Podcrushed - James Morosini

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

Actor, writer and director, James Morosini (It’s What’s Inside, The Sex Lives of College Girls) keeps it refreshingly honest this week— touching on the time he got catfished by his own father, and then wrote, starred in and directed a movie about it; the time he drove 6 hours for his first kiss only to learn he wasn’t on his crush’s hot list; and why becoming his town’s drug dealer to make friends backfired on him. We dive deep into his new movie, It’s What’s Inside, and his indie darling, I Love My Dad.   Follow Podcrushed on socials:Tiktok Instagram XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

And I remember she was like showing me for something from one of our chats and I happened to glance over the way she had categorized her contacts and one category it was like hot guys and I wasn't my screen name wasn't in that category and I think that just really destroyed my confidence at the time. I was like what I just couldn't understand it. Welcome to Pod Crushed. We're hosts. I'm Penn. I'm Sophie and I'm Nava and I think we would have been your middle school besties. Hanging out in chat rooms like it's a 7-Eleven parking lot past midnight. All right. Welcome to Pod Crush.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Try to tell which one was Sophie and which one was Nava. I've stopped doing that a long time ago. I've actually jumped into Sophie's body right now. Well, you know what? You just, you just, what's the, you just, did I insist?

accept you or did you incept me what I was going to ask Is it you? Is it an ice? Nava! Making business decisions. Exactly. Was Stamatic with our guest

and the huge project he's a part of? Is there anybody you've ever wanted to switch bodies with? When I was like 14, I would have loved to switch bodies with Britney Spears. That's the only time in my life that I think that would have been very appealing to me and I would have loved just to have her body,

to have her life at that. that time to know what it was like I would have loved to body swap with Britney. You know, I can't think of someone I wanted to switch bodies with, although I know I thought about that a lot, but I can't think of a specific person. But it made me remember when I was in middle school, I wanted so badly to have a twin brother in my grade so that he could find out what all the guys were thinking and relay it back to me. It was like in the same vein.

Like I wanted another version of me, but a guy as an insider. Here's what wouldn't have worked They wouldn't have told him if he was your twin Yeah, that's true They wouldn't have done it What about you, Penn? Who did you want a body swap? I do remember just so hating my body

In my chubby tween phase And so I probably would have body swapped With like anybody who was like Six feet tall and had a six pack at 14 years old You know those guys? So many of them Yeah That would have been it

Now that I've watched What's Inside, it's what's inside I don't want a body swap with anyone. I will never be body swapping. Nobody. So that gives you a clue. Today's guest is James Marasini. You know most recently from It's What's Inside on Netflix.

Also, there's the sex lives of college girls, the Mindy Kaling. I was going to say the Mindy Kaling project, meaning it's a Mindy Kailing project, but not the Mindy Kailing project. Also, he's at this point already a pretty masterful writer-director. his most recent as that sort of vatour I love my dad the comedy with Patton Oswald and other comic icons

like L'Orell and Rachel Dratch You're going to love this episode We did too Please please stick around Does anyone else ever get that nagging feeling That their dog might be bored And do you also feel like super guilty about it

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Lunan and I'm the author of On Our Best Behavior and the host of the podcast Pulling the Thread. I'm pulling the thread I explore life's big question. with thought leaders who help us better understand ourselves, others, and the world around us. I hope these conversations bring you moments of resonance, hope, and growth. Listen to pulling the thread from Lemonada Media wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for coming on, honestly. James, I was researching you yesterday,

watching every interview that I could, and what struck me was that you seem like you've been sort of creating these budget films before you've gotten into this more, maybe mainstream commercial path from a young age. And I had this, like, image of, I feel like you're too young to maybe know this reference, but Dawson's Creek, the character that Kevin Williams is sort of based on himself, who's like asking his friends to be in his home films and he's always got his camera in his hand. And I didn't know if that was like pure imagination or if that resembled young James at all. I mean, I definitely had a video camera that I would sometimes bring around, but it wasn't like, I wasn't making shorts.

I was doing like jackass kind of videos. Like I'd have my friends like eat rocks and stuff. Yeah. And or I'd like. Yeah, totally. Same. Yeah. Or I'd like film fights that were at my school.

Did you stage the fights or you happened to like? No, they were like, anytime there was kids at school that we're going to fight, I would be like, I would film it. And sometimes I'd be the one fighting. Like I just like the idea of having all these fights on. camera. Before that, it was like using my dad's video camera to do these like stop motion kind of action figure movies. And my brother and I would kind of play all the parts. So how, so you're growing from toys to fighting. I'm assuming there's a little bit of like a,

like a years long gap. But like how old are you when you're first picking up that camera to do the stop motion thing with your brother? Do you think? Gosh. Probably. like four or five my dad was always recording everything and then uh he just would let me use the video camera um and i my uncle was the actor christopher reeve uh and so i grew up watching his movies and seeing him in person so i thought there was something so cool about that i could record something and then also watch it there was like i think i was like kind of kind of emulating what I saw him doing. You know, I haven't anticipated asking you about that,

but you're bringing it up right off the bat. And I have to wonder, did he seem like just this, was he a complete icon to you? Or, I mean, what was your relationship to that? You know, everyone else seemed to think it was really cool. And I really looked up to him as well. So I think I used it as a way of, like, I don't know, seeming cool when I was a kid.

Yeah. And so I think it was like oftentimes the first thing that I would tell people as a way of signaling my value. Yeah. And I guess it's telling that I'm also revealing that almost immediately. Still doing it. Well, I was to say, James, since we're on that track, actually I would love to hear because your uncle is so beloved and such an icon, we would love to hear a special memory that you have with him. Probably the first time I saw him in his chair. And I was I was the oldest kid in the family.

so I remember going up and giving him a hug and it being kind of awkward because of how large the chair was. I was five years old at the time of it was 1995 and how afraid I was and I remember the energy of all the adults around of like, you know, wanting to make it seem like it was okay, but I remember feeling really scared of, you know, not wanting to disrupt his ventilator or anything. like that i didn't really know what was happening um and then after that it was like you know anytime there was thanksgiving or christmas i'd always just want i just remember asking him question after questions he had done a remake of rear window where uh he goes off of his ventilator or a scene uh and i remember being fascinated by that because he had actually gone off the ventilator and I remember just kind of being confused like I thought this was pretend but then you're actually incurring risk I was confusing to me at the time and I remember just like grilling him

about it to the point at which he was like all right no more questions too that's interesting yeah yeah I mean when he spoke it it was so measured because each time he spoke he had to wait till the ventilator filled his breath back up. So when he would speak, everyone would be completely silent. And what he said was always so thoughtful and often so funny, which struck me at that age too because it had this measured quality to what was also hilarious. And yeah, I remember near the end of his life just the nerves started to be connect to his arm. And he would show us that he could move his fingers.

And I remember that very vividly and being so excited about that. Like I remember feeling so invested in his being able to move his hand like that. It sounds like there might have been some seeds planted, just not from your uncle, like not only from your uncle, from your father. I'm curious, there is an unusually little amount about your. your early life online, which is, by the way, commendable. It's great. You might want to stop this interview now to just keep it that way.

It's just staying mysterious. But I'm curious, like, as you're coming of age, like, did you see yourself as an artist? I mean, it sounds like, you know, you picked up a camera. You were doing this stuff with, like, went from toys to fights. You know, when did you start to see it as a legitimate pursuit, you know, like filmmaking? And then also, I want to know about comedy because they're not. always the same thing you know i think i was just a real i was always just a sensitive kid i think i just had a lot of feeling and didn't really know what to do with it uh so i would you know

i would i was definitely like a troublemaker throughout school and would get in a lot of trouble but then i would also like go into my room and like write and make comics or like come up with a i had a newspaper that was all about my dad when I was a little kid called the Boston dope and I would distribute it at Thanksgiving and like I want I like I felt like I had a lot to say at that age and I really liked the experience of like creating something and then sharing that experience to other people like I was obsessed with magic at the time just like being able to have like a secret as a little kid that would surprise like the experience of genuine surprise from an adult and like the I think I enjoyed kind of like the power of that from a young age of like I can

actually elicit that reaction going back to your question I it's hard to remember exactly when I was like oh I want to be an act there are like videos of me as a little kid go like calling myself being like I'm directing this you know this little movie or whatever but it was really obsessed with like living in fantasy you know like I saw a bunch of James Bond movies and was like oh I want to do that but what I didn't realize at the time was like no I actually just wanted to play pretend as these things the fact that you like wrote and produced this newspaper and distributed to all your family is impressive I feel like for a kid I can think back to specific moments in my life where my parents praised my creativity

and I feel like that is kind of what pushed me to keep going. Were you praised for your creativity or was it like, oh, yeah, this is just, this is just James. I think the praise was kind of, I don't think it was super direct. I think it was like I would give out these newspapers and then I would see like my grandfather or something, read it and actually laugh. And I think I was really sensitive to like to artifice and authenticity of the time. So I knew when I was just, people were just kind of placating me and being like, good job. Yeah. Or if I was getting a real reaction.

And I was like, I've always felt really hungry for like a real reaction beyond the polite platitudes. You sort of broke out with the film, I love my dad. The poster, we can actually see the poster. and it's so interesting. I have so many questions about that. But, you know, essentially the premise is that your dad, you and your dad sort of are strange for a time. You've locked him on social media and then he catfishes you to reconnect. And my question, and apparently this is based on true events. My question is, I feel like something like that, there would be seeds.

So that's like a pretty seismic, I don't know, shift potentially in a relationship. There would be seeds of that before something like that happens. Were there seeds of that kind of, I don't know, attempts from your dad to connect? or was there anything that happened in earlier life before the catfishing incident? I mean, so many things. When I was probably like 11 or 12, we had AOL, we had like instant messenger and we had these chat. There were like chat rooms you could go on. And I would like go on the chat rooms and like talk to total strangers and be like ASL, blah, blah, blah.

And I'd like interact with random people. I got ASL. And my dad would be like, you have to be careful who you're meeting on there. They might not be who they say they are. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I remember I was on a chat room one time and I was like, ASL. And they were like, you know, I was probably 12. They were like 15 female Florida or whatever.

I'm talking to them. And then all of a sudden they're like, how's that cereal? I was like, how do they know that I'm eating cereal? That seems like a rookie mistake. That must have been the first one. And they were like, I like your red shirt or whatever. And then I look and then I hear a giggle and it's my dad and my little brother across the room.

And they had longed on to this chat room and were like, he was doing it to prove. Oh, yeah, it could be anyone. This is how easy it is. like you really do have to be careful. In the very beginning of the film, I think it says something like the following actually happened. My dad asked me to tell you it didn't.

That was really funny. And it made me wonder what did your dad think of the film? I think my dad loved it and was also really freaked out by it. I think he enjoyed the attention. But then he would also have days where he'd be like,

people are going to hate me and he would get all freaked out. But, like, he and I spoke to the New York Times together. He was also, like, at South by Southwest. And he and I did a Q&A in front of, like, 600 people. So it would go back and forth where, like, he would be excited and then he'd almost, like, wake up in a cold sweat and call me all panicked. Yeah. But he and I share a similar sense.

So he understood, he like got it, you know. And he was also like, you got to do what you got to do, you know. James, what's your relationship like with your mom? What was it like when you were growing up? Yeah. So my mom, she is a doctor. When she was raising us, she was attending med school at BU to become a pathologist. So definitely kind of an unusual childhood in that I would often accompany her.

her to the hospital where she'd be sometimes performing, uh, uh, like autopsies on, on organs. Uh, and so we would like be drive. I remember like, we'd have to sometimes like transport the organs, uh, from like different hospitals, like in her station wagon. Oh my God. And then I, and then I remember like working on like science homework or whatever in the hospital while she's like rapidly speaking into a microphone about organs she's dissecting and it has under a microphone uh under a microscope um but yeah i mean she she's a very she was she's a very kind of like spiritual person and also a very uh kind of um you know she's also a doctor and so she she kind of raised me with both parts of my brain where I was...

How did your mom react when your dad was discovered to be the... And how did you find out that he was catfishing you and how did your mom react? Yeah. His email address was the same... Oh, my God. So, like, it wasn't well-disguised. Wait, so how did he trick you at all? I'm not questioning you.

I mean, the trick was kind of, you know, was kind of exaggerated in the movie, you know, it, the, I like to say the movie is like emotionally very true. Like, that's how it felt, but I definitely took a lot of creative license. The experience I had when I discovered that it was, that it was actually him, and there was, I still remember the feeling of it in my, in my body of this, like, feeling of shame and anger and betrayal, but also this weird feeling of like, gosh, this weird feeling of like, gosh, This is such a good story. At the time, wow.

Crushes, romantic interest, first heartbreak. There's so many incredibly awkward moments with your first loves. So do you have any of those kinds of stories? I was on summer vacation in Lake George, this girl, Kate. And she and I basically kept in touch via instant messenger. I was probably like in fourth or fifth grade at the time. We were talking about like being each other's first kiss. And we were talking about we would log on every day after school.

We would just talk about how awesome that would be. We were both just so excited about it. And finally my dad agreed to drive me from Boston to New Jersey to go I meet up with this girl. Her screen name was Hot Mama Goose. That's not very hot. That's some confused. Yeah, just those don't all go together.

It's like nursery stuff. And mine was bust mob, which was short for bust and move, which I guess I just liked that song and related to it. and, like, kind of felt like that was my vibe at the time. But, yeah, he drove me, like, six hours from Boston to New Jersey and took us to go see Harry Potter. And he brought my brother with us. And so my dad and my brother sat in the back of this theater. Wow.

And my, this girl, Kate and I sat always. at the front and I like still remember the feeling of like what like try to look over at her like trying to like figure out when to make a move but and but trying to like time it with the right moment in Harry Potter and being like I don't feel like any of these things like I don't do I do it like a Dumbledore moment like how do I segue this story into like a romantic That's really funny And it never worked I could never figure it out

So then we got back to her house And my dad's like Why don't you guys go hang out upstairs And I'll talk to her parents And I was like, all right, cool So then I went upstairs You're wingman Yeah

And so he and my brother Like hang out With this kind of like Kind of uptight family And like I was upstairs And talking to her And I like couldn't I couldn't ever work up the courage

And so I... Oh, James. So we... You never did it. So we left and my... And it was just like, I had to drive all the way home. It was just kind of like, well... Six hours to see Harry Potter.

Wow. Did you guys ever talk about that, like, on Instant Messenger? We never talked again, actually. Wow. I remember this was like... I was like a fourth and fifth grade. She had, you could cat... This was.

was like an embarrassing detail. So you could categorize your contacts on instant messenger. And I remember she was like showing me for something from one of our chats. And I happened to glance over the way she had categorized her contacts. And one category was like, hot guys. And I was it. My screen name wasn't in that category. And I think that just really destroyed my confidence at the time. I was like, I just couldn't understand. understand it. I was like, I was devastated. I busted it to move. I don't understand it. I know. I don't

get it. Wow. Wow. That's a great. James, that's going to go down for us is one of the greatest. First kiss. Not first kiss stories. Not first kiss stories. And we'll be right back. All right. So

let's just real talk as they say for a second. That's a little bit of an aged thing to say now. That dates me, doesn't it? But no, real talk how important is your health to you you know on like a one to ten and i don't mean the in the sense of vanity i mean in the sense of like you want your day to go well right you want to be less stressed you don't want it as sick when you have responsibilities um i know myself i'm a householder i have uh i have two children and two more on the way um a spouse a pet you know a job that sometimes

has its demands so i really want to feel like when i'm not getting the sleep and i'm not getting nutrition when my eating's down, I want to know that I'm being held down some other way physically. My family holds me down emotionally, spiritually, but I need something to hold me down physically, right? And so honestly, I turned to symbiotica, these vitamins and these beautiful little packets that they taste delicious. And I'm telling you, even before I started doing ads for these guys, it was a product that I really, really liked and enjoyed and could see the differences with the three that I use I use I use the the what is it called the liposomal vitamin C and it tastes delicious like really really good comes out

the packet you put it right in your mouth some people don't do that I do it I do it I think it tastes great I use the liposomal glutathione as well in a morning really good for gut health and although I don't need it you know anti-aging and then I also use the magnesium L3 and 8 which is really good for for I think mood stress. I sometimes use it in the morning, sometimes use it at night. All three of these things taste incredible. Honestly, you don't even need to mix it with water. And yeah, I just couldn't recommend them highly enough. If you want to try them out, go to symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off plus free shipping. That's symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off plus free shipping.

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No, I teach, I teach writing, directing to actors there now. Yeah. Okay. That's amazing. But you did not go to film school. I went to theater school there, and then I took a lot of the film classes there. Interesting. Okay.

My grades in high school were absolutely terror. I was a, I just wouldn't, I would often, like, not go to school. I was like, I was a huge stoner in high school and was just kind of like, I was kind of a delinquent. I would, I would get in trouble the police a lot. I was, you know, I sold, I sold, I sold, I was like my town's, my town's drug dealer. And so I was getting in a lot of trouble all the time. And so I couldn't really get into any schools in a traditional route, but I had done, I had acted in my towns, my town did like a movie about a local tavern called the Golden Ball Tavern, which apparently Paul Revere had dawned to once or something. It was like it was kind of a point with it.

It wasn't like a, it wasn't like a. a really meaningful tower. It was like the one thing my town had. And so I acted in a thing for them. And so I was like, oh, maybe I'll do acting. So I auditioned for colleges. And that's how I got that's how I got in the school, basically in the same way that athletes get into school without having necessarily the best grades. That's how I was able to get into USC. James, I feel like we have to go back to childhood because I feel like we have to ask you, how did you get into being your town's drug dealer? I think I just liked having this thing that was kind of, that was mischievous and that you weren't supposed to have and that everyone had to come to you for.

You know, I think as a little kid, I really felt like in order to be liked, I have to offer something. And I have to like show people, hey, here's why you should like me and have me around. for me my journey in terms of growing up has just been like the less I do that the more people can actually get to know me and vice versa like if somebody's trying to show you why they're likable all the time you can't really get a sense of who they are because you're just they're so preoccupied with that showcasing and I think I at that time was really kind of like look I can I can get you guys whatever you need and I liked having this kind of like secret access um and so I would my dad lived in my dad lived in the town over uh it was kind of rougher and more blue collar and I

would buy from them and then I would I would go to school and I would have DVD cases that I would put weed in and I would let people borrow the movies that I I would like bring a stack of DVDs to school and I would like hand out the movies and be like And so I it was this weird thing. We're like we were all we were talking about movies a lot, but I was also just like selling weed. It sounds like being your town's drug dealer gave you something like it gave you attention and like relationships. But did you feel like it took anything away at the same time? Like I'm remembering when you said you were your town's drug dealer, I immediately thought. of one person at my high school who was a good friend of mine but who was like yeah definitely known as the drug dealer and I remember my mom having like lots of feelings about like me going over to his house and I'm wondering if you had a sense of that like were there also some things that you lost from from being that or no absolutely I remember an older kid told me that everyone

keeps their dealer at arm's length. And I think that was definitely my experience. And the funny thing is, is I think I was doing it so that I could, like, for friendship. I was doing it for connection. And it was the thing that often got in the way of me being able to connect.

Because kids wouldn't, kids' parents sometimes wouldn't let me over to their houses. They thought I was like the bad kid. And so there'd be like parties and stuff. And sometimes I would be the only one not allowed. or I would be like wanting to do a sleepover or something with a friend and they'd be like, sorry, dude, my mom says you can't come over.

And so I think, I mean, it's, there's something, I don't know, I think that's kind of, there's something thematically that I'm really interested in with a lot of the movies and stories that I've made where like somebody does something to get love and like the thing they're doing actually gets in the way the most yeah uh and I find that to be often very true like how and I'm very interested in it like how do we get out of our own way enough to just not put anything like to not be like doing so much and like how can we actually just connect with one another without like trying to prove ourselves all all the time.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm interested in that, too. That's, yeah. Anyway, my mind just went in so many directions. I feel like we can spend so much time there. But you, um, star in an incredible movie that's out now. By the time this episode is out, the movie will be out.

It's What's Inside. And we want to talk about that. It's What Inside is insane. We got screeners and, um, so good. Congratulations. It's obviously going to be huge. Um, I have a few questions, but my first question is we got to read some interviews that the director did with, I think, for Netflix.

And in one of them, he said that you guys had to do two table reads, one where you read from the perspective of your character's soul, and then one where you read from your character's body, which I think is crazy. And I want to know the character you play Cyrus. What was the main distinction between his soul reading and his body reading? So, uh, his, when we read from the perspective of their soul, it's just kind of like reading because we're constantly

switching into other body so it's like that you're seeing really like the emotional arc when you're going just following his soul whereas following his body that's

there's the difference between characters what's that does this mean that the difference between the table reads was that you were basically reading other people's lines and then in one of them you followed the through line no matter what body you were that's exactly right yeah okay okay so what was the experience did you feel like you learned anything from being like oh oh you know what i mean because like obviously every time you read a script

there's there's something there's something new yeah i mean i think um i mean yeah you i got a sense of okay here's the full arc of this character of this character cyrus so here's what i'm going to have to set up early on. So when I pass it off to another actor, they have the right set up and like he, his journey starts

in the place it needs to. Because I then pick it up at the end. So I wanted to make sure, it gave me a sense of here's what actually happens in his story because if you're just following the body's story,

it's kind of jumping around and is all over the place you really do have to it was like preparing for three different roles three or four different roles because you're you're having to make sure that you know you're jumping in at different points of different characters arcs you know I play this character Dennis in this like much of the second half of the film and so I had to understand like where he started and what it what it meant with where he was at the story when I picked it up. Yeah. That makes sense.

You were very fun as Dennis. I'm curious for you, how was it for you to play Cyrus, your body is Cyrus and your body as Dennis? How did those sort of distinctly feel? I felt with Cyrus, I wanted to play somebody who was just never trying to rock the boat, but had really strong needs, but was also very much a people pleaser. So he was constantly getting in his own way and doubling back on what he would say. And he was very much lying for much of the movie. I mean, he's like pretending he's cool with everything, but he's not, he's being like, he's just, he's like just very polite because he doesn't want to come off as the bad guy.

like he's he's very much like a nice guy in that he's kind of full shit for so much of the movie whereas Dennis you know he's then a character that kind of has lost everything so he has nothing to lose so he's a lot more uninhibited which is just a different kind of fun in that there's a lot more freedom of expression there because he he doesn't have anything to lose he doesn't care what anybody thinks of him anymore so it's kind of the it's the polar opposite of cyrus in the second half of the movie yeah it's visually such an interesting film i've never seen anything shot in that way or edited in that way and like the use of image like kind of stop motion like how you started really cool um but i'm what i was curious if you had any sense of what it

going to look like when you were working on it yeah I loved our directors previous work Greg had done a bunch of these promos for these other for these Netflix shows and they were all super dynamic so that was really one of the main reasons I wanted to do the movie was just because I saw what he was doing and I was really impressed by it so yeah I I mean, because on the page, it was quite hard to follow who was who and, like, I had to keep it all straight in my mind. So, yeah, I mean, I was, I think I was just most excited for how is he going to execute this? Because I had a lot of confidence in him that he'd be able to.

How did it feel for you to be starring but not directing? Was that sort of your first project? I know you were on the sex lives of college girls, so I know you've done some acting, but was that your first feature project where you weren't behind the camera? You know, I'd acted in a couple other movies where I was an actor

and not also the director. But yeah, I mean, it was... It definitely took some getting used to. I had just come off of I Love My Dad where I was writing and directing. it was kind of like it was my project and so i had to i i went in really intentionally going this is not this is not my vision this is somebody else's and i'm here to listen and support what he's trying to do um and be like a conduit for for this story that he's trying to tell

so I was just as I was trying to be the kind of actor that I would want to work with and I made that kind of my mission throughout the process was like how what kind of actor would I want to work with and have in my film and then how can I be that for Greg do you feel like there's differences that you really loved and embraced in in just acting or is there something where you're like, I'm really not done with this with directing and starring because there's something unique there that you get, you know what I mean?

I'm kind of curious. I do know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah, it's tricky for me to wrap my head around. You know, I think with the, with when I was just an actor in this movie, I was able to really focus in 100% on that. It felt like being like a fun guest. a party as opposed to hosting the party yourself yeah there's like there's some there's like pride

i think that comes from hosting a great party but there's also a lot of anxiety because you want you need to make sure everyone's doing all right and you're so you're so responsible for you're responsible for everything whereas when you're a guest at a party and you're just trying to have a good time um your your your responsibility is a lot more limited so it kind of feels like the difference between like feeling like I'm really just like playing and expressing versus really trying to also create that container for other collaborators when I'm writing and directing or producing. Penn, the floor is yours, love my dad.

Well, yeah, I mean, you know, I don't want to beat a dead horse because I feel like you've talked a lot about it like before. But I guess there is, you know, in one of the reviews, I think it was from the Hollywood Reporter, somebody said, I'm quoting here, a surprisingly gentle take on a potentially explosive premise. But I guess, you know, I have a couple questions about, you know, the genesis of the idea bringing something that is somewhat autobiographical on screen.

First of all, was it always a comedy in as much as it, could have been cathartic to write something that you know if it's a quote potentially explosive premise but you know was it always a comedy to you was it inherently funny as it

was happening? Yeah I think so I mean I think it was always a comedy because I think you have to laugh at fucked up things that happened in your life I mean anytime something bad has happened in my life I don't know I'm I always kind of think it's funny, too.

There's like something, there's like a dark irony to it where you're like, really? I have to deal with this now. And there's, I think like making something funny almost allows you to have some purchase on the experience. Like it gives you a vantage point that's separate from the experience itself, if that makes sense. By laughing at it and by making it funny, you're all, it all. all of a sudden becomes more palatable and like you've almost created like comedy almost creates

this container that you can then hold and that you have some some distance from and so I find it a really helpful way to like contextualize experience so that you're not you don't lose yourself in the experience and you can yeah you can you can kind of point and laugh as opposed to getting just injured by it

I want to commend you on on I think really two things one is again as I said before this like innovative way of depicting like online interaction by making it like more real in this kind of fantasy way and then and then in that um some of the i think least sexy and

and most funny sex scenes uh and most innovatively depicted sex scenes i think i think i've ever seen which is like really to me i mean i think that's hopefully you were not going for sexy hopefully you didn't find that sexy that was okay well i didn't do much of that that was the sexy No, I mean, I guess they're extremely uncomfortable because I guess there is this aspect where there is some, you know, there is heat being generated, but then it's like, you know, juxtaposed immediately with this really disturbing thread. So, of course, they're not, you know, any sexiness it gets, it actually ends up going in the complete opposite direction. And I just, you know, I don't even know that I have a question there, but I just really thought like, wow, I'm seeing something that I haven't seen before. Like right now, I'm seeing something and I'm kind of feeling something. I'm like, this is, this is a little bit new.

This is, this is really interesting. And maybe I'm curious, it did pop in my mind while I was watching. I was like, huh, at what part in the writing process did you think she's got to be real to him in order for this whole thing to work? Yeah, because it wouldn't have even really been a story without it. No, I was like, there's no way to do this movie if it's just texting back and forth. She needs to be there. That was a device I discovered, like, this, you know, as I started writing the story. And, yeah, in terms of, like, the sexting scenes or any of those, like, I never want to be, like, for me, that's all tone.

It needs to feel a little bit ambiguous exactly what the tone is, because you're not quite sure. Is this meant to be sexy? Is this meant to be uncomfortable? is this meant to be funny like it it kind of keeps you wondering i love when his dad's friend goes this is incest you just don't you don't know and and so so much of the process of making that movie especially in post like you know music is so tricky with the film like this because if it's slightly off it can feel like you're tipping your hand too much to an audience like course, yeah.

It needed to be off-kilter enough where it didn't ever feel saccharin, and it never felt like, lucky or silly, like, oh, we're making this kind of broad comedy. Like, it needed to kind of feel like, does the filmmaker know what kind of move? Like, they know this is weird, right? Like, I never wanted to tip my hand and go, isn't this funny? Like, I wanted to kind of always seem like I thought it was telling. the most personal story ever that what that almost wasn't funny like I I wanted to I never wanted to give myself the out as the storyteller so that the audience doesn't really have an out for this

ridiculous story either yeah well that it I mean it it it actually has a lot of emotional weight to it because you never take the out it's never just like oh this is for laughs it I mean never not ever i mean really to the point where it's kind of amazing that you you didn't lose people uh like to go that close to the line i think where you're like yeah this is incest you're like i think it is in a way at least certainly the way it's being depicted so and then the character just said it okay i'm not the only one they get okay his friend just said it yeah yeah That was super important for me in this story. It was having a character that was kind of the voice of the audience and kept the movie honest throughout the film.

Lil Rell's character throughout the movie is saying everything that the audience would be thinking at that moment. And Amy Landecker, the mom character, she's also kind of all now. Dude, you just have icons in this thing. Rachel Dratch as well. It's like, you just everybody. We got really lucky. I'm happy with our. cast. But yeah, I wanted to keep the

the main, you know, I wanted to keep Patton's character really honest where he's having to defend himself. So when his best friend is like, this is incest, you're then giving the main character an opportunity to go, here's why it's not. And here's why I have to do this. So that you as the audience are kind of like, okay. I mean, I, yeah, I guess he has a point. I guess we have to stay on this journey with him. You know,

You're kind of, I see, it was like kind of building an argument in his direction, you know. And it worked. But you know what I'm realizing, too, as you're saying all this, is that the moment that there's comic, the moment that there's just the right amount of relief, weirdly, is when you and Patton are kissing. Like, by the time it comes to that, spoiler, sorry. By the time it comes, because I'm watching and thinking, like, are they going to, are they also going to, like, I can't tell are they there? Because, like, by the way, later, I was also like, wait, does this mean that James and Rachel Dratch are now going to be in the shower together? I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell where that was going.

But, I mean, yeah, I just, I think that that device just on the page, then to shooting and then in post, everything about it, you know, pretty masterful. Because it's not, it's not easy to pull off and for it to, like, feel coherent, for it to land. So it's cool, man. Thank you, man. Yeah, our guiding light the whole time was like this juxtaposition of your dream person. Like, this is the most exciting, you know, love story that you've ever experienced. And then also you're like your talk, you're sexting with your dad. So it was like the worst thing ever with the best with the best thing ever.

So that just gave us like, you know, so much fodder for these sequences because you could show this like euphoric moment where he first kisses the girl of his dreams and you're like yes and we're so conditioned as audiences to be like rooting for those moments and then you're able to quickly remind us like no this is actually terrible and yeah i i i was like constantly kind of delighted by that uh throughout the process stick around we'll be right back Fall is in full swing, and it's the perfect time to refresh your wardrobe with pieces that feel as good as they look. Luckily, Quince makes it easy to look polished, stay warm, and save big, without compromising on quality. Quince has all the elevated essentials for fall.

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You spent telling this particular kind of story. And as you said, it's emotionally true. So I just wonder, is there something that surprised you, a kind of catharsis or even a disappointment, something where you were like, wow. I've really moved on or wow I really need to work on that in my 30s you know that's a great question it actually was a very cathartic experience you know the the movie is about this guy doing this unforgivable thing and then the son kind of ends up doing the same thing back to him as a way of going like I kind of get it

Um, there's, it's like, I'm really interested in the ways where we villainize people in our lives and sometimes we'll make ourselves a victim or a hero in our own stories and the way that we're kind of none of those things, that it's always kind of a crossover and that, and that was a really helpful reframing for me in terms of the way I thought about my relationship with my dad or really anyone that I have have a problem with, where it's like, I'm not, I'm not, you know, there's, we're all just like people that are bumping into each other, learning shit from one another, and, and there can be wrongdoing and also still a lot of love. And, you know, I also just like the telling of this story. You know, I used home videos that my dad took of me as a little kid. And so there was

there was something about, um, in the beginning of the movie, as you mentioned, it says, my dad asked me to, my, you know, my dad asked me not to tell it. The following actually happened. My dad asked me to tell you it didn't. And like in a way, the movie does stretch the truth. So in a way, me as the filmmaker, I'm kind of lying in the same way that Patton's character lies to his son and in the same way that my character kind of lies back to Patton in the end. And the movie ends with another Chiron says, for my dad. And it's almost me going, yeah, I know you didn't do this perfectly, but I love you anyway. And here's me. kind of bending the truth and and telling my own story you know so two wrongs really do make

a right or at least a great movie yeah that's the moral of the story i got uh our last question which we ask everybody if you could go back to 12 year old james um checkin and javan those DVD cases. No, I guess you were much older than. What would you say or do, if anything? I would say, dude, you're awesome. Be nice to yourself. Like, don't, like, be really, you know, I think the 12-year-old version of all of us

still lives with us, and it's, you know, I still will have conversations with that part of myself and just like, I'll try to talk to that part of myself and go, it's all right. You don't have to prove anything. you don't have to you don't have to get anybody to like you like yourself and and that's really enough uh and i would try to i would try to teach that and instill that more fully in in that younger version of myself lovely thank you james james is so nice to meet you it was so great to meet you guys thanks for coming on yeah i appreciate it so much you can watch James Morosini in his latest project. It's What's Inside on Netflix. And you can also follow him

online at James Morosini. We are so excited that you can now listen to Podcrush, ad free on Amazon music. In fact, you can listen to any episode of Podcrushed ad free right now on Amazon Music with an Amazon Prime membership. ASL. Is ASL age sex location? Yeah. Yeah. I've never heard that before.

What? I thought it was American Sign Language and I'm sorry to know why you were laughing. Well, at first I was like, why did he say ASL? I was like, oh yeah, I remember that. No, it's seriously, it's so scandalous. Like that's what we all did. We're all just like, hey, what's your body like? Let's go cyber.

Like, I mean, it's bananas. Thank you.