Happy Sad Confused - Edgar Wright

Episode Date: June 29, 2017

Before “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” and yes, even before “Spaced”, there was “Baby Driver”. At least in Edgar Wright’s brain, that’s how far back this pet project goes and now a mere 22 years later after he first dreamed up a unique blend of action, car chases, and music, his crowd pleasing critical hit, “Baby Driver” is in theaters. With this, in his first visit to “Happy Sad Confused”, Wright and Josh of course engage in full on nerding out on everything from "Mad Max" to "Star Wars." Wright reveals the first filmmaker that gave his films a seal of approval and why he regrets his one chance encounter with Martin Scorsese. Plus, Wright opens up about the awkwardness that came after leaving “Ant-Man”, including why he still can’t even bring himself to watch a trailer for 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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See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. this week on happy sad confused edgar wright on baby driver cool directors and a marvel movie that shall not be named hey guys i'm josh harrowitz welcome to my podcast i'm flying solo this week sammy's not around for the moment don't worry she'll be back next week stop your conspiracy theories it's okay um but i'm not entirely alone of course because coming up on this week's show uh one awesome director. Mr. Edgar Wright is in the house or he was in the house

until a second ago when he just left. We had a great conversation about his new film, Baby Driver. If you love movies, if you love Edgar, you obviously know about this one, but to put it simply, it's kind of an action musical in a weird way, starring Ansel Elgordon, John

Ham and Jamie Fox and Kevin Spacey. It's a blast. It's now out in theaters. You should check it out. Support actual original filmmaking. as opposed to franchises, those are fine too, but it's cool to support a cool director like Edgar. We cover a lot in this conversation.

Edgar is somebody that lives and breathes movies as much and clearly probably more than I do and knows all the players, knows like every significant filmmaker, it seems, in the last couple decades and has befriended them. We swap stories about some of the greats. And, yeah, we do talk a little bit about Ant-Man.

We don't call it Ant-Man in this interview. It's the Marvel movie. It's the movie that shall not be named. And yeah, we deal with a little bit of what went down on that. And he's very open and honest about sort of how that went down and kind of lessons learned. But the focus, as I said, is really just this is a big film geek out session. And I think anyone that's a fan of movies in general and Edgar specifically should enjoy this one. So I'm going to leave the preamble really brief today because we want to get to the main event.

Enjoy this conversation with Edgar Wright. And again, check out Baby Driver. It's out in theaters right now. My late-night voice. The soothing tones of Edgar Wright, master director. Whispering Bob Harris. That was the name of a British DJ. Is that right?

Yeah. It's such a pleasure to welcome Mr. Edgar Wright. That's my podcast voice, Edgar. What's your podcast voice? This is my late-night radio voice. It's made slightly huskier by not having slept enough. We're going to keep Edgar up for the next. 45 minutes. That's my only task, not to entertain you guys out there, just to keep Edgar Wright awake.

I know. I feel if I, like, if I wasn't doing interviews or podcasting, I would, like, dissolve into a pile of an espresso parts. You stink of espresso. There were smells in the world. I was just saying, congratulations, man, on the movie. Thank you. It's a great piece of work. Thank you. Yeah, it's, I mean, I know you must be kind of going through kind of like a split experience right now in the last few weeks where, like, my sense is you. You enjoy, obviously, talking about the movie and interacting with fans and critics and audiences and doing the Q&As at the same time, the body wants to die. So, but are you still getting kind of like a rush out of each and every one of these Q&A's and just like seeing what the reaction is to this one? Because it's obviously a crowd pleaser. Well, it's a funny thing is I sort of have to pinch myself that the film exists because I haven't quite got it through my, into my head.

that this is a movie that's coming out and not just a movie that I've been talking about for like years on end. So it is that funny thing that I see every now. I don't honestly know what I'm going to do once it's out because it feels like sort of the culmination of just so much like thinking time over the years. I mean, this movie, the initial spark of the idea goes back before Sean of the Dead in Spaced. So it's funny sometimes when some critics say, oh, it's a departure from the other movies. And I was thinking, well, it's actually like an older idea than the other movies. So, you know, sometimes when you've had like an idea for something, and I'm sure a lot of people who, you know, want to get into film,

have this thing where you start to feel like the boy who cried wolf with a movie. And so I've honestly been talking or thinking about this for so many years that the fact that it's actually in cinemas blows my mind, let alone anybody else. Yeah, for nothing else, at least you've got this out of your system. And the bonuses, it's super entertaining and everybody's loving it. Like, that's the gravy. No, I couldn't be proud of the movie, and I'm very excited for you able to see it. So was this one that, I mean, you talk about how far back it goes.

Was this the kind of project that you were always kind of noodling with, coming back to? Or was there a completed, like, when was there a completed screenplay that at the time you thought, like, I'm ready to direct this? I finished the first draft of the screenplay before the world's end. It was just around that time where I wrote two screenplays in a row, and not just because I'd taken the image. advance on both five years before, maybe four years before. Now, I first started talking to work in title about it in 2007, and then I went off and made Scott Pilgrim, and then after Scott Pilgrim, I started writing both Baby Driver and the World's End, and so I had a draft of it in 2011.

