Happy Sad Confused - John Krasinski

Episode Date: August 20, 2016

The charming and talented John Krasinski joins Josh to talk about directing "The Hollars", nearly playing Captain America, and getting his action hero on in the upcoming Jack Ryan TV series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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or go to explorevolvo.com. Long-Bandie Twizzlers candy keeps the fun going. Keep the fun going. Hey guys and welcome to Happy Sad Confused. I'm Josh Horowitz. This is my podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Maybe I say tuning in. That's an antiquated phrase, Sammy. Yeah, no one does that.

Like, tuning into what? I don't know. I'm an old man. Thank you for downloading this podcast to use the parlance of the times. This week... Parliands is another really big word right now. I am very in tune with how the kids speak. Here's two words that come up from the kids' mouths.

John and Krasinski. Yeah. John Krasinski is the guest on Happy Second Fees this week. So happy that he's. he found a time to be with us. He just left the office. Sammy and Jenna walked in virtually as he was walking out. No.

But you didn't see him. Yeah, you made it very clear I was to stay upstairs until he was. Your enthusiasm about him being here was borderline worrisome. Nice. And he would have liked it. You jumped into his arms. You would like it. You know what we didn't address with John when I spoke to him.

He's a tall. drink of water he's a tall man uh-huh don't i know um do you know how you know he has two older brothers his brothers are even taller his brothers are like six six and six ten what six ten is seems yeah that's yeah i know that's that's borderline like yeah you can't walk into building like you need custom building is that interesting that's really really interesting apparently not fascinating enough for me to bring up in the conversation today and everybody's on the edge of their seats right now that was going to be the 51st minute of our conversation. We just didn't get around to it.

John is in a new movie. He has directed a new movie called The Hollers. It has a fantastic cast, including the likes of Anna Kendrick, Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Josh Grobben, Charlottocoply, Turley

Day. The list goes on Groobin's in it. I talked to Grobben about, the last time I saw Krasinski, I saw Grobben as well. It was at Sundance where this film debuted. There is like this perfect world where everybody in it is John Krasinski

and Josh Grubin. They all just have like floppy hair and like, you know, really sweetness. He did assemble like, yeah, a very sweet cast. All these people are great people and fine actors and this is kind of a family dromedy, the kind of film

that I dig, I assume you probably enjoy, and frankly the kind of film that doesn't get enough play in theaters nowadays because there are too many damn superhero movies taking up the multiplex. I love those two, but there should be room for movies, the likes of the hollers. So check it out, opening in theater soon, and support independent film and support our buddy, John Krasinski.

Did he do any office talk? We did talk a little bit of office. He's very open and, like, aware of, like, the perception of him, and he's so grateful, like, where he is, like, he knows, like, you know, how difficult it, how, you know, people People, you know, box you in. People assume you're one kind of a thing. And especially a show like The Office, a role like Jim, was so iconic. And I think people, when they see him, they associate him with that, as they should.

Is he Jim in real life? Because that's what I just, like, it was weird when he said his name as John. I was like, oh, my God, you're wrong. That's on the same. He certainly is Jim-esque in that he looks the part and is. He looked, John Cresensky looks exactly like Jim from the office. Not exactly. Like 92%.

Well, now he's, now he's got the 13 hours abs, which we discuss. Oh, you did. We do. We have to, you know. Right. You're the ab guy. I like to talk abs. Yeah.

And he's going off to, again, kind of be in the action kind of hero vein where he's, he's doing a Jack Ryan, a TV show for Amazon. That sounds really cool. We talk about it. It's like 10 episodes, but the idea is to kind of like do almost like a movie each year, like a 10 episode story each year. And they're shooting it. in some cool places and on a big budget. So I think it's going to have a really cool look to it. I can get behind that.

Yeah, I'm excited about it. So, yeah, he is delightful. I mean, he's one of those guys truly. The energy in this room, just from him having just been here, it's just calming and gentle. No, if you're in John's presence, you feel you're with a friend. You're with someone that's a like-minded guy with a good film taste. We nerd out on a lot of film.

and just talk sort of high points of his career and, of course, a lot about the hollers. So I'm sure you guys are going to enjoy this conversation. Not much more to say, except if you haven't checked out, I'm going to hype it up again because it's my little baby outside of Happy Second Fused. Check out Junketeers on Comedy Central Digital. We actually talk about it a little bit

because one of the actors in Junkateers is a friend of Johns. Barrack Hardley, who plays Deckard in the show. um did some commercial spots with him so um so yeah so that that organically came up who knew um so yeah so if you haven't checked out junketeers please check it out eight episodes on comedy central's youtube channel with the likes of christin bell and josh dumel and claud grace maretz and matt boomer so many good people we love matt boomer he's been on the podcast a lot of people that have been on the podcast do mail's been on the podcast i can't believe you have just matt boomer completely full frontal nudity for an entire episode. Yeah, let's go with that. Let's let's sell it as that. Yes, if you want nude

boomer. So tune in. There is backside Dumel. So I can guarantee that. Oh, boy. So check that out. And of course, I hope you guys enjoy this episode with the affable, the talented, the tall drink of water that is Johnny Krasinski. Johnny K. Johnny K. He's going to hate you now. Yeah, he's not listening. It's okay. That's very true. Fuck you, Krasinski. No, we love you. No, we love you. Come back.

So I can hang out. Okay, back. Why do you put it in quotes? Because you don't like me to be happy. Enjoy the podcast. It's really freaking me out. Michael's that? Can you tell who that is, Mr. Przinski?

Jay Law and Cooper. Wow, you're an aficionado if they made it. Well, as a former Conan intern, you know if they made it well. Exactly. Back in the day, remember that? Did they still do that on the news show? I guess that was property of NBC. Yeah, yeah, that whole thing.

Man, that was, everybody always asked, like, what's your biggest influence comedically? It's always Conan. Me too. It's like Carson. We're close in age, so I think similarly, yeah, Conan. I'm 22, and you're 19. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't look a day over 16.

Sweet 16. How was your sweet 16? Did you have a big sweet 16 party, by the way? What did I do for my story? Is it okay that we're recording, by the way? No, go ahead, die, man. Let's go right to the Sweet 16th. What did I do for my 16th birthday?

That's around license time. Right. I don't remember it. I never got my license. I went to a movie with like a friend. Right. And I don't mean that tragically. I mean, that's what I wanted to do.

