Happy Sad Confused - Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman

Episode Date: October 21, 2020

If you've been stuck inside for awhile, "The Long Way Up" might be just the escape you need. This week on "Happy Sad Confused", best buddies Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman join Josh to talk about their long friendship, their many adventures (their latest chronicled in their new Apple+ series),, and how Ewan helped Josh propose to his wife. Plus Ewan tantalizes Josh with stories of his recent camera tests, returning to his role as Obi Wan Kenobi! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Nights definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins now. Today on Happy, Say, Confused, Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman on their new show, The Long Way Up. Hey, guys, I'm Josh Harrow.

It's welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. This is a fun one today, guys. This is a pair of gentlemen who go way back, lifelong friends, maybe not lifelong, but they've known each other for, I think, a good 20 years or so. Ewan McGregor, Charlie Borman. You obviously know Ewan McGregor as one of the most talented charming actors on the planet, Charlie Borman, a great talent in his own right. He's done a bunch of travel shows. He is an actor, comes from a great lineage, his father, the great director, John Borman. Turley and Ewan met on a film when Turley was acting way back when. They're

friendship was cemented with their love of motorcycles and they have built on that over the years with a series of adventures and they've been documented in really fine fashion with these long way series. The new one is on Apple TV Plus and I really enjoyed these shows. This one is their trip from the tip of South America up through all the way up to California and it is a really fun adventure show, a document of their friendship, a travelogue. It has a great environmental message. They rode on electric motorcycles this go-round. And, you know, if you just want to hang out with two really charming fellows on this great road trip, especially while we're all, by and large, cooped up in our apartments and houses, I found this show the long way up to be a great

escape. It's on Apple TV Plus right now. And I watched it all and had a blast with it. This was a conversation that was a lot of fun because I have a bit of a history with Ewan McGregor. And it's a pretty personal one, as I mentioned in the conversation, way back when Ewan, who is one of my wife's favorite actors, helped in a way, helped him in a way, he really did help with my engagement to my wife. I asked him as a favor a long time ago to kind of record a special message for my wife that was a part of the engagement process.

She thankfully said yes. We are very happily married ever since. And so, you know, I always like to remind Ewan of that whenever I see him over the years. He's always very charming and sweet about it. And on this go-around, which was, of course, taped over Zoom, Ewan kindly, not to ruin the surprise, It doesn't have to be surprised.

It's kind of just fun to know. At a certain point, he mentioned, wait, is your wife around? I've never met your wife in all these years. So, yes, I dragged the wife into the call. I dragged her in to meet Ewan McGregor virtually in this conversation. And it's a cute moment later on. So stay tuned for that. In addition to this long conversation about Charlie and Ewan's adventures

throughout the years of exploring the world via motorcycle. of course i had to hit up you in about the obi one tv series which is going to be for disney they're shooting it next year some interesting little tidbits in there that are worth checking out if you're a star wars fan like me anytime eun mcgregor talk star wars let alone returning to the character of obi one that is worth paying attention to and um his story of donning the obi one garb again yeah he's been in costume guys he's he's been in costume for the first time in many, many years for camera tests, that definitely got me excited for the series that will be shot in the near future.

Can't wait for that. Other things to mention, new episode of Stir Crazy, my Comedy Central series up on Comedy Central's YouTube and Facebook pages, really hysterical conversation. Is it even a conversation? It was like a rambling series of asides with the great Eric Andre. Eric Andre, who you may know from the Eric Andre show and his stand-up, a really out there in the best possible way, comic talent. I'd never had the pleasure of talking to him.

And this chat for Stir Crazy, this episode is, if you're an Eric Andre fan, if you like kind of out there crazy comedy, you'll dig this episode of Stir Crazy. Also got a chance to catch up for MTV with Dylan O'Brien. If you're a Teen Wolf fan, if you're Dylan O'Brien fan, That's a really cool, fun conversation. I had a chance to also talk to Adam Brody for MTV. He's got a new movie called The Kid Detective, which is really great. That was a fun kind of reunion and hadn't talked to Adam in many years.

