Duncan Trussell Family Hour - 673: Tyler Cornack

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Tyler Cornack, writer/director of some incredible films (Butt Boy, Mermaid), joins the DTFH! We've been telling you about Mermaid for a while! It's Tyler's new horror comedy, and it stars Johnny Pemberton! It just debuted at SXSW last week, but you can watch a teaser for Mermaid here. Go see it when it's out! Come see Duncan in Denver! March 20-22, only at the Denver Comedy Works. Get your tickets here!

Welcome to the DTFH. Hello, my darling friends. So nice to see you again. I hope you're having a wonderful week Before we get going with this episode I'd like to remind you that if you want commercial free episodes of the DTFH You can either go to our patreon patreon.com DTFH you're gonna get ad free audio episodes or become a subscriber on my YouTube. Either way, you'll immediately get commercial-free episodes at the DTFH and you will become part of an elite community of Mensa members, intellectuals, enlightened beings, saints, hyperdimensional creatures and a variety of other people who I cannot name because they work for federal

agencies across the planet. But you can hang out with them. And also we've been doing live streams of the solo episodes. We've got one coming up week after next. All right everybody listen, holy shit, by now you've probably heard me yap about one of my favorite movies of all time. But boy, incredible movie. The link is down there wherever you happen to be picking

up this podcast. You must watch it. It's so good. But just a few days ago, I was blessed by getting to go to a screening of Tyler Kornak's brand new film. The creator of Butt Boy has put out a movie with one of my best friends, Mermaid. And I know it would be easy to think that the reason I'm saying it's so good is because I love Butt Boy and I'm friends with Johnny. But no, this is one of the like best movies I've seen this year. It's gonna get awards. It's gonna be one of the big movies. I'm sure of it.

It's so good. It's dark, it's a comedy, and it involves mermaids, and not splash style, Daryl Hannah mermaids. That's probably an old person reference. It's incredible. It also involves drugs. It also has Kirk Fox in it. It's got Kevin Nealon in it. A whole incredible cast of great actors.

And I got to talk to Tyler and he said he would do the DTFH, and he's here with us today. So everybody, please welcome the DTFH creator of Mermaid and Bop Boy, Tyler Kornak. Welcome to the DTFH my friend. I'm so excited to talk to you. I've been waiting for this more than anything. Oh, thank you.

And this is the last thing I'm doing here, so. You know man, I have a few favorite movies and I mean this when I like my favorite movies in that list, Texas chainsaw massacre in that list, the shining and in that list, but boy, I, you know, and there will be blood too, but you know, high praise. I mean every bit of it, man. I mean every bit of it. And you know when you're seeing a really good film, something clicks in your brain.

I can't explain it. Like everything happening around you gets paired with watching it. It's so pleasurable. And I remember Johnny Pemberton tells me about Butt Boy. And I hear the title, and I'm like, what are you talking about man? But boy, is it porn? Like what is it? And he's like, no, you don't understand. It's an incredible film And then I had to convince my wife and like okay. Listen, Johnny is never recommended a bad movie. He's recommending but boy

She's like what? But boy, it's a tough pitch to the Boy. She's like, what? Butt Boy. It's a tough pitch to the wife. It's a tough pitch. To anyone, yeah. So this, I thought, I just wanted to ask you before we show the trailer for Butt Boy, was there a moment where you thought to yourself,

maybe I shouldn't name it Butt Boy? There was a moment where a lot of people said that to me that worked on it. You know, I thought it would be interesting where we create more buzz in the sense of like it is a ridiculous title. What is that? Yes. And I think it was a little bit of that. Yes. I think like press wise, it actually worked.

I don't like the title. I just think it's it creates You know some more buzz than a normal weird indie film would yeah. Well, I'm glad you called it that I mean, I don't know what else you would have saying all the nice stuff, too by the way I mean you've been people would tell me all the time when you would just be pushing it and it just means a lot because these are such small movies and Anything we can do to get it out there and it's just refreshing to hear like when you make anything weird or strange you're just like and you're you're on the edge of like

you're constantly questioning how you feel about it and you can't help but Care what people think and I do care what people think well. I mean this is like we'll show the trailer a second bit this to me like what you're doing and what I Think maybe a growing number of people are doing these days is Rebellious in nature what you're rebelling against isn't necessarily like some actual insidious evil force what you're rebelling against is Mark the market pressures of people at big studios the system the system and no one in no component of the system at least in The ones I've met

Or anything other than wanting to make good shit, but it seems like once you get to a certain tier of of budget the risk begins increasing and increasing so you're some executive and You get a script an idea pitch. This is fucking good but I Can't take the I can't Yeah, and so this this awful firewall appears where all of these great ideas die on the vine So when something like but boy or more recently Mermaid comes out, you're like seeing that one in a million thing that somehow did it.

Whoa! That's crazy and I can't imagine what it feels like. Did you foot the bill for Butt Boy? No. what it feels like. Did you foot the bill for Bob Boy? No, the same guy for the bill for the new one. Shout out to Bill Maury and he's one of my best friends we met at film school in LA. He went, you know, to be on the creative side of things and executive produced things. I just got so lucky with him. We were in class outside of class one day, he just came up

to me. He's like, Hey, you know, whatever you're doing, I'm down to do it. Wow. And it was like, you know, it's like a bad movie almost, but it was like, Holy shit. Holy shit. And so we ended up being from the same part of Florida. Yeah. What part is that?

Tampa. Tampa, okay, sure. Yeah, I grew up in Tampa, and he did too, in the St. Pete area. And yeah, it's like, since then, you know, this is probably six or 70 years before we even made Bup Boy. But we did, we would just make online content, short films, whatever. We were doing a lot of comedy based stuff, just trying to get like a little bit of a following online.

And yeah, cut to one of the comedy sketches that we did was Bup Boy. It was a little one minute thing where the tone was there and everything was there. And then it's just conversations like we'll be out one night having a beer. It's like how far could we take that? Like how far can we stretch it? And shout out to Ryan Cook who I did Bup Boy with as well. He just said it to me one night, what if this was a feature? Yes. And right away, it just all was there. Like the office, boom, boom, boom,

like lightning in a bottle moment. Man, let's just show the trailer so people know what we're talking about, because right now, all they're hearing, the people who haven't seen it, they're just hearing, butt boy, and they're like, what could this possibly be? So yeah, roll the trailer.

So what do you what could this possibly be so yeah roll the trailer? So what do you do? detective You look like every detective ever oh yes How just get there the greasy hair and the the earring looks good. You look good What about you what What? What do you do? I haven't seen this in a while. So good, it's a great trailer. A potential tragedy strikes Critica County today as law enforcement have yet to make any headway

on the missing child that vanished from Kathlin Park this morning. on the missing child that vanished from Catholic Park this morning. So you're asking me to go off this theory you got about a white married male who happens to be a father living in the suburbs of the Pritiket County, who also happens to be your AA sponsor, has been secretly running around trimming objects, animals and children up his ass. And he somehow digests them. And he does this in sprees, almost in serial killer fashion. Is that about it?

Uh-huh. Love this tagline. Yes. Sometimes the only way out is in for people listening. For people listening they just heard really good music. Fucking insane. There it is. Okay. Crazy.

So what, so this, so, there's a way to do Butt Boy that's going to ruin it. You make it silly. Right. When you get the camera. Yeah, that's why I think a lot of people think it's that upfront. Oh yeah, I think you, I think just because,

what's the, what's the detective's, the actor's name? Tyler Rice. It's like my favorite, he's my favorite actor so good Yeah, so good and so the joy when I'm watching this As it continues as I've yet to realize They are not gonna blink. They're not gonna wink at the camera. No, it is gonna be a hard-boiled detective Show genre and it is the most insane

form of murder and something about the fact that you all the way through managed to keep that tone to me makes it one of the funniest movies I've ever seen man it is brilliant I appreciate that man so much you know the whole time you're doing it you don't know if that's gonna work or not. Like, that was very nerve wracking. Not that there was like too much at stake. We made that for $150,000. Wow.

That whole thing. How long did it take? 30 days. 30 days. We like fought for schedule. We were like paying, you know, you learn all these tricks and trades doing indie films where you pay people under the table to get this

or it's like, we know that this place exists, so let's shoot there. So we did so much of that where we would just reach out and say, hey, we had a decent Instagram following from our comedy stuff. We'll shout out your laser tag company for people to come to give us deals. Everything was dealt with under the table

where you just sort of, you do whatever you can to get it done. This psychological element though where you just sort of you know you pull you do whatever you can to get it done, but this Psychological element though of making this kind of movie I Mean I'm sure any movie that you're making you're shitting your pants the whole time the whole time. I can't imagine Yeah, I read was really I wish I could remember his name is reading this book And it's this directory made a bunch of stuff, but never became like Kubrick or something like that, but he made so much stuff, and he said, being a director is like,

you're the captain of a pirate ship, it's a pirate ship, and there's so many different plates spinning at the same time. People don't even realize how stressful it is. It's like, the majority the time. I'm saying Why am I why am I doing this right like why? This is so stupid on every level just how difficult it is how? Just unhealthy you feel mentally it just takes a toll on you and every and it's so relentless. It doesn't stop yet the flip side of it

I guess it's because like the nice Beautiful moments out power it or just the power of movies out power it, I don't know what it is. But it's very rarely enjoyable while you're doing it. You have moments, sure, where you laugh and you're whatever, but it's mostly just torment. Well because you're, okay, so you have, I mean, just, why am I saying this to you?

You're the director, but. No, it's actually nice to hear about, because nobody ever talks about this. They don't know. No, they don't. Well, I think because when we've seen directors in movies, what do we see? The director is sitting in this chair next to a fucking camera and goes, cut! Let's try it one more time. That's all we know. That was great! And that's what they think the director is, kind of like a conductor or something, and that you just wave the sticks around for whatever that's called to tell the orchestra what the tempo is and you're done. But no, you're dealing with

a variety of maniacs, the actors, like God, the psychology of actors. Historically pretty unstable people. They can be, not all of them. Unstable people. And I can remember Johnny went on the road with me right after Mermaid. And I could, that character was still in him. Yeah. And I'm like, Johnny, you.

It was a lot, I think, for him. It was it was it was a lot. I think for him It was a lot for I also really tried to push him to do something different that he's ever done before but also I think he just got back from fallout an indie film schedule is so that that's the craziest part, right? That's the craziest part. You're doing like five scenes a day scenes. Yes sometimes if you have to yes, it's not the same It's not the same. And I think he just came from that and he was like, whoa, we're just, so we're here now and now we have to go do this, this, this and that.

And I'm even realizing this is a crazy schedule. I forgot how crazy this was. And then he's like coming to terms with it. So just that alone, the exhaustion of that. And so you have to contend not just with the various personalities of the actors, all you want is a great performance for them. It's energy based. It's like energy, everyone's energy.

Right. So Kubrick has one of my favorite quotes that's so true. The hardest part about directing is getting out of the car in the morning. Wow. And that is just so true to all of it because you have to compose yourself. You can be in the worst mood ever you didn't sleep There's just gonna be a lot of people looking at you And if you fault if you have the wrong kind of energy that just carries through everything

Yeah I'm to like if you if you say something wrong to the you say something in the wrong way to the boom operator that can be a trickle effect because he's gonna act differently the rest of the day and That's gonna affect this guy over here. And then the last thing you want to, the actors are the most important in the sense they can't be, they're fragile. Yeah, they're fragile. They can't be disturbed.

They can't look around and think, Oh no, is the movie failing? People seem really upset. What's going on here? And so there's that, so there's that element where you have to be almost like a Hannibal Lecter or something to, and simultaneously an energy DJ, even though you might have had a bad phone call, a shitty night, you've seen some footage that isn't good. Is this gonna work the whole time? You don't know if it even is gonna work. And so you have to do that. But also, you're you're dealing with budgets also you're dealing with the omnipresent time factor, right?

You gotta get the fuck out of wherever you're at. You don't have much more time here You got to go and then sag you got to feed these motherfuckers Yeah, and then all of that somehow you're juggling all of that while maintaining Confidence I well I think confidence that's where it gets tricky for me because I can come off as cold I think to some people I really learned that on this last one To the point where I was working with like some veteran actors and I realized they were feeling that I'm I'm cold Right, but my coldness because it's like a resting bitch face I'm just so overwhelmed and I was like I can't fake it and be bub

I'm not a bubbly person naturally anyways. And I'm just in the edit of the movie. So sometimes I'll get so laser focused on like, I'm doing this shot now, this here. And sometimes actors need, rightfully so, they need a little bit more that I fall short on. So like, everyone you, every single thing that you do, you learn these lessons, you're like mental note, be a little, maybe switch that up, pay a little bit more attention to that, and you're trying to learn how to make it

a better experience for other people. But yeah, you just have to keep going with it. And it's all about finding balance. Energy is just the key thing to all of it. Now, Mermaid, we'll show the trailer for that in a second. I got lucky enough to see it a couple days ago. And when you look at this trajectory that happened from Butt Boy to Mermaid, like when I showed Josh, because I showed him Butt Boy first, he's like, they had a bigger budget

for that. But you do see more than just the bigger budget. You see your evolution as a filmmaker. You see probably whatever you did learn from Butt Boy. You figured out how to like do it better. And then you see a lot of really famous actors, dude. Kevin, Neelan, what the fuck? Really lucky.

