BONUS Marc on Movies - In Memoriam wraps
Guest:Your face.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Is that going to stay that way or are you letting stuff grow back in?
Marc:Well, it's kind of going to stay this way because, and I can't let on exactly what the nature of what I did to require me to shave my face.
Marc:But, you know, we do have another piece of the movie to shoot where I appear on Kimmel and they're fabricating...
Marc:a beard like the character had, like high-end fabrication.
Marc:So I don't think it's going to grow out in time to do that without that beard.
Marc:So I'll have to shave again so they can put that on.
Marc:And then I have to go do these scenes in this Bruce Springsteen movie, and that guy had a full beard.
Marc:So I think they're in touch with the person who's crafting this goatee that I had for In Memoriam to make a full beard for that guy.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Marc:Again, I'm not going to be able to fully grow out any sort of beard that will read that way.
Guest:So because of that, do you have to stay totally clean shaven so it sticks?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Well, I'll have to shave again.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So I'm going to let it just do what it's going to do.
Marc:And then on the day, I'll shave so they can put that on.
Marc:What do you think when you look in the mirror and that guy's looking back at you?
Marc:Is it weird?
Marc:Well, at first it's weird, but then it's sort of like, you know, I knew this guy for most of my life.
Marc:I mean, I can't remember when I first started.
Marc:He was buried under there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't remember when I first started doing it, but when we were on Air America, I didn't have a beard.
Guest:No, it wasn't until around, you know, the Break Room Live days.
Guest:I remember when we came back and we started Break Room Live, you had a full beard.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I think it was like a divorce beard.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You had a divorce beard going.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So I've had some kind of facial hair fairly consistently since what, 2007?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Well, all you got to do is look at the covers of your albums.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:That's where you can see it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And a lot of times I didn't want a full beard.
Marc:There are two specials that I did.
Marc:I didn't want a full beard, but they coincided with this thing I was doing with Swanberg.
Marc:what was that called?
Marc:Easy.
Marc:Oh, Easy, yeah.
Marc:And that character recurred, so it just kind of timed out to where I had to have this full beard, because I've never been really a committed full beard guy.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:And then at some point, I leveled off on the stash and the soul patch thing, and that sort of became the thing.
Marc:But, yeah, I mean, I'm okay with this, you know, and people are, like, Josh Brolin couldn't stop telling me how handsome I was.
Yeah.
Guest:Oh man, it's getting going with you two, huh?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Sparks flying.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, he was just like, what, what's going on?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I'm like, yep.
Guest:So y'all take it.
Guest:I listened to just, I haven't fully listened to that episode yet, but I did like how he was like, I had to come back here.
Guest:This was like my first podcast.
Guest:I had to revisit the scene.
Marc:The funniest thing, really the funniest moment, we talked about it, was he rings the bell.
Marc:He's early.
Marc:And I'm walking down my hallway to answer the door, and I'm putting a zin.
Marc:I'm pulling a zin out of the thing.
Marc:And I look outside, and he's standing there pulling his zin out.
Marc:So I open the door, and we're both sitting there with zins.
Marc:And it's like, all right, so this is what it's going to be.
Marc:And then we talked about addiction for 15 minutes.
Marc:But, yeah, I mean, he talked a bit about politics, too.
Marc:I mean, I think he's a—I like that guy because not unlike me, he's, you know, I think—
Marc:Early on, he's innately a dick who, you know, came into, you know, being a better person later.
Marc:And I think I can communicate with those guys.
Guest:And it's funny.
Guest:It's just like...
Guest:So I, I've known you for long enough that I know what your personality is.
Guest:I know what your heart is.
Guest:And I hear you be a dick to people and I know you're not really being a dick.
Guest:Like I know it's just like, it's almost like it's muscle memory, like how you react to something and you do it, but there's no hate behind it or there's no, there's not even an intention to make the person upset.
Marc:No, it's usually to get them to laugh.
Yeah.
Guest:exactly but the dick thing is in there yeah and i went back and listened to the old episode with with josh brolin that he did with you first and he is exactly like that like he'll say something that if you didn't know him right or he wasn't in a setting you didn't know him when you first met him but you knew he was you know it was a he was being a gracious guest there wasn't anything weird about him right but
Guest:But, like, if you just listened to him and he, you know, said a certain thing, you'd be like, this guy's a fucking asshole.
Guest:It's, like, trying to push my buttons.
Marc:Like, a total, like, alpha douche.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, this one is, I think, a little more revealing because as much as he...
Marc:he shits on acting or not shits on it, but doesn't, you know, think he's, he's an actor.
Marc:And, and in this one, you like, no matter what he says, like, I don't know why I'm doing whatever his opinions are, you know, what he said about acting.
Marc:He's, he's definitely an actor.
Marc:He was, he told a really funny story off Mike that I don't think is secret or anything, but cause this is sort of speaking to like Pacino saying like, you know, you, you try for it and, and you know, 80, whatever, 90% of the time you don't get there, you know, or something like that.
Marc:But Brolin was talking about, we talked about acting, but that scene in Sicario, you know, where they come out of the tunnel, they come out of the raid, right?
Marc:And Blunt is melting down, like, I'm going to tell, you know, I'm going to put this out there, what we did down there.
Marc:And basically, you know, you know, Brolin...
Marc:says something like, you know, I wouldn't do that.
Marc:And then he turns away for a second, and then he comes back and basically says, you know, we'll kill you, right?
Marc:You know that beat in the movie?
Marc:So he's saying like, so I'm looking at her, you know, with like an angry face.
Marc:And he says, this is a scene that people come up to him all the time and be like, dude.
Marc:And he says, I'm looking at her with the angry face.
Marc:I say the line, then I turn back.
Marc:And all I'm thinking is, what's my next line?
Marc:And then I find it and I turn around and I do it.
