Happy Sad Confused - Allison Williams, Vol. III

Episode Date: May 21, 2019

By now "Happy Sad Confused" listeners should know not to judge a book by its cover. Allison Williams clearly has a dark twisted soul beneath her sweet exterior and we love her for it. She's back on the show this time chatting about her latest subversive flick, "The Perfection". You're not prepared! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Nights definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Today on Happy Sad Confused, Allison Williams chases the perfection with her new Netflix film. Hey guys, I'm Josh Hartle. It's welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad Confused, yet another familiar voice returning to Happy Sad Confused this week. Last time we had Nicholas Holt on, he joined the Three Timers Club. Now it's Allison Williams' turn to join that rarefied air.

Happy, say, confused. Her new film is The Perfection. It's on Netflix, May 24th, and another film, I mean, her last, this is only her second feature, which is kind of crazy to say. Her last film was, of course, Get Out, which was a hell of a debut, to say the least, and was provocative and surprising and thrilling, and all of those adjectives, I think, could be used to describe the perfection, which, again, the less said, the better, but suffice it to say, It starts Allison as a cellist, a very accomplished cellist, who has an unusual rivalry, friendship, interesting, provocative relationship with another cellist. Things go to some odd places. Stephen Weber stars as a teacher of sorts who may or may not be the greatest teacher in the world.

I'm like, could I be more vague? Probably not. But look, it's in your Netflix queue. It's free if you have Netflix. It's directed by Richard Shepard, who did a lot of great girls' episodes and also has directed some great features, the Matador, highly underrated. Check it out. And it starts the likes of Allison Williams.

So what more do you want? Check it out. May 24th, the perfection, highly recommended. Allison is always a delight to talk to. She is, I don't know, she just makes me laugh. She's just fun and smart and keeps me on my toes. And if nothing else, you will learn of her odd predilections and habits in going to see feature films in the theater. It's not what you expect.

Is she high maintenance? I don't know. Maybe that's one word for it. But she's always amusing to talk to and listen to. So I think you guys will enjoy this one. I hope you guys are enjoying all that summer has to offer you so far, especially, you know, on TV and, in theaters right now, there's an embarrassment of riches, whether it's obviously things like the perfection on Netflix or Game of Thrones on HBO, but then tons at the theater,

obviously Avengers Endgame still out there, but things like John Wick, chapter three, Aladdin coming out. There's, you know, the summer months are always fun for me. Just, you know, I grew up with blockbusters and to see all these, all these big things come out. I'm rooting for all of them. I've seen a lot of these. so anyway I'll be at the movies seeing them all and I assume you guys will too

if you listen to this podcast you probably enjoy all of it I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation with Allison remember to review rate and subscribe to happy set it confused

spread the good word and please enjoy this conversation with returning champion Allison Williams Alex and Williams. Hi. Oh my God, I didn't see you there.

I snuck in. I appeared from behind your desk. Yeah, that's a little creepy, actually. So sorry. Welcome to the three-timers club on Happy Second Fees. I'm so honored. SNL talks five-timers. Whatever.

Bullshit. I love my jacket, by the way. Thank you so much. It's so fancy. It's much fancier, all the Swarovsky. I'm really blown away. And you like the velvet weather combo. Into it.

You know, it's a little late in the season, as we just discussed for leather, but I'm very into it. Um, so, so much to discuss, as always, uh, for those that thought she got the, the fucked up weird movies out of her system. Fear not. No, don't worry. Fear not. I have a type. We're sensing a trend developing folks. We're going to talk a little, the perfection on Netflix soon. Um, as much as we can. We were saying, like, another trend for you is doing movies you can't talk about really. Yet again, I have made a movie where if you describe the plot without spoilers, it's, fine, but definitely bears no resemblance to the movie itself once it kicks off. Yeah, yeah. It's, I mean, so we are starting to see, like, you know, these are the movies that that capture your dark, weird heart. Yes. You're just like weird soul, your heart of darkness.

Are you surprised that, like, because we've talked before about, like, how picky you were about the first film. Yes. And you couldn't have done better in terms of picking a debut. And this, you know, again, you've done some TV. in the interim, but like, this is probably, is this the second feature? This is a nice second movie, yeah. So, yeah, I'm surprised.

It's surprising to me, and I almost don't pay attention to, this is going to sound very strange, but I don't really worry about the genre until much later in my decision process, because initially I'm just reading a script. And in a script, like, get out and the perfection, I was taking notes in the margin to see if I was going to be right, predicting what was happening.

