The Kristian Harloff Show - How much Star Wars is too much Star Wars (W Josh Horowitz) | The Big Thing

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

Star Wars for a very long time only had six movies, then in 2012 when Disney bought Lucasfilm, we saw five new movies. Then with the announcement of Disney+ we saw two seasons of the Mandalorian, one season of Boba Fett and one season of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Some feel that they want movies back in full force and less television series. Some people feel they want more television and more movies, some feel it is just right the way it is and others think it is too much. Where do you stand? On today show, the host of the very popular podcast happy sad confused, MTV journalist Josh Horowitz joins Kristian Harloff to talk about a galaxy far far away as well as the tremendous career that Josh has had. Why did he have beef with Ryan gosling? Or Michael Fassbender? Who is his interview that he was starstruck by. How did he get started and how do you find yourself and know this is what you want to do? This and more on today's episode of The Big Thing #StarWars #TheMandalorian #ThorLoveAndThunder #HappySadConfused #interview HELP THE SHOW: ATHLETIC GREENS: http://www.athleticgreens.com/BIGTHING HAPPY SAD CONFUSED SHOW: https://www.youtube.com/c/JoshHorowitz/videos Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshuahorowitz Happy Sad Confused on audio https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-sad-confused/id827905050 TIME CODES: 00:00 Intro 1:48 Catching up with Josh Horowitz from Happy, Sad Confused 2:25 The Gray Man thoughts from Josh, getting starstruck 4:00 Interviewing Austin Butler, having a vibe with your guest. 6:58 The difference with today's interview vs old school. Getting started. 14:00 Coming into your own, finding your voice. 17:00 Conan, Charlie Rose, MTV, getting into hosting. 19:00 Starting stuff on your own. Creating Happy, Sad Confused. 23:21 Thor Love and Thunder thoughts 27:33 Will this Taika Star Wars movie happen? The State of Star Wars now. 37:17 ATHLETIC GREENS 39:35 The Grey Man, Ryan Gosling hated Josh at one point? 41:20 Why did Josh and Michael Fassbender have beef? 45:06 Who is a bad interview? Why junkets are tough. 48:00 Interviewing Stallone. 49:08 Interviews we remember, interviewing Al Pacino, Beatty 49:56 Tarantino knows the Youtube space. 51:45 Chris Pratt thoughts. How do you approach talking to people? 54:44 Thoughts on Vin Diesel, Josh tells a funny Vin story. 57:00 Outro PODCAST FEED: iTunes https://apple.co/3GvtleV or Spotify https://spoti.fi/33dgsaZ Become a Patreon member and get exclusive bonus episodes! https://patreon.com/SENLive Ask Kristian questions for next time! https://facebook.com/harloff Become a Patreon of the Schmoedown: http://patreon.com/schmoedown OTHER GREAT CONTENT: REVIEWS https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSJdE28YyUT368qY7sfE0nKE4c04CqGvu TV REVIEWS https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSJdE28YyUT1LU-t2Z9AD5UJDiWW4pS_E STAR WARS SHOW https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSJdE28YyUT0XmfpbblkF9PY7uO2qhbN6 THE BIG THING PODCAST https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSJdE28YyUT3KAwbzDsv6mdR-gwUiydQg - CM Punk Interview: https://youtu.be/R8Js8uj6GfE FOLLOW KRISTIAN + FIND HIM ON CAMEO https://cameo.com/kristianharloff https://twitter.com/kristianharloff https://facebook.com/harloff https://instagram.com/kristianharloff FOLLOW THE MOVIE TRIVIA SCHMOEDOWN https://youtube.com/theschmoedown https://twitter.com/theschmoedown https://facebook.com/theschmoedown https://instagram.com/theschmoedown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's going on, everybody? What is happening? I'm excited. I'm excited today. I got my buddy Josh Harwitz on. You know him from Sad Happy Confused. Was that right? Happy Sad Confused.

Happy Sad Confused. It's so close. I got the three. I got the three in there. Happy Sadden Fisat Confused. I'll take any three. It doesn't matter because happy sat confuses is an awesome show. And the amount of celebrities and the amount of stuff that this guy gets out of these people is incredible.

But I get to talk to Josh. What a gift. It's a gift. amazing gifts and I'm gonna and I can't wait to do it because I got if he's he's even if he knew you wouldn't tell me but he's got he's always his inside scoops and I got to find out of this tycho a Titi thing star wars this is going to happen I don't know but that's what we're going to talk about today make sure that you're tuning in make sure you subscribe to the channel if you haven't done that already we passed 50,000 we've only had this thing up since long ago's we passed 50,000 that's

because of you guys the commenting the the the sharing the likes all that's it's it's very very amazing and I'm blessed to have you all. So make sure you do that. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere podcasts are found. All right, we're going to get into this thing. Let's talk about it. It's Josh Harwitz. It's the show.

Come on. What's going on? Everybody, welcome back. Big thing. Christian Harloff here. All right, enough about me. Ladies and gentlemen, look who I got. I got Josh Harwood.

What's up, man? Enough about you. Enough about you. It's all about me. It is about you. It is about you. You know what's so great about this? We were just talking about it.

Josh is in town. Just did a, with the gray man. The gray man. A cast of thousands. Yeah, there's so many people inside of that thing. Holy crap.

So we'll talk about that in a second. Sure. The gray man. And he's out there and I follow Josh, obviously, on the Twits and all, and everywhere. And I had seen that he was here. And I went, oh, gosh, darn it.

I was going to talk to him about being on the show next time. And turns out you're still in town. I thought you would have flown away. but we got a chance to do this thing, and you came on over. It was awesome. This was, this was a booking three hours in the making. This is like the easiest booking of your life. It really was.

I have nothing to do with my life. If I'm not talking to an A-List celebrity, I am in a stasis field just waiting. And when I got the tweet, when I got the DM, I was like, put me in coach. I'm ready. I love it. We got a chance to do it. How was it? How was the event?

It was a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. I like the movie. I know it's getting divisive reviews. I was really into it. Big, you get your money's worth. I mean, if you're subscribing.

to Netflix, you don't have to pay a thing anyway. But it's like nine set pieces in the movie. Wow. Like it's wall to all action. Gosling does his like stoic thing. Well, Evans is chewing the scenery. Yeah, it played well with the crowd. And yeah, it was like an insane ensemble cast.

It was like me and 11, nine cast members and the Rousseau's. That's nuts. I saw you think about Billy Bob Thornton. So I was going to ask you that about the amount of people that you interview, if you still get Starstruck, but you answer that question, a post. You said that you were kind of star struck by Billy Bob Thornton. Well, I get star struck by at the mall. People always ask about this. I just am able to like have like a second site thing where I'm like, you know, kid Josh is watching from above being like geeking out. But in the moment, I can pretend like,

yeah, exactly. I'm just pretending like they're a human being because they actually are a human being. Right. But yeah, when Billy Bob came in right before we started, he was like just, you know, the tank top, he smelled like nicotine. He just didn't give a crap. He was just like, I was like, have you seen the movie? He's like, I haven't seen a movie of mine in 20 plus years. I film the movie. I go to the premiere. I do the red carpet and I go home.

Yeah. And I'm like, you do you, Billy Bob. And as he's earned it, as he's earned it. Oh my God, the best. Well, it's so, and as we talk about your show with Habits said, confused, when you, when you, you get these guests. And what I was thinking about, I was taking a walk and I knew I was going to have you on the show. And I started thinking about the things that I wanted to talk to you about.

