The Press Box - Making the Melissa McCarthy Machine, With Ben Falcone | The Big Picture (Ep. 467)

Episode Date: May 14, 2018

Ringer editor-in-chief Sean Fennessey chats with comedic filmmaker Ben Falcone about ‘Life of the Party’—his new movie starring his wife, Melissa McCarthy—and what it’s like to creatively collaborate with his life partner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She gets very active and like, could it be funny if I tried this? And I'm always like, why not? Let's give it a shot. I go story first. As long as we get that, I know we've got something. Sometimes I call it the Let's Make Sense version. Guys, we're making sense. Great.

Everyone seems real. And then we'll get the fun version. I'm Sean Fennacy, editor-in-chief of The Ringer. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show with the most interesting filmmakers in the world. Today's guest is a man who has a partnership with one of the only sure things in Hollywood. It's Ben Falcone, the creative co-report. co-conspirator and husband of Melissa McCarthy, a movie star who's managed to stay relevant despite an increasingly hectic and diffuse media landscape.

Falcone and McCarthy's new movie, the college campus comedy Life of the Party, is their third collaboration as a writer-director duo. They've been collaborating for decades, first as members of the Groundlings in Chicago, and then in TV shows like Gilmore Girls and movies like Bridesmaids. You may recognize Falcone as the withholding air marshal who falls from Melissa McCarthy's character in that movie. Falcone has directed two previous movies starring McCarthy, Tammy, and the boss, and this one has the same hallmarks.

High concept setup, slapstick, a quietly stellar cast, and a star who's up for anything. I talked to Falcone about building these stories from the ground up, working so closely with your life partner, and what it's like to create in the time of superhero movies. Here's Ben Falcone. Very delighted to be joined by Ben Falcone today. Ben, thank you for coming in. Oh, thanks for having me. Ben, this is your third film with your wife, and it's your third film as a director.

That's right. These are all true facts. How are you feeling about it? It's called Life of the Party. I'm feeling great about it. I really love this movie. You know, I love them all for different reasons, but it's so hopeful. Melissa's so great and it's so funny.

And then all these young women who are just really great actors and really great people, we kind of became a little family out there. And to get to see them, you know, all again doing the press tour, to get to watch the movie play and, like, how well they all do. You know, you can't help but feel proud for all the performers and everything. So I'm really excited about this one. I think and hope people really like it. I'm interested to hear about your journey as a filmmaker specifically.

I think a lot of people first saw you in bridesmaids. You worked with the groundlings. You were an actor. How did you become a director? How did this all start happening about four or five years ago? Well, like many first-time directors, I came in as a writer director because Melissa and I wrote Tammy together through the scheduling things and just people who couldn't do it, didn't want to do it. We couldn't find the right director at the right time. And so we sort of went to the head of the studio, Toby Emmerich, and we said, well, what are you?

if we did that? We can't seem to find anybody. What if we stepped up and tried it? And he said, let me sleep on it. Ominous. Which is, and he's such a nice guy, but, and normally that would be like a bad sign. You know, you're like, oh boy, he's got to sleep on it. But for Toby, he's just one of those people. He likes to actually put things through his little filter, and he thinks about things before he makes a decision. And, you know, sure enough, four days later or something he calls, and he says, you know what, I think you guys should do it, because we were going to do it together. And then due to her Melissa's schedule, there was no way she could be there for all the pre-production and all a post. She was literally going to be shooting another film.

So I ended up doing it. So I kind of fell into it that way. Were you aspiring to be a filmmaker like 20 years ago? Is it something you had considered? You know, 20 years ago, I would say I was just looking to do some acting. I mean, really, I was just looking to make a living in any way that I possibly could. I've been waiting tables a lot. and all those things.

So I just really wanted to make a living. But I am a humongous movie buff, a movie nerd. I've watched lots of old movies, all these things. And of course, as a writer, you're at least learning that side of it as well. So it's something that I never had put on my, you know, I never introduced myself to people, I'm a director. Hello. I'm an aspiring director, ever.

But then when the opportunity sort of presented itself, just did it. Was it daunting before starting Tammy? Yeah, because I knew how much I didn't know. I mean, I'm smart enough to know how dumb I am, you know? So it was, what I did was I, and New Line was a good studio to be with because they're good at that. They sent me with this guy Rob Cowan who has produced literally, you know, it feels like millions of movies and he's a nice man. And then this other guy, Chris Henshi, who's just one of the funniest producers you could find. And they're both really nice people.

