Happy Sad Confused - Paul Feig, Vol. III

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Paul Feig has lived in director's jail and lived to tell the tale. Now he's out though and making crowd-pleaser after crowd-pleaser. Paul joins Josh at a special taping at the Miami Film Festival for a chat about sequels (ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR), the legacy of FREAKS & GEEKS, and the success story that is BRIDESMAIDS. UPCOMING EVENTS! Alexander Skarsgard in NY 5/12 -- Tickets here! Tony Gilroy in NY 5/14 -- ⁠⁠Tickets here!⁠⁠ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Quince -- Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Quince.com/happysadco⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for 365 day returns and free shipping! 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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filmmaker. I'm making movies or studios, are giving a lot of money to this budget, and I got to pay it off. But I also want people to have a good time. I don't want, the worst thing you do is like, well, I loved it and screw them. They didn't get it. It's like, well, then just make movies for yourself and show them in your house. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. We have a returning guest, The one and only Paul Feig is on the show today. One of our great filmmakers, he can do it all, very often doing comedy, but also mixing and matching a little bit of thriller here and there,

and that's certainly the case for his new film. Another simple favor. It's a wild one. It's on Prime Video right now. We'll get to that in a second. Before we get to Paul, usual reminders and all this information, as always, of course, is on our Patreon. Check it out.

Patreon.com slash happy, say I'm confused. so many cool additions over there, extras over there, early access, discount codes, merch, lots of cool stuff. If you like what I do, it helps us make more of what we do. So check it out. As for live events, a lot coming up. Two I can mention, May 12th, Alexander Scarsgard is joining me. Always a delight. I slightly resent him because he's one of the most attractive human beings on the planet. Not, doesn't share any genetic material clearly with me or most of us, but despite that, so damn smart and talented and funny. I excuse it. We're going to chat at the 9 Second Street Y about his new series Murder Bot, which we're going to screen a couple episodes of, and of course,

all sorts of stuff about his career. So come on out May 12th, 7.30 p.m., 92nd Street Y, me and Alexander Scars Guard. A couple days later, May 14th, back at 92nd Street Y. It's going to be me and Tony Gilroy. First time guest on the podcast, he's been on the list for a long time, and this is a perfect excuse because Tony is the man behind Andor brilliant show. It's going to have just wrapped up its second season. So try to keep up. If you've just seen those final batch of episodes, which air I believe the night before. That's perfect timing. Then we'll be able to dive deep into Star Wars. And also, by the way, the guys, so many cool film credits, including an all-time classic and Michael Clayton. So you guys know I love a deep dive filmmaker interview. And this is

one of the smartest guys out there. So Tony Gilroy, May 14th, 92nd Street Y. Come on out if you can. Information is on our Patreon or on the show notes. You know what to do. Okay, quick little information on what you're about to see. And here, this is Paul Feig and I talking in Miami. How the hell did that happen, Josh? Great question. The Miami Film Festival invited us, invited me to host a live edition of the podcast. This has been on my list, as you guys may know, to do more live events. outside of New York, and this fit the bill perfectly. They were so lovely to us. Miami was a great home for the podcast,

and we decided on a great guest in Paul Feig. He has a new film out, another simple favor, which is the wild sequel to a simple favor. You thought that movie was wild? This one, up to the ante, trust me. Of course, Blake Lively's back, Anna Kendrick's back, Henry Golding, and Durandals, a lot of familiar faces and new faces.

It's a lot of fun. It's super fun. We screened the film for the audience in Miami. Then I sat down with Paul for this live edition of the podcast. No spoilers in here. Don't you worry? You can watch it without having seen the film. And Paul's always amazing.

The guy, you know, gave us freaks and geeks and spy and bridesmaids, and we talk about it all, and much, much more. So I know you guys are going to get a kick out of this. I always do with Paul. He's a consummate professional. He's funny. He's smart. He's all the good things. So here is Paul Feig and I.

how in Miami at the Miami Film Festival talking all things another simple favor and more please enjoy Paul congratulations the precious gem award winner Paul Feig

do you have an illustrious career of the awards in your childhood what was the first award you ever won as a kid I actually did a guitar recital I was a terrible guitar player but for some reason I went to this competition

with this classical song I practiced forever and for some reason that one moment, I did it perfectly and scored a 100 out of 100 and was never able to play it again. Amazing. Which I think sums up my entire career. Let's get the guitar out again tonight for Paul. Congratulations. It's always good to see you. You guys are inside of my podcast. Thank you for coming out tonight in Miami. This is happy, Sag Infused with the one and only Mr. Paul Feig. Do you guys need us

the switch? Are we good? Okay. Cameras? We're good? Okay, cool. I was going to the wrong way. So, Paul, this audience is one of the first audiences. in the world, literally, to see another simple favor. Yes. Talk to me a little bit about, I mean, it's kind of ironic to me. If you look at your filmography, you might have expected a lot of other sequels, perhaps, to some other films. This is a challenging one. The first film was a challenging one.

What was your attitude about sequels prior to making this one? I'm not a giant fan of sequels or doing them because, you know, there's been some great sequels, but I think the majority of sequels aren't. It was great as the first movie. And Hollywood always thinks, oh, they like the first one. They're just going to want another one. And audiences kind of used to go for that. If you think about the 80s and 90s, we'd all be like, okay, we'll go see the sequel. And I think people got burned by a lot of sequels over the years.

