Office Ladies - Clark Duke is Back!

Episode Date: October 14, 2026

This week on Office Ladies 6.0, Jenna and Angela welcome back Office favorite Clark Duke to the studio! The trio kicks off the show with a chit-chat discussion inspired by a local Jaws remake, on which films they'd love to recreate in their own hometowns. Then, Clark dives into his new holiday heist-comedy film, Stranglehold, reflecting on its six-year journey, working with The Office’s Jake Lacy, and casting his own family in the film. Along the way, Clark answers pressing Office questions about Jan, powerpoint skills, and Movember mustaches. So grab your popcorn, fire up your fax machines... and enjoy! Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question for Around the Town, Chit Chat, and Second Drink favorite moment: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPodFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on TikTok 

I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together and we're best friends. And now we're doing the ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you. Each week we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews behind the scenes details and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Lady 6.0. That music was rousing. Hey!

It's Clark Duke back in the studio with us, you guys. This is pretty cool. Thank you for having me. You're looking really sharp. Thank you. You have, like, great hair. It's doing a swoop. It's got a lot of volume today.

It does. Yeah, I just got it cut yesterday, so you never know. You know, that next day, it's a total crapshoot. Oh. So I'm happy that this worked out. You got good day two hair going. But you know what I mean? Usually it takes a couple weeks to kind of really be like peak haircut.

To settle in. For your haircut to settle in. Exactly. The Botox and the haircut. They need time. They need a couple weeks. They need a little bit. Listen, I want you to know, people love.

loved your episode the last time you were on. Yeah? Oh, yeah. I have some comments. I thought I'd share. What do you guys think? Ready? I hope they're mean.

They are not mean. Okay. And one might be a little snarky, but it's not at you. So don't worry. First of all, people had this to say. Clark looks exactly the same. Great. Many people said that.

You're like defying age and whatnot. And folks love the episode. One person said, that was one of my favorite episodes today. What an absolute treat. Wow. Yeah. I didn't know my mom had an account to leave comments. I appreciate her.

Okay. How about this one? I listened to this today, and Clark may be your best guest yet. The three of you lightened the mood so much while I was stuck in traffic. Great episode. Has anyone pitched like a permanent third chair position? This is what's happening. Look in all caps.

Why has he not aged? Okay. I'm actually 58. People have no idea. People have no idea. You're a vampire. I'm full of preservatives. And then you guys, people thought you looked fabulous.

Okay, we've already said that. Jenna, people went on and on about your hairstyle. You got red flames. And then this one gal had this to say. I love that Angela looks like the county just took away two sacks worth of her cats. Did you look sad in the photo? I went to the picture, and this was a day I drove to work with Westwood. wet hair. And you know what? You know what? That person isn't wrong. I do look like the county took

away my cats. Oh, lady, I just look at it. I just look at it. Maybe I should have, maybe I should have blowdried my hair. Lastly, I'll end on this. This is from Lynn K. who said, this was one of the best interviews on the show. I listened to it twice while on the road for work. Oh. So, Clark, welcome back. Welcome back. Thank you. I hope to not disappoint. K on this one. I don't think you will. I think we're up to a solid start. A lot of time left.

A lot of game left. It's true. It's true. Angela, you've been saving something fun. I'm very excited to finally hear about it. You wanted to share it when Clark was here. I did. Okay.

So, Clark, you know, we've been starting the show with a chit chat. And we usually get a suggestion from a listener for our chit chat. But Angela has a suggestion today. Yeah. And I really wanted to do it today, Clark, with you here, since we're going to be talking about your film and filmmaking. So this is a little bit of an inspo for the chit-chat question of the day. But first, I want to give you guys some backstory.

Okay, so one of my tennis gals, Fran Cette, stay with me, Clark. Francette was telling me this story about her brother-in-law, Ralph, and he and his pals from growing up, they're like childhood friends. They loved the movie Jaws growing up. And they decided to do a shot-by-shot remake. of the movie Jaws. They filmed it in their hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts. It took them years to complete this, you guys.

And their version is titled Quincy Jaws, maybe for legal reasons. Not sure, but it's called Quincy Jaws. Are you familiar with this? I am familiar with this. You are? I still you nodding. Okay. All right.

So I told Fransette I wanted to share about this. She said they're so excited. And I found an interview that they did on a local station talking about their journey of making this movie. I have two clips I want to share with you guys. So this is filmmaker, Tim Dugust and Ralph Richardson with Eileen Mayhar on the Milton Access TV show talking about their movie. And this first clip is them saying how it all came about. Are you guys all from Quincy, who are you? Yes. All right. So tell me about it. Whose idea was it? Growing up, like, we all fell in love with the film that just came up when we were all like 10, 11 years old.

We just fell in love with it. I personally, like, loved it. I started doing, like, Jaws parties and Jaws fests. That's how the whole thing. So what would the Jaws party be? We would just watch the movie. I'd do trivia, and, like, I'd do $100 to who could answer the trivia, but everybody could answer it because everybody was just a Jaws junkie.

Yeah. And we started in local bars, bus trips, boat cruises. It just got big. I did it for maybe, I don't know, maybe six or seven years. The last one I had was in 2016, and the director, Rob LaMonica, who would place Quint, you know, we were all feeling pretty good. He says, we're going to start filming. We're going to start filming this movie.

And in the beginning, I was like, ah, yeah, you're just like in the back of my mind. It sounded like just talk. Yeah, it was just talked from drinking. Yeah, it exploded. That summer took off. Okay. I started with Jaws parties. Jaws potty's.