Yeah, that's still my goal, just to go see a movie with a friend, maybe my wife. Exactly. Oh, that's nice. Isn't that sweet? Welcome to MTV. Welcome to my little podcast. So good to be here. Welcome to my sketchy, weird office.

Huge. It's got a weird studio audience here that are very quiet, wonderfully well-behaved. No windows. No, no windows. An E.T. Doll. Is that an original? Meaning what?

Meaning, no, I haven't kept my childhood toys. You know what I'm talking about. Because the leather ones were like. Right. That's funny you say that. My wife actually still has her leather one at her childhood home. Yeah. It's seen better days.

Do you remember the E.T. It was the most uncomfortable doll to sleep with because you were like, I love E. It's rubbing against you. It's like weird. Sweating against you. Did you ever have the E.T. album, the Michael Jackson spoken word music thing? Oh, my God. I don't know if I had it, but I remember that. Boy, you're really ringing some bells here.

Good. That's the goal. Do you remember Atari 2,600? Of course. Okay, good. Do you remember the E.T. game? Yes, horrible. Oh, man. Did you, what was your, was that your first game console to Atari?

Oh, my God, yeah, but we were so far behind on everything. We were definitely those kids who went to other people's houses to play video games. Right. I think we got it. I think I got, that's probably what I got for my sweet 16 is an Atari 2600. That's way behind. No, I know. It's way behind. Because I was, I felt like I was living a really sad life because I chose, and it's my own fault. I was like a Sega guy growing up. Oh, yeah, yeah.

So I would do the Sega Master System in Genesis while all the cool kids were doing. You had Sonic the Hedgehog. I love Sonic Hedgehog. When everybody else had Mario Brothers. And I had Tom, but I did have Tommy Listerd of Baseball, which was an amazing game. Oh, yes, that's right. I remember people being, yeah, that's right. Because you, because, well, Nintendo had like, MLB or something. Right.

They had the actual licensed players, but we had, I had Tommy Lasota. As if you couldn't tell, John Cresensky's promoting the hollers, an excellent. No, no, I'm promoting Tommy Losota baseball. Making the rounds, traveling the country a bit, spreading the good word. I mean, you know, this is not a budget of the likes of suicide squad, so you got to, you know, put yourself out there. I feel like it's fun to talk about the movies that you're proud of. So this is, this is one that is so. easy to talk about. I had a blast doing it and was honored to direct it as well as

being in it. So last time I saw you, you were actually talking about this. It was sundowns. Next to murder river. Remember that? That's right. There were like shoes in the trees. There were. And it was a really eerie. Like we were trying to be having a good time, but it was really weird. It was cloaked in darkness. I think you got hit by a bike, didn't you? Well, wow. Yeah. It's all coming back now. Yeah. It's weird that I remember it more than you. It felt like you would love that day, but you don't. You just... Meaningless to me. You just threw it aside

because Damon came in and talked about born and it all went away. That's not true. That's not true. It's just that, as you can see, again, from my office,

all of the environments in which I do interviews are sketchy and weird and good places to murder people. Yeah, yeah. It's true, yeah. This isn't your office. Who's that guy with a mask?

This is my murder hole. Yeah. But as I recall, the weird part about the timing when you were, that was the debut of the hollers. It was also right around when 13 hours had.

come out, I believe. Yeah, 13 hours had come out, I think, two weeks before or something. So, and it was obviously doing well, had gotten a big response from the box office, et cetera, and your physique had been getting a great response. I felt, I felt like I was, you know, doing my journalistic, you know, duty by asking you about your abs. So I feel like all of your interviews at Sundance were probably 60% abs, 40% hollers. Is that okay?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm glad to do your computer shut because I think it's just all my abs. It's just searches. Google searches of John Cresens. you abs um you know what when you work for those abs yes hey show them off you know not me i'm saying you like put them up in your office it's weird that you came in shirtless for this interview though hey listen this is how i do most interviews but uh certainly for you i knew you were a fan uh but obviously not a big enough fan to remember our amazing uh come on don't be like that

it's fine i'm getting insecure it's fine um yeah this might be the most self-deprecating insecure conversation between the two of us it's like you know i might have found somebody that the thing I love about Josh is you go off topic quick and sometimes you get stuck there so yeah where should we go next like in a sandhole from Princess Bride boom that was a good reference okay we're gonna dig into all that kind of movie uh from our mutual childhoods not mutual because we didn't share our childhood as far as I know no but maybe we did maybe we did who knows we'll get into that in a second let's talk about you're 22 years old right grew up in the 90s yeah yeah okay so the haulers obviously

a labor of love, any film that you direct, your second feature that you've directed. Yes. This, I mean, you've talked about this before, and I tend to agree. Many filmmakers agree. Casting is so important and something like this. And you certainly have surrounded yourself with the best of the bunch. Margot Martindale, Richard Jenkins. Yeah, it's funny.

I remember hearing, I think Scorsese said it in an interview that like 90% of your job as a director is done if you cast the right people, which I think is really interesting. And it sounds like just a line, but it's really true, especially with something like this. Marga Martindale is phenomenal in everything she's ever done. If you don't know her, check again because you do. You're like, oh, who's Margo Martindale? And then look her up online. You'll be like, oh, right.

Oh, the person that stood out in that movie was like the best thing in that movie. Exactly. And so to get her to do this, I'm really proud because she's gotten plenty of accolades her whole career. But I think this is an opportunity for her to be seen doing something that is so specific, so amazing. And puts her on, you know, par with being one of the best there's ever been. And I certainly feel that. and I love giving her this role to be able to show that because she made the movie elevated in a way that was so necessary.

So, I mean, to me, there's a lot of the casting. And then you get someone like Richard Jenkins, who's, again, one of those actors who's just been in everything and so good in everything. And I think all the rest of us really looked up to the two of them. And it was me, Anna Kendrick, Charlottel Copley, and Josh Grobin and Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Randall Parks in the movie, too.

Yeah. Everybody in the interviews is like, Asian gyms in the movie. I was like, oh, no, he's much, much bigger than Asian Jim. No, you're white Jim. They should play you that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they, it's funny because, like, well, and I think of some of those actors you mentioned. Also, I think of, like, how they can do, you know, depending on the part, they can do a lot with a little.

