Abduction with Jason Concepcion

[00:00:00] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David, Don't know what to say or to expect, All you need to know is that the name is a show with Blank Check What if your entire podcast was a lie? Now alternate tagline, alternate tagline, alternate tagline

[00:00:32] The fight for the podcast will be the fight of his life That's even worse! They're both bad The first ones, yeah, I guess What if your entire life was a lie is almost something? It's half of something, right? You're like, okay and? Like you're like, uh huh

[00:00:54] I mean look, there are like three main posters, right? The first one is black and white headshot of Taylor Lautner It's literally his headshot They probably just pulled it from IMDbPro

[00:01:05] Yes, and it just some out of focus like staircase in the background and says what if your entire life was a lie abduction That's almost something I feel like if the poster was literally like a wanted poster with that tagline on it, that would work, right?

[00:01:20] That would sell the idea The other poster is Taylor Lautner like sliding down the side of a building as glass is cracking Holding a gun and that one is the fight for the truth will be the fight of his life This just feels like a poster

[00:01:35] I just remember walking by a subway station where this was up and just going like yeah, I'm never gonna say that I-I-there is nothing in this poster compelling me to ever see this move He's sliding! I've always wanted to see Taylor Lautner slide!

[00:01:49] But just what the fuck is that telling you? It was DOA because of that It was like yeah, what Taylor Lautner's in an action movie that's all they had to pitch us on really Even though this is a high concept movie look whatever

[00:01:59] It is I mean it fucks up its concept but it's ostensibly a high concept movie And also they were very confident that look Taylor Lautner's in an action movie was a money pitch He w- Should I not be talking here? No you should be talking Please!

[00:02:16] People one of the things one of the great things about hit pressing play on 2011's abduction Was getting teleported right back to that moment in time where Taylor Lautner was coming off a twilight With more heat than the sun on him

[00:02:37] It was absolutely plausible that Taylor Lautner and his abs were the next action star Big chesty man he's ready to fight right? Yes! That is the main thing to talk about on this episode because certainly as a conclusion to the filmography of John Singleton

[00:02:56] It is depressing and uninteresting As a time capsule of this moment in Hollywood and this young man's career And sort of what we do to young stars and all this sort of shit It's fascinating

[00:03:08] But inherently just what I watched has to be one of the most aggressively un-compelling movies we have ever Incredible Ever watched for this movie Yeah it's what your eyes just slide off the screen Yeah it's dog shit It's dog shit Right Yeah

[00:03:25] But if you come up with that sort of like you come up with the matrix right And you're like boring like bad but watchable respectable but boring You're like this is right in the middle of just like nothing compelling happening

[00:03:40] Well part of the problem and I hate you know to use it to use a industry phrase Part of the problems are the third act problems There's a big set piece at the end of this Taylor Lautner I'm just gonna call his character by his actual

[00:03:57] Taylor Lautner is completely inactive in the big set piece at the end He goes to a He stands He goes to a Pittsburgh Pirates game He sits there is a conversation And then at the end people over his earpiece do everything

[00:04:15] And he does and he just stands there and watches it happen Well that it's almost the most astounding element of this movie Was like in some recent episode Because I should mention this is a blank check with Griffin and David I'm Griffin I'm David

[00:04:31] It's a podcast about filmographies primarily directors who have massive success early on in their careers And are given a series of blank checks make whatever crazy passion projects they want And sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they're abducted baby

[00:04:47] Look there wasn't a good line to butcher but I had that one in the chamber This has been a mini series on the films of John Singleton And talk about fitting the thesis that I just laid out The dude who comes out of the gate with the youngest

[00:05:03] Youngest still today best director nominee ever Hit movie, made man, studio system And then this is a completely noble end to his career Which we'll get into a little bit and we'll get into the Taylor Lautner stuff

[00:05:20] Because yes this has been a mini series on the films of Singleton called Pods in the Cast Today we're closing that chapter because sadly this is the final film made before his untimely death Gone far too soon Yep he's not gonna make another movie

[00:05:37] Well let me double check, let me see on IMDbPro if he has anything I don't think so, I'm sorry Development Abducted 2 Abducted again If I were his children and abducted 2 was listed as future projects I would sue IMDb

[00:05:52] At what point does Hollywood's quest for IP become so desperate that they're like We're circling Taylor Lautner for abduction 2, I don't know do you guys want that? Is it time for a comeback? I mean there's a lore there, we haven't really unpacked what's going on with his dad

[00:06:12] It's very mysterious, we only see his lips You know what was the big secret still to be revealed, why could they not reveal who his parents were Why did they make it seem like his mom might have been Marilyn Monroe

[00:06:25] Still unanswered questions, a lot of things that we can unpack in abducted 2 I mean it is wild that we are now in the 10th anniversary of this movie You talk about just fucking time flattening right? Like this movie does not feel 10 years old in terms of cultural memory

[00:06:43] When you go like oh right wasn't there a time they tried to make Taylor Lautner an action star and they put my poster with a gun You're like right that was like three years ago But on the other hand it's very representative where Hollywood was in 2011

[00:06:55] And I think it's very fascinating to think about this movie coming out the same year that Thor and Captain America come out Did you know that the abduction Twitter account at abduction still exists And recently tweeting like wished Michael Nykvist a happy birthday in 2018 after he had died

[00:07:16] After he had died Tweeting clips, I'm your father but I'll never be your dad In 2018 Taylor Lautner has vanished from thought culture but the abduction Anyway I just googled abduction and that's what came up Taylor Lautner let's make this clear

[00:07:32] Taylor Lautner has not been in a film since 2016 It's shocking His last on-screen appearance period was a British TV show in 2018 Taylor Lautner has not been on camera acting since before the last time the abduction Twitter account posted something

[00:07:50] This is this speaks to listen he's bad in this film okay let's just get that out there It's a flat performance He's horrendous in this film That said The fact that he has as you just outlined has not been in a project in three years now

[00:08:09] Speaks to some other there's got to be something else right We're gonna have to dig into this we're gonna have to theorize we're very excited that you're here because you're clearly champing at the bit to get into all of this

[00:08:22] Our guest today of course is Jason Concepcion long overdue on the show Thank you so much for being here This is that this is the thing I want to say right off the bat and I say this with full

[00:08:35] Awareness of the fact that I am the one saying this and I want to make it clear. I'm not saying this in like an irate way I'm just stating this as an objective sort of shock Largely out of the

[00:08:49] My sort of I don't know passive acceptance acceptance of the way this fucked industry usually works I am so surprised That as a white man Taylor Lawner was not given a second chance

[00:09:04] I'm not saying he should have been I'm not saying he's he's owed that and certainly there's a history of just like I feel like usually When an actor is given one chance to be the star of a movie and it bombs and they're never seen from again

[00:09:19] It is almost always an actor of color There is a one strike policy in Hollywood with actors of color in lead roles and Taylor Lawton are sort of like got that treatment And you have to wonder if it was somewhat by his choice

[00:09:35] It's gotta be I mean according to listen according to Wikipedia this movie tripled its initial budget almost 35 million dollar budget 90 million box office that includes international Stretching but it's it's maybe wasn't the worst flop in the universe

[00:09:53] Like it broke even or whatever and it feels right like Pittsburgh probably kicked in a couple million dollars in tech because they're like if as long as you say the name of the city 40 times Like you will

[00:10:04] Like we'll let you shoot. We'll let you shoot at a pirates game You can absolutely disrupt the game Whatever you need to do for as long as you do it you could do it

[00:10:14] You think about like how many failed franchise guys get like multiple bites at the apple You know and get like a couple of movies like this at whatever budget level they're being tested for right whether it's a 30 million dollar lions gate thriller

[00:10:30] Or like a 200 million dollar CGI spectacle anytime a guy is kind of prematurely put front and center in a movie like this and launder arguably It made sense to test him at this point right it would seem that the demand was there although

[00:10:45] I think they misidentified what his demand was and who his audience was but Even when those movies flop those guys usually get a second or third shot and then those guys usually go like okay now I'll do a TV show now. I'll do like a Sundance indie movie

[00:11:00] Yes, you know they just like kick around for a couple years With with the explosion of streaming platforms and content you tell me this guy can't be on Vikings or something

[00:11:10] Yes, I mean and look the Vikings guys a perfect example the Vikings guy stars in Warcraft and that that bombs and then they're like I don't know here like eight more movies. Yeah being this

[00:11:21] Expensive HBO show right he's in that robot show you get to be the dad and lean on Pete like just show up in shit I am racking my brain for that guy's name right now and I can't have a fimmel fimmel. Okay, there we go

[00:11:34] I was I was helping someone prep for a trivia match today by being like remember Travis fimmel is the star of Warcraft And that's the only reason it's in my head But yes here here is like Lautner's entire film career. Okay

[00:11:49] Okay, he's in something called shadow fury as young kismet in 2001 then 2005 Adventurers a shark boy and lava girl in 3d cheaper by the dozen to yeah right in between those he's doing a few like he was on a couple

[00:12:03] Bernie Mac shows right he did a little TV, but right then that's my wife and kids left and right cheaper shark boy Amazing. Okay, so then that's 2005 those two movies. He's endearing himself to a certain generation of audience goers right

[00:12:17] Then 2008 Twilight huge step up 2009 he gets jacked Twilight new moon now He's a fucking matinee idol right now. He's a pin-up 2010 Valentine's Day now he is at least in terms of press dating Taylor Swift

[00:12:32] Yeah, that's part of his fucking identity. He's in that they're a couple they're getting papped out in the street Eclipse comes out that same year. He's fucking killing it right then the following year 2011 abduction

[00:12:46] Twilight breaking dawn part one the following year after that 2012 Twilight saga breaking dawn part two 2013 frat boy Andy and grown-ups to uncredited two years later Tracers which is his second attempt at doing like an action movie. I feel like it's not even released to theaters

[00:13:05] It's a parkour. Yeah, I don't think but essentially goes like sort of a red box. Yeah, right? I think it mostly comes out in other countries. There's like no information on that game It's a movie that premiered in Denmark and Malaysia exactly Yeah, exactly okay

[00:13:22] Ridiculous six is that same year where he has one of the ridiculous six. That's the one where he has a big part It's like okay. It seems like four He's sandwiched between Hurley from lost and and Rob Schneider. Yes, who doesn't want to be there? I

[00:13:42] Believe he is the dumb one. That's sort of his character bit A strong-necked man with a happy-go-lucky personality. He's Lil Pete. Lil Pete And that's 2015 2016 he is in like his fucking indie drama run the tide right yeah, which is about

[00:14:07] Film focuses on a young man who learns as former abusive drug addicted mother has been released from prison Is playing a fix-air broken relationship with her two sons and that is his final film performance

[00:14:17] That is five years ago now and the main thing he has done since then is He did two seasons of a British TV show called cuckoo. Yeah one in 2014 one in 2018 because British TV takes its time

[00:14:30] And he did one season of scream Queens in 2016. Yep, that's it done done. That's it We covered the entirety That's his post-wild life career. Yep, you know, he's only 29 that was a shocking fact

[00:14:46] That was the thing that shocked me. That's what I was watching this movie last night I Hit up the old Google machine and and I was watching with my girlfriend. I said guess how old to illa lot Nernes she's like, I don't know 35 no 37 no

[00:15:02] 29 it is that's a shocking number. He is 19 in this movie or at least he's 19 when it comes out Right and as we covered because we've been doing the Twilight movies on our patreon for the last two breaking dawns Taylor Lautner received

[00:15:20] $25 million per movie. He made a combined 50 million dollars on the last two films just in up-front salary Not even mentioning his percentage of the gross which was pretty high He case stew and Pat's got all they all got the same deal for once again Louder was 18 years old

[00:15:41] He's two years younger than Kristen Stewart who is not old in those movies like she's like 20 and Like he really especially in the first couple you're like, oh this kid's like a baby Then you know that he's then he's big and you're like, okay

