Janie Hadad Tompkins on The Big Chill

Janie Hadad Tompkins is an actor and podcaster and a wonderful human. She drops in via her Los Angeles home studio to chat about the Boomer classic, The Big Chill.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio.

(00:29):
Hey Everybody, and Welcome to the Movie Crush. Charles W
Chuck Bryant Here in my basement. UH just had a
great conversation with Janey, had added Tompkins. Jennie is wonderful.
She I met her at Max fun Con a few
years ago. She is married to Paula Tompkins, and paul
was there doing his comedy thing with Super Ego, and

(00:51):
Janey tagged along because Max fun Con is just a
fun place to go and met her pool side with Hodgeman.
And Jane was just sort of a kindred spy or
I feel like she's also from the South and kind
of reminded me of my wife Emily a little bit.
I think they would be fast friends if they ever
got to hang out, and just a lot of fun.
Jane's super sweet and very funny, and she's an actor,

(01:14):
and we get to talk about her um auditioning for
roles in this play that she did in Edinburgh and
sort of working uh as a working actor and what
that's like to go out in audition and to hang
your hopes on something like that. And there was a
lot of good insights so we talked about that. We
talked about Charleston, which is where she grew up and

(01:34):
where it's sort of in the neighborhood of where the
movie The Big Chill was set. And that was her
pick thee drama Tye from Lawrence Kasten with just the
bonkers cast, and we had a really great discussion about it.
So here we go with Janie had Ad Tompkins on
The Big Chill. Oh, look at you handheld. Well that's fun. Wow,

(02:02):
that surprised me. That's so fun. Where are you? What
room are you in? Um? We call this the guest room, okay,
because guests stay there. They can. Yeah, if we take
this couch and turn it into a bed. Now, is
that where Hodgman stayed when he lived with you guys

(02:22):
for a period. Oh, yes, this he would probably call
it his room. But it's really the gul the guest room.
But it's also kind of like a den. You know. Well,
I like your fish part, Thank you, thanks, thanks, And
where are you? I'm in my basement. I have an

(02:44):
old man band and so I have a band room,
and so I had all this sound paneling and stuff. Anyway,
and I just sort of reconfigured it once the world
ended so I could still work right And I hope,
I hope the name of your band is Old Man Band.
Well that's what our wives call it. Uh, we named ourselves,

(03:06):
but they don't have enough respect to refer to us
as our real name. That's really funny. Um. I was
going to ask how you're doing, and I do want
you to say that for the benefit of the listeners.
But I've been listening to Stay F. Hopkins, the podcast
you do with your husband Paul F. Tompkins, and it
is so fun and funny and I kind of feel

(03:28):
like I know how you guys are doing. Wow, Thanks,
thanks for being thanks for listening. I mean, yeah, I
mean a lot of times on the podcast, we we
we try not to allow our despair to come out.
But I think you do a good job. I mean,
it's really funny and fun and you guys are both
so endearing and fun and it's just I'm glad that

(03:50):
you're doing the show together. It's nice. Yeah, thanks for well,
thanks so much for having me. At one time, I
think you were in town and you were looking to
record here misremembering, yeah, I mean not here at your house,
although I would have, but um, you know our network

(04:11):
has some studios in Hollywood. But yeah, I was trying
to get you on. I don't know if that was
the same trip where I had Paul on, uh, because
we talked about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid because
his real pick um, Oh gosh, what's the name of it?
Would it be? Would it have been Lawrence of Arabia? No,

(04:31):
the one with Jim Broadbent, the period piece. Oh, he
loves Topsy Turvy to Tury. But I couldn't find it anywhere.
It wasn't streaming, and I think I would have had
to order the DVD or something, and that didn't happen.
So he pivoted to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
which is very nice. Yeah, that's weird. I love. I'm

(04:52):
a big Mike Lea fan too, so it's weird that
it wouldn't have been available. Do you guys have the
Criterion Channel the Criterion app? I don't think so highly recommended. Okay,
you know it's funny I'm on your podcast because I'm
kind of like a television fanatic. Well, we talked about

(05:14):
TV and stuff too. Um, I mean the Friday editions
are movie deep dives, but I do a Monday edition
called Mini Crush where I just do a lot of
fun stuff with the listeners on Facebook and play like
a little fun games and post questions and there's a
lot of TV talk there. Gotcha? What's your what's your
big TV jam lately? Oh my god? Well right now,

(05:39):
we just started this really awesome French spy series called
The Bureau, right, I haven't seen it in front of it? Yeah,
it's um it's on Sundance now, so you have to, like,
I don't know, do you ride the rails of the

(06:00):
stream streamers. I've got too many, like a ditched cable
because I was tired of paying that much money and
I think I probably paid just as much money now
with all the channels, but they're the channels that I want,
so I don't mind too much, right right, right? Right? Well, um,
so on Sundance now it's called The Bureau and it's
like about like their CIA or whatever, and I guess

(06:22):
like they call their CIA the Bureau of Legends. What
a great name. But it's really good. And is it
just like spycraft or yeah, spice spycraft. I love that stuff,
but there are matters of the heart. It's like it's
like a humanization of people who do that work. Kind of. Yeah,

(06:45):
you don't get to see that a lot either, because
usually spies are just so all you see them doing
is spy stuff. Speaking of spy shows, though, I also
loved The Americans. Did you watch I did not watch that,
but my wife Emily watched it um full lee, and
it was one of those shows where I kind of,
and this may happen to you guys, to like one

(07:05):
of you sort of gets into a show and then
by the time the other one is like, well, I
want to watch that too, they're a fucking season in. Yeah,
I mean, actually that did kind of happen with us
with The Americans, and so I he was only like
two seasons a head, so I caught up only two seasons.
I know. No, I'm telling you, I'm a TV I'm

(07:26):
a TV nut like fanatic. Well maybe I should watch Americans.
Emily loved it. She said it was so great, it's great,
it's great. She would like the Bureau then oh yeah, yeah,
all right, well maybe we'll check that out. We've been
watching um you know. Of course, when times are tough,
we turned to comedy and things have been especially tough

(07:48):
around here lately. So we've just barreled through what we
do in the Shadows, which was a lot of fun,
and we before that, we barreled through a show called
red Oaks that Hodgement was on. I've seen some of
red Oaks. I really liked it. They lost me on
one episode, which one the Freaky Friday. Yes, it was
a little weird. I was like, this is not the

(08:12):
mythology or the world of this show, and it kind
of like derailed me a little bit. Yeah, I will
say this for that episode. It was kind of fun,
and I give him props for doing something different, but
it was definitely like non cannon red Oaks, right right, right,
right right. But I love that show. I thought it
was wonderful. Yeah, it's good. Paul Riiser, how awesome is he? Yeah?

(08:36):
He was. He was a badass and he was pretty awesome.
I think that totally ignored for like Amy consideration. Yeah,
I think he's doing okay though. Well, too bad about
Paul Riiser. Yeah, I'm trying to think of what else
I watch. I've been watching this survival show on Netflix,
but that's sort of one of those reality competition shows. Yeah,

(08:59):
like a like a reality thing or something. Yeah, it's
sort of like a more um legit to Naked and Afraid,
but these are like real survivalists and they're not naked,
and um, we're afraid. Well now they're kind of afraid,
but just not to get afraid. Uh And what else
have you got anything else? TV wise? Well, speaking of

(09:21):
Sundance if you do sign up, there was this British
show I loved called The Split and it was about these, um,
this female family of divorce lawyers that all had like
messy families themselves. So I got really into that British stuff. Yeah.

