February 14, 2025 • 36 mins
Award-winning filmmaker Deborah Flora and Hollywood In Toto founder Christian Toto join for their weekly visit with Ryan, commenting on a UK heavy edit of the 80s classic 'Crocodile Dundee' and Blake Lively revealing her deceptive techniques to have input into creative direction of films she's appeared in.
Christian sticks around to comment on Ryan's five nominees for Fool of the Week.
Christian sticks around to comment on Ryan's five nominees for Fool of the Week.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Friday in Denver, and that means it's time once
again for the Right Side of Hollywood with award winning
filmmaker Deborah Flora and Christian Toto of Hollywood. In Toto
on the intersection of pop culture, entertainment and politics in
America right here on Ryan Schuling lived.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, sure, kid, there you go.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And jo Wally.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Nick give him you a balet.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
What it's got?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
A nice nice that's nice, just kids having fun. You
(00:54):
are right, I'm always all right when I'm with you. Dundee.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now what you just heard was excluted from a presentation
of this film overseas for Boxing Day in the UK.
Of course, the incomparable Paul Hogan is Crocodile Dundee in
the original and perhaps the most famous scene from that film.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
That'sen all a knife BLAT's knife.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Christian Toto joins me in studio Hollywood Intota dot com
and by phone. Deborah Flora, of course, herself an award
winning filmmaker and altern to Christian. Since you brought this
to my attention, first, what was this? What went down?
Why was this classic scene omitted from the screening of
Crocodile Dundee?
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Well, they're releasing an encore cut is what they're calling it,
an updated version of the film, and it's.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Been screened in the UK and.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
In Australia, of course, is where Paul Hogan's from. And
your guests is as good as mine now, I know.
For years people have been complaining that there was another
sequence in the film that was problematic where Dundee's character,
who is this sort of rebellious, uncouth guy who grew
up in the jungles of Australia, is talking to a
person he thinks is a woman that he realizes it
(02:05):
might not be a woman, and he grabs the person's
crutch and that's a trans person. We didn't use that term.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
At the time.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
This is the eighties, and so people have found that
particular sequence offensive and saying it casts him in a
negative light. And it does to a degree because it's
a very rude moment, but it's also indicative of how
crude and raw and unrefined, and that's who he is.
He's not a bad person. He's the hero of the story, right,
but he also doesn't understand things about the culture and
(02:33):
doesn't understand what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.
So people have been in recent years saying that's a terrible,
awful scene. So they took that scene out, but they
also took out the knife scene, which, like you said,
is the iconic moment from the film period.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
This goes, Deborah to our constant overview of culture from
our perspective on the right, we get it. Films made
in the nineteen eighties were reflective of nineteen eightiesse values, customs, traditions,
societal norms. They're very different than all of those things
here in the mid twenty twenties. But do we need
to go back and all these films, go back to
(03:11):
Citizen Kane or all the films in between, and take
out the scenes that are offensive to modern audiences.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
Well, I guess that depends on who you ask.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
Ryan.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
I certainly don't think so. And I think what's interesting
about the situation with Crocodile Dundee is it kind of
follows on a conversation we had a couple of weeks
ago about Idris Elba and his documentary Our Knife Crime Crisis,
basically where he calls for the dalling of all knives
so they cannot be used as to harm other individuals
(03:43):
and can shell cut vegetables and diving further into why
they omitted that particular. Then that's not a knife. That's
a knife which everybody knows. Crocodile n d. He is
an animal hunter. He is someone who uses a knife.
But from why I understand and what I've been reading
is that was taken out in the Boxing Day screening
(04:06):
which was last December twenty sixth, twenty twenty four in
Great Britain because they are trying to begin to censor
knife use. Now it is to me it's beyond observed.
We've talked about how you can't blame the knife for
the crisis. If they're looking to censor something, how about
what causes people to attack others with knives? You know,
(04:28):
And to the bigger point, not just this knife sensitivity,
which you know, if it's expanding. One of the reasons
why that's expanding in Great Britain is because they have
very started gun laws, so that they're going to pick
something else. But the bigger question you asked Ryan about
this editing of things. You know, it's gone to the
absurd point where even to Kill a Mockingbird, one of
(04:49):
the most anti racist films based on one of the
most anti racist books is being censored in places because
it uses terminology used in the day for people of
you that are African American descent. That is where it
has taken so far and so extreme, and it really
(05:09):
is just censorship. That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You mentioned to kill a mockingbird. I'll go further another
book that's been banned, and the people banning the books
are on the left, not the right. The only people
banning books on the right, like in Florida, are sexually
explicit books for youngsters. Anyway, how about Huckleberry Finn, which,
for its time, by its author Mark Twain, was extremely
radical in pro civil rights for black Americans. Jim was
(05:34):
a hero in that book with Little huck Finn. But
because like you said, the colloquial term of the time,
which was accurate, is offensive to modern audiences, a lot
of left wing schools have banned the literary classic Huckleberry Finn. Now,
going back to Deborah's original point on Idris Elba two
weeks ago, this is where all the knife craziness began,
(05:57):
at least the first that we saw it.
Speaker 8 (05:59):
The truth is is that kitchen knives are perhaps twenty
five percent of the knives used in most of the
terrible crimes. That's one of the stats in the films,
and those kitchen knives are usually a domestic situation. Okay,
so kitchen knives, of course, it's very difficult their domestic knife.
I do think there is areas of innovation that we
(06:21):
can do with kitchen knives. I hate to say, not
all kitchen knives need to have a point on them.
That sounds like a crazy thing to say, but actually
it would reduce you know, you can still cut your
food without the point on the knife, which is an
innovative way to sort of look at it. And in
a country in crisis, I'm sorry, but yeah, let's look
at that. But the truth is all knives. You know,
(06:43):
the loophole on the heritage knives allows the sale of
zombie ninja swords to be sold. So while you know
you've got your granddad's sword on there and you want
that as fine, of course, but it is leaving a
loophole for someone to carry. So let's ban them all
and if you need, if you have one of those knives,
(07:04):
a license for it, simple as that, And I think
it's a small contribution to society if you say I'm
going to back that I'll get a license from my
granddad's sword because it is leaving, you know, these kids vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I still think David Saint Hubbans, Nigel Toughnel, Derek Smalls,
and Indris Elba. He should have been the fourth member
of the drummer that turns into globule on the seat
they keep having to replace. One of those drummers should
have been Idris Elba. I think Christian. And this is
the ridiculousness also that we've seen just recently. I'm just
going to read two headlines from NBC News and CBS
(07:38):
News from over the last week. Car rams into Munich crowd, injury,
at least twenty eight in suspected attacks. CBS News car
drives into crowd in Munich, Germany, wounding thirty people. I mean,
was this a self driving car that Elon must developed?
I think that was my mother the car.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Actually, you know, I want to talk about oh so
Brinkley to the Crocodile Une situation, because first of all,
no one in Hollywood is talking about this. No one now,
no one is saying, wait a minute, you're editing, you're
censoring a classic movie.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
How dare you. The media completely ignored the story.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
That's what's so exasperating, you know, And I think to
the actor's collective credit, perhaps they're not even aware of this.
They're not even aware that one of these classic films
was just slice and dice. They don't probably know because
the media won't cover it. They're too ashamed because they know,
deep in their soul how corrosive and wrong it is
to eliminate older.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Pieces of art.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
They know that deep down and their withered souls, they
know it, but they can't raise their hand, they can't
raise their voice. They can't admit it because that would
bring attention to it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Deborah Andrew Breitbart famously said that politics was downstream of culture.
And what my feeling is here is this move it's
kind of behind the curve because what you brought up
in a text message with me just before we went
live here, what we saw on Super Bowl Sunday with
the direction the ads were heading back to a more
(09:07):
Americana kind of jingoistic, yay USA approach, what makes us
a great country, what makes us great? And come together
as Americans? And the Brad Pitt intro the Harrison Ford
jeep commercial just to name a couple. But do you
believe that the election of Donald Trump and the corresponding
media reaction to that that will see less of what
we just witnessed with this crocodile Dundee censorship, at least
(09:29):
here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Yeah, one would hope, though. I think one of the
answer things that Christian brought up is a lot of
people don't even know that the censorship is happening. I mean,
there are stories of books by R. L. Stein and
others that were edited without the writer's knowledge, by someone
somewhere who made a decision that the fragility of common
(09:51):
sensibility can't handle terminology that they might be triggered by.
I mean, first of all, I think that still will
go on, But I think that those who have more
of a business sense, you know, those who are buying
multi million dollar commercials to sell their products, are waking
up and realizing that adage is true. Go woke, go broke.
(10:13):
I mean, whether that's going to come into the Hollywood
realm completely with the censorship that may be going on,
I don't know. But I think what we saw in
the Super Bowl ads, we can just pick out one
ad you mentioned it the Harrison Ford jeep commercial where
all he talks about is freedom versus in twenty twenty one,
the Bruce Springsteen jeep commercial, which really was kind of
(10:36):
a virtue signaling preaching at everyone. That was a huge difference.
And I do think those who see the bottom line,
those buying commercials selling the products, are waking up and
realizing they have been missing out on the vast majority
of Americans who are not weak, do not need to
be pander twos, definitely don't want to be preached at,
(10:56):
and actually do think America is a good country, not perfect,
but a very, very exceptional country.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I'm mad at myself that I didn't grab this clip
because Debor just made me think of it. But I
want to have Christian address this point about Jimmy Kimmel.
He just appeared on a podcast, not sure if you're
aware of this, and he was asked, hey, look, you're
kind of leaving half of the country behind, and your
ratings may be suffering, and he said some things are
more important at ratings. He needed to be a political
(11:22):
kind of blow a bullhorn during this time of Trump,
that that was more important than appealing to a mass audience.
Christian that's that's madness.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
It is.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
I mean, listen, he's already he's collecting a lot of checks,
and he's learned in recent years that what he's doing
gets enough of an audience to keep the lights on.
Several years ago, he was asked about this again and
he said something about leaving conservatives or Republicans behind.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
He said, not good riddance, but rittance. And so that's
that's it.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
Listen.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Now he's crying on the air now.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
He said that, you know, late night TV may don't
even be around in ten years, but thanks to him
and like you exactly, but listen, he knows he can
address enough of the country, just enough to be successful
in a certain way and to keep and to keep
things going. And that's what Colbert has learned it others
has learned as well, and they'll just keep doing what
they doing because as long as they get their checks
(12:16):
cleared and as long as they can say what they
want to say, that's all that matters to them.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Christian Total Hollywood and Total Deborah Flora also alongside Deborah,
I want to get your reaction to this nugget that
I mind from Ben Shapiro's program, This ongoing feud between
Blake Lively and Justin BELLDONI and she kind of outed
herself here, and I want our listeners to tune in.
This is an actress, mind you, about her creative input
(12:41):
and how important that is to her. It turns out
that Blake Lively was caught on tape talking about how
she manipulates people around her in order to take control
of the movies upon what she wants.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Oops.
Speaker 9 (12:52):
Oops, it's just as important to say, Okay, I believe
in this and that's why I'm staying up for it,
and that's why I'm not being difficult. And then there
are other moments to.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Go like am I the in the room? Like what
is happening here?
Speaker 9 (13:06):
I would show up on a set, I knew that
they just wanted me to show up and look cute
and stand on a little pink sticker where I'm supposed
to go and say what I'm supposed to say. But
I also knew that like that wasn't fulfilling for me.
That I wanted to be a part of the storytelling,
that I wanted to be a part of the narrative,
whether that be in the writing and the costume design
and creating the character and sometimes I had.
Speaker 10 (13:26):
Directors or producers or writers who would.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
Welcome that and invite that once they saw that I
was able to offer that. And sometimes I would have
people who really resented that because they were like, we
just hired you.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
To be an actor.
Speaker 9 (13:38):
Yet when I went in the meetings, I would just
seem like I'm just there to be the actor and
ready to get the gig. I wouldn't reveal that I
actually need to have authorship in order to fulfilled. So
I think that for them sometimes that might have felt
like a rug pull, because you're like, you're trying to
assert yourself into something that we didn't hire.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
You to do.
Speaker 9 (13:58):
And so it was a really range position to be
in because.
Speaker 11 (14:01):
I felt like I want to just like be an.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Actor, like I want to, you know, I want to.
Speaker 9 (14:06):
I want to have more.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Authorship, but that's your job. Do your job.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And I have to imagine, as somebody who's made films, Deborah,
this would be the last thing a director, an executive, producer,
a writer would want is the talent. And I put
that very much in quotes the actor actors. I have
an idea that think I think will make the script better.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
How does this work?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Behind the scenes, and what would happen if, say you
encountered a Blake Lively like personality who really wanted to
have creative input into the script.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Yeah. You know, it's interesting because I've been on every
side of this equation. I've been an actor, I've directed,
I've produced, so I've been on every side of it.
And you know, filmmaking in and of itself is one
of the most complex collaborative efforts, and if you don't
have clear roles, then ultimately it breaks down. I mean,
I think it's one thing to certainly have an actor say,
(15:01):
you know, I was thinking about this motivation for my character,
but for them to get into the directing, well, if
that's what you want, then then pursue the job as
the director. Pursue the job as the writer. But boy,
I got to tell you, there are numerous occasions Blake
Lively and for She's not alone in this where the
writer just excuse me, the actor will suddenly rewrite the
(15:23):
script on the spot and goes this feels better or
whatever else. That's usually when creativity by committee does not
work and a movie starts going down the wrong direction.
I also think it was interesting about that quote and
you know the situation with Justin Baldoni and the movie
it ends with us. I don't know the inside of
what actually happened, but it's interesting that Blake Lively was
(15:44):
talking about really being hired under a false priest. Haense.
I'm not going to tell them I'm going to come
in and want to have a role beyond what I'm
being hired for. But I'm going to do it anyway.
You know, it's okay to have that upfront, not in
the middle of a set.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
As Ben Shapiro points out, public sentiment, you know, the
court of public opinion, and we've seen various entertainment reporters
note this has really vacillated from maybe being considering of
Blake Lively's position in Ryan Reynolds and the fact that
they made fun of Justin Belldoni and Deadpool versus Wolverine with.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
A nice Pool character.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
It's all tugging cheek, it's all well and good, but
when you drill down on the details kind of what
Debra's saying here, public sentiment is now favoring Justin Belldoni
because Blake Lively just looks like a diva who is
willing to do whatever it takes to get her stamp
on a movie. Yeah, interesting perspective there.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
I think part of the reason maybe for this is
Megan Kelly's been really aggressive in this situation and she's
got considerable sway. She's one of those few personalities slash
podcasts that people really trust that she doesn't seem like
she's blowing smoke, that she really does try to get
to the truth. Also, you know, I understand if you're
an actor with a certain amount of clout that you
can throw your weight around to a certain degree. Tom
(16:57):
Cruise who's so successful, and Thatdy Hopkins, whose career speaks
for itself. I don't think she's in any kind of
category like that. I don't think she's got the track
record or the or they canon to say, listen to me.
I've got these ideas because I've done them in X,
Y and Z. I just don't see that body of work.
So I think from multiple levels, listen, if she's on
set and the director and the people behind the scenes
(17:19):
are collaborative.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
In nature, and they're eager for that.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
But there are many other storytellers, as Deborah would tell you,
that it's their vision, it's their movie, it's their project
and that they need that authorship and you can't just
steamroll over them. And so I think if she was
honest in the beginning, or honest in taking projects that
were collaborative from the jump, Okay, I get that this,
this seems deceptive. I don't think she's worthy of this
(17:44):
final note from you, Jebra.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah. One other thing I'd say about
that is, I do think there is a ship away
from the knee jerk reaction that came out of the
me too movement. Always believe the woman, no matter what. Now,
I'm all for, you know, listen to the woman, but
listen to the man also. And I think where we saw,
for instance, in the Johnny Depp situation, he was absolutely
pularized for a long time believe the woman right away,
(18:09):
and then that's coming out to be a different story.
I think perhaps we're finally getting back to a balanced
approach again. You know, well he said, he said, she
said at this time. But we're not going to automatically
just believe the woman regardless. I think one other thing,
by the way that you know, uh, it should be
brought into consideration on this project. It ends with us.
(18:31):
I actually very much liked it, but it is a
story about abuse. I mean, there is certainly going to
be in that filmmaking a lot of sensitivities. But you
also have to say, if you were signing up to
do that role, then you have to be willing to
deal with what happens in that set, in that situation,
not overstepping it. You know, I was on a theater
(18:52):
production one time and a guy was supposed to be
abusive and he literally actually cold cops me that was
not okay, and that there would have been repercussions for
which there were. There are other things where it's just
the heat of the moment and it is the emotion
that is generated in it. But I'm just glad to
see us moving away from an immediate Believe her no
matter what, Believe the woman, no matter what. Now, let's
(19:13):
let this else play itself out the way it should
with a civil case.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Deborah Flora, thank you so much for phoning it in
on this segment. We'll see her live next time. Christian
Toto sticks with me as we head into our Friday
Fool of the Week coming up next. You will want
to miss it. I could only narrow it down to
five nominees. That's how robust the selection was this week.
(19:43):
That sound to mean only one thing. It's time for
our Friday fool of the Week. This is a really
difficult week, folks. I gotta tell you Christian knows all.
The Trump derangement syndrome on full display, and you multiply
that by the Elon derangement syndrome that has since come
out of the woodwork, and then you have the reaction
to the executive orders. The Democrats they can't keep up.
(20:05):
Their heads are spinning. They don't know which ones to attack.
They're trying. They're like John Fetterman said, the cat with
the laser anywhere they're going to go over there, No
pick one and go with it. But they can't pick one.
They don't know which one. Just Trump, bad, Trump, titler,
Trump supporters, Nazis.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
That's all they've got.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That's all they still have at this point, so much
so that they're really losing their minds. And I don't
say that lightly, but we have five nominee, so we
better get right to it. Here's Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat, California,
and he's asked point blank by I think it's Brianna
Keeler CNN on whether calling Elon Musk a word for
the male anatomy is a good messaging strategy.
Speaker 10 (20:43):
I want to hear why, but do you think that
calling Elon Musk a dick is effective messaging for confronting
what is a potentially irreversible transformation of the US government.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
He is, and I think he's also harming the American
public in an enormous way.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And what I think is really important and.
Speaker 9 (21:06):
What the American public want is for us to bring
actual weapons to this bar fight.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
This is an actual.
Speaker 10 (21:12):
Fight for democracy, for the future of this country.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So actual fight, literal fight. Is this metaphoric? Is this
a bar fight? Are we all going to mean up
in a bar? Are we going to be in the
back alley like the fight seeing an anchorman with the
various weapons and the grenade and the javelin and the
all that no bring because he said bring weapons to
this bar fight?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
What weapons?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
We get excoriated on the right if we even hint
at language like this. Obviously in Sandiary two, assassination attempts
against Donald Trump, death threats currently on going against Elon Musk,
Christ and your thoughts.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
I know he has all the money in the world, literally,
but I hope his security squad is up to the task.
It's unbelievable, and you listen, If you want to really
reach people and get through and not seem insane, you
can't embrace this kind of rhetoric. Once you do, I
think we're just looking past it right now. If you
(22:12):
bring clear, coherent ideas and criticisms and talk in a
logical fashion, I think you could potentially reach people who
are concerned about what Elon may or may not be doing.
I can't imagine who this is reaching. It feels like
there's a thirty percent of the country that has just
lost their rocker.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
That's a very technical term.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
And then there's the rest of us, And I guess
he's reaching that thirty percent, but they're already locked in,
So I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He's doing that.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
They're not even off the rocker. They lost the rockers.
They don't have the rocking chair anywhere. They don't know
where it is, they don't know where it went, they
don't know who took it. They can't even sit and
if they wanted to, so they're off it. They lost it.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
It's gone.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
But yeah, it's a preaching to the choir issue. I
think red meat for the base, and they can't speak
beyond that. They don't know how they're functionally unable to
do it.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
I'm open to genuine criticism of Elon Musk. Sure, Elon
Musk I have a lot of it admiration for but
he's a shoot from the hip guy. Some of his
tweets are not accurate. I think that's a problem. I
think he's got such a responsibility in such an outsized
voice right now. He has to be more disciplined. He
seems to do things in a whim. Sometimes he is
open to criticism, and he will get better if he
(23:18):
is fairly criticized. But if you go in this direction,
it doesn't help anyone.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
A couple of our nominees are straight from the anti Doge,
anti Elon protests. And believe me, there were coniocopia of
options I could have gone with, but this one stood
out because of the silence that it elicited from a
far left crowd that should have been absolutely eating it up.
But Representative Ayana Presley, Democrat Massachusetts, took it a little
(23:45):
too far.
Speaker 12 (23:46):
But let me tell you something, I'll take a bit
of Umbridge. Here, I'll speak on behalf of my colleagues.
I'm I can say we are all willing to work
with anyone who's serious about doing the work of censoring
the American people and advancing progress.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But they are not serious. Again, there should have been cheers.
This is an applause line. Part of it about.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
Doing the work of censoring the American people and advancing progress.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But they are not serious.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I think it was Maxine Waters one voice, the magnificat,
nothing else.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So she did she say the quiet part out loud?
Speaker 6 (24:22):
Christian?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Did she misspeak or did this just go over like
a lead balloon?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
I think maybe all the above.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
I think you know it's when I read that comment,
but to hear it, yeah, actually get the audio. It
lands even worse than you could possibly imagine. It is
a little bit like when you watch the view and
Whoopee goes so crazy she loses the view Seals. It's
a little bit like that, and she lost the crowd
because what she said is so reprehensible that even people
(24:48):
on the far left, who you would think would be
cheering her every syllable, even they had a tike a knee.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
They want a sensor, They want to cancel us. But
when you say it like that, I mean I can't
get behind him. So Aana Presley lost the plot, lost
the crowd. Robert Garcia, I mean, this is tough so far,
but we're not even halfway through. Here's Anderson Cooper, a
very distinguished serious journalist, wastes deep in the waters of the.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Floods from Hurricane Katrina down in New Orleans. That was staged.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Get Michael Brown going about that one by Oh here
he is sparring with Chris Sununu and then all of
a sudden he just snaps, this is a little scary.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Female money for migrants. That's okay. Now, no, I'm not
saying it. So I'm not saying it's okay. So would
you stop that? Would you stop that process? Don't be
the portrayal.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
What I'm saying is the portrayal by him is just
not factually accurate.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
I think that's a record.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's the first time in the history of our Friday
Fool of the Week that the the d word for
the male anatomy is actually in two separate nominees, won
by Robert Garcia. It's a theme show, and this one
by Anderson Cooper, and we were talking about this during
the break even Christian, about just the lack of respect
this show for a panelist that.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
You are guessed in that setting, it's wildly unprofessional.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Anderson Cooper, Listen, I'm sure he's as left as most
of his colleagues, but he doesn't really present as an
outrageous figure. He is more calm, He is more cool
and collected. And you could say there are stories he's missing,
You could say that he should be attacking things from
a different perspective. Those could be all fair criticisms, but
he doesn't Rosy stooped to this level. Stooping to this
level is extraordinarily unprofessional. When there are any adults behind
(26:27):
the scenes, they would have pulled him aside and said
you need to go on air and apologize, or there's
some sort of punishment happening there. Listen, I'm not offended
by the word. It's not the worst word, but it
certainly is wildly inapplicable here. And if you can't defend yourself,
and if you're backpedaling and scrambling, that's when you call
in the reserves. And by the reserves, I mean potty talk.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
On air. Apology on a minimum, you can have some
fun with it. Maybe christ is a good sport, and
I'm sure that he would be. It's not like he's
some far right wing lunatic.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
He was the moderate Republican governor of New Hampshire for
crying out loud. But it should have been dealt with.
