Happy Sad Confused - Domhnall Gleeson, Vol. III

Episode Date: August 29, 2018

It only seems like "Happy Sad Confused" has a Gleeson on every week what with Brendan making his debut a few weeks back and returning champion Domhnall back in the hot seat for a third time on this episode.  But there's a reason the Gleesons are always welcome. On this visit to the show Domhnall nearly spills the beans on Episode IX, talks about his creepy mustache in his new film, and teases a return to comedy! Besides all the randomness and laughs Josh and Domhnall actually also talk about his new film, "The Little Stranger", which marks another collaboration with Lenny Abrahamson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hey guys, I'm Josh Horowitz, and here is our own little stranger. No, she's not a stranger? Is that what? I'm a little stranger now? You're a little stranger than used to be. Sammy, welcome back to the intro. Thank you. I had to come back for Donald.

Yeah. You and Donal appear on the podcast almost the same amount of times. I think he might beat me. This is his third appearance on Happy Set Confused. As a guest. As a guest. Because he read the reviews once. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And he's also, of course, in just like a couple weeks ago, we had on dear old dad, Brendan Gleason. Did you guys talk about him? Yeah, it didn't ever come up. Of course. Were you like, hey, did you know? Did he know? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you know. Like, do you think Brent, like, Brendan called him after and was like, oh, I saw your friend today. I have been told that I have the approval of all the Gleason's. Let's just put it at that. By who? By Donald. What do you mean?

I don't know. Because Don't know might be a liar. I wanted to hear Brendan saying. No, Brendan. Well, that was my first substantial meeting with Brendan. Yes, that was delightful. And it was delightful to get, if you listen to the Brendan Gleason podcast, you know that I got some dirt, maybe is too strong a word, but some interesting intel. on Young Donal that we got corroborated by Donal

in this episode. So. This is great for the family tree you're building in your office of Lom. Hall was going according to Platton. His new film is The Little Stranger. It is directed by Wendy Abramson, who you might know as the director of Room and Frank.

Oh, yeah. See your favorite movie, Room. It's my favorite comedy. Super funny. And I've talked about Frank on this podcast before. I love that movie. It was him and Michael Fastbender. Donal met the director on that one.

And this is a much different kind of film than those last two that I just mentioned. This is kind of a horror film, but it's not over the top horror. It basically takes place in kind of like a creepy old house, haunted house kind of a thing. But it's not really, basically you have to wait until the end to kind of real. realize what it's all about, if we're dealing with a supernatural or not. Suffice of the say, there is a foreboding in this house. And it's a great ensemble. It's don't know leads to the cast, but it's also got Will Poulter, big fan of young

Willter, Ruth Wilson. If you watch The Affair, she's on that. So, yeah, really a lovely Broadway actress, too, really. Yes, and Star of the Lone Ranger. I know you're a big Lone Ranger from now. She probably doesn't lead with that. Took the words out of my mouth. The Lone Rangers, Ruth Wilson.

So anyway, that opens this Friday. That is why Donald stopped by. He's, of course, always welcome because he is a delight. He is a regular on this podcast. And a relatively recently, he made his debut on After Hours. Yeah, within the last year. Which we should talk about. Yes.

We're very excited. After Hours is back in a big way. I mentioned this on the podcast last week, but by now it is up. It is live. It lives. It breathes on Comedy Central's many social platforms. We debuted with a really fun episode with Sam Rockwell and friend of the show, Ben Schwartz. Ben Schwartz.

Two of our faves. Two of our faves. Yeah. Good debut. Good debut. Very happy with it. They really brought it. They brought their t-shirt canon to murder me with.

Yeah. You get your ass beaten in this one. This is what an after hours is all about. It is. It's true. So if you haven't checked that out, do me a favor. I think you'll enjoy it. Knowing you as I know you, podcast listener, you appreciate good comedy.

You like to see me injured. Yeah. If you like one of those two things, you'll like it. If you like both those things, you'll love it. So after hours, I think the rough plan is it's going to be about hopefully about two new ones a month. A lot of your favorite after hours regulars and podcast regulars are going to be appearing in the next few months. Stay tuned. Yeah, there's exciting things happening.

I'm going to call if you take over. So I just want to thank everyone and announce. that I will be taking over the show from here. Oh, no, he's back. You and Sam Hewain? Yes. And Donald's going to do the intros with us. Honestly, that might be just what this show needs.

