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00:01From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York,
00:04it's Late Night with Seth Meyers.
00:07Tonight, Joni Foster.
00:10Star of the Copenhagen Fest, actor Simu Liu.
00:13An all-new Closer Look.
00:20And now, Seth Meyers.
00:23Good evening, everybody. I'm Seth Meyers.
00:25This is Late Night. We hope you're doing all right.
00:27And now, if you don't mind, we're going to get to the news.
00:29President Trump announced yesterday
00:31in a social media post that Venezuela will turn over
00:34between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S.
00:38and added, quote,
00:39This oil will be sold at its market price,
00:41and that money will be controlled by me.
00:44As for what he'll do with that money,
00:46there will be signs.
00:51According to a new report, experts on Greenland security
00:53believe that U.S. forces could take control
00:56of the island's capital city, quote,
00:58in half an hour or less.
01:00Of course, it'll take us all a lot longer
01:02to name Greenland's capital city.
01:05Oh, what is it? Ice town?
01:09Greenland City?
01:11The Justice Department said in a court filing this week
01:14that there are more than 2 million files
01:16related to Jeffrey Epstein that have not been released
01:19and have to be reviewed to ensure victim privacy.
01:22Specifically, this victim.
01:28While speaking yesterday to House Republicans,
01:30President Trump said he's, quote,
01:32always had a natural business instinct.
01:34Dude, you sold stakes at the sharper image.
01:38I'm pretty sure that's where the idea of a cognitive test
01:41first came up.
01:42During the same speech, President Trump said, quote,
01:46Nobody ever had to suffer like I did.
01:49Oh, come on.
01:50None of us can get breakfast after 10.30.
01:55President Trump also called Democrats
01:57violent and vicious people.
01:58You said that on January 6th?
02:01I don't think this was about the price of Hamilton tickets.
02:06The board of Warner Brothers Discovery today
02:09unanimously recommended that shareholders reject
02:11a hostile takeover offer from Paramount Skydance
02:14and added, quote,
02:16We have a signed merger agreement with Netflix.
02:18And once Netflix has you signed up,
02:20it's impossible to get out of it.
02:24President Trump said this week on True Social
02:26that parents should spread out their children's vaccine schedule
02:29over five separate doctor's appointments.
02:31Ah, yes, that ought to appeal to Americans.
02:33More visits to the pediatrician.
02:35Why don't you just tell us to visit the DMV five separate times
02:39and drive your approval ratings right to zero?
02:43The CDC reported this week that at least 11 million people
02:46have become sick with the flu this season.
02:4811 million and 26.
02:49If you count the subway car I was on this morning.
02:54A Florida man was arrested recently after he allegedly
02:56stole $1,000 from BJ's meat market while completely naked,
03:00except for a face mask.
03:02Dude, you should have known it's Florida.
03:04It's illegal to wear a face mask.
03:06And finally, a Michigan man recently dropped an engagement ring
03:11through the grates of a bridge while proposing to his girlfriend.
03:14On the bright side, he doesn't need it anymore.
03:17And that was a monologue, everybody!
03:21We got a great show for you tonight.
03:23She's an Emmy and two-time Academy Award-winning actress
03:27and director you know from iconic films such as Taxi Driver,
03:30The Silence of the Lambs, and Nyad.
03:32Currently, she stars in A Private Life,
03:34which is in theaters January 16th.
03:36Jodie Foster is here, everybody!
03:38How excited is that?
03:40And he's a great actor you know from movies like Barbie
03:43and shows such as Kim's Convenience.
03:45He's starring in The Copenhagen Test,
03:47which is streaming now on Peacock.
03:49Simu Liu will also be joining us.
03:51We've got a great show for you.
03:53But before we get to all that, amid global outcry
03:57over the Trump administration's attack on Venezuela
03:59and its threats towards Greenland,
04:01MAGA is now insisting there's actually no such thing
04:04as international law.
04:05For more on this, it's time for A Closer Look.
04:11If you're wondering how the rest of the world feels
04:13about Trump claiming he has unilateral power
04:15to attack a sovereign nation and kidnap its leader,
04:18it turns out they're not exactly thrilled.
04:21The United Nations Security Council
04:23held an emergency meeting Monday,
04:25two days after U.S. forces captured
04:28Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
04:31The top U.N. official warned that America
04:34may have violated international law
04:36with its unilateral action.
04:38The Secretary General was, quote,
04:40deeply concerned the rules of international law
04:42have not been respected.
04:44He also said the actions of the U.S.
04:46constitute a dangerous precedent.
04:48This is the worst thing the U.N.
04:49has done to Donald Trump since last year
04:51when Trump visited U.N. headquarters.
04:53It got stuck on that escalator.
04:58And, you know...
05:01What's up, man? You're from Queens.
05:02You've never seen a broken escalator?
05:05I lived in New York for 10 years
05:07before I realized they moved.
05:09I just thought they were jagged stairs.
05:13If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
05:15Up our knife steps!
05:20Also, it's not a great feeling that the same guy
05:22who claims he's running Venezuela reacts to a broken escalator
05:26by looking around like, what do I do now?
05:28Most people's first thought would be, I guess I'll just walk,
05:31but Trump looks like a guy in an infomercial
05:33who's about to look to camera and say,
05:35there's got to be a better way!
05:39So there's deep concern within the international community
05:42over Trump's claim that the U.S. now runs Venezuela.
05:45This is a fraught moment that requires sophisticated diplomacy
05:48from a seasoned and experienced statesman.
05:51Mr. President, you have the floor.
05:52This is your chance to put the world at ease.
05:55U.S. President Donald Trump has mocked transgender athletes
05:58while addressing Republican lawmakers.
06:01The U.S. President used the remarks to argue
06:03against the inclusion of transgender participation
06:05in women's sports.
06:07The girl gets up.
06:11And you see, I want to be more, but I have somebody watching.
06:16I want to be more effusive.
06:18I want to really...
06:21But she gets it...
06:28Man, times have really changed.
06:30Presidents...
06:32Presidents used to get impeached for having an orgasm.
06:38Also, what did he mean, I want to be more, but someone is watching?
06:42Dude, you're on TV.
06:43More than one person is watching.
06:46Oh, wait, I'm being told that was on C-SPAN,
06:48so it was just the one person.
06:50I apologize, my bad.
06:51Seriously, take a look.
06:52That's a real picture of the President of the United States.
06:57You know, Trump made Joe Biden's official portrait
06:59a picture of the auto pen, so I think it's only fair
07:01that the next Democratic president make this
07:03Trump's official portrait.
07:06By the way, by the way, I have to point out that,
07:10in the course of that performance,
07:11Trump also explained that his wife,
07:13First Lady Melania Trump, doesn't like his onstage antics,
07:16while also revealing that she may not be
07:18the most astute observer of American history.
07:21My wife hates when I do this.
07:23She said, you know, she's a very classy person, right?
07:28She said, it's so unpresidential.
07:31She hates when I dance.
07:33I said, everybody wants me to dance.
07:36Darling, it's not presidential.
07:38She actually said, could you imagine FDR dancing?
07:42She said that to me.
07:46And I said, there's a long history
07:49that perhaps she doesn't know.
07:56You might want to keep those sunglasses on, Melania,
07:58because you just got roasted.
08:01I mean, is this C-SPAN or a Rodney Dangerfield special?
08:04My wife, she's not the brightest bulb.
08:07She actually said, can you imagine FDR dancing?
08:10And if you think that's bad, one time I told her
08:12to surf the Internet, so she went to the beach.
08:19What else?
08:20I told her to get an iPad.
08:21She went to the optometrist.
08:29I told her it was chilly outside.
08:31Did she put on a jacket?
08:32No, she grabbed a spoon.
08:40What else about Melania?
08:43It's hard, because she's not so smart, and I'm very smart.
08:46I got a cognitive test from my Dr. Vinnie Boomotz.
08:51Also, by the way, I'd be willing to bet that even if FDR
08:56hadn't been in a wheelchair, he wouldn't have danced like
08:59Donald Trump during his speeches.
09:01It's hard to imagine FDR saying,
09:03Yesterday, December 7th, a date which will live in infamy.
09:09But Trump would like to make you aware that, unlike his wife,
09:12he knows a lot about one of our greatest
09:14and most influential presidents.
09:15He was an elegant fellow.
09:17Even as a Democrat, right?
09:19He was the attack by Japan.
09:22You know, he was quite elegant.
09:24I don't have my glasses.
09:25Is that Ken Burns?
09:28I didn't know he was such an expert on history.
09:30Much has been said about our 32nd president,
09:32Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
09:34He rescued the country from financial collapse.
09:36He breathed new life into American civic institutions
09:38and created the modern social safety net.
09:40But perhaps no one has ever said anything astute as,
09:43The attack by Japan.
09:44You know, he was quite elegant.
09:46It's very funny to talk about how elegant someone else is
09:51when you sound like an anvil just fell on your head.
09:55Trump sounds like a hungover sophomore
09:57giving an oral report in history class.
09:59Uh, yeah, FDR, you know, he, uh...
10:02The attack by Japan and...
10:09He had a dog.
10:12Of course, if Trump knew anything
10:13about America's post-war history,
10:15he would know that the U.S. spent decades
10:17carefully constructing an elaborate,
10:18rules-based international order.
10:20Instead, he and his MAGA allies
10:22have decided to junk that system
10:24of international laws and cooperation
10:26in favor of a very different,
10:28much less elegant philosophy.
10:30When people start saying,
10:31international law, it's against international law,
10:33you know that they have no other recourse,
10:34because there really is no international law.
10:36There's no international law that holds us back,
10:38because international law is fake.
10:40We live in a world that is governed by strength,
10:45that is governed by force,
10:47that is governed by power.
10:49Every once in a while,
10:50we gotta send a bunch of commandos to kick in your door
10:52and drag you into a helicopter in the middle of the night
10:55in handcuffs, and if that violates international law,
10:57well, find someone else to enforce it.
11:00We are the dominant predator, quite frankly,
11:04force in the Western Hemisphere.
11:06There is no such thing as international law.
11:08It is nonsense.
11:09You know what international law really is?
11:10The law of the jungle.
11:11There is no such thing as international law.
11:14What rules the world and has ruled humanity
11:17is the law of the jungle.
11:19We rule the jungle. We are the lion.
11:21I'm sorry, but these guys are the lamest dorks on the planet.
11:24The only, the only place they should be talking like that.
11:29is on their Call of Duty headsets.
11:33We're the dominant predator.
11:35We're the lion, and we rule the jungle,
11:36and I have a lightsaber in my bedroom,
11:38and I practice all the time in my garage,
11:40and I learn all my moves from watching anime,
11:43and my dad could totally beat up your dad.
11:45You guys are supposed to be grown-ass men.
11:48You're talking like the bad guys in Zootopia 2,
11:51but not Andy Samberg's character.
11:53He's a good guy.
11:54Or is he? Or is he?
11:56I wouldn't trust that piece of no matter
11:58how cute he looked.
12:01Seriously, don't you feel at least a little embarrassed
12:04to say words like,
12:05we are the lion, we are the predator,
12:07out loud on national television?
12:08I mean, look at these guys.
12:10If any of these dweebs actually had to go into the jungle
12:13and lift a machete, I bet it would sound something like this.
12:16The conservative movement used to pretend to be about ideas like duty and virtue,
12:25and now they're going full Roman Empire and claiming they're allowed to take whatever they want by force if necessary.
12:31President Trump is intensifying his push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland one way or another,
12:37refusing today to rule out military force.
12:40After the U.S. operation in Venezuela, the wife of Trump official Stephen Miller posted to social media an image of Greenland with an American flag overlaid and the word soon.
12:49The president has been clear for months now that the United States should be the nation that has Greenland.
12:58Right, but can you say that military action against Greenland is off the table?
13:01The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?
13:05Obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.
13:07So you can't take it off the table that the U.S. would use military force to seize Greenland.
13:12You can't take it off the table. I understand, Jake, the United States should have Greenland as part of the United States.
13:18Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.
13:23Saying you deserve a thing just because you can take it by force if you want is the logic of thugs and mobsters.
13:28And the worst part is these guys aren't even entertaining as actual mobsters.
13:31Can you imagine Stephen Miller in an episode of The Sopranos?
13:34Hey, I've been thinking maybe me and Stephen could take Greenland.
13:38They've got tons of precious metals and .
13:40Christopher, what's the matter with you? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
13:43We are the apex predator and we ruled the jungle.
13:46Pauly Silvio, take this guy out to the Pine Barren.
13:49Show him the jungle we got here in New Jersey.
13:52They're maybe getting a little worse. My impressions are maybe getting a little worse.
13:57MAGA used to pretend they were anti-war, anti-regime change, anti-nation building.
14:03Now they're claiming they have the right to use military force to take whatever they want,
14:06whether it's Greenland's territory or Venezuela's oil.
14:09They're claiming they're the world's predator. They're the lion in the jungle.
14:12But lions usually roar.
14:14I've never heard a lion that sounded like this.
14:16This has been A Closer Look.
14:22We'll be right back with Jodie Foster, everybody!
14:28For more of Seth's Closer Looks, be sure to subscribe to Late Night on YouTube.
14:37My first guest tonight is an Emmy and two-time Academy Award-winning actress and director.
14:50You know from so many movies, including Taxi Driver, The Accused, The Silence of the Lambs,
14:54Contact and Naya, and she stars in A Private Life, which is in theaters January 16th.
14:59Let's take a look.
15:00I was gonna say thank you for more thanadan.
15:03Let's take a look.
15:04No, no, no, no, ..
15:07He was killed his wife and then his wife.
15:08I thought I liked the caterpillar실?
15:11Oh, that's true. I don't mind everything.
15:15You know, I found things holes in this.
15:17So let me get away.
15:19Are you doing this are you making bags?
15:22C'est mon boulot.
15:24Oh, moi, tu trembles.
15:30Je suis persuadée qu'il m'a vue.
15:31Oh, mais non.
15:33J'avais...
15:35Shhh.
15:46Please, welcome to the show, the one and the only,
15:47Jodie Foster, everybody!
15:52I'm so happy you're here.
16:06Me too.
16:07I also couldn't help but think that the whole audience was watching that,
16:10being like, why is she speaking French?
16:13I bet they were like, oh, no.
16:15It's like when you're watching a Netflix movie and you're like,
16:17I think I turned on the closed captioning.
16:18And you can't get it off?
16:20You can't get it off.
16:21But this movie is wonderful.
16:24You play a therapist who is investigating a patient's murder.
16:28Yes, she's a psychoanalyst, which is a little bit different
16:31because we don't really do psychoanalysis here.
16:32Yes.
16:33Freud and misogyny and all that stuff.
16:34We canceled him.
16:36But they still do it there.
16:38Yeah, did you have to research the idea of, like, being a psychoanalyst?
16:41Yeah, yeah.
16:41Did you know much about it beforehand?
16:43Well, I only knew about it from going to college and literature
16:46and, you know, looking at it through the lens of psychoanalysis,
16:48but not that people actually did it, which they do.
16:51They lie on the couch and there's a nice little cushion for your head
16:54so you don't get your nasty hair gel on the couch.
16:58And it was very interesting, very interesting people,
17:00very intellectual people.
17:01And I said, boy, I'll never do that.
17:03Yeah.
17:04I remember when I first went to therapy,
17:06I realized that it wasn't going to be a couch,
17:08and I felt very ripped off.
17:09Yeah, yeah.
17:10Because, like, I feel like when you walk, like, growing up,
17:12like, even in cartoons, like, everybody who went to a therapist
17:14got to lie on a nice couch and everything.
17:16Wouldn't that be nice? But I think you'd fall asleep.
17:17Yeah, I would definitely.
17:18But I'm very boring to myself, so that.
17:21So this is a...
17:22But it's also a lot of different genres.
17:24Like, we were talking backstage.
17:25It's like, it feels like a Woody Allen film at times,
17:27a Hitchcock film at times.
17:29And I imagine the script was one of the reasons you decided
17:32to go over to France and shoot a movie.
17:33Yeah. Well, there's a lot of plot to it,
17:35which is unlike a lot of smaller independent movies.
17:37So there is a, you know, a very interesting way
17:39to go about finding things out.
17:41It also has a little romance.
17:42It has a little comedy.
17:43You can do this genre-less thing in France.
17:47We can't do it here because films have to decide
17:50exactly what demographic they're marketing to.
17:52So they don't let us just willy-nilly be like,
17:55a little bit thriller, a little bit comedy.
17:57Whereas this is, like, just a...
17:58This is a movie for people who like movies,
18:00which is a more fun kind of movie to make.
18:02Yeah, with great actors.
18:03Yeah, really great actors.
18:04And, you know, mostly French actors.
18:06So, your French is so good.
18:08Yeah.
18:09But you've...
18:13But, I mean, this isn't a film where, like,
18:14you're, like, stumbling through your French.
18:16Like, it is... You are playing an American.
18:18So, at least, we, you know, that is a...
18:20You know, we know you've learned French.
18:22But how old were you when you learned French?
18:24I was nine.
18:25Okay.
18:25My mom put me in an immersion French school
18:27called Udici Francais de Los Angeles.
18:29And, in one day, I had to do math, science,
18:32geography, like, everything in French.
18:33And so, you're already... I mean, again, by nine,
18:35you already were an actor.
18:37Yes.
18:38And what was it that your mom thought...
18:40Like, what was the catalyst for her deciding
18:42that you should go to a French school?
18:43You know, she'd never traveled anywhere.
18:45She'd never been outside the United States.
18:46She had been once to Tijuana for a weekend,
18:49and once to, I think, Havana, Cuba in the 50s for a weekend.
18:52Okay.
18:53So, she was, you know, she read magazines,
18:57and we had a Peugeot car, and she painted the house
19:00like a terracotta color, like Rome.
19:01All she wanted to do was to go somewhere else
19:03and reinvent herself.
19:04So, she finally went on, like, a bus trip,
19:07a tourist bus trip.
19:07She came back, and she said,
19:08that's it, you're gonna put you in French school.
19:11You're gonna become a French actor.
19:12We're gonna move there.
19:13And, I mean, I kind of did that.
19:16Yeah. I mean, eventually.
19:17I mean, you must have been a huge disappointment to her
19:19while you were just an American actor.
19:21Yeah. I really was. I was.
19:23And the French people, also, they don't...
19:26Even because I speak French so well,
19:27they forget that I like things like football and Halloween
19:32and Jell-O and, you know, stuff like that.
19:35That's so funny.
19:36So, American football, obviously, and Halloween.
19:38Those are just completely foreign to them.
19:40Yeah, they don't understand it.
19:41Yeah. And they also...
19:42When I was there, the director kept saying,
19:45you know, Jodi's preparing very, very assiduously
19:48for this movie, and she's really serious about it.
19:49You know, she's been going to the gym every day.
19:51And I was like, dude, I go to the gym every day
19:53because I'm an American.
19:54This is like what we do, as she smoked more cigarettes
19:57and drank more red wine.
19:58It's just like this preparation, this gym thing.
20:02I like that the only way anyone in France goes to the gym
20:05is if they're about to do a movie.
20:06Yes. That's right.
20:07Well, I'm actually a little surprised
20:09that you're an American football fan.
20:11Are you an avid fan?
20:13Avid fan. Yeah, I do.
20:14Was this something you like French
20:16that you adopted at a young age?
20:18You know, when I was little, maybe you guys remember this.
20:21There was the International House of Pancakes,
20:22and they had these little helmets.
20:24Every time you ate a pancake or got a pancake,
20:26you'd get a helmet.
20:27And I was just, you know, I needed to collect all of them.
20:30And I became obsessed with which teams were which
20:33and memorizing them.
20:34And then, like, 30 years later, I found them in a store.
20:39Oh, the old, like a full IHOP.
20:40The old ones, yeah. So, I have them.
20:42You know, I have an apartment in New York
20:43and one in Los Angeles, so I have the full AFC,
20:46NFC in both places.
20:47Wow.
20:48Just so I can move them around.
20:50Yes.
20:51I, um, we actually had these.
20:54There was, like, a pencil machine in my school
20:56that, like, where you would just put in 25 cents,
20:58like, and just get. And when I started the show,
21:00I was like, oh, I want, like, as a...
21:01I just like having the same thing.
21:03Just, like, I want one of each and just, like...
21:05But then I do things where, you know, during playoffs.
21:06Well, as you know, it's a little thing called
21:08Wild Card Weekend next weekend.
21:09Oh, my God, of course, yeah.
21:11I'm very booked. You must be so nice.
21:12They must have been so bored when you talked about this in France.
21:14Oh. Yeah, their eyes glaze over.
21:16This is the Wild Card.
21:18Yeah.
21:18This is the Wild Card.
21:20So I move the little helmets around.
21:21You do? You get it ready?
21:22Yeah.
21:23Do you have a team? Are you a Rams fan?
21:24Green Bay Packer fan.
21:25Why are you a Green Bay Packer fan?
21:28You know, somebody gave me one of those cheese heads,
21:30and it was just... It was all over.
21:31Yeah.
21:32I was like, if I could wear this every day,
21:34I would wear this every day.
21:35That's so funny that somebody saw you and was like,
21:37I know what she's going to like.
21:39That's just, yeah, we know what to get her for Christmas.
21:40Did your... Just to circle back,
21:42did your mom then also become a fluent French speaker?
21:45Oh, I thought you were going to say,
21:46was she a football fan? No.
21:48She never spoke a word of French,
21:50so she forced me to translate everything for her.
21:53So, wait, she went on one bus trip, came back,
21:55and was like, you're going to speak French and also...
21:57And you're going to be my translator.
21:58Unbelievable.
21:59Yeah. So, I did a movie there when I was 14.
22:03We got an apartment there, and I had to make every reservation.
22:07I had to do everything for her, and I guess it was, you know,
22:09it was a way for me to perfect the language.
22:11This is the movie. Is this the movie you did when you were 14?
22:13Yes.
22:13Okay. So, just based on this poster,
22:15this does not look like it aged well.
22:18No.
22:19It's a really bad movie.
22:21It's a terrible movie.
22:22What did you do in this movie? Who did you play?
22:25I play, you know, a young girl with a filthy mouth,
22:28and I live with my older sister who's going out with this guy,
22:33and I... That's all I remember.
22:35Yeah.
22:36You really... You were a type back then of, like,
22:38a young girl with a filthy mouth.
22:40But you also would do... You did your own skateboarding in the movie.
22:43I did. Yes.
22:44I brought my skateboard to France, and that's...
22:47I think there's a scene in the movie where I'm skateboarding
22:49with a bunch of kids near the Eiffel Tower.
22:50That's fantastic.
22:51I want to ask more about your movie you're in now.
22:54We'll be right back with Jodie Foster.
22:55Welcome back, everybody. We're here with Jodie Foster.
23:17We're talking backstage. Your kids are older.
23:20Yes, 27 and 24.
23:21But you... I mean, I'm assuming, you know,
23:23when you have young kids and you have your body of work,
23:25it must be fun to, like, show them your body of work.
23:28They never saw any of my movies, really.
23:30They saw Bugs and Malone when they were little.
23:32Okay. And then everything else had blood and gore.
23:34Yeah. So I never showed them any of my films.
23:37And my older son...
23:39I don't think he knew I was an actor until much later.
23:41I think he thought I was a construction worker.
23:44I gave him a tool belt once when he...
23:46I said, come to work and visit me.
23:48And I gave him, like, a little plastic tool belt,
23:50a little plastic hat, and he just put the two together.
23:52It's really funny that it would take that long.
23:55Also, your kids are bright, so it's very surprising to me
23:58that it would take them that long to put it together.
24:00And he's the one that became an actor.
24:01Wow. Okay, yeah.
24:02At some point, though, they've seen
24:03Silence of the Lambs, I assume.
24:04Yes, yes. They saw Silence of the Lambs when they were...
24:06One of them was 18 and the other one was, you know...
24:08That's a good time. What about, like, you know,
24:10we were talking about your mom, and obviously,
24:11she was a huge part of your life, and yet you did these
24:14very adult movies as a very young actor.
24:16Like, when Taxi Driver came along, where, like, you,
24:19your mom, did either of you have any hesitation about it?
24:22I'd already done a movie with Scorsese,
24:24which is, Alice doesn't live here anymore,
24:25and we were big fans of his.
24:26My mom is a huge film fan, so she took me,
24:28she picked me up from school, and she took me every day
24:30to see films, I think, probably to hide,
24:33because she was depressed, and also because of this travel thing.
24:38So she would take me to see German films, Italian films,
24:40you know, every type of Japanese movies,
24:43every type of film that was in a different language,
24:45and then she would kind of interrogate me at the end and say,
24:48What happened? And why do you think he did that?
24:51As a kind of film school.
24:53That's fantastic.
24:54So when it came up to do Taxi Driver,
24:56you guys were both like, This is exciting.
24:58Yeah, yeah, yeah. And for Taxi Driver,
25:01I went there in my school uniform.
25:03She was like, If you think she can do this.
25:05I always had my Peter Pan collar, my blazer,
25:07and my little knee socks.
25:08And I think, I mean, sort of the genius of Scorsese
25:12is that he knows how to play against type.
25:15So, yeah.
25:16You got to, also at a very young age,
25:18younger, certainly the most, host SNL.
25:21Second season of SNL.
25:23Not a highlight of my life.
25:24Not a highlight?
25:25No. Why not?
25:27It was scary, and they didn't quite know what to do with me,
25:30so they just kept putting me on people's laps,
25:32which was weird.
25:34Also, I...
25:35The 70s. I'm so sorry you grew up in the 70s.
25:38I know.
25:40But I was drinking something before we went on
25:43for the final live show, and it was like an Orange Julius,
25:46if you guys remember that.
25:47It was lovely and sticky and sweet,
25:49and I dropped the whole thing on my pants.
25:52And I was sopping wet.
25:54You couldn't see it on camera,
25:56but I was sticky and sopping wet,
25:58so that's my memory of the experience.
26:01By the way, people were doing a lot worse things
26:03in the 70s SNL than dropping Orange Juliuses on their pants.
26:06True.
26:08I heard you're someone who will read a review.
26:11Like, you don't...
26:12I think a lot of actors are like,
26:13I don't care what people think about it,
26:15but was this something that also happened
26:16and started early in your career?
26:18You know, it's just something we did in our family.
26:21And, yeah, we read reviews. My mom would read reviews.
26:23She'd read the bad ones and the good ones.
26:25And, yeah, I think I was taught to be stoic
26:27and to be resilient and not to complain
26:30and just sort of get on with it.
26:31And there's good parts to that and bad parts to that.
26:34Do you feel like you ever got things from...
26:36Because I feel like, you know, obviously, it always hurts
26:39when someone doesn't like something you do.
26:40But if they talk about it in a way, you know,
26:43that's intellectual, you could actually learn something
26:45from a bad review.
26:46Yeah, I think that's true.
26:47As a director, however, I'm not so brave.
26:49Oh, gotcha.
26:50Yeah.
26:50So, as an actor, you'll take the note.
26:52But if it's your whole...
26:53If the whole movie is your baby, you don't care for it.
26:55Yeah, sometimes I just, if I know the film as a director
26:57is going to be a tough sell, then I might just get on a plane
26:59and go somewhere else and not read anything.
27:02When your mom read the bad reviews to you as well,
27:04would she, like, at least preface it with, like,
27:06this is a bad one or this is a good one?
27:08Or would you just find out together?
27:09No, she might say, like, oh, I agree with that.
27:11Or, yeah, maybe work on that.
27:13Or that I am...
27:15Yeah, it's a funny thing, isn't it?
27:17I guess it is a funny thing.
27:20My mom really likes being negative.
27:22Because she felt like then you'd never be disappointed.
27:25Oh, interesting.
27:26She would come at it like any sort of, like,
27:28modicum of success is better than what we thought.
27:31Yes, exactly.
27:32So you're always surprised.
27:33If something good happens, then you're surprised.
27:35What about going to award shows over your career?
27:37Obviously, you've been at ones where you've won
27:39and ones where you've been nominated and didn't.
27:41How do you go into an award show night?
27:43Well, there was a moment in the first award shows
27:47where I would break out in hives when they said my name.
27:51And it was difficult for me with lots of flashbulbs.
27:53Because in those days, we had lots of flashbulbs.
27:55They didn't have the quality of film that they have now.
27:58But then I guess I got used to it and it just feels like work.
28:01Yeah.
28:01Do you feel like are you happy when they announce you as a winner?
28:05Are you happy?
28:06Yeah, it's bingo.
28:07Yeah.
28:07It's bingo.
28:07You're like, my name, my name.
28:09It's totally primitive.
28:11Even if you think that you're a deep person,
28:13you just become really primitive.
28:14You're just like, my name.
28:15It's also like many times where I've been like,
28:18oh, we're definitely, you know, this show.
28:20I'll be like, oh, we're definitely not going to win.
28:22We're not going to win.
28:22And then they read the nominees and I'm like,
28:24I think we're going to win.
28:24Maybe.
28:25And then it turns out my initial instinct
28:28was the right one.
28:28Yes.
28:30Always trust your first gut, it turns out,
28:32when you're me at an award show.
28:35The movie is so wonderful.
28:36It is so lovely to have you here.
28:37Yeah, you too.
28:38Please come back soon.
28:39Okay.
28:39And this is Jodie Foster, everyone,
28:41in private life.
28:42Everything you do is Daniel Schultz,
28:43came through right back.
28:44Let's see you in the video.
29:04Our next guest, a very talented actor.
29:06You know, from movies like Barbie and the Shang-Chi
29:09and the Legend of the Ten Rings,
29:10as well as shows such as Kim's Convenience,
29:13he stars in the Copenhagen Test,
29:15which is streaming on Peacock.
29:16Let's take a look.
29:23Yeah, yeah, I'm coming.
29:26Do you believe this?
29:29Come on, here we go.
29:30Move!
29:31Come on, here we go.
29:32Come on, here we go.
29:33Come on, here we go.
29:33Come on, here we go.
29:34Come on, here we go.
29:35Come on, here we go.
29:36Come on, here we go.
29:37Get at me.
29:41Move!
29:42Get down!
29:44Please welcome to the show, Simu Liu, everybody!
29:47Oh look so good!
30:03Hi, how are you?
30:04Oh man, I'm so good.
30:05You got a great crowd.
30:06There are a great crowd tonight.
30:07That was a great clip.
30:09I feel like elevators never close as fast as you want
30:11when people have guns.
30:12No, I've always found elevator acting in movies
30:16always the one thing that takes me out sometimes.
30:18I'm like, does a door actually close like that?
30:20Right, right, right.
30:21You know, because inevitably, when you're on set,
30:23they're not actual elevator doors.
30:24You know, it's like a guy pulling a string somewhere.
30:27You know what?
30:28But that is because it really did feel like
30:30you were in an actual elevator there.
30:31So that was good acting. Yeah.
30:32Thank you so much.
30:33Did they actually use your hand?
30:35Was that you pressing the...
30:36I think it was. I think it was.
30:38Oh, I do all my own hand stunts.
30:39You do all your own elevator work?
30:42Exactly.
30:43You, congratulations,
30:44because this is the number one show on Peacock right now.
30:46Thank you so much.
30:47And you're not just one of the stars.
30:48You also executive produced it.
30:49So that's a little bit more of a burden, right?
30:51Because you don't just, like, go home at the end of the day.
30:54Yeah, yeah.
30:55You know, for I think a lot of actors
30:56that are working in Hollywood, they just crave...
30:58The two things that they crave are, you know, agency
31:02and, yeah, I guess just a little bit more control
31:05over the characters.
31:06And I think being a producer really gives you
31:09an opportunity to do that.
31:10You get to, you know, sit in on creative meetings.
31:13You get to, you know...
31:14I was in the writer's room, and so we got to...
31:16I just got to look at so many things
31:18beyond just the character.
31:20And I thought that that would be
31:22a really fulfilling experience.
31:23And it was, up until it was, like, maybe two or three weeks
31:27before the release of the show.
31:28And then I just went into a full-blown panic of, like,
31:30what have I done?
31:32Yeah.
31:32Have I just made this whole thing worse
31:34by, like, opening my stupid, dumb mouth...
31:36Right.
31:37...and trying to share these ideas?
31:39Like, I'm not qualified.
31:40You know, I just started to have all these thoughts
31:41in my head and especially...
31:42I mean, it's so great now that we're meeting post, like,
31:45the show coming out and doing pretty well.
31:47Because nothing would be worse, you're right,
31:48than, like, if it was bad and people are like,
31:49don't blame yourself, you're just an actor.
31:51Yeah, you're just an actor.
31:52You're like, actually...
31:53I have no one else to...
31:54Yeah, you're like, actually, I was also...
31:55made a lot of the decisions.
31:57Yeah.
31:58I was the one who said,
31:59let's use my real hand in the elevator.
32:00Yeah.
32:01I insisted on it.
32:02I was like, it's got to be...
32:04You play...
32:05I love the spy genre,
32:06but I don't know if I've ever seen a spy show.
32:09You play a spy whose brain gets hacked.
32:11Yes.
32:12That's a very nice new move.
32:13Congratulations.
32:14Oh, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.
32:16Are you also a fan of the genre?
32:17Do you like spy stuff?
32:18Yeah, I love it.
32:19And Thomas and Jen, my co-showrunners,
32:21we were all kind of just geeking out about just all of the,
32:24you know, the influences that we wanted in the show.
32:27And there's a lot of bond there.
32:28There's a lot of Bourne, a lot of John le Carre,
32:31like, you know, that kind of mid-century aesthetic
32:33we had a lot in this kind of fictional organization
32:38that we work at called The Orphanage.
32:40Yeah, it was really cool.
32:41We got to incorporate a lot.
32:42And it was just, like, a lot of fun
32:44to get to play a character that, you know,
32:47I guess I just didn't see myself a lot in growing up.
32:52Yeah, right.
32:53There were a lot of Asian people in spy movies,
32:55but they typically tended to be the bad guy.
32:58Yeah.
32:59So it's, you know, really cool that an Asian-American,
33:01you know, guy gets to be the spy.
33:04Yeah.
33:05And thank you so much.
33:08And I was doing kind of a little fact check on myself.
33:12I was like, what does Asian representation look like
33:15across spy movies?
33:17And have you seen this movie, Die Another Day?
33:20Yeah, I've seen all that.
33:21That's a Pierce Brosnan one, and it's a crazy movie.
33:25I mean, there's these satellite lasers from space.
33:28There's Pierce.
33:29He's, he's...
33:30This isn't one of your grounded Bond movies.
33:33No, no, no, not one of the, like, gritty ones.
33:35But the villain, this is the most amount of Asian representation,
33:38I think, that has ever happened in a Bond movie.
33:40But there's a bad guy.
33:42He's a very charming, very blonde Englishman.
33:45Yeah.
33:46And there's a reveal about two-thirds of the way
33:47through the movie that he was a Korean man the whole time.
33:50And you flashback, and in the beginning of the movie,
33:54there's this Korean, North Korean lieutenant that dies,
33:57and you think he's gone for the entire movie.
33:59And then you realize, again, two-thirds of the way through,
34:02that this white guy is actually Korean.
34:04And so that's the, that's the extent of Asian representation.
34:08They were like, we do have a Korean guy in this movie.
34:10We have the perfect white guy to play him.
34:11Yeah, we have the perfect white guy to play him.
34:12He does it really well.
34:13So this is very nice.
34:14I'm glad that you landed in this role, yeah.
34:17You shot it in Toronto. You're from Toronto.
34:18Yeah.
34:20How young were you when you moved to Toronto?
34:22We, um, I came to Canada when I was four and a half,
34:25and our family was in Etobicoke, which is just outside Toronto,
34:28since we were, like, seven.
34:30Gotcha.
34:31There's one woo in the audience, which is super cool.
34:33Did you, and your folks are still in Toronto, the area?
34:36Yeah, they're still in the same house that I grew up in.
34:39Are they excited when you're shooting there?
34:40Do they, are they the kind of parents who like coming to set?
34:42They're weirdly, weirdly not.
34:44Weirdly not. It was like pulling teeth.
34:45I tried to invite them, and I, and I...
34:48Is this just that they're disappointed you're an actor,
34:50do you think?
34:51I think they're still harboring some sort of initial...
34:53Yeah, I don't know.
34:54I think it's something about, like, maybe feeling like
34:56they're in the way and not wanting to feel like they're intruding on...
34:58Oh, well, that's polite, I will say.
34:59...on anything that's really, really sweet.
35:00I mean, because my parents, they're like,
35:01we want to be in the way.
35:03I totally...
35:04I hear that.
35:05They show up to be in the way.
35:06And it's like, grass is always greener, right?
35:08Because sometimes I do catch myself wishing that I had
35:11more overbearing parents...
35:12Right. ...that, like, called me every day,
35:13and were like, what are you up to?
35:15Can we come to this premiere? Can we come to, you know, this?
35:17And my parents haven't been to a single one of my premieres
35:20since Shang-Chi.
35:21Oh, they did go to... Okay, great.
35:22They did go to the big one.
35:23Right.
35:24But I do get the sense that they're, like,
35:25waiting for another big, you know, it's like,
35:26every time I have a premiere, they're like,
35:28oh, well, who else is going to be there?
35:29Gotcha.
35:29And I'm like, what?
35:30Oh, so you spoiled, because their first premiere
35:32was a Marvel movie, they're spoiled now.
35:34Yeah. Exactly.
35:35They're like, we don't want to go to any indie premiere.
35:37And so I feel like if my movie doesn't, like,
35:39break box office records, I'm like a disappointment to them.
35:41It's Asian tiger parenting on a hold of them.
35:44Yeah, that's fantastic.
35:45Even now, when you're like, we're number one on Peacock,
35:47they're like, still, that's not a Marvel movie.
35:49Yeah, but it's...
35:50You guys went to...
35:52You did go to China with them recently.
35:54Yeah, yeah, I went back.
35:55This is a very handsome couple, your parents.
35:57Yeah. In Tiananmen Square.
35:59When was the last time you had been?
36:01It had been 15 years.
36:02Wow, and how was your visit back?
36:03A really, really long time. It was really good.
36:05I had a grandmother that I had not seen in a really long time,
36:08and I felt really guilty about not coming back sooner,
36:11although, in my defense, when I lost my job as an accountant
36:15and then started to, you know, act and audition,
36:18I did become kind of like a black sheep in the family.
36:21Oh, really? And I was disinvited
36:22from these family trips for a really long time.
36:25Like, no one wanted to talk about me.
36:27They were like, until you get back into accounting.
36:29Yes, yes.
36:30We don't want to see you.
36:31The level of shame, in Asian standards,
36:34would be like if I was, like, addicted to meth
36:38and, like, on the street.
36:40The same. I'm trying to level set for you guys
36:42what it was like in our household.
36:44It was bad.
36:45Yeah.
36:46And so, yeah, I was not invited for a long time.
36:48And then, all of a sudden, I got busy, so I couldn't...
36:50You know, I didn't have time to go back.
36:51But this year, I was like, I have to do it.
36:53And it was, yeah, it was the best time.
36:55And in China, are you approached?
36:57I mean, again, you've been in international stuff.
36:59Are people very excited to see you?
37:00I weirdly was expecting not.
37:03Yeah.
37:03Just, you know, because for whatever reason,
37:05our Marvel movie never came out in China.
37:06And so, I really just thought that nobody would care.
37:10But, no, I snapped a photo outside my hotel room
37:14because I really loved the view.
37:16And, like, two days...
37:17And I forgot that, you know, the population of China is like...
37:20There's over a billion people there.
37:21But the next day, in my hotel lobby,
37:23there were, like, 40 people waiting for me.
37:25And it was, you know, it was really overwhelming
37:27and also kind of sweet.
37:28And my parents were absolutely no help.
37:30Yeah. At all.
37:32They were like, this wouldn't have happened
37:33if you just kept being an accountant.
37:35Yeah, exactly.
37:36Learn your lesson. Take your medicine.
37:38You didn't have to do this.
37:40You're also, this is very exciting,
37:41for those of us in New York,
37:43you're about to be on Broadway,
37:44making your Broadway debut.
37:46Oh, Mary, you're going to be Mary's teacher in Oh, Mary.
37:51It's still surreal.
37:52We were talking backstage.
37:53I mean, this is a seminal show.
37:55I can't believe I was lucky enough to see it
37:58when it first started.
37:59It is now, you know, there's been many iterations.
38:01Everybody who goes to see any cast says it holds up.
38:04It's fantastic.
38:06Did it take much convincing to get you to agree to do this?
38:09Um, no.
38:10I think Kevin Lynn, who's my agent at CAA,
38:13and I had been plotting this kind of foray into Broadway
38:16for a really long time, and we'd just kind of been waiting
38:18for what felt like the right...
38:20You know, we always believed that the right moment
38:22would reveal itself, and sometimes it doesn't.
38:24But, yeah, he texted me about O'Mary, and I was like,
38:27oh, my God, I would love to.
38:29I went and I saw the show back in October,
38:32and I actually auditioned for it, which I, like,
38:36I'm going to sound like the most privileged guy on Earth,
38:38but, like, I haven't auditioned in a while.
38:39This is the first thing I'd auditioned for in a minute and a half.
38:43And, uh, what I got to do, I did the thing.
38:45I went to, you know, in this building in Midtown
38:48where I feel like all the Broadway actors audition,
38:50and I got to go into this room, this little tiny camcorder,
38:54and worked with the director, Sam Pinkleton,
38:57and then got the part, and it was great
39:00because Camille Nanjiani is a really good friend of mine,
39:03and he was one of the first people that I called,
39:05and I was like, you know, I know you did the show back in,
39:07you know, back in the fall. How do you feel?
39:09And he basically, I mean, he just had such an overwhelmingly
39:12positive review of the whole experience,
39:14and he was like, you have to do it.
39:15I think that's really special that you auditioned
39:17because it does, you know, get you out of that imposter syndrome
39:19of, like, oh, they're just giving me the part.
39:21No, totally.
39:21Like, you actually auditioned and got it.
39:23I think that's such a cool thing to have done.
39:24No, thank you. Thank you so much.
39:25And John Cameron Mitchell is going to be doing it with you.
39:27He's a legend. Oh, my God.
39:28And I just can't wait. I cannot wait.
39:30Thanks for being here. What a pleasure to have you on the show.
39:32Thank you so much.
39:33You guys, you've seen me.
39:34We are, everybody. The Coleman Hagen Fest.
39:36We'll see you on Peacock. We'll be right back.
39:49We'll see you on Peacock.
40:19All right, my guest, Jodie Foster.
40:21See you on the air, everybody.
40:22Thanks for watching. We love you.
40:24We'll see you on Peacock.
40:40Bye.
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