Both of those conversations, you can, if you check out my social channels, Joshua Horowitz, or if you just go to MTV News's YouTube page, you should be able to check those out. So keeping busy, guys, you know, while the world tries to deal with COVID, it is crazy times numbers are up across the country we got to be vigilant we got to wear a mask we got to observe social distancing do not let up guys um i know we're all getting stir crazy but um the health of our friends and family and loved ones depend on our conscientious behavior so please wear a mask be socially distant don't be stupid um and and we're of course also in the home stretch here in the US heading into the election. And I will just say, guys, if you think your vote doesn't matter,

you're dead wrong. Last election was decided on very few votes. We have to win. You know who I'm referring to when I say we, the folks that are going to restore democracy to the United States. Vote Biden and Harris. And let's not only win, let's make it a landslide if possible. let's make this a giant sweeping mandate against the totalitarian dictator, would-be dictator that we have in Mr. Donald Trump. Yeah, I'm not going to hide my feelings about that one. But this is an important time, guys. So please, please, please make your vote be heard.

This is the most important election of our lives. I know it's said on every election, but this time, it's true. All right, off my soapbox and back to entertaining you guys, hopefully, with this conversation with the stars of the long way up. Here is my conversation with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Ford. Charlie, Ewan, we are gathered here, New York, London, Los Angeles. This is the United Nations. The world's coming together to support your show today. Thanks for being with me.

Thanks for having this own, Josh. I would be remiss. I always feel compelled to mention this, Ewan, and I don't know how many marriage proposals you've been a part of over the years, but I want it on record on my happy, sad, confused podcast. Charlie, your buddy here helped me propose marriage 14 years ago. Oh, my God, that's right. Oh, wow. I've been told me this before, haven't you? Did you? This was back, way back when, at the Miss Potter junket, and you, of course, are, that's where love is born, as you know, Ewan. It's all coming flooding back. This, that's right. Miss Potter, Press Junction, London.

And you, yes, you helped broker this marriage with my wife. I have the Moulon Rouge poster literally in my kitchen right next to me, still hanging. So thank you again. No, you're very welcome. I'm glad to hear you still, this all still going strong.

That's great. Oh, no, it broke up long ago. That's the sad part. No, yeah. No, we're very happy. We're very happy to go. Well, you never know, you know. Just a good story.

There's a long time. This is true. A good story with a sad ending. No, no, we're very happy. And thanks, as always you. And Charlie, it's a pleasure to meet you today. I'm really a fan of what you guys have done over the years. And I was thrilled when I heard you guys were bringing the van back together for this. It surprised me it had been so long. I don't know about you, but I didn't realize there had been such a gap. But I guess life gets in the way sometimes. Was the plan always to get back together for another adventure? And what took so long? Well, I think, I'll answer this, you and see you can finish a sandwich. Thank you, yeah, that's all right, mate. One more of mostful left. I'm there for you. But the, yeah, I suppose it was, we've been talking about this a little bit over the last number of days. And, you know, I think, you know, it's been about 12 years since the last one.

And as Ewan says, you know, we, when we finished a long way down, we, you moved to the States. I was over here, and we both got just busy with work and life, and we were both making, William was making movies, I was making some TV shows, and then, Jung, actually, funny enough, he moved to America and spent much of his time over here making movies. And, but while he was here, I was away doing other stuff, so we kept missing each other, and then, you know,

I think we just sort of moved along and sort of parallel kind of thing, but just not really connecting properly. properly. And then back a little a few years ago, I've managed to smash myself to pieces. And then Ewan got in contact again. I think Ollie rang him and said, look, this is what's happened. And then Ewan said, you know, it's crazy that we've this great friendship and we haven't sort of connected. So we kind of reconnected with this crash. And I happened to be stuck in my house in London. I wasn't going anywhere for a good couple of years. And then you and came over and we kind of reconnected. And as best friends do, you just sort of pick up where you left off. And we just

sort of carried on exactly where we left off, which was talking about motorbikes and pretty much not much else, really. And then, you know, the idea, we'd always said there would be a third one, but, you know, we never said when or, and it kind of came about. And then we got Russ and Dave over, who are our business partners and producers. And we said, look, we think it's, we think it's a good idea, good time. And then Russ mentioned about, he said, we were talking about maybe, you know, doing something different, but how are we going to make this different?

And Russ suggests what about going electric? And it kind of rocketed from there, didn't it, you? It did, yeah. We were inspired to start thinking about that and then exploring it. And we did a lot of research about electric bikes. and um i have it we went back and forward like it was it was a real up and down thing like a yo-yo one day we were like well maybe it'd be quite exciting we could try it and i don't think anyone's done it before and the next day we're like what are we kidding this is this crazy

idea like there's no there's nowhere to charge them we're going to get so the whole thing's going to be about charging these bikes well to be fair it was a crazy idea watching i've watched half the series and and it's a nice balance of like a travel show and yeah there's a This was a crazy idea. Yeah. My God, this is a tough road to figure out, but you did. You managed. Yeah.

I mean, the nice thing about them, long way around, long way around was our first one in 2004, and we rode from London to New York. So we left London and we headed east. We went across Europe and then into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Far Eastern Russia, Alaska, Canada, America. And we didn't really know what we were. doing. But that was the point. The point was we just, we wanted to try it. We were inspired by this amazing book called Jupiter's Travels, written by a guy that we know now, Ted Simon, who did a

round-the-world trip in the 70s on a triumph. And because we didn't know what we're doing, we just believed Charlie and I that we should just shoot it and we just let the experience of doing the journey be whatever it is and shoot it and document it for real and not try and impose anything or plan anything and it worked out really well so it's not like you say it's not really a bike thing it's not i mean it's it's not bike-centric it's not travel set it's not a travel show it's it's just like the journey and and people feel like they can get to come along on the ride with us which is what's lovely about it it does it struck me watching it that it really it's about a number of things but at its heart i really feel like it is about friendship it's about camaraderie and

about this relationship between the two of you that's evolved over what nearly 25 years. I also, frankly, appreciate, I mean, this is like a pet peeve about reality shows sometimes. I hate it when they don't acknowledge the production that, like, what goes into it. And I love that you guys, like, obviously your crew is kind of part of the family now. A lot of these people were on the initial journey with you. But to the point about you and Charlie, I'd love to trace back a little bit because, because, funnily enough, now that you've done this a few times over a number of years, this has become like your before sunrise. This is your like up series, like this chronicles your guys, like, you know, maturing and like

you're different stages of your life. And these are, these are funny kind of markers of your, of your lives. Um, when you look back at your relationship and how it formed, which I believe was on a film set, what, uh, what was your point of connection at first? What did you guys bond over? We better not say it, really. Well, no, yeah. And that way, I think it's, there's a watershed and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, it was the early 90s after all. Um, what did we It was actually, we, we, um, because, because obviously, you know, I knew of you and when, when, when, when, when we started the movie and, and, and, and, you know, it was really excited to work with him on a, on, on a movie. And then, and then, and then I found out that, that, that, that, that, that he rode motorbikes.

And then, so, of course, my respect just rocketed even more then, you know, I liked the guy even before I met him, but then I really liked the guy knowing about the bikes. And I, and I, and I heard he had a, uh, uh, uh, uh, Montaguezzi Le Mans. Thank you, that's right. And he, and so when we met up at the film set, we met up in this pub, we were in Ireland, in Six Mile Bridge, Casey's, I think it was. And we met, you know, to meet all the crew and everybody

and the actors, and my first conversation with Yuen was about motorbikes. And we both just had our first child, of Dune and Clara. And we just had, we had a lot in common. And we kept talking, we became friends on the film. And then we kept talking afterwards. And we did all sorts of stuff together.

We did, we did track days together. We did, you know, little adventures together. There was a whole posse of us. There was, you know, there was Roy and Paul and a bunch of us used, Biker Paul, yeah. It's so funny that we're all bikers. and yet we call Paul Biker Paul. I was going to say...

Why do we call that Biker Paul? Is that an ironic name, or is he like the ultimate biker in the group? Well, no, but I think because I've still got him in my phone as Biker Paul. And so I don't know if it was that or we called him Biker Paul, and then I put it in my phone as Biker Paul. But so we all did that. And then you and I got involved in a bit of a race team, and we kind of involved with that. and in the British super bikes

and we did all sorts of sort of stuff like that. And then you know, and then as Ewan said, this was really, it came sort of from Ewan really was the trip. We were looking to do a bigger journey and we thought we'd go down to the South of Spain meet our wives

and have the holiday and then right back. And then Ewan came up with this idea. So it's all your fault, Ewan. As a waving my penit. you. You and when you look back, because I mean, you obviously, like, you're a much different guy than you were way back then, yet this, this relationship has changed, I mean, or hasn't changed in many respects. I mean, do you look back at that you and that first match, Charlie is a much different guy or at its core are you guys essentially the same wild gentleman from the early

90s? I think there's parts of us that are very different parts of us are exactly the same. It's just the nature of growing older. I mean, I, I remember. I remember the moment that we met. It's odd. I remember turning round, and you approached me and you told me that you were playing. I can't remember the name of the character you were playing in the piece, because it was so long ago. But you said, I'm playing, I'm Charlie, I'm playing that role.

I was like, oh, nice to meet you. And then we started talking about more bikes. And I remember it, like, seeing you for the first time. Like, that, I don't think it was in cases yet. I think we're in a, it was like in a hotel or something, or a restaurant or something. It was like a upstairsy place or something. Anyway, we ended up spending most of our time

in Paddy Cases, which was a pub nearby. And that side of me has changed a lot. You know, then, we were drinking and whatever else all the time. And now I don't do any of that. I've done any of that for a long, long time. So that part of my life is very different. But our relationships sort of grown and morphed into this, yeah, through the race team and through doing track days together

and this bunch of characters who we, we would ride with and but into doing the first trip and then that's changed that changed everything because we we went through like I said about long way around we didn't know what we were doing we were experiencing it all for the first time yeah and also we were trying to make a documentary out of it or a film out of it or something and so all of the ups and downs on that and the challenges of trying to make a film and also just the challenges of trying to do that that was in many ways the most challenging trip I think in terms of the riding and stuff and we did it all together.

And so by the time we finished that trip, we had this bond that we don't have with anyone else in the world, you know, except for Claudio, in fact, our cameraman, Claudio, is the only other person who's we three. Yeah, you survived that mad adventure together. Yeah. But then again, Charlie, that's not actually true

because Claudio had to go back to get his motorcycle license. Do you remember when we were with the Ukrainian? He lied about his, when we met him, he said, you ride motorbikes to me? And he goes, yeah, I ride motorbikes. Absolutely. There was this, and, and, um, and, and, and then when we're getting really close to leaving, he comes up to us and he says, I, you know, he says, um, you know, the thing is, um, I, I,

I've just been looking on my, on my, on my, on my, on my driving license and, and some reason, the motorbike license bit has disappeared. Strange how that works. His mom was sending his mom sending his Swiss passport It was all over. It was all of us. It was rubbish. And then he failed it twice.

Yeah. I think it was that finally, was it where we were in Czech Republic or somewhere like that? He had to fly home to take it again. I mean, the pressure. Just before we went, he took it the first time. And then we got a call. And we were filming, I think David was filming us,

filming us because, you know, it was part of the story. We're filming everything. So, Claudio's off doing his bike test. We get a call from him and we're filming us and he says, I failed. We're like, we thought he was joking. We're like, yeah, fuck. No, I really, I failed. And we're like, our cameraman guy, our tiker, cameraman,

but is not going to be able to. So they literally tailored his bike through some of it he rode, but he wasn't insured in some of the countries because he didn't have a license so he flew back and it was the day that we met this crazy character in the Ukraine called Igor

and we got stopped for speeding it by in a police check in the Ukraine and it was like just set up in the middle of absolutely nowhere and it was just purely for the police to fleece travelers of money so you're riding along there's no town, there's no buildup of any people

and suddenly it's a 30 mile in Arizona or something and you didn't see the flying because they hid it behind a tree. And I don't think we don't even worked, did it? I mean, uh, so he did, but we got, we sort of talked our way out of it. And this nice guy said, we're, you know, he was asking where we're staying and we told them we were heading to this town. We might stay in a hotel and he was, no, no, no, no. And he made this thing with his hands where he made this sort of mime of being bitten by lots of bugs. He said, don't stay in the hotel like this. So he'll get bedbugs. So we didn't. He said,

come back here six o'clock six o'clock so we got back we met him at six o'clock and he led he said follow me he jumped in his police car and we followed him now we're no idea who this guy is where we're going we don't know anything we're just following a police car through this very small town and in western ukraine eastern ukraine i think and um he takes us through this town right to right to the middle of this little town to where there's a like a television shot an electrical appliance shop. They sell vacuum cleaners and TVs and fridges and microwaves and outside the shop looks like extras casting for some mob movie. Like there's all these guys in leather jackets and pinstripe suits and it looks like sort of the like a B movie, a B mafia movie. And then the sort of