And then they surrounded me with this really great crew. So I was unable to mess things up too badly. And, you know, but as you go through, you sort of start to find your own voice a little more. And, you know, first I was just like, well, what should we do? And how to, you know, I knew coverage and the basics, of course. And I had some ideas. And the one thing I do think I know how to do is talk to actors, having been one for a long time. So those are sort of big things to know how to do.

But I basically surrounded myself with these really smart people and this great crew so that I would. I just didn't want to mess anything up for Melissa, you know, first of all. And then obviously they were spending, Tammy was a $20 million movie. And it ended up turning out well for them. But like I didn't want to, you know, waste all their money and, you know, all those things. So it was an interesting first attempt at something. And, you know, as I've been doing it, I've gotten more and more confident. in terms of learning more

and certainly learning more about camera and all those things. But one thing I will always remember is that I'm still wrong lots of times and to try to have smart people around me who can tell me when I'm wrong and why and try to fix things that I might be messing up.

Okay, I was going to say, even though it's your third film, you're not stepping onto the set like General MacArthur and directing traffic that way. No, that's not my... My style. It's not who I am,

who I am. I'm more of like a comedian, you know, like a writer, comedian, actor guy who hopefully is you know, you know, Melissa's like sort of the more fun, loud coming into a room and like everyone says, oh look, she's here, hooray. And I'm more like the steady, you know, soft-spoken.

And I'll be like, okay, guys, are we ready to go? Should we start? And, you know, I'll tell dumb jokes and stuff. But it's, I certainly can't imagine coming onto a set and being like, we have to. Everyone. Well, there's this vision. of the director as a tyrant, you know, so it's nice that you're not that. I'm very interested in how you guys decide what kind of movie to make and then how you go about writing it. So this one in

particular, you know, you directed it, but you both wrote it together, correct? Correct, that's correct. And so what is that process like, Melissa's very busy? I'm sure you're very busy. Are you in a room together with two typewriters out? Are you just riffing? Old-timey typewriters. That's actually kind of a dream scenario. This movie in particular, it was the holidays and Melissa's mom was in town and she was wearing a pretty festive sweater. Okay. That looked pretty Midwestern and fun. And Sandy, Melissa's mom, is the sweetest woman you'll ever meet. And I literally just kind of flashed across my brain of like, what would that be like if, you know, Melissa's mom in her 40s had been in college with Melissa in her 20s? And I was like, oh, that could be, but if Melissa was the mom,

she could play that. That could be like a movie. Like, you know, just really quick. And I pitched it to Melissa and she liked it. So I kind of had some ideas and I sort of went off and I sort of, I like to outline. And so what I did was I sort of got together just an outline of just general beats and then brought in Melissa and we wrote it together of, you know, just that sort of feeling of like, well, she's the main character. So it's really helpful to me to have her just say her own lines, you know, you know, because she literally sort of acts them out. So we sit together in this room in our office and, you know, she makes me laugh for two or three hours. We usually go about two or three hours at a time

when it's possible. I remember one time for Tammy, we had a bunch of rewrites and we did really long days. But in general, I feel like it's amazing how quickly you can write a script. If you have an idea of what you're doing

in terms of having an outline, having a structure, you could have a script written in a month if you work three focused hours a day. Especially I have a scene partner there so you can actualize what you're writing in real time. That must be really fun.

It's really fun. And I, you know, I waste a lot of time laughing and all that stuff. But that's how we do it. If she's traveling, I'll maybe take a pass at the script based on some studio notes or something. It's pretty free-flowing,

but the best way that we like to write is sitting in a room together. It's a chance to get to spend time together, which we also enjoy. So that's really what we do. And it takes a lot less time when it's going well than people might think. When it takes a lot of time is when you're stuck.

And Melissa and I usually are smart enough to be like, okay, well, we're stuck here. Let's not just smash. our heads against a wall. Let's try to bring in some additional opinions. Let's try to figure out solutions. And we'll come back, you know, first thing tomorrow and, you know, see if we get unstuck. You guys are really collaborative, it sounds like. Yeah, for sure, for sure. That's how we met, you know, with the groundlings writing stupid sketches together. And, you know, she's these over-caffeinated, you know, ladies who are failing with guys. And I'm like a weird inmate talking to someone.

I mean I'm wondering about when I was watching the movie as in almost all of Melissa's movies there's great comic set pieces and a lot of physical humor. Yeah. I'm interested specifically like there's a classroom scene in this movie

that's really, really funny. And Melissa's really funny in it. The sweating. Yeah. Yeah. And are you guys mapping that out strategically when you're writing the script or are you just like,

do you just write down Melissa is funny here? We map that out super strategically. That in particular is one that I can remember laughing a lot because she was just pitching different stuff that made me laugh hard. But that was one where we got a note from the studio,

which is some people don't like these notes, but actually it's my favorite note to get, which is, can we have a set piece in the second act? And because I always think, well, can't we? Why not? Maybe, you know, if they're feeling like we need one, they're not telling us what it needs to be or anything. And so I remember being like, well, what could it be, Mooch?

And she goes, well, I don't know. let's ask Henchy. And so I said, you know, she does need to go back to the classroom. I feel like we need to be back in that space a little bit more. And she needs to do well in class or she needs to have an arc where she is struggling and then succeeds. And she goes, people hate public speaking. And I was like, oh, that's pretty fun. That's like a good idea.

And then I took it to Melissa and I said, he says, people hate public speaking. And she goes, oh, I'll sweat. And that was, I was like, oh, okay. So we went away and, you know, that was where I laughed really hard. And we wrote a scene where she sweat. And it's very, very meticulously mapped out. Actually, one of the more technical scenes we've ever shot. I mean, if you can imagine trying to match the amount of sweat you have, you know, you've got cameras.

Cameras have to move positions to get different angles. But now she's, we had four phases of sweat. It was like people were, it was like a military operation. Like, we're in phase two. Like in Pammy Westmore, her makeup artist and Linda Flowers, her hair and Donnie, who does her wardrobe, comes in. And they're all like, you know, there's hair dryers and there's Vaseline for her face and they're messing up her hair. And I mean, you know, the Kleenex as well had to match. And so it's like it was a really, our script supervisor, Sheila, was just like, oh my, you're killing me, Falcone.

It's crazy. It is like an action set piece, though. It really is. All those phases. Yeah, yeah. What do you guys want to accomplish when you're setting out to make a movie? Is it just like, let's make a funny, entertaining movie the way that we like to? Or do you say, well, now we've made Tammy or we've made the boss.

Now we want to try to do a story that is like this. I don't know that I'm, to this point anyway, analytical enough or a talented enough writer to say, I want this story to be like this because I want it to be different than this. And maybe that's something that you do more along the lines of your 10th movie. But, you know, Tammy was just a story that I had kicking around in my head, and Melissa liked it and, you know, we wrote it together. The boss was a story that Melissa and Steve Mallory, our co-writer on that one, had kicking around in their heads.

And then I came in and tried to just help them write that one. And that was based on a character at the groundlings. And then this one was just, like I said, I mean, literally Sandy McCarthy standing there in kind of a Midwestern sweater. And I'm like, huh, what would that be like? And the one thing about this movie that we were interested, it in and the story lended itself to

was we love the idea of doing a PG-13 movie because everybody's like you know particularly during the boss which yes she's very it's R-rated but we don't show anybody's parts or anything

it's just language around children but like show me an R-rated movie that does not feature a man's penis it's very rare you know and we've never done you know that sort of stuff so there's

but then we get the repeated questions like what's it like being married to the raunchiest woman in the world. And I'm like, she's completely approved. Yes, she swore around children, which, you know, can definitely get the rise out of people. So we were interested in this one to make a PG-13 movie that was just sweet all the way that were the character. Because in Tammy and in the boss, I mean, I guess I'm analytical in this way, which was in terms of her character, Tammy and the boss, they were both pretty in your,

face characters, right? And they're something that Melissa does so well, you know, where she can, you know, get after somebody, but then be lovable later. And we were just like, well, what would it be like if we had a character who was just completely, hopefully, you know, likable and has a bunch of external stuff thrust on her and she has to, you know, win the day or whatever. So that was an interesting thing to us, the sort of PG-13 element and the idea that she is this sweetheart of a character who gets a bunch of bad stuff happens to her. And then in her quest to, like, improve her life and do better, she sort of mildly drives her daughter crazy for the first little bit of the movie until they connect in a different way. And then her daughter gets to know her

as, you know, not just her mom, but as like a lady who deserves to be happy. You know, so is it, I don't know if that answers the question exactly, but, you know, that, I don't know that we ever sit and go, you know what we should do, we should do a movie based on the military. or anything like that. It's more like we just think of a story and then if there's elements that we really are happy with, we try to push those.