You mentioned Richard Jenkins, and I think of, like, so many different roles, but I think of parts, like, I always love the, let the right one in, remake, the Let Me In, where he has, like, almost no dialogue in the film. He's remarkable. So, like, your job as a director once you're on set. I mean, you have this cushion. You know you've cast virtually the best in the business and you're going to hopefully elevate an already, a script that you're already very happy with. Right.

But, I mean, give me a sense of sort of, like, on set, like how much, quote, unquote, directing of the actors you have to do or feel incumbent upon you to do. Well, you know, it's funny. I remember asking Matt Damon about Clint Eastwood, and he was like, it's scary to work for Clint because you only do one or two takes. And I said, did you ever talk to him about it?

And he said, yeah, I said, you know, could I ever have another one? And Clint said, yeah, if you want another one, you can have one. But I hired you because I knew you'd do the job that you can do. Right. And I think that this was the first time I really saw that, which was, you know, it's a small budget movie. But I got all these incredible actors that, you know, we, you know, a movie of this size doesn't necessarily usually get. So I was so happy to do it. So my job as a director was really just to get out of their way.

I mean, to set up an environment where they could play, feel free to do what they do, add, you know, their interpretation, throw in. some lines and just feel like we were all a part of it. And it worked. I mean, I really think by the end of it, you know, Margo always says we were a real family by the end. And I really think we were. We keep in touch, but also there's something very special about the shooting of this movie that you almost look back on like summer camp. You're like, I remember those days. And I'll always remember it. It was something really, really special. Do you, I mean, you know, you're very much, I would imagine, aware of sort of like the business of movies right now and sort of the place for different kinds of movies. And frankly, there are less movies of this type that.

get a shot at the box office or even get a shot to be in a movie theater. Well, that's exactly why I did the movie, to be honest, because, you know, there's no rhyme or reason to what choices I make. I try to make, especially since the office, I try to make more interesting choices and trying something different. So 13 hours was obviously extremely different. And, you know, the holler's directing this is a more linear movie. But I also love the idea of fighting for scripts that you believe in.

And this script's been around for like 10 years. I signed on as an actor like seven years ago before I was a director. and you get to tell the story and the reason why, listen, let's be honest, we've all seen movies about families before and I think what this is is Jim Strauss wrote a script that was incredibly specific and so very similar to like an Alexander Payne movie

I think he rides that rail between drama and comedy in a way that feels very real. You don't feel manipulated by swelling music to cry and you don't feel really hammy with these jokes. It just feels like, oh my God, that's my family and my family's a little nuts and so let's laugh about it. And I think that was the success of the office. You know, people didn't watch it just because it was a comedy show.

They watched it because they had a Dwight in their office or their boss was insane. So I think that connectivity, that universal connectivity is huge. So for me, I really wanted to make a movie that I used to watch as a kid. I mean, I think a lot of my favorite movies, I don't know if they'd be made today. And one of them way back in this sort of genre was Terms of Endearment. And I remember that movie is just phenomenal and has a phenomenal cast doing a very, you know, it's simple storytelling. It's classic storytelling. It's just about a family, and there's really fun stuff going on.

Even, like, a movie, like, even Dead Poets Society, you know, which was so massive for me because I was about that age of the kids that were in the school, but also, you know, just that idea of a really good story that's told in an emotional way, has some fun light moments, but is also connecting to you. And you're right, these movies just don't get a shot anymore. So if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it at the level where I could literally look a random stranger in the eyes and say, you will cry in this movie. and you will laugh in this movie. And it's one of those movies where my promise is you paid however much for the ticket, did it deserve that money? And I think this one does.

Do you think that, I mean, I would think as a filmmaker, I mean, certainly as an actor, but even more as a filmmaker, there must be something just so gratifying about provoking like a visible emotional response. I mean, it sounds almost a little callous in a way, but like to see someone's face and to be like, I made you cry. No, it's really unbelievable. Yesterday I was doing an interview and this. very sweet woman took about five minutes to start asking me questions and I really felt terrible.

I thought I had done something and she said, no, my mom looks a lot like Marga Martindale and she is experienced something like this and I'm not really sure how to begin talking to you about this. And to me, that's what the beauty of movies is. Listen, I want to be taken away to space and I want to see robots and I want to see all that stuff. But I also want to sometimes just kick back and go through something kind of emotional and those are the movies I've always loved. And yes, I've never had this sort of thing. I mean, I guess 13 hours was very powerful at the end. And certainly I felt moved just reading the story and knowing about the story. But with this, I think, yeah, when you're in a screening and you're watching people cry, it's very hard to watch in a way because you

feel very bad for the people, but you also feel like, oh, I wasn't wrong. This story is very powerful. And it's something that I think everybody can relate to. There are always movies where you cry because of the moment that you're supposed to cry. And then there's this movie where I think most people just connect to their family members. What's the most nerve-wracking screening for a film like this? Like, is it like an early cut with friends and families? Is it the first time you get into the edit room at all and just look at an assembly cut? Is it at Sundance?

That's a really good question. I mean, I remember friends telling me, friends who direct calling it the suicide cut is in the beginning because it just feels like you blew it. And the first cut that you ever see is that just assembly. And it really is sort of like this. unwieldy, what is this? What are we watching? What did we shoot? Is this all we got? And it's very terrifying. But that's a whole

different thing. That's almost like shooting in the dark. Yeah, Tom Cito was in here recently for the podcast and he said after he looked at that first cut four miles ahead, he literally thought, like, I'm never going to release this film. He had to take months away from the edit room and be like, I don't know what to do. I did the exact same thing. That's so funny because

and listen, I've directed before, I knew it was coming. All my friends who direct tell me it's coming. And you don't really feel like, you don't understand what it feels like it's so bizarre it's like buying i don't know anything like a car or a house or something and saying this is exactly what i wanted to buy and then when they deliver it it's just like on fire has no wheels and uh you know there's there's puppies in the burning car and you're like oh my god this is a nightmare please make it stop so okay so flash forward so that's its own thing

you're saying yeah that's its own thing but i think you know probably the most terrifying for me was or or the one i was most nervous about was sundance because that's when people people are, you know, real people are seeing it. It's not your friends. It's not your family. It's not your agents. It's not, you know, it's people who love movies, too. You know, that's the other thing about Sundance. As you go there, I, I love going to Sundance because it's always the forefront of great filmmaking and storytelling. And so you feel like, wow, I'm with the cool kids. They, I hope they like it. And, you know, we got a standing ovation of like 1,400 people. I've never had that my career. Boy, I hope I get another one. But if not, that one was really, really,

special. I'll never forget that. I mean, truly, that was an initiation into a really special place for me that I'll never forget. Yeah, it's funny, I mean, you mentioned, like, Sundance and obviously my kind of experience going there as a, as a, quote, quote, journalist, I was shy away from calling myself a journalist because the kind of things I do are so stupid. No, you're a snarky critic. No, I'm not a critic guy. I'm snarky, but not a critic. Thankfully, I've never had to review films either. Thank God. Oh, my God. But I do what you would say about films. That's not true. to know what's in that closet of a brain the next 15 minutes we're going to discuss all the reasons