This is absolutely true. I've never told this story before, but I very, very deliberately finished the draft before a drive came out in the cinema because I was watching. worried about what that was going to be? Well, this is the absolute truth, is that that movie is produced by the producers of Scott Pilgrim. So it was so close to home, and I knew it was sort of coming. And I remember saying to Adam Siegel,

who's the producer of driver, said, hey, I have a getaway driver film. And, but I knew that my, even though I hadn't seen the film yet at that point, I knew that what I was doing was different, even if for both movies, the jumping off point is Walter Hill's 1978 movie, The Driver, But it might, you know, I knew my movie is like, well, my movie's like a car chase movie powered by music.

So even though it has a getaway driver in it, they're two very different movies. I was still nervous about that movie until I saw it. And then I thought, oh, this is a different thing. This is like a film noir, like a neo-noir and much more of a sort of character, mood piece. And mine is more like sort of, you know, going in a blues brother's direction. Right, exactly. So I think sort of the fact that it was tonally very different and also, as it ended up being, like, six years apart was good.

Ansel does not wear a scorpion jacket. His wardrobe's very impressive, but there is no satin scorpion that I saw. He does not kick a man to death in an elevator. Stay through the end credits, though. You never know. Dude, what about, I mean, again, apples and oranges, but I know you're as big a fan as I think of this one, but Mad Max Fury Road.

When you saw that one... Oh, it's amazing. Insane. And obviously, what he was able to do with, again, kind of reinventing, I mean, to call it almost, the car chase is almost to like minimalize what he was able to do in that one. Well, that one to me, like Mad Max Fury Road is like George Miller basically doing the 2015 version of the general. It's like, so taking something like Buster Keaton's the General or John Ford's stagecoach to its, it's like futuristic limit.

And I was very lucky actually that whilst I was prepping baby, I met George Miller for the first time because we share a sound mixer. Julian Slater, who's done all of my movies, was doing few. Fury Road. And he said, oh, I'm working with George Miller at the moment. Would you like to meet him? He's a fan of yours. I was like, uh, yeah. Yes, I'd like to meet Dr. George Miller. So I had dinner with George before I'd seen Mad Max. And then they asked me if I would moderate a Q&A for Mad Max with George. I was like, of course. And this was all before I'd seen the movie. Then I saw the movie. I was like, oh boy, what a masterpiece. So I was in the great position to sort of, A, interview George on stage and then B, dinner afterwards, like pick his brains,

further. And he was somebody, there was a couple of directors that I picked their brains about car chases before shooting baby driver, and George Miller was one of them. And so I've been lucky enough to kind of get doctor's surgery with George. And he's seen the movie and he really loves it. Amazing. So that was kind of incredible. I know, I mean, you know, it seems like you kind of know every cool director out there and there's a lot of mutual. Who have I never met? Well, I'm curious about that. I've never met Brian De Palmer. Is that right? Never met Brandon Farmer. I've met to Parma.

I've met to Parma. I got one on you. What? He's a scary guy. He's an intimidating dude. I know. I've never met Woody Allen. Woody's been on the podcast?

Really? I know. Big moment for me, Edgar. I haven't heard that one. How I read that one? Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Did he, he didn't do happy set confused. I'm sure everyone is confused for Woody Allen.

I couldn't bring him to even ask him. He's just, it's too much. It would have been born my brain away. But, yeah. It would be with Woody Allen. It would be anxious, confused and downbeat. I don't. get happy um physically impossible um what about because like i know uh raising

arizona is obviously a bit of an influence was that the first cohen's brother's movie that kind of blew your mind away was that the first one you saw i think it's i think it's probably the first one i saw yeah um yes i mean i well what's funny is that we i mean i do know joel and ethan because we share a producer, because Eric Felner, who produced Baby Driver and Sean and Hot Fathers in The World's End, produces a lot of Joel in Nathan's movies. So actually, Joel came to see the movie the other day, which was great. I mean, I'm such huge fans of them. I mean, I'm now still trying to think which directors I haven't met, which ones that you can lord it over me that you have. Well, I want to hear about, so what would you want to talk to De Palma about?

I'm a huge DePama fan as well. What's your... Well, sometimes there's those people. Well, sometimes you don't want to meet your heroes because you think sort of like, oh, I don't want them to think I'm not cool, like sort of not being impressive in a way. I met Martin Scorsese once for about 30 seconds. And, like, it was great. But the first thing he said to me, and I had no idea,

and I still don't whether he's ever even seen anything that I've done. Because the introduction went like this, is like said, oh, Martin, or Marty, this is Edgar Wright. He directed Sean of the Dead. And Matt Scorsesey says, do you ever see a film called The Return of Dr. X with Humphrey Bogart? And I was like, no, he goes, great movie. It's a zombie movie. It's a great movie.

And he starts telling me the synopsis of this movie. And then my like 30 seconds is up and it's like, I admitted to him that I hadn't seen a movie. Now he thinks I'm not cool. If you had said yes, then you're down to really scary rabbit hole. But you're right. Your relationship with Marty might have changed on a dime. If just at some point in your past, you'd seen that damn return of Dr. X?

I know. I just thought maybe, I don't know if he's ever seen any of my movies, but I'm sure, like, the only thing he remembers about me is that I have. I haven't seen it, Dr. X. Oh, yeah, I'd have right. The guy that hasn't seen that good zombie movie. Who was the first filmmaker of, like, that you kind of worship that you got to know, like, when you started to, like... I think the first person who, like, I would say after Shorn the Dead that, like, made the world smaller was George Romero.

Like, I think he was the first person that we reached out to after we'd made the movie. We sort of asked the studio... Yeah. We just thought, like... you know, I thought, and it was taking a kind of bit of a gamble because that doesn't always work in terms of, you know, you're doing something that's like a homage to somebody and they might love it or they might hate it or they might even just refuse to watch it. But George Amaro watched the movie in Florida, I think he was on holiday and a universal arranged for him to watch it in Florida. And the one funny detail about that that I thought was, he watched it on his own in a multiplex somewhere in the Florida Keys. it was him and a universal security guard watching the movie.

And I was thinking, are you worried that George Amaro is going to pirate the movie? I mean, even if he did, he, technically he's entitled to some of our residuals because the movie wouldn't exist without him. So he was probably the first person because then he called us afterwards. We got, like, both me and Simon separately got a phone call from George Amaro, which was just, like, amazing. So I think he was probably the first person that I, like, a big fan of that I actually. met through my work.

And is there anybody that you've befriended at this point that still you kind of have a trouble disassociating like 12-year-old Edgar when you're talking to them when you're still thinking like, oh my God, I'm talking to George Miller? Are there certain ones of those or are you able to get past that and talk to them as a colleague at this point, generally speaking? Well, I think it's funny, like, so I would have said that about, you know, it's funny with somebody like the Coens is like I would have said that about them. But what is funny is like, oh, I guess we share a producer now.

out, you know, and like, sort of, and they couldn't be, I mean, you know this, you've interviewed them and stuff, but, I mean, it's also those people that's funny, like, sort of, that kind of have an enigmatic air in public, like Christopher Nolan or the Coen Brothers, the internet actually in sort of private, they're actually sort of like down to earth and gossipy and silly and kind of all those things. I mean, there's lots of people that I kind of like, I mean, I still kind of like, I don't know, like something like Sam Ramey was like when I was a teenager, it was like a hero of mine. And so just to just. to kind of like hang out with him is still like, oh, this is like, and I, sometimes it's that thing like sort of you don't know, you know, another example would be, I mean, what I was gonna say about Samaray movies, I find that he's so modest that like I have to really impress upon him how much he means to me and I finally did it, I was doing a Q&A for Evil Dead 1 and 2

and it was with him and Bruce Campbell and I thought now I've actually got them captive in front an audience, I'm going to tell them what they mean to me in front of, like, 500 people because then they can't, like, sort of squirm out of it. And it was really nice. It was great. I mean, I guess the other person that I've actually worked for, which is another sort of pinch-me kind of moment, obviously, Stephen Spielberg.

Sure. And me and Joe Cornish wrote on Tintin. And, in fact, I saw him the other day because he's seen Baby Driver, and he couldn't have been more complimentary about it. And I was like, what about the last five minutes? The Riffs off Sugarhound Express. I was just going to say. But he liked that and like sort of, I mean, you know, those things, they're just kind of amazing.

I don't really know what to say. Yeah. It's all good. Whatever works. A journalist said to me the other day, they said, a journalist said to me the other day, she goes, on your Wikipedia page under personal life, there is not a single fact that doesn't revolve around films. And I was like, you know I don't write that page, right? You know that there's maybe more to me than like that, just my personal life bit in my, in my Wikipedia.

page. But I like the idea that people think that you write your IMDB page or a trivia page. You can always tell a lazy interviewer when their questions are just your IMD trivia page in order. It's happened to me like three times. And as soon as somebody says like, tell me about your brother, Oscar. Okay. He's a storyboard artist. He says, is it true that you're a fan of action films? Somebody asked me the other day and I said, I said, you've seen Baby Driver, right?

Okay. Two guesses. I have a, I have a, this is, this absolutely happened to me in an interview the other day. And this is going to head off one of your questions. But like an interviewer was talking about the movie and then they said it was a German interview and he said, he said, obviously in the news recently we've read about lots of terrorist incidents with terrorists taking control of vans and plowing them into pedestrians on bridges and how do you feel about the violence in your film, the depiction of violence in your film

with this in the news. And I said, well, I said, if you watch my movie, I think you'll see that it has a very moral ending you know there is a sort of a strong sort of like moral comeuppance of some decisions and like the idea of taking a responsibility of your actions which means that you're not just kind of condoning this kind of like um mayhem and that's really important and it was important for me to have you know like sort of you know have a crime doesn't pay message but also the plot of the movie like revolves around the character taking responsibility for his actions so i think i answered that question okay. And then the next question he said, he goes,

and next question he goes, would you be interested in doing a superhero movie? And I said, no, I said, you can't ask that question and then do it 180. You lose the right to ask the superhero question. If you've done it the other way around, fine. If you didn't do that, you can't go really heavy with like

a terrorist question and then go into, so would you direct the flash? It's like, no, I'm not answering that question. I'm sorry. So I actually refuse to answer the question. That's amazing. That's why I don't bother with the terrorism questions. I know. I want the stupid silly stuff.

Listen, it's just easier to talk about would you do a Star Wars maybe, would you do a superhero movie, than getting into like sort of getting into that. But I just thought like, so I'm sorry, you are not allowed to do that. I respect that. I know this film wasn't initially set in Atlanta. I like that you did do that. You decided to like give it a very specific. And when I was thinking about that, like all of your films have a very specific grounded. ever location you've chosen for it, like you own that location.

And just give me a sense, is that something that that's part and parcel for you in making just like a solid story? And give me a sense of sort of like how you had to adapt this one, particularly to the environs of Atlanta. Well, I think one of the pleasures of, you know, working around the world is that if you're, if you're working somewhere is actually becoming invested in where you're in. And Toronto and Atlanta, Toronto and Scott Pilgrim and Atlanta and Baby Driver, They're both cities that rarely play themselves.

And I always think when I watch those movies, like, I wouldn't have gone to Atlanta unless I'd set it there. The idea of trying to make Atlanta look like Los Angeles is just like, it's just a joke. And, like, you know, I just, I don't know. It just makes me sort of feel like sort of it's like such a huge amount of brainpower trying to make a city look like another city and not succeeding. Yes. sometimes it kind of works

you know say like a good example would be something like the movie Spotlight which is shot in Toronto and Boston but they totally pull off you know the feeling that you're in Boston it never takes you out of it you're never like oh that's probably not really yeah Boston but like I mean I wrote the movie in Los Angeles

because that's the city I knew the most but then when you know Atlanta sort came up as an option and you know to be completely frank as a sort of less prohibitively prohibitively expensive option I thought well maybe I should try and reset it here so I actually and I'd only ever really been to Atlanta like on press tours and also I was going to make another movie there in a studio so I'd only really seen the studio and again that movie was not supposed to be set in Atlanta so I thought okay I'm going to make an Atlanta movie I want to send in Atlanta let me go to Atlanta and just kind of explore and see all the things I've never seen and very quickly it felt right.

And I got to say, and I'm not just saying this, but I think the film is better being in Atlanta than if I'd said it in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, you're in the same city as, like, heat and the driver and drive, and to live in Dine, L.A., and reservoir dogs and point break, and several other ones. Whereas in Atlanta, it felt like

they actually hadn't been, like, a car chase movie made there since smoking in the bandit or white lightning and gaiter. So, but also, like, Atlanta's an fascinating city because obviously on a sort of cultural and political level it's fascinating it's also a huge music city and it is a big still like muscle car central like you know you still get challenges and charges on every street corner whereas LA is all Priuses is there is there a location that um you're issuing to tell a story on is there a city or a locale that would be like that you've like played around with

in your brain even if you haven't come up with a story yet like oh it'd be kind of cool too because obviously you've never shot here in New York this was no I mean it's Yeah, I mean, yeah, obviously New York and L.A. are, like, amazing places to kind of, like, set something. I think, I mean, San Francisco is the other one. Right. I mean, San Francisco, which back in the 50, 60s, 70s and 80s was, like, the place to shoot is now another one that's, like, a much more expensive than it used to be, which is a shame because I, some of my favorite movies are set in San Francisco, and it's, like, such a beautiful, beautiful place and an interesting, dramatic location. From Vertigo to Mrs. Doubtfire. I mean, everything in between.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Dirty Harry series. Bullets, obviously. Did you mention a bullet already? I didn't. For some reason, what's up, Doc? Take the money and run. Star Trek for the Voyage Home. Star Trek for the Voyage Home.

Did you know that movie was supposed to originally start Eddie Murphy? Oh, believe me, I know. Isn't that amazing? It's crazy. I think I asked Eddie about that once. Yeah, because I'm so fascinated by that one. What that would have been. Insane.

Star Trek for The Golden Child. I love the Golden Child. You know what? Love is a strong word. I like the golden child. I saw the golden child when it first came out. And when I was 12, I loved it. I'm not sure.

I tried to watch a bit on Netflix the other day, and I wasn't so sure. It's probably culturally insensitive. It's no big trouble in Little China, that's for sure. Come on. I'm convinced that you hear about how they're doing a comic book, John Carpenter is writing a sequel comic to Big Trouble and Little China. I didn't know that. And someone, I'm not going to take credit for this,

but someone made the point on Twitter the other day that, like, if you tried to kickstart a sequel to Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter would have like a $60 million budget in a week. I'm convinced of it. Do you think that he, yeah, I think, I mean, well, here's what's interesting about some of those movies is that, I mean, it is incredible, like when you, I'm not necessarily saying it's a good idea,

but I do think that there's a word, there's a will. I think there's, there's an appetite for anything now that we grew up with in the 80s or 90s, it seems. Well, it's so, I mean, what's funny to me is that I remember that movie, I remember being the only person in the cinema when I saw it. And in fact, if you look at, like, Box Office Mojo, like, Big Trumblyle of China, like, opened at number 12. It opened outside the top 10,

which given the love that it has now seems kind of insane that that movie was not, like, even a semi-hits at the time. Yeah. But what's funny, though, as well, I mean, having seen, like, Kurt Russell in the Guardians of the Galaxy, I kind of feel like, Kurt Russell has still got a sparkle in his eye that many other actors his age do not have.

Totally. So I kind of feel like if you did, Big Travel and China, it should be with old Kurt Russell. Oh, absolutely. Yes. I mean, there's one in development with, like, I mean, I love Twain Johnson, and I'm sure he'll make something entertaining. But you're right. Like, I kind of want the original Jack Burton.

I mean, listen. You know Woody Allen. We could get this made immediately. I don't know if Woody's the guy. Really? Oh, okay. Okay, so you alluded to that other little thing in Atlanta you were going to do, and we talked many times going into it. You probably hated it every time I mentioned it beforehand, and now you hate it that I'm mentioning it after the fact.

As long as we don't mention the words. Do you want to just avoid the actual movie title? Yeah, it could be like my Voldemort, like the movie that should not be named. Okay, it's a deal. Okay, a couple questions. When it fell apart, when whatever we want to call it, how long did you spend in the corner like whaling? I mean, that's a blow. I mean, how long did it take?

Because Baby Driver came pretty quickly after that. You got it going. The truth of the matter is, it was sort of like an amputation where it was an immediate relief. because I knew in my gut that it wasn't, didn't quite feel right. And then the really, the sort of breaking point, which has sort of been, you know, which is true, which is kind of like sort of reported, is that they wanted to do a draft without me and Joe, and having worked on it for eight years, and being a writer-director on everything else I've done, you know, I basically said, well, show me the draft.

But I knew even as I was waiting for the draft, which was supposed to take two weeks and end up taking six weeks. So then I had like six weeks of thinking time And by this point I had spoken to lots of my director friends And nearly all of them told me to do what I was thinking of doing anyway Which is like, well, you should walk and do your own thing Yeah So it was a tough decision

The toughest thing about it was just And I don't I do not regret not doing the movie At all I regret the time wasted And that's the biggest bummer And not just for me but for Joe Cornish It's just like, he particularly is like, he's just getting his next movie going right now. I was going to say, we still haven't seen another director since sack the block.

It's coming. He's actually shooting at this autumn for U.S. listeners. We know what autumn is. Yeah, okay. So basically, and I won't say who because I don't want to, I'm already a terrible name dropper. But one of, like, my one director friend of mine said something, he said, he goes, listen, there's always going to be more Marvel movies, but only you can make the next egg of right movie. I was like, yes, I agree.

And so really, you know, the positive things about it, I will say this. Like, I got my friend Paul Rudder job and a few jobs. A few jobs. And we're still friends. And that's important to me. And the people, the heads of department that left the film in solidarity to me, I eventually got them a job on Baby Driver. I basically made Baby Driver with the crew that I was going to work with

than Atlanta, like, doing a completely different film. The only thing, the toughest thing for me, so it wasn't a wailing thing in terms of wailing walking away from the movie. To be honest, the toughest thing about it was, like, I said to my agent, like, just afterwards, and by the way, they were all in agreement with means. I mean, it's the thing. You were trying to make a situation that you could see going south work,

but it wasn't so much going south. It's more, like, sort of, you know, like, I respect that they have the sort of continuity and their brand and everything. But it's the thing where it's like, If I'm just a director for hire on this, I don't really know what I'm doing. Right. You know, so I think there's a thing is, like, to do one of those movies, I have to be completely emotionally invested.

Otherwise, I'm starting to sort of wonder why I'm there. So I sort of said that before is I wanted to make a Marvel movie, but I don't think they really wanted to make an egg the right movie. And I think that's the most diplomatic answer. And, you know, but I'm happy for Paul Rudd and we're still very good friends. What did you say to Paul when this was all going down? That was, there was some tough phone calls. It was tough because, I mean, he, he knew that it was, like, tough for me.

So that was kind of hard for sure. And, you know, yeah, I mean, the thing is also what, I mean, the toughest thing for me, the toughest thing was I said to my age and I said, I'm going to be okay as long as I'm making a movie by the time that one comes out. Right. And I still wasn't making Baby Driver when that came out. So that was the, that was the toughest part was actually like a year later because then Baby Driver, was sort of happening, but maybe not happening. And it's that tough thing, especially when you're in L.A. trying to get something

going. And because, like, Brits are generally, like, sort of self-deprecating and, like, glass, half-empty people, there's always that thing, like, American directors say, like, when I make this movie and British directors are saying, well, if I make Baby Driver, so if I make, when

you make Baby Driver, saying, yeah, no. So if I make, when I make baby Driver, like, so. You're secreting it into the universe. So it wasn't really until, like, October 2015, that then, like, we got the green light. Right. And to be honest, that was actually sort of, like, everybody had been really excited about the script, but any original movie is just, like, really tough to get made.

So it eventually becomes, like, the sheer momentum of, like, actors on the project now. And I think, to be honest, it's, like, once kind of, like, Kevin and Jamie came on as well, and it's like, okay, now we got Antelow or Lily James. John Hamm, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Fox, and then it's like, okay, this is a go. This is going to work, yeah. And I have to say, by the way, to mention a few of those, I can't think of someone that in a film has used John as effectively. I feel like no one's been able to crack what to do with the John Hamm. Like, he can do so much.

John is the one member of the cast I've known the longest because I strike, funny enough, I met John when he was hosting SNL for the first time. I'm friends of Bill Hayden named drop. and a lot of name drop in. We started with me saying Woody Allen on the podcast. You're okay. That's pretty good. I can't believe I missed that one.

Oh my God. But I met John at the after party of his first S&L. I had known the longest. What's funny is I did write it with him in mind. And I think John is always like sort of it's always bemused by that because it's like, he wrote it with me in mind

and I play a psycho. But he's amazing. I mean, he's amazing in it. I think John's fantastic, and it was so – when I finished the first draft of the script, I did a read-through in, like, 2012 at the offices in Working Title in Los Angeles. And, you know, with read-throughs, you kind of bring in, like, actors who were just available to come and read. John was the only person at that table who was still in the movie. So that was kind of something, and I'm playing the same part as well.

So one more movie that shall not be named question. I heard you haven't seen that movie. The closest I came is that somebody on the plane next to me. I was watching him. So does that extent to, like, when that character appears in other movies? Like, is ever... Oh, no, I did actually... This is absolutely true.

I said to that Paul the other day, I said, he knows that I haven't seen. I... Not only have I not seen the movie, I've never seen the trailer. Wow. It's a lot of strength, because I know you're... And you're... You like to consume media. You like to be in it.

It's a very clever thing you do, Josh. And if anybody else is in a similar situation, so my tip for Philling Chris, is that you, if you go to the movies, just go to the concession line and skip all. all the trailers. The trailers are so great. Yeah, no, but you can skip them for four months.

Believe me, I did. Because I never want to be sitting in a full arc light. And then, like, people, like, turn around to me and go, hmm? What do you think? So I basically, Josh R. Oates tweeting. Just saw Edgar watching.

Absolutely. Absolutely managed to totally avoid it completely. And that was kind of amazing. The closest I came was that somebody on the plane next to be started watching. And I was thinking, I might do some emails. Suddenly, I'm very focused. All right, some hot button... Oh, I was going to say.

The one thing I said to Paul, as I said, I haven't seen the movie, but you are very funny inside a war. Some hot buttoned movie issues. I want your take on this. Okay, sure. Avatar, I mean, can James Cameron do wrong? Do we need four more movies? Whatever James wants goes.

What's your take on that? Okay, this is controversial, but it's not anything that... But I would say, I love James Cameron, and I just feel like I want him to do some more movies and not just something that I've already seen him do for the next five years. So I don't know what to say is. I'm interested to see what's next

because here's the thing I'd say about James Cameron. I know that something big is coming because I don't think James Cameron does anything unless he feels he can completely rewrite the rule book. So I'm sure whatever he has in mind from Avatar on some kind of technical scale is going to be mind-blowing. But rewriting it four different times? You know what I mean?

Well, I just feel. feel, you know, sometimes with directors that you love their work, you know, and I actually rewatched aliens last year when it was the 20th anniversary of screenings. It was like, what an amazing movie. What an amazing movie that is. And I love Alien as well, but like aliens, they're both great. And it's like, that is a perfect, like, popcorn movie. That movie is perfect. So I kind of feel like, oh, I just want to see him do some other stuff as well. If he sort of said, which he hasn't, if he said, like, I'm going to do four more advertisers and then that's it. I'd be like, oh, it's a bummer because I want to see

do some other stuff. Right. Speaking of which, Daniel Day Lewis, is he going to stay retired? I don't know. Is he cobbling again? I don't know. Have you ever met Daniel Day Lewis? No, I've been in the same room as him. I mean, he's one of those people who like, I mean, I'm excited for the new movie. Is it called the Phantom Thread? Is that what I hear you?

Yeah. And I know, but I've never met him, no. I mean, I've been in the same room as him a couple of times but I mean I'm a huge fan I'd like to think that maybe that's not true what's just how he's feeling at the moment I don't know yeah I've met him just to say that's all has he been on the podcast no of course not but I interviewed him but that's not his his version of happy sad confused was enigmatic enigmatic he's a genius uh your buddy quentin is it really gonna do 10 and out is he going to do 10 films do you guys talk about his like plan of uh I think

he's sincere when he says that yeah and I understand it like because um i think i think he is i think that's what his plan is and i understand that i don't know whether like um he changed his opinion but like i think so i mean i i i know he's right i know he's written something and do you know more about it that you're not going to tell me i have not read it so no i don't but do you know like genre and i did read the hateful and then when that script got leaked onto the internet i kind of said it wasn't me I said I swear it's in my bedroom It hasn't left my room

It wasn't me It was Michael Madsen It wasn't me So I don't know I think that's what he plans to But I don't know I mean

You know like It's difficult to say Whether people change their minds About stuff Like Daniel DeLewis might come back You know Everybody thought Terence Malick had gone forever And then he

Makes a movie a year Seems like Can't stop him So are we Okay In the Han Solo news My general question about this stuff Is

Are we hearing more about these things do they happen all the time and we're just not aware about it or of it or is because it feels like rogue one hon solo just to sleep i mean there's like this seems didn't be the sad new model for these like tent pole movies um and it's a little disturbing to watch i guess you probably do hear more about stuff now than you ever did i mean there's things like you can hide something like this well sometimes i mean sometimes about like older movies you find out like um the you know directors had left halfway through, like Philip Kaufman was supposed to be the director on Outlaw J.C. Wales or Martin Brest was supposed to be the director on war games. I didn't really

know anything about that at the time. Apparently, Kurt Russell basically directed Tombstone. Is that right? Yeah. Oh, I did not know that one. Yeah. Um, but I don't know. I guess, you know, there's more, um, I don't know. There's more websites about movies and stuff. I don't know. What's, uh, is it time to reevaluate the prequels? I know you and Simon, I've had long conversations with Simon about this. It seems like there might be a turning. I feel like there's a little bit of a turn in the film internet where like, oh yeah, let's give the prequels another chance.

Wait, what are the prequels? The star, I have not, I don't know, actually. I don't know. I haven't re-watched them, like, I haven't re-watched them. That's not top of your list to go back to. I think I watched the only one I saw twice was the last one. I've not seen the others. What do you think Star Wars should do post episode nine?

I don't know. I mean, I honestly, you know, I look forward to, you know, I look forward to sort of what, I mean, what's interesting about the Force Awakens, I think, is that, like, I got to say that I think the new cast really pop. Yeah. And that's something that, like, is, you know, you've got to give credit to JJ for that in terms of the casting. And that even though you've got all those returning actors of Harrison Ford and Mark. Camel and Carrie Fisher, you know, your main, and I see Daniels, like, sort of, you know, your main thing you take away from that is like, I want to see Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac and John Boyager again and Adam Driver, like all the new people.

So I think sort of that I'd be interested to see where it goes. I don't know what happens to be online. I, like, sort of, it's interesting. You know, some of these things that, like, are your favorite franchises when you were little, I don't necessarily, I want to kind of just watch them. I don't need to kind of get involved, I don't know. Did you come close? How close did you come on mission?

Mission was sounded like there was a little bit of talk. Oh, no, I had a meeting about it, but I couldn't really do it scheduling-wise. It feels like that actually is a, I know like you're, you know, you'd rather do kind of like your thing and have control, et cetera. But mission of any of the franchises almost seems like one that could suit you, Mission Impossible. I just don't like that Simon Pegg guy. I just think he's like sort of, you know, is dragging it down. Very hammy, and even as he tries to reduce his body fat to look more like Tom Cruise, it doesn't make him a better actor.

It makes me upset. Did it make you upset when he started to get in shape? No, no, no. I have this theory about, well, on Hot Fuzz he got really lean, and I have this theory which I told Simon about is I think that when Simon started to get in crazy shape was after he had to share a two shot with Tom Cruise and Mission Apostle 3. Because any person, I mean, I would not like to share a two-shirt with Tom Cruise.

You just look like a potato. So after that, Simon was then just in ridiculous shape. It has been ever since. So I think that's the Tom Cruise effect. Okay. So no mission because of Pegg, sorry. Okay. Yeah, listen, if Peg was out of mission, I'd do it in a second.

Fair enough. Have you been watching Twin Peaks at all? Have you ever been up to speed? I have, like, I mean, I've been loving it so far. And I just love that David Lynch is just like his own man and so willfully, beautifully obtuse. I mean, I think that that in this day and age of people like sort of thinking about franchise.

I mean, it does have franchise continuity. That's what's amazing about it. But I just love the fact that he just follows his own muse. And he's not kind of like, you know, because I think the thing is, I think you can get into dangerous territory when you, it's that thing of like, don't give the audience what they want,

give them what they need. And, like, so not many people kind of think about that because then people say, like, so we're giving the fans what they want, and then it's like people don't actually want that. They want something different, you know? Right. I mean, like, eight episodes in, and we haven't seen, like, actual Agent Cooper really yet. We've seen Dougie, who I love. I am not quite up to speed, but I've been enjoying what I've seen so far.

So, speaking of which, because I remember, like, you were in, and we talked, like, in the whole spaced Mick G. debacle, that whole thing. Like, do you own all your own, all the material? Could, like, Sean and everything, like, out of your control? Oh, I think, sort of on Sean and Hot Fuzz and et cetera, we have, like, a veto on stuff and we don't want to do stuff because we've stopped, like, a US TV version of, like, Sean or, like, sort of somebody remaking Sean, and it's like, no, no. Or, like, somebody wanted to do, like, a Hot Fuzz American TV show, and I was like,

no, I said the whole point of it is English. It's like, no. Right. Do you have any relationship with Michael Bay post Hot Fuzz? No, I've never, I met him once, and I have another feeling like that he's never seen anything I've done. Oh, no, that's not true, actually. He actually, that is not true. I did actually speak to him on the phone about a stunt coordinator to do with Baby Drav, because there was somebody that I interviewed that he had worked with a lot, and we had a nice conversation.

I know whether he's ever seen anything I've done. I remember one time after Hot Fuzz, I was at a party where he was at, and I introduced myself, and I said, Oh, I made the movie Hot Fuzz. And he said, he goes, that's with the guy for Mission Impossible, right? And I knew at that point, I think, okay, so you haven't seen the movie. But no, I don't really know him that well. But he was actually, I have to say, very helpful to me

about some stunt stuff on Baby Driver. Nice. So Baby Driver, I mean, you never clearly, like, do you have aspirations as doing like a full-on musical? Have you ever tried to write, like, songs and lyrics, et cetera, for a film or is that not interest you? Because this is obviously not a musical. You clearly haven't seen my 1990-5 film, Fis for the Fingers,

where it's amazing... I confess I haven't. It's an amazing song when a man loves a horse. Is that true? It is true. No, I mean, have I written a song apart from that one? I mean, um... No, I mean, it's funny.

Like, that's come up a couple of times of would I do a musical. I was like, if it was the right thing, yes, absolutely. I think it would be something I would feel that I'd have to kind of like... I mean, with any genre, it's like, what's the story what it's more about what do you think you can do really well you know so i think that's the case with everything including the film that should not be named is like so if you if you look at it and think i'm the only guy that can make this right then that's the reason to do it but if you feel like somebody else could do it then that's the time to skip off how many ideas go back a couple

decades like baby driver that are that you would potentially come back to are there any others that i mean mostly there are things where you've got something kind of in your head and you can't really rest until you have written it down. I have this other thing at the moment which I'm sort of just wrestling with because I've had the sort of the vague basic idea of it for a while and I just need to like put it on the paper.

So sometimes it's like you sort of have the vision of a movie. I remember strangely enough, like complaining to Adam Siegel who was the director, the producer of Scott Pilgrim and Drive and I was talking to him about writing Baby Driver. One of the toughest things about writing baby driver is

writing the action. Because it's something How do convey that? It's a weird thing. Somebody said to me, was it difficult to bring the script to life? And I said it was actually more difficult the other way around of having this vision of how these sequences should work, but writing them down. Because writing stage directions to be exciting on the page is like a tough, like particular skill. Which weirdly enough, three people we mentioned already do brilliantly. Like some people who write brilliant stage directions, James Cameron.

Quentin Tarantino, Walter Hill. Like, Walter Hill's scripts, if you've never read the script for the driver or the Warriors or Alien, his draft, it's extraordinary. Like, the way he writes kind of stage direction and scene description is extraordinary because he makes it really poppy.

It kind of feels like you're reading beat poetry. So that's, like, a tough thing to do is to write that stuff down. So I remember saying to Adam Siegel, the producer I said, I said, I can see the movie and I can hear the movie and I just have to write it down.

And that's the toughest bit. Or you go the George I was going to say, George Miller, he basically did a comic book. He did a giant, like, with thousands of storyboards, right? It's an amazing idea, and I can totally see why they did that. Yeah. Because also, if you're a writer-director, you know, you're writing the stage directions down. For yourself.

At some point, you're thinking, who is this for? Right. You know? Because you know, like, people, like, they read scripts and they skip the stage directions. Right. Is, what did you need to, as we put a bow on this and let you get to sleep or onto the next thing? do you find that like with every film at this point like is there a goal in terms of like how you're expanding your own skill set like like out of this movie i want to you know you clearly never done car chases like this and now you you have that skill um is there a sense of like what you come out of this one more confident in that you can bring to the next or yeah i mean i think you're always looking to add more strings to your bow in terms of what you i mean and also there's there's obviously see like a great kind of joy in

sometimes you're writing a script because you want to learn how to do something and in a way I think sometimes you write characters that you're living vicariously through do you know what I mean yeah so I think that's something that like I will probably never be a

getaway driver for a gang of bank robbers unless things go desperately south again then you know so you was almost like write the film where you want to learn more about this life and then you're living vicarity through that character it'd be the same and even in scott pilgrim and stuff like i mean i know like like a member

of a band or anything so sometimes you're you know you're writing these things about um particular jobs or like a slice of life that you don't know as a way of kind of experiencing it you know and uh generally speaking outside of the the film that shall not be named it's been a three year gap in between each film that seems to be kind of like the patterned i would like to reduce that i was going to say i mean it's tough mean you can't be like everyone can't be the cone brothers where it's like seems like there's two of them so you know they're immediately they're like half the work split in half so like joll and ethan there's two of them so they can knock out one a year or one every two years but it is true when you see that kind of like work rate you know i actually

met ridley scott the other day a name drop so ridley scott and i said to him i said i said i you know I met him, and I said, I love your work. I'm also like, I'm so envious in your work rate. And he said that he doesn't edit his movies, or rather he lets the editor get on with it, and he's prepping the next one. Because I saw him at the Alien Covenant premiere, and it's like, he goes, I start my next film in three weeks. And I was like, I couldn't even conceive of, like, how that's possible. And the level of filmmaking he's doing.

It's not like he's doing a rom-com. That's like a... Yeah, he's like 79. It's crazy. So, you know, I think that, I mean, the... The truth of the matter is, and why it takes three years, is I write my movies as well. So if you write a movie as well, that's like an immediately, that's an extra year. Right.

So do you have one ready to go now? I think you'll do? Well, there's some stuff that I've been working on, but like I'd like to try and shoot something next year that would be my goal. So I think once this is done and I've had like even just like 20 minutes power an app, then I'll get back on the horse. Is Colchalk even on the West anymore? You know, there is a really good screenplay for that, but I think it's sort of slightly

there's some tricky elements to that one. But D.V. DeVichentes who did the People v. O.J. He actually wrote a really good script for it, actually. I don't know exactly the status of that one. Okay, fair enough. We'll let you get some rest, man. It's always good to see you. Just please let me go to sleep.

You can stay in this podcast studio and sleep if you want. The chair doesn't look that comfortable. Josh, please let me go. He's got soup that's been getting cold for the last 45 minutes. He's done with his green juice. He's operating on fumes people. Go see baby driver. Bring this man back to life.

Please. My life depends on it. You have to go and see my movie. You should see it, but he's going to live either way. But yes, see the movie. Bring your friends. Support Edgar Wright, people. Please.

Please. He's not about begging. Do it for me. Please go and see my movie. I beg of you. My whole family is relying on you guys. to see my movie, like, please, I beg of you. It's an actual really great movie, too.

So don't even do it just for him. It's good to see you, as always. Good to see you. 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.

This episode of Happy, Sad, Confused, was produced by Michael Catano, Mukta Mohan, and Kasha Mahalovich for the MTV Podcast Network, with additional engineering by Little Everywhere. You can subscribe to this and all of our other shows on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. You want to tell him? Or you want me to tell him?

No, no, no. I got this. People out there. People lean in. Get close. Get close. Listen. Here's the deal.

We have big news. We got monumental news. We got spectacular news. After a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back. My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh, and I, are coming back. back to do what we do best. What we were put on this earth to do. To pick a snack. To eat a snack. And to rate

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