Blank Check — Patreon: The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free)

Published 2024-04-14; 2:24:30 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free)”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: David Lowery, Ben Frisch (producer, filling in for Ben Hosley).

Subject films: The 13th Warrior (1999).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; many short turns are unattributable and are marked unknown. Numerous garbled proper names; the cold open (a prayer and a pseudo-trailer) is a movie clip, not conversation.

Films that came up

Claims (73)

industry (industry): The 13th Warrior → Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland named among the biggest Disney money-losers that came after this one.
“Tomorrowland's in the top 10.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:07:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): The 13th Warrior → The Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger raised as another Disney bomb that cost a fortune.
“Well, but what's the one that cost so much?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:07:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): The 13th Warrior → The Thomas Crown Affair. McTiernan finished and released Thomas Crown first; its success cushioned the damage of the 13th Warrior flop.
“Thomas Crown comes out 3 weeks before”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:10:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Rollerball → John McTiernan. Rollerball is the true bomb that killed McTiernan's career; Basic did poorly too.
“Basic was didn't do well, but rollerball is the true bomb.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:11:14 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
people (people): Warriors of Virtue → The 13th Warrior. Ben mistook the two when he was asked to fill in, and thought McTiernan had made the kangaroo movie.
“geez, John McTiernan's career must have taken a really strange turn to do the kangaroo movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:13:41 · Ben Frisch (0.85 sure it was them)
people (people): The 51st State (Formula 51) → Snakes on a Plane. Ronny Yu was originally supposed to direct Snakes on a Plane; Samuel Jackson signed on while shooting 51st State.
“He was supposed to make snakes on a plane originally.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:15:12 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): The 51st State (Formula 51) → The 13th Warrior. A retitle for the US (Formula 51) is the same mistake as renaming Eaters of the Dead.
“The equivalent of the 13th Warrior.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:15:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): The 13th Warrior → Michael Crichton. Lowery read the Crichton novel and found the film is the book almost scene for scene.
“reading the book, I was like, this is pretty much just scene for scene exactly what's on screen.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:19:51 · David Lowery (0.85 sure it was them)
industry (industry): The 13th Warrior → John Carter. Cited alongside John Carter as one of the great Disney flops.
“citing this movie alongside John Carter, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:20:00 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): John McTiernan → Michael Crichton. McTiernan and Crichton both journeymen in terms of signature style; McTiernan's strength is geography of an action scene.
“McTiernan's like the god of I know how to communicate the geography of an action scene”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:22:25 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): Zorro (The Mask of Zorro) → Martin Campbell. Zorro lost director Robert Rodriguez and Martin Campbell was brought on amid cost overruns, raising fears of another Cutthroat Island.
“And then they brought on Martin Campbell and things were out of control”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:24:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Zorro (The Mask of Zorro) → Cutthroat Island. Zorro's troubled production sparked fears it was another Cutthroat Island.
“is this another cutthroat island?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:24:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): The 13th Warrior → The Flash. Treating this movie as a must-work tentpole is compared to the Flash.
“treat this movie like it's the Flash or whatever and say, like, we need this to work.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:25:29 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): The 13th Warrior → Beowulf adaptations. The film is the Beowulf story told as Crichton's 'what was the real thing they were fighting' version.
“Even going back to Crichton's original concept of like, what's the real story behind Beowulf?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:25:39 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): The Green Knight → The 13th Warrior. Lowery would want a Green Knight-style capped-budget version of this story, though now it would scare him.
“the version of this I would want to see is the like Green Knight style version of it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:26:59 · David Lowery (0.90 sure it was them)
theme (theme): David Lowery → The Green Knight. Lowery says all his movies puncture legend, and sees this film as one of the first seeds of that interest.
“every movie I've made has sort of been to date has been sort of about peeling back some level of legend to try to like expose the fallacies within.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:27:39 · David Lowery (0.95 sure it was them)
theme (theme): The 13th Warrior → Heat. The scene of a mortal sitting to die while another watches reminded Lowery of De Niro watching Pacino in Heat.
“It reminded me of Robert De Niro dying in heat.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:28:42 · David Lowery (0.85 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Robert Eggers → The Northman. Eggers insists his Vikings are sincere with Viking goals (Valhalla), not made for the audience.
“Agris's whole deal with all his movies where he's like, this is sincere.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:30:20 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): The 13th Warrior → The Northman. The Northman is the modern take on Viking storytelling; Lowery rewatched its funeral scene because it echoes this film's incantation.
“the same, the same incantation, like the low, I see my father, low, I see my mother”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:31:02 · David Lowery (0.80 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Michael Crichton → Sphere. Sphere is the speaker's favorite Crichton book, and the film is compelling enough despite being half risible.
“I like that book so much that I like that movie a lot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:35:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Michael Crichton → Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park broke Crichton's long writer's block and began his second wave of Hollywood heat.
“Jurassic Park, like, finally breaks the dam for him”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:39:53 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
programming (programming): The 13th Warrior → Timeline. Timeline and The 13th Warrior called a brutal Crichton double feature.
“Man, Timeline and the 13th Warrior would be a brutal double feature.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:41:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Timeline → The 13th Warrior. Both are castle-and-torches Crichton adaptations where Hollywood guessed Vikings/medieval and audiences did not care.
“Both of those movies are lead actors who absolutely do not belong in this film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:42:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): William Wisher → Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Wisher wrote Terminator 2 with Cameron, which made him a hot name when he rewrote the script.
“William Wisher obviously wrote Terminator 2 with James Cameron”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:43:05 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Andrew Vajna → Super Mario Bros.. Vajna's Synergy made big swings like Super Mario Bros. and Judge Dredd, and needed Disney to fund this.
“he also made Super Mario Brothers, Judge Dred, color of night.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:43:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Antonio Banderas → Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Banderas can show up in a role and register as nothing, as in Dial of Destiny and Uncharted.
“for a guy who was one of my favorite living actors, it is kind of astounding how he can also just give you nothing.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:47:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Antonio Banderas → The 13th Warrior. Banderas is miscast in a realism-minded role: the film tamps down his flamboyance and musicality.
“I think this movie's aiming for sort of realism that hurts him.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:48:51 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
career (career): Omar Sharif → The 13th Warrior. Sharif disowned this kind of movie, saying he would stop meal-ticket films unless he found one he loved.
“let us stop this nonsense, these meal tickets we do because they pay well”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:50:11 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Omar Sharif → Hidalgo. Sharif followed his comeback in Monsieur Ibrahim with Hidalgo, another Disney film nobody cared about.
“What? Hildaggo.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:50:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): The 13th Warrior → Peter Pan and Wendy. John DeSantis (a Viking here) is also in Master and Commander and Lowery's Peter Pan and Wendy.
“And Peter Pan, who's who's taller than Michael Crichton”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:55:06 · David Lowery (0.70 sure it was them)
industry (industry): The 13th Warrior → The Haunting. Disney should have sold this as horror, as a shift to prestige horror was happening around it.
“But I do think when a budget gets over a certain number, they're just like, this can't be horror.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:57:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): The Haunting → What Lies Beneath. Late-90s classy horror from big stars and Spielberg: The Haunting and What Lies Beneath show the shift away from horror as trash.
“Zameckis does what lies beneath.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:58:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The 13th Warrior → Tom Savini. McTiernan's R-rated reshoots bolted on gore effects in the vein of Tom Savini, though there are not many of them.
“just doing like Tom Savini gags, which, yeah, there aren't even that many.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:00:32 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): The 13th Warrior → Michael Crichton. Crichton claimed final cut while McTiernan was still shooting his own version on the same lot.
“Yeah, Crichton was like, I have final cut.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:01:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Graeme Revell → The Crow. Revell is known for The Crow and From Dusk Till Dawn and as the R-rated horror go-to.
“He did like The Crow and from Dust Till Dawn.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:02:31 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Graeme Revell → Jerry Goldsmith. Original Arabic-influenced Revell score was replaced by a swelling medieval orchestral score from Jerry Goldsmith.
“We're getting Jerry Goldsmith, who's like my guy and we'll give you swelling orchestral medieval music”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:02:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Michael Crichton → Jerry Goldsmith. Crichton, who took control of the cut, replaced Graeme Revell's score with one from Jerry Goldsmith, whom he called his guy.
“We're getting Jerry Goldsmith, who's like my guy and we'll give you swelling orchestral medieval music”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:02:39 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Stellan Skarsgard → Vladimir Kulich. McTiernan wanted Stellan Skarsgard for Kulich's part; Disney and Crichton did not.
“They wanted Stellen Scarsgard to play his part, which makes perfect sense”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:03:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): The 13th Warrior → The Hobbit films. Even the Hobbit movies work to make characters visually distinctive; here the dark, muddy Vikings blur together.
“even the fucking Hobbit movies”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:05:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): The 13th Warrior → Gladiator. Banderas was supposedly cast here and so dropped out of Gladiator, which was built for him.
“And it's because of fucking Benderas being cast in the wrong movie, which causes him to drop out of the right movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:08:49 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): Antonio Banderas → Pedro Almodovar. Almodovar's use of Banderas is what shows his range; Banderas can do heightened and emotional.
“he does like this guy I live in, which is like very heightened.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:12:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Antonio Banderas → Shrek 2. Shrek 2 is where audiences suddenly claimed to have always loved Banderas despite his flops.
“When Shrek 2 comes out, people are like, oh, of course, we all love Antonio Manderas.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:13:14 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Antonio Banderas → Nine (Broadway revival). Banderas's Broadway Nine revival restored his standing after the string of flops.
“he does 9 on Broadway and everyone's like, oh, fuck, this guy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:13:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Antonio Banderas → Raul Julia. Banderas took the torch from Raul Julia as the pint-sized, can-do-anything actor and sex symbol.
“Antonio Banderas does kind of have, he does kind of take the torch from Raul Julia”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:14:23 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Antonio Banderas → The Expendables. Banderas fits in The Expendables but is not thought of as a Lundgren or Van Damme type.
“when he's in the Expendables, it's like, yeah, he belongs here.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:14:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Come Out and Play → Makinov. The masked, pseudonymous Makinov is credited with director, cinematographer, editor, sound department, producer and writer on Come Out and Play, his only credit.
“He is credited as director, cinematographer, editor, sound department producer, and writer.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:16:28 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Michael Crichton → John McTiernan. Crichton is literal in conveying information; McTiernan evokes. Their styles clashed on the reshoots.
“Michael Creighton's a very literal minded man in the way he conveys information.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:19:52 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Michael Crichton → Westworld (1973 film). Crichton as a director: well-crafted storyteller who serves his own screenplay, not a visionary visualist.
“he directs them rather to protect his like screenplay.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:20:39 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Westworld (1973 film) → Michael Crichton. Crichton's Westworld and Coma are straightforward even though about ludicrous things.
“Westworld and Comer are kind of straightforward, even though they're about ludicrous things.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:20:43 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): The 13th Warrior → The Descent. The pile of skulls and matriarch is utterly terrifying in The Descent; here the same elements are not scary.
“Whereas in the descent, you're just like looking also at a pile of skulls with a matriarch of an underground society and you're like, this is utterly terrifying.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:22:37 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
theme (theme): The 13th Warrior → Season of the Witch. The speaker wants a McTiernan-elevated version of what Season of the Witch does: real knights facing something maybe supernatural.
“I want the elevated McTiernan movie of what I think that movie accomplishes.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:23:07 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The 13th Warrior → Throne of Blood. A threat that sounds mythic (fireworm, moving trees) and then resolves as people carrying things is a letdown, like Throne of Blood's trees.
“I mean, I remember in Throne of Blood, the Kurosama movie, all the trees coming forward is terrifying, cool.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:24:12 · David Lowery (0.70 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): The 13th Warrior → Greg Nicotero. With two reshoot units and a tripled budget, nobody thought to hire Greg Nicotero for creature looks, so the monsters stay men in bear suits.
“no one's like, hey, maybe hire Greg Nicatero and come with a couple cool looks.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:24:56 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The 13th Warrior → The Great Gatsby. Observer-narrator problem: the Nick Carraway type who just watches is hard to dramatize, as in Gatsby adaptations and here.
“what do we do about this character who just watches everything happen and then is like idly thinking about it later?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:28:51 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): The 13th Warrior → The Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings a few years later has the same content (monsters attacking a wooden fort, a cave of skulls) but with new digital tools.
“even Lord of the Rings a few years later, which has a lot of the same scenes”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:32:25 · David Lowery (0.65 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): The 13th Warrior → Flesh and Blood. Verhoeven's Flesh and Blood feels like being there; it's the better film, and both put medieval art on screen.
“Flesh and blood is a better film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:34:34 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The 13th Warrior → Lawrence of Arabia. The photochemical look and fine-art sense of image link it to David Lean-era filmmaking via Omar Sharif.
“like, let's go to Lawrence Arabia, which was also completely photograph, like photochemical movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:34:51 · David Lowery (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): John McTiernan → Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning. Dead Reckoning feels McTiernan-like in its problem-solving approach with no signature style.
“Dead Reckoning Part one, maybe now called Dead Reckoning Part only.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:36:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): John McTiernan → Die Hard. McTiernan's quiet genius is dialogue scenes as exciting as action; the best-cited Die Hard moments are not action.
“So much of what we, you know, all the great moments from Die Hard are actually not even the action”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:37:52 · unknown (0.55 sure it was them)
career (career): Last Action Hero → Arnold Schwarzenegger. Last Action Hero is the favorite McTiernan film of one host, a parody where Schwarzenegger riffs on himself.
“riffing on themselves, basically”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:39:06 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Omar Sharif → 10,000 BC. Late in life Sharif narrated 10,000 BC and starred in One Night with the King as studios rented his credibility.
“He's the narrator of Roland Emmerich's 10,000 BC.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:45:41 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Omar Sharif → Lawrence of Arabia. Casting Sharif invites a comparison to Lawrence of Arabia that the film cannot survive.
“the last thing you want to do in this movie is remind us of Lawrence of Arabia.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:46:06 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (programming): The 13th Warrior → The Sixth Sense. The Sixth Sense was Disney's own mega-hit, number one the weekend The 13th Warrior opened, covering their loss.
“Disney's basically covered their losses from this movie”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:49:16 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Mickey Blue Eyes → Analyze This / Analyze That. Mickey Blue Eyes canonized into the podcast's Patreon jelly trilogy via Joe Viterelli's jelly character.
“Joe Vittorelli is also in Mickey Blue Eyes playing a jelly-esque character”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:54:13 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Thomas Crown Affair → John McTiernan. McTiernan's fine-art eye is literal in Thomas Crown: he picked all the paintings.
“he picked all the paintings”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:55:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): The Thomas Crown Affair → The 13th Warrior. Thomas Crown Affair read as McTiernan's safe, uncomplicated home run after the ordeal of this movie.
“It just has to be uncomplicated, like fucking home run.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:56:11 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Rules of Engagement → William Friedkin. Had Eaters of the Dead succeeded, McTiernan could have followed a Friedkin-like path of pulpy scripts with great actors (Rules of Engagement, The Hunted).
“both of those movies are him taking like a pulpy mediocre Hollywood script and doing some cool things with it with amazing actors.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:06:23 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (theme): The Hunted → Heat. The Hunted features the speaker's favorite trope of one man dying in front of another, as in Heat.
“And the hunt is another one of those movies where one man dies in front of another and my favorite trope.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:06:30 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
craft (craft): David Lowery → Ain't Them Bodies Saints. Lowery doesn't stage the movie-hero death; he deliberately puncture the character's mythology.
“So, like, Nathan Body Saints was all about Casey Affleck's character of thinking.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:06:52 · David Lowery (0.90 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Heat → Moby. For a Heat-style scene of one man dying in front of another, the suggestion is to lay Moby's track over it, as Heat does.
“Just throw some Moby in there, you know, over it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:07:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): William Friedkin → Francis Ford Coppola. Friedkin's 2000s run is likened to Coppola doing The Rainmaker: journeyman work after a long gap.
“It's kind of like when Copola did the rainmaker and stuff.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:07:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Megalopolis → The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Hope Megalopolis will not be a letdown like Gilliam's long-awaited Don Quixote.
“I just don't want it to be like the Gilliam Don Quixote movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:09:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Megalopolis → 65. Passion projects that took decades usually need Adam Driver to land; 65 took 25 years.
“if you have a passion project you've been trying to make for 20 years, the key is Adam Driver.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:10:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (25)

fun, about Michael Crichton: Title story: Crichton's neighbor, while he watered his lawn, said Eaters of the Dead sounded like schlocky horror, so Crichton called Disney for a classy title.
“Michael Crichton was watering his lawn and his next door neighbor was like, so any more movies coming out of your books?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:04:10 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: By some accounts the biggest money loser in Hollywood history at the time; only a couple of later Disney flops (John Carter) arguably surpass it.
“This, by some accounts, is the biggest money loser in the history of Hollywood.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:06:10 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: Lowery texted that he talks about this movie with odd frequency for a film he had not seen since it opened.
“13th Warrior is something I talk about with odd frequency for a movie I haven't seen since it opened.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:12:04 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Warriors of Virtue: Ben Frisch thought he was coming in for Warriors of Virtue and wondered how McTiernan ended up making the kangaroo movie.
“I thought that this was going to be, uh, the movie Warriors of Virtue.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:13:25 · Ben Frisch (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Snakes on a Plane: Samuel L. Jackson signed on to Snakes on a Plane while on set for The 51st State, and would only do it if they kept the title.
“But that is why Samuel Jackson signed on for snakes on a plane original.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:15:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: Lowery read the whole novel while waiting for the start of the New York City Marathon.
“the book was short enough that I read the entire thing while waiting to start the marathon?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:19:20 · David Lowery (0.75 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: Dueling reshoot units: McTiernan and Crichton each shot reshoots on different stages of the same complex, with the cast shuttling between them.
“but at one point there are dueling reshoot units, we're on different stages, in the same complex.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:21:06 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: The Beowulf surrogate's death scene, a man sitting down to die while another watches, stuck with Lowery as a mortal passing into legend.
“And that moment stuck with me, where he just sits there and dying is like, an inherently pathetic act.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:28:21 · David Lowery (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: As a young projectionist Lowery threaded the original Eaters of the Dead trailer, and studios sent letters to pull trailers when release dates slipped.
“The 1st trailer had Eaters of the Dead as the title on it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:32:27 · David Lowery (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Michael Crichton: Photo of the 6 foot 9 Crichton towering over the Nordic Viking actors on set.
“it is bizarre to see him towering over them.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:36:06 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about Super Mario Bros.: Bob Hoskins story: someone showed him the video game and he said he had played King Lear.
“I was like, I've played King Lear.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:44:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Antonio Banderas: Banderas on the Norse extras: like making a movie with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“It was like making a movie in the Los Angeles Lakers.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:49:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: Studio goes against type: they funneled more money in to make it R-rated, rather than recutting to PG-13.
“I cannot think of another example of that where studio is like, we're going to funnel more money in and make it R-rated.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:00:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: Producer Kulich recalled Crichton telling him that whatever he shot with McTiernan would not end up in the movie.
“whatever you're doing over there, it's not going to end up in the movie, so don't put too much work into it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:01:34 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: Crichton thought the mother of the monsters should be hot; they shot it both ways with two actresses.
“Crichton thought she should be hot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:02:56 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Gladiator: Banderas was reportedly cast here instead of Gladiator, which starts with a Spaniard played by Russell Crowe.
“Gladiator starts with Russell Crowe being like, of course I'm a Spaniard.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:08:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: The language-learning scene is the film's best: English, a Scandinavian language and Latin blend until Banderas says 'I listened.' See it on YouTube.
“a really good line delivery from Band Aris where he's like, I listened.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:18:04 · David Lowery (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about John McTiernan: McTiernan's visual inspiration is fine art, not other movies.
“my visual inspirations are from fine art.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:32:58 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: Lowery on film stock: O Brother was the first full digital intermediate, after which everyone had the new toolbox.
“Oh, I guess O brother is the 1st full DI.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:35:43 · David Lowery (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about The 13th Warrior: ADR rant: Lowery despises dialogue added with actors' backs to camera and says filmmakers' eyes twitch the second they see it.
“I've been guilty of it, sometimes under duress, and I despise it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:44:46 · David Lowery (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Runaway Bride: The FedEx line in Runaway Bride killed in theaters; the Hector Elizondo deadpan is still remembered.
“I don't think I've ever seen a line crush as hard as the FedEx.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:50:59 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about Mickey Blue Eyes: The podcast's jelly trilogy: Analyze This, Analyze That and Mickey Blue Eyes, bound by Joe Viterelli's jelly character.
“Do you know about our jelly trilogy?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:54:06 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about 65: Lowery saw 65 dubbed in Germany; the filmmakers told him he had the better experience since it was written for an alien language with no subtitles.
“you 100% had the better viewing experience and you saw it the way we intended because you didn't understand what anyone was saying.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:11:45 · David Lowery (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Peter Pan and Wendy: Lowery got the Peter Pan green-light call at intermission of Moulin Rouge on Broadway after his last visit.
“We have to have a green light meeting because Disney wants to make Peter Pan.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:12:51 · David Lowery (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Toy Story 4 (Forky): Lowery sneaked Forky into The Green Knight puppet show during pickups, and into Peter Pan & Wendy.
“I made sure Forky was in those.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 2:13:37 · David Lowery (0.90 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Runs the show and the episode dossier, and loves production-disaster minutiae, alternate titles and what-if histories. A sucker for 90s studio chaos and podcast in-jokes (jelly trilogy, Forky). Frustrated by a movie that is dark and muddy and has no scary monsters.
David Sims (host): A Banderas devotee who logs everything on Letterboxd and is drawn to flops and Hollywood context. Finds this film dull and the lead miscast, but likes the idea. Sucker for 1999 box-office detail.
David Lowery (guest): Loves myth-making, peeling back legend, scenes about language and communication, and quiet deaths between peers. Prefers the analog 90s look and despises ADR. A sucker for Vikings, Beowulf and a mortal passing into legend.
Ben Frisch (guest): Producer filling in for Ben Hosley. Was scared of creature costumes and many movies as a kid, and came in expecting a different film entirely.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

'Podhard with Avenge Cast' / 'pot hard with avenge cast' = Pod Hard with a Vengeance
'Lowry' = David Lowery
'Tony/Antonio Menderas, Benderas, Bandera, Band Aris' = Antonio Banderas
'Culich/Coolidge/Kulich' = Vladimir Kulich
'Stellen Scarsgard' = Stellan Skarsgard
'Graham Ravell/Grammarville' = Graeme Revell
'Andrew Vanya' = Andrew Vajna
'Coralco/Koroko' = Carolco
'Agris' = Robert Eggers
'Warriors a virtue' = Warriors of Virtue
'Years of the Dead/Eers of the Dead' = Eaters of the Dead
'Jan Dubont/DeBont' = Jan de Bont
'Carrie Marshall' = Garry Marshall
'Diane Vanora' = Diane Venora
'Bully wolf' = Buliwyf
'Lisa Luther Schwartzbaum' = Lisa Schwarzbaum
'the plot of 34' = the plot of 13th Warrior (garbled)
'Six ounce/6 cents' = The Sixth Sense
'Dudley Dewright' = Dudley Do-Right

Blank Check — Patreon: The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free)

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Films that came up

passing (108)

compared (40)

subject (1)

anecdote (11)

what-if (1)

Claims (73)

Fun items (25)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong