Happy Sad Confused - Bryce Dallas Howard, Vol. II

Episode Date: January 19, 2017

   Bryce Dallas Howard’s busy 2016 (there was her memorable SAG nominated turn in “Black Mirror” and the underrated “Pete’s Dragon”) may be over but 2017 has a lot in store for her as well. In this return visit to “Happy Sad Confused”, Howard talks about co-starring with Matthew McConaughey in next week’s “Gold”, and how one memorable scene almost led her drinking the first alcohol in her entire life. Plus, Howard looks ahead to returning to “Jurassic World” for the sequel (her next shoot), confirming there is a title, and explaining why new director JA Bayona was “the one who got away” before he signed on to the film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and her new nickname. I'm Josh Harrow. It's welcome to the show, and joining me as always, well, mostly always, is Sammy. As usually. Usually. That's the term, because last week, devoted Happy, Sad, Confused listeners know, you denied us your presence. You denied them. You were very strict about what time we had to be. You were very strict about what time we had to do it. I offered to call in. We're all busy people here. It's not just about you, Sammy. I disagree. My voice cracks like a 12-year-old. It's not about you, Sammy. 12-year-old British boy. I'm going through changes. It's just childfire. What are you doing here? Well, we're happy to have you back. You had a little jaunton. You had a little sad or confused? Just happy. A little confused. Okay. I'll take it. You had a nice little jaunton in Los Angeles. I did. We passed each other, like ships in the night. I was there and then you came. I was waving at all the planes that went by just in case you were on. It doesn't seem. It doesn't seem. safe. So, yes, a lot as always going on as we tape this on Wednesday. Tomorrow I'm setting sail, not sale would be an impractical way to get to Sundance,

but I'm getting on a plane to go to Sundance. What year is this? 11. Oh, boy. Insane. So what are we most excited about? What's the big ones? I'm excited about trudging through the snow.

There's a lot of snow in the forecast this year. Well, usually there is. No, there's not. No, no, not necessarily. Well, in Utah, I feel like in January, it's a pretty good chance. I'm just saying the forecast is snow every day. I'm not complaining. It's just something to consider.

Have you ever skied? I have skied. Maybe I'll ski. Really? We'll see. I've built an extra time into this trip. I feel like you don't have the temperament to ski. Well, my wife wants to go bobsledding.

That's fun. Until I started to read about the bobsledding at Olympic Park. It seems extremely dangerous. Yeah. There goes your voice again. You're really uncomfortable. Well, I was reading. So your wife's fun.

She's fun. And I'm not. Because it said, like, there were testimonials like, oh, yeah, it was fun, but I couldn't move my neck for three days. I already have, like, borderline neck issues. That'll be a lot for you. I don't know if that's in the card. So maybe skiing, we'll see. Your hypochondrial act up.

It'll be tough. Exactly. But, yes, I'll see a ton of movies. I don't know what I'm excited for. Honestly, part of the fun of Sundance is going. See all your friends. Well, there's, yeah, sure. But, like, going with no expectations since it could be surprised.

The fun experiences I've had at Sundance are seeing, like, a whiplash or a five hundred days of summer, films that going in I had no expectations for. So I'm going in with an open heart, ready to be surprised, and fall in love with movies all over again. And eat all the good food. Oh, yeah, I'm going to eat such crap for a week. Eat your way through sundowns. It's going to be ugly.

So, yeah, so that's my plan for the upcoming week. You're back here in New York. You're missing the warmth of Los Angeles. You're okay? Yeah, it sucks. Aw. It's all right. New York's better.

New York's cool. So, yeah, so a couple things to mention. beyond, I'll mention Bryce in a second, but I want to also mention we have a special bonus episode of Happy Said Confused going up on Monday. It is a spoiler special. I've never really done one of these,

but I felt like it was warranted in this particular case. The movie Split is opening this week, if you're listening to it as we, you know, this is the week of broadcast. Friday split opens. It's the new M. Night Shyamalan movie with James McAvoy.

Monday, this new podcast will go up with tons of spoiler warnings, don't worry, but once you see Split, you'll know why we're putting spoiler warnings. There's an amazing kind of ending to it, and we had a great in-depth conversation with N-night Shaman that I think people will really enjoy. So if you're an N-night Shamaan fan, go see Split this weekend. Or a fan of spoilers. Exactly. Go see split this weekend, and then check back in on Monday for a special extra episode, a happy-saying infused. And then next week, actually, we're not going to have our intros to do next week, because I'll be in Sundance. Oh, what a jerk. I know. I'll be recording some interviews there,

So look forward to the next week, maybe two weeks of episodes will be special interviews I do at the Sundance Film Festival. So I'll keep you plugged in, in the know, in the movie business. Behind the scenes. Behind the scenes. With Josh Harrowitz. Whoa. But for now, this week, I hope you guys enjoy this conversation. This is Bryce Dallas Howard.

She's a returning guest. She's just super charming and lovely. I always love talking to Bryce. She is starring the new film, Gold, which opens next week. She stars out. Matthew McConaughey. Edgar Ramirez, another one of our favorites. Friend of the show. Friend of the show, Edgar. And, yeah, a cool kind of sprawling, a true life tale directed by Stephen Gagan, the guy that directed traffic.