But then it was just talk from drinking. Yeah. It was just talk from drinking. We've all been there. We've all been there. Yeah. And then they committed to it, you guys. It took them so long to make this.

And I just sort of loved the spirit of that. They didn't give up. And I need you to hear how long it took them all together. Again, it took about two years to film. No, it took like seven years to film in a year to edit. So like in those seven years, we would go back and be like like the Indianapolis scene for

instance, right? So we recorded a lot of it in like in one take and then it would be like oh well we forgot this pot like a year later we could go back and do that So you were very strict about absolutely following scene by scene you wanted every scene in the film There were certain things you know

as Jaws fans we really wanted to say and do we missed a lot of stuff too but again like I said we watched it after We're like, oh, you know, we forgot. Or like, oh, no, there's a light on in the back. Like, you know what I mean? Then you would have to stop.

And here we are, you know, all fathers of kids going to hockey or something like that. So sometimes we wouldn't get together for another three months or two months. Like, oh, I'm coming. I can't make it. Okay. So he mentions that it might be a year later that they realized they forgot a shot. And he said that- That's not even that crazy, honestly.

Really? I mean, yeah. As a filmmaker. Totally. There's a scene in Stranglehold that we shot a year later in my garage. Really? Yeah.

I was just like, I just came up with an idea. I was like, man, I really wish I had this here. And then I was just like, all right, let's just do it. Have you seen this Jaws? I have, okay, I'm going to get to it.

Have you seen it? No. I haven't seen it either. I remember this story, though. Yeah. But I have not seen the actual film. Of this town of people who recreated it. That's super fun.

It just fucking loves Jaws. You know, we just, we love getting together, talking about Jaws. Talking about Jaws. Mark Wahlberg. They also had to make all the props themselves, you guys. And so it would be like, who has a boat? Well, so-and-so has a boat.

So we'll go film on his boat. We're in New England. Everybody's got a boat. Everyone's got a boat. And then, like, they said they would look back at footage and be like, remember you had a beard? Because it'd be like a year later. And then they'd be like, well, I don't have a beard now or it'd be three months later.

So he said sometimes they would just like tape hair under their face or use a Sharpie. So as you watch the movie, you might like clock some hair in different spots. Some continuity issues. Some continuity issues. They also had to make a giant shark head that, like, lived in one of their garages for, like, so long. And my friend, Frinsette sent me a picture. Like, there's no putting a car in there. It's just a massive shark head.

I guess the director, Rob LaMonica, really took that on and made it out of all kinds of different stuff. But you guys, I have seen it. My friend, Francette had a Jaws potty, and she invited everybody. And I saw Quincy Jaws. I took my kids to this, like, viewing party. It was in her backyard. It's amazing. And we watched the original, and then we watch theirs.

And we're like, pretty damn good. They fucking crushed it. Wait, is your friend, did I hear? This is her brother-in-law, Ralph. Her brother-in-law is the guy? Yeah, the two guys. But he's one of the makers of the- Wow.

Yes, is her brother-in-law. And this is their hometown. Yeah. So it's a big deal. And I am going to share in our Insta stories where you can watch Quincy Jaws. They have a website. And the cool thing is, you guys, on their website, you can find the movie and watch it.

They also have T-shirts, and all the proceeds are helping raise funds for disabled vets. And it's really cool. So it's such a heartfelt thing, though, to see this community of people and childhood friends come together and start out on this journey as filmmakers and finish it, you know? Yeah. And not get sued by Steven Spielberg or Universal. Let's hope not. But this brings us to our chit-chat question of the day, which is, if there is a movie that you're a fan of, that you could film with your friends and do a shot-by-shot remake of, what would it be? Whoa.

This is open to the whole room, everybody. We have Jordan with us today. This is a tricky proposition, because, I mean, you're kind of, I feel like you're set, like, it's really, like, what's the, didn't Gus fans' Ant Rememake Psych? And everybody really hated it. Like, this is a tricky proposition. This is for your friends, though. Maybe not on a public platform. But most of my friends are actors.

Yeah. Like, does it have to be a shot for shot or can it be like an interpretation like a version? Because that happens a lot is really interesting. But you're saying I'm going to do a shot for shot? Yeah, like you're a super fan and you want to do a shot for shot remake. And it can take you eight years. Casino. I would do casino.

Oh, casino. Wow, that is really ambitious. Yeah, I don't know how we're going to do it. I mean, it's going to be hard. Okay. I'm just going to film it in the local LA casino, like commerce and Hollywood Park and stuff. Yeah. Well, that's part of it. Yeah, Morongo. Whatever you can find. We're going to do it all in Morongo.

You have to use your... My casino is set out of Marongo the whole thing. Oh, you know what? I think this is a great, like, add-on, which is you have to do it in your hometown. Oh, wow. Okay. And that might change. And that could be L.A. No, but that could be L.A. Kern, okay. Yeah. That's still going to be hard, though. That might change my... You know what? I would do... If it's in L. I would do The Long Goodbye. What is The Long Goodbye? Remind me.

It's a Raymond Chandler novel, and they made a version in like the 40s or 50s, and Robert Altman did his version in the 70s. It's an Elliott Gold movie. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's really great. Okay. Detective movie.

I've never seen it. It's great. Highly recommend. Highly recommend. Okay. Yeah. All right. Jordan, I'm going to put on my headphones.

So with the change of the hometown, my hometown is Worcester, Massachusetts. My movie has to be a league of their own. Oh, that's a great one. That's a really good one. And that'd be fun to do with your friends, too. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I picked Long Goodbye because it's mostly the one guy, and I'd seem like doable.

Oh. It seemed more feasible. This is a true filmmaker brain. Yeah, I'm just thinking logistics, yeah. Yeah, you are. I'm not really in the spirit of the fun of the game. Yeah. Jenna, what about you?

I think I would have to do either Greece or Grease 2. Wow. Which, Greece 2, as we know, because we, broke it down, it opens with like a seven-minute dance routine. With hundreds of people. So I'm not really sure how I'm accomplishing that. I wasn't thinking practically like you are, Clark. But it's still just people. It's people. It's not special effects. That's right. Who is the lead in Greece, too? Michelle Pfeiffer. That's what I thought. Yeah. Yeah. But you would have to figure out how you're going to do the car that floats away and all that

business. We'll figure that out. That's at the end of Greece. That's right. Yeah. Grease too has the crazy, like, the motorcycle dream sequence and the jumping of the motorcycle and all that. Angela, what are you remaking? Well, I wasn't thinking with my filmmaker brain, Clark, because I would do Pride and Prejudice. Oh. It's like my favorite movie. In Texas? Would you film Pride and Prejudice in your hometown?

In Archer City? In Archer City. I mean, that's a version I'd like to see. Well, you know, the last picture show was filmed in Archer City, and so was Texasville. Mm-hmm. Wow. Larry McMurtry. Yeah.

Peter Bodanovich was there. Civil Shepherd. I got to meet Bogdanovich a handful of times and talk to him a little bit. It was so awesome because I'm a huge fan. Yeah. Does it look like the last picture show still? Yeah. Pretty much.

Pretty much, yeah. That doesn't really change much. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of crazy. I'll show you a picture later. Okay. So Pride and Prejudice, but I would either do it in Archer City, Texas, or the San Fernando Valley.

I'm 100% making Greece too in St. Louis, Missouri, my hometown. Yeah. I think it will support it well. And I think I need to get all the people that I did my high school musicals with. Oh, that'd be fun. And Eric's to come and fill in the background. I think it'd be good for morale for the city since they lost the Rams. You know, I think it would be kind of a good thing for the community.

It's what they've been waiting for. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of the elephant in the room. I'm glad you finally are talking about it. Thank you. Matt, did you want to want to watch? way in virtually?

Jenna, I'm right there with you with Greece. No way! I'd have to take a different one. I'd have to do Greece one. I'm not as familiar as you are with two. Well, I think you should do grease and I'll do Greece too. Oh, perfect. I mean, that just...

It makes sense. You can shoot them both at once, like Pearl and the X or whatever. Yeah. All right, you guys, well, I'll see you all in eight years for our screening. Yes. These movies. Honestly, that's not even that crazy a timeline for an indie film. Oh, my gosh.

Hey, listen, it's true. And we're going to take a break and we're going to come back and we're going to talk about your film. Stranglehold. I'm sorry. It's okay. Your film, as soon as it came out of my mouth, I was like, I just said it wrong. Maybe it's better. There's still time. Strangehold. It does have a strange hold on me. I'm not going to lie. It has had a strange hold on me since I watched it. That's what I want. Stranglehold, but it's true. I mean, how long did it take you to make stranglehold? A long time.

From writing on the page until now. Oh, I mean, since like 2020 because the COVID happened. And, you know, I don't know if the listeners know, COVID lasted about eight years out here in L.A. And then the strikes. And then I got it off the ground again. And then the strikes happened over like 18 months long. And then we finally shot it. And then, you know, the movie said at Christmas, so it had to come out at like fall minimum.

It can't come out in like February. Yeah. So we missed like last Christmas. So, yeah, it's been like six years. Yeah. So, I mean, me and the Jaws guy, remake Jaws, not Spielberg. Quincy, Quincy Jaws. Quincy Jaws.

Yeah, me and Quincy Jaws are kind of on similar timelines here, sadly. You are. Yeah. The next one I'm going to speed up. God willing, the next one, yeah. Well, yeah, let's knock on wood and all the things that you don't have to do with strikes and global. Yeah, acts of God. Yeah, acts of God.

All right, let's take a break. We're going to come back. We're going to hear more about it. Do you ever wish you could ask nosy questions about people's money? I have $729.71 cents in my bank account. We bought, you know, a $1.3 million house on a $350,000. dollar income. On the podcast, What We Spend, we ask those questions.

It's a show about money and all the feelings that come with spending it. I want to be the kind of person who can just take care of the people in my life. Listen to What We Spend, an Odyssey Original, available now wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we are back with fabulous filmmaker, Clark Duke, our friend, and we're going to talk about your movie Stranglehold that we both got to see. Yeah. And now everyone can watch it because of that. It's out. Yes, it is available everywhere you can buy movies, VOD, and on demand.

So exciting. And you said it took six years. So this is like a big moment for you. Yeah. I mean, it shouldn't have taken six years. But yeah, between the COVID and the strikes and the, yeah, the holiday delays of it all. It took a while. Clark, I really enjoyed this movie. It stars our office friend, Jake Lacey. Yeah. In a really amazing role. And he's really good in it. He plays a drunk, barely employed. Guy. Ex-military-ish. Yep.

Yeah. I loved getting into your mind as I was watching this movie. Like, it was very fascinating to me. And this movie does a lot of twists and turns. It keeps you on your toes. I did not know who was going to, quote-unquote, win it all. Yeah. Good.

