Happy Sad Confused - Simon Pegg, Vol. III

Episode Date: May 20, 2020

Simon Pegg is back with a new movie ("Inheritance") and a deep dive into his favorite comfort movie, "Day of the Dead"! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Please play responsibly. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Sad, Confused, Simon Pegg on his comfort movie, Day of the Dead. Hey, guys, I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Sammy, it sounds weird for me to say something like Day of the Dead so upbeat as I was doing the intro. It sounded incongruous.

The whole thing, like we were having a conversation and all of a sudden you went into it really excitedly and quick. The whole thing really just shook me. Look, when I turn it on, you know I can't turn it off. It was good. It was good. It was wonderful. The intro was fantastic, but the actual main event, oh boy, you guys earned for a treat. Simon Pegg, we love Simon Pegg, frequent guests on Happy, Said, Confused. Great to catch up with a fellow cinephile, a fellow nerd, talking about one of his favorite comfort movies.

And it's probably not a big surprise to those that know Simon, that it is one of the dead movies. Maybe it's a surprise that it's Day of the Dead, not necessarily considered the greatest of the George Romero dead movies. What's considered the greatest? Well, Night of the Living Dead, probably. People might go, or Dawn, actually. I mean, as Simon says in the conversation,

it's not necessarily even his favorite of the Dead movies, but it is the one that I think hit him at the right moment as a teenager. It's his comfort. That's the name of the game, right? So, yes, Simon was kind enough to come on for a deep dive into all things, Roger Romero and specifically Dave the Dead. He also came on to talk about a new film that he stars in alongside Lily Collins, called Inheritance, which I should.

Yeah, Lily Collins, all a fellow happy, sad, confused veteran. I love her. Inheritance is now available on DirecTV and available on demand and on digital everywhere. So check that out. It is Simon Pegg like you've never seen him before. It's kind of like a really dark, nasty, twisty, scary thriller. That's not my Simon. Not your Simon in this one.

Or Lily, kind of a different role for Lily too. So yeah, that's the new movie that he was here to promote. But really fun to talk to him about Day of the Dead. Sammy, I'm guessing you haven't seen any of the Dead movies. It's okay. You can be honest. No, I haven't. Okay.

Thank you for telling me I could be. I was going to lie, but you told me I could be honest. Well, then I would have dug deeper and really exposed as the hypocrite that you are. I hear me Googling. No, when you first told me, I thought it was Sean of the Dead. Well, of course, Sean of the Dead was the big claim to fame where he and Edgar and Nick Frost really came to prominence. And certainly that was inspired by the Romero films. Dave the Dead is actually, I think it's the second of the Romero, George Romero Dead movies.

the plot summary on IMDB for you, Sammy, to tantalize you is a small group of military officers and scientists dwell in an underground bunker as the world above is overrun by zombies. So it's pretty cool. And Romero, as Simon mentions, is really, you know, you think about, you know, interpretations of like vampires or werewolves and like those go back way hundreds of years into old myths. Romero really invented the zombie. So, you know, attention must be paid. for what George Romero did and created this genre, this archetype that is now one of the most popular in pop culture. I mean, The Walking Dead is probably still one of the top TV shows on the planet,

if not the top one. And that all rests on George Romero's shoulders. So a really fun conversation with Simon about that. Let's see. What else to talk? A couple things. Let's get some business out of the way first, Sam. I want to mention, I continue to do these fun lines.

Instagram conversations for MTV on MTV News's Instagram. Got a couple really cool ones this week. Who we got? We got Ben Platt. Oh, that's for you, Sammy. That one's for you. I'm excited. Ben Platt's got a new live from Radio City.

It was the culmination of his big tour last year, special on Netflix. That's going to be really fun. That's on Wednesday, if you're hearing this, you probably are hearing this maybe on Wednesday. That's today on MTV News's Instagram. Just look on my feed. I'll advertise it. And even if you miss it, you can go back and watch it in an Instagram story. Kumail Nanjiani this Friday.

Love us, some Kumal. We love. He is starring in The Lovebirds alongside Isaree. That I'm looking forward to because he's always super smart and super funny. And he's a hunk now, so. Believe me, we're going to dive deep. I need the secrets. I need the secret Kumail magic before I come out of quarantine, 600 pounds.

And then over on the Comedy Central side, we continue with fun episodes of Stir Crazy this week. So exciting. We did an episode with Will Forte. He's got so many things going on. He is one of the nicest guys in the biz. And one of the fun treats in this one is he fished out. This was totally impromptu, Sammy. In the middle of the conversation, we're talking about McGruber, his beloved McGruber.

