John Boyega, Vol. III

John Boyega is one of us. Sure he's a STAR WARS star but he's also an unapologetic fanboy. He brings his enthusiasm to his chat with Josh taped in front of a live audience in Chicago at C2E2 to talk all things STAR WARS, Marvel, ATTACK THE BLOCK, and more. UPCOMING EVENTS Alexander Skarsgard in NY 5/12 -- ⁠⁠tickets here⁠⁠ Tony Gilroy in NY 5/14 -- ⁠⁠⁠tickets here⁠⁠⁠ 28 YEARS LATER Q&A with Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, & Danny Boyle 6/1 in NY -- tickets here Gary Oldman in LA 6/3 -- ⁠⁠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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• 0:57Speaker 02

  I mean, I did try to tell Ray before I went down. There was a couple of takes where I just said it. I'm a jet!

• 1:05Speaker 02

  There was a couple, but it was good to tease that. Seriously? Yeah, yeah. Oh, you didn't know Finn was force sensitive? No, I knew that, but I didn't know you actually said. Yeah, yeah. So I wanted to say it. I mean, when they're going down into the quicksand. But I appreciate JJ for, you know, putting those Easter eggs in there and trying to expand. So that if there is ever a revisit of Finn, there is stuff to play with.

• 1:32Speaker 03

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

• 1:40Josh Horowitz?

  Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Again, if you're watching this on YouTube, there she is, my beloved sleeping dog. She only sleeps 12 to 19 hours a day, Lucy. Anyway, today's main event is John Boyega, returning champion to the podcast. This is a blast. Lots of Star Wars talk, lots of energy, taped live in Chicago very recently. More to come on John in just a second, but I want to give you guys some updates on. Many other cool things going on in my Happy Sad Confused universe. As always, check out our Patreon, give it a whirl because we have lots of really cool discounts, early

• 2:21Josh Horowitz?

  access opportunities to ask questions to, to guests of the podcast all over there, patreon.com/happysadconfused. All right, I'm going to run down the upcoming events because there's a lot going on. New York, just a couple of days away, Wednesday, May 14th. Do I have that right? Yes, May 14th. This is off the top of my head. Tony Gilroy, talking about Star Wars, Andor. I have just finished the season. I love Andor. I'm so happy to say that because, look, I've had some mixed feelings about recent Star Wars stuff. I'll be honest. Andor, some of the best Star Wars ever, full stop. And this season, really, really satisfying. If you haven't watched it yet, do so. Anyway, Tony Gilroy is going to join me for a deep dive into

• 3:04Josh Horowitz?

  Andor. I have never chatted with him before. I have such admiration for this guy. He wrote and directed Michael Clayton. He can retire just on that. But this is going to be a fun one. Link is in the show notes for your tickets. Then, again, I'm going to sound like this is going to be hyperbolic. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I am so excited, though. Maybe my most anticipated film of the year is 28 Years Later, the very long in the making waiting sequel to 28 Days Later. June 1, New York City, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor Johnson, and Danny Boyle are all joining me live on stage at the 92nd Street Y. Get your tickets now, guys. I think this is going to be a packed

• 3:46Josh Horowitz?

  house. We're going to show some sneak peeks at this very anticipated film. I mean, I don't need to sell you on this, do I? This is one of the great filmmakers of our time, two of our great actors. You guys know how I feel about Jodie. And Aaron is always a gem. He's been on the pod a couple of times. This is going to be a special night. June 1, 28 Years Later. Get your tickets now. Then, if you're always saying, Josh, where's the love for us folks on the West Coast? I have something for you. Finally, we're returning to Los Angeles and we're bringing out a big gun. June 3, Gary Oldman.

• 4:23Josh Horowitz?

  Let that sink in for a second. I'm gonna let it sink in for myself. Gary Oldman. I love Gary Oldman so much. I mean, before, before all of this, when I was just a nerdy little kid, I was obsessed with Gary Oldman, True Romance, and JFK, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Air Force One. The man is one of the all-time greats. He's joining me again. He's been on the pod a couple of times. This is gonna be a live event, June 3rd, 7:00 PM at the Fine Arts Theater. It's a beautiful theater in Beverly Hills. We shot with Tom Hiddleston there last year. Tickets are now on sale. As always, all the information is in the show notes. Get your tickets now. If you get a tier one seat, like the best seats in the house, we're giving you a special free collectible limited edition poster.

• 5:09Josh Horowitz?

  It's gonna be a fun special night. Gary Oldman, I mean, he can, yeah, I don't even know what to say. I'm so excited about that one. More events will be announced soon, but that's enough for now. All right, John Boyega. What you're about to see or listen to is a conversation I recorded with him in Chicago, live on stage at C2E2. They were very nice to invite me and John to do a bunch of stuff there, including this podcast taping. There's a lot of audience questions towards the back half of this, and a lot of Star Wars talk. Of course, we're a big convention. It's John Boyega. Of course, we're gonna talk Star Wars. And I love John. He is a straight shooter. He's positive. He's smart. He's talented. He's all the things. And there's some really cool stuff about his origins with Star Wars.

• 5:57Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, he's a big old nerd. He's a bigger nerd than I am, honestly. He knows the games and the extended universe better than I do. So if you love Star Wars, you're gonna love this chat with John Boyega. Here it comes. Enjoy it. Taped at C2E2, just a few weeks back, live on stage. Enjoy.

• 6:15Speaker 05

  Please put your hands together and welcome our moderator. He's the host of the Happy Sack Fused Podcast. Give it up for Josh Horowitz.

• 6:26Josh Horowitz?

  Hey guys, hello Chicago! How's it going? Hi, suit you, eat you! Uh, my name is Josh Horowitz. I host a podcast called Happy Sad Confused. And, uh, lo and behold, you guys are inside the podcast right now. We're taping this for Happy Sad Confused. So, thank you for coming out tonight, today, Chicago. Uh, we have a hell of a guest here with us today. Maybe you know our guest today from, I don't know, Attack the Block? Maybe? They cloned Tyrone? Maybe? I feel like I'm missing something else, though. There's some other property he's been a part of you might... Oh, yeah! He's the star of Star Wars, too.

• 7:05Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, please give a warm Chicago welcome to the one and only, the legend himself, Mr. John Boyega!

• 7:32Speaker 02

  How you doing today? How's everyone?

• 7:35Josh Horowitz?

  Woo, woo! If only you were comfortable in this environment, Josh.

• 7:40Speaker 02

  Oh, very much so.

• 7:40Josh Horowitz?

  Just relax for a second.

• 7:42Speaker 02

  Ah, you know, when you see the Star... I don't see the Star Wars fans all the time, so seeing them face to face is always a blessing, man. It's cool.

• 7:48Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, we were saying before, um, you were here in Chicago a few years back. There was Star Wars Celebration.

• 7:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:54Josh Horowitz?

  Was here. So, yeah, for those opportunities to meet the fans.

• 7:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:59Josh Horowitz?

  Um, I mean, that's not why you, like, sign up to be an actor, but it's a nice perk of the job. What's it been like to go to these cons over the years and kind of see the folks face to face?

• 8:08Speaker 02

  You know, you know, it's really, um, amazing because fan relation can be distorted by, you know, articles and social media. It's the only way you really get to connect or see how the fans are, are feeling. But the cons are more intimate there. You get to, get to meet each individual. Everybody has their different opinions and stuff they want to say. And I, and I like that. I like getting into conversation face to face because there's more of a understanding between you and the fans. I love it.

• 8:32Josh Horowitz?

  Do they ever give you, like, a hot, hot take to your face? Do they ever, like, say, like...

• 8:36Speaker 02

  All the ti... I mean, you know, I, I keep it honest with, with my conversations. So, I feel like people come up to me and go, "Hey, man, you, you know, we need you back in a few Star Wars movies, if you can." You get a lot of that.

• 8:50Josh Horowitz?

  People have spoken. So when you were growing up, did you go to anything like a con? Was a sci-fi convention ever in your life, a comic convention?

• 8:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, but it was quite small. It was like small, small cons, Pokemon card collector cons, guys, yeah. Yeah, I had to, I had to bring my shinies down, you know, get some stuff signed by the voiceover artists from the past shows. So, yeah, the cons has been a big part of, of my nerd life growing up.

• 9:17Josh Horowitz?

  Did you ever get an actor's autograph? Is it, is it a faux pas on set to be like, hey, I mean, we're colleagues, but would you mind signing this poster?

• 9:26Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. Have you seen my, um, full Harrison Ford exclusive action figure that I got? Yeah, as you do. Everybody else was trying to be very professional and, um, you know, let's not ask Harrison Ford for an autograph. Let's not ask Carrie Fisher for an autograph. I, I have shame.

• 9:46Speaker 02

  I, uh, I, I went, I went and said, can you please sign my action figure? Because you just never know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. I grew up playing the, the games, Battlefront, and then to be on set and to see Harrison say, good morning, kid. It's to me, like, it's crazy. So any opportunity you can get to connect to them, get stuff signed, I'm gonna do it.

• 10:07Josh Horowitz?

  Do you remember, do you remember the first time you met Harrison Ford? What that initial meeting was like and like, nervous?

• 10:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, it was, it was actually spontaneous because myself and Daisy were doing the first stage of our kind of combat training. And Harrison, along with a group of people in suits, just walked in. And he kind of just looked at us and went, hmm.

• 10:32Speaker 02

  And then he left and me and Daisy were just kind of like, that was Harrison, that was Harrison, that was Harrison Ford. But it wasn't until after, when we rehearsed, had the read through, he would like, Harrison is the type to sit down and talk to each individual with curiosity. So he was kind of like, well, the first thing he said to me, like, wait, wait, wait a second, you're not American. I said, oh, no, no, no, I'm British actor. So we, you know, we spoke about several different things. Cool guy, cool guy.

• 10:53Josh Horowitz?

  The, uh, you mentioned the read through. I'm, I'm always, I always remember that iconic photo. Like, this was the way that, like, we learned about the full cast at the time. It was that black and white photo.

• 11:04Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 11:04Josh Horowitz?

  You were seated between, I think, Adam Driver.

• 11:07Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 11:08Josh Horowitz?

  And Oscar.

• 11:08Speaker 02

  Yep, yep.

• 11:10Josh Horowitz?

  Was that like, did you have a choice in where you were sitting? Were you, what was the vibes in that room?

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Well, when I went in there. We had the names, they had seating for where we were gonna be because they knew that this was gonna be their first introduction visually to the fans. But I just wanted to sit next to Oscar because we had done most of the auditions together. So I just felt like that was, you know, when you see your bestie in a new high school, you're like.

• 11:33Speaker 02

  That's what, that's what it was like. And so we decided to just sit next to each other, just because we had auditioned, you know, we had, we were kinda like the latest of the main cast to hear about getting the role. So I had to sit next to my boy, man.

• 11:46Josh Horowitz?

  And that was such an unusual, because we didn't know at the time, Mark Hamill was reading the stage directions.

• 11:53Speaker 02

  And he was phenomenal.

• 11:54Josh Horowitz?

  Because he had essentially no part, as you guys recall, in the movie, but he was good at the stage directions?

• 11:59Speaker 02

  Absolutely, and he threw himself into it. In my head, I was thinking, you know, you know, Mark in Four Awakens, you know you show up at the end, and you know, you just have to do a look, and he's just like, ah, this is a phenomenal experience, and to be reading these scenes, I guess for him, was totally nostalgic.

• 12:16Josh Horowitz?

  So, okay, let's go even further back on the Star Wars front, because I know the audition process was a very unusual one. It was months and months and months and months.

• 12:26Speaker 02

  It was.

• 12:26Josh Horowitz?

  How many auditions would you say you had to go through?

• 12:28Speaker 02

  I can't count at this stage. I did so many auditions that when JJ gave me the part, he apologized. You know what I mean? He was like, I'm, he was like, I'm, I'm so sorry, but you got the part, but I'm so sorry to put you through this. And I was like, yeah, JJ, man. It was like nine months, it was really like a long time. But for Star Wars, I mean, I mean, however long it takes, you know what I mean? So, yeah.

• 12:53Josh Horowitz?

  But the weird part of, I mean, a lot of weird parts about it, is you didn't really know the parts, like you didn't really know how fully formed that character was.

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Ah, see, see, now it's been a few years, and, you know, we're out of the franchise a little bit, I can start telling a little bit more of the truth. Now, I did know that the role was gonna be quite big because I actually put someone else on tape for it. Another actor that I knew at the time just came up to me and said, "Dude, I've got this big, massive audition." And you know it's another actor, I'm like, "Oh, what audition is that?" He's like, "Dude, I think it's Star Wars." And I'm like, "Okay, cool, um, what role is it?" And it was like the male lead, that's what they put there, it was like male lead. So you kind of know that, you know, you might pick up a lightsaber, you might be a, you know, stormtrooper, you just, you had a few scenes, but I knew about this scene before

• 13:45Speaker 02

  because I had read for another actor for the exact same thing scenes. So once I filmed that scenes with my friend, I kind of, I called my agent. I said, "Ah, what's going on here, man, you know, let me in there." And funny enough, in, in, in, maybe like two months or three months after that, there was always planned for them to come to London and audition actors out there, so.

• 14:08Josh Horowitz?

  Is this friend still a friend, or did this end the relationship?

• 14:10Speaker 02

  No, no, he is, he's, he's doing quite, he's doing quite, he's doing quite well in his, in his own right, but yeah, we, we, we definitely helped each other out a little bit with audition tapes for it. But I got it.

• 14:22Josh Horowitz?

  He's not sitting up here now, is he? Sorry, buddy.

• 14:26Speaker 02

  But he's sitting in his own throne and doing quite well.

• 14:28Josh Horowitz?

  Okay.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, doing quite well.

• 14:31Josh Horowitz?

  Do you remember the, you must remember the precise moment you got the role?

• 14:34Speaker 02

  I did, I did, yeah, I do remember, I will never forget the day I got the role. I mean, I'd auditioned so much, I thought the day wouldn't come. I was actually on the other side of London that day and J.J. Abrams sent me a spontaneous email saying, "Where are you?" I had been auditioning for so long, so I felt like he kind of took away my dignity a little bit, so I decided to pretend as if I was busy. You know when you just pretend that you're busy so that someone, like, "I got other stuff to do, J.J., I don't care about Star Wars." So he goes, "Where are you?" And I said, "Yeah, I'm at this, I'm at this art show, mate, in Greenwich, mate, I'm very, very busy, where are you?" He goes, "Well, I'm in Mayfair and I'm in a restaurant, need to talk to you now, we need to talk about something important." And I go, "Okay, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be right there." At the time, I had forty-five pounds in my account.

• 15:18Speaker 02

  It took thirty-three pounds and eighty-three pence to get to J.J. Do the math.

• 15:26Speaker 02

  And so when I got there, I got to this restaurant. One side of the restaurant was completely busy and normal. And then when I looked to the right, there was the other side of the restaurant that was completely separated. There was a wall separator there. And there's just one guy sitting on the table in the middle of the empty side of the restaurant, which was JJ. So I go in, each step I took, I was nervous. I was like, okay, cool. This is, you know, JJ is a phenomenal, nice guy. And if he was to tell me I didn't get the part, he would still feed me. So just because I'm at dinner with JJ didn't mean that I, that there was a guarantee. And so I sat down and JJ just said, you know, thank you so much for coming back. I know we've kind of, you know, grieved you with this amount of auditions.

• 16:07Speaker 02

  At that time, I took it upon myself to try and get another audition and go like, JJ, please. Like, look, I can audition again. I can do Finn, British, Scottish, Nigerian, whatever you need accent wise. And he goes, no, no, John, John, John, you're one of the new stars of Star Wars. I was like, the moment froze. Like, I even noticed how many sugar cubes were in this very posh little cup that was on the table. Like, everything felt very surreal. And then just to put the Star Wars stamp on it, Larry Kazan walks out. And he said, kid, this movie's gonna change your life. And that's some Hollywood shit. You know when they tell you that shit? Oh, shit. That's how it felt. That's how it felt. So it was a complete blessing, complete blessing.

• 16:52Josh Horowitz?

  What was the accent discussion? Was there a discussion about different ways to go?

• 16:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, I tried it British. And then I guess creatively for JJ, it just wasn't, they needed a contrast to Daisy. Because they definitely wanted to keep Daisy in her natural accent. But I was open. I was like, well, I've got the credentials for that. So the American, it felt more, more natural. For me, it felt like I was closer to her and I was closer to all the characters I enjoyed. So I was willing to be flexible for her.

• 17:26Josh Horowitz?

  You referenced your buddy, Oscar Isaac. I mean, did you guys, did you guys anticipate that the audience would respond to that relationship at all?

• 17:34Speaker 02

  No, we didn't. But I think it's the bromance we established during the audition. You know, Oscar would come to my house, I would go to Oscar's house. We were just, you know, we just met each other and just bonded. So I think from that, the audience recognized that. And some of the audience who were a little bit horny said, oh.

• 17:57Speaker 02

  And then all of a sudden, Oscar just start calling me babe. And I was like, what is this feeling? So it was, it was a good bromance that I think the fans, you know, played with in their own right. We, we really enjoyed the response, yeah.

• 18:11Josh Horowitz?

  What do you wish you'd known prior to signing on to Star Wars? Like, what do you know now that you wish younger John knew back then?

• 18:20Speaker 02

  I wish I did more of this from the beginning. I think, I think at the, at the beginning, the, the, the voice of the negative were inflated by social media, inflated by, you know, you know how it is. They, they, they always wanna catch us with a clickbait. They always wanna catch us with a, with an opinion and sway us. And I think that if studios just get us more involved in just interacting like this, you know, with fans, then the fans honestly get to know you on a more intricate level, on a more descriptive level. And I think that's very, very important as you go through a franchise. Apart of that, apart from that, I didn't know those cheese paninis they had on the Star Wars set was like a big deal. Like, it's really tasty, mate.

• 19:04Josh Horowitz?

  You missed those.

• 19:05Speaker 02

  Best food ever.

• 19:06Josh Horowitz?

  You missed those, I take it.

• 19:07Speaker 02

  I missed those. If I knew that that was part of the contract, mate, I would have, I would have auditioned for Star Wars earlier.

• 19:13Josh Horowitz?

  Do you feel like you, you got personally the most out of those films? I mean, it's such an intense experience going through the shooting, the press tours, all of it. And you're living your own life, you're developing as a human being. I don't know, looking back, do you feel like you kind of like stopped and took it all in enough?

• 19:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, I did.

• 19:32Speaker 02

  I did. I did not want to go through an experience like this without feeling like I went and experienced everything I had to. So I was playing, I played all the side missions. Who are the gamers out here? You know what I mean? You know, you know, you just, you know, I, I know the main story, but let me see what this random CPU is saying on the corner right there. And I feel like I handled the Star Wars situation like that. I played every scenario that was in my head that would make me feel fulfilled, you know? Private conversations with Carrie Fisher, you know? A dinner date with Harrison Ford, you know what I mean? Taking, taking a trip with our beloved Lando Carressian, you know what I mean? And staring at him the whole entire flight with, with no embarrassment whatsoever.

• 20:15Speaker 02

  I was a fan of these. I played Force Unleashed. I remember loving Darth Maul. And then, all of a sudden, I'm in front of the real legends and heroes. And you can only hope that you are accepted the same way by the fans in time. Shout out to my boy Hayden Christensen, man.

• 20:37Speaker 02

  They were sleeping on you. They can't sleep on you no more, man. But yeah, I definitely took in a lot of the experience, genuinely.

• 20:44Josh Horowitz?

  Do you watch the films differently? Not even the ones you're in, but like, watch the original trilogy differently now that you've been a part of it?

• 20:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, absolutely. I'm like, I know him.

• 20:56Speaker 02

  I say that to my family all the time, and they're like, "Yeah, John, we know, we know, you know." But yeah, definitely, I watch them differently. And it's weird now to watch them and also being a part of that legacy. You know, that, for me, it makes it all different. Come like, you know, while the Ewoks are fighting, I'm like, Finn, Finn isn't here, but he's gonna be. You know what I mean? And that's quite, that's quite cool to me. It's real cool.

• 21:21Josh Horowitz?

  And it's part of your life, like, forever?

• 21:23Speaker 02

  Oh, forever. And I don't mind it. I don't mind it. Star Wars gave me a lot of opportunities. I've been, you know, there's been good times, there's been bad times. But I think to be able to navigate through that, you need to fixate on what is positive. And I've been doing that since I left. And now I'm just exposed to the love of Star Wars fans, exposed to everything that's been great and going well. I love it.

• 21:41Josh Horowitz?

  You want to rank your three films for me?

• 21:44Speaker 02

  I think I already did.

• 21:45Josh Horowitz?

  Did you?

• 21:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, on hot ones.

• 21:47Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, oh, yeah.

• 21:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, I got in trouble for, some Star Wars fans were whooping my ass. They were like, "Damn, man, how old you..."

• 21:52Josh Horowitz?

  Well, let me ask you this then, something different. What's your, let's go one by one. Your favorite or least favorite aspect of the experience of making Force Awakens? Let's start there.

• 22:01Speaker 02

  I think with Force Awakens making the movie, oh, I enjoyed myself, man. I'd worked my entire life of twenty-something years.

• 22:12Speaker 02

  To get to this kind of opportunity, so, you know.

• 22:17Speaker 02

  Oh yeah, there goes my boys right there. Oh, they can tell you about it. But no, it was, it was an amazing experience. I fought Awaken and shooting it. I obviously had done films before, but on this scale was completely different. And I was just open to it, you know. That, that opportunity doesn't come all the time. So I was just like, thank you, Lord. And I get to afford my mum's supplements. They're very, very expensive, guys. They have supplements, they're very, very expensive. So it was good to just be able to do for family while at the same time film and enjoy the experience of, you know, one of the best franchises of all time.

• 22:53Josh Horowitz?

  In Last Jedi, is there any, yeah, yeah. When you think back to that, good, bad, medium, frustrations, happiness, what comes to mind when you think of that experience?

• 23:02Speaker 02

  I mean, Last Jedi, they tried to do what they could with that. But I love Star Wars a lot. So in planning the narrative, I would always assume that there would be a plan from the very beginning, much like what Kevin Feige has done with Marvel and, and developing and spreading out those universes. So in The Last Jedi, I was a bit like, you know, some choices creatively, which I have spoken about not to get into it, that I didn't agree with. I was, because that was just as a nerd. I mean, I feel like a lot of us are into anime, we're into, you know, movies, and we can go back and forth with our friends that are fans of the same thing. It doesn't mean I'm going to detach from the IP, it just means that, that was whack.

• 23:42Speaker 02

  I feel like every fan should have the opportunity to do that, as long as it's not, you know, you're not, you know, using it against another person. I think that's the fun of being part of a fandom. We get to debate about our favorite characters. We get to, you know, debate about whether Mace Windu is dead or not. We get to like have those topics.

• 24:01Josh Horowitz?

  Do you think he's dead?

• 24:01Speaker 02

  I don't think Mace Windu is dead.

• 24:02Josh Horowitz?

  No, right?

• 24:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't think he is.

• 24:04Josh Horowitz?

  One, one arm, but he's out there.

• 24:06Speaker 02

  One arm, he's out there, that's even better. So he has a droid arm, and he's gonna be killing people by the time he come out.

• 24:13Speaker 02

  Samuel, I've already told your wife, I need you back, man. I need you back.

• 24:18Josh Horowitz?

  And then Rise of Skywalker, what's the what's the post-mortem self, what's the analysis of that one for you?

• 24:24Speaker 02

  Uh, Rise of Skywalker, I had a brilliant time, but I knew because of the structure change from The Last Jedi, it was really tough on JJ to come back and kind of like tie everything together. And I know he was well-supported and everybody wanted to make sure that the narrative came to a complete end in the right way possible. So I was just supportive of whatever JJ wanted to do, being as if we had so much history from The Force Awakens. And some of the narrative about Finn that was established in The Force Awakens were picked back up by JJ in The Rise of Skywalker. And it's hard to do it. It's hard to, you know, establish Rey and then establish another Jedi. You have to kind of split things up with the time that you're given. But I appreciate the little things that JJ was was doing in there. I mean, I did

• 25:09Speaker 02

  try to tell Rey before I went down, there was a couple of takes where I just said it, "I'm a Jedi!"

