00:00 When we talked the first time, I said,
00:02 "This is a movie that I want to see really badly."
00:05 And with not skipping a beat, was like,
00:07 "Is it a movie you want to be in?"
00:10 And I was like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:12 I want to be in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah."
00:13 [ Music ]
00:16 We wrote the script, right? So we had the script first,
00:19 and then we created, like, a deck, like a lookbook,
00:21 with all kinds of images and a description.
00:23 It was fun.
00:24 It had all the references that we had in the movie.
00:27 And we just sent that with the script.
00:29 Did you get it with that? Were that helpful?
00:31 Yeah, it was super helpful.
00:32 It was just beautiful, kind of like, you know,
00:35 a visual storybook in chapters referencing
00:39 all of the amazing movies that I saw on repeat
00:44 through my childhood way too early on cable.
00:47 And just the idea of what you were after
00:51 in terms of genre, in terms of what was personal to you guys,
00:55 nostalgia, and this collage of styles.
01:03 For us, it was just -- we really wanted it to be
01:07 a fun, wild, freaky ride.
01:11 And above all, you know, as we were kind of, like,
01:15 exploring these themes of, like, underdogs who --
01:19 you know, this, like, wish-fulfillment fantasy
01:21 of underdogs who were, like, having their day,
01:23 we wanted it to be, like, a, you know, blast to watch.
01:30 And I think that, you know, in our pitch deck
01:32 and as we were kind of, you know,
01:34 talking to people about it, we wanted to express
01:37 that, like, enthusiasm and that kind of, you know,
01:40 liveliness that we wanted to bring to the movie
01:42 so that, you know, the audience and the people involved,
01:45 like, everybody should just be having fun,
01:47 like, making and watching this movie.
01:49 Whether you looked at the deck first
01:51 or whether you read the script first, either way,
01:53 you knew, like, if you read it,
01:55 it immediately, like, put everything into context
01:58 because it is in the different chapters.
02:00 So, like, there was just this thing of, like,
02:02 "Oh, that's what they're going to do with this.
02:04 Oh, that's what they're going to do with that."
02:05 I just remember having that feeling.
02:07 And then also, like, this, like, graphic novel,
02:11 comic book thing that was, like,
02:13 really just jumping off the page.
02:15 I remember feeling that.
02:17 My thing was slightly different with Babe than Pedro's.
02:20 I had worked with Ryan and Anna before,
02:22 so I didn't even read the script, and I was like,
02:24 "Yeah, I'm in."
02:25 I was really lucky to start my character's storyline
02:30 in the first week of shooting,
02:32 and that felt like being a part of everybody
02:36 introducing themselves to the physical shooting
02:39 of the experience,
02:41 and it did feel a lot different than these, like,
02:44 as you say, big, overblown projects
02:48 where you're kind of just getting
02:51 into a much more intimate experience,
02:54 and you're fast-tracking a connection to one another
02:57 because there are just, you know, the elements are us.
03:01 It's sort of the thing that I've dreamt about as a kid,
03:05 seeing a lot of the movies that are being referenced in this,
03:08 being, like, you know, seeing sex lesson videotape
03:12 in the movie theater, half Nelson,
03:14 at what I thought was a little screening
03:16 but apparently was the premiere in New York.
03:19 I'm like, "Was that that tiny, tiny little screening
03:21 you have at Nelson?"
03:22 You're like, "Oh, the New York premiere?"
03:24 I'm like, "Yeah, that one."
03:25 Basically, as an artist, as an actor,
03:28 it's the experience that you're always after,
03:32 and weirdly, as great, as fortunate as I've been,
03:38 it's strangely been a very elusive one to me
03:41 as far as getting to be in that experience.
03:44 I know it got hard, but not the first week when I was there.
03:47 Everybody was, like, working really hard
03:50 to, like, pull something off that was nearly impossible, but...
03:56 With these guys, at last, we had, like,
03:58 an A camera downstairs setting up for Pedro
04:00 to come out of the house at the very end of the movie,
04:02 one of his last shots, and so we're set up for that.
04:04 The B camera's upstairs with Jay,
04:05 who's, like, destroying people, and spoiler alert,
04:07 he's killing a bunch of people upstairs.
04:09 So bodies are flying around, and then we're saying,
04:11 "Action downstairs," and Pedro's like,
04:13 "What? There's bodies flying around?
04:15 I'm supposed to walk?"
04:16 -Like, bodies falling down the stairs.
04:19 -It was crazy. So Anna and I were just jumping
04:21 from camera to camera, and sorry for...
04:23 -Oh, jeez, you would never know.
04:25 And you see it, and you can't believe
04:27 that this very, very immaculate sequence of action
04:33 starring Jay Ellis is...
04:35 You know, you'd think that they would have...
04:37 It was all kind of happening simultaneously
04:40 while the movie was getting finished,
04:42 and I sympathize deeply in terms of how challenging
04:46 that must have been, but the result is...
04:49 It's unbelievable.
04:50 It kind of unnerves you to realize
04:53 what you can get away with.
04:54 -I remember you calling me after you saw it
04:56 for the first time. Do you remember that?
04:58 -Yeah. -And you were like,
04:59 "Dude, I am so sorry.
05:00 I had no idea that you were up there doing that
05:02 while I was downstairs doing it."
05:03 He had no idea, because we were truly...
05:05 -Separated. -Same house,
05:06 but we were fully separated, and we were both locked into our...
05:08 -By just a flight of stairs. -By a flight of stairs,
05:10 but we were also both very much locked into our own thing.
05:12 We're going through both very big moments in this story,
05:16 and so we are fully separated and fully focused
05:18 on our own thing, and I actually didn't know
05:20 that that's what you were downstairs doing.
05:22 -Yeah, and I didn't know either,
05:23 so I was like, "They're really loud up there.
05:26 Do they know we're rolling?"
05:28 And they're like, "Oh, my God, it's coming for us."
05:31 -As directors, we really do try to protect the environment
05:34 for the characters and really give them the space
05:39 to, like, you know, get into their characters
05:42 and feel like they're just in their own worlds.
05:44 -We knew what we were doing.
05:46 Like, there was never-- We weren't, like, unsure.
05:48 It wasn't just, like, executing a thing.
05:50 It was, "Let's all come in. Let's create.
05:53 Let's all get in this together," and, like,
05:55 "Do you have thoughts?"
05:56 Like, I will say, you guys, for as little time as we had,
05:59 as much as you opened it up and were like,
06:01 "Tell me, what are you thinking? What do you want to try?"
06:03 Like, with the days that we had,
06:07 the space that you created for that, I think,
06:09 was just really amazing.
06:11 And I think it makes you want to lean in.
06:13 For me, it makes you want to lean in even more
06:15 and work harder and, like, get the moments.
06:18 -My vision born in '24.
06:20 I'm about to get a little embarrassing,
06:22 but somebody did my tarot.
06:25 There's this one card. It's, like, the sun card.
06:28 It's, like, this little baby on a horse,
06:30 and he's all, like, naked, and he's like,
06:32 "Here I am, world!" And that's my vision.
06:35 -I'm excited to get back to work.
06:37 I think that we've been working on this for a long time.
06:39 The movie's been done for a little while,
06:41 so we're happy to get it out into the world
06:43 and show people and start something new and stay busy.
06:47 -I think, for me, I think it's, A, work,
06:49 like, you know, ready to get back to work,
06:51 especially after last year.
06:52 And then I think also, too, like,
06:54 really excited to see this movie, like, go out in the world
06:56 and find an audience, and people will be super excited
06:58 to go see it.
06:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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