The Bechdel Cast - Anastasia with Anna Seregina

Episode Date: August 15, 2019

Jamie and Caitlin analyze Anastasia with special guest Anna Seregina, who may or may not be a member of the Russian royal family? She doesn't remember??(This episode contains spoilers)For Bechdel bonuses, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/bechdelcast.Follow @touchingcheeses on Twitter. While you're there, you should also follow @BechdelCast, @caitlindurante and @jamieloftusHELP Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody. This is Matt Rogers. And Bowen Yang. We've got some exciting news for you.

You know we're always bringing you the best guests, right? Well, this week we're taking it to the next level. The one, the only, Katherine Hahn is joining us on Lost Culture East. That's right. The queen of comedy herself. Get ready for a conversation that's as hilarious as it is insightful. Tune in for all the laughs, the stories,

and of course, the culture. Don't miss Katherine Hahn on Las Culturistas. Listen to Las Culturistas on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. Caitlin here. Just wanted to give you a quick intro to the episode you're about to hear on the movie Anastasia. We recorded it live as Jamie's birthday show, which we had so much fun doing. And while the audio quality for the most part is pretty good,

there are a few times when the audio kind of blips out for a split second, and we apologize for that. But otherwise, it's a damn fine episode, and we hope you enjoy. On the Bechdelcast, the questions asked if movies have women in them. Are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands, or do they have individualism? The patriarchy's effing vast. Start changing it with the Bechdelcast. Thank you so much. Hi.

Welcome to the Bechdelcast. Hello you so much. Hi. Welcome to the Bechdel cast. Hello. Welcome. Just for context for everyone, I just got a six pack of Mike's Hard Watermelon. That's just proof that when you get a DM saying, are you allergic to watermelon? You answer it as quickly

as you can. You never know. Oh man, what a a gift this has got to be real bad right I'll be sampling it throughout the night welcome everyone thank you for coming thanks for being here for Jamie's birthday show

it feels like we're recording it it's not my birthday for a month but for the sake of tonight we're cosplaying as if it is my birthday and the episode will be released pretty close to your birthday yeah yeah so suspend your disbelief don't cancel me. It's not necessarily my actual birthday. But feel free to give me gifts, I think, is the real takeaway. Sure, sure, sure. And so we're doing

one of my fave movies tonight. I'm so excited. We're doing Anastasia. But let's get some business out of the way first. Yes. My name is Caitlin. My name is Jamie.

We talk about the representation of women in movies on this here podcast. Yes. The end. What should I? Oh, we use the Bechdel test as a jumping off point for discussion. What's the Bechdel test? What if I was like, I don't know. I can't answer a follow-up question. The Bechdel Test is a media metric designed by cartoonist Alison Bechdel,

sometimes called the Bechdel-Wallace Test, in which there must be an interaction between two named female identifying characters and they have to talk to each other for two lines of dialogue about something other than a man. I wish there was a mathematical equation for what we just said, because it sounds like math. Right. It's like A squared plus B squared equals C squared. That's Pythagorean's theorem.

Hello? You're so smart. She has a master's degree, so keep up. Let's demonstrate it. Okay. Hey, Jamie. Hey, Caitlin. I got you a birthday gift, too. master's degree so keep up let's uh let's demonstrate it okay hey jamie hey caitlin i got you a birthday gift too really uh here it comes i don't i didn't wrap it oh my god wait this is so cute describe it for our listeners at home this isn't what if i was like i love it thank you it is an enamel pin of rose from titanic there thank you so much thank you it's the moment where she looks up and she sees titanic for the

first time and she's not that impressed and she's like it doesn't look any bigger than the Martania. And then Cal, a.k.a. Billy Zane, is like, oh, don't be silly. It's over 100 feet longer than the Martania. Well, now it doesn't pass the Bechdel test, because you said Cal, but... Oh, I guess we finished a while ago. I'm sorry. That's okay.

Sorry, I can't look at this without thinking of Billy Zane, and that is tragically my feminism. Another surprise... Thank I got one for myself. Oh, I'm so happy. I'm going to fasten it on right now onto my little suit. For those listening, I'm wearing a little suit. Thank you. you're welcome truly I can't

I won't leave home without it ever again that was all our business right? I believe so birthday business what the show is business oh

clap if you have been to one of our live shows before cool and then clap if your friend dragged you here. Yes. Welcome.

Very brave of you. And all right. By round of applause, who has seen the movie Anastasia? Okay. Good. Is there anyone who has not seen it? Clap your little paws together. They just apologized.

It's okay. Listen, what I think that women should be doing more is apologizing. I really welcome that in the room. It's okay. It's okay. I've written a recap, as I always do. It's, I think, the longest recap I've ever written.

Really? I don't know why. It's not a very long movie. It's not a long movie, but the story is so rich. And also, I mean, I would say it's more or less historically accurate. Yeah. If you're familiar with the, you know, Russian history, you know this story inside and out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

To join us in our discussion, we of course have a guest. Yes. She is a wonderful person. She is a hilarious comedian. Please give it up for Anna Saragina! There she is. Oh my god, wow. I know.

I mean, feel free to grab a mic at literally any time. I don't even grab the mics. You're feeling crazy. Thank you for being here. Oh, thank you so much for having me. Of course. So, Anna, what is your history relationship with the movie Anastasia, or Anastasia as a historical figure?

Wow, it dates back to yesterday when we watched it together. And so in that, it is rich and luscious and historically bound. And I feel very rooted in it also. And I'm Russian. And my name is Anna. And really, it's Anya. So people, when I moved here, people were like, oh, like Anastasia. You know, just like that.

And so I'd say, well, yes. So for a long time, I just didn't watch it. I think out of that. I see. Because I was like, I'm not going to be defined. Yeah. Out of protest. Yeah.

There's that movie called Caitlin that I refuse to watch. Yeah, I get that. There's not. I'm not. There's a Jamie in A Walk to Remember, I get it. There's not. I'm... Okay. There's a Jamie in A Walk to Remember, but she dies. Oh.

Is she the... She's the one? She's Mandy Moore and she's... Butterfly tattoo? Yeah, and she dies to teach Shane West a lesson.

Nice. Which is a plot device that I love. That I love. That you should do. I can't wait to die one day so some guy can learn something. Just to make him a little nicer in college.

Oh my God. My history with this movie is that I saw it once. It came out in 97. So I would have been 11. I must have seen it when I was 11. And then the only thing I remembered was that there was a train. Didn't remember what happened with the train.

I just knew there was a train. That's the only thing I remembered because I only saw it that once. And then I have rewatched it three times now in the past few days. Wow. I know. It's fun. It's a fun movie. This was one of my favorite movies. This movie came out when I think I was like four or five

and I was like the target demo because it was really loud. Like there was a lot of music and I was like really scared of Rasputin but I kind of also had a crush on him. Of course you did. And it was really like I loved the Rasputin character

and I remember telling my mom I was just like, why aren't there toys of him? And she was like, I don't know. But there's, I would say some of the, maybe this is, I just got nervous before. Some of the sexiest cartoons in, because this isn't a Disney cartoon, if that matters to you. It really doesn't matter. But it's not a Disney cartoon, so it is a little bit hornier than your average, and a little better

I think than your average cartoon. So, man, I love this movie. I saw it on Ice. Wow. Anastasia on Ice. Anastasia on Ice. It was the first time I noticed a butt.

That was maybe a few years after that when Anastasia was making the rounds on ice this time. Wait, whose butt? Dimitri's butt. Oh, good. But there was, me and my brother still talk about it sometimes, how at that ice show, Rasputin was

on ice and his beard kept flying into his mouth. He was having a really difficult time. I mean, I love this. I probably watch this movie like, it's like a go-to movie for when I'm like sick. I'll watch it. So I watch it, you know, I'm

very sick. All the time. Great. Should we dive in with the recap? Let's dive in, Caitlin. Alrighty. So the year. Love it. Great. Should we dive in with the recap? Let's dive in, Caitlin. All righty. So the year is 1916. Titanic has been sunk for four years. Yeah.

Nicholas is the czar of Imperial Russia. There's this royal family, the Romanovs. They are celebrating. So far, this is accurate. Yes. Except for I think the year isn't even right. It's already two years off. But there is the Romanov family, and they are the royal family.

And they're celebrating 300 years of ruling the country. And Anastasia is, I think, the youngest daughter. She's the young princess, duchess. And her grandmother gives her a music box and a necklace that says together in Paris. And there's the necklace. I mean, it is the most annoying thing in the world, poking historical

inaccuracies, but I will be doing it all night. She went to Denmark. She didn't go to Paris, but no one wants to sing a... Bernadette Peters didn't want to sing a song about Denmark. So, she went to Paris. So, I moved it to Paris. So, before they can go to

Paris together, Rasputin shows up. He's like, he's built kind of like he's like as skinny as Jafar, but like already dead. Yes. He is like,

yeah, I don't know. He's post-dead. Yeah, post-dead. But hot, you know. Yeah,

yeah. Factually hot. Historically hot. Historically hot. Historically hot. I was there and he was hot. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. We'll be looking over for confirmation from a real life Russian woman. Absolutely. I was there the whole time.

Like, Rasputin is hot, right? He was, yes. Okay, okay. Cool, cool, cool. Yes. He was hot. So Rasputin places a curse on the Romanov family. He's holding a grudge.

He wants them to die. He's mean, and he sold his devil to the green thing. Yeah, he sold his soul. Yeah. And he places this curse and I guess that's what starts the Russian Revolution, according to this movie? He also bit someone's ankle.

Yes, yes. Which is a huge power move. That's a war surfer. Amazing. I mean, really, it's so weird. There's been so much written about World War I and the Russian Revolution, and it's like it really was quite simple what happened. Rasputin shows up and places a curse.

And he threatened the Tsar, and he put a curse on him. I mean, we're starting a war, of course. So chaos ensues. Anastasia and her grandmother manage to escape with the help of a servant boy but she drops her music box

that was given to her the music box by the way like it's so I don't know if anyone who was watching it like got really

distracted by the fact that the music box is clearly CGI but the rest is 2D where you're just like what planet is what plane is this music box on?

It looks so freaky. Like the whole, why did they do that? So, okay. The like flying horse at the end is also CGI. Oh my God, yeah. There's like some CGI that works

like in the train scene. I'm like, oh, this is like kind of effective. And like in the ballroom scene where all the ghosts are dancing, you're like, this is fun. But the fleshy horse, I did not like the fleshy horse. So then Rasputin drowns as he's trying to grab at Anastasia. And then Anastasia and her grandmother are headed to safety,

but in all of the chaos, they get separated forever. Or not. Maybe we'll see. And then Anastasia bumps her little head. Right. She's like, I forget. Yeah, she forgot. It gives her amnesia for a very long time.

So it's 10 years later now. We're in St. Petersburg. We're under, Joseph Stalin is in power now. A fact that is not mentioned at all. No. And at this point, he's hot, and that's actually not mentioned either. Oh, no. Yeah. Okay, we take your word for it. Please, yeah.

I mean, he did the facial hair, you know, it's under discussion. So, rumors are being spread around that Anastasia, who was thought to have died in Rasputin's revolution. Well, it's not ankle bite alone. But he, that Anastasia might actually still be alive,

which she is. She goes by Anya now, but she has no memory of her former royal life. And she has no idea that she is Anastasia. The only clue that she has is the necklace that she was given that says, Together in Paris. So she decides to go to St. Petersburg

and tries to buy a ticket to Paris to discover her family history, but she doesn't have the proper documentation. So someone tells her to go find this guy, Dimitri, to help her out. John Cusack. John Cusack. This is one of the sexier cartoons.

I think cartoon history, because he looks like John Cusack at that exact moment. He's got the middle part, and he keeps flopping his fangs out of the way. I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? Sickos? Gross. So we learn that Dimitri is a con man and he is in the process

of auditioning actors who look like Anastasia to pretend to be her so that they can take her to Paris and get the reward that the Dowager Empress is offering. And he also is in cahoots with Kelsey Grammar. Yes.

His name is Vlad. Sure. My favorite part of the movie is when later on the grandmother's like, Dimitri, I've heard of you as if Dimitri wasn't one of the most common Russian names. It's like someone walking in being like, ah, yes, this Joey I've heard of.

So Dimitri has Anastasia's music box. And we're like, how did he get that? Hmm. But this gives him a leg up on bringing an Anastasia-like person to the Empress. Right. So then Anya shows up to where Dimitri is. And he's like, hey, you look just like Anastasia. We think you might be her.

She's like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. This whole scene happens while she's standing next to an oil painting of Anastasia. Of herself. And she's like,

could be. But then she decides to go to Paris with them rationalizing that like, hey, maybe I am Anastasia and maybe I'm not but there's only one way to find out.

Well, and also they were able to get her the documents she needed. It seemed like if she didn't play ball with this plan she would get out of the country. Right. Meanwhile, Rasputin, remember him? Ever heard of him?

He is still alive, sort of. Yeah, a lot of cartoony body horror. Oh, really graphic stuff. Well, the Rasputin stuff is like, this movie has some tonal dissonance issues where there'll be these serious, scary things

that happen to Anastasia, and then you'll cut to Rasputin being like, my plan didn't work! And then he'll rip his face off. And like, throw it on the ground. It's very spooky. It's very Tom Waits, sort of. Bones dancing.

It's great. And his side, I kept trying to call it a side piece, but his sidekick is a... You know he's got this classic side piece. It's a nude classic side piece. It's a nude bat?

Yeah. I know all bats are nude, but this one's... Well, it's an albino bat. It's got a little bit of a small, luscious body. Also hot. I love my curvy bat.

I love my curvy bat. I love my curvy bat. Voiced by Hank Azaria. With an accent that is, to me, problematic. To me, problematic. I don't know what he's trying to do, but it's not right, whatever it is. And we'll talk about the accents in this movie, too, because we were checking with Anna last night for last night for any sort of realism to it and it looks like no well to be determined okay teaser so rasputin is stuck in this like hell limbo place because anastasia survived and he has a horcrux. He's basically Voldemort.

