SmartLess - "The Russo Brothers"

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

The bread market is skyrocketing this week at a dollar a slice and 50 cents for the heels, ‘cause we’ve got Anthony and Joseph Russo on the poddy. We learn how to make a show for 2 corned-beef sandwiches, we go deep and get Arrested, and we get pitched on The Great Lakes Avengers. So put on your see-through Fendi raincoat and squeeze some juice-os… it’s time to tease some Russos.Please support us by supporting our sponsors.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All right, so who's up for a little chat and giggle? Are you guys doing like another singing one where we like sing like our names in harmony or something you mean for an opening of the show for you right now ready I'll go out well you hold a note and I'll build it and Jason top I don't even know what it just do it with your name welcome to smart list what's wrong with that that was perfect we were a little late today but I got a luncheon so that was great oh buttons you got it fed so so okay so I'm walking on the street around like Broadway in 70th and I'm not making this up this girl is 20 something I'm guessing she has a jacket that's open and she has like a like a lace tube top and her boobs completely out just

the one just the one boob and I'm I'm like is everybody seeing this and and everybody like was looking at her and she was just walking around real confident with just one boob hanging up that was that it took my eyes a minute to believe it you know everybody I once saw a guy confidently hanging a shit on 6th Avenue at noon on a Wednesday you know it wasn't I was with you it was a fucking it was 8th Avenue and I'll tell you this how it went down I was walking with Jason and he goes look at that and then we see a dude and you see it actually coming out and I said thanks for making me look because now I'll never not be able to see that it was a high-pressured garden hose style one again and he didn't

even bend his knees it's just I mean this is noon on a weekday on the sidewalk he was he didn't try to go to the to the corner or down an alley or anything so just so Jay you'll like the other day the other day oh my god the other day I'm here in Atlanta and and I still want to New York and I'm at the Publix here in Atlanta just buying a few few items at the grocery store hey stars are just like us you know and so I'm well and I'm pushing the cart and I've got here with my but I know and I'm here with my buddy Eli as you know oh yeah Eli got recognized at the gym the other day a guy says to him he's because he's wearing a smartless sweatshirt and the guy goes we love smart list and where'd you get

that he's like yeah I got him and he's like yeah you know my name is Eli and the guy goes are you Eli from this and he was no way yeah oh really are you kidding no I swear to God that's crazy yeah so he's friends with this guy at the gym anyway that's a different story but they swap number they're in Publix they swap numbers because he has got a whole like he goes to the gym I work out here at home on my own thing and he goes to the gym and he comes back and he's like yeah I ran into Gordo again my buddy there he was wearing the hockey I go how'd you start talking to him he said well he was wearing their shirt that said such and such hockey and he goes so then it was just on and I go yeah Canadians

are just fantastic he's so sweet and he's so nice anyway Eli's very engaging and people love him you go everywhere you go yeah so anyway we're going along we're going along the aisle and we stop and he stops and he and he picks up some the men's wipes and it's a three pack and he goes oh it's a three pack they're not on their own I go what are you doing you know them getting the wipes and I go what and he goes yeah I go so he puts them in the cart at which point I push the cart away from me hands off yeah I can't be no associated with the wipes I did get a text from our friend JT Justin throw last night oh and I have to share what he said and I'm sure I'll be so happy I'm sharing this he

said we're chatting we're chatting let's get together we're gonna have dinner blah blah and he goes by the way I saw a picture of Bateman and our net yesterday are they skipping body day like every day that's son of a bitch wow you know listen when you're walking around with two percent body fat and freezing in the middle of summer as a result I don't want to hear it from him you know he's talk about somebody who's malnourished will yeah it's true why don't you take a run at him you know I'd like to don't worry I do as you know from his insane text that he when he's tries to be poetic you know he gets like real in our in our other thread that we have we're in too many threads now are we yeah we are Jason

just got pumped back Jason just got pumped back into the octortal cordal whirtle I know I just saw that Affleck is now not happy about it well no that got put out there that I guess that Ben as we know we had him on here but he's not part of it and he claimed that he was just in a whirtle thread with you and anyway remember Sam was all aghast yeah I'm not happy about it I didn't ask Matt to do that I just thought it would be a fun goof if he just put me back on there and then sure enough first thing the next morning it's not even 7 30 in the morning and I'm in Austin so that's 5 30 in the morning for me and these freaks who are on east time are already done with their an hour of crossword type wordplay

and they say Bateman you're up I'm like I haven't even evacuated myself yet which I brought up which I did bring up which you did yeah and I like to do my thing with this whirtle stuff when I was on deep in the afternoon right I do it I do it before I go to bed but these guys like to know who won and who lost before breakfast and talk and talk about it right and I were up Bradley and I were up early you already going like well that was that tough fuck totally I know the fourth guess yeah and I wake up I look at my text thing and I've got I've got 19 texts all right I'm like whoa something exciting is happening in my life no it's just a long whirtle thread yeah yeah all right listen let's let's let's

let's let's get to it these these these uh oh there's two we do we have two guests all right now we have we've had two guests before these two they have worked together their entire career and somehow have managed a very happy and healthy family life as well it's very very inspiring they produce together they write together okay direct together they've created some of the most successful film and TV projects together as well as an enormous production company and in fact I don't think there is a more successful Hollywood couple behind the camera wow they have directed 10 films together grossing in excess probably of about five billion dollars what what and they better continue to get along not only

for the health of the industry but also for the fact they are stuck together for life well Sean they're not a couple couple they're a couple of brothers guys it's our friends the Russo brothers I was gonna leave that on and make you guess it's a family reunion with all of us are you fucking kidding me what's up good morning nice to meet you guys it's been about 20 years good to meet you too it's been 20 it's been 20 years since the pilot of Arrested Development but you've worked with Will a few times since then that's right and we've bumped into each other a bunch since then uh-huh a Bateman you have an aged a day I know it's amazing isn't it well I sleep in olive oil and I go down to Tijuana

a couple times a month for experimental medical work infuse some Paul Rudd blood Paul Rudd blood well I didn't want to say anything you don't look as good as I know I know I get it listen it makes a lot of sense you know I look at the same thing about JV he looks incredible he has not aged I look like I look like my own father now are you are you living in a tent in your in your home he's got a tough lighting there in the whisper booth it is tough I'm here in Atlanta and I'm in the basement and I've got this like portable booth that I bring with me so I can do all my records and it and you guys have not met Sean before is that right we we have not no no get a little remember during a casting of rest development

and right there was a conversation point about no could we get Sean off of come on well in grace is that true in between his schedule what and and I'm still waiting I mean I could probably still get out probably good well guess what guess what that son of a bitch is still never seen one goddamn episode not to do he saw two episodes name them what happened in those one and two will was on the couch saying something funny you were being snarky standing up great guess the blocking was will was sitting and you were standing I think I remember the one you're talking about no that was a good one that was a good one but I did know you guys directed up all night and I did up all night with will and Maya that's right true

and what about Todd Margaret there was that too right Todd Margaret that's sweet sweet Davey cross and running wild that's right and running well we did a bunch of stuff will on running wild those conversations we had early on where we were trying to be really respectful of a rest of development and so you and me and Mitch and ants we all decided to make it not as good as rest of that was really important that was the bar that'll show well well well the truth is this the truth is is it was a good concept and we had some good pieces and we can't getting the note we kept getting the note on the script from people at the network saying look man you can't just have this be another arrested

development like as if that was a big failure that they kept saying that to us like okay and you can't just think that you guys gonna come in here and we're just gonna have another rest development we're like well we're really proud of arrested development I don't know what you what are you guys are mad at it they didn't want us to move the cameras I remember is a lot of lines gate if you remember and I think I made that show for like two corn beef sandwiches and then was there any discuss once you got into the Marvel world any discussion to go ahead and bring will our net into that as well as sort of like some sort of a horrific flash forward is what was we don't want another rest of development right there are these characters

called the Great Lakes Avengers and cheese man really important to that group didn't just come up with that is that something you got a half a pitch on and we do we have a computer that's our go to whenever whenever anybody asks what's our fantasy Marvel project the Great Lakes Avengers now you guys are done with the Marvel's with the Marvel stuff the group the whole thing or do you still flirt with them a little bit you guys are off on doing your own thing you did end game it's kind of like that's your end game that was the end game that's right right I mean I think we you know they're very good friends as far as I mean we've talked to those guys all the time but yeah we're focused they can't

read you anymore they just kind of I remember Joe Joe and it I remember when you guys first I forget which was the first it was a Captain America was the first one right that was yeah Captain America Winter Soldier I love that one and I would I would he would do huge and Joe I remember texting you and saying fucking congrats man huge and then it just like and then every time that I just stopped saying congrats because the numbers just it kept getting even bigger I was like well fucking he doesn't need to hear congrats anymore it's the number one movie of all time but then but then the next one made even more and then the Avengers stuff made even more I mean was there did you feel like a pressure like how

were we going to top or try to manage the expectations of of Kevin of the whole the whole infrastructure over there was was there that was there a worry that oh my god how can we keep making more and more and more with quality but also with with commerce yeah you put you have to isolate yourself a little bit from all of the hype around those movies you have to they're also physically draining I mean you know look at us yeah I mean Jesus Christ but listener they look beautiful ones in a basement and one's in a beautiful office it's what happens we don't split the money yeah that must be complicated hang on a second I want to get more into the into the Marvel stuff and how you guys got there but I kind

of want to go even further back to how how we came into your world Jason and I did but even before that but even before that like what about like were you you guys never struck me as like comic book like guys were you no but you guys made that film your first film out of you guys came out of Cleveland we did we made a movie called pieces that went to the slam dance film festival in 97 and this was like this was a credit card movie so you know late 80s Soderbergh made a film called sex lives and videotape that ignited this you know hey you can make a movie for 10 grand on credit cards and get discovered out of anywhere and become a major filmmaker and you've got to start you've got to pay that

one off you've got to stop accruing all that expensive interest that's what a recipe is about right it took it took it took 10 years to pay that off is that true it's true yeah did it really wow yeah it was a while but all right so then Soderbergh sees pieces that's right and and then he picks up the phone he gives us a call a week later I mean again two guys from Cleveland no connection to the film business whatsoever very strange movie only a guy like Steven Soderbergh we love this film and he calls us and says look I'd love to help you get your next movie made and then he started a production company with George Clooney this is the fast version of it yeah and he and Clooney produced another

movie for us called welcome to column would that absolutely crushed it at the box Sam Rockwell the Sam Rockwell that's right I'm Rockwell is incredible cast but great movie I love that movie spent about eight million on that film and I made about three hundred thousand dollars but it would the quality was good enough to then go on to well we were very lucky yeah we were so we were so lucky because we actually got hired before that movie came out and bombed that's the key yeah exactly to direct a pilot at FX called lucky so this was right the year after the shield premiered and FX wanted to do the same thing with comedy that they had done with the shield like make something very dark and risable

and Kevin Riley that's right Kevin Riley yeah yeah so we made this kind of really weird dark comedy called lucky that didn't actually work as a series but the pilot was like an industry favorite like everybody watched that pilot it made its it's made its rounds everywhere we got more meetings off of that pilot than I think anything we've done and that ended up getting us into imagine to talk to David Nevins about arrested so was never so was Nevins who was the first guy that you met on arrested that's right I'm part of the arrested world and then he says what hey why don't you guys have lunch with Mitch Hurwitz type thing exactly yeah I think we sat dance we sat with Nevins right and he said look

we have this show it's kind of crazy but it's going to take some hustling because there's about 35 location changes we got to shoot it in a compressed time frame you know we're trying to get budgets down because we're worried that you know single camera comedy may be short lived because the budgets are getting too high on these things and we got to compete a little bit and it was pitched to you as as a pretty pure mockumentary correct it weren't there even testimonials a la it was it got pushed more mockumentary I mean right like it was more at the time I think it was it was my memory it wasn't a mockumentary at all yeah no it was just a straight family drama that we ended up here here here's the

framing it's kind of a complex framing so also what Nevins said to us at the time he said look at Ron Howard thinks that the half hour comedy on television is in trouble he thinks the sort of the sitcom the stage sitcom is getting stale he thinks the half hour single camera comedy has become come unaffordable because you get half the ad revenues for half hour comedy that you do for an hour long drama but it doesn't cost half the price to produce a half hour of single camera filmed entertainment that it does to take an hour so they're like we're trying to figure this out so what we want to do is we want to take a we're reaching out to indie filmmakers like you because they knew we were kind of gorilla style filmmakers

and cheap to try to react cheap we're cheap but also we know how to shoot cheaply yeah so they're like we're trying to come up with a new model for a single camera that will be cheap to produce and that's when Joe and I after seeing the script and seeing the level of absurdism that is inherent in Mitch's voice we thought well wouldn't this be funny if he tried to like shoot this in in the most real way possible it's sort of like news gathering right handheld no marks no lights just just gathering it exactly and now a word from our sponsor smart list is brought to you in part by all birds now you think like the name all birds that that they would be something else but their shoes in a way

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can swing a club hi like me it's the only place you can play around and then order another or hit a slice then grab a slice plus you'll get all the fun of outside but with the comforts of inside comfy heated bays in the winter and cool bays in the summer like so for me I loved going because it's super super fun you can bring all your friends even if you're terrible at golf like I am you can still play there's TVs there's the food is fantastic by the way so all you know Jason will constantly talking about golf so this is a way for me to infuse myself into that world and feel good about it like kind of feel like I'm really good at it it's really really cool visit top golf dot com slash smart list to book a bay

and come play around again that's top golf dot com slash smart list all right back to the show two things so one is also the guy you brought with you from lucky was your DP was Jim right that's right Jim Hawkinson and Jim Hawkinson who's just an absolute cowboy who we work with a bunch on our other stuff too and running wild and etc and Jim came in and you guys the three of you guys had worked together and already had that you already had that shorthand when it came to shooting really quickly lighting really quickly and just getting you know right using a lot of existing light yeah lucky was the same thing right it was a very aggressive handheld show shot with a shot on the streets

of Vegas so we couldn't light things I mean you know not a big budget it was fx early phase of fx and so we had this we had developed this running gun style and and I remember you know the dogma was big at the time they were making the dogma films if you remember that where you know actors were getting letters that said don't expect a trailer do your own makeup you know this is a no frills production we may have even sent that out with the script at one that's how I got the script to arrest development yeah in fact it was read it was reading that cover sheet that convinced me that there's no way they're gonna let me be a part of this cool thing because it was it was declaring like we don't want your makeup

budget well there's that but yeah we don't want any of the traditional sort of known basically hacky safe TV stuff and that's that was my middle name no hey yeah no will it's okay Jason how dare you multi cam you say that let me say that we get into the casting of it we could talk about that because it was true there was a stigma against Bateman at the time yeah and I remember we kept bringing you in and bringing you in with other actors to keep putting you in front of the studio and there was this conversation constantly because Anthony and I were like the guy's fucking perfect why can't we cast them and they go you know he's you know he's just bring guy he's been in a lot of pilots that haven't

gone to air he's cursed a little bit I don't know that this is the we would hear this and just have these blank stares on our faces like this is the stupidest thing we've ever heard that you had no idea who I was like oh no we watched you we watched you well you had just and Clooney had somewhat of a a long career let's say in the pilot world 11 pilots or something yeah and things were working out for him George had the same stigma though right where he had like a bunch of failed pilots before we are right right right now I remember feeling incredibly lucky that I got that I mean I wasn't sure how many people were gonna watch the show but I knew that it represented a complete opposite for the

stuff that I had been doing in the hopes of creating a reset I mean like it this show doesn't work because everyone is so insane on the show it didn't work without a conduit for the audience somebody that the audience could come in through and what you don't want to do the comedy is when you have a straight man and everyone else is insane it's very hard for the straight man to get laughs it's the opposite was true with you and that's what we kept saying is you know this character is going to be flat and there were there were other actors that were trying to push on us that were you know very straight and it was just it had a generic feel to it wait I've never heard these names are you drunk enough

to start sharing some of these names should we wait just go get a beer it's a Sunday morning right now if you're if you're just joining us you're thanks for listening to the arrest of development rewatch podcast listen I have a question for you I want to talk about Captain America the winter soldier hold on comic dork we're going to get there we have spent the last eight episodes talking about dorkville and Star Wars and Tabasco theater and shit fuck up for one minute let us have one moment to talk to the Bruce over by the way I will say Jason so go ahead and go ahead no I just want to say you're listening to your other shows that you've done with the arrest of development people I would always feel horrible

for Sean and I like coming into this I was like oh my god are we are we really going to do this to Sean again it is kind of like a cult I love it he's still fighting digestion on his on his lunch he's fried chicken sandwich yeah did you so Jason comes in you guys are stoked he's the perfect I've always said the perfect blank canvas right like every orange like a blank give a line readings he does whatever you tell me just the white canvas just the whitest canvas for the for the other colors to really pop so but he comes in and then and then he comes in and he reads and then you guys are like yeah you feel vindicated he's he's great and then you start building the pieces around and you start trying to

find all those other actors and it just it must have been like a my question is did it go the way you thought it would or did it all happen like in this kind of surprising way like oh fuck this person and this person is super surprising I mean you are probably the biggest surprise but if we go through yeah because that was a hard hardest part to cast wasn't it Joe it was by far the hardest part and well we had it we had an incorrect take on Joe by thank you remember that amp for a while we were playing him like the pull my finger uncle this weirdo that was you know living up in the attic and so he we're bringing in a lot older actors and it just kept going creepy you know yeah you could have just called

him fart net then we got our net got even creepier exactly but I think it was I think Michael Sarah was first if I remember correctly but it was as you guys know the the whole casting process on that show was difficult the network never really loved the show no even you know as we all know when it hit the air but even back then it was like even after winning an Emmy they were like oh fuck we can't cancel it now no they sent us an ice cream truck remember not truck an ice cream cone and a banner over the guard gate 20 that was blocked by the main 20th sign so you couldn't see unless when you drove you could see it through your sunroof yeah if you were right underneath it and then I go and think like

hey guys we won the Emmy yesterday for best comedy here's an ice cream cart yeah with the bell not even powered so man it was a man that's right you had to get your own ice cream out by the way your own ankle is not an exaggeration it's so funny God knows and there were 10 bars in it God bless him having never met you guys you know there's not a lot of directing duos writing duos producing duos let alone as successful as you guys are I'm not knowing you guys I want to ask the obvious questions like how did you guys did you both when you were kids have this have this secret about loving the business and you didn't let each other know like at what point where you're like hey I want to do that too hey we should

do it together two kids from Cleveland that's right yeah a couple of indians fans yeah we grew up on the east side of Cleveland and um anthra was getting a law degree uh and uh it was this 94 and I was and I was getting an MFA in acting or both at the same school case western in Cleveland we both came back for uh to our hometown to go to school and he was really frustrated with law school and uh I felt like I didn't ultimately want to be an actor and we started thinking about directing we did some black box stuff and started working on some comedy sketch stuff together and then we decided to write a movie and Robert Rodriguez had written a book uh about making El Mariachi for seven thousand dollars and again this contributed

to that craze that was going on at the time and so we decided to make a film and we wrote a script called pieces it was very dark comedy right are you telling your family this are you telling your mom and dad like are you like hey we're writing a movie they're like yeah good for you guys like what's going on answer tell that story that's okay but you but you never I would love that but you never did it as kids it wasn't it wasn't until you were older in college no no we weren't Spielberg in the backyard with a camera right we were just we were more cinephiles we were just guys who went to watch a lot of movies we had a lot of going to movies a lot of friends that would go we'd all quote films I mean

just sort of the traditional high school experience of you know yeah um you know watching movies talking about um yeah doing lines all day long making each other laugh oh wait it's how did that go down oh so eventually as we started to like get more and more serious about it I eventually did tell my parents that I was living in their house at the time that I was going to leave film school to like put go all in on the filmmaking efforts and I think yeah my dad didn't speak to me for like six months even though I was living in the same house with them no way he would kind of grunt as we would pass each other at the refrigerator or something but um but anyway eventually he became a very big supporter

he was convinced we're gonna be broke artists I remember it actually was the Emmy for arrested development that when he finally went okay fine you guys can do this I think he's the one that set the ice cream right so so you guys do so so we you do arrested you guys direct the pilot and you direct most I would say the bulk of the episodes of the first two seasons nobody directed more episodes than you guys some of the great some of our favorite episodes obviously with you guys and and Jason I talked about this too all of us and you guys are part of you guys and me and Jason and the cast and Mitch and everybody we made those not John not John those first like eight episodes completely in a vacuum we had no

idea if people were gonna like him or think that they were shit and so we were kind of like this real tight group of us just doing it with no feedback and it's like and we're taking big swings and thought like fuck we could I remember driving home some days after shooting going like this might be the worst thing ever I had no further to fall I was like I was fine I'm comfortable on the bottom we have we have a lot of fun doing and then you guys and then the show ends and you guys end up sort of moving on and doing a bunch of other stuff what was the first when you kind of started to break out of the arrested world what were you guys thinking okay now we want to do X or Y what was the plan well

I think really what it was going on then we had struggled so long to sort of make a life is like any filmmakers and then kind of segue into television that once arrested had that success once we won the Emmy it was all of a sudden we had work coming at us for the first time in our lives like everything prior to that point was just like us pushing the boulder up the hill right like trying not to listen the people tell us no now it's chasing you yeah all of a sudden it was coming at us so we welcome that and we had we had a run in television there that ended up turning into shows like community and happy endings and right right a few other shows what our what our process would be was basically what

we did on arrested where we would come in we would direct a pilot because again we we had sort of patterned ourselves as sort of indie feature makers so we would approach a pilot like it was a feature sort of execute it like that and then we would stay on with the show for just like with arrested for a season or two and do some episodes and then kind of like pass it on normally the show would be canceled by that point but that became our process right and then what was it what was the first big film after your television run there Captain America for yeah what was it in between we did you mean to pray oh you don't need to be right right right right right yeah which I by the way which I also did the

table read of remember that that's right I played I think was Michael Douglas the in that yeah yeah I did I read his part of the table right that is very long and storied history mr. Arnett it's crazy right yeah I remember Downey calling me about you guys saying so so what do you think about the I remember getting that call going holy shit the russians are going to do a fucking Marvel movie yeah I remember thinking that quietly to myself because I didn't want to say it outwardly to do downy yeah I didn't want him to hear the surprise in my voice or envy but I just immediately went into like I got so excited thinking about you guys combining with his humor and his sensibility and his

comfort on set and you guys just the way you just move around to say I just thought I could I couldn't say enough about what a great match that would be I mean I'm not taking any claim for him signing off you know you should be completely surprised that he was calling about this is a great clickable story for the internet I'm happy to repeat that I'll tell you something the other side of that coin I mean there's a lot of truth in that because you know the first Captain America movie we did Winter Soldier Downey wasn't in it amazing then we went back with our partners Marcus and McFeely who who wrote all the Marvel work that we did and we conceived the next Captain America movie Civil War yeah you know Downey was never supposed

to be in that movie he wasn't contracted to be in that movie but we had designed a story where it was built as a two-hander between Captain America and Downey's character Iron Man so we finally got the approval from Marvel Coven Feige said okay let's do this he got the approval from Marvel publishing in New York we're gonna do it and he said okay now you guys got to go get Downey he's like just tossed it tossed it to us that's an easy fish to boat yeah listen Robert we want you I know you've you know you've revitalized your career playing a superhero we want you to be the villain in this next one that was literally the pitch to him as we had to go sit there and explain to him you know how his you know

how his character wasn't going to be oh boy exclusively a villain in it so it's a big swing for him because yeah you know here are the guys coming off of Captain America doing it you know this is gonna be our second movie with Evans he's coming into Evans's franchise and it was a big it was a big swing and I'm stunned I'm still stunned he said yes well but he loves taking chances as you know and he's such a I would have loved to be in that meeting of you guys convincing him and I can imagine the questions that Downey asked you guys because he's so thoughtful and he's thinking from so many different steps ahead always inside way like in every direction right I just want to see his outfit I want to see I

want to know what what he was wearing he had us out to the house he might have been in shorts of a t-shirt Anthony remember he's kind of laying on a Shays lounge Anthony are sitting across from him leaning forward you know excitedly pitching and then this happens when sweating and then he almost kills you down you'll be wearing like a see-through Fendi raincoat he literally came to a barbecue well I know I cook out on the beach once and he was wearing a see-through Fendi raincoat and I go what the fuck are you wearing man but nobody can pull it off like Downey by the way he made it look cool like if I were I'd look like the worst he's a he's a walking piece of art he's a piece of art guys I have two questions

I have two questions about end game really quick yeah one is I'm sure you've seen the reactions on tiktok and everything I think the crowd reaction videos and about end game it must have been like so satisfying and thrilling and like that was just huge that's the first question and then the second thing is how in the world one of the most now iconic shots in all of cinema history is all of those superheroes in one shot when Iron Man dies and they're all lined up and the camera goes through every single one of them and what'd you say what'd you say nothing what did he say I guess I don't need to see that I want the 18 years old no I said but no show it have you still managed to scrape the jizz off your TV from

it no it makes everybody look beautiful yeah and so anyway so it goes through and the camera goes through and every single superhero ever like in every single movie how I had somebody in the business watching I'm like how did you organize everybody's schedule to shoot all that's so many schedules to figure out we start with number two first yeah that took a year wait that took a year planning just that shot yeah and we referred to it as the wedding I mean it took us a year to plan how to get all those people together and then we had we had a couple months to plan out that shot but I remember the day that we yeah we took a we sent a drone up just to get a footage of base camp that day I've never seen

anything like it it was everybody said it was the largest base camp they'd ever seen in really 40 or 50 it went on for miles I mean it was in excess of 50 trucks oh it was it was it was it was the deal points Olympics I bet oh portal to portal meeting trailer requirements food and right just workout trailer everything oh my god but we rehearsed that shot Sean we did we like we scouted that location multiple times we got we brought stand-ins we would do we rehearsed the entire shot over and over so that it was we refined it we refined it because it was amazing I mean name an actor and they were in that shot it was crazy it was a lot of pressure it was and I remember yeah that day we were able to shoot that on

a on a ranch down and outside of Atlanta so we had control of the property there was no paparazzi around right it was a several hundred acres so it was you know very clandestine and you to get on the set that day was the most you know intense security you had to be at the highest level sort of the I'm sure and how long did it take to actually film the scene I think it took us about two hours I probably did that shot like eight or nine times you know you're only getting people stand around for so long because you know they're not really doing anything they gotta get back to the cable machine and so impressive last backs and buys yeah well it interrupts a lot of workouts yeah those fan reaction

videos to show that you brought up we've watched those things so much I mean there are some of the most satisfying things we've ever seen you know I mean to be to see a movie theater you know to a crowd to react like that in a movie theater there's not a live show yeah it's just was extremely rare and it's for people who just like love that experience in the theater it's just was priceless yeah and my my god you know growing up for for me it was like you know Star Wars because I'm not Star Wars was the thing but my one of my godson Sammy he was like crying his eyes out when Iron Man died and I was you know and he called me he's like I'm like what's matter he's like Iron Man is dead I'm like

it was such a huge deal for this massive generation of these fans in a way that star it was just so cool to see like it sounds like Sammy needs to get a life to be honest yeah I might want to take a step outside perspective you know Sammy I mean some bad parenting or something but but let me ask you guys no JK we love Sammy what about your own kids and their reactions to you guys being part of something that is so such a huge part of I'm sure their friends and everybody loves the movies and and and they do too and can they appreciate it in the way knowing that you know what you got that you guys made these movies it's a really complex question yeah I think it's like you know the same movies that took us away for

two years you know but they're my kids are not big comic book fans so it was interesting it's grounding because you come home and they could give a shit you know which is great I think and you know but I do think that you know for Anthony look we we you said this earlier Bateman we were huge comic book fans and we nobody knew this but I have a you know I have like five boxes and an attic still filled with you know 50 year old comic books this was a dream come true for us and what you're talking about Sean is watching these reactions in the theaters that's who we were as kids yeah I watched Empire Strikes Back yeah like five times in a row and one day yeah sitting in the front row by myself you

know crying at the end every time that was me masturbating behind you check out this lightsaber put it this way Joe he wasn't watching the movie but to be able to give that to like you want to recreate that experience that's what we wanted that's what we love about film so there's a line you could draw from who we were as kids to these movies right and that's like falling out of his booth right now cracks himself up all the time turn him down in the mix and you just keep talking and we will be right back smart let's get support from Viori clothing Viori clothing it feels so good tired of sacrificing style for comfort or vice versa look no further than Viori the performance clothing brand

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listening to your line of work where you're kind of there for people at your job and after a while it builds up and you need to take some time for yourself maybe the weekend maybe on a Sunday or just anything you can just to kind of reset so that you can be there again for everybody and I think everybody feels that I don't think I'm alone in that so and it's it's so easy to get caught up in what everyone else needs from you and never take a moment to think about what you need from yourself and while it can feel selfish at times it is not it is the opposite it is so that you can continue to be there for people which is what I love to do but when we spend all of our time giving it can lead us feeling

stretched thin and burned out like I said therapy can give you the tools to find more balance in your life so you can keep supporting others without leaving yourself behind so I've talked about this a lot before is when I am feeling like kind of like my my my glasses filled to the brim with with being there for other people instead of myself first it's time to get it out by talking to somebody and in talking to somebody kind of just releases the pressure valve a little bit and so you can get some air to breathe on your own it really really does help to to speak to somebody to to balance yourself again so if you're thinking about starting therapy give better help a try it's entirely online designed

to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge if you want find more balance with better help visit better help comm slash smart list today to get 10% off your first month that's better help H ELP comm slash smart list this episode of smart list is brought to you in part by Macy's mother's day is practically here give some love to mom by finding exactly what she wants is she a beauty icon workout buddy chocoholic or all of the above Macy's makes it so easy to tailor your gift hunt to mom's tastes with their gift finder check out these great ways to shop and more inspo

at Macy's comm slash gift finder so what am I planning on gifting my mom at Macy's unless Macy's has the gift of life I can't my mother is dead but my mother in law is still with us thank God and she's doing great and I love her and she's fantastic if you already know that mom loves adding to her handbag collection a door is a matching PJ set or is looking for a new signature scent shop by gift category or shop by gift lists Macy's has unique curated gift lists like for the mom or mother-in-law who has everything gifts that are already wrapped and ready to be gifted and for grandma and if mom or mother-in-law loves designer names find the latest from her most adored brands whether she's loyal to coach handbags

to your perfume or good dive at chocolates Macy's has all her top faves head on over to Macy's comm slash gift finder to make this mother's day and especially memorable one and now back to the show did you guys get any advice when you were first starting out as directors you know doing films at a tiny scale that's that you're still using today on stuff that you're doing in a massive scale are you or if you change so much as directors had to adapt so much as directors that everything you learned at the beginning is not really applicable now or or is there some evergreen don't work with Jason Bateman was not aside from that one aside from that lesson learned I mean look at the short answer I think for

us is like because we've done so many different things like we've made movies for as little money as you could possibly make a movie for and we've made movies for as much money as you can make a movie for you know we've done TV comedy drama you know network cable streaming we do shoe commercials so it's like for us you know because we like working in all these different forms it's kind of all the same for like we have the same process no matter what we're doing we just sort of dream up with something that's exciting to us and then figure out how to execute it so it's kind of just that process repeated over and over again so I think and we love technology we we've always loved the the way the technology

allows you to create certain feelings or effects or or or just how do you stay up on that because I'm sure that you know if you can imagine it you can do it nowadays but how do you know that for sure how do you stay up on on where technology is so that you know whether what you're thinking of is actually manageable it's hard because you have to use it so it is really tricky you have to just figure out ways to learn it to you have to constantly learn the only way to learn it is to use it yeah I mean filmmaking was a giant collaboration between hundreds of people so you're relying on you know technical experts technologists that come in and can show you new things that are going on tell you about you know farrows

are really good friend of ours and he's you know he's done all this incredible work yeah with Star Wars shows using LED screens and really trying to advance the craft to make it more efficient and it's important thing is where technology helps you is you know the higher the budget goes the higher the risk right and then a studio becomes more risk averse when you're spending more money on a project if you can get that number down then they'll take more risks then they'll take risks on you know filmmakers with interesting voices younger filmmakers I think it's critically important because the it has gotten absurdly expensive to make to tell stories and there has to be a future where that number comes

down dramatically but but while you say that it your new project Citadel on on Amazon seems to be the trailers incredible by the way the you're you're doing a show tell tell tell us a little bit about the show but what's exciting to me is that you're doing it in you're doing multiple versions of the show that kind of cross pollinate each other like in different territories around the world yeah explain that I mean basically it came from Jen Salki came to us who runs Amazon and said look I have this idea it's basically a business model yeah which is I want to do a us mothership show that somehow connects to various local language shows around the globe in some in some manner there's interplay

between the mothership English language show and the local language shows and she's like can you guys come up with anything we love the idea because we love the global audience that was one thing that the Marvel experience really turned us on to I mean we were globally minded all of our lives since we were like early film fans but you know the idea that we live in a world now where you can reach people in every corner of the globe with a story that they can enjoy together at the same time and communicate together I mean it's just a really it's a very powerful thing so we thought okay this is a new frontier this is new technology Amazon now exists and their business model says oh we can make shows

in different languages in different places around the world and they can talk to one another wow and cast members kind of cross pollinate as well that's right they can cross pollinate also you're creating up saying pollinate yeah there's something so gross you really hung up on that I can't wait to see it yeah well and we produce this is show we produce this is something that our company Agbo you know we were Joe and I have been able to since we moved on from the Marvel we formed a production company with our partners Chris Marcus and Steve McFeely who are writing partners what's Agbo mean real quick AGP nothing absolutely nothing it's nonsense again go get that beer Jill I want the answer no here the shortest

answer that is when we were when we were first writing together and we started doing some sketch comedy we tried to drum up publicity for it so we wrote an article for the school newspaper that was a phony review of the show and the reviewer just lacerates the show and everything he hates about the show is everything we love about the show and we needed a name for this article we looked in the Cleveland phone book and found some guy named goes the Agbo that's hysterical wow all right have you guys ever wanted to dive by the way started back up for saying have you guys ever wanted to dive into the Star Wars world is there plans to do such you're gonna say want to dive into theater I really want to do specifically

musical theater I know it's coming to follow up well that will be a we love we love Star Wars I mean this is you know the same way that you're not gonna say anything that you've had meetings on that you're talking about because he can't talk about it there were early conversations there were early conversations with us and you know Kevin Feige is a huge Star Wars fan and there were some early conversations about maybe teaming up with Kevin to do Star Wars speaking to take from Jason there's been a lot of cross-pollination yeah between oh now he's awake between Star Wars and Marvel a lot of the same because it doesn't have a sort of a similar to start bees yeah similar sensibility right between between those two

worlds so it makes sense that there have been people who have done both and I bet you if I'm Kathy Kennedy I'm like yeah I'm calling the Russo brothers because I want them to get in here too yeah couldn't make their deal guaranteed it's expensive well not now these guys are running the world but let me ask you this so you're a fan but if something happens it's great they're fans they're on the record is saying they're fans and by the way and the balls in their court yeah so you guys I mean by them I mean Star Wars so you guys you you do all this Marvel said you and then you go off you make a bunch of big movies you guys made some some movies with great man great made gossing in Evans yeah great man

all those guys cherry with Tom Holland yeah when you go and you do those movies after coming out of that world do they just seem so much easier because like you you do like to Sean was saying for endgame you plan a shot for a year and you fucking and you do all this stuff and there's so much into it now when you make it just a regular old sort of action comedy or whatever you like that's pretty easy it's something you're starting I mean Joe you wrote a great man right that's right yeah we started I mean look the transition for us after Marvel was more towards artist ownership you know we wanted to start our own company we wanted to start you know controlling creating our own content as much as possible

we went out and raised money in the studio as well finance kind of like what Ben and Matt are doing yeah exactly it's sort of a you know for us I mean I think you know it's a very disruptive time in the business and to have a place where you can be protected right you can protect yourself and you can work on what you want to work on and at the pace that you want to work on hire yourself and basically exactly and you know so that was the focus for us look for you to be a fan of your own work be a fan of your own hire yourself that's what you're all mumbling behind you Joe in the movie theater hire you're a fan of yourself just be a fan of yourself hey do you guys how much time do you guys

spend I know you keep saying talk about pollinate did you when you when you you guys came out you were young filmmakers and you and you were recognized or you were just sort of discovered if you will by Stephen Soderbergh but how much time do you guys spend looking for those new young talents and young voices because there are a lot of people out there who who are trying to make or or are making films and putting them online etc etc like what Soderbergh did for you guys yeah are you guys do you guys spend a lot of time doing that stuff looking for emerging talent yeah absolutely I mean that's a big part of our agenda at Agbo we and because we're able to you know the company is built in a way it's a well

funded company it makes large projects we have the capacity in the space and Joe and I also look at it as like we it's a karmic debt that we owe the universe right to like find people who are interesting artists who have important stories to tell and figure out how how we realize those movies because some of those stories aren't going to get through the system any other way right you know like we wouldn't have got through the system any other way so that's really important to us and in fact I mean look everything everywhere all at once is a congratulations way thank you wanted to get to that you know it's such a great night for all you guys yeah that's unbelievable massive they're I mean they're

incredibly talented and that's sort of part of the I mean these are guys that made a movie with the farting corpse you know they're risk takers they're very Swiss army man you guys ever see Swiss army man three callbacks for that yeah yeah but that's a good I mean there's a good because his because his resume is always said can fart on Q special skills try it count me down I'll do it juggles now what what can you can you tell us at all what maybe not specifically but in the world of what might be next that we can be all looking forward to seeing coming out of you guys so Citadel comes out very shortly extraction to is out in June nice Hemsworth franchise action another little cute little Andy you guys do that's

right and then Anthony are working on a project called the electric state that was starring Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown with Pratt that's a mistake that's a mistake yeah you might want to re-consider with Pratt guys the movies already shot it's in the cance oh yeah by the way I ran into Chris the other day and he said he had the best time making that movie we we love Pratt I mean obviously look at a lot though see what I did but he's like you guys you guys know him so he's the greatest so he's he's he's just brought amazing energy every day he's always looking he's always searching he's always sort of surprising you and he's a very smooth good dude happy to be there but and you said something right

there which is and I've always loved Pratt for this from the day I met him from the day he did that we talked about it we had him on the show and he did the first season of I know he was in Parks and Rec but the I remember the first season the first time I saw he was so surprising and he always is surprising yeah and so the ultimate weapon in comedy is that you never know what the fuck Pratt is gonna say or do yeah and and he catches you off guard and it's always really fucking funny and that's the mark of somebody who's genuinely funny and a great golfer you know he's decent he's decent he's decent let's not give him too much it works too much to be to be fantastic well I'm realizing as you

know we do tend to work with a lot of the same actors we're you know we like family we like hanging out we like having fun it's you spend a lot of time on set together but I think we've worked with you probably double what we've worked with anyone else on so I think we've done like six or seven things together yeah only once with me and nothing was shown yeah so I'll double check my email yeah I can beat that everything everywhere all at once script and I have a 310 page script I'd like to send you right on the money please send it we'll read it we'll read it out loud right yeah we'll do a podcast around it you guys we love you and thank you oh my god that's a pleasure to go by fast yeah so fast

you guys thank you guys for doing this yeah thank you guys and by the way is it's remarkable what you guys have done with this show it's like I listen to it all the time it's true we're we're blowing ourselves crazy surprising and valuable so thank you for even calling it a show good it's such a haphazard piece of shit but but but let me just say this I am I'm so genuinely happy for you guys it couldn't happen to two better more talented nicer fucking dudes I love you guys I'm a huge huge fan of you guys thank you thank you give this business a good name you Russo brothers to you guys all right we love you love you guys have a great rest of the day and we'll see you soon see you guys take care everybody

bye boys bye guys ciao thank you so how about those guys I didn't know they I didn't know they worked that much on arrested development oh yeah the whole first year second most most of the first two seasons I didn't know that yeah I mean there are other people but yeah yeah that's so cool they're so cool they're so like yeah like imagine that Sean like for for all of the the game that arrested development afforded me and will and everyone else says to the show to watch what happened with their career yeah yeah after arrested can you imagine what will and I and everyone else is like oh my god yeah there they go and they've like up until what last year or something they're responsible for the highest grossing film

in the history of movies history yeah I think probably like number one and number two and now I think what that's number two and number three or whatever the hell yeah avatar they're just responsible for so much health of this business I know and they're legit and they're legitimately great dudes they are such nice guys there is such regular guys from who really have not changed I imagine since they day since the day they moved from Cleveland yeah and in this short amount of time we spent with them I can tell that they're they are very balanced individuals very which is rare this in this business they're very just kind of you know together yeah and a pleasure to be on set with man oh my god and Joe would be

when we were doing memory we brought up all up all night when he was coming he was doing up all night and you go like he'd be like having a little something to eat and he was working on his fantasy football which Jason and I used to do with him at various times and then he'd be like you come back in and they go cut and I'd walk in he's like talking to the thing he's looking at his thing and go Joe what do you think goes kind of looks up he's like yeah yeah let's just do it again and maybe just do a little faster at the top there and then look at her in the eye and blah blah blah alright let's go and then he's gonna go back yeah I think maybe I can get a trade for this guy and effortless and just

like no just you know what I mean yeah on top yeah rare and their brothers to I mean our brothers supposed to fight all the time I know that's why I wanted to ask them but I didn't want to be weird about it I was like I've never seen them I've honestly never seen them fight no or even get sort of annoyed with one another no not like us three no you know you fucking um what about I didn't ask him how about splitting the money that's got to be a pain I've always wondered about these directing duos do they get twice the directing budget or do they have to split no it's probably one and they split it but I wonder if that still is the case with them you know they make it like a one plus yeah they're big shots

you get a one plus but they're they're they're family so it's probably doesn't hurt to split Jason price of bread right now go oh dollar a slice am I close you're laughing at me like I'm not close I've broken bread it's thirty five dollars and maybe fifty cents for the heels or they selling them all together do you get a break if you buy a bunch of slices together and well only if you buy them together well done Sean smart smart smart smart smart this is 100% organic and artisan Lee handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry rub armjab and Bennett barbecue smart loss our next episode will be out in a week wherever you listen to podcasts or you can listen to it right now early on Amazon music or early and add free by subscribing

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