[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
[00:00:20] Listen kid, I know this much. If your dad was here, he would hug you so hard. Your bones would podcast! Okay, great. There you go. Now first question, I'm going hard. Did you guys write that line? No. Wow! Here's my goal for this episode, okay?
[00:00:38] Find a line that pops like what? No, no, no. I want to, along with everything else, have this episode be an exploration of the process of writing a movie this big. Okay, okay. We're game for that.
[00:00:53] As much as we can talk about it without you guys jeopardizing your career. Some things we're going to... And you'll give this signal? But we're happy to do that. And Ben is very good at cutting out. Okay, now Ben is pointing he has a bell here.
[00:01:08] Oh, this is a new thing that he's introducing as if I know what it is. We're not going to wring a cutout bell, Ben. That's going to be annoying. Now let's make it clear. There's a reason why Ben might forget that he hasn't introduced the cutout bell before.
[00:01:25] Benji, Dan, I'll introduce you properly in a second, but have you noticed you're just meeting producer Ben for the first time. This is our first time, but it's been good so far. He doesn't usually have this hat on. I'm wearing a detective hat.
[00:01:38] A classic Sherlock Holmes deer stalker. He actually is wearing a deer stalker. And he genuinely does have a cutout bell. Look at Griffin. Look at me. Look at me. He doesn't remember who I am. So here's the thing. Producer Ben, aka Far Detective Pika Ben. What?
[00:01:55] Woke up this morning doesn't remember anything. Why did I agree to this? Wait a second, even though I'm not involved, I should have realized it would be annoying. But he's on the case. He's going to try to guess what happens in the movie because he hasn't seen it.
[00:02:09] So it's airplanes in the episode. He might guess what he thinks happens in the movie. Great, cleanly set up. Okay, set up that bit. Should we disabuse him of the notion or should we just see what's wrong?
[00:02:21] Should we see what the movie that he creates is and see if it's better? Maybe this might be a good incubation tank. This is like, there are no bad ideas. There are no bad ideas. Well, that's good because my ideas are always great. Hello everybody.
[00:02:36] Recently you told me to shave my head. That was a recent idea by him. That's a good look for him. He thinks David would look great when he's fully shaved. You'd be pretty lethal. I think he would be pretty lethal. That would be like, whoa.
[00:02:49] I'd be like, I have an agent 47 or 5. I was going to say Vince Vaughn in Cell Block. I was thinking Vic Mackie on the shield. I've got a bit of a Mackie. Although Mackie is short, right? Or his chick was tall. I think he's kind of stocky short.
[00:03:07] That was sort of part of his appeal was like, you don't think this guy, because he was the commish, he was a total shlub. Being angry when he was cast that Jessica Alba was taller than him in the Fantastic Four group. Sure. Right.
[00:03:20] Which I thought was a fundamental issue. Fair enough, fair enough. Hello everybody. This is a blank check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. David, I'm David. It's a podcast about, usually, about filmographies. Directors who have massive success earlier on in their career
[00:03:34] are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passing project they want. Sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce pica pica. But you had been on the trail of a movie for the last two years. Sure. Pretty much since it's announced. With increasing excitement. Yes.
[00:03:52] And went through and found all of your tweets about this movie. Got a lot. Probably find them. This has been one of your most anticipated movies ever. I love Pokemon. You love Pokemon. I'm a serious film critic, and I love Pokemon.
[00:04:04] So we put it on the books that we would do a special episode for this. Yeah. And then, lo and behold, a couple months ago, I make a startling connection. Two guys I know are, in fact, two of the writers on Pokemon Detective Pikachu. Pokemon Colin Detective Pikachu.
[00:04:22] Yeah. So who do we got in the studio today? Dan Hernandez, Benji Sammit, writers of Pokemon Detective Pikachu. We're going to find out how the polka sausage is made. Do people eat Pokemon? You know, that's one of those things that is a little bit glossed over. Right.
[00:04:42] In the world. Because you're creating a world here. I prefer to think that everyone is a vegetarian. They just eat fruit. There's lots of big berries. There's various natural products. Maybe like a lot of rice. It would be sort of like a grain heavy diet. It's grain. It's...
[00:04:59] Apricorns. Yes. Well, in the video game, right? Those are huge. Yeah. I never really figured out how to use those. I was the guy who was like, I'll cook you the apricorns. And I'm like, I don't know. I can't be bothered with this.
[00:05:10] I'm not going to find 80 apricorns for this guy. But when you go deep into... We had to do... You know, I mean, we knew Pokemon OK, but we... Yeah, but this is when I went into this one. You went into the deep mythology.
[00:05:19] Do they give you the big fucking thing? Do they give you a leather? They were like, here's your pokedex boys. Good luck. They gave you a pokedex. Was Professor Oak an executive producer on this? Yes. Right. All right. But do you have those things?
[00:05:35] I don't know if they're like phone calls or meetings where you're like, okay, next item here. What do they eat? Or the sort of like, is it okay to do this? Is it not okay to do this?
[00:05:44] Like are you constantly having to sort of run by things with that? Right. Yeah. How far up the treat is it have to go? There's definitely like, okay, we're going to float this idea off of, you know, the people in Japan at the Pokemon company. Right.
[00:05:56] You know, we had to write some emails explaining what we wanted to do. A few groveling emails. Waiting to see if we got the permission to do it. Yeah. Sometimes we would and sometimes we would not. Right. Well, here's, no, sorry. What were you going to say?
[00:06:10] It just, it was an interesting, to their great credit, they really gave a shit. Sure. Like it wasn't... They're not just like, who cares? It's okay. It was like, who cares? Do what you want. They were like, no, no. We have opinions not only about story elements,
[00:06:26] but the way that, you know, species of Pokemon would behave. Right. And just like, yeah, do whatever you want. It would be like species individual. It'd be like, no, no. Squirtle doesn't do that. Wow. What does Squirtle do? Squirtles don't strategize. Interesting. Why not?
[00:06:45] You couldn't have like a Squirtle as a plot point being it. Yeah. That was just... Squirtle strategize. Look, this has come straight from the top. Is it because they're babies? Is it that like baby Pokemon wouldn't like their little...
[00:06:56] There were some, you know, there were some with that. Yeah. I guess. Was it for the Bulbasaur scene? Like it's like Bulbasaur's can be in a herb. That's cool. It was more like in the process of kind of like... I would really want to talk Pokemon.
[00:07:09] Let's get into it. We're going to go deep on this episode. Benji and I were responsible. One of the things that is really cool about what we got to do is you got to make a master list that was like, here are the Pokemon that we, you know,
[00:07:19] pie in the sky way would want to use. And that list was, you know, there were 100 on that list. Right. And then from that list it got whittled down to however many it got whittled down to.
[00:07:30] And so with each of those we would have to kind of explore the nuance of what we were allowed to do, what we weren't allowed to do, which evolutions we were allowed to use. And they were very accommodating generally, but like they had opinions and it wasn't...
[00:07:48] It was a very interesting way of writing because, you know, occasionally I made the joke like, it's not a really joke because it's true. I was writing with one hand and like looking at the Pokedex with the other and going,
[00:07:58] God, if only there were a bioluminescent mushroom of some... Oh, there is one. Right, right. There's like, I mean how many are there now? Like 600 or something? There's over 800 and now with the new generation it's going to be 100 more. Wow.
[00:08:12] Have you guys kept up with it in every iteration? Like what's your relationship with Pokemon throughout the years? Did you, like when you got the job writing this, did you come back in and go like, okay, I'm 400 behind. I got to fill in this gap.
[00:08:26] I would say there was a little bit of gap filling in. Yeah, I would need gap filling in. I'm not good on the later games. For sure. I mean, and we knew some of the bigger Pokemon from the
[00:08:39] recent game, just like the fan favorites and things like that. But yeah, we did a deep dive on everything. We went through every single Pokemon, all their evolutions, their interactions, it was pretty intense. Well, I mean, I guess let's zoom out because I mean the first
[00:08:59] thing that David said to me when the movie ended, when the credits started after just squealing at the Game Boy graphics. Yes, love the Game Boy graphics. Right. And he turned to me and went, this is crazy that this is what movies are now.
[00:09:12] I think I said movies are insane. Yeah, movies are insane now. Right. And he meant it in every possible sense. But that's the really weird thing about this movie, which is a thoroughly weird movie. It is an idea.
[00:09:25] And I say this is a positive, but like so many times watching it and you guys very generously helped us get in to see it early before because we knew you were only going to be in for a limited window of time.
[00:09:36] We went to the premiere, we met Pikachu, not bragging. Yeah, we did meet. A redacted bit. Yeah, I asked who those guys were. You asked Pikachu who those guys were. David had a very Tupac-esque pose with the giant Pikachu, with the giant Pikachu, with the giant Pikachu.
[00:09:50] It was very All Eyes on Me, which I appreciate it. Which I'm pretty sure was just an inflatable Pikachu that I'm sure they always had that they had them been like, can we get a giant hat and put it on it? Right.
[00:10:00] It was not like the hat was part of the inflation. No, that inflatable Pikachu had just been backstage at Kiss Me Kade. It's been there for like the last 20 productions at that theater. Right. It was, it was great because it was the middle
[00:10:13] of Times Square was the yellow carpet. Yes. And then the premiere was at the AMC 25. Right. Where like one floor of this theater with 25 screens was just different screens. Yeah, they had it going in several screens. Yeah. It was intense.
[00:10:29] That was the theater that when I used to live in New York that I would go to just as a fan. Yeah, sure. So there was like a weird symmetry to having it at that theater. Yeah. And then also being reminded how ridiculously designed that theater is.
[00:10:42] It's labyrinthine. It is like a labyrinthine nightmare. Because it's that weird secret elevator that goes to the secret two screens no one remembers. And they were sort of trying to separate the two things like people who are trying to go to floors one through five,
[00:10:56] one, three, four, five versus floor two, which is just Detective Pikachu. It's like the exit was weird. This is all really exciting stuff for the next next. But it was also, it was just like having to walk through Times Square twice.
[00:11:11] It was a it was a it was a it was a weird night for a weird movie. Right. But oh yes. So this is the point. This is the point. You guys aren't hired to adapt like Pokemon red and blue, right? Right.
[00:11:25] There's a clear thing that's just like, OK, Pokemon go. There's this like revival. Everyone's reminded of how popular this thing is. It's been there for 20 years now. It's at the generational level where you can make like, you know, a four quadrant movie around it.
[00:11:37] And then the announcement is it's Detective Pikachu. They've like they've won the rights for a live action Pokemon movie and Detective Pikachu to which almost everyone said what because that was a game that at this point had not been released anywhere other than Japan.
[00:11:51] We know because when we were starting to write it, they're like, here's the translation of the video game script. And I took three years or two years of Japanese in college and I it was it was completely useless. Right. Because you're in this weird position where it's like,
[00:12:08] you're adapting a game that there isn't the same kind of emotional affinity for as the property as a whole. But that game now needs to function as an entry way to the possibility of any live action Pokemon movie that can exist under this thing.
[00:12:22] And it's a fucking insane concept, which is what if one. Four levels can talk starting four levels deep. That's what David I said to you starting with like we all you all know what Pokemon are. You all know who Pikachu right?
[00:12:34] You all right like you keep going down, down, down and then it's like so Pikachu is a detective and he can talk. It would be like starting with Dr. Mario. Yes. We're like breaking three like sort of sacrosanct rules of Pokemon to start. That's what you're saying.
[00:12:49] We're like, oh, if like Bumblebee is the first soft reboot of like the Michael Bay transformers, this feels like it would be the fourth soft reboot. Right. And it's like you're starting there. The other thing is like Pokemon is a is a nuanced concept.
[00:13:04] It's a messy concept with a lot of tendrils and this movie just starts with the given that you just know all of it, which like we're like, yeah, this is what these movies should be now because it's like this thing's been around for 20 years.
[00:13:19] Why are you going to see a Pokemon movie if you don't know what Pokemon is? We're not going to name other live action video game adaptations that might have had a recent negatively received trailer. I don't know what you're talking about.
[00:13:31] No idea what movie I could be talking about. Any movie. What if they rebrand him as a detective? What if they're like, we got it. We got it. It's fine. Here's the detective hat. It's on him. You're satisfied now, right? We took the note.
[00:13:43] You don't like the design. He's constantly holding a magnifying glass. The design is better now his eyes look big. No, but like that, that feels like what Dave and I were saying was like how these IP movies, I feel like especially video game
[00:13:53] movies or like adaptations of kid cartoons used to be done through like the mid 2000s, which was like, well, you know, someone acquires the property and then all the executives go like, this is dorky shit. This is weird. This is weird. This is weird.
[00:14:09] Have them be transplanted to like Oakland, California, right? And then, you know, it's just them like trying to like save the school or something. So Jam and Earl are managing an apartment building. Right, right. Like that sort of concept of like you
[00:14:24] have to strip as much of the weird stuff away from it. Right. You put them in like a co-op, you know? And this movie just like starts with all the weird shit as a given. But also what you guys were saying about
[00:14:37] like all the rules of what Pokemon can and can't do. There's like table setting in the first 10 minutes of the movie of just like this is the ethical debate around Pokemon. Yeah, sure. Which I always feel has been like the weird underbelly that's like never
[00:14:53] discussed in the property. And then this movie starts with like this is a city established on the idea that Pokemon battling. Human relationships with Pokemon are maybe a little skew, right? Yeah. Like Rhyme City is supposed to be like oh no it's we don't fight.
[00:15:09] We're all partners here. Right. Anyone can work man or Pokemon. Even though Pokemon can't speak. Somehow they can hold jobs. How do you do like an interview with a Pokemon? If you're gonna like hire them like work at a coffee shop. They're like a partner.
[00:15:22] They have like a familiar. I know, I know. Yes. I get it. So at what point do you guys come in on this project? We came in pretty early on after it was announced. They were still trying to crack the story and what it was going to be.
[00:15:38] So we were pretty foundational to all of that. And I think to go off your point of like why Detective Pikachu as opposed to anything else in the Pokemon universe. I think you know from the top down when everyone made the decision to make a live action
[00:15:56] Pokemon movie for the first time in over 20 years. They wanted a reason for it to exist like they wanted. Sure. They wanted it to be different. They didn't want a zillion of the animated films. That's right. And they didn't want to just tell like the red blue story
[00:16:12] again. Disrespect. No, it's a it's a great story. But it's been told. Yes. A lot and you know everyone knows Ashen. They wanted like the why now of the live action. And so they they thought that Detective Pikachu would be a great way to do that.
[00:16:31] You know, having Rhyme City, the city where people in Pokemon are living in harmony like seemed like a really cool live action thing to see. Right. And so that's sort of why why we did this. Yeah, right. I also feel like I feel like post like endgame
[00:16:51] people have been like debating the concept of fan service a lot. And I've heard many people, I think smartly make the point that's like is it really fan service anymore? If it's a thing where everyone's a fan now. Sure. So a part of the monoculture
[00:17:06] right that like the fandom that you're like catering to is like audience member one point two billion dollars worth of box office in the first three days. Right. And in the same way like someone on our reddit said that Pokemon is statistically the most successful media franchise
[00:17:23] of all time. It is right. More than Star Wars combined like the video games. Everything. It is the biggest media franchise and you know, fan service that's a I don't even really know what that means. I don't know. I think that's the point. Yeah. I completely agree.
[00:17:38] You know when we sat down to write it and you're right. Some of the things that you mentioned, you know, at a foundational level when you're sitting down to write. Yeah. What you know is going to be a huge studio movie and you're sitting there going, OK.
[00:17:50] This isn't the obvious way into this story. Right. This is a diagonal story that you know, it's not like the people are calling for Detective Pikachu. Right. So I think you have to then go a step back and say, OK. If I were. Just a viewer.
[00:18:05] What would I want from this story? And as a fan of Pokemon. What are the kinds of things I would want to see? And to me, the most important thing is that the audience is the most successful media would want to see. And to me, to me.
[00:18:18] One of the best moments in the movie is when they first arrive into the city. Oh, I can't agree more. And you just it is actually overwhelming how many Pokemon are in that. But it's like businessmen going about their their day. I was like tapping Griffin.
[00:18:31] I was like, that's it. Don't do that. Just just. I mean every single one. There are so many in that sequence, but it's just like, you know, like a barista going to work and a guy doing construction and that to me in some small way, we wanted to
[00:18:46] replicate the feeling of walking into most isolated cantina. OK, I was going to say, I genuinely think that is the best a film. Griffin just struck the table. Yeah, no, because I thought that was going to be my big money comparison. And then of course you guys
[00:18:58] did it consciously. Yeah. No one's explaining how this all works. It's just kind of like, yeah, it's sort of chaos. There's a lot going on in the background and you kind of just get the episode. Isn't that the best way? I mean, to me, I'm always
[00:19:10] the most successful guy. I mean, to me, I'm always the most intrigued when you're like, here's the world. Yeah, this, this, you know, like, yeah, this guy is going to go to work with a Charmander's Tails on fire. I don't know about the safety regulations.
[00:19:25] It's true, his tail is on fire all the time. You know, it's fine. It's a given. You're just, you have to accept that as a giving. I also feel like a lot of times I will hear people when they're promoting their movie say like, we want this to
[00:19:35] be like the most idly scene and I'll see it and I'll be like, too much paprika. Like you're putting too much on it. You're like, you're calling your shot in advance and the confidence of the most idly scene is that it's just like so overwhelming. Yes.
[00:19:50] And it's so behavioral and it's a given that you're just like, I know their answers for all of this and they're not telling me any of it and the confidence seeps through. I like in most eyes also that they seem a little pissed off. Yeah.
[00:20:03] That they walk in, they're kind of like, these are I guess. You can't bring your droids in there. You know, they, there's just a sequence of people turning. I know this is a podcast, but just like turning to look and who's that? And then turn it back.
[00:20:15] Yeah, whatever. It doesn't matter. I don't care. I've got my life to live. Right. I've got my weird alien jazz thing. Yeah, I've got to listen to jazz, which is jazz. That's right. Figurine Dan. Right. The modal note. The modal note. We love them.
[00:20:30] But it is just sort of like behavioral stuff there and you guys last night was you seeing the final movie for the first time. You had seen it with the effects unfinished. The thing David and I kept saying to each other the entire
[00:20:41] time was this thing is so fucking beautiful looking. It looks great. Yes. It looks like a Michael Mann movie. Like first of all, we're like we've been recording Michael Mann episodes. So we've been watching the early ones and it's got that same like neon noir thing where
[00:20:54] it's like a lot of exterior night that's just lit by like the street lamps and the signs of the sun. Is it wet too? It's wet. It's very noir. You know, in the screenplay, if you were to read the screenplay there is a door to the screenplay.
[00:21:08] There is a direct reference to my favorite movie, The Third Man. Great movie. Which is my absolute apex of you know, to me just the number one movie I've ever made. I love that you wrote that into the Tickety Peck issue. And you know it's when
[00:21:20] Detective Pikachu appears from the shadows and we wanted to capture that moment when Harry Lyme comes out. And he has an Orson Welles in physique. He should have around bellied. As do I. So maybe that's why I empathize. Three great men. I mean third man. Three great guys.
[00:21:37] What if that's what The Third Man was called? Yeah. Three great guys. The Third Man is still Orson Welles in like sort of like slightly husky mode, not yet at full. He's not at full. Bare chested. Right. But you know so sometimes. He's not at Snorlax.
[00:21:52] He's at Pikachu. Right. So sometimes, you know, you'll read a review that's like these writers didn't even care. Right. You know like. Sure. Just didn't give a shit thing, put no thought into it whatsoever. And you're seeing they're going like you like the movie, you don't
[00:22:08] like the movie, whatever. Right. But like the one thing that is definitely not true. Yeah. From I would say 99.9% of writers is that we just didn't give a fuck. And we were like, yeah. Whatever. It's just like a paycheck. Yeah, whatever. Just got to test that check.
[00:22:21] I got to go to, you know, like. Right. You just turned into script. It was like, I don't know. Pikachu has a hat or something. He solves a mystery. Is this okay? Yeah. It seems fine. Whatever. Who cares? And they're on the train and there's a video.
[00:22:35] I was like, well, I really like the scene in total. Benji and I were talking about it felt very low. We love the scene in total recall where you know, you sort of introduced to recall and it's like a kind of a weird concept that they
[00:22:44] very economically got a little intro video slightly right where you're like, is this on the lab? This is weird. I don't know. But it's at the same time it's establishing very important sort of pipe and yeah narrative stuff. And so all of those decisions
[00:22:59] like at a foundational level at the beginning, kind of at the beginning of what we're talking about, which is like these are all decisions and reference points that have to be kind of made pretty early on. And then of course executed by you know, the director and
[00:23:13] everyone like that. But those were all things that we really did put a considerable amount of thought into. I mean, don't you think Benji? Like, yeah, for sure. And yeah, I mean the director Rob Letterman and you know the DP and the editor, like
[00:23:25] they made it look so good. Shot on 35 millimeter. Shot on film. And I think that's a big part of why it feels like the old Michael Mann movies. And like, yeah, it just it feels real. And the other thing there were a couple of things that stood out
[00:23:43] to me. I mean, one is like digital cinematography has come a very long way. But certain like shadows and certain like aspects of light. It still has a hard time capturing in this movie. You have the like fucking third man thing where like when
[00:23:57] they're inside the room is like lit by like the light peering through the slats of the window blinds, which might be like purple, you know, or white. There's the scene I think where Justice Smith and Katherine Newton meet for the first time.
[00:24:13] And they're lit by like the flashing light. Right, they're like in the lobby of a building, but their faces keep on changing from like red to blue. Yeah, it's very Blade Runner as well. But then the crazy thing is anytime there's a Pokemon in
[00:24:26] the scene, it looks more tactile. And you're like right when you're putting digital effects into digital photography, a lot of times it brings out the artificiality. And when you're putting the filters of like film equality onto these CGI creations, they feel very like in the world.
[00:24:45] They also it felt to me like watching it like this feels like they're using CGI to make them look like slightly more expressive 90s like animatronics. Like it felt very tactile and they looked like early 90s like Henson Company sort of
[00:25:03] like it remind me a lot of where the wild things are. Sure. Where on that it was like big physical suits and only the faces were CGI. And this presumably was all CGI but the fur is like I must have been a fricking nightmare to make this. Insane.
[00:25:18] I asked the editor last night who's awesome. Yeah. And I said, you know because it was the first time we had met in person, we were talking on Twitter. I said so what was the most difficult sequence to edit? And he just looked at me. All of that.
[00:25:29] He was like every scene. Yeah. Every scene was the most difficult scene. Were you guys on set at all? No. Where did it shoot? In London. In London, right. We were not on set because we were working a day on a TV show at the time. OK.
[00:25:44] So we were... Because you also, you guys worked on the tech season? Yes, we worked on the critically beloved season two of the tick. Amazon what are you doing? What are you doing Amazon? Come on Amazon what are you doing? I'm doing the critical...
[00:25:57] I wrote a bunch of light bulbs. Where are they? I know. Critically beloved would be 100% on round tomatoes if they had enough review. Oh really? It doesn't have enough review. Fuck that. I think, I don't want to say who but maybe the network we're
[00:26:09] on did not submit it to enough critics for review. I did appreciate the reviewers that took the time to go and review it. Oh me too. It felt like they really like fought it out. Yeah. But yes, a thing I know about you guys is that you certainly
[00:26:25] care a lot. Yes. And I feel like there are a lot of people in this industry who self identify as like dorks or big fans and then you meet them and they're like, you watched this once when you were like 12. Right. You don't like really care
[00:26:38] and you guys are like incredibly genuine in your enthusiasm and you're like love for these things. Yes we're nerds. You're like a giant nerd. I'm a huge nerd. Because we were like DMing we were both at all three of us were at Wunderkine and Anaheim. Yep.
[00:26:53] And we were like, when are we gonna like time to like my toys and stuff? Yeah. Well I had to go pick up my commissions from artist Ali. Right. Right. Like I was like I like press and you guys were like trying
[00:27:03] to get him where like is there any time we're all going to be free to be able to like shop together. Yeah. And everyone else in like our groups I'm sure you guys have the experience too when you do these things are just
[00:27:12] like why would you go to the floor? Like everyone else we're doing press with is just like this is not my world. It looks like a shitshow out there and we're like but like Sergio Argonas is out there. When am I gonna not?
[00:27:22] Last time we were at Comic Con people were like oh what parties are you going to? And we're like what are you doing to any parties? That's every time. Chris Cramont's over there. Yeah. He's gonna sign X-Men 182 for me. Oh I wish. You got an Argonas commission?
[00:27:35] I do have a Gru the Wanderer from Argonas. I genuinely every time I hover around because he's always at these conventions. Sure. I hover around his booth and I am too starstruck to actually step up and do it. My advice first of all he's extremely generous. Seems nice.
