The Kristian Harloff Show - Sam Raimi Confirms Horror Tone in Dr. Strange 2 (with guest Adi Shankar)

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

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Happy Thursday, Thursday. I hope you're having a good week thus far. Lots to talk about on Big Thing today. We know that Sonic looks like it's going to have a pretty big weekend, decent weekend. Ezra Miller got himself into some stuff, but more so not really talking about that as much as talking about what does Warner Brothers do next. Do they keep him as flash? while they're having some meetings to talk about it. We'll go over that as well.

Man, Sam Ramey was talking about Kevin Feigey's comment about whether or not this is a horror movie. This Dr. Strange's tickets go up and AMC's website crashes and all that good stuff. And we also find out a little bit more that Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness is the shortest movie in Marvel history. The other big thing that I'll be talking to today,

Adi Shankar, is going to be on the short. show. I'm excited to talk to Adi, and if you guys did know beforehand, Adi has been on my show before when it was Shmo's. But he's on to talk about the Guardians of Justice, which is on Netflix, and we have a little bit of an interview, catch up, talk some wrestling, and a few other things, man. So that's it. And if you're brand new to the channel and you haven't already subscribed, please do that. And if you're watching this on the premiere, please comment inside of the comment section as well as in the live chat. That helps tremendously. It gets the the notifications going.

It lets people see that I'm doing a show. And it's super helpful. And obviously, you're all already subscribed to the Apple Podcasts or Spotify. That I know, right? Because that's, that's, that's what gets us going. That's the big thing. That's what we're doing. That's what I'm talking about.

A lot of stories to talk about. I hope you're enjoying your day. And let's do it, everybody. It is the, it's the big thing. Come on. Oh, that's not, no one night. No, that's not Halo. Right.

The first one. The first one. Of all the things. Hilarious. Some shit house the day. It's like, you know, it's good that you finally figure it out of doing it for 12 years. Eat shit. You're not wrong.

But eat shit anyway. It's my favorite. Some people, like, say some stupid. And you respond back and they go, oh, you're being a little bitch about it. We don't want to say. Thank you. Thank you for saying.

I fucked that up. You should be able to say shit back. I acknowledge it. you're probably right. But still eat shit, buddy. How about that? Anyway. Oh, man.

There's a lot to go over. I'm excited for you guys to hear this interview with Audi. It's really good. It's really, uh, pretty open to. Respect people like that that are willing to just kind of say, hey, man. This is how I am. I acknowledge this about myself. And I was excited to talk to him.

But that's, saw what we're talking about here first. We got some news. Some news. Sonic, dude, I still haven't seen the first one. I got to see the first one before I see the second movie. Screening was over the weekend. We were shooting Schmo down, so I didn't get a chance to see it. But I got a lot of these stories from Dark Horizons, and this one, this is, um, this thing's tracking pretty good. Paramount family-friendly sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is apparently going to track to collect $55 million over its three-day open when the film opens this Friday. That's on par with the original, which open to a strong $58 million for the three-day ahead of a total $70 million,

four-day President's Day holiday opening weekend in early 2020, just weeks before the world went to hell. The new film is already taken in 30 million overseas, where it opened in Select Territories last weekend with a fairly cost-effective $90 million budget. That's not bad these days. I'll tell you that. The Sonic sequel is expected to easily take the U.S. box office crown by Sunday, beating out Morbius, not too hard of a task, which is expected to drop far enough for a 15-17 million

second weekend hall. The other new big comer ambulance, also missed that one, is expected to earn at least 10 million in its opening weekend, which would be career low for Bay, whose last film was the expensive Netflix blockbuster six underground. That said, it's cost effective. 40 million will limit its damage.

I have so much to talk about with this. Both new releases have scored mixed reviews and A24s genre mash up everything everywhere all at once. However, which has landed rave reviews will expand nationwide after two weeks in limited release. Okay. Let's start with the fact that the smart thing that Michael Bay and whoever's making this movie didn't, normally Michael Bay is making $100,000 to $200 million movies.

And they said, no, we can't do that. We definitely can't do that because it's not going to make that kind of money right now. They were smart because this is exactly what we have been talking about on this show. You're getting movies like this, whether it's an ad, Adam Project or the Rock and Ryan, again, Ryan Reynolds and Galgado. There's these big massive streaming movies with these massive budgets and massive stars. And it's these big series that you have on that people are very picky and choosy about what they're going to see in movie theaters. Sandra Bullock movie was different because it was a change in tone and it was a genre movie.

these olds, this isn't, this isn't the mid-2000s or late 90s anymore and people aren't going to rush out to see a Michael Bay movie in the theaters when you got Dr. Strange coming out soon and you just had the Batman and all these things. It's just, it's a different, especially over the last two years and everything went happened. So setting it at 40 million was very smart that that's how much the budget was for it. Cheap movie to make in today's terms, you know. And this is what I think ambulance should be an example for the studios that if you're going to make movies like that, you can't shoot for $100, $200 million. You're going to lose money. But if you shoot for $40, you'd at least make it back. I think you'll make it back over the course of however long the run is.

But like how much is morbis probably, that's a different because you're still in the comic book. I understand why the movie was made. It's the comic book genre. You're playing off the Spider-Man hoping people. are going to bounce off Spider-Man. So even the movie just happens to not be good. But Sonic is a different thing. Sonic is a movie you should make

because the first one did fairly well. A budget isn't that big. Plus it's a movie for kids. So it makes a lot of sense. Harry Potter or Fantastic Beast, that's the next big one that comes out, understand why that's coming in, and then just get out of the way until Dr. Strange comes out.

So I think that it's just very telling now. and it's the first time that the box office is starting to move a little bit more so, and you're starting to get competition again when it was just like only one game in town because there weren't a lot of movies that were coming out, and it's starting to get stable again, the movie theater business. So I think these are pretty accurate what we're about to see this weekend, and I think I understand all of it. I think I understand all of it.

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You got a new clip and some interview sound bites from the film's beloved doctor. Doctor, he's a doctor now. Director Sam Ramey, he was speaking with Fandango, and Ramey confirmed comments by Marvel's Kevin Feingy, who said that the strange sequels contains elements of horror in it, a genre that MCU generally steers clear of. Rame went on to say, I think what Kevin meant from my point of view is that this film has a flavor of horror to it.

I think when the original director of Scott Derrickson and Kevin promoted the coming of Dr. Strange in the multiverse of madness, they said it was going to be the first Marvel superhero film that had an element of horror to it. I hope I'm not misquoting them, but even after Scott left the picture due to creative differences, that was still the mandate to make the first Marvel film that had an element of horror. So I kept true to the original statements. I think that's what Kevin means, because it is spooky at sometimes and scary at others. It's unknown what you'll find in the multiverse. It's within that unknown that suspense and darkness exists, a tool to titulate the audience's fear. Plus, Dr. Strange in the comics has always dealt in universes and dimensions

that were quite spooky, so we wanted to bring some of that into this film. Ramey, of course, is also famous for directing the original Spider-Man trilogy at Sony, with this film making his first return to the genre and to Marve. In the wake of Spider-Man No Way Home and the Strange sequel, opening up multiverse possibilities, Ramey was asked about potential fourth. Toby McGuire, led and Sam Ramey directed Spider-Man being made one day. Turns out Remy is open to the idea. I've got to realize after making Doctor Strange that anything is possible, really, anything in the Marvel universe, any team ups, and I love Toby, I love Kirsten Dunst, I think all things are possible. I don't have a story or a plan. I don't even Marvel would even be interested in that right now. I don't know what their thoughts are about that. I haven't really pursued it, but it sounds beautiful.

