Episode 569 - Jason Schwartzman

Episode 569 • Released January 18, 2015 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucking ears what the fucksters what the fuck'll bury fins all right i'm mark maron this is wtf welcome to the show jason schwartzman is on the show today

00:00:24Marc:I like that guy.

00:00:25Marc:Nice guy.

00:00:26Marc:Do you remember the first time you saw Jason Schwartzman probably in Rushmore?

00:00:30Marc:Where you were like, who is that guy?

00:00:33Marc:Where did that guy come from?

00:00:34Marc:He's great.

00:00:37Marc:Had a nice conversation with him.

00:00:38Marc:So that's happening soon.

00:00:40Marc:Hey, you know what I don't do enough?

00:00:41Marc:Gratitude.

00:00:42Marc:Did I say that?

00:00:43Marc:Gratitude.

00:00:44Marc:I want to thank all of you people who listen and send me stuff and send me letters and emails and presents and records.

00:00:51Marc:I get them.

00:00:52Marc:I listen to your records.

00:00:54Marc:I listen to them once, maybe twice.

00:00:57Marc:And if they stick, I'll say something and I'll enjoy them and I play them more.

00:01:02Marc:I do give a listen to the records I get.

00:01:04Marc:I will tell you that and I appreciate it.

00:01:08Marc:Gratitude.

00:01:10Marc:I'm doing okay.

00:01:12Marc:Doing better than okay.

00:01:14Marc:I should get up in the morning and go like, you know what?

00:01:19Marc:It kind of worked out.

00:01:22Marc:It didn't look like it was going to, and it is now, so you're going to have to accept that and behave properly.

00:01:29Marc:Stop complaining and not having a nice time.

00:01:32Marc:How long do you think life goes on for, man?

00:01:38Marc:You can't keep chasing shit and comparing yourself to other people.

00:01:41Marc:Sometimes I just want to split, man.

00:01:45Marc:So last week, it was like, I'm fucking done with Twitter.

00:01:47Marc:I'm done with all this bullshit.

00:01:49Marc:Just goddamn noise.

00:01:51Marc:There's just noise everywhere.

00:01:52Marc:Draining, demanding noise.

00:01:54Marc:And it keeps poking at you.

00:01:56Marc:The noise that pokes.

00:01:59Marc:That's where we are culturally.

00:02:02Marc:Just this racket, this yammering racket that is always kind of pushing its way into you at varying degrees of intensity and volume.

00:02:13Marc:How many machines you got to turn off to get some fucking peace of mind?

00:02:17Marc:God damn it.

00:02:18Marc:Am I getting sick?

00:02:20Marc:I got to shoot today.

00:02:23Marc:Oh, there's the dog.

00:02:25Marc:Sounded like somebody was torturing a monkey up the street just an hour ago.

00:02:30Marc:It was crazy.

00:02:31Marc:I know what the hell it was.

00:02:32Marc:Either someone bought a pet monkey or they were torturing somebody.

00:02:35Marc:Then my neighbor Adam said he was washing his parrots.

00:02:41Marc:So that explains it.

00:02:42Marc:I was in the jungle area.

00:02:44Marc:I was in the territory.

00:02:46Marc:I got the general tone of the sound correct.

00:02:51Marc:I made a mistake between...

00:02:53Marc:A complaining monkey and an excited parrot being bathed.

00:02:59Marc:I'd forgotten that my neighbor had parrots, and I was reminded of that as I woke up in the jungle this morning.

00:03:07Marc:Oh, my God.

00:03:08Marc:Today's the day, man.

00:03:09Marc:12-hour, not 12-hour, but a 12-page day.

00:03:13Marc:I don't know if you guys know how TV works.

00:03:15Marc:Here's how we do it.

00:03:17Marc:We're shooting about an episode every three days, and we kind of go back and forth in those episodes every day and shoot pieces of them.

00:03:27Marc:So, you know, an eight page day is a pretty hearty day.

00:03:30Marc:And our first day today of shooting is a 12 page day.

00:03:34Marc:And that's going to be a lot.

00:03:35Marc:That's like you're back in, man.

00:03:37Marc:And my life right now pretty much looks like what will happen is.

00:03:42Marc:I'll get my lines in my head last night, then I get up and I'm on set all day and I'm running lines with my co-stars.

00:03:50Marc:We're doing the scenes as many times as necessary.

00:03:53Marc:We just jam at it all day long.

00:03:55Marc:Different outfits, different scenes, different actors, different angles.

00:03:59Marc:Get that coverage.

00:04:01Marc:Hopefully we get some good stuff.

00:04:03Marc:The two scripts we're doing this week are great.

00:04:06Marc:Um, and then like I, you know, I work 12 hours, 13 hours, come back home, shower, wait an hour, get the sides for the next day, start cramming those lines into my head.

00:04:16Marc:I'm in every scene, not complaining.

00:04:18Marc:It's my show, but that's the way it works.

00:04:21Marc:So it's pretty heavy, man.

00:04:22Marc:So I'm going to be underwater, you know, for about two and a half months doing my show and talking to you people.

00:04:28Marc:Won't be a lot of standup.

00:04:29Um,

00:04:29Marc:Maybe on Saturdays.

00:04:31Marc:But this is it.

00:04:33Marc:This is season three.

00:04:34Marc:We're in it.

00:04:35Marc:I'm excited.

00:04:36Marc:And I honestly am overwhelmed by the response to season two and even season one on Netflix.

00:04:43Marc:I'm glad you guys like the show.

00:04:46Marc:Okay, look, let's do this.

00:04:47Marc:Let's talk to Jason Schwartzman.

00:04:49Marc:I never talked to him before.

00:04:51Marc:I always assumed he'd be a good guy, but he's a very sweet man.

00:04:54Marc:And I was thrilled to meet him.

00:04:57Marc:We had a nice time.

00:04:59Marc:It was one of those situations where I'm like, you're so familiar with a guy, and then he's like that guy.

00:05:05Marc:And that's always comforting.

00:05:08Marc:All right, let's enjoy now.

00:05:10Marc:My guest, Jason Schwartzman.

00:05:15Marc:I listened to your first Coconut Records record.

00:05:26Guest:Did?

00:05:27Marc:Yeah.

00:05:28Marc:I listened to it yesterday.

00:05:29Marc:Thank you.

00:05:29Marc:It's nice.

00:05:30Marc:It's nice pop music.

00:05:31Marc:Thank you.

00:05:31Marc:Very sweet.

00:05:32Marc:But I can tell you're a gear guy because it sounds like some guy who sat there and did it.

00:05:37Guest:I love SM7.

00:05:39Guest:Yeah, the best.

00:05:40Guest:It's a great mic.

00:05:41Guest:You like them?

00:05:41Guest:Yeah, I really do.

00:05:42Guest:Do you sing in them?

00:05:43Guest:I've never used this mic to sing in before, but you see lots of people that do.

00:05:48Marc:Yeah.

00:05:49Marc:I heard Michael Jackson sings in these.

00:05:51Marc:Come on.

00:05:52Marc:Yeah.

00:05:52Marc:SM7s.

00:05:53Marc:That's what I heard.

00:05:54Marc:Really?

00:05:54Marc:In the studio.

00:05:56Marc:I've had everybody on these.

00:05:57Marc:Like when I record people playing music in here,

00:05:59Marc:And I just, because I don't have anything.

00:06:01Marc:I can't mix.

00:06:02Marc:All I can do is ride levels.

00:06:04Marc:So it's just going to be a mic guitar and that.

00:06:07Marc:And I have everybody sing on that.

00:06:08Marc:And to hear it with no, to hear singers with no filter, no nothing, this thing does it.

00:06:13Marc:It's amazing.

00:06:14Marc:What do you use it for?

00:06:15Guest:No, I don't have one.

00:06:17Guest:I want one.

00:06:18Guest:You do?

00:06:18Guest:Yeah.

00:06:19Guest:Just to have?

00:06:20Guest:Well, I would like to have a mic like this.

00:06:22Guest:This can do anything.

00:06:25Guest:Yeah.

00:06:25Guest:And I feel that there's something indestructible about this.

00:06:29Guest:There is.

00:06:29Guest:I like indestructible things.

00:06:31Marc:Yeah, Shure makes a couple of things like that.

00:06:33Marc:The 58, too.

00:06:35Marc:That I have.

00:06:36Marc:You gotta have a few of those.

00:06:37Guest:Yeah, you should have a few.

00:06:38Guest:Yeah, you gotta do a few 58s.

00:06:40Guest:But I love gear, but it's sort of embarrassing because, you know, I would say that I spend...

00:06:48Guest:Like if there is free time at night to just sit there and my favorite thing to do is just look at pictures of gear and read about gear and what things do.

00:07:00Guest:And then I watch a lot of videos.

00:07:01Guest:You do?

00:07:02Guest:I love them.

00:07:03Guest:But then there is a moment, too, where because I'm not so, so technically minded, there's a moment when it goes, it crosses way beyond what I know.

00:07:15Guest:Yeah.

00:07:16Guest:Which is fine when I'm at home, but definitely it happens like at stores.

00:07:20Guest:Yeah.

00:07:20Guest:Where I'm like, oh, is this this keyboard?

00:07:22Guest:So like all I've heard about keyboards, I've read about keyboards that, you know, for years, like I've been looking for one just to play one and really get your hands on it.

00:07:31Guest:I get there I'm talking about it but I guess you know I'm enthusiastic about it but sometimes that can be misunderstood for not deep knowledge about it yeah and like the sometimes a person will be so it's yes oh I'm glad you know about this it's great and plus we can double connect the oscillators of the thing and I and then I just sort of like then I'm too embarrassed to say that I don't know you go oh yeah yeah oh it's great yeah can you show me can you show me an example of how that happened

00:07:57Guest:So it's a little like that.

00:07:59Guest:But I love it.

00:08:00Guest:And not only that, I love gear.

00:08:02Guest:And I buy gear.

00:08:06Guest:It's my favorite thing to look for and invest in.

00:08:10Guest:I mean, I don't have crazy stuff.

00:08:12Guest:You have a lot of guitars?

00:08:13Guest:It's also the most aesthetically beautiful stuff to me.

00:08:16Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:08:16Marc:Yeah, we were talking about that stuff inside.

00:08:20Marc:The eye for design on stuff is pretty amazing.

00:08:22Guest:And most like photos, like rock and roll photos, I typically don't like live looking photos, you know, like Hendrix on stage.

00:08:31Guest:I get that it's amazing.

00:08:33Guest:To me, I would much, I much prefer seeing like

00:08:38Guest:Todd Rundgren sitting at the desk in his studio with his head in his hand, not getting it right or something, just so you can look around at all this stuff.

00:08:45Marc:Yeah, the amp in the background, what kind of pencils.

00:08:47Marc:I love it, exactly.

00:08:48Marc:Yeah, yeah, has he got a little stress ball on the... I love it, yeah.

00:08:51Guest:Does he have this hand?

00:08:52Marc:Yeah, that thing, the hand exercises.

00:08:53Guest:Wow, I'm not at this level.

00:08:54Marc:I don't know, someone sent that to me.

00:08:57Guest:It's so embarrassing.

00:08:57Marc:It's hard, right?

00:08:58Guest:Yeah, I can't enclose it.

00:09:00Guest:It's a hard one.

00:09:01Guest:But I love it so much, and I do believe in the idea that every instrument...

00:09:06Guest:you write differently on each thing.

00:09:10Guest:Some people think, oh, I don't know if that's true.

00:09:12Guest:And it probably isn't for everybody.

00:09:14Guest:But I think each guitar or each pedal has a thing about it.

00:09:18Guest:Even if it's imperceptible, if you feel that it has something different, I think that it can offer you something.

00:09:27Marc:Well, that's the magic thing.

00:09:29Marc:You know, I mean, things do have magic if you invest it in there.

00:09:32Marc:You want a coaster?

00:09:33Marc:I'll put it right here.

00:09:35Marc:Okay, we'll see what happens.

00:09:36Marc:This is a reverse coaster.

00:09:37Marc:Yeah, we'll see if it... I put it on nothing.

00:09:38Guest:It floats over.

00:09:40Marc:If it doesn't end up in your lap, it's all good.

00:09:42Marc:It seems to go... It works perfectly.

00:09:44Marc:All right, well then, I've never seen that happen before.

00:09:46Marc:This is a first.

00:09:48Marc:You've stacked your coffee cup on the tape.

00:09:50Marc:But yeah, I believe that's true.

00:09:52Marc:I think that some instruments have whatever they bring out of you.

00:09:56Marc:There's definitely magic to it.

00:09:57Marc:I've talked to people about that before, believing in magic and believing what.

00:10:01Marc:Of course that's going to provoke you.

00:10:02Marc:Each thing's going to have its own power.

00:10:04Marc:Do you have a lot of guitars?

00:10:06Guest:Yeah.

00:10:06Marc:You do?

00:10:07Marc:Yeah.

00:10:08Marc:Well, you write the songs, at least on that record, they're all very different, so they all have a different feeling to them.

00:10:14Marc:And I imagine they're playing different instruments and getting different groove going with things.

00:10:19Marc:There's a little R&B on there, there's a little pop, there's some sad music, even a country song.

00:10:24Guest:Well, that happened, basically what happened was...

00:10:28Guest:I had been writing music, but the way that I like to do it is in pieces.

00:10:37Guest:I just sort of write little chunks of things.

00:10:40Guest:And then later I start to assemble them.

00:10:43Guest:Anyway, I usually record music with my friend Woody Jackson, who, if you want to see an amazing studio...

00:10:48Guest:If you truly are in the L.A., if you go deeper into the L.A.

00:10:52Guest:area, on Melrose near Larchmont, you should see his studio.

00:10:57Guest:It's called Electrobox Studio, and it's unbelievable.

00:10:59Guest:I'll show you pictures.

00:11:00Guest:Actually, the oldest recording studio in Los Angeles.

00:11:03Guest:That's his?

00:11:04Guest:Yeah, and his collection of instruments and just musical aesthetics has been inspiring.

00:11:10Guest:But anyway, so I usually work with him, but I ended up, I had a bunch of songs.

00:11:15Guest:Yeah.

00:11:17Guest:But they weren't songs, they were just pieces.

00:11:19Guest:Yeah.

00:11:19Guest:And I had been broken up with.

00:11:24Guest:Was it 17?

00:11:26Guest:No, this was now, when I made my Coconut Records record, it was 24.

00:11:31Guest:Five or four or something and you've done some acting already.

00:11:34Marc:Yeah, yeah Yeah, you've been working and I was in a band called phantom planet that began in 1994 How old were you 14 so was that the first thing that was before acting really was you all your rock guy?

00:11:48Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:11:48Guest:Yeah, yeah Without a doubt and you were a drummer.

00:11:52Marc:Yeah Can you still play drums?

00:11:55Guest:Yeah, I can.

00:11:58Guest:I don't.

00:11:59Guest:It's it's such a at least the kind of drumming that I'm interested in.

00:12:02Guest:And it's such a lonely instrument because I like to play songs like with people.

00:12:07Guest:You like to sing?

00:12:08Guest:I was never a singer.

00:12:10Guest:That was never my I sing on the records because my little brother actually encouraged me to do it.

00:12:17Guest:Yeah.

00:12:17Guest:But initially, I'd asked him to sing on my records.

00:12:19Guest:He's a really good singer.

00:12:20Guest:Yeah.

00:12:21Guest:My brother, Robert, he's a real singer.

00:12:23Guest:Yeah.

00:12:23Guest:He warms up and stuff.

00:12:25Guest:Right.

00:12:26Guest:But I had never thought about singing.

00:12:28Guest:And I also, in my band, I was in a band that had three great singers.

00:12:31Guest:Yeah.

00:12:31Guest:So I never had to sing.

00:12:33Guest:Yeah.

00:12:34Guest:But I played drums.

00:12:36Guest:Yeah.

00:12:37Guest:But I don't play them.

00:12:38Guest:I have some in my house.

00:12:39Guest:Yeah.

00:12:40Guest:But if you play for two seconds, it's lonely.

00:12:43Guest:I want to play with people.

00:12:44Guest:Yeah.

00:12:44Guest:I want to play songs.

00:12:45Guest:Well, you got to play drums to a track or something.

00:12:47Guest:Yeah.

00:12:47Guest:I mean, unless you're interested in pushing the bounds of rhythm.

00:12:50Guest:Right.

00:12:51Guest:Which, in theory, I am.

00:12:53Guest:I mean, I would love to.

00:12:54Guest:I mean, I'm not against it, but it's not...

00:12:58Guest:Not in your skill set?

00:13:00Guest:It's not my go-to way to spend time.

00:13:02Marc:But you were saying before that writing songs or sitting with a guitar, because for me it's very meditative.

00:13:06Marc:I can't sit quietly.

00:13:08Marc:So if I play guitar for a half an hour a day, it really gets me out of my head.

00:13:14Guest:It's the best thing.

00:13:15Guest:For me, basically, and the way that it's been for the last few years, ever since I had a kid, I have two children, but my first child came about four years ago.

00:13:29Guest:And the way that I used to make music was...

00:13:33Guest:more loudly.

00:13:34Guest:I used to write, walk around and hum things and sing them with an acoustic guitar into a tape recorder and such.

00:13:42Guest:Then I couldn't make as much noise in my house so I started to learn how to use my garage band in my computer and you can use MIDI like I'd plug in my MIDI keyboard and use the sounds in it and you know if you were to walk by me you don't really hear anything so probably me humming.

00:13:58Guest:And I got into a process of writing and demoing at the same time.

00:14:03Guest:So I don't sit and make up music without a recording.

00:14:07Guest:I write, I do it, I multitrack and I do it.

00:14:10Guest:Like that's part of the writing.

00:14:11Guest:But really what it is, is it's the meditative thing of like layering things and coming up with a chord progression.

00:14:18Guest:And to me, it's the ultimate way to spend time.

00:14:23Guest:And at the end of a day, I try to do it every day at the end of the day.

00:14:27Marc:Yeah.

00:14:28Guest:For how long?

00:14:30Guest:Three hours is my minimum.

00:14:31Marc:Really?

00:14:32Marc:So you're abandoning your wife and children for three hours.

00:14:35Guest:Yeah, well, they are asleep.

00:14:36Marc:They abandon me.

00:14:37Marc:So you do it in the middle of the night.

00:14:39Marc:Mm-hmm.

00:14:39Guest:That's what I do.

00:14:42Guest:And I would do it in the daytime, but I try to do it at night now.

00:14:45Guest:And essentially, they'll go to bed, and then I'll go out.

00:14:50Guest:And I haven't done it in the last few months because we have our second daughter.

00:14:54Guest:But usually the thing is that I...

00:14:56Guest:It's like people who go to a gym or whatever it just feels so good right think about music and and also now a Technology the what you can do just sitting on your own for three hours.

00:15:06Guest:It's pretty phenomenal It's really fun, and even if it's terrible yeah, you have it's the best way to it's the best way to Spend time even if you just are learning how to play someone else's song or covering someone else's song It feels good to do music, and I think my brain feels

00:15:21Guest:it locks, it feels good.

00:15:25Guest:Like you say, it's meditative.

00:15:26Marc:Yeah, and you grew up with music?

00:15:28Marc:I mean, there's music in your family.

00:15:30Guest:Yeah, I grew up with music, but not, my mom's really into musicals.

00:15:37Guest:So, like that, I grew up, her picking me up from school, and it was like Into the Woods blasting.

00:15:44Guest:She pulls up at carpool.

00:15:46Guest:Into the woods.

00:15:47Guest:Oh, guys, I gotta go.

00:15:48Guest:Sorry.

00:15:49Guest:My mom loves it.

00:15:51Guest:But never was listening to tons of music as a kid, like in the car with my dad.

00:15:56Guest:My dad listened to a lot of talk radio.

00:15:58Marc:Right.

00:15:58Marc:Wasn't your grandfather a composer?

00:16:01Marc:Yeah, he was a composer.

00:16:02Marc:Were you around for him?

00:16:03Marc:Did you see him?

00:16:04Guest:Yeah, well, sadly, he died when I was about...

00:16:09Guest:Ten or nine?

00:16:10Guest:I forget exactly, but... What was his name?

00:16:12Guest:Carmine.

00:16:12Guest:Yeah.

00:16:13Guest:And... But you remember him.

00:16:14Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:16:15Guest:The best.

00:16:16Guest:Yeah.

00:16:17Guest:And I am bummed that I didn't... I wasn't into music on a deeper level then, because I would have loved to have talked to him, but...

00:16:25Guest:I always felt growing up that music was more, I guess, my alley.

00:16:32Guest:I didn't think it would be like a profession, obviously, at a young age.

00:16:35Guest:But movies were so, it was like Lethal Weapon, Ghostbusters, you know, just big blockbusters, comedies, all the Bill Murray.

00:16:45Guest:Yeah.

00:16:45Guest:And, you know, I hear people say that when they would watch movies, they would think, I'm going to be up there one day.

00:16:51Guest:And I think that's cool.

00:16:53Guest:I never had that experience.

00:16:56Guest:To me, it was just the excitement of going to see a movie and loving it.

00:17:00Guest:And, you know, what everyone probably does, you imitate the movies on the way home and stuff.

00:17:04Guest:But I never, that was where it sort of stopped.

00:17:06Guest:You never saw yourself as an actor or wanted to be a movie star?

00:17:09Guest:And I don't know if it also comes from growing up in L.A.

00:17:12Guest:Where a lot of kids are actors.

00:17:14Guest:Where'd you grow up exactly?

00:17:15Guest:Westwood.

00:17:16Marc:Okay.

00:17:16Marc:But also, you grew up in sort of a movie clan, right?

00:17:21Marc:I don't know how the Coppola family worked, but was it a tight unit?

00:17:26Marc:Were you around?

00:17:27Marc:Was everyone eating dinner together at times during holidays and things?

00:17:31Marc:Holidays.

00:17:31Marc:Right.

00:17:32Guest:Because my uncle Francis, he lives up in...

00:17:36Guest:up in the Napa Valley area.

00:17:39Guest:So, um, see him growing up more during, uh, holidays, Thanksgiving, mostly.

00:17:45Marc:Was that, was that the congregating place?

00:17:47Marc:Was the, was Francis's place?

00:17:50Guest:It seemed to be.

00:17:51Marc:Yeah.

00:17:51Guest:Growing up, but, um, but great, great memories and, um,

00:17:56Guest:But not a lot of movie talk.

00:17:59Guest:No.

00:18:00Guest:My experience of growing up was just a very boisterous family.

00:18:07Guest:Kitchen, a lot of cooking and singing.

00:18:12Guest:It seems that my mom and her two brothers, one has passed away.

00:18:16Guest:The level of musical knowledge is pretty incredible.

00:18:20Guest:My uncle Augie, who passed away,

00:18:24Guest:His seem to be very classical.

00:18:28Guest:And I think my uncle Francie do, but my uncle Francie and my mom have a real musical theater thing.

00:18:34Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:18:34Guest:Like, if you say, like, I love this cup.

00:18:37Guest:This cup, this cup.

00:18:37Guest:He loves this cup.

00:18:38Guest:Like, they seem to know, like, a song about every, like, from a musical about everything.

00:18:43Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:18:43Guest:the microphone, he talks into it.

00:18:45Guest:And it's pretty, it's like encyclopedic and amazing.

00:18:49Guest:So I think I grew up with more around that, like a kind of boisterous, but never like espresso and a deep conversation about a camera angle.

00:18:59Guest:I don't have that.

00:19:00Guest:He can do it, though.

00:19:02Guest:I guess.

00:19:03Guest:But the thing is that my...

00:19:04Guest:My uncle and my mom, in terms of them specifically, although they're associated with Hollywood, they're very, like, not into Hollywood.

00:19:13Guest:I mean, he lives up there, first of all.

00:19:15Guest:But my mom is, like, not into Hollywood culture, and she loves movies.

00:19:21Guest:And if anything, growing up, I think that's what I saw was just, like, wow, my mom loves movies so much more than other parents.

00:19:29Guest:Right.

00:19:29Guest:More like that.

00:19:30Guest:Like, I'd come home from school and...

00:19:33Guest:you could hear like echoing in my house, like a TV on, and I'm like up, down in that room watching you go in there, and oh yeah, old movies.

00:19:42Guest:So I think I saw like someone who loved stuff so much, but yeah, for me music was the best, and of course MTV, and I just felt that music you could do at home, and movies, they seem like so big, and yeah, I didn't grow up playing on movie sets or anything.

00:20:01Marc:You didn't go?

00:20:02Guest:No.

00:20:03Guest:She didn't want anyone there.

00:20:04Marc:Who, your mom?

00:20:04Guest:Yeah.

00:20:05Marc:How's she doing?

00:20:06Marc:Good.

00:20:06Guest:The best.

00:20:07Guest:I saw her last night.

00:20:08Marc:She just called me.

00:20:10Marc:You got a new grandkid.

00:20:11Guest:Yeah, she's so excited.

00:20:12Guest:She loves it.

00:20:13Guest:She loves it because she grew up with boys.

00:20:15Guest:Yeah.

00:20:16Guest:Two brothers and sons.

00:20:19Guest:Yeah.

00:20:19Guest:And so to have daughters, she's just like in heaven.

00:20:22Guest:She's going crazy.

00:20:22Guest:Oh my God.

00:20:23Guest:She loves it.

00:20:24Guest:Yeah.

00:20:24Guest:Tap dancing and Esther Williams.

00:20:27Guest:Oh, really?

00:20:28Guest:Yeah.

00:20:29Guest:She goes way back.

00:20:29Guest:In the pool?

00:20:30Guest:Yeah.

00:20:31Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:20:32Guest:My mom goes way.

00:20:34Guest:I feel like her knowledge of most things ends at 1972, movie-wise.

00:20:39Marc:So you grew up in Hollywood, and I guess, what was the first movie that you did?

00:20:44Marc:Rushmore?

00:20:45Marc:Yeah.

00:20:46Marc:But it's always sort of fascinating to me that, I mean, you're younger than me, but there's always these generations of kids who are actors, and you all seem to know each other because you kind of do, and it's just like any other town where people grow up.

00:20:59Marc:But who were your peers growing up?

00:21:01Marc:Were they actors, or where'd you go to high school?

00:21:04Guest:A school called Windward High School in Culver City.

00:21:08Guest:Who are my peers?

00:21:10Guest:Did I know any actors growing up?

00:21:11Marc:When you were growing up, yeah.

00:21:12Marc:I mean, were there guys doing the same things, creative people that you were, that you kept in touch with the whole time?

00:21:18Guest:The only one that I know, because I wasn't in an acting circuit, but my best friend in high school, or one of my best friends in high school, there was a little group of us,

00:21:31Guest:Jake Gyllenhaal was his best friend growing up since they were like four.

00:21:35Guest:So I knew Jake since I was 12.

00:21:37Guest:Not much has changed.

00:21:39Guest:He's always like the handsomest, biggest guy.

00:21:43Guest:I was like, oh man, that guy's got it.

00:21:45Guest:Yeah?

00:21:46Guest:You're still friends?

00:21:47Guest:Yeah, I am still friends with him.

00:21:50Guest:Haven't seen him in a while, but, you know.

00:21:53Guest:But yes, yeah, I feel like, you know, I remember going to dances, sitting on the wall.

00:21:57Guest:Yeah.

00:21:58Guest:Looking at him just dancing with like eight girls.

00:22:00Guest:Yeah, right.

00:22:00Guest:Going, holy shit.

00:22:02Guest:how does he do that it's just natural how do i where do i be how do i begin where do i start as so much is so much is different about us yeah you were awkward uh i felt awkward for sure yeah yeah i think i was awkward i mean i don't i think everyone's awkward yeah in high school but um junior high the worst yeah

00:22:22Guest:yeah but um but yeah i felt that my school i didn't go to a big enough school where they were like to your left you will find the people that are the misfits yeah slightly over to the right those the jocks yeah it was a small enough school where you know it was like eight man football it was a smaller thing and like we just got everyone knew each other

00:22:43Guest:Everyone knew each other, but within that, they were like micro... You know, there's like micro... Micro click of three.

00:22:47Guest:Sure.

00:22:48Guest:Yeah.

00:22:48Guest:And like... Yeah.

00:22:50Guest:But I was... I liked sports and I liked music and... But definitely, I think... I felt I was definitely not doing well with girls specifically.

00:23:00Guest:Yeah.

00:23:01Marc:That was... What do you attribute that to?

00:23:04Marc:Them.

00:23:04Marc:Yeah.

00:23:05Marc:So acting really wasn't on your radar until after high school?

00:23:13Marc:I mean, what compelled you?

00:23:16Guest:Well, what happened was that, so I was in my band, and my band was like... Good.

00:23:22Guest:Well, that was what I was trying to do.

00:23:24Guest:Was it popular?

00:23:25Guest:You were popular?

00:23:26Guest:In L.A.

00:23:27Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:23:28Guest:In L.A.

00:23:28Guest:we would play.

00:23:30Guest:We didn't really tour much because we were 15 and 16 and stuff, but play in the L.A.

00:23:35Guest:area and sometimes San Francisco and San Diego.

00:23:37Guest:But yeah, we would play and lots of people would come and it was the best.

00:23:41Guest:And then we got signed and trying to make records.

00:23:44Guest:Who signed you?

00:23:44Guest:Geffen.

00:23:45Guest:Geffen.

00:23:45Marc:Yeah?

00:23:46Guest:Yeah, Geffen Records, before it folded.

00:23:48Marc:And how did that happen?

00:23:50Guest:We got our demo tape to this guy Luke Wood, who worked at Geffen at the time, and we had made a demo, and he came and checked it out, and we got signed, yeah.

00:24:01Marc:And how many did you do?

00:24:02Guest:Wild.

00:24:03Guest:Records?

00:24:03Guest:Yeah.

00:24:04Guest:Well, we did two on Geffen, and then we moved over to Epic, Sony, and then we did a few more there.

00:24:12Guest:And I left.

00:24:13Guest:Did you jam?

00:24:14Guest:With them?

00:24:14Guest:Yeah.

00:24:15Guest:No.

00:24:15Guest:With anybody?

00:24:16Guest:No.

00:24:16Guest:You're solo.

00:24:18Guest:Yeah, that's not my code.

00:24:21Guest:I'm sorry.

00:24:22Guest:You guys want to jam?

00:24:23Guest:No, no, you don't know about me?

00:24:24Guest:I'm a lone wolf.

00:24:26Guest:Yeah, just me and my gear.

00:24:27Guest:Sorry.

00:24:28Guest:You're talking to the wrong guy.

00:24:30Guest:You're talking to the wrong gunslinger.

00:24:31Guest:No, I just...

00:24:35Guest:What am I going to do?

00:24:36Guest:Where am I going to go?

00:24:36Guest:How am I going to do it?

00:24:38Marc:But I want to, too.

00:24:39Marc:I don't play the kind of music you play.

00:24:41Marc:I'm just sort of a dirty guitar player.

00:24:43Marc:But I wish I could do that.

00:24:45Marc:I wish I could solo and stuff and play dirt.

00:24:48Marc:No, I can't solo.

00:24:49Marc:I play chords.

00:24:50Marc:Yeah, I know, but you know a lot of good chords.

00:24:52Marc:You know like all the good minor Beatles chords and things?

00:24:55Marc:You know them too.

00:24:55Marc:You just got to move the fingers around a little.

00:24:57Marc:I just got to learn them.

00:24:58Marc:Yeah, you learn that.

00:25:00Marc:I'll learn that a solo and then we could like... I could show you some licks.

00:25:02Marc:You show me some chords.

00:25:03Marc:I wish.

00:25:04Marc:But you can just get a place.

00:25:06Marc:I mean, I've been beating myself up about it.

00:25:08Marc:And I know guys that play.

00:25:09Marc:I'm like, why don't we just do a weekend thing and go to a place and just play.

00:25:12Marc:But...

00:25:13Marc:Then that becomes its own thing, and then you have arguments, and you've got to decide what songs.

00:25:16Guest:Truly.

00:25:17Marc:Always end up too loud, and then it just becomes this horrible blues jam for an hour.

00:25:20Guest:One guy goes to the bathroom, and someone else is sitting on his amp, rolls down the volume, stops the buzzing.

00:25:26Marc:Yeah, that's it.

00:25:27Guest:It's so sad to get a gumball from a gumball machine.

00:25:31Guest:That's part of it.

00:25:32Guest:That's part of the rock and roll experience.

00:25:34Guest:I always think the gumball machine is the worst, but the best.

00:25:37Marc:Do you know Adam Goldberg?

00:25:39Marc:Yeah.

00:25:40Marc:Why don't you guys get together in the middle of the night and play some shit?

00:25:43Guest:Who else do I got?

00:25:45Guest:I don't know who I got to work.

00:25:46Marc:But he does the same thing you do in a way.

00:25:48Marc:He's up all night sitting alone in his house.

00:25:52Guest:Well, first of all, I got to change the up all night thing, and I think I've been doing a pretty good job about it.

00:25:56Guest:Once you got two, it's like, you know, there's no, I can't.

00:25:59Guest:No time.

00:26:00Guest:No.

00:26:00Guest:If they're awake.

00:26:01Guest:If they're awake and at night, it's, you know, I got to get rest.

00:26:05Guest:Yeah.

00:26:06Guest:Got to be rested because I got to, you know, there's two of us.

00:26:09Guest:And it wasn't like I was off the hook the first time.

00:26:13Guest:Don't get me wrong.

00:26:13Guest:Yeah.

00:26:14Guest:But I was, I definitely...

00:26:17Guest:like could push my body a little bit harder.

00:26:20Guest:But I think also, you know, it's interesting to me, like people's creative habits.

00:26:25Guest:Yeah.

00:26:25Guest:And I don't know how much you can just be at the whim of your own.

00:26:33Guest:Like I think with two kids, you got to change your body around.

00:26:37Marc:And also you got to schedule a little bit.

00:26:38Marc:Sure.

00:26:39Marc:You can't be as impulsive.

00:26:40Guest:Exactly.

00:26:41Guest:Well, I'm never, that's the thing is I don't,

00:26:43Guest:like the impulsive thing I like the regularity of doing three hours a night I have all these weird rules three hours a night and then the next day never listen to what you did always do a new song and then at the end of four months I put everything into iTunes and then I make playlists and I walk around and listen to them to what you did and that's funny because you'll notice weird things like oh for that for those two weeks everything was in A minor

00:27:02Guest:Yeah.

00:27:03Guest:Yeah.

00:27:03Guest:What was I thinking?

00:27:04Guest:You know what I mean?

00:27:05Guest:A minor week.

00:27:05Guest:You started to see what you were kind of writing.

00:27:07Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:27:07Marc:Writing went the same thing.

00:27:08Marc:Yeah.

00:27:09Marc:So that's kind of fun.

00:27:10Marc:The thing is also it's rewarding in a way that, you know, if you just put it on, you've created something that exists outside of you.

00:27:17Marc:It's true.

00:27:17Marc:Which is different than acting.

00:27:18Marc:You've got to wait a year.

00:27:19Marc:It's true.

00:27:20Guest:And it's very immediately satisfying.

00:27:22Guest:That's the thing about it is last year I was trying to write something and...

00:27:27Guest:sat down i was sitting there for days and uh it's it's a way more complicated and hard feeling because music even if it's terrible as you say you can hit it yeah and play it for someone even if it's bad it's sound it's right there you know but a but a longer format type thing especially reading which just takes longer anyway for anyone music is so fast but um

00:27:52Guest:Yeah, it's harder to communicate.

00:27:54Guest:It's much more frustrating.

00:27:55Guest:It's easier to second guess you.

00:27:56Guest:That's why I admire someone who spends eight years writing a novel.

00:27:59Guest:It's crazy.

00:28:00Guest:Unbelievable to me.

00:28:01Guest:It's crazy.

00:28:01Guest:Unbelievable.

00:28:02Marc:And also, there's so much more room for insecurity.

00:28:05Guest:When you're writing, you're like, that's terrible.

00:28:07Guest:I know.

00:28:08Guest:I know.

00:28:08Guest:And I think much more room for totally losing perspective.

00:28:15Guest:Yeah.

00:28:15Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:28:16Guest:Because with music, you can be listening to something, your ears can get burned out, but I feel like you can reset it pretty quickly and you can also play it for people.

00:28:23Guest:Right.

00:28:24Guest:But if you've written like 400 pages or something, how do you ask someone to... And what a chore.

00:28:30Guest:You have to be pretty close to that person.

00:28:32Guest:I admire that and fine art so much.

00:28:35Guest:You admire the ability for someone to say, here's 400 pages.

00:28:38Guest:Well, first of all, I admire anyone who can just read 400 pages.

00:28:40Guest:I know.

00:28:41Guest:I can't read very well.

00:28:42Guest:I'm so slow.

00:28:43Guest:Fine arts too?

00:28:45Guest:Well anyone who can like draw something it's paint.

00:28:48Marc:Oh My amazing paintings is mind-blowing.

00:28:51Marc:How you know when something's done?

00:28:52Marc:I don't know Jefferson the movie in the mystery of Picasso.

00:28:54Guest:No watch this movie documentary.

00:28:56Guest:Yeah, it's him painting Showing him painting in the black and white.

00:28:59Guest:Yeah, that's the one yeah Yeah, I've seen bits of that.

00:29:01Guest:I don't think you should it's get credit cuz it's you keep you see I mean

00:29:07Guest:he does a painting many times and each time I'm like, that's done.

00:29:13Guest:And it keeps going and makes it even better.

00:29:15Marc:So how'd you get into, like, I know while we're on the music, so on the solo music, you did some stuff that was, you know, kind of got some airplay and was used in movies and you track some stuff in some of your shows and things?

00:29:27Guest:Sure, yeah, yeah, for sure.

00:29:28Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:29:28Marc:Is that part of the deal or you just kind of throw your hat in the ring?

00:29:30Guest:Like, can I do it?

00:29:31Guest:I did the theme song for Bored to Death.

00:29:33Marc:Yeah.

00:29:34Guest:And, um...

00:29:35Guest:I'm not sure, I feel like I said, like, let me have a whack at it, but don't, it's not.

00:29:41Guest:Right, it wasn't a deal.

00:29:42Guest:Other people, yeah.

00:29:43Guest:Right.

00:29:44Guest:But it was, that was a really fun experience.

00:29:47Guest:Ames is a trip.

00:29:48Guest:He's the best.

00:29:49Guest:My best, he's my best friend.

00:29:51Guest:Is he?

00:29:51Guest:Yeah.

00:29:52Guest:He married my wife and I. Did he?

00:29:54Guest:Yeah.

00:29:55Guest:He gave a speech that was so beautiful.

00:29:58Guest:It was unbelievable.

00:30:01Guest:Yeah, he's a special guy.

00:30:03Guest:Yeah, he's the best.

00:30:07Guest:With that song, I kept lying in these emails saying, yeah, I've got an idea for a song.

00:30:15Guest:Can we have it by this day?

00:30:17Guest:I won't have it, but I will tell you that it's got this walking bass line.

00:30:20Guest:I kept throwing out...

00:30:21Guest:To hold you over.

00:30:23Guest:Phrases.

00:30:23Guest:And then it was time to write it.

00:30:24Guest:I had to look at all my emails and see everything I had lied about already existing.

00:30:28Guest:And then it was pretty easy to write it because I had all these constraints.

00:30:31Guest:Like walking bass lines, some of these lyrics, this thing.

00:30:33Guest:I was like, okay.

00:30:34Guest:What happened to that show?

00:30:35Guest:It got canceled the way that... Just like that?

00:30:40Guest:Yeah, it was, you know...

00:30:41Guest:It was a unique show.

00:30:42Guest:It was a fun show.

00:30:43Guest:Who knows why these things get canceled.

00:30:45Guest:And I will say that I loved working at HBO.

00:30:48Guest:They were really cool.

00:30:49Guest:And if they were like, we would like to do it again, I would totally do it.

00:30:53Guest:And it was the best because Zach and Ted and Jonathan, it was, you know, those hours are pretty hard, but they're so much more enjoyable when you've got these guys that are just...

00:31:04Guest:Pros and funny.

00:31:05Guest:Literally, oh, like my face would just be hurting.

00:31:08Guest:And I know like after some 18-hour days, I'd go home so tired, go to bed and wake up so excited to go see those guys.

00:31:17Guest:Like almost like when you've got a crush on someone.

00:31:19Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:31:19Guest:It's the beginning and it doesn't matter.

00:31:22Guest:Right.

00:31:22Guest:You know, like what are they going to say today?

00:31:25Guest:Yeah.

00:31:25Guest:And I loved it and it was sad and it was a little sad because Jonathan was telling me all about season four.

00:31:31Guest:Yeah.

00:31:32Guest:So I had this, he kind of had it all figured out and then when it got canceled,

00:31:36Guest:there was no season four and then I was so confused because what do I do with this information in my brain you know it's like I've been fantasizing about something I know what's gonna happen but you know I'm happy we even got the chance to do it it's such a one in a million chance to like get the thing to go to get the script bot to get the pilot oh yeah it's like you know the process is insane yeah so even that I and I truly mean that it was like I'm so thankful we even got it yeah but yeah I would have loved to have had more

00:32:01Marc:How'd you, so how'd the acting start?

00:32:04Guest:It started, um, in a very odd way, which is that, um, uh, a few years before I was in my band, I mean, uh, before Rushmore, I was making records with my band, um, but I also had written a play.

00:32:16Guest:Yeah.

00:32:17Guest:Because I liked, I liked plays, and, um, my, my Uncle Francis has this, like, this estate in Napa, and, um,

00:32:24Guest:And he's just a fun person who decided one summer we would have creativity camp.

00:32:30Guest:So he put out this open invitation to everyone in our family, anyone who wants to come up, paint, make short films, do plays, anything.

00:32:37Guest:I was so excited and I was going into my ninth grade and I was, yes, great.

00:32:42Guest:I wrote a play.

00:32:44Guest:And...

00:32:45Guest:went up there and we had like props and stuff and I got super into it.

00:32:50Guest:Anyway, my cousin Sophia, she directed a play.

00:32:54Guest:And I was in, I had like a small partner play.

00:32:55Guest:It was just all of us having fun.

00:32:57Guest:It was the best.

00:32:58Marc:Who was the audience?

00:32:59Marc:Just family or did people come in?

00:33:01Marc:People from Napa.

00:33:03Marc:Oh, they came at the final, how long was it?

00:33:06Marc:Yeah, one night.

00:33:07Marc:But you were up there for a week or so or what?

00:33:09Guest:I was up there for 10 days.

00:33:11Marc:Okay, doing prep?

00:33:13Guest:Yeah, like prepping and directing, and it was just for fun, and it was really cool.

00:33:18Marc:Now, who was involved?

00:33:19Marc:So Sophia directed a play.

00:33:21Guest:She did one, and my uncle did one, and my cousin Christopher was in my play.

00:33:25Guest:Yeah.

00:33:25Guest:And my Aunt Allie made a short movie.

00:33:30Marc:Now, where does Nick come into the family thing?

00:33:33Marc:He wasn't there.

00:33:35Marc:Yeah, he's older.

00:33:36Guest:Yeah, he's older than me, but that's not why he was there.

00:33:41Guest:I think he was probably working.

00:33:42Marc:Was he around when you were a kid?

00:33:45Guest:Sometimes.

00:33:46Guest:Not as much.

00:33:46Guest:I think he was really trying to make it happen.

00:33:51Marc:Obviously, it's hard to... Do you have a relationship with him?

00:33:53Guest:yeah yeah yeah really yeah i love i love him so much and growing up yeah he was older than me and it's like that that guy's your cousin i was like wow that guy i didn't really know no one at the time i was like fuck this guy's the coolest yeah right i mean and also his um you know that's his

00:34:13Guest:His boisterousness and his love for life and words.

00:34:17Guest:That's how everyone in my family talks.

00:34:20Guest:It's loud and thoughtful.

00:34:23Guest:So I just thought he was the coolest.

00:34:26Marc:So you go up for the camp.

00:34:29Guest:So I went up for the camp.

00:34:29Guest:Now, fast forward to that was when I was 15.

00:34:32Guest:So when I was 17 years old, I was in the middle of making a record.

00:34:36Guest:I was going to my senior year of high school.

00:34:38Guest:And my grandfather, Carmine, who had passed away, had written a score for a movie.

00:34:46Guest:And my uncle, to celebrate it, was going to have the score played live in Napa.

00:34:52Guest:And he was inviting lots of people from San Francisco.

00:34:57Guest:It was a charity-type event, I believe.

00:34:59Guest:I'm not totally sure, but I wasn't supposed to go anyway.

00:35:01Guest:My mom was going and last minute, she's like, you got to come.

00:35:05Guest:It's my father's music.

00:35:06Guest:You got to hear my father's music and this score.

00:35:09Guest:So I rented a tuxedo and we went up.

00:35:12Guest:And at this party, there was a woman there named Davia Nelson, who was a local casting director in San Francisco.

00:35:22Guest:And because she's from San Francisco, my family's from San Francisco,

00:35:26Guest:She knew Roman, my cousin, and Sophia.

00:35:29Guest:Anyway, they were friends, and they were talking, and my cousin said, what are you up to?

00:35:34Guest:And she said, I'm the San Francisco wing of the casting for this movie Rushmore.

00:35:42Guest:And my cousin said, what's it about?

00:35:43Guest:And she said, it's about an eccentric 15-year-old who writes plays and is a crush on an older woman.

00:35:49Guest:And she said, oh, it's funny.

00:35:50Guest:That sounds kind of like my cousin Jason.

00:35:53Guest:And she said, really?

00:35:54Guest:And he said, yeah, he's right over there.

00:35:56Guest:And I had rented, I think, like a tuxedo with tails.

00:36:00Guest:And I had a hat and a cane maybe.

00:36:02Guest:It was just like a clown.

00:36:03Guest:I was a classic type of clown person.

00:36:06Guest:And...

00:36:08Guest:she invited me over to come meet this.

00:36:10Guest:This is Davia.

00:36:11Guest:And then she walked away and then Davia started telling me what, that she was casting for this movie and what I like to audition.

00:36:19Guest:And I said, well...

00:36:22Guest:I am a drummer.

00:36:24Guest:I'm not an actor.

00:36:25Guest:And she said, well, no, but Sophia said you were in her play and that you might have some things in common with this character.

00:36:29Guest:And I said, yeah, but, and also there's a little bit of a drummer mentality in full effect at this time, which is, are you sure you don't want to talk to the lead singer?

00:36:38Guest:Yeah, right.

00:36:40Guest:That was sort of my, like, and in general, that was sort of my high school experience.

00:36:43Guest:Right, right.

00:36:43Guest:Was the middleman, the broker.

00:36:46Guest:Yeah.

00:36:47Guest:For a lot of, for the other guys, for the girls.

00:36:49Guest:Support.

00:36:50Guest:Yeah.

00:36:52Guest:So there was a little bit of that residue on me of, I think you might have the wrong guy.

00:36:57Guest:Right.

00:36:58Guest:And she said, no, no, I think you should audition.

00:36:59Guest:I said, I'm not an actor.

00:37:00Guest:I've never auditioned.

00:37:01Guest:Anyways.

00:37:02Yeah.

00:37:03Guest:I mean, it's silly that I would even.

00:37:05Guest:So I said, I live in L.A.

00:37:08Guest:She said, well, that's where the casting office is.

00:37:10Guest:What's your address?

00:37:11Guest:We'll send you the script.

00:37:12Guest:This was on a weekend.

00:37:13Guest:I got home, and on Monday, this manila envelope arrived with Rushmore.

00:37:18Guest:It was the first script I'd ever read.

00:37:19Guest:And I remember reading it thinking, holy shit.

00:37:24Guest:Like, this is everything that I love.

00:37:27Guest:And at that time, I hadn't really seen a lot of movies that...

00:37:31Guest:were what I was into.

00:37:33Guest:Right.

00:37:33Guest:It was more music that I was... Right.

00:37:35Guest:I loved movies.

00:37:37Guest:And I saw a lot of weird movies.

00:37:39Guest:Right.

00:37:39Guest:I had a really instrumental... My friend, Brett Berg, who helps run CineFamily now, went to high school with me.

00:37:46Guest:And he was always bringing over, like, Human Highway, the new young movie.

00:37:49Guest:Yeah.

00:37:50Guest:Listomania.

00:37:50Guest:It was fun movies since we were in eighth grade.

00:37:53Guest:We were watching weird movies.

00:37:54Guest:Yeah.

00:37:55Guest:But I had never seen, like, a movie that was a...

00:37:58Guest:got me like the way music did.

00:38:00Guest:Right.

00:38:01Guest:That kind of fuzzy feeling.

00:38:02Guest:Yeah.

00:38:03Guest:When I was reading the script, I was thinking, holy shit, this is like everything that I think about.

00:38:09Guest:I really connected to it.

00:38:11Guest:When I called the casting person, I said, my name's Jason Schwartzman.

00:38:14Guest:I met Davia Nelson in San Francisco.

00:38:16Guest:And she goes, yes, we have you down for Friday.

00:38:18Guest:I said, so what do I do?

00:38:19Guest:I've never been to an audition.

00:38:20Guest:What do I wear?

00:38:22Guest:Yeah.

00:38:23Guest:And she said, you wear whatever makes you feel comfortable.

00:38:25Guest:Okay.

00:38:26Guest:And because I was a clown and because this was such a, it felt, it didn't feel like a goof.

00:38:31Guest:I didn't think of it as like, this is a joke.

00:38:34Guest:Yeah.

00:38:34Guest:But I definitely thought of it as, I'm not going to get this.

00:38:37Guest:Right.

00:38:37Guest:So, what's the... You know?

00:38:39Guest:Yeah.

00:38:39Guest:So, I decided to, like, get fully into the wardrobe of the character.

00:38:45Guest:So, I got some khaki pants.

00:38:46Guest:I got a blazer.

00:38:47Guest:My friend and I, Mike, we made a patch.

00:38:50Guest:Yeah.

00:38:50Guest:Velcroed it on.

00:38:51Guest:I got really into it.

00:38:52Guest:Like a shield thing?

00:38:53Guest:Yeah.

00:38:53Guest:And...

00:38:55Guest:Anyway, basically, my attitude was like, I'm not going to get it, but I will be remembered.

00:38:59Guest:Right.

00:39:00Guest:How old were you?

00:39:00Guest:17.

00:39:01Guest:Yeah.

00:39:01Guest:And I went in, and there were a couple other kids dressed up in the same kind of outfit, which is definitely a bummer.

00:39:06Guest:I was like, oh, fuck.

00:39:07Marc:Can't even make my big show.

00:39:08Guest:Guess we all know this party trick.

00:39:10Guest:Yeah.

00:39:10Guest:um and i sat in a room with a bunch of kids you know and it's definitely a feeling that i did not like which is these other kids kind of sitting there everyone's looking at each other i'm like this sucks yeah um it felt like every man for himself right which i don't like i don't like competition and i'm very competitive with myself but not i don't like to compete and so i thought why do you have a feeling like there's like you're gonna lose yeah right yeah yeah

00:39:35Marc:Yeah, why am I even here?

00:39:37Guest:Yeah, so I was like, so anyway, yeah, like my wife, for instance, she loves to compete.

00:39:44Guest:Like she would say like when she was little, she'd be on the way to like a soccer game and she'd just be like, I can't wait to get there and get on the field and kick their ass.

00:39:51Guest:And I remember being a kid like on the way to baseball games.

00:39:54Guest:Dad, I think I might have a stomach infection.

00:39:58Guest:I'm trying to weasel my way out of anything.

00:40:01Marc:I'm the same way, man.

00:40:03Marc:I envy people that have a healthy sense of competition.

00:40:06Marc:Yeah, because they don't beat up on themselves.

00:40:09Marc:You're given...

00:40:10Marc:Like with your kids, make sure they play soccer.

00:40:13Guest:Well, I'm trying to definitely... That was a big thing for me in my life was to not display that for my own children.

00:40:21Guest:Since they've been born, I've been trying to say yes to things that I typically would say no to.

00:40:25Guest:Right.

00:40:25Guest:A lot of stuff which is kind of like fear-based stuff because I guess it's just basic stuff.

00:40:31Guest:I don't want them to overhear me saying...

00:40:35Guest:I can't go to that.

00:40:36Guest:I'm too afraid.

00:40:36Guest:What if I mess up?

00:40:37Guest:Right.

00:40:39Guest:You think about it, I mean, in a way that I never had before.

00:40:42Guest:But you were forced to play Little League?

00:40:44Guest:Well, I loved it.

00:40:45Guest:You did.

00:40:45Guest:I loved it once it started, but I didn't love being over there on the way to the game, and you get out of the car and the smell of the grass, and you hear the sound of a ball hitting a mat and a coach going, Johnny, try and hit the... I'm just not into coaches.

00:40:58Guest:The whole thing was just...

00:41:01Guest:Even now thinking about it makes me feel terrible.

00:41:03Guest:Yeah.

00:41:04Guest:But I guess I also loved it too.

00:41:06Guest:You know, cleats.

00:41:07Marc:Yeah.

00:41:08Guest:Juice boxes.

00:41:08Guest:There's something about it too I love.

00:41:10Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:41:11Marc:I just didn't like to have the pressure.

00:41:13Marc:You know, like that ball's coming.

00:41:14Guest:I know.

00:41:15Marc:Oh God.

00:41:16Marc:I know.

00:41:16Marc:What position were you?

00:41:17Marc:Catcher.

00:41:18Marc:Oh, so you were stationary, kind of.

00:41:21Guest:Yeah.

00:41:21Marc:But it was a big job.

00:41:22Marc:Yeah, it sucked.

00:41:25Marc:I was in center field, and I just sat out there hoping nobody hit the ball.

00:41:28Guest:Yeah, I know.

00:41:29Guest:I know.

00:41:30Guest:I didn't like batting.

00:41:31Guest:I don't know.

00:41:31Guest:That's the thing.

00:41:32Guest:That's the thing I really didn't like.

00:41:34Guest:You didn't like it?

00:41:34Guest:No, batting.

00:41:35Marc:It's a ball.

00:41:36Marc:You're going to get hit by the ball.

00:41:37Guest:I was like, jeez.

00:41:38Guest:It's terrifying.

00:41:39Guest:Why am I going to get hit?

00:41:40Guest:Why am I going to do this?

00:41:41Guest:I know.

00:41:42Guest:So what were we doing?

00:41:43Marc:What did you like about it?

00:41:44Marc:The juice box?

00:41:45Guest:i think that i liked i think that i did love um the camaraderie right right and i mean i'm a i'm a solitary i like lonely activities yeah but i also love like i love to be on a movie set because i love everyone helping each other right so i think there was something about that that looking around like all right third base yeah shortstop yeah second base first base pitcher myself

00:42:09Guest:We are the infields.

00:42:10Guest:I think there was something nice about that.

00:42:12Marc:As long as all the pressure's not on you, I think.

00:42:14Marc:It's my feeling.

00:42:15Guest:It's like, I hope the other guy... No, even recently, my cousin got married.

00:42:20Guest:We had a family softball tournament.

00:42:23Guest:Our family against their family.

00:42:24Guest:Then I had to be catcher.

00:42:27Guest:And a ball got hit.

00:42:28Guest:And way out in the outfield, someone was rounding the base.

00:42:30Guest:And all I was thinking was like...

00:42:32Guest:Please, please let this guy beat the ball.

00:42:35Guest:Yeah, get out.

00:42:36Guest:Please don't even let it be an issue with the boss to come in at the same time as this guy trying to cross the base.

00:42:42Guest:What happened?

00:42:43Guest:It came in right and I missed the tag.

00:42:45Guest:Yeah.

00:42:46Guest:So the worst happened.

00:42:47Marc:It happened, but it was okay.

00:42:48Marc:We won.

00:42:49Marc:Oh, good.

00:42:49Marc:We won.

00:42:50Marc:All right, so you're sitting in this room with a bunch of guys in blazers.

00:42:52Guest:Anyways, yeah, I go in, and finally, one by one, they go in, I go in, and Wes Anderson was sitting in there.

00:42:58Guest:He was 27.

00:42:59Guest:And I remember instantly seeing he had Converse sandals, which I had never seen before.

00:43:04Guest:I'm tired of talking about those.

00:43:05Guest:And then this was 1997.

00:43:08Guest:In 1996, Pinkerton came out, and the Weezer record, and that was a huge record when it came out.

00:43:16Guest:Someone had, like, an advanced copy of Pinkerton, hearing it in a car, and...

00:43:21Guest:I love the Blue Album, and that record blew the lid off my roof.

00:43:26Guest:Yeah.

00:43:27Guest:Pinkerton, it was it.

00:43:28Guest:Yeah.

00:43:29Guest:And for me.

00:43:31Guest:And talking to Wes about Pinkerton for like 20 minutes.

00:43:35Guest:Really?

00:43:35Guest:Yeah.

00:43:36Guest:And it took my mind totally off the audition.

00:43:38Guest:And then he was like, should we read it?

00:43:41Guest:And I think I might have said, let's not.

00:43:44Guest:This was so good.

00:43:46Yeah.

00:43:46Guest:It was so nice meeting you.

00:43:47Guest:Let's just leave it.

00:43:48Guest:Good.

00:43:48Guest:And I'll leave.

00:43:50Guest:And he said, no, let's read.

00:43:52Guest:And then anyway, we read it.

00:43:54Guest:And because it was my first audition, I didn't know if it was good or bad.

00:43:56Guest:And then we started to improvise.

00:43:57Guest:And then he said, why don't you stick around for a little bit?

00:43:59Guest:I'm going to read some other people.

00:44:00Guest:And then he actually had me come in and be Bill Murray.

00:44:03Guest:and audition people to play the Bill Murray's kids part.

00:44:07Guest:And I went home.

00:44:08Guest:My mom said, how'd it go?

00:44:09Guest:I was like, I think it was good.

00:44:10Guest:I spent a few hours there.

00:44:11Guest:A few hours?

00:44:12Guest:That's good.

00:44:14Guest:But she helped me, by the way, for that week, owning my lines and stuff.

00:44:18Guest:Did she give you any acting introduction?

00:44:21Guest:Just, she tried, you know, to like help me with stuff, but I was so, it's so overwhelming.

00:44:27Guest:Did she teach?

00:44:28Guest:No, but she should.

00:44:29Guest:Yeah.

00:44:30Guest:She's good with the teaching.

00:44:31Guest:She's a great teacher.

00:44:32Guest:And anyways, then I got a, then I guess it got narrowed down to myself and a few other people because I was unknown.

00:44:40Guest:I had to do a screen test.

00:44:41Guest:Right.

00:44:42Right.

00:44:42Guest:And I did a screen test.

00:44:44Guest:Yeah.

00:44:45Guest:And I got the part.

00:44:47Guest:And it all happened pretty quickly.

00:44:48Guest:And they were saying, yeah, you're going to be in this movie with Bill Murray.

00:44:52Guest:And it just felt like a dream.

00:44:54Guest:And, you know, I started my senior year of high school thinking I was going to finish my record, which I did.

00:45:00Guest:But I did not expect to be in Houston with Bill Murray, you know, at the start of the school year.

00:45:04Marc:And you grew up watching his movies.

00:45:06Marc:Yeah.

00:45:07Marc:And he's a pretty amazing character.

00:45:08Guest:Yeah, he's the one.

00:45:09Guest:Yeah.

00:45:10Guest:He's the chosen one.

00:45:12Guest:He's the golden child.

00:45:14Guest:And you got along with him pretty well?

00:45:16Guest:Yeah, I think so.

00:45:18Guest:And then, but I went back and I didn't actually think, well, now I'm an actor.

00:45:24Guest:I went back and I didn't have an agent.

00:45:26Marc:After you shot?

00:45:27Guest:Yeah, I went back to school, kept going on my record.

00:45:29Guest:And that was it, you know, trying to finish the...

00:45:33Guest:the record in school yeah and then like what and it happened and it basically happened that i finished my record and then rushmore and my album came out within a few months of each other yeah and it was a little frustrating at the time because any press would say ah an actor with a band uh with a band and i was thinking isn't it the other way around right you know i'm for me i didn't care but it's probably hard on my band um but uh that's basically how it started and um

00:46:00Marc:It was such a weird defining role.

00:46:03Marc:I mean, when you watch the movie, it's a weird movie.

00:46:05Marc:Yeah.

00:46:05Marc:There's no movie like it.

00:46:06Marc:No.

00:46:07Marc:And you're this guy no one's ever seen before.

00:46:09Guest:Yeah.

00:46:09Marc:And it's so defined in such a... The intensity of it.

00:46:13Marc:Yeah.

00:46:14Marc:But it took a while before someone said, like, let's put him in another movie?

00:46:18Guest:Well...

00:46:18Guest:I don't fully remember how it all happened, but I just know that I didn't have an agent for a little while, and then I got an agent and started to get scripts, and it seemed like, okay, so what is this plan now?

00:46:31Guest:What is the game plan?

00:46:32Guest:Yeah.

00:46:34Guest:I really was adamant about, I wanted to do another movie because I loved it so much.

00:46:40Guest:I also really wanted to make my band, like to get the album out, to go on tour.

00:46:45Guest:I mean, these were things that I dreamed of since I was little.

00:46:48Guest:So I was really trying to do both.

00:46:50Guest:And I think arguably I did both.

00:46:53Guest:I mean, I toured and I was able to be in movies and...

00:46:55Guest:Me leaving my band had nothing to do with wanting to pursue an acting career more obsessively.

00:47:02Guest:It was just its own timing had ended.

00:47:04Guest:Was it sad?

00:47:08Guest:To leave?

00:47:08Guest:Yeah.

00:47:09Guest:For sure.

00:47:09Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:47:12Guest:because i loved i love i loved the guys i mean i love the guys and i love being in a studio and making music and i think the thing that helped make it a little bit better was knowing that oh just because i'm leaving doesn't mean i'm leaving music i'm just leaving the situation right um where honestly the touring thing was pretty it was not the best lifestyle for me in terms of um

00:47:35Guest:That, you know, being on the road and a lot of time during the day leading up to just 45 minutes on a stage seemed odd and I couldn't get into a rhythm.

00:47:46Guest:I'm much more of a homebody and I think I'm also more productive when I have my things around me and I'm trying to make stuff.

00:47:53Marc:There's a loneliness that happens out there where you're just sort of at a shitty hotel in a part of town where nothing is.

00:48:00Marc:That's the truth.

00:48:00Guest:You wake up, you're going to walk out in a parking lot, you're like, where am I?

00:48:04Guest:It's sad.

00:48:04Guest:Yeah, and I also, I grew up with brothers and I'm pretty good with sharing, but I think also it's just a thing of...

00:48:13Guest:well, whose cereal is this?

00:48:16Guest:Can you move this?

00:48:17Guest:But I just wasn't into it.

00:48:18Guest:You know, like, who ate my cereal?

00:48:19Guest:And just like socks and stinkiness.

00:48:23Guest:Cereal problem.

00:48:24Guest:Just like waking up wet and not knowing with what and how.

00:48:29Guest:One time the singer of my band told me when we were on tour, he said, I woke up this morning covered in broken glass.

00:48:34Guest:And to me, that summed up the existential conundrum.

00:48:38Guest:He's like, I don't know where it came from.

00:48:40Guest:There's nothing else broken in the room.

00:48:42Guest:I don't know why I broke a glass.

00:48:43Guest:And I was like, this is not a good life.

00:48:45Guest:Were you guys drinking?

00:48:45Guest:This is not what I was intended.

00:48:48Guest:We would drink, yeah, for sure.

00:48:50Guest:For sure.

00:48:50Marc:But not too crazy?

00:48:52Marc:You don't strike me as a drug guy.

00:48:55Guest:No, I mean, I drink.

00:48:57Guest:Yeah.

00:48:57Guest:I love to drink, but more like at home.

00:49:02Guest:Yeah.

00:49:03Guest:More alone.

00:49:04Guest:That's good.

00:49:05Guest:You drink alone when the kids are asleep.

00:49:07Marc:When you're recording.

00:49:08Guest:Or, yeah, I don't like to have a drink if my kids are awake.

00:49:11Guest:That's the truth.

00:49:13Guest:But after, I have a nightcap and watch SportsCenter and do music and stuff.

00:49:18Guest:But I'm never a beer person.

00:49:21Marc:No.

00:49:22Marc:What do you drink?

00:49:23Guest:I like tequila, vodka, or gin.

00:49:25Guest:Just straight.

00:49:26Marc:Yeah?

00:49:27Marc:Nice.

00:49:28Marc:I love it.

00:49:29Marc:All right, so now, okay, so you're out of the band.

00:49:31Marc:You're an actor.

00:49:33Mm-hmm.

00:49:33Marc:And then, but like, let's talk about Bill Murray for a second.

00:49:35Marc:Did you, because you had to learn on the job, right?

00:49:38Marc:Yeah.

00:49:39Marc:Did he help you?

00:49:40Marc:Did Wes help you?

00:49:41Marc:I mean, what, because you have this sort of defined style, which is who you are.

00:49:44Guest:I couldn't have done it without Wes.

00:49:48Guest:He was my, he's my mentor and he's my best friend too.

00:49:51Guest:And we still work together and, and he definitely, it was just like great timing because I think, you know, he really was,

00:50:02Guest:asking me about what I thought about things and showing me movies.

00:50:09Guest:Like what?

00:50:10Guest:I had never seen, I had never heard of Francois Truffaut.

00:50:13Guest:Right.

00:50:14Guest:And it's just like that mentor comes into your life and starts showing you stuff.

00:50:18Marc:And you're that young too, so you're very impressionable.

00:50:20Guest:You're so impressionable, yeah.

00:50:21Guest:And it's just like someone who really comes in and...

00:50:24Guest:is just enough older than you that they're a mentor and just young enough that they're, yeah, and just showing me movies and show me books.

00:50:33Guest:He showed you Truffaut.

00:50:34Marc:He showed you Truffaut.

00:50:35Guest:Yeah, Truffaut and, you know, like just watching Martin Scorsese movies and all kinds of stuff and just kind of getting my mind blown, opening up a whole new world of real like cinephile,

00:50:52Guest:stuff like that there was a whole that there was a whole world of this stuff out there that that i could i was i really felt like where was this well it's so funny because your your uncle's got to be one of the biggest cinephiles in the world sure yeah but but you don't have that relationship with him and he's your uncle yeah i mean now we talk about stuff all the time but it's not like uh but not really even i mean i don't even it's yeah i don't uh it comes up just because he loves movies but i don't go hey

00:51:19Guest:Yay or nay?

00:51:19Guest:Truffaut?

00:51:20Guest:You know, I don't get into that stuff.

00:51:21Marc:I saw your... But he loved movies.

00:51:24Marc:When I was in college, I went and saw his reissue or the re-edit of that Obelgance's Napoleon with your grandfather's score.

00:51:34Marc:That's the score that I was going to see in San Francisco.

00:51:36Marc:I saw it played live with the movie.

00:51:38Guest:That's...

00:51:38Guest:That was the same thing.

00:51:40Marc:Yeah, that's amazing that you saw that.

00:51:42Marc:Oh, yeah, with the triptych, with the three screens.

00:51:44Guest:Yeah, three screens.

00:51:44Marc:Yeah, it was crazy.

00:51:45Marc:Yeah, it was beautiful.

00:51:46Marc:Yeah, I mean, I was very into it when I was in college.

00:51:48Guest:That's so, what a weird connection.

00:51:50Guest:That's exactly the thing.

00:51:51Guest:That was 1997.

00:51:52Marc:So, but that's interesting.

00:51:53Marc:So it took Wes, because I guess when you're with your family, it's your family.

00:51:56Marc:But, I mean, you had seen...

00:51:58Marc:Your mother's work, you had seen The Godfather.

00:52:01Guest:I saw The Godfather for the first time when I was 16.

00:52:04Guest:Yeah.

00:52:05Guest:Not before, and I'd seen Rocky, and I loved it.

00:52:10Guest:Yeah.

00:52:11Guest:And my mom's very shy, and it was probably weird for her.

00:52:16Guest:We'd walk around, and the idea, Yo, Adrian, was such a big... Oh, so people would do that to her?

00:52:20Guest:People would shout it, and she's like, oh, thank you.

00:52:22Guest:She's very embarrassed.

00:52:23Guest:And I remember thinking at a young age, why is everyone saying this to her?

00:52:26Yeah.

00:52:26Guest:It's not her name.

00:52:27Guest:It's not who they might have.

00:52:29Guest:Why are they always confusing her?

00:52:30Guest:And, you know, then she taught me about it a little bit.

00:52:32Guest:But she's a very private person.

00:52:34Guest:And, yeah, but I saw, like, going to my uncle's, you know, like he showed, I saw, like, he showed Apocalypse Now once to us and to our family, a bunch of people, like a new print of it or something.

00:52:47Guest:And we watched movies like, we watched Yellow Submarine when I was little.

00:52:51Guest:And this movie, A Prick Up Your Ear,

00:52:53Guest:Pick up your ears.

00:52:54Guest:I saw that when I was like six.

00:52:55Guest:With Gary Oldham?

00:52:56Guest:Yeah, I was like, what the fuck?

00:52:59Guest:So there were definitely things like that floating around, but more older movies.

00:53:02Guest:I'm talking specifically like these kind of 60s, 70s things.

00:53:06Guest:Sure, I know, right.

00:53:07Guest:And then you start to get into it.

00:53:10Marc:French New Wave movies.

00:53:12Guest:That, yeah, for sure.

00:53:13Marc:Well, that must have helped you with Huckabees.

00:53:15Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:53:16Guest:That's a bizarre... It just got me into the world of paying closer attention to those things.

00:53:21Guest:Art films.

00:53:23Marc:Mm-hmm.

00:53:23Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:53:24Marc:Was that the next big movie you did, Huckabees?

00:53:26Guest:There were a few in the middle, but I would say that I really loved.

00:53:30Guest:Right.

00:53:32Guest:But that was, yeah, that I would say would be the next...

00:53:34Guest:Bigger one.

00:53:34Marc:And like Murray, did he?

00:53:36Guest:So Bill Murray, yeah.

00:53:37Guest:He was like, so when I met him, it was very intimidating.

00:53:42Guest:Yeah.

00:53:42Guest:And as you can imagine.

00:53:43Guest:Yeah.

00:53:45Guest:And in the beginning, I think it was he was trying to get his footing and I was probably freaked out and starstruck.

00:53:50Guest:Right.

00:53:51Guest:But after a while, I think that we, he really kind of...

00:53:57Guest:He really kind of got behind me and really helped me.

00:54:01Guest:And I couldn't have done it without him either, you know, and his support.

00:54:05Guest:And for sure, Wes.

00:54:06Guest:I mean, Wes did a thing where I was in Houston.

00:54:09Guest:I was 17.

00:54:10Guest:He was two doors down from me in the hotel.

00:54:11Guest:And every night he would have dinner with me.

00:54:13Guest:And we would talk about the scenes the next day.

00:54:15Guest:I mean, he really helped me.

00:54:18Marc:He's like a very specific, like as he evolved as a director...

00:54:21Marc:It's like every frame is a jewelry box or something.

00:54:25Guest:Sure, yeah.

00:54:26Marc:It's like you're looking at some meticulously organized... He has a vision, you know, totally a vision.

00:54:31Marc:Yeah, completely visual in a lot of ways.

00:54:34Marc:Yeah, very much.

00:54:34Marc:And it's mind-blowing.

00:54:36Guest:Yeah, it is.

00:54:36Marc:I've never seen anybody construct something like that.

00:54:38Guest:Nor have I, but it's really a beautiful thing to see.

00:54:43Guest:He has an emotional kind of similar thing where he has an idea for a tone that he wants to try to get and...

00:54:49Guest:I love him so, so much.

00:54:52Guest:And I'm glad to say that our friendship and our working relationship to this day continues to evolve.

00:54:58Guest:And I think it's, you know, great when you can find someone that you want to, that you can work with and that you want to work with over and over again.

00:55:05Guest:Because I think that there's less chit chat every time.

00:55:08Guest:Right.

00:55:09Guest:Just get more...

00:55:10Marc:deep or go to the work more quickly.

00:55:13Marc:Right.

00:55:13Marc:Oh, yeah, because you have a shorthand.

00:55:14Marc:And you're less embarrassed.

00:55:16Marc:And there's a whole crew of those guys that come from Texas, isn't there?

00:55:18Guest:Sure.

00:55:19Guest:The Wilson brothers.

00:55:20Guest:Yeah, Owen and Luke.

00:55:21Guest:Andrew.

00:55:21Marc:Yeah, for sure.

00:55:23Marc:How many new movies have you done with them?

00:55:24Marc:Four?

00:55:25Marc:Three or four?

00:55:25Guest:With Wes?

00:55:26Marc:With Wes.

00:55:27Marc:I don't know.

00:55:28Marc:Oh.

00:55:29Marc:Let's see if we can figure it out.

00:55:30Marc:Darjeeling Limited.

00:55:32Guest:Rushmore.

00:55:33Guest:Darjeeling Limited.

00:55:36Guest:Fantastic Mr. Fox.

00:55:37Guest:Fantastic Mr. Fox.

00:55:38Guest:Grand Budapest Hotel.

00:55:39Guest:Moonrise Kingdom.

00:55:41Guest:Yeah.

00:55:41Guest:So five.

00:55:43Guest:Oh my God.

00:55:43Guest:And I did a short film Hotel Chevalier.

00:55:46Guest:Yeah.

00:55:46Marc:Five and a half.

00:55:47Marc:And then you worked with, so you worked with David O. Russell on that thing.

00:55:50Marc:That was amazing.

00:55:51Guest:Was it?

00:55:51Guest:The best.

00:55:52Guest:Yeah.

00:55:52Marc:It's a crazy movie.

00:55:53Guest:Yeah, it was so fun.

00:55:54Marc:I mean, I like that movie.

00:55:56Marc:I'm not sure I understand how someone decides to make a movie like that.

00:55:59Marc:Do you?

00:56:00Guest:Well, it was an amazing experience.

00:56:03Guest:And the thing that I always feel so deeply thankful or just blown away to David about and for was that before that movie, there was another movie we were supposed to make.

00:56:16Guest:Yeah.

00:56:18Guest:Right after Rushmore, I met him and he said, I've got a movie idea and I want to talk to you about it.

00:56:24Guest:And we sat down and it was this super in-depth movie about an ensemble movie.

00:56:32Guest:And it was going.

00:56:33Guest:I mean, it had a crew.

00:56:34Guest:It was a script.

00:56:36Guest:And there was a and I was prepared to do it.

00:56:39Guest:And we were talking about a meeting about it, having these meetings.

00:56:41Guest:And a few weeks before we started it, he called me on the phone really early in the morning and he said, hey, I'm just going to give you the call first before I call everybody else.

00:56:49Guest:I'm going to say that we're not going to do this movie.

00:56:52Guest:I'm going to pause this movie because it just doesn't feel right.

00:56:55Guest:And I don't want to do something unless it feels right.

00:56:58Guest:I promised myself I wouldn't do it.

00:57:00Guest:But I promise you, the next thing we do, you will be in it.

00:57:04Guest:I promise.

00:57:05Guest:I thought, okay, well, thank you.

00:57:06Guest:I was heartbroken because I was so ready to do this movie.

00:57:10Guest:Did that movie ever get made?

00:57:11Guest:No.

00:57:14Guest:What was it?

00:57:15Guest:Well, maybe he'll make it one day, so I don't ever want to say too much.

00:57:18Guest:But it involved a lot of music.

00:57:22Guest:I had written a lot of music for it.

00:57:23Guest:And anyways, I stayed in touch with David, but I had gone on tour and a little while had gone by.

00:57:34Guest:And then...

00:57:34Guest:One day I get a call from saying, where can I send you something?

00:57:38Guest:And then this package came, I opened it, and there was a script.

00:57:42Guest:It said, I don't know if it said I Heart Huckabees, it might have just said Untitled David Russell Movie, and a little note that said Lovingly Crafted for You, Love David Russell.

00:57:52Guest:And I read it, and it was I Heart Huckabees, and it blew my mind, and...

00:57:58Guest:Thus began our venture on that together, and it was about a year of me going to his house almost every day, and we'd go on hikes together, and I would sit.

00:58:10Guest:He's so busy that it was hard to schedule a meeting on the phone to talk about it, so I figured what I'll do is I'll just go to his house every day, and I'll sit in the other room, and I'll work on this movie, and if he has 10 minutes free, he can come in, and we can talk about it, and he can go back, and I'll just be there.

00:58:27Guest:And that's what I did.

00:58:28Guest:He was okay with that?

00:58:29Guest:Yeah, he loved it.

00:58:30Guest:Yeah.

00:58:31Guest:And so it was great for me.

00:58:32Guest:I would just go to his house and I'd set up like in this like den TV room, my script and notes.

00:58:37Guest:And I would make questions.

00:58:40Guest:And then if David is like, I got 45 minutes, I want to go for a walk.

00:58:42Guest:We just go for a walk and I kind of go over what I was thinking about.

00:58:44Guest:And that was how it evolved.

00:58:46Guest:It was amazing.

00:58:46Guest:And to this day, I kind of like the idea.

00:58:49Guest:I just like being close to the project.

00:58:51Marc:Yeah, that's very close.

00:58:52Guest:Extremely.

00:58:53Guest:Too close.

00:58:54Guest:You moved in with him.

00:58:55Guest:But I loved it, and it was the best.

00:58:57Guest:I have so many great experiences from it.

00:59:00Guest:I met Mark Wahlberg, who is... He's great.

00:59:03Guest:He's the coolest.

00:59:05Guest:He's really solid.

00:59:06Guest:He's amazing.

00:59:06Guest:He is.

00:59:07Guest:I love him.

00:59:08Marc:Isabella Huppert.

00:59:09Guest:Isabella Huppert, who is amazing.

00:59:11Guest:And Lily.

00:59:11Guest:Everybody was great.

00:59:12Guest:Naomi and Dustin Hoffman.

00:59:16Guest:Yeah.

00:59:17Marc:And Lily Tomlin.

00:59:18Guest:Yep, Lily Tomlin, who, as you know.

00:59:20Marc:Dustin Hoffman.

00:59:22Marc:How was that?

00:59:22Marc:And Jude Law.

00:59:23Marc:Jude Law, yeah.

00:59:24Marc:The best.

00:59:24Marc:It was a crazy movie.

00:59:25Marc:It was the best.

00:59:26Guest:I had such a great time, and to me, it wasn't crazy, because I guess I just knew it so deeply at that point, you know, talking to David about it.

00:59:37Marc:What were the talks about, though?

00:59:38Marc:I mean, like, because it's a... What would you call that, a farce?

00:59:43Marc:I mean, what is that movie?

00:59:44Guest:That's what Dustin would always say.

00:59:45Guest:He's like, hey, guys, it's a farce.

00:59:47Right.

00:59:47Guest:Remember, it's a farce.

00:59:51Guest:Is it?

00:59:52Guest:I never saw it as a farce.

00:59:53Guest:Well, what did you see it as?

00:59:55Guest:I saw it as, you know, I mean, you must know what it's like when you get so hyper-focused that you don't see everything.

01:00:03Guest:Right.

01:00:03Guest:And those are my favorite kind of movies anyways.

01:00:04Guest:It's my life.

01:00:05Guest:Yeah, exactly.

01:00:06Guest:Yeah, exactly.

01:00:08Guest:So, yeah, I just I thought it was about this guy who was at a breaking point, who started to see all these coincidences, thought it must have meant something more.

01:00:18Guest:And who could he go talk to?

01:00:19Guest:He needed guidance.

01:00:20Guest:And he found these existential detectives to help to help him sort out his life.

01:00:24Guest:And it made total sense to me.

01:00:28Guest:Because we would talk about it every day and we'd talk about coincidence and love and disaster and being confused and lost and sharing stories with each other.

01:00:36Guest:And by the time we got to shooting, it was a very serious movie about a guy going to existential detectives.

01:00:43Marc:For you it was.

01:00:43Guest:Yeah, for sure.

01:00:45Marc:For sure.

01:00:46Marc:And working with people like Hoffman having, you know, like again, even more so than Murray, that he had this guy with this...

01:00:53Marc:catalog of experience to see his process.

01:00:58Marc:What did you notice about him?

01:01:00Guest:Well, you have all the typical young actor stuff that's really funny.

01:01:04Guest:For instance, Dustin Hoffman means a lot to me on many levels.

01:01:10Guest:I hadn't seen The Graduate until I was about to go do Rushmore.

01:01:12Guest:My mom's...

01:01:13Guest:My mom read the script of Rushmore, and she said, I'll be right back.

01:01:16Guest:She went to Blockbuster, came back with three movies, Harold and Ma, The Graduate, and Dog Day Afternoon.

01:01:22Guest:I'd never seen them.

01:01:23Guest:And my life was changed instantly.

01:01:27Marc:Another mentor moment.

01:01:28Guest:Seriously.

01:01:28Marc:What was it about those movies?

01:01:30Marc:My mom tore.

01:01:31Marc:Mom tour.

01:01:32Guest:Dustin Hoffman and The Graduate.

01:01:34Guest:I couldn't believe it.

01:01:35Marc:I could see how that would have an impact or inform Rushmore.

01:01:39Guest:Yeah, it was just I had never seen a lead character like that.

01:01:42Marc:Yeah.

01:01:42Guest:And anyways... And Dog Day Afternoon?

01:01:46Guest:And Dog Day Afternoon was just insane because...

01:01:49Guest:To me, it was so funny.

01:01:50Marc:Yeah.

01:01:50Guest:He's so funny in it.

01:01:51Marc:Yeah, he's so vulnerable.

01:01:53Guest:I know.

01:01:53Marc:It's like the last time you saw him like that.

01:01:55Guest:I mean, when he's trying to jump up and put something on the camera, and the way he, if you watch the movie, there's a way he goes to the, he takes out his gun.

01:02:05Guest:He looks like he's holding a box of fire.

01:02:07Guest:I mean, it's just insane.

01:02:09Guest:It's so unhinged.

01:02:10Marc:What was the other one?

01:02:11Marc:Harold and Maude.

01:02:12Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:02:13Marc:Bud Court.

01:02:13Guest:Yeah.

01:02:14Guest:And so I love Dustin Hoffman.

01:02:16Guest:And when he told me I was going to be in it, I just, oh, my God.

01:02:19Marc:What about these young actor things?

01:02:21Guest:Well, so one is that I got this documentary that David had that was the making of Tootsie.

01:02:27Guest:Yeah.

01:02:29Guest:I saw that he was wearing a blue Lacoste shirt and he had this binder, uh, like a binder with a script.

01:02:34Guest:And I said, I'm going to wear a Lacoste shirt and have a binder too.

01:02:38Guest:Um, and it's, and it's great.

01:02:40Marc:You saw that in the Tootsie documentary?

01:02:41Guest:Yeah.

01:02:42Guest:I said, I'm going to become that.

01:02:43Guest:Yeah.

01:02:43Guest:That's what I'm going to be like.

01:02:44Guest:Yeah.

01:02:45Guest:And I remember your process.

01:02:46Guest:Yeah.

01:02:47Guest:Like just trying to figure it out.

01:02:48Guest:Cause I'm not a trained actor.

01:02:49Guest:So part of it's emulation.

01:02:50Guest:And, and, um, you know, also my, my father, he passed away when I was 13, 13, 14.

01:02:57Guest:And, um,

01:02:58Guest:So I learned how to shave from watching The Graduate.

01:03:01Guest:Right.

01:03:03Guest:Because he like, he shaves in it a lot.

01:03:05Guest:Yeah.

01:03:06Guest:And so I like, you know, that's being a fan.

01:03:09Guest:You put a lot on people's thoughts.

01:03:10Guest:I do.

01:03:11Guest:I remember Dustin came for this table read and I went in the bathroom.

01:03:14Guest:I like locked myself in.

01:03:14Guest:I couldn't come out.

01:03:15Guest:I was shaking.

01:03:16Guest:And but these young actor things are like things like I was so nervous.

01:03:20Guest:I got so into it.

01:03:21Guest:I was like going to I flew I like flew out to Paramus, New Jersey.

01:03:26Guest:That's where the movie was originally set.

01:03:28Guest:And I stood outside of like a Home Depot and read poetry to see what that would feel like.

01:03:32Guest:Because that's what the character does and have people yell at me.

01:03:35Guest:And I filmed it.

01:03:35Guest:I put a camera on a car like I did all this like dumb, not dumb, but stuff that was.

01:03:41Guest:you know i was looking for an answer yeah and that was the way that i would help me and i would tell dustin stuff like this and he'd go really you don't want to just do it like you know it seemed like everything you'd heard about him wasn't true anymore and i was like kind of embarrassed he was so easy going and and i remember uh really kind of being hurt like i saw this on the on the iron you've done all this

01:04:04Guest:Method stuff.

01:04:05Guest:All this crazy stuff.

01:04:06Guest:On the documentary for I Heart Akabees, there's this moment where Dustin's talking about every actor in the movie and he's like, Jude is just fantastic and Naomi and of course Mark is a revelation and Jason Schwartzman is so...

01:04:23Guest:Obsessive.

01:04:28Guest:And I went, oh my God.

01:04:32Guest:Obsessive?

01:04:34Guest:What the fuck?

01:04:35Guest:I'm just trying to do what you were doing.

01:04:38Guest:I learned.

01:04:39Guest:You taught me everything.

01:04:41Guest:It was a little like that, but I wasn't like emulating him, but it was, but I was looking for a method.

01:04:46Guest:Yeah.

01:04:47Guest:I was looking for something and he seemed to be like a good answer, but it was really funny.

01:04:51Guest:It was the best.

01:04:52Guest:And he's, he's so sweet and he's so goofy and he, he really is.

01:04:56Guest:He was such a, he taught me so many things.

01:04:58Guest:For instance, the first day of shooting, David O. Russell wanted to change some lines around and he told me,

01:05:05Guest:a new line and then I went up to Dustin I said Dustin just so you know David told me to do these new lines I'm just telling you so then he's like go out okay so later at the end of the day my first day of work complete I went to his trailer and I said Mr. Hoffman I just want to say I'm so so uh I want to say thank you for letting me mess around out there and try those different things and he said are you kidding me a take is the one place in life you can fail yeah

01:05:32Guest:And it was so sweet.

01:05:34Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:05:35Guest:Because it was, you know what I mean?

01:05:36Guest:It was just, he's saying, don't worry about it.

01:05:38Guest:Just let it rip.

01:05:39Guest:And he just, you know, he was so free.

01:05:43Guest:And he loves trying things.

01:05:44Guest:Yeah.

01:05:45Guest:And every take, he's messing around.

01:05:48Guest:And he's really trying to help everyone.

01:05:49Guest:And I remember there's one take, there's one scene in the movie where he said to me, he...

01:05:54Guest:He, like, asks me if I want something.

01:05:56Guest:He's like, do you want this?

01:05:57Guest:Is this what you want with your life?

01:05:58Guest:And I said, yeah.

01:05:59Guest:I couldn't get it right.

01:06:01Guest:But earlier that day, he'd walked in wearing a really cool button-up shirt.

01:06:03Guest:Yeah.

01:06:04Guest:And then we were doing these takes, and it was my close-up.

01:06:06Guest:And then he said, do you understand what I'm saying?

01:06:08Guest:Yes.

01:06:08Guest:Do you really understand?

01:06:09Guest:Yes.

01:06:09Guest:And he held out his shirt.

01:06:10Guest:He took out his shirt from behind his back.

01:06:11Guest:He said, do you want this shirt?

01:06:13Guest:I said, yeah.

01:06:14Guest:And he said, then come get it.

01:06:15Guest:And I walked off.

01:06:15Guest:But they used the take of me saying, yeah, about the shirt.

01:06:18Guest:Oh, really?

01:06:19Guest:For, like, me.

01:06:20Guest:So that kind of stuff.

01:06:21Guest:Like, he's very helpful.

01:06:22Marc:Oh, that's great.

01:06:23Marc:Mm-hmm.

01:06:23Marc:So your father passed away when you were young.

01:06:25Marc:Yeah.

01:06:26Marc:And he was in movies?

01:06:27Marc:No, he was an entertainment lawyer and then a movie producer.

01:06:30Marc:But you have good memories.

01:06:31Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:06:32Marc:You weren't so young.

01:06:33Guest:For sure.

01:06:33Guest:No, yeah.

01:06:34Guest:Memories are a tricky thing.

01:06:36Guest:I don't know really what people's memories are like.

01:06:41Guest:My memories don't seem to be as...

01:06:44Guest:They're vague and then some are super detailed.

01:06:48Guest:Yeah.

01:06:48Guest:Like I can remember what a pattern on a shirt was.

01:06:52Guest:Right.

01:06:52Guest:But in one memory and then I have no recollection of something else.

01:06:56Marc:Of like bigger memories.

01:06:58Marc:Mm-hmm.

01:06:58Marc:It's interesting.

01:06:59Guest:Yeah.

01:06:59Marc:I wonder how that was loaded up emotionally in your head.

01:07:01Marc:Just, yeah, in general it seems to be that way.

01:07:04Marc:With everything.

01:07:04Marc:Still, yeah.

01:07:05Marc:Like, you know, there could be huge events that are just gone.

01:07:08Guest:Yeah.

01:07:08Marc:But you remember some shoes.

01:07:09Yeah.

01:07:10Guest:Yeah, or I'll remember the layout of a room and where the bathroom was and where the exit sign was.

01:07:18Guest:I can remember weird things like that sometimes.

01:07:22Guest:But then I can't remember.

01:07:23Guest:Someone's like, yeah, we met.

01:07:26Guest:Remember we talked all about this?

01:07:27Guest:I'm like, no, I don't remember that.

01:07:28Marc:I don't remember you at all.

01:07:29Marc:Yeah.

01:07:30Marc:So I don't know what that attributes to, but.

01:07:31Marc:I have that too.

01:07:33Marc:So I watched the new movie.

01:07:35Marc:Obviously, I think we could probably talk forever.

01:07:38Marc:I thought it was great.

01:07:39Marc:Thanks.

01:07:39Marc:It was kind of an abrasively.

01:07:42Marc:Abrasive is the word.

01:07:44Marc:But charming somehow.

01:07:45Marc:I think that you have a natural amount of charm that's going to carry even the biggest asshole through an entire film.

01:07:50Marc:Well, I appreciate you saying that.

01:07:53Guest:But no, it was fun to play.

01:07:56Guest:I mean, this character was a guy who definitely never has a moment where you're supposed to like him.

01:08:04Guest:Listen up, Philip.

01:08:05Guest:Yeah, Philip in Listen Up, Philip, he's a pretty abrasive, relentlessly mean person at times, but he never has a moment where he tries to be nice or tries to say, just kidding, which...

01:08:18Guest:Honestly, I think I've done that in the past where it's just the way things work out.

01:08:23Guest:There is a redeeming moment or an attempt at a redeeming moment, and I like this because there wasn't.

01:08:29Marc:He's very unsympathetic and hard to like.

01:08:32Marc:It's a weird little movie in a way.

01:08:35Marc:It seemed to be shot very cheaply.

01:08:38Guest:yeah i was um well it's funny you say because it was i haven't ever done like a gi joe budget movie yeah um but compared to what i've done before this was a very low budget for this director this was like eight times the budget of his last movie and how did you get a script like that why he's you the the director what's his name alex ross perry yeah he approached you

01:09:01Guest:No, I was sent the script through my agent, and it came with a DVD.

01:09:08Guest:And I was kind of taken by it, honestly, because it was so much bigger than a normal script.

01:09:15Guest:It was way thicker.

01:09:17Guest:And I know it's an odd thing to have catcher attention, but... And I flipped through it when I first got it, and it was so descriptive.

01:09:25Guest:It looked almost more like a book.

01:09:27Guest:And I thought, ah, that's...

01:09:29Guest:someone took a lot of time to write this I'd like to read it but when I read it it was the character comes out of the gate saying some pretty harsh stuff and he's not treating the people around him very kindly and

01:09:47Guest:it kind of like rubbed up against me the wrong way i i typically um you know i love humor that is fucked up yeah but i typically will gravitate towards someone who is not mean to other people he just messes up situations because he's he's

01:10:09Guest:Self-involved.

01:10:09Guest:Got some problems.

01:10:10Guest:Yeah.

01:10:10Guest:You know what I mean?

01:10:11Guest:Like, I don't gravitate to as much as like, hey, look at Fatty over there.

01:10:15Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:10:15Guest:As much as like... Mean-spirited.

01:10:16Guest:Fatty trying to not eat bad and then he eats bad and he's got like food all over.

01:10:20Guest:You know, like, I like more when it comes out of there.

01:10:23Guest:So these characters doing that, I was like, whoa.

01:10:27Guest:But there was something, it was so elegantly composed.

01:10:30Guest:Like, really, the script was so beautiful.

01:10:32Guest:Like, he would describe everything in the room and full of all kinds of details that were really odd.

01:10:37Guest:Like, he would say...

01:10:38Guest:This, you know, he walks in the room, it is filled with this, this, this, this.

01:10:41Guest:It is his birthday.

01:10:42Guest:But you never hear it's his birthday in the movie.

01:10:44Guest:Just weird details.

01:10:46Guest:This is a peculiar piece.

01:10:48Guest:But I definitely felt like after 30 minutes of reading it, I'm going to put this down.

01:10:52Guest:It's too claustrophobic for me.

01:10:54Guest:This is too much.

01:10:55Guest:This character has got too much venom.

01:10:57Guest:But after 30 minutes of being away from it, I was thinking, what's going on with him?

01:11:01Guest:I couldn't, like I was addicted.

01:11:02Guest:So I went back and I read another two pages.

01:11:04Guest:I said, oh my God, I can't believe he would do that.

01:11:07Guest:Yeah.

01:11:07Guest:Put this away.

01:11:08Guest:And that kind of went back up and back and up and back for the whole day.

01:11:12Guest:And at the end, I thought, man, I really, I love this thing.

01:11:16Guest:And I love that it never has that redeeming moment.

01:11:18Guest:And it has some cool stuff.

01:11:20Guest:Like it's all about Philip, my character, but then all of a sudden it becomes about his girlfriend and Philip drops out of the movie.

01:11:26Guest:And then all of a sudden it becomes about Jonathan Price's character.

01:11:28Guest:And we drop out of the movie and

01:11:30Guest:That was unusual to me, like, shifting the narrative like that.

01:11:33Guest:I mean, you see it sometimes, but it's rare.

01:11:35Marc:He's a hell of an actor.

01:11:37Guest:Oh, my God.

01:11:38Guest:Yeah.

01:11:38Guest:Amazing.

01:11:39Marc:Yeah, like, it was surprising to see him.

01:11:40Guest:Oh, my God.

01:11:41Marc:Like, I was like, oh, it's that guy.

01:11:42Guest:Yeah, I was definitely very intimidated because I'm not trained and he's, you know, I just come from doing King Lear.

01:11:50Guest:I just, I wasn't sure if it was, like, I wasn't sure if it was, like, I have a...

01:11:58Guest:car shop in a small town i do my best but there's no one really in this town who's gonna question me yeah you know like yeah you need a new this and okay and all of a sudden here comes like the guy who's like you know works designs cars he's coming into my his car broke he's coming in and it's like like is this the guy that's gonna like call bullshit but um but yeah he's uh amazing and to watch him work and also

01:12:23Guest:He was in G.I.

01:12:24Guest:Joe.

01:12:25Guest:And our budget was smaller.

01:12:28Guest:And I was thinking, how's this going to be for him?

01:12:31Guest:There's no trailers.

01:12:32Guest:Yeah.

01:12:33Guest:There's no comforts.

01:12:34Guest:Well, they like to act.

01:12:36Guest:They like to act.

01:12:37Guest:That was what I was going to say.

01:12:38Guest:Yeah, he likes to act.

01:12:38Guest:And it was a real lesson in always being agile.

01:12:42Guest:Yeah.

01:12:42Guest:Like, he didn't need anything.

01:12:44Guest:Yeah.

01:12:44Guest:He doesn't need any fancy food or anything special.

01:12:48Guest:Yeah.

01:12:48Guest:I think the less you need and the more quickly you can go to work and just pick up and leave.

01:12:56Guest:Yeah.

01:12:56Guest:Seems maybe the better.

01:12:57Guest:I mean, that was what I learned from him.

01:12:59Guest:How long was the shoot?

01:13:00Guest:25 days.

01:13:02Marc:Yeah, so he's in and out.

01:13:03Guest:Yeah.

01:13:04Marc:Yeah.

01:13:04Marc:I like the movie and there's like interest like it had sort of a Huckabee's kind of tension to it.

01:13:11Guest:Yeah.

01:13:11Guest:For sure.

01:13:11Guest:It's tense.

01:13:12Guest:And we play this.

01:13:13Guest:The whole movie is sort of about these people in the worst part of their lives.

01:13:18Guest:And that was sort of always the idea was let's just show nine months in a terrible time for these people.

01:13:26Guest:And I think that freed it up to not have a cathartic moment at the end.

01:13:31Guest:Right.

01:13:32Guest:And, you know, it's in the spirit of those types of movies where the person at the end really isn't all that different from the person in the beginning.

01:13:40Guest:Right.

01:13:41Guest:And like Alex was talking about like American Gigolo, like that movie opens with a guy driving, you know, this convertible or it ends with him in jail.

01:13:47Guest:And in a way, it's a similar thing of a guy like he doesn't like we're not condoning the behavior.

01:13:52Guest:Right.

01:13:52Guest:Because he doesn't end up.

01:13:54Guest:I mean, if he had a cathartic, great moment in everything, he learned something at the end.

01:13:57Guest:It'd be like, well, then it's OK to be this way.

01:13:59Guest:Right.

01:14:00Guest:The girls are the only ones that get out alive.

01:14:02Guest:Yeah.

01:14:02Guest:You know, like the guys end up really screwed up.

01:14:05Guest:And yeah.

01:14:06Guest:There was something so nice about doing that.

01:14:09Guest:Also, I don't confront people, really, in my life.

01:14:15Guest:I never had to do it.

01:14:17Guest:I think that I always got away with humor, which led into a passive-aggressive type thing with people.

01:14:23Guest:With my family, I could say, that's bullshit.

01:14:28Guest:But...

01:14:29Guest:This character says exactly what he's thinking all the time, and that is not really me.

01:14:36Marc:Right.

01:14:36Guest:And it was fun to do it.

01:14:38Marc:So, all right, before you go here, I was over at Amazon yesterday pitching, and I told them I was talking to you today, and they're like, isn't he going to be here today?

01:14:48Marc:Or something like that.

01:14:50Marc:You're going to talk to him?

01:14:51Marc:Yeah.

01:14:51Marc:You're doing a thing with them?

01:14:52Marc:Yeah.

01:14:52Marc:How many have you shot?

01:14:53Guest:I'm executive producing and writing a few of a TV show called Mozart in the Jungle.

01:15:01Guest:And we have 10.

01:15:03Guest:That's including the pilot.

01:15:04Guest:So we're shooting nine.

01:15:06Guest:And next week we start the final one.

01:15:09Guest:And you're a podcaster.

01:15:11Guest:Well, I play a part, it's all about classical music in New York and the scene and different levels of it and the high and the low and trying to get into it and stuff.

01:15:25Guest:And I play, Malcolm McDowell plays this guy named Thomas Pembridge, who's the former maestro superconductor of the New York symphony, as we call it.

01:15:36Guest:But he's now on the way out.

01:15:38Guest:But he's there as this kind of like a leftover king or something.

01:15:42Guest:He's not really sure what his job is.

01:15:44Guest:And in my scene with him, he's excited that he's getting an interview.

01:15:49Guest:And he's putting on makeup and all this stuff.

01:15:52Guest:And I walk in and he's saying, so we can put the cameras over here.

01:15:55Guest:I always think we'd set the cameras here.

01:15:57Guest:You know, the BBC did it like this.

01:15:59Guest:And I think the light's very good.

01:16:00Guest:And I'm saying, oh, there's no cameras.

01:16:02Guest:Excuse me?

01:16:04Guest:This is a podcast.

01:16:05Guest:And, oh, wonderful.

01:16:07Guest:That's what he says.

01:16:08Guest:And thrilling.

01:16:10Guest:And I sit down and I have a podcast called B Sharp.

01:16:13Guest:Yeah.

01:16:14Guest:And because that's a note that doesn't exist.

01:16:17Guest:And my name is Bradford Sharp.

01:16:19Guest:Yeah.

01:16:19Guest:And I'm a very quiet talking classical music podcaster.

01:16:24Guest:Yeah.

01:16:25Guest:But who's really like, you know, I wanted to be kind of cool and stuff.

01:16:28Guest:He wears a leather vest.

01:16:30Guest:And it was really fun.

01:16:32Guest:It was amazing to work opposite Malcolm McDowell.

01:16:34Guest:Yeah, you're getting a couple of good English guys.

01:16:36Guest:We wrote this scene.

01:16:38Guest:We wrote this scene where it's an interview, but he said, can you just interview me for real?

01:16:43Guest:Just, you know, just let the cameras roll.

01:16:45Guest:And I talked to him for 15 minutes.

01:16:47Guest:Yeah.

01:16:48Guest:And he answered all these questions as this character.

01:16:50Guest:It was amazing.

01:16:51Guest:Wow.

01:16:52Guest:It was a thrilling moment.

01:16:53Guest:I mean, I was like, has he really conducted?

01:16:56Guest:It seemed like he had really conducted.

01:16:57Guest:I was like, tell me about conducting Mozart.

01:16:59Guest:Oh, my God.

01:16:59Guest:It's the best.

01:17:00Guest:I mean, you know, of course, you're in touch with God.

01:17:03Guest:It was amazing.

01:17:04Guest:So, yeah.

01:17:04Guest:It was really cool.

01:17:05Guest:That sounds fun.

01:17:06Guest:Yeah, it's been hard, but fun.

01:17:08Guest:What's your relationship with New York?

01:17:11Guest:I don't live there.

01:17:12Guest:I know.

01:17:12Guest:I live in L.A., but my relationship with it is, I've never lived there, as a matter of fact.

01:17:18Marc:But I hear it in your music, too, a little bit.

01:17:20Guest:About New York?

01:17:20Marc:Yeah, something about it.

01:17:21Guest:Well, I love it.

01:17:22Guest:Both my parents were from there.

01:17:24Guest:My dad was from Brooklyn and my mom was from Long Island.

01:17:27Guest:Yeah.

01:17:29Guest:And it's still because I've never lived there.

01:17:33Guest:When I'm there, everything is beautiful to me.

01:17:35Guest:It's amazing, right?

01:17:36Guest:Yeah.

01:17:36Guest:I'm like, oh, look at these buildings.

01:17:38Guest:Look at that.

01:17:38Guest:The pace.

01:17:39Guest:Yeah.

01:17:40Guest:So I'm definitely like...

01:17:41Marc:It's a romantic idea.

01:17:42Guest:It's still romantic to me, even when it's not romantic.

01:17:44Guest:Because for Bored to Death, you know, we'd be there for four or five months.

01:17:47Marc:Right.

01:17:47Guest:And, you know, at the fourth month, I'm like, oh, I could go home now.

01:17:51Guest:But it's still amazing to me.

01:17:53Marc:There's nothing like it.

01:17:54Guest:Really there's nothing.

01:17:54Marc:When you get within the city and you're like, holy shit.

01:17:56Marc:Yeah, it's amazing.

01:17:58Guest:The community of people that seems to be there, it's really, but it's funny because I have such a positive thing.

01:18:04Guest:Alex, the director of our movie, it's funny because he was saying to me, he's like, yeah, New York, you know, I want to show it's like cutthroat and it's claustrophobic and people walk slowly and you feel like shit and you want to get out and it's loud and, you know, people will take you down if they can and I love it and I'll never live anywhere else.

01:18:22Guest:and I was like wow okay you know so that's how he sort of feels about it and sees it and I love it there but I love Los Angeles because I'm from here and I think there's I don't know I just cheesy stuff like I like the light yeah the way it feels when it starts to set and I like the space and yeah it's cooling down a little yeah I love it so what do you do today what's going on now

01:18:42Guest:Today, I'm going to go do a few lines for Motor in the Jungle, some ADR lines.

01:18:48Guest:Yeah.

01:18:48Guest:And then I'm going to Chicago.

01:18:49Marc:Today you're going?

01:18:50Marc:Yeah.

01:18:51Marc:Oh, have fun.

01:18:52Marc:It's a great city.

01:18:52Guest:Yeah, it's the best.

01:18:53Marc:Good talking to you.

01:18:54Guest:I love Chicago.

01:18:54Guest:It's great.

01:18:55Guest:I really appreciate it.

01:18:56Marc:Yeah, it's fun, man.

01:18:57Marc:You're a great one.

01:18:58Marc:I appreciate it.

01:19:04Marc:All right, see, he's a nice guy.

01:19:06Marc:What a pleasant conversation.

01:19:08Marc:I love that guy.

01:19:10Marc:So what do I got to tell you?

01:19:11Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for all your WTFPod needs.

01:19:15Marc:Get that app.

01:19:17Marc:Why not?

01:19:17Marc:500-plus episodes, 550-something.

01:19:20Marc:I don't even know anymore.

01:19:22Marc:You get the free app, and you get the most recent 50, always free, and then you upgrade and stream all of them.

01:19:28Marc:What else?

01:19:29Marc:Did you enjoy the show?

01:19:30Marc:The music you hear...

01:19:32Marc:on this show the theme song was created by John Montagna and the new music that you hear on today's show is by a guy named DJ Copley and then there's my noodling at the end but I just you know thanks for listening I'm going to be at work all day doing my thing I don't even know what a compressor does do you?

01:19:54Guest:let me see hit it music music

01:20:01Marc:I don't know.

01:20:01Marc:Do you hear any difference?

01:20:08Marc:We know what the phaser does.

01:20:09Guest:Hee hee hee.

01:20:29Guest:Thank you.

01:20:49Guest:Boomer lives!