Happy Sad Confused - Emily Blunt, Vol. II

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

Emily Blunt is back on the pocast and this time it's for a live event at the 92nd Street Y. And this time we can say she is finally an Academy Award nominee! From THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA to OPPENHEIMER, this is a lively and very fun chat with one of our most versatile actors. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! HelloFresh -- Go to HelloFresh.com/happysadfree and use code happysadfree for FREE breakfast for life! BetterHelp -- Go to BetterHelp.com/HSC Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes of, video versions of the podcast, and more! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh's youtube channel here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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with the one and only Emily Blunt, everybody. We ready for this? I'm so excited for this. Is there a more versatile actor? working today than Emily Blunt. Spoiler alert. No, there is not. You want comedy? Devil wears Prada. You want action? Edge of Tomorrow. A thriller? A quiet place. A musical? Mary Poppins people. Mary Poppins is here. And then there's drama, of course. The movie of 23 for my money, I'm obsessed still, is Oppenheimer. What a beautiful piece of work by

all involved. And it is being celebrated justifiably so. Emily is being celebrated. She has a Golden Globe nomination, folks, a BAFTA nomination, a Screen Actors Guild nomination, and for the first time, long overdue, an Academy Award nomination for Emily Burns. Please give a warm New York City welcome in 92 NY, welcome to Academy Award nominee, Emily Blunt, everybody. Thank you.

The best. Thank you. It's on. It's on. You are live. I'm live. Listen to that voice, that Academy Award nominated voice.

It's good to see you, Emily. You too. Thanks for having me. Of course. Has that sunk in yet to hear Academy Award nominee? Does it feel natural yet? No, none of it feels natural. None of this feels natural.

What are you talking about? This is totally normal. Another night. But, I mean, I would imagine. Imagine there's a bit of a, like, can you exhale a little bit after this long run with Oppenheimer where, like, you hear the buzz, like, oh, she's going to be nominated, the whole thing, and you don't want to jinx it, you don't want to talk about it, but at least now we can kind of like, it happens.

I mean, it's all quite scary, you know, the anticipation of it, and I think you just try not to listen to buzz, because buzz can be built on sand sometimes, and so when it did happen and when it happened in such a far-reaching way for all of us in the movie and every crew member, it was magical. It was the best. I did have a brief cry in the middle of Brooklyn, just a brief, brief weep directly after picking up my dog's poop. Right. Unrelated to the dog poop. It was connected or not? I did pick up her poop and then I heard that I got nominated, so it was perfect. Keeping it real. Who in your life, besides yourself, obviously taking that satisfaction, who did it touch the most for you to be recognized.

John had a really good cry as well. Yeah. After helping me with the poop. Right. Teamwork. That's a lot of poop. I think he went to put it in the trash and then we both cried. Right. The secret word tonight, it's poop. It's poop. That being said, are your kids rooting for you or Ryan Gosling more to win?

Ryan Gosling. I mean, he's like, reigns supreme in our house. I had to go last week and do a bit of press for Fall Guys. a bit of early press and it was a it was a trip that we hadn't planned so I said to the girls like you know who's to blame for this and they were like who and I was like Ken and my kids were like really and so they started singing ah blame Ken and then my little one who's particularly in love with him was like I mean I don't really want to blame Ken because I love him so much and I was like yeah it was very cute have they have they met Ryan by now I mean they haven't but they

They want to, bad. It's a good reward for good behavior. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, at some point. At some point. Look, this movie, you know, I'm obsessed with this movie, as many, many people are. It is lightning in a bottle for a movie to come together like this, as you well know. The Op and Homies are the, have you guys heard this about the Opin Homies?

This is a real thing. It is such a real thing. Like, Robert, I feel, is very much the instigator of keeping the Oppen Homies alive. He always likes to FaceTime me first thing in the morning, and I usually have a face mask on. And I could see this one, and he was trying to get me and Killian, and Killian wisely ignored his FaceTime request,

but I took it just to show him my face mask, which he rejoiced in. I'm sure. It's the best tribe. I love those dudes so much. What caused that kind of bonding? Because, you know, we always talk about, oh, we bonded, we bond. You guys really bonded.

This happened. You did, yeah. We're really a family. Have I got some up and homies in here tonight? I know I do. There are actual. I know Oli and Devon are here. Are you guys here?

Yeah. So you were the cop and homies in the house. So, yeah, the environment on set, what happened? I think because we were, we all started it in the middle of the New Mexican Desert, and we were all staying in this hotel together. And that bonds people. You get really close. You get to know each other.

You're not going home to your family or your other life. You are only living in this alternate reality. And we just sit and have cassidias every night. It's just amazing. It sounds like living the dream. Working with the best filmmaker on the planet. Eating cassidias with the best actors on the planet. Yeah, but we didn't really see Chris or Killian.

They were sort of in their cabins. It seems like Killian had a bit of a different experience than the rest of you. It was a heavier weight. I mean, the rest of us could just jetpack in and out, but he was in every frame. So before we get to the actual, like, substance of what you did, like the, what's come in the wake of Oppenheimer is so surprising because no one, people, you know, Chris Nolan films they do well, they're celebrated. Sure. But a film of this type is not expected to be a near billion dollar grossing movie to inspire young people to dress as Oppenheimer going to the theater. Yeah.

