Benedetta with Marie Bardi

[00:00:00] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check. To the end, you podcast. That's right. Get a podcast to the end, baby. Get a podcast all the way to the end. The end of 2021. True. We're done with John Carpenter.

[00:00:34] We gotta, uh, we gotta pay, pay some bills here. Right? We gotta pay some outstanding bills on previous filmmakers we've covered. Sure, there's ledgers we have to write. Right, it's tax time, baby. Yeah. Last three weeks of 2021, new releases. Oh!

[00:00:49] Been a little while since we've had a new release from a previous director and it just so happened that three of them lined up in a row. Been a little while. To take us out of this cursed, cursed year. This is the first one.

[00:01:01] This is, of course, Blank Check with Griffin and David, I'm Griffin. I'm David. Very fast. That's the in-person speed you get. Fucking Zoom, man. No Zoom delay. You know what I don't like? Zoom? Hmm. You're talking about the film though with Tim Allen. Right. What's that called?

[00:01:18] Zoom Academy for Superheroes or some shit like that? I mean, I just know it as Zoom, but yes. Fucking poor man sky high. Yeah. Yeah. Courtney Cox, Chevy. Kate Mara. Spencer Breslin. Uh, yes. Who else is in that? Did we go through the whole list? River Torn?

[00:01:33] River Torn is in it? Oh yeah. Maybe it's good. I don't know. Alexis Bledel. Uncredited. Wilmer Valderrama. Devin, uh, uh, Coy. Aoki. Aoki. Is this a real movie or is it the Disney Channel original? It's a real movie. It's like, it's no, it was real.

[00:01:46] It was, it's not Disney, right? Because no, this was theatrical. Sky high was Disney. This was Columbia. But Sky High was theatrical as well. I know. It wasn't Disney Channel. This was Columbia. I think it's based on a book or some shit.

[00:01:57] Uh, no, it was based on this app that you could video conference with, but they took it in a weird direction. David. Yeah. No, it was based on a children's book. Tim Allen teaches a school of superheroes and it looked like dog shit.

[00:02:09] Is from the director of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and The Borrowers, which are good movies. Peter Hewitt. Yeah. He also did Thunderpants. Did he do Garfield the movie? He did do Garfield the movie. See this is the thing.

[00:02:21] Cause I think Bogus Journey is a very stylish film. Bogus Journey is one of those movies where as a debut film you're like, is this guy going to be like a, like a fucking Bertini kind of? And then it's kind of just shit the bed. That's number two.

[00:02:33] Yeah. They brought on a new director for number two. Cause they wrote the script and they were like, it's so visual what they've written here. We need someone who is primarily a visual stylist.

[00:02:42] And I think he was like a film school guy where he has student film where they were like this guy's insane because Bogus Journey has all the fucking hell shit, the nightmares. It's so good. Those sequences are like really, really cool.

[00:02:53] And you're like, this is like some young wonder can director. And then he just makes a garbage. Cool. It's yeah. And it's not, it's not fucking Stephen Herrick territory. Stephen Herrick had to go make the Mighty Ducks and Mr. Holland's Opus and all that.

[00:03:07] He becomes weirdly Mr. Disney. Totally. Straight down the middle. 101 Dalmatians he did. Right, right. He did the, um, the Brat Pack Three Musketeers, which I saw in theaters. These are all Disney movies. What's the last thing Stephen Herrick made?

[00:03:21] Uh, he had a movie this year on Netflix called Afterlife of the Party starring Victoria, former Griffin Newman co-star Victoria Justice. Hey. Right? Didn't you do a movie with her? I did. Of course. Right. You were on the no kiss list. Uh, Bruce one.

[00:03:37] Uh, he also did a movie called the Great Gilly Hopkins. Oh sure. Based on a classic children's book. That's an Ellen Burstyn. Try that one. Thank you. Uh, no, I'm not seeing Ellen Burstyn here. Kathy Bates. Oh, that's what I'm thinking of. And then Sophie Nizelay.

[00:03:51] I don't know. I moved on because he also did a children's film called The Chaperone starring Triple H. Yes. Yes. He's in front of a school bus going. It's crossing his arms looking sternly at me. That's a Herrick. Stephen Herrick. Wow. Starring Paul Lawrence, AKA Triple H. Yeah.

[00:04:11] Paul Lawrence. Yeah. His real name is Paul Lawrence, which is funny because his like stage name is like Hunter Helms, Hensley, Hearst, Hensley or whatever. Right. His character is supposed to be like a rich guy. He's supposed to be a fancy man. Right. Yeah.

[00:04:23] A fancy man who's like, you know, 380 pounds. It is funny though that it's like here's his real name. Then we're going to give him a fake real name and then a nickname based off the fake real name.

[00:04:34] He was initially called Jean Paul Levesque and he was presented as a French Canadian aristocrat. Right. Right. Which is so funny. Then they were like, let's tone it down a little. He's just a rich guy. OK.

[00:04:46] I learned about all of this in the recent Vice documentary about China. The wrestler. Sure. Yeah. Highly recommend. Cool. Very tragic figure. I mean, he's the he's the new man. Right. Like he married her. Stephanie. Yeah.

[00:05:04] But it was sort of like both a scripted thing and a real thing. Right. I can't remember what came first. He's like he is within kayfabe. He's both the guy who's being groomed to run the whole thing and within kayfabe, the guy

[00:05:15] who's being groomed to be the new head heel like in universe. The new right. Right. The new submissioner. Yeah. It's fucking. I mean, I haven't really paid attention to wrestling since I was a teenager.

[00:05:28] But when I was a teenager, he was he was big deal as a wrestler. I just like watching documentaries about wrestling. There are so many. There's so many. You sign up for WWE like, you know, dot com or whatever.

[00:05:41] Also, you can watch like any documentary they've ever made. And there's apparently like hundreds of them. Did you come on? Surely you liked wrestling. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Maybe you didn't as much as you should have for, you know, considering you were a little man. Listen, I did.

[00:05:58] I definitely sent one of my friends to the hospital because we were wrestling in his living room. There we go. OK. You know, like Ultimate Warrior, you know. OK, that makes sense. Yeah. I feel like he'd be a Jake the Snake guy. Ah, you like mankind.

[00:06:12] But I like some fucking guys with the fucking two by four. Sure. Oh, like a junkyard dog or whatever they want. That sounds good. I don't know about that. That sounds good. I like that. Was that like another league, like extreme ECW? There was ECW. Yeah.

[00:06:27] That was the one that was really hardcore where they'd hit each other. Yeah. But you know, they would always sort of eventually get sucked into. Bam Bam Bigalow. That feels like a Ben guy. Did you like mankind? Come on. Yeah. Mankind was cool. He did bits.

[00:06:40] He's a sock puppet. He was weird. And he was like fucked up. Yeah. He was crazy. You were like, is this guy really crazy? I had friends who were really into that stuff and they would like throw each other onto tables and get really hurt.

[00:06:51] I didn't really get into that. But I remember mankind. Someone exposed me to like the scene where he's thrown off the cage, the top of the cage. No. What are you talking about? It's like that's it. We've got my witnesses broken in half.

[00:07:03] I want to say it's Japan where it's like really crazy and he like is like it's like a barbed wire. Yeah. Really sick. Yeah. He would do stuff like that. Yeah. That's fucked up. Anyway, our podcast today is about a director who hasn't made any movies about wrestling,

[00:07:20] but kind of fits within that world. I've made some movies about naked wrestling. Sure. Bed wrestling as I like to call it. Bed wrestling. Bed wrestling as I like to call it. Oh, yeah. Right.

[00:07:30] Once in high school, one of the classes, one of the homeroom classes put all their desks in a square like to make a border and then they did a Royal Rumble where you had to knock someone out of the square to win. Did it get intense?

[00:07:44] I think it got too intense. Yeah. And then they got in trouble. Yeah. And they're doing a Royal Rumble at like 4H and we were like, really? And we walked in there and I was like, they are. This is going down.

[00:07:57] Anyway, if anyone at CLS remembers the Royal Rumble, I think it was 4H. You know, get in touch. Tweeted us. Any American students want to get in touch with us. This is a podcast about filmographies. Directors have massive success early on in their careers.

[00:08:11] They're giving a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion products they want. Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce, baby. See, I thought you guys wouldn't have been fighting. Instead, you would have just been like challenging each other with facts about royalty. Right.

[00:08:24] We have like a quiz. Who's the Duke of something? He doesn't know. Who's the Earl of Sandwich? I can look it up. Delta Terminal 2. That is what comes up these days when you Google Earl of Sandwich. They're top. Thank you. Thank you. Present holder, John. Here he is.

[00:08:50] This is the fucking current Earl of Sandwich. He was born ready for that role. John Montague. The male on that guy's 11th Earl of Sandwich. Wow. Some years ago, we covered the American Hollywood film career. When was that? Paul Verhoeven. I believe that was 2017? No, it's 2018.

[00:09:20] Yeah, it's early 2018, like January 2018. Okay, I knew it was the beginning of a year. But we covered his Hollywood films. And then we were like, fuck, we should cover Earl too. We never covered Black Book. No, we keep meaning to, but it's like, who has the time?

[00:09:36] We never covered his early films, but it is this weird career because he's this provocative, transgressive Dutch filmmaker who then makes this unlikely leap over to Hollywood, right? With like, Flesh and Blood is his bridge film. And then Robocop is like, oh, this guy's become one of the

[00:09:53] preeminent sci-fi action blockbuster filmmakers of his generation. Throws two erotic drama thrillers in there, just for good measure. Taps out on Hollow Man, which is kind of all three at the same time. And then is like, I hate Hollywood, I'm leaving. Doesn't make a movie for 10 years?

[00:10:11] Maybe eight. I forget when Black Book is. I mean, I feel like it's like 10 years between Hollow Man and Black Book. 10 years between... No, it's only six. Black Book is 06. And then he did do that other movie... Yeah, that no one talks about.

[00:10:26] That no one talks about. Tricked, is that it? I believe that was like a class he was teaching, and it was a collaborative process with a bunch of student filmmakers. Well, I'll just tell you it exists. It exists. But yeah, and then, right, so L is 2016.

[00:10:43] Okay, so 10 years after that. So that's almost a longer break between Black Book and L. Surprisingly. And then, you know, Benedetta, I feel like that was announced like two years ago. It's been in the works for a while. He's been circling this one.

[00:10:56] He had a hip injury when it was about to go, which is one of those things where you're just like, Paul, you're in your 80s. We got to get this done. We got to get this made. It kept getting announced at Con with like increasingly provocative sales posters.

[00:11:08] Please God, let this happen. Don't fucking let this fall apart. I mean, the elevator pitch is just Paul Verhoeven, non-sploitation. And people were so excited. They were. They were kind of baying for, you know, erotica, essentially. I tried to go into this as largely blind as I could

[00:11:29] and have avoided the trailers. And it was one of those movies where I was just like, look, it's not fucking No Way Home. I'm not going to get inundated with marketing. Right. I can like stay pretty clean of this. And I know I want to see this.

[00:11:40] And pretty much what I knew about this movie was, OK, in my head, I've saved this for the last couple of years as Paul Verhoeven, lesbian, non-movie. Right. And then when it starts screening, everyone's like, that's kind of reductive. That's not really what it is.

[00:11:57] If you're expecting that salacious, that's not really what you should be thinking. So like, that's all I had in my mind was like, I thought the movie was this. Everyone's telling me that's kind of not a great summation of what it is.

[00:12:08] Right. And then you watch it and you're like, this is a movie about a lesbian nun. But it also is about, it's a lot more complicated. It's about the rules. It's about power. It's a fascinating movie because it's kind of going like,

[00:12:23] it's about religion kind of buying its own bullshit, but also not. Maybe, you know, like that weird sort of like blurred line. Look, he's got a fire in his belly right now. He's announcing new movies left and right. It feels like he's doing something with Neumeyer, right?

[00:12:37] Right. And he was saying there was a Hollywood movie he's been thinking about making coming back to the studio. Shang-Chi 2. Yeah. He's been thinking about that for a long time. I can't wait to make it. Someone just needs to make Shang-Chi 1.

[00:12:50] And then they did. And he was like, all right, I'm on this. I'm on this. Shang-Chi is a man who's very good at fighting and he has the 10 rings. But for me, what if the rings were Nazis? The 10 Nazis. Circling around him. This Verhoeven impression is really good.

[00:13:06] We had fun with him back in the day. Bringing Paul out of bed. Here's my pitch for Sonic 3. You have the Sonic and the Knuckles and the Tails and they're the friends and they collect rings, but also they use the rings to have sex with each other.

[00:13:20] Sex is a beautiful thing. And I'm the only one who shows sex the way it actually is. But yes, this is one of those movies where I hope he continues making films. But you're like, if through poor luck, this ends up being Paul Verhoeven's last film,

[00:13:37] you're like, this is kind of a pretty good summation of everything this guy stands to do. It is. And it's also a nice way for him to discuss Christianity and Jesus. Which has been... Kind of a low-key, lifelong, academic obsession.

[00:13:58] It's not even that much a part of his films, although Robocop is the American Jesus. But he has this whole sort of side career. Have I ever said that? I did. I watched it last night. I watched it again last night.

[00:14:12] Did you watch Benedetta or did you just fire up Robocop? No, I watched Benedetta. So Benedetta is about a robot cop. I watched Benedetta and I chased it with Robocop. But he has this sort of side career as one of the preeminent Jesus scholars in the world.

[00:14:30] But not just Jesus, the historical Jesus. He's fascinated by Jesus as a historical figure, the man. The real record about this person. It's not a theological study of the guy. And he's written a book called Jesus of Nazareth, which is an academic study of the historical Jesus.

[00:14:49] And he also has compared this historical Jesus to someone like Che Guevara. Yes. As a sort of socialist leader of the people, a revolutionary. A Jewish revolutionary, basically, whose myth got kind of altered and built upon and turned into more magical things over the millennia.

[00:15:10] Much like Robocop, it got distorted into Robocop 2, 3, the animated series. And the remake. There was a pure, there was a real man. There was a real man named Alex Murphy who was Robocop and we distorted his legacy.

[00:15:24] I do think there was at some point a Jesus movie he wanted to make that has never come to fruition. He's always wanted to make his Jesus movie. He also wanted to tackle the Crusades very famously in the 90s after Basic Instinct.