And one of the things that's got to be so, I watched the one, the thing you did recently with Austin Butler. Yeah. And you guys had this report already because he knew you beforehand. And it's got to be refreshing to them and to you because it's like, I remember a lot of the times when you're going through the circuit, it's like, well, what show am I doing? You're doing this show. It's a show on the internet. And they're like, okay, and then whoever the talent is is going and going, I don't know who this person is. I don't know. I got to just put on those answers. But when they're with you, they know you. So it's like, oh yeah, yeah, Josh. I've done that before. That's got to be so refreshing for you. It makes it easier for you. It does. It's a really,

really nice advantage to being old basically. It's sticking around. No, it honestly is. Like, look, I paid my dues and I was in it for a while. And then, yeah, I mean, I've been lucky enough to stick around for a long time. And look, the first five or six years you're doing, you know, I was doing the short junket slots like everybody else. And then, you know, I stick around.

I get more time with the folks. And then just through repetition, through hopefully making a good impression. Yeah, there's just such, it can't be discounted that like instant kind of connection. you know, it's also just like talking, having good judgment of like the talent too. It's like, you know, someone like Austin Butler, someone like Jennifer Lawrence I was talking to before she was cast in Hunger Games. Like, if you get in with these folks early on, they remember that and you see them over and over again. And like I will always have these weird bonds with like these actors that before they became huge A-list stars. And yeah, what's been really nice, again, being an old man is to kind of like go along the ride with everybody.

Like I've been on this like peripheral ride with like a lot of A-listers the last 15 years. So it's kind of cool. That's really great. I mean, it is. And it establishes that comfortability for both you guys. For all you who are you when you have people coming in. As you mentioned like when Jennifer Lawrence comes in, just like, oh, I remember when I, he made me feel comfortable when I was coming into this thing. And you like to approach interviews the same way I do.

You just like to talk to people. That's the secret. It's the means. If you have the ability and you do, I know you do, to just like relate to a human being. as a human being, no matter how big of the star they are. And I think 90% of the time they find it so refreshing when like you are listening, you are blocking eyes, you are calling out BS if they say something.

Not in a rude way. But you don't have your note card ready for the next question you have to ask. You just go off of what they're saying. I mean, believe me, I have my note cards too, but that's a security blank. That's what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like the gold is the stuff that's off the cuff. Right.

Like I'm not polished. I'm still not polished 15 years in of doing this. Like my questions might have a lot of ums and yeas and what's. But like at least I'm really engaged and I can Zig and Zag. I've got the knowledge. You've got the knowledge. Like the people like us, I mean to two to our own horns per second, it's people that actually know their shit.

Yeah. I'm not to say that. Like that's the gold. Like you can't fake it in this business for too long. Well, they feel it. They feel it inside of the interview. They feel it inside of the conversation. And I think that that's the ums and the awesome things you're talking about though.

It's such, it's so different. like when we were coming up, I remember I always tell this story when Mark Ellis and I started Shmose and we were like the first YouTube reviewers to get certified of Rotten Tomatoes and get invited to these press screenings. And we were sitting at a press screening

and we looked over and we saw Leonard Moulin and we said, we don't belong here. Right. We don't belong here. I felt the same way, yeah. Right, but the difference is as the crazy internet keeps going on and on and on, we become that kind of standard of,

that's what people start to look at because the ums and oz and oz are more genuine. And people relate to that, and that's why they relate to you. I came, and I would probably agree, lucked into this at the right time when, like, authenticity was valued over polish, where, like, knowing your stuff was more important than being, like, the shiny presenter. Yeah. And thank God, like, you know, I wasn't in the business 20 years ago. Like, you know, when Mary Hart and John Tesh were doing it for him tonight, I would not have been hired.

But, like, in this realm, when you just need to know your stuff, be fun, be engaged, that's much more important. But is it kind of bizarre where you just mentioned all those names, you are that guy for this generation. You really are, man. It's insane, but it's true. I remember before we really even knew each other, just seeing you on MTV and the stuff, I would go to your stuff for the Star Wars thing and everything too,

because it was like, this is a guy who's just, because like I said, I come up from watching Stern and everything to, to me, one of the best. Authenticity, just like in the moment, that guy, he just, like everything. He's the gold standard. And when I saw you, I was like, well, this is someone who comes from that school. This is someone who, and that's why we got along, you know, and then why, I mean, I watch your stuff

constantly for not only for what the hell is, because I got to cover it a lot of the times. Sorry. But no, no, don't, please don't apologize. But, yeah, but I think that that's the thing that people see. You are that guy, and I think it's why you're responding to people, but enough about blowing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, you can continue, please. No, I'm kidding, but I still, more stuff.

I want to know about how you got involved in it. And to see how you got started and decided, because I know you're a movie guy. Yeah. Is that from when you grew up, mom, dad, the family, like the big movie bonding thing? Yeah, yeah. Short version is, so I grew up in New York City, just media sponge, a weird freak of nature that would like, like, buy every newspaper on the way to school. I would like, it was like, I think it was a security mechanism to make sure children didn't, like, play with me. I would have like the New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News.

I would have daily variety. I don't know. This is like when I'm like 13 years old, 12 years old. my older brother was very much like me still was very much like me we again loved movies double triple features watched just a brother yeah i have a sister too and she when she watches me do interviews she always gets annoyed at me when i don't mention her so thank you for that you're welcome you're welcome um and she was actually a bit of a nerd early on but maybe she grew out of it yeah um and yeah my brother's um about four and a half years old than me did the star trek conventions when we were

kids. So was he the Star Trek guy? You're a Star Wars guy or because who became the, it's like a Boston Yankee fan. Yeah, no, no, no. I've never chosen sides. I'm both. Yeah, that's fair.

And he is both too. Although like his son is now like, us as like a bigger Star Wars fan than both of us, which is insane. Like he was way more than I do, which I don't get. But, and yeah. So like he, he ended up in the business. He's a writer, very successful writer. He was a writer on law.

Austin once upon a time, wrote Tron Legacy. Yeah, crazy. So, and then I went to school and just kind of got into the journalism side of things. College newspaper, college radio. School in New York? I went to Hobart, William Smith in upstate New York, small liberal arts school. Is that also just to get the hell out of the city for a little bit? I actually would have been happy to stay in New York.

I was a late bloomer. I was not a good student. I was relatively intelligent, but lazy in high school. Aren't we all? A lot of us. A lot of us. Yeah, right? And in college, I, like, became so passionate.

I was, like, the editor of the school paper, and I had a very successful radio show, a talk show. Is that where you came into your own, basically? Do you find your personality and stuff there? Awesome. A thousand percent, yeah. I mean, my college radio show, I, so in summers, I was doing internships. I interned at WNYC, which was the NPR affiliate of New York.

And I interned at Charlie Rose, the talk show, the PBS talk show, the maligned, justifiably so, a talk to host. And, yeah, and I started my own radio show, and I was like, I kind of learned how to book guests early on from those internships. How did you do that, so when you say that, how do you learn to do that? Well, so I was just a hustler. I mean, I remember this is going to date me way back when, but like we were an NPR affiliate in the middle of nowhere. It's a small school in upstate New York. But we were an NPR affiliate, and that was kind of like a bragging, right?

We were near Rochester and Syracuse to semi-large market. And I would literally like cold call book publicists. I would fax requests. I would make my own letterhead. I would say, well, we're an NPR affiliate. We're in the Rochester Syracuse area. Use what you got. Yeah. Exactly. And I ended up and they were all like, you know, phoneers. They were all phone conversations then. But I ended up like getting everyone from Conan O'Brien to like President Jimmy Carter on that show. Wow. Who was the first big one though? You don't remember the first big one? I don't remember the first big one. I mean, I did Conan actually in person.