(09:43):
I feel like like we could just do nothing but
watch British television as if American TV didn't exist, and
it would be great. Yes, yes, anything for the BBC
is always so fucking good. I agree. I agree. So, UM,
I know where you're from because we've chatted before. Um,

(10:04):
my friend Mida is also from Charleston, the Mount Pleasant
area of South Carolina, and I know you're from there.
Were you born there? Did you just grow up there? Oh? No? Um,
I'm originally from West Virginia. Yeah. Well and coincidentally, the
Charleston area of West Virginia and then I've been there.

(10:25):
Yeah yeah. And then my parents divorced um when I
was eight, and then um my mom got a job
in South Carolina and we moved to South Carolina. So
I'm from Charleston to Charleston true Hollywood stories, Well Charleston,
I mean I've been to both, but Charleston, South Carolina,
as you know, because I've even invited you guys one

(10:47):
time to a beach house where we rented. Uh that's
where we vacation every year, Isle of Palms. Um. Yeah,
and I grew up on Sloan's which is the neighboring island,
Tyler Palms. Okay, you grew up on Sullivan's Eye one. Yeah. Yeah,
that's like amazing. That's just that's some Prince of Tide
ship right there. It's totally Prince of Tides. I mean

(11:08):
it used to be Prince of Tides. Now it's like
Lifestyles of the rich and famous. But it was not before.
Before there was like a big hurricane that came through
there and sort of changed they shall we say, socio
economic makeup of the area. So what happens a hurricane

(11:30):
comes through, knocks down a bunch of houses. Then a
bunch of richies come in and rebuild. Yeah. Like what
happens is like you'll get like a ginormous like insurance payout,
and then instead of it being a bunch of like
rickety old beach homes that were built in eighteen, it
becomes like McMansion style. Yeah, like it changes sort of

(11:57):
like a character uh DNA of the place. Yeah, but
it's still a great place to go. But yeah, no,
it's amazing. Um. We we go out to eat on
Sullivan's Island sometimes, which if you're not familiar with the area,
I mean Sullivan's Island is right next to Isle of
Palms and Folly Beach and they're all the sort of
right there together. Um. This last time we went last year,

(12:20):
we stayed in this place that was it had been
added onto, but it was one of the original um
I guess sort of cottages from Isle of Palms that
they ended up expanding and macking out, but it was
it still had that character of the old place, like
you could tell where the old place was, and it
was so fucking cool. There was actually just an article

(12:41):
and I want to say, in April about like the
old and the new and sort of like that balance,
so trying to keep like there was a real lack
of historical preservation on the Barrier Islands there when they
started to rebuild and stuff, and it was like a
conversation about it. I had to send you a link.
It was in the Charleston paper, the Post and Courier. Yeah,

(13:03):
I'd love to see that. I just love the area.
We fell in love with the Low Country and just
I grew up going to Florida, to the Gulf of
Florida because that's where my parents were. Nice. Um, it's okay,
But you know, once we went to South Carolina, I
just loved it so much more. Just the vibe there
was completely different than it was in Florida. Um, and

(13:27):
the people and it was just it's amazing. I have
a feeling the vibe anywhere outside of Florida's completely different Florida.
That's a good point. No, no offense to your Florida listeners.
I just you know, Oh, I think they're used to it.
Florida takes a lot of ship these days, they do.
That's a really big state too. How crazy big is Florida?
Like if you ever drive I've like driven from Charleston

(13:51):
to the Keys. It was a long time ago, but
like you just can't believe how long Florida's. Oh it's long.
Like I live in Atlanta and Miami is as close
to me as New York and that's the wild. Yeah,
it's a long way down there. And there's a bunch
of different Floridas too, because you've got the Gulf and
you've got Miami, and then you've got Inland Florida, and

(14:12):
then the clear Water sort of retirement area, and then
northern Florida like where Jacksonville and St. Augustine. It's really diverse,
but not it is unlike the Everglades. You've got swampy Florida. Yeah,
but yeah, Charleston just won me over. I mean we

(14:35):
get into town when we go occasionally, mainly we just
set up on the beach and like hang out at
the house and go to uh, oh god, what's the
seafood place right there that I go that has the
key line vibes? You're giving me vibes. It's just the best,
isn't it the best? Do you all just fly there?
Because it's like a thirty minute It's like a forty

(14:55):
minute flight from the atl we drive because we bring
so much s us and we bring our dogs and cats.
We always have to get a flat that allows the animals.
It's like a five hour drive, right, Yeah, it's it's
no big deal at all. Yeah. Yeah, because you can
have dogs on the beach after a certain date in September,
and so we always book it after that because we
can bring me what best time to book it. I mean,

(15:18):
it's so hot there right now, and it's hot in September,
but it's cooling down just a tiny bit, just enough. Yes, yes, agree, agree,
And we were talking, You and I were talking at
one point about um, not us buying a place, but
I was looking at properties and you were like, we've

(15:38):
done the math. It's cheaper to rent, and it totally is.
Well it is because of how much it costs now
to own there and not to mention your property tax.
But also you're required to have flood insurance. Yeah, I'm
sure that's a lot, and it's not cheap because you're
right like you're in like you're in like a coastal
floods you know, flood zone. I mean when I was

(16:01):
there in the hurricane came through, like the entire island
was completely Um, the entire Sullivan's Island was completely underwater.
Oh my god. Yeah, that's scary. Was totally submerged. Good
lord at the height of the storm. This hurricane season
just like super stressful for everyone or they just used

(16:22):
to it. Yeah, that's another thing. If you owned there,
you'd have to be stressing about your about the hurricanes. Yeah,
that's good. It's no good. Now did you when did
you start acting? Did you act when you were growing
up there, like in high school theater and stuff? Um,
you know what I did. Actually, that's sort of when
I started. Uh. I kind of fell in love with it.

(16:44):
Are we were? Is this the podcast? By the ways? Okay,
I thought we were just chatting. I was like fine
with it. Now I'm like worried I'm being boring. Um no, yeah,
I am. Well, in Charleston, there was uh ive always
been interested in storytelling, you know, and stories and stuff,

(17:07):
and um, there was a theater there. It's like the
oldest theater in town, the Doc Street Theater. And they
had like a little you know, acting classes for students
and stuff like that. So I got, um that was
sort of like, um, like a side interest. I wasn't
you know, like going after like real like I didn't

(17:27):
have stage parents or anything. It was like my hobby,
I guess. And then in high school we did stuff
and I went to an all girls high school and
so all of the male parts would be played by women,
her young women and stuff like that. So I was
always sort of involved, and I I knew I wanted
to get serious about studying acting, so I sort of

(17:50):
pursued it more in college and graduate level. But yeah, now,
where'd you go to college? UM? I ended up going
to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, which is
about two hours north west of Charleston, big state school. UM,
and that was fun, and I got involved in theater there,

(18:11):
and it was a more liberal arts type of a degree,
like a Bachelor of Arts and UM, but I knew
people in the theater program that had gone on to
study more conservatory style in master's programs. So I got
serious about pursuing a master's at the end of my

(18:32):
bachelor's career, and then I ended up going. UM I
got I didn't get in the first time around. Maybe
this is interesting, but UM, you kind of audition for
these programs, and UM, I didn't get in. The first
time around, so I saved all my money. I was
waiting tables, and then I was trying to get better
and pick a better monologue and all. And then, um,

