Dave Franco & Alison Brie (Together); Anthony Mackie & the cast of Twisted Metal

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, Benny Panelo returns
to discuss video game adaptations, and I speak with Anthony
Mackie and the cast of Twisted Metal Season two, and
Dave Franco and Alison Bree join me to discuss their
horror film together. Let's go.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
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 pomp culture
U Crave Weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Nit n no no niitt. Hello, Welcome the pop Culture
Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I of course, I'm Kyle McMahon,
and I thank you for joining me on another episode
of pop Culture Weekly. Today's episode is a great one.
We're talking video game adaptations, horror movies, flaming clown cars,

(00:57):
and married people being spooky, so basically a regular Tuesday
in this business. We're gonna kick things off with my boy,
the Hysterical, the amazing, hilarious Benny Panella for a chat
about the best and worst video game adaptations ever made.
Spoiler one of us thinks Mortal Kombat is cinema. Then

(01:18):
we hit the gas and barrel into the chaos of
Twisted Metal season two with Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Anthony Caragan,
Michael Jonathan Smith, Tianna o'coe, and the incredible cast. And
finally we go out with a bang as Dave Franco
and Alison Bree joined me to talk about their new

(01:39):
horror film together, Real life married couple, Fake Life Terrified People.
So it's perfect. So all right, let's get into it.
I grabbed a controller of Red Bull and Benny Panella,
so let's jump into the video game adaptation multiverse. We
were diving into the wild, pixolated world of video game adaptations,

(02:02):
because who hasn't dreamed of turning an eight bit plumber
into a billion dollar movie franchise? Am I right? Benny Panella?

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Oh wow, look at this. I found my way back
to the studio after how many years.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
I know, like in three years.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, yeah, my GPS wasn't working. You make one wrong
turn in the studio and it's just you're down a
completely different hallway. But yeah, I'm excited that we're talking
about video games becoming movies, the egg becoming the chicken,
not the chicken becoming the egg.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Exactly because you know why we're doing that. Why because
I have Anthony Mackie and the cast of Twisted Metal
Season two.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Oh yeah, show looks awesome. Yeah, I remember playing that
game when I was a kid.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Did you watch the first season?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
I've not watched the first really great, but I've I
played the first ever Twisted Metal back of my PlayStation one. Gosh, ah, man,
this is like we're going back to like the late
nineties when I was like a kid. I had a
demo CD that Twisted Metal on it and I played
that and I'm like, I got to get this game.
And then I played that and I remember just loving
that game so much.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
If you were in the demolition, yeah, what would your
car be and what would it do?

Speaker 3 (03:12):
My car would probably be like the mild Annoyance car.
It would just walk up, you know, drive up to
your car and just like mildly annoy you like a
lot of like low damage attacks.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, so it'd be like a two thousand and one
Onto Civic.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
It'd be like a Ford Tourus like that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
I am going to ask some of our guests that today.
I'm just curious if they were in a real demolition,
what would their car.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Be demolition derby.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, I don't know what mine would be. I think
it would be an electric scooter.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Oh okay, with a side car, a sidecar that has
a cannon exactly. Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
And that's not a sexual reference, not.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
A sexual reference whatsoever. My Ford Tours would have a
gun that fires pringles cans. I mean like again, it
would like shoot like towards your tires. So it's not
going to do much damage.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
But it could get caught in the tires.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah, there you go, could get caught in the gears exactly.
And that you know.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
So quickly. How have you been the last three years?

Speaker 3 (04:18):
I've been great. I'm married now, I have a house. Now,
I'm still living in Wilmington and uh, you know I
I've Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware, yes, not Wilmington, North Carolina or Delaware, Ohio.
I am also doing a fantasy football podcast, the LFG podcast.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
We can get the LFG oh Spotify wherever you get
your podcast.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Heart radio, iHeartRadio app YEP which it's free, which is free.
But yeah, now I've just been you know, doing house
stuff like being in an old man. I don't know.
You you get more successful, and I just become an older,
older man, I know.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
And you left you were like thirty and now you're
like ninety. Yes, you're like you were talking earlier about
I found this great show. Two great shows, House and Seinfelm,
Like they haven't been around since last century.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
So in the next three years, when you have me
on again, I'll be telling you the wonderful uh discovery
of Survivor.

Speaker 5 (05:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
Roots, Okay, there's a show called Roots.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
So video game adaptations, yes, So first of all, just
in general, how do you feel about them?

Speaker 3 (05:24):
It can be tricky when you take a like here's
the thing. The beautiful things about video games, obviously, depending
on the game, is you you are the main character.
You know, while there is a main character, there's a
story in the game, you are effectively the player. You
are the main character. Right with a movie, you're just
kind of along for the ride. And I think that's

(05:44):
the challenge when you take a video game and move
it to the big screen. You know, it can be
very tricky to do that. You know. There and we'll
talk about good and bad like there there are some
that I think did a really great job of doing it,
and there's others where I think, you know, maybe you
should have just not done it. You have to understand

(06:05):
how to be able to take a story that the
player controls and move that into a realm where the
viewer still feels like they're in control while they're also
watching it unfold.

Speaker 6 (06:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, I think that's a really good assessment. I also
think you're a big fan of like Red Dead Redemption, right,
and so you love that, you play that, you've played
multiple games, like you're in the lore with something a
project that you've loved so much and have spent so
many hours in. Then seeing it in a new medium,

(06:38):
you're like, you're gonna have high expectations for that, Like
you've spent a lot of time and investment in this
world and you want it to like representative of that
world that you've lived in.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, and really quickly. There is no movie or show, right.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
No, but I will say this, the Red Dead Redemption
games are the closest you'll get to a video game movie,
like to me, like both happening at the same time,
like you literally playing a movie. They are beautiful, they're well,
well they're they're graphically beautiful and they're visually gorgeous number two.
The stories are just so engaging because you feel like
you are this character. They do a great job of that.

(07:17):
I think that's what they're a great template for. If
you're gonna do this, you know, follow this a little bit.
And that's a good segue into taking a video game
that's like a like Mario for example, being able to
take that applying a little bit of the Red Dead
formula to it and making it into a movie. I
think that's a really good kind of segue into it.
But I love those games. They're they're outstanding. Why And uh, well,

(07:38):
I mean obviously I've talked about like how engaging the
story is, but like there's something to this is like
I'm trying to condense a really big thought into a
couple of sentences here. But I think there's something that
is so fascinating about the wild West, Like we like when,
like when I was a kid watching old Western movies,
even if they were stupid, that even that fascinating because like, man,

(08:00):
was it really like that? You know, we see it
on film, we read it about it in books, but
we don't know if it was actually like that or not.
But it's kind of cool to see. You know, maybe
not that crazy of a spaghetti western playout, but it's
kind of cool to be and be a part of that,
you know. I just I'm mystified by that. I love that.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
I knew you would be the perfect person for this,
because one, you know, my video game experience is primarily
I mean, when I was a kid, I did all
the marios and all that, but my big stuff was
Call of Duty and Fortnite. Yeah, and so, and I
spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours.

(08:41):
You know, God knows how much time I spent playing
Fortnite and Call of Duty. So that's kind of except
when I was a kid with like Super Mario Kart
and all those. That's kind of the extent of my
video game stuff. So I thought you'd be a great counterpoint,
or not counterpoint, but a counterpart to this. All right,

(09:04):
let's start with kind of the origins of video game adaptations.
I would argue that Super Mario Brothers in nineteen ninety
three was probably the first one.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Do you think if I would think the Super Mario
Brothers movie from that early on. Now, whether that movie
was great or not, people can debate.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
But yeah, and quickly just started to interrupt, so I
just googled it. Super Mario Brothers is the first live
action film based on a video game, released May twenty eighth,
nineteen ninety three, to both critical and commercial failure.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Remember that one it was that was so ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
I look back on it fondly now though, like as
like a cheesy, campy disaster.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, I can appreciate practical effects in the movie. If
your movie's gonna flop, but they used practical effects, I'll
take it. I'll take you tried. There's effort there, there's
heart there. I think there's a charm to it. Definitely
not great, I wouldn't, you know, if it's on if
it's on the TV, I'll watch it for a little
bit that I'm switching to something else. But a good
like four out of ten movie, you know, like a

(10:09):
could have been a little better.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, I think it could have been a lot better.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And then came what a couple of years later, Straight
Fighter in Mortal Kombat. Yes, Mortal Kombat, which like they
were camp be cheesy, but they had some like cool,
technoish dance soundtracks.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
I might get this fact completely wrong, and it really
doesn't have much to do with our conversation, but that
because those one of those. I think they came around
around the same time. Street Fighter in Mortal Kombat. The
nineties for video game adaptations was interesting. It was very interesting.
It was a camp fest. Yeah, just one campy thing
after the next.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's a great way to put it, which is interesting
because those games weren't necessarily campy. I mean, I guess
if you think about it, Super Mario Brothers, the original games,
like you have two Italian brothers in what suspended? What
do you call those?

Speaker 4 (11:01):
Or overalls overall overalls, color coordinated, ye go, riding on
turtles for like superpower or is.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
It a stat they're plumbers? Like are we were? You
stab the plumbers? So there were two Italian plumbers. They
they fixed the pipe.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Right, you know it kind of wait, is that a stereotype?

Speaker 3 (11:18):
That's very Probably I'm Italian. I don't think it's I
don't think. I don't care half what I mean.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
I don't care either.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
But if you're offended by Italian plumbers, I mean, oh
my god, like, don't go on the internet ever, You're good.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
But uh, I mean, I guess, so, I guess if
you look at it in that way. Now they're kind
of campy, yeah, like if you look at Redemption versus
Super Mario Mario Brothers, like but it was also of
the time too, you know what I mean. Like I
feel like the eighties was kind of campy and big
hair and big like sparkles and stuff like.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Poppy colors and like yeah, like Neon and all that stuff,
and the early nineties was like trying to exist that
until what it became its own thing.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, and then then you have Super Mario Brothers the movie,
which was not at all like that.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
No, it was like dark and it was very much
like like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Like one like ghost
The Ghostbusters move like very practical, very dark, very set up.
It's very of its time. You can tell a movie
from the night like this is from the nineties like that. Yeah,
especially now where you know you have all this CGI
and stuff and even to a degree you're you're seeing

(12:29):
AI starting to get involved in the movies a little bit.
But I think I think maybe people need to watch
a little bit of that first movie just to kind
of see what we're talking about. But it is very campy.
Bowser and I thought we can I don't think we're
spoiling anything here. The movie's out set for like thirty
two years. The movie's been out for seventy five that

(12:50):
he just saw it, by the way, he just learned
about it as Wow. I was like, wow, this is
a new movie. Like Bowser is like a real person
for some reason. Yeah, I don't know. There's some weird
visions in that movie.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I wonder if that came down to budget. I mean,
I don't I dropped my cane.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
But maybe it was a budget thing. Maybe it was
just like a because the I forget the actor they
got to play Bowser, but it's not like a nobody.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, yeah it was. He was kind of so looking
at this. They had Bob Haskins. Yes, it was like
like a Shakespearean actor at the time. John Leguizamo, Yeah,
he's great.

Speaker 6 (13:27):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Dennis Hopper was Bowser.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
Dennis. Yeah, you're not putting a mask on Dennis Hopper.
Like they had some like pretty Good Tale mentioned booking
Dennis Hopper and saying all right, we're gonna put a
giant Bowser head on. Yeah, I'm not doing that.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Oh Fisher Stevens was in that too.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, No, I was that. Those are my thoughts on
the first, uh, the first video game to become a movie.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
And it's almost like after a Super Mario Brothers Street Fighter,
Immortal Kombat all kind of bombed, why did Hollywood keep
trying to make I mean, obviously the answer is money.
It's kind of fascinating now that they didn't take a
beat and be like, all right, let's go back and
think things out for a couple of years.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Because if that happened now, they would take a beat.
They would immediately be like, oh right, we're not doing that,
you know, like well they just try every they just
they just keep they keep plowing forward, you know.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
God love them all right. So it's interesting to me
that the TV adaptations really, i would say, only happened
more recently.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, it's it's kind of interesting. Like obviously, the big
one that we'll talk about is going to be Last
of Us, that video game a TV show, and there's
probably there's plenty of debate about what they've done so
far with that TV show. But it is interesting because
when you think of like Saturday Morning cartoons, like at
some point you would think, like, man, they would have

(14:51):
to have even in like the eighties or nineties, thought
like Hey, pac Man, or hey, let's do like a
even a Space Invaders cartoon for kids on Sunday morning.
Cartoons like that would have been perfect. Yeah, but they
just you know, they want to they I think that
era of Hollywood was all about taking big swings, and

(15:11):
that eventually led to some of the great things we
saw in the nineties, some of the great practical, you know,
small movies in the nineties. But you know, like you said,
after the bombs that you had in like the late
eighties early nineties, of all these movies they try to
do from video games, they kind of they kind of
chilled out a little bit. And then I think TV
did the same thing. I think TV's TV's even more

(15:33):
reactionary than Hollywood, where you know, if you're not making
money quick in TV, yeah, you're in for a rough one.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah. And I guess it wasn't really until video game
adaptations and movies became more successful that then they started
venturing into TV where you get things like the Witcher,
Arcane from Legal Legends, yep, the Last of Us, even Hey,

(16:00):
I remember Halo, which, by the way, we had Pablo
Schreiber has been on the show Halo. I remember everybody
looking forward to when they announced the Halo series like
five years before it came out, because that was just
such a big game. And then you have, like you said,
Last of Us was I would say the biggest TV adaptation,

(16:24):
wouldn't you.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
I would say for Last of Us in terms of hype,
that was probably the one video game getting a TV
show that was like, Okay, this is big. That like
Last of Us to people that have played that video
game is the way I think of like Red Dead,
Redemption like this, getting a video game like a higher
love this video game getting a TV show is going

(16:47):
to be amazing. Now we need debate obviously the way
they've handled it. I don't think they've handled it too well.
But I still think like taking a game like that
and moving it to TV really set the tone for
other games to get at their opportunity to even if
even if there's flop after flop after flop. Now it's
a thing like now that this. I mean, Last of
Us was sold millions, millions, millions millions of copies, and

(17:12):
that's another game' I've beaten, I've played, I've played through
the game at least seven times, Like I will go
back and just play. I'll go back and just watch
on YouTube. When I'm working, I'll just listen to people
playing the game because it's it's a fascinating game. It
is just such an interesting story. It's also another situation
where we're talking about a world that you live in

(17:33):
a little bit different, you know obviously, like you know,
we don't there's no threat of a zombie apocalypse in
our world right now, but there right now there could be,
you know, you never know, and it's it's just interesting
to like experience that, you know. Yeah, and it was
see that's a video game. That is that is a
great video game to turn into a movie, to turn
into a TV show because there's plenty of story there.

(17:54):
But you know, it's open world ish. Yeah, and I
think that's the that's the per type of game to
be made into a movie I and TV show in
this case.

Speaker 7 (18:05):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
And it's a huge hit and then it's up for noms. Yeah,
you know what I mean, that's pretty You can't get
more legit, at least in regards to legitimacy as a
TV show than an Emmy nomination.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, you know what I mean, it's it's done it's
done very well. I think if you asked a lot
of like hardcore people that have played the video game,
they probably would have some other opinions on it. But yeah, no,
I mean it's it's been so successful. And again, this
is that, this is the this is the this is
the same thing as video game. Like the one video

(18:40):
game that became a great successful movie. This is the
one video game that became a great successful TV show.
Now that they've seen that they can make money off
of this and it can be profitable and it can
be successful also critically successful, there will continue to be
video games made into TV shows. There will continue to
be video games made into movies because of Last of Us,
because you know the other successful adaptations in the movie
The Witcher.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Did you ever play the game?

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Never got a chance to play The Witcher, But I'm
very familiar with the game.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Did you watch the show?

