The Bill Simmons Podcast - Charlize Theron on Becoming an Action Hero, Avoiding Rom-Coms, and 15 Minutes With De Niro (Ep. 242)

Episode Date: July 27, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron to discuss her new action film 'Atomic Blonde' (5:00), auditioning with a poor English accent (11:00), Johnny Depp�...��s presence (16:00), Tobey Maguire's gambling (22:00), chatting with De Niro (33:00), consulting Patty Jenkins on 'Monster' (39:00), overcoming a neck injury (47:00), working with Seth MacFarlane (54:00), and the loss of irony (1:02:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Today's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek. That is our presenting sponsor. That is the easiest way to shop for the best tickets thanks to their revolutionary grading system. I did it last weekend, Angels-Red Sox game. Last minute, my buddy Daniel said, hey, let's go to the Angels game. I went on SeatGeek. Unfortunately, I could not get my $10 off baseball tickets the first time I used SeatGeek
Starting point is 00:00:21 because I've used SeatGeek before, But it was great, and we ended up seven rows behind the Red Sox dugout. It all couldn't have worked out better, but if you want $10 off baseball tickets the first time you use SeatGeek, go use promo code BSMLB. Download the SeatGeek app today. Or go right to SeatGeek.com.
Starting point is 00:00:40 We are also brought to you by Talk the Thrones. Oh, yeah. That is our new Game of Thrones post-game show on Twitter. All you have to do is go to our Twitter handle, at Ringer, or you can put in hashtag Talk the Thrones. You can listen to Mallory Rubin, Jason Concepcion, the stars of our Binge Mode Game of Thrones podcast,
Starting point is 00:01:01 which you should also be subscribing to and downloading. They're doing the, every Wednesday, they update the latest episode of the feed, Game of Thrones podcast, which you should also be subscribing to and downloading. They're doing the, every Wednesday, they update the latest episode of the feed, Game of Thrones Breakdowns. But they're doing this one, Talk the Thrones, with Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan of The Watch, another one of our podcasts. Sunday nights, right after Game of Thrones on HBO. Go to at ringer or go to the Talk the Thrones hashtag, and there you go.
Starting point is 00:01:26 They'll break down Game of Thrones for you. Coming up is an interview I taped a couple weeks ago with a very famous actress who turned out to be just as engaging as she is talented. That's coming up right now, but first, our friends from Pearl Jam. We're taping this second week of July. Time unknown for the listeners. Charlize Theron. Yes.
Starting point is 00:02:11 I was asking you if Theron, if you get that one, you just shake it off. Yeah, I get it a lot. I mean, look, the bottom line is the real pronunciation of my name is so far off from both of those. What is it? It's Theron. Oh. Yeah. The South African pronunciation. Yeah. So I, you you know i can't say anything about it okay somebody an american this manager that i had when i started you know
Starting point is 00:02:33 ages ago said if you change your last name to theron it would be easier for americans like the spelling or just the pronunciation okay so we kept the spelling but it's just a different pronunciation but he was so wrong so I have two things for you that I just want to get off the thing coming out of the bag no no and then we're going I did not so your PR people sent atomic blonde to me
Starting point is 00:02:57 but I would have had to watch it on my iPad I didn't want to I want to see it in the movie theater I've done this before where I have the guests and they're like, here's the movie and then I'm watching this little tiny iPad and it's like, I don't feel like that's how Atomic Blonde was meant to
Starting point is 00:03:13 be watched. Am I correct? Yeah. Hey, as long as you watch it. What's the release date? We're releasing July 28th. So I'm going to go in the theater. That's nice. And I know I'm going to like it because I like all action movies.
Starting point is 00:03:27 That's really cool. It's got the Jane Wick label, which I don't know if you like or you don't like. Sure. Are you kidding me? That's good, right? Yeah. Because they've already made two John Wicks. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:35 I really like those movies. It was because of the first one that I reached out to David Leitch, the director. Yeah. He was one of the directors of the first um john wick and uh you know i was a huge fan of those i am a huge fan of those films and i think keanu is so incredible in that whole genre what i liked about too is that it was they upped the stakes from one and like they just made like a bigger crazier better version of john wick one which i think you have to do when you do a sequel.
Starting point is 00:04:06 Yeah, hopefully we can do that. You've done a couple now because you did Mad Max. Action films or sequels? Yeah, action films. Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, I feel like Mad Max and this film are the only two really big action films that I would. This one,
Starting point is 00:04:27 you had to do the fight scenes. You don't really like. Yeah. I had a lot of fight scenes in, in Mad Max. It was just different, you know, because we were in vehicles. And so a lot of the fighting is a lot of just upper body stuff.
Starting point is 00:04:37 Although Tom Hardy and I had a pretty intense fight outside of the trucks in the desert that we literally, I think it took three weeks to shoot. It was a really, really big fight scene. But, you know, we shot for 135 days or something like that on that film with a crazy budget and on Atomic Blonde, you know, we made this movie for $30 million. And so we didn't have the,
Starting point is 00:05:06 you know, we didn't have three weeks to shoot one action sequence. I went and I researched all these different interviews because, you know, we have the internet. Yes. You've done internet. Yeah, you've done PR in the past.
Starting point is 00:05:19 Yeah. And it seems like in these interviews, they ask you about like the same five or six things over and over again. And then you just answer them in different ways. Oh, I do? I don't want to do that. You're giving me a lot of credit.
Starting point is 00:05:30 I don't think I go that far. I think I answer them the same way. Just with a variance of annoyance. No, no. I don't know what you're talking about. A variance of soberness. We did this with Kurt Russell, and it worked. We just went through his IMDb.
Starting point is 00:05:46 Yeah. And we talked about each movie and it was really fun and a boring interview no it's not going to be boring it's going to be really fun the first movie you were ever in Children of the Corn 3 so walk me through that one so I was
Starting point is 00:06:03 I was rooming with a friend and she knew this guy who was a director, and he was the director of that film, and he needed extras. And I thought I had hit it big. How long had you been in LA at that point? Maybe nine months, 10 months, like around a year. Yeah. And I just thought that was it. I was done. was like made i
Starting point is 00:06:26 was so happy what was the plot of children in the corn three i think i saw one and two i don't know i think i missed three a lot of corn involved and children that's about all i know and screaming yeah that's all i did i went one night they said that we had to bring our own clothes and they were very specific it had to be black and i was so excited i went and bought these uh a new pair of pumas and at the time i was really poor so that was really a big spend for me and then we got there and they dumped all this fake red blood all over my new pumas and i was pretty pissed about that but then i was like i made it i made it so it didn't matter so you were trying to make it in la in the mid 90s like during the swingers era of you saw
Starting point is 00:07:06 swingers yeah of course yeah that whole was like yeah pre-internet everybody just kind of came out here nobody knew that if they're gonna get a job nobody had money yeah it was the early 90s i was here early uh 94 um and i i had i left south africa when i was 16 and kind of traveled all over the world. And I would get modeling jobs, you know, just to kind of pay the bills. Right. But, you know, prior to starting the, like, just messing around with the acting thing, I just, I thought I would be a ballerina for the rest of my life. That was kind of my first passion until I realized I couldn't do that anymore. And so then by the time I came out here, it really was because I realized I wanted to try and do something in my life that involves storytelling on some level. And so I knew nothing about acting, but I knew that I liked storytelling. And so I just, I flew out here to really just give it a shot.
Starting point is 00:08:01 How many places did you waitress at um so i couldn't waitress at a lot of places because i was here um on tourist visas and so a lot of places wouldn't let me work but i work in la i'm surprised yeah i know they were they have a real high bar yeah um but i worked at a couple i mean i i I, I worked more in New York actually, by the time I came out here, I was a little bit more settled and I could financially support myself a little bit too, but I was also, you know, living from hand to mouth. So. Right. All right. Two days in the Valley, your first break, 1996. Yeah. So how does that happen?
Starting point is 00:08:41 I auditioned for it. I, you know, it was a weird one because I had met this manager and who told me to change my name. And he- Do you remember what he told you to change your name to? Well, to the pronunciation of what we were just talking about. It wasn't like he didn't change it to Sally or something? No, no.
Starting point is 00:08:59 He was like, pronounce it Theron. People will understand Theron. All right. And that was not the case but he uh he told me about this audition for this film um and I had just gotten an agent at UTA which was pretty big because I had no resume I had no experience I had a very heavy South African accent my English was very poor and I went on to audition and I didn't really know how to audition so they made me do the scene where I'm supposed to be shot and I went out to audition and I didn't really know how to audition so yeah they made me
Starting point is 00:09:26 do the scene where I'm supposed to be shot and I brought like a little bottle of ketchup like I thought you had to like recreate the whole scene and so I barged through the door with um you know ketchup on my shirt and screaming and yelling and trying to really turn a casting room into a mansion where the scene took place and i think they were just scared that i was maybe you know gonna kill them all so they gave me the job um because i don't know if i was necessarily good even john hertzfeld who directed that film was like years later he's like Charlize you're not good at auditioning but you're um I think he said something like you're you're relentless like you figure out a way to kind of like stay in people's heads when did you get rid of the accent well I started then I mean he was interested in me the the character was always Swedish so it kind
Starting point is 00:10:22 of helped me a little bit um but, but after that, you know, a lot of, I would do a lot of auditions and people would say, well, if she can do an American accent, she, you know, she could be a contender. And so I realized that I had to, would you have to get rid of to make you sound more American? Well, I was raised in as with Afrikaans as my first language. And so I spoke very, very little English. Oh. I had English as a second language, but where I lived, nobody spoke English.
Starting point is 00:10:50 So I didn't necessarily have to break something so much. Like, I really, I learned English here in America. When you get drunk, does it come back? Yeah, and when I go back to South Africa, it comes back in a heartbeat, yeah. That's what I'm like with Boston. Oh, really? You get all Bostonian when you go? Yeah, I got rid of the Boston accent, but if I get drunk, like, I go back to South Africa, it comes back in a heartbeat. That's what I'm like with Boston. Oh, really? You get all Bostonian? Yeah, I got rid of the Boston accent, but if I get drunk, I just drop the R's and the L's.
Starting point is 00:11:11 Is it the booze? The booze. You just kind of forget. So how long before you had a good American accent? I still don't have a good American accent. I think you sound... Well, that's nice. Like a normal American. I would say my accent is good.
Starting point is 00:11:26 My English is not that good. And people are always surprised by that. I make a lot of tense errors and grammar errors. And my spelling is terrible. And people are always a little shocked by that. Because they think they just assume that I've lived here my whole life. Did you see Blood Diamond? Yes.
Starting point is 00:11:43 Were you okay with Leo's accent in that movie? Yeah. Because it's very polarizing. No, it was really good because they made him Rhodesian. Yeah. Yeah, that really helped. Did you go into that thinking Leo's going to screw up the accent? I'm going to be mad about this?
Starting point is 00:11:55 No, I mean, he's so great. Okay. He's really great. And he worked really hard on it. I could tell because I think a lot of people just kind of do this one-dimensional South African thing. What does the the one dimensional sound like just like over the top sing you know like i'm from south africa hi bro you know it sounds australian oh really well look at southern hemisphere we're neighbors it's the same thing leo's was good there was a
Starting point is 00:12:20 couple of spots in the movie where he kind of forgot to stick with it oh aren't you the expert all of a sudden wow bill nobody i didn't know that i should have looked you up when i was trying to lose my south african accent i am the accent i'm obsessed with movie accents especially because are you really well because there's so many people that do the boston now it's the boston thing oh the car in the parking lot yeah some people they. Some people- They go really wide with it, huh? They make the mistake of doing the Kennedy's version of the Boston accent. Oh, yeah. That's a- And not just the Boston accent.
Starting point is 00:12:50 Even when it's good, it sounds wrong, right? Yeah. Damon's the best. To me, Damon in Good Will Hunting, because he's from Massachusetts, but- Yes, it's easier. That accent is how it should sound. It's more attitude. And Ben, not so much?
Starting point is 00:12:59 You don't- No, Ben was good, too. Oh, okay. But you went with Damon, so that's an interesting thing. Damon gets more attitude. You're revealing so much about yourself. I am a little pro-David, I guess. Really?
Starting point is 00:13:09 Well, for that movie, I am. Interesting. Yeah. You get to carry that one. All right. We're going to Devil's Advocate. Yeah. What do you want to know?
Starting point is 00:13:17 What about that one? What about it? How did I get the job? No. It's on cable a lot. Oh, it is? I think it's mildly underrated now oh yeah it was like the first uh like star i mean look i i was i felt completely out of my league on uh two days in the
Starting point is 00:13:38 valley with people like danny aiello and james spader who I just have such admiration for, and Glenn Headley, just great actors. But that was the first time it was like Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. So it was just, it felt so, it didn't feel like it was even possible. And you're like third billing in that movie. Yeah, I mean, it was crazy. And getting the job was, it wasn't easy. I'm still shocked that I got the job. I still think a mistake was made.
Starting point is 00:14:03 It was like a weird moment of three actors and all of us kind of screen testing over and over. And when I finally got the call, I had a moment where I was like, what if they dialed the wrong number? Right. Because that could be what it what it is. Was that your first experience going through the whole, hey, it's the new one. It's this new starlet potentially. And she's going to be on this cover and in this interview and all that. I don't even think people talk that way about me. I was just, I felt like, you know, I was swimming in the deep end and I was just trying to keep my head above water. I knew that I was with Al Pacino and I Keanu and I needed to not drown. I needed to like, you know, bring my part to the table. So I,
Starting point is 00:14:47 I worked really hard and I, I tried my best. Do you rewatch your old movies or you just, you forget about them? No, I would never like, you know, pop on a movie of mine.
Starting point is 00:14:57 What if it came on? What if you're flicking channels? I force my children to do that. No, I, um, uh, yeah,
Starting point is 00:15:03 if it came, like if I was, you know, surfing and it came on, I would watch like a few minutes of it, but I don't think I could do to do that. No, I... Yeah, if it came, like if I was, you know, surfing and it came on, I would watch like a few minutes of it. But I don't think I could do the whole thing. No. Yeah. I don't know how I'd feel because I'm not an actress.
Starting point is 00:15:16 Astronaut's wife. Unless you want to talk about Mighty Joe Young. I'm here to talk about what you want to talk about. Well, you pick. I'm ready to move to the astronaut's wife. Let's do it. Because I thought that was kind of underrated, too. Okay, great. Johnny Depp.
