Andy Greenwald

1 sketch, 26 claims, and 15 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

The Rewatchables: ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald (guest)

Loves Anderson as a time capsule of his early-twenties New York longing, Salinger pastiche, indie rock and TV references. Believes the movie is a near-perfect masterpiece and exists for Chas's one line. Cannot stand twee excess, finding Darjeeling problematic.

Stances

  • Movie is perfect, no remake
  • Chas's 'rough year' line is the emotional core
  • Gwyneth Paltrow's Margot is her last great performance
  • Luke Wilson was underrated and sad

Humor: Self-deprecating autobiography, deadpan hyperbole and live-Googled factoids.

In their words

  • “I was just coming off of my own accidental 8 day marriage to a Jamaican dance hall recording artist, and I felt more seen by this movie than I could possibly have imagined.” (0:03:37)
  • “I am a value add to this podcast.” (1:05:41)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Rewatchables

Their claims

Showing 1–26 of 26 claims.

  1. lineage (influence-collage): The Royal Tenenbaums → Pulp Fiction. Both are 'emptying the cupboard' of their makers' influences and obsessions, introducing a whole cinematic world through soundtrack, look and talk.
    “it's like pulp fiction or Grand Royal magazine, where it's just like the emptying of the cupboard of influences and obsessions.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:07:20 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. theme (nostalgia-for-unlived-era): The Royal Tenenbaums → Mad Men. Both romanticize an era their audience didn't live through, with tactile detail.
    “something like Mad Men, which we obviously didn't live through”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:07:35 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (nostalgia-collage): The Royal Tenenbaums → Stranger Things. Tenenbaums is the same celebratory collage of remembered culture as Stranger Things, but for indoor, reading kids.
    “Tenenbaums hits really hard because it is that kind of Stranger Things celebratory, uh, um, collage, but for indoor kids.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:10:04 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. career (career-arc): Wes Anderson → The Darjeeling Limited. Darjeeling was his most serious but problematic film; the post-Tenenbaums low before childhood-return films rescued him.
    “Darjeeling Limited is sort of the Nadir of his like, I'm not really sure what I'm doing, but these are some beautiful ideas and images.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:19:48 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. career (career-arc): The Grand Budapest Hotel → The Royal Tenenbaums. Budapest wrestles with violence and history that Tenenbaums' sudden violence foreshadowed.
    “Grand Budapest Hotel is kind of a masterpiece because it, in addition to being twee and delightful and absolutely hilarious, kind of wrestles with fascism and creeping violence”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:20:03 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. theme (contemporary-comparison): Wes Anderson → Paul Thomas Anderson. The other Anderson; similar trajectory of staying uncompromised rather than going franchise.
    “The filmmaker that I would bring up is a comparison. Um, and as a contemporary is the other Anderson is Paul Thomas Anderson.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:21:02 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. craft (craft): Elliott Smith → The Royal Tenenbaums. Elliott Smith's music does almost all the emotional work in the Richie scene, the speaker says.
    “So like when you're watching Richie, he's such a great, great character, but Elliot Smith does almost all of the work in that scene.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:23:21 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. craft (craft): Nico → Jackson Browne. Nico's version of Jackson Browne's These Days is the needle drop at the Margot and Richie bus scene.
    “I had never heard Nico's version of Jackson Brown's these days until the needle drops on that scene”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:23:42 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. unmapped (needle-drops): The Royal Tenenbaums → Goodfellas. Tenenbaums ranks with Goodfellas and Boogie Nights as a great needle-drop movie.
    “Goodfellas is up there, obviously, like Boogie Nights is up there, but the Tenenbaums might be one of the great needle drop movies.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:23:59 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. unmapped (needle-drops): The Royal Tenenbaums → Boogie Nights. Grouped with Goodfellas as a needle-drop landmark.
    “Goodfellas is up there, obviously, like Boogie Nights is up there”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:23:59 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. people (casting-lesson): The Royal Tenenbaums → Briarpatch. Casting Briarpatch taught him there are no Hackmans: physically imposing, menacing and funny.
    “when I was making Briar Patch and I was trying to cast the lead part, I was like, there are no Gene Hackman.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:33:37 · Andy Greenwald (0.80 sure it was them)
  12. craft (craft): The Beatles → The Royal Tenenbaums. The opening montage, narrated by Alec Baldwin, is set to an orchestral Hey Jude.
    “it's a Alec Baldwin narrated, as we said, set to Hey Jude, magical mystery tour, through the lives of people we had never heard of.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:43:37 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  13. craft (craft): Vince Guaraldi → The Royal Tenenbaums. Guaraldi's Peanuts Christmas music is called a building block of the Upper West Side nostalgia aesthetic the film runs on.
    “I want to shout out what is, to me, probably the quintessential New York record, certainly for 6 months of the year, which is Vince Gueraldi's Peanuts Christmas music.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:46:31 · Andy Greenwald (0.70 sure it was them)
  14. unmapped (New-York-nostalgia): The Royal Tenenbaums → Hannah and Her Sisters. The Upper West Side ice-cream-shop nostalgia is experienced through scenes like Hannah and Her Sisters and Paul Simon records.
    “only experienced through, like, you know, random scenes in Hannah and her sisters and early Paul Simon solo records.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:46:49 · Andy Greenwald (0.55 sure it was them)
  15. unmapped (sibling-chemistry): Luke Wilson → Owen Wilson. Real brothers known since childhood to Anderson; together they write and play opposite energies.
    “when you look at Owen as Eli and Luke as Richie, you're seeing what people who have known them their whole lives see in them.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:49:42 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  16. people (cast-continuity): The Royal Tenenbaums → Bottle Rocket. The Wilsons also play non-brothers with very different energies in Bottle Rocket.
    “the same thing is with Bottle Rocket, where they also don't play brothers.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:50:05 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  17. people (performance-echo): Luke Wilson → Jackass Number Two. A deleted-scene clip of Luke Wilson electrocuting himself with an old telephone reads as Richie Tenenbaum.
    “I'm just like, you are Richie Tenenbaum.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:50:50 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  18. lineage (influence): The Royal Tenenbaums → Jean-Luc Godard. The mosaic of book covers was inspired by a Godard movie doing something similar.
    “he was inspired by, I think it was a Godard movie that did something similar, of course.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:53:10 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. theme (theme-adolescent-sex): Moonrise Kingdom → Rushmore. Rushmore's childlike sex talk vs. Moonrise confronting adolescent sex directly.
    “Later, I think in Moonrise Kingdom, he sort of more directly confronts like adolescent sex”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:56:11 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  20. contrast (contrast): The Royal Tenenbaums → The Dreamers. If the Margot-Richie romance were not subtext you would have something like The Dreamers.
    “then you have like Bertelucci's the Dreamers or something, and I don't think anybody really wants that.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:56:36 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  21. people (performance-lineage): The Royal Tenenbaums → The French Connection. Royal talks like Popeye Doyle; Anderson loves 70s Hackman.
    “So he talks like Popeye Doyle, right? Like from the French connection.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:58:08 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. people (performance-lineage): Ben Stiller → The Meyerowitz Stories. Stiller built on Chas in later dramatic work like Meyerowitz.
    “in the Meyerwitz Chronicles or something, you can see traces of Chaz.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:01:02 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  23. what-if (casting-what-if): Michael Caine → The Royal Tenenbaums. Caine was second choice for Royal when Hackman looked like a no; Hackman took it on hearing.
    “Wes and company turned to Michael Kane.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:03:28 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  24. unmapped (friendship): Gene Hackman → Jack Del Rio. Hackman became a Jaguars fan through befriending Del Rio when Del Rio coached them.
    “Hackman, 86, one of the most celebrated actors in cinematic history, became a Jacksonville Jaguars fan when Del Rio became coach in 2003.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:06:46 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  25. what-if (casting-what-if): John Goodman → The Royal Tenenbaums. Proposed modern Royal for physical imposition plus drama and comedy.
    “someone who could be physically imposing and like could command a stage literally, but also do drama and comedy. John Goodman.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:21:34 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. career (career-decline): Gene Hackman → Welcome to Mooseport. Mooseport is the joke follow-up that undercuts his sendoff.
    “he took the bag for welcome to Mooseport and then just vamoose to a life of writing like subpar naval thrillers”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:33:40 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 1–15 of 15 fun items.

  1. fun, about The Royal Tenenbaums: Most rewatchable: the Etheline scene where Royal fakes dying, shot entirely in the wide with no close-ups; Hackman and Huston make you remember reactions you never see.
    “But that whole scene is shot in the wide. There are no close-ups.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:40:59 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Richie Tenenbaum: Richie's suicide scene, scored to Elliott Smith, called the most affecting thing Anderson ever shot and a break in the career.
    “the Richie suicide is probably the most affecting thing that Wes Anderson's ever shot.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:42:45 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about The Royal Tenenbaums: Margot background-file montage set to the Ramones: effortlessly stylish exposition, and the gleeful moment you realize the filmmaker has another gear.
    “the Margot background file montage is, for me, like the most effortless, effortlessly stylish and expository and wonderful sequence”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:44:36 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Wilson brothers: Apex Mountain renamed Mount Wilson; a special sibling alchemy, with Owen the manic and Luke the mournful still one.
    “this is this is Mount Wilson, as far as I'm concerned.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:48:39 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Luke Wilson: Jackass 2 deleted scene: Luke Wilson in a popped-collar golf shirt shocking himself with a 1940s phone; Andy: that's Richie Tenenbaum.
    “is electrocuting himself with a 1940s telephone. And I'm just like, you are Richie Tenenbaum.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:50:37 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Danny Glover: Funniest laugh pick: Glover's all-time great fall at the archaeological site, pure physical comedy.
    “He does he does an all-time great fall and then just emerges, and it's so dumb and purely funny”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:53:49 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about The Royal Tenenbaums: Aged-worst category: Royal's casual racism toward Henry, read as a 1976 eye on Hackman, plus the slapstick ending and Stiller's unexplained tracksuits.
    “I think it was made with a 1976 eye because that's where Royal slash Wes Anderson's love of Gene Hackman was stuck.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 0:58:03 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Ben Stiller: The whole movie exists for 'I've had a rough year, Dad' and Royal's 'I know you have, Chaz'; Andy calls it one of the most devastating line readings of his adult film life.
    “the entire movie exists for the moment when Ben Stiller says, I've had a tough year, dad.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:00:03 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Gene Hackman: Hackman nearly didn't make it: Anderson told agents he was writing for him before a script, Hackman hates that, and the pay was scale for months of work; Michael Caine was next. Hackman reportedly took it on hearing that.
    “he was like, I won't bury another Batman. He took he took the part.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:03:37 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Gene Hackman: Live-Googled bit: Hackman befriended Jack Del Rio and became a Jaguars fan; it appears to be Del Rio for life, not Jags for life.
    “Gene Hackman showed up at Florida practice, had dinner with the Del Rios.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:06:40 · Andy Greenwald (0.60 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Ben Stiller: Vincent Hanna overacting award goes to Stiller, pitched at a different frequency than everyone else; Paltrow floated too.
    “He's pitched at a different frequency than everyone else in this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:10:49 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Gwyneth Paltrow: Apex Mountain pick for Margot: a performance now buried under Halloween costumes and Goop, but bringing the backstory before we see it.
    “Margot Tenbaum has turned into an Instagram Halloween costume.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:12:01 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about The Royal Tenenbaums: The Ambersons influence, the real Harlem house foreclosed and rented back to the production, and the Waldorf standing in for Royal's hotel.
    “111 Archer is a real place. It's up in Harlem.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:15:27 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Eli Cash: The Cormac McCarthy-style novelist parody; the mock literary cover and Eli's 'you didn't even have to think about it' line.
    “the way this movie just aims at sniper rifle on the cult of Cormac McCarthy”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:27:55 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about The Royal Tenenbaums: Best quote pick: Custer died at Little Bighorn, 'What this book presupposes is...maybe he didn't?' with the riff that this movie invented the take machine of TV.
    “well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ With Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald · 1:28:21 · Andy Greenwald (0.50 sure it was them)