It should have been nipped in the bud. To my knowledge,
it hasn't been. If there's a listener out there that
can correct me on that, please provide that evidence. I
haven't seen it. I don't watch CNN. I do it
so you don't have to with the editing.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I'm not going to go further than that, but you
can send your votes along for a Friday Fool of
the Week at five seven, seven, three nine. So far,
it's Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat, California saying we need to
bring weapons to this bar fight in citing violence against
Elon Musk and other members of the right on our side.
Representative Ayana Presley, Democrat Massachusetts says she wants to get
with people who are serious about censoring the American people.
(27:35):
And then right there, Anderson Cooper calling Chris Nunu a
d word. Now we go back to the rally, the
anti Doge protests that are so effective. You know, they're
very well thought out, very cerebral, very high minded and
intelligent in pushing back against this investigation of government spending
and waste, which I thoroughly support. Here is democrat from
(27:57):
I believe Portland, Oregon. No, this is not Portland. It
is Representative Maxine Dexker saying what she wants to do
to Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
But I don't think this came out the way she
wanted or did it.
Speaker 7 (28:10):
I just I've been told I have thirty seconds, so
I am going to tell you that we do have
to I don't swear in public very well, but I
have to Trump. Please, well, please don't tell my children
(28:35):
that I just.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Heard that.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
We have to blank Trump. Was that an offer?
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Well, I mean it is Valentine's Day, so you know,
I would think cards and flowers be more appropriate.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
And the commander in.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Chief, he is a very attractive man, very powerful, very intimidating,
and you know the red tie. I understand, but he
has spoken for Maloney. Trump is his spouse, so it's
a little inappropriate. But you know, when you're caught in
the mumm. It's like it's one of these rom com scenes. Yeah,
it's right, the final just before they get together at
the airport.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Wow, okay, that's.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Our Fortunitely, now there's one more, and I have saved
the longest for last. I don't know if it's the best,
It might be the worst, but it's definitely the weirdest.
This was a Wooster City Council meeting in which various
members of the trans community showed up imploring them to
make Woosta a trans sanctuary city.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I think they make a very convincing case.
Speaker 11 (29:30):
I need the city to protect me because the federal
government won't. And if you think you're afraid of Trump,
you should see how afraid of Trump I am.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Can you wrap up police?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yes I can.
Speaker 11 (29:43):
If you say, then you're afraid of Trump and that's
why you don't want city to be in the city
to be a space, saved space for trans people, you
better prepare for trans people to make this a very
unsaved space.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Oh I'm shaking right now. I don't want to be.
He you're not shaking. Get out of the Sorry, am
I taking too long? Pleading for my life?
Speaker 7 (30:05):
You remembered how many children I have and how many,
and that two of them are trans cool.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
I speak as both the B and the T in
the LGBT. You can't be come out.
Speaker 11 (30:16):
I'm multiply disabled. I have Ellers Danlos syndrome, which is
a connective tissue disorder that causes me immense physical pain.
I'm on the autism spectrum and I have narcolepsi and
I couldn't drive myself here, so I had to hide
from my driver. I was in drag, which is not
an easy thing to do.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I do not want to be here. It's my day off.
I do not want to be in your DMS.
Speaker 9 (30:43):
I do not want to be in your email in boxes.
Speaker 10 (30:45):
I do not well my creativity writing disc tracks like Kendrick.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
I don't want to spend an.
Speaker 9 (30:51):
Hour applying glitter on my face so that you will
hear and see me that.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Jesus I know would be dressed in full drag again
serving face.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
I don't know what that means. I'm going to turn
to Christian Toto.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
I don't know what that means, and I don't want
to find out what that means. Listen, you know, fools
collectively sure, but I have to say. My heart goes
that these just seems like extraordinarily troubled people. I will
also say that shame on the media for teating them
that they think their lives are in danger right now.
Bruce of Donald Trump, you may disagree with his policies.
(31:27):
You could question them, you could be against them, you
could want to see the Democrats come back to power.
But no one is hunting them down, Thank goodness, no
one is hunting them down. And for them to have
that kind of existential fear is frightening on many levels.
But what we're seeing now is this shift to violence
after just three or so weeks of Trump's presidency.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
This is going to get worse, ratcheting it up for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
The one thing I was confused by, and maybe our
listeners can help out, when I checked out the video
of this, the young woman if she's a woman, like
a biological woman or voice sounded like it had the
blue haired wig with the pearls on claimed that she
was in drag, and all I could deduct was, wait
a minute, you are a biological woman dressed up in
drag as a woman. Is that really drag? And I'm
(32:16):
really confused by that part of it. Everything else is
just kind of white noise, you know, shouting the people
and threatening them to get your way, or maybe have
a compelling and interesting conversation about why trans spaces need
to be protected.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Nope, they didn't do that. I am shaking. No, you're not.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
First of all, you say that you're not doing it.
I don't want to be here, then go, we don't
want you here. You don't have to be here. Nobody
required your attendance at this meeting.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Okay, Tough choices, five of them right there.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Worcester City Council, various members, a panoply of the trans
community there ensuring that Wooster would be a trans sanctuary city,
and it did vote to do that.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Whatever that means.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I don't know what that means even but Representative Maxine
detzker Or wants to have relations with Donald Trump. That
was another one. Anderson Cooper calling Christanninu the D word.
Ayanna Presley wants to work with people to censor Americans,
and Representive Robert Garcia wants to bring weapons to this
bar fight against Elon Musk doze, President Trump and the right.
(33:19):
Tough choices five seven, seven, three nine, Send your votes
in We'll have a tally by the end of the program,
one last bit with Christian Toto as Hollywood on the
Right continues.
Speaker 13 (33:29):
After this, we rude a blazing saddle wor a shining star,
his job awful battle to Batman and.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Fo oh, yes, the mel Brooks classic. It could not
be made today? Or shall I say it might not
be made today? I think we've turned the page to
quote Gwen Walls, the psychotic wife of Governor Tim Walls.
I think it's boomerang people. I think we're coming back.
I think America is back. And in so doing this,
(34:09):
Texter says Blazing Saddles would be twenty minutes long if
they updated it today. Christin this, Texters not wrong. If
they applied the same filter, then they just did the
Crocodile Dundee, which we opened the show with.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Yeah, and of course, listen, it's all about nuance, it's
all about context, it's all about content. And mel Brooks
was making fun of racism, and to do it, he went,
he went into this realm that has been hysterical and
people have been cheering it for years. And I think
the fact that it is so under the microscope is
the one reason that they left. Hasn't taken it down,
(34:42):
erased it, somehow censored it because they know it is
the ultimate that mel Brooks is this comedy genius, that
people have been pointing a finger at this movie, and
Brooks himself has for years said.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
They couldn't make it.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Today he's right, But I think I don't think the
left is going to realize how badly this could boomerang
on that we may see a rain of comedy.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Let me take exactly, let me take the opposite viewpoint.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
If there's a filmmaker out there that has the courage,
the guts, the gusto and the funding maybe to just
go ahead and do it, yes, and dare people to
cancel him or her, I think it'd be a raging success.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Christian right now, they're.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Making a movie.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
I think it might be called bus Boys. It's David Spade, Theovon.
You know, Tim Dillon at least has a somewhat of
a part in love him. And they are I think,
self producing. They're doing it on their own terms.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Good.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It sounds like it could be just that kind of project.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
I know Matt Rife, who doesn't really those a lot
of sharp elbows, is also making a movie right now.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
A comedy.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
It's ready, We're ready for it. And you get the
Rogans and the Shane Gillises and the Tim Dillons and
the Tyler Fisher's and the Christy Mayers of the world.
Get them all together, let them do what they want
to do and have a blast, and say, bleep you
with telling.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Our jokes, our way.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
The culture is shifting.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
President Trump was cheered at the super Bowl mightily, and
Taylor Swift was Leslie bood I think that wastive as
anything that we saw on that day. He is Christiantoto
Hollywoodantoto dot com, Hollywood in Toto. Subscribe to download and
listen to his podcast. Give him a five star rating.
Thanks for being here, Christian. Have a great weekend.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Pleasure all right back after this
It's Friday in Denver, and that means it's time once
again for the Right Side of Hollywood with award winning
filmmaker Deborah Flora and Christian Toto of Hollywood. In Toto
on the intersection of pop culture, entertainment and politics in
America right here on Ryan Schuling lived.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, sure, kid, there you go.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And jo Wally.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Nick give him you a balet.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
What it's got?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
A nice nice that's nice, just kids having fun. You
(00:54):
are right, I'm always all right when I'm with you. Dundee.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now what you just heard was excluted from a presentation
of this film overseas for Boxing Day in the UK.
Of course, the incomparable Paul Hogan is Crocodile Dundee in
the original and perhaps the most famous scene from that film.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
That'sen all a knife BLAT's knife.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Christian Toto joins me in studio Hollywood Intota dot com
and by phone. Deborah Flora, of course, herself an award
winning filmmaker and altern to Christian. Since you brought this
to my attention, first, what was this? What went down?
Why was this classic scene omitted from the screening of
Crocodile Dundee?
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Well, they're releasing an encore cut is what they're calling it,
an updated version of the film, and it's.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Been screened in the UK and.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
In Australia, of course, is where Paul Hogan's from. And
your guests is as good as mine now, I know.
For years people have been complaining that there was another
sequence in the film that was problematic where Dundee's character,
who is this sort of rebellious, uncouth guy who grew
up in the jungles of Australia, is talking to a
person he thinks is a woman that he realizes it
(02:05):
might not be a woman, and he grabs the person's
crutch and that's a trans person. We didn't use that term.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
At the time.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
This is the eighties, and so people have found that
particular sequence offensive and saying it casts him in a
negative light. And it does to a degree because it's
a very rude moment, but it's also indicative of how
crude and raw and unrefined, and that's who he is.
He's not a bad person. He's the hero of the story, right,
but he also doesn't understand things about the culture and
(02:33):
doesn't understand what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.
So people have been in recent years saying that's a terrible,
awful scene. So they took that scene out, but they
also took out the knife scene, which, like you said,
is the iconic moment from the film period.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
This goes, Deborah to our constant overview of culture from
our perspective on the right, we get it. Films made
in the nineteen eighties were reflective of nineteen eightiesse values, customs, traditions,
societal norms. They're very different than all of those things
here in the mid twenty twenties. But do we need
to go back and all these films, go back to
(03:11):
Citizen Kane or all the films in between, and take
out the scenes that are offensive to modern audiences.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
Well, I guess that depends on who you ask.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
Ryan.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
I certainly don't think so. And I think what's interesting
about the situation with Crocodile Dundee is it kind of
follows on a conversation we had a couple of weeks
ago about Idris Elba and his documentary Our Knife Crime Crisis,
basically where he calls for the dalling of all knives
so they cannot be used as to harm other individuals
(03:43):
and can shell cut vegetables and diving further into why
they omitted that particular. Then that's not a knife. That's
a knife which everybody knows. Crocodile n d. He is
an animal hunter. He is someone who uses a knife.
But from why I understand and what I've been reading
is that was taken out in the Boxing Day screening
(04:06):
which was last December twenty sixth, twenty twenty four in
Great Britain because they are trying to begin to censor
knife use. Now it is to me it's beyond observed.
We've talked about how you can't blame the knife for
the crisis. If they're looking to censor something, how about
what causes people to attack others with knives? You know,
(04:28):
And to the bigger point, not just this knife sensitivity,
which you know, if it's expanding. One of the reasons
why that's expanding in Great Britain is because they have
very started gun laws, so that they're going to pick
something else. But the bigger question you asked Ryan about
this editing of things. You know, it's gone to the
absurd point where even to Kill a Mockingbird, one of
(04:49):
the most anti racist films based on one of the
most anti racist books is being censored in places because
it uses terminology used in the day for people of
you that are African American descent. That is where it
has taken so far and so extreme, and it really
(05:09):
is just censorship. That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You mentioned to kill a mockingbird. I'll go further another
book that's been banned, and the people banning the books
are on the left, not the right. The only people
banning books on the right, like in Florida, are sexually
explicit books for youngsters. Anyway, how about Huckleberry Finn, which,
for its time, by its author Mark Twain, was extremely
radical in pro civil rights for black Americans. Jim was
(05:34):
a hero in that book with Little huck Finn. But
because like you said, the colloquial term of the time,
which was accurate, is offensive to modern audiences, a lot
of left wing schools have banned the literary classic Huckleberry Finn. Now,
going back to Deborah's original point on Idris Elba two
weeks ago, this is where all the knife craziness began,
(05:57):
at least the first that we saw it.
Speaker 8 (05:59):
The truth is is that kitchen knives are perhaps twenty
five percent of the knives used in most of the
terrible crimes. That's one of the stats in the films,
and those kitchen knives are usually a domestic situation. Okay,
so kitchen knives, of course, it's very difficult their domestic knife.
I do think there is areas of innovation that we
(06:21):
can do with kitchen knives. I hate to say, not
all kitchen knives need to have a point on them.
That sounds like a crazy thing to say, but actually
it would reduce you know, you can still cut your
food without the point on the knife, which is an
innovative way to sort of look at it. And in
a country in crisis, I'm sorry, but yeah, let's look
at that. But the truth is all knives. You know,
(06:43):
the loophole on the heritage knives allows the sale of
zombie ninja swords to be sold. So while you know
you've got your granddad's sword on there and you want
that as fine, of course, but it is leaving a
loophole for someone to carry. So let's ban them all
and if you need, if you have one of those knives,
(07:04):
a license for it, simple as that, And I think
it's a small contribution to society if you say I'm
going to back that I'll get a license from my
granddad's sword because it is leaving, you know, these kids vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I still think David Saint Hubbans, Nigel Toughnel, Derek Smalls,
and Indris Elba. He should have been the fourth member
of the drummer that turns into globule on the seat
they keep having to replace. One of those drummers should
have been Idris Elba. I think Christian. And this is
the ridiculousness also that we've seen just recently. I'm just
going to read two headlines from NBC News and CBS
(07:38):
News from over the last week. Car rams into Munich crowd, injury,
at least twenty eight in suspected attacks. CBS News car
drives into crowd in Munich, Germany, wounding thirty people. I mean,
was this a self driving car that Elon must developed?
I think that was my mother the car.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Actually, you know, I want to talk about oh so
Brinkley to the Crocodile Une situation, because first of all,
no one in Hollywood is talking about this. No one now,
no one is saying, wait a minute, you're editing, you're
censoring a classic movie.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
How dare you. The media completely ignored the story.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
That's what's so exasperating, you know, And I think to
the actor's collective credit, perhaps they're not even aware of this.
They're not even aware that one of these classic films
was just slice and dice. They don't probably know because
the media won't cover it. They're too ashamed because they know,
deep in their soul how corrosive and wrong it is
to eliminate older.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Pieces of art.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
They know that deep down and their withered souls, they
know it, but they can't raise their hand, they can't
raise their voice. They can't admit it because that would
bring attention to it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Deborah Andrew Breitbart famously said that politics was downstream of culture.
And what my feeling is here is this move it's
kind of behind the curve because what you brought up
in a text message with me just before we went
live here, what we saw on Super Bowl Sunday with
the direction the ads were heading back to a more
(09:07):
Americana kind of jingoistic, yay USA approach, what makes us
a great country, what makes us great? And come together
as Americans? And the Brad Pitt intro the Harrison Ford
jeep commercial just to name a couple. But do you
believe that the election of Donald Trump and the corresponding
media reaction to that that will see less of what
we just witnessed with this crocodile Dundee censorship, at least
(09:29):
here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Yeah, one would hope, though. I think one of the
answer things that Christian brought up is a lot of
people don't even know that the censorship is happening. I mean,
there are stories of books by R. L. Stein and
others that were edited without the writer's knowledge, by someone
somewhere who made a decision that the fragility of common
(09:51):
sensibility can't handle terminology that they might be triggered by.