Speaker 3 (19:07):
I've watched the show. My thing is like I would
I would watch a show made after a video game,
Like if they made a Red Dead Redemption TV show,
I probably would actually watch that because I love that
game to the end of my life. But I Witcher.
I'm very familiar with the story. I have no idea
how you can make a TV show out of that

(19:28):
and not incorporate a lot of the stuff that was
in that video game. But I'm fascinating, why, what do
you mean it's the video there's a lot of nudity.
There's a lot of well, apparently there.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Was a lot of nudity in the Witcher. Wasn't it
that there was a big controversy over Harry Henry Cavill's
dong or something.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, I do remember that. I do remember that. Yeah, Okay,
I guess they didn't pull any punches.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
It was what HBO or something I think, or Netflix.
I was gonna Netflix if.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
It was on, Like, if it was only Hulu, I
think I'd probably be like, oh yeah, Hulu. Okay, Paramount
plus Henry Cavill's thing, and I heard it was super Superman.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
I heard Henry Cavill's dong was super It was a
bad jo.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
It's a great joke.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
I got it has the s on it.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
And as a okay, big screen hits and misses. So
let's talk about should we talk about the bad or
the good first?

Speaker 3 (20:30):
I always like to get the bad out of the way.
I think we've talked about a lot of the good.
I think it's time for a little dip in conversation
and let's let's get into the bad.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Okay, so you want to talk about Assassin's Creed, which
is on the list. Anyway, What the hell did they do?
I've never seen it. Explain it to me.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Okay. So well, I've played the video games, and I
am a second to Red Dead Redemption. Assassin's Creed is
some of my favorite video games ever. My favorite is
obvious is Black Flag. That is that is the closest
thing you'll get to like playing it. Playing Pirates of
the Caribbean's a fantastic game. Really. Oh yeah, do you
ever played Black Flag?

Speaker 1 (21:05):
No?

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Oh my god, I love you so Okay, open world
in the Caribbean. We're talking about like a borderline GTA
sized map and you're just you're there's islands you can
go to.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Oh that's cool.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Oh, it's so cool.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
And this is Assassin's Creed Black Flag.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
This is the fourth assassins Okay, in terms of the sequence,
this is the fourth Assassin's Creed game, because there was
obviously the first one, which was in the Middle East.
First game is difficult because it's like it's like borders
Turkey and Jerusalem and that kind of area. But it's
it's like in the it's like the one thousands, uh,
the second one, and the second one is in Italy.
And then there's Brotherhood, and there's two games that came

(21:45):
off that Brotherhood's one of them, and I forget the
other one, but I played both of those. I just
forget the other one. And then the third one was
based in America. The fourth one was Black Flag. So
in terms of the big marquee games, and they would
make little small ones after that.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
So really quickly give me the gist of Assassin's creed,
like what is it about?

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Sure? There, so effectively you play history, so you you
know major events in history, the assassination of Julius Caesar,
the like the rise of the American Revolution, the downfall
of the Roman Empire. With the newer games you're playing
like in Egypt and stuff, and you know, the the
death of one of the pharaohs.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
And so are you the assassin?

Speaker 4 (22:25):
You are the assassins, So you're the villain trying to
kill those not not necessarily so they their interpretation of
history is very different from what we've been taught.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
It's it's very it's very interesting in that sense. There's
no short way to describe Assassin's Creed aside from like
you run around jumping off stuff and killing people, like
that's that's what. That's what like people that have bones
for brains would say, but like people like me would say, like,
you're it's impossible just kind of consolidate. But I will
say this, there's the main part of it, which is
kind of our history and how their game fits into

(22:57):
our history. And then there's a bigger over arching story
about the end of time and the end of civilization
and how there was a pre civilization before ours. It's
this big giant story that being said. When they made
it into a movie, oh my god, it looked horrible.
It was a CG I was like CGI slop. It

(23:17):
was in that awkward era of movies. I want to say.
It came out in like twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, the
Assassin's Creed movie. I might be completely wrong on that,
but it was like CGI crap. I've I was so
disappointed in it. Twenty sixteen.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
So Michael Fassbender was in it.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
He's a great actor.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah. Marion Cotillard, who was in another great actor. Jeremy Irons.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Jeremy Irons is a great actor.

Speaker 7 (23:44):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
I think this is a case of like all the
kings horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty
Dumpty back together again. Yeah, because you could have gotten
Martin Scorsese to direct this movie and it's still probably
would have been terrible. Like it just it's a difficult
thing to move to a movie because you are, like
you are the assassin. You make, like you make the missions,

(24:08):
you make the story. The actions you do actually kind
of impact the way the game's played. So it's very
difficult to turn that into a movie. That being said,
I think it could be done. It could be done
a whole lot better than what they did. You know,
you can't just like hire people that don't care about
the game to make this game.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
So did you see the movie?

Speaker 3 (24:26):
I did?

Speaker 1 (24:26):
And as a fan, because you're a fan of the games,
what did you not like about it? As a fan
of the games?

Speaker 3 (24:33):
As a fan of the games, did not at all
come close to what you get from the game, like.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
Even the essence of the game.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah, you just like you fee after you play that
game for like that first forty five minutes, you get
into a point where you're like, man, like I'm an assassin,
like like you like you're stealthily trying to get through
missions and stuff. It's kind of like if you ever
played Hitman. Yes, yeah, so Hitman's a good example, and
I think another situation where video game became moving very bad.
But like when you play Hitman, after the first mission

(25:04):
or so, you get into a point where you're like,
all right, I gotta do this, I gotta do that,
I gotta do all these intricate things just to get
into this position. Some people play Assassin's Creed. They just
bowl through each mission, you know, killing as many people
as possible. But after a while you get to a
point where like, how can I beat this mission as
stealthily as possible? And they didn't really capture that essence
of strategy and like thought and you know, like the

(25:28):
Assassin's character from that movie is he's not a dumb
like guy. He's like really intelligent, very insightful, And I
just felt like they didn't do the character justice, and
like you're watching this and you're just like this is
I felt like that was their interpretation of the game,
not the game's interpret being interpretated into him the game
being turned into a movie. It was just a movie

(25:48):
interpretating the game. That's a great way to describe it.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Okay, all right, I like that Take Doom. Okay, I
did forget that. I used to play do Him as
a kid, played it a little bit. Jason, my best friend,
him and I used to play it and then we
would play each other so like see how far you
can get, then see how far I could get them,

(26:12):
blah blah, and then we would argue about it. Then
that movie came out with the rock YEP, which was
like it might was it maybe the first time it
was like a first person movie, like they had sections
remember that.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
There was something funky about that movie, like.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Remember it was like like you were playing the game
where it was like you were in the helmet.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
There were I think there were spurts of the movie
that were like that. Okay, there there was a because
there was another movie that was like that that was
like a stuntman movie or something. Yeah, where like you
played as like you or didn't play you watched it
from the position of the stunt man.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah. Hardcore, Henry, hardcore Henry, That's what it was.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
Sorry, the moment I saw the Rock was gonna be
the main character. Nothing against the Rock. I love him.
I love him as a wrestler, I love him as
an actor.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Doom was pretty much universally panned. Was Doomed, and it
made the budget. Was budget was seventy million. It made
fifty eight million at the box office. It didn't even
make its budget back.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Oh wow, Yeah, I hope the studio was able to
recover all the money they've lost. What I'll say is
this tough material to make a movie out of. Yeah, Like,
I I don't know what you do. Like, if someone
came to you and said, hey, I want to make
a movie about just the zombie vert mode of Call

(27:32):
of Duty, you'd probably tell them, how about we don't like,
how about you don't do that, because there's there's a
story there. But like, I not enough to make a
movie out of.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
You know, actually, now that you bring it up, there
was a recent movie adaptation of a game that was
a horror game.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Oh, I know what you're talking about. I think horror
games are pretty solid in terms of being able to
take and make into a movie because it just they
just slide so well into the framework of what a
of what a horror movie needs to be a horror
video game that moves into it.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
But what was the game until Dawn?

Speaker 3 (28:08):
Until Dawn?

Speaker 1 (28:09):
I left the movie theater.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Just it's it's tough. You can't when you when you're
dealing with a game that's just waves and waves and
waves and there's of waves of enemies to defeat and
there's no real story to it. Like again, like this
is like stop, like Hollywood, don't look at that. Don't

(28:32):
look at that. Look at like look at like Red Dead, Redemption,
like look at like like Grand Theft Auto, like look
at those video games like those are the ones like
you go to Rockstar and you're like, could we do
a TV show? Like could we do something like that?
And they probably would be like no.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Yeah, Until Dawn was horrendous. They did have a few
clever things that I saw before I left. And you know,
it takes a lot for me not to like a movie.
It takes even more for me to leave. But I'm like,
I live really could be washing my hair or something
right now.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
Well, you get to a point watching a movie where like, man,
I could be doing other things. I could be doing chores.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, that's bad. So one of the clever things that
I thought though, was they said something about, you know
how like sometimes in games it'll be like raining here
but not over there or whatever, Like they made a
reference to that. They were like, why does it keep
raining here or not over there or something like that.
It was like kind of cringey, but also kind of
clever and the fact that they're at least acknowledging it. Yeah,

(29:31):
but it didn't fit the tone of the rest of
the movie, which was supposed to be like a horror
so it was it was not great.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Yeah, I like I like my I like comedy in
my horror that actually makes sense and not like, hey,
we're gonna get meta, Like don't get meta.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
Exactly unless the game is meta.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Yeah, unless the game is meta. But like, don't get meta.
Just let a zombie eat you. I'd do that, Yeah,
zomb is like, but if we want to start transitioning
into the good stuff, like, there are a lot of
horror games that make perfect.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Movies, but are they movies?

Speaker 3 (30:06):
Silent Hill? I think Silent Hill was fantastic game and
a fantastic movie.

Speaker 8 (30:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
I did a really good job with that.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
What about Five Nights of Freddy's.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
That's tough again, Like we're talking about like way like
when you play Five Nights of Freddy's like waves and
waves and waves. I know there's a story there. I
just think it's too tough.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Did you see the film?

Speaker 3 (30:27):
I haven't seen I played the game. I haven't seen
the film.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Okay, I have not played the game, but I've seen
the film.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Oh this is interesting.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, and I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
It was genuinely, genuinely creepy. It reminded me. It reminded
me of Chuck E. Cheese like when I was a kid.
It's like every nightmare that I had as a kid
with Chuck E. Cheese come to life. So it was
genuinely pretty creepy, you know.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
What I mean.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
I liked it.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
The the atmosphere of Five Nights and Freddy's is very creepy.
It gets to a point where you like, it's genuine
horror like it's it's very close to like a Jason
what is it like Friday the Thirteenth with Jason Vorhees
and whatnot, or Michael Myers Halloween type stuff. But I
just I'm playing the video game.

Speaker 7 (31:15):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
And then when I heard it was gonna be made
in a movie. I'm like, how, like, how, how are
you gonna do this? Because it's just like it's five
nights of you trying to survive in this you know,
haunted pizza place. You know. I don't know how you
turn that into a movie. I don't know how you get
enough out of that to be a movie.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
You should check you should check it out. I'm curious.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Okay, I'll definitely we'll make a we'll make a night
of it.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah night. Oh yeah, we'll watch it together.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
Yes, we were holding hands.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Sonic the Hedgehog, Oh God, did you like that? I
didn't see it the look.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
I just remember watching the previews for it, which, by
the way, I will say, uh a side note. I
saw the previews for Together. I think that looks awesome.
I can't but Sonic the Hedgehog. When I saw the
previews for that, I said, oh my god, why does
he like? I remember what was there? Was the drama
about the first was it the first one where they

(32:07):
botched his face so bad?

Speaker 1 (32:09):
And before they even released the first one they redid
all the CGI for her, you know, their ephics for it.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
I don't know if they made their money. I mean,
they obviously made enough money to make another one.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
They've been huge. They're on three and a spinoff.

Speaker 6 (32:20):
Now.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
I have no desire to watch any of that. I
I don't know. Like that one, I think is a
little there's a little more to it then, Like obviously
the game I've played, there's enough of the story of
the game. There's more. There's more than enough of the
game you can turn into a movie. I just have
no desire to see cgi Hedgehogs run fast. I'm good.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
So the sound like the Hedgehog franchise. So far, the
film franchise has grossed over a billion dollars worldwide through
the first three films and the television show Knuckles and Sonach.
The Sonic the Hedgehog four is coming out in twenty
twenty seven.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
Oh my god. Yeah, this is going to turn the
like Avatar, where they're planning movies until twenty thirty eleven.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
I think so, But I just I don't know. It
just looked too corny to me.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
I think that's what turns me off, is like, if
it looks corny and ridiculous, I'm good. There's there's a
lot to see in this world.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
You know, unless it's purposefully like, unless it's in on
the joke, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Like, Okay, I think I think I probably have to
give one of the movies a try. But to me,
I just, at least from the outside looking in, I'm good.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, me too.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
Yeah, but they were big hits, and you know, so
I got hits.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, Detective Pikachu.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
So yeah, Pokemon getting a movie. Well, Pokemon has their
own movies obviously, right, Getting Detective Pikachu. I've heard that
one was great. I haven't seen it, but I heard
it was hilarious. Ryan Reynolds's Pikachu. Yeah, yeah, great movie,
a great, great success.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Yeah, half a billion dollars and was critically liked as well.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
Yes, are that one's one where I think they probably
might make more of them.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
In the future. I'm sure sure they will.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, I don't know if they are planning on doing
that or not. What other horror games I'm trying to
think of? Is it Resident Evil that had a video
game became a movie.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
Resident Evil became like twelve.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
Movie, twelve movies, Yeah, and then a TV show and
then now we're starting the movies over it.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Yeah, like a great that's one's a huge success.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yes again that also I really liked the first bunch,
but then they got progressively.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Yeah, they you know what I mean, that's what if
you do too many movies, you kind of oversaturated a
little bit often often.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, so yeah, I mean those were good. And like
you said, the Silent Hill ones, those movies are freaking I.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Love Silent Hill. The video game is outstanding, one of
the greatest video games they've ever created. The movies are
spectacular and they capture the essence. I think that's what
that might to me if we were to rank, like
all of the video games to become a movie or
and all the like those movies, Silent Hill is probably
the best because in terms of capturing the video game

(35:19):
staying true to what the video game was. Plus, I mean, god,
that movie put pyramid Head like on the map as
one of the scariest characters ever. And he is, Yeah
it is he is, And I don't know, I don't
know his pronounce either.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
All right, Finally, why why do you we think they
fail or work? You know? One thing to think about
is the common adaptation traps, like an over reliance on
fan service or easter eggs, to the point where the
story doesn't make sense.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
That can happen. Honestly, to me, I think goes back
to this if you take a video game and you like,
if you go up to a video game and you say,
I want to make a movie out of this video game,
well you need to kind of look at the game.
If the game, like, for example, like Doom, there is
kind of a story to Doom, I more think of

(36:19):
it as like a hey, you just kind of want
Like the core purpose of Doom is just violence. It's
just like crazy violence, crazy creatures and you're just shooting them,
you're cutting them in half, You're doing crazy shit like
that's the purpose of that game. That's not a movie.
Like that's just an hour or two of you and

(36:41):
the basement just enjoying blowing the head off demons. That's
not really much of a movie. However, you know a
game like Assassin's Creed there is a story there. You
could turn that into a movie. And honestly, I think
the best type of movie that's done something Assassin's Creed
ish like a mystery in the background is like the
Da Vinci movies. Like movies like that really is to

(37:05):
me like that's kind of like Assassin's Creed is very
like puzzles. It's very like deep codes. It's going up
to like these amazing structures and finding like ancient technology
in them. Like that's what makes a great movie. I
think it's honestly goes down to subject matter of the game.
If there's enough there, the enough meat on the bone,