Even it was in the Spider-Man movie, I'd love to work with Toby again in a different role. It's like the world's best toy box to be able to be able to be back at Marvel. I'd love to come back and tell another tale, especially with the great. great management they've got here. All right. So the story winds up turning into a Spider-Man 4-story more so than anything else. But as far as the horror element goes, yeah, man, that's what Marvel has done throughout their run in their phases, is that each movie has a bit of a different genre in it,

whether it's a crime heist movie, an Ant Man, a spy thriller, a John Hughes-type comedy with the first Spider-Man and all that. You know, that's what they've done. So bringing in Derekson to start and then continuing on with Ramey, who certainly produced a handful of horror movies and made his name in directing horror movies with Evil Dead and all that, this is exciting. And he makes, and there's a particular line, though,

that he said that made me go, oh, that sounds fun, because if you pay attention to what multiverses can do and parallel universes and all that, there's infinite amount. of them. And the rules are not the same in one universe as in another. So there's a lot of creepy shit going on in other universes. And how many of those universes are open? How many are we going to visit? That's an interesting, an interesting way to put it. And it happens to be factual if you,

if you pay attention to the science. So I love it. I love the idea of it. I like the idea that it's going to be horror based, or at least be creepy. I think it should be creepy. as far as why, even if you see the stuff that what he's going through when he runs into that version of like the evil Dr. Strange, the question is that the same one that we saw from the, from what if, or is that a different one?

So a lot of people think it is. Excuse me, the one from what if, but it possibly couldn't be, I mean, it could be somebody else. And then you spin into what he, what he asked for,

what Spider-Man for. Now, I don't know if Marvel would be interested is what he said. I mean, they're interested. Trust me. Tony and Marvel, I mean,

it's more of a Sony thing than anything else, but they're interested. Trust me. The question is, what I would have pressed them on in that particular interview is if it was a Sony movie with your past problems,

granted I know that those people aren't there anymore, maybe the ones that you were working with, but would you want to go back to Sony? Is it a better experience working with Kevin Feig and Marvel than it was Sony? Because he has publicly had that falling out in the third one. But if the MCU played into this and somehow I don't think that it necessarily would,

but if they made a fourth movie with Sony, that's what it would be. It would be a Sony Spider-Man movie, but I think it would make a shit ton of money, and it would do very well. And Sam Ramey coming back to do it, I think would be an added touch to it that I think would work very well. Now, look, I'm not a massive fan of those movies.

I had a lot more fun doing the rewatch on them and appreciated them more rewatching them. I still think, and I stand by it, I think Spider-Man 2 is a really good movie, really good movie. I think it's vastly overrated. But it's a really good movie. But it's,

people put it up on this tier that I don't understand that. I think there's a lot of cheesy shit that doesn't hold up, but I think it's a fantastic film. I just think there's tons of other movies that are far superior. However, after watching,

and I still think in Spider-Man 3, you can tell it was so messy, there's some shit. Watch the rewatches that myself and Winston and Coy did where we really break down all these movies. There's a lot of, of stuff inside of Spider-Man 3 that could have worked.

It was just, it was just so many different movies going on inside of it. Anyway. But yeah, man. So those, that's a few different things going on right there. There's a few other stories. Which is the one we should hit next. Let's get into it. Let's go, speaking out, Warner's hitting pause.

Hitting pause on Ezra Miller. And here, here's the story. Here's the story on Ezra Miller. In the beginning of the year, or at beginning of 2020, there was that video that came out of him. We still don't know what the hell happened. I just watched it recently. He grabs this woman who's like smiling and laughing.

It looks like he's playing with a fan, and then he throws her to the ground, and she doesn't look like she's laughing anymore. And no one still knows what the hell happened in that video. No one talks about it. Anyone even talk to her? No one knows what's happening. But that one seemed people to be like,

I don't worry about it. And then they moved past it. And now, in the wake of several incidents, that one probably included, actor Ezra Miller's future at Warner Brothers Pictures appears to be in question, according to a lengthy article at Rolling Stone via the playlist. The piece claims that shortly after the Fantastic Beast and Justice League actors recent arrests for disorderly conduct and harassment in Hawaii, Warner Brothers and DC executives held an emergency meeting on March 30th,

according to their sources, the consensus during the meeting was to pause. all future projects involving Miller, as well as any public appearances they may have scheduled. The piece and another at page six goes into a pattern of bizarre offset antics involving Miller in recent years with Rolling Stone's source, indicating the actor also had frequent meltdowns during the making of the flash, but stressed those incidents were not violent or vocal, saying that Ezra would get a thought in his head and say,

I don't know what I'm doing. How said pause might impact the flash. It's unclear. The project has already been filmed and is preparing a 20-23 release. June 2020 to release. As Miller plays the film's lead, the possibility of lengthy reshoots and or recasting is likely too expensive,

even with the Multiverse storyline, opening of recasting possibilities. Miller will be seen in Fantastic Beas's Secret of Dumbledore, which opens Friday, next Friday in cinemas. Warner's also busy with other matters right now as Discovery's cleaning house among the top executive ranks of Warner Media, head of the new company's merger, which is expected to happen on Friday.

At least nine executives are exiting, according to Variety, as Discovery's C.E. E.O. David Zazlov is set to take charge of the newly named joint company Warner Brothers Discovery. All right. Lots. I'm not going to talk about the Warner Brothers Discovery, so I don't know enough about it. But what I will talk about is, and I don't normally talk about this stuff, but it's, it goes more inside of a story of, what the hell are they going to do. As far as the antics and everything, all that stuff, too, besides just the stuff that I think, I don't even know, I think he assaulted someone in Hawaii. I don't know the full story, but I don't pay attention to that shit, to be honest with you.

But what I will say is that there seems to be a lot of stuff that he keeps getting himself into. And I know a lot of times when things like this happen. And I don't know what the climate is again on social media, but staying away from it because it's just mentally, it's just it wears on you. It wears on you. So all I'll say is because I told you guys,

I'm not really talking too much about like the Oscar stuff. I can just tell you that reading some of it, it was exhausting, watching people going back and forth and fighting with each other. It's so stupid. Everyone fights with each other over everything. So it's like, so when this comes out,

I don't know how people feel. I don't know what people are saying. I have no idea. All I can say is that there is a pattern of behavior in general, right, with this guy. And right away, people are saying everyone's just so fast to cancel people and do this and do that and all that.

The thing that a lot of people don't understand when they're on Twitter and Facebook and all that too is there are businesses that are being run and there are things that need to be done and it doesn't matter necessarily. The question that comes at hand to you when you're running a business is is the person in a particular part of this business, right?

Is it going to hurt business if we keep this person around with the possibility that something like this can happen again? Or is it going to hurt business if we get rid of this person because we need this person around to the above it's conversations that come up and if it continues to happen and things continue to happen it's like is it worth the investment could we is it a one-time thing is it something it goes

on and on it's and it's a business that people have to have conversations with when money is involved it's just it's just part of it and this is ultimately what happened with azure miller where they have to have this conversation now as the article states do they reshoot do they I mean this movie's coming out they can't do anything with with fantastic beast. The movie's done, it's coming out. That's, that's it. His role, he's kind of more of a,

I mean, he's a bigger role, but he's not, not the lead. The lead in the flesh. It's a full-on lead. So, if you, if you,

if you, you know, get rid of him there, well, and then everyone's talking about the kid Grant, what's his, Guston,

I don't, I don't know, what the hell is his name. I, you guys know. I'm not good with me. I'm talking about, the kid from the CW show,

who I like. And I, and I, and I, And I remember, it was telling you, if you go back in time when all this happened, and they were doing the CW show and the Flash, and it's nothing against Ezra Miller, because it perks of being a wallflower,

and they happen to think he's a fantastic actor. But I remember back in the day they asked, and I said, I think it is too confusing in general. If you have a Flash that's working over here that people are going to get attached to and then put another one in film, just make it the same damn flash. And now people won't do that anyway. anyway um but i just it's seeing what the i i just think it's too much of a headache honestly and i also think it's part of the generation the things that and i you guys know how much i don't

like social media in general i like it for like promotion and things of that nature people get on social media and they get themselves in trouble whether it's through videos whether it's through and it could be and when they're posting videos and doing things that they want to do. And I know this is a completely different thing from what he did. We're talking about the Hawaii, but he has posted in the past. But it's like, I just, I think I'm more of an old school. And I get it.

People are like, yeah, you're living in an old era, man. That's how people are now. People like to voice themselves no matter what. They wake up in the morning. I'm having eggs. Hey, who likes my eggs? I get it. But I just come from a place where it's just like, if you, like, and I think that's

one of the reasons I talked about the Oscars so freely. It's like, there's no mystery to it anymore. You know what everybody's doing. It's like in the same thing, everyone is so vocal, and it gives you, and I think it hurts people sometimes too, because in a, I mean, and it's both sides of it. People are too vocal on Twitter and Facebook and everything too. When you see them, I think of my mother, when there's a particular actor that she doesn't like for their, for their political views or their political views. She never gives a person a chance. Because any time that they come on screen now, all she does is talk about their political views.

and you could have a, and this person's a fantastic actor. But right away, just gives them, and that's, and I think that hurts all sides, on all sides. And I think the same thing goes for social media posts and all that stuff too. Not saying people should be silenced and not say anything. I just think that it's, I think it's a problem sometimes when people are just, it's, it's too accessible. I could tweet the most horrendous thing right now and think it's okay, right? Right now with us, right now, post something, right now. And that's the end of me.

And I'm done. And I can think it's a funny joke. Oh, that'd be funny to say. Like, no, stupid. And you're responsible for your actions. I'm just saying, this thing is more dangerous than people realize. And again, I'm very, very aware that this has nothing to do with this. This is, he assaulted somebody, I think, again, in Hawaii or wherever the hell he was.

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i'm telling you about i'm dreading the drive but maybe not dreading it too much but listening to podcasts and shit so you know whatever all right enough about me i wanted to talk to you guys because i was able to see the guardians of justice on netflix and it's so much fun and the reason why it's so much fun is because of the creator the director i have talked too many times and you can you know he's a wrestling fan for god's sake because ddp's in this and has a prominent role and we'll talk about all that and more i haven't talked to him since the schmo's no days but he's been very kind to me um in in the past he's he reached out i think he listened to my sam punk interview and he reached out and he said some very kind words and we've just been talking back and forth and uh

and we said let next time he got something to talk about let's let's let's talk brother and that's the one and only adishin car what's up man how are you who so good so good man yeah um yeah um yeah and so blown away by everything you've done and transitioned into so rad. Thanks, brother. Thank you. Thank you. And not only am I a wrestling fan, you are right. Not only does DDP have a large role in the show.

He also hits a diamond cutter in the second episode. He does indeed. He does indeed. And you can tell. I was like, oh, man, this is just the wrestling mark in Adi going, nuts over here and I loved every bit of it. And Morrison's in it as well. Yeah, he's a Canadian destroyer. Sure is. So, all right, I'm going to ask questions and you can shoot me down and tell me if I'm far off the mark, but it seems as if when you were growing up, were you a big DC fan?

No. You were not? No. Okay. So, all right, so then I'm off the mark right away, because the way I perceived it, then I'm going to let you talk about how you kind of came to bring it together and all that obviously um there is a a lot of justice league in here but this is audition cars justice league to yeah yeah totally to the max and and it's and it's not like you're trying to hide it you're like no this is this is my version of superman this is my version of batman this is what this is and but it's what i love it it reminded me in the stuff that you've done before whether it was punisher or the power ranger stuff and and it's that kind of that dark thing you're not afraid to cross boundaries i mean if you watch the show you'll see the disclaimer that

goes up right away that you know you're going to cross these boundaries because you're you have a pure vision of what you wanted to say and you clearly do that in the first episode and you establish it really well so how did this come to fruition how did you decide because if you're not a big DCPN why'd you go that way and not say Marvel or someone else or create something you know completely new because I liked I actually really liked the way you did this but I'm just curious no it's a great question so again I've been working on this for like a long, long, long time for like many, many years. So I think a couple things happened. One, one, the Marvel canon, the Marvel lore. I think it's well known like today post-Avendors

Endgame. But, you know, outside of like Spider-Man, it hasn't become like a, I know what the word is, whereas like the DC characters are like super iconic. Like everyone knows about them. Even if you're not a fan, right, you know who the Flash is or or Queen Lantern. I think it just crosses generations to the point where like it's just, the word that keeps coming to me is iconography, but that's like incorrect. It's not that it's iconography.

It's kind of like it's part of like tap. It's part of the tapestry of culture. and I really wasn't trying to make a superhero show at the end of the day. I was trying to do like a social satire, social political satire. And then using these motif, I'm using the word motif. That's not right. It is. I think satire is a perfect word for it because it's absolutely satire.

It's absolutely satire. But I mean like how I was trying to use the DC heroes. I was trying to kind of play off of, the societal understanding of them. Yeah, yeah, for sure, because I mean, you do, and you do that, you do it right away. And I like the idea, and I don't want to get into a massive sport. This for people I haven't seen it yet,

but even the idea of when you look at the, the opening, which I thought was done very clever, by the way, the way that you did it with the, and I love the mixture of animation inside of like the old school footage, which was really awesome, like the, I mean, and the, and playing with history a bit and showing kind of the World War III, and how, and how people, the, the, uh, shoot, the main, uh, marvelous man,

how marvelous man then becomes part of the culture, how you, and, and what he went through. And the idea of like what that would put on a person, because we've always seen Superman, he's gone, he's gone through some shit, but he basically just kind of brushes it off. It's like, ah, that's okay. They don't like me. But he's still, he's gone through these human emotions and these things that it's like, and especially today with how much focus is on mental health and everything that he's, kind of gone through and what he would go through. I thought it was a very powerful first episode,

especially to put all of that on him. Yeah, so, I mean, that's something that you could tell that you were very clear that that's what you wanted to do in that opening, in that opening scene. Yeah, it was, it was like kind of a personal, I mean, there was a lot of, like, me in that. Because I came up with that sequence. And I'd been depressed for, like,

quite a bit of time and I was like and I couldn't tell up from down left from right I just just life felt like a blur and then and then a doctor finally put me on Zoloft which is an antidepressant for those of you don't know

and then as the Zoloft was kicking in all of a sudden it started feeling like Wizard of Oz like colors started getting brighter birds started singing and being a huge nerd I immediately went what if I was Wolverine and, you know, how Wolverine can't get drunk.

Yeah. Because his body, you know, the healing factor. So I was like, what if I was Wolverine? And the medicine wouldn't work on him. And then again, because I'm a huge nerd, I went, well, that's not true because Wolverine's healing factor is also emotional and psychological. So the healing factor would have solved this. And then I immediately went, oh, well, what if it was Superman?

And also people are like relying on you to be this. thing to be this leader to be this beacon of hope or something and um you know at this point in my life i had a lot of responsibility uh at a very very young age i was like i was feeling a lot of burdens and yeah just evolved well that resonated with me for sure that absolutely i thought i thought was very powerful being the fact that how they're no matter even if even if it's something as i don't want to say as small as but it's something it's still significant but smaller but you were like you're uh the head of the family your family you know like i i i feel that with my wife and my two kids and there's a lot of burden on me and there's like these things that i'm constantly going through and i could see

where like the focus is always you know and a lot of times we don't really talk about things right we just say oh yeah they look at someone they go oh yeah he's he or she's got a cover they're good and then there's all this stuff kind of festering up and building up and i thought that was a very powerful moment especially for someone you know like like this guy for marvelous man or the and thinking of how superman could have kind of gone through that but i but i I do have to thank you because you put, and we're talking, you mentioned the Flash before, you have the speed in this and you put Sharnie Vincent in this role.

And dude, I was from your, when I saw your next, and I'm talking about just as far as acting ability, action star, I fell in love with her in the way that she was able to just, she was so electric in that film. And when you put her in this and I was right away, I was like, oh, incredible. So I was very happy to see her because I think she's, Anything that she's in, she elevates it, and I think she does the same in your project.

Absolutely. She's such a phenomenal talent. I mean, she's been a personal friend of mine. I mean, since she did Step Up 3D. Yeah. So I met her right after Step Up 3D. And I just immediately got to sense that, like, this is an artist with so much, so much nuance, so much depth. And like a real person.

she's a real person it's good to hear because she's she's awesome man she's awesome and then all right so we will talk about the WW or just wrestling in general with with DDP

and getting him along because I know that you're you've we've just geeked out anytime that we've talked off air we just geek out about wrestling and so with DDP is that similar to Sharnie where you have

you have this relationship that you've met him in the past yeah yeah yeah he was one of my one of my first friends in the city of Los Angeles. Oh, how did that come about? Can you say? No, no, I can't. I can't.

It's kind of like not a super interesting story. Like, you know, in my, in my, okay. So, so like, when I was a kid, right, I had no understanding, no bearing of like, who was valued as what within the Hollywood ecosystem, right? So I just assumed Stone Cold Steve Austin was like the most famous. person on the planet. Like, why wouldn't I, right? I'm like, okay, well,

there's this guy named Michael Jordan, and he shoots balls in hoops, and that's interesting, sort of. Then there's Stone Cold Steve Boston who, like, defeated the Undertaker at SummerSlam. It's clearly not even a comparison. Not even, it's like a no-prudence,

right? So DDP was actually at a Hollywood event, and And I was like afraid to talk to him. I was like, oh my God, it's DDP, only shit. That's crazy. And, and then he like called me up just like two weeks later.

Because a mutual friend gave him, gave us each other's number. And he's like, he's okay, bro. Want to meet for lunch? He was like, fuck yeah. And then we just immediately hit it off. So when he lived in LA, we'd just go see like movies together and stuff. Like one of my favorite memories was we went to go watch, I believe it was Thor, like the first Thor movie. First one, yeah.

Yeah, the first Thor movie. And it was sold out. And instead we went to go watch crazy stupid love. Which is not a BS. I like that movie. It's a great movie. Yeah, it's a great movie. Yeah.

And DDP's running commentary to me during the movie was just amazing. That's incredible. He turned to me, be like, who's that? And I'm like, that's a guy named. Ryan Gostling. Going places. That's a good looking motherfucker. I can see.

You know it's funny about that? And I can share a similar DDP story too is where I wrote for the WB like that that briefly. And one of my first one of my first scenes I had to write

was something for DDP and I went up to him. Couldn't have been a sweeter guy. Couldn't have been a sweeter guy. Super nice. And then it turned out that my high school friend, Joe, became really good friends with them and started to direct him in movies and put him in um and put him in a

bunch of stuff and then they became i think they were partners and i think uh he started working with him so i i had heard more about him but i was more impressed with him and on the way he's you know obviously with ddp yoga and the stuff that he had done but the way that he just rescued people's lives you know whether it's it was the lillate scott hall or um or or jake roberts and those because both those guys when you looked at i mean you and i have been around people enough to where you've seen enough of those people you're like it doesn't look good for them right no no and this guy it's like he saves everyone they start putting that fucking blu-ray or DVD in or they start working with them and it's like he just saves lives man dude absolutely I mean I'm I'm and that's why we're like friends because he's you know I got over the oh you're a wrestler thing like like that and then once I got to know him as a person I was like oh you you're like you're like like you're like a dude with a big heart and you're not all about you right um and we just bonded over that and like you know and he also he's a guy who just genuinely she's the best in everyone yeah

and i love that about him i mean that's what he's that's kind of what he's made his brand off of but i mean just as cast in general and i think that that's what i've always i mean even we have a lot of mutual friends obviously katie sackoff being one of those but just watching when you like the cast and you you do something that is think is very smart that a lot of people even though they make relationships you seem to make relationships in your personal life and everything too and you have and you put people in projects and you continue good relationships and i think that that's why i mean look at this cast and i and correct me if i'm wrong but maybe so far what you're saying whether it was ddp or sharnie binson these personal connections but i mean look at whether you have uh john hedigan aka morrison uh denise richards in the cast

William Lee, Andy Melanakis. I mean, this is a pretty, this is a Jane Seymour for God's sake. There's so many great people and Kellan Lutz. I mean, I can go on and on and on and on about this cast. But like, so was a lot of it casting? Was a lot of it connections? Because you seem to be a guy that's like, hey, I want to put my people on talented people that I know into my shit. Yeah.

A lot of it was just that, as you said, you know, like Jane Seymour was casting. But, you know, did you lose your mind when you got Jane Seamore? I didn't lose my mind I was more like oh wow this was I lost my mind when I had like a phone call with her about it right right and then she was like asking me all these like questions and I was just like whoa

it was a little surreal yeah it was a little surreal it was a little surreal sorry go ahead so you were saying so the rest of the connection yeah it was just people I knew just people I knew who I liked it's just people I knew people who I knew who I liked and the other thing that I was trying to do like I wanted to to put people in positions, in roles that I felt reflected who they actually were versus how

they looked. Does that make sense? It does. It does for sure. I feel like there, there's like a version of this where, you know, Derek Mears, who plays awesome man. He's constantly cast as like the monster. He plays, he plays the lead in like monster movies. And all my interactions with him prior to casting him in this role was, um, like he's just like a big kid. Yeah. He's just like a big.

He literally like acts like a big kid. So I was like, oh, if you just show up in, uh, this capacity, I feel like this is, it's shocking to me that he hasn't been in that. I love that, dude. I got to tell you. I really love that because that shows like the power also of the fact that you're with the writing and the directing. I like to do that stuff myself, you know,

where you're looking and bringing out, because you're right. It is a look sometimes that people are like, okay, you look like that person and you're an actor so you can do that, but a lot of times people don't really get to know the inner workings of who they are. And by doing, yeah,

and you pull out such a different and I think better performance because you also go off type. So I think that's a really smart way to do it. And you can tell, and again, you're the one on set so I could be wrong, but it seemed like everybody's had a fucking blast doing this. No?

And I definitely put, well, I definitely put them through a lot. You know, because like I don't think it was clear to anybody what I was trying to do, just again, because of the mixed media nature of the piece and how the mixed media hadn't been cross-pollinated. But I really did appreciate that so many people just showed up because I was like, hey, I'm going to do something weird and it's going to be a little crazy and different. And it was hard to also articulate what I was trying to do, right? Because when you watch the show, it's kind of hard to explain what it is other than, right?

So imagine how hard it was to explain it before it existed. I'm sure, especially for people who might just think that should be. I got it right away from the satire and the idea and what you're doing. But like for some people, did people just think they were making a straight up superhero movie? You're like, no, no, no, it's not exactly that. But you should be able to tell it in the writing, though, too, you get it? I guess maybe not. Maybe not.

But hold on that before because I got two more question. That's part of it. But the other thing is because, like I said, I've had conversations with you. We have good conversations. But it's very different also when you're in the middle of when you're doing something in your, especially when you have a vision of it. So what is your directing style like? Can you be a ballbreaker? Are you someone who's just like, I know my vision?

We're friends, we're everything too. But I'm going to go, I'm coming at you 100%. And then we'll talk about it afterwards, what you like, what you didn't? Tough love. Like, what's the style like on set? There's no tough love. There was some of it where I was even like a lot of it was improv. It may not seem that way when you watch the piece, but a lot of it was improv.

So, you know, it was different for every actor. It was different for every scene. It wasn't like that there was like one consistent style. Yeah. Also, yeah. Okay. So it wasn't like, hey, this is the one thing. It was like more like, okay, what am I trying to get out of this scene?

And also, like, the show isn't like your traditional TV show in the sense that, like, it has like one consistent tone. It just constantly shifts tone between scenes, between episodes. But that kept it fresh. That kept it. Yeah, no, no. That was totally intentional. Yeah. But then it was like a hard thing to explain.

So then I'm like, okay, well, I'm not going to explain anything. Just going to start doing it. And then it'll, it'll come together at the end. And so what do you do so when you have so and tell me about because obviously Castlevania does well for Netflix and you establish this you have this good relationship with them. Is that the first thing that you did with them was Castlevania? Yes. Okay. So then so Castlevania comes in. You know like you said, you've been working on this one for a while. So once you get in the good graces of Netflix and they like what you're doing with Castlevania and you go, well, hey, I got this other thing I want to do. Is that kind of kind of is. Kind of it, kind of it. I mean, obviously with with bumps and nuance. and highs and lows. Right, right.

Numerous conversations in between. But yeah, that pretty much, that's, that was, that was it. And the relationship now is how? Pretty good. Yeah, yeah, it's great. I mean, it's, look, it's, it's a different company than when I first started, right? So how so, how so? Well, my.

I have one of those too. So my, yeah. So I paused to like let it run. So, so. So. So. When I, my first ever meeting with Netflix, they were in a, I wouldn't say a small office, but they were in the old relativity media. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Marvel offices slash Marvel offices back when Marvel was like a small independent movie studio. And now it's this, now Netflix is like this global titan of entertainment, right? So I got in there before it was this global juggernaut. Well, good for you. You invested early, huh? That's like, that's pretty awesome, though, because it's like, again, haven't, but you always, you seem like one of those people, man, you're, you, it's connections. Everything's connections.

What I always people, people always when I, when they ask, school, obviously learning and, and having an education is very important, but I think it's all, and people, they, they joke and the cliche of it's all who you know, but it's all about, I just think a matter of relationships, you know, and that seems to be every time I talk to you, no matter any interview we've ever had, it's a matter of your relationships have, have kind of served you very well, I think.

Yes, yes. And I think part of it, part of it is like, I wasn't making relationships. I was just engaging with people, but I found interesting or kind or just. But those are essentially relationships, yeah, but I mean, absolutely, absolutely, yeah.

That wasn't your argument, though. No, no, totally. I was allergic to that. networking right but what what can you do for me and like that that kind of thing was kind of just gross and I just saw a lot of that and uh in the like the like the movie ecosystem and I'm like I'm like no right no I don't know how I don't know how to engage that way yeah and also like you dude you've known me for a long fucking time long time now I I was not the world's greatest communicator I I'm not I would argue that I'm like not

you know, I'm not Tony Robbins right now, but like, you know, you go back to like back in the day, like, there's like pulling teeth to get information out. Yeah, but that's, what do you think that comes from? Is that come from also? Is that is that, is that, because we talked about that a little while ago, but I think that is that, is that a matter of insecurities? Is it a matter of kind of a perception thing? Is it a matter of just like, I, because I know is, when it comes to creatives and also, too, it's like you have, obviously when you look at the shit that you do, it's like, right, shit just, you've got a thousand fucking. things going on in your head that once you get it on the screen you're like oh that's what he was trying to say yeah it's just a matter of communicating it out verbally it's not it's not everybody's thing all the time but it's like what so what is it though was it a thing was it like an insecurity stuff it was no insecurity it was it was i didn't know how i was being received i'd like no idea i'd like no no thing because all i know is like all i knew back then was my experience and um i'm wired

And I think what you're also getting at is that I'm just like wired a little differently. So I was having a hard time like, and by the way, this show helped me with this tremendously. Because I realized I was seeing in real time that, oh, the way I communicate is not always super clear. It's very clear to me. Right. Like you know what you want to say. You have the intentions of what you want to say. Right.

Right. Right. So basically, like, I'm seeing images. and I'm trying to describe what I'm seeing. Right. And to me, it's like super clear, right? I would say something like, and I can't pull an example of it right now. But, but yeah, like as time went on, I was like, oh, huh, you're super unclear, like in what you're saying.

And I had to become hyper precise. Yeah. Well, it's, it's, I mean, it was like a skill. Yeah. And like, you notice, like, now I'm, like, talking a little faster, maybe before there was a lot. of like pauses and and that thing because it was like it's almost like my mind would get overloaded and then i'd like pause for five minutes then you're trying to reset lead yeah the matrix is trying to reload and it's like right 100 percent i look i get it and i remember and i remember

even afterwards because i think the first time you actually the show i i don't remember what it was first but i remember our mutual late great friend john schnepp yeah when when you were on uh i think it was heroes back in the day and then you had come on schmose but we We had, I think that we had a similar conversation where you're like, oh, you know, I, you know what I was trying to say. And I was, I wasn't being distrust with you. I got, I never took that disrespectful at all ever, ever, ever. I was, I knew it. I got it.

And, and, and I think that that's why we have continued to have a relationship because we just kind of understand each other in general. Like, for me, I mean, that's, and I think that that's why when you go to, I kind of resonated to what you just said before when you cast somebody off their personality in general. I remember doing a, because stand-up comedy was really my thing. And I remember, I went up and I was, I'm a big geek, you know, whether I was, I was, and I had a joke. And it's funny because Katie and I used to joke about this, but I had a joke how I canceled a date once because of,

I wanted to watch Battlestar Galactic, right? And I remember saying that joke, which is fair. And I remember being on stage. And I go, yeah, because I'm a fucking geek. And this girl goes, you don't look like a geek. And I'm like, well, what does a geek look like? You know? And it's, and it's out of the, like, I don't come across, I think, to people don't, if people don't listen to me talking about Star Wars and all that stuff, too, like the perception of what a geek is supposed to look like or a nerds supposed to look like.

And I am pretty goofy. I have like these things. And like, and it's, it's refreshing to hear someone say, no, you know what? I learned about your personality and I put that in there. And that's also from the way that I communicate and the way I put myself out there that there is a perception. So I, I really appreciate that you were able to assess yourself and say, well, look, this is what I'm trying. trying to say. These are the things I want to say. And I think it's I think it says a lot about someone who can look at themselves and

this is what this is the way I want to kind of perceive myself just a little. Yeah. Yeah. And again, like so the like like the show for instance uses a ton of video game language. Right. Yes, it does. It basically uses video game language as a veneer to communicate, uh, ideas. Yeah. Within within the, the construct of a show. Right. So I'm basically using filmmaking language and video game language. Yeah. So in the beginning, I was like, yeah, I want the visual effects to look like a video game.

And to me, that was super clear. Right. And then like, what kind of game? What kind of game? And then I was like, yeah, exactly. Yeah, what era? Like, are we talking health bars or are we talking like Call of Duty like a red outline? Are we talking like pixel art?

Like, what are you saying? And what I was really trying to say is all of it. But then I went, okay, well, but then there's like a code here because sometimes we're going to use health bars. Sometimes we're going to use just straight up transitions into pixel art. And sometimes we're going to use like modern FPS language, first person shooter language. And there is a logic as to why we're doing it. But then I had to explain that logic. And then through that process, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is such a get. Because it's forced me to become a better communicator.

It's great, man. I'm happy. I'm very happy to hear it. And the show's a lot of fun, guys. If you, if you didn't have a chance to check it out yet, you should. It is the Guardians of Justice. It is on Netflix at the moment. And it will, for the moment, it's on Netflix. And he wrote and directed it. And it's really, it's, it's very different. And it's what I dug about it. It's different. And I think that that's when you have all these different shows that seem to kind of blend into each other and do the same thing over and over again, you must want that. palette cleanser in a new something kind of new fresh thing like as audio was saying this is not this is really not a superhero show it's like a kind of it's it's a yeah sure there's superheroes in it but that's not that's not the that's not the point of it's a satire and i think that's what you do very well so please guys go and and check that out and you can check it out now but i do we as as we were off yeah try it please no no the other i guess the other thing about it was uh you know i visited america in the 90s yeah in like the early 90s so what i was trying to capture was that feeling of wonder and chaos.

Yeah. You know, it was just, it was like so chaotic coming. There was so many like colors and sounds and everything just felt like amazing and fun and full of hope and full of opportunity, but also very overwhelming. So I was trying to like capture that. And that's why the show moves at a, at a hyperfast pace. And also this is, like the show is set in a world full of chaos. Like it's it's it's it's set in a world on the brink of chaos like where things are getting more and more chaotic So even the start it even starts in chaos when before before he comes down and helps and I think that and so I won't say what the event is what I what I liked what you did was there was um there's an event that happens where

He saves someone that in in our in our timeline wasn't saved and and then he doesn't save someone and and then he doesn't save someone. else and then there's a great line because people always ask this like why is why is superman so so biased to just the americans and yeah and there's a great line or is there i think it's the russian say say that he's he's biased towards the towards the americans where he's just and i was like that's that's that's been talked about for so long and i immediately thought for quest for peace immediately and and how and by the way had quest for peace the quest for peace is i think an hour and 20 minutes or whatever it is there was tons of stuff that was cut out of that movie The original story, if they would have actually put together, like a story, you could have actually done something interesting.

But I thought about it immediately and all of these movies that you've seen. But I thought that was very interesting that you went down that route. Yeah. And I think the other choice that was, I don't know if it's an interesting choice. Because, again, I love talking to you about this stuff because I'm getting with your perception. But I really wanted to capture that B-C movie feel. Yeah. and throw it on there so that you're,

because again, because the projects of social satire, I didn't want it to feel too self-important or totally macabre. I didn't want it to feel macab. So when you pepper in this like intentionally low-budget trauma films inspired feel, it gave me like this brush in my toolkit to counteract this like potentially self-important self-aggrandizing field that

sometimes projects have. Yeah, and there's ways I think you can do it also where you can throw the, look at something like whether it's the boys or whether it's like peacemaker. There's a way to kind of play humorous type of stuff and play it still where it's, there are times where you're like, oh, because it comes out like, look at like, peacemaker comes out of this, the suicide squad, which is definitely a lot of humor into it, but still plays into the overall lure inside of DC. But I think that that's right.

By putting it into that trauma films type thing, you get, and you do it right away. I think that if you did it like midway during the season, then that's a bit jarring. But the fact that it's like, this is within seconds when you're, and even throwing the animation in and putting all that stuff in, it's like you know right away, as I'm watching,

I'm like, I know exactly what this tone is. I know exactly how you're telling me you want me to feel while watching it. And I think that I think that you accomplish just that. Yeah. It's like a live action cartoon. 100% what I was trying to do She loved American cartoons When I came here I was like

Oh my God This country makes amazing cartoons They're like super over the top And like grounded in some sort of like Psychological realism When did you come over And I know that you You came over to visit

But then when did you come over to Then you decided you were coming over to live? 16 You were 16 Okay So the other thing I was going to As we were talking about before I let you go

wanted to talk to you about wrestling and wrestling mania was was recently uh did you watch yes night one night two do you have a preference night one yeah me too probably night one you know what i watched with my daughter and we were and the stuff that i thought they did the cody road stuff really really good i thought becky lynch bianca put on a hell of a show um i mean even the opening was was really it was stone cold stuff it was it was solid night one night one was really really solid. I thought two was a little sloppier, but I thought, I thought, and I think one just had the better match. Even the Baron Corbyn

and Drew McIntyre match was pretty damn good. I'm just such a huge fan of Cody as a, like as a, like as a, like as a just as a person. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? Like how, so what are your thoughts on, on him? I still don't really get it. Do you get it?

Because I, I think that so he goes, and correct me if I'm wrong, because you, you know, I think you're more in tune with everything going on in the business. Maybe not. But the way that I pursued, here's a guy. And I've had the pleasure of talking to him. He was on Collider live with me when I was on that show.

But like, and we talked to, and he had started up AEW. He'd done his thing. Tony Khan comes in and he buys AW&AW and makes it like this huge thing. I don't know what the deal was. How does, how does Cody walk away from that? I don't understand. I don't understand. I mean, obviously money when it comes to WWE, but like.

Okay. So full disclosure. Yeah, yeah. Like I, so I consider Cody like a friend of mine, right? Okay. Like a personal friend. Sure. Obviously, it's someone I like admire and respect.

Yeah, sure. As I pointed out, I have not talked to him about this. Okay. Because it's just kind of like. Sure, everybody and their mother's talking about you. You're saying you want to leave him alone about it. And also like there's like a gossip element to it that I just just kind of don't. Sure.

Would you rather not talk about it? No, no, no, but I can give you like my perception. of it. Yeah. Yeah. Because you brought it up, right? This is just kind of like startup 101. This happens all the time.

You know, like we're living in this age right now where companies are just popping up and they're growing rapidly because of the internet, right? The internet allows like a meteoric rise for certain companies, you know? Like we saw that with rework. We saw that with with PubG, like a show I'm doing, I'm doing like with, with, with, with craft on, right? PubG just blew up within a few years and is, yeah. So, so I just, I think this is just strikes me as just kind of like a beef between founders. Yeah. Because there's like there's like the founder. There's like the guy that conceived of it or the

group of people that conceived of it. Then there's like the, the investor. And maybe and maybe also who also is creative. So, right. budding of the heads. Right. So you're just going to be budding of the heads, right? Like, yeah, yeah. You see this all the time. Yeah, you do. All the time with with startups. Yeah, I just, it's just that. And I guess, you know, when you look at it, I'm not saying it doesn't make sense in the long run where obviously you look at the, the ovation that he got and he maneuver. And as you said, he took that, he took the, the note, what he did and the way that he built up AEW and he negotiated it through to get back to his former company. Because if he would have stayed in the BVB, he's not getting that kind of. He's not getting that. of push and he's not you know it's it's because of what he did and also call it what it was is also Vince being able to say hell what a story this will be if I can get that guy over here from the guy who started AW people smart I mean Vince is just as proven he knows how to do that type of

shit but it benefited both of them because the ovation he got and then they'd be fucking idiots that they don't put the belt on them they should definitely do that whether or not it happens there yeah there's definitely a storyline you have to there's just you have to so yeah but I find the wrestling business so so fascinating in that like what's happening, what happens behind the scenes always finds its way into the, into the storyline. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. You kind of have to. I mean, that's how you got to play it. And I think that that was very smart how to do it. I wonder, because I remember back in the day when after Bischoff came over and Vince, and when you were, when you were watching the Monday Night Wars, there was like, no way these two guys will ever do anything together. and then he makes them the fucking GM inside of Raw afterwards and they have this whole big feud and storyline and all that.

So I wonder if they would incorporate, you know, Cody's thing with Vince and have a storyline with Vince. Maybe, maybe not. It's just something that they could do if they wanted to, you know. I feel like wrestling's evolved past what that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's something like. A little bit more to it.

Yeah, because I think like there's, there's, there's. there's no disputing that it's that it's theater at this point so it's just theater the audience shows up in theater and if you look at like um the performers that really get over um it's because the audience understands that oh this is theater but that person's a really good performer right right so there's like an appreciation of the performance over the storyline yeah right do you have to so please go ahead i was going to ask you some yeah i i had a good question i was just going to say like when you're watching yeah because like you said if you because you're such a fan of the of the overall product are there people that you're looking at going oh i could do i could do some fun stuff with them in tv and in

movies is there anybody that you would oh absolutely who would you want to work with right now uh and i also want to clarify i'm not always a fan of the product i'm a fan of the art form yeah and there's a reason i'm a fan of the art form because like i didn't really uh i had a hard time uh understanding like people and society and stuff like that and wrestling felt really authentic because it's like there's like real people and they're really responding to what's happening in the ring so I'm like oh okay so it gave me my first kind of like window into how society or like people people work I don't know if that makes any sense or it doesn't make sense yeah it does it makes sense and then I was able to kind of start spotting social trends based off of like what was working in wrestling I felt like it was a

little ahead of the curve like oh okay well this kind of thing is now getting over like whether it was you know like like intense authenticity or whatever whatever the trend was yeah there's so many people and there's so many people because I like you know I feel like there's this weird Hollywood bias or there was uh it still is against wrestlers like oh what they do is so different from what we do I'm like that's not that's not true they're theater performers right So it's like, yeah, so it's like Broadway is a little different than like acting in an HBO series. But, you know, at the end of the day, like it's like a performer is a performer. And you can, you can through direction, have them vary the dial.

And I feel like the wrestlers that really get over, they know themselves in a way, in a very, very, like, deep way. And that if you can get them to like access that, like, like Dallas did. like DDP did for playing Nighthawk. Like he, you know, when I first, like, cast him in that role, he was, he, like, he was, like, he was kind of scared. Yeah. He was like, little scared. He's like, bro.

You know, he was, like, doing the whole thing. And I'm like, look, dude, like, you just showing up as you brings a level of authenticity to this character. Right. Because you believably have been punched in the face. Like, I believe you've been punched the face. I believe you've like been thrown off of like a steel cage. Like I just.

Oh, do you give him a, do you give him any, um, Bruce Wayne like dark night type of, you know, uh, motivation or,

or no, you try to stay away from that stuff. Like when I was directing him? Yeah, when you direct him, do you give him, because obviously it was all, it was all stuff from his personal life.

It was just personal life. Because I, again, I just, I know him so intimately. Yeah, yeah, like, okay, dude,

this is not this guy is, now you're having this conversation. conversation with this family. Got it. Got it. That's great. Okay. Now, now, okay, in this scene, uh, Jake's fucked up and he's calling you and he's lying to you. Oh, wow. You know what he said? Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. So it's really helpful knowing, knowing all these people like even, even like the whole like John, John Hennigan sequence, right? Where he's him and DDP are going back and forth.

Yeah. Like at first he was playing it super straight, but I'm like, look, John, your, your, your, your superpower is that you're like a wise ass. Yeah. And, and then we talked about it, talked about it, talked about a little bit. And then I was kind of like, okay, you're at like a wrestler's court. And the undertaker is like giving you a hard time and you really want to piss them off. Because you think this guy's only over because he, you know, doesn't. That's awesome.

You're like, this guy knows else. So it was like, it was like that. And like, you know, it was with all the. the performers. Yeah. All the, all the actors in it. It was just a question of kind of going in and drawing out that each of their superpowers.

Right. All right. So, so not going to let you off the hook. Who you take, who you're working with? Becky Lynch. Can I, can I name like, wait, can you name someone and I'll say yes or no? No, no, that's, that's me. That's me.

That's me. And you're too nice of a guy. You'd say yes to all. I would say yes to all of them. Yeah. You know why? And I say that though, too. And I wouldn't say you're bullshit.

I think because I think that if you knew them enough, you would give them a role in order to pull the personality out and say, well, you know, I probably could use that person in this role. That's 100%. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I feel like, yeah, I feel like I know once I know you, I, and I understand you, I know

how to put you in the Lego set, you know? Like in a way that you will, you will shine. look man i i i mean that's why that's why i'm waiting that's why i'm waiting for a version of this where where i'm interviewing i'm i'm going to be interviewing the uh the speed in one of the episodes uh absolutely uh you know look look i think the jericho yeah jericho okay okay jericho and stunkold i i i uh i had a meeting with stunkold like when i first kind of when I was back when I was like making like theatrical or not making when I was producing when I was a producer on these like big theatrical films and I had had a meeting with Stone Cold and it was very clear to me that the apparatus that governs what gets made and who gets to be in it just completely misunderstood this dude yeah because he's really funny yeah he is he's fucking hilarious and it's like no one has captured the humor of this dude you know you don't get to to be stunkle Steve

Austin, this redneck dude who drives to the ring in a beer truck unless you see the humor in the situation as well. Yeah. It's comedic timing. The stuff he did a Kurt Angle back in the day and Vince and all. Oh, really funny stuff. Yeah, for sure. All of that, you know.

And the Booker T stuff. And that stuff was like overtly funny. Like that was him like being being funny and playing funny and he definitely is funny too. But what I'm I'm also saying on top of that is there's there's like a humor dialogue

but he was playing it straight obviously but the character of Stone Cole Steve Austin is really really funny he's just playing it really straight you know like the way he's like working the crowd he's not like it's coming to the with a camera you know that that's

that's like your humorless ad pass character right that sounds like a like a knock that's not a knock at all like a huge fan of all these performers. They're all like geniuses in their own in their own right. But I think Stone Cold has like this impeccable comedic timing that hasn't been captured

outside of the apparatus of wrestling. No, that's why such, I mean, that's why the, that's why the greats are the greats because they, they're, it's like they, they shine through. And he definitely had so many, so much ability. And yeah, that humor for sure. But I'm, I'll give you a. How about this? Who do you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, no, no. I just think, like, there's a, there's a guy called, uh, uh, uh, uh, MJ Maxwell. This guy called Maxwell, that guy. I thought I said MJ, yeah, yeah. What, sorry? I thought you're going to say MJF from A.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, okay. Okay, that's, okay. Okay. Is that his name? Okay. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not charged. I thought the M, the M stands in Maxwell.

I don't know. I don't know. And all I know is that every person, I'm, so just to give you a, like, like, for me, I was about as hardcore of a wrestling that you're ever going to meet as as i said i would go and that's how i got got the gig driving to russlemania 17 doing all that i stopped watching for a while and then when i got when i started the schmodeown i started watching again but i was watching through uh like the network and stuff and i just kind of fell out but i would watch i watch casually now watch the royal rumble i watch the

russomani with my daughter and i tune in a ewe and stuff um occasionally but all i hear about is how great mjf is mjf is and watching watching his promos and everything too and then i had booker t on this show and we're talking i asked him who he thought the best in ring guy uh on the mic was right now and he said mjf when he said that booker i respect more than the most people and um you know he just guys just carrying a lot of clout you look with him and see and see him punk did in the ring together um he's yeah he's the guy right now yeah um totally and i there's a there's a little bit of like jealousy there as well in a not in a not in a weird in a weird way it's more like oh that's what I was trying to do in my 20s

when I was like first breaking into Hollywood and I would show up to like an interview and I was like very uncomfortable being myself because like I didn't really know like who am I and I'm like oh but I want to treat this as an acting exercise so I'm just going to cut heel prolo's and just talk about how I'm the best and like like do that do that whole thing. Obviously didn't work as

well because like people like what the fuck is wrong with this guy? Like he's like really, really nice and really like just kind of a sweet kid and all of a sudden like cameras on he's like yo, I'm the greatest. And it just didn't work. Right.

He nails it. He's really good. He nails it. He nails it. He nails it. Like I watched this this interview he did completely in character for an hour. Yeah. So he would be the guy. He's your pick? I mean, I wouldn't know what to do with him

because this is just such a great like kind of wrestling. I'm just more just saying I'm a fan. Yeah. I'm just like a fan. Like I feel like I'm a kid in a candy store, you know, like with this question. Yeah. I love that. So, well, good. And look, this is this is just one of one of many interviews I hope to be doing with you again because it's good to catch up with you again. And then finally we can, you know what we should try to do though, man. We talked about this last time. But like when, you know, you know, you know, because you're, you're in Los Angeles. Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes. I moved to, well, I moved to Dubai last year. So I lived in Dubai for like,

a year. Oh shit. Then I came back. Yeah. You've been back. Um, because next year, you know, mania's in, in LA next year. We should go. We should go. We should try to go. We should do that. I would that. I've only, I've only been to like two. Me too live wrestling. Oh, two live wrestling ever. I went to two manias. I went to WrestleMania two and I went to WrestleMania 17. I haven't been to a mania. I used to get like really bad anxiety around like crowds. Yeah. I didn't want to go. And then also like, Anyways, this is, I'm just going to go off the rails, but, uh, my, I have this kind of like academic fascination with wrestling. Yeah.

So I don't, so I just kind of like watch it and I'm just like not, not reacting. But I'm going to go, but I'm going to go with you and I'm going to get into it. Let's do it. Let's do it, man. I, I take that for, for real, either, whether it's, whether it's going to be, um, mania or, or, or raw afterwards. Let's, let's, let's, let's, let's make that a thing. And then, and then we'll come back on the show and we'll talk. and we'll talk about our experience. Dude, that sounds amazing. That sounds like the experience I've wanted, like, my whole life. Let's do it. Watch wrestling with someone who, like, understands wrestling or likes wrestling or, you know,

and then have an intellectual discussion about it. I'm down. Let's do it. You know what I mean? I love intellectualizing things that people are like, why are you intellectualizing this? That's well, I'm down. Why aren't you intellectualizing this? Let's make that a thing.

Let's not, let's not make it a holiday. thing. Let's make it a thing that we actually do for sure. I would love to do that. I don't do. I don't do you know. That's why I said it. I know you don't. So ladies and general, please go check it out. Once again, it is the Guardians of Justice. It's on Netflix. You can check it out. Aishankar who created it, who he wrote it, directed it. It's a lot of fun and it's something very different. And I know it's right up, it's it from my listeners and viewers of my show. This is right up your rallies. Go and check it out. Dude, thank you so much for joining me. And let's do it again.

dude thank you for watching this man of course I felt like on some level I made it for you so well that's very that's very kind and I appreciate and you can tell it that you know you know what I like so I can I understand what you're saying that for sure yeah yeah yeah it's like you and Josh Barnett

yeah 100 well thank you man I appreciate you very much and we'll see you soon and guys check them out and then you're still on you're on socials and stuff they can follow you over there yeah not as much okay okay yeah yeah sporadically. Spiratically.

All right. Thank you once against Adishankar, and we will see you guys in just a moment. I love you. All right. Well, thank you to Adishankar. That was amazing. I always like talking to him. He's a lot of fun.

And make sure that you check out his show, by the way. You got to check out Guardians of Justice. You got to check it out. It's different. It's very different. And it is absolutely a satire. You'll pick that up right away. And if you don't, now you know that it's a satire.

And you'll understand. All this is they're not taking. Superhero stuff. Serious. Check it out. Anyway, going to have him back, for sure.

And I hope we do that, WrestleMania, that'll be fun. All right, before we close out, there's a longer interview, which I'm happy about. It was only planning

on like a 20-minute interview, but I like talking to Adi. There's a couple other stories that I'll bring up before we call it a day. And let's bring that up. No more as we. No more, no more, no more.

Let's talk about, I had mentioned in the beginning that Dr. Strange is going to be shorter. It's going to be shorter than most marble movies. And that's pretty interesting. Let me tell you about it. So Dr. Strange and Jurassic World. Two of the biggest early summer blockbusters this year, they just received atypical runtimes for their respect. franchise. Fandango reports that Sam Ramey's Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be coming in as the shortest phase four film of the Marvel cinematic universe, clocking in at just 126. It's a little over two hours.

The last Marvel studio's film to run shorter was Captain Marvel, which was 124. Since then, the MCU films have been leaning around the 14150 mark. In contrast, it's also been revealed by Collider that Colin Javaro's upcoming Jurassic World will be checking at 146. Holy shit. By far the longest entry in that franchise to date, with the exception of Jurassic Park, which is 92 minutes. All four other entries in the franchise have just been over the two hour mark. Why in the fuck is that movie over two hours long? What? That's terrible news.

I do not want to sit in that theater for two hours watching the dinosaurs. Over two hours and 30 minutes watching a dinosaur movie. Shit. Maybe I'll be wrong, but we'll see. Both films will be theatrically released with Dr. Strange and the multivor. for Wednesday, May 6th, and then June 10th. That's too long, right? For Jurassic World?

Like, I get it with some of these other movies. And even, I mean, look, I still said it. I love the Batman. Too fucking long. And that movie was like three hours long, and there was a lot of detail to that movie. That movie I understand why it was long. There's a lot of detail to the movie.

And it's still too long. What do you do? Take a five-minute shot of a teradactal taking a ship. come on come on what are we doing a two hour and 26 or whatever the fuck it is that's a lot man it's like almost two and a half hours

of dinosaurs shitting all over the place I don't know maybe it's great maybe maybe what we need in our lives is to see a 30 minute piss from a T-Rex to two dinosaurs fucking in the park.

I don't know what I'm talking about right now. Who knows? That's where we go. Shit and pissing and fucking. That's where you go. It's all high-brow humor on this show. So get you dicks ready. Or your vaginas.

Whatever you want to do. So two hours and that's what we're talking about. It's a long movie. That's a long movie. Dr. Strange, that's not one that I would have been, it wouldn't have been shocked. It was long. because of all the shit that they're going to be setting up.

Oh, man. I'm not excited about that. You know why I'm not excited about it, I think, because the first Jurassic world was fun. It was like being in a theme park, legit. There are some people who hate that movie. I did not hate that movie. I liked that movie. It was fun.

But if it was two hours, almost two and a half hours, I probably would have been like, all right, let's go. And the second movie, the second Jurassic World would have been two and a half Holy shit. That movie was terrible. How long was that fucking movie? How long was that movie? Jurassic. What the hell was that? I don't remember. Now, this is Dominion. Jurassic. I want to see what is. Drastic World 2 run time. Two hours and nine minutes. That was too long. So if this movie's good and it's 220, then all right, but if it's terrible and you're going to beat us over the head for 220, whoof. I don't know, man. I'm not, I'm not too excited.

about that. That's kind of, that's not good news, I think. I think that's bad news. So Downey Jr. sets too, I didn't, this one I didn't see. Let's, let's, let's throw this up there. Because I didn't, I didn't see this one story. I missed this story. I want to talk about this. I should talk to Ethan about this. All right, let's see, where's the news? Where's the news? Where's the news? Where's the news? There it is. All right. Sherlock Holmes. Let's talk about it. Robert Dutney Jr., who plays Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective Sherlock Holmes across two Guy Ritchie directed films in 2009 and 2011. The last one was 2011?

Holy shit. He's set to produce two different scripted series for HBO Max to take place in the world of those films. All right. Lionel Wigram, who received a story credit on the first film and produces also on board to produce alongside Downey Jr. Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell will produce the series through the team Downey label. It's unclear if Downey Jr. will reprise his role as Sherlock as both projects remain in the early development stages. Both shows will poorly focus on new characters.

I think he'd be stupid not to put him in it. Who the hell gives a shit if he's not in it? He made it fun. Who wants to do with Sherlock Holmes series without Sherlock Holmes? I hope not. They're going to put it in that world and he shows up sometimes. What these stories are today? I'm not liking them.

I'm really liking these stories. Unless if it's a Sherlock Home series with Downey in it, that's good. I mean, look, there's been a lot of Sherlock Home stories, but I think putting someone like Downey in there, that's a great work. I don't know. You guys think about that.

Would you want to watch that without, do you want to watch a spinoff series, but without Downey in it? who is it all right last last story here before we get out of here for the day make sure once again make sure you subscribe it to the podcast and all that it's important apple podcast Spotify and we have moon night reviews up

put the spoiler review of episode 2 up yesterday you didn't see it in the debut of marvel studios much publicized moon night series pulled in a reported 1.8 million households crossed first five days according to ratings and analysis from samba TV Samba TV measures 3 million smart TV households stateside as they're sampling, which turned into the streaming series for at least five minutes. That 1.8 million number from Moon Night

puts it ahead of the Jeremy Renner, Haley-Steinfeld series Hawkeye, which clocked 1.5 million in its first five days. However, it falls behind Loki, which remains the most watched Marvel series with 2.5 million households tuning in. That's a shit, that's a lot, man. That series also holds the record for the most watched Disney Plus series

finale with 1.9 million. Also today, Marvel Studios has released a TV spot for the next series off the cab rank, the six episode Miss Marvel series, premiering on June 8th. All right, let's talk first of all about the, about just those numbers that came out about, Loki as compared to Hawkeye as compared to Moon Night. Loki is a character inside of, and one of the main players in Endgame, which was one of the biggest movies of all time,

Infinity War, yeah, he was in the end game. Infinity War and all that, and the lead up and the buildup. He's one of the main players, you know, as N. Thorne. So his series, I think, crosses over more so to a more mainstream audience. Hawkeye could be the same argument. Well, so was Hawkeye. Same thing. Yes, but Hawkeye was also a little more second tier, even more so than Loki.

Because Loki's one of like the big bad inside of it. And I think that he's a little bit more charismatic. than Renner. However, 1.5 million still really good. And people love that series. It was not my favorite, but people loved that series.

And it was a lot of fun and a good time to put it on when it was on. So 1.5 is still pretty good, and it's still kind of building up numbers. So I understand why Loki did what it did. Moon Night is another one where nobody knows what the hell Moon Night is. And the fact that it's doing as well as it did is a testament to Oscar Isaac and the curiosity of the show.

also proves that Disney Plus is starting to just build up more subscribers. That's why you're going to see the numbers kind of come in. It's different than when you're trying to get movie tickets and looking at the number of, oh, that movie made X amount of dollars because people still, well, I'm choosing to go see that movie. You're choosing to sign up to Disney Plus. And if you already have it and there's a new series and you're really like maybe you weren't signed up when Hawkeye came out. And then you're already signed up because of Hawkeye.

and you're part of that 1.5 and then Moon Night comes out, you're ready to subscribe, now I'm going to watch it. That definitely comes into play. How many people were subscribed? That's what I'd like to know. What were the numbers? How many people were subscribed,

which is more impressive for Loki, right? Like, how many more people subscribed to Disney Plus because of Loki or after Loki? That is a metric I'm very curious about. Like how many people are going to come in because of Obi-Wan and how many stay? and how many people watched Boba Fett because of, they signed it because of Loki,

and how many people watched Hawkeye because they signed up because of Mandalorian and all that. I wonder if you can compare that metric. I'm very curious. Anyway, that's my show today. That's the big thing. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you once again to Adi Shankar for joining us.

Please check out his show. Please make sure that you check out, we're going to start, speaking of Jurassic World. We're going to be doing a rewatch, and we start with Jurassic Park, and it's going to happen tomorrow. myself, Winston and Coy. Make sure you're checking out Friday Night Titans, man.

A lot of great stuff. If you ever watch the Shmodan, especially if you watched in 2017 and you missed episode 5, oh, you missed out. You really missed out. But lucky for you, it's still on there right now. You should check it out. It's the best it's ever been. And I hope that you check it out.

A lot of people will agree with you. Or they'll agree with you when you say it too. But they'll agree with me because I've been seeing a lot of it. Anyway, hope you're enjoying it. and I hope you enjoyed today's show. I appreciate you. We'll catch you next time. It's a big thing.

Peace.