[00:27:47] I stand there for five minutes watching you in your bag. I mean if they're going to be nice. My advice is to just do it when you meet these people because I'm the artist Jerry Robinson who created the Joker was at Comic Con maybe six
[00:27:59] or seven years ago. And a lot of people actually weren't aware of who he was. He just had a little booth at Artist Alley and I said to my friends and Benchie I was like this is like a legend. We have to get the commission
[00:28:13] for this guy and he passed away about a year later and it was just every time I look at this Batman that he drew for me I'm like I am so happy that I have this to commemorate this really important person and I know
[00:28:26] so yes the geekdom is like earnestly come by and like honestly you know true. I mean I sometimes one of my frustrations about this industry is I do think that sometimes there is a little bit of I don't know if disdain is the right word
[00:28:43] it's probably the right word for people that are like too passionate about us. I think so sure. And that to me obviously you have to be like a normal person you can't be you know so socially sure raft that you're incapable of you know being professional
[00:29:03] but I have always felt like no get the people that give a shit right. I think there's this weird thing of people who don't give a shit hiring other people who don't give a shit because they think it's cooler to not give a shit
[00:29:16] and I feel like the first like six years of me like hitting the pavement trying to have a career I kept on being told your problem is you care too much. Like I got that for like six years as like an actor and everything I'm just like
[00:29:30] you get like too invested in the shit you like want these things too much you care too much about the thing and you like you see it that very often these jobs go to the people who are just like I'm writing some fucking Pokemon movie
[00:29:42] and you're like why did you hire the guy who hates the fact that he's being paid a million dollars to write the Pokemon move and if you were behind the scenes with some of the people that we've encountered sure you would feel even more so that way
[00:29:54] you'd be like yes sure you don't even like the property that you're writing like you view it as like an albatross around your neck that you have to do this job. Yeah I got to write Thundercats. That's a good example where there is definitely
[00:30:10] I'm sure dozens of people in Hollywood who are like I know Thundercats like backwards and forwards like grew up with it. I have a take on it that can like exist in this era. This is what we're talking about with fan service. Like that's what fan services
[00:30:22] that sort of dismiss the thing of like this is too into itself. Like why is it padding and you know like who cares about Cap doing this in a vendor's name right you know and it's like no people care people have been putting their lives into it or
[00:30:34] whatever. Right and I think there's a difference between it's like you know what is fan service even anymore you know when this stuff is the monoculture you know when it's not like you're catering to some small sliver but it's the difference between like these things that
[00:30:46] are like genuine story payoffs that you've set up properly versus like like victory lapping where it's just like let's get like cheap pops off of like showing you the thing you know and I feel like anything that's properly integrated into a story whether or not it satisfies
[00:31:00] the fans then it's fucking then that storytelling that it works. Right no and I will say to the legendaries credit like they came to us because they knew we were nerd right and who are the biggest nerds that we know and they're like a protective company who knew
[00:31:15] they didn't want to hire assholes I'm sure. Right and they you know we had worked with the producers on a movie in the past that didn't go and you know a year later they called us and remembered you guys are the biggest nerds we know and so
[00:31:32] you know here's the nerdiest property that we have for you. So you guys you have many many TV credits this is your first produced feature film yes but and you got you got some pretty credits on this movie because I know like credit
[00:31:45] arbitration can be a whole thing. Oh it can you guys get in a story and screenplay by which is kind of like the double whammy yeah it was it was definitely it was a nerve-wracking process yeah and I don't know if people necessarily know about this process
[00:32:02] and talk about it as much as you want to I hope it's not too inside base. I guess this is I guess this isn't like if there ever were a place outside baseball. People ask us and I want you guys also to define this people have asked us
[00:32:14] we promise to talk about never did the difference between the ampersand and the written out and oh yeah people don't know the ampersand is we're a writing team right Dan Hernandez and Benji Samet right with an ampersand and the word and is people that you know came in
[00:32:29] before had a separate right separately sort of had a separate writing experience so if you guys are like Lucian side duck right we are Lucian side like you Griffin I have been accused of caring way too much many many times a fun thing to hear that doesn't
[00:32:45] make you want to jump off of a cliff right when you when especially when discussing an artistic creative enterprise right why do you care about you go to these meetings with people who are like oh my god I'm still so coked up from
[00:32:56] last night anyway your problem is you care too much moved to LA already sorry I wanted to be good yeah well that's that's why on literally day one that we started working on this movie we came in and said the number
[00:33:10] two Pokemon in this movie is going to be side duck right of course because that's that is I mean Dan especially right always related I relate to side I love side he's anxious you know I don't I mean I don't know if you guys have ever gone into
[00:33:23] something awful forums like I don't know why you would have but like they used to hit my emoji right he is a big sort of like a big right yeah so it just to me see so those were the kind of decisions that we had
[00:33:34] to that we personally made early on yeah that I think are I'm the most proud of some of those things because we sort of pitch the potential of this character and I think that you'll see from the side of side of you know
[00:33:47] from the advertising and from the trailers and the response like they're confident he's the breakout he's the breakout character but we sort of said at that initial meeting we think he can be the breakout character obviously Pikachu is going to be you know beloved but so
[00:33:59] you know the yes so that was a long way of saying that credit arbitration can be very stressful let's talk about as much as we can let's talk about it so basically in any big not necessarily any big movie but in many many big movies I would go
[00:34:17] so far as to say most yeah the credits that you see on the screen don't necessarily in fact do not represent the amount of writers who work right yes on this especially a project like a special project studio film like this usually has tens
[00:34:33] of writers right tens of writers so you'll see but because of writer's Guild of America rules on the screenplay credit there can be up to three entities so Benji and I count as one sure sure so you can have three entities for that and two
[00:34:51] entities for the story credit right and there's you know there's some different Benji has like a masterful command of this sort of the nuance can you say the difference story and screenplay or yeah what is the difference between story and screenplay is it sort of
[00:35:06] created elements versus dialogue and scenes yeah I mean the screenplay is I mean I think the actual things that they base it off of our you know dialogue contributes to screenplay the unique like scene structure sure structure within the scenes some of the characterization
[00:35:28] scene sure you know stuff like that the story is really yeah your your big picture beat for beat yeah the characters things like choosing which stuff from the game to adapt sure the actual movie well that's the other weird thing with like story credits on something that's
[00:35:46] based off of something it's like in a nightmare alternate reality where you guys got pushed off this project early and most of your stuff was rewritten there's an argument like well they were the guys who pushed for Psyduck so they kind of get a story
[00:36:02] by credit because Psyduck has a large role and that can happen sometimes right and so you have these these these two elements story and screenplay and in general you will then you'll so you'll have let's you'll have the first writer the first person that's going to put pen
[00:36:21] to paper yeah and and that you know and then they say thank you screenwriter one great job you're either going to go do another job sure we don't like you anymore so was that Nicole Perlman for this in this case Nicole Perlman
[00:36:35] yeah she came in at the very beginning at the very beginning of the process and then relatively early on she then had to go back to Captain Marvel she's one of those people who like she's great right but she's sort of made an industry off of being the
[00:36:51] first crack at a screenplay right I feel like because she's right she has like a very full dog he's jumping from one thing to another and it's like in this show lay out the foundation for you was she was really just that she did the first
[00:37:04] outline she didn't even do the first screenplay sure and so yeah it was a little it was a little different right I think originally she was going to do the first screenplay but had process got right down whatever it was she had to go to Marvel yeah she's
[00:37:19] working on like a labyrinth movie she's working on that must have been tough yeah right so but she's the person who might sort of identify the basic lay out of the skeleton such as you know for example Pikachu's a detective he's on
[00:37:30] the case so if you look at the credit she also has story credit right yes good reason yes so then you know you might go through if you're lucky you'll be the writer and you'll stay on the project from beginning to end
[00:37:43] but if other things happen or if you're busy or some of these screenwriters are so booked that they can give a dedicated amount of time and then they go on to another project so then other writers start to come in and so then
[00:37:55] those writers begin to make changes and then you know and that can be anywhere from you know one you know two three two two dozen dozens right depending on the project and then there's stuff like rooms they'll bring yeah rooms around a table of just
[00:38:11] punch up jokes yeah or you know story breaking room which I just imagine people being like what if he said like that's got to hurt and they were like yeah here's $20,000 it is kind of like that not quite $20,000 he's standing right behind me isn't
[00:38:27] that's 15 but if you looked at the some of the names who pitched jokes on these movies I won't I won't you know say it but Sterling really genius people I mean amazing well Pat as well has been very open about the
[00:38:44] fact that that was his main come for like 15 or 20 years before he really kind of broke into the mainstream as a star occupants another one who is right we're always in the rooms so there's a lot of people who are absolutely like geniuses who are
[00:38:58] coming in and doing this and so now all of those people have to be taken in consideration and then you know if you have a director who's writing the director is also working on the case and later in the crowd
[00:39:10] so now at the end of this whole process you know we wrote this movie two years ago yeah over to you over two years ago they're like okay we need to figure out who gets what credit on this movie and that process is done through
[00:39:28] the writer guilt writer's guild of America arbitration right so basically you get the final shooting draft mm-hmm and you sort of have to make a legal argument in a way yeah I mean the studio makes a recommendation of who they think should
[00:39:45] get credit sure and then you know you can protest it yeah if you don't think that it's right representative of the what the credit should be right and you know if there's a protest you don't know who triggered the protest or you know there's
[00:40:00] certain things that trigger automatic right if they do and like in this case we were we knew we were going to get credit because when the director is a writer it's an automatic arbitration sure sure because they want to make sure that the director not in
[00:40:15] this case right sometimes the director might want to just get the credit for everything right sometimes the director like will tweak a couple lines and say that they can I'm a writer on it and in the old days I think that
[00:40:27] this was that was a lot right like in the you know the studio days yeah like so yeah so then they send you know the final script and they also send you every draft from along the way right and you read through everything
[00:40:40] and you know write a statement yeah I mean that was the worst job is the reader at the WGA who has to read through like 800 drafts and so they have so then well that's exactly right and so then it goes to a panel of three arbiters who are
[00:40:58] other writers that have been through this process and you know they yeah do their best to place authorship on who did the most work right and there are certain numerical thresholds that you have to hit which is kind of to me like
[00:41:15] amorphous and and you know right like with the difference between 33% and 32% right you know I've made the joke occasionally like when I saw Captain Marvel I was like well every stunt cat was credited by name it was like Nova and Luna and scratchy
[00:41:32] yeah but probably someone who wrote 25% right or theoretically someone who had read 25% of that movie would have their name literally not on the movie right and there are weird things where sometimes you know they bring in a writer to rewrite something just because they're like we need another
[00:41:49] pass at this but sometimes they're bringing people in as like a skill shooter where they're like the villain isn't working right or we just need the dialogue tightened up or the beat around the last thing makes no sense but sometimes depending on how
[00:42:01] much of an influence that one element has someone could get a disproportionate credit on the film because their past ended up even though it was only meant to affect the one thing yeah so you have all of these different factors and then ultimately they
[00:42:17] make a determination and that determination is what you see on the on the movie in our case we felt very happy that we got the first position on the screenplay and the story because we felt like we were there at the beginning of
[00:42:31] this process and for better or worse if you like the movie that's very much on us and if you hate it that's on us too but you guys put a lot of the meat on those bones I would say yeah
[00:42:41] I mean I think I think you know the the process worked the arbitration in my opinion was fair and gave credit to the right people you know I think us and Rob and Derek the credited screen right last right did did the bulk of the screenplay
[00:43:01] and I think a few of the other writers that didn't end up getting credit it was yeah it was more targeted sure you said but I don't think they were expecting credit there is a debate in the in writer circles whether people who don't make
[00:43:17] their names for the screenplay or the story but deserve an additional writing material which is not a walk there's an animation there's a walk jurisdiction yeah there's an additional writing credit and I think it kind of makes sense it seems like it would
[00:43:35] make good sense because it's also like you have a lot of people there were so many of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood have no credits to their name right and it's like within the industry they get hired a lot
[00:43:47] because people know that they did the work on these things but they don't have anything that can actually sort of cite as a produced work where their name was on it right and as you know it's in TV it's so different like you know
[00:43:57] you know on the tick all of the writers were working on everything right TV is its own piece everyone sort of gets their episode like we're consulting producers on every episode of season 2 right and you know different writers get different producer credits or staff writer or story editor
[00:44:13] right and you guys have your episode like episode two is your episode quote unquote but that doesn't imply that you guys wrote that entire episode on your own or that you didn't work on any other episodes correct that's right so I personally am in favor
[00:44:27] of additional writing material credit I think there are some legitimate reasons why some people are against it and you know I you know I understand those reasons but there is something to me that's a little icky that someone can work yeah so hard
[00:44:45] to play in the movie and don't get any recognition for it but you know it's in my opinion as it's like the best process we have at this time it's sure not to say that it's perfect and Benjy and I've actually both been arbiters well it was
[00:45:01] the second we won our arbitration they killed immediately called us and are like you want to do it now while you're feeling good yeah hey can we get you to do it so you guys do it because it was really interesting to be on that
[00:45:15] side of things and you do realize once you are in the position of making a determination we took it extremely seriously and you realize that actually it is best to have fellow writers adjudicating this kind of thing because there are some nuances that other people who aren't
[00:45:33] in it in that way might not necessarily pick up like if you had like a lawyer do it right yeah and of course and aside from the credits and everything it's also like that's the line between whether or not you're potentially in line for residuals and everything
[00:45:47] right yeah which is cute, humongous whether or not you have an ongoing financial stake in the movie right so for the five of you who were hoping for an in-depth exploration of the credits hell yeah we got you baby our detective Pikachu episode
[00:46:03] we got you people weren't expecting that I think it's really interesting personally I mean I think that the process of I do think that the process of putting a movie like this together just in its DNA is so radically different from someone who is making
[00:46:17] an independent movie yes who's you know got their script that they're championing for years right this is not a blacklist this is not a blacklist script this is you know we have friends who are like putting together the financing for their movies and trying desperately to get there
[00:46:33] going to Europe and talking to shakes or whatever this was on day one of us writing we were already meeting with concept artists it was going to get made no matter what there are many played scenes right right right you know just off
[00:46:47] like we're pitching ideas for scenes that they start animating animatics for without us even having dialogue written for it it's a speeding train and it's like if you guys can't stay on then they're going to find someone else to conduct it it's going to keep
[00:47:01] moving it's interesting I mean you know I think that once you have a lot of experience Benjy and I have been very fortunate in the sense that we've worked on single cam television we've worked on multi cam television we've worked on big studio movies
[00:47:13] we've worked on smaller movies we've had animated script you know like so we've we've been fortunate to like get to play in a lot of different realms and you do realize that while the skills are very similar and can be you know certain things
[00:47:29] are applicable to everything there are nuances to each of those things that are kind of you have to kind of learn the intricacies of them in order to I think be successful so you guys know you know here's the Pokemon universe is being given to you as a
[00:47:49] given which is like maybe like 80% of the world building you know I mean certainly the setting the universe your film is taking place in the majority of the supporting cast that stuff's being like passed over to you and it's like
[00:48:01] you have to pick which elements you have to sort of curate from here and then there's the video game which in terms of like it is not a very straight adaptation of the video game it's the like Pikachu can talk he's a detective
[00:48:11] it's a mystery partnership with a human but the video game is set in Rime City yeah it's set in Rime City and it's the same thing of like people are out with their Pokemon and yeah it was a bit of a challenge at first because yes like
[00:48:27] the entire universe of Pokemon is a given that's being handed to us but because this is such a weird side where like we're now writing a script where like it's a Pokemon movie where we can't really use Pokeballs right right there's no battling
[00:48:41] there's no trainers like it is so a lot of like the obvious choices of things that like the old standbys yes there's no team rockin we couldn't do that right I've sometimes compared it to writing a Star Wars movie without a lightsaber or the force
[00:48:55] right it's like a Star Wars movie if like what if you went to Maasai's a Cantina and there was like a sort of one to one mystery to deal with and we just stay there and my Han Solo got a drink and left and don't follow him
[00:49:07] I'll say this too it's like watching it I was like this is what I kind of want the Star Wars stand alone films to feel like where it's just a sandbox and I just interviewed the Russo brothers about Avengers and I asked them
[00:49:21] like couldn't Marvel make like a 40 million dollar movie like isn't that possible and they were like obviously theoretically maybe you know but like they weren't like yeah we totally want to do that but you could make a ground level movie and any of these sort of
[00:49:35] I feel like that's what the Disney plus series is that's what TV is that's what was Shazam was which was like very satisfying for that exact reason we love Shazam I have felt the same way like there was a series of books
[00:49:47] when I was growing up like Kale's for most I see Cantina the Star Wars E.U books and it was like what's what's the standard up to you know Han Solo is doing yeah I would watch that movie I have always felt like there's
[00:50:03] like Star Wars for instance it does seem like there's room in the Star Wars universe to just have like a horror movie the Star Wars horror movie the Star Wars crime movie like what you know and
[00:50:15] I don't know if you guys remember but do you remember like before Disney bought Star Wars that George Lucas had been like we've commissioned 70 scripts yes it's gonna be the wire of Star Wars and I was so pumped I was like yes where the fuck is that show
[00:50:33] where the fuck is the wire of Star Wars I want that not to say I don't know what it was gonna be called I do love you know I mean as a fan like I'm in on it I'm gonna see it I'd love everything but
[00:50:43] it does sometimes feel like there is room within some of these bigger franchises to like kind of do something a little weird sometimes but I'm not sure that this is the starting point for like the live action iteration
[00:50:55] and you go like okay so you're not making a red and blue movie you're not adapting the ash story again then like the B or the C would be like you have to make a new emotional story about a Pokemon trainer and then you guys moved to like
[00:51:07] like 27 like you moved off of the alphabet and into numbers well so what we tried to do since we couldn't do Pokeballs or Trainers or any of that stuff we wanted to we thought about like well what is something from the Pokemon universe that we can carry over
[00:51:23] and what we focused in on was the concept of evolution which I think is really which is you know that's inherent to Pokemon and so we wanted to write something about like what does it mean to evolve like not just a Pokemon evolving
[00:51:39] but can people evolve, can our relationships evolve so that was sort of our day one starting point that we worked off of but that also brings in the whole interesting thing about the movie like when I was like fucking 20 and dumb I like
[00:51:55] stayed up until like 6 o'clock in the morning with my friend John. That's the person now when you're 30 and dumb. Now I'm 30 and dumb right but I stayed up until like at 6 o'clock in the morning with my friend John writing a fucking Pokemon pitch that was like our fucking
[00:52:07] insane edgy violent Pokemon pitch that was it was yes I'm sure it was. You should have gone to jail. I was arrested briefly but it was the Pokemon like snap and they turn against the humans and then becomes a zombie movie
[00:52:21] with the Pokemon because I was so obsessed. I'm mad at you for even writing this pitch. I was 20! I think it's great. When I was in college I would get drunk and write Star Trek Erotica It was like that. Not in earnest but like
[00:52:35] my friends would provoke me and be like come on do it Right because I was so fascinated by like the weird underbelly of like the Pokemon franchise never talks about how this is kind of a weird abusive relationship between the humans and the Pokemon. Sometimes the games would
[00:52:51] but then it would always be a villain who was saying these things and it would turn out he had like some ulterior motive and just sort of forget about it. But this movie from the get go like even in what you're talking about the relationship with evolution
[00:53:03] it's like this uneasy thing between the humans and the Pokemon where it's like they have this dominance but the humans also sort of like feel like insignificant next to the Pokemon because they have the ability to grow in this way and in that
[00:53:17] like Verhoeven like back a train video you explain the thing of how like they're in history you see the hieroglyphics where it's like humans have had this weird like transactional like using their powers or whatever it's called in the Egyptian cave painting.
[00:53:33] And people are trying to find the Mew bones because they're like that's probably the key to this whole thing it was Mew bones Oh shit I love bones Pokey bones Ancient Pokey bones Dusty ass bones Progenitor bones So yeah, I mean that was something that we
[00:53:55] sort of had to make some decisions about as screenwriters and what we settled on which I actually think is one of the best parts of the movie is this idea that the Pokemon have an emotional understanding of their partner That always felt kind of true to
[00:54:13] Right or wrong I do feel that I have that with my dog I feel that my dog has an innate understanding of like Yes and sometimes dogs don't obey you as Pokemon won't obey you if they don't respect you
[00:54:27] I think it goes yeah it's like that but even further in all the Pokemon anime and games it's like there is a communication between trainers and their Pokemon Right And yeah we just wanted to explore that and take it further
[00:54:43] And make it a little bit more explicit that there is actually while you are choosing a Pokemon that they also have to choose you Which I think is something that That's the line you have in that opening sort of scene where Justice Smith is hunting
[00:54:55] a Cubone not hunting wrong word Chasing a Cubone And you just have that line it's sort of a tossed off line but it kind of a lot of the weird questions of the whole relationship right there You have the Pokeball, you have them in the field
[00:55:09] Like you kind of hit some of the familiar beats of this is the live action Gameboy adaptation in your mind Right I don't know if you guys know this, I auditioned for that role He did He auditioned for the The Karen Sonning role
[00:55:25] Who gets 90% of the roles I auditioned for Deservedly so He's a very good actor The sides that I got Because I showed this to David because I wanted to make David proud That I had gotten a Detective Pikachu audition The sides for this audition They tried to Like
[00:55:43] Disguise them so that you wouldn't know that it was a Pokemon audition So they changed it all To dog related nouns Yeah Pokemon were called pooches And instead of Pokeball It was baseball, you have to throw a baseball at the pooch Actually
[00:55:59] The truth is out now I guess We actually wrote pooches What? We wrote Detective pooch You wrote Detective pooch? We had a pooch pitch and this was all grafted on After the fact And they were like this could very quickly become a Pokemon
[00:56:13] I don't know if you guys know it Would you guys be comfortable with that? I don't know what that is You wrote this script about asshole kids throwing baseballs at dogs Maybe this could become That was the other thing, the implication was so weird
[00:56:27] I got there in the field here throw a baseball at them I think The thing that you guys do not touch on That would be the hardest for any movie to touch on Is the fact that in the game you can just put
[00:56:39] Like hundreds of Pokemon into a computer And never think about them again I don't know what that life is like For a Pokemon, you know it's fine when you have Your team and you're walking around But then when you're just catching things yeah
[00:56:51] Put them in the computer whatever I don't care I don't want to think about them The ball logic is like tough Like it's like fun to watch the one ball See in the beginning but then I'm like I'm glad we're spinning this movie away from the ball
[00:57:03] Because I just start to go like Is it like my dream of genie? Like we cut inside or they like lounging on a couch I actually think there's a lot Of interesting stuff to be done Sure With that so I sort of You know we'll see
[00:57:18] If that gets explored in the future in some way But that yeah I mean Yeah no I personally like To think that there is something luxurious inside there Sure Like a couch That it's like the TARDIS It's huge inside Right And they live happy lives
[00:57:33] Maybe that's just me being optimistic I think that's the best way to think about it But I also think it's one of those things in live action Not as you said It shouldn't touch it in other live action Pokemon Always of which I assume they'll now be 97
[00:57:43] But there is like Something different You gotta catch all those films In live action versus animation Where if you have a dude walking around with a belt With like six balls on it Every step he's taking you're like There's like a pidgeon right in there Yeah right
[00:57:59] That guy has a sea lizard Wait what? I do think that for people like My mom That was one good thing about doing It as Detective Pikachu In this context because There is some familiarity That many people are bringing to this
[00:58:18] That they keep them in the balls and they fight Right But there are people that have no context for this Right And are like wait what's going on Right Do we have to call the ASPCA or you know the PESPCA I don't know
[00:58:32] The other thing that's kind of nice You guys talk about the relationship between the humans And the Pokemon and everything It reminded me of like His dark materials Like the weird sort of Daemon thing Yeah yeah right Of like when you have the early scene with Ken Wantanabe
[00:58:45] Who is fucking killing it in this movie One of my very favorite actors And I did not get to talk to him at the premiere That's right Was he there or I would have hunted him down He was there on the red carpet Or the yellow carpet Yeah
[00:58:59] But I was like next to him And I was like almost like Hey Ken Wantanabe And then it was And then he was gone And it was like Yeah as David said He wears the shit out of my door And that's moving He is so good looking
[00:59:10] He is so handsome He is so striking He is very striking So in the park When I saw him in person I was like oh shit The last samurai Yeah Yes a hottie He is I mean He's very good in almost anything he does
[00:59:24] You know he was on stage And the king and I You know got a Tony and I Like you can do anything But in the last samurai That he like so thoroughly Embarrasses Tom Cruise on screen Where he's like Here is a charismatic performance I love Tom Cruise
[00:59:37] What are you talking about Last samurai is not his strongest performance In my opinion No no But like that scene Where Ken Wantanabe Is like doing a play For people in the last samurai Yes Right before the ninjas Exactly And he's like You're like oh my god
[00:59:53] This guy is like face meltingly charismatic Can I You gonna defend Tommy Defend Tommy Suck it Remember when he's like hammering on the floor There's a moment in that same sequence Yes Where at the end of it And I think it's beautifully shot I love the way
[01:00:07] It's a good looking move That whole movie is shot beautifully And there's a scene At the end of the ninja attack Where Ken Wantanabe and Tom Cruise Are standing back to back At the end And they're just like in the You know in the midst of like
[01:00:22] Battle fury Right You know and they kind of look at each other And they understand They understand each other That is some good face acting From Tom Cruise That is He's a great face actor I mean I want to rewatch the movie anyway It's been too long
[01:00:39] I'll come back for that one Please let me come back for that one Because I've studied the movie For our Zwick series Yeah For the Zwick Yes I'll come back for the Zwick scene I just like in that scene The dynamic of like
[01:00:50] Here's this like conversation happening between Two humans And then every once in a while you cut out to like A two shot Right and you're like And he's like kind of mirroring You know like emotionally Well the snubble is like He's like a like a
[01:01:03] I don't know like A German shepherd or something Right Like how a cop might have Like an animal that You know is sort of like Almost his little tough guy But because they're otherworldly There is that thing of just like You know with dogs we're like
[01:01:14] Do they get like I want to believe my dog Like an ire on the same level Right But they don't have the same sort of Facial expressiveness To know that they totally get What's going on And the Pokemon in this You're like you can tell which Pokemon
[01:01:25] Get it and which ones don't You can tell which ones are Keaton and which ones aren't Which ones are kind of like wild And which ones are sort of More sophisticated Like girls make pops They're wild This is another thing I loved Was just like
[01:01:37] Anytime you have these sort of Scenes of the city I mean especially that The first scene where he gets off the train But like I feel like movies like this They get so drunk With the potential of like We can do anything That it just becomes like
[01:01:50] Fucking noise And watching this there's like A weird amount of restraint In how the Pokemon are animated Where some of them are just like Sitting on a bench There's when he checks into Or where is it When he At his dad's apartment His dad's apartment
[01:02:05] Right and there's the one Against the glass It's barely moving And it's like A wizardy one They're animating these things Like they could be practical They're not overanimating them Because they can And so you just have these Little things where just like The flicking of like eyelids
[01:02:19] Or like a little muscle spasm I think the guiding principle From Rob at the very beginning Was just like Let's make it real Yeah make it real And yeah so it's not like Overly flashy or silly Or like what you know What is the thing that this
[01:02:35] Pokemon would be doing To like appeal to little kids the most Like it's just No this is If there was really a lizard Pokemon it would probably just be Stuck to a window like that It feels like it's a given And it makes it like kind of
[01:02:48] I would imagine a slightly easier buy-in For people who aren't like Invested in Pokemon Because the movie just treats it like This is just like a thing And you gotta roll with it Yeah sure But then also Mewtwo Is in this movie
[01:02:59] Which is like something where it's like Exactly we're like This is more like deeper lore Like you should maybe know What we're talking about To understand this I feel like that's bolder That's a little riskier Right I don't know I mean it was you know
[01:03:12] Mewtwo was one of the harder elements To balance when writing it And I think that that was something That everyone worked on Throughout the entire process of the movie Because it does require A little bit of deeper lore And it does require An understanding that there are like
[01:03:33] I don't know tears Of Pokemon that it's like Well this one is There's a lot of Pikus out there There's only one Mewtwo Right there's only one Mewtwo It's sort of It's man-made It's more powerful than anyone else It's kind of a person It can talk You know
[01:03:48] Powers it makes smoke monsters Yeah And the smoke monsters get real big And they fight for the Mewtwo Right that's the power No What was your Pokemon name? Oh I was just guessing You just guessed It's just like a psychic Pokemon You can like terrorize your brain
[01:04:04] Like that I will say there is a lot You can like terrorize your brain Like Freddy Krueger Sure There is a lot of gas in this movie then Gas? Little vials of purple gas Yeah that kind of charge you up Interesting
[01:04:16] There's like an evil drug on the streets There's potions? Yep There's potions Potions Like weaponized potions Love a good potion Rita Ora plays a scientist Uh huh I'm trying to think what else is going on In this one There's also a moment My favorite Pokemon
[01:04:34] Very well represented in this movie Ditto Yes Ditto rules But the rules of ditto are You're like Wait wait wait wait Like yeah Ditto is sort of When they introduce ditto in the game You're like Wait is this allowed? Ditto can just be anything? Right
[01:04:49] I started pumping my fists At the ditto reveal But it also was like You need to go into the movie Knowing that ditto exists It You have the one shot of ditto earlier Yeah This is releasing up well after the movie It'll come out
[01:05:03] So don't worry about it It still functions on a story level But I'm saying the moment where he says It's a ditto Right Before the ditto reveals itself I was cheering Yeah he was cheering But my mom would be like What's a ditto? And then I'd be like
[01:05:15] Just watch, just watch You'll see what a ditto is You know it's always a balance Because when you Write I would say in general There's a tendency in the first Screenplays to over explain Because you are Thinking about those sorts of things When you're writing it
[01:05:34] Which is like While we need to explain what the ditto is And we need to explain Like what Who broke ground on Rhyme City? Right What company did they use? Which construct Did they use Pokemon? Did they use Pokemon? Actually in the
[01:05:51] There's a little bit of the movie But there was like In the original screenplay Like Girder's doing a lot of Construction We really saw like Very Flintstones It was very Flintstones What is the infrastructure? How do they build You know that So
[01:06:07] There's a tendency to go into it And then I think that When the director Or whoever is watching the movie Sometimes the things that you think are important Prove like not to be important We certainly found that on the tick Yes I mean I'm sure that you
[01:06:23] Probably saw some of the drafts and process And then when you see the finished episodes You're like We You know just for example like What's the clue going to be? Is it going to be a shoe? Is it going to be a gas?
[01:06:35] Is it going to be this? Is it going to be glasses? Is it going to be You know a truck? Is it going to be whatever And so and what you realize I felt when I was watching the season I was kind of like You know what
[01:06:46] We spent so much time Picking the clue Picking this fucking clue Yeah And it literally did not Matter Then Then may feel differently The crater of the tick But I felt like Yes it worked But also Like the The proportion of time spent To like
[01:07:05] The labor you put in the room The amount of time spent on that shoe Right I remember being In the room I think when the shoe was being argued For like hours and hours and hours Days, weeks You know So I think sometimes when that happens
[01:07:20] When you start to go to the edit Yeah You start to be like You know what Maybe there's some people that are going to be confused by Ditto But maybe most people are going to be like I don't know it's a He's shape shifts we get it
[01:07:31] We know what a shape shift is We're going to be like Okay Right So by the time you get to that Like People are already on board with so much craziness Right In this movie That it's just like Right you're either You're either already well on board
[01:07:45] Or they already lost It's sort of like visually established Yeah Yeah So I You know I want to make it clear I was fully on board No I'm glad No but it is true You're not wrong I mean there's a lot of moments like that in the movie
[01:08:01] Where You kind of just got to go with it And I think that some people will be able to And some people will not And that's maybe okay But also for a property this big It's not like You know You can presume that a lot of the audience
[01:08:14] Is going to have some base knowledge You know That's not like an insane assumption To be like The 151 are in the cultural Vernacular enough The original But someone like Ditto is such a fan favorite That Yeah you think that most people would have some Idea about it
[01:08:33] At least if you're any amount of a fan I'll tell you a thing I didn't have an idea of until I watched the movie I am sexually attracted to women with ditto eyes Oh yeah I did not know that was going to be a thing
[01:08:46] Suki water house with little beady eyes Catherine Newton I mean even Chris Gere Did we see Chris Gere with the Ditto eyes maybe not No We actually did We did Was into that I was into any human form with the ditto eyes I love that
[01:09:00] That's a brave admission This is a brave hockey for a show One issue I think you might be in trouble I don't think you're going to find a ditto-eyed person In the real world Oh you think in the real Hey listen You can make it happen
[01:09:11] There's body mods now That's true Maybe like some augmented reality If you pay enough Yeah You can find it I have a beautiful girlfriend Sure With beautiful metal-plated eyes named TC14 I got no complaints on my end Now in this movie Pikachu's a detective
[01:09:28] Right this is an important thing that we haven't really discussed He has a hat He has a little hat and he's on the case He likes coffee Yeah He likes clues He loves clues He's got a thirst for solving a case I guess Loves it
[01:09:40] He's voiced by Ryan Reynolds Did you have any concept of like What kind of personality you wanted The act like when you're writing it Like obviously you're not writing it with the knowledge That like this is a Ryan Reynolds role Right Being involved
[01:09:53] I think this is where we were really inspired By like classic noir story Like we wanted him to feel like a You know Middle-aged noir detective Right Right And that was sort of Like John Polito and the Big Lebowski Right That was your specific That was a very
[01:10:14] That was like a super deep cut I just think about him No like Fred McMurray I don't know Something like Right like So one of those guys One of those kind of like tall drinks of water I have been obsessively reading Raymond Chandler Sure
[01:10:30] And I actually really love the original Radio shows of Philip Marlowe Mistress Interesting With a guy named Gerald Moore Who was It's actually quite Well okay It is probably not interesting But it's very interesting to me Which is they tried to do this Philip Marlowe show
[01:10:46] With this guy Van Heflin And they did the pilot episode So they did pilots of radio shows And the episode is called Red Wind And it's okay It's fine It's like pretty good Sure It's kind of, you know By the numbers A few, like a year later
[01:11:04] They were like You know what Let's try this again We're gonna get this guy Gerald Moore We're gonna do the same pilot Wow So you can actually do A comparison of the two pilots Of this episode The exact same It's maybe a little different
[01:11:17] But it's the same story It's called Red Wind And when you listen to the difference Between these two guys It is night and day This guy Gerald Moore was incredible And so I was really At night, immersing myself In kind of noir Classic noir Yeah From 49, 50 These books
[01:11:39] And so when you go deep into that Or even things like The narration and Blade Runner In the original cut Not in the director's cut Not that it's I actually prefer the director's cut But you know Just trying to get a sense Of these classic Eddie Valiant
[01:11:54] In Roger Rabbit Being a great example And probably maybe my favorite example I didn't even think of Roger Rabbit That's huge Right, because that's also A noir movie set In a completely banana's world It's a very bright noir movie Yes And I think that there's
[01:12:10] And that's really interesting That you know Noir is sort of an attitude It is In a way And so Eddie Valiant And there are a few PG noir films Which this proudly wears Even Roger Rabbit Is a little harder edge No question I would say a lot harder
[01:12:25] No question But what I think is great About, first of all, Bob Hoskins was like He is so fucking dialed into that Unbelievable He should have won six Oscars that year No one gave that performance Enough credit He did amazing when you look back
[01:12:38] At some of these performances That weren't lauded And you're like Actually the degree of difficulty In what this man was doing Was impossibly hard He was working before anyone Was used to the sort of tennis ball acting too He was working He essentially created the process
[01:12:52] For an actor of doing all of that When they didn't understand What the reference points were And the guys who were editing That movie would say It was incredible He would like Look at Roger Rabbit He would turn around And do some business in the office
[01:13:06] And then he would find The exact point where Roger Rabbit would have traveled You know? Independently Without them guiding him That seems insane And by the way, Justice Smith Who is the protagonist Yeah Very charming He's a great actor And he does a very
[01:13:22] He does an amazing job Of having chemistry with And you know How difficult it is Yes Is he holding like a little doll? Like is there a thing? In some shots They had like a doll But You know sometimes It was just a tennis ball
[01:13:37] And there's someone playing the part On set Or doing the dialogue off camera But it isn't Ryan Reynolds I mean it's this weird thing Of having to do chemistry Like siloed As two separate performances That have to cut together So in any valiant's case
[01:13:50] What I think is so brilliant About that movie And it's one of my very favorite movies Is the reality In which he plays Everything so straight Yes These are real This is an issue A tune killed his brother Tunes suck Yeah He just goes Tunes
[01:14:09] At the beginning he fucking hates tunes And it's what makes that whole journey So rewarding by the end When he loosens up He has one of the In my opinion One of the best arcs of any sort Of protagonist But just learning to
[01:14:23] Learning to think like a tune Learning to know how to relate to them And that's why One of my favorite moments In Pikachu is the moment Where justice is character Tim Has like a very emotional Speech to a Bulbasaur Yes And that was one of the
[01:14:41] Weirder things that Benjy and I Have ever written Like we're sitting there Like being like You know, I mean we had this conversation Where like is this too weird? Sure Is this insane? A full dramatic speech To a Bulbasaur That cannot talk No But we just
[01:14:58] We believed in it And we wanted to put it in And it stayed through the end Because yeah I think it has that Grounded reality To the whole thing of like This is real The stakes are real Like it And it also was like
[01:15:14] This kid needs to learn How to communicate with these things On their own terms And that was to me The biggest influence from Roger Rabbit Which is I think that That was so ingeniously done And we really wanted To try to similarly capture that
[01:15:29] Now of course in Roger Rabbit They can talk back Right So it's a little bit You know other than Detective Pikachu But you know You're somebody saying My biscuits are burning You know like that kind of You get you know Their personalities a little bit more
[01:15:42] But that was definitely intentional On our part And something that we gave it A lot of thought to And I was actually really pleased With the way that it came out in the movie Well Justice Smith I mean the thing I was very impressed With watching the performances
[01:15:54] I feel like And this is a thing That bugs me often In films like this Where someone has a tragic backstory And they kind of don't play it For 90% of the movie Like they only play the weight of the things When it's convenient for the scene
[01:16:09] And they drop it Whenever it gets in the way of anything else I don't think there's a scene Where you lose track of the fact That he's grieving over his father Even when it's like a funny scene I think he carries that Technically the performance is like Insane
[01:16:23] Because he's acting with like A thousand species Doing insane things all the time But the other thing is Kind of like what you said In a less tragic Way or maybe a less violent way He does have a bit of the Eddie Valiant thing Because it's like
[01:16:37] He's a kid who grew up loving Pokemon He wants to be a Pokemon trainer Like most of us who grew up Watching or playing Pokemon And then he sort of like Fell into the like I think I have to grow up I have to get a job
[01:16:49] And also I resent the fact that my father Like left me and spent all this time Solving Pokemon crimes Like I live in the real world That Pokemon world is some other kid business And someone asked us a really good question
[01:17:01] The other day when we were doing an interview They said did you intend for The arc of that character To sort of mirror the arc of someone Who was obsessed with Pokemon And maybe got over it And maybe got over it And then came back to it
[01:17:16] And I'd like to say that That was 100% conscious I mean there definitely was some of it But I do realize now that There is a very You know there is a parallel there That is I think that on some level That was what we were writing about
[01:17:37] You know that you go from I guess this comes back to the fandom That you know it's like something that you just love With the intensity of a kid Like the most intense thing that you That first blush of Like this is my thing
[01:17:53] I'm forging my identity around this thing This is going to be part of me That I carry forward even if I start to Drift away from the thing itself And now we're hoping that And what we're seeing on Twitter From people who have seen the early
[01:18:07] Screenings is people being like I feel like a kid again Or I hope my favorite Pokemon Is in the movie And that's very rewarding My favorite Pokemon is not in the movie I'm sorry, who's your favorite? The Polly Whirl It's why I would never pick Squirtle
[01:18:21] Because when Bulbasaur showed up Who's a big one for me I got very excited Even though I knew he'd been in the trailer They had been Bulbasaur I like that there were a lot of them though I like that it felt like
[01:18:31] Herds of Pokemon are rarely thought about Like in the world It's always a very one on one kind of experience When you're playing the game So I like that there was a herd That there was some sort of weird unspoken Bulbasaur ritual That was sort of happening
[01:18:44] March of the Bulbasaur Well that's exactly right And that's my other favorite scene in the movie Actually is the build up to The march of the Bulbasaur It's like weird I had a similar I recently rewatched my neighbor Totoro Sure Never gonna come up on this part
[01:19:05] One of my very favorite movies But the reason I love it so much Is that it is so unexplained No logic is ever built into There is no logic to it It's sort of child's eye view the whole time It just is It just is
[01:19:22] If you walk into the right forest On the right day with the right attitude You might get a Totoro of your own Just be your protector I want a Bulbasaur on my own Well that's how I... And that was exactly the... A Bulbasaur of one's own
[01:19:35] That a Bulbasaur of one's own But Griffin immediately leaned over to me And said like what do you like Bulbasaur? And I was like I usually pick Bulbasaur I never picked Squirtle Because I don't want to get locked into my water See I was a Charmander guy
[01:19:47] Charmander is good to be the orange as a kid Charmander is a tough challenge in the first game He's the hardest Pokemon Like he sucks against the first two gyms Yeah He's gonna turn into the best one Yeah a lot of good underdog narrative
[01:19:58] Right where his Bulbasaur is the easiest But I just like... Because he's you know He's just cool He's weird He's got a flower on his back He's the cutest So when we were writing that scene We wanted a similar... And I think the director and the DP
[01:20:11] Everyone did an amazing job of capturing this But it was on the page Because it was something that we really felt Passionately about Which is we wanted to capture this sense of Like if you walked into the right grove And maybe you'd see a herd of Bulbasaur Yeah
[01:20:26] Maybe your life would be completely different and better Do you guys ever put Pokemon Snap? No That game is very much like... It's very like herdy So you know it's like that it's that idea Yeah The nature photographer Yeah Weird idea for a game
[01:20:39] Whoever came up with that There's that thing I love too Where it's just like once again Not talking any shit About another video game adaptation That might have had a recently poorly received trailer Right That might be about like a fast being Of some sort
[01:20:51] You keep referencing this thing I just don't know what you're talking about I mean as non-specific as possible All of these characters look exactly Like the original designs The only sort of filter they've been put through Is make them tactile And I like that it's just like
[01:21:07] You know what? If you're going to see a Pokemon movie You have to accept that some of them have flowers On their back Some of them are ghosts Some of them are made of rock It is wild Some of them are mechanic Some of them are mechanical
[01:21:18] It's wild that Cubone wears his mother's skull And you just call it out Like it's just like This is the world you're living in baby So now they just they got scales And they got fur No the weirdest thing to think about Is like none of the Pokemon
[01:21:31] Technically have clothes So like Mr. Mime Yes That's organic Yeah he's just Yes Like that's you know Snubble's skirt Is just like a skin flap Right Right There's that weird thing where you're like Like seeing Mr. Mime as a kid
[01:21:50] It was like oh those things on the side of his head Are meant to represent like clown hair And it's just not detailed And then you watch it in the movie And you're like Oh they're like weird like vestigial Like they're like his ears Like they're not hair
[01:22:05] They're like these blue sacks of flesh And as you say Pikachu Has these two red dots on his face And he's just got some red dots on his face You just gotta accept it You don't go like well But if he runs fast
[01:22:17] He must have the body of Usain Bolt So we need to give him a very realistic human muscle Because look at this The Kensugimori illustration of Bulbasaur Right Like the designer of the game What's it I need to remember his name Satoshi Tajiri
[01:22:28] And this guy like sat down And they would go to zoos And they would like draw little animals And that drawing looks exactly the same As Bulbasaur does in this movie Like nothing has been changed No No And that was a big goal of them
[01:22:42] Of like keeping the same silhouette Yeah And it's really just some of the textures It's the textures right It really is And that makes them feel so like Yeah there's no need to reinvent the wheel No Side-Doc I was very happy with Because I feel like
[01:22:59] That was like a moment where it's just like These guys get it Because like you saying like We wanted Side-Doc to be the breakout character I feel like if you grew up with Pokemon You're like yeah of course Obviously Who else would be the option
[01:23:10] Like of course Side-Doc is your scene stealer Well I mean he's the Pokemon that has a built in Attitude and character Right He comes with a personality And so you know When there's a personality that's already Like half our work was already done with him
[01:23:24] So we were like that Yeah we have to have him And he's got the great check-offs Gun quality I'm just constantly teasing out Like don't make him nervous Give him time Yeah And you know some people at first Were very surprised that Mr. Mime
[01:23:38] Was such a big part of the thing But it's a similar reason It's because Story gift It's this is a person with a comedic Point this is a Pokemon With a comedic point of view You have a comedic game That you can play and take advantage of
[01:23:51] And as writers you're really looking for Not only who are the coolest Pokemon But which are the ones that You can infuse some personality to Or some specific personality Because you know there's many Mr. Mimes in the world But this one is a day Right And that's funny
[01:24:08] But also that thing of like None of them can talk But this one can communicate Like Mr. Mime has a baked in language Yes So was the father thing In place from the moment that you guys came on Was that part of sort of the original
[01:24:22] Inception of the thing? Yeah I mean that goes back to the game Okay so the game also has that kind of like That twist We're looking for the kids dad Right Yes and I think that If I recall correctly the first detective Pikachu game
[01:24:36] Actually doesn't resolve that storyline Oh my god It's a solid one Well it's part one The one that we got The original Japanese one was only the first few chapters Of the game Sure So there was no resolution to the story I think the one that came out
[01:24:51] Here Here It's a more recent one It's a little But even then it doesn't fully spell it out The way we do Sure So there was an element of like Okay we have to try To make this feel Earned Yeah As much as possible Right
[01:25:09] We tried to write emotionally And I know the other people involved in the movie Did as well and you know That was something that It was challenging to strike the right balance Because you don't want it to be modlin But you also want to deal
[01:25:24] I hope earnestly with With loss and grief And give you know justice Something to play Right Which he did incredible I think he did an amazing job of doing that Yeah You know so how do you do that as a writer You know for me
[01:25:41] My parents you know And I have a great relationship with my parents But my parents got divorced when I was very young And I remember those feelings of loss And it's not the same as a parent dying Yeah But you try to say okay You pull from something
[01:25:53] There's an emotional reality to that And I'm really confused Some have had into this crazy movie That also has to be a movie for kids You have that challenge too You can't make a two viscer roller But you know you want to skirt that edge
[01:26:08] Not as like a back patty thing But since season two came out I've seen so many people Responding to the Danger Boat episode Just being like How did they commit this hard Into doing this emotional scene With a robot boat And the answer is
[01:26:23] And neither of us were in communication about this And I didn't piece it together until months later But as you guys know from being in the room Susan Herwitz-Erenson Who's great One of the main writers on the show Who's an incredible person Her best friend died
[01:26:37] Like very shortly before Writing the season And she wrote the Danger Boat episode Funneling all of her emotions Into that That sort of sense of loss And I like a month before we started filming One of someone very close to my life
[01:26:53] Got diagnosed with a very serious illness And they're 100% fine now But I showed up on set Not knowing that she had written it Based off of something real Playing that scene as if I was talking You took your thing And she took her thing
[01:27:05] And we never communicate with each other And we have this scene where people are like Why does this scene make me cry? This is stupid But also if you're going to write these things Or you're going to act these things
[01:27:15] Like why show up if you're not going to give You're all against a Bulbasaur If you're not going to write based off Of your divorce from your childhood You just put your finger exactly On the most important thing First of all, Susan is a brilliant writer
[01:27:26] And did an incredible job But what was interesting is that She was actually supposed to write The second episode of the season Which you guys ended up writing The first sort of eages tore out Not to say that obviously I'm sorry that her friend passed away
[01:27:38] That was a horrible thing But the way that it fell She was able to It was sort of serene I think it's the best episode Probably of the season I think it's a great one Yeah If not the best I think it's the best one
[01:27:52] The Lobster episode is really good I like that one And I like the Casino one Actually like all of them It's a good season It's actually a pretty good season All I'm saying is Dan and Vangie came aboard And you know Season two bump Season two bump But
[01:28:09] But yes, she gave it everything And the way that you acted That scene was like Yes, it's a boat But We're going to take this So fucking seriously It's going to break your heart Right, I showed up on set And I didn't tell anyone this
[01:28:25] Because I thought it was daunting But I was like Okay cool From the moment I read the script I went this is the day Where I'm going to funnel in All my anxiety about me Losing the person I love right now Yeah, no
[01:28:35] Like that this person might die And that's exactly And I think that that comes through And so That's the kind of seriousness And kind of going back To the beginning of our conversation Is like If you're going to write a Pokemon Or write a fucking Pokemon movie Don't
[01:28:48] Don't pull your punches Don't think it's too cool Or don't be disdainful of it Yeah And I'm not saying anyone was that I'm just saying That was how That caring too much thing Right Was like, okay, yes I'm going to care too much About this right now
[01:29:02] And Benji felt the same way And Benji was okay He was like He was like giving him checks Yeah, no I just wanted as much money as possible Right, and for the check To save the Pokemon company That's right Yes, that's right So I don't know
[01:29:16] I think that The enthusiasm gap Or the versatility gap Yeah Is sometimes like very Apperent Right When you see things that maybe People didn't believe in that much And I really hope that people like the movie And respond to it And aren't listening to this
[01:29:33] Being like, yeah, we're fucking sorry But I think they will I think they will I do think there's a generational thing And for people like me Who were, I was held Like 11 years old When the video game came out So I've sort of been steeped in it
[01:29:45] Like, I am so Happy to see a movie Like this Maybe if you're a little older You're like, that thing always passed me by And this just I don't get it Right I can see that happening No, there are some Critics that I've seen on Twitter
[01:29:58] Or whatever that have been like Don't do it I went in Thinking Pokemon were stupid And I still think they're stupid Why did you go see it? Right Like why were you the critic That thought like I'm gonna go see this thing If you already hate Pokemon Yeah
[01:30:12] And I've seen like a lot of video game critics And of course yes The video game movie as we've discussed Is like rife with like bombs And sort of missed opportunities Or like a studio being like Candid on all the nerd shit Okay, like whatever
[01:30:24] Just John Cuff Van Damme can be Guile, that'll be fine right? You know he wrote that script in one day Really? Steven and Susie? One day That's actually impressive When you watch that movie Through the filter of He had one day It's actually an incredible accomplishment
[01:30:45] Like was it a thing where they'd cast everyone They built the sets and they were like Fuck we forgot I am not sure Call time is 6am tomorrow I went deep on this once I think it's all on Wikipedia But someone was also telling me about it
[01:30:58] But it was like It really was a situation where they're like We don't have a script And it's not like Street Fighter is like Well you just draw right from the video game The plot's very easy It's like Well there's these street fights And bison There you go
[01:31:15] You ready? So what you're talking about Video game fans seem to be responding very positively What I was seeing On sites like Kataku, Bolly-Daw It's like an emotional story Based off of video game world Whereas most video game movies The problem they get into is
[01:31:29] Like it's an action movie And if you're watching the action scenes You'd rather be home playing them Well that's the thing I think this sort of The video game movie curse That people refer to You know there is a thing where Unlike other IPs Like comic books
[01:31:45] Or books or anything like that A video game People are used to controlling Like being in control That's the weird one of the number of It's their story They don't just want to watch Action that they're not playing Right Like what's the It becomes instantly less fun
[01:32:03] Like watching Assassin's Creed Happen Wait a second Oh no you're gonna get it riled up The last week's episode The last week's but a couple weeks ago That movie's good But is it more fun to play Assassin's Creed? He's never played it
[01:32:15] I love how strong your opinion is I think you would love To play it even more I mean like Assassins that's why I pick You love creeds right I'm all about creeds We know about that Gotta get that apple I love that apple
[01:32:30] You do gotta get that apple So alright I'll try the game out You gotta try it But that is But yeah When we were doing Detective Pikachu Yeah we're telling A different type of story It's a very intimate Specific emotional story
[01:32:42] You're not trying to capture the whole world You're not doing the battles Which probably you know Well you have the one battles Right You gotta give people a little bit Of what they want You have a cool magic harp evolving You've got like stuff like that
[01:32:55] That was something Classic stuff That was an idea that we had Very early on That we really wanted That's gotta be in there Well we wanted to show that They're you know Physicalized that evolution And it's like this useless thing That now is not so useless
[01:33:10] But I'm interested in your guys opinion About the video game curse Because it wasn't something that I was thinking about When we were writing this movie Really at all Especially well you got Pokemon You've already got the anime You know you have a little more
[01:33:22] Than video games to draw There's so much And there's so many different games That's been filtered Through so many different lenses I do sort of want You know I've seen a few reviews Like you know You're right The game media Has been so positive Yeah
[01:33:35] And some of the more You know some of the more Traditional critics Based on video games Here we go Yes yeah I would love to hear that list Yeah yeah yeah I've been like It's pretty good Does it break the video game curse
[01:33:45] I don't think so my friends And I sort of am like Well what is the like Weirdly like every time One of these movies comes out It seems like the bar is Impossibly high Yeah In a weird way And I I mean I hope
[01:34:00] That someone writes the godfather Of Of video games And it wins off A view Wins Best Picture Like 2023 But it is kind of a weird I don't know It's sort of a weird I don't want to say fake But it's like It's sort of self-fulfilling Prophecy maybe
[01:34:17] There is a little bit of Like it's like a It's like a carrot That some people are dangling Yeah It's like did you break it I don't think so But I think Benji's On to the right thing Which it is like It speaks to the weird
[01:34:28] Relationship people have To these things And sometimes there's Something like street fighter Where you're like Wow this is an exciting world Look at these characters What weird locations There's no real story To go off of here So if Steven D DeSousa is writing the script in One day
[01:34:42] Even if that's impressive For a one day script It's hard to like Make the thing out of Whole cloth They wrote the king's speech In one day Did you know that? No What if it turns out Every movie was written Every good screenplay Can we hear the
[01:34:55] I totally bought them There's like Alright well so here is Some Some video games So you've got your They've taken a few cracks At mortal combat I'm gonna tell you which ones That I think are good Okay You want me to go chronologically Or by Yeah Okay okay
[01:35:10] So the first agreed upon Video game movie really Ever is Cramer vs. Cramer Oh okay Super Mario Bros I think that movie That movie is Crazy Is crazy But I like it And I liked it at the time David wrote a big piece Defending it Sort yeah
[01:35:28] It's anniversary I don't know if I Want to say it is a good movie But it is a captivating And like provocative movie And it has these insane Sets and like It's very practical They made strong choices It is an absolutely Bizarre perversion of like
[01:35:44] A platform game about a little man Who's running around But like You gotta do something with that The Yoshi model is super cute In that movie The idea And the hopper is Donald Trump dialed in Donald Trump Trump Koopa Trump Koopa And it's such a perfect snapshot
[01:35:59] Of the 90s The early 90s aesthetic Where they're like Yeah no no no Guck it up guys We want goo everywhere The idea of how the mushrooms Function sort of realistically Of course Hoskins Who we've already been praising And John Leguzama Who is one of my
[01:36:13] I think when he's dialed in He's I love that question Awesome They're an odd sibling pair But I love them I think that movie is actually Weirdly aged well I think so I think so What's that Alright so then we have Street Fighter Not a great movie
[01:36:28] But a great one day But a great But in the annals of screenwriting As far as a 24 hour film festival In the annals of screenwriting history I would rank that Yeah one of the best 24 hour film festival And then Paul W.S. Anderson
[01:36:42] Enters the game with the two Mortal Kombat movies Which I haven't seen the second one I barely remember the first one I saw the second one in theaters Annihilation And it was one of the more Disappointing I made my dad go Sure sure And my dad
[01:36:55] I'm skipping a few of the little ones Once again that's like The fighting game I mean you fall into this thing Where it's like If the games are hard No cause you'd rather Just be doing the fights yourself That is yeah I have to say at the time
[01:37:05] They do have strong characters They've got these various Dynamic Great characters in Mortal Kombat And I have to say I actually really Loved the first Mortal Kombat movie Right Paul W.S. Anderson won Because it did have Sort of that 90s like Techno Techno Totally
[01:37:20] There is a vibe In that movie that Is specific to like Not even just like a decade But like a few years Within the decade Yes And I think that's kind of cool Alright so we're going to keep going We've got Well then we have
[01:37:33] Lara Croft Tomb Raider Which is not so good Which is sort of like Grafting like I don't know Indiana Jonesy Kind of like Yeah but I feel like That's an example of just That movie not working I don't think any of the Problems in that movie
[01:37:47] Are connected to the fact That it's based off of a video Not at all I mean they just watched They looked at the video game And they were like This is Indiana Jonesy Lady Are we done? But the Viscander movie I like a lot
[01:37:58] I actually liked that one We all pretty fond of that one So it does seem to be Just maybe the first Lara Croft Wasn't I remember seeing it At the time It was okay Then there's The Resident Evil series Which is the sort of
[01:38:13] A green on I think Masterpiece of video game cinema Right like There's six of them They go in all kinds Of insane directions They so much become Their own thing They are separate from the video They will sort of have Like characters who are like
[01:38:27] Kind of nodding to the game But like they're a whole And they really like The Mila Javavic show And she's sort of the queen Of like video game movies I sort of appreciate their commitment To being super crazy By the time they're in the fifth one
[01:38:40] They're really like If you're still watching these Then what just gonna fall around It's similar to in a way Watching like I know Benjy's The Saw Yes, yeah Like the lore goes so deep Once you get to Saw You know five, six, seven
[01:38:55] Saw's been dead for four movies No, I mean there's I think it was Saw five or six Where there was a flashback Within a flashback Within a flashback Yes And it's just like Okay, I'm on board And so like I don't watch it for like Like I don't
[01:39:09] The torture stuff whatever But just in terms of like Insane storytelling Of like flashing back To that you thought You knew what happened this time But actually this happened Nope, actually this third thing Was happening It's like yeah Okay, like that's great
[01:39:23] But the Resident Evil movies function in that way And I think if they were more literal Adaptations of the games They might have had a harder time work Alright, then it gets really dire Because you have You've kept like alone in the dark You have Doom
[01:39:34] Which is just sort of like Yeah, this is the worst right Fishtail or Fowl Well this is You know they mailed Dr. Uwebel Like Silent Hill Which is kind of like One of the great Video games as art series Like they kind of take a crack at it
[01:39:46] And it's sort of like Visually interesting But like meh Meh, right Like you know it's all visual Yeah They take Pyramid Head Like who is such a dynamic And crazy character And he's just like A big guy with an eye But can I hypothesize
[01:39:59] As we're going through this list I feel like perhaps the problem With a lot of these movies Is the exact thing We've been talking about Is hiring writers Who kind of have disdain For the thing they're adapting No for sure Max Payne is another one
[01:40:11] And I'm not saying any of these people Specifically or the directors are You know maybe it's the actors Wherever it is But a lot of these franchises Feel like either When Resident Evil works It's like we're going to make Our own thing out of this
[01:40:20] And the ones that don't work Feel like the people involved Maybe think they're kind of slumming it And it may be that The things are getting better Just because like The generation of people That actually grew up With video games Is now the age of people
[01:40:34] That are writing movies Like us Right No, right Right, the generation is caught up And by the way I'm sure that people work Very hard on those movies No I know I know And there's things to like But Max Payne is a great example Of where it's like
[01:40:47] Love that game What do people like about Max Payne? Let's not do that Right, right Right Because I played all those games And I love those games That's going to be a short credit The second one is incredible The second one is a masterpiece It is
[01:41:00] It really is Of actually like noir It's a well told story It's totally great And so they were like Well, let's not do that Yeah, I know And that to me is sort of A bewildering Weird choice And so Yeah, I think You know maybe we're
[01:41:15] You know tapping into something But no, but then there's this final phase I want to get to Which is Warcraft, Assassin's Creed Tomb Raider Ben is pumping his fist Which are movies that are not well received And often don't like You know Warcraft was kind of a bomb
[01:41:28] Although it did really well overseas But those are movies Who are written by people Who like those games And are kind of like So deep on the lore Like Warcraft is impenetrable Right If you haven't like Played Warcraft I had no idea what I was watching Right
[01:41:42] And it's sort of throwing you In the deep end And yeah, the reaction was kind of bafflement But like so that's sort of At the end of Warcraft I saw with my big world of Warcraft friend And at the end of the movie When the baby comes out
[01:41:55] He was like, that's the lead character And I was like, what do you mean That's the lead What? Right, it turns into Kind of like a prequel to the game And he's like, that's the actual lead character What? I do something about his dad
[01:42:07] And so now we've got Like we've got Detective Pikachu We've got an unnamed fast Rodin film I don't know what you're talking about You know, it says speedy the animal Yeah You've got a Minecraft movie When's that happening? They keep on announcing the directors
[01:42:22] That keeps people on the schedule And they can push Minecraft is another one That I think is very daunting To think about Warcraft Well because Minecraft is plotless Right We're gonna make a movie out of that Like it's like the The old PC game Where it's not old
[01:42:36] Not that old Quadrant Like the grid And you push the little boxes You're thinking of Minesweep Are you kidding me? They're not making a Minesweeper They could make a Minesweeper Actually Benj and I just signed on To Minesweeper Chips challenge There's a plot There's a plot
[01:42:51] And it's sweeping for mines Not hit the mine Wasn't your dad like The world's foremost Minesweeper He's up there Really? He can play Xperia He can do Xperia In like seven seconds or so So what I'm thinking about As you were saying this
[01:43:05] And I think maybe this is an advantage That Pokemon has We're talking about movies about adventurers We're talking about movies about assassins We're talking about movies about Fantasy world That while it is its own thing Is not unprecedented
[01:43:25] In the sense of we are familiar with Lord of the Rings We're familiar with orcs and warriors And these things that are And this is a lethal combination Often largely plotless And very lore heavy It's very hard to write a script There's a ton of backstory
[01:43:40] But the plotting itself is just kind of like And then this happens And then this happens And then this happens So it kind of is interesting that the ones That we kind of were gravitating towards Are Mara's very weird and very unique Yeah You know Mortal Kombat
[01:43:55] Very specific to that Very of its era And it's very of its era But not unprecedented in like The fighting tournament sense of things But you know The way that Scorpion is integrated In that movie is like very cool And it's different
[01:44:09] And it's not something you've seen a million times So maybe there is something to Embracing like the weirdness Or the uniqueness of whatever that property is And just saying like Yeah, this is the fucking weird thing that we're doing Instead of turning it into a generic
[01:44:22] Copy of whatever movie Whatever the action would be It's hot that year We're doing a movie that takes place in Wyoming And apparently Or seemingly from the trailers Only in the last scene probably Has the characters looking the way You remember them looking at a world
[01:44:37] You're talking about like a movie about like a quick Fuck, I'm out of synonyms Quick, spiny, egg laying mammal I have no idea what you're talking about But I also feel like Yes, I don't want to make it sound like I'm putting the blame for those earlier movies
[01:44:51] Just that like Oh this screenwriter was a hacker This or that But you also have examples where maybe like The writer cares a lot about And the director cares a lot about it And then a big movie star signs on And they're like
[01:45:00] I don't want to do that stuff Or it's the director who doesn't care When the other two people did Or whatever it is But also very often I think We're living in a world where They understand the value of For better or worse Studios now understand
[01:45:13] The value of the IP is the IP You don't strip mine it And find a way to get as little of the IP In the movie as possible And then make the rest of the film catering To what you think Moll-Goers want to see
[01:45:24] If you're making a movie off a thing You want to make the best movie of that thing And represent everything That people like about that thing Well that did go back to what we were talking about At the beginning I think the fandom becoming
[01:45:37] The mainstream has made it So that's the case We're not trying to appeal to Random people Joe, Joe, whatever Joe is very like Like the most vocal people And the people still going to the movie theater Are the fans That want to see this stuff
[01:45:54] There's the confidence of knowing We can write a movie for the hardcore fans And if only the hardcore fans see it That's enough to make the movie a big hit Right And you know You obviously want to write a movie That anyone can sit down and enjoy
[01:46:06] Yeah, you want to write the movie I mean like You want something that anyone can enjoy But you also want the people who want The movie to work the most To be able to enjoy it We did not sit down Writing to take the Pikachu saying
[01:46:16] This is a movie That every single person is going to like But that is definitely true We weren't trying to make a movie To try and cater to every person Every quadrant Right Like we wanted to make something That the fans would love
[01:46:30] And that could also bring in some new fans That didn't realize that they loved Pokemon I forgot about Final Fantasy The spirits within So Final Fantasy the spirits within Is a very weird one And it's also kind of its own thing It's its own thing Yeah, it's right
[01:46:44] I didn't like I don't think it's like a great movie No But it's trying some things It's trying And it's definitely I mean it's extremely You know JRPG Yes In its story And its things Final Fantasy is a great example of Could they make a good movie
[01:47:01] Of Final Fantasy 7? Maybe Sure I mean I don't know I don't know But that's another That's one where like if someone Give us that challenge I would be like okay Right This is something that I really love It's also one of those things
[01:47:14] Where a studio is going to have to be Like sure take a huge budget Like it's not going to be something You're going to do Like for nothing You know so I think that When we set out to write the movie
[01:47:25] Even when we were talking to each other We were like And we were kind of going I think so But maybe not Right But maybe that's okay Because we're going to try to tell The best version of this story That we possibly can Sure And you know
[01:47:38] That's why I feel ultimately like You know I hope that it's a big hit And I hope that You know It gets pretty favorable reviews But if it doesn't Like Yeah oh I remember what I was going to say Is I had a professor in college
[01:47:53] Who was a theater professor And Was it Pikachu It was Pikachu Professor Pikin His name is Spencer Gallop He was the head of the theater department At Brown And he did an example one day Of like Spencer Pollywan Spencer Pollywan He sat on like a cube
[01:48:08] Just like a regular cube Sure And You know it was like he was sitting on And then like he was like Everyone turned around and he like Did something to the cube But he couldn't tell And he sat on it But there was something like Appreciatively different
[01:48:20] About the way that he was sitting On this cube And it turned out that there was a hole In the middle of the Of the cube That was making his sitting experience Like uncomfortable We could not see this hole Right But we could tell that something had Changed
[01:48:33] And I think that screenwriting is When you actually give a shit about the Subject matter And you're sort of Thinking about things like Okay well we want to reference Total recall and we want to Put Roger Rabbit into it And the third man And these Raymond Chandler stories
[01:48:45] Like I hope that like Secretly embedded In this movie Right you feel that stuff Like even if the audience That has no idea Never listened to this podcast Doesn't know anything about what we did Or why That there is some sense of like
[01:48:58] They seem to have an idea They seem to be like confident About whatever it is that they're trying To accomplish And I think that the movie does Accomplish that and I'm proud of that I guess So here's the big question I don't know how much you guys
[01:49:11] Can comment on this or not David has one big take away At the end of the movie He turns to me and he goes I'm worried Yeah I did say this Detective Pikachu is a star I was like you guys got rid of Detective Pikachu And like
[01:49:27] I mean spoilers The movie kind of takes them off the board I mean this again This is coming out a couple weeks After the movie's coming So you know if you But yeah He's so good That I was almost like Don't take him away Don't separate him
[01:49:40] One of those things where like Emotionally, narratively Of course it's the point You get to But was there any fear When you guys were writing that You know if I'm one of the Warner Brothers I'm like wait a second Wait a second Wait hold up Hold up
[01:49:52] I'm gonna get you to talk To Ryan Reynolds voice though We can't lose that He drinks the coffee So at the I don't think it's Talking out of school to say At the script stage Or at the planning stage There was talk and Debate about
[01:50:07] That is this exact issue And I think that what was ultimately Decided upon correctly Was let's tell the best story That we can tell for this movie And if you want to bring it back You can figure it out later And if there is a future movie
[01:50:21] That's a problem that will be dealt with Hopefully in a really cool creative way That seems like the right answer to me Because it wasn't You know it There were a couple things debated Well could we do this Could we do that
[01:50:35] Do we preserve it in this way Or that way But ultimately it was like no Let's just tell this story Let's make it a completed thought Which is much better than the opposite Franchisey thing where you're like The movie ends kind of unsatisfyingly
[01:50:49] And someone leans over and is like Wow they've already signed the contract For this spin off So that's why it's doing that Or my friend leans over and goes That baby's the lead Like that shit Which I'd much rather see a film That can complete its own thought
[01:51:04] And it does also in an interesting way Kind of set the stage where it's like I know they announced that someone's Writing a detective Pikachu direct sequel But there are also people I think Writing other live action Pokemon movies That they're incubating a bunch right now
[01:51:18] Much like Tograpee was incubated Right The proverbial Tograpee There's a lot of Tograpees humming right now I like the idea that this world setup And the franchise could just be What are other stories in the Pokemon universe Like what way they end up going who knows
[01:51:35] But I do like the promise of just like And the next film could be like A fucking legal thriller And the next film could be like A trainer, like it could be Karate Kid Or the Pokemon I heard Professor Pikachu We wanted to make it clear that like
[01:51:51] Rhyme City is still connected To the rest of the Pokemon universe The other regions exist And so it's all out there And it's a fertile, you know Ground for whatever story Like come Hell yeah So don't worry David it's gonna be okay
[01:52:12] I just really connected to detective Pikachu Not people working on this Even as we speak Alright Ben you have something you want to say I think we're basically done here Detective Ben's been writing Part detective Ben is on the case
[01:52:26] I got some of my favorite parts from the movie Okay so you've now you surmise What you think happens in the movie From us talking about the process of writing the movie So my favorite Pokemon Is the Muddakul it's a frozen mud spike I really love that moment
[01:52:40] When it came into the bar They were at The top of the building hard There are a lot of those in Jersey right I feel like Muddakul doesn't sound that far off For real one Like a sand-cutting-cloom floor
[01:52:56] But my favorite Pokemon by far is the burning tire Pokemon Scorch Also not that far off Also these all could be Cause there was that moment like three generations In where they were like Any man made object could be a Pokemon Garbador?
[01:53:11] Garbador was one where I really wanted That would have been He's a very urban Pokemon Garbador was in our early drafts And I think maybe it was maybe too Weird or something And then a classic noir setting
[01:53:25] I was excited to see in the movie was the quicksand factory Of course right Any good blockbuster needs a quicksand factory Cause one of you call it fall on the quicksand A lot of attention No not what if you fall on it
[01:53:37] I mean it's what if you make it It's a little weird to see Kirby driving a blimp Yes that was a pure Kirby the Nintendo Yeah he's not a Pokemon character Oh he's not Or do you mean like Kirby Puckett or something
[01:53:51] No I thought Kirby was a Pokemon You know he's not And then of course the ending which was so crazy It was Deadpool the whole time It was Deadpool of course That so twisted the movie came out of Deadpool's brain Crazy anyway I loved it
[01:54:05] Well I mean that's a strong review But isn't that Can you go any higher than that You can't that's probably the greatest Hit publish on Rotten Tomatoes right now I mean you saying some of these people Why would you even see this movie it's not for you
[01:54:19] Is there ever been a review Coming from someone more clearly On your side getting exactly What you were going for in the movie Ben's flashing a peace sign Love it Beautiful. Yeah we're done right Yeah I think we're done Do you guys have any like final thoughts
[01:54:35] Or anything you want to share We wish people a happy Detective Pikachu Well I'll say I'm working on a new R script Yeah it's called Night Eggs It's about A detective Who Eats breakfast at night Not a joke he established this About 18 months ago
[01:54:57] He's truly been working on this script And the villains are witch hackers Uh huh Did they use their witchcraft To use They're hacking to access witchcraft Kind of both Great Great answer So I don't know once I get further along Would you guys like to take a pass
[01:55:19] Can we talk about this off the air Because I think that We need to Of course Chris Whites is on board as a producer You're the guest on the show On our pre-existing Chris is a collaborator Maybe we can carve it out I'd like to talk to you
[01:55:39] Further about this opportunity We love the world you're playing It's a fun world There's a lot of opportunity in that world Very Benji Dan thank you so much For being here Guys this was a dream come true And I do want to come back for Edward's work
[01:55:57] When it's time To make a movie Glory We covered one Oh pod another cast We did pod reacher never go Cast People forget he made the second Jack I think he did the Legends of the podcast Blood Diamond About last night Did he do about last night
[01:56:23] That's his debut He made courage under fire Bobby Fischer Ponsacrifice I believe Topi McGuire's Last role On camera His last credit foam role Is the narrator of the boss baby That's right So it sounds to me like this wick pod You know It's like night eggs
[01:56:49] We'll talk about this opportunity We love the world We love the possibilities And the potential But yes Benji Dan Thank you for being here Thank you for writing detective pokemon Detective pokemon? I'm sorry pokemon detective pika chew That was another thing because when you see the poster
[01:57:09] You're like oh the pokemon might just be there as brand big When the movie starts and the opening Titles come up and it just says Pokemon detective pika chew That's right no jazz here We went right at it Yeah you gotta take a bite What else is that
[01:57:25] I gotta pee let's say Watch season 2 of the tick Yeah watch season 2 of the tick Watch season 2 of the tick Come on What if we did a tick pokemon crossover Sure What if season 3 There was a case of rindsick Tick about a hair cross or whatever
[01:57:45] But you know but you say this but like Ben is listening somewhere and being like What are you talking about No Or he's like yes How did you guess I just think Tick should interrogate a Meowth Yeah that sounds good
[01:58:03] Meowth is good but you couldn't really touch Meowth Meowth is tough But Meowth is one of the weird pokemon To start out with I was sad Meowth wasn't in the movie But it just seemed like Did you have Meowth in certain draft No
[01:58:19] I wonder if he's mentioned like as a background Sure sure sure But I feel like Team Rocket is its own thing It kind of felt like we can't even Like open that thing right now So that's why You know but I hope That you know in the future
[01:58:35] Everyone will get to see their favorites I mean there was Gengar in there that's another of my favorites You had some great ones You just didn't touch the Pollywag family We always wanted Gengar from the beginning Gengar is huge Gengar looked great and his weird
[01:58:49] Like you know Tread cloning Yeah he kind of reminded me of Great Tiger in punch out Yep You know when he does the spinning Whatever whatever whatever guy I know we just talked about why certain video game movies Don't work and it falls squarely in this territory
[01:59:05] Punch out would be a cool movie Punch out would be a cool movie The ones that are just cool looking characters fighting Are the difficult ones I actually think it could be Glass Eye Joe Glass-Jod Glass-Jod Joe I could be Cotton Eye Joe
[01:59:21] I just remembered that David has to be The one question I wanted to ask you guys You'd be Little Mac Are you kidding? That's your star vehicle Kid Icarus I've been playing Smash And I'm like man like Ness dresses a lot Like me Who's your smasher
[01:59:39] Who's your fave I've been playing as Ness most of the time No that's not true Ness is so complicated I feel like they are playing like Ness most of the time I play as Pikachu for a amount Pikachu is one of my faves
[01:59:53] Although my girlfriend always wants to play as Pikachu Ness though every time I pick him She's like you just like him because He wears baseball caps on straight shirts Fucking narcissist Classical little Classically I like Jigglypuff because I find That makes people go the most insane
[02:00:09] Jigglypuff is an infuriating character To play and That's who I thought Kirby was They're very similar Jigglypuff is in the movie At a bar I like that too I once took down the Elite Four with the fucking Super powered Wigglytuff Taking on this sort of less powered program
[02:00:29] Retired This was the final question I wanted to ask you while David's bladder explodes You guys are big fans In general You love stuff You're stepping on toes of anything that you're taking Meetings on Will it into the universe Something that you've made no progress on
[02:00:47] Is there like a dream thing I will say especially if it's a thing where you're like No one's ever gonna make a movie of that Where you guys have talked about like wouldn't be cool to adapt this thing That we love that there probably isn't a market for
[02:00:57] That's a great question Yeah what's your like blank check Do you have because look People predicting big box office weekend You might be getting those calls Maybe the blank check guys By the time this episode comes out Where people are saying what do you got What's your pitch
[02:01:15] The one that always comes to mind is I'd like to Adapt Transmetropolitan That's a cool trick That's the one that It's the perfect thing where it's like you need a big budget It's not gonna be a family movie It's weird Funny, it's weird, it's specific
[02:01:33] There's a cat, a two headed cat that smokes cigarettes Every, you know That's one where I read it And get inspired I've read it many times over the years And That for me would be a dream project I don't know who controls the rights
[02:01:49] I don't know if there's a radio script that exists I don't know if it'd be better as a TV show But that is one where I look at it online You'd like to have a crack I'd love a crack at that one Do you have an answer, boundary?
[02:02:01] I've always wanted to do a With all of the serial characters That's a great answer That's a great answer All of them All of them Fair enough So it's like the Magnificent 84 Tony, obviously They gotta put the team together Some people say no
[02:02:25] Would there be a villain? Who's like the most villainous Serial character Count Chocular maybe Is that a cop from Cookie Crisp? Oh, he is a Trigger But he's kind of good, he's like your rogue It might be the kids who are trying to steal The Lucky Charms
[02:02:43] Maybe they're the villains I'm trying to think of A and the Cartoon I feel like Captain Crunch could have gone crazy At sea, like Shazer Commander There is a Captain Crunch villain too Is there There's like a red and black pirate To Captain Crunch is like
[02:02:59] Blue and white Every Captain needs it Anyway Hollywood if you're listening Now's your chance Night Eggs also available as part of the package Not anymore, it's not available It's off the table Thank you all for listening Please remember to rate, review, subscribe
[02:03:19] Thanks to Andrew Goodow for our social media Lea Monk coming for our theme song Joe Bonpat rounds for our artwork Go to BlankysOutright.com for some real nerdy shit Go to TeePublic for some real nerdy shirts Go to Patreon Blank Check bonus features
[02:03:33] Where we're going through all the Marvel movies And as always The Sonic the Hedgehog movie looks really weird Fucking weird man