part and this guy comes out who I swear looks like a young Robert De Niro with a great big black mustache. He's Igor and he just jumps in his BMW and he says, ah, waves. Follow me. follow me. So now we're, the policeman's gone. Now we're following this guy. We don't know who he is or why we're following him. And we get up to the gates of this big house in a rather poor neighborhood, but this is not a poor house that we're at. There's two guys with leather jackets on the gate who open it. And we ride in after this guy's car. And he gets out and he goes, welcome. Welcome, my friends. Welcome. This house is your house. And we're looking at each other going, what the hell? And we're really hot and sweaty. And he takes

us up into his house, gives us a room, and he says, this is your room. This house, tonight, this house is your house. And so we go downstairs, we're sitting, we get a shower, we're sitting down with him, and all these guys start coming in, and I'm sitting opposite Charlie. A guy comes in behind me, and Charlie just leans forward, he goes, he's taking off his gun. And I went, what? He said, he's taken off his gun. And I turn around, and this guy who's just come in, is taking off his shoulder harness from

under his suit. And we're like, what the hell? And then the more it went on, we realized we're in the, we're in the head mafia guy of the town's house. This is really who runs the town, not the police. Oh, my gosh. Igor runs this down. But I have to say after that,

that it was like, it was, there were two feelings. It was part of us was so relieved to actually believing the place and thinking, you know, it was that sense of like such relief. And the other side of it was that we were, sounds slightly sad because he was such an amazing character. And after dinner, he came downstairs holding a Kalashnikov and a guitar. He says, make love, not war. And then start singing this incredible song.

And it was just extraordinary. And the whole thing was fantastic. But those are the, and those are the bits that people, I suppose, look, you know, that's the bits that you remember the most, the bits of you're most terrified about. And then you sort of have hysterical laughter after afterwards, because there's, I think there's a relief of tension or whatever it is. And, you know, you're laughing away because you just think, oh, God, we've got past this, you know.

I hope you have a Mafia Igor in your phone right next to Biker Pete, just as a, they put on this big, he got, they put on this big feast for us and they had, like, everybody from that town. You should not be alive, they all came in and they have this big feast. And at one point, I saw the guy who came in with the pistol, took Charlie outside. And we were chatting away. And 10 minutes later, there was some gunshots rang out. And we, I was with Cranky, Jimmy Cranky,

and I went, fucking Char. Just for a minute, I thought, Charles has been shot. He's been, he's taken Charlie outside to shoot him. That's what I thought. And we ran outside. And they're in the garage looking at the motorbikes. And this guy literally got a smoking gun in his hand. And he was just so drunk on vodka

that he took his pistol eye at some point, shot it up in the air. Sure, that's what you do. Yeah. It was bizarre. I was sitting there because I was outside having a cigarette because you weren't allowed to smoke in the house, but you could have an Uzi or a machine gun on the house, but you couldn't smoke.

So it was standing outside. And I'm sitting there with a cigarette in my mouth and he's got this gun out and he's shooting this gun and these cartridges are hitting the side of my head. I'm looking around this. And then Ewing comes in, because, geez, I thought they'd killed you. Anyway. Oh, my God.

These are the stories. This is why you do these adventures. That's amazing. There's no real segue to this, but I do want to mention because this has been a kind of a focus on a podcast, especially in recent months, that we're all looking for escape or comfort. And I should add that this show has been an amazing escape for me, you know, in the confines of my apartment. But I've barely left this last six months to be kind of on these adventures with you. It's perfect. But on the note of film being a comfort,

and I take it you both enjoy film, given your professions and your backgrounds, I asked you both for some comfort movies that you found that you've had comfort in over the years, and you both had interesting picks. I'd be curious just to hear, maybe let's start with you, and you chose one that I literally have not seen

probably since I was 10 years old. So tell me why you chose what you did and what source of comfort you derived from it. I've just wondered when I got texted yesterday, asking this question, is there a film that you'd like to say as a comfort movie? And it was the first thing that came in my head was this film breaking away that I watched, I don't know how many hundreds of times when I was a kid. I loved it so, I love it. To this day, I love it. And it really is that for me. I put it on. I almost know every line of

dialogue. I feel like I know all the characters in it. It's really a special movie. and it was about a guy on a on a on a but is a guy who's a guy who's a cyclist who yeah in um india is in indiana it is and um he just he loves sight and his heroes are the italian cyclists and he sort of speaks in italian all the time pretends to be italian and he just um he he loves cycling and there's great sequences of him out training on his bicycle and uh i used to that's how i grew up and that's probably why when i was a kid i just spent all my time on my bicycle like to you know, to get to from my house to my best mate, Eric's house, was a good 15-minute cycle on the road

and over the top of this hill on a dirt track and stuff. And that was it. It was like bombing around on my bicycle. And I've never, I've never changed. I'm still doing the same shit, no. I do like the idea of like a seven-year-old, you know, Ewan McGregor growing up in Scotland, like watching a film about four kids in Indiana coming of age.

