Happy Sad Confused - Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a veritable comedy icon but now she's showing off her dramatic chops in the moving new film, TUESDAY. She joins Josh for this live taping of the podcast at Symphony Space in New York to talk about everything from SEINFELD and VEEP to her own new career as a podcaster! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! ZocDoc -- Go to ⁠Zocdoc.com/HappySad⁠ and download the Zocdoc app for FREE Betterhelp -- Visit ⁠BetterHelp.com/HSC⁠ to get 10% off your first month UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS ⁠⁠The Boys cast -- June 18th in NYC -- Get tickets here Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh's youtube channel here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. The twisted tale of Amanda Knox is an eight-episode episode Hulu original limited series that blends gripping pacing with emotional complexity, offering a dramatized look as it revisits the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox for the tragic murder of Meredith Kircher and the relentless media storm that followed. The twisted tale of Amanda Knox is now streaming only on Disney Plus.

I'm going to steal a couple questions you ask. How old do you feel? 32. Yeah. What's the best part of being your age? Oh, it's just gotten better. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now.

Guys, I'm Josh Horowitz, and today on Happy Say I Confused, we're at Symphony Space with Julia Louie Dreifes, everybody. How you doing? Thank you all so much for being here. Thank you all. Give yourselves a pat on the back, by the way, for selling out Symphony Space, this gorgeous theater. I love doing events here at Symphony Space.

This theater is gorgeous. It is a part in my DNA. I'm an Upper West Sider at Hart, where I grew up, so I'm thrilled to be here. And I'm thrilled to have on the podcast. for the very first time, the legend that is, Ms. Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I don't need to list her accomplishments,

but let's do it, we're here. 11-time Emmy winner? Who wins 11 Emmys? Insane. Seinfeld, Veep, her work with Nicole Hollif Center. This latest film that we're gonna talk about tonight, Tuesday is gonna break your heart in all the best possible ways.

This is a remarkable dramatic turn for Julia. And also, I'm a little annoyed. She's an amazing podcaster now, too. Anybody listen to Wiser than me? Amazing. Please give a warm New York City welcome to the one and only Julia Louis Dreyfus, everybody. Here she is.

Thank you. Thank you. Hi, Julia, welcome. Hi, Josh. Welcome to you. It only took a death bird, a talking deathbird, to bring you on the podcast at last. I'm very grateful for this movie. Congratulations on the film.

Thank you. So, first of all, I do like to start my conversations with just anger and jealousy and envy. Why, look, you're infringing on my space. You're such a good podcaster, you're such a good interviewer. What have you learned being on the other side of things interviewing folks the last couple of years unwiseer than me? For real? Yeah, for real. It is so fucking hard to do what you do.

That's what I've learned. No, it's not, it's quite the undertaking. It's much more work than I had thought it might be, actually. But it's also very satisfying. Did anybody ever media train you way back in the day? When you started to be on the, do the interview, E stuff. like you're doing tonight. Did anybody tell you how to conduct yourself

and did that take? No one did. That's why you're such a good subject. Did anyone ever train you? No, clearly. If you've listened to my work, no training whatsoever. So we're in New York, of course. Yes.

You're recognized everywhere. Thank you for validating that. You're recognized everywhere, but I would imagine when you're on a New York City street, there's a different point of identification given this show called Seinfeld. Is that fair to say? Do you have a little bit of a different interaction

with folks after all these years in New York versus L.A. or anywhere else in the world? You know, it's interesting. I don't. I was born in New York, and I'm very comfortable in this city because it feels like where I began, because it is where I began.

And I'm very short, and really, and without my hair and makeup up and fancy clothes, I just look like a regular old New Yorker walking the streets. I don't think people notice me. Really? I swear to you. Did that, but I would imagine anonymity did leave you a little bit in the 90s when Seinfeld.

Yes, I mean, of course, yes, absolutely, it does happen, but it's not like, I don't know. You're not mobbed. You're not mobbed most of the time, correct. Do you remember back in the day, like a shift, like, because, you know, you'd been acting for a minute before Seinfeld happened. I would imagine by that point maybe you didn't imagine that kind of shift in fame may ever happen. Well, actually, I have to tell you a funny story.

Years and years ago, when we were making Seinfeld and we were in the city and actually we were shooting that Rolling Stone cover where Jerry and Jason and Michael and I are dressed like, you know, rock and rollers. And Mark Selleger shot that. We were all together in the city. We shot the show in Los Angeles, point of fact. But anyway, we were here.

And after the shoot, we said, you know what we should do? Let's all go out to dinner and we'll sit outside in one of those places that has outdoor seating, and we are going to blow people's minds. And I am here to tell you that not a single person stopped. That's a true story. It's probably good for the ego in a way. Absolutely, very important, yeah, very important. There was a little arrogance going into that dinner for sure.

Okay, let's start out the conversations tonight by talking about Tuesday. This crowd here just saw the trailer. I've seen this movie a couple times. It's a gorgeous piece of work, a very special piece of work. Thank you, Josh. Thank you. On paper, this must sound insane, though. Like, when this is presented to you, like, the elevator pitch on this is weird.

The elevator pitch is hard to digest. Right? But it wasn't pitched to me in an elevator. It was given to me as a script, and I knew nothing before beating the script. And so I read the script, and the script is cuckoo bananas, for sure. But there is something within the script that gripped me, and the themes of the film and the exploration or the peeling back the layers on the bond between parent and child were really,

really got me where I lived. And so I met Dina Opusich, who's the writer-director. This is her first feature film, if you can imagine. And we met over Zoom a couple of times, and I really, I just needed to hear from her. I wanted to hear her take on the picture. The picture has a lot of animation in it. I wanted to understand what her approach was with that,

because frankly, if the animation does work we are screwed on this movie and but anyway I was I was reassured in getting to know her that she's an emotionally intelligent person she is a true artist in the truest sense of the word and she had a proper vision for this so I took the leap of faith and I'm very happy I did yeah so the elevator pitch though there wasn't one, essentially, is you play a mom whose daughter is terminally ill. She is in the last stages of this horrible illness. And as I kind of joked, but it's true, there is a bird, a animated creature that kind of comes, that is, I need the help here. Yes, I'm going to

help you. Her daughter's terminally ill. Her mother, I'm the mother, it's in complete and utter denial about her daughter's illness and death comes to their house in the form of a macaw and and thus the journey adventure begins and there are many stages to this journey with death not the least of which is my character tries to kill death as one would and particularly as a parent so And we go on from there. So it's a pretty, it is otherworldly, it's magical realism, it's a fairy tale.

It feels, actually, in fact, Dinah is Croatian, and so it has sort of an Eastern European vibe to it. Yeah, and it's unlike anything I've ever done for sure. You are a devoted mom in the film, your devoted mom in real life. I want to test your bonds of motherhood with your children. Would it upset you to know that your son, Henry,

sent me a video to play for you right now? Will you forgive him for this? Are you serious? Yeah. Am I being punked on this fucking thing? Are you serious? He did? We're gonna take a look at Henry Hall's message to you, Julia.

Okay. Here we go, take a look. Hello, everybody. Hello, Julia, or as I know you, mom, I'm really excited for you guys to see this film. I think it's a great showcase of my mom's very distinct voice that I've always loved and had an ear for. Like, I remember when I was a little kid, she was searching around for her keys in her purse. I'm like, where my keys, where my keys, getting all frustrated and flustered. and I was about three years old and I turned to her and I said say shit mommy so I've always been a good

sound report for that I think and this film is definitely shows my mom's voice in a good way so hope you enjoy and love you mom bye wow that's something else but that is slightly factually incorrect. Okay. Because he was about 18 months old when he said that. Really. Did that affect, are you a cursing household? Did you curse a lot around the kids? No, I didn't. I was certain I wasn't. So it was a surprise to me. Right. Yeah. That's adorable. I had no idea. I've got six more videos from family members. Here we go. No, no, no. Speaking of profanity, Yeah. What's your favorite?

I was looking online at Veep. There's some great compilation videos of insults and profanities in Veep. Do you have a favorite insults or profan, y'all, what do you got? I mean, so many. A few come to mind. Jolly Green Jizz face is a poem. Yes, we all agree on that. One of my absolute, I mean, there's so many.

many of you guys but one of my true favorites it's rather lengthy but we have a little time don't we when I was yelling at one of the bozos that worked for me who had screwed up and I said that's like using a croissant as a dildo let me be more clear it doesn't do the job and it makes a fucking mess just to name a few just off the top of of my head. Questioning my choice to bring my mom and young nephews tonight right now. How old are they? Too young.

They need to leave right now. We'll get back to that fun stuff. More on Tuesday. Okay. So you knew this is obviously going to be an emotionally taxing part. I did. But it's one thing to read it on paper and to know you're going on this journey. I mean, did it surprise you?

Did anything about the experience surprise you? surprised you in terms of how much it kind of got into your core being and how it did affect you? Um, yes, uh, it surprised me, uh, how rattled I was by it. That surprised me. Um, I got through it and, um, but, uh, particular scenes in the movie are, uh, rough to watch. They were rough to do. And I had a, uh, it was a challenge to recuperate from, from those. moments also I was away from home and this is a movie that you you'd like to be near people you love when you're making this movie and I certainly was not so that was that sort of exacerbated the feeling of isolation I guess is there a different sense of satisfaction after a day on a film like this versus the work with Nicole where you're emotionally rung out I would imagine after a day

and you must be like you've, I don't know, left it all on the table in a way? It's kind of similar. I mean, yeah, when you have a good day in a comedy or a drama and you can feel it in your bones and you've given it, you're all. That's a, I mean, it doesn't get better than that, you know? We solicited some questions from the audience, and a couple of them are about Tuesday, so I want to read one from John Yarbrough. It's a little bit long, but I think it's worth asking.

Julia, thank you for all the joy you have brought us over the years. As a writer with epilepsy, I find myself revisiting the most painful moments of my life as I create characters. I can't ever avoid it because it helps me see them when they are at their most vulnerable and most hopeless. In taking on the role of Zora, did you have any kind of process that helped you understand her? Did you use painful times in your own past to find Zora? And if so, was that frightening for you? And if so is... What was that frightening for you to go there, to use...

the painful times in your own past. Yes, I did. This is one of the, beyond the parent-child bond that I was so drawn to in the film. I have had loss in my own life of people who are very close to me. So I understand grief. I've lived through it.

I have lived, and I live with loss. I've, yeah, death and dying is something close. And so the answer is I did tap into that and I tapped into the unthinkable as well making this. And the reason for it is because I had to find a way into this character, so I had to find authenticity and make it my own and I appreciate what he he says about his own experience and bringing it to his work,

if you're going to be, if you really want to do your best work as an artist, of course you have to bring your heart and soul to it. Faking it is not an option. And that's true, for me, in both comedy and in drama. In fact, they're exactly the same in that sense. So I appreciate that question, and I appreciate what he does as a writer.

Do you think about death a lot, have you always? Like there are certain kinds of people that put it out of their mind and just deny, deny, deny it was a part of this. I wish I could deny death more. I wish I could not think about death, but it's always there, I feel like. For you, where does that? Well, I mean, yes, it comes into my mind, you know, prior to losing people in my family. Sure, it came into my mind. You know, frankly, I'm a child of divorced parents, and there's a loss there.

It's obviously not like death, but there was always a, there was some fear in my life. And there was always sort of a longing. And then when it actually happened in a weird way, it felt a tad familiar. It was strange in that sense. I also had cancer, I don't know, seven years ago now, and, you know, when that comes knocking at your door, as it does for so many people. And by the way, I'm talking about this, like, it's so unique to me. If we're lucky, we have loss in our life because we've lived life, and we have people close to us, and unfortunately they pass. This is what happens, and this is the human experience.

All I'm saying is, yes, I've drawn on experience in my own life, and to have, The cancer scare that I did, which was terrifying, that's when, you know, the macaw was knocking at the door. And you inexplicably never think it's going to happen to you, which is an amazing thing we do as human beings. We really do. And maybe it's a good thing. But also, maybe it's not such a good thing. Because I think as I've gotten older, I'm keenly aware now of the, that it's, that all of this is fleeting, and I'm just so thrilled to be here. Yeah.

Hit pause on whatever you're listening to, and hit play on your next adventure. This fall, get double points on every qualified stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Oh, this is it, the day you finally ask for that big promotion. You're in front of your mirror with your Starbucks coffee. Be confident, assertive. Remember eye contact, but also remember to blink. Smile, but not too much. That's weird.

What if you aren't any good at your job? What if they dim out you instead? Okay, don't be silly. You're smart, you're driven, you're going to be late if you keep talking to the mirror. This promotion is yours. Go get them. Starbucks, it's never just coffee. So this role, as we've alluded to, it probably scared you a bit. I'm going to, I'm going to, on a more trivial note, ask you if these things would scare you, as a performer, as a human being. Oh. Hosting the Academy Awards. Yes, that would scare me. Would, I have read How many times have you been offered that?

At least once, that's happened. A few times, yeah. So was that a consideration? I mean, you have to have a moment where you're like, that would be quite a... That's not something I'm... You have to really want to do it. Yeah. And I don't really want to do it.

No, for real. You know, you have to go out there and be like, really just delighted to be hosting the Academy Awards. And I cannot say that I would have that feeling. Okay. No offense to everyone. We just selfishly think you'd be awesome, so we want you to be positive about it.

It'd be fun. You do it. Put a good word in, please. You are now the star of your own reality show, Living with Julia. Oh, God. Yes. You into it?

You scared of it? You open to it? I am 100% not open to that. Josh, who do you think I am? It'd be so fun to hang out with a fan, with Henry, with everybody. No, absolutely not. That's never, ever going to happen. Now I'm getting mad.

This is what I was trying to get to. We got there. You wake up and, oh my gosh, you're a senator. You're a senator, Julia Louis Dreyfus. Congratulations. Thanks. How do you feel? Are you scared?

Are you angry? Are you... Uh, yeah. I'm scared and I'm angry, and I'll get the job done, ladies and gentlemen. There's the official announcement. She's running, folks. Yeah, I'm running. All right, let's do a little bit of This Is Your Life, Julia. When you're a kid, do your parents recognize, like, oh, we've got one, we've got a performer here. Is that pretty much obvious from the beginning? Yes, it is. And what did they make of it, your mom and dad? Did they have different kind of reactions?

I think I got a kick out of it. Yeah, my, they never discouraged me from it. We were always putting on shows. We put shows on in the basement of our house, and we charged them to come down to the basement to watch us. We did that a lot, yes. And how did they feel, respectively, when you said, I'm going to make a go of this?

This is going to be something I'm actually going to try and make my career. I think they were psyched. I went to Northwestern University and I got, I did theater while I was at Northwestern outside of school, in addition to being a theater student there. And then the summer between my junior and senior year, I was doing a show in Chicago that was very popular, and the producers from S&L came, and they hired all of us that were in the show to go and be on S&L. So, I went, but I did not even call my parents to say, should I go? What do you think? I called them to say, I'm going to New York. And, you know, I don't think they had a problem with it.

I just went. I was very driven. Yeah. Were you, like, by that point, you knew you obviously had an aptitude to act and not only act, but also had a real sweet spot in comedic acting, I would imagine. that wasn't the plan, correct? That was not what you were driving towards. And it surprised you that, like, you found this lane

early on as a comedic actor? A little bit, yeah. I mean, I did dramatic roles in college in high school. I was in The Cherry Orchard. I was in Joe Egg, Three Penny Opera. I did a lot of different shows.

So, yes, these were the jobs that I got cast in. And this isn't to say that I didn't love making people laugh. Oh, and the other thing is I was part of an improv sketch comedy group at Northwestern, which is fairly iconic now called The Miao Show. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary, which I unfortunately couldn't go to. However, it changed my life doing that. So I would say that having skills as an improviser really helped my work as an actor, you know, and they weren't exclusive from one another, and they never have been. S&L.

On the scale of 0 to 10, how naive were you walking into that crazy environment? Negative 10. Yeah. Rood awakening. Oh, my God. Yeah. It was nuts. Well, just to put it in context, I was in junior high in high school when the first Saturday Night Live was on the air, right?

So I grew up watching Gilda and Jane and Belushi and Bill Murray and Chevy Chase and all these guys. And it was the only irreverent show on television for our generation. So it was like they were my people. They were speaking my language. And we would stay up late, you know, and we would try to tape it when we got a VCR. But even before then, you would just stay up to 1130 and watch it. And you couldn't believe what they were doing. And so, and it looked like so much fun.

And then I got cast and it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Having said that too, I went into it very naively, I was 21. So it's not like I went in there with a bag of characters and all sorts of accents and all sorts of things to do. I was just like an improviser and I was an ensemble player and, you know, I thought that that would somehow apply, which it really didn't. Jumping ahead, I was noticing, I think these were your first three films, and they all came in the same year.

Has an actor ever had the triumvirate in one year, like Julia had, in 1986, with troll, Hannah and her sisters, and Soul Man? Wow. What a triple feature. Not a great year for me. Which changed your career in the best possible way? They're all uniquely strange. artifacts of history aren't they well I would say Hannah and her sisters you know

because I I was overcome to be in it and really excited and I kind of screwed up so that was kind of a little bit of a heartbreaker too and but I survived that somehow I and I have the experience of I mean I'm in it for a I'm like, I mean, it's nothing. If you watch it and you blink, you'll miss me. But I did, I a little bit screwed up on set. I misunderstood Woody when he was giving a direction.

And I kept doing it over and over again because I was so nervous. So it was embarrassing. Well, get away from the embarrassing experiences. No, that's okay. I don't care. Yeah, well. Let's revel in Seinfeld for a moment. This little show that has just never,

I mean, it's bigger than ever, it seems. like it's just never going to go away. It is one of those shows. Yeah. I mean, talk me what it's like to be in the eye of that storm, because you guys, that's a phenomenon. Those do not happen like that anymore. That network show that is just the center of the zeitgeist. How did you not lose your mind during those years being in the center of that kind of madness? Well, for me, a few things. One is, you know, you're working. So it's not like you're outside yourself. watching it happen. We were working. We worked in Studio City in Los Angeles and it was go in and rehearse and learn the lines and rehearse and blah blah blah blah so there was that which was the actual work of it which was gobs of fun by the way. I mean we really were having fun but I also had both of my children during that time and I have to say that the fact of that I was like one of those fish whose eyes move in different directions.

So I was really, while I was working very hard, my priorities were also elsewhere. And I think that helped ground me during that time, for real. I mean, I loved it, don't get me wrong. I was sad when it ended. This was my tribe, still is. But I had another bigger tribe. One of my favorite things, I mean, you talk about having fun

on that show. It is so palpable to watch that show. I've never shown a clip, a blooper clip, in one of these before, but I'm gonna show some bloopers from Seinfeld. Because it makes me laugh so much, and just the joy is palpable. This is you and the late great Jerry Stiller. Oh, bless his heart.

Let's take a look at this. Okay, where's my boy? Oh my God. My George isn't clever enough to hatch a scheme like this. You got that right. What the hell does that mean? What the hell does that?

Come on, okay, let's go, let's go. That means whatever the hell you want it to me. You're saying you want a piece of me? You're saying you want a piece of me? You want a piece of me? You want a piece of me? You got it! you were paid to have a lot of fun yeah totally i mean i actually think we often would say that

you know and i know the show has a huge following and fan base i think we're the biggest fans ourselves of the show um we had you'll notice i'm not the only one losing my shit there i mean Jason keeps falling onto the floor. It was divine. It was elevated. You've worked with some of the best. I mean, we'll get to Veep in a second. Some of the most talented, funniest human beings on the planet.

Who makes you laugh the most historically? Who just... I can't. That is an impossible question to answer. I mean, there's so many people who may... I can't answer it. Sorry. I just can't.

There are too many of them. Recently, Curb Your Enthusiasm, had an amazing finale. How about that? Amazing. That kind of retconed the famous finale of Seinfeld in a way. Did Larry give you a heads up that he, what he was doing? No, I had a sense, though. I had a feeling. And

it was just a delight to watch. I got such a kick out of it. I really did. Because I know that that finale, whatever you want to call it, that bugged Larry in a way that only Larry can be bugged. And it was just like perfect. It was

a perfect end of that show no doubt did that's did that divisive finale which is whatever so silly but to talk divisive ha ha right whatever but yeah did that color like you know when you're approaching the end of VEP of like knowing how that kind of taste can linger in the mouth of an audience for a while that must have put the pressure on even more to stick that landing in a way was that at all in your mind or is it just sort of you know what it was yeah yeah and I really wanted to nail our I wanted to nail the finale in VE And I think we did.

I feel very proud of it. Yeah, I mean, I think it worked. Do you miss playing Selena? Very much. Yeah. What do you miss most about that character? Well, once again, it was a very congenial group of people. And we enjoyed being together.

And, you know, actually, for the first four years of making that show, we shot an on location. We were actually in Baltimore. Maryland and D.C. area. And so we were all away from home. And so, and it's, and also this particular group of actors and writers, but I'm thinking really of the actors in this moment, are, it's a really good group of people, a very nice group of people that you'd want to hang out with. And so we did. We'd get together. We'd play cards. We'd go to baseball games. We became a little bit of a family away from home. So that I think really, really, helped cement some of the chemistry that we had on the show it was a very strong

group of improvisers and the show did require that it was written but it did require a lot of improvisation additionally so which is my favorite way of operating and I love the role and I mean it was just it was a very glorious experience was there like a way to key into Selena for you like I mean she's obviously an insane narcissist like just off the charts right we've all experienced those kinds of people in our lives sure I know you didn't necessarily base her on any one particular person but no what was the mantra what was the key to kind of like what kept you steady what was your

North Star for Selena well I sort of well I would say two things about that first of all there's a lot of parallels in political life to show business you're selling your brand you're selling yourself you're getting out there you're trying to get roles you're trying to get re-elected as yourself you know yourself and and you're trying to stay relevant and women don't always you know have the power and that's the case in Hollywood and it's certainly the case in politics and so there was a lot to tap into to there, from my own experience, just working as an actor who's ambitious.

And so there's that. And then the other thing is, I really likened Selina to a two-year-old. A two-year-old is appropriately, appropriately thinks and behaves as if the world revolves around them. And, you know, the task of growing up is realizing that it doesn't and that you're part of a community and you have responsibility towards others, et cetera, et cetera. But that's a mature way of thinking. And I would posit that someone who doesn't get out of that frame of mind is someone who hasn't

been nurtured. And I would say that would be Selena Meyer, who was a two-year-old at heart. It's also like playing that character, doing that show in such an interesting, odd time period. It's one thing to play a malignant narcissist in 2012, given the political landscape. It's another to play that in 2017 when certain politicians are in office and beyond self-parody. Right, exactly. Was that, I mean, that must have been a constant conversation. Like, how do we stay funny when this is going on out there and this is beyond the pale?

Right. Well, it felt at a certain point, and I made the joke at one point, it felt as if we were actually making a documentary. And then, frankly, things got, they were doing a better job of our show than we were doing. And that was really one of the main reasons we ended it, because it was, it was, we couldn't compete with that kind of sort of buffoonery. But it's not funny what they're doing. Yet another thing to blame on Donald Trump is that we got VEP ended prematurely, basically. on him. Goodbye, summer movies, hello fall.

I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the ultimate movie podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases. We have Leonardo DiCaprio leading a revolution in one battle after another,

Timothy Chalmay playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Jorgos Lanthamos' Bagonia. Dwayne Johnson, he's coming for that Oscar. In The Smashing Machine, Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLewis's return from retirement. There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about two. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat 2, and Edgar writes, The Running Man, starring Glenn Powell.

Search for Raiders of the Lost Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. Big news to share it, right? Yes, huge, monumental, earth shaking. Heartbeat, sound effect, big. Mait is back. That's right.

After a brief snack nap. We're coming back. We're picking snacks. We're eating snacks. We're raiding snacks. Like the snackologist we were born to be. Mates is back. Mike and Tom, eat snacks.

Wherever you get your podcast. Unless you get them from a snack machine, in which case, call us. Okay, it's official. We are very much in the final sprint to election day. And face it, between debates, polling releases, even court appearances. It can feel exhausting, even impossible to keep up with. I'm Brad Milkey. I'm the host of Start Here, the Daily Podcast from ABC News.

And every morning, my team and I get you caught up on the day's news in a quick, straightforward way that's easy. to understand with just enough context so you can listen, get it, and go on with your day. So, kickstart your morning. Start Smart with Start Here and ABC News because staying informed shouldn't feel overwhelming. You've been very active in the past in elections. Will you be active this year? Do you know, like, do you feel like you will? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I do a lot of work for, And am doing a lot of work for down-ballot races, which I think is critical in sort of keeping safe, our fragile democracy. So I'm doing a lot of work for state legislatures and state Supreme Courts and stuff like that.

Yeah. How many times has HBO, Max, whatever we call it now, come to you and said, let's give another go to Veep? I would imagine this age of, like, waiting a year for a reboot, they're anxious for more. Have you had that conversation? No, they haven't come to me. No? Has that entered your mind? Like, I mean, again, I know you love this character, and it ended so well.

I would imagine it has to be the right kind of thing. Yeah, it'd have to be the right kind of thing. I don't really know what it would be. I mean, I will always remain open to it because it would be fun to get the gang back together, but I'm not quite sure how we do it, you know, because where the show ended, so we'd have to sort of go back in time

and, you know, spoiler alert, but I'd die at the end of the show, so I don't know how we'd, you know, right. It would be tricky, but maybe we could pull it off. What does one do with 11 Emmys? Where do you put them? 11 Emmys is a lot of Emmys, Julia. It is.

They're on a shelf. Yeah, it is. It's very pinchy. I pinch myself about it. Yeah. But a great source of pride. Oh, yeah. Insane.

Yes. On the film side, we've talked about this before. I mean, it's gratifying. If you guys didn't see you hurt my feelings, you should check it out. It was another wonderful collaboration. between you and Nicole Hall of Center. Thank you. Thanks.

She gets you. She gets your voice, safe to say. Yes. That's a unique and special relationship, and it was from the start when you collaborated on enough said? Yes. She's an extraordinary film director and writer, and I love working with her.

And we shot you hurt my feelings right here in the city, which was particularly sweet. And yeah, I hope and plan to work on something again with her hopefully very soon two for two yeah let's make it a trio yeah let's make it a trio one one more clip I do want to show a clip from enough said you and the Ken James Gandalfini bless his heart unbelievable a change of pace for him he's he's extraordinary in the film too that makes me a little sad because he's such a sweetie pie you know yeah and I've heard you

say before like surprisingly given his talents not necessarily feeling confidence in his abilities in this particular roles that True? It is true. Yes. The character that he plays in this movie is very close to who he actually was. I would say not as sure on his feet as you might think, having watched him as Tony Soprano for so many years.

But he was a tender fellow and not always as confident as you would be confident as you would imagine him to be is that then enter into your process like oh I have to not only be I have to I mean you're always there for your screen partner but like you have to kind of like make him feel you've got the stuff too you're okay James Gandalfini like did you feel that in the moment without question yeah oh yeah sure crazy absolutely yeah um okay so as if you weren't cool enough you're now also part of the MCU Julia I am this is crazy Yes. This is a good name.

Isn't it great? It's pretty awesome. And actually the full name is Contessa Valentina Allegra Defontein. Come on, Josh. My second big mistake of the night. How does this happen? Is this something where like you initiate it? Kevin Feige says, get me Julia?

What happens? I had a meeting with Kevin Feigy and Lou Desposito who run Marvel. And, you know, they were big Seinfeld and Veep fans. And I think they just did. wanted to talk about those shows and so I went in and you know we're hanging around talking about that episode and this episode and so on and and it just came up and they said would you ever want to do something I said yeah it would be so much fun and my boys would freak out and and that's how it began what

intrigued you when they I assume they gave you a little bit of an outline of the character and where potentially she could go in several films as we're already seeing. Yeah. What excited you? Just from like the little bit they told you about... Well, I like the... I like who she is as a character, which is mysterious.

Is she good? Is she bad? It's a little bit unclear. And I like her maybe the idea of her being a bit of a puppet master. And I liked that they were kind of just dropping her into different projects. Just a little bit here, a little bit there. there and then we just wrapped or I just yeah we just wrapped Thunderbolts last week where I was shooting that for quite a while yeah so this is gonna be the most significant screen time you've had in a yes it is yeah can you

say anything about I say one more thing happened what just happened somebody from Marble is gonna come out here and shoot me in the head we have we have great security you have to understand they they when you do these work with these people you guys you have to sign an NDA every three and a half seconds. Like you go to the bathroom you're signing an NDA. And so I fear as if I may have said too much already. No, no, you're good, you're good.

You shot the film. They can't cut you out now. Don't push it, man. I'm just noticing, here's the last thing I'll say. Okay. The title of the film, curiously, is Thunderbolts with an asterisk. Correct.

What's that about? I haven't seen that one before. What's that mean? do you know the answer or you do you know the answer or you I do know the answer no I'm not going to do it okay okay okay but you're happy you had a great experience I loved it

absolutely loved it and I got to work with really cool people who we already know are in the film Florence Pew David Harbor Lewis Pullman and Wyatt Russell right Yes, great ensemble. Sebastian, Stan, Wyatt Russell, yeah. It was pretty dreamy. I feel like you are more in demand

than you've ever been in your career. Does it feel like that? Like you have more options in some ways? I do, but you know, it's funny you say that. It doesn't feel like... I mean, believe me, I'm thrilled. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to have these gigs

and this movie coming out and blah, blah, blah. But to me, I always feel like, okay, now what's the next thing? You know, I mean, I have sort of that circus, a member of the circus mentality, like, what town are we going to next? So I'm looking forward to the next gig and wondering what it's going to be. Yeah. So we started out by mentioning your wonderful podcast.

That was a new gig in the last couple of years. Oh, yes, it was, yes. Brilliant move, monetizing, getting advice from the smartest, coolest people on the planet. Well done, Julia. Talk to me a little bit about, like, I mean, you're talking to the luminaries, like the best of the best, the wisest women on the planet. Do you yourself ever get starstruck? Oh, my God, almost every time. Really?

Yeah, I'm a wreck before each one of these things. Really? Yeah, I really am, because all of the women that are on this podcast with me are substantial human beings who have done substantial things in and it's a variety of lives you know it's not just actors and so it's like everybody and I want to and they are being very generous and some of them are quite old now to give me an hour and a half of their time and I really want to get into it in terms of their experience and their wisdom that they can share so that requires a lot of research and

due diligence, which I do, but there's always a thing in the back of my mind like, oh, am I going to screw it up? You know, I don't want to miss the opportunity to talk to Julie Andrews or Isabelle Iande or, you know, whoever it happens to be, I don't want to miss it. So I'm always a little bit nervous and half the time I'm crying because I'm so overcome by who, how wonderful and how important these people are. seems very appropriate from the audience from Linda Michelson feels appropriate to your podcast actually she says I'm a 69 year old woman and I also morphed into someone who doesn't give a fuck what people think anymore why do you think when we

are younger we don't think we are enough well this is the thing and this is the reason one of the reasons I wanted to do the podcast because I think women you know in our culture don't have feel they have the agency that they should, by the way, and the rights are being taken away, I might point that out too, but anyway, I think that as you get older as a woman, at least according to these women that I'm talking to,

they are letting go of a lot of self-doubt and shame, and they're more, not a group, That's not quite the word I mean. They're more forceful about where they stand and what they want. And I think that comes with their experience, but you don't have to wait till your 60 or 70 to come to that. And I guess that's a big takeaway. I'm hoping that people can take away, younger people can take away.

You know, own it. Sit up straight and own it and be yourself and, you know, anyway, this is like platitudes. Now it's a self-help show. Sorry, forget it. I'm going to steal a couple questions you ask. How old do you feel? 32. Yeah.

What's the best part of being your age? Oh, it's just gotten better. Yeah. This is good. All right, we're going to end with the happy second because profoundly random questions. This is the important stuff. Okay.

Dogs or cats? Well, I like both, but I lean towards dogs. Yeah, but I'm not here to rag on cats. You have lost the cat folks out there. I hope not. No. What do you collect? Do you collect anything?

Yes, I mean, I collect art. I collect marmalade. I make marmalade, and I hoard it like a crazy person. What's your go-to marmalade? What's like this? Orange, orange marmalade. Yeah, I learned how to make it, and when my oranges are in season, that's really all I do, and then it sits on the shelf. What's the wallpaper on your phone?

My dog. George. George. What kind of dog is George? He's a Labradoodle. Yeah, he's a good one. One of the good ones? He's one of the good ones.

By the way, he's our second Labradoodle. We got one 20 years ago. God bless her. She's in Doggy Heaven now, but she's a dream. She was a dream, Buttercup. Last actor you were mistaken for? Does it ever happen? Are you ever mistaken for anybody?

Well, people say my name wrong. Yeah. What's the worst, what's the go-to-worst pronunciation? Mary Louise Parker. Well, that's a problem. Those hyphens really screw people up. Hyphens are trouble, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Mary Elizabeth Master Antonio, there's that too. No, I don't get that one. Okay, okay. Yeah. What gets under your skin on a set? What just rubs you the wrong way? What's your pet peeve?

Oh. Well, I don't like bad behavior on a set. I don't like people being rude, actors in particular. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it happens, it's a no-go for me. You know, being rude to crew or disrespectful. Yeah. That really bugs me. What's the worst note a director has ever given you?

Oh, don't worry about it. I'll give you the business to figure out. Somebody gave me that once. I was like, uh, yeah. In the spirit of happy, say confused, an actor that always makes you happy? Tony Hale. Perfect, good human being and brilliant comedian.

comedic actor and a dear friend yeah yeah um movie that makes you sad oh god um life is beautiful remember that one can you believe how good that movie was yeah and finally the most important question the food that makes you confused yeah but you see it on the menu you're like I don't what's up with that I don't get it I don't get why people like that Oh, okra? Yeah, what do you do with it? What's the point? I don't know, it has, it's like slimy, I don't get, for me I don't get it. Right.

I think that's a good place to... What's your food? I have a lot. I'm not a mushroom person, not a beet person. Oh yeah, mushrooms, you're wrong about mushrooms. People tell me that, I know, I know. I can, weirdly I can do a truffle, like I can go highbrow mushroom. Yeah. But it's like the, I think it's the consistency, you know, it's that kid thing. It's still in me.

Okay. I have half an hour material on why I hate mushrooms, if you want, want me to go deep. But we don't have that kind of time. Let's return to the important subject at hand. We're going to remind folks again, this film, as you can tell, it's astounding. Tuesday, you've never seen anything like it. It is in theaters here in New York now. It's going to be in wider very soon.

Next week. Spread the good word of this fantastic film, this fantastic performance. Let's give it up for the one and only. Julia Lee. Drive us. Thank you. We did it. What a nice conversation. Thank you guys so much. What a treat to be here. Thank you. Thank you, Julia.

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. 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,

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