Exactly how he's working on a new McGruber series. They haven't started shooting it, but they're writing it right now. And I asked him, like, does he have the costume around? And he's like, actually, they just sent it to me the other day. He goes in the closet, gets out the McGrubor costume, puts it on for the first time in a decade. You got, what an exclusive. I was on cloud, you will see in Sir Crazy. Like, my face just lights up.

I can't believe what's happening. He puts the wig on. He puts the vest on. Oh, my God. I know. That's special. Yeah. For any McRuber fans, any Will Forteigh fans, definitely check out Sir Crazy.

on Comedy Central's YouTube channel, Facebook page. It's a real, real treat. We were just talking before we started today, Sammy, about stuff we're watching. You watched a couple of interesting movies you'd never seen. Give me the good, the bad, the ugly way you saw. The good, I watched L.A. story. Classic.

With Steve Martin, which I'd never seen before. And I watched it a couple days ago, and I'm still, like, thinking about it. I loved it so much. Really smart, really funny movie. if you want to dig back i was quoting you my favorite scene in the film which is the patrick stewart snooty like mater d scene um and uh if you go way back to an early podcast i did with patrick i he even like we went into that scene and he quoted it and it was just like again

bucketless moment for me oh my god i got it man i got to start listening to this podcast maybe you first of all you didn't listen second of all if you did listen it would have meant nothing to you but now it does and but yes i i've i probably listen to patrick i love him. Um, but that's such a smart, funny movie. And, uh, yeah, I haven't seen that in years. And I've inspired me. I'll go back and look at that one. You have, it's so good. You saw another movie that I think is going to be controversial for me. So I, this is, it sounds like I'm kidding, but I'm not. I am a, I am a, um, avid, I would like to say historian of World War II. Okay, hold on. How long have I known you? What are you talking about?

What the fuck are you talking about? Okay. That would be like me, like, of course, as you know, Sammy, I collect chimpanzee fur. You know that's well known to be like the world's preempt. What are you talking about? I know. I told me it sounds insane. I read, I would say about one non-fiction World War II book every week and a half, two weeks. This is a side of you.

you have been hiding. I'm, I'm really not kidding. I'm really not kidding. Like history books I read. Okay. And you're on the, you're on the, uh, the access side. You, you love, you love. You know, Mussolini had some interesting perspectives. No, you know, obviously, um, you should talk to my dad. I feel like, I mean, you're talking to the wrong Horowitz. I would, I would love to talk to your dad about it. Me and my dad just watched documentaries all day, every day since I'm home. So obviously, You know, my grandfather was in World War II. And I have always been a fan of the Atlantic Theater. The Pacific Theater never really did it for me.

But recently I've been, you know what? I got two places I need to brush up on. I need to brush up on the Russian front. And I need to brush up on the Pacific Theater. My jaw is on the floor. I don't even know how to process what I'm hearing. So I watched the thin red line, which is supposed to be one of the best, you know,

Iwo Jima is going to be next weekend. Oh, yeah. But it's... You should see, by the way, before we forget on that one, that's kind of a one, too. That's letters from Iwojima and Flags of Our Fathers. He made those both in the same year. Great.

So, though I will say letters from Iwojima is far superior to flags of our fathers. Anyway, I digress. Well, for me, saving Private Ryan is the end-all be-all. I'm with you. Amazing, classic. So knowing that, knowing that, like, I watch... Say, that's my company. movie is saving private right. It's the first 10 minutes.

It really puts you at ease. So I watched the thin red line. I was like buckled up, ready to go. I fucking hated it. Okay, here's my take on that when I hear that. I think you're going in looking for kind of like... A plot? Yeah, historical accuracy, historical, something to chew on as a history book.

And like all Terrence Malick's films, it's a lyrical, poetic meditation on war rather than a nuts and bolts plot movie. That being said, by Malick standards, it actually has a lot more plot than most of his stuff. I thought I was going to get a lot of Adrian Brody. I had a couple staring off into the distance. I had Leto for 10 seconds.

You know the famous story about Adrian Brody. He was like the lead that they basically cut out of the movie. It would have been so much. better if they kept him. I was, I struggled through that movie. Interesting. Another one I haven't seen in a long, long time, but I remember loving it. It's, I'm, come on, but even just from an aesthetic, like, movie-making standpoint, you appreciate it. It was a beautifully made movie. Yes. And the score is amazing. Yes. Woody's in it. We love Woody. Woody's in it. Nick Noltee barking. Oh, my God. Like, there were great moments. Yeah, it's kind of fascinating.

The stars he got Sean Penn. I need to go, that's another one I need to go back to. You're either a Malik fan or you're not, though. Like, Malik is not everybody's taste, and clearly he's not yours. No, at the end, I was just, yeah, it's what, all right, I'm glad you're okay with it. I forgive you, I forgive you. That's very interesting. I watched, the most recent thing I watched, I finally caught up with Unbelievable, the Netflix series.

Oh. David, Jenny Collette, Merritt Weaver. Have you seen it? Yeah, that's a fun one. That's a sweet little comedy. The first episode's tough to get through, guys. It's a tough one. But not that the rest of it's a laugh riot.

But yes, I mean, for those who don't know, it's basically a story of sexual assault, sexual assaults, and this horrendous process of the victims and also the pursuit of the perpetrator or perpetrators. And it's, I guess, loosely based on some real events. Caitlin Divers, kind of the star of the first episode. episode. She's in it throughout. But then it turns into kind of the Merit Weaver, Tony Colette show. And my wife loves her some Merit Weaver. And now I'm all on the Merit Weaver train.

She's amazing in it. I think I'm going to try and get her on the podcast. Now I'm kind of all in on Merit Weaver. So I highly recommend that one. That was really a, I wouldn't say a fun watch, but it was very engrossing and well, well acted by everybody. Before we go to, the main event as always i solicited for some of you your comfort movies out there the folks that listen and follow me on twitter uh gretchen gretchen van walter up says it has a couple interesting ones the goonies good pick uh never say die i don't know never say die i need to look that one up pretty and pink and big big is a great oh big's a great one uh db uh we know DB from a Swayze universe, actually.

DB says Farris-Feris-Feris-I mean, come on. Sway's the best MTV correspondent, I think, of all time. All right. Sorry, you brought him up, not me. Sorry, continue. Yeah, please. And finally, let's go to Dirdre. Dierra Hackett says, Fifth Element, love that one.

Any Richard Curtis movie, and more recently, specifically, About Time, with our beloved Donald Gleason, about time, is, is a heartbreaking, kind of like a, it's a good tearjurker. Have you seen that one, Sammy? Yeah, with Richel, Michelle McAdams. She's in a new Will Ferrell, crazy Will Ferrell movie I just saw. I don't think I'm allowed to talk about it yet, a Eurovision movie. I love when I need to do that.

Well, because no one else can say. Okay, I'm just teased, okay, sorry, this is my life. This is my fancy life. What can I say? All right, my fancy life also includes, not only talking to you, Sammy, but talking to Simon Pegg. As I said, he stars in the new movie Inheritance. It's out there right now on DirecTV, on digital, on demand,

anywhere you can get cool stuff right now. And of course, this conversation, we talk a whole lot about some zombies and specifically Day of the Dead. Here's my chat with Simon Pegg. Well, it's always good to see a familiar face, even in these crazy times. Simon Pegg, welcome. back to Happy, Sad, Confused.

Especially in these crazy times. Definitely. When we truly are Happy, Sad, confused. The name has never been more apt. Yeah, I feel like I've, what, I've talked to you in New York, in L.A., in Vienna, in Moscow, but I've finally infiltrated your home. I'm in the Pegg household, virtually at least now. You're in my library.

I think you have to say it, too, right? Yeah. Library. So you were just telling me, you're doing all. write all things considered you have some writing to focus on that's a good thing are you yeah are you are you watching a lot of stuff too where you are you are right now or do you have time for that are you focusing mostly on writing yeah i mean you know in the evenings and um when i'm not uh writing when i actually give myself a moment off um which is funny with writing because you just

basically do it when it when it's coming you know wherever you are you have to do it and if you if you're having the ideas you can't not but when i do um switch off. I've just finished Ozark season three. People say that I only watched the first season, but people were saying that season three in particular in Laurelini, like, just kill it in season three. I need to go back. I'm a huge

Bateman fan, you know, and Laura Linney is always always, Laura Linney always makes anything she's in better. It's like, she's like a magic ingredient. Totally. But the last episode has, with no spoilers, has one of the best endings of any television program I've ever seen.

But just the combination of incident, music, acting, it's just like, I had to wind it back and watch it again. Oh, well, okay, sold, sold, a thousand times sold. So we're going to talk about a few things. You have a new film called Inheritance, You, Lily Collins. It's a different kind of Simon Pegg that I've ever seen before. We'll get to that in a little bit. But first, as you know, we've changed the focus of Happy, Say, I Confused, during these weird times to talk about comfort movies. Yeah.

Because we're all looking for a little distraction in comfort right now. and you did not disappoint. You delivered a good one. Tell us about your comfort movie, The Phantom Menace. No, I'm just kidding. Hey, listen, whenever I do a podcast with you, I always end up in trouble.