That happened. Yeah. So this must have been just a series of bizarre, wonderful surprises. Yes, and surprise is the best way to bring a movie out. You know, if you're counting your chickens before the movies come out, I think you can often be in trouble. And I don't know if any of us expected it to have this meteoric response. It was so jarring and startling and exciting and rewarding, ultimately,

that you've made something challenging, provocative, rare, and it's three hours long, and people want to go, and they want to go again and again. And I have friends who've seen it five times, and this talk, five times. All in IMAX, 70 mil, got to go whole thing. I'm curious, like, the, okay, so take me back to getting this role,

Because Chris Nolan, all his projects are shrouded in secrecy. As I understand it, he knows kind of the actors he wants. He invites you into the club and says, what? Read the script and you're in? Like, what happens? He meets everyone, so you get the call. I mean, not that he has a phone. Right.

But you get a call from someone, you know. Right. And they say Chris would like to meet you, and at which point I, like, ran to meet him. I was so thrilled. and I sat and chatted with him, and he's wonderfully humble and understated and sort of almost nonchalant about it.

You know, he has this massive, iconic, ridiculous film that he's about to make, and yet he's like, right, so do you want to read it? And, you know, here's the role of Kitty Oppenheimer, if you're interested, love you to do it. And it's just, that's it, that's the ceremony. And then you read this utterly, utterly astonishing script that was so visceral

and so exhilarating to read. It was so perfect. And then he kind of saunteres in. He goes, do you enjoy it? And I was like, exhausted by it and so thrilled by it. And I sort of jibbered at him incoherently about how much I loved it. And he goes, great, yeah, should be good then.

It's done. You know. End of negotiations. End of negotiations. But like is there, is there pressure in that moment? Because as I understand it, you're literally reading it like in his study. I read it in his library, which is already overwhelming because there's just, there's far too many books in there.

He's read far too many books. So you all- We get it, you're smart man. You just feel stupid. You're like, I should read more books. But like, does he leave you? It's a long script. It's a dense script.

Does he leave you alone and say, you've got two and a half hours, here's this bell? Like, what happens? I want the actual nitty-gritty. He just says, when you're done, let me know. So I texted Emma, his wife, and I was like, I'm done. And then are you putting the pressure on yourself, like, what to say? Well, I also didn't know what to text, so I went, holy shit, I'm done. I didn't know, like.

She might have thought you ruined something in the study, like you filled something. Yes, so then he came in, and it was, I think the script was so wonderful that you had so much to talk about. Right. And look, I often talk to actors about, like, you know, in approaching a role, it's more beneficial, generally, to look for the connections rather than the differences. There are obviously many massive differences between you and Kitty. I hope. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I love her, but. No. Well, so, like, what did you connect with? Where is the point of intersection that you found that you could relate to? I mean, my feeling is I really tried to connect with their experience on every level. Like you tried to connect with the whole weather system of the person, and they can be stormy and ugly and horrible and dreary, but if you can connect to, I guess, the shadow of why they're like that,

I love people, I love all their weird idiosyncrasies and their grievances, and I think there was so much about her that I empathize with, that idea of that extraordinary brain wasted, you know, and decaying at the ironing board and the anger and the simmering rage that would follow, you know, the frustration. She's a woman born in the wrong time for who she was, for what she wanted to be. And she kind of raged against the machine as best she could.

Right. But there's only so much I think she could do. And then she married this icon and clearly worshipped him, loved him, supported him, was there a hugely stabilizing force force in his life, and yet she was so unstable. I think bled for him, but I think to her own detriment. And I guess I just empathized with that, understood it, and I've seen a lot of women feel frustrated with their lot in life, that idea of being defined by being someone's

mummy or someone's wife, and it's okay for that not to be enough for you. And we need those women who don't want to fit into some convenient mold. And she ultimately, I think, was a hugely influential presence in his life. Fair to say, I feel like Kitty's blood alcohol level throughout this film, it was slightly above the limit. Like she wouldn't pass the walk test. No. I assume you're not the act.

Have you ever in your career ever thought? Been wasted? Yeah. Have you ever drunk? What's in there? Have you ever? What's in there? What's in there?

No, but like, some actors, you know, drink to play drunk. You can't. Right? No, I've done it once, and it was a disaster. I was so paranoid and messy that I was like, this is a, it was way, don't worry, way back in the day. Right. I'm not even going to tell you what it was for. I can tell, yeah.

You're like, I know which one. No, I prefer to be stone cold sober. Right. And I just, I mean, I seem to have done this. a couple of times. I'm like the go-to. Yeah, get us. Ugly drunks. No judgments.

It's a fascinating character because a lot of it, like they're, we're going to show an amazing scene towards the end of the film in a moment, but there's a lot of like sitting in silence too. Yeah. Like do you like coming on set for a day when you don't have dialogue? Is that in some ways as challenging, as intriguing as a day chock-full of dialogue? No, I mean, I like all of it. And for me, it's, the silent moments are just as fascinating.

I'm just as interested in performing those as I am, a sort of quick-bantered scene. I mean, I'd make a joke to Chris and be like, am I even in focus? Like, am I just sort of a blurry, like, behind Killian for the first half of the movie? But I like all of it. I've never gotten lost watching an actor's performance

being like, holy shit, that's Merrill Streep, constantly, constantly gripped, forget my line just called magnetized by it. Yeah, Killian will do that. Yeah. When you saw the finished film, as I understand it, the experience of seeing it, you saw it with Robert Downey Jr. Yeah, yeah. So you're seeing that finished product, which, like, it feels like one thing on set. It feels great.

