SmartLess - "Natalie Portman"

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

Be Professional… it’s Natalie Portman! Pie n’ Burger, la langue française, and a signature required for delivery. Plug in your power adapter— it’s an all-new SmartLess.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's good to be here. I have nothing. It turned out I thought that I had an open. Will thought he had a nice... Well, let's weigh in. But this isn't... No, but this is it. Yeah, this is it.

Welcome to the process. We're podcasting right now. We've got absolutely nothing. By the way, this is the... We've got Bennett and Rob and Michael. Everybody say hi. Hi. Yeah. We've got the whole, all of us.

Like a party in your ears. And we're trying to think of a way to start the show here before we get into the funny music. Let's take some calls. Let's take some calls. Let's take some calls. Yeah. Something to fix some suggestions.

Let's pick up that line from Des Moines. That's on line three. Call or welcome to Smart List. What's your question? I just want to know how old you guys are. Okay, I am... Why did you go fuck yourself? Okay, we lost that caller. We're picking up, oh, from Denton, Texas on line five. Good morning. Good morning. I love it when you talk about food. Good morning. Good morning. I love it when you talk about food.

Yes. Pfft. Pfft. Welcome to SmartLess. Smart. Lass. Smart. Lass.

Smart. Lass. Hi guys. Hi, guys. I think that this is our first chat and giggle of 2024. Well, we don't want to date the episode, but yes. Well, but I mean, for us personally, we want the listener, don't listen to this part, but I think, hey, Sean, this is our first of the year, isn't it?

Yeah. Yeah. It's nice. Happy new year, guys I think, hey, Sean Will, this is our first of the year, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's nice. Happy New Year, guys. Oh, happy New Year. You guys look a full year older. Wait, what? Nothing. What did you guys do?

How was your New Year? Will took a lesson in social, socialism, no. Socializing. Socialization, how have you been enjoying your personal life? Shawnee, do you feel rested? I'm just getting sick, I think, unless it's allergies. I don't know. Oh, could be COVID, COVID's flying back.

I tested, I tested, I don't have it. You had it before, right? I had it the first time ever, a year ago, yeah. And Willie, you still haven't had it, right? No, I've never tested for it. I've never taken a test. Are you serious? No, I wouldn't mean I'm serious.

Of course, I'm taking a million tests. No, I've never tested positive. I've been, I've had the flu, but I've never tested positive. But I'm like, remember the summer we thought that maybe I had it? Yes. When you guys were out in Long Island, JB.

I love Long Island. Wait, who was I just talking to? Somebody at the Globes the other night who has got a fancy house out in the Hamptons pretty close to yours and they're like, oh boy, every time I hear a net call it Long Island. Long Island, yeah. Try and keep it real.

Listen, Will, just admit it. You're doing real well. You've got a big ass summer house. You got six cars. You've got a bunch of gold bonds down in the Seychelles. You got six bicycles. I'm telling you this, I think so. Last summer of the summer before I was pulling

into the SAG Harbor and I was in my GMC pickup. It says Sierra 84X, by the way. Okay. Don't drop down. Don't drop down. And you're trying to keep it real by saying you're driving a pickup truck, but let's be clear, it was a freebie

because you are the voice of GMC. Well, it's been over 25 years. It's been over 25 years that I've been the voice of GMC drugs featuring the GMC Sierra with the six function multi-pro tailgate. So anyway, this guy comes up to me as I'm putting Danny in his car saying, oh, you really do have a GMC. And I go, what man?

I don't know the guy's little stranger. It was pretty absurd. But, Jason. Wait, Sean, so you think that you're getting sick? I do. I had an endoscopy yesterday You know what is that? Is that you had a colonoscopy yesterday? No endoscopy. Is that above the belt or below the belt? That's above the belt So I don't know if my throat is sore because there's something shoved down and or of course Careful careful with the jokes right now. It's very early in the show

No, Sean's talking about going to a place where he paid money to have somebody stick something down his throat. And then he got an endoscopy. By the way, I can't even believe I walked right in. He sure did. Hey, so that's what he said. What did this fella tell you was the problem? And he claimed he was a doctor. Did you check his credentials? By the way, he's the best doctor in the world. Dr. Tray's Cedars. Oh, here we go. And wait and Jay's gonna love this

I had my and oh, where's my invisible? Oh, let's wait for your invisible. Funny. It's it's hard to find the invisible You should just paint a stripe on it Stop losing it. Don't put in your invisible line for the for the podcast thing. No, I have to, I have to keep it wearing. No, you don't. So, no, I do, I have to keep it on. He's gonna wear it all the time. So, it's gonna do the same thing. Anyway, so his name is Dr. Trayzon.

And I said, he goes, do you have anything? Madeleine, you do you have anything, blah, blah, blah. You're all good. I said, no, I just have my plastic, you know, teeth lining thing. I guess you could say I have my trays on. Oh my God. Yeah, that's really good.

Did he think you were flirting? No, no, no. No, but he was so sick of me making jokes. I just made bad joke after bad joke. And I was sitting there, have you had an endoscopy with the thing down your throat? Yeah. I did it at the same time that I got my colonoscopy.

Yeah, so they put you like, I did. Yeah, you did it. They used the same tool. They used the same tool. Yeah. Are they offering you like I did yeah, you're the same to use the same to Are they offering a twofer right now it's the best time to do it you might as well you're already out It's the devil lies in the sequencing. You'd really want to do the endoscopy first. Is that correct? I guess I mean I don't think it but I but I said so I had this thing They make you bite down on this thing and your mouth to keep your mouth open, right?

So I had this thing, they make you bite down on this thing and your mouth to keep your mouth open, right? Sure. And so they can stick the camera down there. And so I'm sitting on my side with pillows, with, you know, in a gown with this thing. And I said, bad joke after bad joke, I go, I haven't been like this since college or something like that.

And he goes way in the back of the room, he goes, yeah, we're probably gonna wanna stop talking for a little bit. Yeah, he's had it with you. He's totally had it with me. He's the best doctor. He's gonna get that propofol. He's like double the propofol.

Let's get this guy under. The best doctor. How good is that? How the great is that when you wake up from that propofol? Oh my God. That little twilight? I've never felt so good in my life. Yeah, I get real chippy.

I got a bunch of jokes for the doctor. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I can't stop cracking jokes. You feel, but the thing is, you come out of that thing and you feel light, you haven't eaten for 24 hours. Right. And you feel rested. You've just had a 45 hour long nap.

Like the, to quote somebody, the likes of which have never been seen. Oh boy. No. Yeah, and then we, oh God, okay, sorry. Okay, that's it. 10 minutes of pattern. Let's please get to our guest today.

You fucking wrote down 10 minutes of pattern too. No, I just looked up there. 10 minutes of pattern. Today we have with us a seasoned, Talk to people. We have a seasoned, we have a seasoned veteran of the industry. Oh.

But she's not old. Uh-oh. She has an Ivy League education with a degree in psychology. But she's not old. Uh-oh. She has an Ivy League education with a degree in psychology, but she's never practiced. Oh, God. She is incredibly funny and can light up a room with her smile and her warmth,

but she's known as one of our best dramatic actors. She's been a major movie star for over 30 years, but it has always been second to her interest in academics and activism. She's got an Academy Award, couple couple of globes, countless nominations. She can even explain the Middle East to you or sell you some perfume. And Sean, she can even swing a lightsaber. Gang. Wow. What?

Oh, Natalie Portman. What? Got it. No, Natalie. I knew it. Good morning. I knew it. Wow. Oh my God, you guys. Yeah. Literally as I revealed myself, Hi! Wow. Oh my god, you guys. Yeah? Literally as I revealed myself, I got a thing on my computer that says low battery. You're gonna plug it in, girl.

It's gonna flip soon. Yeah, one minute. Excuse me. One minute she's grabbing for the record. Oh yeah, go get it. All right, so Sean, here's a little, okay guys, Sean, okay. You better watch it on the Star Wars stuff.

She doesn't wanna talk about Star Wars, okay? You go to the Star Trek. I got a shit want to talk about Star Wars, okay? You don't say Star Trek, does that work around? I got a shit for giving you shit with the Adam Driver episode, but now I'm... And keep Scotty out of this fucking interview, all right? And don't start going like, Scotty's got a question for you from down deep. She's put on her headphones.

To the planet Trigulan actually has. Tight knob, you're not coming back. Come on, come on, tight knob. Hi, Ali. Hi. Look who's back. Are you all plugged in? We weren't talking about you. I'm gonna do a whole move.

We're changing the background. Oh, it's so pretty. What we're exposing here is a very nice zoom rare. She's created the house. Yeah, you got a nice flare going. Beautiful flare coming in. We lost her. And we've lost connection. All right. All right, stand by each other.

Good till there, as Jason would say, good till there. That was great. Good till there. Every time, by the way, every time we're under rest of development, we'd go, and action, and somebody would go up and go, like right as we started, Jason would always go, good till there.

Good till there. Never did it. Robbie, right as we started, just would always go, good till there. Good till there. Good till there. Never did it. Robbie, we lost her on. Yeah, yeah. That's probably the battery just, so it's gonna be a second guys. The battery just, yeah, battery just cut.

If you want to keep chatting, you can, but we're probably gonna need her walk her through tech, so. All right, we're back. Do you hear us, Natalie? I do. Oh, we do too. One last thing, it sounds a little bit more echoey in this room.

Do you mind just pulling the mic a little closer, maybe just a little higher if you have like some books on the desk to put it on? All right, is that better? I'm really sorry, y'all. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no just like driving over a canyon and hear you right back. Oh, Natalie. Hello there. Hi, Bateman.

Good morning. Oh, I love you called the Bateman. Yeah, well, you know, we've worked together so we can do last names. I can even go her slag, you know? Have you? Good memory with you. We did a movie in which we had the same hairdo.

Oh my God, that's right. So this was a family movie called Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Oh yes god. That's right. So this was this was this was a family movie called Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Oh yes. It came out. Did you really? Yeah. It was a great script. Zach Helm. What a writer. It was a good script. Yeah. And Dustin Hoffman was in it. We had a great time with him. We were in where were we? In Toronto. Toronto. In Toronto. That's the same thing. Right Will? Vancouver, Toronto. Kind of the same. How dare you say Vancouver, Toronto. That's the same thing right will Vancouver Toronto's kind of the same how dare you say Toronto same thing. How fucking dare you kidding not kidding the people of Toronto loathe you Wait, wait, when did this movie come out? I forget was it 90s or 2000?

2000 and I'm gonna say six seven something like that boy It's just how are you with dates? Our net's just incredible with it. I swear to you, I have no, I can't tell the difference between 97 and 07. I just have no idea what's going on between the two. I'm with you. Yeah.

This year, I was like, if it was 2014, I would be like, uh-huh, 2014, yeah. Natalie, where are you right now? I'm in Los Angeles. Oh, you are, okay. Very good. Yes. I didn't get to run into you the other night.

We were at the Swanky Globes. Yeah. And you were amazing up on stage with it. What about doing the presenting stuff? How do you like that? There's always some patterns, some little quippy joke you gotta do, and it's so, so stressful. I never like it. What about you?

I was very lucky that they didn't try and make me do anything like funny, quirky. Right. We just kind of said the nominees. Yeah, banter stuff. Because I get really uncomfortable with that. Yeah, that's the best, that's the safest way to go, because some people who try to do something that they don't feel comfortable, it shows, right? Yeah, I once had to carry Aziz Ansari out on stage at Golden Globes once, that was part of our bit.

I remember what followed that, but I just remember carrying him out and literally smelling my sad card burning in my back pocket. And I just felt like, oh, that's over. There it is. What year was that, Jason? Forget it, moving on. So, so, he doesn't know. He doesn't know. Natalie Portman, my God, it's so great to have you here. That is.

I mean, where do we even start with? Oh, I've got a series of questions if you want me to start with. I know, I've started with a lot of things. I've done some prep. The last time I saw you, Natalie, I was interviewing as the guest host of the Jimmy Kimmel show. Yes, that was great. Not so long ago.

I know, it was like a year ago. Wait, wait, so you were the guest and Sean was the host? Yeah. Come on. Yeah. And how hard was it masking the disappointment that Jimmy wasn't there for the entire... She's got skills. She's got an award for it. It was a delight.

It was wonderful. It was for Thor. And if you remember, Scotty, my husband did some bit with you in the, he was dressed as Thor in the audience. It was great. Oh, what a highlight for Natalie. Jesus Christ.

You were probably like, oh God, I gotta do a bit. Like, girl. I think about it often. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Do you remember your questions? Do you remember your questions for her, Sean, at all, yeah, I'm sure. Do you remember your questions? Do you remember your questions for her, Sean, at all? I don't.

I was enamored. I'm enamored. I'm such a massive fan. And so many things you've done. She's good. But yeah, so it really... I think you asked me about how I got my muscles for Thor. Oh, yeah. How did you get your muscles? Tell us.

We didn't see the episode. CG. CG? No, really? No. Yeah. No get your muscles? Tell us. We didn't see the episode. CG. No, really? No. Yeah. No, I don't buy it. You tried, well, didn't you like... I worked out.

Yeah. You didn't have Thor level. They also helped me a lot. Well, they made me 6'4", which is pretty. Or they made you 6' Thor. Great to know that that's possible. Yes. Now, that reminds me during my incredible research for this,

when you did Black Swan, you went, now you studied ballet when you were a kid, but when you did like six months of training for that, I wanna say? Yeah, it was actually almost a year of training and yeah, it was really fun. Because you had to or you wanted to. Like what kind of actor are you?

Do you love to do the research or do you just like to kind of wing it? I think it depends what the research is. I mean, like, I mean, if I'm lucky enough to get to work on something that I want to learn all the stuff, that's like the most fun. Like Jackie, like that was a huge responsibility.

You had to study, study, study and make sure you got that as accurate as possible. Yeah, that's super scary. Have you played real people before? No, I'm too much of a coward. I'd say no to all of, I mean, even things that are even close. Although in air I played a real guy

but no one has any tape on him. So I could just kind of do whatever I wanted to do. You do a real great impression of your uncle too, right? That nobody knows. Yeah. Including me. How do you expect, he doesn't even know who he is. How do you expect him to be another person?

I feel like we kind of glided over that too quickly. And I know more about it. His name is John and he's a fantastic man. Remember Pete Sarifinowitz, it just made me think. Remember Pete Sarifinowitz did that thing years ago where he did 50 impressions in one under a minute and they were all of fictitious people, which is the best. We'll be right back.