Starting point is 00:15:28 Yeah. What did you learn from Johnny Depp? He's an amazing actor. He was, I think, the first crazy, super intimidating actor that I ever worked with. He's intimidating. Intimidating because he's such a good actor? Or there's something intimidating about him personally? Yes, he's a great, great, great actor
Starting point is 00:15:45 And he's got tremendous talent But he comes to work with this presence This thing that's very Johnny Depp-ish And it's intimidating And if you just veer on the other side of Being in his good graces It's not pretty so it wasn't intimidating nothing happened but you know you when you work on a film i think people don't realize it's like any kind of
Starting point is 00:16:13 work environment yeah you know after day 30 or 40 it can get you know you're sleep deprived and all this all of this stuff that and uh you know i i think we had one moment with one scene and he wasn't very happy with uh you know how i kind of saw it and um yeah he did this this thing that was very intimidating where he just kind of like not he didn't scream it he didn't yell or anything. He just is not like cool, like, you know, I don't even know you kind of thing. I was like, oh, God. All right. But then you go to work and he's like, you know, he's one of the top ten actors in the world. So I was super, I felt really privileged to be able to make that movie with him.
Starting point is 00:17:03 When you're in a movie with Johnny Depp, especially when you're younger and you haven't totally established the gravitas yet, do you feel like you have to go get lunch with him or feel him out? Or is it just like you show up on the set and you go? You know, the director took me to meet him. He was working on something. I forget what it was. And I think we did have lunch in his trailer. And he was super lovely and super warm.
Starting point is 00:17:25 He's a very warm guy. Like he's very, very warm. And I think a lot of him turning is actually because he is so warm. And I think he's super sensitive. I think when he feels like somebody's wronging him, he takes it very seriously. But we didn't, you don't get to hang out that much.
Starting point is 00:17:44 I think people think that we didn't, you don't get to hang out that much. I think people think that we're like, you know, we're not like bands on the road or what I imagine that lifestyle would be where you hang out a lot. Like you work long hours and you sometimes work six day weeks and it's not a lot, you don't have a lot of, or I can't do it.
Starting point is 00:18:04 I don't have the stamina for it it's got to be more fun now that there's the internet when you're stuck in a trailer for six hours like what'd you do in 1999 you're like reading magazines and books and what did i do you know i i love to play backgammon i'm like an obsessive backgammon player oh my god yeah that's i would have rather done that that than the podcast i love backgammon nobody wants to play backgammon oh i'm a vicious money though yeah oh that's the only way to do it so i have a family problem i mean i when i say i play for money toby mcguire might disagree with you because i played him once and he was like this is for 15 grand and i was like yeah this is for 15 grand and then i lost and i was like this is not for 15 grand this is for 5 dollars
Starting point is 00:18:45 and I think he's still upset with me over that so I shouldn't say that but I love playing backgammon and I've I've spent many in movies
Starting point is 00:18:53 like finding one person on the set that I can just like obsessively sit on a set and play backgammon with do you play online? no
Starting point is 00:19:00 yeah I do I have like you know just on your computer like yeah I play every night before I fall asleep. last summer and I I mean I went to town because you know you're like in the hood of the game so I every bartender every restaurant I went to it was it got crazy to the point where
Starting point is 00:19:31 I beat this guy one night so badly that he was just demoralized and he came to find me at the hotel that I was staying at to play me again and And then he beat me. And it was like, God, I should have just left it alone. I was like, I just couldn't. I couldn't stop. I kept going. And then he just beat me horribly. But he came to, he found me and wanted to have a rematch. This sounds like the sports movie that you need to make.
Starting point is 00:19:58 Yeah, right? Yeah. You're back in and you used to be the best. Something happened. There were little stalking involved. you had like a drinking problem or something and then you got your act together I think I was a little wasted backgammon's the best
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Starting point is 00:21:33 Oh, really? I think the idea could be stretched out over like 20 episodes. Wow. The guy, the astronaut, something happens. He comes back. Something's not totally right. Oh, you mean the astronaut's wife, not the devil's? The astronaut's wife. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was the devil's advocate, right the astronaut's wife not the devil's the astronaut's wife
Starting point is 00:21:45 yeah yeah yeah I was the devil's advocate well yeah the devil's story can be when we edit this it's gonna be the astronaut's wife
Starting point is 00:21:52 you're gonna make yourself look really good I think it could've been like a 25 episode series though oh thank you Cider House rules uh
Starting point is 00:22:00 yeah what well I 2000 yeah 2000 what was going on? I, I, um, I auditioned for the Cider House roles, um, with Toby and I was a huge fan of Lassa Holstrom. I just, I think he's an incredible filmmaker and I really wanted to work with him. And I love that book. I love John Irving. Yeah. So I felt very lucky to get that role. You know, I was working at the time
Starting point is 00:22:34 kind of back to back on that film and a film, I think before that, I did a film called The Yards. And so they were both Miramax films. And I was kind of like going back to back on these two films. And I felt really, I loved where I was in my life. I was working on things that I really wanted to work on. And I felt super satisfied in my life creatively.
Starting point is 00:23:01 It was a good time for me. Well, it sounds like you were. Because all of a sudden, you're talking about what filmmakers you want to work with. Yeah. Five years, it was a good time for me. Well, it sounds like you were because all of a sudden you're talking about what filmmakers you want to work with. Yeah. Five years ago,
Starting point is 00:23:08 you were looking for a job. You know, that's a great luxury to have at that age and I don't take that for granted at all. So is that when Toby kicked your ass
Starting point is 00:23:16 in Backgammon? I think it was after, actually. Yeah, it was like at a beach house. Like, we have a lot of mutual friends and I think it was
Starting point is 00:23:24 actually after that movie that's like one of the seven rules of living in los angeles it's like don't go on the street if you're at a poker table with toby mcguire get up and leave yeah well i just say don't gamble with toby mcguire ever i broke every rule i think i was the i was the one in the wrong with that situation i think he had every right to be pissed at me. Reindeer Games 2000. Yeah. An all-time Hall of Fame underrated rewatchable cable movie. Well, just
Starting point is 00:23:51 purely because it's John Frankenheimer. It's a cool movie and it's actually better now that the TVs are widescreen because remember that era where You can see those Santas so much better. Oh, yeah. I like to see the wide shots of the Santas. It's great. I think Manchurian, ironically, Johnny Depp on Astronaut's Wife introduced me to Manchurian Candidate.
Starting point is 00:24:16 He said to me, you have to watch this movie. I think this is an almost perfect film. And I couldn't agree with him more. Are you talking about the new one or the old one? No, the one that John Frankenheimer did. Okay um Johnny Depp thought that was an almost perfect movie yeah and I think it's so Johnny Depp it's a really great film it's a really great film and then I I started watching other films of his like seconds and yeah I think that film is really great yeah um and so that was that movie for me, I'll be very honest in saying,
Starting point is 00:24:47 100% John Frankenheimer made me sign on. Yeah, I wanted to work with a great, an old classic great like that. Somebody who was just that thoroughbred, like has done it. And, you know, he came from doing those theater television productions where it was like live television. I don't know. I was fascinated by him. You caught Affleck at an interesting time in his career.