Check it out when it comes out in a very cool cast and a cool director behind it. Gold, that's coming up. And just worth noting, you know, this conversation with Bryce touches on a lot of things. Of course, we talk Jurassic World, the upcoming sequel, which he's going to be shooting next. and, you know, everything from, you know, Spider-Man to highs and lows of her eclectic career. No woes. All highs for Bryce Dallas-Hallard. I just watched over the weekend her episode of Black Mirror. We talk a lot about that.

Which was incredible. She's nominated for a screen actor's guild. It was she was really good in that. I was hoping you touched on that. We did, of course. Thank God. Huge Black Mirror fan. So, yes, all of that to come here without any further ado, let's get right to it.

Ms. Bryce Dallas-Hauer. It's good to see the legend that is baby show. Baby show biz. We learned that the last time you were on the podcast. It's always good to have a returning guest, let alone one of my favorites, Bryce Dallas Howard. It's good to see you. Thank you.

It's good to see you, too. This is like my favorite thing as well. Now you have this very fancy podcast studio. We're moving up in the world. We're trying. We've got engineers and editors and equipment. I mean, it's like a really. real thing. Yeah, yeah. We're grown-ups. We're grown-ups now, you and I. And you're always busy,

and there's a lot to catch up on the new film is Gold. It opens next week. First, catch me up. We both survived the holidays. How were your holidays? All good? They were actually really, really, really, really, really good because I'm from a big family, and my parents sold the house that that we grew up in. And, um, and so for the holidays this year, we, um, they're in like a three bedroom house now. So like four kids and extended family and all of that. Like it's, it's in grandkids and everything. Um, we needed to sort of like all rent Airbnbs in the area. Right. And that is the key. Like us living at separate residents. Have your own space. Yes. But you're still close enough. Yes. Like it was just so crazy because every single year, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

I mean, it's kind of the classic holiday situation, as it would be with any family, and where we love each other too much. But then you do need, like, I, maybe I'm the miserable, horrible person, but you do kind of need that time, just a little time to just separate for a second. Just hide in your corner for a second and collect yourself because it's a lot of sensory input. There's a lot of different people that you're not seeing every day. Yes, it's a lot. Exactly. And it's, and it's sort of, it's, it was just this very, speaking of, because. kind of feeling adult, like it was this very adult moment where we were all sort of like,

oh, we are going to rise above the dramas of our teenage years and take care of our families and celebrate with one another. Wait a second. So, we've covered this. Were your teenage years that dramatic? I feel like you don't have that much kind of like, I don't know, mess to sort through. No, they weren't dramatic. Like, they were just, they were just, like, emotional, you know?

They were hormonal. They were what every sort of, like, teenage experience is like. I think it's mostly, it's my mom and that there were four kids, but specifically three daughters. Right. And where are you in the... I'm the oldest. Okay. So, you know, like, I...

You pegged for that one. Not a surprise. Yeah. Like, you know, I had to, like, break her so that everyone else would, it would be smooth sailing. Right. So I understand. Oh, no, no. my mom is actually unbreakable.

Try as I might. She's a force. But it was. It was a really, really, really, really, really good holiday. What's, any holiday traditions? Any big ones that you've started in recent years with your kids or that you're revisiting from your own youth? Yeah, I mean, we have, we definitely have things that we do.

We're not very like, you know, when people, they celebrate the holidays and they like make it like their house is like beautiful and everything is decorated and they just throw crap around yeah we're not we're not very polished but um but i think there's there's a few like we we have a family calendar that that kind of part of the year becomes about that and uploading photos and making sure that sort of every event good or bad has been covered um and we eat we eat black-eyed peas on New Year's. Okay. Okay. You know. I listen to black-eyed peas as well, I assume. Big Fergie fans. Yeah, that would be cooler. Play London Bridge again for Bryce. Yes, yes, exactly. As she's consuming the black-eyed peas and setting herself up for 2017.

When I think of holidays, I think of games, and I think of this because I saw you recently compete on Fallon, right? And I felt badly for you because I feel like, were you partnered with Michael Strayhan? Yes. He's not a good competitor He's not Let's just be honest You're right He doesn't know how to play games

Well he hosts the own version Of like Pyramid Which I grew up loving that show But I feel like he was not a good Yes, yes to your point He's very good competitively But in this particular game I don't know

I feel like you were doing your best And he led you astray That's all I'm saying Well listen I think I think you're maybe viewing That incident with like kind of rose color glasses I don't know Michael and I know you So yes I'm team Bryce in this

The truth is The truth is is that every Christmas, we play games and I do not participate because I've, I, like... Competitive, too competitive? It's not that I'm too competitive. It's that I don't really have, like, that's not where my skill set lie. And, and so, but I commit fully to anything I do. So it's like, I kind of, I just, sometimes it'll be like, those aren't the rules.

Like, Bryce, you're not getting it. But, like, it's just, and then I'll get indignant and, you know, so I just don't play games. I do find that, too. I mean, we play with, like, my in-laws, like, my wife and I, we play, like, dominoes. Like, we're a 95 years old. Yes. And it enrages me because my wife wins every single game and I lose. Yeah.

And it really brings out the worst in me. I mean, I don't actually, like, scream or yell or anything like that. But, like, inside, I'm dying. And I am just so, like, nothing angers me more than losing, like, games for octogenarians. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a real blow. Do you let your kids beat you in all games, or do you feel like it's important to show them that you have superiority in some ways? Well, you know, they just genuinely beat me. They do. I don't have to, it's like, it's like it works on kind of on both counts.

Yeah. Yeah, they're good. Seth is, my husband is a good game player. Yeah. Yes, yeah. He kind of, that's his, he's just, I guess there's people who are really strong in it and other people that maybe don't. Well, Seth is always just like, it's just because you don't care enough. You're not trying. Right. You detached decades ago and now you're just above it all and watching us just like tear our hair out. Yeah. And I'm like, no, no, no, for real. No, I'm just bad. But, yeah, no, they're, they're quite good.

It's That's a tricky one The letting them win thing That's a slippery slope I would think Yeah This is happy Say I confused

We'll be right back after this The Boogie Wooge The Jeep The Jeep Grand Cherokee It's electrified So you can boogie Wooogie wooge into the forest

Boogie up or boogie-woogie-woogie to work where you boogie-woogie down the hall to your boss's office to tell them you quit then you boogie-woogie-woogie to the elevator as he boogie-woogie-woogie's after you begging please take me with you the electrified jeep grand charity four by e learn more at jeep.com jeep is the registered trademark of fca us LLC so i know you were in toronto i remember for the black mirror episode which i do want to cover a little bit because i love that whole series in that episode and congratulations by the way a sag nomination Very cool.

Cool. Yeah, I was surprised and excited. Very cool. So have you been working in recent months? Have you been doing press in recent months? What's been your life? I've been doing, I shot Black Mirror early 2016 and spring. And then since then I've had Pete's Dragon came out.

Right. And then Black Mirror came out and now Gold is being released. And so I've mostly just been like talking. about movies rather than actually shooting them, but I'm about to go to the next Jurassic. Nice and excited, I would think. I'm very excited. So, oh, and speaking of which, and I know this from our social media, you know, friendship, that you are as big a fan of Monster Calls as I am.

Oh, my gosh. It was my favorite movie. Yes, I know I saw you say that, and I was like, good, he's right. I mean, it's, what a movie. What, like, what's storytelling? And just for context, the reason I bring that up, is not only that we love that movie, but it's also the same director, Juan Antonio Biona, is directing the new Jurassic film, which is so cool.

Yes. And this guy, like, just excels. I don't know if he, I interviewed him, and I don't think he's anticipating making people cry with Jurassic, but oh, my God, between the impossible and monster calls, which if you haven't seen it, and I know a lot of people haven't, because it's, it is a tough movie. It's kind of a hard sell, but, like, it's so beautiful and just heartbreaking, and he's clearly, like, I don't know, it reminded me of watching a Spielberg movie, like, back in the day. Yeah, it really is.

It's a story. A monster calls is about a little boy who is having to face the reality that he is losing his mother to cancer and that she's going to die. And what the story is really about is that he calls upon a monster who tells him different stories in order to. in order to sort of wake up this, this, I don't know, sort of wake up and deal with the fears that he's dealing with and the sort of the crisis point that he's at. And it's just, it's. It's done with such like a, like a light, like the right touch, right?

Yeah. Like that kind of thing can be very heavy-handed and modeling. And while it frankly did make me cry probably more than any movie I can ever recall. It also just feels very true. Yes, it does. Yeah. So have you met with him yet? Have you talked to Bayona?

Yeah. And he's, he is, I'll tell you a story about him. So he had done the orphanage. Yes. Great movie. Incredible. And that was a wonderful balance between, like, you know, that was terrifying and very, you know, and emotional. And in its own way, kind of like a character drama.

And so I saw that. And I had met with him. This was years and years and years ago. And we had an awesome meeting. And it went on longer than either of us sort of expected. And I was really hoping, we were hoping to work together on something. And shortly after that, I got pregnant and that project didn't come to fruition. And I've always referred to him.

This is real. I've always referred to him as the one who got away. Oh, my God. And so when you heard, so how did this, like, did they just blindly say, we're thinking of Biona or were we getting Biona? Yeah, well, I had had so many conversations with, with Colin in particular, sort of just like begging and pleading with him to find a way, yeah, to direct the second one. And he would bring up names and I would sort of like, I would still, I would just,

I would share concerns. Sure. And then one day he said, I have a surprise. We know who the director is. And I was like, who? And then he said that it was going to be J.A. and I, like, I almost fell on the floor. I was like, you're not going to understand what a big deal this is.

Like, it's just, it's, I don't think he could have said any other name. Yeah. It checks all the boxes for you. So not only do you get to come and. return to this franchise which you love and hang out with your friends but like check off the director that you were dying to work with yes yes yes it's crazy it's nuts and like and chris and i have started talking through stuff and and and i'll be i'll be heading off relatively soon and it's just what what a thing what a thing to get to get to be in a movie that you love making with people

you love and respect and it works out and you get to do it again and then and then that happens have they let you sneak a peek at the script yet or are they still working oh yeah no no no yeah i've seen script for sure cool yeah and so does it i don't expect you to tell me but does it have a title is there an actual title yet or is just Jurassic World Day 2 it's i've nothing nothing on paper okay i've i've i've heard i've heard some i've heard i've heard what it is Nothing written down Okay And you're happy with the evolution of

How are Claire And Owen doing? How are they? Well, it's Gosh, when is it coming out Summer 2018? Yeah, I got a year and a half. Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about it.

Aw. Some later days. What happened to you? The Bryce that's so personable and talkative. I know, I know. What happened is that Bryce is in a movie

where she signed her life. Right. You don't want to be fired before you. Also, what was really fun about clarinoe and playing them is, is that we got to kind of find, find those characters also as we were shooting. And so it's like there's, there's certainly, there's certainly a journey and a map and, and, and, I mean, more than that. But I'm excited to sort of see as well what gets discovered. Sure.