[00:15:39] He was going to re-team with Arnold to make his big budget Crusades epic, which unfortunately never happened. And so now with Benedetta, it is cool for us Verhoeven heads to finally see him make a film about religion. And it's pretty much. Because when you go Verhoeven non-sploitation movie,

[00:16:05] you're like, is he just going to go fucking maximalist? Is this just him going like full sort of shock value or whatever? And you're like, no, the spine of this thing really ties into so much of what he's interested in.

[00:16:16] And then there's sort of the Verhoeven salaciousness on top of it. We should mention, of course, our guest joining us here today is Marie Barty, Party Barty. Hey guys and gals and non-binary folks. You went to Catholic school, correct? I did. Are any of you guys Catholic? No.

[00:16:34] No, but I come from a very Catholic family on my mom's side. But you were raised atheist? I've never been to church. Nor do I know. Well, you tried to cross the threshold of a church once and you were thrown out. Yeah, by an unseen force.

[00:16:51] It's really weird. And I was kind of like, Yeah, exactly. You were like, oh, check out St. Paul's Cathedral. And then I just ended up in a trash can behind the church in an alley. It was crazy. And the church boomed, cross not the door.

[00:17:07] Anyway, all right, carry on. Sorry. Your mom is Catholic, but she's elapsed. Well, yeah, so no religion in my household. Your parents raised you. It was an areligious house. This guy would come to your house every Friday. This kind of short guy who created this TV show.

[00:17:24] You know, he had like a little goatee and he would tell you about how God isn't real. What is this? Ricky Gervais. They'd be like, Ben, your religious education is about to begin. Ricky? Do you guys know how old Ricky Gervais is? 110. Take a real guess.

[00:17:42] I'm guessing he's 58. 63. 60. It's not surprising, but you just do have to step back and go passage of time. That guy is 60. I'm less shocked by that because when he emerged in Britain, he was one of those guys who had been trying to emerge for a full 10 years already.

[00:17:56] He was like 40 when the office happened. It just is a little bit fascinating to think about. He's 60 and he's still acting this way. What way would that be? Nothing. Speaking truth to power? Acting this way. Courageous. He was the real Benedetta of our time, right?

[00:18:14] I hope he hosts the Golden Globes one more time, but in its press release form. Well, and I hope when he comes back to host it, he tells us how he hates it and he never wants to do it ever again. They didn't want him.

[00:18:24] And it's literally the last time. They didn't want him. He didn't want to do it. Weird how it ended up this way. Come on. What's up? So anyway, so I don't know anything. You don't know anything about Catholicism? No, nothing. I was not baptized.

[00:18:42] But then here's the thing. I'm talking to my mom about the friggin movie, right? She goes, hey, Ben, do you know that there's a saint in our family? What? So I'm related to the guy who founded the Knights of Columbus. How closely related are you to this guy?

[00:18:54] His name is Father Michael McGivney. Michael McGivney. This fellow right here. He's giving me a little haws. Oh, sure. He's a saint? He's beatified. He's actually not a saint. He's blessed. He's on the road to sainthood. Apparently, a second miracle will be required for his canonization.

[00:19:19] So you just got to take one more miracle on this guy. I mean, guys, please start praying. Your podcasting career could be seen as a miracle. I don't know if that's true. That's true. It's kept going.

[00:19:31] Ben, I know your family has long, long history, deep roots in New Jersey. Was this man a Jersian? He's from Connecticut. Okay. I was going to say, I'm surprised because I had heard there were many saints in Newark. All right, everyone out. That's what I heard.

[00:19:47] We're covered in hot. That's what I heard. Yeah, he's a saint. He's a Connecticut born and raised and died in Connecticut. In that fine, fine nutmeg state. I had to think for a second what Connecticut is. It's a nutmeg state. So McGivney, that's his last name? Yeah.

[00:20:12] Is that your mom's side? Are you a McGivney Hosley? Well, it's like the way she explained it was my great-great grandmother's sister's son. Sure. But he's like a first cousin, eight times. They'll invite me to the Vatican, my mom said.

[00:20:30] If another miracle happens, family members get to go. I get to go 50 heaps to the Vatican. Defensively yelling, waving his arms around. I could go to the Vatican. If there's one more miracle attributed to him, apparently. So the first miracle. Yeah, tell us about this first miracle.

[00:20:48] It was under investigation and it was approved by Pope Francis. He healed a baby in the womb after the baby was given a 0% chance of survival by doctors. Then giving a knowing nod. Oh no, but this is the whole thing. It's like someone, he didn't even do it.

[00:21:05] Someone prayed to him and the baby lived or whatever. That's how it happens. I know. Saints, you don't become a saint when you're alive. No, no, of course not. Retroactively, the credit is given when the prayer works. Correct.

[00:21:24] But it's not like they're going back in history and it's like, Oh yeah, he like, this one time he turned water into wine. No one ever mentioned that? Can we chalk up a recent miracle to McGivney? We probably could. Nick Vallelonga has two Academy Awards.

[00:21:40] You think Nick was praying every night to the founder of the Knights of Columbia? I think he maybe has a long list. Nick Vallelonga? You think he just went, I don't know, I think I got a good shot.

[00:21:49] Do you think that means Pope Francis has to watch Green Book? He won two Oscars for this? It's a story by credit. Holy Father, they give it a separate award for screenplay. I know they do. This one screenplay?

[00:22:04] But he didn't like type the script that they used, right? He did an early draft. It was rewritten, but he's grandfathered into the credit. I'm 50-50 on this. Well, it also won the Golden Globe for comedy, for drama. Miracle, miracle, miracle.

[00:22:17] Ben, can I tell you something really exciting that you might not know about saints? Sure. Apparently their bodies aren't supposed to decompose. Oh, like if you went and checked them out?

[00:22:31] That's another way to prove that he's a saint is that his body in his coffin should just be chilling. Unlike genes, if you bury a saint, they will never come around again. I'm looking around for a digging implement and I'd like him to stop.

[00:22:49] I don't want him to get arrested for biting. This would be a really quick and easy way. Imagine how mad the local Catholics would be if Ben desecrated the corpse of the founder of the Knights of Columbus. Listen, I'm related to this friggin guy.

[00:23:05] And then in court it's like, this man has been seen burying many objects on his property. Another fun saint fact. Have you heard the term relic as it's used with saints? It's a 90s movie, The Relic. Well, yes.

[00:23:22] But if you have a relic of a saint, do you know what that means? No. You have a piece of their body. Like a chip of bone. You'll go to some church in Italy and they'll be like, well, of course we have like ex-saints femur.

[00:23:35] And it's like, you know, on display and you're like, okay. Well, I, growing up, I went to Catholic school for 12 years and we had a field trip once to go see a saint.

[00:23:42] And I went to go see the shrine of Saint John Newman, who I guess is a conveniently located Pennsylvania saint. There he is. And in the center of the shrine, it's just this dead body in a glass coffin.

[00:23:58] And there's a mask, a lifelike mask on him that approximates what his face would look like. This isn't a joke. This is 100% true. No, no. When you were explaining that, Marie, the look on Ben's face, I could see the wheels turning of like, maybe I like Catholicism.

[00:24:14] You're finally selling him unorganized religion. This is just all part of a long con for me to convert. Collecting bones? Are you a practicing Catholic? I'm not a practicing Catholic. I mean, I'm Italian. So like it's connected to my ethnicity.

[00:24:28] This was my other question I was going to ask is we know you went to Catholic school because it came up in our old episode. You went to the Wide Awake school. How much was that like a thing?

[00:24:37] How much was Catholicism a part of your family life versus just your education? Like, was it a thing that was upheld in the home? No. Your mom is not Italian. My mom is Catholic. My mom's not Italian. My mom's Lebanese.

[00:24:51] I knew that, but they're both Catholic on both sides. I'm Catholic on both sides. But your parents themselves are not strongly. Were you confirmed? Oh, yeah. I got all the sacraments. I'm confirmed. My patron saint is Cecilia. You haven't been verified yet though, right? We haven't been verified.

[00:25:10] Do you have a blue check? I'm confirmed. I'm unverified. I have to update the blank check website to get us verified. She's the patron saint of music, right?

[00:25:18] She's the patron saint of music and the subject of the Simon and Garfunkel song, Cecilia, which is not about a girlfriend. It's about the patron saint of music. And how horny they are for her. Down on my knees. I'm begging you, please. He's waiting for inspiration.

[00:25:33] But as in that song and in the film Benedetta, there is a lot of overlap between sexual desire and faith. I mean, look, you're thinking about these people all the dang time. You're not allowed to do anything. Yeah. Gotta wear burlap sacks.

[00:25:51] There's been a long history in Catholic art of saints and Jesus being like naked and muscular. Yeah. So hot. When you think about not just Jesus, I think Saint Sebastian is the most common. He's the one with all the arrows. He's kind of an early gay icon.

[00:26:10] Whenever you're in like a European art museum and you're going through and it's like you see Saint Sebastian, right? Like the fucking arrow guy. Every hundred, every 10 years, someone's like, I'm gonna draw the arrow guy. Yeah. It's a strong image. Yeah.

[00:26:24] But Catholicism, which was sort of like the dominant thing in life for the first, I don't know, like. For a lot of the, this is set in the Renaissance. 1700 years. It was the original Marvel cinematic universe. The thing that people built their lives around despite its inherent silliness.

[00:26:43] It was the dominant cultural product. It was the bio-culture. Look, people get married and govern their sex lives according to the MCU. It's true. It's a pretty strong comparison you're drawing there. But it was a way that people could express themselves.

[00:27:03] And if you're an artist today, you can make art about whatever. But back then, you could kind of only make art about one thing. But Marie, once again, it used to be if you were an artist, you can make art about whatever.

[00:27:16] Right, but now you can only make Marvel movies. You can only make Marvel movies. Yeah. And Feige is kind of the Pope a little bit. I mean, look, Papa Kev. No, no, no. But it's not just that it was the only thing you fucking learned about in school.

[00:27:37] The only damn books you read were about. It's not like you could crack open the latest Jack Reacher back in the 1600s. It had to be like, okay, I guess I'll read the Bible again. Nowadays, we call it the good book.

[00:27:48] Back then, they used to call it the only book. Yeah, come to the library. We got one book. You'll love it. It's checked out. David and I are Jewish. We should clarify. I am Jewish. I have studied the Bible as literature in college. I love the Bible.

[00:28:08] I think it's wild and wacky. And of course, you know, us Jews, we have the first half of your life. Yeah, Jesus was a Jew. There's a lot of overlap. I'm a hot sword swinging Jew. Were you raised religious at all?

[00:28:20] I was taken to high holiday services as, I guess, a sort of half like my mom feeling guilty. Because she was raised religious. Although that kind of like 50s Jewish thing of like, we're Americans. First and foremost. We don't want anyone questioning that.

[00:28:38] We're going to call our kids good American names. Because all her older, you know, it's like Shlomo and. I mean, my dad's side of the family is very similar to your mom's side of the family. But all the kids, it's like Daniel, Robert, Ellen.

[00:28:53] You know, like, but they were religious. They went to synagogue. Did you guys get bar mitzvahed? Didn't. Did not. I was the first of three kids. There was a fair amount of like high holiday tradition.

[00:29:08] But it felt like our Judaism was always cultural, like trying to tie ourselves more to the past. Would you have a Seder? My parents giving any shit about this. Because we would have a Seder. We took Passover seriously. We would do Passover.

[00:29:23] We would go to synagogue for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. That's pretty much it. Hanukkah was a pretty half-assed celebration. You light the candle. We really went more for Christmas. I can't think of anything else we celebrated. Why would you pass up the chance to have an awesome party?

[00:29:38] I'm going to have a similar embarrassing story. I want to hear yours first. No, there's a reason. If I had stayed in New York, I think I would have. But I moved to London. I was nine years old.

[00:29:51] They don't have a lot of Jews over there, do they? Hey, sorry, I was just out of the room. What's going on? Not to cast, to paint in broad brush. I'll fill you in on the story as he goes along. Why are you covered in dirt? Don't worry.

[00:30:05] Not to paint in broad brushes about British Judaism. I'm wearing a bag that says bone chips on. Sorry, David, go on. Relics? You crossed that out and wrote relic. We found in Britain that it was like,

[00:30:24] if you're Jewish, you're either going to be super secular and really nice to anything. Can I ask one question quickly because I zoned out for a second? In New York, you found in New York when the story's taking place? No, this is in London. What?

[00:30:38] No, it's like the Jewish communities we found were fairly religious. We struggled to find a sort of quote unquote reform. Obviously they exist. They're much smaller. We never really connected to anything that made sense for us to do a bar mitzvah.

[00:30:53] So we never really, I think if it had stayed in New York, I would have done a classic kind of like reformed Jewish bar mitzvah. Have you thought about what your theme would have been? No, not really. That's a good question. What should my theme have been?

[00:31:06] I've thought about that. I'm not Jewish, but I grew up in a very Jewish neighborhood outside of Philadelphia. And my sister who went to public school went to like 30 bar mitzvahs since seventh grade. Many, many bar mitzvahs. But I always wanted mine to be an Oscars theme.

[00:31:24] Oh, of course. A Hollywood theme. A movie theme would have probably been where I'd grab it. Right. I mean, the whole thing with bar mitzvahs, I'm sure you like, some of them would be like the glitziest fucking are theirs. Ice luges.

[00:31:41] Right, where you're like, did the kid even get consulted? This is just like a really grown up party. And others would be more like sort of fun and fancy free.

[00:31:47] My parents went to a bar mitzvah once where just all the other parents were out doing like shots from an ice luge and like smoking weed behind the synagogue. I was going to say, I recently had this realization of like, oh, fuck.

[00:31:59] I'm like 10 years away from getting to go to my friend's kids bar mitzvahs and I'm looking forward to that. Um, that's interesting. Yeah, I didn't think about that. As oldest of three kids, I think my parents were like, the kid should have some sense of religion.

[00:32:13] Like it felt like neither of them cared, but they were like, I think this is what we're supposed to do. And I just didn't give a shit. But they like sent me to like a Hebrew school. Like I had like once a week.

[00:32:25] But you went to Hebrew school, but you weren't bar mitzvah. That's the whole point of Hebrew school. They were trying to get me into the idea of doing it. I kept on being like, no, I don't want to do it.

[00:32:34] And they were like, you get to have a party and people will give you money and envelopes. People like would clean. There was one Jewish girl who went to my school. Her name was Merrill. And Merrill was like three years older than me.

[00:32:49] But like rumors of her bar mitzvah trickled down to the fourth grade. And the big thing was that like, I don't know in this game of telephone, how wrong this was, but apparently both sets of grandparents gave her those cool iMacs that were candy colored.

