The Press Box - Ep. 123: 'Jam Session' With Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins

Episode Date: June 2, 2016

The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins on Taylor Swift's relationship status, Emilia Clarke's role in 'Me Before You' (17:00), Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst's rumored romance (24:00), and potential options for a female lead in the Bond franchise (30:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of Jam Session is brought to you by Seatgeek, our presenting sponsor and the only fan-friendly app for buying and selling sports and music tickets. Other sites have gone back to the same old tactic of showing you a lower price and then charging huge fees at checkout. But at Seatgeek, the price you see is always the price you pay. With Seatgeek, there's no guesswork. You'll know exactly how much you're paying, where you're sitting, and whether or not you're getting a good deal, all right from your phone. So drop your old site and experience buying and selling tickets the way it should be. To start using SeatGeek, download the free Seekek app or go to Seatgeek.com. And while you're online, check out our new website, theringer.com.

The ringer.com. It's finally here. We worked really hard. I hope you guys like it. We're covering sports, pop culture, tech. And we've got some bangers this week. We really do. We got Lindsay Zolas talking about the state of a surprise album.

We have Rob Harvilla talking about the album of the year. We have Sam Donsky talking about X-Men. Oh, yeah, that's a popular topic. Yeah, big time. A lot of thoughts. We got Justin Charity on Jay-Z. We have K. Austin Collins on Adam Sandler. And really so much more.

We hope you like the site. And if you don't, maybe you'll learn to like it. We think you're going to, though. So check it out at the ringer.com. And now let's get into this podcast. Welcome to Jam Session. I'm Juliet Lippman. I'm Amanda Dobbins.

Hey Amanda. Julia. It's been two weeks. We've got a lot to disson. I missed you. I missed you too. It's great to be back in the podroom with you. We're at a table first time ever. Usually we just like with our laptops on our desk. It feels very refined. On our legs. Do people still worry about getting like diseases or burns or a lower sperm count from their laptop on their lap? Definitely lower sperm count. Yeah. That's a thing, right? Tate's not a yes.

Oh, okay. Cool. Well now that's not a concern in our, in our cool ringer pod room. We should just say this is our first podcast since the ringer.com launched. It's here. We finally have a website. We did it. We really did. Juliet did not sleep for a long time. Just a few hours here and there. But it's cool. I feel great today.

You look great. I was going to say. You don't show it at all. Thank you. Yeah, so check it out the ringer.com. Lots popping off there. There's, you know, like stuff about sports. Like the NBA finals may have heard about it.

But there's also like really good pop culture stuff, which you oversee Amanda. I do. I'm very proud of it. There is a piece today that I think can actually, should we say what we're going to talk about? Sure. Great idea. I'll tell you. everything we're going to talk about, and then we'll go back to the ringers, excellent content.

We're going to talk about Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris, my friends. Of course we are. Of course. We are. We can't not. We will also talk about Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. Great couple. And then now, new couple. Very exciting.

We're going to talk about Amelia Clark in general. Just what's going on there, the Mother of Dragons, off the screen. Me before you, her new movie comes out tomorrow. And I want to talk about female bonds. So we're going to do that a little at the end. I have some thoughts. I'm shoving that in. Like maybe you didn't know that was coming, but it's coming.

I'm into it. But let's get into Calvin and Taylor. Yes. So on the ringer.com today, we had a piece that I would really like, if you haven't read it, please read it because it features a large portion of our culture staff. Yes. It's a staff post, if you will. It addresses the fact that Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris are no more.

I can't believe it. I actually am a little surprised. I know that most of her relationship. So all of them, and most of relationships in the history of humankind and in a breakup. Sure. But I'm just surprised by this one. She just, like, recently kind of was, like, very public about it. Like, they just went on a vacation together.

They went to, like, the Caribbean for her birthday. So it was 15 months. 15. Which is, like, if you think about it, Taylor is, what, 24, 25. I don't, I can't keep track of the birthdays. So she's mid-20s. She was born in 1989, as we know from her album. So she's 27.

But I think her birthday is October, so she's 26. Okay. Wow, what a riveting segment of podcasting we just did. All right. So, but anyway, mid-20s relationship, like 15 months is a real. That's long. But that's also like a flex point in a relationship, right? Because are you really, you have to decide, are you really in this?

Are you going to commit to two years? And then you've just, like, you've thrown all this stuff down the drain and all this time. Also, 15 months is a reasonable time to start living together, like start thinking about living together even. I was going to say, is it a reasonable? Not to actually do it. Well, it depends how old you are. But I think in 15 months, if you're going on 27, and he's older too, right? Like, he's closer to 30, I think.

Yeah. I feel like that's a reasonable time to, like, you know, start getting really serious. Sure. I don't think that 15 months is a reasonable amount of time for anyone to have moved in together. Under the age of 30. I was going to say under the age of 30. Yeah, because I feel like a 30, you just think's move faster. You know, you are who you are.

are. Taylor Swift's still changing, but... Yeah, they move faster when people get together, and then they move faster when you break up. So you can't, you've got to be sure. It's true, because it could end really soon. And just, like, moving in together too early is a disaster. Oh, my God. Then having to, like, unlink, separate out

your stuff, whose books are whose. Really tough. Yeah. So Calvin Harris is 32, just for the record. Okay. An older man. Not surprising. Taylor only likes older guys. Anyway, so 15 months is a decent time. One thing that I always just feel like needs to be caveat is a celebrity time is different than human time.

Yeah, it's true. Like, I understand why young female celebrities date older men. Like, their lives are just so different. Like, imagine being, like, before people disliked her, 22-year-old Jennifer Lawrence and trying to, like, date someone your own age, they can't relate to your life. No. And Taylor Swift especially is definitely more financially savvy than any other 26-year-old on the planet.

Runs a business, runs many businesses, runs them very well. She probably has shadow businesses we don't know about. I definitely think she does. Yeah. I was like, she's probably, the Airbnb situation on her Rhode Island house must be incredible. Oh, incredible. Or like next level Airbnb.

Airbnb for rich people. July 4th is coming up. Can't wait. The annual trip to Rhode Island. Look for that on Taylor Schlis, Instagram. No, so I think that that's right, that she was probably in a more mature relationship. But I just, I give credit to anyone who gets out of 15 months, because 15 months is knowing yourself and knowing like we put time into this, we've made an investment, it's not going to work

out, it's going to move on, I respect her. It's over now. It's over. And we have to be grownups and we have to move on and we have to write about it for our album that is probably supposed to come out this fall. So do you think that this throws off her album writing cycle? Because no, she has released an album every two years in the fall since the first one. Like she is like clockwork and that's that's how taylor's that's how the taylor swift machine works that's true so like i the timing of this is perfect it's yeah there's still time for her to write songs for the fall and she can go through like the major gossip cycle right now right and then she has like the redemption and she's back and she's okay just in time to promote the album sources say meaning oh no they didn't that he broke up

with her so yes i wonder if there was like a deadline where she was like if you're going to bring up with me it has to happen by X time because I've got a record coming out and then I'm going on tour. Can I just say that whoever, because it's definitely Calvin Harris's camp. I also, by the way, just want to keep calling him Adam because as Juliet rightfully pointed out in The Ringer Post today, his real name is Adam. His name is Adam. And she has thanked him a couple times as Adam publicly, which makes my skin crawl. I'm like actually seizing up right now thinking about it.

But so I do keep wanting to refer to him as Adam. Calvin Adam Harris Definitely has a friend who's talking to E And basically this quote This is really, this is terrible The touring and traveling didn't help, sure It seemed like they were more friends than lovers Oh no

That's not. That's the worst That's just let's not bring our sex life into this I mean I guess you can do whatever you want And it's fun to read about But that's not nice No He just earned whatever's coming his way

which, as we speculated today, is like a lot of pain. We wrote a whole post on The Ringer today about how Taylor should get her revenge. In my point, which you lead her to, was that she should just call him Adam, his real name as much as possible. It's not give him the shine. Yeah, because, like, I didn't know. The first time I heard of Calvin Harris was when Feel So Close came out, and I was like, what is this song? Who's singing? I'm so confused.

And it's amazing that he's turned, like, not speaking to the public ever in, like, I don't know, being a quote unquote DJ into a full career. I don't understand the lives of celebrity DJs. I just don't get it. I mean, I think they just go from hotel to hotel and press buttons. How do you become, like, famous as a DJ? I just don't understand. I don't know. We're showing our age right now.

People love it. Tate, do you like DJs? Oh, okay, good. DJ Esco. Okay. I don't know who that is either. But, like, okay, aside from being old and not understanding, like, I just don't get how you grow from, like, obscurity of, like, from, like, you know,

making a playlist for your friends. to like creating remixes and like being, I don't, being Calvin Harris. Like, I simply don't get it. And I think a lot of it is like personal mythologizing. That's my hunch. Yes. And drug use on the part of your audience. Yeah, I don't know.

I'm not here for it either. I don't care. Good, you know, good luck to Calvin Harris. I like that one Rihanna song. But I don't know. The most interesting thing that he did was like show up on a couple red carpets with did they ever walk a red carpet together? I think they maybe did one fairly.

recently. Yeah, I just, I wonder if she, they said that she wasn't surprised. And by that again, I mean, I don't know they didn't. Aggregation of the celebrity stories. But she thanked him at the Grammys, which I feel like is a pretty big step. And, or she thanked him on some famous stage. I recall it. Yeah, no, I remember it as well. But I was just thinking, and I'm trying to remember, it's hard, right? Like, it would be mean, if you've been dating someone for a year and you're up on the stage and you don't thank them. Like, how do you just go home to them that night? It's like having a birthday really early in a relationship. It's like, what do you do I invite you?

Right. Do I like, do I get you a present or not like whatever you do is going to be the wrong thing. Right. It's going to put too much pressure on the relationship. Right. It's also like what level of mad should you be for either being overlooked or not invited or like not getting a present? Like it's just like what, yeah, at that point it's very tricky. Yeah.

So that one I kind of feel for her like what else was she supposed to? She was trying to be like an open, generous person and I respect that. It's important to be open and generous in your relationships. Even if you're a celebrity who like mostly used. is your relationships for your career. Which we're fairly certain she's doing here. And then her friend Abigail, of,

you know, from one of her stupid songs. I believe it's from one of her earlier albums. You probably know about her. And Taylor was a bridesmage for her earlier this year for Abigail, right? Oh, yeah, that was a tough dress. Those picks.

I liked it to point in different opinions for us. Anyway, she posted like a watercolor heart that says, my weird heart loves your weird heart. So I wonder if, like, Taylor was too weird for Calvin Harris or something. I thought it was weird. I don't know.

He also British, which is a real curve for me. He's Scottish, right? Scottish, yes, correct. I don't know. I think that it's probably a lot to be in Taylor Swift's Shadow. Totally. Absolutely. And I think you have to just question.

If, like, if we can't sense any genuineness in things that she does. Yeah. Or if you're always questioning it, I imagine that that would be very hard to grapple with in your personal life. Who should she date? I don't know why. You're so vexed. That was the purest Amanda and I loved it. I talked about this a long time ago.

I really did. Just like go on vacation. Yeah. I mean, the thing is that she will release an album this fall and like it will definitely have some sort of reference to Adam or a DJ or something like cutesy and like sort of annoying. And I say that as someone who just loves, Dear John is like maybe my favorite. Taylor Swift song because that's just like a 19 year old being so mad at John Mayer and it's incredible. It's straight ether. But it's tired of this point. So I want her to shake it up. I want her to do something totally different. And maybe that means not dating a woman.

Dating a woman perhaps? I can't. The think pieces alone is like I don't want to go on. I don't want to live that life. That would be great if she wants to. I know. She's starting it out there. It's potential for her. I would like her to break the cycle of date a famous dude. Everyone makes snarky jokes. Totally. Including us. Yeah, here we are. And then break up and then you wait for the breakup album.

I feel like I've gotten the best of Taylor in that, you know, she's already reached the highest that she can reach with that strategy. And let's figure out something new. Sure. We were going to talk about this later, but this kind of think is a good segue into Amelia Clark. Because what was Amelia Clark date? Like I just don't know what the answer is for her because we've all seen her naked several

times. I just, and I, she's obviously beautiful and looks great, but I just feel like that must make your dating life really hard when every guy has already seen you naked or woman if you're dating women. Like, I just feel like that's hard that you lose that like first bit of mystery of like, ooh, what would they look like with their clothes off? But then like maybe you add the appeal of like, oh, I got that thing that everyone else was lusting after. Sure. Like as like her significant other, like you're like, I got her. Yeah. I don't know. I just think that's really tough. I mean, I think it's probably really hard to be her. I think hasn't she talked about it?

