accidentally showing their hand. LeBuff is cornyer, right? Like, he'll open up and give her the respect increasingly over the course of the film. He'll say it a lot because he's a man in a cab. But Rooster will never fucking say it.

Yeah. And him just running with her in his arms. Yeah, her and Roeuf. Rooster really is, I mean, that's the pure shit. That's the, and, and like, LeBeeph is interesting to me. Like, your point, David, about it really, to me, feels like the rooster and Maddie relationship is where you really see it because he is, he really just is a piece of shit. Like, he's awesome, but he's maybe one of the worst guys of all time, right?

Yeah, I mean, he's on trial and at first, you're like on, you're like, yeah, rooster tell him. And then you're like, it does kind of sound like he just shot a bunch of fucking guy. He definitely killed him. And also, like, it's, like, it's, like, it's, he's, like, it's later revealed that they're both confederate, right? Both our heroes are confederate guys, right? But he's the type of confederate that like, the other confederates were like, these are bad guys. Like, LeBeeveveh was

like, oh, you were that kind of confederate. Like, which is fucking hilarious. Like, they give you, and then even at the end, as soon as that motherfucker, like, he soberes up, he takes the money, whatever. Then there's the hilarious part where he finds a little whiskey, and he's a piece of shit immediately, right? Like, he immediately gives

into his vices, even though he might have been slowly on the path to like, you know, helping her and growing, the second he gets a fucking bottle of whiskeys, that's done. And he's like, fuck you, bitch. I wash my hands of it. Get the fuck out of here. You go, you and LeBeefe, whatever. I mean, a bottle.

He's put down three or four. I dare I say this man loves to pull the cork? I also love the favorite line. Like, history of him. Three chords of the way into the movie where he's like, I did rob a bank one time. And she's like, what? And he's like, I don't know. Like, who fucking cares?

He's like, that's stealing. Yeah. And he's like, yeah, that's what they thought. And then the story. about what a badass he was where he's charging it seven guys or whatever. It's like, he's in the wrong there. Yeah, he's an ass. He's being insane. He's just such

a fucking irredeemable piece of shit. But that is what she's like I need a terminator. I need like a and it's cool that she, because she when they describe the three potential marshals, right? The bet it's like one's a good tracker. It's like final fight. He ends with like

pick your guys. Oh yeah, give me the piece of shit that kills people. That's fine. And she knows that which their credit is awesome. She's like, I'm willing to deal with this kind of guy. He's a tool I can wield. But yes, that's why seeing him become essentially a good guy. Not good, but doing the good thing is so awesome. The two most crucial scenes are the beginning of the quest where he watches her take the horse over the river, right?

And it's just the simplest cinematic language possible. Cut to Rooster, cut to horse, cut to Rooster. There's nothing complicated going on at all. Every time you cut back to Rooster, 5% more. And Jeff Bridges are like, damn, she's really fucking. going across the whole ass river. And that, no, what he does say, when Lebeef starts spanking her

is like, I don't think I will let this happen. And it's basically like, yeah, you've earned me enough of my respect here. And then by the end of the movie, yes, he loves her like a child, like he, you know, because he was mean to his actual child. Yes, yes. Right, another thing.

If you pick out his monologues, you're like, what are he just driving on? And he's like, well, I guess I was a piece of shit. My boy didn't care for me. And he's like, well, I guess I did treat him like shit. But he was so clumsy. Yeah, and he broke somebody in my glasses. I'm like, you're clumsy.

And this guy who's killed 30 guys, imagine what he thinks is treating someone bad. What he will even admit is treating someone bad? Like, oh, my God. One of the funniest things, right? He's like, I don't know, I've killed like 12 to 15 guys. The guy's like, I have the number here. He's like, yeah, I guess it's like 25. You got me?

The court scene rules, too, where he's getting them, where he realizes people are laughing and he's kind of leading into it. That little, like, Jeff Briggins is, like, chuckle. tend to go backwards. Yes, go ahead, Griff, sorry. As we said. I get so fired up about this movie. No, of course. John Wayne winning the Oscar for this was kind of like a gold watch retirement.

That's exactly what it was. It was a, uh, Hey, you're, you're kind of, it's a sent to a woman thing. It was only a second nomination ever. He dies like seven or eight years after this. Yeah, but in my head, I'm like, oh, he died right after. And it's like, no, actually he made a fucking true grit sequel. They made a movie called Rooster Cogburn.

That's him dealing with Catherine Hepburn. And she's like, ah, well, I. That is the vibe. He is so, I mean, he just sucks in it. John Wayne is an awesome actor. He's not good at his regret. No, he's not. What's his last?

The shoot is his last movie. He's incredible in that. Yeah. That's what, if he was that, if he did that performance, that's the kind of performance this movie needed. He's pretty, he's much closer to what Bridges does here. What I think is John Wayne out of the water. He's that like, when I'm getting into movies, I think of him as a square, right?

Because that's what you hear about John Wayne. It's like, oh, yeah, he was, you know, a conservative and he supported the war and all that shit. And then you're like watch any John Ford movie that he's in. You're like, I would fucking, I'll vote for Reagan. I'll tell me he's the coolest guy I've ever seen. But it's those movies where he's like, he's like, stoic and violent. He's amazing in the searchers.

But true grit is kind of what he's bad at, which is like, you know, broad, kind of goofy shit. Well, so the thing I was going to identify is the moment that people I think give credit to winning him the Oscar is the 69 movie's version of that monologue.

of explaining how he's fucked up his marriages and his son, which in that movie is played as like a real. This guy has let his guard down. John Wayne is showing emotions, right? He's like getting vulnerable on camera and they're around a campfire. And he's sort of looking off to the middle distance and being like, I guess I wasn't a good father, you know? And then they announce, okay, Cohen Brothers, doing True Grid with Jeff Bridges.

At the moment they announced it, Crazy Heart has not come out yet. So people were like, Jeff Bridges is one of these great, Overdue, this guy needs an Oscar dudes. It would make so much sense that True Grit is kind of the movie that wins him an Oscar in the same way. Then it would be like playing Joker. It's like, you want to win an Oscar? A little bit.

Right. Crazy Art comes out of nowhere. He wins. And people are like, and can you believe he's got true grit next year? Is he going to win two years in a row? And then the movie comes out and everyone's like, oh, he's playing it like a grotesque. He's not doing the obvious thing you would do to try to win an Oscar.

He's not doing sweetheart shit. No. Which is also, like, I feel like what's in the text of the movie is, like, this guy's kind of a monster. And not only that, he's, like, aggressively unsavory. Of course. He's, like, unpleasant. He smells that. But, I mean, obviously, Steinfeld is the absolute A number one, like, secret.

But the second thing for me, what they're incredibly good at is all their movies, all the little characters, all the world, it's like, it feels so, all of them are so realized, they're so real. And everyone is disgusting Everyone is what A guy in that time They're all sweaty Everyone looks like shit I mean the scene Where they come across the guys

In the little hut And the guy You know he shoots the guy in the They look so disgusting And especially when you compare it to the original Which is a Looney Tunes cartoon It's like fucking in Technicolor Type shit

That you're like I this is this world is fucking terrifying. I also think the choice they make with that monologue of Rooster's like backstory dump

is that it's delivered as if he's doing like a fucking deaf comedy jam routine to her largely disinterested right?

It's kind of like they do these time it's how he occupies himself, right. And he's not like this is not me being vulnerable. This is me being like

yeah and I fucked up that marriage too. He's like fucking Abe Simpson like just talking to nobody. Which tells you even more about him that this guy is revealing his greatest failings

in life as like sort of like weird material. It's also, but I also think to me it feels like it's nothing to him. Exactly. He doesn't give a fuck. Which tells you everything. I mean, this guy knows. Again, he's not like, I rock. Like when she's like, hey, I'll give you, he's like, I sleep

in a Chinese grocery store. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On like, ropes. This is just what I do. I happen to be an awesome murderer. I have, like, that's how I get whiskey. So, yeah, people call me a fucking legend. It's a little, I mean, there's a little unforgiven to this movie, too,

where it's like... But unforgiven is so serious. Like, I love that movie so much. But I mean, absolutely, they're different, but I just mean there's a little, there's, I actually feel a little unforgiven in both rooster as Clint Eastwood, obviously. And then LaBeaf, to me, feels like a little bit of the Morgan Freeman. No, no, no.

Oh, the guy who's... Harris. No, no. The kid who's a complete frog. Oh, yeah, that kid. Right. To me, Lebeef feels so much, like, the big question I have about Labif is like, is he good at any of this shit? Is he a complete fraud? Right. I mean, in

Unforgiven, it's way more, it's so much clearer that that character is a pure fraud, right? And it doesn't feel that way with Labif, right? Labif has definitely gone through some shit. It's almost like, maybe if that character had to go through war and like maybe figure a shit out, but he's not, he's not made

of the same stuff, roostering. It's not even he doesn't have true grit. He doesn't have true grit. He doesn't have true grit. There's no chance to Beef has true grits. French name, you can't have true grits. He looks like a toy story cowboy, right? Like everything about him is like a little too performative. And he's trying to, he's trying to intimidate a child and he can't do it. Right.

You know what I mean? Even though it's like the craziest. I can't decide if I want to intimidate or seduce you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm trying to figure out what a guy should do in this situation. And I'm pathetic at both. Yes. I don't really, you can tell I don't really want to do either of it.

Right. And it's, but so it's like he's such a fraud in so many ways. And even, you know, not to skip it at the end, it's like, you don't, I love that, I mean, I know it's a hard shot. And even if you just take it at face value, there is like narrative value to him being like, he did this, he claimed he could shoot from far away. Rooster told him he couldn't. He pulled off the shot to save Rooster's life.

That has its value. I watch it. I'm like, he doesn't know if he, this is a complete coin flip. No, she keeps telling him to take the shot. He goes to, they're too far and they're moving too fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then finally the guy, Barry Pepper stops. Yeah.

he gets the shot. And it is, you're like, yeah, good job, buddy. Like, what a shit, bully shot? But also completely lucky is how to me. You know what I mean? And like, he never does anything particularly impressive, but he does like go all the way to fucking wherever the fuck that, you know, deep into Indian territory. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, he's fine. He can like, he's fine. I think his life outside of this, he, you could make a, you could read the character as impressive and whatever. But in this movie, he's a fuck, he's a complete loser. And he just gets got. at every turn. And of course, like, the number one thing as Haley's, as a Maddie keeps saying,

is like, the guy they're chasing is like adult. Right. When you meet him. Sucks. Like, he's bad at everything. Dude, exactly. And Brolin's so amazing. I mean, we're going all over the place. He's so good. But no, you're right. That part where she's where he meets her and she's like, you couldn't even catch this fucking

you wait, you've been tracking this idiot for three months. I'll find him in four days. Like, if, and at the time, I'm like, she's so good at like shitting on people. And then you're, you meet the guy and you're like, wait, how did this guy out smart Labee for fucking four months? He is like, but you're like,

that's random. It's incredible. You could just be like, well, I'll just go to this like 100 million square acre area that no one lives in. It's like the deflation. Except like a weird dentist with a bear hat. Yeah,

who is awesome. That guy is awesome. That guy is fucking rules. That guy now would have like a podcast. A hundred percent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy has his own supplements. Yeah.

Yes. Every Cohen's movie has like five guys like that. or when they're on screen, you're like, is this the best performance I've ever seen in my life? The guy fucking... The guy who does the animal noises?

Love that guy. No explanation of why he does that. That guy's awesome. He eats it dead. That's the idea of Barry Pepper being like, I need an idiot, kind of like a cold-butted murderer. Can we get like an animal guy in here

just to keep it lively like in my little posse? Yes, yes, yes. You didn't get to see this in theaters, but I remember the feeling in the audience when Brolin came on screen because, I mean, the posters for this movie are Bridges Damon Brolin, right?

Yeah, yeah. And they had him in the trailer, they have his face on the poster, but they didn't let him speak. And you know the whole movie's structured around, like, here's the big bad that they have to go and get revenge on, right? Like a...

Yeah, he's the... The bill must be settled, right, with this man. And then you get to him, and like the Carter Burwell score is swelling and she sees him, she clocks him. The second he starts talking, the audience just exploded with laughter. Incredible.

And just this immediate communication of, oh, this guy's like nothing. Yeah. This guy is nothing. Why are you doing here? It's like the reverse Spacey and Seven. Yes. It's like the absolute reverse of like.

Right. Where you're like, this guy's so much more terrifying than I could have imagined. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're just like, this is some random guy who like shot a dude because his ego was threatened. He was a little scared. Yeah. Yeah.

And yeah, even the way he's like, he allows, he's like, hey, what are you in here, you know, like the friendly conversation he's having this girl who who's dead, he knows he killed. He knows he killed her dad. She's looking at him like death and he's like, madder? And he like, literally is like, let me put my gun away. And then my favorite thing

is when she like points to gun him, he's like, nothing goes right for me. This sucks. He's such a sad sack. Like, he expects her to be like, I know, man. Yeah, it really sucks to me. And that's basically he reveals the only reason he told her father was because he felt like he made him look weak. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah, he felt a little, whatever, cucked by Maddie Ross's dad,

who I guess the implication in this character is that her dad must have been an exemplar to her in some way. Like, I don't think, like, she had some, like, complete loser dad, right? Like, there's some sort of stiff, Protestant kind of, you know, like, frontier, like, character in her that must be from her dad because she's like, yeah, my mom's home with the babies and she's indecisive, like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Wayne movie opens with her sending her father all.

You meet the dead, which I thought suck. It sucks. It's so much better when he's a mystery. It's so great that this movie just opens with... Have any of you read the book, by the way? No, I don't want to, yeah. I highly recommend it. It is basically this movie.

The Coins are really good at adaptation in that they just put the movie on the screen, like you're saying. Like, the only thing they really add is the stuff with Dakin Matthews. That's pure Coens. Although there's a version of that scene in the original film. Yes, they... They imp it up. And I highly recommend all of Portis' books because it's

There's only like five of them. They all rock. They all westerns? No, most of them are. His first book, Norwood, you would absolutely love. Which is like a weird road trip movie about like a guy who got discharged from the Marines

and just like meets a bunch of weirdos. Love that. I just watched a, what's the Nicholson movie where he's taking young Quaid to jail? Fucking last detail. Yeah, yeah. Which is kind of similar to what? Yeah.

The vibe you're talking about there. But, like, it's just like every piece of dialogue in his books is so cool. And that's what this movie is. Like, anytime anyone talks, you're just like, put that on a postcard. It's hanging on the wall. I will admit, when I saw this movie the first time, I was a little disappointed by it. And I think it was like, Cohen's running such a heater run in my mind. I was really in.

I forgot, of course, a serious man happens in between Burn After After League of this. Which also is amazing. So that's their other cation of, like, what's the least commercial movie we can come up with. I watched those two back to back later. And I was like, these guys are so... But that's the era where you stepped away because you were like, are they doing silly shit now?

Exactly, exactly, exactly. But I was so into those three that I felt a little disappointed by this because it felt so much more straightforward to me where I was waiting for the weird Cohen's twist on it. So a second time in theaters immediately was like, what the fuck is wrong with me? It is a movie that like, if I can't sleep, I

will just like open iTunes and just scrub to any random part. and be like, let me just watch 15 minutes until I pass out. It has also the most beautiful music. Yes. Like, the score is so perfect. It's so good looking. Deacons on fire.

It looks incredible. It looks so good. And the dialogue is just like... It's musical. Yeah. No, it is. David. Yes.

It has been said that I don't always have the healthiest diet. Oh, who's out there? I don't have the best habits. I don't have the best routines. I'm not disciplined. planned in terms of taking care of my body in a way that will sustain my lifespan. But here's one routine I stick to no matter what. Cucadoodle-doo!

What's happening? Oh, it's the 10 a.m. rooster waking me for my slumber. Let me get out of my bed, make myself a cup of coffee, and pour a scoop of AG1 into my shaker bottle. I cannot start my morning without these two things. You love AG1. In a way, that is frighteningly genuine, I will say. You won't even jokingly say, if you love it so much, why do you marry it?

Because you're worried, I may marry it. You may marry a pillar of green powder. And just beyond that, that it's just kind of like the shaky deck of House of Cards that is your nervous system and, like, functioning, you know, immune system, digestive. All seems to now rest on the AG1 is the foundation. I may be more AG1 than man now.

It might be AG1 GN0. That's what we're basically just like relying on at this point. It's not just another supplement, too. It's a micro habit. It's a daily micro habit that supports whole body health in one scoop. This is the thing. It sets my body right for the entire day. But it also, it's how I kickstart my morning.