• 25:16Speaker 02

  There was a couple, but it was good to tease that-

• 25:20Josh Horowitz?

  Seriously?

• 25:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Oh, you didn't know Finn was Finn was Force-sensitive?

• 25:24Josh Horowitz?

  No, I knew that, but I didn't know you actually said-

• 25:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. So I wanted to say it, I mean, when they're going down into the into the quicksand. But I appreciate JJ for, you know, putting those Easter eggs in there and trying to expand so that if there is ever a revisit to Finn, there is stuff to to play with.

• 25:50Josh Horowitz?

  If I had a dollar for everybody in my life who's benefited from therapy, I would be a very, very rich man. Therapy has certainly helped me, especially when I was a confused teenager. And thankfully, that's not a shameful thing to say anymore, right? It's okay to seek help and need help and talk about it. We're all doing our best. We're just trying to get by, right, guys? Unfortunately, the reality is that getting help is still harder than it should be. That's why I'm thrilled always to have Rula as a sponsor of Happy Say Confused, because it's very obvious to me that online therapy should be both accessible and affordable for everybody. So let's make it easy for anybody who wants help to get help. That's where Rula comes in. Here's the thing, a lot of online therapy platforms don't actually talk about.

• 26:33Josh Horowitz?

  Most don't take insurance. That means you're either paying out of pocket or signing up for some very expensive monthly subscription. Rula does it all differently. They work with over 120 insurance plans, so the average copay-

• 26:47Josh Horowitz?

  I can't get over this. It's just 15 bucks a session. So basically two of your lattes. Okay. A pretty good deal if you ask me. That means you can get real therapy from a licensed professional without breaking the bank. And Rula doesn't just set you up and leave you alone. They give you that therapist and then they're along the way, the whole journey with you to make sure your care is working for you and you're actually making progress, hitting your goals. This can all happen right away, guys. With Rula, appointments are often available as soon as tomorrow. There are no wait lists. There's no frustrating back and forth. They make it easy. 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

• 27:32Josh Horowitz?

  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 just 60 bucks and they've got everything from great down jackets and little coats to cashmere scarves and accessories. Basically, everything you need to stay warm and look good this winter. And they're using really premium materials at Quince. We're talking at 100% Mongolian cashmere, Italian

• 28:16Josh Horowitz?

  leather, even 14-karat gold. These are the kinds of things that make great gifts, but also that make people actually use them, right? And wear long after the holidays. And here's the best part. Quince prices everything 50 to 80% less than similar brands. How did they do it? Well, they work directly with ethical factories and they cut out the middlemen. So you're getting that luxury quality without paying those crazy luxury prices. I love how functional and fashionable all my Quince stuff is. I've got a cashmere hoodie that is honestly invaluable and actually makes me look like I know what I'm talking about when it comes to fashion, and that is a miracle. So give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping

• 29:00Josh Horowitz?

  on your order and 365-day returns. It's now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you've heard about them, you know what to do. Let them know it was happy, sad, confused. That's the best way to support our show.

• 29:19Josh Horowitz?

  Going forward, like, what is the etiquette when, like, Daisy's film is announced? Like, Daisy's coming back, it's in development. Were you aware of that? Does Daisy text you, like, "FYI, buddy"? Like, how did you find that out?

• 29:32Speaker 02

  I miss Daisy. I haven't seen Daisy face-to-face in a minute. I mean, we do text or call randomly. But I found out online, because I, you know, I've been a genuine fan. I watch reaction videos. I'm on the subscriber list, man. I still get the emails, as if I'm not in the film. Like, "You know Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out"? I'm like, "Oh, is it?"

• 29:55Speaker 02

  So I do stuff like that. But, um, so when I found out about Daisy's movie, it made sense. It made sense that to expand the franchise in that way. And I was kind of like, you know, I'm just looking forward, first of all, seeing if it's real, because sometimes we have had a few Star Wars announcements, and, you know, development is development, you can't always get it done. But just hoping that Daisy, you know, gets that chance to shine in a franchise that's finally hers, where she is now the bona fide Jedi. I think it's exciting, and I can't wait to watch it. I really can't. I'm happy for her.

• 30:27Josh Horowitz?

  Have your thoughts evolved on, like, where you want to see Finn? Like, has it changed from the endpoint of Rise of Skywalker to where we're sitting today? Like, do you think actively, like, you know, you can only control what you can control? But, I don't know, how much is that in your mind, like, where Finn is now?

• 30:43Speaker 02

  It's hard to, you know, Star Wars is owned by Mickey Mouse, so it's what he says goes, you know? So, sometimes to over-project on the character, you can be led to disappointment about the character. But for me, in my imagination, it could go, it could go anywhere. Give me a Blaster Saber, though. I want to be able to-

• 31:04Josh Horowitz?

  I want the combo.

• 31:05Speaker 02

  I want the combo, man. What was it, Ezra? Ezra had the combo, right?

• 31:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, give me that guy's thing. You know, I want to be more of a Jedi scoundrel. But apart from that, you know, I'm just more so just enjoying it as a fan now. And there's something, there's something peaceful about it. I love it.

• 31:21Josh Horowitz?

  So, opportunities in the wake of Star Wars. Talk to me a little bit about how you've navigated the last few years, what your priorities have been in terms of starting to produce, starting to choose different kinds of roles, you know, working in things as disparate from Woman King, Detroit, They Clone Tyrone. What's the, what's been the kind of methodology of how to craft a career?

• 31:41Speaker 02

  Well, well, really, after Star Wars is, was about who I was gonna work with. So I always knew that I wanted to be in projects with other stars where I could learn and grow on these projects. And also, if a great enough star is in a project, it affects the quality of the script and the other roles that surround this star. So, people like Viola Davis, who reached out to work with me, Jamie Foxx, who worked with me at They Clone Tyrone, and the development side on the company, stuff doing stuff with Lakeith Stanfield and Will Smith. And that, all that stuff is cool to me because, you know, everyone loves Star Wars. You know, there's a, there's a love that they have for it. And it, and it does help in terms of people believing in your creativity to be able to collaborate and make, you know, make more projects.

• 32:24Speaker 02

  But also on this side, I'm kind of like, I love Star Wars, I love the franchise experience, but I want to get into my Attack the Block bag. Like, I want to get back to Attack the Block.

• 32:32Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, let's talk.

• 32:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:34Josh Horowitz?

  What's going on, man? I mean, the last time we spoke a couple of years back, I was hopeful by now we'd have a movie. Where are we at?

• 32:41Speaker 02

  I've read it, man. It's cool, bro. It's cool. Yeah, I've read it. Joe Cornish has done a phenomenal job on his draft. And we're just cooking it to make it right for everyone. And we obviously need more money for those aliens. We want them to look real good for the 2026 crowd. But for us, it's just about developing the story, making sure Moses and the rest of the characters that we have left are, you know, are fully hashed out before bringing it out and going to shoot. But I'm very passionate and very willing that we will shoot Attack the Block 2. It will happen.

• 33:11Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing.

• 33:13Josh Horowitz?

  Can you hint at, where is Moses at, all these years later? How's Moses doing?

• 33:16Speaker 02

  You're gonna have to see, but the story is crazy. I go get in the gym, Jesus.

• 33:24Josh Horowitz?

  We talked before about influences growing up. You've alluded to this. Look, obviously, you loved all this stuff growing up. I mean, I think you said before you were even like, you were a big Michael Bay kid.

• 33:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 33:34Josh Horowitz?

  Comic book wise, where were you at? Were you Marvel, DC, anything, everything?

• 33:37Speaker 02

  Both. Marvel, DC, Injustice, Civil War, and then also into manga. I used to go to Forbidden Planet in London to buy up all of that stuff. And then I go into Star Wars and they said that you can come and get it for free. I said, "Yes, yes."

• 33:54Josh Horowitz?

  And then you showed up every day and they're like, "Oh, God."

• 33:56Speaker 02

  Every day, yeah, yeah. John's pre-ordered everything. But yeah, no, just being able to interact with and read stuff. You know, comic books expand more about the characters that we love. And I've always enjoyed that, always enjoyed that, yeah.

• 34:11Josh Horowitz?