Yeah, she has. That it's really tough. People are intimidated. She was plucked from obscurity, basically. She had no jobs, probably very low profile ones. And then all of a sudden, she's a Calisi on the world's most popular show, an international star. And all she does now is just like yell intimidating things at like large groups of men who cheer. Yeah.

I can imagine that. I mean, it's awesome. Shout out to her. It's great. I actually find her storyline a little boring. I was going to say it's not much like, it's not plot driven. No. It's sort of the same thing, but like I love watching her give the Braveheart speeches every week.

Sure. It's fun. In a different language, too. Yeah, and she delivers a beautifully great accent. Absolutely. I do, I guess it would be hard to ask her out. Though, like, would it? Here's the other thing.

I really like her on the show. I really like that she has been very committed to the campaign for a male full frontal nudity on Game of Thrones, which I agree with. I would too if I were her. Yeah, absolutely. And she's like been good-humored about it and has been leading. the cause and I support her on that. But everything else about her press to her is just, like, is she okay? It seems really sad.

She seems like lonely and no one talks to her and she has to watch Game of Thrones with her parents. That can't be true. I can't think of anything worse as Amelia Clark than watching my show where I am naked with my parents. I like don't even know. And she's like talking about like doing pranks on set, which is like putting a fart machine in someone's like fake wheelchair.

I don't know. It's just like go on. I personally don't like pranks because as a nervous person, I don't like pranks, but I feel like they're just pervasive in Hollywood. Like, so many people are known as pranksters. Because it's like the thing that they come up with on their press were to be like, I'm a funny person. I got a sense of humor.

Look at all the fun that we had. Don't you wish that you'd been on set with us too? When Leatherheads, the George Clooney and John Krasinski movie came out, it was about how they were both like pranking each other. I mean, well, George Clooney is like the ultimate. The ultimate prankster. Do you remember the dearly departed site VideoGum? Yes, of course. There was a great series about pranks and how ridiculous they are on video gum, which just pointed this out, which is that it's just, it's the fakesest celebrity trick in the book.

And they just trot it out when they have a movie to promote. The only time that pranks are like a real thing that's happening is on reality shows when they're deprived of like any contact with the outside world, phones, books, like movies or whatever. And like all they have is to prank each other. That's the only time I understand why it happens, and that's just another reason why I would never go on a reality show. I mean, I guess that's a little bit. Amelia Clark is not doing that much. It's not like she can talk about her job at all. It's true.

Except for, like, the one time a year when they have to go promote it. I would have a very hard time with that. I think I would only surround myself with other Game of Thrones people, so I knew it was, like, safe to talk about my job. Because, like, constant anxiety otherwise. Yeah. Absolutely. So hard. You would be in so much trouble.

And there's a six-month lag. Like your six months of secrets you're sitting on. It must be very alienating. It's really crazy, actually, that none of them screw it up. I know. Or, again, that no one's cell phone gets stolen. Right. I just don't get it.

Incredible job at you, HBO. Our friends at HBO and Game of Thrones. Like, I just don't get it. Anyway, so I do think of Amelia Clark's life is like probably not that fun. It's probably not. Like, it's a great point. She's doing press right now because she's in Me Before You, a movie that comes out tomorrow, Friday, June 3. Julia, tell us about me before you.

And if you want to just intermix it with like your feelings or crying or whatever you need to do, this is a safe space. Thank you so much. So I mean before you is a book by Jojo Moyes. A lovely British woman who I interviewed once and she was a total delight. And it's about Louisa Clark who is kind of like a downtrodden, not that cool, like kind of awkward woman who becomes the caregiver of quadriplegic will and will wants to end his life because he's a quadriplegic. and like she's like his caretaker and it's about like their relationship and how that develops. How does it develop?

With a lot of tears. I read it like three or four years ago and I was like, oh, this book is stupid. And then I got into it like 60 pages in. And I was like, I can't put this down. And then I was a sobbing mess for like the next 100 pages or last 100 pages. Is that the book that's made you cry the most? Absolutely. And there's a quote on it like from Liesel Schillinger,

the New York Times critic, which is like when this book ended, I didn't want to review it. I wanted to read it again. And I feel very similarly, which is like I did, I just wanted like it to go on and on forever. What is the impulse of just like wanting to reread a book that made you weep? Um, I don't know. I'm not like a big book rereader because like there's so many books out there. It's hard to like do it again. But I do really understand the feeling of like wanting to like live inside of a world and like being like feeling like bereft that like that like that world is now gone. I absolutely do too, and I have it with a lot of books. I do review a lot of books. I don't know if it's the one about like a quadriplegic and lots of crying.

Well, maybe if you don't feel those kinds of things in your regular life, it's kind of like, oh, this has like brought out a certain emotional register that I don't usually hit or something. All right. Well, and that's relevant because I'm dying to see this movie because like I want to feel the way that I did while I was reading this book. It was just so moving. If I don't cry at this movie, I'll be severely disappointed. I'm almost like, don't want to see it because I'm worried it doesn't disappoint me. But on the other hand, I'm so excited to see it. Are you going to go with anyone?

I think so. Okay. I think so. And you prefer to cry, like, with people as opposed to, like, I'm a safe space. Not usually. Not when it's like, well, when it's, like, real emotions. Yeah, but I'm out of pop calls for all sides. When I'm, like, truly, like, devastated or, like, upset or, like, stress, I like to be

alone. But, like, in this situation where it's, like, an anticipated event. Also, I've forced this book on so many people. Like at least five friends and my mother. So like I feel like this is a shared experience at this point. Okay. And then, yeah, so Amelia Clark is the lead in the movie. And so she's like, she's about to become really important to me.

I'm just, I'm just nervous. I'm just really nervous. If the movie does not live up to your expectations, will Amelia Clark be banished from your... I'm going to not blame it on her, but I will be upset. I've read almost all of JoJo Moy's books, and they all kind of have like that, they have that juice of like, really emotional kind of like get you sucked in they're usually about like a woman who like for one

reason or another is like having like a very protracted bad day okay sure like just sort of like uh like huffing and puffing all over the place what a mess you know and i i guess i relate to that so at least i know there's like more of those books coming and for some reason this doesn't doesn't work out but i really hope it does i'm so nervous i just i feel so strongly about this topic I don't even have anything to add. I just really wanted you to talk about your feelings. I'm rooting for Amelia Clark. Me too.

I like her. She seems like really lovely. She seems great. I really hope that eventually they let her get off that, the desert, wherever she is. I don't know. She's a narcissist right now. This is not watch the Thrones. I don't know where they are.

I hope that she gets out of there and like make some friends, more friends in real life who she can talk to. Totally. One thing about Game of Thrones is for all of the. the, like, difficult situations women are put into. The season in particular has been really, like, female empowering. And I feel like that must be in some part a testament to the women on the show. And they do seem like a great group of, like, strong women. Amelia Clark included to, like, to propel many of those characters forward and, like,

to propel those storylines forward. I hope so. I think it also is probably not coincidental that it's the first season that is not totally beholden to the books. Yeah. Because the books in general have had a less. Yeah, it's true. Empowered. That's true.

Anyway, again, not watch the Thrones, but you know. Do you follow Lena Heady on Instagram? No, but I have... She's great. Yeah. She's really, really great. Love her. She's into it.

Yeah. She also's got a great IRL haircut. She's actually dark hair. She's just great. Just love her. Okay, we can move on. Let's talk about Kirsten Dant's dating. Her Fargo co-star, Fargo on-screen husband, Jesse Plymonds.

This is fantastic. If I'd asked you last week, who was the ultimate winner of Friday Night Lights? Like, what would you have said? Oh, that's a great question. Because I just want to know if this affects his standing to you, like in the post Friday Night Lights world, who's, like, number one. Like, some contenders, obviously, Michael E. Jordan.

Yes. Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton. I mean, I think those are, like, the top three. I don't even think anyone else comes close. I mean, Kitch has had a decent run. That's true. He's had it, like, in terms of... Kitch has been given a lot of chances.

Well, I was going to say, just, like, the amount... Like, he's really converted the most out of anyone because if he had not been on a... Friday Night Lights, none of that would have happened at all. Yeah. And like he was in HBO, a lot of HBO productions. TrueD Season 2, Normal Heart. He should have been a bigger star in John Carter for Mars, but that didn't work out for him.

Not his fault, I'm assuming. But I'm just saying he's been given a lot of chances. I don't know if he's like the ultimate winner. No, not a winner, but at least a breakout. Yeah. For better or worse. Kyle Chandler's doing, okay, I know where you're leading and let's just go ahead and say it. like Jesse Plymins is really pulling through.