(37:26):
you can make a good movie out of it.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Also, like you said, ignoring what made the game good
in the first place, the essence of the game, like
we were talking about, which, like you said, is it's
a kind of a you have to be. You have
to balance very carefully over relying on fan service to
the point you don't have the actual story for the
general public, but ignoring what made the game loved in

(37:51):
the first place to the point where you turn off
the fans of the game, and then trying to cram
forty hours of gameplay and you know, ninety minutes to hours,
which you don't if you have a good self contained story,
I guess it depends on if you're literally adapting by
this particular game, we're adapt adapting, adapting that movie into

(38:14):
a film. Yeah, you're gonna be cutting out a lot
of stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
If you do it that way, the only people that
want to watch fan service the movie are Star Trek
and Star Wars fans. Those are the only people that
want to watch that.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
And then what works now? I mean respecting the source
material and adapting it for a new medium, bringing in
fans and creators. You know, they brought in the old
Truckman for the Last of Us who you know obviously
behind the game. You know from people that played the game,
they seem to like it, So that seems like a

(38:47):
no brainer to me.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yeah, definitely, at least for an advisory position. It's good.
It's good to have, like that's perspective. Obviously, you don't
want to do way too much of that. You don't
want a fan there to say that's say, like, well
the zombies got to look like, No, you don't need that,
Like I'll I'm willing to micro manage. Yeah, I'm willing
to push a lot to the side. I think the
average movie movie Garver was willing to put push a

(39:09):
lot to the side. If the movie's good, if the
if the movie at least keeps the core principles of
the game in thought, if it's really nice to see
like those little tiny details, those little tiny there's little
sprinkling of Oh I remember that in the game. Oh
I remember that in the game. You know, it's nice
to have that in there. But like for the most part,
I appreciate sometimes when a director gets the opportunity to

(39:32):
take it, take a piece of subject matter and apply
a little bit of their own vision to it while
also staying true to the core material. That's that's honestly
the great best recipe for taking something that already exists
and is already successful and making it into something else
that can can be successful.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Okay, Benjamin, it is always a pleasure having you.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
It's a pleasure to be had.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
The name of your podcast, the.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
LFG podcast lega fan, gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
And you can get that wherever you get your podcast.
Just look on the free iHeart Radio app.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Oh yeah, free iHeart Radio app.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Benny, thank you for coming. It's always a pleasure having
you on. And uh, we're going to take a quick
break before we get in to interviews. Take sixty second
break to pay the bills. See you in sixty all right.
Thank you for hanging in and supporting our sponsors. They

(40:28):
help this show come to you every single week. So
I appreciate them and you. We are going to jump
into right into the Twisted Metal season two interviews. I
sat down with the cast and the showrunner and let
me tell you, Twisted Metal season two it's like Mad Max,
Meta Monster energy drink and they had a TV show.

(40:49):
First up, we're going to talk with the brain behind
the mayhem. Michael Jonathan Smith joins us. We're going to
talk about expanding the Twisted Metal universe, what to expect
in season two and beyond, and how somehow it's still
good and hilarious. So here he is, Michael Jonathan Smith. Awesome.

(41:14):
First of all, thank you so much for speaking with me.
I really appreciate it. Glad to have you on. Thank
k Thank you, Kyle. Happy to be here. Thank you. So.
First of all, congrats on the success of the show.
It has such a crazy tone, I would say, you know,
and it kind of pulls from your post apocalyptic and

(41:35):
horror and comedy and action and sci fi. How did
you come up with this version? You know, how do
you pull from all of that to bring this version
onto the screen?

Speaker 9 (41:46):
I mean, honestly, I'm a humongous fan of the game.
I love Twista Metal, I played it when I was
a teenager, and I just really wanted to adapt that
feeling I had playing the game. I wanted to adapt
the feeling of how much fun I had playing Twisted Metal.
I wanted to capture the feeling of dodging a missile
and blood friends and just capture.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
The feeling of fun.

Speaker 9 (42:07):
I just want you to have fun playing the show,
watching the show, and I think ultimately that's that's what
I'm trying to capture.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
I think you've done that beautifully. Did you, especially as
as a big fan of the games, did you feel
a pressure to kind of live up to that legacy?

Speaker 10 (42:25):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Of course.

Speaker 9 (42:26):
I mean you want, you want the fans to have
a good time, and especially with any of these any
of these ips and video games, you know you have
an expectation. And I think you know, ultimately, if our
writer's room in the cast are not having a good time,
I know the audience isn't having a good time. And
we have these moments in the writer's room when we're
jumping up being like, oh my god, yes, yes that

(42:48):
feels great, and I feel like if we're not experiencing that,
then the audience isn't experiencing that.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Okay, And you know, there has been a long in
pop culture and media, there has been a long string
of not successful transitions from game to screen. What do
you think that Twisted Metal has done right that some
of the other these others hasn't. I mean, this has

(43:15):
clicked with critics and fans, and that's something that I
think many, you know, previous attempts at bringing a game
over didn't click with either one.

Speaker 9 (43:29):
I mean, that's such a good question. I think for us,
we're just trying to be We're trying to do only
what Twist Metal can do, and and we're leaning into
the craziness of what's fun. And you know, only our
show can have a clown that lights his hair on
fire and his best friends of paper Bag. But we're

(43:50):
also really making sure that you love these characters, you
know what I mean, Like, the heart of it is
John Is, Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatrice's characters relationship. So
at the heart of it, you're following them, You're loving
what they're doing. Every character, no matter how insane they
are or how unhinged they are, you love them. You
love sweet tooth relationship with his paper Bag you love,

(44:12):
you know, Mike Mitchell Stew's relationship with Sweet Tooth, Like
you just really care about these characters and you root
for them regardless of what they're doing. And at the
heart of it, that's what kind of matters to me,
is you just love all of these characters and root
for them no matter the craziness that's surrounding it.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Are there easter eggs that fans from season one that
fans haven't discovered yet?

Speaker 9 (44:36):
Honestly, I think pretty much everyone caught them all. Like,
I was really impressed at how excuse me, how with
a fine tooth comb everyone seemed to catch them, which
is really impressive. And hats off to the fans for
really catching every single one. I really can't think of
anyone that.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
They didn't catch, But that's awesome. Yeah, and it's a
testament to both you and the fan base. And I
thank you so much for speaking with me. I can't
wait for everybody to see Twisted Metal season two exclusively
on Peacock. Thanks Kyle, Thank you. Have a great day,

(45:16):
Michael Jonathan Smith. All right, Next up Tianna Okoye, Patty Guggenheim,
and Sailor Bell Curda bring the energy, the fun, and
some truly epic fashion choices. Trust me, you'll want to
be in their crew. Here they are Tianna Okoa, Patty Gugenheim,

(45:36):
and Sailor Bell Curda. Thank you, ladies for joining me.
I really appreciate it. Thank you us so. First of all,
congratulations on the series. It's so much fun and it's
kind of a crazy mix of all kinds of genres.

(45:56):
I wonder for each one of you, is that kind
of what attracted you you to you know, to the series,
like this kind of crazy post apocalyptic, part comedy, park action,
part horror, Like what was it for each of you?

Speaker 6 (46:11):
I mean definitely.

Speaker 11 (46:13):
I watched the first season and it was just I
was like, this is a cool ass show, Like it
was way cooler.

Speaker 12 (46:19):
Than I could have imagined.

Speaker 11 (46:21):
And then it does like pull so many like nostalgic
things and like fun pulp culture, but then it has
like this gritty nature.

Speaker 13 (46:32):
I was just like, this is a cool world.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
So I was stoked.

Speaker 14 (46:37):
Yeah, absolutely, I loved all the characters, and as you said,
the mixture of the genres is like so fun to
play with. It really feels like you're in a video game.
So that first season was just so wild, but the
second season is going to be even crazier, and the
characters are just out of this world so literally.

Speaker 13 (46:57):
I feel like that's what was the most what I
was the most acted to, Like all of our own
individual characters. I feel like all I'm ever looking for
is something really challenging and fun to take on. And
I feel like each and every one of us, who
we were and who we were playing, were so complex
in and of themselves, and it was like the biggest,

(47:19):
most beautiful challenge I ever had filming that season, and
I've maybe never felt more proud about like a piece
of work being released.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Chrlie, Yeah, I love that. And Twisted Metal is you know,
it is so beloved by so many people for the games.
And then there's the I don't want to say added
pressure as an actor, because you know, I'm not an actor,
but is there an added pressure when you have, first

(47:49):
of all, this huge franchise outside of a series, but
then you have a successful, widely loved first season. Is
there pressure you know, coming into both of those things?

Speaker 13 (48:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 14 (48:05):
Absolutely, I mean for me, I felt that. I feel
like the fans are the heartbeat of the show. They
keep it alive and they love it so much.

Speaker 6 (48:13):
It is that nostalgic piece, right, like.

Speaker 14 (48:16):
They've played the game, they love it, they love the characters,
they love the cars, and so there is that added
pressure absolutely that you want to do it justice. And
so I mean luckily we had MJ who is also
just the biggest fan of the game and loves the
show so dearly. So I think we were in good
hands as far as any details and really.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Paying homage to the game.

Speaker 15 (48:41):
You know.

Speaker 11 (48:41):
Yeah, he was like a bible for the world absolutely,
I mean quite literally. He just knows it in and out,
and so we could He was so much fun to
like talk to about the world because he's he just
had it all like in his head, and we just
were like, give us, give us more. But there is
like you you really want to honor what's there, Like

(49:04):
you want to honor the world, You want to honor
the characters, and like fight for these characters.

Speaker 13 (49:09):
And then.

Speaker 11 (49:12):
Yeah, I mean that's one of the cool parts about
I think being an actor and getting to jump into
a project like this where you're getting to just, like
Steven issues that already exist, but then like make.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
Them your own.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
You know, how about for your Sailor I was.

Speaker 13 (49:31):
I feel like it was so intimidating to enter a
world where I knew there was just this already very
large fan base for dedicated people I certainly know, like
the type of person I become when I'm watching something
that I feel like I know everything about. Like another
Scooby Doo movie ever comes out, I'm going to be
on it, and I'm going to be judging because I

(49:54):
know Scooby Doo.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
But you know, I think.

Speaker 13 (49:57):
There's also just like something really beautiful to how I think.
No matter what, it does, just feel so authentic everything
that we've done with all the help of MJ and
everybody on that show who like truly just knows the game,
this show itself through and through, and it just felt comfortable,

(50:23):
Like it almost never feels scary now because it just
I'm surrounded by these people who make me feel so
confident in what we've done.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
That's awesome. Thank you all so much. I can't wait
for everybody to see Twisted Metal season two exclusively. Oh
thank you, Thank you, Kyle, Siana Okoway, Patty Guggenheim, and
Sailor Beltcurta. Thank you to them. It was a great conversation.

(50:52):
Moving right along, Lisa Gilroy and Richard de Clerk continue
on with our Twisted Metal takeover with la sindsight and
maybe a couple of secrets about what's coming next in
season two and beyond. Here they are, Lisa Gilroy and
Richard de Claire, thank you both for joining me. I

(51:13):
really appreciate it. Thanks for having us.

Speaker 7 (51:15):
Hi, Kyle, Sorry you just wopped it. I was getting
all I was all flustered because I was like telling Richard.
I was like, oh, we should talk about this, and
he was like, you can't see.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
I did a job. Well. I mean that brings up
a great point when you're dealing with the project like
this and you you know, it's so there's so many
spoilers that can be spoiled. How do you you know?
I obviously am in different from you guys in the
fact that I'm not on the show, but when I

(51:44):
watch these things, I can't talk about it with anybody
until it comes out. You know what I mean? You
guys have to be ten times worse. Is that does
that hit you? Does that register with you? Or are
you like, like you just did, Lisa.

Speaker 7 (51:57):
The good news about me is I'm kind of like
the stupidest woman alive. So I like, I forget, I
forget everything that we did, mostly so I would be
it would be very difficult for me to provide a
spoiler to someone else.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
But yeah, the.

Speaker 7 (52:10):
Little things that I do remember some of them. I
then I forget that it is a spoiler. I'm not doing.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
I remember everything.

Speaker 12 (52:17):
But also I like, for myself, I don't care about spoilers.
I'm still going to watch a show. It doesn't matter
to me, but I don't want to mess it up
for anybody else.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see. It's interesting because I'm
the type of person who like, when I watch a trailer,
if I already know I'm going to see the movie,
I won't watch the trailer. I say, yeah, I don't.

Speaker 7 (52:37):
Even like to read a logline.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
I don't want to know exactly. Like if it's a
Marvel movie, I know I'm going to see it, I
don't even watch the trailer. But if it's something that
I don't know, I'll watch it until I decide that.
I'll watch the trailer until I decide I want to
see it, and then I'm done, Like because I don't
want to see anymore. So I'll be in the movie theater,
like you know, like so I so it doesn't get spoiled.

(52:59):
So I can't imagine doing this in a show. But
I love your take on it, Richard too. Lisa. I
would be more like you. I'd be like, I don't
remember what I did yesterday. There's a taco in my
pocket and have no idea how it got there. But
in any it's chaotic. Hell was it coming into this

(53:19):
world that has, you know, really a legacy behind it
with the franchise of the game, but then you know,
you know, a beloved series as well.

Speaker 12 (53:29):
I mean for me, it was it was a dream
come true to come in and play this character and
be a part of this world. Because I feel like
it's a show, like I'm a huge fan of the show,
Like the first season had me cackling, it had me
weeping oddly, and and it's just a deeply approachable show.
There's something in it for everyone, Like people who played

(53:51):
the games, there's there's enough tie backs to the games.
People who have never played the games.

Speaker 16 (53:56):
There's enough.

Speaker 12 (53:57):
There's enough emotional truth and grounded reality and all these
characters and how they interact, Like I feel like that's
something that interplay between the characters that informs the action
is really.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Yummy.

Speaker 15 (54:13):
You know.

Speaker 7 (54:13):
I never a part of anything that has this kind
of like fan following or this history. So the thing
that I found most interesting about it is I kept
getting tagged on things online that were like Lisa Giller's
in the new season. She's probably playing like Big Milky Jumbos,
Milk Maiden number one, like characters that I don't know
about what they sounded a lot, and so it was

(54:34):
I was so excited to be Vermin and like have
the news draw.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Yeah, yeah, that is exciting. And both of your characters,
mister Grimm and Vermin are so just such rich in
this crazy rich world. You know quickly, if you in
real life were put into this kind of demolition, what
would your car's name be?

Speaker 7 (54:57):
And do I think my my favorite car that I've
ever had was my grandma's old buckless saber, and its
name would be Couch and it would go so slow
and it would die on the way my eight am
class in college, and that would be it's like a
move than it does.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
You said same, Richard.

Speaker 12 (55:16):
The mine would be what I learned on it was
a nineteen eighty nine Ford Ranger was my grandpa's car.
It smelled like his dog and the idol was really
fast on it.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
I never adjusted the idol on it. So that's that's
what my car would do, okay, and what would what
would its name be?

Speaker 6 (55:34):
Ranger?

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Ranger, Ranger. Thank you both so much. I can't wait
for everybody to see season two of Twisted Metal. You
guys are awesome. Thanks Kyl, thank you, he said, go
Roun Richard the Clerk, love them all right. Next up,
I sit down with Joe Sinoa aka Samoa Joe and

(55:59):
Mike Mitchell and if you ever wanted a wrestler and
a comedian to co pilot a murder truck, this interview
is for you. Let's speak to Joe Cnoa and Mike Mitchell.
Thanks you both so much for joining me. I'm glad
to have you on.

Speaker 6 (56:16):
Good to be here.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
So first of all, congrats on the show. It's so
much fun. It's chaotic, it's crazy, it's wild, and I
love it. And I got to ask Joe, how is
doing Twisted Metal different than you know? You have been
very big in the wrestling world. Are they two different projects?

(56:38):
I mean, obviously they are, but you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (56:40):
Yeah, No, it's it's two very different worlds.

Speaker 17 (56:42):
And it was funny because, like, you know, going back
to wrestling and just talking to those guys and asking
me the same question, and you know, wrestling's very one
take live. You're in the moment, you got one shot
to do it, and once you get it done, hey
you're good to go.

Speaker 6 (56:55):
You go onto the next thing.

Speaker 17 (56:56):
If you mess it up, hey, there's no uh, there's
no cut and go again. Whereas you know, in the
acting world, it's a much more of an exercise and stamina.
It's giving that same great performance twenty times over thirty
takes over. However many times it needs to be a
shot in filmed properly that you know. It's just that
that's something that's very new for a lot of people

(57:17):
that come from my world and go into the world
of acting, where it's it's like they realize, oh, wow,
you know, I don't have to be just ready for
one shot, I have to be ready for thirty shots
and for them to all be good as that one
shot would be that I would do live normally on television.
So yeah, it's just it's it's it's stamina versus pressure.
You know, it's it's it's an interesting uh contrast.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
And and for you, Mike, you've you know, I mean
you've done a lot as well, but you've done a
lot with uh, sketch comedy, live comedy. Is that similar
for you? Does that kind of ring true for you
as well?

Speaker 11 (57:50):
Sure?

Speaker 16 (57:50):
Yeah, And you know it definitely helps with you know,
exercising some muscles and you know, like being on stage
and trying to get everything right. The first time I
got to say this about Joe, he's you know, his
character is masked, but Joe is nailing at every single
take even with that mask on, and giving a great
performance for me, which is so helpful, you know as
an actor to be acting with guy, this guy who's

(58:13):
knocking out of the park every single take, and you know,
it's scary as hell in some of those scenes. There's
not a lot of acting for me. When you see uh,
sweet Tooth throw me up against the car or whatever,
because it's real, it feels real, and I get the
real power of Joe and Sweet Tooth at the same time,
it's terrifying.

Speaker 6 (58:31):
All right, I'll send you one hundred Do.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
You mean this? This?

Speaker 16 (58:40):
This show also you know, there's there's a ton of
comedy elements and and uh so that that, you know,
my my background of comedy is super helpful. We're we're
and I have a blast. Every scene I have with
with Joe is always such a blast.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
It's a highlight for me. Do you feel you know,
this does have a big legacy behind it with the
game franchise and now a successful you know series. Do
you feel any of that pressure coming into that for
something that's so beloved?

Speaker 6 (59:11):
Oh?

Speaker 17 (59:11):
I do, because like you know, all my friends they game,
you know, they know this game. I mean they were
the guys that were all my couch playing it with me,
so you know, like they were waiting for me to
mess it up. You know, I'm like, oh you blow this,
you blow this one dog?

Speaker 6 (59:23):
Oh you know. So it's like yeah, yeah, you know
you feel the pressure.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
You know.

Speaker 17 (59:27):
It's cool though you know they ain't saying much now,
so no, yeah, I mean yeah, And honestly, like just
for me personally, man, like you know, Twisted Metals a
series that I enjoyed playing growing up.

Speaker 6 (59:38):
I dug it.

Speaker 17 (59:39):
You know, the characters are all iconic to me, Like,
you know, all my friends and all the people that
I knew growing up. You know, anytime when I mentioned
the show, you know, five or six characters roll off
their tongue. Oh it's so and so in it, and
so and so in it, and yeah, man, I just
I wanted to make sure that, you know, those people
that have those memories, credence was paid to them. I
think MJ does an amazing job as well. There's our
entire writing staff paying that credence to to that time

(01:00:02):
period and the game and the and the legacy that
it had, and and the feeling and the vibe that
it has. So yeah, man, I just uh, yeah, it's pressure,
but uh, I think we're bearing it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:11):
Well.

Speaker 17 (01:00:12):
That's that's the one that gets me in trouble. That's
the quote that it gets played. I think we're bearing it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
I gotta say this too.

Speaker 16 (01:00:19):
Joe has the pressure of playing you know, Joe has
the pressure of playing this. You know, a Mickey Mouse
type character. You know, there's there's people love Sweet Tooth
and fans of the game and just video games in general.
In the video game world, this is like one of
the huge characters. Stu is, you know, Mike and Stu Are,
They're beloved and people loved Hammerhead, you know. But but

(01:00:40):
Sweet tooth Is is a big deal and Joe knocks
it out of the park of course. But like Joe said,
Michael Johnny.

Speaker 17 (01:00:45):
I've had enough, dude, Okay, listen, Mike saves orphans on
the weekends. I don't know if you know that. He
scoops them up off the streets and finds them homes
safe ones at that.

Speaker 6 (01:00:54):
It's really really so. I hope you all know that.

Speaker 15 (01:00:56):
I got.

Speaker 6 (01:00:59):
And I think goes the Red Cross.

Speaker 17 (01:01:01):
Also, he's that type of guy, so just don't let
them tell you different no matter what he says.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
I heard he saves nuns too, so yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 17 (01:01:09):
If you're a nun in a bus and something's about
to hit you, list Michael, be there, don't worry.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
Thank you both so much for speaking with me. I
really appreciate it. I can't wait for everybody to see
Twisted Metal Season two exclusively on Peacock.

Speaker 6 (01:01:23):
Thank you, guys, Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Have a great day, Samoa, Joe and Mike Mitchell. They
are great and I love their characters in Twisted Metal,
like just they're awesome. All Right, we're gonna take a
quick break. When we come back, we're gonna talk with
Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz, and then later Dave Franco

(01:01:48):
and Alison Bree join us to discuss together be back
in sixty all right, Thank you so much for supporting
our sponsors, who bring our show, who helped bring our
show to you every single week. All right. Next up,

(01:02:09):
our last set of interviews for season two of Twisted Metal.
Stephanie Beatriz and Anthony Mackie give me some chaotic minutes
of behind the scenes, some fun and rtal action, and
i'd say some very questionable driving advice. Here they are,
Stephanie Beatriz and Anthony Mackie, Thank you both so much

(01:02:35):
for speaking with me. Welcome to the show. I really
appreciate it. So first of all, congratulations. It's Twisted Metal
is like this crazy amalgam of this post apocalyptic world.
It's like part horror, part sci fi, part action, part comedy.
Is that what drew you both to.

Speaker 10 (01:02:56):
This?

Speaker 15 (01:02:56):
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
I mean, it's it's so many things.

Speaker 10 (01:02:59):
Me.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Yes, I don't know about you. Media.

Speaker 18 (01:03:03):
Sometimes yes, I love the idea of cutting somebody's head
off and laughing about it at the same time. There's
something really cool about funny gore that works really well
with the common person and being able to relate to it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
And I'm sorry, no, please.

Speaker 8 (01:03:21):
I just really like silly, stupid comedy, you know, And
I wanted so badly to do more action. And I
think once I read those scripts the first season, I
was like, Oh, this is so smart and silly and wild,
and I've never seen anything like it is totally unhinged,
and I think the second season is even more unhinged
than the first. So I'm very very thrilled that we

(01:03:44):
got to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Did you feel, you know, this is a beloved franchise
and there is a long history I think in entertainment
where not every I think we're most game franchises that
tried to translate over to screen weren't successful. This one
was obviously. Did you feel going into season one and

(01:04:10):
now you know that season one was so beloved and
you know, critically a success and success with the fans,
to even do it bigger for season two? I think
with the.

Speaker 18 (01:04:23):
Tournament alone, that just kind of sets up it being
a bigger and more ridiculous season. I think if you
look at the list of actors, you know, with getting
you know, Anthony Kerrigan and the other actors that were
able to join the cast this season. Is it's really
just a melee of destruction and character. And that's what's

(01:04:46):
so fun. You get these new characters, and you get
these characters backstories. So now everyone has a favorite character,
you know, and everybody has somebody to cheer for going
through the tournament. So episode by episode you get to
see how you're character, you know, works through this you
know gauntlet that Calypso has put together.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
I've got to ask both of you, and this might
be weird, but did you if you were in your
own kind of demolition, what car would you have? And
what would it do?