And yet you connected because, I mean, not to connect everything, the Star Wars, but like, you know, Star Wars is about a kid that wants to lead, wants to go on an adventure. That's what a lot of the great stories are that I think we connect with. Yeah. Yeah. I love the characters in it. Quades in it, Dennis Quades, and it's brilliant. And he falls in love with this, the town is, he's, they're all the sons of stone cutters, so they're sort of working class kids, and there's a college town, and there's this, there's this rivalry between the college kids who really are a bunch of idiots, really.

and then these grounded working class kids who are the sons of working men, but they're all in the year after high school and they're not working men yet, but they like the identity of being cutters, and the dad says at one point, you're not cutters, we're cutters. But the dad's very funny,

and he's a used car salesman now, and his son just messes. It's just a brilliant film. I don't know, I love everything about it. He falls in love with this girl, who's a college student, sort of out of his league, and pretends to be Italian to her. And then I was just,

great moment at the end where he comes clean and he tells her he's not he's not Italian and he's a he's a cutter you know and she slaps him but I was so in love with her she's so beautiful this girl you know I was so in love with it. Amazing. It's a lovely film. Yeah as you said I'm a great ensemble of young actors many who went on to great things including Jackie Roelholy and Daniel Stern and mentioned that's quite Dennis Christopher's in the lead and directed by Peter Yates we should mention that yeah fantastic Charlie you just something a little more recent that it's been on my list for a while haven't seen. Can you tell us why you've seen it? I know. I chose a film called Untouchable or Untouchable, which is a French film. And it's based on a true story about this guy who's

paralyzed from the neck down C-5. And, you know, he can't do anything. And he's very rich. And so he can have care as he's, you know, very lucky in that way. But they all treat him a little bit like in a, as a third party. And I kind of got, I understand that kind of thing. I spent quite a bit of time in a wheelchair as well. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, be saying, so how's Charlie? Oh, my God. I'm down here. And you go, oh, hello, Charlie.

How are you? Oh, my God. And so I kind of, anyway, but, but, and I'm a little bit dyslexic. So, so actually very dyslexic. So I don't really watch, uh, subtitled films. And, and anyway, there's this, it's this true movie about this guy and this, this relationship that forms between the caro and him and they, and he treats him normally. And, and they just have this incredible event.

together and he helps this guy come out of his shell again and and have a life again. And then he comes from a difficult background and he learns and gets a life as well. And I love the fact that it's a, you know, true story is beautifully filmed incredibly well-acted. And it was the, I remember my wife asked me, said, you know, come and see this film, you'll love it. it. And I said, you know, it's subtitles. I don't want to watch it. Anyway, I sat down in the cinema on the King's Road, you know, the Curzon on the King's Road. And I watched this movie and it finished and I just sat there and I was mesmerized by the whole thing. And it was the first time I never really watched a movie where I just wanted to sit in the cinema and if they were

going to play it immediately again, I would happily watch the whole movie again. I loved it. I loved that feeling amazing. That's a great, thank you for reminding me that it was on my list and somehow would pass me. I will. I definitely will. It reminds me the way you were talking about sort of like that focus of like losing yourself and something in kind of the opposite way. Something that struck me as I was watching episodes the last few days of your show is there is nary a moment in the series where you guys are staring at a phone, where you're on your iPhone, where you're scrolling through Instagram, where you're like, and that is life nowadays. And it feels like, I don't know if some of that was cut out because obviously you're going to be on your phone some of the time. But like it seems

like you guys really, and I admire this because I have like, I feel like I have ADD, even when I'm on vacation, I can't stop looking at the phone. This was a true escape. You're still able to escape and find enjoying the moment, enjoying the three months of moments. Is that, is that easy for you in these times to still switch off and kind of be in the moment or has that become more difficult or what I think yeah we I was on the phone a lot to speak into my partner Mary back at home that's what I used my phone for and then we had it on the handlebars using it for our you know navigation and bits and bobs to do with a trip but like I would say three years ago I got rid of social media altogether I stopped

doing Twitter and Instagram because it was just a I was a big change in my life and I was being bombarded with bullshit from people who don't know who I am or don't know anything about my life and I just switched it off one day and deleted it and I've never been more relieved in my life. It's just such a relief and got so much time back

and I don't miss anything about it. I feel like the people that I'm still in touch with like I think there's that fear you won't be in touch with people but the truth is you'll be in touch with the people that you meant to be in touch with, you know. And if you're not in touch with some other people, it's because they maybe don't mean as much to you anyway, you know, then... So, I don't miss it at all.

Is there really... Yeah, Charles. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm... I found recently, I think during lockdown and stuff, I seem to have been on it a bit more. And I noticed that my children and my wife started to mention that, you know, you're always looking at your phone. And then I kind of, this is all the last sort of six months. And I kind of looked back at myself and I kind of noticed myself, you know, in the middle of dinner, you know, having a conversation and set up, pick up the phone and be looking at the phone for absolutely no reason, really, just looking at the phone. And so I've made a real conscious effort not to do that.

I mean, the phone, as you said, on the trip was super helpful. you know we would we would decide to go to some towns a little tiny village you could you could look at that village and you would you would put in as a as a as a as a as a search you know youth hostel or or b and b or something like that and and it was incredible every single youth hospital and b and be will come up in that town so as a as a as a as a traveling tool it was fantastic but but we didn't we didn't post anything we didn't we didn't do anything on the on the trip like that and it was I like that it. But most of the time, you and I, we had comms and most of the time we just talked absolutely gibberish rubbish the whole time. I mean, hours and hours of chatting away. And some of the conversations just went, we had one day where we spoke about this is where trolls, no, we're not trolls, one of those little cabbage-packed trolls. We went through these huge fields of cactus first And you'd be riding along and just all along the hillside and run down the valley

There's just thousands of cactus standing And in your sort of, I don't know what happens There's some sort of meditation of riding all day long It was as if there were thousands of people standing on the hillsides watching go by And we sort of came up with this idea that they were They were sort of they were in communication with all the other cactus in the world and the kinds of this world talking to each other saying oh there's those two idiots and the electric bikes going by there but then it became sort of like we felt like we're being looked

after by these cactus we were totally over doing this but i just would like to follow up this comment by saying we were not high in any way we were just high on life you know and then we passed this through this passage where there was all these tufty grass things like but they were it was like troll's hair coming out of the ground and we came up with these other these huge histories of these societies and trolls that live. There's madness. It was such... Just talking just absolutely rabbit. And that was one of the wonderful parts of it was, was, you know, and I think a lot of it, and I think people who ride bicycles or

or go along or hikes or walks or have these, these passions that people have horse riding or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or cycling, whatever it is, you know, you, on these long journeys, one of the wonderful things is that, is that you do have a lot of time. And I think people have experienced this during when people were sort of locked down in their houses as well. Suddenly everybody was forced to stop.

And you did have sort of time. And what's lovely is you put your hand on, you got the open road. And then often your mind wanders and you think about things you haven't thought about for a long time. And I remember I lost my sister, told her to cancer 20, 25 years ago or so.

And, you know, and because life was so busy at the time, we just had new children and, you know, you just got on with life. You've never really had time to really think about that. And I remember on one of the first trip we did, I remember, you know, she came into my mind a lot in that trip because we had time. And I kind of, I was able to sort of grieve for her again a little bit

and stuff and, you know, spoke about it to you. And I remember there was one lovely moment when we were near the sort of, I think we were in Chile. And we came around this corner and it had been raining and we just come over this mountain pass, which was quite difficult. And foggy and rain, it was cold and towards the end of the day. And we came around and there were these double rainbow. And Ewan parked up and said, oh, Charlie, look, I think Charles is looking after us. And suddenly this came up. And it was lovely that, you know, that you know, that you and I have that connection and

that he was thinking about my sister at that time as well. And it was just, it was lovely. And it's a nice, you know, it's nice to be able to have that Zen like, yeah, or experience. So it's good. It's good for the mind. It's good to help you rebuild. Yeah. It's funny for the last episode I saw, like, you know, you get a sense of like in these