I mean, first of all, I think that still will
go on, But I think that those who have more
of a business sense, you know, those who are buying
multi million dollar commercials to sell their products, are waking
up and realizing that adage is true. Go woke, go broke.
(10:13):
I mean, whether that's going to come into the Hollywood
realm completely with the censorship that may be going on,
I don't know. But I think what we saw in
the Super Bowl ads, we can just pick out one
ad you mentioned it the Harrison Ford jeep commercial where
all he talks about is freedom versus in twenty twenty one,
the Bruce Springsteen jeep commercial, which really was kind of
(10:36):
a virtue signaling preaching at everyone. That was a huge difference.
And I do think those who see the bottom line,
those buying commercials selling the products, are waking up and
realizing they have been missing out on the vast majority
of Americans who are not weak, do not need to
be pander twos, definitely don't want to be preached at,
(10:56):
and actually do think America is a good country, not perfect,
but a very, very exceptional country.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I'm mad at myself that I didn't grab this clip
because Debor just made me think of it. But I
want to have Christian address this point about Jimmy Kimmel.
He just appeared on a podcast, not sure if you're
aware of this, and he was asked, hey, look, you're
kind of leaving half of the country behind, and your
ratings may be suffering, and he said some things are
more important at ratings. He needed to be a political
(11:22):
kind of blow a bullhorn during this time of Trump,
that that was more important than appealing to a mass audience.
Christian that's that's madness.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
It is.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
I mean, listen, he's already he's collecting a lot of checks,
and he's learned in recent years that what he's doing
gets enough of an audience to keep the lights on.
Several years ago, he was asked about this again and
he said something about leaving conservatives or Republicans behind.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
He said, not good riddance, but rittance. And so that's
that's it.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
Listen.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Now he's crying on the air now.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
He said that, you know, late night TV may don't
even be around in ten years, but thanks to him
and like you exactly, but listen, he knows he can
address enough of the country, just enough to be successful
in a certain way and to keep and to keep
things going. And that's what Colbert has learned it others
has learned as well, and they'll just keep doing what
they doing because as long as they get their checks
(12:16):
cleared and as long as they can say what they
want to say, that's all that matters to them.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Christian Total Hollywood and Total Deborah Flora also alongside Deborah,
I want to get your reaction to this nugget that
I mind from Ben Shapiro's program, This ongoing feud between
Blake Lively and Justin BELLDONI and she kind of outed
herself here, and I want our listeners to tune in.
This is an actress, mind you, about her creative input
(12:41):
and how important that is to her. It turns out
that Blake Lively was caught on tape talking about how
she manipulates people around her in order to take control
of the movies upon what she wants.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Oops.
Speaker 9 (12:52):
Oops, it's just as important to say, Okay, I believe
in this and that's why I'm staying up for it,
and that's why I'm not being difficult. And then there
are other moments to.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Go like am I the in the room? Like what
is happening here?
Speaker 9 (13:06):
I would show up on a set, I knew that
they just wanted me to show up and look cute
and stand on a little pink sticker where I'm supposed
to go and say what I'm supposed to say. But
I also knew that like that wasn't fulfilling for me.
That I wanted to be a part of the storytelling,
that I wanted to be a part of the narrative,
whether that be in the writing and the costume design
and creating the character and sometimes I had.
Speaker 10 (13:26):
Directors or producers or writers who would.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
Welcome that and invite that once they saw that I
was able to offer that. And sometimes I would have
people who really resented that because they were like, we
just hired you.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
To be an actor.
Speaker 9 (13:38):
Yet when I went in the meetings, I would just
seem like I'm just there to be the actor and
ready to get the gig. I wouldn't reveal that I
actually need to have authorship in order to fulfilled. So
I think that for them sometimes that might have felt
like a rug pull, because you're like, you're trying to
assert yourself into something that we didn't hire.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
You to do.
Speaker 9 (13:58):
And so it was a really range position to be
in because.
Speaker 11 (14:01):
I felt like I want to just like be an.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Actor, like I want to, you know, I want to.
Speaker 9 (14:06):
I want to have more.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Authorship, but that's your job. Do your job.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And I have to imagine, as somebody who's made films, Deborah,
this would be the last thing a director, an executive, producer,
a writer would want is the talent. And I put
that very much in quotes the actor actors. I have
an idea that think I think will make the script better.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
How does this work?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Behind the scenes, and what would happen if, say you
encountered a Blake Lively like personality who really wanted to
have creative input into the script.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Yeah. You know, it's interesting because I've been on every
side of this equation. I've been an actor, I've directed,
I've produced, so I've been on every side of it.
And you know, filmmaking in and of itself is one
of the most complex collaborative efforts, and if you don't
have clear roles, then ultimately it breaks down. I mean,
I think it's one thing to certainly have an actor say,
(15:01):
you know, I was thinking about this motivation for my character,
but for them to get into the directing, well, if
that's what you want, then then pursue the job as
the director. Pursue the job as the writer. But boy,
I got to tell you, there are numerous occasions Blake
Lively and for She's not alone in this where the
writer just excuse me, the actor will suddenly rewrite the
(15:23):
script on the spot and goes this feels better or
whatever else. That's usually when creativity by committee does not
work and a movie starts going down the wrong direction.
I also think it was interesting about that quote and
you know the situation with Justin Baldoni and the movie
it ends with us. I don't know the inside of
what actually happened, but it's interesting that Blake Lively was
(15:44):
talking about really being hired under a false priest. Haense.
I'm not going to tell them I'm going to come
in and want to have a role beyond what I'm
being hired for. But I'm going to do it anyway.
You know, it's okay to have that upfront, not in
the middle of a set.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
As Ben Shapiro points out, public sentiment, you know, the
court of public opinion, and we've seen various entertainment reporters
note this has really vacillated from maybe being considering of
Blake Lively's position in Ryan Reynolds and the fact that
they made fun of Justin Belldoni and Deadpool versus Wolverine with.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
A nice Pool character.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
It's all tugging cheek, it's all well and good, but
when you drill down on the details kind of what
Debra's saying here, public sentiment is now favoring Justin Belldoni
because Blake Lively just looks like a diva who is
willing to do whatever it takes to get her stamp
on a movie. Yeah, interesting perspective there.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
I think part of the reason maybe for this is
Megan Kelly's been really aggressive in this situation and she's
got considerable sway. She's one of those few personalities slash
podcasts that people really trust that she doesn't seem like
she's blowing smoke, that she really does try to get
to the truth. Also, you know, I understand if you're
an actor with a certain amount of clout that you
can throw your weight around to a certain degree. Tom
(16:57):
Cruise who's so successful, and Thatdy Hopkins, whose career speaks
for itself. I don't think she's in any kind of
category like that. I don't think she's got the track
record or the or they canon to say, listen to me.
I've got these ideas because I've done them in X,
Y and Z. I just don't see that body of work.
So I think from multiple levels, listen, if she's on
set and the director and the people behind the scenes
(17:19):
are collaborative.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
In nature, and they're eager for that.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
But there are many other storytellers, as Deborah would tell you,
that it's their vision, it's their movie, it's their project
and that they need that authorship and you can't just
steamroll over them. And so I think if she was
honest in the beginning, or honest in taking projects that
were collaborative from the jump, Okay, I get that this,
this seems deceptive. I don't think she's worthy of this
(17:44):
final note from you, Jebra.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah. One other thing I'd say about
that is, I do think there is a ship away
from the knee jerk reaction that came out of the
me too movement. Always believe the woman, no matter what. Now,
I'm all for, you know, listen to the woman, but
listen to the man also. And I think where we saw,
for instance, in the Johnny Depp situation, he was absolutely
pularized for a long time believe the woman right away,
(18:09):
and then that's coming out to be a different story.