And in both cases, I was like, completely wrong. And that's intriguing to me. And then, of course, if the character is interesting, awesome. Yeah, that's the, most important thing. And so with the perfection, I was so intrigued by this person. And I just felt like I had to play her. And then later, when I was describing it to the people in my life, and I was sort of trying to tell them what the plot was, I was like, oh, actually, I think I've done this again. I think I'm playing someone who you're really not going to know what to make of for most

of the movie. And I'm in a movie, the plot of which I can't really describe to you. So I'm so sorry. So are, no, no, no need to apologize. Are, are, is the material you getting like similar in, in some ways? Or are you getting Nancy Meyer's scripts as well? Because I get, I get, I haven't gotten a Nancy Meyer script in a long time, but I do get the full gamut. I'm very lucky. I get all kinds of stuff. And it just happens that the scripts that are most interesting that seem to get into the most sort of interesting subject matter and the characters that are weirdest, all of that. I don't know. Those things. seem to coalesce into this genre, at least have twice.

I don't have the biggest, you know, sample size yet. But yeah, I mean, it's twice in a row that that has been the thing where I've thought I have to play this person. It helps that this comes from Richard Shepard. Yes. Who you've worked with a bunch of girls. Yes, I worked with for years on girls. He's so talented.

Very talented. And I remember him even prior to girls. Like, I loved his feature work. Like the Matador was always, like, I think, a really underrated film. I love the Matador. Yes. And I love his sensibility. He has a very quirky tone.

and he's sort of daring you to figure out how to feel about any given scene, which I love. There's a tonal of ambiguity, even just tonally, which takes guts on the part of a director because he knows what he's trying to do, but sometimes he deliberately makes things sort of choose your own adventure in terms of how you feel about a given moment. And it also depends on who you're watching with and in what context. And this is very much a film that's like all about perspective, right? Exactly. In terms of whose story are you watching?

you're kind of like falling you know I found myself falling into like okay I get this and then it's like it subverts everything yes a couple times a couple times yeah who do you trust who don't you trust what is happening what's the objective reality here yes where am I in time you know the usual basics

okay so so to set it up a little bit you play a young woman who's a prodigy a cello she's a cellist a cellist and who finds themselves with Shanghai is that where you guys are in the beginning.

Exactly. Judging and meeting another young woman who you have a rivalry, interesting kind of relationship. Yes. So I left the academy and stopped playing cello to take care of my mom who was sick. And then when I left, this other girl came in, Lizzie, who's played by Logan Browning, who's amazing. And she sort of became the me when I left.

And so we have a very complicated dynamic, to put it mildly, when I show up. And we are the guest judges at this competition. Right. Did you shoot in Shanghai? We shot in Shanghai for a couple days, and then we shot Vancouver for other days. None of that was my responsibility, but I think they did a really good job. Yeah, the unpleasant bus scenes, I would imagine. That's not Shanghai.

That's back in Vancouver. Yeah, spoiler. At some point, we get on a bus, and it's unpleasant. I'm sure that'll shock. I'm sure that'll shock the world. That's even in the trailer, though. Yes, that was Vancouver. That's traumatic.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, there's much more pooping and vomiting in this film. than I was expecting. You know, I, is that, that is a, I'm going to have that audio clipped and just wonder if that will be able to be said about everything I ever made. Well, I said the same thing about Peter Pan.

That was true. But all that was off camera. That was just stuff I told you about, that was happening backstage. Because I'm actually thinking, yes, it is potentially going to become a recurring thing. You know, because I, everyone needs a thing.

Exactly. That's my thing. psychological. Um, yes, that is, uh, that is a thing that happens in the movie. What's your gag reflex? What's your like, what's your scatological thing that will always move you? My gag reflex has nothing to do with bodily functions in that way. It has to do with a very specific thing, which is like a compound fracture. If someone gets, if someone breaks a bone and the bone comes out of the skin. Yeah, that really will get me. Yeah, that'll get me every time. I'm trying to think of feature films that have had that moment. A lot of like war movies or

explosion movies or, oh, what was that movie with Pierce Brosnan, where there's a volcano, Mount St. Helens. Oh, yeah, yeah, Dante's Peak. Yes, Dante's Peak. Not Volcano, the other volcano. Yeah, exactly. Dante's Peak. I remember that when I was little being like, I don't know if I want to survive this.

Yeah. There were no episodes, as I recall, of girls where at a bone protruded out. Lena had a pretty strict and no poop rule. She was anti-poop. She's anti-poop. She doesn't poop. Luckily none of the girls did. Well, that's a celebrity thing.

There was a lot of peeing. A lot of people don't know that when. When you become a celebrity of a certain stature, they sew you up, so there's no poop that comes out. And you don't eat anyway, so, like, there's no waste being produced. I'm so sorry that we went down this time. It's all good. But to be fair, this is all off of the film.

