For Love of the Game with Olivia Craighead

[00:00:01] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check Is this not America? Is podcasting not America's favorite pastime?

[00:00:31] Is podcasting not America's favorite pastime? Is she being a Karen there? His hand is split open! I know, that's why I'm saying maybe she's not. But the fact that she immediately goes to like, Baseball's important to America!

[00:00:45] And not just like, the guy is fucking bleeding out of his arm! Can we deal with this? What's most odd about it? It is weird that he's got an open bloody wound and they're like, sit over there But the scar is so small when they show it

[00:00:59] It's covered in blood Look, I don't know Why was he cutting wood? You're a fucking pitcher! The scar looks like, to your point what he would get for accidentally like, nicking his hand while dicing onions Yes, like I have that scar and there was not that much blood

[00:01:17] I have that scar from recycling from folding too much cardboard and he like, tears open his arm on a bandsaw and he's got this little tiny scar but it's also funny that such a running thing in this movie is that she doesn't understand how famous he is

[00:01:31] that like, other people react to him so differently than she does and then this is the one scene where no one seems to know who he is Well they're in that mountain town They don't get baseball But it's like, he's the most distinctive looking man

[00:01:43] He has fucking big dick energy Even when he's bleeding out And she has to scream at them Now here's what's wild I texted you guys that line, all caps Is this not America Four separate texts for each word, and then is baseball not America's favorite pastime

[00:02:01] Ben said it's gotta be the opening quote I said yes David, you said, I don't know Lot of competition, so many huge lines I just, I had the line written out Right? In the text

[00:02:13] But I just checked on it to see if there was anything else worth doing Yeah they're good quotes, I was being funny of course Now I will say Vin Scully has got some great lines Okay, now this is the point A surprising amount of quotes

[00:02:25] filled out here for this movie considering this movie is not often thought of Is this not America? Is baseball not America's favorite pastime? Is not included on the quotes page Oh it's not in there It's not in there That is the only line I remember from the movie

[00:02:39] There are a fair amount of quotes on here And like long ones, like Billy's entire final monologue Like full Vin Scully stretches Well the Vin Scully stuff is gold I wonder if he wrote it Right? He's in the pocket I've got some options for you

[00:02:55] But he is, obviously he's good I'm just saying All I'm saying David The cathedral that is Yankee Stadium No no, you're not going to do Vin Scully right now Belongs to a chap That was good Do you think that that is why they named

[00:03:11] Do you think they like reverse engineered Possibly Well look it's from a book Is he named that in the book? Let's find out And I think in the book it isn't the Yankees I think that was an Amy Robinson thing No no no

[00:03:25] In the book he doesn't play for the Tigers I think he plays for the Tigers in the movie Because Sam Raimi is a midwestern boy In the book he plays for the Atlanta Hawks which is a fake team But they are Pitching against the Yankees

[00:03:39] You know, because you know The Yankees The cathedral Why wouldn't you just be the Braves I have no idea I'm going off of Wikipedia here But apparently his team is called the Atlanta Hawks In the book, I don't know why We can't ask him because he's dead

[00:03:57] And there is an Atlanta Hawks In basketball, this is true Why are they the Hawks? Well there's also the Falcons Why is Atlanta with the birds? Atlanta doesn't have good sports teams Because Braves obviously Get rid of that That's not helping

[00:04:15] My mom is from Atlanta, I grew up a Braves fan I had a big Chipper Jones poster in my room As a child As a Mets fan, obviously that's Violence to me But this guy I more mean Braves Sure, sure, oh yeah that's not great

[00:04:31] I'm also from DC and that has a bad history of Native Americans And also the basketball team Was called the Bullets I knew that she loved baseball Because David had said I like the idea of baseball That's what I love What I love is

[00:04:49] Going to a baseball game And drinking a beer With my pals for However many hours Watching a baseball game on TV No, that's not for me I don't watch baseball on TV much anymore I'll admit it It can have the same vibe

[00:05:07] Where it's like, well this will be on And I'll be doing various things But yeah, you're not going to Be glued to it No, and I will say, I feel like baseball Is the one sport that you can Listen to on the radio It is background noise

[00:05:23] It's very easy It's very easy to listen to The soundscape of baseball is great Like a crack of a bat Let's talk about the crack of the bat David was saying the crack of the bat before we started recording And I said, David, keep it

[00:05:37] Save it for the month How many sports are there Where you can hear the crack of the bat? Well, there's a few of those Cricket, another great slow sport Cricket in Britain does have the exact same Vibe where it's like I'm here with my friends We're chatting

[00:05:55] Can a cricket game be like a day long? No that, is this not America How many sports are there Where it is not just accepted But it is encouraged That there will be times When people are just going to go to the mound

[00:06:11] You know, just stop the game We have to talk for a bit And people are like, well this is part of the game The manager is going to come up and they're going to have a chat Like that's part of the game No one is like, hurry up

[00:06:23] We're here to be entertained I can't hear you I think this is why baseball is the most cinematic sport It's up there I think there's something about The actual structure of a baseball game That allows for more conversation Yeah, there's a lot of breathing room

[00:06:39] There's a lot of conversation Because you watch like a basketball game And if there's a time out It's not long They're talking very quickly And they're also winded Baseball players rarely seem winded Baseball players sit on the bench They might as well be at the theater

[00:06:57] Like they're chatting There's a thoughtfulness, there's an ebb and flow to the energy Like a basketball player comes off onto the bench He puts a towel over his head, he's tired He's like covered in sweat Blood coming out of his ears There's also the fact that

[00:07:11] Sam Raimi has talked about this Like the biggest driving factor In him wanting to do this movie Baseball is like a widescreen sport Like the field is so big The players are so stretched out The way the stadiums are built Green, blue, sky I was thinking about that

[00:07:29] Especially when they like really hit the ball And it goes to the wall And you can really like track the ball I was like oh that's beautiful It's a fucking widescreen sport It's a cinematic sport And it leaves room for dramatic arcs within a game

[00:07:43] Okay so hold on So I just found out today that David you love baseball Well when I was a little kid I was a huge I was a huge baseball fan And dork And I will say When I moved to England when I was nine years old

[00:07:59] I stuck with it It was one of my kind of tethers to America Was that I kept up with baseball Did you ask when you got off the plane Did you say is this not America Yes And they said it's not

[00:08:13] You should learn this and get this into your head as quickly as possible And then when I moved back I was like I'm back in the country of baseball This is going to be great And I did keep up with it a little more

[00:08:23] But I quickly went back to basketball Which was another of my early loves And I think I don't want to tell any baseball fan listeners Because I do love the sport But like I feel unattached to it now I feel unromantic about it or whatever

[00:08:39] How can you not feel romantic about baseball To quote Moneyball But Moneyball is so good So many good baseball movies Moneyball is good because it's not about baseball Moneyball is not particularly about baseball But Moneyball is the best movie ever made Yes But now okay

[00:08:57] You're a fan of baseball Did you play baseball I did I played little league baseball Sure Because I can't imagine either of you ever playing baseball You're saying me I can't imagine Griffin playing baseball I don't know why You liked and played baseball One of those two things

[00:09:19] You played it I didn't like it but I played it a lot At some point in his time Your position was right Like bench Well I might have shared this On the podcast before I did little league for a while My brother and I close together in age

[00:09:37] My sister was born much later So there was a decade where it was the boys What did the boys do And my dad wanted to coach teams on the weekend My brother really wanted to play And they'd be like the boys play baseball Right

[00:09:51] I would do it for multiple seasons But I think How were you at bat Well Ben this is the exact point Griffin at the bat This is the exact point I was so small I was so tiny and anemic And frail Small strike zone

[00:10:11] And I was left handed Oh god As a kid I was impossible to pitch to Because the strike zone was small As a kid This is truly That's so funny I think it's like a ringer or something Where did you get it

[00:10:29] So this is like a really telling Griffin origin story In terms of my energy and my outlook And how I perceive where I relate to the world And all of this I was so bad But what they would do is they would hold me on the bench

[00:10:41] Until like bases loaded Bottom of the ninth And then they walk And they're like we're gonna put them on the mound And they're gonna hit you with a ball and you're gonna walk And we're gonna get a run And they called me the walk on kid

[00:10:55] And the way I could earn the respect You were like Barry Bonds The way I could earn the respect of these boys Is I had to surrender my body And just get fucking pelted with balls And I would be crying And I'd be limping and they'd be like

[00:11:09] You did good, you did good, you did good And I'd be like you're proud of me That is a really sad story Olivia did you play sport? I played baseball I played baseball on a team that was mostly boys When I was like Seven, eight

[00:11:25] Is this in Washington? Yeah I think in Alexandria, Virginia There was one other girl on the team and her dad was the coach So we could really bond over that But then eventually They kind of like if you're a girl They're like you gotta play softball now

[00:11:39] And I did not like softball So I just went back to basketball I think that was probably the point where I said to my parents I'm not doing this anymore Is when it split off into not being co-ed teams Because when there were girls on the team

[00:11:51] I felt a little more secure Yeah if it's all boys they can be mean In sporting situations Girls can be mean too Please I've seen some girls be really mean The thing about Little League sports I played all of them

[00:12:05] Was like with soccer we were never allowed to play with the girls Because they were like a lot better than us And really mean I've seen a couple girl soccer players And they're like oh yeah you just have to Pull her ponytail and then tackle her

[00:12:17] And I'm like no Not actually Girl soccer is like roller derby It has like They were good, they were better than us We were terrible I played baseball for years And I even went to Joe Espinoza sports club Like after school baseball What was your position? Second base

[00:12:39] Second base sims To this day, if you know what I mean It's a sex joke Yeah Pull me out That's what you're most famous for Is second base Can't make it home I'm so good at second base And I just stall out He stays parked on second

[00:13:01] And I played basketball as well Because I was so tall But I was really uncoordinated Could you at least stand under the basket And just lay it up I should have had like a Darryl Morey Constructing a team around me Where it's like David

[00:13:17] There's one spot on the court I want you But no we were kids We were all just running into each other There was a kid at my high school I actually don't even remember his proper name Because everyone called him Biggie

[00:13:29] And he was built almost exactly like you And he was a very shy kid And then at one point all the basketball kids Were like if we just put him on the court Right And they were like we recruit you into our friend group

[00:13:41] And it was the same thing Like people would sit and watch the games And they'd be like Biggie he's like he's the all star And then there'd be silence and watch him be like He's not actually good at basketball He's big He's just big

[00:13:55] This is embarrassing but I played water polo As a teenager in Britain What On horses On water horses No water horses It's like swimming Basketball You're like treading water and throwing a ball It seems really hard It's incredibly demanding

[00:14:19] I did it because I'm big and I'm a good swimmer I'm not good at water polo But being like a I do like the breaststroke Being like a big body in water polo is crucial Because that's all very violent And you know

[00:14:33] Whatever happens under the water is kind of tough To referee Would you pee in the water? And they couldn't do shit about it Can I say something about my playing of baseball I love to steal You're a thief, a base thief Because the thing that I love

[00:14:53] Is I love going against authority And so once you're out there You got a first base coach You got the coach on the bench But you're on your own out there So even if the first base coach is like Stay here

[00:15:07] I got to a point where I had a reputation And they would Do not steal Don't steal Enough of this And I just would be like I got this Because the other thing about me is I wasn't fast You weren't good at it I had to Try

[00:15:31] Would you slide? Sliding is the best part It's so fun And you like getting dusty Hell yeah As a second baseman kids would really Slide with too much aplomb Knock you over They fucking old time rock and roll sliding Ben I'm assuming you also were

[00:15:51] Attempting to steal in both senses of the word Like you would be on second And you would have to get your physical face from under your feet And then run to third Right? Look we should say This is Blank Check with Griffin and David I'm Griffin

[00:16:07] It's a podcast about filmographies Directors who have massive success early on in their careers And are given a series of blank checks And make whatever crazy passion projects they want And sometimes those checks clear And sometimes the crack of the bat baby

[00:16:19] Yeah and what else is it about? It's about freshly cut grass And the chalk Cracker jack The smell of a hot dog The fresh stitching on a ball Cracker jacks over here Popcorn 35 cents How much are cracker jacks? Like probably 18.50 Have you ever had cracker jacks? They stink

[00:16:43] Cracker jacks are sweet popcorn Is it popcorn? I was thinking that while watching the movie Because there were a couple notable cracker jack placements And I was like I don't think I know exactly Do you think that It's like it's caramel covered popcorn I think

[00:16:59] With a little bit of peanuts There's something nutty It tastes like cardboard It tastes like the box that it comes in Boxed popcorn is never really gonna You want fresh popcorn What's the thing? Cracker jack used to be a 50-50 ratio At the very least 60 caramel popcorn

[00:17:20] 50 or 40 peanuts In years They've come under fire Because people are like I got a bag of two peanuts There's almost no peanuts in there And the other thing is you used to get like a physical prize So this is another Decline of America thing

[00:17:36] Where it's like man cracker jacks used to mean something Now it's just like a bunch of shitty popcorn Yeah I think Norman Rockwell used to do covers For magazines and his stuff stinks Oh so you're coming back against that You're like no the 50s

[00:17:50] Past times in the past Let's look ahead I don't like what I see I want to look at the past I'm forgetting if this was on his show or somewhere else But it's the funniest thing I've seen Jimmy Fallon do in 20 years He shared some anecdote

[00:18:04] About Lorne Michaels taking him to a Yankees game With Jack Nicholson And him going like Hey Jack you enjoying the game And Jack was like eating cracker jacks And had a far off look And he reached into the box and he took out a sticker

