Rose Byrne

Rose Byrne is a secret weapon no longer. She's proven herself in television (DAMAGES), in genre films (SUNSHINE), in comedy after comedy (BRIDESMAIDS, SPY), and now she reminds us again what a brilliant dramatic lead she can be in the new film, IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU. Rose is earning justified raves for the film and joins Josh to discuss her journey to this point. UPCOMING EVENTS 10/8-10/12 - New York Comic Con -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠tickets here⁠⁠⁠⁠ 10/14 -- Aziz Ansari in NY -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠tickets here⁠⁠⁠⁠ 10/22 -- Nobody Wants This cast in NY -- ⁠⁠tickets here⁠⁠ Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 1:00Josh Horowitz?

  I feel like in my conversations with folks over the last few years, it's like when you ask them about comfort movies or great comedies, it's like it's Step Brothers and Bridesmaids.

• 1:07Speaker 03

  Oh, really? I love Step Brothers too. So to be part of in the same, like that is again, a film I'll turn on and be like, this scene, I love this bit, I love this bit, oh my God, it's so funny.

• 1:18Speaker 04

  Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins now.

• 1:26Josh Horowitz?

  Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today's main event, first time guest on the pod, Rose Byrne. How is that possible? One of our great actors, she can do it all. Comedy, drama, and a little bit of both in her current film, If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. It is justifiably getting a lot of awards attention for Rose. That is the main event on today's edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Keeping busy as always over here. Can you guys, if you're watching on video on YouTube, can you see how adorable my Lucy is behind us?

• 1:58Josh Horowitz?

  There's a lot going on. As always, check out our Patreon. That's where you're gonna get all the information. Patreon.com/happysetconfused. Support us over there if you can. If you like what I do, truly, it helps me make more of what I do. But in terms of events, I'm gonna be all over New York Comic Con, as I usually am, hosting, among other things, get a load of this, a 10th anniversary panel for Mr. Robot. We are reuniting Sam Esmeil, the creator, with Rami Malek and Christian Slater. I should say also, tickets for New York Comic Con, I believe, are still available. Links in the show notes. Reserve your seating at these panels, if you can, because they are gonna be packed. I'm doing stuff with Sigourney Weaver, with James McAvoy, with Laurence Fishburne, a Star Trek panel. Lots of cool stuff. I'm so stoked.

• 2:43Josh Horowitz?

  It's gonna be a wild weekend in New York City. So, look forward to that. Also doing my thing at the nice Second Street Y. Aziz Ansari, October 12th, for his new film, Good Fortune. It's great. We're gonna screen the movie. Check that out. And October 24th, there might be a few tickets available. There might not. I don't know. For Nobody Wants This. The Netflix show is back. We're getting the entire cast together. That's gonna sell out, if it's not sold out already. So, get in on that, if you can. All right, back to Rose. I'm gonna throw this conversation. I got a chance to catch up with her in New York City. She's a delight. She's just a very sweet, cool person. I'm totally obsessed with her and Bobby Cannavale. One of those, like, New York actor couples that I think is just, like, too cool. Not too cool

• 3:27Josh Horowitz?

  for school. They're just cool enough. I actually got a chance to see Bobby in Art, which is currently on Broadway. Little plug for that. And, yeah, Rose has been killing it for so long. She's one of those actors I think we take for granted, because she can do drama. She can do franchise stuff, whether it's X-Men, etc. Sunshine, one of the classics. And she's also, I don't think it's, like, you know, a secret anymore. She's one of our great comedy stars. Neighbors, Bridesmaids, Platonic. So many great projects. And this film, actually, If I Legs I'd Kick You, has a little bit of everything. It is very darkly comedic. I say-

• 4:09Josh Horowitz?

  Darkly because it is. It's an intense movie, but it is a wild ride. I highly recommend it. It's out October 10th, from May 24. It's from director Mary Bronstein. And it really gives Rose a front and central leading performance that she deserves and she absolutely aces it. She plays a mom dealing with a lot, dealing with a kid that's doing some health issues and just hanging on by a thread. Like we all are in different ways. It also co-stars, I should say ASAP Rocky and Conan O'Brien. I know the most eclectic, odd cast in cinema maybe going today, but they are all, they're all great, honestly. This is a really impressive piece of work by everybody, so I highly recommend it.

• 4:52Josh Horowitz?

  And yeah, without any further ado, let's, let's go to my first podcast conversation. I, I interviewed Rose over the years, but this is her first deep dive on the podcast and I'm so glad it happened for this one. Enjoy me and Rose Byrne.

• 5:07Speaker 03

  Hi, Josh. Nice to see you.

• 5:08Josh Horowitz?

  Hi, Rose. How's it going?

• 5:10Speaker 03

  I'm great.

• 5:11Josh Horowitz?

  It's good to see you.

• 5:12Speaker 03

  Nice to see you.

• 5:12Josh Horowitz?

  You've never done the podcast for us.

• 5:14Speaker 03

  I know. And I was just chatting about that and now I'm very excited and you're lovely and I know you. So I'm very happy to be here and that you saw the movie.

• 5:22Josh Horowitz?

  This is for a very good cause.

• 5:23Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 5:24Josh Horowitz?

  You are, you are amazing in this film. Congratulations.

• 5:27Speaker 03

  Thank you. Thank you so much.

• 5:28Josh Horowitz?

  Would you, do you put this above your character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you know, Mayhem or below?

• 5:35Speaker 03

  I, equal footing.

• 5:37Josh Horowitz?

  That was Leatherhead?

• 5:39Speaker 03

  Leatherhead.

• 5:40Josh Horowitz?

  A mutant alligator?

• 5:42Speaker 03

  Pivotal, pivotal role.

• 5:43Josh Horowitz?

  Was it an Australian mutant alligator?

• 5:46Speaker 03

  Australian mutant, mutant alligator loosely based on some of like Paul Hogan's early work, Eric Bana's early work. So, you know, there's a lot of subtle references in there.

• 5:58Josh Horowitz?

  Okay. Is that a favorite?

• 6:00Speaker 03

  It was basically a favorite for Seth. I'll say it for you and also him just exploiting my Australian accent and making me sound, you know. Making me sound as ridiculous as possible, but you know.

• 6:10Josh Horowitz?

  You're a willing participant in that kind of thing.

• 6:12Speaker 03

  We are, we are, we're a finely oiled machine, Seth and I, so I, it was very funny. And the whole, you know, the whole vision of that thing was so, was so original and punk, but, but we digress.

• 6:24Josh Horowitz?

  You digress.

• 6:25Speaker 03

  Anyway, another pivotal role in my career.

• 6:29Josh Horowitz?

  Um, this is a, this is a big moment. You've had a lot of big moments. You're one of those like actors who I feel like if you go back, there are like seven different points where it's like, Rose Byrne has finally arrived.

• 6:38Speaker 03

  Oh, God.

• 6:39Josh Horowitz?

  It's all happening for Rose.

• 6:41Speaker 03

  Thank you. Well, look, that's why it's important to never take it too seriously. Cause you're like, I think I've had this conversation before, but I, this movie is so singular. So I'm so excited to have, people are finally seeing it. It's really exciting to just see people's takeaway from it and.

• 6:58Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 6:59Speaker 03

  Really special.

• 6:59Josh Horowitz?

  So let's give a little context on this. Um, I, I would imagine the experience of this is very singular for a number of reasons. You're working, you know, there's, there's no substitute for working with like a writer, director.

• 7:10Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 7:11Josh Horowitz?

  In, you know, a relatively short time span. This is a 27 day shoot, shot on film. It's intense in many ways. Um, and you've been doing like a lot of TV, probably long, longer stuff recently. So was this like a nice palate cleanser, makes it sound like an easy gig? It's probably not that. But it is a different kind of thing than you've been doing lately.

• 7:30Speaker 03

  It really was to all the, to your point, it was, I had been doing a lot of long form storytelling with, with TV, with physical and platonic. Um, and this was, it was fantastic to return to this medium. And, you know, when you go into a movie with A24, who are such a fantastic, who really support artists and visionaries. And they, they're always pushing for that. And I, I knew it would be special and have, and then Mary, meeting Mary Bronstein, the writer director and reading the script, which was just like fire, you know, it was so incredible. And very much a reflection of the film you see. It's very visually descriptive. So I I knew it was special and and a really opportunity, an opportunity for just a creative experience that I hadn't had had before.

• 8:13Josh Horowitz?

  So this is a this is a woman who's barely hanging on.

• 8:16Speaker 03

  Linda, Linda.

• 8:17Josh Horowitz?

  Or Linda. Um, I mean, look, it's it's it's I know you're talking to a lot of journalists and I'm sure people that have kids, don't have kids, and and I don't have kids myself, but it it resonates, I think, to anybody living on the planet Earth in 2025.

• 8:30Speaker 03

  I think so, too.

• 8:30Josh Horowitz?

  We're all hanging on by a thread.

• 8:32Speaker 03

  Yes, I think I do. I agree, yeah.

• 8:34Josh Horowitz?

  Um, so, I mean, does the, I guess, does the style of making it mirror the content? I mean, it feel, it has such a visceral feel. It it really does feel like this couldn't have been a cozy shoot by its nature.

• 8:48Speaker 03

  Um.

• 8:49Josh Horowitz?

  I don't know. Give me a sense of sort of like what the environment, what the palpable feel is of digging into this character in this shoot.

• 8:54Speaker 03

  You know, the like, that's I mentioned, like, the script really did read like fire, like, and it had such visual language in the script, like, for instance, the hamster sequence is described as Jack Nicholson trying to get get through the wall in The Shining. Like, that's the sort of references that were there.

• 9:09Josh Horowitz?

  You're like, got it.

• 9:10Speaker 03

  Got it, got it. And there's such humor in those references, too, obviously. It's a hamster. It's not, you know, a person. But that's the state that Linda is in and the tension that Mary is creating with her, this singular POV of this character, which was so specific and, in a way, you know, the cinematic language she uses is that you don't see a lot of these people in her life. You don't see her husband. You don't see her daughter. Like, it's arresting. And a lot of those choices are taken away from the audience. Radical, you know, it's a little bit punk. And so that I found, I knew was happening. Obviously, I knew we weren't going to see Delaney Quinn, who is the actress who plays Linda's daughter. But when I saw the the um, the film as an audience member,

• 9:51Speaker 03

  I was so taken, drawn in, and sort of just on a roller coaster with this language Mary uses. She's such a singular director. It's really wild.

• 9:59Josh Horowitz?

  Does the way your shot, like, affect your performance significantly in terms of like where the camera is? Do you like to know where the camera is? I mean, I would imagine the nature of these shots, you definitely know where the camera is, because it's pretty damn close.

• 10:10Speaker 03

  It, I mean, I could hear it. I could hear the like, the film, which was kind of both like fantastic and glorious. And what a, what a, you know, treat to be working on film and not on digital. But, yeah, the I, and I've mentioned this, but the first day, the camera got closer and closer, and then it was like here. And I said, Oh, you're gonna be that close.

• 10:30Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 10:30Speaker 03

  Is that how close you're gonna be?

• 10:31Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 10:32Speaker 03

  And Mary was like, yes. And then after that, it became, I just would, I, I like more information rather than less. I wanna know what the day is. I wanna know how long we've got for each shot, take, how we're gonna move in. So I just wanted as much information as I could because the performance is the film. You know, it's very much like this is her perspective and the responsibility was not lost on me of, of. You always have responsibility. There are no small parts and all that stuff, but it truly was. And it's a personal story to Mary Bronstein as well.

• 11:01Josh Horowitz?

  Well, I, to the point of like the nature of, of the way it's shot. I mean, I've talked to actors like, I'm talking about Kelly Murphy, like in, for Oppenheimer, like those IMAX cameras, they're like in his face. I feel like so much of, of acting is just shutting out the noise of just like silencing that part of your brain. That's like, there's this whole apparatus around me.

• 11:18Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 11:19Josh Horowitz?

  Do you find that's the case? That's something that you've just learned over the years?

• 11:22Speaker 03

  Totally agree. I think it's a tightrope of being technically proficient and aware and, and then absolutely not being aware and trying to do your task, which is perform the scene.

• 11:34Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 11:34Speaker 03

  And acting truthful in, you know, made up circumstances. And that's what you, it's that balance and that tightrope. And, and that's where it's such a direct as medium in that sense of how they choose to do that. But I, you know, you can, you can bring all your homework to it and everything and still it's, you don't know what the finished product is going to be.

• 11:53Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 11:53Speaker 03

  But, um, but like I say, even though I knew the camera was obviously very close, I didn't, I, I would like to, I tried to give a range of things. That, you know, the trick with this performance or the trap rather is that she's at one note. And I was so aware of that, that as soon as I read it and started talking to Mary, I was like, how do we, we have to.

• 12:11Josh Horowitz?

  The modulator.

• 12:11Speaker 03

  We have to like bring in nuance and, and, and all those sorts of things. Yeah.

• 12:17Josh Horowitz?

  So how are you, like friends and family seeing something like this? Like, are you, are you, do you warn them on something like this? I mean, they've seen you, you've probably.

• 12:26Speaker 03

  They've seen me, they've seen me in so many compromising positions at this point.

• 12:30Josh Horowitz?

  At this point.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  I've given up. I think they've given up.

• 12:34Speaker 03

  No, they're they're excited. My family are very supportive and they're they're they're excited. And we have the New York Film Festival in a couple of nights, so that'll be fun. I'll have some friends there in town. That'll be that'll be fun.

• 12:44Josh Horowitz?

  How are you generally taking compliments? Because you're getting a lot of justified praise.

• 12:48Speaker 03

  Oh, that's so nice. I'm not great. Like, I'm an Australian. I'm sure, you know, I'm of Irish stock. It's like an anathema to us to be able to do that those things, but um but I'm I'm proud of the film. I'm very, I think it's, I'm still discovering things about the film myself and really now through other people's eyes. And that's like, it's wonderful. And it's none of my business how people feel about it, but I'm obsessed with it. I'm like, oh, my gosh, tell me what you think. And it's been great because it's so varied from men and women, people with children, people without families. So it's really interesting.

• 13:23Josh Horowitz?

  Do you find there was like, is there a meta quality when you're making a film like this? Like, you're making a film about someone who's trying to balance everything and just just surviving.

• 13:31Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 13:32Josh Horowitz?

  And then you're going through this exhaustive day and then you have to come home to two kids, husband, and make it all somehow work and stay sane.

• 13:41Speaker 03

  I know. It it's um, I mean, gosh, it's boring, but any working parent is doing that. It's absolutely. And what's so fun about this is that it is so far removed from my life. So it's such an escape and it's got nothing to do with me, the person which is far more dull and not very interesting, but this character is sort of acting out behaviors perhaps we've all thought about or perhaps we've all imagined in our darkest hours, but hopefully haven't acted upon. But what a gift to sort of be able to do that in a creative sense is very rewarding.

• 14:13Josh Horowitz?

  Is there something cathartic about getting to yell at Conan O'Brien?

• 14:19Josh Horowitz?

  For money, for your job.

• 14:21Speaker 03

  Finally, my dream has come true. Um, there's something surreal about it, I must say. And they're both so lovely. So it was it was a harder thing to like, particularly with Rocky, because that character is so charismatic and he's very sweet. And I kept having to be so dismissive of him and so, and obviously I knew why why she was doing that. But I did say to Mary, why is she being so mean? She's so mean to him. He's just trying to be nice. He's just trying to, he's just trying to get a high.

• 14:50Josh Horowitz?

  Have you ever yelled at a therapist in your life?

• 14:53Speaker 03

  No, no. Linda does not trust authority. I am the opposite. I could use a bit of that. And she is, she's like all about bucking the system. She's so sort of contrary and anti-establishment, I think is her core.

• 15:09Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 15:09Speaker 03

  A kind of punk rock core.

• 15:17Speaker 00

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• 15:48Speaker 05

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• 16:21Josh Horowitz?

  So you mentioned this is going to be at New York Film Festival in a couple of days.

• 16:25Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:26Josh Horowitz?

  I was looking back to like your history with film and festivals. Correct me if I'm wrong, but maybe one of the pivot points early on. Did you go to Sundance pretty early on in your career with the movie you did with Heath?

• 16:36Speaker 03

  Yes, Heath and I went and I was really young, like 18 or 19. Yeah, I was a kid.

• 16:40Josh Horowitz?

  So what was that like to, you know, you've been acting for a minute because you were a child actor. But to come to the States, to come to Sundance, no less, would that, that must have been a moment.

• 16:50Speaker 03

  It was a moment and it was obviously so memorable because it was a tiny little Aussie movie, you know? And it was right before Heath. Became Heath Ledger. He was really at the precipice of this wildly extraordinary career, tragically short, but packed so much into. And of course, no, it's like a core seminal time in my life and memory. And the festival then was quaint.

• 17:12Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 17:13Speaker 03

  And it didn't have the swag bags and it didn't have, wasn't overrun with the trappings of this success of a festival can become. And it was quite magical. Yeah.

• 17:22Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. The first time I went, I think it was like 2008 and it was like, it was right at the pivot point. It was just when like the swag suites were starting to come in and Redford was starting to speak out.

• 17:31Speaker 03

  Right. So we were there, I think we were there in

• 17:33Josh Horowitz?

  You're like 99, I think.

• 17:34Speaker 03

  It was 99. I mean, that was truly, yeah, it was truly a different time. Yeah.

• 17:39Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. Yeah. So give me a sense. You, you are, I was saying before, I caught up with your partner Bobby the other day, who's filling in on Broadway right now in art.

• 17:48Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 17:48Josh Horowitz?

  Um, you're kind of like celebrity New York couple. You really are. You guys are awesome in your respective ways. Um, I feel like it's like a battle to the death, you guys, between Matthew Reese and Kerry Russell. That's, that's my other like top tier.

• 18:00Speaker 03

  That's amazing. We're neighbors, actually.

• 18:03Josh Horowitz?

  I figured.

• 18:03Speaker 03

  They're awesome. I've seen them. They're in the neighborhood. Yep.

• 18:06Josh Horowitz?

  So, but you, you're, you're a New Yorker. You've been a New Yorker for, for quite some time.

• 18:10Speaker 03

  Nearly 20 years, which is terrifying.

• 18:12Josh Horowitz?

  Was that through damages?

• 18:13Speaker 03

  Yes, through damages. Yeah. I moved here at 27, 28. Yeah, I'm 46. So it's nearly been 20 years. So I think that's, is that when you can say you're a New Yorker after 20?

• 18:21Josh Horowitz?

  As a lifer, I grew up in the city.

• 18:22Speaker 03

  Oh, wow. Okay. You're a true lifer. Yeah.

• 18:25Josh Horowitz?

  Congrats.

• 18:26Speaker 03

  Yes. Um, which has just gone so quickly. It's bizarre. But yes, I've loved being in the city. We're raising our kids in the city, you know, uh, and it's still, it is not for the faint of heart, particularly since the pandemic. Oh my God, what a.

• 18:40Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, to ride that out.

• 18:41Speaker 03

  That was a ride. That was a ride. Um, but I've continued to love it here and be inspired by it. And I like that, you know, most of my friends really aren't in the business here and that's great. You know, it's very diverse, whereas, you know, other places, well, LA in particular can be more of a one horse town. Yeah.

• 18:56Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. I, I would say, and I know you've talked about like growing up as like a shy kid. Like I was a shy kid too. And I feel like I need to collide with things or else I will cocoon.

• 19:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 19:05Josh Horowitz?

  And New York makes you collide with life.

• 19:07Speaker 03

  It really does. You have to, you have to face the city and you face it all with all its beauty and all its ugliness. And I think that that is something I'm attracted to. And I love being able to walk around and I love. I'm still in a love affair with New York.

• 19:20Josh Horowitz?

  So the first, I don't know if it was the very first time you came here, but your first time you spent some time here significantly was probably Atlantic Theatre Company?

• 19:26Speaker 03

  Yes, yes, Atlantic. And that was so, like, again, seminal, living in the new NYC dorms, like, you know, NYU dorms, rather. And studying in Atlantic for a summer in 2000 or 99. It was like the same year as Sundance, I think, it turned to the 2000, the year after. So I think it was 99. So good, yes.

• 19:48Josh Horowitz?

  So for those who don't know, I mean, Atlantic steeped in the work of Mamet.

• 19:51Speaker 03

  Yes, of David Mamet and with alumni like Felicity Huffman and Macy and, yeah, many others, yeah.

• 19:58Josh Horowitz?

  And you've talked before about kind of the practical aesthetics approach.

• 20:02Speaker 03

  Yes, I was a disciple, a disciple of practical aesthetics. Yeah, it was brought to Australia by a couple of fantastic acting teachers. And they were Melissa Bruder and she kind of championed it in Australia and it became very popular and sort of like a cult status. And I had friends who did it and in any case, and my goal was I wanted to go do this summer program and I'd heard so much about it. And I went and it was, it was so fun and fantastic. And again, made lifelong friends and, yeah.

• 20:33Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, so I don't know, Mamet's probably not directly involved. You didn't work with him when you were there.

• 20:36Speaker 03

  He wasn't there, no, he, he wasn't there, but they started this school. Yeah, they started this kind of, again, as a reactionary thing, I think. Well, from my recollection, you know, they were very much, it's very much about the writer. It's sort of a reaction to the Stanislavski method and like, well, not the pure Stanislavski, but the sort of the later actor studio type model. This is very, a far more cerebral approach, I suppose, in one way. But one could look at it, but I loved it, yeah.

• 21:04Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, when I've heard him talk about, Mamet himself talk about it, very, just like, say the words, essentially.

• 21:09Speaker 03

  It's awesome, right?

• 21:10Josh Horowitz?

  Everything out.

• 21:11Speaker 03

  I had a friend once who was in a film of his and he asked him a, he had a small part and he just asked him a question like, oh, so does my character know? Ex before they met before and Mamet was like, I don't know, have you?

• 21:25Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 21:26Speaker 03

  That's kind of it in a nutshell, but I died. I was like, oh, I love it. I love it.

• 21:30Josh Horowitz?

  And you probably have worked with all types, literally every acting approach. You know, who was I talking to the other day? Sean Bean, the other day I was talking to, you're Troy Costa.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. What did he say?

• 21:41Josh Horowitz?

  Well, he was just talking a little bit about how, you know, obviously he just worked with Daniel Day Lewis.

• 21:45Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 21:46Josh Horowitz?

  Famously one very extreme end of the technique.

• 21:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:49Josh Horowitz?

  And how it doesn't really matter how you get there. It's just like everyone's got their technique.

• 21:53Speaker 03

  I have total respect and agree. I think it's such a personal thing. I, I think it's, it's wildly, I've worked with all types of people who don't want to rehearse. I worked with Dennis Hopper early on in Australia in this tiny Australian movie and he didn't want to rehearse. He didn't want to read through. He did like barely did a read through. It was sort of like a comical effort, but he had disdain for that. And then I've had, you know, other actors who want to, you know, become best friends and want to like live out the relationship that is on the page or whatever, you know, people, it just varies the gamut. And so I've sort of seen it all at this point and I, I agree with Sean. I think it's whatever, it's, it's the result is what you see. And hopefully you don't see the, who wants to see the homework?

• 22:32Josh Horowitz?

  Right. It's fun to talk about for these kinds of things.

• 22:34Speaker 03

  Exactly. But you don't want to see the homework. Like then you're, you're done.

• 22:39Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, where on the spectrum is Nick Cage in the? He's more, he's the Nick Cage. He's, he's more an intuitive sort of unpredictable.

• 22:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, truly, truly the Nick Cage. Yeah.

• 22:52Josh Horowitz?

  What's the, what's the, what's the Nick Cage-iest thing you saw Nick Cage do?

• 22:56Speaker 03

  Oh, I think I've told this story, but he, we did a press conference, like sort of some typical early on press conference for this movie, Knowing. And he, he was always very professional, very nice, but he, um, he turned to me before the press conference and said, I'm going to try to do this whole thing without saying I or me.

• 23:15Speaker 03

  And he did.

• 23:16Josh Horowitz?

  Of course he did.

• 23:17Speaker 03

  He kept going, when one approaches one's wife. And I was, that's all I remember is going, how's he gonna do it? Oh my god, wow.

• 23:26Josh Horowitz?

  I gotta get home to my Komodo dragon and think about this. Yeah, what a man.

• 23:30Speaker 03

  Fantastic, it was fantastic, yeah. And I mean, what a, what a, you know, what a.

• 23:36Josh Horowitz?

  I do admire his bravery as an actor. He will do anything. He's.

• 23:40Speaker 03

  Completely.

• 23:40Josh Horowitz?

  Make a fool of himself and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but god.

• 23:44Speaker 03

  And he's, and you forget he's from this, this like, this family of such legacy.

• 23:49Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 23:49Speaker 03

  And unconventional like thinkers and you know, that's a huge part of the story that you sort of forget as well.

• 23:57Josh Horowitz?

  So part of your story and coming into your own, I feel like there's like the one-two punch like around 2004. It's, it's, it's Wicker Park, which is a big deal probably at the time.

• 24:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, for me.

• 24:06Josh Horowitz?

  Cause you're a female lead opposite, I think Josh Hartnett at the time.

• 24:08Speaker 03

  Josh, yeah.

• 24:09Josh Horowitz?

  Troy, of course, which for those that don't remember was like a ginormous movie at the time.

• 24:14Speaker 03

  Huge film at the time, yeah. A big swords and sandals epic, well, obviously based on the Iliad, yeah.

• 24:19Josh Horowitz?

  But also made obviously in the old school way, like Wolfgang Peterson.

• 24:22Speaker 03

  Very old school.

• 24:23Josh Horowitz?

  Thousands of extras, I would imagine.

• 24:25Speaker 03

  People being shipped in from Bulgaria. Like it was not, it was a lot of stuff going on and I was like, what? But yeah.

• 24:31Josh Horowitz?

  Did you spend any quality time with Peter O'Toole? That's what I'm most interested in.

• 24:34Speaker 03

  Oh, Peter, God bless, I did, I did. He, he was as entertaining and as, you know, he did not suffer fools. He was incredibly quick-witted and he had an extraordinary memory and taste. And he was in the seminal film of this genre, you know? He had a legacy and, but he could not have been kinder to me and more welcoming and would secretly tell me, you've got the best part in the movie, this part's fantastic, I'd play this part. Like, you know, things like that. He was, and we had these, you know, great scenes together. I actually went on, I did a BBC telly movie with him a couple of years later. So I got to work with him not once but twice, so yeah.

• 25:15Josh Horowitz?

  Talking about that reminds me of something in relation to the current film, which is that you've been a lead in, in many films and TV shows, obviously. Mostly in film though, it's been a co-lead frankly.

• 25:24Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 25:25Josh Horowitz?

  With a male co-star.

• 25:25Speaker 03

  Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 25:26Josh Horowitz?

  Is, is that like meaningful for you that you are truly the lead? This is your film?

• 25:31Speaker 03

  Yes, absolutely meaningful. No, no one's asked me that and I've done. Small roles in big movies, big roles in small movies, like really a gamut. And this is truly, absolutely, a very singular experience for me creatively.

• 25:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's true. No one's asked me that, but that's, yeah. More on television, I've had that

• 25:51Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 25:51Speaker 03

  opportunity. So this, this again, was, was really new. Yeah.

• 25:55Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, so back to small parts in big movies.

• 25:58Speaker 03

  Yes, yes.

• 25:59Josh Horowitz?

  Contractually obligated as a big old nerd to ask you about Star Wars. I apologize, Rose.

• 26:02Speaker 03

  Are you of the Star Wars culture, the cult?

• 26:05Josh Horowitz?

  So I feel like you're the only Star Wars character that probably doesn't have an action figure at this point.

• 26:09Speaker 03

  It's a tragedy.

• 26:13Josh Horowitz?

  Justice for Dormay, right? Let's start the hashtag today.

• 26:18Speaker 03

  I mean, to be even a microscopic piece of that universe.

• 26:23Josh Horowitz?

  Yes.

• 26:24Speaker 03

  Is so sweet how you just resonate and you still are part of this dialogue, this like chain of characters in this film, this universe that resonates with people. It's so wonderful. I, I've grown to love it. I mean, I worked with the great James Earl Jones and he, oh my goodness, the people

• 26:42Josh Horowitz?

  He's got me on stage with him.

• 26:42Speaker 03

  Yes, we did a play together and the people who would appear out of the woodwork to, to, to get his autograph and photo and so on and so forth. But yes, I, I had a small part as Natalie Portman's handmaiden, Dormay. I had about one or two lines.

• 26:57Josh Horowitz?

  Two lines. I was gonna ask you, which do you remember stressing about more? Was it, "I'm worried about you, the situation is dangerous."

• 27:04Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 27:05Josh Horowitz?

  Or, "My lady, you're still in danger here."

• 27:08Speaker 03

  Oh, I think the first one. The first one I feel was more.

• 27:12Josh Horowitz?

  There's a lot going on there. "I'm worried about you, the situation is dangerous. It's a fraught situation."

• 27:16Speaker 03

  It's a fraught situation. I'm establishing, there's a situation and it's fraught. And my feelings about it. And her feelings about it, rather.

• 27:24Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 27:24Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 27:25Josh Horowitz?

  I do think, well, Joel Edgerton came back.

• 27:27Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:28Josh Horowitz?

  So you could still come back.

• 27:29Speaker 03

  I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. No one's called. Maybe after this, they will.

• 27:34Josh Horowitz?

  I'm just trying to do some work.

• 27:34Speaker 03

  Yes, I appreciate it.

• 27:36Josh Horowitz?

  You also, again, you've done some really interesting work in, in genre films. I want to mention like, you know, Twenty Eight Weeks Later, Sunshine in a Second, but before we get to that, like, a smaller, kind of odder thing is the X-Men.

• 27:48Speaker 03

  Yes, yeah, the X-Men roles, mhm.

• 27:50Josh Horowitz?

  So, is that a fond memory? I mean, you, you don't get like, you know, maybe the juiciest stuff to do there, but like, is that, I don't know, what's, what's the indelible memory of making First Class in particular? Is there a day or moment in that that?

• 28:02Speaker 03

  That was a It was fun. I mean, it's such a genre, you know, so you just have to lean into the tropes of it and how fun that is and the scale of it is very fun. And it was the, it was exciting because it was the freshest, it was the reboot. It was like they had done that, the, all the Brian Singer version and then now it was Matthew Vaughn. And so that's exciting. There was a new voice. There was all these incredible young actors. I mean, I was working with Jen Lawrence and Zoe Kravitz and Nick Holt, like all these people who I've now gone on to see, who I was sort of the, uh, definitely older than those guys, um, the elder statesman at that point, probably. And to see like these wonderful young, you know, they were 20, 19 kids. And to now see, obviously, all their extraordinary things that they've

• 28:46Speaker 03

  done. Um, yeah, it was very meaningful. Yeah.

• 28:49Josh Horowitz?

  Sunshine, I love.

• 28:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, isn't it great? Isn't it great? Yeah, people really resonate with that. It's such a great, again, a great genre, weird sci-fi, Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, this incredible duo, yeah.

• 29:00Josh Horowitz?

  I've talked to Danny over the years about it. It feels like, like, it almost broke him in a way. It was a tough, it was a tough.

• 29:05Speaker 03

  It was tough, yeah. And that was tough on them, I think, on Alex and him, which I think they've spoken about. So I, um, and I, yeah, I, I know it was a hard one, but I, it, I, I think it really holds up. And I think it's in the kind of canon of that genre, written in a really cool way.

• 29:20Josh Horowitz?

  Do you remember, like, was the, was the end stuff in that, was that reshot on the fly or reworked on the fly? Do you have memories of that being kind of a work in progress?

• 29:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was, um, I remember doing a lot of the stunts, like Killian and I doing a lot of the stunts together. Michelle Yeoh, I mean, I got to work with Michelle Yeoh, which was all Benny Wong, like Chris Evans, Troy Garrity, like, again, it was a fantastic cast. Um, and, uh, I do, yeah, I remember this, Mark Strong had a very hard, tough, tough deal because he had a lot of prosthetics and that's always hard. That's draining, tiring. And, um, but he's such a good actor, you know, and it was really about his performance more than, you know, a prosthetic could do, you know?

• 30:00Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. The one, the one franchise that got away seemingly is Bond. Is that true that you were pretty much, you were in the mix, that that almost happened?

• 30:07Speaker 03

  I believe I was in the mix, but who knows if I was ever really in the mix. But I met.

• 30:13Josh Horowitz?

  Was it Martin Campbell back then?

• 30:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:15Josh Horowitz?

  Or Barbara Broccoli?

• 30:16Speaker 03

  It was those guys, yeah. I met them, but I don't know if I was ever really a serious contender.

• 30:20Josh Horowitz?

  Did you do a screen test with Daniel Craig back then?

• 30:23Speaker 03

  I can't, did I do, did I read with Daniel? I think I did read with Daniel, yeah. I mean, I was so, it was so long ago, so I can't. But yes, I, I don't know how serious I, I was, if I was ever a real contender. But again, that was a very cool reboot. They did, that was the first Daniel Craig, you know, one. And he obviously went on to have such an incredible run with that, you know?

• 30:45Josh Horowitz?

  Were you a good auditioner back in the day when you had to do a lot of that? Or did you stress? I mean, what was your?

• 30:50Speaker 03

  I mean, obviously not that good. I didn't get the part.

• 30:55Speaker 03

  So let's go back through the, um, no, I think I was hit and miss, hit and miss. I remember a great acting teacher telling me, you've got to start the audition as soon as you.

• 31:06Josh Horowitz?

  Right, walk in the room.

• 31:07Speaker 03

  Like walk into the office to check in, to go to the audition. Like that's when you start the performance.

• 31:11Josh Horowitz?

  Yes.

• 31:11Speaker 03

  And you cannot, and that, that's it, that's that. So I, I don't think I ever fully achieved that, but, but it's good advice.

• 31:20Josh Horowitz?

  Luckily, you kind of got your, your Bond thing in, thanks to Spy, which.

• 31:24Speaker 03

  I know, which was, which was supposed to have sort of more films.

• 31:28Josh Horowitz?

  Every time I see Paul, I mention.

• 31:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, I know. It's such a bummer it didn't, because people have been, honestly, recently, people seem to be discovering. It must be on a streamer or something, or on like the page of it, because people are always, uh, right now, seem to be coming up to me about Spy. And it's so funny.

• 31:45Josh Horowitz?

  So funny.

• 31:45Speaker 03

  It's so funny and it's, uh, I, I love it when people mention it because I think it's great.

• 31:51Josh Horowitz?

  When you're at a party, does anybody ever come up to you at the drink and say like, what a stupid fucking toast?

• 31:55Speaker 03

  Yes, I do. I've had that before. I've had that before.

• 32:00Speaker 03

  So dumb. Your mother looked like a clown or something. Hideous insults that I'm saying to Melissa McCarthy.

• 32:05Josh Horowitz?

  Oh my God, I could listen to you talk about your sad mom, your Bulgarian clown for hours on end.

• 32:12Speaker 03

  Again, so fun. And he just sort of supported exactly like the Bond genre and made it like a comedic, you know, comedic tour de force. It's so fun.

• 32:21Josh Horowitz?

  It felt like for there were in the first few comedic films you did, it was there was this kind of narrative that it was like so surprising, like, how could she have this in her? And now it's like you have stealthily, you're not so stealthily, like a very consistently amazing comic.

• 32:36Speaker 03

  Oh, thank you.

• 32:37Josh Horowitz?

  Performer. I mean, to look at just the body of work and what you've done.

• 32:40Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 32:42Josh Horowitz?

  It sounds like this wasn't like necessarily like a stretch. This was what you wanted. Like, this is like an aspect of you that you really wanted to explore actively from the start.

• 32:49Speaker 03

  You know, it's funny. I had a really small part in Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola's movie. And that role was like irreverent, sort of indulgent Duchess, Duchess de Polignac, who sort of corrupts Marie Antoinette and takes her out drinking. But it's a it's a role full of comedy and full of, you know, frivolous behavior. And it's very much a spontaneous way that Sofia works. And I think that also was a real catalyst for me for wanting to explore things after, particularly after doing damages for four, three seasons. And like any actor, you're trying to constantly, you know that you're going to get offered every serious lawyer part after that. And you have to be a little bit smart about trying

• 33:29Speaker 03

  to have some agency in, in, you know, charting a course that you hope will work out.

• 33:35Josh Horowitz?

  So I guess the turning point, even before bridesmaids, though, is actually get them to the Greek.

• 33:38Speaker 03

  Yes, get them to the Greek. Yeah.

• 33:40Josh Horowitz?

  So that did that feel like, again, any actor just needs someone to see something else in them and give you a shot because otherwise you're acting in your home.

• 33:50Speaker 03

  Yes. Yes. Exactly. And you're back home. Yeah.

• 33:54Josh Horowitz?

  But does that feel like, I mean, do you have palpable memories or indelible memories of being on that set and just sort of like, oh, this is an opportunity?

• 34:00Speaker 03

  It was. It felt similar to Marie Antoinette in that sense of like, oh, this is so far from what I have done, what I've been doing on other jobs. And this was such a, against such a wildly unconventional character and totally irreverent and self-absorbed and.

• 34:22Speaker 03

  Of this pop star who, you know, is kind of like the the female version of Russell Brand's character and how fun that was, the potential of that. Yeah, it wasn't lost on me. No, for sure.

• 34:33Josh Horowitz?

  I feel like in my conversations with folks over the last few years, it's like when you ask them about comfort movies or great comedies, it's like it's Step Brothers and Bridesmaids.

• 34:41Speaker 03

  Oh, really? I love Step Brothers too. So to be part of in the same like that is again, a film I'll turn on and be like this. I love this bit. I love this bit. Oh my God, it's so funny.

• 34:53Josh Horowitz?

  I was gonna ask you, what are your go tos? Like, what is your bridesmaids for you?

• 34:56Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh. Look, definitely Step Brothers. That's one that we that we definitely return to. What have I been watching with the, we have two little boys. So there's a couple of comfort movies. We definitely return to that for that. School of Rock.

• 35:10Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 35:10Speaker 03

  We love School of Rock and that is.

• 35:12Josh Horowitz?

  Never underestimate the power of Jack Black to this.

• 35:15Speaker 03

  No, do not. Rude the day that you would do that. And Richard Linklater, for that matter, one of the greats, who is also just constantly reinventing and doing a different genre with his with his body of work. Yeah. So School of Rock is definitely up there.

• 35:31Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. So bridesmaids, I mean, it was a phenomenon at the time, but again, the staying power of it is actually almost more remarkable than what it was even in the.

• 35:39Speaker 03

  It always is, right? Who knows what's going to be sticky, right? And stay. Yeah.

• 35:43Josh Horowitz?

  Is that is that must it must be gratifying because I would imagine it's if it's not a daily occurrence, it's pretty close to that that young people come up to you and mention it.

• 35:50Speaker 03

  I love it. I just speaks to the movie. And I mean, talk about to your point of people being surprised about a certain performance or this, but that I was so naive about how people would think that a group of women could be funny. I didn't realize we would be talking about it the whole press tour. I was like, wow.

• 36:09Josh Horowitz?

  How could you all possibly be so funny?

• 36:11Speaker 03

  It was bizarre. I was like, I was unprepared for this. And it's like we're a pot of dolphins all of a sudden doing a performance. But no, I cherish that. I mean, I cherish the film and Paul Feig and the incredible women I got to work with. And I have not had an experience like that since because I've never been with five other actresses since then, where we're all doing big sequences together. It's and I hope I do, but.

• 36:34Josh Horowitz?

  You're stuck with Seth Rogen instead.

• 36:35Speaker 03

  I'm this is me and Seth, or me and Conan for that matter.

• 36:40Josh Horowitz?

  They're all right.

• 36:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 36:41Josh Horowitz?

  Women in the mix would be all right, too.

• 36:43Speaker 03

  It's fascinating to me that that's, but it's been, it's so, I love that. It's, I cherish the film, I cherish the experience, yeah.

• 36:50Josh Horowitz?

  Is there a line that's quoted to you, whether it's from bridesmaids or anything close to you? What tickles you? You're in a Starbucks, you get a random.

• 36:57Speaker 03

  So, I mean, I had a friend the other day trying on some dresses or showing me a dress and they were like, it's a Fritz Bernaise.

• 37:08Speaker 03

  So dumb, so silly.

• 37:10Josh Horowitz?

  I love it.

• 37:11Speaker 03

  That's so good.

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• 38:22Josh Horowitz?

  I was gonna ask you what you're watching. You mentioned just comfort film. Generally, what do you like? Do you watch a lot of film TV? I mean.

• 38:28Speaker 03

  We go through stages. We, we're always late. We're late to the game.

• 38:32Josh Horowitz?

  That's okay.

• 38:33Speaker 03

  And that's shameful, but we are a little bit late. We watch a lot of sports documentaries. I do, I love watching the football. I find it very relaxing. I love watching the basketball. I, we just.

• 38:44Josh Horowitz?

  When you say the basketball makes it less, your cred is.

• 38:47Speaker 03

  Oh, that's so daggy. That's so daggy. Oh, my gosh.

• 38:52Josh Horowitz?

  I'm just trying to help you.

• 38:53Speaker 03

  So, thank you, Josh. Oh, good lord. But we're kind of theater nerds. Like, you know, I do, we love going out to see a show. But we've started watching Adolescents.

• 39:03Josh Horowitz?

  So good.

• 39:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, and it's hard. I'm a mother of boys. It is hard.

• 39:07Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 39:07Speaker 03

  And I have beautiful nephews in Australia who are that age, so. But I love Stephen Graham and, you know, he's, he's so good, so.

• 39:15Josh Horowitz?

  He's one of these guys that I feel like everybody, like actors knew.

• 39:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, oh, Bobby always loved it. Bobby's like, Bobby's the one with the taste. He's like the most discerning of people's performance. He just can smell a great actor and, and a bad one too at that. He's so good and he's always been a fan of Stephen, yeah.

• 39:33Josh Horowitz?

  You guys haven't been shy about working together, which I find fascinating.

• 39:36Speaker 03

  I love collaborating with him. I, I've, I think initially I was always nervous to do that with a partner, but we, we just dove in and it's been really rewarding and really fun. And like on a boring level, like you're on the same schedule. So it's like kind of that is taken care of. So I've, I've, we've had, we've had good luck with it.

• 39:53Josh Horowitz?

  Do you come at acting in the same way? Like we were talking about technique earlier.

• 39:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:57Josh Horowitz?

  Do you have much different processes? I mean, you've seen him up close, like in the workplace and at home, so you know what he does.

• 40:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, I ask way more questions. I'm like, why am I doing this? You know, and he's way more just all sort of id. And he's like, comes at it as you can imagine. And he has just incredible intuition and he can tell the temperature of a room and a person in like five seconds. He'll have your number. He's very, and I think that's how he approaches the work. He can, he, and but he's also really creative. He has ideas. He, he would, yeah, he's, yeah. But I think that's what he would say, or what he said in the past, anyway.

• 40:30Josh Horowitz?

  Some, some random stuff for you. Okay, you look at a script, what's a deal breaker for you? What, what's a turn off or turn on? Like, what do you see in a script?

• 40:37Speaker 03

  Maybe she's gonna take her clothes off by the second. I'm like, oh my god.

• 40:42Speaker 03

  I'm like, really? Okay.

• 40:47Speaker 03

  That's, that's tough. That's a tough one.

• 40:49Josh Horowitz?

  Is that, is that for you personally or generally, why does the woman need to take it?

• 40:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, why, why? And maybe there's a great reason, like, God, I, you know, who cares? It's just a human body, like blah, blah, blah. But I am just sensitive to that. And I'm like, I've had so many bad scripts where it's just like for absolutely no reason. And I'm like, and it's not, it can absolutely make sense. I will say that. But yeah, I'm always like, really? Okay, why is this? You know, for what reason? Can you tell me? So that's probably one. Or if they describe, you know, yeah, she's a really complicated woman. Or some wildly generic sort of description like that is like, oh, really, is she? Oh, my God. Thanks for letting me know.

• 41:32Josh Horowitz?

  Well, I mean, you did kind of-

• 41:33Speaker 03

  But she's not complic-, wouldn't it be amazing? She's not a complicated woman. She's a really not a complicated woman.

• 41:38Josh Horowitz?

  She likes to take off her clothes.

• 41:41Speaker 03

  Yeah. She loves, yeah, she just walks around nude. She loves that. She's very European.

• 41:48Josh Horowitz?

  But I mean, again, kind of connecting it to this film, like-

• 41:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:53Josh Horowitz?

  In the complexity of a role like this, I mean, like you had to kind of probably weather the storm of like an actor in their, an actress specifically in their twenties, thirties.

• 42:02Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 42:02Josh Horowitz?

  The shit that you probably saw.

• 42:04Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 42:05Josh Horowitz?

  The wife roles, the girlfriend roles, the sexbot roles.

• 42:08Speaker 03

  Of course, particularly in comedy, you know, there's so many tropes with the woman being the nag and the woman being like, you know, I don't know, when I have fun, you know? And I was so lucky because I had these sort of North Stars of Paul Feig and, and, and, and, you know, even Sophia back when I did Marie Antoinette. Of like really giving opportunities to women in ways that is not, was not the usual sort of source material. Yeah.

• 42:33Josh Horowitz?

  Speaking of filmmakers that you admire, have worked with or wanted to work with, I mean, there's some great Australian filmmakers that have, that have, I guess, alluded you. I don't know if you've ever like come close, but like, I think of like the Baz Luhrmanns, the George Millers.

• 42:46Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh, the George Millers. I know, yeah.

• 42:48Josh Horowitz?

  Have you ever talked to other?

• 42:49Speaker 03

  I haven't, no, but I am such a huge admirer. And yeah, they're, gosh, they're such both, you know, I mean, Peter Weir. He's extraordinary. Obviously, he's in the, you know- That a different part of his career now, but no, there's incredible Australian luminaries. And for that matter, great Australian cinematographers.

• 43:08Josh Horowitz?

  Sure.

• 43:09Speaker 03

  That have like gone on and had wildly successful careers, but I've been, um, yeah, a fan from afar for sure.

• 43:14Josh Horowitz?

  Is it true you grew up not an Australian, but the late great David Lynch was somebody that you had a lot of reverence for?

• 43:19Speaker 03

  So when I first got to LA, my agent made me write a list of directors and he was the top. And I got to meet him and I went to his house and he was a lovely gentleman, just as you would imagine. Button up, high hair, smoking a cigarette, kind of pitching me this incredible story. And we saw a short film with Naomi Watts with rabbit ears on and Laura Lanier, it was fantastic. And he was just so, such a beautiful man, even this is a brief meeting I had, but didn't get the part. So I'm not sure, I think it might've been the early sort of, the early season of that film, I guess perhaps.

• 43:57Speaker 03

  But, um, he was, I mean, I was a nobody, you know, I came into town as like young Aussie chick and he, he was very, yeah, he was lovely.

• 44:05Josh Horowitz?

  What was it for you growing up then? It was like Twin Peaks or Blue Velvet or just all of?

• 44:09Speaker 03

  Uh, it was Twin Peaks.

• 44:11Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 44:11Speaker 03

  Twin Peaks was my introduction and then I just went down the whole, obviously canon of his movies. And yeah, they're all in my, they're all my top, my favorite films. I love them. Yeah.

• 44:21Josh Horowitz?

  I had a conversation with him over Zoom a few years ago.

• 44:23Speaker 03

  Oh, you did?

• 44:24Josh Horowitz?

  And it was like one of the highlights of my life of just hearing him say, hey buddy.

• 44:29Speaker 03

  I mean, and who, who, what directors have then become a, like to become a, how do you put it, a?

• 44:36Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, like a, like a descriptor?

• 44:37Speaker 03

  He's, well.

• 44:38Josh Horowitz?

  Lynchian?

• 44:38Speaker 03

  Yes, Lynchian, who can have coined a phrase where your name immediately generates an atmosphere and a, and a style. I don't know, not many, you know, Hitchcock, Hitchcockian, but like, yeah.

• 44:51Josh Horowitz?

  Totally.

• 44:52Speaker 03

  He's that, he's that, and he's, he has, he'll stay forever. Yeah.

• 44:56Josh Horowitz?

  How is your Seth Rogen impression at this point?

• 44:58Speaker 03

  Terrible. I can't, I can't, I'm not good at guys. I'm not that good at guys. But he, um, I should be able to do him better because we've spent so much time together. Yeah. Yeah.

• 45:10Josh Horowitz?

  Who's, do you have a go to? I won't put you on the spot unless I want to, but who, female impressions, it sounds like, it sounds like you have a few. At a party, I got a couple of drinks with you, what do you do?

• 45:19Speaker 03

  Oh my gosh, I wish, no, I don't, I actually don't, I don't know. I'm more like Stranger in the Street, I could do, but not so much. Do your best, you know, Jennifer Coolidge or something. I'm not that good at that.

• 45:34Josh Horowitz?

  It does feel like that platonic in its second season currently going is like hitting its stride in terms of the audience has really found it.

• 45:41Speaker 03

  It's been lovely. It's so nice. It's the thing with TV, right? You have to give it time and you gotta let it breathe and it just become, it finds its place, finds its audience. And this season, I think, is stronger than the first. They were so good at really writing for the strengths of the first season and the opportunity you get, you know, to have another, have another go at it. So it's been lovely. It's been really lovely and people genuinely, yeah, a lot more people have discovered it, which has been great. And it's a great hang show, you know, it's nice.

• 46:07Josh Horowitz?

  Is there anything that we need to secret into the universe for you? Are you wanting for any kind of work that I can help you?

• 46:12Speaker 03

  Why? Do you have a, some kind of hotline?

• 46:16Josh Horowitz?

  Stranger things have happened on the podcast.

• 46:18Speaker 03

  What have you got?

• 46:19Josh Horowitz?

  Listening or watching.

• 46:19Speaker 03

  Oh, really? Oh, my gosh, gosh. But as soon as you say it, then it's not gonna come true. I'm too superstitious. I'm way too superstitious, too Australian.

• 46:29Josh Horowitz?

  Do you do the kind of thing still, like, just like the general meeting with a filmmaker you admire? Is that ever?

• 46:33Speaker 03

  Oh, no, I, I absolutely, no, gosh, if there's someone, no, you have to seek out. You've gotta seek out. You have to reach out. You cannot rest on your like you say, there's so many moments.

• 46:43Josh Horowitz?

  Yep.

• 46:44Speaker 03

  How do you use them? You know, you have to seek for sure. Constantly be curious, constantly seek out. You have to try to have your own agency for sure.

• 46:51Josh Horowitz?

  Totally. We're gonna end with this. It's a tradition for Happy Second Fuse, our profoundly random questions, Rose. You ready?

• 46:56Speaker 03

  Oh, no, I'm not.

• 46:57Josh Horowitz?

  You're ready.

• 46:58Speaker 03

  No, I'm not.

• 46:59Josh Horowitz?

  You got this. Oh, no, the eyes go cross-eyed.

• 47:02Speaker 03

  Good lord, okay.

• 47:03Josh Horowitz?

  Dogs or cats?

• 47:05Speaker 03

  Dogs.

• 47:06Josh Horowitz?

  You guys have some?

• 47:08Speaker 03

  No, god, no. But I grew up with a border collie called Emma and she was my north star. I loved her. Yeah.

• 47:15Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, do you collect anything?

• 47:17Speaker 03

  I kinda collect, like, this is so girly, um, like baskets, like sort of those beautiful, like, um, raffia baskets.

• 47:25Josh Horowitz?

  Sure.

• 47:26Speaker 03

  Yeah, I have a lot of those. To the point where I'm like, I think I'm just, I think I'm unofficially collecting these.

• 47:31Josh Horowitz?

  I'm now a hoarder, apparently.

• 47:33Speaker 03

  I love a basket, yeah.

• 47:35Josh Horowitz?

  Favorite video game of all time from your youth? Did you ever play a game?

• 47:38Speaker 03

  I only ever really played Mario Brothers, but I was never, it's never not really, it's never not, it's never been my thing really, yeah.

• 47:45Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, this is the Dakota Johnson memorial question. She asked me this. Would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one bee in your butt?

• 47:51Speaker 03

  A mouthful of bees or one bee in my butt? Oh, good lord. Well, I guess, I don't know. I'm looking at this gentleman here. That's a pass. I don't want either of those things.

• 48:07Josh Horowitz?

  Glenn Dakota. What's the wallpaper on your phone?

• 48:11Speaker 03

  Oh, it's my mom and dad. It's Jane and Rob. Jane and Rob.

• 48:16Josh Horowitz?

  What's the biggest moment for them, seeing you in your career? Was there a premiere? Was there an actor that you introduced them to?

• 48:21Speaker 03

  Oh, they're, they're sort of, they're so low key that they, they're funny. They're like so Australian and low key, but they're like the best people because they're so curious. So they just ask a lot of questions. They're so interested in, interested in things outside of their own world. They're very open minded. Yeah.

• 48:38Josh Horowitz?

  Nice.

• 48:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 48:39Josh Horowitz?

  Last actor you were mistaken for?

• 48:42Speaker 03

  Oh, someone came up to me and said, I loved you in Jackie. I said, thank you very much.

• 48:50Josh Horowitz?

  Just take the compliment.

• 48:51Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 48:51Josh Horowitz?

  Always.

• 48:52Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, I'm gonna take that compliment.

• 48:55Josh Horowitz?

  What's the worst note a director has ever given you?

• 49:00Speaker 03

  Oh, good lord. Well, a director once gave me a note from their trailer in bed.

• 49:07Josh Horowitz?

  Wasn't so much the note, but how?

• 49:09Speaker 03

  Exactly, how it was delivered. I was like, mm-hmm, okay. With their, yeah, with several, like, there was a lot of assistance around the bed, but I was summoned in and that, that was pretty weird. Yeah. They remain nameless, but yes.

• 49:23Josh Horowitz?

  I think I can make a guess off camera. Okay. In the spirit of Happy Second, if you as an actor who always makes you happy, you see them on screen, you're instantly in a better mood.

• 49:31Speaker 03

  Oh, who makes me happy? Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes me happy. Albert Finney makes me happy. Yeah.

• 49:41Josh Horowitz?

  Movie that makes you sad?

• 49:42Speaker 03

  Oh, a movie that makes me sad? The Black Stallion. Yeah. I mean sad, happy sad, a little bit happy sad because of the ending. Yeah, The Black Stallion, I love, yeah.

• 49:51Josh Horowitz?

  And finally, most importantly, a food that makes you confused. You don't get it. Why do people eat that?

• 49:55Speaker 03

  Slimy mushrooms.

• 49:57Josh Horowitz?

  I hate mushrooms generally, but the slimy kind.

• 49:59Speaker 03

  And also, this is gonna be controversial, but raw fish.

• 50:04Josh Horowitz?

  Not a sushi lady?

• 50:05Speaker 03

  No, I can't do the texture.

• 50:06Josh Horowitz?

  Okay.

• 50:07Speaker 03

  It's very unsophisticated.

• 50:08Josh Horowitz?

  No, no.

• 50:08Speaker 03

  Deeply unsophisticated. So don't give me slimy mushrooms and raw fish.

• 50:13Josh Horowitz?

  No, you're a classy lady, don't worry. Congratulations.

• 50:17Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 50:18Josh Horowitz?

  On the movie.

• 50:18Speaker 03

  Thank you so much.

• 50:19Josh Horowitz?

  If I had legs, I'd kick you. Everybody check it out. It's an amazing collaboration.

• 50:23Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 50:24Josh Horowitz?

  You and Mary Bronstein.

• 50:24Speaker 03

  Thanks, Josh. Thank you.

• 50:26Josh Horowitz?

  I'm glad it gave us an occasion to catch up today.

• 50:28Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 50:29Josh Horowitz?

  For indulging me.

• 50:30Speaker 03

  No, you're such a mensch. Thank you.

• 50:33Josh Horowitz?

  I'll see you next time.

• 50:33Speaker 03

  I'll see you soon.

• 50:35Speaker 04

  And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

• 50:55Speaker 06

  You've got your favorite blanket, a freshly poured drink, and a cold case burning a hole in your streaming queue. You're not just watching true crime, you're running the investigation from the comfort of your couch. Welcome to Murder She Watched, the podcast where we recap, dissect, and slightly overanalyze some of the best and craziest true crime documentaries on our favorite streamers. Did the spouse do it? Why is the shady neighbor wearing leather gloves in July? Why did this guy agree to be interviewed in this documentary? We ask the tough questions that you're often just screaming at your TV. So every week, we break down the twists, red herrings, and absurd documentaries that have kept you up all night.

• 51:39Speaker 06

  It's high drama, cozy vibes, and absolute couch detective energy. Grab your throw blanket and hit subscribe. Search Murder She Watched wherever you listen to podcasts, and let's solve this thing together.