How do you get people like that involved? Honestly, it was the script. I think people are really looking for interesting things to do It was a little different for everyone like I think Robert Patrick was kind of like what what the hell is this right? Because he didn't know anything, you know, right? He doesn't really probably even fully know what I'm trying to do as a right maker But he he I talked to him on the phone like if they're a little bit hesitant

I can talk to them on the phone. I kind of let him know I'm not crazy, right? I'm not a crazy person because what you just read they're a little bit hesitant, I can talk to them on the phone. I kind of let them know, I'm not crazy. Right. I'm not a crazy person. Because what you just read probably seems a little bit crazy. And I think sometimes that's the case. But it's just reaching out to reps. And you have, you know, you ask them if they want to do it, will they read it? blah, blah, blah. Some people say no. Some people say immediately yes. And it's great. This one was tricky. We were in the middle of the set sag went on strike. We're in the week one of casting Oh, so this is our first hiccup by the way. We had so many Jesus Christ. That's a big hiccup We're in the middle of it. I've talked to two actors Maybe Johnny we have whatever but we're like trying to figure out to cast the rest

We can't legally speak to any actors until now a week before the movie starts what so? We're casting this movie and we can't cast it until a week before we go shoot. That puts you in a brutal position. That was the first thing where it was like, so it was four months of my producers calling SAG and they're like, what are you saying what, like you're saying, and just screaming at them and not screaming, but being aggressive.

Like, we need this agreement, because you can get this agreement that... I heard about that agreement. Yeah, everyone was waiting for it. And that's why it took so long. I'm sure they, I don't want to shit on SAG too hard, but I'm sure they have their, there's a process, and they can't give it to you up until,

so we did rush it a little bit, and I think it was about a week and a half. It was really a week and a half before, but still it's like, then you just get on the phone with these actors, it's like, all right, we'll see you there Whatever. So it's like that's the first intense. You got a book their travel. Yeah. Oh, yeah You got to get them in the hotel not me personally, but but someone does you had a week to fucking do that

Yeah, and all whatever I can't even imagine what their requirements are and the things they're asking for and then you've got to deal with All of that. I mean that by itself they're asking for and then you've got to deal with all of that. I mean, that by itself is a nightmare. Yep, it's always a nightmare. So you've got to fly a bunch of these actors out to Florida to shoot this insane... In the hot sun. In the hot sun.

Trying to convince them that it's gonna work. And some actors know, some don't. Okay, let's show the trailer just so people know what we're talking about. This is Mermaid and it is incredible. Did you know that the ocean is 71% of the Earth's surface? It is said that humans have only discovered around 5% of it, which leaves lots of room for imaginations to run free. Doug, I gotta let you go, brother. Why? for imaginations to run free. Doug.

I gotta let you go, brother. Why? Straight up, you've gotten pretty weird, man. You and those crazy fucking people. What happened, Doug? We gotta make a decision right now, okay? Crazy little man. Doug, you need some help? Doug, you're weirdo.

Why can't you stay? Because daddy's gotta go save a fucking mermaid. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom.

I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom.

I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Oh Fuck there you go The weekend that Bernie's seen oh my god that is what that was oh shit. I didn't catch that um so I Really feel like I don't want to mess up too much about this movie because it is so

It's so much it. I was expecting Which it is I'm curious about this. I'm curious of what you thought and expecting it. Okay, I'm expecting a dark horror comedy. That's what I went in there expecting. What I got was one of the best movies about grief that I've ever seen in my fucking life, man. And so that is a left hook, which is I came in there completely not ready to tear out of that field to you where you were a little bit like, Oh, I loved it. You loved it. Well, the rug got pulled out. You know, it's like, Oh wow. That's well, that's what I, and again, I'm having to separate. Like I know you, I know Johnny. So I'm trying to

like separate. Yeah, that's weird, right? That not in the sense of watching it from like, oh, this is gonna get awards. Like this is gonna ripple, this is gonna make some ripples. But I'm like- Make a splash if you will, we keep joking about that.

It's either gonna be mermaid sinks or mermaid makes a splash. Oh, it's gonna make a splash. I mean, and just for the, to me it's gonna make a splash because of this, just for the, to me, it's gonna make a splash because of this left hook, which I feel bad about talking about. No, you can talk about that.

Everyone who's writing about it is talking about that, that gets it and likes it. And it is that to me. So that's why I thought this would be an interesting way to do it. Because that horror angle that you're talking about, I think that could have been easily a thing where it's more based in genre, but Yeah, I don't know. This is kind of like a part of me emotions like this are a part of me

It's not even a personal connection or anything like that. I was just I feel I have this certain emotional feeling towards Florida and yeah, I've had friends that I Guess the best way to put it is, if I were to see Florida as like a picture of my life, there's certain colors in it, there's certain things that represent different things to me, and it's a feeling almost. And I wanted this to be a more emotional sort of thing.

Oh my god. Like it really was, I mean it is a horror movie and the makeup for the mermaid see I don't even like horror for it People are saying that I don't like there's horror elements in it But I would put that first like I would almost call it like a thriller adventure movie or You know a comedy comedy insert genre whatever that genre is after it. But I would start with dark comedy mixed with whatever. Listen, what many comedians fail at doing, and I certainly have failed in my attempts

to do this in the past, on stage, if you can do the thing, where not only do you make people laugh, but somehow you weave in there something kind of poignant That's my favorite too. It's almost impossible to do it more You're probably just gonna come off as didactic or you're gonna come off as like sanctimonious. You're gonna come off as puffed up on stage But if you can do it, right then if you can bring those two polarities together,

it's a very powerful experience. When I saw Carlin, he could do that. He did that. And it was a crazy thing to be in an audience where people who thought they were coming for a comedy show are suddenly getting this existential deconstruction of reality that is like Blowing their minds and you did that with this and I

Thank you so much for saying that. I mean, that's what I want. That's what I wanted to try and do you did it You did it. I hope so and you so I'm sitting there like fuck. I gotta go back. I gotta go to therapy I haven't dealt with my grief. I've got a fucking go to therapy this is gonna this is gonna this is getting in the way of because One you know his relationship with his daughter and his baby mama and To me that I've never seen a better symbol for when you are carrying that darkness inside of you and you feel like a freak and you feel completely disconnected from The normie world of

What a great symbol which is wheeling a drugged fucking Scary looking mermaid right? Yeah into a kid's party. That's your grief, that's your shadow. You think you can hide that shit by putting glasses on it? And then of course the old saying, lipstick on a fish. It's like, dude, you've gotta deal with this.

You can't haul it around some stinky, fishy, puking mermaid. Exactly. Oh man. Well, I'm glad it hit that way with you. I mean, you nailed it. That's it That's what it that's what I wanted it to be and I also wanted it, you know Butboy had like this weird cult II

It did it did way more for me than I thought it's opened a lot of different doors for me And just on it in its own right, but then you do feel like you know, you nobody wants to be it in its own right. But then you do feel like, you know, you nobody wants to be too tight in a box. And I wanted to have elements of what I did there, but also show it could be a little bit more on the writing side and a little bit more in different areas, areas of it down to the look of it and all of that stuff. So I was thinking about that while I was trying to write it. It's like, how can I do some I don't want to do the same exact thing where, right, you know, it's a genre story with ridiculous things. It's like, how can I get a little bit more,

because then you're thinking about the one after this, where it's like, well, now I have to get to this. And they're not gonna let me get to that if I just keep making these very tight genre things. Right, yeah, I see how you wouldn't wanna be redundant in what you weren't at all. And it was, I mean, there wasn't even, it's a completely different thing altogether.