[00:18:18] And he said like They used to have real prizes in these things And now it's a god damn piece of paper And he was like He was like shaken to his core By the decline of the cracker jack prize That's probably why

[00:18:32] Jack Nicholson mostly goes to the Laker game Absolutely But what does he get to hear The crack of the back Look it's a miniseries on the films Of Sam Raimi It's called Podcast Me To Hell Today we're talking about the movie that I think

[00:18:48] Least exists in his filmography And beyond that no one remembers It's a Sam Raimi movie If you remember this thing exists You somehow auto correct it in your head To anyone else directing this Yeah right unquestionably It's a Kevin Costner movie

[00:19:04] Yes it is to the extent that he Picked Sam Raimi to direct it And had final cut Do you know this insane thing Yes But they were like His quote was 20 million dollars At this point in time

[00:19:20] Even though he was coming off of his two biggest flops ever He's coming off of Waterloo and Postman You know that's the thing They say his quote was 20 million dollars And I'm sure he had been paid 20 million dollars for like the Postman Right

[00:19:32] But like was it one of those quotes where it's like Look my quote is 20 million dollars and I'm happy to do this Elvis movie For a cool 18 You know and the studio is like we'll give you a 9 It's dropping This is the moment where it's dropping

[00:19:44] And he's trying to maintain it And they're like we would like this to be 50 million dollars all in Like do you think he got 20 for Message in a Bottle Maybe That's the one he did right before this Yes it is

[00:19:56] Right because Raimi met him on the set of that To pitch Pun intended To direct this movie Crack of the bat He was like I will forego The 50 what if We don't give you your quote But you have huge stake in the profits of the film

[00:20:14] You get director approval And you get final cut Which giving an actor final cut Is a bad idea I would say Quite a thing Fundamentally just a bad idea Especially when that actor is like a director A director who's a bit of an egomaniac

[00:20:30] An Oscar winning director at that Yes Now I will say this and I think I've said this before I worked with Kostner the cause I worked with him on the motion picture Draft Day You sure did Which I saw on a plane recently Had a great time

[00:20:46] I liked it a lot But also the Ideal Plane movie Oh it was perfect They shouldn't have released it in theaters That was the biggest mistake No you release it in theaters But it was made for cable I've said this before

[00:21:02] That was a movie where Kostner wouldn't cut his quote And he would go to McCoy and he felt like he had a hot hand And he could get his number back up there And they were trying to keep the budget low So every other actor in that movie

[00:21:12] Took like Sag minimum In order to do that To give him the amount he wanted It wasn't a full 20 but it was a lot And so I did not get paid much money for that movie And when that movie Had only been on Delta planes For three months

[00:21:30] I got a residual check And it was significantly bigger than I had been paid in total It like immediately The second it went on planes Blew up That makes so much sense to me Because I was like this isn't out on VOD Where is this money coming from

[00:21:46] And then I realized I keep having people text me photos On the little screen And I was like this thing was just designed It's still on flights like nine years later It's a good movie The point I was going to say Watching him on set

[00:22:02] It did click for me I think Kevin Costner kind of directs every movie he's in At a certain point in his career At the very least It is a collaboration But he comes in and he really This really feels like he's the director But for like three shots

[00:22:18] Three little like ramey-isms I think he likes directors I think he respects directors But he has very strong opinions I will say to his credit He has a strong ego Like they are big picture thoughts But he's just like it has to feel like this

[00:22:34] And he gets in there and he's just like I'm going to fucking fight for this For the love of the game That's a pretty good Costner Well I spent a lot of time with that Today we're talking for the love of the game

[00:22:46] And returning is one of our favorite guests Baseball ITO Official Shortstop for the Mets Olivia Craighead I had never heard of this movie Before I was asked I was just kind of like come on We always like to get you on

[00:23:04] It's been a little bit and David's like Olivia likes the idea of baseball And I was like done And beyond that it was kind of like No one was asking for the love of the game For love of the game But I'm sure there are fans out there

[00:23:18] In fact a couple people tweeted at me My favorite Ramey I hope you like it And I was sort of like That's weird It's a little weird Do you hate fun? My brother loves this movie James Newman I don't know if he's seen it again since then

[00:23:36] But he especially as a kid loved this kind of like Autumnal adult middle brow drama I did too I put this on and I was like I wanted to fucking love this thing I wonder if he's going to send me the text

[00:23:48] Going like you did it for love of the game episode And didn't ask me And then he was like oh it's Jamelle Bowie That's fine Do you think he remembers how much of this movie is Kelly Preston This is the thing My brother is a great guy

[00:24:04] He's a very smart guy He loves sports And he's got excellent taste in movies He did as a kid love these sort of like Glossy 90s adult dramas And whereas I think a lot of boys Especially a lot of sports loving jockey boys

[00:24:18] Are like ew gross romance kissing But this movie was like a perfect blend for him And the thing I would say about my brother is I think when he was 9 or 10 He had like a sleepover birthday party Where my mom was like well I'll rent a movie

[00:24:30] That you and all your friends can watch And the movie he picked was Keeping the Faith He made a bunch of 9 year old boys Watch Keeping the Faith It was the 4th time he had seen the movie That's one of Forky's All time favorite movies Keeping the Faith

[00:24:46] I mean it's a fun movie but I just think for him It was like the exact Once again pun intended Strike zone for this movie Where it was like what amount of Romanticizing baseball and middle aged people Falling in love and trying to figure out their shit

[00:25:00] Does this 9 year old boy want I was so ready to love this movie Same I threw it on And the first Anything I love from a late 90s movie now The credits are rolling And it's like John C. Reilly, J.K. Simmons This is great

[00:25:18] And we've been getting a run of those with the Ramys Where it's like quick and the dead, simple plan It's just a murderer's row Single card like assassins And then It's baseball, he's on the mound It's a Basil Polidoro score One of his final Is blowing them horns

[00:25:36] One of those beautiful twinkling 90s Scores And this like end of film They finally perfected how to make movies Shiny and warm as possible It's got major sheen Costner's hair Has just absolutely lost the battle Fighting for its dear life He's walking around the hotel

[00:25:56] On his button down And he's like I don't know Brian Cox is like I'm selling The team, baseball RIP You'll fuck It would be funny if he had that energy Fucking kids don't like baseball Then he's on the mound and he's talking Through

[00:26:14] The players that he's facing off against And I love that about baseball The idea that it's like pitchers, it's psychological The pitcher's like this guy always swings At a curveball, this guy never swings At the pretty, whatever And I'm like I'm gonna love this movie

[00:26:28] And then with our first dissolve I was just immediately like I wanna look at my phone I didn't mean to hit a paper bag just then David It is incredible to me How immediately the balloon deflates And then every time they cut back to baseball

[00:26:44] The balloon re-inflates so quickly You're like I'm back in, I'm back in The baseball is so good Something very telling about this movie Is that when he Pitches the perfect game At the end I was crying I was so invested in a thing

[00:27:00] I knew he was definitely going to do I was like crying and they cut to his friend Who plays for the Yankees now and I started crying Again and then when he goes to the airport I felt absolutely nervous Okay two out of ten

[00:27:12] And I'm like no end now I'm all set Look I think there's an imbalance in this film But I think the biggest mistake It makes is there's that Like unbroken 45 minute Chunk where we stay in the relationship

[00:27:26] Fairly early on and they don't cut back to the game at all And I'm like if you were going Back and forth you'd maybe keep me on the hook A little more Here's an embarrassing confession So I was watching this movie with The woman I'm dating HUMBLEBRAG

[00:27:42] Crack of the humble brag We're like watching Sort of like Kevin Costner baseball I was also watching this movie with the woman I'm dating Humblebrag My wife Who you've dated all the way to the point of marriage And then The flashbacks happen

[00:28:00] And she's like do you mind if I Do some work while you're watching the movie And I'm like that's fine And she's like I'm just not very intrigued And I'm like that's fine And she's sitting there on the couch next to me Working on her computer

[00:28:14] And she's like why are we watching this I want to watch spider-man with you When are you doing the spider-man episode And like 20 minutes later I was like Fuck it I'm turning this off let's watch spider-man

[00:28:24] We watched all of spider-man went to sleep woke up in the morning Watched the second half of this movie I was like I cannot get through this Straight through all I'm thinking about is how badly I want to be watching spider-man I want to watch spider-man

[00:28:36] What are you supposed to do JK Simmons comes on with the mustache Oh and he's violently chewing that gum That could actually describe spider-man Or this movie So he comes on and I'm like oh fuck I could be watching spider-man right now So I did a spider-man sandwich

[00:28:52] With her love of the game as the slices of bread Around it Those are some white chunky Slices of bread You stuffed the bread into a glass Of milk and ate it in the middle of the night With your stepdaughter And said don't ask any questions

[00:29:08] But my thing was I was like Sort of fake step What do you call it step girlfriend's daughter I mean I just went for it Because whatever you get it As soon as Jenna Malone showed up I looked at how much time was in the movie

[00:29:22] And it's like another hour And I was like oh my god My rule I made to myself was I was like I have to get to the halfway point of this Before I put on spider-man Because you won't feel it'll be insurmountable

[00:29:34] So I'm like I can wake up in the morning And watch the second half of this 2 hour and 17 minute movie But I have to get to that halfway point And the halfway point pretty much takes you To the end of the longest Unbroken stretch of the flashback stuff

[00:29:46] The introduction of Jenna Malone And I was just like this fucking movie And I wake up and I put it on and within two minutes It goes back to the baseball game And I was like rubbing my hands together But it just you know

[00:29:58] Just when you're starting to get super into it Did you feel the urge every time To pick up your phone Every single time I'd be like It's right there Olivia what did you think of this movie Like I said The baseball stuff is really good You're with us

[00:30:18] The baseball stuff is incredible I do think that Kelly Preston and Kevin Costner Had some good chemistry But it was just like It was so much It was weighted so far Under their relationship Yes Initially I was like I think Kelly Preston is not working for me

[00:30:36] In this and then I felt a little bad Because I was like I'm speaking ill of the dead here And then as of all celebrities We lost in the last two years In the weird memory hole pandemic The most surprising and the one I keep forgetting

[00:30:48] Well okay I'm pretty sure I'm right She died very closely to when Naya Rivera died And I think It was a very strange shocking thing It was under a Farrah Fawcett Michael Jackson And no one knew she was sick And then it was announced so casually On Instagram

[00:31:04] And she hadn't been working as much So she wasn't like But then I'm watching the movie and I'm like I think I'm being rude to Kelly Preston This is a quite underwritten role It's a tough role because she's constantly Just like the nag You're just sort of like

[00:31:20] You're slowing me down But also she's just there to be like Hey what's up and he's like I love baseball Leave me alone and you're like Jesus This is such a bummer So I actually think she's fine in it I sort of settled down on Kelly Preston

[00:31:34] Because initially I'm like is this good with Insert you know Helen Hunt Like is this good with someone else in it Like am I lacking an actor I love in this It is so A woman who just has to be like Hey

[00:31:50] What's going on and then he like throws her shit Across the bathroom or whatever Like she doesn't really get to like have Real like reactions To any of the insane shit That he is doing to her Like that first date Is one of the worst first dates

[00:32:06] That you could ever go on Come and sit Five hours by yourself At a baseball stadium And you have no relationship With the wives Fuck that That's like I've like and her to just Kind of be like oh actually I really warmed up

[00:32:24] To this I would be like I'm This sucks I loved how they met Because it felt like Fan fiction It felt like a girl Who doesn't pay attention to sports Has like a hunky guy Come fix her car And then it's like he's famous Like ooh

[00:32:46] I loved that I also loved what both of them Were wearing in that scene The fashion in this movie goes large Good 90s, good 90s So my thought in that scene The flat tire scene She looks like she's about to go Do a stand up set

[00:33:02] At Union Hall Yeah she's wearing like the hoodie She's wearing the hoodie over like a flowery dress And combat boots And her hair is up and she's got The glasses and I'm just waiting for her to take out Her notebook and go what else what else

[00:33:16] And he's wearing Shorts and a big red Windbreaker Looking great He does look good in this right Yes it's a bit of a sort of like Costner hasn't quite accepted that he's middle aged Movie obviously down to the fact that he's playing

[00:33:32] Like a 40 year old when how old is Costner He has to be like 47 at this point I think he's 45 Okay so you know what Kevin Fairplay He's played older Yeah that's the thing There's nothing boyish about him so even him playing 5 years older than he should be

[00:33:48] In this movie that's a movie about the guy being too old He's got such dad energy I think it was during that scene that I said out loud Jesus Christ he just looks like a wood carving Yeah yeah Like there's something about him He's so tan and like

[00:34:02] He doesn't have much of a lip But then he's got this incredible like In profile He looks like he belongs on a coin He doesn't look like he belongs on a coin Something I noticed And I've never seen this on him before and I wonder if it's like

[00:34:16] Later in his career he got corrected And this is maybe kind of rude of me His teeth are a little fucked up He probably just has fucked up teeth Like his bottom I can see the crowding in a way You're tooth obsessed ever since you've had Fizzle line

[00:34:32] They're looking great Like Tom Cruise I feel Was an early one And like everyone else had man teeth And then I think Like around the early 2000's It's like a prerequisite for every leading man To get like perfect veneers

[00:34:48] And so I think you see guys like that who Got famous right before that generation Were just like I don't know I just don't smile With my bottom teeth He's not someone in my opinion Who's good at playing like a general Cause he's a little too

