Happy Sad Confused - Michael Fassbender (Vol. III) & Danny McBride; Katherine Waterston

Episode Date: May 17, 2017

It’s an “Alien: Covenant” love fest this week on “Happy Sad Confused” as Josh welcomes three of its stars. Michael Fassbender makes a triumphant third appearance on the podcast and this time he’s brought a friend: the always hysterical Danny McBride! Fassbender and McBride talk competitive eating, explain why Michael hasn’t appeared in a comedy yet, and deliver some scoops on the future of the "X-Men" and "Halloween" franchises. When you think of the "Alien" franchise you have to think of the kick-ass heroines (Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley remains iconic), and Katherine Waterston is up for the challenge, as she tells Josh. Waterston also reminisces about the seedier side of New York, the magic of P.T. Anderson, and why she’s still traumatized by her audition for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Join us. Be a part of something extraordinary. June 3rd in Washington, D.C. Register today at theovernight.org or call 888 The Overnight. That's Theovernight.org or 8888. 843-6-837. This week on Happy Sack Confused, it's an Alien Covenant extravaganza with stars Michael Fastbender, Danny McBride, and Catherine Waterston. Hey guys, I'm Josh Horowitz,

and welcome to this real love fest for everything that is alien. I'm very excited, Sammy. I'm excited. When I think of alien films, I think of you. I love alien. Have you seen an alien film? I saw Prometheus.

Okay, okay. Okay. Okay, I'll take it. That's one more than I was expecting, to be honest. No, and I really liked Prometheus, too. In case you're just joining us, if you're new to the podcast, that's Sammy. I'm Josh Horowitz. No, it's me, Michael Fasbitt.

He's doing a character. Sidekick on a podcast. He's doing it very well. This is a fun show this week. We have two interviews for you. First up on the show is to the gentleman starring in the film, Michael Thassbeth. Aspender and Danny McBride, you might think, you know, an odd combo, but they're a delightful combo.

And a little bit later on in the show is, you know, the alien franchise would be nothing without its great kick-ass female characters. And Catherine Waterston is definitely a successor in many respects to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley in this film. And you'll hear from her in just a bit. She's really having a tremendous few years of her career since she started in Heron-Vice, Fantastic Beasts. Alien Covenant. So that's coming up a little bit later. But first up, we'll be Fassie himself making

his third appearance on the show, Fastbender. That's crazy. I know. He loves the show. He's a regular now. And McBride, surprisingly, making his first appearance. That's, you've been real excited. I know. Well, I love Danny. We've done some fun sketches over the year. So it was fun to have him in. Part of the family. Part of the fam. So yes, prepare for a lot of alien talk. Don't worry. No spoilers. But before we get to all that, just to catch you up. What's been going on, Sammy? I'm tired, Josh.

We've had a whirlwind couple of weeks. Yeah, we've been traveling, not the world. We've been traveling the country. Continental United States. Kind of. Yeah, so a couple weeks back, we were at movie awards, movie and TV awards. It's going to take a while from you to remember that. In L.A. and all that wonderful content of us on the red carpet before it hailed.

I was going to say half on the red carpet and then half in the red carpet and then half in, like, the dungeon of the haunted shrine auditorium because there was a free hail storm in Los Angeles. Yeah, one thing, the first thing, you know, I'm talking to Josh Gad, and then Josh Gad leaves, and then suddenly the skies opened up, and it didn't pour, it hailed. Josh, I couldn't, I remember. It was weird, as I'm thinking about it, he walked away,

and he looked up to the sky, and he started to, like, murmur something. And he said, now. Bring it down. Bring it down. And then it was, like, only over where you were, too. It looks so weird. It's very odd now that I think about it. So, yeah, the carpet was bizarre.

I've been through a lot of weird red carpets, but I've never, certainly not in Los Angeles, seen such a weather event as that. Terrible. But then we survived and we did a fun backstage kind of post show. All this content is on, if you look on MTV's Facebook page, look under the video section. It's all there. And a ton of great interviews there if you want to kind of just see all the movie stars. All the big stars of Hollywood.

And then, yeah, we were just in Miami. Josh's first trip to Miami. My first trip to Miami. And probably last. Oh, until I retire. Yeah. Yeah. I was scouting just a retirement home for myself.

I think I found it on the beach where I talked to Jane Johnson. Those were your people, yeah. Yeah, we hosted the world premiere red carpet for Baywatch, which was, again, a very unique red carpet. There was just, yeah. We had an exciting couple weeks. So that whole show, that hour-long carpet is also on MTV's Facebook page if you want to watch me in a white suit. And they told me to dress cocaine chic. And you certainly did.

It was like Josh is dressing up his scarface. And you did great. Thank you. Everyone loved your fashion revolution. Oh, God Almighty. Yeah, I'm back to normal now, thank God. But it was a weird. Back in your cardigan.

Yeah, exactly. Cardigan on an 85 degree day here in New York. Literally. Always weather appropriate. But yes. So Baywatch is fun, and those interviews are a lot of fun to see Zach Ephron and Dwayne Johnson. Dee the Rock Jay.

It was fun. Angel. So, yeah, a lot of big movies. We're getting into summer movie season, as evidenced by ginormous movies like Baywatch and Alien Covenant. But I love the Alien franchise. So I'm thrilled that we can make this entire episode about this new installment and some of the stars that I really love.

So let's get right into it. Let's go to Michael Fastbender, Danny McBride. for, if you don't really need much preamble, but McBride is obviously new to the franchise. Not exactly what you would expect. It's not like he's all comic relief. He's one of the crew members. There's certainly some comedy to his character,

but he actually has some really cool dramatic moments too. Interesting. Yeah, yeah. And Fastbender plays David, of course, from Prometheus, but also Walter, a new robot in this one. So you get two fastbenders for the price of one. Two for. He's great in the film.

He's always amazing. Of course. Yeah, a lot to love in this movie and a lot to enjoy this conversation. It's another fun, silly one. Enjoy this chat with returning champion Michael Fastbender and shockingly new to the podcast, Danny McBride. Welcome, officially, Michael Fastbender, Danny McBride. Thank you very much. It's really nice to be here.

So first of all, we should say, I feel like that was sarcastic. So you feel like that much? Well, I was thinking, when you're talking on the radio, you should be smiling all the time because it's... Not the way you're doing right now. It's really disconcerous. You ever thought that Michael Fastener's smile is not creepy, you're wrong. Radio plays, it's a top note. I feel like you're trying not to, like, open your mouth all the way, though.

You're like, it's a little, like, confined. Oh, that's just the amphetamines kicking out. Michael, welcome to the Three Timers Club on Happy Sad Confused. Third visit to the podcast. podcast. That's right, man. This is rare company. You're in Anna Kendrick and Tom Hiddleston country. Okay, I'm there, man. We're in there with the top three. I'm going to sing

today, aren't we? We are. We are going to sing. That's a tradition. Last time Michael debuted his single bouncy ship in describing Alien Covenants, and we're going to do a full-on version. We were weighing for you, Danny. Okay, I'm ready. Why has it taken this long for you to be on the podcast, Danny? You always have me on

your, when you film it, when you film it, I guess. And I'm always sweating, I feel like, so this is a relief. be here. I can sweat. No one can see it. People don't want to see Michael Fastbender on video. They don't want to see the actual image of him. That's right. It's all about the voice, right? That's right, exactly. Didn't we do something

with the guy who's the hot dog eating champion? Kobayashi. Yeah. Do you know about Kobayashi, Michael? No. There used to be a racing driver called Kobayashi, but I don't know the hot dog. A hot dog eating champion of the world, and I literally almost choked to death in competing against him. I saw it, yep. Whoa. You actually took him on. I did. Do you fancy your chances? No, I didn't. It was a stupid call. It was a

bad call and is it speed or is it volume it was speed I think we were trying to consume as much pizza as possible in a minute but his his method for hot dogs is weird because he actually dips them in water yeah he like lubes them up isn't that how you eating you don't consume hot dogs that way I've never dipped a hot dog in water before but I'm going to tonight whenever I did a pizza eating competition I used to start like doubled over a little bit you know so as I got body or the pizza the body of good idea as I got full I would straighten up yeah you could be like you thought you didn't have any more room

Check this out. The reserves kick in. What food would you compete in if you were doing a competitive eating contest, gentlemen? Pizza. Yeah, pizza seems like that would be good. I mean, how many slices can someone eat a pizza? How far did you get? In my heyday, in my prime.

I could eat two, like, McCain-sized pizzas. Two whole pizzas, geez. Where does it go? Where does it go on that body? I don't know. To toenails? Tonells. I don't want to see this.

That's weird. Disgusting. That's odd. In case you guys didn't know, these gentlemen are co-starring in the wonderful new film, the delightful romantic comedy that is Alien Covenant. A bunch of couples go to have a little shag in the outer space and have some fun. That's one way to describe it, I suppose. I mean, that's accurate, actually, kind of.

Kind of, sort of. Non-gravity sex. Yeah, it's pretty incredible stuff. It's got it all. We've got Michael playing not one but two roles because that's the way he does it nowadays. That's right. making a triumphant return, really the most reliable robot

android you want around. Really just a good guy to have a round and pitch. That's right, you know. There's always entertaining. You can imagine some charades in the evening. Yeah, he plays a mean flute. Yes, entertainment, arts and crafts.

You name it. And then you've got Walter, who's... How do we describe Walter? Pretty bland. I would say... Not much of a personality. Yeah, but if you were in a bar fight, you know, he'd be good to have.

Yeah. Right, right. Yeah, there's been a few upgrades. Yeah. Exactly. And Danny, of course, plays the alien in the swan for those that don't know. I'm the neomorph, yeah. They call the neon morph.

And I'm just very colorful and I dance around on people's stomachs. Yeah, you brought dancing into this movie, which I thought, you know, really took it to... That 20-minute sequence right off the bat. Yeah, there had never been an alien moonwalk in any of Ridley's movies. So we pushed that in. He wanted me to bring my own thing to this. So that's what I brought. You did.

In all earnestness, in semi-serious fashion, you both do excellent jobs, of course. And I don't mean that as a surprise. But I know when Danny you were announcing this, it was like, oh, that's a cool choice. That's interesting. Yeah, I thought the same thing. Wow. Michael, were you like, got to call Ridley. What's Ridley smoking?

What's going on? I was like, who's Danny McBride? He knows how to act? He can do things in movies? Yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. I'm down. But he said it'll memorize his lines.

Yeah. How relieved are you that you didn't ruin the alien movie? In fact, the opposite, you have actually, you're a secret weapon of the alien movie. You don't know how true that is. Like, I love this franchise so much that when I was offered the chance to be in it, I was thrilled. But then inside, I was like, if I fuck this up, I will, I will ruin this series for myself. I'll ruin it for everyone out there. That's exactly what I thought.

That's exactly what I thought. You elevated it. Oh, about me? You should have thought that. Everyone on that set should have been thinking that. When I did for me, this, that was exactly the same thing. I was like, I can't be the one component that fucks this up. It's so true.

That's what sucks about working on something that you love. Yeah, that's right. I could be the reason that makes me not like it anymore. Maybe in the future you guys should just sign on for things you don't really care about, and that way there's no pressure. Yeah, that's what I've been doing. Yeah, that's, you know, par for course. Do you have this, you're like the definitive portrayer of,

of robots now, I feel like. But when people need a good robot, I mean, you've played three in two movies, so I mean, come on. Yeah, I mean, I'd like, you know, David, I think, has got a special place in the robot sort of, I don't know, museum. Sure, that's pretty incredible. He's right on side.

He's such a funny character, you know. It's, I had so much fun to, you know, sort of getting to play him in Prometheus and bring him back in this. He's a, yeah, he's a very mad sort of concept, you know, that, you know, John Logan put together, and this one is really sort of more theatrical than last time. He might be the creepiest robot since Vicky in Small Wonder.

Do you remember the Small Wonder that great old... I do remember that. I do not. What? She lived in a closet. Remember that? Yeah. It's creepy.

Oh, Michael, you need to look this up. This is research for the next film. Okay. See, I was going to say, Yul Brenner in Westworld. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's incredible in that. He needs his mama. Yeah.

But Vicky was like a 10-year-old. girl in like and she was kept by a family just for amusement and help and to abuse their child? I feel like she was a slave is what she was. They made her do all the chores she had to take the, they would say, hey Vicky take the trash out and she would literally take the

trash can and throw it outside. Right, right, right. Yeah. She And I know Michael has a love for 80s theme songs. You would really appreciate Small Wonders, if nothing else for the theme song. How does it go? She's a small wonder. That's all I got. That's all I remember. What's the next.

I really don't remember. That's all I remember. Do you remember? It was something about describing her further. I don't know. I forget. It was sounded like trap wrap. Do you know of Michael's fondness for 80s theme songs? I didn't. I'm curious, though. What is this? I don't know. I just sort of stuck in the 80s, I guess. It's sort of a decade that I hold close to me. Yeah, you had one of those CDs, like 500 theme songs of 80s television shows. You just play over and over? I actually have 80s television shows playing in a loop in my head. What's going on right now? Scarcore Mrs. King. I was in close proximity just two days ago to David Hasselhoff.

It was a magical moment at the Baywatch premiere. I don't want you guys to be too jealous. Yeah, okay. Do you guys remember misfits of science? Of course. Misspits of science. Straight from the hook. Courtney Cox was in that, right?

Courtney Cox. And Johnny B. That show was awesome. The guy used to fire bolts out of his fists, bolts of lightning. That made it one season, right? That was definitely a one-season show. That was around the same time as... Like, man-a-mole or...

Manimal. Was that what you were going to say? That was all I was going to say. You just read my mind. It's like a connection. Yeah, what has not been rebooted yet that actually could be a decent film? Magnum P.I. Oh, yeah.

I've been trying that forever. You could do it. Do you go comedic? I could never take on that role. That mustache. You can't. Nobody can wear shorts like Tom Seweck or a mustache, in fact. And then pilot a, you know, a helicopter with ease.

You can do everything. That was TC, actually. Yeah, DC did that. That's right. He just was along for the ride. Just stop showing off. Okay, okay, I'm sorry, sorry. And then there was Rick, of course.

Right. Didn't he do commercials for peanuts, the older guy? Who was the old guy? Oh, that was Higgins. Thank you. But here's a question for you. Maybe we did this last time I was on the show, actually. I'm repeating myself.

No, but we're doing it for Danny. Yeah, I've never listened to the show. Thanks a lot. Danny McBrion, for the bonus point. What were the name of the two dogs? Oh, you didn't ask this. Oh, you didn't remember. I can't remember.

I can picture them. but I do not know what they were called. Okay, well, they were called Apollo and Zeus. Oh, look, they went for a little mythology. And one more, bonus question. What was the name of Crockett's alligator in Miami Vice? No clue. What is that?

Elvis. Elvis. Look at these, like, catchy names for pets? You have a, yeah, very specialty. Real specialty in the 80s characters with pets names. Because that shows that they don't just solve crimes. I'm still waiting for it in a pub quiz. Oh, me, me, me, me, me.

One day, one day, that's a little bit handy. How would we, relating to the wonderful alien franchise, where do you rank the alien films? Like, what's your, is alien that's still the high water mark? This is the best one. Okay, all right, calm now. Guys, we need a little distance. It's a great film, but come on, we need perspective.

Absolute best film. Actually, ever. Ever made of any movie. Yeah, not just in the alien franchise. Oh, okay. I will fist fight, anyone who says, is different to, God damn it right now. That's right.

Okay, fine, fine, don't hit me. But where do you rank the first three? Alien aliens, alien three. How do you, where do you go? Do you have much affection for Alien 3? Because I know it's an divisive one. I actually, I actually did like Alien 3. Fincher, I thought it was awesome.

And I, weirdly, I even liked kind of resurrection too. Was that Winona Ryder? That was an honor, but it was the guy who directed Amelais and Delicatessen. I mean, it was weird, you know? It looked cool, Ron Pullman. Look cool. The aliens swam in that one? Yep.

Yeah, very exciting. No one had done that before. It's movie history. Swimming aliens. I can't really remember. Really? No. I saw it once.

And I can't really remember three either, to be honest. Aliens, though, we all love... Was Forrest Whitigar and three? No. It was Rock. What's his name? The guy from the show, Rock. Charles Dutton.

Yeah. Prison Planet. It was kind of cool. Charles Nance was in it. And they had no weapons because it was a prison, so there was no weapons to fight the aliens with that was kind of interesting. So the aliens is maybe the most quotable. film of all time. If nothing else, thanks to Bill Paxton, rest and peace. I mean, come on.

That was, like, iconic. It was awesome. That was just such a cool take on the series that make it an action movie. Yeah. I love the first one, I got to say. Yeah. And watched it again on the way to New Zealand where we started filming on this one. I hadn't seen it. I hadn't watched it before I did Prometheus. But I didn't realize, you know, just how well it stands up. Totally. How sophisticated, you know. There's an elegance to the story, right? Absolutely. it totally holds up you're right because it's like a lot of times when you see movies back in the day that are about the future when you watch it you're like eh they got that wrong but his the way he portrayed the future it still holds up it still seems in line with where things are going yeah totally that's right and it's also the way you know in terms of you're introduced to this ship and rather than it being like shiny and sort of futuristic it's kind of beaten up and dirty and it almost reminds you of like a cargo vessel or something so there's a lot of things in there that you find familiar as well as well as Well, as you know, the futuristic stuff where you have to make that sort of, you know, fantasy leap. What was it, was it, was it, was alien something that traumatized you that kind of rocked your world when you first saw?

Like, what was the film that kind of like changed your brain, altered your brain chemistry? Yeah, I saw it in preschool. I was two years old. And it was the hottest ticket of the summer. What was the conversation like when you were coming to door? I identified with the alien because I felt, Mom, I feel like I just did this to you two years ago. And she was like, you did pretty much, yeah. Different part of the body, but sure.

No, the same. What? Was there a film, though, if not alien, that hit you at that sweet spot in terms of, like, first R-rated film? Do you remember that? First... Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Really? Yeah, that was horrifying as well.

Yeah. Because that had a degree of, like, oh, this is real. The grandfather was alive. When his mouth just started moving slowly as he was sucking on her finger. And just, like, putting her head in the bucket, just, like, throwing a hammer down on it. Also, the part that used to fucking up the most in that was when he hits that one guy in the head with the sledgehammer. And then he's laying on the ground, and his foot is just, like, kind of emulsing. Yeah.

I have a younger sister who's 15 years younger than me. And I showed her when she was in high school, Texas Chainslow Masker, because she was into horror films of the day. And I was like, oh, this is going to fuck you up. You've never seen anything like this before. And I watched her. She was stone-faced throwing that whole thing. didn't, like, scare her at all. I'm like, that doesn't scare you to, like, lose control of your body like that, where

you're just, like, nothing but a little shaking corpse, you know? She's like, nah, the new one was better, and I'm just like, fuck you. You don't understand. I like the one with Gerdana producer, produced by Michael Bay. I like that one. Do films still have any effect on you, or are you totally desensitized, gentlemen? Do you just, like, go in and look like catatonic, like a... No, I got to say, I saw three Korean films recently that really...

so classy this flew me away what did you say um one is called the wailing as in as in like screaming um that's that movie was awesome because you just don't know what's going to happen next no idea it had been so long since i saw film where i was like i don't have a clue what's going to happen next is this a thriller is it a horror you know uh just sort of the there's their sense of humor it's uh pretty wild the other one was mother which is also Korean okay and the other one was last trained to Busan oh yeah that thing was great wasn't it Excellent. It took me completely by surprise, too, because I'm watching it and like, all right, at this point, I've seen zombie films.

But literally by the end, I was like, oh, it got me. I'm choked up. I'm crying. I still have the capacity to feel. Yes. This is Happy Sack Confused. We'll be right back after this. It's not easy being the one everyone counts on to keep your operation running, no matter the weather or supply chain hiccup.

But we get you, Raymond. in Buffalo, Maria and Miami, and Jules and Troy, taking control of everything that's under your control. At Granger, we're here for you with high quality supplies for every industry, plus real-time product availability and access to experts ready to help. Call, clickgranger.com, or just stop by, Granger, for the ones who get it done. So, Michael, you've now worked with Seth, Seth Rogan. You've worked with Danny. And yet, neither of these films could be considered out-and-out comedies. Is this a slow cry for help to Judd Apatow to notice you?

You know, I've been sending my CVs out and a little disappointed that nothing's come back. What's going on? I don't know. How would you cast... I'm not funny. That's not true. You know, I would like to try some comedy for sure, but it's, you know, it's, I just think it's the hard of genre. Are you choosy or people not getting...

Are you, I mean, I'm sure you're getting some sort of. scripts? Are they just shitty? Are they just not up to your lofty standards? No, it's just not really getting that many scripts coming my way, to be honest, but, and then also, you know, I've been so busy, I've been engaged and other stuff. And this year, to be

honest, I'm just, I'm not doing anything which has been marvelous. I'm loving it. Should have done it ages ago. I was going to say, yeah, you've got the snowman, but I don't see anything else on the CV after that. What's going on? No. No, I'm just taking it easy. No, no. You are here to entertain.

You don't understand that dynamic. How should he be utilized? You're a brilliant comic mind, Danny McBride. What do we do with this guy? The world of comedy is tough right now because I really do feel that like really good comedies. I don't feel like people show up to see him anymore. It's all on TV or the web. It seems like it.

Do you think it's, is that because it's like, do you think people watch it at home more? I feel like they do. Well, me personally, I prefer comedy that like pushes it. I like comedy that goes over the line. And I think people are more comfortable laughing at that stuff in their own home. I don't, I feel like they're making people feel self-conscious about laughing at that stuff in theaters. But I also feel like that audience would rather just sit at home on Friday night and smoke weed than necessarily go and buy a ticket to a theater. That's right.

It's a fair argument. They're not as like motivated as superhero fans. Seth Rogen hasn't stepped inside a theater in 15 years. Okay, so we'll work on that for next time. This is a constant conversation about this. Get up and drive. Yeah. Or I could just light this bowl.

I can watch Misfits of Science on YouTube. If just one listener of the podcast discovers Missits of Science, we've done our job today, gentlemen. That's right. That's right. Bring back Misfits of Science. So there was a lot of talk I remember leading up to this. I remember there was talk before Covenant was actually in production, like we were going to see like a hundred or a thousand Davids. Was that actually ever a thing? Like it was like we're going to find a planet filled with Davids?

That was an idea I had. initially. Seriously? After you saw Charlie the chocolate factor if you're like Lasalupas do that with David

Yeah He was mistaken That's oompa David It's gonna be great He thought he gets paid Each time he appears He's like What if there are

A million of me? Yeah, exactly Just keep adding more David's I never heard that But Okay It's not to say that

It's not true Okay How many more Of these are there Because I feel like Depending on the day Of the week Ridley says

There are three more There are five more I think at least 50 Yeah He's talking about 50 now is more up to. Really? Yeah.

That seems like, oh, I mean, I love the franchise, but really? Yep. There's a lot of story to tell still. A lot of spin-offs. Oh, what's the next spin-off? Yeah, we haven't had an actual spin-off. Yeah, we haven't had a neomorph experience. Where you just see what they're like when they're not killing people, how they're just like hanging out and trying to raise their family.

They're a lot like mere cats. Yeah. We've been bottlenecked into this horror action franchise. Experiment in other genres would be alien franchise. There's a erotic comedy. erotic comedy. There's a rom-com in there. It's just an erotic movie.

Forget about the comedy. It's the way you like them. Sick, fuck. Don't give me any comedy with my eroticism. I don't want it confusing the issue. I've got to concentrate here. Do the ten-time tables here. What was the

so Alien was a big franchise for you growing up, Danny. What was the first franchise you were obsessed with? Michael was there like what was the first kind of like hmm I guess back to the future be up there Indiana Jones Star Wars yep and of Green Gables that's oh how could I forget it for sure it's a new Netflix show of Ann of Green Gables apparently yeah yeah did you Michael told us that he just blatantly just spit in JJ Abrams face last time and said no thanks to Star Wars that's not true that's

not sure there goes my career no no no I didn't say that that's one way to handle Have you, have you, so I say there was flirtation with Star Wars. He didn't do that, of course. But have they come calling for you, Danny? Do you think you have a place in the Star Wars universe? I mean, I personally think I do, but I'm not sure if the people who make those movies think that. What would you cast yourself as in the Star Wars? Jaba.

I think I could be a good job. When he was a boy and what he dealt with growing up, what made him so mean. People don't think about the scars. Plus, you've got all that neomorph stuff in your CV now. I have all of that. You're like, here you go. I moonwalked as a neomor. I can dance.

Yeah. Right. Give it to me. So what's, did you guys know each other at all prior to this one? I met Michael one time at like a party. At a party. Yeah. A few tequila's into the evening.

Was it just sort of like locking eyes across the dance floor and you just slowly made your way to me? I knew. I was like, this is the beginning. This is the beginning. I bet you I end up in an alien movie. Yeah. Did you ever, I mean, so this came kind of out of the blue for you from what I understand.

Ridley came calling you didn't even know what it was about right yeah I didn't I didn't we had just wrapped vice principals and I got back to Los Angeles which is amazing oh thank you yeah and yeah my agent said hey Ridley wants to sit down with you and he didn't really tell me what it was in reference to and yeah so I met with him and talked with him and about halfway to the meeting he like opened up a book with like conceptual drawings of spaceships spacesuits and then of of a alien and I just thought to myself holy shit he's gonna make another alien movie and then I just instantly froze I'm like oh shit he's talking to me about

an alien movie and did that that fear I mean I guess we talked about this earlier about sort of like not wanting to ruin something that you love so much at what point does that subside for either of you you said Michael you had that on the first one on Prometheus that's good you're demanding

of yourself you want to you know live up to you kind of have to just like I mean you think that but you have to just sort of suck that up and get rid of that you can't walk around insecure year the whole time. Right. You have to act like you're like you own it. Like you know what? As long as I'm better than Billy Crotup, then I'll be fine. I'll be good. Yeah. You don't want to be the worst one on the set. Yeah. Well, you know, I think it's like anything, you know, it's like I guess

of sports or whatever, you get nervous before the event. But once you're in it, you know, doing it, yeah. Yeah. You kind of, you know, all of that goes away. This is your, what, like your third film now with Ridley. Am I getting that right? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, this, clearly, you speak his language. He speaks yours. What do you like about the way he conduct? a set that's unique that suits you it's just an absolute you know privilege to to work on one of his sets and i think that's not just the case for us as actors you can see that with every department he's just um he's a very strong leader it's a very relaxed in that you know atmosphere but at the same point everyone's on their on their toes you know we move very fast the way he

shoots he shoots a four or five cameras um so usually you know these sort of films there can be a lot a downtime between setups, not the case with Ridley. It almost feels like an independent film sort of vibe on his sets, although obviously, you know, on such a larger scale. He's just very knowledgeable and experienced in what he does, you know. You know, he still storyboards the entire movie himself. Is that surprising for you, Danny? Because, like, this is obviously a different kind of film than you've ever done.

And, like, I think a lot of people would assume looking at the kind of films that Ridley makes that he's maybe not an actor-friendly director necessarily. He's known for his, I mean, he obviously elicits great performances, but like when you think Ridley first, I think you think of that world building of just like that massive brain that can create these amazing sets, et cetera. So is that surprising and relieving to you that like, oh, he actually want to, is free to work with the actors. Well, he's like the perfect kind of director in that sense where it's like, I think he just, he makes sure that he cast the movie appropriately so that it's not like any big surprise on set. Everyone he kind of assumes is going to be able to work within his sandbox and, you know, he'll stop you if it's going. in the wrong direction, which I also appreciate. You don't have to read in between the lines with him.

I mean, if it's not good, it'll be like, yeah, that's suck. Let's do it again. It's not like, he's like, well, that was good, but this time maybe try this or that. You know, you're trying to really figure out what they want. He's just very honest and blunt with it. I think what Michael was saying, the idea that he moves at such a quick speed as well. I think it just kind of makes you on the set know that, like, this isn't going to be one of those movies where you're doing 30 takes of something and you can find it on the day.

It's like, no, he's going to fucking do two or three, and then you're going to be on to the next thing, so you better, like, show up. Do you prefer always bluntness on a set, or do you need a little, like, do you need some positive reinforcement, like... Clarity is always the best. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, you start to... I would start to get insecure if I felt like there was ambiguity in the notes that are coming my way, you know. Just clarity, like Danny said, you know, that didn't work. Let's try something else. You know, it's just much more efficient

and you know where you are. Do you find you ever have to, like... I mean, it's obviously not your set. The director's running the show. hopefully that you have to almost communicate that to them like on the day one or two if you're not feeling that be like look just tell be honest with me like you can you can say if that that takes sucked i usually say beforehand you know if you're sitting down i haven't worked with the director i'm like just be you know be blunt be straightforward and be you know just tell it

as it is uh because you know that just saves everybody yeah a lot of um heartache that's extreme word well it is true though because that's the most frustrating thing on a movie really is that if the director's too nice, you know? Because then you're just like, is he just being nice because I'm so lost that there's no way he can get the performance he's looking for? Or like, what does he really mean? And, you know, on things like Eastbound and Vice Principles

where I'm working with David and Jody, guys, I've known forever, they also are blunt like that, you know, and it's like they're not worried about feelings. You know, it's like, no, that sucked, do this that way. I just feel like you get better results from that. Have either of you ever been fired from a film? Not yet. God damn it. Why did you bring that up?

I don't know. I'm just trying to think. I don't think I have. Did you ever think you were going to be fired? Yes. Which job did you think you were going to be fired from? I think we'd know? Like you legitimately were like, there's a chance.

I could get a weird meeting or phone call soon. Yeah. But I can't tell you what it is. Oh, like, why not? I know. It's a long story. It's a long podcast. It's messy.

I like messy. I love the mess. Damn you. I've got Catherine coming in tomorrow. I've talked to her a few times. What's the way into her, her soul, her heart, how do I break her? We never spoke to her.

No, Ridley didn't allow us to, yeah. That's odd, because you actually share scenes with her. That's right. That was the weirdest part. You think we were in the same scene, but we're not. That seems to be adding a lot to the budget unnecessarily to really have to do that. She's great.

I worked with her on Steve Jobs, and, you know, just looking at those two characters, you see, you know, how brilliant she is. She's just totally committed, loves her job, and smart, always questioning things. You know, I think she did a fantastic job in this. Does she know Miss Fits of Science, do you think? You better ask her. You better ask her tomorrow.

I'll report back. Yeah, excellent. So you were saying you're taking some time off. So am I going to see you in Dark Phoenix or on the beach? On the beach? On the beach? Am I going to see you in the Hamptons this summer, Michael? I've got room in my cabana.

Spritz? Apparel sprits. Oh, I love an apparel sprits. Come on. It's a good summer drink. Isn't it a perfect drink? It is. What's your perfect drink?

Do you have a perfect drink there? You know, in the summertime I prefer this cocktail that I call the Corvette Summer. And it's, uh, it's, uh, it's one, it's fresh grapefruit. Okay. Fresh orange juice. Yeah. A little splash of lime and tequila on the rocks. Oh.

So it feels like you're kind of, you know, doing something good for yourself. Yeah. It's great. You're really not. Yeah. or is that someone else's... A bartender in North Carolina, that's what he called it. So I was like, oh, you know what, I like that?

And then you go to any bar and say, I would like a Corvette Summer. And they're just like, good. Congratulations. What the fuck is that? What about for you, Michael, would you go into your favorite bar? Do they know the fast fender? Do they know what the usual drink is? I would always go for a martini.

Olive, a twist? Do you want to... What do you want? Olives and pickled onions. I know. I knew you were going to say that. It's like a little meal. That's good. I'm just being honest. Yeah, I like anything with vinegar.

He's soaking in a vat of vinegar right now, which is really strange. Odd. Keeps the skin. Keeps the skin taut. Not very good for the skin, in fact, I'm sure. Slrivels up. Thus the wrinkles. So am I going to see you in any of these next X-Men movies?

New mutants? Possibly. Oh, come on. Ooh. Oh. Yeah, likely. Yes? Yeah.

Okay. Care to elaborate? No. Blink wants for Dark Phoenix. What's that? Blink once for Dark Phoenix. Okay, that was weird. Blink twice for new mutants?

I... Okay, so maybe Dark Phoenix is what I'm going with guys. That was either a blink or he stroked out. Yeah, yeah. The first one was like a Twitch, and the other one was just a brainfish. The other one was just a brain for you. Meanwhile, at least someone is actually definitely working on something. The Halloween, what do we call this?

Is it a reboot, a sequel? What is this? I would call it a sequel, a sequel of sorts, yeah. It's a reimagining and a sequel at the same time, if that's possible. Are you directing? No, my buddy David's going to direct. David Gordon Green. Yeah, he got, David got approached to jump on to Halloween, and he knew I was a big fan of it,

so he asked if I wanted to write with him. And I said, yeah, if we can come up with some. something that would be cool, let's do it. And so we came out with the pitch, and we went in to John Carpenter and pitched it to him. It was amazing. And he gave us his seal of approval. And now we're just trying to convince him to score the movie as well. Oh, you have to.

Come on. Be awesome. He's the best. You saw my big trouble in a little China poster in my office. I mean, that guy did about five legit classic movies. So have you cast your Michael Myers? We have not, but I get a lot of weird emails from people I don't know that send me just pictures of them in a Michael Myers mask.

Just like, if you're casting, I'm a very. It's available. Look, you know me. Don't pretend you don't know me. Well, yours I knew. I knew what that one was. I was going to say, Mr. Fastbender has done some mask work before, Frank, so he knows how to do it. Comedia del Artaic.

Classically trained. Are you going to keep the Shatner mask, the classic? We'd like to keep it as close to that as we can without being sued. Yeah, it'd be great. Nice. So what did you think of Rob Zombie's take on the... He kind of like did the backstory. I mean, that's kind of the Vogue thing now.

You kind of explain the motivation. and I think people have divisive opinions about that. Where do you come on that? I definitely split fans. You know, I personally like Rob Zombie's movies. I like Devils Rejects. I thought House for Thousand Corpse is awesome. Yeah, I mean, but like with his Halloween, I don't know.

Your take's different. Our take is different, yeah. And, you know, it's funny just even studying those movies now, seeing all the sequels and kind of seeing where they sort of stop becoming scary. And it's really that fine line of, like, humanizing him too much makes them not scary. And then also making him indestructible also makes him not scary. You know, and that first one, he's literally just a guy who's creeping around in the shadows, and that's horrifying. And the moment he starts to be bulletproof, it's not as scary because you can't picture yourself in that situation.

Yeah. Is that that scene where he goes, I fired six shots into him? No man can take six shots. What's the comfort movie? What's the movie that you turn on if you, like, if you, like, need something? Halloween, yeah. Very telling. Over and over again.

I go with Halloween 4 all the time. That's not true. Is there one that you find that you kind of like turn on Netflix or whatever if you just need to like, whether it's go to sleep or chill out or just sort of. I think the Goonies for me has always been that. I always just like, anytime that movie's on cable, I can come in and just watch it from any point and find myself still laughing like when I was a kid. Sloth love chunk. Yeah, of course. It's a beautiful thing.

It was my son's in elementary school in his spring break was just a few weeks ago. And I took the family up to Portland, and then we rented a car and drove to a story where they shot it and saw the original house. We went to where the jail they broke the Fratelli out of. That's now a Gooney's Museum. It was amazing. It was incredible. I was just thinking yesterday was Mother's Day, and I was thinking about Anne Ramsey from Thromama from a train, like the ultimate great mother character, I think, in film. Really, really.

She always plays a wonderful mom, doesn't she? Girl Mama from the train Imagine the pitch So what happens It's a great movie It's amazing So do you have an answer for that one? What's your comfort movie?

I would go with any Cohn Brothers movie movies I mean they're like one of the I can't think of another filmmaker that I've seen That's made that many movies That I've literally seen every single one of their movies Right like Yeah that's right

Each one I said that it was so simple Did you see that reason? Yes, hell Caesar Oh my God That's such you could see This is a good abrometer of someone's taste. What's for any of us

our favorite two or three Coen Brothers movies? Oh, Big Lebowski, number one. Yeah, that's probably number. And I love raising Arizona, too. And I think Barton Fink, yeah. Burden Fink's pretty, you know what I like, which I know doesn't get it's due. Hudsucker proxy. Great. I have a lot of fun. You know, for the kids.

Great film. Amazing. Miller's Crossing. Great. Norris crossing, great. Fargo's incredible, too. It's hard to choose, isn't it? What's the movie quote if you had to put a quote tattooed on your back, what would sum up your life? Whoa. What do you got?

On my back, what would I put down there? Forget about the fucking dough. It can't sound like that on your back. It just reads, says the words. You realize that. I know. It wouldn't work. I think for you, Danny?

I have no idea. That's a hard question. I'm sorry. I would get more of like a symbol or something, like a Japanese symbol. for like life for water I think let's not pretend you're that sophisticated

well who are you trying to impress right now I guess whoever's looking at my back do either you have any tattoos I have one bad tattoo yeah when I was 18 years old my friend gave me a tattoo on his back porch on my shoulder

yeah can we see no audience can't see it's just for us it's a really shitty tattoo like I is it a Japanese symbol It's just It's Anne Ramsey's face

It just says Owen I should definitely not have done it I had like I had not enough friend of mine It was an artist to draw this like I don't even remember what the original concept was But it was some kind of intricate illustration

And then I got to my buddy's like Yeah man I only got like one kind of ink I don't have like multiple colors And I don't think I can do that And I'm like okay what can you do And he's like I can do this four leaf clover right here All right, yeah, that seems like a salt tattoo Seems like something I won't regret in 20 years

And every other day the rest of my life The other option is a dolphin Have you come close, Michael, to a tattoo? He's just the smart one in the group, apparently. It's not that, you know, I like tattoos I just know that if I had one, I'd feel like a phony with it It's weird, I don't know why, but it's like kind of like jewelry as well Yeah, and it's a commitment, you know?

You have to look at yourself from years to come How will I explain this? Yeah, you'll have to talk about it? better on a podcast for decades to come. I mean, that's one reason to avoid it. It's been good to have you both. One of you back. Welcome back.

We don't have any goodies for you as a three-timer, Michael. I'm sorry. That's fair enough. But you did see that Frank is immortalized in my office. I love that. That's legit love. And Danny, yes.

Finally, we had you on the podcast. I'd like to see. I feel like you've upgraded. This is definitely more legit than the last time I was the show. It does. I feel like we were in the back of like the office supply room last time I was doing this. It's like, do they even know that you're doing this show? Do they let you?

Shooting it in a phone. Danny and I have done our fair amount of stupid sketches. I've been trying to get this guy to do something stupid with me for years. One of these days, Michael, it's got to happen. What is this? Well, no, we've done some... This is a sketch. No, I'm saying.

Something stupid and amazing to just up the CVs for your Jabatatow movie. Let's do it. All right, next time. Right now. I'm ready. There are no cameras. Michael, that doesn't work that way. Just for us, you mean?

You don't even know what state you're in. I know what state of California. we gotta go Michael what movies that from that's good what was that boogie nights oh of course should have known that it sounded familiar he showed us off the bastards that's what I would get that's what tattoo I would get on my back

what's that dirt you don't know what's dangerous just a picture of dirt diggers penis on your back on that classy note alien covenant everybody should go check out excellent job from both of you Ridley Scott delivers as always everything you would want in an alien movie and more and next time we'll see it a thousand David's on some scary planet, and Danny returning as the... Neon morph.

The least scary alien ever. Hey, guys, come here. Come on. Come on. Get over here, guys. He's running away. I just plead with everybody. Let me go inside of you.

You know what? That is a chilling line. We'll give you that. On that classy note, thanks for stopping by, guys. Thank you. Cheers. That was Michael Fassbender and Danny McBride, of course, appearing in Alien Covenant out this Friday. And speaking of Alien, the parade continues now.

Speaking of Alien. Where do you go with that? Alien Life Forms. It's the wonderful, delightful Catherine Waterston. Catherine is, of course, the Star of Alien Covenant. But also, you probably know. know her from Fantastic Beasts, which we did a lot for, in recent months. We love Fantastic Beasts. We do. We're going to see at least four more of them, if all

goes according to plan. That's exciting. She's going to go off and shoot that in a little bit, the next installment. And she also was great in inherent vice, Paul Thomas Anderson's film. That was really the film that catapulted her. If you recognize the last name, yes, she is the daughter of Sam Waterston. And, you know, she's got a really cool career going. And after like a lot of theater and kind of like bit parts and TV and films, she's really found her niche in the last few years and has a lot of cool opportunities. So fun to sit down with her. It's been a long press door for her. So I think she was a little punch drunk in a good way. A lot of silly voices. Yeah, that's always good. Silly voices, silly accents.

Nice. Not just from me this time, from the actual guest. I was going to say, was she here? I just rip for half an hour to do my jar jar bigs. Don't worry. There's no jar jar this one. No. Sorry guys. But yeah, this is both a thoughtful but also a kind of fun, silly chat. with the lovely and talented Catherine Waterston. Or as we call her on this podcast, Catherine Waterston. Catherine. Catherine. How should we do this, Catherine? We're fucking doing it with Catherine Waterston.

How do you or do? This is the way I normally speak. Yeah, people don't know. Now people don't realize. This is the actual voice. I make choices for my characters. That's when I am off duty, I speak like this. People don't know how tough she has it in these roles.

People don't realize what I give. She never stops giving people. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. What's your podcast called? It's called Happy Say I Confused. Oh, that makes so much sense. Because we just did our silly...

Would you get that? I've never been on this podcast before. You haven't. This is your debut. Welcome. Thank you. I know this has been... This is one of those ginormous press stores.

You're an expert by now, though. I like the gulp by the microphone. Yeah, I'm an expert. but I can't even drink the water properly on a podcast. But, uh, I mean, isn't that just a nice word for old? No, it means accomplished. It means, uh, it means star of two ginormous franchises going global franchises, Catherine.

I know. How did that happen? No idea. What the fuck? I have no idea. It's so random, really, in this business. You know, you audition for things. You never know what you're going to get and not get.

And I'm sure. just happened. And I'm sure if I had talked to you six or seven years ago, that would, you would have slapped me silly and said, you're out of your fucking mind. I'll still slap you silly, baby. That's how we, that's how I express myself. I love you so much. Why are you doing this?

I don't get it. Sorry, what you were saying, I would have slapped you silly seven years ago. We're going to rename the podcast, slapping Josh silly. But, yeah, I mean, would you have guessed that you would have ended up here if I talked to you 10 years ago when you were, you weren't struggling, but you were, you were failing miserably. Were you? Is that fair to say? No, I mean, I wouldn't have believed, I mean, I don't, everything surprises me, you know, I don't, I think even just a few, you know, two years ago, I wouldn't have believed it if you said, you know, you're about to do to, you're

about to, you know, participate in two of the most beloved franchises of all time, you know, back to back. Yeah. Just sounds ridiculous. For anybody. Yeah, for anybody. So is the anxiety, has it subsided in terms of, like, pressures of these kind of films, or are there new anxieties? Like, now that you have, like, you know, you've obviously, you're going to make it as an actor. We can say this officially now. You know, you've got a lot going on. And, you know, and for many actors, that's the trick is just to, like, get to a point where, like, you can kind of trust that the next job's going to come. Yeah.

But does that anxiety kind of go away at this point, or are there kind of different pressures and nightmares that come to you? I mean, I think probably anxiety mostly depends on your relationship to it. You know, some people are really good at not letting the littlest things freak them out every day, you know, whether they're starting out in their careers or really, you know, doing great and working all the time. And then other people are neurotics and spas about everything. And I probably mean more of that direction. Now I know I like you. Well, you realize that when some elements of your life start to work out, you know, it's only then that you discover what some of your bad habits are in a way because it's justified when you're struggling as an actor to have anxiety, you know, and then we realize it's still around.

When things are working on, you're like, oh, maybe this is just me. All the time, this is just my personality. Yeah, but also there's always pressures, you know. Yeah, yeah, no, this just in. This is the self-help book, but you guys that are... You're welcome. You just wanted to hear a little interview about Alien, but I'm helping you all. Just because you get two franchises, guys, doesn't mean that.

You should or could or ought to give anyone advice about their lives. Don't listen to me. So, since we have a little time, so you, like myself, are born and bred New Yorker as far as I know, right? No. What? God, you're so bad at research. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So unprepared.

I know, Catherine. I was born in London. I was born in London where everyone speaks like this. Is that true? Yes. How did I get that wrong? I lived here since I was 15 for the most part. Okay, got it's kind of complicated.

But my dad started doing law and order when I was 15. So that's, you know, before that we lived upstate and we would just come in to see shows like, you know, people from upstate do. So what was your, were you on sets a lot as a kid? Did you follow your dad around to? Not that much, a little bit. We visit, you know, we would visit Setsmore if he was working on the summer vacation or something. And actually, they did take us out of school twice in the middle of the year. We were in Russia and Hungary for a while.

That special Law & Order episode in Hungary I missed. Pre-law and Order days, yeah. But, yeah, no, I remember coming in, because they shot Law & Order on 23rd, you know, but Chelsea Pierce. Sure. And they were putting my dad up somewhere near there. And I remember very clearly pulling in. There was a gas station where there's now like a tall glass condo building. And there were prostitutes on the corner of 23rd and 10th.

And it's just so wild to me now to see the way these neighborhoods have changed. The good old days. I know, kind of a little bit. Little seediness is good, not too much. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I worked up until a couple years ago for many years in Times Square. and it was not the Times Square that we kind of now romanticize in a way. Like, in many ways, it's a, I'm sure, look, yes, the prostitution and drugs and all that

stuff was obviously horrible, but I have a little character. Now it's like you're in Disneyland and Bubba Gump World. It is fun to watch, you know, the old movies that were shot on the street and you can see what it used to be like, yeah. So did any of those kind of experiences on a set have a particular impact on you, or was it just sort of like if you know I'm visiting my dad at his architecture office it's like oh it's dad's at work I have this strange it's kind of hard to explain this disconnect I wanted to be an actress I knew that from a very early age but I somehow didn't understand that I could um

enter that realm that seemed to be my dad's world right but at the same time I would go to sets and I would see you know child actors playing his children and think this is insane I'm so right for this part. I'm his actual daughter, you know. They could have cast this so much better. But yet I didn't think I was never that child who said, please let me audition. I didn't quite understand how to enter that world as a child, which doesn't make much sense. You think with, you know, the child of an actor, they'd kind of have an, even a sort of innate understanding of the business or that, yeah. But I just didn't. I don't know. Maybe I was a little reluctant to, to lose the fantasy of it, you know?

I mean, I still love that, but, you know, as a kid, it's so, the movies are so, so magical, because you kind of, I have a friend whose kid, I just kind of thinks that I really am magical because of a fantastic beast, you know, and quizzes me on extreme details about that world, and it scares her, I think, a little, when I don't have the answer, you know.

I was going to say, can you keep up, or what do you do when you don't have the answer? It's very stressful. You're like, let me just go on Wikipedia here. It's time to grow up fast, young girl. It's not real. Tina had a drink this morning and Tina doesn't remember. It's a potion, see?

It's a special potion. It's a curse. So do you remember the first time that you articulated, was it a big moment to kind of like actually say to your dad in particular, who obviously made this his life? Yeah, I want to pursue this professionally. Was that kind of a revealing self? Was that a big moment for you? or did it sort of happened gradually? I suppose in a sense it was a much less stressful

or dramatic kind of coming out. You know, I was nervous to tell him and I didn't know what his reaction would be. But I also felt like it wasn't official until I told him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, but yeah, he was psyched. Yeah.

So he probably, you know, parents know more about us than we know about ourselves, so he probably saw it coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what were the, I mean, because from a lot of your 20s, it was a lot of theater work. I mean, part of that's by just what was available, I assume. You luck of the draw, yeah.

You audition for everything and take the parts that they give you. Were you, again, like kind of happy with what you were doing at the time? Aside from maybe the paycheck wasn't maybe what you wanted it to be? Yeah, it's never what you wanted to be in the theater. But, yeah, there's a sort of narrative now that those were the lean, tough years, and now everything's coming up roses. but I didn't really experience it like that. There were lots of little victories within those years, too, and very exciting times for me,

just kind of, I suppose, more on a developmental level. I felt I was sort of figuring it out as I went and had amazing experiences on this stage. And what are those markers about? Are they about the material? About the actor you got to work opposite? Oh, yeah. I mean, I did The Cherry Orchard with John Tuturo and Diane Weist.

and in an amazing theater called CSC on 13th Street and just to watch them prepare and work and the camaraderie and all of that and of course obviously and the writing and many of the plays and working with new writers and watching how a director develops work with a new writer. I mean, it was a very rich time. And yeah, it was stressful and I didn't...

The trouble when you're working in the theater and you're just getting your start is often a job will end and, you know, you don't know what's next and that's a sort of stressful time, but it's also exciting because anything could be the next thing. Right. And there's a lot of tension

and hope in those years. I mean, it's easy to romanticize the past but yeah, I'm very grateful for that time also having some time before you know, there's a lot of scrutiny in Hollywood on a lot of different levels and to have a little period kind of

more or less to myself. Yeah. Well, there's also the weird, like, expectations now that, where you, you know, when you have a career that's at a certain level and you sort of do a big movie and, like, you know, certain people expect this is the kind of thing you're supposed to do next. And, you know, like, do you go with instinct? Do you go by, like, what team Waterston is saying? You know what I mean?

Like, if there's, you have choice, which is like, you know, I've talked to many actors about this, like, that, you know, very few actors get to the position. where they have much choice in their career. And you're starting to probably get into that period where you actually, like, you can make some important decisions about sort of steering your own career where for many years you didn't have the luxury of choice

and it was just sort of like up to the gods about where you kind of went. Yeah. I'm not sure if I experience it so differently now. I mean, I think it's important to work, you know, to stretch yourself in different directions and kind of be in a constant state of engagement with the work. It doesn't mean that you're always showing up on set every day,

but preparing for a role or coming down off a role. It's all kind of part of, I think it's good to be at some stage of the process as often as possible because you do kind of get rusty sometimes, I think. But then on the other hand, you can kind of use up all that you've got and not have any time in the real world and start to feel like you're in some kind of weird vortex. Hamster will. Yeah.

I think I think about it more in terms of navigating that issue than about which roles I choose. I like doing different things, but if something very interesting came along that seemed a little bit reminiscent of, like, I don't know, Shastafay Hepworth or something, I wouldn't pass it by just because it was, you know, I don't know that I would necessarily

calculate or navigate in that way because if it was interesting it, you know, it would be worth it to me. So I don't know. What are you doing like in your downtime between films now if there is much downtime? Are you kind of actively or you go read to research mode or kind of just like studying the script for the next one or do you kind of detach and sort of do nothing related to the job? Coma mode. Coma mode? Sleep mode for a little bit. I do think that the, Yeah, there's a lot of actors who are like this. It kind of have to hibernate a little in between jobs, but I haven't had that much time off lately.

I'm about to do a job in a few weeks, and then when it finishes, I'm going straight to Fantastic Beast. But with Fantastic Beast, there's a bit of a pre-production window, which is great. Right. buys me a little time. What's the biggest difference in doing press with this maniac group of actors versus that maniac group of actors?

They're both unique in their own right? Oh, man. Well, this crew is so funny, but they keep putting me, you know, alone. And all the boys are getting to, you know, hang out together and clearly making things up. Danny and Michael were here yesterday together. I heard. I know. I get very jealous. We had no fun. Don't worry, as you could imagine.

Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah. It's a great group. I'm still trying to figure out because I've talked to Michael many times over the years and he's like a super funny kind of wild guy.

He's obviously also one of the finest living actors on the planet and takes his work very seriously. Which one are you seeing? Which one do you know? Do you know both? Like is he kind of turned the valve a certain direction

when he's in production on a film or are you seeing kind of both sides of him? Do you know, I think that actors often bring... I don't really squeaky care. Are you doing this? She's a robot and she's being oiled. I don't need an update, creaky, joints.

Waterston, level two, operational. All I can think of is collating, which is like an original alien line, right? That's something mother says. Co-lating. Mother's back. I like the references to mother. That brings me back.

As we're talking Fassi, crazy Fassi. I think, yeah, most actors, they bring what is needed to whatever film they're doing rather than having sort of a set process that they apply to every experience. So on Steve Jobs, I

saw essentially, which was a very different Michael. He had a lot of lines to learn. And it was drilling them kind of constantly. And on this film, you know, he, you know, was working on them to fit these amazing... I mean, it's just making me realize how much I move when I talk. You just can't sit still.

Just wildly gesticulating. We should really be shooting this. Her posture is wonderful. This is my New Yorker coming out. Hey. It's a hand gestures. But, yeah, so he was very playful on this. And, I mean, there was really sort of actually set that tone.

You know, he puts. together this amazing group of actors and then all the behind the scenes people too people so very much at the top of their game and all the in all the departments and then he's like okay good everybody's on top of their game now let's play that's awesome yeah um so so i think you know michael knew about that more than any of us um because he'd worked with him before and uh and we all caught on pretty quickly and then it was pretty riotous actually most of the time, believe it or not. Because, yeah, I would, yeah, given the, yeah, given the nightmare-inducing, maternity you've

created. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like the most horrific alien since probably the original, I would say. It's pretty grim. I don't want to reveal anything, but you're not going to walk out of the theater, like, skipping. Yeah. Although, I still think there's, like, some funny, although chilling, comedy.

There's very dark humor in it, absolutely, which I appreciate it as well. I mean, you mentioned, you mentioned Shasta, Inherent Vice, which, which is, probably the role that many people saw you in first. Was there, you know, again, we talk about sort of like the period of time where you're kind of working as an actor, some theater, some films here and there. Did you, like, have close calls in terms of, like, this is going to be the big break before then? Like, was there one you were putting all your hopes on before that you can pinpoint? I mean, I don't know that I put all my hopes on it.

I didn't, you know, when you get, gosh, Gosh, I don't know. I'm always surprised when I get a callback for anything, you know. And so I don't know that I ever thought, oh, man, I'm really going to get this and then didn't get it. I'm always like, they do. They want to see me again? Amazing. I tricked them. But there was one that I got close on and, you know, everybody was freaking out. and everyone around you was excited and and yeah it just felt it felt possible

but you know it's funny because sometimes when you don't get one of those jobs they ended up giving it to a massive star which was kind of nice because I didn't feel necessarily I didn't feel so much like I failed yeah they were looking for something they needed they were looking for money and maybe just also someone more beautiful and talented

please it's not possible Catherine Wofferson it's never been done it's not never been seen. No, he can squeak in a chair like you. Oh, my God. But, uh... So you hate Jennifer Lawrence is what you're saying.

No, no, I don't hate the person, and it's not to have me. Um, oh, man, but... But, but, you know, sometimes even though those things can be disappointing, they also can be encouraging, because you think, oh, man, well, I got close that time, maybe next time, um, you know, it'll work out. And often, too, you look back on things you almost got and didn't get and think, thank the Lord, you know. I could have easily, I did two TV pilots when I was in my 20s.

I could still be on those now if they had gotten picked up. That's a totally different life, yeah. Yeah. You're listening to Happy, Sad, Confused. We'll be right back after this. Paul Anderson, however you refer to him, the master, the genius that is, I mean, you know. Captain. Is that how you call Captain?

Dearest Captain. So you address all your texts to him. You know, I've never had the privilege of talking to him and he's like. Yeah, I heard he didn't want to talk to you. Oh, that's so rude. Cothran. I'm trying to get you to do a spit take as you're taking a drink of water. I came close.

But he is a genius. I mean, I worship that guy. He's the best. Yeah, same here. So, I mean, what? would surprise me or anyone that's seen his work about sort of who that guy really is. I mean, he's clearly knows his shit better than anybody. What's the day to day with him? How does his mind work? Is he mortal? Does he bleed like everyone else? What's what's up with PT?

I don't know. I just think he's better than everybody else. It's just a superior. I don't know if he's mortal um he's uh he's uh he's uh i think that one of the most important that qualities to look for and a director is someone that's good to be around yeah and it's something obviously that can't be taught it's energy and um really has that too it it just puts everybody at ease makes everyone feel safe and um you know you have to keep showing up every morning and it makes people want to come back to that place. And I think even if you don't realize that you're looking to the director for that kind of to set the tone.

And you hope that that will be a good tone, a good feeling. And it's weird. I feel like anything good has to come from there. I mean, I guess you hear stories about directors. You're just like Hitchcock or something really difficult to work with. It still made amazing movies. So I don't really know what I'm talking about at all. But he's a nice guy.

There also is an element, I mean, I would think that applies to both Ridley and Paul in that, like, you can just give yourself, like, unreservedly to them because, you know, 99% of the time they're going to deliver the final product on the screen. I guess it's that combination of trusting their taste and trusting them just on, you know, personal level, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you still friendly? I mean, do you tend to, like, form relationships with the filmmakers that you work with? Are you still? I tend to glom on. I don't know. Don't leave me, Paul.

I do. Friends forever, right? to stay in touch with the directors I work with. I like directors. I'm very, I'm always, I like hearing about their, um, other projects and, you know, I like spying on them and seeing how they work and stuff. Do you have the inside dirt on the next Daniel Day Lewis one? I know nothing. I hear it's coming out the end of the year. I'm very excited. I don't know anything except for that I'm excited. I'm excited. Maybe I know other things, but I'm not going to say. Um, what was the screen test for fantastic beasts? Was that, was that a weird one?

scary um it was at a hotel in new york and i can't walk by the hotel anymore i get i get as i have you know some kind of PTSD or something um they just had us uh me and the other actors that were auditioning for the same part in different hotel rooms and then so they would send you to a room and you'd just sit in there and wait and you'd hear doors opening and closing it was so tempting to peek out and see who the other people were and everything and then they would read those other people they'd do all these different configurations so they'd read the other people with eddy and then send them back to a room and then come on katherine invite me in and then i would stay in there and watch different tina's and jacobs coming and out and you know

so we were doing these group chemistry tests it was very involved yeah and so nerve-wracking and I definitely wasn't going to get that part. I mean, I left being like, well, that was weird and scary and fascinating and that'll be that. All the ancillary stuff of the nerves, or you just felt like you didn't have the right take on it or just the fear registered on your face you felt? Yeah, I just felt, I felt I had to, you know, use a wand for the first time. It's the first time for everyone with a wand. Yeah. It's okay.

She now uses a wand during the interviews, which is odd. She's been waving it all about as she creaks in her chair. Yeah, that's the creaking. It sounds like keeps zapping. You're practicing. The movie's coming up. You've got to get back in the zone. The wand worked.

I definitely sort this chair up. Yeah, that little known spell about correcting a chair's. Yeah. Reparro. What would it be? Reparro. I think that is a, that is a spell. You're the expert.

I think it restored, I think it restored a broken down building. I think that she's doing it. She did it right for us just now. There was magic in the podcast studio. Can you feel it over there? See, this is the problem with talking about the wands. It always ends up sounding lewd. No, that's only...

Can you feel my wand? This is basically what I just said. I can feel your wand. Carlton. Calthru. It feels wonderful. So, have you seen the script for the next one? No, but I ran into the writer, John Logan, in London recently.

and he gave me Oh, wait, which one are we talking about? Oh, that's, we're talking, that's alien. I've seen no scripts. Bottom line, she knows nothing. No franchise, it's no scripts. I don't know anything. I didn't see anything.

I didn't do anything. It wasn't me. I show up to set. They point me in a direction. Run here. Basically. I have somebody in my ear, they whisper my lines and I repeat them. The Marlon Brando technique.

Exactly. Well, that was on a mug, right? Didn't he like, write, everything on the side of a mug? Right, right, right. Or the four. Or the forehead of the other actor sometimes. The one I really like, no. Yeah.

That was Godfather. I think he did it for, like, I want to say, like the Lucabrasi scenes. I think so. Oh, on the forehead? I guess it makes sense for the eyeline. Yeah, I mean, look, in 40 years, maybe you're saying this too, and it's not so weird. It's not so weird. Nothing's so weird in 40 years.

You know, like, you know, this was a trick of the trade back of the day. Everyone's like, I guess that's what they did back then. I heard that Spencer Tracy, and I love this. always looked at his mark. You know, they put tape on the ground, and that's where you'll be in focus. So if you enter into a scene, you often have to walk right to the spot.

But sometimes it's kind of hard to feel where that mark is when you have your head up. So he would walk into the room, get roughly near the mark, kind of put his hands in his pockets, and look down. And like he was thinking about what he was going to say next, and then get his feet right on the mark,

and then look up and say the line, so that he knew that the table. take would be good, you know, that they could use it and maybe hopefully move on, but it looks so natural and you can spot it in a lot of his films. It's a fun thing to look for. If you're a nerd. I will. I am. No, I mean, I feel like you could do the same thing in just trying to remember your line, like taking a breath, taking a moment and sort of like... Looking for it. He's really thinking. There's a lot going on in Catherine today. Okay, so you were, I think, referencing alien. Well, it comes on a second, but in beasts. So you haven't seen a script. You don't know nothing on the next

Beasts. I know a little bit about both films, but I haven't seen a script for either. Have you made a request of the David Yateson company in terms of what you want to see or get to do or not to? I get some notes for those guys because they're new to all this and I am very experienced. Let me tell you how to make a billion-dollar franchise guys, guys, guys, guys. I just worked with Sir Ridley Scott. So I think I know what I'm doing. Yeah, he's a sir, so.

Maybe one day you'll be, can Americans be knighted in any way? probably not. I think there is an honor, but I'm not. I was born in England. Well, that's not my big thing. I'm working on it, man. Do you have dual citizenship? Are you? I do. You're so classy. That's why I am, you know, some people refer to me as Coffreysh. It's dual citizenship. Can you be shipped? Citizenship. Well, you can be shipped, you know, the shipping of, like, characters now. Like, that's a big thing. Oh, I ship them. I'm pro their relationship, right? See, you know the stuff.

Yeah, yeah, I'm trying, but it's very difficult for me. Do you ship any television romances? Are you a... I don't... I'm not... I don't watch anything.

Really? Do you own a TV? Are you one of those people? That's just like... I don't own a home, so I mean, I just... You just carry a TV around with you. Yeah, I have a TV. I just have nowhere to plug it in.

But, no, I don't... I don't ship anything. I think that's insanity. Oh, but I just heard another one. What is it? That's Fire. Do you know this? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, I work at MTV, so I'm exposed to all of it. I don't, but, like, I'm exposed to it, and I have to pretend like I know what they're talking about. What are the kids into these days? Don't, we're going to sound so old, you and I. Let's not do this. Let's not go down this rabbit hole. No, actually, I feel bad that I said I don't ship anything because I know that there's

those Harry, or Harry Potter, Fantasy Beast fans who ship Newton and Tina. Sure. And that's nice. Yeah. Yeah. We're all rooting for that, that wonderful couple. That inevitable marriage has already been written. Yeah.

So we haven't even talked much about alien, actually. That's a good point. Not that it needs, I mean, people know. People know about it. Come on. You've seen the 17 alien films. All you need to know, Ridley Scott's back. Yeah, man.

It's going to scare the shit out of you. Yeah. The Fast Bender times two. Yeah. That's good money for, that's good value. you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a double feature, but it's just one movie. And you get to kick a little ass and run from an alien and check all the boxes. Yeah, there's a lot of ass kicking. Yeah, and then, you know, there's a sort of emotional

component that's new. Right from the start. I mean, you start in a pretty harrowing space. Yeah, and also that, that it just starts, it just takes off so fast, which I think is something a little bit new to the franchise maybe and... Are we well to... But, you know, it's funny because I'm never really that good at talking about the movies before they come out because... Me personally, I prefer to know very little about a movie before seeing it. I always think it's so much more fun that way. And, you know, then you leave the cinema and, you know, want to tell your friends everything about it,

but trying to keep it in so they can have the same experience you had. And in this day and age, we can... talk talk talk so much about this stuff before it comes out it kind of takes some of the excitement out of it i think so yeah i'm kind of glad we didn't we didn't we're not going to what they are at yeah yeah yeah yeah though is it going to spoil anything to say who your who doesn't last too long in the film that's kind of some of the at this point i think like some things have so already been spoiled i think you're referring let's not do we won't do it we won't do it we won't do it there are some people that you may or may not know that are in the

That bite the dust quickly. Yes. How about this? Let's discuss it without ruining anything because you just cited your hatred of spoilers. But I'm very excited. I think you've probably shot this by now, current war. Yeah. With like, I think I saw you right before as you were doing it or before you did it.

And I mentioned to you then, and I stand by it. It's like my favorite group of people on the planet because it's. That cast? Yes. I mean. Oh, wow. Michael Shannon comes up in every conversation on the podcast. I'm obsessed with him.

So you say his name the same way you say banana. There's like something a little fancy It's the same Michael Shannon So for context Because the banana talk Was not in the podcast We were walking down the hall

And I said Someone mentioned a banana He says What do I say? Banana Whereas I say banana It's like more banana Banana

Yeah yours is a little mid-Atlantic It's how they train It's the classiest thing about me And your Shannon has a little Extended A in it as well Does Michael Shawna need any bananas in the film. Not that he will well.

But it's also what, it's Benedict. It's Benedict, Camelbatch, Nicholas Holt. And Catherine Waterstone. Yeah. So. Amazing. Other people, I'm just not thinking of their names right now. Who do you get to do most of your fun stuff

within that one? Well, I play Mrs. Westinghouse, so I'm mostly with Mr. Westinghouse, and that's Michael Shannon. And a little bit, I had a few scenes with Nicholas Holt, but it's really kind of divided into two sections. that don't overlap much. So it's kind of like two films that they're combining Benedict's stuff with shots

a month before we got there. Gotcha. It was bizarre because right when we got into it, it was over. It was a kind of quick shoot, but really fun. Alfonso Gomez, Rejohn is the director, and he is brilliant. You did what me, Earl and the Dying Girl, right? Yeah. Yeah.

This one's different. It has corsets and light bulbs. You should be in the marketing meetings for this. You're welcome, guys. Take it away. You don't need anything else. Yeah. And you're also, you're in the new Sutterberg, right?

Yeah, very, I really just, I mean, I'm like a fly on the wall in that movie. I just wanted to watch him work. I was going to say, yeah. It's very, I do very, very little. But it was really fun to just pop down there and do. a few scenes and I mean actually he's the only person I've ever seen who works faster than Ridley it's kind of extraordinary is he like working his own camera is he like just doing everything when I was there at least and I think the whole time yeah he operates his own camera and uses

natural light so the things that usually slow things down and turning the camera around and fixing the lights one time we were shooting in this little um trailer um and uh I stepped out of the trailer and I was just trying to get out of the way of the crew and I said you know is there some place where you keep the actors it's like just a pen or something and and and somebody said well you know he doesn't he shoots so fast we don't have a place for the actors and I said really and then he leaned out of the trailer and said okay we're ready and he turned around in the time that I had asked where a chair was and someone told me that there weren't chairs and that went back in and kept working so yeah extraordinary very cool so okay

Okay, so we'll see Current War, Logan Lucky, six more alien movies. I feel like Ridley, depending on the day of the week, he says there are two more movies, there are five more movies, there's one more movie. What's your money on? How many more aliens are we going to see? Nine. She's going on the over. Nine or. You want steady work?

I think, I don't know, a couple. I don't know. What do I know? You're the actor. They don't tell me. I'm just the actor. I'm just the actor here. I'm just the actor.

I just come in and say the line, see? And we'll see you on the next Fantastic Beast, Beastier, Fantastiker. The Beastier Fantastics. It's a musical. That's nice. The Fantastic is a beautiful musical. Yeah, but with Beasts. With Beasts. You don't want to make the Fantastics better? You throw in a beast. Beasts. You're welcome.

It's been good to catch up with you, Cothran. Sorry for all the dumb voices. No, that's what I live for. I don't know if the audience likes it, but I do. only one way to find out. Oh, man. The end of the podcast. Is this live?

Can you edit this? Sorry, World. Go see Alien Covenant. She doesn't do any silly voices, but there's plenty of horrific nightmares for you and your entire family. Yeah. Thanks for stopping by, Catherine. Thanks for helping.

Thank you for having me. God, what a weird interview. 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. This episode of Happy Sad Confused was produced by Michael Catano, Mooka Mohan and Kasha Mihailovich for the MTV Podcast Network with additional engineering by Little Everywhere. You can subscribe to this and all of our other shows on Apple Podcasts, Stitch,

Google Play, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. It's not easy being the one everyone counts on to keep your operation running, no matter the weather or supply chain hiccup. But we get you, Raymond and Buffalo, Maria and Miami, and Jules and Troy. taking control of everything that's under your control. At Granger, we're here for you with high quality supplies for every industry, plus real-time product availability and access to experts ready to help. Call, clickgranger.com, or just stop by.

Granger, for the ones who get it done. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from the league, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award, Roll in Twisters. We love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas, and I don't. He's too old.

Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dude, too, is overrated. It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspool, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and case you misdums. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night. We've done deep dives on. Popcorn Flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look.

And we've talked about horror movies, some that you've never even heard of like Ganges and Hess. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to hit the follow button.