I don't know what it is. You've got some magical. No, no, no. Yeah, my comfort movie is Day of the Dead. George Romero's 1985 Day of the Dead. And it's a funny one because it's not even my favorite of his trilogy.

the Dead Trilogy for me. It's, in fact, honestly, it's probably the least of them. And that's, they're all, and I love them all, you know. But Knight is obviously seminal and just amazing. Dawn is the absolute apotheosis of zombie movies. It is the gold standard, a perfect movie, you know. But Day, I say this because I remember once my wife and I watched Wolf Creek, and we found it so upsetting and disturbing

and, you know, as is it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be a brutal experience and it's not supposed to leave you feeling, oh, that was fun. You know, you walk away utterly demoralized and feeling awful. And the only thing I could think of to do to cheer myself up was to watch Day of the Dead.

And it was like putting on a bit of cheese on toast and just snuggling up by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate. So, wait, how much of the difference? that is, so I did the math, you probably saw this when you were 10 or 11 if your parents weren't paying attention. Is it about... I saw when I was 15. Okay, so, okay. So is it about where it caught you as a kid, as a teenager, or is it about the actual content of the film that makes it feel comforting? Because, because, you know, it's a little bit weird, you know, we're

talking in these, in these crazy times, like the movie that I asked you, what brings you Comfort is a movie about society disintegrating and a... So, I don't want to get you on the couch, buddy, but it's telling. No, I don't... It's not the subject matter, for sure. It's, I mean, it's a strange movie. It's very shoddy. It's relentlessly talky.

It's very gory in places. I mean, just gleefully so. But it's a combination of the fact that I saw it when I was a teenager and I rented it from a video store near where I lived. And then as I grew up and we made Sean of the Dead and we met Greg Nicotero and became friends with Greg and obviously met George and, you know, which was an extraordinary experience. Meeting Greg, who's in Night of the Living Day, he plays one of the stoner soldiers, for those of you don't know, Josh and I know. you know it just just him being in it and knowing that that was like his first um i think that was one of his first gigs you know and he worked on evil dead too and stuff and but i think um

it's just a seminar one for him and he gave me uh as a gift the the newspaper that you see at the beginning that says the dead walk it blows up and not i'm sure it's it's a copy of it but i've got that frame somewhere. Amazing. And so for all those reasons, it kind of encapsulates a strange journey for me from being a, you know, a sort of video store junkie to getting to move around in the same world as those guys, the guys that made that movie, you know. Greg's since become a dear, dear friend of mine, you know, we're very close and I can't

believe we've been friends for 15 years, but part of that, it's that, you know, it's that sense of wishful film and it's not the drilling into the head or the, you know, the head without a face, just the brain pulsate. All that stuff's not really comforting particularly. So for those that haven't seen all Romero's work and this one in particular, how would you summarize? I mean, you know, it's a pretty easy summary for the setup for Day of the Dead. What's your, what's your elevator pitch of what it is? Well, it's the third one in his sort of, what that point was a trilogy. And it just, it parachutes you straight in. There's no, in the same way that Dawn opens up, there's no set up.

It's just you're in the, and it's a brilliant sort of cinematic technique in a way, because it disorientes you completely. You are, in a sense, in the same kind of boat as the protagonist, like, why don't what hell's going on here? Yeah, you're in that helicopter, like, where the fuck are we? What's going on? And it starts off with that great moment with the guy on the bullhorn going, hello! And the guerrillas sampled rather beautifully on their first hour.

and I think it's like the Florida Keys or something. It just sort of wakes up. All the zombies start coming out. And it's the classic Romero thing of each one has a real personality and there's these two huge brothers and kind of kick an alligator and there's some one with a tarantial in the face. Dr. Tong who is the first zombie you see who sort of stumbles into shot with the son behind him.

And he's got no lower jaw. His tongue's hanging out. And it's a beautiful sort of Greg, Katero Tom Savini creation, animatronic, wonderfully affecting because it isn't totally realistic. You know, there's a joy to be had in artificiality, which we've lost slightly in the, you know, in the wake of total realism, which we can achieve now, which is an amazing tool. But there's something beautiful about films from the kind of pre-CG era when you had to make a little agreement to, okay, I'm going to believe

that that plastic head is real. And also the sort of slight frisson of excitement and always something's going to happen to that. It's going to blow up or something. And also even just like the clever, the ingenuity, like you're kind of watching it on a couple levels. Like when a body is torn apart and the head is being removed,

you're like, oh, so I guess his body's in the ground. Like, you know, the older we get, the more we, the different vantage point we look at it. Absolutely. Right. And there's that great story as well that they, when they shot Joe...

Oh, it's a plotto. Yeah. Joe Pallado's death. They shot it on a Monday, and they'd left the set that weekend, and someone turned off the refrigerator and all the guts that were there to be used as Joe Pallato's viscera,

rotted. And so when they shot the scene, all that stuff is stinking, just rotting guts, and there's something quite beautiful about knowing that. What about, okay, you mentioned Joe Pilato. So the acting in this film, how would you assess the acting, all with love?