And so we found kind of in our research of the Internet and just audiences, because I'm always just trying to figure out how do I, you know, make an audience happy and give them what they want while still doing something that I'm happy with, too. And the big question was always why? Why do I need to see this? And it's a hard question to ask because sequels are difficult. The reason you love a movie the first time is because you're discovering the characters for the first time. You're being given a lead character who has a problem in their life or something they need to solve.

And the movie solves, whatever happens in the movie solves it for them. So your lead character always comes out sort of better at the end, unless it's a crazy horror movie or whatever. And so to then do a sequel of like, oh, I love that. I want to see that character. Do you take them back to then they have another problem? And are you like, oh, didn't we solve your problem before? Like, what's wrong with you? Can you pull it together?

So it's hard. So you have to figure out, is there something new we can bring to it that is taking what people like from the first one and then giving them something completely different while still paying off what they loved about the first one? And it's a really tough tightrope to walk. And for me, I just sometimes just don't, I mean, like, I'd rather just step away from something that worked and not try to screw it up with a sequel. I mean, as folks can now tell from seeing this, this is kind of like on steroids. This is like a simple favor.

And you went like, too. I mean, you went for it. And I love that about this film. Because, yes, we know and love the characters, but throwing them into this total other world really gives it an energy and a vitality that, I mean, the film had. But it's a totally different animal this time around. Yeah. God, the critics love it when you go crazy, the third act.

All my movies get slammed for it, like, it goes nuts in the third act. Well, but I like a big ending, you know, and these movies are kind of, they're, you know, it's, that was what was fun about the first one was it's a really grounded story. We treat it grounded, but it's got a crazy core to it. And, you know, I love Hitchcock movies, you know, because when I love about the Hitchcock movies, not the they went bananas at the end like we too but the the characters there's so many funny characters in hitchcock movies you know his thrillers are they're thrilling and they're exciting but they're also you laugh because there's funny things happening in extreme characters in it and i felt like over the years thrillers had gotten very you have to be very serious you know and all that and

it's like i don't know i think as long as we're not going like thumbing our nose of the genre and screwing the audience over by pulling the rug and going oh you like that well you like that well guess what we're going to subvert that in a way that is not satisfying you know the the worst thing that can happen when you when you're screening a movie for an audience when an audience is watching a movie is when they go like oh wait no wait come on why would that happen because it means you set up a set of rules in the first half in the movie that then you subvert you pull the rug out it happens in a lot of comedies go like oh well this would be really funny but like well that's funny but now you completely like subverted what everybody

thought was the rule. Right, violated your own rules that you've established. Yeah, so you have to stay consistent with you can set up the craziest language, the craziest set of rules you want. I always point to the movie Moulin Rouge because that movie, the first 10 minutes

is nutty. Yeah. You know, and I know a lot of people when first came out before I saw it, you're like, oh, I left after the first 10 minutes is too crazy. But what that did is it sets you up, and you go like, okay, that's the world I'm in. Right. And then it works. So I'm just a big fan of what we call the skeleton key at the beginning of the movie of like here's the rules now we're going to stick to

I also love I mean yeah you just alluded to this like arguably my favorite movie of all time is North by Northwest and that is one of the great kind of adventure mystery thriller and it it is comedic I mean it's a fun movie and that's what you've made and I know you pride yourself on being above all else a filmmaker for audiences like you trust and want to please an audience and I because I often have conversations with filmmakers about like you want to trust your gut but there has to be that balance, I would imagine, of trusting your gut and then listening to the audience. You can only trust your gut so far, because your gut tells you what you like, you know, and that's why I'm very, very addicted to test readings.

And a lot of filmmakers don't like them because basically, you know, what I do, the DGA gives me, I'm contractually given 10 weeks where nobody interferes with me, the producers, the studio, everybody leaves me alone and I huddle up for 10 weeks and do my cut of the movie. Well, after about four or five weeks, I've done what I think. is the first cut of the movie that I'm like, I think this works, and then I want to test that. So I, we do a test audience, but not, not a friends and family. Those are completely worthless because all your friends and family are really nice to you. Oh, it was great.

I loved it. But you get 300 people in a room who don't know you or recruited off the street. They're going to be brutal. But at the same time, you go like, okay, I thought that was going to be great. They didn't laugh or they didn't like that. I think I have to change that. There's something I really love and I think, well, maybe it's just a weird audience. I'll test it twice.

And if it doesn't work, you got to take it out because I'm, you know, I'm a commercial filmmaker. I'm making movies or studios are giving a lot of money to this budget and I got to pay it off. But I also want people to have a good time. I don't want, the worst thing you do is like, well, I loved it and screw them. They didn't get it. It's like, well, then just make movies for yourself and show them in your house. Let's talk about your amazing cast.

I want to talk about, let's start with Anna, Anna Kendrick, who, I mean, there are few actors. I would imagine you can trust the kind of like, you know, play drunk, play on someone on sodium pentothal. But like, Anna is so finely calibrated as a comedic actor that you're in safe hands with her. I don't know, what's her superpower for you as an actor to work with? Well, first of all, nobody plays drunk funnier than Anna Kendrick. She kills me every time she does it. No, Anna's is great because she's a great actor, you know, and because of that, she can take the comedy and make it come out of herself in a real way you know what comedy falls apart is when you go oh that that actor is making

fun of that character that actor doesn't like that character or just going look how crazy i am because then is the difference between if you know somebody who's really like a kind of a crazy personality but you kind of love them because that's them versus sometimes i've gone out in the comedy world like somebody like oh there's my friend he's really crazy and you see see somebody like, I'm crazy, like trying to be funny. And it's like, I don't, I don't buy what you're doing. But if you can make what like Anna does, make it come from your soul in an believable place, but you are an extreme oddball character, then the audience will

follow you anywhere. And then we have Blake lively who, I mean, I'm not going to ruin this on the podcast for what she does in this film. But we see Blake in a situation that we've never seen her in before, or much less any other actor before. there you go um but i mean i guess what did you learn from working with blake the first time around i mean she seems like you know time traveled out of old hollywood you get to work with this like amazing movie star but she obviously has the comedic and dramatic chops what did you learn from

the first time that you applied to the experience this time well blake is brilliant i mean truly her you know look a movie is a collaboration that's what we do i mean the the the myth that sort of like the director comes in it gives a script and everybody just says it word for word is a myth. I mean, there are filmmakers I know who do that, and sometimes it's great, but most times I go like, boy, that feels really written. That feels very rehearsed. That feels, you know,

it doesn't feel in the moment to me. And so I'm very collaborative with my whole cast. And I, first of all, I invite all my actors to have a big say in their wardrobe. Because I was an actor for years, and your wardrobe affects how you play the character. I mean, you know, we are

how we dress, you know, that's our personalities come through on that. And so I want them to be, you know, in tune with that. And the Melissa McCarthy and I used to do that all the time, everybody I work with. And so Blake's got such great ideas about her wardrobe and stuff. And then she works with Renee Calphus, my amazing costume designer who did this movie, has done all my movies since the first simple favor. And just the idea is, what I love is when people give you an idea, and this happened with so many people I've worked with where you're like, well, that's weird. And then you're like, wait, but if we can make that work,

it's going to be great because they see something that we're not, you know, there's nothing worse than turning down an idea because you didn't have it in your head first versus getting past the thing of like, that wasn't my idea, but if I think about it, that's actually really cool. In my whole thing in my career is I don't, I'm tired of my voice, you know, and it's why I kind of don't even like write from scratch a lot of my scripts anymore because I know my voice, I know where I'm going to go versus new writers come in. and they have new ideas.

I love working with people who haven't even, you know, who are just starting out and discover somebody because they don't know the rules. You've got to know the rules, but if they don't know the rules and they're coming at you

with something fresh and a fresh voice, then we can take it. We can make it commercial and do the things we need to do with it. But that's great. That's what so many actors bring to the, what they do. Well, and that only comes with experience

and like, you know, the insecurity of a young director who feels like, I have to put my stamp on every single thing. So everybody knows it's me. Yeah. And you, I mean, and we'll get to kind of,

the body of work and it was seen in that clip reel but like I imagine working on something like the office for instance where so many of the actors are writer actors and everybody is contributing must have been kind of a I don't know maybe a mind shift for you as a creative oh totally totally you know I mean freaks the gate is pretty controlled I mean because we were a tight schedule and I was very mercurial with the writing on that and everything and the cast was great and it just you know that's kind of how it worked but it was once I got to doing a rest of development and the office and all these things where we could loosen it up and you're working with such brilliant improvisers on that that you start to go like oh you know this is a collaboration this has to be a creation all the

things you know i went to bosec film school and it was all you know like oh actors are everybody like you know crap on actors and stuff because it's all like oh you know they always love to tell this story about hitchcock you know and there was a big wide shot there's an actor had to come running in this big wide shot up to the camera and the actors like what's my motivation, Hitchcock said, I'll tell you when he got here. So, which everybody thought was funny, but I was kind of like, well, actually, that's wrong because

there's a million different ways to run. Like, is the guy in a panic? Is he scared? Is he this and that? So, it's like I'd have such love of actors because they bring so much to it. In my kind of mantra, as a director, is you have, you have to have the confidence, they have no confidence.

You know, you have to be able to go, I know what I'm doing, but maybe they're right. So let's try, what they want and I'll do what I want and that's a great thing about film. Let's do your version. Let's do my version. Let's the other person's version. Let's get everything in between and then I've got all that ammo when I go into the editing

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Okay, so we're going to do a little bit of it. This is your life, Paul Feig, because we have you here, and you've done an amazing amount of exceptional work alluded to what you were like as a kid. But can you elaborate a little bit more? I mean, only child, did you feel like, I don't know, were you a performer as a kid? Did you have a big personality? Yeah, I mean, I always wanted to be an actor. I mean, when I was five years old, I had this mind-bending moment when I got cast as the lead elf in the school play.

and if you've read in one of my books this is in the books I apologize who were basically we had to be elves and they said oh the parents have to make elf costumes for your kid so my father owned an army surplus store and so he was like

well let's put together a elf costume any of my father was never happy like god damn we got to do a elf costume for you who has to do it so you like took me in and got like these olive drab green boxer shorts from the army and this t-shirt suspenders and stuff

and then he got these big wool green socks for my feet and then he goes oh so he took foam and he put the foam in the front so my feet were like this long in a sock with this big curly thing so we think we look good we go to the to the recital or the play every kid looks like they've walked out of Western costume

I mean these parents made the most gorgeous elf costumes ever and I like this low red elf so I walk out to get my big entrance after all the elves are out there I walk out and the audience goes crazy laughing at me granted but they and all I heard was like oh my god look what just happened from an audience I must have this for the rest of my life and you got into I mean stand-up comedy was something you pursued pretty early on like as 15 years old 15 years old yeah what was what's the act of a 15 year old doing stand-up one not very good I'll tell you it's a lot of stolen jokes from john