And it's, I mean, that's, I always love that. Like, it's, we talked about Black Mirror for a second. The last scene of my episode of Black Mirror, or one of the last scenes, it takes place at a wedding. And I'm like, the episode is called Nosedive. And it's about a woman who is living in a world where social media is, like, you get rated based on. Just who you are.

interactions in who you are. And if you're above a certain rating, you have access to certain privileges. And if you're below a certain rating, you're denied certain privileges. And so this is a woman who kind of goes on this quest to raise her rating. And so this last scene, she's taking her nose dive. And a lot of her motivations are bent on kind of ingratiating herself to her ex-supposed. best friend who was actually her like tormentor and bully and all that

kind of comes out in the scene and it was near the end of shooting and there's this moment where like I'm screaming like I love you, nay nay and all this kind of stuff and that was just something that just came up while we were shooting and then we ended the scene and

I was I was with Joe Wright the director and Alice Eve the woman who was playing this character that my character was sort of obsessed with and we were like, oh my gosh, this is a love story. Like this is a really, really messed up sort of like romantic comedy in a way. And we didn't realize that. Until you were there and you got to that moment. Yeah. And that's what's fun about movies is that, is that you can, you're sort of like it's half rehearsed and half sort of

experiential. Yeah. There's no accounting for that, that, that, you know, whatever happens in the moment. Yeah. You have a blueprint. You have a plan and you have to be ready to deviate unless you're working with David Fincher in which you're just doing whatever he wants to do. Exactly. Yeah.

And you found that even on Jurassic and hopefully on this next one. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's a process of like, yeah, someone is sort of being born and they're coming alive and you're figuring things out about them and you're discovering things as you're making it and then it's sort of this fun thing where where with movies you can sort of reverse engineer those decisions and you can go back and say like okay how can we build in um sort of like

enough of a story to support this discovery that happened organically and so that's what's exciting yeah and and it doesn't always work and sometimes it really does and so it's uh movies are fun that way well and i would think i mean you know and segueing into something like gold which i saw last night and has this amazing cast, led by McConaughey, of course. I love Edgar Ramirez, I was telling you before. But, like, McConaughey is, like, one of these actors that especially that feels like it's so, like, alive and visceral and in the moment and, like, unpredictable. And especially in this kind of role where he's clearly, like, just he went for broke.

Yeah. Like, physically, if you haven't seen the photos or video, like, he would gain, like, 3,000 pounds or whatever and, like, shaved his head. And he doesn't look like the Matthew McConaugh that we know and love generally. But, like, that's got to be. exciting for you as an actor like you're working with with somebody that's just like putting themselves out on the line and like okay so we're here to just go forward and and as we were saying before like let's just like feel this moment out and kind of embrace it yeah definitely I mean it's it's that was

one of the reasons why I really wanted to to be a part of this film was because I had just I had just found I just finished doing Pete's dragon and Jurassic had just come out and I just I shot that the year prior to that And so I wanted to do something where I just felt like I could really, I could really kind of like act and, and act in a way that was where I got to sort of really inhabit a character to a degree where I could kind of lose myself. Yeah. Because that's always when it's most fun. Yeah. And sometimes when you work on projects that have a very technical side to it, it's not that you ever lose touch with it, but it's good. to kind of like get like like sort of right and you can't right and you can't it's and their pressure

is good and bad that go along with the kind of scale of movie making that you were doing we're like you can't be super weird like you can't be like you know like here you're all these characters in this are very idiosyncratic and like and they they the look and the time period it takes place and like you have license to kind of be a little little off yeah that's exactly it you you nailed it that that's what it is it's um it's like what what what is king, the plot or the character? Right. And ideally a balance between the two,

but in the case of this movie, it really is the character. I mean, this is Matthew McConaughey getting to just totally take risks and transform and be experimental with his process. And it was so, it was just, it was so, it was so good. It was so good to see that because sometimes I can forget, like, I try to, like, do things really quickly and, like, you know, be well-behaved and be most efficient about things.

And watching someone be so committed to their process and to really, really, really just, like, every single take, every single scene, just not leave until the truth had sort of been exposed to a degree. Like, it reminded me, I'm like, oh, yeah, right, right, right, right, right, right. That's what we're here for. Well, and is there a desire? I mean, you have to do that to a degree in a role like this. But like, you know, I remember last time when you came by here, you talked about like your first experience in acting. Like you were like, you know, experimental theater, hour and a half on stage naked, like you were, it was crazy out there kind of stuff. Like do you, when you work on something like gold where you kind of get a taste of it, do you kind of like, you know, it's, I'm sure it's fun for you.

