The Big Picture - The 2023 Movie Auction. Plus: Damien Chazelle on ‘Babylon’!

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

An action-packed episode! Chris Ryan joins Sean and Amanda to share some final Oscar nomination predictions (1:00) before engaging in a truly chaotic 2023 movie auction. Then, the team from ‘Babylon’—writer-director Damien Chazelle, actor-producer Olivia Hamilton, and producer Matthew Plouffe—talk with Sean about making their ambitious Hollywood feature, and the hive that has grown around it (1:21:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan, Damien Chazelle, Olivia Hamilton, and Matthew Plouffe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, media consumers. I'm Brian Curtis. And I'm David Shoemaker. We're the hosts of The Ringer's Press Box podcast. Twice a week, we have a free-flowing conversation where two old, old friends talk about media and sports and a little politics. Plus interviews with guests like John Krakauer

and Jamel Hill. Funny stuff like the overworked Twitter joke of the week. Join us every Monday and Friday on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I think that's right. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points.

Visit superstore.ca to get started. I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about auctioning. Chris Ryan is here. We will be conducting our first of two movie auctions for 2023 momentarily, later in the show. Incredibly important programming alert.

We were visited by two men and a woman who are responsible for my new favorite club, Babylon Hive. Babylon's writer, director, Damien Chazelle, the film's producer, Matthew Plouffe, and actor producer, Olivia Hamilton, joined me for a conversation about the movie and about The Hive. If you've been listening to the show, you know it's one of my favorites of 2022, one of Chris's favorites, one of the movies that Amanda sort of likes.

I hope you'll stick around for our chat. I'm more Hive than not. Okay, great. Don't you think? And it seems like a club you'd like to belong to. You guys are starting a lot of clubs. You know that? Yeah, I think that's right.

Yeah. We need like a... It's like shell corporations, but for social gatherings. I want to have like a hunting club, but no guns. Yeah. Wait till there's JMO spinoff pods. People are not even going to be able to handle it. I want to say the feedback we've been getting on JMO lately has been really impressive. I think you're going to be able to expand your reach though, Chris, because to start this conversation before we auction, I wanted you're going to be able to expand your reach though, Chris, because to start this conversation before we auction, I wanted you to think about

the Oscar race a little bit. You know, we're getting down to the final days. Voting is closed. Nominations will be announced next Tuesday morning. Amanda and I will be, should we have a sleepover?

How else will we handle a 5.30 a.m. Oscar nominations? I'm not getting up at 5.30. Just so you know, I'm going to get up at 6.30 once the lists have been typed up and posted on the internet and I'll read them and then I'll get on a zoom with you and podcast like over what time are you guys not invited for a sleepover is what you're saying. You can definitely stay in the guest bedroom. If you'd like, you have your own

bathroom. You want to come over to CR? I will be producing my own podcast that morning about the, about the nominations and I'll be going at 525. Interesting. Wow. Getting ahead of it. Yeah. I would like to get to a place creatively for you

where you are the person who announces the Academy Award nominations at 530 in the morning. So I've been doing a couple of basketball games recently and I was reminded of when I first moved to LA

and we weren't sure like how long will Grantland go? You know, like what's going to happen? And I was like, what would be a fallback job for me? And I was thinking about being like the in arena hype man for the Clippers. Like the in arena, like, hey, it's Morongo Casino three-point shooting.

Like I think I would be pretty good at that, but I don't see why I couldn't just take that and then build over the course of a couple of years and then move into Oscar nomination presentation. I think it would be amazing to see you in like America Ferrara. Yeah. Like, welcome to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I'm Chris Ryan.

Here to announce best supporting actor, Kiwi Kwan. Like, you'd be great at that. So you've thought about your predictions? Yes. I have a new character I'd like to introduce to you today. His name is Price Waterchris, aka the Golden Child. The Award Swami.

I wish FanDuel had odds that we could just... They will. They will. When the nominations are announced, I believe they will. Will they have props for the show? I don't believe so, though. This is something I would like to bring to the world of gambling, is props. I think we could do a great episode about Oscar props. So what do you guys want to know?

I mean, I have some takes. Just take us into the world. Well, have you done the Andrea Risborough thing yet? We haven't, so I think we should discuss it. I just want to caveat this conversation by saying, I have not watched the film too less. Too Leslie is the wife, right? It is the new wife, but like time's infinity.

It's different. Is it available to be seen? It is. It is available on iTunes or Amazon to rent right now. Now, for those who are listening and are bewildered why we're even saying the name Andrea Risborough after having not uttered that name for the entire Oscar season, there has been a organic slash strategized campaign. It's 100% not organic. Well, I'm trying to give some what felt like context at first. When I first got wind of this,

it was when Edward Norton tweeted about Andrea Risborough's performance. Does he tweet a lot? In the film to Leslie, he does not. And in fact, in the tweet, he said, I don't usually tweet about films or other actors' performances. Because what does he usually tweet about? Crypto? I'm not really sure. Safe drinking water and marathon running. Yeah.

And so he tweeted and he just said, you know, obviously he performed with Andrea Risborough and Birdman. I'm sure they're friends. And he just shared that he was knocked out by her work in this movie. A movie that not very many people have seen. It was a small film. It co-stars Marc Maron. And I was like, huh. Yeah. in this movie, a movie that not very many people have seen. It was a small film that co-stars Marc Maron.

And I was like, huh, what a nice act by Andrea Risborough's close friend, Edward Norton, who is frankly not very generous with his public praise. And then over the course of the next 48 hours, I think I saw nine or 12 tweets to the same effect. So I learned about it on Instagram by Gwyneth Paltrow who hosted a screening with Demi Moore and several other people

and posted some like fairly blurry Instagram photos endorsing to Leslie saying that Andrea Risborough deserved like every award there was. So it was clear that someone had seeded at Gwyneth

that this was like she needed to put Andrea Riceboro and awards in the same sentence. Okay. And I gotta be honest, I love Gwyneth Paltrow. I really do. Like she'll post about anything at this point.

It's true. My girl was just like literally posting about a posture corrector over the holidays. I could use that. Well, she's endorsed one and taken a lot of money from that. But it's like,

I don't even think it's really money problems. She's just kind of like, whatever, sure, I'll post. So I just assumed it was sort of like, you know, clubby Hollywood. Someone's agent

asked her to do something and, you know, Gwyneth gives to us all. But things have spiraled out since then. I mean, I think it was Kate Winslet said that Andrea Risborough was like our greatest actor. But didn't Kate Blanchett like dedicate part of an acceptance speech?

At the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday. To just be like, Andrea Risborough should be up here. So what's going on? Like, does Andrea Risborough have the keys to the cult that organizes Hollywood? I think Andrea Risborough is a great actor. I'm just bewildered. Bellany wrote about it a little bit

in his Puck newsletter and suggested that there were some, like, behind-the-scenes agent stuff things going on. Sure. I have another theory.

So this movie, too, Leslie, is about sobriety. Mm-hmm. And it is a big thing in Hollywood. Of course. Yes.

Like, where people are like, this is a very important thing to me, and... It is a very important story. And so I wonder whether or not this specific performance, not to say that everybody who is

endorsing this film is following the 12 steps or is even sober. I wonder whether that's part of it. It could be, but I mean there are so many movies that have strong and

powerful and useful messages. I thought I was the only Rise Brohead. I was like, zero, zero, zero. And what was that Brandon Cronenberg movie where her face melts? Possessor? Possessor, yeah.

She's amazing in Possessor. Yeah. I mean, she's been in a lot of great stuff. She's been in plenty of Hollywood movies. She was in Oblivion with Tom Cruise.

She's been around forever. She's a great actor. But it's just a really weird thing where there have been quote unquote organic campaigns, which is to say deeply managed campaigns that are meant to seem organic.

Yeah. And they have resulted in nominations before, but this film is very small. I mean, I think it's total box office was like $50,000 or something. So it played for like two weeks in New York. I will watch it. I kind of want to watch it before the nomination

so I'm ready if it does get nominated. Now it has not really been nominated at any of the precursors, but crazier things have happened. You never know. Maybe it's real. It happened too fast, though.

It became a joke before it actually caught on as a thing. Now, I understand that's to us, but whoever arranged this, and I honestly, I just think it's an agent thing. And then some very disciplined social media managers and like respectfully to Edward Norton I don't know whether

he has seen this movie like I hope so that has the real like my social media manager sent it to your social media manager and it like got posted

but it would be pretty amazing if Edward Norton was like if Edward Norton's social media manager's character was I never tweet. Yeah. Well.

That'd be an awesome job. Do you think, honest question. Do you think Edward Norton is logging on to Twitter? Typing in that password and being like, I'm going to write this tweet. I do. You do? I do. I think honestly also, I wouldn't surprise me if more recently than in the past, he is.

He's logged in. You think it's him typing it's truly a marketplace of ideas if it's not him it is an assistant yeah but he is dictated edward norton one thing we know about him is he uh pursues control yes that is true and so i would imagine that he is like copy editing every tweet i'm sure that he is but i'm sure that someone is texting it to him being like is this okay and he's sending some copy edits back and then the person his his manager his social media manager whatever is like they've asked us to get this up by this date and here are the two things that they

want us to mention like here's my draft and then he's editing it and then someone else is posting it it's plausible he doesn't have the keys is is my guess. Here's the critical question. Chris Ryan, the golden child. Pricewaterchris. Pricewaterchris. Will Andrea Risborough be nominated for Best Actress? No, but I do have some suggestions of some Andrea Risborough-esque campaigns that we need to start.

Okay. Wancho Hernan Gomez for Hustle. Why is Adam Sandler stealing all his shine? Is Wancho in the league right now? Is he in the NBA? I think he is. I'm pretty sure he's on the Wolves,

but I'm not positive. He was very good. He's excellent. At basketball or in the film? Well, isn't it all part of the same performance? Wancho Hernan Gomez is a member of the Toronto Raptors.

He's played in 32 games this year. Chris Ryan, long time NBA podcaster. No idea where Wancho is. I'm a Raptors blackout. Raptors media blackout. I'm tired of hearing about the Raptors. Okay, understood. Okay, another one.

How come Jenny from Banshees is getting all this attention and nobody's talking about the dog from Dog? Great take. Banshees of Innesheeran is not called Donkeys of Inishirn, but Dog is called Dog.

Hold on, hold on. I liked Dog a lot. You came out of Banshees and were just like, I need to know more about Jenny. Yes. You researched the farm where she's enjoying her early retirement. But now overexposed, you think? Yeah.

I think it peaked too soon. And now I think Dog is there. Okay. To race ahead, as it were. And also, donkey's not that fast. So dogs, he can just take off. Do you know the Oscar race is not an actual foot race? Well, let me ask you something.

If I told you on Oscar night a dog was going to race a donkey, don't you think a million, at least a million more people would tune in? I think we are, there's opportunity there for the telecast.

Small animal races. Should we get Kimmel on the line? Jimmy, you think Sal will be riding on the Oscars? And what if you did it like NFL draft style, like 40-yard dash? You can get the Disney-ESPN synergy. So you're auditioning not just to announce the nominations next year at 5.30,

but to produce the telecast. I'm available. But my last the telecast. I'm available. But my last one here is I think we dropped the ball on this so I blame us. Paul Dano probably going to get nominated for Fableman's.

We really fucked up and didn't make the Riddler more of a thing. I agree. That guy put tape all over his head. Yeah, that was good. And I just think that

that needs to be recognized. So I am suggesting maybe Paul Dano should be nominated twice in Best Supporting Actor. I just want to point this out. Did you finish The Batman? Yes, remember?

Because then I texted you and I was like, who was that at the end in the cell? And you responded, it's The Joker. Yeah, it was Barry, soon to be Oscar nominee,

Barry Keoghan as The Joker. The best meme, to me, the best meme to me the best meme of 2022 by far which was not as exploited

as I felt it should have been was the moment when Pattinson as Batman goes to confront the Joker after he's been arrested and they're having one of the you know this very similar

like Heath Ledger Christian Bale conversation and at one point Paul Dano just goes no no no no and he's getting really bent out of shape and you can just use that And at one point, Paul Dano just goes, no, no, no, no. And he's getting really bent out of shape. And you can just use that for anything on Twitter.

It's perfect. And for whatever reason, it didn't blow up the way that it should have. Anyway, great job, Chris. You want to actually try to predict the best picture nominations? I feel a tingling in Hollywood. I really think Banshees is coming on. To win. So we left it at number one last time we officially ranked them.

I think in part because we anticipated this. I feel that tingling as well, yeah. I had a data point that I wanted to share with you guys. But the thing is that only two films have basically been recognized by every single group so far. Golden Globes, Critics' Choice, PGA, BAFTA, and SAG Ensemble, as well as DGA. Those two movies are banshees, as you said, Chris, and everything, everywhere, all at once.

This has kind of always been the race. Maybe Fableman's in third place, pushing, and we'll see if, you know, admiration for Spielberg comes through. Are you ready to do a gut check on what we think the 10 will be? Sure. I mean, I feel like we should do that

before we start auctioning. Can I ask you to ask the experts question? Did Avatar and Top Gun not try? There's a speculation that Avatar just came too late. Okay. You know, that like, they didn't serve a lot of screeners.

They have been holding screenings. There's also, I think, a lot of speculation that it has a little bit of Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers situation. So when the fifth one comes out? Yes.

I mean, who knows if that actually happens. But based on the film's success, there probably will be five now. And which is just, that's fascinating. Imagine in 2028 when me and Amanda are just talking about Avatar 5. You saw that they announced Meg 4N or Meg 3N 2.0. I just had the thought that I will be 40 years old when Megan 2.0 comes out.

And she's serving. And I was just like, wow, that's some life choices. Me alone again at the theater watching like an AI doll. I'll join you. I promise. I won't let you be alone. Flossing. Just being like, I'm flossing.

We'll ask Blumhouse to release it on your birthday so that we can make it more of a centralized kind of. Okay, thank you. That's really beautiful. Wait, Sean, Banshees and everything everywhere all at once have won everything that or, you know, been nominated for everything that you just listed. But like Tar basically has two with the exception of Seth. You're holding on to this. I just think I'm starting it. I don't know.

It's possible. You must wait to start. You cannot start without me. I really need to learn the rest of it. I will by the time the Oscar nominations are announced. It's there every time. Everyone likes it. I don't know what ranked choice voting will do for this, but that is what matters.

At some point, we have to start gaming that out. We'll talk about it. It's probably the day after the nominations come out. We gaming that out yeah we'll talk about it it's probably the day after the nominations come out we'll figure out a way to talk through it and did Top Gun not try like did Top Gun

not really run a campaign I would say it was not as aggressive as I thought it was going to be I thought there would be more I thought there would be more Tom I thought there would have been an event of some kind

that would have you know drawn a lot of attention to itself and that just hasn't been the case I mean he's working on Mission Impossible movies that might be a factor those are high stakes productions he also might

not give a fuck he got what he wanted out of this is my take which is to like basically reopen movie theaters i mean he he brought it back and now i'm like looking at what's going on in the movies and i'm like people only want to go to movie theaters now it doesn't really seem people want to watch movies at home which is just delightful i'm just thrilled by that i mean honestly regardless like you you kind of watch the Globes and you're kind of like, eh, I could see him not wanting to go to the Oscars

if this is the vibe. Well, he has historically not put himself in a position in the last 10 years to kind of be interviewed on the red carpet. He also seeks control. But there's another world

where he is in the Brad Pitt seat of everybody being like, man, it's Tom Cruise. I can't believe it. Yeah. I guess not. Because I don't know if he can do it the same way. Let's do the 10. Okay.

Okay. So I think it's understood amongst the, I don't know, the prognosticators that there are seven films that are locked in right now. Everything Ever Oil at Once, The Banshees of Indischarren, Fableman's, Tar, Top Gun Maverick, Elvis, Avatar, The Way of Water. I feel like that's roughly the order. It's in that vicinity.

And then there's about 10 movies. I think that there are two that now feel kind of locked in. I'm curious what you guys think. I think All Quiet on the Western Front is locked into the 10 now. It just dominated the BAFTA nominations. The BAFTA nominations are weird.

I'm sticking with my Best Director nomination. Yes, Best Picture now. Well, that could happen. And we've seen that formulation in the past. I believe Cold War did that recently. And then The Whale, which did very well at the BAFTAs as well. And got a screenplay nomination at the BAFTAs. You got it.

I just can't. We can't use the BAFTAs as any real predictor, especially in terms of nominations. The rules are so baroque. You see the whale? I didn't. I won't be seeing the whale. You won't be? I don't think so.

Because? Just no interest. Okay. That's great to know. All due respect. Don't look at me. Respectfully. You guys also didn't sell it very well.

I was not a fan. It's not my personal responsibility to have seen them. I did love it. I thought Brendan Fraser was very good in it. I like, you know. You guys also didn't sell it very well. I was not a fan. It's not my personal responsibility to have seen them. I did love it. I thought Brendan Fraser was very good in it. I like, you know. You caught up with Elvis.

I sure did. And what'd you make of that? I still don't care about Elvis, but I had a good time watching the movie. Okay. Yeah. And Austin Butler,

whatever he wants. Yeah. Amen. I've been really getting into the GQ My Essentials thing. You know, like everyone, they're like,

the guys are like, here's my essential. And often the guy is like, one of my essentials is sneakers. You know, I make sure I always have a cool pair of sneakers with me. It is like that. Thanks a lot, Jacob Elordi, for really illuminating. I love my wallet. But this guy, Butler, is like… Do the voice.

Well, he's just like, well, I always have a book on me. And the book I'm reading here is just uh ray mccarver what we talk about when we talk about love is a beautiful book it's fucking awesome can we just give this guy a fucking podcast where he just talks about like whatever he's reading in elvis yeah um okay so you enjoyed elvis you believe it should be nominated for best picture not really okay. Okay. He doesn't care about Elvis. Okay. The final three. Which is weird.

You're saying. As a subject. Yeah. You're like really out here being like the culture of the, of like American 1950s. I have no interest in Marilyn Monroe, Elvis. There was another one recently.

I blame Olivia Wilde. Where are you at on the 50s for me? Dwight Eisenhower. Ike. Are you in on him? Would you watch a film about him? Has there ever been a film about Ike? No.

That's odd. There's a Truman miniseries. Well, I watched Gary Sinise. Did Gary Sinise play Truman? Yeah. And I'm sure Ike is in the mix, right? Because is Ike in and around Truman ever? Like, is he in Truman?

He followed Truman as president of the United States. But like, is there a scene where Gary Sinise is like, here's my Oval Office letter, and Ike is like, fuck off? Who played Ike then? That's what I'm asking. Was it like Toby Jones? Richard Dysart as Harry Stimson.

Richard Dysart from The Thing. Who is Harry Stimson? Am I supposed to know who that is? Harry Stimson was Secretary of Defense. In fact, I went to Stimson Middle School. That was my middle school growing up. Was he from Long Island? Eisenhower, not listed. I don't believe so. So I have no idea. That was my middle school growing up. Was he from Long Island? Eisenhower, not listed.

I don't believe so. So I have no idea why he was... That's really weird. Was he Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State? He might have been Secretary of State during World War II. All my history classes... Yeah, all my history classes always ended at World War II. D-Day, basically. So, Chris and I, I've just come up with an idea

for JMO, which is an entire series about Secretaries of state. And it will be like, how many have we had now? We've had probably 50? 50, yeah. Yeah. So each episode will be seven to eight hours about their run as secretary of state. Are you excited about that?

I am. Yeah. Do you want to be on the Madeline Albright episode? Okay. Don't put her in a box. She might, there's a Reagan era guy that she might want to weigh in on. Yeah, Condi Rice?

Yeah, I love it. Thanks so much. Yeah, thank you. Final three spots. You're saying no to All Quiet and no to The Whale. That's, so, okay. The SAG ensemble is an important part of this situation because there are always four of five SAG ensemble films get nominated.

In recent years, we've seen Mudbound, Crazy Rich Asians, Bombshell, The Five Bloods, and House of Gucci all get SAG ensemble nominations and not get nominated. But in all of those cases, the other four films did get nominated. So this year for SAG, we have Women Talking and Babylon in ensemble, which makes me think at least one of those two is getting nominated. So gut check.

You think Women Talking. What do you think? I think so as well, but I still think that Babylon will be the best picture surprise over All Quiet on the Western Front on Oscar morning. They always, as I have said,

there's just always a little bit more to like than you expect. You know, they always do something that's a flex and you're like, aha, okay. Never enough to make you feel good about the enterprise in total. That's right. I've been pretty positive about this Oscar. What? What?

I've been listening to the big picture and you start most podcasts by being like, last night I had an existential crisis about the state of this podcast and what we've dedicated. That's about me. That's not about them. They're doing a good job. Tar, The Fablemans, Banshees, Top Gun. I like these movies. Is Wakanda in the mix?

I don't think so. The films that we're not talking about, and one of these would have to be nominated if what you're suggesting is true. Triangle of Sadness, Glass Onion onion RRR the woman king Black Panther Wakanda forever or after sun those are the that's sort of the

remainder so which one I've been running with triangle of sadness I could see RRR in there I like where her head is at I got to say if the final three are RRR women talking and Babylon

that is chaotic yeah Yeah. That is really chaotic. Okay. What do you think CR? Will Babylon win best picture? No. No. It's not going to win best picture. I feel like it's going to be a kind of unsurprising night. Okay. I agree with you. I feel like

it's starting to solidify. I agree with you. But maybe you're right about the preferential ballot thing. Game it out for me. You put Banshees at number one. What's your number two? Fableman's. Really?

Oh, you like Fableman's so much? Not personally. I'm saying what I think is going to win. Oh, you want me to do my ballot ballot? No, no, no, no, no. You were doing the right thing. But I also kind of thought that you would put Banshees at number one. Oh, I would say my number one would be Tar.

Right. Well, is Top Gun getting nominated Banshees. Oh, I would say my number one would be Tar. Right. Well, is Top Gun getting nominated? I believe so. Okay, so it's weird how when you go through this, after you start thinking about this, like you almost start to feel, you start to second guess, like would I be the guy who's like,

no, fucking Top Gun's the best picture. Well, that's fine. But even if you were like Top Gun's best picture, then you would probably do Tar number two. Yes, and I would do Banshees number three. Right, okay. Someone who's voting for Banshees number three. Right. Okay. Someone who's voting for Banshees.

Maybe you're right that they do Fablemans two and then tar three. Okay. Maybe someone who's doing Fablemans is doing Banshees two and tar three. I see a lot of people, if they're not doing tar one, they're doing it two and three at the lowest. So do you think everything, everywhere, all at once people are probably putting, I don't know what they're doing. What are they doing? It's going to get a lot of number ones. Sure. But then, but is it going to get a plurality? I don't know. I think it's going to be- 51% of Academy voters are putting, we got to come up with a shorter name for everything,

everywhere, all at once. E-E-A-O. That's not easy to say. Okay. I think more people need to think about podcasters when naming their movies. Just my take. The film has succeeded in an extraordinary fashion despite your protests to the contrary. I do know that it's really, but just what are we calling it? I can't say everything everywhere all at once. Just call it everything. Okay. So, but I don't like that either. Anyway, I think that that movie, do you think 51% of people are like, this is my number one? I think it's possible. Okay.

I have long believed that this was your best picture winner. I continue to believe it is. Okay. Now, I would like to note that I have six consecutive years of getting this picture wrong. So I am not to be trusted. Sometimes in good ways and sometimes in bad ways. Well, I'm often aspirationally voting. Everything Everywhere All At Once is not my favorite movie out of these 10.

Yep. It's not even in my top five. So I would be delighted if Tar won. But I have nothing against Everything Everywhere All At Once. I think it signals if not for that film in particular, again a kind of evolution for the Academy. We got a number of years in a row of

fairly interesting Best Picture winners. Parasite, Nomadland. I mean these movies never had a chance to win Best Picture in the past. So that's interesting. And it also... That's why I think Tar could win. It could.

I'm just saying. In my opinion, Tar is more old school. You guys should make a bet. Perhaps we will. Perhaps FanDuel would be interested in the bet between us.

A kind of super contest for Best Picture and Oscar predictions. We'll get there when we get there. CR, thank you. Swami, Golden Child, your work here is extraordinary.

And people can find my props on an offshore sports book. Just DM me on IG and I will let you know. We're still clearing some stuff up. Do you accept DMs on IG? A lot of FTX involvement, but we're getting liquid again.

When SBF came to you, you thought what? I thought, this is my opportunity to start my own accounting firm, Pricewaterchrist. Chris Ryan, crypto accountant. That has just worked out so magnificently. From one money-making scam to another, the auction. So, let's just talk about what we did in 2022. Can I go to the bathroom really fast?

I'm sorry. Yes, leave this in the pod though, Bobby. Don't edit this out. Okay, Ciara's urinated. We're going to talk about auctions. Not in the room. You urinated against the wall. You recreated the Blair Witch,

but with your pants down. Is that right? Yeah, Skinnamarink too. Chris, I just want to say, your Skinnamarink voice, it was a big hit here. Yeah. Will you come play with me?

I don't want to open my eyes. It's so messed up. It's fucked up. You were able to tap into your inner child. Very impressive. Because I really don't care about it so I'm here free with it it's like

in 2022 we had two auctions the second of the auctions I'm going to recap briefly for us because I'll just say I don't it was really

all over the place and very chaotic episode honestly my movies for $240 I got Triangle of Sadness turned out I didn't really like

that movie that much for $110 I got Triangle of Sadness. Turned out I didn't really like that movie that much. For $110, I got Blonde. That's just a nightmare. For $555, I got The Fablemans. Not bad. Yeah. I like that movie a lot. Poor Things, the Yorgos Lanthimos movie, didn't come out. Disappointment Boulevard, aka Bo is Afraid, did not come out. Yeah. So that wasn't ideal. Amanda, what'd you get? I got Bros for $150. I had a great time at the film Bros. So I went by myself. I had some popcorn.

I had a Coke Zero. It was great. Interesting how you keep going to the movies by yourself. It's almost like no one will go with you. Right. Because you don't respond to my texts. And then you run away. I got Armageddon Time for $200.

Great guess. I enjoyed the film Armageddon Time. I got Avatar the Way of Water for $356. That's actually a fair price for Avatar. It was a good deal. How'd you feel about the film? Once again, I had a nice time at the movies. Whatever. I got the menu for $61. That's kind of paying off for me right now. Good investment. Yeah. Thank you so much. And then this was just a terrible investment. See how they run $233. You win some, you lose some. Yeah. Good investment. Yeah. Thank you so much. And then I, this was just a terrible investment. See how they run, $233.

You win some, you lose some. I lost that one. It's tough. I remember I came in on this pod and I was like, I saw, see how they run.

And you guys were like, eh. That's just a waste of an idea and of talent. Yeah. Too much high-end talent kind of on something that just disappeared

as soon as it ended. Chris, what'd you get? I got Banshees of Inishiren for $220. I like that. I may have gotten the best picture winner there. Black Panther Wakanda Forever for $425. A profitable film.

And a film that you, I believe, have not seen. I haven't seen it. Yeah. Have you seen Avatar? Do you have you guys... I am crushing tape right now. Okay. Watch tape.

TV tape. I'm just knocking series out. Okay, so you have not seen Black Panther 2 or Avatar yeah and you're not gonna see them no I'm gonna see them

it'll happen you think you'll watch them on a plane I think I'll probably watch it on my phone yeah while I'm driving um Asteroid City

the Wes Anderson movie did not come out uh I got spent $295 on that but guess what I spent $59 fucking dollars on? Do you want to dance the mask?

Tar. And Violent Night, I spent a buck on and that was actually a secret hit. And I'll tell you what, I liked it a lot. I don't know if you had

a chance to see it yet, but it was really fun. So good get. That's great. My wife wouldn't let me see it because she doesn't like Santa being evil. She wouldn't let you see it?

Well, it's like one of those movies where I'm like, Phoebe, do you want to watch? You could have gone to see Violent Night in the time that Phoebe and I

spent sitting in line waiting to see real Santa. I think I was in Philadelphia. Yeah, that's like you could have like gone into the Americana, seen Violent Night,

come out, we would still be waiting for non-evil Santa. That's crushing tape. I think I mocked you when you selected Violent Night, come out, we would still be waiting for non-evil Santa. It's crushing tape. I think I mocked you when you selected Violent Night and I mocked the films of Tommy Workola,

the director of that movie, but I liked his new movie. So, it is what it is. The auction, if you've never listened to an auction episode before, what have you been doing?

But if you haven't, I'll explain the rules, which I would say there are no rules. We've been told that we're not good at this and that we're not doing it properly, but I'm not changing any rules.

That's how I feel about it. Each bidder gets $1,000 of fake money to select up to ultimately five films on their slate. Technically, we'll do this a second time later this year just because there are so many movies, but I feel like we have a pretty good sense of what the big ones are going to be in 2023. And this has been an organic process

of finding out what this is. I think everybody's made some mistakes. People have been finding it like, you know, searching for an auctioning identity is what I would say. Okay. Interesting. But I was wondering, you know, you recently in 2019, when you came out of your fugue state for the 2019 draft, you were like, we're getting, we're just learning the ropes too much. It's getting too predictable okay do you think the auction is in any danger of that bobby what do you think i just think somebody needs to nut up and you know be a wild card in the auction yeah spend 900 on one film and see what happens stop giving away strategy bobby that's not giving away

strategy but when we brought on danny high fits to explain how auction drafts work before we did the very first auction he was like you usually spend 80 of your budget on one or two players you know and that has never happened that was it i was really nervous on that one i'm not nervous anymore let me just say that right now i feel relaxed i this is the first time we're auctioning in person yeah i think that is gonna honestly be psychotic we also have a full slate of movies. Yeah. In the past,

we've been like, I don't know if this is coming out. There's only six things here. That's what's exciting. There's a lot of stuff. 35 movies.

But there are a few things that we all want. And so, this is intriguing. Now, one thing, we did change the rule. We updated the rules

last year. Films that were previously auctioned off are back and eligible on the board for $100. So, there were three films that were not releaseded off are back and eligible on the board for $100. So there were three films that were not released in 2022 that will be released in 2023. In fact, I think two of the three already have dates.

Asteroid City, as Chris mentioned, the new Wes Anderson movie. You can retain that for $100 out of your budget if you like. Bo is Afraid, the new Ari Aster movie. I can retain that for $100 if I'd like. And Poor Things, the Yorgos Lanthimos movie. Wait, an important distinction. I was going to say, you can retain it for what you paid plus $100.

Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you for correcting me. As like a 10% added interest. That is crucial because I was going to say, do the movies that we had in the first 2022 draft, are they eligible? Are they just back on the board no draft. I believe you. Are they eligible? Are they just back on the board?

I think they're back on the board in full because you did not take up the offer previously. But I thought. Because that was at the six month mark. Right. And so we were putting. Okay. Got it. Right.

Because. Oh, yeah. I understand now. Gotcha. Okay. How does everyone feel about trades? I do think we'll do it again in July. How do we feel about trades? Yeah. Can we let that just, can we let it Gotcha. Okay. How does everyone feel about trades? I do think we'll do it again in July. How do we feel about trades?

Yeah. Can we let that just, can we let it flow? Okay. You know? Fine. Yeah. I'm open to all creative ideas.

You never have been open to a trade before. Because you know what we could do with this? You throw a fit and you run away. You could do this, a movie plus cash considerations. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You could replenish some of these banks.

So like if I took something first A movie plus cash considerations. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Trading part of your budget. So like if I took something first and spent $850 on it, I could then start to be like, I'll trade you that for this lower movie plus $200. Oh, okay. I love it. I'm open to it.

This is how Dave Dombrowski does business. This is Trader Dave. Yeah. Okay. It's not how Billy Epler does business, unfortunately. God damn him. I have to watch Tommy Pham play left field for the New York Mets? Yeah. Okay. It's not how Billy Epler does business, unfortunately. God damn him.

I have to watch Tommy Pham play left field for the New York Mets? How is Steve Cohen not fired, everybody? I thought he was like... Man, I don't know. What do you mean? They have the best roster

in the league. I thought you guys are now short of the guy who is going to put you over the top. You're right about that. I don't really know what to say.

Nope. There's always trades. This is easily the best Mets team of my life and I'm also really pissed off about it. I know't really know what to say. I mean, there's always trades. This is easily the best Mets team of my life, and I'm also really pissed off about it. I know. So what am I supposed to do? It's your existence every day.

Yeah, you're right. I got everything going for me, and I'm unhappy all the time. Let's auction with that attitude. Okay. We usually put 30 seconds on the board, and we got to pick an auction order. Wags?

Yeah, so I'm going to select an auction order the same way I do for the movie draft. But the clock resets when somebody makes a bid, right? Yes, the clock resets. I've been putting 40 seconds because you guys never actually listen to the 30 seconds. Okay. It's futile, but that's just for me. Wow.

The first person to nominate a film will be Chris Ryan. This is perfect for chaos. Don't let us down. I won't. I won't. Be bold. Be visionary. Be you.

Who's number two? I pulled another C, so got to draft again. Sierra, you're not going to retain either of your previous films. I'm not. Just for the spirit of fun, I won't either. Okay. I'm not. I also feel like one thing that's sort of a couple of these movies have been, we were

wondering if they were going to come out for like almost a year and a half now and now I'm bored of them. Okay. So. Okay. Oh. There's too many other movies so I'm probably

going to keep it real fresh but who knows maybe there's a couple. Okay. Pretty exciting Chris. Yeah. Nominating second

will be Amanda. Okay. Punch it in. Let's go. The collusion begins. Yeah. We are. If only the listeners at home

could see the way you just bumped fists. Yeah. We're sitting across from you. In a malevolent style. Sure. Because you don't like to sit next to anyone. One day you should switch it up. Yeah.

It's great to be across from Colin Powell and Condi Rice. Okay. How will you invade a poor country named Sean? All right. Okay. What resources do we have to plunder for you? Oh, I think you know. A long history of winning.

Oh, my God. Trophy cabinet from all your drafts. Do you think, what if he made trophies for his draft wins? How do you know I haven't? I've just been melting down your soul. No, don't do that. We can't get any merch, but... But I have lots and lots of trophies.

Yeah, you've got a whole shelf. But the thing is, every trophy is just me in a Little League uniform holding a bat. Yeah. So it's just a baseball trophy. You should get Ken Burns to make a documentary about your drafting. How do you know he isn't already at work? Shelby Foot AI voice talking about you. Oh, Sean Fennessey was a...

Somebody's an strategist, yeah. Just a brilliant man. I wish I could be his friend. Is that Austin Butler's Elvis, or is that Shelby Foote? No, it's the chat GPT of Shelby Foote. CR, you got to nominate a film. Okay, so I'll put it to the group. Do you guys want to get crazy? Don't put anything to the group. CR you gotta nominate a film okay so I'll put it to the group

do you guys want to get crazy don't put anything to the group yes we want to get crazy fine fuck it 500 bucks for Maestro wow are you serious wow

I love it yes CR that's so that's fantastic Amanda has two movies on her list you just put one of them

out there with a big dollar sign you gotta have like 34 movies on this list why are you bidding $500 for fucking just because I

out of all of the movies Bradley Cooper this was House of Gucci at $275 just like that makes that the sanest

most practical decision. Chris, what the fuck? This is like... He just said if you want something, bid high for it. Higher than three to infinity. What if Maestro is the most important thing that's ever happened to us? Congratulations, you have Maestro. Chris is a market setter.

He is a market setter. Remember when we did all that stuff for Foggy Bottom? You know, it didn't even turn out to be the name of the movie. It was Soggy Bottom. Foggy Bottom is the podcast about Colin Pollen. I'm not fucking backing down. No, I don't think you should. Bradley

Cooper as Leonard Bernstein, Jeremy Strong as his autobiographer, and Carey Mulligan as Leonard Bernstein's quite sad wife. And I just cannot wait to watch Bradley Cooper conduct the concert music for kids that you can see on YouTube. Yeah.

That's your pitch for my show. It's his follow-up to Star is Born. We got sad Carey Mulligan. We got Jeremy Strong as an autobiographer. Old Leonard Bernstein walking around New York City smoking. This is what it's all about. This is why we do what we do. You cannot start without me.

You cannot start without me. You guys are not going to admit 501. Nobody's in on my stroke for me. Absolutely not. I think that movie is like 14 on my list. Are you guys, what podcast is this? Are you guys getting like Avatar pills? What is happening?

That's fair. I loved A Star Is Born as did you, Amanda. I did. And we didn't underrate it but the world underrated it. When the trailer drops and it becomes like

the only thing people want to talk about and you guys are like see our comeback on the big picture, I'm not going to do it. Okay? You won't attend that episode?

I am withholding my essence from you when Maestro comes out. Like Sterling Hayden in Doctor Strangelove? Yeah. Okay, here's one thing to note is that Netflix announced, you know, it's 45 million films and it's not dated.

It was one of the ones that was not dated. Yeah, why was that? Well, I don't know. Maybe because Bradley's like in the lab just tinkering with his Mahler interpretation, you know, putting free bowing in there he's already signed up for like two or three

other movies he's gonna make Bullet with Steven Spielberg like he is gonna this movie's coming out he's gotta get it was Cooper cast as Bullet? yeah

that's a heavy burden I know you gotta match McQueen yeah that's tough he's playing Leonard Bernstein I think he's in his head

a little after Tar that's what I'm saying oh interesting yeah I would not want to little after Tar. That's what I'm saying. Oh, interesting. Yeah, I would not want to go after Tar. You're a real Tar propagandist. I really enjoyed the film Tar.

I don't know. I felt alive for once at that movie. Yeah. Do you think Lydia was right? No. Okay. Everything that you guys do is about movies like Maestro. And the fact that you're laughing at me question your principles honestly

I think you have done something bold yeah which I applaud yeah I think I really enjoy the directorial efforts of Bradley Cooper as do I and I am anticipating this movie greatly we only get $1,000 I know how much money we get I if you remember correctly once I

Bernie Sanders the button and got five really good movies for a hundred bucks each. Remember? That was after... By Bernie Sanders the button, you mean like got blown out in Nevada? Like, what do you mean?

Nobody's going to bid. Nobody else. I got Maestro for five bucks. It just doesn't seem logical. I mean mean at some at some point honestly I'm looking at Sean right now like we probably

should be bidding him up to like stick him with more money you know he's still well 40 seconds has expired yeah several minutes ago five minutes later

yeah you have Maestro 40 seconds expired a long time ago I love what you did uh huh because I care about your wild card status. completely hamstrung

and can't bid against any of these movies. You're not though. You're not. You're not. Because something else will come up very soon that is also going to be

a big number and then there'll be two people who are short. Okay. So let's go for it. Let's do it. 450 Killers of the Flower Moon. Oh boy.

Yeah. That's not that much crazier than what I did or less crazy. Let me tell you something. You have $450. This is the movie that I've tried to draft

like three times. I've heard you say that. I've read the book and I've seen the pictures and I'm just like, just give me, Marty, finish the fucking movie. So let me see

if I have this right. You're not excited about Killers of the Flower Moon? Of course I am. But for the purposes of this auction, I wanted to have like a new title

to talk about. $451 just to continue this conversation. Okay, $460. Who's a more important filmmaker, Bradley Cooper or Martin Scorsese? Let me ask you something. Who's batting average is higher? Okay.

Wow. Okay. That's the math right there for you. That's the small sample size theater that we don't come to this podcast for. The accounting has gone too far. Do people still care about batting average? No, obviously not. No. Get on base. But they're ending the shift. The weighted runs gone too far. Do people still care about batting average? No, obviously not. No.

He gets on base. But they're ending the shift. The weighted runs created, Chris. Did you hear? They're ending the shift on back in on baseball. Yeah, they did that for you, dog. That's all of your screeds on the Big Picture podcast. Yeah.

461. Okay. 470. 475. Jason Isbell is in this movie. I think I've mentioned that before. 485. Chris, you have $4875. Jason Isbell is in this movie. I think I've mentioned that before. $485. Chris, you have $486.

I have too many other movies I want to draft. So I want to see... You're what's wrong with this generation. What generation? I'm old. You're just being like the internet generation. You're just like, it took too long and now it doesn't have my attention. This is Martin Scorsese, okay? There are several... This is total cinema. Okay Okay. 500. Did you like this book? I haven't read this

book. I will read it before it comes out. I like the work of David Graham. Did you ever notice how Amanda's like return auction is always like 500. Like there's like a, there's like a sting on it. You know, there's like scorpion tail on every, every drop. So 501. Okay. 505. That was nicer. That was more gentle. I feel like you shifted your tonality. I'm trying to include Chris a little bit. And now it's not. I was mocked for what I did.

Now you two are in the fives. You mocked Twitter! You're channeling Birdman. Did you see Bardo? I haven't seen Bardo. I haven't seen Bardo. I haven't seen bardo would you i would be willing to do something for you uh 506 i would be willing to open 90 minutes of big picture airtime uh-huh for a chris ryan solo bardo pod oh like the rassilo feared pod yeah yeah that might be pretty interesting as a bit. Like when you guys

are both off at one time. But you have to talk about the film. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You can't be like, and another thing about Henry Simpson

that I've been reading about. It's like, save that for JMO. The Bardo pod is about Bardo. Do it. Where are we at with the numbers? 15 seconds left.

I think Amanda has the latest bit. At 5.05? I think so. No, 5.06. 5.07. 5. 506. 507. 550. 551.

Okay. 560. Amanda is intent on getting this film. Well, we love what we love. And that's what makes this podcast cool. Does Amanda love Martin Scorsese? Yes. Yeah, of course I do.

But you haven't read this book. And you told me privately that you think David Grant is a hack. Is that right? That's so real. I'm very you think David Grant is a hack. Is that right? That's so right. I'm very excited. I'm very. David Grant is an incredible journalist. He's a genius.

I don't read a lot of nonfiction. I tried reading. I tried audiobook nonfiction recently thinking that might like get me into nonfiction. Just say it. Audiobooks. Harry killed it. No, I did not listen to that. I read.

No, but Spare has killed your nonfiction. You can't ever do it again. 570 um yeah it was not my favorite experience i never finished actually i made it to 360 out of 400 pages and then we did the podcast and i don't i don't know if i'll ever read the last 40 pages do you think do you think he finds happiness i don't yeah 5. 580. Wow. Great. Wow. Good for you. Good for you, Marty. Thank you. I just have a lot of film lines in my head. 585?

600. I recently read a nonfiction book. Did you? Well, I tried. The January 6th report? No. It was a biography of Carlos the Jackal, the assassin. Sure it was.

It's just like too much information, honestly. Just looking for tips? All your plots. 601. That's a great piece of filmmaking. The Day of the Jackal. No.

610. Carlos, the Assayas thing. What about The Day of the Jackal? It's also awesome. Fred Zinneman. Honestly, maybe all films should be about

Carlos the Jackal. Not a bad idea what did you say six what ten six ten six ten can I exceed

a thousand dollars for Killers of the Flower Moon but you would have to trade it you gotta free up some money yeah you gotta trade for some cash

I could never do that it would be also interesting to introduce luxury tax penalties oh interesting would it count against the next auction well for instance

if you go over your cap, you're not, in your real life, not allowed to see one of these films. That's a great idea. 611. 612. So you could win the auction but lose in life.

I'm not sacrificing a goddamn movie on these lists. I'm seeing it all. Can't stop me. I believe I said it on the last podcast. Daughter, wife, watching movies. That's the priority. You guys are in like the 18 or 19 range. Thank you so much.

What's in between? Who's 18 and who's 19? Steve Cohen. JMO number four. Francisco Lindor. Yep. Wags number seven. Let's go.

Jalen Brunson. I guess Tommy Pham is on the list now. I got to find a place for him yeah protect Tommy fam um you got five seconds to counter Sean how much is it 612 613 635 635 so cavalier what does that number mean to you? That's the hour you will be waking to announce the Oscar nomination? Yes, exactly. From my attic. I was trying to do some, like, you know, add it up to do some numerology, but I don't really know numerology.

DiCaprio, De Niro, right? Yeah. Jesse Plemons. Plemons. Is Bell Plemons? I think Plemons is the star. 6'36". 6'40". Wow. Determons. Is Bill Plemons? I think Plemons is the star. 636. 640.

Wow. Determined. Wow. Absolutely determined. Some might say fearless. You can have it. Okay, great. 640.

Sheesh. You absolutely just sat down. I did. That was really cowardly. 640? Is that the highest number for a film in the history of the auction? No. Fableman's... $640?

Honestly, I thought I was going to pay more for it. Really? Yeah, or I thought I was going to make him pay more for it. Win-win. So... Fableman's went for $555 last year. Great. This is a Martin Scorsese movie.

How much did Licorice Pizza go for? I want to say $500. How much did The Matrix go for? I think I spent like 800 on one in like the first or second auction. Could I have gotten you up to 999? On Maestro?

On Maestro. No, 998 was my cap. That was your cap? Okay. No, I would have obviously needed to stop at 996 to have four more movies to drop.

Yeah, the max bit is 996. Okay. I'm putting Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 on the board at $300. Okay. I'll go $310.

$330. I'm just doing math. Sorry. I'm pretty close here, right? You have $350 is what you have left for four films. Yeah. But I could trade. You need a trading partner.

That's true. If you told me who was going to bid a lot for Killers of the Flower Moon and who was going to bid a lot for Maestro, I think it would have been flipped. That's the beauty of the auction here. $330 going once, going twice. Did you bid? I bid once. Yeah.

What did he bid? $330? No, he bid $310 and I bid $330. $335. Oh. Okay. You think this will be good? I certainly do. Yeah.

Do you think that you're going to have the same reaction to Dead Reckoning Part 1 as you did to Dune? Or you'll know it's only Part 1, so you won't feel attacked. Yeah, they got it in the title there. That was one of your weirdest bits, is walking around after Dune and being like, Nobody told me there would be a second one! It wasn't a bit, it was an honest reaction. I was stunned. Yeah.

340. Okay. I think this is going to be really good. Good. So do I. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Do you think it'll be better than a Martin Scorsese movie?

Or Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein? I mean, I certainly like Mission Impossible movies more than Hugo. That's true. You think that Killers of the Flower Moon is going to be Hugo? I didn't say that. Okay. But I just said I like Mission Impossible movies more than Hugo. All right.

You never know with Marty. We know a little bit about this one. We do. We know some things, yeah. Do I think that... This is Western, though. You know, it's not going to have the same... I'm not sure.

Fallout and The Irishman, that's a showdown for the ages. The polarity of cinema. They're both total cinema, though. You know, it's not going to have the same... I'm not sure. Fallout and The Irishman, that's a showdown for the ages. The polarity of cinema. They're both total cinema baby, if you ask me. That's definitely true. But which one

is the bigger baby in the total cinema phylum? Yeah. In a way. Sean holds 340. Time is elapsing. I'll do 350. Yes, Chris.

355. Okay. Certainly. I mean, it's a Mission, Chris. 355. Okay. Certainly. I mean, it's a Mission Impossible movie. I understand. You're just sitting it out because you just dropped 650 bones. On Killers of the Flower Moon, your most anticipated film of 2023. I'm going to let you take it down.

Great. That's fantastic. I don't want to get stuck with it. There's just... Stuck with a film starring Tom Cruise, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie? I'm like Bill at Fogo de Chão. I've just got the green sign up.

And you're trying to spin it right now? And that's... Y'all are wrong. You're actually way off. Okay. You're way off. You overreached. And now you have to make up for that.

I think you're feeling... Because I've got you in a bad spot. You're feeling weird because you feel basic. Yeah. Yeah. What? Amanda and I are just like... we're like, I did it. Five hundo on maestro is one of the blunders of all time.

No, it's not. Well, five hundo blind with the first pick. You know what? You don't have to be this way. What way? You don't have to be defensive in me. You're the one who's trying to accuse me of being on the back. They haven't even told us what Dead Reckoning is about.

What's it about? I suspect Ethan Hunt will have to go on a mission. What if it's not? That's one of my theories with the Mission Impossible film. It's like the John Dielman of the Mission Impossible universe. He's just chilling at home.

Yeah, if it were a four-hour piece of durational cinema about Ethan Hunt preparing a souffle. He just got an air fryer. Sounds hot. He's cleaning the air fryer. Do you have an air fryer?

I do. What do you use it for? Chicken breasts. Oh, interesting. Yeah, I do a little soy marinade and just throw them in there. They're really easy. Great. A soy marinade?

And the oven heats the house up a lot. How do you think any griddle would feel about you sharing chicken recipes on this podcast? I don't care. Wow. Is that a shot at any? No, I'm just like, I'm not going to be restricted by Andy's needs. So when you're doing the chicken breast in the air fryer, like, are you getting like a sear? Like, what's the texture?

It actually, it stays really juicy, I guess I would say, but there's not like a crust, but it's a skinless, it's a boneless skinless chicken breast. Can I share something with you? Yeah. When I hear you talk about chicken, I find it to be disgusting. Like, I feel like you're talking like, it's like a David Cronenberg movie, where you're like, this is the new flesh. There's something like, just the idea of you handling raw chicken,

it just upsets me. And I don't know. I can't get it out of my head. And I've listened to it multiple times. So I'll just be driving along, heading to work one day, and I'm like, oh, let's fire up the watch with my friends Chris and Andy. And it's all chicken hands.

Chris being like, I have salmonella in every orifice. It just feels... But you see me. I'm never sick at sea. You never get sick. What's that about? I don't know.

That is really weird. Not anti-COVID. You beat COVID. Amanda and I, we're just covered in COVID. Yeah. I've been to crypto.com so many times

in the last couple of nights. If I get out from under this, if I skate again, and I'm going to the UK again, if I skate past all of that. He says in a windowless room with the two of us. I will. No, I'm fine. It's true. But if I come back from the UK

and I'm still the eagle that you guys know and love, I will donate my body to science. Is it because you've been eating raw chicken that you've been beating COVID? I might be. It to science. Is it because you've been eating raw chicken that you've been beating COVID? I might be. It might be. God, you're just a miracle.

You're like an amazing person. That's not necessarily a compliment, but it isn't not a compliment. I'm still figuring it out. Okay, you have another pick. I forgot. So you spent how much money on Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning,

which we don't even know the plot of? $350. Okay. No, $355. $355. $355. Yeah, don't try and get that five bucks.

I'm putting Oppenheimer on the board. Oh, okay. He's coming for you. I know. I know. I'll put it out there for $150

as an opening gambit. This is the new film from Christopher Nolan. I'll go $165 just to show you that I'm here. Are you interested in Oppenheimer, Amanda?

I am. I enjoy the films of Christopher Nolan more than you do. Do you think Henry Stimson will play a role in that film? Has he been cast? I don't know. Honestly, I have no idea, but it could be. I mean, he was the Secretary of War when that decision was made,

so presumably he is a figure. We did some Wikipedia-ing while Chris was in the restroom for the listeners at home. Yes. So Stimson had an extraordinary life. He was the Secretary of War under Taft in 1911.

And then he was the Secretary of State under Hoover. And then he came back to the White House to serve as Secretary of War under Roosevelt and Truman during World War II. That's 40 years

of public service in the Oval Office. So you have five seconds. Did you guys know that fucking... How much is it? 165. 170. 175 because Gary Oldman's

playing Harry Truman. Wow! Oh my God. But who's playing Henry Stimson? Casey Affleck has an unlisted credit. Casey Affleck? I don't know.

I just got done reading The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy recently. And there's a lot of nuclear bomb stuff in it. Okay. Thanks for weighing in. Yeah. What's he think? Good idea? lot of nuclear bomb stuff in it. Okay. Thanks for weighing in. Yeah.

What's he think? Good idea? Was it a good move? No. Okay. I'll do 190. Okay, 200 for Oppenheimer. Josh Hartnett's in this movie?

Wow. Come back. Holy shit. Benny Safdie, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Dane DeHaan. Is Rami Malek playing Eisenhower?

Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt. I did this already. I did this on a pod. I just said all the names. Okay. Are we going to do it again?

What is the bid at right now, Bobby? Do you think that Bill's like, you know what? I talked about the Celtics once. Let's move on. Sean, bid 200. Okay. 210.

Seemed cautious. Just doing the math. 220. So it's an analytics analytics based front office over here I see 225 240 is Christopher Nolan your favorite living filmmaker no remember when we did a podcast about Big Jim yeah and I said Chris is him you just came in and you were like but what if we did a podcast about Christopher Nolan I stand by it if anything I've developed that take even even more I've been I got my whetstone out? I stand by it. If anything, I've developed that take even more.

I got my whetstone out and I sharpened it. Okay. 245. Before I applied it to some chicken breasts. Chris, can I ask for a piece of clarity? Yeah. On the atomic bomb cinematography in this film? Yes.

So I've read multiple places that he's recreated a real life atomic explosion. But did he actually split an atom? Or is it just that he blew up a bunch of different shit? I don't actually did he split an atom? Or is it just that he blew up a bunch of different shit? engaged in fission. You know? But I think that he

may have set off an explosive of the same type. But just without a nuclear you know Sound insane. Without the radiation. I don't think that there were any

there was no nuclear spices in that gumbo. If you know what I'm saying. Okay. Yeah, I totally picking up what you're putting down. The bid, the bid is,

Sean has $2.45. $2.50. If I walk out with Maestro and Oppenheimer and a bunch of $1 movies, that's okay. Uh-huh. You really believe that?

You act like we're on trial for our lives when we do this. You're like, do you really think you can walk out of here with those? Would this be a good podcast if it was like, great pick. No. God, you're my favorite person. I love what you did there. Would you like that?

When have you ever said that in your life? When have you said it? What are you talking about? I say it to a lot of people who aren't you. Like, name one. Me. I say this to Chris all the time. It's all bullshit. It's part of the performance

of what's going on in this trio. That's not true. Maybe I feel that way about Chris. And you... First of all, only men like Chris. And we know that. It's not true. She listens to The Watch all the time. I do. Chris holds 250. 255. What do you think of their Last of Us podcast?

I told you that I... And I told Chris that I won't be listening to the podcast about the zombie video game thing because it's just not my interest set. But then I was told that there was some good banter, so I'm reconsidering it because I'm kind of out of podcasts for my drive home. Well, to be fair, I told you that. When do you think Thursday's The Watch Pod will be up? Not until later today because I'm doing the big picture, so I have to recharge. I guess I'm going to have to listen to Monday. I want you to know something. Yeah.

I've listened to every single podcast that you and Andy have recorded together that has been publicly available. Every single one. Okay. I just want you to know that. That's really nice of you. I'm not saying they're good.

I really appreciate it. I have heard all of that. Where's the bid right now? The bid is Sean at $255. I was going to do $260,000. Yeah, I'll do $265,000. Exciting. Yeah.

$270,000. $280,000. I mean, do you at least want to get Chris up? Like, what's your strategy here? We are not in Vegas at the poker table. We are always in Vegas at the poker table with Sean. With Sean. I know, but I just, it doesn't work on me.

What doesn't work on you? Whatever you're trying to do right now. I'm trying to collude with you and you're rejecting it. Use strategy with me for crying out loud. You know what? This is like the one time that we played hearts, remember? And we were on a team. We did win.

We won. But I just don't think that you were the best team. Let me tell you. I want to let you know that right now. That or winning. This is where I am. $290. I'm going $300

for Alden Ehrenreich. Okay. That's beautiful. We got to bring him back. I rewatched Hail Caesar the other night because I was just like on board.

It's a home run. It's like we underrated it. It's actually, it's elite. It's wonderful. It's elite. It's really good. Remember when you were like

Rules Don't Apply is an excellent film starring Lily Collins and Aldton Edmund, right? Chris, are you going to watch Emily in Paris? No. Why not? I stopped watching after the first season. I watched the first season and then I was like, this show is not my bad.

Is Sierra sitting on 300? Yeah. Yep. 305. Sean, did you watch season three of Emily in Paris? I watched season one. I know. I did not watch season two or three.

Why not? Have you been keeping up with your crown watching? I certainly not. How about you? Did you watch it with your mom? I did. It wasn't a lot of my favorite season, but I think some of the romance of it is a little bit gone because of everything that's happening

in the non-fiction audio space right now. Not to say that there was a lot of problems in the earlier eras of the Elizabethan rule. Is it true that you were conscripted to write Spare 2? You should.

You're replacing J.R. Mulroney. J.R. replaced me because Harry wasn't happy with my work. You topped it off. You included the bit about his frozen junk. Is that true? I did. But that was based on an experience that you had had that you brought to Harry and he thought that's actually exciting for me.

Let's bring that into my story. It's at least like two or three pages about the frozen junk. How much Taliban stuff is in it? So it's literally a hundred pages about war? A hundred? No, seriously. So the book is in, what is the bid right now? I don't want to totally do that.

Sean has 305. I mean, I got it. Did I get it or what? How much time has gone by here? I'm a laissez-faire auctioneer. I'm giving you guys the chance to keep bidding. How much did you spend on Mission Impossible? $355.

Okay. This is kind of your last chance, though. Sean has $305. I'll do $315. Okay. Thrilling. There we go. Okay, but so back to your question.

So the book is in a three-part structure and one is like his childhood and diana and two is literally is his time in the army and it's just like all taliban and it is there's absolutely no like self-examination there's like two paragraphs at the end where he is like reflecting on like you know what it means to be at war. Two paragraphs out of 100 pages. So way more time spent on his frozen todger, as he puts it, than thoughts about war. It was astonishing. Do you think he just watched Extraction and was like, let's just say that was me?

Are you implying that Harry did not serve? I'm not saying he didn't serve. You're saying he did not see combat? I'm sure he did. What are you saying? I don't know. I don't know. Something about it doesn't smell right to me.

Wow. Okay. This is actually very similar to your feelings about Elvis. I got no takes and no interest. Harry, Meghan. Yeah. The king. Yeah. The queen mum. The whole thing. Don't care. Don't know. this i just i got i got no takes and no interest harry megan yeah the king yeah the queen mom there's a whole thing don't care don't know there's a bit in the book where he goes to graceland

and he someone's like oh this is where the king lived and harry's like what do you mean the king and they're like elvis the king and he's like oh ha ha jesus yeah did he get brain damage yeah and that's like no but but he's supposed to, the way it's recounted is, I mean, that's how it's recounted in the book, but it's in the context of him being like, no,

we have real Kings, you know, like the King Lou's large for me out of here. Now I'm all back in on Elvis. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Talk about Elvis. Yeah.

When we, I have to say, we're bidding on the film Oppenheimer. This is one of the all time tangents of the pod. I tried to talk about Oppenheimer, so I was like, we covered it. I tried to talk about how they've got Josh Peck up in this movie. Did I get it or what? Yeah, you at 325, no one else has bid in like three minutes. Oppenheimer's going to kick ass.

Are you serious? All right. Have you seen that trailer? You don't get to do this now. Do what? You don't get to be like the Nolan hype man. Yes, I do. No, you do not.

No, you do not. I was lieutenant colonel of the tenant army. I was like, let's drive to fucking San Diego to see tenant on the big screen. Yeah. And I did it. And so did I. And it was an incredible experience. Yeah.

It was good. And then I was like, you know what we should do is a three. Actually, it was an incredible experience. Yeah. It was good. And then I was like, you know what we should do is a three, actually it was Chris's idea, do a three hour Tenet pod. I do remember that. Which was also great.

That pod didn't do that well. Did you know that? What's up with the watch along? Should we be doing those or not doing those? Didn't the Snyder one do well? That is a cult object. Yeah.

Amongst the real big picture heads. Nobody listened to us talking about Tenet? Maybe it was too good. And nobody listened to us talking about Free Guy? That's really sad. Did Free Guy brick Bob? I can neither confirm nor deny that.

What is bricking though? You know what I mean? That's true. Well, for you, it's all home runs up and down. You have an attendant army as well. That's right. Dob Mob hasn't seen Free Guy. That's true. Have they seen Ten't seen Free Guy. That's true.

Have they seen Tenet? I don't know. Did they want to see it? If they wanted to see it, they did. And if they didn't, they went outside. You lead with such grace. Dobmob has probably seen Inception because it likes and appreciated it. They're not overthinking it, which is antithetical to the Nolan experience,

but core to Dobmob. Dobmob sounds simple-minded to me. Remember, there's a guy who responded to the most recent JMO within a Big Pick episode by trying to shame you guys for drinking PBR on tap? Yeah. Would you like to address that, man? Yeah, fuck that guy.

Have you had PBR? Phenomenal beer. Okay. It's the second oldest beer in America. He's right about to be the Buffalo Wild Wings nachos. That wasn't ideal. Yeah.

