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Zhou Xingbiao
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Transcript
00:00I love when you took it later on,
00:01you called around about me and checked up on me.
00:03I did.
00:03I called Viola Davis.
00:05I was like, give me the skinny.
00:06How was it?
00:07How was your time on air?
00:09Was he great?
00:09Was he terrible?
00:10How'd it go?
00:11Viola said nice things.
00:12You're lucky.
00:13I am lucky.
00:15Carrie and I are co-stars for the first time
00:17in our new movie, Animals, but we've known each other
00:19much longer.
00:20Much, I guess so.
00:21We've known each other a little while.
00:22We're going to sit and talk about how
00:24and when we met each other and how we have totally
00:26different recollections of this.
00:28That's very likely that that's how it will go.
00:30Let's see.
00:31What's your, oh dear.
00:34What's your first memory of meeting me?
00:38I'm scared.
00:39I feel like I met you at a number of events and occasions
00:43that I can't even necessarily like order.
00:45But my memory of you is, wow, she's good at this.
00:51Like she was comfortable.
00:53Like good on a red carpet?
00:54No, it was like, you know, groups of people,
00:56like socializing.
00:58You feel like this is not a compliment, but it is.
01:00You're able to be authentic.
01:02I try to be.
01:03I find it quite difficult to be authentic or comfortable.
01:06And I felt like she's really comfortable in her own shoes
01:08and she's really authentic.
01:09And it made me think this can't be the real her.
01:11I don't even know who you are.
01:13And that's what kind of started this like curiosity
01:16about like you and me.
01:18So this is going to be the first of many times
01:20where you're wrong about something.
01:22I see.
01:23The first time we met was not at a red carpet event of any sort.
01:27You produced a documentary inspired by the works of Howard Zinn.
01:33Oh, People's History.
01:33Yes, with Matt Damon.
01:35Yeah.
01:35And I was in that.
01:36Oh my gosh.
01:37And you can see.
01:38Yeah, but there's a million actors in that.
01:40There were a million actors.
01:41I was forgettable.
01:42Totally memorable.
01:45And now it's all coming back.
01:46Why I remember is because I was like,
01:48that material is so important and smart.
01:52And I was like, oh, these guys must actually be like
01:54good people and smart people.
01:56I'm sorry, I'm disabused.
01:58Exactly.
01:59You did this.
01:59But you should check it out.
02:00That documentary is special.
02:01It is very good.
02:03What surprised you the most about me
02:05after working together for the first time?
02:08To try, say something nice.
02:10Struggle.
02:11I think that I actually was like,
02:13oh, I could be friends with this person.
02:15He's like a nice person.
02:17Did you know that the question was surprising?
02:19Yeah, okay.
02:21Well, if this is what it's like working with you,
02:23I hate to find myself on your list of enemies.
02:25What's something you learned from me while making animals?
02:29Oh, this is a great question.
02:31How are you going to decide?
02:33There's so much.
02:33I wish that had been my question.
02:35Believe it or not, I did learn a lot from you.
02:37This is so hard for you to admit this.
02:40It is.
02:40It's painful.
02:41It's going to come out.
02:42This is not really how we talk to each other.
02:43I know.
02:44It's weird.
02:44I remember we had this scene with an intimacy coordinate.
02:47Yeah.
02:47You really took me aside and you explained to me how to use this
02:52in a way that actually allowed for and created much more freedom and latitude.
02:56And now I kind of think this is absolutely the way to do it.
02:59It's a way to have like shared boundaries, shared rules.
03:02Like you've built the dance floor and now you can dance on it.
03:05And now I know this is okay.
03:06That's not okay.
03:08Yeah.
03:09It's surprising or whatever.
03:10You're not going to take it personally, all of that.
03:11I remember that day going like, whoa, I really have a lot that I can learn from this person.
03:17Like this is an exceptionally smart, thoughtful approach to this issue that's geared toward
03:23the result.
03:24And also, frankly, you like.
03:25Like this is getting uncomfortable.
03:27You're going to say another thing?
03:29This is when they stumble because they are most vulnerable.
03:32There was something else.
03:34I might know.
03:34No.
03:35You straddled this line really nicely of like, I don't take myself seriously.
03:39I'm not unapproachable, but I'm also quite serious.
03:41And I take my job seriously and we're not going to just be fooling around.
03:45And that's a hard thing to do.
03:47Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:47When you did it for me, it just made my job so much easier.
03:51You know, I'm at a place in my career now where I don't often do stuff that I'm not a
03:55producer on.
03:56Are you telling me that you spent all of our money?
03:59And this was one of those rare situations where I knew after we met for the first time that I
04:04was
04:04going to be able to be taken care of, have space to create, feel safe, feel challenged,
04:10whether I was a producer or not.
04:11Aside from acting, we both directed in our careers.
04:13What about being an actor has helped you in your experience as a director?
04:15And what do you like more?
04:16Scary directed episodes, including two of Insecure, one of Scandal, one of Reasonable
04:20Doubt, along with a music video for Common.
04:22Like, directing a show in an ongoing way with television, there is a kind of larger
04:26authorship that the show has.
04:27Yeah, especially because with Reasonable Doubt, I directed the pilot, so it was like world building,
04:30but it's half the length of a feature.
04:33I really think that you're at a place where, like, if you called me up and said,
04:36hey, I have a movie that I'm directing, I'd be thrilled to be in it.
04:39Like, I feel like you really have all of what it takes.
04:43You really understand it.
04:45There's no question in my mind you could direct a great feature and be a great feature actor.
04:48That means so much coming from you.
04:50Can you tell me what about being an actor has helped you?
04:52A lot.
04:53I mean, honestly, from dumb things, like, I realized that I never, ever cast anybody
04:57who was still reading all the signs.
04:59But it's true.
05:00It's hard to land the theme.
05:00Someone else is going to be off.
05:02Mm-hmm.
05:02That's awful.
05:03It's honest.
05:04So, like, simple stuff like that, and also understanding how really interconnected it is,
05:10but how director-centric it has to be.
05:13You've got to figure out what film are they making and try to do what you want to do in
05:17the context of that.
05:18Once I started directing, I had less fear as an actor, because I also just understood
05:22it wasn't all about me.
05:25I used to talk to Matt about this all the time.
05:27Like, when I started directing, I realized there's this whole ship that's traveling in this direction,
05:32and sometimes you just need to stand on it.
05:34Yes, yes, and, like, be of service.
05:36Like, how do I serve this larger material, not, like, make it all about my moment?
05:41In Animals, both of our characters answer an unknown phone call.
05:45Would you ever?
05:47No.
05:47Never?
05:48No.
05:49Yeah.
05:49I either know you or telemarketer or, like, weirdo or whatever it is.
05:54This is a very scary moment, but I need you to understand this is five to one, a prank.
05:58There are two people in my life I know who have, like, private numbers.
06:01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:01And I know it's one of those two.
06:03Yes, that's right.
06:03That I'll pick up, but not the unknown or just the random number I don't recognize.
06:08Why should we trust you when you haven't even given us your real name?
06:11Yeah, I was thinking, as a mom, has that changed anything?
06:13It's funny, I had this conversation with Jen, and she was like, I always do.
06:15She's like, but what if it's somebody else?
06:17But, you know, sometimes the kids borrow somebody else's phone.
06:19That's what she said.
06:20Yeah.
06:20Good instinct.
06:20It did make me think, oh, shit, now I have to answer all these other calls.
06:24Who the fuck is this?
06:25Who the fuck are you?
06:27And just be like, hey, who's this?
06:28Yeah, that's right.
06:29Hello?
06:30I do the hello.
06:30I'm sorry, hey, no, I can't hear you.
06:32Yup.
06:32But now I've blown my trick.
06:33Who in your phone would you answer right away without sending to voicemail?
06:36And this isn't on the card, but obviously other than Carrie.
06:39I often will send you to voicemail because it's like, how many frantic monologues about,
06:45well, it's not even a second, it's like, please, it's fine.
06:48Leave the voicemail, I scan it, and it's going to be fine.
06:50You're great, Carrie.
06:51You're great in the movie.
06:52Unless I'm busy, I always answer somebody that I know.
06:55Ignoring it doesn't make you kinder or more fatuous.
06:59The only people that I will stop, like, if I'm in a meeting or Zoom or whatever,
07:03if it's my kids, I will just pick it up and say, see me.
07:05Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:06Kids are Nnamdi.
07:06I'm like, okay, what's going on?
07:07You don't have the marriage where you can be like, I was on a call, I had to call you
07:10back
07:10or whatever.
07:11If there's a certain number of times, then I know I have to pick up.
07:14Like, there's an emergency number.
07:15That's the average call.
07:16That's the average call I can.
07:17I'm fine.
07:17He's not mad if you're like.
07:19No, no, no, no.
07:20I'm like, that's fine.
07:20He's calling, but then.
07:21And then if he hits you back again or whatever does the whatever thing, then you know it's
07:25a poor old guy.
07:25I'm going to start trying to imitate that.
07:29Our new movie, Animals, is out now.
07:31You can find it on Netflix.