extreme remote circumstances, emotions come out of nowhere that maybe you didn't even realize were there. I mean, I saw you and kind of, like, get choked up, you know, like, obviously you had concern for Charlie coming off of these accidents and, like, to be in that rough terrain, suddenly, you know, you felt it like it was in your mind, but maybe, like, it really didn't come to the surface until you were, like, in that odd circumstance. It's fascinating to say. There's absolutely something about this kind of journey that opens you up emotionally. I remember in Mongolia feeling that way. There's something, I don't know what it is, but it's to do with that time that Charlie's. talking about where you you just sort of open yourself up to the world in a way because you you have to you're you're out there in it and you're you're meeting people for the first time all the time and you have to be open to them i mean what's the point in doing this if you're not going to be so there's something quite emotional about it anyway and then yeah that i found that i found

many times of these you know always when we we work with unisef on these on the three trips we've done long way around long way down and now long way up we've we've partnered up with unisef and they've shown us three different projects along our route on all of the three trips and they're always emotional i you know either because you're seeing kids in in very difficult situations or you're inspired by these little children because of their spirit and they're you know we've just we've seen a lot of different projects that unisef support or run and that those are always you know we're always blubbering away after we're riding away from the purple blubbering away in our helmets to each other you know and it's really amazing it's an amazing it's that we've been very lucky to do

because that's that's yeah you know charlie and i are both goodwill ambassadors for unisef now and that that's something that's a great honor you know well i will i will say my wife works for the natural resources defense council here in the states so like it was pleased me to know and that you guys were promoting such a great environmental message in this and shining a light on electric bikes and climate change i mean it's obviously is she in the house just now? She is. She's working in the other room.

And I meet her because I've never met her. Hello. Oh, that's very sweet. I'll bring her in just a second. We wrap up if that's okay. Okay, yeah. On a very frivolous note, how's the lightsaber training? Are you ready?

This is a long time coming, buddy. We've been waiting for this for a long while. Do you feel ready to get back on set and return to Obi-1? Yes. I'm very excited about it. I really am very excited about it. It's been a long time for me coming too. I mean, we've been talking about doing it.

Lucasfilm and Disney and for I don't know four or five maybe more years and it's just taken a while to come to fruition and I'm excited about the fact that it's a series as opposed to a movie it gives us more space and I'm mainly excited about it because of the Mandalorian series which I just thought was really good so we're going to adopt some of that technology that they utilized in that filming and I'm working with Deborah Chow who directed some of Mandalorian and I'm really excited about working with her. I think she's really good. And we did a couple of tests with when we were going to make the film earlier. We, we did some testing and

it was great working with her. It was great working with her. Did you like, I'm going to enjoy that very much. Did you like actually get into the character or was that too premature to like do it on a camera test like that? No, we kind of did it properly. Yeah, it was good. Oh my God. That must have a funny moment walking on set because it was a lot of the Mandalorian And I walked on, you know, and I was just like, for me, it was a big moment, you know, I walked into the dressing room. There were my, there were my beige cloaks and my laps and my belts and boots. And I was like, oh my God, it was really like, it was my old costume. It was amazing.

Bejave all over again. I can't wait to see it. I'm glad it's happening. Yeah, I'm going to grab Johnny to say a quick hello. And then I'll grab out. Wonderful right. How wonderful that they're so together. That's lovely, isn't it?

Isn't it? There's a lot of parts. Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm going to give you a quick. Hi. How are you?

Hello. We're loving the show. Do you like it? I love it. Oh, that's great. Good. I'm glad. We love the original too, but then just to see you guys focus on the electric likes has been a lot of fun. Oh, great.

Oh, that's good. Well, thanks very much. It's nice to meet you at last. Yes. I've heard a lot about you over the years from Josh, but we've never actually met. Thank you for, you know, helping it all work out. Yeah, no, yeah, exactly. I was glad I could help.

Thank you. Nice to meet you. You too. Bye now. She's only gonna love me forever or hate me forever for that you. Don't you ever do that to me again? Exactly. Well, thank you gentlemen.

Again, as you can tell, I'm a big fan of both your work and the fact that you brought this collabo back to together one more time. Hopefully not one more time. Hopefully you'll keep doing this. Everybody should check it out on Apple TV Plus. So thanks for your time again, guys. Brilliant, Josh. Thank you so much. It was very nice to meet you and your wife as well. Thanks, Charlie. Thanks, good. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person.

I'm Daisy Ridley and I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the L.A. 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 love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in. Goodfellas, and I don't. He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that

Dude, too, is overrated. It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and case you miss them. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night.

We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look. And we've talked about horror movies, some that you've never even heard of like Ganges and Hess. 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.