It's how I set my clock. And if you like listening to this podcast and I'm glad that it is continued week after week, at this point, that's really thanks to EG1. So let me just ask you, because this is, you know, when we do these ads, like they have the sort of explanation of what kind of stuff it does. It's clinically shown to support gut health, fill in common nutrient gaps, which Lord knows, my diet does not fill in most of those gaps on its own. How's gut feeling?

Much better with five probiotic strains and 75 plus. That means more than 75. Vitamins and minerals. AG1 NextGen, that's the new updated formula, replaces the need for a multivitamin, probiotics, and more. It's one stop shopping. Here's the other thing, David. they got flavors now

there used to just be one standard flavor oh now they've got citrus you got a berry what are you doing though I'm trying them all out okay great this is what I've been doing

I'm a citrusy boy yeah love a citrus that's where my flavor palette goes first the tart but I'm cycling through them I want to try all three I want to share something

I also started using there we go he came in like an AGE He's funny like working a ball on that one. I though recently turned 40 years old and decided, you know what? I need to start having a daily ritual of taking vitamins. You woke up one morning and realized that you were a 40-year-old virgin. To taking AG1 every morning.

That's right. You hadn't tried it yet. And so far I'm really noticing such a difference. I'm just feeling better. I'm having more energy. My gut health is feeling better. And let's say this, Ben. AG1, NextGen, is helping raise the standard

with multiple gold standard clinical trials. I'm lowering my glasses all the way to the bottom of the bridge of my nose now. Is this Chuck Schumer? In an industry where not everyone invest heavily in research, they go to great lengths to continually invest in rigorous, peer-reviewed clinical trials. It's less than $3 per day with its subscription,

and you're getting more than $7 worth of daily nutritional support. That way replaces the need for, taken multiple different supplements a day of nutrition right there. That's the math. That's the bonus. That's the profit you're making. So head to drinkag1.com slash check to get a free welcome kit, including a bottle of vitamin D and free AG1 travel packs when you first subscribe.

That's drinkag1.com slash check. David? Yes. Bhr, chatter, chatter, chatter. Shiver. Oh, those numbers be going down. The weather is cooling. Fahrenheit and Celsius.

It doesn't matter. The numbers are still going down. Down, down. And you know what that means? I don't. I have no idea what that means. I'm swapping in the pieces that actually get the job done. I'm talking layers.

Like a burrito. I want seven layers on my body at all times. Warm, durable, built to last. And it has the added advantage of hiding your flesh. Quince delivers every time with wardrobe staples that carry you through the season. David, you love Quince. Sure. I do love Quince. Don't say it like that. You love Quince.

Yes! There we go. No, I'm a huge Quince fan, and I am in need of some warmth after spending my whole summer in Quince polo shirts. Dive for me to put on some quince sweaters. Yes. How about a little less Vince Staples and a little more fall staples? Because Quince

will set you up with the items you want to wear on repeat. Is Vince Staples relevant current? I don't know. Like 100% Mongolian cashmere from just $60. Classic Fit denim and real leather and wool outerware that looks sharp and holds up. Yeah, what do we think of this suede trucker

jacket? I've noticed you have your eye on it. Your eyeball is sitting directly on top of said jacket. Maybe a dark chestnut. Maybe an espresso? Perfect for layering. It just looks really casual, put together, and once again, hides human flesh. A thing I'm loath to

show at the outside world. I'm less concerned with this but I'm very concerned. Oh, boy. So that one looks cool to me. I look, this is my thing, though, because like, you know, I look at the Quince copy and I'm like, yeah, I love quince. And these items are so good. And you're like, I bet I got to make some kind of Faustian bargain to own their products, right? It's cheap. They're really good. But even beyond that, David, they partner directly with ethical factories and top artisans. Quince cuts out the middlemen to deliver premium quality at half the cost of similar brands. It's like an anti-Faustian bargain. But then do you see how

they're always like, you know, if you picked up anything in the other cat, categories, bedding, bath, travel accessories. Cookware. Cookware. They have cookware? Now I'm like looking on their website. The comfiest kitchen utensils you've ever seen. I'm just intrigued.

David's getting the bug. They got some pansets, guys. Cashmere pants? Looks more like ceramic and stainless steel, but very nice. It's probably a better idea. Yeah, so I might check that out next. Listen, layer up this fall with pieces that feel as good as they look. Go to quince.com slash check for free shipping on your order.

and 365-day returns, now available in Canada to that's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash check. Free shipping in 365-day returns, quince.com slash check. Let me open the dossier just to tell you. The thing about a serious man, Griff, is there, like, we had that set up before we won the Oscar.

The Coens are very upfront. Like, no, this is us trying to leverage our Oscar. Even still, this movie only costs $40 million. And, like, you know, they don't go over the top ever, really. No. But, yeah. Scott Rooden wanted them to adapt the Yiddish police. He ever read that book?

That's a good-ass book. Yeah. I love that book. And, like, it feels obvious, like, Ruden reading that being like, well, yeah, Cohen's got to make this. Like, what a weird concept. Like, they'll be, and, like, I think they worked on it, but may have kind of been, like, this is actually too obvious. for us. Like, there's a reason to never happen.

Yeah. No, no, what do you want to say to say? No, no, I think that's, I was just going to say, that's, they are right about that. It is a little too, oh, that's like what an idiot is like, the Cohen's got to do that. It's like alternate history of like Jewish Alaska. It's like that. I want to see that. It's a super cool

idea. And it is, it is cool. And by the way, you make that, I'm watching it. But, but the thing is, I think there is a ceiling to that because they can't, I don't know, can you squeeze any, can you, what can you do to make that next level awesome. I don't know. The way they took this and this feels, now

I haven't read the book, but it feels elevated particularly after watching the original. Yes. I completely agree with you. Rudin pulls them out of their flop era, right? Like, Rudin enters the picture. He's the one who's like, do know country. Come on. Lady Killers. They do no country. He sort of like got them at this

point. I imagine at the point he first throws it to them, they're still feeling like we kind of got to win our way back in the public consciousness. By this point, they have nothing to prove. They don't need to make a movie that someone else wants them to make. And they, in classic Cohen's fashion, apparently both

of them read this book to their children. And that's where they're kind of like, we should make this a movie and we should center it on the girl, which the Wayne movie doesn't do. The Wayne movie, Wayne is the main character. Right. But also, why would you rewrite any of this dialogue? Is there other big thing of like the Wayne

movie lost so much of that? They do talk so much about reading books together in a way I always find funny. and I'm sure in reality is what's it's what you're describing of. They both go like, hey, want to read this next and it's like a brother's book club.

But I always, in the way they talk about it, even like same with no country where they were like, we were both reading the book and we thought this would make a good movie. I imagine them like Bert and Ernie in parallel bags

with matching pajamas. Yeah, they got the fucking cap. One big book dangling between their two beds. Yeah, they're alternating pages. Exactly. Now, this movie, they're like, It needs to be PG-13.

Now, this movie does have someone's, like, fingers getting cut off and someone getting shot in the face. But they kind of, I feel like... Until you said that, I didn't even think about it. I know. I thought, I just assumed it's R. It's one of their only PG-13?

Their other ones are, O'Brother, is PG-13, and weirdly hail Caesar, although that's not a family movie, really, but it's just not that lurid a movie. Yes. Lady killers is our intolerable cruelty is PG-13. Entobabber Cruelty's PG-13. The best.

Because that movie is, yeah. You know, for kids. For kids, yeah. But, yeah, largely, obviously, they don't care about that. But this one, they're consciously like, no, no, no, we want this to be a movie teenagers can see. Yeah, because it's about a teenager. Yes, 100%.

Like, that is, like, I know this sounds so silly, but, like, that is, you know, they basically are, like, Maddie is a pill, but, like, we're drawn to her. She's so admirable. We love that, like, Presbyterian, Protestant ethic. And they are very clear, like, we saw that John Wayne movie when we were kids. We did not revisit it. we told everyone not to watch it. Like, costume designers, productions

that act is like, do not watch that movie. They're pretty obviously disdainful of it, though. Like, they're not just like, oh, it's a legendary movie, but who cares? They're like, no, no, no. Like, we don't like that movie. I mean, it sucks. It's not good. It's surprisingly bad.

It fucking sucks. Yeah. And now it's like, but they also, it sucks in ways they're like, like, the way like old kung fu movies, night would clearly be day and they just turn the fucking exposure down. they do that in this fucking movie

it's a fucking John Wayne movie in the 60s you can't shoot at fucking night I have to look at this blue ass bullshit like it's crazy how much it sucks dude it's like I know that's this looks exactly like fun kung fu movies that are pretending it's nighttime it's like it was yeah

we need some scope here we need like this to feel epic I mean it's a mistake to watch you watch one after the other it's like this is crazy how much better it is true good is a movie to watch TV on TV the original on TV some afternoon and you're like, okay. No, it's bad.

If you want to bond with your racist grandfather, you throw that on, you know what I mean? You're like, just watch the shoot-ist. Exactly. There's some other John Wayne room. I agree, I agree. I agree. But anyway, so yeah, Haley Steinfeld, not a seasoned pro,

but she is a kid from L.A. Like, after they've been, like, searching across all of the Southern United States for their Maddie, they saw a tape of her four weeks outside of production. They cast her three weeks before. Steinfeld's like a red on a Saturday,

got on a call on a Tuesday, and like a week later I was basically going to set. And, you know, it's one of those things where I didn't, obviously, she was unknown to me, right? And then, like, after this, I kind of... I want to talk about the Haley Stenfeld. Okay, we'll talk about her later, I guess. Yeah, okay. We can talk about it now. I just want to talk about it.

Well, just after this, I was like, oh, is it going to be like Keisha Castle Hughes from Whale Rider where it's like, oh, they went a lightning in a bottle thing, and, like, that's not an actor who's going to have a long, felt for a number of years like she was fucking it up, right? In a way where, like, if someone's this good and something that's this big, when they're that young, out of nowhere, you're like, well, how do you ever get past this? And she starts, like, a pop career, and it's, like, kind of bad.

You're kind of like, yeah, I mean, good for you, but, like, this sucks. It just felt like, right, this hits so hard, she gets an Oscar nomination, and then it was, like, actually, what I want to do is music and also pitch perfect sequels. And she did, like, the bad Romeo and Juliet that no one saw. And it felt like everything between true grit and edge of 17 kind of was a whiff. You seen that movie? It was little scene. It's great.

It's so fucking good. It's like her one good teen movie and it's basically like her doing like... It's about a girl who's just 17 and is like having a nervous break now. The opening of the movie is... But not in like a crazy way. It's just like... Woody Heraldson is her like cynical, like disaffected teacher. Kind of her rooster cogburn.

And she walks in during his lunch break and is like, I want to kill myself. I'm on suicide watch and he's like let me finish my sandwich and then the movie is like her recounting how bad her life is in a very like teen girl my life is falling a part way.

Her dad died and her best friend sleeping with her brother I mean I guess it's not normal but it's like you know it's like teen shit it's such a good movie but it's like her doing like the female version of like

80s John Cusack and then she did Bumblebee which she's like good in and it's like look good well that's the thing so I saw this like I said later and I was like what the fuck is like I got to see

with this girl and then I probably looked at I wasn't interested in pitch perfect you know what I mean that's not my thing whatever which no disrespect and and then and then everything I saw was like bumblebee and then she was in fucking Hawkeye or whatever the fuck right and I'm like what like I remember

getting pissed because I was like what happened this person fucking rules and then I guess the Dickinson show but I don't weirdly I just never had Apple TV right two seasons of an Apple TV show that kind of doesn't exist right three seasons no it exists I I'm going to stick up for Dickinson.

I like that show. I think it is kind of forgotten right now. Well, all those fucking streaming shows are. But it was like, you can't get one other, like every kind of, and I guess like, I guess Bumblebee and Hawkeye, whatever, is enough to kind of keep stoking the flames. Yeah. But I was so fucking pissed. I was like, she is someone who has that in them.

And it's like, yes, either it's lightning in a bottle because it could have been so special because there is something about like that kind of child. like a confidence that you don't know any better. Yes, like the camera's barely been on you before, so you're just, yeah, totally. Like, I remember my, like, I, when I was a fat little child in theater, I was like, before I was like in middle school, I was like, I'm actually a jock, which is hysterical. Like, I quit. I quit and like, look how my life has turned out.

I'm clearly a performer, but, you know, I'm like five, five, fat as shit. I'm like, I'm going to be in the NBA. I'm going to quit being in plays. So I'm, if you had put me in a fucking, I think I thought I was like the fucking. most talented, you know, nine-year-old in the world? The prepubescent, like, the world hasn't knocked you down yet. You know, like, I mean, obviously she's like, but you know what I mean? Like, there's some, there's some like, oh, okay, this unfortunately could have just been so,

you know, the perfect storm of one of the best performances ever, but you hope that's not going to happen. And then obviously I think sinners was like, it's so great when somebody that fucking good, well, you know, a director that good just is like, this is an underutilized talent. I'm going to just fucking line something up for her that's because it that allowed her to be to do everything right like incredible acting hot as shit scary as fuck yeah and then even like a little action it was like such a perfect movie star put this girl on performance so I'm pumped to see what happens it's kind of like a start of a second era it feels like I mean I had always just had this feeling of like has she kind of dropped the ball because or does she maybe not give a shit like you know sometimes these people also are really good and have really bad taste. Like, you meet them and they're idiots and you're like, oh, you don't know what a good movie is. That's why you keep picking bad ones. But this performance is so skillful that you're like, it's not just that she's charismatic. It is so complicated what she's doing here in such a high

level movie that it's like, it can't be an accident. Absolutely. And then I'm just, right, there's so many of these I like forgot about after True Grip, but it's like, right, begin again, the John Carney movie where she's like Ruffalo's precocious daughter. Right. Romeo and Juliet, hate ship, love ship, Ender's game, three days to kill. She's not bad in any of these. Where she's coster's precocious daughter, right?

Then there's barely lethal, and there was also the one term life that she did with Vinceva. I actually wrote and erected barely lethal. There's like five or six years where you're like, this all is doing nothing for her. Sound insane is that she was in the Taylor Swift verse, like she was one of her friends.

Oh, really? And that's when everyone was obsessed with like Taylor Swift's whole, like, cadre. You're like, why are you trying to do this? She also dated one of the run direction guys. Like, she had to hold, like, 20s. She was a celebrity, yeah, yeah. Yeah, she was never gone from the public eye.

It felt like she was chasing something. She's the voice of Gwen Stacy and the Spider-Verus movies. I agree. Right, because it's like, Edge of 17 was sort of like, here we go. And then she's good in Bubblebee, but bumblebee ends up being a franchise dead end. She's great in the Spider-Verse movies. The thing with Dickinson was that it was like, hey, Apple has a show. It's a fucking Emily Dickinson, but it's like Gen Z.

And you're like, that sounds like I wanted, like, drink glass. Like, I can't, I, they're like, no, no, you don't get it. John Mullaney plays Ralph Walter Emerson. I'm like, no, no, he's just like, what are we doing? Oh, no, he's sorry, I please. He plays Thoreau. I take it back. Whiz Khalifa plays death.

And you're like, this sounds like someone's spinning some, like, torture wheel. Yeah. And then you watch a show and you're like, unbelievably, this is tolerable. Like, this is not that bad. And it's largely her. She's so, of God, yeah, cares. No, I think she kind of doesn't miss in terms of her actual ability. She's always good in the thing.

And it feels like she's now very selective, but there was that thing in sinners where you're sort of like, you've kind of now set the table perfectly for the next 10 years of your career because you've reintroduced yourself as an adult. That is like the first time she has played as a grown up in a movie.

And as you said, showed a little bit of everything and she feels very exciting again now. Yeah, especially in like a time where it's like, how the fuck do you even, there are no movie stars. she's kind of positioned to be, like, I mean, who in her age group, what, you know, what woman is like, who are the real deal bona fide young, you know, female movie stars? Like, there's a little bit more dudes that come to mind, but even, you know. I mean, like, in the 20s class, it is like, it's Florence Pew.