Starting point is 00:25:14 It's like three years after Good Will Hunting. He's making a ton of money doing movies. He was so sweet. I fell in love with him on that movie. He couldn't have been nicer. I got to tell you, Matt and Ben are two of my favorite favorite guys i have ever been around just it's a big day for boston right here yeah i'm telling you you get something in the water something in the water nice people yeah just really solid um salt of the earth great sense humor. They don't take themselves too seriously.
Starting point is 00:25:46 Sly Stallone doesn't like them. Oh. That's the only person I found out. Wait, how? What? There was some sort of Golden Globes table imbroglio during the year. You know so much. I know.
Starting point is 00:25:56 Well, I like to make sure my Boston guys are all right. So what happened? Sly showed up at the Globes. He thought it was his table. This is the last Globes? The one when he was nominated for Creed. Okay. And he showed up, and Matt and Ben, it was their table.
Starting point is 00:26:11 But Sly thought, and Sly got mad about it, apparently. He thought it was his table. Yeah, he thought he had seats at it. And they were like, no, no, this is our table. And it got a little ugly. Yeah, a little Sly bitterness. Well, it must have been ugly on his part because I can't imagine Matt and Ben. No, I think Matt and Ben were like, Rocky Balboa, please don't be bad at us.
Starting point is 00:26:31 It was one of those. No, I mean, I could tell you, and I don't even know this for a fact, that both those guys would be like, oh my God, Sly Stallone. Like, they're so... Right. They were horrified. They were like, no, no, no. Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:26:43 Yeah. That's so... I hate hearing stuff like that. The Golden Globes is the most fun one to go to, right? Well, everybody always says, yeah, because you have food and you have booze. Right. But I was there two years in a row and I never got food. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:26:58 Yeah. Maybe they do it intentionally. We literally ordered a pizza from our table. We, on our phone, ordered a pizza. Scorsese was at my table, and somebody at the table ordered pizza for us. Do you think they deliberately withhold the food? No, I think it was an accident. I think it's so crazy trying to feed everybody.
Starting point is 00:27:17 I cannot imagine being somebody who works with food there. I mean, it's just too many people. It's crazy that they can even pull it off. So how would you rank the award shows? What's number one to go to for you? Oh, my God. For you personally. Oh, I've never thought of this.
Starting point is 00:27:36 Well, what's the one you're the most excited about? Like, oh, I have this one. Oh, this will be fun. I'm excited for this one. I'll be completely honest. None of that stuff is fun for me okay so i wouldn't use the word fun was it ever fun no it's always been super intimidating like really really intimidating because you're just surrounded by all these you know when the first time i went
Starting point is 00:27:58 i was just starstruck and yeah you i feel i have always suffered from this I'm in like somehow I got invited and I'm not really invited like I always think a mistake was made and I'm not supposed to be there and you didn't think that after you won the Oscar though then you're like yeah I got nominated like a year or two years afterwards and I was like this has got to be a mistake. Like I am always a little bit, yeah. So whenever I'm in those rooms, I feel like I don't have the funniest joke and I don't feel, and I always, here's my problem. I do like to have a cocktail
Starting point is 00:28:36 and then I say very inappropriate things. And I don't mean to say inappropriate things. We should have given you booze for this. Yeah. I didn't realize. I'm going to have backgammon and booze ready to roll. You think this is a Starbucks tea? Yeah, I should have known.
Starting point is 00:28:50 Yeah, so I always kind of go home and I go, God, did I really say that to Glenn Close? Right. But I guess that makes it fun. I find myself at dinner tables with really, really good friends who've been around in my life for 20 years. And we always laugh about those things. Like, you know, one of them will always be like, I can't believe you said that.
Starting point is 00:29:11 And I don't, you know, it's just it's I guess it's just, you know, some kind of a default button. But yeah, like the red carpet culture, you must. I would imagine it's a lot of pressure. Yeah, it's it's not pressure. It's just I guess it's I don't ever call making films work because I love it. Like, I really, really love it. I don't know. Like, you know, when you're, like, I do believe that there is some real value in finding something.
Starting point is 00:29:39 And it's such a, it's one of the greatest gifts that I think you can have in your life, to do something that doesn't feel like work. And I feel like my job is that. But that stuff, to me, feels like work. Getting ready for a red carpet, yeah. It's like sometimes you get ready for a party, like getting ready for it is almost more fun than actually going to the party. Have you ever experienced that? No? You don't know what i'm talking about i don't know when you
Starting point is 00:30:08 when you're trying your dior dress on and so i'm with you i would hate being a yeah i mean it's just having to go to this stuff and i the thing with red carpets is just so there's nothing normal or natural about it for me you know to have that much attention and cameras kind of, it's just weird. It's weird. And I break out in hives and I get all red and blotchy. When you're at like the parties after, do guys come up to you or they just stay away? They're afraid. Like, do you get hit on by actors or whoever or Hollywood people?
Starting point is 00:30:44 Or are they just like, I'm not even going near her? Listen, I don't even know when people are hitting on me. So I can't even answer that. I'm so freaking clueless. It's the truth. I'm absolutely clueless. So I don't know. I mean, I'm super social with a lot of people and friendly with a lot of people.
Starting point is 00:31:05 And I find that there's a lot of friendly, really lovely people in my industry. So, but I don't think. So like when that guy circled back to play backgammon with you again. Yeah, no. He might have been hitting on you. No, no, no. He was not. That was not going to happen.
Starting point is 00:31:17 Do you guys think that was a possible hitting situation? No. That was not going to happen. He just wanted to win. He's a competitor. Yeah, it was His masculinity was shot. The yards. We can skip over that one?
Starting point is 00:31:29 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We talked about that, didn't we? A little bit. Yeah. Legend of Bagger Vance. Love Matt. There you go.
Starting point is 00:31:36 Love Matt. Yeah. I'm skipping over that one. Yeah. But poor Matt had to learn how to play golf in like three weeks. Matt and I. All the golf nerds were like, what the hell? That's not a real golf swing.
Starting point is 00:31:45 Matt had like constant bruised ribs. Yeah. I think he fractured ribs. I think he did. Yeah, from hitting the club into the ground, which you know is a horrible thing to do.
Starting point is 00:31:53 You play, right? I used to. You don't play anymore? Eh. I play on Mother's Day because my mom's a golfer. I play with her on one day a year.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Then backgammon in the clubhouse after? Yeah, that's my thing. 15 minutes. Pacino again. Wasn't Pacino in that one? No, De Niro. De Niro was in that. So you crossed off De Niro in that one. Yeah, just checking.
Starting point is 00:32:17 De Niro, Pacino. But you never worked with Leo. No, I've never worked with Leo. No. Yeah. We're going to the Italian job. Okay. Because that's another one that still has legs.
Starting point is 00:32:32 Oh my gosh, I love it. People like the Italian job. In fact, a member of the Ringer, who I won't name, who knew you were coming said, tell her I love the Italian job. Oh my god, in this room right now? No. No, not in the room. Got it. Juliette Lindman. Yeah, love the Italian job. Wow, that's really nice this room right now? No. No, not in the room. Got it. Juliette Lindman. Yeah, love the Italian job.
