Loves Zodiac as a masterpiece and the Fincher dossier details; the show's box-office fixer. Gets weirdly delighted by obsessive production detail (flashlight museum, typewriters). Has no patience for the studio logic of dumping films.
Stances
Zodiac is Fincher's best film and the best of a loaded 2007
Studios act irrationally against their own interests
Fincher is often called cold and later vindicated
Humor: Dry, deadpan banter and a running bit about reading the room as a podcast host.
In their words
“Okay, I'm going to read a thing while David's still in there.” (2:25:37)
“Leslie, I get some satisfaction out of the fact that I think people who listen to this show sometimes think that I'm like on my devices during this.” (2:20:30)
Loves music videos tied to movie soundtracks and the weirdly sincere Springfield video. Grew up on Disney cassettes, Hanson, and Celebrity Death Match era pop culture. Appreciates a sprawling, nonsensical video that sets up multiple characters.
Stances
Praises the Springfield Dance This World Away video as a favorite, then sours on it
Defends movie tie-in videos that interact with the film
Mocks Fincher's autopilot work on rock videos
Humor: Escalating bits and character voices, from the Beavis and Butt-Head shirt assignments to the fake Reddit thread.
In their words
“I think all 3 of these guys are me, but it's an ed ego super ego thing.” (0:22:01)
“I was in, uh, anything goes?” (1:15:38)
“Uh, no, Hanson Hanson was my favorite band at this point in time.” (2:08:42)
Obsessive movie nerd who tracked every upcoming film as a 13-year-old and has a soft spot for Kristen Stewart. Loves craft and box office lore, recoils from suspense that stresses him out.
Stances
Panic Room was built around Jodie Foster and defies logic otherwise
Fincher scaled back after the Fight Club flop
Humor: Runs bits on tangents like Studio 60, razor scooters, and Jared Leto.
In their words
“obsessively read every fucking dork website I could and thought I was ahead of the curve and knew every movie that was in the pipeline.” (0:26:32)
Is a movie-tie-in collector who grew up in Britain, did not see Fight Club until later, and was never the target of it. Loves a deep tie-in and a rights-clearing bit. Thinks the film is fine but not his formative one.
Stances
Not the film for him, but happy to talk about it
DVD and collector culture matters
Anti-ads bit as the through-line
Humor: Runs bits (no-ads fake-outs, Deadpool-cover Photoshops) and narrates posters.
In their words
“The reason I have to tap out of this is I grew up in Britain.” (0:15:19)
Loves 90s thrillers, character actors, and Fincher at his bleakest; the show's box-office quizzer. Leans toward Se7en over The Game and wishes the movie really gamed him. Bit-hungry about names, keys, and found trivia.
Stances
Admires Se7en more than The Game
Never feels gamed by the movie
Likes The Player and the Criterion disc
Humor: Fast, absurd riffing and gags built on the movie's props.
In their words
“I would argue that I, my beef with this movie is that I never feel like I am being gamed.” (0:45:08)
Loves grim, well-made thrillers and obsessive craft detail; reads the dossier and revels in production lore. Teases guests about their bits. Has a Tisch background and some gun-safety training from a film shoot.
Stances
Se7en is great and Fincher's control of a never-named city is the key choice
Fincher is a blank-check director
Pitt's need to prove himself is the performance
Humor: Driven by running bits, exact trivia, and deadpan fake interview impressions.
In their words
“You know what has happened?” (1:36:38)
“I did when I did gun safety training for Tomorrow War.” (2:08:57)
Loves a sequel that spits in the studio's eye, and the Alien 3 behind-the-scenes extras. Enjoys box-office-weekend trivia, poster taglines, and Fincher's DVD-era thoroughness. Speaker attribution in this transcript is mostly inferred, so these are low-confidence reads.
Stances
Alien 3 is a crowd-displeaser by design
On the assembly cut versus theatrical: leans theatrical, as a cleaner movie (low confidence on which host says it)
Humor: Running bits (the Santa Claus line, the wood planet, poster minutiae).