It's true. It's all off the film. I'm just feeding off of what you provide. Thank you so much. And I'm giving you a wide buffet of things to talk about. But, yes, I mean, I think out of context, this much must seem insane. And it seems insane in context until it starts to seem a little bit less insane. The shorthand, yeah, I'm going to be curious to see how people, like, what the shorthand

is in describing. I know. Because it's like, you could say there's a little whiplash, there's a little David Lynch, there's a little, I don't even know what. So when Richard sends you the script, is there a preamble, is there a context, or is it just sort of read this, tell me what you think? He just said, this is nuts, read it, tell me what you think. I've been picturing you for Charlotte. And so I thought, okay, great. And it was a hard copy.

It felt so secret. Like, if they didn't send me a digital copy, I got a hard copy messengered. And so I read it, and it was indeed nuts. and I saw the potential in it and I also just thought Charlotte was fascinating and said yeah and then he was talking about you know old boy and handmade it like he was talking

about a lot of like sort of Korean cinema and yes also those any of those movies where the moral center is ambiguous for a long time where chaos sort of reigns very interesting when you think back to your childhood was there

we all have those films that were exposed to maybe like a couple years too early. So many. Yeah. So what were yours? Well, there was one, there were a bunch. I had one friend who had older siblings. And so all that stuff happened at their house.

And I remember seeing varsity blues when I was too young. And I came home and I admitted to, I made two bowls of rice pudding. And my dad was out on the porch and I brought him a bowl and I sat there with a bowl for myself. And I admitted to him that I had seen varsity blues. And he clearly didn't know what to say because he had. not seen it and also didn't know. How warm should I be? I need to know what did you see that upset you? I also saw Forrest Gump a little bit too early at that same house. I saw, I think, I think I said the Exorcist a little bit too early. And then I saw it again later and it was

funny. And the first time we watched it at a slumber party and we were all pretending that it was funny and then no one's left. Exorcist is never funny. Because it's just scary. Well, when I saw it later in life, I watched it during the day because I was ready to be really scared and then I was like oh no this is actually okay yeah um to be fair the first couple you mentioned aren't like I wouldn't say like you know requiem for a dream is from act to see when you're 12 no or city blues I was I also don't think you understand maybe you'll recall that I was only allowed to watch public television until I was 13 so these things were shocks like real shocks to the system like sex in general as an idea was just really alarming and then to imagine where I've ended up

in the kind of stuff I've ended up doing you're a very funny this is where you're really You're like, better rate than never. Exactly. This is where I'm really going to get my kicks in. Fuck you did. I'm going to do pre-movies. I'm going to have sex on girls for six years. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Good luck dealing with that. No, I mean, it is funny, like, given how innocent I was for so long, the stuff that I'm drawn to is decidedly un-innocent. And there's a lot of new territory for you in this one, things you have not done before. I'm sure you're alluding to the cello. That's a joke based on something else that he was definitely. alluding to the movie. I don't know what you're talking about. Let's cover the cello first. Okay. Well, I bought it. I clearly you are an expert. I was at a time able to play the cello. Is that true? Yeah, well, yeah, for the movie. I mean, it was a very short term. I didn't have long to learn and I didn't learn it for very long.

Right. That makes any sense. But I was able to hold a cello, play it. Passively look like in an actual. Yes. Yeah. And make, you know, sounds that is a song. No, yeah. That's great. And it was really hard. I have a lot of respect for cellists. It's incredibly hard. It hurts. It looks super easy. I don't know what you're talking about. That's the idea. It's supposed to look easy. It does not look easy. It's always looked so elegant and graceful to me. I couldn't figure out what was hard about it when I first started learning. And the answer is everything. You have to hold it a certain. It's hard to hold a cello properly. It's hard to hold the bow properly. It's hard to fret properly. That's not even the word. I don't know. I mean, it's just, it's complicated. Were you a prodigy at anything as a,

if I found 12-year-old Alison Williams, like, oh, she's way ahead of the curve on, dot, dot. Just talking, producing sound. I had so much to say. Actually, I wrote a lot at 12. My parents got me a little word processor, and I was very prolific. I wrote a lot, just a lot of short stories and very dramatic screenplays, and they all reflect, obviously, whatever had been happening in my life at a time, and we recently found a treasure trove of them on floppy disks, which kids precedes the CD, which,

precedes the thumb drive, which precedes the cloud. I realized as I was doing that, that you weren't going to know what I was referring to until I got to the cloud. Anyway, I'm 22 as you know. Yeah, exactly. You're brand new. You're new here. And a lot of them, we went to Prince Edward Island in Canada for a vacation and there was

like a lot of fishing happening on that vacation. So for a couple months when I was, I don't know, 11, all my writing was from the point of view of a fisherman's son, which was sort of like, you know, the, my, my, character. So wait, have you read some of this recently you're saying? Yes. Oh, yeah. We discovered them a couple years ago. It's hysterical. I mean, it's not a great work. It's not a good of writing. Like, I wouldn't say I should probably publish all of it and win some kind of I'm sure a couple touchups that it's ready for production. Yeah, more than a couple. It's a little all over the place, but it is very dialogue heavy and very, very dramatic and directly reflects

whatever was happening in my life. Do you still write? Not as much as I did. I should. I love it. I just don't. I don't know why. Okay, so things that we can hint around. I know. There's some stunts and blood that seems certainly not done in this way. Some romance, which I think is what you were alluding to.

