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July 20, 2025 38 mins

This week on PREVIOUSLY ON, we’re talking John Malkovich as the Red Ghost being cut from the upcoming Fantiastic Four: First Steps movie, Nintendo confirms the actors set to play Link and Zelda in the upcoming film, highlights and snubs of the Emmy nominations, and Christopher Nolans “The Odyssey” sells out on IMAX 70mm a year in advance! Plus, stick around for Rosie’s interview with Ari Aster, director of the new film “Eddington”.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's episode, It's News, we're talking about John Malcovich ginning,
cut from Fantastic Four, Emmy nominations, Zelda casting.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
And more. It's News.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hello.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
My name is Jasconseepsio and I'm Rosen Height and welcome
back to Extra Vision of the podcast, when we dive deep.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
To your favorite shows, movies, comments of pop culture.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Coming to you from My Heart Podcast, where we're bringing
you three episodes a week.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Plus news, which is now.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
It's now, And in today's episode, we are catching up
on the biggest geek news of the week, including the
actors confirmed to play Zelda and Lincoln an upcoming film
I want to feel old because they are young as hell.

Speaker 5 (00:50):
Hey, you know they are young as hell. And highlights
of the Emmy nominations.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
What got snobbed, what got approved? What do people like,
what do people not like? We'll talk about it, but first,
you know it's gonna be Joe Malkovich getting caught from
the Fantastic Four.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Rosie, you teased it. We talked about it in this intro.
John Malkovich, who played the Red Ghost and the Fantastic Four,
has been cut. It's been confirmed by various sources, including
director Matt Shackman, who spoke about it in an interview
with a Variety. Here is Shachman quote. There were a

(01:26):
lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cut
in room floor when we were building a sixties retro
future world, introducing all these villains, introducing these four main
characters as a group, as well as individually introducing the
idea of a child. There was a lot of stuff
to balance in this movie and some things that had
to go ultimately in terms of shaping the film for
its final version.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Interesting, very interesting. So a lot of things there.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
First of all, villains, yes plural, introducing the idea of
a child, meaning I know Franklin not going to be
born in this.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
But we've seen a baby now, so it's like it's changed.
It's like when is it happening? Where does he come from?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
And my other thing we've been talking about this off
mic is we have I feel like if it was
truly a story problem, and this might be like not
a big deal, But if it was truly a story problem,
then testing would have indicated that, and watches of the
cut would have indicated that a while ago, and the

(02:29):
fact that he was that Malcolm the chisword Ghost is
in at least the second version of the trailer. I
believe right he's in the trailer. Leads me to believe
that it's something else. Maybe the storyline is too similar
to something that happens in Superman.

Speaker 5 (02:48):
We did feel.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
Like that was a thing because okay, so they say that.
According to this Variety article, the Fantastic Four is begins
with a lengthy sequence detailing their early years as superheroes,
which goes along with what we've heard from the fan
screenings they've started to do around the world. But they're

(03:09):
showing kind of thirty minutes of the movie when they
battled the Red Ghost and as they say, this was
part of it his team of super Apes. Now that
is where I'm like, okay, guys, you were gonna do
the apes because that is caninically who the Red Ghost
is crazy to me and maybe hints that we are
going to see them fight multiple iconic Fantastic Four villains

(03:30):
in this sequence. Maybe this felt too close to Lex
Luthor and his monkeys that he had controlling the Internet.

Speaker 5 (03:38):
Maybe this in.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
The Pocketing worsh itself.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
You know, I was gonna say, like, is was this
a situation where they battled him and put him into
the Negative Zone and they felt like maybe that was
too close to the Pocket universe.

Speaker 5 (03:51):
That Lex created.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
It feels like reactionary to me, especially because I do
think that fan wise, I think the Fantastic foeheads would
have loved to see Alot Ghost Red Ghost in his
team of super apes, like I definitely didn't think they
were going to do.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
The Negative Zone is kind of integral to the Fantastic
Four as a as a series of characters, and many
of their storylines hinge on stuff that happens with the
Negative Zone.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
So it if it's.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
That I would be I think I'd be surprised, although
it would make some amount of sense if it was
as big a scene as you're talking about. It feels
like a huge lift you did. We did mention in
our preview Galactus and Silver Surfer episode that the Red
time is pretty short, relatively relative.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yah.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, So maybe.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
That's where the cuts tell. At the same time, my
feeling is that these two companies rip each other off
all the time constantly.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
It's like it's the hilarity of being in these movies,
these movies and called things.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
That are are reflective of each other or use tropes
sci fi tropes, fantasy tropes that they do not have
a monopolyon. So I agree with you if it is
a Superman reaction, I feel like it's quite reactionary if
it is that, because I kind of don't believe that

(05:23):
it's like a, oh, it was too overloaded with story
and so we took it.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
I kind of don't believe that, though.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
I will say that in its own way, could be
a response to Superman, because one of the critiques it
got was like it was overstuffed. But at the same time,
I also worry if they think it was like a
little bit too close to Superman because you're basically throwing
people into this world and going, hey, here's what happened
in this world. I'm interested too, because one of the
compliments of Superman was that it was very accessible. You

(05:51):
didn't need to know anything. And this is starting with
thirty minutes of Hey, here's the origin or whatever happened.

Speaker 5 (05:57):
So I'm intrigued. But yeah, I also like.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
I would say there's maybe a five to ten percent
choice that that wasn't the character he was gonna play,
and he was gonna play a different character, and they're
just telling us that, and we'll find out. But if
they've been screening it, if they've been testing it, it'll
be interesting to start seeing on Reddit people who saw
that version of it, and two potentially were able to
tell us like how it feels because they screen these

(06:23):
and test these movies all over the country so often.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
So yeah, very interesting.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
I will be sad not to see the super apes,
but who knows, maybe they'll come back another time.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Up next, Nintendo confirms actors to play Link and Zelda,
the kind of crucial characters of the other very important
Zelda films.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
They are Bo Braggerson, who will play Zelda.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
She's an English actress who has made appearances in the
BBC series Three Girls in the Disney Plus series Rennegade
Nell and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who will play the laconic Link.
He is also an English actor and he's start in
the Haunting of Manner one of.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
The creepy kids.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
He's one of those creepy kids. He's also the voice
of Pinocchio in the live action remake and good voice factor.
I my hype meter.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Here's the thing. I still have not processed that this
is really any of that.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
It's not until I see a trailer that I will
truly begin to get incredibly hyped.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, I was really in the Hunter Schaefer camp because
I just think she looks like Zelda.

Speaker 5 (07:31):
But I get it. They're going super young here.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
They're like, why not? This is worthwhile? Our audience is kids.
If you think about how successful the Minecraft movie has been,
going young makes sense.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
Die Benjamin's hair.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
He was so good, Like I will tell you go
and watch Haunting of Blame Mana.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
I love that show for many different reasons, but.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
One of them is the kids are so good and
so creepy and so hard. So he definitely has the range.
I'm interested to see if he has hero range. I also,
we are all hoping that Zelda's not just gonna be
like a sleep for the whole movie. I'm guessing by
the fact that these two are kind of being cast together.

Speaker 5 (08:12):
It will not be the case for that.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
So, I mean the main thing for me, let's be real,
when you play these games is to spend time in
the world. So that's really what we need to see.
We need to know what this is gonna look like.
We need to know what era it's gonna be. We
need to know what kind of vibe it's gonna be.
I do love that the photo and the announcements were

(08:37):
made by Nintendo. I think that is cool and hints
that they're gonna have a lot of control over it.
But yeah, I'm intrigued. Nintendo Live Action Movie. How long
has it been? You know? Are we talking about Super
Mario Brothers.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
It's been a minute.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
I like, I'm ready. I'm ready to see Zelda come to.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Life and yeah, young But you know what, let's give
them a chance. Let's see maybe this could be a
long time franchise for them. I see why they would
do it in that way.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Let's take a.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Quick break and come back with Morgan.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
And we're back.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Emmy nominations just hit. Some of our favorite shows were
heavily nominated.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
I gotta say, I feel like everything we covered was
getting the hits. Like I'm feeling late, this was a
good year for us and also for Genre TV.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Some notable snubs. Yeah, big genre TV nomination season. Let's
start with Severance twenty seven nominations. The studio absolutely hilarious.
If you have Apple TV Plus and you've already watched Severance.

