Danny McBride

For 20 years Danny McBride has been making us laugh in films (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, TROPIC THUNDER) and TV (EASTBOUND & DOWN), THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES), and now he's an author with his new collection of short stories, THRILLING TALES OF MODERN MEN. He joins Josh to talk about it all including the shows HBO has said no to, lessons learned from YOUR HIGHNESS, and his plans for a GI JOE movie. SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! Rula -- Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rula.com/happy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #rulapod Quince -- Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for free shipping and 365-day returns. Limited Time Offer–Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code happy15 at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://huel.com/happy15.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! 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

  When that movie screened, I mean, it was insane because we went from, I mean, I think when I went to Sundance that year, I might have had like, you know, 30 bucks in my bank account or something. I mean, it's like we had nothing going on. And yeah, everything changed so fast.

• 0:15Speaker 01

  Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins.

• 0:23Josh Horowitz?

  Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, one of the funniest, smartest men on the planet, it's Danny McBride. You know him, you love him as an actor, as a filmmaker, and now as an author. His new book, Thrilling Tales of Modern Men. So thrilled to have Danny back on the podcast. Thanks, guys, as always, for checking out Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to hit that subscribe button on YouTube, on Spotify, however you're enjoying the podcast. I appreciate you guys. Before we get to the main event, as always, I want to remind you guys, if you like what I do, if you want to support what I do, check out our Patreon, patreon.com/happy, sad, confused. You get early access to all of our episodes. You get discount codes to our live events in New York and LA, autographed merch, posters, lots of cool stuff over there. As always,

• 1:08Josh Horowitz?

  I always say it, but I really do mean it. Supporting us over there does help us make more stuff over here. Okay, as I said, the main event today is Danny McBride. We know him, we love him from Eastbound and Down, Vice Principals, Righteous Gemstones, This Is the End, Foot Fist Way, Tropic Thunder, the list goes on and on and on. I've been thrilled to talk to Danny, literally his entire career, which coincides with the years of my entire career. First spoke to him about Foot Fist Way, which was the movie that brought him to the fore in 2006. And now here we are, 20 years later, he has a great new book out. It is called Thrilling Tales of Modern Men. It's a collection of short stories and it very much is in keeping with the vibe, the humor, the tone of Danny McBride. You're

• 1:53Josh Horowitz?

  gonna love it. So check it out. This conversation deals with that, but also tons of fun stories about your highness, Tropic Thunder, his upcoming G.I. Joe movie that he has written. Sounds very, very cool. This is a really fun one. I'm so thrilled it happened. Please enjoy me and the one and only Danny McBride. Look at you Danny.

• 2:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, what's up?

• 2:16Josh Horowitz?

  Look at us. Here we are. We're doing it.

• 2:18Speaker 00

  Two old men.

• 2:18Josh Horowitz?

  We've turned into old men. What happened?

• 2:20Speaker 00

  That quickly. Yep.

• 2:22Josh Horowitz?

  It's good to see you, man.

• 2:23Speaker 00

  It's good to see you too, bud.

• 2:25Josh Horowitz?

  I always have to, you know, check in with you at every juncture in the professional career.

• 2:29Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 2:29Josh Horowitz?

  And here we are. You haven't changed physically. You haven't like classed up at all. Like you didn't shave at all.

• 2:35Speaker 00

  Nope, I didn't try to, I didn't want to change myself for you. Yeah.

• 2:39Josh Horowitz?

  But you're a classy author now. I would think like.

• 2:41Speaker 00

  So I should have. I thought I should get some patches for my elbows, maybe a pipe, but.

• 2:48Josh Horowitz?

  A monocle?

• 2:49Speaker 00

  I'll evolve into that. Yeah. I'll do what like John Travolta did at that film festival where he, yeah, I'll have a brand new look next time you see me.

• 2:58Josh Horowitz?

  When's the last time you were clean shaven?

• 3:00Speaker 00

  You know what? I was, it wasn't too long ago. It was probably about a month or so ago. Yeah, I went and did an episode of the studio and I was clean shaven for that. Yeah.

• 3:11Josh Horowitz?

  I was gonna ask about that. You've reteamed with Seth. That's exciting.

• 3:14Speaker 00

  Yeah, I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not.

• 3:16Josh Horowitz?

  We started with a real exclusive.

• 3:19Josh Horowitz?

  For you on the pit as well? Any other TV shows you should drop?

• 3:22Speaker 00

  I'm on the pit, I'm the bad guy on the pit. Yeah, there's a bad guy this season. That's me. Yeah.

• 3:29Josh Horowitz?

  Let's get the important stuff out of the way. You're an author now. You have a lot of accomplishments in your life.

• 3:34Speaker 00

  Look at that.

• 3:34Josh Horowitz?

  Look at this. This is a real book.

• 3:36Speaker 00

  It's a real live book. Yep.

• 3:37Josh Horowitz?

  Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, Danny McBride. There's no ghostwriter here.

• 3:41Speaker 00

  Ghostwriter? Nope, nobody. I couldn't convince anyone to write it for me.

• 3:44Josh Horowitz?

  Every single word is you. Yes.

• 3:45Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 3:46Josh Horowitz?

  In all seriousness, does this feel like a moment? I mean, you've been on a lot of different kind of press tours, promoted a lot of things. There's something like, I don't know, substantial, real about being an author. I don't know.

• 3:56Speaker 00

  You know what it is? It's a little bit, it's like slightly more respect than being a comedian, slightly, not much more, but, no, it's, it's great. This is something like brand new. I, you know, I've written at this point over 80 episodes of television.

• 4:11Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 4:11Speaker 00

  So, writing is nothing new to me, but, you know, I wanted to sort of like do an extension of that and try what I do in a completely different format.

• 4:21Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 4:21Speaker 00

  And that's what this was. And I had an absolute. Blast doing it. It was so much fun.

• 4:26Josh Horowitz?

  Is there something different? Because from what I understand, like this wasn't like, no one was assigning you this book.

• 4:31Speaker 00

  No.

• 4:31Josh Horowitz?

  This is, this is literally born out of like way back when I think Vice Principals, like you're on your downtime, you start to just

• 4:37Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 4:37Josh Horowitz?

  Need some respite from that?

• 4:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, I started on Vice Principal. I started this thing where I just needed a little, I wanted to, you know, when you write for TV, it's so much writing and it's a, and it's always year after year, it's the same characters, even though each season's va, you know, different and, but you're writing for the same exact character in the same tone. And I was just kind of feeling like I needed to, uh, I don't know, just like write for other characters or write for other stories and just kind of give my brain a little moment to spin out on something else. And so, yeah, I'd start at this habit of, uh, I'd write about three pages a day before I would go into the writer's room for Vice Principals and just kind of work it out and just you kind of write about anything and then just leave it there. Uh, and I did that for the whole time we wrote Vice Principals for like a solid year.

• 5:23Speaker 00

  And, uh, all those books just kind of sat there empty, uh, with no one, not empty, they were full, but no one was doing anything with them, including me.

• 5:32Speaker 00

  And then it was a few years later and I just started flipping through them and was seeing if there was anything in there that was worth exploring more.

• 5:37Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 5:38Speaker 00

  And a few of the stories, uh, were sort of what kind of motivated me to finish them. And then I was trying to think, well, what would be the format to give this? Are these each their own stories? And then it started to become clear that I wanted to do like an anthology sto, you know, book full of a bunch of different stories and, and that proved to be so much fun because with this, it's like, you know, when you're writing for TV, every episode, you know, you try to make them stay on their own, but ultimately they're like, they're lining up with other things, setting up a full season and then setting up a full series. And this was fun to jump into something and be able to take a story to its conclusion, finish it. And every story could be about whoever I wanted it to be or whatever I wanted.

• 6:18Josh Horowitz?

  And somewhat like different genres. There's some, there's some that are more like, feel like Danny McBride's Black Mirror and there are some that are a little bit, you know?

• 6:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 6:26Josh Horowitz?

  Does, do you think there's a common denominator in the, in the men in this book?

• 6:30Speaker 00

  You know, like the stuff I've explored in like film and TV. I mean, they tend to always be, you're always meeting them at a point where they're kind of lost, you know, met spiritually or romantically, or just in life in general, they're kind of not where they imagined they'd be. And then it's exploring the ways that, you know, the journey to sort of get back on track and just cause all this chaos. And, you know, people making very bad decisions and, you know, sometimes people die.

• 6:59Josh Horowitz?

  There's a, there are a few I want to mention in particular that I really loved. And I, by the way, reading a book, that's not like watching like a 90 minute movie. This was a commitment for me, Danny.

• 7:08Speaker 00

  Yes, I appreciate that. And I didn't even know you could read until this meeting. So I'm really, I'm proud of you.

• 7:14Josh Horowitz?

  I would have just stopped after the first story if I didn't like it. I really dug all the stories in this. And there are a few I want to shout out. The first one, which is maybe the longest one in it is The Illusionist, which is about essentially a guy who puts himself in like one of the like glass boxes in the middle of a mall. He's also in kind of like suffering, going through like a breakup.

• 7:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 7:34Josh Horowitz?

  What's your relationship with illusionists, with magic? Do you consider somebody just sitting in a glass box actual magic? Are they doing anything?

• 7:42Speaker 00

  It depends on if there's food and water, then it's magic, you know? Yeah, it just, you know, with all these stories, it, that story just started honestly in the beginning. I just started writing the idea of this guy sitting in a box for 30 days. And then as I started writing, it was like, well, why is he in this box? What got him here? Like, what's going on in his life? And yeah, that was a, that was a lot of fun to write. And, you know, the thing that's been kind of interesting about this is whenever you write for TV or film, you know, you come up with a great idea and then you have to go take it to executives and then they'll tell you all the reasons why it's not a great idea. Or why it's too expensive. And, uh, and then you kind of go back and you challenge it. With this was like, you could write something and then it's, that's the story. That's what it is. It was a lot of fun. Yeah.

• 8:26Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, I do like, I mean, I've never really considered like, does David Copperfield or David Blaine, like, where did they poop? What happens?

• 8:33Speaker 00

  It's the logistics.

• 8:34Josh Horowitz?

  It's the nitty gritty. That really makes it important.

• 8:37Speaker 00

  They just, they hold it in. That's the real magic, holding your shit in for an hour.

• 8:41Josh Horowitz?

  Were you, are you more of a David Copperfield or David Blaine? Did you ever see Siegfried and Roy? Like, what's your bag?

• 8:46Speaker 00

  I've never seen any of them live, but I appreciate all of them. The closest I've got to real magic is the Magic Castle in Los Angeles.

• 8:55Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 8:55Speaker 00

  I've seen a little bit of that up close. Yeah.

• 8:58Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, I've never gone over there. I hear it's a bit rundown over there. That's what it is.

• 9:00Speaker 00

  That's part of the charm of it.

• 9:02Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 9:02Speaker 00

  Yeah. It would be weird if a magical castle where magicians drink was pristine. It kind of needs to be musty to sell the whole vibe. Yeah.

• 9:12Josh Horowitz?

  Then your, it's like your Stanley Kubrick AI is like your RoboCare.

• 9:17Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 9:18Josh Horowitz?

  Story, which is about a guy, an older gentleman who needs a robot caretaker and just like.

• 9:23Speaker 00

  Yeah, his kids don't want to, they don't want to invite him to their home to take care of them. So they, they hire this service that puts an android in your home to take care of the elderly. And it goes awry.

• 9:35Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. Where do you stand on our robot overlords? Are you, are you running towards it? Are you running away? Do you want a robot caretaker?

• 9:43Speaker 00

  I feel like I don't have any control on where it's going, so I'm here to watch with, with glee what happens. My daughter, who, who's 11, is like fascinated with androids and robots. Like she always, she's been for like years and.

• 10:00Josh Horowitz?

  She's gonna lead the robot armada against us.

• 10:02Speaker 00

  She wants, she wants that Tesla robot. She's, she knew about that. She told me about that robot. But I, she introduced me to something where I'm like, oh, I never thought about that. I always assumed if a family got a robot, you would just get one, you know, the Jetsons had one.

• 10:15Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 10:16Speaker 00

  But she was like talking like, we'll probably need six of them. And I was like, six? And she's like, one, one to clean my room, one to clean her brother's room, one to drive, one to do yard work. Like she already had given them all assignments. And I was like, oh, I kind of imagined that one would do them all. But she might be on to something. Maybe it's getting a fleet of robots is what the future is.

• 10:35Josh Horowitz?

  Doesn't seem like a good idea for anybody.

• 10:37Speaker 00

  It's all teaching how to fight. They could protect you.

• 10:39Josh Horowitz?

  That's true. That's true.

• 10:40Speaker 00

  Entertain you maybe.

• 10:42Josh Horowitz?

  Yes.

• 10:42Speaker 00

  They can dance. You can get them to do dances at night.

• 10:44Josh Horowitz?

  Right, right. You want robot dancers.

• 10:46Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. We need a troupe. Yeah.

• 10:49Josh Horowitz?

  It seems like you've always had a good relationship with your hair. It's iconic, the hair on your head.

• 10:54Speaker 00

  Still here for now.

• 10:55Josh Horowitz?

  Still there. Yet in The Institute of Men, this gets at a guy who's facing some follicle challenges.

• 11:02Speaker 00

  Yes, yes.

• 11:03Josh Horowitz?

  And then enters into a real nightmare, like an amazing scenario.

• 11:08Josh Horowitz?

  I don't know if I want to ruin it the whole thing, but essentially he's found the elixir, but it comes with a cost.

• 11:14Speaker 00

  Yes, like everything, like any good fable, you know, you, you think you're going to fix one problem and you create others by doing it. And yeah, it just feels like we're in this day and age where with everything online, like there's a million things for people to be self-conscious of. And like, how far will someone go to like fix what they're self-conscious about? And, you know, this was another one that I just kind of started at the beginning and then just like the joy of it was not really knowing where it was going or what was going to happen to him. And then just trying every day to make it stranger and stranger of the journey he was on.

• 11:45Josh Horowitz?

  Do you worry about somebody jumping out of a van and just falling?

• 11:48Speaker 00

  Give me a haircut?

• 11:49Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 11:50Speaker 00

  You know, maybe now I will. I never really thought of that as being a fear, but I could see it being traumatic. Yes.

• 11:56Josh Horowitz?

  The only, I don't want to ruin all of these. The only other one I want to mention, I think might be the last one is Dad's Way, which you probably have the only short story that has a Bronson Pinchot role.

• 12:06Speaker 00

  When I wrote that, I was like, can you do this? Can you just write Bronson Pinchos in your story?

• 12:10Josh Horowitz?

  Is there any legal ramifications?

• 12:11Speaker 00

  We're going to find out.

• 12:15Josh Horowitz?

  It's basically involves a sitcom, kind of a reunion, an actor who has, he's now playing a mole man essentially in a film. Where do you stand on, what are your sitcom? We're the same age essentially.

• 12:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 12:29Josh Horowitz?

  What were the sitcoms?

• 12:30Speaker 00

  Well, obviously Perfect Strangers, you know.

• 12:33Josh Horowitz?

  We can do the Dance of Joy at the end if you want.

• 12:35Speaker 00

  Yes, I, yes, we definitely should do that. You know, it's all that same stuff. I mean, I love Cheers, Cosby Show, Family Ties, Perfect Strangers, Full House.

• 12:48Josh Horowitz?

  Where are you on Alf?

• 12:50Speaker 00

  You know, I liked Alf, but I don't know if I loved Alf. I feel like it was, it was a little.

• 12:55Josh Horowitz?

  Too broad, too silly?

• 12:56Speaker 00

  Maybe, maybe it was a little too.

• 12:57Josh Horowitz?

  You needed the subtle humor of Full House.

• 12:59Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. You know what I think was my fifth grade teacher was like really into Alf and I think it like put a bad taste in my mouth. I was like, she likes Alf.

• 13:06Josh Horowitz?

  Do you like reunion specials? Where do you stand on that?

• 13:09Speaker 00

  Oh, well, you know, when they're, when they're done right. But sometimes when you, uh, when you're so used to seeing people a certain age and then you see them much older all together doing the same thing. Sometimes it can be a little depressing. It's a little, it makes you think, not because getting old is gross. It is, but it's sometimes it just makes you sad about how fast time is moving. It's kind of like a buzzkill. Yeah.

• 13:32Josh Horowitz?

  Speaking of, okay. So like, we've probably talked about this over the years. Like, I'm sure people always ask you about, in particular for Kenny Powers, like getting the, the band back together and doing something. Have you ever seriously entertained it? It's been a long time now since you've played that character.

• 13:47Speaker 00

  You know, I have never really entertained it because to me it feels like we did do it, you know, and I, I wonder what we would have to gain by doing it again. I mean, ultimately, we didn't give a shit back then. We didn't have kids. We didn't have, you know, none of us were married. Like, we didn't even really know how the world worked, you know? So we were, there was a fearlessness to what we were creating. Uh, and I love that that is what it is. And, uh, not that, you know, I'll still push things now and I like it. But I just, part of me like wonders if, you know, me going back into that world now would actually make it better or if it would somehow, uh, like taint it. Like, it kind of feels like the idea would be to do something new as opposed to just go wallow in the past.

