In Search Of Excellence - Brian Grazer: Academy Award Winner Brian Grazer on Success, Creativity, and Greatness | E186

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

What do you do when the world keeps telling you no? Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer reveals how rejection, curiosity, creativity, and relentless belief helped him build one of the most extraordinary careers in Hollywood history.In this powerful episode of In Search of Excellence, host Randall Kaplan sits down with Brian Grazer to explore the real lessons behind success in film, business, and life — from mentorship and intellectual property to storytelling, resilience, preparation, and the mindset required to achieve greatness.Brian shares unforgettable stories about Lew Wasserman, Ron Howard, Splash, 8 Mile, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and the career-defining moments that taught him why owning ideas matters more than chasing relationships — and why “no” is often just a temporary point of view.In this episode:Why intellectual property is the foundation of lasting success.The lesson Brian learned from hundreds of rejections.How curiosity opened the door to new opportunities and major films.What it feels like to lose at the Oscars — and finally win.Brian’s views on preparation, creativity, storytelling, and greatness.About Brian GrazerBrian Grazer is an Academy Award-winning producer who has produced 130 feature films and 45 television shows, including A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, 8 Mile, The Da Vinci Code, 24, Empire, Friday Night Lights, and Arrested Development. His productions have received 47 Oscar nominations with 9 wins, 296 Emmy nominations with 63 wins, 71 Golden Globe nominations with 11 wins, and have generated more than $15 billion in worldwide box office. He is also the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book A Curious Mind.About Randall KaplanRandall Kaplan is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and executive coach. He is the co-founder of Akamai Technologies, an early investor in Google, and a mentor to founders, CEOs, executives, and business owners through his Extreme Preparation™ methodology.Like, subscribe, and share if you enjoyed this episode.Comment below: What was your biggest takeaway from Brian Grazer?Want to Work One-on-One with Me?I coach a small group of high achievers on how to elevate their careers, grow their businesses, and reach their full potential both professionally and personally.If you're ready to change your life and achieve your goals, apply here:www.randallkaplan.com Listen to my Extreme Preparation TEDx Talk here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIvlFpoLfgs Listen to this episode on the go!Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/23q0XIC... For more information about this episode, visit https://www.randallkaplan.com/ Follow Randall!Instagram: @randallkaplanLinkedIn:  @randallkaplanTikTok:  @randall_kaplanTwitter / X: https://x.com/RandallKaplanWebsite: www.randallkaplan.com1-on-1 Coaching: www.randallkaplan.comCoaching and Staying Connected:1-on-1 Coaching | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn 

Welcome to In Search of Excellence. You're going to be watching a spectacular show. Stay tuned. What's the lesson to everybody out there who you're rejected hundreds of times? Yeah. And you kept going. It took seven years to make that movie. The lesson is the word no is only a temporary point of view.

The other lesson is what people are hearing is probably not what you care about the most. Relationships are secondary. They should always be secondary. The primary thing is you have to own an idea, a script, IP. You need to have intellectual property. It can be a book. It can be an outline. It can be anything, an original idea that is represented in word form that you can

evangelize and has value. Welcome to In Search of Excellence. My guest today is Brian Grazer. Brian is an Academy Award-winning producer who has produced 130 feature films, including 8 Mile, The Da Vinci Code, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Apollo 13. and a beautiful mind for which he won the Oscar for Best Picture. Brian has also produced 45 TV shows, including Empire 24 Arrested Development, Friday Night Lights, and Parenthood.

His productions have been nominated for 47 Oscars. He has nine wins, 296 Emmy nominations with 63 wins, 71 Golden Globe nominations with 11 wins, and he's also won two Grammys. Collectively, his films and TV series have grossed over $15 billion worldwide. Brian is also the author of the awesome number one New York Times bestselling book, A Curious Mind. Brian, thanks for being here. Welcome to In Search of Excellence.

Wow. Thanks for the introduction. We talk about mentorship and how important mentors are in our lives. Yes, yes. And you wrote a letter to Lou Wasserman. Yeah. Who at the time was basically the king of Hollywood, probably the most important person in the city. Unecruvifically.

For decades. Decades. And with government. And with government, right? I mean, when President Clinton would come to town, they'd play golf at Hillcrest with Casey, and, you know, he was just, he knew everybody. Kissinger was his closest friend. Yeah. And so tell us about that meeting, which was life-changing for you, and about the notepad and then the legal tablet.