I came to New York with my reporting equipment, and that was huge because he, I was a Letterman Conan guy. Okay. Yeah. And that was monumental. Yeah. That's great. Yeah.

You're kind of geeking out the first time. Yeah, for sure. Definitely geeked out. And then, yeah, at a school, I actually worked at Charlie Rose. Through my internship, I was a producer there for four years. Damn. And then I kind of bounced around. I worked in magazines briefly.

But you're like a workaholic like me, right? Where did you, so when you went, so for college, and if you don't want to talk about this, that's fine. But like, so relationship-wise, and those things, did it, did it fuck stuff up? Because you were just kind of going after the radio show, you're going after the else, or were you able to mantine? I was single-focused, definitely in college. Like, I just poured everything I could first into my college newspaper, but then the radio show became just like everything. Yeah. I was not a social animal.

I still am not. I'm like, ironically, like, given my job, I'm not a social guy. Isn't that, like, same thing. People think the same thing with me because I'm because I you know, I've done these things, stand up comedian and things too. But like I remember a lot of times when I go to party, I just be kind of just, I don't want to talk. I'm just kind of sitting there. Sometimes I can go boom.

Yeah, yeah. Sometimes it's just, I just want to kind of just be in my own head. Oh yeah. My natural state is home body, quiet, shy. But there is a part of me, obviously, given my work that enjoys the spotlight. I did stand up for a hot minute after college too. Like I definitely had that side, still have that side. and I like both.

And I can turn it on, I guess. I'm still me when I'm on camera, but it's just a more, I guess, heightened version of me. But yeah, to answer your question, I was like laser focused and then, and yeah, always have been. Like I like too much work. I'm a good or for bad.

I'm a workaholic. I like to be busy. And, and yeah, like I really found my passion in college. And then, like, every job was great. Like, every job was, like, not great, but every job was, like, really rewarding. And I kind of soaked it all up. And then by the time I got, I got to MTV 2006. Okay.

So, and did you get that one just a same type of thing going hustling for it? Or so you know somebody that helped you, recommended you? No. No, it's such, I mean, again, I don't want to worry about super long story. But the short version is I'd never done anything on camera until I was working as a producer for the John McEnroe talk show, which is the lowest rated, least regarded talk show in the history of talk shows. It was a talk show on CNBC, well known for their late-night comedy. John McEnroe, well known for his late-night comedy.

Right, but wait, but wait, but and hold this though, because from Charlie Rose to this McEnroe show, politics was where you wanted to go first? No, no, no, no. I was interested. There was a, there was a fork in the road at one point where I was more, considering more of a kind of a serious bent, but entertainment stuff was always really what I was passionate about. but I did love late night talk. Okay.

And that I was, like I said, I was obsessed with Conan and Letterman. And there was certainly a part of me that wanted to like pursue being a segment producer, producer for like Letterman. Right. That would have been an amazing career. So when I got the gig, I got a gig as a producer for this new talk show, John McEnner's late night show, which was going to be a comedy late night talk show. I was so excited. And it only was about six months in my life. It was only on the air for about four months.

was there for like the two months prior to starting. But it was awesome, honestly. I mean, it was like, it was a talk show. It was a late night talk show, guests, comedy bits, studio audience. I got to like really got to be creative. And they actually allowed me to be on camera for the first time. I did a bit, like a character I created on red carpets. Okay.

Called the obsequious correspondent. Going back and forth with McEnroe? No, no, no. So this was, he would send me out and I would go to a movie premiere. And the bit was, I would dress in a tuxedo. and I would be just overly fawning to every celebrity and not actually have a question. Like my only interaction would be like

if Paul Rudd comes up to be, it would just be like, you're awesome. And then just wait for him to respond. I appreciate the laughter. It wasn't very high. It was okay. It was fine. But I did like, I mean, again, this states me, I did like the Life Aquatic premiere,

the Wes Anderson film. Yeah, I did a few of those. It reminds me kind of like the Chris Farley character. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so and how was working with Matt? McEnroe.

Great. Yeah. He was, I always say, a great guy, super smart guy, just not a great talk show host. Right. Like, not a great, but he wasn't the right fit for him. Yeah. But I still see him sometimes at New York events, and he's always very sweet to me. That's awesome.

Seems like very proud of me. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, as he should be. And so you move, so then MTV. So, yeah. So I have this, like, small kind of, now tape of me on carpets. I get the gig at MTV. There are some jobs in between there, but I get the gig at MTV.

through literally, I don't even know if it still exists, Media Bistro, which was a place where people could get like journalism jobs. And it was not an on-camera job. It was the coordinating editor of MTV Movies Digital. This was when there was a movie, there was the MTV Movies blog and digital. They're trying to figure out the internet.

Everybody was trying to throw things around. What's this? Yeah, yeah. And MTV did not know what they were doing. They were very late to figuring out that like, there should be no differentiation really between on-air, linear and non-linear. It was very separate at the time.

So this was the digital side of MTV News. They hired me for some reason. I think I had a personal blog at the time, and they saw my voice and passion for pop culture. They took a shot on me. They didn't know I had done on-camera stuff. Within a year, I remember my boss there one day finding my stuff on YouTube. Okay.

My Maconra bits. I heard him like defa falling from across the way and saying like, oh, we should maybe use you. And next thing you know, like, My first on-camera interview for MTV was when Kurt Loader, the great Kurt Loader, who was still working at MTV then, couldn't make it. He was supposed to interview John Travolta for Wild Hogs. Wow. John Travolta was coming in studio, and I had to fill in, and I will never forget.

They seated me so close to John Travolta that like our legs were rubbing up against each other. And that was a nervous moment. I'm sure. But it went all right, and kind of the rest of the history, they were. They used me more and more. And eventually I became a full-time on-air correspondence and I'm there 3,000 years later. Isn't that crazy how, like, just those little things that you just said there, those little moments where, like, you said, like, had you not done that McEnroe show, your producer doesn't see that video. Even if you wind up making your way into MTV one way or another anyway, it doesn't see that video.

And who knows if you get on camera or not, right? Yeah, absolutely. And I will say also, like, you know, people ask me all the time for advice, et cetera. Like the best thing, the stuff that I'm most proud of, the stuff that really has borne fruit. has been the stuff that I've started myself. I've put myself out there. I've pushed myself in places that I was uncomfortable. No one was asking me to do red carpet bits for John McEnroe, but I, you know, I pitched myself not an obnoxious way, but I was like, here's an idea. You know, happy, say, confused, the podcast, no one asked me to create. Like, all the stuff, like, you know, I feel like

you're a bit of it, obviously an entrepreneur like me, like I have that kind of instinct. The best stuff I've, I've done, the stuff that I really feel passionate about is maybe sometimes within a big media organization, but it's the stuff I've kind of created. 100%. We even talked about it a little bit before we started filming and your show, because I do with a couple things I want to ask you about what's going on in pop culture at the moment, but with your show, so why the decision to go first on Patreon and not go, because you didn't start by putting it public, right? You started on Patreon? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, not much of a rhyme or reason. I can't say I'm very strategic, very smart strategically in terms of

like disseminating my stuff. People had been putting in my ear the last few years. Like, oh, you should go on Patreon, Patreon. I'm like, yeah, like, you know, I felt like, oh, is there a stigma around that? You know, whatever. And I had to kind of get over that. And then I realized like, no, I could make more content. And there's nothing wrong with that, obviously.