No, but that's so interesting to say it's time to make a PG-13 movie because that will show a different side or we'll be able to try to do different things. It's a new constraint, actually, that could create a better story. Yeah. And I'm interested what it's like,

especially since you've been so close to Melissa through her rise to this incredible fame. Like, do you guys feel like you have to manage everything that you've been able to build together or is it still feel natural? for you to do it. It's very natural for us to work together, but you know, when we're doing press or something, you don't want to say anything stupid, just in general. And that should be all of us, right?

Like, you don't want to say anything that, because I'll do dumb bits all day and then I'll say something and I'll be like, oh, was that offensive for someone? Or you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Certainly if you're in a public setting, you don't want to do that. But in terms of, like I think as far as it goes with Melissa and I, if we believe in it, if it feels like a good story to tell, and then we test our movies, you know, in the Paul Feig, Judd-Apital, you know, world of how they do it. And there were people doing it before them that we go and we screened the movie and we put it out there, you know, and show your two-hour cut to people. And guess what? It's five minutes shorter pretty fast, you know, whereas in a cutting room you're looking at

going like, we can't lose anything, it's all so precious. And then, you know, you tell four jokes and no one's laughs and you're there, those jokes are gone. Have you gotten less precious having gone through that process a few times now? For sure. Yeah. Yeah. You talked a little bit about all of the funny women in the movie. It's a pretty, I feel like it's almost an under, uh, undermarketed, incredible comic cast, you know? It's my Rudolph and Gillian Jacobs and Matt Walsh and Julie Bowen and Chris Parnell and you've got all these people. How do you figure out who to put in these movies? How Are you writing role specifically for people too? Well, Melissa and I have been fortunate enough to run across a lot of these people before.

We've known Maya forever. Unabashedly, we wrote the part of Christine for Maya. We thought she would do so well with it. Parnell, we know from the groundlings too. From back in the day, he's just a sweet guy. And we're like, oh, my God, who can we think of that could just, you know, be sweet and say puns? Yeah, there's a lot of good pun work in the movie. Walsh, Melissa, worked with.

with him in Ghostbusters and had such a good time. And it's almost like once you get a few fun people to come, you know, more people go, oh, that seems like a fun group, you know. It had that feeling of like, if this person signed on and this person signed on, and then all of a sudden you weirdly have an all-star comedy cast. Yeah. And it's not, it also is, I think a lot of people think of it is like this will be a Melissa McCarthy movie, but there's a lot of powerhouse surrounding it.

Well, and there's a lot of room there for, you know, you know, Gillian and Jesse Ennis. and Molly and Andrea and all these guys. Debbie Ryan came in and did such a great job. So there's definitely space, and I tried to create. One thing that I really try to do with every single scene is I try to create an opportunity for every actor to land something, whether it's a moment, dramatic moment, certainly in a comedy, a joke.

I have writers on the set who are constantly handing me post-its with ideas of lines that different characters can say. You know, Melissa and I work so hard on the script, and then we do it. Our actors are so ready and so great, just luckily in our history, that you have it in two or three takes. So now you have time, you know,

before you have to move the cameras again, and that's when the writers will come up to me. I'll have ideas of like, ooh, it was fun when you did that or something physical maybe that, you know, Melissa and Meyer are doing. You've got these people that just start saying stuff. They're doing the writer's jobs for them

because they're just, improvising hilarious stuff. Has there ever been a time where you've been working on a scene and it's not working and you feel like you have to blow it up and it changes the movie? Yes. I describe when I feel like I'm getting something that's really fun, I feel like I have a warm blanket over me. And I feel like the rest of the day is just like fun because you're like,

oh, Melissa was so funny here, Walsh was so funny. Debbie Ryan did something great. Oh, you know, name the person. I get that feeling of just a warm. fuzzy feeling. And I'm like, the rest of the day is gravy, guys. And people will say, it's not gravy. We really need to get the rest of the day. I'm like, who cares? We really got some. But in every movie, there have been scenes that, you know, eventually got cut because they weren't working. I always am trying and trying and trying

to fix them, you know, as best you can. So what are you guys thinking about the most when you're both writing and making the movies? Is it, because of your background and the groundlings, is it what's going to make people laugh, what's going to make audiences happy, or is it we're trying to tell a very particular kind of story? What's the most meaningful for you guys? Well, I'm a story fanatic, you know, because one thing I do know is that if you have a really funny scene

where two people are just sitting talking about nothing that's important to the characters, you're going to start trimming that scene a lot, and eventually it'll probably not be in the movie. And in our movie so far, they've really featured Melissa a lot. So I'm usually thinking like, okay, well, how's her character doing? So I have to track all of that. But then at the end of the day, my warm, fuzzy blanket is feeling like I've gotten good

performances and I've gotten some comedy. So that's what I'm mostly concerned about. And Melissa, so she's kind of on double duty, right? So she's a producer. She's, you know, very, very active in what we're doing every second, pretty much, you know, co-directing as much as it's possible. But what's good is she's able to, I think, you know, I like to think that she's able to step back

and just really focus on what she's up to a little bit more because she trusts what we're doing, you know, behind the camera. She gets very active and like, could it be funny if I tried this? And I'm always like, why not? Let's give it a shot. Or we try to shape it together and bring in all our people. But I go story first. As long as we get that, I know we've got something.

Something, you know, I sometimes I call it the let's make sense version. Guys, we're making sense. Great. Everyone seems real. Now let's add the comedy and the, I'll try to get the make sense version and then we'll get the fun version. You and Melissa have obviously been working there for a long time. You obviously have professional chemistry along with your personal life. But what you're doing now is much more high stakes.

It's way more money on the line. Yeah. Is it possible that you annoy one another, piss each other off? with more frequency because there's more going on here. Essentially, what is it like to be working so closely with your partner in a high-stakes environment? I love working with Melissa. You know, the high-stakes environment can make everybody a little more, you know,

we're, as we record this, I believe we're exactly a week from our opening. You can imagine I'm getting lots of emails and like, oh, this looks cool. Are we worried about that? You know, all those things that you go through. but I don't really, the stakes haven't affected Melissa and I in any particular way. It's just, you know, I'm sure I annoy her from time to time as wonderful as I am. You seem like a lovely guy. Why, thank you.

But I don't think it has so much to do with the, um, what we're up to. I think, you know, the main thing is I sort of see a reality to the world and to the business, right, which is that Melissa has done quite well. Our movies have done well, so they're continuing to let us make movies. Melissa and I are both very much aware that someday in some way it's going to weather because we're just like oh my God we're tired or it's like

get out of Hollywood you two move to Idaho there are arcs you know yeah and then it's like oh you're like hey I'm making my comeback or whatever all that stuff that people go through right we sort of see every opportunity and we see the high stakes

as a chance to work your hardest which we do and you know see where the chips fall. The trickier thing I would actually argue is travel. You know, that's, that's one of the harder things. It's like if somebody is like, oh, I have to, I'm gone for nine days. And, you know, we've got kids and we, you know, we never want to leave our kids for two hours. We're like, we would just be in their backpacks with them at school if we could. So that, I think, is actually a trickier road to get through than the high stakes, you know, Hollywood game.

One of the things that's interesting to me about you guys is you have this old school partnership with a studio where you make your movies with one place for the most part. Yep. And there are theatrical releases and you're trying to get people out. Your box office matters. But we're obviously in this moment where everything is kind of everywhere. Platforms are different. Yes. Have you considered trying to do something that isn't in that traditional way?

Or if you like doing it the way that you do, what is it that you like about it? I haven't. Why monkey around with? stuff if it feels good. You know, like I think there are many opinions, and, you know, I like that New Line is small and you can get their thoughts pretty quickly. And if some things, you know, that old, I guess I'm, you know what it is, I'm just too Midwestern.

I'm just like, oh, it's not broken. It's fine. Yeah. That's what we do. That's like, well, there's a million things you could do. Well, that's what we do. Right. It's like, you know.

Well, if it's not broken, then it's not broken. Yeah. I feel like it's broken for a lot of people, which is maybe why some of those things have started to change in the industry over the last 10 years. Well, and, you know, there are people, like, I do know, I have good friends who are filmmakers and, you know, they're like, I'm going to Netflix. I'm tired of playing the game, you know, that kind of stuff. And I'm like, all right, that's, I get that, you know, like, that makes sense too.

