Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
So much.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You're listening to a Muma Mia podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and borders
that this podcast is recorded on from Mamma Mia. Welcome
to the Spill your daily pop culture fix. I'm Laura
Brodney and I'm Kisseenie Luke Kisch and coming up on
the show today, one of our favorite new Hollywood couples
(00:34):
has had a hard launch, but there's some backstory there
we need to get into. Plus, Lena Dunham, while she's
on the press tour for her new Netflix show, has
done almost an apology to explainer for her TV show Girls,
and we're going to get into that because I have
maybe some controversial thoughts about that the listeners won't be expecting.
I think you have a safe place to say it.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
But first, I actually don't know what your thoughts are
on this yet.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
So I'm excited. I'm emotionally here, I'm emotionally working through
it as the pod record, so stand by, we don't
know what's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
But first, so Alyssa's come out for the top grossing
actors of all time, and you might be a little
bit surprised at who is at the top, and it
is in fact a woman, which I'm.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Quite excited about. It is Scarlet Johansson.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Now, I want to make clear that we're talking about
highest grossing movies, not highest paid. There is a difference,
which will chat about a little bit later. But it's
really interesting because I don't know if people would really
expect Scajo to be topping this list, but since Jurassic
World Rebirth has just been released, it's really taken her
(01:39):
to the top of this list. So she's grossed over
fourteen point eight billion dollars at the box office, thanks
mostly to her part in the Marvel Universe the MCU,
so she's obviously played Black Widow in basically every single
Marvel movie from Avengers one to her own Black Widow movie.
(02:00):
But interestingly, Black Widow, which was her solo movie, only
made three hundred and seventy nine million dollars in total
at the box office, so hind mostly by the pandemic.
But it kind of goes to show that even though
she's had a sort of maybe more of a supporting
role in these movies, stacked up has made her very
(02:24):
very successful in terms of grossing.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Again, that doesn't necessarily reflect in her paycheck.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
But I thought it would be interesting to go into
some of the other top ten just to kind of
get in a bit of an idea. Now, it's not
going to surprise anybody that it's mostly men, and it's
mostly people in the MCU universe.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yes, that is not surprising.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Okay, So at number ten we have Chris Evans nine
The Rock eight, Vin Diesel that would probably and Furious seven,
Chris Hemsworth six, Tom Cruise five, Chris Pratt four.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Zoe Saldana.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yes, not at all surprising when you look at the
fact that she's mostly a franchise, blockbuster actress.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yes, so, I mean we've got Gut into the Galaxy.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
She was in Star Trek and of course Avatar, so
that is going to really help bring her up. But
she's the only other woman in the list. Number three
is Robert Downey Jr. And I don't think you will
guess number.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Two Samuel L. Jackson. Oh, I think I'm the wrong
person to ask that, because that's because he's in pretty
much every Marvel movie. That's his whole thing is that
he's the connecting tissue between all of these movies. And
because all of those movies are the highest grossing. That
makes a lot of sense. Yeah, okay, so but some
parties that'll work for someone else.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
You and you ruined it for me. Sorry, but it
is very interesting. It's all franchises.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
It kind of just goes to show that this is
why Hollywood keeps churning out these big blockbuster action movies
because it's clearly what sells the box offers. But well done,
scar Jo. It'll be interesting if she kind of gets
knocked off of that.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, I mean, looking at this news wool yesterday when
it broke, some people were surprised about it, but coming
off the back of a huge franchise like that, where
she not only had the paycheck from the Marvel movies,
but she also had a percentage of the box office
earnings for the movies, which is huge, which is why
she sued Marvel and Disney for the Black Widow. Elase
to remember that because it was only meant to be
(04:19):
a theater release in her contract, and because of the pandemic,
they put it onto streaming early, yes, and so that
obviously cut the box office in half, and she sued
them for that. But you know, she's still doing okay
with the Jurassic Park money. It's interesting because a lot
of people have been having that question of like, is
it super empowering that it's a woman or does it
feel because the list is mostly men, and also it's
(04:40):
like a rich white woman in Hollywood? Is that interesting
at all?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I think it's it's interesting. I mean, Skajo has been
around for a long time. She is a staple in Hollywood,
and despite the backlash from the Jurassic Park rebirth movies,