You're selling something. Yeah. So that's what you do. It's a business. It's what we do. And so it became just like an opportunity to, I was telling you, before we started, like, happy, say I confused, which is the podcast I created eight years ago.

And it's kind of, it was created out of a need and want. to do long-form conversations because I was doing Junkets wall to wall. And that's like even at MTV, that was maybe an eight or ten-minute interview, which as you know is actually a long interview by the standards of junkets. But I still wanted deeper conversations. And by then I had connections in the industry and I knew I could get guests. So I started the podcast and it's, you know, 400 plus episodes. We're still going.

And, you know, again, because I'm a workaholic and I'm crazy, I'm like, okay, let's do more and more. Yeah. Create the Patreon. And it also kind of happened into. tandem, frankly, with the pandemic. That's what's going to ask you. Yeah, yeah. Because I had never done the podcast on camera. Partially, again, because like there's that talk and it's true. There's a different kind of intimacy when there aren't cameras trained on you for many folks.

But the necessity of the pandemic was we were doing podcasts via Zoom. Suddenly I had this content. So that became an additive thing I could offer on the Patreon. It was an easy, easy win. Especially if you get, and you get to, and the footage is all yours? All mine. See. So, so, yeah. So, yeah. That's been HATRION. And then I started a thing called Happy Say I Confused Game Night, which, again, just leveraging, like, these relationships I have and I can just kind of, like, screw around with, like, celebrities I know and play games.

Why not? I enjoy it. The folks on Patreon seem to enjoy it. And then lately, again, I'm, like, literally the last human being. It sounds like almost absurd to say. I'm like, I'm starting a YouTube page. But, you know, I have this library of content. So I recently started my YouTube page.

And is it the Josh Harwitz channel or is it Happy Sadd Confused? I decided Josh Harwitz. Did I make the wrong call? Should I called it happy, set confused? Not necessarily. No, I mean, it's one of those things where you could put. I actually think that's when I left Collider, I'd started S-C-N-Live, which is the Shmode Entertainment Network. And then there was just that show was, I was just so used to doing whether it Schmots or Collider Live and that type of brand and doing it that way.

Because I'd been doing Schmo's since 2008 and had been like a brand of just a name of a band, really, basically. And not until recently, it was like, well, Because Jeremy Johns and Chris Stuckman and John Campia, I'm like, I'm going to run my name. And how, and that people. That's the commonality. I mean, yeah, but yeah. It's because if there's some people that, you know, you wouldn't maybe recommend that to, but you've established your name.

People know your name. People trust your interviews. So, and I think that, yeah, and because, and look, your show's doing great right now, but what if one day your stuff starts to become the Josh Harwood show and you decide not to do that, then you've got to switch it all up again. Yeah, I could have gone either way. I was wrestling with it. Yeah, as you say, like, yeah, who knows?

I mean, happy, set confused, I think could continue in any number of different incarnations. But bottom line, even if it doesn't, my name will be my name. 100%. So did you interview Tycho with TD recently? I didn't actually get him recently. Okay. But saw the new movie, big fan of him. Okay, what did you think in the movie?

Mixed. I'm mixed. I'm not on the extreme ends, like on the internet where everyone's like love or hate it. Certainly preferred Ragnarok, more uneven. Look, Tyca always is like that fine line, like earnest. and really funny and kind of wild swings. And I appreciate that. And I think sometimes by the nature of those wild swings,

some of them are going to hit better than others. And this one didn't quite coalesce as much for me. But I had a good time watching it. Yeah, it's fun. I just think the same thing. I saw an interview where they were interviewing Kevin Feigey. Yeah. And they asked them about how Captain,

uh, Captain America Winter Soldier was like a spy thriller movie. And even Dr. Strange had like a horror element. They said, what's this one? He was, this is a Tyca movie. And I went, uh-oh. And I like Tycho Watiti a lot. I think he's hilarious.

But he actually, he didn't write Ragnarok. Right. He wrote this one. And when you give him the free reins, he's going to go, well, I'm going to do what I'm going to do. I'm going to do me. Yeah. He did him. He did him.

It's a full on Tycho. It's a bad. It's like meet the Spartans sometimes, though. There's a scene where. I'm not sure. Everyone seems like the Russell Crow stuff more than me. I can't stand that scene. Okay, good.

I thought it was so goofy. I just didn't like what he was doing. I like Russell Crow. I wasn't into it. But that's Tyke's fault. Yeah. He technically would say cut that out. And he told him to do more of it.

Like the thing when he's going down the stairs. Yeah, yeah. But I would have taken, I take, I would take Kate Blanchett and Goldblum over and, and Ruffalo. One million percent. Russell Crow and what they did here in Hittleston in the first. I just like that was a balance. There was a balance.

Like people like, oh, there's no, the balance is the same. You're crazy. The balance between the stuff that he lost, whether it's losing Odin and Ragnarock, the stuff with hella coming back and the, the, the, kind of vengefulness that she's got and the loss of Asgard, like, it's all there. Well, and ironically, maybe my stuff, I've only seen it once with stuff, maybe I really related to or just connected with more was the emotional stuff. I thought, like, the, you know, the cancer stuff with Natalie Portman worked.

She's obviously a great dramatic actor, and you have a history with that character. And yeah, I mean, like I said, like Tyca is very funny. But, like, a lot of his stuff is very earnest and sweet, hunt for the wilder people, et cetera. Like, I love that stuff. And, I mean, Chowjah Rabbit, et cetera. So ironically in the new film, I didn't think the comedy worked as well as the straight stuff. It was hard. It was fast and furious for 45 minutes.

And by the time you get into it, and I don't mean fast and furious to the movie. I mean, fast and first the humor itself. When it comes in, it just, it's hitting you by that. And there's a couple, whether it's gore or some stuff with the setup with Jane, but you don't really start to get into the emotional moments until like 45 minutes in. Yeah. And look, I don't want to be one of those guys that's bashing a movie. I like the movie on the whole.

It's fun. It is. It's fun. But I also, there is a thing, look, there's the thing about Ragnarok being like a fresh thing, right? It was like the first time we were seeing a full-on kind of comedic take on Thor. And honestly, maybe this is like an indictment of me, but like once this movie started, I was like, oh, wait, like Thor's a joke now. Like, I can't take him seriously. And I love, and I love Hemsworth.

And I think he's like insanely talented as a comedic performer. But like, I don't know. Like, oh, I want to take you a little seriously. And I can't take you seriously anymore. He's not the serious one. It's either you get to really choose either between Gore or Jane. Those are the two. And even Valkyrie's got more, I think, essence, or he's kind of the punchline now.

Yeah. And it's goofy. But anyway, the reason I also brought up Tyca is because, as I said, I go to you a lot of the times when I'm looking for Star Wars scoops and the Star Wars stuff that you get out. Because you did that thing with Gary Olman recently. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. With the grievous. Yeah. And I had heard about that, but I never really heard him confirm it because it's been out there forever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've loved to do a couple of those, the Matt Smith thing. Yes, yes, yes. And that was the thing I would, on my old show, on Jeddick Council, I used to, I would say, if Matt Smith, because he's like, I'm not in this movie. I'm like, if he shows up, he's a liar, right? And he had done stuff and he had been talking about it. So people are he a liar or he wasn't in?

I'm like, it doesn't mean they didn't cut stuff out. But that, that for sure. But I asked about the Tyca stuff because there's this crazy thing that we keep hearing. Kathleen Kennedy at one point says it's coming out in 2023. and then they asked Tyka what the movie is. He's like, I haven't written it yet. Now there's a report that he's shooting it in the beginning of 2023.

They're going to get this movie out by December, 2023. No chance. Unlikely. I do think, look, I think reading between the lines, and I don't have necessarily inside scoop on this one, but this is just like judging from my experience, reading between the lines, I feel like there's more there than he's letting on,

like there's an outline, there's a draft, there's something. But is it, Green lit? No, but is Kathleen Kennedy eyeing it? Is it the one most likely to go into production next? Sounds like yes. But certainly I would not count on going to see a Star Wars movie directed by Tycho YTT next fall.

I don't think so. And I think Lucasfilm does this all the time. They jump ahead of stuff way too fast because, and it seems, whether it's Colin Travaro or they always announce, or Josh Trank and they always announce these movies, like right before something happens or a movie's, the, depending off why he's doing their movie

and then, and I'm not saying this is why it happens, but it seems a lot of times whether something is kind of ill-received or they, they're excited for the next big movie coming out. Petty Jenkins for her movie.

Well, I'm fascinated by that, like, that the Ryan Johnson trilogy still, like they still refuse to say, had they officially said it's completely off? No, because they don't want to admit that there's,

there's no chance that thing comes out. Right. Right? But like, why would Ryan just, like, Ryan's got a tongue going on. He can say it in a,

a diplomatic way. Like, I'm busy. You know what? If it happens down the road, great, but it's not it's not, it's not. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe he's, maybe it's something in the deal. I don't know. Who knows what it is, but it's like for him, what does he have to say anything for? And he, he shouldn't. Given what he went through on last Jedi, what he still goes through. Like, I, and I'm a last shot. I love her. Like, you know, I know this is opening up a can of worms. But, um, but, but like, why would he ever go back to Star Wars after what he went through? You know what's crazy about that? Because I'm not, I'm not a last Jedi fan. But I always, I always, acknowledge, I think it's one of the better made Star Wars films as far as a film goes.

I just very similar to when you say that's a Taika movie or that's a Shane Black movie, Fireman 3. That's a Ryan Johnson movie for me. A lot of people will disagree with me and I'm sure we could do two hours on us. But he's a phenomenal television director, whether it's breaking bad, some of the best breaking bad, the Osmondius and the stuff that he did. He's, he's phenomenal. If someone, as much as I don't like The Last Gena, if someone said, hey, Favron and Faloni wrote this script for Manilurian and Johnson's going to come in, the internet would lose their minds to go bananas, and I'd say, bring it on.

Did you not watch Breaking Bad? Well, and I do think that what you're saying, this is something that I would love to see Star Wars do, and it seems like they're doing maybe a little bit of at least, which is, look, I think Varon Faloni have done a good job. I think a lot of the TV stuff, but I do think there needs to be a loosening of reins where other creatives have some ownership,

and it seems like that's going to happen on Andor, I think. It's look, isn't it crazy that that, that show looks like, It could be the best. I don't know what you stand on the other two, but like this could be the best series of the year out of the Star Wars ones. I'm excited right before each one comes out, of course. But like, I trust in Tony Gilroy.

Tony Gilroy is a very smart filmmaker and writer. And I, the fact that there's like a big plan for it, they're what, they're like five seasons plan. They've already shot two or something. And like, and it has a different look. It has like a kind of a more of a, I don't know if they shot it using the same with the volume technology, et cetera,

but it looks different. It has more of a practical location. It looks more like it matches up to Rogue One than it does a series. Which I'm totally vibing with. So, yeah, like I'm very mixed. I mean, I like Mandeloren. I'll ride.

I mean, I'm a fan of all that stuff, but I'd like to see other filmmakers, strong filmmakers put their voice on Star Wars. So the Gilroy thing, this is, I can't, so this is something the other day, no one ever brings this up. And I got to get your take on it because I said this the other day.

Gilroy comes on to basically save Rogue One. It's what the big rumor is. And we still have never gone really to the bottom of that. We don't really know exactly what happened. And they're even, they're even spoofing and talking about it in the boys. I don't know if you see, do you watch the boys? No, I haven't watched new season. So there's, this is season.

I think I watched first season. It was either the beginning of season three or in season two. There's a scene where there's something happens inside the scene and someone says, you know, Tony Gilroy did all your reshoots and like it. And, and that obviously is the gag of what happened. And people who, people who deny it, this is what I said the other day. People who go, no, no, no, it was definitely. It was definitely Gareth Edwards.

I met him once. He was the sweetest guy. He's super nice. It's not saying anything against him. But here's the question that I pose. If he wasn't saved, if there wasn't problems, then why hasn't the guy done major things afterwards? It's like he just kind of, I don't know if he might have done some projects.

Yeah. But you'd figure a guy that did a movie that made over a billion dollars would be getting offered things left and right. It's a good point. Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely probably. a tainted something associated with there. And yeah,

I find it fascinating those kind of projects that like, we still haven't gotten the full story on. I'd love to know, yeah, the extent of it. Was Garth even on set for the reshoots? Was he involved at all? Did he lose control totally of the picture?

Was he out and they just wanted to keep it kind of quiet? Because maybe he played ball better than Travaro did or Lord Miller did. Those guys certainly were like, F this. This sucked. We're going to, this sucked. Yeah, even those guys.

Yeah, I had them on the podcast a few months back and like, you know, they're so sweet. And like, you can't get anything real out of them about the Star Wars thing. There's probably an NDA they sign or something. It's probably because they like, they, you can tell. They won. And after seeing, again, a full debate on whether whatever solo came out, I thought it was fine. Yeah.

It was fine. But, and I remember at the time having that concern that I now have for a Tycho, a TD Star Wars film of is it going to be a Lord Miller kind of? comedy, but now after seeing what they did with, I know they didn't direct Spider-Verse, but they certainly had a lot to do with it. Sure. I'm curious what that would have been like.

Yeah, that's one of the great unknowns. I don't know, yeah, I don't know what it would have been. Solo's a fascinating one. I actually think Solo grows in my estimation as the years go by. It's totally solid. It's not like great, but like, I like that it's now an outlier. Like, we're not going to get, it seems like a lot of those kind of one-off

Star Wars movies anymore. I'm scared of them now, because there's it was the only one that got hit in the pocket. And I'd rather get like just a self-contained, I mean, we're just like a wash and like too much. Now I'm like, trilogies and stuff you mean? No, I'm talking about TV now.

I'm just going to be the old man on the porch for a second. It's like both Marvel and Star Wars, that whole thing where I'm like, just too much. Like in my day there wasn't so much. And there's more special. And it's just like there is. There's too much. I don't think there's a lot.

I don't think there's many people who, I think there's a lot of people who feel the same way that you do. I don't only because, I'm a star. Marvel. Marvel. Star Wars for me, but, but you're, you're a hundred percent right. The problem with the, the too much is that you run the risk of getting things like when Mandelorian, Mandelorian one and two, I love. Like, I love that series. I think it's some of the best stuff since Jedi. That's, um, then you do Boba Fett and people go, eh, right? And except the Manalorian episodes inside of Boba Fett are the best episode. And then Obi-Want is just poised to be this great thing because it's, it's, it's, it's, Obi-Won. Sure. And it's okay. It's okay.

And I think that that's, right. And that's where your argument can come in and go, well, there's so much of it that you're putting out too much and you can get the burnout. But I still think going back to your original point, the amount of the directors and the story, I think they're, did. Did you see any of those fan edits that they did of Obi-Wan? Oh, I heard about it. Yeah, I haven't seen it. It's good. And it's, it's, it just cuts out.

It's all their story, but it just cuts out a lot of the fat. It brings it into like a two and a half hour movie. Honestly, you could have just done five episodes. so does that half an hour instead of the six that they wind up doing. It adds some of the original kind of John Williams stuff combined with the, with the score that they have now. And it's just, I just think that there are certain choices that are made if,

and this is easier said than done, but if the choices are made differently, yeah, too much is, you're not even going to have that concern. Because Bobafet was fantastic, like fantastic. And then so was Obi-1.

I think you'd have less a concern of it. Yeah, yeah, totally. It's just, it's more scattershot. Yes, I'd rather have less things that I love. than more things that I like.

I can't argue with it. I mean, I can't argue with it. I'm just, I'm always excited about, about seeing a new Star Wars project because I'm excited, because I don't think I've had a,

and I've said this, and people yell at me when, when I say this, but I continue to say it. I don't think we've had a great Star Wars thing, a great Star Wars thing, since Jedi. I think Mandalorian is really good.

I think Mandelaarian is really good. And I love it. I'm almost, it teeters on great for me. Yeah. And people go, what about Rogue One? Really good.

Oh, Rogue Run, I think is great. I think it's really good. And I think Last Jedi is great. I think Rogue One is really good. I know, I know, I know. Are you a Rise of Skywalker guy? That's cotton candy to me.

It's cotton candy. It's just kind of. Do I, do I love? Could you tell me that we never have to see that movie ever again? I don't love it. I just think if you're going to say which one would you rather watch? Yeah, I see right. I'm taking Rise of Skywalker, man.

And I know. It's just, I just, the problem with Last Jedi when I watch it, it just gets worse for me. because I just don't like a lot of the decisions and choices that were made. Like, and we're talking Marvel, the Marvel humor that drives me crazy. There's stuff in the beginning with Poe is like your mom's on the phone. It's like that kind of stuff. There's no consistency in character.

You're right. This could be a six hour of conversation. A hundred percent. We could talk. We could save it for the sequel. 100 percent. We could do a lot of that stuff. But before we get running to the next topic here, I also wanted to tell you guys about

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I'm down to my last one after I give Josh. I've got me. I've got a ton of my house, but I'm saying for new people to come in. So it's good stuff. Yeah, you should check it out, Josh. I'm sold. I'm kind of on a health kick. So this could be the next phase.

Yeah, you'll love it. Anyway, so Graham and Ryan Gosling, you posted a thing. You guys. So, yeah, so let's see. Great Man last night, Cass of thousands. I'm doing Gosling today, actually. Oh, okay. For MTV.

Okay, and you had interviewed him a ton of times. I have interviewed him a ton of times. There was a period of time where I was pretty sure he hated me. Why? Because about a decade ago over. Do you remember the hey girl, the meme, hey girl at all? No. Okay.

So Hey Girl was. photos of Ryan Gosling that people would just kind of put like, hey girl and like a phrase on. And I interviewed him for crazy stupid love. And I showed him a bunch of the photos. And it became like gigantic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, et cetera. And then, like, there was a long period of time

where I was not getting interviews with him. And I was like, hmm. And I heard, like, unrelate, like, third hand, like, oh, maybe he hates the hey girl thing. Maybe he associates you with it. I did run into him at a party for first man a couple years ago. Great catch up. Couldn't have been nicer.

Last night, couldn't have been nicer. I am sitting down with him today. So I'll report back. We'll see how we're doing. Wait, have you haven't gotten the bottom of it if he was. I'm debating whether to mention it in the conversation.

You have to. You have to. We got to find out, first of one. I don't want to wait another seven years. That's the one. He's like, you know,

if you never would have brought it up again, you would have gotten another interview. I'm going to blame you. Hilar. You should blame me. For sure everybody else does. That's great. So speaking of which,

have you gotten into those other? Because I always, every time I look at the stuff that you do, it seems like you, which is why you do so well, it seems like you've been friends with everybody. Right. Yeah,

it seems like it. But are there people that, like you said, whether it's that gossling type thing, any beefs? Okay, so gosling was not a real beef. I was worried for a while,

but we're totally fine. Who was a beef? Oh, there's a good one. Michael Fassender. who we're fine now. It's all good. We can laugh about it. So do you remember the movie, shame he was in?

Yeah. A great movie. Great score. Great score, too, by those. Fantastic. He was also very nude in the film. And I interviewed him for shame. Very new.

The guy walks to the right and knocks over a potted plane. Exactly. God bless him. God bless him. So back of the day, I was much more kind of balzy walking into junkets and just doing crazy games. Like, this was kind of how I made my name early in the day. where I would just like, I don't know what I was thinking.

I would just come up with like crazy stuff. And sometimes it would work. Sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes the publicist would be so angry at me. Now I'm a little older, a wiser, whatever. So I'll vet things or I have better judgment, et cetera. So I did a game with him where at the shame junket of all things, very serious movie.

And I printed out a bunch of nude male celebrities from films from like famous, like V. American Gigolo? Or something? Ego Mortensen and Eastern Promises. Right. And I would like block out their faces and I would have him show him the penis and say, can you tell me which celebrity this was?

It didn't go over well. No, no. So it did go over. Okay. It went over very well. And the video is probably up somewhere still. It did very well. I did it again with him at the Golden Globes red carpet.

More celebrity penises. Yep, there are a lot of them out there. And at this point, he's going along with it having a good time. Okay. All good, all good. Flash forward. A few months later, MTV Movie Awards, which is one of my, like, prime gigs

that usually have me other hosting the carpet or backstage. And I was doing, I was like, I think I was backstage. We were live. And he comes up to me, and now here's the context. I did not note. So this has been months now since Shane came out. Apparently in those intermittent months, he was tired of all the penis jokes.

Like he'd become like, and literally, apparently, he had said to MTV Russell Brand was hosting, that year, he was like, I don't want to hear any jokes from Russell Brand or anybody else about the penis thing. He was promoting Prometheus at the time. I interviewed him, again, this is live, and I said, this was just such a lame, not even a good joke. And I just said something like, is, is it true, the secret of Prometheus is that's what you call your penis. And he just looked at me and he just goes like, really? With that again? Really? That's on the video? Hopefully it's not anywhere online. I pray.

Please don't look it up. And I just hear in my ear, I have my IFB, like, from the truck. Bail from the penis, bail from the penis. You know, they're like, any interview. What did he say? End the interview. Oh, and the interview. Cut up.

They were done. Oh, wow. So I end the interview. And sure enough, I did not talk to Michael Fastbender for a few years. And I had to smooth things over with his publicist. And I've interviewed him a bunch since, and he's actually lovely. And at least you have a candor, I got to know too. And so like we're all good, but there was a period of time.

But that, yeah, but even that, it was like, it's not like there was this big man that you knew about, the man they, they wouldn't do it. And you throw it out there. You take some risks. Sometimes they don't work. Take a shot. Like you said with Tyke. You swing.

Big swings. You take a big swing. All right. But, but nothing, but those types of things, but nothing where you've interviewed somebody inside of the interview they've gotten kind of pissy about it. And that's it. Because there are people that are notoriously not friendly. Absolutely.

And I'm, I guess I'm in a privileged position where I, I know who those people are. Right. And I, Tommy Lee Jones. I've never interviewed Tommy Lee Jones. I didn't either. I mean, maybe if they offered him to me, I'd be like, at this point in my career, I'd be like, okay, I'll take the challenge. I'll do it. But like, here's an example of one that I kind of consciously avoided for the podcast.