But it's also probably even more fun for Matthew because it's like it's built on that character. Yes. Right. Yes. you itch to kind of like get to like really sink your teeth into something that's a little more fucked up weird out there in that way? Well yeah I mean it it was followed up with black mirror. Oh, there you go. So it was it was kind of this thing. I mean it's it's when I. For me, I think seeing Matthew when I showed up on set and I saw him with the belly and no hair and the bad teeth and all

of that, I was like, okay, I can go a bit further with what I'm doing. Like I can I can have bigger booze. and more gold lamay and just terror that defies the laws of gravity. And so that was really fun. Like I just had like a hell of a time playing K. It was it was so fun because it was also almost like the feeling of falling in love. Because when you're when you're acting in something where like it's really about the characters and it's really about the performance and it's really like that's what we're there to do. you, yeah, you get to, like, the filming process

becomes a rehearsal process where you're trying out a bunch of different things. And I left that because I was, that, I sort of got all of my shooting done, I think, in just a three-week period of time. That was a very, that was a very short shoot for me. And, yeah, I left wanting more. And just, yeah, and it was so,

And I think also, like, seeing Matthew gain the weight as well, like, I gained 35 pounds for for Black Mirror, not like, it's a contest. It's the Christian Bale prize of, like, how much you can abuse your own body. Yeah, exactly. No, but I, it was, it was a very similar thing in that, like, it's just I was, I was cast as Lacey Pound in Black Mirror. And, and I, and kind of like Matthew, it just felt right. And suddenly, I mean, Matthew says, like, he's preparing for Kenny. And then he looks in the mirror and he's like, whoa, what's that belly doing? Right, right.

And I think just seeing him have such freedom with that and it made me have such fun with what I was doing. And it's, yeah, I'll kind of always remember this as sort of a moment where I had to remind myself that as an actor, you've got permission to. to make big choices like that. Did you ever have the occasion to witness or participate in naked bongo drums with Matthew McConaughey? You know what? Or is he given up that part of his life?

Well, there was this one time now. He seems to, he seems to be intact or connected to that side of himself. But I don't think he's playing bongo. drop and snore. Well, he wasn't at his right, exactly. Kenny probably is not the right kind of fit for naked bongo playing. Right, right. But he was

he was a blast on set. I'm sure. Like there was this one day where we were shooting this kind of like dance party celebratory scene and we just started we kind of like lost track of when they started

shooting and when they stopped shooting and the party was just happening and Matthew was he had champagne and he was like popping a champagne, normally alcohol in in movies, it's like, I don't know, like apple cider or something. And so I've never had any alcohol my entire life. So he's going around and he's like pouring champagne and all this kind of stuff and we're just dancing. And then he comes over to me and he lifts up a champagne glass to my mouth.

And like I see in my peripheral vision like a glint from the camera lens. And I'm like, oh, they're filming this. And I take this whiff and I'm like. okay, I'm 35, it's a bad time that I drink alcohol. What? And I closed my lips as tightly as I could, and I did not drink that alcohol. I was like, can't do it, can't do it. You've come this far.

I know, I know, seriously. And afterwards, I'm like, hey, dude, so, like, let me just, like, explain something to you. I have boundaries. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, it was really, it was, I mean, it was, it was really fun. fun and funny and a good way to kind of be initiated into the whole process. I think it was actually one of our first scenes. Welcome to the club.

Welcome to gold. So we talked a little bit about Black Mirror. Again, I'm such a fan of this. If you guys haven't checked it out, I totally binged on that latest season. And your episode is fantastic. And it's interesting in that kind of coincided in the last year or two with your dive into social media as well, right? Because I remember, I think the first time you were here, you weren't on yet. And since then, you're on Twitter and Instagram.

Yeah. So was that? You have a, you actually play a role in my social media journey. Aw. I didn't. So Seth would like do everything for me, like everything. And so I didn't know how to like check messages and I didn't know how to follow people and I didn't know how to do that. And then when we saw each other at Sundance and you were like, thanks for not following me for hours or something.

You just said something like playful. It was just totally playful. Right. And then I like walked away and I was like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Like, I have to pay attention to following the people that I love. Oh, I feel, God. My takeaway is not that I educated you is that I'm an asshole.

So self-conscious. No, no, not at all. Yes, there's etiquette, Bryce, my God. Right. There's these social media rules that I, yeah, that just are like, go away over my head. But it's so interesting because I did. I, like, I joined social media. And two weeks later, I got the treatment for Black Mirror.

And it's, it's, I mean, I just, I like that I have that as, as something that I can show my kids before they join social media. Seriously? A cautionary tale. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. That'll happen like next week. I know your kids are pretty young, but it's, it's scary. I mean, yeah, my son is, he's turning 10 soon. Oh, wow. It hasn't, yeah. It's not happening yet, not even close. Yeah. but um but it is it's like every generation deals with something new and major with the younger generation that like you just can't kind of wrap your head around yeah and um and you know here we are with this you're listening to happy sad confused we'll be right back after this nomination. Congratulations on that. That's got to be an exciting fun surprise to get that.

Yes. I'm curious. It brings to mind your awards history. Where do you keep your MTV Movie Award for Best Fight? Oh, it's actually, it's, it's just been busted out, and it is on, it's on my bookshelf. Seriously? It seriously is because I was like, enough is enough with all these boxes I need to go through them. I moved to a place like three years ago. And I did and I put them up But I feel that one I'm very proud of in particular Because it's really fun Is that the fight that ends with you being beheaded

Or no? Did you? Yeah. Yeah. That's, you know, like that's like such a Like you just know how there are those things Like you can feel an actor just like going for an award You're just like, I just know that this is what the agenda is. If I didn't go for every time that Daniel Day Lewis got beheaded

in a film just to get an Oscar. Yeah. I'm like, if I can just, if we can just, like, do this beheading thing, I know it's in the book, I know it has to happen, but I'm thinking, I'm thinking that we might be eligible for Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards. It's interesting because that film, and, you know, you've had a couple different strange circumstances where you've replaced actors, right, for a variety of reasons, or recasting whether, whatever, whatever. Was that the oddest, I mean, of those circumstances, was there one that felt a little bit? clunky or weird or have they been kind of natural transitions is that always tough to kind of like i think i think everything it's because that kind of stuff happens so often simply because of scheduling just in your case we heard at least for some reason we heard about it

a little bit more but that one was was that one was unsettling that's right because she she had a thing with the studio something bad or whatever yeah it was it was it was um it it it it it was it was it was it was something that I yeah that it was was kind of it wasn't going to work out yes and there was certainty around that but it I can swear yeah it was like a shit's like the whole thing just felt really shitty so you know I mean it's it was just yeah yeah yeah it was a I mean that one and like I felt like in my own weird way in the eye of the the twilight storm myself at MTV at the time. And like everything to do with that franchise was so heightened. Yeah. And it felt like it was the end of the world of the beginning. It was just like no

matter what controversy, even if it was a small one, felt like it was the, it was, it was, we're talking about teenage girls from the most part. And so everything felt like it was on steroids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or at least we couldn't admit that that like that like that we did because it is, it's things feel so high stakes all the time. Like it's like making movies for whatever reason. I mean, this is why, this is why sometimes, like, really dangerous things can happen on set. It's, like, it feels so high stakes that everyone is like, you know, like, we'll do anything to make it work. And you forget, like, wait, I shouldn't be doing that. Yeah, like, you're in a bubble of, like, yeah, exactly, exactly. And so I think the, like,

the, the, sort of the, the energy around Twilight was, it was, like, we were able to admit to it, but it's, like, every movie, there's that, there's that, there's that kind of, like weird sort of, like, pressure where you're just like, this has got to work, you know. And so, yeah, and that one, it was just, it was just you could, there was, there was, it was more vocal. Yeah. It was louder. Did, and was, speaking of which, like, your memories of Spider-Man at this point, because I know you, you, like, you were beating up on that one, too, physically, right? Gosh, and I was freaking pregnant, and I did not know it. That's crazy. Actually, I saw, I, like, signed a picture today going into, into, um,

a show this morning and it was me hanging as Gwen Stacy from this like steel rod thing and I look down and I'm just like girl you're showing like what you didn't know this is insane thank God though because I really would not have known what to do that's a perfect that's a perfect example it's it's like I had all these stunts crazy stunts stunts where I'm it's basically like bungee jumping. Like, you know, we're three stories up in, in the air, and I need to fall and get caught. And it was, I mean, there's, there was a free fall that I was doing. And just with the harness and everything, like, that's not what you want to do to a woman early in pregnancy. And, and I do not know what I would have done. I mean, I would, like, I mean, I would have had to

have just, oh. It would have been a tough circumstance for everybody. It's a tough circumstance. And so, yeah, so I'm glad I didn't know in a way. Was there? I'm glad everything was okay. Everything worked out, okay? Oh, gosh. So were there plans for, did you know what the plans were for your character in the next one? Like, do you know, like, were you going to go, like, were you going to get killed a,

a poor Emma in the? No, no, no, no. There wasn't a, I mean, there were conversations about a next one, not like, not to a serious degree, but it was, it was like, you know, we intend to continue doing this and all of that. But nothing specific. Yeah, it wasn't specific. And it wasn't, yeah, it wasn't real in the sense that there was really a story, as far as I was aware.

And so I didn't have, like the Gwen Stacy that I was prepared to play and all of that, like that was, if that needed to just be the beginning, middle and end of that, Like I was, I was good with that. Gotcha. Did, um, so a couple other things we haven't covered in our past conversation. So it's occurred to me in talking to you and your fellow co-stars from a particular film that there's a crazy bond from the help. Help.

Yeah. What happened? Do you all like kill somebody and hide a body? Like, I've known, like it's, it's Emma, it's Chris Lowell, it's Octavia. Yes, yes. It's just, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, you all love each other to a degree that's sickening. Yeah.

Yeah. Like I saw fairly yesterday and I was like about to like. holler at her from the rafters and she was doing a live show and then I was like why would I need to do that I hung out with her last week so was that clearly it was a unique experience something about what like how can you characterize what happened there that was a little different what I viola and I were actually talking about this last week we if if if all of us were in high school together we all would have been friends right we just we just would have um not just because we're all theater geeks

Like we, we just, like, there was something about that group and that circumstance. And just we have each other's back in a major way. And we just love each other like crazy and we're, and we also, this, making this movie, I mean, we were in, we were in Greenwood, Mississippi. And we were spending a lot of time together. And we were all asked to gain. some way. So we were having a lot of meals. And I think that, I mean, I don't know. It just, it was, it was, it was like, it was like summer camp, you know, and there are some years of summer

camp where you just meet a few soulmates. Right. And in this case, it happened to be like six or seven or eight incredible women. Are we any closer to the inevitable Rice Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain joints? Like, what do we do with this? I mean, I know. I know. Well, I want to do a sketch with you guys at some point when you're in the same city. Yeah, yeah. But you guys need to do something together, clearly. I mean, it's, it's, I was yesterday, I was, I was walking past, I was an Astor Place in New York. And right down the street, there's a Starbucks, Starbucks in Astor Place, and right down the street was where I was going to school when I was, when I was at NYU.