in this particular office, yeah, I think.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
It's mostly been in this office and it's doing so
well everywhere else.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, in the.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Group chats, it doesn't seem to be doing too well,
but you know it's still going to bring in those
big dollars. And univers will know that because this is
such a huge franchise for them.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
But just as a bit of a comparison, I.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Thought we could go back and have a look at
the highest paid actor. So highest paid now, I think
we all know who number one is, Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Number one, number one. I don't even think I know
that in terms of men, do you think.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
This is a multi sex list?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Oh well, I know. Sandra Bullock is the highest paid
actress for a single movie for Gravity for her paycheck
for that. Yeah, But going down the rest of the list,
I don't know who's one hundred percent number one.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, So we're looking at the Forbes highest Paid Actors
of twenty twenty four. So number eight is Nicole Kidman
the thirty one million dollars, George Clooney thirty one, Jerry Seinfeld,
number three, Kevin Hart at eighty one million, Number two
Ryan Reynolds at eighty five million, and number one is
(06:01):
Dwayne the Rock Johnson at eighty eight medion dollars.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I gotta say I find it less interesting kind of
this like tabling of who's made the most more interesting
the backstories around it, because at the end of the day,
millionaires getting paid millionaire salaries. I don't think for movies,
isn't that super interesting with a scarlet thing. It's like
it might have been empowering a few years ago. Now
I just find it very only because her name's attached
to so many franchises.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
What I find more interesting is the names who are
creeping up the list for different things, Like Margo Robbie
has been solidly moving up the list, and she's in
the top now. But that's because she gets paid a
huge amount for some of her roles, but mostly because
she produces like Barbie and that sort of thing, which
obviously skewers the list. And also Charlie's thereon being so
far up the list even though she hasn't had one
of those really big blockbusters or really like Oscar Worthy
(06:50):
movies for a while. It's like a steady stream of
work over many years.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I think one of the key things is, like, if
you want to be successful in Hollywood, get into like
the MCU or a big franchise, and also get yourself some.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Of the profits off the boxing. Yeah, Like that's what
Robbie Danney Junior did.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
That's what he did with Iron Man right at the
beginning of the sort of explosion of the MCU universe,
and that's why he was so successful with these movies.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I know. But I also, I mean, I don't one
of those people who thinks the Marvel movies are bland,
like some of them are my favorite movies. But I
do find this kind of this way of looking at
it in terms of like I'll make this many franchises
and I'll put my name on the box office for this.
I guess for some people like Scarlet and Hanson and
Margo Robbie. Yeah, no, no, no, I know, but that's
kind of like that's like it's become a business making
(07:40):
thing rather than like attaching themselves like interesting projects. But
I guess then you have someone like a Margot Robbie
who says that she'll wear like a fancy down get
paid a million dollars so that she can go like
go and make a lower budget movie. So anyway, come
got to Scarlet Johanson, sewing Disney really works for her.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Well, I mean, she's not going to see that billions
of dollars, but still it made the headlines.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And here we are. I don't know about you, Laura,
but I am a massive tennis fan. And why of not?
Speaker 1 (08:08):
But I enjoy any sport where you can kind of
sin this shape to drink, which is I assume what
you do at the tennis.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Well, you know it's got There's a couple of really
big tournaments and the biggest one, as we all know,
is Wimbledon, one of the most famous. Now, not only
is the tennis very interesting, but the star spotting is
this is, oh, come on, like looking in the stands
at every single tournament is always part of the fun.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Now, we have had some great star.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Spotting at this year's Wimbledon, as well as a relationship
hard launch that we're going to get into a little
bit later. But the first thing I want to talk
about is a couple of my favorite celeb sidings. Now,
I first want to preface this by saying, if you
don't know, in these kind of big tournaments, a lot
of the time they'll have big sponsors, right, kind of
(08:58):
like in you know, Melbourne Cup, we've got our different
marquees in the birdcage and they're sponsored by different places
and they bring in lots of different celebrities. So at
Wimbledon this year, kind of the biggest sponsor was Ralph Lauren,
so they brought in a lot of really big stars,
including mord Apatow, Poppy de Lavine, we had Nick Jonas
(09:20):
and Preanca Chopra. We had Olivia Rodrigo and Louis Partridge.
How cute have you seen the photos of Olivia Rodrigo
in Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
No, No, I'm very loved up. And there's one point
where they're having conversation to stand and he's like, just
hold my hand while we keep talking like you can
see him now that and then they hold hands and
keep talking, and I was like, I know, the bar's low,
but it's really cute.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
If you want to go and have a look at
like the Ralph Lauren Instagram page, you can see.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Like most of the worth.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That's sure.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
They definitely got their money's worth. They dressed everyone. They
did these beautiful portraits of everyone. But I think probably
the one everyone is most excited about is Andrew Garfield
and Monica Barbaro hard launching their relationship. They were very,
very loved up in the stands.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yes, for fans of this relationship, which I do count
myself among them, this has been kind of bubbling away
in like the background of photos and things since the
end of last year when People magazine first reported that
they were together. So that also coincided with Monica Barbaro,
who's been in the industry for decades. She remember, like
over a decade ago, I went to Canada for a
(10:22):
film trip and she was on the TV show that
I was there for, and she wasn't working that day
because she was like tenth on the call list, But
she and I sat in this tenth together all day
on this Blueberry Farm in Canada for this TV show,
and she said that she just was coming on her
days off to watch to try and like learn the
business a bit more, and she was like really wanting
to be an actress, and I was like, I feel
(10:42):
like you will be anyway. Since then, she's been in
Top Gun Maverick.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Well, I mean, but like, let's just if she's not
a massively well known name. Obviously, since the Oscars this
year she has been. So she was nominated for her
role as Joan Bayers in a complete unknown yeah, across
from Timothy Shalla made so that really kind of blew her.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Blew her up, and coming off the back of Top
Gun Maverick, I think that was her first kind of
big blockbuster role that blew her up. She came into
this movie, got an Oscar nomination, was killing on the
Red Car. But I think that's when people became really
invested in her. And not long after that she was
linked to Andrew Garfield. So there was a few pap
shots of them walking through the streets. There's really cute
photos of him waiting for her, like after like the
(11:21):
Oscar parties and the met Ball parties, but this is
the first time they've been at a very public event
together and just to talk about white people are losing
their minds over these photos. It's the photos of them
walking into Wimbledon and he's in the beautiful white suit
and he's looking so cute and they're holding hands. She's
very like a classy dresser, but it's like a dress
that's like a sea through white almost. Yeah, it's been
(11:42):
in a classy way.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yes, again, both dressed by Roughie and I swear I'm
not sponsored by them.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
But we would love to be.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It is beautiful, they look gorgeous. They're both in all white.
Andrew Garfield has this like little tied up sweater around
his neck. Yeah, and Monica's wearing it's like a popular
so it's like a really white cotton which getting on
this well, I mean I love a poplin dressed. It's
very Wimbledon. White is very Wimbledon. But yeah, it's a
(12:12):
bit sort of saucy, but saucy.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, I just think, I mean, there's such almost nothing photos,
but I think because people have just been wanting to
see them together for so long. Also the handholding and
the smiling and there's like a brief little kiss tennis.
I don't know what it is about the tennis that
brings out a bit of romance and celebrities, but this
is where we got the first videos and photos. Remember
like a few years ago of Kylie Jenner and Timothy
Schallamey who were in the stands at the tennis. I
(12:38):
couldn't tell you which event it was. Maybe it was Wimbledon,
because I don't follow the tennis circuit, And also I
guess because they can't move and the camera's so fully
on them, so it's not like they're ducking in and
out of events as how we would normally see them
through paparazzi photos. So we had Timothy and Kylie like
pashing away. We've had videos of Travis Kelcey and Taylor
Swift pashing away in the stands in a way that
(12:59):
they would never do, like when they're doing their pap
walks on the street.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I think as well, a big part of it is
because they're in a big stadium and all of the
perhaps photographers and stuff are probably in the media pit,
it's not as obvious that they're being photographed. So I'm
sure they're aware that they're going to be photographed because
their celebrities.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
A lot of them are sitting in the Royal Box,
which is.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You know where all the celebs are, but it's kind
of a little bit less in your face, so they
probably aware of it. It's probably easy to forget. You
want to know which game they're watching?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Sure, just for fun. I'm not probably not going to
know these names, but sure.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Okay, so Britain's Sonay Cartel and Russia's Anastasia. I should
know this because I'm Serbian and I should be able
to pronounce this. Okay, Paveli and Chenkova.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I mean, that's definitely better than I would have done.
And I shuld say I know other women love tennis.