Sure, of course, of course. It's Sirsher Ronan who kind of, I guess, Searser Ronan sort of had the run that I think people thought Haley Steinfeld was going to have the American. a conversion of of like you're a child prodigy who got an Oscar nomination and you were just going to continue being a serious actor first and foremost like even if you're going to do things that are fun and commercial they are like prestigious movies and Seinfeld it did feel was doing the kind of like I need a blockbuster I guess I should do a Marvel you know she's fucking great on Hawkeye but it's one of those like it's fucking Hawkeye that's the thing by the time it comes out you're like why is Haley Steinfeld doing six episodes of a Disney Plus show for the least important avengers

Yeah, come on fire in it I remember watching it being like Right, Haley Steinfeld She's good in it, but I watch that show She's got like a couple of scenes with Florence Pugh And you're like, this is like fucking Pacino and De Niro going at it And you're like, why is this being wasted on Hawkeye? Yeah, put her on fucking Wanda Vision

The one everybody was like excited to see By the time Hawkeye comes around everyone was like, oh wait, this fucking sucks And now she'll like show up and end credits and be like, I don't know, maybe I'll come back Like they've just kept her on the bird or now You look like you were about to say something bad Or were you just leaning in? I was just leaning. I mean, I don't know.

Come on, Ben, lean in. Zendaya is in the same group. I'm trying to think of the under... But Zendaya is the example of someone where it's like... Sidney, I guess. Yeah, Sidney's Sweeney. What's up with her these days?

Yeah. But Zendaya is someone where she's like, she's got really good taste. She's seeking out big director she wants to work with, right? She's doing the kind of the movie star plan. Sidney's a little bit more like... She's got some taste.

She's not a bad actor, but she'll also be like, should I sell my bath water? You know, like, where you're like, okay, so you're sort of in the influencer space. And she's like an operator where she's like, look, I want to make that good stuff. She's like, exactly. Like, you know, these strategically things are going to last forever.

Right. To try to get my good thing made. And she's like open about that. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, look, Jeff Bridges, just to circle around the rest of the cast. Obviously, the Coens know him well. But only the second time they work together.

And they're like, we want to make a Western. He's like, I'll do a fucking Western. and they're like, it's going to be true grit. And he's like, he initially, he is kind of like, what the fuck? Why would I? That's John Wayne, man. And then he's like, I read the book and I read the script.

And I was just kind of like, I get it. Like, they're just doing something different. I didn't think about John Wayne anymore. I don't really care. I mean, this is an Ethan Cohen quote here. Like, a lot of people might take Umbrage, but I'm not sure that's an iconic performance from John Wayne. To think of an iconic because of the Oscar is a mistake.

Like, they're up front being like, Fuck that movie. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's also funny that... And they're like, and John Wayne's good

in other movies. Like, we're not saying John Writers. We're not John Wain haters. This movie just sucked. But it's also funny that they only do two movies together, the Coins and Bridges, right? He's a specific guy. Oh, absolutely.

I'm not saying, like, there are other roles that make sense that he could have slotted into. Not totally. But he's such a good star for them in two very distinct performances that are so different from each other. Yeah. But in certain ways have become at least like the two big pillars of adult bridges.

definitely right like i mean there's like young hot shot bridges right but to a certain degree it's like chill stoner dude and billy go gruff yeah right and they've like come up with the two defining performance for him in many ways even though he wins his fucking true grid oscar for crazy heart i i think at the moment they announced he was doing this lobowski was such a big flop at the time they kind of announced this at like peak lobowski everyone's like right iconic by that time the idea of he's working with them again was like lightning in a bottle exciting for people. Yeah, that's crazy to me because again, I didn't even know that it was a flop.

You know what I mean? Like, for me, it was like the thing everybody talks about in college. You go to college and everyone's like, this is one of the five movies. Right. Yeah, you have... Boundaw Saints. I don't even get... When you guys do the Boondock Saints episode, I got dibs on that. Please come back. I have watched Boondock Saints so recently it's hysterical.

I watched... If it's in the last 15 years, it's pretty much. I watch Boondock Saints like twice. Back to back. I watched it once on the bus. You had it on the bus. And then we watched, me and my buddy watched it the day.

We were like, oh, we're probably going to end up watching some shitty movies like Boondock Saints. And then he started playing it. And I'm like, ha, ha, very funny. Watch the whole fucking thing.

The second you put that shit on, dude, I remember being like 12 and being like, me and my little brothers having an earnest conversation where we're like, okay, it's Godfather or two is still better.

Right. But Blue God Saints is like nipping on its heels. Because it is in the conversation. It is actually a movie that is like the point of you of a 12-year-old boy. Exactly. It's exactly.

That's actually how you should approach life and crime and, like, you know, clean up the streets and protect your bar or whatever the fuck they're doing in that portrayal of what gay people are like. Yeah, they're like, it's a woke movie. Willow's gay? Yeah.

The movie's got its head on its shoulder. God damn. Yeah, the Troy Duffy. Yeah, that's his name. Yeah, that's his name. And he keeps being like, I got three ready to go. Did he make three? Am I wrong?

Did three happen? They keep saying they're going to do it. No, no. They may look this up recently. It's been in development hell. I mean, the whole thing is that Norman Redis's, like, stringy-haired ass is more famous than ever. Exactly. They should cash in on it.

Yeah. But he's never directed a non-Bundock movie. No, right? No. Yeah. Who's the other guy? There's the other guy? Sean Patrick Flannery.

That guy must be like, come on. Because, like, Norman Redis is like, I'll go do another death stranding and walking dead. But they'll also show up in other shit like the bike riders and basically just be the same thing. He's in a ballerina. Right. He just shows up with the same look on a motorcycle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And does the thing it leaves. Respect, dude. No, I think them announcing bridges felt like,

oh, De Niro and Scorsese are doing the Irish men together, right? It was like, they're coming back together. It's almost a layup, but you know what? I want to watch that.

And that's a perfect old man part for him. Damon, this is the first, Damon Coens? Yeah, and the only. It's the only.

It's just funny that every time they get like an oceans guy, like Clooney, Damon Pitt, they're like, yeah, you're a buffoon. You play it. I mean, they love making traditional movie stories. And Damon's like, I get it. The way he puts it is he's like, I want a guy this guy is like presentation of Tommy

Lee, hilarious that that's who he's thinking of. The like charm of Bill Clinton, no substance. Like that's how, that's my approach with this guy. Like he's slick, he's put together. He's a zero. He's so fucking goodness. And I he's litigated it before.

I'm always like, it is astounding he didn't get nominated because he's such a big star in such a, like, killer scene stealing, supporting role in a huge hit movie, but it's, yeah, incredibly stacked here. So this is, they're catching Damon when chronologically. What's a good call? When is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's finished the Born trilogy and in theory that's in the back seat. I mean, this is a period where he keeps saying, I want to direct. I think I want to transition more directing, which ends up being more the move that Affleck does. This is a weird time. for him, because you're right. Like, the last born is 07. In 08, he, like, pops into fucking the Che movie for a second, all right, you know. In 09, he puts on... Pops into youth without youth. Yeah. In 2009, he puts on a bunch of weight,

and he does the informant, which he's great in. That's a good movie. Oh, the informant's good. Yeah. And then he somehow loses all the weight, but plays a rugby player in Invictus, which is like a bad movie, but he's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It gets an Oscar nomination for that. But that also was kind of like the Invictus was like, it feels

like just such a prestige for prestige. It's an empty movie. Yeah, yeah. I remember that. Yeah, yeah. And in 2010, he has a really weird year. He does Green Zone, which is a giant bomb. Yeah. Which is sort of his like... Him with green grass again.

Without born. Can we... Then we do born, but now it's really about the Iraq War. Right. That's the tail end of them being like, you don't want like a really serious movie about Iraqis fucked up. And America's like, no. Everyone's so dumb with him. Not interested. Is Iron Man there? No.

Not interesting. Hereafter, the Clint Eastwood movie. which is, in my opinion, an incredible movie. But he's not really the leading in. It was really sold on him. Right. Yeah. He's all right.

You know, he's good in it. He's actually really good in it. It's an amazing movie. But people are just like, what the fuck is this? It's about like psychics and tsunamis. It's so weird. And then true grit. The next year he does Adjustment Bureau contagion,

we bought a zoo. He's definitely in a kind of like, what's my deal. Right. Margaret finally comes out in Happy Feet, too, as well. But he's like, He's like, all right, can I not be an action star? Can I make, like, you know, proper dramas and stuff? And, like, some of them are good. Some of them are We bought a zoo.

I need to throw out the other two factors at play here in this era, okay? One is that he says, I want to direct. Promise Land, which Gus Van Sant ends up directing, that he co-wrote with Krasinski and still stars in, was supposed to be the first movie he directed. And there were a couple other scripts he bought that he had announced he was going to direct. And in this era, very overtly in the press, He keeps saying, I think I want to transition more directing.

So when I do a movie now, it's really based on me wanting to learn from other directors. So there's a certain amount of checklist like, am I thrilled about doing Invictus? I got to work with Clint. Right? True grit, I need to have a Coins in my back pocket. I'm trying to study all these people now. So he's sort of going director first. And then there's a lot of him returning to his regular Sodaberg, green grass, repeating his guys, right?

The second thing is, in this exact era, these are the movies. movies he did instead of Avatar, where he was the first choice for Avatar, and Cameron's like, you get a ton of money, you get a piece of the movie, you do have to live in New Zealand for like three years. I can't give you the money because the tech is so expensive, but I can give you 10% of the film of the grosses. And he's like, that's going to take me off the board for like three years. But it was for these fucking movies? Because he would, I mean, look, no disrespect to you know, Jake Sully, but Dame is Jake Sully is better. It's this weird thing. of Damon would have been great and I almost wonder if the movie, I think, I don't know, he's good

enough to, he's good at becoming a blank. Dude, that's one of his weird talents is like he more than other stars, I think, can kind of disappear a little bit. I agree. Oh, it's a thing we love to talk about that like you could just program two different Damon series and one is Damon leading man using his movie stardom. And then Damon supporting actor is as good a career as his leading man career. tiers of both are unbelievable and True Grid is such a good like snapshot of that. I mean this that's the only for me the only absolute

banger in this, the only banger in this era. I'd agree with that. What's his next okay I know but what's his next like bangor banner after this? Right so then it's behind the candelopper which he's incredible. Is a banger watch that with my mom came to visit New York and for some reason we watched that with her. Bro it on. We just do

on that while I'm hitting a fucking weed pen surreptitiously. way too high and I'm like, oh, why am I watching this movie with my mother? Matt Damon's like, I mean, like, Michael Duncan's like, shave another 5% off. Scott. But I'm too high to change it anyway. Then he does Elysium, which on paper, you're like. Elysium is him being smart and unfortunately the movie's dog shit.

Similarly, Monument's men. Same deal, right? Then Interstellar, which he's unbelievable. But it's a secret performance. Right. That's him doing the movie. That's him being a golf show up later. He's good at that shit.

Then he does the Martian. The Martian is the first one. Yeah. But that's, yeah, that's 2015. And then he does the two movies after the Martian that felt like his, I need to get a surefire hit. And both of them don't work. Where's Jason Bourne and Great Wall are both 16?

But Jason Bourne made a ton of money. It did. It just no one remembers it. Great Wall did okay. That movie's ridiculous. And I unfortunately hurt his feelings. And I feel really bad about it. I wrote like a snarky article

when everyone was making fun of him and then he in some interview was like I fucking love the Atlantic and like Ta-Nehisi Coates that I saw and even they were going after me and I'm like sorry Damon you're like hey it's me it's not any of the intellectuals and honestly some of them

but like he cares about this shit and he's smart and he made the movie so you would make a billion dollars in China what the fuck are we talking about and he was like I wanted to work with Zhang moon. I'm like, I get it. But you also wanted whatever. But Martian was such a big hit, right, and gets him another Oscar nomination.

And it's such like what's good about him. It's a movie built on his star power, all of his strengths, right? The fact that Great Wall and Jason Borner the year after that tells me that like two years earlier he was panicked. Right. Of like, I have not had a movie star hit

since Bourne ended and who knows what the Martian's going to be. So here's like a Zhang Yomot, like, China co-production at a time where China's taking over Hollywood and let me go back to Bourne. And by the time the Martian comes out, it's like, oh, fuck, he's got like

two unnecessary movies coming up. Which, as you said, Bourne, like, made a ton of money, but in a way that was, like, people showing up for jury duty. Of course. And then we're like, yeah, he shouldn't have gone back to this. Someone's going to say, oh, my God, that's Jason Bourne. Someone said it. Great. Cool. I mean, I love him. I feel like he's in a good

spot now. Like, Ford versus Ferrari boughted him into his new like, kind of like, right, I'm just the best great in Oppenheimer. Kind of dad. Great and Ophanheimer. He rocks in. And listen, I am I mad that no Greek people have been cast in the Odyssey? Yes. And maybe if this had happened, like I'm pissed

because I feel like maybe if this had happened, maybe even two years later. You would have been in. I get to just be like in the background, you know, some guy that gets killed so fast. Can you be Dionysus? Can there be like a cut up to the heavens? I would love to be Dionysus, dude. And, like, this shit's crazy. Well, first, here's where I'm position for. Yeah.

The scary movie version of The Odyssey. There we go. When they do the Nolan, when they get the, when we get the band back together and they do like a spoof of Nolan's movies, I get to be killed in the Odyssey part of it. You know what I mean? Seltzer's Nolan movie. Let's get the Seltzer's back. Yeah, absolutely.

Now that I'm looking at it, it is funny that it's like, can't just fucking get Benny Safty and John Ligizamo and shit in here. It's like, who I love. Yeah, these are all great. And look, at the same time, it's. mythology. It's cool that it's no one is from anywhere. Everyone is one of everything. But it's like it should be like the Olympics where the home country gets one, even if they're bad at, you know what I mean? Not to be rude about Greece though, but isn't this what Greece pulls once in a while?

It's like, give us an Olympic. Well, yes. It is. We've been the Olympics. It's our artistic Olympics. Whereas like the home country, even if like, you know, even if. And then they did the Olympics. Everyone was like, these Olympics aren't that well run. And they're like, give us a break. Yeah. It crippled our country. It will cripple our country for a generation. We have stadiums instead of fucking schools but whatever. But every time you host the Olympics, you automatically qualify for every sport. Yes.

There should be at least one Greek person in the Odyssey. You can't do the I think that one Greek guy. And it doesn't have to be me. Who are the big Greek guys in movies right now? We don't really I mean, is it me? Is this my accident? Is it me? But I mean, like, give us, give us like, you know,

Greek, get Nia Ferdalos in there, man. Get Nia fordalo. Get Nia in there. Have you an Nia? We've DMed a couple times. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got to get, she's the dream, she's the dream, absolutely. She's the dream, Stavvy's World Guest. Yeah, that's a fucking icon.

I mean, still the most profitable independent romantic comedy of all time. We, believe me, we talk about my big fact. Still the most profitable, period. You're right. For many years, it was the most profitable comedy, and the only thing that overtook it was Hangover 2. Oh, which is bullshit. Yeah, that's crazy.

I mean, yeah, I'm trying to think of, like, Greek celebs generally. I mean, it doesn't have to be celebs, yeah. a little Google. Yeah, get an art actor and get one of your guys in there. My favorite thing about Dogtooth was I saw that movie. Get the cast a dog tooth in the all of them. Oh, you know what, the dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fun yeah. Nolan's

like, we're taking a break. Yeah, let's see the dad's cock again. That's, that was more disturbing than the, like, the siblings having sex. Like, the dad's dick just hanging out, soft watching porn. To me, that pissed me off more. Dogtooth is one of those things where I

saw it. And I was like, oh, this deprave. This is really interesting. Incredible. That's an interesting movie. And then like you realize, you start, you know, and Greece submits it, you know, and it gets the Oscar nomination. And then, like, someone was like,

they threw like a parade in Greece for dog tooth. Because, like, it was their first Oscar nomination for foreign film in, like, decades. And I'm, like, just thinking about, like, the national government being like, we love dog tooth. What a great movie, normal. We love, like, we're spreading Greece around the world, baby.

Dogtoot. That's what we got going on. Oh, yeah. I'm a little worried that. I've been able to hide my success for my Greek family. But being in a Jorgos movie, it's like, it's over, bro. He's like fucking the king over there. Yeah.

I'm doing a little Greek actor search. Sure. Jennifer Aniston. Doesn't count. Elias Codius. Okay. Costas Mandelor, David's favorite actor from the Saw franchise. Oh, wow.

That guy, oh, God, that guy stinks up the Saw franchise so bad. I don't even know. Yeah, I don't know these guys. In the Later Saw's. You know, when saw it, you know, fucking. Not a later Saw guy, unfortunately. I'm really all right. I'm a later Segal guy.

I'm not a later, I'm not a later Saw guy. You know, the whole problem Saw has is in Saw 1, he's like, I have cancer. Right. So by, like, Saw 3, he's dead. By Saw 4, they're like, we'll do an autopsy. But, like, he's dead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So by Star 5, it's like his protege, who's Costas Mandalore, who stinks.