Sam hasn't, like, reached out to, like, continue that conversation or really solidify, you know, getting together in a creative way. But I feel like maybe when he's back, he's busy. Yeah, he's going to be back to New York Comic-Con. Yes, so we'll probably have a meeting then about it or something. Quote, quote, meeting. Yes. Okay. No, normal business.

this to be a thing. I don't know what you're saying. You sick, out. Anyway, yes, this is the unofficial Gleason podcast and Sam Hue and Pat podcast. Not bad. Not bad. Yeah. We have a niche. Anything else to say? No, I think that's it. I, mentioning coming up soon, you'll hear me talk a bit about the Toronto Film Festival as I do every year. I'll be off to that for a lot of shenanigans, seeing a lot of movies, talking to a lot of people. He just got off the phone with setting up an exciting interview. I won't tell anyone about. We're not going to reveal it. No, I'm not going to reveal it, but I'm going to say, guys, it's exciting. That's what we call it a tease.

Yeah. She's a professional. Yeah. So, yeah, Toronto Film Festival coming up. Donald Trump will be interviewed, though. Never. And, yeah, we're getting into fall movie season, which means high-quality movies, Oscar-bait. Here we go.

It's going to be good. Yeah, actually, I don't think I can talk about it. I saw one of the big, I'll tell you about this off here. This is a really cruel tease, but I saw one of the big fall movies recently, and it's really good. Oh. That's really good guys. Anyway, okay. Enjoy this. You probably won't tell me after. No, I will. I promise. I'll tweet it. Don't do it. Enjoy this conversation with Donald Gleeson. Go check out The Little Stranger out in Theaters this Friday. And remember to review, rate and subscribe to Happy Say I Confused. And God, there's so many requests of you guys this week. And go check out after hours. Check out after hours. Reborn on Comedy Central. I know you'll enjoy it. Here's that.

Well, we're renaming HappySack infused. It's Happy Sad Gleason, I guess, because every other week I have, I'll just take any Gleason at this point. This week with the Gleesons. I think that's what we should now call this podcast. I mean, look, there are worse ideas for podcasts? Are there, wait, are there? No, no, there are not many. There are bad ideas.

I'm not sure there are worse ideas. It's good to see you, buddy, as always. This is our, like, bi-annual. therapy chat? Yeah. How you doing? How's your state of mind? Everything's good.

A little bit strange. Like I found out I was coming to New York, which is where we are. I found out like the night before last. Right. And then I came yesterday morning and did press and now today. And then I go back to get tomorrow because I'm in the middle of Star Wars. Yeah, because I didn't even know you were, because you didn't even know you were coming until a day or two ago.

Because yeah, I'd seen the film. And I know when he was in town, Ruthson, town and I guess you got, I guess with a film like that, like it's hard to, because we were saying Oscar Isaac also got a little leave. Yeah, that's right. You didn't take the Star Wars Express here together? We didn't.

No, no, 12 parsecs or whatever the hell that thing is. Don't pretend you know anything. You don't know anything. I tried. He's such a poser. Yeah, we did not arrive together, but I only found out yesterday that he's in town. I'm sure I'll see him this evening. So, yes, as we talked about and we corresponded about your

lovely dad came by, sat in that very seat just a few weeks ago. Yep. I know that groove. As I nestle into it, this feels like the couch back home. Why is that? Oh, father has been here. Father. Yeah. So you're not only, at best, my second favorite Gleason. I apologize. That's okay. I'm all right with that. I'm my second favorite Gleason, so that's fine. It was so sweet. I said this to him. As you were saying, you wasn't to a little bit of the podcast. When I told you that he was coming, you said like the sweetest, know, like, I wish I could spend time.

Like, I wish I, I'm jealous of you. And that was like, my default is always snark and horror. And I was like, I didn't know how to receive the sweetness from you. You just didn't respond. One of those emojis with a guy getting sick. Yeah, no, I haven't, you know, I was, I was, my dad worked for like five months this year on Mr. Mercedes. Right.

And so I didn't see him. I didn't get to South Carolina where they issued to see him because I was kind of, things kept on changing he came up to New York for a weekend so I saw him right at the very end of that five months but it was like a long time not to see your dad especially if you like him which I do very much so yeah

yeah I was trying to crush in as much farther time as I could back home there were some lovely revelations about you in the conversation with your old dad yeah I heard so let's where to begin well I guess the headline clearly for those that are updating their Gleason

family newsletter Wikipedia, my Wikipedia page, group Wikipedia page. I hope this goes to the top of the Wikipedia entry. Donnell enjoyed holding the hands of his parents well into puberty. Yeah, that was a good thing for people to know now. Thank you, Dad. Yeah, no, I was. I was, like, I remember really well walking by a rose bush with my parents at a certain age.

Like, I was probably 11 or something like that. and just going over to smell the, like, taking time to smell the roses, like, in a literal fashion. Is that where the phrase began? I think it started with the glisans. And, and smelling, and it was like, it was really, I remember these other kids going by and, like, snickering at, like, this fay kids, taking time to smell the roses. And I remember kind of being okay with it. I was like, but I'm enjoying myself, so this is fine. And later that day, I took time to, I woke up and smell the coffee.

I'm just going to try and get him as many. very sensitive olfactory senses yeah but so I remember that kind of stuff I remember being like a sensitive kind of kid everyone thinks they're sensitive though right I certainly feel like I was super sensitive does everybody think they were sensitive I guess so but I think only in retrospect can we actually say like

okay on the spectrum I was actually sensitive yeah perhaps yeah yeah but so yeah it was interesting to hear dad's memories of that but he also said like you unlike you know most kids, I mean, everybody gets embarrassed by their parents, but he was saying that you didn't generally speaking get to worded out by your parents. Does that jive with your memories? No, yeah, it does.

I, like, I, you know, I went through a stage where we, you know, where we'd argue and stuff like that, the typical teenage stuff, but never really heavily, never really heavily. And dad would be a way with work and stuff as well. So I think that kind of changes, you know, when he's home then, it's like amazing, you know, it's a different thing. And he did turn over one of my football games. have you ever seen i went down no that is a great movie really good irish film i don't want to

google that title i feel like whatever you do don't put it in quotation marks because uh no i went down as a film by patty brannock and written by connor mcpherson very famous uh playwright yeah it was first film that he wrote my dad and peter macdonald are in it and it's a comedy very cohenesque it made in 1996 and hilarious okay i couldn't recommend it more okay i trust obviously i trust your comedic judgments. Very solid movie. But my dad has the most outrageous sideburns. Like, like down to, and I'm sure your, you know, listeners in the podcast will appreciate this, down to here. Down as far as his face as here. Wow, that's... Don't describe it. Okay. Okay. And then it came all the way forward as far as here. That's not

an exaggeration. Again, this is a visual for everyone at home. As far as this place. I don't think you understand the nature of podcasts. I do. Oh, I do. They're loving, they're loving this. And he had these like outrageous sideburns. Yeah. a comedy. And he came to watch my football game. And I was playing right back and I was not very good. That was the low point. I was like, who's that guy? I was like, I don't know. That was probably the only time I was embarrassed. Well, now you paid it back with your creepy mustache in The Little Stranger. Yeah, he did not want to hang out. When I went to see his football games, he asked me to leave. Was the intent to have a mustache that might be as disturbing as anything else in the film?

I like to refer to the mustache as the Little Stranger. I think that is the, that's the little stranger in the movie. Yeah, the mustache, you know, you know what that was? The makeup designer on it, Sean Grigg, who's an amazing makeup designer. She, we went to in and I was like, let's take it off piece by piece and see if we, let's not just shave it off immediately and assume that he's clean shaven. Let's take it off piece by piece and see how we feel about this. Goatee, no. I don't think, you know, I'm not sure I'll ever sport a goatee for a movie.

I mean, I may. Pirates of the Caribbean 12 when you're... ha ha ha ha jack me matey and I'll just do it as enthusiastically as that no and then we got the moustache and he was like oh crap I think crap I think it might be that it was really like everyone in the trailer was like

fuck like because no one wants to have a moustache for 12 weeks nobody even people who have moustaches don't want moustaches it just it's just a freak occurrence that every morning they don't work up the balls to get rid of it right so it was like ah and I was like oh I wanted him to have a strange energy and the moustache, it was just like, we're there.

There's no acting required. Yeah, yeah, at least you didn't go further. You didn't go all the way down to the Hitler mustache. That's like, that's the final stage. At the end, you always try. And let me just tell you with a ginger mustache, it doesn't, it doesn't have the intended effect. It's comedic.

Because, yeah, when I saw you, I think in Sunnancy we were spurred the big beard, right? Very possibly, I'm not sure. Yes, I think I was. Yes, I was. Because we were pondering ideas about using the beard for the sketch that we did. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, this is welcome to facial hair 101.

Yes. I just did an interview, right, for a newspaper. And it was on camera, which I don't think that's a newspaper interviews were done. But now, apparently, most newspapers are on video. It's confusing. We live in confusing times. But the fella, the fella, just asked me questions for 15 minutes about accents. It was the weirdest thing.

And I'd not been given a note beforehand saying, this will be. mostly be accent-based. But that's all we talked about. And I really enjoyed it. It was interesting. There's questions I hadn't taught it before. So the facial hair angle, I think, is a good one. Okay, good, good. I have no more facial hair questions.

Having said that. Go. Wait, we're talking about, yes, there's the Frank Mask. You see, again, I did a big point there that people on the podcast will have loved. And I also, the way I acknowledged it, makes me sound like a lunatic.

Without seeing you point prior to that. Yes, it's a Frank Mask. Okay, backtrack 20 seconds. Yeah, yeah. I pointed at a mask from a film that I did called Frank. And then Josh said, it's a Frank mask. And that's mine, which my dad talked about while he was here. This is great.

That's the script. I'm not going to help you out. That's the script that we did. Yeah. He's pointed to the script that we did for the wonderful bad ideas for General Huck spin-offs that you wrote shit on, which I asked you to. Which they've used a lot of those ideas in episode nine. They do.

Wait, I was going to show you this. seen the mockup. Did I send you this? I can't remember. No. Again, great for a podcast. I'm not going to show you this. Imagine driving to work and listening to this. Watch two idiots. Just two people printing at YouTube videos that they can't hear. Look, it's someone to be if Hux could kill

poster. Oh my God. It's very brooding. And it is a film noir. That is, they've made my hair red. They've left my hair just a little bit red in a black and white poster. Yeah, you're like the Schindler's list girl. Little girl. I've always thought of myself as that. I've always thought, that's quite cool. You're going to be the

little girl. I used to make movies with my friends and I was younger and that was exactly the sort of we used to make posters before we wouldn't make the movie we just make posters for things right and we used to have so much fun making and that was part of the fun of the sketches was coming up with ideas and we used to do that all the time oh I love a good crappy title and a good mock-up poster the imagination just this one I'm going to point to something else in the office that people can't see I have the Hunger Games killing season poster that Chris Pratt we imagine what Chris Pratt would do in a hunger games movie with a Gatlin gun.

Fun with posters, fun with Photoshop. Oh, I love it. Okay, what are we talking about? I'm going to get us back on track. It's okay, it's okay. This is the nature of our conversations. We were talking about embarrassment of parents. Oh, I, I, oh, are you, okay.

That's high-pitched. Are you? That's a high-pitched way to start a question. I'm going through changes. How me, let me answer that? How are you in social settings generally? Are you, are you, are you the wallflower at the party? Do you get embarrassed?

easily in social settings? Do you look forward to presenting at an award show? You know, all those kind of weird things that go along with the job. One of those questions, there's no place in there. Which one? The award show? All the stuff about the parties and how you are you socially was fine. And then there was a question about an award show. Well, because this is your life. This is the life I imagine. You're going to glitzy parties. It's monthly, yeah, yeah. Then it's presenting at award shows. I am... Generally, I'm reasonable socially. Generally, I'm okay. Every now and again,

for some reason that I don't know, depending on my mood, I find myself very embarrassed, very shy. very unable to communicate and like very second-guessy about myself, you know? Getting in your own head a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I find that, which was really cool for a little stranger.

Like, that's the place that you go to for that stuff. But generally I feel like I'm reasonably all right. Table reads, I'm terrible. The first day of work, I'm bad. You know, when you meet everybody. Is it that you're eager

not to be the one that fucks it up? You just want to impress? No, I don't want to storm in and assume that people want to talk to me. But then there's a level If you go to the other Then you're anti-social And what's wrong with the sky?

Yeah, exactly, exactly Aloof bastard So I would say aloof is where I go to As a kind of a protective measure Which is not good That's not a good quality That my favorite people are the people who Storm straight up to everybody

And say hello and how are you doing And make everybody feel okay And unfortunately that's the aspect to my personality I've not developed yet Okay, so that's one of the fears in the course of the job What are you pointing to now? Jesus!

I've worn my lesson. That's Jennifer Lawrence. Yes. In the head of Lynn Manuel. Close. No, that is a face mashup of Jennifer Lawrence and her co-star in several films. Bradley Cooper. Bradley Cooper.

Wow. It's very upsetting. You should put it on your website. Do you have a website? I was going to say, I mean, no, I don't. You don't have a website? Why don't you have a website? I feel like nobody has websites anymore.

Like a destination. Josh Harleason.com is amazing. there's so many things there to look and appreciate No, it's not true. Have you ever registered that domain? I wonder who owns Donald Gleason.com.

My father got advised to, oh no, I want to see what happens. My father was advised after he did Harry Potter to register Brenningleason.com. Yeah, he could probably make money from it. And he did, but I think sometimes people try and buy them up ahead of you. Donald Gleason.com just won't be a website, I'm guessing.

This is what you get. That's that guy. What the fuck? Name envy, whatever that means. I think someone just squatting on it. They just want you to buy it on it. off them. Yeah. It's name envy contact us to do that. It's basically a letter to you, a direct letter to you. Name envy. Go fuck yourself. That's not going to happen. You have no, I'm glad we put

that to bed. That's good. You have no aspiration to be an internet entrepreneur? No, no. I would love to, I would love to invent something in my life, something good. Yeah, what's the, like, the side hustle for Donald Gleason? What's the side job? What's the inventor? I'm going to storm straight in there with inventor. What kinds of things do you want to invent? I invented something once that then I found out was already invented. So it turns out I didn't invent it. Is this the stopping and smelling the roses phrase? That's that's that was it. No. It was it was a little thing that you would put on your keys or a just a tiny little thing. Yeah. Like a locator like a beep thing that you press a button and then it beeps on the thing. Right. Yeah. That that that that already exists because

when your phone goes dead. It's very frustrating when your phone goes dead, not being able to find it. So that was my idea. It was just my idea after it was someone else's idea. Okay. Does that count as inventing? No, no. No, not in the least. Can I take back inventor from earlier?

Can I take back the bit where I said I was an inventor? So, okay, so one of the worries on set is the not, is going to aloof. What about, do you, like, are there other, like, phobia-based kind of things on set? Like, you don't worry about forgetting your lines at this point. Like, that's something like second nature. I do you on Star Wars. Really? Yeah, hard to remember lines in Star Wars.

Because it's techno babbly a little bit that. Yeah, that stuff. Like a bunch of words in a row that normally aren't in a row. And it's not to do, it's to do with information as opposed to, you know, connecting to somebody. You know what I mean? Like that sort of stuff can be hard. Let me help on, okay, episode 9, giving it a couple of lines. You know, madly, I nearly went to do one just there.

Bizarrely, I went to say, like, the other day I had these seven words in a row that were hard. And I nearly did it. You are not good at this. I'm terrible. I am a menace. Well, we now know that Huck speaks in the new film. God damn it! Okay.

Fuck. It's a dream sequence. There, I said it. What? How were you told that you were officially in episode nine? Is it a, do you get a text? Oh, let me think. From JJ?

Do you get... I heard last year that, yeah, I heard once J.J. was involved that I would be involved. Right. I heard early on that I would be involved and then I found it much closer to the time in which I would be involved. Yeah. Um,

and what was, uh, there we go. Have we run out of things to say? No, no, no, is this the third?

Is this just a, stop, like a 30 minutes? No, no, we haven't even talked about the movie yet. Hey, what's your favorite color,

man? I still have, I still have, uh, 10 solid minutes of growing you about Star Wars. Yeah, sure. More about the facial hair is tough.

Then, then I'm going to go back to facial hair. We're going to spend 10 minutes on your wonderful new movie, which we haven't even really pimped out yet. No, no, not at all. We're going to reflect on Peter Rabbit, the glory that is Peter Rabbit. I hope so. That changed your life, I'm sure, in every way. It did. He's making... Nothing happened there. Nothing happened there. Another visual gesture that will be lost on the audience. So at this point, okay, so you almost, that you're just searching with things in the office to talk about. I'm looking, yeah, I'm looking around.

Yeah, Michael Shannon, I love it. Again, I'm pointing in... Sorry. Um, the, wait, what was gonna say? Fuck, fuck, fuck. Um, uh, okay, so you were saying, so you almost went into a Star Wars line, which would have gone into a lot of trouble. Yeah, yeah. So are you like, of the mind now where like, just tell me the bare minimum so I don't

fuck it up or do you, do you like, do you want to- I made the terrible mistake of reading the script. You've read the script. Yeah, I've read the script. I made the terrible mistake of doing that. You don't have that burden the next two years or a year and a half. Yeah. And I was saying earlier on, I may have said it to you before, but the nightmare is falling asleep on

public transport. I think I said it to you before, like the nightmare. like the nightmare is you wake up on a plane and someone's dictating. You wake up and your mouth is shaping words. You wake up and you're like, Skywalker, and then you realize, you know, how long you've been speaking. And there's a kid filming, there's somebody riding down. And because you're in the air, you say, we need to have a talk before we learn. I can access my bank accounts.

Name your price. Yeah, exactly. How many zeros is this going to take? Okay, so what was the reaction in reading the script? Just give me emotions, thoughts, sobriac. No, see this is, that's a tricky question to answer. Yeah. Because I got informed in the thing right before this

that last night at the Little Stranger premiere somebody asked me about Star Wars and I used the word epic. And that's news. And that became, the guy was telling me that basically the only thing that's been reported today from the screening of Little Stranger last night was the fact that idiot Gleason describes Star Wars is epic.

And I was like, but all the Star Wars, I thought if there's a word you can use to describe every Star Wars Star Wars movie like it's epic so I think I'm in safe territory there it's not a dozen people sitting at a table talking to each other no no so parts of the prequels are yes there's a bit of trade federation yeah yeah yeah but um epic trade federation so yeah so I was like ah so that made this again it's hard to describe if I say oh okay if I say I was crying or I was laughing or I was saying that'll just go okay whatever way you know what I mean I guess people don't care about this I do I shouldn't be second guessing it so much what do people want to

You know the Mr. Show sketch where it's a talk show, a call-in talk show, but it's pre-recorded? I don't remember it, but it sounds amazing. Oh, my God. Okay, I'm not seeing my Mr. Show. No, no, no, but that is the most amazing sketch. Really? Oh, I mean, it's hilarious. There's so much in it, and the punchline is better than the rest of the sketch, which is the hardest thing in sketches, which obviously you're aware of.

It's really, really difficult to, if you come up with a funny idea, having a really strong punchline. It's so hard. It's beautiful. So, okay, let's, let's, okay, we talk more about comedy and sketches because JJ Abrams isn't going to fire you for that. Have you been, have you been going back to the writing well and the comedic well lately with your partner or anything? I have.

I've been writing a kind of a sitcom thing with my brother and my writing partner, Michael Maloney, and, yeah, we've got this cool, we made a, we made a taster, and it looks good. Yeah? I think it, I think it may be happening, like, you know. So for like a series, for a Google? Yeah, yeah, for like a six-part, you know, half-era type thing. Amazing. Yeah, yeah.

The kind of the English sitcom set up. Not sitcom, it's not like a live studio audience type thing, but like that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so that's really exciting. I'm loving that. So if that happens, that'll be great. Is there, like, who, I mean, you have some great resources in your life thanks to, like, people in your family that know about the business, obviously.

Right, yeah. And about the craft. Like, did Dad teach you as much about, like, the business? That sounds like he's both of our. father like it sounds like when you say did dad at this point i feel like i am an honorary gleece you should start talking about like that you know when dad was sitting in that chair last week he was saying that uh have i overstepped is this this gotten weird this got fucking bizarre where are we doing thanksgiving this year wait you're not american where was my father

and how old are you 42 yeah 42 yeah yeah i'm the oldest i'm the long lost yeah 1975 where was Barbara Harowitz then wait a second that's really the pressing question well it was a beautiful summer in Dublin it was um wait what were we talking oh so did did our dad teach you spit take teach you about the business as much as he did about the craft like did he oh did he spend time talking to you about like that kind of things when you when the career started to develop? You know, I, I, really for a very, very long time, all I wanted to do was act. And the notion of money, what I used to say expressly to my agent and still do on occasion is if I, I refuse to lose a job over money. Now that's a terrible place for them to start

negotiating from. Right. Right. So it's awful for them. And then it's awful for me because because you're in a very, very small apartment and you can't go to a bigger apartment, right? But for a long, you know, like that was just a thing. So the business element never came into it for me ever. It just wasn't, I just, my agents were good agents. I just said, you do whatever you do. Don't lose me the part. And then every now and again, you say, well, they say, you need to walk away from this because

they're disrespecting you. And you say, depending on the job, you say, okay. And now yet you've gone on the totally other end of the spectrum and you're just, everyone knows you as money man. They just go wherever the Gerard Butler directed DVD

action movie is. Yeah. I didn't realize they didn't release the press release for that yet but yeah that's my next

that's my next thing. Does being in a being in the face beyond Peter Rabbit being the face, being in the face of a $350 million very successful

family comedy. We're talking about Crashpad. Congratulations, by the way. Thank you. Does that change things have you noticed

like is there is that changed a career at all or changes like opportunities or you know i don't know i i think you know there was a lot of physical comedy in that so there's been more opportunities in that regard but you want to wait for the right thing you know and um so i don't know i don't know i don't think i think everything's changed in terms of like bankability and that sort of stuff there's a couple of movie stars and then everybody else is just an actor there's not you know it's not it's i people base it on whether they like the trailer and that's pretty much it or whether somebody tells them to go see it like

There's not a lot you can do to all of a sudden enter the kind of upper echelon, echelon, the upper, the upper, the upper, the upper echolons, the ecolons, the ecolons. What's an echelon, echelon, echelon, the upper schlons of the industry. That's not where, you know, that's not how it works anymore. I don't think. So I'm really happy it did well. You want movies to do well. And yeah, that one did really well. Okay, so let's talk a bit about your lovely, sweet, new movie The Little Stranger with your creepy mustache. Yeah. You know, we've talked about Lenny before, your collaboration with him, the aforementioned Frank Mask. Yeah. What a thrilling filmmaker in just that, like, he's so unpredictable, and he can kind of bring whatever he brings to any kind of genre, it seems. What did you, what was the nature of, what's your recollection of working with him in the first place on Frank, which was one of my favorite.

in recent years and still stands as just like this bizarre fascinating film yeah i mean what i remember was how involved he made me feel all the way through which is unusual you know like he would call around to my apartment and we would sit down and go through drafts like meticulously talking about what this meant does this work how does this make you feel will we be able to make this funny really really diligently yeah at every point along the way once i was cast so that was like months leading up to it and and that's exciting for you oh man it's amazing because they don't use it's not that they use your ideas

or that you're a part of the process necessarily it's just that your point of view matters to him and it affects the way that he makes his film and you just turn up ready to you just turn up ready to do whatever it takes for Lenny to say that's the one you know like and he is one of the only people that I just trust

like top to bottom there's no like whatever Lenny wants I would do I would play the smallest part in anything for him and I would do the weirdest shit that I don't know why it would work for him because what he does is special and I remember feeling that on Frank Is there an example of that in Frank or in Little Stranger

where you did something that for another director you might feel like this does not feel right but for Lenny I'll do it lots of it you go out on a limb in lots of different ways on Frank was about like there was a lot of the music stuff and everything he just took so long to get together and that was like he needed it to be a certain way

he didn't want it to be pre-recorded or post-recorded. He wanted it on the day, and that's what we went at. And so you're just like, in your head, you're like, there may be an easier way to do this, but the only way to do this is the way that Lenny wants to do it. And he was right. You can see it in the film. You can feel the music in the film coming out of the screen and not from the speakers. You know what I mean? Like, it feels like it's not been put on afterwards. It feels like it's happening in that room. And with Little Stranger, it was, it was similarly, he, I thought the character would be quite weird. He needed him to be relatable. We just did it every different way

on every day. We just tried it in a million different ways with the same character, but different levels of accessibility of him accessing people in the scenes. And then at the end of it, it's the only time I've ever needed to take time off. It's the only time in my life. Like, I took six months off because I just wasn't able to do anything anymore after it. I've realized, he told me at the beginning, and I've said this in a couple of the interviews, probably for anybody who's reading all of my interviews, my ma'am, it'll be boring. But, you know, he said at the start, if somebody's carrying something explosive, they walk carefully.

And I realized at the end of the filming, for the first time in my life, I think, that I, it had stayed with me. I wasn't able to shake it. That makes sense. Having seen it, it's a very, it's a very internalized character where, like, it's, I don't know if it's as enjoyable or different kind of enjoyment for you as an actor, but like, you kind of have to convey a lot through less is more and I guess in a way yeah but it has to be in there somewhere you can't just sit there and not think of anything there had to be something he's a

very repressed man he needed this anger to be in there and I realized at the end of it I've been carrying it you know and I was I was very shook up at the end of it I couldn't um I was very upset for a long time so what did you do to bring good old Donald back to life I cried a lot yeah yeah I cried a lot yeah held your parents hand again it was like yeah I mean it wasn't far off you know I saw I saw a woman get knocked down once and I was going back to my staying at my parents house that time

my dad reached over and put his hand on my hand after it was the most shocking thing I'd ever seen the violence of seeing somebody be knocked over it turned out she was okay but she looked like she was dead yeah that was in my 20s at that point so yeah well there's something I mean in a sweet way I mean like yeah I mean if you're

if a physical contact with like your parent like the older you get it kind of almost has even more resonance right it brings you for sure back to when you were a kid. That's exactly it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That really popped out. But yeah, so I, yeah, I had a little downtime at the end of it and then slowly got back to

real life. But I just wasn't, I just, everything that I got sent or things to audition for to talk people about, and I just wasn't able to do it. What are you generally, is there a, generally speaking, what are you like during a shoot to be around from, like, friends and loved ones? Are you, like, generally able to compartmentalize and still lead a life and be pleasant? or do your friends and family kind of know like Donald's going into the hole for two months and let's not. I used to be that way for sure. I used to disappear. And I think as I've got older and tried to, you know,

maintain every sort of relationship, you know, you realize that if you're going to work a lot, you can't do that all the time. And I've got better in the evenings at being accessible, I think. But when I'm on set, it depends on the part. I was really happy making Little Stranger. I thought I was at least until the end when I realized that I was very upset. But like, yeah I was really happy making it I felt exhilarated all the time on Little Stranger because this is the sort of movie you know what it reminds me exactly

I was ex machina also in the setup and in the compelling nature of wondering who is manipulating whom and this house and wondering whether what you're seeing is real or not and all that sort of stuff I think that that's the closest film I can think of to it really yeah also in terms of just like

a foreboding kind of atmosphere over the whole thing like there's like it's one of those like there's a sense of dread and rotting decay to the whole thing and that's metaphorical and literal in this film. And they're trying to love and they're trying to escape and they're trying to connect

and in some ways it's like a drama it's just you know it's like remains the day or something like that and then at the same time it's a ghost story where the twist the thing that happens that tells you what has been happening because they're after this answer all the way through who is the little stranger is it the girl who died there

has infected this house that making people I mean, kill themselves, making people, you know, like it's terrible. I love it because in the last page of the script, it tells you. And in the last scene in the movie, it tells you. And I just loved that. Like, that's kind of, that's lovely, but I didn't get that release in real life. So it was a strange thing. I felt like I left part of myself in the film.

Nice. And you've also, wait, did you shoot something with, there's this crazy cast of people that this, Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish. Elizabeth Moss. Elizabeth Moss. Yeah, what is this film? What is this movie? It's called The Kitchen. And that was the first job I did after, I mean, apart from the short film that I do with my dad, that was the first film I did after finishing on Little Stranger.

And I did that this summer. You know, we finished Little Stranger last year in August. Oh, wow. So it was a long time off. Yeah. So it's a set in Hell's Kitchen, 1970s. The men get sent to prison from this Irish kind of gang and the women start running things. That's the kind of setup.

