Suggestible - Crowella de Vil

Episode Date: June 3, 2021

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Sign up to Claire’s weekly bonus newsletters here – tontsnewsletterListen to Moments Of ClarityThis week’s Suggestibles:Cruella Spoilers (16:36 - 17:24)Friends - The ReunionSend your recommendations to [e-mail], we’d love to hear them.You can also follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @suggestiblepod and join our ‘Planet Broadcasting Great Mates OFFICIAL’ Facebook Group. So many things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can wait for clean water solutions, or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures, or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth, or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. To listen. Cruelty will. Cruelty will. If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will. Something, something.

I don't remember the rest of the song. Is that from the 101 Dalmatians book, the cartoon, the remake or the reboot? There's so many versions. No, that one is from the first Disney 1961 film. Oh, I've never seen it. Haven't you? I haven't seen a lot of those older Disney movies. Oh, I've never seen it. Haven't you? I haven't seen a lot of those older Disney movies. Oh, I've seen all of them. I've seen every single bloody one.

I've seen them multiple times. I used to rent them from the video shop every holidays when my parents also rented a video player. Was that before or after you escaped the Titanic because you're so old? Ha-ha, gotcha. Hey, we've got some podcasts up top we've got to talk about that you were on specifically. We do, but before we do that, we should introduce the show.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good God. And then I have an anecdote about Titanic that I loved as well. My name is Claire. James is here also. We are married and we recommend you things. And one of the things I did want to recommend, other than our friend's podcast, which is coming up too,

we watched the new season of Love on the Spectrum. Yes. Which is the Spectrum. Yes. It's just the best thing. And you mentioned the film Titanic and there's a beautiful man called Michael on there who said in all seriousness that he watched the Titanic and didn't like it because it was too upsetting. It's a pretty upsetting movie we've talked about. It gets a lot of play on this podcast, the movie Titanic.

It does. And I just, anyway, I love that guy so much as a human being. I just think he's so fascinating and funny and great. And his family are so great too. Oh, what a cool dude. It's a great show. It's such a good show. We'll probably talk about that.

You've already talked about it. I've already talked about it, but we should talk about it on a different show. Anyway, so worth it. The second season is out now on ABCRV. Okay. Yes. But before we start, what were you going to say? One is that we talked about A Quiet Place on the Weekly Planet,

my more successful podcast earlier this week. But you came on to guest. I did. So people might already know that. That's great. But what they might not know about is you were also on another podcast. I was. Not my own.

That's right. And not even this one. Not this one. No. It's called whatever, whatever. Moments of Clarity. It's called Moments of Clarity. Sorry, Mason just messaged me.

So that's why I said whatever, because, yeah, because he's coming over and we're going to record some stuff. Oh, gosh, do you want me to talk about this podcast? Sure, yeah, yeah. While you're checking your phone. Yeah. Like the terrible human you might know, poor James has been taken on the load for lots of reasons

that we will talk about in a minute. But first up, our beautiful friend Matt hosts a show called Moments of Clarity and it's wonderful and he interviews really interesting people and experts about, I guess, their lives and their approach to life and what they think about their particular field of expertise. And there's always a moment of clarity in each episode and it's often looking at culture and life and the planet that we're living on currently and he interviewed me and the episode was on empathy and vulnerability and creativity gross all the things i love to talk about uh yeah and he was really really um really insightful yeah and he's also a teacher that and we just think he's top so if you're looking for a podcast episode i'm on the

latest one and you're coming up on one i am upcoming i thought it was on sunday but he didn't release one so i might be on the following sunday exactly i'll let everyone know when i'm when i am on it but yeah we talk about uh beer and uh boobs beer and the boys and the boobs that's right i actually talked about the boobs on the weekly planet. Very good. I certainly did in particular breastfeeding. You do. In relation to the quiet place. And you said the word colostrum, which I feel like might have been the first time we'd ever said colostrum

on the weekly planet. I've said it all the time. Look at this colostrum tattoo I have on my chest. That is one of the weirdest things. If no one knows what colostrum is, it's like this sugary substance that comes out of your boobs when you first have a baby that apparently is super important and all the midwives go wild for and sometimes you have to syringe it they're out the back just doing lines of it do you know what they talk about it so much

they bloody are i bet they are they're just like they weren't so hard they bloody deserve it you know what i mean these health care workers they're out there they're bloody cut them some slack look just as a side note in case you probably don't know, well, maybe you do if you live in Melbourne. We're in lockdown again. And we've been in lockdown for almost a week and it just got announced today that we're in for another week and just quietly. I think it's going to be even longer than that.

Just quietly. Just quietly. Don't tell anyone. Not so quietly. How are you feeling about it, Jim Jam? I've just resigned to it. I'm resigned to it i'm resigned to doing everything because you threw your fucking back oh my god the night that it was announced the

night that it was announced like my buddy was like enough no one can do anymore you can't and just like completely packed itself in and i couldn't move and i couldn't get up to like get to the baby because you have to bend down in awkward angles with the cart and holding. Turns out having a baby is really bad for your back. Turns out. And core stability. Anyway, and I may have also gone super hard at the gym in that morning to like, you know, get out all my frustration about missing my beautiful friend's wedding. Yeah, you're supposed to go up north to go to a wedding.

But now you're going to have to stay here and sit in the dark. I'm going to be a bridesmaid next weekend and instead i'm gonna be sitting at home with this dude over here and by that she means watching me do everything because she literally can't do anything at the moment i can now i'm getting better i've been doing lots of physio and osteo and and chiro myro myotherapist whatever's i've been trying even what yeah before james You know what you're not doing though? What? Going to that wedding. You're far out. There was a sunset cruise, hen's night. There was a beautiful dress and beautiful heels. There was like a makeup artist in here.

There was my beautiful friend of 20 years. And actually, I wrote about this in my newsletter taunts this week. And it's very self-indulgent. But I decided to just sit down and write about how sad I feel about this in my newsletter taunts this week and it's very self-indulgent but I decided to just sit down and write about how sad I feel about it and also I do think and I know we need to get on to things but I just wanted to say this one there'll be a time code probably right this is something I said in my newsletter and I really stand by it that everyone has a story through this pandemic and a backdrop right and, and I include myself in this, when things like the fact that I can't get to my best friend's wedding

is like a very tiny thing on the scale of huge things that people are going through, you know, with funerals and deaths and sickness and lost jobs and inability to support family and, you know, home situations, all kinds of difficult stuff. But I think whatever you've lost over the last year and a half, it's okay to feel the pain of it and accept it and be kind to yourself about it, even if it's just that you're coping with the fact that we're living in a pandemic

and that's all you've had to cope with. That's not all. It's huge. And so just feeling how you feel and accepting it and looking after that pain and looking after yourself rather than saying, well, everybody's, you know, I'm lucky. I'm lucky. And yes, you are, but you're also allowed to feel a bit shit

if a shit thing has happened to you, which I think is pretty much the entire globe. Yes, I agree. Slash last year. Slash whatever bloody how long it's been now. Slash the upcoming year. Okay, I'm done now. Let's get into it.

Let's do it. What are we talking about? What's the first thing we'll talk about together, Claire? Oh, we're going to talk about Crueltyville. Yes. As I sang at the top up. That's why I sang about her at the top. Yes.

Do you want to start? Do you want me to start? Because I have many feelings. Well, I can give you the story credits and such because it's directed by Craig Gillespie. It's a story by Aileen Baroche McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zizis. It stars, among others, the two leads, Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. Both like the two best Emmas.

Yes. I'll say'll say now a lot of people might have written off this movie already because there is a scene that's been going viral where you see uh corella corella corellum deville you can't say corella spoiler alert he keeps saying corella which is a parrot that keeps like flying over our house that's correct. But her mother gets killed by three Dalmatians. And it's ridiculous. And look, yeah, it's also ridiculous in like the context of the movie. Of it trying to be a kid's film? Well, I meant that in like it's pretty funny.

And I think it's supposed to be funny. But even if it isn't, if it's not meant to be funny, it's still very funny. But I don't think you should write off the movie uh it's like another disney remake reboot live action gritty retelling whatever because i think it's a it's a cut above a bunch of the others and even though it is in this weird ground as you mentioned between like it's not a kid's movie and it's not like joker there's like somewhere it's like a twin movie it's almost like a tw Twilight-esque kind of film.

It's nothing like Twilight. I just mean that it's for that kind of audience, I feel. I don't know. Yeah. Okay, one thing I will say, because I went and did a little research into Cruella DeVille as a character. I think it's Cronulla Riots. All right, here he goes.

So I thought this was really interesting. So obviously there's been so many, as you said, different depictions of this, but the first was done by a British playwright and children's novelist, Dodie Smith. And so she was in a 1956 children's novel, The 101 Dalmatians. Oh, yes.

And then obviously there was two Disney animated films and two live action as well of 101 Dalmatians, which I thought was quite interesting, one of which is played by Glenn Close. I believe he's a producer on this new one. Is that correct? Yeah, I think so. And, look, that Glenn Close film, I don't know if you've seen it. I haven't seen any of it.