Okay. And it's like three more of him. I'm going to look at him. I'm going to look at him. I know, but this is my point is that you, you, there's not much of a battle to get to the number one spot. No, I'm trying, bro. I'm trying. again, I don't know how it happened, but I'm trying.

I mean, the movie's going to come out, and I'm so bad in it. It's like, I've never allowed to fucking act in anything. Or like, they just take me off tires. I'm so bad at them. Your ghost calls us. The first actor deleted from IMD. And then he's like, I replaced you in the movie. Yeah, it was a bummer. Sorry, man.

It's so funny that we've just identified, right? That, like, Damon clicked into his perfect, like, sort of middle age stage as movie star, which is the sort of like, Ford versus Ferrari, Stillwater, Ayer, like, he's fucking polo tucked into khaki pants, kind of like, this guy just is comfortable being just like dad bod, you know, stuff, shirt, whatever.

Oppenheimer, same thing. And then it's like, right, no, next year, he is playing the lead in Nolan's fucking Oppenheimer follow-up. He's Odysseus. He's crazy. He's crazy. He's going to, like, have his most dominant, like, movie star badass film ever. I mean, I am really, I'm so curious and excited because this is such a, it's such an insane

throwback. Like, this is like, it's so star-studded. It's a, it's a, it's a, you know, it's like, I think it'll be awesome. But I'm also like, I have a hard time wrapping my head around how it will be so good. It feels like a really hard thing to fucking pull off. But I believe everyone in it, I believe in and Nolan is the man. But I am, it's not like I, I don't think it will fail, but I'm like, how are they going to pull this off?

The expectations are going to be. The expectations are going to be sky high. The expectations are sky high. I have no doubt that it will like deliver visually, right? That it's going to be like he's shooting in these beautiful locations on an IMAX. It looks crazy. The production values off the, you know, all that. The story of the Odyssey is cool.

And it's like episodic so we can have all these fucking Zendaya drops in and does some shiver. And Hathaway's there. Whatever. That's a cool idea. But like, I just don't know how he's going to do the language. You know, like, because you can do the thing that Troy did. where it's like, yeah, it's like English, right, you know, like, just do

that. And it's like, that's fine. But the whole magic of the, of the Odyssey, the poem, is like the language. And I'm like, is he going to try to crack that? It's not really no one's I don't know. You know, strong suit, exactly, is like, not dialogue. It's all going to be Bain voice.

Everyone's going to do Garble Bain voice. And Bain mask. Cosmo Jarvis had to drop out. So they replaced him with Logan Marshall Green. I'm like, you're just taking one Tom Hardy guy. And turning him into another Tom Hardy guy. There are different parts of Tom Hardy. I wish Nolan and Tom need to patch it up.

Whatever happened there, whatever. They got to squash the beef. I need Hardy to make a good movie again. Yes. And I need Nolan to like, you know, have him play some weird out. It's just like so funny that because of this beat that we have built for ourselves. You think no one watches like the venom movies? No one watches everything.

He does. Of course he watches the venom movies. Because of this beat we build for ourselves, right? It's like when Oppenheimer just keeps going up and up and up. where, like, how the fuck does he follow this? We've covered him years back. We think about his career a lot. And you're like, he does kind of have this oscillation

between, like, him doing, like, nerdy little boy sandbox, gee whiz shit, and his more prestigey stuff. And a little bit of, like, one for them, one for me. And then Oppenheimer is, like, a one for me that is him going, like, highbrow that plays like a fucking blockbuster. And you're like, so does he do, like, a tenant now? Or does he do something even?

headier than Oppenheimer, we couldn't even conceive of what kind of thing he would try to do next. And when the tweet dropped that crazy out of nowhere Christopher Nolan, the Odyssey shot entirely in IMAX, we were like, yeah, you're right, it had to be this or the Bible. They were the only two things he could have done. In this position,

if you're Nolan coming off of Oppenheimer, you got to do one of those. But that's the thing. It's like, this feels like, you say the Bible, this feels like the fucking Ten Commandments with Heston. This feels like Ben, her, like, he, this is like some shit that like is audacious in the way that movies haven't really been audacious like in the 30s it's like how the fuck are you going to pull off a

stadium full of people you know and they just would do it whatever now it's like we have all the technology we have all this shit but it's like this is such a fundamental core text of western civilization so star-studded the language is hard and by the way the fucking length no one's movies you could argue too long to begin with how far I can't that's more deeply a exotic story. And no one's going to be like,

is it's going to be like, is it going to be like, hey, no one, can we trim it? Like he'll just be like, and they're like, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right. You know what? Everything you do works. But I think he was right that like the level of

cachet he has right now, if he's not doing that, he's playing it safe. Sure, sure. He's got to go that hard. Sure, sure. What were you about to say? I was going to say,

fuck it. They made wicked two fucking movies. The Odyssey is going to be one fucking movie. Like, that's crazy to me. This shit, if anything, needs to be a universe. Every dog shit, no,

I'm not saying wickedest dog shit. I'm just saying like every idea becomes like a fucking universe. Like this literally is the universe of method. Like this is like, if anything needs to be four fucking movies, it's the Odyssey. I mean, even the movie that just came out with fucking,

what's his face? Who's playing old Odysseus? Fuck. Why am I blanking on? Blanking. You know, old Odysseus. Yeah, they just did that. return with fucking... Oh, Rayfine.

Like, 20 years later. That's a movie that is... Yeah, ends with a tease. Yeah. That's the movie that's like the fucking

last four pages of the Odyssey is a movie. Right. How the fuck is the whole Odyssey going to be one movie? So anyway, that's what I'm worried about. But now, if you told me, we get

12 hours of Nolan's Odyssey, I'm the happiest guy in the fucking world. I'll do any version of this. I'm there, but any... Like, they should at least have the kill-build treatment of, yeah, there should be one movie really, but we have to, for whatever reasons break it up. But anyway, all that being said, I will be there fucking day one in

IMAX. I can't wait to see it. But I'm, I just am interested to see how they're going to pull it off. Well, true grit's kind of another version of that where it's like, this is them cashing in all their chips for something that sounds like, why would you do this? And then it's so much more successful than anything else they've done that they come off of this. And it's like, great, we'll make your fucking failed angry musician movie. Yeah, yeah. You guys are invincible. It does give them some rope to do some weirder shit for a while. Right. Because this is the one that should have been their cash in and instead it's like a double guarantor.

Right, right. And like, it's crazy that's their most success. It's by such. It's also crazy that in 2010, America was like, yeah, yeah. This is like the kind of Christmas entertainment we're after. Like, we want this. Totally.

I think what I'm realizing is for me, this is such a cultural blind spot because just in my life, I think I was like so depressed and pretending I was going to take college serious. There's the year I quit stand up and like was working really, hard in college. And I didn't, I didn't see anything. That's, that's maybe also why I didn't see

the shit in theaters. I like, you, you guys named all these movies that came out in 2010. I'm like, I don't even fucking remember those. You weren't, so you were true. What were you studying? What was your major? I was a, I was a, I was a public affair. I was in a public affairs scholarship program. And I was like, you know, just taking it seriously, taking like, you know, welfare policy seriously. I was interning at the Maryland House of Delegates. I was like, you know, trying to lose. I was trying to lose. I was trying to get my life. in order of trying to lose weight. I was, you know, finally, I was like,

I got to take shit seriously. I got to be a good student. I got to get a, a girlfriend who's a nice person. That's always a tough one, finding a nice person. Yeah, and she was. She was very nice. But I feel bad because we started dating. And then in the year that I was lying about who I was,

like the guy she dated doesn't exist. A guy who does his work. She's eating like a package. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, hey, check out this package. Does all, does all, does all, you know, does all, you know, where's it literally, where's a tie, whatever? And then like a year in, I'm like,

oh, can I crash at your place to do open mics and not see you? I'm going to come home fucked up at 3 a.m. And then she's like, all right, well, you have to fucking. And like angry about my failure to locate a tag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to hear me rant about this at 3 o'clock in the morning? Yeah, can you and your friends from grad school come see me bomb at an open mic 40 minutes away? Like, God damn, I feel so bad.

But so, yes, I think I was just like at a cultural, because before, this, I was so, I was so into trying to learn about movies, trying to do stand-up, starting 18 to 20, and then 21 was, I was like, I have to fucking become a real citizen. But, so yeah, I'm kind of relearning all this, this blind. And then when you start talking about the rest of it afterwards, I'm like, oh, yeah, this is when I start coming alive. Then you reconnect. Yeah, yeah. David. Yes. It's beginning to look a lot like the holidays. Oh, sure. I'm being nonspecific. There's lots of holidays down the road.

All holidays. Whatever holiday floats your boat. But as the holidays approach, you got to get what you need to personalize your home. Yes. With Wayfair! Yes. Oh, my goodness. You need some Christmas trees? Absolutely.

Take on them. Here's some questions. You need some wreaths. Does your server need a refresh? Sure. A better plate to put cookies and milk out perhaps for a guest visitor? That makes sense. Does your guest dream need a new comforter, say perhaps

a visitor wants to take a quick nap in between dropping off presents? Guys, guys, I started to interrupt. I'm just, I'm wondering, where can I get inflatables for my front yard? Ben, Wayfair. All of these problems can be solved at one place.

Wayfair. As the holidays approach, you get what you need to personalize your home with Wayfair. You can shop holiday decor for every room in the house. Yeah, my whole thing with Wayfair has always been like, If you need, like, an item, you just punch that into Wayfair. You punch it in. And you'll be like, oh, damn, they have that, too.

Like, the holidays are our time. Like sure, you need a table you need? Realtips come visit. They need to stay. You want to get them better bedding, linens, throw pillows, accent, chairs. Do you need like an inflatable candy cane? They probably got that. They better.

Actually, you know, what I'm going to look. Take a big bite out of it. And look, we're using Wayfair right now. We've been using them to buy some new furniture for the office. What are we buying, by the way? A little nook. We're currently shopping. We're going to get ourselves a new couch.

We got a weirdly shaped corner. They were like, what do we fit in here? They have an inflatable candy cane. Perfect. I died. So, wait, I missed what we're getting? We're getting ourselves also a little like bench sort of area with a table to sort of take advantage of like a weird corner of the office space. We do have this funny little nook and hey.

And we were like, what could possibly fill this nook? And Wayfair had the answer. The latitude runs simple and stylish five person corner breakfast nook. Okay. So I'm going to do a little call to action now. Please. Well, I should point out, though. Yeah, point out some things first.

That Wayfair does have free and easy delivery, even on the big stuff, sofas, dining tables, beds, and so on and so forth. You can find your seasonal must-haves. I feel like we've made that point already. But the free delivery thing is really cool. Kimongis. Get organized, refreshed, and ready for the holidays for way less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home.

that's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R-com, Wayfair, every style, every home. Wait, David, we made a big mistake. I forgot to tell people that there's free and easy delivery even on the big stuff. Even on the big stuff! Would this movie be as big a hit today, Gryff?

I don't know. It's another thing, and we should talk a little more about the... Yeah, we can talk about... Let me say a lot more about the meat of the movie itself. but David glanced at the clock I think we should talk about watching more what's up with that guy

it does feel like Barry is the voice of Sherlock Holmes I'm finding oh nice hell yeah there will be these types of movies every couple of years right where like everyone points to it and goes see there's an underserved audience you're not making movies for Red State America you're not making movies for older men right

there's this audience that will come out if you give them what they want but anytime anyone tries to replicate it it doesn't doesn't work, right? So there are the things like Passion of the Christ, an American sniper, and Sound of Freedom, and True Grit that feel like weird one-offs where for whatever moment, for whatever reason an entire audience was just like, actually we've been waiting for this, that's supercharged what was already there. People who have kind of stopped going to the theaters show up in droves for this. It's not like there were the entire audience for this,

but clearly part of this movie doing so well was like 80-year-old John Wayne fans being like, You think so. I think it has to be. I don't know, man. I think of all the movies you just said, True Grit obviously clears those movies. There's so much better. Oh, it's so much better.

But you're right. Maybe there was some element to that. But I just think maybe it was the kind of thing of like all the Cohen brought, like, maybe it is just, even though they had two movies between this and no country for old men, like, I don't know. I just feel like it was that. It was Cohen brother stuff. I think there was another thing.

But maybe it's Western. Maybe it is Western, right? Maybe that's what you're talking about. And then being like, we're doing a classical Western, right? Yeah. And this movie is so much more classical than the other film they've made. The other thing is that, like, the Christmas box office is insane. There is, like, this 10-day corridor when basically everyone's off from work and school.

Right, right, right. And families are together. And it's a PG-13 movie. It's a PG-13 movie. And, like, December 20- And we'll do the box office game. The competition was bad. Well, this is what I was going to say. That corridor, if you can get a movie.

in there that sort of becomes the default, I guess we all go see this. Like, every day between December 20th and January 5th kind of plays like a Friday, you just have like a run of Fridays. And the two big movies that people thought were going to be the big blockbusters that Christmas were Little Fawkers, which kind of disappointed. I did see that in theater. So maybe I was that. That's the era of my life I was in. I was like, I'm a regular guy. Me and my girlfriend are going to see Little Fockers. I'm not. They were going on Ruby Tuesday. Absolutely, dude We're going to Ruby themes, me.

Meet the Fokkers that come out in this exact last six years earlier and was humongous. Did fine, but it was not a cultural game change. Wildly outgrossed it. And there was that thing where like Fockers opened bigger the first weekend

and then True Grits overtook the second weekend and stuck. The other movie that everyone thought was going to kind of run the table the end of the year. You're just giving away the boxoff game. But I have to do it.

Yes. Was Trond Legacy. Yeah, this is the weirdest shit. Jeff Bridges wins his office. He wins his Oscar March 2010, right? And then I remember December 2010, he hosts S&L, and he was like, hey, man, I got Tron Legacy and True Grit. And it was like, oh, he's got a big legacy blockbuster and he's got his, like, Art House

Cohen movie. Right, right. And then, like, True Grit and Tron Legacy end up at the exact same number. And Tron Legacy is seen as a disappointment. And True Grit is seen as a sensation. But in both cases, like, Tron opens really big, little Fokker's opens big, and then both them drop off and true grit just stays right and just kind of holds well that's and that's the it sucks that the we a good movie needs so many things working in its favor to just do well but i think

it might maybe it's as simple as that maybe it's not the like because the you know the like they have a cult following built in maybe it's as simple as the two things it's up against on christmas yeah kind of suck and even though they see they and actually they suck in a way that's important because they suck in a way that gets people thinking about going to the movies. And they're like, that kind of was bad. I was excited for this. Or I liked the old one. Yeah.

I heard this one isn't great. And then suddenly there's a movie that quietly plays well for grandpa and granddaughter. Right. And everyone in between. Right, right, right. I do think in the name value of it. But yeah, I don't know. I just like, I, I'm always kind of like heartened by how successful this movie is when I watch it.

And I'm like, it's so deliberately paced. It's so thought. It's so verbal, you know? It is like a movie that like doesn't... It's not action-packed. It has stuff, but it's mostly walking around. But you start the movie. I mean, it takes like 15 minutes maybe before rooster enters.

Right. You got the slow ramp up of her explaining who she is, her being a little... Her adult narration, which is from the book that it's framed by the adult version at the beginning and the end. But you know what's funny? When you say it's not action-packed,

you're never, obviously, you're never bored, but it's like the way you, when you said it's rated PG-13, that kind of shocked me. When you say it's not action-packed, that kind of even shocks me a little bit because so much shit is happening. And she is, again, this performance is so electric that it almost feels like action movie scene. Her bartering feels like a, it's a fight scene essentially. You know what I mean?

That's the magic, though. That's right. Her bartering early on, though, you're just like, I'm all in on this girl. Like, all my chips are on. I want her to defeat this guy. And it's the magic that every great Scorsese movie has where he's just like, for me, it's just identifying the tension in every single scene.

So every scene when you're watching it feels like the best scene you've ever seen in a movie. There's stakes to every scene. Exactly. That are like internal and that like cumulatively build to a greater hole. I mean, LeBeef showing up in her fucking bedroom is so weird and fucked up. It is. I mean, there's tension. And it's like, that's just what she has to deal with and she knows it.

Exactly. She's not shaking. Like, that's nuts. But she has to sleep with a grandma, number one. Which, by the way, those are comedically hysterical. The cuts back to fucking her sleeping with the grandmother after she tries to rent the room. She's like, oh, it's okay. Yeah. You can sleep with granny, whatever the fuck.

So, so funny. And then, right, has to deal with this stranger coming in a room, harassing her being mean. And sort of threatening to basically cut in on her shit, too. Like, she's like, she's on a mission and he's going to mess it up. The beef keeps messing up their mission. Yes. And also I don't mean to have the time. He leaves three times. Yeah.