Yeah. And he's also sort of living in the same place Scar from The Lion King lives in. It's just kind of like a rock den, and there's green fog. But instead of hyenas, there's bugs. Yes. And then he has the bat friend, Bartok. Gorgeous little body. Who helps Rasputin get out of limbo so that Rasputin can kill Anastasia.

And they sing a terrific song about it. Really good. It rocks. It does. It is a great villain. So Dimitri and Anastasia, and then Vlad also, Kelsey Grammer, are on their way to Paris, and

Dimitri and Anya are attracted to each other? Yeah, they're doing a little bit of light negging. I would call it heavy negging. It's so weird. I didn't realize that until this watch but like meg ryan

voices anastasia and they're just doing a scene from most meg ryan movies where she's being nagged but she's like stop right that's just kind of what's happening so then uh rasputin's little ghost minions cause the train that they're on to crash, but they survive and they continue onward to Paris. And then Vlad and Dimitri teach Anya how to be fancy so that she can pass. There's a big Pygmalion scene in the middle of the movie. Yeah. And then she and Dimitri almost kiss on a ship

that sort of looks like Titanic. And Anastasia's wearing the dress that Ariel wears in The Little Mermaid. Right. And also kind of looks like the dress that the little girls in The Shining wear. Oh, well there's another Shining reference when she gets trapped in a maze

later on. Oh yeah. So who knows what's going on. So they almost kiss but then Dimitri's like, no, I shouldn't. And then Rasputin's minions try to kill Anastasia again on the ship. Do you remember when minions were just little evil things that helped Rasputin? And not cutie pies? Yellow things with glasses?

And not cutie pies that I love? Then Dimitri saves her from, and so she doesn't die. And then they finally get to Paris. The plan is to see Sophie, the Empress's first cousin, to convince her that Anastasia is in fact Anastasia.

Or rather, Anya is Anastasia. And Sophie and Vlad, a.k.a aka Kelsey Grammer, are for sure fucking. Which isn't really relevant to the plot, but he foreshadows really heavily for some reason. He keeps bringing up Sophie.

Yeah! He's like, oh, she's a cream puff and I want to fuck her! I don't know why it's so important to the plot of this movie that you know that Kelsey Grammer's character is like for sure fucking this French lady, but it's really important. It's important.

It's important. It comes up a lot. Yes. So then Anya answers all of Sophie's questions correctly, including one about how she escaped the palace, saying that there was a boy who helped her escape by opening up this wall because I guess her memory is coming back.

And then Dimitri's like, oh, fuck, that actually is Anastasia because he was the boy who helped. Wow. That's... Oh, my God. I hope you're not going to make fun of that because he was the boy who helped. Wow. That's... Wow. Oh, my God. I hope you're not going to make fun of that

because that's really nice. Oh, no. I think it's cute. No, I think it's like a really effective use of plant and payoff. I have a master's degree in screenwriting from Boston University. Guys, take Caitlin's course.

I don't like to bring it up. Okay, so... But right then, the Empress decides not to see any more women claiming to be Anastasia because it keeps letting her down and it keeps breaking her heart. So they decide to stalk the Empress at the ballet instead.

And then Dimitri goes up to her and he's like, you gotta see her, she's the real deal. And the Empress is like, no. And then Anastasia overhears the Empress saying that she knows about Dimitri's like, you gotta see her. She's the real deal. And the Empress is like, no. And then Anastasia overhears the Empress saying that she knows about Dimitri's reputation somehow. Again, she's like, Dimitri, I've heard of you. That he's a con man

who was holding auditions for Anastasia lookalikes. So Anastasia hears all this and she's like, Dimitri, you freaking ass. You used me. She slaps him. What a good slap.

I forgot that she slapped. I always get, I was like, oh! Like, it's very exciting. It's very gratifying. And he doesn't even go like, that sucked. He's just like, I'm sorry. You have to know the truth. Yeah, I was like, whoa, that is, whew, love it. So she runs away. Hot cartoons smacking each other around

to set things right Dimitri kidnaps the Empress and takes her to Anastasia and then the Empress doesn't believe that she is Anastasia at first but then Anastasia is like,

you smell like peppermint. And she's like, it is you. Yeah. And then finally grandmother and granddaughter are reunited. And Dimitri doesn't even want the money. Cause he's a good guy. He's changed you guys.

He's different now. And he, he leaves because he's in love with Anastasia. I love that scene where... And he just can't handle it. I love that scene where the grandma's like, did you have a change of mind? And then he goes, more like a change of heart.

And you're like... That's powerful. I don't care who you are. I'm tearing up. I'm just like, people can change. It's amazing. And then she's she's like well if you don't want the money what do you want

and he's like nothing you can give me which is code for like he wants to put his pee pee into Anastasia's VV yeah Caitlin that's a vulgar

yeah his wants are very heteronormative but it's fine it's fine. It's fine for now. But he changed. But he changed.

Yeah, of course. So at the celebratory ball, Rasputin shows up. He traps Anastasia in the maze from The Shining, and he tries to kill her, but then Dimitri shows back up and helps her defeat Rasputin. He punches Rasputin in the face. Yeah. And then gets

attacked by that creepy horse thing. The fleshy horse. And then they defeat Rasputin, and then they share a kiss. Anastasia defeats Rasputin. Oh, we'll talk all about it. It's so exciting. And then they share a kiss, and then they elope.

Right away. Right away. I honestly kind of respect that you don't see the wedding. You just see a letter saying like, yeah, we will be back in a couple of weeks. That's it. What if they went back to Russia and got killed by Stalin? Caitlin! I'm sorry! The real Anastasia died in 1918!

I think that you'll find from this documentary. That's not true. Okay, so then that's the end of the movie. Well, you forgot Bartok. Oh, Bartok finds a pink bat and what a horrible thing to,

like, you're like, oh, the movie ended. I'm actually not too upset about how it ended for a movie of this type. And then all of a sudden, they're like, Mrs. Bat is here.

And she, like, assaults the Hank Azaria bat, but he's into it. The end. It's like... So, right, that's into it. The end. Sorry, that's the end of the movie. Yeah. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16, 2017, was murdered.

There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were

turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody, this is Matt Rogers. And Bowen Yang. We've got some exciting news for you.

You know we're always bringing you the best guests, right? Well, this week we're taking it to the next level. The one, the only, Katherine Hahn is joining us on Lost Culture East. That's right, the queen of comedy herself. Get ready for a conversation that's as hilarious as it is insightful. Tune in for all the laughs, the stories, and of course, the culture. I feel some Sandra Bernhardt in you. Oh, my God.

I would love it. I have to watch Lost. Oh, you have to. No, I know. I'm so behind. Katherine Hahn can sing. Oh, I'm really good at karaoke. What's your song? Yeah, what's your song? Oh, I'm really good at karaoke. What's your

song? Yeah, what's your song? Oh, I love a ballad. I felt Bjork's music and I just

was like, who is this person? I gotta hawk this slalom, Ludie. Not hawk

the slalom. I absolutely love it. It was somehow Shakespearean when you said it. It was somehow gorgeous.