I loved it. I actually really loved it. It's good. People like it, right? Yeah, they do really love it. And I love the cartoon as well. And that iconic theme song is from the first 1961 animated film that one and but it's become a part of their culture you're so annoying anyway but

what i found really interesting i read a really interesting article um from the new york times called the surprising evolution of de cruella de Vil by Sarah Barr. And one thing she pointed out, which I totally agreed with, was that interestingly, other than obviously the skinning puppies for a fur coat vibe, Cruella started off as kind of like a spoilt heiress in a way, and she had a husband and a cat and, you know, wasn't particularly likeable. But through the years she's become a much more of a feminist fantasy which is quite interesting because she's unmarried and

childless by choice and this is in the 1960s to be fair as well she's independently wealthy she has two henchmen at her beck and call that she just like tells what to do all the time and she's unwilling to let anyone or anything stand in her way so yeah a far cry from the depiction of typical mid-century housewives and also her wardrobe is killer so yes i think and glenn close kind of took that even further because she plays um cruella is quite sexy deranged like completely deranged but this really is kind of fashionista um bright red lipstick winged shoulder pads and cigarette holder you know knee-high boots or thigh high boots really and big voluminous fur coats obviously not a fan of the fur coat however

it's that kind of ruthless fashion designer that i feel is almost embodied in like a devil wears prada yeah and this is a bit like that you probably like this actually yeah you said that to me too this film kind of walks that line. It's wonderful. And Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada definitely has like a kind of Cruella de Vil vibe. This is obviously a much more heightened fantastical world. But that story arc I think makes her even more likeable. And Emma Stone brings something really new to the character

of her kind of origin story as an orphan yeah and so you automatically start to see a girl who's had a lot of trauma and what that can do to her and obviously there's some very dark themes around kind of Emma Thompson's character are we doing spoilers what are we doing oh yeah I guess we can yeah so Emma Thompson's character um a time codes if you want to oh great Thompson. Do you want to jump straight to that or do you? Oh, no, no. You go next. Do you want to go from the start? Well, I just meant like do we want to save the spoilers till the end?

Yeah, let's do it. And then we can just put that in and then. Yeah. Yeah. All I was going to say is like I'm not really a fashion person, but I enjoyed the fashion in this because there's kind of like she does a lot of like fashion bomb kind of things where she'll like crash the event and be like, look at this fashion, and then she'll like run off or whatever.

And what Emma Thompson's – Emma, sorry. Emma Stone. Emma Stone's character does that. It's fun. Like it's fun the way that she's kind of this Banksy underground kind of like – they're these kind of fashion rivals going up against each other and they're both very devious like in their own ways. And she hasn't fully taken that kind of evil turn that you see, you know,

in the later movies. And whatever. And also I think the side characters are really well fleshed out. Yes, they're great. If you've known anything about the cartoons or whatever, which I don't, there's a lot of people in this who then later appear in that and you kind of see the origins of that, which I'm generally not really a fan of, but maybe because I'm not, I haven't seen the other ones,

so I've got no expectations of where anybody needs to be. I really liked the henchmen characters in this. They're fun. They're really fun and you see them from little kids kind of growing into these two guys who are actually quite funny, you know, and dry-witted. And I also think that the character I really loved was the guy who's kind of androgynous. Yes.

Yeah, and he runs like a fashion store and they clearly kind of meet their match, which I find really interesting. So Emma Stone meets that character and immediately they recognise in each other people who are kind of experts in fashion and in the history of fashion and their kind of banter is really wonderful. There's also this incredible scene where emma thompson and emma stone are sitting on a couch and it's kind of the first time that um you emma's thompson's character kind of sees her rival in the flesh and she's in this incredible red dress you know that trick where she comes in in a white dress in the trailer

yeah seen in the trailer and it's amazing But the scene afterwards where they're talking and they're sitting on a couch and it's clear that they're intellectual equals. Yes. And also have zero, are a little, both a little unhinged and have zero kind of, what am I looking for? Zero fucks given. Yeah, basically they don't care what anyone thinks about them. And that's what I think I mean by that kind of like feminist fantasy

because they're completely in charge of what they're doing, of their company and their art, and they're unashamedly so driven by that passion. And I think so often women are taught to not do that, to downplay their talents, to take second fiddle, to keep the peace, to keep everybody happy. And it's the same with Anna Wintour, who is obviously a real-life character and who The Devil Wears Prada is based on.