And you know, you've picked great actors. Every actor in there killed it. I know, they did great. Kirk Fox was so fucking good. Amazing. Johnny obviously carried the movie. He like, whoa. So you had that going for you. But I gotta ask you, and you know,

just tell me this is that's not what you meant. Because one of the things when I made the Midnight Gospel, people would say, is this what it's about? And I would think, no, not to me. Right. But who knows? Right. But I'm thinking like the ocean as the subconscious. I'm already gonna say no to that for me. I just don't think of it. I can, but I can sense when, I actually liked that though because now I'm thinking about that. And now I'm like, maybe I'll have you keep going

with that in a second. But I can sense with things that I want people to find those things in it. Cause I think that's really cool. And I might have it here and there for, you know, whatever it is. But I think when you write stuff in genre and then you bring in this human element to it, it's naturally going to these things are going to happen. And that's kind of the coolest part about writing something.

Yeah. Compared to the finished product, because then you see you're like, wow, that could be that. That could be that. I mean, even in B even in but boy people would review it and they were breaking down like they would go really into depth about things oh that's cool and I'm just like all right well that's crazy and that's kind of the best that's truly the best part of it to me oh I love that well it's kind of like you know these archetypes they've they're they're in they're invisible and so you throw paint on them and then suddenly they're gonna emerge whether you intended them to or not. They're gonna wear the clothes of whatever you make and and uh, but yeah, because you know the consideration of

um In terms of grief Which is such a bizarre Thing to go through I have to ask you mentioned your friend. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and is that what informed? That was just there in the background? I mean I was already doing this movie and then I was already writing this movie and my my friend passed away That was a in Florida not in Florida from Florida. Sorry passed away from drug, you know, yeah hills and

And then we had another very close friend who was very much like a Florida man. Both great guys, really highly intelligent people, funny. But I think the world was a little bit too big for them. And it always sort of they just couldn't handle it. Right. Since we were kids, you know, and I hadn't talked to really I haven't seen them in years. It had been 15 years that we went down different roads in life but we would talk to each other and whatever and Yeah, so one passed away and then I saw the other one when we were location scouting down in Florida and I started now

I started to think like okay This is coming into the story a little bit more as it's happening I meet up with this other friend We sort of we go out and watch live music and get drinks and he's just They were very close. We were all very close, but they were very very very close and um He died a month after I saw him from the same thing. Oh my god It was almost because of the grief of the other. Yeah, so, you know, this isn't like an on-the-nose It's not on the nose, you know, it's not about that in the movie

It's just again if I look at it like a painting, it's 100% in there. Yeah. More so of their mindset of how they saw the world and how, you know, just being an outcast of things and that's how I remember them anyways. Again, time had passed, but yeah, so I think that's in there. And that's like very Florida to me. It's in that painting. I'm talking about It's those guys are in there and like that that feeling is in there. So well, I mean, that's the crazy thing about Florida and I think you could argue LA is that here you have

this Beautiful place the ocean the beach people out there on fucking boats. You go and visit as a tourist and it would be easy to think, man, I gotta live here. Like this is it. And then you get into a place and suddenly you realize that underneath all that beauty. There's the underbelly.

And it's a dark fucking underbelly in Florida. And I see it as very dark because to some people it's not and you can have a great suburban You know, I grew up in a great house in Florida. My family's the greatest family ever great childhood But I had this awareness of like when we go to the beach and we would see these people I was just so Fascinated by like, you know that it wasn't in a movie. How is this not in a movie that these people talk like this? And just everything that they do. And there's humor to it.

I think it's all so funny. It's ridiculous, you know? These beach people, you know, it's just ridiculous. They genuinely talk like this. Yes, I know. I mean, well, you know, I can remember the first time I realized This song the Jimmy Buffett song

Margaritaville is like Elliott Smith level depressing. Yeah, you look at the lyrics of that it but he does he pulls off He does it he like hears this most people when they're singing Wasting away again in Margaritaville there. They don't realize It's a dope song. It's a du- what does he say? Like he stepped on a fucking bottle cap, he cuts his foot. He's just like getting- Going through a rough time. By the way, that song, While We're There in the Hotel the whole time, 12 times a day? So in your psychosis, you're waking up, you hear it faint from the local guy downstairs

with the guitar, sipping on sponge cake. It's like you're in a bat, you're in a Groundhog's day. Yeah, man. Yeah, well that's the anthem of the... People have confused this song of like late stage alcoholism, unresolved grief, heartbreak, and most importantly not taking personal responsibility for your fucked up life and some dumb epiphany at the end Just maybe I got myself in this position Exactly, they think of that as the song of a vacation and that's the that's the trick of any of these beautiful places

Hawaii too, man. You go to the tourist areas of Hawaii and well, obviously the fire is really underlined it because you're driving to whatever your nice spot is and you're passing the desiccated ruins of houses where God knows how many people fucking died. But even before that, you go to the grocery store in Hawaii, you go to the grocery store in Hawaii, and suddenly you see a different thing.

You see all the people who thought they'd moved to fucking Hawaii, and it's just gonna be every day as a vacation, realizing no, now you're just in the middle of the ocean, trapped in a small town that where there's not enough resources and shit's too expensive. In Florida, you can just see that, like it lures you in, Venus fly trap style, you get there.

It takes about two days in Florida, I think though. You just have to be there for two days and then you start to feel it. Jimmy Buffett, one more thing on Jimmy Buffett because I wanted to get him I wanted to have you know when you start writing a screenplay And then you realize how little money you have I wanted I wanted margaritaville to be the theme of this movie I thought it was so good at the end when they're having the stare down to bring that back like if you're getting in the end I've been iconic you know

Jimmy Buffett had just passed away two days before we started shooting. So when I say they were playing it everywhere, it was unbelievable how often he would hear that song. It was like, by the end of the shoot, there was one point where I just wanted to break down and cry. It's like the song was the last thread for me that was gonna set me over the edge.

Dude, it would drive me crazy too. It's bad. It's kind of a great song. It's a great song, but not a million times in a row when you're like dying in the sun trying to make a movie. I mean, this by the way, mentioning music. I remember like at the beginning, you know the credits I believe I saw I Saw like I thought oh, it's weird the person making the music and you have the same name Same exact name. Yeah, but honestly, that's how dumb I just was like, whoa, that's a weird coincidence because I When you see how good this is. Did you make do the moves music for but boy, too?

I did. Yeah, so I did it but I did that one I did with Ryan cook who helped me with the screenplay as well. We wrote the screenplay together and We did the music together too. So when Aaron and I my wife and I is we're like Like talking about fucking good the movie was you're just like wait how? How did he have the time? That's nice. How did you have the time?