(18:56):
my second go around, I ended up getting an offer
for a full scholarship SMU in Dallas. You turn that down?
Oh no, that's amazing. Do you remember what you auditioned with?
You know, Um, it wasn't Irish. It was something Irish

(19:17):
I did, like the I worked on, like the dialect
and everything. Now I'm gonna have to look it up.
It was like about like you know, the Irish troubles,
Potato famine. Yes, and then and then I guess I
must have done a comedic and it might have had
to have been like a classical like I probably did

(19:39):
some Shakespeare or something. And and then you had to
sing like a few bars acapella something, even though it
wasn't a musical program. But I can't remember what I did.
Can you sing? No? I mean I can carry a tune.
I shouldn't say no off the bat, But I don't
consider myself musical right because that I mean it's a

(20:00):
I can sing a little bit too, but that's a
whole different deal. When you're talking about the Yeah. Like
I say, I was in my choir like in high school,
but I was not the soloest if that makes sense. Yes,
I was church choir and then my wife was show choir.
It's school, yeah, which is a whole different. So choir

(20:21):
sounds more fun, like you would saying more fun songs
than the church choir. Yeah, and it was you you
performed like they were like dance routines and stuff in
show choir. Got it, it was like it was you're
putting on a show. Yeah, total show. I've seen some
of the tapes. It's kind of fine. I was in
a choir in UM. When I finished drama school, I
moved to New York City because I thought I could

(20:44):
get on Broadway, and I mean I was trying to
and UM, I was a part of a choir called
the New York City Labor Chorus And the one requirement
was that you had to be a member of a
labor union. And I was the only Screen Actors Guild
Actors Equity member in the in the choir. But we

(21:07):
would sing like, uh, you know, like protesting kind of
songs like we shall overcommon stuff. What were the other
union members like just like teamster like teamsters and like
office worker, like real blue collar that's cool. Yeah, it
was cool. Like and then like if there would be
like a protest where they would get one of those

(21:29):
giant like inflatable rats or something, then like we'd show
up and do stuff like that. It was really weird,
but I liked it a lot. How long were you
there in New York? I was only there for two
years because I was there like the nine eleven attacks

(21:51):
happened and I just had to leave, like it wasn't
gonna it wasn't a good scene for me. And then
I came out to l A and went out to
l A h to again try acting, yes, and and
really what happened was I got real with myself because
I love television. I think we established that, and uh,

(22:16):
I really even when I was thinking like I would
do theater, it was for me it was always like
a path to TV stuff because I was always sort
of under the impression that if you were a stage
actor people you were desirable in the television world. But

(22:37):
apparently that's not true, not for me. No, I guess
it's true. I guess there's some truth to it. But
nowadays I think there's so many, um mediums. I mean,
like people do stuff online or you know, or you

(22:58):
might be like an influencer or something and get attention
that way, and I don't know other ways. Yeah, now,
did you want to were you like I want to
be on a sitcom? I mean, was that? What's your
goal was as a TV head? Um? Pretty much any
good television, Like I have no snobbery about it, except

(23:24):
I love great comedy and everything. But I do love
um prestige drama a lot, like I watch a lot
of it. Um, but there's I I also like drama
ty too, So I feel like that's maybe my sweet
spot is that I feel like I could be someone

(23:45):
really funny in a in a serious comedy or something
like that, which Kyle leads us to our movie. But
we don't have to go there yet. Well no, but
we will. Uh Okay, the do you have like the
serious dramatic chops? Like can you can you go there?
I mean I'm trained to go there, but I don't

(24:06):
think a lot of directors probably see me that way.
I get. I get I mostly go into comedy rooms
audition for comedy rooms, but um, yeah I can go there.
I mean, I can, definitely. I mean I was trained
to go there, but I don't know, I probably am not,

(24:29):
as I don't have like the natural gravvy toss maybe
of some dramatic actors, but yeah, but you don't like
gravity tosses. Uh. It's a fine trait, but I don't
think you need gravy toss to bring it dramatically, you know.

(24:51):
I guess. I mean, like as Gary Oldman doing a
lot of sitcoms, I say that, and he might have
and I don't know. I don't think he is. I mean,
it's much harder to be funny. I think, Um, I
think it is. I mean I feel grateful that I
can do a little bit of both, because it does
give you more flexibility and opportunities. Yeah, for sure. I

(25:13):
remember seeing at one point it feels like a couple
of years ago, you did a play in Edinburgh. Yes
I did. Yes, What was that all about? Well? That
was a fun sort of happy accident where I had participated. Um. So,
there was a writer at the same agency I was in,

(25:34):
and they wanted to do a table read of this
play that she had that she had written her and
her husband. He's an actor, she's a writer, and um,
they he's an awesome actor, dan Dan O'Brien, Danie O'Brien. Um,
he's done a lot of comedy and stuff. Um. And

(25:55):
they were doing a table read and so the agency
had reached out and said, hey, do you want to
try to do this table read at her? It's just
like an in house you know thing. And I was
like sure, I mean you know we're not and so, um,
they read this sort of it was a comedic play
that she had written called Mary Go Nowhere, and um,

(26:16):
it was really fun. And a couple of weeks later
they had the husband wife had decided they wanted to
take it to Edinburgh because Danny had been to Edinburgh
in the past. And the way that that festival, the
Fringe Festival works is if you have if you can

(26:39):
get a venue, you can do your show. There's no
there's really no like vetting process or anything like that.
Like in fact, that festival is wild, like it blew
my mind because there were over That festival is so huge.
It's an entire month long. The month of August there

(27:03):
were over three thousand shows in the festival. So when
you get there and you're like, oh, I want to
look at some of these shows and get It's like
you get like a phone book. They have like a
special app on your phone where you can pull up
the app if you're in a certain area of town
and it'll tell you the twenty shows around you that

(27:24):
are starting within an hour of where you're standing. So
the entire city of Edinburgh, which I had never been
to before, is completely taken over by perform like theater nerds,
you know, like everybody, musicians, comedians, everybody, circus everything, and

(27:45):
every single inch of that town, which is a medium
sized town normally is becomes a venue, like like a
closet in a coffee shop will become a venue. I mean,
it is just wild. And millions of people fled through
Edinburgh for this festival, and I guess like a lot

(28:07):
of people who lived there sometimes leave town because they
don't want to be overrun by the festival. They go
on holiday and um, and then they rent out there
flats and stuff, which is what our production did. We
rented two flats. We were like a cast of nine people,
and um, half the casts lived in one and half
the cast lived in the other, like a couple of

(28:28):
walks from each other. Yeah, So it was like real
fun Gorilla God, that sounds like it would be so
much fun. Um I was. We did a stuff you
Should Know UK tour and we went to Edinburgh for
a show and it was just like during the festival
for the festival. No no, no no, it was pre festival,
but a lot of the posters I think it was

(28:50):
in I'd have to look. I think it was in
June or something, but there were already a lot of
posters up. But That's town was just unbelievable. Like I
I was just walking around thinking is this even real?
Or am I Epcot or something? I could not agree more.
I mean as as someone who loves Charleston, like anything

(29:12):
with charm right or like history feeling, you know, it
kind of in a weird way of reminding me because
it felt like a similar size. It's probably a little bigger,
but like um, and everywhere you look is like visually juicy,
you know, Like I just I loved it so much.
Um even if you were there for like say you

(29:33):
were super rich and you were there for the festival
and you were like I'm going to see a show
every like I'm going to see a show from morning
tonight for all of August. I did the math. I'm
not great at math, but you still could only possibly
see not even ten percent of all of the shows

(29:54):
because there are that many shows. Man, it must be
so much fun during the festival, Like it was an
amazing place. But I'm trying to imagine it full of
actors and comedians and yeah, it was great. I saw
so many shows. I um. Because also when you're in
the festival, you get like a badge and and if

(30:14):
you're like if you're the tear of the festival, you're
in you get to see shows, those shows for free
if they're empty seats and stuff like that. But um, yeah,
it's really hard though, to it's hard to get a
show seen there. Though. Yeah, I bet too much stuff
going on. There's too much stuff going on, and you

(30:35):
have to you have to come in so hardcore with
like reviews and stuff from like New York Times or something. Yeah,
how did you guys do with your play? How was it?
We did not do well with It was a very underattended.
I mean, we had a great time, and I loved
my cast, and I wouldn't change that experience for the world. Um,

(31:01):
But because it was sort of um, it was just
a newer show. It was a new original show, and
he didn't have like a huge name draw or anything
like that. And it was in the afternoon, and it
wasn't exactly kid friendly, you know. But so there's just
a lot of producing elements that you have to kind

(31:23):
of cover if you think you want to take a
show to Edinburgh, because yeah, I bet, well you went
to Edinburgh, you're in a play. You had your nights free.
I saw shows every night. I bet it was so
much fun. Yeah, it was so much fun. It was
so much fun. I can't. I feel terrible because, you know,

(31:45):
our show didn't do I wish that I could have
brought something to like some I wish I had like
some like Meryl Streep fame that could have brought people
to the show, because these were my friends that were
producing it, and I wanted them to come out ahead,
you know. But now, did you make like lifelong buddies too? Yes, definitely, definitely.

(32:06):
Like the people on my show I love so much.
They're like so talented. Uh yeah, definitely, and we're all
based in l A. So oh cool. Well that's amazing, Yeah, Mike,
do you know Mike McShane he was in the show
Mike Michael McShane. He's a famous improviser. I don't think so.
Oh well, yeah he was. He does Edinburgh like he's

(32:28):
like famous in Edinburgh really because like he's for that show.
Whose line is it anyway? Okay, I think I know
you're talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's big over there
in the UK improv stuff. Yeah, but yeah, no, it
was fun. Now what kind of stuff before you know,
the great pandemic hit? What kind of stuff do you like?

(32:52):
What's it like as an actor? Uh, auditioning and what
kind of stuff do you go out for? And a
great question. Thanks, that's a good question. Thank you for
asking that, because that is something I've I don't always
talk I don't talk about it a lot, but being

(33:12):
an actor is, um, it is a mental exercise. It
is like there's a lot of psychological athleticism to it
in because there, you know, before the pandemic and I've
had some auditions during the pandemic through Zoom and stuff

(33:34):
like that. But although I don't understand how they're going
to shoot stuff, but uh, they're trying to figure that out. Um,
you know, you're you're on call all the time. You're worried,
like if you leave town that they're gonna they're gonna
be like, oh, you got to call back for Steven
Spielberg and you're like in the middle of nowhere and

(33:56):
you can't you know. Um, although that's never happened to me,
but I'm sure it's happened to somebody. Um, you're just
on call all the time. You get like sometimes you
get close to jobs. I have never said this on
a thing. Well, maybe I can say it more. But
I was up for a role. It would have just

(34:19):
been like one day in a movie, but it was
like one of my favorite directors of all time, and
I was so like I would have died if I
got it, And he wanted to call me directly on
the phone, and he he left me like a message
on my phone, which I I said I would never

(34:40):
delete in my life. Um, And I don't know if
I would have gotten the role. I actually found out
like a couple of months later a friend of mine
was also up for the same role role, but the
movie fell through. So yeah, there were some life rights involved,
and I guess the guy backed out. Well does when
something like that happens? So do you feel like you

(35:01):
get on a director's radar for future work you do,
but you know, it's one of those things where you're like,
what are the chances like when it like his next project.
This guy's like a awesome film director. You know, takes
so long to put a movie together. What would be
roles even remotely, you know, remotely for me, right, that

(35:25):
are appropriate? Yeah? You do, you do? You do? And
then I think more importantly, and this is sort of
there's a ground game in acting, is you feel like, oh,
I've gotten on that casting director's radar because they're the
ones that are doing project after project, maybe three projects
at the same time, you know, and hopefully they'll call

(35:47):
you in. Yeah, it's a little bit about the hustle. Um, Like,
aside from just doing your best and having a great
uh a great audition, Like, what what else can you
do outside of all of that stuff? Uh, to get
jobs and to like, for the hustle part, I think

(36:11):
I want to, I think generate work for yourself. Um.
One of the things I try to do is right
now I'm writing, I'm writing a pilot I hope to
send around when I'm finished with it. It's really close
to being finished. Um, try to pitch ideas, like getting
on pitch meetings, try to stress yourself into these other

(36:32):
little avenues of the industry. Um I yeah, like try
to get on like do plays. I know they don't
pay anything, but like, you know, when I was in Edinburgh,
like the play didn't it do well? But uh, you know,
like the few people that came to see the play,

(36:53):
one of them is now the development director at a
big uh you know whatever. And you keep you know,
you just keep a running list of everyone you come
into contact with. It's like politics in a weird way. Yeah,
and you send thank you cards or you send emails
or just try to stay um, you know, there's a
networking element. I guess. Yeah, podcast podcasting. I guess podcasting

(37:18):
is exposure. Yeah, totally don't really think about I don't know, Um,
I don't know. I mean I'm not the best person
to give advice because I'm unemployed right now. Well, I
mean actors are always unemployed until they have that next job,
and then when it's over, your unemployed again. That's that
is That's very true. That's very true. And it's easy

(37:39):
to like compare your career to other careers and that's
never a good thing because they're never similar careers, right, Yeah,
imagine it's really tough too. And this was sort of
even used to work on on film Cruise that kind
of came up as a p A and an art
department and stuff before I've had a big career change.
But uh, when when teeny commercials and music videos would

(38:04):
get slow and you wouldn't work for a few weeks,
that paranoia kind of sets it in because you think
everyone else is working but me, and you start calling
around and like you're working? Are you working? And usually
no one's working in the case of Cruise, but sometimes
they are and it feels shitty. Yeah, totally, totally. That's
the thing about that's the thing about the psychological athleticism,

(38:26):
because you have to kind of like while you're a
constantly networking, generating your own work and then also being
audition ready at any moment, given moment of your life,
you're also trying to develop like a healthy ego, you know,
mental health, you know, eating well, sleeping, well, it's like,

(38:49):
I mean, it's like your whole freaking life. It's not
you know, you've got to be a complete human with
or without it. Yeah, Yeah, that's really interesting stuff. Um,
you want to real quick before we get going a
big chill. You mentioned like they're trying to figure it out.
My my friend, you know, so much production here in Atlanta,

(39:11):
my friend, uh is just getting cranking on a on
a big, big, big movie in a few weeks here.
And they are bubbling everybody. They are putting everyone in
a hotel, even if they live in Atlanta seven days
a week. They're paying them for seven days, and they're
feeding them three meals a day, and you're not allowed
to see your wife or your husband or your partner. Um,

(39:34):
they're just basically quarantining everybody together, shuttling them to set
and back and forth to the hotel. And that's it.
How long How long is the production? Three months? No way,
it's a big movie. It's um, that's dedication. Yeah, and
you know, of course productions are gonna have to spend
a lot more money to do that kind of thing.
But the alternative is just not shoot. Yeah, they'll lose

(39:58):
money if they don't make the cont in And guess
what they have money. Yeah, they totally have money. Studios
and streaming places like by the way, Like I don't know,
like I'm kind of a news junkie. Netflix I think
has had like an explosion in earnings during the pandemic. Yeah,
well of course, yeah, yeah, so I'm just sort of

(40:24):
there's money. Yeah, totally started making some content. Bubble me.
I'm ready to bubble. Yeah. I mean I miss movies.
I missed new movies. Uh yeah, and and that's gonna lie.
I missed going to the movies. I missed going to
the Vista. I used to live in Los Felis when
I lived there, and you guys lived there for a while,
and the Vista in the was just like my haven,

(40:48):
you know. Yeah. We actually my husband and I Paul
who you know, um he we lived behind the Vista
for almost five years. Yeah, I know right where that is. Yeah.
So we would walk down the street and see movies
at the Vista. And there used to be a Mexican

(41:09):
restaurant there but I think they got rid of it
nearby which one gosh was it was it El Chavo,
El Chavo, I know totally what you're talking about. Yeah,
so we would like eat it El Chavo and then
go see a movie at the Vista and walk back.
It would be like the funnest night ever, and then

(41:29):
get haircuts at Rudy's. Yeah, Paul got it. Haircuts at Rudy's.
I have a lady that I go to, but yeah,
Paul would get haircuts at Rudy It's funny. I go
to Rudy's here in Atlanta, and uh, I kind of
have a thing for Rudy's because I went there in
l A so much. I lived over, I lived off
of I lived at like Santa Monica in Vermont, so
just a few blocks south of Los Felis proper. And um,

(41:52):
I just loved Rudy's. And every time I go to
a city with the Rudy's, I will get my hair cut.
So I've got my haircut at Rudy's in like New
York and Seattle, in Denver, in Atlanta, l Ain, that's great.
I like that. It's my Rudy's. That's your Rudy's brand loyalty.
They should sponsor this episode. They totally should throw some

(42:12):
money or some episodes. If that happens, I'll split it
with you. How about that. That's too generous, but thank you?
All right, So we can get into the big chill,
the let's celebrate the boomers, you know, Yeah, celebrate boomers,

(42:38):
the generation that you love and hate the boomers. Yeah.
So here's my deal with this movie is, Um, I
am forty nine years old. This movie came out when
I was twelve, and my household was not an entertainment
like we watched TV and stuff, but my parents we

(43:00):
didn't like go to the movies as a family or
listen to music. Like my parents never said, oh boy,
you should listen to this, or you should see this
or anything like that. I was kind of on my
own with my brother UM, and we totally found our
music in our movies on our own. But the one
thing that we had in our house was the goddamn

(43:21):
soundtrack to The Big Chill, like on a loop. And
I did with that silly Facebook thing that was going
around that your ten most influential albums recently, and I
did that, and I kind of had to think really
hard about, like what influential really means and not just
favorite or I'm trying to be cool. And I put
the Big Chill soundtrack on there because I was twelve

(43:44):
years old and I was introduced to Motown in a big,
big way because of that soundtrack. I mean, that's interesting
because um, I feel like we're not We're not that
far apart in age, and um, I had Boomer parents
and stuff. I feel like growing up as a Jena Xer,

(44:07):
like I could not escape Boomer anything. Yeah, like it
permeated every cell. I mean, you know, it was like
the music and the ethos and the this and that,
and um, there was just kind of an obsession with

(44:28):
it when when I was when I was coming up. Yeah, absolutely,
I mean, and this soundtrack was huge. It was one
of the big big soundtracks of the eighties and totally
totally kind of like an influential soundtrack period. And they
totally make a big deal about it in the movie.
You know, there's that that great part where Kevin Klein

(44:49):
or I think Jeff Goldblum says, you know, can I
listen to something else? Has been a lot of good music,
and he was like, there is no other music in
my house. Yes, this is this is what we listened to. Yeah. Yeah,
I just felt like, I mean it it is. I
would say it's probably one of the greatest movie soundtracks
of all time. Oh absolutely. And as a twelve year
old who grew up listening to American Top forty and

(45:12):
a total MTV Junkie, Like that's all I did was
watch MTV U, which gave me a lot of good music.
But I had never heard Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson
and this, uh, this opened the door to all that stuff.
And then in Motown, like we listened to a lot
of Motown in my house today, Um, a lot of

(45:34):
Motown playlists and stuff. And it's a lot of I
mean that came straight from the Big Chill. Yeah. It's
like it's like classical music. It's like Beethoven. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Big Chill is another thing, um that I love about
movies that have just a really basic, simple premise as

(45:56):
as a jumping off point, and this movie sets it
up so well and beginning with that, you know, it's
a funeral and a bunch of old friends haven't seen
each other each other in a long time, and go,
there's your movie. Yes, yes, I mean I we had
recently watched Um, I had just rewatched The Big Chill

(46:17):
kind of recently, but Paul had never seen um body
heat oh man, great movie. Which great movie, which is
also Lawrence Kasdin, yes and William Hurt right, yes, yes,
William Hurt and everything. Yeah, and uh and like Lawrence
kasin Is. I mean, he's like written a bunch of

(46:40):
like Star Wars movies and stuff. Yeah, he wrote Empire
and I think he worked on one of the New ones.
I don't remember which one, but yeah, yeah, I think
sort of an underrated director. When I look through his
list of movies, there are some real good ones, and
he hasn't done a great movie in a long time.
But The Accidental Tourist and Body Heat and The Big Chill,

(47:01):
like these are some really really great movies of the eighties. Yes,
and and and The Big Chill. I think he captures
in his writing and he directed it right Big Chill. Yeah,
he directed it and then uh co wrote it let
me see. I mean, oh yeah, he co wrote it
with some with a female writer, Barbara Benedeck. But like,

(47:23):
I think the feat that he accomplished of capturing a
group of uh of people staying in a house over
a weekend, like the whole feeling. I mean, you almost
feel like you're in your staying in this uh vacation
house with with these people. Yeah, and it also, um

(47:50):
it manages to like throw some kind of trophy stuff
in there without it being without it kind of tainting
the experience, Like all the characters are are I was
I was watching last night, and I was thinking, like, oh,
there's there's the guy who's still doing drugs. Uh, there's
the guy who kind of forgot where he came from

(48:10):
and is has sort of sold out from I guess
that's sort of Kevin Klein is a big businessman. Now, Yeah,
he's gonna make a lot of money. Yeah, and they
all seem a little trophy. But then I thought, you
know what if you take a cross section of anyone
that age um, which is hysterical because they were like
a thirty five, I think I'm literally like fifteen years
older than the big chilled people were. It's kind of sad,

(48:33):
but also like they still seem older than me somehow.
But if you took a cross section of any group
of friends in their mid thirties or mid forties or whatever,
it does kind of look like that. I mean, it's
a trope for a reason. Like if I looked at
my friends, you know, I work in podcasting, My friend
owns a wine store, another one sells insurance, and there's
just this big range, you know, especially when you get

(48:56):
out of l a and not everyone you know is
in the in the film industry, people do a lot
of different jobs, and that's what it looks like in
real life. I think the reason that it's successful in
that too is the casting is so amazing, Like those
actors are so real. I mean, you know, like if

(49:19):
I were to think if someone was like pitching a
movie today and they're like, it's going to be a
bunch of like adults at this turning point in their
life dealing with a friend's death in a house for
a weekend, like they would make it so everyone is
so cartoonish. Well, like he sold out. Not only did
he sell out for money, he's like a hedge fund

(49:42):
manager that you know, and he's you over here him
on the phone like firing you know, someone with an
orphan and then and then the tone, the tone is
so special because he trusts you to just like absorb

(50:05):
into the world so organically. And if they were to
make that movie today, they would make it so crazy chaotic,
Like there's the scene where the bat comes in the house,
but it feels real like we've all been in that
house where the bird flew in. But if they did
it in like today's time, like they would knock over

(50:26):
like a huge China cabinet, and like it would be
so chaotic and cartoonish. Yeah, something would catch on fire. Yeah,
it wouldn't feel real. And and I think he strikes
a note with those particular actors who are I've just
got to be one of the greatest ensemble of actors
of all time. Oh yeah, I mean, let's go through

(50:47):
the cast a little bit. It's it's a movie that
under uses Glenn Close, so that kind of tells you
a lot. Yeah, well, it is an ensemble. So my
only beef at all is uh and and you being
from the South to I'm sure this is sort of
a sticking point with you with accents. But and I

(51:07):
never noticed it before, but Kevin Klein is the only
one that kind of he's the only one. Yeah, it's
not good. He's good at them too. I think doesn't
he do one? And um, I'm now I'm going to
say something wrong? Did he do one in Sophie's Choice?
M M. I don't know. I haven't seen that in
so long sense generally, but it's the Southern accent is

(51:32):
so hard and and you know how it is in
movies when you're from the South. It's it's it's it's
just never right. I mean, I guess, like like in
my mind, the way I made it sound them way
I justified it was like Kevin Klein probably did, like
his whole character's backstory is like from South Carolina, because
because the movie takes place in South Carolina in his

(51:56):
home like near Buford or something like that. And and
but they all met at University of Michigan, So I
was like, maybe they all like or from the Midwest
or something like that. Yeah, you know, I just picked
up on that last night that they met at Michigan.
I always kind of figured they were all from South Carolina.
But I don't think that's the case. Alex, who you know,

(52:19):
obviously everyone kind of knows this by now. It was
Kevin Costner casting that role, Alex, who has died. He
lived there because that's where the funeral was and he
had the affair with uh with Sarah, with Kevin Klein's wife, right,
But yeah, I don't think the rest of them we're
supposed to be from South Carolina. And also maybe Kevin

(52:39):
Costner in his cutout scenes did a Southern accident because
I could see him doing it. Because the bull Durham
and stuff. And so you've got Klein who's just a
master um. Yes, Tom Barringer, who uh was so good
in this as sort of a Tom tom sellec type guy. Yeah,

(53:00):
us and he I love his character because he's like
an actor and he's on some cheesy television show and
he's like he's like embarrassed of it. Yeah, it's funny
because he's and you know this as an actor and
being around actors. He's so insecure and just needs that validation,
which is a bit of a trophy thing. But it

(53:21):
works well for this movie because he's he's this big
famous guy, but he gets around his friends and they
kind of make fun of him a little bit, and
it's in a fun way. You know, they're nice, but yeah,
it's really it's really smart they're writing. I even like
the detail though that they are in South Carolina. Maybe
Kevin Klein is from South Carolina and they met in Michigan,

(53:42):
like like Lawrence Kusden. Just he's he makes it real. Yeah.
Yea Mary Kay Place. How much do we love Mary
Kay Place? Oh? My gosh, she's so awesome. She's awesome.
She's still works now, doesn't she she does. And I
just feel like I saw her in something kind of

(54:04):
recently so underrated, Like I never hear anyone talking about
how great she was, and she's probably still great, But
in the eighties she had she was such a good
character actor and in so many good movies and just
had such a warm you just you just want to
hug her. She seems so lovable and and like someone
you know. Yeah, she seems like someone you know. Yeah,

(54:24):
And she's so good as Meg trying to get pregnant,
and I thought all that stuff was played so real
as well. And and today it would have been if
there was a character trying to get pregnant from one
of her friends, it would have been so kind of
corny and hokey. It would have been overwrought. It would
have been like there would have been like just like

(54:45):
virtue signaling issues embedded in the dialogue that yeah, because
you can't have a comedy today unless there's some reference
to what people are is trending on Twitter or something,
you know what I mean? Yeah, Yeah, it was so real, uh,
and you've got I mean the way she played it

(55:05):
with Berenger and everyone sort of turning her down William
hurt is turning her down because I think it's implied
that he's he can't get it up. Yeah, that's the deal, right,
because he's from Vietnam or something, right like he oh,
is that it something happened to him? Okay, I wasn't
sure what that's what he meant when he said, I'll

(55:27):
tell you what happened to me in Vietnam. That's right
before the bat comes in. Yeah, and I think it
means he can't get an erection anymore. Yeah, I think
you're totally right. And then you've got Jeff Goldlin waiting
in the wings. It's like, what am my chuff liver?
And I was watching him and I was like, how
is Jeff Goldlin more handsome in his sixties than he
was in his thirties? But he still was? He was

(55:53):
he was cute. I mean, he was cute, but he
was kind of I don't know, he's kind of gangling.
I think he grew into himself as as an older
man in a very sort of way that I never yeah,
more like distinguished or something. Yeah. Yeah uh. And then
you've got a very under sold Meg Tilly. Oh, Meg Tilly.

(56:14):
She does such a good job with so little in this,
I think, oh my god, I think she's brilliant. I
think she's brilliant. She is, she's great. She doesn't have
a lot to work with. Uh, and it's a it's
a tough role. Is that the one outsider of this
group of close knit friends who was kind of stuck
almost in this Yeah, and she's like like she's like

(56:35):
of a different generation than they are, and yeah, she's
the younger girl. Yeah. Yeah, And a lot of her
um performance was physical, like she's like doing like those
splits and yeah. Yeah, and I find I thought that

(56:56):
was just such a memorable what a great layer. You
know that she's so limber with her body and their
their bodies are starting to break. Yeah. I didn't really
think about that that juxtaposition. Yeah, because like one can't
get pregnant, one can't get it up. That's true, and
they don't. And again, I hate to keep saying this,
but if that this movie were made today, they would

(57:18):
have really overdone her youth and vitality, whereas here's just
sort of a little subtle layer. Yeah. If this movie
we're done today, there'd be a joke about TikTok and
they'd be like is that o' clock, Like the studio
would not have allowed Laurence cast In to fully flesh
out real people. They would be like, you know, yeah,

(57:39):
you're totally right. And then rounding out the cast you
have Joe Beth Williams, who I think it is also
really really under used and performance is touching because she's
like this like unsatisfied wealthy housewife. Yeah, and that is
a trope, but it's a real thing, it is. And

(58:03):
you know all you're doing is waiting for her husband
to leave so she can get down with Tom Berenger,
right right, yes, yes, because they had this old love
that there was never sort of happened. And I love
how she kind of stands up to her to him
in that one scene too, where he says something about, like,

(58:23):
you know, he left his wife because he got bored,
and he was like, if we actually do this, that
might happen with us too, and she's kind of like,
fuck you man, Yeah, totally totally. Yeah, it's like a
real conversation, like a real conversation that you might have
with you know, your old flame from decades before. Yeah. Absolutely.