There's a real directness about her, and she's absolutely at the height of her game in the fashion world and backs everything up that she does with incredible talent, but she doesn't suffer fools. Yeah. And there's something just so wonderful about seeing someone do that also in like killer heels. And they work that into like the start of the character

where she's kind of coming up as Cruella. Cruella. Cruella. Yeah, you do see that where people are kind of stepping on her, putting her down, like not really interested in what she has to say. Can you just be not yourself? Even her mother's like, you know, you need to be, which is, you know, yeah, be nice, but yeah, you can see why.

Like I think the character evolution feels, you know, very real over the two and a half hours that this movie goes for, for some reason. It's super long, isn't it? It's very long. I didn't really feel it, to be honest. Yeah, I didn't either. I think because the visuals are so spectacular.

And yeah, so I could watch Emma Thompson in anything. And this is so brilliant. I think the first half of the film, you just, you know who she is, but you don't kind of care because she's so brilliant. And then she starts to kind of fall off the wagon to like the second half of the film. She becomes increasingly. You're talking about Emma Thompson or Emma Stone? Emma Thompson.

Yeah. Increasingly unhinged. Well, they both kind of do. Yeah, they do. But I think Emma Thompson or Emma Stone? Emma Thompson. Yeah. Increasingly unhinged. Well, they both kind of do. Yeah, they do. But I think Emma Thompson's character, for obvious reasons, becomes much less likeable. There's something about her at the beginning that you just think she's at the top of her game and this is brilliant.

I think there's still something endearing about her at the end because, you know, because she's just chewing scenery. Yes. In a good way. Yeah. Do you want to do your spoilers though? Yeah. Or just that Emma Thompson's character ends up being the mother of Emma Stone. Yes. Of a good way. Yeah. Do you want to do your spoilers though? Yeah. Or just that Emma Thompson's character ends up being the mother of Emma Stone.

Yes. Of Cruella. And she's a complete serial killer basically and has zero empathy, which is why I don't think it's a kid's movie at all. No. I just think the themes are too dark. Yeah. I couldn't show that to our five or six-year-old.

I don't think he'd like it anyway. No, he wouldn't. But I wouldn't show it to him even if he did was into fashion i just think it's not appropriate yeah what do you think no definitely not no uh it's but yeah i think it is it might be pg-13 i might it's quite scary yeah it's pg-13 it's the first one of the the um films in the franchise that is pg-13 i think it could border on a higher rating than that nah it's pretty scary nah scary. Nah. She tries to burn her alive. Yeah, that's all right. They do that shit in cartoons all the time.

Bambi's mum, whatever, you know, all that. One thing that I didn't like, there's a lot of like CGI dogs in this, which I just don't look very good. It's like a $200 million movie. Yeah, they didn't need to do that, did they really? Yeah, just get real dogs. And I understand there's bits that, you know, you can't, but there's, you know, just trying some dogs. And I know that's hard that, you know, you can't. But there's, you know, just trying some dogs.

And I know that's hard, but so CGI. You know what I mean? Yeah. I would say, though, like, if you're kind of on the fence about this, maybe don't pay $30 on Disney Plus for it. You know what I mean? Like, I watched it because I wanted something to talk about kind of with you, and I thought then, you know,

it's something we could watch together and that you might like. But I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I thought I was just going to like, yeah, whatever. So you put it – because I bloody love it. You knew I would like it too. I had an inkling. I'd heard it was like getting better reviews than what it looked. Yeah, because I would not have watched it.

If you hadn't suggested it, I wouldn't have watched it because I thought, I don't know, it just doesn't – even though I've enjoyed the past 101 Dalmatians kind of iterations, I just sort of thought, oh, this looks kind of like a weird origin story, a bit like Maleficent, that kind of vibe. Yeah, I didn't like Maleficent. I haven't seen the sequel. No, I haven't either.

To Maleficent. Yeah, I think because I think part of it was i couldn't see how you would like her as a character like why you would care about her origin story or something i don't know quite i think this movie will struggle if they keep making them to work it into the character that she becomes the dog killer yeah so i think though it's not hasn't done super well and disney kind of killer yeah so i think though it's not hasn't done super well and disney kind of cagey about numbers for whatever you know how much money it makes i don't think it there it would be in a rush to make a sequel to this so this kind of picks up a bit of traction more of a kind of a cult following but i think it might it would be lesser returns with a movie like this i think it

kind of works better on its own and you kind of fill in the blanks yourself between this and the glen close version yeah yeah totally i think the glen close version is much more fun yeah probably and just it's brilliant it's but this is also fun like it's this oh it definitely is i loved and i mean the fashion and the way that the this there's a lot of themes in it that are wonderful one of which obviously is to be yourself and embrace your individuality and, you know, and the other is that theme of creativity, which I think is so cool and just how clever and interesting she is and how much work she puts into that kind of artistry of fashion that I think is so cool and how what she does is so different and edgy.

And that's really a big statement too about how great it is to be different and how great it is to try new things. And you've got to believe in yourself and stand up for yourself and all of those sorts of things. And there is some really touching moments in it too. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Good stuff.

All right. Yeah. But, yeah, I think if you're a fan of 101 Dalmatians or Disney classics, this is better than most. It's way better than The Lion King. It's better than Aladdin. I didn't hate Aladdin. The remakes I'm talking about.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cinderella was a really good remake. Cinderella's still my favourite. I think so too. But I've really enjoyed this. I think if you like The Devil Wears Prada, you'll also like this. And if you just like Emma Stein and Emma Thompson, it's a treat actually. You're in for a treat.

How much fun does it look to play those two characters in this movie? You played an evil witch and an evil stepmother in a play. I did. Into the Wood, Stephen Sondheim. I think it is Stephen. Yeah, Sondheim's Into the Wood. I think you're thinking of Steven Spielberg. Yeah, and here he goes.

I always get those dudes confused. No. Yeah, and I loved it. I had big hair and big eyelashes and all the things it was good it was fun yeah and i still haven't watched the um the the movie version because i really enjoyed yours but i i like james corden's in it who we might be talking about we're talking about the yeah well in the version i did no no in the movie version yeah uh obviously claire no i i can't believe that just went over my head no no i was talking I was talking. No, I know James Corden wasn't in your one.

I know. I think you're getting a cold, spoiler alert. What, sorry? You might be getting a cold. Maybe I am. Oh, no. I'll be all right. Hey, folks.

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That's why it's rated the number one vpn service by cnet and wired so stop handing over your personal data to isps and other tech giants who mine your activity and sell off your information protect yourself with the vpn i trust to keep me private online visit expressvpn.com slash suggestible that's e-x-p-r-e-s-S-V-P-N dot com slash suggestible to get three extra months free. Go to expressvpn.com slash suggestible right now to learn more. Okay, on with the show. Listen, Claire, listen. Do you want to talk about the Friends reunion? Oh, God. Did you write it down?

I didn't, no, but I do. I have many feelings. Do you? Do you want to talk about it? Let's talk about the Friends reunion. Oh, God. Did you write it down? I didn't, no. But I do. I have many feelings. Do you? Do you want to talk about it? Let's do it. Okay. I haven't seen it. I don't know.

Oh, what? I didn't watch it. You haven't seen it? All right, okay. So- Everything around- You know what my problem with this? Here we go.

Oh, here it is. It's back. Just the bits that I've seen of it. It's like James Corden. And look, I don't hate James Corden. I genuinely don't. But stop putting yourself into everybody's nostalgia. fucking take a step back man you don't need to be in everything there's it's like the singing songs about in cars or whatever it's i just not

interesting i don't i know it's i know it's like people like it and it's objectively good and popular and are you done whatever no and it's all these things about like well look it's objectively good and popular and whatever. Are you done? No. And it's all these things about like, well, look, it's Lady Gaga doing a thing. Oh, look, what do these celebrities think of Friends? The Friends are the celebrities. They're some of the most famous people in the world still. You don't need to trot out fucking Ed Sheeran to be like, and again, I don't hate Ed Sheeran. He seems very nice.

Same with Lady Gaga. You don't need any of that. That's why the Fresh Prince one was so good because it was just like the principal cast sitting at the couch just talking and, like, reminiscing. And it felt, like, really real and genuine. And, again, I haven't watched this new one. But from what I've seen, it's too, like, there's a quiz and, like, what?

Okay. So for those who haven't watched it, it's available. Where is it available? It's on HBO Max. On HBO Max. And it's the first time they've done something like this, right? They didn't do an episode for I think a lot of reasons, one of which being that they're not all that,

like on the top of their game anymore. No. So I think it just wouldn't have worked. And also as the series writers who were in this said, it was such a complete season at the end. They really tried to because they were aware of just how much friends meant to people how joyful it was how funny it was they really wanted to end each character arc beautifully tied up with a beautiful bow as a gift to the

audience yes and i appreciate that there you know there's a lot of different edgy dark whatever's you know shows out there and great. That's what they are. But I think Friends is like a giant warm blanket and a big cup of cocoa. And it's been hugely important to people for a lot of different reasons, one of which is to combat loneliness, which I think is a huge thing for this show. Yes, absolutely. And what I did like was when they did cut away to just regular people who've watched the show in all different parts of the world

who told a story about what Friends meant to them. That was really great. I don't have a problem with any of that. That all sounds really great. And especially when it was in different countries too, people whose father was dying from cancer or a woman in Nigeria who was living alone after a marriage breakdown.