[00:15:54] He's like the big hunky guy but like he to be in and out of Super stardom like people screaming for you and in mass to like whatever his life is now

[00:16:06] Which I assume is I don't know he has lots of money and does whatever he wants and good for him Like I don't know. I mean like I might wish for it if I had a monkey's paw It might be alright

[00:16:17] Like I want to be a movie star and I get to be Taylor Lautner. Maybe I maybe I take that. I don't know I just still am absolutely Gob smacked that he has not been in a single thing in in in three years that nobody would

[00:16:33] Let me let me roll the dice with him. Yeah, like yeah once again I just want to clarify Nothing in three years and the one thing that makes it three years rather than Five years is a show that only aired in England, right? I

[00:16:50] I hope he's okay. I hope he's okay, too. May and my guess is he's fine I was going down the rabbit hole a little bit. He is dating a lady named Taylor again But but she's she's a registered nurse he's dating someone outside the industry and

[00:17:10] I went to her Instagram and she has 141,000 followers god holy shit just for dating him and her five most recent posts are sponsored I mean so she's just like a registered nurse in like Valencia, California

[00:17:26] Who also now is a spokesperson because she has so much clout from dating Taylor Lautner ten years after he was a man Yeah, now I'm looking at his Instagram. Yeah, I don't know he's hanging out with this lady. I guess right

[00:17:35] He just seems normal. He apparently still lives with his parents He bought a bigger house for his family in Valencia and he's like, yeah, I don't know I just like taking out the garbage. Yeah, he seems to he's always wearing a baseball cap that says family on it

[00:17:49] Interesting. He loves his fucking family And what's interesting is in these cases where guys fucking disappear, right? You usually realize like oh at some point they became disillusioned with the industry and they enrolled in law school You know, there's like some career change where they go

[00:18:04] They got very committed to the rights of animals like they just made all this fucking money And there's a point where they go I care about something else more I'm devoting my life to this cause or some weird hobby. I now own of this

[00:18:16] I now run of this and he just doesn't seem to have a thing like that. That's that's at least publicly telegraphed Right, maybe he got very very into I don't know like storming the Capitol on January 6 And see if you see a black baseball cap that says family

[00:18:38] I think the thing that baffled people the most that baffled me And I don't know if there was an answer on this is there was literally a sequel 15 years later to the shark boy and lava girl

[00:18:49] Yeah, and like they were like the original shark boy and lava girl showed up that Taylor Dooley who played lava girl Yes, was in it and they recast shark boy

[00:19:00] That was the one where where I feel like a lot of us raised her eyebrows and went like yeah Is he okay? Cuz it just feels odd that he wouldn't do that. It said he was like unavailable I'm like he's on really is yeah absolutely unavailable like

[00:19:14] He seems available would make sense if that came coupled with some sort of like message from him That was like look I enjoyed my time as an actor. It's just something right past me

[00:19:24] I've no interest in doing it want to do it right yeah, which whatever yeah the framing of unavailable and it's also like I believe that's a pretty small role in the film Yeah, it's like a cameo. It's a cameo to sort of tie together the Rodriguez universe

[00:19:38] It's also like he's shooting it fucking Robert Rodriguez style in his backyard in front of green screens I probably would have been a day in a costume to do something That's like a fun throwback to your childhood that would have meant a lot to your fans

[00:19:50] You know all power to him make whatever decision you want But that's the moment where I'm like there has to be some larger reason There's gotta be yeah, and I don't buy that it is just That this movie stained so much because Hollywood

[00:20:06] Even if he had a bad stench to him at this point and the immediate aftermath of this He has two giant Twilight movies come out after this The the Sandler movies were big hits that Sandler's like last big theatrical hit and then Sandler's first big Netflix movie

[00:20:22] And the other factor is like at this point where ten years out There's Twilight nostalgia people would be ready to reclaim him. I feel like one of the kind of Mysteries about this is you know a star at the level of Taylor in 2011 has an entire

[00:20:43] Apparatus around him that keeps him working that keeps him moving Here's what you're doing next use your next and these people would all you know be economically in some form or fashion dependent on his continuing income right Has he switched teams did he fall out with his team?

[00:21:01] I feel like that's got to be part of it because you you don't just like abandon You don't just stop working to this level and he and he had made you know, you mentioned his indie that often bespeaks Here's the next stage. You know typical manager thing

[00:21:17] Here's your next stage of your career where you show everybody that you also have this in your wheelhouse, right? By the way people try to make those indies and sometimes they don't work

[00:21:26] You know this happens a lot like you look at like Ryan Reynolds had his couple of years where it was like Oh, the big budget films flop now He's gonna do like a Mississippi grind and a woman in gold and whatever

[00:21:36] And a lot of times people like take like four or five strikes until one of those movies actually kind of pops at a festival It is odd to do one right here. Look here's the thing I'm now I'm drive one

[00:21:48] I'm posting in the I'm posting a picture in the chat of him and case do in 2018 likes a fashion show and case do's got like The short you know hair and it's nice. It's a nice image. It's like oh, yeah

[00:22:00] There's so like you know, they're obviously still friends, you know Also, he look he looks good. He looks great. He looks absolutely He looks a lot cooler He looks great on his When John Singleton died he posted three separate

[00:22:23] Instagrams like over the course of like a few days like, you know, obviously upset about that Like I love you. This one hurts, you know, I never stopped thinking about your smile like very

[00:22:38] Open emotional. I don't know. I don't like he's still is active on Instagram. He's got 6.5 million Just came out and was like look I have tens of millions of dollars and live a happy life

[00:22:52] And I'm not particularly interested in doing anything that I don't want to do I'd be like well, that makes sense Yeah, yeah, yes, it's obviously weird because he's so young right but like example That's what Cameron Diaz has done. Yes

[00:23:05] And it was people are sort of like oh, I wish he'd come back But it also was kind of clearly communicated by both her and like her friends with her just like yeah cameras just kind of done

[00:23:13] She's married. She's happy. She's got a lot of money. She doesn't feel the need to do this anymore She did the the merry-go-round. It's just that her's merry-go-round was so brief and Look as you said like this wasn't the right but this isn't the right movie for anyone

[00:23:27] No one that's my question. There's no one who makes this movie good, right? It's not like there's a different actor with this script That you're like they would I mean they'd be better. They might be more charming. He's not very charming in it But let's like

[00:23:43] structurally, let's start here We don't even get into the meat of the oh this kid was abducted and is who he thinks are his parents or CIA agents Until like 20 25 minutes into the movie like yes

[00:23:56] We got to get going if like if I'm giving notes on this like why are we spending 15 minutes on his high school life and You know shooting longing looks at his neighbor across the street. Let's get into the spy shit in a hundred and five minute movie

[00:24:13] That's 10 minutes of credits like it's really it's a basically a 90 minute movie You have to establish though that he's weird, you know like he's such a freak in high school He's like the most handsome built fucking guy and he's like a fucking yeah

[00:24:27] He doesn't fit in with like the normal crowd his best friend makes fake IDs He lives next to her the prettiest girl in school I mean also like you as you say Jason it takes 25 minutes for this movie to actually get up on its feet

[00:24:40] And then I feel about 20 minutes later They unfold everything and explain the entire situation to you and you're like what fuck are you doing?

[00:24:48] The whole point of this movies this guy doesn't understand who he is and you're just telling me and now the rest of the movie is just kind Of inert chase scenes and you also realize that he is the McGuffin like he's kind

[00:25:01] Codes or whatever right he doesn't really he doesn't even know what he's got. He's just a bargaining chip like essentially You're watching you you feel like okay? Is he born is he fucking Hannah? Is he some super kid built in a lab like where his parents?

[00:25:17] Yeah, but it's like he could kickbox because his dad trained him because he thought someday some people are gonna chase you He's not like a super soldier and it just turns out like yeah

[00:25:26] We had to like bring you over to a different house because they thought your parents were gonna get attacked because They were trying to expose some people my second note on on this this film just in terms of structure Let's can we make our hero more active?

[00:25:44] He doesn't he he discovers that he isn't who he thinks he is completely by accident. It's this weird coincidence where He and his crush from across the street go on just What a weird thing to do let's Google missing children

[00:26:01] And and that's how they find one of these bait websites Where he then discovers that he resembles this missing child that's a complete coincidence and it's yes That happens to him a website that was created Just to bait this one kid not even just like right

[00:26:19] There's a larger conspiracy that that almost makes sense if you're like this movie is about a weird plague of children who were displaced from their families or whatever right and they're casting a net like there was like a

[00:26:31] Fucking blackbriar like you know born if you're doing born right there was a whole program Yeah, we're paying random Russians in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn a wage to watch this Bait website 24 hours a day You have to ask has this bait website been up and running for 16 years

[00:26:53] This guy in Flatbush is sitting by the computer waiting for one hit Or did they just launch this website is this new in which case what else have they been trying to find this fucking kid The stakes are so high for them. Was this their only strategy?

[00:27:12] The other thing is then it's like you're like oh they found him and they're scared because he's actually like a super spy right It's like no his dad's a super spy and he like left some data with him He's just some cat what it is

[00:27:25] Just get the dad like do a movie about the day look I don't I it's one of those things where if I walked into a studio today They wouldn't remember abduction because no one remembers abduction and I said like here's my pitch the face on the mill carton

[00:27:41] One of my favorite books when I was a kid meets the born identity. They would be like But this is also a story about family

[00:28:01] Like if I pitched them most of abduction like not the bullshit we're yelling about but like the kid finds out and then you know And his dad and we'll see the dad at the end, but it's just as many know

[00:28:10] We can cast someone for the sequels will have like a star there. They're like, yeah Yes, yes, we have to do this right now like and they would not even remember abduction I would get away with it again and it would still be bad

[00:28:23] Yeah, here's the other fascinating thing is Look well we'll talk about like why singleton did this movie But like on one hand it's depressing where you're like, ah, this is sort of like a paycheck thing has a stardim that much

[00:28:39] You know even at the time not knowing he was gonna die so soon after yeah, right? This feels like kind of a generic movie But you look at that premise and you're like there's something there with him because his filmography is so defined by

[00:28:53] Men and their relationship to their fathers or lack there of Yeah, yeah, definitely. He's so obsessed with the father figure in a young man's life And even like you go to this opening where it's like, oh, here's a party

[00:29:06] You know this teenager his weird relationship with his intense father You're like this is shit that singleton has knocked out of the park and all of it's a nerd It's here's another problem

[00:29:19] And this kind of you could put this under our hero is completely inactive for most of this film. It's an action movie Taylor Lautner has one fight scene Really, I mean he beats a guy up with a golf club in his home

[00:29:35] And then the guy says there's a bomb in the oven and then he goes to check that there is indeed a bomb in the oven And then they jump into the pool

[00:29:42] But like Taylor Lautner doesn't actually get to do Taylor Lautner shit like he fights the one guy on the train And that's kind of it and here's the thing not only is Taylor Lautner at this point most famous for being jacked, right?

[00:29:56] That's the whole thing of like new moon comes out. It's fucking huge Everyone loves him shirtless and then the deadline story is like Taylor and Lautner offered six million dollars Or was it eight? It was I think a million dollars per ab or it was

[00:30:12] 750,000 per ab there was some deadline joke about how much he was worth per ab like that was the whole story on him of like His body has driven Hollywood crazy And I think that first movie was relativity Ryan Kavana trying to make stretch Armstrong with Taylor Lautner

[00:30:28] Stretch Armstrong a weird 70s toy that was revived in the 90s I was a fan of but was never hugely popular as like a mythology, right? It was just oh what if you filled a goopy dude with corn syrup and you could stretch him

[00:30:42] He just looked like some blonde bodybuilder, right? And then every I had one and eventually you broke it It would break weird and weird stuff leaked out of it. Yes, I love them. I had the stretch limo I had the fetch Armstrong. I was into it

[00:30:57] I was arguably America's biggest stretch Armstrong fan and I felt no excitement when they announced the Taylor Lautner was playing stretch Armstrong I also just want to mention across the 90s

[00:31:07] Disney had the stretch Armstrong writes for a while at different points in time. They announced Tim Allen is gonna be stretch Armstrong It's a family comedy then it was Danny DeVito is gonna be stretch Armstrong

[00:31:17] We're casting against type the joke is that he short then it was sounds good Jackie Chan is stretch Armstrong You're gonna see him bend in ways that Jackie's never even bent before then at some point Disney's like this is fucking nothing get out

[00:31:29] Of here, right and then relativity like buys it at a yard sale and goes Here's our pitch. What if stretch Armstrong was hot and young we're paying him six million dollars? Everyone's losing their fucking mind about this and then off of that deal

[00:31:43] He starts getting all these other action movies lined up stretch Armstrong never comes out It goes through so many different directors and writers I think Nicholas Stoller was supposed to do it at one point wreck Eisner Yeah, you know just never never seems to make any real progress

[00:31:59] But he's like in talks for all these different things and then abduction becomes the one right off the runway Lions gates like we want this we're gonna have this come out before the last two twilight's they go to singleton

[00:32:09] And we covered this a little bit in four brothers but the year of four brothers is the same year as Hustle and flow Premiering at Sundance the two movies were shot at the same time. He had pitched hustle and flow to Paramount they passed then

[00:32:23] Hustle and flow blew up at Sundance and Paramount Makes the biggest Sundance deal up until that point in history for the movie and the number was juiced because contingent with that deal was Paramount had to produce like three more

[00:32:39] Movies of protege's of singletons for which singleton would get paid a million dollars per movie And it seemed like he had a first look deal at Paramount to both make his own stuff and to shepherd new young filmmakers

[00:32:51] And nothing else came of that ever again. They just fucking sat on him for like five years and He was really frustrated Once the deal had expired he takes pretty much the first thing that's offered to him, which is this movie

[00:33:07] I think they sort of go like this thing's a green light. It's going we want this fast You could start filming this and fucking five minutes if you wanted to like it's ready to go and

[00:33:17] It dinged his career and then also Paramount sued him and said that he had Because he I'm sorry He had sued Paramount for not living up to the contract and Paramount counter sued saying he breached the contract by taking

[00:33:30] Abduction which he said I only took abduction once the deal was over after you sat on me So this whole movie becomes a headache for fucking everybody terrible But the weird origins of this script are This is written by a dude name

[00:33:46] Was it Sean Christiansen? That's right. The lead singer is Stella star exactly Yeah, so he is a Pratt Institute like graphic design Visual artist then he starts this band on a lark that ends up being a big indie band

[00:34:02] They're touring with big groups and then right around the time that they end He decides that he wants to write movies and he writes several spec scripts all of which immediately sell for like record amounts of money

[00:34:12] What a what a business right? He's like a former indie rocker who's now selling million-dollar spec script It's the monkey see monkey do thing right like they're just like oh

[00:34:21] Someone bought one of your scripts, but we want one year. We want to be in the shot Christiansen business, right? So his first one is Sydney Hall which he ends up directing ten years later as the vanishing of Sydney Hall

[00:34:33] Yes, correct. So that was his thing that was his calling card movie Then there's some movie called enter nowhere Which does end up later getting made with Scott Eastwood and Catherine Waterston? But he's like one of these guys where none of these movies are getting made

[00:34:48] but they're getting sold for big money and then He writes abduction on spec which at the time is just referred to as an Alfred Hitchcock inspired thriller and a sci-fi movie called the karma collision which goes for

[00:35:01] $1.5 million and like Ridley Scott's buying one Warner Brothers is buying one He's all over the place and then these movies just kind of sit on a shelf for like six years, right? nothing's getting made and then like

[00:35:15] Taylor Lautner is a thing Lions Gates making all these Euro thrillers. They want to make a Taylor Lautner with a gun movie I think this just suddenly gets packaged very quickly together of oh that was a hot spec script three years ago

[00:35:27] It stars a teenager. It's an action thriller You could put him in that because it's not like there are a lot of 16 year old thriller scripts lying around in Hollywood ready to go

[00:35:38] Right you have to just imagine it's like oh we want to make him the next right give me a teen action movie, right? There's not a ton of them, right? Yeah, so this just like immediately gets fast-tracked, but they also bring on What's his name Jeffrey?

[00:35:53] knock knock Mononoff Knockman off who did that movie traitor oh? Traitor oh Yes, it's like it's like a terrorism movie. It's like a bomber movie or whatever yeah, okay Right. He's also one of the credited writers on the tourist. Yeah great movie a phenomenal movie and then

[00:36:16] With Keanu movies that don't make movies that don't exist But they bring him on to rewrite it and it feels like he rewrote the script almost entirely You have to imagine that whatever fucking script Christiansen wrote

[00:36:30] You know years earlier that had heat around it that was described as hitch cocky in does not really resemble with this Fucking not at all that is you said Jason the Taylor Lautner like team must have come in and overthought this thing to death

[00:36:44] Because it just feels so flattened out. I mean it's clearly like one of the notes was Jason Bourne is big right now. Can we get some Jason Bourne elements? It'd be great if there was a flashback and he Kind of remembers this traumatic thing that happens to him

[00:37:02] When he slides down a ramp a la Jason Bourne and then jumps to the ground He should hurt his leg and then he should limp away like all these kind of things fight on a train

[00:37:11] I mean Christiansen after this gets so disillusioned with how his scripts were treated in Hollywood that he decides to make his own short film Which then wins the Oscar Wow wrote directed and starring him Called curfew right. I'm not a huge fan and

[00:37:29] Then he I was very surprised one that year, but then he turns that into a feature which Kind of doesn't exist. I completely completely doesn't exist should be my guess Yes, before I disappear is the name of the feature and then he went back and

[00:37:46] Directed Sydney Hall his spec script that got him attention in the first place a decade plus earlier and that also and that seems to be that Yeah disappears. I mean It's this collision of Non-existent things the thing about Taylor Lautner is and I don't mean to be rude

[00:38:04] He's very Swole in the Twilight movies all of a sudden but he's not doing any action in that There's a werewolf that does action there like yeah the action is happening on a computer Like he does not do any hand-to-hand combat right?

[00:38:20] carries Bella or he starts to leap and then they call cut and he walks off screen and they replace him with the Wolf I think you've put your finger on on on what is probably is is certainly part of what is limited

[00:38:36] His career in terms of the action genre. I mean just watching this movie There's there's a fight scene, but like Taylor doesn't land any kicks

[00:38:46] Like it's always like here goes Taylor into the spin and then they cut away and then you see the guy flying across the room There's a chase scene towards the ends, you know at the at PNC park

[00:39:00] And that's the only time you kind of get that parkour kind of thing happening where it's like where was this the whole movie? I get the feeling that maybe he's just not good as action and but he is swole

[00:39:11] But Jason this is what is absurd and this is the other reason Hollywood got so into the idea of making him an action star Taylor Lautner a black belt martial artist from the age of eight

[00:39:22] He competed in national championships the guy can fucking fight you can watch videos Of him as like a kid doing shit and even this is my background on

[00:39:33] My my zoom window right now, but when he went on SNL his fucking open monologue was him doing jump kicks and shit Like he can fight now. There is a difference between right yeah competitive martial arts and

[00:39:48] on-screen fighting because on-screen fighting is in many ways closer to dance than it is to martial arts, right? And even the best martial artists on film tend to understand that and understand that there's a dance like element of the choreography and what works well in combat does not

[00:40:05] necessarily play well on screen and vice versa, but In theory one of the things they're paying for with this guy is he should be able to do his own stunts The thing is it's beyond the action, which is not good. And in like that. It's his entire physicality

[00:40:22] He seems incredibly awkward with doing Just human motion. Yes, like just just I mean I'm gonna rip a friend of the pod Allison Wilmore This is she wrote a review of this movie years ago where she basically she nailed it

[00:40:38] Like this is the first film I've seen where an actor when we're where when an actor goes to put his hand thoughtfully on his chin I'm afraid he might poke himself in the eye

[00:40:49] I'm just like, you know like you're like I don't think this guy actually knows how to move His body I'd like to highlight two moments along along those lines. The first is so Taylor arrives at you know this like

[00:41:07] Like secret safe house and that's where he picks up the phone and other things and he's like searching through a rucksack Right, and he's looking through it as if he were blind as though think of the way a blind person would look through something

[00:41:21] Without looking down it without opening it and looking down He's shoved his hand into there as if it's a crevice or something He's just kind of feeling around he's staring at the ceiling cool looks through a backpack that way you would open it and look inside

[00:41:35] Of it, then there's another scene finally where you know Lily Lily Collins has it is been attacked on the train and we cut back to To Taylor Lautner Nathan Harper He is in their cabin on the train sitting in the chair in a

[00:41:54] What is he even do he's sitting there like I can't even just he's he's kind of leaning back He's got one arm like on the window and he's just kind of in weird repose doing nothing

[00:42:06] In a way that no one has ever sat unless it's like for a Wrangler jeans ad like why are you sitting like that? Also has truly and I know this is a favorite subject of yours David

[00:42:18] But truly one of the least convincing screen kisses I have ever seen oh, I know it's awful And again I feel like and it's supposed to be a moment of life

[00:42:29] Oh now they're alone. They've been on the run and now they're just like ripping your is the heat is the heat You ready for this chemistry folks? Blow you off the screen. They ostensibly dated after this Really him and really yeah, I mean here's the thing

[00:42:45] It's that the twilight I keep going back to twilight because it's the sort of optical Loose I just watched all five of those movies for this podcast and I'm like well, but he kissed Kristen Stewart in

[00:42:55] Twilight and it was hot right and then I'm like wait did they really they didn't actually kiss my right? Yeah, it's like very because they're always like about to and then she's They have the one time yeah

[00:43:07] And like then you're like okay. Yeah, but he did actually like well no and you like okay He he like sat and moved and ran around you like no actually everyone in twilight kind of just walks with their hands at their side

[00:43:20] In and out of locates like it is a lot of people being like hello like you know and especially him Yeah, like tree trunk body like he probably barely do how to like operate after he'd like put on 60 pounds of muscle or whatever the hell he did well

[00:43:35] Can I throw out my big theory about his performance and this sort of ties into everything? We're sort of saying about like the pressure that was on him the team surrounding him

[00:43:44] How much everyone's trying to manage his career and what they thought he should turn into and everything David your background right now on zoom is Taylor Lautner shark boy. He is Fun in that movie. Yeah, he is a

[00:43:56] Better action star in that film than he is in this movie. He's got Some charisma on screen. He's got some coiled anger He does better fighting in that CGI movie in which he is in a fucking ice cream land

[00:44:12] With a shark fin on his back then this one right and he's what he's 12 in that movie 1110 When did it come out? He was born in 92 that movie came out in he's like 30 13 13 but he he is more he that is a better

[00:44:30] Audition tape for him as an action star than this film is okay, then Twilight puts him in this like emotional Sort of love sick Heartthrob mode which we've said in our twilight commentaries what he should have done was gotten himself a sparks

[00:44:44] He should have done a fucking Nicholas Sparks movie. You should have doubled down on his female audience He should have done the Channing Tatum thing He should have taken his time and slowly built it up showed he could do comedy this and that like Channing Tatum

[00:44:55] It took him a while before guys were accepting him in action But this is the thing he could have I would have used to believe that he couldn't have post

[00:45:04] Abduction, I think he could have maybe not maybe not people really had their knives out for twilight and you know Stewart and Pattinson they went to ground like they just went to Europe and started making art movies

[00:45:16] They were like fuck. Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'm not I'm not doing Hollywood for a while So but yeah, you know, there was so much like people really

[00:45:24] Reviled the the twilight thing unfairly in my opinion by and large, you know, but like so maybe he couldn't I don't know I don't know. Well, I also just think there was this thing of selling him as an action star before anyone had seen proof of concept

[00:45:38] Yeah, the idea that it was like he had lined up five movies with multi-million dollar paydays Before one of them had successfully come out and then all of them fall by the wayside But I do think there was just this thing of

[00:45:50] Everyone knew they wanted him to be an a-list action star But no one had identified what his movie star persona was and so it feels like Both he his internal pressure and the team around him and everyone was just fucking flattening him out

[00:46:07] It was just sort of going like just be like normal be like John normal guy Yeah And and you watch this performance and it does feel like everything he's doing is so over thought every motion Like there's someone in his ear being like normal normal

[00:46:21] And he's like mm-hmm. Yes. Yes, no feelings No thoughts right where you're just like even to the degree where you're like this guy should be getting more Emotional about these things that he's finding out his parents just died in front of him in other scenes

[00:46:35] You're like he should be more aggressive and everything is just kind of like flat Yeah, there's no edge at all to your point. He doesn't and then this feels like a very conscious choice

[00:46:46] He doesn't really kill anyone in this movie. There's an action movie and they take bloodless Yeah, they really take care to I would theorize protect something of that kind of like Twilight goodie image when he fights the guy on the train

[00:47:03] He kicks out a window and then hurls the guy out the window of a moving train But then they they're very careful singleton is very careful to show that the guy Absolutely survives being thrown out of the train Unscave

[00:47:18] Yeah, I mean right it would be better if he was like again If this was more of a straight-up born thing and he was like snapping someone's neck 30 minutes in but they just there That's not what they want to do. They're too like no no no no

[00:47:33] This is also you could yeah I feel like you could have your cake and eat it too where it's like This is some repressed side of his personality and it's coming out and he's like scared by his Yeah, I

[00:47:47] Understand that you want him to be in sweetie pie mode But that also gets into like the contradictory nature of what they're asking him to do in this film And how kind of irrelevant his character largely is

[00:48:00] To your point about a relevancy so this movie is basically an extended chase scene and then at the end after the The reveal that one of the top CIA agents who has been working on this case is actually a bad guy

[00:48:14] His name is on this this knock list that the Taylor Nathan has been carrying around and there's been a murder at PNC Park And and Nathan has been running from international assassins and the CIA shows up and they're like, okay, you can go bye

[00:48:38] You sir are under arrest Well, I'm just like I'm looking at the the notes that the great JJ birch assembled for us for this episode and He has these quotes here

[00:48:52] Where was it where everyone's just so fucking confident about the fact that this thing's gonna be a franchise Joe Drake who ran Lionsgate is like this is our born. Yeah story is set up. There's a great character

[00:49:03] There's gonna be lots of places. We're gonna take it singletons like we're gonna do two or three movies like I have to correct you I have to correct you because the specific wording here is so much worse than what you just It's a bummer

[00:49:19] Singletons verbatim quote is I think we're gonna get at least two or three movies out of this Yeah, but it and like you can read that Like someone is like squeezing an orange and they're like no, no, there's definitely

[00:49:38] The funny thing is you know Nick and Nick and JJ point this out like those like this is like a rough time for Lionsgate They got a lot of crap clogging up theaters movies like Conan the Conan remake and

[00:49:51] And this and it's like ah shit like they saw had been their money franchise and their saw is finally gone Right warrior, which is Warriors a good one of the best American films of the last ten years But they totally mishandled bombed and fucked up its Oscar campaign

[00:50:07] And they were so screwed and they were pinning their hopes on this among other things And then the Hunger Games comes along like right after and like totally turns the studio around and that's like

[00:50:18] What they like they found a real like you know young adult franchise that people actually cared about and Like last shunt of that versus like trying to kind of invent one out of the whole cloth like out of nothing here

[00:50:32] And like who gives a shit like what you'll you won't pull what's what's his second and Nathan price Nathan Harper Nathan price Yeah, but but like it's it's committing the two cardinals since a franchise building

[00:50:43] Which is there's nothing interesting in the mythology of this movie and your lead character is Completely unwritten like we don't want to follow this guy doing anything And there's nothing going on in the world at large that is compelling You load this movie up

[00:50:59] You know it's a singleton and you always have that hope in the back of your mind when we're doing this podcast especially We know a bomb is coming but it's like this has been an interesting career or an interesting director

[00:51:08] And then I want something to be a happy feet, too You want to go like wait? This is secretly a masterpiece. No one talked about this right and then like Taylor Launer Okay, Lily Collins. I like Lily Collins Alfred Molina Jason Isaacs

[00:51:22] Sigourney Weaver Maria bellow Michael like this You're like, oh shit like everyone in this because and probably because it's singleton. They're like, oh, yeah Sure, I'll do a John singleton like he still has enough

[00:51:34] You know juice and John singleton you're like the guy's gonna get on base, right? I know right. It's not a whole run. Yeah. Yeah, I have I can't say how I know this but I but oh my god as I understand it

[00:51:48] Michael Nyquist, this is his first American movie and so right it's like right after the dragon tattoo movies are correct And as I understand it Taylor and his manager were on a plane and they were watching dragon tattoo and Taylor said

[00:52:03] I want that guy in my movie and that is how Michael Nyquist Wow Came to book his first American role So Taylor also made his career. I mean honestly good for Taylor Law

[00:52:18] But that's like that is also fascinating to me, right that we talked about and I understand they seem to be different people Right, they seem to have different objectives in their career but Pattinson and

[00:52:29] Stewart very quickly start going like gotta find the filmmaker right right I find the filmmakers I want to work with I find the collaborators. I want to work with I trust them

[00:52:39] The guy does seem to have some taste if he's watching Michael Nyquist on a plane and going like that should be the villain Right, I mean a it seems like he's watching shit. I know that's not a deep cut but like

[00:52:54] Movies and then identifying actors and telling studios so who to cast Yeah, I think I mean it's right I guess it's sort of it's in one way It's kind of hack to see Michael Nyquist and be like yeah that guy should be like a Euro villain

[00:53:06] But he kicked ass at that you know He should still be doing it's sad that he died like he he should still be just churning out like Because he just Michael Nyquist just like puts a little salt on it

[00:53:17] You know, it's just like a little bit better than it needs to be Him playing like this sort of vaguely Russian guy who's like you're bad Considering this is his first American film. Yeah, and then what he dies in 2017

[00:53:30] He died in 2017. Yeah, so in six years he did a Mission Impossible and John Wick That's like pretty good. Yeah for from this, you know in a spacious start in American Villain rolls he got to to all timers on the board and he did a couple

[00:53:48] You know did a bunch of other movies and he's in a hidden life That's a great scene like that. He did that, you know, he's in that that Jared Butler Gary Oldman Did I haven't seen but I keep being like there's gotta be something with that one, right?

[00:54:03] I mean Jared Butler Gary Oldman sub I think Mike Ryan stands for that one pretty yeah, right like come on There's gotta be that has to be a little fun common and Linda Cardellini or in it

[00:54:17] How bad could it be right directed by someone he's directed by like an NBA 2k Donovan Marsh like just a name where you're like that's just a computer created that name. That's nothing I told the Michael Nyquist John Wick story on here before right? Yeah

[00:54:36] Just tell it again. I love to hear hurt Yeah, it's a quick story but a lot of the crew From the John Wick movies worked on the tick and especially a lot of the hair and makeup team

[00:54:47] There's one scene where Michael Nyquist is talking to his grunts or whatever and someone like pushes him up against a wall and They split his head open The placement was just really fucking unlucky and this like thug slams him up against a wall

[00:55:04] And the back of the skull goes directly against like the corner of a pillar and Cracks the skull open it starts bleeding profusely passes out people were like was there supposed to be a blood rig for this scene?

[00:55:17] It takes a moment to realize right so then like he's fucked Thankfully, he doesn't have serious brain injuries, but they got stitched up His whole skull is like fucked right they have to like shave his head and full stitches down the front of his

[00:55:30] Skull and the hair team is like freaking out because they're like we've shot half the movie The whole thing takes place in this compressed timetable, right? Like the John Wick movies are almost happening in real time We've shot all these scenes all over the chronology of the film

[00:55:44] And he's got this look and now we've shaved his head and he has the scar and we can't put a Wig over it not only is the wig gonna look fake

[00:55:52] But we can't put it over it because the scar is too sensitive and they were like freaking out in the makeup chair and Michael Knifes just goes I wear a hat and he takes a fedora

[00:56:01] Off the table and he puts it on and he wears it for the rest of the movie And if you watch that film sometimes he has a fedora and sometimes he doesn't that's how you can tell Which scenes were shot before and after you got a skull cut

[00:56:13] But he was just like I wear a hat he's fine don't care They went when you weren't wearing the scene. Yeah, I wear that you keep put the hat on as some other The guy's got a hat you know guys got that had some time some emphasis sometimes

[00:56:24] Yeah, I just think that's a great story like he's just no nonsense like I've not put the hat on sometimes I love that but here's the thing about the great Michael like this and like the other six good actors who are in this movie

[00:56:37] Yes, none of them are good It's not their fault like you know, but like you're when they're cutting to Molina or Nykvist or Sigourney or whatever You're like okay. Well, all right good now now

[00:56:48] I'm gonna get five minutes of something yeah, right, but they don't have anything to do either they've not a one has like Sigourney's big move is to use mylar balloons graduation balloons wedding in order to shield

[00:57:04] Nathan Harper from being seen. That's what they gave her to do in her big like introduction reveal I'm not your therapist. I'm actually a CIA agent I've got 12 balloons stand behind them and then her her her quote-unquote Quippy action movie line after that is she releases these balloons

[00:57:23] So they cover up the security camera in the hospital and then I believe she says I hate balloons. Why they just did you If you hate them that much you don't have to use them for a fucking disguise get a flower arrangement

[00:57:36] There's a scene early or the her big action scene I got you know is when there she's driving them and she's like forget the girl jump and she's saying like I'm you know, there's gonna be one second

[00:57:45] I'm gonna you know drift this car around a corner over a bridge There's gonna be a ridge that you're gonna jump over and I'm like okay, okay And then he jumps onto what just looks like grass like a slight slope like nothing

[00:57:58] You know, I was expecting it to jump like into the air You know, maybe do like a roll or something and like that is Abduction that's the whole movie is just it's kind of like a movie that watched the born identity and it's like yeah

[00:58:13] We're doing that, but then they don't actually know how to do that But here's like what should the main juice of this movie be right I'd say a This kid figuring out who the fuck he is what his history is who his real parents are you know

[00:58:28] Shit that like I imagine if Singleton had signed on to this and had actually been given like space and A fucking year to redevelop the script to his taste

[00:58:38] He probably would have honed in on thematically right you would have had anything in the first act of the movie About this fucking kids relationship to his father in some sense of longing and anything that makes it like more of a rug pool when

[00:58:54] He finds out his parents aren't real and more of a longing Actively throughout the rest of the movie trying to figure out where he does come from but also The juice of this movie should be secondarily

[00:59:06] Getting all these fucking pro actors right people who just fucking are in the pocket Know how to show up for something like this and just deliver the goods Getting tossed around from one to another with all them saying no, I'm the one you should trust

[00:59:21] Yeah, like it should be that paranoia of who right who's telling you the truth And there's so many Reliable veteran actors here that I don't know who to believe right Lena seems chill Gornie is a legend like what do I do and I feel like that

[00:59:39] Sigourney car scene is the only one that comes close to feeling like hmm Like I when she's giving her like they're only four of us. Who is the name of the guy on the phone? Huh, that's Alfred Molina. Okay. He was my boss. He might not be anymore

[00:59:53] She she just is able to toss that off with enough of a quiet Sigourney confidence that I was like This is the one time in the movie where I'm actually kind of interested in whether or not

[01:00:04] I can trust the adult figure in his life. Whereas every time Malina's on screen. I go I don't know whatever. I mean they blow it off the bat with the reveal so Kevin and Mara played by Jason Isaacs and and Maria bellow have been

[01:00:20] Raising Nathan for 16 years secretly. He is not their son he comes to realize that he is not their son and he confronts sort of Mara about it and She doesn't fight her at all. She's been keeping the secret 16 years, and she's just like yep. That's true

[01:00:38] You're not my you're not your son What? I'm also not your therapist Are you but also it's such a deflation to Like try not to just criticize this movie for what I think it should have been instead, right?

[01:00:57] But let's just say if there is the movie in which suddenly he realizes he can't trust anybody right that everybody's in on it And the reveal that comes in the last 10 minutes is actually all these people cared about you a lot

[01:01:11] You were not abducted. They were not villainous these were all friends of your parents They were in on it together to protect you and protect them right that's something but to very quickly just have Maria bellow go

[01:01:22] Yep, you're right. Yes, you are part of a weird conspiracy. I love you very much I do genuinely love you as a mother where your friends with your parents. I'm sorry gonna take a bullet really quickly I'm dead just feels like well

[01:01:33] You're not getting the ultimate payoff of his parents were really his parents they did raise him They did care for him. It wasn't an act and you're also not getting the paranoia tension of oh my god

[01:01:47] My parents who are they did they kidnap me? Do I hate them like you the second the parents become a threat They're immediately defanged and then killed and then he's grieving them in five minutes in act two when he refers to them

[01:02:01] He calls them Kevin and Mara. He calls them by their name. He's a me He was raised by these two. He loved them as parents and within 20 less than 24 hours He's already the I'm calling these people by their first names. They are not my parents. He drops them

[01:02:18] That's a fucking movie like I don't need this big chase movie You can make a thriller that is a dude realizes He's the kidnapped kid and spends a movie trying to figure out whether or not his adoptive parents are criminals, right?

[01:02:30] That's probably what this fucking script was in the first place if it's described as his cocky in and someone had any interest in it off A spec script. Yeah, that's the structure of the face on the milk carton act one is her being like

[01:02:42] Why is my face on this milk carton are my parents bad? Right and then act two is shit the damn finally breaks But there's a lot of tension and the parents are like no

[01:02:52] This is the situation you were dropped out to spoil the face on the milk cart But you were dropped off at a front door by our real daughter Right, but and when she was your mother and then act three reveals that's not true either

[01:03:03] But the parents didn't know it and like it's perfect You know it's got two hitch cocky and like about turns Whereas this is like you're actually the son of a super spy and then the final twist is like and also he had some data

[01:03:15] Like he had a list. That's the second twist who cares But also as you said it's truly within the span of five minutes that he confronts his mom about it Yeah, she owns up to it with radical transparency and emotional honesty and then gets murdered

[01:03:31] You know, it's a movie that does the thing that you're talking about you're both talking about really well for you know, it's not Necessarily a good movie, but I think it does it this kind of thing pretty well is running on empty just running on empty

[01:03:44] That's the kind of movie. I am not who I thought I was There's this ink. There's this long long backstory that I had no idea about I'm just learning about it now It explains a lot of things pieces fall into place over the course of the movie

[01:03:58] And it seems like maybe this the original script was something like the River Phoenix vehicle running on empty worry But but apparently not apparently they decided to go a different way It's just all the wrong decisions. I mean, it's also just like

[01:04:18] Even just in terms of I think how poorly This movie sets up the central romance, right? Of just like okay. So you start cold open at a party, right? Here's John Singleton He's done some great fucking teenager party scenes, right? Like the whole time I'm watching this

[01:04:35] I'm thinking about the fucking dough boy backyard party and boys in the hood and how there's a sense of actual like life and Vibrancy there. I feel like he gets the social energy of a party that a damn except it feels like there's a density to it

[01:04:48] This is just randomly cutting to different background extras background actors Just kind of glibly like giving a thumbs up and holding a red solo cup, right? Like it just feels so nonspecific He's talking to his best friend about fake IDs

[01:05:02] Yeah, and then like there's the next door girl that he's always had a crush on She's got this jerky boyfriend. They get in a fight Taylor Lautner sort of like gets in his face

[01:05:11] He passes out in the front lawn with his shirt off his dad comes and picks him up embarrassed Then he gets assigned to a school project with her. She comes over immediately goes. Hey check out this cool website Scam just for him then when he solves the mystery

[01:05:28] He goes over to her because she's the only person he trusts and then they're off and the movie like never kind of digs into like The what should be I guess the fucking like Peter Parker Mary Jane

[01:05:40] I'm the sweet boy who's never had the courage to tell you I've had a crush on you this whole time while you dated a bunch of jerky guys even even after that the roller coaster ride starts There's that that love that romantic

[01:05:53] Relationship it doesn't track within itself. I mean so they spend the night after diving out of their therapist's car They spend the night in the woods holding each other strong Yeah, they hop out they spend the night in the woods on a blanket

[01:06:09] She as she's as they're sleeping spooning together She tells him that he's been crying in his sleep then they get on the train You know 20 minutes later in the movie and they get to the cabin and they're like oh, this is weird

[01:06:22] This is awkward isn't it now we're spending time alone you guys it why is it weird? You you slept in the woods spooning each other Also, they've known each other since they were six like it's like this movie has the energy of their dynamic as

[01:06:38] It's if they were she was the new girl at school Yes, right first day She got assigned to his lab partner and they're getting to know each other in real time

[01:06:45] But the movie is actually telling us that they've known each other for fucking 10 plus years and just have never crossed that threshold This is the problem though look like

[01:06:55] A security weaver when they're in the car says like dump the girl you don't you know you don't need that right and then there that's supposedly

[01:07:02] There's that's the rift between them a little bit as she's like well did you know maybe you should have gotten rid of me You know like and the answer to that is like absolutely. He should have gotten ready you provide nothing

[01:07:13] You're not helpful nothing on the rude way. It's just like what are you doing here? You're in danger like just go home. You're not involved in this at all And in so like what should be binding them together is

[01:07:27] Electrifying chemistry like that should be well again, of course you should go home for your own safety But I think you know I can't resist you and instead it's like yeah

[01:07:36] It's like they they got told by their biology teacher. They have to be together and they're like, okay, right? You know like they're not there's nothing going on between them. No, and she's cute I love Lily Collins Emily in Paris

[01:07:48] I think about that fucking scene in the first Rami Spider-Man movie where he's taking out the garbage And she's walking out of her home sure with her shitty dad yelling at her and it's like that scene is like what you fucking need

[01:08:01] No movie like that to just set up immediately all the history This is the first time that Mary Jane is actually kind of seeing Peter in a different way right that he sort of starting To show how much he's actually paid attention to her over the years

[01:08:13] But it's like someone says he's establishing the history of these two characters They're adjacent lives this line that's never gotten crossed and both of them considering the potential for the future And it's like that doesn't take long

[01:08:24] That's a three-minute scene, but this movie doesn't do any of those scenes Like the closest thing it does to that is the scene where Jason Isaac trains Taylor Lautner But it feels like that's the most they invest in setting up any of these relationships

[01:08:38] In a movie that's all about who can you trust? The senior talking about Griffin like those are movie stars like I know that at the time maybe you wouldn't say like oh You know these guys are but

[01:08:54] They made movie stars yes the movie I feel like attempts to do that In a really yeah, I'm hand it way when they're at the party You know Nathan is at the party and then all of a sudden

[01:09:07] Karen shows up with this completely we never meet him boyfriend who is standing next to her and she the flash Thompson Yeah, the flash Thompson. She locks eyes with Nathan. There's what is

[01:09:19] I guess they were trying to generate electricity in that moment and the boyfriend looks at her like how I Can see that you love this person and that's really it

[01:09:29] That's the only suggestion that Lily is unhappy in her life that there's something else that only Nathan can can fill for her Well, this movie also has some some oddly Stylized zooms right because you consider this is a born ripoff

[01:09:46] It's in the wake of those movies being so big and the green grass style kind of dominating this type of Thriller and like something like the taken trilogy is sort of the inept a version of that where it's just a thousand cuts and these quick zooms in all

[01:10:00] Of that, but you're sort of getting into like docu drama style Right this movie has these zoom ins that feel like they're out of fucking Nashville like there's like weird Sort of like pointedly artificial Altman zooms where one of them is Pushing in on

[01:10:20] Lily Collins as she dramatically rips up the photo of her and her boyfriend in half Which is that's how you know, she doesn't like him anymore

[01:10:28] But then she also says to Taylor Lautner like I gave you that look at the party because I was hoping you could kick him In the head and then he's like what do you mean? And she's like I live next door to you

[01:10:40] I watch you doing that shit with your dad, which is also just a very bizarre dynamic of just like Okay, we live next door each other. We don't talk that much I watch you doing weirdly agro physical training with your father

[01:10:53] I imagined if I gave you the nod I could perhaps unleash you attack dog style I read I'm reading look. This is sad sort of but like this is a quote from a Taylor Lautner profile

[01:11:08] It took a long time to decide what the first movie outside the franchise was gonna be I wanted it to be special You go with your passion and what your gut tells you

[01:11:16] I mean the quotes these people are giving is about a different movie like singleton in that piece is like This is it. This is that first starring role people don't know to expect from Taylor and when they see it

[01:11:27] They're gonna be like whoa, I get that you have to sell your movie There's no way anyone watched the rough cut of abduction and was like he's burning up the screen Yeah, I can't believe this like you know I you know I

[01:11:40] That this Denzel Whitaker Denzel Whitaker plays his his pal right his friend Probably know him best for playing forest Whitaker young forest Whitaker in Black Panther despite not being related to forest Whitaker

[01:11:54] Despite having the name Whitaker anyway, but by the way play Forest Whitaker son in the great debaters a film directed by Denzel Washington He is related to neither

[01:12:04] Let me explain the pandemonium that Taylor has he has like three to four hundred fans coming out each and every day Showing up with posters showing him love The cool thing about him is he loves his fans. He's humble about it. Hollywood hasn't gotten to him

[01:12:18] That's the type of dude. He is We like you know, he's just like everyone seems to like the guy like every everyone Is giving these quotes that are basically like he's friendly. He's he's sweet like

[01:12:31] He's not being changed by this insanity or whatever like I don't know. Yeah, it's it's just sort of it's a it's a bummer That that there's there's absolutely nothing in this movie that I could speak for he's kind of boring and he's a bad actor Let's point out

[01:12:49] There's also this quote for him where he's talking about like what he wants to do in his career, right? And he's saying like my dream is to continue to challenge myself in a wide variety of roles and genres

[01:12:59] I like having fun with comedy. So like Valentine's Day funnier die SNL He does a fucking funnier die video that's a field of dream around this time He has slow part in Valentine's Day. I remember him being

[01:13:10] Solid on SNL like not great, but like he was trying. He was goofy He was not protective of his image and that felt like oh, he's like kind of charming when he's not Flattening himself out trying to play a movie star, you know

[01:13:26] And I feel like that also to a certain degree like the Twilight movies become so posy. I mean we've talked about how like Pattinson and Stuart both get really flattened out as those movies go along

[01:13:39] And it took them until after the career to sort of get their mojo back It feels like he permanently got kind of maybe just because he was so young and had done so much less work before it

[01:13:49] But so caught up in that mode of just like it's your angles It's how to do like the right kind of grimace, you know, like just how to hold your close up I mean I

[01:14:00] Watching this movie it feels like his motivation in every scene is be a movie star As opposed to any sort of trackable psychology of what this character is going through and the characters admittedly going through a fucking lot

[01:14:12] Going through a lot but reacting to none of it and the script isn't really let I Guess the script is letting him. I don't know my deep question Is if anyone is good in this movie like as I said before

[01:14:24] Like, you know, if there's the good people have nothing to work with Yeah, and I think Sigourney is the best and she's got the least to do in a way Yeah, if Pattinson is in this movie and I don't think Pattinson was even the actor

[01:14:39] He's become a better actor, you know, like it's not like he was absolutely ready to just sort of coast on charm in 2011 I mean in the Twilight movies. He looks like he wants to die Remember me Pattinson is more compelling than

[01:14:53] Abduction Lautner is Kristen Stewart better. Yes, like is he better? Yes. Does that make the movie good? No No, I mean it would be would be a shit Milruni's lips are in this They sure are I recognize them

[01:15:10] Can we talk about the choice of just never revealing why would you book Dermot Mulroney as Nathan's father and How to shoot his lips only and then not reveal That he is the father It's a guy with a distinctive voice and distinctive lips, too. I recognize his lip

[01:15:33] So is it the swagger of a movie that's like baby? This is part one like get right for abduction Abduction to re-abduction, you know like get ready. Yeah We have Mulroney in this for a second because he's you know signed for three more

[01:15:49] It's like is it like Alita having Edward Norton at the end but David That's the whole point I would buy that if it was Edward Norton revealed as his father I know disrespect to Dermot Mulroney who's an actor

[01:16:03] I like a lot, but he is not someone where the audience is gonna go Oh shit if you reveal him, okay But I don't want to be rude to Dermot Mulroney who we are now bagging on despite we all like his lips we all like his but

[01:16:15] Do you think they were like let's get a big actor? They called 40 actors who are like what no Mulroney was like sure. Yeah, okay. What it's a day. It's an hour of work fine

[01:16:27] Like and maybe I'm in the next one. Okay, let's also acknowledge that that thing almost never works Like when Edward Norton shows up at the end of Alita people go Who is that like is that Edward Norton am I supposed to know that characters?

[01:16:40] Don't really recognize him because he looks weird in it another example of this is Killian Murphy being inexplicably in one scene at the beginning of Tron legacy and you're like, okay So is he supposed to be the villain in the next one he's overqualified

[01:16:54] Johnny Depp and fantastic beasts is maybe the best And and that's a disaster they shackled themselves Not only that you have a good guy given a good performance Movie and then the twist at the end is now here's our shitty

[01:17:10] But I mean that the fantastic these things a good call because it's like the confidence that movie has with what you don't even know Colin Farrell is a but we've got an a plus lister and it's

[01:17:22] But everyone's like oh no god. This is that like now we're stuck with him He has to be in like four more of these is it Mickelson is doing it now correct look is so bad Yeah, the look is so bad

[01:17:33] I think we made the joke that it looks like he was given five minutes to rummage around in a costume film before filming He's like one eye is weird Earring I Mean the Alita thing is a good one because like my wife loves ever Norton like anything

[01:17:50] And and she that's all she leaves the movie. It was like why was Edward Norton there? What's he doing where is why will there be more Edward Norton?

[01:17:58] Why was there not more Edward Norton it always just ends up either feeling like a tease or being distracting and confusing Abduction this is a bad movie we guys we are out of things to talk about with the

[01:18:20] It's really I just wanted to call it a few fun things, you know, it's it's please it's absolutely It's superfluous now to just bag on plot holes, but I must

[01:18:31] I love the fact that one of the way that the way that Nathan confirms that he is that child is he finds The exact shirt he was wearing on the day. He was abducted his basement the pair the Kevin and Mara

[01:18:46] Kevin and Mara kept it for some reason they didn't destroy Stain the same stain that's visible on it. I love that I love the fact that when he's fighting the assassin on the train as the guy's got his hands around his throat Nathan

[01:19:00] Then here's his father's voice. You gotta dig deep, you know You got it come on now You can do this and he's calling what he's doing in that moment is calling back to the times that his father would beat

[01:19:12] His ass in the front yard like that's the inspiration He's calling well, and also like not to Fucking compare a better version of this movie in a way again But like Hannah yeah, and so much fucking time with Eric Banna in isolation training this girl

[01:19:30] Right like it gives you a lot of time to really build that relationship the question of like who is she? Why is she so shielded from the world and really selling you that once shit hits the wall? She knows how to cope for herself

[01:19:44] You believe the seer Sharon and can can fight all these fucking people because you've seen the degree to which She's trained whereas this is just like I don't know the level of training Jason Isaacs does for Taylor Lautner in this movie

[01:19:56] Reminds me of my dad trying to teach me how to toughen up because kids were mean to me at school Come on. Come on. Hit me here and then here

[01:20:03] Like this was like shit my dad would make me do to be like you should know it a box Yeah, I don't know Please let me watch cartoons casting Isaacs and having him just have that material again speaks to like a Hitchcock movie That's not there where right?

[01:20:16] There's 40 minutes of like what's up with my dad Jason Isaacs has a creepy vibe like no offense Jason Isaacs He's good at playing that like do I trust this guy? You know like he's good at that and instead no forget

[01:20:28] Don't tell me that he's actually good and then kill him immediately And then have a movie left an hour left I mean yeah, like it's the biggest this movie would be completely We would never speak of it had single to not made it. Yes. No correct

[01:20:46] It's one of the most anonymous movies we've ever covered on their show It would be like, you know, what is the knockoff version of Mark Wahlberg sniper? It's like that kind of action movie but like the sea level version of that B level

[01:21:03] Exactly like of an action movie that you barely remember yeah and like You know that we've gone through in the over the obviously the Luke Cage movie like the many movies that like

[01:21:15] Singleton was a tattoo like eight the A team the one that JJ dug up that I'd forgotten about He was at one point Supposed to direct a wheel man because single time was considering several video game adaptations He almost did what's the the Snoop Dogg one called

[01:21:33] The sphere in respect is the Snoop Dogg one Yes, but he almost did wheel man which was Vin Diesel's video game when Vin Diesel wanted to become a multimedia artist Which of course he became

[01:21:45] Right, which was supposed to be a proof of concept for a movie and never happened with the games fun, right? What's up with the wheel man? Oh rules. He's fucking cool. He drives cars Vin Diesel had the idea

[01:22:00] No, he was like what if I made a franchise about me driving cars But I just looking did JJ pull up some more specifics here the Singleton files the twenty million dollar lawsuit against Paramount in 2011, right?

[01:22:16] The same time the same year that this movie comes out rather and then Paramount countersued He claimed that they reneged on the deals by adding extra conditions that made his Terms impossible to fulfill and it became what the Hollywood reporter called a chicken or the egg controversy

[01:22:35] Which was did singleton have to complete two films to get Paramount's distribution guarantee or did Paramount have to guarantee? Distribution to get single fin to complete the two Right, it's like fucking Brazil Harry Tuttle bullshit that they caught him up with and

[01:22:52] He claims that the two things he was supposed to do were a Tracy that he was supposed to produce rather to fill the deal aside from other movies They didn't let him direct where Tracy Morgan concert film directed by Spike Lee and a D Ray Davis movie

[01:23:05] Which would have been him doing another sort of mentoring a young Filmmaker and they ended up settling at the final year the following year rather for less than 20 million dollars but it you know, I think I've talked about in several episodes, but Shane Solano wrote a really interesting

[01:23:26] Obituary for him on deadline when he passed away and he talked about how he just kind of got so fucking pissed off at the industry after that He bought a boat. He loved the water and was like, I don't know man

[01:23:36] I just want to sail around I I forgot about the other there's one other project that the Tupac movie That that really I think that's the one that really broke him because obviously he knew Tupac Yeah, I heat Tupac was in his movies

[01:23:48] He was attached to make the Tupac movie and like whatever was forced out because of creative differences And like God on Instagram and was like people don't take him seriously, you know they're trying to fuck up his legacy, you know like he and

[01:24:03] Like John Singleton making a Tupac movie seems like a slam dunk It's pretty weird and like of course that movie Carl Franklin got signed and then Benny boom made that movie That is God awful and still made money because people were just like there's a Tupac movie

[01:24:18] Like I want to see that Like remember when that movie like didn't screen it for critics They like dumped it in theaters and it like made like 50 million dollars because people were like cool

[01:24:27] Like there's a Coupac movie and like imagine if Singleton had gotten to do that before he died at least I'm gonna get the numbers wrong here But I remember being with you getting bagels after recording a podcast episode on like a Friday or a Saturday morning

[01:24:40] Right, and I pulled up deadline and I went like the Tupac movie made 20 million dollars opening day And you and I were like is this thing a blockbuster and then it made like 30 million for the weekend

[01:24:53] Right, it dropped off fast, but people you know showed up for yeah Yeah, I mean that for for the worst execution of that right and then after this He does he does this 30 for 30 episode which is not much loved

[01:25:06] But he does his episode of people versus OJ, which is arguably the best I think of that series And then that gets him back in the FX fold he sets up snowfall and He was pushed off of snowfall within the first season

[01:25:21] He was fired off of that show before he passed away Is that true? I it's interesting. I mean I Snowfall is still on right do you guys want has anyone seen snowfall Jason? Have you seen I have not watched

[01:25:35] People talk about it people like oh snowfall kind of got good like I don't know I don't know anything about it apart from that. It's you know set in L.A. and the crack epidemic like you know

[01:25:44] That's I just know it's sort of a broadly, you know historical show. That's all I know I'm trying to find the timeline on this because I Feel like people often talk about now like well

[01:25:56] He had set up snowfall if he had still lived he still would have been doing snowfall But I vividly remember the deadline story that was like there's a new show runner now He directed the finale of season two though. So he at least

[01:26:08] Interesting. Yeah, I don't know. He was involved before until he died basically maybe he was just deprived he was a Don't know I think he had more control over it at some point pushback. Maybe it was after season two

[01:26:23] I'm gonna find this while we talk about other shit But yeah, that's Jason. I didn't even ask you like singleton in general. Are you a fan?

[01:26:31] Like, you know, how do you feel about these other movies? I am a big fan of John Singleton. I mean obviously boys in the hood is a That's an iconic that's an iconic

[01:26:42] Legitimately an iconic film that has been that's important to me. It's important to many people and it's kind of a touchstone in cinematic history for People our age and I ends It's a shame. I can't say that this is his last movie

[01:27:00] Too fast I like it. It's not that you know for brothers. I had fun with I like his I like his movies He's got this two-chunk career

[01:27:09] It's like, you know, the his first chunk is these serious movies that are all at least interesting and some of them are fantastic And then the second half is shaft shaft. I saw in the theater. I liked it

[01:27:18] You know, yeah, you know shaft too fast too furious for brothers, but you know like where it's like Yeah, he's making John movies. He's making action movies. He's good four brothers has good action

[01:27:27] Like too fast has good action the action in this stinks. I don't know if it's a tailor-law problem I don't know if it's a budget problem. I don't know if it's a prep problem, but like the action in this is pretty like, you know, I

[01:27:40] Mean your eye just slides off the screen It's just it's just that kind of a movie where you're just like what else is going on Griffin said inert earlier and and and that is the case there is I again

[01:27:54] Yeah, I have no idea of what happened none of us do but I it really feels like one of those situations where there was just Simply too many voices like obviously one of the one of the big goals of this movie was to launch

[01:28:06] Taylor Lautner as a as a film star I'm sure John Singleton came into this with with some other ambitions that he wanted to do It seemed like the studio was was you know

[01:28:19] Hinging their their economic future on the success of this movie there was just a lot of Masters that this film was trying to serve and it ended up serving all of them extremely poorly

[01:28:31] It also feels like this movie doesn't want to make a single specific choice and a thing to consider is Here's John Singleton. He's had this bizarre career arc, right? He's still a fucking young dude he makes too fast too furious which is kind of like

[01:28:47] Roundly mocked by everyone shaft which is supposed to start a franchise and doesn't right then Four brothers which is supposed to get a sequel and doesn't but was sort of seen as something of a comeback for him

[01:29:03] And then you know the hustle and flow thing give him this boost Yeah, and then he's just stuck sitting on a bench for five years I think it was so fucking frustrating for him that this was truly just like a

[01:29:15] Movie to get made to get himself back out there because it truly isn't a stupid fucking industry like It's it's the you know What have you done lately shit? We're like if you just haven't worked in a little while people assume that something must be wrong

[01:29:31] And I think he felt like he needed to break the curse in some way and and clearly listen, you know You mentioned Carl Franklin earlier Carl Franklin Carl Franklin One false move is as taught and as Knife-sedge a thriller as as you can come up with

[01:29:54] And that's a guy who basically other than a devil in a blue dress, you know Which came out kind after that really just kind of like dropped off the map in terms of like an awareness of his films

[01:30:05] So I would imagine being a black director in Hollywood is Somehow mixed in this formula because the idea that John Singleton Whatever struggle in his career after coming out of the gates the way he did is is really honestly kind of crazy

[01:30:20] Yeah, look here's another thing that must have been infuriating to singleton. This movie comes out in 2011 It's the scene year is fast five. Yeah, right? He's watching this franchise that people say he killed now becoming like the franchise

[01:30:35] And not only that but like fast five is the one where they're reintegrating the characters that he developed Yes, actors that yes past the franchise is starting to come back around start to Reintegrate some of the cartoonishness that he was the first to put in exactly. Yeah, right

[01:30:50] I think that must be super fucking frustrating to him I think he's seeing all these guys that he launched who are still working at like a big level, right? and I don't know. I mean you talk about like the Carl Franklin thing

[01:31:04] Carl Franklin had you know this big indie movie, right? And then he had this like good the fucking movie star thriller But singleton came out the gate with like a fucking culture Yes, he's getting reported on MTV news, you know, he's like a youth icon

[01:31:22] He's a box office and he's fucking awards and he's all this shit He never was gonna be able to fly under the radar and I think to some degree he probably felt the weight of being John singleton everything needing to be a John singleton movie

[01:31:35] And he talked about how he wanted to make junkier movies and thrillers and shit because he didn't want to be boxed in He wanted to make sci-fi movies. He wanted to make comic boys

[01:31:42] He wanted to do all this different sort of shit and then he got stuck in this fucking rut I want to correct myself here the snowfall thing which I remembered is they shot the pilot which singleton directed and wrote and Then FX before picking up the show

[01:31:58] Demanded reshoots Rewrites and cast changes and he was not rewriting or directing the reshoots So in my mind I was like oh, he was pushed off the show, but then he stayed on it I think he had all

[01:32:14] Controlling power at the beginning and then became one of the people Billy Magnuson was one of the people He cast at the beginning who was then recast dumb Billy Billy Magnuson is good, right? but

[01:32:26] I don't know the the whole the the singleton thing is odd. I mean this is a thing If people remember he was 51 years old when he died

[01:32:34] He's 40 whatever he's in his early 40s when he makes this movie like some people that would be the first time they get to direct They'd be in their 40s like you know, there's eight years in between

[01:32:46] This movie and his dad. There's like a lot of time away, so yeah, I know right That's a bummer and I look the the chance to learn a thing

[01:32:54] He talks about how he just like loved the ocean got in his boat all the day read comic books went and Would go see movies with his friends and the last couple years

[01:33:03] He was feeling a little bit re-entergized right energized rather and he was starting to reach out and we've seen reports of this of shit with like him reaching out to Tyrese and Terrage and saying like maybe it's time for some kind of follow-up, you know

[01:33:16] He was starting to kind of poke at things a little bit. It feels like inevitably there would have been some second win for him David yeah Did you see this thread posted on our reddit by full credit here a user

[01:33:33] Named got we got to go fast 1138, which is a good user No, or if I did well, what's the threat? The threat is and this is a really kind of heavy thing to consider. Okay?

[01:33:46] The threat is what every blank check directors last film would have been if they passed at John Singleton's age So this is to consider in terms of how young he was and the fact that he started so goddamn young that he got this many films made

[01:34:00] Okay, here is every director we've covered and how their career would have ended if they died at John Singleton's age M Night Shyamalan old Wow rip Wow The Wachowskis Jupiter sending sure Cameron Crowe Elizabeth town James Cameron Aliens of the deep Steven Spielberg Amistad

[01:34:25] Nolan Tenet Catherine Bigelow can 19 the Widowmaker So there's your first example of someone who makes their definitive movie after the age. Yeah, right? Yeah, okay? Paul Verhoeven Robocop He was Singleton's death age when he made his first American movie James L Brooks broadcast news Wow

[01:34:48] Brad Bird Ratatouille Ang Lee broke back Mountain Nancy Myers what women want her second movie Wow Tim Burton corpse bride. Well, that's kind of depressing to consider Michael Mann Last of the Mohicans Wow. Yeah, he was old. He's yeah. Yeah, he got started late obviously. Hi, oh Miyazaki

[01:35:08] Porco Rosa Wow Demi Philadelphia George Miller Lorenzo's oil nor effron. This is my life her first movie Gina Prince by thwitt is now the same age as Singleton when he died the old guard

[01:35:22] Zemeckis cast away musker Clemens treasure planet Elaine May Mikey and Nikki Wow, it's look he died too young It's a month obviously he was 51 years old. Yeah Griffin let's play the box office game box for abduction Jason

[01:35:38] You don't want to talk about the plot or to revisit anything Jason this movie came out September 23rd 2011 and I'm gonna Gers gonna try and guess the top five at the box office this week abduction open number four

[01:35:56] Which is not great because there are four movies opening this week Yeah, and it's not the highest opener it opened to ten point nine million dollars It grossed twenty eight domestic 86 worldwide. Yeah when when they say 96 they're including video sales. Oh boy But it was not an egregious

[01:36:21] Because it did not cost that much right exactly. Yes, it was cheap to make but also That's very telling if they're including video sales to juice up their total and it still wasn't a hundred million listen to hit a hundred

[01:36:34] Number one though at the box office movie that came out 902 weeks ago David that's 15 years. Yes It's so it's a re-release Mm-hmm. Is it of a famous movie? Is it the 3d Lion King? It's the it's the 3d Lion King

[01:36:53] $21 million Wow, I mean and this is its second weekend It's its second weekend it came out the weekend before people went to see that shit I didn't see that shit look David people

[01:37:03] People like to clown on old Griffey nooms, but when I predicted that the fucking John Favre Lion King would be the highest grossing film in history. It was largely because yeah, I was but I just want to say The data that was heavily factoring into my

[01:37:20] This was like a bizarrely successful re-release it made another 90 million dollars Love the Lion King they love that Lion King that one's good and also it like exploded overseas The 3d re-release and a lot of territories where movie going had not been as big

[01:37:39] Yeah, but I mean Griffin here's the thing the shitty awful Lion King remake that looks like shit made 1.6 billion Right great, right so you can say dumb prediction griff, but that's how much money that Fucking was gonna do better than avatar look

[01:37:56] That I made that prediction before there was a single image I know my prediction only looked foolish We knew the movie would look like a bowl of farts, so we didn't know No guts no glory prediction Yeah, Lion King 3d

[01:38:13] Lion King 3d, okay, so number two started re-releasing all the other things at 3d And no one went to any of them other than me no one cared right the Phantom Menace 3d I saw that

[01:38:23] Number two is a re is new this week is a great movie that has only I feel like grown as like a cable classic Hmm as sort of an art movie classic. It's a sports film. It's a best-picture nominee

[01:38:37] It's kind like there's nothing like this movie there's no sports movies. It's money ball Oh, wow I mean one of my favorite movies for the last ten years Yeah, like how many sports movies that like could could also play on fucking TNT

[01:38:52] Oh and play at the metrograph and let be an Academy Award nominate You know like I think that movie is a fucking masterpiece and my three least favorite subjects in the world are sports numbers and money

[01:39:07] Jason money ball do you like money ball? I love money ball. I think it's a great film I think it's something really magical which is Make something that is so fucking boring numbers and baseball yeah into a

[01:39:23] You know like that kind of everything you know about this is wrong kind Triumphant try under dog. Yeah Rationality it's both emotional and cinematic and you hear stories about like the version that Soderbergh was trying to do and it was

[01:39:40] Like this and like bananas like there's a cartoon clippy on screen breaking right and like David Justice plays himself All the stuff like that yeah, like it would have been like the laundromat a movie

[01:39:51] I only I like right and then somehow fucking Bennett Miller figured out a way to make this thing work as like kind of A classic 70s new Hollywood movie so good. So money ball opening big doing well kicking abductions ass

[01:40:06] Yeah opening to 20 million dollars still I mean still get whooped a little boy Simba, but sure True not not knocking off simple number three is that an inspirational movie? Animal movie also new this week also kicking abductions ass. It's a live-action animal movie

[01:40:26] It's not it's not dolphin tail is it it is dolphin. Wow Dolphin tail was a fucking sleeper because it's opening number three and it goes all the way to 100 million dollars Right. It was one of those word of mouth inspirational. Yeah, we're gonna junior Ashley Judd

[01:40:43] Yeah, Morgan Freeman's got a hat on the poster David I said the bow tie. I said word of tail Word of thank you right so the dolphin doesn't have a tail right? That's what it's about like they give

[01:40:56] Build a robot tail for the dolphin so we can go back in the water and the dolphin tail too He falls in love with a different dolphin. I think Charles Martin Smith directed those movies Right the guy from the Untouchables, right? Yeah, yeah, right? Yeah

[01:41:09] All right number number four is abduction number five also knew this week Whoever decided to open this against abduction idiotic another action movie that no one remembers Um Hmm, what can I tell you about this movie? It stars multiple Oscar winner. Well, is it the gun? No

[01:41:32] That's a good guess. Come on. You got to be credit. That's that kind of movie It's that kind of movie. It's like post-neeson should we get other? Hybrow actors to be in an action movie. No, it's three actors. It's like

[01:41:44] Star Oscar winner and then kind of in between yes Oh, I hold on I'm gonna be able to name the three actors before I remember the title of the film Okay, please this is the one that has like De Niro Statham yes, and then the third guy

[01:42:01] Fuck he's like a fan. He like a not James Bond like he's like a Clive Owen You know Clive Owen. Yes. Yeah, and it's not called it's not called like hunt to kill, right?

[01:42:12] No, although the tagline is made the best man live so my guess is there they're against each other I don't know the movie is called killer elite. Oh killer elite right Killer elite Jason have you seen killer elite?

[01:42:29] I've seen a few minutes on killer elite. I believe killer elite is streaming on Amazon Prime I might be wrong about that but I know that but everything you just said sounds right Okay, streaming on something right? Yeah Yeah, look killer elite

[01:42:47] When a mentor is taken captive by a disgraced Arab shake a killer for hire is forced into action to kill this sounds convoluted He has to kill three members of the SAS responsible for the death of his sons. I don't get it So there's a fourth guy to

[01:43:03] Dominic Purcell is in this movie old potato head from a Prison break, you know, yeah, I'm sorry. This movie is also written Based on a novel called the feather man written by Sir Randall Fiennes Yes, who in addition to being cousins to Rafe and Joseph Fiennes

[01:43:25] Also in 1984 was crowned by the Guinness Book of World Records The world's greatest explorer Yeah, if you if you grew up in Britain, you know who Randall finds his he's an explorer the man explores He's fucking gone all over the world

[01:43:46] He's I think he's the oldest guy to climb Everest one of those things He was the first one Is that right? Yes. He's the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot Why would you do that that sounds so poor and then he climbed Mount Everest at 65?

[01:44:03] And then he sold off the rights to his book so they could make killer elite based on a true story Let me let me read this incredible factoid for you from the Wikipedia of the feather men the novel number one bestseller written by Randall Fiennes

[01:44:20] Plot a here's the short thing about the plot The book tells the story of four British Army soldiers including two members of the SAS who were assassinated by a hit squad known as the clinic

[01:44:29] The murders are carried out over a 70 year period on the orders of a Dubai shake Whose three sons were killed by British forces in Oman during a battle with the communist guerrillas. Here's the great part

[01:44:40] Fiennes Randall Fiennes claimed that he himself was targeted by the group the clinic But was savage but was saved by a group of vigilantes calling themselves the feather men This novel written by Randall Fiennes Based on a true story. How does that get turned into this fucking movie?

[01:45:02] Serena fine also, I just I kind of can't get over winning being crowned by Guinness The world record for something that is arguably an opinion He's the most it's He we is officially the world's greatest explorer

[01:45:25] About Randall finds and his and and admittedly I have not looked into the claims that he is the world's greatest explorer but I'll just say that I Feel like if nothing is named after you, how can you be the best? You know what I mean like?

[01:45:45] Colonialism was terrible the age of European expansion throughout the 70s People walking around being like this is my mountain. It's called totally awful But they did go there and they got me stuff named after them. Yes

[01:45:59] And after that there was not that much else to find Randall finds no Yeah, I don't think he could be maybe greatest living ex but not come on not I don't think so

[01:46:11] Also when you're the third most famous fine. Yes, he second. Do you think he beats out Joseph? Where's Joseph these days? There's even hero tiffin finds now That's true. It's I believe it's finds tiffin, but okay fine You mentioned that he climbed Everest

[01:46:30] Again, there is another mountain not named after him that he climbed. Yeah, that's true. How good could he possibly have been? Maybe he has some little mountain. We don't know He probably doesn't Is he's so he's still alive 77 years old amazing

[01:46:44] I just feel like Joseph maybe has him isn't Joseph finds in like he's on the He's leaped ahead again now Like after a while he was down, but then he was like I got this hulu show

[01:46:58] Right. It's got some real energy around running with scissors ran off was running circles around Joseph When when they were doing the canceled michael jackson a tv episode ran off had Joseph beat but now I think joseph's pulled ahead again

[01:47:13] I forgot about the michael. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, can we remind people that existed? There was an announced episode of a british tv show that was going urban myths. I believe it was called. Yes, right? That was about

[01:47:26] Uh marlin brando elizabeth taylor and michael jackson all getting in a car together after 9 11. Is that correct? Yes That is correct And and that's worse joseph finds was playing michael jackson I want to say stockard shannon was playing elizabeth taylor

[01:47:44] Correct and brian cox's marlin brando, which sounds good and it was produced and then never ever ever shown They finished filming it and people protesting every single element of it. I have to do this now I have to make it my background one second

[01:48:01] I have to because I forgot that an image leaked out Of joseph finds as late michael jackson, you know, correct Who could forget when that leaked on the internet? Oh my god viral It's so much worse than I remember it being it's truly truly terrible

[01:48:18] I mean when you're gonna look like that why even be in it? You don't look like joseph finds anymore Like anyone could look like that. He looks like konokio

[01:48:28] It's so bizarre, uh griff i think we're done and the only other thing is griff. Do you have a singleton ranking? It's only nine movies, but do you have your singleton? Oh fuck. I didn't prepare for the end of singleton

[01:48:39] I can I can do it off the dome. I did find something uh that was named after uh finds Oh great. Go ahead. Yes. I just sent it into the chat. You can take a look. I see it's sent it into the chat Uh

[01:48:54] Serenno finds on the adventures that inspired his rum So there you go. Okay So rattle finds his great british rump. That's the name Oh man and on the rum bottle, it's like him going across the anardica. It's it's he's all he's all furred up

[01:49:14] Uh this I I don't know. It feels like as good a time as any to announce my new product launch Uh griffin newman's good american beer Not great. It's fine

[01:49:27] It's fine. It's okay. It's fine. Look I god, I'd love to have a liquor. Jason you should get a liquor You should get like a brand I'm not I'm not at that level yet

[01:49:35] But I I think it's an aspiration and it's certainly one that that uh, you know that I think all of us share Have you considered a vape flavor? Yeah, sure at least a vape flavor. A vape flavor. Yeah, that could be fun

[01:49:48] I I I think I prefer flour I think you know, I've read several conflicting things about how how healthy vape fluid is for you I wouldn't want to poison people but But I'd be open to it if certainly if the number was was right

[01:50:01] Blank check could have a like a small batch ale You know, I just the the promo shoot you do or you're like buy a big like sill, you know Like and you're like, you know, like you know talking to some old guy and he's like, yeah

[01:50:12] That's where we put the you know the barley I I would yeah I also want I want us to have like a fucking cost amigos photo where the three of us are on three motorcycles Side by side with sunglasses

[01:50:26] With and uh, yeah, anyway handing each other briefcases full of money. Um Uh, well, what a great talk we've had here I Jason thank you so I mean we're gonna It was my it was absolutely my pleasure. Thank you for having me

[01:50:42] No, I mean you've been uh requested as a guest one of the most requested guests for this show for for years And uh, when we settled on doing singleton and we saw this one

[01:50:53] We were like that feels like a good way to make that episode worth listening to That was our thought and you have succeeded on that front It's a magical movie and listen if if people want to sit uh and watch a 90 minute movie that is completely

[01:51:09] Unexciting and indeed often baffling Uh, check it out the taylor lotter vehicle abduction 2011 R. I. P. John singleton uh, uh rip rip unfortunately jason is there anything you want to plug? Uh listen to take line on uh on crooked media that comes out every Tuesday

[01:51:28] Watch all caps nba on the take line youtube channel that comes out every friday That's it Be good to each other out there. Well, that's a huge plug be good to each other and also if you want to be good to yourself

[01:51:40] Remember to rate review and subscribe blank check on all uh, wherever you listen to podcasts You can follow us a blank check pod on instagram and twitter. Thank you to marie barty for our social media

[01:51:52] Thank you to alex barron and aj mckian for our editing laymont gummary and the great american novel for a theme song Thank you jj birch and nick floriano for research

[01:52:04] Uh, you could go to blankies dibered dot com for some real nerdy shit and go to our Shopify page for some real nerdy merch and go over to the blank check patreon Patreon.com slash blank check where we do blank check special features franchise

[01:52:20] commentaries finishing up our hot day summer With the twilight's well, we have announced what's next at this point or is that still a surprise? Uh, no No, no, no, we're not so we're in the we're in the middle of the breaking dawns right now

[01:52:31] I think people will be very very happy Uh with that but the last two especially the last breaking dawn episode I think is uh really really good Now we should we should throw out because the schedule is going to be a little a little interesting

[01:52:46] For the next couple of weeks because yeah John carpenter our march madness winner will be our miniseries for the fall It's going to be a fucking barn burner We got great guests lined up and obviously just a killer killer selection of movies But those are great but

[01:53:05] There are a couple new release films coming out in july That we need to cover because of past episodes and because of that We need to do two episodes to fill the gap between our new releases. So so we just say everything we're doing right now

[01:53:20] Sure, these are our plans. We're doing another. Well, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay first up July 11th It's been a while It has been a while since aben's choice. So it's time for another one and ben

[01:53:37] Of course picked a movie that david immediately identified is not just aben's choice, but is perhaps a hozzly manifesto That's right We're doing a classic film the film i love Called joe dirt. Joe dirt joseph dirt Joseph dirt

[01:53:55] Yes, we love him and and then on uh july 18th Uh a a long promised episode. We're finally getting to uh last summer Tom sharp link donated thousands of dollars to charity For the good on him good on him for the fundraisers

[01:54:12] We did on the george lucas talk show and he often would ask for some sort of uh Uh prize or punishment In exchange for the money he donated such as making me a drop of pastrami sandwich off of my firescape But one time what he asked for

[01:54:30] Was a second reckoning with a film that perhaps we did not investigate thoroughly enough in one episode alone So we are going back to the well And doing another episode On the martin short movie cliford

[01:54:45] Yeah, it is david's a former ben's choice thrilled about this. It is cliford to hyper cliford A sequel to our first episode about cliford Uh, yeah, so that's next after joe dirt. That's right

[01:54:58] And then there are two new movies to talk about space jam a new legacy which looks great. Yep. It looks perfect It doesn't look like there's anything fucked up about that No, absolutely not the cinema is still alive. The movies are back

[01:55:12] Space jam a new legacy to see my brother jamesy newman coming back for that one and then august 1st We're talking chamalon. We're talking old Marie barty is going to make her first main feed appearance on the show

[01:55:26] Yep, and then then carp that will start carpenter and hold to transylvania 4 got pushed back. So that will happen mid carpenter Of course, so excited for carpenter you guys. That's gonna. It's it's gonna be fun

[01:55:37] It's gonna be great jason. It's gonna be fun. And look it singleton's been a fun journey i'll say it's weird because uh, You know, we usually record episodes months and months and months in advance, right?

[01:55:49] And we were banking up a absurd an absurd amount of episodes in advance of uh, you and your wife having a child david true and then uh during your paternity leave i started dealing with health issues and our

[01:56:04] Getting back into recording schedule was uh was slow and very gradual And so this has been a very drawn out record. We've spent like six months With singleton in our brains

[01:56:17] Because right we we kind of recorded all of muskner and clements and may and the first half of singleton within like a month And then we the rest of the singleton episodes were very uh spread out

[01:56:29] Um, but it's been a very interesting sort of like time to immerse ourselves in and and sort of this kind of last Ura in a way for like, uh, I don't know real otura careers within the studio system Uh, and it's it's sort of uh, I don't know

[01:56:45] I obviously there's the x factor of him dying so young, but uh, it does kind of press age I feel like what uh happened Uh to the industry in general and with that shall we do our quick?

[01:56:57] Singleton, right? It's easy. I'll run it down for you right now boys in the hood number one rosewood Number two great movie baby boy number three those two are kind of close for me Both like very interesting very good not totally, you know, perfect movies

[01:57:13] Then I have poetic justice at four and too fast at five Four brothers at six and then shaft higher learning abduction are fairly clear seven eight and nine for me You're probably different griff. You like higher learning more than yeah

[01:57:28] I mean, here's the bananas thing i'm gonna do number one is boys in the hood. My number two favorite is higher learning I'm a lunatic arrest me send me to jail. That's weird um Higher learning number two then I would go Hmm

[01:57:44] I think I go baby boy and then rosewood, but those are pretty much split for me I obviously want to acknowledge that higher learning is a more inherently flawed movie than rosewood or baby boy

[01:57:54] But I love it and it kind of for me is like the purest kind of uncut singleton movie. Then I go Hmm Then I go too fast. Then I go shaft

[01:58:06] Then I go four brothers. Then I go abduction. Yeah four brothers love four brothers is fun. I look I Like them all other than abduction Yeah, yeah me too. Yeah, they're enjoyable movies to watch. Yeah. Yeah. All right That's it. Goodbye john

[01:58:23] That's been our episode. Goodbye john. It's been nice spending some time with you and as always Thank you for having me. It was wonderful it truly our honor And uh, we'll have you on again sometime soon. Yeah, man. And just because I want to end

[01:58:39] Singleton on a somewhat positive note. Yes This is such a downer shitty movie for his career to end on I want to just uh, List some accolades that abduction received So and as always as clearly outlined on the abduction wikipedia page Um

[01:58:59] Abduction was nominated for a golden real award For dialogue and adr in a feature film Okay, you say perhaps that's not that great of an award Most unnoticeable adr Well, hold your horses. It did win the teen choice award for choice movie and choice movie actor

[01:59:22] Jesus in the genre of action It was nominated nominated for but didn't win worst actor Taylor lawdner split sandlip in a mount twilight saga breaking down part one right Uh, a sandler bodied him for jack and jill and my final note for the john singleton miniseries

[01:59:40] I do want people to know that it didn't win But abduction Was nominated at the golden trailer awards Best standee for a feature film