[00:35:02] But he's great at playing You know like he's great in 13 days There's the weary casual Sort of like he wears things Heavy but he He throws all the lines off the cuff He's not that sort of commanding thing He has that kind of cause he's from

[00:35:18] California right? He has that like California vibe That's just kind of like Every line like you were saying is just kind of like tossed Off a little bit He's from Compton Straight out of? Well I don't want to say That he's straight out of Compton

[00:35:34] Did he stop somewhere else? Midway between Compton and Hollywood? His dad was an electrician And his mom was a welfare worker And he You know went to Maybe like a Baptist? No no he is a Baptist Or he was raised Baptist He sang in a choir

[00:35:54] He has stated that reviewing of how the west was won At the age of 7 formed his childhood And recently rambled about that on the Oscar stage Calling it his first adult movie And Jane Campion said that was very dramatic It was just

[00:36:08] Look it was so hard to process His speech in the wake of Everyone was just like It was just like now this? Because that was right after Will Smith's speech Right? Like yeah so yeah If the Will Smith thing

[00:36:22] Hadn't happened I do think we might have paid more Attention to how weird Evan Kostner was In a way it was the exact kind of weird You want out of the Oscars It was like a Connery Da Movie speech Where you're like here's just this like

[00:36:36] Icon rambling about the power of this Fucking thing with complete earnestness And it was just too disruptive At that point through Kevin I'm sorry I can't go back to your childhood right now Right! He's like let me paint a picture for you

[00:36:48] I'm like no no no no put your easel down I wish I could go back to your childhood We know things now that we can't unknow Anyway He is a California boy The first thing he said when I met him

[00:37:00] They brought me over and they were like Kevin This is Griffin he's the guy playing Rick the Intern Because you have a couple of one on one Scenes with him in Draft Bay My role is almost exclusively one on one scenes He breaks your computer

[00:37:12] When he breaks your computer which is actually If I didn't know you I would still be I'm pretty upset in that scene Like that scene is funny And it's fairly early-ish I guess about half way It's the resolution of my arc

[00:37:26] Which then there's 30 minutes of additional deal making After that Obviously Draft Bay is all about when he Then gets the reverse trade And he gets everyone's pics back And it's so good But yeah when he breaks your computer That's just you and him

[00:37:42] A lot of it was just me and him I spent a tremendous amount of time with him But they brought me over and they were like Kevin This is Griffin he's the one who's doing all these scenes With you and he went where are you from

[00:37:52] And I said New York And he was like a real actor That's nice And I went like I don't know but I don't want you to think I'm like Some fucking Broadway dude And he went no but you're not like the California actors Who just like boogie boarding

[00:38:06] Oh wow he hates the boogie boarders He hates the California boarders So if you had said to him like hey Kev do you want to hit the waves later He would have been like you fucking amateur No but that's why I never knew

[00:38:16] He was from California because he spoke So derisively of California actors Well you live in Hollywood Now he probably he must have a ranch He lives in Yellowstone Does he live there He bought it He bought the whole park It's national He lives in the Grand Canyon

[00:38:36] He made a bed at the bottom of the Grand Canyon The eagles tuck him in at night Obviously He has a ranch In Aspen as well And He co-authored A book called the explorer's guild A passage to Shambhala This is another thing about Kevin Costner

[00:38:56] He is absurdly rich Beyond just how much money he made as a movie star And everything he's also like invested Really well He's done a lot of shit We all remember when the BP oil spill happened And the government couldn't solve it

[00:39:10] He has a lot of money in like Offshore oil drilling technology Yes Like environmentally friendly alternatives He's made a lot of money there And you know also He's a republican who went democrat Less of those in Hollywood And I think that's cool

[00:39:28] I think it's cool too that he endorsed Pete You know like Am I endorsing Pete? No But does Kevin Costner endorsing Pete kind of just amuse me I love it for him I do love it for him

[00:39:40] It was just this wild thing where when the oil spill happened And they were like we don't know what to do Kevin Costner went in front of congress and he was like Look I'm just telling you I've spent the last 10 years

[00:39:48] Making a machine that can separate oil from water He was going to spin the oil I think right Like in like a big drum And you're like you have spent the last decade funding this? He has said publicly that he has no ambition To run for political office

[00:40:02] Adding quote I've lived quite a colorful life Well good He doesn't want us looking in our closet Don't you look in his closet I'm gonna submit a FOIA All with one person? I think two He was married to one person

[00:40:20] They had three kids and he's married to someone else They have four I wonder what he's like as a dad I bet it's kind of like Yellowstone It's like Molly's game You don't actually see much of him then he's on a park bench

[00:40:32] And he gives you a five minute Is this a dream sequence? Yeah he finds you at the ice rink That's the other thing with Costner The most dramatic turnaround in my recent Home loving career Is me being like god that Molly's game scene sucks

[00:40:46] And then the second time I watch it Being like Costner crushes this This is a good scene I love that scene It is one of those things You haven't seen the movie You played the game I have played the game I was dealt in

[00:41:04] There is no part of me That pushes back against anything he's doing And I'm like this is like Herculean What he's pulling off in this scene And every time I'm just like Is it legal for Sorkin to be asking him to do this Absolutely not

[00:41:20] It's not legal for Sorkin to ask anyone to do anything Aaron Sorkin needs to actually Be put in some sort of a friendly Hollywood jail for a while But Costner's work in that scene is stunning He's really good in that movie I'm glad we're all Molly's game

[00:41:34] Yeah Molly's game rules That's what's annoying though For Molly's game it was like you know what Sorkin just needs to cook with gas And then he's like more gas And we're like no Aaron no Take his director's chair away I remember watching Molly's game being like

[00:41:50] Huh he's actually a better director than I thought he would be There's some interesting things in here There's some shit where he gets it wrong There are some scenes where he's putting way too much paprika on the sandwich But he's closer than I thought he would be

[00:42:00] And he's found the perfect subject This is maybe the best character he's ever built a movie around He's in the pocket And then he just makes two movies I hate With every fiber of my being And I'm just like He's given in to all the

[00:42:14] You don't hate Chicago 7? That movie is awful I don't think it's particularly good It's so fucking saccharine And so like uncinematic Both of them and just stupid But moving, slight Costner Yeah is there a movie you don't like Costner in? I feel like he's always good

[00:42:34] Now I haven't seen Black and White Which Olivia and I briefly discussed He does love a sports movie of course Tin Cup in which the villain's name is David Sims Played by Don Johnson And this is like his third baseball movie He's done obviously

[00:42:50] He's in one of the greatest baseball movies ever made He's in two of the greatest baseball movies ever made Major League, he was in a major league too Well I was talking about Bull Durham Obviously Field of Dreams Is like one of the great America movies

[00:43:02] Is it a great baseball movie? Like there's a lot of the sport being played But it's a great baseball movie Baseball as religion It's the idea of baseball It's like baseball as a romantic concept I love that movie Because people shit on Field of Dreams

[00:43:18] No it's a great film And they shouldn't It is corny But baseball as a romantic idea is corny Yes, yes, yes Do I own a 4K box set of Ken Burns' Baseball? In my house? I sure do Do you have the Field of Dreams 4K steel?

[00:43:36] I sure do Do I also think the natural rules Even though Kevin Costner's not in it? Yes Regular 4K no steel book for that one I don't think I have that one on disc Look, the point is

[00:43:50] Especially when Costner is coming off of his two biggest flops ever And you're just like Has the hubris taken over him He needs to step back, he needs to go back in the pocket Post-apocalyptic, sci-fi Budget overrun You're talking Waterworld and The Postman

[00:44:04] Tin Cup is in the middle of those Tin Cup is good Tin Cup is on base He's on base Two humongous flops Message in a Bottle comes out before this But isn't out when he starts filming Message in a Bottle actually did pretty well It did pretty well

[00:44:22] Two smaller romance movies But you just have to think It's universal to be like We got Kevin Costner making the third film in his baseball trilogy And for Costner and his team Feeling like We're back in the sweet spot

[00:44:36] Everyone's going to be so happy to see me doing this again It cannot miss The pitch for this movie Is really good Where it's like Kevin Costner is playing a baseball A famed pitcher Who's probably pitching his final game I'm like, I can picture that

[00:44:54] And he's like, okay While he's on the mound He's reminiscing through his life I'm like, sounds good What they're not saying is They're reminiscing on how he's like I was kind of an asshole to this one woman This one kind of shitty, unwilling to commit relationship

[00:45:10] I spent like five years being kind of mean To a woman who loved me Who obviously liked me and had room for me in her life I'll give you some context I was talking about this with Forky Say you're dating Kevin Costner

[00:45:22] Do you just have the thought of like Yes, he's a nightmare right now But like it's only a few more years of baseball And then he's retired Rich Has no job Lots of work I think the movie would benefit from making that text

[00:45:38] It's like you need to have the character sort of think through those I'm not saying that's an argument for dating He's not very nice to her No, but as Brian Cox said He's invested his money well And I kind of like that

[00:45:50] And I kind of liked the setup That they had when they first started Where it's like you go on the road Do whatever And when you're in New York, you're in New York I would be so You'd be chill with that

[00:46:04] You don't mind if he fucks the masseuse No, absolutely not Do you think it's a little rude of him to fuck the masseuse Not because he's with Kelly Presson Just because it's like don't fuck the masseuse I think they had been fucking

[00:46:16] She's doing the nice to see ya I haven't seen ya in a minute Because I think it's also I think the masseuse wants to fuck him No, she doesn't. I'm not saying he's taking advantage of the masseuse

[00:46:26] I'm just kind of like don't you just want to keep the masseuse relationship Professional It is a thing though Where that is kind of a fun modern setup Especially for two people who are like adults Like proper adults In a movie like this One of them's a mom

[00:46:42] And he's like The fact that it takes one scene for that to fall apart And then you're walking in with the masseuse I really like what he says Like before anything else I want you to know my heart leapt when I saw you

[00:46:54] I actually really like that line Some of these fucking moments You were asking if I ever dislike Costner, right? And I just think I don't Because I like him in Postman and Waterworld Even if the movies aren't good I think he's such a steady hand

[00:47:08] And I think he's such a unique movie star I'm going to have a lot of little anecdotes like this But there was a thing on set Where I would hear crew people be like He sucks, he can't act Like what the fuck is going on here

[00:47:20] And I would tell them Stand behind the monitor and watch what he's doing And they would do it And they'd go like holy shit you're totally right He's one of those guys where he has Such an understanding of filmmaking Of how he plays on camera

[00:47:34] Of what his iconography is No pun intended But like what his weight is Did you ever do him an iconography? Would have been an uncool thing to bring to a very cool podcast But

[00:47:46] I don't know, I think Io and I would have a lot of fun talking about it We love old white men That's the thing Io probably has insane Kevin Costner I don't think there's a lot of debate on whether Kevin Costner is an icon

[00:47:56] I mean the man is certainly an icon I'll text Io and see I'll ask her what her thoughts are on Kevin Costner And then if she responds But it was that thing where I was like When I'm in a scene with him it is like astounding

[00:48:08] It is astounding to like play off of him And then if you're standing at any other angle It looks like he's doing nothing So He will He's not a guy who gives immaculate take after immaculate take He is a guy who is like striving to identify moments

[00:48:22] Where he can just roll the line off in the right way Or find the little look or whatever So it's not like If you're watching him You're like from beginning to end He's always perfect This guy is put together, he knows the lines

[00:48:36] But he understands filmmaking where he's like I gotta get that moment, I gotta find it And he's like a little obsessive about like Can he direct one more movie? He's lost in Yellowstone world Didn't he just announce a thing? I think he just announced a western

[00:48:50] We're so fucking amped about this It's happening There's only five movies right? I think it's only three Dancing with Wolves I think we would have to do Waterworld We would Dancing with Wolves Open Range, I guess it's only three We were texting about this when this happened

[00:49:10] I think he announced that he's self-financing I think you're right He's like fuck it, I'm just gonna make my own western Love it Alright let me give you some context about For Love of the Game Alright Michael J. Shara We all know him, he wrote this novel

[00:49:29] He won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction From a book called The Killer Angels Which was about Gettysburg And then he had A near death motorcycle accident And he never wrote another Hit book And apparently it really fucked him up In 1988, he died of a heart attack

[00:49:49] He was 58 years old His son Jeffrey, who's also someone who writes fucking Gettysburg-esque novels Found this manuscript In his house after he died This was his unpublished novel He just had like a baseball book sitting around And he read it and he was like This is pretty good

[00:50:07] And he got it published Before it was even published Probably partly because of the name Probably because of the story Hollywood was like Sounds good, we want it Was the book a hit at all? I don't think it was a massive hit But it's 150 pages long

[00:50:25] It's a breeze Exactly But it does feel like the kind of book It's short and the concept is so cinematic That Hollywood just immediately There's something just so romantic about the entire idea of the thing That's awesome This is going really good I'm loving it

[00:50:45] I think we're having a really fun time 20 minutes on baseball, another 20 on cause Everything is running smoothly You're in the dossier, we're like 50-so in I also feel like we're not doing side tangents We're talking about things In the expansive web of the movie

[00:50:59] We got into it pretty quickly I'm sorry I even brought it up because I feel like I'm going to jinx it The jokes are funny You don't want to jinx that you might be Producing the perfect podcast So Ben, your experience I believe

[00:51:15] Was also seeing this at the time But you did not rewatch it, you told me I didn't have time We're doing these episodes very close together And I don't think we can really reasonably Expect Ben to have to watch everything So anyways

[00:51:29] I left and I was just like Those were a lot of keys That was my takeaway Let's just keep going Sidney Pollack, he hires Robert Town It's just like big heavyweights coming in Does Amy Robinson, is she already involved at this point? She's the producer who found it

[00:51:48] Amy Robinson who I want to shout out A legend She is a legend Was Griffin Dunn's producing partner Did After Hours and Running on Empty And Mean Streets She pretty much stopped acting after that That rocks And then became a producer

[00:52:06] And Griffin Dunn was like no one will hire me I want to find my own projects He teams up with her, they start buying scripts from him And then they just start setting up movies with other people And she's a fucking badass person

[00:52:16] You know what the last movie she produced was? Julian Julia So Dana Stevens Now not friend of the show But American screenwriter Who in fact wrote The Woman King Which Prince Bythewood is making this year Has written a lot of movies She wrote Life or Something Like It

[00:52:34] And Jolie Burns We all remember She wrote the City of Angels The Cage Ryan The movie that gave us Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls America's Greatest Movie Music video Kevin Hart's Fatherhood Which was on Netflix this year

[00:52:52] What was the thing she wrote before this that was her breakout thing It's called Blink It was a Michael Apted thriller Starring Madeline Stowe and Aidan Quinn I've never seen it I don't have that fucking song in my head Sorry And I don't want the world to see

[00:53:08] He's just sitting in that tower Looking at them Late 90s Same vibes right? Okay so After writing Blink Dana Stevens says I'm a female screenwriter Who had just written a movie with a female lead All I'm getting offered are novel thrillers With tough female characters And

[00:53:28] She's talking to Amy Robinson Amy's like what do you want to write What would you really want to write And she's like the truth is I really want to write The Way We Were The Redford Streisand movie That's my favorite movie of all time

[00:53:40] Amy Robinson looks at her and says do you like baseball And she's like I love baseball And Amy Robinson is like Read this book because it's kind of like The way we were with baseball Right like now I think that's a stretch Because I wish this was like

[00:53:54] The way we were like I wish it was a 20 year Romance right you know what I mean Instead it's like I met her when I was famous And fucking around with her They don't date for that long They break up for a couple years Yeah

[00:54:08] That's the problem with this movie but also it is funny That every like it feels like every step Of getting someone involved in this movie Was someone being like do you like baseball And then taking a breath and going I love baseball like Amy Robinson said

[00:54:20] It was like she read the review of the book and she was like Fuck I've always wanted to make a baseball movie And like ran out Bought the book read it and was like this is it The crack of the motherfucking bat

[00:54:30] Now the book is set in the 70s Dana Stevens brought it into The present day And she also brought in the Daughter character right maybe a mistake I think the Kelly Preston character was entirely Different yes fairly different how they meet Is different apparently

[00:54:46] Now as you might read On Wikipedia supposedly Tom Cruise Attached to this movie no Tom Cruise Apparently begged Sidney Pollack to do this movie And Sidney didn't Want to do it because he was like you make no Sense for this movie I'm thinking

[00:55:02] Of an autumnal guy at the end And Tom Cruise makes no sense of that Tom Cruise seems like a baby At 99 still Way too young I can't imagine him being like I've had a long career Even though in 99 He's been around But it still just wouldn't work

[00:55:22] But this is one of those things Because Costner and him have the same length of career And yet it's like no it doesn't work But you just have to imagine everyone At this point has already for months Or years been saying in hushed tones

[00:55:34] It's gotta be Costner right The version of this movie that makes no sense is Costner in every single box It's like check check check So this she gets wild Pollack eventually Quits the movie Lawrence Kasdan Comes in he brings Costner Right he's the one who gets

[00:55:50] Costner on board Dana Stevens departs because Kasdan Starts fucking with the script apparently Dana Stevens says that Jake Kasdan Who was 21 at the time Obviously is now an established Hollywood Screenwriter. He's already done Zero Effect Has he already done Zero Effect? Yeah Zero Effect 98

[00:56:08] 97 I guess maybe it has Yeah this is 98 This is when they're still working on it He's only 21. He did his own Version of the movie I don't know What they messed with But that was like Leary was like I wanna do this Kasdan's like you're out

[00:56:26] If Jake can write it And so Kevin Costner stuck up for Dana Stevens And said no she should write it And so Kasdan quits Because he wanted his son to be the writer This is once again the second Costner enters the picture it's his Fucking movie

[00:56:44] This is the thing He's calling the shots He's calling the play You got a great director You have a hot screen writer it's one or the other And he gets to constantly put his thumb on the scale As to what wins

[00:56:58] And a guy he's worked with so many times at this point Like he and Kasdan Have a real relationship He must really like Dana Stevens Or he hates Jake Kasdan That might be it This isn't like a training wheels thing This is a Kevin Costner movie about baseball

[00:57:14] This is the other thing I think Costner gets in his head I don't say this in a negative way But he is this guy who big picture is like I know the kind of movie we're trying to make The kind of feeling I want

[00:57:26] Like he does really invest in There's so many quotes that JJ pulled up That we'll get to where he's just like I think about the everyday American Putting their $8 down to see my movie And what they want I think if Jake Kasdan

[00:57:40] Is not syncing up with his vision No amount of Kasdan Loyalty is going to trump If Dana Stevens is closer to What he thinks the movie needs to feel like And also they seemingly got along well Sam Raimi throws his hat in the ring

[00:57:54] The studio says we're not interested in you You lunatic Go make another fucking Dead Height movie Sam Raimi loves baseball He says I had kids I was married, I'd gotten older You know, I wanted to make this kind of a movie

[00:58:08] It's what we're talking about in Raimi's career And I haven't really asked you your thoughts on Raimi, Olivia But it's this middle part of his career Between Spider-Man and his early genre stuff Where he makes the Simple Plan And this And The Gift

[00:58:22] He's making like grown up movies And Simple Plan is like This should be the Coen Brothers transitional Oscar moment And the film is a little bit underrated And it's moment doesn't get the recognition it deserves And then now he's doing this movie

[00:58:34] Where it's like, oh you're in a weird zone Yeah, I rewatched Simple Plan before this To kind of be like where are we at In his vibe And that movie rocks It rips It is so good And like the pacing is really good

[00:58:50] And it's like a really good screenplay Also based on a book I love Raimi Raimi to me And I think people my age is Spider-Man Like that, Tobey Maguire Is my childhood Spider-Man And I love those movies And that is mostly how I know him

[00:59:10] Because I'm a scaredy cat and I don't watch The scary ones But I love Sam Raimi We all love Sam Raimi here I wonder if there's more he could have done With this movie, I don't know There are a couple moments That are like

[00:59:26] I think it's like 10 minutes There are like 3 little funny things The thing he does where he kind of drops the sound out Oh, what is it called? Clear the mechanism I love that And I was like, oh a little visual invention from Raimi

[00:59:40] And then it's like kind of not really happening again I mean we talked about that Like Simple Plan, he was challenging himself Don't move the camera so much Right, but you still feel the Raimi energy And inventiveness And like thoughtfulness Every single moment, every shot, every line reading

[00:59:56] Or whatever This just feels a little bit like he's on a preset A little bit Like he's on Like you said, Costner's kind of running the show Yeah Anyway, Raimi takes a meeting With Costner's producing partner To discuss End of Days

[01:00:14] Which apparently was also being considered by them And then he's like This is the course, the thing I get hired for The big fucking demonic horror movie And then he's like, by the way I actually want to do the baseball movie

[01:00:26] And they're like, okay, they send him out to Maine As you said, he pitched Costner On the set of Message in a Bottle He got flown out on Costner's private plane His quote is After we met, I honestly didn't think he was interested in me

[01:00:38] But he must have liked the other directors He met with even less But David It's not like Kevin Costner I guess was like, Sam you're a genius But sorry, what did you want me to say? The other thing Raimi said was he was like

[01:00:50] I remember when I first got on to that movie I remember having like meeting after meeting after meeting And then one day I was on set and there was My name on the back of a chair Like there was no point where I felt like

[01:01:00] I never got the call that I had the job Right The other thing is apparently he got like a mosquito bite Right Well, when he showed up in Maine I guess He gets off the plane and JJ, our researcher Described it as a hitch-like Allergic reaction

[01:01:16] Where his face is completely Yeah And his face was completely swollen When he met Kevin Costner the first time he was completely miserable Yes, and he had a hitch-like facial swelling But hey, he gets the gig Everyone speaks highly of him If anything, maybe he really just stuck

[01:01:32] In Costner's head Give me that swollen fucker Everyone speaks highly Like Dana Stevens says like He was a good Middle ground guy But he was also like Like a good guy And he was like He was a good guy And he was like He was a good guy

[01:01:58] Yeah I think that's where he started calling You know, like settling things down Yeah Like if he was fighting with the studio Sam was good Steady hand diplomatic Right Yeah Yeah The film filmed at Yankee Stadium I was wondering How they did this

[01:02:24] The Yankees had just won the World Series If anyone knows in 1998 They were the most successful baseball team in history And they beat the Padres And right after that It wasn't too cold because the World Series was so short They filmed for a month basically in October 1999, 1998

[01:02:40] And that's the old Yankee Stadium Where the train you could still You know what I mean, it was in the background more Did they just like Are all those extras like just real People? Because there are a couple crowd shots where there's like A lot of people

[01:02:56] They said there's a lot of cardboard standees And a surprising amount of CGI There you go Because the crowd stuff does look very real It looks like, you know how they did A Star is Born Where they just like ran on at Coachella

[01:03:10] And they were like, and now for 10 minutes Bradley Cooper and Willie Nelson's kid are going to play a song for you And everyone was just like Okay But no The Yankee fans in this Are very well cast They're just like the sort of like

[01:03:26] You know stupid loud mouth I love the guy in the bar The guy at the bar is incredible I didn't double check this but I watched these two movies Not even back to back but Interruptus I think the guy at the bar Is the fucking

[01:03:40] Wrestling promoter in Spider-Man I mean that would Remy does like to reuse his guys He wanted Brent Brisco Who is the third guy in Simple Plan To play the John C. Reilly part And the studio was like this Reilly guy's Popping too hard

[01:03:56] And he's pretty good in that movie John C. Reilly He has nothing to do When he makes his run That's cute The guy who you know is one of the players Is played by the burglar in Spider-Man Michael Papajohn The murderous burglar Larry Joshua

[01:04:16] Is that the guy's name? This is the movie that gets J.K. Simmons hired onto Spider-Man That's the other thing That character had been fan cast So much He is the wrestling promoter in Spider-Man That character had been fan cast so much Even like through the years

[01:04:32] Of James Cameron's Spider-Man development People were always like I think there was always the thought of What if Stan Lee played J. Jonah Jameson himself Because he's a mustache man Which fans always liked the idea of And the other dumb obvious casting that everyone always talked about

[01:04:46] Was R. Lee Army It would be great to put this guy in a flat top and have him yell And when J.K. Simmons was announced People were like what the fuck are you talking about He's so good

[01:04:56] I know but it was because of this movie where he doesn't have a lot to do But he wears a mustache so well And Sam Raimi was just like I'm telling you this is the guy And people were a little perplexed I remember reading a Spider-Man issue

[01:05:08] Where the movie was just coming together I think they perhaps had not cast Toby Dunst and Defoe yet Part of me remembers him being the first guy they cast When Raimi came on And it was like the back letters page Of Amazing Spider-Man

[01:05:22] Was a photo of J.K. Simmons Reading a Spider-Man issue With a cigar in his mouth And he didn't have the hair but he had the mustache And it was the announcement of like Sam Raimi believes he's found his J. Jonah Jameson And fans were weary about it

[01:05:36] And then what a fucking good call Great call He really wears the mustache so well It's beautiful I think his performance in this He just looks like a baseball man Yeah he looks He looks exactly like the guy you see The way he chews The way he chews

[01:05:56] Look I tweeted is there no one better cast Some people tweeted James Gammon and Major League And obviously James Gammon and Major League is a top choice Some people tweeted Philip Seymour Hoffman and Moneyball Who's great There are other good ones but this is very good casting

[01:06:10] I want to tell you that Amy Robinson They shoot at Yankee Stadium And everyone was like it's not going to fucking happen She called George Steinbrenner on the phone And he picked up And she's like I want to do this movie with Kevin Costner

[01:06:22] And he was like Kevin Costner wonderful young man I watch his movie Dances with Wolves all the time I'm like Kevin Costner anything that young man wants to do Must be very good And that was that was Young man is funny to say about

[01:06:34] I mean I'm just imagining Larry David saying these things obviously But then his terms were like I love Costner so much That we're going to give you a lot Of resources Free you know reign But he had all these demands about how the Yankees were depicted right

[01:06:48] Well another some other things that Steinbrenner did Was shocked that a woman had written the movie Nice Like a runner or something It was like you're the director You're a child Which makes sense Sam Raimi does have the energy of like Scooter from the Muppet show

[01:07:02] Sam Raimi has always looked like a Like a baby He still looks like a little boy in like a first communion First communion energy He looks like his suit doesn't quite fit him right Yes as you said he required that anyone dressed as a Yankee

[01:07:14] Had to be an established actor Or a professional baseball player At least at like the collegiate level And I think a lot of like the coaches and the staff members And whatever the real Yankees I mean we're going to get So yeah they had a lot of CGI

[01:07:28] They had 2000 extras Which is a lot But it's like 6000 people Yeah they had a lot more cardboard people Dimensionally challenged people Costner was 44 years old That's pretty old If you throw in baseballs Apparently he was hitting 84 miles an hour on the radar gun Which is pretty good

[01:07:48] I mean all the home video footage in this movie No get out of here Costner always talks about how he Like when he had played Baseball in college He's one of those guys who's like I could have gone pro Yes exactly

[01:08:02] He's absolutely one of those guys who constantly says I feel like he made a better choice Yeah he absolutely did He has good form He looks proper That's the other thing is like Tom Tom Cruise could not I can't see Tom Cruise throwing a baseball

[01:08:18] He would just study it Yeah he would never It would never look natural No no Costner just has the other thing that's insane in the notes And this is a thing Costner only started talking about recently Well yes Are you talking about He was hanging out

[01:08:36] At Yankee Stadium in 1998 With some cool guys He's like I'm 44 I'm feeling the wear and tear Look I listened to the Bill Simmons podcast I remember this He's throwing 200-300 pitches a day That's the thing he has to throw more pitches Than an actual pitcher does

[01:08:54] So life is just imitating art As he put it I was seeing the actual trainer for the Yankees The guy came to my rescue I started to take some stuff Had to take a lot of stuff just to get through the day

[01:09:06] Look I don't know if they were injecting him Or they were just like just put a little of this on your skin A couple blues a couple greens The clear and the cream right That's fine I like it I approve So then for the last day

[01:09:20] They were going to simulate the whole game He was going to have to pitch for about 5 hours He gets the trainer and he says What if the player who is never going to play again Like Dave Cohn it's his last game Truly leave it all on the field

[01:09:32] Exactly And the guy said He was basically like I need a couple green ones A couple blue ones And the guy was like I need something you haven't brought out yet And the guy looks him in the eyes And he's like alright

[01:09:48] And then he basically shoots him up Full of stuff And then the last thing he said to him Is he's sending him out onto the pitches You're going to growl at a few people They gave him like the green goblin juice Yeah I don't know

[01:10:04] They were basically like you're going to be really hyped up Just FYI They put him in the green smoke tank And he went in full goblin mode But he says that one of the moments Where he gets aggro It was a genuine unplanned

[01:10:18] If you ever look at that thing I come off the mound when someone starts complaining And something had snapped Like I was not acting I just was really worked up So you know it's just crazy Because this movie is so gentle I know That Costner was like

[01:10:36] I gotta get fucking jacked But they also say that he kept on going Around to people on set And being like I really think this one's working This is the best movie I've ever made I mean I think that if you were juiced up

[01:10:48] You might also be like This is incredible I imagine steroids are just like cocaine But it's like he's pot committed to this thing He's like I really I'm going hard on this I think you can see that in the movie He feels very committed to the movie

[01:11:04] Especially the baseball He feels a little less committed to Kelly Press And of course that is his character arc I suppose John C. Reilly Incredible casting to me He looks like a catcher Has no interest in baseball Even though he's from Chicago You imagine this is a guy

[01:11:24] I think this is offensive I just imagine John C. Reilly at Wrigley Field He's a theater kid He's like a little theater boy He looks like a catcher's mitt But at the end of the day He's like a cat I want to do American Buffalo

[01:11:40] He loves clowns too Do you know this John C. Reilly collects clown paintings Like paintings of clowns He's obsessed with clowns That's weird Do you think it's in the way That he probably studied Italian clowning Is it that kind of clown shit He talks about Dr. Steve Brule

[01:11:58] Being his clown persona In that kind of way That makes sense It's absolutely the academic Lofty love of clowns I like that he When you first see him He's playing his little game boy And it looks so tiny And I think As great as Brent Briscoe is

[01:12:20] So Ramey wanted Brent Briscoe Who plays the dumb friend in A Simple Plan And who actually Has baseball experience The studio said We're getting Reilly Here's the thing that I think helps Briscoe and Costner read much Closer in age at this point in time I think it

[01:12:42] Helps that there's a generation gap Even down to the game boy And the backwards hat and all that He can't hold his liquor kind of stuff It makes you realize how Aged Costner is That he can't keep up with this I also like the part where Costner's like

[01:12:58] I'm only pitching with Gus And it's like oh he probably came Halfway through your career and you guys Have just bonded in this way I love that though whenever pitchers have a special Catcher, like Andy Pettit would always Pitch to Jim Lawrence who was this guy

[01:13:12] Who seemed like he had just escaped From a prison bus and I was just like Are they buds? Is there just some Sort of chat that they understand Some banter there? But that's the thing about baseball too There's a lot of weird luck Rituals

[01:13:28] It's just so natural about all that shit Yes, that's true Vin Scully, Costner requested Have to have Vin Scully Unbelievable Really helps the movie Scully had never done anything like this He'd maybe done 30 seconds of voiceover for a movie before He'd never done like

[01:13:46] He voiced Iago in Aladdin Jafar I'm telling you This kid with the lamp They sent Scully the script Didn't think it was very good I know about scripts says Vin Scully I went over to Universal and their attitude was Great so they convinced him

[01:14:02] They sent him the script And I just loved it, he's like I read the script Piece of shit Hokey garbage And then they said they would give me 1 million American dollars And I was like alright sure I'll do it And you know Ramey just let him improvise

[01:14:18] It was just like you know do your thing You're Vin Scully Incredible Oh there was a reshoot of the final scene Vin Scully suggestion The airport scene? No the final baseball It sounds like they shot a more Magical, natural-esque Right

[01:14:38] And he was like you're getting this so right You don't have to go this big You should scale it down It's a shame if you blow it That is like the best part of baseball Is when everyone like rushes To the field

[01:14:52] And then the Cubs won the World Series 2016, one of the last happy moments in American life That was like really one of the greatest things I've ever seen In my life It was just like so electric And in this movie they kind of capture That really well

[01:15:06] Here's the other thing I think Vin Scully got right And it's like I haven't seen the original ending Don't know what they did differently Probably just a little more hyped up But as someone who barely understands these things I do think so often In these like historic moments

[01:15:20] The final play isn't The best play of the game It's the release of tension It's like fuck and now we've run out the clock And it's over and we get to all celebrate And that's why Costner plays it so well

[01:15:32] Where when the hit happens he looks genuinely scared He doesn't look like cool Costner anymore And then they're all excited It's either you or me kid That thing of like he knows If this kid ends the perfect game It makes his career And if he doesn't

[01:15:48] Then Costner gets to end with the perfect dramatic I also think it's a really Smart move that it's a perfect game And not a no hitter Because if it was just a no hitter It would be so boring It would be like oh it's just

[01:16:02] It's Costner but now it's like oh it's the team So you get the moment where it's like That guy missed the ball When they played the Red Sox And then he gets to catch it When they play the Yankees Fucking comedy seller comedian

[01:16:16] And then he just plays that dude Who's a really good comic People always go like why didn't he have a better acting career And he just has a really good Two scene dramatic performance in this movie He was in Joker wasn't he

[01:16:28] He was I think he was one of the comedians Have you guys ever seen a perfect game I've never seen one in person obviously No But I watched Roy Holiday's Perfect Game I remember that because that was In the post season Did David Cohn pitch a perfect game

[01:16:44] In 1999 The big one for when I was a kid is Jim Abbott pitched a no hitter Do you guys remember Jim Abbott I was saying this to my wife and she was like what are you talking about You insane person does anyone remember Jim Abbott

[01:16:54] Jim Abbott played in the 90s And he was famous because he only had one hand What So the fact that he was a professional baseball player Was absolutely like this like absurd achievement And then he pitched a no hitter When I was like 8 years old That's awesome

[01:17:10] He would wear the glove on his non-hand arm And then he would do all this crazy shit for catching Where he would like move the glove over And I could show it to you Thank you for reminding me

[01:17:20] The thing I find most fascinating about this movie is that It feels so un-Ramey like In almost every way But then you think about it and it's a movie About a guy trying his damnedest Not to lose his hand and his girlfriend

[01:17:32] Which is the ultimate Sam Raimi movie It is that's true Right it's all about the hand and the girlfriend Often his characters lose their hands This is true And lose the love of their life and never get over it

[01:17:44] And this guy somehow wins but he holds on to the hand And the lady This is the thing though with this movie I feel like We're going to get into the post production What they can't decide about Is this a movie for grown ups or for families

[01:17:58] Because the baseball movie is basically a movie For families But the Kevin Costner movie is very much A movie for grown ups It's not like explicit or raunchy But it is just about like grown up shit It's a late in life love thing

[01:18:12] He's coming off a message in a bottle Which is like Here's Kevin Costner and Robin Wright having a Later in life beach romance This sort of like He's crossed a threshold where it's not Even just like Handsome adults falling in love

[01:18:28] It's like people who have already lived a couple lives Falling in love which is not a thing that kids relate to easily How old is Kelly Preston at this point? That's a great question Because if she had Jenna Malone when she was 16 She's probably like what?

[01:18:40] Like 30 when they meet? Yeah so Kelly Preston is I'm seeing she's about 7 years younger Than Kevin Costner So she would have been like 37 When she shot this movie I think she's playing younger She is She does get above the poster Above the time you're filming

[01:19:00] When you see it on the poster you're surprised When you see the movie you're like well she's in a lot But he just, Costner feels like Especially at this point in time there's only one name Right To go back to what we were saying about

[01:19:12] Is Kelly Preston good in this movie or not? I can't say that she's good in this movie I can't either but I also think What she's being handed Is so difficult because she's simultaneously Underwritten and overwritten She is underwritten as a character

[01:19:26] And all of her dialogue is overwritten It's so on the nose And I just kept on going like This is all like Try hard James L. Brooks Cameron Crowe style, they're looking for that Sort of Right but also the like

[01:19:42] Are we going to talk about the thing we're not going to talk about Kind of stuff How do you like your dark meat? Do you like it ripped up like in a chef salad or cubed? The thing with the everyone should wear a poster Fucking

[01:19:52] Signed her saying yes Which is not an answer to his question No you just, all the examples you listed were adjectives And you're not describing yourself The thing about that is just a little bit too over He asked her how she likes to be kissed She said yes

[01:20:06] And then here's my biggest gripe with this movie The kissing is so bad They just smash their faces together And Coster is like wriggling his head around Yes You know he has that line in Bull Durham about how he likes like sloppy kisses Or whatever

[01:20:20] He's a good kisser Slop it up Kevin He likes long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses the last three days Slop it up I think they're in this weird zone Where like This feels like it should have been Meg Ryan

[01:20:34] I'm not saying Meg Ryan could have pulled it off But I think the version of this that Kelly Preston could do Is a lot more Sort of small and emotionally grounded And when they're trying to make her like Fliberty Gibbett who has these like

[01:20:46] Sort of winsome like sayings And is like trying to pull her life together I don't think that plays to her strong suits I kept every time She had one of these like date scenes I kept thinking about Richard Lawson and Bobby Fingers

[01:21:00] Game they used to play where they would come up with fake James Albrook's lines And the best one they ever came up with You're kind of a person who's a kind of a person Yeah just like a perfect

[01:21:08] I'm the kind of a person who's kind of a person And it just feels like every scene she's got like four of those And they're not done at the level of those guys Who by the way We covered both of their careers

[01:21:18] When those guys try to make those movies Half the time they fuck it up Right And they don't ever get it at the level that they get it When it's cooking or an Efron or any of these people Right I love Kelly Preston in Jerry Maguire Obviously

[01:21:34] Addicted to love What are some other Kelly Preston movies I like Old Dogs She plays a mom in something That I like She probably does She has a great mom performance in Sky High She's really funny in Sky High Fair enough I do think

[01:21:54] When she was positioned in movies Like this as the perfect woman Earnestly It often didn't totally click And when she's in things like Jerry Maguire Or Addicted to Love where she is Quote unquote the perfect woman That people have to slowly realize Is not She's really good

[01:22:14] She's so good in Jerry Maguire It's a 20 minute burst It's so small but it really she is incredible As you said everyone on set was like We're making a great movie There's the very funny of course Brian Cox Wrote about this in his memoir

[01:22:28] Because he had to go on a press tour For nine months Talk about every celebrity ever Is the book even out? It came out in the UK and he was like I hate Johnny Depp and then it came out in America And he had more things to say

[01:22:42] I just feel like that's always what he's saying I already made this joke in a different episode Right that the last chapter of the book I'm blaming you for not having read it yet David Sims stop quoting from my book Piece of shit

[01:22:54] So Cox said that Sam Raimi Said to him like You know you have to be high status in your scene I know Kevin is a movie star he might be difficult With that But you're the high status character Right and Cox in writing replies

[01:23:08] This was because my character in the scene was higher status than Kevin's And Sam was worried that his real life status would bleed in To influence the scene Sam having not heard of this thing we call Acting This is the whole thing with British actors

[01:23:20] It's like American like you know fucking Jared Leto is hanging from the ceiling And he's like I'm Morbius and Brian Cox is like It's called acting mate Look I'm a vampire now see that's how you do it It's the fucking Olivier thing Try acting my boy

[01:23:34] Apparently after Cox and Costner did their first scene together Raimi was like how'd you do so great That was perfect And Cox said Sam did you ever consider treating Kevin As an actor rather than as a movie star He's like that's what he wants

[01:23:46] Don't know if that's true but that's how Brian Cox thinks I would believe that 100% I would believe that Cox is good in this But this is that time when it's just Cox just shows up for a scene or two I love his little glasses Good little glasses

[01:24:02] You know 25th hour adaptation Well like 2 years after this 3 years after this is the rookie Where it's like now he's got the bigger part Is that Dennis Quaid Dennis Quaid's dad Does he run a bar in that one too He's always running bars in movies

[01:24:18] It's like your dad who runs a bar The golden age is Brian Cox as dad you have a difficult relationship with Who runs a bar He's gregarious to other people To you he gives it a little too straight Alright son what do you want Fuck off

[01:24:34] I'm Hannibal Lecter The original one all the way back I'll eat your face fuck off But The movie had to be under 130 minutes long Which this movie is not And it had to be rated PG13 So when this movie came in At 138

[01:24:52] The studio was like okay we'll accept that So he cheated on that They shouldn't have it's too long They should not have This is a thing also that Amy Robinson said Maybe it was Dan Stevens who said this There were two cuts there was a Raimi cut

[01:25:06] And there was a Costner cut And it played like gangbusters And the Costner cut tested well But not as well And the cut that got released was a compromise cut That's silly But I understand it But the other issue is the film was rated R By the MPAA

[01:25:24] Because it used the word fuck twice The bartender says No cussing in my bar fuck And Kelly Preston says I just don't fuck like that After she has sex with Kevin Costner And that's how it grew in the version we see Now can I share an anecdote Yes

[01:25:42] In draft day there is a scene In the big final negotiation Where he's like trying to pull off the crazy move And he calls one of the other managers Over the phone You pancake eating mother fucker That was I wouldn't say an ad lib

[01:25:58] I don't think you can say mother fucker in any circumstances You can't Even if you have no other fucks It's like you get one non sexual fuck But mother fucker is too much for them You can't do one mother fucker It's an odd

[01:26:12] They knew they wanted a PG-13 movie They knew the rest of that movie was squeaky clean It wasn't an ad lib But it was on the day he was like I want more impact on this line Can I say mother fucker

[01:26:24] And they kept pushing him to do alt And he was like I don't want to do an alt Because if I give you the alt They're going to use it This is the moment where everyone pumps their fists So he dug his heels in

[01:26:36] I think there were maybe executives on set He was like being such a Politician about it Where he was working everyone and holding their hands And looking them in the eyes And he was like trust me this is important This is worth it

[01:26:50] The whole movie rests on this I bring this up as an interesting counterpoint Because the movie was submitted to the MPAA It got an R off of that line Which he demanded And they did not cut Lionsgate backed him up They made an appeal

[01:27:06] He personally made the appeal They accepted it The movie was released as PG-13 It is kind of one of the only times Where he just threw sheer Kevin Costner power Yes He gave his like the movie genre He gave his fucking speech I was 7 years old

[01:27:24] But there are truly so few instances of a movie Getting re-rated without any edits What I find fascinating is I now realize how much of that story For him I think was vindication For this fucking thing Because he literally gave like an interview to Newsweek

[01:27:38] Like blasting the studio Being like they're cowards He was mad because Universal didn't even try To fight the rating That was his thing They just said we can't even do it It was two fucks, one non-sexual One sexual And he was like this isn't about ego

[01:27:56] But it was shower scene Right But he was like They weren't my fucks, it wasn't about ego I was letting other people score I thought that was an important moment for her character And that was one of the biggest laughs in the movie when the bartender says it

[01:28:10] And then he got into this whole thing About fucking integrity And he's like courage what happened to the executives Who made these movies The love of the movies I believe is waning in Hollywood And it's given over to commercial instincts

[01:28:22] I mean I love that he's going this hard To work for two fucks But I mean I do love it The line you mentioned earlier Which is like I'm always going to come down on the side of the movie And the people who pay eight bucks

[01:28:34] Now they pay like twenty six But he is this guy where that truly is I'll save the story to tell in a moment But No because this is like the best one I have about him But I do think he is very smart About in his head

[01:28:48] Being able to see the flow of a movie And how audiences will react to it And like what small changes really push things One direction or another And he's like you can't just break this down into numbers And you have to have the feeling for the fucking thing

[01:29:00] And he like really resented that Universal Didn't even try And then when he was doing his perfunctory press For the movie He was talking about it So then Universal publicly was like We don't really like that Kevin Costner is holding this asset hostage

[01:29:14] And dissuading audiences from wanting to see it It's not fair for him to hijack a fifty million dollar asset Is what they're saying And his thing was like Our feeling is we have backed the filmmaker And his name is Sam Raimi not Kevin Costner

[01:29:26] But motherfuckers you put in the contract That he gets final cut You don't hire Kevin Costner And not know that this is kind of What he's going to do Especially at this point To be fair they put in the contract

[01:29:40] That he gets final cut on a movie that's rated PG-13 And is 130 minutes long And their argument which I think is fair Is they were like we gave you the flyer on the length The crazy thing is They actually offered to pay him twenty million dollars Right

[01:29:54] He was so upset about it Because he was saying like I waived my fee In order to be able to make the movie I wanted And now they're not letting me make it And they're like fine we'll pay you twenty million dollars

[01:30:04] If you stop shit talking our movie Five days before it comes out This is such a funny movie to get into this kind of fight about And you're like this is your baby But then it just makes perfect sense That fifteen years later on draft day or whatever

[01:30:16] He's just like I will not lose this argument You have to trust me Sam Raimi, diplomatic Said I miss the lines too I like the bartender's line it's a great moment The MPA wouldn't allow it I understand Kevin's feelings It's a very personal film for him

[01:30:30] I use home movies of his dad and him In the opening credits so Sam you know which is true When that starts I was like they got someone who really looks like Kevin Costner Yeah He's got a real Costner like haircut Yeah he's got that JFK haircut

[01:30:44] The things I was reading about the book Said that the book is more like his entire life Leading up to this moment And the relationship's a big part of it But it's also as much about his relationship to his parents And you can see that

[01:30:56] A couple times when they like flashback To like his parents in the stand And like that makes sense That a book would be like also his parents had a lot to do with it It does make you wish the movie wasn't so

[01:31:06] Squarely focused on just this one relationship Yeah cause I'm like I'm sure there's Other stuff The relationship with the other ball players is interesting Yeah exactly The scene where he's helping the guy move that's kind of interesting I love their relationship

[01:31:20] I kind of do wish that it was like The whole life That if we did like a Citizen Kane Flash through the whole thing I mean it's tough with aging You don't want Costner playing a 20 year old in this movie or whatever

[01:31:32] You should remake this movie and just use Irishman technology He should do it now Yeah Not being the age of any of this movie He should do it all But you did the Irishman thing where like for most of the movie He's 67 playing 45 Right

[01:31:48] And then for a couple unnerving scenes He's 23 Sam Raimi says I'm very happy with the film It's a very real story about someone who grows as a person And becomes worthy of a woman's love Okay Sam The other thing I like that Raimi said there

[01:32:02] Is the thing of like I had no tension with the studio because we were both Trying to make the same movie I wanted to make a like feel good Populist emotional baseball film For American families I didn't have some darker thing

[01:32:16] That they were like that I was pushing On it Kevin Costner is a real motherfucker In a good way Mostly But these quotes I mean like He really goes off I mean I can't read them all out It's just but it's just a lot of

[01:32:34] He really believes in this shit He's like a gentleman six At best or whatever He was at such an absurd Level of movie stardom He had a run that is just so insane When you look at him from like 85 to 94 or whatever It's just like unbelievable

[01:32:52] The amount of classics he made And movies that were not just huge critically beloved Hits at the time That have all aged into like Cable TV rotation hall of fame Right He dances with wolves at the exact Midpoint of that golden run

[01:33:08] And it's the moment where everyone was like This guy is getting too fucking big for his britches He's going insane He's making this self indulgent piece of shit Who wants to watch this three hour western Everyone in the press is calling it Kevin's gate

[01:33:20] And then it is the most triumphant Shit in the world And I do think that Bolden's a guy Like this where he was just like everyone Fucking questioned all of my Instincts and I stuck to my guns And he could not have been any more right

[01:33:34] Where he does I think every time he's in a position Like this and he has an instinct go like I know I'm correct about this And I don't care who I upset in trying to get there He was never people's sexiest man alive Kind of absurd

[01:33:46] That's shocking to me I feel like that's messed up Like they really had to give it to Harry Hamlin in 87 Come on people Because there was a period where he was One of the sexiest men alive You also feel like he's the guy

[01:34:00] Who created that title for it Like it would be called People Magazine's Kevin Costner of the year still today Can you guys tell me who the last sexiest man alive was? Paul Rudd Oh right Ghostbusters afterlife Because yeah it was afterlife and then also

[01:34:16] That show where he's twins maybe Oh yeah It was Ruffalo who was twins But Rudd also did a twin show That no one remembers He did the cloning show He did a cloning show No I knew that he had a clone show

[01:34:32] He did a Dayton Ferris cloning show It was like a Netflix Living with yourself The weird shit on streaming television I watched all of it In one night I'm a big Rudd stan And I watch it and I think on a like

[01:34:48] Technical level the thing that all these actors love to do Where they act against themselves or whatever He does that incredibly well But it is one of the most peak TV shows I've ever seen where I'm like this is a movie

[01:34:58] This is a movie and I'm now watching hour Eight of this and you're trying to Find subplots that do not need to be there This thing should be over and the season kind of Ends on a cliffhanger they will never do another

[01:35:08] Season of that if that was a movie I would give it an eight as a series I'd give it a two Do you guys think this movie could be a TV show? Sure why not I'm just thinking I'm just thinking like This movie specifically Is never

[01:35:26] This movie doesn't even work on streaming As a movie This does not get made I feel like they've tried obviously There's been various baseball TV shows It does seem good for movies It's great for movies

[01:35:40] It's a little less kinetic so it's probably easier to do all of the sports stuff Kind of need it on a big screen Love is nice on a big screen But you know what else is nice on a big screen? Everything

[01:35:48] It's nice to see things on big screens Don't you think? My pitch would be To make a baseball movie About the guy Who Did a no-no on LSD Oh sure What's his name? Doc Ellis That's an incredible story Have you seen the documentary? That's like largely animated

[01:36:14] David Wells pitched A perfect game in 98 I think for the Yankees I think he had like a five alarm hangover During the entire thing He'd been partying with Seth Meyers Bill Hader, no not Bill Hader He'd been partying with SNL people or something

[01:36:30] I don't want to jinx it But now that we're talking about it again We still haven't fucked up this entire episode We actually haven't met All the jokes have been good and great insights I haven't taken any notes You're an edit That's true you haven't

[01:36:46] I'm sitting next to Ben it's a blank legal pad Here at the machine room If we're wrapping up We should probably thank some of the sponsors For the episode Boys noise cancelling headphones Are you tired of listening to boys? Got some out Too much noise from your boys

[01:37:06] Yeah I got it AT or T You have to pick now Hey you have a problem with lunch? You're starving? Food jar Put in your mouth no chefs were involved God I forgot how many ads we crammed into this episode Okay a new service Codpass Ding dong

[01:37:32] Who can play it to Rosebud What's the Riley model? Just throw When Riley hits the mound He's like just throw it It's now like it's a line about a line about a line But the fucking moment in Moneyball when Jonah Hill

[01:37:50] Plays the tape to Brad Pitt of the guy Not realizing that he hit a home run And he says whatever Like it's hard how can you not get romantic About baseball Every time there's one of those lines in this movie Where it's like just pitch

[01:38:04] I'm like how can you not get romantic about baseball I love it I love any time he's talking to himself I love him talking to Riley I don't really know why he sends the baseball to Brian Cox With poor love of the game written on it

[01:38:14] He says tell him I'm through I know he's saying I'm retiring Which makes sense Where his trainer like looks at the ball And then looks back is kind of nice I think it's just like a nice I like the shot of the ball

[01:38:28] Does he write a ball for the nephew as well No he sends it to the nephew And then I think the nephew looks at it and is like This is not for me Like hands it to Brian Cox Who of course plays Gary Wheeler Wait a second

[01:38:42] I cannot believe it took me this long To say the most important thing that needs to be said Am I wrong The crack the bat Am I wrong that the gummo kid is in this movie The kid from gummo is in this movie The kid from gummo

[01:38:56] In the bathtub with the bacon taped to the wall I know who you're talking about but he's in this movie I think he's in this movie for like three shots Who is he I mean he was just a creepy looking kid Oh Jacob Reynolds I almost missed it

[01:39:10] Is in for the love of the game briefly As who He's like in the locker room at the beginning And he's talking to They caught a little rat He's credited as Wheeler's nephew Oh he's the nephew And he delivers the ball To Cox Wow

[01:39:32] This is the perfect episode Well any other Big scenes we need to talk about Cutting his hand Little Jenna Malone I want to just do a little talk about Malone career Before we jump in Did you guys know why Jenna Malone was in the news recently No

[01:39:52] Oh yes she was part of or witness To citizens arrest She spearheaded a citizens arrest Of a man who was kicking a dog And she just was like talking She was just talking about it on the news And it was she wasn't

[01:40:06] The chyron wasn't like Jenna Malone actress It was just like woman I sent this to Ben yesterday Before I had started watching this movie And I don't think I knew Jenna Malone was even in this movie But I sent it to Ben And Ben's girlfriend right away

[01:40:20] Because the headline I saw Was Jenna Malone hits a reverse Paw patrol Performs citizen arrest To rescue a dog Do you know this story Olivia Ben was on a plane with his girlfriend His girlfriend looks over and sees Ben Sobbing uncontrollably Like something horrible has just happened

[01:40:40] And Ben goes what's wrong And Ben points forward The plane is on the runway it has not taken off yet Ben is Peeping as he wants to do Between the crack in the seats In front of him there's a little boy Who is watching the Paw Patrol movie

[01:40:56] Ben is overseeing this Without headphones No audio And he just witnesses the visuals And Ben is truly tearing up as I'm explaining this The cold open of the Paw Patrol movie Is there was a turtle trying to cross a bridge And a man notices the turtle

[01:41:12] And swerves out of the way so as not to hit the turtle And he almost falls off the bridge And the Paw Patrol has to save him And Ben could not process That is so sweet I was gonna say He's truly choked up right now

[01:41:26] I thought you would have been in the air When you started crying No no no They were like hey we're still taxiing We're waiting and Ben's like sobbing Watching It gets me He's a good guy And they save him He was doing a good deed

[01:41:46] Ben liked that he did a good deed And he liked that the Paw Patrol recognized The deed and did a good deed to help him And Jenna Malone is the real life The real life Paw Patrol Though they did kind of beat that guy

[01:41:58] A little bit too much They really did There's like a construction worker In that video Beating the man with a pole It's really crazy but Jenna Malone Saved the day She has this run This is the peak of it Where she is Hollywood's preeminent

[01:42:18] A little bit rebellious daughter She's just a little bit rebellious The stepmom Before that of course she is in Contact Right as little Jodi Stepmom is the year before this And then she was in Cheaters Where she cheated In a decathlon Well this is the transition

[01:42:38] Then she becomes Hollywood's preeminent Or maybe IndieWood's preeminent Understanding girlfriend to a dark teen boy So Donnie Darko Life as a house Dangerous life of altar boys Is a big one United States of Leland remember that All these dark boys she gets them no one else does Saved

[01:42:58] That's her and that's finally she is the thing Remember her in Cold Mountain I'm one of the people in Cold Mountain That whole movie is like What's your deal? I'm Phillip C. Moffman I'm in Cold Mountain I'm Natalie Portman and I'm in Cold Mountain

[01:43:12] She's really good in that scene They're all good I just think it was a weird choice that every time An established actor has to introduce themselves By saying I am blank name I'm Cold Mountain I'm in Cold Mountain Yeah I think Jack and Rose is

[01:43:30] She's kind of a What is she in that? No she's not a big part in that She kind of blows up On the internet when she's in The Hunger Games Oh right She's a big fan favorite She's a big fan favorite from that movie She's really good

[01:43:46] And in her voice She's never left us No she's really been working Yeah it's always felt like It's Jenna's time you know I just think it's funny that she had Such a type She and Rachel Wood though were really in similar spaces Right

[01:44:04] She had such a type and then she transitioned to a new very specific type And then her career is never waning But she just does a lot of shit It feels like maybe she could have been Kristen Stewart At one point She never quite got to superstar

[01:44:18] Right she's in Neon Demon as well Neon Demon she's good in No no no I was agreeing with you She's a lot In Pride and Prejudice She's sort of weird casting in that movie She's American Not to call the cops on her And that Ross

[01:44:36] It's Pike, Mulligan, Malone Knightley is a bizarre Grouping Is she the one who's like I'm 27 years old And I have no prospects No that's Rosamund Pike No she's the littlest one who gets in trouble And marries someone she shouldn't But so she's Lydia

[01:44:54] Into the Wild she's really good in I don't really remember her in that She's the sister Oh no I do remember her She is good in that movie That scene is really wrenching at the start The Messenger she's like exceptional in That's sort of a forgotten movie

[01:45:10] Oh I forgot I saw that movie That movie's really upsetting She's in Sucker Punch Then she gets cast Oh she's one of the girlies in Sucker Punch That's a career curse Cause Jenna Malone, Emily Browning, Abby Cornish And Vanessa Hudgens That was coming off of 300 He got the 5

[01:45:30] Hottest actresses in Hollywood to all commit to that movie And that film was announced as like Emma Stone, Evan Rachel Wood It was like the 5 biggest In that age group and then one by one All of them dropped out

[01:45:42] And the people who replaced them all of them had The setback of that movie I watched that movie a bunch in high school I would just get really stoned And watch Sucker Punch That's kind of the only way To watch it is being like

[01:45:56] 16 years old and pretty high I resented the fact that When the movie came out I was no longer 16 Like the window had closed It's like that version of Sweet Dream starts playing And you're like this is kind of cool

[01:46:08] You know who is a snack, who is an old school Crackerjack in Sucker Punch? Jon Hamm? No although he is Obviously snackable, no Oscar Isaac Oh yeah So it was originally Amanda Seyfried Evan Rachel Wood, Emma Stone And then the two people who stayed involved

[01:46:24] Were Abby Cornish and Vanessa Hudgens But the three big ones all dropped out That movie is bad It's really kind of reprehensible Yes it is It's one of the reasons I am very skeptical Of the sort of like, next night or I'm like I don't know man

[01:46:40] Sucker Punch is a pretty tough watch Anyway And now everyone is going to be mad at me Jemalone, do you remember Jemalone Was announced in Batman vs. Superman Everyone was like she's playing Carrie Kelly She's playing Robin, they're going to do the coolest Robin

[01:46:54] It's going to be Carrie Kelly Because she cut her hair short and she did the red hair And everyone was like she's fucking Carrie Kelly And then she was not in the movie And she's in the extended cut and I feel like it's a scene

[01:47:04] Where like Lois Lane goes to research something And she's like the woman at the desk who checks the thing on the computer Correct She was not playing you know The black girl or Robin or anything like that She was playing someone called Janet Clyburn Of course

[01:47:18] My favorite character Yes For the Love of the Game opened on September 17th 1999 It opened September It's a fall movie Part of me thought they were positioning this for like Fucking Thanksgiving or Christmas Well maybe if they hadn't had Like a war with Kevin Costner

[01:47:38] They would have I don't know It opened number two It made 13 million it grossed 35 domestic 46 worldwide My brother loved it Yeah It wasn't that well reviewed Can you read the Ebert review because it's a real fucking Body blow You know those quizzes they run in women's magazines

[01:47:58] About testing your relationship For Love of the Game is about the kinds of people who give the wrong answers It's the most lugubrious And sloppy love story in many a moon A step backwards for Sam Raimi After Simple Plan Another movie in which Kevin Costner plays a character

[01:48:12] Who has all the right window dressing but is neither juicy Nor interesting One and a half stars folded them like Hammer blows I mean this movie rarely goes that hard But people were sick of Costner Because of the fall Was still in effect

[01:48:28] So everyone was sick of how you know Self involved he seemed I do think there was that thing too when you read the reviews Like he doesn't do anything He's like a whisperer I don't see him He gets a Razzie nomination for this

[01:48:42] Which is not the best performance But that's absurd The best parts of this movie are when he's on the mound Talking to himself He's just like Kevin Costner being Kevin Costner That's the magic of this film But Kevin Costner is like a

[01:48:56] Three time Razzie winner seven time nominee They just like going after him The nominees at the Razzie's that year It's okay So Kevin Costner gets a split nom for this And message in a bottle Kevin Klein for Wild Wild West Okay sure He's good in that

[01:49:14] Good is strong Arnold Schwarzenegger in End of Days I think he's fine in that The Razzie's are the worst Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man Correct No problems there And then Sandler winning for Big Daddy They hated him That's weird The Razzie's would love any time

[01:49:36] They gave Bruce Willis Obviously they recently had this whole thing But the year before they gave Bruce Willis worst actor for Armageddon He's great in Armageddon That's stupid They love any time there's a new star they can pile on

[01:49:48] And then they can like fucking attack them for years in a row What was the other thing I was going to say We Raz the Razzie's They fucking suck You better start We Raz the Razzie's that's what we do here

[01:50:00] Because this came up I feel like in the Simple Plan episode I was noticing Just because this is the peak moment Jenna Malone Did this movie get any nominations Right And the one I found Did she get a kids choice award It's weirder It is weirder

[01:50:20] Jenna Malone received A Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination For favorite supporting actress Drama slash romance I bring this up because In Simple Plan Becky Ann Baker Got a Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination For favorite supporting actress In drama slash thriller For taking a shotgun blast She takes it incredibly well

[01:50:44] But some of these categories And nominations are The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards not to speak ill of them Had a lot of categories Because they had like action Comedy, comedy romance Drama, drama romance, horror They had all these weird So it wasn't that hard

[01:51:02] Liam Neeson was nominated for the haunting That year I'm trying to give you some others I was just going down Well the fucking They're done They couldn't get over 9-11 They were like out of respect to the climate People are renting less videos

[01:51:20] We will not be doing a ceremony in the wake of 9-11 And they never started it up again There's an insane Sort of very portentous quote I read About like the landscape has changed People are not bringing home video cassettes In the wake of the terrifying tragedy

[01:51:36] But the thing I read Was that the first year Because their whole thing was like We want to be the Oscars for the stars that people love Who are never going to win an Oscar Like Schwarzenegger, Stallone All these actors I'm sure are reading this

[01:51:50] And are like thanks? Does Stallone have an Oscar? No Nevermind But The first year they had separate categories For theatrical releases And home video releases But the home video release nominations Weren't for direct to video movies They were movies that had recently Been released on video

[01:52:14] And they were like it was this clusterfuck Where they have like 18 categories For each genre And then doubled into both theatrical And home video And it was like Sandra Bullock won best actress For speed twice No, the same year So they were like

[01:52:32] She won best theatrical movie actress And she was like thank you And the nominees for best actress in a home video thriller And she was like I have to fucking get up there again I just think this is such a weird Fucking thing

[01:52:44] We want to have the entertainers who are truly public favorites Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, John Cleveland I cut you off It's the last thing, can I read one final thing Okay, okay This is what they said in November 2001 Due to the uncertainty of the times

[01:52:58] We can't predict consumer response to our show Nor audience behavior Especially media viewing habits All of which are being affected by world events I'm gonna say that's a little convenient That's kind of like They got an exit Wait, I have one thing to say about Jenna Malone

[01:53:14] In this movie I think that This is just kind of a plot thing But when she's at USC and she sees him just like eating at a cafe And her friends are like Heather, Heather She doesn't really She's not like that's my old stepdad

[01:53:28] She's just like hold on I gotta talk to this old man And then he kisses her on the forehead Do you think she explained What was going on I would be so freaked out if I saw my friend There's also the weird scene on the team's private jet

[01:53:42] Where the other players are holding up I didn't get what that was They're just guessing how old she is Is that what it is? That's what I thought it might be And I was like there's no way it's something that disgusting I didn't like that one

[01:53:56] I didn't like that moment Look, I mean there's little tinges of Impropriety to this movie Even though it's an autumnal baseball movie There's that part where he's like Kicking the flashlight but he's like down under the sheets She goes what are you doing down there

[01:54:10] And it's like well okay You know when he's down there you should just say thank you But he's getting the flashlight And then he's like it's a vibrator And he's like now I understand why there's so many Oh he said she goes like you found my flashlight

[01:54:22] And he goes oh it works as a flashlight too Yeah And then he says like now I know why there's so many batteries down there And it's like you're making jokes about her fucking your flashlight And also you're not gonna go down under

[01:54:32] Yeah it's like that whole scene is like really weird Really strange I wanted to ask Olivia What you thought of the title of her column What oh it's called like Sense and Sensibilities Sense and Sensibilities I'm like what journalist And what like what do you write about

[01:54:50] This is a classic like You could live like that on a Column in a magazine in the 90s But like the apartment is beautiful You're making 200 grand Yeah I think we're supposed to think No one's checking Column with her face next to it

[01:55:06] She writes each article on a different notepad Yeah she has a notepad just for lip gloss I was like that's crazy She goes to Zee and Gossner I'm working on four pieces The only way I can visually show this is they each get a separate notebook

[01:55:18] And then I have one notebook just for grocery list Wow It was one of those things where it's like Do you know what have you met a journalist Like three notebooks That's where it feels like this character is out of a Meg Ryan romcom

[01:55:30] Where we don't have to worry about realism No Meg Ryan would be really good in this movie I also think Holly Hunter might be good Either one would be good Holly Hunter would Yeah she's overqualified She'd be incredible I said Helen Hunt maybe that's rude

[01:55:46] No Helen Hunt would be good too I think it's not to be rude to Kelly Presson But it's not her fault but she is probably the wrong casting choice For this movie and this topic Like I can really imagine Meg Ryan Again when they meet just being like

[01:55:58] I don't need your help, I don't need your help Leave me alone, I'm fine As written Meg Ryan could probably Have a better chance of winning But I think it's just a matter of how your sheer movie star charisma

[01:56:08] And how honed her persona was at this point in time Made this work Or you want it to be someone like Holly Hunter or Helen Hunt And they rewrite it a little bit To suit them better To film open number two It's up against a comedy

[01:56:24] A new comedy that beats it September 2000 September 1999 It's a new comedy Starring a comic actor It's an action comedy starring a comic Actor Yes In 1999 It's one guy, it's not a T-Milk movie One guy You've played cops in other movies Is it Eddie Murphy?

