Happy Sad Confused - Stanley Tucci

Episode Date: February 10, 2021

A character actor extraordinaire. A leading man. A director. And now a celebrity mixologist? The multi-talented Stanley Tucci makes his long awaited debut on "Happy Sad Confused" this week and he does not disappoint! Josh and Stanley discuss his many varied roles, from "Big Night" to "Captain America" to his brilliant turn opposite friend Colin Firth in the new film, "Supernova". Watch Jamie Dornan on a new episode of STIR CRAZY here! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to THE WAKEUP podcast here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Sad, Confused, Stanley Tucci on his new film Supernova and on Cracking the Code with a life filled with great movies and great food. Hey guys, I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Yes, Mr. Stanley Tucci, the main event on today's show, shockingly his first visit to have.

happy, sad, confused. I'm always shocked at the folks that have somehow eluded my grasp. We've been doing this six years, and certainly Stanley Tucci's probably made like eight, ten movies in the last six years, but for whatever reason, it hasn't lined up schedule-wise, and now it was a great excuse to catch up with Stanley because he's in an excellent new film opposite. His beloved friend, Colin Firth, the film is Supernova. He delivers a stellar performance.

Maybe, maybe not in the awards conversation. We'll see how it all pans out, but who cares about that stuff? The important thing is a very fine film and a very fine performance by one of our best Stanley Tucci, an actor who, whenever he shows up on screen, I know the movie may be great, maybe all right, maybe horrible. He's going to deliver. He always delivers. He's a fantastic, versatile actor, a character actor who can also be a leading man. Yeah, I'm somewhat infatuated with Stanley Tucci. Who isn't?

Come on, guys. And as I alluded to in the opening remarks, he's also. crafted a life and career that celebrates just like everything I love. Movies, yes, but he is a connoisseur, a lover of great drink and great food, and has parlayed that expertise into his career. He's got a new CNN travel show in Italy. He's mixing drinks on his Instagram account. He suddenly got like this newfound fame thanks to that.

I'm convinced Stanley Tucci has kind of cracked the code. And he also, on the career side, just works with great filmmaker after great filmmaker. It's just that, you know, when you really dive into his career, it's just astounding to look at. And we cover a lot of it in this conversation. We go all the way back to his early work. I mean, I guess the film that really made his career, put him on the map for a lot of people, was Big Knight, the film he co-directed with his friend Campbell Scott. He also, of course, starred in that alongside Tony Shalub. We also talk a little bit about the movie that he followed that up with.

that he directed called The Impostors that you probably have never heard of, but I kind of go crazy on it within this conversation with Stanley because I had just seen it again for the first time in over 20 years. And it's kind of a delightful weird farce that I do recommend. It's a curiosity that has eluded many. So check out The Impostors all the way up to and including films like Spotlight and then Captain America, the First Avenger, the Hunger Games films, you know, early work and working alongside directors like Alan Pakula in the terminal, Spielberg. He's just like, pick a movie out of his filmography and he always is delivering interesting work. As I said, the new film is called Supernova. It's him and Colin Firth.

It's basically a two-hander. And it's kind of a sad story, but it isn't, I wouldn't say it's overly depressing. It's kind of a beautiful tale of a long-term couple who is dealing with an illness. Stanley plays a character who has early onset dementia. Coincidentally, just recently on the podcast, I had Vigo Mortensen talking about a film that also deals with dementia. Anthony Hopkins is in a film called The Father that deals with dementia. This is sadly one of those topics that is becoming, you know,

more and more prevalent in our culture and in our lives. So it's not surprising that it's being reflected in our entertainment. So Supernova is the film. It is definitely worth checking out for these two. performances and for just a kind of a sublime piece of work. So check that out. And I just had a blast talking to Stanley Tucci, who is as charming as you could expect. Other things to mention, yes, stir crazy, my Comedy Central talk show continues. This is a fun one, guys. This week we did an episode with Jamie Dornan. You probably know him best from 50 Shades of Gray. He's done a lot of other work,

including a really different side of Jamie in the new film, Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar. I love this movie. It's so funny. It's so absurd. It is so silly. It is from Kristen Wigg and Annie Mamelow. You know Kristen Wigg, of course. But Annie is her kind of co-writing partner at times.