Starting point is 00:32:47 Wow, that's really nice. It's a good one. So that was Wahlberg. Mm-hmm. Amazing guy. Again, Boston, right? He's Boston. Yeah, just such a great, solid human being.
Starting point is 00:33:01 So at this point, you have like seven years of either doing action movies or like low-key movies. But you never did like the... Well, I've seen the what? action movies or like low key movies, but you never did like the, the, the, the what? I don't know. Like the indie where like the group of friends for their 10 year high school reunion, like one of those like generic indie movies.
Starting point is 00:33:14 You never did one of those. Well, that sounds more like a rom-com. Are you talking like, or even a rom-com? You never did a rom-com. Yeah. There was like a huge period while I was doing movies like the yards inside
Starting point is 00:33:24 a house rules where a lot of, there was like a huge period while I was doing movies like The Yards and Cider House Rules where a lot of there was like a boom in romantic comedies. Oh, yeah. My best friend's writing all the way through 27 Dresses. The best friends? Best friends. Best friends, really? That was the poor version. And I'm the one who drank?
Starting point is 00:33:37 My best friend, yeah. Interesting, interesting. Yeah, there was like a whole, and I. You just shook them off. You didn't want any of them. Well, first of all, no, I didn't shake, I didn't shake them off. I didn't get the job. Which one did you want?
Starting point is 00:33:50 Um, I auditioned for a best friend wedding, my best friend's wedding. Which part? Julia or Cameron Diaz? No, for the Cameron, yeah, role. Um. That's an interesting what if. Look, I was just there. I was really lucky that at moments where I could that where I got jobs with filmmakers like James Gray and Lasse Holstrom.
Starting point is 00:34:09 And it was not by me saying like, oh, yes, I'll do that. You know, I auditioned. I was auditioning. I was trying to get work. And so by no means was I I just went out there. I just kind of went out there and try to meet as many directors as I possibly could. And then if I did get into a position where to kind of choose, I do. I think my natural passion is maybe a little bit more towards, I don't know, heavier material, a little bit more darker. I don't know. So you've never played the career driven woman who her job is her life and can't find a man.
Starting point is 00:34:45 And then something happens. That's Atomic Blonde. All right, there you go. It's a secret Robco. But just the dark version of it. Yeah, really super dark. The kick ass dark version. All right, Monster.
Starting point is 00:35:00 So that was the game changer for you. Well, yeah, I didn't know it at the time, but. You knew something though. I was on. No, I didn't know it at the time, but. You knew something, though. I was on. No, I didn't. I really didn't. Really? I was I was actually shooting Italian Job when I got a call from my agent manager at the time.
Starting point is 00:35:17 And she said, I just read five pages of the script that was offered to you. And it's a really small film. And it's about this this woman, Eileen Wuornos. And. And it's a really small film. And it's about this, this woman, Eileen Wuornos. And I think it's, I don't know, I feel like there's something here. And so I, I don't know how I did it. But I ended up watching the documentary before I read the script. And I was just like, what and who thinks this this is going to work? I was just not convinced that I could do it at all. I mean, she was just so specific in her behavior and her mannerisms. And there was just no way around it. You couldn't just do like a half version of it.
Starting point is 00:35:58 You had to kind of commit to it all the way and not just commit to it all the way, but kind of be successful at it for it to work. And I didn't know how that was plausible. So you do it. You had to get fake teeth. I met with Patty Jenkins. I actually met with her to tell her no. And in the meeting, she convinced me to do it.
Starting point is 00:36:24 She just had an incredible amount of passion. And I think I was so taken back by her belief in me. I hadn't had that. What do you think she saw in you that made you think you could play that role? Or made her think that? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:36:45 I don't know what it was. I mean, she was absolutely crazy, you know? I mean, it doesn't make any sense. She was a serial killer. Yeah, but look at what she just did with Gal. I mean, it's just she has a knack for seeing things in a way that I think a lot of people don't have in our industry. And I think it's why our industry suffers a little bit because people are so, they have to kind of see it in front of them. Otherwise they can't. And there's something incredible when you have a director that can kind
Starting point is 00:37:16 of see beyond that and, and then make that real. And Patty is definitely one of those directors and she just wouldn't give up. She was relentless. She was not going to take no for an answer. And so we just started working from there. Did you know, as you were filming it, that this was going to be a game changer for you? No idea. So we, we found like $5 million from this like small financing entity. And, um, we went off to Orlando to shoot for like 25 days and we were shooting and I was a producer on it. So we were shooting back then the turnaround of dailies for dailies to have, you know, people, when you're shooting on location to have people in LA actually watch dailies was around, I want to say over a week or something like that. So we were two weeks into shooting and I get a call at like 3 a.m. in my little, you know, Motel 5 in Orlando.
Starting point is 00:38:15 And it's the financier and he's just like ripping a new one. Like he's just, yeah, he's so angry and he's screaming. And I'm half asleep, half awake. And he's saying things like, I can't believe what you, what are you guys doing over there? Did you see what you look like? And this is never going to work. You never smile once in any of these dailies. You're so angry. And he just, he was really, really angry. And
Starting point is 00:38:46 I kind of, he shook me. I kind of hung up the phone and I, you know, I didn't fight back or anything like that. I had this real dark moment of doubt where I thought maybe he's right. And I woke Patty up and I said, I just had a call from Mark and I'm super freaked out. And she was unbelievable. Just so, you know, just she's like, don't pick up the phone again. Don't talk to him. By the time they shut us down, this movie will be made. And just keep your eyes on the road.
Starting point is 00:39:21 And this is the movie that we're making. And I, you know, I really owe a lot to her in that moment, because I think as an actor, when you're kind of putting yourself out there like that, you're always walking that fine line of like, is it a caricature? Am I going too far with it? Will people relate to this? Will people be able to watch this? Am I making a joke out of it?
Starting point is 00:39:43 Am I? So you're constantly kind of questioning all of that. It was the first time where I really, really used a monitor on set, you know, to watch playback so that I could kind of guide and modulate my facial, um, just my facial movements with the teeth and the eyes and the expressions and the kind of the head throwing back moments that she had. And so you start thinking of worst-case scenarios like, oh, my God, this is going to be a bomb. Well, I knew he wasn't happy.
Starting point is 00:40:10 I knew our financier was not happy. I think he thought he was signing on to a hot, lesbian, dangerous movie. Oh, like the Cinemax version of this? Or like me and Christina Ricci and I'm Killing Men, and it was going to like you know some like MTV great like I don't know like he thought it was that I think and then that was he was like and you're so fat when did you get so fat like I remember remember him yelling that to me um so we knew they weren't happy with it. And then when we started shopping it around, we couldn't get anybody.
Starting point is 00:40:48 I mean, everybody was saying to us, like, it's a really interesting film, but we wouldn't know what to do with it. Nobody had ever seen anything like it, so they didn't know what to do with it. Now Netflix would just give you like $38 million. Yeah, this is a different time now, 100%. I mean, you could find 20 places in a day to release that film. But we were signing. This was back in the day of Blockbuster. And we were signing.
Starting point is 00:41:11 We were waiting for the paperwork because we'd gone through all of our options. And we were waiting for the paperwork to show up. And we were going to sign it for it to go straight to video for Blockbuster. And this incredible distributor, Bob Burney, called us up. He was at the time distributing Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of Christ. Was that The Passion of Christ? Yes.
Starting point is 00:41:37 And he loved the film. I mean, he really got it. And he said, look, his little company at that time could only do one movie a year or something like that. It was like very small, very boutique, very specific. And he said, we have Mel's movie. And so we just can't take this on. And Mel decided to go and do six months of reshoots. And so he called us on that day and said, Mel called me this morning. He's doing reshoots. We can take your movie. It was just one of those moments that it's just you cannot when you when i talk about it still today i'm like i don't even know how
Starting point is 00:42:09 things like that happen because the course of that movie would have been completely yeah we wouldn't be talking about it right now no if it was direct to blackbuster yeah we wouldn't be talking about it at all you would have had like a little this little blip that you had it's like oh she's 100 i don't think people would have ever seen it all. You would have had like a little, this little blip that you had. It's like, oh, she's great in that movie. I don't think people would have ever seen it. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it would have had a cable run on Bravo.
Starting point is 00:42:30 And like two years later or something. I'm super grateful to Mel and to Bob Brady. When did you become, was there a point when, I don't even remember so long ago. Was there a point when you became like the Oscar favorite? For that? Or like, was there a point where you were like, holy shit, I gotta write a speech. I might actually win this. Oh my God, no, no, no.
Starting point is 00:42:48 I could never do that. So you'd win that? Yeah, did you not see me? I don't remember. It was 14 years ago. I remember watching what happened. Okay, I'll give it to you. It was a long time ago.
Starting point is 00:42:58 But yeah, no, I was a stomping mess. I was like, and my mom. And my, I mean, I was horrible horrible i was just a no there was nothing articulate about me or anything um no because i actually people did get a little um i remember doing the we patty and i wanted uh the independent spirit awards and for producing and for me as an actor and and people started saying things like she's a shore in and she's gonna win it she's gonna win it and i actually got on a plane and flew to with my boyfriend at the time flew to brazil to this like tiny little fisherman's village and
Starting point is 00:43:37 ended up staying there for two weeks and i found out in this tiny little Brazilian fisherman's village that I won or shared the award, the silver bear. This film student was working at this restaurant that I was eating in. And she was like, yeah, you won the silver bear. And it was like my feet were in the sand and I was sunburned. And it was an incredible way to kind of find it. I had to remove myself from it because I didn sunburned and it was an incredible way to kind of find it. I had to remove myself from it because I didn't want to, it was just too weird. It was weird to have people say stuff like that when other people were involved, people who I really respected, actor,
Starting point is 00:44:15 actresses who I thought it was unfair to them. We all, you know, did great work. I just, I didn't feel comfortable with it. So I ran away and got a horrible tan. And then I came back like a day or two days before the Oscars and everybody was like, that spray tan is so hideous. And I was like, no, that's, that's the real thing. I actually did all that damage to myself. I love that people were like, she was so orange. That was the worst spray tan ever. And I was like, yeah, no, this is what not to do in the sun. So I think removing myself from that was good because I can tell you this, like speaking of all the awkwardness at these things, that was an incredible moment.
Starting point is 00:44:58 And that night was an incredible night. And I did feel like Cinderella. And I did have this incredible moment that I got to share with people who I really love. Yeah. And I just had a great night of being grateful for everything that I've had in my life, which was great.
Starting point is 00:45:15 So you went from eight years from Children of the Corn 3 to winning the Oscar. That's pretty amazing. Look, I felt the same way, actually, the night I shot Children of the Corn. So it was a very similar feeling. They always talk about when you win the Oscar, you're almost paralyzed by it after. You're getting all these choices, attention, and it's almost like you're at an all-you-can-eat buffet for roles.
Starting point is 00:45:40 Do you feel that? There's a lot of noise, for sure. There's a lot of noise and a lot of opinions and people thinking you know they know what you should do and um and it did freak me out for a little bit and i do think it affected me i think i made choices that i shouldn't that i wasn't fully uh in control of and um like choices you overthought or yeah and and and things that i i still when i look back i'm like I didn't feel 100% about them
Starting point is 00:46:06 you should have done 27 dresses that would have been the perfect time for a rom-com right after the Oscar I know I should have just
Starting point is 00:46:14 like gone full blown break it is amazing you never did a rom-com well now I don't have I ever done a rom-com no no I haven't
Starting point is 00:46:23 have I I'm about to do you're about to that's not a rom-com I can't call that a rom-com? No. No, I haven't. Have I? You're about to. I'm about to do it. You're about to. That's not a rom-com. I can't call that a rom-com. No. What about Hancock? Is that a rom-com?
Starting point is 00:46:31 That's an action movie. That's an action movie, right? I don't know. It's a touch of rom-com. Yeah, I don't know. Have I? I don't know. No, I don't see one.
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Starting point is 00:47:44 And while we're here, did you know you can listen to the Bill Simmons Podcast and all the other podcasts from the Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify? Oh, yeah. The streaming service you know and love for music, also fully loaded with podcast finest in the podcast section within the Browse tab when you're using Spotify on mobile or just by searching for the Bill Simmons Podcast or any of the other Ringer Podcasts.
Starting point is 00:48:03 Head to Spotify.com slash podcast for more. That is Spotify.com slash podcast. All right. Back to one of the only Oscar winners I've ever had on my podcast. Maybe the only Oscar winner. Here we go. Oh, I had North Country. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:18 It was actually a really good movie. Thank you. And I don't know. It was in that mid-2000s where there was just a lot of really well-done, kind of low-key movies, and it was just in the middle of those. Yeah, it was a Warner Brothers film, and Michael Seitzman adapted the book.
Starting point is 00:48:35 He was a very, he is a huge writer. He's an incredibly well-known writer. And I think Warner Brothers really put a lot behind it, and they really wanted to kind of tell that kind of female story. And the fact that it was a true story, I think, really kind of made it get the kind of attention that it did. It's a good one. I watched it with my daughter.
Starting point is 00:49:03 Thank you. I love Nikki Caroo who directed it and she did whale rider who um uh the actress of that was nominated with me when i won for monster and so i i really wanted to work with her and so that was definitely one after the oscars that i was really excited about that i really wanted to do. Aeon Flex, is that how you pronounce it? Yeah, that was the one that... That one you have regrets about. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Starting point is 00:49:28 That was like the action movie that just didn't come together. I could never really wrap my head around the world. I could never, I never really, you know, you have to kind of be able to see it to do it. And I never really could. But Karin Kusama at the time made a film that i really liked um girl fight um i like that one too yeah and paramount was really just wouldn't take no for an answer and it all happened so fast that before i knew it i was kind of like on a set and then i injured
Starting point is 00:49:58 myself really but i mean i almost paralyzed myself on it um i i yeah i was i i it was the whole thing was just like a neck or a back injury neck yeah i i i hurried a disc in my neck um doing a back handspring my my feet slipped out from underneath me and my body just landed on my neck oh no yeah and i was in chronic pain for about eight years of my life, really severe pain where it wasn't even doing stunts or any activity. Like I'd get out of the shower and I would be paralyzed with pain for five days and my whole body would just lock up. And I finally had to do a fusion. Oh, yeah. Five years ago, six years. And that actually worked for you? It was amazing. Even five years ago six years that actually worked for you it was amazing even no four years
Starting point is 00:50:46 ago yeah as i did it and i have never felt any pain again wow the rare positive back surgery story i had a lot of back problems i almost got the surgery and i decided not to i don't know if back is the same as neck no and i think you're the neck i think is maybe it's a little different fuse yeah but i waited so long on the neck everybody kept telling me you know i'm young my body will kind of take care of the the um the disc that was protruding and it just never happened and it just kept hitting on nerves and and i would you know i just i had no life and then i had my first child and i i couldn't i had what there were days where I couldn't pick up my own kid. And I was like, I'm not doing this anymore.