Okay, of course. Okay. So basically, with these letters I'd send out to assistants to meet their bosses, every single person said yes. everyone. Anytime I mean all these five-minute meetings that I asked for, they all said yes. Then it came to Lou Wasserman, who was literally the, as you said, the king of the industry, who's the patriarch patriarch of all of media business. And he eventually said yes, because I really was very persistent. Yeah, I was very persistent. I met his assistant out in the parking lot and said, come on, I was just meeting. Anyway, I meet him. Oh, so I go up to the tower.

at Universal. The top floor where his, the penthouse is where he, Lou Wasserman's office would be, is in the tower on the 15th floor. So I get off the elevator, it's the 15th floor. Of course, the first time of my life was the 15th floor. And I'm standing there and I'm waiting to meet with Mr. Wasserman. People are staring at me because they know I'm like, you know, kind of a punk. And he comes out. He's a tall man. He comes out and I walk towards him, towards him towards his office to go in. And he threw his hands up in the air like, don't go any further. You're not, he basically said, you're not going in. And I said, okay. And I stood there kind of frozen. And now all the assistants are looking at me like, what's going on. And I'm very hypersensitive to what is

happening around me as well. And he comes out and he has a legal tablet and a pen, actually a pencil, 2H pencil. He said, put these items in your hand. And he said, I do. I put the pencil and the pad in my hand. And he says, put the pencil to the paper and it will have greater value than it did as separate parts. Now get out of here. And I head to the elevator. You know, I'm pretty embarrassed that I've thrown out. But I do have the pencil on the paper, the pad. And I in the elevator, I thought, oh, he was actually saying something to me. me. He was actually saying, don't go see people like me unless you have something of value. Come to me when you got something of value. And so I started, I became a writer because I couldn't buy books. I didn't have the money to buy a book or treatments or scripts or anything like that. So I started writing them myself. I started manufacturing ideas out of my own imagination and writing at least a page on them. And I do at the time, because I wasn't in the Writers Guild, I do a registered mail to myself, which means it was kind of protected by the postal seal, okay, if you don't

open it. So I had a whole chest full of these that I wrote, and then I sold two of them to the most powerful woman in show business. Her name was Deanne Barclay, and Dan Barclay ran all of NBC. And I had a meeting with this Deanne Barclay in her New Orleans style office. It was very, very cool. in the time where people didn't really have custom offices other than John Callie. And her office was a white wooden plank floor. I remember really well. And she lived on Tiger Tail Year's Street. And I was pitching these two projects to her.

Behind her was also a New Orleans style bird cage, a white wicker bird cage with a bird in it. And the birds chirping away on this little perched on a little stick, a little hanging on them. I pitch it, and she's laughing. She loves these projects so much. She loves them. She goes, I'll do them. They're great. Like that.

She had a face that would light up could get very animated. She's all lit up, and there's a thump behind her. And the thump was the bird. It died. It's just like had a heart attack or something. And just died. And I said, I think your bird might have died. And she turned around, she was like that.

And I thought, oh, shit. She doesn't start crying. And if she cries, she'll forget that she bought my projects. So I'm staring at her while she's... And all of a sudden, she turned it into laughter. She started laughing hysterically. She did smoke pot all day long, too.

I mean, she was a very smart person, but she didn't smoke pot. I didn't know that. But, and she starts laughing, and she said, this is a good omen. And I said, great. And she said, I'm going to be your mentor. I'm buying the projects. I'm your mentor. I'm going to help you place.

the projects at one of the major studios, and she picked someone named Alan Shane, who was president of Warner Brothers Television, and I made a deal at Warner Brothers Television for my two projects. And so then I had a little office and my two projects and some money, and it was a break in my career, huge. I hope you're enjoying this video so far, but before we jump back in, I want to know if you've ever thought about what you need to do to reach a nice level of success in your life. Over the last 25 years, I've been an advisor to more than 50 companies. I've invested nearly 100, including Google Lift and Seagate,

and I also co-founded a company that today is worth more than $15 billion. I've been incredibly blessed in my journey, and at this stage of my life, I want to give back. I want to share the lessons I've learned so you can reach incredible success way faster than I did. In my own journey, I've learned that having the right mentor is a massive advantage to achieving our goals. I'm hugely passionate about mentoring others, and I'm looking for a few hungry entrepreneurs who are excited to take action on their journey to incredible future success.