I don't understand, but I know I really don't understand. For me, it's part of writing for me now. I kind of discovered it on Bup Boy, but writing's really, really hard, especially for, it's hard for everyone. Yeah. That's another thing that needs to be talked about more, is screenwriting is really, really very difficult.

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and whatever, you just kind of, you know, it's really nice for me. It sounds like, I hate bringing it up, and that's why, even with the credits too, it almost feels like annoying, it's like, oh, the music as well, but it's so beautiful to me in a way because it's therapeutic. Yeah, I get it. I've had a complicated relationship with music my entire life. I you know, I was a musician first and I realized it's not a road I wanted to go down with things and now it's become what music should be for people for me where it's like this escape where yes

I can just sit and you know, it's like a painter you just get to sit in peace and yes come up with this stuff Oh boy, doesn't it make you just, like, when I, the time, like, I love making music too, and I, anytime you're getting into it, the thought pops into your head of how lucky professional musicians are. Yeah. Because this is all they do all day long.

All day long. They don't have to go back to writing the script, they don't have to go direct something, They don't have to go direct something. They don't have to, they just. By themselves, yeah. By themselves, they just sit and, but this isn't like the director was a little big-headed, thought of himself as a genius

and decided to do the soundtrack for his movie. This is like when you see at the end, like oh shit, no, that is him. He fucking made the sound, it's real good. Thank you very much. Real good, man. I appreciate that, man. So you must have started real young making music.

Yeah, I started, I guess around like 14. I was just in bands growing up. I love recording music. I love writing, I like songwriting. Me too. I love I love recording music. I love writing I like songwriting and me too just recording and being in the studio performing I was just I think I convinced myself that I like it when I was young and I just could never I just would freak out I get nervous and I don't want to be up there. What about acting in your own movie though? Like in but boy like what how does it I've always been fascinated by that?

Dynamic of somehow simultaneously directing a movie and acting in it, what are the challenges there? There's a lot. I mean, I don't have that bug to act. But Boy was honestly just, people weren't lining up to play that role, you know what I mean? It's a tough casting call. It's like no one wanted to play that.

So, and I was like, I could do it. There's a, there's, I can only do like two things as an actor. I can do a monotone guy and do a deadpan face. That's what the character was. So it's like, you know, whatever, but it was, it did take away from things on the directing side, I think. And it just will no matter what, it's too much.

Well, who do you have to check in with? You know, like, you know, if an actor can at least get some sense. Yeah Is this what you were looking for? Yeah, we got it. That was always weird. I'm like, I guess I I guess I got it Yeah, we did it. Yeah the I'm curious About your thoughts on AI right now like anytime I have an idea For anything I don't use it for creativity, it's garbage so far. I mean, maybe at some point I'll be able to like actually come up with non-cheesy,

stupid ideas. But as far as organizing ideas or like organizing a screenplay, which to me seems like haiku. Like it's so technical and it's so... Exhausting. Exhausting. Have you worked with AI at all to... I think I've used it with imagery stuff for ideas. You know, just the apps, it's like create a, you know, you can get very specific with it and it's crazy. You know, like a 15 millimeter lens of a mermaid,

that's whatever, to get ideas of like, maybe we could use this, maybe we could use that. I think the art form of it right now is the artist that knows how to word something. And I wouldn't even call that art, I don't know. Prompt engineering. Yeah, whatever that is.

People are just really good at that. And I've seen things that, you know, it depresses me. It excites me too though, because then I'm like, how can you use it in a subtle way? What depresses you? Just that movies, I don't know. Very quickly, there's going to be movies that are just fully AI. And I'm like, you're not making a movie if you're doing that.

Well, because you're like, when I went, I I'm sorry everybody, I talk about AI too much. No, it's, we all are now. It's fascinating. And I went through the phase of using Mid Journey and the initial amazement or using one of the many video apps out there for it and going through that initial phase of like, oh my god, this is incredible. Oh my god, I can maybe I can make my own cartoon now or oh my god and then I got I started getting weirdly resentful of it because

I realized that that learning curve that maybe I could confront in drawing or animating it was robbing me of it. Yeah. It was ripping my teeth out. Well it's actually not it. It's not the thing. The joy, the best part about making a movie as much as I was bitching and complaining about it earlier it is making the thing. Yeah. As torturous as it is and everything it's like that's why you do it. Yes. It's not about it's not about anything else to me. Production is the best part. Because you're physically doing it.

And when you're there and an actor's acting and you can look through the scope and it's like your little world, everything you thought of is right in this thing. That's the greatest feeling in the world. That's it. AI is the opposite of that. But I just saw a video,

I don't know if you'd be able to find it, but I guess, what if you'd be able to find it, but I guess what would you type in? It was like a muscle car 70s chase scene from a movie that was AI. Let me see if I'll know it if I see it on the... This is what made me really depressed, but also is it that first no that's not it cinematic car chase unreal cinema what was that one unreal engine 8 that's a year ago no that's not it that's probably too vague of a description I think I saw it on Instagram or something but wait scroll up a little bit let's look at this dystopian shit go up one one more. Meet AI life coaches.

Are you fucking kidding me? Will you open that up, Josh? I just gotta see what this is. I know they're doing all these therapists, therapist ones now. We're looking at soulmachines.com. Wait, click talk to Vesper. Oh, you have to sign up.

I have to sign up to chat. 11.99 a month. From choosing your destination to decoding the cultural do's and don'ts I'm here to help and you just asked me why it's depressing like this kills me this kills me, dude But I do think that I do think that um It could be cool for movies to say, you know movies inevitably it's going to happen. This is happening very fast Sure, of course. We have no choice, right? Right. I think with movies, it could be interesting if there was, you know, you should have to

have a decal. There was no AI using this movie. And that could become this flip thing for humanity where it's like, you know, that's not AI. No, I think it's going to add value to non AI stuff. And the over like, God help me. If I post something that I made with AI because I'm in a hurry to make a comedy flyer, dude. That's where it's great though. The rage. The rage from the internet is just like, you fucking piece of shit.

Why don't you just go and find an artist and punch him in the fucking face, you piece of shit. For a flyer for a show. It's like, dude, if I paid someone to paint a little boy floating away on a balloon like this looks it would take three months It would probably cost at least 30 grand. Yeah for my show in Spokane They give me a break, but but you know man. I'll tell you I think there's something so soulless and dead in it I think people are people who appreciate the arts anyways, I think they all feel that. So that's good.

I don't want the studio system to, you know, it's already happening, but we'll see where they can take it. I don't know. Well, yeah, it's happening. I just read this article that Netflix used upscaling AI to upscale some sitcom from the 80s. It's on vice.com if y'all wanna look it up, but essentially they're saying it's the creepiest shit

you've ever seen because it's turned everyone in the sitcom into high-res monsters and shit in the background doesn't look right and everything's just off and fucked up and they just did it for who knows why. The flip side of it in a cool sense to me would be like as a kid if I was a prompter like we're saying that's not a artist But as a kid being the capability to make a movie that looks like Michael Mann's heat from your bedroom

Yeah, 13 year old and you have a screenplay like that that just is cool. That's cool. But I don't think it should be called a movie. I think it should be called an AI cinematic experience or something. But there you are. There we are. You know this is the thing. I can remember when I first started working at the comedy store. Wasn't even comic yet and I'd watch the old comics. Look at the new comics.

I can remember standing next to an old comic from the 80s, watching a new comic on stage, the old comic from the 80s, he's dressed like Dracula, because that's what he does. He gets on stage and does stand up, it's Dracula. And he's looking up there at some kid, I don't know, they're cursing, you're not supposed to curse. You know, you're supposed to do clean comedy. And he really has the saddest look on his face and he just kind of mutters, that's not, that's not it. And I realized, oh my God,

this is every generation looks at the new thing. And it's like, that ain't it. And I think with AI, I feel the same way, but it's, it's sad. This is what I think so interesting about it. It's art. Yeah, it is art. Is it soulless? Do I look at AI art now and it gives me like a feeling of like four hours into a boring car ride with my grandparents? Yeah.

It feels like shit looking at it. I don't care about it. If I see a Instagram short, which I'm guilty of putting out in the beginning because I was so excited. Look what I did with AI. I don't want to look at it. I don't care. But man, it's coming. It's coming. It's already here and all that stuff's gonna look way better very quickly.

Indistinguishable. Indistinguishable. And it's just, yeah, it's complicated. But it's not, and I do sound a little bit like the old man, but that's just because I've been through the trenches a bit in the indie film world and it's like, they just get to sit in their bed now and it's gonna look better than the thing I was shooting at 21. I think it's gonna be a guru level experience for young creatives because what is actually gonna happen is they're gonna get bored and they're not gonna wanna do it.

And the people who aren't getting bored are idiots and I think they're gonna get bored, and they're not gonna wanna do it, and the people who aren't getting bored are idiots, and I think they're gonna intuit somewhere along the way just what you're saying, and they're gonna realize, oh, this, because what they're missing is chaos. You know, they might get, the AI might spit out some bullshit, but I mean, like, the chaos you experience making mermaid.

I mean, those moments. Freight edges. Freight edges are important in things. Absolutely. It's my favorite kind of thing. It's like, it's with music, with everything. The imperfections is what makes it special. Absolutely.

And I think you can feel that. Sometimes you can't even put your finger on what it is. But I think it's important, you know? Like a photograph with, you know, a perfect photograph. A photograph with wrinkles in it, I wonder where that photograph came from more than just a freshly printed one. Yeah. That might look better, you know? See, AI, it doesn't get that.

No. It doesn't capture that. It can't capture that. It will never capture that. Unless you just put frayed edges, make this look a little more loose. Can you make this look poignant and flawed? Like, I don't know, we had a rough day and we had to compensate for not having this location. The boom operator got sick at 12 p.m. How would this sound now?

Yeah, it'll spit out some bullshit. That's like a year away. I don't, yeah, it's probably now, but you're never gonna, in the beginning I thought, yeah, we'll get there, but I don't think we're gonna get there. And really what AI did for me is it inspired me to start learning how to draw

because I got so annoyed with it, trying to prompt it to do something. I'm like, I'd rather have my shitty drawings on my flyer than some perfected bullshit. But I wanna ask you something non-related to AI. And if you can't talk about it, okay. During the Q&A, there was a question that came up. Something happened or something with an actor and you're like I can't... Yeah I can talk

about I'm not gonna say who it is but I can find a way to get around it. We had well in this movie I was trying to cast people from the from the 90s that I really admire and I think I did that in a lot of ways. There was a lot of people in it that worked out and it was great. We just had a nightmare. We had a nightmare actor that we signed on to be somebody at the end of the movie. And-

Oh my God. It was like, you know, I had a great dinner with him before we started shooting. Yep. Got along great. Yeah. He was very complimentary about the writing. Great.

Just giving me, it was a dream come true. And I had a lot of these dinners while making the movie. It was so incredible to, you know. Yeah, how cool. Yeah. But he was really great. We had a call time the next day at, if I slow down a little bit,

it's just me trying not to say his name, but... If you do, we'll cut it out. Okay. For real. Okay. Yeah, that cut it out. Okay. There we go. Okay. Um, yeah, that's me letting you know. There you go. You haven't set his name out. If he says the name, mark it down for sure. When we left, there was a little bit of a red flag. On our way out, there was a little bit of a red flag. That's not even specific. I'll keep it within the movie.

We had to get up at 4 a.m. the next day, very early, to go out on a boat. Right. I'll keep it within the movie we had to get up at 4 a.m. The next day very early to go out on a boat Right in the middle of the ocean originally was supposed to be out at sea for that end So it was like choppy waters were there at 4 We pick I'm not in the car when this happens, but you know it's early nobody wants to be there Everyone's a little bit groggy. Yeah He The hotel we had dinner at the night, previously they pass it, it's still dark out.

It's a big famous hotel there. He goes, you know, he says something like, you know, Al Capone used to own that place. Great. And, you know, Johnny is a man of facts. Yeah. He likes facts. Yeah. But he didn't say anything. He had the wherewithal to not say anything.

Yeah. Until just a light joke, which I thought was so funny, but they passed the sushi place down the road. And you know, Johnny goes, you know, Al Capone used to eat sushi there. Oh, no. And this old school actor that was like, they had just met met and he loses it in front of all

the actors in the suburban. So now at 4am I show up and the producer who was in the car, one of them comes up to me and he's like, that was not a good car ride. And I was like, what? I don't even know exactly what happened there. But he pulls me aside and then as he's telling me, this actor just screams out my name. Tyler, get over here. Oh my God. I start walking with him and he, he's like, who the fuck are like, what the fuck is this? What the fuck? And I don't even know what he's talking about because the producer didn't even fully tell

me what had happened, but I got the gist of what happened, and the other actors were coming up to me, and everyone was telling me. So we go on the boat now. It's for, he can't let this go, his energy. He just can't let it go. And it's carrying over. I think it's just being in the morning, we're all sipping coffee,

and we're going out into the ocean, and it's rocky water, and it just doesn't feel great. He starts to do some you know he starts to get a little bit rude to everyone I'll say it probably like that which is fine by the way in my mind you can it's not cool right I don't like it right but if you can show up and do your job there is something almost romantic to me about sure especially a certain type of actor yeah does it it's like oh that's

kind of cool yeah whatever sure I can appreciate it. So I thought it was that at least at first. It might be his style, you know, he's famous, he's kind of gracing you with his presence, he's walking around being a little bit of a dick, old school Hollywood is here. And you're kind of like, of course he is. Yeah, why not? Yeah, he's him. So long or short of? Yeah, sure. He's him, you know. So long or short of it is, throughout the day, he's just- Sylvester Stallone.

No. You're enough. Okay. Well, same breed. Okay, okay. Yeah. So, he, we started to shoot the scene. Some other stuff happened in between, but I won't get into it because it's too detailed.

But the point is he couldn't do his job and he couldn't say his al Pacino. No No, that would have been awesome though He couldn't do it he couldn't do his lines couldn't do his lines because he was so flustered about a fucking Al Capone joke He was flustered. Well that carried over into I think just the boat the earlyness the everything Wow, and then he was starting to feel he told me some things before we started shooting He's like just so you let you know I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna say this thing Okay, I can brush that off as like the actor thing we were just talking about like okay Why aren't you gonna say it?

He's like well I just wouldn't and I'm like you don't know that much about this character But and that that's where it gets annoying sometimes, where you're like, I've worked on this for fucking two years, you've been here for 10 minutes. And okay, the other thing was, he wanted to change the blocking, which I had storyboarded and we had creatures.

Oh, fuck! Yeah, he wanted to change the blocking. He's like, I wouldn't sit through this. I have to stand. Classic old actor thing to say. I gotta move. Oh my God, oh my God. And I'm like, me and my editor, cinematographer, I have to stand classic old actor thing to say I got And I'm like, you know me and my editor cinematographer we plan for this day we're at at sea It's like we have shots, you know Some people are a little bit more fluid and I am too sometimes but not on a boat when it's the finale of the film

And it's about stillness, you know, and I know that scene was so fucking I love that scene I love that scene. I love that scene. It's my favorite one. Gut wrenchingly grotesque, by the way. Yeah, funny though too, right? So in thinking of that scene, in thinking that asshole said he needed to walk around. He had to walk.

So that was the first thing he came to me with before all of this. He's like, I gotta walk. And I was still like, all all right let me think about this genuinely I'm not gonna be an asshole sometimes sometimes these ideas are great right and you're like oh that could be really cool yeah I kind of figure out a way to do it I'm like okay this could be interesting let's do it but then he starts to flub his lines right so now we're back to him flubbing his lines. Oh no.

Everyone feels it. He feels everyone feeling it. Oh no. Just bombing. It's not good. Cause if you're gonna be a dick, you better be good. Exactly. You've been a dick and now you're eating shit.

And I would love it if they were a dick and they were good. It's like this story, I wouldn't, I actually wouldn't tell it then, but this guy kinda pissed all over my movie, so I don't care Yeah, he definitely did and we don't have a lot of money. It's like. What are you doing? I mean, I can't even I'm thinking of the was it the same boat. Did you use the same boat?

Yeah, same boat so I don't cheap. It's not cheap, and we took it out So this is like fuel costs and like he just pissed all over a bunch of money So I'm kind of, fuck that guy. I love him as an actor. I love him in everything he's in, but whatever. So what happened? So he starts to do the lines, and my first AD whispers something in my ear. He's like, you know, what are we gonna do here?

And he kind of feels that that happened. And then it starts to get bad. Then he goes inside and I'm just like, hey, why don't you just go look it over again? Just go look it over. I'm trying to be cordial about it because I'm already walking on eggshells. And I go inside, I'm like, I'm gonna have to just like read it to him. And he's gonna have, we didn't have an earwig or anything. I'm just gonna have to just say it because I need it. Maybe there's a vert. It was so unsalvageable Yes, maybe there's a version of this movie where I can just like cut to him for a line, right? Johnny right no subtext going on be some hope still I have to do something

Yeah, so I go in and I tell him and then he's weirdly like super nice to me all the sudden He's like, yeah, man, whatever you want. Now. I'm just like, oh, this is that's even worse and scarier So we go out and I start to read him the monologue and then he can't repeat what I'm just like oh, this is that's even worse and scarier so we go out and I start to read him the monologue And then he can't repeat what I'm saying So I'll say a line and he can't repeat it, right so it just gets to this okay, so you're just Was he trying to sabotage her was he just so I think at that point yeah He just wanted to he was just like I'm gonna fuck this guy. Yeah, I don't know what he thought I don't know what he thought, but it felt like that it felt like not good so anyways we get to that now it's the part where he has to stand and I've done I've changed the blocking for it and

it just ends in a catastrophe where I Just told him to change his eyeline a little bit. He freaks out on me. That's what sets him over the edge What do you mean freak out? What do you say? What are you screaming at me? he's like I made more fucking movies than you man and like just goes off and Wow, I this is after me changing the blocking and like of course simultaneously never got seasick this whole movie all of a Sudden as this is happening everyone starts to get a little bit like Bobby and we're like, all right as this is happening everyone starts to get a little bit like Bobby and we're like alright this is fucking crazy and I have all this on film too of him yelling at me so anyways it went on and on there's so much I know that sounds like there's a

lot of detail in that but there's so much more and long of the short of it was we ended up just having to let him go. I do wish him well. But also, you shouldn't do that. So you're getting screamed at by this. Surreal. And also, everyone who loves you, who you work with, probably wants to kill him. Yeah.

And so you've got a group of people who just wanna kill him, and then you probably wanna kill him. So why do you respond to that? How do you deal with that level of aggression that you've read about heard about but there it is in front of you for what? Sounds to me no reason at all It got so incoherent and sort of crazy that it was easy to laugh at the thing that sucked about it was logistically What are we gonna do right Because we don't have this scene. Yeah. You know, just remained about the movie. We were supposed to work with him the next day. He had like

two lines. We were supposed to work with him. And then he ended up not. Well, I ended up just being like, I can't do this. Yeah, of course. This is awful. Yeah. And it's just like we don't have it to begin with. So are we gonna put ourselves through it like we once we realized we have to replace him which we did and I think was the coolest move ever in the movie this so this is what AI will not replace yes because in you see divine moments like that we're in the moment you're dealing with is I think you must be some kind of enlightened being, because if it were me, this is like my baby. And you have gone into the most vulnerable creative place.

And you've been there for a while too. And you're a terrorist. You're blowing up my movie in front of people I've been working with and you suck. I have no patience for that either because it's just so your emotions are so raw and you're so exhausted. You're seasick. And you're just seasick and you're just like, dude, you know, go fuck yourself. And it's really weird when it's like a hero of yours who I admire so much and I love everything that he's in.

But you know, he's just not It's not the same whatever it is. I don't know what was going on with him. It's not in my business I don't even give a fuck what it is, but it was just it was sad more than anything And you're trapped on a boat. It's not even like he can storm off No, so you're stuck at sea with this motherfucker where it's like swaying and he's like, you know, and then kind of cool But no, I mean is a story money wasn't being blown. It's kind of cause the story it's incredible it but then You realize when you got the scene that you got that whatever the gods of creativity are God maybe They were just like no, I'm gonna make your movie better. Yeah, and I think so not and suddenly you have this pristine, beautiful, incredible,

epic. A little more real. Oh yeah. More human. It was, who was that actor by the way? Kevin Dunn. He's one of my favorite actors. Kevin Dunn. You ever watch Veep? The show Veep? Yes. He's the guy with the big mug and he's been in everything. But he killed it. He just, he just slam dunked it. And, and thank God that guy had a nervous breakdown. Yeah. And shout out to him. He just slam dunked it. And thank God that guy had a nervous breakdown. Yeah, and shout out to him. He had 24 hours to learn that giant monologue, which is not easy, and understand the context of everything that's going on.