But also, Ashley Benson, she plays the female lead. She plays a stripper. Yep. She's a mom. She really needs medicine for her daughter. they don't have the money. She's a reluctant stripper, though. She doesn't really want to be there.

She has dreams of California. She has dreams, yeah, but nobody, like, you know, makes it work. I mean, the interesting stuff thematically to me is just, like, when she's watching, seeing her watch stuff on social media and how she's, like, influenced by, you know, the kind of, like, more glamorous, like, people she's seeing their Christmas on her phone. Yeah. Because that flattening out effect that, like, that the internet has had on. You know, because I remember, like, when I was in, like, high school in Arkansas,

there was still kind of, like, regional culture. And I feel like now with social media, that doesn't really exist anymore. I mean, it's really, like, more of a monoculture than ever. It's, like, it's weird because there's some, like, it's, like, the Super Bowl is the only thing everybody watches still and everything's very, like, divvied up. But there's at the same time, it flattened everything out. So, like, it was interesting to me that, you know,

these people in these rural places are still watching the same content as these, like, people in West Hollywood. Yeah. And what does that do to your psyche? Right. And Christmas heightens everything. The movie's set at Christmas time. It is.

Yeah. Yeah, Christmas makes everybody bonkers. Right, because it's like you want to make sure you get everyone the great gifts and you decorate and you look around. You're like, oh, our stuff is all crap. You're comparing your life to other people's lives more than ever at Christmas. You know, if you're lonely, it heightens that. If you're sad, it heightens that. If you're desperate, it heightens that.

If you want to rob a strip club, it heightens that. Which brings us to you. I'm not a spoiler. That's the premise of the movie. Okay, okay. Yeah. Well, why don't you, you'll do a better job of explaining the premise of the movie. Give it to us.

I mean, you've basically already done it, but it's about a stripper who, at Christmas time, down on her luck, tired of her life, decides to rob the strip club she works out with the help of her former military husband who was played by the offices, Jake Lacey, who really does do just an awesome job of the movie. Like, he's so fun. Your cast is phenomenal. You have Justin Long. That performance was amazing.

When he first came on screen, it took me a minute. And then I realized who it was. Same. And then also you have Ron Pearlman, which is amazing, and Martin Fisher. I mean, I could go on and on. This cast is really good. Yeah, I want to shout out two of the other women in the movie that blew me away, who are Cody Kennedy and El King.

Just great performances by all the women in this film. I was also rooting for the gal with the neck brace. She's really who I'm rooting for. That's El King. Do you guys know, El King's a big country music superstar? Yeah. Do you guys know her? I don't.

I knew her name. She's awesome. Yeah, but I didn't realize she asked. She really hasn't before. I just asked her out of the blue. It just jumped out at me. It's like, I just had a feeling. I was really rooting for her.

We also want to shout out Angela Duke as the pharmacist because she crushed it. So that was all improv, by the way. No way. Yeah. Stop it. That was only scripted as one line. And my mom goes, can I try something? And I go, you can do anything you want?

Yeah, I'll put two cameras up and Jake will keep up. Her on the phone? Her on the phone was all improv? Whole thing. No, that's scripted. Wow. I just said do anything you want, I'm going to put two cameras up so you can talk over each other, whatever.

And I was like, Jake will keep up with whatever you do. She takes multiple phone calls and puts people on hold. Yeah. She must have had a whole vision for her character. She did, yeah. Is your mom an actress? Not professionally, but she is SAG eligible now, having been in my two films. I feel like you have to cast her mom in every movie you make.

Yeah, the next one I don't know if there's a part for her, but I agree. She's also good. She's really good. Before I knew it was your mom, we traded messages. I was like, I love the pharmacist lady. That's great. And then the Juno wrote a note. Oh, it says her name's Angela Duke.

I wonder if there are any relation. And then I'm like, it's his mom. Yeah. Yeah. And then your brother's in the movie as well. He is. And you co-wrote it with your brother. So what's it like working with your family members like that?

It's nice. You know, it's interesting. I mean, the relationship with my brother has been really great and kind of started during COVID. Like, right when COVID started, I had just rented these office spaces for us. So me and him and his friend and writing partner from College, Billington, who wrote the movie with us, just kind of started getting together every day for, like, you know, a year or whatever, and just, like, we banged out, like, multiple scripts. So now we kind of had this backlog of scripts, which is great.

But it was good. It was, like, the intensity of it and just the, like, the routine of it kind of gave me a work ethic and, like, a type of approach to the writing that I had not had before of just kind of being, like, workman-like and job-like about it. And nobody will be more honest with you or brutal with you than your brother. Right. Like, if it sucks, he's going to tell you it sucks. And if it's good, he's going to tell you it's good.

And you can believe it because he just told you you suck. Right, right. So, yeah, it's been a really great, rewarding creative partnership we've had. And yeah, he's going to be in the next one we co-wrote and he's going to be in. That's so great. Now, we should say you are not in this movie, but you also are. Your Instagram is in it. Yeah, that's my cameo in the films is Jake's character DMs me on Instagram.

Yeah, he's the real-life Clark. He's the real, yeah, the meta real-life Clark Duke. And he's asking for money. That was based on a real DM I got. I was going to ask you about that. Have you ever received a DM like that? I have. I have received that DM, including the angry, like, follow-up ones.

Really? Yeah. This is what I just got on Instagram. Because I never had Instagram until, like, like, 2020, when I made the first movie, Arkansas, and they asked me Lionsgate. Because I didn't know. I just wasn't that interested. But they asked me to get one, so I did.

And, you know, you just, you get this inbox full of just, like. A lot, a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot. You get crazy, you get all kinds of stuff. You know, most people are really nice. Yeah. But for the most part, I think, like, that's bad for you, too.

So I try to just avoid, like, all of it. Because I think the really complimentary stuff is probably as unhealthy as the really mean stuff. Yeah. But, yeah, that was all, that was based on a real deal. My God. I kept thinking that at the very end of the movie that his phone was going to light up and you would have sent him like $1,000. And then, and then, I waited all the way to the end of the credits. I know.

And then, and then after the credits, there is a phone. And I was like, and I said, Jenna, that's it here. And then, but it was, he was cheating the guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that may, yeah, that, yours may be better, to be honest. I think your pitch may be better. Oh, well. There's nothing I can do about it now, but that's a good one. Call me next. Yeah. Yeah. I will.

We did. We were like, it's going to pay off. It's going to pay off. And Jenna was like, I don't think. And then I was like, no, there's a phone. There's a phone. We're like training messages. Well, I feel like, I mean, I feel like we close that storyline because that's sort of like the final, you know, that rejection that Tim gets from Clark Duke leaving him on red.

Yes. Pushes him over the head. It does. And a lot of alcohol. He's like, no one cares about us. It's like, I don't feel seen. Yeah. Seen but not seen.

So I feel like it would have been overkill to it. But no, that would have worked. That would have worked. To be fair, it would have been a little. little bit of a cheap joke. I'm on the fence. You're on the fence about it. I'm 50-50. Years may be better. Yeah. You know what? What would Ralph and Tim say? They'd say, go back. Let's reshoot, yeah. It's a phone in a field. Honestly, I shot that phone shot in my yard. We built a fire and wafted it, and I said to try and put it up and film that. Here in L.A.?

Yeah, where did you film? We did that in Arkansas over Christmas. I shot a lot of stuff in the movie. I shot all the driving stuff, most of the exteriors, and like set up, like, establishing shots. That opening shot when she's driving, I was like, that's in the south. That's really, yeah. You know what? I saw a dollar general. Yeah, that's all in Arkansas. That was, I just went home at Christmas and took a camera.

Yeah. And my mom was driving around with me filming out the window. Yeah. That's so great. And then we must get such a kick out of all this. I think so. I think so. Well, where did you film then, like, the bulk of the film, like the, the, the, the,

strip club, for example, so much of the story happens there. You have to really destroy it. Was that a set or was that a place? That was a real strip club in rural New Jersey, which I had never been to rural New Jersey, and it's like being in the South. It's wild. Like I... Very wooded. No, I had no idea. You could be like an hour. I mean, yeah, I know like the upstate New York is like rural, but like this felt like, yeah, it felt like the South. It was interesting. Yeah. But, you know, for tax reasons, we had to go shoot New Jersey. Mm-hmm. I had a... question about there is, I don't know if you call it a stunt or a gag, but there are some intestines.

Yeah. Those are great. They were so gruesome. I was like, oh my God. That was a surprise. That was really well done. I'm not going to lie. Those surprised me, like the special effects makeup lady, when she showed up on those on set

and showed to me, I burst out laughing because I was like, this is so much more gruesome than I I expected. Yeah, I did not expect them to be that gruesome either. It really made me laugh. Well, I mean, applause for your, like, the makeup and everything. Yeah, yeah. I was like, wow, I thought that had to have cost so much money. I don't think so.

I think that was just like skill and craft. Skill and craft. Yeah. But no, those look those, I agree. Those look real good. So we should mention this as rated R to our listeners, right? Yeah. It's for mature audiences.

It's for mature audiences. Yeah. Who are some of your influences as a filmmaker? I mean, my favorite is, like Robert Altman, who like the Long Goodbye. Stephen Soderberg is probably my favorite, like, current living filmmaker. The guy that I would most like to emulate, like, career-wise, just as far as, like, just like the chances he takes and the different genres and the way that he does everything himself,

the editing. And, yeah, Sean Baker, a big fan, and I'm friendly with a little bit. He's a really nice guy, too. Yeah, those are probably my two favorite current guys. But at all time, I would say, Cohen Brothers, Scorsese, Altman. What are you hoping people will take away? from this film. I know that's a question. My husband's a filmmaker and people always ask him that question. But I think when you set out to tell a story, you do hope that you're communicating something.

Even if the takeaway is just, I gave people 90 minutes of great entertainment and laughs. But like, where are you coming from with this movie? I think like the common thread between this movie and my first movie, and I kind of didn't realize this to like after the fact, but I think they're both kind of about like the state of the American dream or like the death of the American dream. and like specifically what that is like for younger people in the South, like watching them back, it seemed like it struck me that like Arkansas was very much a movie about millennials, and this feels like a movie about Gen Z and just like kind of their like economic outlook in this this microcosm of a strip club.

But yeah, I mean, you know, the point of the movies to me, like the highest is in the action, the explosions is not the interesting part. The interesting part is for me the dialogue that you have from the characters like Ron Perlman's character and Jake's character, like, kind of, like, talking about their worldviews, because I feel like they're both kind of guys that are probably, like, probably pretty similar, like, you know, like politically, ideologically, but just because of the generation difference coming at it from really different places. So I don't know if I answered your question at all. I think, you did very much answer my question.

You know, I also just, I want them, it's fun for me to make, and for my brother to just write about, like, you know, real people and places in a place we know, because, I mean, there's really, like, Besides, like, Billy Bob, I don't know of anybody made a bunch of movies set in Arkansas, you know, or the middle of the country in general. Like, it's like, it's kind of, I don't know, I think pretty fertile ground. I mean, I like being able to make something that's sort of laughing with the South and not at it, too. Like, like, it's, you know, it's not, like, I'm certainly not, like, glorifying really any of the characters in the movie. But you're also, I think, I hope, like, very sympathetic and with the characters and understanding of the character.

I mean, like, I always go back to, like, my North Star, and this was back to, like, Like you're like, who are my influence? I would say the Sopranos is probably like my biggest, like the most influential, like, thing in like film or TV to me. Just because, you know, you're like always with Tony. Like no matter what he does. Like, I never once thought of him as like a villain. And like that's a really great place to attack a character from.

And I try to do that. Like, I mean, for me, like, I know like in Stranglehold, you know, Ron Perlman's character is supposed to be the, you know, I guess the villain or like the antagonist or something. But he kind of makes more sense than they do. like from his point of view, he's way more sympathetic than they are. Like they're robbing him, you know? Yeah.

So I like that kind of stuff. I found myself wanting him to make it. Yeah, me too. Good. You know, so I think that's how I feel about Tony Soprano when you talk about Tony. Yeah. Like, I want to believe my own ending, you know, of that series. Yeah.

I like the complicated characters. Yeah. They're all really flawed. And I love what you said about filming in the middle of America, too, because there's some great filmmakers out of Texas and different. places, obviously, in the South. But my favorite thing is when they show that part of their life and not like a Hollywood version of it, if that makes sense. Yeah, totally. I love that too. Well, listen, the movie is really fantastic. I really loved it. Yes. Congratulations, Clark.

Thank you. All right. Well, why don't we take a quick break? And we will be back with some The Office Talk. Yeah, I got a few questions. Yeah. Clark, do you mind since we have you here if we ask you a few office questions? Of course. All right. Yay, Clark. What if I was like, absolutely not? That would also be fine.

You might not get Lynn Kaye leaving a comment. Oh, there was a few people that wrote Clarkinsaw. That's a good one. Yeah. So I had thought about that as a, like a production company name like years and years ago. But then remember that guy, was it West Clark that ran for president? Like 20 years ago? He was like a retired general.

Anyway, he used Clark and Saw for something. But I mean, this, okay, but the fact that neither of you remember who it. Yeah, I don't. This was like 20 years ago, and neither of you remember who he is. I think I'm safe. I didn't, I don't think he, like, zeroed in on that. I think I can bring it back. Yeah.

All right, here's your first office question. Would you rather go camping with Dwight or vacation with Jan? Oh, vacation with Jan. That wasn't, you don't think that would be. No, okay. That's easy. Great. Are we talking about Clark the character, or Clark me, Clark?

Either. Well, we know. I think both the answers are the same. I think they're both still Jan. You don't think Clark regretted his trip with Jan. I think he was exhausted. He was exhausted. I don't know if it was regret just so much as fatigue.

Fatigue. Yeah. All right, who is more technically proficient? you or your character of Clark, for example, could you, Clark teach someone to use PowerPoint? No. I could not. Character Clark is absolutely more proficient. I see.

I do occasionally use Apple Keynote, which is like Apple's free fake PowerPoint that comes built in. But I'm the only person I've ever met that uses Apple Keynote. And I use it like off label. Like I make like pitch decks with it and stuff. You can do a lot with it. It's great. All right. There's nothing even to teach.

Like, I mean, anybody could use this thing. It's like, I literally, I've never met another person that's like, click this icon before. Where is it? Is it on my, yeah. It's free. It's on every Mac. Is it on my Mac? My Mac?

Oh, yeah. I know what you're talking about. It's like PowerPoint, but it's not PowerPoint. Yeah, it's just their fake PowerPoint. But it's, you know, you can load anything up. I also use Apple Pages, which is their fake Microsoft Word. They have all this shit on there for free. They have their Sam's Club.

Dr. Thunder versions of every app on the... I gotta go to like a genius bar or something. This is not even a genius bar. This is like a... You gotta go to... You're like, just spend an hour with your computer, Jenna. Just like, just take a minute. This is like, I don't know what the mid-look...

Like, what's between, like, idiot and genius? What's the word? Me. Me? This is a mad bar. It's a meh bar. Okay. We'll sort of, meh, explain it.

Okay, we have one, in the episode, The Whale, all the men try to grow mustache. in supportive Movember. Clark's mustache isn't great. It's not really happening. Can you grow a mustache? Okay. So...

Did they ask you if you could grow a mustache? They did. They did. Before they wrote it. I think so. Yeah, yeah, because Jakes was real. I think mine was fake, first of all. That was my question.

Yeah. I think it was fake or at least... So here's the thing. At the time, I had never attempted to grow a mustache. So my real answer was like, I don't know. Like maybe In your whole life? Well, I have now.

Like in like I ended up having one, I grew one for my first movie, Arkansas that I was in. I had a mustache in that movie. And then after that I kept it for a while just because I thought it was funny. And because frankly, like it was like, it's weird, but it was like a disguise. Like I instantly went like kind of like unrecognizable in public, which I was like, oh, this is crazy. Like the mustache and glasses like children's cartoon like works. Like the fake mustache really works. But it did.

So, like, the answer is, yes, I can grow a mustache, but it takes a while. Like, because, you know, they were like, you have a week or whatever, you know, to film. What can you do in a week? Like, what I can do in a week is about what you saw in the episode, which is not much. Although it has got, now that I'm older, it is faster now. But you still have such a baby face, though. You do. Yeah.

But that's a good thing. I don't think I can grow a beard, but I've also never tried because it's so, I mean, this is why I'd never tried the mustache is the in-between. period is so bad. It's so awful. Yeah. Like, I look like at eighth grade, like, it's just, it's really bad for like a month. Yeah. Like, it's a rough three weeks there. It's like growing out your bangs. It's just going to get really, yeah, for a bit. So that's, yeah, but I do, occasionally now I will. If I had a part or something that was appropriate, I would regrow the mustache. I kept it for years after Arkansas. But at the time, no, I couldn't. I couldn't grow mustache like today in a week, probably either. I'd probably, I would need like three weeks. And your memory is

that they made something for you. Or maybe they just touched it up. Like maybe there was like mascara on whatever sad, like one week worth of mustache I had, like something like that. Yeah. I don't think it was like a fake mustache. I think they just doctored the sad wispy hairs. The sad.

The sad. Doctor the existing. Okay. Bliss. Yeah. All right. Would you pretend to be a couple to get a couple's discount? The character of Clark goes with Nelly, right?

Don't you guys go to like the nail salon or something? and you're pretending to be a couple for couples' discount? Let's say, and we're going to get to the root of something here, like would you, for example, pretend to be a couple with someone to get like a really cheap dinner on Valentine's Day? Yes. That's like a couple's discount. First of all, I would never like choose to go to dinner on Valentine's Day if I'd have to.

Well, there's that. That's like trying to go out on New Year's Eve, like it's amateur hour. Right, or going to brunch on Mother's Day. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's going to be so crowded. It's going to be awful. So probably in that situation. No.

You know, I don't think I would. I have a buddy that pretends something's wrong with him so him and his girlfriend can go to the front of the line at Universal. No. And I'm not going to name his name, but he'll hear this and he'll know. And my brother is going to hear this and laugh his ass off because he also knows him. You know, my dad, he on a family trip to Hawaii when I was young, he was body surfing and he dislocated his shoulder. Oh, my God. From boogie boarding?

From boogie boarding. He like got slammed into the surf. And when we got back to St. Louis, he went to the doctor, and he had to have his arm in a sling for a period of time. My dad also traveled a lot for work. And while he had his arm in the sling, he noticed that they let him board the airplane first because he needed extra time, you know, to get his bag situated. So I don't want to get it wrong, but like I think like for years, whenever he had a business trip, he would, for, bring the sling and he would put it on in the bathroom and so that he could board earlier. That's awesome.

This is very like Larry David. Like this feels like a curb episode. That's Jim Fisher for you. But you know what? It sounds like if I'm understanding the story, right, he didn't say anything. He didn't ask them to board early. Yeah. He just had the sling on.

And he walked up and he got to board early. Did he tell people? He doesn't do it anymore. When people would ask how he broke the arm, would he say something cooler than boogie boarding? What do you? I don't know. I'm not sure. I haven't asked, I'll ask him.

Would he be like, you should see the other guy? Yeah. Like nobody wanted to say boogie boarding, right? You should see the water. Body serving. Exactly. I don't think I would. I don't think I would pretend to be a couple for the discount.

Would you pretend to wear a sling to board a plane early? I might. Flying's rough. All bets are off at the airport. Yeah. Honestly, the airport is such a no man's land. I might do anything at the airport. All right.

Last office question. Is there any part of you that wishes that you were on the work bus with us? Like, did you and Jake discuss that day, like the next week? Did he download you on everything that happened on that bus? You know the lore that we call it death bus? I don't think I do. Oh, my God. You don't know about death bus?

I don't think so. Okay. You don't know that we almost died three times? Did something happen? Oh, my God. I don't think I know about it. This is not hyperbole. We almost died three times.

Yeah. Okay. What happened? First of all, here's the first time. And poor Brian Cranston, it's his week off from Breaking Bad. And he's like, great, I'm going to be inside, air-conditioned in an office. No, we're putting you on a bus. It's 110 degrees out.

And that's what we filmed in outside. I remember that. Yeah. I remember the bus. Like, I don't remember everyone almost dying on the bus. Okay, so imagine the bus is full of desk lamps. Did I get off the bus at some point? Because I remember with Cranston very specific.

specifically, he was trying to get me to do this really big physical gag. And I just said, this is like the lamest, most actory thing I'll say, but I was like, Clark would not do that. Like, I don't believe this. Like, I would not do this. So I remember being on the bus. I don't remember everyone almost dying. Well, because you leave, you stay behind and you teach Daryl PowerPoint.

You and Creed get off the bus. Yes. Yes. And then after that, you guys almost died? No, no, no. Okay. Let's set it up. I'm just going to say two things.

We're driving down the road. A stunt driver makes a hard right. We were supposed to pretend like we're being jostled. They're like, everybody go to the right. Yeah, and it didn't work. So they're like, we're going to put the stunt driver in. He's going to take a hard right. He takes a hard right.

Yeah, but you're not stunt passengers. And nothing's nailed down. So everything goes flying. Everything. You were in the bus. You saw how much shit was in that bus. So imagine Creed being covered by a bookshelf and paper, Phyllis on the ground. Me on top of her.

Yeah. Was that real? That just happened on that? accident? Like, that was not planned? That was not planned. Wow. No, I did not know this. So there were some injuries. We had to get off. They had to redress the bus. They had to help people who got injured. Then... I did not know this. This is wild. This is the big one. Then we're on the bus and it's hot and they're trying to figure out how they can cool us off. They put a big tube of air coming in. Great. We're getting cooled off. They were like dragging an air conditioning unit behind the bus. They attached it.

Yeah. Had a tube coming in. Guess where the intake of that machine was? Can you guess? Right. Right. And the vent was right over Jenna's head, right? I'm in the front of the bus. Jenna's like, I smell something.

Something smells weird. One of the camera people gets lightheaded. Jenna's like, I smell something. We're like, no, it's nothing. And then Brian Cranston comes in, stands on a chair and Jenna points. And he goes, everyone off the bus right now. Wow. We were getting carbon monoxide.

Yeah, no, that really could have killed everybody. I know. Whoa. So anyway, were you glad? Do you kind of wish you were there? Yeah, yeah. No. No, not at all.

That sounds awful. Wow. We thought for sure Jake would have come like to the next day at work and been like, oh my God. He didn't say anything. No. No. Wow. Maybe he's just not a big complainers.

Oh, okay. No, I'm glad I was not on this bus, though, and I had no idea. This is wild. Yeah, we all call it death bus. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you guys, please go check out Clark's movie. Clark, this is so fun. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. Of course. Everyone, it's really great and it's unique and it's a story you haven't seen. I can promise you that. And it's visually interesting and funny and it's filled with really, really superb performances. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. That's very important to me. That's nice to hear. And it's got a great Christmas soundtrack.

So all the music in the movie is original Christmas music by Teresa Wayman. of the band Warpaint, who were kind of like indie rock legends. And then El King, who's in the movie, also is singing on Jingle Bell Rock. Oh, so cool. Yeah, and the soundtrack will be out, I believe, November 6th. Oh, that's fantastic.

So pretty soon for everybody listening, you should be able to find that on Apple and Spotify. There will be the score and the separate, the soundtrack release, which I'm gonna do, like, dialogue interstitials, like kind of a 90s soundtrack where it's got like dialogue clips and then the song, so it's sort of like you can listen along

to the movie type of thing. Send us that, and I'll share it when it's out. for our listeners. And I would love to just wrap up with one last comment, you guys, from the last time you were on, this is Melanie C. who said, I cannot wait for y'all to get fax machines and fax each other. I would also love to have a landline again. We never did that. We never got fax machines. I have a landline. Well, I have a landline. We discussed. Yeah. I still have it. So I'm saying we can get it. Which is why we were going to get our fax machines and hook them up to our landlines.

We can still do it. You still can. I'm not getting rid of it. Same. I'm going down with the landline ship. Mm-hmm. Do they still make faxes? Like some, I mean like doctors still use them, I think, right?

Doctors offices? Yeah, I feel like they're the last. So someone makes them. Yeah. You know what? I got to go to Staples after this. I'll text you. Scope it out.

See if you see any fax machines. I'll see what the inventory's like. I want to throw something out there. This is just part of being a good prepper with our landlines. Do you have a wheelbarrow? I don't. You should get one. Why?

I have a shovel. A shovel is good, but I think you could use a wheelbarrow. I was reading this book. It's called The Wall, and it's about a woman who gets stuck behind an invisible wall, and she only has herself a cow, a dog, and a cat. It's great. It's this old novel. It's really, really good.

And there's only so much farming she can try to do for her own survival and, like, moving of hay to feed her cow. She has to drag it all. because she doesn't have a wheelbarrow. And it occurred to me, a wagon or a wheelbarrow and end of times would be possibly very helpful. Just something like a nightmare. I'm just going to piggyback on that and say, do a wagon, not a wheelbarrel. I don't know when the last time you pushed a wheelbarrow, but I did recently on our farm. And they fucking suck.

Because if they get like heavy on one side or the other, then you're like wobbling and it's just a real pain in the ass. It's a weird design. I hated it. So maybe wagon then. wagon. Do they make a two-wheeled wheelbarrow, like with two on the front? Why haven't they? Like, why does it have the one wheel?

Why it doesn't? There's like construction worker listeners right now that are just yelling at the... That are just yelling at us. I mean, it is easy with the two arms to dump, you know? The wheel barrel. The single wheel. The single wheel is easy to dump things. But I found it to push really annoying.

But you can also pull it behind you. Yeah, but it's not great. Who's doing that? No one. Probably no one. No one. You pull a wheelbarrow. Oh, wait, there's a two-wheel.

Jordan found a two-year-a-bill. Yes. Yeah. That looks like a way better design. Okay. So don't use ye old-y will-barrel. Use the new modern. I don't really have a big enough garage for that thing.

That looks like it takes it like a big footprint. That's like the size of a like a motorcycle. You don't have time for that. Not yet. I got to get a bigger house. My biggest tip, my bigger tagger for this is I got to make more money. You got to make more money. I got to get a bigger house.

You know what? And when you go on a talk show someday, and you're like, oh, do you want you money? Say, no, I want willbarrel money. That's what I want. Filled in cash. Yeah, that's it. Clark, we love you so much.

I love you guys. Thanks for being here. Thanks, Clark. Well, thank you again to Clark Duke for coming back on office ladies. That was so fun. So fun. I love him. Yeah.

Everyone, you can check out his new movie Stranglehold on Digital and Video on Demand as of October 2nd. So it is out. It's out. And Clark's movie. also has an Instagram, so I'll put that in our stories. It has the trailer and links to where you can watch it. Lastly, huge shout out to Quincy Jaws and the childhood best friends who loved the movie so much. They decided to all chip in and remake it in their hometown. I'll share a link to their website as well. All right, everyone, thanks for listening. See you next week.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Matt Beagle and our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

Our theme song is Ruppertree by Creed Bratton.