Paul Feig, Vol. III

Paul Feig has lived in director's jail and lived to tell the tale. Now he's out though and making crowd-pleaser after crowd-pleaser. Paul joins Josh at a special taping at the Miami Film Festival for a chat about sequels (ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR), the legacy of FREAKS & GEEKS, and the success story that is BRIDESMAIDS. UPCOMING EVENTS! Alexander Skarsgard in NY 5/12 -- Tickets here! Tony Gilroy in NY 5/14 -- ⁠⁠Tickets here!⁠⁠ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Quince -- Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Quince.com/happysadco⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for 365 day returns and free shipping! 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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• 0:59Speaker 02

  I'm a commercial filmmaker. I'm making movies for studios and giving a lot of money to this budget and I gotta pay it off. But I also want people to have a good time. I don't want... The worst thing you can do is like, "Well, I loved it and screw them, they didn't get it." It's like, "Well, then just make movies for yourself and show them in your house."

• 1:16Speaker 03

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

• 1:23Josh Horowitz?

  Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. We have a returning guest. The one and only Paul Feig is on the show today. One of our great filmmakers. He can do it all. Very often doing comedy, but also mixing and matching a little bit of thriller here and there. And that's certainly the case for his new film, Another Simple Favor. It's a wild one. It's on Prime Video right now. We'll get to that in a second. Before we get to Paul, useful reminders and all this information, as always, of course, is on our Patreon. Check it out. Patreon.com/happysadconfused. So many cool additions over there, extras over there, early access, discount codes, merch, lots of cool stuff. If you like what I do, it helps us make more of what we do.

• 2:08Josh Horowitz?

  So check it out. As for live events, a lot coming up. Two I can mention. May 12th, Alexander Skarsgård is joining me. Always a delight. I slightly resent him because he's one of the most attractive human beings on the planet. Not, doesn't share any genetic material clearly with me or most of us, but despite that, he's so damn smart and talented and funny. I excuse it. Uh, we're gonna chat at the 92nd Street Y about his new series Murder Bot, which we're gonna screen a couple of episodes of. And of course, all sorts of stuff about his career. So come on out May 12th, uh, 7:30 PM, 92nd Street Y, me and Alexander Skarsgård. Couple of days later, May 14th, back at 92nd Street Y. Uh, it's gonna be me and Tony Gilroy.

• 2:51Josh Horowitz?

  First time guest on the podcast. He's been on the list for a long time and this is a perfect excuse because Tony is the man behind Andor. Brilliant show. It's gonna have just wrapped up its second season, so try to keep up. If you've just seen those final Bachelor episodes, which, which aired, I believe, the night before. That's perfect timing. Then we'll be able to dive deep into Star Wars. Um, and also, by the way, the guy has so many cool film credits, including an all time classic in Michael Clayton. So, uh, you guys know I love a deep dive filmmaker interview, and this is one of the smartest guys out there. So Tony Gilroy, May 14th, 92nd Street Y. Come on out if you can. Information is on our Patreon or in the show notes. You know what to do. Okay. Quick, uh, little,

• 3:36Josh Horowitz?

  um, information on what you're about to see and hear. This is Paul Feig and I talking in Miami. How the hell did that happen, Josh? Great question. Uh, the Miami Film Festival invited us, invited me to host a live edition of the podcast. This has been on my list, as you guys may know, to do more live events outside of New York, and this fit the bill perfectly. They were so lovely to us. Miami was, um, a great home for the podcast, and we decided on a great guest in Paul Feig. He has a new film out, Another Simple Favor, which is the wild sequel to A Simple Favor. You thought that movie was wild? This one up to the ante. Trust me. Of course, Blake Lively's back, Anna Kendrick's back, Henry

• 4:17Josh Horowitz?

  Golding, Andrew Rannells, a lot of familiar faces and new faces. It's a lot of fun. It's super fun. So we screened the film for the audience in Miami, then I sat down with Paul for this live edition of the podcast. No spoilers in here. Don't you worry. You can watch it without having seen the film. Um, and Paul's always amazing. The guy, you know, gave us freaks and geeks and spy and bridesmaids, and we talk about it all and much, much more. So. I know you guys are gonna get a kick out of this. I always do with Paul. He's a consummate professional. He's funny, he's smart, he's all the good things. So, here is Paul Feig and I somehow in Miami, at the Miami Film Festival, talking all things Another Simple Favor and more. Please enjoy.

• 5:02Josh Horowitz?

  Paul, congratulations, the precious Gem Award winner, Paul Feig. Do you have an illustrious career of awards in your childhood? What was the first award you ever won as a kid?

• 5:13Speaker 02

  I actually did a guitar recital. I was a terrible guitar player, but for some reason, I went to this competition with this classical song. I practiced forever. And for some reason, that one moment, I did it perfectly and scored a 100 out of 100 and was never able to play it again.

• 5:29Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing.

• 5:30Speaker 02

  Which I think sums up my entire career.

• 5:32Josh Horowitz?

  Let's get the guitar out again tonight for Paul. Congratulations. It's always good to see you. You guys are inside of my podcast. Thank you for coming out tonight in Miami. This is Happy Sag and Fuse with the one and only Mr. Paul Feig. You guys need us to switch? Are we good? Okay. Cameras, we're good? Okay, cool.

• 5:48Speaker 02

  I was going the wrong way.

• 5:50Josh Horowitz?

  So, Paul, this audience is one of the first audiences in the world, literally, to see Another Simple Favor.

• 5:56Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:57Josh Horowitz?

  Talk to me a little bit about, I mean, it's kind of ironic to me. If you look at your filmography, you might have expected a lot of other sequels, perhaps, to some other films. This is a challenging one. The first film was a challenging one. What was your attitude about sequels prior to making this one?

• 6:14Speaker 02

  I'm not a giant fan of sequels or doing them because, you know, there's been some great sequels, but I think the majority of sequels aren't as great as the first movie. And Hollywood always thinks, oh, if they like the first one, they're just gonna want another one. And audiences kind of used to go for that. If you think about the 80s and 90s, we'd all be like, okay, we'll go see the sequel. And I think people got burned by a lot of sequels over the years. And so, we found kind of in our research of the internet and just audiences, because I'm always just trying to figure out, how do I, you know, make an audience happy and give them what they want while still doing something that I'm happy with too? And the big question was always, why? Why do I need to see this?

• 6:55Speaker 02

  And it's a hard question to ask because sequels are difficult. The reason you love a movie the first time is because... You're discovering the characters for the first time, you're being given a lead character who has a problem in their life, or something they need to solve, and the movie solves, whatever happens in the movie solves it for them. So your lead character always comes out sort of better at the end, unless it's a crazy horror movie or whatever. And so, to then do a sequel of like, oh, I love that, I want to see that character, do you take them back to then they have another problem, and are you like, oh, didn't we solve your problem before? Like, what's wrong with you? Can't you pull it together? So it's hard,

• 7:36Speaker 02

  so you have to figure out, is there something new we can bring to it that isn't, that is taking what people liked from the first one, and then giving them something completely different while still paying off what they loved about the first one. And it's a really tough tightrope to walk in. For me, I just sometimes just don't, I'm like, I'd rather just step away from something that worked and not try to screw it up with a sequel.

• 7:58Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, as folks can now tell from seeing this, um, this is kind of like on steroids. This is like a simple favor, and you went like, to, I mean, you went for it, and I love that about this film, uh, because yes, we know and love the characters, but throwing them into this total other world really gives it an energy and a vitality that, I mean, the film had, but it's a totally different animal this time around.

• 8:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, the, the, God, the critics love it when you go crazy in the third act. All my movies get slammed for like, it goes nuts in the third act. Well, but I, I like a big ending, you know, and then, and these movies are kind of, they're, they're, you know, it's, that was what was fun about the first one was, it's a really grounded story, we treat it grounded, but it's got a crazy core to it. And, you know, I love Hitchcock movies, you know, because, what I love about the Hitchcock movies, not that they went bananas at the end, like we do, but the, the, the characters, there's so many funny characters in Hitchcock movies. You know, his thrillers are, they're thrilling, and they're exciting, but they're also, you laugh, because there's funny things happening, extreme characters

• 9:04Speaker 02

  in it. And I felt like over the years, thrillers had gotten very, you have to be very serious, you know, and all that. And it's like, I don't know, I think, as long as we're not going like, thumbing our nose at the genre, and screwing the audience over by pulling the rug, and going, oh, you like that? Well, guess what? We're gonna subvert that in a way that is not satisfying. You know, the, the, the worst thing that can happen when you, when you're screening a movie for an audience, or when an audience is watching a movie, is when they go like, Oh wait, no, wait, come on. Why would that happen? Because it means you set up a set of rules in the first half of the movie that then you subvert. You pull the rug out, it happens in a lot of comedies, go like, oh, well, this would be really funny, but like, well, that's funny, but now you completely like, subverted what everybody thought was the rule.

• 9:49Josh Horowitz?

  Right, violated your own rules that you've established.

• 9:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, so you have to stay, stay consistent with, with, you can set up the craziest language, the craziest set of rules you want. I always, um, point to the movie Moulin Rouge, uh, cause that movie, the first 10 minutes is nutty.

• 10:06Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 10:06Speaker 02

  You know, and I know a lot of people, when it first came out, before I saw it, people were like, oh, I left after the first 10 minutes, it's too crazy. But what that did is it sets you up and you go like, okay, that, that's the world I'm in.

• 10:15Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 10:15Speaker 02

  And then it, then it worked. So I'm just a big fan of what we call the skeleton, skeleton key at the beginning of the movie of like, here's the rules, now we're gonna stick to them.

• 10:23Josh Horowitz?

  I also love, I mean, yeah, you, you just alluded to this, like arguably my favorite movie of all time is North by Northwest. And that is one of the great kind of adventure, mystery, thriller, and it, it is comedic.

• 10:33Speaker 02

  It's funny.

• 10:33Josh Horowitz?

  It's a fun movie and that's what you've made. And I know you pride yourself on being above all else, a filmmaker for audiences. Like you trust and, and wanna please an audience. And I, cause I often have conversations with filmmakers about like, you wanna trust your gut, but there has to be that balance, I would imagine of trusting your gut and then listening to the audience.

• 10:52Speaker 02

  You can only trust your gut so far, cause your gut tells you what you like, you know, and that's why I'm very, very addicted to, uh, test screenings. Um, and a lot of filmmakers don't like them because basically, you know, what I do, you know, the DJA gives me, I'm contractually given 10 weeks where nobody interferes with me, the producers, the studio, everybody leaves me alone and I huddle up for 10 weeks and do my cut of the movie. Well, after about four or five weeks, I've done what I think is the first cut of the movie that I'm like, I think this works. And then I wanna test that. So I, I, we do a, a test audience, but not, not a friends and family. Those are completely worthless, cause all your friends and family are really nice to you. Oh, it was great. I loved it. But you get 300 people in a room who don't know you or recruited up the street, they're going to be brutal.

• 11:37Speaker 02

  But at the same time, you go like, okay, I thought that was gonna be great. Great, they didn't laugh, or they didn't like that, I think I have to change that. And look, there's something I really love, and I think, well, maybe it's just a weird audience. I'll test it twice, and if it doesn't work, you gotta take it out. Because I'm, you know, I'm a commercial filmmaker. I'm making movies for studios, I'm giving a lot of money to this budget, and I gotta pay it off. But I also want people to have a good time. I don't want, the worst thing you can do is like, well, I loved it, and screw them, they didn't get it. It's like, well, then just make movies for yourself, and show them in your house.

• 12:11Josh Horowitz?

  Let's talk about your amazing cast. I want to talk about, let's start with Anna. Anna Kendrick, who, I mean, there are few actors I would imagine you can trust to kind of like, you know, play drunk, play on, someone on sodium pentathol. But like, Anna is so finely calibrated as a comedic actor, that you're in safe hands with her. I don't know, what's her superpower for you as an actor to work with?

• 12:32Speaker 02

  Well, first of all, nobody plays drunk funnier than Anna Kendrick. She kills me every time she does it. No, Anna is great because she's a great actor, you know? And because of that, she can take the comedy and make it come out of herself in a real way. You know, what comedy falls apart is when you go, oh, that actor is making fun of that character. That actor doesn't like that character, or just going, oh, look how crazy I am. Because then, isn't the difference between if you know somebody who's really like, a kind of a crazy personality, but you kind of love them because that's them? Versus, sometimes I've gone out, you know, in the comedy world, like, somebody like, oh, this is my friend, he's really crazy.

• 13:17Speaker 02

  And you see somebody like, I'm crazy, like, trying to be funny, and it's like, I don't buy what you're doing. But if you can make, what like Anna does, make it come from your soul in a believable place, but you are an extreme oddball character, then the audience will follow you anywhere.

• 13:35Josh Horowitz?

  And then we have Blake Lively, who, I mean, I'm not gonna ruin this on the podcast for what she does in this film, but we see Blake in situations we've never seen her in before, or much less any other actor before.

• 13:47Speaker 02

  There you go.

• 13:48Josh Horowitz?

  But I mean, I guess, what did you learn from working with Blake the first time around? I mean, she seems like, you know, time-traveled out of old Hollywood. You get to work with this, like, amazing movie star, but she obviously has the comedic and dramatic chops. What did you learn from the first time that you applied to the experience this time?

• 14:03Speaker 02

  Well, Blake is brilliant. I mean, truly, her, you know, look, a movie is a collaboration. That's what we do. I mean, the myth that sort of like, the director comes in, he gives a script, and everybody just says it word for word, is a myth. I mean, there are filmmakers I know who do that, and sometimes it's great, but most times I go like, boy, that feels really written, that feels very rehearsed, that feels, you know, it doesn't feel in the moment to me. And so I'm very collaborative with my whole cast. And first of all, I invite all my actors to have a big say in their wardrobe. Because I was an actor for years, and your wardrobe affects how you play the character. I mean, you know, we are how we dress, you know, that's our personalities come through in that. And so I want them to be, you know, in tune with that.

• 14:47Speaker 02

  And then Melissa McCarthy and I, we used to do that all the time, everybody I work with. And so Blake's got such great ideas about her wardrobe and stuff. And then she works with Renee Kalfis, my amazing costume designer who did this movie, has done all my movies since The First Simple Favor. And it just, the ideas, what I love is when people give you an idea, and this happened with so many people I've worked with, where you're like, well, that's weird. And then you're like, wait, but if we can make that work, it's gonna be great. Because they see something that we're not, you know, there's nothing worse than turning down an idea because you didn't have it in your head first, versus getting past the thing of like, that wasn't my idea, but if I think about it, that's actually really cool.

• 15:30Speaker 02

  And my whole thing in my career is, I don't, I'm tired of my voice, you know? And it's why I kinda don't even, like, write from scratch a lot of my scripts anymore. Because I know my voice, I know where I'm going to go, versus new writers Come in and they have new ideas. I love working with people who haven't even, you know, who are just starting out.

• 15:49Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 15:49Speaker 02

  They're discovering somebody because they don't know the rules. You gotta know the rules, but if they don't know the rules and they're coming at you with something fresh and a fresh voice, then we can take it. We can make it commercial and do the things we need to do with it, but that's great. But that's what so many actors bring to the, what they do.

• 16:05Josh Horowitz?

  Well, and that, that only comes with experience and like, you know, the insecurity of a young director who feels like I have to put my stamp on every single thing. So everybody knows it's me.

• 16:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:13Josh Horowitz?

  And you, I mean, and we'll get to kind of like the body of work and it was seen in that clip reel, but like, I imagine working on something like The Office, for instance, where so many of the actors are writer actors and everybody is contributing. Must have been kind of a, I don't know, maybe a mind shift for you as a creative.

• 16:29Speaker 02

  Oh, totally, totally. You know, because I mean Freaks and Gags was pretty controlled. I mean, because we were on a tight schedule and I was very mercurial with the writing on that and everything. And the cast was great and it just, you know, that's kind of how it worked, but it was once I got to doing Arrested Development, then The Office and all these things where we could loosen it up. And you're working with such brilliant improvisers on that, that you start to go like, oh, you know, this is a collaboration. This has to be a collaboration. All the things, you know, I went to BSC Film School and it was all, you know, like, oh, actors are, like, everybody liked to, you know, crap on actors and stuff because it's all like, oh, you know, they always love to tell this story about Hitchcock, you know, when there was a big wide shot and there's an actor had to come running in this big wide shot up to the camera. And the actor's like, what's my motivation?

• 17:14Speaker 02

  Hitchcock said, I'll tell you when you get here. So, which, which everybody thought was funny, but I was kind of like, well, actually that's wrong because there's a million different ways to run. Like, is the guy in a panic? Is he scared? Is he this and that? So it's like, I have such love of actors because they bring so much to it. In my kind of mantra as a director is you have, you have to have the confidence they have no confidence. You know, you have to be able to go, I, I know what I'm doing, but maybe they're right. So let's try what they want and I'll do what I want. And the guy, that's a great thing about film. Let's do your version. Let's do my version. Let's do the other person's version. Let's get everything in between. And then I've got all that ammo when I go into the editing room.

• 17:59Josh Horowitz?

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• 18:44Josh Horowitz?

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• 19:26Josh Horowitz?

  Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit rula.com/happy to get started. That's rula, R-U-L-A, dot com slash happy. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget. You guys know the best stuff in your closet is the stuff that you actually wear, right? The things that you just keep coming back to, whether you're going to work, you're going out, you're just hanging around. Well, with the holidays coming up, Quince makes it really easy to find great gifts for everyone on your list. This year, I'm doing a lot of my holiday shopping at Quince. And yes, that includes a few things for myself. That's okay, right? One of the things I love about Quince is that you're getting Really high quality stuff without spending a fortune. Their cashmere sweaters start at

• 20:10Josh Horowitz?

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• 20:52Josh Horowitz?

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• 21:27Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, so we're gonna do a little bit of a This is Your Life, Paul Feig, because we have you here and you've done an amazing amount of exceptional work. Alluded to what you were like as a kid, but can you elaborate a little bit more? I mean, only child, did you feel like, I don't know, were you a performer as a kid? Did you have a big personality?

• 21:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, I always wanted to be an actor. I mean, when I was five years old, I had this mind bending moment when I got cast as the lead elf in the school play. And if you've read one of my books, this is in the book, so I apologize. Basically, we had to be elves and they said, oh, the parents have to make elf costumes for your kid. So my father owned an army surplus store. And so he was like, well, let's put together an elf costume. And my father was never happy. He was like, god damn it, we gotta do an elf costume for you. Who has to do that? So he like took me in and got like these olive drab green boxer shorts from the army and this t-shirt, suspenders and stuff. And then he got these big wool green socks.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  For my feet and then he goes, oh, so he took foam and he put the foam in the front. So my feet were like this long in a sock with this big curly thing. So we think we look good. We go to the to the recital or the play. Every kid looks like like they've walked out of Western costume. I mean, these parents made the most gorgeous elf costumes ever and I'm like this low red elf. So I walk out, get my big entrance after all the elves are out there. I walk out and the audience goes crazy, laughing at me, granted. But they and all I heard was like, oh, my God. Uh, look what just happened from an audience. I must have this for the rest of my life.

• 23:06Josh Horowitz?

  And you got into, I mean, stand up comedy was something you pursued pretty early on, like as fifteen years old.

• 23:11Speaker 02

  Fifteen years old, yeah.

• 23:12Josh Horowitz?

  What was, what's the act of a fifteen year old doing stand up?

• 23:15Speaker 02

  It's not very good, I'll tell you.

• 23:18Speaker 02

  It's a lot of stolen jokes from Johnny Carson back in the day and, uh, I had to take my parents to the comedy club. It was a place called The Delta Lady, which was downright downtown Detroit, like a pretty funky area. And it was a biker bar that was doing, it was right at the beginning of of the comedy club thing. And like, you know, Tim Allen was one of the regulars there and, you know, there was like famous people, uh, who were starting out. And yeah, they brought me in. I think they just thought it was funny that a fifteen year old wanted to get up on stage. And so I got up and told these jokes and I thought I was getting laughs. If you listen to the tape now, which I still have somewhere, they're just clearly laughing at me. But again, I thought I killed. My parents took me to Shakey's Pizza after the first show and I was just like, I did it. And so, yeah.

• 24:00Josh Horowitz?

  So, I mean, the click notes version is you you moved to LA, you're doing stand up, you're getting into acting. Um, you're a tour guide at Universal Studios, I think, at one point. So is, when does acting kind of take off or become consistent for you? Is that relatively early on or are there years of kind of like figuring it out?

• 24:20Speaker 02

  Well, it was kind of, you know, I was, did a lot of theater in in Michigan before I moved out to LA at the age of seventeen. And I did the, like you said, did the tour guide thing. Um, and then, I mean, I I kind of got swept up into wanting to go to film school because I. Eight, nineteen eighty-one, when I was a tour guide, I got taken to the very first opening morning showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Man Chinese Theater. Packed house. And I didn't know anything about it. I had no idea. That was pre-internet, so if you didn't happen to see a trailer, then you didn't get no. And the place went crazy, crazy. And I remember just going like, oh my god, you can do that to an audience.

• 25:02Speaker 02

  I, but I was still kind of thinking as an actor, but at the same time, I kind of had this dream of like, I'm gonna write, direct and star in my own stuff. So, went to USC Film School, got out and kind of worked as a script reader for a producer named Michael Phillips, who produced like The Sting and Close and Counters, all that. And then I wanted to stand up, and I did stand up for about four or five years and then kind of burned out on it a little bit. Because I realized the goal for a stand-up back then was to just be on the road as an opener, as a headliner all the time. And it just, I didn't like that. So went, pivoted to acting. And then I had like fifteen years, I mean, first TV series I was a regular on was, uh, Sabrina. Uh, no, no, no, it was not that. It was, um, Dirty Dancing, the TV series. You didn't know they did that, did you? Neither did anybody else. That was the problem.

• 25:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Never watched it, exactly.

• 25:50Josh Horowitz?

  But Sabrina was a big, was, I mean, that's a real successful show. You're a regular on it.

• 25:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was after four other failed TV series. So that was the end of like a fourteen-year run of kind of getting, getting to be a, like the sixth lead on a sitcom. And going, this is my big break, you know, and then the, the telling thing was always, they're like, okay, we're gonna take, you know, there's like the day when they're gonna take all the publicity photos. So you're all excited and you're there, the rest of the cast, you know, they go like, all right, everybody get in. So you have the big group photo, we're like, hey. And then they're like, all right, uh, can you guys on the end peel off?

• 26:24Speaker 02

  And you're like, oh no. And then they spent hours shooting the three leads and you're like, I might as well not be on the show. And so, and that's, and I, I had an actor's ego. I would really was like, I wanted to be in the spotlight. I wanted to be, be important on the set and, and to the project. And it just never happened. And, you know, and even with Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which finally was the, you know, after four other failed series, took off. And that was the thing, like, finally I'm on a show. I'm gonna be taken care of for seven, eight years. You know, the show's gonna run forever. And they called me up after the end of the first season like, oh, we're not gonna bring it back to the show. We don't know how to write for your character. Cause like, I do, I could write for.

• 27:04Josh Horowitz?

  Again, we can't cover everything, but coming out of that, you make a film, which I know doesn't necessarily pan out in the way that you wanted it to.

• 27:11Speaker 02

  Right.

• 27:12Josh Horowitz?

  Um, but the good news is that experience, correct me if I'm wrong, kind of gives birth to Freaks and Geeks.

• 27:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, I made, briefly, I made a $30,000 film that I starred in, shot in a field. It was four, I wrote and directed and starred in it. It was four people who meet in a field. They don't know why they're there and they, turns out they all think that a UFO is gonna come and take them away because they hate their lives. So, very small film. Um, yeah, and I couldn't sell it anywhere. Couldn't get it at any festivals, except I finally got into this kind of traveling road festival where you take it around these small colleges and show it. And it was out, when I was out on the road doing that, that I decided I was gonna write the pilot for Freaks and Geeks.

• 27:51Josh Horowitz?

  So, look, I'm sure this audience has seen Freaks and Geeks. It's one of the greatest TV shows arguably in the history of television. I mean, it's a seminal work and it's so personal to you. Um, I guess briefly, like, let's just talk about the cast, for instance. That cast is insane.

• 28:07Speaker 02

  Whatever happened to them?

• 28:08Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, exactly. Did you have to fight for any of them in particular? I mean, were they all kind of easy to get the network to approve from Seth to James Franco?

• 28:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, they actually were. I mean, that was the thing when, you know, when Judd and I took the pilot into NBC to see if they would buy it. I remember, no, they had already, they were interested in it. We were gonna have a meeting to talk about it. And I made this big speech to Judd, like, they're not gonna make me cast a bunch of, you know, beautiful models in this thing. I want real kids, blah, blah, blah. And so I start that speech in NBC and they go, oh, no, we agree. Oh, okay. So they kind of really let us cast the way we want to. And we saw every kid in town, you know? And there's so many talented kids out there, but you just knew when one, each one of them came in, you're just like, oh, my gosh. You just couldn't believe how talented they were. You know, we found Seth Rogen up in Vancouver in an open casting call. He was one of, like, three kids who

• 28:59Speaker 02

  had an agent, so he kind of got brought in first. Um, and the minute he started reading, Judd and I just looked at each other like, oh, my God, this, this guy is absolute gold.

• 29:08Josh Horowitz?

  Like you had, like, done stand-up at, like, 16 years old.

• 29:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, totally, yeah. He was, I mean, he's the most confident 16-year-old I've ever met in my life.

• 29:16Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, is it, it must be hard to pinpoint this, but what are you proudest of the legacy of that show? It's talked about to this day, it, it, it's sure the cast, but it, again, it just, as personal as, as you, I feel like everybody connects still to this day.

• 29:28Speaker 02

  I think the, what I am most proud of is so many either parents or, or people who were kids at the time, or have seen it over the intervening years, said like, "It really helped me get through high school." And that was kind of my motivation to do it in the first place, because I had such a crazy time in, in high school, and I was so terrified of going in, and I had weird bullies, and you're like, you know, pre-internet, you're like, is it just me? Am I the weirdo? And just to go like, "Let's do something in, in the most fun but real way we can," to go like, "Look, it's gonna be terrible, but you're gonna get through it, and you're gonna laugh about it when it's over," so I, I like that that carries on.

• 30:02Josh Horowitz?

  I know you're, you're asked this all the time, I probably asked you this six times, but it's a page of every single thing being rebooted, sequelized, et cetera.

• 30:12Josh Horowitz?

  No, nothing for Freaks and Kinks, and is that something that you and Judd have had to protect actively? Has that come up as a conversation?

• 30:18Speaker 02

  Oh, it comes up all the time, yeah. People wanted it forever. I, no, you know, I, I'm a, I'm a fan of James Brown who said, "Hit it and quit it." You know, and we had 18 episodes that I think are kind of, kind of great, and, look, I definitely had a plan for a second season. But that's these, you know, they're all grown up now, and I'm not gonna do a modern day one, because I couldn't write that. You know, what do I, what do I have to say? You know, this was good, because it was all the things that were going on for me when I was in school. And I, you know, what I like about it is, it was, you know, it was, we made it in, in 1999, 2000, it takes place in 1980. I really like doing things that are in the past, because you have a very set bunch of cultural rules, icons, things like that.

• 31:03Speaker 02

  Because what I hate about making, you know, movies sometimes these days, is it's always like, "Well, we gotta get a hot new song in there," and it's like, how many times you, then you, like, by the time the movie comes out, it was like, "Oh, that song sucks," or like, "Oh yeah, that, that was played out," or "It never hit." And so, we could cherry pick the best of not only the culture and the music, but also... Sort of what, what we were going through, what adolescents go through back then. You know, and that was always the thing like, let's not get too hung up on cultural references because it's all about the feelings that you have when you're adolescent, which are probably the same 200 years ago, because our emotions are the same, it's just the

• 31:46Speaker 02

  trappings around us are different. And so, you know, that's why I think it kind of holds up, is we just stuck to that stuff.

• 31:52Josh Horowitz?

  And there's something to be said for like quitting while you're ahead. I mean, that one season is frozen forever and we will always wonder all those questions.

• 32:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, you know, because people, so many people go like, oh, I just wish I knew how it ended. I'm like, the only, the only show that ever had a perfect ending was Six Feet Under, because the last episode, they killed everybody. You saw how everybody died, you know, so you're kind of like, okay, yes, once I know everybody dies, then the story is over. But, you know, characters go on, their lives change and all that. And sometimes, like, I don't want to know what happened to some of the people I went to school with, because I like them, because they weren't my friends necessarily, just people kind of, you know, we're all background extras in other people's movies.

• 32:33Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 32:34Speaker 02

  And like, I, you know, and some people take great joy in going to their, you know, class reunion and seeing who lost their hair and who got overweight. And like, I don't want to know that. I just want to remember them the way that they were. And if somebody reaches out and says hi, then that's great, but.

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• 33:57Josh Horowitz?

  So there's a good decade between then and Bridesmaids. And a lot happens in that decade for you. A little bit of movie director jail, fair to say?

• 34:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:08Josh Horowitz?

  There's a little bit of that. There's a lot of experience making television, the aforementioned Arrested Development, The Office, etc. Like, if I was talking to you back in like 2000, 2010, I mean, you're making really good work. You're making great television, but were you satisfied creatively?

• 34:23Speaker 02

  I mean, you hate to say no, because I was working on some of the best shows on TV. I mean, throw Nurse Jackie and 30 Rock and all those things into there. But it was not satisfying just because I knew I wanted to make movies. That's all I have ever wanted to do. And I wanted to tell, not necessarily my own stories, but I wanted to tell my story, the stories I like the way I wanted to tell them. And you know, when you're TV, when you work in TV, and I was very lucky, having afraid of freaks and geeks, I got a lot of leeway from the people that I worked with, because they knew me as a writer also. But at the same time, I'm in service of them, because when I had directors on my show, they were in service of me, you know, and the vision that Judd and I had for the show. So, you know, you come in with an idea, and then if they don't want it, you go, sure,

• 35:08Speaker 02

  what do you want? And I just wanted to be back making movies. Also, I just loved putting stuff on the pick screen. You know, it's just so much fun. So 2009, I was kind of getting a little, I would always kind of say to my wife, I think I'm just kind of running down the clock. You know, it's great, it's great, we can have this nice life, you know. But the low point came when I was directing a series of internet commercials for Macy's. And it did with, one was with Barca with Martha Stewart, it was really cool and stuff. But then I did one with Donald Trump. And it was, it was just a weird experience. And I remember just going back to the hotel and going like, what am I doing? And that was right around when Judd called, or my agents got a call that Bridesmaids was going to be alive again.

• 35:53Speaker 02

  Judd had brought it to me like about three years prior. Uh, I went to a table read of it and um, in the, it, it, the script was very different still. It was the same idea, but very different. But I just saw these six funny women, but not even the women who were in the movie, by the way. Um, reading and I was like, that's, I want to do that because look at all these great roles for these women. And then it just kind of, it kind of sat there and I was busy with other stuff and then it would, it looked like it was dead. So right around that 2010, when I was doing the Macy's stuff, I got a call from age and saying like, it's alive again. And then Judd reached out and, you know, and said, you want to do this, changed everything.

• 36:33Josh Horowitz?

  And, and ever since then, like if you're, you know, you certainly genre hopped, but if there is a consistency among your films, it is showcasing women front and center. And I mean, it, it, it's, it's still sounds insane to say, but at the time bridesmaids was this weird anomaly. Like, wait, is there a market for this? Can just like an ensemble of women actually lead a film like this? Was that, I don't know, was that an active conversation behind the scenes that's? Was doubt in that?

• 36:59Speaker 02

  I mean, there was, it was considered a big swing and you know, Judd was, Judd's a good producer. He kind of kept that away from me, but we were, you know, the studio was great. I mean, Donna Langley, the whole gang, they were really into it. It was just that, that the business around it of Hollywood was in a sort of, let's wait and see what happens. Cause I had a lot of female writer friends who were kind of inspired that we were doing that. So they were taking out their pitches for female led movies. And they were across the board hearing from execs, oh, we just have to wait and see how bridesmaids does. Which is like, that's really.

• 37:32Josh Horowitz?

  No pressure also.

• 37:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, no pressure and also, you know, the movie starring guys, people are like, well, if The Hangover doesn't work, we're not going to make movies with men anymore, you know, so. It's, it was kind of, it was, it was terrifying. And then literally, I mean, you know, we were really projected to not do well. I mean, up to the day of, of the, the release, um, they told me if, if we don't, if you, if the movie doesn't make $20 million at least, opening weekend, it's a failure. And so the first projections came in the morning of, because I did a midnight screening the night before, that it was gonna come in at thirteen. And so I just walked around the house like dead man walking, like, well, not this, you know, because I had two other movies that had bombed, and this was my last strike, basically. And, um, but just during the course of the day, we started getting calls like, hey, well, it's gonna be fifteen.

• 38:18Speaker 02

  It's actually, it looks like seventeen. And then Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben were over at our house having dinner, kind of licking our wounds. And then this text started coming in twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three. And I was like, get in the car. We're going, going to the arc like cinema, which were like the big cinema back then in, in LA. We'd walk in the back and the place is just packed and rocking. And we're like, oh, my God.

• 38:39Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. An undeniable theater experience. Nobody really knew Melissa. Maybe in some comedy circles, they knew her.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  Gilmore Girls fans.

• 38:46Josh Horowitz?

  That's true. You're right. Absolutely true. But that must have been just thrilling to see someone that was just fearless as a performer.

• 38:54Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 38:54Josh Horowitz?

  On set.

• 38:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, that's why we ended up doing three, you know, four movies altogether. Um, yeah, you know, you, you kind of, in comedy, you look for somebody who has the exact same sense of humor as you do, and it's really hard to find. We all, all of us have a very different sense of humor, I guarantee it. And so when you find somebody who wants to play by the same kind of rules that you do, as far as like, we don't want to take the character too far, but we can push it this far, but we can't take it over the top, you know, this stuff, it's just kind of fantastic. And so we really, you know, I didn't know who she was before that. She came in for an audition, because Annie and, Annie Mummelo and Kristen knew her from Groundlings. And, um, it was just like, who is this person

• 39:35Speaker 02

  who is unbelievably hilarious and, and different and, and could bring a weirdness to the character, but like a completely believable weirdness. I mean, nobody read the part like her in all the auditions we did.

• 39:47Josh Horowitz?

  Also, one of the joys, I mean, we keep talking about casting, is like, you, you know, you cast someone like Melissa McCarthy, you know you're gonna get something exceptional. But what I love also, you've done this repeatedly in your career, whether it's with Rose, who we saw in that, and she's amazing in Spy as well, Statham, Hemsworth. I mean, is that just like, I, is that a gut instinct that someone, if they've got the dramatic chops, they're gonna be able to nail? Humor?

• 40:12Speaker 02

  I have to meet them. That's the thing. I like to take meetings or get to know people. Um, because then I get to see who they really are. You know, Statham was, cause I'm, my wife and I are enormous Statham fans, seen everything he ever did. And is a director and like, once my movies were kinda starting to be successful, it's, it's easier to go like, hey, I'd like to meet so and so. Well, they come to my office, please. And, um, and Jason, you know, we set up a meeting and he came in. And I just thought he was so delightful. Um, and I go like, there's something funny about him. Also, fair, in fairness, if you've seen the Crank movies, you can't watch those movies and not go like, that guy does not know.

• 40:47Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 40:47Speaker 02

  What's funny. They, I mean, those movies are nuts.

• 40:49Josh Horowitz?

  Like Wile E. Coyote cartoons basically brought to life.

• 40:52Speaker 02

  So I was like, okay, he's gonna be great. But like with Hemsworth, you know, I'm a big fan of Hemsworth's, but I like, I'd say, you know, when he was kind of, I'd heard through my agent that he was interested in possibly doing, being a Ghostbuster. I said, can I, can I have lunch with him? And just talking to him, like, oh my God, you're really funny. Do your Australian accent. I don't want you to put on an American accent. And, and you know, and then like for last Christmas, Michelle Yeoh. You know, when we were doing a simple, the first simple favor, Henry Golding had just done Crazy Rich Asians. And Michelle was in, in Toronto with us where we were shooting, doing Star Trek. And one day he's like, hey, do you want to have dinner with Michelle Yeoh? And I'm like, I didn't know she existed. I mean, I was such a fan of hers from all the Hong Kong movies, but you kinda don't think that a person

• 41:34Speaker 02

  really breathes and walks this earth like her. And, um, the minute I met her, she was hilarious and we just had the best times. I'm like, I gotta get you in a comedy. I gotta put you in a comedy. So that, that's kind of the fun way, fun way to do it to, to, cause then also you're playing with the expectations of an audience that goes like, oh, we know exactly what that person does. Like if, if I didn't meet Michelle Yeoh, I go like, she's the most serious badass actress. That's so cool. I would never have told you in a million years, she's really funny. Same with Emilia Clarke, you know, she's Khaleesi and she's so serious and, you know, her face didn't even move and then, you know, and then she comes in and she's goofy and all this stuff. So, yeah, it is a joy to be able to bring that side, another, an unknown side of an actor to the audience.

• 42:17Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, 10th anniversary of Spy this year. I always bring it up. I'm obsessed with that movie. I love that movie and I know you've said before it's the one movie you'd actually kind of seriously consider now besides this one obviously doing a sequel. Have you ever come remotely close? Is there any hope for folks like me?

• 42:32Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, I mean, you know, you never say never. I mean, I've definitely, I definitely know what the story would be. There's just moments you go like, is it too, did we wait too long? Or sometimes if you do it too soon, I don't know. I mean, I love, I'm so happy to get to do new things all the time. I mean, having done this and then now just finished production on The Housemaid, which is coming out at Christmas, which was so much fun doing with Sydney Sweeney and then Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklinar. And it was, it was, um, I don't know, it's, I, I like the idea of revisiting stuff, but at the same time, it's really fun to move forward. But, but that, again, that's one that if we do it, we would do that.

• 43:10Josh Horowitz?

  Okay. So there's not enough time to go into everything, though. I love Ghostbusters. I love so much of your work. But talk to me, you did mention your next film, which is coming pretty soon. And this has quite a following. I know the books are very popular. You just showed off some footage for the first time at CinemaCon in Vegas that went over very well. Talk to me about the approach to this one compared to, I mean, it shares, you know, some thriller sensibilities, I would imagine, but fair to say less humor than the Simple Favor films?

• 43:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, the, I really love the book. I don't know how many people here have read the book. It's a really good book. Yeah. And it's got a great, it's got great twists and the characters, you know, and I'm always going to be very religious about whatever the source material is. And so, so, I mean, The Housemaid is definitely, it's sometimes it's so extreme, you'll just kind of laugh just because you're like, oh my God, but.

• 44:02Josh Horowitz?

  We just saw another Simple Favor and you're saying that's extreme?

• 44:05Speaker 02

  Exactly. Different kind of extreme.

• 44:07Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, okay, just checking, just checking.

• 44:09Speaker 02

  No, but I, the fun for me, I, I love, I, my confession is I don't watch a lot of comedies. I actually, all I watch is like thrillers and horror movies. I love thrillers because to me, they're very, you know, comedy and, and horror and thrillers and all this stuff, they're, they're so close together because.

• 44:29Speaker 02

  A laugh is the same emotion as a scream or a jump.

• 44:32Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 44:32Speaker 02

  And if people like you shock people and they scream, they'll almost always laugh after they scream.

• 44:39Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 44:39Speaker 02

  You know, and then the moment that kind of solidified it for me was when we were doing the movie The Heat.

• 44:44Josh Horowitz?

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:44Speaker 02

  And shooting the scene, I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a scene where like the bad guy stabs Sandra Bullock in the leg with his knife and leaves it there. And so Melissa pulls it out and then they realize they have their plan to work. She still has to have the knife back in her leg. And so we go this sequence where like she's trying to stab his, Sandra with his knife and the audience is just, they're screaming and laughing at the same time. And I was like, ooh, I like, I like how these two things go together. You know, and these days, all the, most comedies you were watching now are horror movies. I mean, Megan is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen in my life. I cannot wait for the sequel this year. Um, you know, but they're exciting. It's, it's about eliciting in a gut, you know, a primal emotion out of an audience.

• 45:28Speaker 02

  That's when you really feel like you've hit a home run.

• 45:30Josh Horowitz?

  I'm excited about the trio of actors you've never worked with in, in the new film. Um, I mean, there's a lot of like stuff like that. There's a lot of fan casting out there. Do you even pay attention to that?

• 45:39Speaker 02

  No, you'll go crazy if you do that.

• 45:41Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, yeah. That's again, just trusting instincts and we were talking before backstage, like Sydney Sweeney, I just love what she's doing with her career.

• 45:48Speaker 02

  She's so great.

• 45:48Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, what surprised or excited you about working with this trio of actors? Can you hint a little bit?

• 45:53Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, I was a huge fan of Sydney's, you know, uh, did you ever see the movie Reality that she did? Unbelievable, unbelievable. And I was just like, I have to work with her. Um, Amanda I had met, Amanda Seyfried I had met years before we had, had drinks together just to kind of have like a general meeting. And we really hit it off and I was just like, I have to work with her. And, um, and then Blake had just worked with Brandon on The Ends With Us and she, the whole, when we, she was still in the middle of shooting and all that stuff. When we were doing Simple Favor, they're doing reshoots. And she was like, I'm working with this guy and he's so amazing. Brandon, you gotta meet Brandon Barretta. I was like, alright, alright. Like, and then so finally we were casting this. I was like, alright, I'll, I'll have lunch with Brandon. He walks in, within 30 seconds I'm like jelly, like, okay, you're scared, like.

• 46:38Speaker 02

  The most charismatic, you know, guy you've ever met in your life and so talented. So it's just, it's, there's a thrill of, thrill of working with people you've worked with before because you know how to play with what they do. But there's a real thrill also about working with somebody new for the first time, especially when they're delightful. I mean, this cast, you know, this sounds like Hollywood BS, but it's not. This cast was delightful to work with. They were, we, we had a really short schedule. We had like a 34 day schedule, over 200 scenes in the movie. Yeah, and, and they, I was just like, this is gonna be tough. They're like, cool, we're in. And they were just, man, they just nailed it every time and gave me options and different things. I can't wait for you to see it. It's really, and it's gonna be theatrical, it's gonna be on the big screen.

• 47:20Josh Horowitz?

  Nice, nice. Um, and on the bucket list for, I mean, again, you've, you've dabbled in a lot of different genres. You've talked about wanting to do a musical. Uh, I remember there was a, there was kind of like a big horror project that you were working on with Universal for a while.

• 47:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, but yeah, exactly.

• 47:34Josh Horowitz?

  Right. So, uh, what's top of the list? It's, it seems like musical keeps coming up for you.

• 47:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, but, yeah, I, I mean, I love, I'd love to do a musical, but I don't want to do a bad musical.

• 47:43Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 47:43Speaker 02

  You know, so it's about finding the right material. I'd love to do an original musical, but I, I want it to be kind of big, but you know, exciting, like John Carney is so great at doing those, those small musicals, you know, like Once and those, and his new movie coming out, which looks fantastic. But I kinda wanna do something more like a Bollywood-esque, you know, old MGM type thing, but we'll, we'll see. I mean, I'm dying to do a Western, I'm dying to do a big sci-fi thing, you know, but I love doing thrillers, I'd like to do a few more thrillers. Yeah, I'm definitely trying to check off every genre I can.

• 48:13Josh Horowitz?

  Um, Paul, the third simple favor movie, you've kind of, you're, it's, it's, it's a challenging one.

• 48:18Speaker 02

  Even simpler favor, exactly. The simplest favor.

• 48:22Josh Horowitz?

  The simplest favor yet, can you imagine?

• 48:23Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 48:24Josh Horowitz?

  Um, yeah, and where do you set it? Have you thought about seriously what you might do with these characters?

• 48:29Speaker 02

  I've got a few ideas, I've got a few ideas, yeah, we'll see.

• 48:32Josh Horowitz?

  We'll see. Um, okay, we're gonna end, end with this. It's Trish and Happy Second Fuse to ask folks, uh, the profoundly random questionnaire. So Paul, are you ready?

• 48:42Speaker 02

  I, I'm afraid, but yes.

• 48:44Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, don't be afraid. It can't be worse than showing you old clips of your, you know, that is your acting career.

• 48:48Speaker 02

  You pulled the bandy, basically.

• 48:50Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, dogs or cats?

• 48:52Speaker 02

  Cats.

• 48:54Josh Horowitz?

  Wow.

• 48:56Speaker 02

  I love dogs, don't get me wrong.

• 48:57Josh Horowitz?

  Team cat, okay.

• 48:58Speaker 02

  You know, all I do is watch cat videos, that's all I do online. I do.

• 49:02Josh Horowitz?

  Really? Uh, what do you collect?

• 49:05Speaker 02

  Uh, I collect walking sticks and cowboy boots.

• 49:08Josh Horowitz?

  That is a new, uh, the walking stick is a new answer to the Happy Second Fused question.

• 49:12Speaker 02

  There you go, exactly, exactly. Not a cane, a walking stick.

• 49:15Josh Horowitz?

  Do you have a favorite walking stick?

• 49:17Speaker 02

  I do, it's actually in both movies. It, bo- both the simple favors, it's that skull one, it's in the first one, you actually see it on camera, this one, she's got it when they're mixing the martinis.

• 49:25Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing.

• 49:25Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 49:26Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, favorite video game of all time?

• 49:29Speaker 02

  I don't really play video games, but it would be Tetris if I had to pick. It was old school.

• 49:33Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, yeah. Um, what's the wallpaper on your phone?

• 49:37Speaker 02

  My wife. Of course. Very cute picture, too, we've been married thirty years, so there you go.

• 49:43Josh Horowitz?

  Nice, congratulations. Um, are you ever mistaken for anybody, another filmmaker, another actor, has it happened?

• 49:50Speaker 02

  Uh, yes, two. Um, I used to get mistaken for Andy Dick all the time, yeah, if you remember who. And Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall. So often, I get, people going, hey, and it's always, you know, when you, you know, you're kind of in this business, so people go like, oh my god, I love your work, oh, thanks so much. You, when you did that one character, oh god, they, they think I'm Scott Thompson, goddammit.

• 50:13Josh Horowitz?

  When you were acting more, what was the worst note a director ever gave you? Anything stick out in your mind?

• 50:19Speaker 02

  It's the, it's the dr- the note I still give to actors, and then I always go like, oh shit, I said it. Just have fun with it, just have fun with it.

• 50:25Josh Horowitz?

  What does that mean?

• 50:26Speaker 02

  It's the worst thing, worst thing you can say to an actor, and yet, somehow in the moment, it feels like, oh, I don't even have to like, to me, it makes sense, but as an actor goes like, okay, great, thanks.

• 50:34Josh Horowitz?

  Three one.

• 50:35Speaker 02

  Give me a line reading?

• 50:35Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, do you ever give a line reading?

• 50:37Speaker 02

  No, no, well, I, I used to want to do, I used to like, try to get them to do it, and the, and the cool actors go like, well, just give me a line reading, I don't care. And the minute I would do it, it would sound so terrible, I'd go like, just do what you're doing, just do your thing, you're better, cause.

• 50:49Josh Horowitz?

  What does bother you on set? Because you're in my history with you, you're one of the nicest guys out there. It seems like you have a very even keel personality. Do you ever have a meltdown making a film? Like what?

• 51:00Speaker 02

  No, no, you can't. I mean, look, there's a, we all know the stories. The director's screaming and yelling. I, when I was an actor, I'm so sensitive, just in general, I'm a sensitive guy. I don't like conflict. And like, you know, I would try, when I was an actor, like, oh, I'm gonna improvise a line. And like, if a director be like, no, what are you doing? Like, they slap you down. I would just freeze up. And then all my, my extra skills would just go away. And it's like, just tell me what to do. And you could come with kind of like a robot. And so for me, I don't want any of that stress. You know, we have a thing, like, is there any crew member that we have that has a blow up? It's like, you're gone. Like, I don't need, do not bring drama to my set.

• 51:40Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, life is too short. Okay, in the spirit of happy second fuse, who's an actor who always makes you happy? You see them on screen, you're in a better mood immediately.

• 51:48Speaker 02

  Uh, Will Arnett. I had so much fun working with Will on Arrested Development. And he was, he was the one I had to, they had to move my monitors so far away from the set because I would just start laughing anything he did. Because it's so serious. Everything's so serious. Oh, he kills me.

• 52:05Josh Horowitz?

  A movie that makes you sad, brings you to tears?

• 52:08Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, sad is not the right word, but always cry at It's a Wonderful Life.

• 52:13Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 52:13Speaker 02

  I will always cry at that. That's my favorite movie of all time because whether it's the greatest movie of all time, it is a movie that does everything a movie is supposed to do. Makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you happy, makes you sad, all that stuff. And I just think it's masterful.

• 52:27Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, a food that makes you confused. You don't get it.

• 52:30Speaker 02

  Confused? Oh, my goodness. Um, uh, well, mayonnaise, because I don't know why people like it.

• 52:37Josh Horowitz?

  I'm with you. I hate it.

• 52:39Speaker 02

  I don't know. There's two things that make me want to gag. And it's, one is, is mayonnaise and one is pickled beets for some reason.

• 52:45Josh Horowitz?

  I'm with you, Paul. I hate beets. Look at this.

• 52:47Speaker 02

  Well, I had a bad experience when I was a kid because my father loved beets and he loved borscht. But my mom used to make this really great fruit punch. You see where this is going? And we had this pitcher, this plastic pitcher you could kind of see through. And one day I was like, oh, my God, Mom made fruit punch. Pour it in a big thing, goes, and it was beet borscht. And I'm like, oh.

• 53:05Josh Horowitz?

  We can't end on that.

• 53:06Speaker 02

  We can't, yeah, please.

• 53:07Josh Horowitz?

  Here's one question I actually, I wanted to ask about the film. How the hell do you close down the Trevi Fountain? How do you have it all to yourself?

• 53:14Speaker 02

  Oh, man. Don't think it wasn't an ordeal.

• 53:17Josh Horowitz?

  Is that for real? Like, there's no digital trickery?

• 53:19Speaker 02

  No, that is the real deal. Let me just tell you.

• 53:22Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 53:23Speaker 02

  My dream was I wanted, because I love Fellini. And I got to, we shot part of this movie at Chittaguna, which, if you know Fellini. But I got it in my head. I'm gonna have Blake Lively in the Trevi Fountain, just like Anita Eckberg. And I told our Italian liaisons, and they're like, "You cannot, you cannot." And so I, "I know, but I want it, blah, blah, blah, blah." And then I'm talking to other Italians who go like, "There's a term, I forget the word. There's some word that's derogatory in Italian that means 'person who follows the rules.'" So they're like, "You just go and do it." So I'm like, "Okay, well, I'm gonna do it." And so all these rumors are going around. We get there to shoot, the police are there. Basically, if I, she sent one toe into that water, they were gonna leap on us, I was gonna

• 54:08Speaker 02

  be banned from Italy for the rest of my life. So I'm like, "All right, you'll just sit on the edge."

• 54:13Josh Horowitz?

  That's enough. Close to being a rule breaker. Congratulations, man. The film is fantastic. It's one of the most entertaining films I've seen in quite a while. You make movies for audiences, as I said. This audience is very lucky. You guys are truly one of the first audiences to see us. So please, spread the good word. This is gonna be on Prime May 1st.

• 54:30Speaker 02

  May 1st.

• 54:31Josh Horowitz?

  May 1st. Spread the good word. And before we end, I just want to thank Miami and Miami Film Festival, Loring, for being such a great host. Amazing. It's been such an honor to bring Happy Sad Confused here, and with no less than the great Paul Feig. Award winner Paul Feig, give it up one more time, please, everybody.

• 54:51Speaker 02

  Thanks, everybody.

• 54:51Josh Horowitz?

  Thanks, everyone.

• 54:52Speaker 02

  You guys are the greatest. Thank you. We appreciate it.

• 55:15Speaker 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.

• 55:59Speaker 06

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