[00:33:09] The grandparents didn't consult with each other. So they each bought, she had two iMacs for her bar mitzvah. So this is, you could have gotten two iMacs. This is my thing. And I don't, I just, I was an, I was a very opinionated kid. I'm not surprised.

[00:33:27] And I had this whole stance of just like, I think it's kind of gross that you're encouraging me to do this thing that I openly don't care about so I can have a party and get a bunch of presents.

[00:33:38] Were you also concerned about the whole thing of like becoming a man? Like you wanted to stay a boy forever? Well, my thing, no, very valid question. I think my thing was that I simultaneously was like, the only thing I don't want to be as a teenager,

[00:33:51] I'm happy being 12. I'd love to be 25. I do not want to be a teenager. This seems shitty. Everything I hear about teenagers sucks. Were your siblings? No, they didn't even make the effort with my siblings. They're just like, well,

[00:34:08] I feel like Romilly would have had a great bat mitzvah. She would have. Yeah. But it was that weird thing of just like my parents made me do like all the college admission shit too. We should probably get back to Benedetta, but did you finish your story?

[00:34:21] I'm a very agnostic person when it comes to all of this. And unlike David, I haven't studied the Bible as literature. But didn't you go to NYU? No. I thought you did. I went to CalArts, California Institute of the Arts.

[00:34:37] I thought you were at NYU for like a semester. I just, I dropped out and then hung out with NYU people. That's probably why I got confused. Because at NYU freshman year, we all had to read the Bible. Okay. Yeah. No, never, never, never did.

[00:34:48] You had to read the Bible because you were told it was the truth. Uh, no. At CalArts we all had to read a book about Chuck Jones. Similar to Jesus Christ? Yeah, that's what I called the Bible.

[00:34:59] Bugs Bunny is, as you guys discussed in the Space Jam episode, Christ-like figure. Okay. So this movie, Benedetta. All this to say, I saw this last night. Where did you see it? You watched Benedetta last night? I saw it at the AMC 40 Seconds.

[00:35:15] I saw it at the AMC 40 Seconds. It's a really good movie. I saw it at the AMC 40 Seconds. I saw it at the AMC 40 Seconds. It's playing at like six screens in New York right now. It is. It's also at, uh, I saw it at Nighthawk.

[00:35:30] I got a Sunday. Nighthawk. And it's syndicated over in Bushwick. Right. And it's playing at 42nd Street and it's playing at Lincoln Center. It's getting a somewhat limited release and is going on to, is it already rentable now? Oh, they changed it.

[00:35:43] Yeah. Well, it was supposed to be day and date. Oh, sure. It's next week. And now it's next week. I've seen Benedetta twice. Okay. I saw it first at the film festival a while ago. I saw it at the New York Film Festival. It was very exciting.

[00:35:59] There were Catholic protesters outside with bagpipes. Like eight of them. There were eight of them. They also protested when we were voting for the critics circle. And I was like, it's 80 years. And they're still like showing up outside of screenings at Lincoln Center

[00:36:11] and it's like, oh, it's a day. It's less than 10. What are they mad about? Lesbians. Oh, okay. They specifically have like a sign that says like no lesbians. It'd be funny if it just said lesbians. But isn't this like there's like recorded history of this?

[00:36:27] Oh yeah. It's based on a real story. So what are they mad about? I don't know. Why don't you go fucking ask them? I don't think they've seen the movie. I was going to say,

[00:36:37] I did not know this was based on a real story until the final title cards came up. Right. Because I've been trying to keep myself clean of this. I'm like, what the hell is Paul's doing?

[00:36:43] So at the end when I was like, oh, he's like pulling from real shit here. I thought like if this is just from the twisted mind of Paul Verhoeven, I'm like, this must piss them off like crazy. Right.

[00:36:53] Well, it's a real person and much like his studies of Jesus, he's just accounting for like, look, we can interpret whether or not these were real phenomenon, but the person, their actions were real.

[00:37:01] The outrage is kind of funny because it is sort of what the movie is about. Right. Although I'll say the outrage has been muted. We're not, we don't have a Last Temptation of Christ situation. No, no one's really,

[00:37:16] there's really only like one bagpipe player outside at this point. No, people are not nearly as angry as they were when the first Sonic design was released. Right. That was 500 times angrier. Right. I'm still processing a lot of this movie and also trying to understand the,

[00:37:33] uh, the historical significance of this in a lot of ways. So the histo- so Benedetta- Carlini. Ben saw it this week. David and Marie have seen it twice now and had more time to digest. I saw it on a press screening.

[00:37:47] I rewatched my, I had a screener of it. So I rewatched that this morning. Um, Benedetta Carlini was a real woman who existed in Italy in the 17th century. And, uh, she is interesting as a historical figure because she is one of the only women

[00:38:07] who was not an aristocrat who we have historic records of. Interesting. It's similar to the last duel in that way, which is also based on a true story. Right. Actually in the records. Where we have court records of the existence of this woman's life. Um, she was, uh,

[00:38:28] promised to a community of spiritual women. It was not yet a convent. Okay. So they weren't officially sanctioned by the Catholic church. Right, this movie kind of cleans that up just because it's too complicated. Um, and she, uh, was promised because when she was born,

[00:38:49] it was a very difficult labor and they didn't think that she was going to survive. And her parents prayed and she came out alive and her mother survived, which was not always the case. So she came into this world with Jesus on her side. And as, uh,

[00:39:08] she grew up and established herself as part of this community of spiritual women. She, um, started to experience visions of Christ and, uh, people started to pay attention to her. There's so much other shit too, like the nightingale would sing to her as a child. Right.

[00:39:34] And she would talk to the nightingale and it would like obey her. A dog came and tried to steal her away. And they were like, this dog is an Asian of Satan. Like, and that's what's going on there. Like stuff like that. People are bored. And, uh,

[00:39:50] up until this point in the Catholic church, mysticism was a very common aspect of things. People were having a lot of religious visions. They were bored. So yeah, they're probably getting ill. God knows what they're doing out there.

[00:40:07] I mean, I don't know if lead paint was a thing. But yeah, this is what I'm saying. Like Selecta doesn't exist. Right. So people and mysticism and these really like elaborate visions of Christ. Sure. Very, um, elaborate portrayals of Christ in art.

[00:40:23] Are you reading this book that's full of magic? All kinds of wacky magic. Over and over again, the entire culture is built around it. It's like one of the only things you talk about. You know, you have to have everything processed through. This must be this.

[00:40:35] This must be divine intervention. The most weird thing about religion where they're like, man, life used to be magic, fucking beasts and people transforming shit. And it's like, well, why is my life so shitty? I live in a poop hole, like, and my kids are all dead.

[00:40:49] And it's like, well, just read the book. Come on. This stuff is really good. Benedetta would have these visions and she'd be very vocal about it and people started to listen to her. And she probably would have continued being this mystic figure

[00:41:07] with a lot of respect from her community if she, two things didn't happen. The first being this history of mysticism within the Catholic Church was starting to get squashed by the Catholic counter-reformation. So you have the Reformation happening in Protestantism with Martin Luther and all that.

[00:41:29] That's sort of reforming that aspect of the church. Then in Catholicism, they were like, oh shit, we kind of have to catch up to that. So let's rein in the crazies. Sure. Let's not, you know, we don't want people thinking we're like a religion of loonies. Right.

[00:41:50] So let's tone down these mystical visions. We can't just have every local fricking so-and-so being like, Jesus talked to me yesterday. So that was happening. And then the real Benedetta was, she said she had this vision where Jesus had asked her to marry him. Right.

[00:42:11] And she wanted to stage an elaborate wedding to Christ. And she was very particular about all of the supporting actors that would be in this kind of staged presentation of her wedding. It's her wedding. It's her bridezilla. But that was just like a little too,

[00:42:32] she just kind of went overboard with the theatricality of it. And that's when people started to question her and start to try and bring her down. Flower arrangements. You watch any season of 90 Day Fiancé and people freak out for a couple of minutes. Say yes to the dress.

[00:42:50] She also had stigmata as depicted in the film. Right. She had the stigmata which was a little proof of her, you know, real relationship with Jesus. But, you know, after the wedding other people came into the picture and started to question. Nuncios start showing up.

[00:43:11] Eventually they start asking questions as depicted in this movie. Right. Turns out she'd done some light frottage with another nun. I don't think the... What level of historical record is that? There was, there is within the Bartolomea. Within the court records Bartolomea who is

[00:43:34] the sort of young novice in the film and also existed in real life. Also a really fun name to say. Both of these characters' names are... I mean, incredible names. Benedetta. I would have thought they were made up if they weren't real. Me too.

[00:43:53] Do you want me to read you the actual testimony of what they did? Yeah, because it's funny. Benedetta then for two continuous years at least three times a week in the evening after disrobing and going to bed would wait for her companion to disrobe and pretending

[00:44:09] to need her and that's the real sin lying, would call out Bartolomea would come over Benedetta would grab her by the arm and throw her by force onto the bed embracing her she would put her under herself and kissing her as if she was

[00:44:23] on top of her so much that both of them corrupted themselves. Sort of a euphemism there that you gotta catch all. Basically she's behaving as a man is sort of the most... The difference between the events in the film and what you know the actual court testimony

[00:44:43] the court testimony Benedetta claims that she was being possessed by a demon named Spiritodello I think? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Splendid to Dello Another incredible name Horny demon Yeah, she was like it was that guy did it Right, so in real life

[00:45:07] she said she was possessed in the movie No, she's all woman This is the whole thing about the fuck But it's also kind of Jesus flowing through her And he's hot This guy is H.O.T That's the big question Really, really smart That's what I find fascinating

[00:45:29] Of course I'm not surprised that people are upset about this movie The very people who of course were destined to be upset about this movie and never ever even consider watching it or reading about what it's actually doing But as I said not knowing the actual story

[00:45:51] not knowing it was even a hint of nipple in an unhabit He's just going full like what's it called? Devil's Candy Satan's Alley I'm sorry Devil's Candy is a real movie Satan's Alley that's what it felt like where I was just like

[00:46:15] and I would have been down for that just Paul being like I'm going to make them kiss each other a lot is interesting about this and I think he's really trying to I think he's trying to contend with people's relationship to religion both individual and cultural

[00:46:35] and he's doing that through a specific story and a character that really tests a lot of our beliefs I don't know there is very interesting area for interpretation in this movie and I feel like he does not really come down on I prefer this to the other version

[00:46:59] where we're either seeing someone who just completely is believes this is what's happening or the person who is we see her planning to stage her stigmata and instead it's like oh she had that thing and were you doing something with that? and she's like no

[00:47:19] and you're like okay I don't know what to make of that and I was talking with the New York Times recently about Benedetta and when he spoke about what attracted him to this project it wasn't just the hot Jesus it wasn't just the Christianity angle

[00:47:41] he wanted to make another film similar to Total Recall and Basic Instinct where you have can you believe this person is this real? it's so interesting religion is the ultimate unreliable reality faith is believing something without proof there are scenes where she's possessed where he's doing

[00:48:06] effects on her voice like what's her name in Dune Rebecca Ferguson in Dune she does the voice if she did that to me I'd be like she could just be doing this herself that's the thing I assume so but it's also not so heightened that it's impossible

[00:48:28] that someone could do that with their voice especially if you're about to be thrown on a burning pie Jesus said that you all suck and everyone's like oh he did and then you have scenes where there's copious CGI blood coming out via stigmata and you're just like

[00:48:48] well that feels like he's putting his thumb in my mouth and then you have the ultimate unreliable reality that's what we call episode that you guys did very interesting there's something you said about how that movie is critic proof because no matter what happens

[00:49:18] you can say oh it was in the movie and you can always go back to that I personally think that Benedetta believes her bullshit 100% I think the ending is probably the best confirmation where she's like I kinda wanna go back to the convent though she gets quote unquote

[00:49:41] gets away with it right she has a clean break she does not get burned at the stake you get to hang out in a farmhouse and fuck and she's like I'm gonna go back there and I think her religious visions as depicted in the film are genuine

[00:49:56] to her experience sure yes they might have just been really cool dreams that she had I mean they're really cool dreams I wrote down you know like I took notes during the movie Jesus slashing snakes with swords yeah I mean that was really cool also Jesus

[00:50:17] does not have a penis did you guys I did when she takes off his little loin cloth on the grass couldn't tell if it was tucked away or just sort of not there yeah wasn't sure what to it was tucked but I thought that was a cool little

[00:50:33] little moment and then there's the other sequence where it's not Jesus it's a scary man they don't talk about Jesus going to the bathroom do they in the bible did they confirm did he sit down did he get the seat up it's like Mark 8-12 and then Jesus

[00:50:48] just like you know he's like I don't know what to do and he came out and he said that it was good I mean and this or he was like whew don't go in there something like that this movie talks about going to the bathroom yeah this movie

[00:51:05] got some great pooping farting scenes a battle shit scene yeah okay well I googled did Jesus poop what came up an answer on Quora from Peter Francis Joseph D'Fazio sounds like he had a very strong human physiology so he ate drank urinated and defecated

[00:51:21] like any other human being and in as unsavory a topic as this might seem while Jesus was a baby I'm quite certain the blessed Virgin Mary changed quite a few of his diapers aww that's kind of cute I think I gotta disagree with this read

[00:51:34] you're out on this you don't think Jesus pooped well no in my mind Dukie is the original sin so don't so you're saying he's not without sin I'm saying either he was without sin or he pooped I think the proof of his you know godhood is like

[00:51:51] he pooped without sin every time it was an unsinful poop do you feel that when you go to the bathroom you're sitting that's the deeper question yeah I do it certainly feels like punishment I know someone who as a toddler I feel like I have to atone

[00:52:06] as a toddler would go behind the couch to poop and would just kind of stand there with diaper on with diaper on and it was like yeah he didn't he didn't want to poop and he goes like ahhhh and looks at me she's definitely not ashamed

[00:52:22] she goes full bobcat gold you'll be like why are you so wound up and then you're like oh you're pooping that's what's going on with you that's really funny okay this movie starts with her being it's a little kid she's a little kid and she's paying

[00:52:36] her tuition essentially it's got the classic modern Disney princess opening where you start out with a little version of the main character so you can sell merch of her and then you get the local bandit types right but they're just like look I'm telling you our daughter

[00:52:52] is made for this shit you gotta take her and Rampling who by the way incredible just absolutely taken to the pain and one of those people where you cannot believe that she has not worked with Paul Verhoeven yet I mean the obvious answer is I guess he's only

[00:53:08] made three movies in the last twenty five years twenty years also that you know she's got range she's got range but it's just she's just such a fucking good bit for him yeah I also thought it was funny that like this opening sequence I was like

[00:53:27] huh I think he's doing some mild CGI de-aging on Rampling you couldn't tell if it was a lot of makeup or some CGI it felt light there was just I didn't notice it there's sometimes the weird light reflection when people have been she's got a very light reflection

[00:53:44] on her face and I was like are they de-aging them a little bit I think they make them look older that's the thing so it's like they cast the parents at the age they are in only the first scene and for the rest of the movie they have

[00:54:01] prosthetics on and then Rampling I think was de-aged a little bit it's possible because that scene is twenty years yes but she also looks incredible I think Rampling can play judgement better than almost anyone alive right just the sort of withering stare she's got a good wither yes

[00:54:21] but yes so she's gifted to them right and Charlotte Rampling is the original abyss of this in the film it's a straight up convent it's a convent they don't get into the grey areas did it become a convent later or was it always so in the film

[00:54:42] it is two Charlotte Rampling and everyone else in the town of Pescea's advantage that Benedetta become this mystic because that will legitimize them they want to believe that she is having these visions because in the film they're saying it will bring them fame and fortune because there's

[00:55:02] literally a line in the movie where they're like you see what happened to Assisi after Saint Francis yeah that was pretty cool we gotta get ourselves a saint I love that the Williams sisters turned out well exactly Macy goddammit and I watched like a two hour video

[00:55:20] of the real Rick Macy the other who is weirder than Bernthal in the movie yeah I was shocked so much Bernthal so good yeah but it is and that's so I kind of want to talk about how Benedetta has a lot of fallbacks to past Verhoeven films

[00:55:39] because when we get into this idea of the finances of the convent of people wanting to believe that Benedetta is you know real because it will you know give them money I mean he's always had a history in his films with kind of being I don't know

[00:56:01] if I'd say so much an anti-capitalist but obviously very critical of capitalism and especially in America yeah and I think I think the dehumanization that results the prioritization of capitalism above life right but what I think intensifies this all is that the plague is happening right

[00:56:28] we have not mentioned the plague yet the stakes are so high I mean people are like they are showing just people strewn dead bodies strewn in the street I mean it is awful and then yet I mean I don't know who we meet later in the movie

[00:56:43] but I'll just reference him now the nuncio he's just eating food and just like and his wife is squirting milk from a kitty that juxtaposition it's so fucked up and that is based in reality especially in Italy at the time like the the popes were in like

[00:57:05] renaissance Italy wasn't one of them like a Medici like it was a very corrupt church at the time where like popes were getting married people were making bank off of their religious status it was a very corrupt environment and this character the nuncio it's the first company yeah

[00:57:28] you know I mean I don't know if this is are you gonna go back to the marvel thing no no no no you know I mean we live in a time where there are increasingly people who want to build their entire identity around the idea that they're anti

[00:57:54] cancel culture right and a lot of them are not even people who are ever ever ask for accountability on right like systemic issues that have always been sort of swept under the rug ignored covered up what have you and then also just the innate human behavior to want

[00:58:30] to shame other people to feel better about yourselves which is a part of our time whereas like all human behavior is just fucking cyclical we just keep on getting new tools and outlets to be able to do the same basic instincts we have which are stupid fucking

[00:58:59] animals and we're all just afraid we're gonna die and we want to be like a person through a town and fucking set them on fire what else are you gonna do that day this is my play everyone's like cancel and we just love watching these people suffer

[00:59:32] louis ck just like this balance of wanting to idolize people and being like this makes you uncomfortable fuck them they have to be taken down immediately how dare you and in this culture that is so dominated by religion benedetta is essentially doing the shit that they've been doing

[01:00:05] for so long and benedetta is like hey look you read all the magic and now we walk around everything sucks but someday the magic guy's gonna come back magical shit's gonna happen and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in

[01:00:51] the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in

[01:01:41] the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back in the

[01:02:31] next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back in the next century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back again in the next

[01:03:21] century and we will be back again in the next century and we will be back in the next century and we will be back in the next century and Like, they actually need to stamp a bandana out. Rampling is just trying to fucking, you know,

[01:04:01] not rock the boat over here. She doesn't want the nuncio coming down and being like, yeah. Well, that is that is her fatal. That's like her fatal sin is she brings the nuncio to this. She brings a man into this predominantly female environment

[01:04:16] and he is immediately threatened, which is a theme in Verhoeven's films by a queer woman who an outspoken woman an outspoken queer woman with power one might say the original girl boss and she's very comfortable in her power. Yeah, she is.

[01:04:37] I think it's so did you actually watch Robocop? Yeah, of course last night. Okay, because for me I watched I rewatched Benedetta and then I watched basic instinct the fourth man and total recall and prep for this. Okay, and I think that I think the similarities between this

[01:04:59] and basic instinct are actually kind of they're surprisingly strong. That's interesting. Yeah, because I think that Benedetta is a Catherine Tramiel type character. Sure. Well, you don't know. Yeah, what she's driving her what where she wants to end up. Yeah, she is again.

[01:05:17] Like she's a very powerful queer woman very open with her sexuality and also she's creative Catherine Tramiel is a writer and the whole thing was like she became a suspect because she wrote a book right and that was the thing that Michael

[01:05:33] Douglas is consistently surprised by like, why are you doing this? She's like to learn about you for my book. You're a character in my book. I'm doing research and he cannot wrap his head around the fact that she's a writer. So is Lambert Wilson's purple robes.

[01:05:45] Is that like Michael Douglas's sweater? Is that the parallel there? I wouldn't say their clothes are similar. I think they both kind of have these like their skin feels very like thinly stretched over their faces. They have this like I wouldn't say it's an overtly macho energy

[01:06:05] in a traditional sense, but it is like it's a toxic masculinity in in Benedetta that the toxicity is literal because he literally brings the play to the content. But I I think that when talking about Catherine Tramiel as a

[01:06:30] writer and a creator and something that's not being understood by the man in the film Benedetta in real life and in the movie is very theatrical. She's all she our first introduction to Benedetta as a grown woman is in the middle of a play that she's the star.

[01:06:52] She's the best one. She's good. She's people in the audience like she's like my first reaction after seeing Benedetta for the first time was like, oh, she has main character energy before realizing like she's literally the main character in a movie.

[01:07:05] Like that's a stupid thing to think of. No, but she she yes, she's has a flair for drama. The whole thing about her like dig a grave for me. I'm going to like resurrect myself on this show.

[01:07:16] She wants to be carried into the square that has been part of donkeys like Christ. She's very theatrical and that is what gets her in trouble. You have the thing as a child where the statue falls on top

[01:07:26] of her and everyone like 75% of people are like a sign of blessing people are like a little convenient. Right? I mean, she's the one who has a statue fall down her being Creative. Yeah is one of one of the things that you know, people want to

[01:07:44] Knock her down for we talk about this actress for a second because I did some digging because I was Virginia if you're happy now, which is Kind of a fun movie. Yeah, that was a good movie. I like simple but but she was like a TV presenter.

[01:08:00] Yeah, it was like she was on like the budget or reporter version of American Idol or whether woman like yeah, like It was on a children's show called Megamix. Yeah, she was primarily like a very pretty TV presenter.

[01:08:14] She's very pretty very pretty who then like in her 30s made a pivot where you have to imagine there was probably some pushback like oh she wants to do movies now to mostly like romantic comedies that were well-received and people are like, oh she's fucking winning.

[01:08:26] She's getting like Cesar nominations, but that's like her zone. She mostly does sort of like lighter. I feel like adult dramas and romantic comedies romance based things. She has the supporting part now as the next door neighbor the wife of the next door neighbor.

[01:08:41] She does, you know the thing I'm about to say I assume I mean if you don't if you don't say it, I'm going to say it's giving me the knowing look she is of course in France the voice of Mavis and all three Hilton Transylvania.

[01:08:53] Wow, a lot of dubs. I think like there's other dubs that was Garfield. That was her breakthrough. So that was before she was acting herself. It was like celebrity casting who's a famous person we can get to do the dubs for family movies and those are big enough

[01:09:06] that she started acting on camera again, but this is like a very different role for her. I think she's such fun casting. I do too. It's just like I was watching this and I was like, is this some like Legend of French Theatre? Like who is this?

[01:09:19] Why she looked from my and I saw the L thing and I was working backwards from there and I'm like, this is like if like I Maria Menudo's that like suddenly got like a supporting role in a

[01:09:30] Verhoeven movie and then he was like you're the star of the next one and she went like fucking cam on it. Well, I think like my friend Kristen after she saw this movie her review of it was just to send this tweet from a while ago.

[01:09:45] That was like some actors you can't buy in a period piece. Like Jessica Biel has a face that knows about text messaging seen a cell phone. And so her problem with the film was that she Benedetta too modern Benedetta. She just looks too modern.

[01:10:01] You can literally see like the roots of her hair from where she was born, but my take Benedetta had to be blonde. I agree. She has to be a movie star. I think she should feel a little like weirdly confident in a way that doesn't make sense.

[01:10:19] Like there's the she's this confident little girl who the fucking statue falls on the girls like hmm does the Virgin Mary want me to kiss on her titty? Is that what she's interested in? She has the supporting role in Elvish. She's very good.

[01:10:31] She gets like a big last scene. But her character in Elvish is the one who leans over to Uber and is like, you know, thanks for doing all that insane shit with my husband because I'm not really into it.

[01:10:41] And Verhoeven is like prepping this movie and he's just like she impressed me in that last scene. I just gave her the part. He never tested her. He never auditioned her. He never talked about it with her. Oh, he did.

[01:10:50] He called her up and he's like you want to be my lesbian nun movie? She's like, okay. He's like there's going to be a sex scene. She's like cool. He's like there's a dildo made from a statue of the Virgin Mary. She's like dildo? Hmm interesting. Okay.

[01:10:59] He told her everything entailed. I guess the point I read in this interview with her was that like she was like he never talked to me about how I should play the reality of this what the right what the opinion of

[01:11:11] the movie is, you know, like she was like he gave me complete autonomy to make any of those decisions myself about whether internally I am playing this as a con or as reality and I decided to play everything with conviction which is the right choice.

[01:11:25] Yeah, but it's just a you got to give him credit for recognizing the ability for her to deliver this performance because it does not sound like it was an obvious pick in any way. I think she's great and I think everyone in this is really good.

[01:11:44] I think Rambling Rules obviously, but I really like what her name is Daphne Patakia as Bartolomea. She's just got that kind of like wounded soul thing going on. Yeah, very feral right? I like mean old Christina Luisa Chevalier. We haven't talked about Christina yet.

[01:12:07] I mean girl, which she which feels to me like a fun reference to oh my gosh. Why am I blanking on the name of the black person? Oh, okay. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah that that whole drama that's that's my least favorite part

[01:12:25] of the movie was sort of the second act that sort of their power struggle, but it's still good. I'm more into the first and I mean the last actors where I was like, this is paying off for me in huge.

[01:12:36] It's Lambert Wilson being like you're still fucking lying, but she comes back from the dead. Yeah, that's when the movie is like really cooking with gas. Although I enjoyed the whole thing. It is. I mean you talking to me like the the the overlaps with other

[01:12:48] Verhoeven works, right? It's like it really is Catherine Tremel for this because then you look at the other especially within his Hollywood films, right? And it's like you have the protagonist who are like Robocop and Noni Nomi and showgirls are like innocence, right?

[01:13:04] They are innocents who show up with a kind of purity and are punished for and then end up coming into their own power and sense of self and being able to work things their own way. And then you have characters like Johnny Rico and Quaid in

[01:13:16] Total Recall were kind of just idiots right movie like happens to and they don't understand that their pawns within a larger system whether or not they have any agency or any of that but like Tremel is is that example of a character where you just

[01:13:29] don't fucking know exactly whether or not they're on the level and whether it's on you for judging them or questioning them, you know, it's an interesting line and you think about how controversial that movie was when it came out right how

[01:13:44] outraged people were despite it being a huge fucking blockbuster. It does make sense that that's that's the thing he's lashing onto but I also think it's like it's like his obsession with Jesus where it's like I think it'd be almost impossible for

[01:13:57] him to make the kind of Jesus movie. He wants to make however, you can pick a figure like Benedetta or similarly. There is historical records of some amount of things that happened and you can show them on screen and then debate over

[01:14:08] whether or not this had any actual supernatural power behind it, which is I think what he's into. It's also just like how would we react if Jesus fucking showed up today people have spent centuries just going like come on. He's coming back.

[01:14:23] He's coming back and it's like if he came back people probably be like, I don't know. Fuck you. Let's fucking take this guy out back and beat the shit out of him. I don't believe I don't buy it for a second most most Saints

[01:14:32] especially back in medieval times and pre medieval times were martyrs. Yeah, because no one believed them. You got how much oil poured on you? Oh shit. Could you be a saint right? Is that clear it up at all?

[01:14:46] I know your dad but like it's a lot of the black comedy of this movie is that like here's your steeped in this world of like the obsession with the imagery right and the statues and the paintings and everything everywhere and that no one stops to

[01:14:58] like check themselves when they start to put her through the exact same shit. Yeah, the ending man. This is what we can get to it. If we want to go if we if you guys want to talk about other

[01:15:07] stuff that's not I just want to talk about Lambert Wilson. We can talk about it's just for one. I love the man obviously. I mean, he's the Merovingian. He's the Merovingian. He's in lots of other he's in what's it? What's it called the fuck?

[01:15:20] What is it called Griff? Help me out here. The wolf movie is yeah, brotherhood of the wolf is needed in that. Yes, not yes. Am I right? I think he is. Are we wrong about that? Why do we think that he's in the Matrix reloaded the Matrix

[01:15:33] Revolutions Matrix resurrection? He is in those he's not in brotherhood of the wolf. And what am I thinking? He's in a de Gaulle biopic cool. He played de Gaulle. No that I didn't realize he was in the new Matrix. Yes, he is.

[01:15:45] Oh, yeah, that's what a year for him. I know he's in Catwoman. Of course, that's right. He's the villain in Catwoman. I guess Sharon Stone's the main one but he's sort of the the sort of one who invented the de-aging cream or whatever it

[01:15:58] is the villain in the Marsupilami movie. I guess I really just know him from the Matrix, but there's I feel like there's some big French crossover Babylon AD. I'm like isn't there something pre Matrix Sahara? I'm just looking at all these sort of like paycheck timeline

[01:16:16] Hollywood villain roles. He took but I'm like, what was the crossover movie? I'm forgetting. I don't know. I don't know. But what was I going to say? His whole character obviously, you know comes in with an agenda is trying to take down Benedetta.

[01:16:36] He's got this additional problem with the plague. I mean the scene early when he's arriving and there's the sort of I am Pagliacci scene where the guy is like, I don't know what to do. He's like go talk to your local preachers like I am the little gray.

[01:16:47] Well, that's so funny. Obviously great. Yes, but uh, but you know, he tries to take her down fails because she does a crazy voice. She's much more compelling than him in a lot of ways. Crazy is part of this which is like Charlotte Rampling goes

[01:17:01] and it's like I need you to come fucking check this thing out. Well, they're gone. She dies. She straight up dies and then he shows up and they're like bad news. She's dead and he's like what the fuck came all this fucking not only bad news. She dead.

[01:17:14] She's dead but bad news. You're not even allowed to come into the town here in the place. Benedetta says we're stopping the plague and no one's allowed to enter into our city, right? Yeah forces his way through which is another just brilliant example of that sort of double-sided.

[01:17:32] Yes thing where it's advantageous to Benedetta that they not come in the town because they won't expose her right it also she's right on the line. Shrewd. She really should not be letting people in really close the door sound guidance.

[01:17:49] But what she's been dead for like three days. He comes in is like, okay, let me look at the body not three days. It was the afternoon. Okay, it's a while and then she's like I'm a baby. Who's this fucker? Right.

[01:18:00] He's not quite like that, but she's up. She's talking right? He tries to do that. I don't buy it as you say, of course. She's a political powerful threat to him that he recognizes but there's that insecurity which is what I love about this

[01:18:13] movie that he and rampling have where they're like Jesus actually talking to her like yes, you know, wait a second. I just read a bunch of books and passed on my tests and suck the right dicks and paid the right guys and that's why I'm the nuncio.

[01:18:27] I didn't realize that Jesus could talk to you. Right? Right. We like in theory our power system is based on biting time until Jesus comes back and then tells us what to do. And the second someone's like, hey, just want you know, I got a message from Jesus.

[01:18:39] Here's what to do. They're like fuck. Let's just hold that for one second. I don't want to do that. Right? Wait, you who told you like 15 years working up the rungs of the ladder. I mean not to spoil but the man is stabbed to death at the end.

[01:18:50] He's dying. This is it. Yeah, and she's given him the whole like, oh yeah, I've seen heaven. You're in heaven. President future baby covered in plague boils, by the way, which he's not looking good. He's not looking good. Can we talk about how cool the plague is? Yeah.

[01:19:04] Yeah. Yeah. It's nasty. You get like black bubbles on your body. It feels very like total recall music. Yeah, like I like how makeup be it is. Yeah, you know, it's not realistic. It's stylized but it's upsetting. Oh, it's gnarly. Yeah. Yeah. Damn.

[01:19:20] Well and Ben, I know we have to talk about the farting entertainer. We will don't worry. I haven't forgotten about him. That's like Paul Verhoeven right at the start being like don't worry. It's okay. Don't worry. There is a man dressed in a skeleton costume.

[01:19:36] There are three guys. There's three skeleton b-boys and then we will we will devote many minutes to meet. There's so much pathos and the guy is fucking dying. He's like, okay, Benedetta. Come on. Am I going to heaven?

[01:19:47] And she's like, yeah, and he's like, well, he's like, I heard you died. And when you died, you crossed over and she's like, I've seen it all. There's a paradise. President place. I get it. I know for a fact right good place bad place and he's still

[01:19:58] even his husband was like full of shit Jesus. And now I'm dead. Ah, well, it's right. Such a good brother. Look, sir. The eyes are like to the very end. Where am I going? And she like has the bone where she does the math and goes

[01:20:09] like paradise and it's like fucking liar because he's like you may be either you might maybe you know it and you're lying to me or you don't know it but I know where I'm going to that's what I love about it.

[01:20:21] The fucking Gordian out of it is this whole time. You've been telling me that you're touched and I think you're a fucking liar and then this moment of vulnerability is I'm about to die. I asked you the one question. The one thing that can give me solace.

[01:20:32] Am I going to heaven? And you get the sense that she says Paradise to him out of sympathy in that moment, right? And he's like see I knew it all along. You're a liar. But by saying that he's admitting that she knows what the

[01:20:44] fuck she's talking about but now she's lying about knowing the real shit to make him feel better. You know, yeah. Well, I think he meant that you're lying that you know, I interpret it the other way, but I think once again this movie

[01:20:59] is wallowing in that ambiguity and no one fucking knows what I was wondering about him to hiding his that he has the plague and that in fact all the things that she said is coming true, right? Yeah, like the motivation.

[01:21:14] I felt like it was personal more than anything else to him that he just was like, I've got to see this through even though I have a death sentence and I am bringing this upon all of the other people in this village. He's like fuck Benedetta.

[01:21:28] I'm going to get her right which is crazy because I think there's also definitely some gender stuff going on there that she is has so much power and is wielding it but on him right he's supposed to be representing or acting on behalf

[01:21:44] of some higher power and it's all so petty and personal for him. Well, it he has power and she's using it in a way that is different from it from someone like Charlotte Rampling, which is acceptable power. Yes. She's not yet by the book.

[01:21:59] You're doing the things as our tradition, right? So here's a question the relationship the romantic relationship the sexual relationship how much of that is sort of like a Pocahontas esque embellishing or expansion do we think because I mean David David read it definitely from you know, they

[01:22:18] definitely times away but but like how much do we know about her as a person? We know if she literally carved a penis out of a Virgin Mary statue. Do we know I don't think you're an entangled relationship outside of just the physical of it.

[01:22:33] Like we know that she she she fucked around with this woman, but do we know that much about the woman or the nature of their relationship beyond the physical act there? There are not as many records about Bartolomea outside of

[01:22:46] the testimony in court and they I mean this movie depicts them. They you know, you got this testimony out her out of her by torture. Yes, which I'm sure is how that went down a pair of anguish dad, which is a real thing.

[01:22:59] Brenda, I don't want any of that shit near you. But which I'm sure that's how it went down. They're always fucking compelling. Yeah, it's a real it's one of those false witness. Although it they the pair of anguish they've like bound examples of it.

[01:23:16] Like they have like literal versions of it and then I think historians like have made an educated guess as to how it was used. But there's no actual record. There's no temporary first-hand accounts of how to use this thing, right?

[01:23:32] So the Joan of Arc thing to where he's like, you know, Joan of Arc. We all agree Joan of Arc pretty fucking good, right? Pretty good. Pretty good at what she did. And once again, yeah, we love her. Right, right.

[01:23:41] It's like she just looked at these fucking devices and she gave in. You don't think you're better than Joan of Arc. Do you? Well, once again, there's a good bit of reverse psychology. I'm saying there's this like cyclical logic to it where it's like we all agree.

[01:23:53] It was fucked up that we torture Joan of Arc because now with distance we all agree. She was probably in the right. She was probably in the right, right? So you don't think you're better than Joan of Arc by pretending you are being persecuted unfairly. 100% love it.

[01:24:05] Yeah, okay. The torture stuff, the violence like and that's like a Verhoeven right? Like just is like brutal depiction of violence. A lot of CGI blood in this movie, which is interesting to see from him. It has a very different nature to it.

[01:24:23] I feel like he uses it in a very stylized way, but you can tell as opposed to like Verhoeven previously being a guy who just had fucking gallons and gallons of syrup poured everywhere that there's more control in the arcs of these things, you know?

[01:24:35] It feels more matter-of-fact like it was kind of in that time. I mean like life we just we people didn't have the same concept of like this like the preciousness of life. No, and this is also this is this is the thing with Verhoeven

[01:24:48] you cannot choose his perspective on the world was was hard-earned through a childhood of desensitization to everything. He served in the military, right? He grew up as a child in Nazi occupation. He saw death around him in dead bodies as he skipped to school

[01:25:08] and all this fucking shit and he always tells that story about being inspired by the Bosch painting where there's a guy like pissing in the side and he's like that's what I want to make his movies and this movie feels like that were anytime they're

[01:25:18] walking through the town. There's just so much like shit happening and no one's really clocking any of it and when the violence happens, it's like shocking and sort of just it's like everydayness in a certain

[01:25:28] way even though it's like I mean that's how I felt when I saw flesh and blood. Yes, where I had not seen a film that took place in that time period that was so like gross and fucked up right?

[01:25:41] He doesn't sugarcoat and it like I probably was disgusting back Absolutely, flesh and blood which I like to say being a wildly unpleasant movie is pretty much like just that whereas here. I think he's found a really compelling story that he's connected

[01:25:56] to where he's able to also put in that sort of like world around it. It's good. It's good. It's good. I think it's a very successful film. I am very happy that he made it. I want to see the second time very badly.

[01:26:11] I enjoyed watching it a second time knowing because I definitely the first time was sort of especially stuff like her dying or whatever. I was just like, you know, I kept kind of like freezing in my sleeping like what like, you know, like there were a lot of

[01:26:22] moments. Yeah, it's not like where I was like, I can't believe it. I was just sort of like well, that's definitely not what I thought was going to happen. I appreciated the humor the second time around. There's a really funny part in this movie where when Benedetta

[01:26:37] it becomes the leader of the convent and she is making her first like official request of Charlotte rambling who has now been demoted and a another none in the convent is dying and Charlotte rambling is sitting by her side.

[01:26:55] But Benedetta is like, it's actually going to be my first Vespers today and I want you to be there for it because Jesus told me that you should be there for it and Charlotte rambling is like, okay fine and then Charlotte Charlotte rambling

[01:27:09] his daughter Christina as the aforementioned mean girl in the convent was like should I be there too and Benedetta was like Jesus didn't mention you. An actor who is more innately modern in that way allows you to sort of like have that commentary without needing to

[01:27:28] underline it or play it deliberately same thing. I mean, I feel like this debate was going on of like is Will Smith to Will Smith the play Richard Williams, right? Like should it have been a character actor and I'm like look

[01:27:42] home and Domingo could have played that David O. Yellowell could have played that their people could have played that but part of what you need to make that movie work is anytime this guy is saying the shit that sounds insane.

[01:27:50] You're like fuck but he is the most charismatic man. I've ever seen. Well, I think they're well, I mean King Richard. I think another movie that I've seen twice. I think there are ulterior motives for casting someone like

[01:28:03] Will Smith to play Richard Williams a guy that was not well liked or respected sure, but I'm saying it's like oh, let's have like a famously likable guy play him to as a bit of like reputation management. I think even beyond that just in terms of functionality of

[01:28:20] the movie and this is not a King Richard episode, but it's like both are interesting examples of how you need to cast like a movie star to make a movie work versus casting an actor who can literalize the part right is just like if you

[01:28:32] have a guy you watch real interviews with Richard Williams and the guy is kind of so unpleasant in so many ways right that you're like if you cast someone to play this literally you as an audience will never buy that he convinces anyone

[01:28:47] that anyone takes him up on the offer. The guy has to be somewhat likable in order to believe that he's able to convince anyone to bet on these kids and it's the same thing with her where it's like we as an audience

[01:28:58] need to be like I kind of think she might be on to something because she's the person I recognize most in this movie. Her behavior seems the least alien to me despite the fact that she's like speaking in tongues and bleeding out of her hands and everything.

[01:29:10] I don't know good movie good performance movie. It's it's a movie filled with ideas, which is not how I guess it was originally marketed in a very like yeah salacious way again as we spoke about earlier in film market.

[01:29:25] I'm sure they were just like oh he's going to make fucking showgirls with nuns right? You know how to sell that you know, yeah, which which this is the thing. It's like what's funny about this movie is if you go into Expecting that you'll be like, huh?

[01:29:39] That's a lot more like sort of disciplined and restrained than I imagined. But then if you go into it off of that description, then you're like this movie's horny as shit, right? You know, right? It's like restrained only by Verhoeven standards in terms

[01:29:55] of your mind's eye assuming how far it could go and it certainly doesn't feel like he's doing anything in this movie for shock effect. But I also think that the weirdness of Verhoeven and why No one is able to replicate him is I don't think

[01:30:10] He ever consciously is trying to be provocative. I think there's the weird area to his mind where he's I think he's he thinks a lot of it's funny, but I also think he's just like I'm the only one willing to say it, you know,

[01:30:25] I think people like who try to make provocative movies right? It feels more like okay. Come on. I don't think he I don't think that provocation was at the forefront of his mind with this movie. No, which I think is interesting.

[01:30:42] Yeah, especially considering the the danger he was going to find himself in covering anything close to this subject matter that people are just going to be like fuck you absolutely not get out of here Paul. Well wasn't that like why he didn't end up making his Jesus

[01:31:00] movie years ago because of what happened to Scorsese in the last edition of Christ and he's like, hey, I mean I can handle so much right but with something I do really care about like my life's work as a scholar of Christ use also wanted to get involved.

[01:31:14] We're going to get a fucking fair shake. There's going to be a controversy that overwhelms whatever I'm trying to do with this movie. People are not going to meet this halfway. Yeah, he makes more movies. What's what's the one line on the new Meyer movie that just

[01:31:27] got announced this week? I'll look it up. I remember it does it sounded fairly compelling right and then the thing like six months ago was he said I'm like developing two movies. I'm developing a script with new Meyer and then there's like a Hollywood thriller.

[01:31:37] I'm considering it's called young sinner the new Meyer movie. Yeah, and he says oh it takes place in DC political thriller set in Washington DC DC our heroine a young staffer who works for a powerful senator is drawn into a web of intrigue and danger.

[01:31:52] And of course there is also a little sex. There's also a little sex. Of course. And then he yeah, that's what he said. I don't know about the other thing that this is the one thing I know about but I'd love him to make it someone give him

[01:32:08] money. I just I want to bring him back to America. I think he is one of our greatest critics of American culture to make at least one last for him to be on the inside. Yeah, I think he has to make a studio system movie and I'll

[01:32:22] even count like a Netflix movie or whatever if that's what it takes. It takes him going to Hulu. I'll suck it down. I just want taking money from like an American Corporation again and going like thank you very much. I mean, it's a way to do his perfect.

[01:32:39] So funny watching like the opening credits of Benedetta and seeing like 10 different production companies. I mean, he's just taking like 10 cents from like I know 20 different people which is why you're like the just put a nipple poster out there American film market, which people

[01:32:58] haven't been is like the basement underneath con and it's just the seediest shit in the world. Yeah. I mean like serious thing of count is like the yacht parties. Well, okay, then it's the American film market. Correct? The layers of Connor maybe should make a movie about the

[01:33:13] con film festival. All right. So if we're gonna I guess maybe be done with talking about the movie. There really is only one thing. I think that really needs to be addressed, which is that when we first arrive to the village into a what's the town called again?

[01:33:32] Pescia town. You kind of get a sense of what's going on in the town Square. I wish people could see Ben's body language. There is a performance happening. Okay, there is there is a gentleman with a he's holding like a flaming torch.

[01:33:50] He's got a torch lit torch, right? And with him and our bone men face three men dressed as Skellington's and they're seeming Mikey day Bobby Moynihan seeming to kind of come up and and to attack him if you will. Uh-huh. Well, what does he do to defend himself?

[01:34:07] He turns the torch around and he produces a fart thereby making the flame bigger. They run away in fear. So this is what my father's favorite references when I was growing up around the house. There was the man named Lapita Maine.

[01:34:21] Which Mel Brooks takes the character name for the mayor. He plays in Blazing Saddles. It's a say the name again. I believe his character. I believe that the man's name was Lapita Maine. I might be mispronouncing. Yep. No, you're right. He was a professional French. Flash.

[01:34:37] How do you spell that list around the start of the 20th century is le then P E T O. Right? Yeah. Okay. Sure. Sure. So he was like the star flatulence of the beginning of the recorded era, you know, where you were able to photograph

[01:34:51] he like, you know, recorded it on a gramophone. It was like, you are they recording sounds? Now I got a sound was a hit fucking greatest hits man. Right? Actually this shit into a record. Dang. My point here is just I was raised in a household.

[01:35:06] The guy recorded that because you know, he's farting. Yeah, maybe that guy was in another booth. I hope so. Why do you think they started the buildings town proof? Exactly. It was about the sound leak and I was like, well, they were

[01:35:19] like, oh, the padding is for the that's what's not. That's what's not in get back. Yes, like 80. Actually, I think they do rip some parts and get ring go far and ring the fuck. They should have like a wet hot style far track on my point

[01:35:32] here is that I grew up in a household. My father it was very important religion was not important in our household. What was important was that my father made sure that my siblings and I knew that farting is a profession that it

[01:35:46] has been held as a profession and celebrated within the arts. Did you not know before this scene that such a thing as a flatulence existed? I 100% knew. Okay, I feel like I've known that my whole life. Okay, for some reason.

[01:36:00] I just didn't expect it to show up in this move. I did not and I was really fucking excited and here's the thing. It made me think like how we're thinking like entertainment. Sure. How have we moved away from that? You're saying like bring it back improv classes.

[01:36:16] Fuck. There should just be a class where you guys like how to fucking part like on cue that shit is everyone sitting at the UCB training center guy comes in with eight torches. He's like everyone take a torch. All right.

[01:36:28] All right now light them up when I tell you no like listen, that's that is like almost I'm almost like is that comedy peaked can I tell you about an entertainer who lived in 12th century England? Please he went by the name Roland the farter.

[01:36:44] His style amusingly his given name was George, but I guess he thought Roland just really worked with farting. He was given a manor in Suffolk and 12 acres of land in return for his services is a gesture to King Henry the second edge every year.

[01:37:05] He was obligated to perform unum saltum at Stiffle them at unum bumble them which means one jump one whistle and one fart the Kings Court at Christmas. I think these people used to be celebrated. They used to be held up as pillars of our community and

[01:37:21] over like the fucking you know, tax books or whatever. Far joke is shorthand for hacky comedy where people are like look, I'm not gonna put fucking fart jokes in my thing and it's like these people used to be thought of as artists

[01:37:33] like I see the shit and I'm like look what they took from exactly in our blank check text thread. Ben did send us the Wikipedia for flatulence. He did. That's how I found rolling. Yeah, it's apparently st. Augustine in City of God mentioned some performers who did

[01:37:52] have quote such command of their bowels that they can break wind continuously at will. Yeah, it seems to produce the effect of singing. Look at Eloise. Let's do the thing with the Peter man. It seems like he could almost draw air in and then shoot it out.

[01:38:06] It's the best there ever was not Michael Jordan of farting it's not even fair. Yes, I think we'll be a man had incredible control also noted here a Terrence and Philip are not on the course. Well, but of course, I don't know.

[01:38:22] I think a biopic is like the move for a flatulence. See why do I feel like Peter main? I feel like someone was trying to make a lapidomain movie for a while. I feel like my father would always talk about wait. Sorry Griffin.

[01:38:36] I know that you're French, but did you know that lip? Lipidomain comes combines the French verb Peter to fart with men maniac. The parting mania. Fart-o-mania. I'm just a literal translation like King Henry at his fucking Christmas dinner and like some vassal is like my lord.

[01:38:56] You are so good. He's like, uh-huh. Uh-huh. And he's like is rolling the farter here yet? Like when is when we when are we getting that is that after dessert or before? I just want to know. I just want to know when I'm getting it.

[01:39:07] He's looking forward to it. It's a great performance. I like if he's doing one fart a year. Is he like in training for months like eating all kinds of things? Develop new farts, right? Wait, there was an Italian film in 1983 called il petto mani starring Ugo Donazzi.

[01:39:26] All right. Well, I'll report back on that. Yeah, you should watch that. We should play the box office. Yeah, we should play the box office game. Thank you for allowing me to just go off on that tangent. Of course. That was he also I'm sorry.

[01:39:39] He also apparently appears to the character in Moulin Rouge. I forgot about that. Oh, yeah. Oh, that makes sense. I mean, you know, it's all going on then there is a modern day flatulence. Mr. Methane. Mr. Methane. Earth ain't Paul Oldfield. He started performing 1991 briefly retired in 2006 restarted

[01:39:59] him in 2007. He claims to be the only performing farter in the world today. He worked on the railways before focusing on his flatulence performance. Okay, he wasn't farting on the railways. He was doing real real work this website. Does it have sort of Angel Fire vibe? Absolutely.

[01:40:20] Oh, this guy's kind of got like a Riddler look. He has an album. He auditioned for British. Okay, Britain's Got Talent. Should I buy a fart in a jar right now? You can buy a fart in a jar. He has a DVD called Mr. Methane. Let's rip.

[01:40:36] Let's also say he's dressed like a superhero. Yeah in 2004. It's a lapidomane has class like he's wearing. He's wearing a tuxedo. Yes, and he's holding the one finger up like he looks like a fucking conductor. Yeah, he will also make a short video of your ceremonial

[01:40:50] guffawing ritual guffing ritual as I fill your jar with pure Mr. Methane ass gas. I see. I don't like how goofy this guy is. Yeah, you should be clean. You should be coming in and like a cape. I think black cake. Classy.

[01:41:03] Like a tuxedo classy in July 2014 saw Mr. Methane release a fart app for Android devices. The app had originally been developed in 2010 for the iPhone but was rejected by Apple. Yes. Yeah, this guy's he's like it.

[01:41:21] I don't mean to be rude about the Brits but like is this like the sort of like weird Panto shit that you guys all like? I don't it doesn't translate over here. It doesn't. All right. Okay. All right. Box off video. Cut the get Mr.

[01:41:37] Methane out of here. He's bumming me out. Banging one over. Hold on. Wait, he has a shit eating grin on his face right now. He's red. His face is red. He's so happy. Okay. Okay. All right. Sorry. This box office game is interesting.

[01:42:01] I truly have no idea what's number one. We're essentially talking about last weekend. Yeah, right. It was December 3rd 2021 and as we're saying this light weekend because it's sort of a post Thanksgiving week. Right? I think it's a specialty box office has struggled.

[01:42:13] IFC's plans for bandetta have shifted back and forth many times over the last couple months. I think they ended up putting this on more screens than they 200 and on screens and they're also holding it there for a little longer than originally intended.

[01:42:24] So this might end up making a little bit of there were only like three people at my screen. I will say I had a decent crowd last night at a 6 p.m. Times Square Thursday night. How many teens were there to make out? None. No making out respect.

[01:42:41] I didn't tell any at the very least. It felt like a very respectful art house. How many months would you say there were 45? Wow. Yeah. How many little brown packages wrapped in string? That's it's down to music reference. Okay, number one. The Bobbins. The Bobbin.

[01:42:57] That's a wild weird scene. Yeah, we're Benedetta's kind of really nasty to see that's but that's also like I was watching. I was like, this is everything I expected out of a Verhoeven lesbian non-sploitation. We were that feels like a weird like early showgirls nagging scene right?

[01:43:12] That plus when Christina is forced to whip herself. Yeah, and then Benedetta and Bartolome are both like turned on by it afterwards. Yeah, I was like, ooh. That's pretty Verhoeven. Yeah. Yeah, those Bobbins just let him boil. Who cares? Get a slotted spoon. I don't know. Yeah.

[01:43:35] Yeah, number one of the box office Griffin is an animated film number one at the box. I know what it is. I know what it is. It's Encanto. Encanto. I haven't seen it. Has anyone? Yeah, it's out in the world. No, but have you seen it Griffin?

[01:43:50] I have seen it. Okay. Jesus. I'm gonna have to be so fucking like dodgy about it. No, here's my thing. I think I saw it maybe the day it came out. I've been working on a voiceover job that I still cannot

[01:44:06] talk about right and I had like a very long intensive voice over session for this thing and have not been sleeping well and was just mainlining caffeine to keep my energy up to do the fucking silly cartoon voices right for like hours on end.

[01:44:24] So like drink a bunch and then kept on being like, can I get more caffeine team or caffeinated tea? So then I get out of this like session and it's like 6 7 p.m. And I was like, I have like too much energy in my body and

[01:44:36] I don't know how to come down right? Let me like have myself a little dinner glass of wine, whatever and I was like, I still feel too amped up. So I was like trying to get home with like all this adrenaline rushing through my body.

[01:44:48] I'm gonna fucking tell the story and I'm like in Times Square getting ready to like get on a train to go home and suddenly I need to shit worse than I ever have in my entire life in there, right?

[01:44:59] And I'm like, like I I maybe have two minutes, right? I was just like up against the clock and I was like starbucks this there. Where's their fucking public restroom that I can physically get to in time and I like looked and I was like my only solution

[01:45:13] is I have to I have to buy a ticket to go see a movie. I've done it. So you saw in Canto because you had to shit right? So I like go upstairs and have the worst shit of my life and

[01:45:21] then I DMC 24 42nd Street or 14th Street, 14 Square. Oh, right. I just have this like destructive shit. I'm like what starts in 30 minutes, right? That was the first thing I was like, I don't really feel like seeing this right now. I've just spent the day doing cartoon voices.

[01:45:35] After this, right? But it's like I pay fucking $18. I'm like tapping the button. I'm holding my butt. I'm like running upstairs. I get there horrible shit clean up the damage and then I'm just sitting there. I'm like now I gotta watch in Canto. You don't gotta.

[01:45:49] I felt like I feel sillier if I didn't watch it. Okay, but so it's like that just happened and I'm like crashing from caffeine and the movie started and I was like, I can't handle this is distressing me out.

[01:46:00] The movie is like very loud and very bright and like very energetic how dare it a children's film from Disney about life in Columbia which I don't hold this against it, but it's like more manic than most recent is it's Lin-Manuel right?

[01:46:17] He wrote the music Byron Howard the Zootopia one of the Zootopia directors is the director. It's an odd film and I was watching and I was like, I think this doesn't work at all. And then I read some reviews by friends of ours people really like Bilga's.

[01:46:31] Bilga is a huge fan of it. Right? And I was like reading and I was like the movie they're just describing sounds interesting to me. I maybe need to give this another shake the thing he pointed

[01:46:41] out about which I agree with and I'm only going into this because someone on our reddit thread was like does Griffin hate this I just I feel like I don't really have a fair opinion of it yet. The thing I found really fascinating about it and Bilga called

[01:46:53] this out but almost as a positive quality of it. I don't know yet. Is it like really feels like a stage-bound musical the show the show I call it fucking show the movie almost never leaves the fucking house like the whole thing takes place in the house.

[01:47:09] They never made me go like to box. It's so interesting outside of the house. Are they ghosts? No, and it's like there's so many characters in a way that like in movies you're not used to but in Broadway show you're like

[01:47:20] here's the ensemble and we name this person once and they have a costume and you never really need to develop them and the whole thing kind of takes place in proscenium. The songs are pretty much sung straight to camera.

[01:47:29] Every character has a solo number that were like here I am and here's my deal and then they like disappear, you know, or they just go back into the ensemble and it feels like it has like an

[01:47:39] act one that's just like world building and the stuff in the house feels like it would be like incredible stagecraft and then act two where you're like, oh, this is what it's about but the whole first act. It's just kind of I don't know. It's it's very odd.

[01:47:53] It's narratively odd. Bilga made the argument that everything I think is odd about it is actually pretty interesting and daring which I'm willing to accept but watching it. It did not go down easily for me. It's a movie in which I I say currently no opinion non-applicable non-compliant.

[01:48:06] Yeah, haven't seen Encounter of Ben you saw it? No. Feels like Disney dumped it. No, it's doing okay, but it's also going on Disney plus in 30 days. It'll be on by Christmas. They they decided not to Disney plus it inferred like their sort

[01:48:21] of weird mysterious approach to 2021 where they're like this one is and this one isn't this one isn't this one everything's a trial balloon. They put it out at Thanksgiving which is normal, but then they didn't really give it a lot of juice.

[01:48:32] I just know I just felt like they because like they I got invited to like one screening. Yeah, I don't know. They were just not really. Are they marketing it to children? I don't know sometimes. I feel like I don't see any marketing for something.

[01:48:43] I'm like, oh, I'm not the target. I'm fine. It's made a fair amount of money on us. It's made 60 million dollars. What what do you think? So we brought up Disney plus make this quick. I just I take back what I said about the Beatles. You watched it.

[01:48:59] It's pretty damn good. They're pretty my favorite movie of 2021 even though David says it's not a movie. It's a TV show or whatever rules. So rules it kind of I got really into it. Yeah, they're pretty bad energy. Honestly, they're a bunch of killers. Who's your guy?