Marc:And he says, people are like, Jesus, that thing was fucking, you know, that's the scene, you know.
Guest:But you know, it's funny, like, that probably helped.
Guest:Like, him having a searching moment in his own brain.
Marc:It does.
Marc:Only if you are, you know, solid.
Marc:I mean, that's the thing that you don't realize when you're doing this.
Marc:And I can't really speak to myself for that.
Marc:But look, if you're in the zone, you know, just because you're not in the scene, you know, emotionally, it'll it'll play.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Like, and sometimes like in all of us seems to like no one's doing it any differently.
Marc:People who do television and I think a lot of people that do movies, they know the story, they know the scene.
Marc:But, you know, the day before or the day of they're sitting there with those lines trying to, you know, make them organic.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Trying to get them into you so they come out right.
Marc:And sometimes when you're looking for lines in your head, it does look like you're thinking.
Marc:Because you are, but not because of the scene, but you're trying to get the line.
Marc:But you have to have a certain amount of faith that like if you're in the zone, you know, I mean, that's all this stuff about how deep you go or, you know, whether you feel it or this or that or the other thing.
Marc:I mean, the nature of acting is acting.
Marc:So like when you hear about all these method dudes versus like these classical trained dudes, a famous story with Olivier and Hoffman or whatever.
Marc:The thing is, is that if you're an actor and you can do it on camera or any other way, you know,
Marc:Whether you're there or not, it will make a difference to you and maybe even a lot of times it'll read differently.
Marc:But a lot of times, you know, you're just acting.
Guest:Well, speaking of that, I mean, that's the whole reason we're recording this today is because I set this on the calendar weeks ago just thinking –
Guest:When you're wrapped with this movie, I think it would be good for you to just fully kind of download your experience here.
Guest:And you wrapped on Friday a couple of days ago.
Guest:It was a how long of a shoot?
Guest:20 days.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:20 days.
Marc:Like, you know, really like 10, you know, eight to 12, 13 page days.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That, which, you know, for people who don't know, what, what do you, what's by your experience, like a general day of shooting, how many pages, like on an average thing?
Marc:I don't know, but I just know that like a lot of things made me ready for this.
Marc:Um,
Marc:But that was like when we shot Marin, it was crazy.
Marc:And again, in that I was in every scene and we had to like do like, you know, two episodes, you know, seven to nine days, I think.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My memory was you had to get an episode, one episode done every three days.
Guest:If you weren't done with an episode every three days, you were eating into the schedule.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So that's like, you know, 30 pages.
Marc:So like, you know, it's a, it's a heavy lift.
Marc:I mean, it's engaging, that's for sure.
Guest:But that's still, just think about that.
Guest:That's a, you know, pretty isolated environment in terms of where you shot, Maren.
Guest:You shot it generally in one spot.
Guest:And that's 10 pages a day you're talking about doing.
Guest:So you're saying you did a movie that you hit like 13, 14 pages a day.
Guest:That seems pretty daunting.
Marc:Well, I mean, like maybe it was, you know, at least there were some big page days and there was a lot of words.
Marc:That's another thing that Brolin talked about off camera about Sicario.
Marc:It's like, you know, he wasn't going to do the movie, you know, and then he got talked into it and Benicio and he's rewriting with, you know, with the writer and, you know, Benicio just doesn't, does, you know, he doesn't like lines period.
Marc:So, so they get these drafts to him and he'd be like, it's a lot of words.
Yeah.
Marc:Like Trejo.
Marc:Yeah, kind of.
Marc:It's the same intensity, the same thing.
Marc:It's like, you know, I can be this guy.
Marc:You know, I've got the weight of him.
Marc:But, like, I don't know.
Marc:It's a lot of talking.
Guest:I think – don't you think a guy like that, though, that the idea of seeing too many words, right, is like –
Guest:This is penning me in, in what I do.
Guest:Like a guy like him, I think about like his performance in traffic.
Guest:It's all the like the notes that are in the silences of that guy.
Guest:And like he wants to act by just like being.
Guest:Once you start making him say things, then he's like, well, now I'm whatever you want me to be.
Marc:Yeah, I can see that.
Marc:But also the risk of that, of creating your own time zone like that is, and I taught Nicky Weinstock, the guy who produced this movie I was just in, produced that prison series.
Marc:What was it?
Marc:Escape from Dannemora.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He produced that.
Marc:And, you know, he was talking about Benicio and how he works and how it's sometimes it's a pain in the ass.
Marc:But but ultimately, you know, he does his thing.
Marc:But in in that show in particular, I said to Nikki and I say this about I say this about Malkovich a lot is that, you know, there's a movie that you're watching.
Marc:Then there's the movie that they're in.
Marc:Like, there's definitely this feeling like what shows that guy?
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, that's definitely true in that Dan Amora.
Guest:He's in a different thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And so, like, that's – I mean, it's good or bad.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:But in terms of the workload, well, I think that –
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:A lot of things came together in my sort of moving towards this thing.
Marc:And I think a lot of them had to do with a lot of preparation came from many guests –
Marc:giving me acting tips and acting lessons.
Guest:It's really wild.
Guest:That really actually did wind up paying off.
Guest:Like all the times you've talked to people and you've been like, I'm just going to get acting advice.
Guest:And I think I noticed it from things you say about your performance in this thing.
Guest:Oh yeah.
Guest:You pick that up talking to people.
Marc:A lot of it, you know, even like right at the fucking last minute there, you know, you know, right just under the wire, you're reading that Pacino book, that thing that I think it's, uh,
Marc:I think it's a Stanislawski thing.
Marc:It's in the book.
Marc:No, I think it's older than that.
Marc:It could be Strasburg, who apparently whose name I mispronounce constantly.
Marc:But but it's just these five things.
Marc:Go to the character.
Marc:What is going on in the scene?
Marc:Where are you going?