I really wasn't. Oh, you weren't. I was going to say all three of these things. Oh, okay. Blood stunts, romance. Got it. Yes, romance. Yes, there's blood, there's stunts.

There's that. There's romance. There's chelo. There's, well, no, because I think I, this is a hard thing. We're like walking the line. between spoiling and not spoiling, so I just want to be careful. I mean, some of it is sort of in the trailer, but it's out of context. What about stunt-wise?

Do you enjoy, you haven't done that much? I haven't done a ton, and I liked it. I really enjoyed doing it. I realized that sort of the key is you're just going to sort of hurt yourself, but just knowing that you're going to do it, it makes it a stunt. So, I mean, there are huge skill sets for actual stunt people. people who know how to do all of these things that are trades that they learn, like actual skills. But for the purposes of a movie like this, it's really just, you know, making it look

as real as possible and just wrapping your mind around the fact that, like, you'll pull something. Some muscle will feel weird at the end of the day. And it's not what the human body was supposed to be doing. Yeah, exactly. And at some point, I was supposed to headbut someone and there's a stunt way to headbut someone. And then there's a, I played soccer for a really long time. We have headbutting someone. And I did it that way. And they went with that way. But it apparently was very scary to the first on the receiving end because it wasn't, you know, the stunt headbutt. You were method. You were like, I was sort of coming very, very close to headbutting someone for real.

Which I've never done. It would be a very weird experience. This is how we know in every podcast. It just collide heads. I recently shot something that I also can't talk about. But I had a stunt. Really? I had a stunt, Allison.

What was it? I can't say. Was it a, were you on land? I was on land. Yes. And I had a stunt double. And I'm so proud of myself. Allison, they did not end up using the stunt double for me.

I did it. They gave me little like pads on my knees. There was such a minimal thing. No, but you'd take all the pads. At first you say no, I don't need them. Oh no, I never said no. Okay. Well, maybe that's not an extra thing.

Give me a sumo suit. Like, just give me the whole thing. That's where I am now. Give me pad this entire space and my whole body. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, you can really get hurt. I just filmed something that had a lot of stunts in it. And I still think I enjoy doing them.

Is this the, this sounds like a horrible, not in the, bad in a bad way but like a horrific kind of a thing the plane horizon line yeah what is going on i don't know i guess i don't want people to be able to relax ever when they watch something that i'm in i'm a little phobic about plane travel i am too that's part of why i did it so let's tease this one so this is about it's called horizon line um the basic premise is uh imagine going to a wedding um where you know you're going to see your ex who haven't talked to in a year you guys hook up it's a huge mistake the next day you're both running late to the actual wedding which is happening on a neighboring Island in Mauritius, you hitch a ride with your friend and you both show up to the flight

together. And so you're going to be in a really small space together the morning after. Then imagine the flight goes really, really, really bad to put it very mildly. So are you, is this like crazy gimbals, the whole thing? Like you're just like being rocked around for weeks at a time? Yes. Essentially. Yes. Yes. Yeah. It was, but it was really cool. I learned so much. I mean, I learned a lot. I saw The Avengers last night, and I was able to actually know how something like that, in a small way, understand how something like that is achieved. But just from having, I'd never seen anything green screen before. So now I can at least understand the mechanics of it.

But the actual, like, how that movie gets made, I'm decades from understanding. Well, I think we all are. Yeah, I've seen that one a couple times. I just talked to the directors yesterday. That, like, what they, I don't know. Yeah. How did they do that? I don't know.

I can't wait to listen. Maybe they'll tell me. There you go. So wait, so is this going to help your, what do you worry about when you're on a plane? Oh, literally everything. Also, it starts with the fact that an airplane ambient sound sounds like a movie where something bad is about to happen. And which is the same with like, I don't like snorkeling or scuba diving because you can hear yourself breathe, which also sounds like something bad is about to happen in a movie. So that is sort of the beginning.

From the minute I walk onto a plane, I'm like, this feels like a movie where something bad is going to happen. It's interesting to say. I think a lot of fear is like kind of sound bad. because I'm like also like you know I grew up in the city here and I find sleeping somewhere where there's not ambient city noise like city noise oh interesting I need like that white noise as like some kind of instinctual comfort yes there's dead silence I'm like agreed I'm a big white noise when traveling fan because if it's too quiet then I'm listening yeah I'm like I don't want my ears to be doing anything because they will find something to be scared of that overactive imaginations you and I of course of course we've seen too many movies in every imaginable context where something goes wrong. Exactly. Yeah. It's inevitable.

