How Did This Get Made? - Last Looks: Jack

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

Jason & Paul give their thoughts on Lanterns, Jason Statham's Mutiny, Coyote vs. ACME, and a bunch of other movies, TV shows, albums, and comic books they're currently loving. But first, Paul responds to all your corrections & omissions on last week's Jack episode! We learn about Francis Ford Coppola's original cut of the movie, why Jennifer Lopez's character was a horrible teacher, how the movie shares themes with Drop Dead Fred, and a whole lot more. Plus, as always, at the end of the show Paul announces next week's new movie!PAUL & JASON'S RECS:Sterling PointMutinyCoyote vs. ACMELanternsSix of Us by Tom KingSupergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom KingMarble Hall MurdersThe WitchObsessionAvatar Aang: The Last AirbenderMaddie’s SecretGail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex PassMotor CityEarth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs That's the Weight of the World)Batman: Caped CrusaderWitch Hat AtelierBocchi the Rock!The NewsreaderInferno by Boards of CanadaWhack's Museum by Tierra WhackGo to the Woods by Wolves of GlendaleMarrow Deep by Mastodon • Join our Vulture Movies Fantasy League at vulture.com/hdtgm • Go to hdtgm.com for tour dates, merch, FAQs, and more • Leave us a voicemail at speakpipe.com/hdtgm • Submit your Last Looks theme song here • Join our Discord at discord.gg/hdtgm • Buy merch at howdidthisgetmade.dashery.com/ • Order Paul’s book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of Trauma • Shop our new hat collection at podswag.com • Paul’s Discord: discord.gg/paulscheer • Paul’s YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheer • Follow Paul on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer • Subscribe The Dark Web w/ Paul & Rob Huebel: youtube.com/@enterthedarkweb • Listen to Unspooled with Paul & Amy Nicholson: unspooledpodcast.com • Listen to The Deep Dive with June & Jessica St. Clair: thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcast • Instagram: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & @junediane • Twitter: @hdtgm, @paulscheer • Jason is not on social media • Episode transcripts available at how-did-this-get-made.simplecast.com/episodes Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using the link: siriusxm.com/hdtgm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Doing it just for the dollar bills, what Jennifer Lopez got right and wrong, and the Francis Ford Copla cut. All this and more as we prepare to release the carrots. That's right, this is from the carrot board. It's now time for Last Looks. Hit the theme. This is your chance. Say what you want to say about that horrible movie. They watched the other day.

Well, it made Jason Caddew. I'm shot on a plane. Paul took notes. Now, he's taking it away. This is the last look. Hello, all you 10-year-olds, dreaming of a career in gynecology. I'm your host, Paul Shear, and welcome to How Did This Get Made, Last Looks, where you, the listener, get to voice your issues on Robin Williams' Jack,

a movie that Discord user Arkham Player thinks could have been called the 40-year-old virgin. Ooh, I like that. I like that a lot, and that would have come out first. So then a 40-year-old virgin, the one with Steve Carell, they would have had to call that one, Jack. Is that how that works? I'm not sure. Anyway, Discord user Ghostbag thinks that Jack might have had better luck at the box office with a different tagline. And he or she suggests a dumbing of age story.

Ooh, I like that a lot. A dumbing of age story. People start using that on Letterbox. Thank you for that alt-movie tagline and that title. and I cannot forget to give a huge shout out to Quinn for today's opening theme song. You all are killing it. Thank you for tuning in every week. Thank you for submitting your songs at hdtgm.com and also submitting all your queries,

everything about these movies that confound you that we didn't discuss on our Discord at Discord.g.g. Now, coming up on today's episode, we are definitely going to get into all of your corrections and omissions, of course. We're going to talk about Jack for, longer than Jack needs to be talked about. And then Jason is going to pop in with me to chat about everything that we have been loving lately. It's been a while. Jason and I have been working a lot, so we have not gotten a chance to talk movies, TV shows, music, comic books. We're going to do it all.

We have a lot. And as always, at the end of the show, I am going to reveal the movie that we will be covering on next week's episode. Now, heads up, if you are in Los Angeles or planning to come to Los Angeles in October, I would like to invite you to come see June, Diane, Raphael, and myself, as well as John Gabris, you know him from Action Boys. He's also a how did this get made All-Star, as we tape our brand new, improvised, multi-cam sitcom. It is called Dinks, dual-income, no kids. Each episode uses the audiences' feedback and suggestions to help us make our episode. Every episode is different, and we want you to be in that audience because we want cool people in the audience. Not those people that they just kind of shove into TV,

tapings. We want the best of the best, and it's totally free. The shows are on October 2nd, 7th, 10th, 16th, 21st, and 24th. That's right. We are shooting six episodes in less than a month. And it's going to be wild. And every episode's completely different. Come for one, come for two, come for all six. You know, what do you got? What do you got to lose? You get a free meal out of it. Anyway, if you would like to come, check it out in Burbank, you can RSVP with your preferred dates by emailing us at Dinks rs rsvp at gmail.com. Dinks RSvP at gmail.com. And if you forget this or you don't want to write that down, just go to the How

Did This Get Made website or my website, and the link is right there. Also, if you've not signed up for our How Did This Get Made mini league in the Vulture movie fantasy league, what are you doing? The mini league is amazing. It's like fantasy sports, but with movies. I come into this so excited every year, and I just get my ass. hand it to me. But let's see if you can do better than me. Just go to vulture.com slash hd-tgm or just click on the link in this episode's show notes. That's how easy it is. All right, that is enough

housekeeping. That's what they call it in the biz, people. That's some housekeeping. So let's get into it. Last week we talked at length about Jack. We had questions. You know what? I should say last week we talked at length about Francis Ford Copa's Jack. Yeah, don't forget, Francis Ford Copa's Jack starring Robin Williams. We had questions and we might have even missed a few things. Here is your chance to set us straight. It is now time for corrections and omissions. Thank you, my good friends, Bombay Beach Revival.

