Spike Jonze

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q259913: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: The Game (1997); Being John Malkovich (1999); Three Kings (1999); Adaptation (2002); Moneyball (2011); The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); Babylon (2022); Jackass (franchise of films, incl. Bad Grandpa, Jackass Forever). Count them as director (6 films) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Singin' in the Rain (1952): 5 lines

craft (scene mirror) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). Babylon's walk-on bar scene mirrors the flashback that opens Singin' in the Rain, where Don Lockwood gets a walk-on.
“Um, Don Lockwood gets a walk on part in a bar in that like in that flashback to start the movie.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:48:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (homage) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). A speaker calls the sound-stage scene a direct Singin' in the Rain homage, 'on steroids times a 1000'.
“Again, like a very, very direct homage.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:13:47 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (echo) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The silent-to-sound struggle scene in Babylon echoes Singin' in the Rain, down to the actress who cannot find the microphone.
“And that is a huge echo of singing in the rain.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:14:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (scene mirror) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). A Babylon moment is said to echo Don and Kathy Selden from Singin' in the Rain.
“Also, echoes of Don and Kathy Selden.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:44:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (homage) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The speaker says Babylon is deliberately built around Singin' in the Rain, with specific scenes mirrored on purpose.
“But it is so intentionally built around singing in the rain that I do think the mirroring of the specific scenes are intentional.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 2:51:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Seven (1995): 2 lines

unmapped (R-rated proof) · through The Game (1997), which they acted in: Seven ⇒ The Game (the host's read). Se7en's hit status as an R-rated film convinced the backers to fund The Game.
“I think convinced, um, people like, okay, like, you can make an R-rated movie a hit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:33:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (commercial lead-in) · through The Game (1997), which they acted in: Seven ⇒ The Game (the host's read). Se7en's success gave Fincher an absurd budget for The Game.
“this is better for me because now I can make this movie at an absurd budget.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:47:35 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

A Christmas Carol (2009): 1 line

unmapped (template) · through The Game (1997), which they acted in: A Christmas Carol ⇒ The Game (the maker said so: reading Fincher's quotes in the dossier JJ put together). Fincher's own framing, as quoted in the dossier, is that The Game is A Christmas Carol and Nick is Scrooge.
“it's a Christmas carol.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:47:52 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Boiler Room (2000): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which they acted in: Boiler Room ⇒ The Wolf of Wall Street (the host's read). Koppelman says Boiler Room informed Wolf, being the fictional version of Jordan Belfort's story.
“Boiler Room really informed Wolf of Wall Street because Boiler Room was the fictional version of Jordan's story”
The Rewatchables · ‘Margin Call’ With Bill Simmons, Ryen Russillo, and Brian Koppelman · 0:25:01 · Brian Koppelman (0.90 sure it was them)

Francis Bacon: 1 line

unmapped (painting reference) · through The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which they acted in: Francis Bacon ⇒ The Wolf of Wall Street (the host's read). Bacchanal tableaux reference the Last Supper and Francis Bacon.
“Sometimes it's the last supper. Sometimes it's Francis Bacon and like the disgusting nature of the human soul.”
The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 11 - 'The Wolf of Wall Street’ · 0:16:25 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Friday Night Lights (2004 film) (2004): 1 line

industry (industry) · through Moneyball (2011), which they acted in: Friday Night Lights (2004 film) ⇒ Moneyball (the host's read). The film points toward the next wave of dramas that happen to be about sports.
“And Friday Night Lights is moving us toward this kind of next iteration of whatever that was, and it's leading to stuff like money ball and win-win and like dramas that also happen to be about sports.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 0:16:15 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)

John Gilbert: 1 line

unmapped (real-life basis) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: John Gilbert ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). Brad Pitt's character in Babylon is obviously based on John Gilbert.
“John Gilbert, who Brad Pitt's character in Babylon, is very obviously based on”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 2:09:22 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

La La Land (2016): 1 line

craft (score reuse) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: La La Land ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The Babylon score is said to reappropriate music from La La Land's dream ballet.
“This is like very much from the dream ballet of La Land, this music and the score.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:57:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Leonardo DiCaprio: 1 line

industry (financing / star power) · through The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which they acted in: Leonardo DiCaprio ⇒ The Wolf of Wall Street (the host's read). Leo raised the money and attached Scorsese and the cast, which let an extreme film get made without a studio.
“the idea that it was DiCaprio, who went out and raised the funds to get this movie made”
The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 11 - 'The Wolf of Wall Street’ · 0:11:02 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Paradise Lost (Milton): 1 line

theme (literary echo) · through The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which they acted in: Paradise Lost (Milton) ⇒ The Wolf of Wall Street (the host's read). Belfort descending into hell as the lights change reads as Paradise Lost.
“Yeah, that's the Paradise Lost, you know, yeah.”
The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 11 - 'The Wolf of Wall Street’ · 0:16:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

The Dancing Cavalier (film-within-Singin' in the Rain; heard also as 'link cavalier'): 1 line

craft (scene mirror) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: The Dancing Cavalier (film-within-Singin' in the Rain; heard also as 'link cavalier') ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The audience in Babylon's screening laughs at the same dialogue ('I love you') as in Singin' in the Rain's screening of The Dancing Cavalier.
“They're literally laughing at the exact same dialogue in the screening that they do of the link cavalier.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:56:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021): 1 line

lineage (series lineage) · through Babylon (2022), which they acted in: Zack Snyder's Justice League ⇒ Babylon (the maker said so: the hosts' own account of the show). The Snyder Cut watch-along, born of a lost bet, started the show's watch-along concept that led to this one.
“The Snyder, the Snyder Cut thing was a bet that we lost, that Sean was like, if that, that's how the watch along concept started.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 3:06:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

One Battle After Another (2025): 1 line

lineage (influence / humor) · through The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which they acted in: The Wolf of Wall Street ⇒ One Battle After Another (the host's read). Scorsese influenced PTA, and the uncomfortable-laughter humor of Wolf is very PTA.
“Scorsese is a huge influence on all filmmakers, including PTA, and there is a, like, a really screwed up level to the humor in this movie that is that is very PTA as well”
The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 11 - 'The Wolf of Wall Street’ · 0:16:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Succession (2018): 1 line

unmapped (looks like) · through The Game (1997), which they acted in: The Game ⇒ Succession (the host's read). Jokes that the opening home-movie footage is ripped off by Succession.
“ripped it right off”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:35:58 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

What was said about them, by kind

career (2)

career (career highlights): Spike Jonze → Moneyball. A speaker says Moneyball, Wolf of Wall Street and Babylon would be enough for Jonze's acting Hall of Fame.
“I mean, you could just do Moneyball Wolf of Wall Street and Babylon in the Hall of Fame.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:46:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Spike Jonze → Spike Jonze. Jonze's gaps between films, then a Vice TV detour as head programmer, explain his absence.
“I'm gonna run a cable network.”
Blank Check — Patreon · March Madness 2021 Recap - Round 2 · 0:31:54 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

lineage (1)

lineage (source material): Spike Jonze → Where the Wild Things Are. Jonze made films from children's books by Sendak (name garbled as Herb Sendek).
“He wrote a number of wonderful children's books that Spike Jones based films on.”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:46:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

programming (1)

programming (programming): Spike Jonze → Sofia Coppola. Short filmographies make a Spike-then-Sofia back-to-back run possible.
“It'd be kind of cool to do Spike and Sophia back to back.”
Blank Check — Patreon · March Madness 2021 Recap - Round 2 · 0:30:56 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them)

verdict (3)

verdict (verdict): Sofia Coppola → Spike Jonze. Sofia dominated Spike Jonze.
“who I would say pretty roundly dominated Spike Jones.”
Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:48:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Spike Jonze → Penelope Spheeris. Jonze beat Spheeris 57-43.
“Spike Jones, who beat Penelope Spheres.”
Blank Check — Patreon · March Madness 2021 Recap - Round 2 · 0:26:22 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Spike Jonze → Her. Her was the critics' top film of its year; Griffin now fears it has an incel quality.
“I think it has like an incel quality to it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · March Madness 2021 Recap - Round 2 · 0:29:36 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

fun, about Spike Jonze: Great cameo in a beautiful peaceful living room, in sandals; Amanda owned similar sandals at 15 and wore them in March to Long Island high school.
“I think I own those sandals when I was like 15.”
The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:33:34 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Spike Jonze: Reading Jonze's whole filmography aloud, from Mi Vida Loca to Jackass 4.5 and Babylon, as the greatest actor since 1994.
“of the greatest actor we've ever seen since 1994?”
The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:45:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Spike Jonze: Jonze ran Vice TV as artistic director, and later made a Beastie Boys documentary.
“I'm the head programmer.”
Blank Check — Patreon · March Madness 2021 Recap - Round 2 · 0:31:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)