Oliver Jackson-Cohen & the Cast of Towards Zero; Celebrating YouTube's 20th Anniversary

We dive into the world of Agatha Christie with the talented cast of "Towards Zero," now on BritBox. Actors Mimi Keene, Anjana Vasan, Oliver Jackson Cohen, and Ella Lily Highland talk about their roles in this fresh take on a classic mystery. With themes of scandal and the rich tapestry of Christie's storytelling, they share how they infused authenticity and modernity into their performances. From the thrill of embodying complex characters to the joy of collaborating with a stellar cast and crew, their excitement is palpable as they invite audiences to experience this timeless tale anew.

And YouTube's 20th anniversary isn't just a milestone; it's a testament to how a simple platform has reshaped our world. Maddie Buxton, YouTube's culture and trends lead, joins us to share her insights on the platform's evolution from its first 19-second zoo video to becoming the top streaming service in the U.S. We explore how YouTube has adapted to changing viewing habits, now reaching living rooms as a major entertainment source. With celebrity creators and diverse content formats, YouTube has truly become an indispensable part of our lives.The episode also highlights the incredible journey of YouTube creators, who have become celebrities in their own right. We discuss YouTube's impact on entertainment and education, with series like Hot Ones and Chicken Shop Date becoming essential spaces for Hollywood promotions. Maddie and I reflect on YouTube as an equalizer, providing opportunities for everyone, regardless of age or background. It's about building communities around shared passions and offering an endless stream of content that traditional media could never match.Shifting gears, 

Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming: https://www.deathandgrief.show/Chapter-One-The-Diagnosis-AKA-WTF/

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, we celebrate two
decades of YouTube and the cast of Agatha Christie's Towards
Zero is on.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from my
Heart Radio your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity
interviews on all the movies, TV music and pop culture
u CRABE Weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Nett Nan Nahnt, Hello and welcome to pop Culture Weekly
with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon, and
I thank you once again for hanging out with me
for another episode of pop Culture Weekly. We have an
awesome episode today. Did you know it's YouTube's twentieth birthday?

(00:49):
Like that's insane. So we have Maddie Buxton from YouTube
to celebrate two decades of YouTube and speak about some
of the incredible pop culture moments. And then later in
the show, we have the cast of the new BritBox
Limited series Agatha Christie's Towards Zero, including Oliver Jackson Cohen

(01:12):
love Him. That show is really good. I love a
good mystery. Who Done it? And it does just that?
But all right, so first up, though, we're gonna be
celebrating the twentieth birthday of YouTube. So joining us is
Maddy Buxton, who's YouTube's trends manager, and we're gonna dive

(01:34):
into the profound impact on pop culture that YouTube has had.
You know, so many viral videos, influential creators. YouTube. Really
it's transformed the way that we consume content and connect
with other people and even you know, how we perceive

(01:55):
fame and success, right like mister Beast, I mean that's
his you know, career trajectory is insane and it all
is thanks to YouTube. So just some interesting facts about YouTube,
because you know, I think it's pretty incredible. There are
over twenty million videos uploaded daily to YouTube, twenty million.

(02:17):
YouTube users average over one hundred million comments on videos
daily every single day, one hundred million comments, and YouTube
videos receive over three point five billion likes from users
per day. Three point five billion likes. That's insane. There's
over now three hundred music videos on YouTube that are

(02:39):
in the billion views club, including Madonna who just hit
It with lais La, Benita Adele with Hello Rose, and
Bruno Mars with apt Oh. And by the way, Adele's
Hello Made It made it to a billion views in
just eighty eight days. That's pretty crazy. So in any event,
just some cool, you know, facts I think I thought

(03:00):
were interesting about YouTube celebrating their twentieth anniversary. Let's jump
right in to my conversation with YouTube's trend manager Matty Buckston.
All right, so I am here with Matty Bruckstein, YouTube's
culture and trends lead, and we are discussing and celebrating

(03:22):
twenty years of YouTube.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
How are you hi, I'm great, How are.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
You I'm doing well. Thank you so much, and thank
you so much for joining me. It's it's pretty cool
because twenty years ago there was this nineteen second video
of a guy at a zoo or whatever, and now
it's incredible what's changed in how big it's become. How
do you feel about that?