Starting point is 00:51:28 And I actually did the surgery with all the doctors kind of saying no. And I just, I finally just put my foot down and I was like, if I have to be in this kind of chronic pain for the rest of my life, I'd rather take a chance on the surgery. And I'm so happy I did. That's the rule of a surgery with that stuff, with back or neck. It's like, if there's just no hope and you're just going to be in agony the rest of your life, then what do you have to lose? That's how I felt about it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:51 Have you ever done anything like that? I had a herniated disc in my back. Lower? Yeah, lower. And it went out in 2003. How did you do it? I researched everything. I did. I tried Pilates. I tried acupuncture. But how did you do it i did i researched everything i did i tried pilates i tried but how did you did it just go out this is like crashed my motor scooter when i was like 16
Starting point is 00:52:11 so i'd screwed up my back from that and i'd come back yeah and the more research i did on it um it was like my sitting habits were bad straight i wasn't stretching enough yeah stress is a big part of it yeah um. Especially with backs. There's this great book by this guy, John Sarno. I know it. Howard Stern. Yeah, I know it really well. He just died, by the way.
Starting point is 00:52:30 Did he really? I didn't know he passed away. Yeah, Javier Bardem made me aware of that book because he has chronic, chronic back pain. And he swears by that book. Because it's basically like most people have some sort of something. Yeah. And stress and all these different stupid habits can exacerbate it.
Starting point is 00:52:47 But everybody's got something along. Your thing sounds different, though. Wait, Hancock. Why didn't Hancock totally work? I don't know. I mean, I. I always felt like there was a little Will Smith fatigue with that because he had had so many movies in the world that were just big hits. He was like just massive.
Starting point is 00:53:04 I want to say like number one star at the time oh yeah um i love pete berg who directed it i love will smith i love jason i i just i love everybody that was involved in that movie so i don't really care i had such a great time working with everybody on hancock yeah yeah tate likes hancock i think tate's generation oh you love that oh that's nice yeah second time withed Development. I think Tate's Generation. Oh, you love that? Oh, that's nice. Second time with Jason Bateman. Yeah. Tate's Generation, Hancock, Arrested Development.
Starting point is 00:53:30 Oh, that's great. I love it. Young Adult, 2011, which is my favorite of your performances. Oh, my gosh. That says a lot about you. I know Jason. Are you a little, is there a little Mavis inside you? No, it's just, I just thought that was, you were, I thought all your skills were unleashed in that one oh my bitchy skills it was just everything
Starting point is 00:53:49 it was the total package that's the total car i love that movie i love you know i think you should have been nominated not to kiss your butt but i was very surprised that you weren't that's so sweet because it was like that was you were the whole movie in that movie oh my gosh and you have to you're crazy but i have to be rooting for you which is can go really badly for the viewer you know i think it's hard to do there's definitely a challenge in doing something that's that unflattering but yet somewhat fully representative of just all of us as human beings right you know i realized when i do when i did a lot of research on when i played real people um and i think i even do it i think it's just human human nature to the way we we sometimes talk about ourselves is not necessarily always in the most honest way and there was something about this character and how Jason
Starting point is 00:54:45 Reitman saw her as a real, really empathetic character that I, I, I really kind of, I love that challenge of taking a character that's so off-putting and, you know, we would do screenings and women and men would come up to me and say, I either know somebody like that or my sister is like that, or some would be more honest and say, I'm like her. There was something really nice about that. Somebody say they're like her is a little weird. Yeah, well, there was a few people. There was this really amazing, lovely, vibrant gay guy
Starting point is 00:55:22 that walked up to me and he just went, I need you to know i'm mavis and i was like you go girl you tell me about your mavisness rachel's getting married with ann hathaway is like that too where it's just the train wreck character that you shouldn't be rooting for but you can't help it yeah that's a sweet spot for me and to be able to write that i mean diablo did such a good job writing that and i think jason really knows how to balance that stuff where it's not i always have this fear that it becomes caricature or it doesn't it's not kind of grounded in some kind of a reality and he he's really great and he's one of my favorite directors in working on that kind of stuff i remember he
Starting point is 00:56:02 loved working with you too uh let's go to you you want to talk about the Huntsman's movies or no? I can't believe that you're leaving this up to me. You should do, like, you should figure this shit out before I come in here, okay? I like the guest to have some say. No, this is way too much say for me. Like, I'm breaking out in hives. Like, you need to, like, figure this out. Seriously, figure it out.
Starting point is 00:56:24 Come back to me i'm gonna skip whenever you're ready let's talk about a million ways to die in the west yes what do we say what are we talking about help me out here come on bill that one yes it seemed like you were having a lot of fun in that one one of the greatest experiences i ever had yeah because you haven't done a lot of comedies no i hadn't And I was not the first choice for it. And I'm a huge Seth MacFarlane fan. I think that there's something quite brilliant about him. And I thought the script was really funny.
Starting point is 00:56:56 And I really like him. And I just thought it was fun. And every time we did a table read-through, everybody was just dying. And I had just done mad max yeah and it was hell it was absolute hell and i i just needed to remind myself how much i love what i do again and and that that's why i wanted to go with seth and just be in the desert for three months and make very inappropriate jokes about how horrible the, was there backgammon in the wild,
Starting point is 00:57:26 wild West? No. I mean, listen, this, the, he was, he wrote it,
Starting point is 00:57:30 he produced it, he acted in it, he directed it. He was writing a novel at the time of doing all of that. He would on the weekends go and do all the 700 voices for family guy. I don't know how this man has a life and then he'd still be available to have a drink. And then he has parties where he croons like Frank Sinatra. Yes.
Starting point is 00:57:50 That's like on the side. That's like the ninth thing he's good at. He's been so incredibly kind and supportive of my program that I have in South Africa. South Africa, Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, where we work with adolescents in preventing HIV and AIDS. And he hosts a fundraiser for us for the last two years at his house. And dresses in a tuxedo and flies out his band and entertains all of the guests. I mean, it's just he's ridiculously generous and lovely.
Starting point is 00:58:28 Mad Max, we talked about. Yeah. Fast 8, we did not talk about. One of my favorite franchises. Yeah. That's why I had Kurt Russell on. I had Neil Moritz, who produced the album. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:58:41 And how many days did you film for that movie? Be honest. Was that like an eight day? Because you were basically in the same room for most of the movie, right? It was a little more. I think it was 12 or 13 days. I think it was 12 in Atlanta and one in Cuba. Did you like the franchise?
Starting point is 00:58:57 Yes. Or was that like a strategic move? Okay. No, I liked the franchise. I didn't chase it. Universal came to me and said, would you ever? Years ago.
Starting point is 00:59:08 And at the time, I had a baby and I was working a lot. And at the time, I said, probably not. And I think they wanted to write this character in on eight and it just wasn't the right movie to do it.