And I'd done him like in short form. I did Christoph Waltz. Yeah, for some things. It's kind of a tough interview. And his publicist liked me and was like, oh, he should do him for the podcast. And I was like, uh, and I finally, it's like an hour to talk to him. 45 minutes usually. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And he came in, sat in my office, and he was great. Honestly, he was great. You know, but do you know what the thing is with that? That's, but everything that you said there made me realize why, though. It's a lot of the times, and I don't know if this is factual, but you could, you could assess it this way. So the junk is, we've both done them. they're grueling for not just for the press,

but especially for the talent. They've got to sit there and they've got to answer the same shit over and over and over again with some people that know what they're doing and others who don't. So they're doing that all day. I'm not telling you it's a reason why. I'm not telling you that they should be miserable, but I'm just telling you it could be a reason to.

Right. So as opposed to, I'm going to go in, I'm going to talk to this guy in his office for 45 minutes and have a conversation like a human. I talk to Richard Dreyfuss for two and a half hours on, on Clyer.

live and we just, Josh, if I said more than 15 minutes worth of this stuff in two and a half hours, but I didn't care. I just wanted to hear him talk and listen to it and I was in awe of his stories. And he probably could sense that and that you knew

your shit and that you respected him. I mean, like, you just kind of hit the nail on the head. The secret is like a lot of the junket people are horrible at what they do and they don't know the stuff. And it's like, yeah, if you talk to like,

if a celebrity talks to like 40 outlets in one day, 25 of them could be like literally reading from a card not engaged, not know their body of work. And so, like, if you happen to be one of the ones that knows what they're doing, you're unfortunately kind of, like, associated with all the crappy ones. So, yeah, if I get them off junket in my office, 45 minutes, I convey that I know their work, respect their work. I'm, like, dropping references in a natural way to film knowledge.

Like, oh, I can relax. I can be a human being. I can trust this person. So you earned being able to quit, junkets and do the long podcast. I didn't earn, I just quit doing it. And because I would, because the thing is, I was working for Fandango at one point. And I was, I did the Force Awakens.

And I got to interview, um, everybody, Harrison Ford was, was the big one. And I remember having conversations, like I was asking questions and they gave me a card. I went off the card. And I did my own thing. Yeah. And I did it because that's why. And I started to talk and I had four minutes. Right.

And I started to talk to them in the way that I would hear. And I started getting notes from the producers and they were like, Well, when you ask just one question, go to it. And I said to him, playing, playing. I go, that's not my style. Yeah. I said, it's not my style. Yeah, yeah.

And I, and I said, all right, if you're going to have a long intro and you want to cut around it, but it's going to get me into a better bit. And those bits, I mean, I did the thing with Stallone, where I just had, I'm, and Rocky's like, my, is, I don't know what I'm choosing. We've seen that in Star Wars sometimes. Wow. And I mean, Rocky was just something growing up as a kid. And, but to have Stallone and I was like, oh, if I wish I could talk to Sloan for an hour.

Do you ever stolen on it? I've never had a long-form chat with him. He's a tough one to get. He's a tough one. I'd love to. Clearly only got that because of Fiendangle when I was there. Yeah. And I had that, but it was, it's one of my favorites.

Like, you know, someone said, which one of your favorite interview is Stallone? I had an Italian, stallion shirt on my brother gave me, and I showed him. And he goes, but look at that chest. And I go, the chest is an embarrassment. And I made him laugh. And I was like, I just made Stallone laugh. And then I was like, he was like, his story in general is like, it's stuff of legends. I had done a thing of the latest Rambo where I talked about in Clare Live and he cut it out of the show and put it on his Instagram.

Yeah. That was like to me that's like that's the geekyke got stuff that we talk about. Oh yeah, yeah. I always say like I mean, I get the most excited about the folks that I grew up with. Yeah. Kurt Russell in my office for an hour talking about like I literally had a big trouble and a little China post behind me. That's cool. He's quoting Jack Burden to me in the voice.

Like I'm like, I can't. Yeah, that's cool. Is that the one? So it was Conan, Conan. Letterman, in terms of influences, you were saying? No, no, no. As far as geeking out, like being like Kurt Russell. So who were some of the ones that, so you, and again, you ever have, Pacino?

Yeah, Pacino's been on the podcast twice. Dude, I got to listen to those. You should listen to those. I will listen. I absolutely will listen to those. I absolutely will. Chino was a major one. Oh, dude.

Pacino's a major one. Warren Beatty did the podcast. That's great. Crazy major. major for me. Tarantino's done the podcast a couple times. He likes to do, he's, yeah, he likes to, he's kind of checked in

more into that now. He's checked into this world and he's smart for doing it. That's why he's who he is, because he understands, he's got, he's a pivot and he listens. He like knows, like, if and when you get him, he's, he's going to like do his research and know, like, your stuff. He knew Schmo's. He, he reached out to do Shmo's, um,

for what, heathlete, I think. Okay. And we had dates booked and it just because it was the during that time he was doing a lot of stuff and it got reschedule a couple of times and then we just lost him but it was he's referenced to me he's like oh yeah my movie was on your top ten last year I'm like

what I don't know my top ten was last year that's great yeah so those are I mean those are some so again when you know who was the most recent one that you just did that's a great question I've Chris Pratt coming this I've recorded him he's this week okay I do I oldman was a big one recently

I've been on the West for a while. Do you get into stuff like with Pratt, right? Because all the stuff, he's talked about how the internet was, like, really crushed him with that stuff. He's talked about, this whole religious thing that kind of came up too. Do you try to avoid that type of stuff or it depends on, again, the conversation or how it comes up? It depends. In this case, this was a very, first, my interview happened before he kind of addressed that stuff. second, I had, by my standards, a very short amount of time.

I ended up with, I was supposed to get 30 minutes. I only got 20 minutes. Again, I know first class problems, whatever. But by the standards of my podcast, it was not the form of my podcast. Zoom or in person? It was Zoom. Okay. But, I mean, I, look, I understand some of the criticism and whatever about Chris,

but, like, he's actually in my experience, and I can only speak from my personal experience. Like, top five nicest human beings, best people on the planet has been very kind to me on and off camera. And I don't think he's got a mean, bigoted bone in his body. Maybe there's some association through his religion, through some really things I wouldn't, and he wouldn't support. But like,

I think he's a good dude. Yeah, I've never, for anyone who ever has worked with him or been around him, interviewed him, never heard a bad thing. All the, only the bad stuff that I've heard are the stuff that people will,

kind of back and forth that happens on, on Twitter, you know, which is everything. But to answer your general question, like, I'm not afraid to go to uncomfortable, weird places.

And it's just like, you know, if you can get in in a human way. I mean, I look, I hate nothing more than someone saying something's off limits. But like, you know, my general for the podcast especially is a very genial, familiar tone. And it's not a gossipy. It's really about the work generally. But there have been instances, I mean, you know, like, you know, I've done a lot of stuff with Shaya before his latest issues. And like, we, you know, we talked about stuff. And you brought stuff up.

So let's say you had Vin Diesel or like Justin Lin on, right? If you had them. Oh, yeah, yeah. So because it's not, that's, that's inside of our space. Because I normally try to stay away from a lot of it too as far as reporting it. But I did cover like when it was Amber Hurd and Ezra Miller, I didn't cover the trial. But like when it came to Amber Hurd and Ezra Miller of whether or not they're going to get replaced or whether or not what Warner Brothers is thinking for either one of them. I talked about that.

