WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1086 - Brad Pitt & Leonardo DiCaprio
Episode Date: January 6, 2020During a victory lap for their movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio put movie stardom on hold for an hour to have a chat with Marc. They talk about their early days as ...show business outsiders, the moment they knew their lives would never be the same, the times they've known a movie they're in is going to tank, why they don't want to direct and why they love to produce. This episode is sponsored by SimpliSafe and Everything's Gonna Be Okay on Freeform. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Lock the gates! all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck
nicks what's happening it's 2020 my name is mark maron this is my podcast wt WTF. Welcome to it. It's the new year. This is really, I believe, probably the official first show of the new year in the sense that
we're all back from vacation, right?
I mean, it got a little crazy, that vacation.
It gets a little between Thanksgiving and like today.
I don't even, it gets to a point where I don't even know what fucking day it is.
I don't know what meals I've eaten.
I'm not sure, you know, what I should be looking for on television. I don't know when it's time to wake up, when it's time to go to
bed. It gets a little foggy. Not sure what I, yesterday I had no fucking idea. I had no idea,
like on Saturday, I didn't know it was Saturday. What day is today? It's Monday, right? Fuck, man.
I'm not saying I'm happy vacation is over but i kind of am things get weird things get
they slow down the garbage pickup gets weird i don't know i'm focusing on minutiae here but um
yeah so here we are this is it back to work big show today i let's let's not go crazy all right
let's not go crazy today i have uh leonardo dicaprio andrio and Brad Pitt on the show.
I talked to them in a green room at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood, California.
That was where it could go down.
It's a package deal, Pitt and DiCaprio.
We took the package off-site.
I had to go off-site with the equipment.
I'll get into that in a minute.
I have some emails here, and this is on the up note. This is the good stuff. There is hope. There is personal growth.
There are leaves to be turned over. And I hope you're all heading into the new year with some,
I don't know if I would say optimism, but with some clarity is nice.
I got this email from somebody. Thanks for getting me into rehab.
Mr. Marin, my name is Matt and I'm an addict with almost four months clean. I'm currently
watching season four of Marin in a sober house in the suburbs of Kansas City. Not that I would
expect you to remember, but we actually met a few years back when you played the Midland Theater
here. I was working at the grocery store across the street. We talked briefly before and then again after the show. I hadn't listened to the podcast in a while,
but I happened to pick out the episode where you talked about getting 20 years and told your story.
It's not like I checked myself in right then. I did carry your story around with me for a while
after that, though. Your openness about working the program made it easier for me to buy in,
and I haven't looked back since. So thank you. I hope this might make its way to you and that maybe
I'll see you here again at some point. Matt, Matt, congratulations, man. Congratulations.
That's a big deal. And I hear about this stuff a lot and I'm just so, I, yeah, there's so many
things that are out of our control. And if drinking is one of those things that's out of your control, and if I can be of any assistance in helping you, you know, even get a day reprieve off a problem, fucking drinking or weed or crank or dope or whatever it is.
If I can help you get a day so you can get a little bit of clarity, I feel humbled and happy to do that.
Now, I will not have watched the Golden Globes, so I can't comment on them.
But I do know that the guys I'm about to talk to that you're going to hear me talk to are both nominated for them for Best Actor and Best best supporting actor i believe for once upon a time in hollywood now the way this unfolded folks uh you know we get pitched
people we get opportunities we work with a uh booking agency and uh i've i've talked to brad
pitt here and there he's a fan of mine i and i'm i'm flattered and honored uh you know because i have a great deal
of respect for the for that dude's uh craft and his performances and his talent and it's nice when
somebody that you respect uh likes your shit but you know he's sort of oddly uh a little obsessed
with my uh tv show with marin not with glow with marin from IFC, which is on Netflix here in America all four seasons,
but it will be taken off Netflix in a few days,
I think on the 12th or 13th.
I don't know why, just the way life works.
But the last time I saw him,
he'd watched the entire series twice.
So it's kind of exciting when I get to see him again
and what he has to say when we meet at this time.
Now, I've never
met Leonardo DiCaprio. I was excited. Now, here's the deal. I think this might be the last one I do
like this because the anxiety level is high. And I know that some of you heard me make a big deal
out of some of the problems I had with my equipment during the John Turturro episode,
but you didn't really hear them because my producer, Brendan McDonald's a genius,
but I do get a tremendous amount of anxiety and I'm already anxious going into these conversations,
even though I've done a thousand plus of them, I never really know what's going to happen.
And it causes me some anxiety. You know, I'm excited, but I don't really know. I would say 99.9, I would say 98% of the time heading into a talk, I'm anxious.
I'm nervous.
I don't know, you know, what's going to happen.
I have to, I meditate on how to approach it.
You know, how am I going to, you know, what's the through line in my mind?
You know, what can I lock into to start the conversation?
I don't know these things and it doesn't and hasn't gotten any better after a thousand, however many episodes.
So when I go out with the equipment and this is, I bring it, I usually have it with me,
uh, in case I have to do intros or the ads from the road. And sometimes obviously you've heard me
do, um, you know, interviews on the road but you know i then that's
one other level of anxiety is function you know working that equipment will the mics hold up will
the wires work well will they can i get the levels right so i and i'm not a sound engineer
so that causes another level of anxiety and okay i'll cop to it. There were a couple of issues. It's interesting.
When they walk in, and you'll hear it,
they're all jacked up because they just got done
doing a panel in front of a bunch of people.
And I know what that feels like.
I've been in the room that I recorded.
I've been in the room three times for SAG panels for GLOW.
I've been in that room waiting to go out and do one of these things
but they walk in and they're kind of lit up and uh it's uh it's pretty you know
it's pretty exciting man so all right so i'm sitting there and you hear commotion there's
always commotion around uh big movie stars because there's a buzz and a hum. There's usually
several people, maybe a dozen people, personal security, publicists, people who work at the
place. There's just a, all of a sudden there's just sort of like, you feel the entire frequency
of the building changes. But here's the thing, you know, it's weird. It's weird that like,
I've done so many of these things and I'm sitting in this room and people become people very quickly to me.
And I think what's important to know about me and about this process is the one thing in this life that keeps me upbeat, engaged, hopeful, and interested is talking to people.
It's talking to the people I talk to on this show and in my life. No matter
what they do, that's not the thing. They're all people, but just doing it, no matter how much
dread I have or how much anxiety I'm experiencing in any given moment, if I'm engaged in a
conversation, it dissipates. I lose myself in the conversation conversation and I know there are people in my
head but I gotta be honest with you folks I'm not you know I don't have anybody up on a pedestal
and I'm not a starstruck person but uh these guys are shiny fuckers they are shiny fuckers
man that's a natural gift I mean granted I've grown up most of my life seeing Brad Pitt in
movies and doing amazing work and the same with
DiCaprio and I again I have a lot of respect for these guys but when they walk in I mean
they they feel like movie stars and that's just that is a natural goddamn gift I I did the work
in my brain to separate them from you like I just these are people and I'm going to separate them
from their work I'm just going to they're going to be in front of me and they're going to be
regular people but you know they're just fucking movie stars and they're both great actors and it
was very exciting amidst all the chaos in my brain there were moments where I just uh I I was just
trying to be just trying to be normal folks just trying to be normal, folks. Just trying to be cool.