Yee, my slok, you hollum. Listen to Las Culturistas on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career,

you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do,

like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, where do we want to start? I wanted to start by, by okay so part of the okay this movie was well received when it came out uh an instant classic i am uh and but but uh in retrospect it is considered one of the most the movies with the most celebrity voice miscastings in any animated movie ever. So I just wanted to just, just a yes or a no, quick opinion on like,

do you think, because like after Aladdin and like after Robin Williams, like this is literally a Lindsay Ellis video that came out a couple months ago. Robin Williams like gets the whole celebrity voice thing, kind of takes off.

Now all voice actors are unemployed. Suck it! And now it's celebs only. And everyone in this movie is a celebrity, even parts that don't matter. It's weird. So, just quick yes or no. Do you think, as Anastasia, Meg Ryan, what do you think? Yes or no? Yes. Fine with me Anastasia, Meg Ryan, what do you think? Yes or no?

Yes. Fine with me. I think yes. Okay, cool. We agree. Okay, I'm doing easy ones at the top. Okay. John Cusack as Dimitri.

It worked, I suppose. I'm a hard yes. Okay, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Okay, good. Maybe this game isn't fun. All right, up next, we got Angela Lansbury As the Empress

Well the accent she's attempting Is perhaps not I'm a no in this one She's Mrs. Potts and nothing else Yeah No I mean yes to that No to the general yes Here's my note for her. A bit much.

Okay. Honey, quick note, bit much. Could we actually dial it back? This movie isn't about you. No. Okay. Kelsey Grammer as Rasputin. Or no, wait. Kelsey Grammer as Vlad. Please. Kelsey Grammer as Vlad.

Again, really weird accent choices. that's a no for me bad accent hard yes okay would have loved him as rasputin actually yeah yeah yeah um as that guy um you know who cares fine okay okay because he's like a little sneaky and has wild facial hair. Sure. His character is confusing to me for a number of reasons. Mainly because he's like, I'm a con man and then it's a twist later that he used to work for

the czar, but then it's like, well, that's not good. And then at the end, he kind of just gets his job back, even though there's not a czar. It's like, well, that's not good. And then at the end, he kind of just gets his job back, even though there's not a czar. It's confusing. Christopher Lloyd as Rasputin. Hard yes.

Okay. I think yes. I think Alfred Molina could have done it better. And I think that the accent sounds crazy. I don't even know what a good Russian accent really sounds like, but it sounds crazy. The accent leaves much to be desired. However, it's fine also. Okay, Hank Azaria as the bat.

No. I'm a no, I'm a no on the bat. It's going to be a firm no from me. Okay, that was the people I wanted a no. I'm a no on the bat. It's going to be a firm no from me. Okay, that was the people I wanted to discuss. His accent sounds like when Russian people try to sound American as a joke to point out how stupid Americans sound. So when we would do accents, we would be like, yeah, take it off, baby. Rock on. Why not? Here we go to the store.

It's like so wild. It's just so weird. Really, Russian accents from all walks of life in this movie. Some people not doing one at all. Perhaps the best Russian accent is the one you don't do. It's really jazz. Wow. I hope that Meg Ryan tried to do a Russian accent in a few takes and they were like, just do it.

She's too good at being quirky. It's like, just do it. She's too good at being quirky. It's like, you can't. And then also, like, I mean, Hank Azaria, well known for being really respectful when he's doing voice work. Yes. Just kidding. Yeah, notoriously.

There's a whole documentary about it. There sure is, yeah. So, yeah, that's who we're working with. There's also additional voices. Oh, and also Kirsten Dunst is little Anastasia. Yeah. Lacey Chabert is little singing Anastasia. And J.K. Simmons is credited as additional voices.

What? I was really... Yeah, when I was re-watching it today, I'm like, where is he at? Where is he? I couldn't find him. But he's that good. He's that good.

He disappears into the role. But he's credited in that movie as... He. He disappears into the role. But he's credited in that movie as additional voices. Maybe he plays Comrade Flemingkoff, which is the orphanage lady.

I don't know. Probably not. Hot take. Thank you. It was a hot take. So we've got the cast. Should we talk about Anastasia, the character? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. So my kind of objective take, since I didn't really grow up with this movie,

and I feel like it's hard not to compare this to Disney movies. Oh, no, they're stealing everything from Disney movies. So just to kind of compare Anastasia as a character to the like Disney renaissance princesses of this time, I would say overall Anastasia is just better characterized. She has more personality than a lot of them. We know things about her, like she's confident. she tends to like push back on anyone like you know giving her attitude different things she says to dimitri uh stop bossing me around um don't talk anymore it's only going to upset me uh and then she accidentally punches dimitri in

the face like as she's waking up and then she like, oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else. Then she sees it's him. She's like, oh, wait. It's you. That's okay then. Then he's like, oh, you broke my nose. Then to herself she's like, men are babies. She's feisty. I like her. She's fun.

She, like, actually tells jokes. She starts, like, her actual, like, journey starts because she, like, decides to, like, she leaves the orphanage. She knows where she's going. She's sort of, like, playing along with Dimitri and Vlad's plan because she needs to get out of the country. So it's not, like, she's not completely convinced that she's Anastasia

just because John Cusack was like, you probably are. She's like, well, either way, I got to get out of the country. And then she, this was like, because I wasn't quite sure

because I only watch this movie when I'm sick. So I rarely see the end of it. So I forgot how involved he is in the final big battle with Rasputin. And I was a little worried because the way that Satan plays out is that Rasputin, he throws her to the ground

and then Dimitri shows up, punches Rasputin in the face, and you're like, oh, I hope that this isn't one of those battles where she's rescued and she's just sort of over there the whole time. And she's over there for a little bit. And he does kind of have to pull her up. It seems like she's going to be damseled. But then he kind of fails to save her a couple of times.

Rasputin's really kicking him around. And he's thrown to the side and passed out. And it kind of reminded me of what happens to Jasmine in Aladdin. Right. Where he's literally tossed out of the scene. And you're like, oh, that never happens to the guy in the scene. And then Anastasia gets his, and this is the big vocabulary word of this movie, reliquary.

Oh. I had the novelization of this book when I was little. And I just remember my dad really struggling with that word. He was like, all the minions in Rasputin just want the flunkies. Just really didn't care

for that chapter. She stomps on the reliquary three times and she kills Rasputin. Yes. It's exciting. She's like, this is for Dimitri, this is for

my family, and this is for you! And then she crushes it and he dies. He also turns into goop and then dust. It's a very, and there's like so many things that I like about this that Disney movies never quite go there. The villain always

falls off a cliff and just slowly disappears but they're like, no, no, no no you're seeing his violent graphic when you die you turn into goop and then dust but there's like he's a skeleton at some point in between that it's it's wild so yeah he pulls his head off he rips his face off he's a goof but i i did love that, you know, it seems like she might be damseled, and that's what happens in all these Disney movies. But then, yeah, the tides shift, and she's the one, unlike, so Jasmine, she's, like, cast aside for the climax of the story, but she's also not the protagonist of that movie, Aladdin is.

