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00:00Truth is, this is a really exciting time for me in my career because I, you know, I'm in my fifth level of life.
00:09I know I look like I'm still in my 20s, right?
00:11You do.
00:12You do.
00:13So do I.
00:14You do.
00:15Don't say anything.
00:16It's like twins.
00:23Be patient, find your time, get them down, do your thing.
00:26Yeah.
00:27You're gonna have fun out there.
00:28Let's have fun.
00:29Guess who it is.
00:31Hey Dawn.
00:32Hi.
00:48I'm sorry.
00:49I'll grab this one.
00:50Okay.
00:53Alright buddy, I'm thinking like five to ten, alright?
00:55Yeah.
00:56Yeah.
00:59Alright.
01:06Hi.
01:11Wanna come sit baby?
01:12Are you okay?
01:13Are you high?
01:25Look at me.
01:26Look at me.
01:27Look at me.
01:28Look at me.
01:29I...
01:30Why are you being so weird?
01:31Your eyes look weird.
01:32Look.
01:33Okay.
01:34Come here.
01:35Come here.
01:36Okay.
01:37Come here.
01:38Come here.
01:39Come here.
01:40Come here.
01:41Okay.
01:42Okay.
01:43You made me feel so fucking stupid coming in here.
01:44It's like you guys were talking shit or something.
01:45I fucking flew halfway across the globe.
01:46You asked me to come.
01:47I said thank you.
01:48Oh yeah?
01:49Oh yeah?
01:50And then you acted like a fucking dick in front of your friend.
01:51How's that?
01:52How's that?
01:53Don't call me next time.
01:54Please don't come.
01:55I'm lonely.
01:56Fuck you.
01:57I'm trying to focus.
01:58It has nothing to do with you.
01:59Can you say hello to me?
02:00You don't even have time to say hello to me?
02:01It has nothing to do with you.
02:02I just don't want to fight.
02:03Not now.
02:04Please.
02:05Would it be easier if I punched you in the face?
02:06Yes.
02:07Punch me in the fucking face.
02:08Punch me in the fucking face.
02:09Punch me in the fucking face.
02:10The biggest night of my life.
02:11You're so fucking mean to me.
02:12You know that it would.
02:13Come in.
02:14I'm so sorry.
02:15We are ready for downstairs.
02:16Please just come with me.
02:17Yeah.
02:19Oh yeah.
02:21Oh yeah.
02:22Oh yeah.
02:23Oh yeah.
02:24Oh yeah.
02:25Oh yeah.
02:26Oh yeah.
02:27Oh yeah.
02:28Oh yeah.
02:29Oh yeah.
02:30Oh yeah.
02:31Oh yeah.
02:32Oh yeah.
02:33Oh yeah.
02:37You're out of fucking control.
02:39I'm sorry.
02:54This is a true clash of two giants and the small class.
02:59I really don't know what to expect here. Of course, we expect Igor to start throwing balls and Mark to go for the takedown.
03:08We've got Kerr, the quintessential wrestler, the takedown artist, against maybe the purest puncher in the game, the Igor projection.
03:18There's Mark Coleman, former three-time UFC champion, cornering Mark Kerr.
03:28I'm going to go find my seat, okay?
03:37Welcome to Behind the Lens. Today, I have somebody who's not only behind the lens, because he's a very prolific producer with over 50 producing credits,
03:45but you know him in front of the lens as well, you know, from every movie you can imagine in the last 20 years.
03:53Big blockbusters, and now critically acclaimed film, Smashing Machine, in which he plays Mark Kerr, a MMA fighter, and just throws himself into this role like you can't imagine.
04:09This is Dwayne Johnson. Welcome.
04:10Thank you, Pete. Good to see you.
04:12When I talk about you throw yourself into this role, I think it obviously had to surprise people, because we know you.
04:19Sure.
04:20Bigger than life on the screen and everything, but I've never seen you do a role like this, and I don't think anybody had.
04:26And, well, thank you for saying that, and I was looking for the challenge. I had felt like I'd been lucky to have this amazing career over the years, and I was looking to challenge myself in ways that I had not been challenged before as an actor.
04:39But also, I was, there was a little voice about maybe six, seven years ago, maybe eight years ago that was behind my ribcage that was saying, there is more.
04:49You can do more. And you can do something perhaps where you disappear.
04:54Yeah.
04:55And that was a big thing for me, you know, was this idea, because I had been told before in the past, like, you, you're in big blockbusters, you do action, you do comedy.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Maybe you do musicals.
05:06Yeah.
05:07But you can't disappear.
05:08Mm-hmm.
05:09And that, it got to me, and not because people were saying I couldn't do it, but because, oh, wait, I thought, well, I can disappear.
05:17I'd like to give it a shot, but also I would really like to challenge myself and find the right director, which was Benny Safdie, and then the right studio who saw something else in me, which was A24.
05:27Yeah.
05:28And you actually took this project to Benny.
05:31I did.
05:32It wasn't Benny coming to you.
05:33You, you, as your, your producer's hat on.
05:36That's right.
05:37You're saying, I'd really like to do this.
05:39Yes.
05:40And, and how did that come about for you?
05:42Yeah.
05:43So I, it's based, Smashing Machine is based off a documentary called The Smashing Machine, and it came out in the mid-2000s, and I saw the documentary back then.
05:51And that was about when I was kicking off my acting career with The Scorpion King and, you know, the rundown with Pete Berg, movies like that.
05:58It's amazing.
05:59They're doing a fourth Mummy movie.
06:00I know.
06:02They'll be calling.
06:03I know.
06:05I know.
06:06I'm excited for those guys.
06:07But, um, so I saw the documentary back then and I thought, oh, this could really be, first of all, it's a really, I think, intriguing, compelling story.
06:15And I had known Mark.
06:17I, at least I had met him.
06:18The legend of who Mark Kerr was in the world of MMA was, was pretty profound back then.
06:23But the story is a sad story and it doesn't end well for Mark.
06:27Now he's doing great today.
06:28Thank God.
06:29By the grace of Mark.
06:30I know.
06:31I saw him at the end of the movie.
06:32I mean.
06:33He's doing, yes.
06:34He, he, he overdosed twice in his career.
06:37He lost everything in his career, but he, he, uh, is sober and he is happy.
06:43So I saw the documentary back then and I thought, oh, this could be a really good, I think compelling story.
06:49And even back then I thought, God, I would love to play Mark Kerr.
06:54Yeah.
06:55And back then I felt like, well, I think I need a little bit more experience under my belt and maybe live some life.
07:01And so years later, when I, when I heard that voice, which was, Hey, there is more, you know, you're very lucky to be where you're at.
07:10And what do you want to do?
07:12You could either sit here at the top of this mountain, look out in the sunset or ride off into the sunset.
07:19Or, uh, I felt like, oh, I know what I want to do.
07:22I want to go, I want to go build more mountain, make new mountain.
07:25And I don't know what that means, but I want to challenge myself.
07:28So years later, 2019, I brought the documentary to, um, to Benny Safdie.
07:35Yeah.
07:36And he loved it.
07:37He responded to it.
07:38He said, I think we could make something.
07:39Well, Benny, did you see uncut gems and what Adam Sandler was allowed to do?
07:45That's exactly what happened.
07:47It's exactly, I watched uncut gems.
07:49I've known Adam for a long time.
07:50Yeah.
07:51I was so happy for this turn for him because I felt like he, very similarly, he wanted, he wanted to challenge himself and he wanted to be more.
07:58So I loved Adam and uncut gems, but there was also something about uncut gems that really grabbed me by the shirt collar and didn't let me go.
08:07And I think it was this anxiousness, the anxiety of it.
08:10I thought, I thought the, I thought the, the, the realness of his casting and their casting in the film, there was just the grittiness of it.
08:19The cinema very take kind of style about it.
08:22And, and it, and it wasn't the happy ending that a lot of times we're used to in movies.
08:29Right.
08:30And it was gutsy.
08:31Yeah.
08:32So I felt like I had a movie in, if we were going to find a place to make it in the smashing machine, where by the end of the movie, it's Rocky one where you don't win.
08:42And not only does he not win, but he loses everything and he ODs twice and he's lucky to be alive.
08:49It's hard to make those kinds of movies.
08:51Is there a way?
08:52And is there a filmmaker that can turn this movie into something compelling?
08:55And I presented it to Benny and I didn't know what kind of guy Benny was based on the movie.
09:02Right.
09:03Until you, you know, Benny.
09:04Right.
09:05And it was like, when you sit with Benny, I was so moved by his childlike charisma and his humanity.
09:14And I felt like, God, this feels like Kismet.
09:18And it feels like we, if we don't make this movie together, I think we're going to be friends.
09:22And I gained a friend, um, and, and gained a filmmaker who saw something in me that I thought I saw too.
09:33And it, and it really, it meant the world to me.
09:36That's why I say Peter now that the smashing machine, it changed my life.
09:41Yeah.
09:42Well, there's, there's no question.
09:43And you and Emily Blunt are just harrowing to watch in parts of this movie.
09:48It is so raw is the only word I can think of.
09:53Uh, and it felt so real watching it.
09:56And I have to tell you, I didn't see it at Venice.
09:58I, I reviewed a lot of movies out of Venice that they'd show me in LA, but I only had one critic in Venice and stuff.
10:05And I didn't see this before.
10:07So he reviewed it.
10:08I went and paid for it at my local theater.
10:11Oh, thank you, man.
10:12I watched it and you know, I'd heard a lot about it and all of that.
10:16And I watched it saying, and it's going along and then, oh my God, there are scenes there where the camera is, looks like handheld or something.
10:25And it's just catching real life here.
10:27Yes.
10:28The rage and fury that you have in some of these scenes with her.
10:31Yes.
10:32Is extraordinary.
10:33Yes.
10:34Thank you for saying that.
10:35So a few things.
10:36Um, Maceo Bishop, who's our DP, who's also a camera operator, worked with Benny on the curse a little bit on, and worked also with him on, on, on Uncut Gems.
10:45So the scenes in the ring and in the cage, uh, there was a, uh, and when we talk about camera work here, when, what Benny, Benny made a rule at the beginning of the movie, he said, we're going to have to go counterintuitive.
11:00Cameras will not be allowed in the ring.
11:03Yeah.
11:04Ever.
11:05All right.
11:06So it's sort of a movie like, you don't, especially with a movie.
11:09So for example, like raging bull with Scorsese, that was one of Benny's inspirations and the cameras in there.
11:14Yeah.
11:15Marty put the cameras in there and this Benny said, I want it to feel real.
11:18So I want the cameras back two or three rows.
11:20Yeah.
11:21I want you to fight the backs of the heads of the people, the turnbuckles, the aprons, the ropes.
11:26I want it to feel like that.
11:28And he did it.
11:29And I, and again, it's counterintuitive filmmaking.
11:32And, and then when we got to the house, when it was Emily and I, he, Benny and Maceo, he took that same ideology.
11:41He applied it, but here's what he did.
11:43He built the house on, on a soundstage where we lived.
11:46Right.
11:47Uh, no movable walls, running water.
11:50Wow.
11:51Everything was exact as best we could.
11:53Um, with production design, where they lived in their house, cause they still had a lot of things from back then.
12:00Uh, lighting, there's lighting here that we have for our podcast and our show.
12:06You never saw lighting.
12:07He put it all in the ceilings.
12:09So by the time we got on set, we were just walking into our house.
12:12We never saw a camera because he, he built those walls that were immovable so we could hide the cameras.
12:18So you never saw it.
12:19It doesn't look like a film set.
12:20Not at all.
12:21So I think what that does is it brings you in and it makes you feel like you're violating this space.
12:27Yeah.
12:28Between a man and a woman who maybe you shouldn't be.
12:31When Christopher Nolan first watched the film, that was the first thing he said to Benny.
12:34He goes, I mean, this is the greatest compliment.
12:36I feel like I shouldn't be watching this.
12:39I had the same reaction.
12:40I'm watching and I'm going like, Oh my God, you know, what's going to happen here?
12:45Yeah.
12:46And it just was extraordinary.
12:47The only time I've heard of this kind of technique done was in the zone of interest.
12:51They built a whole house in that and he hid the cameras.
12:54So it looked like everyday life for them.
12:57Like everyday life.
12:58And, and a lot of times he would hide the cameras, Benny would hide the cameras and he'd go long lens.
13:03Again, counterintuitive, which you take a shot, you take a risk here.
13:08He felt it would really draw the viewer in the audience in.
13:12Yeah.
13:13And, and that's what happened.
13:14And I also want to say this about Emily.
13:16I feel like, thank you for saying that because I feel like our explosive volcanic relationship
13:22that you see between Mark and Don and between me and Emily, I think it could only happen if there were trust and love.
13:28Yeah.
13:29And I, I've known her now for almost a decade.
13:32We're the best of friends.
13:33Thank God, because those scenes where we had to go the rawness of it.
13:37Yeah.
13:38I feel like thankfully it was with a friend who I love and respect who we had each other.
13:45Yeah.
13:46Like we're going to say some awful things and we are going to be very, very close to being physical.
13:54Was it improv at all or was it all in the script?
13:58There was a few things that were improv.
14:00So for example, when we first see Mark's first fight in Japan, she flies all the way over to Japan.
14:07She comes in the locker room.
14:08Yeah.
14:09He doesn't even say hello.
14:11And she flew 15, 16 hours to be there for him at his request on his big night.
14:17He's an asshole to her.
14:19Doesn't say, doesn't even acknowledge her when he walks in, when she walks into the dressing room.
14:23Wow.
14:24I was improv because I feel like I know what that's like.
14:29I've seen that before with my own dad.
14:31My dad was a pro wrestler at one time.
14:33And I know what it's like to have, to watch my mom really give up her life and commit just for my dad's life and his dreams.
14:41And so many times I would watch her walk into a room and he's getting ready and preparing for the thing that he does.
14:47And he wouldn't even acknowledge her.
14:51And that kind of pain, when I went to watch that, it's like this idea that the one you love is in the same room, but yet you treat them as if they're invisible.
15:02Yeah.
15:03And so when Emily walked in on that first take, I completely ignored her.
15:08And you see the look on her face.
15:10You see how much it kills her.
15:12And then, of course, things explode about two minutes later between us.
15:17Yeah.
15:18She has said that, you know, she said, you just came in and, you know, you were so into this character and this playing this guy that you were unrecognizable to her.
15:28And you'd worked together, obviously.
15:30That's right.
15:31Jungle crew.
15:32She was really moved the very first time I came on set and I just walked on set quietly.
15:38And that was Mark Kerr at that time.
15:40You had to put on.
15:41I mean, people think Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, you're a big guy, but you had to actually put on weight for this.
15:47It was crazy.
15:48I mean...
15:49It was crazy.
15:50It was so...
15:52I had to...
15:53So Benny said to me, and it was very funny, he said, he goes, you know, I don't know, I don't think you've ever been asked this before, but I'd like you to get bigger.
16:02I said, sure.
16:03In what way?
16:04He goes, well, just let's look at Mark and his body.
16:06But what you realize is, and I did, by the way, there was a physical transformation.
16:10I gained over 30 pounds.
16:12Yeah.
16:13And what I realized fast is that it's hard to put on five pounds.
16:18Right.
16:19Especially if it's a quality of muscle that Mark Kerr had.
16:23So Benny said, hey, I'd love for you to put on weight.
16:25Mark Kerr is a very big muscular guy.
16:27Yeah.
16:28But he also moved like a cheetah.
16:29Right.
16:30And he was this incredibly athletically gifted man, and he had a quality of muscle because he was one of the best amateur wrestlers.
16:38Yeah.
16:39His neck, his shoulders, his everything.
16:42So I said, if I have 12 weeks, and we did, we had a pretty long prep, I said, I think I can do this.
16:49Then there was 23 prosthetics with Kazuhiro, who was-
16:54Kazuhiro doesn't get better than him.
16:56He was the best.
16:57He was the greatest.
16:58I mean, he really had the best in the business.
17:00I really did.
17:01But it helped me, and now I understand.
17:04You know, he, Kazuhiro, talked to me very early.
17:07He said, you know, you're going to be sitting in the chair every day for months for three to four hours, maybe longer, depending on how much bruising we have to put on you.
17:16I said, okay, sure, I'm in it.
17:18I'm locked in.
17:19But I'll tell you this, at the end of day one, I understood.
17:25I understood the power of prosthetics.
17:29And when you want to embody someone and get in their skin and become that human being, the power of that.
17:37So I would look at my phone, we'd start, I'd look up every 30 minutes, and something else would be different.
17:43My eyebrows would be gone, and then new eyebrows would be on, and then new eyes, and then new nose, and cauliflower ear.
17:49At the end of three and a half, four hours, I would look up and completely different person.
17:53It was wild.
17:54It was very surreal, but very invaluable to the process.
17:59What was the biggest challenge for you personally?
18:01I mean, where did you find it within yourself to do some of these scenes in this movie, which has to come from somewhere?
18:09I don't want to call it Strasburg Method Acting or Actor's Studio, but maybe it is.
18:15I don't know.
18:16Maybe you're a method actor and you don't know it.
18:18Well, I think we've had this conversation before.
18:22You know, I think that it was a method that I inhabited.
18:29And I felt like if I was going to embody and become someone else and really get in their skin, then what does that mean?
18:37Yeah.
18:38And I tell you, from the time I walked on set, I was Mark Kerff, and I finally felt it wash away from me.
18:44It sounds a little weird, a little actory, and that's okay.
18:47It's okay, because it's our process, right?
18:50And everyone has a different process and a different method.
18:53And I was just listening to Daniel Day-Lewis actually say, like a beautiful interview about him talking about his method and what it means, and how everyone has their own different style of method.
19:03And around one o'clock in the morning, every night, once I showered, all the blood is off, the prosthetics, the glue, every shower was about 45 minutes.
19:13I finally felt like, oh, this is a version of myself that I could finally go to bed.
19:19And it's pretty wild, the process.
19:21So I think the biggest challenge for me was, um, the biggest challenge for me was just, was trying to find grace in this role, because at the end of the day, Mark had his struggles and his demons with his addictions.
19:42He's sober today.
19:43He did overdose twice.
19:45Um, and he had a hard time.
19:48And once he lost in Japan for the very first time he ever lost in his career, it kind of wasn't the same.
19:55So the grace I'm talking about is you realize that for me personally, through personal experience, I lost a lot of friends who were addicted to pain pills, who just couldn't find their way.
20:10Right.
20:12Through, uh, they overdosed, they passed away and they committed suicide.
20:17And these were all guys who were so young and vibrant and, um, and one of my best friends who was a wrestler with me on the road and he just had a hard time.
20:25These were all wrestlers.
20:26There was a rash in professional wrestling, uh, and a little in MMA, but more in professional wrestling in the late to early 2000s.
20:35Right.
20:36I lost a lot of friends.
20:37So that was the biggest challenge for me, I think, is finding this grace with Mark Kerr and being comfortable and anchored in knowing, even though at the end of this film, without spoiling it, um, he doesn't win.
20:52But yet his biggest win is his sobriety.
20:55And no matter how hard life can get for all of us, whether you're the champion of the world or not, um, things can be okay.
21:07Yeah.
21:08And that's what Benny wanted to do at the end of the movie.
21:10Things are going to be okay.
21:11And that, and that's amazing.
21:12Uh, the movie opened and it, you know, there were a lot of headlines saying lowest grossing of your career.
21:19But of course, when you've had these blockbusters, you know, it's kind of unfair when you're doing something like this, that's totally challenging.
21:27But did you worry about that, that your fans might be coming to see something else than you were doing and that you want them to go along with you on this journey?
21:37Oh yeah.
21:38That, that's interesting.
21:39That's a great question.
21:40And thank you for phrasing it that way.
21:42Um, I wasn't too worried about that because I felt like our campaign was an honest campaign.
21:48Yeah.
21:49And it wasn't, Hey, look over here and I'm going to present something here, but it's not what you think it is.
21:53It's like, no, we're very specific about that.
21:56Not only as someone who acted in the film, but also as a producer too, and someone who is sensitive to what we deliver to our audiences.
22:05So I wasn't worried about that.
22:08My, um, my early thought was, and it kind of continued was, I would want, I just want to make sure that, uh, that audiences, that audiences know this is, this is an art house drama.
22:24Right.
22:25And it's an auteur director.
22:26Yeah.
22:27And, uh, I don't want to give the film away, but you could kind of get a sense.
22:32He's not winning the whole thing at the end, you know?
22:35And, uh, I think in the honest campaign that we delivered combined with, I think my, um, my, my just interviews and talking about it.
22:46Yeah.
22:47I felt like it all kind of converged.
22:48Yeah.
22:49You know, and it's, uh, the great thing about movies like this is it lives on, especially during what they call award season here.
22:56Right.
22:57Um, I mean, I just, my critics choice group just got the movie, uh, and as we speak and it's going out and everybody on the digital platforms and all the ways you can see movies.
23:08So it's what, something that's going to be continually discovered, I think.
23:12Yeah.
23:13And that's, that, what you said is that was something that I had to discover too, as well.
23:20So you talk about discovery and what I mean by that is that was a discipline that I, I had to remind myself of.
23:27Oh, wait, hold on.
23:29Let's not get too wrapped up in opening weekend.
23:32Yeah.
23:33Cause you can.
23:34Well, that's what this business does.
23:36Sure.
23:37And you, and I get it.
23:38Opening weekend.
23:39They don't even wait Thursday night now.
23:42And then I get it.
23:43So it's the business we're in.
23:45Right.
23:46But the, but the discipline for me was that going into that second weekend.
23:50Okay.
23:51It's, uh, it's, it's the long haul.
23:54It's the ice climb.
23:55It's, you know, the marathon here.
23:59Keep that in mind.
24:00That's totally it too.
24:01And, you know, I, what I like to see is that you're going.
24:05Full hog into trying out different kinds of roles now.
24:10I mean, they've announced, um, lizard, uh,
24:13Lizard music, which you're playing like an old man with an elderly chicken.
24:17Yeah.
24:18Yeah.
24:19So for Benny, I mean, that sounds great.
24:20I don't, I don't know the book, but it's,
24:22Oh, you're going to love it.
24:23You're going to love it.
24:24I mean, it's based off a children's book and it's written from Daniel Pinkwater and it's
24:29called lizard music.
24:30And, uh, it's a, it's a popular book, but it's also unique book and unique in Daniel Pinkwater
24:37is still alive.
24:38And he's, he's so excited about this, but he said something to Benny, which really kind
24:42of anchored the story.
24:43And he said, you know, he goes, I feel like when kids read my books, they're going to be
24:48okay.
24:49Right.
24:50And that was it.
24:51Right.
24:52So Benny came to me with this idea and yes, you're right.
24:55I play a 75 year old man who has 110 year old chicken and his name is a chicken man.
25:02And how about this?
25:03He actually, there was a real chicken man who lived in the streets of Chicago.
25:07Right.
25:08And he had his pet chicken.
25:09The chicken would do dances.
25:10The chicken lived under his big top hat is, I mean, it's, it's a wild, wild character.
25:16That's why I'm slimming down now for the role.
25:19Um, but Benny also said something about this.
25:21He said, you know, he pitched me and I ended our call for, it was like an hour call or something
25:28like that.
25:29And I said, well, well, Benny, I am your chicken man.
25:31All right.
25:32And he goes, okay, great, DJ.
25:33I think we can make something special.
25:35And I said, it kind of sounds like this is your, and I said, I know I'm way over my
25:41skews by saying this and I say this, no, cause he knows that Gene Wilder is one of my favorite
25:46actors.
25:47I said, um, I said, it kind of sounds like you're Willy Wonka.
25:50And he goes, in a way it is.
25:53So then he said, um, he said, you know, the feeling we've created with, um, with the smashing
25:59machine.
26:00I said, in what way?
26:01He goes, well, I just feel like for a lot of people who watch our movie, they're really
26:04rocked by it.
26:06And sometimes it stays with them three, four, five days later, you see them and they go
26:11like, look, I'm still not, I'm still shook about what I saw, uh, on the screen.
26:15I said, yeah.
26:16And he goes, I'd like to create a movie that hopefully can create that same feeling for the
26:21entire family.
26:22Oh, that's cool.
26:23I was like, wow.
26:24Okay, man.
26:25Yeah.
26:26I said, okay, I'm in, but, but you're right.
26:28I, it's lizard music.
26:29It's the, the.
26:30You're going to do a Martin Scorsese.
26:32Martin Scorsese movie.
26:33Martin Scorsese movie, an aspiring mob.
26:36Well, how about, he is, he is the imagined godfather of all the Hawaiian islands.
26:40Yeah.
26:41Which is great.
26:42And he really lived.
26:43He's alive today.
26:44His name is Nappy Pulava.
26:45He's my uncle Nappy.
26:47Um, spent time.
26:48We've spent a lot of time with, um, uh, with them in, in Maui.
26:55And it's really for that one, Peter, it's almost like the most incredible, unbelievable story.
27:02That's never been told.
27:03Almost like the last mob story that's never been told.
27:06So the islands of Hawaii, they were a mob territory.
27:10That was a very hot territory.
27:12You can imagine.
27:13Right.
27:14The Japanese, the Koreans, the Chinese, the mobsters coming in from Vegas, from New York.
27:18Yeah.
27:19Like they all wanted to take over Hawaii.
27:21Wow.
27:22But there was one man who said no.
27:25And so it's right up Scorsese's alley.
27:27He's been, he's been incredible to work with.
27:29And Emily Blunt as well.
27:30And she's in, and Leo I heard.
27:32Leo too as well.
27:33Amazing.
27:34Um, is this one you came up with, uh, or how did this?
27:38So glad you asked.
27:39Uh, we were rehearsing on a Sunday in Vancouver, myself and Emily, and we were just going over
27:45the week's work and she said, uh, what's next?
27:48What are you doing next?
27:49I said, I don't know.
27:50I said, well, what are you doing next?
27:52She goes, well, I'm doing this little thing with Steven Spielberg.
27:54Uh, I went, Oh, just a little thing.
27:56Right.
27:57The UFO movie.
27:58Oh yeah.
27:59Yes.
28:00And, um, she goes, is, is there anything that's been interesting to you?
28:05And I said, you know, what's always been interesting to me is when you grow up in Hawaii, like I
28:09did.
28:10Yeah.
28:11There's the beautiful Hawaii that we all know and love.
28:14Waikiki beach, the, the, the beautiful music, the cocktails, the sand, the romanticism of
28:22it.
28:23I said, but if you, and I lived a couple of miles from Waikiki beach.
28:27I said, if you go a couple of miles and you make the wrong turn, you're in a whole different
28:31world.
28:32Yeah.
28:33And she goes, really?
28:34I said, yeah.
28:35And it's still happening today.
28:37I said, so that's always been interesting to me.
28:39I don't know what the inn is yet, but I grew up there.
28:42So anyway, we're on our way a week later, we're on our way to Japan to finish out the
28:46smashing machine.
28:47And she goes, have you ever heard of Nappy Pulava?
28:52And I went, holy shit.
28:56How do, how do you know Nappy Pulava?
28:58Cause growing up, we all knew Nappy and that was his name.
29:02And she goes, well, I did some research and she pulled this up and there's not much on
29:06Google.
29:07She goes, but this seems really interesting.
29:09And so we start talking about it and batting this thing around.
29:12And all of a sudden, you know, we call our agents and they go, this is incredible.
29:19Yeah.
29:20And, um, my agent Ari said, um, can I, can I call Marty?
29:26I said, I think you should.
29:28Wow.
29:29I did.
29:30And Marty heard it.
29:31Marty immediately said, I have to hear this.
29:33Let me hear it.
29:34And so that's how this whole thing kind of came together.
29:37So amazing.
29:38Yeah.
29:39You know, see little things like that.
29:41It's fate.
29:42That's right.
29:43This turn in your career is meant to be, and it's all these little things that wouldn't
29:48have happened unless you weren't also.
29:51Open to it.
29:52Open to it and also able to get it going.
29:55Yes.
29:56As a producer too.
29:57Very important to take charge of your own career, I think.
30:00And you've done it forever here as a producer.
30:02As best you can.
30:03Yes.
30:04And, but by the way, thank you for saying that.
30:06Because truth is, this is a really exciting time for me in my career because I, you, you
30:12reach a point in your career and we've all been in this thing together for some time where
30:17there's a few ways you can go.
30:19Right.
30:20You know, and I'm in my fifth level of life.
30:22I know I look like I'm still in my twenties, right?
30:24You do.
30:25You do.
30:26So do I.
30:27You do.
30:28Don't say anything.
30:29It's like twins.
30:30I feel like it.
30:32Right?
30:33It's like looking in the mirror.
30:35So, so, you know, it could go a few different ways, but I, I wanted to not only challenge
30:41myself, but to look at other things and like, what's, what's this idea of growth and growing
30:46and working with different directors and telling different stories.
30:49And I love this idea of disappearing.
30:50Like there's something intriguing to me about that.
30:54It's like with the chicken man, 175 years old and playing uncle Nappy, where I would prosthetics
31:01again.
31:02And Mark, you know, and those are two people both living.
31:04Yeah.
31:05That you're talking about there.
31:06That's a chicken man.
31:07But the other two.
31:08That's right.
31:09Mark and Nappy.
31:10Yeah.
31:11Both.
31:12Both.
31:13And there is something intriguing about playing human beings that are alive.
31:15That are here.
31:16That are here.
31:17That's a certain responsibility.
31:18I think.
31:19That's something that I never thought about until you start thinking about it.
31:24Yeah.
31:25And for myself and for Emily, who she played Dawn Staples, Mark Kerr's ex-wife, who they have
31:29a kid with, she's alive.
31:31Yeah.
31:32And that's a hell of a responsibility because if you think about it, that documentary, The
31:37Smashing Machine, came out in mid-2000s.
31:40And at the end of that documentary, it doesn't end well.
31:43Right.
31:44Because they don't have much.
31:45And she, she's villainized in that documentary.
31:50Yeah.
31:51I think unfairly.
31:52Right.
31:53He doesn't have anything at the end of that documentary.
31:55And, and since then that's been their legacy.
31:58Wow.
31:59So if you think, right.
32:00So they're not on podcasts.
32:01They're not doing anything.
32:02They're not, there was no TV show or no series.
32:05So now we're going to make a movie.
32:07And now you can imagine their Mark and Dawn's, uh, their fear.
32:15Wow.
32:16Like, are you, how are you going to, how are we going to look?
32:19Yeah.
32:20You know, how are you going to portray us?
32:22It's a big deal.
32:23I'll give Emily so much credit.
32:24She was really the one who took charge for Dawn and wanted to make sure that she carried
32:29her legacy properly.
32:31You got to keep Emily around.
32:32She keeps like.
32:33Dude.
32:34I do.
32:36All right, Emily, I got to keep you around.
32:39You're Peter.
32:40I'm serious.
32:41Now, don't worry.
32:42He's not giving up everything else.
32:44You as, as we speak, you're about to start Jumanji.
32:47Yeah.
32:48I can't wait.
32:49We, we, we start Jumanji next week as we, we talk.
32:51And as we talked off camera.
32:52Yeah.
32:53It was so, it was just so amazing to be around that amount of joy.
32:58Right.
32:59Again, in that table read for four hours, we're laughing.
33:02It's myself, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan.
33:05I mean, it's just, it's Jake Kazin.
33:08Everybody's back.
33:09And this third Jumanji, fourth technically, but this third Jumanji, it feels like it is
33:17a spit.
33:18I spit.
33:19I don't want to, I don't want to color too much.
33:22I'll just say at the end of the movie, it was emotional and it felt like a beautiful grace
33:27note to say goodbye.
33:30So you're saying this is it, right?
33:32This is it.
33:33This will be it.
33:34You just heard that, but it's not goodbye for Moana either.
33:36No.
33:37You've got the live action coming up.
33:38Yeah.
33:39We just wrapped, we wrapped live action a couple of months ago, but we just came back and
33:44we finally finished the entire number of You're Welcome.
33:47Oh, wow.
33:48Oh man.
33:49It's so good.
33:50I'm so excited about it.
33:52And you can sing.
33:53A little bit.
33:54I can hold a tune.
33:55You're very kind to sing.
33:56Oh, you can.
33:57I mean, from the animated films and everything.
33:58Yeah.
33:59Aw, thank you.
34:00You definitely can sing.
34:01What can I say?
34:02Except never mind.
34:03Oh, there we go.
34:04There you go.
34:05I love it.
34:06And so.
34:07But I am still doing those things, by the way.
34:08Yeah.
34:09And there's still a place for, I think, the big fun movies.
34:12Yeah.
34:13Fast X.
34:14Has that happened?
34:15I don't know if I'm doing that.
34:16Yeah.
34:17Yeah.
34:18But.
34:19If you go on IMBD, you know, and I can never trust it.
34:22It's got endless projects that you may or may not be doing.
34:26You know, you never know.
34:27I think you've got to kind of, you've got to whack about 80% of those off.
34:31Yeah.
34:32That's what I think.
34:33Right?
34:34And then it's like the ones you can look at and you go, that feels good.
34:38Jumanji or Moana.
34:39Moana, yeah.
34:40Or doing this movie, J.J. Abrams, by the way, that's like this big theater.
34:45It's about movies and in the theaters.
34:47Oh, wow.
34:48Oh, it's very, very cool.
34:49Can't wait.
34:50What's that one?
34:51That one is going to be, imagine, well, imagine if movies came to life.
35:02Uh-huh.
35:03Oh, okay.
35:05That'll be fun.
35:06In different genres.
35:07Okay.
35:08Wow.
35:09Through the, I think, vision of J.J. Abrams.
35:13J.J.
35:14Oh, my God.
35:15So fun.
35:16Well, congratulations on Smashing Machine.
35:19I mean, I did, I wasn't in Venice, but I saw the reaction to the movie there.
35:24And that has to be a wild experience to sit there in an audience like that.
35:28And, well, that was, I've never experienced that before.
35:31And I'll share this with you really quickly before we say goodbye, is, you know, I had
35:36not had a movie invited to Venice before.
35:39So it was a big deal to me.
35:41Yeah.
35:42And I was really super grateful.
35:44I land on Saturday.
35:45Our movie comes out on Monday.
35:47Your colleague was there to review the film.
35:49Yeah.
35:50And so on Saturday, you know, we got a little downtime and I'm looking at my phone.
35:54All the movies are starting to come out at Venice.
35:56And now it's all the standing ovations.
36:00Yeah.
36:01At the end.
36:02Right.
36:03And I'm looking and I'm like, oh, wow, that's cool.
36:04This movie came out and it got this standing ovation.
36:07There's George Clooney and Julia Roberts and all this one.
36:11And then I went, oh, shit.
36:14Wait, am I going to get a standing ovation?
36:17Am I not?
36:18Like, I feel like they were the OG veterans who've been to Venice a gazillion times.
36:22Wow.
36:23I've never been there.
36:24And I'm like, oh, man, I started to think.
36:27And I called Benny and Emily.
36:29We got together at the hotel that night and I said, dude, if we don't get a standing ovation,
36:34do I start it myself?
36:36Which I know I'm too.
36:37Do you start it?
36:38Do we three start it?
36:41I don't know what to do.
36:42That's the best.
36:43Oh, man.
36:44And then, you know, the audience erupts and it's 15 and a half minutes later and I'm crying
36:50and everyone's crying.
36:51I never experienced that in my life and I'll never forget it.
36:56But you know what, Peter?
36:58It helped me understand and really appreciate the ceremony of filmmaking.
37:05Yeah.
37:06And being there.
37:07And now I understand what that means.
37:10And for that long.
37:11Yeah.
37:12So it was beautiful, man.
37:13Amazing.
37:14I was happy I didn't have to start.
37:16And now you want to keep going.
37:18That's right.
37:19I mean, that's a fun thing.
37:20I can't wait to come back.
37:21Oh, it was so much fun.
37:22That's cinema.
37:23It's where, you know.
37:24Yes.
37:25And then Benny got called back for Best Director.
37:27I know.
37:28That's crazy.
37:29I know.
37:30And a jury led by Alexander, you know, who did so many different kinds of movies.
37:34And I thought, you know, wow, Alexander Payne.
37:37Yes.
37:38His jury recognizes this film.
37:41That's something.
37:42That was unbelievable.
37:43Unbelievable.
37:44I was so happy for Benny and for our movie.
37:46It's very cool.
37:47Well, Smashing Machine, you can find it everywhere and check it out.
37:51This is Dwayne Johnson.
37:53Oh, it's good to talk to you.
37:54We've got to do it again.
37:55Yeah, absolutely.
37:56We've got to win.
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