You're talking about those moments on set. But then, you know, the score, the editor. I mean, this is like, Chris brings it all together. What do you remember about sitting next to Robert watching this film? really difficult to word because it was really overwhelming, I think, for all of us, because you're right, you have this interior experience on set where you're looking out, you're seeing everything from the inside out, and then you see the whole thing, and you feel completely ambushed and lacerated by the experience of watching it. It's so devastating and so stunning. I felt

like my bones were going to break watching it. I felt like this weight on my chest watching it. It was the most physical experience I've had watching any movie. It's usually weird to watch yourself in a movie the first time, I feel, because I'm sort of, you know, looking and going, oh, you know, I didn't like that, because I'm better on that. And I'm why don't you do it like this, you know. But then watching that film, I felt like I was simultaneously outside of it, like I wasn't in it. And yet the film was like it reached through the screen and grabbed me and pulled me right inside of it. It was just so wild. Couldn't even walk after it. So staggered towards Chris trying to tell him how much I loved it.

I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and Director, you might know me from the League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We come together to host Unspool, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and in case you missed them. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcast.

And don't forget to hit the follow button. Goodbye, summer movies, hello fall. Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the Ultimate Movie Podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases. We have Leonardo DiCaprio leading a revolution in one battle after another, Timothy Salome playing power ping pong in Mari Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Yorgo Lanthamos' Bougonia. Dwayne Johnson, he's coming for that Oscar in The Smashing Machine, Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLuis' return from Redo.

There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about two. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat 2. And Edgar writes, The Running Man, starring Glenn Powell. Search for Raiders of the Lost Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Do you think you connected with Kitty because both you and Kitty have experience being married to obsessive geniuses that have created scary things? Joe Krasinski's Oppenheimer? The Oppenheimer of the 2000s. Exactly.

Watch this thing, see what he makes. Yeah. There's the poll quote. Exactly. Have you guys started to use Bring In the Sheets as a euphemism for anything? I know. And by the way, what a reductive thing to say to his wife, bring in the sheets.

When this thing is unleashed on the world. No, we have not used Bring In the Sheets. I think he'd. It's kind of the high Barbie. I'd be like, you bring them in. Yeah. Okay, so let's circle back a little bit. So I know we've talked before about your background and your parents and your mom who had

interest in acting. How much of, I can't imagine like the success you've experienced what that's been like to experience through your parents, through your mom, who was an actor, who wanted a career, and for various reasons, it just didn't pan out in the way she would. I mean, I think it's partly why I entered into the business without a rose-tinted view of it, because I'd seen it be harsh, you know, to someone I love. And she was so brilliant and then just had too many kids and a busy husband different time. Feeling bad, juggling it.

God forbid you want a career and have four children. But I think she has done an amazing job of separating her. her own sadness and not being able to fulfill it and her pride of me. And I think she's so relieved it worked out. I think she was nervous about me going into it. I'm the only kid in my family that didn't go to university or college. And I said to her, I'm just going to give it a go for a year and then thank God it happened. But I don't know what it's like for them.

I think I've always made them aware that there will be so many opinions, so many opinions and so many people with thoughts about me, and it doesn't matter if people are saying lovely things, and for me, the opinions that matter are theirs. And the rest of it, as much as it's lovely, it bleeds into white noise and the people you rely on, the people who know you best, and those are the most meaningful comments. Does she have a favorite performance of yours?

I mean, she loves this one. She likes some of the random ones. random ones. It's almost like she's trying to be contrary. Like even the ones who've got bad reviews, she's like, I really like Jane Austen Book Club. I thought you were very good in that. Big Gulliver's travels fan. Huge Gulliver's fans. I always have to bring that one up you. I apologize. It's a contractual. It's like a thorn. Well, I was going to bring up like, do you learn as much from, like, we never end up in these kind of things talking about things like that or the Wolfman or Things that like have the best of intentions.

I love the Wolfman. But I mean, like they have the best of intentions. They have great casts. All of them do. Do you take something away from the ones that just for whatever reason don't click? Yeah, because sometimes you've had an awesome time on them and you've made friends and you've had a lasting experience. Whether or not it lasts with audiences is a bit out of your control. You know, every movie is a bit of a leap into the unknown.

So I don't I don't presuppose that people are going to love a movie. ever, you don't really know. As long as I love it, it's the reason why I want to do it. I mean, I think 99% of the folks probably in this room first saw you in Devil Wears Prada, of course. And I think what was so startling, yeah, was, look, we had seen Anne Hathaway, who we knew was great, and Merrill and Stanley Tucci. So, like, all those ingredients were familiar. And then it was, like, this fully formed, like, amazing actor who had this insane comic timing working with those folks. Like, do you remember, like, it's such a confident performance, because it has to be.

Were you confident? Did you have nerves on the set of that? Yeah. I mean, the table read was hell. It was Merrill Streep was there. It was just, I was 22. I mean, it was really scary. And I just remember that sweaty, palmed feeling of turning the pages and knowing my first line was

coming up, you know, and I don't think Merrill had even entered the movie at that point, so I was just terrified. And then I remember I said my first line, which I think was human resources, certainly have an odd sense of humor. And I remember, poor Annie, and I remember Merrill going, and I was so grateful. It was just this little chortle she gave, and it was just very reassuring. You shot that here in New York. Shut it here, yeah.

You are a New Yorker. Any connection between just that happy experience and making your life here in the city? I mean, I have to say, it was my first venture into New York, was shooting that movie, and Annie was amazing to me, and I didn't know anything about New York, and she sort of took me under her wing and showed me around. And now I live, I mean, I live in Brooklyn, but... How you have to say it.

You're Blimpies, are you close to any Blimpy's? Are you close to any Blimpys? I've never been to a Blimpie. Blimpies is, I mean, Subway is for a place. It's like Subway. Okay. This isn't really in anymore. I love a Subway, though.

That's the one dated reference, I think. I love the BLT at Subway. Yeah, they got quality work. What bread do you go for? Do you go for like the wheat? No, the white one. The white one, okay. I don't know why I'm like that, you know.

Let's move on. Move on. In this age where everything is sequelized, how close has it come? Has you ever read a script? Has there ever felt like real momentum? Never. It's a surprise. Isn't it?

I think so, but sometimes things should be cherished and preserved in this bubble and it's okay and, you know, I'm, we're all good with it. And I think, didn't Merrill say something funny about it? They asked her about it when they say, would you want to do a sequel? She went, yeah, if they don't have to lose the weight. But I think she said the effing weight or something. Amazing. How challenging is it to pretend every time somebody says their stomach flew away from

their goal weight to pretend like it's the first time you've heard it? It happens at least twice a week, so I'm always like, oh, yeah. That's a good actor. Yeah, that's a good actor. It struck me going back through the filmography. You have done so much physical, like, hardcore action in your career. Like, you put your buddy The Rock to shame. Let's be real.

Yeah. Come on. I leave him in the dust. Kick it over him. How did that happen? I don't know. Was it Sicario? Was that the first kind of like physical?

physically demanding role maybe? Yeah, was it? Sicario and Edge of Tomorrow were pretty close to each other. I did Edge of Tomorrow first. Did you? Okay. Well, let me bring up... Looper, maybe. Looper, got the shotgun.

But then I've only got the shotgun. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's not really physical. Right. No, I was very surprised when... I mean, I was thrilled, because I was kind of a sporty kid, but I didn't... You know, you don't know what you're capable of doing.

I feel Edger Tomorrow was the deep end of action. Okay, so, well, I want to get to edge up tomorrow in a second, but I do want to bring up Sicario, because I'm obsessed with that film. I watched it again this past week, just a good excuse to go back to it. The great Denisville, Nove. Yes. I mean, you, Brolin, Benicio, all amazing in it. And the supporting cast, it got Bernthal, Caluia.

The best. It's so good. The best. And I remember Brolin told me once, like, he didn't even realize how good that movie was going to be at the time. Like, we were talking before about kind of, like, expectations and not knowing. Like, you always hope for the best. Like, were you surprised at how good that movie turned out, or did you have a sense of what Deney was bringing?

I feel I had a sense of it. I think Deney has this wonderfully warm, inviting quality to him that he sort of, I feel it's all like a ruse. Like, he makes you feel like he doesn't know what he's doing. And he's like, Madame, I haven't had enough coffee, I need, so I don't know, I don't know about this thing. What do you think? Do you think?

And he knows. Yeah. No, it's all up there. It's all perfect. And just to see the great Roger Deakin's work, it was like being in church, I was just like, it was extraordinary. I know that there were sequences like the border crossing, I thought was unbelievable when we shot it.

And like the scene at the end with Benicio was like, that wasn't really written. We kind of made it up on the day. It was those wonderful, spontaneous moments. that you know you've made something special. You just don't know how it will fit into the rest of the film. But I just thought the whole thing was so sinister, exciting, provocative, and spare, like the sparness of it. Yeah, the dread that just hangs in the air of that film.

Oh, that like overwhelming dread all the way through. Yeah. Go back. And you worry about her and her in this amoral world, you've got this moral person in the middle of an amoral world and it was just I just was so proud yeah when I saw it yeah go back and take a look at the scene like the scene with you and Bernthol that's like a love scene that turns into this nasty nasty nasty a bit of nastiness is just remarkable staging everything about it yeah and the fight we had we didn't overplan

it you know so it was a really ugly fight you know and feels it feels like it feels so real and Bernthold used to be a boxer so he was like my face is mush I don't feel it you can hit me. I won't feel it and I was like, I will. Amazing. So there's been, there's been some buzz around that there might be finally a Sicario 3. Do you have you, is this real? I mean, I hear rumblings, but there's nothing, there's nothing firm. Okay, because Deny denied. Denise said he's not, because I haven't seen anything. Like I, I think it's, I think it's hearsay. Okay, okay, okay. Um, Edge of Tomorrow. Yeah. The other thing, I'm contractually Brown, always to bring up with you, because it's such a great piece of work. Um,

I mean, the only thing better than like, you know, heroic Tom Cruise is cowardly Tom Cruise. Cowardly Lion, Tom Cruise is the best. So good. He's the best cow, he's the best scared actor in the world. Right. He's so good. And you have to be the badass in that one. Like, go, I mean, you were just saying, so that's basically that's kind of your leap into the unknown.

