Blank Check with Griffin & David: Fargo with Zach Cregger

Published 2025-08-17; 2:48:37 by the feed.

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

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “Fargo with Zach Cregger”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: Zach Cregger.

Subject films: Fargo (1996).

On the transcript: Auto-transcribed with no speaker labels and ads for Video Game Town, Audible's Dracula and MUBI at about 0:41:24-0:44:17 and 1:37:59-1:40:26, skipped. Heavy cross-talk; speaker attributions beyond Zach (guest) are often low confidence.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

Fargo

compared (20)

The Big Lebowski · A Serious Man · Raising Arizona · Barton Fink · Miller's Crossing · The Hudsucker Proxy · Barbarian · No Country for Old Men · Boogie Nights · Blue Velvet · Blood Simple · Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter · The Texas Chain Saw Massacre · Bottle Rocket · Manhunter · Magnolia · Taxi Driver · Secrets & Lies · Jerry Maguire · The Birdcage

passing (44)

The Phoenician Scheme · Weapons · Animal House · Resident Evil (Cregger's announced project) · Jurassic Park · Saving Private Ryan · Jurassic Park III · Pleasantville · Air Force One · Wild Hogs · Seabiscuit · Auto Focus · Intolerable Cruelty · True Grit · Inside Llewyn Davis · Ghost World · Trees Lounge · New York Stories · In the Soup · Do the Right Thing · The French Dispatch · Monsters, Inc. · Bad Lieutenant · Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco · The Meg 2 · 47 Meters Down (sequel) · When a Man Loves a Woman · Frankie and Johnny · Phenomenon · Up Close & Personal · Malibu's Most Wanted · Down Periscope · King Ralph · The Sting · Major League · Major League II · The Program · Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth · Hellraiser: Inferno · Hellraiser: Bloodline · Broken Arrow · Rumble in the Bronx · Happy Gilmore · Muppet Treasure Island

anecdote (8)

Fargo (FX TV series) · Fargo (unaired NBC pilot with Edie Falco) · The Godfather · Big · Finding Nemo · The Birds · Shark Night · Prelude to a Kiss

dismissed (3)

The Ladykillers · Final Destination 4 · Mr. Holland's Opus

recommended (3)

Final Destination 2 · Final Destination: Bloodlines · Hellraiser

Claims (58)

  1. unmapped (quotability): Fargo → The Big Lebowski. Zach says every line in Fargo is quotable the way every line in Lebowski is.
    “Every line in this is a quotable line. kind of like Big Lebowski has that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:02:35 · Zach Cregger (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (filmmaking precision): Fargo → A Serious Man. The Coens' obsessively precise choices make you hunt for solutions, until A Serious Man tells you to accept a mystery.
    “You get to, well, eventually gets a serious man.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:06:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (commercial track record): Fargo → Raising Arizona. Raising Arizona (about $5M cost, about $30M worldwide) is argued to be the Coens' first clear hit; Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing and Hudsucker lost money.
    “Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Hudsucker all made less than they cost.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:09:37 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (adaptation): Fargo → Fargo (unaired NBC pilot with Edie Falco). An NBC pilot directed by Kathy Bates with Edie Falco as Marge aired years later; the Coens were not involved.
    “There was like an NBC pilot directed by Kathy Bates with Edie Falco playing Marge Gunderson.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:10:45 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. people (casting): Weapons → Josh Brolin. Cregger had just worked with Brolin, a Coens favorite, on Weapons.
    “You had just worked with Josh Brolin, of course, in weapons.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:14:06 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. verdict (favorite pairing): Fargo → Boogie Nights. Zach's favorite-movie coin toss is Fargo versus Boogie Nights, a year apart, from his formative film-buff years.
    “It would be like a coin toss between this and boogie nights.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:14:31 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)
  7. unmapped (building look): Fargo → Barton Fink. The St. George Hotel in Brooklyn looked like a Barton Fink hotel, frozen in time.
    “how much it kind of looked like a Barton Fink hotel.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:16:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. unmapped (married): Frances McDormand → Joel Coen. McDormand being married to Joel meant she could ask for an extra Marge scene.
    “Francis McDormand is married to Joel Cohen and is more involved in the development of these movies”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:28:29 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. career (career summation): Fargo → Blue Velvet. Fargo is the ultimate Coen film the way Blue Velvet is the best encapsulation of Lynch, not necessarily the favorite.
    “this does feel like the ultimate Cohen's film in the same way we were saying in our blue velvet episode, like, that's not my favorite Lynch movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:31:34 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. theme (tonal comparison): Barbarian → Fargo. Barbarian is called a scary movie that is funny with humor from the bizarreness of human behavior, as with the Coens.
    “you made a scary movie that was funny.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:33:14 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. unmapped (tonal sibling): Fargo → No Country for Old Men. No Country feels like a less humorous Fargo, both asking whether it is worth fighting the world's darkness.
    “in an interesting way, no country feels like a less humorous version of Fargo.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:33:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  12. unmapped (mythic figures): Fargo → No Country for Old Men. Sugar is an evil myth figure and Marge a good mythic one.
    “But sugar is this evil myth figure and Marge is kind of a good mythic figure in a weird way.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:33:43 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  13. craft (craft): Carter Burwell → Fargo. Cregger says the Paul Bunyan statue shot is lit and scored like the scariest thing you have ever seen, with Burwell's score.
    “they light it and shoot it like the scariest fucking thing you've ever seen. With the fucking Carter Burwell score”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:34:16 · Zach Cregger (0.70 sure it was them)
  14. craft (craft): Carter Burwell → Fargo. Burwell's score plays the dread straight and never acknowledges the film's zaniness, its most playful moment being the break-in buildup.
    “this movie, with all of the zaniness that's definitely in here. His score never really acknowledges any of it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:34:54 · Zach Cregger (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. career (career context): Fargo → The Hudsucker Proxy. Fargo came after the Hudsucker flop but was not a reaction to it; the script was already being written.