Something horrific will happen to us. Of course. Our egos demand it. I don't be the center of a horrible New York Post headline one day. Exactly. Oh, gosh. I hope not. No, I think that is part of what it is.

It's the sound. And then also just not understanding it, having no control. Although, thank God, I'm not actually in control of flying planes or whatever. It's just, you know, it's the usual suite of things to be scared of. I'm probably on the early side of you doing press for this one. So I'm going to get some of the stock questions out of the way. Did you have like a rival growing up? Did you have like a?

Oh, did I have a rival? No. And if I did, they didn't know we were rivals. Again, overactive ones. Yes, I was just like a nerd wishing to be cool. And all of the cool kids were my rivals. But no, I didn't really have like a, no, I didn't really. Is there an actor now where you know,

like inevitably you're going to go up for the same. Wouldn't it be so funny if I just said yes and I just named their name. No, because I have such a weird lane that I don't know. I mean it's I I don't know. I could list all the people I think who look like me but that's not thank God that's usually not all it's about all it's about these days. Have you had shitty scary teachers in your in your life? Yes. Not like not like our movie and not like you know a whiplash level bad teacher but I've had some. A lot of Stephen Weber for you guys in this one by the way. Yes, a lot of Stephen Weber. I have had, I have had, yeah, some scary teachers, some like really strict teachers. I just found out that one of my math teachers in middle school saw me, my mom just

told me the story, saw me running at gym, which is when you're supposed to run, but I was wearing a tank top and she called my mom and said that she thought it was unseemly. I just heard that story because also apparently she keeps my old math tests in her desk so she can show her students. So I'm feeling, I'm getting a lot of mixed messages from Mrs. O'Dell. I know. She did teach me something valuable, which is when you come inside, you should take your jacket off so you can acclimate. And she insisted on it. And we all just were cold in the class.

But now as adults, we go outside and we can warm right up because jacket goes on. I don't think you should be so forgiving to this woman, clearly. Well, the other problem was that I had, she was the origin. of my chalkboard thing because she had long nails and she wore it on a chalkboard and they would constantly screech on the chalkboard and I'd sit in math with my ears plugged

because the sound made me nauseous and so I didn't learn much. Does the math tests can't... Does the new generation deal with chalkboards? I just imagine it's all like 4D like collograms in the classroom. I think at very least their white boards. At some places, when I was still in college

they were still phasing out chalkboards but I think they're so sort of beautiful. Congratulations. What do you mean? They were probably phasing them out when you were there. No, no, no. Just an age brag, a mild age brag. Yeah, I don't know, kids.

Kids these days. Were you, wait, you went to Fantastic Fest for this one, right? I did. Who would have thought that you would get to Fantastic Fest before me? You've never been. No. Oh, it's, I mean, it's exactly what you're picturing. I'm sure.

The first person I interacted with was a demon. Of one walking into the festival. I mean, it's, you know, horns, like whole face mask prosthetic situation. Was this your old teacher? Was this the one that was doing? No, she wasn't there. No, it was just a demon who then we posed for pictures together and was sort of odd. It was a very strange experience.

But, yeah, lots of blood, lots of costumes was really fun. You're quickly probably being, you're one of them. Whether you knew it or not, you're going to be embraced. I should start thinking about this as part of my identity. Because I, yeah, I will continue to show up apparently in very weird. If all else goes to hell, you can work the weird convention circuit for 30 years. I'll become the demon. who greets everyone at Fantastic Fest.

I'll just be in deep hair and makeup, so no one will know. But yeah, it was so much fun. I'm sure. So last time you were here was talking Get Out. Yes. We couldn't really talk about it at the time, of course. No, but now we can't. Oh, that's so fun.

Did you go into, was there like a post Get Out, like, depression's probably a big word. But, like, it was so big. It was everywhere. And then it's like, how do you follow that up? Like, you know, like, was it sort of, I don't know, what was the months after Get Out like for you? Well, it was weird. because when the um when the award stuff was over which was really the actual end of

the experience that was get out it was a long it was like uh over a year um which was great because we loved hanging out together so much and we love talking about the movie and we're so proud of it so the fact that we got to take stretch it as long as we could was amazing and then i was already in vancouver shooting both the perfection and a series of unfortunate events um seven days a week sort of they were, I was shooting them at the same time. So I didn't really have time to have that post get out, depression, or whatever, because I was working, which

was good. Yeah. But I, yeah, I missed them all so much. It was the greatest experience ever and the great thing is that I get to still talk about it every once in a while. I'll be talking about, you know, I'll talk to someone and they'll bring it up and then they want to talk about it and I will

never be sick of it. So it's such a pleasure. Was it odd to experience a Jordan Peele film without any, like, you didn't have any knowledge going in, I assume, of what you were going to experience? Yes, I mean, what do you mean? For the new ones, sorry. Oh, yeah, for us.