Carson back in the day. And I had to take my parents to the comedy club. It was a place called the Delta Lady, which was down right downtown Detroit, like a pretty funky area. And it was a biker bar that was doing, it was right at the beginning of the comedy club thing. And like, you know, Tim Allen was one of the regulars there. And, you know, there was like famous people who were starting out. And yeah, they brought me in. I think they just thought it was funny that a 15-year-old wanted to get up on stage. And so I got up and told these jokes. And I thought I was getting laughs. If you listen to the tape now, which I still have somewhere, they're just clearly laughing at me. But again, I thought I killed. My parents took me to Shakey's Pizza

after the first show, and I was just like, I did it. So, yeah. So, I mean, the ClifNotes version is you move to L.A. You're doing stand-up. You're getting to acting. You're a tour guide at Universal Studios, I think, at one point. So is, when does acting kind of take off or become consistent for you? Is that relatively early on or are there years of kind of like figuring it out? Well, it was kind of, you know, I was, did a lot of theater in, in Michigan before I moved out to L.A. at the age of 17 and that did the, like you said, did the tour guide thing. And then, I mean, I kind of got swept up into wanting to go to film school because I, 1881 when I was a tour guide, I got taken to the very first opening morning showing of.

Raiders of the Lost Ark in the Manchinese Theater packed house. I didn't know anything about it. I had no idea. That was pre-internat, so if you didn't happen to see a trailer that you didn't get, no. And place went crazy, crazy. And I remember just going like, oh my God, you can do that to an audience. But I was still kind of thinking as an actor, but at the same time, I kind of had this dream of like I'm going to write, direct, and star on my own stuff.

So went to USC film school, got out, and kind of worked as a script reader for a producer named Michael Phillips, who produced like The Sting and Closing Countries, all that. And then I'd be wanted to stand-up, and I did stand-up for about four or five years, and then kind of burned out on it a little bit, because I realized the goal for a stand-up back then was to just be on the road

as an opener, as a headliner all the time, and it just, I didn't like that. So it went pivoted and acting. And then I had like 15 years. I mean, first TV series I was a regular on was Sabrina. No, no, no, it was not that. It was dirty dancing, the TV series. You didn't

they did that to do neither did anybody else that was the problem yeah yeah watched it exactly but but Sabrina was a big was I mean that's a real successful show you're a regular on it

yeah it that was after four other failed TV series so that was the end of like a 14 year run of kind of getting getting to be like the sixth lead on a sitcom and going this is my big break you know and then the telling thing was always they're like okay we're going to

take you know there's like the day when they're going to take all the publicity photos. You're all excited and you're there the rest of the cast. You know, they go like, all right, nobody get in. So you have the big group photo. We're like, hey. And then they're like, all right, can you guys on the NPR law? And you're like, oh, no. And then they spent hours shooting the three leads. And you're like, I might as well not be on the show.

And so, and I had an actor's ego. I would really was like, I wanted to be in the spotlight. I wanted to be important on the set into the project. And it just never happened. And even with Sabrina The Teenage Witch, which finally was the, you know, after four other failed series, took off.

And that was the thing, like, finally, I'm on a show. I'm going to be taken care of for seven, eight years. You know, the show's going to run forever. And they called me up after the end of the first season, like, oh, we're not going to bring it back to the show. We don't know how to write for your character. It's like, I do. I could write for it.

Again, we can't cover everything. But coming out of that, you make a film, which I know doesn't necessarily pan out in the way that you wanted it to. Right. but the good news is that experience correct me if I'm wrong kind of gives birth to freaks and geeks

yeah I made briefly I made a $30,000 film that I started shot in a field it was four I wrote and directed and started it it was four people who meet in the field they don't know why they're there and they turns out they all think

that a UFO is going to come and take them away because they hate their lives so it was a very small film yeah and I couldn't sell it anywhere I couldn't get it at any festivals except like finally I got into this kind of traveling road festival where you take it around these small colleges and show it. And it was out when I was out

on the road doing that, that I decided I was going to write the pilot for Freaks and Geeks. So, look, I'm sure this office has seen freaks and geeks. It's one of the greatest TV shows, arguably in the history of television. I mean, it's a seminal work, and it's so personal to you. I guess briefly, like,

let's just talk about the cast, for instance. That cast is insane. Whatever happened to them? Yeah, exactly. Did you have to fight for any of them in particular? I mean, were they all kind of easy to get the network to approve from Seth to James Franco? Yeah, they actually were. I mean, that was the thing when, you know, when Jud and I took the pilot in NBC to see if they would buy it. I remember, no, they had already, they were interested in that we were going to have a meeting to talk about it.

I made this big speech to Judd, like, they're not going to make me cast a bunch of, you know, beautiful models in this thing. I want real kids, blah, blah, blah. And so I start that speech in NBC and they go, like, oh, no, we agree. Oh, okay. So they kind of really let us cast the way we want. And we saw every kid in town, you know. And there's so many talented kids out there, but you just knew when one, one, each one of them came in. And you're just like, oh, my gosh, you just couldn't believe how talented they were.

