BONUS Marc on Movies - The 2025 Oscars
Marc:Hey folks, I need your questions.
Marc:I'm getting ready for another ask Mark anything bonus episode on the full Marin.
Marc:So fire away.
Marc:Just click on the link in the episode description and send me a question.
Marc:Then subscribe to the full Marin so you can get every ask Mark anything bonus episode.
Marc:All right, let's do the show.
Guest:You've been driving, you've been flying, you're on the road.
Guest:I'm guessing you haven't watched any additional movies, but I feel like you've seen most of these Oscar films.
Marc:I think I have.
Marc:And, you know, sadly, I think the ones I haven't seen are probably foreign films.
Marc:And that's not a...
Marc:prejudice or anything it just seems that I have to get into a mindset sometimes to just sit and watch a foreign film I don't know what that says about me but I plan to watch the couple that are or two or three I died but I have seen a lot of them
Guest:Well, I think that's mostly you're talking about probably Amelia Perez and I'm Still Here.
Guest:I think those are the two foreign films that are nominated in the Best Picture category.
Guest:I did want to ask you what you think about the fact that, you know, I was talking with our liaisons here at ACAST and one of them, Yishai, he said to me, you know, you guys are really like...
Guest:It's now a signature for this show during Oscar season that it's it's you know, it's a place for Oscar stuff.
Guest:And like, I don't know that we consciously sought that out, but it just did wind up happening.
Guest:Like, do you get that sense yourself that like when Oscar time comes around, like our show is kind of part of it?
Marc:Well, I feel that there's a certain type of person involved with films that are Oscar nominated that enjoys and sees a benefit to having a long conversation.
Marc:And I think that they know that our audience is, you know, intelligent and, you know, art minded.
Marc:But also there might be some Oscar voters in our audience.
Marc:And I think it gives them an opportunity to kind of...
Marc:spread out a little bit as actors or directors or however they're involved.
Marc:So I think I've been sort of aware of it.
Marc:But for me, it's just sort of like, why can't we get that guy?
Marc:And then it's sort of like, well, they'll be around when the Oscars thing starts happening.
Marc:I'm like, all right.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, that's something you might not be aware of that.
Guest:And it's not just about the Oscars.
Guest:I've had it happen a lot of times with certain guests where we want them to come on and they are aware of the fact that you don't really do repeat guests, especially like repeat within a year or so.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they will like defer the option to come on because they're like, no, no, I want to come on when it's my project.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, like they don't want to do the thing that they exactly don't want to like blow their chance on somebody else's thing that they're just obligated to do promotion for.
Guest:Oh, that's interesting.
Guest:Huh?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I guess we could open it up a little bit.
Marc:I mean, but I but they want to have a good first showing.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:I think in their mind, let's say you're directing a movie that you're starring in, but then you're also in a movie that's coming out.
Guest:I'm definitely not speaking out of turn and saying this.
Guest:This is the guy I remember this specifically happening with.
Guest:Steven Yeun.
Guest:You know that actor?
Guest:Right.
Guest:He spoke with him.
Guest:He's in the one with Ali Wong.
Guest:That was when he came on.
Guest:And that was we had him lined up to come on.
Guest:I think it was about the movie.
Guest:Nope.
Guest:You know, the Jordan Peele movie.
Guest:And he he said, can I wait?
Guest:Like I would because I think that other thing was coming out later in the year.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he was like, that's my thing.
Guest:Like, I'm executive producing that show.
Guest:If I'm coming on to promote something, I'd rather promote my thing.
Marc:Yeah, he was great, too.
Marc:That was a good one.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So that's that I think does factor in and obviously factors in with the Oscars here.
Guest:I remember Michelle Yeoh saying it like saying the quiet part out loud because she came from like the Oscar luncheon when she came to talk to you dressed up.
Marc:She looked great.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then she was going back to something, some other gala that night or something.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And you were like, well, what the hell are you doing over here?
Guest:And she was like, well, they told me I have to come talk to Mark on his podcast.
Guest:This is a big part of it.
Guest:And like I.
Guest:I bet you that's true.
Guest:Like, I bet you that the publicists are like, oh, no, no, but this one is like you got to do this one.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And somewhere along the line that happened, I wonder exactly when and where I have a suspicion that the Andrea Risborough thing.
Guest:had an impact because like you were talking about that movie very regularly when that, um, kind of grassroots campaign started to get her nominated for that.
Guest:And, and she did.
Guest:And so I think people just like, like, especially these people who are involved in awards campaigning and they're, they're the publicists who design these campaigns.
Guest:I bet you they're like, well, that's a spot now we have to use.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, sure.
Marc:I mean, and there's also been like, like Giamatti.
Marc:That was like one, you know, there are people that we've been wanting to get on and then they just show up for that.
Marc:But sure.
Marc:I, you know, I don't like check in with numbers or impact.
Marc:I mean, I've got to, you know, I don't know if anything gets traction until you tell me.
Marc:So I don't really know the backside of it, what you're telling me in terms of publicists.
Marc:And I'm just I'm happy that, you know, people still want to engage in these conversations.
Marc:And I'm very happy this year that, you know, we got some directors because those are always fascinating and, you know, well-rounded conversations about stuff.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, directors.
Guest:And like last year was Rodrigo Prieto, who was a cinematographer on two of the nominated movies.
Guest:So like those things are always stuff we go out of our way to try to make happen.
Marc:And those things are like for me in all the interviews we do in terms of like, you know, kind of like library type of stuff where people like if you want to if you want to like learn something.
Marc:About film, about directing, about working with actors.
Marc:There's a real sort of class to be taken with certain episodes of our show.
Marc:Yeah, for sure.
Marc:More so than like, what's this guy's life like?
Marc:Because that's the way I learn things.
Marc:So there's definitely a lot of... And also learning how the business works.
Marc:It's interesting if wherever...
Marc:Our stuff ends up or if we ever want to do it, you know, to sort of make series of episodes that are literally like masterclasses with, you know, five or six different people.
Guest:Well, I've been trying to do that on the bonus here on Full Marin.
Guest:Every now and then we do these WTF collections.
Guest:And sometimes it's just because there's funny stories that are thematic.
Guest:Like, you know, I love like, you know, putting together like the Danny McBride story with like, you know, Joe Mandy's story, like those ones of people just like going through hell and it's hilarious.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But sometimes they wind up being like classes.
Guest:And I did that recently with directors just because like, why are we not going to just listen to these things from William Friedkin and Tarantino and Greta Gerwig?
Guest:And they're like talking directly about the movies they made, Paul Thomas Anderson.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, like these are things that people, especially who are film heads,
Guest:they like go out of their way to find this stuff.
Guest:If you look at like the criterion channel, like there's tons of this stuff, like, you know, a little commentary by this person when, when David Lynch died, they had a whole thing of like the collection of times David Lynch has given an interview.
Guest:It's very few.
Guest:And so they were like highlighting them.
Guest:People love this stuff.
Guest:If you like movies.
Marc:Like also like for me, the Pacino, like when I did the acting job, the, the big one with that movie, uh,
Marc:All I thought about was, you know, a couple I thought about Martin Landau.
Marc:I thought about Ethan Hawke.
Marc:And I thought about Pacino, who I just spoken to, you know, as as, you know, bits and pieces of craft that, you know, I was able to engage with.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then sometimes I just think about making Eddie Murphy laugh.
Yeah.
Marc:Oh, dude.
Guest:I mean, that's one of the highlights of your life.
Guest:Objectively.
Guest:When you are writing your final words of everything you've done, that should be one of the top things.
Guest:Not that you made Eddie Murphy laugh, that you cracked him the fuck up very hard.
Guest:I just snuck one in, man.
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:It made him laugh so hard he was telling people in the room who couldn't hear it because he had headphones on.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:Did you hear what he just said?
Guest:You got a steakhouse at your place.
Guest:That was the best.
Guest:I mean, like, I was talking about this last week with Lepresto.
Guest:Like, watching that SNL thing, the 50-year thing.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:There's nobody better than that guy.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:Him doing Tracy Morgan next to Tracy Morgan was one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my life.
Marc:Tracy just sort of downplaying it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, Tracy is smart and Tracy grew up knowing that this guy's the greatest.
Guest:So of course, Tracy's not going to be an idiot and think he can like outdo this.
Guest:He's just letting the master work.
Marc:And then he goes, no, I don't see it.
Marc:But boy, did fucking Eddie lean into that because it's like Tracy as a character is so defined that someone like Murphy is just sort of like, oh, I'm going to fucking love this.
Marc:I'm going all in on that.
Marc:He loved it.
Guest:Well, I remember when you talked to him, it was so easy for him to slip into little impressions of people from 40 years ago.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:You know, like some comic he remembers from Long Island, and he'd just all of a sudden be talking like that.
Marc:Yeah, it's great.
Marc:It's really great to see him do that stuff, you know, because he can still do it really easily.
Yeah.
Marc:Even more than Will Ferrell now.
Marc:Because Will Ferrell used to be able to drop into funny pretty quickly.
Marc:And some of that seems to have worn out a little bit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I also just think it's a different gear.
Guest:They were in that sketch together, Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy.
Guest:And you realize that a big thing that was so funny about Will, which is why that cowbell sketch exists,
Guest:is famous is because like the lengths he was willing to go to get your laugh as much like chris farley right yeah he's all in where you're like yeah oh yeah he's pushing this as far as it can go where eddie all he has to do is like say one thing oh yeah like he just has to go like sit down and every it's the funniest thing
Marc:I wish that that sketch wasn't such a mess because that Will Ferrell character was truly weird.
Marc:Very disturbing, yeah.
Marc:I want a little more of that.
Marc:I wish you had a little more.
Marc:Because that was fucking out there, man.
Guest:with his with his that's the thing too he is always like you know he'll go above and beyond with whatever awful costume he needs to wear like i guarantee he made them make those shorts shorter like yeah whatever shortness they were at he was like no no shorter it was because he was actually in that sketch he was the most credible um
Marc:like jail personality like yes right right like the the sort of jailhouse punk you know who you know who don't they don't get their day in in a proud way very often you know and he he really leaned into it i'm like you got to give them they got to do more of that you know yeah so funny uh
Guest:Well, those guys are not nominated for any Oscars this year.
Guest:I guess, you know, what I'd like to know from you is what you think is the best of the bunch in these ones that are.
Guest:Like, basically, based on what you've seen, where do you give the Oscar?
Guest:And so, for Best Picture, it's The Brutalist, Onora, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Wicked, The Substance,
Guest:Dune part two, Nickel Boys, and then the caveat being two that you haven't seen, Emilia Perez and I'm Still Here.
Marc:I haven't seen Dune part two either.
Marc:But, you know, I think I've been thinking about it a lot and I really have to go...
Marc:with Honora, because the third act of that movie, to me, was something spectacular.
Marc:I thought that, you know, the way it subverted all expectations around, you know, the stereotype of Russian mobsters and, you know, that world in general, which we don't see very often, certainly not in a lighthearted way, and to continue to honor this very...
Marc:strange and subtle love story between Onora and that thug, and the way that third act became very effective and authentic, almost slapstick comedy.
Marc:It became a romantic comedy in that last act, and I just thought it was tremendous, whatever was going on between her and that actor.
Marc:You know, aside from the, you know, goofy goons, the Armenian goons, there was something so beautifully honest about that love story.
Marc:And even the way it ended, I thought was brilliant.
Marc:I just, despite all the other and also like, you know, all in all.
Marc:it is actually some version of, of a Hollywood ending.
Marc:And, you know, and it's kind of playing on tropes, you know, in a very sublimated way of Hollywood films.
Guest:And that's what the whole thing I think it's going at.
Guest:It's like, this is, this is the, like the, the real version of pretty woman, but still with the, with the, the happy ending.
Marc:Yeah, but it's a fraught and deeply sort of poetic and trauma-based happy ending.
Marc:I don't feel like there was false notes.
Marc:And I think a lot of people do, certainly people who are either from people who are
Marc:I think the critics are usually like that feel that in some way he mischaracterized sex work or whatever.
Marc:But I don't know that that's true.
Marc:But even if he did, I thought the sort of the audacity of that movie, you know, the middle of the film,
Marc:was sort of like a false lead with that Russian kid.
Marc:But I just thought that once that comedy starts, where that kid's dad comes to pick him up with that mother and that stuff on the airplane, where all you're expecting is menace, and all you get is some very...
Marc:deep and well-written comedy i was like i'm fucking sold it's real heartfelt you know comedy stuff in there and i thought that it was just beautiful that the the last part of that movie and i liked it all the way up to that point i mean you might argue that the middle you know sagged a little bit but it was still pretty effective and
Guest:Have you thought about that movie as it pertains to putting together the film you're looking to direct?
Guest:Is it one of those kind of movies that you're thinking about and looking toward?
Marc:Well, I think more so than that movie, I'm somewhere kind of like straddling the Coen brothers because of...
Marc:the way Sam uses language and somewhere in, you know, the safety's vision of what New York is.
Marc:So I got to find a middle zone in there.
Marc:And I think that Sean Baker in terms of the way he shoots is closer to safety world.
Marc:And there's a grittiness to it, and there's a movement to it.
Marc:But I really am just, the balancing act for the film we're trying to make is going to be to honor Sam's language in a naturalistic way.
Marc:Because I don't know that that is a concern for Coen's.
Marc:They are doing a full vision that I don't believe naturalism necessarily plays into.
Marc:Yeah, no way.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So but Sam's language is is a bit heightened.
Marc:And, you know, I really got to see what it does in the mouths of actors.
Marc:But I do want to find that balance of, you know, sort of having some kind of, you know, what's the word I want?
Marc:a visceral kind of, uh, electricity to New York city, you know, alongside of, you know, how he's written the thing.
Marc:So, so those more so those than, yeah.
Marc:So a little bit of a Nora.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Well, uh, with a Nora, Sean Baker is also nominated for best director.
Guest:And there you also have Brady Corbett for the brutal, brutalist, uh, Coralie Fargeet.
Guest:Is that how she says it?
Guest:I think so.
Guest:I should know that for sure.
Guest:You're asking me.
Guest:You're the director.
Guest:You're the guy I ask.
Guest:she's the director of the substance uh james mangold for a complete unknown and uh jacques odiar for amelia perez which you haven't seen this is always tricky of like what is the difference between a movie where it's the best directed movie versus the best picture so i don't know do you go off anything else here other than just saying anora again
Marc:No, I don't know that I would necessarily think Sean Baker is the guy.
Marc:Because I think with the director, you've got to think about the vision and the scope of what they're doing.
Marc:And I think that Corbet had a massive...
Marc:undertaking there to create the breadth of that film and to make it effective.
Marc:And the choices he made around film stock, around not just the budget, but making the architecture and the weight of the work playing against these characters, I think was an amazing undertaking.
Marc:And I think that...
Marc:the director, Bargeet, is that her name?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, that what she was doing was, you know, in a lot of ways, a homage to art horror.
Marc:And you could see a lot of her sources and it was very well controlled.
Marc:And I think she got the effect that she wanted to, but, but not unlike, and I keep comparing it to this with the brutalist, no country for old men, the, the, the, the, the sort of weight of that movie is,
Marc:is all because of Courbet.
Marc:And it's no small task to do a three-hour-plus movie with an intermission that has the scope and arc of that thing really hold up the whole way through.
Marc:There's just an incredible sort of big weight to that movie, and it kind of matches the architecture.
Marc:So I think that that was quite a feat that he did.
Marc:But Mangold,
Marc:You know, that that is a you know, he's a Hollywood movie maker, really.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And for him to to sort of isolate a story that, you know, he had to infuse with a lot of meaning.
Marc:To to be as engaging as it was.
Marc:And what you're working towards is, you know, Dylan's, you know, fuck you to folk.
Marc:And that's a satisfying ending and, you know, triumphant.
Marc:That was that was no, you know, simple thing.
Guest:I mean, whether you give him an Oscar for making this or not, I would say it is his best directed film.
Guest:Like he did the best job I've ever seen him do.
Guest:Yeah, for sure.
Marc:And he's like detail oriented in that conversation we had.
Marc:You know, I have no problem with with with him.
Marc:I do think that the the substance as as powerful a movie as it was and and in its way, you know.
Marc:a satire and a horror movie and everything else was, was an incredibly controlled and amazing bit of direction.
Marc:But I don't know that it, it packs the wallop of a best director for me.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And who else is there?
Marc:Who else?
Marc:Then just the one you haven't seen, the director of Amelia Perez.
Marc:Oh yeah.
Marc:And Nickel Boys, which I watched is a very interesting directed movie, but he's not up for it.
Guest:He's not nominated for director.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I thought those were all amazing undertakings, you know, but I would probably go with Corbet on that one.
Guest:Well, here's a best actress.
Marc:Not to piss off James Mangold, but you know.
Guest:Yeah, well, I don't think he's subscribing.
Guest:Also, speaking of that, I should, wait, do you have your phones in there?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Here, I'll text you.
Guest:This was based on your interview with Brady.
Guest:Chris made a poster of the movie.
Guest:And the pull quote is just, huge cock.
Guest:WTF with Mark Merritt.
Guest:Right up next to the Statue of Liberty on the Brutalist poster.
Marc:Well, there is a lot of... It's like a big... It was like a big movie.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It's a big male movie in a very weird way.
Marc:It's not to limit it or to say that it's anti-women or anything because the sort of turn at the beginning of the third act is pretty... It is full cock.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:well i mean like i think that there's something to be said for the fact that you said it's a it's quite a feat to make this thing land for three and a half hours and and it's all you know you really have to put it in the hands of the director like you can't just rely on actors to carry it for three and a half hours and when you think about that like other other people who have done that successfully it's a short list and it's like scorsese right michael mann like
Guest:It's a very short list of people who can take these very thorough visions that go for a long time and not make you feel the length or the duration of the film.
Marc:Yeah, for sure.
Marc:And maybe it's wrong of me to say that's like a huge cock energy, but whatever.
Guest:I think cock can be gender neutral, frankly.
Guest:I think we can.
Guest:I'm all for that.
Guest:Well, speaking of that, let's move on to Best Actress, which is still weird that we call these Best Actor, Best Actress, but whatever.
Guest:Mikey Madison from Enora.
Guest:Fernanda Torres from I'm Still Here, which you haven't seen.
Guest:I hear it's great.
Guest:I got to watch it.
Guest:Demi Moore from The Substance.
Guest:cynthia rivo from wicked and carla sofia gascon from amelia perez which you also have not seen so really we're debating three uh performances here yeah i hear that with it's brazilian right i'm not what's the one yes fernanda torres yeah i i hear she's amazing and i i'm sorry i can't speak to that um you know
Marc:I liked Mikey Madison a lot.
Marc:I thought she was great.
Marc:But there is something... I think Demi deserves it for a few reasons.
Marc:I think that when I watched some of her older movies...
Marc:the amazing thing that she possesses innately is this, you know, an unavoidable vulnerability in herself, you know, and, you know, for her to take on a role that, that was that exposing and somewhat age appropriate and,
Marc:And and sort of, you know, really get in it, I thought was a pretty monumental task.
Marc:And I thought, you know, with all the prosthetics and the message of the film and her, you know, what who she is in the world and her chops, I I definitely think she deserves it.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I don't I'm not exactly opposed to the idea.
Guest:I think the movie that the person's nominated for has to count.
Guest:But I'm also not ever opposed to the idea that you're also counting their previous work like I.
Guest:I think that that has to do with, you know, like you're thinking about a couple of years ago, Brendan Fraser won for The Whale.
Guest:And there's no doubt that's a good performance.
Guest:But I think people also brought to the table with it, like their feelings of like, hey, this guy was a good actor who kind of got discarded a bit.
Guest:And that's then part of honoring him with this award.
Guest:And let's be frank.
Guest:It's like these awards, it's like...
Guest:it's not a test it's not like oh they they they did all the right things and they scored a hundred percent as opposed to 99 so give them the trophy it's not it's all subjective so i don't think there's a problem with that when you're just like i want to honor this person and they deserve it for this but they also deserve it for other things they've done too yeah absolutely i mean i think that the oscars are all about that i think it's half the reason we watch them yes
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, when are they going to give it to this person?
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:I mean, this is crazy.
Marc:They got robbed three times, whatever.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Snubbed.
Guest:Well, going to best actor, you have some people who have you have at least one person here on this list who has been honored before actually might be the the ultimate winner.
Guest:uh adrian brody for the brutalist timothy chalamet for a complete unknown ray fines for conclave coleman domingo for sing sing and sebastian stan for the apprentice i noticed that you've talked to at least two people from every one of these categories yeah well that's like for me um so it's it's brody chalamet domingo stan and who else ray fines
Marc:who was amazing in that movie.
Guest:He's great.
Guest:He's, he's, he's the glue, man.
Guest:That thing is so ridiculous that if he wasn't as deadly serious and great as he is in it, it just, there's a complete waste of time.
Marc:I mean, it was, he's, he's really kind of, he's having a big year and he's really something.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Especially didn't you also, you just recently watched him in that Luca Guadagnino movie where he's, you know, it's like a bigger splash.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Totally different guy.
Guest:It's,
Marc:It's great.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I watched Indoor's List again recently.
Marc:It's like crazy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, he's really one of the best ever, that guy.
Guest:Oh, and Hail Caesar.
Guest:He can do everything.
Guest:He's hilarious in that.
Marc:He's great in that.
Marc:But I don't know.
Marc:I think Adrian Brody...
Marc:you know, did a hell of a job.
Marc:And, you know, I would have to go with him or Fiennes.
Marc:I like Chalamet's, I think he did an amazing job finding that Dylan, you know, and I really liked it.
Marc:And I thought it was a great performance.
Guest:It's odd that it's almost a supporting performance, though, if you think about it.
Guest:It's like the whole movie is about the world revolving around him.
Marc:yeah but i and i think he's great and i really do think he's gifted but in terms again of the weight of presence that you know those guys in their deep craft have uh fines and brody and i like domingo too um and i and i like stan in that role too but i i don't i didn't i don't think it was an oscar performance i think that
Marc:Jeremy Strong's Roy Cohen certainly should have gotten nominated.
Marc:He is.
Marc:He's nominated, yeah.
Marc:Oh, he is?
Marc:Oh, good.
Marc:But I think I would go with... I'm actually...
Guest:probably going to go with uh fines on this one it's it's really wild because it's like the level of sophisticated acting that he's doing in that movie to make it work amidst the complete nonsense that's all around and you still feel the emotional uh pull of that character you are on his side the whole time even when you think when like there's the brief period of time where you're told like oh he's kind of being shitty about this he's he maybe sort of is voting for himself
Guest:You know?
Guest:Well, that, but that was the best part of the movie.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Is when he chooses a name.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And the, the symbolism of the name he chose against the person who became the Pope.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Was powerful because it was, he, he plays a moment there where he, he is surprised and acknowledges his hubris.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And, and, and that is the moment that makes him deserve an Oscar.
Guest:Hmm.
Marc:Because there's so much going on there when he asks the other person the name they chose.
Marc:And there's that moment where he realizes that he is not humble.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And it's a pretty astounding bit of acting.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, that movie, unfortunately, really plays like a procedural to the point where they're using, you know, just shy of the transition music from a law and order.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know, like that repeating riff that comes when anything suspenseful can happen.
Guest:Oh, you mean the riff that's playing when he finds the hidden notes in the Pope's headboard?
Guest:Exactly.
Yeah.
Guest:Which is also like, why was that there?
Guest:Like, did like no, no one's going to look there.
Guest:Like it's just because the guy managed to break in to the Pope's room.
Guest:He's sitting on the Pope's bed and he notices like a tiny bit of like fiber coming out of the side of the headboard.
Guest:yeah yeah whoever wrote that script was like it'll it'll work you know at this point it'll work in the movie don't worry about it don't ask why we blew up the shark it's it will it'll make sense uh yeah it's a crazy movie yes so ridiculous it is very fun um but
Guest:like it is a great con job that they've convinced everyone it's this prestige Oscar picture.
Guest:It's like, I feel like it's like a movie like John Waters should be hosting it and telling you like, you'll love this.
Guest:This is great.
Marc:Well, there's all, I think that the, probably the, the con job it's, it's really like, especially in the time we're living in and the nature of, of art and, um,
Marc:um voices represented it i i think that it's really the turn at the end of that film that that made the that justifies for the academy why the the movie should be nominated maybe but if that's true that's real cheap because like i feel like that is like a a pretty big it's almost a cop out that ending and i don't want to spoil it for people but it's like because
Guest:yeah of course it is but i mean you're you're talking about hollywood in the academy i don't yeah i don't know how anything you're saying doesn't ring true exactly you're right you're right uh well okay let's move on then to supporting actress and supporting actor for the supporting actress uh
Guest:We have the favorite in this category is Zoe Saldana from Amelia Perez, which you haven't seen.
Guest:And so we're really talking about the other four, which is Ariana Grande in Wicked, Felicity Jones in The Brutalist, Monica Barbaro in A Complete Unknown, and Isabella Rossellini.
Guest:Again, the con job here, I'm getting her nomination for Conclave.
Guest:I love Isabella Rossellini.
Guest:She's fantastic.
Guest:I enjoy seeing her anytime she shows up in something.
Guest:But she...
Guest:She didn't do anything in this movie.
Guest:Yeah, it's almost a cameo.
Guest:And a cameo where you don't do anything.
Guest:You just stand there.
Yeah.
Marc:but she was good she was good she's always like a great presence like there's no doubt like you know it's one of those things she lends gravitas to your production yeah and it's weird that i'm kind of drawing a uh i've got a wall up a little bit to the musical in terms of you know assessing the acting job do you know what i mean yeah
Guest:I understand that.
Guest:I often think that when you look at, like, I think about Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Where it was fairly undeniable that she should have won that Oscar, and she did.
Guest:She kind of, like, was the favorite the entire time.
Guest:And when you're thinking about it, it's like, was her acting, like, what are you assessing with her acting?
Guest:All you got to do is assess it based on that one song.
Guest:It's like, does that song, does the emotion of that song come through and hit you in the guts?
Guest:And if it does, that's great acting.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's not just great singing.
Guest:It's great acting.
Marc:And Felicity, what's her last name?
Marc:Felicity Jones.
Marc:Yeah, she was good.
Marc:And the Joan Baez, she was very good.
Marc:She did a good job of getting to why everyone lost their mind over Joan Baez.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And after talking to Joan Baez...
Marc:That is a kind of under-the-radar great episode of our show.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Is that Joan Baez?
Marc:Because of the assumptions you have about her based on her voice.
Marc:But just to know that she's just this, you know, kind of, you know, brassy, you know, fighter, damaged person, you know, who's like, you know, really just an ass kicker was really the was one of the great conversations for me.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, and like just that dynamic with her and him.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:It's hard for me to to assess this one for some reason.
Guest:I you know, of the ones that are that that I've seen, like I'm saying, I'm with you.
Guest:I have not seen Zoe Saldana's performance and she's apparently, you know, the favorite to win this one.
Guest:But of the ones I've seen, I would vote for her, Monica Barbaro.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, well, I feel like I got to take a, I should watch the other movie, but out of the ones we have there, I can go with that.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:All right.
Guest:With Best Supporting Actor, it is Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown, Guy Pearce for The Brutalist, Yura Borisov for Anora, and Jeremy Strong in The Apprentice.
Marc:You're a burst off.
Marc:He played the guy, the thug.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:That moment where you can see there's a moment there, you know, where their dynamic is.
Marc:This guy is one of the guys that's basically holding her hostage.
Marc:And she's just like.
Marc:like kind of lashing out and just being crazed, you know, and angry.
Marc:And you just see the moment that guy falls in love with her.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And there's nothing he can do, you know?
Marc:And when he's holding her and he's being careful not to hurt her because he's so taken with her.
Marc:And like that performance was so subtle and so enjoyable, you know, I like, but yeah,
Marc:But I don't know him from anything else.
Guest:This is really his only American film.
Marc:Yeah, I thought he was just great.
Marc:But I got to be honest with you.
Marc:Whatever the fuck Jeremy Strong did with Roy Cullen was something I found, like, just unreal.
Marc:Like, you know, sometimes when he... Because, like, you know, he works the way he works.
Marc:But to actually somehow...
Marc:And I'm mad about it.
Marc:I'm mad that he made him a human.
Marc:I'm mad, you know, that he found a vulnerability in that guy.
Marc:And it was unnerving to me.
Marc:But I was pretty amazed that he did it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I thought that, you know, the work he did in that, and I think some of it was, you know, fictionalized.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:was kind of interesting because you know he played the way that relationship between a young donald trump and and cohen works out is that you know it it's a love story on some level like it's clear in in the way that jeremy played it that he had love for that guy right if not if even he might have even been in love with him right and
Marc:And I thought that was pretty bold.
Marc:But I got to be honest with you, though, you know, like, you know, if we're going to do it, I'm going to go with the Russian guy, actually.
Marc:That whole thing, that whole last act of that movie really got to me.
Guest:And that's the thing.
Guest:It's like if it's if it's a if it's an indelible thing and really sticks with you, that's that's worth it.
Marc:But it was honest, dude.
Marc:Yeah, it was it was honest.
Marc:Like, you know, I'm sure that Jeremy played the truth of that character and he really went all the way with it.
Marc:And I thought it was amazing.
Marc:But there was something fundamentally, subtly human about the way that guy played that that that that dynamic with Maddie.
Marc:I loved it.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Well, that's that's all the acting categories, I guess.
Guest:Is there anything that you have seen over the past year that you would say is worthy of getting, you know, acknowledged, whether it's an acting performance that we haven't mentioned or a movie that we haven't mentioned or even something that's like specific that stands out to you from like a below the line category, like the cinematography of something or the editing of something?
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I'd have to really think about it because my brain doesn't draw all that stuff up.
Marc:I'd have to really look at what I've watched.
Marc:What do you think are missed ones?
Guest:I don't, actually.
Guest:That's the thing.
Guest:I was thinking about it earlier in the week that this year...
Guest:I don't know if it's because of remnants of the strike that happened.
Guest:And it just felt like it wasn't a very thorough year.
Guest:You know, there wasn't a ton out there or like if there was stuff out there, it happened and was not talked about in a way that...
Guest:you know, it came up again, uh, you know, toward the end of the year when they're given out awards, you know, like there, I think this was, this was a year where there were a lot of interesting genre movies that get ignored anyway.
Guest:And I'm not sure that they're like worth Oscars, but you know, like that love lies bleeding.
Guest:That's an interesting little dirty bit of business.
Marc:Oh, the, the lesbian movie.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, that was great.
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:That was a great movie.
Marc:I really liked that movie.
Marc:I like both of those women.
Marc:Ed Harris was weird.
Marc:And but like just the steroid element, that was like a great I don't even know what category you put that in.
Marc:Well, it's definitely trying to be a noir, but... No, but there's some of that.
Marc:There's horror elements.
Marc:There's fantastical elements of it that are hard to pull off when that woman becomes a giant.
Marc:And for that stuff to work, it's a heavy lift for a director.
Marc:And I thought that it really kind of made the point.
Marc:And I really liked that movie.
Guest:I think the one that I think the movie that is probably the most snubbed, if you want to say like a movie that seemed like it should probably get a lot of awards and did not was Challengers.
Marc:I mean, that is a great, great movie.
Marc:for primarily for the subtext, you know, of, you know, it's, it's the arc of, of an unrealized threesome, you know, coming together at the end in a tennis match, that moment of that final match.
Marc:I thought that movie was so controlled and so specific and visionary.
Marc:Like I thought that was a stunning movie on all levels.
Yeah.
Guest:You know, is a movie that I think could have done with some of the Andrea Riceboro grassroots campaigning, campaigning, particularly for De Niro, is that movie Ezra, the one that Tony Goldwyn directed.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:And it's just, you know, it's a classic version of today's movie distribution system where like no one's seen that movie.
Guest:It came and went.
Guest:It's not like no, there's no footprint of it.
Guest:It was basically the same fate that to Leslie was left to until people started talking about it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I'll take De Niro as a supporting actor is one of the great gifts of that guy getting old.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, I mean, come on, dude.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He was great in that.
Marc:And I watched the I'll watch like one of the ones I watch.
Marc:You love the intern.
Marc:Oh, The Intern is great.
Guest:But also him as a supporting actor in Silver Linings Playbook, he's great.
Marc:That's the one.
Marc:I just watched that again because I love watching it.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:He's great.
Marc:You know, when he does a comic role.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But yeah, he was great in Ezra.
Marc:And that movie's not bad either.
Marc:I wouldn't say the movie itself is an Oscar movie, but it was a heartfelt thing, that movie.
Yeah.
Guest:Well, a movie that seems like it just should have had some nominations because it's such an amazing piece of craftsmanship.
Guest:And, you know, I have to imagine it's because it was a financial failure that it didn't get enough recognition and people just forgot about it.
Guest:But like, how did Furiosa not get some technical nominations?
Guest:Like, it's one of the most complicated and technically successful films of the last 10 years.
Guest:Until you go back to 10 years ago and the other Mad Max was made.
Marc:Yeah, they're always great.
Marc:That was a very satisfying movie.
Marc:And really kind of well acted and interesting.
Marc:Anya Taylor-Joy, yeah, she was great.
Marc:Yeah, that movie is, all those movies are great.
Marc:I don't know, you're right.
Marc:I don't know how it didn't get one of those effects ones.
Guest:Editing, effects, sound, anything.
Guest:Yeah, I don't know how that happened.
Guest:Well, like I said, there's not a ton of things.
Guest:There's probably anybody could come up with movies that came out this past year and go, oh, these performances were ignored?
Guest:That's weird.
Guest:Her three daughters or his three daughters, right?
Guest:All three of those women are great in that movie.
Guest:Oh, yeah, they're amazing.
Marc:Elizabeth Olsen.
Guest:Olsen and Carrie Coon and Natasha.
Marc:Yeah, it's a great little movie.
Marc:They were great.
Marc:But that always happens.
Marc:I mean, that's when you really see the machine of publicity and campaigns, how they're detrimental and that the system isn't really a meritocracy or even that fair.
Marc:And you get what you get.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:Well, maybe you'll know this even closer when you're out there trying to campaign for your performance in In Memoriam.
Marc:Yeah, they're doing they're editing it.
Marc:And he's, you know, he's pretty thrilled.
Marc:Oh, good.
Marc:I'm curious about.
Marc:you know, how it looks and how I did in certain points.
Marc:But like I said, you know, for whatever reason, and this is like some kind of life lesson for me when it comes to acting is that I know
Marc:that I don't have any control of the outcome.
Marc:But I know that when I was shooting that movie, I never went home thinking I could have done it differently or I didn't do the best I could.
Marc:No, you did that on set.
Marc:Yeah, I should really... What do you mean on set?
Guest:You had that doubt in questions, like in between takes, like waiting in your trailer.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:that that oh my god yeah we when the movie comes out we can tell that story again did i tell the whole story i did right i think in a to a degree yeah i'm not sure you gave every detail but yeah yeah yeah but um yeah all of it you know you know because i don't really you don't you just don't know
Marc:And one of the things about watching myself in that documentary, it's a little cringy for me, but for different reasons.
Marc:And I imagine that I'll have that experience, too, watching these other things I'm in.
Marc:But I think the part that's important is that you showed up for work and you know you did the best you could in a real way.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, that definitely happened there.
Marc:So we'll see what happens.
Guest:Hey, tell people about that documentary.
Guest:If they're going to South by Southwest, is there like, is that something they can go see with a pass?
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:I think that is the deal.
Marc:Yeah, it plays it.
Marc:It's at nine o'clock.
Marc:I can't remember what day it is.
Guest:I believe it's the Tuesday that you're there.
Guest:So whatever Tuesday.
Marc:Yeah, there's going to be that screening and me and Fine Arts are going to do some sort of Q&A.
Marc:And then I'm doing some moderated conversation, I think, with W. Kamau Bell the following day.
Marc:And yeah, I mean, that's a very exposing bit of business at Doc, specifically because I can't seem to keep my pants up ever.
Marc:And there is one point where I'm putting something in the oven and like my full ass shows.
Marc:And I was I said to Stephen, I'm like, really, dude, you can see my whole ass.
Marc:And he's like, do you want me to pixelate it?
Marc:And I'm like, what's the fucking point now?
Marc:The whole fucking movie, I can't keep my pants up.
Marc:It's a hard time.
Marc:I have a hard time seeing myself for who I am.
Guest:I've noticed that just hanging out with you, and I always assumed it was something you enjoyed.
Guest:He must like that they slip down like that, and he pulls them up.
Guest:It's more comfortable.
Marc:I guess, yeah.
Marc:But...
Marc:But like I said on stage last night, I said, this documentary, like I just, like it's hard for me to watch because, you know, he makes me out to seem like this cranky guy who succeeded despite himself.
Marc:And the audience just laughed and laughed.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:well and i'm like all right yeah well maybe next year when we're doing this we will talk about the best documentary category and it will be uh it will be in there oh okay fine