(58:45):
Another one of my favorite moments is when it's sort
of early on when they're all when they all decide
they can all stay there, and they're all in different
rooms getting the beds together and getting the beds made up.
Barrener and Kevin Kleiner in that amazing attic room with
that super cool roofline, and I'm such a house fiend
and architecture fiend. All I could do is like, look

(59:07):
at this house and these rooflines are going like, oh
my god. But um, he says, they're talking about these
are the two guys that have made a lot of money,
and they have that one line about being former revolutionaries. Uh,
and Klein looks to him and he says, yeah, but
we we don't need the money or the right in

(59:27):
a way that it's like, yeah, they both love the money,
right right, like that like they didn't know what it
was like to make money before and how that would
drive them. Yeah, And yeah, it's easy. It's easy to
say who needs it when you don't have it? Yes? Yeah,
And I mean like that's such a every little moment

(59:52):
drives the theme of the movie in such a subtle, nuanced,
character driven way. And he doesn't like bang us over
the head with it. Um, I don't know now. I
thought it was really subtle. Yeah, and there's no nuance anymore.
I feel like in life or in film, no, Chuck,

(01:00:15):
there's no more nuance. And I talked about this a
lot I have. I really do crave and miss nuance.
And I honestly think it's necessary to make us like

(01:00:39):
deep thinkers and intellectually consistent when we're thinking about things.
I don't know. Yeah, Janey and I got this feeling
when we hung out that one time at max foncom
that weekend. I was like, you and my wife would
love each other. You guys would be pals. I'd love
to meet your wife that. I'm sorry she was not there.

(01:01:00):
She's a lot of fun and she she rails about
the lack of nuance, like on a daily basis in
today's society, how everything is just black and white and
you can't have any real conversation without like planting your
flags so firmly in one camp or the other. I
hate it because it's so judgmental. Um, It's like it's

(01:01:21):
like you're having a conversation. That's a great way to
put it, is about planting your flag somewhere because you can't,
like honestly process and think through where you might fall
on something without like a cacophony of voices from one
side or the other screaming you down. And I guess

(01:01:41):
I'm talking a lot about like social media too, but
I guess social media is part of our lives now
but unfortunately unfortunately, but um, but even just like media
in general, I mean, you try to seek out news,
which is we all have been doing because we want
to know what's going on with the pandemic and the
economy and action and stuff like that. And it's just

(01:02:03):
so crazy. It's so crazy that people go so far anyway,
I don't know, I'm not saying anything that people don't know.
I know, but I'm with you. It's it's a very
discouraging time to h to be in America. It's a
very discouraging time. I could not agree more. And I

(01:02:27):
do and I and our I know, our entertainment like
reflects where we are and all this stuff. But like,
you know, something as simple as the big chill, just
like sort of exploring certain adult emotions and and life
changes and relationships, examining old friendships. Those small things are

(01:02:48):
so relevant at any given moment in time to any
group of people, any any group, any walk of life.
You know that I miss stuff like that in entertainment. Yeah.
And the other thing this movie did so well, I
think was, um, for a movie that's about a bunch

(01:03:10):
of friends getting together and aging and kind of talking
about what's the meaning of life because their friend just
uh died by suicide. Um, it doesn't go like there's
there's surprisingly few scenes of them kind of getting all
trophy with those discussions. It's really there's a couple of

(01:03:33):
them here and there, and you would understand that because
that's really going to happen in life. But uh, it's
really just about them reconnecting and and just enjoying each
other for a little bit. Yes, And I like I
like that it makes you feel the emotions that they
are feeling. Yeah. I like I like stories that that

(01:03:58):
makes you feel and um and and and are less
about our hero does this and then faces consequences and
then overcomes, Like you know, that's useful and and it's
very prevalent. But I love this sort of like character
the journey of like the human condition. Yeah, and and

(01:04:22):
I just I don't see that movie getting made today
unless it's some indie filmmaker doing it, and then there's
no way they can do it as good as Lawrence Caston. Yeah. Well,
it's funny you mentioned that, because when I was watching
last night, I was kind of thinking, this has the
DNA of an independent film in a lot of ways,
but it's also just a movie, like a good old

(01:04:44):
Hollywood movie. Like there are a couple of corny montages,
like the when they're dancing in the house and then
where they're playing football, and it's so cornball, and but
it's fun like it's a it's a real movie movie,
but it has that sort of DNA of an independent film. Him.
I think it has the DNA of an independent film
with like a blockbuster cast, and that doesn't get made today. Yeah,

(01:05:10):
and some of the jokes too, are sort of good
old fashioned movie jokes, like the recurring bit with gold
Bloom sleeping late and always getting everything and he misses
it and he has that one great line. I think
it's either I think they probably do it three times
the rule of threes, but it's always Glenn Close, who's
the only one there after everything has happened, and Golden

(01:05:32):
wanders in and he just sits down with her and
looks around and he goes, are we the first ones up?
The timing on that is so great too. And and
it's after that long speaking of montages, isn't it right after?
Isn't there like a long Oh? No, I know, isn't

(01:05:52):
it after? No, I'm wrong, But there's that scene in
the kitchen where they just set the camera up and
show like it's like a time laps. Yeah, you know,
I love that scene. Yeah. And even the corny football
stuff is kind of fun because you know, you probably
would go out and throw the football around there a

(01:06:12):
bunch of big Michigan football fans. Yes. The other thing
I thought was cool was how and I never really
noticed this in other viewings, was aside from the funeral, uh,
and then I guess the cop comes to the house.
There's no one else in the movie. And even the
scene with that great shot of of Kevin Klein and
William Hurt when he's on his morning run and William

(01:06:34):
Hurts walking along with him down the middle of the street.
It's like a ghost town. Yeah, there's no one, there's
no extras, there's no anything. And it's that had an effect.
I think of these people, just like all the focus
being so firmly rooted on this cast. Yes, it has
such a good observation. Weird, it's almost like a horror movie.