And I realized, and I taped like a silly little video for a second, at that Starbucks in the year 2000, so 17 years. years ago when Jess was a student at Juilliard and I was a student in NYU that at that Starbucks that was the first time I was ever mistaken for Jess because someone came up to me and they were like Jess Jess and I turned and they were like whoa you look exactly like my friend Jessica Jessica Jessica and I mean at the time I remember them saying I remember Jess yeah and and they there was a there was a theater program that she would participate in in, like Summerstock, and that was the next time that I had a bunch of friends who went to that, and they came back and they were just like, if your dad wasn't so clean cut.

I have suspicions. Yeah, so it has been happening for a long time. I just need to monetize this. That's all I'm saying. No, we totally, we were like, oh, we should figure out like a sister situation. That would be so fun. related congrats on a film that maybe didn't do the box office, it should have, but Pete's Dragon's a great film. Thank you. I know a lot of people love it. It ended up on some top

10 lists I saw, and I think it's one that's going to stand the test of time regardless of box office and all that kind of thing. Thank you. So do you, at this point, do you get bothered if something does it, like if you love it and it doesn't get the box office or whatever critical praise you get or have you been around the block enough where you're like, whatever, it's all good. Yeah, yeah, no, definitely doesn't. It used to actually confuse my dad. Like, it kind of early on when I was working he was like why like I remember my mom would always say to me that she's like yeah your dad is always like Bryce Bryce is just it's it's it's sort of she's the same if it's a hit as if it's sort of something that that doesn't quite meet expectations

and um I think I've seen yeah you know I mean I've seen I've seen my dad go through it sure and when you're the director it's it's a far more person because you're responsible for a lot of the choices, or at least you seem to be responsible. Sure. You know, I always joke where I'm like, movies are never a person's best. They're always their best, given the circumstances.

Yes. You know, given the compromises that need to happen. But so I think, I think as a, I don't know, if when I direct a feature and it comes out and however, however that unfolds, I think I would take it more person. Because it would sort of, it would make me, like, I would feel like maybe I could, like, fix it or do something different or whatever or try to replicate it again. You know, I think I would be much more of a critical thinker in that way. But as an actor, it's like you finish your job and you really need to, you really need to let it go.

It could drive you crazy otherwise. Yeah, yeah, because someone else is then the storyteller at that point. I have a pitch for you based on our past conversations and speaking of your dad. I feel like we both love your dad's film Willow, of course. I feel like the sequel to Willow, you should be the grown-up Aurora Danon. What about that? What if we actually did that? So I was going to mention Willow as an example of like my experience is whether or not it, movies that like when Willow came out.

Right. It wasn't the big thing that everyone expected to be the next Star Wars at the time. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So that was kind of a, kind of a, you know, sort of a, sort of a, yeah, it wasn't the next Star Wars. Right. It was a, it was a dark time in the power. It was, I think it was okay.

No one speak of Willow. Right. I think he was mostly overwhelmed by the fact that it was me at six, two, my two sisters at two and my brother was born the day before shooting. Oh my God. And so it was like, if we can just get through this. But, but yeah, since then, I mean, so many, so many folks like mentioned Willow and all this kind of stuff. And so it's, it's sort of, you have to, you have to, like, there are so many

different kinds of stories. There are so many ways in which stories can be viewed today. It's, as long as you take a really good whack at something, I think you can, you can walk away with your head held high. And, um, and especially if it's a movie that you're really, or a story that you're really proud of. And it's just, you know, financially. Sure. But also, honestly, honestly, Like, I think movies are priced differently because there should be different expectations. And, and there were... Meaning, like, when you're making, like, a base on the budget, like, this, like, Pete Dragon has to make $300 million to be a success, that kind of a thing? Well, you mean it's like...

Or the opposite. Yeah. Like, what I'm saying is that that, that film was made, was made in a fiscally responsible manner. the other way. So it actually, it did do really well. Nice. Financially, because it's because that's how movies should be. Yeah. You see like

scalable. Well, so it's funny. It's like a smart guy in the business I think is someone like Seth Rogan I've talked to about this. Like he's so he, I think after Green Hornet which was like his like very expensive movie, it also was his biggest tip by the way, despite critical lambasting whatever. But like he and Evan Goldberg, they make

like, you know, 20, $25 million movies because they know that is fiscally responsible and they can always kind of return a profit on that. And if they can accept the limitations of that and, you know, boo-hoo, you only get $25 million to make a movie, you can still be creative within that framework. That's a good bargain to make. Yeah, absolutely. And I think sometimes like when I'll never forget, there was a, when I was, when I was in high school, there was a Sunday New York Times article in the Arts and Leisure section about Titanic. And it was before Titanic came out.

Sure. And it was basically, the article was saying, you know, it was talking about Waterworld and it was saying, you know, how much is too much and this is excessive. And the movie went on to be very, very successful. And if it had in it, it would have been a different story. But I remember at that time looking at those numbers and thinking, like, certainly there's another way to do this. You know, it's too much pressure for one film. And I think that that's what's exciting about, you know, doing a project that's on Netflix or doing something. Like, there's so many different, like on television, there's so many different ways of telling stories.

And for, like, my dad refers to a majority of the time of his career, kind of like the 90s and all of that as like the gravy train. And I think when the gravy train was happening, people stopped paying as. much attention to the stories and started paying more attention to the money and watching the money and that became a hobby unto itself and I think that like this is we're we're in a time and we're entering a time still where we can be a little bit more discerning about the projects where we are meant to watch the money and the projects in which it really is it's it's not that it's not about that but it's been made in a way where where it doesn't need to be number one at the box office, you know, five weeks in a row.