You all are the best. I love every time you submit a song and we get to play it. Let's start off with Jay from Ontario. Hey, Paul, June and Jason. I'm a teacher librarian for a kindergarten to grade five school. and I think Jennifer Lopez should be fired for being such a horrible teacher. I know you talked about the scene where she rejects his invitation as being problematic, but she's completely incompetent from the moment we meet her.

The school was notified that Jack was coming and she did not even talk to her class beforehand. She could have explained his condition and discussed how we treat people that are different from us. Instead, the kids were unprepared. Worse, she didn't discuss it once he was there either. Also, she had no proper desk ready for him, knowing that he's much larger than her students. Then during recess, she doesn't make sure that he has a friend to play with, like a good teacher would do for any new student. And she only chases those girls away when they pick on jack. She doesn't really talk to them. Even during the basketball game, she sighs with a team and doesn't step in when the game gets physical.

He's a 180-pound man. That's just an injury waiting to happen. Anyway, love your podcast, love your book, and can't wait for you to come back to Canada. We'll let you guys in. All right. Can I just say, I don't want to pick favorites, but Jay, you came in. You delivered this call in an A-plus fashion. You are 100% right. J-Lo is a terrible teacher, and you know what?

I had a note written down, and I didn't get to it. But the only thing that she does to ingratiate Jack to the class is, have him talk about how he hates broccoli. And she's like, okay, great. They have commonality. And now, no problems. Everything else he brought up, I don't need to echo because you did it so well. But yes, you are 100% correct.

I love it. Thank you for calling out this teacher who's supposed to be our link, our piece of humanity here. And you know what? She's bad at her job. Jack isn't special and neither is J-Lo the teacher. J-Lo, the performer. Very special. Love J-Lo. All right. Next one up here. This is, oh, from Texas. What do we got?

Hey, guys. This is Esteban. So back when I was in college, around 2006, 2007-ish, Francis Ford Coppola actually did a Q&A at my school. And I mostly remember him talking about his vineyard and his at the time Passion Project Megalopolis. But relevant to the podcast, at some point, I'll never forget it. This kid gets up to ask a question. I don't want to say he was nervous, but he was certainly worked up. He was shaking. Very excited to ask his question. He was clearly there for a reason. And that reason was to call Francis Ford Coppola out regarding his film, Jack. So he starts talking about a disease called Progeria. I'm sure you've heard about it.

It's very tragic. It makes children age rapidly. But he starts going on this rant about progeria and how Jack was not an accurate depiction of the disease. And he's very, like, angry. It gets very awkward. Everyone in the room is kind of whispering, like, what is this guy doing? And to his credit, Francis Ford Coppola was just like, look, clearly we weren't trying to do an accurate depiction of any disease. I think they even mentioned in the film that it's like a fictional, whatever, made up sickness that Robin Williams' character has.

But he was basically like, look, Jack, Dracula, all those movies I did during that period, I did it for the paycheck. I was in severe debt that, of course, he was pulled out of due to his vineyard and his Coppola wine. And he lived happily ever after. but yeah, I'll never forget that. Love you guys. Okay, first of all, I would say that this is a great story, and I love it all. I want to side with FCC over here because I don't think he was ever trying to portray progeria. I think that people put that on the movie because they're idiots.

Like, nothing will make you age four times. I think that's the comic, like, stylings of this movie. is like, oh, yeah, it has similarities to progeria, but it's not progeria. It's like, uh, and I guess apparently a lot of people have been sending us messages explaining that progeria is nothing like what the movie depicts. I think that we were talking in the episode about progeria because it's like, well, that's the most similar thing that we could compare it to. But I don't think this movie was trying to do any sort of a faithful adaptation.

As a matter of fact, it was like a stand-in for him, but we talked about this in the episode, about him being, uh, France, for, Coppola being him, lonely when he had his disease when he was growing up, and he had polio, and also, and more sadly, and this is the thing I didn't want to bring up in the episode, but I'll bring it up here because we can go deeper with each other. It was also about Francis Ford Coppola losing his son very early in life. And there's a lot of emotional stuff. That was not necessarily ripe for us to be picking at comedy.

So I would say shame on that guy in the audience for thinking he was going to zing Francis Ford Coppola, especially when he had a million more questions he could have asked, and I don't think that Francis Ford Coppola ever even mentions it as far as the doctor in the movie even says, I've never seen anything like Jack's specific condition. And he name checks Progeria as a different devastating aging syndrome. So anyway, fuck that guy, but don't fuck you, Esteban. You are great.

I don't like this reason that Coppa said he can't answer for these movies because he was in debt. Like, you can only say you don't answer for films if you were, like, on a cocaine bender. Like, being in debt doesn't mean that you can't make a good movie. Like, he could have made the best movies ever when he was in debt, right? Like, it's like saying, like, poor people can't make good movies. Well, let me tell you, a lot of people who start off these indie movies, they're coming out with hits. Low budget, no budget, whatever you want to do.

All I would say is this. Francis Ford Coppola, I think, lost a little bit of his touch. have been saying yes, he may have been rushing things into production. Those are reasons, but you can't just say like, oh, chalk it up to me being in debt. I just didn't, I didn't believe in these movies. I mean, don't you all, sorry, now I'm getting off on a rant, don't you just believe that no matter what the thing is, you have to commit to it, right? I mean, if you're doing it, you should commit. I don't know. I find that to be a cop out. There's a book I read where somebody kind of copped out on the movies that they made.

I'm like, you can't, you made them. It could have been received poorly. You could out a million different things, but you can't just basically back, nah, I'm going to take a mulligan on that one. It's weird. It's a, sure, cash grab, whatever. But I also think Dracula was kind of fun and crazy. This had none of that. Clancy from Ontario, what do we got?

Hi, guys. I just finished listening to the Jack episode, and I wanted to continue on this idea of childhood nostalgia that you are all discussing, particularly the association with Robin Williams and childhood. Through the 90s, Robin Williams was constantly paired with a cast that was predominantly children. It started in the late 80s with the Dead Poets Society.