And you've got that cast who were all fantastic. Most of my stuff was with Elizabeth Moss, but I got to work a bit with Melissa and Tiffany as well, which is just a job. joy and um first time director who did a great job and you know it was the right way for me to go back to work right it was a supporting role I could go in and just do my thing and kind of be a little easier it was nice to go back that way have you kept the poster for the little stranger in your in your apartment or home it's pretty creepy it's like you decaying like it's my favorite poster of anything I've ever been in yeah it's like that and then star wars uh last jett are like my two favorite posters I adore the poster for a little stranger I think Lenny had a lot

to do with it nice I think it's like a really really cool thing and I think it really represents the film but it's going to be true you know we just got to convince people that it's worth seeing that it's like exciting and that it's not like because it's a period piece but everyone wants to talk about downtown abbey and because it's set at the same time and it's set in the same world

except for these are like their weird cousins who are falling apart you know what I mean so it's kind of a tricky one to talk about but yeah no I love the poster yeah yeah but no I don't have it in my apartment the only poster for movie I have in my apartment is punch drunk love yeah beautiful post

year definitely and not a good same track yes before we started the podcast we were talking about sand tracks uh yes i turned you on to any morricone and untouchables and what am i listening to that you liked yeah well the moon's crossing one and then little april shower from bambi excellent it's so beautiful um he's such a sensitive kid he still likes the little he gets bambi sitting at home furiously masturbating to bambi just furiously and for those wondering yes he is miming masturbating yeah yeah yeah and then it goes drip drip drop little april shower oh no Oh, no, I've ruined it for myself and everyone else. Oh, or made it even more wonderful.

Come with your beautiful music. That's the words. Jesus. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, there goes Bambi. So back to London. You go.

Yeah, I go back to Star Wars on... I go back to Star Wars on Monday, yeah. You've literally traumatized yourself. No, I know. I'm staring into the abyss. I'm like, fuck, I used to watch that. with my grandparents. Oh, God damn it.

So when you see Adam on set, yeah. Do you hug him? Like, what's the nature of like the, of the, of the real person relationship versus this tense... He is brilliant. He worked with my brother as well.

Yeah. I think, did I give him a hug? I maybe did. I think I did. He doesn't feel huggy to me. Well, he's big, you know? He's a big dude. Like, you've got to hug up,

which is unusual. You know what I mean? You feel like you're draping your arms up around. Like, you feel like you're hugging your parents. when you're a kid. Like, I should do this thing and go, upsie, you know? Up, up, up.

Dad, Dad, Da, Up. Like, that's what I should be doing with him. Piggy back, right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He wouldn't like that. I'm not going to do that. He's excellent in Black Clansman, by the way.

I've not seen it, yeah, I can't wait for that. He told a joke the other day. What? And it was really funny. And it is, maybe I shouldn't tell this joke. You can decide if you can leave it in. Okay. It's Jesus and the 12 apostles at the last supper, right?

and Jesus looks at 12 apostles and says you know the Lord has told me that one of you will betray me and Judas says is it me Lord or no is it me Judas looks at him and says is it me Jesus and Jesus goes is it me Jesus? I'm keeping it. Isn't that a great joke? That's amazing. Yeah. How was his delivery? Oh so much better than mine. So much better than mine

and I've been telling everyone that joke since You should take it. Take what you can. Are you going to cry when Star Wars is over? Is he going to... Yeah. No, no, I will. I think that...

I won't. But, you know, three movies. There's a lot of movies. And, no, this has been a different journey. It's a different journey with Hooks than it is with Dr. Faraday. Yeah. Well, everybody should check out, as you were saying, a little stranger.

Lenny Abramson is, again, one of our most unique... I don't even know how to describe his talent. It's just he can do anything, it would seem. and hopefully you guys are going to be collaborating on anything and everything for years to come. Yeah, I really hope so, and I think it will happen. I think that he's one of the best filmmakers working right now, and it would be a crime if people didn't see what he has to offer. And it's nice that you got over the fact that he cast Jacob Trombly in Room instead of you.

I know you guys were... And Breedler. I mean, it's just ridiculous. It's just ridiculous. You guys needed a break for one film. I know. And that's the one that got the Oscars. But there we go. There we go.

You're always welcome here for a random 35-minute chat. Thank you so much. for having me back. It's really fun. I've been listening to lots of Happy Sad Confused recently. Thanks, dude. Yeah, next time we'll get, we'll get Brian on. I need another gleason. You just need to, like, diversify. Sure. Paul Rudd and Justin Threw were on. I listened to that. That was very

funny. That was a good one. That's like, that's a real gift you have there. Uh-oh. That's a wet one. We need to get Donald to a bathroom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Josh, it's been great to be. I need to go. I've loved coming to talk about my classy movie, The Little Stranger. Another thing he learned from Adam Driver.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's always doing that in his Kylo-R-R-Reyn costume. Okay, thanks, buddy. 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 pressure to do this by Josh.

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