00:00Peter Gray from the AU Review in Australia.
00:02Hello.
00:03Hello, Greg.
00:04How are you?
00:05Nice to see you.
00:06You too.
00:07Before I get to Fly Me to the Moon, I'm just going to briefly say thank you for Broken
00:14Hearts Club.
00:15It very much spoke to me as like a 15-year-old queer kid trying to figure out everything.
00:20So that just meant, that movie meant a lot to me, so I just have to thank you for that.
00:24Oh, my pleasure.
00:25It was, we did that movie in like 13, 14 days.
00:28So and it's, I have to say, it's been 30 years now almost, or 25 years, right?
00:35And it's definitely, I, you know, it's been such a gift.
00:39I had a nice sort of full circle moment being able to watch Love, Simon and being like,
00:42it's okay, you're going to get through it.
00:45Exactly.
00:46Yes, there was a lot of, I kept thinking about that movie when I was working on Love, Simon.
00:50They were really connected.
00:51But it made me think sort of like, obviously, between Love, Simon and this, you know, there's
00:56been a lot of television work, but what was it about, like this film that sort of brought
01:00you back to theatrical directing?
01:03I was, I would say it's always the story for me, the fact that there was an original story
01:08of this scale that that and that someone likes of Scarlett's caliber and talent was going
01:14to produce and star in it.
01:15I think those were, that was already exciting to me.
01:18But then when I read it and read the story, I only kind of raised my hand to direct if
01:23I feel like, oh, I'm the person that's supposed to do this.
01:27And the blend of tones, the celebration of what was achieved back then, but the fun and
01:33the comedy of the different characters and the opportunity to work with this level of
01:37actor across the board, I think.
01:39And just my desire to, you know, when I was working on, you brought up Love, Simon.
01:43But at that time, I was trying to really put a film there that wasn't there when I was
01:48a kid.
01:49And in this, I'm trying to kind of put back more original movies that were there when
01:53I was a kid.
01:54You know, there were so every time you went to the movies on the weekend, you didn't know
01:57what was going to happen.
01:58You knew there were gonna be big stars, we're gonna be fun, hopefully entertaining.
02:01And you just didn't know, it didn't feel like it was a third or a fourth or a fifth, no
02:05offense to sequels and those things.
02:07But it was, it was, you know, wasn't based on anything else.
02:10I just was, I found myself caught up in the whole narrative.
02:13And I felt like, oh, wow, I would love to, there'd be so many elements about this that
02:18would be super challenging.
02:19I don't know if I could do it, let me, I'd love to try, because it would be an event
02:24to see if I could pull it off.
02:25I mean, it's not the worst thing to be like, oh, I guess I'll work with Scarlett Johansson
02:28and Chang Tate, I'm sure.
02:30Exactly.
02:31And so, you know, those, but if you do it just for that reason, that's the thing, it
02:35kind of has to be for me, it has to be a story that I want to wake up with every day.
02:39Because the fact is, you're going to work at morning, noon and night for two years,
02:44at least on this thing.
02:45And you know, you have to believe in the reason it's existing and what it's trying
02:50to say and do.
02:51And one of the characters that I really loved was Jim as the director, and I was wondering
02:56like, is that, was there any, like, was that based on anybody?
03:00Do we have any like, you know,
03:01It's definitely somewhat reminiscent of certain people I've known in the business, or some
03:06might say, there was a time where everybody started calling my assistant on the movie
03:10Joseph, because he calls his assistant on the movie Joseph.
03:14And so I think they were making a little fun.
03:17But no, it's look, Jim, Jim embodied and created that character before our eyes.
03:22But I knew that there was, you know, that there was such opportunity.
03:27If you remember the film Wag the Dog, the Dustin Hoffman part of that, that Robin Evans,
03:32Robert Evans kind of part that he played, like, you knew that, like, okay, you needed
03:36some element that was going to come in halfway through the movie, and be larger than life
03:40enough to like, give this movie its own vibrancy.
03:43And Jim had all those qualities.
03:45And there's like a half hour of Jim that's like on the cutting room floor that I couldn't
03:48even use in the cut.
03:50So one of the harder things about directing the film was actually what not to use of all
03:53the great comedy that he delivered.
03:55No, well, I just think, yeah, I walked into this not knowing what to expect.
03:59And I love that I'm going to leave it with, it's like, it's a compliment if you stop listening.
04:03So I think that was one of the greatest lines, so I'm gonna head off, because this was such
04:08a such a wonderful treat, and it's so great to see you back on the big screen.
04:12So thank you so much.
04:13Thank you so much for everything.
04:14And thanks for the Broken Hearts Club shout out.
04:16No worries.
04:17Thank you so much.
04:18Cheers.
04:19Cheers.
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