Yes. And you have to sell it right from the get-go every moment she's on screen. Yeah. She is this iconic action hero. Did that feel, again, like what was, was it mostly about physical prep on that, just confidence? What was the... I mean, the physical prep was a huge, hugely transformational part of it. Because I think up until that point, I thought I'd worked out.

And then you get a trainer and you're like, I have not, you know. I've never worked out in my life. Right. So it was three months of six days a week, two workouts a day. It was, I couldn't even move the first two weeks. I remember brushing my teeth like that. I was in so much pain and I get up in the morning and just, even like sitting down, you'd be like, oh my God!

You're just in constant pain, all my muscles were just torn and ruined. And then you start to shape-shift and it's so exciting. And that lethal quality to the character could only really come when I looked at myself differently in the mirror. She's stripped of all femininity, any curviness, any thing feminine. She's just so... She's like a killing machine. A killing machine.

Yeah. You know, and she's lost her humanity, and she should look that way. So it was exciting to go through it. It was not for the faint of heart, and I think we all loved making it so much. It was such a kinetic, exciting experience working with Doug Lyman. who's so off his rocker in the best way and such a brilliant filmmaker and Tom in that role. You know, where he's not, there's nothing heroic about that part and yet actually he'd become so heroic because of his vulnerability in it. And we loved it. We were shells of our former selves by the end of it, but it was awesome.

That's another one that's been talked about for years as again, we've talked about us forever about a potential... I think that's a more real conversation. Right. You're like, well, no, I know. So there was a script, but that was a long time ago, and it sounds like that was going to pick up immediately, and now it's been like a decade. Yes, I think when we were first talking about the sequel,

it was right before I was about to do Mary Poppins, so it was quite a while. And then I think if we're going to do one, we would have to reimagine what the sequel would look like, you know. And now Tom's in business with Warner Brothers. It feels like there's more. feels like it could be good. I don't know.

What's the business of a one of them? He signed some kind of like deal where he's going to be making one of them. Gotcha. I love biz talk. You know me in biz talk. What's his deal look like? What's the back end?

What's the back end? You mentioned Mary Poppins, I think, there. So you've done two musicals. I mean, talk about musicals that take on. Sondheim and Mary Frickin' Poppins. Mary Frickin' Poppins. As the kids say. Yeah.

But, like, I don't know how you round out that trio. Like, are you, do you quit while you're ahead? Like, what do you... Probably. I mean, unless Rob Marshall wants to do another one, I would really only do one with Rob. You know, he's my dearest friend, and he's the greatest partner.

So we've talked about it. We just don't know which one or what, or if it's a musical or if it's something else, you know. And you told me the last time we chatted that the only impediment to potentially doing whether musical, or play on stage is it's a very valid reason. It's family life, right, basically.

Yeah, I think for me, the girls are still so little and bedtime's so important. I mean, the negotiation tonight to even come and speak to you is a thing. So if it's a four month, five months, six month run, I just can't do it yet. Maybe when they're more disinterested in me, you know. Just put up a photo of Ryan Gosling.

exactly who's better at the bedtime stories the voices you or john are we're both pretty good at the voices i would say i would guess i mean i don't want to be competitive but i mean his are fantastic but we're into a harry potter kick right now and my snape is not bad i'm not going to do it you can't no it's going to be so bad it's be offensive to alan wickman we can't but just set the scene for me you are doing you're going to all the harry potter voices yeah i do i mean john doesn't This is a great Hagrid. My little one does a really good Dumbledore. She does the whole thing.

It's so great. Do you want, I can do Dobby if you need to invite me over. Dobby's the best. Dobby's good. We call our dog Dobby because she looks like him. That's lovely. That's lovely. That's lovely.

That'll be cut. Move on. Wow, we're too friendly. Jen, Caden, Caden wants to know, would you ever consider making your own album? Jen. Come on. Why not?

No, I don't want to do that. We're not forcing you. We're not like, don't know. Jen, I don't want to do it. Standards. No, no, no, no. No. No, I can't.

Are you a karaoke person? Do you sing for fun? I love a bit of karaoke. What's the go-to karaoke song? Don't mind a bit of try a little tenderness. Don't mind a bit of Bobby McGee. Oh? Guys, no more for, come on, Janice Joplin.

Come on, guys. That run at the end, cry it. Okay, so 2018, you violate the cardinal sin of any married couple in Hollywood. And we work together. You work together. Not once, but twice. You're tempting fate. What are you guys doing?

I know. I don't know. I don't know how he survived it. I mean, an experience like that does is it takes down all the boundaries, right? Yes. Which is a scary thing. Like you can't like decompress and you kind of come home and it's still about a quiet place. I feel we did decompress though.

I feel like I think we share so much. We have our secret language when it comes to work. We tell each other everything. So yes, doing a movie together was like having a wild horse in the house. It's like having a slightly dysfunctional family member that won't leave. And you're always talking about them and they're just like, So sometimes after a hard day, you know, it's hard to leave it behind, but I'm a fan, you know. I think we're fans, we're fans of what each other do and maybe that helps and I'd never seen him at work and so maybe that's part of it.

You're a different person at work and it's, you have to kind of acclimatize to that. Well, it's also scary because it's like a, yeah, do I speak the same? work language as you. Well, you don't know going into it. And then I quickly realize, you know, it's the great gift that John is an actor, so he knows how to speak to actors, and he's so available, he knows how to direct actors,

and is curious, and maybe that's the thing I look for most in a director is their curiosity about what you might do, and your curiosity, and their curiosity to see you extend beyond some presupposed idea they might have had. And he has all of that. And I didn't realize how visually brilliant he was. Hey, Michael.

Hey, Tom. Well, big news to share it, right? Yes, huge, monumental, earth-shaking. Heartbeat sound effect, big. MUTHOO-W-W-H-MAT is back. That's right. After a brief snack nap. We're coming back.

We're picking snacks. We're eating snacks. We're raiding snacks. Like the snackologist we were born to be. Mates is back. Mike and Tom, eat snacks. wherever you get your podcast. Unless you get them from a snack machine, in which case, call us.

We call us. How does love work exactly? What makes something funny? How does noise affect your health? These are just a sample of the fascinating topics we discuss on my podcast, Something You Should Know. We bring you leading experts on topics important to you, things you can use in your life and that will fascinate you. We deliver three episodes a week and have over a thousand episodes available to listen. So get listening to Something You Should Know, wherever you get your podcast.

I don't think he did. I mean, before we started, I was like, do you know what a lens is? Because I don't. One of us better. Yeah, because I have no idea what a 50 is versus 100, you know. And he was like, I think I know. And he did. He did, definitely.

And he's got a new film coming out pretty soon. It's so beautiful. It's very sweet. It's more than sweet. Okay. Sweet's what your mom says about something you've done, you know. Moms in the audience. Barbara, how are we doing?

Barbara's here. Barbara Horowitz. Yeah, she's here. Guys, big cheer for Barbara. Come on. I. I'm shy. Thank you.

Thank you. We are very much in the final sprint to Election Day. And face it, between debates, polling releases, even court appearances. It can feel exhausting, even impossible to keep up with. I'm Brad Nilke. I'm the host of Start Here, the Daily Podcast from ABC News. And every morning, my team and I get you caught up on the day's news in a quick, straightforward way that's easy to understand with just enough context so you can listen,

get it, and go on with your day. So, kickstart your morning, start smart with Start Here and ABC News, because staying informed shouldn't feel overwhelming. I open this by saying, and I truly mean this, like the breadth of your career is remarkable, and like the proofs in the pudding, like all the clips we've seen going from Oppenheimer to, I just want to tease the audience, Emily's got this amazing new movie coming in just a couple months. that couldn't be more different in the best possible way. It's called The Fall Guy. It's you and Ryan Gosling, name check again. That is just pure delight. I'm so happy you loved it because I love it so much.

It's like a joy bomb. Yeah. It's just awesome. So the experience of making that in brief, this is a big action comedy. It's kind of like a tribute to stunt men in many ways. It is. It's such a love letter to them. It's a real throwback to those action romance.

that we grew up loving and a complete love letter to making movies but to the stuntmen who risk life and limb for us actors constantly and do it willingly and bravely

and they live for this to be able to live out practical stunts real old school shot practical stunts so there's barely a stitch of CGI in our movie and CGI is great but it's used so limitlessly nowadays and maybe it does distance us because we know it's not real

but all the stunts in this from insane car rolls to car jumps to God knows what else I mean it's all real and wildly intense watching all of it happen in real time and then the other side is just the fun repartee between you and dying. He's heaven and he's so

talented and frighteningly smart and so funny. I mean, just the most quick-witted, agile actor in the world and just a sheer delight to work with. In some ways, look, now at this stage of your career, you have the luxury of choice and opportunity, and these amazing filmmakers want to work with you. Like, in some ways, like, early on in a career, it's kind of easy.

You take whatever comes to you. Sure. Do you feel that at this point in your life? Like, it's making those choices as harder than ever. Or do you feel the luxury of like, I'll actually have some great options? I feel I've always taken choices quite seriously and thought about it, you know, at times too profoundly probably. And I think now, because of the kids, I'm sort of specific about when I go to work.

So maybe it's just more selective about what it is and when. But I think I've always cared deeply about the choices, always. We have some audience questions. Oh, good. Yeah, finally. About my new album. What genre of music will it be? I think this says Jean-Luc, I hope I'm saying that correctly.

What type of character would you like to play in your next Nolan movie? I like that we're secreting into the universe. You're obviously going to work with Nolan again. I hope. I mean, who knows? I hope he calls me. What kind of, let's make it happen. What kind of part do you want?

I don't know. I mean, I feel like whatever I invent in my head, he's going to surpass with some mind-bending extraordinary idea. So just, I hope he calls, that's all. We'll just leave it at that. Now, did you or did you not ever meet with him for any of the Batman films? I met him very briefly. But I don't think I was right.

Well, it's okay. It worked out forever. We'll give him forget. Except don't forget, apparently. Was it for Catwoman? Was it, do you remember? No. I think it was before that.

I think it was, according to the interweb, which is never wrong. Yeah. It might have been Maggie in the dark night. It was Maggie's Hall. Or Katie Holmes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Just setting the record straight. Listen, the best girl wins, all right? Always. All right. You beat out all those others for Kitty. You just lock the door and you said this part is mine. Nothing says raging drunk like Emily Blunt. And Chris knows that.

It's on the CV at the bottom of the seat. Exactly. Stevie wants to know, is there any advice that you could give to young, new actors? Yes. Anything else, Stevie? Specifically regarding how to cope with the business when starting out. Okay. Put your helmet on, because it's hard, and it's okay that it's hard.

And if you love it, you have access to so many different ways of putting yourself out there. You don't have to go through the traditional route. Be creative. Be bold. use the interweb, as you just said, and just try to put your feet to the fire with it as much as possible, because there's always space, I feel, for new voices, exciting new ideas,

and new ways of orienting us to thinking a different way. And if you have an idea and you think you've got it, you should pursue it. It's an extraordinary business. It's not always easy. It has pitfalls. You have to live in the trenches sometimes. It can sometimes not be fun, but it can be euphoric,

and I understand why people are intoxicated by it, and there's a magnet towards wanting to do it, because it's amazing. And if you think you have it, then go for it. I love it. Perfect. You earn that sip of water. That was good.

Stevie. Thank you. You're welcome. Kate Jay would like to know. what is your process as an actor approaching dialects? And what was the most challenging aspect of Nailing Kitty's voice? So I have a wonderful dialect coach called Liz Himmolstein, and every time I do an American accent, I love to work with Liz.

And she's awesome. I've worked with her since, oh my God, since the Jane Austen Book Club, probably. It's two more references than I thought to the Austin Book Club one night. You've got to give it some love. Yeah. I love an accent, I love a specific dialect, and I think I had an instinct with Kitty that she should speak at a sort of velocity that was exciting and intimidating. I think there was something performative about her.

There was something about her, from everything I read, just someone said about her, they said Kitty didn't do big talk, sorry, Kitty didn't do small talk, she only did big talk, and it was such a great way in to understanding her and how she wanted to be perceived. She couldn't have cared less about what people thought of her, and she could be mean as a snake, but she was so exciting and verbose. So there were clues in the script, clues in the book,

and then Liz and I listened to a lot of, cool broads from the 40s, and especially someone maybe who started out as an ingenue and then got older and what happens to the voice and where does she go. We found one person particularly that I really became fixated on and she was a big inspiration for Kitty, you know. You said she didn't, you think she didn't care what people thought about her. Do you care enough, too little, too much about what people think of you? Um, I mean, I really, uh, such a hard question, because I care about certain people.

I care what certain people think of me, but I feel so much of it is out of my control. So most of it, you have to kind of let slip through your fingers, you know, the opinions that people might form, that can also become like white noise, even if it's sort of negative or positive. It can all sort of become in the background. I really don't do social media, which probably helps, that I'm sort of blissfully unaware of the love or loathe, you know? But it's a scary place out there, yeah.

Yeah, it can be a slippery slope, right? And there could be one thing that would stick in your mind. But of course, I care what. people I care about things, you know, yeah. I'm going to butcher the name Shantanoo. Wants to know, were you a history buff prior to Oppenheimer? No, Shantanoo. No, I mean...

No, no era of history. No, okay. No, I mean, I read the Oppenheimer, the American Prometheus tone that we had to all read. And that was pretty extensive. But, I mean, I couldn't rattle it off to you, I wasn't asking Shantanu's like

say it Elby wants to know you span so many genres as an actor would you ever want to direct maybe one day I don't know quite yet if I want to but I'm becoming increasingly interested and

yeah maybe one day Sue would like you to tell us about the American Institute of stuttering. My sister, this is Sue's sister, Ginny is a speech pathologist, and today is her birthday. Happy birthday, Jenny. So this is obviously something very important to you that connects to your childhood and to your life. Tell us a little bit about it. So I was a stutterer as a kid from the age of five to 16, probably. And once you're a stutterer, I guess you're always a stutterer. And so certain environments, I notice when I'm really, really tired,

or super stressed about something, I will struggle with my speech, especially on the phone. And if someone's like, well, what happened? Tell me, I'll have a problem saying it under pressure. It is something I've learned about so much more now. I didn't have the knowledge as a kid, so I did often feel weird and completely humiliated by it and embarrassed of it and would try to mask it.

And usually if you mask it, you just go inward and you stop talking. And I've learned since through American Institute of Stuttering and all the incredible emboldening work they do to get people to sort of wrap their arms around this disability, this part of themselves, that it's neurological, it's biological, it's nearly often hereditary, and the most important thing is it's not your fault. There's nothing you can do.

It's a synaptic brain thing that you have a pre-examptial brain thing that you have a predisposition for. And it runs really prominently at my family. So my uncle, my cousin, my grandfather, Allstutter. And so it was just something I accepted. I felt like I grew out of it to a certain extent. Acting was certainly helpful. I've learned as well a lot of people use performing as a way to free their voices.

and maybe there's something ethereal about it. Maybe there's something emotional about freeing up your voice from this disability that in everyday life when I'm just talking to someone, when all of us are talking to someone, you'll use A, B, C, D, E, part of your brain. But apparently when you're being creative and you're transforming into something else,

you're using a whole different part of yourself. And for whatever reason, it stops the record skipping and you can speak more freely. And I still don't really understand it. And even all the experts at AIS are intrigued and they want to know more about it. But all the guys I've dragged

to American Institute of Stuttering from Samuel Jackson to the great Bruce Willis and Harvey Keitel and Ed Shear and all these amazing talents, they all are stutterers or were very prominent stutterers. And I don't think they understand. and why when they act, they don't, you know.