Speaker 5 (09:56):
One of the best shows of the Studio, No questions.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
Twenty three noms in the Comedy. A big talking point
in recent nomination seasons has been the fact that The Bear,
which is.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
Very dramatic and sad not a comedy.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
It is not a comedy, has been nominated in the
comedy genre. And I think this is the year that
the Emmys finally turn away from that, and I think
the Studio is gonna win big.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
That's just a prediction.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Penguin twenty four nominations. When your nominations, I fucking loved that.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
I did not think that was the gonna be the
case for The Penguin, but I think that is one
of the best made shows. I think I love that
it's getting this celebratory hYP but because this is gonna
tell execs, which is really who the award shows are
for that Hey, people like this, like keep doing stuff
like this, And I think, like there was a time

(10:50):
five years ago, pre MCUTV in the era is now
where if you said that a superhero TV show based
on the Penguin was gonna get twenty four Emmy norms,
they would have laughed you out the house. But they
managed to do that, And I love how much the
appreciation of not just the cast, but also the below
the line people. Now, I will say that is going
to lead us into our and or norms, which sadly

(11:13):
fourteen nominations incredible, but.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
Like barely any talent.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
Only Forest Whittaker, I think as a guest star, which
you know we love Sorgerera he deserves, but he think
it's pretty ten ten minutes and also the real there
are a lot of unbelievable guest stars this year that
basically wiped out a lot of suspect so Yellow Jackets
for example, it was an uneven season.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Paramount got crushed.

Speaker 5 (11:41):
Paramount got crushed everything, it's only below the line.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, Amazon also got crushed.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Nothing there because Paramount was definitely I think they thought
that Hilary Swank would be in the running for Best Guests.
She was really great in that show. I do believe
Melonielinski is still acting.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
Her ass off.

Speaker 4 (12:01):
But the studio severance and or the pit especially in
all the categories, they kind of started to go up again.
Like even the Bear received thirteen nominations, which is a lot,
but it's not twenty three, which is what they got
the year that they set the record. That the studio
has now met them at so I'm very interested. I

(12:25):
think I think that the studio is really gonna absolutely
eat this up because they have an episode that's set
the Emmys. They have a really funny bit that they
do there with sal Sapristin. I'm sure that will come through.
It's also funny because, like I thought, the studio was

(12:45):
a shoe in because it's just so fantastically made. It's like,
cinematography is incredible, the writing is incredible. Martin Scorsese got
a nomination and Emmy nomination for acting this year from this,
and I thought it was.

Speaker 5 (12:58):
Quite clear it was gonna be absolutely just awards bate.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
But Seth Rogan clearly did not, and I was like, Okay,
why was that? And then I saw a really interesting
interview with him where he was basically like, my entire
career has been like anti awards, Like no one will
give an award to any of my movies. So he
was like, so we just didn't even consider this would
be something people would be interested in awarding.

Speaker 5 (13:21):
Well, so I think that's really interesting. Who was the
biggest snub for you, Jason?

Speaker 1 (13:26):
I mean, I think you have to say that when
you have and orget for fourteen nominations, and then you
don't have the lead of the show, Diego. Come on
to me, that's a massive war Stellan scarsguard who is
yes is on real throughout the show, or the girl

(13:51):
who plays Claya for that last episode, or jeneviev O'Reilly,
who is such an emotional lynchman. I will say, here's
here's what I'll.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Say, Denis Go as well, who plays Evil Queen in
that show.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
There's several weird There's several weird decisions, like the Sagerera nomination,
you know, honestly, like we love Padri Pascal, but him
getting a nomination for the Last of US two and
he's in it for fifteen minutes strange. But I think
all of the decisions make sense through this lens one.

(14:26):
The Emmys are always a year behind, so I think
that they probably went in thinking nobody's gonna watch and
Or because nobody watched season one, taken by surprise by
the critical acclaim, and so it was probably like a
little bit of a let's be honest, probably a little
bit of a struggle to get the Emmy crew to

(14:46):
watch the screeners for and Or season two when they
didn't watch one because it's a tremendous amount of homework.
So when the critical came in, they all of a
sudden had to be like, Okay, well we got to
give them stuff, but we none of us watched it, right.
And I think secondarily to that, they really care about stars.
Why did patro Pescal get a nomination because he's a

(15:08):
huge star.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
He is the most marketable movie saw right now.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
And why did Forrest Whitiger get one?

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Because we know him, we love him, He's been around,
he's he's if not a current star, he's a guy
with a tremendous career.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
And I think.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Award shows and not just the Emmys, really care about
shows that people watched because they need people to.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Watch these award shows.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
This so they want shows that people watch to be
in the zeitgeist and be in the awards, and they
want stars to get awards and to get nominated because
it just helps the whole process. And so I think
that is kind of what happened with and Or and.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
With a lot of these other ones.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
And also like the Studio, for example, one it's about Hollywood.
Hollywood loves to like reward things about Hollywood. But also
they knew like if they nominate the studio, they do
a South Sapristine bit, they can have multiple memable moments. Also,
they they basically nominated all the incredible guest stars who
are not gonna lie stars, absolutely stars, and they deserved it.

(16:13):
But now they're all going to be at the Emmys.
That's gonna be one of the most stars studied Emmys ever.
Exactly Mine Scorsese yea at the Emmys, Like come on,
so yeah, I think I think it's always very good
to think about it from a business perspective because it's
not always about the art.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
And I think you got it on the head right there.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Uh. And then next up the Christopher Nolan's long awaited
I'm only saying long awaited because the Odyssey.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Is or is it thousands of years old?

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Thousands of years old?

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Uh, an oral tradition from the you know, Greek antiquity.
The his Christopher Nolans adaptation of that story is apparently
sold out a year in advance.

Speaker 5 (16:59):
It This is cracking me out.

Speaker 4 (17:01):
It's crazy, but you know what, I love this simply
for the look do I really am I personally as Rosie.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
The person you all know, the kind of movies I.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
Watch am I personally like so excited for The Odyssey
that I tried to buy Imax tickets in advance?

Speaker 5 (17:17):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
But do I love the fact that a movie that
has not even wrapped yet put its IMAX ticket sales
up a year in advance and they all sold out. Yes,
because this is the kind of momentum that we should
be following to get people into Cinema's post Sinners and
post you know, I mean look Sinner's fucking masterpiece. But

(17:42):
also we've had other massive hits that have got people
into cinema Final Destination, Bloodlines, like let's keep this going.
People want to see things in big screens. They want
to see them on the Imax. I believe if Jurassic
World Rebirth, which is you know, fine movie, just the fun,
little but it's been making a lot of money, it
did not have an Imax release. I think if it

(18:04):
had an Imax release, it would have been making so
much more money.

Speaker 5 (18:07):
Because right now.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
People love to go and see a film on the
biggest screen possible. There are gonna be sixty in movie
theaters that can film that can screen The Odyssey in
seventy millimeter, and pretty much all of them are already
sold out. We need to expand the ability to program
seventy millimeters and to program true imax. That was something

(18:29):
we learned during sinners. There needs to be more of
these big scale screens. People want the experience also, people
love to do I saw so many of my pals
who were like, I gotta be on there, gotta get
the tickets. You know. It's kind of like if you
love a band and you all get on at the
same time to try and get them, or if you
live in LA and you're trying to get beyond fest tickets.
There is a communal experience to buy to like trying

(18:53):
to get something that's like, really one is gonna sell out.
So I like that power. It's very community based. Now
the question is does Matt Damon have the juice to
be leading the Odyssey?

Speaker 5 (19:04):
Like what do you think?

Speaker 1 (19:05):
I think he arguably still has the juice. I think
the timing of this is interesting. There was Emily Wilson,
who is a scholar at Oxford and who studied at
Oxford and I think teachers now at the University of
Pennsylvania released a wonderful contemporary translation of the Odyssey in

(19:25):
twenty seventeen. That is, if you've never read the Odyssey
and you're like, this is too fussy, dot he she
does something wonderful, which is create a contemporary translation, meaning
you know, originally this story was told in contemporary language.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
It was an oral tradition. Homer or the blind Poet,
if he'd even.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Existed, would have walked into the hall of whoever was
the leader of this town and just start telling this
story in language that everybody understood.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
That was the language of the day.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
And so what she is attempted to do, and I
think succeeded in doing with her translation, is creates something
that feels like somebody from today is telling you this story,
and it's wonderfully readable. It's great, and it really brought
forth this idea that I had never really latched on
to before that Odysseus is kind of a he's not

(20:21):
a bad guy, but he's a little bit of a
slick guy. Yes, he's a huckster a little bit.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
I haven't read it yet, but I was really interested
because also my understanding is this is probably one of
the most accurate translations too. A lot of the other translations,
like translations of the Bible and stuff, are reflective of
whoever is translating them, and I believe that there have been,
you know, different things that have been added and taken away.
So yeah, I've got to read it before the movie,

(20:49):
and I think it's going to be very interesting to
see how that relates.

Speaker 5 (20:52):
So there's a.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
To get it.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
To bring this back to Matt Damon. We've seen Damon
do this with Ripley, with this kind of like.

Speaker 5 (21:03):
I love that very such a good.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Call, pleasant looking, charming guy that has a little bit
of grittiness to him underneath. And if that is what
Matt Damon is bringing to Odysseus, I'm I'm all the way.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Here for it.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
That's a fantastic read because I love that movie and
I was thinking more of like the epic stuff he's
trying to do, which I feel like has never really
hit you know, your Wall of Great Wall of China
and et cetera. But like this, now you're saying you're
talking about bringing a Ripley esque nature to it. And
also obviously the rest of the cast is crazy, Tom
Hollands and THEA together again after Spider Man and Hathaway,

(21:40):
Lapita Neongo, Charlie's the On Wow Wow, we'll get some
hopefully more A listers will join. I would love to
see a little bit of John David Washington in that
the you know, the after Tenet, some other people that
he's worked with, maybe a little bit of our Pats
who knows. But yeah, I just think that more studios
should be doing this kind of stuff that people hyped up,

(22:01):
that gets the cinemas filled. People do want to see
movies on the big screen. You just got to make
it fun for them.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
And this is proof this is a trend.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
This is a movie about like an old ass, like
thousands of year old book, and Christopher Nolan had its
selling out in seventy millimeter, a format that honestly, most
people had not even heard of till Sinners. So this
is a success for Imax, success for Nolan, success for Universal,
who I know are feeling really good about taking him
away from WB at this point.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
And Nolan is myster I mean, if there's a mister Imax,
it is Christopher.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
It's him.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
That's all for news. Now check out my chat with
Arista about his new Talk of the Town movie Headington.

Speaker 5 (22:56):
How's it going, How are you feeling?

Speaker 3 (22:58):
How's it how you doing going well? How are you.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
Oh, I love to hear it. Yeah, yeah, good morning.
I just saw the movie last night. Super interesting. Really
really just stoked to talk to you about it. So
could you talk a little bit about the actual process
of making a movie like this, which I know was
like you wanted to do a Western. Obviously that shifts

(23:22):
and changes post Hereditary Midsummer and then you stop. But
what did it feel to actually make a movie about
COVID only a few years after COVID?

Speaker 5 (23:32):
What was the process of making it?

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Like, well, you know, I started writing it at the
time that the film is set, right, so I start
so the film is set in late May early June
twenty twenty, and that's when I started getting you know,
ideas down on paper. And that was the most important
part of the process, was trying to you know, kind
of grab what was in the air. And I think,

(23:58):
you know, that part of the process was mostly distinguished
by living on the internet, you know, to the point
where I was creating different profiles on Twitter and building
different algorithms and and just just you know, taking screenshots

(24:24):
making sure I had them for later. And you know,
because the film is it's a Western, but I wanted
it to be inflected by a very modern realism, which
is another way of all these characters live on the Internet. Yeah,
I live in the Internet.

Speaker 4 (24:41):
Do you remember for like, kind of the sides or
the stories, because we kind of have you know, Vernon,
we have our main two guys. Do you remember any
posts that you saw where you were like, okay, that
breaks the story for that one, or like this is
the one I have to keep. This is the moment
and at energy I want to feel for this character.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
It wasn't about individual posts, you know. The film is
really I'm really trying to pull back as far as
I can and describe like the structure of reality at
the moment, which is that nobody agrees about what is happening.
It's not it's not that we disagree on on you know,
any you know number of issues. It's that it's that

(25:25):
we don't agree about what those issues even are. And
and so you know, the film is aiming to capture
the environment. M m oh.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
I think one of the big things that we were
talking about after we saw is it is it gives
you the feeling of being in twenty twenty again, Like
the atmosphere is there.

Speaker 6 (25:50):
You know what hey we need to go back, I guess,
and you know, sometimes we need to re experience stuff
to think about it in a different way.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
But how does it feel to then you made a
movie that was capturing that time, but as you talk about, like,
we are living in a time right now where that
concept of double think and what is real and what
is not real and what objective facts are is even
more extreme has been even more accelerated. So for you,

(26:21):
how does it feel to be releasing EDIC in twenty
twenty five? Does it feel like you're already kind of
behind the way it is now? Do you feel like
there was some of it that because obviously the AI
Data Centers is very timely.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah, more more now than when we were making it.
I would say, you know, the film is a period piece.
That's helpful, right that you know, no matter what's changing
day to day now about you know, one week in
twenty twenty. Yeah, but I will say that I've never
made a film that changes so much day to day

(26:56):
based on what the what the headlines are. And you know,
the thing about twenty twenty is, I don't think we've
metabolized what's happened. I don't think we've been able to
metabolize just how seismic COVID was and is because we're
still living through it and it's only gotten worse. You know,

(27:21):
this is a film about a bunch of people who
are living in different realities and they are unreachable to
each other, and they are, you know, kind of blind
to the fact that they're all in the same situation
and they're all subject to the same forces.

Speaker 5 (27:42):
Hmmm, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
And for you as a creator, as somebody who's not
a tool afraid of sharing and channeling these kind of
thoughts through your work, what did it feel like for
you to make Eddington?

Speaker 5 (27:55):
Did it help you metabolize it?

Speaker 4 (27:58):
Do you feel like you would just more sucked into
the storyline or did it kind of give you a
new insight on how you felt about twenty twenty?

Speaker 3 (28:08):
I think, you know, I think one thing that was
helpful was that it was important to me to not
judge any of these characters and to understand them as
much as I could. And I hope that the film
is empathic, you know, but it's just it's just that
it's empathetic in many different directions, and some of them
are are oppositional and a big part of the process

(28:32):
of making this film, well, specifically writing it was while
I was in post production on BO was afraid. I
flew out to New Mexico, and which is where I'm from.
I grew up in New Mexico. So I've been wanting
to make my New Mexico movie for a long time.

(28:52):
But I flew back out and I drove around the
state for a long time, and I went to different
counties and I talked to different shares tarfs. I went
to small towns, and you know, I spoke with mayors,
police chiefs, public officials. I went to Pueblos. I just
tried to get as broad a picture of the the

(29:15):
landscape and the political climate of New Mexico as I could,
And so I was doing that in twenty twenty two,
moving into twenty three. But I was specifically asking them
a lot about what their experience was during twenty twenty

(29:35):
and a lot of these characters are modeled on the
people I met, and it really helped the movie get
away from me. Joaquin's character, Joe Cross is specifically modeled
on one sheriff that we both found very interesting. Even

(29:56):
his wardrobe, it is basically a rip off.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
That's so interesting.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
But it makes sense because this does feel like a
movie where, let's say, your movies can be very personal,
and I do feel like this broadens that and looks
at many different people's kind of experiences and obviously through
your lens.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
But could you also talk about.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
When you are making a film like this, there you
have so many tonal shifts.

Speaker 5 (30:33):
You love to play with kind of genre expectations.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
But at the heart of this, especially as we move
into like the third act, there is some like incredibly thrilling,
kind of neo noir ish crime elements that I don't
feel like I've necessarily seen in your work before.

Speaker 5 (30:49):
Could you talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
When it starts things start to kind of ramp up
in that second to third act and bringing that element.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah, well, you know, it's a Western, and you know
it's it's meant to be fun, and it's also a
dark comedy. I don't know, it's doing a lot of things,
and it is a bit of a shape shifter. I
like that. I like when a movie pivots and turns

(31:17):
and changes. I don't like to know exactly where I'm going,
you know. And but the film is also very much
about you know, people who are media literate, and they're
all living in kind of different movies, right. I think
Joaquin's character would have grown up watching those older westerns,
and I think that informs how he sees himself and

(31:39):
probably why he became a sheriff. And he's a defender
of his community. He's a man of action, you know,
he loves his wife, stands up for what's right. That's
how he sees himself, right. But he also he's fifty
years old. He would have grown up with the action
movies of the eighties and the nineties, and at the
end he gets to live in one has become you know,

(32:03):
kind of a I don't know how you'd describe it,
like an outrageous.

Speaker 5 (32:08):
Yeah, like a canon.

Speaker 4 (32:09):
I like he's kind of like Arnie with his giant gun,
you know, going and then he gets canonized as this
hero even though the audience knows there are kind of
different versions of what happened, which makes sense because, like
you said, different versions of reality is like a big
part of this. Yeah, Okay, did you ever consider this
is just me as a person who's like very into

(32:29):
comic books and all that kind of stuff, And did
you ever kind of consider that as like its own
weird kind of multiverse, because we are all living in
our own versions of reality where there are these kind
of like I can see something and read it completely
differently or believe that there is something completely different going on.

Speaker 5 (32:46):
So when you were kind of sorting those different universes out,
how did you keep track of them? For each character
they're kind of worldview that they were in.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
Well, you know, I'm trying to cover as many corners
of the Internet specifically at that time as I could.
You know, I would have included more characters or ideologies
if I could have, without you know, sacrificing story or
you know, just narrative coherency. And coherency is an interesting

(33:20):
thing with this movie because it's about the incoherent miasma, right,
so coherently but yeah, you know, I mean, I mean
what I will say, It's a film about a bunch
of people who care about the world and are very paranoid,
and they all see that something is very badly wrong.
They don't agree about what that thing is, and you know,

(33:41):
there's a very clear point in the movie where I
think the film becomes fully gripped and possessed by like
that paranoia and that's the biggest pivot point.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Yeah and yeah, I think that's when for me everything
kind of came together and I was like, Okay, like
I see the perspective and the experience that we are
we are kind.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
Of looking through. I would love talk to you more.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
I'm going to ask what.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
I was sat next to a very sweet kid when
I was there, called Manny Liota, who has a cy
called Movies with Manny, who put this as his most
anticipated movie of the year, and A twenty four has
been using it.

Speaker 5 (34:20):
So I asked him what he would ask.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
You if he would get to talk to you, and
he said that he sent me a very thoughtful question
that was basically like, what was a daily practice that
you took on while filming Eddington that was new compared
to the other things that you had done with your
other kind of projects, and how it got you into

(34:43):
the mindset for Eddington.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
Here's what I'll say about And this is not just
for Eddington. This is something that started with BoA's Afraid,
and it started because I was working with Joaquin Phoenix,
but it persisted through here and I think I was
ready for it in a new way. On this and
I incorporated it into my preparation and my you know whatever,

(35:07):
if I have any methodology. With my first two films,
I was very afraid of deviating from a plan, you know,
I I so I blocked everything out. I shot listed
everything before we even started scouting, let alone certain actors,
and that really locked us into things that you know,

(35:29):
I was afraid to let shift. You know that. That's
why we built the entire house in Hereditary. It was
because I I there was no hope of finding an
actual house that would allow for for anything that I
wanted to actually do with the camera with with the
blocking uh that persisted through Midsommar and then on on.

(35:54):
But was afraid. I knew that that wasn't gonna fly
with Joaquin, that if I now a plan, he would
like rebel against it. And and that's what one reason
I wanted to work with him was. I wanted to
be challenged in that way. And I found that, you know,
on that film I had, I still had the same
kind of plan. I just kept it to myself and

(36:15):
I and I allowed it to change based on what
you know came up in my work with Joaquin. And
on this one, I I really allowed myself to not
have as much of a plan and so and and
this was also the first film that I ever shot
with nose. Nothing built on stages. Wow, those sets in

(36:37):
this movie. Everything is is on location. Some of some
of these, you know, like for instance, the Sheriff's office. Yeah,
that that, you know that Ted Garcia's bar. We we
built those from scratch, basically in abandoned you know, buildings.
But but still nothing's on a stage, so exactly the

(37:01):
level of control is less. And so anyway, that's my
kind of rambling.

Speaker 5 (37:07):
You know, I love that one. I'm sure Manny's gonna
be super stoked. He's such a big fan of all
your work.

Speaker 4 (37:11):
And also as well, I can actually feel that kind
of unleashed freedom in the movie. That makes a lot
of sense to me when when we look at the
kind of twists and turns it takes and the way
that it chooses to explore these characters. So yeah, I'm
I'm very excited for people to see this movie. And yeah,
thank you for taking time to speak to me. I

(37:32):
really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
That's it for news.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
On the next week's episodes of X Ray Vision, we're
preparing you for fantastic four First Steps and continue on
our coverage of Apple TV Plus's Foundation Season three.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
That's it for the News, Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
X ray Vision is hosted by Jason Concepcion and Rosie
Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcast.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Cole.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Our supervising producer is Abu Zafar.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
Our producers are Common Laurent Dean Jonathan and Fay Wag.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
songs by Aaron Kauffman.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman and
Heidi our discord moderator.
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