Marc:Where did you come from?
Marc:Why are you here?
Marc:And I put that on a post it and I put it on my phone and I went to it.
Marc:You know, a lot.
Marc:Because that's the whole thing.
Marc:You know, whatever you're going to put in place for this character.
Marc:And I never did... I never worked as hard at that than with this guy.
Marc:You know, and whether or not, like, I did it completely or not or whatever, but, like, there were a few things, points of entry with this character who is not unlike me totally, but...
Marc:that I had to sort of, like, gather myself, and that was the one big lesson I learned on that Sharon Stone day, you know, gather myself, you know, get my brain into what's happening with this guy, generally speaking, and then sort of trust it, and then, you know, attack the lines in whatever choices you're going to make.
Marc:But the things that I kept going back to were Jeff Daniels,
Marc:Got to learn how to use your face.
Marc:And arguably, I'm a little concerned that I was overusing my face.
Guest:And you know, it's weird.
Guest:You've had actors who you've said that to kind of disagree with it.
Guest:And I bet that's why.
Guest:They're like, hmm, I don't know.
Guest:I don't typically like to acknowledge the use of my face.
Guest:And I bet you that's why there's a fear of overuse.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:But, like, fuck it.
Marc:I was going to take risks.
Marc:You know, going into this, the risks I knew.
Marc:The thing I was most afraid of was, first of all, my shaky confidence about acting in general and then having to play a guy who's an actor, but he's a good actor.
Marc:Like, I kept trying to bend Rob Burnett, the director and writer of this thing, before the shoot.
Marc:I'm like, does he have to be a good actor?
Marc:Can he just be, like, can he just think he's a good actor?
Yeah.
Marc:And I was like, no, he's a good actor.
Marc:I'm like, oh, fuck.
Guest:I mean, it's intrinsic in the plot, right?
Guest:He has to be good because otherwise the actual the idea that he blew it by going on a sitcom doesn't track.
Guest:He needed to have been a great actor.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So that was driving me nuts.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, how do I sell that?
Marc:And all I could do is what I could do.
Marc:You know, and then you start.
Marc:But there was a lot of things going on in my mind with that stuff, because I've talked to a lot of actors and they're not geniuses.
Marc:So, like, there is a point where it's sort of like, dude, just I mean, you've got whatever it is you have.
Marc:So just lean into it.
Marc:I mean, it's not, you know, either it's going to sell or it's not based based on who you are.
Marc:Not on some nebulous idea of what acting is.
Marc:So going into the first scene of the thing, which is where it happens the first time,
Marc:Is that, you know, this movie opens with me on a procedural, right?
Marc:Like, it's a scene being shot of a procedural.
Marc:And I'm being interrogated by a cop who's trying to get me to admit I killed my wife.
Marc:Now...
Marc:Initially, the scene called for this guy not unlike me, just an aging hipster guy who breaks down crying when he finally admits it.
Marc:And at that point, I didn't really have the faith that I could turn on the tears.
Marc:And then I realized, like, this character has got to be a total contrast together.
Marc:To, at the very least, to who my character is.
Marc:So even if I don't do a great job with the shitty procedural scene, it'll be so different than who I am, which you're introduced to me right after that, that it'll play.
Marc:You know, so I said, you know, we should make him a professor.
Marc:You know, I've got glasses, you know, put a beard on me and, you know, a tweed jacket.
Marc:Let's make him that guy.
Marc:Make him, you know, a cuckold, you know, who, you know, who's...
Marc:You know, he reworked the scene where this was the only action that this guy ever took that made him feel like he had any power in his life.
Marc:And it's really like, you know, it's only a minute maybe.
Marc:But so when I was approaching acting that, I'm like, well, just play it for real.
Marc:No one knows you yet.
Marc:Play it, you know, play it for real.
Marc:So, like, I just got into this zone where, you know, I was nervous and frightened.
Marc:And then, like, you know, it's like that moment, like the way I was thinking about it.
Marc:Was like, you know, you can't handle the truth.
Marc:This moment where this guy wants nothing more than to admit and fucking feel good about killing his fucking wife.
Marc:So like, you know, I was kind of, you know, doing the shaky thing and, you know, nervous.
Marc:And then like, you know, I'm just starting to kind of melt down and like, no, I did it.
Marc:You know, like, you know, like I felt, you know.
Marc:So they all seemed happy about it.
Marc:But because I went to that place, when he says cut, I could go like, we good?
Marc:Everything good?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So the contrast was so extreme that you come off and you're like, oh, okay.
Guest:And did it feel like you were, so this part you're playing, you're playing a character playing a role on a TV show, Law & Order type of show, right?
Marc:Yeah, for that bit.
Guest:Does it feel then like you are playing both characters at once?
Guest:Or did you just click into your brain like, I'm just going to play this procedural role, this law and order type of role completely by itself?
Guest:As if I had got cast in this as Marc Maron myself.
Marc:That's what I did.
Marc:Yeah, because either one would have worked.
Marc:There was no reason to complicate it.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:You just play it for real.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And then come out of it.
Marc:Like, who gives a fuck?
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Like, I didn't need to add that extra layer.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:It would have complicated things for your mind, I'm sure.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:So I just made the decision to just play it straight, and then you come out of it, and you're like, hey, that guy.
Marc:How did I do?
Marc:Was that good?
Marc:And then the director was sort of like, yeah, that was great.
Marc:You really did it.
Marc:I'm like, well, I mean, I used to do some real serious acting.
Marc:Well, I know you're from Marshall Plan.
Marc:He's saying he knew me from the sitcom.
Marc:I'm like, well, I did a lot of serious work before that.
Marc:I'm like, oh.
Marc:It was one of those.
Marc:It pretty much establishes the guy pretty quickly.
Guest:Do you feel like this was based on anybody?