I can't imagine for a young stutterer out there to hear you speak about this must just mean the world. Well, I love talking to the young stutter is for sure because then you have an idea of hope or promise that it doesn't really define you, you know. All right, we're gonna end with the happy second fuse profoundly random questionnaire. Here we go.

Oh God. Do you prefer a first day of a shoot or the last day of the shoot? Last day? Yeah. I feel the first day I'm like outside of myself. I feel like I'm trying to catch up. Like, I don't feel I'm in the pocket of it. Right.

I'm just scared, probably. What stage direction do you dread seeing in a script? Stage direction. She looks so glamorous. Right. You know, anything where you have to show a sort of, like, glamour or prowess and something, you're just like, oh, God, like, I'd rather just be like, she walks in awkwardly. I'm like, no problem.

That I can... That got you. The most beautiful woman ever to walk the door enters the room. Nightmare. Yeah, she's perfect in every way. I know this, I think. Dogs are cats. I mean...

Do I know this? Because I grew up with cats, so I feel like I'm betraying my cats. No, speak what you need to speak. Say it. No, I'm obsessed with my dog, so it has to be dogs. Correct answer. Okay.

Dog people. There's a couple of them. Favorite adult beverage? Margarita. Good. Adult beverage. I think we know this. Harry Potter or the Rings.

It sounds like you. Harry Potter. Harry Potter. They're rebooting it. We can get you in the new one. Are they? They're doing the TV series. It just came to me.

Wait, new kids. It can be new kids. You could play the kid. You could play Hermione. Are there new books? No, no. They're going to do a more fully fleshed out series. Really get it to the nitty-gritty.

I love that you thought I could be Hermione. You can do anything you set your mind to. Sure, but not play an eight-year-old. Well, John could be Hagrid. He would be great. Weirdest place you've ever been recognized? I was, no, it's. It's not weird enough, probably.

Thank you for the bar high. A porter potty. You never want that, like if you're coming. How was someone else in the portal? Okay, got it. I wasn't in there with someone. Okay, I just don't know, I didn't. No, I was on a hike and then I stopped and had one,

and had one, a pee, guys, a pee. Stopped and had one. Why would I even say that? That's how you say, that's like, eh, had one. Yeah. And so I had a pee. And then I came out of the porta potty and there was someone there. And I'm like, oh my God.

Yeah, sorry about that. I forgot. That was you. Not that there's anything annoying about you, but what would your friends and family say? Say that's annoying? Yeah. I can be a little anal about being on time. That's a good thing.

No, it's not. It's kind of annoying. Oh. It's kind of annoying. Like I'll need to get to the airport early, you know, that kind of annoying. This is a good quality. Well, how early? I mean, not like, I'm trying to think of something more annoying.

It's okay. You're perfect. We know it. We got it. No, I know. Don't. That's the script stuff I don't like. I think you told me at a previous conversation you were fascinated by what other people are scared of. Yeah. So what are you scared of? What's your, do you have a phobia? Cockroaches. Cockroaches. Okay. Cockroaches. Anything that moves to. fast and furtively. I'm not disagreeing. Like, when we were in Australia shooting Fall Guy...

Have you seen the spiders? They're like that. They're like that. They're not even one hand, they're two. It was one of those massive ones, the Huntsman. The Huntsman spiders. I was sitting outside on the terrace and I suddenly looked in the house and I saw one just lurking on the wall.

the wall and I was like John you're up you're up I said I will not do that that is not my thing yeah seeing him try to bravely put a Tupperware over it was one of the best things I've ever seen because he walked up and he was trying to be brave he went okay I'm just got you know what yeah this is fine I'm just you know what I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do I'm gonna go okay here we go there we go oh my god okay but talking himself up right and then he slid the paper underneath and it was very still and he took it outside and then he said he got very scared because right before he released it,

it just went brr-r-r-r-r-r-r-round the thing. Even the sound he made describing it is just like all around. So fast, so big and so fast. A sneak peek at a quiet place, part three. I know, it's all massive spiders and cockroaches. We're wrapping up our wonderful time together. It's gone by quick.

It's gone by quick. It's always a delight. Are you, look, I'm so happy for you, all the success that is justifiable for this amazing performance of this amazing film. Are you superstitious? Are you going to have a little speech somewhere just in case? No, no, no. No?

I don't think so. No, I'm just going to, because Emily Blunt winging it on a stage, that feels like the right thing to do. Well, is it? I mean, I said, like, inappropriate things all night here, but, um... Well, regardless, you've won the prize. It's all good. It's all good.

It's all good. Have a great end to this insane award season, but I mean what a great ride and and congratulations to you and the entire group that Thank you this amazing piece of work. We're so happy. Thank you so much everybody Give it up one more time. Emily Blunt everybody And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

American history is full of infamous tales that continue to captivate audiences, decades or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the infamous America podcast, you'll hear the truth. true stories of the Salem Witch Trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles Starkweather, of mysteries like the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, Killers of the Flower Moon, Zodiac, Eight Men Out, and many more. I'm Chris Wimmer. Join me as we crisscross the country from the Miami Drug Wars and Dixie Mafia in the south,

to mobsters in Chicago and New York, to arsonists, kidnappers, and killers in California, to unsolved mysteries in the heartland and in remote corners of Alaska. Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge. Find Infamous America, wherever you get your podcasts.