Speaker 4 (03:48):
Yeah, I mean we went from that nineteen second video
two decades ago to today YouTube is the number one
streaming platform in the US. It's changed so much. Creators
are celebrities with hundreds of millions of subscribers. It's it's
just been crazy to see this kind of growth.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, and I just I actually covered a couple of
weeks ago that for the first time ever, more people
are watching YouTube on television than actually on you know,
phones and iPads and stuff like that. How has that shift?
You know, And I'm kind of jumping way ahead, but
I'm curious, how does that shift reflect what you have

(04:29):
been seeing? You know, culturally in the twenty years ago,
we had to go on a browser or whatever and
dial up on AOL or whatever it was. And you know,
how is that in your opinion? Why has that shift happened?

Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, I mean you're exactly right now that we're seeing
that when people sit down on the couch and they
turn on the TV, they're turning on YouTube. I think
a big part of it is that there are so
many different formats now. So you have traditional but you
also have shorts, which people are watching a lot on
their TVs. You have live streams, you have video podcasts.

(05:08):
So there are just so many different formats to be
able to access, and people are looking to watch them
across more surfaces than ever before.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
And I know in my own life that that's true,
you know. I mean I have a fifty five inch
TV in my room and it's like, well, I was
watching it on my phone, watching YouTube on my phone,
and then I'm like, wait, I'm in front of a
giant TV that has access to YouTube? Why am I
doing that? So I just made the switch myself.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
You know, yeah, exactly. And it's also I mean, if
you put on something in the background when you're doing
things around the house, you know, it's our concept of entertainment,
and what entertainment is has really expanded. You know, it's
not just things that you sit down actively to watch.
Sometimes it's things you put on to help you relax

(05:56):
while you're doing something else.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, So, going back back to the beginning twenty years ago,
what how would you describe YouTube?

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Then then we saw, you know, a lot of these
viral videos David after Dentist, Double Rainbow, Harlie bit my finger.
They were very short, they were on the shorter side.
And then about ten years into to YouTube's history, we
started to see longer videos really really taking over. And

(06:26):
now we're back to having this this very broad mix
of all different lengths.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah. I noticed on my own analytics that there seems
to be shorts people and then what I call like
long's people, but then there's this mix who watch both.
But I think it's interesting that over time YouTube YouTube
has become a place for all of it you know,
if you just want short little bursts, you got that.

(06:52):
If you just want, like, hey, I want to sit
down for a couple hours and watch a documentary on
bees or something, you got that too. Like, you know,
it's really become kind of an all video whatever your
tastes are.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah, it really meets you where you're at in that moment.
And I think what we've seen with shorts especially is
that a lot of people might find a creator, find
what they're interested in, be a short, and then go
to long form to explore it in more depth.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah. Yeah, So you know, going back to the beginning,
as we were talking about what YouTube looked like twenty
years ago and some of the viral things that popped off,
how do you see you know those some of those
videos that you've talked about were like main things in
my childhood that you know, we're like everybody was talking

(07:44):
about and I would send it to my friends and play,
you know, and then we'd be double Rainbow and all that. Hell.
You know, then do you would you say that it
was starting to ingrain itself in pop culture, not just
ingrain itself, but starting to become pop culture.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Yeah, I mean I think we saw those early viral videos.
We still see content that people are sharing with all
of their friends and family, but it's happening within their community,
so they're coming into these bigger moments through more personal
entry points. So you might not see the same exact

(08:24):
video as someone else, but you might become a fan
of something because you saw cooking video related to it
and you're into cooking. So it's much more, much more
personalized than ever before.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
And do you think that, you know, I remember back
with Vivo where Vivo was working with YouTube to bring
all these music videos and that sort of thing. How
much do you think like music especially you know, bigger
artists changed the trajectory, if you will, of YouTube, almostly

(09:00):
legitimized it, you know.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah, I mean so much. First of all, we've seen
artists who were discovered and really born on YouTube, like
Justin Bieber, and then you have videos like Gongdam Style,
which became the first video to cross a billion views
and then two billion views, and we've seen so much
globalization of music through YouTube. K pop really, you know,

(09:27):
taking over nine of the top ten twenty four hour
music debuts come from K pop videos, and that's because
of their band communities that live on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
And I remember I think the band was Okay Go, Yeah,
the Treadmill. Yes, where like that's the first band or
act that I remember that like legitimately became a star,
you know, legitimately became a household name from their YouTube

(09:58):
music video alone.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah. I mean, music videos became huge for artists to
be able to tell their story, to connect with their
fans in new ways. And that's still the case. The
music video is more important than ever.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
And you know, speaking, I'm obviously a huge pop culture fan,
and we touched with music and such, but film, you know,
I noticed that even back then, twenty years ago, it
was kind of a cursory thing of what we have
now where people are debuting you know, feature films on YouTube.

(10:35):
But it gave an avenue in my opinion, and still today,
but especially then where there weren't a lot of outlets,
it gave an avenue for people to kind of explore
and get their camera or whatever and kind of make
these movies that wouldn't be able to be seen otherwise.
You know, how do you feel about that?

Speaker 4 (10:57):
Yeah, I mean you hit the nail on the head.
I think you Tube created the partner program, which was
the first way that creators were able to make money
just by uploading videos to the Internet, and that's really
formed the basis of the creator economy that exists now.
And to your point, we see so many different formats

(11:18):
that never would have had a place on traditional broadcast
TV but have become massive on YouTube. Things like ASMR,
you know, those whisper videos that are helpful for some
people for relaxation, like exactly get ready with me videos?
You know, these things that are very established formats now

(11:42):
but that never existed or would have existed before.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Hell have you seen, you know, obviously with movies and
film and television and everything. You know, from a viewer perspective. Anyway,
I had noticed at some point that you know, companies,
you know, these giant I don't I don't want to
say I hate the word legacy companies, but traditional media companies.

(12:10):
We're spending a lot of money, in a lot of
time and still to this day to give content in
order just to promote their new project, whether it's movie
or show or whatever. What do you think that shift
was for them to be like, you know what, this
is a viable, huge, you know, audience potential audience that

(12:34):
we wouldn't do, wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.
Is there a first that you can kind of think
of that kind of you know, open those floodgates.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
Necessarily a first? But I think there are two big
components here. One is that creators are now mainstream celebrities.
So for big Hollywood productions that want to promote their films,
celebrities are going to interview shows like hot ones like
Chicken Shop Date, and that's where they're doing their promotion

(13:06):
because they know that millions of viewers are going there.
And then there's the component of fan communities and how
fan communities exist and engage on YouTube. And I think
companies have recognized that if they want to reach these
fan communities, YouTube is where they need.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
To do it.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
And for for you, you know, on the YouTube side,
how has it been to watch? You know? Because YouTube
invests a lot in small creators. I know, you know,
I'm subscribed to the creator channel and and you know,
get all kinds of tips and I get an email
every week and all of this. Do you did you

(13:52):
h as creators became such vital components of YouTube and
these kind of powerhouses on our own outside of a
traditional system. Did that take YouTube by surprise? I mean,
because obviously it's you know, audience driven content. But like,
you know, if I was back then, I would never

(14:13):
have thought, like, oh, mister Beast is going to be
this giant mainstream celebrity in ten years, you know what
I mean. Was that a surprise On the business side.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
I wouldn't say it was a surprise because we've always
known that the heart of the company, the heart of
YouTube is the creators, and how they've built their community
is how they've built their production studios. I think seeing
you know, creators like mister Beast who have hundreds of

(14:42):
millions of subscribers is incredible. That scale is almost beyond belief. Yeah,
but I think we always knew that that creators were
going to go mainstream and become big celebrities.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah. It's interesting in my opinion, because you know, where
you there are some very you know, real biases towards
certain types of people. I think in traditional media, you know,
often there's many female especially artists of a certain age,

(15:17):
that feel that traditional systems kind of block them out
once they get to a certain age. And on YouTube,
you know, I was watching this eighty some year old
woman you know, the other day playing Xbox or something
on and I'm like, that's awesome, And it's kind of become,
in my opinion, a great equalizer because to me, I

(15:37):
don't as an audience, I don't care what age they
are or you know, any of that stuff. Like I'm like,
if you're making great content, whether it's you know, on
a movie or playing Xbox or whatever, awesome, I'm gonna
watch it. And to me, it has become that equalizer.
You know, anybody at all can get on and use
their iPhone or whatever and post to a potential audience

(15:59):
of insane numbers.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah, exactly. I also love a gaming sixty year old
in Australia named food for Dogs. She's amazing.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
I'll have to check her out.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
Check her out. But I think the beauty of it
is that people are ultimately just sharing what they're passionate about,
and they're connecting with other people wherever they are in
the world, who share that passion and that's something that's
much more personalized than you ever would have gotten on
traditional TV.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah. And you know, if you look at the numbers,
I mean I saw that YouTube is the right after
Google is the number one most used search engine in
the world after Google, which is pretty insane if you
think about it, because that also brings up the aspect
of not just the pop culture of you know, flashy