The other tricky thing is that I had an hour.
So I got to the Arclight an hour early to sit around, think, look at my four notes,
think about the movies, think about where do I want to go, how is it going to work.
And then I know I got an hour, and then you're out.
An hour, and you're out.
And then that know I got an hour and then you're out an hour and you're out. And then there, then that's it.
And then I'm sitting there alone with my recorder, wrapping up cords.
That's the thing.
That's the beautiful moment at the end of this that you don't get to see folks is that
after all the excitement in hoopla and all of the, the entourages leave, the security
people leave, the security people leave,
the movie stars leave. It's just me in a room wrapping up cords, unplugging stuff and filling
a bag up and walking out by myself to the parking lot, hoping that whatever is in the machine
isn't fucked up. So there you go. That's the inside scoop.
Now let's go there to that room at the Arclight
where I talked to Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.
As I said before, they're both nominated
for Golden Globes and SAG Awards
for their roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
And by the time this is airing,
one or both of them may have won the Golden Globes, which were last night.
They're both strong contenders for Oscar nominations as well.
And I got to sit there and panic in front of them.
So enjoy.
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Be honest.
When was the last time you thought about your current business insurance policy?
If your existing business insurance policy is renewing on autopilot each year without checking out Zensurance,
you're probably spending more than you need.
That's why you need to switch to low-cost coverage from Zensurance before your the heavy lifting to find a policy, covering only what you need,
and policies start at only $19 per month. So if your policy is renewing soon,
go to Zensurance and fill out a quote. Zensurance, mind your business.
business.
Mr. Mark Maron.
How are you, buddy?
This is the coolest shit.
Relax, fellas.
Relax.
We're with the great Mark Maron.
How are we going to... You're so nice about me.
Dude, I'm a fan.
He really is.
I'm a fan.
I remember him talking about you on the movie.
You were going off about my show.
I love this show.
Yeah, it's going to be...
It's leaving Netflix.
And where's it going?
I don't know.
I just know on January 12th...
Just into the ethers?
It's gone?
It's over, yeah. I've seen it three 12th it's gone. It's over, yeah.
I've seen it three times, the entire series.
It's my happy place.
It is.
To see you miserable makes me not feel so bad.
That's what it's all about.
I'm carrying the burden for others.
You really are.
Yeah.
But I just love how you, I think I told you this when I bumped into you,
how you'll suffer some minor injustice in the world from another.
Yeah.
Have it out with them.
Yeah.
You suffer no fools.
Yeah.
And then you invite them back to listen to your new turntable or something.
Like, we're equal now.
We're all humans again.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I think that's an attempt, I don't know if you have that problem, where I'll act like an asshole and then uh and then you kind of claw
your way back into someone's life and hopefully they'll forgive you for it see i thought you were
justified yes yes i did i did i thought you were speaking for all of us and then you and then
everything's okay everything's okay usually until it comes back later so what okay let me make sure
i guess this is how we do it we speak into the mic like I guess is this is this
Curse in the correct distance. Yeah, I think I think this is good
You never know who's gonna fuck up with a mic man. Some people can't do it. Oh
Well, I'm I'm not comfortable with it. Are you yeah, I'm fine. I think we just hold it like a mic
You look like a tort singer
I'll tell you what comfortable there was a big problem with was a big problem with, and I'm not being mean,
but John Turturro talks a lot with his hands,
so there was a lot of this happening.
Right, right.
He's Italian.
Yeah, so if you listen to that one, you get a lot of back and forth.
But when you have the comfort of the garage, aren't they sad?
Aren't they hanging?
Yeah, of course, man.
They're on booms.
It's when you're on mobile here.
You guys couldn't make it out to the garage.
That anything could happen.
Yeah.
I know.
It's a little sad. So here. You guys couldn't make it out to the garage. That anything could happen. Yeah. I know. I was a little sad.
So what just went on in there?
We did a little Q&A.
Yeah, for the movie.
For the old film.
And Quentin was in there?
That's where they screen it.
Quentin's in there.
He's in there still, just talking to himself?
It's great to do with Quentin.
He does all the heavy lifting.
He carries the load.
He'll just keep going he will keep going so i guess what i i don't it's always hard to figure
out where to start when i'm talking to two dudes two guys but the last time i saw you
as opposed to one dude oh okay you had two dudes you meant two women no no with two huge careers
and i gotta like somehow wrangle it up here.
But the last time I saw you was at that Art Basel thing, right?
The art, the Paramount.
No, yeah.
I saw you at the flea thing.
Yeah, it was at the art thing.
At the art thing, because my ex, my now ex, had an exhibit.
Oh, it's your ex?
She was so sweet.
You were outside barking for her, bringing people in to see her art.
I love her.
I thought it was very sweet.
I still have a lot of respect for her, and I love her, but I'm out.
Okay, let me ask you this.
What did you think of her art?
I liked it.
I liked it a lot.
Okay.
Because there's something about abstraction that either it's going to work or it's not.
I mean, you're an abstract guy, right?
You like abstract art.
I like a lot of art.
So does my man here.
Well, that's what I was going to talk to you about because i met the first time i met you guys or
what met you you were hanging out with thomas house ago that's right he's your buddy he's a
giant sculptor that's right big sculpture that's the one so you do you you both collect art yes
and your dad was like a comic guy yes right my last gasp was where well he was a comic guy. Yes. Up at Last Gasp? Well, he was a comic book distributor around Los Angeles,
and he used to take me in his station wagon called the Pussmobile.
Oh, dear.
Yeah.
Why?
It was a broken down, yellow, messed up station wagon.
We used to go to Golden Apple and Heidi Ho.
Basically, every weekend of my life was trucking around to comic book stores and head shops
selling Duran Duran posters and the Freak, Fabulous Freak Brothers and Cherry Pop Tart
and all these-
Art Crumb stuff?
All Art Crumbs.
My dad's actually friends with Art Crumb and Robert Williams.
Right.
I know.
I interviewed Robert.
Oh yeah.
He's amazing.
That's like one of his best friends.
Really?
So he's kind of a Z-Lig of the counter-hippie culture.
So I grew up going to the Doodah Parade,
hanging out with all these underground artists.
That was to make a little cash.
You know what I mean?
Because although my future college funds
was a box of underground comic books, that didn't exactly pay the bills.
But that was literally my college fund, like every number one comic book.
Underground comic book.
None of the Marvel or DC stuff, which actually went up.
Worth a lot of money.
Only the original art, the crumb art, has really skyrocketedrocketed now do you have that stuff i do have a couple i picked up a
couple luckily but the art stuff he's finally he is the the man from the underground art scene that
has like hit the marketplace and actually become right you know and you know and robert williams
is very bitter about it all about I collect Robert Williams, too.
That man is a god to me.
He's great.
He will hear nothing but wonderful things.
No, no, I think he's great.
But that's one of the weird chips on his shoulder is that, you know, he never got established art success.
Well, he was with Tony Schiaffarazzi in New York for a while.
That's right.
I remember.
It's the whole L.A. underground art scene.
Trying to make it to New York is a very tough transition.
You know what I mean?
Right.
But that's also, it seems like those guys get stuck in that kind of like comic art, outsider art, graphic art trip.
Whereas guys like House Ago, that's fine art shit, right?
That's big time.
Yeah, when it lands that way, sure.
Yeah.
And do you have a couple of those huge pieces?
I, in fact, indeed, I do. that way, sure. Yeah. And do you have a couple of those huge pieces? In fact, indeed, I do.
And I like them.
Well, what kind of art do you gravitate to the most, though?
Ooh, I wouldn't know how to describe that.
Yeah, I don't even say...
Collection?
I mean, even the word collection kind of bothers me.
Yeah.
It makes me go...
Yeah, right.
Right, right.
You're not buying it as an investment no no
never um just certain things that that move me and i like to be around each day and might inspire
my kids or something yeah i don't know some of thomas's stuff is can could scare them as well
but yeah do you do it do you are you do you do sculptures anything? I have been on my own. Really? Yeah, just like, I mean, because what we do is such a collaborative sport.
Sure.
I found that for the better, you know, for the worse sometimes, you know,
I've seen performances improved, enhanced, like on this one.
Yeah.
Or I've seen them, you know, take a beating.
Right.
And to do something that just you and on your own and very solitary,
I find very meditative.
Well, yeah, that's well, that's the weird thing. I mean, because you guys both see what you do as art, right?
Yeah, I hope so. We're not quite allowed.
I guess I guess we're allowed to say that. Well, certainly entertainers. But are we are we allowed to say I think we can say that that you're an artist.
All right. Of course you can.
Okay.
But it's something you work towards, right?
I mean, like, do you remember your first jobs?
Of course.
Oh, God, yes.
It was TV, right?
Both of you.
Both of us were television.
I mean...
Yeah.
Did that help out in knowing this guy part,
this part in this movie?
The whole TV world?
I think for sure.
I mean, I think the truth is what was so great about
quentin's script was the sort of outsider approach that he took to the industry to guys that were
certainly my character being on the brink of extinction right as the hippie cultural movement
is coming into play and he's like a remnant of old hat Hollywood sort of cowboy television and
he hasn't made that transition and as a byproduct you know Cliff my psychiatrist security guard
houseman is suffering yeah the consequences you and of course Roman Polanski moves in next door
and that you know symbolizes everything that we aren't. Right, sure. And are trying to be. Right.
Just that approach right away, I think, you know,
we've been doing this for a long time. We've been very, you know, fortunate to be successful in what we do.
But we remember those days.
I remember looking up to all these actors that were doing it.
Like who when you were coming?
Like when you started out.
What were your first TV gigs?
I can't remember.
I did a year, one season of Parenthood,
which was a spinoff of the movie Parenthood with Steve Martin,
and I played Joaquin Phoenix's role in the television version of Parenthood.
So I actually studied Joaquin Phoenix's performance in that to get my first
job did you then i do that today exactly and then i did growing pains which he was i did a whole
season of growing pains he was on a few episodes and then i guest starred on with growing pains
with him growing pains i worked with hillary swank on my season but i never worked with you
and were you guys like at that point you obviously you wanted to be actors and you wanted to be movie actors but
were you studying to be that were you doing actively working with people training other than
other than um drama class at school no really no i was yeah i came out from the ozarks and
i needed some i need a little bit of polishing.
And so I finally got a – yeah, I can say Ozarks now because now there's a show.
People have some idea of what that might be.
But is that a great idea, that show?
Yeah, it's not so far off.
They just left out the Bible Belt portion of it.
Right. portion of right but the uh um and i got my i went on my first audition and uh i'm pretty excited
about it's for a film and i came back and this this agent who was who was trying me trying me
on as they did then i said how did i do and she said you ever thought about acting classes
i'd been in them for six months you know know? Yeah. And who were you studying with?
A guy named Roy London.
He was fantastic.
Oh, this guy.
He's not with us anymore.
Yeah, he really set me in a great direction.
A lot of people studied with that guy.
Yeah, a few people.
Huh.
And you just studied in high school?
Yeah, but then after a while, I started studying with Larry Moss,
who's an amazing coach, too.
And that was was do you do
you guys use guys now or do you you're done with it i talk to larry all the time you do i talk to
leo and he talks to larry for me a few pointers like what kind of questions you ask him no he
just pushes the they you need them they he kind of just drives me to make decisions. It's, you know, like I said, I only got into movies because, you know, I was really lucky that that television show had me locked in for the season.
It was really the late great Alan Thicke and those producers that said, you know what?
Let the kid off the last few episodes to go work with De Niro.
And they didn't need to do that.
Right.
off the last few episodes to go work with De Niro.
And they didn't need to do that.
Right.
You know, I, and immediately I had like this elitist approach about movies. And then Alan was like, you know, we love you.
I was like, oh my God.
Yes, sir.
He wrote him.
I was like, I am so incredibly thankful that you let me have that opportunity.
And you did like, what'd you do?
21 Jump Street too?
I did that too.
Yeah.
A very special episode dealing with suicide.
Yes.
I think it was even billed as a very special episode of 21 Jump Street.
It was just one?
And maybe I had two lines.
Uh-huh.
And it was only one episode of that?
Oh, me?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A guest star.
And then I guest starred on like the last year of 30-something.
I had one line.
It was either yes or no.
I can't remember.
One word, actually.
So you were really at it a while.
What was your first movie?
I did a movie in former Yugoslavia.
Oh, nice.
Big budget film.
Yeah.
First time on a plane.
Really?
First passport.
Got to go out of the country.
Really? and you were
like how old i was 38 no i was like i was like i don't know early 20s first time on a plane yeah
you drove out here you drove to la yeah oh yeah from oklahoma missouri missouri yeah that's where
you're from yeah oklahoma via southern Missouri. And what, in a truck?
No, a little Datsun.
A little beat-up Datsun with the front.
Like a V210?
Close.
No, a little better.
Don't tell me it was a Datsun 210.
No, it was a 300SX at that point.
But the bumper's hanging off, you know,
and you're loaded up where you can just see forward.
Yeah.
And you just, like, you finished college out there?