Yes. He has three different returns. Yeah, they added some. In the book, he doesn't depart from them as much. I think they just thought it was like, it gives the movie a bit of a little bit. I think it works. Yeah, yeah. I think it definitely works.

But even just weird shit app, the bear guy, you know, where there might have been a lull, you get that guy to just mesmerize you. And then, again, that scene where they come on, they come upon the, like, guys where it's like, what's his face, Gleason? Would it surprise you to hear this is the only Corn Brothers movie I've ever auditioned for is the guy who gets shot in the leg? Wow.

Simper and Coward. That's fucking hilarious. You want to crush that scene. It is cool that it's Dominoleason. It is. It is. Oh, shit. And I always forget that it's him.

And I'm like, wait. Because he looks like shit. So you're kind of like, totally. The only cool parts of the original were that that part is played by Dennis Hopper. Dennis Hopper. Right.

And that. Who is like a hellraiser. Robert Duval is the Barry Pepper. pepper. So that's the, those are the only two cool parts. It's also, it's not just that it's cool that it's them. And famously, Deval was a huge pain in the ass on set. Because you're watching these new guys. Exactly. It's like Hopper

and Deval are like starting the new Hollywood movement and different acting styles. And they're in a far more modern film than everyone else. Yes, for sure. It was like, well, that looks like a bad gunshot. You got there? Yeah. Hopper's the only one, even Duval's performance. Hopper's the one where I'm like, this is, he's actually good

in it. And he's the one that would You could swap him and fucking Gleason, and it kind of makes sense. But that's part of what's interesting is it almost is a structure like The Odyssey, where there is a clear end goal in sight. But from the beginning, everyone's telling her, this just might not be possible. No one's been able to find this guy. This guy's unimportant. You should just drop it, right? She's got three people, including herself, on this case.

And, like, they're not making progress. And a lot of the scenes in this movie are, like, dead ends. they keep moving like geographically forward, right? They're moving further and further towards a Comanchee territory. Chaktaw. Chok talk. But yes, there's this feeling of like this might be in vain and also these weird like sort of side quests

that don't necessarily get them any closer to where they want to go. And then they do just stumble onto the guy. You are not Lebrief. Yeah. One of the best. Two of the funniest lines to me. And I was like cackling and my wife was like, are you all right? Like this one is you are not LaBeef

And the other is, I do not know this man After she cuts down the guy Which is like such an anti-climax He was like maybe I know And he's like nope Let's move on Another great one That's not an action scene

But you're fucking You're like she's gonna die You're like Someone's gonna find Yeah so much tension A little there will be bloody Where it's like Even where nothing's happening

You're fucking like Whoa something fucked up Is right on the bend It's like they're on Venus Like they're just in this landscape. Like, what is this place? Like, you know, and like, when the first time I watch

the first couple times, you're kind of like, yeah, they have a goal, they're going towards whatever. After a while, you're like, they're just in the middle of nowhere and there's just like, it's basically the map is basically like, there's a river. Right. Like, go do that. Like, that's kind of it. And like, if they get lost or someone breaks their leg or whatever, you're kind

of just screwed. Like, all this shit just feels so dangerous the more you watch it. And, like, you realize, like, when, so when rooster says, like, fuck it, what's the thing he says over and over again? I withdraw. It's not that. But what's his, he has like

a catchphrase that he... This is the thing. It's sort of quote this movie because the language is so precise that you can't paraphrase it. Yeah. You know, that's him being basically like, I had one play, which is I go to my guys, I sniff out if these guys have been around and then I get the drop on them.

In classic rooster way, I shoot them from far away. And then maybe I get closer and shoot the rest of them. And if they don't have info then I don't know. I got spooked. I mean, they got spooked by LaBeef. Now I'm out of ideas. Like, that was my one idea. I'd like to now return to my rope bed and my like whiskey. Yes, yes, yes. And, you know, in the movie, it's a little bit like, oh, this is the, you know, this is the dip before our triumph and third act. Fine. But as you watch it again and again, you're like, no, yeah, he's just like, this is the extent of being a good tracker. Yeah. And I had the same

thought of like the on the rewatch this time being like oh yeah you know oh yeah here we go the darkness before the dawn bullshit but then you're like you know what this is fully earned this guy's a fucking drunk and and we've all been there right where it's i've been there where it's like you know you've been you've been trying to go against your nature and that's a lot of this here right it's like he's like he doesn't want to do from the beginning he doesn't want to do this she convinces him part of it is about money of course but it's like he still is doing something he doesn't really want to do and then and you give

into your vices and it's like you know what fuck this I am a piece of shit I'm a piece of shit I'm an idiot for thinking I could be better I'm gonna this now has not made me better I'm now worse yeah I'm the kind of guy who quits on a fucking little girl I don't give a fuck I'm drunk that feels very real to me

yeah and then LeBeef essentially being too much of a fucking pussy to do it also feels real to me because it's like this is your time to shine LeBeef, this is it. And it's like, oh, no, he's a fucking coward. He's a piece of shit. And it was just like, yeah, they would just,

this is the way these two guys would abandon this girl. Damon and Bridges both identify what the real versions of these guys would be. Not the movie archetype versions of them. Yes, yes, which is what's really smart where you're like, these are guys who fashion themselves characters. A bow out. Bow out. Yeah, bow out.

He's just like 50 times. A bow out. like it's him saying I declare bankruptcy where he's like I'm done right right right right you find your own way

but like Lebeef is all like sort of conscious forced iconography right that he is playing the role and talking the talk of a Texas lawman

and then cogburn's the opposite way where you're just like him having an eye patch isn't cool totally it's not Snake Pliskin no it's like this guy's broken right like this guy's half of his body doesn't work

of course of course Like, he's like a fucking beaten down car. That's why I like that in the cornbread shooting scene, he does get a couple shots off. Yeah. And he also falls on his face one time and, like, gets tangled up in his horse one time. You're like, yeah, this guy's like a, you know, D&D character where it's like, yeah, good dice roll. He's kind of a joke, but he's not like, he also is legit in other ways. And one way he's legit is that he's happy to just shoot someone's face off.

Right, right, right. And he's not going to be like, no qualms whatsoever. Worried about that. And you do hear that, yeah, he fought with Quantrell during, like, Bleeding Kansas. This is all, like, background that you don't have to think about that hard. And he's so unintelligible that the first time I saw the movie, I didn't know what he was talking about for half the movie. Like, all of his monologues about New Mexico. I'm like, I don't know what he's saying.

It's just funny. But, like, he fought with Quantrell, who's, like, a terrorist, like, who's just going around bleeding Kansas, like, doing insane shit. And it was like, yeah, he was like a hardened crazy person. And that part of history is interesting. It's what Rye with the Devil is about. Remember, we covered it long ago. Yes. And, like, Damon, LeBeef is like this other, like, roosters basically,

I just need to keep going further and further away from civilization to do my shit. Lebeef is like, I'm from Texas. Like, we're proud. Like, this is a nation. Like, you know, I'm a Texas Ranger. I have a badge. I'm proud of my badge. Rooster's like, I like my badge because it means I can legally steal whiskey.

Right, right, right. And I'm a criminal. I'm a criminal with a badge is rooster. Yeah, he's like, I'm up. The officer of the court. Some asshole gave me this badge. It means I can take your whiskey. And that has the force of law.

Yeah. The other, I mean, the part of this film that gets me so much emotionally by the end is that, like, I think this is a very fascinating, precocious child movie, right? And that the magic trick of her performance is that it doesn't feel like a kid trying to play a grown-up. And that every scene, the innate tension is her being able to convince someone that she knows what she's talking about. As you said, it's why it helps to not see the father, that you're getting the sense to some degree. Just that tableau right at the start, the corpse. You see his corpse, right. But you assume that she must be modeling behavior off of her father, that she must have learned things off of him,

and that people at first interact with her as if, like, oh, this is cute, this is a little girl who's memorized phrases that she's heard cowmen say before, and she can, like, parrot them back well. But it's like in her actions and her consistency and in her quickness, she shows to people like, oh, I guess I actually do have to treat her like a grown-up because she's proving that she actually does know what she's talking about and can walk the walk, right? And where this movie gets to ultimately is by her being treated like a grown-up when she was a child and being validated in that way and then having this insane experience, she basically is frozen Amber for the rest of her life. like the sadness of the end of this movie is that you're just sort of like well she's just she never grows past this it's almost like that thing of people

who get famous too young and then you're like frozen at 15 because that's when you became a superstar it's like the mix of like the highs and the lows of what she experiences in this week of her life of being treated as an adult and then getting exposed to all of this

is like she's just stuck there forever and so everything that's kind of like funny and charming about this like hard talking coming out of a 12-year-old, when you see it Elizabeth Marvel as a woman in her 40s at the end, you're just sort of like, wow, this woman's intense. Yeah. But she's talking the exact same way she has talked in the beginning.

I mean, also we got to point out at this time, women didn't really have freedom. Correct. Totally. So this is maybe an impactful moment where she actually really got to a taste of it, and there is kind of no going back for her. But then in the future, right, she's an old sister. She's going to get some fucking husband who, like, tells her to cook dinner?

Absolutely not. Man, how many beans are in this movie? We haven't even talked about the beans. What's the thing, the hominy thing that they have? Oh, that they're making for eight or whatever? Right, where he's like, I like a big breakfast. It's like this, like, tankard of fucking beans. You know what's one of my favorite pieces of business in this movie?

That he has the pack of tobacco with the string on it, almost like it's a tea bag. So he holds that in his teeth while he makes the, like, the roll. Yeah, yeah. Another tiny detail I love, when the lady offers. to give her a flower sack for five cents to carry the gun. Like, that's what I think the Wild West is or like the sort of semi-wildwest is like

everyone is basically always like horse trading. Like every item is usable. It is like a video game where it's like you pick a flower and you're like, I could probably do something with this. Exactly. Like, this has got to go in my satchel. Like everything's got to be used because like it's not, there's nothing, you know,

you want to like get something from the east just going to take like two months. Of course. Even a rotting corpse. That guy's like, I got the teeth, which is kind of my thing. If you want the rest. Yeah. I'll trade him back.

I'm not going to fuck it. You guys want to fuck it. Give me a quarter. You know what I mean? If you want me to watch you fuck it, that's two cores. That's two bits. No, I just love that guy also. Incredible guy.

I mean, the best. Like, where they're like, it's cold. And he's like, yeah, well, I have my bear thing. It's like, yeah, yeah, that's unspoken. We didn't need to, we get the purpose of the bear. I also like that he, I feel like they're so good at knowing when to do this. It's the co-in tone management thing. But that's the one scene where they kind of crank up the broad comedy of like,

what if this guy just like sounds like a King of the Hill character? Can we get away with two minutes a guy being like, I'm LeBear, ma'am. But dude, but that's the co-it, it is the Cohen magic because it's not only broad comedy, but it's also like mystical. It's the most it feels like Dungeons and Dragons. 100%. Because at first you're like,

is this guy a fucking zombie? Is a bear going to kill them? Then is some bear wizard going to kill them? Then it's like, oh, it's the funniest guy you've ever seen. He's actually so nice and helpful. Right. He's like, yeah, that house over there won't be used right now. He won't mind much if you, you know, toddle over the river.

I also think it's the key to a great Cohen's performance is like them being like, you know, it'd be really funny if a guy sounded like this. Or if, like, a killer had a Dorothy Hamill haircut, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they hire the person, they're like, your job is to play this as seriously as possible. Right, right. But I'm giving you something stupid to do.

Yes. Here's a voice. Here's a costume. Here's a look. Here's a characteristic. But then, like, try to actually ground it as if it's a real guy. I think about every guy in this movie. Like, the guy who runs the bridge, you know, the damn thing.

Like, that's that guy's job. The lawyer. Like, the facial hair in this movie. Their only form of their lives are torture and they're only forms of expression or weird facial hair. That's all they have is it's so many mustaches and sideburns and like shapes you wouldn't even consider. It's crazy.

That lawyer is so good. That's what I would be. Right. Like if you like, you know, because like I watched Deadwood, right? Which is like the best show ever. And Deadwood is like 80% of people are basically like, well, I'm into like hoaring, drinking gambling. And it's like that's what I do out here.

But Soul Star is the guy who's like, these people need fucking hammers. I'm going to sell them hammers. Like there's a couple guys who are like, I'm just going to go all the way out there and have a shop. Right, right. And I would be the guy who's like, well, I talk 10% better than everyone else. So I guess I'll be a tricksy lawyer, you know, like, that'll be my job. Because that guy's rocking it.

He's like, how many steps are we talking about? He's out-foxing Rooster by the end. It's pretty unshoey in its craft outside of just like, obviously, you know, the production design, the costumes and everything just being fucking immaculate, right? But you're introduced to Rooster. You have her knocking on the outhouse first or was that after the courtroom. That's first. That's first.

Yeah, that's the thing. We have a minute of Rooster before all the other stuff happens. Right. Behind a closed door while he's taking a shit. Outhouse another hilarious boat. Yeah, absolutely. You think Rooster spends like 90 minutes in there, right?

He doesn't like just like take care of business quickly. No, I think he's like, bowel movements in the 19th century. We're like a really intense experience. And what he's suggesting. Think about the types of hemorrhoids of rooster has. Right. He eats like one fruit.

It's crazy how fucked up his ass. Like, we're talking about a baboon's ass. This is a man who said nothing but whiskey and beans for 40 fucking years. He eats whiskey and beans. Occasionally he'll get, I think what they call back then a steak, which was like some like crispy piece of beef

right that they like destroyed in a cast iron pan. And like more whiskey. I guess beans have fiber. I think beans are why people were alive. Yeah, beans actually, right, they do enough for us. I've heard that the more you eat the more. Corn bread.

That's what I've heard. Peppers, maybe? Just raw peppers. I don't know what else. What was people? Not a lot of greens, no. Stavi, my dad, when we were growing up, would wake my brother and I up and then go, and now I'm having pop executive privilege time.

You guys just got to be ready to go in an hour. Awesome. And he had boxers with a bunch of paper towel stuffed in the back. Hell yeah. Four newspapers under his arm. Two mugs of coffee goes into the bathroom, closes the door. An hour later, he comes out. He goes this time for school.

Two mugs of coffee is a move, too. But he, post... It's like, I'm not coming out to refill. Post news in times. Right? He's carrying like 15 inches of news prints under his arm and the two mugs. What a guy. You guys just figure it out for the next hour.

Like, I'm a dad. That's how Rooster Cogburn takes a shit. I'm a dad. I can go, you know, into the bathroom with my phone. You can time pop executive privilege. And I can, like, load up the Wikipedia page for fire and read it. You know what I mean? I mean, like, I have too many things at my...

It's too easy for me. Back in the day, you needed, like, yeah, like Newsweek. Yeah, right. The thing about... And here's the thing, why Rooster, it's... There's nothing. It's just... He is just shitting that long.

Yeah. That's, it's just his body is that... You don't think he's reading like a Tijuana or something shit. No, there's no... It is him versus the outhouse. And it smells bad. He doesn't want to be there, but he's trying to get done as fast as possible. Right.

It's taking 40 minutes because that's just... how it is. This is one of those movies. Yeah. That pit is cooking. It's terrible, dude. It's one of those movies where I think about how bad every character smells. Yes.

Right? You're just like, this would be the stinkiest. And that's another reason why you don't think about it not being 13. Like, it feels rated R because it's gross. Because they look gross. There's a sheen to all them. They all smell like shit. They're all sweaty.

The only person who's sort of clean is Maddie, I guess. Yes. Maddie is basically put together and, like, knows it. Does he have some fucking, like, old cowboy clone? He's got some, like, pomade in his hair or whatever. Is he a dapperdan, man? Right. He's got the cowlick, of course.

Yes. But, like, you know, one of the most touching little moments is when she puts the newspaper in the hat. Like, she knows she has to look the part of a little bit. It's the only time she's literally a cute little kid. Right. Is when the hat goes under her eyes. It's adorable. But then she stuffs it in. She's like, and now she's back to being the character we've known

the whole time. And she looks like some Cormick McCarthy character, like, where it's like, oh, who's that? And it's like, oh, yeah, they call her like the cactus. And it's like some 14 year old who like takes people's faces. You know, like, she could, she's got like this stony intense face. But then I love the little moments when she

realizes that the campfire that Labif or rooster are about to fight. And she's like trying to cheer everybody up. Right, I'll do all the parts. Someone has to be the caller. She starts to become like the child trying to stop her parents from fighting. And she understands that the only thing that unifies these two guys

is they don't like the other one being mean to her. Yes, and like, this movie is bad if she is just autistic, right? Like, if she's just like a weird robot girl or whatever, you know, like, then it's like, that's fine, but like, no, she's a kid. There's bits of kid in her, like, of like, whimsy

like, they come out of her. There's innocence that she can't help. The movie makes me as a viewer do the same calculation that every character who meets her is doing. I was like, is it possible that she's for real? Yeah, for sure. You know, you're not calling bullshit it on her, but you're actually going, she might actually be what she's saying she is.