It's, you know, this didn't earn any Academy Award nominations and none of these actors necessarily had, like, outside of this film, most people are not going to know these actors of where else. No, and I think they, all the actors really go for it. Do you know what I mean? They kind of like, they absolutely, they really commit to it. to it. I was lucky enough to meet Laurie Cardille, who plays Sarah. And we met, Edgar and I met her

when we went to George Romero's sort of, they had a George Romero day in Pittsburgh when Land of the Dead came out. And we got, for Edgar and me, it was like, it was like a make-a-wish day, you know, because we got to meet Joe, and we met Scott Reineger and, and Laurie and Ken Forie, all these, all George's, I mean, all of George's people, you know, the guy who played in Night of the Living Dead who was Barbara and I'm so old I can't fucking I used to be an encyclopedia

and I've just a tattie old book now of blank pages we met a lot of yeah yeah yeah Johnny we met a lot of his his his sort of his players you know

and so we met a lot of those guys and it was lovely to meet them and I I love the acting in that film. I think the guy that plays Dr. Frankenstein is great and so hammy and so like this. And the guy, I actually, the one person I didn't meet, but who Greg facilitated a kind of introduction to, by email was Howard Sherman, who plays Bob. And I think Bob is one of the finest studies of zombie acting, of acting to a degree ever. He plays it so pitch perfect, this sort of innocent, you know, this kind of child, literally finding out about who he is and what these objects are and these memories just firing in his head. And it's beautiful. And I've always said

he's my favorite zombie ever. And it's never been bettered. You know, it's just... Did you know that Romero considered this his favorite of his own zombie films? Yeah, well, I think I read the original script for it as well, and it was like about 400 pages. That's no, that's what I read. Supposedly, it wasn't quite 400, but it was apparently 200, and it ended up being an 88-page script. So, yeah, what did that read like? It was brilliant.

I mean, it was very, it was much more complex, and it was a relationship piece. As always with George's movies, it was about the people, and it was about their sort of, the zombies are simply a kind of a mirror up to their own kind of disintegration and their value as living things, you know. And it was full of musing, and, it was full of musing, and it was great, but you can see why it never got made.

Yeah, he called it the, it was intended to be the Gone with the Wind of his zombie films. That's right, yeah, that's, I love that quote. What else to mention? I mean, yeah, I mean, I hadn't seen this in so long, to be honest, and it really took me right back, like, even the music, it just brings you right back to that, that, like, John Carpenter-Ramero kind of, like, 80s, kind of... Stripped-back kind of synthesizer.

And I... It just works for what it is. I mean, I don't know if it would work today in a non-ironic way, but it works. I think it would, I think it would in a way that was, you know, like an artistic choice. Like, now you can actually go, oh, you know, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go for this sort of, in a way that's perhaps reminiscent of a different era of filmmaking or whatever. But, yeah, there's some great cues in that movie. When you guys got to know Romero, like before you met him, were you worried that he would see Sean as parody as making fun of him?

Like how much of a relief was it that he became, you know, a friend, a collaborator, as opposed to someone that thought it was being known. It was the ultimate accolade, really. For all this sort of, for everything that's happened, post Sean and the Dead, that, that, myself, Anacre, I'm sure, was, it was like dad. It was like, you know, it was validation from one's father. And he, we, we, we never went into it. it sort of with that attitude in terms of it being a parody,

there was the worry that he might not get it, like you say, and assume that. But he was so sweet. I remember pacing up and down in my kitchen and waiting for the frontering, and it was him, you know. It was like, speaking of Santa. You know, I was kind of like, hi, hi, George. Did you like it?

And he was so lovely about it. And the hilarious thing is that he'd watched it in a movie theater in Florida with a universal security guard. Like he was going to steal our movie, the movie that we stole from him quite blatantly. Yeah, he was a delight. And it was, you know, it's still one of the highlights of my career that phone call.

Let's give some arbitrary awards. If you had to best performance in this film, who wins it, best acting in Day of the Dead? It's got to be Howard for Bob. I just think it's Shakespearean. It's truly beautiful. Best scene in the film? What's the scene that will always stand out?

Well, I'm going to get so bub-heavy here because he's kind of my favorite thing about the movie. But the scene when he clicks the gun, when he's looking at the gun, and Frankenstein is saying, hey, it's a military man. He must have, and he just, and he looks up at roads,

and it's like, I'm going to fucking shoot you. And the gun clicks, and he looks like, oh, man, it's just brilliant. I want to watch it now. This is a slightly loaded one because it's kind of already happened and there plans to do it yet again, but should there be a remake slash sequel, anything to this?

It's been remade. There's plans for a sci-fi, I don't know if you know, there's a sci-fi ten-part series that they're going to make based on this. Of Day of the Dead? Yeah, specifically on Day of the Dead. Where do you come down on new interpretations of this classic? Let me just turn this off.

Go away, go away. That's a big question. Thank you. I don't know, man. I mean, you know, it's kind of, it's not going to be what it was. I mean, I get why. You want to, it's a great name.

It's a great sort of, I mean, in the same way that Westworld is a fabulous sort of, It's like an extrapolation. Yeah. Evolution of, you know, you look at Westworld, the movie. It's kind of like, it doesn't know if it's a comedy or a thriller or what. It's a good film, but it's not great.

No, yeah. And Westworld is just this, wow, it's an incredible extrapolation of the core ideas. So, yeah, if someone wants to do that, it's not going to change my love of Day of the Dead. It's not going to, it's not going to spoil it if it's rubbish. I'd love to see George make some fucking money. at some point, maybe his estate, it breaks my heart that, you know, he invented a genre. That whole zombie that we know now, that was entirely him. It's not some old-fashioned Shelley, you know, Bram Stoker.

This is from the 60s. He took a little cannibalism. He took the voodoo legend. He mixed it up and he created this new idea. And people just use it now like it's public domain and it kind of annoys me because I feel like He needs more of a nod. And Greg Nicotero, I know, constantly puts little tributes in The Walking Dead to him. But, you know, I think it's, if I was Robert Kirkman, I would have a statue of George Romero in my front yard.

Totally. What's the double feature you would program for this? What do you recommend somebody watch back-to-back with Day of the Dead? With Day. Well, apart from the obvious one of dawn or night. Maybe another kind of strange, maybe like Night of the Comet or something like that, another sort of slightly mid-80s oddity.

Yeah. Because it does exist. Yeah. I mean, the thing is... Bucca, bansai, anything bizarre. How does this even exist? Yeah. Another kind of odd folly.

Not the Day of the Dead is a folly, but it has its own kind of vibe. And it's very much, you know, each of those films came out in a specific epoch. Like, you know, obviously, Knights very much about came out of the civil rights era and dawns this sort of, you know, mid-70s commercialism take down, and then in the 80s it's kind of more about kind of vivisection, and the humans become less and less appealing

in these movies until in day. Most of them are just assholes. Oh, totally. My wife's looking at me through the window. It's only sort of Laurie's character and the guy that played Martin, isn't it, who's her sort of partner in niceness. Right, right. Yeah, but yeah, you're right. 90% of society is despicable, and that's the point, I guess. Yeah. Oh, and then there's the guy, there's the two guys that she sort of escapes with at the end. I love that as that bit with the Irish guy who goes to sip his little flaskings, well, okay, he throws it away. Speaking of despicable people, characters, you've given me a good segue to your new movie, Inheritance, which is filled with them. Yeah, yeah. This is a film that is currently available on DirecTV.

It's going to be available on demand on digital, on May 22nd. And as I was saying in the intro, I've seen you do a lot of things, buddy. I haven't seen you do this without revealing the twists and turns of this. I can see some of the appeal of what hooks you into something like this. But give me a sense of what, from an actor's perspective, is so juicy about this concept and this role. Well, it was just a chance to do something a little different. I've done a few films recently that, you know, I've just stepped out of what I think people expected me a little bit. I lost transmissions, which was a, you know, a film about schizophrenia, and in this film, I'm playing a really sort of questionable character, you know, with a strange sort of hobo haircut.

Yeah, did you have wig approval on this? What was the, how many? I like my second. I get a couple of wigs in this. The sort of dreadlocked, I haven't come my head for 30 years one, was crazy. But there's one point when he gets a little bit more judged off. I quite like, no one.

Yeah, I'd worked with Bornstein before and on a film called Terminal, which had been really fun. He's a really, really sort of enthusiastic, talented guy. And he went to the same university as me, and we really bonded. And he sent me the script, and it was just a sort of delicious little taught thriller. It was kind of a two-hander, really. Yeah, I mean, without revealing too much. I mean, we can sort of say where it begins,

which is with the death of this patriarch, the father of Willie Collins character, who then discovers a secret, namely you, buried underneath. And we don't know really why or how or who this man is. But yeah, for much of the film, it is kind of a two-hander, which much be so gratifying for an actor

just to, like, know, you're going into work and just, like, do dialogue all day, just like actually. I was great. all day. Yeah, and particularly with Lily. I hadn't met her until we got to, we shot it in Alabama and sort of literally met,

I met her in the makeup trailer. I went in and said, hey, Lily, how going? Simon, I'm Glenn Morgan. And she's so just up for it. Do you know what I mean? She really, really throws her hat in and she gives her everything. It's so lovely to act with someone

who will give you 100% on, even when they're not in shot, you know, because it's the best gift you can give as an actor to your fellow actors. And we had a little bit of rehearsal and got the relationship going. And then a lot of it was just these very long scenes with me and her just sort of, you know,

playing Cat and Maris. And it didn't help that where we were shooting in Alabama, we were right next to a train track. And so much of the time, I mean, it is right in the middle of really sensitive scenes and I'm just sort of spinning my, web and perfect exactly what you want

that's very much on brand for this podcast today because I spent the last 10 minutes trying to find like the one corner of my apartment that is not next to a jackhammer outside my building in New York so that was unintended product placement for your film apparently

how is New York now it's been quite a journey you know I mean I know where you are isn't so great either but like certainly you know if you talked to me a month ago it felt it felt like end of days. It felt like Day of the Dead. Like, it was like, oh, are we going to,

literally, are we going to get out of this? And there's, thankfully, we have some good leadership here in New York, at least. Thank you, thank goodness for that. It's insane. I know you were in the middle of, about to start another ginormous adventure with Tom and McHugh for Mission Impossible 7 and 8.

You were literally, from what I gather, just hours away from beginning that. I was, like, I was eight hours from flying. Like, I got a call 7 p.m. the evening before my 5 a.m. wake up to go to Venice, just saying, I'll stand down today. It was that. I mean, it all happened so quickly. It was, like you say, it was like a sort of a slightly unbelievable movie, an apocalypse movie. And then I stood down until Monday and then stood down again. And then suddenly Wednesday, they said, look, don't come out. We're going to close down production. And that was that. I know the nature of these films. I mean, nobody makes films in these ways

and nobody actually pulls off the magician's trick, like McHugh-Cat on the Mission Impossible movies, which are so fluid. It's beyond comprehension for anybody that knows how the sausage is made. But I'm curious, like, I know this one is still very much evolving. Has Benji, like, Benji's obviously come close to death in these past films.

Has he ever been actually literally slated to die in one of these films? Was there ever a time where you're like, oh, this is it? Well, like McKeel says anyone's fair game, you know. I don't know, because I only ever see the sort of what's been decided to shoot because we get that fairly close to when we actually shoot it. Like they didn't give you an alternate version where you're like,

well, this time, don't move the hand at the very end of the shot. Let's just give it to an option. No, I think, I get kind of, I get the impression Benji gets off. just because he tends to be the character through which the audience tend to enter this, this world. And without Benji, you'd be all at sea, you know, because there would be no one going, what fuck's going on? He basically says all the time. But here's my argument. I'm not trying to get you killed off, man. But the power of him then perishing at some point would be all the more acute because you're right. He is kind of the closest we have to an audience surrogate, a relatable

character. Yeah. All I'm saying is... There was a scene in ghost. protocol where McHugh actually changed. He came in and just exploded it. And we spoke about it recently. It was a moment when you think Benji's dead and you see that he's dead and then, but suddenly it's a guy and he's got a mask on, it's not Benji, and Benji's alive.

But McHugh got rid of it because it just felt like it wasn't very realistic and he said, and I was a bit upset and he said, why do you, what's wrong, what do you miss about this scene? And I said, I just want some, I just want Benjamin to do something cool. So he wrote the bit when I shoot the guy that's fighting with Jeremy.

And, you know, I came to understand that McHugh knows best, always. And I know what happens to me in these next two. So I know I've heard the story from beginning to end. So I'm fully aware of my sort of bait as a character. And I think that I'm very excited about playing him, you know, four films down.

And, you know, he got, got hung and and then had to defuse a nuclear bomb. This has got to have an effect on you, you know, and I feel like Benji's going to be different. He's going to, he's been through some hell. A little PTSD in seven and eight. Yeah. I'm curious. So Tom, your buddy, is going into space at some point.

We knew this was going to happen. The signs were there. It's not in our film. It's not in our film. I've heard that. So if he gives you a call and says, I need you, buddy, I need you with me on this one. Are you going into space?

Tom Cruise, would you do it for hell? Yeah. I want to go to space. That was my original job. That was my original job desire when I was a kid, obviously. Space man. And then I would have done everything that I ever wanted to do as a child. I wanted to be in Star Wars.

I wanted to be a spaceman. I wanted to be a zombie film. Earned their respect to George Romero. There you go. Yeah, you can retire. What's the latest? Have you talked to Noah Hawley? Do you know what his take is on Star Trek?

Like, do you have any sense of what that is? No, I honestly haven't. And, you know, I know it's happening. Star Trek was a cinematic universe a long time ago, you know, or at least a narrative universe in terms of NextGen and Voyager and Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. There's always been other kind of worlds of Star Trek. And I think that's probably what they're going for with Noah's thing. So we'll see. I don't know.

It's all kind of a bit up in the air. As I've said, it's anyone's guess. And did you ever get- I wish I could say, I wish I had something to say, but I haven't. Did you ever get any through any back channels or anything? Like, know what Quentin's take was, what his pitch was? Yeah, it was Paul Fission in space. I saw him recently.

We were laughing about it because there was this big story about, oh, Quentin's really angry at Simon Pegg because he said that it wasn't going to be. And what had happened was someone, someone had kind of, the idea had come up and I'd said, well, it's not going to be, you know, because I felt like they were ragging on Quentin, and they were just dismissing what he would do as just being some kind of, you know,

pulp fiction in space. And I said, well, no, it wouldn't be that, actually, in a sort of defensive way. And then I saw Quentin, he went, yeah, it was. I think it would have been amazing. I think it would have been fantastic. You know, he's got such a... He didn't give me any more details

on what the take was? He just said that. No, he just, he saw me was like, it was like, oh, I'm not mad at you kind of thing because I went to the premiere of once in a time in Hollywood thinking, oh shit, am I going to see Quentin

and he's going to be all like, how dare you say that about me? And he was all like, oh, man, you know, and it was nice. But even I fall evicted into internet speculation sometimes. What are you writing right now? Which of your projects are you working on?

Can't say. I can't tell you. Okay. It'll be announced soon, I hope. But it's, I'm, it's, this is a good one. It's like, it's, it's, it's, yeah, it's been made by my, um, uh, mine and Nick's company stolen picture and it's a collaboration with some other entities and a couple of actors who I am, and I'm very excited about working with.

And, uh, it's something I've been working on since 2012. and yeah it's it's the jar jar bink story it's uh it's finally happened listen i i i'm all i'm all i know you've reconciled with the jar jar we've come we've realized we've realized that there's a man behind that ahmed and we're wishing the best right a good man and a man with feelings and you know all this all this craziness all this venom that gets mixed up about such trivial meaningless things, you know, you sort of think, you know what? Well, I'm too sure. We started this by saying that I usually get you into trouble.

I truly am not trying to get you into trouble, but, but it's, you're a man, you control your mouth. You think. Did you think the vitriol around Rise of Skywalker was warranted? Was it all fair game? What did you think? Inevitable, you know, I think ultimately it's got to the point now when, you know, you you know, the trouble is that the internet has has rendered discourse so binary now, you know,

it's reduced everything down to a thumb up or a thumb down. There's no nuance. You can't say, you can't say, yeah, this was good, but I didn't, this wasn't so good. Or, or you can't have an opinion which, which has varying levels of critical opinion. It's just, I didn't like it or I did like it and you're a shit ed because you like it and you're an idiot because you don't like it and it's like oh fuck off you know it's just a film and so what so i say that as someone who has been you know thoroughly upset by various things as a younger man not at least my absurd kind of prequel rage which just got very out of hand at the end of the day live and let live I, you know, I went to see the, all of the new Star Wars films, the prequel, sorry, the sequel

trilogy, having kind of left my passion of Star Wars behind, even though I think the last time I felt very passionate about Star Wars was when I was filming it, and it was amazing to be in it. And then that kind of broke the spell for me a little bit. I love the Mandalorian. I thought that was great, really good, simple, paired back kind of, just really, really, really Star Wars, you know. Even down to Baby Yoda, who is a genius, genius bit of sort of, you know, plot detail. And that you have that Star Wars tradition of something that's kind of cute, but it's not a cynical, it didn't feel to me like some other Star Wars characters, which are slightly cynically marketable. you know, he has to be as cute as he is because he changes this sort of, you know,

Ronan guy, this warrior cast badass into this little, you know, brings out all his paternal instincts. You're talking about all the cynical marketing about Uncar Plut and all those dolls. Yes, all the Uncar, all the Uncar dolls. But I'm just waiting for Tyker and John Farrow to give me a call, you know, because I was Dengar in, you know, I mean, I'm just just saying if he was to appear. All right, the gauntlet's been thrown down. I always love an excuse to catch up with you, even in crazy times like this. And to talk about, to geek out about Day of the Dead and talk about inheritance is a nice excuse.

I'm glad that you're staying safe and well. I wish you and the family all the best. And I can't wait to see you in better times. Yeah. And we will. Don't you worry. 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. Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. You want to tell him? Or you want me to tell him? No, no, no.

I got this. People out there. People lean in. Get close. Get close. Listen, here's the deal. We have big news. We got monumental news.

We got snack-tacular news. Yeah, after a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back. My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh, and I are coming back to do what we do best. What we were put on this earth to do. To pick a snack. To eat a snack. And to rate a snack. Nentifically?

Emotionally. Spiritually. Mates is back. Mike and Tom eat snacks. Is back. A podcast for anyone with a mouth. With a mouth. Available wherever you get your podcasts.