[01:56:50] No but you're on the right track Oh oh oh Is it Blue Streak? Martin Lawrence In Blue Streak I'm gonna have to pitch a perfect box office No false guesses From Les Mayfield of course The director of Encino Man Miracle on 34th Street and Flubber A perfect career

[01:57:12] He retired much like Chappell, Billy Chappell He retired after Codename the Cleaner That seems to be the one that retired For love of the game He sent the ball to Brian Cox I've never seen Blue Streak I haven't either

[01:57:26] Which is funny because I feel like I would have seen it It's the era of Luke Wilson too Famously it's, yes Luke Wilson is the second lead in that Dave Chappell is in it Famously there was a script written for it A sequel That they then turned into

[01:57:40] The Chris Rock, Anthony Hopkins buddy cop comedy Bad Company But they made a really interesting choice When they turned it into that movie Which is they took out all of the jokes No jokes I just cannot, I would love to know Like what

[01:57:56] Maybe we'll do Joel Schumacher one day Can I say this so quickly Yes, I feel like you've said it before Blue Streak is, he is a criminal He's like stealing jewels or something He hides it in an abandoned building

[01:58:08] Before he gets arrested so that when he gets out of jail He can go back in there and retrieve the jewels And when he was in prison They turned it into a police precinct

[01:58:16] So the only way to get access to the jewels is to pretend to be a cop That's fun And I think by the end of the movie he proves himself and becomes a real cop

[01:58:22] So the question is for the second movie how can you fish out of water him again So the premise is He has an identical twin Who you've never heard of before Who was a CIA agent And they come to him

[01:58:34] Chris Rock's twin is dead and he has to pretend He got killed on the job, you need to take over his mission So you heighten it to CIA And then, right, in Bad Company It is Chris Rock playing a serious CIA guy

[01:58:44] Who died and now has to fill in for his brother And he's like, what are you talking about I don't CIA, I I don't know, whatever Maybe he has one joke in that movie And Anthony Hopkins is like, you must be serious now

[01:58:56] Come on now, what are we talking about Can I cash the check on set Can you make it out to cash Now that I want to know, because Hopkins was at the Oscars And he even had a little comment

[01:59:08] He said, what more is there to say that Will Smith Didn't already, hasn't already And like, he should have gone up there And said like, I worked with Chris Rock on Bad Company I consider Chris Rock a good man And I resent

[01:59:20] Do you think he even remembers that movie happened I sat him down and I'm like, come on Tony Do you remember this Do actors just kind of forget the bad ones Anthony Hopkins has made a few bad ones He's got some memory holing he could do

[01:59:36] Blue Streak, number two is for the love of the game Number three is the biggest hit of the summer We discussed it on this podcast Armageddon The biggest hit of the summer It is Sixth Sense still holding strong It was later in the summer Late August

[01:59:52] The biggest hit of the summer was Phantom Man Well that's May, I guess that's true But come on, the Sixth Sense The story of the season Number four is a horror film Starring a female actress Female actress I'm trying to pitch a perfect box office game

[02:00:12] I'm going to see if I can do this without any further hints I'll tell you one more further hint It was very useless It was number one the week before I wish you hadn't given that to me because I feel more confident than I have now

[02:00:22] Is this the movie Stigmata Pitching a perfect game Now can you tell me who directed Stigmata I can't but that doesn't count Isn't it the devil Who directed it Satan himself You guys should do the devil on this You should do a devil mini series

[02:00:40] That's a fucking genius idea Just pick truly evil movies It's Rupert Wainwright of course Who eventually would go on to make The Fog Remake Quite boring yes I feel like Chevy Chase Would be in one of those movies Yeah the karate dog movie Directed by the devil

[02:01:02] I think yeah, the Lone Ranger, the new one I was going to say That's the thing With multiple cursed people We're not going to harp on this But that movie becomes more cursed with every year Every passing day Sucker Punch could be in a devil mini series

[02:01:20] Number 5 of the box office is also a horror film Okay An underrated one in my opinion I'm going to take the swing again Is it Stir of Echoes That's right Perfect box office game, no wrong guesses Griffin Because you remembered of course that

[02:01:44] Stir of Echoes is very similar to Sixth Sense And I also, I was like David says it's underrated Because there must be some bacon on that dish Stir of Echoes, good movie Also in the top 10 Runaway Bride Still hanging in there from July Yeah and it's 8th week

[02:02:04] Another art imitates life movie That's true One of the great stories Julia Roberts' love For Jason Patrick It is for Jason Patrick right Kiefer's best friend For the love of the Patrick For love of the Patrick And then they did a play together recently

[02:02:24] They've like now mended the relationship Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland No, Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patrick Did the winning season, the play written by Jason Patrick's dad Yeah of course And people were like so things are cool between you

[02:02:36] And they're like it got cool when we started rehearsing We hadn't talked for 20 years Now we drink whiskey and talk about that That's really, yeah The championship season, sorry Thomas Crown Affair, a classic Rosalind Marusso, great movie Bowfinger, a classic Oh I love that movie

[02:02:56] Murphy and Martin, threw it on recently Darker than I remember It's really dark The whole thing with like the Big Scientology Center And the flashing, we were talking about the flashing The other day Steve Martin's Original draft of this movie, and I think maybe they shot

[02:03:14] It this way, was at the premiere A terrorist comes in and blows up the entire theater And the studio was like what are you talking about He's like I just hate this whole fucking industry These people should all die That's the thing about Bowfinger, it's really acidic

[02:03:26] It's also so goofy And it's a weird mix It's so silly and then it's also like Really Everyone in the movie is like An asshole They were like we will let you do this as long as the ending is happy

[02:03:40] So they reshot and added the karate movie thing At the end I remember that killing in the theater People were just like yes It was like a good call Eddie Murphy running across the freeway Is literally one of the funniest things I think about it nonstop

[02:03:56] And I also think it is a stunning piece of film You watch it and you just cannot believe And you are like he is going to die I am going to watch this man get hit by a car It's like super special effects It's perfectly filmed

[02:04:08] It is somehow both funny and thrilling Murphy should have won me a fucking Oscar for that He's good in both roles My favorite thing is He has people trying on clothes for him And he's like do the thing And the people hold up the face

[02:04:22] The cardboard face of Eddie Murphy Shake a spear Shake a spear You already said shake a spear Number 9 The 13th warrior Antonio Banderas cannibal medieval drama Number 10 Mickey blue eyes Hugh Grant got himself in a weird situation Oh no this guy

[02:04:44] I saw that in theaters don't remember it Remember it being bad Number 11 This is the most interesting Opening this week on 16 screens To $53,000 per screen American beauty The world is about to change Better or worse Talking about demon movies

[02:05:04] The movie that starts with Kevin Spacey jerking off in a shower I'm being like fuck you There is no crime in art You've also got Let me be frank You've also got He didn't do one this year It's so upsetting You wanna fuck up

[02:05:22] Let me put some barbecue sauce on you See a box of these things This is just a young kid hitting the ball We're gonna get him out This was a foul He just caught it You did say though we should do a Patreon series

[02:05:38] A movie directed by the devil If he makes one more we could just do the Let me be frank He just needs one more I think it needs to be four What a good movie What am I talking about Totally average movie

[02:05:54] There was a point where I was like this is a two And then when he finishes the perfect game I was like this is a soft five And then the airport scene maybe knocked it back down to a three Oh my god

[02:06:04] The coat he's wearing in the airport though Is really good That like long brown number I like so many of the ideas Like I like the idea that she's at the airport bar And she's like I'll watch him for an inning And then when his arm hurts

[02:06:18] She's like his arm hurts And they're like what does she know And then that guy is like This guy's a bum I like that the guy who screams this guy's a bum At the end is cheering He's like perfect game

[02:06:32] I really like how that happens in the stadium too That by the end they're like cheering for him Which is how it would be Of course If I watched a perfect game I'll also say the moment that feels the most Rami-ish to me

[02:06:44] And which I do think is actually very well directed Is the moment of the hand injury I do think the way they set that up in the long shot With him on the band saw And then you cut to her coming out with two cups of coffee

[02:06:54] And everything's nice and you have that ominous feeling And then you realize it's already happened You like turn around and it's like oh It's bleeding onto the snow He doesn't cut away Costner's like lightheaded She's trying to collect it She puts the snow in his hand

[02:07:10] I think that whole moment is very well done I also think the part where he is getting into the medevac Ushered in by Daniel Dae Kim Who later comes back as a scientist in Spider-Man 2 But he's like you have to call the trainer

[02:07:20] That's the person who's the most important to me right now I was like that's a good like asshole It is, it's quietly brutal Where it's like he doesn't really mean it that way But he also kind of does But it's like baseball is his first love

[02:07:32] Forky did not like that line She was very mad that he said that I would be so pissed Especially because she just moved heaven and earth through your stupid hand Oh my god and she's driving on the mountain Which is like if you've ever driven on a mountain

[02:07:44] It's one of the scariest things you can do No thank you It's awful I hate it, the switchbacks and all that It's a nightmare and to do that while your love is like Bleeding out next to you I'd be over the cliff Take it as a shortcut baby

[02:08:00] The moment where I maybe agree with Kelly pressing the most Is when he comes to that fucking event And she's dating that pretentious guy And he's like what's going on here And she's like it's been four and a half months

[02:08:10] And he's like well you know what I've been doing for the last four and a half months And she's like you have never asked me once What I was doing the last four and a half months You just didn't even consider He's married to the game But

[02:08:22] Eventually he'll have to retire And then you get all Cosner all the time Yeah But I do like when he puts John C. Reilly to bed And then he goes to his own hotel room And just starts sobbing Like he's really like oh man

[02:08:36] It's kind of cool to see Cosner sobbing a wife And it makes sense that so much wound up You know his hotel room by the way Gorgeous He's the star of the team I want to be that kind of a famous person

[02:08:48] Where you go to a New York hotel And the guy is like of course Mr. Cosner I have your fake name ready No one's going to be bothering I love like celebrity fake names What's his fake name in those two It's something from a movie right

[02:09:02] Or a TV show where he's I don't remember what it is Do you guys have one picked out for yourselves Yeah producer Ben Hosley I can't type all this out In Notting Hill she does like Disney names She's like I'm Pocahontas Fred Flintstone or whatever

[02:09:20] I don't think Pocahontas would be a good idea I'm sorry can I just read this quickly I know we're done I just have to read this quickly I was trying to see if I could find what the fake name is But I found something even better

[02:09:30] I'm going to be trivial so take it as you will It was reported that Kevin Cosner was angry With Universal Pictures because they cut His full frontal shower scene Not tush Cosner told Newsweek that the studio lacked real courage By insisting the film had a family friendly writing

[02:09:44] The studio executive told New York Magazine That a test audience in Arizona Gave a thumbs down to Cosner's manhood Quote The audience giggled at Kevin's penis I want to okay Then in focus groups they said Do we really need to see Kevin Cosner's penis

[02:10:00] There's no way that is true What does that mean you know Is it big is it small is it weird I would love to see it I would love to see it as well Look I was noticing some bold In this scene in this movie

[02:10:14] Sure from time to time on the mound He looks good in the baseball pants It's a good look for a baseball It is a really strong look It's the best Sporting uniform Yeah right yeah It's the most flattering I like tennis wear Oh wow It's a little less

[02:10:36] Yeah But it's a little less like brassy I also like that on a baseball team The coach has to also wear the uniform I do too You gotta give me a shot I really am like what is going on With Cosner's penis Why were people laughing

[02:10:54] Can you call him And you know you get the feeling That Ben Hosley isn't producing against left handers He isn't producing against pinch hitters He isn't producing against the Yankees He's producing against time He's producing against the future Against age and even when you think about his career

[02:11:10] Against ending And tonight I think he might be able to use That aching old brain of his One more time To push the sun back up in the sky And give us one more day of podcasting Of course as always we have with us here

[02:11:30] The Ben Dooser himself The Pro Doer Producer Ben Hello Fennell Hold on I'm gonna say something that makes sense Hello gentlemen Producer Ben you are not allowed to edit that out And now hello Fennell is our No I'm editing that out You're not Hello Fennell

[02:11:52] We're gonna make hello Fennell t-shirts It was like fellas and gentlemen all wrapped up in one Hey it was perfect and now we have a catchphrase We didn't have a catchphrase we didn't have a t-shirt Perfect episode Perfect episode Olivia thank you so much for being on

[02:12:04] Thank you guys for having me Do you have anything you want to plug Read Gawker.com you can just type that into your URL Space and you'll Click on whatever you'll have a giggle I'm on twitter at Olivia Craighead Letterboxd same deal I assume Gawker's gonna do a

[02:12:24] For the love of the game month soon Oh absolutely a whole month we're doing a whole month devoted We ask John C. Reilly every question you've ever wanted to know Oh my god those articles are so Funny when the person is like I don't really Remember yeah shooting

[02:12:38] What exactly are you calling me about I was in that Heartbreakers really Thank you all for listening Please remember to rate review And subscribe thank you to Marie Barty for our social media Joe Bowen Pat Reynolds for our artwork Lane Montgomery and the Great American Novel for

[02:12:56] Our theme song AJ McKeon Alex Barron for Our editing Nick Loriano JJ Birch for our research You can go to Blankcheckpod.com For links to all the nerdy things That surround our podcast Including our Patreon Patreon.com slash blankcheck for blankcheck Special features where we do

[02:13:18] Franchise commentaries and we're Doing what we like to call Or at least what I like to call And Ben and David Put up with me calling hashtag not all Batman a run of commentaries on the Batman movies we haven't previously talked about i.e. the ones

[02:13:32] Not directed by Christopher Nolan or Tim Burton tune in next week For the gift We got a little gift for you Got a little gift under the tree And as always The Crack of the Bat Crack of the Bat Crack of the Bat

[02:13:50] Did I blow up the mic on that I mean yeah you yelled into the microphone Should I push it away? It was pretty loud Nah it's fine I kinda, we got it Is this not No let's not do it again We've got a clean take on it