  We're gonna go to some, let's get the microphone set if we could, because I want to take some of your audience questions. So prepare your questions for John in just a second, if we can. Yeah, thank you, thank you.

• 34:19Speaker 02

  Guys, don't be shy, okay?

• 34:20Josh Horowitz?

  No, no, this guy can take it.

• 34:21Speaker 02

  It's one-on-one.

• 34:24Josh Horowitz?

  So again, I think the last time we spoke, two or three years back, and I brought up the Marvel stuff, and you were pretty adamant, like, "I love this stuff, but it's not, I'm not there right now." Like, where are you at right now? Or do you have a receptiveness right now to the Marvel thing?

• 34:37Speaker 02

  I just feel like, did you guys see the Marvel announcement the other day?

• 34:42Josh Horowitz?

  All those director's chairs.

• 34:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, with Robert. I think they're very busy.

• 34:48Josh Horowitz?

  There's room for you?

• 34:49Speaker 02

  Ah, no, there ain't no room for me. I'll be real. I can't wait to watch it, because I think with Marvel and everything, after Endgame, I was like, "Wow, how are they gonna, you know, expand the universe after saving the universe?" So I think that as just an audience watcher, you know, I have sat down with Kevin Feige, I've been over to those guys, but I'm just gonna enjoy it for now, because like, there's a lot, there's a lot going on, you know? But I'm looking forward to watching it.

• 35:16Josh Horowitz?

  I'm sure you're plugged in, though. Like, you've been fan casted for a lot of different roles. Have any ever, like, will you see artwork of yourself as a familiar character? That must be kind of cool.

• 35:25Speaker 02

  No, no, it is cool, especially when the artists are really dope, man. It's cool to see yourself emulated in any type of way, you know? Even if it's the DC side, too, I think, I think that's cool. I mean, we've got James Gunn coming out with that crazy, you know? He has to start his whole new universe, too, so a lot of people are thinking. But more so for me is to develop the original films, Attack of the Block 2, that I left behind. And to do that, and then see what happens next, you never know.

• 35:47Josh Horowitz?

  Who's an actor or filmmaker on the list? You rattled off a bunch. Again, you have to surround yourself with the best. That's what makes any actor better. Who's, who right now are you obsessed with, working with?

• 35:58Speaker 02

  I love James Samuels. I love, uh, uh, well, Spielberg, obviously, would be, would be, be amazing. But also what's happening with Nolan. Nolan is making some incredible work, man, yeah.

• 36:12Josh Horowitz?

  Is there a way to, like, secret that into the universe? Like, you can't be like, hey, Chris, you want to get coffee, I see? Wait for that phone call, that's how it works?

• 36:18Speaker 02

  Look, guys, you know I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I'm only 33. I'm not there yet. You know what I mean? I, I, I like to acknowledge where I'm at now. So maybe one day I'll look back while talking to you guys, saying, okay, guys, now I'm here. But for now, I think you have to do the work. And, and, and coming out of a franchise, you have to do more indies. You have to prove your, your versatility, you have to, you know, you have to do the, the, the work before you put a spandex suit, uh, on again, you know what I mean?

• 36:44Josh Horowitz?

  Is the Book of Eli series not a thing? That, that was announced a few years back.

• 36:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I, I didn't know about that announcement. I'm like, I've been cast as young Denzel Washington in Book of Eli?

• 36:55Speaker 02

  But yeah, as you, that's what I mean, you know? I guess the news flies around and people like to release stuff, but I have no idea. But good, good ideas.

• 37:03Josh Horowitz?

  This is a good, again, good person. Have you spent time with Denzel? I mean, this is the gold standard, he's the...

• 37:08Speaker 02

  Never, but I worked with these kids, Olivia Washington, and on, on the movie I did, Breaking. She played my wife in it, so, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm somewhere in the garden area of his house, waving.

• 37:22Josh Horowitz?

  Favorite Denzel performance, favorite film?

• 37:24Speaker 02

  Oh, Lord, it's hard to... I mean Glory was incredible. Flight, obviously Training Day, there's so many, I mean it's phenomenal alongside many other actors. Idris Elba, you know Daniel Kaluuya is amazing, so many actors that I really, really like, really.

• 37:38Josh Horowitz?

  Alright, we've got some questions for you. Let's start with you, sir. Yeah, go ahead.

• 37:41Speaker 02

  How you doing?

• 37:42Speaker 06

  Hi, my name is Benj, I'm from DePere, Wisconsin. And firstly, I just wanted to say, the photo of the cast for Force Awakens, when that was released, that was actually the day I found out I was gonna become a dad. And like that photo, the return of Star Wars with that announcement of like, "I'm gonna be a dad", that was a huge moment in my life.

• 38:04Speaker 02

  Congratulations, man.

• 38:05Speaker 06

  Thank you, thank you. He's 10 now, he's bonkers, off the wall, super into video games, I love him. But yeah, that moment, that picture just solidifies that. My question is, while shooting Attack of the Block,

• 38:21Speaker 06

  like, how much of the look of all of that did you really understand and know just from like the practical? Because I know a lot of it was practical.

• 38:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 38:29Speaker 06

  Like, how much of that visual were you able to get on set? And then how much of it was like different when you saw it in the screen for the first time? And with all the finished effects and all of the glow and everything that they did for the monster?

• 38:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean shouts out to Joe Cornish, he wanted to make sure that the movie was as close to physical effects as possible. Anything that was possible to do in real life, he would do it. Explosions, the aliens themselves. The guy in the suit was a dude called Terry Notary. He had been the creatures in Avatar and had done a whole bunch of Avatar work. I think he even worked with Andy Serkis on some of the ape movies and stuff like that. And so you saw what it was gonna be. Maybe it was just maybe two aliens on set, and when I watched it, it was like 15, I was like, "Oh!" But most of it I got to experience, see, so that really helped with portraying the role.

• 39:20Speaker 06

  Please make the sequel.

• 39:21Speaker 02

  No, I have to, I have to.

• 39:23Speaker 06

  Thank you.

• 39:25Speaker 02

  They're gonna kill me if I don't.

• 39:26Josh Horowitz?

  You better make that, man. No pressure.

• 39:29Speaker 02

  All right, go for it, yeah.

• 39:30Speaker 07

  Hi.

• 39:31Speaker 02

  How you doing?

• 39:33Speaker 07

  My name is Charlie. And the very first Star Wars movie I ever saw was actually Force Awakens. I'm 20, so I think I just waited too long, but I was...

• 39:42Speaker 02

  We forgive you, mate.

• 39:46Speaker 07

  But as someone who like grew up like watching Star Wars and stuff, what was it like, like interacting with like the younger generation where like you were the face of Star Wars for them with these new films and stuff?

• 40:00Speaker 02

  Oh, it was, it was cool because there'd be moments where young fans would, there'd be me, Harrison and the rest of the stuff, and the young fans would come up and then they would like derail from Harrison and then come to us. And then me and Daisy would look to Harrison like, "Sorry." You know what I mean? And you know Harrison would be like, "Oh, it's a new generation kid." Not caring, but that, that felt nice to know that you can, we can always reach out to new audiences, the more and more we interact with the franchise is, is a beautiful thing. Because I think sometimes, especially when you have a movie from the 70s, there's this hold until, you know, "They're never gonna be better than the classics." And it's like, a part of Star Wars being such a resounding thing to people was that they were children at the time.

• 40:45Speaker 02

  You know, they, it was, it was something that signified their relationship with their father who took them for the first time to see the movie. A family outing, you know, there, there was something nostalgic about that, hence why there's just such fixation on this, the, the, the old stars. But when you're seen with the new generation is that they're going through the same thing, that they're very young, being taken by their father, and they see, they get the same imprint, you know, that they got back then. And to see it continue is, is, is phenomenal, you know, it's, it's a blessing.

• 41:12Speaker 07

  Yeah, thank you.

• 41:13Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 41:15Speaker 02

  I love your hair, by the way. Good color.

• 41:19Speaker 08

  Hi, my name's Jeff, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio. Just kind of following up on that. You're part of a Disney ride. Rise of the Resistance, you did part of the pre-show and there's an animatronic. Have you ridden it yet? And what's it like being part of something that's almost like eternal?

• 41:34Speaker 02

  I was there last week.

• 41:39Speaker 02

  I was there last week and we had a phenomenal time. They need to clean up my animatronics a little bit. His bottom lip was looking a little bit lazy. But phenomenal ride, very immersive experience. And you know, honestly, going to stuff like that makes me feel appreciative again. And it makes me emphasize, you've got to just put your energy into the fans that support you. You've got to put your energy into that because it's a different experience for me, right? I'm kind of walking past the ride, I'm on the ride, I'm in the park. So people come up to you and speak to you. And I just had a great day because a lot of people came and just had such positive words and support. And you know, the rides are phenomenal, man. I had a really, really good time, man.

• 42:21Speaker 08

  I'm glad you did. That was a great addition to, you know, I would say I love the last jet. I'm glad you're getting the positive.

• 42:27Speaker 02

  Did you do the Millennium Falcon ride where you?

• 42:29Speaker 08

  Pilot.

• 42:30Speaker 02

  Pilot? Gunner?

• 42:31Speaker 08

  Mr. Copilot.

• 42:31Speaker 02

  Gunner, gunner. I took them all out.

• 42:35Speaker 08

  They need a gunner station.

• 42:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly.

• 42:37Speaker 08

  Thanks, man.

• 42:37Speaker 02

  Thank you, man.

• 42:39Josh Horowitz?

  Go for it.

• 42:41Speaker 09

  Hi, John. I'm Chris.

• 42:41Speaker 02

  How you doing?

• 42:42Speaker 09

  And I am definitely in the minority. I am a massive Raylo fan, you know, definitely in the minority on this. And I was just wondering, had Ben Solo not died at the end of Rise of Skywalker, would Finn and Poe have accepted the relationship that Rey and Ben would have had?

• 43:00Speaker 02

  Nah.

• 43:10Speaker 09

  Thank you.

• 43:13Josh Horowitz?

  Things just got real. Things got intense up here.

• 43:17Speaker 02

  I mean, look, you know, ladies in the room, straight ladies in the room. When he is pursuing you, him trying to kill you is not a part of the romance. Okay? Chasing him and saying, "We can become something powerful." I'm there like, "I want to tell my sisters to do that."

• 43:39Speaker 02

  But that kind of reflects off of the spiritual elements of Star Wars. The fact that she recognized the good and was fighting for it. But if I was Finn there, Finn should have had a line where he'd say, "Girl, leave and be.

• 43:53Speaker 02

  Come home with me."

• 44:01Josh Horowitz?

  Too good, okay. You're up.

• 44:05Speaker 10

  Hello, my name is Hugo, here from Chicago. And my question for you, you already touched upon your relationship and your bromance with you and Poe Dameron or Oscar Isaac. But also, right now, as diversity comes under attack, you know, and there are people of color in the universe, and so just seeing you up there, seeing Oscar Isaac up there, and then just also seeing Black and Latinos, I know they try to pin us against us as minorities, like, what do you think that represents for Star Wars? And how did you feel that, like, your character resonated so much with people? And even right now, you're saying, like, the younger generations, like, they swerve towards you, right? And they skip, you know, Harrison Ford, so...

• 44:43Speaker 02

  You don't have to say it like that! Don't get him in trouble, Harrison!

• 44:51Speaker 02

  But, but, but, no, yeah, I think it's very important. I think Star Wars in itself, you know, so many aliens, so many planets, so many galaxies, that to be diverse within human beings is not really much of a big deal. And I think a lot of Star Wars fans really, you know, cling on to that, especially when we talk about the younger ones, who are just used to a diverse Star Wars, you know what I mean? And I think everybody that's in a Star Wars movie, they're not just there because of this. They're also there because these skilled actors, you know, they auditioned, they worked hard for it. And I think that that's what it should be about, skill set, you know, your ability to come in and do, do the job. But also, it feels good to see and to be able to watch a movie that's this big, and for you to see yourself reflected in each character.

• 45:34Speaker 02

  But, look, I didn't have no problem seeing myself reflected in Han Solo, or seeing myself reflected in Princess Leia, you know? And I think that it's just a continuation of that, and the more and more people join with great characters and great writing, the more they'll be accepted by Star Wars fans. But, if the writing is a little bit off, you know, people have a creative thing against it. That doesn't necessarily mean they're talking about, you know, this. And I think that that's a thing that us as a Star Wars community are learning each day. And I think it just makes our community a little bit more fun, a little bit more cool.

• 46:18Speaker 00

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• 47:20Speaker 11

  All right. Hi there. I'm Brian and I'm here from Chicago. I am the deputy editor in chief at my college newspaper and I was wondering what advice do you have for me becoming a journalist in the future?

• 47:32Speaker 02

  Oh, man. Becoming a journalist. Just stay true, please. Do your research, be meticulous. Don't misquote us. We get in trouble for stuff like that by people we don't know. You know, be meticulous. Search for the stories that are passionate for you. Articulate yourself brilliantly. Always search for a different and unique perspective. Trust you, you probably do well. Yeah.

• 47:54Speaker 11

  Thank you.

• 48:00Speaker 02

  Go for it. Oh, this is, she went, that's a good fit, love. I like that.

• 48:04Speaker 12

  Thank you. My name is Emma. I'm from Minnesota and my question is, what was your favorite scene to shoot and why?

• 48:12Speaker 02

  Ooh. From Force Awakens?

• 48:16Speaker 12

  Yeah.

• 48:16Speaker 02

  Or from the whole franchise in general? What do you think?

• 48:20Speaker 12

  The whole franchise, yeah.

• 48:21Speaker 02

  Oh, I love those. In Rise of Skywalker, I love those horse, the horses, the, what were they called? Those poor things, they were in costume the whole time, so, but there were horses under there. And we had to go for horse riding, you know, lessons, but that horse riding scene for me was probably the most risky action that I had. So, I felt like, you know, Arnie or something, I felt like an action star, um, for about five seconds. But, great five seconds, and everybody was on set that day, um, I think that's the day my mom and dad also came to set too. I always correlate the scenes I enjoy filming the most when I had family come to visit, um, and because that was always the opportunity to try and prove to my nephews that I was cool, you know?

• 49:04Speaker 02

  So I enjoyed moments like that where family was there, and that would be the stampede of the space horses, um, in Rise of Skywalker, that was fun. Thank you.

• 49:17Speaker 13

  Hi, John. Oh, whoa, that's loud. Um, hi, I'm Michael, here from Chicago. Um, so you spoke a little about the, just in, uh, the Rise of Skywalker, those little teases that Finn is force sensitive and he almost gets the chance to get it out, but, you know, it's not quite there, but we have those little nuggets that we can explore in the future. Let's like flash forward ten years from Rise of Skywalker, Flynn's like completed his training, he's a full-fledged Jedi.

• 49:45Speaker 13

  How do you picture hi- his day-to-day with that new responsibility? Like, what are his personal missions and, uh, you know, what do you think he's doing ten years from now as a Jedi?

• 49:55Speaker 02

  I think I remember reading an extended, uh, comic book or graphic novel stuff that involved Finn, and it touched on him going across the galaxy freeing stormtroopers that were still part of, uh, the old empire, still part of that mentality, and building a crew, you know, of, of, of people. So I always thought, see, reading that, I was like, yeah, I'll do that, you know? A great crew of, of individuals who were before, faceless stormtroopers, being given their identity and their own personality, and Finn, you know, leading that charge, maybe alongside Janna, um, and the, and the rest of the crew would be, would be cool to explore.

• 50:33Speaker 13

  Awesome. Cool, thank you.

• 50:34Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 50:37Speaker 02

  What's up?

• 50:38Speaker 14

  Hi, I'm Octavia. Oh my god, I look terrible. I'm very nervous because you're so handsome and...

• 50:44Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 50:46Speaker 14

  But I love Star Wars down, but I kinda wanna ask you a question about they cloned Tyrone.

• 50:51Speaker 02

  Ooh.

• 50:53Speaker 14

  I'm spiritual, so everything that was in that movie, I believe they're putting something in the food. And yes, they're killing us and cloning us. Who cares? But um, how was your experience working with that? It was a very weird movie, you know, like you're getting killed, you're being cloned, and then you're getting killed again and then cloned again, and then Jamie Foxx is hilarious.

• 51:11Speaker 02

  He's brilliant.

• 51:12Speaker 14

  Yeah, so I just wanted to ask, like, how was your experience with that? And like, do you believe the message of the movie?

• 51:21Speaker 02

  I choose movies to give you guys messages all the time. And I ain't gonna say that I believe they did what they said they did. But it could be in the chicken.

• 51:31Speaker 14

  I said that. KFC?

• 51:33Speaker 02

  It could be, it could be.

• 51:34Speaker 14

  Uh, Burger King.

• 51:36Speaker 02

  I feel like, you know, we, Jewel Taylor, phenomenal director, young guy as well, is tapping into the conversations that we're all secretly having. We're all thinking about that. We're all thinking about our food and what we put in our body and stuff like that. So I think to build kind of like a sci-fi genre off of that narrative is smart stuff. I enjoyed myself. I mean, I guess the hardest thing to do is to play the straight man while Jamie is the funny guy. That's very, very hard, but I had an incredible, incredible time. It's one of the best shooting experiences I've ever had. Shout out to Macrow, Charles King, and everybody. Really enjoyed myself. And girl, you look good. Don't say that in public again. You look good, okay? All right.

• 52:14Speaker 14

  Yeah, let's go on a manga date, okay? I've never been to London, but I'll go with you.

• 52:19Speaker 02

  All right. You don't have a baby now, right?

• 52:25Speaker 02

  You're up.

• 52:26Speaker 15

  Okay, hi, I'm Hayden, and if you could play any other role in a movie or TV show, what would it be?

• 52:32Speaker 02

  Good, good, uh, good question. Good, any, any role in a movie or a TV show. Pedro, I just wanna be the guy in Last of Us, just for one episode.

• 52:46Speaker 02

  Just one, and I need you guys as fans to just pretend as if nothing changed. So when Pedro comes back, you're like, yeah, you know? The Last of Us is a phenomenal TV show. I don't know if you're too young to watch that, but it's a phenomenal zombie TV show. You know, so imagine me as one of the guys in Walking Dead or something. That kind of vibe, I would love to do that.

• 53:08Speaker 15

  And can I get a high five?

• 53:10Speaker 02

  Absolutely you can, dude. Let's do it now.

• 53:16Speaker 02

  Nice to meet you, dude. Nice to meet you, man.

• 53:25Speaker 02

  You're up.

• 53:25Josh Horowitz?

  You're on.

• 53:26Speaker 16

  Hi, John.

• 53:27Speaker 02

  How you doing?

• 53:28Speaker 16

  I'm good, how are you?

• 53:29Speaker 02

  I'm good, thank you.

• 53:30Speaker 16

  Uh, my name is Marissa. I'm from Chicago, around here in this area. My question for you is, uh, thinking about Oscar Isaac and how he had his character on Star Wars and then eventually became Moon Knight for the Marvel Universe. I know you said you kind of wanted to take a break from some of that, but if there were a specific character that they had approached you for, who would you want to be in the Marvel Universe?

• 53:53Speaker 02

  I don't know, I feel like Kevin Feige asked me the same thing, like, what would you? You know, they want your creative feedback and I was just there like, I don't know, I genuinely, maybe I need more ambition or something.

• 54:04Josh Horowitz?

  I don't think that's your problem.

• 54:05Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah, well, yeah. I, I, I, I guess I'm, I was so, I've been, you know, watching Marvel from the beginning, so Endgame was like the crescendo for me. So I don't know, I, I wouldn't know what they're gonna establish with this new universe, with Robert Downey Jr. coming back as Doom. I'm like, wow, how are they gonna pull this off? So maybe I'll have more of an idea once they, they come back and establish.

• 54:29Speaker 02

  Ah, now Bishop.

• 54:31Josh Horowitz?

  One vote for Bishop. All right, all right.

• 54:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, thanks, man. Ain't bad, bro, you, you, you need, you need me to be your client or something? Run it back.

• 54:41Josh Horowitz?

  We're making deals.

• 54:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, so maybe Bishop, you never know. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

• 54:46Josh Horowitz?

  Go for it.

• 54:47Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Carlos. Wow, that is loud. Just to piggyback, actually, you're friends with Oscar Isaac. How do you rate his British accent work in Moon Knight?

• 54:58Speaker 02

  My boy did good. My boy did good. And you know what? It was it was hard for him because he had to do. He was going for more of the South London accent, and that's me or me. You know, we sound a little bit more ragged. So I think that he done a phenomenal job based on the fact that, bloody hell, the guy's not from there. So to go into that, I remember watching the TV show, I said, "Look at my boy trying to sound like me." Ah, yeah. But I enjoyed it, man. I enjoyed him as Moon Knight. And he's coming back, right? He's coming back? Yeah, I'll be so happy if they bring him back and establish that more. I really enjoyed Oscar in that role.

• 55:31Speaker 06

  Great, thank you.

• 55:32Speaker 02

  Thank you. Thank you.

• 55:37Speaker 17

  Hi, peace, John.

• 55:38Speaker 02

  How you doing?

• 55:39Speaker 17

  I'm good, thank you. My name is Binta. I'm from Chicago by way of Senegalese and Gambian parents. My question is, as a first-generation person, what advice do you have for others that want to embark in a creative career?

• 55:52Speaker 02

  I think it's all about the training first. Like any field, your success in it is based on how much skills you pick up and how much you're able to scale off of that. With acting, it's the same thing. Usually people go, "I want to get an agent, I want to be in that film." But you have to scale it back. It's all about the training. The audition is where it starts, and the film is where it ends. So start at the starting point, train, train, train, until you feel comfortable enough, and branch out, connect with the community, and try to build from there. Nobody can tell you what you could do in acting that's going to give you a direct role. But what I can say that's part of the components is making sure you're a great actor any chance that you get.

• 56:29Speaker 17

  Cool, thank you.

• 56:30Speaker 02

  Thank you, and I love your outfit.

• 56:31Speaker 17

  Thank you.

• 56:35Speaker 02

  How you doing?

• 56:36Speaker 18

  Hello, I'm Abby. I work in teen services in the Chicago library system here. And you had mentioned that you were really into manga and comics growing up. And so I work with a lot of teens who are also really into manga, which I actually know nothing about. So I was wondering, which ones really were important to you when you were younger? And do you have any suggestions for someone who is new to that and trying to connect with younger readers?

• 57:08Speaker 02

  I mean, when I was younger, I started off with Death Note, because there was a few people I didn't like.

• 57:15Speaker 02

  There was a few people I didn't like, so I was like, if I had a book, you know, as a young... So it was cool to, I mean, come on, guys. It was cool to follow him through his journey and kind of project a little bit. So there was that, and then, you know, Naruto to me was that too. Also because I felt like, I felt like Naruto one time in my life, where I felt like, damn, I have this dream that's kind of corny to everybody around me in school and stuff. Naruto was becoming the first Hokage. Me was becoming an actor in Hollywood. And the environments that we're both born into, me, London, him, The Hidden Leaf, didn't suggest that that's what was gonna happen with your future. And to be so determined, every time I turned the pages,

• 57:59Speaker 02

  and no matter what was going on in Naruto's circumstance, he puts his fist in the air and says, nah, I'm gonna be the first Hokage, believe it. For me, I was just like, I like this kid.

• 58:11Speaker 02

  So those were the two that I think is phenomenal, and I think especially for young people, because they're gonna go through so much. They're gonna go through, they're gonna have to aspire and all of that stuff. It's good to find that kind of journey that your favorite characters are going through also. So, yeah.

• 58:25Speaker 18

  Thank you.

• 58:26Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 58:31Speaker 19

  Hi, I'm David from Milwaukee. And I was wondering, when you were getting ready to play on Star Wars, were there any moments that you had with Mark Hamill or the older Star Wars generation that they gave you advice on acting? Or just how to view Star Wars in general that you still take with you today?

• 58:48Speaker 02

  No, I think that, I mean, we were kid-kids. So I think that a lot of you have kids here. The biggest example is how you are in front of them. What you actually do. And it's the same for older actors and stars. Obviously, we're all hired, so we can't waste Disney's time about, you know, "How do I be the best actor I can be?" And they're gonna be like, "Yeah, John May, you're in the film. Go to work." But it was great to watch Harrison, Carrie, Mark do the work, you know, get into their characters. It was great to know how they established, you know, like how Harrison established the charm. You know, him seeing Han like a space cowboy and putting that, injecting it into his charismatic performance. I think watching them was more of a thing

• 59:33Speaker 02

  than going up and saying anything. Number one, I was too scared. Number two, I think that there were so much special moments that especially myself and Daisy got to witness. Like seeing Harrison rehearse for the first time coming into the Millennium Falcon and saying, "Oh, I don't think that's right." "Uh, JJ, blah blah blah." And then those guys going through it. You just silently sit back. You don't say anything, you watch. And you learn so much from that that I will take for my whole career, for sure.

• 1:00:01Speaker 19

  Thank you.

• 1:00:01Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:00:05Speaker 20

  Hi, John.

• 1:00:06Speaker 02

  Hello.

• 1:00:07Speaker 20

  I can see you. I don't have my glasses, so I can finally see you a little bit.

• 1:00:10Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:00:12Speaker 20

  My question was, you mentioned having all these experiences with like your cast and everything. I was curious to what your favorite memory was with Carrie Fisher? If you'd like to share that?

• 1:00:24Speaker 02

  I have a good few. This is the one I share the most because I think it most reflects who she was. It was the time where I was on a really strict regime and diet. And we had one of those long, long days. And... I remember speaking to Carrie and she was just like, "What's wrong?" And I was just like, "Yeah, it's just a, it's just a long day." And then the fact I have to just go home and eat chicken breasts and veg. I don't know, it's just one of those days, you know? It's not a life ender, but you know when you just have one of those days? And she said, "Come back in a few hours, I'll have all the snacks you need in my trailer, you can come get them." And she did. And her one thing to me was, you can still be through this experience and you can have a moment to relax, to think about what has happened before. She goes, "You're a phenomenal kid, and you're in a Star Wars movie so young, you should be

• 1:01:09Speaker 02

  able to take in the moment." And so she said that the day like that was a day for me to snack up, celebrate actually being in this. And she said she wasn't going to tell nobody, and she didn't. I came back to set with chocolate streaks on my mouth, looked at Carrie and she was just like...

• 1:01:28Speaker 02

  So a phenomenal experience with her. It really felt like you were, you know, being mentored by someone who had the experience and who had gone to places that you hadn't. So it was good to learn from her, rest in peace.

• 1:01:39Speaker 20

  Thank you.

• 1:01:41Josh Horowitz?

  We're sadly almost out of time, but I do want to, before we wrap up, because you are now part of the podcast again, a returning guest of Happy, Sad, Confused, I have some profoundly random questions for you. You have to submit to this, John, I'm sorry. Dogs or cats?

• 1:01:57Speaker 02

  Ooh, cats.

• 1:02:02Josh Horowitz?

  The people have spoken.

• 1:02:03Speaker 02

  I had a Bengal, so yeah, I had a Bengal a few years ago. Rest in peace, Logan.

• 1:02:09Josh Horowitz?

  What do you collect?

• 1:02:11Speaker 02

  Ooh, right now I'm on Pokémon cards and Gundam.

• 1:02:16Josh Horowitz?

  What's the wallpaper on your phone?

• 1:02:18Speaker 02

  Oh, my beautiful woman in my life.

• 1:02:24Josh Horowitz?

  Sorry for the children in the audience, but Dakota Johnson once asked this of me: "Would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one bee in your butt?"

• 1:02:33Speaker 02

  Give me the mouthful. You ain't going that way.

• 1:02:39Josh Horowitz?

  Who's the last actor you were mistaken for?

• 1:02:42Speaker 02

  Daniel Kaluuya.

• 1:02:45Speaker 02

  But I claimed it too. They was like, "Man, you was good in Get Out." I said, "No, word, word."

• 1:02:52Speaker 02

  I claimed that role. I claimed it, okay? That's my brother. You win, I win, bro, bro.

• 1:02:58Josh Horowitz?

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

• 1:03:01Speaker 02

  All the directors I've worked with have been phenomenal. No worse notes.

• 1:03:04Josh Horowitz?

  Okay.

• 1:03:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, they've been phenomenal. I can't lie. I'm meticulous.

• 1:03:09Josh Horowitz?

  In the spirit of Happy, Say Confused, who's an actor that always makes you happy? You see them on screen, you're immediately a happier man.

• 1:03:16Speaker 02

  Man, so freaking many, but I would go for... Who do I love the most? You know what? I'll go for a new one. I've been really happy with Timothy Chalamet.

• 1:03:26Josh Horowitz?

  Chalamet?

• 1:03:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, man.

• 1:03:27Josh Horowitz?

  Chalamet.

• 1:03:28Speaker 02

  I like him, you know? A lot of actors my age, I like to say a lot of people older that have... But, you know, I just like how he's curating his Leo DiCaprio-esque, you know, career.

• 1:03:38Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:38Speaker 02

  So every time I see him, I'm like, "Oh, man, cool bit, man. I'd like to see what you got going on." And he's not just a pretty face, you know what I mean? He's got range, man.

• 1:03:46Josh Horowitz?

  He can sing and dance.

• 1:03:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:03:48Josh Horowitz?

  He can ride a sandworm.

• 1:03:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:03:50Josh Horowitz?

  He can do the...

• 1:03:50Speaker 02

  Ooh, ooh, ooh, but I just remembered, there's someone far more greater than that, though.

• 1:03:56Speaker 02

  Robert Pattinson, man.

• 1:03:57Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:03:59Speaker 02

  I think that's top five, one of my favorite actors, man. Robert Pattinson.

• 1:04:04Josh Horowitz?

  Just the risks he's taking. He's Batman, but he's also doing the weird stuff.

• 1:04:07Speaker 02

  But it was... For me, it was about the beginning of his career. No one could... No one could ever fathom that he had that much versatility and range. And it kind of taught me as a film watcher, I can't just be on a diet of studio and popcorn movies. Like, I get to see my actors do work, like, on more grounded projects. And I think, once Robert got out of the Twilight franchise, he just started going in. Like, Good Times and a few, you know, uh...

• 1:04:33Josh Horowitz?

  Even before, he was doing these weird Cronenberg movies.

• 1:04:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:35Josh Horowitz?

  I always talk about this. I'm totally with you. This guy did it.

• 1:04:38Speaker 02

  His accent work is phenomenal. So, yeah, Robert, Timothy, all them guys, yeah, you lot are dope.

• 1:04:42Josh Horowitz?

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

• 1:04:46Speaker 02

  Brings me to tears always.

• 1:04:47Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:48Speaker 02

  I still... I still can't get over the way Scar did Mufasa, man.

• 1:04:56Speaker 02

  And then they decided to bring it out again and then reminded off us that again. So I was just like, I've been reliving the, the trauma. And then we lost, we lost James L. Jones, you know? So the, the connection to, connection to that and, and, and that legacy, always a little tear in there.

• 1:05:10Josh Horowitz?

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

• 1:05:13Speaker 02

  I don't get it?

• 1:05:14Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, why do people eat that?

• 1:05:15Speaker 02

  Oh, oh, man, I'm a bit of a, a vacuum cleaner. I'm like, I like, yeah, I don't know.

• 1:05:22Josh Horowitz?

  Something that you're, get that off my plate?

• 1:05:25Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. I think I was on James Corden one time and he, and he, they, they had fried roaches?

• 1:05:31Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, no. Well.

• 1:05:32Speaker 02

  But it was a truth or dare game. I had to, I have to tell the truth. And one of the questions was, uh, how much did you get paid on Force Awakens? So I was like, give me the roach.

• 1:05:41Speaker 02

  I mean, so that definitely, no, I, I know in some countries is a delicacy, but yeah, nah.

• 1:05:47Josh Horowitz?

  Got to, got to suffer for your art.

• 1:05:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:05:49Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, dude, you're always killing it. Thank you for sharing this time with us in Chicago. You are one of us.

• 1:05:54Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:05:55Josh Horowitz?

  One of all of them.

• 1:05:55Speaker 02

  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

• 1:05:56Josh Horowitz?

  Everybody, Chicago, give it up one more time for John Boyega.

• 1:06:01Speaker 03

  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 supposed to do this by Josh.