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You're on Tropic Time now. Treat yourself with the new Tropic Bulls at your local Tropical Smoothie Cafe. And now, back to the show. I want to ask just a question about the Globes again, about the award shows in general, because you look so, I love your dress on the Golden Glow Beautiful and and do you like do you like it's a common question But do you like the dress up and this and all of that as far as globes?

Would you like you know what I do it, but I'd rather be home in my sweats or do you enjoy it? You know, I used to think it was kind of I used to think it was kind of oppressive and like why do women have to spend all this time discomfort and you know the men get to like roll out of bed and wear something they're warm in and like aren't you know sucking in their stomachs or whatever and now having kids I feel like it's a pretty it's pretty fun to like have people like make you feel good. And go glam. Go glam after you're just like. I don't think you own sweats.

I own so many sweats. You do, really? Yeah, and I really kind of only wear them in real life, which has been, we moved to Paris last year and you really can't wear sweats in Paris. You do get kicked out of the country. You just get your visa taken away. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Do you live in Paris now?

I live in Paris now, yeah. Wow. Yeah. What a switch. Yeah, it's a really different lifestyle. Now, how many languages do you know? I speak Hebrew and English, obviously English. And my French is like fine.

Like I can do everything I need to do. It's just not grammatically correct or sophisticated in any way. That's okay. At least they're not judgy. Did you know any of it before you moved there? Yeah, I took it in high school and... But like how many years? I took it in high school too, but I can't...

Yeah, I took it like four years. Well, that's good. Yeah. You didn't do it like I did where you take French one and French two twice. Because the first time you took them, it didn't count towards your credits. And then I was like,

oh, you know what, now that it's credits, I'll just take the two years that I already know so that my class is easy. That's... A dumb guy. That's smart. Yeah. It's a complicated language.

It is. Why... Will, you know it fluently, don't you? I do speak a lot of French, yeah. But I don't want to... Listen, I'm not... It's not here for me to show off. Ask her a question in French.

No, no, no. Yeah, I want to hear that. Let's hear it. Hello. Yeah, I want to hear that. Let's hear it. So you live in Paris? Oh, I live in the 7th. Oh, okay. She lives in the 7th.

She lives in the 7th. Yes. But when you come back to LA, do you love LA? Because I feel like I don't love LA when I'm here, but when I come back here, I'm like, oh, I'm just used to it here. I'm used to a good thing here, and I'm reminded how much I really do enjoy this city. I do love LA.

I mean, I love LA because I feel like you discover it. You know, like there's, it's not an obvious city. Yeah, because you're always driving. Yeah, but like you have to like find the good stuff. You know, like a city like Paris or New York like announces itself like you can just, here you've got to kind of like search and find the good, good interesting stuff.

And there's lots of it. You're like, oh, I've been driving by that cool little restaurant my whole life and I never stopped. Yeah, have you ever been to the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena? I was there yesterday. You're kidding. Don't you love that place? My favorite place in the city. Yeah, have you ever been to the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena? I was there yesterday. You're kidding.

Don't you love that place? My favorite place in the city. Yeah, mine too. Wait, I've never been. Will you guys take me? Yeah. And I'm kind of a garden nut. You've never been?

Oh my God, Jay, I'll tell you how. That's so exciting. Yeah. You're going to have like the best discovery. Wait, don't you think that's weird that you just said that and I brought up the garden nut? That's wild. Jay, don't sell yourself short. You're not a garden nut. You're just a nut. Yeah think that's weird that you just said that and I brought up the girl. Hey, don't sell yourself short You're not a gardener. You're just a no. Yeah, that's true many different nuts

But what do they have beautiful do they have a Japanese garden there because I may have been there to look at that They do and we what's the no truly because there was a moment where I was Into a Japanese garden that I went to go look at a few. And there's one at UCLA I went and looked at. And then maybe there's, maybe it was a Huntington Gardens the other one. What's the Chris Farley Beverly Hills Ninja? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember that?

Yeah, sure. Shot at the Japanese garden when they go to Japan. Oh really? It's just the Huntington Gardens. I know, wait, Nina. It's the best. I know, wait. Oh my God, look at wait. It's important.

Maybe I have a rewatch before you go to the visit. I will. I'll brush up. Natalie, I sometimes go there alone just because I love it. I love walking around. It's the best place in the city. I know. There's so much. The desert garden is like walking on the moon.

And then you know what I do afterwards? I go to the pie and burger for a burger and a piece of pie. Clutter. Good, what if you blocks away? Call me before you do these semi-suicidal walkabouts. You know, I'll walk with you. Okay, come on, I'd love it, I would love it. It's so peaceful and beautiful.