So like if you had Justin Lynn and and, and Vindee. diesel on. Would you go down that road? If I had Justin Lin on, I would a thousand percent say like, and it would be a very like, it would be like, are you and Vin good? Like what, like, what's the deal? I would just keep it like that kind of thing and just like, again, speak like a human being.

Maybe not like be like super specific like what happened on this day. Did he did he not show up or whatever? But I would yeah, I would go there. Vin is an odd one. As we all know, Vin is a very unique character. He is triple X. Vin is on his own wave wink. And I don't even know

it's possible, honestly, to break through and have that kind of conversation with him, even if I tried to go there. He's actually done the podcast, and again, has been very nice to me. But I think the podcast, I maybe asked him in 45 minutes, four questions. It was like four monologues from Ben. So I don't know. He's a hard one to like break through and really have a real conversation with. He's kind of on, has his things he wants to convey. Well, he's also speaking of Tantino being locked in.

He's Uber locked in. Like he knows social media. he's one of those guys, whether it was him rock. People don't give Dean Cook enough credit, by the way, when it comes to social media. He was the one who really built his brand. He used that stuff, MySpace. He used a, he was one of those kind of first guys to really do it.

But, um, but Vin Diesel's very locked in. So Vin Diesel, like the first, like, Facebook Live, like, guy. Yeah, so he probably knows your stuff inside and out. I remember when we were on movie talk. He was, he was watching movie talking and knew all those things. So he's locked into it as well. So he also knows how to put on a face. Yes.

Yeah. He's so, I mean, I find Vin endlessly entertaining. I mean, he's an absurd human being, but I find him so enjoyable, almost more than, like, as an actual performer, just as a human being. I remember I moderated,

I moderated the last witch hunter panel at New York Comic-com. And I remember I was interviewing him the day before, and he did this with every single junket journalist. As they would start the interviews, he would say, like, we have speed starting, and, you know, most people have, like, four or five minutes, and he would be like, before we start, Josh, what was your favorite thing about the last witch hunter?

So like every journalist would be forced into this horrible situation where he'd be like about this kind of crappy movie having to say something semi nice. So he has like this, he has this like sizzle reel of like every journalist being like, uh, Michael Kane was awesome. But that's my point. But that's how locked in he is because he knows what he's got to do for sure. Totally smart. A hundred percent he is.

He's like, say something great by my movie, even if you think it's stanked. He did it. Oh. And I probably did. I don't know what I said, but I said something. Because he knows it. He puts you on the spot.

What am I going to say? He knows how to use it. He's a politician inside that way, man. He really is. That's, and you don't give him enough credit because you see this kind of, you know, bouncer guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's, yeah, he is from everything I've heard about him. He's a character, right? He's something, he's, but he's someone you probably could, like you said, have that Richard Riface kind of just go. Just go. He's got stories. He's great.

Yeah, just go. There's so many of those for sure. All right, I'm here with Josh Harwood. Make sure check it out. And they can find that, I know that they can, obviously, go to Patreon. Sure. Is it Patreon.com slash Josh Harwood? It's actually patron.com slash happy sat and fused.

Okay. You can, of course, the podcast is happy, set and fuse. That's for free for everybody. Just the audio. They can get that on Apple Podcast, Spotify, all that stuff. I'm going to put a link in the description also. So make sure, and I'll put an eye card for you guys to check out. And if you're not following Josh on Twitter, he also posts a lot of his

interviews and clips there. I guarantee you if you didn't know beforehand, if you went, you found out reports of breaking news stories that happened, a lot of the times are coming from this guy, from his interviews that he's doing. So you should check it out. I watch this stuff all the time and you should do it. But next time, when are you coming back into town? I'm not sure. I'm going to be at Comic-Con. Sandy Amess either. You're going to go by not going this year. So it's a celebration in D23 this year and I'm going to take Comic-Con off because, you know, for my, my thing is because you're probably going to interview everybody in their with it, right? See, I'm going to, normally what I would do, I would cover like Hall Age

and watch the exclusive stuff. Yeah. They put everything online now anyway. I get it. I get it. Yeah, I had to skip celebration this year. I was bummed. I had some family stuff and I think I'm going to miss D-23 because it's the Toronto Film Festival and I have to make like a Sophie's choice. You're going to get more, you're going to get more out of that one. Yeah, I mean, I have two sides. Like, I have the geek brain, but I also love like my prestige, Volfil film festivals. Yeah, we didn't get to talk about that. We didn't get to talk about that today. It's all good. You got Scorsese's new thing. coming up.

So is that the end of the year? That's fall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fall. So, so much coming out. We didn't talk about David Chase. That's what I'm going to let you go with, David Chase. Okay.

So for people who didn't know, Josh, I reached out to Josh in like 2020, I think, the end of 2020, to be on the movie Trivia Shmowdown because I just wanted to know if he was going to be interested. And he was. And he was humble about it. Not only was he interested. He was awesome. He was really good. He played. Damn you, Griffin Newman.

He's an arch rival now. Do you run into him at all? No, I haven't. I would love to. I mean, I respect Griffin. He's great. But, man, he gave me a whooping in Brooklyn. I know. He just won the tag titles, too. I mean, I can believe it. He's awesome. He's really good. He's really good.

But that was a lot of fun at the being live. And that's where we had this conversation where Josh was kind enough because he was doing New York Comic-Con. He said, yeah, I can come out and I can do the New York event also. And he played Griffin. But in the dressing room, it was right when many saints were coming out. You'd just interviewed David Chase. Yeah. And so I had watched his interview.

And he said he wasn't going to, I don't, it wasn't going to do any more Sopranos or anything along those lines. And I was very adamant. He was like, no more TV. I have no interest in TV. Literally, I have no interest. Yeah. And I had that conversation with him.

I said, don't you think that he should do something. And he just said, yeah, but I just don't think he's going to do it. And then there's this report, what, it was like a month later. Yeah. That said that HBO Max was like going to dump a truck of money in his backyard and he was going to do it. But then I heard another report that he's not going to do it. So where do you think it stands?

Are we going to ever see any more sopranos ever again? I would think we will. because that's what he can get made and he likes to create, even though he's pretty sporadic and deliberate. It's the one thing that people have an appetite. And look, judging from my conversation with him and his conversation with others,

he definitely had an appetite to do more. He just might have to make the deal with the devil. And even, you know, many saints didn't make any money. Didn't get the awards attention. I liked it a lot. But it might just be that he has to, maybe, you know, maybe he does it as a series of like, you know, maybe he can rationalize it as like four mini movies,

Stranger Things style or something. Maybe there's some way into that. I would not be, I would think that we're going to see more. If he's healthy enough, if he's, if he's, you know,

able to do it, I would think he'll do it. I would love to see it and I would love to have Gandalfini's son do it as I thought he would did such a great job. I thought he was one of the, he was underused, but I also thought he was great in the role. So we'll see,

man, we'll see what happens. And make sure once again, you're checking out, Happy Sad Confused. Is Josh Harwoods, follow him on Twitter. and for you guys, I want to thank you.

Josh, thank you for joining me, by the way. This was a blast. You're going to do it again. All right. So make sure if you haven't already done it, hit that subscribe button, comment, coming back to everybody, too. And don't forget about athletic greens, man. Get yourself some of the athletic greens, Apple Podcast, Spotify,

anywhere that podcasts are found. That's the show, everybody. We're going to be back tomorrow. So check us out. All right. Peace.