They were teenagers, but still children. Then there was Hook. Talk about not wanting to grow up. You mentioned Mrs. Doubtfire in the episode where the most memorable scenes of that movie are those with his children and even Jumanji, where it's mostly him paired up with the kids. So what was up with that? Did studios just not really know what to do with Robin Williams'

energy, did adult actors not know how to handle his spontaneous stream of thought improvisational style? Just curious on your thoughts on that. Saw you guys in Toronto last year for the Oscar show and how to blast. Thanks guys.

Bye. This is an interesting question. I think that Robin Williams, to me, was, I mean, I'm a kid growing up watching these movies and I want to hang out with Robin Williams. He seems to me the funniest person in the world.

I got to see Robin Williams as I was older, and it still was, like, amazing. Like, there was something so special about him that I feel like by putting him with kids, you bridged this gap of somebody who was known to be pretty dirty in his act. I mean, not by today's standards, of course, but, you know, and you kind of brought, it's like a four-quadrant movie. You ever heard that term where you can bring in everybody because everyone loves Robin Williams? like he was like an animated character. But I would say the movies that you referenced,

like Dead Poets Society, Hook, Mrs. Dalfire, Jumagi, all very, very different. I mean, dead poet society is like a drama. We talked about this on Unspooled. You know, like a very beautiful drama. That's very different than Hook, which is like a Spielberg. I mean, a Miss Fire, yes, but also like a weird, interesting one. And then Miss Dalfire is like, that's, you know,

like he's working with kids a lot, but I think it was this man who was caught between adulthood and childhood too. Wow. We went deep. We're going deep today. All right, we're going to take a quick break. But when we come back, we will have more corrections and omissions coming your way,

including some info on Francis Ford Coppah's first cut of the film. So, stick around. Welcome back, my jackheads. It's time for more of your thoughts on Robin Williams is Jack. And now it is the Discord's turn to chime in. Now, Brian Leach wrote, Did anyone find it weird that Fran Drescher is at the graduation smiling and clapping at Jack's speech, knowing full well that she made out with him when he was 10?

I mean, sure, she didn't know at the time that he was 10, but she must have figured out who Mr. Powell was at some point during Jack and Louis' seven-year friendship. Well, okay, first of all, Fran is there because her son is graduating. So it's not weird that she's smiling. And I think that, look, he's a kid. who had a moment, an inappropriate moment seven years ago with this woman, and I feel like her heart has gone out to him. What do you want her to be like, nah, fuck this guy.

He's going to die anyway. Fuck him. He kissed me. I kissed him. I don't think she has guilt on it. It's a funny story. It's a dinner table story. She's dining out on that story.

Fran Drescher's character is dining out on that story every goddamn night. She's like, oh, my gosh, I kissed a guy, and I thought he was really cute. And I found out he was 10. Be like, oh, my God. You know, anyway. Uh, unchin, and Dulicia, writes, I think the reason why they gave him silly, red, glittery shoes at graduation and held on them for such a long shot is because they were trying to bookend the movie with Wizard of Oz references. The movie opens with his mom and dad at the party in Wizard of Oz costumes. Then the movie does nothing with it.

Then the red shoes show up like they just remembered they wanted to connect Jack's journey to the Wizard of Oz. Well, Eunchin. I would say I don't see even the connection to Wizard of Oz. They look more like clown shoes to me. But, okay, let's go with the idea that it's a Wizard of Oz story. I don't think it is. I don't see any parallels to the Wizard of Oz at all. But the way that we've now heard that Francis Fort Coppola approached these films,

the fact that we saw a banner that said seven years, there's a lot here that I would say that, yeah, that might have been an idea that somebody just, just said, like, wouldn't it be great if he also was dressed like the Wizard of Oz? And then they drank a big glass of wine and everyone's like, yes, let's do it. Anyway, Unchen, you're not wrong because Kat also chimes in to add that when Jack and his mom are playing flashlight tag, she also does the Wicked Witch Hand to Shadow the Wall. All right.

So another, I mean, these are very hidden Wizard of Oz references. And I got to tell you, you want to see Wizard of Oz movie. See Gail Dautry and the celebrity. sex tape. That is a Wizard of Oz tale. I don't find this one. I don't get it if it is. I don't get, he's not off to see the wizard. He's not learning anything. He's not waking up and realizing that he's just a kid anymore. There's not, there's not that much there at all. Correct me if I'm wrong in another episode, but I don't see it. I see the references. I don't see the connection. Dr. Guts 1003 gives us a little picture, and I'm so glad.

because Dr. Gutz writes, unless I missed it, I am stunned that there was no mention of the dad photographing sexy women in a promotional campaign for the carrot board. That was wild. And another scene that could have led to something interesting happening, but the film chose not to explore. Now, the picture that Dr. Guts puts up is the dad on the phone. And there are three, I would say, breastforward women. They're in tank tops and short shorts. And they seem to be on some sort of like giant carrot that's like a bucking bronco that you might see it,

like one of those like bull riding bars. I don't know what the fuck this is. But you know what? Sex sells. And this I imagine again is like a Francis Ford Coppola like, yeah, let's do it like that. Drink a glass of wine. And then all of a sudden they're on set. And I agree with you.

Wouldn't it have been fun if Jack was there? And that's how we learned about sex. because his dad is making, maybe his dad isn't even working for the carrot board. I don't think there isn't is a carrot board. His dad is making porn. Wow. And he didn't share it. And that's okay.

No judgment on that. No judgment. But that's a hidden part of the movie. Firebert writes, I found a indie wire article on writer James DeMonico, who later became known for creating the purge movies, where he mentioned some interesting tidbits on Jack. hashtag release the Copa cut.

Here is a snippet from the article. Demonico wrote the original script with his friend Gary. And I'm not going to pronounce everybody's last name, so I'm just saying, Demonico and Gary. And they were intending Gary to direct. But when DeMonico and Gary sold the script, the studio found out that they could get Robin Williams to star. And so they were very excited

until within weeks, the studio fired Gary. Okay, now Robin had this list of directors, and DeMonico thinks he was kind of playing a political game, you know, trying to get the most out of it that he could because the directors that Robin wanted were Martin Scorsese, Barry Levinson, Francis Coppola, and Brian De Palma. And I'm like, this is nuts. And DeMonico just assumed those directors would pass and then Gary would be rehired. But this is what happens when one of those directors is deeply in debt. Copa says, yes. Now, I'm adding the deeply in debt there. The end result didn't fully please DeMonico or

Copla. As the regime changes to studio led to a lot of tinkering with tone, which left Jack feeling awkward and clumsy despite a handful of deeply felt moments. I mean, Francis had a cut that was much better than what the public saw, De Monaco said. It was a very melancholy

film, but then Mike Obitz took over the studio, and he didn't like what Francis was trying to do, and the more morbid scenes were excised, and Francis Ford Copa had to take notes from the studio at that point. Wow, okay. So yes, hashtag released the Coppa cut. I got to tell you, people, I'm having experience right now where I'm working on something.

I can't be more specific than that. It's not dinks, which you should come see a live taping of. And I have watched this movie, get better, get worse, get better, get worse, get better, get worse. And I have seen it air on the side of worse more than better. Now, I am uniquely removed from this. It won't affect me how this movie comes out so I can leave my ego at the door, but it is an infuriating process to see something unequivocally better and then see it get changed yet again. There's a thing that Paul Schneider said, yep, referencing Paul Schneider from Parks and Recreation season two, where he looked at a picture and it was a bunch of different images from everybody in the office at Parks and reckon he said that's a good old-fashioned camel and they are what do you mean a camel he goes

a camel is uh when a bunch of artists try to draw a horse from memory that's a camel and i feel like a might be misquoting that but you get the gist and then and b that's what happens on these studio movies i i have had so much i mean i understand this business to a certain extent this is the first time though where I've actively seen how, I mean, it gives me pause because like, wow, I know there's a better version of it here, but we're not going to ever let anybody see that. Now, you also have on the other side of that, you know, Stanley Kubrick, who shot an epilogue to the Shining. And then after it was released, it was like, you know what? I don't like that epilogue.

Cut that scene. It was basically the caretaker of the overlook comes to check in on Danny. Shelly DeValle at the end of the movie to be like, hey, we can't find your husband's body. We don't think anything happened up there. You know, and then it's at the end. It's like, oh, I think he's a devil too. Anyway, he cut that two-minute scene out of the shining after it was released. That I'm all for.

Like, you're tinkering at the end of the day. It's a director who wants to make it. But to, I don't know, to be able to give over to somebody that's like, I'm going to take this over. and then they don't get any of the penalty for taking away. Anyway, I have a lot to talk about with this movie. Oh, it's been a, it's been a journey. Anyway, I won't talk about it when it comes out. Let's go back to the phones.

Nick from Illinois. What do you got? Hi there, Paul, Jason, June. My name's Nick, long time, first time. Hey, listen to the episode, Jack, and you started talking about how as a 10-year-old, he would know where his body begins and ends, even if he is growing quickly, and he would have awareness of where he is in space.

And I got to push back on that pretty significantly. I have a son whose name is Jack, and he grew so fast. He is very tall for his age, just for his age. And, man, did he just have a bear of a time figuring out where his body is in space? I see him trying to navigate the world, and he's just a little clumsy, and he's just a little, you know, just not smooth and live that he just has, he kind of bumps into things, and he just wandered, and he's just not always sure of himself, and it's because he's grown so goddamn fast, and his name is Jack, and it's awesome. So I have to push back on that just a little bit. I love, love, love the podcast. And my boys love to watch Taskmaster.

Jason, you are their favorite agent of chaos so far. So thanks for that. Yeah, and thanks for the years and years and years of entertainment. I appreciate it. Have a great day. Thank you. All right, Nick, I'm going to take a little bit of a issue with your taking an issue with our issue. I agree with you.

I have a 10-year-old. I have a 12-year-old. And they are growing rapidly. not as fast as some would like, others faster, it causes a lot of issues. But here's what I'll say. Robin Williams has been this way for a long time, right? So, like, I guess the difference between, if he grows, you know, four times the age, right? So just say, like, for the last four birthdays, he's been in his 20s.

So I don't think that somebody in their 20s or 30s is completely out of depth in their 40s because their body has changed. I don't think your body change. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't think your body is changing that much from 20 to 40 as far as height is concerned. So he would have been at this height for quite a long time, right? So it would be 4, 8, 16.

I know how to do math. 21. So that at four years old, he is 21 years old. So from four, so in this movie he's 10 or whatever, you know, so we're saying he's been this body size for six years. So anyway, Nick, I take issue with your issue, but I love you and you're great, and that was a good call. Good luck with those boys. Next up, Joe from Brisbane. Hi, Jason Paul and June. It's Joe from Brisbane Australia. Love the show. Just want to just think about the possibility of a way to fix this movie.

Maybe they should have just made him age three times instead of four. So if he was 45 and 15 and he was around 15, and he was around 15, year olds. Maybe you could skirt the lines a little easier with some of the really cringy adult child stuff. I know it doesn't make it that much better, but at least you can have a real coming of age style story if he was 15 going through puberty and all that sort of stuff. I'd love to know what you think. I think apart from here, him being a 40 year old, 10 year old, I don't think this movie could be fixed really. But thanks again, you guys. Love you Bye. Okay, sure.

You mean like, oh, like if he was the size of a 15-year-old, yeah. Yeah, that would have been great. I would have liked that. I think that that's a good idea. This arbitrary age they picked, I mean, this is the Robin Williams of it all. Like, it doesn't necessarily serve the story, I don't think. But, I mean, look, tell that to Demonica and Gary. Next up, Sean, what do you got?

Hey, Paul and Jason. I've never actually left a voicemail. So my hope is that you'll actually hear. hear this one and maybe you'll use it. So I was listening to the Jack episode and you were talking about how there was like a trend in the movies in the late 80s, early 90s of like these kind of boomer directors who were reflecting on not wanting to grow up or the nostalgia of it all. And it made me immediately think of the time that when I rewatched Drop Dead Fred, not too long after that infamous podcast episode dropped to refresh my memory about it. There's a

moment where Marsha Mason says to Phoebe Cates, I did it, I got married, I had the kid, I bought the house, and my life sucks, because you aren't really that good of a kid or whatever. And I remember saying like, oh, that's what this

movie is. This movie, so going back to Drop Dead Fred, I'm like, that's what this movie is. It's the we did, we followed all the rules and we're not happy. And I feel like that's the same thing with like Jack and the observations that you all made. we followed all the rules and we're not happy.

And 100% Team Sanity on my side. And love the show. And hopefully I hear this on Last Looks. Thank you. Damn right. You're going to hear this on Last Look, Sean. Team Sanity forever. You make a brilliant point.

And I think that I'm not just saying that because you're Team Sanity. Here's the fix. In my mind, you just articulated how this movie gets a 110% better. You need to send a 40-year-old back to being a kid. Not a kid growing into a... Like, that's the thing, right? Big is about a kid becoming an adult,

but what we really are chasing is an adult wanting to be a kid again. Now, that brings me to one of my favorite movies of all time, Hiding Out, which is a great John Cryer film. I love hiding out. If you've not watched Hiding Out, oh boy, oh, boy, it's a fun one. It's about like, oh, I don't, hiding out is great. But that's the wish fulfillment. But here's the thing.

It's super fucking creepy. You can't make it about a 40-year-old who has all the knowledge of a 40-year-old in the body of a 15-year-old. You're fucked. It's gross. So that is the rub. And so we make it the other way and it loses a thing. But I think you're 100% right. We aren't happy.

And that's a very, I think. an 80s or like late 80s, early 90s kind of boomer point of view. Anyway, great call. And it might have been my favorite call because we agreed here. I mean, there's research. There's so much stuff. But I got to say, I just want to give this best call of this week to Jay from Ontario. She absolutely nailed it.

You really showed us how it's done on a call. Thank you for reading my book, by the way. and I'm not just giving you this because you read my book, which is available to purchase wherever you get your books, audio books, whatever you want to do. I even still sign them. If you've ordered a couple of books, I'm a little bit late right now because I've been working so much,

but I'll get there. Anyway, Jay, for your prize, you have won a very rare and extraordinary bottle of wine from Francis Ford Copp's winery. This French wine variety is called Jacques Pelou Blanc. That's, you know, basically it translates into hairy white jack. And the reason this bottle is so special is that even though it's only 10 years old. The wine tastes

like it's been aged for 40 years and it will also make you fart a lot. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Jacques Blue Blanc. Anyway, Jay, you are the best and thank you for everyone who is submitting these great questions.

I love that we're using SpeakPipe. Everyone sounds so good and you can call us at speakpipe.com slash HDTGM or by writing us on our Discord. All right, coming up after one last break, Jason will drop by for a just chat. All right, welcome back, everybody. Before Jason joins me, I must remind you to tune in to our classic episodes that we

re-release every Tuesday. This week's classic episode is another movie featuring a special young boy. That's, of course, the odd life of Timothy Green. And next week, we will be revisiting the Canter Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Fantasy Romance, The Lakehouse. So keep on checking out all of our replays of classic episodes every Tuesday. And without any further ado, it is now time for a just chat with. Mr. Jason Manzukas.

John Cohen hit the theme. Jason, how are you? Paul, boy. You know, you and I are overlapping two very busy work schedules. Yes. Is this maybe the longest I've gone without really seeing you? I've been on my job. It's just ended.

And now you're on yours and we need to hang. I know. I really feel that way. I feel like someone was asking me about you the other day. And I was like, I have, this is probably the longest I have gone without seeing you. And in that time, my gosh, so many, so many things going on. So many, we have a lot to talk about. So much.

We're going to spend all of this episode just talking about Sterling Point, right? Oh, we have to. How caught up are you on Sterling Point? I mean, Jason, I've watched it twice, so I'm ready to break it down. I'm not even kidding. I have watched all of Sterling Point. What, wait, tell me a little bit better because I don't even know if I've heard this knee. Sterling Point is like a YA.

It's not, though. It's Megan Park who did my old ass. Okay. I like that. But it's like, what if Megan, what if the maker of my old ass, which is a fantastic movie, made a YA seeming story? Because it's not based on any book or anything like that. It's an original idea, but it is all teenagers who live in, like, rich area of, like, the lake region in, like, northern Michigan.

But it's just like, it's just coming of age teenage soap opera. Okay, but it's not like a comedy. It's not like trying to deconstruct it. Not at all. It is, it is just a very well done one of these. Oh, okay. I will say. By the way, I'm a, I'm a YA fan.

I will watch the hell out of that. This got me in a way that I was, you know what it is? It feels like what, in that way that I wanted sex life of college girls to be kind of Gilmore Girls goes to college. and it kind of wasn't exactly. This a little bit is that. It's like it's small town like Stars Hollow. It's got a Gilmore Girls element to it,

except it's a little bit more grown up, if that makes sense. I, you know, Jason, I've been thinking about you so much because I am, we're on the Warner Brothers lot right now. Oh, yes, and we're in Warner Village, where basically, you know, I am right near, like, Laurelize House. Like, I am right there.

Our writer's room is in the Bob and a Shola house. But I think a pretty little liar's house as well. But we're like two houses down from Gilmore Girls' house. And I was so excited. I walk by it every day. Good. It's so fun. But I was going to say what we should definitely do,

and it's been the talk of the town if you have not gone yet, is check out that Lucas Art Museum. Haven't been. Would love to. That looks amazing. Would love to. And I'm really hopeful. that the George Lucas talk show can somehow do a live event within that space.

That, I think, would be like some sort of canon event in Marvel terms. Like, it would be perfect if they could figure out a way to, I just would love it. And I think it would be one of those things, like when Tom Hanks showed up on Dead Eyes, that if George Lucas showed up on the George Lucas talk show, but playing a character, Oh, wouldn't that be so funny? And then we just, then you lock it, not to make them lock it down, but man, that would be the, that would be the penultimate thing. I would love it. I would love that.

That would be a blast. Man, I've been watching and reading a lot, but I've also been traveling. So I just got back from Kenya, which was amazing. That's right. Yeah, go ahead. Well, I mean, nothing to recommend more than the country of Kenya. Wow. But I will say this, pride of life.

lions killed an Impala right outside of our little camp. So we woke up at five in the morning, walls rumbling as this pride of lions just were tearing apart an Impala. And it does not sound like the MGM lion. It has a very different sound. But we had an amazing, amazing time. Have you ever been to Africa? Because you're a well-traveled person. I've never been to sub-Saharan Africa. I've only been to Northern Africa. So no, I've never been, I've never seen any of these animals. I've never been in any of those places. I think that you would. I will share some travel wrecks to you as we go.

But what have you been watching? Oh, I've been watching a lot of stuff. Some of it I think you will really appreciate and some of it I think you would genuinely like. I like that I appreciate it though. Well, for example, something you might maybe appreciate more than like is so we on a recent episode here lamented the news that they were not going to move forward with the Gerard Butler sequel to the movie plane, which was going to be called boat. Yes.

Now, I have great news. There is a Jason Statham movie called Mutiny that might as well be called Boat because it is basically that. It is basically Jason Statham gets on a shipping boat and has to work his way through the boat killing all the bad guys. I love it. It is a blast. Isn't that just under siege?

Basically, yes, except he's Jason Statham and doesn't have any of the nonsense of Stephen Seagall, who I believe is playing the chef on the boat? Yes, he's the chef. They didn't count on the chef. Now, did you know the little trick about that movie that Amazon accidentally released it before it came out in movie theaters? They streamed it the week before it came out, and it completely messed up. Oh, I didn't know that. Because I watched it at home. I didn't go to the theater to see it.

So I wonder if you got to, if you watched the, when they made a mistake. Well, it's not your mistake. It's there. They made the mistake. I just saw Jason Statham movie and I was like, let's go. No, yeah. They accidentally released it and it really affected the box office. That's, yeah, of course.

It is, I will say, it is a blast. It is, it's better than working man, which was the Stallone one that was not very good. And so this is peak, you know, Statham, one-liners, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder. It's fine. I'm excited that he's just turning these out. Now, I know that you may not have gotten to the theater because you've been working so hard, but Coyote v. Acme, so happy that it did great at the box office. I fucking loved this movie. It looks so good?

This movie is incredible. Friend of the show, Yasser Lester, referred to it. as a masterpiece recently. And I agree. It is fantastic. I think what people don't realize is, in many respects, it is like a comedy, Aaron Brockovich in a way. Like, there is, it's a legal drama.

It's adherence to being a courtroom drama is so fun and funny that it really got me. I was like, I love that they're following through on this. It's not Lucy Goosey. It's absolutely a courtroom drama. featuring Looney Tunes. And my buddy, Dave Green, he directed this movie. So good. I just have to give him so much credit for, I mean, what he has been through.

But more importantly, that he got Peter to Lurie, the animated version of Peter Lurie to be a main character in this, which I think honestly just shows you how true this is to a vision. It's not like it's not, it is a very specific thing. It's not like a Space Jam 2 situation. No. It's not like a Craven attempt. to like cash in on these characters.

It's actually an incredibly clever take on bringing all of these characters. Because one of the things that's great is because it's a courtroom drama, they can introduce into evidence all of the cartoons from the 30s and 40s. So they're playing they're playing Looney Tunes cartoons that are that are from the 40s as pieces of evidence in the courtroom. It's a blast. I absolutely loved it. It was like and it's just like it's,

fun and Forte, you know, we love Will Forte. The fucking best. He does stuff in this movie that I just think is like really smart and small. He's also hilarious, but it's also acting against no one. No one. He's in scenes with cartoon characters, so he's doing this all alone, which is always impressive to me. And beyond that, it's not even like he's doing a scene with a character that speaks. The character doesn't even speak so he really has to do a lot of work. I mean, that first moment where they're checking into the hotel room

is the physical comedy and that is great. Yes. It's absolutely hilarious. And he, I'm just that this is a movie that I feel like if all of the nonsense around, and I don't frankly understand even the why, I know it's a tax write down

and selling the company and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But this movie would have made money. Yeah, I think. I think this movie had it been properly released with a P&A that was meaningful with really like it could have been a huge movie well I think what they don't understand is and where people like it is a success right it is a success it came in for sure to right but it is a success on a 10 million dollar uh marketing budget and that is so like small potatoes in like major film releases like it just doesn't

allow you to get the word out in a way that is actually impactful at all. So for this movie to make that much on so little, like that's even, like you have to look at it even like that. So you're right. Like if it actually had an engine. It would have been huge. And it didn't have any of the, the kind of whiff of, oh, it was canceled. Or if it, if it just appeared, was promoted and like hit, I think it would have hit hard. Oh, I totally agree. Now, have you been watching lanterns at all? Yes. Yeah. I'm having a blast with it. I like it. I think it's really good. It's fun. I think it's fun. And I think it's like, you know, I'm watching it. I'm listening to podcasts about it. House of ours doing great podcasts about it. The Watch Boys are talking about it. Great. It's all great. To me, this is the level at which we should be able to execute IP TV shows. You know, like, I don't think people, like, in the sense of like, people are like, oh, it's so much like true detective. And it is in a certain amount. of ways. And I'm enjoying that component of it. But I also feel like there's this way in which people

are talking about it. Like, it's good. It's like true detective. It's not like secret invasion. Like bad. Yeah. I'm like, sure, but it's also not like true detectives. It's not as good as true detective. But this is the thing, and I felt this way when I got a chance to see Wonder Man way before anyone else did. So good. I was so good. It's the same idea. I'm like, oh, this is an FX show. And I feel like that's the distinction to a certain degree. It's like, oh, these are different ways of kind of treating these characters. It's just, it's, yes, it's elevated drama. It's like a drama.

Yes, in the way that right now, if you went to secret headquarters to buy comics and you picked up Spider-Man, you picked up, Immortal Thor, you picked up a bunch of books, they would tonally be very different from each other. Yes. Now, they would have, some would be more mature than others, some would be more all ages, some would be smaller stories, some would be epic crossovers. With the same characters. All of, exactly, and all pulling from the same characters and the same world.

And that's what I feel like D.C. is doing pretty well. I think D.C. with lanterns, but then the lanterns tone is very different than the Superman Supergirl tone, which is big, bright poppy, and that's all going to be very different from whatever this clay face tone is, which looks to be body horror, Kronenberg type stuff. So I like that they're doing, it doesn't feel like D.C. is beholden

to one house style look tone. And so I'm enjoying it. It's great. By the way, I'm not like, I've never been a big lanterns person. Like I'm not, you know, I'll go one step further.

I think Green Lantern is dumb. Okay. As a power set. Right. I'm enjoying it from like a, I'm not a fan of, lanterns, but I'm a fan of everybody involved, especially Tom King. And I got to tell you, he's got a new book out, which is really fun called Six of Us.

It's kind of like a riff on friends, but it's like a murder mystery. Great. It's so cool. It's like basically it's like a, yeah, sitcom cast and one of them gets killed. And it's like a little mini series. And so far, I just read the first one. And I think it's great. It's really, really fun.

Tom King, a friend of the show, fan of the show, we know, is genuinely one of the great comics writers of this era. And, you know, we've talked in the past about his Rorschach book, his Adam Strange book, all those books that are so incredible. And so all the stuff he did with Mitch Gerrids, who did one of our tour posters, Incredible, who was there the night of the Drop Dead Fred episode. Love that.

By the way, Tom King, also, I believe, if Supergirl, the movie is based on his book of Supergirl. And that book is amazing. Woman of Tomorrow. Read that book. You'll be a huge. Absolutely fantastic book. Anyway, I feel like there's so much in this show that I'm really enjoying.

And it's also a sweet spot for me because all I want to watch is detective shows. And this is a detective show. Another detective show that has just returned for a new season that I will shut out is the, The series of mini-series that are built around a book series, I don't know what the books are called, but Leslie Manville stars in the main. It's on PBS masterpiece right now. The first ones were called Magpie Murders. The second season was called Something Else Murders. And the third season that just started is called the Marble Hall murders.

Fantastic. Leslie Manville is a book editor. And the man whose books she edited is a, writes a kind of Agatha Christie who does. it series. And then he dies. And she is so the stories take place in modern times while Leslie Manville's trying to solve the current mystery. But then also it pops into the narrative of the books because the guy wrote clues to all the stories in the books. So it has this period component to it, which is the interior story of the book. And then the exterior, which is modern day, Leslie Manville. And they are a blast. Oh, I love that. It's.

I just was looking at this as a novel, and the novels seem even great. Oh, I bet they're great. I haven't touched the novels. I bet they're great. There's six episodes each, classic British kind of set up, absolutely dynamite. The new season just started. The first two seasons are available. Like I said, I think PBS masterpiece.

Yes, they're on PBS. Incredible. Now, I've watched a movie that I was just surprised. I know we're coming up to scary season eventually in October here, but I'm had never seen the witch. Have you seen the witch? Haven't seen the witch. All right. So this is the like the Robert Eggers right. Anya Taylor Joy like whoa it was great. I don't know how I missed it. And it is one that I like I like to sometimes recommend movies that are not too scary for people who don't like scary movies. Like people like I don't like scary movies. This movie is great. And like it is it's a very old pull.

But I was like, oh, I just haven't been like caught into a world. And this is. obviously his first film. So it's a lot smaller than like Nospheratu and stuff like that, but it has all that sort of stuff that text, the way the children speak is all, you know, technically correct. They're like shooting in the middle of the forest. It's really, really, really,

really good. The witch, if you've not gotten around to it, which surprisingly, you're not alone. I've talked to a handful of people and people not seen it. There's a bunch, you know, I'm especially my, one of my true blind spots is horror. I'm not a, I don't love horror movies.

so they end up being the ones that I get to last. You're not reaching for them. Yeah. You know, and so there's a bunch of really great recent, like, you know, past 10 or so years, horror movies that I just haven't watched. What's the... Well, you would... It follows.

Oh, right? It follows. Yes. Right? Because didn't the same filmmaker just make the dinosaur movie? Yes. Yes. Yes.

So that has come up again. And I was reminded, oh, I never saw it follows. So it's like that. Well, you know, I have to say that. that you would love, and this is not a shock to anybody, but obsession is so good. It's so funny. And it's just a real, like a real treat of a movie, like that I was, again,

the summer I've been traveling a bunch. I haven't gotten to be at home. And when I finally got to watch it, it was like, oh, the hype is real on this. This is really good. And again, it's there. It's there for you to enjoy. Let me shout out a couple of other movies just while we're on movies.

You mentioned how whoever babbled the Jason Statham release. Another terribly bobbled release for a, I will say, incredible movie is the Avatar Ang movie, which they accidentally leaked as well and then robbed that movie of its potential huge audience reception. This is a feature-length movie starring Ang and the gang from Avatar The Last Airbender, but as adults. So this movie takes place between the end of Avatar The Last Airbender and the beginning of The Legend of Cora. And it was fantastic.

Absolutely loved it. Love those characters. I mentioned in an episode recently, I think, John Early's movie, Maddie's Secret, is absolutely one of the best movies of the year. Everybody should watch it. Another movie, I will shout out, that was so fucking funny. One of the funniest moments in a movie I've seen this year is, The scene where John Slattery's foot is caught in a door in the David Wayne movie, Gail Dodtery's Celebrity Sex Pass, which is an incredibly funny, very David Wayne movie.

It's very much if you love Wet Hot. It is so in that pocket. It's so good. And there is a joke in here that he is one million percent David Wayne, and it is just the John Slattery getting his foot stuck in a slamming door. and it is, it made me laugh so hard, I started to get like lightheaded. It was really very funny.

There is so much stuff, and I got to tell you, the one person, I mean, everyone's great in that movie. I really like a lot of people. But Ben Wang, that kid is really funny.

He was in that new karate kid movie that came out of karate kid legends. He's in Long Walk, which is great. But man, I am like excited to see more of him. He's fantastic. I agree.

Really great. I mentioned as well, the Motor City movie that is Alan Richson crazy action movie I thought was fantastic. The Earthwind and Fire documentary that Questlove just did for HBO is an incredible watch, really great. These are a bunch of good things. These are some great stuff. I'll shout out the Batman, the new Batman animated Cape Crusader, season two is out.

A continuation of the first season, which is great. It's great. There's a great and incredible anime called Witch Hat Atelier. that I just finished and was absolutely blown away by. I'm also obsessed with an anime called Bochie the Rock, which is about a socially awkward girl who just wants to be in a rock and roll band. I like that. I'll watch that.

But this is my headline. My headline is there is an Australian show called The Newsreader. Okay. That is, I think there's two or three seasons, and it is one of the best, like, one-hour dramas I've seen in a while. It is phenomenal. It's called the Newsreaders. It is dynamite. And the woman who's the lead, whose name I'm not going to remember now.

Onaturi? Yes. Anatorv. Is it Torv? Torv, yes. Anatorv is giving... Oh, my gosh. She's from Fringe.

Oh, I didn't know that. Okay, I love Fringe. I didn't see Fringe. Okay, so she's the lead of Fringe. Okay. Oh, okay. Well, then, because... So I'm just...

Maybe I've seen her another stuff, but this performance is electric to watch. Oh, I loved her. A phenomenal show. I thought she was so good in that show. It's dynamite. It's a, you know, like, all joking aside, like I really enjoyed Sterling Point. I like a lot of other stuff. This is a phenomenal show.

Okay. Well, this is that. Now, there's so many, so many things. I will tell you. And I'm just going to only just last but not least say, if you're driving around at night, listen to the new boards of Canada record Inferno. And if you're driving around any other time, listen to the new Tierra Wack Al. I want to also shout out the new Wolves of Glendale album is great.

They're on tour right now. We are friends with them. They've composed some songs for the show. Their new album is so, so good. But the album that I really want to shout out is the new Mastodon album, which is fantastic. They actually came on Dark Web, and they were great. But this album is, I mean, I just, I have been listened to it a ton. And I love it.

They also just did a great episode of the Amoeba What's in My Bad YouTube series that had some great picks on it. Yeah, they're just a fun band. and they, if you don't know anything about them, their lead singer was having some substance abuse problems. It left the band. And then in that time where he left the band, he passed away. And so this album is very much like kind of dealing with that grief and that anger. And it's a really, it's a really cathartic but cool, cool album.

Yeah. Can I just ask for something? Sure. Because sometimes I ask for things and the audience sends them to us. Yeah, yes. I'm looking for the documentary Tony Williams in Africa, which is about the jazz drummer Tony Williams. I'm curious about that.

I'm looking for that. I'm looking for Under Salt Marsh, the Kelly Riley show, the British Kelly Riley show. And then there's some other stuff. But, you know, we'll see what the people come up with. All right, Jason, what a pleasure. We will talk soon. Thank you, Paul.

All right, now that our just chat has come to an end, it is finally the moment you've all been waiting for. It is time to announce our next movie. Next week we'll be going from a sperm that aged too fast to a worm from the ancient past. Ooh, I like this. That means that we'll be kicking off our spooky movie season with the 1988 bonkers cult horror classic, The Layer of the White Worm, starring Hugh Grant, Amanda Donahoe, and Peter Capaldi. That's right, Doctor Who himself. Now, IMDB says, when an archaeologist uncovers a strange skull in a foreign land, the residents of a

nearby town begin to disappear, leading to further inexplicable occurrences. Ron Tomatoes rates the layer of the white worm at a cede. 67% fresh, and critic Ty Burr writes Russell's version of a horror film, and over-the-top hoot, it is perfect for an All-Hallow's Eve drinking game or for terrifying the neighbor's kids by projecting it onto the side of your house. Ty Burr, I cannot think of a better way to describe this movie. This movie is awesome. All right, let's take a listen to the trailer.

Something's been found in Stone Rig Cavern. Legend has it that Stone Rigg Caval? Was the layer of the dampen worm? My God. When the venom attacks. the nervous system the victim appears to be afflicted by a formal vampirism. I hear you're having trouble with a snake. Ah, and you're going to uphold family tradition and slay the beastie.

Are you out of your mind? You can stream Lair of the White Worm on Prime Video to be Canopy and Hoopla, or you can rent it at all the usual places where you'd rent movies. All right, everybody, that is it for last looks. If you listen to us on Apple Podcast or Spotify, please rate and review us and also make sure you are following us and have automatic downloads turned on. It helps the show.

It helps the show. So do that, please. And we appreciate it. Visit us on social media at HDTGM. And a big thank you to our producer, Scott Sonny and Molly Reynolds, our engineer, Casey Helford, our social media manager, Zoe Applebaum.

And we'll, of course, be forever thankful to the one and only April Hally. We'll see you next week for The Layer of the White Worm.