Guest:Did Rob ever say there was somebody in his mind?
Guest:Or did you get a sense there was, even if he wouldn't tell you that there was?
Guest:No.
Marc:No, not really.
Marc:But, you know, you know, many a good actor has taken a sitcom.
Marc:You know, so there's any number of people you could base that on.
Marc:And they don't usually come back from it.
Marc:But it's, you know, you know, I just thought I thought about the idea of a sitcom actor and what that because we did do a flat of me watching my old sitcom.
Marc:So we shot a scene from the sitcom.
Marc:You know, like we they set up a sitcom stage at a sitcom wife sitcom family.
Marc:It was like time travel.
Marc:And and so I thought about a lot of people.
Marc:I just I thought about a lot of people I talked to.
Marc:And, you know, I thought a lot about Clooney and I thought about, you know, these people that.
Marc:you know, just kind of, you know, tweak themselves.
Marc:But I think the most important ones were, you know, Ethan Hawke talking about Denzel was helpful, not because I was up against, it came out more in the Sharon Stone episode, was that this idea that you have to acknowledge what you're up against, you know, in terms of who you're playing off of, you know, and figure out how to, you know, stay in your shit.
Marc:You know, and hold your own.
Marc:And really the only way that I could see to do that was to go to the character and then just, you know, realize like this is that person from the character's point of view is this or that or the other thing.
Marc:And then, you know, just kind of believe it and just, you know, show up for it.
Marc:There was no like because before that Sharon Stone, after that first few takes of the Sharon Stone scene, I was like fucking finished, dude.
Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But but like when I got back, I'm like, you know, it's one of those weird kind of like this is a decisive moment in your fucking life, stupid.
Marc:And, you know, you can't buckle because then you're also the whole I don't remember who told it to me.
Marc:I don't know if it was Owen or somebody else, if it was on the mics or not about being the lead in a movie is that it's all going to.
Marc:You know, you there's it's a leadership position.
Marc:So it's all going to come down from you.
Marc:You're going to define what the set is going to feel like.
Marc:And so I knew that.
Marc:So I'm like, you know, I've got to be.
Marc:I think George Clooney said that to you.
Marc:Oh, I think that's probably true.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And that was very helpful because it's sort of like, you know, you've got to be, you know, a mensch.
Marc:You've got to be gracious.
Marc:You've got to, you know, work among others because, you know, I don't have the confidence to think I'm a goddamn star.
Marc:So all the time I'm thinking, you know, if I'm sitting with whoever I'm sitting with, I'm like, yeah, we're just doing this thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So that helps me that that bit of insecurity.
Marc:But but I was aware of that.
Marc:And, like, I didn't lose my shit maybe twice, you know, once privately and once just on set with a sort of, you know, moment with coverage.
Marc:And that's the other thing you learned, too, about lines and about doing it is that.
Marc:With a movie and with TV, too, is that you're going to get a lot of shots at it.
Marc:There's, you know, if you know what's going on and you're a little unsteady with the lines or whatever, you're going to do it over and over again.
Marc:And, you know, if the director is smart and Rob usually was with me on the bigger scenes, like, you know, you shoot a master and then you go in and, you know, and if if you do my coverage last, I will have done the fucking lines at least eight, ten times.
Marc:So if you come around to me on the coverage, which is what they're going to use, you know, it's pretty dug in there.
Guest:You already talked about on WTF how the Sharon Stone thing went down and you, you know, really had to kind of pull yourself together and find it within yourself to deliver on that level because of, you know, feeling like you need to meet the moment.
Guest:And also not be...
Marc:Devoured.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, because, you know, working with Riceboro on Two Leslie, I didn't know who the fuck she was.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, and she's an animal.
Marc:I mean, she's like a great actor.
Marc:And like, even when we were doing it, like, all I could do was what I could do.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, you know, which was listen and be that guy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And there was no sort of like I didn't have anything, you know, in place in the same way that I did here.
Marc:I guess I did.
Marc:I think you do that naturally.
Marc:You know, you can kind of put a backstory in.
Marc:And Burnett was really sort of extensive in his notes about the backstory and about, you know, he would send us stuff like, you know, he would send me a thing before every week.
Marc:of, you know, what the scene is, where we're coming from.
Marc:And, you know, and after a couple weeks, I'm like, I can't read this shit.
Marc:And he said, I think it's okay.
Marc:I think I'm writing it mostly for me.
Marc:But, you know, I didn't think about it with Andrea, you know, because I was just doing all I could do.
Marc:Like, you show up for the scene, you know, you know your shit, and if the writing is good, you're going to live in that thing.
Marc:And I did all right.
Marc:But with Stone, it was different because, you know...
Marc:I mean, it was similar, but, you know, she had we had this one scene and she was fucking like I talked to her the other night at the wrap party.
Marc:And she said, you know, I took the movie because, like they said, you were in it and I like you.
Marc:And I'm like, okay.
Marc:And then she read it and she's like, fuck, this scene is like the best scene I've ever read.
Marc:And I'm like, really?
Marc:She's like, yeah, it's like the best scene I've ever read.
Marc:And I'm like, all right.
Marc:And then she's like, she said she was avoiding it for weeks or, you know, and it was three days before she was going to shoot it.
Marc:And she's like, well, I got to get in this.
Yeah.
Guest:Was she avoiding it because she didn't want to make it dull?
Guest:Like she wanted to stay fresh with it?
Guest:No, no.
Marc:I think that, I think it was daunting because, you know, I didn't get into it too deeply with her, but you know, it's an aging actress, dude.
Marc:So, you know, so what, you know, for someone like her, who's going to like, you know, integrate this into herself, I think it was revealing about her, right?
Marc:Like, you know, she doesn't have cancer, but, you know, on some level, she's that person.
Marc:You know, the age is right and, you know, the situation is right.
Marc:She is that person.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So I think that when you read that...
Marc:in a character you're like holy fuck it reveals something to you about yourself and I think she just wanted to wait to fucking really you know take it you know to do it but but in terms of like I just couldn't get that out of my head was that Ethan Hawke thing it's like
Marc:You know, OK, so look, dude, you know, after that first take, I'm like, you know, she just she just blew through me.
Marc:And I could feel like, you know, all I could feel is like Sharon Stone is holding my head and and I can't I can't deal.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm not being the guy.
Marc:I'm just sort of like, what am I doing with Sharon Stone holding my head?
Marc:And I didn't know if I could, you know, whatever.
Marc:But the transition, I remember, because I had to take this long walk.
Marc:She's on the Chez Lounge.
Marc:You know, I enter this mansion.
Marc:And her assistant goes over to her and says, you know, Langston's here.
Marc:And I'm standing there waiting.
Marc:And her back gets to me.
Marc:And she's on the Shays' Lounge.
Marc:And she just does this thing with her hand where she goes, like, you know, waves me over.
Marc:Like, come here.
Marc:And it was just that moment.
Marc:It was like Norman Desmond, dude.
Marc:Like, just every—the whole thing was in the hand.
Marc:And I'm like, oh, fuck.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But when I pulled my shit together, I, you know, I had to kind of put in place the ideas that like, look, this is your ex-wife.
Marc:She dumped you.
Marc:Your career kind of went to shit after this.
Marc:You don't really like her.
Marc:You have this history and now you're going to come begging for this thing, but you can't.
Marc:So all that, you know, just the idea that, you know, I'm this separate guy.
Marc:I have these feelings about this person and this history of a person.
Marc:So you got to live in that and then enter the world, you know?
Guest:And then, so how many times you did a couple of takes and then had to just go sit in your trailer?
Guest:What were they doing?
Guest:They would resend scenes or something?
Guest:It was lunch.
Guest:Oh, it was lunch.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Marc:Yeah, they got a couple in, a couple masters, and, you know, they didn't need to use them.
Marc:So, you know, we shot like one or two masters.
Marc:And I lost my shit at lunch, and then we came back, and I think we probably did another one or two of The Masters, and then we went in.
Marc:And then the crying issue started to become a thing, because I knew in The Masters, it's not going to matter.
Marc:Because in The Master, you're only going to use the beginning and end of it, probably.
Marc:Yeah, you texted me.
Guest:This was your text that came in.
Guest:You must have been in your trailer during lunch.
Guest:You said, about to do my own version of the DiCaprio trailer scene.
Yeah.
Marc:So I was aware of it.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:But I had to wait for David because I needed someone to yell at other than me.
Marc:Yeah, you didn't want to just break a mirror.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I wanted to yell at David.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, I mean, it's great that that actually did wind up paying off for you as a kind of moment, not just of clarity as an actor, but for you as just a person, right?
Guest:Like you said, it kind of has changed things for you and how you're doing stand-up now.
Marc:Yeah, it has.
Marc:Total clarity.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, it like filled in some gap of self, I think, you know, that, you know, I was showing up for this thing and there was not one night where I went home and got in bed and thought like, fuck, I should have done that differently or I fucked that scene up.
Marc:It just didn't happen, dude.
Marc:And that's rare, I think, for any actor, period.
Guest:Do you think there's a big difference here, though, because of the waiting around you did on like the TV show you just did versus just a lot of in the moment on this one?
Guest:Like, do you think that if you had more time to just sit around and do nothing, you'd feel less confident about it?
Marc:No, I mean, I like I didn't feel like I didn't have that with the with the golf show either.
Marc:I never thought that I didn't do a good job.
Marc:It was just the waiting was annoying.
Marc:But it was also just sort of like this guy's easy.
Marc:Another big fear that I had about this this movie was that, like, you know, it's written and I know like I think I believe that, you know, Rob Burnett was talked into using me.
Marc:Because Nicky Weinstock wrote me this great letter, you know, and, you know, he sort of... I just got it.
Marc:It was very complimentary and he really got what I was doing.
Marc:But he said he made me look like a genius.
Marc:So I think that, you know, it was a conversation.
Marc:And I don't know who he was thinking of in general, but I always think about other actors.
Marc:And, you know, he worked with Rudd on his last movie, you know, and there are guys that do a thing.
Marc:And look...
Marc:I can be funny on purpose.
Marc:I mean, you know, it's my job, but like I'm not like there are certain actors and you know them and I could probably name a few where, you know, they're just you know, they're not going to not be funny.
Marc:And I'm not one of those guys.
Marc:You give me two minutes and I'll be not funny.
Right.
Guest:you're saying there are people who are who are not going to be unfunny when they're on camera you're a guy who's not going to be what you aren't right like you're there's oh and i'm sure that's what that producer meant right that like he knew that about you and it's this thing that you've always kind of talked to me about almost wrestling with it's like what am i supposed to do i'm just gonna go here and play myself and it's like i think you probably saw in making this movie that you don't have to play yourself but you can't get out of you like you're
Guest:You're always going to present.
Marc:But I always like, you know, I've always been jealous of the guys that kind of become a caricature or something or like they're just guys that, you know, that it's you know, no matter what emotion they put into it, it's always going to be tweaked with this sort of this funny being thing.
Marc:Paul Giamatti.
Marc:That's a good example.
Marc:maybe i i think like i'm thinking of people like rudd you know i'm thinking about people like stiller you know i'm thinking about people who like just you know they can't help but be funny you know even when they're doing a serious scene oh sure for sure i i think i'm saying with giamatti it's closer to you where it's like that guy can shut off funny immediately like he doesn't have to be funny at all in fact he can be full of pathos and sad and you're like oh geez this guy but
Marc:That's true.
Guest:But he can turn the funny on and be funny and you're enjoying him, you know?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:There was just these moments where, you know, where, but I was concerned about it.