Well, I think the mutual acquaintance of both of ours, like N. Night Shyamalan, who's doing great now and I've seen his new movie, and it's really good. Oh, my gosh, yeah, I was going to say, I'm going to see him tonight. It's really good. Yeah, we should. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but there's some amazing things in it. But, but, yeah, I'm so happy for him and that, like, he's kind of, like, reclaimed his reputation or whatever, and I feel like people gave him a tough thing for, again, like,

you know, operating, you know, a last airbender, that pressure of what it has to be, and he's kind of like still able to be true to himself with smaller budgets and and operate on a fantastic level. Yeah, that's exactly it. It's like there's a lot of flexibility these days. And there's a lot of ways, a lot of paths up the mountain in terms of telling stories. And so, yeah, I'm glad to get to, like as an actor, you get to dabble with all different kinds of things.

And then protesterly or as a director, like, it's great to sort of steal. steal the sort of the flexibility that I that I feel I can have as an actor and if I can apply that to directing or producing and sort of be like, well, you know, some things, some things work, some things don't. And then maybe I will actually make a movie

instead of being so damn precious about it. Well, I was going to say that on this final note before I let you go, I mean, we've talked about directing the past, you've directed some great shorts that we've talked about. Is there one project that you're kind of have in mind that you want to direct or are you kind of just open to what comes your way or are you seeking out stuff or what's it's it's like it's I definitely want to do it for sure I mean I don't know what the future holds but I'll even go

so far as to say I will do it you know I mean like it's like directing has been a huge part of my life last in years um um I I think that I mean I think it's just I'm I'm always looking I'm always reading. I haven't landed on it yet, but there's a, last year, I optioned a book called The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin, and I optioned it with Brett Ratner's company, Rat Pack, and we're just, we have a writer and we're just kind of getting into this process now where it's, you know, hopefully going to come to fruition. And I'm really, I'm really excited about that and I'm really excited to to like it's the idea is that it would be a mini series and and to I've been obsessed with these women I've been obsessed with this subject matter

and whether or not I'm like what whatever specific role I play behind the camera producing or whatever but you're speaking about that and in a way I feel like that might be because like directing you have to you have to really commit over a year of your life closer to two years. And with acting, it's like, I love acting so much as well. So I think that that's gonna maybe, if that all works out, hit, hit sort of like a great sweet spot and, and maybe sort of like open a door to what might be ahead a little bit. Well, you have the good, tough predicament of still having some great opportunities at your feet and some cool stuff coming up and not wanting to set those aside for directing. Directing will always be there, as you said. So,

like, you know, figure it out. You'll be a director, obviously. I mean, that seems like a no-brainer that you're going to try it out at least. Wow. You know, it's like it's so, I really, I feel, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, like, it takes, like, two years. And that's, like, that's, like, if you're, that's, like, really, like, really kind of prolific. And, um, and that's, like, that's not enough. It's, like, not enough stories. It's not, it's.

And I need immediate gratification. I need a little more. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, I really do want to keep acting going because I like having sort of like a volume of experiences. Sure. And so hopefully one needs of both. You're a greedy. You're a greedy, greedy lady. Just a greedy little monkey, you know? I just want it all for myself. That's your unique name. Forget baby showbiz. The greedy little monkey. That is. A greedy little monkey. My mom did. We had two pet monkeys.

Oh my God. When I was growing up when I was really young because my mom was, she rescued a monkey and she was on a list at actually a zoo that if there was ever a monkey that needed to be kind of like nurse back to health that they couldn't care for, that monkey would go to my mom. I didn't know if such a list existed. I know. The secret monkey list. I know.

Secret monkey lex. It's amazing. So, yeah, so my mom's, like, first children, basically were monkeys that she would be rehabilitating. And, yeah, so she does actually refer to us as her little monkeys. Aw, very sweet. Sweet note to end on with lovely Bryce Diles Howard. Congratulations on the new film. Gold opens next week with Bryce, Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Stephen Gagan, a great writer-director at the helm.

Check it out. And we'll see you on the next one, Bryce. Thanks for coming by. Thank you. We didn't do the hatful of questions because you drained them last time. You did every question in the hat. Oh, yeah. I remember we sat there and just like, we just.

I had to retire it basically. Yeah, I know. So thanks for that. I'm like, I'm a, I'm a person. I'm like a golden retriever where I won't stop something. Like, you know how a golden retriever you could like throw a ball and like they'll catch the ball until they die? Like if you just keep throwing it.

Like that's like me. Like you just keep saying like go, keep going. Keep answering another question. Like I'll just go. Yeah. We're not going to do that. I'm going to definitively end this podcast now. You can't continue it.

Done. 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. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh. This episode of Happy Sad Confused was produced by Michael Catano, James T. Green, Mooka Mohan, for the MTV Podcast Network, with additional engineering by Little Everywhere. You can subscribe to this and all of our other shows on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,

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Visit McDonald's app for details, download and registration required. Goodbye. Summer movies, Hello Fall. I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the ultimate movie podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases. We have Leonardo DiCaprio leading a revolution in one battle after another, Timothy Chalamey playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Jorgos-Lanthumos's Bogonia. Dwayne Johnson, he's coming for that Oscar. In The Smashing Machine, Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLuis's return from retirement. There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about, too. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat 2, and Edgar writes, The Running Man, starring Glenn Powell.

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