Happy Sad Confused - Edgar Wright, Vol. V

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

The only thing Edgar Wright does as well as directing movies is talking about them. Thankfully he's got a new movie out (THE RUNNING MAN) AND he's back on Happy Sad Confused (for the 5th time!) to chat about everything from his favorite Brian De Palma shots to making peace with Kevin Feige. UPCOMING EVENTS Brendan Fraser 11/18 in NYC -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Walker Scobell 12/19 in NYC -- ⁠Tickets here⁠ Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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heigle's free video now at hsc pet dot com that's hsc pet dot com your dog's health will thank you have access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, Edgar Wright returns. You know him. You love him. The Cornetto Trilogy, Scott Pilgrim, Baby Driver, and now the Running Man. Hey, guys, thanks, as always, for joining me on the podcast, for listening, for watching. However, you're enjoying the show, I appreciate you guys.

Yes, Edgar Wright is back, and of course he's back. He's always welcome on this podcast, one of our favorites. You know, any film nerd worships this guy. He lives and breathes this stuff. He is cut from our same cloth. We have the same reference points. The same movies, although I will say he knows movies way more than you or I do. I will venture to say that.

Unless Martin Scorsese, you're listening or watching to the podcast, Edgar Wright knows movies better than you. But he's always such a great chat. And this movie is such a fun ride. Glenn Powell adapted from the classic Stephen King book. This is a way different movie than the Arnold Schwarzenegger adaptation back in 87. And I think you guys got to dig it. It's out in theaters now. So support Edgar.

support the running man, check it out and enjoy this conversation. Before we get to that, though, some quick reminders. We do have some very cool upcoming events, live events here in New York City. If you're listening or watching this before Tuesday night, November 18th, still tickets available for Brendan Fraser talking about his entire career. He's never done the podcast, so there's a lot to cover. And also we're screening his new, very sweet film, rental family. It will probably make you cry. Fair warning. Link is in my show. notes to get your tickets. And also, we have for the Percy Jackson fans out there, and I know you're out there because these tickets have been selling very well, Walker Scobel,

Percy himself, is joining me at 9th 2nd Street. Well, I believe that's December 19th. Get in on that quickly because that is, I think that's going to sell out. That's going fast. Some more things to be announced coming soon. As always, patreon.com slash happy, say I'm confused for all The announcements, the discounts, the merch, early access to the pod. What more can you ask for Patreon.com slash happy, say I confused. Okay, not much more preamble for Edgar. I'll toss right to this conversation. Just to say, a conversation with him is always so easy and fun.

If you love movies, he just speaks our language. He lives and breathes this stuff and has all the reference points. This is a conversation that dives into Running Man, but also, you know, weaves into our love of Brian De Palma and Paul Verhoeven and potential future projects like the baby driver sequel and Barabrella and more. So a lot to enjoy in this conversation. Edgar is one of the great conversationalists out there in addition to being one of our most unique filmmakers. So check out The Running Man and enjoy my conversation with the one and only Edgar Wright. Edgar Wright

Here we go, man You're still alive I know This is your true This is your running man Is surviving this gauntlet It's maybe This is towards the end of the press tour

I mean this is like In the last couple of days Of what's being Prestor And I was just saying I feel like I'm in the conference room From the Matrix At any point Hugo Weaving is going to come in

And tell me that this is all This is all fake As you know Yeah press tour is kind of a a bit of a psychological warfare. So I appreciate you. We had a good night last night. As we taped this, it was a opening night last night.

We did some Q&A's, got to see a live audience feel that energy, which must be a boon on an exhausting press tour as audiences are starting to receive it. And you're feeling the love. Give me a sense of like your your coping mechanisms, your attitude about opening weekends at this point. Because you've had like, you know, big successes. You've had disappointments. Like all filmmakers. Like, where are you at in terms of, like, how you get through an opening weekend? I think if you're smart, and I think I learned this on Scott Pilgrim, and not that I necessarily would have seen that coming, but I remember on Scott Pilgrim was the first time I thought, maybe don't read the internet the weekend comes out.

So I think I just was like, and, you know, so whatever deadline articles there were about the box office of Scott Pilgrim, I never read them. I just thought, like, stay off the internet that weekend. And, you know, I think the thing is, is the, I guess the thing is there's so much put on a movie in terms of how it performs in the first 48 hours of its life. Right. When we as film fans know that that is, you never know what part of the story you are in. And so I think there's, you know, listen, and I'm guilty of it as well. I read all the sort of like the new sites too. But there's there's so much put into the idea of film being like a horse race.

And and it being like sports. And ultimately, you know, that's not really the kind of story of it, of any film, you know. So I kind of, I think over the years I've sort of tried to sort of like just try and ring fence myself to just. I'm here to promote the movie. I'm really, I'm really proud of it. I'm really proud of the movie. And I think just in terms of making a film that I've thought about since I was a teenager and then actually doing it on a large scale and working with this amazing cast and crew

and getting to connect with Stephen King, you know, one of my favorite authors, is just the whole thing has been sort of like a dream, even as it's been an exhausting marathon at the same time. A sprint, like a marathon rather than a sprint, I guess. I wouldn't have been able to sprint for a year straight. Right. That would be impressive. So when I saw the film, I immediately hit you up.

And I think I said something to the effect of, like, I knew you were making a Stephen King movie. I didn't know you were making your John Carpenter Paul Verhoeven movie, which, like, I feel like, you know, you know your films, you know your filmmakers, you wear your influences on your sleeve, yet somehow your films are all uniquely you. Were those two filmmakers in particular on your mind, among others? in making Running Man? Oh, yeah. I think, yeah, absolutely. And I think some of those, and it's interesting, actually,

even though there was a 1987 version of this film, it's ironic that the, the, the 1987 film that's probably more of an influence would be Robocop, which I think is kind of like just a peerless, sci-fi action, satirical classic. And then weirdly, I think the Arnie film that has more influence on this film than the 1987 running man

is Total Recall, also by Paul, by Heaven. And actually, when me and Glenn met Arnold after he watched the screening and talked about the film at length, you know, he really wanted to stick around and talk about it, I was able to say that to him because, you know, the 1987 film,

which is like super fun and obviously has its own sort of following, is wildly different from the book. And so the whole reason I wanted to do this in the first place is because I'd read the book as a teenager. I love Stephen King. I knew there was another movie in the source material.

And I wasn't really interested in doing a remake that was like karaoke. My favorite remakes are ones that do something wildly different with the source material. The biggest and best one to me being David Cronenberg's The Fly. You know, and John Comptor is the thing, another incredible one. But the Fly in particular, because I think it deviates from the source material so much. much and it is so sort of fascinating kind of like um you know microcosm of its time um but yeah the five for me is like top ten like period film of all time it's a perfect movie it's and it really holds up i mean to i'm not not dismissing that as another but it to go back to what

you're saying about john carpenter paulver hoven i think part of it absolutely yes an influence And Escape from New York, definitely an influence on this, just in terms of, like, what I would call, like, fun in dystopia. It's not all bad. We can have fun in here. Well, listen, like, the New York that's in Escape from New York is obviously grim as hell. And Manhattan has been turned into a penal colony. But, of course, you know, we've all had fantasies about being in that film and running around, you know, like sort of on a kind of like a fetch quest in the middle of, like, a, like, a fetch quest in the middle of, like, a. crazy inmates.

Yeah, Grand Theft Auto lives off of basically. Yeah, I mean, I watched it again. Actually, I watched it recently at the cinema for the first time. I realized I'd never seen it on the big screen and then it was actually just as I was wrapping up the movie. I don't remember, recall,

I could count the days off on one hand in the last year. But one of them was, as we were coming towards the end of post, it was like a public, holiday, like a bank holiday weekend. And my girlfriend was in town and we hadn't made any plans because I'd just been working like 16 hour a day, seven days a week. I think at some point I figured out on the calendar. I'd work 30 days nonstop. And then it was like there's a couple of days off. And I said, what do you want to do? And she said, well, let's just go and watch some old

movies at the BFI. And I was like, perfect. And what was the movie that happened to be on that night escaped from New York? So I was like, it's Kismet. It's research on the big screen. Why? I mean, I've already made the movie at this point. But to go back to what you're saying, I will say this is that a thing that I've done throughout my career is I gravitate towards films and genres that I miss and that I miss on the big screen. And I feel like I was kind of spoiled growing up in the 80s and 90s going to the cinema because it felt like you got a sci-fi action movie every other week.

And, you know, and John Carpenter and Paul Verhoeven like a huge. huge part of that. And you think about all of the, you know, and James Cameron and everybody, like just like the sort of the films that kind of came out, even if you look at 1987 alone the year that the Running Man was released, there's so many. And sometimes even on the same opening day, it's just insane. So it is a genre that like has, especially from this, from a studio point of view, that seems to have kind of been a bit more fallow of late. So the opportunity to do one, you know, with a studio based on a book that I love, you know, on a good budget with like lots of great actors and ILM working on the movie, first time ever with

them, like a dream, a gift. I don't take any of it for granted. It's the matcha or the three ensemble Cado Cephora of the fact that I just of deniches who energize so it's the ensemble. The format standard

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Landman, TV's biggest phenomenon returns to Paramount Plus. From Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Yellowstone, starring Billy Bob Thornton. You have to know the rules of the game and bend them. And you really have to know them to break them. Demi Moore. I want success.

Get it for me. Andy Garcia, Allie Larder, and Sam Elliott. You don't even know the game here playing, do you? Landman, new season, now streaming. Only on Paramount Plus. Look, we've talked about virtually all of your films throughout our years of chatting. And this is your biggest film in terms of budget. And, like, you've, you know, you've worked with IP in a sense.

Scott Pilgrim is obviously IP. And, like, you've danced around other projects. But I don't know, it seems like you could have done, you've had opportunities to do things of this scale before. Or at least they've been talked about. And it's very telling that, like, you know, you did your own thing. for as long as you did and waited for one that was like this is a passion project

this goes back to you know like this is in your bones you read this book when you were a teenager informative years I guess I'm curious and visualized it as a teenager as well that's right

you can't not do that when you read a book when you're you know exactly so I guess my what I'm curious about is like having now done it having done kind of like the 10th pole

100 million dollar movie whatever the budget was it's a big one I don't know. I think it looks twice as expensive as it was as well. Exactly, exactly. People say it's like they say, I always get asked this question on the press to say,

what's the difference between making a big Hollywood movie and making Sean of the Dead? And I said, basically, your job is no different. Number one, people are giving you the money. You're going to make sure the film's good. Number two, you're going to make sure that money is on screen and that people don't watch and saying, and how did this cost this much?

which is a terrible thing. And the third one, ideally, and I think I've hopefully done this throughout my career, make it look more expensive than it actually wore. Make it look twice as expensive as it was. And then when you tell people the budget, it said, oh, I would have guessed twice as much as that. I said, well, good.

So did, I guess give me a sense of sort of like where you're at now in terms of like why this was the time to tackle something this big. Was it just about like this lined up? The opportunity was there. And yes, you were passionate. as opposed to others that for whatever reason didn't click in the right way. And what was the experience like finally having kind of some more tools at your disposal?

I mean, I don't feel like I've been lacking in tools on previous films. I mean, I mean, and actually a lot of the crew are all people returning from previous movies. And to be honest, I mean, we can talk about it separately, but we had quite a kind of time crunch. Right. I wouldn't have been able to get through the movie if I wasn't working with a loyal crew that I've worked with. several times. But I think the thing that's interesting, I think maybe people,

and again, I take none of this for granted. I feel very fortunate just to be, you know, kind of working in this business in a time when the sands are sort of shifting and especially making this movie coming out of the production strikes of 20203.

I've never felt so much like an employer as well in that like hundreds of people get to work on this movie after like, you know, like there'd been a desert in 2020. 23, just production of ground to a hole in many countries. What I think people don't realize is that directors, unless you're, certain directors, I think, can kind of write their own check. Most people, like, the order in which their filmography goes is not necessarily up to them.

Right. And a number of factors that come into making a movie, especially in this day and age. And it's about, like, the right timing, the right budget. the right tax break where you can shoot it kind of like when you can shoot it like and those things kind of all have to line up so the crazy thing is that um in early 2024 i wasn't sure what the next movie was going to be i'd sort of been working on a couple of other things that were like in a finished place there was actually a smaller film that i was working on um which nearly went um this adaptation of the chain by Adrian McKinty and the SAG strike and the WGA strikes that were

through everybody's schedules into kind of chaos and so it just fell apart and in a weird way it's telling maybe about the business the current state of the business that it was it was easier to get this going than like a smaller smaller movie that's what it is right so the extremes it's easier to get the $150 million than $20 million movie now it's wild to say that but it's It's an unfortunate sort of like nature of the business at the moment. And so listen, given all of that and the actual opportunity to do this movie, something that I've really wanted to do and with like a, you know, like a big budget and, and, you know, an amazing crew, it's just a gift.

It's and it's, and it feels sometimes you feel these things that it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it. It feels miraculous that it came together in the way that it did. And I have to give a lot of credit, not just to my sort of crew, but also to like Simon Kimberg and also Mike Ireland, who was the head of Paramount Pictures and Brian Robbins at the time that kind of greenlit the film. And not just greenlit the film, but kind of, like said in early 24,

there was a point. I was doing this other movie. It had fallen apart and we couldn't kind of get it going quickly. And I was working on something else that may or may not go, it was just all, again, it's all dependent on like the numbers and et cetera, et cetera. And Mike Ireland called me and said, and I've never had this experience in my career. He called me and says, why aren't we making the running man right now? You could be in production this year and have it out in late 25.

And it never had that usually, and not to say that it was easy, but usually you're pushing a project uphill all the time. So for somebody to actually fire the starting gun, was really crazy and actually a friend of mine um don mckella you know the great canadian sort of uh film legend who you know works with part charm wook a lot i had seen him in los angeles in may last year and and then he watched the film in toronto the other night toronto i've got to drop the second teeth so i apologize to canadians toronto he watched the movie and he said this is just wild to me because i saw you in l a 18 months ago and you said, oh, I think this running man film might happen, might happen.

Like, so it was only like less than 18 months ago that it hadn't been greenlit yet. We were sort of, it was all sort of coming together. And suddenly, as soon as it came together, we were like working and just didn't stop until, well, I mean, I haven't stopped working. This is this is still work. Well, there's a good lesson there too for you, you know, a reminder to yourself because, you know, there will be stops and starts for films again. but some of like your probably artistically most rewarding experiences.

Like I would think Baby Driver is one too, which came out of, you know, the ruins of Ant-Man. And this one kind of comes out of the ruins of a film that you wanted to do. And there are other opportunities and things can emerge and you can't beat yourself up too long. Oh, no. I mean, listen, it's, you know, like I think that's the thing is sort of like the business is in such flux and nobody really knows what's going to happen that, you know, I think, honestly, just grateful to be making movies.

you know and and and getting them out onto big screens like exhibition as well means such a big thing to me because i never kind of brought into this idea of uh i kind of felt that we were sold a lie about streaming that everybody like treated it like there was this kind of fancy new development and the way that people talk about that and it's like but isn't it just watching movies on the couch it's not any different than than that right so actually and obviously in the pandemic it was such a terrible blow for cinemas that I found myself that after the kind of the restrictions lifted I've probably gone to the cinema even more than I ever had done before I would just kind of like get off the couch and go watching old movies watching new movies and just like

I you know if you practice what you preach yeah and you want to be a filmmaker you got to go out there and see it with audiences you know there's some people that that I think work in the industry, that once they achieve a level of success, never mix with the great unwashed ever again. Right. They go to industry screenings and they go to like, you know, award screenings. But like, I sort of pride myself.

And a lot of my favorite filmmakers do too on, like, sort of go and go and see it with an audience. You've got to, you have to be the audience member. It's really important. Correct me if I'm wrong. You haven't, you haven't done a TV product since spaced. No, no, yeah.

No, I'm not to say, I'm not dismiss. I'm not dismissing ever, but people, it's not something that's necessarily like a, a move. It's, it would all just be about what the story is. If there was something subject matter wise that I thought like, yeah, I really want to do this and this is the perfect outlet to do it. Great. I mean, and also, I mean, and yes, it would be, it would almost be something more like space. The thing that I don't quite get and happens a lot is I'm still really excited about the form

of a feature film and when sometimes you see TV shows that are like you like this movie back in the 70s now watch 10 hours of it yeah watch 40 hours of it like yeah but can I can also watch the 1005 minute

version right yeah like so I don't know I mean that's not to say and again I find like I'm sub-tweeting a lot they're exceptions but they are absolutely exception but I it's like I

still believe in the theatrical experience and I believe in the feature film, you know? Do any, you know, we talked about, you know, some of the false starts and some of these films, do any sequences or ideas from any of those films that didn't come to pass ever seep into other projects? Like, were there any, like, sequences from Ant Man that kind of came into another form in Baby Driver or even Running Man that are still in your brain or still in your brain now? Not really, not specifically. I think maybe in terms of an idea of like how to I mean I definitely kind of found myself from baby driver into Soho into this wanting to kind of do I guess more like I just sort of it's you know you always trying to push

yourself and it's just visual storytelling the way that you kind of bored and the way that you think about things and I think I think because of the nature of those films I mean so has a bit of a spoiler but but it's got dance sequences. So it's a similar thing. But there's something about kind of like about choreographing sequences without cuts where you're creating like a different reality. And in this, I think it was taking further stuff that I'd done on those films where, well, Ben Riches is the lead.

And he's also kind of the subject of the show. So designing these sequences where you could go for longer, unbroken takes. I mean, not specifically. I don't know how any kind of Ant Man action could find its way into the running man. Right, that's pretty specific. You saw that sequence where Ben Richer slipped under a door.

Yes, yes, there you go. You talk about unbroken shots. Maybe we've talked about De Palma in the past. I'm sure we have. I know you're Phantom of the Paradise is one of your big ones, but I'm sure you love virtually all of his work. Well, there's a big one we're missing that relates to it.

I mean, Carrie is. is one of my favorite films of all time. Of course. And it's my favorite Stephen King adaptation, too. Any, I was just listening to a podcast talking about snake eyes, which is kind of a guilty pleasure. And there's so many, like, iconic, unbroken shots throughout his work, obviously. What stands out to you?

I'm just curious from a fan of his work. Do you have a favorite? I think, I mean, what I love it, well, actually, I'll go for like a classic, acknowledge classic one, and I'll go for a deep cut one. Okay. I mean, what, and listen, I'm a big Hitchcock fan as well. So I know sometimes people kind of like sort of sometimes kind of sniff at De Palma as a sort of

Hitchcock acolyte, but I think they, they do two different things. And I think the thing that Brian De Palma does that I love is when the films become fully operatic. Yes. Like it is, it is really just, it's not, it's not like it's self-conscious, but it definitely has this larger than life feeling. and my favorite is in Carrie is the the long crane shot leading up like from Tommy Ross and Carrie White on the dance floor through the crowd as they go to the stage going up the kind of the going up the road to the bucket with that Pino Donagio score it's just fantastic it's just like and that to me is just like that is like pop opera at its best I love it a more deep cut one that I love is in raising cane there's that amazing exposition scene i forget the name of the act actress lynn um oh god i'd have to look this up so something screaming that oh francis sternhagen that's an episode yeah yeah yeah

yeah there's the scene where she is the doctor and she's basically doing a massive exposition dump about what's happening it's kind of in the middle of the movie and it's like clark gregg and another actor i forget are kind of taking her through this police station or is it in a hospital, one of the other. Either way, basically, it's so kind of meta because it's like, and here's the big exposition dump where we're going to explain what's happening. And it's in a steady cam shot where Brian DeFarmer does that meta joke of Francis Turinghagen keeps turning the wrong way and they keep to move her the other way. So she's going left and they say, oh no, no, this way. And it goes, it keeps going down an escalator and then goes all the way to like a dead body on a

slab and they pull back the shroud. Perfection. I love, have you seen the Raising Kane version that's on the Blu-Rae where somebody re-edited it to be in chronological order? No. It's amazing. Funny enough, name drop alert. I'm not that I had not been doing this already,

but I was actually, I went to see John Lithgow in Giant, the play about Oh, yeah. Oh, Dahl. And we started, and I've never met him before, one of my, you know, an incredible actor, but we started talking about that and he said, oh, I've heard about this.

Because the original version of Raising Kane was in chronological order, and then after a bad test screening they went non-linear and put the kidnapping sequence at the start and I forget the name of the guy who did it but it was like a fan edit where somebody had to restore the screenplay

and just re-edited the film in Cronlosh Glaughter and Brian de Pomer saw it and said oh yeah it's pretty good stick that on the Blu-ray so if you have the Blu-ray you can watch the original version which is pretty great I'm digging into it yeah for folks don't know an amazing out there with go performance or performances is.

It's common fizz. Exactly. You know, we always talk to filmmakers and like you, you know, I love that you are kind of like part of this cadre of like filmmakers that are all supporting each other. They show up for each other. And like I saw, I think at your premiere, Ryan Johnson was there, Macquarie was there. Alfonso Caron. This is a good company to be in.

How did you end up being kind of a go-to for Macquarie on Mission Impossible? I guess not the most recent one. You weren't a consultant too much because you were busy with your own film. But I didn't know, actually. It's really, I mean, I've got to know Chris, I guess, in the last few years. And it's very sweet. Like, I think because, you know, they, I think it was mostly on like Fallout and Dead Reckoning. They're just like invited into the kind of the edit.

And I guess because of the way those guys work that they're kind of constantly chipping away that you get to see the movie. in the longest form and then as it comes closer to release and, you know, and they're really, I mean, I actually, it's actually sort of inspired me in a way to kind of do the same thing is that, you know, when you have these what's called friends and family screenings, you want to show it to people to sort of make sure that it's working and also just, because there's test screenings, you know, we did two test screenings on the running man in New Jersey, which, And those, you know, test screenings are like nerve wracking as hell because obviously it could not go your way. And I've definitely had some that have gone better than others. And probably the only ones that have like, where the first screening has gone really well was probably like hot fuzz, baby driver and the running man. And then, you know, like, I remember like the Scott Pilgrim, the first Scott Pilgrim screen. I think we test screen that five times. And it sort of went from like.

a like 60 to like a 91 but then you know and then yeah but it but it wasn't like the film changed it was more than it just got finished that's a fair radically but those things are sort of like a kind of like it it's it's very nerve-wracking a friends and family thing is a bit more well it's not low stakes because you're inviting people whose opinion you means you're very happy. And, you know, and people like who, who, you know, if they're a true friend, they'll tell you exactly what you think. And that might be hard to hear sometimes.

Or there might be something where even if you've got kind of like a big note, you can't really do anything about it. Like so you kind of like know that you have a problem with something, but there's not the obvious soul. But I guess, you know, probably inspired by Chris and Tom. who were kind of sort of for like a small group of people so sort of transparent about it and we'll show you, you know, it's funny. I remember going to see like Dead Reckoning and they didn't tell us that the running time

of the movie and then I watched it and I really enjoyed it, but it was long, but it was really enjoyed it. It was longer than it was in release. And I said at the end, I said, how long was that? And Chris said, how long did you think it was? But yeah, I think that's, it's, it's, um, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I mean, on this, what we had to do, we had such a sort of like a, a deadline to hit with the movie. We had to edit, we edited through production, Paul matched us with editing on set, and to kind of be able to hit the deadline.

The key thing that we had to do is hand over like effects to ILM way ahead of time. Right. Which, you know, if the film looks kind of as finished and polished as it does, it is because we. we stuck to what we were doing and didn't deviate. I think problems, if you see a movie, like, where you think, wow, like, the effects really, like, dropped off in the last half an hour. That's probably because there's been some 11th hour changes. And, like, even the best effects companies in the world can't do things,

like, with weeks to spare, you know, at the highest level. The only way to get through this was, and ILM and Andrew Whitehouse, just an amazing work is that we had to kind of, like, be really sure of what we were doing hand over those sequences early and stick to it and not deviate maybe there was one like situation where like very

like much later I'd say Andrew but can I change this take to a different take? Just to follow on the McHugh mission and Tom Cruise run Tom also came out to support which was lovely to see I could see you

you two vibing have you ever discussed seriously collaborating on anything whether it's mission or something else i i did at one point get like um they talked to me about one of the missions but it was a sort of kind of just a schedule clash i just i wasn't able to do it at that time but it's very flattering to be asked i mean obviously he's you know and also i think he's in an interesting point in his career as well where i i'm excited that he's doing the film with inn arito yeah same because i think it's like he's more than proved himself at the blockbuster at this point. He's like

literally with Top Gun Maverick, he like saved the whole industry. So he's allowed himself to kind of like be the Tom that did Magnolia again. And so whatever he's doing with Inorritu, which is all top secret, I have a feeling it's going to be pretty wild. I just want to another thing I love about you, we talk about

kind of these all these filmmakers that you know and love and they love you. Next to Soderberg, I think you're the person that has the most like thank yous and credits like on the IMDB in other people's films. You were thanked, listening to this diverse list of films, Mickey 17, Maxine, Tick-T-T-Bum, the Lighthouse,

the shape of water, and snow-white. Yes. Edgar. I didn't even know I was thanked on Tick-T-Bomb. That's nice. I mean, any of those jump out as something that were you, it was fun to kind of like at least drop in to whether it was a friends and families or the edit room

or give a thought or a note. Yeah, I mean, on on the shape of water I'll say this is that and I come I'm very very grateful that I got like a thanks credit on that there's two things about the shape of water just that's funny number one is that I felt like

I gave no notes I remember Guillermo sent me the script and said and he was really I remember he said this is really important to me this film read the script be brutal like it needs to be great and I read it and I said I don't know man And I think it's great.

I think you should just shoot it. That was pretty much it. I didn't have any notes until. So the fact that I got a credit on it is kind of wild. The other thing that's wild about that is that I was on the jury at the Venice Film Festival when it won best film. And on the jury, and I kind of was like sort of, I think when my credit came up, I kind of think I went, look over there.

Hey, guys. Look over there, guys. I think, I probably shouldn't be thanked on the credits of a film that then wins. but I did, I had to say, I'll show me what I did nothing. All I said to Guillermo was like, hey, it's great, go for it. And, you know, I think,

but that's very sweet. I'm trying to think, I did go into the edit on Maxine, actually. So that was like fun. And I love Thai. I mean, all those people.

And also, you know, Snow White is like, Jared Leboff produced that, who produced Scott Pilgrim. And so, you know, I think me and my brother went in and kind of like sort of like watched it with Mark and early cut and sort of gave notes and stuff.

So that, that stuff is. is sweet and I appreciate it when other people come to see me and sort of like watch the movie early, you know? I can't wait to see the credits it in the next Avatar movie. Like, big thanks, Edgar Wright. He made it all possible. Sincerely, J.C.

He's, yeah, he's our icon. The guy can do no wrong. As is George Miller, where do you stand? Here's a controversial one. Furiosa or Fury Road? Well, I mean, why pick? Yeah, that's true. But what I do love also,

say this. Furiosa, I feel like immediately, it was kind of like the immediate reaction. And this was frankly for me too. It was like, I loved it. But I was like, it's not Fury Road. And that's, but then I was like a week later, like, it's still amazing. And it's still like, like, the bar is too high. Nobody makes movies like he does. And I think it's like, I just think with, you know, any time an author gets to make a studio movie like that, you know, we have to kind of stand up and applaud because those sort of like idiosyncratic visions

are becoming rarer on that scale. So it just has to be applauded. I mean, I love the movie. I mean, Fury Road, I think, is like a very specific sort of, you know, I think that's just a sort of like a classic for the ages. and I think just a sort of a film that I aspire to do something even half as good as Fury Road.

Furiosa, I think, just the way it was made and just the sort of the amount of imagination in it. I mean, I just like George's brain, you know, also, you know, just making movies, I would, if I could be making movies like that in my late 70s,

I would be so happy. It's just extraordinary. It's just extraordinary. He's an incredible, like, the world needs more of George. But anything like that, when you see a movie, I mean, I felt the same way when I saw one battle after another on opening day, I'd miss the premiere because we were, we were doing one of our 16 hour days. I was so bummed out.

I was like, I'm really not going to make it. But I got to go opening night. And it was amazing just sitting with that crowd and watching like a cinema crowd. who it was so electric in the room and you got this feeling like these people have been starved of nutrients. Now, I'm not talking about international cinema or independent cinema

and when people say about like I think specifically you're talking about studio movies and just when you have a level of authorship with a studio movie, it's rare in this day and age and it should, you know, and it has to be celebrated and applauded when it happens. You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack.

But she's never told her side of the story until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed, and in my new podcast, I talked to Allison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma at other people? I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison after Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. That's annoying. What?

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Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. You've talked ad nauseum about, you know, the so-called Cape Break since, since, Ant-Man. And I'm curious, though, like, is there an attitude or thought? Like, James Gunn on his side actually seems to be giving some free reign, more free reign, to filmmakers. You know, Mangold is not going to make a swamp thing that is a cookie cutter. Like, he's going to make his film. Mangold. Exactly, exactly. That pun was just sitting right now. Exactly. So, I mean, I don't know, does that, does that, I don't know if you've had conversations with James or not, but does that make

it hypothetically even more interesting? if you can still make your film within that framework. I don't know. I mean, I think, again, it's all based on the title. I think it would be something where I think the thing is when those things have come up. And actually, Ant Man, unfortunately, fell into this as well, is the reason I wanted to do that in the first place was because I was inspired by the people who had got to do the first of something and kind of set the pace. I mean, we were talking last night about the age we were when we saw Tim Burton's Batman. and like

and that movie when that came out it was both like the biggest movie of the year by far and also so idiosyncratic and specific to Tim Burton and it incredibly quirky for a big studio movie and I think that you felt that

in when Sam Ramey did Spider-Man you felt that when Chris Nolan did Batman begins and slightly the you know without going into it into the weeds and without breaking my NDA The sort of the reason that I had to walk away from Ant Man is because by the time that I had started doing it, which was kind of eight years after I'd started writing it, now there was like a formula and not just in terms of like a continuity within the movies, not just the movies themselves and the stories, but also like a house style and a look and a way of shooting things. Yeah.

And sort of all the things that kind of like are less interesting to me where on those. movies is like there's a lot of second unit stuff there's like a vfx unit yeah so i basically couldn't i knew i couldn't make that movie in the same way that i'd made scott pilgrim versus the world and or even in the way that the running man sort of worked and so that was definitely something that kind of gave me me pause i mean give me the biggest pause like like but but the rules i I'm what I'm saying is like the rules I should say by the way

my first podcast me and Kevin Fige have actually made up in recent years when they did that Empire magazine I got him to do a piece for it and it was

actually the first email that we'd had together in like six years and it was actually kind of sweet that we actually started talking again I wanted to imagine like a slow beautiful hug

like the soft lighting I haven't seen in person since but I will when I see him this film infamously kind of manifested not only from your love from your childhood, but from a tweet that Simon,

the great Simon Kinberg saw and love Simon. What a champion. So I feel like that's, I know you've always been reluctant to talk about future projects, but this is proof that talking about things you might want to do actually can manifest them, Edgar. It's literally, it wasn't the first time I'd answered the question.

And I think it's like, it's one of those junket interview questions that you get. right after, you know, like, well, not even the superhero one. The other one was, would you ever do a Star Wars? I would never ask that. Are you kidding me? Me?

One. I'm in one. That's true. In effect, I have done a Star Wars. I play a resistance guy in like, in Last Jedi, of course. You know, sometimes when you kind of go into premieres, you know, you have an autograph hunters outside.

Oh, no. Have you signed it? No, I get asked to sign it. Last Jedi, like, post us. And I'm like, well, I'm in it for like two frames, guys, but I appreciate it. Thank you. That's amazing. I mean, maybe at some point cut to like 30 years time, I'll be on the convention circuit. Things have really gone south. You might remember me as resistance fighter in the back of the last Jedi. Do you not have a name? Does that character, every Star Wars character gets a name at some point. I have to, maybe there's some, I have to ask Ryan. Maybe there's some

random generator on the internet. Right. I want to say, like, what would the kind of like a rebel name B, like, sort of, like, um, um, maybe his name's like Biggie Smalls or something. There it is. Canon right now. Oh, no, no, I get it. I get it. What about like sort of, um, Little Hootkins, R-I-P William Hootkins. There we go. That's my character name. Let's just put that out as Canon now. My character name is Little Hootkins. I don't know why I thought Biggie Small. I think of Biggs, Bigs. Bigs, um, Starlighter. Am I crazy? Well, there was Star-Killer. That was Skywalker. I don't know. We're all. We're getting all confused um big's definitely has a funny surname somebody out there listening to this podcast is

screaming at it's like don't you know big surname of these posers okay so the chain didn't happen i think it's becoming a tv series right like it's that that's not going to happen i'm not sure actually that's a question okay but there is a baby driver's script there's still an appetite to do that yeah i mean again that's something i think it's it there is and i think it's also it's again it's a matter of like the it's it's it's the the biz things that you can't entirely sort of control so there's a few things that like you know like and this is actually a sort of I think the rest of the year I'm going to basically nap and you know and then the things that are like both written or unwritten to just kind of I'd like to shoot something next year if I can I mean that's the one downside of

making these movies that's tough and I've heard quentin Quentin Tarantino it's such a I'm so terrible. No last name. QT. Awful. QT. He's always said this thing, and I know exactly what he means, is that you make a film and you've got the crew, and then you go, wow, we know how to do this. We have the momentum.

It would be great to just roll straight into a second movie right now. But, of course, it never happens like that, unless you're Steven Soderberg, who, like, seems to have just the knack of, or, like, you know, who's the other person who just made, like, three movies in a row. Oscar Perkins, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, like, I'd love to do that, and I've never done that. And, you know, the running man comes out four years after last night in Soho, which was shot in 2019. And, you know, because of the pandemic, everything just kind of like, you know,

do you remember the pandemic? We did that. I think it was like the first live Q&A I did was with you, like, during the pandemic. Somebody actually last night at the screening came up to me and said, I saw you at Bam for last night in Soho. And I said, that was with Josh Horace as well. Literally the first public Q&A that I'd done. I remember it vividly.

It was really special. So yes, I mean, to answer your question, yeah, I mean, there are certain things kind of in the mix. And then also things that you just want to start writing. Like, for example, I'm going to beat you to another question. Like, you know, working with Simon and Nick again, it's actually just a matter of me and Simon sitting in a room and coming up with the idea that gets us really excited, you know? So you know my questions. What's the last important question I need to hit before I let you go?

James Bond, I don't know. I could go there. I could go there. I feel like there's all the ones that. I always say this about Simon because I got asked this all the way through the press tour about. And you guys are writing a film I said, not yet. I think the thing with that, it's like I would love to work with those guys again. And I'd love to do something that's like a complete outright comedy again.

I think the thing that's tricky, and this is something. thing that I think is difficult, you know, maybe for some fans to understand is that movies are so hard to make and like all the movies that I made, this one very much included, they have to come from a real place of passion because the energy and the commitment and the tenacity you need to make the movie is so huge. And listen, we've all seen movies where we feel like the filmmakers are kind of like going through the motions. And I never want to be, you know, you know, I never want to be doing that. And so you have to kind of really find the idea that gets you excited.

And so I think the thing with like working with Simon again and Nick, you know, is it's finding the thing that we're excited about. You never want to feel like it's an obligation. Sure. Be, you know, like that would be not fun to feel like, oh, we're doing this because we feel like we, we feel like we all. to rather than we really want to. I'm just saying it just feels like something's wrong

in the universe when Simon has made more movies now with Tom Cruise, I think, than you, Edgar. Something's wrong in the universe. The thing is, making movies is like no, just, but like, you know, I think that's the thing is, I mean, I'd love to I used to really envy, well, I still envy,

but I mean, the Coen brothers, there was a point where they were making a movie a year. I know. And then I thought, oh, but there's two of them. And now the output is slowed because they're split. See, see what happens. I know. Well, also, I mean, those guys, I mean, here's how you kind of have a filmography like theirs.

They don't really do press. Right. Don't look back. Like, they never look back. I think actually you had the junker interview where you tried to engage them on Big Lebowski, too, right? That might be me. I've interviewed them once and I'm sure I asked. I'm sure I did.

And they're completely unsentimental about it. Totally. No, the last thing I do want to mention, what is your relationship with Barbarrella, like the original film? I'm just curious, like whether that happens or not, whether it comes to pass or not. Like, I don't have much of a relationship with it. It's such kind of like an iconic, like the poster I see more than the actual movie. Is that a remake of the movie or the source material or what? Like, what's your, what's your interest there? I think if that did happen, it would be more of the latter. I mean, I love the original movie. And actually, I think, you know, I've already watched that at exactly. the right age too young um but if that you know like the but the the the the scripts because it's funny you see in that movie because it's the scripts is by terry southern although you can feel like the terry southernness of it kind of starts to sort of it it's it seems like there's there's a lot of that in there and uh and and it's and when it's really sharp it's it's great um and then the but it's beautiful to look at and it's like and it's fun and it's kind of subversive and i think

It's a sort of nature of the books themselves are just beautiful and kind of really imaginative and really progressive. It's also, I think, as well, I mean, it feels like that that is something that's, I like those movies of that era, especially, and they're all Italian movies, actually, that have that kind of pop art sensibility. I mean, Rodney is a French director, but it's a Dena de Laurentis production. But Barabella, Danger DiDiolique. actually a film that weirdly has a relevance to the running man, the 10th victim. Have you ever seen that movie? No, no.

It's kind of like a proto running man. It's directed by Elio Petri. It's 965 with Marcelo Mastrione and Ursula Andres. And it's about a TV game show where top assassins all have to bump each other off. So it's sort of like if you had Lee Pace's character as the main character in the movie, versus everybody else. And it's really cool. And there's that particular wave

of those kind of like pop-arty mod films. I guess if there's an interest in that, it would be doing something. And that kind of lends itself almost more into Scott Pilgrim sort of world than running man is very deliberately grounded and gritty. And we wanted it to feel like you were on the ground

with Ben. But like, that's the thing. I mean, and it goes back to when you're saying about hate break. It's not necessarily, it's more just a sort of like, after my experience, I was kind of like not really interested in superhero movies generally. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in a comic book movie. And, and, you know, one of the great gifts of my career was working on Brian Liam Alley's book, not just because of the story, but because of his

artwork to sort of, you know, his artwork in those books is so beautiful. And, and the, the chance to bring that to the big screen was just amazing. So I, I, I, I'd love to do another comic book movie. In fact, weirdly enough, and I don't want to say what it is because it's kind of still annoying to me. But one of the reasons that Michael Bacall did this is because we had been working on a different

comic book adaptation that kind of just all fell apart rights-wise. I don't really want to say what it is just in case it comes back. Fair enough. It was actually the reason that he was my first call on The Running Man is we'd written this whole other treatment for something and then the rights got complicated and it didn't happen.

But we'd had so much fun. It was the first thing we'd done together since Scott Pilgrim. And Michael has such a sort of a, I mean, this is the first public, you know, like I'm produced film that he's had that I think leans into his love of sci-fi and even like, you know, kind of political, sociological satire. So that was why I wanted him to, you know, write the movie, you know. All right. I'm going to let you go back into your cryosleep chamber.

Even off the bond question. Yeah, of course I do one. Are you kidding me? See, here's the thing. You want to talk about it. You're pretending you don't want me to ask about it. You want to weigh in. There's more story for another time.

Okay, fair enough. To be continued, it always is. Congratulations, man. It wouldn't be. I am not playing Bond. Oh, thank you. And 51 years old. It's not going to happen.

Thank you for clarifying. The internet can rest. Edgar, congratulations on the wrong. running man. Everybody check it out, see it as much as possible. We need to support these movies on the big screen. Edgar Wright doing his thing, a marriage with Glenn Powell, Stephen King, what more can you ask for? Thank you, buddy. It's always good to catch up. I appreciate you. Always fun. Lovely to see you and see you soon. Yes. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe

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