For us, I haven't been able to see it yet. I haven't seen us yet. No, I know. You want me to act it out for you? That's the way it should be done. What do you mean? Acted out in person? I'm joking.

I just got back from shooting this movie and was, I'm very picky about the way I see these movies. I see. My brother had the Avengers ticket, so that was the first movie I've seen in a theater since I got, since I wrapped. Got it. And Us is next. But I want to make sure I have my right seat.

I'm not going to go into it. It's a little too type A for public consumption. No, actually, well, we get to wait, no, you know. Okay, so I have to be sort of towards, definitely in the middle of a row, but the row itself also has to be in the middle of the theater. I have to have a reserved seat. Right.

I have to be able to get there half an hour before it starts. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, can I? Yeah, sure, yes. So that kind of defeats the purpose of the whole reserved seat thing. I know. One of the best perks is you can get there, like, two minutes before. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, how are we even talking about this?

So first, you get to the theater, you, I, I should put this in the first person, apparently not the second person. I get to my seat. I stake it out. If I'm alone, I keep all my things with me. If I'm with someone else, I dump them all into their lap and then go to the concession stand. Okay, I got that.

Look at what they have, which is always the same, but you still need to remind yourself. I don't know, are you in like a Raisinette thing? Are you feeling like a Skittles mood? Are you in a Sour Patch Kids, sourpatch watermelons? Like, I don't know, Twizzler. So then you look at what they've got. And now they've got all kinds of weird, like, savory thing. so that's a whole other thing to think about.

Look at that, go to the bathroom. Did you ever used to go to the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas where they had bagels and locks available? No, never, but I really should have. That's what I'm actually looking for when I go see a movie. Because that's what you want, smoke fish. A nice, hearty, like, yeah, exactly.

Then I go to the bathroom, get that over with, pee, as much as I can. And it's too much detail. That's more detail than you need. Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to flag that one. Okay, go to the bathroom, come back, as much as I can. as you possibly can.

We were just talking about this yesterday. Like before a car ride with your parents when they'd say, okay, go to the bathroom. You have to make sure they're laughing so hard at me. And then you're like on the toilet and you're like, I think this is what they wanted me to do. It was just work as hard as I could to produce urine before we get in this car.

Is this too gross? How I lost my mind? I'm the one that brought up the poop. Yes, you did. Okay. So then that's done and I go back to the concession stand. I pick out what I want. I go into the theater.

And then I like to watch all of the ads before the actual trailers because I find it fast. What my people in my business are up to and that's really where you get to see it like the endorsements and like the weird little pain Appearances yes exactly I don't play the games. I'm not quite on that level yet you want to see the Maria Menuno's hosting the 20 like that whole thing All of it. I just want to see it all I find it interesting and it's good you know whatever and so then I'm very chill and I get to like address everything in my phone Yeah, chill sounds like the word to describe this whole thing Then I'm chill yeah if it all happens that way. I am chill but if it doesn't like I have never in my life had a good movie experience,

rushing into the theater and sitting down. Like, during trailers, I don't think that's ever happened in my life. Like, right before trailers, no way. I'm not going to be able to get into it. It takes me a minute. I need to see all the trailers. That's half the battle. But I would also think, I don't know,

I would guess knowing what a psychopath you are that you would want, like, the exit row seat. Like, you would want access to an aisle that you don't want to be in the center. No, because it's about the visual. Yeah. Then once I can be relaxed, which is what all that first part is about.

Then I can actually just sit and enjoy the movie. I want you guys to know that my level assistant assistant are behind me. Just dying. They both have their heads and their hands. What's the going wait for a therapy session? Because I'm going to need whatever. It's on me. Whatever it is, it's on me.

No, no, I'm saying the other way. Oh, you pay me. Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm really working. No, I've already worked through all of this. This is where I am at the end of working through everything. Oh, Jesus.

Yeah, imagine what it was like before. Anyway, so then if you're in the middle of the theater, you have the best visual experience, especially with 3D, but even just for us, I just want to see exactly every single thing Jordan was doing, because I know better than to think from the back corner of a theater you can actually get. This is fair. Okay. Not with Jordan. I will not be seeing a movie with you ever.

If you do, I will already be there and I'll be super relaxed, and you will just know what happened before. Again, relax is the wrong word. I was so chill. Ask anyone in the Avengers showing last night at 7.50 in Union School. I was there, obviously, at 7.20. Just ready. You befriended, presumably, one of my favorite people in the last year, Benedict Cumberbatch.

Well, I tried. Yes, I mean... I'm sure you got along famously. Of course. I really loved working with him. He's amazing. He's truly actually a perfect human being. It's infuriating that they made one because now the rest of us know that, like, oh, that's possible.