Sean, what do you think about? What do I think about what? You know, when you're walking through the garden, what do you usually have on the burger? What's running through your mouth? What kind of pie? What is your go-to pie, Johnny? I think about what? When you're walking through the garden. What you're going to have on the burger? What is your go-to pie, Shawnee? I think about Natalie Portman. I think about what she's doing right now.

We should do this together. Yeah, I would love it. I would love to. How great would it be to be walking in the Japanese garden and running to Shawnee and Natalie? Walking. Holding hands, walking through the Japanese garden. I would look around for wear as a camera.

What are you guys shooting? Yeah, right, sure. All right, Natalie, let's get into the teeth of this interview here. God, it's going to be hard hitting. Let's see here. It's all out of the Wikipedia. No, what, what, what, what, because mom nor dad were into the business, right? No, dad's a fertility doctor.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Mom's a painter. Right. Did you see our father? No. Uh-oh. Is that like one of those bad fertility doctors? It sounds like that. Oh, no. That's not your dad. I'm just saying. It's really interesting documentary. I remember there was a TV movie when I was little where everyone they realized that the fertility doctor was like

Messed up because everyone had the eye patches at the playground Yeah, I think you realized that there was like no one one genetic donor for all of the children in the neighborhood Yeah, all the kids had eye patches Nightmare So all the kids had eye patches. Oh. Yes. I do, yeah. Nightmare. Wow. So what was it? Was it, well, wait, so you're reminding your own business,

somebody saw you in a store or something. They said, hey, do you want to be a kid model? You were like, no, but you did think, well, maybe I'll go get an agent and start doing commercials, maybe? Jason, you know so much about me. But that's not accurate, right? It's like kind of I'm around the facts,

but not really nailing them. Yeah, no, I really liked them. I was 10 years old. Yes. And I like, I'm from Long Island. I'm from the real Long Island. I'm not out there where all you elites are. I never went to the Hamptons until I was like 35.

Me neither. Johnny Range Rover. Me neither. By the way, for what it's worth. I grew up in like the mall. Yeah. And yeah, a lot of kids I grew up with were like auditioning and doing commercials

and stuff to make money for college. And I told my parents like, I'm gonna do that too. And they were very reluctant because they are just like, you know, kids who are actors end up in- Like Jason. Robin liquor stores. Yeah, like me.

End up in trouble. Yeah, look at it. With a golf addiction. And yeah, and I convinced them to let me, and then they let me in. But it was purely to finance a future education. Like it wasn't, you didn't have like some like- Not even, it was just because I wanted to. I mean, my dad, my dad like insisted on paying for my college and stuff anyway, so it was

just really fun for me. And yeah. And did you start selling cereal? I never got commercials. I always tried out. Really? But I never got anything of the children's things. I just got straight into the professional. That was number one.

And that was Luc Bason, right? Wait, was that your first job? That was my first job. That was my first job. That was my first job. No way. Yeah. I did one. I was an understudy in an off-Broadway musical

before that. That was my one thing. It's called Ruthless. Wait, and you want to know who else was cast as the understudy in that? Lindsay Lohan. No. Correct?

No, your close. Sorry, Britney Spears. Britney Spears. Britney Spears was the under, understudy in that? Lindsay Lohan. No. Correct? No, wait. Sorry, Britney Spears. Britney Spears. Britney Spears was the under, I took over for her. No way. When I was 10. Wow.

And then I got, yeah. That's crazy. I didn't know that. Have you seen her since? So wait, so you were 11 when you did the professional? I was 11. I turned 12 while we were shooting. Oh my God.

That is so crazy. So you've seen Britney Spears since? Yes. Yes. And you guys did a little high five about, look how far we were shooting. Oh, my God. That is so crazy. So you've seen Britney Spears since? Yes. Yes. And you guys did a little high-five about, look how far we've come. We did. We did. We threw New Year's party together when we were 18. No way. Oh, wow. That's cool.

Yes, way. Hang on a second. That sounds like a good party. It was a good party. You guys at 18 must have been like... Maybe 99. 1999. It must have been like... Maybe 99? 1999? It must have been an enormous party. Was it huge, that party?

It was a good party. What month? What month was it? What month's your birthday? Oh, my birthday is June. June, what? I thought you were asking what month they had their New Year's party in. Oh, it was New Year's.

Oh, it was New Year's. I thought you said it was birthday party. It was a New Year's party? It was a New Year's party. Okay, so was New Year's. Oh, it was New Year's. I thought you said it was birthday party. It was a New Year's party? It was a New Year's party. Okay, so 99, okay. I used to love throwing parties. God damn it. Right, remember parties?

Remember when we used to throw parties? Now the only parties you throw is for the kids. Yep. That's it. Bouncy houses. Yeah. Yeah, snacks. Were you worried at all when you became a young actor

and you're doing the professional, your first film job, which is insane, still insane to me? Were you worried that you're doing the professional, your first film job, which is still insane to me. Were you worried that you would end up, were your parents worried that you'd end up like on a camping trip on mountain bikes with Leaf Garrett? Like did that ever like, was that a concern for you? Like that would be- He's taking a shot at my trajectory.

But by the way, that was a fun trip. It was a fun trip. I know. But no, but were your parents legitimately worried? Did they think like, oh, this is gonna peel you away from work, from school? I'd rather, I mean, not work, but from school and that kind of thing.

Is that what it was? Oh yeah. Yeah, I mean, they were very concerned. They would, I mean, my mom was like with me all the time and made sure that no one got near me. And yeah, and I wasn't allowed to miss school. So I always was shooting on like vacations. And then yeah, when I went to college, my dad was like,

okay, that was cute. Time to move on. Really? Let's find another job, a real job. And then when you majored in psychology, was that because that was the occupation that you wanted to go into? Or was it just like, no, this is something that I'm interested in?

Yeah, I feel like it was more like most people who study psychology, which is like, I wanna know why I'm crazy. Yeah, so I'm fascinated by it. I wish I'd studied that. Yeah. I'd have some answers. I don't know, but don't you think like,

acting in the thing that we do is kind of a form of psychology? And... Totally. You know, because it's the study of human behavior, that's all we do. It is very similar. Did you have a specific role model, mentor ideal when you did take the time off kind of when you went to school?

And the one that comes to mind potentially is Jodie Foster. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah, Jodie Foster was definitely. You know, I talked to her much later, which was amazing. I did a speech at a women's march about being like sexualized as a young actress and she reached out to me after that and we like talked and it was amazing and she's just, she's, yeah, she's still a role model. But she's pretty cool. Yeah. And now are you,

are you also like just going back to the whole comment that you said about this, being sexualized as a young actress and how awful that must be. Do you now have all these years having worked in the business, do you recognize a personality when they walk into the room as a dangerous one now that you have been around it for so long? You're like, you know what, I can see that man or woman coming towards me or we're gonna work together or maybe something else.

And you recognize it so you've learned to adjust or how to deal with that? No, no, I haven't. It's perfect. I feel like it's still surprising that it exists. Yeah. Yeah, but I feel like that kind of like projection of seriousness protected me in a way But yeah, but I feel like that kind of like projection

of seriousness protected me in a way because I feel like it was almost like a warning signal, like, oh, don't do shit to her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, she'll sniff you out and call you out. Not that anyone ever like, you know, deserves it or is asking for it, but like you can, you know, I felt like that was my,

my conscious way, unconscious way of doing it. But with people, yeah, I feel like the biggest sign is when people talk shit about women. I'm like, if they talk shit about anyone, even if they're just like, oh, she's really difficult, or she's, I'm like, that's like a flag for me. I'm like, there's more to that story.

I'm like, there's a place in it. And when I walk away, what are they gonna say about me? Yeah, like there's, yeah, talking shit in general. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. And now, a word from our sponsor. Thanks to ZipRecruiter for their support. Our friends at ZipRecruiter conducted a recent survey and found that the top hiring challenge

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I just started, how am I gonna say this? The subtle art of not giving a fuck. Eek. And obviously the beep is longer than the two letters that it's replacing in between, but it's or three because I the C as well so it's it was you CK in case you didn't know anyway I'm listening to that on audible and it is absolutely fantastic because not only do I like to read books, when I'm not reading, I like to listen to books. Guys, I'm very popular.

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URL so they know we sent you audible.com slash smartLess. All right back to the show. You want to get to Star Wars, Sean? No, I'm not going to go on her. I was going to apologize, but in advance, and then say, Manley, we're really sorry, but Sean has some shit that he needs to do for us. No, no, that's okay. It has to do with the planet Voltron or whatever.

No, no, no. You know how much I love you and I loved everything you've done. But so I just, I just will say like a blanket statement about Star Wars and the Marvel universe and any kind of big movie that you're a part of are deep because I grew up in Chicago with like big dreams of like going out to LA and being, you know, working as an actor.

And so you get here and I still have that awe of like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm on a lot. I can't believe I'm on a set. It never goes away. And so my question to you is like having grown up in it and Jason too, when you're a part of Star Wars or the Marvel Universe or whatever it is, are you still at all, like me, the little kid from Chicago,

is like, I can't believe it? Or are you just like, I got this job, here's the work, I'm gonna show up on time and do my job. Do you know what I mean? Can you separate it at all? Or are you still in awe? I'm pretty in awe. Like when I got to,

I feel like it was luckier to do the last Thor because it was, like I have done so much now that I can understand how different it is. Like the technology and stuff makes me amazed, and also having kids now, getting to bring my kids to the set, and like, you know, they get to fly on wires, and watch me fly, and I have a 12 year old and a 30 year old.

30 and 40, I'm kidding. 12 and six, is that what you said? Perfect, love it. Yeah, so now they're starting to, well, does that, do you think about them when you consider parts too? Like, oh, this one I'm gonna get major cred for them. Oh, yeah, oh yeah. Like, main consideration is what they'll think.

Yeah. Was there, who in the room at the Globes do you think a selfie with, would have given you the best points with your 12 year old? I mean, would have been Taylor? No, my 12 year old's a boy. Unlike, there were no soccer players in that room, so. Is he's a big soccer fan?

Oh, Matt. And you know, who's his team? Hang on, who's his team? Hang on, who's his team? He loves Real Madrid and he loves Arsenal. Really? And PSG, of course. Of course, PSG, sure.

And he loves him. And Boppe might go to Real Madrid. And the Red Angels City here, of course. Sure, sure. Oh, right. Wait, you're part of Angel City. He's a part owner and a soccer team, Willie. Yes, I know that.

That's right. Women's soccer, right? Yes. You're right, women's soccer, right? I'm a huge, yes. You're a huge soccer fan? Massive, I'm a massive Liverpool supporter. A Liverpool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I watch every, but there's talk, I don't wanna get into Mbappe, maybe go to Liverpool or Real Madrid. Is that right?

Yeah, yeah, that's what the word is yesterday, according to Sky Sports. Oh man. Hope not, hope not for us in Paris. I'm like your 12 year old. Like I, for me, it's about athletes. Like if you meet all these people, but then you see an athlete and you're like, oh my God.

Oh my God, I don't want to talk loud. What would I say if you talked to me? How will I, you know, I got to meet Jurgen Klopp, who's the manager of Liverpool and I nearly cried. That was recent too, and I nearly cried. That was recent too, and I'm over 50. I got like that at the Globes. I was like, you know, all those famous people and there's Neil Katyal, who's like,

who's our old solicitor general, right? I got as tongue-tied as I am right now, talking to him. Who is that? He's just, he's a, he's a, he's a, just a real smart lawyer that is on MSNBC. He's argued lots of big cases in front of the Supreme Court. Yeah, that's really cool. I could style those people for hours.

And it's all I wanted to talk to. Okay. Yeah. All right. Moving on. Oh, but, but you will be excited about this Star Wars story from the Globes. I met Mark Hamill for my first time. For the first time?

As a Globes. Are you kidding me? No way. And he called me his mother. He was my son. Wait a minute. So, but you meet my mother, finally. Wow.

Wait, I can't believe you didn't meet him before that. Never. But why? Wouldn't he have been like a consultant on Phantom Menace and all those other ones? No, they never brought him around. And I never would have known. Did somebody get a photo of that?

We got a photo. His daughter took a picture of us together. That's a no way. Oh shit. Shit, I gotta get that. That's her next appointment. Yo. That's crazy that she met him for the first time. Yeah, I wonder if anybody...

Oh, I wonder if you... Uh, add to the report signature. Okay. This is... It's a UPS delivery, guys. And do you tell him to just leave it there? Or did you just... I think they can just leave it.

This is a sign only. Okay. All right, so then you met Mark Hamill. I think I was like, hello, men, men, we're here with your cannabis. We have the whole truck. Where do you want us to put it? Your high powered weed, your stinky butt is here.

Fuck. So no one got a shot of Luke with his mother except... No, they did. Somebody did. No, no, but just Luke's daughter, right? There wasn't like any media that got a shot of that? No media. It was a press-to-film.

Wow, that's like a money shot, man. Wow. Now, talk to me about directing. Do you love it as much as acting? Do you love it more, less? I do love it. I think I love both things. And I feel like it changes the way I act after,

yeah, after trying to do more different options. Because I feel like I was always trying to like hone my performance, like do the same thing just better each time. And then when I had to watch myself back in the editing room, I was like, it's the same thing over and over again. I want a choice. So then I was like, so now I try and do different things

so a director in the editing room can be like. But then you've only got one take of you doing that particular choice. You don't have seven good versions of that choice, you know, that you can play with the editing room, you know? Yeah. I mean, you can try and get that main choice when you get the camera work and acting right. And then...

Go ahead again. This is now the code. I forgot to drop off the lighters. We have your lighters. We are here with your lighters. So, um... Let's listen. Somebody come here. Oh, okay. Yeah, go.

You too. You gotta go side. No. No. It's okay. I called it. This is fantastic. This is the best.

This is the best. Hi. Hi. You guys, I need to fix my life. Any pointers? I'll be over at noon. You might need a house manager that can cover IT and deliveries. Great.

Awesome. I like you keeping it real. We love the little pauses. Now listen, speaking of take after take after take, I'm directing it. I made December, you're so brilliant in that movie. And I'm gonna jump all around with the movie because it was fascinating.

And the very last scene, hopefully spoiler alert, stop listening if you haven't seen the movie, but the very last scene, where you as the actress within the movie, the part doing take after take after take, that was so interesting. So what was going through your mind, that must have been like so surreal for you to have,

what we were just talking about, being a director and an actor and then doing that. Well, it was really, yeah, that last take, I mean, that last scene was really, yeah, that last take, I mean, that last scene was very... I didn't really realize while I was reading it that there was going to be like a 17 year old kid in the scene. All of a sudden, he gets a set and there's this actor and like his mom.

And then there's like a snake, like a real snake. And I was like, didn't think about that either. And I was just like, oh, boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was written that you do take after take, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was written that way. So that's what I was thinking about.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the whole tone of the movie, too. Like when the first, in the first, I think it was the first music cue, when she goes to the fridge and she opens the door and there's this push in with the music. I was like, wait, what, what's going on? And then you're along for the ride

and it was so fantastic. And the one scene that you should win every award for, and I'm sure everybody comments on it, so I'm sorry, is the monologue straight to camera, in one take, it was just a class in like, you know, a master class in acting and the craft and everything, it was just perfection. Is Todd Haynes as stunning as I think he is?

I love him, I love him. He's, I mean, like you were saying, the music choice on that refrigerator scene is like so key to let everyone know that it's okay to laugh, you know? Because we're kind of not sure. And then it's such a tension release. And he's just the most brilliant.

I love him. And he's a really awesome person too. But like think about all the incredible directors that you've worked with. It does set you up to be like an incredible director because you can just cherry pick from all of them and toss out all the stuff that you don't like. Like, it's what I'm amazed more at.

Well, you had that too, right? Well, I haven't worked with the level of directors that you have in the day. Your first film you ever did was with Luc Besson. I mean, that's insane. Yeah. I was very lucky. I was very lucky.

What a way to start. But it's a real time suck and, you know. Directing. Yeah, I mean, you know, he got all the prep, the shooting and the post instead of just the shooting part. So, but, but needless to say, more to come from you with directing? I intend to, yes.

And yeah, I actively work on it. What about you? I would love to. She's gone. Oh, bye. She's gone. Hey listener. Well, it looks like we lost Natalie for the final time

and we decided that we weren't gonna to call her back. Right, guys? We're not going to torture her anymore. With clearly having some Wi-Fi issues. But we got more than enough from the incredible Natalie Portman. And I mean, she's just amazing. She's a powerhouse. She could do it all.

I mean, I wish she. Oh, wait. She's a mom. She's a powerhouse, she could do it all. I mean, I wish- Oh wait, she's a mom. She's a mom, she's an actor, an activist, a director, a Harvard grad, she's just like the nicest, funniest person. I wish you guys could both work with her. She's such a mega, you know, I use this sometimes. She's one of those people,

she falls into the mega talent category. And you know, everything she does, everything, she's never been bad. Never been bad, always been classy. Never gotten all tangled up in the nonsense of this business. No. Which is hard to do.

Don't you think it's weird that she was talking about discovering places in Los Angeles and the one place I say she was just there yesterday? Don't you think that's weird. Yeah. You think she's lying? What? What are you accusing her of?

No, I'm saying like that's so wild that I call that out. I know, I know, I'm just kidding. Of course, yeah. It's bonkers. It's so crazy. So Jay, I'll take you to the Huntington Gardens. You will? You get the sense, Jay.

You know what I like to is that you get the sense that you're, and you've done an admirable job considering that you've not only grew up doing this stuff, but that you still stayed living here and this was your life and that you ended up quasi normal. And that she's done it in a way that like, she was very insulated by going back to school

and by continuing with her studies and going to college. And that she seems to have held onto this kind of like, this sort of sane center that she has, that that's what she, you know, she says that she projects like a serious friend. It's not that she projects this person who seems very centered and has a solid. Yeah, she's self-contained.

She doesn't seem like she needs anything from this business to become fully formed. When you don't need to be validated by what you do, first of all, we've talked about this before, but certainly by this business, forget any business, but certainly ours, if you need that to make yourself feel better, you're fucked. Yeah, totally fucked.

Anyway, she's one of the great ones. I was wild that she lived in Paris and here, which means she's... Bye. Coastal. Paris, not on a coast, in a different country. Bye, country. Bye, continental. Bye, country.

Smart. Bye! Perry, Rob Armjharve, and Bennett Barbicó. Smart Loss If you like Smart Loss, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wendry.com slash survey. Academy is a new scripted podcast that follows Ava Richards,

played by HBO's Industries, Myhalla Harald, a brilliant scholarship student who has to quickly adapt to her new found eat or be eaten world. Ava's ambitions take hold and her small town values break in hopes of becoming the first scholarship student to make

the list. Bishop Gray is all coveted academic top 10, curated by the headmaster himself. But after realizing she has no chance at the list on her own, she reluctantly accepts an invitation to a secret underground society that pulls the strings on campus life and academic success. If she bends to their will, she'll have everything she's ever dreamed of. But at what cost? Academy takes you into the world of a cutthroat private school where power, money, and sex collide in a game of life and death. Follow Academy on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Academy early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.