Blank Check with Griffin & David: Fearless with Timothy Simons

Published 2026-05-10; 2:54:06 by the feed.

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

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “Fearless with Timothy Simons”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: Timothy Simons.

Subject films: Fearless (1993).

On the transcript: Auto-transcript with no speaker labels, many garbled names and some inverted sentences; sponsor reads (video game town, Audible Dracula, MUBI) skipped. Speaker attribution is inferred and often low-confidence.

Films that came up

Claims (63)

people (casting reunion): The Diplomat → The West Wing. The Diplomat marries two West Wing actors, Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford.
“West Wing Reunion, were marrying 2 West Wing actors who were, you know, not married, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:17:36 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (Juilliard): Bradley Whitford → Superman (Christopher Reeve films). Juilliard alumni include Whitford, Christopher Reeve and David Corenswet.
“Christopher Reeve, famous graduate of Julie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:19:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): Peter Weir → Sidney Lumet. A director whose style matches the material, like Lumet.
“I think of him a little similar to Sidney Lamette.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:30:03 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): Peter Weir → Ang Lee. Ang Lee looked like a chameleon but had through lines; Weir may be the same, though more consciously different.
“Then you watch the movies and you're like, there are very obvious themes and through lines.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:30:23 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
industry (marketing): Fearless → Witness. The poster leads with the director of Witness and Dead Poets Society.
“the top thing of the poster is from the director of Witness and Dead Poets.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:31:59 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (casting): Peter Weir → Mel Gibson. Weir called Gibson first for Fearless; Gibson was busy making The Man Without a Face.
“Weir's 1st call was to Mel Gibson, who someone he'd worked with before, who's obviously a giant star”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:32:59 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
career (career guarantor): The Year of Living Dangerously → Witness. Year of Living Dangerously got Weir into Hollywood; Witness is the guarantor of his Hollywood run.
“I think witness is the guarantor for the next... for the Hollywood story.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:35:51 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career boost): Peter Weir → Harrison Ford. Weir's films made Ford respected as an actor, as Dead Poets did for Williams.
“and, you know, he made Harrison Ford respected as an actor.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:36:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director clout): Peter Weir → David O. Russell. Both were directors A-listers trusted and expected awards from.
“The last guy who kind of had this for better or worse, and mostly for worse, was David O. Russell.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:36:22 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (genre): Winter Kills → The Parallax View. Winter Kills is described as a spoof of Parallax View-style JFK conspiracy movies.
“like a parallax view spoof movie, kind of.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:38:51 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career fallout): Jeff Bridges → Heaven's Gate. Heaven's Gate did not hurt Bridges because he was not a major part of it.
“He's not even a big part of that movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:39:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (family): Jeff Bridges → Lloyd Bridges. Jeff's work ethic comes from his actor father, who put his kids in small parts on his shows.
“And it is instilled in him and his brother, just the fucking work ethic of this is a job.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:39:22 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (nomination type): The Last Picture Show → The Talented Mr. Ripley. Bridges' nomination was a welcome-to-the-club one, like Jude Law's for Ripley.
“It's the sort of like Jude Law, talented Mr. Ripley.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:40:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (co-star): Thunderbolt and Lightfoot → Clint Eastwood. Bridges held his own in a two-hander with Eastwood and got an Oscar nomination for it.
“You've graduated to 2 hander with Clint Eastwood and you've held your own.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:40:24 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (performance): Fearless → Starman. Bridges plays a person one step removed from reality in both films.
“both about people who are a little outside of reality, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:46:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Tucker: The Man and His Dream → Francis Ford Coppola. Bridges' Tucker was directed by Coppola.
“Have you seen Tuckerman in his dream, the FFC?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:46:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (anecdote): The Peanut Butter Falcon → Tim Simons. The film's writer-director goes to Tim's gym.
“I didn't see a peanut butter falcon, but the guy that wrote and directed it used to go to my gym.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:47:30 · Tim Simons (0.70 sure it was them)
people (casting reason): Peter Weir → The Fabulous Baker Boys. Weir says he was drawn to Bridges by The Fabulous Baker Boys and The Fisher King.
“I was drawn to bridges, it's like, fabulous Baker Boys, 89, Fisher King 91.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:48:12 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (premise): Fearless → Unbreakable. Both are about a man recovering from an accident that left him untouched; Bruce Willis would have fit, but was not ready.
“sort of a similar idea of a guy who's kind of like, fucking nothing happened to me, like, and who is recovering from an accident.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:50:16 · Tim Simons (0.45 sure it was them)
craft (visual reference): Fearless → Tron: Legacy. The 1993 Bridges look was the reference for the de-aged CGI Bridges in Tron: Legacy.
“I believe that this was the main visual reference for creepy CGI Jeff Bridges and Tron Legacy.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:52:17 · Tim Simons (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (look): Witness → Fearless. After the Witness episode, Bridges' Fearless look is judged possibly the top screen look ever, more attainable than Ford's.
“I'm like, this might actually be the number one look a guy has ever had on screen.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:56:45 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career turn): Jeff Bridges → The Big Lebowski. Lebowski broke something in Bridges and led to his later gruff-coot era.
“And then Lebowski obviously, like, breaks something in him that leads to the next era of, I'm a billy goat, gruff eating a tin can.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:57:36 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Wild Bill → Walter Hill. Wild Bill, a big failure, was Bridges' biggest stretch.
“Wild Bill, where he plays Wild Bill Hickock, for Walter Hill, was a huge failure.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:58:25 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (family): The Giver → Lloyd Bridges. Jeff optioned The Giver to star his father, but Lloyd died before he aged into the part.
“And goes, I want to make this as a movie starring my dad.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:02:56 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (quote): Hell or High Water → 30 Days of Night. A joked-about line from Ben Foster's other film.
“Um, that's a 30 days of night quote.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:04:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (mood): Fearless → Picnic at Hanging Rock. Fearless captures an uncanny mood with invisible craft the way Picnic at Hanging Rock does.
“And it has a little bit of that picnic at hanging rock thing where you're like, what is this mood he's captured?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:06:54 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (source): Fearless → Rafael Yglesias. Weir loved the unpublished-novel first-draft script, adapted by its own author.
“He adapts his own unpublished book.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:11:17 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (premise): Fearless → Hero. Hero, the year before, also asks what happens to people who walk out of a crash alive.
“What happens to the people who walk off walk out of a crash alive?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:13:28 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (structure): Fearless → Sully. Sully uses the same crash-in-flashback structure Weir chose for Fearless.
“Sully does basically the same thing.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:14:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (performance): Fearless → Starman. The first thirty minutes of Fearless feel like Starman.
“He does feel like Starman.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:14:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (coincidence): Fearless → Mrs. Doubtfire. Both 1993 films turn on strawberry allergies.
“So there's 2 movies about strawberry allergies in 1993, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:18:22 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career moment): John Turturro → Jungle Fever. At the time of Fearless he was mostly a Spike Lee and Woody Allen guy.
“I think he's mostly at this point still a Spike Lee guy, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:20:14 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (type memory): John Turturro → Miller's Crossing. His Fearless role coasts on the suspicious-rat look from Miller's Crossing.
“Is this guy a fucking rat?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:20:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (plane crash): Fearless → Flight. Fearless is called the final boss of plane crash movies, ahead of Flight and Sully.
“This is the final boss plane crash movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:36:04 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
unmapped (plane crash): Cast Away → Flight. Each was hailed as the best filmed plane crash when it came out, Flight supposedly topping Cast Away.
“And then when flight came out, they were like, Sameckis has topped himself.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:37:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (awards competition): Fearless → Schindler's List. Fearless lost heat to that year's heavy hitters Schindler's List, The Piano and The Fugitive.
“it was the Schindler's list, piano, fugitive.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:41:44 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Fearless → Flight. Both are post-crash aftermath movies, but Fearless is in conversation with the intangible while Flight resolves into two pre-set systems (sobriety and faith).
“Whereas I'm like, this movie is spiritual because it's in conversation with the intangible.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:51:11 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Fearless → Unbreakable. Fearless is not Unbreakable because its protagonist is not literally invulnerable; the world helps him survive.
“But you're like, it's not unbreakable where it's like he genuinely cannot be hard.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:51:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (accent): Isabella Rossellini → Sean Connery. Her accent stays unchanged across roles, as Connery's did.
“kind of in the Sean Connery zone, always sounds like that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:54:45 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (family): Isabella Rossellini → Ingrid Bergman. She is the child of the notorious Bergman-Rossellini affair and plays cultured women.
“I started just going on about, like, look, Ingrid Bergman, Robert, or Celini.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:56:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (star contrast): Jeff Bridges → Mel Gibson. Mel or Bruce would have made the same material wish-fulfillment; Bridges stays grounded.
“where if it was Mel Gibson, there would be 30 minutes of this movie that felt like, yes, man, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:59:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (casting): Mel Gibson → Jeff Bridges. Gibson had wanted Bridges for his own The Man Without a Face.
“I wanted to cast him in midnight, man, without a phase.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:09:22 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (research): Jeff Bridges → Gary Busey. Bridges called his friend Busey, a motorcycle-crash survivor, to prepare.
“Bridges called Gary Busey, one of his close friends, who had been in a serious motorcycle accident and survived.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:10:51 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (studio casting): Winona Ryder → Fearless. The studio wanted Ryder for the Perez role and an audition kiss; Bridges refused.
“Winona Ryder.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:11:52 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Rosie Perez → In Living Color. Perez came to acting from choreographing the Fly Girls on In Living Color; Do the Right Thing was her first movie.
“she's, of course, a Flygirl choreographer on a living color, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:14:27 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (post-Oscar career): Rosie Perez → It Could Happen to You. After her Fearless nomination she was a third lead or best friend in smaller films.
“And then the run after this is like, it could happen to you.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:15:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (screen presence): Benicio del Toro → The Usual Suspects. In the 90s del Toro was almost too interesting, like a Philip Glass score in a movie.
“Like, you know, especially things like usual suspects is he is like a Philip Glass score in a movie where you're just like, he's almost too interesting.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:20:25 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (joke parallel): Fearless → Kickin' It Old Skool. A coma movie where a man wakes into a new reality is joked to be the Fearless of the 2000s.
“kind of the fearless of the 2000s?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:28:08 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (cinematography): Fearless → Allen Daviau. Daviau, fresh off Spielberg films, shot Fearless; the first American DP Blank Check covered with Weir.
“Alan Davio shot this film, who, of course, the 1st American cinematographer that we had worked with.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:32:18 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Peter Weir → John Seale. Before Fearless, Weir mostly kept his Australian above-the-line crew such as John Seale; Allen Daviau was the first American cinematographer the show covered with him.
“He mostly kept his, like, above the line, Australian, John, John Seal, and guys like that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:32:24 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (cinematography): Allen Daviau → E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Daviau came to Fearless off E.T. and other Spielberg work.
“Uh, but coming off the fucking ET”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:32:29 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Fearless → Allen Daviau. The speaker praises how Fearless looks, a film about absorbing textures and the feeling in the air, tied to Daviau shooting it.
“this film looks incredible and this is a movie that needs to just look good because it's so much about like absorbing textures of things and and the space and the feeling in the air”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:32:45 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (music): Fearless → U2. Using U2's Where the Streets Have No Name in an unhinged crash context opened up the band for the speaker.
“using U2 in an unhinged context, it really like opened that band up in that that music for me in a new way.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:34:42 · Tim Simons (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (music): Fearless → Maurice Jarre. Jarre scored it, but most of the music is classical pieces.
“there's a Maurice Stray scored that's very good, but it's a lot of classical pieces.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:35:15 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (music): Fearless → Henryk Gorecki. Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 plays over the plane crash montage.
“the big classical piece is the Henrik Gorecki Symphony 3 Symphony of Starhole songs, which is playing over the plane crash in Montage.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:35:20 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Fearless → Henryk Gorecki. An original score could not have matched the borrowed Gorecki and U2 pieces cut to the crash, for how the music syncs and for the recognition of what is playing.
“you couldn't actually write an original piece of score for this that would work as well as both the way the music syncs up and like the power you gain from the recognition of what's playing.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:36:28 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): The Beverly Hillbillies → Penelope Spheeris. Number two that week was directed by Spheeris.
“It is Beverly Hillbilly, which is directed by Penelope Spirit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:40:15 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (marketing): Cool Runnings → John Candy. Disney hid Candy, its biggest star, off the poster.
“And it felt like Disney was like, maybe he's actually a deterrent at this point, that we need to hide him in the marketing.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:43:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career contrast): Alec Baldwin → Jeff Bridges. Baldwin was another consolation lead, always one movie from A-list.
“Baldwin, kind of an interesting counterpoint to the Bridges discussion.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:44:50 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (cast): Dennis Leary → Demolition Man. Leary was ubiquitous in 1993, including in Demolition Man.
“He's also in fucking demolition, man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:46:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (soundtrack): Judgment Night → Judgment Night. The film is best known for its hip-hop soundtrack.
“Great hip-hop soundtrack from the early 90s.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:49:29 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (dubbing): The Good Son → Macaulay Culkin. Culkin's swearing was overdubbed to protect his image.
“They had to overdub him swearing because they didn't want it to if they wanted to be able to say he's still like he is not sullied by the swear words.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:50:02 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (next episode): Peter Weir → Jim Carrey. The Truman Show required waiting because Carrey was booked for two years.
“Jim Carrey wants to do the movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:57:22 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (23)

fun, about Bradley Whitford: Tim and Whitford sat under a Joy of Dance sign at foxtrot rehearsals, Tim grinning, Whitford miserable.
“underneath this sign that says the joy of dance.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:19:03 · Tim Simons (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Tim's nickname: Hitmaker was coined by Tracy Letts; Tim notes every other nickname of his relates to jizz.
“Coined by Tracy Lutz.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:23:26 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Jeff Bridges: His Oscar speech line was 'what a groovy profession, man', remembered as proof of his working-actor spirit.
“he gets up there and just says, what a groovy profession, man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:44:19 · Tim Simons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Jeff Bridges: He is cast as the 'most interesting consolation movie star': directors get Bridges after the top ten pass.
“Like, he's kind of the most interesting consolation movie star.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:49:41 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Jeff Bridges' look: Tim wants the glasses and the sports jacket: the best head of hair, loose slacks, an early-90s dream outfit.
“And also the best head of hair I've ever seen.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:50:51 · Tim Simons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Fran Lebowitz: She told an interviewer her custom-made glasses cost as much as a car.
“And it really, she would not give a number, but broadly was like, how much does a car cost?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:53:44 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Harrison Ford: In an NPR interview Jay Leno called to say he was 3D printing a toilet seat for Ford's rare toilet.
“No, no. Jay Leno 3D printed him a toilet seat.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:55:00 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Movie MAGA mode: Tim's habit of leaning in with 'am I crazy?' nitpicks of near-perfect films, a term coined by a friend.
“Tim leans in and says am I crazy?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:00:00 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about United Flight 232: The author was inspired by this crash, where a freak mechanical failure still left 180 survivors; simulations never match the result.
“And then he, in 89, reads about the notorious United Flight 232 crash.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:11:50 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Fearless structure: The script ran crash first, aftermath second; Weir restructured to start after the crash and interleave flashbacks.
“So he's like, no, we're gonna intersperse the plane crash throughout, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:14:03 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Fearless flight attendant: The flight attendant is based on a real woman who gave advice based on old protocols, a child died, and she spent two decades fighting to change the rules.
“And like the the flight attendant character is based on a real woman who had given false advice based on older protocols of what you should do.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:39:47 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Pink cloud syndrome: A description of the novel's protagonist as an extreme pink cloud syndrome, the euphoria of early sobriety that fades.
“described as the character is experiencing an extreme form of pink cloud syndrome.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:02:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Fearless casting: Weir's first call was Mel Gibson, who was busy directing The Man Without a Face and, when told Bridges was second choice, said he wanted Bridges for his own film.
“And Weir says Jeff Bridges and Mel was like, fuck.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:09:19 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Fearless budget: Greenlight math then: a go picture at 40, up to 60 with a top-ten star, down to 20 for someone less famous.
“If you can get one of these 10 guys, it goes up to 60.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:10:44 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Gary Busey: Bridges' friend Busey, who survived a motorcycle crash, described the aftermath as feeling like an angel in an earth suit.
“Uh, Busey said that he described the feeling, the sort of pink cloud feeling that Ben is referring to is feeling like an angel in an earth suit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:11:03 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Winona Ryder / Jeff Bridges: The studio wanted Ryder and a screen-test kiss; Bridges refused in front of the executives, saying he was way too old.
“And he was like, I'm not gonna kiss her.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:12:11 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Rosie Perez: On the WTF podcast she said that crew asked if she was okay after takes because the emotion looked extreme, and that she only began processing her childhood after the film.
“And that it was Fearless was one of the things where everyone was just like, are you okay during the scenes?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:17:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Lily Collins: Tim's group-text freak-out claiming Lily Collins was an industry plant until told she is Phil Collins' daughter.
“Lily Collins is Phil Collins's daughter.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:24:28 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Fearless ending: The finale, with the strawberries and Rossellini resuscitating him, snaps every piece of the puzzle together, then cuts to credits.
“It was like it was like there were just puzzle pieces spread out over the table.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:31:05 · Tim Simons (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Fearless shadow shot: When Bridges first sees Perez, his shadow from the doorway swallows her in the frame, a visual-storytelling moment in studio fare.
“of Jeff Bridges standing in the doorway, and it is slightly overtaking her”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:33:31 · Tim Simons (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Fearless music: Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 and U2's Where the Streets Have No Name play over the crash sequence.
“it is a transcendent use of music.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:36:26 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Cool Runnings: John Candy, star of the film, is absent from its poster because Disney reportedly thought he was a deterrent.
“And then I looked it up and he's not on the fucking poster.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:43:15 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Jeremy Piven: On Rich Eisen's show he dodged questions about Larry Sanders, saying he was too green; he was 27 and in seven movies.
“He's 27.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 2:48:30 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves physical media, 4K steelbooks, and calling unlikely films masterpieces. Prone to over-planning and lateness. An anxious flyer who relies on Klonopin and researches crashes. Has a blind spot for studio comedies he has not seen.
David Sims (host): A critic who prefers dossier-driven history. Loves action movies like Demolition Man and Jeff Bridges' earthy 90s era. Dislikes elite-school lionization, a recurring bit about Juilliard. Avoids flying since COVID and has twins.
Tim Simons (guest): Adores Bradley Whitford, Jeff Bridges, and unbridled positivity about moviegoing. Lover of old movies he has not seen yet. Can be contrarian ('movie MAGA mode') about near-consensus films and U2. Moved by performance and craft more than plot.

The show's recurring bits

The box office game: Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against.
The sung theme: "Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it.

Names the transcriber got wrong

'Blackjack' in the intro is Blank Check
'Hip Maker' is Hitmaker
'Tracy Lutz/Lex' is Tracy Letts
'Tom Holtz/Holz' (the lawyer) is likely Tom Hulce
'Deborah Monk' is likely Debra Monk
'Alan Davio' is Allen Daviau
'John Seal' is John Seale
'Maurice Stray' is Maurice Jarre
'Henrik Gorecki' is Henryk Gorecki
'Rafael Iglesias/Iglesis' is Rafael Yglesias; 'Mad Iglesias' is Matt Yglesias
'Tuturo/Teturo/Toturo' is John Turturro
'Isabella Wrestleini/Rosalini/Russellini' is Isabella Rossellini
'Sidney Lamette' is Sidney Lumet
'Angli' is Ang Lee
'Cohen brothers' are the Coen brothers
'Dos, Dres' is Dr. Dre
'Kalani/Clani' is Klonopin
'Penelope Spirit' is Penelope Spheeris
'Eric Sorkin' is Aaron Sorkin
'Chamita' is Cimino
'Roofie Sieble' is Rufus Sewell; 'Carrie Russell' is Keri Russell; 'Alice and Janney' is Allison Janney
'Sean Fantasy/Fantasy' is Sean Fennessey
'Troy Jeopardy/you are depague' is Gerard Depardieu
'Kornswett' is David Corenswet
'Dane DeVito' is Danny DeVito
'Podnecket Hanging Cast' is probably a Peter Weir pun title for the miniseries
'Costs about $2 million' is likely $20 million

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Fearless with Timothy Simons

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

Films that came up

subject (1)

passing (85)

anecdote (12)

compared (18)

recommended (3)

dismissed (10)

Claims (63)

Fun items (23)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong