00:00Well, congratulations on all of this. No pain, success.
00:04Do you agree for reviews or how do you kind of approach all that side of things?
00:09You know, so my background as a writer is in theater.
00:12And so reviews are very touchy in theater because the reviews come out on opening night.
00:17And you still have the run to do.
00:19And so in theater it's kind of etiquette to not talk about the reviews.
00:23But you always have a sense of what they are.
00:25You know, people come in depressed or people come in and hug you.
00:27And so I've been on both sides.
00:29I've had plays that were hits and I've had plays that were not well received.
00:32And so I have a really complicated relationship with reviews.
00:38With movies it's a little easier even if they don't like it because you made it a year ago.
00:42You're probably in production on something new.
00:44And so for me with this movie A Real Pain, like the first movie I made,
00:48which came out two years ago probably to the week, was not that well received.
00:53And I know what they said and I tried to learn from it.
00:58What seems like the benefit of reviews, I guess, if you're going to read them?
01:01It's also the benefit of like, because I write pretty quickly,
01:04I can always have something ready to go before the movies come out.
01:08So like my new movie that I'm doing now was written before A Real Pain was at Sundance
01:15because I was panicked that it wouldn't be well received.
01:17So it's kind of a defense mechanism and it's living with complete fear every day
01:22and enjoying nothing has allowed me to kind of continue apace.
01:27Well that sounds good.
01:29So how are you kind of approaching the acting versus the writing kind of breakdown at this point?
01:35Are you wanting to do both or are you kind of focusing more on one or the other?
01:39I feel like it's so hard to get a job in this industry.
01:42Like, I'm standing on a line with the most successful people in the industry
01:46and I guarantee you, if they were all being honest, they would say,
01:48I worry all the time about my next job.
01:50And so, I mean, that's kind of the way I think.
01:53So I'm so happy to do anything.
01:54Like, I just finished shooting Now You See Me 3, which I'm an actor in.
01:58It's a big, like, unbelievably fun, entertaining Hollywood movie.
02:02And now I'm writing and directing and, you know, acting in a movie that I wrote that's about a musical.
02:08And I'm just trying to stay as busy as possible because I have such low expectations for my own success
02:13that I assume if I stay busy I'll at least, you know, be able to have relationships and get lunch.
02:18And, I mean, Kieran is a good one to kind of start things off with.
02:22Do you have any kind of dream people that you would like to work with or write something for?
02:26No, I mean, my new movie stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti,
02:32my favorite actor and actress of their respective generations, etc.
02:37And I, you know, I pinch myself when I think of them doing the parts.
02:43What has it been like seeing Kieran kind of get so much attention for this role?
02:48Especially after he kind of tried to back out, right?
02:51Yeah, listen, I would say I'm so proud of Kieran, and I kind of am,
02:55but I don't really ever feel like I was his boss because on set he would make fun of me all the time
03:01and not really do what I asked him to do.
03:03And so while I feel so happy that he's receiving all this wonderful notice
03:07and he deserves it and he's a genius performer
03:09and it was like the most exhilarating thing I got to act alongside of,
03:11but I don't feel like that's my boy.
03:14I feel like, oh, he's probably going to shove that award in my face.
03:18Well, I mean, I don't know what to say to that, I guess.
03:24Yeah, you got me. You got me.
03:26You know, I've also, one of the great benefits of Kieran winning all these awards
03:29and working on Glengarry Glen Ross in New York is that I get to accept them for him.
03:33And so in a way I get the taste of winning, you know, when I get my runner-up plaque.
03:39Well, luckily you're getting plenty of acclaim too, so that's it.
03:44Yes, we're all ready for that.
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