Marc:And I think that's why Rob was so surprised.
Marc:And every time he fucking talks to me, it's like, I got a lot more than I expected.
Marc:I'm like, you got to stop saying that because it's not a compliment.
Marc:I don't, I don't know.
Marc:Oh, man, thanks for not sucking the way I thought you were going to suck.
Marc:I had tremendous low expectations from... But I think that's what became surprising to him because it's written as a comedy, but this guy's a real guy and he's got a real problem.
Marc:And you can't not go all the way in
Marc:With with a guy like this and I'm not going to do it any other way.
Marc:So the funny when it happens, you know, was organic.
Marc:And there was definitely moments where I did beats that were funny and I knew they were funny.
Guest:But how was it with some of those other funny people, Alan Ruck and Justin Long and.
Marc:Well, Justin, you know, that's I think that's the broadest bit of comedy we did in the thing, because, you know, he's playing, you know, he's in his 40s and he's playing an influencer, you know, and, you know, I've got to go, you know, toe to toe with him.
Marc:So but that guy, the influencer guy, yeah, it's built for funny, you know, like, you know, he's got, you know, he's a famous kind of TikTok guy for, you know, a thing he does.
Marc:You know, it's like want a grape, you know, like it's just.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:he's the want a grape guy but he's huge you know but that's so funny because like that was literally the start of his career he's just like the mac guy right like that was that yeah i mean he was an influencer but it was like that was what he was known as for a decade oh it's i'm a mac but he's a he's a he's an innately funny guy that can't help himself
Marc:And I think that's the difference, that there are people that are always going to go to the funny.
Marc:And he had license to because that character.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:But there's a beat where it's just a classic comic beat, and I don't know if it'll get in the movie.
Marc:But there's a beat where, like, I've...
Marc:finagled myself onto the set of his movie you know he's got cast in this movie about a guy who's got six months to live and i got six months to live and i just want to want that part because i think it'll change my destiny yeah he's already cast so i i finagle myself onto the set as a consultant and they give me a you know a bit part in this movie within the movie as an orderly who's hooking him up to the chemo machine and
Marc:And he, you know, he comes walking in like he's moving real slow and he's coughing.
Marc:And I'm like, dude, you haven't had that.
Marc:I said you're Daniel Day-Lewising it.
Marc:Good choice, man.
Marc:Full method.
Marc:But it's like, you know, but then he sits down and, you know, and he's doing this cough.
Yeah.
Marc:And I'm standing there in this orderly outfit.
Marc:And I'm like, and we're just riffing, you know.
Marc:And I go, you got to pull a little more into the cough, like maybe a noise at the beginning or something.
Marc:You got to go deeper with it.
Marc:So he's like, and he does this exaggerated cough.
Marc:That's pure comedy.
Marc:And I give it a beat and I go, that's the one.
Guest:That must have felt so fun.
Marc:I couldn't stop.
Marc:There were moments, it was one of those moments where we were laughing hard.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And then we have a fight.
Marc:But that, it was funny.
Marc:Ruck was, you know, Ruck played it straight.
Marc:We played that straight.
Marc:He brought some teeth that he had.
Marc:I'm not sure why he had the teeth, but he had some fake veneers.
Marc:He's like, look at these.
Marc:And I'm like, yeah.
Marc:I can't tell him where he got them.
Marc:But again, I played it straight, you know.
Yeah.
Marc:I could see how you could play it comedically where the guy, you know, is, you know, a sort of you amplify the sort of selfishness of it and is sort of, you know, like, you know, persistence around this thing.
Marc:But, you know, there was a way to play it for real.
Marc:So I did it like that.
Marc:And I think that made it very unexpected in terms of how.
Marc:rob conceived of the comedy of the movie it gave it more depth and in and it elevated the relationship that ultimately you know takes me out of myself with the daughter i didn't know but there's some funny fucking moments like i swear to god i think rob thinks the funniest fucking moment in the movie is this thing i just did you know i just improvised but he can't you just can't get over it like uh
Marc:It was that scene where, you know, it's early on in the diagnosis and I'm watching these old guys play doubles tennis on a tennis court.
Marc:And I get out of my car and I go, what are you guys doing?
Marc:You know, what do you want on your tombstone that you hit a fuzzy yellow ball over a net sometimes?
Marc:And like, you know, do something meaningful with your lies.
Marc:And these guys are all like, what the fuck is happening?
Marc:And so I do this big thing on the court and then I'm just storming off the court.
Marc:And right before I get to the gate, I just go, I have cancer to no one to just out into the world with my back to the camera.
Marc:And I cut and Rob could not fucking stop laughing.
Guest:Oh, that's great.
Guest:That's got to feel good.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's got to feel good for you also to have corralled a bunch of people in on this movie who legitimately only did it because of you.
Marc:Like Lily Gladstone did it because you were in it.
Marc:And we had a lot of scenes, you know, it was like it was interesting because like, again, you know, like I'm a dick.
Marc:But we're doing therapy.
Marc:She's my therapist.
Marc:It's great casting on behalf of me to have her do that.
Marc:Because it's perfect for her.
Marc:She doesn't have to try to be funny.
Marc:She just is a contained character that is in relationship with me.
Marc:So there's this beautiful kind of flow to it.
Marc:And I think it's going to look really good.
Marc:She was great.
Guest:I don't even know her, and I just want to tell her everything.
Guest:She's a very open person.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:She was, you know, she was good.
Marc:You know, it was good to, uh, to talk to her, you know, and, and, and act with her, but yeah.
Marc:And Ruck was good.
Guest:And, you know, uh, had you not worked with Judy on the, on the set of the Apple show?
Guest:She was there.
Guest:We, we had a couple of moments.
Marc:Oh, you did.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:But, but yeah, but I feel like I know her.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:You even know why she's just one of those people.
Marc:Um, you know, you did talk to her.
Marc:I mean, she was in the garage.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, but it feels like we're friends, and I think it's a personality thing.
Marc:But yeah, we had a bunch of scenes.
Marc:She's very funny.
Marc:Yeah, that was good stuff.
Marc:And Michael McKean was good as my manager.
Marc:I don't know if I'm going to fully appreciate it until I see it, because some of those scenes I just didn't know if we were connecting.
Marc:But I think he's a real pro.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's one of those things.
Guest:I always remember Tina Fey talking about that when she started working opposite Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And like they were doing scenes and she was like, what the fuck?
Guest:Like this is not landing or whatever.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then, you know, she'd go and talk to whoever the director was.
Guest:And the director was like, no, it's fine.
Guest:Don't worry about it.
Guest:Don't worry about it.
Guest:And she's like, what are you talking about?
Guest:Like, I know what I'm feeling and it's not feeling fine.
Guest:So what do you mean?
Guest:And then he was like, you know, come look.
Guest:And they watched stuff and she's like, oh, he's the greatest actor alive.
Guest:Like, look at all the shit he's doing.
Guest:But like, you're not aware of it in the moment.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:I mean, I noticed that when I did that week with De Niro on the Joker, just watching him.
Marc:I'm like, this is going to be a problem.
Marc:And then you watch it, I'm like, no, it's not.
Marc:It's Robert De Niro.
Marc:What do you think is going to happen?
Guest:Yeah, it's probably some offshoot of what Jeff Daniels told you.
Guest:These people, whether it's their face or not, they know how to work being in that box.
Marc:Yeah, that's for sure.
Marc:Yeah, and that can only come from experience.
Marc:So, I mean, all in all, I just wonder how it's going to all cut together.
Marc:And there are moments where I'm like, am I still doing the guy?
Marc:But the interesting thing about a well-written thing,
Marc:The woman who played my daughter was great, and you can't explain it.
Marc:She's just a person that fits on screen, and she makes very subtle but very definite choices, and she was great.
Marc:And this is Talia Ryder?
Marc:Talia Ryder, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, we, you know, before the shoot, we went out to lunch and, you know, and we, yeah, I'm like, thankfully, you know, I'm needy enough or whatever, whatever it is from talking to people for so many years, like I can kind of connect with most people.
Marc:And it was pretty essential that her and I connected.
Marc:And we're, you know, I don't have a daughter.
Marc:You know, she's 22 years old.
Marc:Like, I don't know what it's, you know, like.
Marc:But that all played well with the character.
Marc:You know, and it was written that, like, this is what this is.
Marc:This is a daughter you don't know.
Marc:So the scenes that were loaded with emotions because of the nature of what it was...
Marc:You know, the emotions came.
Marc:There was no need to prep for them.
Marc:There was just the need to be open to them and show up for it.
Marc:And they almost always came if the thing is written well.
Guest:Well, that's I mean, that's an amazing thing is that you, you know, came into this.
Guest:You know, I think in general, as a test, you were like, do I want to still do this?
Guest:Right.
Guest:And like everything you've said in the in the aftermath and actually as it was going on, you know, it seems so it seems like such a positive experience for you.
Guest:And have you thought about it in so far as like continuing to act and continuing to do this?
Guest:Like, do you feel like I want to do this again the way you just did it?
Guest:Or are you thinking I want to do something different or I want to try other things or that's not this is not my bag?
Marc:Well, ultimately, I think, you know, my intentions were.
Marc:you know, initially it was sort of like, I don't like acting because I don't like waiting around, you know, but I did take, like, you know, I am a risk taking fucker, you know, I mean, I just am, you know, and, uh, the thing like with two Leslie, I wouldn't did that going like, well, you know, if you want to do acting, you know, you're going to try an accent, do it.
Marc:No one's going to see this movie.
Marc:This is the time to do it.
Marc:Try some shit.
Marc:Try to engage some craft and do the job that is required of you without just kind of getting away with it.
Marc:And that's how I went into 2 Leslie.
Marc:Now, with the golf show, I'm like, I could do this guy in my sleep.
Marc:This isn't going to be a problem.
Marc:And before I got to him, I felt like he was fairly one-dimensional.
Marc:And I did whatever I could.
Marc:with the writers to kind of like not diminish what little of a character there was there with shitty jokes and try to ground this guy in something real.
Marc:And I managed that.
Marc:But that was a challenge.
Marc:But it was not like a stretch for me.
Marc:But this thing, for a lot of different reasons, carrying a movie, playing a guy who's supposed to be a good actor, working with these big people,
Marc:You know, the entire job was challenging, you know, and I didn't really know if I could pull it off.
Marc:But I'm like, well, that's why you do things, dude.
Marc:That's why you do it.
Marc:So, you know, and I guess I did.
Marc:You know, they kept everyone kept being excited about it and everyone seems excited about it now.
Marc:Like I met the editor at the wrap party and she was telling Rob, it's like this should be a this is a movie.
Marc:This should be a theatrical release movie.
Marc:Like not like, you know, get out of this sort of like, well, you know, we'll do it.
Guest:We'll sell it to a streamer.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:You know, like she was like, it's a movie.
Marc:And I'm like, oh, great.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:I don't know what any of that means, but, you know.
Marc:But still, it's nice to have people working on it that are appreciative of it.
Marc:Well, look, I was proud of myself, you know, and there was like, there were certain things that were, it's just funny because I talked to Brolin about it a little bit.
Marc:Because, you know, after that, one of the things I said in the trailer after the Sharon Stone thing,
Marc:When I was losing it on David and telling him, like, I can't fucking do it.
Marc:She's going to eat me.
Marc:And I'm like, you know, what the fuck?
Marc:How come no one's telling me what a good job I'm doing?
Marc:And I'm sort of like, why'd they hold him back?
Marc:If they think I'm doing a good job, they need to tell me occasionally.
Marc:And I guess David, being a manager, put it in Rob's ear, it's like, you're going to blow a little smoke up this guy's ass.
Marc:Even if I knew that it wasn't their nature to say it, to be like, you know, for him to come up and go like, that was really good, but let's see.
Marc:I'm like, okay, good, thank you.
Guest:It works.
Guest:It all just goes back to basically like, what did you not get when you were eight?
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:Can I please have it now?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Rob pointed something out to me and you probably know this too.
Marc:Cause I mean, I mean, if you know me a while, you know it.
Marc:He says, like, you know, because, like, look, I can adjust pretty quickly, and I like director's input.
Marc:If we're in a thing and he's like, you know, turn that down a little bit or maybe, you know, play it this way, I'm like, you know, I can do that.
Marc:But he said he'd never experienced aggressive agreement.
Marc:Like, he would—
Marc:He would come over and he'd be, could you just do this and this?
Marc:I'm like, all right.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Like, he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And then you just do it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:What else, what else do we need to talk about?
Marc:I'm not mad.
Marc:I'm just sort of like, okay, go.
Marc:I get it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I always remember a story.
Guest:It has, it's not my, it's not me.
Guest:It's not anything I've done with you, but I remember it was back when, uh, you were doing Conan a lot.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And, uh,
Guest:You had booked a date on Letterman.
Guest:I think it was like your second time on Letterman, 2007 or so.
Guest:And the Conan people called you to do, they needed like an emergency, you know, what they normally came to you for.
Guest:Like, somebody dropped out, can you come do it?
Guest:And you were like, well, I'm supposed to do Letterman in two weeks.
Guest:And whoever it was that was talking to you was like,
Guest:you know, Oh, but that's different.
Guest:You know, we, we, we're at a different time slot.
Guest:It's not the same.
Guest:Like you can do this and they don't, they don't have a problem with it over Letterman.
Guest:And you just kind of knew it was the bad idea, but you didn't want to say no to, to the Conan's producers.
Guest:So you called Eddie Brill up and you were like, Eddie, just tell me I can't do Conan because I'm already booked on Letterman and they want me to do Conan tonight.
Guest:And he just wasted no time.
Guest:He goes, you can't.
Guest:And you're like, okay, thanks.
Guest:I think that sometimes you just, you just, you know what the score is.
Guest:You just need somebody else to say it.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:That's funny.
Guest:Well, good, man.
Guest:I'm glad this was a positive experience for you.
Guest:I'm glad that you didn't come back to this on a Monday being like, oh, fuck, I fucked this whole thing for three weeks.
Guest:Like, I'm glad it all worked out.
Marc:Look, I just know, like, you know, and I don't know, like, like what I was trying to say, I think at the beginning was like, not unlike the not unlike the podcast and not unlike the opportunities that started to come from the podcast was that for whatever reason,
Marc:When we started this thing, you had a belief in me in terms of this type of audio, this type of broadcasting, my voice in this form.
Marc:And it wasn't like I spent my life on radio, but we knew that I could connect this way.
Marc:So when that happened, like I was very ready for that to happen.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And by the time I got the TV show, I was like, you know, I had already let go of all those, you know, like that wasn't going to happen for me.
Marc:And I had accepted that.
Marc:So when they're like, we're going to do it, I'm like, yeah, I'm ready to do it.
Marc:There was no doubt.
Marc:Like there was none of this like, oh, fuck, I hope I can do this.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And and sort of not not unlike this thing, like when I attach myself to it, you know, I knew the script was good, but I had some fears.
Marc:But but I knew innately that, like, you know, I'm I could I wouldn't have been ready, you know, two years ago even.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Three years ago.
Marc:But I was definitely ready now.
Marc:Like I knew stepping into this and having been on set for three months didn't hurt either.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But, you know, before, because I was like set ready mentally.
Marc:But I, you know, I it was one of those cosmic things where I'm like, I'm totally ready to do this.
Marc:I can do this, you know, on a lot of levels.
Marc:I'm willing to take the chance as an actor.
Marc:I'm not daunted by the page count and the work intensity that comes with the short shoot.
Marc:I've done that.
Marc:You know, there was a couple of things that scared me, but it wasn't... Like, you know, I'm a guy that used to buckle under fear and fuck up opportunities.
Marc:Because, you know, only I knew it, but obviously it became apparent when the opportunities didn't go anywhere.
Marc:But because I would make myself crazy...
Marc:With insecurity and fear, I would choke.
Marc:And, you know, that it's not it's not there.
Marc:But when I think about it, it's weird because when I think about other things that if I ever got the opportunity, like I still have like if they you know, like I don't know, but I imagine if it really happened, it's never going to happen.
Marc:But if I got the opportunity to host Saturday Night Live, I would be freaked out.
Marc:But I imagine I could show up, but there'd be part of me like, you know, like, and when I watch guys who can just do, you know, comedy anywhere and have this weird kind of commitment to a disposition and just kind of do it.
Marc:Like, I always feel like I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants.
Marc:And I don't mind that, you know, because I can fly.
Marc:But...
Marc:But there is, you know, there are certain things that, you know, I could fuck myself on just out of fear.
Marc:But this it wasn't one of them.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you've you've gotten rid of a lot of fucks, too.
Marc:So that helps.
Marc:Yeah, that totally helps.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Well, good.
Guest:I'm glad you gave a fuck about this.
Guest:I'm glad you did it.
Guest:And I'm glad it went well.
Guest:I think I think the listeners are, too.
Guest:People have been with you on the journey of this.
Guest:This is this is an achievement and they they feel good for you about this.
Marc:Well, let's see what it looks like.
Marc:All right, man.
Marc:All right, buddy.
Marc:Thanks.