Yeah, absolutely. Which isn't even her framing herself as a wonderkin. It's just, I get it. You don't have to talk down to me. I can handle this. But, okay, so what are some other, you know, that talked about the Dick and Matthews, the trial. I just keeps kicking the kids off the porch. It's just a fun little moment. I don't know why. It just seems like he's done it a million times.

They clearly have a rapport. Yeah, yeah. I need to just call him out by name because I've misattributed it so many times. Leon Russum is the sheriff who recommends the three trackers. And says he likes to pull the cork. And says he likes to pull the cork. He's in Lubowski briefly.

Oh, yeah? He's in Star Trek's Sixth and Discovered Country as chief in command. I don't remember what that part is, but it is just my favorite chunk of dialogue where she says, who's the best marshal? And he takes a pause and he goes, I'll have to weigh that. And the decision to

just be like, let me actually think about this before I say it. And then it's William Waters is the best tracker. He's half commandee and it's something to see him cut for sign. And he's playing it like he's like overjoyed the movie in his mind. It's like, pick your character. This guy's got the tracking skills. Rooster's

the killer. Blanca's a big green guy and he's got electric powers. You got to hit Y over and all seam stretches really far. Yeah, yeah. The meanest is Rooster cogburn. He's a pitiless man. Double tough and fear don't enter into his thinking. Loves to pull a cor. He's moving on. He's moving on, right? The best is

probably L.T. Quinn. He's like, you know what? Here's the answer. I've landed on it. But then he brings his prisoners in alive. Now, he might let one slip by now and again, but he believes that even the worst of men is entitled to a fair shake. And without missing a beat, she says, where can I find this rooster? Yeah. She's like, uh, not interesting. I'm just

pumping my fist that whole exchange. Everything that's happening. Yeah. Um, so, yeah, like, she gets, all right, like, she gets rooster on the road. I'm just trying to think of stuff. I'm going through the plot, trying to think of stuff we haven't Stuff that happens. Stuff that happens in the movie.

You know, I talked about the scene where she kind of wins them over by fording the river. Awesome stunt. It looks like she literally did that. Yeah. How did they? How do you make a horse look tired? At the end when the horse is, like, dying and you're like, that horse is dead. Like, how do you, like, fake a horse being tired?

I don't know. I don't know. Horses are crazy. That's another reason that, by the way, I want to live. The actual reason ketamine exists. Like, I know. Right. We've found cooler stuff for it, but that's what it was for.

that's why every basically like starting with i don't know the 1850s or whatever i basically want to live in new york if i live in this time because i'm like i need railroads and shit i'm not gonna learn to ride a horse no and then like feed the horse and like well there's horse and eight you know even new yorks that's what they had horses here brown that's why brownstones have stairs so you wouldn't you weren't around shit right right you're like you're a little bit above the shit that does make sense that's the funniest thing about the gilded age my favorite like gas league show in the world, like, is like, everyone in it is clean, and I'm like,

they'd be dirty. This is a dirty place. It's the 19th century. Like, there's no running, you know, there's no flush toilets. Yeah, you're clean for two hours. You're clean. Two hours a week, you're clean. If you're rich, if you're rich, you can't, like, go home and be like, I'm going to take a shower. Like, no, no, that's not going to happen. You want to take a bath?

Eight people have to, like, start getting shit ready for you. I was talking to my girlfriend about how much of a nightmare burning man seems to me. Yeah. And even, like, any music festival as well where I'm just like my two favorite things in the world are sleeping in a bed with the air conditioning blaring and taking the longest shits and showers in the world. That's all I care about. Absolutely. A bedroom that's cold and a bathroom that's ready to go. Yeah. Day three at a music

festival, the porta potts are rough. I'm not doing it. But it's my biggest thought when I watch this movie is I'm just like, oh my God, they don't even have like temprapedic matters. mattresses. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's the other thing, like, what's rooster's fucking back looking like? Like, dude, I'm fat as shit. And like, if I sleep on the wrong hotel mattress, I'm ruined for a fucking, what you just said is my life right now. It's crazy. Every morning I wake up and I'm like, why am I in excruciating pain? And it's like, because you didn't move your body for a while. Yeah, yeah. And you're like tall and large. Yeah, like, he's, when he's sleeping in that rope bed, fucked up off whiskey, I'm like, this is crazy. He's always drunk. He's always drunk.

Right? Like, that's how he deals. They're in pain. Even still, that makes the balancing act of it even more impressive that he's staying in there. Yeah. I mean, he also, he refers to it as a rope bed himself. It's not like we're being rude. No, no, no, no. Yeah.

No, we're not being rude. He sleeps on a bunch of ropes. And that's the thing about rooster as a character. It's like what his greatness is eroding every second. Like, he probably was a specimen that could ride forever. And he could, the cornbread shot, if you catch him 30 years ago, he's not. nailing all those. Like, that's the thing about him is that he is the fucking remnants of a fucking Terminator. Like when he's one of those terrorists or whatever, he's, he's a fucking

machine, but he's a piece of shit. But it's like, and yeah, he is, you're catching him at like, you know, this is the last little bit of this guy being a fucking legend. Like living in a world this tough, right? It's going to break you down one way or another, right? You become evil. You kind of become broken and crazy like this. Uh, you know, Or you become, like, LeBuff, and you just sort of try to, like, put your head above all of it and not really engage with it. But, yeah, this is a guy who's just, like, lived this life for so long that has kind of taken everything from inside of him, which makes his reveal gradually that he cares about her so touching to me. Because this guy almost thinks he doesn't have emotions anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, like, it's like, well, I just lost those back in the trail 10 years ago. For sure. Yeah. And maybe he has. I mean, maybe he, yeah, he doesn't until he finds her. And then in terms of shit that just happened, it's like, so, you know,

we've covered the little fucking the shack, which is one of my favorite scenes, and then Lebeef getting absolutely got, just not even able to get one. Like, what did he think was going to happen? Lebees being dragged. And then like the humiliation of Rooster being like,

uh, should I take your tongue out of his mouth? Like those dirty-ass fingers we were just talking about completely in his fucking mouth. Dangling away is already fucked up. tongue, it's brutal. He leaves for the first time after the first night, right? So there's the campfire and then the morning, the next, the argument about whether or not he can shoot. He leaves for the first time as soon as he fords the river. Right. He's like, I'm out of here.

They do the campfire that night. Don't they? I guess so. They do do a campfire early. And then the next morning is when they do the shooting thing. And then he leaves. He's like, I just fucking hate this guy. I'm sorry, I wish you all the best. Then, right, the bear man, the body hanging from the tree, the cabin with Domel-Gleason, all that happens without. LeBuff. Right. And then he interrupts their like stakeouts. He fucks the plan up. Yes. Unintentionally. And then comes out of it so much worse for wear. Right. And then

they're like, I guess we feel bad. They're like, they're like, okay, we have to like drag you around now. Well, she feels, that's, that's the moment where she starts to show some like... Because she's like, he, he like stood him down. It was brave. Yeah, exactly. Like he was going to draw on... Right, on the

what's Ned Pepper. Another incredible line is, it astonishes me that Mr. LeBuff has been shot, trampled, and nearly bitten his tongue off, and yet not only does he continue to talk, but he spills the banks of English. Yeah. Which just anytime Rooster says anything that eloquent is so much funnier. He takes like four minutes to say a line. It's like so, anyway.

And then, yeah, we are kind of, like, I guess the animosity kind of builds up again, and we lead to the not the other. next big fight the I bow out and which which the funny thing is they were right they were just a day early because this whole plan he's like their prop my only hunch is they're going to the claim their claim and they just beat them there right because they're they literally wake up if they don't have that fight they're fully and by the way if if he doesn't get drunk probably there's no big deal right because the whole they would just show up yeah it's like all right let's get a night's rest and we got the drop on these guys exactly right and instead

Maddie finds Brolin what's Brolin Tom Cheney shoots him Awesome I love that Right both times she fires a gun

She does get knocked on her ass Which is what happened What happened to me If I fired a gun Yeah yeah Because that is what happens And

You know Guns back then sucked Like it's shooting Like a dumb metal ball At you It hurts It doesn't necessarily Like kill you

And he's just like My life sucks I hate you But he grabs her And like She's the hostage And then you've got this Like

Fantastic 10 minutes of Barry Pepper with the crazy teeth. It's a little pepper on the dish. Just being an absolute goblin. Looking like the cryptkeeper. And I just love it. Is the gang called the Pepper Gang?

It's the Pepper Gang. That's hysterical. And he's playing the Pepper Gang. I do like that he has the weird kind of samurai thing with Rooster. Absolutely. Like where they, he's like, yeah, yeah, I'm not

going to kill a girl. I'm not like a weirdo. I'm just like a bandit. I like steal shit and have money. No, no, it's true. It's like it's the most you kind of get the roosters like we've come across each other as guys we've each been on you know there's probably been a time where pepper had a badge and i didn't have a badge he was technically the sheriff and i was

technically the criminal like they clearly have like this long weird history and yes that uh that samurai type honor shit is pretty fucking it is also it's the stuff that cheney doesn't have right like she's so angry at the idea of cheney stealing her father and yet it's like his death was incidental. It didn't mean anything. This guy's got no strategy in his head. He's got no internal belief system. He's just like some idiot with a gun. Yeah, like if her dad had done something that

warranted, and made some kind of mortal insult to a guy, and the guy shot him in a duel, she'd be sad, but she wouldn't try and find him. She would be like, you know... That's life. The fact that it's meaningless is what gets to her and the fact that when she meets him, it provides no answers or clarity

to anything. It only makes it more meaningless. And then you're also like, yeah, and this guy's like the number five in this dude's so stupid he's like unimportant yeah yeah I love that every time LeBuff leaves he also has like his version of the emotional Oscar scene

he keeps doing the thing that Rooster won't do which is like hit your special yeah I believe in you that's oh yes I want to say that has like two monologues that feel like this is his last scene in the movie and he plays them really straight but like here's the important words I have to leave her with which

makes it all the funnier when he comes back Well, and I think to me it shows you what a fucking blowhard. Yes. Like, because it's when it's that time we're talking about earlier at the campfire where Rooster is being a piece of shit and he's like, fuck you, I'm not helping. And this is LeBeef's time to shine. And not only does he not help, but he gives some meaningless, eloquent speech instead. And he thinks saying, I guess, giving her a heroic speech, that your words are more, they couldn't be less useful. they are the most useless even it's like the most politician like you know we're going to give a big speech about how hard it is to fucking to be you know to live in this you know everything's too expensive but we're going to raise taxes on you you know what I mean or we're going to give billionaires a tax break exactly it's the most two-faced bullshit your special whatever whatever not going to help you by the way it's like show don't tell right like rooster is all action yes and le buff is all tell yeah he's

can't do anything without telling you why he's doing it and why it's impressive and why you should be impressed. Yeah. And like the fact that Rooster never even has a moment of being like, eh, you're a good kid. Right. Like he won't give her an inch verbally.

Right, right. But he never, I mean, he fakes being like, oh, she's nothing to me and you take her. Why don't I can't pepper. But in his actions, you can tell. Of course. He respects her. And he's going to go get her back.

Like, and you're weirdly never, it's tense. It's scary that she's with Tom. and, like, LeBeef saving her is exciting. But you're also kind of like, yeah, roosters got this. Well, also because you kind of, I mean, that is the thing of like starting with the adult. You know she lives. Yes, that's true.

I mean, like, that takes, I do think that that took the bite of like, does she actually die? Like, this movie's kind of fucked up. You know, you don't, but you don't know if rooster dies. You don't know what happens to Lebeef. You don't know what the fucking, what happens. Well, it's also what she tells you at the beginning, which is like everything, there's nothing free. everything comes at a cost there is some give and take

in any action you do in this world right and it's like what she doesn't understand is like she got what she wanted and it kind of maybe fucked her up forever and the moment of her having the standoff with Cheney and him trying to like sort of Frankenstein walk towards her on the cliff

and she has the courage to like stare him down and fire the gun and the moment when he shoots not Gleason but the big guy with Gleason is so good because there's a really quick shot to Haley Steinfeld of her being like, oh, I've witnessed a man being shot right in front of me. And you realize in that moment, this is the first time she's seen this.

Totally. Right? This character, you see her going to a public hanging at the beginning of the film. It's not like she's never seen a dead body. She's seen her father's dead body. No. But this kind of like standoff, you know, in a fiery cabin, she's never seen before with like sweaty men. And so that moment where she's there with Cheney, even though we know, she knows how to fire a gun.

She knows how to do this. She knows how to do that. You wonder if she'll be able to do it in that moment. And she fires the gun. successfully kills him, but immediately also is like pushed back into a ditch from the recoil because right, immediately, she's a tiny girl. There's like a physical reality here,

and now she's at the girl at the bottom of a pits surrounded by snakes, and it's like a child in danger. Like, at the peak of her triumph and her victory, she's knocked all the way back down to, like, you were a child in a dangerous world. Snakes are also really fucked up. Yep.

I said this to my wife. I was like, snakes feels like something I made up when I'm a kid like dragon and shit. shit. Yeah. Like, those are just real? Yeah, little tubes that can kill you.

Right, that just like come out of nowhere. Do you get into these conversations? Poison in them? Like, what? The poison is crazy. Do you get in these conversations with your daughter? I feel like, look, who's talking to as a version of this joke where it's like, wait, so which things are real and which things aren't? Yeah.

You're telling me, dinosaurs were real. Dragons are not. Snakes are presently? I'm not getting into that with her yet because I like that she just likes unicorns. And I had a great convo with her the other day. Did I tell you this? Where, like, she had bad dreams. And I was like, dream about something nice.

And she was like, what? And I was like, dream about unicorns. And she's like, okay. You want to know my unicorn's names? And I was like, hit me. And she's like, poop. Pretty funny. Pretty funny.

And I was like, Johnny. And I was like, Johnny and poop. Poop Johnny. And Johnny poop. That was the four. Four beats. She did four beats at the game. And I was like, it's one of those things where I'm like,

that's kind of funny. Like, oh, you're like doing slightly more complicated humor now. Yeah. Anyway. She's not leaving any meat on that bone either. No, no. She found every. He worked out all four corners of the square.

But yeah, I don't want to tell her unicorns aren't real because, like, I don't know, who do I care? Maybe they are real for a while. But you're right. Snakes do feel like a thing that should be... They feel fake. They're like from the Bible. And you're like, yeah, that's like a monster from the Bible.

That's not real. Here's this girl at the bottom of a pit, right? She's immediately scared and crying. Like, she's showing vulnerability for the first time, basically in the entire movie. Just from being down there, being hurt, feeling stuck, calling out for rooster, not hearing any response, being like...

there's a good chance no one ever finds me down here. And what's been powering her the whole thing is this this absolute like mission you know, locked in the mission's now over. Now she is just a little kid

in the fucking pit with nothing to drive her. No, nothing in her furnace. All the coal has been burned. You just fucking killed the guy. It's Jessica Chastain at the end of Zero Dark 30 being like,

what the fuck do I do now? I killed Osama bin Laden. Tom Cheney is the Osama bin Laden. He's Osama. Yep. 100%. And it's also, I will not it's also the most on the nose I mean this at the at the core this movie is one of my

favorites of like I'm a big revenge movie guy totally and the lesson almost always is it's not worth it's not gonna make it never worth it it always fucks your life up more and this is in they they hit that in multiple ways I mean we we'll we talked about a little bit I'm sure we'll talk about the end end a little more but this in the moment is the most on the nose the gun you fire to kill the guy backfires and leaves you in a pit of dead bodies and snakes. Right. I mean, that's the most, like, granularly and in the biggest sense.

The metaphor is so loud, but it's power. But the whole thing that's been driving her has suddenly, like, dissipated. And now she's got nothing. And she's in danger. And to, like, reach for a dead body while she's kind of like whimpering, right? Like, she's clearly like, okay, but I still have enough wits about me to figure out how to get my way out of here. You pull for a dead body.

It's a fucking skeleton body with a knife and a sheath. and then you reveal tummy full of snakes crazy visual crazy visual to see a tummy full of snake knifed corpse full of snakes is a fucked up fucked up visual not just like oh there's one snake hiding here

but like a full belly of snakes and they're all rattlers you hear the rattling you know they're poison it's not just you're going to get bitten you're going to die you're going to die and like the whole I was I am like I was shocked when the first time I saw it because I didn't think I hadn't read the book yet like But I'm like, she loses her arm.

It feels so cruel. Like, I was upset the first time I saw this movie. Now you're just like, yeah, she needs that. Like, it's like her battle wound. And, like, it means, like, she can just be this, like, the woman she becomes, like, rather than having to, like, deal with some gentleman call or whatever. Right. It's, like, rooster comes down there, right?

He shoots all the fucking... He is in Terminator mode then. Like, then he's in full battle mode. Like, the last HP or the... He does the fucking... The clock, bang, bang, bang, bang. Yeah. He does the X over the snake bite.

with the night, which I love, and then spits out, sucks and spits out the venom, right? Then pulls her back up and then this thing where like the sky turns into this bizarre fantasia as the score swelling. Those shots are like horseback different levels of sunset. It's just like on the nose beautiful cinematography. But also part of the implications that painting mode, she's like hallucinating. Like it looks like starry nights. Yes, yes, yes.

And she's just like looking up at the skies, this guy's riding along. and as he realizes, like, the horse is giving out. I got to stab the horse because the panic from the stab will make it run a little bit faster for short a period. And she's calling out. Don't do it.

Don't hurt the horse. This world is too, like, cruel. Can't do it. Horse is fucking dead. He shoots the horse to put the horse out of its misery and then just fucking picks her up. It rocks so hard.

And they, like, make it just in time for him to collapse, fire a gun into the air, just enough to get someone to walk outside. I'm going to start doing this. that when I show up at the studio. Yeah. And you're like, she just made it by a moment,

and then you hard cut to she's an adult woman with one arm. And has never seen him again. And it's that I love the idea that it's like they had a bond or whatever, but it might have almost been too intense for them to see each other. But also, like, by the time she wakes up, the arm is gone and he is gone. She never communicates

to him again. He doesn't want to look her in the eye after that because he was vulnerable. It's too emotional. It's too emotional. And he didn't even shout out, fill your hand, you son of a which is, like, the coolest thing anyone's ever said in a movie. But, yeah, he... I'm taking the bit in his teeth. But, like, I love that also, at the end of the movie,

what she's going to, those Wild West shows that would travel the country at the turn of the century, it's like, that is the end of the West. Which you saying, like, now it's become this, like, fossil. We're dealing with the last, like... And it's, like, these old cowboys... ...thus this guy has in him. Right.

He's about to become a novelty. Right. And he's going to spend the rest of his life... He's fucking out of this moment. Yeah. Being like a children's entertainer. Like a birthday party. word just guys be like, I remember

I saw Wild Bill Hickok three three times. The first time he looked me in the iron and he said, you got any sugar? You know, whatever. And then they shoot the bottle and everyone applauds. Right. And then they, a beard lady comes out. Why? So she's mad that the other guy doesn't stand up. Is that why she calls him

trash? Absolutely great that she just fires that off. The one guy takes his hat off. The other guy doesn't. The other guy's just like. Yes. But yes, no, he writes her a letter inviting her to come to the show. And by the time she gets there, they're like he died three days ago. Brutal. And it's to this point

in the same way that like, too hot. Yeah. They were like, it got kind of hot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not really a warm weather guy. There was a breeze. Then you might have made the, you might have reconnected with the most important person in your life. You were, I mean, the amount, and you get the sense that this is

not a woman who, like, looks forward to a lot. And you, and her life has not been easy. And yes, I think the biggest tragedy is the heartbreaking part of this is that, She peaked. This was the best moment. This was the worst and best week of her life.

It was the most alive she ever was. And to Ben's point, you're not, you know, like, this is the week that she triumphed over being a woman in the Wild West and being a child. She escaped the dangers that like being, you know, that being that kind of person, you were in danger and you overcame all of that. You earned the respect of like tough fucking killer cowboys. You killed one. you personally fucking killed the guy that killed your dad

and your reward for that is you'll never feel as alive you'll never feel people won't you won't be able to relate to people you probably were kind of a weird person to begin with absolutely who does this girl even become if she doesn't do this that's the thing she's probably kind of annoying

you know what I mean like that keeps the books the only alternate path for her is if they successfully talk her out of going on this mission in the first place and go now you got to go to finishing school Yeah, no, you can become a place where they're like, put down the fucking gun in the hat. We're going to teach you how to talk and walk like a proper lady, become a school teacher, and then marry someone. And then, like, the woman she is at this point, at the end of the movie, you're like, she could have been like a sassy lady who owns a saloon and doesn't take any guff.

But she's almost like, that's like a parody of a person. I'm just going to be me, right? And there's no place for me in this world. And she's not, Elizabeth Marvel's so good with such little screen time in this. but like she won't let on how excited she is to see Rooster in the same way that she feels like if I shoot Tom Cheney

it will resolve my anger about my father being taken for me she clearly thinks if I get to have one final emotional conversation with Rooster the conversation that wins Jeff Bridges the Oscar this will all come together for me and she gets them and they're like no just by happen saying he died three days ago

this is a little too hot life sucks and then she sort of says like, I heard that Leboff's maybe still out there, he'd be 80 now, probably. I never got in touch with him. Probably not. Right. Yeah. Right. And then she just walks off and it's just time comes for us all. That's the best thing. But you're just like, oh, that's it.

And then you're like, hmm, yeah, of course that dead. There's nothing good. The ending line she delivers as if there's more to the sentence. Right. She doesn't. She's about to say one last She goes, time comes for us all. And you're like, what's the end of the thought? Done. Walks off. Music swells directed by

Joel and Ethan Colin. It's a perfect movie, in my opinion. It was incredible. And yes, so heartbreaking. And, yeah, and even the LaBeef thing, she's like, she, even in that, she's like, I would have, I kind of, she's still holding, I hope that at least she'll see LaBeaf. I think even in the way she says that, it's like, you can tell she wants this so bad. And that's, you're right, the actresses name, you said Elizabeth Marvel.

Yeah. Yeah. So little screen time. And you can, and she never says anything that tells you, she wants this. and it's palpable how bad she wants it. And how much she's disappointed and maybe a little bit of it leaks out into the like calling the guy trash a little.

But even that feels more like, no, I just disrespect anyone who's disrespectful towards me. I'm not going to take up. I'm not going to take off. But man, being able to communicate how devastating it is for her is. And yeah. And even it, life is bullshit and nothing good ever happens.

And even if you have an adventure where you're the can't, you figure it out and you, you do everything you possibly want to, it ultimately doesn't make your life better. It probably makes it work. You lose your fucking arm over it. Congrats. Now you don't have an arm and you're fucking pissed off.

And then the end of your life also sucks. Well, here's the other, the other quietly. So awesome and true. Quietly profound and depressing thing that happens at the very end of the movie. I agree with everything you just said. The other quiet and profound thing that happens at the end of the movie is that it hard cuts from her telling the guy who stayed seat with the hat on to go. fuck himself, right?

And then she says she got the casket. She tracked down Rooster's body. So she could try to bury him properly. She got it out of that, like, random cemetery. Right. And what's written on, the casket says, Cogburn, Yale County, hold at station. Same thing her dad's casket.

Right. It's just got like a fucking shipping label on it. That's like trash, you know? But that's how they labeled her dad's casket. Yes. So she just gets the casket and then it hard cuts to her standing at his grave site in the snow. on top of this hill

and in that shot she's aged another like 20 years she's got old age makeup on so it's like 20 years after the moment where she we're not seeing her bury him we're seeing her return to the grave and you can just fill in the blanks and be like I guess she

probably just comes back here and checks on it a lot that the closer she never got with this guy she just comes back and was like I need to have him in a place where I can go visit and just stare at him steely-eyed and then walk away. Right.

And everyone's like, did they, you know, that's like she, you know, did they? Right, because everyone's like,

why would you take the casket of a man you didn't even know that well? What is this? You knew for a couple of days. They don't get it. They don't get it. But I get it.

It's another funny thing to consider is you think about how rough a shape roosters in for this movie. If she'd gotten there three days earlier, he would have been bad. Yeah, true.

Right? That's like rooster 25 years. years later? I mean, at this point, he must spend, I don't know, three, probably a blank check episode worth of time on the toy. And he did like plank check

and he did listen to it. I'll think it. The BM's out. I'm a bit of a David dog. This movie came out Christmas Eve, 2010, Griffin. Opens number two.

You did say numbers one and three, but just to remind us. Fockers is one. Tron Legacy is two? No, so Fockers is one. Yeah. Trude Red is two. Oh,

Tron Legacy is three. Has been out for a couple weeks now. Correct. Those are the big three. It's not a great time at the movie theater. This is the whole thing where I'm like, Druget Rocks. Yeah. I defend Tron Legacy, but obviously it's like a basically baffling movie to release to a wide audience. Little Fockers dog shit. Number four at the box

office is the, I don't know, like third or fourth in like a fantasy series. I think in the last... It's not Voyage of the Dawn Trader. It is. That's three. They only made three. Yeah. I can remember how many of those they made. But, like, that's something where everyone was like, sorry, no, we don't want this. They're like, The Chronicles of Narnia continue.

I was like, no, man. We were kind of out on that from the beginning. I was talking to my dad about this last night, and he was like, so is Grader Gerwig still doing like Narnia, too? And I was like, no, she's making her first Narnia. Right. And he was like, but wasn't there someone else made a Narnia like a year or two ago? And I was like, bitch.

That was like three Narnia. 15 to 20 years ago. And he was like, did anyone like? I was like, first one, huge hit. Right. People flock in. And they were like, I guess this is the new Lord of the Rings. Second one, huge drop-off.

Disney abandons it. Fox is like, I guess there's still money in this, right? The kids don't cost much. What do you got to pay for a lion? And they put that one out and everyone's like, I don't know. Who gives a shit? Really? I don't even know.

It was like, due to lack of interest, they never finish the books. Yeah. That's fucking hysterical. And she's now. Those books only get weirder and it's harder. But she's adapting different books, right? Isn't she doing magician's nephew in theory? I have no idea.

Okay. That is canonically the first. Isn't that the most like Harry Potter was a big hit? We have to just fucking, that's the most classic Hollywood should have like Right. What else is similar? It was utter magic shit. Can we dig up?

Both launching the same year. It was like, yeah. It was the same year. They both come out right after 9-11. Yeah. And are both humongous. Thanksgiving, Lord of the Rings is Christmas and America is like, yeah, we love British people doing magic.

Yeah. And defeating pure evil. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that. That's another, definitely saw Harry Potter. I was a big Harry Potter book guy when I was a kid. We're this, I mean, you're a couple of years younger there, but like that's, I was too. I mean, the book was for our generation. Like, and now I don't like the book as much, but I love J.K. Rallings politics. That's the thing. I kind of, you know, I kind of, I'm flipping through the books. But I'm like, yeah, but where's all the good rally? This is someone who hasn't really found their thing yet. The thing that clearly makes you really happy You sit back with a cigar and tweet And I go, what a happy woman you seem to be

Bright observation in the world But like, can't she just buy a yacht? It's crazy, dude Like get off your phone. You want to look at Twitter? That sucks. It's crazy. That sucks for no matter what you can like

Buy anything you want. You could be like roast me a swan And someone be like, I'm on it like fine I'll fucking kill a swan for you. It's the true grid shit of like anyone who's got the making who wants to be rich as fuck can't chill.

You have to be a fucking piece of shit that needs more money. Anyone who wants to be president is innately kind of a psychopath. There's not one good person that's ever wanted to be president. Not one.

Number five of the box office is, oh yeah, okay. Kids movie, adaptation of a kid's cartoon. It's an adaptation of a kid's cartoon. It's another dog shit movie. This is this is a dog shit time. Is it a continuation of a cartoon?

It's like a later. It's like a Flintstones movie-ask. That. Live action? But with a, you know, cartoons. It's not a Smurfs. It's not a Smurfs. It's not Smurfs.

But it's one of these. It's like a, there's a CGI thing with some real people. There's some actor who's, you know, wants to kill himself every night. It's not that, but again, you know. Tell me, the source material is like Saturday morning cartoon. Uh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. December 2010.

I'm trying to think of like what the show. shitty, and this is one that I imagine just didn't really work. No, I mean, I don't think the movie's good, but I think it, you know, it probably is a land of the loss. It's Yogi Bear. Yeah, it's Yogi Bear. Yogi Bear, quietly to hit. Akroyd and Timberlake.

Of course Dan Aykroy and Justin Timberlake are the voices of Yogi Bear. Who's the real life actor? Tom Cavanaugh's Ranger Smith, but then Anna Ferris is like the reporter. Yeah, hell yeah. What's the story she's breaking? A bearer steals picnic baskets. whatever. Yeah. There's an incredible video. It's so well done that people thought at the time was this like a VFX artist on the Yogi Bear movie going rogue and it was just like posted by some anonymous account. But it is the end of, not the end, but the titular assassination of Jesse James. I've seen that. Yes. Being done with the CGI models of Yogi and Boo Boo Boo. That is very funny. It's really good. Where is Anna Farris, man? She's so funny. It is weird. Sucks, man. I mean, she had the sitcom for his only year. Right. She has.

Seven years of mom. I guess nobody makes comedies anymore. That's a big part of it. Nobody makes comedies anymore. Nobody takes women over 40 seriously in movies. I'm still pulling for the comeback. When I was in high school, I'm aware she, I believe she's playing the main villain. Okay.

That's fun. Yeah. Lillipad, I think. I made a bet to my friend, Jake, in high school. I was like, she is going to win an Oscar. Wow. I'm like calling it now. I mean, I'm a big Ferris guy, but I don't know that I would have made that one.

It was because she had just had the small. parts in Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain where it's like she was in two fucking best picture nominees. I guess you're right she's kind of got it where she's got small parts and I was like and clearly good directors recognize she's got more she can do

and I was like someday someone's going to find the perfect kind of like dromedy role and she'll win supporting actress and it does feel like we've gone a little off course I'm pulling for the comeback there's there's like a very profoundly upsetting New Yorker profile on her when what's your number

was coming out, and it was about how hard she had thought to prove that she was a movie star and how, like, she was the lead of four scary movies that were all big hits, but they were like, yeah, but that wasn't because of you. And she had to fight so hard to get the House Bunny. She was for so long playing, like, the best friend or the crazy ex-girlfriend or whatever it was, but never got to be the star of the movie. House Bunny was her thing. House Bunny was dumped. It was a big hit. And she was like, great, now I have Fuck You Power. They'll let me do what I want and she sets up what's your number and the whole article is about how they're

like can you be less weird can you be kind of a little more what even is what's your number I don't even know it it's terrible she's like I had marry one of the guys I've she finds out that she's fucking 20 guys and they're like if you haven't already

found the one and you fuck 20 people body count discourse back in the day you're a four and you should be thrown into the garbage right so you have to pick from one of the one of the two guys and like one of them is like to the previous... No, it's so much worse. It's that Chris Evans

is the new guy she meets who's her next-door neighbor. You can't fuck him because she already has 20 and then at the end of the movie Aziz Ansari leaves a voicemail and he's like, hey, I got your call.

Actually, we never fucked. We just did hand stuff. And she's like, I'm at 19. I can fuck Chris Evans. It's directed by Mark Milo. Who later becomes the main director of succession directs the menu.

What? It is like the crassest dumbest comedy. It's so fucking bad. And it bombed. And they were like, never mind, you're not a movie star. And then she goes to CBS. And the crux of that article is she's like, my dream project is, I have been developing

comedy single white female. Hell yeah. And they keep going like, great, we'll give that a green light. You're of course going to play the Bridget Fonda part. Right. You'll play your grandmother. Right. And she's like, no, I want to be like the weird psycho. And they were like, no, you're a leading lady now. You can't play

weirdos anymore. You have to be like a romantic but what she would rock whatever she would rock yeah let's bring ferris back Ferris back uh just to give you the other six is the fighter which is a great like time at the theater that's another saw that with my girlfriend

you guys have a good time we did we loved it in fact I remember I it made Walberg's back gave me body dysmorphia I was like fuck I want to that back like I would I was talking about how I wanted a back like wallberg in the fighter for like months you're like going to gym's being like how do I and they're like what are you talking about?

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah also he's like our size that's the other thing is he's short he's a short king Melissa Leo of course beats Haley Steinfeld for Best Supporting Actress this year Correct, correct

Number Wow I've really This is crazy how I thought I was checked out on culture I don't know I think I was just mad at burn after Or burn after reading because I was dumb How did I not see this in?