• 14:30Speaker 00

  But who knows, man? I could make some bad real estate investments and then I'll be back like trying to push the relaunch of Eastbound and Down. Yeah.

• 14:36Josh Horowitz?

  Do, do they, do, does HBO come to you and say, like, think about it?

• 14:41Speaker 00

  They uh, no, they don't. You know, the closest we came was we talked to Will about doing an Ashley Shafer spinoff a few years ago. But you know what? HBO didn't even like listen to the pitch. They just like weren't arrested. I was kinda like, alright, it sounds like it could be awesome, but.

• 14:57Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, that iconic character, that hair, everything about him.

• 15:01Speaker 00

  Maybe they're right. Maybe it would just be too much lunacy for one show. I don't know. We'll never know. We had a spinoff idea after Eastbound that was gonna be called Holy Guacamole. And it was Steve Little and uh, and his, Stevie and his wife opened up a Mexican restaurant. And it was just gonna be like a workplace comedy.

• 15:20Josh Horowitz?

  And that again, didn't go anywhere?

• 15:22Speaker 00

  And they were not arrested.

• 15:26Josh Horowitz?

  In the acknowledgements, you mentioned a lot of people, including a couple of authors that caught my eye, Stephen King, Dean Koontz. Have you ever tried to adapt either?

• 15:35Speaker 00

  You know, I have not, but uh, you know, both of those writers were, I think they're the first writers that I really ever like finished like an adult book. And I feel like it was like starting like in fifth grade, I started like kind of, you know, we'd had the book fair, came to our school and the Stephen King books, like Eyes of the Dragon. I remember that being there. And Dean Koontz, for some reason, was always at the book fair things, even in an elementary school. And I remember I picked up his book Lightning. That was like one of the first books I had ever read that was of that size. And then it just was like, I became like just obsessed with that genre of like the horror. And I don't know, I just, I loved it. And it uh, I had tried reading a bunch earlier and it just always felt like homework. But for whatever reason, when I found

• 16:19Speaker 00

  the genre of horror, it just, the pages would just kinda, they would just speed by. And I found myself looking forward to reading. And then I think once you find an in with a genre or a type of book that does that for you, it does start to open you up to reading other things. So I really do feel like those two writers in particular are what sort of like created, you know, the reader in me from a really young age.

• 16:42Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. And it's funny, when I think of the, like, they never quite figured out, unless I'm missing something, adapting Dean Koontz's work really well.

• 16:48Speaker 00

  They really didn't. I feel like he always was getting shortchanged. Like, I feel like they would uh, he had some awesome ones too. That book Lightning, I love. I was a kid. Have you ever read it before? It's like this girl. Uh, when like, when bad stuff happens in her life, there's always this guy who shows up and like, and it's real like, the night she's going to be born, uh, the doctor that's going to deliver is drunk. And this dude shows up at his house and has a gun and doesn't let her, uh, doesn't let the doctor go deliver and someone else goes. Then, you know, a few years later, the girl's, uh, in high school and this guy comes in to rob, uh, her parents' store. And this dude shows up with a gun and stops it. And then like, so it kind of, these things keep happening through her life.

• 17:30Speaker 00

  And then she's like, now she's a writer and, uh, she's, uh, grown. And this dude shows up, it's come at different points, but he's been injured. And then you find out that he was a Nazi who was involved with time travel experiments. And the first time he did it, he saw her at a book signing and she was, uh, crippled. Because the doctor who delivered her was drunk.

• 17:50Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  And so then he kind of keeps going to different points in her life, trying to save her. And then the Nazis come after him because he's, they didn't, they obviously, they obviously didn't send a Nazi to go fix a writer's ailments, you know?

• 18:01Josh Horowitz?

  Nazis and time travel?

• 18:03Speaker 00

  Nazis, it was, uh, in like-

• 18:05Josh Horowitz?

  All I need.

• 18:05Speaker 00

  Fifth grade me was like, oh, fuck, yes.

• 18:10Josh Horowitz?

  Crazy.

• 18:18Speaker 03

  From the parents behind Law and Order, comes a mystery the whole family can enjoy. Patrick Picklebottom Everyday Mysteries. Step into the whimsical world of Patrick Picklebottom, a precocious 11-year-old with a love for reading and an uncanny ability to solve mysteries. Inspired by the beloved children's book of the same name, this podcast vividly brings Patrick's tales of deduction and everyday adventures to life as he unravels baffling enigmas and solves clever cases. Patrick Picklebottom Everyday Mysteries is perfect for kids and is just as entertaining for grownups who love a good mystery. The whole family can listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 19:03Speaker 04

  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.

• 19:47Speaker 04

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

• 20:04Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, um, since we have the luxury of time, and we have been talking to each other for a long time, let's reminisce for a second. Okay, I was saying, I was saying to you before, 20 years since Foot Fist Way, and 20, that means 20 years of us talking, which I know we have through, through the years. Yeah, and you're right. It's been at different points in, uh, in both of our careers. It's crazy. So let's, let's go all the way back first, like, a snapshot of where you were at that time, when Foot Fist Way happened, and people by now probably know the story, but you and Jody and Ben, I believe, all co-wrote that one. You star in it, screened Sundance, and it was Will, Will and Adam McKay that changed your lives, safe to say.

• 20:45Speaker 00

  Yep, for sure.

• 20:46Josh Horowitz?

  How quickly, I mean, you'd been struggling, you've been trying to crack the Hollywood thing. How much of like a mind fuck was it to go from like zero to 60?

• 20:55Speaker 00

  It was, it was really insane. Uh, you know, I had always wanted to make movies my whole life. I mean, even just since I was a kid, I never, uh, thought about doing anything different. So that was always what I had kind of worked for and always where my brain was always pushing me there, you know, and you went. To film school and met all those guys I work with there. So I mean, there's four years of us sitting around just fantasizing about making movies, what kind of movies we're gonna make and watching all of these actors and directors and people that were working at the time. Uh, but it always felt, we went to school in North Carolina, so Hollywood still always felt very, very far away. Um, yeah, and when that movie screened, I mean, it was insane because we went from, I mean, I think when I went to Sundance that year, I might have had like, you know,

• 21:38Speaker 00

  thirty bucks in my bank account or something. I mean, it's like we had nothing going on. And yeah, everything changed so fast. I mean, after, um, after a screen there, you know, Will and those guys picked it up and then that, I mean, that, that was in two thousand six. That year I, I went and did, uh, Hot Rod and then Drillbit Taylor and then Heartbreak Kid. And then that's where I met Ben Stiller. And so then the next year it was, uh, Pineapple Express, The Pilot to Eastbound, and then Tropic Thunder. I mean, it was all, all of that was like in the course of like one year. It was insane.

• 22:12Josh Horowitz?

  It's also crazy to think because, you know, it's one thing to like struggle and try to get acting gigs or whatever, but like you really put all your chips on the table with Foot Fist Way. If that doesn't screen well, if people don't like it.

• 22:23Speaker 00

  Yeah, we're chill, we're, we're, uh, we're flipping burgers. We're doing something different.

• 22:25Josh Horowitz?

  That's kind of probably it, right?

• 22:27Speaker 00

  Yeah. And that's kind of what Jody and I felt at the time is like we had been out in LA for a bit. It's kind of funny because now when you look at it, we moved out there in ninety nine. We made Foot Fist Way in two thousand five, so we really hadn't been out there that long. Six years isn't that crazy.

• 22:39Josh Horowitz?

  Sure.

• 22:40Speaker 00

  Uh, but to us it was a lifetime and we were definitely at the mind, at the point of, you know, it's time to like, you know, shit or get off the can. Like we need to like figure that we need to give it an honest shot and kind of like not be kidding ourselves that somebody's gonna just show up magically and like give us an opportunity.

• 22:56Josh Horowitz?

  So what I remember, especially from those early years is like, I mean, when we would do press together, it was always crazy by the nature of the stuff you were promoting.

• 23:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 23:04Josh Horowitz?

  And you were just always so down to do the craziest shit.

• 23:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 23:07Josh Horowitz?

  Like I have two indelible memories. One, you referenced when you walk, we walked in and we always talk about it with each other. Is we, we did a competitive eating contest with a gentleman named Kobayashi.

• 23:17Speaker 00

  Yes, yep.

• 23:18Josh Horowitz?

  Um, and I almost died.

• 23:20Speaker 00

  I remember that.

• 23:20Josh Horowitz?

  We have a photo, can we?

• 23:21Speaker 00

  I was worried about you.

• 23:23Josh Horowitz?

  So.

• 23:23Speaker 00

  Look at us. He never slowed down. Yeah, that's right. Cause we weren't doing hot dogs. We were doing pizza.

• 23:29Josh Horowitz?

  We were doing pizza.

• 23:30Speaker 00

  Pretty dangerous eating contest.

• 23:31Josh Horowitz?

  And what I remember, what I remember is you slow played it. You're like, fuck that. I'm not going to go all in.

• 23:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 23:37Josh Horowitz?

  And you let me, like, there was a moment where I literally thought I was gonna die.

• 23:41Speaker 00

  Well, it was an odd choice to switch to pizza because the hot dogs dipped in water is one thing.

• 23:46Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 23:47Speaker 00

  Pizza dipped in water, something gross. It almost turns into a paste.

• 23:50Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 23:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 23:51Josh Horowitz?

  That's why you didn't go all in?

• 23:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, I was like, I was only gonna do this if I could dip this into water. Yeah.

• 23:56Josh Horowitz?

  The other one I remember that I don't have a photo of, for Land of the Lost, I will always remember doing a shoot with you and Will, where there was a giant white python that was draped over the three of us.

• 24:07Speaker 00

  Yes, I remember that. Yeah, I remember that.

• 24:10Josh Horowitz?

  So.

• 24:12Speaker 00

  There was a whole set. Then you have a whole, there was a whole elaborate set that was.

• 24:16Josh Horowitz?

  There was a giant set. There was, there was actually a pool that we created that I think Will nixed. He was like, I don't want to go in the pool. So then we were, we were stuck with the giant python. And I remember the, like, the animal trainer, like, giving us the whole, like, spiel.

• 24:29Speaker 00

  This can kill you.

• 24:30Josh Horowitz?

  Basically.

• 24:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:31Josh Horowitz?

  Now, were you, I don't know, you're now a father of two, so maybe, are you a little bit more, would you, would you do the python thing today? I guess is my question.

• 24:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, I would do the python thing today. Sure, I would. Bring in the python. We got it. You know what's funny is that I haven't, uh, having kids hasn't slowed me down from wanting to do reckless dumb things to promote things. It honestly, the only thing I think having kids has really changed in my perspective on things is just how much time I want to give stuff, you know? Like, I really think about that with any project I have to do of just like, what is the time commitment? And like, what is that kind of worth? And how much are you gonna miss out on?

• 25:12Josh Horowitz?

  Totally.

• 25:13Speaker 00

  Pythons, I'm still down. I'm here.

• 25:16Josh Horowitz?

  Have you tried, by now, your kids are old enough that they, you could, you've probably shown them most of the films that you watched?

• 25:21Speaker 00

  I've never showed them anything.

• 25:22Josh Horowitz?

  Seriously?

• 25:23Speaker 00

  Yeah, nothing. I feel like they're, I feel like they don't really have any interest.

• 25:28Josh Horowitz?

  So wait.

• 25:29Speaker 00

  My, my son has seen things on YouTube and he think like he will always say, oh yeah, I saw that. I'm like, when did you see that? And he's like, well, I saw a clip of it. I'm like, that's not the same thing. It's like watching the whole movie, dude. It's like you saw a scene of something, you know? He doesn't really have any interest. My daughter is, uh, she's 11. She, I mean, she is insane. She, she, I think from a very early age, she curses. She, I mean, she curses like me. And even uses my, uh, you know, my deliveries and stuff. She, uh,

• 25:56Josh Horowitz?

  That must be a sight. That's a big.

• 25:57Speaker 00

  It's really, it's really incredible. I mean, she'll just do little things like her brother will say something and she'll just like walk past and just do that and just keep walking. It's like, she's been doing it for a long time and we'll try to reprimand her and it's just like no use. You're kind of like, it's hard to tell her to stop when I'm like laughing at her delivery.

• 26:12Josh Horowitz?

  And also you've been rewarded for this for 20 years. So.

• 26:15Speaker 00

  Keep at it. Maybe your dreams will come true. We'll see.

• 26:17Josh Horowitz?

  This makes me so happy that the legacy continues.

• 26:19Speaker 00

  It does. Yeah.

• 26:20Josh Horowitz?

  You can now go away.

• 26:21Speaker 00

  All reboots these days, of course it continues with a gender swap. You know, it would have been too much if it would have been my son being like, it has to be the girl. That's how, that's how reboots work these days.

• 26:32Josh Horowitz?

  So they haven't watched, you haven't like gotten them to watch the Ghostbusters, the Goonies, any of the ones that really meant a lot to you?

• 26:38Speaker 00

  I have tried to get them to watch that stuff. Uh, they like it. Uh, you know what? You know what genre plays well with them? Surprisingly is the nineties thriller.

• 26:48Josh Horowitz?

  Really?

• 26:49Speaker 00

  Like River Wild and Pacific Heights and like we, like honestly, it works. Like I watched them, we watched it and they're like, you know, their fists are quenched and they're like, you know, getting speed worked really well on them. Uh, yeah, it's funny. It's not what I would have expected to capture their imagination, but you know what I think it is? I think on YouTube, there is so much content that's geared towards people their age, you know? And I think when we were kids, Goonies and this stuff, this was like a, a, you know, wow, there's like a, there's something made with people that are my age in it. Now I think they have so much of that, that weirdly seeing like a mom and a son and a feeble dad on a whitewater rafting trip, getting terrorized by John C. Riley. Give me that. That seems cool.

• 27:33Josh Horowitz?

  That's amazing. Where do you stand? Um? On a Goonies sequel, do you want to roll in it? It seems like there's some more momentum in recent years.

• 27:40Speaker 00

  I don't know. You know what? I'm not going to say I'm above a reboot because obviously I'm not. I've participated in some. But that movie means so much to me that that is one that I'm, yeah, I'm cautious about that.

• 27:53Josh Horowitz?

  You could be the son of Sloth. You could be the next.

• 27:56Speaker 00

  I could be Sloth. Maybe he's still around, you know? He's as old now and he's, you know, he only one ear moves.

• 28:02Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. Do you think Sloth? I don't know if Sloth would play today. I don't know if it would work. I'd much.

• 28:06Speaker 00

  Sure. It was a pretty ballsy move, wasn't it?

• 28:07Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 28:11Josh Horowitz?

  Okay. So going way back when, you've talked about how obviously you really came into your own when you went to school and you kind of found like minded individuals that some of which you still work with to this day. But you weren't aspiring to be a performer. Like, was it even like a secret dream that you just didn't want to express?

• 28:26Speaker 00

  You know, it wasn't. I was, I was at school for, you know, to be a filmmaker, to write and direct. And that was kind of how I saw myself. And we, at that, at School of the Arts at time, the film school was brand new. So that, that school has a, a pretty cool history. They have a pretty amazing drama department and a dance department. So there were these other, it was an art conservatory. So you had to go four years there. You couldn't like transfer in like it was, you know, it was a big emphasis on whatever your art form was. But the film school was brand new. We were the third class to go there. So no one had even graduated from that school. We were there. And because I think we were getting all this money, there was a lot of disdain from the other, the other art schools, the other concentrations, they didn't really like the film school.

• 29:09Speaker 00

  And I also think because it's an art school and there's some pretty eccentric characters. Then all of a sudden there were like frat guys that were showing up, you know? And so, yeah, it was a little bit of a growing period for that school. But in the beginning, the drama teacher was just totally opposed to the drama students working with the film students. And he said it was because he didn't want like these inexperienced directors to like ruin the craft of what he was trying to instill.

• 29:33Josh Horowitz?

  I see.

• 29:34Speaker 00

  Cause obviously every actor is always going to work with an experienced director when they get out into the real world. That's just how it goes.

• 29:39Josh Horowitz?

  All pros.

• 29:40Speaker 00

  But because of that, we were all forced to like be in each other's films. And so I had. Like, you know, I had acted for a lot of my buddies just because and I think once they saw that I could memorize lines. I would be cast in multiple student films. Uh, but it was always just, uh, to help someone else out. It was never because I really wanted to do it or saw myself doing it. And so, um, when David Green was directing All the Real Girls, he had an actor drop out at the last minute. And then he asked if I would come and do it. And I remember thinking like, this is crazy, man. Like you have a real opportunity. You're gonna like, pull me into this and, and it was a lot of fun. I had a good time actually doing that. That was the first time I was like, oh, this is kind of interesting. Like it was fun to do it and to do it and to take it seriously. And,

• 30:23Speaker 00

  and then after that, Jody and I started talking and that's when we kind of started kicking around the foot fist way and the idea of me being in that.

• 30:30Josh Horowitz?

  But i- i- it's so strange to me that like, I mean, people obviously must have thought you were funny as a personality and had that predilection because, like you seemed back in two thousand six, two thousand seven, two thousand eight, when there was like that giant cluster of movies happens, like, this fully formed comedic, very specific personality, like people really, you clicked with a wide audience very quickly. So, I mean, again, I like, I'm just like wondering like what you made of that, given that you hadn't even been aspiring to that.

• 31:00Speaker 00

  It's probably a prime example of imposter syndrome where you're just like, when will they find out? When will I, when will I show up on a set and, uh, and it'll be obvious that I have no idea what I'm doing. And then the more I'd work, I was like, oh, everybody feels like that. Even the people who have, uh, you know, who have more experience than me, that that's just, you know, part of it. Yeah. Didn't it not feel? I think I, I think I also just like love this whole process of filmmaking and storytelling that, I started to quickly see it as a way to learn, you know, you could be, I would start picking projects based on, I've always liked that director's movies and I would love to see what it would be like to work with that director and see how they work and, uh, yeah, it ended up being an awesome way to, uh, to just get to learn.

• 31:43Josh Horowitz?

  Are you still in touch with Nick Nolte from Tropic Thunder?

• 31:46Speaker 00

  I haven't talked to him in a hot minute, but I hope he's doing well. I had an absolute blast with him on that movie. Yeah.

• 31:52Josh Horowitz?

  That voice, that life that he's led.

• 31:54Speaker 00

  Him and I, you know, a lot of our scenes were together. And so this was, you know, before, this was like, I think Ben Stiller gave us the very first iPhone as our start gifts on that movie. So like, everyone was like, oh my God, what are these things? But there was no real good cell reception in Kauai. And like, every day on that movie, you were on call. Like, you never knew if you were gonna work or not. So that meant that you really couldn't go anywhere cool in Kauai because they couldn't get ahold of you. So Nick and I spent that whole experience just together. Like, we were always at the hotel pool together. We would go snorkeling together. We just were always sitting there with our brand new iPhones, waiting for them to call us to know if we were gonna have to come into work.

• 32:37Speaker 00

  But it ended up being a really fun experience to get to hang with him for that long. And yeah, it was nuts.

• 32:43Josh Horowitz?

  That reminds me of that story that like Will Forte told about like, how he ended up somehow living with Val Kilmer for a while.

• 32:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 32:50Josh Horowitz?

  This could have been your reality show, you and Nick.

• 32:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. Felt like we were just on a really long extended vacation together.

• 32:56Josh Horowitz?

  Did you spend any time with Tom Cruise? Obviously, you weren't in the same scenes.

• 32:59Speaker 00

  All of his stuff was in LA. So we finished, we finished almost all of our stuff in Kauai. I think I had like, maybe like, a day or two in Los Angeles.

• 33:08Josh Horowitz?

  Have you ever been in a room with Tom Cruise?

• 33:10Speaker 00

  I haven't, you know, but I feel like I know him because I've grown up watching all of his films.

• 33:15Josh Horowitz?

  Love you. I feel like you two are meant to be.

• 33:17Speaker 00

  Well, maybe you can pull some strings.

• 33:19Josh Horowitz?

  I'll do my best. I am on the Cruise cake list. It was a really big moment for me.

• 33:22Speaker 00

  That's great. What is the, what the hell is the Cruise cake list?

• 33:24Josh Horowitz?

  You don't know about this?

• 33:25Speaker 00

  No.

• 33:25Josh Horowitz?

  You need to do this. He sends a cake to a certain, I mean, it's probably 50,000 people. It's not a very exclusive list.

• 33:32Speaker 00

  A lot of cakes.

• 33:33Josh Horowitz?

  It's a lot of cakes. But it's a delicious coconut chocolate cake.

• 33:36Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 33:36Josh Horowitz?

  It comes every holiday season.

• 33:37Speaker 00

  And you're on that list?

• 33:38Josh Horowitz?

  I made this last year.

• 33:39Speaker 00

  And then once you make the list, do you have to do anything to stay on the list?

• 33:42Josh Horowitz?

  You have the exact same brain as me. Yes, that was my thought. Like, now I'm petrified that I'm gonna be off the list.

• 33:47Speaker 00

  I would be, and I would be, I would hate to get on the list and then one year it just doesn't come. And you're like, oh, man, he changed his opinion of me.

• 33:54Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. I know, I was such a psychopath. When I got it, I called the bakery to make sure that it wasn't a friend of mine pranking me because I've been talking about it for years.

• 34:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:02Josh Horowitz?

  But they said no.

• 34:03Speaker 00

  It was real.

• 34:03Josh Horowitz?

  It's real.

• 34:04Speaker 00

  Good. I hope you're on that list forever.

• 34:06Josh Horowitz?

  Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate you. We talked about Eastbound a bit, but. In terms of like the the cultural stickiness of Kenny Powers, have you come up with a theory of why this character even among your pantheon of characters is the one?

• 34:23Speaker 00

  You know, it's it's interesting. You don't know. I mean, it's it is interesting to me that it's, you know, we sold that show 20 years ago, like the right this summer, 20 years ago. We went in and pitched it the day, the weekend after, uh, the Monday after Talladega Nights had come out in the theaters. Uh, yeah, and it's wild that it's something that people still reference. And I feel like there's also like a whole new generation of, uh, of young people that that are finding it. I find that like it was for a while. It was a very unexpected group of, you never really knew who liked Eastbound. It would always be, it would, it was never one type of person. You know, when that first started to hit, it would be someone's parents. It would be somebody young, somebody. It was always a wide variety. And then

• 35:03Speaker 00

  I've noticed in the last like two years, there's been a lot more young people. So I'm like, oh, it's making the rounds.

• 35:09Josh Horowitz?

  That a good thing? What's the recommended age for people to start watching this?

• 35:12Speaker 00

  Maybe six, seven, probably. Yeah.

• 35:13Josh Horowitz?

  It's a good start. Yeah. Do you get invited to like throw first pitches out at baseball games? Are you?

• 35:18Speaker 00

  I have before, but I don't ever, I've never taken up. I mean, you've seen the show. I can't throw. I'm not gonna do that to myself.

• 35:27Josh Horowitz?

  Um, what's the lesson from I Love Your Highness? What's the lesson of Your Highness? I feel like it was a a film before its time. If it had come out after, after Game of Thrones.

• 35:36Speaker 00

  I, we were up against a lot of things. I mean, I, you know, maybe the biggest lesson is you shouldn't make a rated R movie for 13 year olds. That's probably the first lesson. Yeah.

• 35:45Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 35:46Speaker 00

  But if you remember that, that was such a strange time too, because I think Franco had just hosted the Academy Awards and was getting like piled on for for it. And I think this movie came out like the next week. And so then it suddenly quickly became the the the punchline or the way, I mean, like the reviews were vicious. They were so brutal. But I mean, I think David Green just did had a career retrospective in Paris, I think, last year. And they were running every, they played all of his movies, uh, every day for, you know, he's made a lot of movies.

• 36:19Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 36:19Speaker 00

  But he said that Your Highness Was the one that people were talking to him about the most and even at the screening it was like packed with all these Parisians and you're like that thing traveled and uh

• 36:28Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 36:28Speaker 00

  I saw it uh recently. It was on, I think on HBO and I like, you know, usually I'm like very adverse to like, it makes me, it's like hearing your own voice. I'm like, I don't ever really want to see any of the stuff. I like, my wife will put it on like, oh, this is, I'm like, get, get rid of it, turn it off. And uh, she uh, I, we, we left it on and I did, I was laughing at it. I was like, God, the balls that we had to make this.

• 36:50Josh Horowitz?

  Oh my God.

• 36:51Speaker 00

  It's so funny.

• 36:55Speaker 00

  Uh, yeah, I really, that was a fun time. It was and uh, yeah, I think we did exactly what we set out to do for better or worse.

• 37:02Josh Horowitz?

  It does not feel like a compromised movie.

• 37:04Speaker 00

  No, no. The only thing we compromised is there was an alternate ending that they, you know, we also had come out, I think like after Scott Pilgrim and after Paul, and then there was kind of a thing at Universal where they were like, oh, we're not, we don't want to like market this to nerds. Like this doesn't to comic book culture. We want to market this to like a wider audience. So suddenly, you know, we, this was very much a movie for nerds. We're nerds. And uh, but suddenly they were wanting to shy away from all that. So there became this brief moment where uh, it's what every director loves, I'm sure, where the, they're trying to reinvent what the movie is with like test screenings and the idea of like neutering some jokes might make it play more and it never really does. And there was one,

• 37:47Speaker 00

  there was uh, there was one sequence that they chopped out, which I still was like, I wish we would have held to it, which was that right now, Justin Throat's character Lazar, like he dies, like I, you know, he gets stabbed with a blade of unicorn and he dies. That wasn't how he originally died. Originally, we beat him and then we're all uh, we're all like, you know, congratulating ourselves and then Justin Throat's character comes, crawls out of the pit. You know, cause he drank the potion to have the, have the uh, the dragon. And so then he's in front of us and it's like he has to take a massive shit and he lays a dragon egg in front of us. And then the dragon uh, comes out of the egg and then burns his face off and kills him. And then everyone's going to kill the dragon, but then I come down and take a knee next to the dragon and give this.

• 38:31Speaker 00

  About how we should not always judge a book by its cover and that maybe this disgusting beast has something to offer. And then I think the dragon farts or shits and then I cut its head off and kill it and then then it would cut outside.

• 38:43Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, that would have changed.

• 38:44Speaker 00

  That was a bridge too far, I guess. Everything else, the minotaur's cock, all that stuff was fine, but that that that ending was too much. Yep.

• 38:52Josh Horowitz?

  Can I get your perspective on, I've heard all sorts of stories on and off the record about what happened on This Is The End and awkwardness with Emma.

• 39:02Speaker 00

  I do not want to talk about that. Every time that comes up for Seth, he has to issue apologies.

• 39:07Josh Horowitz?

  And you're still friends with Seth. Look, we won't do that. Okay. I will say, I was on the set of that one and I will always remember, and I'm not just saying this because you're here, watching like this amazing group of improv comedians. And you were the one, you were the one that was just like on a whole nother damn level.

• 39:23Speaker 00

  It was, that was a blast. Those guys did me a solid because when you have that many people, that that many funny people, it is definitely hard to kind of like find your way. But those guys wrote me a great entrance and a great exit. Sometimes that's all you need to kind of uh to to land it in there. But that was uh, that was probably one of the most fun times I had making anything. I mean, Seth and Evan, I love, I love working with those guys. They're just, they're, they're a blast. And the idea that they were getting a chance to make something so irreverent and so different. And when I showed up to New Orleans, that's where we shot it. Uh, you know, I knew a lot of people that were working on the movie, Jonathan Watson, who directs on Gemstones and he's, he's been our AD forever. He was the AD on it.

• 40:06Speaker 00

  And I would check in with him because I wasn't there yet. And he's like, oh, man, you better bring some ammo. These guys are going hard at each other. And uh, it was an exciting vibe. And then they did this really cool thing where everything was basically on a, we were, we shot like in an old coffee warehouse or something and that's where we built the set. But those guys had the green room on the set. So there was this massive room that had like a pool table and video games and all this stuff set up. And it was, it was fun because you'd just be sitting there with these guys talking and then they'd be like, all right, we're ready to shoot. And then you would just like keep talking and then sit down and roll the cameras. Then sometimes you would just rip right into whatever it. Was you were just talking about and throw that in. I mean, the takes would go on for 45 minutes like the I remember that was

• 40:48Speaker 00

  the cool thing about shooting on digital then because at that point that was even still new like it wasn't just a foregone conclusion that you were going to shoot on digital. Uh, everything was like we shot eastbound on 35 like it's crazy. Uh, but that was a new thing. We're like, oh, you can do longer than like 10 minute takes because it's digital. And so we were running takes so long that the cameras were like overheated. They like, we were like, well, we beat the film bags, but there's now the cameras are melting.

• 41:22Speaker 05

  Oh, please not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood.

• 41:26Speaker 06

  Could we get something a little bit lighter, some lighter music here?

• 41:29Speaker 05

  Are you a fan of true crime TV shows?

• 41:32Speaker 06

  And what about Unsolved Mysteries, the show that jumpstarted all of our love of true crime?

• 41:37Speaker 05

  I'm Ellen Marsh.

• 41:38Speaker 06

  And I'm Joey Taranto.

• 41:40Speaker 05

  And we host I Think Not, a true crime comedy podcast covering some of the wildest stories from your favorite true crime campy TV shows all the way to Unsolved Mysteries.

• 41:50Speaker 06

  Baby, you will laugh, you will cry, you'll think about true crime in a whole new way. And you'll also ask yourself, who gave these people mics?

• 41:57Speaker 05

  New episodes of I Think Not are released every Wednesday with bonus episodes out every Thursday on Patreon.

• 42:04Speaker 06

  And every Monday you can listen to our true crime rundown where we go over the top true crime headlines of the week.

• 42:11Speaker 05

  So come and join us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

• 42:16Speaker 05

  Hi listeners. We want to tell you about a podcast we love. It's called Rebel Girls, formerly known as Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. It's about real life women who are changing the world with their courage, creativity, and big, bold ideas. Want to know how Taylor Swift became a superstar? Or hear how Simone Biles became the greatest athlete of all time? From immersive stories to heartfelt interviews.

• 42:43Speaker 05

  To super smart advice, Rebel Girls brings you stories that will get you fired up to become your best self. There are over 400 episodes for you to explore with new episodes every week. So check it out. Listen to Rebel Girls wherever you get your podcasts and find us on youtube.com/rebelgirls. And whatever you do, stay rebel.

• 43:11Josh Horowitz?

  Switching gears, the fact that you somehow found yourself in and it worked into Alien Covenant directed by none other than Ridley Scott, I know that's a meaningful one for you. I mean Ridley is iconic for a thousand reasons. He doesn't suffer fools. Like he's kind of a bastard in the best possible way, right?

• 43:29Speaker 00

  He's amazing.

• 43:29Josh Horowitz?

  Like, what's the, do you have a favorite direction he ever gave you? Like, did he ever have to like?

• 43:36Speaker 00

  He never, nothing, like what I loved is his style. Like, there was a lot of things I loved about him. I mean, I grew up loving his movies. And so then to get to meet him is just like unreal and how nice he is and how funny he is and his like passion enthusiasm still to this day. You know, everything that, every scene, no matter how small it was, everything was four cameras always. And it was interesting because a lot of times even, you know, when you try to do more than two cameras, usually the first shot's great, second shot's a little compromised, get to the third and fourth.

• 44:08Josh Horowitz?

  Why are we even doing this?

• 44:09Speaker 00

  But his, you would look and every one of the shots on the screen were like Ridley Scott shots. It looked amazing. And it was like, because he was thinking about that multi-camera shooting, even when he constructed the sets, like, you know, they would pull out portions of the wall and slide a camera in. So he, all of it was designed really efficiently. And it's the only movie I've ever been on where we finished ahead of schedule. You would come in every morning and they would be like, here are the sides for today, and here are the sides for tomorrow in case we get to this scene. That never happens. I mean, like, you get the sides of the day, usually you're like, yeah, good luck, we won't get through all this. This, they would pull up scenes all the time. And, you know, a lot of it is his shooting style, but also, he doesn't like do a lot of takes, you know, it's like one of those two, three takes, whatever, and then you move on. And the, the energy...

• 44:55Speaker 00

  That created with the actors was awesome because I think everyone was just nervous. You knew that you weren't going to have time to find it. You really had to come prepared and know what was going on. And it felt almost more like doing something live because the energy was there. And I, I, I thought that was awesome. But he, at the end of the day, he was sort of like, he would say like, look, I'm, I, I'll be the bumpers. If it goes off the rails, I'll come in. But ultimately I'm hiring you because I'm hiring people who are a personality and I want you to be you. And that's what I, why I feel like you'll fit into this movie. And he said, that's what he did with Alien was that everybody in that were, they were certain, they were a certain personality type, you know? And so those people were encouraged to come and be who they are. And, uh, and then that created that cool dynamic between that ensemble.

• 45:39Josh Horowitz?

  So you, another thing I want to talk about, you and David embarked on quite a journey on the Halloween trilogy.

• 45:45Speaker 00

  The holo, holo greens.

• 45:48Josh Horowitz?

  Before it came out, there's this great quote where you said, I just hope that we don't fuck it up and piss people off. Now they succeeded, the film succeeded. And then as they proceeded, they got a little more divisive.

• 45:57Speaker 00

  Very much more divisive. You know, the first one was definitely the assignment was, don't mess this up. Like let's give fans what they want, uh, and have it be an answer to those films. And I really feel like we succeeded at that. Uh, and then I think once Green got to the point where like, this was like, we didn't know it was going to be a trilogy. There was no, like, we were hoping the first one would work. And then I think, you know, Green is such an interesting filmmaker, like he got into the mindset with it of like, I'm going to make these next ones what I want them to be. If I'm going to dedicate this much of my time to making this, I'm only going to get one shot to do this. I'm going to service like my creative, uh, wants for what this franchise is and really put his stamp on it.

• 46:38Speaker 00

  And so, yeah, I mean, I, you know, I know that some of those things are divisive, but I look at them and I'm like, it's, it's what Green wanted to do. Like he achieved exactly what he wanted to do with that series. And, uh, and I'm sure that somebody else will come and, and make more Halloweens. And I, I don't know, like to me, it's like when people are relaunching things and, and, uh, in, in making new things. I do find it interesting when it's a filmmaker and it's someone who has a point of view and they get their chance to do it. And someone else will get their chance and someone else. And I think it's cool to have that conversation of how these different directors with their different points of view and their different styles, how they can all affect something that at the end of the day is the same, but translated completely differently.

• 47:21Josh Horowitz?

  No, you're spot on because like you, you, like that, that first film, yes, you, you like fulfilled the assignment. You kind of gave them enough of what people wanted and it felt comfortable with. And as you guys further kind of departed and by the, you know, the, the third one kind of got, you know, people came after it when the perspective changed and it felt like it was like, no, this isn't my Halloween.

• 47:39Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 47:39Josh Horowitz?

  Did that surprise you at the time or was it?

• 47:41Speaker 00

  No, I knew that everything that Green led the charge on where those movies went. And, uh, I knew that some of those ideas would, would probably be divisive, but again, like I liked that he was doing what he wanted to do. You know, I mean, even Carpenter had talked about how, what he struggled with, with the second Halloween and like what, you know, what that, how creatively that was difficult to challenge that. I think anybody who's approaching a slasher film is going to inevitably fall into the same stuff of like, oh, once it, once the engine gets going, it does kind of become repetitive. And so I think Green was really just trying to push all those movies into, uh, a chance for him not to repeat himself, but to do something just totally different.

• 48:20Josh Horowitz?

  So it's been a minute now since Gemstones ended, which you've got to take a huge source of pride in. I mean, it was probably your most ambitious television show. I mean, it's, it's funny how like, if you look at the evolution from Eastbound to Vice Principals, to Gemstones, like the cast kind of kept expanding. You've talked about this. It was kind of like a singular, you know, built around Kenny and then it was two characters and then it's this family. And then just, it's an ambitious show for a thousand reasons, especially even the final season, taking the swing with the Civil War episode.

• 48:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:52Josh Horowitz?

  Like, what do you look back on with a little distance now at Gemstones and take the most pride in? Because everybody knows a comedy about religion, that's the way to go. That's you want to do that, right?

• 49:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly. That's definitely gonna work. Uh, you know what it was? That was a, you know, we, I created that show right after I moved to Charleston. So I was even at a point in my career where I was just kind of questioning what I wanted to keep doing. And, and so the idea of creating that, that series and sort of channeling now, like, I'm gonna make something very southern. I'm living in the South and I want to incorporate these big wealthy southern families and have fun here. It was awesome to create that. And then every, you know, I live, I'm living outside of LA. And then every year, all my friends come back to where we're living and it's like the circus comes to town, you know? And, and even, you know, all the crew on that are people that we worked with from, you

• 49:44Speaker 00

  know, when we shot the pilot of Eastbound. It was a lot of, uh, crew from Georgia and North Carolina. So people at this point that we had known for years and years. And then to bring something like that to that part of the country where now you were giving a lot of people steady work in their backyard and getting to make something that hopefully we would all be proud of at the end of the day. That was very gratifying. It was, it's really, really hard work writing for TV. And I think the thing that I find the most challenging about it is that the train is moving the whole time. You know, like if you're writing a movie or even writing a book, it's like it's over when you're done writing it and then you move to the next la- layer. I mean, I know some, some movies don't operate that way, but most of them, you have to have a finished product.

• 50:27Speaker 00

  Then people have to decide whether they want to pay for it. Uh, with television, like, once, once they got you, they got you. And so then it becomes like, yo, you're writing and the production office is opening up here and then we're shooting here and then you gotta go. And so, you know, you usually with each season, you would have, each season of this was about 15 months from the beginning of writing to the end of post-production. So we were already kind of up against the gun because ideally they'd like this stuff to come out every year. But you're already at a point where that wasn't going to be true. So the only way to kind of even get close to it is just to never take a break to kind of go from one into the next. And the first two or three months of writing is great because, you know, it's Just you and the writers and you're coming up with where we're going to go this year.

• 51:10Speaker 00

  And then after about the third month, the production office opens up. And then suddenly you start having all these questions like, well, are we the house that you've written in episode one? Is that going to come back in the other episodes? Because we need to know about that for this date. And this actor suddenly can't come up. So you start, not only are you writing, but you're also puzzle solving.

• 51:29Josh Horowitz?

  Six dimensional chess.

• 51:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's honestly kind of nuts. And it's kind of what's fun about it. There's like a rush to it because when you accomplish it, it does feel like whoa, where, you know, and it's also that influences the writing. So you are kind of creating something that is, it's a response to the situations you're in or the problems that you faced while you're creating it. And so it becomes, you know, a product of that, but uh, it's very stressful and it's fun. But that's what was so nice about writing this is that the train was not uh.

• 52:00Josh Horowitz?

  Whenever you.

• 52:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, and like, and it was nice to get back to writing that way where there wasn't this sort of like. I was just telling my wife, I'm like, I, every day we, whenever I'm doing gemstones, I just would have low grade anxiety all the time. And not because I dislike doing it, but it was just, I'm someone who just works and I just know that there's.

• 52:18Josh Horowitz?

  Apparatus around you that's always asking you stuff.

• 52:20Speaker 00

  And I want all these artists to have all the information that they need to do the best job they can do. So if someone was unsure about where something was going, it would always just eat at me like, oh, I gotta figure this out. I gotta, I want to make sure this guy has enough time to build the right set. And I don't want him to build something that I'm not going to use like later. And so you just start thinking about all that stuff at the same time.

• 52:41Josh Horowitz?

  So by nature of like gemstones and moving to Charleston, like it's interesting, like when I was looking at the filmography, it's like even very busy, obviously. But like you haven't been in a feature film, like live action in like seven or eight years.

• 52:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, you know, like honestly, I kind of had a weird moment, not a weird moment, but after I did Alien, I kind of felt, you know, like I said, I didn't get into it for, I didn't get into any of this for acting. And there was something after working with Ridley where I'm like, I feel like I've done it. I feel like I've seen what I want to see. And at this point, I want to just focus on what I'm trying to create and I want to facilitate that. And so, yeah, that's where I kind of jumped in. To uh to gemstones and like I said, that's 15 months every season. So uh.

• 53:22Josh Horowitz?

  It's not room to be in.

• 53:23Speaker 00

  Yeah, there was no, there wasn't room to be in anything. So it's kind of nice now to uh is is, you know, sad as it was to wrap up gemstones. It also was kind of cool because I felt like I had done something and now I am like free to try other things or to it's. Nice to show up on somebody else's set and you're not wearing 10 hats. You're just there to do your thing and just to help support something. It's it's fun.

• 53:45Josh Horowitz?

  Is it true you're you're writing a G I Joe movie?

• 53:48Speaker 00

  I've written one. Yes. Uh, I'm I'm stoked about it. I'm really fired up about the script. Paramount seems fired up about it, so hopefully we're shooting it next year.

• 53:57Josh Horowitz?

  So I know I you don't need to spoil anything, but just like your history with G I Joe, was it the cartoon, the action figures? Like, what did you want to? Honor in this script?

• 54:05Speaker 00

  It was all, it was all, it was definitely the cartoons and the comics and like G I Joe was my thing when I was a kid. I liked that more than Star Wars, more than anything. Like, I loved. G I Joe and uh I still have all the characters and uh I tried to give my G I Joe collection to my son and he wasn't interested. You know, who's interested? My daughter who likes uh robots. That's who that's who plays with gung ho and snake eyes in the shower. Uh, but I've always loved it and uh. Yeah, and I in, you know, so I had an idea for a Dreadnoughts movie. And I was like, I just wanted to do a Dreadnoughts movie and I went to Paramount and pitched it and they were like, well, the franchise kind of needs to be like.

• 54:43Speaker 00

  It needs to be launched, so we can't come out with a Dreadnoughts movie. Would you have a take on a, you know, on, you know, would you have an angle for? G I Joe proper? And I was like, hell yeah, I'll have an angle for that. So uh Jeff Fradley and John Cuchuri, who I wrote a lot of uh gemstones with. Uh, yeah, we we sat down and we cracked something that we really love a lot and it's, you know. Weirdly, it grounds G I Joe. It's not a, it's not a comedy. It's like kind of suspense and action and uh, yeah, I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

• 55:15Josh Horowitz?

  The whole ensemble, like who's? Who's the star? Who's the character that's the anchor?

• 55:19Speaker 00

  You're you're uh you're following Duke and a group of other Joes. Uh, and I don't know how familiar you are with the comics. Are you?

• 55:26Josh Horowitz?

  The cartoon religiously, but it's been a minute.

• 55:28Speaker 00

  Yeah, there's that town in the comic Springfield, which is a town that's secretly all Cobra. And, uh, and so that is where our film takes place.

• 55:37Josh Horowitz?

  So this has some momentum. It sounds like Paramount likes the script.

• 55:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, and we have some pretty interesting people lining up to be in it, too. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it, uh, it looks to be like it's gonna be pretty fun.

• 55:48Josh Horowitz?

  Holy crap, I'm excited. Okay, amazing. Um, we're gonna end with two things. Okay, so I do this with folks that have an impressive filmography. Danny, you have a great filmography. You're gonna choose the best movie in your own filmography.

• 55:59Speaker 00

  Oh, God.

• 55:59Josh Horowitz?

  We're gonna pit some against each other. It's round robin style. You ready?

• 56:02Speaker 00

  Uh oh.

• 56:03Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, so we're gonna start with Foot Fist Way versus Hot Rod.

• 56:07Speaker 00

  I really, I mean, I have to go with Foot Fist Way because that, you know, that launched it all, but man, Hot Rod is one of those movies that I still come back to. I, that will probably be the first movie I show my children, probably. I should just take them through the filmography in order.

• 56:22Josh Horowitz?

  Pineapple Express versus Your Highness.

• 56:25Speaker 00

  Man, I can't do this.

• 56:27Josh Horowitz?

  You have to do this. You have to do this.

• 56:28Speaker 00

  I can't do it.

• 56:29Josh Horowitz?

  It almost melted Jack Black's brain when I did this to him. If he can handle it, you can handle it.

• 56:35Speaker 00

  You know what? Uh, God, you know, I think because it was the friendship that began with Seth and James, then I would probably go to Pineapple, but you know what? Your Highness to me is, uh, I don't know, I would never diminish the power of that.

• 56:51Josh Horowitz?

  There are no losers here. This is just at this moment. Okay.

• 56:54Speaker 00

  Feel like I'm picking children of who's like, it's a custody battle. Who's gonna go live with mom?

• 56:59Josh Horowitz?

  Tropic Thunder versus This Is the End?

• 57:01Speaker 00

  Oh, God. Jesus. Oh.

• 57:06Speaker 00

  You know what? Because I just chose Seth in the last one, I'll choose Tropic Thunder on this one.

• 57:11Josh Horowitz?

  Land of the Lost versus Alien Covenant.

• 57:16Speaker 00

  You know what? Both of them were very fun experiences. Uh, you know, I think for the audacity of me showing up in an alien movie, I'll choose Alien Covenant.

• 57:25Josh Horowitz?

  Now you're almost there. Now it's Foot Fist Way versus Pineapple.

• 57:30Speaker 00

  I'll stick with, uh, who I came to the party with, Foot Fist Way.

• 57:34Josh Horowitz?

  And then Tropic Thunder versus Alien Covenant.

• 57:38Speaker 00

  I'll probably go with Tropic.

• 57:40Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, now for all the marbles, it's foot fist lay, Tropic Thunder.

• 57:46Speaker 00

  You know what? I think it's the David and Goliath story. You know, we had 75,000 bucks versus 100 million plus. We gotta go for the $75,000 winner. Yeah.

• 57:54Josh Horowitz?

  You had to dance with the girl that brought you to the party, right?

• 57:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, very loyal.

• 57:58Josh Horowitz?

  Excellent. Okay, finally, happy second fuse profoundly random questions. We end every episode this way.

• 58:03Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 58:03Josh Horowitz?

  Dogs or cats?

• 58:05Speaker 00

  Uh, I grew up a dog boy and uh, my wife's a cat is a cat person. So it's my, my last 15 years has been cats.

• 58:15Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, that's how that's love. That's true love.

• 58:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, yep, yep.

• 58:18Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, what do you collect?

• 58:21Speaker 00

  Ah, what do I collect? Uh, I collect cameras and I collect vinyl.

• 58:27Josh Horowitz?

  Okay. You have a favorite video game of all time?

• 58:31Speaker 00

  Probably the Zelda series. I've played every one of those. Uh, yeah, I'll go with Zelda.

• 58:37Josh Horowitz?

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

• 58:44Speaker 00

  One bee in my butt. Yeah, why not?

• 58:47Josh Horowitz?

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

• 58:50Speaker 00

  Uh, it's my son with a cowboy hat and a pistol.

• 58:54Josh Horowitz?

  Who's the last actor you were mistaken for?

• 58:58Speaker 00

  I get Denzel Washington a lot. More than you'd think.

• 59:02Josh Horowitz?

  Really?

• 59:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:04Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, let's just move right on the ball. Uh, worst noted director has ever given you?

• 59:09Speaker 00

  Uh, God, it's probably something from David Green. He, he has a tendency to give direction like, uh, say it like you're, you're squeezing out a fart. Say it like a bad actor. Say it like you're a robot. Uh, so it probably is David Green.

• 59:27Josh Horowitz?

  And finally, the spirit of happy second fuse, an actor who makes you happy, see them on screen, you're in a better mood would be?

• 59:35Speaker 00

  Uh, God, who would that be? Who, who is that?

• 59:41Josh Horowitz?

  You immediately see them and like, oh, yeah.

• 59:43Speaker 00

  Yeah, he's in it. Good. Uh, maybe Kurt Russell, maybe. I love that. Yes.

• 59:48Josh Horowitz?

  Movie that makes you sad?

• 59:50Speaker 00

  Uh, Cinema Paradiso.

• 59:53Josh Horowitz?

  The music, the Ennio Morricone? Come on.

• 59:55Speaker 00

  The end of it just, yeah, great. Crumbles me.

• 59:59Josh Horowitz?

  And a food that makes you confused?

• 1:00:01Speaker 00

  Hmm. A food that makes me confused.

• 1:00:07Speaker 00

  Takis.

• 1:00:08Josh Horowitz?

  What do?

• 1:00:09Speaker 00

  Takis, do you know what these are?

• 1:00:10Josh Horowitz?

  I don't.

• 1:00:11Speaker 00

  It's just like a disgusting spicy chip that's like weird. My kids are always eating it. They're spicy and blue for some reason.

• 1:00:17Josh Horowitz?

  Oh.

• 1:00:18Speaker 00

  Very confusing.

• 1:00:19Josh Horowitz?

  I'm gonna stay away.

• 1:00:20Speaker 00

  I never think of something that's blue as being spicy. Right?

• 1:00:24Josh Horowitz?

  Generally speaking, blue is not the color you want to eat.

• 1:00:26Speaker 00

  You think blueberries, you think slurpees, you know? You're not thinking spicy.

• 1:00:29Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 1:00:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:00:30Josh Horowitz?

  Sneaks up on you.

• 1:00:30Speaker 00

  Takis.

• 1:00:31Josh Horowitz?

  Thanks for that PSA.

• 1:00:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:00:33Josh Horowitz?

  Um, full circle. Congratulations, Danny. Look at that, it's real.

• 1:00:37Speaker 00

  It's real.

• 1:00:37Josh Horowitz?

  Thrilling Tales of Modern Man, it's real and it's very good. It's very fun.

• 1:00:40Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:00:41Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, congratulations on it. You are now, uh, an esteemed man of letters.

• 1:00:45Speaker 00

  Finally.

• 1:00:45Josh Horowitz?

  You did it.

• 1:00:46Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 1:00:46Josh Horowitz?

  I always knew you had it in you. Um, no, truly, I always enjoy our conversations and I'm thrilled, uh, for this one, man.

• 1:00:52Speaker 00

  Thank you. It's nice to see you, Josh.

• 1:00:56Speaker 00

  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.

• 1:01:04Speaker 06

  I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley and I definitely wasn't supposed to do this by Josh.

• 1:01:14Speaker 06

  Well, summer may be over, but things are still hot on Turtle Time. Goodbye, Next Gen NYC. Goodbye, The Valley. We'll see you next year. But now Turtle Time is gearing up to cover some of the most beloved franchises in the Bravo universe. Turtle Time is covering Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Real Housewives of Orange County, and Real Housewives of Potomac. Salt Lake City, Orange County, Potomac? These are wonderful franchises. Could you imagine what Amy and I are gonna say about them? You'll hear some of the hottest takes you've ever heard in your life. You'll feel like it's still summer. Oh, these will be hot takes. Uh, fall and winter, great job trying to, uh, cool things off. No, it's still hot over on Turtle Time. You're gonna get that summer warmth. So put away your bathing suit.

• 1:01:59Speaker 06

  Put away the sunscreen. Summer's over, but you can still feel hot, hot, hot by listening to Turtle Time. Some of those other podcasts, you know it's fall or winter when you're listening to them. But Turtle Time? It's kinda like summer. It's hot. So enjoy the Turtle Time Podcast, co-hosted by me, Riley Hamilton, and Amy Scarlata, and it's available almost every single day of the week. Better luck next time, fall and winter.