(01:06:57):
I love it. I like I love to One of
the things I love You mentioned the funeral scene, which
is the opening of the movie. Yeah, and really long. Yeah,
it's really long. And this is where we're introduced to
every single main character of the movie. I mean, and
he introduces the cat, the ensemble. Cat is so perfect

(01:07:19):
like everybody's reaction to what's going on, you can kind
of it's like he's planting the seed of who they
are instantaneously. And then when they start playing on the organ,
the rolling Stones, you can't always go what you want, like,
you know now what you're you know what you're in for.
You know exactly the tone of this movie. Yeah. And

(01:07:42):
I'm always harp on the show about efficiency of character
set up, and uh, he's so efficient with how he
does that in that in that funeral scene, you know
who all these people are, and Joe Beth Williams sits
down that organ and it segues into the real song
and it also sets you up for the for the
soundtrack too. Yes, it does. It does the awesome soundtrack, Uh,

(01:08:06):
the which you know at the end that finally comes
around with the great sequence to uh, you make me
feel like a natural woman, when everyone's kind of paring
off and betting down for the night, kind of hooking up.
It feels like that Summer Camp, like the last night
of Summer Camp, when everyone's finally hooking up a little bit. Yeah,

(01:08:26):
in such a sweet thing that Glenn Close allows. You know,
I just couldn't even get over it. I know that's
that is. Yeah. I guess like maybe he was saying,
like in their own ways they are revolutionaries, Like they

(01:08:48):
can be revolutionary within the boundaries of their friendships and
relationships and the empathic and give in ways that maybe
aren't like you know, marching on Washington and toppling the
patriarchy or whatever. I don't know. Maybe No, I agree,

(01:09:08):
and and and I think, um, again, it's so subtle
in the way he just sort of hints at their past.
There's the one line about revolutionaries. And then I think
gold Bloom or Klein has a line, uh about owning
a house or whatever, and he would they never thought
when they were young, and he goes, yeah, that's when
property was a crime. Um, it's just a couple of

(01:09:31):
lines in the movie, and if it were made today,
it would be so overdone. They would talk about they
would get in these big arguments about how they used
to be and how they challenge the man and in
the establishment, and and then there would be flashbacks. Yeah,
you're probably right with young hot actors playing him that
don't look at anything like them. It's so true. Um.

(01:09:55):
And you know the end, they they Mary kay place
uh in Kevin Klein Um have sex to get her
pregnant and it's such a sweet, tender scene and just yeah,
it's just so well played. I think it's just such
like a pure active generosity and compassion and not cheap
in any way. Yeah, And she has that line earlier

(01:10:17):
when she's talking to Glenn Close about it about getting
one of the guys there to impregnator, and she's like really,
and she's like, these are my friends, Like I love
these men. Of course I want one of them to
to have the seed of my child. And then there
but and also but it's like super complicated too, because
Glenn Close did cheat on him with the dead with

(01:10:41):
this dead guy. So yeah, I didn't really think about it.
If there is that a bit of a I had mine,
you can have yours moments. I think it's a lot.
I think it's every all of those things, to be honest, Yeah,
I think it's like human beings are complicated. I think
that's the you know, like we're complicated. That this is uh,

(01:11:04):
the life's journey is is not pure, that it's it's
riddled with layers and complexity. I don't know, yeah, complexities
and stuff. Yeah, so I mean, yeah, and she did.
There is a great scene where she's grieving the lost

(01:11:28):
friend in the ship, Like she's in the shower and
the shower crying. Yeah, and you get to really see
Glenn Close's like serious acting chops. Yeah, because he you know,
he died there. He died, he killed himself in that
house in the bathtub. Yes, and you know they dance
around it a little bit, but also make a couple

(01:11:48):
of jokes. She makes a joke at one point, and
then it's like, what an awful thing I just said?
I think just said Yeah, and that's so real because
people do you think that's true? Like when we grieve,
he like we we have to flip into humor sometimes
just to deal. And there's no roadmap. You know, there's
no right way to handle one of your old friends,

(01:12:10):
and in her case, you know, loved Yeah. Yeah, gosh,
Now I want to watch the movie again. I've seen
it more than once already. Did Paula see this? Does
he like this movie? Um? He did not rewatch it
with me. I I rewatched. He was like doing a
podcast or something in his office, and I was like, oh,

(01:12:33):
I'm going to rewatch The Big Chill. And to just
a full disclosure, I was watching it for research purposes
for this, for the pilot I'm writing right now, because
it's a you know, I want it. I want it
to be written by Lawrence Kasden. It's a good move somehow,

(01:12:55):
but I guess like it'll be through my fingers on
the keyboard it somehow, Like I wanted to channel him.
That was my That was my wish that if I
watched it it would rub off onto my my my
creative being or something. So yeah, So I was watching

(01:13:16):
it and I was like a blubbering mess. Like I
was like crying. I mean, and I you know, I've
seen the movie, but like those actors are just like
I love them so much. And yeah, he didn't watch
it with me, but um, maybe I'll watch it. If
I watch it again, maybe i'll I can get him

(01:13:38):
to revisit it because he did like Body Heat. He
did not he had not seen Body Heat, and then
we watched it and he did like it. Totally different movie,
totally different movie. But you know, still seem writer. I
guess so well, right, Jenny, I think we did it

(01:14:01):
the Big Chill from such a good movie. Um, great movie,
great soundtrack, great casts, two writers of it. Maybe I
should be channeling the female half of the writing team. Well,
if you're channeling Big Chill, you're channeling both. I'm channeling
Lawrence because he he had the vision for the tone
and stuff. I guess. And if you're if you're sort

(01:14:24):
of okay boomer, no thanks right now, like a lot
of people, set that aside and give this movie a
try if you haven't seen it. It is very subtle
and it is very nuanced, and there is a lot
of complexity, and they don't make movies like this a
lot anymore. No, And I only I only get mad
at boomers because they're spending all of our social security.

(01:14:49):
That's that's my whole thing. And they're like the biggest
population that votes. So I'm hoping that changes now. I'm
being like, you know, that'll cheer change because some of
the boomers don't vote very well. They're bad at voting.
Not the boomers I know and raised me. But you

(01:15:11):
know that's good for you. My personal boomers are are cool,
good mine. Our family yeah, oh that's tough man. So
there's like there's some political divide. Well, I mean, my
family are all conservative but me, but they're they're not

(01:15:31):
Trumpers though, and there's a difference. I agree. I agree.
Do you think you go embrace Biden or just kind
of stay home? I don't know, and I don't ask.
I don't think I want to know. Um, I don't know.
Good question. They age? Are they in Georgia? Okay, so
you did a deal, all right, Jennie. Well, thanks for

(01:15:55):
coming on. I appreciate you sitting down with me. It
is fun, fun hang and thanks for having me. Thanks
for listening to Stay at Home Kins. Yeah, it's great
Stay at Homekins. You can find it is. I don't
think we said it's a podcast you do with your
husband Paul if Tompkins and Quarantine. It's just YouTube being
fun and sweet and funny and goofing around and talking

(01:16:15):
about TV and any anything that comes up. It's a
lot of fun and very funny and you should check
that out. Anything else where where can they find you?
On Twitter? I'm on Twitter at Janie Haddad okay. I'm
on Instagram at Lebanese Looker okay. And I say, please
find our podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts and day

(01:16:38):
at Hompkins. Yeah. Thanks Jennie, take care you too, Thanks, Chuck,
take care of be safe alright, everyone, I hope you
like that. I hope you are as charmed by Janey
as I always am. She's so much fun and such

(01:16:59):
a nice person and very funny. And it was good
to have a brief Internet hang and uh, to hook
up with someone on the Left coast and chit chat
about a very good, good old classic film, a movie
that I think we both agreed just doesn't get made
like this anymore. It would be a much much different

(01:17:19):
movie these days, not nearly a subtle or nuanced or complex,
and much more obvious. So we were both grateful for
for this conversation to be able to talk about the
big chill and the great Lawrence casting and that amazing
cast and hope you all enjoyed it too. Go watch it.
If you haven't, it is on Amazon Prime right now.
If you have that, you can watch it for free.

(01:17:39):
So uh, that's it for us. Thanks for tuning in,
and until next time, take care of yourself, Go wash
your hands, stay at home where that goddamn mask Google
crushes produced that thing and engineered by Ramsay unt here

(01:18:02):
in our home studio at pont City Market, Atlanta, Georgia.
For i Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio,
visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows,