- 6 hours ago
The Hollywood Reporter’s Julian Sancton sat down with Miles Teller, Matthew Goode, Juno Temple, Dan Fogler, and Nikki Toscano, to discuss their series ‘The Offer’ in a THR Q&A powered by Vision Media.
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00:00Hi, I'm Julian Sancton, and thank you for joining The Hollywood Reporter Presents Q&A
00:08with some of the cast members and one of the executive producers of The Offer. I guess my
00:13first question to the panel, and we can go one by one if that's helpful, is can you all remember
00:19the first time you saw The Godfather and the circumstances in which you saw it and what
00:26your first impressions were? The first time I saw it, I just caught it on television when I was
00:33probably a teenager, and it was one of the things where I didn't even necessarily know
00:39what I was watching. I certainly wasn't watching that caliber of film at the time that I saw it.
00:45I was into some Indiana Jones and just kind of more, I don't know, age-appropriate content,
00:54and it wasn't really until I got older and I started really kind of narrowing my focus into
01:00wanting to pursue acting that I saw it, you know, with some maturity behind it, and I was just
01:07captivated. I mean, I thought the, I remember being really struck by the lighting. I thought that it
01:13was just such, there was such an intimacy to it, and the tension, that was something that really
01:18resonated with me. It's just fraught with tension, and it's, I mean, yeah, it's a masterpiece on so
01:26many levels, but I think it took me a little, you know, a while to really be able to appreciate it for
01:32the film that it really is. I was like 11 or 12, and my dad snuck me down into the basement on this
01:41crappy little, like, 13-inch TV and told me he wanted to show me something, and I watched it,
01:49and I, you know, at the time, like, you know, Miles is saying, I don't think that I could have
01:53appreciated, like, Coppola's direction or Gordy's cinematography or any of that, but I saw a family
02:00up there, and I also was like, oh, this is what movies can be because my mom's making me watch all
02:07of these, like, romantic comedies, and this is the stuff that I want to be watching, and that sort
02:12of paved the way for Mean Streets and Marathon Man and a bunch of other inappropriate films that I
02:19shouldn't have been watching at that age. Yeah, definitely. Like, Nikki, actually, my dad said to
02:25me, oh, you want to be an actress? Cool. I'm going to show you one of the greatest films of all time,
02:30and I was about 14, 15, and he has the most incredible Laserdisc collection, my father still,
02:40and so I actually watched it on Laserdisc with him on a projector up in what used to be his office
02:47in the country, and I really was not expecting to enjoy it, and I was so overwhelmingly moved by
03:00the movie. I was, I just remember being quite embarrassed at how much I was crying watching
03:06it with my dad because of that, the sequence with, you know, when Sonny gets shot and then
03:12kicked like a dog, and then watching Brando react to finding out that his son has been murdered still
03:20to this day is one of the most moving, I think, sequences of all time, especially from a very masculine
03:29character, and, and I remember thinking, wow, as an actor, you can do a lot without having to do
03:36anything at all, and that was a pretty impressionable lesson for me from that, from that first viewing
03:47of The Godfather. How is everybody? Is everybody good? I, I, I, I love everyone here. Godfather, that was
03:57basically when I was in high school, and I realized, okay, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna try and do this for a
04:03living. I basically went to Blockbuster, and I rented all of these, like, iconic movies. Godfather was in
04:12there, and, um, Apocalypse Now was another one. Um, anyway, there's a bunch of movies, so I watched
04:18The Godfather, and then from The Godfather, that was my mothership. That was, like, my first real,
04:27you know, acting, uh, master class, where I just used that as, okay, let's watch everything that,
04:35this, that Coppola did. Let's watch everything that, now that, you know, Brando did, and I just
04:40reverse-engineered. I just picked an actor from the movie, and I just watched everything that they
04:46did, and, and it was, uh, I, it's, like, anytime it's on the television, anytime it's, you know, on a
04:53marathon or something, I just, like, I have to watch it. It's, like, it's, like, I don't know, it's a
04:58rite of passage or something. Uh, Matthew, Matthew Goode. Um, yeah, we, I came, I grew up in the
05:06countryside, uh, in Devon, and, uh, we didn't, we, we would have had to travel miles to get to a,
05:11uh, a proper, like, blockbuster, so our local village shop, um, had, had a small, had a small
05:18bit of where you could, where you could rent videos, and I think from the age of about 12, I'd,
05:22you know, I'd go and buy sweets and, you know, a milkshake, and then about the age of five foot,
05:27and then put RoboCop on the counter and just try and get away with it, and, uh, and finally,
05:33I got to the age of 18 when I was going to drama school, and I thought it was probably
05:36about time that I watched one of the classics. It was one of the first 18s, um, that I was
05:42actually legal, uh, to watch. Um, so, yeah, and I loved it. I was very like you, Miles. I,
05:48I fell in love, I fell in love with it the first time, very much on the structure, on the
05:53construction of the shops and, and the lighting, and I'm, I'm forever fascinated by, by, by
05:59all DOPs. I think they are in bed with the devil, some of them, um, because I just don't get it. I
06:06don't, it doesn't, it doesn't, well, I don't, I just, it doesn't compute how you can pop this thing
06:11here in front of us, stick a barn door on, and then suddenly it's amazing, and Conrad Hall is my
06:17all-time hero. So, anyway, that's, that's the first time.
06:21Who among you would win the Godfather Trivia competition?
06:24Dan Fogler.
06:26Yeah, I was about to say the same thing. Or maybe.
06:28Or Nikki Toscano.
06:30Maybe Toscano.
06:31Yeah.
06:31But I'd quite like to see that battle.
06:34I do want to see that battle.
06:37I'll let Dan take, I'll let Dan take it.
06:40I'm not going to put anybody on the spot unless they want to try the, the days of the week challenge,
06:45uh, which is, uh, do you know this one? It's from You've Got Mail, uh, where, uh, the, uh,
06:52Michael's, I forget her name, of course, but Michael's, uh, Sicilian wife goes through
06:56all the days, the days of the week that she's learning in English. What order does she say
06:59them in?
07:00Monday, Thursday, Wednesday, Friday.
07:02Friday.
07:03Hey, that's it. That's it.
07:05Okay.
07:06Now, you know, The Godfather is such an iconic film. It's seared in all our memories.
07:11Was there any trepidation about revisiting that world? And if so, how did you overcome it?
07:16Um, you know, given how, how large it looms in a good one for Nikki, um, you know, I mean,
07:24I think that, I think that the same thing that attracted all of us to this project is the same
07:28thing that scared all of us about the project, right? It's, it's the Godfather, um, by virtue
07:33of one being one of the greatest, you know, greatest films of all time. I think that, you
07:38know, when, when I had heard this take, this unique take on the story though, I thought, you
07:43know, this, this could be cool just coming from Al Ruddy's POV and the idea that he was
07:50not only like battling, you know, sort of the studio system, but battling the New York
07:54mafia as well, you know, you know, punching in some, packing in some, um, you know, life
08:01or death stakes into a story about the making of the greatest films of all time made me lean
08:07in and, and the excitement, um, um, exceeded the fear. I'm, I would never, I can tell you, I would
08:15not have signed onto a project to remake the Godfather. Yeah, me either. Terrifying. But I also
08:23think the idea of seeing the perspective of making something that is so appreciated by millions of
08:31people in the world, people before us and people that are still, you know, going to find the
08:36Godfather and learning about how complex and how passionate the people were in it, behind the
08:45actual making of it and how long it took to make it. And, and the people that fought to have it made
08:50the way it shows, you know, now and why people keep watching it these days, I think was something
08:56that I was quite excited to be a part of, because I think it hopefully, you know, watching the show,
09:00you get inspired to actually really, really stay true to the things that you feel passionately
09:06about, because it pays off in the end. You might make a masterpiece if you fight for things to be
09:10made the way you really, really believe they should be. I think it's a real, a real gift to,
09:15to audiences. And there's so many people that, uh, I can't tell you I'm running into so many people
09:21just at the, at the grocery store or going out and getting a lot of love from the offer.
09:26And really just their appreciation. And, um, usually what follows that is that, oh my man,
09:31I went, I went back and rewatched the Godfather and it just gave me such kind of more in,
09:36in depth response to it. So I, I just felt really, um, lucky to be a part of anything that,
09:42that kind of, you know, brought that in the, the amount of kind of research that was done long
09:49before we ever stepped on, on set. Um, and I think we're very lucky that, that Al is of,
09:56of sound mind still, and that he was willing to share so many stories. I just think we,
10:04you know, we benefited from it. And it sounds like a lot of audiences or a lot of audience members
10:09who have really enjoyed the amount of work that went into it.
10:13But also, I mean, the dialogue writing, the level of the writing, uh, just, just, uh, just,
10:18I'm just trying to get you to go red, uh, Nikki. Um, it was a phenomenal read. It wasn't like
10:24you're going, oh, well, see how this works out. It read beautifully. And, and although it's a
10:30terrifying idea when you try to envisage it, luckily we aren't the directors. Um, I bought into the,
10:37like the total, there's a real romance to, to the whole story. Um, and that's, that's,
10:45that's sort of over, uh, overpowered the fear for me because he just thought this could be
10:50a phenomenal experience. And I, I will, I will tell you, I, I personally had a phenomenal experience
10:57on this job. I really did. It was one of the most fabulous bunch of people I could ever wish to work
11:02with. On that note, there's such a great scene in, in one of the episodes, uh, that seems to have
11:11been based on a real event where the cast has that first dinner, I believe it was at Patsy's. Um,
11:18and, uh, they all sort of take on their characters and immediately bond in that way. Uh, and I wonder
11:24if there was any similar bonding event where did you all meet, uh, separately or was there, you know,
11:29how did you seem to be a very tight bunch? So how did that sort of, uh, that, that chemistry
11:34come about COVID, but we did get to do the rehearsals. We got a, you know, two week rehearsal
11:43period at the beginning, which really kind of, yeah, he was stuck in England still, weren't he?
11:46That'd be good. So he's like, but we, we got to hang out and talk through scenes and that was really
11:52powerful and, and, um, special. And then I would also say Dan Fogler was, um, the person that
11:59organized most of the get togethers and including, uh, uh, a wrap party for not just cast, but also
12:06crew. Dan, you were kind of the godfather during the making of the offer, I think.
12:12I, uh, yeah, I guess so. Yeah. I, uh, I, I threw caution to the wind, I guess. Um,
12:19just in, in homage to, to Coppola and, um, like, like that's what he would do. All of these things
12:31are legendary. Like when I was in, when I was in college, um, the story about getting all the actors
12:37together, uh, at Patsy's was a legendary story. And so you, you, you heard about, oh, that's how
12:44Coppola did things. He, he focused on sensual activities where he got all the actors together
12:51and they partied and they drank and they ate. And, and so I started with that frame of mind.
12:57I was like, okay, let's do that. Let's, let's, let's pay homage to all of these, this great
13:02director and these great actors and get a little meta method, you know, whatever you want to call
13:07it. And on the first day of, uh, rehearsal, walked up to, uh, Patrick Gallo, uh, who plays Puzo. And
13:15in my head, I was like, they spend a lot of time together. And I said, we should, I should spend a
13:19lot of time with this guy. And, uh, I happened to have a room open in my house before my wife and
13:24kids, uh, were coming, uh, to stay with me. So I was like, Hey man, you want to be my roommate for
13:28a while. And then that was kind of the, uh, the seeds that were sown with, uh, we would have a,
13:34we would have get togethers, you know, try to have get togethers as much as we could.
13:39And I re and you can see it on screen. You see how the chemistry is quite delicious and
13:44everyone gets along pretty well. Everyone was invited just so you know, everyone invited
13:49to all these parties. Uh, yeah, it's, you know, we were, we were, uh, we were dodging COVID,
13:59but I, it was, uh, a beautiful thing that we got through it. You know, it's beautiful.
14:06I'm fascinated by all those parallels, you know, with, uh, it's such a, in some ways,
14:09a very meta story. So it's, it's, it's interesting to see that, uh, there were some, some similar,
14:15some similarities, uh, you know, the offer is all about process and overcoming the millions
14:19of challenges that can threaten, uh, to upend a production. Uh, I'm sure the offer was no exception.
14:24Uh, what were some of the forces you had to battle against? You mentioned COVID. Was that the
14:28main one? Was there, or, or, you know, what are some of the other ones? I mean, I think the,
14:32the responsibility, the responsibility of it, you know, I mean, just at every turn, you know,
14:40making sure that, you know, every decision that was being made was honoring the spirit of the
14:45original film. There was a lot of stuff that was incredibly meta, you know, shooting on the same
14:49stages that the Godfather shot on and, you know, and so on and so forth. Um, but COVID, you know,
14:56COVID was challenging. We had a great team, but, um, yeah, I think that and the responsibility.
15:03Miles, you know, the, the show is based largely, as we mentioned on the recollections of, uh,
15:07Al Ruddy, who's the, the Godfather's, um, I believe the sole producer, uh, if I'm not mistaken,
15:13um, is the last sole recipient of the best picture. Is that wow. Um, now, you know, tell me about
15:22how you see Al Ruddy, uh, both the, the real one and the show's version and, and, and how different
15:27they are if, you know, obviously you're, you're a different person, but how, you know, did you try
15:33to, um, you know, to what extent did you try to, to, uh, create a new character and to what extent did
15:40you, did you try to live up to the one that you'd met? I, well, I met with Al before I signed on to
15:47it. And even at that point, I felt like I had, I'd kind of, uh, done a good amount of research on
15:52him, just seeing some, some videos and read a good amount. And so you, you can kind of, you start
15:59picking up on certain elements of somebody that keep kind of showing up and showing up and, you
16:05know, Al's a, he's a, he's a man of action. And that was something that I really appreciated
16:10by playing him. And he was constantly juggling and having to keep so many different balls in the
16:15air and having to deal with so many different types of people. And that's a certain type of
16:20personality that can do that. And so you try and, and, and figure out, um, you know, how that would
16:27make, how that makes sense. But I think as far as, you know, the differences between by performance
16:35of him and his, at the ages, you know, his twenties and thirties, uh, and what he was like in real life,
16:42I, I, I couldn't tell you because I, you know, I didn't know, but, but talking to his family and
16:49I remember asking them, I said, you know, well, how did, how'd you guys think I did? How did,
16:54how does Al think? And they're like, Oh, you know, we really do think you captured his essence.
16:59And I said, well, what about Al? And they were like, Oh, Al was so flattered by everything.
17:04If anything, you added another feather to his already very full cap. Uh, so that was, cause yeah,
17:11you have to take it seriously, man. These are people's lives. You're, um, you know, if they're
17:16still, you know, you're memorializing them after they pass away, you're really kind of eulogizing
17:20them with these performances. So it's something you should take very seriously, which I know I did
17:25and everybody did. Matthew, it, it, uh, I imagine it'd be very daunting to portray a, um, character
17:32as, as larger than life is looming in the Hollywood, uh, uh, uh, Empyrean as, uh, as Evans,
17:39the ultimate Hollywood wheeler dealer, and yet you managed to make him your own. Um, tell me how
17:44you heightened the already, uh, brilliant material that you, that was already on the, on the page.
17:49Uh, well, thanks. Um, as, as Miles has already said, you do your research and as, as Miles has
17:55already said, you do your research. And, and I was quite, I felt quite lucky because there were
17:58other people like Ben Gorman, who's does the place, the wonderful, as a wonderful performance
18:03of Charlie Bluton. He didn't have, uh, the ability to use, um, YouTube, uh, because there
18:09was just nothing of his character on that. Whereas I did at least have the, the luxury
18:13of, I mean, we all know about the, you know, the kid stays in the picture, but that was
18:17something I was that I, you know, I watched it years ago and I was, I was able to, I didn't
18:22want to listen to it again because it's when he's sort of 70 years old and it's a different
18:26rhythm and blah, blah, blah. So I got that. I had this luxury of loads of, loads of interviews
18:31of him in the seventies. And, um, you know, you click on one and then suddenly you're like,
18:35Ooh, look at that. And then another one, and suddenly you've been on there for four hours
18:40and then, and I'll say you find your favorite things where, and you have to remember also
18:44when someone's being in, being, um, you know, interviewed in public, it's, it's not the
18:50real them. So then you have, but you, but you get to see how they, how they express themselves
18:54and, and you, and he has a wonderful town brand and, uh, and, uh, cadence Bob. So you
19:00start playing around with that and then, you know, you flesh it out with some more, more
19:04information from real people and from books. And, um, and then at some point as my, as I
19:11remember when I was doing, playing Ariel in, uh, in a Shakespeare production where I'm basically
19:18a flying fairy at one point, the director, you know, you have to come down off the ladder.
19:22Um, and so, you know, I came down off the ladder and, um, and gave it a whack. And then I started
19:28sending this stuff to, to, um, to Dexter and, you know, and he, everyone was quite nice about
19:34it. And, and then I, when you've got a really fantastic bunch of, when you've got great lines
19:39to say, and you've got extremely, um, earmuffs guys, extremely talented, um, other actors.
19:47I mean, the whole crew, of course, but, um, when it's in front of the camera, you know,
19:52you're playing and everyone plays very well, very nicely together, obviously, because it
19:58doesn't always happen, but, but there was just, there was always a feeling of, I mean,
20:02I think I was so grateful to be out of a hotel room. Um, so whenever I got, I was just like,
20:07Oh, people, this is great. And, um, you know, and then, and then, yeah, so hard work and
20:14lots of fun. And, uh, and then he's crafted by great directors.
20:19Uh, Dan, similar question, you know, I have Francis Ford Coppola, you know, we all, we
20:24all have seen him. We've, you know, he's, he's, uh, such a towering figure. You made
20:28him your, yeah, well, I wish I had some, uh, some heels or something. I don't know that
20:35I was always pushing Anthony, Anthony down. Cause he, he was playing Pacino and he was
20:40supposed to be shorter than me. So I was like, come on, man. Uh, what I did was I focused
20:49on, um, I focused on hearts of darkness. Cause I just, I had seen that when I was in, you
20:54know, right after I watched Apocalypse Now when I was in my twenties. And, uh, so I, um,
21:04I keyed in and the rain people. And of course, Dexter said, read the, the Godfather notebook,
21:10which is, has all of, I had like a cheat sheet. I had all of, uh, Coppola's thoughts and in
21:17the margin, you know, and this big notebook that he had, which was great. Like I knew what
21:21he was thinking in every scene, um, that he was directing, which is great. I'm sorry,
21:26man. Uh, but I've keyed in on this one moment in hearts of darkness, which was, it's like
21:32the, at the, it's the, it's the apex of how chaotic it is. And he's sitting there and he's
21:38talking to, uh, Hopper and Hopper's on acid or something. And he's talking and he doesn't
21:45know his lines and it's just chaos, but there's Coppola with this beautiful smile.
21:50Just loving everything that Hopper's doing and just saying like, you know, just, and
21:56that's a key. He's here. He loves getting these beautiful performances out of these beautiful
22:00actors. And then I found myself. That's how I found myself on set. Just love. That's how
22:07I found myself on set. Just loving everyone's performance, uh, around me, just smiling.
22:12And, and I, I've, I, I already spoke to miles. He knows how I feel about him. I spoke to
22:18Juno, Matthew. I, uh, I haven't had a chance, you know, don't ruin it and say you hate it.
22:25No, I love it. I love it. I got all 10 episodes. I mean, I was, I was on set. I was a cheerleader
22:30for everybody, you know? Um, yeah, I, I got in that director mindset, basically a bad, just
22:37in enjoying the love of creating with these people. And, and my God. So yes, Matthew on set,
22:46I was like, can we please do Robert Evans doing Hamlet's? I mean, can we, what else can
22:51we do? I didn't get to see you at the premiere. I just got, I was, it was, I was, I was shocked
22:55by that. It was, it was really kind of upsetting anyway. So we will catch up and, and I can tell
23:01you how brilliant I think you are too. Yeah. If you want to do a snippet of Hamlet right
23:06now, be my, be our guest. Oh my God. I'm going to be okay for that. Um, do you know,
23:15your character, uh, Betty McCart was, was not as public a figure as, as all the others represented
23:19here. Uh, do you feel like that freed you up or on the contrary, would you have liked
23:23to have a cheat sheet for her? It gave me enormous respect for her actually. Cause you
23:28know, in this day and age, it's pretty hard to not be able to Google somebody and find out
23:32what blood type they are, what their favorite meal is and who they've been sleeping with
23:37or how sweaty they get when they pant. You know, it's like crazy, the information you can
23:40find on people these days. And so I think that, that for me, I was like, wow, that's, that's
23:46pretty spectacular that she, you know, kept, kept her life and her, um, impact in Hollywood
23:55quite private. And, um, I, I think, did it free me up? I think it meant that I was a
24:02that I, I asked a lot of questions, but I guess I do that a lot anyway, but I, I, I very
24:08much talked to Nikki about Betty and, um, the rehearsal period was really important for
24:13me. And, um, honestly, I had the best time getting to create this, this friendship on
24:22and off camera with miles, because that was for me, kind of the baseline for Betty is that,
24:28you know, she had this incredible experience with this ball buster of a boss who respected
24:35her like he would another man in the industry. And, and I think that was something that, um,
24:41I really felt on camera, but also I really felt with miles off camera. And so we got to
24:47kind of, I don't know, just trust each other. And for me, that was something that, that was,
24:52um, was kind of a game changer with, with, with living as Betty, um, for that magical kind
24:59of eight months, we got to do that was, um, having this kind of wingman that you could talk
25:06to, you know, cause these two were going through stuff that they couldn't talk to anybody else
25:11about. So it became, it was friendship. It was also a work relationship, but it was also
25:16kind of a ride or die family partnership as well. And, um, yeah, it was cool to be playing a woman
25:23that had the respect from her boss in a very masculine oriented world in that time.
25:29Yeah. And it's, uh, I found it remarkable that there's, there's, it's, it's purely about not
25:34even a connotation of a possible flirtation or anything. And I just found that really refreshing.
25:38And I thought that was, uh, you know, a powerful, powerful, uh, part of the, of the show. Um,
25:45the, uh, um, Dan, you've, you've mentioned that you were, uh, a great admirer of Francis Ford
25:51Coppola, but, you know, were you prepared for the possibility that he might take issue with some
25:56of the show's depictions of events? Oh God. Yeah, man. I mean, absolutely. Like, like you go into
26:07it and you hope that you're going to get the stamp of approval. Um, you hope that who knows,
26:14I, you know, at first I was like seeking people out, you know, to, to get any bit of information
26:22that I could about him. And then we started doing it, we started shooting. And then I kind
26:28of had this fear of, of actually talking to him and then like, because then you, I would really,
26:37you know, I was like, okay, it's better that I finish it and then see what he thinks about it
26:42afterward. Um, you know, yeah, there's a, it's very tricky because, um, yeah, this is Al's point
26:52of view, you know, and, uh, so I know that I can just speak for myself. I, I wonder if he's looking
26:59at me going, I wish they got a taller actor, you know, you know, I wish they, uh, you know,
27:07I couldn't help, but I tried, I tried to straighten up. Um, but, uh, you know, but then you do it and
27:16you're just like, you know what, I feel like I have the essence of this. I feel like I'm doing,
27:23you know, the best that I possibly can here. And, and you know, that, that you really hope that you,
27:30you know, that you're paying homage and then they're going to appreciate that. I, I think he
27:35will. I, I, you know, I did a movie with Robert Schwartzman is his nephew. And I know he knows of
27:41this project and I think he's rooting for it. It's his story, you know, it's their story. It's
27:47like, yeah, you got, we'll see, you know, time will tell. And if he doesn't, then perhaps he could
27:56do a definitive documentary on it. And then, and then we'd all, then that would be rather nice for
28:02everybody else. I, yeah, I suspect no, no, uh, scripted, uh, depiction of historical events is
28:10ever going to match everybody's point of view. That's just not how it works. Um, but have you,
28:14uh, have you heard from anybody else, uh, uh, from who was involved in the, uh, in the, in the film?
28:20Uh, I already said this. I talked to James Kahn, um, which was delightful. Um, this was before
28:28people told me not to reach out to anybody. So, uh, but I, I reached out to him because I had a friend
28:36that knew him and he was, I mean, I was talking to Sonny, man. And that was, and he's known him for
28:43a long time. He's known Francis, you know, since the rain people and before then. And, and so,
28:50oh my God, he was hilarious. And he just gave me some beautiful tips. And, um, you know, one of them
28:58was that, uh, he's got a ferocious temper, but he's also silly and loves actors and, but he doesn't
29:06suffer fools. And, uh, and if you're an idiot, he's going to let you know these little tidbits
29:13of information were just gold, gold nuggets. And I'm so, I'm, I'm so happy I reached out to him
29:19in celebrating cinema. This show takes a surprising number of jabs at TV, um, in a way biting the hand
29:25that feeds it. So, you know, Ruddy, for example, says, uh, you're just in your living room,
29:29looking at a small fucking box. Um, Evans also echoes that TV is too limiting. Uh, you can't
29:35tell real stories on TV. It's fake. So, you know, this show feels like an attempt to prove the
29:39contrary. So I wonder how you all feel about the issue and the relative merits of film and TV
29:44having gone through, uh, this particular experience. Well, listen, I mean, there was some seventies
29:51American television that I watched as a child, like Cagney and Lacey, um, et cetera. So that's
29:57what we were, that was sort of children's television programming over here. So I loved it. But if
30:01you look back at it, it's not world class now when, so we, so those things are being said
30:06about a time when, when people did genuinely think that the cinema shat all over, um, television.
30:13And of course it did. Um, but how it is now is so much more, it's so much more exciting
30:20because there are so many, so many new filming. Sorry. Yes, you go, Juno.
30:25I was going to say we're kind of going through the golden age of television right now, aren't
30:28we? It's sort of doing, it's sort of flipped itself around. And so we're telling a story
30:33about the making of a movie and the golden age of film, doing it through a limited series
30:39kind of in the golden age of television. So it's again, paying homage to a time that has
30:44passed by doing it in a way that feels present, I suppose. Cause I grew up, I didn't watch TV.
30:51I wasn't allowed to, unless it was, um, uh, I watched a French TV show called like Muzzy
30:57the monster that taught me French, but I had to watch Muzzy. Oh my God. That was like the
31:04TV I was allowed to watch, you know, or I was being shown. Yeah. The Godfather of Powell and
31:09Pressburger or Hitchcock movies. So I, I didn't know about TV really. I remember the first
31:14time I ever watched TV, an actual TV show, I was shooting something called vinyl in New
31:19York and I watched, um, which was a TV show. And it was the first time I'd ever done TV.
31:23And I, someone told me to watch Friday night lights and I was like, what is this? And I
31:28watched all like five seasons in about three days. And, but before that, I didn't really
31:32know much about television. So I definitely grew up in the time of film and I completely
31:37understand why back then they would say, you know, TV, what? Who makes TV? Because
31:41these extraordinary films are being made. But now I think so many risks and so many
31:45brave stories are being told on television.
31:48I love the fact that you'd seen Paolo at like, it's a matter of life and death before
31:51you'd seen Barney.
31:53Yeah, totally. I still never watched Barney.
31:56That's a great childhood. That's amazing.
31:59I love how Juno says television, television, television, television. You say it like Chris
32:06Walker.
32:07Do I?
32:09Yeah.
32:11I think that is a huge comment.
32:13It is.
32:14Wow.
32:15Um, Coppola was hesitant to take on The Godfather at first because he didn't want to glorify
32:20the mafia, among other things. Uh, were any of you concerned about glorifying film producers?
32:24I never, I mean, I didn't really think of it that way. I mean, I just thought that, I mean,
32:35like I said before, I think it was just like a unique take on a story, you know, just to
32:39have like this, be telling this outsider underdog story, but you know, who is the man that deals
32:47with the mafia, you know? Um, and what, what does that person like, who does he surround
32:53himself with? How does he navigate? You know, all of those kinds of questions were, were
32:59what, you know, I wanted to answer when crafting this, you know, crafting the series, you know?
33:06Yeah.
33:07My mom was a film producer growing up. So I grew up with film producer and she's now a
33:11therapist. So I, I, I was super happy to see.
33:15Yeah. Right. So yeah. Just Ruddy was dealing with the mafia. I'm not sure she ever quite
33:21dealt with that. You know, I, I, uh, whenever I see, uh, films about the press, for example,
33:27I always take issue like, Oh, this is wrong. That's wrong. You know, that's that, you know,
33:31this is all off. Uh, I, I assume that, you know, when you watch movies or TV shows about
33:36movies that you all have the same, uh, the same concerns, uh, you know, I buy hook, line
33:41and sinker, but you guys are in the, are in the business. So what were some of the pitfalls
33:45of, of, uh, making, making, uh, on screen or films or TV shows about movies that this
33:51try that you tried to avoid here?
33:54I mean, I think that, you know, uh, Matthew and I have texted about this and I, and I talked
33:58about this a little bit at our, at our premiere. I mean, I think that this show was made with
34:06love from every, every angle, every aspect from the people that were in the writer's rooms
34:12that were conceiving of these stories and what we were leaning into and what we were
34:16leaning away from. And I think the trying to be authentic to that love in the making of
34:24this. And, and then once the directors were coming on, once the actors, everybody was so
34:29game to, you know, to participate that I think that a lot of those pitfalls just, I, you know,
34:37I don't know, peeled away, you know, we, did we want to be authentic to the time? Absolutely.
34:41Did we want to be authentic to what, you know, what, what feminism and sexism looked like
34:47in 1971? Absolutely. And I think that our, our, our, our guiding light was, um, the, the
34:56love for this project and the, and the responsibility of it. I mean, it sounds trite, but I mean, that
35:01for me is what was sort of the North star.
35:05I, I, as I mentioned, um, this will be the last question. You know, I, I love how meta the
35:09offer is it's a show about a movie based on a book. Um, if someone were to make a show
35:15about the making of the offer, would it be a comedy or a drama?
35:19It would be one where I was crying a lot. I'm just joking. Um, I'm not running that show.
35:26I'm just saying that right now, I'm not going to be, um, I think it would be both. I think
35:31it would be both.
35:32I think that we laughed a lot, you know, I mean, it was like, like I said, you know,
35:37there, there was an incredibly high bar for what we wanted to do, but I think when, when
35:42everybody's just sort of like leading with, leading with their love for, for this, this
35:47incredible, extraordinary film that has, you know, informed so much of, of all of our different,
35:54um, you know, POVs on, on cinema and, you know, that we were, we were, we're all set with
36:01that, you know? All right. Well, thank you very much, Nikki Toscano,
36:04Juna Temple, Miles Teller, Matthew Goode, and Dan Fogler. Um, thanks for joining us for
36:09the Hollywood Reporter Presents series and, um, congratulations again on a terrific show.
36:15Thank you. See you soon. I miss you guys. Bye-bye guys.
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