I think perhaps we're finally getting back to a balanced
approach again. You know, well he said, he said, she
said at this time. But we're not going to automatically
just believe the woman regardless. I think one other thing,
by the way that you know, uh, it should be
brought into consideration on this project. It ends with us.
(18:31):
I actually very much liked it, but it is a
story about abuse. I mean, there is certainly going to
be in that filmmaking a lot of sensitivities. But you
also have to say, if you were signing up to
do that role, then you have to be willing to
deal with what happens in that set, in that situation,
not overstepping it. You know, I was on a theater
(18:52):
production one time and a guy was supposed to be
abusive and he literally actually cold cops me that was
not okay, and that there would have been repercussions for
which there were. There are other things where it's just
the heat of the moment and it is the emotion
that is generated in it. But I'm just glad to
see us moving away from an immediate Believe her no
matter what, Believe the woman, no matter what. Now, let's
(19:13):
let this else play itself out the way it should
with a civil case.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Deborah Flora, thank you so much for phoning it in
on this segment. We'll see her live next time. Christian
Toto sticks with me as we head into our Friday
Fool of the Week coming up next. You will want
to miss it. I could only narrow it down to
five nominees. That's how robust the selection was this week.
(19:43):
That sound to mean only one thing. It's time for
our Friday fool of the Week. This is a really
difficult week, folks. I gotta tell you Christian knows all.
The Trump derangement syndrome on full display, and you multiply
that by the Elon derangement syndrome that has since come
out of the woodwork, and then you have the reaction
to the executive orders. The Democrats they can't keep up.
(20:05):
Their heads are spinning. They don't know which ones to attack.
They're trying. They're like John Fetterman said, the cat with
the laser anywhere they're going to go over there, No
pick one and go with it. But they can't pick one.
They don't know which one. Just Trump, bad, Trump, titler,
Trump supporters, Nazis.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
That's all they've got.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That's all they still have at this point, so much
so that they're really losing their minds. And I don't
say that lightly, but we have five nominee, so we
better get right to it. Here's Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat, California,
and he's asked point blank by I think it's Brianna
Keeler CNN on whether calling Elon Musk a word for
the male anatomy is a good messaging strategy.
Speaker 10 (20:43):
I want to hear why, but do you think that
calling Elon Musk a dick is effective messaging for confronting
what is a potentially irreversible transformation of the US government.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
He is, and I think he's also harming the American
public in an enormous way.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And what I think is really important and.
Speaker 9 (21:06):
What the American public want is for us to bring
actual weapons to this bar fight.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
This is an actual.
Speaker 10 (21:12):
Fight for democracy, for the future of this country.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So actual fight, literal fight. Is this metaphoric? Is this
a bar fight? Are we all going to mean up
in a bar? Are we going to be in the
back alley like the fight seeing an anchorman with the
various weapons and the grenade and the javelin and the
all that no bring because he said bring weapons to
this bar fight?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
What weapons?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
We get excoriated on the right if we even hint
at language like this. Obviously in Sandiary two, assassination attempts
against Donald Trump, death threats currently on going against Elon Musk,
Christ and your thoughts.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
I know he has all the money in the world, literally,
but I hope his security squad is up to the task.
It's unbelievable, and you listen, If you want to really
reach people and get through and not seem insane, you
can't embrace this kind of rhetoric. Once you do, I
think we're just looking past it right now. If you
(22:12):
bring clear, coherent ideas and criticisms and talk in a
logical fashion, I think you could potentially reach people who
are concerned about what Elon may or may not be doing.
I can't imagine who this is reaching. It feels like
there's a thirty percent of the country that has just
lost their rocker.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
That's a very technical term.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
And then there's the rest of us, And I guess
he's reaching that thirty percent, but they're already locked in,
So I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He's doing that.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
They're not even off the rocker. They lost the rockers.
They don't have the rocking chair anywhere. They don't know
where it is, they don't know where it went, they
don't know who took it. They can't even sit and
if they wanted to, so they're off it. They lost it.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
It's gone.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
But yeah, it's a preaching to the choir issue. I
think red meat for the base, and they can't speak
beyond that. They don't know how they're functionally unable to
do it.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
I'm open to genuine criticism of Elon Musk. Sure, Elon
Musk I have a lot of it admiration for but
he's a shoot from the hip guy. Some of his
tweets are not accurate. I think that's a problem. I
think he's got such a responsibility in such an outsized
voice right now. He has to be more disciplined. He
seems to do things in a whim. Sometimes he is
open to criticism, and he will get better if he
(23:18):
is fairly criticized. But if you go in this direction,
it doesn't help anyone.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
A couple of our nominees are straight from the anti Doge,
anti Elon protests. And believe me, there were coniocopia of
options I could have gone with, but this one stood
out because of the silence that it elicited from a
far left crowd that should have been absolutely eating it up.
But Representative Ayana Presley, Democrat Massachusetts, took it a little
(23:45):
too far.
Speaker 12 (23:46):
But let me tell you something, I'll take a bit
of Umbridge. Here, I'll speak on behalf of my colleagues.
I'm I can say we are all willing to work
with anyone who's serious about doing the work of censoring
the American people and advancing progress.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But they are not serious. Again, there should have been cheers.
This is an applause line. Part of it about.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
Doing the work of censoring the American people and advancing progress.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But they are not serious.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I think it was Maxine Waters one voice, the magnificat,
nothing else.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So she did she say the quiet part out loud?
Speaker 6 (24:22):
Christian?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Did she misspeak or did this just go over like
a lead balloon?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
I think maybe all the above.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
I think you know it's when I read that comment,
but to hear it, yeah, actually get the audio. It
lands even worse than you could possibly imagine. It is
a little bit like when you watch the view and
Whoopee goes so crazy she loses the view Seals. It's
a little bit like that, and she lost the crowd
because what she said is so reprehensible that even people
(24:48):
on the far left, who you would think would be
cheering her every syllable, even they had a tike a knee.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
They want a sensor, They want to cancel us. But
when you say it like that, I mean I can't
get behind him. So Aana Presley lost the plot, lost
the crowd. Robert Garcia, I mean, this is tough so far,
but we're not even halfway through. Here's Anderson Cooper, a
very distinguished serious journalist, wastes deep in the waters of the.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Floods from Hurricane Katrina down in New Orleans. That was staged.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Get Michael Brown going about that one by Oh here
he is sparring with Chris Sununu and then all of
a sudden he just snaps, this is a little scary.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Female money for migrants. That's okay. Now, no, I'm not
saying it. So I'm not saying it's okay. So would
you stop that? Would you stop that process? Don't be
the portrayal.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
What I'm saying is the portrayal by him is just
not factually accurate.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
I think that's a record.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's the first time in the history of our Friday
Fool of the Week that the the d word for
the male anatomy is actually in two separate nominees, won
by Robert Garcia. It's a theme show, and this one
by Anderson Cooper, and we were talking about this during
the break even Christian, about just the lack of respect
this show for a panelist that.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
You are guessed in that setting, it's wildly unprofessional.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Anderson Cooper, Listen, I'm sure he's as left as most
of his colleagues, but he doesn't really present as an
outrageous figure. He is more calm, He is more cool
and collected. And you could say there are stories he's missing,
You could say that he should be attacking things from
a different perspective. Those could be all fair criticisms, but
he doesn't Rosy stooped to this level. Stooping to this
level is extraordinarily unprofessional. When there are any adults behind
(26:27):
the scenes, they would have pulled him aside and said
you need to go on air and apologize, or there's
some sort of punishment happening there. Listen, I'm not offended
by the word. It's not the worst word, but it
certainly is wildly inapplicable here. And if you can't defend yourself,
and if you're backpedaling and scrambling, that's when you call
in the reserves. And by the reserves, I mean potty talk.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
On air. Apology on a minimum, you can have some
fun with it. Maybe christ is a good sport, and
I'm sure that he would be. It's not like he's
some far right wing lunatic.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
He was the moderate Republican governor of New Hampshire for
crying out loud. But it should have been dealt with.
It should have been nipped in the bud. To my knowledge,
it hasn't been. If there's a listener out there that
can correct me on that, please provide that evidence. I
haven't seen it. I don't watch CNN. I do it
so you don't have to with the editing.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I'm not going to go further than that, but you
can send your votes along for a Friday Fool of
the Week at five seven, seven, three nine. So far,
it's Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat, California saying we need to
bring weapons to this bar fight in citing violence against
Elon Musk and other members of the right on our side.
Representative Ayana Presley, Democrat Massachusetts says she wants to get
with people who are serious about censoring the American people.
(27:35):
And then right there, Anderson Cooper calling Chris Nunu a
d word. Now we go back to the rally, the
anti Doge protests that are so effective. You know, they're
very well thought out, very cerebral, very high minded and
intelligent in pushing back against this investigation of government spending
and waste, which I thoroughly support. Here is democrat from
(27:57):
I believe Portland, Oregon. No, this is not Portland. It
is Representative Maxine Dexker saying what she wants to do
to Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
But I don't think this came out the way she
wanted or did it.
Speaker 7 (28:10):
I just I've been told I have thirty seconds, so
I am going to tell you that we do have
to I don't swear in public very well, but I
have to Trump. Please, well, please don't tell my children
(28:35):
that I just.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Heard that.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
We have to blank Trump. Was that an offer?
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Well, I mean it is Valentine's Day, so you know,
I would think cards and flowers be more appropriate.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
And the commander in.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Chief, he is a very attractive man, very powerful, very intimidating,
and you know the red tie. I understand, but he
has spoken for Maloney. Trump is his spouse, so it's
a little inappropriate. But you know, when you're caught in
the mumm. It's like it's one of these rom com scenes. Yeah,
it's right, the final just before they get together at
the airport.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Wow, okay, that's.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Our Fortunitely, now there's one more, and I have saved
the longest for last. I don't know if it's the best,
It might be the worst, but it's definitely the weirdest.
This was a Wooster City Council meeting in which various
members of the trans community showed up imploring them to
make Woosta a trans sanctuary city.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I think they make a very convincing case.
Speaker 11 (29:30):
I need the city to protect me because the federal
government won't. And if you think you're afraid of Trump,
you should see how afraid of Trump I am.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Can you wrap up police?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yes I can.
Speaker 11 (29:43):
If you say, then you're afraid of Trump and that's
why you don't want city to be in the city
to be a space, saved space for trans people, you
better prepare for trans people to make this a very
unsaved space.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Oh I'm shaking right now. I don't want to be.
He you're not shaking. Get out of the Sorry, am
I taking too long? Pleading for my life?
Speaker 7 (30:05):
You remembered how many children I have and how many,
and that two of them are trans cool.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
I speak as both the B and the T in
the LGBT. You can't be come out.
Speaker 11 (30:16):
I'm multiply disabled. I have Ellers Danlos syndrome, which is
a connective tissue disorder that causes me immense physical pain.
I'm on the autism spectrum and I have narcolepsi and
I couldn't drive myself here, so I had to hide
from my driver. I was in drag, which is not
an easy thing to do.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I do not want to be here. It's my day off.
I do not want to be in your DMS.
Speaker 9 (30:43):
I do not want to be in your email in boxes.
Speaker 10 (30:45):
I do not well my creativity writing disc tracks like Kendrick.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
I don't want to spend an.
Speaker 9 (30:51):
Hour applying glitter on my face so that you will
hear and see me that.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Jesus I know would be dressed in full drag again
serving face.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
I don't know what that means. I'm going to turn
to Christian Toto.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
I don't know what that means, and I don't want
to find out what that means. Listen, you know, fools
collectively sure, but I have to say. My heart goes
that these just seems like extraordinarily troubled people. I will
also say that shame on the media for teating them
that they think their lives are in danger right now.
Bruce of Donald Trump, you may disagree with his policies.
(31:27):
You could question them, you could be against them, you
could want to see the Democrats come back to power.
But no one is hunting them down, Thank goodness, no
one is hunting them down. And for them to have
that kind of existential fear is frightening on many levels.
But what we're seeing now is this shift to violence
after just three or so weeks of Trump's presidency.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
This is going to get worse, ratcheting it up for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
The one thing I was confused by, and maybe our
listeners can help out, when I checked out the video
of this, the young woman if she's a woman, like
a biological woman or voice sounded like it had the
blue haired wig with the pearls on claimed that she
was in drag, and all I could deduct was, wait
a minute, you are a biological woman dressed up in
drag as a woman. Is that really drag? And I'm
(32:16):
really confused by that part of it. Everything else is
just kind of white noise, you know, shouting the people
and threatening them to get your way, or maybe have
a compelling and interesting conversation about why trans spaces need
to be protected.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Nope, they didn't do that. I am shaking. No, you're not.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
First of all, you say that you're not doing it.
I don't want to be here, then go, we don't
want you here. You don't have to be here. Nobody
required your attendance at this meeting.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Okay, Tough choices, five of them right there.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Worcester City Council, various members, a panoply of the trans
community there ensuring that Wooster would be a trans sanctuary city,
and it did vote to do that.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Whatever that means.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I don't know what that means even but Representative Maxine
detzker Or wants to have relations with Donald Trump. That
was another one. Anderson Cooper calling Christanninu the D word.
Ayanna Presley wants to work with people to censor Americans,
and Representive Robert Garcia wants to bring weapons to this
bar fight against Elon Musk doze, President Trump and the right.
(33:19):
Tough choices five seven, seven, three nine, Send your votes
in We'll have a tally by the end of the program,
one last bit with Christian Toto as Hollywood on the
Right continues.
Speaker 13 (33:29):
After this, we rude a blazing saddle wor a shining star,
his job awful battle to Batman and.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Fo oh, yes, the mel Brooks classic. It could not
be made today? Or shall I say it might not
be made today? I think we've turned the page to
quote Gwen Walls, the psychotic wife of Governor Tim Walls.
I think it's boomerang people. I think we're coming back.
I think America is back. And in so doing this,
(34:09):
Texter says Blazing Saddles would be twenty minutes long if
they updated it today. Christin this, Texters not wrong. If
they applied the same filter, then they just did the
Crocodile Dundee, which we opened the show with.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Yeah, and of course, listen, it's all about nuance, it's
all about context, it's all about content. And mel Brooks
was making fun of racism, and to do it, he went,
he went into this realm that has been hysterical and
people have been cheering it for years. And I think
the fact that it is so under the microscope is
the one reason that they left. Hasn't taken it down,
(34:42):
erased it, somehow censored it because they know it is
the ultimate that mel Brooks is this comedy genius, that
people have been pointing a finger at this movie, and
Brooks himself has for years said.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
They couldn't make it.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Today he's right, But I think I don't think the
left is going to realize how badly this could boomerang
on that we may see a rain of comedy.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Let me take exactly, let me take the opposite viewpoint.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
If there's a filmmaker out there that has the courage,
the guts, the gusto and the funding maybe to just
go ahead and do it, yes, and dare people to
cancel him or her, I think it'd be a raging success.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Christian right now, they're.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Making a movie.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
I think it might be called bus Boys. It's David Spade, Theovon.
You know, Tim Dillon at least has a somewhat of
a part in love him. And they are I think,
self producing. They're doing it on their own terms.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Good.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It sounds like it could be just that kind of project.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
I know Matt Rife, who doesn't really those a lot
of sharp elbows, is also making a movie right now.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
A comedy.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
It's ready, We're ready for it. And you get the
Rogans and the Shane Gillises and the Tim Dillons and
the Tyler Fisher's and the Christy Mayers of the world.
Get them all together, let them do what they want
to do and have a blast, and say, bleep you
with telling.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Our jokes, our way.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
The culture is shifting.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
President Trump was cheered at the super Bowl mightily, and
Taylor Swift was Leslie bood I think that wastive as
anything that we saw on that day. He is Christiantoto
Hollywoodantoto dot com, Hollywood in Toto. Subscribe to download and
listen to his podcast. Give him a five star rating.
Thanks for being here, Christian. Have a great weekend.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Pleasure all right back after this
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.