In their words
“Okay. I think the assembly cut is better while not being perfect.” (0:14:24)
“I really do have a preference here, and it is the dog” (1:21:48)
Loves Tim Burton's early work and defends late-period Burton, theme-park lore, box-office minutiae and Pixar-style craft. Can't stand studio condescension toward children and celebrity-casting logic. A sucker for sweaty, overworked names, bones, and unfashionable Disney touchstones.
Stances
Nightmare Before Christmas is a perfect movie that outlasts its ubiquity
Jack is an analog for artists trying to make commercial art
Studios underestimate children
Mrs. Doubtfire's box-office run deserves celebration
Humor: Sweaty-pun builds and deadpan escalation, riffing on bones and box-office numbers.
Obsessed with this film and calls it his favorite of the Kubrick set alongside Barry Lyndon. Loves box-office trivia and where he saw things. A sucker for the small perfect line readings and the Christmas-lights look.
Stances
Eyes Wide Shut is a masterpiece
Reputation has risen and it will climb the Sight and Sound list
Bill's journey is about the impossibility of not knowing
Humor: Escalating riffs and bits, from alternate podcast lines to sequel fantasies.
In their words
“I don't need to know what grows for you every time when you watch that scene.” (0:01:19)
Loves Doctor Sleep and the director's cut, and the idea that the sequel deepens The Shining. Treats Flanagan's patient, emotional horror as a plus and dislikes jump scares. A sucker for Rose the Hat as a villain and for the box office game.
Stances
Doctor Sleep is a great movie and rewatchable
jump scares are fake tension
legacy sequels usually just suck the steam from the original
Humor: Riffs and runs long on bits, such as the Rose the Hat biography and the Hunk Shoe sleep-train jokes.
In their words
“Now, I have to assume this is all conjecture on my part, okay?” (0:14:58)
Loves Kubrick's dark, mordant comedy and the Barry Lyndon, Shining and Eyes Wide Shut run, and tracks the casting and production legends behind Full Metal Jacket. Reads the dossier closely, likes award-season trivia and box office games.
Stances
Kubrick's humor works best when earnest performances sit at the center
Ermey was a surprising Oscar snub
ranks Strangelove low among Kubrick's funny films
Humor: Deadpan, quotes the film back at itself and lets the guests run riffs.
In their words
“I, I, I rank Strange Love lower in the pack of movies I find funny by him.” (1:36:54)
“Now, which your answer is do it to children.” (0:15:10)
Loves Kubrick trivia, research-dossier detail, and the show's long-running bits; fascinated by how Altman's company shaped Shelley Duvall. Sensitive to anyone mishandling his catchphrases. A sucker for a Draft Day story and the box office game.
Stances
Stephen King's objections were a reaction to being shown himself
Kubrick's many takes need to be separated from cruelty
Would rather talk about the movie than its cultural weight
Humor: Pedantic riffs and teasing, usually at David's or Tim's expense.
Loves Barry Lyndon as one of his favorite movies and finds the humor in Kubrick more than the austerity. Sentimental about the film's warmth and its devastating last act, especially as a parent. A sucker for the film's absurd rules (duels, class) and for production lore.
Stances
Barry Lyndon is a comedy and Kubrick's warmest film
O'Neal is perfect in the part
Barry stays mysterious without an inner monologue
Humor: Plays it dry and jokey, leaning into modern analogies and bits.
In their words
“I feel like this was the epitome of when the critical community was like, yeah, Kubrick makes like coffee table books.” (0:07:58)
Likes genre craft and unvarnished big swings; enjoys box-office-game trivia and Kubrick lore. Dislikes pretension without payoff. Hosts wallow in sequel-hubris jokes.
Stances
2010 is respectable and watchable, not a masterpiece
Hyams not aping Kubrick was the smart move
Humor: Riffs on fake headlines and extended bits, with a dry, deflating tone.
Loves Kubrick's looseness and humor and wants to demolish the cold-genius myth. Resents the mythology built around him and the attitude of Kubrick guys. Is a sucker for comedy bits, Simpsons-grade jokes, and cinema trivia like the box-office game.
Stances
Kubrick is not a humorless perfectionist; he was elastic with actors and loved improvisation
The mythology around Kubrick makes the films less interesting
Held the line that the bits should continue
Humor: Runs long, escalating bits and puns, and pins running gags like hip hop Sims for later payoff.
In their words
“the more people try to put Kubrick in this, like, alien box, the less interesting I find him.” (0:36:11)
“I don't think of myself as a Kubert guy, is because of how much I resent the mythology that's built around him” (0:43:58)
A Kubrick-series host who rewatched the films in order and found the 2001 rewatch surprisingly brisk. Loves the slow-sci-fi tradition including Star Trek The Motion Picture, and is moved by the ending's dread. A sucker for production lore from the dossier.
Stances
Reevaluating Kubrick as funny
2001 is a brisk watch despite the slowness
Likes slow sci-fi like Star Trek TMP
AI rights may never be granted
Humor: Shifts between bits and earnest observations; lands jokes about the guest and podcast logistics.
In their words
“I found it a surprisingly brisk watch.” (0:36:31)
“I love the slowness of motion picture.” (0:44:04)
“My question is, do we ever grant them rights?” (0:48:01)
Loves Strangelove's dry delivery and Peter Sellers' underplayed Mandrake, and watched it as a comedy-obsessed kid through the AFI 100 Laughs list. Skeptical of Adam McKay's recent satire and of Don't Look Up's tag. A sucker for movie lists, titles and bits like podcast series names.
Stances
Mandrake may be the funniest of the three Sellers roles
The film's seriousness is what makes every joke funnier
Don't Look Up's ending works but its tag undercuts it
Podswide Cast was first pitch, best pitch
Humor: Escalates a bit with mock-grandiose confidence and wounded-pride deadpan.
In their words
“Podswide cast, it was like 1st pitch, best pitch, I just said we're fucking going with this.” (0:07:42)
“Mandrake talking about being captured by the Japanese is the funniest part of this whole movie.” (0:11:32)
“I watched this because AFI in the year 2000 did their 100 years, 100 laughs” (0:28:13)
Reread the book and finds it brilliantly written; an enthusiast of Kubrick on a big screen and of Sellers in Strangelove. Compares movies to a wide pop-culture range (Nope, Hail, Caesar!, The Lobster). Believes the Lolita poster beats the film.
Stances
The poster and tagline are better than the movie
The film's tone is wildly inconsistent but absorbing
Kubrick's films are best seen in a theater
Humor: Rapid-fire riffs, mock-pomposity and long tangents.
In their words
“I stand by it.” (1:38:12)
“Poster eats this movie's lunch.” (1:33:57)
“I hate watching his Kubrick movies at home.” (0:45:39)
Leans on the dossier and the Kubrick-era history; loves tidy business-and-career stories and the Blank Check 'guarantor' framing. Likes bits about stars and their careers. (Speaker attribution within the transcript is inferred; confidence is moderate.)
Stances
Spartacus is Kubrick's guarantor: the hit that gave him the blank check
Kubrick was a pain but the work stands out
Humor: Rapid riffs and impressions on the episode's running bits.
In their words
“Today we are covering Spartacus, which is what we like to call a guarantor.” (0:26:58)
“This is the film that gives them the blank check that they run off of for the rest of their career.” (0:27:03)
Admires well-made war films but finds them panic-inducing; prefers Full Metal Jacket to David. Likes the Coens (Hudsucker Proxy) and the box-office game ritual inherited from his father. Responds to Kirk Douglas as a star who used clout for challenging pictures.
Stances
War movies stress him out even when they are good
Paths of Glory is short in a way that is a blessing
Won't rewatch Saving Private Ryan despite loving it
Humor: Gallows-humor riffs and running bits that escalate the absurd (e.g. trench humor, reenactments as a Patreon goal).
In their words
“I get very stressed out watching war films even when I think they're good.” (0:02:01)
“I like full metal jacket more than you, David” (0:55:08)
“I buy it on fucking steel book.” (1:19:43)
Their shows' recurring bits
Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.
The Big Picture
Drafts: Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument.
Hall of Fame: A star's or director's best, ranked and argued.
Countdowns: Ranked lists, top five or top ten.
Blank Check with Griffin & David
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.
Their claims
Showing 201–300 of 1,162 claims.
unmapped (technique evolution):
Wendell and Wild → Coraline.
Selick turned against slick 3D-assisted look after Coraline and kept seams visible and embraced artifice in Wendell & Wild.
“He said Coraline was maybe a little too smooth, and he wanted to go a bit backwards and show off the artifice with this movie.”
lineage (artwork source):
Henry Selick → Tim Burton.
Nightmare Before Christmas brought Burton's artwork to life; Peach got Lane Smith; Coraline Tadahiro Uesugi; Wendell & Wild Pablo Lobato.
“Zalek is kind of bringing the artwork of Tim Burton to life.”
lineage (visual inspiration):
Pablo Lobato → Wendell and Wild.
Selick picked a flat, cutout caricature style that should not be adaptable to 3D and asked the team to build it.
“Wendolyn Wilde, Argentinian artist, Pablo Lobato, is the big inspiration for the look of a lot of these guys.”
contrast (contrast of villainy):
Wendell and Wild → Beetlejuice.
Unlike Beetlejuice, who is purely malevolent, Wendell and Wild are babes in the wood whose ulterior motive is an amusement park.
“Unlike Beetlejuice who like operates from a place of like pure malevolence, right?”
contrast (contrast of setup):
Wendell and Wild → The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Nightmare doesn't open with civic politics, so its underworld needs no explaining; Wendell & Wild front-loads dense plot.
“Yeah, it also helps that like nightmare before Christmas doesn't start with 10 minutes of like the political infrastructure of a small town.”
craft (exposition style):
Wendell and Wild → Avatar.
Big sci-fi blockbusters like Inception and Avatar earn their virtuoso final acts with an hour of clumsy exposition; Wendell & Wild operates the same way.
“And they're things like Inception or Avatar, where you're like, you know what?”
craft (exposition style):
Wendell and Wild → Inception.
The whole movie spends its running time on clumsy rules-exposition so the final act can pay off, like Inception.
“the whole movie is Inception style explaining to you, well, this is a kick, and this is a totem”
unmapped (profit accounting):
Black Adam → The Polar Express.
Black Adam's profit claims prompt a Zemeckis recollection that in the DVD era studio movies could not lose money.
“it is basically impossible for a studio movie to lose money.”
verdict (ranking):
Coraline → The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Griffin ranks Nightmare over Coraline; both masterpieces, though Coraline is the greater auteur achievement; David flips them.
“I think I got to give the hair to nightmare over Core a lot.”
career (comeback attempt):
Eric Roberts → Christopher Nolan.
Nolan's Dark Knight casting was meant as an Eric Roberts reclamation project that did not go anywhere.
“you had like Christopher Nolan giving him a good little supporting part in Dark Knight and being like, Eric Roberts reclamation project.”
career (career sequence):
Star 80 → All That Jazz.
Star 80 came about because Fosse had no planned follow-up after surviving the film in which he dies.
“I think he was almost embarrassed to still be alive after all that jazz.”
unmapped (mentor):
Bob Fosse → Paddy Chayefsky.
Chayefsky was Fosse's mentor/drinking buddy who told him the script needed no notes, and the film is dedicated to him.
contrast (tonal contrast):
Star 80 → Body Double.
Body Double is pulp that deals with similar Hollywood grime and is fun, whereas Fosse could not treat it as pulp.
“But like, I mean, fossi, for better or worse, I don't think could view things as pulp.”
unmapped (same phenomenon):
Star 80 → Manhattan.
Both star Hemingway and are about older men fixated on young women, one romanticized and one murderous.
“2 movies that are essentially about the same basic phenomenon, but in very, very different ways”
theme (theme):
Star 80 → Kate Plays Christine.
Kate Plays Christine is cited as a film about the compulsion to tell tragic victims' stories and play them.
“it is a movie about an actor trying to play a tragic, you know, a person who killed herself on news.”
career (career parallel):
Bob Fosse → Francis Ford Coppola.
Both followed a run of 70s masterpieces (Cabaret/Godfather, Lenny/Godfather II, All That Jazz/Apocalypse Now) with a decline.
“Cabaret, Godfather, Godfather to Lenny, all that jazz apocalypse now.”
unmapped (posthumous reach):
Howard Ashman → Bob Fosse.
Ashman had films with his fingerprints released after his death, showing a creator's ripple effect despite lost time.
“there are like 3 films with his fingerprints on them on top of Little Shop, right?”
people (casting across ages):
An Angel at My Table → The Last Emperor.
Campion loved The Last Emperor, which shares the kid-to-adult actor handoff; she planned the switches to land in happy moments.
“Campion loved the last emperor, which has to pull the same trick, you know, going from kid to adolescent to grown up.”
lineage (source material):
Janet Frame → Owls Do Cry.
Frame's debut novel; the sibling's burning-trash death is from the novel, while the autobiography has a drowning.
what-if (what it could have been):
An Angel at My Table → Girl, Interrupted.
With a TV-miniseries approach it could have been a sensationalist mental-illness movie like Girl, Interrupted.
craft (aesthetic carryover):
An Angel at My Table → Sweetie.
Sweetie's saturated children's-film look survives in Angel only in the Janet character's costume and hair.
“it's like an adult film that has the aesthetics of a children's film.”
what-if (what it could have been):
An Angel at My Table → Angela's Ashes.
A more maudlin filmmaker would have turned Frame's working-class background into Angela's Ashes.
“could have been turned into like Angela's ashes or something”
unmapped (production lore):
Peter Jackson → The Lord of the Rings.
Jackson pitched multiple films on the strength of unfilmed New Zealand locations and a ready industry.
“I got like 80 locations in my back pocket that no one has ever filmed before”
career (career completeness):
An Angel at My Table → Top of the Lake.
Top of the Lake seasons are on Patreon as an important missing piece of Campion's filmography.
“too important a piece in the Campion philography.”
industry (marketing comparison):
Starman → E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
The poster's blues and lights invite the E.T. comparison and the film strains to say it is about grown-up love.
“But, um, you know, also the the blues, the lights, the ET comparison is right there.”
career (career pattern):
Adrian Lyne → Flashdance.
After Flashdance became a colossal hit Lyne left Starman; every post-hit film flopped, then he had a hit again.
“every movie he makes after his hits is a huge flop.”
people (director):
Ridley Scott → The Last Duel.
Scott directed The Last Duel and another huge film in the same fall, both shot in the pandemic starring Adam Driver.
“Both starring Adam Driver, America's favorite giant weirdo.”
theme (persona):
Michael Douglas → Romancing the Stone.
In 1984 Douglas excelled at cads and slimeballs, so he would not have worked as the gentle alien.
unmapped (imitation):
Cinderella → Moulin Rouge!.
The Amazon Cinderella tries the Moulin Rouge jukebox-musical thing and fails; Moulin Rouge is a lot harder to pull off.
“It's trying to do the Moulin Rouge thing of like, oh, it's like a jukebox musical where we just like picked songs we like”
contrast (contrast):
Starman → John Carpenter.
Starman is one of the Carpenter movies he did not score; its synthy score is more emotional than his usual.
“this is one of the Carpenter movies that he did not score.”
lineage (effects lineage):
Starman → An American Werewolf in London.
The transformation sequence is indebted to American Werewolf's practical, show-it-all body effects.
“Yes, which is very like American werewolf in London, where the body is stretching out.”
people (people):
Stan Winston → Rick Baker.
Winston, Baker and Dick Smith, the three effects names in the Starman credits, are called the three wise men of 80s visual effects.
“it's like the 3 like wise men of visual effects of the 80s.”
craft (genre / structure):
Starman → It Happened One Night.
Carpenter wanted a road movie of two people in a car getting to know each other, in the mold of It Happened One Night.
lineage (homage):
Starman → It Happened One Night.
The hay-bale love scene in an empty train car is called a likely conscious homage to It Happened One Night.
what-if (what-if):
Dean Cundy → Starman.
Griffin says Starman would be better had Cundy shot it, because its sentimentality, lights and blues are ready for him.
“I do think this movie would be better if it was shot by Dean Cundy, just because all movies would be better.”
career (career context):
Dean Cundy → Romancing the Stone.
Cundy shot Romancing the Stone the same year Carpenter used a different cinematographer on Starman.
“this is the same year that Kundi does romancing the stone.”
unmapped (returns to Carpenter):
Dean Cundy → Big Trouble in Little China.
Despite the Starman parting of ways, Cundy comes back for Big Trouble in Little China.
“He's going to come back to do big trouble in Little China.”
unmapped (falling-out):
Dean Cundy → John Carpenter.
Carpenter said they had a parting of ways over attitude problems, while praising Cundy's work from Halloween through The Thing.
“But before we could ever work together again, we would have to clear up some attitude problems.”
unmapped (irony):
Jeff Bridges → K-PAX.
Bridges plays the man trying to get into the head of a man claiming to be an alien in K-PAX, after playing an alien here.
career (career phases):
Jeff Bridges → The Big Lebowski.
Lebowski came out ignored, then became his defining mode, and Hollywood asked him to do it again.
“everyone's like, oh, Lebowski's the best shit ever.”
theme (premise):
Starman → John from Cincinnati.
A mysterious odd visitor who solves everyone's problems and parrots dialogue; John from Cincinnati owes a lot to Starman.
“He comes and visits, and he's mysterious, and he's weird, and he solves everybody's problem.”
fun, about
Willem Dafoe:
Opening bit: the podcast says 'If I was a woodcutter, I'd cut' (the Norman Osborn line), prompting an old-Willem versus young-Willem riff.
fun, about
Pontius Pilate (David Bowie):
Bowie plays Pilate as an exasperated, tired bureaucrat taking one side-room meeting; it reframed the villain for a churchgoing viewer.
fun, about
Martin Scorsese:
Scorsese storyboarded every shot and timed how long each could take, a Corman discipline, because the budget left no room to fail.
“he drew out every single storyboard, every shot of this movie”
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
Jesus' trick of raising a cup became a meme; the water-into-wine scene shifts into Scorsese's Mean Streets rhythm of two guys needling each other.
“It is so funny that it's the one scene where Marty goes into like Shinebox rhythm, right?”
fun, about
Paul Newman / Cars:
Griffin explains Cars as Doc Hollywood beat for beat, with the reveal that the grumpy old man in town used to be the best racer, and jokes Doc Hudson invented drifting.
“Cars is Doc Hollywood basically beat for beat. But the reveal is that the grumpy old man in town who's like, I force you to community service is like, actually, I used to be the best racer in the world.”
fun, about
Nobody's Fool:
Griffin recounts being rounded up with kids from PS 87 to audition for Nobody's Fool in 1994, his only audition, part of New York's flyers-in-every-school casting.
“They came to PS 87 and they just talked to a bunch of kids.”
fun, about
Jackie Gleason / Nothing in Common:
Griffin and David's friendship origin: Videology trivia night where Griffin could picture the poster of Gleason and Tom Hanks but couldn't name Nothing in Common until looking at teammate Kamen.
“I looked at one of our teammates whose name is K-A-M-E-N. And I went common.”
fun, about
Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend:
A licensed Sega Genesis and Saturn game shares the book character's name while using some other fat guy on the box, with full motion video.
“We're not going to pay the Jackie Gleason likeness rights, but can we just get the name of the character from the book and put some other fat guy on the card?”
fun, about
Blank Check lexicon:
Adding stabilizer to the show lexicon: a hit that guarantees future blank checks, distinct from a comeback; Color of Money is Scorsese's stabilizer.
“But stabilizer is a term we haven't used before. And you're right. Let's add it to the lexicon”
fun, about
Martin Scorsese:
A story from Vinyl set: Scorsese says Ovitz told him at a party, there is a way to make money doing this, the line that lured him into Color of Money, and that he never made a film just for money.
fun, about
Pool and snooker:
Chris Ryan's British upbringing: snooker was prime-time TV, with a pro-Brexit celebrity hosting a snooker game show called Big Break; darts is the funniest televised sport.
“All I know is I used to watch when I was a kid, the game show, the big break hosted by Jim Davidson”
fun, about
Blake Edwards:
Blake Edwards was only in Blank Check's Oscar-winners vs. Razzie-winners bracket because they could not fill it otherwise; he made three more Pink Panther films after Peter Sellers died.
“Because it truly we could not fill out the bracket unless Blake Edwards was in there.”
fun, about
Griffin Newman:
Newman's parents had incompatible name lists (Gaelic names vs Rufus and Tyrone); Griffin was the compromise, and they'd tell people he was named for Griffin Dunn.
“My parents would joke that I was named after Griffin Dunn.”
fun, about
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World:
Griffin saw it at 14 in theaters with his oldest friend, was bored, and only later was converted; Derek has now seen it 20 times.
“The movie starts, and like 3 minutes in, I was like, oh, right, I don't like this kind of movie.”
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?”
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.”
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.”
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”
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.
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”
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.”
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.”
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.
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.'
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.”
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”
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.
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.
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.
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”
fun, about
Spielberg face:
Griffin: Empire subverts the Spielberg face, shooting Bale from below looking up at the plane so we are on the ground, not sharing the wonder.
“You are on the ground looking at a kid, look up at something unseen ominously, and it's like, fuck, he's figuring it out.”
fun, about
Cannes press conference:
Laszlo Nemes asked at a Cannes press conference whether he gave Dolan the Grand Prix because Dolan had been on his jury; Griffin riffs it as a denial.
fun, about
David Lean / Nostromo:
Lean had Spielberg ask about Ballard rights, lost interest; Spielberg offered to produce Nostromo and sent notes on the screenplay and was told off.
“And Lean was like, fuck you, you don't give me notes.”
fun, about
Bilge Ebiri:
Griffin resolution for 2025 is to become a produced playwright; riff on Ben's past big resolutions (Guggenheim, horse, fashion brand).
fun, about
Christian Bale:
Spielberg auditioned 4000 kids; Bale, recommended by Amy Irving, was the one exception to Griffin's theory that Spielberg fails at breaking male stars.
fun, about
Tropic Thunder:
Ben Stiller, in a small role, watched actors on the Empire set seeking suffering while having trailers and craft services; it became Tropic Thunder 20 years later.
fun, about
Spielberg's childhood:
Griffin recounts a 60 Minutes interview where Spielberg said he had no happy childhood memories, and ties it to Fabelmans and his collecting of arcade machines and Casper rights.
“I do not have a single happy memory of my childhood.”
fun, about
Pauline Kael / critics:
Contemporary reviews: Sarris loved it, Hoberman hated it and called it The Sorrow and the Pity remade as Oliver; Kael-style line was majestically made but unclear what it is about.
“Hoberman called it the sorrow and the pity remade is Oliver, which is pretty funny.”
fun, about
Heartbeeps:
Griffin's childhood obsession with the Andy Kaufman robot movie turned out not to work when he finally saw it, with a hated cigar-smoking robot.
“Catskills is the least funny character in the history of movies, the cigar smoking robot.”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Park's gentleman-cop concept: a detective who carries wet wipes and eyedrops rather than a gun, a walking vending machine of a man.
“his concept is a police officer who doesn't carry a gun, but it says, carries instead carries wet wipes”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Park spoke for 90 minutes pitching the whole film to Park Hae-il, who needed to pee halfway but was too immersed to interrupt.
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Park's ending: he had wanted to end a movie with a person burying herself for about 30 years; he considered an epilogue but cut it.
“I have been trying to put that as the end of a movie first. So for like 30 years.”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
On the opening mountain climb, two cops go up horizontally on a winch, one strapped to the other; Griffin says the moment he fell in love with the movie and that Park does one bizarre scene like it ten times per film.
“And it will happen 10 times in each of his films.”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Griffin's research: Park wanted an old-fashioned, restrained approach with vintage lenses and fixed setups, and had actors run with camera body mounts for the chases.
“vintage lenses, fixed camera setups, natural lighting.”
fun, about
David Fincher:
Next miniseries: Fincher, with The Curious Cast of Benjamin Buttcast as the title; a Reddit user had guessed it a day before.
“And then someone yesterday on Reddit fucking said they're probably going to call it the curious pot of Benjamin Butt cast, right?”
fun, about
Alien 3:
Next week is Alien 3; the Patreon covers Brosnan Bond and then the two Alien vs. Predator films, one fun and one the worst movie in the world.
“One of them is really fun and one of them is the worst fucking movie in the world.”
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
In the Sherlock Jr. jump through the old woman's suitcase, a disguised Gillette is the old lady, a vaudeville magic bit that startled a 1990s Film Forum audience.
“that really is a what the fuck moment when you see it with an audience.”
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
In the gag where Gillette falls off the motorbike, it is really Keaton doing the stunt for the actor, and the handlebar ride mixes real shots and process shots.
“So Keaton did the stunt for the actor who played Gillette.”
fun, about
The Navigator:
Breakfast gag: she puts unground coffee beans in a kettle, he drinks it, silently leaves to vomit and returns miming a phone call.
“he makes a gesture saying, I had to make a phone call.”
fun, about
The Navigator:
Studio gave Crisp the dramatic scenes; they reportedly told him the film was done and then shot the deep-sea-diving sequence without him.
“Apparently they literally told him the film was done and then filmed the deep sea diving sequence”
fun, about
Claydream:
The Will Vinton documentary is called phenomenal supplemental viewing: depositions, the Nike takeover, and Vinton once being offered Pixar shares that Steve Jobs eventually took.
fun, about
The Shadow King:
Pitch: nine-year-old New York orphan Hap with long fingers makes shadow hands fight a monster that wants to eat New York; Selick wanted to blend stop motion with cut-out and shadow animation.
“a deliciously magical tale about a nine-year-old New York orphan named Hap, who hides his weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world.”
fun, about
Henry Selick / The Shadow King:
Disney shut down his Pixar-campus stop-motion film a year into production with 40 percent animated, took a $50 million write-down, then handed him the rights; nobody bought it.
“Disney took a $50000000 write down on the Shadow King.”
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Key and Peele:
Selick was channel-surfing, saw Key and Peele's sketch with 3D-printed guns and insane wigs on the plane, and decided Wendell and Wild were a comedy duo vehicle.
“He likes the, um, the sketch prepared for Terry's, which is like the guys getting on the plane with the 3D printed guns”
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Phil Knight:
Selick kept the replacement-face seam lines because he is free of Nike's Phil Knight, who reportedly hated them.
“Phil Knight, apparently, really hated the seam lines is one thing Selak said.”
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Pablo Lobato:
Selick chose a flat, cutout caricature style almost perversely, then told the team to figure out how to build it in 3D.
“here are Pablo's flat drawings, figure out how to build this.”
fun, about
Wendell and Wild:
Griffin says a Republican version of the council skeleton gag is that they could consult dead founders to learn exactly what they intended.
“We now know exactly what our founding forefathers intended because we brought them back to right here.”
fun, about
Danny Boyle:
Next miniseries announced: Danny Boyle, the first proper English director; first up is Shallow Grave. Griffin was going to joke he was Irish.
fun, about
Bob Fosse:
Fosse expected All That Jazz to be his last act; his planned follow-up was nothing, and he turned down Chicago because he could not get it up for old material.
fun, about
Paddy Chayefsky:
At Chayefsky's funeral Fosse kept a promise to dance publicly, doing it for about 30 seconds, and E.L. Doctorow called it the most touching moment.
fun, about
Bob Fosse:
Late projects: Chicago, Dreamgirls, a Vampire Lestat musical with Bowie and Jagger, interest in Good Morning Vietnam, and a Winchell film with De Niro.
fun, about
Mariel Hemingway:
She campaigned for the Stratton role; Fosse said she was not voluptuous and she famously got a boob job, which she says was not for the movie.
fun, about
Mariel Hemingway:
Fosse asked Hemingway to seduce De Niro into the role; she refused, and she said Fosse took De Niro's rejection very hard.
“He asks Hemingway to try and like seduce Robert De Niro to like convince him of the role.”
fun, about
Hugh Hefner:
Sam Shepard was first choice and Fosse wanted Harry Dean Stanton; Hefner vetoed Stanton by threatening to deny Playboy archive access, so Cliff Robertson played him.
fun, about
Star 80:
Roger Ebert liked it and called Roberts's performance the year's best; Hefner hated the intercutting of the photo sessions with the murder.
“Hugh Hefner thought it was disgusting the way it linked sex to violence.”
fun, about
Robert Wuhl:
Griffin's friends bought him a Robert Wuhl cameo after surgery; Wuhl told a story of Glenn Frey vowing to live so well after a heart attack, a counterpoint to Fosse's reaction after his.