    “this movie was not a conscious reaction to that. They had already been writing it before they shot Hudsucker.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:45:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  16. unmapped (return to roots): Fargo → Blood Simple. Fargo is the Coens' most Blood Simple-like script, contemporary and simple, going back to what they tried there with more knowledge.
    “It feels like them sort of going back to what they were trying to do in that movie with the knowledge they've gained over the...”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:46:01 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  17. unmapped (false true story): Fargo → Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. Kumiko is a movie about someone who believed Fargo's 'based on a true story' card and went looking for the money.
    “is a movie based on an Irvin legend about someone believing that Fargo was true and looking for the bag of money.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:46:41 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  18. career (upcoming project): Zach Cregger → Resident Evil (Cregger's announced project). The hosts joke that Cregger should open his Resident Evil film with a true-story card; he is shooting in Europe.
    “You should do that in front of the Resident Evil movie you're doing, Zach.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:47:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. unmapped (true-story opening): Weapons → Fargo. Zach says Weapons opens with a 'this is a true story' line, in the manner of Fargo's title card.
    “In weapons, the 1st line of the movie is this is a true story.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:48:07 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)
  20. unmapped (true-story claim): Fargo → The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Fargo's true-story card is compared to Texas Chain Saw's loose Ed Gein basis.
    “Texas Chainsaw Massacre says it's based on a true story, and you're like, yeah, Ed Gane killed people.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:48:25 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  21. contrast (genre contrast): Blood Simple → Fargo. The Coens see Blood Simple as a James M. Cain-type noir; Fargo they wanted drier and less hard-boiled.
    “They consider blood simple to be more like a James M. Kane type, you know, noir thriller, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:48:39 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. industry (studio patience): Fargo → Bottle Rocket. Alex Ross Perry's point: studios once kept investing in talented directors after a commercial flop like Bottle Rocket, as with the Coens.
    “Wes Anderson makes bottle rocket for like $5000000 at Colombia and it bombs, but it gets good reviews.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:49:43 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. unmapped (wanted earlier): Peter Stormare → Miller's Crossing. The Coens wanted Stormare in Miller's Crossing.
    “Stormair, they wanted in Miller's Crossing?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:50:55 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  24. unmapped (darkness and cops): Fargo → Manhunter. Contrasts Marge's coping with Manhunter's Will Graham, who has spent so long in the darkness he can't come out.
    “Manhunter is always the one I think about, where that for me is a movie about a guy who's just like spent enough time in the darkness that he's actually never going to come out now.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:52:59 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  25. people (cast as motor mouth): Steve Buscemi → Miller's Crossing. Buscemi was hired in Miller's Crossing as someone who can read dialogue fast, and the Coens wrote Fargo's Carl for him.
    “Miller's Crossing is literally hired because they need a motor mouth.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:56:31 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. career (career resurgence): Harve Presnell → Saving Private Ryan. Fargo revived Presnell's film career and led to his Saving Private Ryan monologue.
    “I think it was a bit of a resurgence for him because then he's in Saving Private Ryan.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:00:04 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  27. lineage (character origin): Harve Presnell → Blood Simple. The Coens wrote Presnell's character from Texas businessmen they met raising money for Blood Simple.
    “they wrote that character, basically, when they were raising money for Blood Simple, they met lots of like Texas businessmen”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:00:29 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  28. craft (craft): Roger Deakins → Fargo. The Coens first told Deakins they wanted only fixed shots, then relaxed it as too puritanical, per his commentary as relayed by the hosts.
    “they initially told him we only want fixed shots. Like you're doing nothing. And then they realized like that's maybe a little too puritanical.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:03:01 · host (Griffin Newman or David Sims) (0.40 sure it was them)
  29. unmapped (documentary approach): Roger Deakins → Fargo. Deakins's documentary background shapes simple, in-the-conversation setups: the best camera place to capture the actors.
    “he came out of documentaries 1st and foremost”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:03:55 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  30. unmapped (cut from role): William H. Macy → Finding Nemo. Macy was reportedly Marlin's original voice but was too much of a loser for audiences.
    “William Mitch Macy was the original voice of Marlon and finding Nemo.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:17:22 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  31. people (actor's run of losers): William H. Macy → Boogie Nights. Macy played pathetic men in Fargo and the Paul Thomas Anderson movies.
    “He really was on such a run of losers, right, between this and the PTA movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:18:09 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  32. people (actor's run of losers): William H. Macy → Magnolia. Donnie Smith in Magnolia is a harder watch than Jerry.
    “Jerry is tough is a tough hang.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:18:21 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  33. people (actor against type): William H. Macy → Jurassic Park III. In Jurassic Park III the pathetic drip was jettisoned from Macy's character.
    “they've jettisoned all pathetic drip out of, out of his character in that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:19:09 · Zach Cregger (0.50 sure it was them)
  34. unmapped (fake soap opera): Fargo → Intolerable Cruelty. Asks whether Intolerable Cruelty also has a made-up soap opera, as Fargo's TV scenes do.
    “Now, intolerable cruelty has a soap opera thing too, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:35:09 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  35. unmapped (voyeuristic framing): Fargo → Taxi Driver. The shot of Jerry rehearsing his phone call from the hallway is likened to Taxi Driver's payphone scene.
    “It's like the fucking taxi driver, uh, payphone scene.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:41:36 · Zach Cregger (0.40 sure it was them)
  36. theme (character echo): Peter Stormare → No Country for Old Men. Gaear caring about Jerry's cruelty is compared to Tommy Lee Jones's sheriff not knowing whether he belongs in this world.
    “This is like his Tommy Lee Jones in no country sort of like conundrum where he's like, I don't even know if I belong in this world.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:02:52 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  37. people (casting against ugly): Steve Buscemi → Trees Lounge. Buscemi is cast as ugly but is striking in person; examples are Trees Lounge and In the Soup, where he is cute.
    “Like, he's so cute in that movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:06:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  38. people (actor's earlier work): Steve Park → Do the Right Thing. At the time of Fargo, Park was best known for Do the Right Thing and In Living Color.
    “Steve Park, at this point in time, was most known for do the right thing and in living color.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:07:38 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  39. unmapped (Coens reuse): Steve Park → A Serious Man. The Coens used Park again well in A Serious Man.
    “And obviously the Cohens use him again really well in serious man.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:08:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  40. people (actor's later work): Steve Park → The French Dispatch. Park is the secret sauce of the final segment of The French Dispatch.
    “He's like the secret sauce that the final segment of French Dispatch, too.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:08:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  41. unmapped (off-screen violence): Fargo → No Country for Old Men. Fargo's off-screen disintegration (Jean's death) is likened to the way No Country hides its violence.
    “much like in the move they pull in no country. of just like you can figure it out.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:17:24 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  42. theme (echoed line): Steve Buscemi → Monsters, Inc.. Buscemi's threat to feed someone into a wood chipper recurs in Monsters, Inc.
    “Because Shemi's character says I'll feed you into a wood chipper to somebody.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:25:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  43. people (casting): Weapons → Alden Ehrenreich. Alden (surname not said) plays a cop in Weapons.
    “There's a cop in weapons, right? Alden's playing a cop.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:28:56 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  44. unmapped (cops compared): Weapons → Fargo. Weapons' cop is less nice than Marge; Zach likes a fucked-up cop (cf. Bad Lieutenant).
    “you know, I like a fucked up cop.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:29:10 · Zach Cregger (0.80 sure it was them)
  45. unmapped (introduced): Skip Lievsay → Carter Burwell. Skip Lievsay (said 'Skip Luse') recommended Burwell as a film composer and brought him to the Coens.
    “Skip Luse, say, was the one who brought Cutter Burwell in.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:30:13 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  46. unmapped (scoring lesson): Carter Burwell → The Birds. Burwell's first study film for learning scoring was The Birds, which has no conventional score, teaching him that sometimes the move is not to underscore.
    “And he watched the birds. And then only at the end of watching the birds, did he realize, oh, this movie has no conventional score.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:30:43 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  47. craft (craft): Bernard Herrmann → The Birds. Herrmann worked with Hitchcock to build the bird sounds into a soundscape used like music, in a film with no conventional score.
    “Herman worked with Hitchcock to intentionally build the soundscape of the sounds of the birds and use it in a way similar to music”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:30:51 · host (Griffin Newman or David Sims) (0.40 sure it was them)
  48. industry (awards rival): Fargo → Secrets & Lies. At Cannes, Coppola's jury gave the Palme to Secrets and Lies and Fargo won Best Director.
    “gave the palm door to secrets and lies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:32:46 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  49. industry (awards rival): Fargo → Jerry Maguire. The Best Picture field was an indie year with Jerry Maguire the lone studio movie.
    “Billy keeps joking about, that Jerry Maguire was the only studio movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:35:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  50. industry (box-office rival): Fargo → The Birdcage. On Fargo's opening weekend (March 8, 1996, 36 screens) the number one film was The Birdcage.
    “It is the birdcage.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:36:11 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  51. people (same director): Final Destination 2 → Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco. David R. Ellis directed Homeward Bound 2 and the Final Destination sequels.
    “David R. Ellis, director of Final Destination.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:37:03 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  52. career (career): David R. Ellis → Final Destination 2. Ellis came up as a stunt performer, stunt supervisor and second unit director before directing Final Destination 2.
    “he has one of these like studio journeyman careers where he was like a stunt performer and then he was a stunt supervisor and then he was a 2nd unit director.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:38:30 · host (Griffin Newman or David Sims) (0.40 sure it was them)
  53. theme (personal peak): Prelude to a Kiss → Fargo. Alec Baldwin treats Prelude to a Kiss as his Fargo, a perfect movie that didn't last.
    “as if it was obviously his Fargo.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:40:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  54. unmapped (song): Up Close & Personal → Diane Warren. The film's Oscar-nominated song was written by Diane Warren and sung by Celine Dion.
    “written by Diane Warrenburg performed by Celine Dion”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:42:47 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  55. verdict (verdict): Diane Warren → Up Close & Personal. The hosts call Diane Warren overdue for an Oscar, with 'Because You Loved Me' a respectable win and her last 20 years of songs poor.
    “And now she's overdue in every song she's written in the last 20 years has sucked ass.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:43:13 · host (Griffin Newman or David Sims) (0.40 sure it was them)
  56. people (same director): Down Periscope → King Ralph. David S. Ward directed Major League, King Ralph, Major League 2, Down Periscope and The Program.
    “every movie David S. Ward, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of the Sting, directed. Major League, King Ralph, Major League 2, down Periscope.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:45:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  57. lineage (sequel): Hellraiser: Bloodline → Hellraiser. Bloodline's director was fired midway; Zach loves the first Hellraiser.
    “I love the 1st one.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:46:24 · Zach Cregger (0.80 sure it was them)
  58. unmapped (joke perfection): Muppet Treasure Island → Fargo. Joked to be as perfect as Fargo, not a hair out of place.
    “That's much like Fargo, one of one of the few perfect films, not a hair.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:48:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (25)

  1. fun, about Fargo / transitions: Zach, who has seen Fargo a thousand times, fixated on the dissolve-and-fade into Mike Yanagita's call and wondered if the Coens hedged their bets in case the Yanagita storyline got cut. The hosts say they had the same impulse.
    “I wonder if they were hedging their bets that maybe they would cut the Mikey Anagita out?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:03:58 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Peter Stormare: Stormare thought 'where's pancakes house' was a script typo and changed it to 'pancake house' on take one. Joel came over to say the script said what it said.
    “And he changed it on take one. He goes, where's the pancake house?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:07:32 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about William H. Macy: Macy's ad-lib was calling the car 'Siena burnt umber' (not in the script), and the doodles Jerry makes were Macy's own between setups.
    “he kept calling the Siena burnt umber, which was not in the script, but the Cohens were amused and let that in.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:08:37 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Fargo (NBC pilot): An unaired NBC pilot directed by Kathy Bates with Edie Falco as a pregnant Marge existed, with no Coen involvement; the hosts joke about a Bates feud.
    “There was like an NBC pilot directed by Kathy Bates with Edie Falco playing Marge Gunderson.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:10:45 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Zach Cregger: Cregger and Leslye Headland both wanted Fargo; he got it and the hosts got him for the Coens miniseries (Headland had No Country offered). He calls it quite arguably his favorite movie of all time.
    “I wanted Fargo because this is this is quite, quite arguably my favorite movie of all time.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:13:04 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about St. George Hotel: Zach's freshman dorm was the Brooklyn St. George Hotel, where 90-year-old rent-controlled tenants walked through the pot smoke. A host adds the Godfather basement and Big scenes were shot there.
    “So we'd be like drinking 40s and smoking blunts in the hallway. And then a 90 year old would get off the elevator and walk sadly through the pot smoke”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:16:39 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Fargo / critics: Halliwell's Film Guide (stingy with stars) gave Fargo four; Siskel and Ebert both rapturous, and Ebert's review ends with 'Films like Fargo are why I love the movies.'
    “Films like Fargo are why I love the movies is how his review ends.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:20:40 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Frances McDormand / Mike Yanagita scene: The Yanagita scene was reportedly added at McDormand's request for a scene showing Marge relating to someone besides husband or case; she also refused to make Marge too saintly.
    “I want to avoid the temptation of letting this character be too saintly”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:29:18 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Ethan Coen: Ethan said he never consciously directed an actor, and that directing is about tone management, which Griffin sees as Fargo's essence.
    “directing is about tone management.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:32:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Paul Bunyan shot: Zach says the underlit Paul Bunyan statue shot sums up the Coens: joyful object shot like the scariest thing, set to Burwell's ominous score.
    “they light it and shoot it like the scariest fucking thing you've ever seen.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:34:16 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Zach on the crooks: Zach marvels at the criminals' incompetence: Carl never swapped the plates on the stolen car, then smashes a plate-glass door louder than a gunshot with neighbors in view.
    “it's just crazy how much these guys suck at what they're here to do.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:37:18 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about William H. Macy: Macy read for a deputy, was told to try Jerry, then flew back from the West to read again for fear someone else would be hired, 'jolly Lutheran ass on an airplane.'
    “I got my jolly Lutheran ass on an airplane and walked in and said, I want to read again”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 0:58:15 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Roger Deakins: The Coens first told Deakins they wanted only fixed shots; the opening credits shot was among the last filmed after snow failed to appear and they had to go to North Dakota.
    “Deacon said the opening credits shot is one of the last things they shot.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:05:07 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Fargo true-story card: Macy reportedly learned mid-production that Fargo wasn't a true story, protested, and the Coens just said they could.
    “And he goes up to the cones, he's like, you guys, this is not true.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:07:54 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about William H. Macy / Finding Nemo: Macy was reportedly the original Marlin in Finding Nemo, but test audiences hated him as too much of a loser.
    “the audience hates this guy.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:17:40 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Fargo (parallel beds): The Doughboys made 'pulling a Fargo' a term for dispassionate parallel sex in a double-bed hotel room then watching TV.
    “within a group of, of friends, pulling a Fargo is a, is a joking tool, we throw around a lot.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:23:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about Bruce Campbell: The soap opera on TV during the kidnapping is a real Bruce Campbell soap that the production licensed, which is why it sounds authentic.
    “Did you guys notice that it's Bruce Campbell in the soap opera?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 1:34:46 · Zach Cregger (0.50 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about John Carroll Lynch: Lynch's only direction from Joel: he was paying too much attention to what Marge and Lou said; 'you don't care, just finish your meal.'
    “you don't care. Just finish your meal.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:04:05 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Steve Park: Park wrote an op-ed about racism on a Friends guest arc and says he was soft-blackballed for years, despite the Fargo scene; credits dried up until the mid-2010s.
    “says that he was like soft blackballed from the industry for a number of years.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:07:56 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Fargo wood chipper: The VHS release came with a promotional wood chipper snow globe with red snow, which yellowed; Griffin keeps a reproduction with white snow on his desk.
    “this was the promotional novelty snow globe they made of the woodchipper that came with the VHS”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:25:51 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Fargo ending: The three-cent stamp ending is read as a metaphor: Marge is a three-cent stamp, a small contribution against ugliness that still matters when prices go up.
    “And it's like Marge is a ¢3 stamp.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:27:56 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Carter Burwell: Burwell had never thought of scoring; to learn he rented Hitchcock, picked The Birds by chance, and learned from its lack of score that sometimes you zag.
    “I should try to study the art of film scoring.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:30:28 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Fargo release: Fargo opened March 8, 1996, on 36 screens, peaked near 700, behind The Birdcage, Homeward Bound 2, and Up Close & Personal; Griffin runs the weekend box-office game.
    “This film's opening on limited 36 screens.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:35:17 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Ben Hosley: Griffin says Ben is a lifelong David S. Ward completist who loves Down Periscope and King Ralph (a live show on King Ralph was planned), and was offended by a Malibu's Most Wanted joke.
    “Ben quietly realized that he is a David S. Ward, a tourist over the course of doing this podcast”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:45:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Zach Cregger / Weapons: Cregger says Weapons matches the movie in his head, but release is like sending your kid to first day of school; he'll be shooting in Europe during release.
    “you got to like send your kid to the 1st day of school and hope no one's mean to it”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fargo with Zach Cregger · 2:50:55 · Zach Cregger (0.90 sure it was them)

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