1996: Mary Reilly

0:02 It was the mid nineties. Some of us were a year or two out of high school and some of us were a year or two into college. We didn't know who we wanted to be, but we knew where we wanted to be, the movie theater. These are the movies of nineteen ninety six. What's up, everybody? I'm Jeff Johnson from a film by podcast. With our gnarly new limited series, we broke down the fresh films of nineteen eighty six. We examined the gritty cinemascape of nineteen seventy six, and now it's time to check out the Hella Good flicks of nineteen ninety six. Amber Lewis, better known as the Voice of Reason in the podcas cast World, has shared her viewpoints many times on our limited series. She has been my co host several times on a Film Buy, and she is with us today on nineteen ninety six. Hello, good to be back. Great to have you back. First question. You walk up to the bar to the far left. At the at the end of the bar you see you see Malkovich Jekyl, and on the opposite end of the bar you see Malcovich hide and

1:33 the bartender slides a drink in front of you and says, this is from the guy at the end of the bar. Who are you hoping that drink is from? I mean just from a safety standpoint, Uh, definitely doctor Jekyl, but from a like compelling Hello, who is that standpoint? Well, I wouldn't mind it coming from Eyde either. Okay, Well, listen, I thought we were going to lose all the bad boys in the audience, but I guess they'll stay tuned in because this could go either way. There you have it, listeners, please join us in the laboratory for a discussion about Mary Riley. In the house of Doctor Jekyll, there lived a chambermaid named Mary Riley. When did you last see the doctor's assistant, mister Redwood had Please don't interfere now she's about to take side. What did you get in the battle between good and evil? I saw the room. There was blood on the ceilings. Julia Roberts or others John Malkovich, Mary R.

2:42 Rated r at Theaters, February twenty third. Mary Riley is a dutiful housemaid in the employe of the noble doctor Henry Jekyl, whom she admires very much. And while Jekyll's interest in her grows, she finds herself drawn to his mysterious partner, mister Edward Hyde, a man whose charm and offensive behavior are equally alluring. Just ask Gamber. The more time Mary spends with both men, the more dangerous her situation becomes. How about it, Amber, This was actually my first time watching it, and I was pleasantly surprised.

3:24 I actually was very pleasantly surprised, especially going into this knowing what the critics thought of it and what the ap I mean, I remember when it came out and I didn't watch it then because they were just like it was garbage. So I felt the same way. I remember ninety six this, you're seeing this, we're seeing the previews, and I was just like, immediately hard pass, you know, I mean the nineties culture? Is there a nineties culture influence in this film? Because I mean, if we're talking in eighteen nineties, then one could suggest that the drug culture in London, you know, be it opium or personality changing opotions, it's becoming more commonly practiced, right you know. Obviously, I mean we didn't even get like the real Julia Roberts in this, so no, which I think was a big It was definitely off putting for me. I think it was a big problem for a lot of yours. Interesting that you say that, because Julia Roberts is at the height of her stardom and power in Hollywood. I mean, think about this pretty woman in Flatliners in ninety Sleeping with the Enemy, Dying Young, and and Hook in ninety one, Pelican Brief in ninety three, and in ninety six, she's got this one Michael Collins, a Woody Allen movie, plus a pretty notable guest spot on Friends. So this is a time when she's America's sweetheart and one of people's fifty most beautiful, and we left her alone with the box office this time, well, they made her

4:57 completely unrecognizable, which I'm not entirely sure what the point of that was, Like, it's not like you're gonna disappear into this character and forget that she's Julia Roberts. So I think the movies that she did that were successful at this time, it was she was playing a believable character as Julia Roberts. I think you're onto something there, because I mean, is it necessary to let's just talk about her look Okay, I feel like they go out of their way to make her they you know, this movie wants Julia Roberts in the lead role, but they want you to forget that she is one of people's fifty most beautiful people on the planet because they give her a terrible haircut.

5:48 You know, she's frail, she's very ghostly and pale. Yeah, Like they even dyed her eyebrows, which like made them like you almost couldn't see them, which that is something that you do to a character having just seen done too, to make them look really unsettling, Like all the market in don't have eyebrows. Like it's off putting. So you know, they just made her look as unattractive as they possibly could. But like for why I was that's the question I'm asking why, And did you find her accent or her attempt her attempt to act? Okay, so just as off putting my question. It's like Malcovich didn't really even there you have it. Malkovich isn't even doing an accent, and she's doing her best to stop close, who is like a genius doing some weird I don't even know what the heck was going on there, So maybe that's like a director choice where you know, I had a vision and we just weren't there. I don't know, well, Stephen Fers, I know he had worked with her before, and Glenn Close. I know, we'll get to her here in a minute.

7:05 But I just feel like her prep was, Hey, anyone got a copy of the nineteen eighty four My Amadeas, I'll just watch that and that's I mean, I'm good, but but but Julia. The problem with the problem when when an American tries to do an accent, they I feel like most of the time they don't commit fully. And what I mean by that is the accent will slip in and out, because several times she's delivering dialogue where she is absolutely Julia Roberts, and most of the time she's this very sheltered Scottish woman who kind of mumbles her lines and make up your mind's go one way or the other. You know, Yeah, like there's no excuse for not prepping. And I kind of feel like to your point of you know, she was kind of at the height of her popularity at the time, and like rumor has it, she had a jet on standby, you know about the jet you know, so she can fly back to la whenever she needed to. So if you are that person, then you can either say I need this X Y Z, you know, to prep or I'm not doing this when you have TriStar pay one hundred and twenty thousand dollars just to

8:41 park a jet on the tarmac in case you want to fly back to California. Yes, you have the power to say this person is the best vocal coach in the world. Get them, or I get it. We're in London and I'm from Scotland, but I'm gonna not do the act because Malcovich isn't doing it either. Yeah. Yeah, let's make a choice. The audiences made a choice because this movie opens to poor reviews and absolutely bombs. It makes twelve million on a budget of forty seven million. Audiences surveyed by cinema Score gave the film a grade of C and critics offered mixed to average reviews, citing a real lack of chemistry between Roberts and Malkovich. One one in particular, Entertainment weekly is Owen Glibberman stated that, quote Frears and Hampton, he was the writer reduce the three major characters to drawing room stiffs who sit around explaining their passion instead of acting on it. I really love that quote because when you hear that and you and you, and especially if when you've just seen the movie, he's not wrong. Yes, yeah, And I know listen, I know you know you said you enjoyed this. I know I enjoyed, and I know so far we sound like we're really we're very much, we're very much giving it a hide review here I style review.

10:09 But you know, I just want to point out, like why why a lot of people didn't see this is this is one of those hidden gems from from nineteen ninety six. Maybe maybe we weren't ready for it. You know, a period movie like this is fantastic, but maybe it's just a year or two too soon. What do you think? I did read something from a like an unnamed studio source that said, you know, this was supposed to be like just this dark, little atmospheric kind of thing, and once you got like the cleague lights of major Hollywood talent on it, it turned into like this big, sprawling mess that they were trying to make the movie fit the reputation of Julia Roberts and ooh okay. Instead of just keeping it, you know, very contained and very small. And you know, so maybe if they hadn't kind of aimed so high and tried to shoot for like a big opening and you know, and attention and things like that and just kind of quietly under the radar slip this in it, you know, Halloween, people would have been surprised, and it, you know, might have picked up more on you know, word of mouth. I think your reputation is the voice of reason is well earned with with a statement like that.

11:28 Let's take a quick break and when we get back, we'll go behind the scenes and talk about some of the cast. Now you can ask Angela Lansbury about buffering. Angela, for a tough headache, is buffering really strong? Asper? Oh my, yes, I've learned extra strength of buffering has the strongest dose of aspirin you can buy, one thousand milligrams. Mis Lasbury. How can buffer and be so strong if it has buffers? I wondered myself till I heard that the buffers don't weaken it. They just help prevent aspirins tomach upset. I depend on bufferin. Shouldn't you discover the strength of buffering? Welcome back, we've got Amber Lewis with us. We are talking about Mary Riley a little bit about the production history on this one, Amber, And I know you probably know a lot of this, so I will I'll offer it for our listeners. Let's talk about the timeline for how this movie gets made. Eighteen eighty six, Robert Lewis Stevenson writes the novella The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. And then fast forward to nineteen ninety, Valerie Martin, who was inspired by his novella, writes Mary Riley.

12:43 It's option by Warner Brothers, and a year later it makes its way to Sony where Tim Burton is planning to direct waynowna writer in the title role. Let's just marinate for just a second in that world. How great is that film? Tim Burton directing a Jocko and Hyde movie and he's got a writer in nineteen ninety Yes, and I love her. I always loved her. And really, when you you know, as you continue, you're going to talk about you know, maybe other people that could have played Doctor Jekyl, but anybody really I think with Tim Burton and Win on a writer, like if they're willing to to go full Burton like it would have been really good. You say, anybody, and we'll talk about some of the people that could have been in the role. And I'm going to blow your mind with my pick later. But you know I'm getting ahead of myself here.

13:43 You gotta remember it was it was John Peters, famous producer, you know, John Peters, Peter Guber. Peters is the one that got Mary Riley over at Sony. And it's also John Peters that puts ed Wood in Turnaround, which absolutely pisses Tim Burton off and he walks away from the project in response. So if you're wondering why there's no Tim Burton, Mary Riley, email John Peters and thank him. He's the one that's a that's involved. They quickly replace Tim Burton with Stephen Frears. He's brought into direct and the plan is to match Uma Thurman with Daniel d Lewis. I mean, take all my money again. That's you know you had, you had me with the Tim Burton project. Now you know, you're like, okay, Uma Thurman and Daniel d Lewis. Absolutely yes. Meanwhile, the studio, you never believe who they want. They're saying they're telling, they're telling frears like, hey, wait, who slow down, Let's talk about al Pacino for a minute. Oh god, that's actually a weird studio. Al Pacino has doctor Jekyl. Are you watching that one? M? I mean he's like he's old enough to be one of a writer's grandpa, you know. But well, and this was like, hey, yeah, Mary, yeah, son of a woman, Era, bring me Mary, bring me that potion?

15:13 You know what, why'd you hire Mary? She's got a greater Yeah, al but you know, does definitely definitely does not work. Sadly, Daniel de Lewis said, nope, not not doing it. And you and I I think it was you and I have discussed Daniel d Lewis before. He is very picky but his roles so he says no. And if you're wondering, okay, So let's talk real quick. This is nineteen ninety, this is early nineties. So why are we talking about Uma Thurman? Why is she a top draw? Because Julia Roberts beats Uma Thurman out. Do we want to talk about that real quick? Well, it was still like very early days Uma Thurman because she had just done dangerous liaisons. I think that's why Stephen Ferz wanted her. He was like, exactly what this amazing new uh, you know, exciting new person. And I think it would have given her a huge boost. If you pull Uma Thurman in, you have the ultimate dangerous liaisons reunion. Because you got Stephen Freeres directing, you got Chris Chris Hampton writing it, you got Glenn Close, you got John Malkovich and the name is escaping me at the moment. But even the producers are the same, but last in appropriate, like Julia Robbris I mean not that this is old, but like she was pushing thirty. Yeah, she's like what she's like twenty nine, She's on the edge of a thirty.

16:37 Uma would have been for this role. I think you're right. Uh. The script goes through twenty five rewrites now in the film, not like the whole script or was that just the ending? I could never figure that out. So my research I looked into this and basically it's the script gets twenty five rewrites and then he films three different endings. You know, he's going full on, you know, no, you know, he gives his ending. Apparently test audiences hate it. Studio says, try some different stuff. He tries some different stuff. Test audiences hate it. Stud says, okay, whatever, just put his original one back in, because you have to remember he after it's all said and done, they even brought into a different editor to try and do a different cut. I mean, this is not the kind of not the kind of news you want to hear about a movie that's that's about to come out. Plus, uh, it was reported that Malcovich and Roberts definitely did not get along on set. Well, like, that's not always a terrible thing because they're I don't think so actors that like completely hated each other. But that meant really great chemistry, you know, it does. I don't think it did here. But yeah, well when you pump out and this is pre internet, you remember, so it's when you're hearing that kind of buzz. It's not exactly hitting movie websites and you know great great sites like a film by you know, it's not hidden.

18:04 So we just hear like the it's Hollywood hearing about the back and forth and the star is not getting along, and then the movie's starting to go over budget. There's all these rewrites, we're shooting different angles. Test sciences aren't getting along with it, and so what do we do? We dump it in February. I think that was the death knell right there. Yeah, like, don't even try. Apparently, Ah, they didn't. I'll tell you who did try. Can we talk about the film the film score for a minute. I was blown away by the score. So George Fenton, who he's in that Dangerous Liaison's alumni, right, He's done some good work.

18:45 I think one of the standout things about this movie is his score, because it is moody, it's atmospheric, you know, it really gives the movie a sense of tension and a sense of action where the film doesn't necessarily to give that to us, you know, yet score combined with the cinematography and the production design, h like if you just kind of look at everything else, don't really look at the acting, like you're having a great time. Let me ask you, with his score, would it not feel right at home in a Hitchcock film. Yes, I almost feel like you could kind of substitute it for a lot of hitches work and it would still feel right. So we talked. We you know, we talked about Julia a little bit. Malkovich. Malkovich, this is a very interesting time for him because he has built up some street cred with movies like Empire of the Sun, and this is before obviously, this is before being John Malkovich. You know, he's a few years after Dangerous Liaisons. We haven't seen him in Rounders yet, we haven't seen him in conn Air where he's playing these over the top villains, but we have seen him in nineteen ninety three's in the Line of Fire. So I feel like he's a hot ticket and definitely someone you can go, Yeah, this person's star power matches Julia roberts star power.

20:18 However, like a lot of the critics were saying, when you're dealing with a movie, especially a movie like Jekyll and Hyde, pun intended, the chemistry has got to be right, and it's not here. Yeah, am I wrong? Or I feel like Julia Roberts was really hamstrung, like she was really trying to create this fully flashed character and it just that wasn't who she was then. And so if she had just been sleeping with the enemy, Julia Roberts, that we like, you know, that makes you root for her, that makes you care for her, that has emotions, and you know, is invested in this story. You know, you can't act in a vacuum. So I feel like Malcovich like he just didn't really have a whole lot to work with, because I feel like what he did was amazing. When he walked in his hide, I was like, oh no, mister Hyde, like, that's the end of the library. I was like, damn, okay, let the movie begin. We better cool hamber off here. Now. I think you're right. I think this movie absolutely works with Julia Roberts. I think this movie absolutely works with John Malkovich.

21:42 But it does not work with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich. Although I will say this, it's not the Jacqueline Hyde story. It's not which threw me off. And I think if I thought it was gonna be, I didn't know about the book, okay, So I thought it was going to be like the Jackal and Hyde story that we all know, Oh okay kind of told you know, from over here on the side, what this outsider is seeing and experiencing as a member of the staff in the house. So I think that would have been a much more interesting and compelling story instead of trying to make them like have a relationship or be in love or whatever.

22:32 If it had been kind of her trying to solve this mystery and kind of figure out what's going on because she's got this boss that she really likes, and he's got a fiance that he's really nice to, and then he keeps going off and doing all this weird stuff, you know, and who is this mister Hyde? And that I think that just would have changed the story completely. I like it if you're not invested in anybody that he attacks or kills or oh no, they're cannon fodder, like you know, I mean, I love Karen Hines, but I like, you dangled him in front of me for nothing. Well, yeah, because he's you know, he's just some scumback who's you know, one of the brothels. He's like a VIP member of the brothel that Glenn is running. But I mean it's like, yeah, he's great, but I'm not gonna care about him. Yeah, and not like I didn't even he wasn't even bad enough for me to like root for him to die. Yeah, it's just like, oh he got he got killed. Bummer. It's okay. Life goes on. So we also got a couple other great supporting players here, Glenn close, we I know we we briefly discussed her is she does she know what movie she's in? There? Here is one thing that I did think of that kind of redeems whatever the hell was she was doing, is if she was playing an english woman who was putting on a French accent to make the brothel seem

24:07 like exotic. Okay, all right, then uh kay, kind of it makes sense. But I mean, she was so good in Dangerous lays On, so I don't know why she wouldn't just do the same thing. Yeah, and what what does it make sense for me? Is she appears to be a very strong, willed, fierce woman, and she's talking a big game about about Jekyl to to poor little Julia Roberts. However, she in like her her rant. Every time we see her, she's ranting, she's she's on the war path, and then she ends every rant with just tell him I'll do whatever he says, tell him whatever he is. I'm like, okay, so are you like what's on her? Like I wanted to to get you know, information that like, I just I don't understand it because one maybe you know, because he clearly he is not going near this brothel. He explains that to Mary. You know, me in a place like that, I you know, could never do that. He's a prestigious doctor. I mean, you saw the name plate that she's shining at to begin in the movie. It's got half the alphabet, you know after his name. He's he's obviously a doctor of many medicines in schools. I just don't understand Glenn Close. I don't understand where she's coming from, because she's

25:38 she she rages at at Julia Roberts. Yet she's always like very submissive in the end, she is going to do whatever is asked of her. So yeah, but she also didn't seem like ruthless enough to where she was just throwing these girls away to mister Hyde, I don't care, I'll get another. I mean, I feel like she's a little she's a little protective. I mean even when when Hines is when he spots uh, I forget who he spots. I think I think he mentions Mary Riley even was like, oh, I haven't seen her before, and yeah, she says that she has that that throway line. She's like, hey, she's not even eighteen yet. Oh yeah, yeah, because he he kind of hey, what's up, you know, which is being such a creeper. He's definitely been a creeper. And I'm also I want to be careful her because I don't want to. I don't want to be on his side at all. But if you're walking past all these women that are you know, made up, they're painted up, they're ready, they're ready for action, and then Joey Roberts shows up wet from the rain with that dyed eyebrows and that that extremely uh that that extreme haircut she's got. Yeah, how is he walking by all these girls? And then he sees her and yeah, that's that's the one, right I I don't know, but yeah, I still yeah, I was happy, you know, I wasn't. I wasn't. I wasn't unhappy that he got he got killed. Yeah, another supporting player who we

27:15 definitely if you feel that way about Hines, you're gonna feel a certain way about about this guy. Michael Gambon, who he is as far he is, he is as far removed from Albus Dumbledore as he possibly could be. Here. He plays Mary like and we just see him in flashbacks for most of the movie, but he's he's vile, he's so disgusting. Yeah, that was just horrific, And like, I'm not really sure what the point was. I mean, it was the was the whole point to show us that she has had, like Mary Riley has had a tough life her whole life. Or maybe that's why she is the the introverted, frad person she is because because she was abused as a child. I guess I don't know it kind of I guess it would have. I'm still stuck on the original story because it's such a good story. So in the original story, doctor Jekyl is engaged two very you know, appropriate, nice sweet young girl and then he as mister Hyde, takes up with a prostitute that he treats horribly and abuses and eventually kills. So I was waiting for this backstory to lead to Okay, this is why Mary Riley is going to accept this abuse from Hyde. Yeah, and you know, because this is how she thinks she's

28:49 supposed to be treated and this is how this dynamic is going to play out. But then it never had anything to do with anything. Is the irony loss on you that In nineteen ninety six, Michael Gambon is playing a vile tormentor of a child who is abusing them and throwing them in a cupboard undneath the stairs. And then years later, now I did my time Michael Gambon was in a movie with the kid locked in the closet. I'd have two Nichols, which is not a lot, but it's weird. Yeah. I always like to talk cameos and uh before they were famous extras. I'd love to seeing Michael Sheen here. Maybe Michael Sheen, ohys specular as ever.

29:37 One thing you can say about this household of all of the weight staff and the you know, the cook and the butler, if that's what he if that's what that guy's job was. Everyone is so repressed and it's so dark and moody and Victorian London and Sheen. Every time the camera is on him, he has got the biggest smile, onest face. He is just full of life and oh that would have been great. Well yeah, but he could. Could he have been the butler with that, with that that good nature, that that fun atmosphere around him, that fun vibe he was given off? Yeah, probably not. He's like very unprofessional. Well think of Okay, So think about let's fast forward to like early two thousands when he's in the Underworld movies that Michael Sheen could have been the head butler. Yes, uh, you know Jacky's right hand man. But this, you know, baby sheen is you're calling him. He's just too full of life.

30:36 We can't contains those shoes. Every time he came on the screen, I was like, yes, yeah, yeah, Like, oh, is baby she at breakfast? Yeah right, I'll go down. I'm having breakfast. Yeah. Did you see the way he was attacking those shoes with with just clean of the clean the hell out of them. Love him, Amber, Let's take one more break and when we get back, it'll be time to keep it real. We are back, Amber Lewis, it is time to be keeping it real. A couple questions. You are familiar with this. I know you have been with us on our nineteen eighty six series where we had some fun questions in the breakdown. We did it, We did a little. We did this again with our nineteen seventy six series, so it's only fitting we do it here on nineteen ninety six. I'm going to start off my first question to you. One of our favorite actors Billy Zopka was dominating dojo's high school cafeterias and college swimming pools in some of the best movies in the nineteen eighties, but then he's notably absent from Hollywood for most of the nineties. So the question is what about zob Amber replaced one actor from this film with way Zapka. Oh, I think the butler, the older,

32:12 older, rough butler. Yeah, Like, I don't think that he was. He was kind of just like just grumpy, and Sabka would have made him like an actual villain, like torturing Maryley and giving her such a hard time. If he's the head, if he's the head of household for the you know, for the wait staff, what are the chances him and baby Sheen are they got their own little dojo happening out in the courtyard where she's playing flowers. Is that possible? Yeah? They would have totally been protecting Hide, helping him sneak in and out, and they would have been totally on his side. It would be since a Hide, He'd be like, yeah, he'd be like John Krasty'd be since a Hide. All right, Okay, I like that. Uh, I'm going big here. I say, Zopka replaces Malkovich and here's wow. Hey, I just said not too long ago, I said, hey, it works with one of the stars, but not both of them. Zopka is age appropriate at this point.

33:14 And if Malcovich it can't be bothered to an accident. We don't need Zopka to do one either. This is true. I'm all for it. And he did show us in Karate Kid how two faced he could be, Like he was really sweet to Ali and the country club and then study steady. He is the hero of the Karate Kid. And if you want to have a long conversation when the mics are I've gotten yelled at because I love that movie. But Andrew was quick to point out that he wins with an illegal kick. Andrew Andrews in my dojo, so he we see we see eyed eye on that one. All right, before this becomes a William Zopka podcast question you have answered several times Amber sequel, prequel remake. If you control this ip, what would be your pitch to the studio to revive it.

34:09 I would do a remake, and I would uh make it more of a mystery. I would have you know someone like uh, Florence Pew that I'm obsessed with and just watched in in June, Like, have her kind of sleuthen out what's going on with her? Boss. I like the idea of Florence Pew in the role of Mary Riley. That's a good one. Like make her. Don't make her, you know, a whimpy character, make her a strong character. Make her. I don't think she's ever played a weak character. Yeah, I'm even counting Midsummer Is where she you know, some stuff happens, but I never really saw her as a victim in that. Yeah. And then you know, for Jacqueline Hyde. Uh, thinking of a movie, I love Crimson Peak. I'm gonna say Tom Hidleston he needs to really play play like a really hateful villain. Man. We covered Crimson Peak. We did Del Toro a couple of seasons ago. I love that movie. That's a great It's one of my favorites. Great pick'd be fantastic, is what that be? I'm gonna I'm gonna that he's never been able to really lean into the villain like Loki is a hero. Yeah,

35:44 I'll die on that hill. And Crimson Peak, you know, his character is like just a tortured. Yeah, you know, kind of gothic, uh, leading man, So we really need him to be liked. I can go for it. Hi Daddy, for sure, Hi daddy. Okay, all right, so Amber's remake working title Hide Daddy. I'm gonna I'm gonna agree with you. Uh, definitely we go the remake route. And it's easy. Just call Tim Burton back say say you're sorry. Yes, let him remake it his way. And I still want one own a writer. I get it. She's fifty two, but she is gorgeous.

36:32 She's a fantastic actress. She's still wowing us on stranger things. What's a different story. It doesn't have to be, you know, just a Scullerymaide. She could be the housekeeper. She could be the head of the house, you know, the head, you know, like the older woman who's you know, more motherly. But we don't want one on a writer to be you know, old and gray. We want her. Let her be went on a writer. Yeah, now here' where I'm gonna blow your mind. We've talked all these people that potentially we're going to be Jekyll and Hyde, and I got I got what I feel is like a really good answer here. What on a writer her Mary Riley will act opposite Hwan McGregor, who, yes, who also just happens to be fifty two years old, has the accent, has the swagger, can play the gentleman, can play the bag. He could do it all. Give me that movie and UGHO.

37:32 McGregor has worked with Tim Burton before he did Big Fish with him. Oh, big Fish is my favorite. I'm I'm ready for that one. Yes, I love your choices. Hard to say, I don't. Listeners are going to have to tell us which which remake they prefer, you know, if they're on Team member or not. But you know I wouldn't blame him if they were, because your your idea was fantastic. One more question for you. Let's talk DVD extras. In nineteen ninety six, the DVD format is initially introduced to US markets. While the simplicity of the compact disc pleased US, the high definition wowed us and had us tossing our VHS tapes out, But amber for cinophiles like you and me, the exclusive special features were usually a no frill's package of like scene selection, French and Spanish subtitles.

38:22 You might have had a trailer this one when this one comes out. Initially on its first run on DVD, it had some production notes and it had a making of featurette, which is one of those. Basically, it's just a glorified promo, real from Sony. You know, the cast of Mary Riley. Yeah, exactly. So my question for you what DVD extra would you want on your DVD for this film? You can have an audio commentary, you can have deleted scenes, or you can have a making of documentary. Which one you want? If we could get them like some cocktails, I would love audio commentary with Stephen Friars, Malkovich and Julia Roberts.

39:15 I mean, throw everybody in there, like they're the Michael Sheen, you know, I want everybody, but definitely those three. And you know, like I said, if you could get you know, a couple of margaritas in them and have them like be honest, you know, and you know she and Malcovich if they really didn't like each other, like say that, say, hey, you know I respect you, but we did not get along. H you know, I would, uh, I would offer this to your your suggestion, I say, you bring them all in and no cocktails and then maybe a stop the movie at the halfway point. M h, you hit happy hour so that malcol So Malkovich can go from Jackal to hide. Yes, you know, let Joey have a couple of drinks.

40:05 Yeah, and then and they go, all right, let's get back in there. And then let's just hear people go from from you know, let's hear the personality changes a little bit. I'd be up for that myself. I'm gonna take deleted scenes for this one, and really all I want to see is either up the action, you know, like hide about town, or develop some of the sexual tension that we are supposed to feel. And I don't feel really landed. I take either one of them. That's good. I like that. Let's talk about the film's legacy. Amber, how is this film aged over time? Is it a classic, a cult classic, or just a product of its time. I think you could call it a cult classic. Like I was thinking, it's not a movie that where I'd be like, I'm never watching this again. I think it's one of those you know you're watching, you know, like a monster movie marathon for October and you want to see something different, you know, you throw this one in it's it's got great atmosphere, great production value. It's fine.

41:19 It's I've watched sports movies for a Halloween marathon. I'll tell you. Last month, Scott and I discussed the Hughes Brothers from Hell. Oh like this shole feature. This is a good double feature, right, you're Victorian London. I like where I like where you're going with it. As far as this film being a strong representation of nineties culture, eighteen nineties, sure, not the nineteen ninety So I don't know how much more we could talk about that. Do you feel like this film impacted pop culture in any way? Because I got I got a hot take for you. Well, I can't, off the top of my head think of like any jekylin Hydeman since so it might have killed that genre, you know. I think my take is that I think audiences had accepted it was time for Julia to move on to more adult roles and decided it was time for someone new to be America's sweetheart.

42:17 And as as history tells us, her name was Sandra Bullock. Ah good take transition to power there, you know, yep, but it was a wooden wind. There was Yeah, there's no losers here. Well, Amber, last week you helped to celebrate the forty fifth anniversary of Norma Ray on our limited series, A Film at forty five Mary Riley this week, and I guess I should just make you a key for the studio because you'll be back on Tuesday with me, right, yep, all right, good. We will be talking about Greta Gerwig as an my favorite filmmaker I have.

43:00 I'll be honest with you. I have not seen Ladybird, but oh, I'm a big fan of Timothy Shallome. I'm a big fan of Greta Gerwig. So I'm I'm going into this one very optimistic. Are you in love with Social Running yet, because if you're not, I think she is. Oh, She's a fantast She's fantastic. I've not seen her in a I've not seen her deliver a bad role yet. Yeah, all right, awesome. I'm looking forward to Tuesday then, And I thank you for your time today here in nineteen ninety six with me. Oh, super fun. This is a good year, listeners. Thank you for checking out our latest limited series, nineteen ninety six. We're gonna cover a lot of movies from the year, but we won't get to them all. You can let us know which film from nineteen ninety six is a must, or maybe you've got a hitten gym to recommend. Please let us know. You can email us at a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com. You can hit us up on social media channels. We're on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. As for now, me and Amber got a bounce, But next time on nineteen ninety six, our friend Amanda Janek will be returning, so you know we're getting spooky. Join us, Join us for the craft