You know, we found Seth Rogen up in Vancouver in an open casting call. He was one of, like, three kids who had an agent, so he kind of got brought in first. And the minute he started reading, Judd has looked at each other like, oh, my God, this guy is absolute gold. Like you had, like, done stand up at, like, 16 years old. He was a prodigy. Yeah, he was, I mean, he's the most confident 16-year-old I've ever met in my life. I mean, is it, it must be hard to pinpoint this, but what's the proudest of the legacy of that show? I mean, it's talked about to this day.

It's sure of the cast, but again, it just, as personal as you, I feel like everybody connects still to this day. I think the what I'm most proud of is so many either parents or people who were kids at the time or have seen it over the intervening years said, like, it really helped me get through high school. And that was kind of my motivation to do it the first. place because I had such a crazy time in high school and I was so terrified of going in and I had weird bullies and you're like, you know, pre-internet, you're like, is it just me? Am I the weirdo? And just to go like, let's do something in the most fun but real way we can to go like, look, it's going to be terrible, but you're going to get through it and you're going to laugh about it when it's over. So I like that character's up.

I know you're asked this all the time. I probably asked you this six times, but it's the age of every single thing being rebooted, sequel-wise, et cetera, nothing for Freaks and Keeks? And is that something that you and Judd have had to protect actively? Has that come up as a conversation? Oh, it comes up all the time. Yeah, people wanted it forever.

I'm a fan of James Brown who said, hit it and quit it. You know, and we had 18 episodes that I think are kind of great. And look, I definitely had a plan for a second season. But that's these, you know, they're all grown up now. and then I'm not going to do a modern day one

because I couldn't write that. You know, what do I have to say? You know, this was good because it was all the things that were going on for me when I was in school. And I, you know, what I like about it is it was, you know, it was, we made it in 1999, 2000. It takes place in 1980.

I really like doing things that are in the past because you have a very set bunch of cultural rules, icons, things like that. Because what I hate about making, you know, movies sometimes these days is it's always like well we got to get a hot new song in there and it's like how many times you then you hit like by the time the movie comes out it was like oh that song sucks or like oh yeah that that was played out or it never hit and so we could cherry pick the best of not only the culture and the music but also sort of what what we were going through

what what adolescents go through back then you know and that was always a thing like let's not get too hung up on cultural references because it's all about the feelings that you have when you're adolescent, which are probably the same 200 years ago because our emotions are the same. It's just the trappings around us are different. And so, you know, that's why I think it kind of holds up as we just stuck to that stuff. And there's something to be said for like quitting while you're ahead. I mean, that one season is frozen forever and we will always wonder all those questions. Yeah, well, you know, because people, so many people go, like, oh, I just wish I knew how it ended. I'm like, the only, the only show that ever had a perfect ending was six feet under

because the last episode, they killed everybody. You saw how everybody died. You know, so you're kind of like, okay, yes, once I know how everybody dies, then the story is over. But, you know, characters go on, their lives change and all that. And sometimes, like, I don't want to know what happened to some of the people I went to school with, because I like them, because they weren't my friends necessarily, just people kind of, you know, we're all background extras in other people's movies and like I you know some people take great joy in going to their you know class reunion and seeing who lost their hair and who got overweight and like I don't want to know that I just want to remember them the way that they were and if

somebody reaches out and says hi then that's great but summer's here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats what do we mean by almost well you can't get a well-groom lawn delivered but you can get a Chicken Parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana. That's a yes.

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There's a little bit of that. There's a lot of experience making television, the aforementioned arrest development, the office, et cetera. Like, if I was talking to you back in, like, 2010, I mean, you're making really good work. You're making great television, but were you satisfied creatively? I mean, you hate to say no, because I was working on some of the best shows on TV. I mean, throw Nurse Jackie and 30 Rock and all those things into there. but it was not satisfying just because I knew I wanted to make movies

that's all I've ever wanted to do and I wanted to tell not necessarily my own stories but I want to tell my story the stories I like the way I wanted to tell them and you know when you're TV when you work in TV and I was very lucky having creative freaks and geeks I got a lot of

leeway from the people that I worked with because they knew me as a writer also by the same time I'm in service of them because when I had directors on my show they were in service of me you know and the vision that jud and i had for the show so you know you you come in with an idea and then if they don't want it you go like sure what do you want and i just wanted to be back making movies and also i just love putting stuff on the big screen you know it's just so much fun

so 2009 i was kind of getting a little i would always kind of say to my wife i think i'm just kind of running down the clock you know it's great it's as great we can have this nice life you know but um the low point came when i was directing a series of of internet commercials for Macy's and it did with uh one was with bars with Martha Stewart who was really cool and stuff but then I did one with Donald Trump uh and it was a it was just a weird experience and um I remember just going back to the hotel and going like what am I doing and that was right around when Judd called or my agents got a call that that that Bridesma's was going to be alive again I had brought it to me like about three years prior

uh I went to a table read of it and um And the script was very different still. It was the same idea, but very different. But I just saw these six funny women, not even the women who were in the movie, by the way, reading. And I was like, thanks, I want to do that because look at all these great roles for these women. And then it just kind of, it kind of sat there and I was busy with other stuff.

And then it looked like it was dead. So right around that 2010, when I was doing the Macy's stuff, I got to call up an agent saying, like, it's alive again. And then Judd reached out. and you know and said you want to do this changed everything and ever since then

like if you're you know you've certainly genre hopped but if there is a consistency among your films it is showcasing women front and center and I mean it's it still sounds insane to say but at the time

bridesmaids was this weird anomaly like wait is there a market for this can just like an ensemble of women actually lead a film like this was that I don't know was that an active conversation behind the scenes that was doubt in that

I mean there was it was considered a big swing and you know judd was judd's a good producer he kind of kept that away from me but we were you know the studio was great i mean donna langley the whole gang they were really into it it was just that the business around it of hollywood was in a sort of let's wait and see what happens because i had a lot of female writer friends who were kind of inspired that we were doing that so they're taking out their pitches for female led movies and they were across the board hearing from exacts oh we just have to wait and see how bridesmaids does which is like that's really no pressure also yeah no pressure and also you know the movie starring guys people are like well if the hangover

doesn't work right not going to make movies with men anymore you know so it so it's kind of it was terrifying and then really i mean you know we were really projected to not do well i mean up to the day of the the release um they told me if we don't if you if the movie doesn't make 20 million dollars at least opening weekend it's a failure and so the first projections came in the morning of because they did a midnight screening the night before that it was going to come into 13 and so i just walked in the house like dead man walking like well not this you know because i had two other movies that it bombed and this was my last strike basically and um but just during the course of the day we started getting calls like hey well it's going to be 15 it's actually looks like 17

and then melissa mccarthy and her husband ben were over to our house having dinner kind of lick on our wounds and then this text started coming in 20 21 22 23. I was like, get in the car. We're going to the arc like cinema, which was like the big cinema back then in LA. We walk in the back and the place is just packed and rocking and we're like, oh my God. Yeah, an undeniable theater experience. Nobody really knew Melissa. Maybe in some comedy circles, they knew her. Gilmore Girls fans. That's true. Yeah, right. Absolutely true. But that must have been just thrilling to see someone that was just fearless as a performer on set.

Yeah, I mean, that's why we ended up, you know, four movies altogether. Yeah, you know, you kind of, in comedy, you look for somebody who has the exact same sense of humor as you do, and it's really hard to find. We all, all of us have a very different sense of humor, I guarantee it. And so when you find somebody who wants to play by the same kind of rules that you do as far as, like, we don't want to take the character too far, but we can push it this far, but we can't take it over the top.

You know, this stuff, it's just kind of fantastic. And so we really, you know, I didn't know who she was before that. She came in for an audition because Annie and Annie Mumelo and Kristen knew her from Groundlings and it was just like, who is this person who is unbelievably hilarious and different and could bring a weirdness to the character, but like a completely believable weirdness. I mean, nobody read the part like her in all the auditions we did. Also one of the choices, I mean, we keep talking about casting is like, you know, you cast someone like Melissa McCarthy, you know you're going to get something exceptional.

But what I love also, you've done this repeatedly in your career, whether it's with Rose, who we saw in that, and she's amazing and spy as well, Statham, Hemsworth. I mean, is that just like, is that a gut instinct that someone, if they've got the dramatic chops, they're going to be able to nail humor? I have to meet them. That's the thing. I like to take meetings or get to know people because then I get to see who they really are. you know, Statham was because

my wife and are enormous Statham fans seen everything he ever did. And as a director, and like once my movies were kind of starting to be successful, it's easier to go like, hey, I'd like to meet so and so. Well, they come to my office, please. And Jason, you know, we set up a meeting and he came in

and I just thought he was so delightful. And I go like, there's something funny about him. Also, in fairness, if you've seen the crank movies, you can't watch those movies and not go like, that guy does not know what's funny. I mean, those movies are nuts. Like Wiley, Coyote cartoons basically brought the life. So I was like,

okay, he's a big fan of Hemsworth's, but I like I said, you know, when he was kind of, I'd heard through my agent that he was interested in possibly doing him being a Ghostbuster and said, can I have lunch with him? And just talking to him, I'm like, oh my God, you're really funny. Do your Australian accent. I don't want you to put an American accent. And, you know, like for last Christmas,

Michelle Yo, you know, when we were doing the first simple favor, Henry Golding had just done, Crazy Rich Asians, and Michelle was in Toronto with us where we were shooting doing Star Trek. And one day he's like, hey, do you want to have dinner with Michelle Yo? And I'm like, I didn't know if she existed. I mean, I was such a fan of hers from all the Hong Kong movies, but you kind of don't think that a person really breathes and walks this earth like her.

And the minute I met her, she was hilarious. And we just had the best times. I'm like, I got to get you in a comedy. I got to put you in a comedy. So that's kind of the fun way, fun way to do it to, because then. And also you're playing with the expectations of an audience. It goes like, oh, we know exactly what that person does. Look, if I didn't meet Michelle Yo, I go like, she's the most serious, badass actress.

That's so cool. I would never have told you in a million years she's really funny. Same with Amelia Clark, you know. She's Colise and she's so serious. And her face didn't even move. And then she comes in and she's goofy and all this stuff. So, yeah, it's a joy to be able to bring that another unknown side of an actor to the audience. 10th anniversary of spy this year

I always bring it up I'm obsessed with that movie I love that movie and I know you've said before it's the one movie you actually kind of seriously consider now besides this one obviously doing a sequel have you ever come remotely close is there any hope for folks like me well yeah I mean you know you never say never

I mean I definitely know what the story would be there's just moments you go like is it too did we wait too long or sometimes if you do it too soon I don't know I mean I'm so happy to get to do new things all the time. I mean, having done this and then now just finished production on The House Made, which is coming out at Christmas, which

was so much fun doing with Sidney and then Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sclanar. It was I don't know, it's I like the idea of revisiting stuff, but the same time it's really fun to move forward. But that again, that's one that, yeah, if we would do it, we would do that. Okay, so there's not

enough time to go into everything, though I love Ghostbusters. I love so much of your work. Talk to me. You did mention your next film, which is coming. pretty soon. And this has quite a following. I know the books are very popular. You just showed off some footage for the first time at CinemaCon in Vegas that went over very well. Talk to me about the approach to this one compared to, I mean, it shares some thriller sensibilities, I would imagine, but fair to say, less humor than the simple favor films. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, I really love the book. I don't know how many people here have read the book. It's a really good book,

Yeah. And it's got a great twist and the characters, you know, and I'm always going to be very religious about whatever the source material is. And so, so, I mean, the housemate is definitely it's sometimes it's so extreme. You'll just kind of laugh just because they're like, oh, my God. But we just saw another simple favor. And you're saying that's extreme? Exactly. Different kind of extreme. Okay, okay. Just a second. No, but I, the fun for me, I love my confession is I don't watch a lot of comedies I actually all I watch is like thrillers and horror movies and stuff I love thrillers because to me they're very comedy and horror and thrillers and all this stuff they're they're so close together because a laugh is the same emotion as a scream or a jump right and if people like you shock people and they scream they'll almost always laugh after they scream right you know and the moment that kind of something solidified it for me was when we were doing the movie, The Heat, and shooting the scene,

I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a scene where, like, the bad guy stabs Sandra Bullock in the leg with his knife and leaves it there. And so, Melissa pulls it out, and then they realize they have, for their plan to work, she still has to have the knife back in her leg. And so we go to this sequence where, like, she's trying to stab his, standard with his knife, and the audience is just, they're screaming and laughing at the same time. And I was like, ooh, I like, I like how these two things go together. You know, in these days,

most comedies you were watching now are horror movies. I mean, Megan is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen in my life. I cannot wait for the sequel this year. You know, but it's exciting. It's about eliciting in a gut, you know, a primal emotion out of an audience. That's when you really feel like you've hit a home run.

I'm excited about the trio of actors you've never worked with in the new film. I mean, there's a lot of stuff like that. There's a lot of fan casting out there. Do you even pay attention to that? No, you'll go crazy if you do that. Yeah. That's, again, just trusting instincts.

And we were talking before backstage, like Sidney's Sweeney, I just love what she's doing with her career. What surprised or excited you about working with this trio of actors? Can you hint to a little bit? I mean, I was a huge fan of Sidney's, you know. Do you ever see the movie reality that she did? Unbelievable, unbelievable. And I was just like, I have to work with her. Amanda, I had met, Amanda Safreed, I had met years before we had drinks together just to kind of have like a general meeting.

and we really hit it off and I was just like I have to work with her and then Blake had just worked with Brandon right and it ends with us and she the whole when we she was still in the middle of shooting and all that stuff when we were doing simple favor they're doing reshoots and she was like I'm working with this guy and he's so

amazing Brandon you gotta meet Brandon and I was like all right right and then so finally we were casting this I was like all right I'll have lunch with Brandon he walks in within 30 seconds I'm like jelly like oh okay you're like the most charismatic you know, guy you've ever met

in your life and so talented. So it's just, it's, there's a thrill of thrill of working with people you've worked with before because you know how to play with what they do, but there's a real thrill also about working with somebody new for the first time especially when they're delightful. I mean, this cast you know, this sounds like Hollywood BS,

but it's not, this cast was delightful to work with. We had a really short schedule. We had like a 34 day schedule over 200 scenes in the movie. Yeah, and and they, I was just like, this is going to be tough. They're like, we're in and they were just man they just nailed it every time and gave me options and different things i can't wait for you to see it it's really and it's going to be theatrical it's going to be on the

big screen nice nice um and on the bucket list for i mean again you've you've dabbled in a lot of different genres you've talked about wanting to do a musical uh i remember there was a there was kind of like a big horror project that you were working on with universal for a while yeah but yeah exactly right so what's top of the list it seems like musical keeps coming up for you yeah but yeah i yeah i I mean, I love me. I'd love to do a musical, but I don't want to do a bad musical. Right, you know, so it's about finding the right material. I'd love to do an original musical, but I want it to be kind of big, but, you know, exciting. Like, John Carney is so great at doing those small musicals, you know, like once and those

and his new movie coming out, which looks fantastic. But I kind of want to do something more like a Bollywood-esque, you know, old MGM-type thing. But we'll see. I mean, I'm dying to do a Western. I'm dying to do a big sci-fi thing, you know. I love doing thrillers. I'd like to do a few more thrillers. Yeah, I'm definitely trying to check off every genre.

I can't. Paul, the third simple favor movie, you've kind of, you're, it's, it's a challenging one. Even simpler favor, exactly. The simplest favor. The simplest favor yet, can you imagine? Exactly. Yeah, and where do you set it? Have you thought about seriously what you might do with these characters?

A few ideas. He got a few ideas. We'll see. We'll see. Okay, we're going to end with this. It's traditional and happy second fuse to ask folks the profoundly random questionnaire. Paul, are you ready? I'm afraid, but yes.

Yeah, don't be afraid. It can't be worse than showing you old clips of your, you know, that is true. Acting career. You pulled the bandy, yeah, isn't it. Dogs are cats, Paul? Cats. Wow.

I love dogs. Don't get me wrong. Team cat. All I do is watch cat videos. That's all I do. I do. Really? What do you collect? I collect walking sticks and cowboy boots.

That is a new, The walking stick is a new answer to the happy second few as question. Exactly, exactly. Not a cane, a walking stick. Do you have a favorite walking stick? I do. It's actually in both movies. Both the simple favors.

It's that skull one. It's in the first one. You actually see it on camera. This one, she's got it when they're mixing the martinis. Basically, yeah. Favorite video game of all time? I don't really play video games, but it would be Tetris if I had to pick that. It was old-schooled.

Yeah, yeah. What's the wallpaper on your phone? My wife. Of course. very cute picture too we've been married 30 years so there you guys congratulations um are you ever mistaken for anybody another filmmaker another actor has it happened uh yes too um i used to get mistaken for andy dick all the time yeah you remember and scott thompson from kids in the hall so often i get people going hey because it's always you know when you're you know you're kind in this business so people go like oh my god i love your work oh thanks so much you when you did that one

character and oh god they think i'm scott thompson god damn it when you were acting more what was the worst note a director ever gave you anything stick out in your mind it's the it's the it's the note i still give to actors and then i always go like oh shit i said it just have fun with it just have fun with it what does that mean it's the worst thing worst thing you can say to an actor and yet somehow in the moment it feels like oh i don't you have like to me it makes sense but as an actor goes like okay great thanks you want me a line reading yeah do you ever give a line read oh no well i i used to want to do. I used to try to get them do it and the cool actions go like, well, just give me a line reading. I don't care. And the minute I would do it, it would sound so terrible. I'd go like, just do what

you do. Just do your thing. You're better. What does bother you on set? Because you're in my history with you, you're one of the nicest guys out there. It seems like you have a very even keel personality. Do you ever have a meltdown making a film? Like what? No, no, you can't. I mean, look, we all know the stories. The director's screaming and yelling, I, when I was an actor, I'm so sensitive, just in general. I'm a sensitive guy. I don't like conflict. And like, you know, I would try when I was an actor, like, oh, I'm not going to improvise a line.

And, like, I'm a director, be like, oh, what are you doing? Like, they'd slap you down. I would just freeze up. And then all my extra skills would just go away. And I was like, just tell me what to do. And you could come kind of like a robot. And so for me, I don't want any of that stress. You know, we have a thing, like, is there any crew member that we have that has a blow up?

It's like, you're gone. Like, I don't need, do not bring drama to my set. Yeah, life is too short. Okay, in the spirit of happy, second fuse, who's an actor who always makes you happy, you see them on screen, you're in a better mood immediately. Will Arnett. I had so much fun working with Will on the rest of development,

and he was the one I had to, they had to move my monitors so far away from the set because I would just start laughing anything he did. Yeah. Because it's so serious. Oh, he kills me. A movie that makes you sad, brings you to tears. Well, I mean, sad is not the right word, but always cry it.

It's a wonderful life. Yeah. I will always cry at that. That's my favorite movie of all time, because whether it's the greatest one in the time, it is a movie that does everything a movie is supposed to do. If you laugh, so makes you cry, makes you happy, makes you sad, all that stuff. And I just think it's masterful. A food that makes you confused.

You don't get it. Confused. Oh, my goodness. Well, mayonnaise, because I don't know why people like it. I'm with you. I hate it. I don't know. There's two things that made me want to gag, and one is mayonnaise, and one is pickled

beats for some reason. I'm with you, Paul. I hate beats. Look at this. Well, I had a bad experience when I was a kid because my father loved beats and he loved Borsh, but my mom used to make this really great fruit punch. You see where this is going. And we had this picture, this plastic picture you could kind of see through.

And one day I was like, oh, my God, mom made fruit punch, poured a jig thing, and it was beat boress and like oh wow we can't end on that here's one here's here's one question i actually i want i wanted to ask about the film how the hell do you close down the trevi fountain how do you have it all to yourself oh man don't think it wasn't an ordeal is that for real like there's no digital tricker no that is the real deal um let me just tell you yeah my dream was i wanted because i love the telini and i got to we shot part of this movie at chititita which if you know felini um but i got it in my head head, I'm going to have Blake lively in the Trevi Fountain, just like Anita Eckberg, and I told

our Italian liaisons, and they're like, you cannot, you cannot. And so I know, but I want it, blah, blah, blah. And then I'm talking to other Italians who go, like, there's a term, I forget the word. There's some word that's derogatory in Italian that means a person who follows the rules. So they're like, you just go and do it. So I'm like, okay, well, I'm going to do it. And so all these rumors are going around. We get there to shoot.

The police are there. basically if I she set one toe into that water they were going to leap on us I was going to be banned from Italy for the rest of my lives so like all right you'll just sit on the edge close to being a real breaker congratulations man the film is fantastic it's one of the most entertaining films I've seen in quite a while you make movies for audiences as I said this audience is very lucky you guys are truly one of the first audiences to see us

so please spread the good word this is going to be on prime May 1st May 1st read the good word. And before we end, I just want to thank Miami and Miami Film Festival, Warren, for being a great host. Amazing. It's been such an honor to bring HappySat Confused here and with no less than the great Paul Figue award winner, Paul Fieg. Give it up one more time, please, everybody. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, everyone. You guys are the greatest. Thank you. We appreciate it. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this

show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from the League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas, and I don't.

He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dude, too, is overrated. It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and Casey Mistoms. 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 eaten. even heard of a conja 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.