[01:49:21] Oh, come on. I can't that's tough. I don't know you got from fuck the Beatles to how could I pick a love them all? But I feel like Ringo would be your favorite. I do think Ben has a bit of a Ringo, but I also think that as

[01:49:35] a producer Paul is the producer character. I think Ringo is the one that Ben would find the most amusing but I'm like Georgia probably the one he liked the most as a guy. I think so. It has John sense of humor sometimes. I don't know.

[01:49:50] Is it like sex in the city where like everyone has a bit of Samantha Carey? Yeah, I think it is inside your head. Yeah. Also Carrie Bradshaw has the podcast. Yes, she everybody's getting into everyone's getting into

[01:50:05] it. I like in Canto more than I liked Raya, which I think I did not like and I need to give in Canto a second strike. I will say it is interesting to me having done Musker and Clements earlier this year who now are apparently out of

[01:50:19] retirement ready to make a very very different animated movie. That's very exciting to me. There should be more fucking like superhero adaptations in different mediums and different styles rather than these fucking canonical interconnected universe shit, but I was

[01:50:34] going to say it is interesting to me and cancel was the time where I'm like man for how much this new era of CGI Disney Princess musicals was like we're fucking modernizing these things. We're doing away with tradition.

[01:50:45] They have really boiled it down to a formula now where the structure of these movies are like the opening scene is always the main character as a little girl and an elderly relative tells them the family history explains the entire age is up

[01:50:58] and they're sort of like I love everything but maybe it's a show because maybe I'm actually friends and they enter a con vent. They start having visions of Jesus and they like they none of them have love interest anymore and they all have weird

[01:51:10] villains who like aren't really villain right at the twist is who the villain is right, but then but then ultimately it's like they weren't bad. They were just sort of misinformed and they understand that all kind of got to me a little bit which it's like it

[01:51:22] just feels like we're maybe designing it to you. There's nothing wrong with that 1999 in the Disney Renaissance of the 90s where it's like, okay, fuck it. We get it. Come on. Gotcha time to revitalize this. How would you rank the Disney animated releases of this year?

[01:51:36] What's the other one? There's three aren't there? Luca. I love Luca. I love Luca. I love Luca. I've watched Luca twice on it really grew for me the second time. I also Luca blue Luca. I got a Luca steelbook my friend.

[01:51:48] I think that movie is wonderful and I like how modest it is. I like the ambition to be like we don't have to fucking make some profound existential. It's going to destroy you emotionally thing. It does feel like a Studio Ghibli movie in that way where it's

[01:52:03] just like what's just a small Tory story. Well told yeah, Luca rolls. Okay number two at the box office is gone. It's not House of Gucci. Is it no house of Gucci number three. It dropped it. Although it is far and away the highest grossing drama of 2021.

[01:52:20] Yeah, it's making you know some money after one weekend. It had outgrossed all other dramas released this year. Look been a weird year. Yep. Gonna be honest with you number two house of Gucci is number three, but number two is new release or all together.

[01:52:37] We saw it together. It's not a new release. The only new releases number four. What's what's the thing that we saw together recently? Give me genre, please. Uh, it's a sequel action sci-fi children's adventure. You know all that shit. It sounds like every what did we see together?

[01:53:05] This is why I was grumpy. Oh, how telling is it that I've already blocked this from my memory. It's Ghostbusters Afterlife. Ghostbusters. I forgot that was I know I was so angry about it. And now I've just forced it into a memory hole Ghostbusters Afterlife.

[01:53:25] We look we were debating before the movie. I was like, I think this thing is going to be a depressingly big hit and you were like, I don't I think it's going to land limp and then after the movie I was like, you might be right.

[01:53:36] It might crawl to a hundred. It's it's a hit by whatever current standards of box office success. We have which are obviously graded on a curve. The thing is working. I'm surprised it's working by 2021 standards. It's done. Well making a hundred million dollars by other standards.

[01:53:53] It's done pretty badly, I guess but I think they're happy. I think everyone's happy cost half as much as Ghostbusters 2016 and we probably end up at the exact same numbers. Number five for number four. The three is Gucci number four is up to 3036 at this point.

[01:54:10] I think number four is in this broken here. Yes. Yeah, a faith film. Oh, oh it has a sort of surprise title, right? It does. It's called is it the Kurt Warner movie? No, it's not. No, like there's another one the blank colon blank for blank or something.

[01:54:29] It's not that crazy, but it's people basically seeing Christmas films from the set of a movie called The Chosen. Isn't there a subtitle to it? There is so the film is called The Chosen. I guess that's like a faith movie or no way. I don't fucking know.

[01:54:46] Look the movies called Christmas with the Chosen colon The Messengers Christmas with the Chosen colon The Messengers. Thank you and David said the title is not that crazy. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I don't understand how those words relate to each other. I don't either.

[01:55:05] Artists perform new and classic Christmas songs from the set of something called The Chosen. So it's a concert film on the set of a Christian movie, right? Which I don't think that. The Chosen is a TV show. I don't know.

[01:55:21] There's 17 episodes of The Chosen which seems like it ended. Three years ago. I don't know what the fuck is going on, but it was the number four Christmas with the Chosen. Christmas with the Chosen. Okay, The Chosen was a TV show about Jesus.

[01:55:42] It was the first multi-season series about the life of Jesus and of course. Is this the thing that Roma Downey and the dude who the other her the producer that she's married to who did Survivor did know what's his name? This is like an Australian guy.

[01:55:56] It's Mark Burnett. Mark Burnett. Yeah, is it the Mark Burnett thing? No, this is a guy named Dallas Jenkins who crowds like a fake name funded this. It was the most successful media crowdfund of all time. He's some bootstrappy. His father wrote The Left Behind books.

[01:56:15] He started a Christian production company. They've been making films. They've had a good number of films. They did a movie called Resurrection of Gavin Stone, which was WWE's faith-based film. So he's had a couple of these faith-based movies that broke

[01:56:29] out a little bit then he self-produced through GoFundMe or whatever a two-season Jesus TV show the second season of which came out this year and then this is a special shot on those sets with people singing the songs. Yeah, it's made 10 million dollars. That's insane.

[01:56:47] And the chosen the TV show of course is streaming on vid angel, which is an American streaming video company that allows the user to skip what may be considered distasteful content. That sounds great. Isn't it kind of insane that like some of the best art that's

[01:57:01] ever existed in the world is like Catholic art, but like there's never been any good Christian art. It's an interesting question. I think there's been good Christian art, but there are a lot of bad question. Like American evangelical Christian art. I know what you're talking about.

[01:57:16] That's there has been no good Christian. Right. Yes. Vid Angel is one of these companies that got sued by all the major studios where they're like you're recutting our movies. Well, you can't actually just cut out all the swears and put it on the platform.

[01:57:28] So now it seems like they've shifted to making their own content. That's how it always goes, baby. Everyone making content now. They have to pay 10 million dollars in damages to different studios for editing their things. Yeah, a big part of their original content is they did a 52

[01:57:42] comedy specials as part of a lineup called Dry Bar Comedy. Yeah, I actually wrote that. Number five at the box office. I'm moving us off of this bullshit is a Marvel film. It is Eternals. It's Eternals, which is made quietly 400 million dollars worldwide,

[01:58:00] even though everyone was like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's kind of a wet fart, right? If a movie. Yeah, I really liked it. David. I like it. Oh, you did. Yeah, I also like movies about weird set robots. You don't know what to do with them.

[01:58:13] Neither of you have seen it, right? No, I don't. Marie doesn't really go in. I know. I was I was so ready to be indifferent and I think that movie is really interesting. I think it's a mess. The thing I equated it.

[01:58:29] I mean, we were texting back afterwards and I was like, I think it's a shittier version of the old guard. I think the old guard accomplishes everything. I find interesting about that movie by and large in a general

[01:58:38] agree with that way except for the one big thing the movie does that I think could only be done like 25 films into a Marvel Cinematic Universe that I think is pretty interesting. The thing I quit to for you was like Tomorrowland where I'm

[01:58:52] like this movie is subjectively a fucking mess but it has ideas that I think are so bizarre and the confidence of which it thinks it's going to get a mainstream audience to accept these ideas is hard for me not to be a little one over.

[01:59:04] I just think it's so cool. Some dude. I was on a set with recently was like trying to explain how the movie was like one big abortion metaphor. And I'm like, I'm like, I don't know. Not picking up that vibe.

[01:59:20] I just think it's hilarious that Marvel released the film this year. That was sort of like, you know, lesser known property still kind that's kind of exciting. Like it's not, you know, Thor for right, right. It's from the holder of the current best picture.

[01:59:34] Best director trophies and Marvel's like check it out. Never was like through fruit. Not only that, it does not the grand arbiter of our culture, but it is this is the set. I find it sounding the first rotten Marvel movie in terms of

[01:59:52] rotten tomatoes ever and you think about how many fucking wet fart movies they've released and all of them just got like, I don't know. This one isn't great 80% fresh. And this is the first one where people are like fuck this. Well, it's because they set our expectations higher.

[02:00:07] Sure. Yes. That was part of it. I think that's part of it. I think what their knives out for it because they were like how dare you try to actually something legitimate be like a close. John made a movie for us and check it out.

[02:00:15] You know, they of course they're gonna I just lay on the mustard. I think so many of the critics who style themselves as Marvel haters. You actually look at their Marvel reviews and they give most of those films like I don't know seven out of ten right and

[02:00:26] then this one it's like for all of its failings. It is trying to actually respond to criticisms in some way and go like you're right. Maybe we need to fucking loosen up this Marvel shit and try other stuff and people were like how fucking dare you I'll

[02:00:38] watch it when it's on Disney plus when we finish recording I'm going to tell you the thing I think is interesting about this movie that I don't want to ruin for people, but I think David you and I had both been like we never need to do Marvel

[02:00:48] commentaries ever again and then watching this we were like maybe we need to do this phase when it's done because I very interested to see how they react to the negative response of this movie. Well, yes, I think going forward it will be what phase are

[02:01:04] we going in for I believe we're currently I don't know. I don't yeah. Yeah, I think I've seen fewer than 10 Marvel movies period. This is really not a lot of movies when you think I know right?

[02:01:14] Yeah, which is it speaks to some of the other films in the Top 10 number 6 Resident Evil. Welcome to Raccoon City a film that I want to see but I'm just kind of like and like I'm a film critic right and I'm kind

[02:01:26] of like I can wait for that to be on and that's a failing that's a failing if they can't get you excited enough because all the reviews I read were like it's very faithful to the video games. It's a little lifeless, but it's like pretty entertaining

[02:01:38] and I'm like Jovovich and Anderson total reboot. Oh then yeah, and so I'm just kind of like, you know, what's watch it reminds me of is the fucking David Harbour Hellboy movie where it's like we gave some weird stylist the chance

[02:01:51] to adapt this thing and they sort of turned it half into their own thing half into the original thing and now we're rebooting it more making it just the way the source material was and in theory that should be like catnip and everyone's like I don't fucking care.

[02:02:04] Yeah, agreed. We're just making the literal video game movie people. I mean, I'll watch it. I like the video games, but I'm just not not remember my engine number 7 to a big red dog. Movie I saw that is quietly insane. Sure.

[02:02:18] Well, well, yeah, the dog is huge and he's red. Becker. There are so many classic becker isms in this movie because like Alvin for the road trip. I went to see hoping there'd be a little bit of that old dogs

[02:02:31] chaos and it's like it's not really there outside of the John Waters cameo. This has the thing where every scene five things are said that make a zero sense and are over explained and the way the logic stacks on top of each other is demented.

[02:02:43] It's no old dogs, but it fits into the ove. Eight is a dune just sort of quietly still making money, even though you can literally buy it on the internet now nine is King Richard quietly not making.

[02:02:56] Yeah, that's that's I mean, I get why because of the whole HBO Max thing, but that's obviously that is a crowd pleaser. Yeah, HBO Max thing is crippling. Yeah, obviously that's the worst decision Warner Brothers ever made.

[02:03:07] But although they might be like, what do you mean HBO Max? But uh, it is a little long. It's a yeah, it's like two and a half hours. I almost are like, yeah, I think could benefit from you know, just just a little bit of compression.

[02:03:23] And I like the boat. Yeah, so I'm not like completely but I do wonder, you know, it just I don't know. It's just a little flap maybe but whatever it's good. It's very fucking watchable. It's so I watched it twice.

[02:03:40] Yeah, watch the first alone second time with my dad. My dad told me yeah that he tried to King Richard me as an opera singer as a child and he failed. That's fine. He tried to baby in that you more like you.

[02:03:54] Yeah, I mean first baby in that costume was out of control is so fucking thank you Griffin was the drones flying around 10 of the box office. I just want to ask you the second most successful film of the year the second most successful film of the year.

[02:04:07] Is it venom to know time to die or venom to venom to okay. I think worldwide no time to die but yeah, I mean domestically it's been him to write worldwide. It's no time to die domestically. It's shang chi right right and then yeah, yeah, I've been

[02:04:20] to huge huge people's big hit venom's back. Yeah, I'll one ticket please must see like must fucking see I want my good friend and how did it go? That's great. And I look forward to seeing him again soon.

[02:04:35] You will I know did you guys see that article that was kind of going around about how sound mixing and movies has gotten more muddled. I did and one of the reasons they gave was literally Tom Hardy. Yeah, that rules constantly makes decisions to mumble his

[02:04:55] words and everyone everyone loves it. Can I just say a thing about King Richard? Yeah, you mumble it though. Can I say something about King Richard? That's my Bernthal. This house is not well built. Best supporting actor John Bernthal and King Richard. He's so fucking he's so good.

[02:05:18] I feel like Warner Brothers is not even pretending that that movie has done well on HBO Max like they're kind of admitting like yeah, I don't know it. It didn't live up to expectations here bad at the Netflix

[02:05:30] thing of like, you know, they tried it at first but now they're just kind of like it was also an HBO Max. Now, this is what I found interesting as a comparison point after the first week or weekend, whatever it was a power of

[02:05:42] the dog Netflix was like, oh this was watched by 1 million people, right? Which I believe maybe as a number because it's not 70 million and 24 hours, right whenever they lie about right. It's always in the same sphere and it felt like they were

[02:05:54] genuinely just kind of like this did better than we thought it would and King Richard did worse than you thought it was has HBO Max ever released viewing stats. They did it a couple times not maybe but like they've done

[02:06:07] a couple sort of like most watched thing ever on HBO Max for some I feel like Mortal Kombat. They released numbers and Mortal Kombat was the one where they were like this was watched by many more people at home than in theaters like it was disproportionate and then

[02:06:19] we'll see here probably logged about a hundred. I'm seeing pointing to a seeing a radiating hot zone in Northern Brooklyn. What's going on? I feel like a lot of them. The servers are over. They're like doing what did well in theaters also did well

[02:06:36] at home like they've mostly been proportionate right and when people like when in the Heights bond and they were like, well, it's just because everyone stayed home to watch it. They were like no, they're pretty much even like it's right high-type races underperformed every ship, right?

[02:06:49] I do think there's this thing and it's different with Netflix because people just fucking have Netflix is their homepage or their default app on their TV and they check it and they see what the new thing is and they sample it or whatever

[02:06:59] that like the destructive element of King Richard in particular being on HBO Max as opposed to maybe a many sense of Newark which people are into because it's a TV show that they're already watching on that app or a dune or a space jam where

[02:07:11] it's like, I don't know whatever. I'll fucking give this a shot right is that like I think people didn't go to see it in theaters and simultaneously were like, oh right. It's on HBO Max. I'll watch that at some point.

[02:07:22] It's not a it's not a Friday night fire it up kind of thing not like doing or whatever need to see excitement versus power of the dog where I'm just like that movie feels a lot less accessible movies getting like memed, you know, which I don't understand.

[02:07:36] I mean, I understand Henry. I mean Brock Bronco Henry is one of the greatest character names in history fucking thing that happened with marriage story where I was just like, yeah, I remember going to my even Irishman, you know, so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but

[02:07:51] I remember going to my comic book store my local comic book store when Irishman came out all the employees like not Irishman marriage story all the employees were talking about marriage story and they were like, yeah, you know, I mean, I don't usually like watch with Scott Joe.

[02:08:03] I don't know. What about you? Who you siding with? Sort of feel like, you know, it's pretty good. I don't usually watch movies like this but like it's on Netflix and it's fucking Kylo Ren and Black Widow. You know what I think helps for Netflix the autoplay.

[02:08:14] Yes, of course. Well, that's their that's the thing about her baby. Where's HBO Max is on a place like I'm getting something for you that like falls over. Yeah. No, I mean, because I'm like you have like a fucking Marvel actor in a Netflix movie.

[02:08:27] Yeah, you wanted sex of the city in Portuguese, right? I got that for so here's the thing with King Richard the poster. It's very hard to tell what it is when you're looking at your TV screen because it's a very small image right him

[02:08:39] in the and it's him and the kids. So it's not it's not Will Smith face forward, but I know where you don't even know it's about Netflix has those changing posters. Yeah, it's like David wants the power of the dog poster. That's just Plemons face. Big sausage.

[02:08:55] They're selling you like it's Doctor Strange and Mary Jane in a Western and this is taken seriously. Yeah, like that's all they're saying to you is like this is a serious movie and people fucking sampled it. Yeah.

[02:09:06] And and I you know, I love that movie but that was a movie where I'm just like people who watch that on Netflix and are not in the tank for camping are going to be dumbfounded by it and it seems to be kind of working good movie.

[02:09:18] I like the two biggest fuck ups by HBO. I mean, well of things they passed on Netflix and Mad Men. Netflix and Mad Men final. No feeling good about that one. They're like, no, I think we're happy. We pass on it's like I have to inform you.

[02:09:39] We are close to a moment where HBO is like, do we bring back vinyl like there that happens in a meeting where they're like, okay, because they just announced like they're rumored to be bringing back six feet under which right had one of

[02:09:53] the most definitive and television ever everybody's death. Right? How do they retcon that exactly? And clearly, I mean, they're like, you know what? I love is 60. Come on. We can figure out a way to get that back. I mean, let's back Dexter. Let's do the math on this.

[02:10:07] Okay vinyl legacy, right or vinyl colon vinyl afterlife. I don't find our PM or the CD. Yeah, vinyl laser. Right, right, right. I know vinyl to plastic. Yeah, kid of all is not coming back. No Olivia Wilde's not coming back. No, she's busy. She's doing temples.

[02:10:27] Not so you're saying that they have to shape the story around you. I think I become number four. Yeah, you think it's just sort of like sit. You're like you were secretary of transportation right now. You're the vice president. I think if they Romano is on the edge.

[02:10:40] I think Max Cosella is up to maybe number two. Cosella is basic. Absolute his agent is like already buying a Porsche. All right, and then let's say they bring in a new character Adrian Brody. I mean, yeah fits within the universe. Yeah. Yep.

[02:10:53] Maybe this is the thing is is Roman comes in and he's like, um, I got a new pitch. We buy American Century Records and Logan's like American Century. It's a dead record company. They 70s and then I come in as the old man version of my

[02:11:07] character who had three lines across 10 episodes. Vinyl revival is a backdoor pilot in succession. Brian Cox is reading this being like, yeah, the fuck is this shit? Okay. Yeah, listen to music. You pig fuck. Okay, cool. Sounds good. I'm into it. Yeah. All right, bring it back.

[02:11:28] Why just saying that HBO like 2024 they're like vinyl and tell me you love me. You're coming back. Yeah, tell me you love me. Dot to dot or that show about the kids selling jeans. That's back. What show was that? How to make it in America.

[02:11:41] Oh God, I forgot that was what that was about. John from Cincinnati. I mean that would be number one. Carnival reunion movie. Yeah, Carnival is back. We're going to explain it this time. We promise. I swear to God we're going to explain and then three seasons

[02:11:59] of the like, like we have his fucking line. We ran out of time. I don't know what to tell you. We were about to get to it when he cut us off. Oz is coming back, right? That's gotta happen. Yeah, maybe an Oz prequel. I don't know.

[02:12:10] It is funny that just shows never ever stay dead now unless I was on them. You're right then it's round. Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe they do an animated revival a vinyl. Yeah, absolutely. I hope so and a vinyl and a vinyl. Yeah, and a vinyl maniacs.

[02:12:28] I can see the animaniacs running a record label. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. You're more of a wacko. Yes. I'm a yak. Oh, yeah. I'm just more of a yak. Oh, although wackos the one with with the with the Liverpool accent.

[02:12:43] He is it's true when I watched as a kid. I was like so one of the Beatles plays him and I was like my parents were like no and I was like but then why is he talk like that? Like only the Beatles may speak right?

[02:12:52] But I truly thought like they have the rights to this. That's not Ringo Neri to Shining Time Station. You were like maybe you know, my friend. He was a two inch tall conductor. He appeared on at least on camera. Do you know what? I'm not sure.

[02:13:02] I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Yeah, you're talking about the Oscar. Well, I mean, they didn't have to appear on at least. I can't do that. Do you know what you cool? So for the Oscars in 2022 before we got on Mike, we were

[02:13:14] talking about the Oscars and Griffin and David really want them to take place at a train station again, Choo Choo. Let's let's let's bring in Ringo because he's like Thomas hosting little conductor is hosting. I think that would be great.

[02:13:32] Let's not make it Thomas every time it Percy does one It's like Miss Golden Globe George a new Buckers can I rip Toby? Are you telling me that you love Thomas the dad is that is the origin story of my train upset

[02:13:49] Of course my sister when I was a little kid. You have a train thing. You don't know that about me No, yeah, I was a huge subway nerd when I still am but when I was a little kid

[02:13:57] I was a huge subway nerd and I made my parents like in like 1990 I'd be like they'd be like, what do you want to do this weekend? Maybe you want to go to the Children's Museum. We go to the Central Park, you know

[02:14:05] You want to go experience the magic of New York City? And I was like, I want to fucking take the J train Where's that shit go? Should I call you the conductor now or the rail man

[02:14:18] You can call me whatever you want. I'm also the spread master after last night's episode. You'll see No Final episodes of the year are West side story next story and we're taking a break and then we're gonna be dark on Christmas

[02:14:36] And then we'll be back the start of January with the matrix resurrections. Yeah, that's what's happening. Yeah Wow, which you haven't seen I haven't seen it. Mr. Fanski friend of the show just saw it and told me it was great

[02:14:48] I don't know. Do you feel like the way I felt before Toy Story 4 came out? Probably yeah sort of like like where I'm like feels wrong that people are seeing it I'm like, I'm a grown-up I can handle it

[02:14:59] But I'm also like the fuck and also just like this is finished and you're not showing it Well, that's the thing where I'm like, come on Warner Brothers and they're like, huh? What right? You like?

[02:15:06] Okay, I don't care that you like the sequels who can no one cares the idea. That's on a hard drive feels like unfair Did you guys see that picture of Keanu driving like his Ferrari with a Christmas tree on top of it?

[02:15:18] Yeah, I mean just great great Keanu photo Santa Claus Can I end this episode by sharing a very quick Keanu story? I sure that's just okay and I got a credible what a guy story the only kind of Keanu story there is Keanu I

[02:15:36] Know someone who's friends with Keanu. Okay humble brag. Yes. Keanu was in New York City Part of the group going out to restaurants, right? They go to like four restaurants trying to get a table and get turned away

[02:15:51] Just walking to establishments. Keanu is not the proactive one. He's standing in the group. Someone goes. Hey, do you have a table for six? No, sorry. No, sorry. They go to like four restaurants and then the fifth restaurant they go to

[02:16:06] They go excuse me, do you have a table for five? No, sorry Who's there sitting at the bar of the restaurant Parker Posey? She turns around, you know, I knew oh my god So nice to see you and then the matriarchs like oh Oh

[02:16:17] Excuse me. We did we did in fact find the tape. Keanu Reeves is so unassuming in life So unwilling he's not gonna press the issue. He's not gonna be like absolutely

[02:16:27] You know and it wasn't even like I don't want to make a scene right just took at face value I guess they don't have a table. They told us they don't have a table in

[02:16:35] 2021 is still gonna be like, oh, sorry. Yeah, they're booked up. Okay. Well, we should have planned ahead. Yeah, it's my it's actually on me Let's go. It's another famous person who clearly was like Parker Posey for two

[02:16:46] Right to go like Keanu and have the guy look around and be like that's Keanu That guy is walking into this restaurant not say that maybe Parker Posey get out gone Rezzy and made a red

[02:16:55] We don't know if she could have Parker Parker Posey of a fiend on open table. Exactly Yeah, I mean I know in movies She plays the kind of pushy person who might just get herself a table at the door

[02:17:06] But sure I'm now questioning my head is it Parker Posey or Juliette Lewis in the story, but either way Sure, right. They both seem plausible. I think it was Parker Posey

[02:17:16] Thank you for being on the episode, thanks for I gotta pee you guys take it out. Okay. Bye David We should follow him into the Then you have that 3d mic right can we place it in the bathroom and get sort of like spatial on here?

[02:17:32] Yeah, I already did. Okay, great. So don't worry. That's been sort of like Track that I've laid underneath this whole episode. So yeah now you should be hearing David Absolutely this episode that has to drop in 12 hours. Yep. Yeah, no problem. Just no problem all together real quick

[02:17:48] Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate review and subscribe. Thank you to Marie Barty for our social media and so much more even such a big help over the last year on this podcast a Jim McKeon Alex Baron for our

[02:18:02] Editing Nicola Riano and JJ Burch for our research, even though they we give him a break end of the year on these new releases Their knee-deep in campion, they're working on the campion dossier and they've pulled up some amazing shit so far and

[02:18:16] We've already started with friends episodes are a lot of fun. It's fun to do Thank you to lay Montgomery in the Great American novel for our theme song You can listen their new album extremely loud incredibly online wherever albums are listened to

[02:18:28] Thank you to pet rounds and Joe Bowen for our art work Go to blankie cyber at that conference. I'm real nerdy shit Go to our Shopify page for some real nerdy merch including some new end of year

[02:18:42] Specials that you will hear about in our talking to walk 2021 episode To next week for as we said West Side Story a musical directed by Steven Spielberg First Spielberg movie in like four years, I think yes We had we had a lot of them in the run

[02:19:06] He's one of the guys we've been able to revisit the most because he did the post that same year He did ready player one. He did Another one for you But yes, I'm very G

[02:19:19] We ended on BFB. I think BFG had come out when we did our miniseries Yeah. Yeah three movies, right? It's Post ready player. What was it just to this is the third I feel like be the way back to the wall one more time, but whatever

[02:19:33] No, I think that's it cuz he's been spent three years. His last movie was Excellent. Oh, I'm ready player one ready player one honks fucking rules every watch it like four times David's of making this argument for months and I'm like

[02:19:49] Rewatch it's good. I bought this deal on eBay for Too much money because not like available. I've had a couple of those mistakes recently. It happens Yeah, well and then we've got another Spielberg coming up next year probably Babelman's Babelman's

[02:20:04] I truly like and you know West Side Story's dedicated to his dad who died while he was making it like and it really is Wildly like his dad dies and he immediately announces like I will be making a film that is uh

[02:20:15] But a young boy whose parents get divorced in Arizona, you know, like where you're like Oh, you're making the dad movie like right now and I'm writing a script for the first time in 20 right and like and then it's

[02:20:25] Just it's just very I can't wait. That's how I think on especially we looked at We got like six new releases from past filmmakers on the books for next year as of now

[02:20:33] 2022 in general is incredibly loaded year as much as people are sort of bemoaning cinema or whatever like it's kind of wild Mm-hmm whole thing. Hey big year for blank check to some cool guests. We've already confirmed. Yes Yeah, that's true. Cool champion and beyond

[02:20:50] Enough I know episodes over. Yeah. Well just they need one miracle. So if you want to pray to Michael McGivney Just trying to get myself to the Vatican VIP I'm gonna hype this up on social media so much. We're gonna we're gonna get a hashtag

[02:21:04] We're gonna start a campaign Ben needs America Ben needs a miracle Miracle, oh he needs is you And as always David genuinely seemed stressed out about the fact that he hasn't seen matrix Yeah, he is looking at his computer screen with intensity

[02:21:21] I rarely see even though I don't think he's texting about the matrix right now. Maybe I'm wrong It just feels like it has seeped into every fiber of his being Okay, I Want a good clean podcast

[02:21:39] Okay, no funny stuff. Who's this guy? All right, no swearing. No, well you can swear No, don't get it. Don't get carried away. Fuck. Can I take the Lord's name in vain? How Catholic are we getting with G's? Well, I mean

[02:21:54] We'll determine that I can I blast but what's the word blast? Blast me miss off. Yeah Anyway, do the quote. Okay, we don't have to start this way. No, but you're gonna put it at the end Oh sure a little bonus not to give you editing work

[02:22:11] We don't have to put it in it can be the start. Maybe you got to put it Ready