They co-wrote, the last film they wrote together was Bridesmaids. And this is their follow-up. super broad weird silly comedy that yes does have a heart at the center of it but within five minutes of watching this movie i was like oh i'm in this is this is taking big swings and i am just going for it and i i laughed a whole lot and jamie um yeah this is kind of a truly i've never seen the side of him and he he really delivers he sings he dances he makes a fool of himself um and that uh all pretty good much describes the episode of Stir Crazy, actually, now that I think of it.

He was great. So check that out on Comedy Central's YouTube page on their Facebook page on my social media, Joshua Horowitz. I'll put the link up there, Jamie Dornan on this week's Stir Crazy. Excellent episode. Lots of excellent films, by the way, out this week, guys. Just looking at the schedule here. I mentioned Barb and Star.

Judas and the Black Messiah is hitting HBO Max. That has Lakeith Stanfield and an amazing performance from Daniel Kuluya. I would definitely recommend that. Minari is finally, I believe, being released in some theaters, and hopefully you'll be on V-O-D, et cetera, soon. Minari is one of the best films of the last year with Stephen Young. I saw it at Sundance a year ago, and it is really a really special movie. So put that on your list, Minari, M-I-N-A-R-I.

So, yeah, lots of good entertainment. We're in the midst of the weird award season. So you'll see some of these films pop up there, like Judas, like Minari. there's no shortage of great entertainment. Hopefully, that describes the next 45 minutes as well. This is my conversation with the legend, the man, the myth. It is me and Stanley Tucci. Thank you for joining me via the wonders of Zoom technology today for this conversation,

Mr. Tucci. Yet you've evaded my podcast grasp for years, but now I have you where I want you, unless you close the Zoom window, I suppose. I haven't even know how to do that, so don't worry about it. Okay, perfect. Congrats on the new film. Supernova is a wonderful piece of work.

You and Colin Firth are predictably excellent. And, you know, it's, I guess my first thought slash question is like, do you take a certain different level of satisfaction, having done this for a while, when the pieces click? because, you know, you can have good experiences on a set that don't necessarily elicit a great film. You can make a great film that doesn't necessarily elicit a great reaction.

But this one seems to be checking most, if not all of those boxes. So is that satisfying for you? It's very satisfying. And like you say, it's very unusual. Yeah, so it's very satisfying. It's very satisfying, I think, in particular, to make an independent film

that's getting accolades and, you know, garnering a lot of interest because it's very hard to make independent movies and, you know, if people pay attention, when people start paying attention to them, it's a good thing for future independent films. And, you know, in going back into your work, and I've seen much of your work,

it's impossible to see every Stanley Tucci film because you've made just too damn many, sir. You make it tough on someone like me, even a cinephile like myself. But I associate you so much with independent film. I associate you so much with the films

I grew up watching in the late 80s in the 90s. You know, I took advantage of this podcast to go back to some of your early work. I watched,

the last two nights I watched two of your first two directing efforts, actually. I watched Big Night and the Impostors again. Oh, my God, yes.

And Big Night gets a lot of love, deservedly so. But let me say, for the record, I have always been a big fan of the impostors, and I think it deserves its due. Absolute madness, but thank you.

I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled. There's something about that movie that I really love and that I really can't bear at the same time. I wish that I hadn't directed it because I had a very sort of dogmatic idea

about the way I was going to direct this. And I stuck to it. And I think the movie would have been a much better movie had I not done that. But still... Don't be hard on yourself. It is a delight. I mean, I watched, it's probably the first time I've seen it in over 20 years and it held up.

For those that don't know, it's you and Oliver Platt and you basically play two actors slash friends slash there's some tension there too, but it's all good. And it's a farce and it's an amazing ensemble. It kind of turns into kind of like a mystery, but I would say the first 30 minutes of that film is as funny as any film I can recall. And my sense is, and to correct me if I'm wrong, is that you pour a lot. lot of your experiences in the business, especially into that kind of first act of the film. Oh, absolutely. Because Oliver and I were friends, you know, still are friends. And a lot of that was just based on stuff that we used to do when we did a play together and when we did a movie together and just stuff that we would do just fooling around. It was just sort of all taken to

the extreme. And it was, it was really, really fun to do. It was hard to do. It was hard to because it was, I think I underestimated the scope of it. And I'm the guy who wrote it, you know, so I don't know how that happened. But I think that the, I love the actors. I think they're incredible. And I liked the script. It was simply a lot of the execution that needed work. But there's some great gags in there.