You know, because it's tricky out there, right? There's a lot of superhero movies, mostly, and they appeal to, I take my kids to them. They like them. I like them. Yeah, they're good. They're good movies. We like them too. Yeah, you know, so it's like, but then it's becoming a trickier environment for comedy to thrive in particular right now.

But I also like to think that things are cyclical and horror movies seem like they're doing well. And I'm like, I get too terrified to even mess with a horror movie that would be on TBS. So no Melissa McCarthy horror movie coming soon. Well, not for me. I'd be like, oh my God, I'm so terrified to go to work. I'm hopeful that comedies make a big, you know, comeback. because I think they are really important. And I do think it's, you know, again, maybe I'm just this old Midwestern man

and a 44-year-old guy's body. But, like, I just do think it's important for people to come together and laugh together. I think there's something really good about that, you know, watching a comedy just on your laptop, you know, I don't know. It's fine. And that's totally, you know, people watch, you know, these great TV shows at home and stuff. But I think there's something so great about that shared experience where you feel like you literally got a couple more weeks

or a month of life because you laugh so hard, you know? What was your platonic ideal movie-going comedy experience? Well, I loved planes, trains, and automobiles. That was great. I mean, I just was like, oh, my God, this is such a good movie.

The performances are so strong, and I'm laughing all over the place. My dad, apparently during, there's a theater called the Varsity Theater in Carbondale, Illinois, and he was watching whatever one of those movies like a shot in the dark or something with Peter Sellers and he laughed so hard

that he was asked to leave the theater. He's a big laugh and they literally asked him to take off and I'm like and I know he's got a big laugh but I'm like it's a comedy like the response that they're hoping for was elicited. I just

imagine like whoever that filmmaker might be I can't think of the director off the top of my head but like that person Blake Edwards? I think it is Blake Edwards, of course. And I can just imagine Blake Edwards being like, what? They're kicking a guy out of the theater because he laughed too hard at what I tried so hard to make funny. Can I tell you a true story, though?

Sure. I saw your movie a few days ago, and I was seated behind someone or in front of someone who was laughing too loud for me, and so I moved my seat. So I didn't leave. I stayed. Wow. But I did move because they were so loud. Now, whether that's about that person or about how effective your movie is, is not for me to say. but I think it's actually because a lot of our experiences now

when we're watching things are quiet. They're not this group setting that we're talking about, this experience that we like to have. No, I was never going to leave. I would never leave a movie for someone laughing. But it was interesting to me because I was like, oh my God, this person is really laughing loud. I'm missing the lines.

I want to know who exactly that person is. I want to take them out to dinner. Congratulations. Ben, I like to end every episode by asking filmmakers, what's the last great thing they've seen? What is the last great thing that you've seen? Last great thing. You know, I really like that movie Game Night.

Yeah, I was going to bring it up when you were talking about comedies because I feel like with Game Night and Blockers in your movie, there's a good little run now of studio comedies. What did you like about Game Night? I thought it looked really cool. I thought it looked, you know, sometimes comedies can look a little bit like a comedy. They gloss them up and brighten them up a little bit. So it looked like I thought it looked good.

I thought all the performance was super solid. I thought the filmmaking itself was really clever. It had style. It had style and that's really hard to do because, you know, especially if people are improvising and stuff a lot of times you're like, okay, we'll do one little shot, we're going to move the camera and then let's put them down and let's cross shoot and we got it. You know, so I thought there was a lot of style that they put towards it. And I thought the writing was really clever. And I just, I thought all the performance, you know, even when things got a little more, you know, heightened or whatever, I just bought the performance. It was so well done. And the theater I was in,

was really sort of raucous for it. So I was too. And I just, I thought those directors, which is two gentlemen, I can't remember their names, Daly and Goldstein is it? Something like that. Yeah, you know all these. I should know all these names. This is my job.

It's okay. I should do better. But I thought they did a great job of kind of putting it all together. And I was, I thought, well done. Ben, well done on Life for the Party. Thanks for doing the show. Oh, thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

Thanks for listening to this week's episode of The Big Picture. And check back here on Friday when I'll be doing a special Deadpool 2 episode in an effort to understand one of the biggest and most unlikely movie phenomena of this century. I'll see you then.