Speaker 13 (01:05:19):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (01:05:20):
I would go with a I mean it would have
to be new like Mint to Mint nineteen eighty three
Bronco because it's tough, big, a bit of a gas guzzler,
so the whole back of it, the Bronco's got to
be filled with extra gas, which might be liability if
I get smashed into. However, in this world we're pretending

(01:05:42):
this is playper can maybe at my bulletproof windows and
and what do you call it?

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
Like reinforce? Okay, reinforce reinforcement. Okay in the tail, extra
extra weight on the chassis.

Speaker 8 (01:05:56):
It's a little it's gonna be heavy. But man, she's
gonna she's gonna last.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
She's true, She's gonna make you well.

Speaker 18 (01:06:03):
In true uh and in true tournament fashion, I would
have a nineteen eighty six Delta eighty eight four door
because I want to be in there with my belor seats.
You know, American cars we never figured out how to
keep the vloor on the ceiling, so it would always
fall down droop. So yeah, so I would take thumb

(01:06:24):
tacks and put it up there, right, So each thumb
tack would be a different missile or something. Right, But
I gotta be in there, ice out, you know, with
the with the dice in the window, got the knock,
you know, the longlong right player.

Speaker 8 (01:06:39):
But if that reminds me of when we would be
on set, they'd be like Anthony, sit up, can sit
up a little bit?

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
Like nah, were in the tournament.

Speaker 18 (01:06:46):
But you know, but that Delta eighty eight man or
eighty six Cadillac El Dorado, you get a deuce in
a quarter, you get one of those mother ships. Yo,
there's there's nobody can beat you. Nobody can beat you.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
I love that, I love the show. I love season
two and I can't wait to freaking talk about it
because I can't yet, so as soon as it comes out,
I can't wait. Thank you both so much. I really
appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (01:07:11):
Thanks so lot.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
I appreciate it. Stephanie beadser Is and Anthony McKey.

Speaker 6 (01:07:19):
Love, love, love.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Those guys love Twisted Metal season two. I think you
will too, so make sure you hit me up and
let's talk about it. I'm at real Kyle McMahon pretty
much all the platforms, so hit me up and you know,
let's discuss Twisted Metal or anything else you want to discuss.
All right, So that was our Twisted Metal Season two takeover.

(01:07:43):
We've talked games, We've talked flaming cars. Now it's time
to talk about a real life couple making fake life
horror magic. Dave Franco and Alison Brie are here to
talk about their new horror movie. That's creepy, clever, and
it makes me scared of both love, commitment and lake houses.
Let's get into it. Dave Franco and Alison Brie, thank

(01:08:09):
you both so much for speaking with me. I love
together it's a great film, Kyle, So I gotta ask
you have both joked about being kind of codependent in
the past. Did that get a little too real during
filming of Together?

Speaker 10 (01:08:27):
You know, I didn't really think about it much while
we were shooting the movie. I think that we were
really happy to be working together. We work really well together.
It was right after we finished shooting the movie and
had some time a part that I suddenly realized we
had become more codependent over the course of.

Speaker 5 (01:08:45):
The shoot we did. We did kind of go into
this whole experience knowing that it would end in either
divorce or being more codependent, and luckily it's the latter.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
I think it's the better of the two.

Speaker 10 (01:08:57):
Ejectively better.

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
But we're you know, the movie's not so codependency is
good or bad. It's you know, take what you want
from it. There's healthy versions of it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Michael Shanks, I'm trying to be a spoiler for as possible.
Michael Shanks was telling me that there you guys worked
so well together that there was one sequence where you
were in a position that you wouldn't have been able
to go to the facilities by yourself, and you guys
were both troopers, which I find that like insane. There's

(01:09:27):
nobody that I love that much that I could do
that for.

Speaker 5 (01:09:29):
Oh wow. Yeah, there was a day on set where
we were literally attached to each other with a prosthetic
for about ten hours, and you know, we were both
trying to be conscious about not drinking too much water,
so we weren't taking those frequent trips.

Speaker 10 (01:09:45):
I peeped seven times before we started doing the prosthetic,
just to try to get it all out.

Speaker 5 (01:09:50):
But Alas, yeah, you know, Alas, one of us would
have to go and we would drag the other one
with us. And I remember a moment standing over Allison
while she was peeing, and you know, thinking we could
not have made this movie with anyone else.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Yeah, Dave, you've said that Alison has seen you, you know,
at your best and at your worst. How does you
know kind of literally and figurative figure literally now and figuratively,
how did that deep trust between you two? You know,
I feel like this there's some creative risks here, I

(01:10:26):
really do. You know. I love the film, and but
it's not you know, it's not black and white. It's
very much a thinking person's kind of film. I believe.
So how did that lend itself to that risk, that
creative risk.

Speaker 5 (01:10:43):
Yeah, I mean obviously I feel more comfortable with her
than anyone in the world. And when you feel that
way on set, you just you also feel liberated to
just take those risks and to really put yourself out there.
And that was very important with this one because this
movie is extremely into it. We're doing very vulnerable things
throughout the entire film. Throughout the entire film, and uh,

(01:11:08):
I don't.

Speaker 10 (01:11:08):
Know, I just oh yeah, I mean not just emotionally
vulnerable or like physically vulnerable. We talk about nudity and
being attached and things like that, but also just point
blank like we could just look stupid if it didn't
all cut together well, you know, like really putting ourselves
out on a limb, taking big swings in these performances.

Speaker 5 (01:11:29):
And why we were excited about the project in the
first place is because it's trying so many things that
you've never seen before, and part of that is blending
these different tones like, yes, this movie is a horror film,
but it's also very romantic and it's funny and it's sweet.
And we give our writer, director Michael Shake so much
credit for blending all those tones in a really seamless way.

Speaker 10 (01:11:50):
But having each other on set and having that given
trust definitely made it so much easier for us to
just rip the band aid dive right into every scene.

Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
I love that. And finally, what is a red flag
and that you know you would give somebody in a relationship.

Speaker 5 (01:12:08):
The first thing that comes to mind is if you're
not laughing with your partner. Yeah, that's not great because
this is the person you're gonna spend most of your
time with.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
You gotta have fun with them.

Speaker 10 (01:12:19):
Yeah, definitely, I would say not cuddling.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Interesting them, not cuddling them, not wanting to cuddle.

Speaker 10 (01:12:29):
Yeah, I think it's a red flag.

Speaker 5 (01:12:31):
We're cuddlers, we are, just to just to put that
out there. I didn't say you were not, you were
back and forth.

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
Yeah, thank you both so much. Your joy to talk to,
your joy in the film. I can't wait for everybody
to see Together. Thank you, Thank you guys, Dave Franko
and Allison b. Together is out right now. I highly
suggest you watch it if you're a horror fan. It
is really good. You will love it and there will

(01:13:05):
be so much to talk about after you see it.
So I want to know what you think of it
after you see it. All right, and that's a wrap
on pop Culture Weekly. Huge thanks to my friend Benny
Panela for nerding out with me, the incredible Twisted Metal cast,
and the terrifyingly talented duo Dave Franco and Alison Brie.
If you dug the episode, don't forget to subscribe if

(01:13:28):
you don't yet, and leave a review or tell your
group chat that you finally know what a video game
adaptation looks like. Thanks to pop Culture Weekly. Follow me
everywhere at Real Kyle McMahon. Remember pop culture is your
culture and I'm just your over caffeinated tour guide. All right,
I'll see you next episode. I love you. We thank

(01:13:48):
you for listening to Pop Culture Weekly.

Speaker 2 (01:13:51):
Here all the latest at popculturewekly dot com.

Speaker 15 (01:14:00):
Benjamin Panella join me and we discussed pityo games. Italy
Maggie join me and we discussed this usual be Franco
and Allison by join me and talked together.

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