There's some great moments in there. And then like I say, the actors are. Like I said, the actors are just, I mean, what a group of people. I was so lucky. Oh my, yeah. And yeah, and it really does, to me, seem like you're hitting upon some essential truths in your business, whether it's these two friends kind of like giving each other notes early in the film, which is probably a faux paw.

Is that generally a faux pa? Do you ever give a co-star a note in a scene? Have you ever been given a note in a scene by a co-star? Yeah, yeah. Do you take it with... Well, no, it depends on who it is. You know, it depends on if it's a really good friend, then you're going to look out for each other.

But you also have to be really careful. Right. Nonetheless, if it's somebody you don't know, you really just don't say anything. You know, and what you might do is on the slide, go to the director and say, you know, I don't wonder if... If there was a take done like this, that it might then connect better with the scene that comes after and blah, blah, blah, blah, there seems to be an inconsistency of behavior here, maybe this.

You know, you do that especially with younger actors sometimes. Right. Although there must be no greater sinking feeling if I'm an actor on a set, I see a co-star go over to the director, and then I see the director come back over to me. But I do it so that you never know that that has happened. You're too good. You're too smart. I would never, yeah, because I, yeah. Yeah, I would never. That's rude. But that film and Big Knight, my initial point was sort of like,

I always associate you with kind of like a collection of actors from that period. And many of them appear in particular in those films, whether it's Oliver or Bussemi or Hope Davis. Did you feel like there was a fraternity of actors you kind of came up with in the business? Absolutely, yeah, we all sort of came up together and, sorry, and I, yeah, you're all started, Steve and I would run into each other at auditions all the time.

We would always go up for similar roles and then we ended up, I can't remember, how we even became friends, through Aiden Quinn, I think, and his wife, Lizzie. and then we just you know and then you just start then you once you become friendly you think well how can we figure out a way to work together because we know because we love each other and you want to do that and we respect each other

the same with hope the same with Oliver Platt with Aiden with you know then once I met Alfred Molina on that we always stayed friends and you know like with Colin too you know how do you once you meet these people and you and you're all about the same age and you and you do end up you have very similar experiences coming up yeah it must be so satisfying like you know at this different stage in your lives than to look at like I mean to a man all these people have succeeded in different but similar ways sometimes and the sort of the ups and downs

and you you can relate like no one else can do absolutely and you know your career is always sort of doing, you know, going up and down. You have times where you're doing really well and other times where, you know, you're hoping to get a job and, you know, you're struggling. And that happens consistently over the years, not just when you're young, it happens. And so it's always a bit scarier when you're older

because you have kids in a mortgage and all that sort of stuff. And, you know, I think when you're younger, you know, I really couldn't be very choosy. I tried to be, but it couldn't be really because I had to make a living. I can be a bit choosier now. But, you know, you see people,

I always want to say when people say, oh, why is that guy doing that? Or why is she in that show? Or why did they make that movie? And you want to go, you know what? You have no idea. Yeah. You have no idea why.

you know if you don't like it don't watch it if you're upset by their choice don't watch it you know maybe they have somebody in their family who's sick and they need money maybe something happened with their financial advisor maybe they just want enough money so they can retire and get the fuck out of it you know it's not to mention it's the top one percent that gets the luxury of total choice um yes of course of course so you know you just think i you know as it and a lot of times it's younger actors who will say those things. And you're just like, just wait until you have kids. It is interesting, whether it's by luck

or just going where the work was, even like in the 90s, you know, when you, and you were succeeding, you had done a lot on stage. You had to maybe, I guess, part of the reason, and correct my wrong, of doing something like Big Night and Impostors was to kind of give yourself some opportunity as an actor, as a lead actor, too, because... Yes, yes, oh, without question, yeah.

But also, I was starting to find acting as, I still enjoyed it, but I wasn't satisfying me enough. And also, I had to wait around a lot. I don't like waiting. They still don't like it. I like it even less now. And directing, writing, directing gives you the opportunity to control time and space within within certain confines and that is a really exciting

thing. What fills the gaps for you now? Because directing and writing, directing especially, it's tough to get a film off the ground as you will know. And I'm a very particular director. I make small movies and they're all the same movie really in

different genres, you know, for the most part. But the and I prefer working on that scale. But in between, When I'm not doing that, I'm, you know, I'll act, you know, in stuff like Harry's movie, you know, Supernova or a bigger movie to, you know, it's a fun role, good director, you make some money. You know, but I'm always sort of writing something or I'm painting or I'm, you know, you're reading stuff to figure out what it is you want to do next. You try not to approach.