And he was the opposite in the sense that we talked for five minutes, and he's like, I think I'm gonna do this. I'm like, that sounds great. Sat down, you know, the opposite. Like Robert Patrick's the same way. It's like, whoa, just knock it out. And it was so cool. That's like the best part ever, you know.

That's got to be another cool part about directing is getting to witness what is basically magic that somebody in 24 hours could somehow bring that level of emotional depth in that level that like somehow just it's the best part of it it's the best part of the whole thing when you write it's truly you know if you're a writer director yeah when the two come together in this moment and you're like this was just a thing in my head and the weirder it is the more surreal it is almost because like we're here and oh he's saying these words right now. They're just like it's incredible

Oh, you want me to just you know take that that character in your mind and not just like bring it to life But I'm gonna make it so good that you could do a spinoff just about me. I'm just gonna do that. No problem 24 hours Yeah, sure. I'll just bring an epic Legendary being the life and I'll just do it, no problem. What's the big deal? That shit is magic. That's truly how it feels with them. Robert is an absolute, every actor in this movie

I'm obsessed with, from Tyler Rice, the wife who plays Tina Julia Larsen. She was great. Isn't she so good? Both of them, Tyler Rice. They're so good. I felt bad for him having to act in a fucking neck brace. They're like my favorite actor. They're like some of my. Tyler, I felt bad for him having to act in a fucking neck brace. They're like my favorite actor.

They're like some of my favorite actors, and they're so, they get so into the work. Like at the same level I do almost with directing, where it just becomes this like amazing collaboration. It's like, I couldn't even know this exists in a way. And it's like, anyways, I'm thinking about like doing a small thing with them because I just, I them so much but anyways Robert he's such a veteran to the point where my favorite part about this is a great memory but I

would drive by the hotel every night and he would sort of fuck with me on set like especially the first day he walked in he's like what's my character's name again what am I doing and there's so many people here and this is before the other story happened so I was just like, Oh, fuck, is this whole thing going to just fucking burn? We start rolling and he's just like word perfect. Amazing. And then you realize his whole thing is just fucking with people the entire time. And then you're like, you fall in love with the guy. But my favorite thing was I would drive by the hotel at night and he's a sober guy. He's been sober for a while so disciplined

So talented it's just so organic and great. I think he should be in every Quentin Tarantino movie Absolutely, he just belongs in that world to me But he would just be outside in the hotel with a cigar just digging through my script for hours out there That's just learning it. They love it and I just love that there he was doing that and it just so shows and like we were shooting I shot on anamorphic lenses and you know we had one I'm just thinking of another example off the top of my head but what's an anamorphic lens? Anamorphic lens it's just what gives you the wider scope. Okay. It's what makes it look the black bars.

Okay. Just think of it that way. gotcha the organic black bars is within the lens He you know he's like are these anamorphic lenses, you know, I'm on I'm over his shoulder. I'm like, yeah He's like what's on there buddy. I'm like 50 and he just goes like moves like that and You've been doing this for so fucking long and you've seen so much and like it just shows and it's amazing Yeah, no, I that's the, man, when people realize like what... I mean, all this stuff is just so cool to me, because actors, it's not just that they're somehow like these bizarre psychic chameleons that can turn into

fictional characters, but then also add their own soul into it in a way that adds to it, but the technical side of it is insane. That they just knock in the midst of memorizing these lines. They bring these ideas that you're like, what? How are you doing that? Fuck! It's so cool. Do you, um, last question. And I'm sorry, because this does sound like a cheesy end of an interview with a director question, but I legitimately mean it What's next? Oh, man Well, I I really want to make a small movie next I think like soon

I have an idea for like just a thriller that can make small because these things take so long Yeah the biggest thing about this for me is like these gaps these years of time in between and i'm just at the point now where I like doing things where it is a little bit bigger. You have more resources and people, it's really nice, but I'm also like why can't we just do this other little tiny thing? We have everything we need. We have amazing talent, we have a boom guy camera, you can shoot a movie on anything now that has a lens mount and it'll look like a movie. So I think I kind of want that I kind of want my career to sort of become that where It's something like this something really small like I want to do something in like two locations

But interesting you know and then I have this movie I really really really really want to make cool that cost more money, but it's like an 80s cop movie in the cocaine era cool and cop movie in the cocaine era. Cool. In Miami, and a cop goes undercover, but it's sort of like a good fella scarface, but with a modern sort of twist to the voiceover,

and it's like, yeah, it's the same thing. It gets emotional, but he thinks, like, it's kind of, have you ever seen, like, Vampire's Kiss? No. You would love that movie. I'm watching it tonight. Nicholas Cage. Have you ever seen the Vampire's Kiss? No. You would love that movie. I'm watching it tonight. Nicolas Cage. Have you ever seen the clip of the A, B, C, D?

I haven't seen it. I like, I like. It's a famous clip, but I think it's his most interesting film, but it's kind of like an American psycho thing. Like in my movie, he thinks this guy in this cocaine infused adventure he's going on, he thinks he may or may not be turning into a werewolf.wolf. In the heart of Miami. And you're like, is he, isn't he?

And he's coked out of his mind. And it's like more down the middle for me. It's like, it has a little bit more mainstream, but the weird's still in there. But it's like a big 80s epic. You've written the script? I have a draft of it done. I'm like doing a revision of it now,

and I'm telling everybody I can about it that's here. Yeah, because that's, I get wanting to do the little thing in between, because you got to wait for this to... Yeah, I'm like, I'm gonna doing a revision of it now and I'm telling everybody I can about it. That's here So what oh yeah, cuz that's I get wanting to do the little thing in between because you got to wait for this to yeah What whatever way that's gonna make its way to people's? TVs or the theaters or whatever you have to wait and then once the ripple hits from this I really think there's gonna be a big ripple from this one. You'll get all the funding you want to make That would be the dream. That would be the absolute dream. I mean, to be honest, I've been wrong every time I've made this prediction.

I'm gonna end it on that. Thank you so much. Thank you for making these great movies and I can't wait to see what's around the corner. I'm such a huge fan of you too. This was so great. And you're like the great philosopher of comedy. Oh, thank you. You're just highly intelligent, so it means the world to me to hear you say this stuff. Thank you, you're the best. Thanks for coming on the show.

And I will, everybody, you must go see Mermaid, go see Butt Boy. See both of them. All the links will be at the comment section on YouTube or at dunkatrrussel.com. Thank you so much. Thank you, man. That was Tyler Kornak, everybody.

Go watch Bup Boy and as soon as you're able to, definitely watch Mermaid. You'll be glad you did. You can find all my stand updates at dunkitrussel.com. I'll see you next week. Until then, Hare Krishna.