Because this year is like a social network King's speech ends up winning Most of the Big Awards The Fighter The Best movie of all for 127 hours, kids are all right, true grit. True grit is one of the most nominated movies with Zero wins. It's so weird that I miss this around this time.

It's so weird. I don't know. I mean, it doesn't win because they had just, everyone had just won an Oscar. They're like, well, the Cohen's just won. Right. Like, you know, like, that's the reason. Score is disqualified because it uses so much traditional music. Right, but it's an incredible score. It's not winning cinematography costume, art director.

Who won't you like a speech? Well, okay. Cinematography went to social network, I'm pretty sure. Like, the thing is social network's kind of the big great experience. I mean, it's good, but I mean, the cinematography true gritty. No argument for me, my friend.

I love this movie so much. But, like, King's Speech wins costume. Is that right? God, that movie sucks. That movie, yeah. The whole thing with King's speech is you're like, if that movie won zero Oscars, then I would be like, yeah, it's a fun that King has to do the speech.

Right. They were like, best picture of the, come on up, King. And you're like, no, come on. Like, especially a year of the stacked. It's in the green book category. of like if it doesn't win anything you're like this is kind of stupid but fun yeah yeah I mean do you remember

yeah I mean like if Green Book I won the Oscars I'd be like that awesome movie where Vigo eats the whole pizza like that was good do you remember that thing where there is that movie's kind of good the really weird room where they do the lessons in King's speech that has those bizarre cracking paint and all that yeah

and everyone's like where did they find this location and then guys on gay Twitter were like I know where they found it and pulled up that there's like a ton of porn that was shot in that exact room. Oh, yeah. That's fucking awesome. And just like, Twitter was flooded with screengrounds.

Someone's got to do the, like, the parody of a kid's, the gay porn parody. Every time the guy's about to suck dick, he, like, hesitates. And he's like, no, no, no, focus. Open your mouth and suck the dick. He's got a debilitating stutter that stops him from... From giving guy's head.

From deep throat. Yeah, from deep throat. He has to be caught to relax the throat. He can only get it in the top of his mouth. Yeah. David, this is good. It's very important. I know. I know.

I agree. I'm not mad about it. I'm not at all. David's head is in his hands. I just have to tell you that number seven of the box office was tangled. Okay. Good movie. Like great movie.

I watch it all the time with my favorite movie of that era. Number eight is, oh right, new this week, Giant Bomb, the Jack Black Gulliver's Travels movie. Oh, wow. Nine is Black Swan. Which he said basically killed his career for like three years. This is such an interesting era.

Because all the big movies I'm saying, Fokkers, Gulliver's, Narnia, like, suck. But then you have, like, True Grit the Fighter and at number nine, Black Swan, which are, like, grown-up-ass Oscar movies that make $100 million-plus. You know, like, the fighter got over 100, right? Yes, like, they're these, like, you know, proper hits for grown-ups. Right. Now they would all be 10-episode Hulu miniseries, of course. Yes. Yes. And number 10 of the box office, of course, is The Tourist with Jolian Pitt.

You're right, though. Like, the expected hits. are all kind of bombing. Yeah. And then actual... So audience is like, I guess I'll see the movie where the girl like

rips her nails off and like makes out with Mila Cunis. This is a movie. Fine. I don't want to see Garnia. That movie is humongous. That movie's awesome.

Like this was a year... It's just funny that mainstream America was like, yeah, Black Swan, fine. I'll take a piece of that. It feels like this was a year where six out of the 10 best picture nominees made over $100 million.

It's a stacked year at the Oscars. Because Black Swan, True Grit, King's Speech. Yep. Toy Story 3. Fighter. We forget. The Fighter. Social Network probably got close.

Yeah. Of course, Winter's Bone made $400 million. Inception. Inception. Like, there's a summer movie that is a huge, like, original hit, you know, and all that. But that's the thing that it feels like we've lost is, like, family together on Christmas, and they're like, I heard Fokker sucks. I guess we should go see the Cohen Brothers Western instead. Today you'd be like, I heard Focker sucks.

I guess we stay home and watch YouTube. Exactly. Yeah, you're right. Absolutely. This was the last gasper. There's no, let's try seeing something a little off the beaten path. Yeah. Although Christmas still might be the one time.

Christmas is the best time. It's the one. Because people are tired of staying at home. Yeah. With all the family. And it's such a tradition of like, go see a movie. I mean, Nosferatu made a ton of money at Christmas. I loved it.

I loved seeing that. I'm so excited for that. Like for. For what? For Vervolves? Yeah. You're excited for Volfs? See, that to me, is kind of like.

The way we're talking about the Yiddish policemen's union is two on the nose. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Him being like that makes where it was another one. Which, by the way, I will, again, we'll be there day one. But it is like, where, like it's not even. The announcement of next Christmas, Robert Eggers, fast-tracking, focus features, Wolfe's with a V. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was just like, my guy, don't play into the bed. I know. But that's all he wants to do. You're cruising for a bruising. I want to make a movie about like the black experience. at the sort of Harlem renaissance people would be like

you don't want to do like wearwolves maybe in like Eastern Europe I do you think sometimes though those kinds of guys got a fucking whiff that hard do something they shouldn't do

so that when they go back to Volfs people are like thank you maybe the producer advice is like hey keep that in your pocket do something weird you want people asking for

rather than being like shit again and I love I love Eggers and my favorite but my favorite part is, like, I wanted to just stay in the market

that Holt is running through to get to work. Like, he is so good at making these worlds real. It's like the Coins in that same way where you're just like, fuck. I'm thinking about this guy in the background. Yeah, dude, the Roma shit. Like, the inn and they're dancing and all that shit, like, oh, that stuff is so...

And the rest of the movies are great, too, and, you know... But God damn, he is so good at the world, man. He's so good. Yeah, no, that's... In a way that he might be one of the only guys that's better than the Coens at it. They're in the same zone. The Coens are better at the little characters

being more fleshed out. But the actual setting and the design and all that kind of shit, I think he's better. I mean, his whole thing is just like obsessive research. Which is awesome. That's my fit, you know. Like even, like sometimes I want a little more action,

a little more meat from his shit, but man, the world's are so good. Nostratu for me, I generally enjoy. but the castle stuff. Hult going to the castle and getting fucked with, the weird villagers, the actual look of all that shit. I was just like,

this rocks. Once he went back and he was like, there's a vampire coming. I was like, that's fine. But I really just liked him going to see Count Orlock. Yeah,

that was fucking awesome. And then them having dinner and Orlock being like, that picture is so beautiful, your wife, you know, all that shit. And you know the thing about it.

Did your wife bring any pussy hair for me? She kind of does, right? Just walk in on your fucking dead wife, entangled in a fucking Nostratu's dead body. They died fucking. Turbo-cooked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess we dealt with that.

Pretty them together. All right. Come on. Let's wrap this up, man. You know the thing about Crawfell-Rlock, though. He loves to pour decor. Yeah. It's blood in there, though.

Yeah. Bloods and the thing. On top of Pull the Cork, another thing I love is any time you watch an old-timey movie where characters talk about drink. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right, right, right.

You've resorted to drink. Well, there's addicted to drink. I mean, there was no water. Yeah. You kind of had to just drink really shitty fucking water down beer and whiskey. But it's never drinking. It's not he drinks a lot. He's a man of drink.

He drinks. Yeah, he's a man of drink. Singular. Stoffy, thank you for being here. Guys, thank you so much. much, yeah. Truly a pleasure. This is so fun. I love the show. I discovered it. I discovered it in a bad time. And I always... That's when people find blank. Yeah, yeah. I was in my absolute lowest. I had gone through every other possible podcast. It was the NBA offseason. There was nothing to

there were no pods to listen to. Right. Zach Lowe's out to take a break. Yeah. I think Hattie started listening the second they took her arm off. That's how she got some miserable. Wait, I actually want to know. Right. Well, we're like, how did you find this? I, no, I literally was just like at a point where I had been, it was like, I had worked so hard for so long and I had gotten so, like, fat and addicted to drugs. And I needed to go dry out in Baltimore. And I truly was, I couldn't be with my own thoughts. And I also, like, in the last couple years, I've really, I've always been kind of a movie fan, whatever. Obviously, like, being a little kid and we would go to the library and get movies that way. But, you know, my family was, you know, we're Greek and all the

media we consumed was not, we were never huge movie people. and, you know, I'm trying to get into it more and more. And so, yeah, that summer I was like, I have to lose weight. I don't want to be with my thoughts. I want to also maybe act a little bit. I want to learn how movies are made, whatever. I started, I would listen to like movie pods and you kind of, there's not that many of them. And then I just found, I was just looking up.

That's how we get there, baby. Even though we have like afterwards, it's like it's clear we have so many mutual friends. And it's kind of weird. There was never an intersection before that. and we were both kind of in that weird 2016. Like we started Comtown, the Do Boys. There's a weird 2016 wave of podcast that we were all in. It's like the second wave where we were all kind of like,

we're into a lot of podcasts, this won't work. Comedy Bang Bang and Marin already exists. Right. It's like there's eight podcasts. This American Life, Comedy, Bam Bang and Merin. There's no room for anyone else. We're all done. And so, but for whatever reason, and I found it and I just fucking, yeah, I love the show and any, you know, it also kind of,

the way you guys go about it, the actual directors is really fucking cool. So, yeah, huge fan. We were talking about how much we love you and how great you were on Doe Boys. And then I was doing the Doe Boys live show in D.C. And you were in the lobby of the hotel and you were like, I saw the show was happening.

I was visiting my parents. I'll just come by. And we ended up hanging out for the night. With my father as well. Your dad's the man. Who is in town for a funeral? And immediately was like, this guy's the best.

Who is this guy? Oh, man. You are a Pete phase. Like, you're the kind of guy, Pete. people truly calls you his hero now but you immediately said I'm a fan of the podcast and I was like that's crazy we'd have you on any time come on man and I said we're doing coens and you'd like grab me by the shoulders and you said I've been watching all of them on the boss I love yeah I love I love the coach yeah we just watched no country we had just watched the one I

Miller's Crossing yeah uh which huge favorite you know you got I understand you got somebody with a similar who's a similar a big deal in the movie world as I am kind of someone right around the same cache. Hopefully that episode has happened. Yeah. Hopefully it's happened. Yeah. But no, I I love the Cohen so much and, you know, and this was so, this was so fun. You gotta come back. I'd love to anytime. You're the best. You're in Yorker, right?

I'm here, baby. I'll also say this too. I feel like, yeah, I keep, I've heard several stories of very successful stand-ups and people like you who have huge followings, right? Who get offered like small parts in good movies with good directors and are like, why the fuck would I do that? I'd make more money on the road. Oh, I lose money.

doing this. Without question. Exactly. But talking to you at the bar after the dough boys show, you were just sort of like, why isn't ever in my position

wanting to do this? Why wouldn't you want to be a guy who can pop up for a week? Dude, that's the dream. And be part of a fucking great movie

and work with great people. And I love that you're entering that stage of your career. And I like watching all these Cohen movies, I'm like, you're the kind of guy.

Polito is who I want to be. Yeah. Like, when I see him pop up, I'm like, let me be that guy. I think you're on the runway. Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, by the time this airs, I'll have been panned and begone.

I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. So, I am so worried. I'm dogs in the movie. It was so good except for this fucking. But you were telling me that you, like, wait for your reps and you were like, is it crazy that I think I could be good at doing a couple scenes in a drama? I think I could, yeah.

Can you position me for this? Which I think people in your position today are not doing. That's my whole, like, it's crazy to have gotten this movie. And I don't know, maybe my great grandfather owed Yorgo's great grandfather a goat or something. And that's the real story. He's just like some villager debts have been cleared this way. But I thought if I'm lucky in 10 years, maybe I get to be, you know, a guy who has a very memorable scene in a diner in a PTA movie. That's the absolute goal. That's the absolute dream of what I want to go to. And so I hope I didn't blow it. And somebody else has let me in a movie that

I don't know if that's out, you know, I don't know if that's gotten out, but it's really cool. And yeah, I love, because, yeah, dude, you grow, the first, your first, and even through comedy, your first, my first exposure to comedy is comedy is John Candy is, is, you know, Chris Farley movies, Eddie Murphy. It's just like, and then you grow up loving Sandler. And then you basically reverse engineer. How did these people get there? Like, for me, like, discovering stand up and sketch and all these things was being like, so where does this guy come from? Where this guy come from? Why they just let this guy be in movies? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. And you're like, he was in dirty, dirty clubs for 10 years. Absolutely. So yeah. So, yeah. I. It's funny. It's, I still don't, I don't understand how any part of my career has happened. And this,

the least of all. It's like, stand up, it's like, all right, you just fucking, you eat enough shit. And there's only,

there's only like a hundred people who are this suicidal. And, and have decided they're willing to sacrifice everything that they'll just work clubs or, you know,

do nothing else. Like, you should just go get a regular job instead of do standup. It's a horrible lifestyle. Oh, we're broken people. Yeah,

yeah, but acting is, I don't understand. understand how it's happening but yeah please hopefully i didn't blow it in bologna and i would love to just be and the coens are the exact type of i mean there's so many dream you need them you need them to reunite just in time to ask for who who's the polito of this generation dude that's all i want dude i just so i can play i can play bully like bullies or cucks that's kind of my like i can that's my that's my that's my kind of you know zone i'm not this is gonna sound rude but it's not like you do

have the vibe with some of the your ghost like just reamed up you know what I mean like Yorgost is like I'm gonna write down another weirdo and he's just imagining you yeah yeah yeah yeah no I'm a definitely a I was toothless for a while and that's when I was sure my acting

career was gonna take off I was like I'm a fat weird toothless guy it was a distant club throw me in there but you know whatever I appreciate it guys yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and uh... I don't know when this comes out but I think in October, right when the movie's coming out. Perfect. October 19. So I'm also going to

be in Austin, Texas, and I'm going to be in Boston. At the Austin, I'm going to be in November and Boston, I'm going to be in December. So yeah, come see me. I'm also still working on a special that I'm very, oh, actually, I got a lot of stuff coming up, actually.

I'm going to be in fucking Memphis, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Asheville, Greensboro, Wilmington, Merdle Beach. Yeah. I did a bus tour this year, and I'm doing a minivan tour. Shrieking it down. Yeah, yeah. I was like,

I did a really prestigious like bus theater tour. Did the Chicago theater 3,000 people. Now I'm like, give me the fucking comedy cabana

and Myrtle Beach. Let's get back to our roots. You're doing a little red wagon tour. Dude, it's going to be, yeah, literally, I'm walking a tour. Dude,

I'm basically going to be, I'm going to be in a fucking minivan for me. I'm betting money it's going to be a Chrysler Pacifica throughout the southeast. Yeah.

And then Austin, Texas on the 22nd, Boston on the, uh, this on December 12th and 13th. But yeah, come see me do stand up, watch a movie. I have a, if you got, you know, you guys have big movie fans, obviously. I made an indie movie called Let's Start a Cult. It's on Hulu. You can watch it there. Uh, so yeah, that's, that's where you can find me. Thanks, guys. Uh, you're the best and we look forward to having you want to get. Absolutely. Come back. Come do Stavvy's world. Anytime, boy. We're happily. We got to shout out

Eldis. Eldis. Yeah. You guys are in a, yeah, you're in a fraternity of elite producers with L. Yeah, Ben and Eldis. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You got, please, come do, come do the pie. We're going to be moving into Manhattan, I think, soon. That's fine. I'll go to the big city. The big apple. Come to the big apple. Yeah, yeah. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe.

Tune in next week for Inside Lewin Davis. Correct? Nope. Next week, I guess we're covering a house of dynamite. Okay. The new Catherine Bigelow movie about nukes or something. At the time we're recording this, we think Catherine Bigelow's Netflix movie is coming at around this time. And if not, we'll have changed. You won't be listening to this.

Yeah. And as always, time comes for us all. Blank Check with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin, Newman, and David Sims. Our executive producer is me, Ben Hossley. Our creative producer is Marie Barty Salinas, and our associate producer is A.J. McKeon. This show is mixed and edited by A.J. McKin and Alan Smithy. Research by J.J. Birch. Our theme song is by Lane Montgomery and the Great American Novel, with additional music by Alex Mitchell.

Artwork by Joe Bowen, Ollie Moss, and Pat Reynolds. Our production assistant is Minnick. Special thanks to David Cho, Jordan Fish, and Nate Patterson for their production help. Head over to Blankcheckpod.com for links to all of the real nerdy shit. Join our Patreon, Blank Check Special Features, for exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us on social at Blank CheckPod. to our weekly newsletter, Checkbook on Substack. This podcast is created and produced by Blank Check Productions.