So if that's you, I've got an opportunity. In the description of this video, there's a link where you can apply to work with me. All you need to do is answer a few simple questions. And if you're a good fit, my team will reach out so we can build a game plan together. All right, now let's get back to the video. You're one of the most successful producers of all time. I think people want to know what does a producer actually do? Number one.

And number two, how important relationships are to being a successful producer? Okay, relationships are secondary. They should always be secondary. The primary thing is you have to own something, as Lou Wassamon said, you have to own an idea, a script, IP. You need to have intellectual property. It can be a book. It can be an outline. It can be anything, an original idea, an idea that is represented in word form that you can evangelize and has value through your ability to evangelize.

Now, if it's so well written and people read it and they go, I'd so. so well-written, you don't need to evangelize it. It generates its own momentum without evangelizing. Then that can happen too. But you have to have that thing. You have to. You can't rely upon trying to get, having a friend, a relationship like, you know, kind of lock you in for a free ride. It were, it's happened, but it's not, it's not, it's not, it doesn't have any integrity. You want to believe in what you're doing. So therefore, if you believe what you're doing, you can evangelize it. And to the best extent, my projects that worked were all built out of my soul, out of my experiences, out of my trauma, or my success, or my ability to experience someone else's success,

or a moment in someone else's life that becomes volcanic in some way. I hope you're enjoying this video so far, but before we jump back in, I want to know if you've ever thought about what you need to do to reach a nice level of success in your life. Over the last 25 years, I've been an advisor to more than 50 companies. I've invested nearly 100, including Google Lift and Seagate, and I also co-founded a company that today is worth more than $15 billion. I've been incredibly blessed in my journey, and at this stage of my life, I want to give back. I want to share the lessons I've learned so you can reach incredible success way faster than I did.

In my own journey, I've learned that having the right mentor is a massive advantage to achieving our goals. I'm hugely passionate about mentoring others. I'm looking for a few hungry entrepreneurs who are excited to take action on their journey to incredible future success. So if that's you, I've got an opportunity. In the description of this video, there's a link where you can apply to work with me. All you need to do is answer a few simple questions. And if you're a good fit, my team will reach out so we can build a game plan together. All right, now let's get back to the video.

Another big break is you now have a deal at Paramount. You're making $100,000 a year, by the way, which is $500,000 a year for those people who don't know. And then you see Ron Howard walking on a cast walkway. Yeah. What happened next? Then I continue the practice of meeting new people. I look at it and I see Ron Howard out of my window.

And I yell, run, run. And he got scared because he's shy and he ran around a corner. and he looted me. And then I called his assistant. I'm the guy that yelled out the window. I'm a real producer. Then Ron Howard said he'd meet with me, and he came to my office.

And he was just the actor and happy days. And he had this aura of goodness about him, just something great. And I thought, I am going to believe in this guy. So without a lot of evidence, I believed in this guy would be an Oscar winning director someday. And he became it. Not a big break was Night Shift.

Yes. So you wrote this. movie night shift, it was a comedy, it did well. And then your next big hit came from an idea you had when you were 25 years old, driving down PCH. And there was a woman, a very interesting woman that was very pretty, the prettiest woman at USA named Maggie Bailey, who, and you were doing something called Zuma Beach at the time. And somehow seven years later, splash happens. Right, which was huge. Which was turned down 500 times.

Yeah. And everyone thought you were absolutely nuts to be shopping that movie around. They would avoid me. They would, here comes that guy with the mermaid idea. And so no one wanted to make it, but no. What's the lesson to everybody out there who you're rejected hundreds of times? Yeah. And you kept going.

It took seven years to make that movie. The lesson is no, the word no, is only a temporary point of view. The other lesson is what you're saying, what people are hearing is probably not what you care about the most. So people were hearing a mermaid, but I was really making a love story about a person played by Tom Hanks that had everything really but love. So it's a person that has this one disability, and the disability is, his inability to have love. That's all I wanted to do. And that's what the nutty, nutty professor was. I mean, in a weird way. That's why he was funny. The nutty professor with Eddie Murphy, when he's fat, I made sure that he was a winner. He was really good at what

he does. He was charming. He was funny. He made Jada Pinkett laugh. Everything was good, except he was obese. And so all he had to do was conquer that one thing that was, you know, destroying his opportunities. Yeah. So people, People are not hearing what you are believing. And so you have to be able to communicate that. I'm doing my answers quickly now. So, yeah. I'm from Detroit.

Yeah, when I was younger, we had fake IDs. You know, today you have fake IDs and kids go to, they put in, you know, there's 50 people. They get them from China. The barcodes work everywhere except Las Vegas. Yeah. They get in the clubs. So we were uncool kids. We drive to Detroit.

We go to 8 Mile to get liquor. 8 Mile is one of my famous, most favorite movies of all time. I mean, I'm from Detroit. And when I go there, I drive by, you know, big sign, and I always put it on my Instagram account. So talk to us briefly, because we're getting toward the end of the show, about Old Dirty Bastard and, you know, how that movie came about. I knew nothing about hip-hop, but I still had the discipline

and meeting one new person every week. I overhear this crazy motherfucker named Old Dirty Bastard. This is like 25 years ago. He's talking to Howard Stern on the radio. I'm in a car. I listen and I think he's insane, but he's saying something. I thought, I'm going to meet that guy. I meet him the next day in front of his studio, which he wouldn't let me into.

I had to stay on the sidewalk. And because everything was all a card. If I wanted to go in the studio, that was something, you know, it was always some kind of trade. I realize when I'm talking to this guy, old dirty bastard, that he is the voice of the street. He is the voice that all kids are listening to right now. Adults didn't know what he was talking about. I didn't know what he was talking about, but 18-year-olds to 18-25 knew it.

They knew. They knew what he was talking about. And I thought I have to learn what this language means. So there's old dirty bastard in the Wu-Tang, then I met this guy Slick Rick with a patch on his eye. Then I met Chuck D from Public Enemy. I met him all. I met I met a lot.

And I thought, I'm going to make a movie that speaks to the culture of hip-hop. Two weeks later, I have one of those curiosity things with Frank Rich, the editor of the New York Times. What are you doing, Brian? I said, I just met this guy named Old Dirty Bastard, and I met a few others. I'm going to, I think this movement is the real thing. It's going to be the culture.

He said, I'm sorry, Brian. It's an inferior subculture that will fade and go away. So I left him, and I thought, he's wrong, and I'm going to prove him wrong. I met Eminem, and we turned this into a movie that gave it much more dignity. And the truth is, is hip hop is still here today. You've made people's careers. Tom Hanks, essentially Meg Ryan, Eminem. Are these people still appreciative of what you've done for them?

I mean, can you call Marshall Mather and said, hey, Marshall, I was on this fucking great podcast. You should do a show? Would he do it? I don't know. Would he do it? No, he wouldn't. He's my boy from Detroit. I know.

I want Marshall on my show. No, he's kind of a to his self-go. guy. Yeah. I mean, he'd be always in the trailer. I mean, he was worked really hard. I will say this. He worked as hard as any professional I've ever worked with in my life. And he was trying, he was being a good dad, great dad, this guy, on time all the time, wrote all the song. He's a master. He act with honesty. His music was so talented. He won an Oscar, the first hip-hop artist to win an Oscar. Yeah. I mean, I don't get to talk to him, but much because he doesn't talk to a lot of people,

but I have tremendous admiration for this guy. I have to tell people how we met. I mean, how we remat. But I have helped a lot of artists. I gave Johnny Depp his first job. I helped Marky Mark become Mark Wahlberg. And they do remember. They're really nice to me.

Yeah, Mark's a great guy. Yeah, they're all decades later, like, very kind. And Tom Hanks, he doesn't need to owe me anything because he's just, he has earned every bit of it. I'm lucky enough to have made six movies with him. I'll just tell what you off. Honestly. Yeah. I mean, we met again in Aspen. Kiyosabi. Kamo Sabi store. There's this cool place on top. It's kind of members only, but if you're a good customer, you're cool, whatever. Yeah. So I walk up there and you get margs up there and I always, you know, stop there at the end of the day. You get two margs, then you go back to the hill, and then you go dinner. And there's Brian Grazer sitting there. I'm like, all right. Well, I've won a Brian on my show for a while. I've admired you for a long time. I went right up to you. You know, today is February.

5th. Oh boy, here we go. Okay. Yeah. And so you wrote letters and I heard you were doing these curiosity conversations a long time ago. I'm curious too. So I wrote you this letter which I sent, which I texted you when I ran into you again this year because it was hard to you were kind enough to say. I was elusive. Yeah, I mean you were. And you know, what are you going to do? I said, hey, I want you do my show. I mean, you could have said no, I'm not doing it, but you were very great. She said yes, you gave me your cell number. You responded right away. Yeah. And then I see you again this year. Yeah.

Over Christmas, we're at the same restaurant. I said, hey, brie, you know, do you remember me? You know, not really. I said, I got the podcast. And then I went back and I had been cleaning on my computer files maybe two months ago. And I saw this letter that I had written you on February 5th, 2003, 26 years ago to the day that we're doing the show. Oh, my God. And here's a letter.

Wow, I didn't know. Nice, yeah. I'm 34 years old. That would be you. Dallas made back in the day. North Res. Wow, really nice. A nice, very nice, stationary. Well, I put on nice stationery. Oh, yeah, that's nice. So, so let me just ask you. Wow, that's crazy. Put you on the spot. Okay. So, um, you asked for meetings, but you didn't take my meeting. Right. So, um. Why would I be so duplicitous? I'm just wondering, you know, there's symmetry. Like, I, I never forgot where I came from, and I'm not saying that you do either. No, I have an answer.

But like you, I mean, I can't take all of me. I mean, LinkedIn, I get 10 messages a day. You made with me? I'll meet with everyone who does the work. You know, kind of like what you said with Lou. And if you're doing all the research, you write me the kind of letter that I wrote people, I will meet with you. But hey, you know, can I have a cup of coffee?

Not going to happen. Right. So what happened with my letter there? On the letter? Well, just like, yeah. Or general. Yeah, just general. Like, why wouldn't you respond to this letter?

Because it's the same thing. I'm not looking for a job. I just want to talk to you. I should have definitely responded. Okay. That I should have done. Okay. Maybe I, do you think I read it?

Well, I don't know if you were, because I never heard back from you. Was it an email? No, I sent me. This is on my letter heard. I mailed it. Oh, I don't know. Okay. That could just be rude.

I don't want to be rude, but there's a least 50-50 chance I never read it, at least. I don't read any emails, by the way. But that was a letter, but so I don't know. There's no excuse for that one. I mean, other than I might not have read it. That's a chance. That's literally 50-50. And then as far as the podcast part of it was,

I really wanted to do it because I really liked you. I was very magnetized to you. But then it came around to my publicity people. There was a period where I didn't want to, no. No, not about you. There was a period of time where I did not want to go on. There were subjects I didn't want to talk about. And so whether it was your podcast or a lesser podcast or bigger, whatever, I just didn't want to talk about certain subject.

We have so much more to talk about. I want to talk about Academy Awards because that's the Holy Grail of your business. Right. It's something everyone dreams about. Yes. And we'll talk about the 68th Academy Award where you have produced Apollo 13 and had nine nominations. Right. And you had this embarrassing moment where you heard the B word.

Sidney Poitier was, you get up all your chair. Yeah. And in front of 35 million people, you've got to sit back down. Yeah. Well, what happened there? What happened there? We did get a lot of Oscar nominations, a lot, and we won some. And basically, we had a lot of momentum.

And prior to that, every person said you're going to win an Oscar. Every person. And Mike Milken came to me, and I didn't know him. And he said, you're going to win, and just please say these eight words. I go, I don't know, you know. But I had every odds makers in Vegas. Everything was where you're winning. So I wrote up a card that I was going to say and put it in my tuxedo.

I was pretty convinced I was going to win, you know, because the 20th anniversary of NASA. There was a lot of things in alignment. And Sidney Portier, I just somehow thought what was coming out of his mouth was Brian. So I got up to go on stage and then I had to sit down. And I looked behind me so I didn't fall down on the chair. you know, missed my chair. And one studio chairman goes, loser, like that.

And so that was kind of uncomfortable. Then I sit down and there's Tom Hanks and Ron Howard and Jim Lovell, and Jim Lovell reaches way over these guys and grabs my wrist and said, I never made it to the moon either. And I thought, wow, that puts it in perspective. I mean, that guy actually went up in the rocket and didn't make it the moon. I just didn't win an Oscar. So I thought, well, I can't feel bad.

myself. So the studio chairman was Harvey Weinstein? No, he was very happy that he didn't win, but it was a different one. It was a different one. Yeah, because I didn't look at him. Okay. That dude's gross. Okay. I just have to ask this question because Harvey was known by everyone in Hollywood to be doing inappropriate things. Yes. I mean, you must have heard it too. I mean, you, you know, you never heard it. No. I mean, I was shocked. I knew not to like him. Okay. I didn't, I thought he was disgusting. Yeah. I've been on airplanes, private jets with him. that weren't his or mine. Yeah.

And sit right across him, I won't look at him. Okay. He's just a guy that I don't want to talk to. There's people you know have bad karma. Yeah. And there's nothing. He always go, I'm going to get you in an Oscar. You know, when I did win an Oscar, he said, I'm going to get you more if you do something

with me. You know, he's just like a pig. I didn't want to, there are a few people I don't hate him. I just don't want to be around him. I just know bad shit's going to come. Six years later, 74th Academy Award comes up. Yeah. And you win for a beautiful mind.

I win. And I watched you get up on stage. That was terrible. Right? And it was you were nervous, you were emotional when you were thanking everybody, you know, Ron in particular. And you said, this is a miracle. Oh.

But it wasn't. I mean. And I remember because I never watched it. Yeah, what's the, I mean, you hear your name. It's the biggest award of the night. You're, you know, you're getting up. Are you just kind of losing all thought? Yeah.

And, you know, you have to, you know, your legs are moving, but you can't really think about what's happening. Yeah, because, and the first thing I said was, I know my, I think I, I remember what I said, I said, I know my nervousness seems imperceptible. Because it was very perceptible, I thought. And I remember Nicole Kidman sitting in the front row, Julia Roberts, all the great girls were in the front row. Julia, Renee Zellweger, Sandy Bullock, Nicole, I knew them all really well. and I remember I think Nicole was lip was mouthing like you can do it Brian you write a speech beforehand I did I mean everyone writes a speech and then what do you do when you don't win you put in the shredder when you get home and it's like embarrassing

go away yes do you practice your speech before you give it I mean you don't practice at all you're just writing down notes I never practice any speeches the Academy Awards there's a seeding thing that's going on and people in Hollywood have massive egos right massive goes. So are people kind of like, okay, I'm in the first row, I'm in the second row, you know, do people kind of look at that? At the Oscars themselves? Yeah, at the Oscars themselves. Because then you're in the fifth row and you're not really a top three

row. Oh, no. Is that a thing? No, it's not a thing. No, it's not. No, because they put the actors, I produced the Oscars one. So, yeah. No, it's not, I don't think it's a thing. I mean, if you're way in the back and you're no man's land, that would not be good. Okay. But if you're in the, you know, top 20 rows, I mean, look, the top 10 roads are the right place to be. When you go further back, it's a little less good. Yeah, sure. I want to talk about one thing that makes people successful and been the core of my success,

which is something called extreme preparation. So when someone prepares maybe one hour for things, I'll prepare 10 for this show 14 hours. Wow. How important has extreme preparation been to your success? Well, it's been very, very, I don't practice before I do something because I like knowing something so well that it feels improvisational. But I know the material really well. I would say that I would test myself prior about the material that I'm going to talk about. And I do believe stories are really important.

So I tell stories and that's unfortunate for you because I went very long today. No, it's not unfortunate because it's been a phenomenal show. Oh, great, thanks. No, that's one of the best shows that I've ever done. Oh, thanks.

You're listening to Part 2 of my incredible interview with Brian Grazer, one of the most successful producers in Hollywood history. If you haven't yet listen to Part 1, be sure to check that one out first. Now, without further ado, here's part 2 of my awesome conversation with Brian. I know we're at the end of our show, and I always conclude my show by something called Fill in the Blank to Excellence. Are you ready to play?

I'll try. The biggest lesson I've learned in my life is... Oh. Oh, God. This is hard. Okay. The biggest lesson I've learned in my life is act immediately. My number one professional goal is to strive for greatness all the time.

My biggest fear is... Original. original originality and greatness. My biggest fear is... Oh, embarrassment. My biggest regret is... Not doing a couple of business deals that I wished I would have done.

Let's go back, because you said something a second ago. Just real quick, I want to talk about box office bombs. We talked a little bit before the show about box office, yeah. About something you're working on. You had a movie last year with Sidney that cost $55 million to make,

and it grossed $2.5 million. They pulled it from Big numbers. Yeah, big numbers. And in Hollywood, you're only as good as your latest film. As an actor, certainly. I mean, not you, but, like, do you know a movie's really shitty before it comes out and it's not going to work? Well, that movie I didn't think was shitty.

I didn't really work on it, actually. But my partner did. It was a favorite project of his. I thought he did an amazing job directing it. He got a tremendous cast. I always felt, and he would tell you, it's a small subject. In other words, I like, if I get to pick, I pick subjects that have a lot of scale and most importantly, sex appeal. And that didn't either have scale or sex appeal. It was like a very interesting and powerful story.

And there's, it's deep about a person that played by Anna DeArmas that plays an imposter really, really, really well. And Sidney, who's earnest and, you know, I think every, and Jade, uh, um, all the actors were good. So, I mean, it's just, it was a small subject. So I had low expectations on its success, but I always have high expectations on quality when Ron directs something. And it was very good,

and people like that part of it. It's just a really small subject. The craziest thing that's happened to my career. Okay, the craziest thing that happened to my career was, I was paying for movies with our own money, and so I could say yes or no without asking anybody. And I appeared to be impulsive, but I'm not impulsive.

at all. I do well act quickly on an opportunity, but I'm not really impulsive on things that require real thought, like saying yes to, you know, $50 million or something. So anyway, this script comes to me. It's called Crybaby, the director of Hairspray, John Waters, was going to direct it, and he wanted Johnny Depp, who I also knew of from 21 Jump Street, and I read this script while I'm on an exercise bike. I'm really riveted. I think it's really hip. I think it's going to be grease, like blow up, be like a massive hit. So I say yes on the spot. I'm pay or playing everybody. I pay her to play the director. I pay her to play the whole movie. I pay her to play Johnny Depp, who's never acted in a feature film, and I'm now making the movie. The movie

comes out. It's opening night is Friday night, and Ron, I say to Ron, let's go to it. We get, have a couple of sockies after a little sushi, and we go into the Afco Cinema. It's an 800-seat theater, there's seven people in the theater, seven. We got so drunk that, because we couldn't, it was so mentally abusive, like to see that, like not one person. And then for Ron, it was the craziest because he had this mustache that he wouldn't ever shave off.

And I knew Andy Warhol really well. And I said, and Andy said to me, your partner, Ron Howard's an American icon. And I go, I know he is. He said if he saves, if he allows me to shave his mustache off, I will do before and after, and I'll give him the originals. Little did Ron know they'd be worth about $250 million today. But he said, Ron goes, no, I don't want to shave my mustache off. I don't want to do that.

No. Ron goes to my house. We watch a drugstore cowboy twice. It's very dark movie. We get drunker and drunker. He goes to the LAX. He wanders around, kind of lost in the LAX terminal. And he goes to the bathroom.

and he gets his shaver and he just decides to shave his mustache off because he's drunk. And he could have done it for Andy for $250 million. Instead, he just does it because he had nothing to do with the airport while he's waiting for the red eye. So, I mean, that was kind of crazy. I was back when he was flying commercial. Probably changed at some point. Yeah, that's funny. Yeah.

I mean, I've had a lot of craziest things. I've had movies that have turned into parties. I've had I loved American gangster. because so many crazy things came out of that. But I can't really say what they are. Yeah. Because they involve... People.

Yeah, people. Yeah, people. Yeah, people. The best advice I've ever received is... Do what's inevitable. The best movie of all time is. I like Godfather, too, and Citizen Kane. The best actor I've ever worked with is...

I can't say one. I have to say five. Okay. Eddie Murphy, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington. Oh, I did work with Leo DiCaprio. He's way in there. Way in there. Okay, let me put you on the spot on the flip side, which I'd love you to answer.

The worst actor. Yeah, Leo DiCaprio is really, really, really good. He played J. Edgar Hoover in a movie that I did with Clint Eastwood directed it. I never saw any actor so capable of the commitment to character and words that he could say, giant mouthful, fullfuls of words that are so powerful and convincing. He's kind of a savant, I think. The worst actor I've ever worked with is. Oh, I can't do that.

I've had a lot of those. I didn't think you were going to answer that one. Yeah, no way. The one actor I've always wanted to work with, but haven't is. There's some, I can't say, I don't know, these are too hard. Because there's a lot of actors I want. work with I want to work with Zendaya. I want to work, I mean, that are around right now, that I haven't ever worked. I never worked with the Zendaya, and I would really like to. I think she's sharp, you know,

I mean, I think she's, she's hip and magical, you know. Oh, I've certainly not worked with Timothy Chalamein. Guys, really, really good. He's all the rage right now. He is, but he's so good. He was good in, he's so good in everything. The one thing I've dreamt about doing for a long time, but haven't is. Professionally? being a day? Going on a psychedelic trip in a really in great environment. I've never done that.

I've never done any psychedelics in my life. I'm very scared of that, but I'm very, very curious about it. So if I were in the Amazon or something, which I've been invited to to do that, I don't think I have the courage to go and do it, but I would like to have the courage to do it and be safe.

If I could invent one thing in the world, it would be peace. If I could go back in time, I give my 21-year-old self one piece of advice it would be. Don't worry so much. If you could be one person in the world, who would it be? What is living today, you mean? We could go living and we could go, let's go living and deceased.

Deceased, more recent would be somebody like Winston Churchill. He was pretty hip. He could drink. He could, he was brave. He changed a nation. I mean, yeah, I think he's quite remarkable. There's so many people I think are quite remarkable. I think Jeff Bezos is really remarkable.

He's a really good friend, and he's got a great soul. Not only brilliant, beyond belief, he's a kind human being. He has an exceptional life, and he's an exceptional person. The one person who you haven't met who you would like to meet today, who's alive. I haven't met the new pope, and I really would like to meet the new pope. If you were president of the United States today, the first thing you would do is... There's so many things. Even the playing field.

If you were on your deathbed and had... minute to live and you were surrounded by that bed by Veronica and your four children. What's the one piece of advice you would give them? Well, that's pretty emotional. I guess that I'll be okay and so will you. The one question you wish I'd asked you. Oh God, you're so difficult. You're so hard. It probably would have to do with the best parts of my creative process of creating things, building something from nothing. I mean, writers start with that, but I build whole movies sometimes, just from nothing. So give us, give us, I think I'm

kind and I think I'm able to, I think I make a lot of mistakes with language and syntax, but I think people feel that I have a good heart and that my mistakes are just goofy mistakes, you know, like I say things sometimes. I try to live a life unedited for that most part, protective of people, but unedited, truthful, truthful to my own truth, my own soul. I believe in soul. I believe there's something greater than ourselves. And I believe in a global collective consciousness. We live in a very small town, as you know, a lot of cattyness. Jealousy.

Jealousy. You're one of these guys that no one says a bad word about. Everyone likes. You know, you are kind. And so it did take us 23 years to sit down together. And I'm grateful that you came and you followed up. And I want all the people out there to know, if you want something, go after it. Don't be afraid to go up to people like Brian Grazer.

Things happen that way. and that's how people get ahead, and that's one of the things that makes people successful. Just go do it. Just go do it, yeah. I too have a piece of art by, I think he's name is Jeffrey Deich, right? Yeah, so Jeffrey was the former... Oh, not Jeffrey Deich.

I have a piece of... Anyway, it says now. It's mirrors. It weighed 400 pounds. Oh, it's by... Did you buy it at 303 Gallery? He lives in Venice, actually. this this he he he he does the mirror uh words

right they're giant yeah it says that mine says now i bought it like i walked in reagan gallery yeah to reagan gallery she had an opening judith ragan judeith ragan yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah doug aiken dog aiken we did it yeah yeah okay um and i saw these giant words and i said i want it and then i had to race to the chinese for a premiere that i of my one of my movies, but I saw it and bought it that's on the spot. And then they said, we want to install it? They said, it weighs 400 pounds. I happened to be in Paris, meeting with Bernard Arnaud in his office, who knows a lot about art. And I said something like, have you ever heard of Doug Aiken? He goes, oh, I like his work. I said, we'll redo the wall.

Because I had to, like, take the wall down and put a new wall in for these letters. Yeah. And I wasn't going to do that, but he said, no, I, I'm not. I'm not. heard of him, I probably wouldn't, I might not have bought it. Or if he said, I don't know if I like that, his work. But he goes, oh, I like it. And I thought that was a tipping point moment. I go by tipping point moments all of the time of my life. I had a house in Hawaii on the North Shore. I loved it. 15 years. I had a tipping point moment. I sold it that day. Like the day I felt had that feeling. I saw Doug Aiken's work at Three or Free Gallery in New York. They had a piece. I saw it. And then I said, okay, I was born in 1968. So he did

1968 and like, oh, yeah, I think about it. It was very expensive. It was $250,000. Wow. I didn't buy it. And then I'm at Tony Prisker's house one day. And I walk into his, you know, huge room there and there it is on the wall. Wow, really? Oh, gosh, you know, I've kind of like it. I kind of like it. I've done that too. I kind of like it. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. I've been a huge fan of years for a long time. Congrats on all your success. You're truly incredible person. So thank you. Wow, thanks. That's so kind of you. You had good questions. Those are hard to be. I cannot believe it. You are literally the most prepared person with the details of the subject that you're going to speak with.

I mean, I've never been asked these questions before. They're truly so arresting and original that they kind of blow my mind. I can't wait to watch more episodes of your show. That's awesome. Thank you for that. Thank you for that compliment.