It's just a me situation. I also I hate that
sometimes I feed into stereotype of women not liking sport,
and I just want to be clear it's a me thing,
not like a women thing. But I feel also a
little bit of guilt over how much people are fangirling
over these Andrew and Monica photos, only because it's such
(14:07):
a stark difference to how they treated his last public
girl friend. We've had one photo of Monica and Andrew
walking in Twimbledon looking all loved up, and everyone's like,
they're so beautiful together. I love them. What a match
made in heaven? Where is his last girlfriend? Are you
cross this doctor Kate Tomas, who he was papped a
lot with. They were together for a while. It's hard
to pick the timeline because he never talks about his
(14:29):
relationships and she did a little bit Doctor Kate when
they were together, but they were photographed together for like
over a year. And she got so much hate this
woman because people thought she was too ugly to date
Andrew Garfield and she was so shehares a podcast and stuff.
She's like a spiritual healer and advisor and all these things,
and she's written a lot of different things and she
(14:50):
has a podcast. And she said that she was so
aware the fact that forums articles, TikTok videos from the
moment she went public with Andrew Garfield, everyone was ripping
this woman apart for being too ugly to be with him,
to the point where because she's a practicing which is
what she says, and that's her thing to anger her.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
No, No, I have done a whole deep dive on I
actually listened to this podcast on Witches and it was
like a ten part series. And now you're speaking my
life interviewing all of these different witches and what it
was like fascinating her.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Identifying as a witch does not shock me.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
No, no, and that's what and she says like she
it's more of like it's a linked her spirituality and
all these things. Anyway, then she was accused of casting
a love spell on Andrew Garfield and making him fall
in love with her, because people like, there's no way
this handsome, rich, successful actor is dating I should say,
a very nice looking woman, but they're like dating this normy,
ugly woman, to the point where she had to put
(15:49):
out a statement saying that she would never use her
powers in that way. It's important to note that she
didn't say she couldn't. She said she would never. His
last girlfriend was accused of being a witch and being
so ugly that she had to put out a formal
statement saying she had it news witchcraft and then they
broke up. And I don't know why they broke up,
Like ob we don't know these people, but I do
believe that maybe the public intense hatred against her might
(16:13):
have played a part. And I just think it's so
different now we've seen this photos of hum and Monica
and because she is a movie star that people think
is worthy of him, that everyone's falling over them. Like,
I do like them together, but it's a very stark difference.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, I completely, And I think it's we see that
a lot when celebrities date quote unquote normies. You know,
we see it sometimes where people are willing to bring
them in. But you know, anytime you see a celebrity dating,
you know, someone in production or someone who's not in
the industry as an a list style or even as
an up and comer or celebrity, they don't like it.
(16:49):
It's like audiences want to see two famous people together, yeah,
because then they can know both of their lives, whereas
when it's one quote unquote normally, you don't really know
what's going on in their life and you can't dissect them.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
They don't feel as available to us.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
And I also think it can be a visual and
it also I think maybe we're a little bit looser
on men, Like if Taylor Swift was like dating a
normy guy but that was super hot, and people could
concoct this fantasy about her dating like a handyman or
or something like that, or a paramatic or something. I
feel like they'd be like a swamp man I love,
or a swap man see again, everyone's invested in that
(17:29):
love story. Lena del Ravee Mistell recent episode as am
I but I think just it was something about this
woman daring to step out, not looking like a Hollywood star,
but just anger people to an intense level that I
haven't seen before. So as much as I'm loving this
Andrew and like a hard launch, I do think we
all just need to take a look at ourselves or
doctor Kate's gonna.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Just put a spell on you and don't be like
I think this whole labeling her as a witch is
a bad thing is like, no, she's self identical problems
a witch Now, that's the thing. Like, listen to this
podcast so fascinating. If you ever want to listen to
it's called Witch. It's a great podcast. We'll link it
in the show notes if anyone else is interested.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
But I love a witch me too, so at the moment,
Lena Dunham is on the press tour for her upcoming
Netflix series Too Much, which that show has become my
entire personality. This week we've been watching It's all we
talk about more to come. But and because she is
the co creator, writer, director, all the things, and she's
(18:26):
such a public face, she's really out there in the
weeds doing the press work for it. And one of
the things that she's been asked about a lot is
her TV show Girls, which ran from twenty twelve to
twenty seventeen and really became a cultural moment, which we're
still talking about nearly a decade later. So in an
interview with The Independent, Lena was asked to comment on
(18:48):
the fact that Girls, it particularly in the last few years,
has received a huge amount of backlash for not being diverse.
If you haven't watched it, it's a show about four
white women living in New York and not even just
the fact that the four league characters are white women,
but more so the characters around them. People didn't think
it reflected the New York that they knew or the
society they knew. So Odlena was asked what she thought
(19:11):
about that, and she's talked about this before and there's always,
i feel like, in the background of these interviews when
she's asked this, this idea of like pushing her to
apologize or say she was in the wrong, and she
kind of walks this line where she doesn't quite do that.
But in this new interview the Independent, she did say
that in a way that there's things that she'd go
back and change, but gave an explanation to what she
(19:33):
was thinking. So she said, on the diversity question, I
think one of the profound issues around Girls was that
there was so little real estate for women in television
that when you had a show called Girls, it was
such a monolithic name and it sounds like it's describing
all girls in all the places, and so it's not
reflecting a multitude of experiences. I understand how that would
be really disappointing to people. And then she wanted to
(19:55):
say one of the biggest things that she's trying to
course correct with all her new projects, including Too Much,
is having diversity behind the camera as well as in
front of the camera, and said that it's not just
about the diversity on screen, it's about the people who
are working on the sets or on the writing t
As a producer, one of my goals is to bring
a lot of different voices into a position where they
can tell their story. So there's been a bit of
(20:17):
a mixed reaction to this. Some people who have read
that are up in arms again because they think that
she should come out and do a full apology. Some
people are saying that this conversation has to move on
and she's done nothing wrong. I have really complex thoughts
on their What are your thoughts? Did you have an
emotional reaction to this because you're a big Girls fan.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
My reaction to this is that I appreciate when someone
can acknowledge something that has happened in the past. It
doesn't necessarily mean that she has to apologize for it.
I think that acknowledging people's feelings is important. Sometimes it
feels like when you do that, it's kind of like
a I'm sorry you feel that way. You know, that's
(20:57):
the worst kind of apology. But I think what she's
said here, she's actually very intelligent. Despite the fact that
girls may not have been racially diverse, I think in
terms of other diversity, there was that there. So we
can't be all the things all the time, all at once,
and I appreciate that's a bit rich coming from a
(21:21):
skinny white girl like I get that. I think that
it was quite revolutionary at the time when girls came
out because of you know, the way she approached sex relationships.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It was a very modern way of looking at it.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
That's not to say that I don't think that there
should be people of color in shows like that.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
There's absolutely not what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I just think that she had tackled one issue and
maybe now she's learnt from that and into much I
can tell you right now it is significantly more racially diverse.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yes, so we can grow.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
And learn from our past experiences without necessarily having to
apologize for them.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, I mean, I always find this conversation interesting. I
got to say, I find it Elena Dunham's Girls is
a bit more moder than some of the other shows
that usually get raped over the calls for this, and
I think because she's still at the forefront. There's only
thirty nine, So what's interesting is that she's one of
the filmmakers who made a show that's so in the past,
that's been critiqued for its diversity. But she's also one
of those people who like that was the beginning of
(22:24):
her career, so she still has much more work to come,
which is why I think it's more interesting to talk
to her about this than to talk to the producers
of Friends or something like that. They came out decades
and decades ago, and the conversation has moved on so
much it doesn't feel helpful. For the moment, I thought
it was interesting what she was saying, the fact that
because it was called Girls, it was meant to speak
(22:45):
to all women, which is kind of interesting because I
don't see her as someone who was trying to make
something that would be there for all women, or that
was meant to tell Auburn stories. And I think she's
been really honest about the fact that it was telling
the story of like a microcosm of women who live
in New York. And also, again I'm not saying it
shouldn't have had diverse characters. Obviously, it's and I almost
(23:06):
hold it to account more than like a Friends or
a Buffy or a Gilmore Girls or any of those
shows who were came before it who get really pulled
up for something like this. But it was essentially almost
like a parody or like a exploration of threads of
her own life growing up in New York and her
own friends, to the point where Jamima Kirk, who plays Jessa,
(23:27):
was her childhood friend all through high school. A lot
of their experiences in the show. She wasn't even an actress,
she didn't have to audition. She just like said to her,
I've written this part, that's you, that's Jessa, and so
you're going to play that character. Like that's how insula
it was. And I think that kind of gets lost
in the conversation a little bit.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I do agree with you, and I think you know,
she has clearly learnt from this because she has changed
her way.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
So the apology quote unquote apology.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Is not not that it's not necessary, because I can
understand how, and I feel uncomfortable being too opinionated about
it because I, again am a white woman, and I
don't have the right to tell people that they can't
be offended by something that's not my place. However, I
do think that you know, she's seen that experience of
(24:17):
creating goals, which is her first big sort of project
that she's done. She's now, this is ten years later.
She's a different woman, she's a grown up woman. Now
she's married, and using those experiences and applying it to
this new project. I think that is a more effective
(24:38):
apology than just saying sorry without any follow up to it.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
If you know what I'm saying, yeah, there's a lot
of people in Hollywood who have either done things behind
the camera or have made films and TV shows, And
I'm offended by it that I would want an apology
from over Lena Dunham, Like, that's kind of not what
I'm looking for from her. But I also think it's
kind of interesting how this conversation, like people are so
invested in looking back on these huge shows from decades
and decades ago and critiquing them for like very valid
(25:08):
reasons from like the language they use, the people they
the storylines they did, and this idea of not having diversity.
But then when a show comes back and is very
popular and seeks to course correct, people are also quite
angry about that, and there's a lot of kind of
anger over, well, why don't you make new content or
do you think this helps or all that sort of thing,
and the kind of I guess biggest example of that
(25:30):
is and just like that, yeah, which is the continuation
of Sex and the City. And Sex and the City
is a show that, before it came back in this
new TV form, was really called out for the lack
of diversity. And again, I think because it's in this
New York and that is known to have such a
diverse grouping of people who are all living together in
this tiny space. And so when you see shows that
(25:50):
are so whitewashed, it hits. I mean, obviously everywhere has
a diverse group of people, but I think especially a
show like that that is meant to showcase a place
in the world that's known for having such a collective
group of people hits a bit harder.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Well, it's known as being like a melting pod, so
that that is the character of New York, which is
so often spoken as being the fifth character.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
And in Sex and the City, that is such a
big part of that show.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
And I think it's more glaringly obvious in a show
like Sex and the City. It's almost like they overcorrected
and just like that because people were like, it's like you're.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Trying too hard. Now.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, that's the interesting thing, isn't it is that when
it came out, people like, well, now it's too much.
You've course corrected too hard. But I almost think if
you're bringing a show back because one, the audience is
still there, people love these characters, but also because you
see a chance to make it better than it was
and course correct, I mist think you should go really hard.
(26:47):
And maybe at the beginning it felt very jarring because
obviously at the beginning of And just like that, it's
our three main characters who are all white women, and
they all seem to get like a plus one who
was a woman of color, and that was very jarring
at first with the introduction I think of Nia Wallace,
Seema Patel, and Lisa Todd Wexley. But I do think
and I do have critiques on and just like that,
(27:08):
which when we do our brially honest review, I'll get
it into. But I do think that they have done
a really good job of giving particularly the characters of
Lisa Todd Wexley and Siba Patel, giving them these rich,
big storylines, giving them all of their own side characters.
They're not that kind of archaic best friend of color
who pops in and like pops out and yeah, very
(27:31):
tokenistick who doesn't exist outside of the white characters, which
was what we used to see when diverse characters started
getting peppered through TV shows, was that it's like, oh,
but they were in that scene, or like, oh but
there's like one girl in the group, or it's the
best friend or neighbor who like pops in and then
like doesn't exist when she's not in the world of
the main character. So I think and then just like that,
(27:52):
whether you like these characters or not, Lisa and Seema
have become main characters. To me, they certainly get as
much airtime, and some of them have more supporting side
characters than some of the main characters at the moment,
So I feel like the critique there maybe isn't as warranted.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, I think what you said that's the most important
is having a rich character, rich backstory. And I think
the problem with a lot of shows when they try
and do diversity, like the really just like Chuck it in,
they become very two dimensional characters and there isn't a
lot of depth to it. And I think that's a
lot of the issue that people had with, you know,
(28:28):
shows like Friends and even with Sex and the Cities
that when they did have black characters. You remember when
Miranda had that one black boyfriend and it was just
this very like two d I mean, he was a
gorgeous man, but it was just a very like there
was no development of him there, and that was a
(28:48):
huge criticism I want to just kind of go back
really quickly to another thing that Dunham said that I
really found fascinating. The biggest lesson that I learned is
that once your work is in the world, people are
going to have the conversation they're going to have. So
it's like she's releasing that just like she knows that
people are going to talk about it. It's almost like
she's fine with that saying before. When people come back
(29:12):
to girls who've never seen it and they're watching it
now and they go back to it, maybe they're going, oh,
what's going on here because we're so much more aware
of it now, which.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Is a good thing. It's good. I actually think it's
good when people go back and watch older TV shows
and movies and they find it jarring. It's like, you
should find this jarring because it's a like at this
moment in time, like Friends, Sex and the City, the
original Sex and the City, all those kind of TV shows,
they are period pieces. It just doesn't seem like that
for us, because I was like, wait, aren't I still
like fifteen watching this at home? But these shows have
(29:44):
been out for like twenty thirty years, and so like
they should feel very jarring. The same way watching a
movie from like fifty sixty years ago is very jarring,
but you watch it and you just accept it because
it's of its time period. I just think that maybe
this conversation, like, well, very worthy. We need to stop
looking back at shows from twenty years ago and look
at the shows that are coming out now, because there's
(30:04):
a lot of issues happening there with diversity and characters
and things that are happening in real time, but we
only seem to to have them mostly about women shows.
It has to say, because look at the shows that
this is centered around. It's like, it's the Girls, It's
the Sex and the City, it's all those kind of
shows that are very female layer that we have these
conversations about. I feel like we don't have them as
much about male dominated shows, maybe because they're seen as
(30:26):
more they're not meant to represent every man the way
something like Girls is meant to represent every woman. It's
also more like tent poles that get critiqued. I remember
a few years ago when Charmed was remade and that
ran for a few different seasons, and one of the
critiques of that show again at the same time as
like Sex and the City and girls and that sort
of stuff is like a crossover period there was that
(30:46):
was very much all white women, and then they brought
a new version of Charmed out and that was a
full cast of women of color, and people were really
upset about it for a few different reasons.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Because back when people brought up in arms about a
Halle Bailey being aerial, yeah, because they're like, the original
the cartoon is white and has red hair, and I'm like,
it's a cartoon and a Mermaid's a fictional hm creature.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, people get more upset about that. It's like everyone
calls for diversity, but when it touches a show that
they grew up with or a property that they like
remember from their childhood, it's all of a sudden that
they forget this soap box they were standing on. They're like, well, no, no,
you can't remake Charmed, or you can't remake The Little Mermaid,
or you can't remake this. And it's like, yes, I
understand that it would be. In an ideal world, you
(31:34):
would make all these fresh new TV shows and have
people be able to create their own stories and legacies,
and we would do that with a diverse cast. But
the reality is, as we keep saying with all these
actresses attaching themselves to box offices and franchise and all
these sort of things, is that it's a lot easier
to get a reboat off the ground, whether it's a
(31:54):
TV show or a movie. It's a lot easier to
take a property and remake it with a different cast.
Like the cast of the New Charmed was great. Would
that show have had as much attention and run it
as long as it did if it didn't have like
the charm name and people tuning in? Potentially not because
it's really well, actually, probably not at all, because they
weren't actresses who had a big career behind them, because
(32:16):
no one had given them their first movie roles all
TV role so they needed to come on to an
existing property to boost that up. And that's just how
the industry works.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
And we know, you know, Hollywood loves a reboot, and
you know we've spoken about that on the spill before.
But it's interesting to me that people are so critical
of something back then, particularly when the person is creating
new content that has rectified that issue.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
I think, like, what is the most important thing now
is what is coming out now. We should be critical
of the things in the past, Yes, we should be
jarred by it. It should make us feel uncomfortable. We
can't change that now. What we can change is what
is happening now, what is coming out now?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Yeah, and I also think just on that, Like, I
know this would be a very unpopular opinion, but I
just feel like maybe we just need to lean even
further into TV reboot culture. This is where we are. Like,
I love that Lena Dunham's creating different things, Like She's
created a lot of TV shows over the years. This
is the first one that's circling back around to girls
and being a bit more about her life, which is
why it's getting so much attention. As much as I
(33:23):
have conflicting feelings, I love that and just like that
is on our TV screens. But I actually would not
be opposed to both girls and sex and the city.
I know this is my meeth or I think I'm
getting controversial. That is the look caseen, you just look
as she wants to kill me. This is the look
I'm getting from everyone, but hear me out. I think
that at the state we're are now with the way
TV is going, how hard it is to get audiences,
(33:45):
and the lack of diversity, and also the lack of
females storytelling on TV, that it's time to reboot Sex
and the City with a whole new cast, have it
exist alongside and just like that, and have it with
a group of like younger diverse women, and do the
same thing with Girls. I would watch the shit out
of both of those. I know no one wants it,
but it's what we need. It's what we need.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
I'm sorry, Laura, I know no one agrees with me.
I cannot disagree with you. More like, leave it there,
Just leave it. We don't need to reboot everything.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
No need.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Like if someone reboots Friends, I swear to God I'm
going to jump off.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
But we don't need another Friends. There'st been enough other
things that have come in that. Yes, might not be
as iconic as Friends in a way, but there's plenty
of other shows and movies that have come in and
taken up that side of storytelling. That's fine. Girls and
Sex and the City, and they are two very different
shows too. I also don't love when people collect them
as I'm just doing then because they existed for very
(34:39):
different reasons. They had very different characters. The fact that
it's just for women in New York is the only
thing that links them together. But I don't think any
other TV show has really swooped in to pick up
the storylines they were telling, and they feel really universal still,
Like as much as Sex and the City and Girls
are jarring because of some of the language and because
of the diversity, a lot of the storylines and what
(35:01):
the characters go through feel like they could be today.
I sometimes watch season six of Sex and the City
and it feels like the conversations I'm having with my
friends now and the things I'm feeling, No, and no
other TV show has captured that, Like since a woman's
right to shoes, No other TV show has captured that
moment in time. And I just think, well, we're in
this like flailing moment of women on TV. To a extent,
(35:22):
Bring them back, reboot them, just them everything else. I
think we leave, But I'm like rebroot Sex and the
City at least with a new, younger cast.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
No, that's all I'm saying, Laura.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I yes, Michael Patrick. Actually don't let Michael Patrick can
touch it. He's doing his thing with him just like that,
and I have with him. I mean, he's off making
Emily in Paris, and that's a whole other story of
what we need. Bring in some fresh bring in keep
like a Samantha Irby who's like the original writer of
Sex and the City, who's on just like that and
the only one who like seems to know what she's doing.
Bring in a whole bunch of fresh writers and a
(35:53):
fresh cast, and just take the idea in the name
and run with it. That's my request. Okay, Okay, we
just agree.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I understand where you're coming from.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
You're wrong, I don't think so, but anyway, agree to disagree.
This is where I'm at with It's not only like
my passion outside of work, but it is my literally
my job, and I just can't keep running in these circles.
I need like a I need a circuit breaker with
TV and women on TV, like get us back on track.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Okay, and this is my pitch, all right, someone do it? Okay, Okay,
maybe you should do it.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Maybe, yeah, I'll do that in all my free time. Actually,
don't even joke. I'm going to me writing a pilot tonight.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
It would have been surprised me, Laurie, there's such a
gun that it would not surprise me if you were like.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
By the way, I have a script also.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Yeah, I've got it on my laptop right now. Also
licensing the Sex and City name, I'm sure that's easy
and not at all expensive. No, I'm up for grabs.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
You can do like what the old like rebrands of things,
and they'd be like.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
You have to use and of the City. You have
to use your IP every like one hundred years or
so for it for it to keep it. So maybe
I'll wait one hundred years and then I'll pick up
Sex and the City for I'm sure a very reasonable amount. Well,
on that note, thank you very much for listening to
the Spill today, and a little exciting news if you're
not as you can now listen to the Spill twice
(37:12):
a day. So our new show at Morning Tea drops
into our Spill feed every morning at eight am. It
is hosted by the incredible Ash London, who's been a
host on this show many times, and she will just
take you on that show through the biggest celeb headlines
of the day that have come in overnight. If you're
like me and you're desperate for a podcast to listen
to first thing in the morning, while you're making your coffee,
(37:34):
putting your makeup on, walking to work. Morning tea with
Ash London in the Spill feed is the podcast you're
looking for, and then we will be back with the
main show every three pm to deep dive into bigger
stories of the day. It's The Spill twice a day,
What more could you want? The Spill is produced by
Minitia Isswarren with sound production by Scott Stronik Mama Mia
Studios a style with furniture from Fenton and Fenton. Visit
(37:57):
Fenton and Fenton dot com dot au and we'll see
you back here in your podcast feed at three pm tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Bye hey
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Lan