I didn't finish
i did four years yeah i didn't didn't officially finish you just split you're gonna act done yeah
but when you're gonna go when you're growing up in missouri were you did you know you were gonna
did you do acting there hell no there's no acting there wasn't then no what what was it what it was Springfield yeah yeah and you grew
up it like literally in the Ozarks yeah are you folks still there yeah family
brothers sister they'll live on the same street really yeah do you still go to
the Ozarks for the summers do you go visit yeah oh that's good. Yeah. Do you bring all of your kids to the Ozarks?
We would, yes.
Oh, that's nice.
But fortunately, California is more of a draw.
Oh, so they come.
So they like to come here.
That's all right.
That's good.
That's good.
So you drove out here.
Okay, so Yugoslavia.
What was that?
What movie was that?
It's called Dark Side of the Sun.
About a kid with a skin disease
who can't go out in the sun or something.
Really?
Yeah.
And then decides, you know,
living a week is worth living in the sun.
It's worth living,
then not living at all in the,
I don't know, something like that.
So he goes out into the sun?
Yeah, and he dies.
And he dies.
That's amazing. That's an amazing plot
line. I remember Powder,
but this is totally... What about the one
which... This would have been this
D version of Powder.
But wasn't Travolta in a bubble movie?
Oh, yes, he was.
Couldn't leave the bubble? Damn fine movie.
Damn fine movie.
And your first movie was Boy's Wife?
No, actually, no, no.
It was my first.
I did a small part in Critters 3.
Yeah.
Which we shot at a Smart and Final in Santa Monica.
Move your hand up on that thing.
So you're not holding the connection.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Where's the buzz coming from, man?
Where's the buzz? from man where's the buzz
move your foot no you're on it there you go still a panic no no it's kind of gone good man
was that awkward when i got all freaked out no not really there is
i kind of expect you to get all they'll cut this out it'll be all great no i kind of expect you to get all We'll cut this out It'll be all great No I kind of expect you to get all
Freaked out a little bit
I'm like kind of waiting for it
Yeah
Dude
I just want to see you
Lose your shit
I was with fucking Totoro man
And the hand thing was one thing
And then I looked down
And the fucking thing wasn't recording
So he
He saw it
We'd done like a half an hour man
And I was like
Oh fuck
And Totoro's sitting there Watching me spin out So he saw it. We'd done like a half an hour, man. And I was like, oh, fuck.
And Jotaro's sitting there watching me spin out.
Like, I literally just wanted to quit.
Like, I was done.
And he goes, how much did we lose?
And I said, like, 25 minutes.
He goes, I remember it.
Oh, wow.
Oh, that's awesome.
It was like a script.
Like, he literally recaptured the whole thing.
Wow.
But that made me wonder.
I can't go backwards.
No, I don't know how.
But I am here just to see you lose your shit.
Well, maybe it'll happen.
Okay.
It almost happened before.
Hey, hey, ooh, that mic's really hot.
Why is that mic different than the rest?
Fucking fuck.
This whole thing's going to be a disaster.
It's digressing.
That's what you've been waiting for.
I'm going down fast, guys.
It's not happening.
Hello.
Check, check.
This one sounds weird now.
Wow.
Hello.
What's happening?
I don't like it.
Is there an actual home base that you're talking about? Oh, here we go.
Here we go. Did that all work out for you? That talking about? Oh, here we go. Here we go.
Did that all work out for you?
Yeah, I enjoyed that.
Okay, I think we're good now.
Jesus Christ.
That was fucking terrible.
It was fucking terrible.
So what were we just talking about?
Movies?
We were talking about our earliest movies.
Yes.
So I did a guest part on critters three oh yeah yeah
yeah what was that critters what was that like critters three at a smart and final in santa
monica and then i but i think my first role in an actual movie was sarah gilbert and drew barry
moore and it was called Poison Ivy.
And I had a whole monologue insulting Sarah Gilbert.
Nice.
And I messed up my lines.
I think I was 12 or 13 years old.
Yeah.
Screwed up my lines.
Then they just said, all right, kid, just walk in and look at her and say, problems.
And I said, just problems?
And I walked in and I said, problems.
Yeah.
That was my line.
And then they cut that out of the movie.
So I'm not in the movie at all.
My first role, I'm actually not in at all.
They completely edited me out.
Now, like how much does the effect,
because you guys both worked with Alejandro in- In Arrito.
In Arrito.
You did Babel with him, right?
And you did The Revenant.
Now that guy seems to be, in terms of like,
you both work with great directors,
but in terms of being part of something Quentin, too.
But in terms of being something that like if you look at the scripts and look at the vision of it as being like, holy fuck, this is a real piece of art with that guy, like rank up there with that.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Where you don't even know how it's all going to work out in the scope of it.
Oh, there was no way to foresee what he was going to do out there.
I mean, the script was one thing,
and it was kind of this linear story of a guy
surviving out in the wilderness,
you know, a great sort of revenge story.
But, I mean, what he did cinematically with that movie
just blows me away.
And there was a point where he wanted to sort of continue that idea of a singular shot like he had done with Birdman throughout the course of that entire wilderness.
Until we got to the point that we realized there are two characters that go in opposite directions.
Yeah, right.
opposite directions yeah right and then he quickly sort of improvised with chivo the great cinematographer on trying to keep this linear sort of one shot snake idea but then cut back
and forth but at one time he was like no no i'm gonna do one shot all the way through and then
he realized there's thousands of miles between us and they'd have to do a puff
of smoke and fly over here back and forth but what they did on that movie and in those conditions i
don't know how they pulled it off it was incredible and and your thing with him that that scene on the
bus where that bullet comes through like the window right isn't that that yeah that's right
but when you read that script did you see how all those stories were going to fit together i mean
when you get a project like that,
do you just trust the guy?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you trust him by his previous work.
And also, there was something in the way it was constructed.
It was the end scene for me that made me want to do it
because only going through that whole journey
that he realized how close he came to losing everything and right that's
when you know the adrenaline's gone he could just and just break down from it all i was i was moved
by that but i didn't know the depths again it's what he was saying you don't know what he's got
in his mind you just know it's yeah you really bank on he's reaching the filmmaker i mean because
i mean after having read so many great screenplays that have been turned to dog shit in the wrong hands,
you actually realize that the filmmaker is the one that elevates material and brings things to it that you could have never foreseen.
You know, we're seeing it through their eyes.
Do you have movies where either of you think, like, you don't know how it got away from whoever it got away from, but it wasn't you?
Where you watch the final thing and you're like, what the fuck happened here?
Yes.
It's that horrible feeling when you're screening with others and the lights come up and everyone looks at you to say something.
And you know.
You just know.
You're like, oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Do you remember any of the lines that anyone
told you after well you know if they ever come up and they say I really like
the music who did the music yeah did that that music was amazing then you
know you know it's a dead giveaway I have a couple I went to a premiere I
won't mention the name of the film but I just remember my friend looking at me and going,
not my cup of tea.
Not my cup of tea.
You don't know what it was about it?
Was it his cup of tea?
Everything about it.
You know it's a turd, though.
You feel it.
You just feel it.
And it's the first time you see it.
All the work, everything that went into it. And you know it's just feel it and it's not it's the first time you see it all the work everything that went into it and you know it's just a turd it smells so bad nothing's nothing's
landing do you know it from like you know right when the promotion starts right when the posters
it doesn't take long you just feel it when you're sitting in that you know in the cinema and you're
going oh my god it's gonna be bad oh my god this is bad this is so bad you've been at it like 10 more
years or so than him so you've got like a lot more movies i've been at it a little bit long
but we kind of hit the same time i had i had further ground to make up to get to where leo
started from i think but it doesn't seem like you guys have to do this where where you know you read
a script and you know like you know this is gonna stink but it's only four weeks and it's good it's gonna
yeah it's gonna get me the right whatever you don't you don't have to do that no we've been
pretty fortunate we're pretty fortunate now very lucky fellas had to do it before yeah but yeah
yeah you felt that before i just flashed on when we did the first screening of Seven.
Yeah.
No, the premiere.
We had the premiere of Seven.
No one had seen it.
Yeah.
And this is the serial killer.
Yeah, I know.
Great movie.
Yeah, yeah.
And the movie ended.
Yeah.
Was this in New York?
Yes, it was in New York.
I think I was there.
Were you there?
I think I was there.
Okay, if you remember, the movie ends, and they just flick on the lights.
And I look at people, and they just kind of slowly get up from their seat, and no one's talking.
And then they just kind of disappear from the screen.
And I remember looking at Fincher going, oh, my God, what the fuck did we do?
What happened?
What's going on?
I thought this shit was
great and i had a different memory of it i remember people liking it but yeah i guess that would be
it's kind of now now as you're describing i remember that but that's i think that's what
i talked to ed norton he sort of said that happened with with fight club too oh we had a
great one we had the best we had the best screening ever we were we had it at Venice Film Festival
and they do this midnight screening yeah for some reason or not we thought it'd be a good idea to
smoke a joint beforehand that's right yeah yeah and uh and we go in and you know they have this
they put you up in a balcony you sit next to the the fest the guy who runs the festival right you
know everyone's looking at you they clap you sit You sit down. It's very formal. Yeah. And then the movie starts.
And the first joke comes up, and it's crickets.
It's dead silence.
And another joke, and it's just dead silent.
Oh, no.
And this thing is not translating.
You know, it's in subtitles.
It is not translating at all.
And the more that happened, the funnier it got to Edward and I.
And we just started laughing.
So we're the assholes in the back laughing at our own jokes.
The only ones.
And then at some point, it gets to the Helena Bonham Carter's line when she says,
I haven't been fucked like that since grade school.
And I watched the festival guy who had been squirming yeah you know
the whole 30 minutes yeah just get up and he leaves he doesn't say he doesn't say a word he
just gets up and leaves which makes us laugh even more so that's beautiful we had a good time do you
remember like the moment where you just sort of you realized your life was never going to be the same again?
Oh, oh yeah.
Yeah.
It was a film called Titanic.
That was it.
Yeah, that was it.
That was it.
And after that?
I just remember, you know, I was off on location doing movies.
Yeah.
You know, right away.
And then, you know know i was in my early
20s already and i was always i never bothered to look for a house so i stayed in my mom's guest
room into my early 20s and then and then the movie started to come out or the buzz of it or
whatever and i just remember four suvs outside my house one day. Yeah. And I went to like the liquor store to get a soda and there were the SUVs and then they just kept following me.
Yeah.
Every day of my life.
Right.
And it was, I was like, okay, this, this life will no longer be the same.
To this day.
Probably more like Ford Explorers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Something like that. Blacked out windows. And that, that happens to this day. Probably more like Ford Explorers. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that.
Blacked out windows.
And that happens to this day?
No, it doesn't.
Not anymore.
It doesn't?
No, no, no.
It doesn't.
Not as much anymore.
No.
No.
Thank God.
Did you do something?
Usually there's like this time when you have a movie coming out or you're starting to do
promotion where they're sort of sort of on you a
lot more yeah but you know i i get to i've been able to escape a lot more which is great and walk
around and you do be outside and things like that you don't do you wear i'm a little disgruntled
with you now that you're what you have them wait you have them waiting oh Oh, man. Really? Oh, man. Yeah. But maybe...
What?
I'm just like trash mag fodder.
I'm like...
I don't know.
My...
Because of...
I don't know.
Because of my disaster of a personal life, probably.
You had a very exciting personal life.
But you've gotten into confrontation with him before?
Oh yeah.
And there's nothing you can fucking do about those guys.
There's nothing you can do about it.
Like Lil' Kim said, the paparazzi's
gonna get you one way or another.
It's been my motto. I figure there's just
nothing you can do about it.
But you've never had to go out with a fake nose or anything?
We've tried all that stuff.
And it's all a failure.
They always find out.
You do? Oh, yeah. Fake noses?
No, I got some good getaways that I will not reveal
here because they're still in play.
In terms of just being able to disappear?
Do you have a stunt double
that you work with? No. None of that works.
None of that works.
I've had so many people say,
let me wear your hat. I'll jump out. It just doesn't work. None of that stuff no I've had so many people say let me wear your hat I'll jump out
it just doesn't
none of that stuff works
no good
no good
I don't remember
who I was talking to
maybe it was Galifianakis
was telling me about
Downey had a nose
or something
made and he
there's the Mel Gibson
brilliant mask
that Kazu made him
yeah
this brilliant rubber mask
but then they
photographed that too
oh
and then they put
put him in the magazine with Mel Gibson with the fake.
With the mask.
Yeah.
And that ruins that?
That ruins that?
He got a lot of mileage off it, though.
He did?
For a few years, yeah.
Oh, really?
He did really well?
He did a lot among the people?
Yeah, and it was just enough.
It was real enough, but off enough to make someone just want to walk the other way.
You know?
There was something wrong.
So he just looked a bit creepy.
So it was like, that looks like Mel Gibson.
Oh, it's not though.
What's wrong with that guy?
Just make you step aside and not investigate.
So with this, can I ask you,
because I've seen the last two movies that you do.
I watched Ad Astra.
How'd you do with that one?
I liked it because I didn't know.
I'm not a space guy in general.
You know what I mean?
I entered it cranky.
Strange.
Cranky.
But then I realized...
How was your movie? Well, I entered it cranky.
Did it soften you
in any way? Or just make you crankier?
No, no, because I thought like, well, this
guy's really gone above and beyond
to work out his dad's stuff yeah i just got to make a phone call or drive to new mexico this
fucker went to outer space to get some closure like when i realized that was like just really
a movie about like this guy i hope this guy works it out with his old man because life might be better.
It was so clearly a movie about,
I got to deal with my dad.
It wasn't that space had nothing to do with anything.
He could have stayed home and done a year of therapy.
Right, right.
Or call him.
That's fair.
But there were problems.
The one thing I never understood,
what was his ship doing that was causing all the trouble?
Did they even explain that?
I'm not going to explain it to you.
Oh, you know, though.
No, I can't explain it either.
That sounds like Inception for me.
What happened?
I have no idea.
Right?
You don't, do you?
Sometimes you just, I mean, you're just focused on your character, man.
Of course.
You know?
Of course.
No, actually, I do get involved in that.
But when it came to Chris Nolan and his mind and how that was all pieced together,
everyone was trying to constantly put that puzzle together.
Did anyone ever succeed?
I can't remember if it made sense ultimately.
Did it?
Yeah, it depends on the eye of the beholder, I guess.
My producer has a weird question I i gotta ask you about this movie is that he's he's if for
somebody and he told me this he said the only thing i'm hung up on man you gotta ask him
he said he said he wanted me to ask you if your character actually got the part in uh the great
escape and was fired no was that a fantasy that you were thinking no it was a
fantasy it was uh it was well we actually had this whole section that actually quentin was
talking earlier about the fact that he had a four and a half hour cut yeah and the the the movie
that you see i mean this is all from the mind of quentin tarantino and there's so many other
sections that i think he had to take out to sort of drive this story along but there was this great moment with Al Pacino and I spent like three weeks with Al Pacino at Musso and Frank's one-on-one doing this sort of whole history of Rick Dalton's career what he has been through the state of the movie industry the
state of our culture right this sort of i could have been somebody could have been a contender
almost got you know the great escape but i was the third guy on the list had you know mcqueen
dropped out and this and this i could have been that guy yeah so we kind of put it in to the
timothy oliphant scene where we start talking about our careers and then there's
this kind of flash right of Rick yeah as that as as McQueen and how Rick Dalton would have played
the McQueen but it wasn't an actual which was the star-breaking turn from and it's not right
Leo describes as a moment it's like a 10-minute scene and it's fantastic I do hope it makes the
because it's the bane of his existence.
He's walking around and everyone knows him as the guy who almost got the Great Escape.
And he gives this very sobering soliloquy on how it was never going to happen.
And stop calling me that.
No, when you entered working on this part, I mean, it's the actual heartbreak of show business
is what you're playing, right?
Basically, yeah.
And it's not something that you haven't seen before
in other people.
I mean, we're surrounded by it all the time.
That's what Brad and I were just talking about
in the Q&A just now is how, you know,
although we've been incredibly fortunate
and have had a you
know sort of long successful career we know this world we know i've grown up around actors that
almost got this role or almost got that role we knew we knew the dynamic of of these relationships
i mean i've had guys over the years that have been my psych like i said my psychiatrist my security
guard you're on location in africa for
eight months right they got your back the hard days they're there for you and they really do
carry the load so even though quentin gave us this amazing manuscript on our history detailed
from you know the figment of his own i mean right from his imagination. Yeah. We implicitly knew this dynamic in Hollywood
and this sort of relationship that these two guys had.
And I think it was weirdly like the first day on set,
we just kind of clicked.
And I keep telling this story, but it's true.
I remember we were driving onto the Lancer lot
and Brad just improvised this line and and he goes you know
hey realizing i have a hangover realizing i've gotten this bad news that my career is essentially
over and he just goes hey you're rick fucking dalton and as soon as he said that i was like oh
that's us man no matter what the hell's going down that's my number one fan right there you're
rick fucking dalton and i'm like yep you got it and i go and have a disastrous day on set regardless
but that's true though because i even noticed that when i was a doorman at the comedy store
is that there is this weird kind of people have satellite people that kind of walk around as the extension of their ego.
There's an ego support system.
And you see it all the time in this town.
And then you have this, like, at the center is this completely delusional person.
Completely delusional, yeah.
That really thinks they're really doing amazing things.
Oh, shit.
I was just calling it friendship.
But you're so right
friendship with a paycheck and like cliff says hey ain't got it so bad you know i gotta go fix
her antenna today but you know he's he's not so bad huh rick i mean that was the thing that i had
to like figure out about rick dalton yeah what uh god what not only what a pessimist but what a whiner he was and and and i think that
quentin always had this thing that i didn't quite understand that he's really feeling sorry for
himself you and he meets the girl the little girl who's like oh that was and there was another scene
that was cut out about hey you know yeah aren't we lucky to do what we do and rick just doesn't
realize that he just realized he's all he obsessively thinks about is what could have been he could have been a contender he could have been
this guy and the whole industry sucks and the world sucks and he's goddamn hippies yeah and
when when you went into it how what were you thinking like who were you playing like did you
know the guy well he he no i mean well you told me you got that line from somebody who said it to you.
Oh, this guy.
Yes, when I first started.
This guy.
I had this guy.
I was bitching and moaning like in the mid-90s.
And I had this guy, total freeloader, you know.
I would just always see him walking back and forth wearing my clothes,
using my dryer, you know what I mean, and eating the food.
But he was there for me, man.
And one day he had said that to me i was i was bitching and moaning this is like mid 90s hey man don't forget
your brat fucking pit and you know what it soothed me it soothed me
you gotta have those guys so no but there was just a there's just an ease to you know i i mean
i'm certainly striving for you know an ease in in life and there was an ease to this this character
yeah that you know just didn't didn't sweat the small shit well i think that it seems like uh
like in both these these roles they were kind of uh like even in Ad Astra that you were able to kind of –
there was a control to it that I had not seen before, that you'd seem like you were –
this guy was sort of zen and the Ad Astra guy was just sort of repressed,
but you were able to quiet down.
Well, this one – yeah, this one was more –
I think Cliff was just a guy who accepted his cards and was all right with it.
And it was going to be okay.
Everything was okay.
It wasn't really against me.
The world isn't against me.
Right, right.
Even if I get shit on this day, I'll deal with it and I'll clean it up.
And you can fight.
Andy, well, yes, yes.
That's that.
You can definitely handle yourself.
So this is the first time you work with Quentin, though, right?
No, second.
What was the first one?
Inglourious Basterds.
Oh, that's right.
That was huge.
Yeah, that was great.
Oh, that's right.
That was huge.
Do your homework, don't you, Mark?
I got a list here somewhere.
Is it important?
Yeah, you were great in that.
Oh, thanks.
You're Brad fucking Pitt.
Yes, thanks, man.
Thanks, man.
So you guys knew how he worked.
Yeah.
You were used to the process.
Yeah.
Is he different than any other director?
I mean, these guys, he's bigger.
Oh, he's different.
He's different.
He's amazing.
And does he let you riff a lot?
Yes, yes.
Yes and no.
I mean, there's certain dialogue sequences that he has sort of stuck in his mind.
And he's a writer director right he's got yeah so he's got certain cadence and
almost a way of saying the line that he has envisioned his head but then there's other times
that were like in a lot of the um you know the the trailer stuff for example where he lets you
riff he lets you improvise and a lot of stuff with Brad and myself, we just, we improvise a lot of that too.
So it's both.
Yeah, he's keeping a watchful eye on it.
But his, I do, I've found that his stuff,
there's a very specific music to it.
I only found that with the Coen brothers as well,
that if you start-
They're real tight with that shit, right?
If you start, well, they're not militant about it.
I'm just saying if the actor starts interjecting
uhs and uhs and does and
yeah right
clever little bits
that he thinks is interesting
yeah
it usually
it usually fucks up
the rhythm
the music to it
yeah yeah yeah
on the other hand
he'll throw out lines
he's a writer
so he'll throw out lines
or give us room to play
and you know
honestly like
with directors like him
and Scorsese
when you get
these guys that are
true cinephiles,
and I mean, world class,
like put them on Jeopardy type of cinephiles.
Sure, of course.
Like name the editor of an obscure 32 French film,
not him, the one that got fired.
They'll know that name.
Right, yeah.
And I think, you know,
Marty's seen every film ever made up until 1980,
but then Quentin's got this crazy catalog of not only music,
but television and kung fu movies and B films and out of print stuff that,
you know, these guys watched movies all day long.
Yeah.
I mean, they are absolute experts at this subject matter.
So for me, like when, for example, I knew this era of cinema,
but I didn't know all the type of films that he was referring to,
and I didn't know the cowboy television shows,
Dead or Alive, and all these.
I mean, I watched some of them, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman.
We saw repeats.
I mean, you're at the same age as me.
It was before my time, but I remember repeats.
So I had to get acclimated to this era of cinema the era of
television at that time
guys that almost
made it but didn't quite make
the television to movie transition
and so he gave me this long list of
actors to sort of navigate
and
there was this one guy Ralph Meeker that just
like I cued into and I was like
that's the guy.
He's not as bad as the other guys.
He's got some great stuff in him, but he just never got that shot.
He never got the chance to show it.
And so that's who I cued into.
And I just sort of obsessively watched his work.
So the meltdown in the trailer, that was, you improvised that, I imagine, right?
And then when you're playing that, was it in your mind mind were you just a boozer did you have deeper mental problems
that what'd you put in place or do you even think about that well i i definitely knew that rick was
a full-fledged alcoholic right that was kind of he wrote in the subtext of the script right
and then i you know i added a bunch of stuff that had to do
with a guy that was having a full
mental breakdown, I think.
And what would come with that.
He's
dealing with his own mortality in a lot of ways.
And what do you do to... This is just a dumb
actor's question, I guess, for both of you.
I try to act occasionally.
What do you do in terms of putting...
What is wrong with this fucking...
It's got to be a chord.
Let's just start it again.
Don't worry about it.
God damn it.
All right, so...
Just got my admissions work.
Thanks, man.
Thank you.
God damn it.
To stay in the fucking character,
what do you put in place?
How do you put it all in place?
Are you fully formed in it?
And then the cameras stop and you can have a donut.
And then it's like you're ready to go.
And then you just remember the guy?
You know, very selfishly, for me, I'm just obsessively thinking about what I'm doing all day long.
And what was so amazing about
getting to see like the final product is to you know brad and i met every couple weeks and we're
like did a scene a random scene together and then maybe we'd have a week before you shot and then so
he had this whole other dynamic and storyline that he was doing i had finished my lancer stuff
right popped in and out but then this what was so cool was being able to see like the finished product and see what brad had created and not
even realizing what he was doing when he was doing it with me this sort of you know almost like this
steve mcqueen zen i mean something that was so amazing that he pulled off and i didn't even i
wasn't even aware of it i wasn't even aware of it.
I wasn't, like, aware of it when we were doing our scenes.
Well, you were supposed to be self-obsessed.
So, you know, you're not meant to.
So, you mean you had no idea what his whole other life looked like?
But, I mean, we all went off and did our separate stories.
And Margot, too.
And it was really fun to see it all, you know, come together.
And how do you, like, how do you hold on to it?
I don't, man.
I'm not, you know,
you hear those stories like,
man, he couldn't let go
of the character.
You know, for three months
he was still like, you know,
living under the bridge.
Yeah, right.
And eating.
I'm, man,
they say rap,
I am done.
But even in between scenes,
though,
like you're not sitting
in your character,
so you just kind of like
lock into a tone
or an emotional...
No, you do stay in the,
you stay in the, you do stay in the mode into a tone or no you do you stay in them you
stay in the you do stay in the mode the tone yeah you stay from the beginning of shooting to the end
you do stay in a um i don't know what to call it a padded cell yeah the mindset now i i want to
talk to you both about uh producing before we run out of time because you're both doing things. But neither one of you want to direct, really?
I have no desire.
You?
Not really.
Huh.
Why?
It's a time suck, man.
Jesus Christ.
Six months to a year.
Two years at least.
Two years just to start.
And you're relying on so many variables.
I mean, the planets really have to align.
I'd rather do that, you know, spend the time in the studio or with friends.
Yeah.
But on the other hand, I do think there's so many good people doing it right now.
I really don't have anything to add.
Huh.
What about you?
Yeah, maybe if there was a story that I felt like only I could tell.
Yeah.
But it's very interesting.
I felt like only I could tell.
Yeah.
But it's very interesting. Like, you know, you're talking about trying to create a performance.
You're kind of selfishly just focused on you all day long
and creating these moments with the other actors.
Right.
Just thinking about this story,
I can't imagine what it would be like to be a director
who has a hundred different departments coming up to me every
day saying what color should this be you know what kind of cuts do you like to like this one
that one what shot like i would be like what leave me alone i have one i just want to have
this to focus on right it's yeah it's a compartmentalization of the human mind and focus that I may be able to
do at some point
but for now I mean
let the
guys like Bradley Cooper do it because
he's doing a great job
you guys are friends right
yeah and that movie was something
he really did something yeah he did it
he's got it he's got the goods
and good act.
He did act in it.
Well, that's the thing that killed me is at the end where you realize that he's actually doing a Sam Elliott impression.
That moment where you realize he did steal the guy's personality.
I'm like, holy fuck.
He put that whole thing into place.
You didn't know why he was talking like that until he cops to it.
And you're like, holy fuck.
The whole accent was Sam Elliott the whole whole time he stole his whole personality anyways so you both seem to like
produce different you know different you seem to take some real risks with artistic stuff you know
in terms of the kind of movies you're getting behind and you have like a a kind of socio-political angle that
you're sociopathic political no i think it's great but i did want to ask you why did what how'd you
get involved with that jane that jim jones documentary did you do that yeah we did that um
we did that that was crazy yeah it was an insane insane story i mean like for some reason there's
been a lot of documentaries
that we've been gravitating towards.
I mean, this really is the era of documentaries.
Sure, yeah.
And for the, you know,
I just did one with my father called Struggle,
which he's in,
which is about the whole underground art scene
and this guru to sort of Crum and Robert Williams
called Stanislav Zukalski
and his whole crazy journey to california
and la becoming this obscure it's kind of like a searching for sugarman but as a sculptor was this
your dad's idea it's been my it's been my father and my idea for almost 20 years now and we pitched
it you know 15 times over the years but now in this era which is fantastic we're talking about the whole transition
of of where our industry is going you know yeah i came into netflix and i'm like so there's this
sculptor you know everything was bombed during world war ii his whole life's work disappeared
and he ends up living in obscurity in the valley and then has a resurgence and it's his life story
and ted's like great let's do it great i'm like
what what just happened and they greenlit the thing yeah and so it's just been so exciting to
be able to see all these you know really cool stories getting finance quite simply it's amazing
years ago i mean because these things used to be have to go into theaters amongst hundreds of others, never get the play time.
Right.
They have to win an Academy Award for you to see them.
Right.
They have to be world acclaimed.
Now, you know, it's a draw to the consumer.
And millions and millions of people watch these documentaries as opposed to having to go through the theatrical system.
That's pretty fucking and
they're immediately educational yeah and like you learned something but you did the 11th hour a long
time ago already that's true yeah but way more people would have seen it if it would have been
on a streaming service much like before the flood that's the one where i kind of traveled around the
world for three years to every location on earth for climate change i mean that you know that was in that
that came in the modern are you going to be able to stop it what the climate change oh boy yeah
yeah it's it's uh we're having a tough go of it right now pal tough go is anybody taking care of
s clay wilson s clay wilson's amazing yeah i don't know the specifics of it but but you did
but he's amazing.
He is.
He is.
Because he's had some trouble.
Yes.
He fell down.
Yeah, I know.
I know.
Between S. Clay Wilson and climate change.
I'm just concerned.
About S. Clay Wilson.
Somebody take care of everybody.
But you did.
Oh, wait.
You did Richard Jewell, too?
Yes, we did Richard Jewell, yeah.
Now, how does something like that happen?
Clint is just sort of like, hey, you want to help me out with this?
No, no.
The story, usually you get the rights to these stories, books, articles.
Oh, so your company did that?
You start working with producers.
And then you hope for the right director that can get involved or the right actor to get involved to green light the project.
And then it's a go from there.
So you put that together.
You were really part of it.
Your company was.
I mean, very intricately. All the the financing i talked to how the line producing you
know ad the lot guy it's really the great it's really getting access to the acquisition of
right cool ideas that we get to be one of my favorite films of the year and one of my favorite
performances of the year he's amazing he's amazing um Walter Houser yeah what a what a gem and then and Rockwell
and Kathy Bates too yeah they were great it just you know some some pop and some
yeah I'm later and it's like this one's getting a little love right yes I just
think I think it's one of the greats of the year.
I adore this film.
I adore these performances.
Richard Jewell, oh my God.
I can't disassociate him from Jewell.
And that Clint is still doing it, man.
Still doing it and doing it strong.
Have you worked with him?
I haven't.
I did.
J. Edgar Hoover.
He's amazing. He's amazing.
He's amazing.
Shoots quick, right?
He does shoot quick.
He does shoot quick.
And he eats salmon and spinach at every meal, and he's just like a Superman.
Wow.
Now, your production company, you did Moonlight, right?
Yep.
And you did Vice.
Yep.
And you did The Big Short and Selma, 12 Years a Slave.
Amazing.
Wow, that's a great...
A lot of Oscar winners, Oscar contenders.
How do you decide?
We follow filmmakers that we really respect.
Yeah.
And for a while there, before streaming,
there was this period where big-budget tentpole films,
action films were getting
made and then films under 10 million if you wanted to do something risky and there was this whole
gap in between yeah and i found at that time in the early aughts that we were i mean we first got
in just trying to help some of these you know these people we believed and get their film to
the finish line right and it Because there was this empty space,
these films that weren't getting made.
Yeah.
And that kind of, I think that really opened up with us.
We've still yet to make a dime.
Oh, really?
We're like, remember Walter Cronkite's CBS?
They had to make 1% to keep the lights on.
Right, yeah.
In fact, news was much better then because of it.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're kind of like that.
Seriously?
Even with those big movies? Yeah. What does it take to, i don't know i don't know it just hasn't um not my
uh forte what do you got on the docket coming up a film called blonde yeah which is for netflix
marilyn monroe andrew dominic um directed and the big series with um called underground
braille world it's going to be cool yeah and uh you know so on and so forth and is that really and the big series called Underground Railroad
that's going to be cool, and so on and so forth.
And is that really, like, do you see both of you guys,
I mean, obviously you're still vital actors,
but do you see producing as a way to sort of like, well, I don't know.
I like it because we get to still, you know, we're still,
we can be storytellers.
We get to be a part of stories that we're not necessarily right for.
Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We can be in,
but we get to put those
out in the world.
I'm sure Leo feels the same.
I feel the same.
I feel pretty proud
of the stuff that we
get to put out
that may not be there
if we, you know,
hadn't got behind it
in some way.
All right.
Or our team.
Yeah, yeah.
Us or our team.
What are you guys working on?
What am I doing now?
Yeah, with production
or acting?
Acting, I'm doing a
film in supposed to be in march we'll see yeah uh called killers of the flower moon
about the osage indian murders in oklahoma in the 20s it was j edgar hoover's one of his first cases
and it had to do with these oil rights that the Osage were able to acquire and became the richest per capita people on earth and then were systematically murdered.
So true story.
All true.
Yeah.
Horrendous.
Who's directing that?
Scorsese.
Wow.
And De Niro is going to be in it as well.
That's everybody.
Are you acting in something?
Looking at doing something this summer with Chazelle on the silent movie era. Oh as well. That's everybody. Are you acting in something?
Looking at doing something this summer with Chazelle on the silent movie era.
Oh, cool.
Oh, wow.
That's a great script.
Yeah, it's cool.
Great.
What's it about?
It's just the end of the silent movie era
when talkies took over
and it was the Wild West at that time
and people who were at the top of that industry
were suddenly just put aside.
They didn't play anymore.
Yeah, I know.
Sunset Boulevard, right?
Yeah.
Thanks, fellas.
Thank you.
Thank you, man.
That was fun.
I'm glad I was able to freak out for you a little bit.
I hope the sound remains intact.
I have no idea what's going to happen.
I'm shutting it off right now.
Okay.
There you go.
Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, with a nice little shout-out to S. Clay Wilson at the end.
He doesn't get many of those, and I don't think he's conscious enough to hear it, even if he could.
But it just popped into my head because Leonardo's pop is an underground comic guy.
Anyway, we'll see how they both did at the Golden Globes.
That's going to be information that you've gotten that I haven't gotten as of this recording.
Obviously, they're both in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
And you should see it if you haven't.
It's really a great movie.
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