But even in, like, Belle and Beauty and the Beast and Ariel and the Little Mermaid, they're the protagonists of that movie aladdin is but even in like bell and booty and the beast and ariel and the little mermaid they're the protagonists of those movies and they still aren't even allowed to participate in the climax of their own story because it's their male love interests who come and save the day so i i loved that uh anastasia is the one who takes the reins and actually actively defeats the villain herself. And it works better for the story, too, because it's like there's that whole, like,

the only reason she knows him is because he killed her entire family. Right. So if someone else kills him, it's like, I mean, I'm glad he's dead, I guess. Right, but, like, she's the one who would want the revenge against him, so the fact that she, like, gets the big cathartic... It's an awesome scene!

It's the coolest. So there are a few moments where she helps Dimitri on the train scene. She's an active participant. He's still kind of taking the lead after the train starts crashing. He's kind of doing most of the stuff, and then she helps.

Yeah. I do think that it feels mostly, a lot of times he'll try to do something, and then it will fail, and then she'll just do it the correct way. That happens a couple different times. I don't even know how intentional that was in the writing, but it's kind of fun to see this guy,

this macho character over and over be like, I've got this, and then there's an explosion in front of him. He's like, ugh. And then Anastasia kind of takes care of it. A Russian woman just has to come in. Our work is never done. Another thing that

this movie doesn't do that a lot of Disney movies from this time definitely do is like really over sexualize its female character its main female character for most of the movie anastasia is in like this giant coat and then like you know she's got a the hat and the scarf and the boots yeah somehow she's like a look it's a good look. It's a very Meg Ryan look, actually. It's very like chunky bangs and like a floppy hat and like a clumsy jacket for her to be like. Right.

I would say that, yeah, we see like more of Dimitri's body than we do of hers for most of the movie. That butt. And that's fine with me. No criticism. But like Rasputin and Anastasia are wearing the same outfit for most of the movie. That butt. And that's fine with me. No criticism. But like Rasputin and Anastasia are wearing the same outfit for most of the movie.

Just like a belted sack. You know, communism, you know, that's why. Sick. The fits are strong. But then she does get a makeover and there is a shopping montage because say it with me now. Women

be shopping. This movie is not. There's a whole shopping song. They brought in Bernadette Peters to sing the shopping in France song and yeah it's so weird because it's like this movie doesn't like get too into

like the Pygmalion and like My Fair Lady references, but there's a solid 15 minutes where that's all it is. Right. And so it's all random con artists giving women makeovers for sinister purposes. I guess at least it's not to make her more attractive to the man. It's to make her be able to pass as royalty.

Yeah. So at least there's that. I mean this is like one of still one of those movies I hate to admit it but it is one of those like 90s era movies that the central plot is a woman being deceived

and eventually fucking him anyways. Okay so because I didn't remember this movie at all except for the train, I was like, okay, I see them. They're negging each other. Jamie is opening

her Mike's card watermelon. I just want to take a waft of that really quick. I smell it from over here. It is nice. I always worry, but I'm like, they're all twist-offs. Mike's is never trying to challenge you. No. It's a hard lemonade, but it's not that hard.

It's not that hard. So anyway, they meet each other. You can tell. Is it horrible? Woo! I've never had this flavor before. How is it? Is it salty?

Salty? Tastes salty. May I taste it? Yeah. Okay. It's overwhelming. Oh, it has a really bad aftertaste. May I taste it?

Yeah, go for it. Salty, bad aftertaste. I gotta know. Salty. Oh, I will finish it though. Bad aftertaste, yeah. Story checks out. Wow.

Anyway, okay, so. The two characters come face to face for the first time, Anastasia and dimitri and you can tell that they're gonna be foisted together into a romantic entanglement um even though he's an asshole she knows that he's an asshole we know he's an asshole as the audience he's negging her he's treating her like shit most of the time and he's also lying to her for a good chunk of the movie yes as i'm seeing all this unfold i said i bet myself ten dollars that they kiss at the end and i won ten dollars because they kiss at the end they do kiss but initiates the she does initiate it yes it's a hot kiss so there's that not to be a dimitri apologist but there is a lot

of okay so what is like different about this movie i mean what isn't different about this but the way the relationship is between like the princess character and like the the guy pursuing her as it's literally a meg ryan movie which is why all those weird 90s tropes of being deceived, where normally it's like the princess is inactive, the prince has no personality, and somehow there's a beginning, middle, and end, regardless. Right.

But they treat each other like rom-com characters, and they're bickering and flirting and dancing and almost kissing, but then not kissing. It's like a 90s rom-com movie. And then I do think that he, maybe not to the degree he should, but he does change, admit he's wrong,

express remorse, and then gives her space until she decides she wants him back. Yes, that's true. Maybe that's poor judgment on her her part but at least she decided because it was like you know when he kidnaps the old lady you're like i don't know you know maybe he's lawless and maybe i shouldn't be rooting for him but he doesn't kidnap her so it's a feminist so in that way he's an ally oh there. So it's a feminist text. So in that way, he's an ally.

Oh, there's a moment where Vlad says to him about Anastasia, oh, she certainly has a mind of her own. And then Dimitri responds by saying, yeah, I hate that in a woman. But then Anastasia goes, She sure does. And she sure does. Yeah. On the train. And I love does. Yeah. On the train.

And I love that for her. I love that for her. She always does have like a really good retort. That's not an example of one. I don't know. Speak for yourself. And that scene pays off

by Kelsey Graver taking out this notebook he has where he's keeping score of Anya and Dimitri. And the raspberry does count as a point for Anya. It really does. Canonically.

It says so much by doing so little. Exactly. We're like, okay, well, I guess she is in the lead. She's in the lead. So this is a feminist text. Yes. Yes. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was murdered.

There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody. This is Matt Rogers.

And Bowen Yang. We've got some exciting news for you. You know we're always bringing you the best guests, right? Well, this week we're taking it to the next level. The one, the only, Katherine Hahn is joining us on Lost Culture East. That's right. The queen of comedy herself.

Get ready for a conversation that's as hilarious as it is insightful. Tune in for all the laughs, the stories, and of course, the culture. I feel some Sandra Bernhard in you. Oh my God. I would love it. I have to watch you. Oh, my God. I would love it. I have to watch Lost.

Oh, you have to. No, I know. I'm so behind. Katherine Hanken's thing. Oh, I'm really good at karaoke. What's your song? Yeah, what's your song? Oh, I love a ballad.

I felt Bjork's music. I just was like, who is this person? I got to hawk this slalom, Rudy. Not hawk the slalom. I absolutely love it. It was somehow Shakespearean when you said it. It was somehow gorgeous. Yee, my slok, you hollum.

Listen to Las Culturistas on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jamee Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed?

Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do,

like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We read a fun fact, although the credibility of this website was wildly tested. It was written by a guy named Nat, and that's pretty much all we know about him. He didn't offer up his last name. No, no credentials, just Nat. You know how Nat is, and that's pretty much all we know about him. He didn't even offer up his last name. No, no credentials, just Nat. You know how Nat is, and you know how he gets. One of the facts, it was like, 10 facts about Anastasia right now. One of them was just wrong. One of them was like, it came out the same week

as Little Mermaid, and you were like, no, that was 10 years before that. Okay, so I read something that that person might have meant. So Disney re-released The Little Mermaid I think like a week before Anastasia came out and then they released

a bunch of other stuff the week after in a clear attempt to like, to bury Anastasia. Oh, so Nat had a point. Yes. Okay.

I guess. What did she say? Oh, well Nat had a point. Yes. Okay. I guess. What did he say? Oh, well, Nat said this wonderful thing. This is classic Nat. He said that Meg Ryan was really trepidatious about doing it. She did not want to do it because it was like right after Sleepless in Seattle. And she was like, I don't know if I want to do cartoons. And then the animators convinced her,

or the director convinced her by animating a scene from Sleepless in Seattle. It was just like, look, it can exist as an animation and still hold its merit. And then she got to really bring her own acting into the piece. And so you see a classic Meg Ryan trope being acted out. That's why it's so real and so raw. And I'm pretty sure

that's actually true that they did do that. So even though the credibility of the website is questionable. That was right. I mean 97 is a good year for this movie to come out because I think that Disney animated movie that year was like Hercules or like something that I don't think did well at

first. I do love those stories where it's so fucked up but whenever Disney tries to just absolutely murder something in a really obvious way and then we're still like but it's fine because my childhood like you're like it's not good. It's scary.

Yeah. I just still don't like what they did to Andy Serkis' Jungle Book movie. I guess that's just what I'm saying. to Andy Serkis' Jungle Book movie I guess that's just what I'm saying They killed Serkis with that one Serkis should be a billionaire I'm sorry I had two sips of a Mike's Hard Lemonade

She's going off Speaking of things that I found about the movie Anastasia that come from a website that is perhaps not the most credible, so I don't know how much validity there is to this statement. Different website? Did you read Nat? Different website.

Is this Nat? I don't know. Is this a Nat piece? Okay. But Bernadette Peters, who voices the character of Sophie, the Empress's cousin. Empress's new cousin. Yes.

Yes. Bernadette Peters reportedly said that she did not like the way her character, Sophie, was designed because Sophie is plus size, and she did not apparently want to be represented as someone who was plus size. To which I respond respond who even knows what bernadette peters looks like hey shut up can anyone picture her like no one's like that doesn't look like bernadette peters no one knows what that what i love about animation is that they look

exactly like the person who's voicing them like kelseymer looks exactly as Rasputin. I mean, it's like looking in the mirror. The only example is that Dimitri looks exactly like John Cusack. And everyone else looks like, guess what, a cartoon except for Hank Azaria who looks just like the bat. He does look like the bat. It's true.

A luscious luscious little body of that pet. But that brings me to, I just want to talk a little bit about the way plus size people are presented in this movie. Because Vlad is a big guy. He is shown as being extremely ungraceful most of the time. He falls over on the train. And that's why he can't help dimitri and that's why like uh anastasia has to step up and help dimitri with the train debacle and then uh later on they're

on the ship and he like takes the top bunk of the bunk beds and it like sinks down so low that it like crushes the dog so basically like his weight and his body is like played as a joke several times. I feel like the same thing happens for Sophie's character. It's just not good in a movie that like doesn't seem to like punch down at anyone else really. But yeah. And I think that that is like such an older animation trope too, that it would just be like super easy to not do right um and they for

some reason like choose to like play too because there's a million old cartoons where that happens repeatedly and it's not necessary and it's not funny no and it's yeah it does feel like weirdly out of place for sure in this movie can i talk about the titanic parallels yes i have the same list i think all right here mine and let's compare notes okay a poor guy trying to make money in paris and a woman with red hair coming from a rich family and the two of them fall in love. The shot on the staircase the full body shot of the dolled up female protagonist on an elegant staircase that was on my list. Okay.

I don't have that one. The man saving the woman from going overboard on a ship. A necklace being a pretty big plot point. What about the poor guy being dragged out of the room being like,

you don't understand. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Didn't have that one. The woman has a music box. The end. The end. They came out the same year.

Could it be a coincidence? Who copied who? There was also, so this movie was made by Fox Animation. From what you were telling me, this is not an animation company that lasts very long. They make this movie, it's very successful. They make one other

movie, it's dog shit. The end. That's the whole history. And they're kind of doing, I almost thought this was a DreamWorks thing, but I don't think, I think this predates DreamWorks, but they're doing the DreamWorks thing where they're're kind of doing i almost thought this was a dreamworks thing but i don't think like i think this predates dreamworks but they're doing the dreamworks thing where they're just kind of stealing from disney movies and being like people will think this is a disney movie and there's so many and that's i think part of like why this movie is so good because they steal a lot of really good parts from disney movies that came out very recently where like the rumor in

St. Petersburg number which historic I mean if you look so this takes place in 1926 Stalin is in power and this is a musical number where the people under communist Russia they're like yeah there's food rations yeah life is really difficult yeah Yeah, we're all suffering. And then the last line before you get into the chorus is like, but we love rumors and gossip. Anyways, and then they start to dance

about rumors. It's so... And that's true. Yeah. That's actually true. They're just like, yeah, it's really tough out here thank god for these rumors well what i'm lacking in food i'm just making up for and rumors delicious little tapas of rumors you're full who cares but that number looks a lot like the first

number in beauty and the beast where it's also like the peasants of this community being like, we're the goofs. Because poor people. What else? We've got the female protagonist singing her mission. I mean, Anastasia all but sings, I want much more than this provincial

life. Yeah, except she actually has motivation. Right. Well, that's the other thing i wanted to talk about like like anastasia versus a disney movie is that like and this does happen to some extent in anastasia but like in like little mermaid where she's like oh she loves people culture uh she wants to go up where the people are and then in bell's case she people culture in bell's case she wants much more than this provincial life

she wants to go on an adventure in the great wide somewhere but in both movies they don't really get farther than like the hands of a man the arms of a man and Belle literally goes I would say less than three miles away yeah

and has no idea there's a castle. But the story then becomes about like her involvement with the male love interest. Whereas, I mean, in Anastasia, yes, she does elope with a man at the end. But the story is more about like her journey to figure out herself and her family history and her backstory rather than there is the subplot of the romance, but it's not what takes over the whole story. It's knowledge of oneself. I like it.

Another, one of the big, I think we already sort of said this, but In the Dark of the Night is the same exact number as Be Prepared from Lion King to the point of the Night is like the same exact number as Be Prepared from Lion King to the point where it is sung by the same man. I know. You guys? Okay.

Does Jeremy Irons not sing Be Prepared? He sings about two-thirds of it, and then he was getting a little pitchy dog on some of them. And so they bring in Jim Cummings who sings entire In the Dark of the Night. But it's like not only

is it super visually similar where they're in a cave and there's green fog and there's singing animals who are stand-ins for Nazis. But it's also literally the same guy singing it. It's such a blatant rip-off the same guy singing it. It's such a blatant ripoff that I do respect it. Yeah, so they just stole some of the best scenes from Disney movies and just sort of retrofitted it to fit this historically accurate movie.

Yes. Can I give a brief rundown of the historical accuracy? Yes, please. Because it is, I mean, it is like wild that this story was chosen to be adapted. And I guess that there is like early drafts of this script that were closer to the real story, which when you know the real story seems impossible in children's animation. Because what actually happened, so in IRL Rasputin was not an enemy of the

Romanovs he was a close friend of the Tsarina slash fucking her we don't know but he claimed to like have magical powers he somehow cured the youngest Romanovs hemophilia with either magic or basic medicine

we don't know. Either way, he gets a lot of influence in the court. The Tsarina really likes him. He's a friend of the family, and he dies two full years before the Romanovs are killed. Yeah. So that has nothing to do with anything. The Romanovs are all for sure killed.

They are all shot in a basement by the Bolshevik government during the Russian Revolution. But like, Rasputin and the Romanovs were like never on bad terms. All the Romanov kids died. The grandma was out of town,

but she was in Denmark, which is too boring for the movie. The grandma never looked for her family. She was like, I guess they're dead. And she was she took it she was like i guess they're dead and she was right they were all dead there were some rumors that anastasia lived and it's

funny why this is horrible but like i the rumors were that anastasia had maybe lived because she was wearing so many diamonds that they deflected the bullets And so she lived and she was around. And there was one very successful Anastasia impersonator, which it looks like most of this movie is modeled on, if it were true, which it wasn't. Right. But there was this girl named Anna Anderson who was like poor and looked similar.

And the reason they gave, they were like, well, she suffered a lot of depression, so it's probably her. And she wrote memoirs as if it were true. There was some hot guy involved in the con. And so that's unfortunately... And also they erase all the messy, oppressive Stalin stuff. Yes.

It's so weird that they chose to make this a movie. That's kind of the one thing that I would say most differentiates it from other Disney movies of this time is that it's taking history and then really taking a lot of liberties with it. But it is at least like using but most of disney movies were based from like fairy tales and and you know mythology and stuff like that and this is and anastasia is taking you know historically inaccurate events and then

making those into a movie but it is based in at least real life figures which is irresponsible to so wildly misrepresent what actually happened and then have that be a children's movie because you know how many children will watch the movie version of something rather than like reading the real thing a lot all of us I thought this was the only thing I knew about Russian culture for the first 16 years of my life. And it was one of those things where I sort of took it at face value until forced to say it aloud. I was like, yeah, well, he was a wizard.

But he failed, but then he died, but then he came back. Yeah. So I don't think that that's the best choice that a movie has ever made. But I would say overall, it handles a lot of things better than a lot of Disney movies of its time. Yeah, I think if we're just looking at the way it is, if this is this company's take on what is clear, trying to take a little bit of whatever the princess market is at this time, they do a better job,

and they steal a lot of what Disney was doing better than them, which I guess respect. I don't know. This movie rules. I don't know what to say. No one's going to talk me into disliking it. So there's four credited writers on this movie, two of whom are women, which

you have to think has to do with because most princess movies were not written by women, and I don't think it really shows at all. No. But there's one screenwriter, Nani White, who also wrote Newsies, Tarzan, Hunchback of Notre Dame,

102 Dalmatians, and worked on The Lion King. Then there's another screenwriter, Susan Gauthier. I couldn't find her creds. And then also, Carrie Fisher did rewrites on this movie. Yeah, because she was a prolific script doctor

for many years, and she would help punch up a bunch of scripts. She was supposed to have been the person who added in the... What did you say the name of the lady who ran the orphanage was? That would be Comrade Flemingkoff. That's a Carrie Fisher edition.

That's a Carrie Fisher joint? Canonically is a Carrie Fisher joint. It's also spelled like because I watch everything with subtitles on and the subtitles spell Flemingkopf P-H-L-E-G-M the way that Flem is

spelled and she's like characterized as like this old bag and it's like oh gross a woman over 35 I think that that is probably true, and also, but like, over 35 and poor? No!

Because you see Angela Lansbury is kind of like, she's hot. Because she's rich. She's rich. Which, you know, canon. Yeah, did you have anything else, Caitlin? The only other thing I wanted to mention was Because she's rich. Right. Which, you know, canon. Right.

Yeah, did you have anything else, Caitlin? The only other thing I wanted to mention was Rasputin talks about at least three times in the movie how much he loves cologne. Did anyone else pick up on this? It's in his song. He mentions it later before he's about to go try to kill Anastasia himself in the flesh and then I think

there's another scene where you see him like spritzing it on so he is obsessed with Cologne rewatch Anastasia be on Cologne watch just wanted to point that out I wonder if that is like a fact about I as someone who has several

biographies of Rasputin in her home, I've never encountered that fact before. My favorite Rasputin fact, if you want to check it out on your own, is you should look up Rasputin. He has three kids on the books, but there were some side kids. Some side pieces. Some side pieces. Some side pieces. I'm sure that his bat was one of his

side pieces. But he had three kids and the one who didn't get killed later is named Maria Rasputin and she went on to be a lion tamer and a burlesque performer

and then she moved to LA. So honestly, live your best life. When your dad is a cartoon villain, what are you going to do? Wow. Become a lion tamer and move to LA. Wow. And burlesque performer.

Yeah, yeah. Nice. And a major Rasputin did nothing wrong. An apologist. Yeah, yeah. Nice. And a major Rasputin did nothing wrong. An apologist. Oh, no. Oh, nice. And I'm like, I've seen the movie. Yeah, babe.

I know what he did. Anyone have any other final thoughts? No. Okay. All right. Does Anastasia pass the Bechdel test? Yes. It does.

It does. Right away between young Anastasia and the Bechdel test? Yes. It does. Right away between young Anastasia and her grandmama. It does pass between Anastasia and comrade Flemminghoff, believe it or not. And then I think

also between Anastasia and Sophie. They're talking about the circumstances of her entire family's death. Right. There was also a pass between Grandma and Sophie. Oh, right. Yes. Other than that, I think that

that's all I had. Unfortunately, Mrs. The Bat didn't get any character. Why isn't she named? Where's her arc? There is a direct-to-video spinoff about Bartok. Bartok the Magnificent.

Magnificent. Yeah. Okay. It's. All right. I won't spoil anything. It's quite bad. But it is like,

I think Hank Azaria is one of those people who is kind of down for whatever. He was fully back. He didn't call in a backup. He's like, I'm available. Bartok the Magnificent, I'm in. Oh, good grief. All right, so let's rate the movie

on our nipple scale rate the nipple on our movie scale how many movies would you give this so our nipple scale is 0 to 5 nipples based on its representation of women and

all things considered I'd give it like a two and a half or a three were you expecting it to go way lower yes okay I'm excited for your birthday I'll bump it up to a three yes okay yeah I think again if

you're comparing it to other like animated children's media of this time especially like a princess narrative And if you're comparing it to other animated children's media of this time, especially a princess narrative, I think it does handle a lot of things way better by comparison. It's still wedging in a romantic relationship where there doesn't need to be one, I would say. It's, you know... But his haircut? He's so dreamy.

Did you see him though? That's another Titanic, the haircut. Yeah. The hair is the same. Oh, that's true. Oh, I had one. So three and a half?

I did have one more Titanic parallel on my list. It is men doubting a woman's identity because that happens at the beginning with Old Rose. They don't believe that she is who she says she is. And they're also not sure if Anastasia is

Anastasia. So the movies are basically the same. And may I just say that one of the songs in Anastasia was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, our queen.

Also, it's worth mentioning, if you like to go to places like YouTube.com, like myself, there is a making of featurette about Anastasia that's hosted by Aaliyah. Excuse me. May she rest in peace because she if you listen to the the song at the end of anastasia the credit song it's sung by

alia she did a song for this movie and she does that whole like how they used to do those weird wonderful world of disney but not of like hi i'm this person you know let's see this movie and like she's she hosts it wow so she's just standing a chair turn around or no no she's standing in front of the eiffel tower looking deeply uncomfortable all right okay she's like as we all know anastasia comes out soon let's learn more beautiful oh it's good the al Aaliyah song is good. You should add it on the soundtrack. It's no In the Dark of the Night. I don't know the rest. That's disrespectful.

Okay. So yeah, I'll stay with three and a half. Sorry, three nipples. Wow. Oh my God. Oh my God. Yes. No, three because it does handle a lot of things well

in terms of like the princess character, giving her more development, more personality, more agency, more motivation than a lot of other comparable movies of its time. But it still has some things about it, as we've discussed, that bump it down to a three not a three and a half so that's so sorry i know it's your birthday it's not but it's over a month away your birthday but no um yeah so three nipples and i will give one to a historically accurate representation

of Anastasia so not this movie so the dead one? okay you just gave one of your nipples to a dead 8 year old go off I guess I'll give one to I think I'm having a panic attack.

I'll give one to the dog whose name I forget. And I'll give my final nipple to Mrs. Pink Bat. I'm going to go three and a half. Okay. I think that in a lot of ways Anna, you were saying

this last night, where Disney acquired Fox and you said a lot of mouth breathers are trying to figure out if she's a Disney princess now or not. Yes. There's a whole community out there that's been like, finally

our princess has been crowned. Finally they're crawling out. I mean, like, at last she's doing Disney. Which is, like, the weirdest, like, late capitalism, like, take to have of, like,

this is actually a good thing. As Anastasia is a Disney princessney princess but there i mean for the like you were saying like for the fact that this is a separate animation company trying to do the same format and then they do it better they give their character more agency she's funny she's cool she's calling the shots in the relationship for the most part, except for, of course, the large deception. Right. Other than that, it's all her. I love her. Rasputin is an icon of any sort, really.

You name it, he's an icon. I like the bat. I love the bat. I feel like I was coming down a little hard on the bat earlier. In the marketing, especially at the ice show, we had a slushie in the bat's head. They were really pushing the bat in marketing. They really wanted to make the bat a thing. And we still have that cup.

My dad drinks out of that bat's head to this day. My dad drinks out of all the on-ice cups. Oh, good. He doesn't like to throw things away. He puts coffee in the bat's head. And then he writes about hockey all day, and that's his feminism. But yeah, no, I like this movie a lot.

I think that it is one of the best versions of this format. So three and a half nippies. I'm going to give two to the cartoon Anastasia. Jesus. Then I'm going to give one to Dimitri. I'm sorry. Sorry. I've been holding that back for a long time now.

And then I'll kick the last half nip. I'll give it to the dog. Dog kind of looks like my dog. Pretty cute. Oh, sure. Yeah, a little floppy dog that looks stupid. Does anyone remember what the dog's name was? Pooka.

Pooka. It's Pooka? It's Pooka. The dog's name is Pooka? Does that mean something? No. It's just like a... It's Russian fora. The dog's name is Pooka? Does that mean something? No. It's Russian for dog. Wow.

Pook is to fart. So that's right in the neighborhood. And that's fun. That's just fun. That's fun. Oh, I hope they name the dog Fart. Wow. I was going to say the comrade Fleming koff or whatever that's actually like a pretty common

russian trope in russian literature especially like humor stuff is that someone's name someone will be like an asshole and their name will be mr shit and it's just like never addressed it's just like mr shit is being mean again and so that's like a very very common trope and it's dealt with like very matter of factly like it's not really addressed like in Dostoevsky a lot of times there's somebody with the name Mr. Shit literally

so I don't know for me that's there's some accuracy there Anna what would you rate the movie on the nipple scale okay movie on the nipple scale? On the nipple scale, I would rate the movie I think three and a half is a great

rating. I think you were wrong with three. What an embarrassment. No, I just mean it really is so different from other, I mean it really rocked my world that it was not a Disney movie because it looks so much like a Disney movie

that it's alarming. Like, how did they not get sued? But she seems like an autonomous... I mean, given the time also, which is the turn of this, you know, like this 1916, 1926. I don't know how independent women were in Russia, quite frankly. They were fiercely independent, I'm guessing.

Super independent. Yeah. It was actually a very feminist community. Super feminist. Tight little community of us feminists running around doing whatever. Very small. You knew everybody. All the girls were there.

But, yeah, she's like at least an interesting character who's funny and stands up for herself. So yeah, I'm comfortable with three and a half nipples for this movie. Awesome. Well, Anna, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Give it up for Anna.

Wow. And thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Give it up for Anna. Wow. And thank you. Tell us, where can people follow you online? Is there anything you would like to plug? I have a very exciting, not yet to be talked about project involving Keanu Reeves.

That will be a podcast sometime soon. It does, it will pass the Bechdel test. Oh, good. Even though it's about Keanu Reeves? Even though. Okay. Yeah, that's impressive.

Yeah, how do we identify, how do we as women who are obsessed with Keanu Reeves maintain our autonomy? Yeah, well. I mean, all you really need to know I guess is that my twitter is touching cheeses yes and that's really all I have to

say for myself thank you so much follow Anna at touching cheeses thank you so much thank you so much thanks to the Ruby for hosting us. Thanks to our very good pal Sammy for recording for us.

Thanks to Jeff in the tech booth. Hell yeah. And happy birthday, Jamie. In a month. In a month. Bye. Bye.

Yay. Thanks once again to our guest, Anna Saragina for joining us make sure to follow her on all the social media platforms and check out her stand-up comedy and her upcoming podcast thanks to the ruby for having us thanks to Sammy Junio for recording us. Thanks to the audience for supporting us. And thanks to you for listening to us. We will be here next week. See you then. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017, was assassinated.

Crooks everywhere unearths the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour.

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