Starting point is 00:59:21 That movie had to end the way it did for very obvious reasons. And so it changed their whole plan. And so when... Was that... No, wait. On seven. Yeah, seven. I know who you mean. Paul Walker. And then on eight, they called me again and said, look, we really want to do this.
Starting point is 00:59:39 And it was just a different time in my life. Do you feel bad about what you did to Dom? What did I do to him that you ruined dom was all about family and you you basically made him choose but isn't that fun i don't know i mean how much of his family business can we still watch like it's good i thought it was so good that they kind of shook that up and like like even he would say that you know and i think um everybody involved in the movie and that's why they did it. It's you can't you have to shake it up.
Starting point is 01:00:09 It's a good gimmick, but it still hurt my feelings. I really thought it's good. It's good because we got an emotion out of you, Bill. I know. And that means we did our job. Everyone made up at the end. Did your character survive or not? I don't know.
Starting point is 01:00:23 Oh, look at you. I don't remember seeing you die in at you. I don't know. I don't remember seeing you die in Fast 8. Can you survive jumping out of a plane like that? I don't know. You tell me. Can you? They brought people back before that we thought was...
Starting point is 01:00:34 I know. Like Kurt Russell in Fast 7 was supposed to be dead. That is true. But I just told you, I need things to kind of be grounded in some sense of reality. Do you think that I could come back? Like, could I survive that? Tell me honestly. Nothing about the Fast and Furious franchise
Starting point is 01:00:49 is grounded in reality. Still not answering my question. They had a 29 mile runway in Fast 6. It's just the runway that never ended. Fast 7, they jumped through skyscrapers. They went through two of them. It's true, yeah. They landed in a mountain
Starting point is 01:01:05 on in cars on on parachutes yeah so I there's really I'm coming back
Starting point is 01:01:11 you should come back that'd be great for you oh and last one um atomic bun yeah we're done what do you want to know
Starting point is 01:01:21 what's your prediction do you um what what's your prediction what's my prediction yeah i have no i don't have a clue god what movie does this resemble that you've done not anything no not anything does this have a chance to be the most popular movie you've done i i i it's so hard to answer that because there is this really nice thing happening where there's word of mouth and it's not, it's always great when you have that on a film. I do. I, I would much rather have that than millions and millions of people, money thrown at, you know, publicity. So to have people talk about it and have this little buzz
Starting point is 01:02:07 about it is really flattering but it's a really hard place to get to yeah it's very hard to get to that we had that with the espn when we did 30 for 30 because they didn't promote it yeah and the word of math was what made people almost think it was better than it was yeah Yeah. I think most of my films that did well, did well because of that. But again, I can't. I think the biggest mistake you can make is to kind of put yourself in this place of certain expectation. And I don't ever want to do that. So you're going to do some press, but not a shitload. No, we're doing. I mean, I'm doing what makes sense to me.
Starting point is 01:02:48 You know, I'm, I, I, I'm doing stuff that feels, um, I'm also, I'll tell you this, like putting the movie aside, like for me, press, I, I've had a real issue with press just in the sense that I don't, um, you know, and I drive my publicist crazy because I just question everything. I just, I don't know. I'm a private person. I'm not a secretive person, but I am a private person. And other than podcasts, it's really hard to kind of have you as a person kind of come across, you know, and I just got tired of sitting down for interviews and having some writer just, you know, write whatever they wanted to write. And I think those writers are the worst.
Starting point is 01:03:33 They are the worst. I just, there's a sense of irony that gets lost, especially with me. And I think with women in general, there's irony. Like for some reason with general, there's irony. Like for some reason with men, it's a little bit more forgiving. Like if a writer takes, you know, their own idea of what the interview was. I don't know why, but I feel like with women, it's so God unforgiving. And the biggest thing that always gets lost is irony is that you can have like and context like that. You're you know, we're living in a day where people say one thing and that's the thing that you see on 70.
Starting point is 01:04:13 I tweeted out 140 characters. One sentence. Yeah. And it's like it doesn't even make sense unless you read the whole thing. You know, nobody does that these days anymore. So, I think for me, it's just, press has become something that I feel
Starting point is 01:04:28 comfortable with, that I feel is representative where I can go and really, like, be me. And if I, you know,
Starting point is 01:04:35 if I'm an idiot, then I'm an idiot and I take ownership of that. And if I'm, you know, incredibly funny, I take ownership of that. That was such a dick thing
Starting point is 01:04:44 to say. You made the room laugh a couple times i pay them really well to laugh trust me how old are your kids then uh two and five yeah mine are 12 and nine so two and five it's rough that you don't really see light you don't see light at the end of the tunnel until they turn six really because six you can just give them an iPad or something and they can at least
Starting point is 01:05:09 occupy themselves for a half hour I feel like I have 13 year olds though that's my problem like I'm like I have a five year old but I feel like
Starting point is 01:05:16 I have a 13 year old can the five year old occupy him or her yeah but it's just a lot of sass man you're getting sass already at five I'm getting sass
Starting point is 01:05:24 at five and a half I'm getting a whole truck lot of sass, man. You're getting sass already at five? I'm getting sass at five and a half. I'm getting a whole truckload of sass. Yeah. My daughter is now 12 and was 11 and a half when the sass really. Really? Yeah, but see, I was expecting that age. It's so much eye rolling and exasperation. It's like, I used to be your hero.
Starting point is 01:05:42 What happened? I was your favorite person. Now you're frustrated by me? That's amazing. It really hurts my feelings. That's funny. And I know it's not going to change. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:51 I'm really torn up about it. At least I have my son. Sons are dumb, happy, and loyal. They're just dumb and happy. So many moms tell me that. They're like, you just put them down. Look, I don't know about that. But I love that they just have no time for you.
Starting point is 01:06:06 They're just like, you're just annoying me right now. I had this moment the other day in the car where I just want my kids to really know that they can be anything they want. But I have maybe become that parent that says it too much. We were in the car and the one was asking about something. And I was like, can a girl do this or something? And I said, a girl can do anything. Like, I want you to know that a girl can do anything. And a lot of times girls can do better than boys.
Starting point is 01:06:36 And I want you to know that that means you can do anything. Like, it doesn't mean like because you're a boy or girl. And I'm like doing this big spiel. And I'm imagining in my head the scene is playing out you know they're 30 and married and they've kids and they're telling their kids this story of how great i was in that moment in the car when i just like went off and told them that they could do it yes yeah and my eldest just goes, oh, I know, mom. I mean, just no. And that was it. Just cut you down.
Starting point is 01:07:06 Yeah, just like done. Like, mom, I can't. I'm like, all right. Okay. This was fun. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck with your movie.
Starting point is 01:07:13 Thank you very much. Thanks. I think, did I keep, did that go five minutes too long? I think you did. All right, good. Okay. That was awesome. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:07:20 201. All right, great. Good luck with the movie. Thank you so much. Hey, thanks so much to Hotel Tonight, the app that helps you find amazing hotel deals at the last minute up to seven days in advance. Perfect for a spontaneous getaway
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Starting point is 01:08:31 That's it. Enjoy the rest of the week. I don't have a few years with him on the wayside I'm a person I never was I don't have

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