It's better to be able to tell yourself that that's not possible. But yes, I did. I did. What's the overriding memory of Patrick Melrose? for you. What's the takeaway from my experience like that? Well, it was really fun. So a friend of mine was the producer on it, and she emailed me and said, would you be, would you be able to come to the UK to shoot a bad date with Benedict Cumberbatch in the 80s? And I was like, in what context? And she was like, it's based on these incredible novels. And I said, okay, let me take a look.

And I just was absolutely obsessed with all of it. And I was like, of course, I will be in a 10th of a page of a scene. This would be so much fun. And so that's what I remember is like the experience of being on a bad date with Ben at a Comber Batch in the 80s. So I had my big hair, my shoulder pads and, you know,

the Comber Batchness. How good is he in like his three minutes of screen time in Avengers, by the way? Like he's like that good that he can actually be great in... In literally any context. Yeah. He, if he did all of the videos

before the trailers started, you would come to the movies as early. He should take Maria Maninas. He should take all of their jobs and then you would come to the movies before as well. I would. Just to see his work, just to see how great a person can be. But yes, he was like, he's just unbelievable. And I watched him. It was a really complicated thing to shoot because he

was going back and forth in time. I know it's a doctor strange thing. But he was like prosthetically going back and forth in time in any given day on Patrick Melrose like within decades. And so I'd see him in the trailer getting reset to the 80s or then being, you know, pushed forward in time to when he was older. And it was amazing to watch him just adjust on the fly. He's just so good. Let's get an update on the TV, pop culture consumption right now. Okay.

I don't know. Are we in bachelor season? I don't know. No, we're not. We're between seasons. So you have time in your life to watch other things? Well, yes. I mean, I do.

I do on occasion. I mean, well, I've been watching Game of Thrones. Yeah. I mean, you know, I have a heartbeat. But it is. I only caught up. I had never watched them until a couple months ago. And I did it.

Now I'm with the rest of the world. Are you going to re-release all of your interviews with those cast members? Now, with your... Nicolai, I need you back. Exactly. Or you just, like, make a post script at the end of each one, and you're like, I asked this question because it was written down, but I didn't understand what I was asking about. Generally, all my questions.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and I'm just, now my big struggle is I'm going to be in England for the finale. So I fucked myself over because now I need to figure out how to actually watch it live there. And I'm not smart enough to do that. So if you can help me... And there's literally no one who could help you. Well, I asked the internet today. and they sent me a lot of suggestions.

Yeah, well, that's good. But I'm still not smart enough to figure it out, probably. I have faith in you. Yeah. Yeah, I do, actually. And I know that sounds really surprised, but I do. And I'm going to be away for this Sunday episode, and so I'm also very nervous. Like, how do I...

It's going to be okay for both of us, right? I don't know. Are you into K-pop? Excuse me? Is that just a... I'm not. I mean, not in any sort of way that would be worth it. talking about it. I'm just fishing. I'm just seeing. I'm just trying to gauge where you're at right now.

What a, what a, were you trying to gauge by guessing the, the least likely thing for me to be in unlikely? Well, true, most of the world is into it. I'm in the minority. Yes. But I have not done the deep dive into K-pop. Perhaps by the time I can come back. I was going to say, next time you're going to feel like a moron because you're like, I'm sorry. I know what it is, but I'm not, I don't have like a favorite band or singer or anything. Um, have you seen Hades Town? Excuse me? Hades Town? No. Musicals? No, I'm behind on everything.

out of the country. I haven't seen anything. You need to see that. I need to see so many things. It's very stressful on Broadway right now because there's a lot of good stuff. And then all the stuff that I missed while I was gone that I'm going to need to go

to Lincoln Center and watch in the archives. Thoughts on Aladdin. Very excited. Cried yesterday watching the trailer, which I had already seen multiple times. But it was in 3D this time. And the music just makes me nostalgic. I'm an Ellen Mankin fanatic.

I know your friends. so any of the chords that he has put together make me emotional immediately. And you're okay with the line king? I'm okay with it. Well, there's been, some people are like, why bother doing it again? Because it looks like a shot for shot remake.

Well, I don't know, because as filmmaking progresses and as we are able to do different things, like why not see what we can do? I thought Jungle Book was kind of astonishing to watch. It was so beautiful. So I'm very excited to be able to see that. And Raja, like in theaters,

the tiger from Aladdin? I'm very excited. Yeah, we need to get you in like a weird mocap suit playing like a tiger in a movie. This is inevitable. I mean, I think that's my destiny next. I think probably. I think you nailed it.

Yeah, mocap. Perfect. Are you excited for the Mulan Rouge musical? Yes, very. I've heard really good things. I have too. And it's so much fun and it's still a soundtrack I listen to constantly. Yeah.

And I was at an age where I thought a lot of those songs were original for, Like the medley that they sing, I thought they wrote, and then it turns out, no. Yeah, the elephant loved medley? Is that what it's going? It's my wife's like favorite movie, so I have to. Really? Is she excited? Does she approve?

She saw it in Boston, loved it, and we're going to be seeing it multiple times here. I cannot wait to see it. How could it, it is meant for it? I sort of am surprised it hasn't made the trip to Broadway until now. This is true. This is so fun. You're just catching me up on all pop culture. It's great.

Immediately from JFK, I should have come to this office to get the, update on what I'd missed while I'd been filming. Just get your early tickets for Hugh Jackman doing Music Man next year. Okay. Good to know. I didn't know that was happening. I know. No, I'm behind on everything. I don't think you understand. I follow like... No, I'm starting to get it. Yeah, exactly. It's unexpected.

Ask me anything about the news and I can fill you in, but I'm very behind on. I know, exactly. So that's where I live these days. We don't want that. Maybe that explains my movie choices. Have you read Rannell's book? Not yet. It's on my... It's on my Kind of Rune Friendship. I'm so excited. He was here. I got to know Andrew. Isn't he amazing? Oh, my God.

He's truly the best. I was just talking about our sex scene experience with someone because we were talking about comparing sex scenes through time. And I was like, by far the most relaxed one I've ever done was with Reynolds because we just were friends and it was so relaxed the whole time. And you wear such weird stuff doing sex scenes that we went into each other's dressing rooms before it started and unveiled it to each other so we could just stare and laugh together. And then when the clothes came off in the moment, it was totally funny. And in fact, It was hard to find footage where we weren't laughing. So I guess in that way, an unsuccessful sex scene, but we got what we needed.

Right. So what are you, okay, so where are we at right now in terms of what you're, what are you looking for? You're just open to everything and anything. Open to everything. Open to everything. I'll read whatever comes in. Any medium, I'm not sure what I want to do next. Meaning TV, film, radio plays, whatever.

Listen, I do a radio play. I mean, it, I think they're called podcasts now. I don't know why I called it a radio play like I'm 97 years. that is so funny as we said earlier i was bragging about how young i am but you guys can't imagine how cruel that was on the next radio play of happy second you should start calling a radio play um yeah i mean it just depends on what what it is and how it hits me when i read it and at this point everyone understands that it's an unpredictable thing yes and and the people in my life the people who i work with have stopped trying to anticipate when my next move was going to

be had the parents seen the perfection yet yes i showed it to them this weekend how was that really fun yeah and really it's funny because we didn't grow up as a family watching these movies right it's not a genre i watched it's not a genre of a brother watches or my parents and so hey let's watch old boy together it's not a family exactly or even get out was like the first time my mom had seen anything in the thriller category because they make her too nervous since like you know the 90s or something. So it was, it's really funny introducing people to a genre and to a movie that their daughter is in that is, um, alarming. Well, uh, in many ways. Thank you for, uh, disturbing us yet again with the perfection. Well, you're so well, it's a quality piece of work. Thank you. Um, good luck

in catching up on pop culture. I'm so excited. There's so much for me to catch up on. If you have any BTS questions, okay, that's a K-pop group, I assumed, just based on context clues. When did this happen? I, I work at MTV, so I, it just, tangentially it is the world we are like a tiny chunk of people who or at least i am part of a small group of people who don't follow k-pop closely and then the rest of the world follows it i guess so proportionally i think we're in the minority i think so but you know more than i do by the way i love bt s i'm just kidding how is that was that convincing very convincing okay good um so wait back to work now what you said you're in production now or no you

you just wrapped i just got back okay to the country okay enjoy the rest of your summer Enjoy all that pop culture has to offer. I can't wait. I'm so excited to catch up. It's going to be great. Reynolds, I'm going to read your book. And enjoy your bizarre. If you see her in a theater, don't approach her.

Just let her do a thing. Just let the process take its course. She'll be quote-unquote chill in a second. She just needs her six trips to the bathroom to flush it all out. Exactly. She needs to buy all her shit. Exactly. Now you know.

You are ready to go to a movie with me now. From a distance. Yeah. Okay, so if there's a guy in, like, that mustache with, like, the nose and the glasses sitting in the back, with that fedora on, I will know that it's you. Yeah, this is a weird scene where's the aesthetic. You'll get kicked out of the movie. Yeah, you'll get kicked out for other reasons, but I will know that it was you and you were there to see me. See a movie.

And I'll see you at the movies, Allison. Exactly. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts on the big point. class person. I'm Daisy Ridley and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh. You want to tell him? Or you want me to tell him?

No, no, no. I got this. People out there. People lean in. Get close. Get close. Listen. Here's the deal. We have big news. We got monumental news. We got snack-tacular news. After a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back. My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh and I, are coming back to do what we do best. What we were put on this earth to do.

To pick a snack. To eat a snack. And to rate a snack. Mentifically? Emotionally. Spiritually. Mates is back. Mike and Tom eat snacks.

Is back. A podcast for anyone with a mouth. With a mouth. Available. wherever you get your podcasts.