00:00I've never went through TSA without somebody saying,
00:02my name is Jeff.
00:03No way!
00:04Almost every single time I go through TSA.
00:05Well, my name is Jeff.
00:07Oh, sick!
00:07Is your name actually Jeff?
00:08And I'm telling you, dude,
00:10you have no idea how often people say,
00:12my name is Jeff, to me.
00:13Ha ha!
00:14And I'm like, I...
00:14At least you get to share in the script.
00:15I did it, yeah.
00:17Oh, Jeff.
00:18Okay, here we go.
00:24Slater King's such a perfect douchey tech bro nickname.
00:27Yeah.
00:27He's Slater King.
00:28Slater King.
00:29Slater King.
00:30Were there any others that you threw around?
00:32No, you know, I remember writing the story and just,
00:35I don't know.
00:36It's funny because now Christian Slater's in the movie
00:38and people keep on asking if that was a reference.
00:41And I do feel like now,
00:42I subconsciously may have recently watched,
00:45rewatched Heathers right before.
00:48So maybe that was part of it,
00:49but I just remember writing it down and being like,
00:51that's a good name.
00:52That's a good name.
00:54I remember like the first time I read it,
00:56I was like, oof.
00:57Slater King.
00:58I was like, it feels like a,
01:00it feels like a save by the bell mashup of like,
01:03yeah, I was just like,
01:04I was like, it feels so like up the middle.
01:07And then I sort of sat with it and I was like,
01:08oh no, it's actually exactly what it should be.
01:10Yeah.
01:10I thought about it and I was like,
01:12Christian Slater and Simon Rex also kind of sound like tech names.
01:17And Rex means King.
01:18Rex means King.
01:19Oh shit, so we got Slater King.
01:20Slater King.
01:21Slater King.
01:22There are no coincidences.
01:23My name's Arabic and I have nothing to do with all that shit.
01:25Wow.
01:26I wish my name sounded like a tech name.
01:28I don't know what my name sounds like.
01:30If you move to the Bay Area.
01:32Great.
01:33I'll happily make that tech money.
01:35Listen,
01:36that's what I was thinking.
01:37I don't know what to say.
01:38I ain't got to be in shape anymore.
01:40I don't even know how to do a spreadsheet.
01:42Nah, we're good.
01:43I'll take that dot com, dot com money.
01:45Yeah.
01:46I want a Cybertruck.
01:47I've seen so many around.
01:49I will not ever let you drive a Cybertruck.
01:51I don't know how to drive.
01:52We're going to my island for a few days.
01:54Do you guys want to come?
01:59That vape sound.
02:01I had like heart palpitations by association.
02:04The legendary parties of Slater King.
02:07It was so hard to describe that sound
02:10and try and find the right vape.
02:12I was like, it needs to be more crackly,
02:13but there needs to be air in there.
02:15And like, it's so funny when you have to explain sound.
02:17It's like such an abstract thing,
02:19but I am glad you got it and appreciated it.
02:22I noticed the sound design specifically
02:24was really important to you.
02:25Yeah, I learned so much about sound
02:29and how much it affects the story.
02:31I'd always appreciated it,
02:33but until you actually see the before and after,
02:35it's really hard to really understand
02:37like what it adds.
02:38But because the film is about memory,
02:41you know, I wanted it to be sensory
02:44and it's not about what's real
02:46or, you know, it's about the things that you remember
02:48and those things and how they stick in your mind.
02:50Yeah, that was almost the score.
02:51That was almost the score.
02:52There was some great attention to detail.
02:53Like the chess board that we play chess on
02:56is the floor coloring in the house
02:58and there's just a lot of different
03:00A lot of things mirror each other
03:01that you notice the second time.
03:03Yeah, the music.
03:04There's a lot of hidden eggs in there.
03:06I think I want to actually see it again
03:08now that we talk about it.
03:09Yeah, for real.
03:10Because I think I missed some stuff.
03:11Oh, for sure, for sure.
03:13She did a very good job.
03:14So, you know, people ask like were you nervous
03:17to work with a first time director?
03:18Normally, yeah, but with Zoe,
03:20I was confident she knows how to make them.
03:23You know, she's a smart, savvy,
03:26sensitive, stylish girl.
03:28Around a long time.
03:29Talented family.
03:30Yeah.
03:31She worked with the best people.
03:32Yeah.
03:33She's an actress.
03:34Not surprised.
03:35So she knows what the process is.
03:37So she just was great.
03:39It feels, I don't know, it's just so hurt.
03:42Like, you know, it's so not,
03:45it has the technique and the skill
03:48of like what you expect of good movies.
03:51But it also has this other,
03:53I think, wild factor and it factor
03:55that is just very hurt.
03:57And it's just punchy.
03:58Yeah.
03:59It's just, yeah.
04:00Nice to see a filmmaker's distinct style
04:02right out of the gate.
04:03Yo, the first time I saw it,
04:05I said that to Zoe and I was like,
04:06you have your own style on your first movie, dude.
04:11Yeah.
04:11Like, it's a tone all of its own.
04:14The editing, everything about it was so Zoe.
04:17And it's incredible to see that she has her own language
04:20so, so quickly.
04:22I'm obsessed with tone in movies.
04:23Me too.
04:24Like, it's kind of like the only thing
04:25that makes a movie for me.
04:26Because you can have a well-written script
04:28or well-acted or whatever, or even shot.
04:31But if you don't have a tone, you don't have a movie.
04:34And if it's not clear,
04:35that tone isn't clear,
04:37then the actors don't know what world they belong in.
04:39Because certain things,
04:40you can see wild stuff happen in certain films,
04:43but because of the tone.
04:44Tropic Thunder.
04:45Tropic Thunder is wild.
04:46It's crazy.
04:47Who else could get away with that?
04:48But the tone was so specific that it worked.
04:52The sugar made the medicine go down in a way.
04:54Because, like, this movie could have easily been very one-noted
04:57and, like, it would have been hard to watch.
04:59Yeah.
05:00And, like, sort of just been like,
05:01oof, this is heavy.
05:02This is painful.
05:03I'm not enjoying this at all.
05:04I know I should watch this because it's important,
05:07but I'm not enjoying watching this.
05:09And, like, I think she does a tonal shift midpoint in this movie.
05:14And it is brilliant.
05:15It's so good.
05:16It's such a brilliant tonal, like, like, pivot.
05:18And I don't really know very many movies that do that.
05:20Yeah.
05:21And, uh...
05:22They're brave enough to...
05:23Man, you're a masterful stroker.
05:25Yeah.
05:26So...
05:28Everybody's dead.
05:33Has anybody sat down and said,
05:35ooh, I'm about to make a name for myself here?
05:37Uh, they haven't said that they are going to make a name for this,
05:39but they brought that up, yeah.
05:40Would you laugh longer?
05:41Of course.
05:42Yeah, man.
05:43I'm so proud of that.
05:44I'm so proud and just so grateful for that thing.
05:46I mean, man, Kevin Feige and Ryan,
05:49they just gave me the biggest gift of my life.
05:51Did you know it was going to be the biggest gift?
05:53Was it going to be memed when that...
05:54I had no idea that that was going to be memed.
05:56No.
05:57No, that...
05:58It's weird what happens in pop culture like that.
06:00You know, same with My Name is Jeff.
06:01My Name is Jeff.
06:02It's such a small moment in the movie.
06:04It's so cool.
06:05Like, I remember we did a table read,
06:06and it wasn't even that funny at the table read.
06:08It was, like, whatever.
06:10All of a sudden, man, just like...
06:12It goes to show you can't try and be a meme.
06:14You've just got to be.
06:15Yeah.
06:16And then if the meme comes, the meme comes.
06:18That's it.
06:19And if people want to find it, they will find a meme.
06:20They will find a meme out of it.
06:22My name is Jeff.
06:23I feel like you've all had really peculiar careers.
06:27You know?
06:28Like, weird niche stuff, and you're not afraid to...
06:31We've never really been, like, franchise people.
06:33Right.
06:34Although we would love one.
06:35Well, that's not...
06:36With us three as a true.
06:37Yeah, with us three, it'd be fantastic.
06:38Superheroes.
06:39All right, all right, all right.
06:40Of course, we wanted to do it.
06:41You know, like you just said, choosing those types of roles.
06:43I remember reading the script and being a little scared of it
06:46in the sense that it's dealing with some heavy subject matter
06:49that will come up that's uncomfortable.
06:51So I said, I got to do it.
06:53Yeah, I think totally, too, the cast reflects it.
06:55You know, it's kind of like a vibe of...
06:57You know, we wanted to feel like a Boogie Nights kind of rad, like
07:00different levels of, you know, we got some...
07:03Some like Gina Davis in there.
07:05Raw, authentic, yes.
07:06And everyone's, like, particular and specific, and there's nobody
07:09that you forget about.
07:10Like every character, no matter how small or big.
07:13It's like everyone feels like a real fully-fledged weirdo.
07:16You know?
07:17I don't think it was intentional, but I do think that the reason
07:20that they were attracted to this story is because that's the kind
07:23of artists that they are.
07:24And I keep on comparing this to, you know, when you make something
07:27very strange and kind of out there and specific, it's like a destination
07:31wedding when you're like, well, half the people won't come.
07:34But those are kind of the people you don't want there anyway.
07:37And I feel like this is kind of like that, where it's like the people
07:40who are excited by this kind of story and want to participate in telling it.
07:44You know, we all have a similar frequency.
07:46Do you still refer to the film by its original name?
07:49Only by habit, only because it was so many years of calling it that.
07:52But now I have to get used to the new title, which I do love.
07:54It's just like a, it's a, it's a reflex.
07:58Our text thread is still...
07:59Is still P Island.
08:00But you know, now I stop myself.
08:02I'm like, yeah, Blink twice.
08:05Blink twice.
08:06I just have a little hiccup.
08:07But I like Blink twice.
08:08I like Blink twice, too.
08:09It's a good name.
08:10It is a good title.
08:11It's worth the change just for the piece of trivia.
08:13Yeah, totally.
08:14That's true.
08:15That's right.
08:16Yep.
08:17Did you have any sort of reservations or were you nervous taking
08:20on a project that talks about class warfare that also requires
08:24millions to make, you know?
08:26How did you like toe that line there?
08:28That's a good question.
08:29I mean, that's a really good question.
08:31I don't think I really thought about that that much.
08:36I think I was mostly focused on wanting to make this because I felt like this was a contribution.
08:46And I do feel like that's how I approach art.
08:49There's so much noise that I think I feel like I have to really believe in my heart that this is deserving of taking up space and it's adding something versus taking away.
09:02And I believe in that.
09:04I don't know what's really going on.
09:12Blink twice if I'm in danger.
09:13Well, maybe not answer that one.
09:15I won't answer that one.
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