Episode 1406 - Dave Franco
Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it i hope you're well i hope you're well i hope you're hanging in there
Marc:It's been kind of nice here in LA the last few days.
Marc:It's chilly.
Marc:I like it chilly.
Marc:I'm wearing my overcoat in the studio.
Marc:I just got this overcoat back.
Marc:It's an old overcoat.
Marc:I needed new buttons and a new lining, and I got them, and I rarely get to wear it.
Marc:So right now, I'm in the studio with my overcoat on.
Marc:It's very exciting.
Marc:It's like a blanket.
Marc:I don't know where you are if you're in the middle of that Arctic blast.
Marc:I hope you're okay.
Marc:Don't drive if it's black ice.
Marc:Black ice is very scary.
Marc:I don't know if there's black ice out there, but that's real.
Marc:I never really knew what it was until I came across it.
Marc:You know, it seems crazy, right?
Marc:Black ice.
Marc:What does that even mean?
Marc:It means it's ice that looks like the road and your tires have no traction at all.
Marc:I've driven in all kinds of weather.
Marc:That's one thing I've got above a lot of people out here.
Marc:People out in L.A., you know, things slow down.
Marc:A lot of traffic is just because people are idiots and don't really know how to drive and a little bit of rain.
Marc:Also, there's a problem with the lines on the roads.
Marc:I don't think that L.A.
Marc:ever prepared for any weather.
Marc:As soon as the roads get wet, you cannot see lanes at all.
Marc:I don't know why I'm talking about this.
Marc:Really, it's just coming out of the fact that I hope you're all right.
Marc:I hope you're all right.
Marc:I hope you're all right.
Marc:For those of you keeping up,
Marc:and I know sometimes I forget to do this, is that I talk about something on the last show, and then I kind of leave you hanging, and it doesn't come back around.
Marc:I will tell you what's up, but let me first tell you that Dave Franco is on the show.
Marc:You know him from Scrubs, 21 Jump Street, Now You See Me, Neighbors, The Disaster Artist, and The After Party, Actor.
Marc:Brother of an actor.
Marc:He's married to my GLOW co-star, Alison Brie, and he just directed his second feature, which is a romantic comedy he wrote with Alison called Somebody I Used to Know.
Marc:And it's a pretty clever romantic comedy.
Marc:I didn't really realize until after I talked to him just how many romantic comedies are kind of a little dark.
Marc:in a way, in terms of characters, in terms of intentions.
Marc:And I don't think I ever really thought about it until near the end of this conversation.
Marc:But had a lovely chat with Mr. Franco, who I've seen and met a few times, because, again, he's married to Alison Brie, who was my co-star for years, three to be exact, on GLOW.
Marc:Okay, getting into it, I was talking about...
Marc:My health, my tests, and my new diet post the cleanse.
Marc:And I told you I was moving towards a blood test that I had two days ago or on the 31st.
Marc:And I got the results fairly quickly.
Marc:And I just want to say, now, I'm on a statin.
Marc:And my concern was cholesterol, really, because I have borderline cholesterol, which I assume was genetic.
Marc:And I'm on a statin, 10 milligrams a day.
Marc:Now, on September 7th, 2022, I had blood tests where I was told that...
Marc:that I had borderline, if not a little high cholesterol, and maybe a little pre-diabetic.
Marc:That was September 7th.
Marc:Now, I don't know what's transpired.
Marc:I'm still on the statin, but I did a week without any meat of any kind, any dairy or anything.
Marc:Just a plant-based diet for the week leading up to...
Marc:The blood test.
Marc:Now, I still take the statins and I started taking some red yeast rice, which I don't think works.
Marc:But nonetheless, doesn't matter.
Marc:And I exercise compulsively.
Marc:So this is four months later or so.
Marc:My numbers on September 7th, my LDL was 129.
Marc:That's high.
Marc:Not good.
Marc:That's the bad cholesterol.
Marc:My good cholesterol, my HDL on September 7th, 2022 was 89.
Marc:High.
Marc:But that's okay.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:And my non-HDL, the total, which is just the numbers, including the LDL, I think, is 138.
Marc:That's on September 7th, 2022.
Marc:Not great.
Marc:The other day, my LDL, 80.
Marc:80.
Marc:Are you fucking kidding me?
Marc:It's never been 80.
Marc:80.
Marc:Down from 129.
Marc:Now, granted, I take a small amount of statin, but that's not just the statin.
Marc:Had to be the diet.
Marc:My HDL was 84.
Marc:Again, high, but that's okay.
Marc:I asked why it's high.
Marc:The doc said it should probably just exercise.
Marc:And the non-HDL was 93.
Marc:So those numbers, spectacular.
Marc:inspiring.
Marc:And my glucose was good.
Marc:Fine.
Marc:Everything's fine.
Marc:It's exciting.
Marc:And my pulse is like 52.
Marc:And the doc, they were like, the nurse was like, you know, you got to, oddly, the nurse was my drummer, Ned Brower.
Marc:He's a nurse.
Marc:Said your pulse is low.
Marc:And I'm like, that's because I go up a goddamn hill three times a week.
Marc:I think doing massive incline cardio is, it's good.
Marc:So I've got a marathon runner's pulse.
Marc:I think that's good, right?
Marc:It's a little scary sometimes.
Marc:I'm like, that seems slow, 52 to 55, but whatever.
Marc:So that's the deal.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:Very exciting numbers.
Marc:Now I just got to stop smoking the fucking cigars again.
Marc:Got off the nicotine all over again.
Marc:I'll be perfect.
Marc:That's all we're trying to be.
Marc:Right, people?
Marc:That's all any of us are trying to get to is perfection.
Marc:Complete perfection.
Marc:And, you know, I'm 59 years old.
Marc:It feels like I'm finally going to achieve perfection.
Perfection.
Marc:No.
Marc:Just stay in shape.
Marc:Take care of yourself.
Marc:But that's what happened.
Marc:That's a pretty good end to that story.
Marc:Okay, listen.
Marc:I'm going to talk about something serious and something...
Marc:And and something that maybe a lot of people don't know about.
Marc:Now, I've talked a lot about this idea in America, culturally, comedically, that there's this notion among certain tribes of comedians that you can't say anything anymore.
Marc:You can't.
Marc:You're not allowed.
Marc:There's censorship.
Marc:You can't say things anymore.
Marc:Now, what I've always said is that you can say whatever you want.
Marc:And I do not think I just did an interview with a guy for variety.
Marc:He asked me, do I think there's anything you can't joke about?
Marc:No, you can.
Marc:If you can figure it out, tell jokes about whatever you want.
Marc:And the truth is you can say whatever you want.
Marc:It just there may be consequences.
Marc:There may be cultural consequences.
Marc:You may get pushback.
Marc:There may be democratically motivated groups of people that push back through action because you've insulted a way of life or decisions that people make collectively in a group of people, marginalized people.
Marc:And that's the way democracy works.
Marc:You can say whatever you want.
Marc:There may be consequences and you have to decide, you know, whether you're going to shoulder those consequences.
Marc:I mean, I did it with this special coming out in a couple of weeks, February 11th, my HBO special from bleak to dark premieres on HBO.
Marc:There's things I said there that I knew earlier.
Marc:were calculated risk.
Marc:I knew that saying some of the stuff I said on there, though funny, was going to make some people angry.
Marc:You know, I'm a comic, and I've been one for a long time, and I've never been one not to take chances.
Marc:So however they want to frame me, the few that do, as being woke or whatever, whatever.
Marc:The truth is, I've said things that I knew were going to cause
Marc:some people to be angry and that there may be pushback.
Marc:I made that decision and I was willing to take that risk because that's what we can do here.
Marc:That's what it really means.
Marc:There is freedom of speech.
Marc:You can say whatever you want.
Marc:There just may be consequences and you have to decide whether you can handle those or whether they're necessary and what is your intention?
Marc:A lot of questions, but all that aside, there's something going on
Marc:In Iran.
Marc:OK, there are anti-government protests have been going on there since September.
Marc:Tens of thousands of protesters have been arrested and tortured and hundreds of them have been killed.
Marc:I'm sure you've seen some of this in the news or wherever you get your information.
Marc:But despite this, or maybe because of it, as is usually the case, because of the nature of comedy, there is still a stand-up comedy scene in Iran.
Marc:It's small, but it exists.
Marc:And one of the comics on the scene there in Iran is Zainab Mousavi.
Marc:Now, here's a deal about Zainab.
Marc:She was the winner of a comedy competition on state TV in Iran.
Marc:So that got her known throughout the country.
Marc:And then she started up a weekly standup show in in West Tehran.
Marc:She gained a reputation for doing what some of us do, taking shots at the government, taking shots at fundamentalists.
Marc:I do both of those things.
Marc:And she was already getting, just from doing, right at the beginning, right after doing that, she was getting violent threats well before last September, before the protests started.
Marc:And when the protests started, she began posting a lot on Instagram with jokes and sketches about the government, about the state police.
Marc:So on October 13th, she was arrested.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:She spent a month in solitary confinement after which she was released on bail.
Marc:Now that, that is what it looks like when you can't say anything, when you do not have a constitution that enables you to
Marc:the ability to say what you want, and the government steps in and puts you in jail.
Marc:That's what it looks like in a country where you literally can't say some things because you will be imprisoned.
Marc:Not because you've aggravated a community of people that barely have a voice in the culture.
Marc:Or you've made fun of people for shortcomings that are the struggle of their life.
Marc:And you say that, well, they need to get a better sense of humor about it.
Marc:I mean, come on.
Marc:Different, different than pushback, different than cultural consequences.
Marc:This woman was put in jail.
Marc:Now, since then, Zainab learned that she's been sentenced to an additional two years in prison, although she has not been given a court date.
Marc:And there's no word on when her sentence will begin.
Marc:This is a country where you can't say things.
Marc:Yet she still did.
Marc:And she continues to make jokes.
Marc:She has a new Instagram page set up at im.ziz underscore MOU.
Marc:That's where she's got the new Instagram set up.
Marc:And she's still posting there regularly.
Marc:She doesn't want to go back to jail, but she doesn't want to be silenced either.
Marc:That is cojones.
Marc:That is courage.
Marc:That is truly, you know, fighting the power, fighting authoritarianism, fighting a government that may kill her.
Marc:for telling jokes about said government.
Marc:Now, we found out about Zainab from an Iranian-American comic named Sarah Fatimi, and we asked Sarah how we can help, and the answer is, frankly, by talking about it.
Marc:You can't send money to Iran because of sanctions, and there aren't any outside aid groups that are going to stop the jailings and executions.
Marc:The only way to potentially stop it is by talking about it loudly and frequently.
Marc:This is a situation where social media is actually important.
Marc:If you keep Zainab Mousavi's name out there, it becomes more likely the government will not want the hassle of going through with her sentence.
Marc:In the 80s, they mass executed thousands of protesters and there was no real attention on it.
Marc:Because it was the 80s and there was no social media.
Marc:But now we can keep attention on them.
Marc:So on whatever social media you use, hashtag the name Zainab Mousavi.
Marc:That's Z-E-I-N-A-B-M-O-U-S-A-V-I along with a message of support.
Marc:That will help.
Marc:We'll post her name on our socials, along with some other entertainers who are arrested for performing and are under the threat of execution.
Marc:So look, whatever you can do to boost awareness about them, it's helpful.
Marc:Could be lifesaving.
Marc:And if you think it doesn't help, it does.
Marc:And it has.
Marc:There have already been prisoners who were released because their cases were publicized on social media.
Marc:For all those times you wondered whether it was worth it to have a Twitter account or an Instagram page, this is when it's actually worth it.
Marc:So I want to thank Sarah Fatimi for bringing this to our attention.
Marc:Thanks to you for listening.
Marc:And thanks for taking action.
Marc:It's just like you hear these whiny hacks in this country talking about the struggle that they're facing because they can't make fun.
Marc:Of marginalized groups or people struggling or people making choices that they think are are silly or stupid or wrong.
Marc:They can't make fun of those people with impunity.
Marc:So they whine.
Marc:Like they're the victims.
Marc:You know.
Marc:It's child's play compared to.
Marc:to what's going on in Iran compared to what Zainab Mousavi is up against child's play.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So I know that was serious, but now let's shift gears.
Marc:Um, and, uh,
Marc:talk to Dave Franco.
Marc:His movie, Somebody I Used to Know, comes out next Friday, February 10th on Prime Video.
Marc:I enjoyed it.
Marc:Allison is in it.
Marc:There's a lot of funny people in it and some people I didn't know.
Marc:It was very well acted and clever.
Marc:Clever story.
Marc:And this is me and Dave doing the thing.
Guest:So you said Allison cooks a lot?
Guest:Allison is a great cook.
Guest:We learned during the pandemic that I physically would not survive without her because she was just providing all the food for us.
Guest:I am incompetent when it comes to that.
Marc:But she has to eat pretty specifically to maintain her 0.001 body fat.
Guest:She's in incredible shape.
Guest:Yeah, she's got her go-to.
Guest:She's got the turkey, eggplants, and it's a lot of bowls.
Guest:You've got your protein, you've got your brain.
Marc:Is that how she does it?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I just remember when we were doing Glow, it was mostly almonds.
Guest:Oh, interesting.
Marc:Is that all she's eating?
Marc:Is anyone checking on Allison if she's eating more than almonds?
Guest:We are a big almond household, to be fair.
Marc:But she, yeah, she's lean as fuck.
Marc:Yeah, she's in great shape.
Marc:She could kick my ass.
Marc:I mean, I work with this trainer whose, I guess, husband also works down at the gym where Allison works out.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And she's always like, Allison's so strong.
Marc:I'm like, I know, I know.
Guest:Isn't it incredible?
Guest:She puts up these videos where she's doing like 10 pull-ups.
Guest:I'm just like, where did this come from?
Guest:What's going on?
Marc:It's been going on for a while, buddy.
Marc:I know.
Guest:Because I'm in denial just because I know she's in so much better shape than me.
Marc:You don't do anything?
Guest:No, I do some stuff at home.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I get a little intimidated going to a real gym with a bunch of people kind of watching and whatnot.
Marc:Especially that gym.
Marc:It sounds like everyone's there.
Marc:It's insane.
Marc:I've never been over there, but I've worked with two trainers who are the wives of...
Marc:of people that train there.
Marc:Sure, sure, sure.
Marc:The trainers at that gym, because Allison set me up with them.
Marc:Oh, cool.
Marc:So I work out with their wives.
Marc:So I get, you know, it's not crazy.
Marc:It could be.
Marc:I'm sure they could do it.
Guest:What are your goals?
Guest:What do you really want to get at this point?
Marc:Not to be obsessed.
Marc:Not to be obsessed.
Marc:With it.
Marc:Oh, with it.
Marc:Yeah, and to, you know, just stay kind of like,
Marc:In shape.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:But it's weird.
Marc:When you start doing it, and if you get to a certain point where you see results, you're like, let's push it, man.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Where's the creatine?
Marc:Give me some roids.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:I want some HGH.
Marc:I need to get big.
Marc:I'm not doing that.
Marc:No.
Marc:No.
Marc:I just, I'd like to be relatively toned and lean.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I do a lot of cardio.
Marc:You look great, man.
Guest:You look fantastic.
Marc:I'm 59.
Marc:Holy shit.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I look at your age and I look at, I feel like everyone just stopped aging and that all of a sudden I'm old.
Marc:I disagree.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:I think you look fucking great.
Marc:Well, I appreciate that.
Marc:Yes, I mean it.
Marc:I don't think I look bad, but all of a sudden, when I hit this certain age and I look at other people's ages, I'm like, I always thought they were closer to me, age-wise.
Guest:But they're not.
Guest:But there's certain people who really kind of grow into a nice thing, and you're on that path, man.
Marc:Thank fucking God.
Marc:So, I watched a new movie.
Marc:Oh, cool.
Marc:A couple questions right away.
Marc:Romantic comedy.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Now, were you thinking, like, this is a business deal?
Yeah.
Marc:What do you mean by that?
Marc:I mean, it's a tough genre to make really work.
Marc:And I don't feel like it's done as much as it used to be.
Marc:It just seems hard to pull it off.
Marc:And I think you did a good job.
Marc:Thanks, man.
Marc:But I mean, the last movie you did was like a horror movie, right?
Marc:Yes, yes.
Marc:So these are very specific genre movies.
Guest:Yeah, there are two genres that I love.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yes, absolutely.
Guest:I mean, with the first one, I absolutely love horror movies.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And I think, like, for a first-time director, there's something about horror that allows you to really put your stamp on it because you can just kind of do a lot of fun things stylistically.
Guest:And, like, in horror movies, the stakes are never higher.
Guest:And so I just feel like you can push the limits in a lot of different ways.
Marc:And you've got some wiggle room because you can just be weird.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:You don't have to... You know that in order to even take the movie in, people are going to suspend their disbelief.
Marc:Yeah, a little bit.
Marc:Yeah, so you don't have to... Because I just watched...
Marc:You know, John Swab.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:He's a director out of Oklahoma.
Marc:What has he done?
Marc:He did the Body Brokers thing about the drug rehabilitation racket.
Guest:I don't know this.
Marc:He's got a new slasher movie called Candyland.
Marc:You know, those movies, when you watch the old ones, the actors can only half act.
Marc:And it's got such a grime to it.
Marc:You kind of think like, could they really be these people?
Marc:You know, but he's using like, you know, real actors.
Marc:And there's a cleanness to it.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:But still the same amount of blood and weirdness.
Guest:Yeah, that's like when you watch the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Guest:It's like, oh, this could be a documentary.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:It's so gritty and raw.
Marc:Those are the people.
Marc:Yeah, those weirdos are really weirdos.
Marc:I love it.
Marc:You guys, you and your brother made a whole movie about a weirdo.
Marc:All right, well, let's wait.
Marc:Before we talk about the movies, like—
Marc:Because I talked to James years ago, but I mean, you guys grew up in basically, what was it, like a hippie house?
Marc:I wouldn't go that far, but like definitely- Where were you?
Guest:Palo Alto.
Guest:So close to Bay Area?
Guest:Bay Area, yes, definitely.
Guest:And like our whole family is weird and artsy for sure.
Guest:Where my parents, they were both painting majors in college.
Guest:And that's where they met?
Guest:That's where they met.
Guest:Like what college?
Guest:Stanford.
Marc:So that's high end.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's like, I mean, they were serious painters.
Marc:Definitely.
Marc:Kind of, uh, were abstract figures?
Guest:Yeah, a little bit.
Guest:Both of them abstract?
Guest:Um, some figure stuff for sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Um, but they, they both went away from that.
Guest:My mom became a writer and she's, she's kind of incredible.
Guest:Like she.
Guest:Still around?
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:She takes on new endeavors like every year where I remember when I started to get serious about acting and my brother had been doing it for a while, she wanted to like find a way to relate to us.
Guest:And so she started taking drama classes at Stanford.
Guest:Relate to you as grownups?
Guest:I guess so.
Guest:Yeah, it's very sweet.
Guest:But I remember she got so into it that like she was doing this play at one point where she was this like really despicable character.
Guest:And I remember her calling me one night and she was like, Dave...
Guest:I'm freaking out.
Guest:I don't know how to get rid of the part.
Guest:It's in me now.
Guest:It's just like it shows how much she put herself into it.
Guest:It's very sweet.
Marc:She got lost in the method.
Marc:Definitely.
Marc:Did she come out of it or is she still that person?
Guest:So she actually, she came out of it.
Guest:But she, just this year, she wrote a screenplay and they made it into a movie.
Marc:Who did?
Marc:My mom.
Marc:The two of them?
Marc:Or just, I mean, your mom just, is your dad still around?
Guest:My dad's not around.
Guest:I'm sorry.
Marc:That's okay.
Marc:But I mean, she just produced it?
Marc:A feature film?
Guest:A feature film.
Guest:So she wrote the book and then adapted her own book into the screenplay.
Guest:And they just made it independently.
Guest:Had nothing to do with you and your brother?
Guest:My brother's a producer on it.
Guest:But she really pushed this thing.
Guest:It's incredible.
Guest:Who acted in it?
Guest:Did you audition?
Guest:I did audition.
Guest:No, I don't know if there's anyone you would know.
Guest:But it's incredible.
Guest:Like at this age, she's still doing these.
Guest:What's that called?
Guest:That is called The Art of Love.
Marc:Ah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And what's the story?
Guest:What's crazy is my mom is like this very like gentle, wonderful, amazing woman.
Guest:And she writes these stories like about, you know, this is about these teens living on the street and doing drugs and shit.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:Oh, God.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I remember like she she she wrote a book.
Guest:She writes a lot of like teen books and she wrote this one book that she wanted me young adult.
Guest:Yes, exactly.
Marc:And she publishes.
Guest:She does not herself.
Guest:But you mean, do her books get published?
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:What's her what's her name?
Marc:What is she writing?
Guest:Her name is Betsy Franco.
Marc:And that's what she writes under?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:So she's like a popular young adult book writer.
Guest:She's doing her thing.
Guest:Always has been?
Guest:Kind of always has been.
Guest:She was originally doing even younger for younger children.
Guest:And it's kind of evolved.
Guest:But like there was this one book for young adults that she wanted me and my brother to do the audio book for.
Guest:And I remember sitting there and I'm like reading this book out loud.
Guest:She's talking about kids getting blowjobs and all this shit.
Guest:And I'm just like, this is interesting.
Guest:Uh, but she's, she's super inspiring.
Marc:So where's the movie?
Marc:Where can you get the movie?
Guest:It's not out yet.
Guest:They like are in the editing process as we speak.
Guest:And she directed it?
Guest:She did not.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:There's a really, really young kid that she, um, she worked with actually like, she met him at our high school.
Guest:She, she's always worked with teens.
Guest:And so she still goes back to our high school.
Marc:You, you went to high school with your mother teaching there?
Guest:No.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:No.
Guest:She taught actually in the area, but no, she did not teach at my high school.
Marc:Right.
Guest:But she goes back and like works with teens and she's really good with them.
Guest:And so she met this one kid who just went on to go to NYU and they paired up and they did this movie together.
Marc:That's crazy.
Marc:So you're going to be competing with your mother's movie.
Marc:I guess so.
Marc:But she's not going to come over here in a limo.
Guest:I did not show up in a limo.
Marc:It was a truck.
Marc:It's a truck of some sort.
Marc:Like, who's the deal with this movie?
Marc:Who's putting out this movie?
Marc:Your movie?
Marc:My movie, Amazon.
Marc:Oh, so that's the Amazon car.
Guest:That's the Amazon car, yes.
Guest:I'm going around doing the whole press thing today.
Marc:Are you dropping packages off, too?
Marc:Sure, yeah, if they want me to.
Marc:Did you do TV or did you dress up for this?
Guest:I've been doing some TV stuff.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:What'd you end up doing?
Guest:Did the Rich Eisen show.
Marc:I don't know what that is.
Guest:It's kind of a sports show.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Are you a sports guy?
Guest:I like sports.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like across the board or specific?
Guest:I like football and basketball a lot.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:So you did that guy's show.
Guest:What else are you doing?
Guest:What did we do?
Guest:I did a GQ couples quiz with Allison this morning.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Marc:Yeah, just kind of— It's weird.
Marc:I've done quiz shows with Allison.
Guest:Have you?
Guest:What kind of quiz shows?
Marc:Well, I don't know.
Marc:Just for, like—well, we must have been promoting GLOW, but I remember they'd ask us—it was some goofy thing.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Not a couple things.
Marc:Don't get weird.
Guest:That would be weird.
Marc:Fourth season, though, we would have been.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Damn it.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I know.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We were all rooting for you.
Marc:It's going to happen.
Marc:I know.
Marc:So.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So going back, though, because your brother's the other brother.
Marc:He's in the arts as well.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He's mainly sculpture and a little bit of painting.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So he makes big sculptures?
Guest:Yeah, he makes all sizes, and it's a lot of found art.
Guest:What's that guy's name?
Guest:His name's Tom Franco.
Marc:Look at you guys, your basic-ass names.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Kind of classic.
Marc:You call them basic, I call them classic.
Marc:James, Dave, and Tom?
Marc:That's crazy, like a joke.
Marc:But it's good.
Marc:It's tight.
Marc:It's memorable.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:The Franco boys.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:So he does sculptures?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Really, really incredible stuff.
Guest:It's honestly hard to describe.
Guest:They're very abstract.
Guest:It's all these found pieces of art that he puts together in these weird kind of Tim Burton-esque sculptures.
Marc:And that's a tough living.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, he he he finds a way, though, because he does definitely sell his art, but he he does a lot of things.
Guest:He like starts these kind of artist communes over the place where, you know, artists have a place to live in a place to show their work.
Guest:Yeah, it's just like a nice place for them all to kind of feed off each other's energy, too.
Marc:It's kind of wild that all you guys are like this communal artist people.
Guest:I know.
Guest:It's the type of thing like at Thanksgiving.
Marc:Didn't James fucking go back to graduate school or something?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:We're covering all bases, man.
Marc:But did you study it?
Marc:Was this your intention?
Marc:Are you the middle kid?
Marc:I'm the youngest.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Well, that's rough.
Guest:It's OK.
Marc:No.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, they're they're old enough.
Guest:You know, they're five and seven years older than me, which is that's a lot.
Guest:Enough of a distance that like by the time I came around, my parents were just tired and they let me do my thing.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But tired.
Marc:But also like they were kind of on their way.
Marc:Like when you were in high school, those guys were kind of on their way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Gone.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Definitely.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And you were just what?
Marc:What were you thinking you were going to do before you decided to?
Guest:Maybe writing of some sort.
Guest:I always like creative writing.
Marc:Do you still?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, we wrote this movie.
Guest:Me and Allison wrote this movie together.
Guest:You know, I started writing by doing this independent study class in high school where it was just me and this one teacher.
Guest:And basically, I would go off and write poetry for the week.
Guest:And we would meet up at lunch and go over the poetry I wrote.
Guest:And I remember at the time, all my friends were like,
Guest:wait a minute, you're skipping lunch to meet up with Mr. Scholenberg to go over your poetry.
Guest:And they thought I was all having sex with Mr. Scholenberg.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But no, we were just having a great time writing.
Guest:Oh, that's good.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's good it went that direction.
Marc:It's good that story ended well.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Didn't want to have to, you know, kind of tiptoe around Scholenberg.
Marc:But so poetry, that's good.
Marc:You must have had a good group of friends that they were just sort of like, oh, thank God you're just writing poetry.
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:It was a very progressive school.
Marc:How do those poems look to you now?
Marc:When was the last time you checked in?
Guest:Not great.
Guest:I think my style at the time was— High school?
Guest:This was high school.
Guest:I would write out everything in very simple terms and very simple words, and then I would take out the thesaurus, and I would go word by word and basically find a more flowery version of that word.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so it was just these poems comprised of like nonsense words that sounded smart to me.
Marc:A lot of synonyms.
Marc:Isn't that what you look up in a thesaurus?
Marc:There you go.
Marc:But so when and why do you kind of start to do the act?
Marc:Now, when did your dad pass?
Marc:He passed about 11-ish years ago.
Marc:So he was around when you were in high school and stuff?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Was he, and did he stay a painter or what did he end up doing?
Guest:So he, after college, he went away from it for a long time, for like 40 years.
Marc:40?
Guest:Yeah, he went into business.
Guest:And he at his final couple of years of his life, he actually picked up painting again just as a hobby.
Marc:Did they stay married?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I those last final years, I'd never seen him happier.
Guest:And it was one of these things where, like, you know, I think a lot of people kind of go away from from these, like, creative urges that they have.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because they haven't maybe made a career out of it or whatnot.
Guest:But like watching him do that, it was just incredible for him to be like, you know what?
Guest:I don't need this to be my whole life, but I just need to like do this thing that's in me.
Guest:And he was really, really happy at the end.
Marc:Huh.
Marc:And what was the business that he went away for?
Guest:He was doing a bunch of different stuff.
Guest:There was like a bunch of startups that he was trying to get going.
Guest:And then he was like doing some philanthropic stuff where he was providing like medicine and telephone systems in India and Afghanistan.
Guest:Huh.
Guest:Yeah, it got to the point where all my friends thought he was in the CIA, and I couldn't fully deny that because I wasn't convinced.
Marc:How did he pass?
Marc:Heart attack.
Marc:Oh, was it just quick?
Marc:It was pretty sudden, yeah.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:That's terrible.
Marc:Well, sorry.
Marc:That's all right.
Marc:So when do you decide to do acting?
Marc:Are you just watching James rise?
Marc:And you're like, he can do it.
Guest:Not necessarily.
Marc:Because you know him, right?
Marc:You're like, that guy.
Marc:Come on, I can do it if he can.
Guest:Honestly, I was a pretty shy kid growing up, and I had no intention of performing in any way.
Guest:When I came down to LA to go to school, I basically got forced into an acting class.
Guest:Where'd you go?
Guest:I was at USC.
Guest:And what were you studying there?
Guest:English?
Guest:I was studying psychology, because when you don't know what you want to do, you do psychology or communications.
Marc:Really?
Guest:And I was minoring in film, and so psychology and film ended up being like a perfect combo for acting.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:But in psychology...
Marc:But you had no intention of following through with it.
Marc:You were just kind of interested?
Guest:I guess.
Guest:I mean, I've always been interested and I've always been just very curious about people and that type of stuff.
Guest:But I don't think I had anything in my mind about like going down that specific path.
Marc:Being a therapist?
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So you take this acting class because you had to for the film minor or what?
Guest:No, this was truly my brother's manager kind of like forcing me.
Marc:Who is that?
Marc:Who's your brother?
Guest:This was an old manager.
Guest:I'd rather not say his name.
Guest:Things happen.
Guest:I remember auditing this class.
Marc:That's so funny.
Marc:I can get both of these fuckers working.
Marc:This kid looks good.
Guest:I got a little traction with the older Frank.
Guest:I remember the first people on stage.
Guest:They start crying and screaming and hitting each other.
Guest:I remember sitting back there and thinking, fuck this.
Guest:I want no part of this.
Guest:I stuck it out.
Guest:I think just because I've always loved movies, and I was just like, maybe this is a way into it all.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I didn't like it for a long time just because I was so nervous.
Guest:I'd never done this before.
Guest:But at that point, your brother had already done what?
Guest:He had done... The major things were like...
Guest:You know, Freaks and Geeks was the first big thing.
Marc:So he was on that well into it?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And, you know, yeah, it took a long time for me to get comfortable.
Guest:And I mean, I can say I really, really do love it now, but it was tough.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And when, how do you start?
Marc:Well, you know, but there, I believe there's a genetic component to, you know, being able to pop on screen.
Marc:You do.
Marc:I do.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Don't you?
Marc:I just, I know that like, even with my big head and my smaller body that I don't, I don't necessarily radiate movie snartus.
Marc:I disagree.
Marc:Well, I appreciate that.
Marc:But I think there are some people that, like, how come there's so many bald ones?
Marc:This is true.
Marc:I mean, it's like, I know it's really popular to do the Nepo baby trip or the family trip, but it's not a real...
Marc:thing that you can't just kind of grandfather someone in or get someone a job.
Marc:But all those bald ones, even the one that's like a preacher now, they all did okay on screen.
Marc:They all looked correct.
Marc:But no, I believe there is a component to the fact, obviously, there is a genetic component to the ability to act.
Marc:I believe that.
Guest:Yeah, I don't know if I have a ton to say on that, but it was interesting because obviously it was helpful in the sense that I had someone to turn to to answer any questions I had and all that.
Guest:Did he help you?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, he answered stuff.
Marc:You know, he had been through everything that I was going through.
Marc:So you start, what's it like, you start getting, what, sent out?
Marc:How do you deal with the rejection as a shy guy?
Marc:That's a great question.
Guest:I think maybe because I, you know what?
Guest:At the time, I was still going to school, and I was going to acting class outside of school, and I was auditioning.
Guest:Who were you studying with?
Guest:I was studying, God, it was on Larchmont, Playhouse West.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And it was one of these things that where, even though I was killing myself, kind of like going back and forth between everything, I kind of had school as this safety net where I was like, all right, if things don't work with this other thing, I still got school.
Guest:And so I think that gave me a little bit of like a...
Guest:I don't know, put me at ease a little bit.
Marc:Oh, so you didn't... Right.
Marc:You weren't like, you know, oh, I'm all in.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, I was, but I still had this other thing going on.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:You could... It enabled you, like, in your mind, some relief.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:From the panic.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:But then what happened is I had about... You know, I had a few months... I was a few months away from graduating school, and I got, like, my first big job that took me away.
Guest:And so I actually had to drop out of school.
Guest:And this job...
Guest:It was in, God, what's the Canadian city?
Guest:Vancouver?
Guest:No.
Marc:Winnipeg?
Marc:Yes.
Guest:Winnipeg.
Guest:Winnipeg.
Guest:It was in Winnipeg during the winter.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:And we were staying on what was considered the windiest corner in all of Canada.
Marc:Yeah, it's like the windiest corner in the world.
Marc:It's right in downtown Winnipeg.
Guest:I know that place.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And so we were doing this horror movie and it was this like.
Guest:That's your first gig of horror movie.
Marc:Kind of.
Marc:You've done a lot of horror movies.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I think I turned down a role in a horror movie you were in with Jamie Foxx.
Marc:Oh, you turned that down.
Marc:Yes, yes.
Marc:We would have had fun.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I think I was supposed to, I don't know if they were offering it to me, but was there a guy in the office, the main guy?
Marc:Yes, I know the exact part.
Marc:Who played that guy?
Guest:Eric Lang, who, did you see Escape at Dannemora?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He plays Patricia Arquette's husband.
Guest:He's incredible in that show.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Oh, no, yeah, he's good.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That guy's good.
Marc:He's really good.
Marc:Yeah, he's been in a lot of things, right?
Marc:Yeah, he's been popping up a bunch.
Marc:All right, so.
Guest:So, okay, so we're in Winnipeg.
Marc:You're in Canada.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, and it was this really physically demanding shoot where I, like, you know, had bruises all over my whole body.
Guest:I lost my voice a couple times from screaming so much.
Guest:I actually dislocated my shoulder.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so we had, I remember we had, like, two weeks left to go, and I had the day off, and the main girl, she comes to my hotel room.
Guest:I was like, what are you doing here?
Guest:You're supposed to be on set.
Guest:And she's like, shit's going down.
Guest:So we find out.
Guest:we find out that they didn't have any money left.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they hadn't been paying the crew for weeks.
Guest:And so we all get sent home.
Guest:Welcome to independent film show business.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:So we all get sent home and we're waiting for that call for them to be like, you know, we spent millions of dollars.
Guest:Let's finish these last two weeks.
Guest:And we never went back.
Guest:And I was so heartbroken at the time.
Guest:You know, this was the movie that I dropped out of school for.
Guest:And in hindsight, it was probably for the best because it was a movie called Bad Meat, where the tagline was, it's the meat, it's bad.
Guest:That's the tagline?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Guest:So I think I dodged a bullet on that one.
Guest:It never got finished.
Guest:What's crazy is I think years later, they actually brought in an entirely new cast.
Guest:To make bad meat?
Guest:To fill in the blanks, and I think it's out there somewhere.
Guest:It's called bad meat.
Guest:Bad meat.
Marc:So, okay, so then what happens next?
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:um i i didn't go back to school it was it was tough because you still haven't finished i still haven't finished do you have dreams about that i i you know what i i looked into it i looked into night school i looked into like all that type of thing and how many credits short are you i mean probably like a few classes um but it was tough they they basically were like you got to be here in person and it's it's one of those things at usc
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It's not far.
Marc:It's down the street.
Guest:It's right there.
Marc:One day.
Marc:See what happens.
Guest:But then after that.
Guest:Get that psychology degree and really start working.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Really put that to use.
Guest:So you get into what now?
Guest:I'm trying to think.
Guest:The next kind of bigger, significant thing, the biggest thing at the time was I was a recurring on the final season of Scrubs,
Guest:Which... But didn't you have little parts in movies before?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:You know, I had a tiny part in Superbad.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which was amazing, you know.
Guest:It was one of those things.
Guest:I think that was my first movie.
Guest:And I have like two lines.
Marc:I can't remember.
Marc:You have lines?
Guest:I have two lines in it.
Guest:And my lines are... Jonas says, why don't you go piss your pants again?
Guest:And I say, that was eight years ago, asshole.
Guest:And he says, people don't forget.
Guest:And it was one of these things where that movie was so... Didn't you play like a bully guy?
Guest:Kind of.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The movie was so popular that I remember people were recognizing me at the time.
Guest:And I was like, oh, man, I got to work again quick.
Guest:So I'm not the guy who pissed his pants for the rest of his life.
Marc:You're not the two line guy who pissed his pants.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I'm telling you, people still bring that up.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It just shows that movie.
Marc:It's a favorite movie.
Marc:It really is.
Marc:It's a timeless movie for kids.
Marc:But then you're doing small parts.
Marc:So like you're like, did you get that?
Marc:Did you get that movie on the level?
Marc:On the level?
Marc:Well, I mean, did you audition for that?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:All right.
Guest:Oh, come on.
Guest:I mean, no.
Guest:I mean, what do you do?
Guest:I mean, I just... No, I remember auditioning for two roles in that, both assholes, and they gave me one of them.
Marc:One asshole?
Marc:Mm-hmm.
Marc:But it says here, Milk, telephone tree number five.
Guest:Oh, God.
Guest:Nothing.
Guest:That's nothing.
Guest:I was part of a montage in that movie.
Marc:It's like... But did you have more to begin with?
Marc:I mean, were you just cut?
Guest:No.
Guest:It was just kind of like, hey, do you want to be part of this montage of this Gus Van Sant movie?
Guest:I was like, absolutely.
Yeah.
Guest:Come on.
Guest:I'm a young actor.
Marc:Give it to me.
Marc:Am I going to be on camera with Sean Penn?
Guest:I was not.
Guest:I was like part of like a one-sixteenth of the screen where they split it up into a bunch of people on the phone.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, but you're doing... What is this?
Marc:So, are you making movies yet?
Marc:Are you doing short films?
Marc:Or what are you doing?
Guest:I'm not making movies, but what ended up happening was I was... You know, I was really happy to be working.
Guest:I was happy to... On Scrubs?
Marc:Or just in general?
Marc:Just on all these little things.
Guest:You know, I was happy to be... Just get the experience.
Guest:But it got to a point where...
Guest:With a lot of these jobs, I wasn't necessarily, like, proud of what I was doing.
Guest:And I didn't love the final thing.
Guest:But, like, I got to a point where I paired up with my buddy who I grew up with who's a director.
Guest:And we started making short films for Funny or Die, you know, which was, like, this huge comedy site at the time.
Guest:And we developed this great relationship with them where they would basically give us a budget.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They would fill in the crew that we needed, and they gave us full freedom to do whatever insane ideas we wanted.
Marc:Was it like at the beginning?
Guest:Yeah, and so, like, we did everything.
Guest:You know, we wrote them, edited them, directed, acted, and that was kind of like my film school.
Marc:So, oh, really, in terms of learning behind-the-camera stuff?
Guest:Everything.
Guest:And what was crazy is that that site was so popular at the time that if we had a video on there that happened to be successful, like, more people saw it than if I did an independent movie.
Guest:It was crazy.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And you did a few independent movies, but were there videos that you did that really went viral and crazy?
Guest:Yeah, they're all crazy.
Guest:There was one I did called Go Fuck Yourself, where it starts with me and a girlfriend having a fight, and right before she leaves, she says, why don't you go fuck yourself?
Guest:And then it cuts to me going into a bar, and I see another version of myself, and I pick him up, and we go on this date at the beach where I'm taking him out.
Guest:How did you do this split-screen thing?
Guest:We brought in this amazing VFX artist.
Guest:And that was kind of like the – that was the great thing about these videos is that, like, they're these really silly, dumb jokes, but we made them look really great.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And so it ends with, like, a hard cut to me fucking myself.
Marc:But didn't you – do you consider –
Marc:Like, do you consider yourself a character actor?
Marc:No, I don't think so.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I haven't really thought about that.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, because it's interesting.
Marc:I mean, like, you did get some big movies, right?
Marc:I mean, 22 Jump Street's a big movie, right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:That was kind of the—21 Jump Street was the biggest movie at the time that I'd done.
Guest:And, I mean, I auditioned for that maybe seven times.
Guest:It was pretty grueling.
Guest:And actually—
Guest:The directors told me after the fact that part of the reason they finally gave me the role is because they saw one of these silly videos on Funny or Die and they were like, oh, this guy understands comedy.
Guest:That put him over the top?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But that was like, so did that put you on the map?
Marc:Were you working more?
Marc:Did you have a little more choice?
Marc:That was the one.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then Scrubs, you were on for a while.
Guest:Scrubs.
Guest:So that was the final season.
Guest:And it was interesting because it was technically like kind of a spinoff, you know, like most of the main cast had left and they brought in a lot of new people.
Guest:And it was tough because like they had basically ended the show at season eight and they had one of like the best finales ever where like the final shots are literally behind the scenes shots of them all hugging and crying and saying goodbye.
Guest:And it's like so heartfelt.
Guest:And then they're like, we're doing another one.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so it was tough.
Guest:But what I will say is, like, I had a great time.
Guest:And it was one of those things where we're on a network show.
Guest:They gave us a ton of leeway.
Guest:We were improvising.
Guest:I was working with really nice, funny people.
Guest:Did it hold an audience?
Guest:Our season?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Not necessarily.
Guest:We didn't do one after it.
Marc:No.
Marc:But, you know, they figured, why not?
Marc:Let's try to milk it.
Marc:Let's try it.
Marc:Like, well, we've jumped the shark, but we'll just recast it.
Guest:There you go.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Was it fun, though?
Marc:It was fun.
Guest:It was really fun.
Marc:But how much TV did you really end up doing?
Guest:I popped in and out of a few things.
Guest:I mean, we both did Swamberg's Easy.
Marc:We did all four seasons of Easy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I did two.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like, I was, I think, right, no, I did three.
Marc:Were there four?
Marc:I think there was three.
Marc:Yeah, I think that's right.
Marc:Did you have a good time?
Marc:Yeah, man.
Marc:I mean, like, I like that guy, the character.
Marc:And Swamberg is, I don't know how he's doing.
Marc:Do you talk to him?
Guest:Yeah, every once in a while.
Guest:He seems to be good.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, I mean, he's one of the few guys that can sort of do that improvised movie thing.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Lynn could do it, too.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:But there's not many people that can direct like that.
Guest:It's tough because sometimes it feels like chaos.
Marc:It's chaos, but they know in their head when they've got what they need.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Which is a weird thing.
Marc:It is.
Marc:Like, they're watching and they're like, okay, that's what I need.
Marc:Very specific skill set.
Marc:It is, man.
Marc:And I thought that thing was great.
Marc:But he didn't seem to give a fuck about promoting it.
Guest:I wonder if it was more just that it was like it was so such small budgets.
Guest:It was so under the radar.
Guest:And it really felt like Netflix was just kind of like, because this is so low budget, just do your thing.
Marc:Yeah, I know.
Marc:But like, but like, I don't know that any of us, I know it's hard to promote stuff, but I didn't see any concern with promotion at all.
Marc:Not on behalf of Netflix, but Joe was just sort of like, I can make my office a bar.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You're correct about that.
Marc:He's like, this is great, man.
Guest:It was a beautiful bar, to his credit.
Marc:Yeah, man, it was great.
Marc:And he started this sort of, like, art commune.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Just like, it's a performance space.
Marc:We're going to... Like, he's like... At that time... Like, he's really in it for the art.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know, for real.
Guest:He's always been that way, where he was going from job to job, basically.
Marc:Did you know him earlier that?
Marc:Before Easy?
Guest:Maybe in passing, just through Friends.
Marc:Well, yeah.
Marc:He did a few movies... Yeah.
Marc:...that were kind of interesting.
Marc:But really...
Marc:But they were indie movies, but they were weird.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:You know, like they weren't like sort of like rom-coms, that's for sure.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:He did some movies where you're like, what the fuck is happening?
Guest:I know.
Guest:I mean, and that was his thing where he was like working with his friends and they were basically just trying to make enough money on each one to make another one.
Guest:And they were just getting that experience under their belts.
Marc:Yeah, I thought Easy was great.
Guest:Me too.
Guest:And that was like the perfect thing for him.
Guest:Like this was like all his skills like coming into the perfect project.
Marc:Yeah, I thought I did my best work on that one with Melanie Linsky.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:Yeah, man.
Marc:I don't even know how it happened.
Guest:He creates a comfortable environment.
Marc:He does.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And she was only there for one day.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Wow, yeah.
Marc:There was just... There was a moment there that we played that was just crazy.
Marc:I believe...
Marc:That she had just had the baby.
Marc:I think, right?
Marc:But the character was not supposed to be.
Guest:Oh, oh, oh.
Marc:So it was one of those sort of like, oh, so when are you expecting me?
Marc:I'm not.
Guest:She looks at me like, I'm not.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, that's always fun.
Marc:It was great because it's just like the worst thing that could be said for those characters at that moment.
Guest:Tell me real quick, if you don't mind talking about it, what was it like having Lynn direct you?
Marc:It was great.
Marc:I mean, you know, Lynn was kind of an actor's director.
Marc:I mean, she...
Marc:she was really kind of acutely sensitive to the humanity of any scene.
Marc:There was something that she was looking for, and you can see it in her movies that she gets it.
Marc:There's a depth to what she gets out of her performances.
Marc:And also, I don't know, she's one of those people that is not...
Marc:she's collaborative with actors.
Marc:It seems as I've worked more, but not as much as most actors, and I talk to directors.
Marc:Some directors are like, I hire them to do the job.
Marc:I'm not there to teach them anything.
Marc:I want them to figure it out.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like, that's why I hired them.
Marc:But like, she would kind of like, you know, give suggestions, think things through, talk about or ask you questions.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Was her style kind of different from Joe's, even though they both kind of had that very improvisational thing?
Marc:Well, yeah, Joe's a goofball.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:And I mean, and Joe kind of is pushing you to, like Joe's a little, he's kind of a little bit of a dirty boy.
Marc:Okay, yeah.
Marc:In the sense that like he's mischievous.
Guest:Yeah, definitely.
Marc:And I don't think she was like that.
Marc:Lynn was really sort of a joy spreader.
Marc:Joe was sort of like, I wonder if we could get this to me.
Guest:Am I right?
Guest:I think you're correct.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So they had different approaches, but they both knew intuitively.
Marc:And they both like to be right there with the actors.
Marc:And it shows.
Guest:And it's why they always got amazing actors.
Marc:Like I remember Joe shooting a lot of it.
Marc:Didn't he?
Marc:He was holding the camera sometimes.
Guest:Yeah, definitely.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm curious.
Guest:Is directing something that you ever think about?
Marc:recently i have yeah i mean i did a couple episodes of uh of my show oh sure sure but is there you know you're not really directing when you're in every scene you know and you're on a no budget but you're still kind of part of the whole process i get well yeah i mean but you're sort of like you're just like the first one i directed i don't even think we had a playback monitor because we have time right so this is sort of me going to the dp like it's good yeah yeah yeah yeah but you've been thinking more more about it recently
Marc:Yeah, because I want to get involved with making this book a movie.
Marc:But I'm willing to produce it and kind of try to pull it together.
Marc:But part of me feels like, why not direct it?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know?
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:I think you'd be amazing.
Marc:Well, I mean, it's a little scary.
Guest:It's terrifying, man.
Guest:But let me tell you, so...
Guest:What for on the first one that I directed the rental?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Uh, I, I was, I was very scared going into it.
Guest:I had been wanting to direct for a long time, but I was, you know, I'm scared of failure.
Guest:I was scared that there would be this spotlight on me where people would be like, what, aren't you scared about?
Marc:Like, uh, you know, do you know all the lenses and stuff?
Guest:Okay, that was what I was definitely scared about at first, but what you realize is if you get a good DP, you don't need to know that shit.
Marc:I know, dude.
Marc:I mean, but you say that out loud, and people are like, well, you know, it's, like, true.
Guest:You end up learning about it, but, like, you really can lean on— From the DP.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Because you're like, all right, we need a master, and then we need coverage.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So are we going to do overs?
Marc:Are we doing French overs?
Guest:You talk through what you need in whatever language you say, and they'll interpret it, and they'll be like, here's an option, here's an option.
Guest:But, like, what I really learned was—
Guest:When I stepped on set that first day, I was like, oh, I know a lot more than I thought I did because I've been on these sets before.
Guest:It made me think about a lot of first time directors where when they're stepping on set, that's the first time on any set ever.
Guest:And so they're just learning like the dynamics of how things work.
Marc:But when you're a director, the one thing that you don't do, I would imagine as an actor for your whole life is sit around going like...
Marc:what the fuck is taking so long sure what the fuck is what are they lighting that said there's always so much to do that it's just like right as a director but as a as a guy sitting in a trailer you're like how is it four hours yes yeah it's kind of nice you're the one causing it yeah yeah there's always something to do as a director sure um i didn't mean to interrupt you so you're you're you're on set and what you get on set but you got to be the leader i talked i had lunch with baina
Marc:Oh, cool.
Marc:The other day.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, he's like, it's really about just being decisive.
Guest:Yeah, definitely.
Guest:And, like, you know, I've co-written both of these scripts and... The rental and the new one.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And because of that, I know these scripts and these characters inside and out, and I almost don't need to think about it.
Guest:And so, like, I really have a strong opinion about what I want to do.
Guest:But on top of that, like, you know, the best thing I did on each project was I really spent a long time, like...
Guest:vetting the crew and the cast where i wanted you know three glowing reviews about each person before bringing them on the team and because of that the process it took a while you want to hire any assholes absolutely wow it was just as important like obviously i wanted people who were really talented it was just as important to me especially as a first timer to have people who were nice and who were willing to work their asses off and you know at the end of the day i'm looking around i'm surrounded by all these amazing people
Marc:And not people who are looking at you as your first-time director going like, this guy.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:And it just makes for this really nice environment because, like, you know, I'm sure you've been on sets, too, where it's not that way.
Marc:Dude, when there's someone, like, wobbly at the helm, actors just are sort of like, the fuck is happening?
Guest:Who the fuck is this asshole?
Guest:But not even at the helm.
Guest:Like, anywhere.
Marc:Any position.
Guest:Like, one bad seed can spread to the whole thing.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Sets are weird, man.
Marc:Yeah, they're weird.
Marc:Yeah, it can get pretty ugly.
Guest:Yeah, but I've been on, I've been on, I've been lucky not to be on too many bad ones, but I've been on enough where I'm just like, it doesn't need to be this way.
Guest:And when I have some control, I'm going to make sure we have a great time too.
Marc:Yeah, I don't think I've been on a bad set, but I have been on a set that was a little indecisive.
Guest:Okay, yeah.
Marc:And especially where it's like, there were, it doesn't matter.
Marc:Like with the cast the size of Glow, if somebody at the top is sort of like not sure what the scene is, we're all kind of like, hey, there's like 20 of us.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And it's cold.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Can we figure this out?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, I definitely know what that feels like.
Marc:Sure, sure.
Marc:So, but how do you get into, you know, what was the process of the rental?
Marc:You just like.
Marc:That was, you know, I wrote the script with Joe Swanberg.
Guest:Because of your relationship with him from Easy?
Guest:Yeah, actually.
Guest:Yeah, we both were kind of talking about horror movies and we're like, let's write one together.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And we like the horror movie.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And he you know, he lives in Chicago.
Guest:And so he he flew out to L.A.
Guest:two different times for like a week at a time.
Guest:And we basically holed up in his hotel room and we kind of cranked out the first draft during that time and then just kind of took it out to independent financiers.
Marc:And that was it.
Marc:And once you got the money, you just, you know, you hired.
Marc:What did you learn from him in terms of production?
Guest:He wasn't there with us.
Guest:But what I love about Joe is he's not precious about anything.
Guest:He has no ego.
Guest:He's just very much like so collaborative and such an idea guy.
Marc:But who'd you bring in?
Marc:Like, you know, like it's your first time.
Marc:So, like, who'd you bring in for, you know, to pull the crew together and everything?
Guest:That was me, man.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I reached out to all the main actors myself.
Guest:This was before we even took it out to sell it.
Guest:It was kind of a naive thing to do, but I was like, these are the people I want for the roles.
Guest:I don't know most of them, but I'm going to find their emails.
Guest:I'm going to reach out and tell them how much I love them and send them the script and hope they like it.
Guest:And so we actually had the whole cast attached before we took it out.
Guest:And I remember when we were taking it out, there was a good amount of interest, but a lot of these places...
Guest:they wanted me to kind of push it more down the middle and give us stuff that we've seen a million times before where they wanted more jump scares and more whatever.
Marc:And then we finally- Is there a jump scare count when people are assessing whether to make a horror movie?
Marc:It seems like it.
Marc:But that's a discussion that's had?
Marc:Yeah, definitely.
Marc:We're about three jump scares short on this.
Marc:Truly.
Guest:And so I finally talked to Black Bear who financed it and they were just finally asking the right questions and they knew what we were trying to do.
Guest:And then what do they have somebody around?
Guest:Yeah, definitely.
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:But they truly they were they were so hands off and they they I've been so lucky that on both movies that they've really leaned on us.
Guest:And and I walk away and it's like, yes, of course, I hope I hope people love these movies as much as we do.
Guest:But at the end of the day, it's like we we made the movies that we set out to make.
Guest:And I got to be, you know, content with that.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And in between the two, you did The Disaster Artist?
Marc:No, that became before both.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Now, whose idea was that?
Guest:I wonder, I don't know who initially had the idea, but someone optioned the book, The Disaster Artist.
Guest:And the book, the tone of the movie came from the book.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The book was written by your character.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I think everyone expected us to make the big, broad comedy version of that movie where we were making fun of The Room and making fun of Tommy Wiseau.
Guest:And we really leaned on the book where the book is really just this earnest story about these bizarre characters who are trying to make a movie.
Guest:And it's one of these things where a lot of people – the character I play, Greg Sestero, I think a lot of people were like –
Guest:why did you stick around with this guy, this guy, Tommy Wiseau?
Guest:Why did you believe in this project?
Guest:What kept you around?
Guest:And I think it's this mindset where, like, as a young actor, you're just happy to be working.
Marc:Well, that's what people don't understand, the desperation in Hollywood.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Like, the nature of this place.
Guest:Oh, man.
Marc:And it's like, whatever you're doing, you convince yourself this could be great.
Marc:Of course.
Marc:And there are people out here that don't... There's still people out here that come out here thinking they're going to be discovered.
Yeah.
Marc:And there is a level of strange delusion that we all have to have a bit of in order to keep going within it.
Marc:But a lot of times that can just, you know, grow, especially when you're involved in something.
Marc:I can't be like coming up in this business with comedy and like being young in this business and just hearing guys sort of like, yeah, we're shooting this thing, man.
Marc:It's amazing.
Guest:And then you're like, oh, this is not good.
Guest:I know.
Guest:It's it's tough.
Guest:It's like you kill yourself.
Guest:You kill yourself.
Guest:You finally get this thing.
Guest:You work your ass off and it comes out and everyone shits on it.
Guest:It's tough.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, I mean, right.
Marc:But, you know, but how what was your brother's relationship with him?
Marc:And what was your relationship with Tommy?
Marc:I mean, because like the guy's like, you know, he's it's to be to say he's odd as being diplomatic.
Marc:He's he's a little problematic in that he's delusional.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It's it's we really we've gone through a journey with Tommy like we really grew to love him.
Marc:But didn't you feel like at some point because I was like watching the movie and I thought you were you both handled it very well and you handled it with humility.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But it's hard not to think on some level you're busting the guy's balls.
Guest:Yes and no.
Guest:I mean, we definitely like showed all the warts for sure.
Guest:We didn't hold back and we showed how crazy it got.
Guest:But I think I just go back to what I was saying before where it's a guy at the heart of it.
Guest:It's this guy who has a dream and he's going after it and he actually has the means to do exactly what he wants and no one's going to tell him anything.
Marc:I just saw when he came up at the, what was it, the Oscars?
Marc:Or where was it where you were on?
Guest:That was the Golden Globes.
Guest:I was sort of like, oh, he thinks this is it, man.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I mean, it's incredible that he ended up on that stage after all this stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Nobody really wanted to talk.
Guest:Of course he did.
Guest:And you guys were like, okay, okay.
Guest:I mean, who knew what was going to come out of his mouth?
Guest:But it's funny, just a quick story.
Guest:When we finished the movie, we told him, we're like, all right,
Guest:Tommy, how do you want to see this for the first time?
Guest:Do you want us to send you a link?
Guest:Do you want us to set up a private screening?
Guest:And he was like, no.
Guest:I want to see it at the premiere at South by Southwest with a thousand people in the audience.
Guest:And we were like, are you sure?
Guest:And he's like, yes.
Guest:So we were like, okay.
Guest:We made this movie in a way where he really should like it.
Guest:We really show a lot of empathy for him.
Guest:But you never know.
Guest:You make a movie about someone's life, they're going to be sensitive to certain details.
Guest:So it's this packed theater.
Guest:And him and Greg Zestero are sitting down the aisle from us.
Guest:Did you talk to Greg a lot for your role?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And he was on set every day.
Guest:Oh, he was?
Guest:Yeah, he was amazing.
Guest:He was not the type at all to be like, oh...
Guest:I would never say something like that or I would never do that.
Guest:But did he know what you guys were doing?
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And he felt okay about it.
Guest:He was so supportive.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, okay, so we're at the premiere.
Guest:They're sitting down the aisle.
Guest:The movie's playing and it's playing really well.
Guest:The audience is really into it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we're kind of like leaning forward and like checking in what Tommy's feeling.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And he's wearing sunglasses and he has a stone face and we're like, who knows?
Guest:Who knows?
Guest:So, it plays great.
Guest:We go backstage.
Guest:We're about to go out to do a Q&A and we go up to Tommy and we're like, what do you think, man?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he goes, I approve 99.9%.
Guest:And we're like, amazing.
Guest:And we're like, what's the 0.1%?
Guest:And again, you think he's going to be like, oh, that didn't happen like that.
Guest:And he goes, I think you should look at the lighting in the first half of the movie.
Yeah.
Guest:And what we realized was he was wearing sunglasses the whole movie.
Guest:So, yeah, the lighting's going to look a little off.
Guest:But no, he ended up being, like, a huge supporter, which is, like, really important with that type of thing.
Guest:You don't want the subject of your movie to, like, you know, naysay the whole project.
Marc:Especially when, you know, you don't know...
Marc:what his mental disposition really is.
Marc:But maybe you do.
Marc:Maybe you know exactly who that guy is.
Guest:Maybe.
Guest:I think you do.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:What you think is kind of it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like, it was the best thing that could have happened to him.
Guest:It really was.
Guest:You made that movie.
Guest:He was having a great time, man.
Guest:I mean, it was beautiful in a way because, like...
Guest:When we were standing on stage at South by Southwest after that screening, Tommy comes out.
Guest:He's got a thousand people giving him a standing ovation, like an earnest standing ovation.
Marc:That must have been... I think you guys played those guys with a lot of heart.
Guest:Yeah, we tried to.
Marc:And working with your brother, did that dynamic, did you feel a dynamic?
Marc:Definitely, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Because you were definitely a younger brother character.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And I think it really worked because...
Guest:It's like, you know, I'm playing this guy who you got to see through my character's eyes.
Guest:You have to see Tommy's humanity.
Guest:You got to see some sort of heart in there.
Guest:And I think, you know, I think subconsciously there just is that thing between me and my brother where I love him.
Guest:And I think that shows a little bit.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Well, yeah, you would hope.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But so the rental did well.
Guest:Yeah, it was great, man.
Guest:I mean, it was a bizarre, it was a bizarre scenario because we came out at the very beginning of the pandemic.
Guest:I mean, we were going to, you know, we were about to do the festival tour and all of that.
Guest:And then the world shut down and we paired up with IFC to distribute the movie.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:and uh they told us they were like hey we think there's power in choosing a date a release date yeah sticking to it no matter what and why that was so great is because if you remember at the time all these movies kept moving their release date because they thought the pandemic would eventually be over and so what happened is like when we came out there was no other competition right and so we where'd you come out
Guest:We came out in a bunch of drive-in theaters.
Guest:And we were the number one movie for two straight weeks.
Guest:And we were the second movie ever to be number one in theaters and streaming at the same time.
Guest:And, like, obviously there's an asterisk next to that chat.
Guest:But, like, it was pretty wonderful.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:That really worked out in a way, huh?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:and this movie yeah somebody i used to know was something that you and allison decided to just write yeah so this well we started writing this at the very very beginning of the pandemic and at the time you know the the movies that we were watching were all these you know very positive optimistic movies it was all we could stomach you know really yeah that's cute uh
Guest:And so we were like, let's do one.
Guest:Let's do our own version.
Guest:Let's put some positivity out in the world.
Guest:And we both love the genre.
Guest:And I remember we were walking around my hometown and came up with the idea, which is essentially about kind of going to your hometown and reconnecting with your roots.
Marc:But it's funny because you kind of subvert the genre a bit.
Guest:That's what we're trying to do.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Where it's like, on paper, the concept maybe feels familiar, you know?
Marc:Well, it's a different journey for your lead heartbroken person.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I'm so happy you say that.
Guest:Because it's like, I think a lot of people are like, oh, I know where this is going.
Guest:But what I've done on both movies that I've directed is like, you think, you know, yes, you think this is a familiar concept.
Marc:For a little while, but you don't, like at some point, because of like, and I know...
Marc:Allison, you know, playing selfish.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I've seen it.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Sweet selfish person.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:I saw it for three years.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:But but but you do like I think the thing is, is like everybody is a little flawed.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So exactly right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So you're not sure who you're rooting for.
Marc:So it kind of it makes the expectations peculiar.
Guest:yes yes you don't know where it's going where like the hopefully the the unique part about it is like in the execution where every twist and turn the characters themselves the the music choices the score everything hopefully yeah is like you know we're essentially using what we know and love about the genre to take the audience down a certain path and then you know try to rip the rug out from under them so how long did it take to really kind of polish it off and was it was it always did you conceive of it to be so inclusive uh
Marc:What do you mean by that?
Marc:Well, I just mean that, you know, you have representation.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Of LGBTQ stuff, of, you know, diversity in casting and like, which is also and you, you know, there was points where I'm like, are they just not even going to mention it?
Marc:Right, right, which... I don't even know what Danny Pudi was.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Was he a brother?
Marc:He was a friend.
Marc:Oh, just a friend?
Marc:Good friend.
Marc:Who lived at the house?
Guest:No, he was just always around.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:We could talk about how he's codependent.
Guest:Because I was like, is that the other brother?
Guest:No, he's codependent with the main character.
Guest:Okay, all right, all right.
Marc:It's so funny to see those two work together because they know each other.
Guest:Allison and Danny, it's incredible.
Guest:You sit back and you're like, oh, you can't fake this chemistry.
Guest:It's well-worn.
Guest:Yes, yes.
Guest:No, I mean, I'm really happy you say all this.
Guest:It was one of those things where we were definitely mindful of it, but at the end of the day, it was like the people we wanted for these roles, just all those actors who ended up in the movie, they were perfect.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Well, for sure.
Marc:But I mean, it was just sort of like, where'd you shoot it?
Marc:Oregon?
Guest:We shot it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In mostly around Portland, Oregon.
Guest:And then like the little Bavarian town where it takes place is this town called Leavenworth, which is in Washington state.
Guest:And we went there for the final few days.
Guest:Why'd you choose there to shoot?
Guest:Oregon Oregon so I shot actually both my movies in Oregon what cuz it was cheap or It's or or it has a little bit of a tax incentive, but it was more that it was just the landscape It's so pretty.
Marc:I love it.
Guest:Yeah, and the crews incredible just like a bunch of really hard-working nice people And then like Leavenworth the Bavarian town my friend her family lives there and I remember going there for her sister's wedding and
Guest:And I was like, what the fuck is this place?
Guest:And it just felt like the perfect setting where you can imagine people growing up there and almost taking it for granted and being like, oh, this is a small town.
Guest:It's the middle of nowhere.
Guest:I got to get out of here.
Guest:And then they grow up and they look back and they're just like, oh, man, like that was a pretty special place to grow up, which kind of like ties into the themes of the movie.
Marc:Well, yeah, it's important.
Marc:I didn't notice like I knew the houses seem like that, but you didn't really do the city much.
Guest:No, it was actually like every day was like driving 30, 40 minutes outside the city.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:It was definitely pretty.
Marc:And there's a lot of little parts where people show up, you know, like Amy Sedaris.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:It's nice to see her.
Marc:God, I love Amy.
Marc:She's so funny.
Marc:And Hallie Joe, Joel.
Marc:Haley Joel Osment.
Marc:Haley Joel Osment.
Guest:Isn't he funny?
Guest:I fucking love him.
Marc:He was very funny.
Marc:Now, did you tell him to go that?
Guest:I mean that was a part like on the page like I guess kind of the most comedic role but in the wrong hands you can imagine someone like really like leaning too hard into the joke or like trying too hard to be funny and we really wanted someone who was just like not only naturally funny but just like a great actor who could kind of inhabit that role and just be that kind of naive you know guy in the clouds.
Guest:Excited guy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, and I thought everybody did a good job.
Marc:Sam Richardson?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:For a minute?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Funny.
Marc:He's in there for a minute, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, and that whole conceit of the reality show I thought was pretty funny.
Guest:Thanks, man.
Marc:But to tell you the truth, it was great seeing Julie Haggerty again.
Guest:Oh, man, isn't she incredible?
Marc:What the fuck?
Marc:I haven't seen her in so long, but she's so great.
Guest:She is so great.
Guest:I, we, we all fell in love with Julie and she, how did that casting happen?
Guest:Has she been working a lot?
Guest:She, she pops up, she pops up.
Guest:But like, again, it was more like, I think a lot of people, uh,
Guest:when they're casting, it's, it's, they, they really look at just all the shiny objects that are in front of their face.
Guest:Like who's hot in this current moment.
Marc:That's a generational thing.
Marc:You know, you get when I, I've casted people of her age, both men and women.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you kind of get this breakdown of, you know, from the casting agent and you see who's available.
Marc:You're like, I remember her.
Marc:Oh, and I remember that guy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You can just get these people.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:and you can i know i know but julie she is so inherently just kind and warm and just like has she has a different energy specifically herself and we just like i she was i remember her from like airplane yes and like from comedies when i was a kid it was it was very specific energy yeah but isn't she so grounded yeah now like yeah well now it's like you see the earnest part of of whatever that weird comedic energy was yes
Marc:from back in the day oh yeah and now she's just this you know truly authentic quirky lady I know and we sweet she was only on set for three days but like me and Allison like she was our mom we absolutely love her and where'd you how'd you get the like who were the other people who played his mother
Guest:His mother... Oh, oh, Olga Meredith.
Guest:She's known for In the Heights.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And she... It's another one of those roles where there's not a ton to do on the page, but she has such a specific energy and just, like, excitement that she really pops and makes these moments just feel very unique and special.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And, yeah, and Allison...
Marc:She likes being a dick.
Guest:She's well, she's so good at at toeing the line where like even when she's doing things that are not necessarily morally sound like she rationalizes, justifies.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And she's still human and you can relate to why she's doing these things.
Guest:And that's kind of like going back to what you were saying where, you know, I don't think there's any villains in the movie, but everyone is flawed and everyone, you know, some people are making, you know, questionable choices.
Guest:But at the end of the day, they're all good people.
Guest:They're just going through it.
Guest:They're trying to figure it out.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, and it ends up in a nice, weird place.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:A nice, weird, unexpected place.
Marc:Well, good job, buddy.
Marc:Thanks, man.
Marc:And so now it's all about this movie for a little while?
Guest:Yeah, this is the first day of our kind of press tour, and so we're going to go travel around with it for a little bit.
Guest:In movie theaters?
Guest:No, this is Amazon going on Amazon.
Guest:It was always the deal.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And these kind of people like romantic comedy.
Guest:I think so.
Guest:We love them.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How do you feel about romantic comedies in general?
Guest:Well, name a few.
Guest:I mean, the classics are When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Pretty Woman.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How do you feel about those?
Marc:They're fine.
Marc:Yeah, okay.
Marc:No, I mean, I like them.
Marc:But I think what's interesting is, like, you know, initially I'm watching this and I'm thinking, like, well, this is just sort of, like, you know, it's entertainment and, you know, it doesn't have to be too heavy and whatever.
Guest:Sure, sure.
Marc:But then, like, it sort of unfolds.
Marc:It's sort of like, well, this is kind of heavy.
Guest:Yeah, that's what we tried to do.
Guest:I'm so happy you're saying all these things because, like, it's one of these things where I hope the movie does go a little deeper than people expect.
Marc:Well, it's just sort of like, you know, because it does unfold.
Marc:In a way that you can't anticipate.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:In terms of the character.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:The story is what it is.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:You know, you can kind of maybe—you don't know exactly how it's going to end, but you do know one thing.
Marc:You have a general roadmap, but, like, it's going to surprise you along the way.
Marc:Right, but it's really more about, you know, sort of learning more about the people.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:That becomes sort of the weird thing.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:Specifically—
Marc:You know, the groom and the fiancé and, you know, and Allison and then just the, you know, the fiancé's parents.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, just all these stuff that sort of unfold that are really kind of add more depth than, I think, regular romantic comedies, unless I'm not remembering properly.
Guest:No, I appreciate you saying that.
Guest:Let me name a couple recent ones to see if you've seen them.
Guest:The really great ones are, like, Palm Springs.
Guest:Did you see that?
Guest:What about The Big Sick?
Marc:That was Kumail's movie?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Well, yeah, that was a true story.
Marc:And that was, well, that was heavy, but I didn't, it didn't register to me as being specifically a romantic comedy because I knew it happened.
Guest:Ah, ah, ah.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Do you know what I mean?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Like it wasn't, you couldn't contrive that really.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:It's more of a biopic in a way.
Marc:Well, yeah.
Marc:I mean, it kind of came together as a romantic comedy.
Marc:Yeah, I guess that's true.
Marc:There was all that sort of
Marc:cross-cultural stuff yeah it's a good one it's a really good one yeah yeah what about what about this is like a slightly different type but like have you did you see um enough said with julio louis dreyfus and uh gandalfini yeah yeah that's a great one that is a great one yeah i could see this more in the in the way of that yeah i guess like maybe i'm not remembering uh i guess pretty woman was you know she was a hooker yeah so like it's yeah
Marc:It's a great movie.
Marc:You should revisit it, man.
Marc:No, no, I don't.
Marc:I thought it was a good movie.
Marc:And in Harry Met Sally, that was sort of a rekindled thing or I can't remember how that was.
Guest:That was them.
Guest:That was kind of them over the years, their friendship kind of building.
Guest:And then finally them doing that.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And then what was the other one you mentioned?
Marc:Sleepless in Seattle.
Marc:That was like the online thing.
Guest:That was where they didn't know.
Guest:She heard him over the radio.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then goes to kind of find him.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But isn't there a period there where they didn't know they were talking to each other?
Guest:That's You've Got Mail.
Marc:Oh, you've got mail.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Also Tom Hanks.
Marc:That was a different one.
Marc:Different one.
Marc:Sweevers in Seattle.
Marc:Who's in that?
Marc:Tom Hanks, baby.
Marc:The both of them.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And Meg Ryan.
Marc:Both of them?
Guest:Oh, yes.
Marc:And she was in it when Harry met Sally, right?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:She was the one.
Marc:She was the one, man.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No, I guess you're right.
Marc:I guess I'm forgetting that these are not necessarily simple, and there is always this.
Marc:No, there's great ones, man.
Marc:You should revisit some of these.
Marc:Deeply kind of difficult and sad and flawed people.
Marc:It's a good genre.
Marc:You should give it another chance.
Marc:Do I have to write one now?
Marc:Do I have to be in one?
Marc:Give it a shot, man.
Marc:Do I get another Cranky Dad pitch?
Marc:No way.
Marc:I'm going to write one for you where you're a very joyous man.
Marc:Oh, good.
Marc:Thanks, Dave.
Marc:Good talking to you, man.
Marc:You too, dude.
Marc:Okay, Dave Franco, somebody I used to know comes out February 10th on Prime Video.
Marc:And please hang out for one second, will you?
Marc:Can you just hang out for a second?
Marc:Wrestling with Mark wraps up next week for Full Marin listeners.
Marc:This week, we've got my talk with AEW owner Tony Khan, who told me why someone would want to start a major professional wrestling league from scratch.
Guest:For example, like a challenger brand, a good example, you know, Pepsi is the new generation.
Guest:Pepsi is a challenger brand like AEW.
Guest:And when I launched it.
Guest:I was like, OK, I'd like to be the Pepsi of pro wrestling.
Guest:Would you be interested in that?
Guest:Everyone said yes.
Guest:Then they showed me a marketing deck about what it means to be a challenger brand.
Guest:And the best examples they gave me were like Burger King.
Guest:What's their marketing?
Guest:A lot of it is like, hey, McDonald's sucks, guys.
Guest:So that's when people ask why I go out and talk about the competition and wrestling.
Guest:I mean, that's why, because it was handed down on high to me from the network.
Marc:To hear our Wrestling with Mark series, plus all our weekly bonus content and every episode of WTF ad-free, sign up for the full Marin.
Marc:Just click on the link in the episode description or go to WTFpod.com and click on WTF+.
Marc:Okay?
Marc:Okay?
Marc:You hear me?
Marc:All right.
Marc:On Monday, I talked with Wayne Brady, which was pretty intense.
Marc:You know, I don't know what your thoughts on Wayne Brady are, and I've had mine.
Marc:But to really sit down and talk with the guy and what he's gone through because of some of your thoughts about Wayne Brady, it was a little bit devastating.
Marc:It's a great episode.
Marc:So I'll talk to you then.
Marc:Here's some guitar.
guitar.
guitar solo
guitar solo
.
.
Marc:Boomer lives.
Marc:Monkey and La Fonda.
Marc:Cat angels everywhere.
Marc:Alright.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:Okay.