I mean, he was on Breaking Bad, one of the greatest shows in the history of television. He's on Fargo, another phenomenal show. Right. And now he's dating someone that's like just great. I mean, I'm pro-Crucundanced. Can I, so here's what's interesting. Until when he was on Breaking Bad, I just remember when I was like, oh, great, Landry's on Breaking Bad. Right?

And when he was on Fargo, I was like, oh, look, Landry's on Fargo and he looks weird. Right? But somehow he's humanized himself with Kirsten Dunst, and now we are willing to give him a name. And that's the, like, instinctively, I want to be like, she's not dating Landry. She's dating Jesse Plymouth. Totally. That's a great point. What a breakthrough.

Congratulations. You have a name. The ultimate sign of success is that he has shed his Friday Night Lights character. That's true. It's like not only did he break out of that, but it's like he's coming to his own. Like he's Jesse now. Yeah. And it's really hard to do that because still,

Chandler still coach. Oh, forever. And I actually like can't. I don't know what his voice sounds like if he's not playing Kyle Chandler. Connie Britton, I think, is the other like number two breakout because she's got Nashville, which has a cult following, though not entirely successful. But she was on the OJ show, which is pretty big. That was pretty great.

She's been in a few movies. Did you ever see this is where I leave you? No, I don't think so. It was the book out of, I mean, the movie adaptation. Oh, right. With Tina Fey and Corey Stoll. All the, all the, and the world. And Adam Driver, right.

Yeah, a world that she's dating out of driver in that movie. World's Best cast. Shout out to her. Yeah, I know. Exactly. See, I feel like that's just great. She's like got incredible hair. Do you think she has extensions or that's just 100% real? I think it's real. It's just incredible. I'm just so, it's just beautiful. It's sort of has to be, right? Yeah, absolutely. I have a lot of anxiety, but when I need to, like, cut my hair and, like, have, like, an adult haircut. And she's a real inspiration for me on that front. I agree. It looks amazing. Yeah. She just looks so beautiful. I don't know. This is just really big for Jessie Plymonds.

And there's a really funny piece about this on The Ringer.com. from Sam Donsky. Sam Donsky. Sam Donsky. What a hero. I also just, so we've talked a lot about Jesse Plymouth. Kirsten Dunst is maybe the greatest all-time celebrity dater? She's really good. What a, what a run.

It's really true. She's got, uh, like, Garrett Headland was impressive. They were engaged, right? Yeah. I feel like the last time we did this whole thing, it's fine. It's fine. You know what? People make decisions as long as it's not a legal thing.

It's not hard to untangle. It's okay. It's fine. Yeah, they didn't get married. It's no big deal. Obviously, Jillon Hall. I'm pulling up your favorite site, Who Dated Who, Right now. It's a great one. Justin Long? Oh, Faberetti. I forgot about Faberetti.

She's also just been around for so long without any significant scandals, which, who else can you say that about for someone who's been as famous as she has? Yeah, that's true. I mean, we're talking ever since interview the vampire. Oh, my gosh. I forgot about that. Yeah, she's been on forever. No, she's great. I'm rooting for her. I'm happy that they found each other. Anyone with ER roots I also root for. She was really charming on season one of ER.

Sorry, I hadn't brought up ER in like two weeks. I know. We're really exploring all your foundational texts today. I like that a lot. Thank you. That's really sweet. I'm happy for them. I just wonder, like the thing about a show like Fargo is I love it.

Did you like Fargo, by the way? I feel like it's not really in your zone. It's not in my zone. It's one of the, I appreciate, like, I don't want the people coming for me. Sure. I'm not going to say don't at me, but like, please. Like, I respect the craft. and, you know,

Godspeed. Yeah. So a couple like that, I then, like, they meet in season one. They start dating in the hiatus, and then, like, I look forward to season two

to see how, like, their interaction has changed, but we don't get that with Fargo. It's a bummer because they just do, like, the one season kind of standalone. Yeah, that's okay, though,

because you, like, you don't want to sour it. No. It's just, like, you don't want, the chemistry is going to be different, obviously. It's true.

Speaking of showman's turned romance, Carrie Russell and Matthew Reese had a baby this week. Congratulations. Do you watch The Americans? No. I do. I have too much other stuff going on. I have time for this.

It's dark all the time. They're just like sending people each other with each other with taxes, whatever. Quick personal story. Great. The TV in my bedroom is mounted a little bit too high. So like dark shows are really hard to watch my bed. That was my first apartment. For seven years in New York, I had the same thing.

You know what you should do? If you stick a book like under like the stand of the TV, you can angle it just slightly. which helps for dark shows. It's on the wall though. It's really tough. So the Americans usually requires like a few watch, like two sessions for me because I'll start watching in my bed. I'm like, fuck this. I can't see anything. And I'll just finish it later in the living room. It's really tough. Also really tough for Game of Thrones. How long has the TV been like that? Like a year. A solid year. Okay. It's really bad. I know I'm going to do like for your next birthday or major occasion. Your birthday just passed,

but we'll find something else out. That's really hard. So I don't even, oh yeah, with the Americans, a really dark show. And I'm always like, fuck, I have to switch rooms. If I really want to watch us and pay attention. Even general, I'm really over the really dark shows. I am too.

I actually am too. Again, I'm over 30. I need some lighting. How much are you guys spending on these shows? Just hire another light guy. For real, man. I'll show. We'll send Tate.

It's fine. We got it. It's, I'm done. I actually feel the same way. And I'm really happy Unreal is back because it really splits. the difference. Unreli is back for two more seasons. It was renewed today for season three, even before season two starts. It starts on Monday.

I'm very excited for season two. Can't wait. I'm forward to it. That's a show that I like really like looking forward to. I agree. Summer used to be like such a great TV time for a few years and now I feel like what do I have this summer? What's coming to me? Other than any given Wednesday starring Bill Simmons. June 22nd. June 22nd. It's a Wednesday. I was not paid to do that plug. I know. Just love Bill. None of these things actually. We have Unreal.

We have, I mean, The Bachelorette. Yeah. Are you watching that? I'm behind. I couldn't watch this week. This week's wasn't great. Yeah. I'm a little concerned about this season, but I'm obviously going to soldier through for more on that. Listen to Bachelorette.

Yeah. The other podcast. Let's move on. Mm-hmm. You wanted to talk about female bonds. Yeah. Where are you on James Bond? I feel like we've talked about this briefly. For a moment, I thought you met like female friendship.

And I was like, okay, I can always talk about that. Not like James Bond as a woman. And I was like... I like to think that female friendship is a recurring theme on this podcast. It's something that's important to both of us. Female bonds. Okay. Now I'm ready to talk about a woman playing James Bond.

Interesting topic. Okay. When you're working with a... It's similar to the Game of Thrones thing where there's like a foundational book that kind of guides the series, but now it's so far beyond it. Absolutely. I think it should be open to anything. Open to a man or woman.

Yeah. I think. Why are people against it? Like, what's the argument against a female bond? Sexism. Sexism. And misogynist. And, you know, James Bond is a fairly misogynistic character in its original form.

And it's, I don't know. People just, they want to go see a dude being awesome and they don't want to see a woman being awesome, I guess. I don't really know. I mean, I guess, like, if you look at box office numbers, you might not, like, recommend a female bond. But then I would like to think that the brand is, like, strong enough and popular enough that, I would hope so. Was it a big deal when M was Judy Dench or was M always a woman? No, I think that it was like that was a nice thing, but I don't really think they care about anything other than Bond because Bond is the representation of quote masculinity, unquote.

I don't know. I will say that I'm very, I have some thoughts about a female bond. I would love to see it. I mean, Emily Blunt is the obvious choice. Emily Blunt, like our greatest action star. Yeah. She's not going to be in the Sicario sequel, which I just was cursing about in the office earlier. Was she removed or did she be out? It's not really clear. Interesting. I'm not into it. Okay. But if she's making the choice for her own life, then again, I support her. But Emily Blunt would be great. Also, she's British. So like the British people can even be that angry. They'd be happy about that. That's true. Lena Heady, I think it would actually be a good bond as well. She would be a really good one. Because she's very, she's really fierce. Chastain is another obvious one. No. Sorry. Oh, you're not here for Chastain.

I just don't see her as Bond. Wow. I'm sorry. I'm not against her. I guess she's not really suave enough. I mean, this is the other thing, right? Is that when you were switching James Bond from a man to a woman, you're obviously, I don't think the personal characteristics are going to be a one-to-one.

Yeah, of course not. Yeah. And do you want someone who you're like, oh, yeah, that's like the typical James Bond? Or do you want to, like, kind of zig and go for someone who's a little bit, like, more unique for the character? Right. I think that I would like, for instance, can a woman be debonair? Hmm.

I mean, I would like to think so. Lupita. Oh, wow. Okay. Oh, Lupita would be great. Yeah. Huh. Can a woman be Demonair?

I've never thought about that. I would like to think so, but it's not. I think Angelian, I would describe Angelina Jolie as debonair. It's just funny, like, a lot of the words you used to describe James Bond because of, like, years of coding by a sexist culture. I don't think of them with relation to a woman. What's difference between Devonair and aloof? Debenair has more style, right? Yeah.

More swagger? Because I feel like people who are debonair are also aloof. Sure. There's like an element of like not talking that much. What about like, I don't know. That's a great question. I'm trying to think of other British female actresses who could pull it off. I think Emily Blanc could.

I think Jessica Chastain is glamorous enough, which is possibly the corollary. I'm just thinking about her. Zach had a really good suggestion, Ava Green. Ooh, I like that. She was a great Bond girl. She was a wonderful. She was the best Bond girl, in my opinion. So a callback, it would be nice. I guess it would disrupt the universe a little too much. What about Michelle Dockery, Lady Mary?

Possibly a little too cold. Okay. Even though you need a certain amount of, I guess Daniel Craig is pretty cold as James Bond and it works. I'm not sure. is Michelle Dockery an action star is sort of my thing. But it's a little bit too wayfish. Yeah, that's more what I'm going for. Yeah, doesn't have that sturdiness.

I actually do think Angelina Jolie would be a very good bond. She was great in salt. Yeah. That was really... She has like a toughness to her. Yeah. While also being like very like sexy, obviously. Lupita's a great idea, Tate.

He killed it. Yeah. Tate's our next great casting agent. I feel really great about that. Or even if they don't want to do James Bond as a woman because it is a misogynistic long-stay franchise and you don't want to do. with the like you know for example the ghostbusters we make the the amount of just hand-ringing by all the bros on the internet being like why are there women in this like it's not it's sometimes it's not worth it

i do think it's interesting to think about a woman as bond though because of the great bond girl history like when you flip it on its head like what does that look like with men around the woman like it's just it's a very different kind of movie which is interesting to think about right how you do that like and also um we're just so desensitized to objectification of women, but like to objectify men in that way. It's such an event. It's like a magic which is great. But you really like you notice it in the way that yeah, no, that's a very interesting point. It would be like a very different kind of movie or if they didn't do that and they kind of made it like the all female version where it's like there's no bond. It's like all like, it's all like respectable women.

It would be kind of like funny like the James Bond franchise while usually like very well made movies with like pretty respected actors. It's not like a respectful movie. That's true. It's like full of like tropes that are kind of in some ways very retrograde. Counterpoint. Okay. What if you made a female bond and she was just surrounded by like Matthew Good types? I love that. I feel like that's a decent reimagining.

No, I think so too. It doesn't really feel like an event as much. It just feels like, wow, there are a lot of really handsome men here. It's true. Yeah, I'm into it. I just think like there's never really been a movie that is what the female bond would be. Like I can't think of anything similar to that. No, it's a good point.

Because the way that like men and women are cast, and I mean that more broadly than like actual like casting news is so in Hollywood of all the places, like the least progressive. So it's hard to imagine that like an action movie based on a suave woman looks like. It is, it's so fucked up that it's so hard to imagine. Yeah, literally just my brain is not wired that way. Yeah. That's so weird. Scarlett Johansson, who is good in the Marvel movies. she's still like not she's not like the number one alpha she's kind of like a vixen i mean i haven't

seen the most recent captain america but it's not like she's like the like the female tony stark yeah and i love guinette paltrow's pepper pots but again she's like a very clear like subordinate like supportive character there just has not been a movie like that and it's crazy that we can't envision what it is like let's do it this is a great topic thank you're bringing up you're so Very meaty. This is like a fun thought experiment. And also we do support female friendship. Of course. Let's just say that also. Female James Bond and female friendship. All type of bonds. Thank you listening to Jamestown. I'm Juliette-Litman. I'm Amanda Dobbins. Don't forget theringer.com. Check it out.