I wouldn't have chosen that if I had to. Although, I have nothing against Buffalo Wild Wings. It's not like I put a gun to your head and it's like, we're getting these nachos. No, but you're very persuasive

with men. Somehow with a man, you're like, let's do this. I'm like, that's a great idea buffalo wild wings good call i've never been in a buffalo wild me either before really i never won that bright at least you know i would have remembered look at amanda she's trying to figure out where to go next okay i was looking at the math all right i just gotta look like a peek into

like 13 year old amanda like studying for the trigonometry test yeah like that was you you know what i fucking aced it's coming in super handy too. Trig and geometry were sort of like my limits. No pun intended. I don't know if you got that pun. My brain doesn't really work that way. So I did have to like focus a little more. And it never came into use.

I knew that about my brain from the second. Yeah. I got to the third page of geometry. I was like, it's not for me. Teacher Herb. His name was Herb. And he was a nice guy. You called him Herb? We called our teachers

teacher first name. Yeah. Friends school. Quaker school. Yeah, that's right. That's nice. You know who else went to a Quaker school? That's Pennsylvania culture right there, brother. John Bernthal. Really? Yeah, he went to Sidwell Friends. Did he really? Yeah. I didn't know that. That's why we're connected. You really need to do a podcast with him. Okay.

Barbie, here we go. Yeah. 150. 160. 175. Okay. 180. 185. 190. What if it's bad? 195. If you want to be on that corner of the internet. Just wondering. Is there a corner of the internet that's saying that?

Yeah, it's the same corner who was very mad that she used the 2001 music. Oh, fuck that. I'm in on Barbie. You know who's in this movie? Conor Swindells. I know.

Who's that? He's the guy from Rogue Heroes. Oh, cool. Nice. I like that show. Where are we at? You have 195. Wags, have you watched Rogue Heroes yet?

I have 195. God damn it. You gotta love that show. 205. I'll check it love that show. 205. I'll check it out. 210. 215. 225.

What's this movie about? Like, what's gonna happen? Are dolls alive? Like, what's happening? They are a little bit alive. Is this a Megan prequel? No, I don't think so. All right.

I think that... I was trying to earnestly answer the question. Do you want to skip straight to the riff? Or do you want me to try to answer what the part is about? I want you to talk again about the plantation owner dolls that you owned as a kid. So people wrote back, and I didn't own that one. But people wrote back that she definitely did own slaves. Felicity, I believe her name was.

Yeah, Felicity was the Reflechard War doll. I did not own Felicity. I owned sort of like the, what's the bid, by the way? The question is not about you owning Felicity. I did not own Felicity. I owned sort of like the what's the bid by the way. The question is not about you owning Felicity. It's about who Felicity owned. That's the problem.

That's the issue. I'll do 230. Do you know what would be amazing? Is if we got your dolls on Finding Your Roots. Henry Louis Gates earnestly speaking to a Felicity doll.

Did you see the fucking Ever Norton Pocahontas video? Yes, I texted you about it I know, just for the purpose of the pod And everybody was like, oh interesting It's not like you pillaged the land Thanks a lot You guys like, not knowing what American Girl Dolls all is

It's like very funny But this was like a major thing So it wasn't just me having a doll It's a huge thing And so like they did actually so it wasn't just me having a doll and so like they did actually address it and they added a lot of black dolls and also then you could like make your own doll they tried to be culturally sensitive i was cut you a check who cares amanda has the bid at 230 240.30. $2.40. Oh, God.

I just want to keep this conversation going. I felt bad that I didn't have enough context last time. So now I'm trying to add it because it was super racist at the beginning. And I had two out of the four dolls, but not the plantation owner, slave owner doll. That's good. Let's get them out of the paint let's get felicity the fuck out of here i did also have a matching doll costume to samantha the um meaning you dressed like samantha yeah because they sold psychotic they sold listen you don't understand how coveted this was in the 90s like all of the women my age all three of you

who are listening to this like they know know that I had what everyone wanted. But they sold. So every doll had six outfits. Do I still have it or do I need to bid again? No, Chris bid $240. $245. So every doll had six outfits, right? There was like a summer outfit, a Christmas outfit, like a school outfit, $255.

And then they, and there was a book that went with it and then they sold like child side like child size versions of all the clothes uh-huh and so you could buy which one did you get no i got some at this school outfit but i did wear it chris did you wear this christmas pageant when i had a solo about a donkey. Amanda, Amanda. To bring it all the way back. Banshees is gonna fucking win. 260? What am I? I was like, what am I? Sean bit 270.

275. Chris had this, but it was as Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe. And he just walked around the neighborhood dressed like Cobra Commander. How did Cobra Commander's voice be like, Help! Kill Cobra!

I think that's right. I think you nailed it. Very similar to the Skin and Meringue Child. You said 275? Yeah. I think you nailed it. Very similar to the Skin and Meringue Child. You said $275? Yeah. I'll say $290. Okay. Do you want to just cut to the end of this?

What is it? $295. So are you, whether you're going to bid her up past her limit. Is that what you mean by cut to the end of this? Yeah. Okay. Go ahead.

No, I want to keep going. Okay. $295. $295. Okay. All right. $300. Okay. $305. no i want to keep going okay all right 300 okay 305 uh 306 307 this is i think that's as high as i can go okay yeah okay you got it great barbie 307 so you have killers of the flower moon yeah for 600 right 640 and barbie for how307. So how much do you have left?

$53. Okay. Okay, cool. I'm thriving. You got two great movies. I'm thriving. You're putting another movie on the board, Chris. The Killer.

Here we go. This is the David Fincher film that's coming out in December on Netflix starring Michael Fassbender as a hitman. Having had a David Fincher film since when?

Mank. Yeah. My beloved Mank. Yeah. Did you like Mank? I did love Mank. Okay, that's great. Yeah. My beloved Mank. Yeah. Did you like Mank? I did love Mank. Okay, that's great.

Remember, we did a Mank podcast, I think. That was when we stood together, the three of us. Amanda, you stood with me. That was your most generous act. I loved Mank. Yeah, you stood with me. Mank's one of those names, too, that I like hearing now

in the Catherine O'Hara, Kevin voice. Mank! We could do that for a lot of films. Yeah. Oppenheimer! He's a yeah yeah how much for the killer 170 intriguing okay you won't be bidding no i won't but i wasn't going to anyway so really you don't you're not interested in a film called the killer i am very excited for another david fencher film i'm a fan of david fencher i'm a huge fan of michael fassbender just i'm i'm in 175 what if it's like a different version of the killer than we think we're thinking of you know or it's like this that guy killed it at the office today you know what if he's just like really well you so you think it's like a like a workplace dramedy

maybe what if he's just really good at ping pong? It's not. I think this is going to be like, fuck your life up, noir fincher. Yeah. Okay. It seems like a lot of motorcycle stuff. Messerschmitt. He's got Trent Naticus on the fucking... Eric Messerschmitt?

Yeah. The cinematographer. Go to cinematographer? Yeah. I know. Charles Parnell from Top Gun Maverick is in this shit. I love it. Warlock?

Tilda. Arliss Howard, whose play was playing in New York while I was there, Warlock? Tilda. Arliss Howard, whose play was playing in New York while I was there and I did not go. Arliss Howard's play? He was in a play called Des Moines

with Michael Shannon. Isn't Arliss Howard married to someone dope? Is it Deborah Winger? Yeah, it was. Are they not together anymore? I'll check. Sean has 175.

Let's see our personal life. 175. He is married to actress Deborah Winger. Bang. Wow. He has two sons from his previous marriage. Oh, who was that to actress Deborah Winger. Bang. Wow. He has two sons from his previous marriage.

Oh, who was that to? Karen Seller is a talent agent. Interesting. You're going to lose the killer. Wait, what do you have? 175. 180. 185. 200. 205. How much do you have left? No, you figure it out.

210. 215. It's in the dock. He has 320 left I like flying blind okay great I like shaking off my catcher and just saying here comes the heat

that's what they tell you to do on draft night in the NBA they're just like where does it stand right now don't look at the research where does it stand are you trying to move

things forward a little you have 215 Sean I'm at 215 yeah you bet 215 most recently 230 yeah 240 why not 250 260 are people really are they looking

you're checking for it were people excited that Michael Fassbender who hasn't really blessed us with their performance in a while some might say Paul Meskel has come and taken his his marker corrected him hey I wild take what you've just inspired an idea for an episode yeah which is what who the living market corrections yeah oh yeah He's market corrected him. Hey! Wild take, but you just inspired an idea for an episode. Yeah.

Which is what? The living market corrections. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's a great idea. I'm not really sure that I would compare those two. That is code for I would fuck one. No.

That's not exactly what it is. I would say it would just... I see a glimmer of recognition, though. Honestly, what it was, it was like the experience would be different. You know? I would say yes to both, but different settings, different goals. You're saying Paul Muskell cries afterwards. And Fassbender doesn't.

Michael Fassbender gets into like a F1 car and drives away immediately. One treats me like dirt. The bid is Sean at $260 and time is running down. $270. $275. $280. $285. $300. $305. Okay, movie phone guy.

$315. $316. I'm trying to, I'm telepathically trying to send you some $320. You got it. You took it from him? It would have been so funny to watch him do the rest of the draft.

No, because he would just be like, I love my movies. I got this one for five bucks. I'm a genius. I would have crushed you guys if you would let me have that. I would have crushed you guys in the voting. In your mind. Okay, so I have... I don't care about the voting.

I don't care about the voting. I don't care about voting. Say it one more time. I don't care about the voting I don't care about the voting that you wouldn't have cared about I don't care about voting say it one more time I don't care about voting we believe you we definitely believe you we should use that as like a drop okay great

thank you so much open every episode with that me again right yes yeah Air Jordan oh okay oh interesting

Ben Affleck's directorial return to behind the camera can this movie really be called Air Jordan and it's directing him self and Matt Damon yeah you know what I didn't put together return to behind the camera. Can this movie really be called Air Jordan? And it's directing him, self, and Matt Damon.

Yeah. You know what I didn't put together? And this makes complete sense when I now think about it. Ben Affleck appeared in the adaptation of J.R. Moe Ringer's autobiography. Tenderbar. The Tenderbar,

which George Clooney directed. And J.R. Moe Ringer also ghost wrote Shoe Dog, the Phil Knight story. And that is the connectivity. J.R. Mulroney also ghost wrote Shoe Dog. Yes. The Phil Knight story. And that is the connectivity. J.R. is arguably the most important person in the world. J.R. always connects to everybody now. All the power brokers.

And he's a great writer. What a life. What an amazing life. He keeps trying to make the book about Shakespeare. And then Harry's like, I hate Shakespeare. The only book I've ever liked is A Price of Men. I related to Lenny. That is a true quote from the book. Oh my God.

The bunnies. So Air Jordan. Let me see how much I have left. That's insane. It does have to be read to be believed in some ways. Anyway. Brian Curtis was singing

his praises on the press box. He was like this is highly readable. Sort of. But also sort of not. 50 bucks. $55. Damn. Okay. What are we bidding on again?

All right, Air Jordan. I love you, Ben Affleck. A movie you want to see. I do. You know, things about marketing. I think that this has a little bit of a... I'm sure there is like a little frisson and like political what have you. Social network vibe

sure I got it but you know Emily in Paris is a show about marketing I enjoy the show

but it's like it is also the end of civilization what are we at Bob Sean has 55 70 75 90

95 110 what's CR's cap 180 uh huh 95. 110. What's CR's cap? 180? Uh-huh. 110, huh? Or Air Jordan?

Uh-huh. 120. Why not? Fucking Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in a movie about Nike. Yeah. And they're back. They're writing the script. Come on.

The award-winning team behind Good Will Hunting? 110, you said? I said 120. 130. 140. What do I have to lose? There's no way this movie's gonna be bad. 0% chance. 160. 165.

175. 176. I think you have to take it, then. I don't have to. Well, you did. You could hold it at 177. And then I would have to get three dollar movies? then. I don't have to. Well, you did. You could hold it at $177. And then I would have to get $3 movies. Two. You have two movies already.

Yeah. There's so many good movies left on the board, though. That's true. $177. $178. Okay, that's it. Sean gets it. Congratulations to you.

So you have Oppenheimer. Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 and Air Jordan. Yeah. I mean, we're putting together the all-star team here.

This is like, we're in Barcelona. Right. And I'm having, I'm like Christian Leitner and I'm surrounded by Bird, Magic, Ewing,

People are going out for Thomas. And you know, there's nowhere to be found. Isaiah Thomas left off the team you know who that is Killers of the Flower Moon

we left him back in the States we went to Barcelona to ride with the Bulls to gold you're up I closed that one up yeah no it was really good but I didn't get to do

I met the requirements to be on the team but I was not selected which I did know from memory. So anyway, thank you so much. Wait, was that a tar quote?

No, that was Thomas. That's what you were doing. You did the tar hands. but it had a similar energy, you know? Start without me. Dune part two for 10 bucks.

Woo. 30. Okay. 32. This is going to be a really good movie. Yeah. Do you think this movie will be in the best picture race

or is is Dune too egg heady for the Acad it's a great question I don't know will they be like didn't he thank you man I mean he was not nominated

for best picture in a week year for this movie which I see as a bad sign it's hard sci-fi yeah it is it is masterful

it is among his best movies Christopher Walken's in this film yeah I'll go 60 bucks okay okay Christopher it's up to you now

I'll go 75 Austin Butler's in this movie yeah sure sure sure is he doing Elvis I hope so is he like oh mama those sad worms

I'll do I'll do 80 oh mama the spice did you see his voice coach said that it's permanent like yeah you can't go back Oh, mama, those sandworms. I'll do 80. Oh, mama, the spice. Did you see his voice coach said that it's permanent? Like, you can't go back. I've seen him do videos. He's fine.

Yeah, he's fine. Mama, Faye Routh is coming. We got to do something about this, mama. Oh, Baron Harkonnen. Why you got to be so mean, brother? What is it at? Sana's 90 100 110 okay i can't i can't i don't have 110 don't you yeah you have one you have 142 are you sure he does 355 plus 325 plus 178 how much do i have yeah you, you have $142.

Oh, cool. Come on, guys. Don't test the math. What are we at? The bid is CR 110. 120. 130. 140.

143. Yes! You got it. You're up, Amanda Amanda she just did Dune yeah oh you put Dune up I did yeah

oh intriguing yeah here you go get creative Sean throw a curveball I will put Ferrari on the board

wow and I will walk away with it. With $38? For $54. You're a piece of fucking shit. Wow. I hope this movie doesn't fucking come out. I hope STX goes out of business and I hope that this movie gets put in a basement

somewhere and that the print gets ruined. Even Amanda who hates me cannot help but admire that move. That was cruel. That was cruel. That was art. Yeah. You will not hold the Michael Mann film today, my friend. That was mean.

And for a gentle $54, I will walk away, Adam Driver and I, arm in arm. Yeah. Enzo. Thinking of Enzo. Yeah. And I also retain the most money on the board. Old man Ferrari. That is really an incredible, incredible turnabout.

I feel wonderful about that. What's in this McDonald's bag? The McValue Meal. For $5.79 plus tax, you can get your choice of Junior Chicken, McDouble, or Chicken Snack Wrap, plus small fries and a small fountain drink. So pick up a McValue Meal today at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Prices exclude delivery. So I've got one more film to nominate.

And I can frankly just take whatever I want. Congratulations. And I don't know what to take. I'll take what I think has a chance to be the best movie. And it's also a movie that you guys don't need. Now, what happens to the remainder money? That disappears, right? Yeah, we talked about it rolling over, but it doesn't.

Well, should I evaluate a possible trade? You could. You could. You're going to ask me if I want Ferrari 4? Ferrari for Dune? Mm-hmm. Part 2. Yeah.

I'll kick in $87. Which would take me to what? So Ferrari what's the bid on Ferrari at? $38 right? No Ferrari was $54 Ferrari was $54 $54

and then you have to throw me $300 in cash considerations down the road down the road like in a future auction you mean in another auction? wow don't

don't do it no I'm okay Ferrari for Dune but you get to bump up your budget for the rest of this draft for your final film the road like a future auction. Wow. Don't. No, I'm okay. Ferrari for Dune, but you get to bump up your budget for the rest of this draft for your final film. I'm okay.

Because you're about to be out of movies. I'm okay. Also, Ferrari might not come out. You're sure you don't want the Michael Mann film that has completed production. I love Michael Mann

more than I love most things in this world, but I don't know if STX is going to get like a lifeline here. I got news for you. STX has a film coming out in the spring, which means the pipeline is back.

Okay. You're passing. I'm passing on that. I appreciate you including me in your thought process, but I'm not going to do it. My thought process? I get it. I get what you're trying to do to me here. But it's not going to work. I'll put a movie on the board for $1.

Okay. The movie is Napoleon. All right. Okay. So Sean still has $88 after... I'm saying... $5. I didn't put a movie on the board that you didn't want. $5.

$10. $15. $20. $30. $31. $35. I'm... Jodie Comer's in this no she's not

she's recast with Vanessa Kirby which makes it even better does it in my opinion I'm just doing some math 38 I'm out great I wanted it it's your turn

oh it is my turn let's see here Okay, great. I wanted it. It's your turn. Oh, it is my turn? Okay, let's see here. Now, that was a strategic move that may have been an error on my part, but we will see. Okay, yeah. I'm just trying to think. I'm excited about Napoleon. But speaking of movies that could be not good, Ridley Scott, very unpredictable.

That's true, but... Late period Ridley. I ride with Ridley. Okay. Sounds like this one has been a little bit complicated by Joaquin Phoenix wanting to rewrite the script. Sure. All the time. Let's see what I'm going to do here. It's just a rumor.

I will put... Have you heard the film Rebel Moon? No. It's the Zack Snyder original sci-fi. Okay. It's coming. So I have $15 left in two movies. Okay. I will do...

I hope he understands that I'm doing this with a lot of respect and anticipation, but for $1, just because of my budgetary constraints and strategy, I am putting our friend Sam Esmail's Leave the World Behind on the board. Starring my close personal friend, Julia Roberts. Do you want to be in the office the day that Amanda meets Julia Roberts?

I definitely do if Ethan Hawke's coming in, too. I got word from Julia's rep that she doesn't want to be near Amanda. And it was just some feedback that I got and I made a case for her and I think she's acquiesced. Okay. I think I can be normal. Julia Roberts was in an American Girl doll movie.

And that's not something that I made up. Can you also pull out I think I can be normal which Amanda just said and use that in future episodes, Bob? Just flag that time stamp.

Sure. Yeah. I'm going to let you have Leave the World Behind for $1, but I will say when I saw that it was dated on December 8th,

I was like, this is a good sign. Of course it is. Oscar consideration. Yeah. That means I think they got one. When is Transformers Rise of the Beasts scheduled?

Same day. Okay. Same day. Also for Oscar consideration. No, I believe that film is in May? Okay. Chris, do you want to counter

or are you good with Amanda having that? I'm good. No disrespect to Sam. You and Sam, something going on. It's all love. Is it?

Yeah. I sent him a long piece from the LA Review of Books about Andor. He was like, thanks. Did you send that on Signal or was that a text? I did.

Signal, you got it on Signal? Nice. Chris, you have to bid. You have... So Amanda has four films and I have four films. Chris has three films. Okay. So now are we going into the Chris weird zone? Nice. Chris, you have to bid. You have... So Amanda has four films and I have four films. Chris has three films. Okay.

So now are we going into the Chris weird zone? No. There's a lot of big time stuff here. Let's go with Challengers. Okay.

How much? Five bucks. This is high on Amanda's anticipation list. Six bucks. Have you been watching the australian open you know i've been trying but it's really hard time zone wise in california so i've been watching part of it i also started break point which is netflix's tennis do you like

it i only watched the first episode i have to be honest it was very disappointing it's nick right yeah and they i mean there are a couple. They get some amazing like behind the scenes, you know, Nick Curious' mom is on it. Also a woman who he's been dating for two and a half months, which is like. That's sick. It's hilarious. But like the narratives are pretty forced. Like, you know, they try to make it a big deal that he won the doubles title at the Australian Open because he loses in the second round in the singles. I'm just like, respectfully, it's not the same thing.

You have it for how much? Right now I have $6. Yeah. I mean, I really want this movie. Yeah. It's Zendaya and Josh O'Connor and Mike Faced playing tennis players. It's supposed to be a romantic sports movie.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino. Yeah, I mean, how could you not want to bid $15 for this? Okay, there you go. So you bid $15 for this? Okay, there you go. So you bid $15. Yeah. Okay, and that means you're out. Yes, it does. And I could take it, but I don't really care about tennis that much.

Okay. Just being honest. It's kind of in the royals zone. Like, I admire what they built there over hundreds of years. Okay, yeah. And frankly, I'm cowed by power. Right. And it's why I'm in pursuit of it.

But... Okay. Tennis, I don't know. It's a great sport. It's a me thing. It's not a tennis thing. That's fine. I have a lot of admiration

for great tennis players. And who's your favorite? Novak Djokovic? He's your favorite player? You're not going to bait me. Is he the best tennis player of all time? He's not because

Rafael Nadal currently holds the Grand Slam record. Is Roger Federer hosting the Met Gala? He is. Did you tell him to eat shit? Do I have another movie here? You do. So I have, I got Challengers, which is great. And I have 22 bucks left.

So let's do, I feel like it's important to keep talking about cool movies that are coming out this year rather than going into weird CR bullshit. So let's talk about Blitz, which is Steve McQueen's movie with Saoirse Ronan. Psyched about this. Pretty excited about this. Also has Harris Dickinson from Triangle of Sadness. I'm pretty excited to see Steve.

I thought you were referring to the 2011 film called Blitz starring Jason Statham and Patty Constantine. Is that not what you're referring to? 2011 film called Blitz starring Jason Statham and Patty Constantine. Is that not what you're referring to? No, it's actually Steve McQueen's film about Reggie White, Jerome Brown, and Clyde Simmons, the Buddy Ryan defense. Haven't heard of them.

Not familiar with their work. Yeah. Where do they stack up against Statham? How much did you bid? 10 bucks. Amanda? You've got one slot open for $14. Wait, what movie are we talking about right now?

Blitz. Sorry. Oh. Maybe it's just checked out of the podcast, guys. I was looking at my list trying to figure out. But sure, $11. What about you, Sean?

I'm good. You're not going to take Steve McQueen's new film? I have the World War II film. The World War II film? Yeah, Oppenheimer. The one that ended it? Yeah.

I do. I have the World War II film of 2023. I guess I just care, Oppenheimer. The one that ended it? Yeah. Yeah. I do. I have the World War II film of 2023. I guess I just care more about human beings. Did you see that Small Axe is getting a Criterion release?

Yeah. That is just so exciting. Small Axe was wonderful. I love Steve McQueen. Small Axe is incredible. It's not a reflection of him. It was really an amazing piece of work.

Yeah. What did you bid? $11? Take it if you want it. I won't be mad at you. It's not even that. There's just other movies that I'm kind of like

oh there's other stuff out here this is going to be a great movie year it's so good I'm excited so excited this is like

I'm hoping that Blitz is the life after life film that I didn't get because I heard the TV series I haven't seen it's just very TV I think right

yeah it didn't seem like they really made a push for that in the US. A lot of World War II stuff this year. Who has this film right now? Amanda.

And time is up, so it's up to Chris whether he wants to do that. Okay. Okay, Blitz. Amanda, your final film. Well, that was my final film,

so I don't have to edit anything. So it's you and I. One movie each left, right? And I have more money than you, so it's really whatever I want. It would be hilarious if Amanda could nominate something

that only you two could bid on, but that would be... Yeah. Take Rise of the Beasts. I'll tell you what, I'm ready to see the film. I'm ready to see it today. You and I have always...

We've always danced around Transformers. There's been a lot... There's a lot of... It's like a Korean barbecue and we just smell the steam. All Michael Bay content or Michael Bay-related content moves to JMO.

Yeah, okay. All of the big picture feed. Okay. And we situate it. But now we've done... And also, if we want to do the Secretary of State series,

I think he could be the last one. That's the thing. Don't you think it's duplicative of the amount of episodes we've done about 13 hours? Should we get him in for the Hillary Clinton episode? No we've already dedicated we told krasinski we would do it with him okay remember he was like you guys jmo did you know when he was in what when he when he came in to do the quiet place pod and i was like i want you to know that i really like 13 hours what did did he say? And he was like, cool. That was all he said.

I am taking for $23 Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse. Okay. I was never going to bid for that. Great job. This movie did not make the cut on my most anticipated list for the same reason that

Killers of the Flower Moon was not exciting to Chris this year, which is that I just felt like I've been talking about it nonstop. I do think that I drafted this once before in an auction. I'm taking it for real. This could be the best movie of the year.

It's a sequel to the previous film. It could be. I mean, look, here's the problem for you. You got a young son. Yes. Spidey and Friends is around the corner. And after that, Todd McFarlane's run on the Spider-Man comic books.

And after that, the Tobey Maguire films. And after that, Andrew Garfield. And after that, Tom Holland. And after that, the Tobey Maguire films. And after that, Andrew Garfield. And after that, Tom Holland. And after that, Miles Morales. Yeah. It's an incredible journey that I will join you

in exposing Knox to. What about Alice? And then, well, if she's into it, great. Knox and I will be able to talk about

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse because we will have seen the film. That's beautiful. And he will celebrate with me this victory of an auction. Okay.

How do you feel about that? I'm excited for Knox to make new friends and talk about new interests with people other than me. So that can start

with Spider-Man across the Spider-Verse. That's right. My boy, Knox. Sierra, where are you going last? You got one more film. There's a lot of really great films

left over from a lot of really great directors. But sometimes a premise draws me in. So I'm particularly drawn to this one. After a drug deal goes awry, a detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician's estranged son while untangling his city's dark web of conspiracy and corruption. The detective is played by Tom Hardy, and the film is directed by my guy, Gareth Evans, who directed The Raid.

The movie is called Havoc. Is this movie coming out? I don't know. I don't know. But Forrest Whitaker and Timothy Oliphant and Luis Guzman are also in it. Oh, that's pretty sick. So I'm going to keep watching the shit out of this movie. I thought about...

I was like, should I see Plane so I can like join in the like plane fun? I still haven't seen Plane. I haven't seen it either. But we got to see it. Yeah. Well, but then I read the description for Plane and I was like, I don't know. Should I see Plane? You might not like Plane.

I don't think I'll like Plane. I think I would like Havoc more than Plane. Yeah. I've decided I am going to go in on Scream 6 with you guys. I'm excited. Yeah. That's excellent. Did you see Hayden Panettiere's back?

I did see that. Yeah. She's one of your faves. Like she was pretty hot. Heroes. That was a big show. I did interview though her in Nashville. Are you see Hayden Panettiere's back? I did see that. She's one of your faves. She was pretty hot. Heroes, that was a big show. I did interview, though, her in Nashville. Are you making a joke? No, did you interview Hayden Panettiere?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did for New York Magazine. And she was like, yeah, living in a friend's attic, waiting for Nashville to be renewed. You guys stayed in touch? We haven't. She's been dealing with some things, and I wish her well. Okay, great. I'm glad to see that she's in the screen sex.

Her character Kirby from the two Screams ago was pretty cool. Yeah. Let's recap our auction. This is a very chaotic episode. There's an entire conversation with three other people coming immediately after this concludes.

How long is this episode? It's going to be quite long. Here are the five films that I got. For $355, I got Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1. For $325,

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer for $178. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Air Jordan for $54. You stabbed me in the fucking heart. I hope our friendship was worth it. I stole the Ferrari from Chris Ryan. And for $23, I got Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse. Amanda, what'd you get? For $640, I got Killers of the Flower Moon,

directed by a man named Martin Scorsese. For $307, I got a film called Barbie, starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie and a bunch of other hot young people, directed by Greta Gerwig, written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. For $38, I got Napoleon, directed by Ridta Gerwig, written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. For $38, I got Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott.

For $1, the criminally underpriced Leave the World Behind, written and directed by our friend Sam Esmail. And for $11, I got Blitz, directed by Steve McQueen. That's great. Good for you.

Chris, what'd you get? For my first pick, I took Maestro. How much did you pay for that? Why is that so funny? I just don't... Because you opened the bid at $500. I thought it would be fun. Wax psyched you out.

He was like, you got to put your nuts on the table, CR. No way, dude. He did it the right way. He's definitely winning this. You guys are going to be so deep inside of Maestro by the end of this year and you can't have it. You're not allowed to talk about it

without me here. He's going to beep out every time you reference Maestro. That's exactly right. I got the killer for $320. You never even saw half the movies you auctioned off last year.

This is not about future performance. This is about where we are in the moment. The killer, $320. You never even saw like half the movies you auctioned off last year. And this is not about future performance. This is about like where we are in the moment. Okay. Right? The Killer, $320. Dune, part two, $143.

Challengers for $15 and Havoc for $22. We left a lot of movies on the board. We left Asteroid City on the board. We left Knock at the Cabin on the board.

Bo is Afraid. The Indiana Jones movie and The Dial of Destiny. Guardians 3. Evil Dead Rise. John Wick 4. Creed 3. I thought about Creed 3. Yeah.

I thought about Creed 3. Scream 6, which we will be attending together. You know what? A movie we didn't mention on our anticipated, but I feel like might be a good movie for us, is May December. Have you looked into this one? It sounds familiar. What is it? Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in a movie written and directed by Todd Haynes.

Here's the description. 20 years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past. That's a log line. Yeah. With Todd Haynes. Sounds great. My Long Island gal. Sounds like a film about their past. That's a log line. Yeah. With Todd Haynes. Sounds great.

My Long Island gal. Sounds like a melodrama to me, which I'm into, Todd Haynes. That's what he does. Yeah, and makes Velvet Underground movies. That's true, that was pretty sick. I got a couple. Yeah.

The Bike Riders. Yeah. My guy Jeff Nichols, back. Austin Butler, Michael Shannon, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer. It's about a 1960s motorcycle club in Ohio. Mike Faced is in this. Is this an Elvis sequel?

Yeah. Basically. Boyd Holbrook is also in this. You mentioned Crew 3. Jonathan Glaser's coming back, I think, with Zone of Interest. It's a Martin Amis novel about the Holocaust.

Fingers crossed. It's going to be very harrowing to see that, but I've been looking forward to it. You know what? I'm kind of really to it. And, you know what? I'm kind of really up for this, this movie, The Governess. The Renata Revize movie.

Oh, wow. Yeah. I'm really excited for this one. It's about rebellious governesses. Sure. It's the first film directed by Joe Talbot since The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Oh, great.

It also stars Lily Rose Depp. Oh, interesting. Who she's, was your favorite or second favorite actress of 2022? I forget. I almost drafted Priscilla. But then, this was like a little bit of a tragedy thing where Chris doesn't care about Elvis and you, but I don't know.

I don't know. I love Elvis. I love the music of Elvis. I love the music of Elvis. I love Sofia Coppola. Do you know who you also love that we didn't touch on? Who?

Alex Garland's Civil War with Kirsten Dunst. Right. I do love Kirsten Dunst. So, we'll see. Sierra, you didn't get Wonka? You told me before we were going to record

that it was important that you get Wonka. I thought that was kind of funny. I was saving it for the next one. Okay. I was going to go 900 for Wonka. Magic's Mike's Last Stand is the film I'm most surprised

was not auctioned off here. It's coming pretty soon, isn't it? Yes. March 10th? February 10th? February 10th. Yeah.

That's like in three weeks. Yeah. Jesus. The press cycle's already started and it feels like once the press cycle started, it feels... How do you feel about

Channing Tatum remaking Ghost? I see it. I do really get it. And I'm... That could use some updating, I guess. So Ghost was really important to me. What part needs updating?

Is he in the Demi role? Is he in the Whoopi role? Remember when we did the ghost rewatchables and Bill said that ghost had the most accurate depiction of the afterlife?

I forgot about that. And then we kept working for him for several years after that. Bobby is so annoyed that we're still going, but he also just couldn't help but laugh at that observation from the rewatch. We're going to wrap it up now. Thank you so much to both of you.

That was not sincere. You're both in the Babylon Hive, and for that, I appreciate you. Not as deep in the hive. Well, Sierra's close, but Bobby and I, we ride. I say to Damien, keep going. Certainly, I agree. And we'll ask him about how he's doing and how things are going as we go to this conversation now with Olivia Hamilton,

Matt Plouffe, and Damien Chazelle. I'm so excited to be joined by Team Babylon here. Damien Chazelle, writer, director, Olivia Hamilton, producer, actor, Matt Plouffe, producer. Hi, everyone. Thanks for doing this. How are you today? Hi, Sean. Hey. So, listen, this is going to be a complicated conversation. This is one of my favorite movies of 2022. I'm very excited to speak with you all about it. I think the gargantuan task of pulling it off is fascinating to me. And so hearing about it from both the creative writing, directing perspective, and also the actual production of the film is quite fascinating. Damian, I have to start with you. When did the movie appear in your mind?

And maybe you can talk about who you talked to about it and how to get it off the ground. It first, the first kind of, you know, sketch of it, I guess, appeared in my mind sometime around when I first moved to LA. So this would be, we're talking like 2007, 2008. And I forget exactly what the context was. I do think it had something to do with, I mean, I'd been kind of interested in Hollywood history for a while, but something about moving to LA and having a hard time grasping LA as a city. It's a very hard to grasp city at first for us outsiders. Speaking for Matt and Olivia as well, who, like me, are outsiders to LA who now, I guess, call it home. But it can take a long road to feeling at home in it. And I think I

just became that much more interested in sort of where LA came from. Why is it this sort of non-city city that just seems to have no rhyme or reason. And I think some of that has to do with the very unique circumstances of LA's beginnings and its growth and its expansion. Of course, you can trace that to the 19th century and a lot of things going on in other industries, but there was something about the early 20th century LA when the idea of Hollywood began and sort of the injection of the movies into the Los Angeles ecosystem and how it helped fuel this unprecedented chapter of growth, which was really 1920 to 1930, where you just see a city mushrooming in a way that had never been seen before and really has never been seen since.

So I think I just became fascinated by that period. I had I'd made a little movie, a little black and white musical that no one saw except for Matt Bluff. And he, he, and a couple of other people. I did see it, Damien.

I just want you to. And yeah, but did you see it back then in 2000 and these wee years? I think that I did, but I'm not going to go on the record. Okay. Well then, you know what? I stand corrected.

But anyway, but I didn't contact you and it sounds like Matt did. Maybe Matt contacted me very generously and sort of asked me what else I had in my mind. And Babylon, though it wasn't called that at the time, it didn't really, it wasn't called anything was,

was one of the things I pitched to him. And, and I think we just kind of thought it was interesting and it just sort of sat and marinated for a while because it was obviously a movie that we didn't really, either of us have the clap to try to get made. I made other movies. I met Olivia.

And by the time that I started talking to both Olivia and Matt again about Babylon in earnest, we're talking a little more now like, I don't know, 20, 2015, 2016, 2017. I finally started really writing it in 2018. Um, and, uh, and, and then, you know, sort of, uh, armed with finally some version of a script, uh, Olivia and Matt got to work trying to actually make it a reality in 2019. Before we get to that, Matt, I'm curious, that's a canard in this town. A movie is 15 years in the making

or that you heard about it more than a decade ago and then it does actually come to fruition. There are so many things that just don't come to fruition. How did you keep this one on the line? Did you actually think it was going to happen? Did you give up at a certain point? I never thought it was really going to happen just because it was always so epic. It was always so huge. It was always sort of like this dream movie that we talked about. But in

terms of keeping it on the line, the truth is that Damien and I became really close friends in 2009. And we just never stopped talking. And then Damien, Olivia and I became really close friends and Babylon was always sort of like, it was this sort of the one day movie and we just didn't, we just never let it go. And, and, and sort of the truth is like, at any point Damien could have said, it's just too much or it's too big.

And we never did. So yeah, I mean, sometimes movies take forever. The honest answer is I never, I never, I really never believed that we'd pull it off. So I'm just like, I'm still in shock that we did. Damien and Olivia, I'm curious for you both. Did you feel like you were making a conscious effort to accrue clout to get this movie made? You know, obviously it took a long time to get to a place where you could get something that is as audacious as this off the ground.

Is it like we're trying to get to the point where we can make this? I mean, I think, Dam mean, you probably can speak to this more in terms of, um, you know, answering that question for you, for you, I guess. Um, I know from just working with Damien that he's always sort of trying to outdo his previous film. So I guess in a sense it was building and building and building until he was ready for this one. Um, and I don't know, I feel like we maybe just barely had the clout to make it it was not an easy road to get it to get it greenlit yeah in some ways like a lucky you know uh like so much in hollywood you know sort of like a a chance you know luck and sort of a series of

accidents that maybe kind of actually helped helped it get makeable um you know uh i i making first man i worked with uh whit godfrey uh who who was a producer on that film and and right when we were making it i remember he kind of told me hey i think this can be my last movie as a producer for a while because i've been offered uh to go um help run production at paramount and i think i'm gonna try that out because i i've been offered to go help run production at Paramount. And I think I'm going to try that out because I've been away from home for too long and I need to have a desk job for a bit. So, but if there's anything you have up your, you know, in your pocket, like, let me know. So suddenly it was like, we had a friend in a high place, you know? And so once we

had, once there was a script for Babylon, you know, that was one of the first people we gave it to. We also gave it to every other studio in town, but they all said no, understandably in a way. But Wick, I guess for whatever reason, he sort of thought it might be a risk worth taking. And I think he helped sort of smuggle it, I would say, into the studio ecosystem, into the Paramount system and kind of get us all in through the back door, maybe. So it's one of those things where, you know, and then shortly thereafter, he left and went back to producing. But at that point, maybe we were sort of ensconced enough within Paramount that it was hard to, hard to kill us. I don't know. So it's just the,

you know, this kind of thing where looking back, I mean, I don't know if I hadn't worked with him on first man. And then, you know, if he hadn't been at X spot when we had the script, who knows if it would have happened.

So it's always that kind of thing. I think Olivia is right. That, you know, sort of in my mind, I think I didn't really feel ready. Forget about logistics or the clout to get it made. I didn't feel ready creatively to really tackle it until after First Man for whatever reason. I think I did feel like I needed a few movies under my belt in a few different styles before I felt like I

could even try this and not totally fall on my face in embarrassment. I can also say there's like an irony around this movie where once the script was finished and the script was long and ambitious and as wild as the movie was, I mean, it turned out. There was this strange thing where talent jumped in with us because there was nothing like it there was really nothing like it in town and people said like i i just got to be a part of this thing and frankly paramount said that too they they backed us from the beginning because they saw it as such a singular original effort and there's so few of those and it was so bold and so audacious that there was almost this sense of like uh this little this is the only thing like it it may be the last thing like it and if there's a shot to make it let's make it now so um that's also worth that's something i think about a lot like the boldness of the script weirdly attracted people as much as it

put some studios off well i'm glad you said what you said about maybe this will be the last thing like it. Obviously, the film has been divisive. Its defenders are deeply passionate, myself included. But I was wondering if you guys actually had that conversation creatively and even from like a practical perspective. Like we want to challenge people. We want to be aggressive in the way that we're telling the story we know

that this will land with a lot of people and won't land with a lot of people is that something you had a consciousness about as you were getting ready to make the movie you want to take that damien i was my mind was just suddenly flash into the first moment olivia read the script and i remember she kind of she's i mean you can describe this better than I can, Olivia, but you know, a little bit of that, like, like, you know, I don't know, like not being able to, I think you were a little worried about the, the, the sicker recesses in my mind. I don't know.

I was a little bit worried. Your parents were a lot worried. My parents read the script. Oh, man, are we going to make them feel bad if they see? Basically, they cautioned him. They were like, this is insane. This is like, you know, we were aware from reactions like that, that it would be polarizing. I think we went into it with our eyes wide open. But yeah.

It's true. My parents gave us a taste early on of where the range of responses might be. Parents are always good for that. Do they usually read your scripts before you go into production? No, that was the irony. I don't know why they, I think this was the first one they had ever read. And the last one you said you would ever read. And the last one, yeah. I don't know why, you know what it was? I think because it was one of those things that they had just heard me reference for so long.

Again, it was just that, like Matt was saying, the one day movie. One day we'll make this, you know, where it's just for so many years. It's like, what are you working on right now? Well, I'm trying, thinking about this movie, about this. And, you know, so I think once I finally was writing it and they kind of your mom's a historian so i think she was interested in like the she isn't a story and you know so anything kind of looking backwards towards uh yeah towards the past maybe was uh of interest yeah well the punchline is they love the movie they love the finish true yeah they love it yeah but you know parents they

must be trusted. Given where they started based on the script, I think their love for the movie. That's true. They were very unfettered and honest in their reaction to the script. But to come back to your original question, I think we did go into it, eyes wide open, that it wouldn't be a movie for everybody, but that we hoped that doing something bold would, you know, have its fans and supporters. And we've been pleased to find people like you and the other fans of the film. The film is kind of defined by this series of incredible set pieces.

You have this sort of opening orgy. You have these sort of dueling productions happening. You have the snake fight. You have the sound production challenge. I was wondering what was the hardest thing to pull off in terms of the filmmaking i've i've been asked that and and and i always i guess i would think i'd have a good answer to that right now because i i i think in a way my answer keeps shifting because because there were several of these things that had uh that had their sort of um I guess I would say one thing that made the shoot of the movie feel sort of weird

is that we began with what we thought would be the hardest scenes, which was our first two weeks were all the kind of day on set, first day on set stuff. So week one was Nellie's, Margot's first day shooting, where she kind of... And her and and her scenes with with Olivia's character Ruth and it was it was that kind of thing and then the second week was the battlefield and Brad's and and Diego's um day on set logistically you know in terms of just number of extras and and and pyrotechnics and all this stuff and I think we all sort of thought those would be the hardest things. And it was part of the intent was to start with the hardest stuff so we could kind

of prep right up to it and then sort of feel like we'd really bitten off a massive piece of the thing and sort of would have wind behind our sails and go forward. And I remember at the end of those two weeks, we all sort of felt so exalted. We ended kind of like in the movie where they do the kiss at sunset and the cannons go off and there's a butterfly. And just like the people in the movie, we were all cheering and, you know, just felt like, oh, we can do anything now. The rest of the shoot's going to be so easy. You know, cut to sort of like pulling our hair out at various junctures during the remaining several months of shooting, where it just felt like we were, you know know so like in a weird way for me personally the hardest sequence to shoot was the um uh this sort of uh the cocktail soiree party where margot winds

up uh uh vomiting not not because that itself was such an unwieldy set piece but because we had sort of planned on it not being too unwieldy and we had scheduled it down to like its bones like we we you know we we sort of had very little room in the budget to kind of mess around so that's a 10 minute sequence with all of our characters plus a vomiting gag we had two days to shoot it the entire thing so that's it was the fastest pace I've ever had to shoot anything since Whiplash and probably faster than Whiplash even was. It was kind of a mad dash, even though on screen it sort of seems like one of the simpler sort of things to to shoot. I don't know, Matt and Olivia, if you got that's one that comes to my mind of just felt like an impossible challenge. I don't know that a viewer might not think of as impossible. I don't know if you guys have your own memories of,

I know Olivia spent months trying to orchestra, trying to kind of help cast all the extras for the Wallach party and- Yeah, that would be mine. The Wallach party was a monster. It was, we had, well, Damien, it's actually your fault. You had very specific ideas of who you wanted at the party and we had this big board up on the wall like for months as he mentioned where damien matt

and i would go in actually with our our mandy moore who was doing the dance um who basically just took over wallet party planning essentially and we would and it was like a five day shoot or something initially. And basically just casting extras for day one, day two, day three, 45 to seven, based on what activities they need to do, you know, who was going to ran the champagne bottle up. Each of those people were very specifically chosen the makeup of each day. We need this many naked people. I mean, I literally almost at one point put it in an excel spreadsheet and tried to like put numbers to it because we had to also weigh sag and non-sag and all the you know goals of diversity and who was willing to be certain amounts of naked and and who was only willing to be naked and it was like an absolute mind fuck i don't know if i'm

allowed to say that on the podcast you are and then and then on top of that during the shoot you know to take something that complicated and then actually implement it i mean matt remembers we'd be sitting there and it was like extras casting's got it all by 2 30 p.m who's coming back and we'd be just like i don't know was this person's it was like it was crazy to to pull it off and and um achieve the the specificity with which Damien wanted that to look. So that would be my traumatic experience. No, it was just making me think of like, yeah, I think some of the tricky stuff was when the Uber specifics have to speak to a broader macro thing so things like like um making sure the sea of faces we would see in any given crowd scene that that would be

telling a broader story that it had to tell the story of how hollywood changes during the course of the movie how it changes from kind of this land of misfits where everyone's sort of welcome it changes from a place that's more diverse and sort of outrageous in its extremes to a place that becomes more and more homogenized and more and more um you know more and more like the the cocktail soiree i was mentioning before that you know but to try to kind of trace that arc um so i remember it's at a certain point sort of to what olivia was saying we would do these sort of boards of all the faces for things like the wallet party or the pool party or things like that, or the movie sets. But then we'd also have to set those boards alongside each other to make sure that, you

know, as the movie progressed, we were telling just through the faces on screen, we were telling the broader story of, of, um, of, you know, 1926 Hollywood versus 1932 Hollywood. Yeah, it's interesting to hear you say that there was a sort of art imitating life aspect with shooting the kiss with Brad's character and the butterfly. I was wondering if there was a comp for Diego, his character trying to get the camera

at the end of the day. I assume that there's like a kind of breakneck desperation moment on a production this big and this complex. Did you, did you have a, we better get this before we lose the light moment while you were shooting? Yeah, we had, um, it was, yeah, I mean, I mean, well, those days specifically, you know, it's, it's that, that they, again, a very meta irony of like, we have to, you know, the five days of shooting the battlefield every day, we would end the day with shooting just a little bit of the sunset moment, you know, because you only get half an hour, 40 minutes at best or whatever for each window.

But we needed more than that to shoot that entire scene. So we kind of pieced it together during the course of those five nights. And so it was always this mad dash up the hill, literally, to kind of get whatever we could of that. But I remember, I mean, the shoot began very unpromisingly. I remember our very first day of shooting. This will probably also bring up nightmares for Olivia and Matt, where the three of us were on set to do what was called a prep shoot day, where we were basically just going to try to grab some shots during prep. And they were of Diego driving, literally the scene you're referring to, Diego driving the car to race to town to get the camera. And we thought this

would be very simple stuff. It's just him, no extras, just him in the car. We had a pared down crew and literally we didn't get a single shot off before his car got stuck in the like at the bottom of a sand hill because the 20s vehicle couldn't sort of get get enough traction against the sand to get back up and so then we decided we needed to tow it so then we used the camera truck to tow it and the camera truck slid down and got stuck at the bottom of the hill and so we had to bring a third vehicle to tow both of those and i just remember the three of us standing there looking at each other going we have no shot of making this movie this is going to be an epic debacle and it's got one shot with one fucking actor and like look at this it's like out of a fucking blake edwards comedy i mean it's just yeah one pre-shoot day and that that that became indicative of the whole thing

you asked about the impossibility of it i was i was recalling that for the block like my impossible was the blockhouse sequence that toby i was saying was joking with damien there were people on our whole on our own crew that thought we would never do it. They just thought we'd never shoot it because this studio would never allow us. And because what was in that sequence was so insane between the alligators and everything else. schedule we had we had had our own like uh apocalypse now moment by that by that point that that that was insane there was nothing on this movie that was easy everything was so hard and so crazy and so impossible to pull off and then literally there was an entire sequence of the movie that nobody ever thought we'd shoot or frankly a lot of people didn't even think we'd shoot so it was it was that kind of thing like there was there was absolutely i can safely say in my career nothing like shooting

this movie and every single day was some mad dash to pull off the impossible i maybe i'm thinking about this sort of thing more than and maybe too much more than the common viewer but i when i was watching the film, I thought, definitely thought to myself, this seems really fucking hard to do. And I know that sometimes I can seem like not a compliment or the, like the scenes are showing or something like that. But in a way,

like I wonder if there was a kind of showing your work aspect to the audacity of the filmmaking and the production that you guys were sort of aiming for that, like a kind of maximalism was a point of the production yes and to shoot practically we shot there's there's basically no green screen in this movie when there's 700 extras in 100 degree heat doing a battle sequence like they did 100 years ago we shot it essentially like they did a hundred years ago, you know, and during COVID we'd show up and we would, we, we would be what? 200 extras less than we needed. And then Olivia and I have been running around recruiting people.

There was no there on this movie. I don't think like fix it in post was even, I mean, uttered once. I mean, it was just poor, poor, poor Matt and Olivia. I think every, every morning i remember of those battle scenes i show up in the first man every day damien would be so upset that people wouldn't show up and then we'd have to dress the amount of days that we dressed our assistant and our and our driver in yeah i remember one point we dressed we had our driver get in a battle wardrobe and um that's when our other producer mark platt was like no dumb olivia

bad decision what were you i was like i went too far okay the driver we need that we need the car to get damien to set we can't have that but like all the you know even everybody was in you know our ad um had all his pas basically in in battle costume doing their job so they could participate as extras because Damien needed as many bodies as he could get. I understand the intent there, reflecting the way that these productions happened. But I guess, is there more to it? Why was that important to you guys to make the film this way

rather than green screen it or fix it in post or what have you? Well, for me, that's just like a personal taste thing which where where i just i just think it looks better when done practically or when at least let's say 90 or more of the frame is practical and you're using vfx in a very you know sort of targeted way to paint out certain things or augment other things um i certainly you know a lot of great filmmakers feel otherwise you know and that's you know different aesthetics um but i think i've always um i've always leaned towards that i think i think maybe also you know in terms of just the spirit of the movie of what it wanted to you know i wanted to try to give audiences a let's say a tactile sense of um what what living and making movies in that era might have been like

and sort of what like the the the toll that the elements might take on you you know i do think there's a tendency today to think of old hollywood as very glamorous and elegant and you know that it was just this sort of pristine lifestyle and what what we would find is, you know, really, I mean, and it makes sense if you just think about the technology they had and the landscapes they were shooting in and how much of Hollywood and LA, or I should say LA rather, not Hollywood, how much of LA was sort of desert. It was manual labor and it was out in the heat and it was sort of desert winds and dust getting into your feet and your hair and your eyes. And that just affects sort of how things are made, what people look like, how they act. It sort of becomes a big part of just the entire lifestyle.

I also think it weirdly affects how they then part into the sort of you know into these kind of fantasias of sort of house parties or you know underground things where they're just like you know um um sort of losing themselves in in you know a kind of uh bacchanalia that maybe in some ways is a reaction to the the sort of arduousness of the work during the day, you know, and then they sort of get up from their party and they're back at work. And this sort of this kind of hamster wheel of the lifestyle, you know, that again, in some ways only makes sense once you realize how much, how, you know, how young a lot of these people would die, how many drugs they were taking, how much they were being fueled by a kind of, you know, you listen to reports that, you know, people talk, actors and stuff at the time talking about it,

just how they were just popping pills left and right. It was this kind of, you know, and then of course, you know, various famous movie stars would develop really crippling addictions and whatnot. You'd have Wally Reed and people like that where suddenly, oh, okay, actually they're in the sanatorium where they're dead and we just move on. You know, there was a relentlessness to the Hollywood machine that I think is hard to separate from just the elements and just maybe the, you know, the sweatiness, let's say, of what they were doing. So kind of felt like personal taste aside, the movie itself had to reflect a little bit of that sweatiness it couldn't be a sort of let's say a movie like lala land where the the aim was to try to make it look sort of you know light on its feet and effortless this had to be sort of a movie where you felt the

heavy machinery and you felt people trying to like fitzcarraldo or something trying to like literally pull that ocean liner up the uh you know up the hill um the insanity of that it's an irrational enterprise these people were all fucking nuts and i think it's important to to remember that and be honest about it sean i'm curious can i ask what moment felt you felt the effort in like just from that opening party that you were talking about, Olivia, just the watching the way that the camera was moving. I was like, this is not easy to do. And that's kind of what plugged me into the movie where I was like,

this is not your standard, even your standard kind of quote unquote prestige movie. And I appreciated that about it, obviously. And I thought there was like an incredible amount of craft and just having been exposed to the production before. Like it's, I know I, I could sense the effort in a good way.

But I have to ask you guys about the reaction to the movie and how it's doing. And we're joking about Babylon Hive, which matters to me. But it's got to be a complicated circumstance where on the one hand, maybe it hasn't performed exactly the way that you guys would have wanted it

to at the box office. On the other hand, the conversations that I have with people about the movie are like, this is now my favorite cult object of this time. And so that must be conflicting. I'm curious how all three of you feel about it, having poured so much time and energy into this film. No one wants to go.

Well, I'll just, I'll, I'll just begin just by by by maybe echoing what we were saying before that that uh we sort of knew that uh we knew this movie would you know that there would be a variety of reactions probably and and um um i think the hope on our end was to just try to um try to do a movie where you don't feel like the filmmakers are operating out of fear of reactions, where you sort of feel a kind of defiance

in sort of how it's made. But you have to kind of, I don't know, you sort of have to know what you're in for if you're going to do that. I think we were very lucky, again, to have people on the the team i guess whether it's the studio or the cast and crew who were who were okay with that who were okay to sort of do something where where um it was going to be that kind of thing that um was not likely to be a

consensus sort of thing this was going to be a yeah all over the map kind of kind of uh kind of thing um but with the hope that it would get people talking that it would stir conversation that would um you know uh make some noise on on that level that was that that i guess was was always the dream yeah i mean i couldn't be prouder to be honest of the fact that it has got people talking. That's the goal. You know, it maybe goes to say, but, you know, we were out here trying to make a transgressive work of art. And in a time where, to be blunt, there's a lot of content production, there's a lot of IP-based content franchise production and all of that has its place and it's wonderful. We wanted to do something different and

it's exciting that people are so passionate. It's almost definitional of this time in Hollywood that everything is either a shrug or, I don't know, like an awards program or like you can sort of see it coming from a mile away. And we did have those conversations about who we wanted to be and how we wanted to make something different and make something timeless and make something that people talked about, maybe not just this year, but even in the years to come at a time when a lot of people don't do that so i'm i'm i'm you know of course there's conflicted feelings around some people fucking hate this movie right and then some people go people have said things to me that have absolutely melted my brain about their love for this movie that i that's shaken me to my core and I've never had

that experience before and that's that's really that's really exciting the the thing I'll say is that we it is really highlighted to me something that I'm sort of interrogating a bit which is that we really film culture right now lives in this age of like scoring almost like sports so many reviews now have scores at the end. It's like seven out of 10 or four out of 10. Even some really great writers end up going, it's a B minus or a, you know, a D or whatever. And then there's all these scores now. And, and then of course you get these review aggregator sites. One in particular that we all know well, Rotten Tomatoes, aggregates all of the reviews. And then that's yet another score. And then you get another score with your box office take and

people don't come because they see that aggregator score and they go, well, and there's no place for a divisive movie on that aggregator score. If you get a lot of yeses and a lot of no's, you end up with something in the middle. Then you get your box office score. And then even online now, there's the scoring of awards and the award season. Even that term, the award season, sounds like the playoffs or something. It's an interesting thing for film culture because I actually think it affects everybody. It affects filmmakers and film critics too. I love film critics and I think they're really essential,

an essential and vital part of what film culture is. So this sort of the scoring of everything to me has gotten really highlighted in this process. So that's become something I'm thinking a lot about. And yet none of that matters when somebody comes up and goes, I saw Babylon. I think it's fucking amazing. And it's the movie of the year. And I can well accept that then somebody writes a review and says, you know, it's dog shit. That's reality. That's how it is. And I'd rather have people talking and debating and disagreeing than giving that sort of universal shrug which is what a lot of things get

there's kind of a weirdness in the movie culture right now i've noticed this with a couple of movies recently like um the banshees have been a sharon is an interesting example which was not a huge box office success but then went to streaming and i can just tell just from having making this show that i'm making more people are watching it clearly than saw it at the box office too and And the idea of like the second life of the film, but then maybe not seeing the film the way that it was intended, but knowing that that is kind of like an aspect of our movie culture, I think is an interesting example specifically for you guys. Like I'm sure your film will stream at some point and then a lot more people will end up seeing it. And then there will be a whole other cycle of takes and point of view. you know is do you at all feel conflicted about that about the sort of staggered

nature of the way that people find this stuff i think we don't feel that conflicted because we and i'm in matt maybe i would include you as well we all believe so passionately in in movie theaters and having that both big screen and also communal experience. And I think Babylon is a movie that it, the experience of seeing it at theaters is just going to be different than watching it at home on streaming. Not that you won't be able to appreciate it at home, but, you know, sitting through it with an audience for those set pieces that you mentioned and just feeling the energy of other people going through

the ride I think is very important. So I guess to the question of if we ever considered, you know, trying to have it be seen more broadly, faster, I think for us, it was like definitely not a question we were pushing for a longer exclusive window just to, because we want to do everything we can to support movie theaters and push people to see movies in cinema. Yeah. window just because we want to do everything we can to support movie theaters and push people to see movies in cinema yeah i guess i think of like when i grew up that you know um that it it

already at that point it was understood you know that movies eventually would live in home video like we we've been living with the idea of home video for a while it only feels like recently has it become this sort of oppositional thing i guess of like movie theaters versus home video for a while it only feels like recently has it become this sort of oppositional thing i guess of like movie theaters versus home video um and whereas i think it can and should just be additive i love the idea actually of like multiple lives for a movie i guess in a weird way that's also part of why i'm not thrilled with things like day and date or things like that just just what you're referring to, even if only a handful of people initially saw Banshees in its first life, let's say, theatrically, and then

more see it in its second life, let's say, at home, just the idea of multiple life cycles for a movie just speaks to a movie living, I guess, and living multiple times. And that I love. That, I think, is great for what Matt refers to as film culture and just good for cinema. And so, you know, I think the additive, the yes and idea, you know, which does, I think, require maybe us filmmakers to a certain extent trying to stand behind at least the first foray of a movie into the ecosystem being through theaters again not that that's right for every filmmaker or every movie you know i think that's a whole complicated discussion but for us personally just sort of

believing and um believing and maintaining that i guess as kind of um as sort of the first swing at bat but always being realistic course, that eventually it's going to go onto other platforms. And that's how even, you know, even with a movie that does very well in the box office, that'll be still how most people through history will wind up seeing it. And that that's fine, that that's a beautiful thing as well. And that these things can, you know, coexist and actually help each other. You know, I think we've found that even movies that don't do great in movie theaters, if they go into movie theaters first,

they tend to do better once they go to home video. That's sort of been proven now, you know, down the line with a lot of examples over the past couple of years when based on studios experimenting with day and date and things like that, that I'm not a big believer in. So anyway, that's a whole,

I think yes and is where I land. Guys, we end every episode of the show by asking filmmakers, what's the last great thing they've seen. So I need three answers. Who wants to go first? Just generally lasted. I mean, ideally a film,

but if it's a kid playing on a playground, I mean, I saw, I finally saw moon age daydream, which I absolutely adored as a kind of like alt documentary about one of my idols that sort of reassessed and reassembled footage I had seen and turned it into a sort of an ode to Bowie through the prism of how Bowie worked. And I thought that was absolutely fucking brilliant. And as a big Bowie fan, I thought that I had very high expectations and thought I wouldn't be able to be moved. And I was really, really, really moved and found sort of honoring an artist like that right now in time, even relevant to the Babylon conversation, somebody who really stepped

out of outside of the bounds uh what was normal and pushed people uh moved me to my core so i loved uh i loved miniature daydream i just saw the coliseum in rome i know that's not a no that's not a movie but man you don't understand i've never been to rome this was my first that we were just just there um as part of the european tour with the movie and i mean it's the most cinematic thing i've seen in a while i can assure you you're the This was my first that we were just there as part of the European tour with the movie. And I mean, it's the most cinematic thing I've seen in a while. I can assure you, you're the first person to say the Colosseum in Rome for that question. Can I give it a score?

Nine out of ten. Nine out of ten. The Colosseum. Nine out of ten. It's an A minus. That's amazing. I'm not going to top Damien's answer, so I almost don't want to give an answer because that's a good answer to end on. Should I give one or should we just end on that?

Come on, make a recommendation. I mean, it could be something else in Rome. I do have an answer. Stop recommending the Coliseum. I love that. Damien recommends. I love, I recently rewatched The Handmaiden, the Park Chan-wook film. And to me, that is is beautiful, epic movie that everybody

should see. Great movie. Great recommendations. Great one. Matt, Olivia, Damien, thanks for doing this and thanks for Babylon. Appreciate you guys. Thank you, man. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Thank you to Damien Chazelle. Thank you to Matt Plouffe. Thank you to Damien Chazelle. Thank you to Matt Plouffe. Thank you to Olivia Hamilton. Thank you to Bobby Wagner, our ace producer on this incredibly long episode of the show.

Thanks to CR and Amanda for losing to me. Please tune in next Tuesday when we will be breaking down the Academy Award nominations first thing in the morning. We'll see you then