Every time you think of a book, you have to get that thought out of your mind, should this be a movie, you know, and or a TV series? You can't do that. But I recently am writing, I just finished second draft of a memoir of my life through food.

So I'm, you know, cooking and learning about food is a big part of my life too. And then, of course, I have a family, so that occupies a huge amount of time. You know, I have two little kids. It's not like, you know, I sit around going, gee, what do I do now? I know. I've avoided responsibility most of my life and I literally my wife and I just got a dog and I'm like, oh my God. I don't even know. I mean, I thought like raising

kids is tough. Like I can't even handle a dog. Like what's? Why do you have kids and pets? I can't imagine. I can't imagine. And plants. We'll get to the the food and drink and Supernova a student, I promise. But, oh, let's get into Supernova Viway of this. But 2000, roundabout then, is when the love affair with Colin Firth begins. Yes, we had...

You looked across a table of Nazis and you said, that's my friend, this is my guy? That is the man for me, as well as I said. He was, it was an incredibly impressive group of actors. I was fortunate enough to be with on that show and it was a and what I just loved that whole experience

because first of all it was a really really important piece of filmmaking I think and um this story is so it's so horrifying that you can't you can't believe that it really happened I mean because it was so clinical and this is this is by for information for this is this is conspiracy which is which tells the story of the excuse me meeting that the Germans had in I believe it was 1941 in Vancey which is just outside

of Berlin where they decided on the structure and you know how to implement the final solution and it's horrifying and there was an Austrian film that was made

prior to ours which I had seen but I have to say, I think conspiracy really works incredibly well. And it was wonderful because we actually had the premiere at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. Wow. And that was an amazing experience, an amazing partner. Yeah, it's a film that I haven't seen, frankly, since it came out, but I want to revisit it. I remember Kenneth Brahma's in it, directed by Frank Pearson, who's kind of a legend in the industry.

Yeah, it's kind of amazing. But I met Colin, we hit it off. You don't ever know why you hit it off. His sense of humor maybe, and, you know, he's incredibly smart. And his love of Italy, he was dating his wife then and learning Italian. And we just hit it off. And then we stayed friends ever since. So this is essentially a two-hander of a film.

Obviously, there are some excellent other supporting performances. but it is essentially about this couple that's been together for a while. You play a man who is suffering from early onset dementia, a bit of a road trip movie, kind of saying some goodbyes. You know, it's a small, intimate story that just feels very profound and real and true. You know, I don't know what your experience has been with people that have had suffered dementia. I lost my dad this past year, and I actually saw a bit in the last couple months.

So this hit me in a different way. Thank you. How old was it? He was 82. And it was related to, he had Parkinson's, so that can often, you know, elicit those kinds of things. I mean, I can only imagine the research and this kind of thing and getting into it. It's not the fun part of the job, but it must have been endlessly fascinating and rewarding in some way. It is fascinating.

It's heartbreaking. I have had no experience with anyone who has had Alzheimer's early onset or even. you know, late onset. It doesn't seem to run in either side of the family. I know a friend whose wife had early onset Alzheimer's, but I didn't really know her. So I never really, I never really saw that. But yes, it's heartbreaking.

Harry gave me his, Harry McQueen, the director and writer, he gave me all the research to both Colin both Colin and myself. And, you know, the key thing was just watching documentaries, the documentaries that Harry suggested. And that's kind of all you need sometimes. I read about it, obviously, but something, all you have to, if you just have to watch the behavior.

And then, and it's fascinating. And it's devastating. And this film really does capture, which is I found truly, in my own limited experience is that it's tragic for the person's suffering. It's in some ways just as tragic, if not more tragic for the caretaker, for the person that's watching their wealth one diminish. And that's, I think, why this works and why each of these performances is fantastic.

You guys, I know it's been said a lot, but it bears repeating. You guys switch roles relatively close to production, which doesn't happen very often. So presumably you knew Collins' role, the time you were shooting just as well as you know no no no no no i didn't you know when you're doing a film depending on how it's written you don't memorize the entire film like a play you just don't do that right uh because things are going to change all the time i mean you obviously have a very strong sense of it uh but unless it's something where there are huge speeches and things like

that it's not necessarily what you do or or need to do and sometimes you can do your disservice if you do that because as I said things are changing constantly unlike a get too locked in sure yeah you don't yeah you don't want to get locked into rhythms you don't want to get locked into um uh but um no the more I but the more I looked at it the more I thought something doesn't feel right I feel like the other role and then Colin one day he goes Stan I think we should switch roles and I said yeah I was thinking the same thing. We went to Harry and poor Harry was like

curse. Why why me? You know it can't have been easy for him. You know, you got these two guys who are combined years in show business that are

you know like three times as long as Harry's been alive and you know and we just said we looked I remember seeing, I think, yeah, I mean, I remember seeing, I think it was a production of True West on Broadway a few years back, and it was, I think it was John C. Riley and Bill. Phil. And they would exchange roles every. Yes, that's common in the theater. It's very common in the theater. And if you were to do this as a play, that's what you would do. Right. when I was asked to do art originally in America and it was so the original cast was supposed to be

Tony Shaloo, me and Fred Molina and we were all doing the impostors when we were asked to do it there's the funny bit about it too and we said but we want to rotate roles and they said no And so Tony and I said, well, we're not doing it. You're taking the fun away. That's the fun.

I don't know why. And then, and Fred ended up doing it and was brilliant in it. But it's very common in the theater. Right. You know, with certain plays. But in the film, it's not. And it's very, who goes to your co-star and goes, hey, let's switch roles. The guy goes, yeah, all right.

It doesn't happen. Only if it's like your best friend and you're on the same page, you know. This is the perfect story that worked. Yeah. Yeah. So Harry said, all right, well, let's just read. So basically we had to audition for Harry, you know, to play the other roles. And that was, but it was very obvious that that was the way it was supposed to be.

That's probably your first auditioned in some time. When's the last time you auditioned, Stanley? I have no idea, but I'll tell you if anyone asks me again. No, they won't. Well, if they do, it's weird. And, you know, the thing about auditioning, yeah, I don't know what to say if someone were to ask me to audition. But if, and I don't like asking people to audition as a director.

All I have to do, I can really just look at somebody's work and pretty quickly just, if I don't know them, pretty quickly go, that's an actor. Or, no, that's a terrible actor. You know. but but I don't I don't like to do it but when I have auditioned people I do the complete opposite of what so many directors did

when I was auditioning which is I'm really nice to them and a lot of times you don't get that you're not passing the carmic evil on you're not breaking the chain good for you I know an actor isn't right for a role instantly like you can sort of tell they'll do one scene and if they're in you go like no this person's absolutely wrong for the role or whatever

i'll say okay good let's do the second scene right because i feel bad i feel badly because i know those experiences i went through that for so many years and to me it's best there's no reason not to be nice to people you know what's the one that scarred you for life what's the one that still haunts your dreams all these years later there were two of them one was brian de palma who i was I went in an audition for, and my friend Ellen Lewis cast it. So Ellen cast all of my films when I was making them in America.

And, or three of my films. And he, Brian DePaulma, I auditioned for the untouchables. Yep. To play like Frank Neatie or one of the bad. That would be ironic considering you went on to play Frank. I know.

and he and I did it and he just sort of sat there and stared at me it was weird it was in a conference room and he was sitting at a desk and I was standing sort of next to him like the whole thing was weird

and then I did it and he went ooh scary and I was like all right I don't know how to react to that and then there was some minor chit-chat about nothing and then I left and I was so depressed

it was just creepy and bad and rude and then another time it was that one of those like don simpson wasn't that his name that right ruckheimer and simpson sure yeah didn't he die on a toilet i think well he but i think he died sitting on a toilet we'll get our fact checkers on it yeah please and i was auditioning for some fucking thing i don't know and he sat the director the director was pretty nice from what I can remember he sat there and read the New York Post while

I was auditioning not even the New York Times the New York Post not even the Times not even the Times it was the New Yorker maybe you can he's engrossed in an article like all right what are you what is it you know talk of the town

what are you reading you know he was reading the fucking New York Post and I thought, oh my God, Jesus. And it just made you feel so awful. And I vowed that were I ever to direct something that I would never, ever, ever, ever. Call out Stanley if he ever, if he ever, ever catch him a lot, reading a New York tabloid, but I don't think he'll do it. He's broken the chain. Good for you. It's so funny. I mean, your career, I mean, yes, your career is as varied and fascinating as there is out there. Like two different, to like my nieces,

you're always Caesar Flickerman, right? To like my nephew, you're the guy that like made Chris Evans jacked. That's great. Congratulations. That's really the claim to fame. Let's be honest. But it must be fascinating, like those kinds of films

in particular, I mean, you kind of alluded to this before, you know, seems fun, good money, what's the downside? You know, what's the downside? Did either of those feel like leaps or, just sort of like, yeah, I'm going to go for both of those kinds of things. Yeah, no, both. I loved the, I loved them both. They were actually two of the best experiences I've ever had.

And I'm not just saying that because you brought it. I mean, they were amazing. I loved doing Captain America, and I'm so sad that I got killed off. I would do it again. And Chris, you know, remained a friend, Haley Atwell, is a great friend of ours. I loved it I mean I was directing a play on Broadway when that came to me

and I read it and I was like and it said something like you know Professor Erskine 70s or something like that oh no we're there already what happened? I was like Jesus this was

you know this was 10 years ago I was 50 and I was like oh my God do I look that bad but then you think I think, should I be insulted or should I be flattered? So I thought, and I really loved the role. It was a great script, it was a great role,

and I was like, I really want to do this. And it was the first job that I had done where I was going to be away from my family since my wife had passed away. And I thought, my God, Captain American. I loved Captain American when I was a kid growing up. You know, I loved the comic books. I still have some of my old comic books.

And it was just one of the great, and I thought, and then I thought, no, this is a great compliment, because I've always been cast older than the age I am. And now that I am older, I'm getting even older, I guess. But no, but now. No, it's totally true. I think back to your older roles. You essentially have been playing like 45 for like 30 years.

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's true. It's true. It's true. When I did, oh, like one of those Miami Vices or Wise Guy or those TV things. You know, I was like in my late 20s. And people thought I was like 40, you know.

Now it's on the good side. I wasn't wizened or anything, but, you know. But, you know, anyway. No, and I'm not just saying this, honestly. I always, you know, I'm a true geek, as you can expect from the glasses. And Captain America is kind of my favorite of the Marvel movies. I think it's such a sweet. Joe Johnson did a great job with it.

It's a great one of my favorite directors I've ever worked with. I love to working with him because he's so efficient. But he gets it all. in these kind of amazing shots. If you look at that movie, there's, it's not covered like crazy. It's, I don't know how he does it. You don't have long days. He's like, it's Spielberg in a way.

Well, he's a preteche of Spielberg, right? And you just see that incredible knowledge of cinema, how to move the camera, how to move the actors within a space, how to do so judiciously. how to have people create their own close-ups, when to use a close-up, when not to use a close-up, boom, your day is done, have a martini, see you later, see you tomorrow. You know, it's like, that's fun.

You alluded to this before, but, like, you're the only, like, MCU character that, like, has not returned. Like, it's, like, actually almost a noise. It's, like, kind of a rude situation, Stan. I'm so angry. You have no idea. Because, you know, I want to, I want to work with Kristen, Haley again. And it seems terribly unfair. Did you at least do, though? I see on the IMDB,

I see that, did you do voiceover for whatever? Yeah, I did a voiceover thing. Yeah. Not enough, though. I can tell from your body language. You're like, come on. Come on. Come on. Get me in there. Give me the wig and the thing and the German accent again. You should have done that for the VO. Just really commit. I know, but yeah, I should have. Yeah. I want to segue into, you mentioned martinis. I want to segue into cocktails, but first on the food front, one last big night question. The end of the film, the infamous, the making the eggs at the end of the film, are you making, what are you making? Are you making scrambled eggs or an omel? It's a free tata. Okay, good. Dians don't eat scrambled eggs. They eat free tautas. I was going to say,

because one of the very few things I think I'm actually good at making is scrambled eggs, and that flew in the face of my technique, totally. No, no, all that, honestly, all you're doing is you're scrambling them up, you're constantly moving them, and then you're letting it sit for a minute, and then you're flipping it. And then it's done. Got it. How are you? It's not as refined as a French omelet.

Do you what I mean? And it's in execution. So that's all. How are you received that Italian restaurants, whether in the States or in Italy? Does the Big Night CRED give you some kind of dispensation? Yeah. And it's not even just Italian restaurants.

It's like, yeah, it was completely life-changing. Oh, that's the smartest move you've ever made them, to be treated like royalty at restaurants? I know. rest of your life? No, I said to someone once when we were doing that, some junk, I can't remember, I should imagine if I made a movie about sex. Let's keep it clean. We made it this far. I don't, it was, it was amazing, the response. And it's still is amazing. And it's, you know, it's allowed me to meet so many people that I admire, chefs, and cookbook authors.

And it's been really, it's been really, really great. And it catapulted me into a whole different life, you know. And it just heightened my interest in food. And since then, I've spent so much time just thinking about food, finding out about food, going into writing cookbooks, going into when I go on location, finding, you know, great restaurants. And I don't mean like fancy restaurants.

I mean just good restaurants. And finding a place when you're in a city for weeks, months at a time, that you can go, oh, this is this place that I, there are a few places that you just go to all the time because they make you feel comfortable. Food is good, that people are nice.

There's a sense of convivision. reality and and it's lovely and no there is no question if I walk into it into a restaurant everyone goes oh you know suddenly you're like you know it's not like yeah you've been in a lot of movies and we know you it's it's that but then it's like they want to impress the guy from Big Night yeah and I go can I go into the kitchen and they go of course you can you have true I'm not you have cracked the code like this is like you were describing my best life I grew up you know my parents like were foodies and they took me to restaurants in Europe all my, my childhood and my wife and I

kind of carried the tradition. Like, yeah, I miss people in the pandemic, but I really miss going to restaurants. I love it. I really, really, and I never grew up going to restaurants because it wasn't something that my family could afford. It just wasn't what you did. But now I'm like, I'm addicted, but I also just love to cook at the same time. So, yeah, no, it's excited. I was being sort of egotistical describing how, but I have to say it feels, it is very, very exciting. You also are now a celebrated mixologist. This might be, has surpassed your fame as an actor somehow. That's, and that's saying something. Yeah, we made one cocktail. Who knew? But you know this as well as I do. It's not just the cocktail. It's the vibe. It's everything you brought.

Paul Feig's been doing this on Instagram, too. He's not experiencing the Stanley Tucci level of... No, I know. He's a good friend of ours, and I am promoting him as much as I possibly can. Because he makes this really delicious gin, too. Oh, like he has his own brand of gin? He has his own gin, and it's superb. Do you have your own one?

Every celebrity now has their own spirit. Do you have it? No, that could happen at some point. Okay. the next frontier. I like many, yeah, there's a winner of this last diabolical, horrible year. It's, I think, drinking. Well, we've all kind of drunk a little bit more.

I took up being kind of an amateur mixologist myself for the first time. I kind of got the cart started to do my thing. What are some, what are the basics? I haven't like figured out bidders, for instance. Like, what do I need in my collection? What's a good kind of like starter? Yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not the guy to ask because I don't use a lot of bidders. No, I don't.

And I really, listen, when I was 19, I was a bartender in New York City. This is between my junior, no, my sophomore and junior year in college. And I stayed, I lived in my aunt and uncle's house and on the, on the, Lowery side, rather right around like water side. You know the water side complex there? Uh-huh, yeah. I'm right on, off a 23rd Street on the east side. That's where that had an apartment there. So I lived there and I and I worked at Alfredo's the original of Rome, which used to be in the City Corp Center. Now this is 1979 and you could bartend when you were 18, 19 years old. And I was taught to bartend by these two.

amazing bartenders. And I really knew how to make everything. Now, of course, that was 40 years ago, so I don't remember. I don't remember it. I can still, uh, so I don't remember them. So I used, but I used to know I would, I would be, I would have been able to tell you what bitters to use and what, but now I can't. So is it just the basics? Are you doing, I know you do negronies, like is it negronies, martinis, margaritos? I look at recipes, and then sometimes I'll just throw, well, that's too sweet. Let me try this with it.

Like the one I did for Christmas, the Christmas Cosmo with my wife and brother-in-law and sister-in-law, that was really fun. But to me, a lot of the recipes that I read were too, it was too sweet. I didn't like it. There's something that's wrong, and the lime juice was weird. I didn't like it.

So I thought, well, and I just experimented for like a couple hours. with all different things and then i thought oh that's it that's what i want to taste so that's that is the trick i find because like yes i if i'm gonna do a cocktail a day a cocktail or two a day even if i go that far you can't be doing like a super sweet drink like that's then that's then no and so many drinks i find it's you know every other thing is quanto or triple sex or simple syrup or simple syrup yeah yeah and you're doing the simple syrup So then every drink, sort of, they kind of end up tasting a lot of the same.

So, you know, I, and I also prefer to taste the alcohol. Yeah. So you bring your wares on most, if not all sets, correct? You do your thing in the trailer. Have you ever been burned? Have you ever thought you were wrapped for the day? You have a couple martinis and then they're like, we need Stanley back. No, no, no, no.

No, I've never done that. No, thank God. I'm very aware. We're officially done Because Stanley's getting his drink on Right, we're ready for that driving sequence Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I said, we're done, right?

I'm done, okay. You know what that means. You know what I'm doing. Supernova is out there to come. We're going to get a little bit of what if at some point. You've shot something in the Kingsman, correct? Are you in Matthew Collins? I did, but I can't divulge what that is.

Uh, yes, and, uh, I still haven't seen it. I'm very excited to see it. I love the trailer. It's just like, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, you can be kind of a tough guy, like kind of an interesting character, Matthew Vaughn. Do you get along with him? I got along fine with them. You know, I was there very briefly, so I didn't experience anything, but having a great time. Okay. Uh, I'm a, I mean, I love those movies. They are bizarre and dark and funny and the action stuff is just like, that's extraordinary. Yeah. And it's tough. I mean, I'm sure like you, I've seen my fair share of action movies. So for me to actually like relish something new and innovative, like I'll give it all the

props if they can find a way to reinvent action. And Matthew knows what to do it. Yeah, he's one of those guys that just takes it to a whole other level. You've worked, as we wrap up, you've worked with like so many amazing filmmakers, whether it's early in the career, you know, up through Spielberg and Matthew Vaughn. in recent years, are there ones that have gotten away that you think of? Like, for instance, I was looking through the resume. I'm like, where's the Cone Brothers film in here? Wait.

Yes, I know. Please call them. I have, no, there's no question. There are so many directors that I would love to work with that I just haven't. I always wanted to work with Marty Scorsese. Did you have a audition for him? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And he was always incredibly, he was one of those directors that was the opposite of what I said before.

before. This is a gentleman. And so Scorsese, the Cohen brothers, without question, those are just two of my favorites. And then there were, you know, then of course there are the European directors like Pavel Pavlovsky, unbelievable director. Or Bertrand Tabernier was just one of my favorite directors. So, yeah, but someday, maybe, I hope. Have you been watching a lot this past year in quarantine? What have you been watching lately? A little bit, yeah.

It's hard with little kids. Right. So by the time you're ready to watch something and, you know, you're just like, you're so tired that, you know, you can't do it. We've been watched some television stuff, which has been, you know, like we watched Unorthodox, which I thought was pretty, pretty, really pretty interesting. And now we're watching, it's a sin.

I don't know that one. It's a British show about the AIDS epidemic. Got it. And it's really kind of brilliantly done. And yeah, I watched George Clooney's movie a few weeks ago, which thought was great. And, you know, whatever I can watch. As someone that spent a lot of his life in New York City,

Is there anything I can get you from New York that you can't get in London right now? You know what I really want? We were just talking about it because when we were there, my assistant was there with me a couple of times and she said, do you know, those bagels?

And I go, I know. She had a friend of ours had gone back to New York and they sell this stuff that's the everything bagel mix that you can sprinkle on, whatever. So she has that that somebody brought to her. But yes, you know where I,

I have, lately, I've been having these cravings for pastrami sandwiches on rye, chicken noodle soup, lotkas, and like going to Barney Greengrass on the Upper West Side and having the, you know, like the, was it the sturgeon with the eggs, with the scrambled eggs? Sure. Well, yeah, I grew up about, I can't remember what it was, but. But yeah, a Sunday morning with locks eggs and onions for me was, was like, a special treat. That was like a big thing. Or the 18-H bagels with

with cream cheese and and locks. Yeah, I'm really, that's kind of stuff is, I'm really kind of craving that. I'll get your care package from Barney Greengrass and Katz says I'll throw in some Bobcas in there too for good measure. You'll be taken care of. Please. A little bit of worst.

I can't go with you there, but you can have any borsch that comes my way because I'm not eating it. Congratulations on Supernova. Another fantastic piece of work. Everybody should truly check it out. Fine work by you and your friend, Mr. Colin Firth. He's no slouch either. Thanks for taking the time out today, sir.

I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. It's been really a pleasure. You've made this really fun. Thank you so much. 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. Goodbye, summer movies, hello fall. I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the Ultimate Movie Podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases. We have Leonardo DiCaprio leading a revolution in one battle after another,

Timothy Salome playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Jorgos Lanth. the most is begonia. Dwayne Johnson, he's coming for that Oscar in The Smashing Machine, Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLuis's return from retirement. There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about two. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat too, and Edgar writes, The Running Man starring Glenn Powell. Search for Raiders of the Lost podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.