Those kinds of stories were just beautiful and I think encapsulated exactly how special friends was but I agree with you a lot of it was kind of James Corden talking and then they started it with the set so they have the set of friends rebuilt which I think is actually that was cool because it was the first time the whole cast had been back on the set because the the ending of the show literally on the day of filming when that show finished they just started dismantling the set because they had a new show coming in so it's the first show last i doubt it but but they did dismantle the set so it's the first time they'd seen it re-envisioned which i think was wild for

them so that was cool and they got each cast each you know character to come in one at a time which i think they also did for the fresh like they've stolen a lot of stuff they have yeah and and look they did it in the same order that the the cast was cast oh really which i thought was clever too and really interesting so ross they actually really yeah so what i found really interesting about the special was they interviewed the writers and creators of it and all that's good as well it's really good because you see the heart of the show actually comes from these these three people yeah and i thought that was great and how they cast so they started with ross because they really love david schwimmer david schwimmer is that how you say dav name? David Corella. David Schwimmer. Did he come out and go, I hope this is going schwimmingly?

What's his name? David Schwimmer. Thank you. It is David Schwimmer. All right. I didn't know. Now you're making fun of me. I'm not sure.

Anyway, and they had the idea of Ross for him, basically. They wrote the show for him, which I hadn't realised. Have you done much before that? Yeah, a lot. Yeah, quite a few things but nothing major yeah and then he went back to do theater because he hadn't really he had this really great slapstick comedy that just people weren't hiring him for and i think that the writing team who are bright hoffman and so you know that end of friends when it comes up with the writing yes i do

uh hang on writing team i'm getting I do. Hang on. Writing team. This is going to annoy me. I didn't write notes on this because I wasn't going to talk about it, but it is really interesting. What are you looking it up? Yeah, Crane, Kaufman and Bright. There we go. And they had written a whole lot of other pilots,

so this was just like the next pilot, but they based it, which I think always happens. This was based on their own lives because they were three young people living in New York and they wanted it to encapsulate that time in your life when your friends are your family. And it makes me sad, actually. That was something else that made me sad to think about because there is a time in your life when your friends are your family. Totally. And then once people get married and start having kids, that kind of is over.

Yeah. And it's not that those people can't be in your life. Then you've got a real family. Yuck. Oh, no. I know. But it's not the those people can't be in your life then you get a real family oh no i know but it's not no you're right it's very much like there's like i mean some people you know don't get married don't have kids or whatever but it's like there's a window 10 15 20 years whatever where yeah that's you know everybody's and you lose people along the way yeah you're

doing people go off in different directions but they you know, like you'll see that core group of people three, four times a week. Yeah. You'll be at every function on the Wednesday, you know, weekend together. And whether or not you guys might live together, you see each other so much. And so that, and you do, you lose friends once people go in different directions and some people have kids and some people don't. Anyway, so that was how they kind of captured the essence of friends, I guess, which are, you know, write what you know, which I thought was really beautiful.

And know who you are. So then after that, they then had Phoebe Buffay. So they, Lisa Kudrow, obviously. It is Kudrow. Kudrow, it is Kudrow. Anyway, so she was the next one they cast. They immediately thought of her when they saw Phoebe's character and she just brought it to life.

They actually saw her in Mad About You as the waitress in Mad About You, which I loved that show, Helen Hunt. Which they work in because Friends didn't write about you in the same universe. Yeah. So that's Ursula, her sister? Yes. Yeah, because she's a bit darker, obviously, than Phoebe. And you could tell when they saw each other,

there was this beautiful kind of reunion of sorts, which was so lovely. So that was really cool. And then after that, I think came in, who came next? I think it was Matt LeBlanc and then Chandler. And then the last two to cast were Monica and Rachel. Yeah. Yeah, they were just really hard to cast because I think Rachel

was the last one, Jennifer Aniston, because Monica, initially they were thinking of Courtney Cox for Rachel but she said she was actually much more of a Monica-esque as a person. Yeah, right. And fitted much better in that character. And so they needed to find someone for Rachel Green who you still really liked as a person and fitted much better in that character. And so they needed to find someone for Rachel Green who you still really liked as a character and you were really rooting for her even though she's this, like,

spoiled brat of a human. And, I mean, Jennifer Aniston is just the most likeable human, you know, on the planet or one of. And she still is. She's brilliant in this. And she's clearly got so much heart she just cries through half the special. So, yeah, so, no, there were some good bits in it, but I agree. I would have much preferred them to not do all the gags and the cut.

