June 12, 2025 • 37 mins
Loft meeting! Loft meeting, Babes. We've got the Max Winkler in the house. When he was just starting, he met a comedy wunderkind, Jake Johnson. The two formed a powerful friendship, eventually leading them to Elizabeth Merriwether. The rest, as they say, is history. Max would go on to direct Cooler, where Nick and Jess kiss for the first time. He also directed Tinfinity, a special episode in Hannah's heart.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm really good. I'm really happy to see you. I
was just thinking about you.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I was talking to the person who's writing the book
about New Girl and talking about you.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Wait, what book about New Girl?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Someone's writing a book about New Girl.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I gave give an interview. I'm sure they'll they'll come
to you.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Last really yeah, I genuinely have. I don't even know
what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's like a full, like giant book by this journalist.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Wait, it's not just Jessica Radlough, is it was it
Jessica No, who did the Big Bang Theory book?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
No?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Someone else? Yeah, Well, hopefully this podcast is full to
them that could just listen to this podcast, because we've
had everybody on and everybody's been really like honest about
their experience. How pretty honest? Wow, pretty honest about their experience,
(01:14):
which has been nice. It's been really nice for La
Morn and I because we've learned so much stuff that
happened that we didn't know happened. Right, So I guess
this book will lend itself to that too. So today Max,
we are having what we call a loft meeting. You
directed seven episodes across season two and three, including the
(01:35):
season three premiere. Right now, we are in the middle
of ending season two on the podcast. We're near the end,
so you are the perfect guest to kind of help
us transition from season two to season three. What was
your New Girl origin story? Like, how did you get
involved and how did you get to direct your first episode?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's two pronged things. It was a relationship with Jake
Johnson that started probably seven years before A New Girl
where I was making a web series with Clark Duke
and Michael Sarah called Clark and Michael, and we were
filming the finale of it was like a very ahead
of its time web series. I'd say that, not patting
myself on the back, but patting Michael and Clark on
the back. And it was like a web series before
(02:20):
web series is basically where.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know you had.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
It was like, I think it was like the one
of the first ones with like two people's first names,
And we were filming the finale and it's a scene
where Michael Sarah has to audition for a network television
show and his scene partner in the audition room improvised
with Michael Sarah in a way I'd never met anybody
(02:45):
in my life that was as funny as Michael Sarah
Or could go toe to toe with him improvisationally. And
this guy had a mustache and there was something dangerous
about him, and there was something that was just I
had never seen before. It was a fully formed comedic
voice that I hadn't seen. There wasn't It wasn't like, oh,
he's doing this, or he comes from apatow Er, he
(03:07):
comes from Vince Vaughn and those guys like And I
was like, who is this fucking guy?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And I went and I met him.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I said Hey, I'm Max, and he said hey, I'm Jake,
and it was Jake Johnson. And we fell in love
and we started He took me to like This cop bar.
It was our first date. He took me to like
This cop bar, and we started talking about why we
felt like The Deer Hunter was a comedy and why
we wanted comedies to feel more like that, and he had.
(03:36):
He's from a very specific part of Chicago. Grew up
in car dealerships and you know, collecting junk and putting
in the back of a pickup truck. I grew up
in Los Angeles on the West Side, and we were
like the odd couple, and we immediately were like no one.
We had no represent We had no representation, we had
no managers, we had no age, or maybe he had
an agent, but like, no one gave a shit about
(03:58):
either of us, and we started writing shows. We pitched
a show. We ended up doing this insane television show
that we filmed in my backyard that we wrote like
one hundred and fifty five page bible for about a
guy who goes on a on a on a reality
show about being a prisoner of Warren has a nervous
(04:20):
breakdown and thinks it's all very real, which is very
Jake obviously, and we went we somehow attached. We somehow attached.
By this point then I had an agent. We uta
was like, you guys got to meet the reality television
producers are Breaking Bonaducci.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
We're like, great, we'll do that. So we end up going.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
We somehow get in the door to pitch with Jake,
me and the reality television producers of Breaking Bonaducci, and
we go in.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
No one knows who any of us are.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
We stopped it, put in a DVD of the make
it of the thing we filmed, and people are like
We're like, and we're gonna leave behind this one hundred
and seventy five page bible. You guys can read it.
We won't pitch it. Needless to say, nobody bit like.
It was the great failures of Hollywood history, and we
(05:09):
constantly trying to make things. We wrote so many movies
that no one has ever seen or or knows about,
and it wasn't I made my first movie and the
first thing I did was cast Jake Johnson and it
was called Ceremony. And I couldn't get the financiers. The
financ series were too intimidated by him. So I had
(05:29):
Jake meet with this financier who's this really gentle, nice
Mexican billionaire who had like concerns about Jake, like as
a as a person. And I was like, Jake, you
need to do your hair weird, you need to shave
your mustache, and you need to go in in a suit.
And Jake bought a suit. I don't believe he owned
a suit at the time. And he went and he
met with this guy and let me hire him. And simultaneously.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Now like kind of like a writer and a director
and like wanting to make my first movie, and there
was a script that everybody was obsessed with, and it
was called Fuck Buddies, and it was the most brilliant
romantic comedy I'd ever read. Everyone's like, no, it's like
a Monda Harry and Sally like it's great, it's gonna
bring romance comedies like none of them are. This actually
was that. It was the greatest script I had read
(06:19):
about from the male and female perspective of dating and sex.
Everyone was lined up and wanted to direct it and
everyone wanted to star in it. And I couldn't believe
how funny and sad and it was like it kind
of I was like, who the fuck wrote this? And
everyone's like, it's this this playwright. She's from Michigan, she went,
(06:43):
She's just moved to town, and like the town was
like everyone was talking about Liz Merriweather, this writer, and
I ended up becoming friends with her.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I think it was through Jason Rightman maybe, who ended
up producing the first movie.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
With Jake, But I became really close with Liz and.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
We talked about Lame as a Rob and our favorite
plays and I just we we love hanging out, and
she ended up meeting my friends, one of whom was
named Schmidt and really, yeah, my best friends.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Named Schmidt get out of town.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Okay, yeah, And she thought my group of friends, just
like Jake Johnson, was very funny and strange, and I
adored her and loved her, and we became friends simultaneously. Now,
by the time my movie was made and I was
editing my movie, we couldn't afford an editing room, so
I was editing it in my house, in my childhood bedroom,
(07:38):
and Liz Merriweather was now a very very hot writer
getting paid money to rewrite movies, one of whom being
a movie that I wrote with my friend Matt Speiser
and my friend Jonah Hill that Akiva Schaeffer was going
to direct, called Adventure's Handbook. They were rewriting that movie
to go into production that never ended up going into production. Downstairs,
(08:00):
was editing my movie upstairs, so Liz would keep coming
upstairs and watching scenes for me and giving me thoughts,
and she kept seeing Jake and obviously fell in love
with Jake. Now, simultaneously, Ivan Rightman was ending up directing
Fuck Buddies, which was now called No Strings Attached, and
(08:21):
we Liz and I both and Jason Wrightman wanted Jake
to be in no strings attached, So Ivan came to
our screening room and or our editing room and we
showed him no strings attached. It was all We all
did whatever we could to make it happen because we
knew like being around Jake at that time period was
like being around a time bombink.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
You knew he was.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
He had this unique set of skills, and he has
something that very few movie stars have, which is you
either want to have sex with him or have a
beer with him, and some people want to do both.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
And he ended up.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Getting the part, and we stayed best friends, and we
stayed working together, and he had an amazing time working
with Liz and everyone on that movie. And by the
time a New Girl came around, you know, he.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Was really set up to do it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
He's still tested and everything, but it was it was
great and so and Liz and I stayed friends throughout
that whole process too. I had made that movie. That
movie had come out around the first season of New Girl.
No one gave a shit about it. It did terribly,
and I really wanted.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
To do a shit about it. I saw ceremony and
I loved it. Thank you you oh so much, but
truly thank you. I did. I really I remember watching
it and I remember loving it, and I was like, wow,
it's rare to see films like this anymore. I remember,
I remember where I was when I watched it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Actually, where were you on an airplane? No?
Speaker 4 (09:52):
No, I was in a friend's living room, and I
feel like people were like kind of wandering in and out,
and I was just like wrapped.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I was in the It was a theatrical experience too.
People were just coming in. So needless to say, that
movie came out.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I needed money because I was broke and all I
wanted to do was New Girl became, as you know, just.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
A supernova. It became.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
It became this magical thing like kind of the last One,
that was just beloved by everybody. Everybody watched. It was
a live experience people talk about the next day. Zoe
doing television at that era was like unprecedented. She was
like a movie star. She was beautiful, she was talented,
she was funny. It captured what I never watched friends.
(10:42):
Believe it or not, but it captured what everyone said
about friends, which was you just want to be with
these people and you want these people in your living room.
And I really really wanted to direct it a because
I was broke, and be because I wanted to hang
out with you guys because I was such a fan
of the show. And every buddy did everything they could,
like Liz did everything she could, Jake has him was
(11:03):
super helpful, and Jake obviously fought for me. And then
by the time second it was you know, first season
was so hard to get. It was like these crazy
feature directors, like coming in and doing television was wild.
And then by second season, they were like, we'll find
a slot for you. We don't know what episode it's
get me. I was like, I'll They're like, just be ready.
I was like, bro, I have nothing and I'm ready. Yeah,
(11:27):
Like I'm ready, Like just love, you know, And that
was my story. So it was like through the back door, basically.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Wild. I had no idea that your relationships ran so
deep with Jake, Like I knew you were friends and
knew that you guys knew each other, but I didn't
realize that you guys had been trying to find a
way to work together, be together and continue it creatively
for that long beyond.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
He's like my brother.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
He's like my older brother. I still call him about
stuff when I'm having a hard time about being a
dad or I just had to put my dog down
recently in the first person I called was Jake. If
that says anything, all right, Yeah, think no, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
It was for the best that.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
It's interesting because he serves that purpose for I think
so many of us. Yeah, Like I always call him
my unofficial manager.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Like I'll call him like when I get an offer
or something comes through and I'm like, should I do this?
Does this matter? Should I fight for this point in
the deal. And he's the only person I truly believe
will tell me the truth. He's the person he'll just
be like, this is about ego. Forget this, Why are
you talking about this part? This is what you need
to focus on. This is what you need to push for.
I know Lemourne the same thing with Lemourne, He's just
(12:36):
become this like de facto, like super honest big brother
that genuinely has your interests at heart, but will also
tell you when you're being a real idiot about something.
And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful relationship to have, and
it's rare. I don't have many people like that in
my life.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
No, it's Lamourne is an incredible person too.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Yeah yeah, I mean he's like my real like brother brother.
He just kind of came into that world and had
no idea about anything and just felt so lucky. I
remember Jake actually was the one who talked me into
like finally selling my like old beater car, you know,
because he had just done it himself. Jake and I
(13:20):
walked that path too, of just being like is it
safe to do so? Like are we actually going to
keep a job? Are we actually gonna make money? What
is this? And he would He was one of those people,
at least for me, where Jake just didn't front you
know what I mean. There wasn't like the pretension of
prictic I've ever met. Yeah, it's really special. It's funny
you talk about fuck buddies because I actually, I think
(13:41):
I like blocked it out because I wanted it so badly,
and so my brain just went like, let's just get
rid of this, like it's like trauma and hurt. But
I auditioned for it. I auditioned for that role and
had no idea who Liz was. But I remember having
the same reaction when I just read this. I didn't
get the script because I was like nobody, they just
(14:02):
sent me like my one page of side and just
reading that, I was like, Who's like, who wrote this voice?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I know?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
It was so special? And but Ivan Rightman was in
the room. Who in Canada, I mean for everybody was
like a huge hero, but like in Canada is the guy? Yeah,
and I think I just walked in and the whole
thing felt so surreal that I was standing in front
of Ivan Rightman that I was like fully out of
my body, like I said the words, but I couldn't
(14:30):
focus on what was happening. Yeah, and then Mindy got.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
The role right, It's crazy, I mean Greta Mindy, h.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, it was. Yeah, the script was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Unbelievable. And then at the same time, I remember like
another movie with a very similar name but similar premise
came out right and people got them confused all the time.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah, which was like Dante's peak volcane the Thagorean theorem.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Right, it was like a very weird thing.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And and say deep impact, no strings attached, friends with benefits.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Oh that's right, that's what it was called I need
to ask you this because it's we you know, put
out there that we were talking to you. And I
would say nine out of the ten questions that kind
of came in were all about you directing probably in
the top three most iconic New Girl episodes of all time.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, which is you're talking about in Infinity?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
No, it was for me, by the way. Tinfinity was
huge for me because for my storyline, I was like, WHOA,
They're really like investing in this and pushing this forward
in season two. And I'll never forget there was so
many weird things that happened in shooting that episode. And
the thing I'll never forget is being under a tent
and it was raining and it was cold, and there
(15:56):
was like this thing around this jacket I had to wear.
But I'll never forget. You're like just relentless, infectious enthusiasm
of just genuinely being so happy to be there and
to do the scene. And it was like really nice.
It was really nice, like you were excited to work
(16:16):
with actors as opposed to being like caught up in
the thing or like feeling stressed. It was like you
just like, I'm glad you got how like lucky we
all were to do it. And I think a lot
of it is at that point had been kind of
like getting a bit grumpy because we that was a
bit of a confusing episode, But I remember. I just
(16:37):
remember you walking in with like the biggest smile in
your face and being like, all, we get to do this,
and it.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Was have that reflected to me because it didn't feel
like that at the time.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
No, I remember that because I was feeling overwhelmed and
you did something that you know, brilliant directors do, which
is like you got me to forget about like what
my personal experience was and to remember one, I'm really
lucky to be here and to this day of work
is going to be like really fun and we're going
to get to go with it, and then the other
things matter as long as we're just like going to
dive right into this scene. I remember that clearly. Okay, good, Yeah,
(17:08):
But that's not the episode people ask about. They ask
about cooler yes, and the most iconic moment at the
end of that episode, and people want to know how
much of it came from the director, how much of
it came from the script, how much of it was
just the magic of Jake and Zoe, Like, what do
you remember of that big moment?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
It was my first episode, it was my first job
in TV, really, and I had no idea what it was.
I just saw it just said like two oh seven
or two o six the cooler and it was like
a full like Aaron zor getting type like like just
like the network of all the studios evolved, Like the
(17:49):
kiss was such a big deal. The whole episode is
actually really good, but the kiss was like everyone was involved.