(16:52):
movies or skits or whatever, but how to's and that
sort of thing. You know, I would never have changed
my you know. Uh, I forget what they're even called
the whitebird juice in my car. You can tell, I
have no idea what I'm talking about. I used to
roll down the window and like have the juice and

(17:13):
just like poor it on the windshield and then turn
my wipers on. And then I looked at a YouTube
video and I'm like, Okay, this isn't bad, you know,
And now I can do it. Don't know what it's called,
but I can do it now. And so it's interesting that,
you know, that's also been a huge factor, in my opinion,
in YouTube's explosive you know growth, Is that besides the

(17:35):
entertainment factor, the educational factor.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
You know, yeah, absolutely. I mean I go to YouTube
to learn so many things, but I'm just trying to
install something in my apartment, and the instructions as they're
written now aren't clear. If I search for the brand.
I know that some creator is going to be showing
me how to do it, but you're absolutely right. I mean,
the educational content is a huge factor of it, and

(18:00):
I think one of the exciting things is that that
educational content has become entertainment in its own way.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah. Yeah, I you know, there's so many things I
feel like obviously that when I was a kid didn't exist,
and YouTube has become a place where there's you know,
a whole new I don't want to say generation because
it's not necessarily generational, but there's a whole slew of
content creators out there that are filling those spaces for

(18:31):
those types of things, you know, no matter what it
is you're looking for. I think that's why I love
it so much.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
Yeah, exactly, finding your community, even if you know you
might not know people in real life who share the
thing that you're interested in, but on YouTube you will
find that community wherever in the world. That is.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah. What are some of the biggest pop culture moments
that you know, you think are notable over the last
twenty years from YouTube?

Speaker 4 (19:01):
I mean one is definitely Gongnam Style hitting a billion
and then two billion views and really kind of changing
the music landscape bringing K pop over. One of the beautiful,
kind of full circle things is that that Gongdam styles
record or that being the fastest K pop video to

(19:23):
hit a billion views was actually broken this year apata
from Brudovar. That is a yeah, very catchy. But we
continue to see those records being broken. We continue to
see creators like Mister Beast really breaking through going to Hollywood,

(19:43):
and right now I'm really interested in Indian animation on YouTube.
There are a number of animated series has been Hotel
amazing digital circus that are building these massive fan communities
on YouTube and really becoming mainstream.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
I love that, and again, you know, I keep coming
back to that, but that's one of the amazing things
in my opinion about YouTube is that if you have
a passion, you know, you don't need to hope that
you're discovered or whatever, and you could be in some
no name town in Indiana or something and get this
content that you're so passionate about and you love and

(20:24):
get it out there to an audience that you wouldn't
have had a chance to before.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
You know, yeah, you can bypass the traditional gatekeepers.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, What do you think. You know, I've
noticed obviously, you know, I have a podcast with iHeart,
and we've been getting into video on this end. And
I've noticed, you know, obviously as a fan of YouTube
and as a professional podcaster, that YouTube has been investing

(20:53):
heavily in podcasting. What are some other things that you
know like that that YouTube thinks that is at the
forefront because you know, I noticed that YouTube has never
been afraid to try try things whether they may work
or not. You know, they were doing original content for
a while, which I had a number of the you know,
casts of those shows on this show. And what are

(21:16):
some things like that? Or is it podcasting? Is that
going to be the next giant, you know, boost with
with YouTube.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
I think it's I think it is podcasting, video podcasting.
I think we're already starting to see it where podcasters
are making news, where presidential candidates are going to creators
going to podcasts to give interviews instead of going to
traditional broadcast networks. And because they allow such a conversational

(21:48):
and they allow a different kind of connection than you
would otherwise get. So definitely video podcasts and I think
we're going to see a lot more growth in live
streaming space. We're already starting to see creators in places
like Brazil who are live streaming major sports events and

(22:11):
having the rights to broadcast those. So I think that
we'll see a lot more in that space.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
I love that. That's exciting. And where do you think
YouTube is going to be in the next twenty years?

Speaker 4 (22:24):
That is crazy. I think, Well, this month we surpassed
twenty trillion uploads, so I'm hoping that in another twenty
we have twenty trillion more or even more than that.
And I think that we're going to see just even
more evolution of the creator class, the creator economy, and

(22:47):
creators as celebrities, shifting what we think of as celebrities
and what we think of as entertainment.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, I agree. Thank you so much. I really appreciate
all your time. And I'll see him back in twenty
more years.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Thank you. Have a good day. Maddie Buckston, super super interesting.
I love YouTube. You know I and maybe you don't know,
but if you don't, please head on over to YouTube
at pop Culture Weekly and check out my content. I
do a lot of not just the you know, video

(23:26):
versions of these interviews, but content that you won't find
on the show on the podcast, like movie reviews and
stuff like that. So I think you'll really like it.
Let me know, subscribe and then let me know that
you're coming from the podcast, and maybe I'll just shout
you out in an episode. So all right, we're gonna
take a quick break and when we come back, we're

(23:47):
gonna jump into the mysterious world of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero.
Welcome back. Are you ready to sharpen your detective skills
because I've been buzzing lately about this fresh take on

(24:09):
a classic iconic mystery. Yes, we are diving headfirst into
the brand new Agatha Christie's Towards Zero, the limited series
that is exclusively on BritBox. So it's set against a
backdrop of these simmering family tensions and these hidden secrets
at this insanely gorgeous and lavish seaside of state. It's

(24:31):
got all kinds of twists and turns and all the
captivating characters that you would expect from Agatha Christie, right,
but it's brought to life by these amazing actors. And
you know, the story is amazing and I love mystery,
and who done it, but the actors are really, really
incredible and they just bring it to the next level.

(24:53):
So first up, we are shining a light on the
fantastic performances from Mimi Keen and Vasan. These two brilliant
actors are key players in this intricate plot and towards zero.
So let's chat with them now. Mimi Kean and then
Joanna Vassan. Welcome, Mimi, welcome, and Jana. I gotta ask you,

(25:20):
what is it like working on a story from you know,
such an iconic author like Agatha Christie, and how do
you find ways to put your own take on these characters.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
It's obviously daunting because you are thinking about taking care
of so many different.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Aspects of that.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think, like being respectful and loyal to the story
that's so loved and so well known, but then at
the same time not wanting people to just be like, oh,
it's the same thing and you're just repeating something as
someone else. Is that you know, you need to find
a balance I think between those two things. And I

(26:07):
think that you know, the writing and the directing that
that was what made that happen. Like it's not an
easy thing to do, so I don't think I could
take a lot of credit for that like aspect of it,
but I don't know if I took anything.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
If I took anything, it.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Would probably be just life experience, probably in the modern world,
to kind of add a more modern twist, because I
feel like this was it definitely had. That was the
main difference, is that it had like a more modern
sexy energy to it, and I feel like you can
just take that from being alive today. So that was

(26:47):
that was my input to trying to stay loyal but
also make it fresh and make it exciting. But I
can't take credit for most of it because it was
really just a lot of other amazing people.

Speaker 5 (27:00):
I think there's a reason why Agatha Christie is so popular,
you know, with every generation but also with cross cultures.
Like you know, my grandmother from India loved Agatha Christie
and she's not, you know, first language English speaker, so
it's a testament to her characters and her writing that

(27:22):
when you hear Agatha Christie, it comes with so much
history and love that obviously, as you say, it's daunting
to step into, but it's also very exciting. So for
me it was like as a fan myself. It was
like a bucket list moment to get to be in
a murder mysteries because I enjoy murder mysteries myself. So
for example, that scene where Inspector Leitch is interrogating me,

(27:44):
that was the moment I had when I was like,
oh my god, I am in an Agatha Christie murder mystery.
Like this is the scene that I feel like I'm
watching myself be interrogated, and I'm getting very excited by
the fact that I'm in this story. But in terms
of the trick to approaching something like Aga Christie, I think,

(28:04):
because it has so much history to it, the only
thing that you can do, as Mimi said, is to
approach it as yourself. Because you can do all the
research into the period and the time, and you can
watch the other Agatha Christie's and you can do all
your homework, so to speak. But at the end of
the day, what makes her writing brilliant is that she
is really just creating a story where human emotions are

(28:28):
competing with each other. And I think to approach it
as in a modern way, in a fresh way, is
to bring your own vulnerabilities into it, and to approach
it like as you say, how you would in twenty
twenty five approach your scene, and that's just as important
as the costume and the you know, the how you

(28:48):
hold yourself and how you move. Yes, all of that
is important, but those are just trappings. Those are just
like what an Agath Christie looks like. But it's more
important to think about what it feels like to be
in an Agatha Christie rather than just the esthetic. And
I think the fantastic thing about this is that it's
so it was so well cast and as a great

(29:10):
group of actors that to do that was very easy
because you turned up for work and it was a
great group of actors making it look easy and make
you look better because you were acting opposite them. So
I think we were very lucky in that. Really well,
we found a really good team we did.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Thank you, Mimi, thank you and John. I have a
great day. Can't wait for everyone to see Agatha Christie's
Towards Zero, Mimi Kanan and johna Asun. I can't wait
till you watch Towards Zero so we can talk about it.
I just can't talk about any part of it yet,
especially on the show, because you know, it's like spoiler

(29:55):
heaven with that, so talk about it on the side,
hit me up on social and we'll discuss it all right.
Next up, we've got the amazing Oliver Jackson Cohen. I
love him. You've seen him give us chills in the
Haunting of Hill House and the Haunting of Blind Manner
and making us rethink everything in The Invisible Man. I
love his take on The Invisible Man. But anyway, starring

(30:19):
alongside the amazing Oliver Jackson Cohen is the brilliant Ella
Lily Hyland, who recently captivated audiences in fifteen Love and
Black Joves. So they add yet another piece to the
puzzle of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero. So let's jump into it.
Oliver Jackson Cohen and Ella Lily Hyland, thank you both

(30:45):
for joining me. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (30:47):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for having us.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Of course, first of all, congratulations on Towards Zero. It
is so awesome. I feel like we don't get enough
of these kinds of projects any more, you know, So
it's like a treat to me anyway, when when one
comes along and it's so good.

Speaker 6 (31:09):
It's all because of us.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
What's it like to work on you know, a project
like this that you know, I feel like, at least
in America anyway, we don't get you know, these kinds
of like high quality mystery type of things that really,
you know, literally have stood the test of time. Is
that part of the allure for for both of you? Yeah,

(31:37):
I think like.

Speaker 7 (31:40):
You kind of have to forget that it's a Nagata
Christie because it has such a like weight and tradition
and you almost like, I don't know, dig yourself a
whole of fear and do you know what I mean?
You kind of have to look at it like it's
just a new project because because it is in a sense.
And but yeah, but I think she's just such an

(32:02):
incredible writer and that's why she stands the test of time,
and she's you know, the way she writes about people,
and this psychological aspect of something like a murder mystery
and the tension and the stakes and stuff is what
makes it really enticing. But yeah, I think you kind
of just have to forget that there's loads of people
being like this is really important because then it becomes

(32:22):
scary to do.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Yeah, how about for you? Oliver? I'm really sorry? What
was the question? I think I complicated.

Speaker 6 (32:33):
I just went on.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
I what was the question? Oh, I was saying, you know,
with such a is part of the allure of taking
on a project like this that it's not you know,
and I'm a huge superhero fan, but it's not like
this big blockbuster flashy. It's really just great storytelling. This
like murder mystery that has stood the test of time.

Speaker 6 (32:55):
You know, well, I think I mean to kind of
exactly what you're saying is that, you know, good storytelling
is good storytelling, and that's kind of undeniable.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
And so.

Speaker 6 (33:05):
There is a sort of real deliciousness to a murder
mystery because you're sort of as a viewer, you're sort
of an active participant in it because you're constantly trying
to figure out, you know, with any kind of who
done it, And so there's something quite enjoyable and satisfying
about that. But sort of being a part of a
story like this, you know, as Ella said Agatha Christie,

(33:29):
there's a reason why nearly one hundred years later, we're
still doing these adaptations and we're taking these stories. And
what's interesting about Towards Err it's a much lesser known
book and a little bit off kilter from her sort
of previous stuff, which perhaps was a bit more formulaic
in tone. This feels a very like a very very

(33:53):
different kind of departure in terms of the sort of
the back catalog of stuff. And so ultimately the a
Llaw is kind of this, you know, really good storytelling.
These kind of fascinating, deeply complex and convoluted characters and

(34:14):
dynamics that they're at play, the kind of premise as
a whole of these people who go through this incredible
public divorce, the scandalous divorce, who because of his infidelity,
they remarry, and then he goes and spends his honeymoon
and invites his ex wife on this honeymoon is a

(34:37):
kind of quite far fetched idea, but also a genius
setup for any kind of chaos that could ensue. And
so it's the perfect setup for a murder mystery. It's
the perfect setup that all of these people come out
the would work, And that I think is what's so
satisfying about storytelling when it's done at its higher level,

(35:00):
as some's kind of done with this.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
I love that, And I always wondered, you know, I'm
not an actor. I did. I was in a small
part in Selma, this movie Selma, it's amazing. Yeah, very
small part, but that was my you know, experience with acting.
And what I always find interesting is, you know, as

(35:24):
a fanboy of you know, me being a pop culture guy. Uh,
it's exciting for me to watch you know, this story unfold.

Speaker 6 (35:32):
Right.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
How about as an actor, are you able to kind
of separate Okay, I want to know what happens next
and focus on your character or are you also like, Okay,
I want to want I want to know what happens next.
You know.

Speaker 6 (35:49):
Well, I mean I feel like with something like this
because it's a it's a limited you know, it's three episodes.
We we were handed the scripts right from the get go,
so we knew every was sort of written. I mean
a lot of it was rewritten as we went, but
but we knew, we knew where we started, we knew
kind of where it would end. And so in terms

(36:12):
of that, I think it's it's an interesting one. I
think for anyone that's a part of a murder mystery
where everyone is a suspect, that's the kind of interesting
thing is how much do you show not necessarily for

(36:32):
an audience, because that's all to do with how they
edit it and what they end up showing to an audience.
But as actors, I think the interesting thing is how
much how much of a mask you spoke? You know
about masks, these masks that people put on, and how much.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
How much of a crack is there? Is there a crack?
What are you showing? What?

Speaker 6 (36:52):
What are you lying about? How are you lying you know?
How are you telling the truth?

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Are you really good at?

Speaker 6 (36:59):
So it's it's all of those kind of intricate things
that I think his actor is a really good fun
to play totally.

Speaker 7 (37:06):
I think you just need to be present as well,
like you like you can in your prep. You can
search for the end and know what the end is.
And I think it's good to know what the end
is because you know so.

Speaker 4 (37:17):
You can act it.

Speaker 7 (37:17):
You're not like it's not a real thing, you know, Like, yeah,
you kind of have to know. It's like different parts
of your brain. You can know something, but you have
to play the present, like and what the character is
experiencing right now.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
You know.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
That's a really great point, yeah, you know.

Speaker 7 (37:33):
Because like like I remember having a thing before where
I didn't know what happened in something and I found
it really jarring when I found out because my whole
character like development and study like had to relate to
that because you have to go to why that would
happen to the beginning, do you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (37:50):
So it changes.

Speaker 7 (37:51):
But I know maybe some people like that method, but
I would I'd find that really unsafe, I think, because
you kind of have to know. But I think it's
really important that you're just playing what's happening right now,
which you know why I love Leech's character so much
in it because he's kind of discovering everything in real time,
which makes him kind of really magnetic to watch because
he's literally discovering things presently, and I think like someone

(38:15):
could be doing the most mundane thing if they're being presents.
That's what makes us like attracts us to it, you know.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Thank you both, Ella and Oliver,
Thank you so much. I can't wait for everybody to
see Agatha Christie's towards zero. Thank you so much. Thank
you so much. Have a great day too. Thank you,
Oliver Jackson Cohen and Ella Lily hi Land great great

(38:45):
great chatting with those two and the entire cast of
Agatha Christie's Towards Zero, which is available right now exclusively
on BritBox. It is really good. If you love a
murder mystery, if you love a who'd done it? You
want to watch this one, believe me, And then why
after you watch it, hit me up so we can
talk about it. All right? That is our show for

(39:05):
this episode. As always, I thank you for hanging out
with me, spending time with me talking pop culture. Let
me know what you think of this episode, let me
know what you think of YouTube trends, what are some
of your favorite moments in the past two decades of YouTube?
And let me know what you think about Britboxes Towards Zero.
It's so good. I can't wait to talk to you

(39:26):
about it. Hit me up on socials at pop Culture
Weekly or at Kyle McMahon or whatever, and let's talk
all right. I love you, I see you next week.
I love you well. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
Thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here all
the latest at popcultureweekly dot com.

Speaker 6 (39:48):
Towards zeros of me, of the characters you don't know
who did it, and your.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Be in bellow whole time because it's an offer.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Christie