I love license to wed and just go deep deep cut yeah no but I mean I was going to say like those film festivals for me are like the boost I need to remind myself like why I love all of this and like you know I'm going to Toronto in a couple weeks and I so look forward to that kind of like there's so much cynicism in your side of the business my side of the business and you kind of need those reminders of like there's there's good product out there, the people making things with the best of intentions, and there are audiences out there, there might be smaller, they might be different kind of audiences than back in the heyday of the 70s, but... Yeah, I think for me, what I've constantly tried to understand more and more every day is,

so we're in this world where there's new outlets for everything, there's podcasts, there's, you know, digital, there's TV, film, all this different stuff. So there's so many different ways to experience good product, and yet everybody seems to be looking at it the same way as they used to, which is like, you know, is this movie a Paul Thomas Anderson movie? Nope. No movie is that good, you know, as good as that or in the same vein as that. And is this movie going to make $150 million? Probably not, because we made it for, you know, of much smaller some. And so it's this weird thing where everybody seems to be judging the product for the same reasons that they judge other things that don't fit. And so I just love that

places like Sundance in Toronto is, you know, it gets back to the reason why we all love movies. And I don't mean anybody in this business. I mean, like, the reason why people connect to movies is because it is, it does transport you to a different place. Right. And you can talk to your parents about it the first time they saw, I don't know, gone with the wind or something or the Wizard of Oz. And then you can talk to, you know, me. I remember watching a movie like in the bedroom and just being like, oh my God, this is possible. Like this small, beautiful, perfectly told story in my account was great.

Or a movie like Junebug that, you know, I had never seen indie film before I went to college because I was just that kid, if it wasn't in the Cineplexer, it wasn't on the radio, I wasn't taking it in. Sure. And so when I was in school, the thing I offered all my friends was, please give me an album in a, in a movie every week to watch. And so my real education in college came from that. And so I watched all this great stuff. And it impacts you in a way where you really getting back to the, festival thing, and I'm rambling like a 96-year-old. But the truth is, I love it because I think

the same reason you do, which is we're all in it together. We all, we all get to just say we love it, you know? It's kind of like our version of Comic-Con or something where you can just go and be like, this is awesome. Yeah, yeah, totally. You know, instead of judging it. Well, and that brings up a new part of the conversation in terms of like a mutual love of film. So there was a, there was a fun little hashtag on Twitter the other day. It was like, I think it was like hashtag seven-fave films. Like a lot of people we're posting their seven favorite films at all time i i was sucked into it and of course like as soon as i posted my seven i was like no there are 20 others i should have swapped in there so um my answer that question is always the same which is like you can never say them in order

yeah but here's here's seven of my favorite give us give seven oh we're doing it oh god give a few if you need a pencil on paper what do you know i i'll tell you i always because i watch movies i'm one of those guys who watches movies over and over and over so i mean of i don't know in order but seven of my favorite 20, 25. No pressure. These just define the human beings. Oh, okay, great, great. I think one of my favorite movies of all time that I watch the most is the verdict.

Paul Newman's The Verdict, written by David Mamet and Cimmyth and directed. It was amazing. The Godfather's obviously, that's a boring answer, but it's boring for a reason because everybody should love those. And do you want those the first two together, or do you differentiate? I do want the first two together. I'm one of those guys who, to me, it's a world. It's like, Game of Thrones. Like if you're in, you're in all the way, just because you can't get enough of it.

And so, yeah, I mean, I think the story itself, I think a lot of people see it as like the story is one big thing. You can't chop them up. Yeah, sure. The movies are a little different, but it's both amazing. Absolutely. One of the first movies, Emily and I started watching over and over and over together was Jaws. Jaws is a perfect movie. It's a perfect movie.

Every time I write a script, I watch Jaws like three times straight and go, great. I'll never be able to achieve that, but let's give it a shot. It's a perfect movie. It's got like 10 iconic amazing scenes that are, you can quote all day. And I'm a big crier. I like to cry. So there's Kramer versus Kramer. There's ordinary people.

There's all those amazing movies. All the president's men didn't cry in that one necessarily. I mean, when deep throat comes out, it's so emotional. It's so emotional. How Holbrook always gets me? Oh, Hal Holbert does always get me. My God. That guy can say hello to me and I cry.

Oh, when he showed up in like Into the Wild a few years ago? And then Promising, he did with us. Oh, of course. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Hostel with us, yes Yes. Amazing. Good for... Yes, that's great.

Okay, so, okay, that's a four or five. So it sounds like, I mean, there's nothing to... Did I do... That wasn't seven, was it? No, can you keep... No, did I? No, I think it was. I think I threw in like a couple there. You had Godfather, you had Verdict.

You had ordinary people. Ordinary people. John. K. K.K., that looks wrong on paper, but one, two, three, four, five. Oh, man. Ernest goes to camp, you said? Yeah, Ernest goes to camp. I watched a...

billion times. I mean, if we're talking about movies that transform my life, Tommy Boy has to be on there. There's also a movie that actually I think I was most obsessed with, again, is it on the pantheon of those others? Maybe, in a way,

yes. Is Safe Men? Oh, sure. Sam Rockwell? John Hanberg, I think it was his first movie out of film school. If you haven't seen this movie, see it immediately. Yeah, it's amazing. I think it was the first movie for those guys. It was like Ruffalo, Sam Rockwell,

Giamatti, Harvey Firesteen's in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Steve Zon's in it. It was amazing in it. Who else? Just everybody. If you weren't in that movie, Judy Dench has that huge show.

Oh, yeah, Judy Dench has that 17-second Oscar-winning. No, no. So, do you, does your film taste ever differ significantly with Emily's? Are there films that you have argued about in terms of, I love this, why can't you see why this is a perfect movie? No, because not to sound cheesy, but it's true, I'm a legitimate film nerd as I know you are, and it's, to me, is every movie's different. So there are movies that everyone will say is awful, and then I go see it, and I'm like, I loved it. You know, it's just about what you're seeing on the day and how you feel and blah, blah, so there will be days where I will walk out of a movie and I'll say I love it.

And she's like, I didn't totally love it or I say the opposite. And to me, that's the best part is it just didn't hit you in the right way. Do you have a favorite of her films? I have many favorites. I mean, I think most recently, Sicario was one of the best films I've seen in a long time. I know it sounds like I'm plugging it, but I will say for me,

the first time I've ever not realized it was my wife on, or I should say, I forgot that it was my wife on screen, was Girl on the Train. Oh, nice. It came out well. That's great. It's coming out. Oh, my God.

She's unbelievable. It's one of those acting performances that's like a magic trick where you, instead of just saying, oh, it's great, you actually want to. or how you achieved that. So I keep looking for her magic tricks, and she doesn't tell me anything. We guys aren't talking.

No, we don't speak at all. No. The divorce was like two weeks ago, but it feels like years. Oh, God, this is going to be printed somewhere. Don't worry. We don't take this out of context. At least I don't.

Is there a lot of Mary Poppins being sung at it? You're like, I don't, but the New York Times did. Anyway. Not responsible for the rest of the internet. Is there a lot of Mary Poppins being sung at home right now? She doesn't sing for me out loud. She, I don't know how else. she would sing. That sounded bizarre. No, she doesn't sing. She sings with her eyes to me. She doesn't sing out loud. I got to say one of the most insane moments of my relationship with her was I flew over to be with her into the woods for a couple weeks. And they went into the studio to pre-record the songs. And I swear to you that I have never heard my wife sing a note. It was like finding out your partner has a superpower. That's exactly what I say. So there's like a 125 piece beautiful orchestra. There's Rob Marshall who's like,

oh, this is great. You're going to love it. And I said, oh, I've never heard him sing. And he did, like, the slowest, most dramatic take and was like, oh, my God. And he was, and he just did this thing with his hand. He just queued the orchestra. And she started singing, and I just wept. It was so intense. And by the way, Stephen Sontime was sitting right next to me. It was a bizarre, and he was loving it. He was, like, conducting in the air. And then she came out. And I always say about my wife, she's like, that girl I went to high school with, which is when the tests were coming back, I was like, what did you get? And she's like, I failed. And I was like, me too. And then her test comes and it's like an A plus. And mine was definitely an F. I'm more of a realist, I guess. And she's like, oh, I don't sing very well. And then she came out and she was like, how was that? And I said, I don't know, you just crushed my soul. Like, good God. Now, do you sing? No, I think I'm scientifically the worst thing around her. It's been tested. Maybe you should stop drinking your diet, Dr. Pepper. It's not good for the vocal course. I know. I just heard that like soda, should I not be drinking soap? I don't know. I can't keep up with what we should and shouldn't do.

No. I think diet, Dr. Pepper, medical scientists decided it's... You're just thinking booze, tobacco, and heroin, a steady diet. What are we talking about? We're talking about singing. Okay, here's a question. So, you know, obviously coming off of the office a few years back, you know,

again, self-awareness of sort of your worth, quote-unquote, in the business, what you can get done and, like, financing and all that kind of annoying stuff. I mean, how cognizant of that are you in terms of, like, the, quote-unquote, power you have to get a film like the holler's made, which, you know, not a lot of people can probably make that for reasons already discussed. Right. Using your power for good, as it were, and a sense of sort of where you are in the pecking order of making things happen. Yeah, it's interesting you talk about it because I remember when I did leatherheads with George Clooney, I remember we were doing a test screening, and I certainly had never known what a test screening was. And I

remember George calling me and saying, you have to come to this. And I remember thinking that's sort of a terrifying, awful thing to put someone through is, you know, 30 people talking about you when they don't know you're there. And it was the most awesome experience for me because it just informed me so much about that side of things. And I personally am one of those people who wants to learn everything about what you're doing, what I'm doing. And so for me, you can't enjoy all the incredible opportunity that comes with this business and not know the inner workings of it and how it works. And so I don't shy away from that stuff. And so, yeah, coming off the office, I think, you know, and then there's also the whole thing about like,

oh, you're coming off the office, will you ever do anything other than the office? And I understand all that. I'm not the guy who's like, damn it, take me seriously. But seriously, damn it, take me seriously. Oh, my not voice. Yeah, exactly. But it's all, you've got to be a realist and you got to take it all in and just keep doing what you do and hope that people like it. And if they, if they do great and if they don't and they have their reasons, that's, that's totally on them. So getting back to the whole what you're worth thing, yeah. I mean, I think that, so I was So Tash is an actor, and then the financier actually called, this exact thing happened. And he said he couldn't get the movie made.

Would I ever want to direct it? And he asked if I'd buy the script outright. I've never done anything like that. And again, I said, I think you have the wrong phone call. This is not George Clooney. And I ended up buying it because I thought, you know what, this story does need to be told. It is, like I said, a genre of movies that I miss. It's a bygone era of movies that are really good about family.

And I think it's important, especially in this world, it's like to tell simple stories about things. like families and being connected is really important. So for me, it was great. And yes, once I started directing and I was able to make calls to get these people to come work on it, it moved very fast. I think we were making a movie within, I think I had it cast and ready to go in two months and we were shooting in four. So that's pretty remarkable.

Yeah, that's light speed. So, yes, I think that I understood that I could get it going. But also I will say, again, to credit Jim, is I was probably just, you know, a light to shine on the script for everybody to be like, oh, my God, the script is really good. So, yeah, maybe it was partly me, but it's also the project. Do you find that, I mean, you know, you've been the smart about your career and also there's a fair amount of talent. I thought you were going to be like, but also stupid.

No, I wasn't going to say that. But I was going to compliment you by saying that you obviously, you know, you can write well. You obviously co-wrote with Matt, the Promise Land, obviously director and act. And so you can kind of chart your own path to a degree, at least compared to some who are a bit more beholden to others. I mean, that being said, I'm curious, like, you know, as you started to do films in between seasons of the office or you could fit it in, et cetera, were there frustrations? Was there ever, like, a direction from, like, a director saying, can I get a little more gym in this? Oh, yes. I mean, I think that there was never that in specific, but I, again, I was always a realist to understand. Like, I was a waiter before I got the office. So for people to know me as gym is one of the greatest honors I can have because it was everything. This, that show, I would.

be here talking to you without that show and that I would be sad about. Okay. There's a little beat there. The theme of this conversation is tears. It's just constant. Just constant crying. But no, I think that for me, yeah, when I was on the office, I think also the time schedule, we shot a lot. So we shot about eight, nine months out of the year straight though. So it was, you know, we didn't get any breaks and, you know, we were shooting 16, sometimes 17, 18 hours a day, which was crazy. And, um, which is amazing and fun, but it doesn't give you a lot of time to go to do other things because most movies shoot for about four months. So the math just doesn't add up. So yeah, there was looking for movies that you could fit into, but also that could be well. I, I, I did do well. And I thought for me, um, you know, the romantic comedy thing was something that I think everybody sent me and then I got really lucky. First of all, I think, again, I'm a sucker. So I love romantic comedies. But then I got really lucky to do a way we go and leatherheads and all these movies that I was so proud to do. do and so I just again I've just learned from all the experiences that I've had so doing movies now

I do have the opportunity and have been afforded the opportunity to take big chances yeah but like you said I fully understand I'm not Matt Damon like I have to write produce direct my way into other cooler stuff and open new doorways for myself which I'm happy to do again I'm happy to work really hard because you know this this opportunity deserves it 13 hours um I would say probably clearly opened up some doors and changed perceptions of you to a degree. I mean, Michael Bay is certainly a singular talent. I feel like I had a badge of honor. I was on one of the sets of the Transformer movies and I got yelled at by him in a very sweet way. It was one of those like, it was like one of those things like, that sounds like him. If you got yelled at, but it was in a sweet way. I mean,

I didn't take it as negatively at all. In fact, I truly think it's a badge of honor. He had like a bullhorn and he was like, Josh, I need you to get out of the way. I just need you out of the way, man. I'll take that. I'm like, yeah, I've made it. He called you by a name. That's pretty good. Yeah, he would just advise Mike. He said, hey, actor guy. No, he didn't. Number one on the call sheet. Yeah.

But, I mean, did you, give me a sense of sort of like what, was that a moment for you in terms of like being able to carry a film of that type, of transforming yourself physically, of just like, again, changing perception. Did you have the confidence going in that, yeah, I'm up to this challenge and people are going to take me seriously in this kind of a thing? I mean, undoubtedly, it was a huge shift in my career. And I'm so proud of that film in so many ways. mostly because of my connection with the military was huge going in.

I come from a big military family, but my connection with the military going out has been overwhelming. I mean, I think to be a part of something that people find represented what it takes to be a man or woman that serves is an honor for me. But that all aside, shooting it and transforming yourself and all that stuff, that was huge. And listen, again, I'm a realist. I'm not the guy who's going to stand in the corner and go, damn it I can be more than gym it's like no go show people that you can and right was I scared absolutely and

I was testing myself as much as people were testing whether or not I could do anything other than gym and that's okay and and so for me that I took that role very very seriously I try to take all my roles seriously but that one was pretty heavy and pretty intense and you know certainly was the first time I'd ever played a real person which is a whole new responsibility and um I got to know the guy I was playing very very well and so there's an intensity there and of course you know uh the the movie itself coming out and and everybody wanting to see it for whatever political reasons they wanted to. There was another weight there where I knew people would want to use it as a political, you know,

not a tool. I was misquoted somewhere as saying, like, I thought politicians were using it as a tool. It's not at all what I was saying. What I was saying is don't say go see the movie because it's such a political thing. Go see the movie because it's about guys that we should all be saying thank you to. You know what I mean? And what they represent are the men and women and we should be saying. thank you to every day. I wasn't saying that they were trying to use the movie to

promote their own campaigns. But the old internet, the old internet got me. Well, it's also interesting. I mean, one would argue perhaps that, you know, you're going off to do this Jack Ryan series soon, I would imagine. And I could see a potential connection there. I don't know if that was going to happen regardless of 13 hours or not. Oh, there was a direct connection. Amy, who's the amazing head of Paramount Television, saw an early cut of 13 hours because Paramount did it and she said that when she saw the movie she was like oh he can that's our Jack Ryan nice and I didn't know anything about that they were doing Jack Ryan and when my agent called and said that I thought well there you go like I never would have

gotten this role had I not done 13 hours and that's the beauty of you know what we do is that you can try to transform yourself and push what it is that you do and so I'm so psyched to do to Jack Ryan. I'm also totally terrified. I can't be like the super confident guy. I was like, I'm going to kill it. It's like, no, it's going to be a really new role. And I love taking that stuff on. And I personally think, you know, the pitch to me from Carlton Kuse was the showrunner. He just said, you know, perhaps this long form version of a 10-part movie every year will better serve the books because it's hard to jam those books, which are long and they have a lot of stuff going on in them into two hours. So we're not even doing it direct from the books. It's new every year.

but that idea of Jack being an analyst and having to decipher and figure out the plot and solution takes a long time so you can do this really wonderful slow burn stuff and yet they're doing it at the level of full movie making meaning like budget wise you know we're shooting in all these fantastic places I definitely think I'll be hanging out of a helicopter and in car chases and so it's not that thing of like oh we're going to downsize it to TV right no they're saying we want to make movies on Amazon for you to watch in a longer, longer form.

So I think that's a really cool thing. I'm not saying it's not a TV show, but it's kind of not a TV show. Well, it's cool. I mean, it's obviously a character that a few notable actors have had a crack at. And speaking of like perfect movies, I mean, the childhood, Hunt for October is like one of my favorites.

I agree. That's my favorite. I mean, Harrison Ford's amazing, but I'm impartial to Alec Ball when mostly because he'll kill me if I don't say. Hunt for October is my favorite. I'm kidding. But, Alec, I'm coming for you. I'm basically going to redo every role you've ever done better.

Miami Blues next? What are you going to do? That's a good one. Maybe Beetlejuice. Oh, Beatle Juice. But I couldn't. I couldn't touch that. I can't come near that.

I'm very sad that apparently the Beetlejuice sequel is not going to happen. Yeah, what happened to that? I thought I was so excited about that. I'm going to ask Alec about it. Please do. Before he punches me. I think I'm talking to Tim Burton soon, so I'm going to try and find out. Because I've been talking to...

That's the guy to talk to. Yeah, I guess so. But every time I've done a bunch with Winona over the years and who like, you know, the fact that I have any kind of relationship with Winona Ryder is like insane to me. Again, childhood Josh, it's like, your child yourself is like, oh my God! Yeah, pretty. I think that actual sound has come out with me when I'm talking to her. It's not very ingratiating or good, but she seemed so hopeful last time I spoke to her.

And now our dreams are all crushed. I heard, again, I, when we pick up tidbits, I know nothing, but I, you know, I was reading along with you where all the, I love rumors and stuff like that. What? They're doing that. About movies, not like rumors like Josh killed someone, but not a rumor. It's documented. Oh, geez. I'm part of MTV's ex-con program. It's really sweet. Oh, that's sweet. A second shot.

Oh, my God. You're such a handsome ex-com. Thank you. Speaking of, wait, I had a tangent I was going to say. And I've lost it. Okay, so is Jack Ryan, what are you looking at? You're staring at my weird wall? I'm looking at your weird bulletin board of, it has, it's my murder list. Yeah, yeah. It's not a murder list. guys, it's a pure pretentious list. That's not true. There is no sorting. It's just celebrity names

on a whiteboard, guys. I'm not kidding. If you were in here, it would just be lists of famous people, but nothing like, oh, August, whatever, I'm interviewing John. Nope, it's just a lot of celebrity on a list. It's New York people. As you can see, it says New York folks up top, and

I do sketches a lot. You have never done one with me, and you're going to have to one of these days. That seems threatening. I mean, just ask me. The pointing wasn't really necessary. Yeah, exactly. And then there's someone getting married. There's, like, weird drawing.

Oh, that was like a sketch of a sketch, whatever. But speaking of which, you're no longer New Yorker, I assume. I just moved back. Well, you're here? Last week. You're back in New York. Yeah, we're here for good. New Yorker.

Yeah, I'm proud of a pause from our studio out of against. So many of you. But I also want to point out that it says London Holt with an exclamation point. So Nick Holt was here for the podcast, and he was offended like you are. Uh-huh. He was offended, not like you are. He was offended. wasn't on the list. You don't give a shit if you're on the list. Oh, so you just

added the list? So I added a London Bureau, and now I have Nicole down. Oh, that's so nice. And I'm going to add your name. Oh, thank you. I love that you have Paul Bettney and Billy Crude up, two of my favorite people. They're right next to each other. They're great. Canoodling on your board. They're not canoodling. So

I'm so happy here you've made the wise decision to make your life here in New York. Yes. With your two adorable babies. Yep. I also, in my copious research, as if I didn't know you were a wise man already. Someone asked you your favorite pizza. You had the correct answer.

You said, Roberta's. Yes. Have you been to Roberta's? That's when you know someone's been when there's no answers. Fresh mozzarella will just come out. Oh, God. It was so delicious. It's the best. And I never realized, like, I don't know why I decided to tweet that that day, but I did

because I just, I was that overcome by the taste that was exploiting. Are you enjoying your time on social media? I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm Just getting my feet with. No, here's the thing. I enjoy it. I think I'm awful at it, but I'm trying to be better at it. People, I think, look at me and go, oh, he's adorable.

It's like if like a puppy got social media, you're like, that's so cute. Oh, he made a paw print. I kind of feel the same way. I don't use any emojis or emoticons or anything. I'm scared of them. Oh, yeah. There are pros out there. Like, I read some people's Twitter accounts where I'm like, wow, that is just, that is a full-time job.

You have a great one-liner every day. You have an incredible way of showing me behind the scenes of whatever you're working on. And I just feel like we're best friends. What's your criteria for following somebody? I was looking through your followers to see if I could find any kind of differentiating. Usually when people are like, oh, man, why don't you follow me? I go, oh, sorry. And that's really what it is.

Is that a guilt, basically? Oh, God, sorry, Chris Evans. Yes, of course I follow you. You follow a mutual friend I was intrigued by because it's not necessarily someone the general public knows, but I've worked with him recently as Barrack Hardley. Oh, yes. Do you know Barrack? Very well.

He did these Budweiser spots for us. Okay. That never saw the light of day. It was very complicated. It was terrible. They were so good, but it was terrible how they didn't get to see the light of day. It was a campaign that a buddy of mine, Danny Stesson, who, we actually produced this amazing adult swim show called Dream Corps LLC. That's all Danny's.

Danny's probably one of the most talented, incredibly special people I've ever met. And the reason why is because no one else could ever come up with the things that he thinks of. And you'll find out when you see Dream Corps LLC that I am. Very right. Yeah, it comes out, I think, in October. It's going to be great, yeah. Oh, anything on, you know, Adult Swim is usually has good taste and insane. Adult Swim's the best programming on television.

Yeah, yeah. Well, Barrick, you're going to need to plug my own material. You're going to need to check him out in Junk of Tears. We've done, he's in my... Oh, I heard about this. Did you hear about it? I did. Oh, good.

I just heard about it on the way over. Yeah, so he's one of the correspondents in our little show. Oh, he is? Yeah. He plays kind of like our Uber movie. This is on Comedy Central? Comedy Central. Yeah, yeah.

And how's it going? It's fun, man. That's interesting. You don't need to a feign interest to you. No, I'm very interesting. I actually think that is a world rife with comedy. Well, we've been talking about it for years. Everybody on all sides of the junkets know how absurd that process is.

Right. What was your first junket? Do you remember and did it blow your mind apart? It was definitely licensed to wed. Yeah. And it blew my mind in every single way because one of the most important ways was because I still couldn't believe that I was like friendly with Robin Williams. And he burst into my interviews like three or four.

times and I was just praying that that would be the only interview they used because it was no but it was it was amazing I think it's you know it's it's interesting because you know you do a lot of interviews in one day about the same thing and a lot of people are asking the same things so it's always really fun when you meet people truly like you who actually ask questions that you want to talk about or get psyched about um speaking of interesting fascinating questions I've definitely asked you about this before but again interesting talking about the evolution of a career um one of those silly things that came to light was that you were up for captain in America. You were one of the final guys, whatever that means.

Yeah. I'm probably going to be darted in the neck, but I definitely wore the suit one day. Did you really? Yeah. Oh, my God. I can tell you, I didn't look as good as Chris Evans. But it looked good, but not. I hadn't 13 hours did it yet. Did your voice crack like that when you were, I look pretty good. And that lost you the job. The question mark. They're like, you were, you gave a great audition, but they're like, first of all, you don't hand the shield. It flies to you, you dummy. Is that hard? I'm always fascinated by like, particularly like superhero additions. audition for Han Solo or something insane like that were like, oh my God, like you have to get rid of all self-awareness

out of your mind. Because you're, it's so absurd and silly and yet you have to sell it. I'd have a lot of experiences, but when I went in for that, again, I'm going to get darted for this. I love all the Marvel movie. So I was a weird nerd for it all and I was so, there was that excitement of,

I wish I could say like, that was a cool actor guy. Instead, I was like, oh my God, there's the thing from that. And I remember this because I've since become friends with Chris Hemsworth. Sure. But I remember, this is not a joke.

I was putting the suit on and it was only like waist high. So I think I was still shirtless, which again, I hadn't 13 hours did yet. So I was like shirtless and I looked up and walking by was Chris Hemsworth. They were shooting Thor. And I was like, oh, this part shouldn't be mine because look at that guy. And he looked in and like waved and I ran over and felt his muscles. And then came back and tried to finish putting on the suit. but yeah it was it was a really it's really intense because it's like you you there's no way you can put aside

how big this is i would imagine you know it's i remember loving reading about like simon peg talking about being on the star war set it's like yeah because like we talked about before right full circle is like we're all movie nerds and so this is so exciting to be doing this and uh and so yeah when they're like all right so this is the ship that you're going to be on for this scene and you're like oh my god that's a real shit this is so amazing do i get to keep this what's that clear Mickey thing. Why are you yelling action? And they're like, oh my God, this kid has a long way to go. Long way to go. Anything in particular you're excited about? This fall films, anything beyond obviously the girl from the train, etc. Seeing it's six thousand more time. I'm sorry. The girl on the train. He obviously didn't read the book for all you podcasters. I don't know how to read. I don't know how to read. I can't drive. I can't read. I'm basically a nonfunctioning adults. And this is you live here, right? This isn't just yeah. This folds out into a couch. I thought so. I'm

I'm excited about a lot of different things. Rogue One, very excited about that. I still don't know what it is, but I'm excited. I heard some, are you, you're friendly with Ryan, Ryan Johnson? I am friendly with Ryan. I'm lucky enough to be a friend of Ryan Johnson. He's a good guy. He's the best guy.

And it's one of those things where that's where it becomes super frustrating to be friends with someone like Ryan, because there's no way. Again, just like the Captain America thing, there's no way to hide how bad you want to be in one of his movies. So at dinner, it'll be like, how you doing, man? I'm like pretty good here's the salt and my resume and he's like that's super weird but uh no Ryan was like Ryan also is one of the people who I'm lucky enough to have in my stable of great friends who when I did direct this movie um I had him come in and wash cut so like that's the best part about having friends that are that smart that talented and that kind that they come in and they do stuff like that for you let's wrap up our our time together with a couple random

questions from an Indiana Jones fedora okay perfect oh wow that is an Indiana Jones Vodora. It's not really Indiana Jones. Oh, it is. It says Indiana Jones. Yeah. I thought this was a fully licensed Lucasstone product. I didn't make it in my garage.

I thought it was like a, like a Humphrey Bogart Fodora. Yellow, don't, I mean, I've been doing this a while now, so you might want to, like, get some fluid to clean you up. This one has something on it. Favorite candy bar? Oh, what you can call it? Oh, but we found a place where we differ. Oh, wow. You got so angry about it.

Well, I take my candy seriously. Wow. What's your favorite candy? in there. I mean, I like a simple kind of like, uh, you remember caramelello? Yeah, caramel. It was all right. Oh, wow. Yeah. I'd rather just move on. I mean, listen, if you're doing caramel. I'd do a rollo before I did caramel.

Oh, I do caramel. A little more substance to it. Uh, this is, has nothing written on it. That just has a question mark. So is that like, it's more esoteric. Yeah, that's a really, wow, this show is classy. Uh, my favorite Halloween costume. Wow. Uh, I'd have to say, if I'm honest, I wish I could say something cool, but I'll be honest. My mom knows this. It was an unbelievably well done by my mom costume of Peter Pan that my mom made. It was incredible.

And the reason why my favorite costume is because I think I tried to go as Peter Pan seven or eight years in a row. And my mom tells a story of like, I want to say like 12 year old John being like, I still want to wear this. And my mom was like, here's the thing. If you want friends, you should choose something else. Do you know about, look to your right here. Do you know about Harrison's Halloween activity? Every year, that little photo over there, to your right, the P-Pod? Oh.

That's Harrison Ford's the P-Pod. Every year he goes out with his kids. Oh, no, I know that he dresses up. Is he always a P-P-P-P-P? No, no. He's been like a nun. His costumes are on point. They're really.

They're unbelievable. Yeah, he's dedicated. Does he make them? I hope so. I like to believe that. I do, let's believe that. I mean, that P-in-the-Pod is unbelievable. Let's end our wonderful chat today on reveling in Harrison Ford's P-Pod costume.

Are you and Paul Rudd at? David Busters. We went to David Busters, yeah. Wow. It was a fun time. Oh, that's nice. Who's this? That's our child together. Oh, that's what it does? Yeah. Oh, the Gene Machine. Wow. Congratulations on

the Hollers. Everybody should check it out. It's a great piece of work, an amazing ensemble, and you know, these kind of films, these smaller films, they need love out there. They're, you know, Suicide Squad will get its money, guns. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Let's support the Hollers. Check it out. It opens... August 26th. August 26th.

John, it's always good to catch up with you, man. Absolutely, you too. What was your name again? That's just not cool. We're going to edit that out. Yeah, exactly. Don't tell me how to edit my show. Good to see you, ma'am.

Thank you, man. That's hilarious. Thank you. 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 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 a Flower Moon, Zodiac, Eight Men Out, and many more. I'm Chris Wimmer. Join me as we crisscrossed the country from the Miami Drug Wars and Dixie Mafia in the south, to mobsters in Chicago in 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.