There was just like there was so much tension. It
was like getting incredible television experience I've never had really where.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
The stakes were so high.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Because it's different when you filmed something and then it
comes out a really long time agoing like a bundle
or a drop, Like it was so important and like
we filmed that on the last day. I believe the
kiss was in the last day. The it just was
(18:27):
like a it was really I felt really lucky to
be there, and it felt really cool, and it felt
really great that I got to do it with Jake
and that I got to do it with Liz and
I got to meet all you guys, and it felt
like important actually, like and it was like and it
felt important because A I'd never done television before and
b there was so much network and studio involvement about
(18:51):
all of it. They were there for rehearsals, they would
come in and out, we would have meetings, Jake would
be there. It was just like this very big deal.
It felt like my favorite movie is The Sydney Lamet
Movie Network and it just like had a network vibe
to it. It just like the stakes felt so high
at the time, even though it was like a sitcom
and a kiss on a sitcom of a with a
(19:11):
very prominent will they won't they relationship and they both
like they were so close at that point, and Jake
is so good at making people feel comfortable and Zoe
was such a pro, and it felt it was after
this really long week of filming that was like very
fun and cozy, I think, and like that. I think
the most setups I've ever done in my life in
(19:33):
a movie or a television show was the day when
we did the true American thing like that was I
think it was like I remember, I remember we did
like one hundred and seventy seven setups. It was the
craziest because we're just making up the rules that as
we went, and then by the time it actually came
to the kiss, like we figured out the blocking and
we figured out the moment. It was all in the script.
It was very planned, but then you just don't know
(19:55):
what's going to happen when you say action, like it
just like and that I'm pretty sure was the take.
I mean, I'm sure we did it more than once,
but like it never got better than the first time.
And I remember after we did it the first take,
everyone applauded, and it was like a very big deal
and it was just kind of like an I just
(20:16):
kept being like I cannot believe that someone gave Jake
and I drive ons, and like we're not parking across
the street and walking onto the studio for general meetings anymore.
Like it was a real pinch me moment just for that.
And the show then came out and it was like
a huge deal and like it was like a big
(20:38):
like water cooler, all those buzzwords kind of moment, and
like it it was such a big deal that Jake
and I ended up getting a studio deal off of
that one episode. We got we got we got a
production company. If you remember, it was called Walcott. We
made zero shows. We made one file, but we had
like an office on the lot. It just felt like
like the last days before, like you know, Heaven's Game
(21:00):
like took out the studio system. It was like kind
of like where pod deals were just like reckless and
also pointless and like the worst idea ever were like
you'd pick like a guy to studio, would give everybody
the same person like Drod Carmichael, like get him to
develop with you. Then everyone would take drawd Carmichael out
to dinner and like try and then like he would
go with somebody else and you'd be like fuck. And
(21:21):
it was just like it just was like I was like,
how is this happening right now? Like what is going on?
Like and yeah, I was like honored to be a
part of it. And it's still after everything I've done
for however many years. Like one of the things that
I hear about the most is like that episode in
that moment.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah, it's a funny thing because like I when the
show aired, I watched it, but I've never rewatched the
show except for this podcast, right, so I kind of
had forgotten about Cooler, Like I knew it was a
big deal. I know about the kiss, but I you know,
I wasn't there on the day to watch it. I
must have watched it whatever that is a decade ago now,
(22:01):
but then yeah, I just rewatched it, and man, it's
like you get weird goosebumps, which is interesting to hear.
Then how produced all of it was right? That there
was so many people and which, as you know, when
you start to like load in all the cooks sometimes
then it just it you feel it when you see it.
(22:22):
You're just like, this is there's there's too much going on,
And that is like such a credit I think also
to to Jake and to Zoe that they could kind
of like cut through all the noise that was probably
happening around them. I think Rebecca Adlman, who wrote.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
The episode, yes, she.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Said that she like gasped out loud, like audibly almost.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
In the way it was truly insane, and like I
just feel like, doesn't happen anymore, like it just like
people wouldn't have had the patience to let it happen
in season two, even though some people thought it came
to early. Like I just like it was such a moment.
And again, the thing that makes it different. It makes
it feel unproduced, is having two stars do it and
like Jake like grabs her like and he's like, it's
(23:04):
just like fucking hot. Like there it is so good
and they had such incredible chemistry that it just becomes iconic,
you know, and not just like a lame kiss on
a television show.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah, there's also credit though, It's like so much credit
to you too, that you could just stand back and
let it happen, right, because sometimes when the pressure is
put on you so like on a director, I think
so much, then all of a sudden, their hands kind
of get sticky in the business of what's about to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, that's that's when things get shitty.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Right, Like can you just like step back and now
just like trust that they've got it? Yeah, And we've
all seen when a director can't do that, and all
of a sudden, then it's like stilted and you don't
you can't even get like the breath of what's going
to happen afterwards, which is sometimes the most beautiful moment,
which is what happens in this kiss.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I was very willing to be surprised, and I was
very willing to like have the experience of they never
kissed until he said action, not on rehearsals or anything
like that.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
So I was very interested to just see it.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
It didn't work, I would have said something, but obviously
I knew it would work, and it did. So there
was very little for me to say except like, great,
let's do another one just in case.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yeah, amazing, What an incredible moment. I had no idea.
We had a few fans that wrote in some questions
just for you. Sure, So this one is from Andy
in Massachusetts, he said. Lamuran wearing the red suit from
Delirious was hilarious. Just the look of him in the
suit killed me. As a director, how do you enhance
the comedy in that moment? Did you give lamore in
(24:43):
any specific directions?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
No idea, but probably not.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Mourn in the Delirious Red Suit is funny enough and
very little you have to do to make that funnier.
And just like I just I just found Littlemourn so funny,
and I found him so.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Patient like to.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Find like because he really just like his star just
kept rising and rising and rising as the show went on.
Because the part was he came in late, and so
everyone was trying to figure out like how do we
make Winston iconic? Where it's like, actually, just to embrace who.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Lamarn is ended up being what did it?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Because he's so human and you can get him doing anything,
and I just I think, like, yeah, I think like
like I just thought that was inherently very funny.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Yeah, it's funny. Lamar talks about this a lot. How
season one he rewatches and it's a little hard for
him because he can tell he doesn't know who Winston
is because they didn't really know who Winston was, and
so he can't really do all the brilliant stuff he's
capable of because it didn't exist. There was no way
(26:03):
for him to kind of get there. And then season two,
it starts to click. It starts they start to understand him,
They start to write better for him. He starts to
trust himself and like kind of dive into it more.
And it was saying there was like a big shift.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
It was the same with Ceci like it they I think, like,
you are so disarmingly pretty that some people can first
not understand how talented is of a comedian you are,
and how natural you are and how funny you are
and how game you are and so Schmidt is like
a we get Schmidt pushment in any situation. They could
write for Schmidt in their sleep, Nick Zoey, like for
(26:42):
Winston and CEC. Like, you guys just kept growing and
growing and growing as the writers just started having more
trust and understanding how talented you guys are that by
the end of the season, you guys were as good
as anyone in character arcs and stuff like that, because
you guys are so talent did and it was like, yeah, thank.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
You for saying that. That's so kind. Yeah it's la
Morne and I talk about this too, where I mean,
I don't know if this is something that you recognized
or are felt when we work together, but I feel
like when I got that role, it was it took
me a while to almost like step out of a
(27:25):
place of feeling so so hyper grateful first, like before
you even get to like the work and the fun
of it, because there was except for Mindy, who had
just started the MINDI project, like there was no or
no she can do year after with the MINDI project.
Besides her on the office, there was no one that
(27:46):
was like Indian who has just got to be like
an American friend on TV. You had to like do
the weird accent or if you were a girl, you
had to be like just like just fully eroticized the
entire time. And Liz, you know, wrote this friend called Ceci.
I happened to then book this role, and I happened
(28:07):
to be Indian and so but she just kind of
like was like, no, this is about like how she
fits in the front group, and this is her dynamics
with everyone else. And there felt like this huge There's
two things that were happening at the same time. For me.
One was like this this gratefulness of like how did
I get here? This didn't exist, there was no path, right,
(28:28):
and so all of a sudden, I've landed here because
Liz just saw me as like a good a good
fit for this role. And then this pressure right of
like making sure that if something was written that was
a bit of a stereotype or push to like finding
my voice and making like I felt like the pressure
of all these young girls and boys that kind of
(28:50):
look like me watching and to go like how do
I make sure I don't lean into all the stuff
that I've seen that I have found offensive and just
and creating this idea in people's head of what a
South Asian person is when we're just like humans walking
this planet like everybody else. And so I remember that
(29:10):
and I can see it in myself in season one
of taking things a little too seriously and being scared
to take chances and to be able to do those
things because I didn't want to do the wrong thing
and hurt or kind of offend what could be a
massive opportunity going forward. And it was la more than
I talk about that a little bit too much of
(29:31):
like not wanting to like screw it up for ourselves,
and then also just on a bigger picture of like
this moment of representation. And so I'm grateful that you
and I met in season two where all of a sudden,
I was like, this is safe. This is a safe place.
They're going to hear me if I feel uncomfortable for it,
and they're always going to, like I've seen how the
(29:51):
show had been edited and put together. They're always making
sure that this show was in the absolute best light,
and so are our characters. And that was something I
had to learn as this show was happening. So I've
never done anything before on this level.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I know.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Yeah, it's interesting. It was just an interesting like path
I think for so many of us because it was
so big, so fast, right talking about you and Jake
getting like, you know, a pod deal. Afterwards you're just like,
am I ready for this? Can I do this? Wild?
Like the launch pad of New Girls.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
It was insane.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
It was totally insane, and I just I don't It's
just as far as network television goes, it's just not
that the show would never be on Fox anymore, would
be on Netflix, or would be on Hulu, or it
would be on.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
F fact like whatever.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
It just like it just was a different time where
like the amount of people that watched the Super Bowl
were watching this show on a daily basis, and it
just are on a weekly basis.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
It was just it was just such.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
An interesting time that feels so antsy now.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Weirdly, Yeah, I know, I always say it's like the
dinosas like it was like the last of the Dinosaurs,
Like that's not happening anymore. Too much has shifted, too
much has changed, which makes you realize.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
How experimental playwright who wrote like plays about feminism and
sex and like in black box theaters was like now
running this this TV show that like had to figure
out how to make afford product placement, like for like trucks,
(31:26):
like make sense was just a wild thing to be happening.
And it was like my friend Liz, you know, it
was just like it was so funny to just be
like in the writer's room, passing the writers women just
like see Liz like brushing her teeth and her pajamas,
like walking out from the writer's room into her office.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
It's just like different time.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yeah, it's weird. I feel like that's when you start
to realize like that time feels just so like elastic,
right because like you can remember when y'all had nothing
going on and then all of a sudden, you guys
are like, yeah, Kings and Queens of the lot, Like
how does that happen?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Wild?
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Wild? Yeah, I remember I still to the last day
that we drove on to that lot. You talk about
getting like the drive ons and then being able to
like park like at the stage and not like way
deep in some parkade and like walking through and like
dragging your whatever your shit with you.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Four negative fifty seven of guts and.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
You're like, oh, I feel like when earthquake happens, like
I'm just going to be crunched. Yeah, it's it's it's
strange how it happens so fast and so slow, and
how it really feels like true before and after in
your life.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I know, it's.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Incredible how lucky we were. Okay, the last question I'll
ask you is from Laurie and Tallahassee, which is which
New Girl character would you rather commit to having a
weekly eight am coffee with for a year.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I would say at them in character.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
It says a New Girl character I.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Feel like I could have.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
It would be like a very steady standard. She would
be there on time plan if I If I did
it with CC, I feel like anyone else there would
be too many. I'll choose cec as mine.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Well, that's very kind of you. I thought you for
sure'd be like Nick Miller. I could talk about that.
That's also true if you haven't copying by yourself.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Yeah, I don't want to do that. I feel like
the most reliable answer is.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I'm gonna speak in one more because I actually want
to know the answer to this. What scene from New
Girl was your favorite to direct? What came out even
better than you expected it too?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
It was definitely, I would say. In that first episode
in the cooler, and that the true American scene came
out better than I thought it would because it was
it came together entirely in editing because we just shot
everything and the whole idea of that thing is that
(34:03):
no one there are no actual rules, so we were
just making it up like we were at UCB or
something on the day and so.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Having to do that for like, the days were so
long on that show.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I remember that day being like fourteen fifteen hours, and
that came out better than I thought. And I honestly like,
I loved working with you guys. I loved watching Jake
and Max make each other laugh and try to make
each other break on set. I loved when Damon came.
I loved directing scenes with you in Max. I loved
(34:37):
working with Zoe, and I loved watching Lamore and find
the character, you know, as they started to give him
more of one throughout, And like you know, I love
seeing what everybody's doing now and like it just like
I was so young when I was working with you guys,
we all were, and I just I feel like it
(34:59):
was very easy to like again because the days were
so long, and like be jaded or something or like
as it kept going on, like I just I feel
really grateful, Like as we're talking about it really was
like a magical time.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Yeah, it was. It's funny you talk about how honest
people have been when they've come onto this podcast and shared,
you know, because there was ups and downs and challenges
and hurdles and all the things. But it was, Yeah,
we were young, and it was a lot really fast,
and everybody was trying to handle it the best they could.
And what I always say is, man, thank goodness that
(35:37):
we got to do it for as long as we did,
because it's like those seasons of life, right, We're in
the beginning, you're like, this is amazing, and then it's
a roller coaster, right, and then you're family, So then
you're at each other and you know, you're like learning
each other's little like isms, and then you realize how
grateful you are for the whole thing again. And then
(35:57):
we got to like really close it out, and I
feel like the one of the biggest bonding things that
happened for all of us was when they just like
were canceling us. They were just like when you're done,
it's over. And then like Liz is trying to scramble
to write this like coda to like wrap up a series,
and then we all sat and wrote letters just asking,
(36:19):
you know, if we could have a few more episodes
to really finish our show in a way that like
honors the show and all of us. I can just
see it, like in my mind's eye, like all of
us just sitting down individually in our apartments or houses
or whatever, you know, like begging for the chance just
to like finish it with some respect. Was really like
(36:41):
a moment where I think we realized that, Yeah, all
of those little growing pains we had with each other
and in the show and within the characters when they
tried things, that our love for the show and our
appreciation for it and for all the people that came
and helped us tell the stories, including yourself, just superseded
all of it in spades. Yeah, really lucky. Well, thanks
(37:05):
for coming and hanging out with me. Max.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
I love seeing you, buddy. It's great to see you.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
I love to see you too. So that is our show.
You can join us on Tuesday to recap the season
two finale, Elaine's big day with the Taylor Swift and
a lovely friend of ours by the name of zoeyde
Chanel will be joining us, so you don't want.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
To miss it.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
That
Hi, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm really good. I'm really happy to see you. I
was just thinking about you.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I was talking to the person who's writing the book
about New Girl and talking about you.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Wait, what book about New Girl?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Someone's writing a book about New Girl.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I gave give an interview. I'm sure they'll they'll come
to you.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Last really yeah, I genuinely have. I don't even know
what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's like a full, like giant book by this journalist.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Wait, it's not just Jessica Radlough, is it was it
Jessica No, who did the Big Bang Theory book?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
No?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Someone else? Yeah, Well, hopefully this podcast is full to
them that could just listen to this podcast, because we've
had everybody on and everybody's been really like honest about
their experience. How pretty honest? Wow, pretty honest about their experience,
(01:14):
which has been nice. It's been really nice for La
Morn and I because we've learned so much stuff that
happened that we didn't know happened. Right, So I guess
this book will lend itself to that too. So today Max,
we are having what we call a loft meeting. You
directed seven episodes across season two and three, including the
(01:35):
season three premiere. Right now, we are in the middle
of ending season two on the podcast. We're near the end,
so you are the perfect guest to kind of help
us transition from season two to season three. What was
your New Girl origin story? Like, how did you get
involved and how did you get to direct your first episode?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's two pronged things. It was a relationship with Jake
Johnson that started probably seven years before A New Girl
where I was making a web series with Clark Duke
and Michael Sarah called Clark and Michael, and we were
filming the finale of it was like a very ahead
of its time web series. I'd say that, not patting
myself on the back, but patting Michael and Clark on
the back. And it was like a web series before
(02:20):
web series is basically where.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know you had.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
It was like, I think it was like the one
of the first ones with like two people's first names,
And we were filming the finale and it's a scene
where Michael Sarah has to audition for a network television
show and his scene partner in the audition room improvised
with Michael Sarah in a way I'd never met anybody
(02:45):
in my life that was as funny as Michael Sarah
Or could go toe to toe with him improvisationally. And
this guy had a mustache and there was something dangerous
about him, and there was something that was just I
had never seen before. It was a fully formed comedic
voice that I hadn't seen. There wasn't It wasn't like, oh,
he's doing this, or he comes from apatow Er, he
(03:07):
comes from Vince Vaughn and those guys like And I
was like, who is this fucking guy?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And I went and I met him.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I said Hey, I'm Max, and he said hey, I'm Jake,
and it was Jake Johnson. And we fell in love
and we started He took me to like This cop bar.
It was our first date. He took me to like
This cop bar, and we started talking about why we
felt like The Deer Hunter was a comedy and why
we wanted comedies to feel more like that, and he had.
(03:36):
He's from a very specific part of Chicago. Grew up
in car dealerships and you know, collecting junk and putting
in the back of a pickup truck. I grew up
in Los Angeles on the West Side, and we were
like the odd couple, and we immediately were like no one.
We had no represent We had no representation, we had
no managers, we had no age, or maybe he had
an agent, but like, no one gave a shit about
(03:58):
either of us, and we started writing shows. We pitched
a show. We ended up doing this insane television show
that we filmed in my backyard that we wrote like
one hundred and fifty five page bible for about a
guy who goes on a on a on a reality
show about being a prisoner of Warren has a nervous
(04:20):
breakdown and thinks it's all very real, which is very
Jake obviously, and we went we somehow attached. We somehow attached.
By this point then I had an agent. We uta
was like, you guys got to meet the reality television
producers are Breaking Bonaducci.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
We're like, great, we'll do that. So we end up going.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
We somehow get in the door to pitch with Jake,
me and the reality television producers of Breaking Bonaducci, and
we go in.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
No one knows who any of us are.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
We stopped it, put in a DVD of the make
it of the thing we filmed, and people are like
We're like, and we're gonna leave behind this one hundred
and seventy five page bible. You guys can read it.
We won't pitch it. Needless to say, nobody bit like.
It was the great failures of Hollywood history, and we
(05:09):
constantly trying to make things. We wrote so many movies
that no one has ever seen or or knows about,
and it wasn't I made my first movie and the
first thing I did was cast Jake Johnson and it
was called Ceremony. And I couldn't get the financiers. The
financ series were too intimidated by him. So I had
(05:29):
Jake meet with this financier who's this really gentle, nice
Mexican billionaire who had like concerns about Jake, like as
a as a person. And I was like, Jake, you
need to do your hair weird, you need to shave
your mustache, and you need to go in in a suit.
And Jake bought a suit. I don't believe he owned
a suit at the time. And he went and he
met with this guy and let me hire him. And simultaneously.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Now like kind of like a writer and a director
and like wanting to make my first movie, and there
was a script that everybody was obsessed with, and it
was called Fuck Buddies, and it was the most brilliant
romantic comedy I'd ever read. Everyone's like, no, it's like
a Monda Harry and Sally like it's great, it's gonna
bring romance comedies like none of them are. This actually
was that. It was the greatest script I had read
(06:19):
about from the male and female perspective of dating and sex.
Everyone was lined up and wanted to direct it and
everyone wanted to star in it. And I couldn't believe
how funny and sad and it was like it kind
of I was like, who the fuck wrote this? And
everyone's like, it's this this playwright. She's from Michigan, she went,
(06:43):
She's just moved to town, and like the town was
like everyone was talking about Liz Merriweather, this writer, and
I ended up becoming friends with her.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I think it was through Jason Rightman maybe, who ended
up producing the first movie.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
With Jake, But I became really close with Liz and.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
We talked about Lame as a Rob and our favorite
plays and I just we we love hanging out, and
she ended up meeting my friends, one of whom was
named Schmidt and really, yeah, my best friends.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Named Schmidt get out of town.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Okay, yeah, And she thought my group of friends, just
like Jake Johnson, was very funny and strange, and I
adored her and loved her, and we became friends simultaneously. Now,
by the time my movie was made and I was
editing my movie, we couldn't afford an editing room, so
I was editing it in my house, in my childhood bedroom,
(07:38):
and Liz Merriweather was now a very very hot writer
getting paid money to rewrite movies, one of whom being
a movie that I wrote with my friend Matt Speiser
and my friend Jonah Hill that Akiva Schaeffer was going
to direct, called Adventure's Handbook. They were rewriting that movie
to go into production that never ended up going into production. Downstairs,
(08:00):
was editing my movie upstairs, so Liz would keep coming
upstairs and watching scenes for me and giving me thoughts,
and she kept seeing Jake and obviously fell in love
with Jake. Now, simultaneously, Ivan Rightman was ending up directing
Fuck Buddies, which was now called No Strings Attached, and
(08:21):
we Liz and I both and Jason Wrightman wanted Jake
to be in no strings attached, So Ivan came to
our screening room and or our editing room and we
showed him no strings attached. It was all We all
did whatever we could to make it happen because we
knew like being around Jake at that time period was
like being around a time bombink.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
You knew he was.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
He had this unique set of skills, and he has
something that very few movie stars have, which is you
either want to have sex with him or have a
beer with him, and some people want to do both.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
And he ended up.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Getting the part, and we stayed best friends, and we
stayed working together, and he had an amazing time working
with Liz and everyone on that movie. And by the
time a New Girl came around, you know, he.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Was really set up to do it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
He's still tested and everything, but it was it was
great and so and Liz and I stayed friends throughout
that whole process too. I had made that movie. That
movie had come out around the first season of New Girl.
No one gave a shit about it. It did terribly,
and I really wanted.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
To do a shit about it. I saw ceremony and
I loved it. Thank you you oh so much, but
truly thank you. I did. I really I remember watching
it and I remember loving it, and I was like, wow,
it's rare to see films like this anymore. I remember,
I remember where I was when I watched it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Actually, where were you on an airplane? No?
Speaker 4 (09:52):
No, I was in a friend's living room, and I
feel like people were like kind of wandering in and out,
and I was just like wrapped.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I was in the It was a theatrical experience too.
People were just coming in. So needless to say, that
movie came out.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I needed money because I was broke and all I
wanted to do was New Girl became, as you know, just.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
A supernova. It became.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
It became this magical thing like kind of the last One,
that was just beloved by everybody. Everybody watched. It was
a live experience people talk about the next day. Zoe
doing television at that era was like unprecedented. She was
like a movie star. She was beautiful, she was talented,
she was funny. It captured what I never watched friends.
(10:42):
Believe it or not, but it captured what everyone said
about friends, which was you just want to be with
these people and you want these people in your living room.
And I really really wanted to direct it a because
I was broke, and be because I wanted to hang
out with you guys because I was such a fan
of the show. And every buddy did everything they could,
like Liz did everything she could, Jake has him was
(11:03):
super helpful, and Jake obviously fought for me. And then
by the time second it was you know, first season
was so hard to get. It was like these crazy
feature directors, like coming in and doing television was wild.
And then by second season, they were like, we'll find
a slot for you. We don't know what episode it's
get me. I was like, I'll They're like, just be ready.
I was like, bro, I have nothing and I'm ready. Yeah,
(11:27):
Like I'm ready, Like just love, you know, And that
was my story. So it was like through the back door, basically.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Wild. I had no idea that your relationships ran so
deep with Jake, Like I knew you were friends and
knew that you guys knew each other, but I didn't
realize that you guys had been trying to find a
way to work together, be together and continue it creatively
for that long beyond.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
He's like my brother.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
He's like my older brother. I still call him about
stuff when I'm having a hard time about being a
dad or I just had to put my dog down
recently in the first person I called was Jake. If
that says anything, all right, Yeah, think no, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
It was for the best that.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
It's interesting because he serves that purpose for I think
so many of us. Yeah, Like I always call him
my unofficial manager.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Like I'll call him like when I get an offer
or something comes through and I'm like, should I do this?
Does this matter? Should I fight for this point in
the deal. And he's the only person I truly believe
will tell me the truth. He's the person he'll just
be like, this is about ego. Forget this, Why are
you talking about this part? This is what you need
to focus on. This is what you need to push for.
I know Lemourne the same thing with Lemourne, He's just
(12:36):
become this like de facto, like super honest big brother
that genuinely has your interests at heart, but will also
tell you when you're being a real idiot about something.
And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful relationship to have, and
it's rare. I don't have many people like that in
my life.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
No, it's Lamourne is an incredible person too.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Yeah yeah, I mean he's like my real like brother brother.
He just kind of came into that world and had
no idea about anything and just felt so lucky. I
remember Jake actually was the one who talked me into
like finally selling my like old beater car, you know,
because he had just done it himself. Jake and I
(13:20):
walked that path too, of just being like is it
safe to do so? Like are we actually going to
keep a job? Are we actually gonna make money? What
is this? And he would He was one of those people,
at least for me, where Jake just didn't front you
know what I mean. There wasn't like the pretension of
prictic I've ever met. Yeah, it's really special. It's funny
you talk about fuck buddies because I actually, I think
(13:41):
I like blocked it out because I wanted it so badly,
and so my brain just went like, let's just get
rid of this, like it's like trauma and hurt. But
I auditioned for it. I auditioned for that role and
had no idea who Liz was. But I remember having
the same reaction when I just read this. I didn't
get the script because I was like nobody, they just
(14:02):
sent me like my one page of side and just
reading that, I was like, Who's like, who wrote this voice?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I know?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
It was so special? And but Ivan Rightman was in
the room. Who in Canada, I mean for everybody was
like a huge hero, but like in Canada is the guy? Yeah,
and I think I just walked in and the whole
thing felt so surreal that I was standing in front
of Ivan Rightman that I was like fully out of
my body, like I said the words, but I couldn't
(14:30):
focus on what was happening. Yeah, and then Mindy got.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
The role right, It's crazy, I mean Greta Mindy, h.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, it was. Yeah, the script was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Unbelievable. And then at the same time, I remember like
another movie with a very similar name but similar premise
came out right and people got them confused all the time.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah, which was like Dante's peak volcane the Thagorean theorem.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Right, it was like a very weird thing.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And and say deep impact, no strings attached, friends with benefits.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Oh that's right, that's what it was called I need
to ask you this because it's we you know, put
out there that we were talking to you. And I
would say nine out of the ten questions that kind
of came in were all about you directing probably in
the top three most iconic New Girl episodes of all time.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, which is you're talking about in Infinity?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
No, it was for me, by the way. Tinfinity was
huge for me because for my storyline, I was like, WHOA,
They're really like investing in this and pushing this forward
in season two. And I'll never forget there was so
many weird things that happened in shooting that episode. And
the thing I'll never forget is being under a tent
and it was raining and it was cold, and there
(15:56):
was like this thing around this jacket I had to wear.
But I'll never forget. You're like just relentless, infectious enthusiasm
of just genuinely being so happy to be there and
to do the scene. And it was like really nice.
It was really nice, like you were excited to work
(16:16):
with actors as opposed to being like caught up in
the thing or like feeling stressed. It was like you
just like, I'm glad you got how like lucky we
all were to do it. And I think a lot
of it is at that point had been kind of
like getting a bit grumpy because we that was a
bit of a confusing episode, But I remember. I just
(16:37):
remember you walking in with like the biggest smile in
your face and being like, all, we get to do this,
and it.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Was have that reflected to me because it didn't feel
like that at the time.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
No, I remember that because I was feeling overwhelmed and
you did something that you know, brilliant directors do, which
is like you got me to forget about like what
my personal experience was and to remember one, I'm really
lucky to be here and to this day of work
is going to be like really fun and we're going
to get to go with it, and then the other
things matter as long as we're just like going to
dive right into this scene. I remember that clearly. Okay, good, Yeah,
(17:08):
But that's not the episode people ask about. They ask
about cooler yes, and the most iconic moment at the
end of that episode, and people want to know how
much of it came from the director, how much of
it came from the script, how much of it was
just the magic of Jake and Zoe, Like, what do
you remember of that big moment?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
It was my first episode, it was my first job
in TV, really, and I had no idea what it was.
I just saw it just said like two oh seven
or two o six the cooler and it was like
a full like Aaron zor getting type like like just
like the network of all the studios evolved, Like the
(17:49):
kiss was such a big deal. The whole episode is
actually really good, but the kiss was like everyone was involved.
There was just like there was so much tension. It
was like getting incredible television experience I've never had really where.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
The stakes were so high.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Because it's different when you filmed something and then it
comes out a really long time agoing like a bundle
or a drop, Like it was so important and like
we filmed that on the last day. I believe the
kiss was in the last day. The it just was
(18:27):
like a it was really I felt really lucky to
be there, and it felt really cool, and it felt
really great that I got to do it with Jake
and that I got to do it with Liz and
I got to meet all you guys, and it felt
like important actually, like and it was like and it
felt important because A I'd never done television before and
b there was so much network and studio involvement about
(18:51):
all of it. They were there for rehearsals, they would
come in and out, we would have meetings, Jake would
be there. It was just like this very big deal.
It felt like my favorite movie is The Sydney Lamet
Movie Network and it just like had a network vibe
to it. It just like the stakes felt so high
at the time, even though it was like a sitcom
and a kiss on a sitcom of a with a
(19:11):
very prominent will they won't they relationship and they both
like they were so close at that point, and Jake
is so good at making people feel comfortable and Zoe
was such a pro, and it felt it was after
this really long week of filming that was like very
fun and cozy, I think, and like that. I think
the most setups I've ever done in my life in
(19:33):
a movie or a television show was the day when
we did the true American thing like that was I
think it was like I remember, I remember we did
like one hundred and seventy seven setups. It was the
craziest because we're just making up the rules that as
we went, and then by the time it actually came
to the kiss, like we figured out the blocking and
we figured out the moment. It was all in the script.
It was very planned, but then you just don't know
(19:55):
what's going to happen when you say action, like it
just like and that I'm pretty sure was the take.
I mean, I'm sure we did it more than once,
but like it never got better than the first time.
And I remember after we did it the first take,
everyone applauded, and it was like a very big deal
and it was just kind of like an I just
(20:16):
kept being like I cannot believe that someone gave Jake
and I drive ons, and like we're not parking across
the street and walking onto the studio for general meetings anymore.
Like it was a real pinch me moment just for that.
And the show then came out and it was like
a huge deal and like it was like a big
(20:38):
like water cooler, all those buzzwords kind of moment, and
like it it was such a big deal that Jake
and I ended up getting a studio deal off of
that one episode. We got we got we got a
production company. If you remember, it was called Walcott. We
made zero shows. We made one file, but we had
like an office on the lot. It just felt like
like the last days before, like you know, Heaven's Game
(21:00):
like took out the studio system. It was like kind
of like where pod deals were just like reckless and
also pointless and like the worst idea ever were like
you'd pick like a guy to studio, would give everybody
the same person like Drod Carmichael, like get him to
develop with you. Then everyone would take drawd Carmichael out
to dinner and like try and then like he would
go with somebody else and you'd be like fuck. And
(21:21):
it was just like it just was like I was like,
how is this happening right now? Like what is going on?
Like and yeah, I was like honored to be a
part of it. And it's still after everything I've done
for however many years. Like one of the things that
I hear about the most is like that episode in
that moment.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah, it's a funny thing because like I when the
show aired, I watched it, but I've never rewatched the
show except for this podcast, right, so I kind of
had forgotten about Cooler, Like I knew it was a
big deal. I know about the kiss, but I you know,
I wasn't there on the day to watch it. I
must have watched it whatever that is a decade ago now,
(22:01):
but then yeah, I just rewatched it, and man, it's
like you get weird goosebumps, which is interesting to hear.
Then how produced all of it was right? That there
was so many people and which, as you know, when
you start to like load in all the cooks sometimes
then it just it you feel it when you see it.
(22:22):
You're just like, this is there's there's too much going on,
And that is like such a credit I think also
to to Jake and to Zoe that they could kind
of like cut through all the noise that was probably
happening around them. I think Rebecca Adlman, who wrote.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
The episode, yes, she.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Said that she like gasped out loud, like audibly almost.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
In the way it was truly insane, and like I
just feel like, doesn't happen anymore, like it just like
people wouldn't have had the patience to let it happen
in season two, even though some people thought it came
to early. Like I just like it was such a moment.
And again, the thing that makes it different. It makes
it feel unproduced, is having two stars do it and
like Jake like grabs her like and he's like, it's
(23:04):
just like fucking hot. Like there it is so good
and they had such incredible chemistry that it just becomes iconic,
you know, and not just like a lame kiss on
a television show.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah, there's also credit though, It's like so much credit
to you too, that you could just stand back and
let it happen, right, because sometimes when the pressure is
put on you so like on a director, I think
so much, then all of a sudden, their hands kind
of get sticky in the business of what's about to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, that's that's when things get shitty.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Right, Like can you just like step back and now
just like trust that they've got it? Yeah, And we've
all seen when a director can't do that, and all
of a sudden, then it's like stilted and you don't
you can't even get like the breath of what's going
to happen afterwards, which is sometimes the most beautiful moment,
which is what happens in this kiss.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I was very willing to be surprised, and I was
very willing to like have the experience of they never
kissed until he said action, not on rehearsals or anything
like that.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
So I was very interested to just see it.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
It didn't work, I would have said something, but obviously
I knew it would work, and it did. So there
was very little for me to say except like, great,
let's do another one just in case.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yeah, amazing, What an incredible moment. I had no idea.
We had a few fans that wrote in some questions
just for you. Sure, So this one is from Andy
in Massachusetts, he said. Lamuran wearing the red suit from
Delirious was hilarious. Just the look of him in the
suit killed me. As a director, how do you enhance
the comedy in that moment? Did you give lamore in
(24:43):
any specific directions?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
No idea, but probably not.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Mourn in the Delirious Red Suit is funny enough and
very little you have to do to make that funnier.
And just like I just I just found Littlemourn so funny,
and I found him so.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Patient like to.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Find like because he really just like his star just
kept rising and rising and rising as the show went on.
Because the part was he came in late, and so
everyone was trying to figure out like how do we
make Winston iconic? Where it's like, actually, just to embrace who.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Lamarn is ended up being what did it?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Because he's so human and you can get him doing anything,
and I just I think, like, yeah, I think like
like I just thought that was inherently very funny.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Yeah, it's funny. Lamar talks about this a lot. How
season one he rewatches and it's a little hard for
him because he can tell he doesn't know who Winston
is because they didn't really know who Winston was, and
so he can't really do all the brilliant stuff he's
capable of because it didn't exist. There was no way
(26:03):
for him to kind of get there. And then season two,
it starts to click. It starts they start to understand him,
They start to write better for him. He starts to
trust himself and like kind of dive into it more.
And it was saying there was like a big shift.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
It was the same with Ceci like it they I think, like,
you are so disarmingly pretty that some people can first
not understand how talented is of a comedian you are,
and how natural you are and how funny you are
and how game you are and so Schmidt is like
a we get Schmidt pushment in any situation. They could
write for Schmidt in their sleep, Nick Zoey, like for
(26:42):
Winston and CEC. Like, you guys just kept growing and
growing and growing as the writers just started having more
trust and understanding how talented you guys are that by
the end of the season, you guys were as good
as anyone in character arcs and stuff like that, because
you guys are so talent did and it was like, yeah, thank.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
You for saying that. That's so kind. Yeah it's la
Morne and I talk about this too, where I mean,
I don't know if this is something that you recognized
or are felt when we work together, but I feel
like when I got that role, it was it took
me a while to almost like step out of a
(27:25):
place of feeling so so hyper grateful first, like before
you even get to like the work and the fun
of it, because there was except for Mindy, who had
just started the MINDI project, like there was no or
no she can do year after with the MINDI project.
Besides her on the office, there was no one that
(27:46):
was like Indian who has just got to be like
an American friend on TV. You had to like do
the weird accent or if you were a girl, you
had to be like just like just fully eroticized the
entire time. And Liz, you know, wrote this friend called Ceci.
I happened to then book this role, and I happened
(28:07):
to be Indian and so but she just kind of
like was like, no, this is about like how she
fits in the front group, and this is her dynamics
with everyone else. And there felt like this huge There's
two things that were happening at the same time. For me.
One was like this this gratefulness of like how did
I get here? This didn't exist, there was no path, right,
(28:28):
and so all of a sudden, I've landed here because
Liz just saw me as like a good a good
fit for this role. And then this pressure right of
like making sure that if something was written that was
a bit of a stereotype or push to like finding
my voice and making like I felt like the pressure
of all these young girls and boys that kind of
(28:50):
look like me watching and to go like how do
I make sure I don't lean into all the stuff
that I've seen that I have found offensive and just
and creating this idea in people's head of what a
South Asian person is when we're just like humans walking
this planet like everybody else. And so I remember that
(29:10):
and I can see it in myself in season one
of taking things a little too seriously and being scared
to take chances and to be able to do those
things because I didn't want to do the wrong thing
and hurt or kind of offend what could be a
massive opportunity going forward. And it was la more than
I talk about that a little bit too much of
(29:31):
like not wanting to like screw it up for ourselves,
and then also just on a bigger picture of like
this moment of representation. And so I'm grateful that you
and I met in season two where all of a sudden,
I was like, this is safe. This is a safe place.
They're going to hear me if I feel uncomfortable for it,
and they're always going to, like I've seen how the
(29:51):
show had been edited and put together. They're always making
sure that this show was in the absolute best light,
and so are our characters. And that was something I
had to learn as this show was happening. So I've
never done anything before on this level.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I know.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Yeah, it's interesting. It was just an interesting like path
I think for so many of us because it was
so big, so fast, right talking about you and Jake
getting like, you know, a pod deal. Afterwards you're just like,
am I ready for this? Can I do this? Wild?
Like the launch pad of New Girls.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
It was insane.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
It was totally insane, and I just I don't It's
just as far as network television goes, it's just not
that the show would never be on Fox anymore, would
be on Netflix, or would be on Hulu, or it
would be on.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
F fact like whatever.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
It just like it just was a different time where
like the amount of people that watched the Super Bowl
were watching this show on a daily basis, and it
just are on a weekly basis.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
It was just it was just such.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
An interesting time that feels so antsy now.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Weirdly, Yeah, I know, I always say it's like the
dinosas like it was like the last of the Dinosaurs,
Like that's not happening anymore. Too much has shifted, too
much has changed, which makes you realize.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
How experimental playwright who wrote like plays about feminism and
sex and like in black box theaters was like now
running this this TV show that like had to figure
out how to make afford product placement, like for like trucks,
(31:26):
like make sense was just a wild thing to be happening.
And it was like my friend Liz, you know, it
was just like it was so funny to just be
like in the writer's room, passing the writers women just
like see Liz like brushing her teeth and her pajamas,
like walking out from the writer's room into her office.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
It's just like different time.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yeah, it's weird. I feel like that's when you start
to realize like that time feels just so like elastic,
right because like you can remember when y'all had nothing
going on and then all of a sudden, you guys
are like, yeah, Kings and Queens of the lot, Like
how does that happen?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Wild?
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Wild? Yeah, I remember I still to the last day
that we drove on to that lot. You talk about
getting like the drive ons and then being able to
like park like at the stage and not like way
deep in some parkade and like walking through and like
dragging your whatever your shit with you.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Four negative fifty seven of guts and.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
You're like, oh, I feel like when earthquake happens, like
I'm just going to be crunched. Yeah, it's it's it's
strange how it happens so fast and so slow, and
how it really feels like true before and after in
your life.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I know, it's.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Incredible how lucky we were. Okay, the last question I'll
ask you is from Laurie and Tallahassee, which is which
New Girl character would you rather commit to having a
weekly eight am coffee with for a year.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I would say at them in character.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
It says a New Girl character I.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Feel like I could have.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
It would be like a very steady standard. She would
be there on time plan if I If I did
it with CC, I feel like anyone else there would
be too many. I'll choose cec as mine.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Well, that's very kind of you. I thought you for
sure'd be like Nick Miller. I could talk about that.
That's also true if you haven't copying by yourself.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Yeah, I don't want to do that. I feel like
the most reliable answer is.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I'm gonna speak in one more because I actually want
to know the answer to this. What scene from New
Girl was your favorite to direct? What came out even
better than you expected it too?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
It was definitely, I would say. In that first episode
in the cooler, and that the true American scene came
out better than I thought it would because it was
it came together entirely in editing because we just shot
everything and the whole idea of that thing is that
(34:03):
no one there are no actual rules, so we were
just making it up like we were at UCB or
something on the day and so.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Having to do that for like, the days were so
long on that show.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I remember that day being like fourteen fifteen hours, and
that came out better than I thought. And I honestly like,
I loved working with you guys. I loved watching Jake
and Max make each other laugh and try to make
each other break on set. I loved when Damon came.
I loved directing scenes with you in Max. I loved
(34:37):
working with Zoe, and I loved watching Lamore and find
the character, you know, as they started to give him
more of one throughout, And like you know, I love
seeing what everybody's doing now and like it just like
I was so young when I was working with you guys,
we all were, and I just I feel like it
(34:59):
was very easy to like again because the days were
so long, and like be jaded or something or like
as it kept going on, like I just I feel
really grateful, Like as we're talking about it really was
like a magical time.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Yeah, it was. It's funny you talk about how honest
people have been when they've come onto this podcast and shared,
you know, because there was ups and downs and challenges
and hurdles and all the things. But it was, Yeah,
we were young, and it was a lot really fast,
and everybody was trying to handle it the best they could.
And what I always say is, man, thank goodness that
(35:37):
we got to do it for as long as we did,
because it's like those seasons of life, right, We're in
the beginning, you're like, this is amazing, and then it's
a roller coaster, right, and then you're family, So then
you're at each other and you know, you're like learning
each other's little like isms, and then you realize how
grateful you are for the whole thing again. And then
(35:57):
we got to like really close it out, and I
feel like the one of the biggest bonding things that
happened for all of us was when they just like
were canceling us. They were just like when you're done,
it's over. And then like Liz is trying to scramble
to write this like coda to like wrap up a series,
and then we all sat and wrote letters just asking,
(36:19):
you know, if we could have a few more episodes
to really finish our show in a way that like
honors the show and all of us. I can just
see it, like in my mind's eye, like all of
us just sitting down individually in our apartments or houses
or whatever, you know, like begging for the chance just
to like finish it with some respect. Was really like
(36:41):
a moment where I think we realized that, Yeah, all
of those little growing pains we had with each other
and in the show and within the characters when they
tried things, that our love for the show and our
appreciation for it and for all the people that came
and helped us tell the stories, including yourself, just superseded
all of it in spades. Yeah, really lucky. Well, thanks
(37:05):
for coming and hanging out with me. Max.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
I love seeing you, buddy. It's great to see you.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
I love to see you too. So that is our show.
You can join us on Tuesday to recap the season
two finale, Elaine's big day with the Taylor Swift and
a lovely friend of ours by the name of zoeyde
Chanel will be joining us, so you don't want.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
To miss it.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
That
Hosts And Creators
Lamorne Morris
Hannah Simone
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