They did some redoing of, like, scenes when they cut to the old scenes and then got them sitting around a table and, you know, reading parts of scenes. How does Gunther look? Oh, weird. Yeah. He's got a cap on. He wasn't actually in there, but he was, you know, on the screen.

He had a cap and beard. It was clearly Friends might have been the highlight of his whole life. Yeah. That's like a big role, though. Yeah, and he was great. So, anyway, there's lots of touching moments, but I felt the weakest bits were, yeah, James Corden on the couch in front of an audience.

I don't think they needed an audience. Are you guys really friends? I don't know. Yeah, there was just a lot of weird kind of questions that didn't quite work and then like a weird fashion parade. No, not good. No. What do you think of this tweet?

It's a bit mean, just heads up. Some Nicole Bontz on Twitter. Not to us. I just saw it on my timeline. I love that the Friends reunion is a science experiment in how six very rich people approach plastic surgery. Because there are some looks going on there. And that's not to shame. You know, but like.

Yeah. There's been some work done and obviously some, you know. They're also in their mid-50s. Yeah. You know what I mean? I know. And that's the thing, right? And also Matt LeBlanc matt not matt leblanc um matt matthew perry had like emergency dental

surgery that morning because i was worried and then going and doing that like he had like his teeth were quite odd and yeah and like yeah i him. He looked terrible. Pain and numbed up or who knows. Yeah. It was definitely also a sign of, you know, how much the expectations of how women should look seem to just matter so much more because really all three women still look pretty incredible comparatively, whereas the blokes seem to go a bit squidgy at the edges. I would say Joey is the one who looks most like a normal man.

Yeah, he does. Everyone said that. What did you send to me? He looks like someone's dad. Oh, yeah, that's right. Hang on, I'll bring it up. Yeah, and I agree. He actually just looked like – because that's what I also thought

was interesting. There was joy in some of them and there wasn't joy in some of them. Yeah. And you felt like life had been easier for some than others. And I felt Lisa Kudrow of all of them looked like someone who had grown into herself. And she, to me, I'm sure maybe she's had some things done, but she looked like someone who had just grown into herself

as a really cool 50-year year old woman who looked after herself and enjoyed her life and embodied herself yeah and i and that to me is sexier and more interesting and well-rounded no but you know then then all this kind of like trying to stay youthful in this weird sort of frozen way i just thought she just seemed so full of life and joy and was happy in her own skin and i felt like that just shone through yeah and she's doing really interesting roles as well yeah exactly really interesting roles i mean you know obviously jennifer aniston looks incredible but yeah but she's clearly had a huge amount of work but it's pretty good work to be fair yeah exactly and courtney cox i feel like seemed sad and I don't know why I think that.

But anyways. We're probably projecting. We are projecting. This is from Jem La says, Matt LeBlanc is on Twitter, looks like a dad on Christmas that he's happy to see you open your gifts even though he doesn't know what any of them are because your mum got them all, which is very much my dad vibe as well. Not my dad vibe, my dad. Your dad your dad's vibe yeah no you buy

presents and do things you're great i and i mean as is your dad yeah i should wrap this up though we really should we've like dragged this on i had all these other notes of stuff to talk about but i guess we wait till next week or next week one other thing i wanted to say about the friends reunion it must be so brutal seeing just incredibly, because they were all incredibly attractive, gorgeous, funny, charismatic. Sure. You know, people. Like this?

Yeah. Very good. He's showing me a video of himself. Well, no, my son said you can do a superhero pose and I'll film it. So I did. Excellent. That's never going anywhere. But so I go on.

It must be such a mind trip to just be everywhere you go, you would still see that you at the peak of your career and the peak of your kind of physical capability. Everywhere you go. Yeah, for the rest of your life. It must, that must play on you, right? Seeing that version of yourself. Yeah, and that level of fame. Oh, yeah, brutal. where you go yeah for the rest of your life it must that must play on you right seeing that version of yourself and that level of fame oh yeah you know that quote about matt leblanc saying at

one point he turned on the news and all of the roofs of all of their houses were like in a split screen oh yeah on telly and then he looked and was like oh i really need to clean the leaves off my roof so he went and did it but you know that kind of level of fame but you know crazy so obviously it's going to take its toll in different ways all right anyway uh i've got a review while you bring up the letter for this week oh yes yes yes i love doing reviews of this show i love getting them you write them you just do it in that you're gonna get to it mate you open up the app i'm just padding for time while i found it uh and then you just go, oh, here it is. And then you play the, and then you write the review in. This is from VSVSVAHWJWNAHA.

I'm not sure how you pronounce that. Excellent spinoff. Five stars. Give Claire a pottery, not pottery, a poetry show. What do you think of that, Claire? Oh. Thought you would enjoy that. I love that.

Yes, I would love a poetry show or a poetry show as they say. You would. It is poetry. All right, what's this letter we got this week? All right, so this is from Kieran M. Hi, both. Hope that the pair of you are doing well. I hear you're back in lockdown.

Yeah. Which as a Brit, just out of our third, I know to be totally shit. You are spot on, mate. Keep your heads up high as they will go. For James, we know this to be 40% high. For Claire, I'd estimate it to be around 210%. You are absolutely right. You've totally nailed our general vibes today,

except for my back pain, which is slowly disappearing. Anyway, cheers, folks, from sunny Cumbria in England. He has a little voice recording for us, which you can also do by sending to suggestiblepod at gmail.com. And you can record it just on your bloody phone, mate, if you like, in your voice memo app.

Send it on our winging away. What have you got for us? Here we go. So you want a suggestible, dear James and Claire? Yes. Well, how about this? I've got a suggestible for you. I suggest that the pair of you have a lovely day for yourselves and for your family, because

the two of you are a complete delight, and I like your antics. Yeah, but like an actual suggestible, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, it's on Netflix, so it's free, even though it's not really free. It's the animated one. James will probably like it, because it's got robots and that. And Claire, there's like family and shit,

so yeah, it's nice, and it's probably heartfelt. So yeah, it's good. And Claire. There's like family and shit, so yeah, it's nice and it's probably heartfelt. So yeah, it's good. Watch it. Thank you very much for the podcast, I suppose. You're welcome. Cheers. Bye. I was worried about that one because sometimes Mason

and I screen out. We don't screen him, we just play him, see what comes up. So I'm like, is this going to take a turn? But you do check these before you i correct i absolutely do thank you for reminding me sorry who was that from kieran m so aggressive i love that hilarity we did watch it uh i watched it with my son and then claire watched it with my son and in the end or my son separately uh yeah we might talk about it another week. But I have opinions on that. Yeah, it's cool.

Yeah, I have so many opinions too. And it's just a great recommendation. And it's not just the robots I love about it. No, it's mainly the theme song that you guys keep dancing around the house to that in this lockdown situation is driving me insane. Maya. Maya. I've sung twice on this show today. Wow.

Good Lord. A new low record. Oh, God. Well, we've really hit a bloody low. All right. I've got to get wrapped up because I've got to record some fast and furious stuff. I'm going to go crying to my shoes. Instead of going on a tropical holiday, I'm bloody stuck with this bloke for another bloody

however many weeks in this godforsaken house. I've been to Darwin where your so-called tropical holiday is, and it's far from tropical. It's very tropical. What do you mean? What do you want? Beaches, beautiful weather, 30 degrees, sunshine. Queensland is tropical.

Waterfalls. I was going to swim in a waterfall, James, actually in a waterfall. I was going to swim in a waterfall. I bought new, in a waterfall. I was going to swim in a waterfall. I bought new sunglasses and new bathers for the occasion. Did you really? I certainly did. You know what you can do now? Stay here.

Stay here in bloody two degrees. It was two degrees when I woke up this morning in this doom and gloom, God-forsaken place, and all you keep doing is farting. Today, you were in the studio, and I was sitting on the couch with my sore back and you came in and said a little chat and I was like, this is lovely. And then you're like, uh-oh. And then you ran outside to do a fart and then the fart just drifted back into my face. It's not my fault.

It couldn't have been me. It might have been a baby. That is in essence what I'm going to be putting up with for bloody at least this week. I reckon it's going to be longer. And if you're in lockdown, I'm sending all my positive love vibes to you. Everyone's getting vaccinated though. Not everyone. There's a lot of places.

Yeah, I know. If you can. Anyway, we're going to go. We're going to go. We're going to go. You've been suggestible. You've been suggestible by us. By.

We got you. We bloody got you. We bloody got you. My. My. Hoo. Hi, I'm Jessie Cruikshank from the number one comedy podcast, Phone a Friend, which I strongly advise you listen to.

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