Alexander Payne - Election

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So remember, if we're talking about
teen comedies, do you have a favorite?

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I mean, Ferris Bueller is pretty
perfect. It is pretty perfect,

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so quotable, very quotable. I
think if I've got a favorite, my

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go to would probably be Fast Times
at Ridgemont High. But today I think

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we should talk about a film that
may or may not be a teen comedy.

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Let's talk about a film by Alexander
Payne, his nineteen ninety nine cynical

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comedy Election. Hello everybody, I'm
Jeff Johnson, I'm Amber Lewis, and

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this is a film by Podcast.
I think we got a very interesting one

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to talk about today. But before
we get started, I do want to

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say hello to Bridge. I don't
know if I'm saying that right, Amber.

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They are our newest follower on Patreon. That's right, I did say

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follower listeners. If you haven't yet
decided to subscribe to our Patreon for all

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to follow us, which is a good

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follow us on patreon dot com.
Backslash, a film by podcast, Amber,

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we're going to talk about election today. Do you want to let the

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listeners know what this one's about?
White simply a high school teacher meets his

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match and then overachieving student politician.
That sums it up very well. And

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when I think about this movie,
uh, And we briefly discussed favorite teen

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comedies because initially, when Alexander Payne
was approached by MTV Productions to do this

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film, he told him he didn't
want to do a teen comedy, but

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two producers sold him on the project
as a dark adult comedy disguised as a

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teen comedy, and then he was
he was all in. He was like,

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Okay, I'm in, let's let's
let's do this. Initial thoughts,

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Amber, because I think me and
you, I don't know if we're going

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to agree. I don't I don't
know if I'm team Amber this time or

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not. Was this was this the
first time watch for you? Or have

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you seen it before? It was? I had seen like different scenes before,

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so I don't know, like if
it was on and I just wasn't

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paying attention or what my connection to
it was before today, But I just

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finished watching it like an aura.
Oh no, So when you texted me.

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I was like, halfway through,
I'm glad I finished it. Wow,

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Wow, I can, I can? I see? I just assumed

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that you had seen this before because
it's Alexander Payne. It's I I have

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never seen any of his movies.
Oh my lord, are you kidding me?

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No. I looked on his IMDb, because you know, sometimes directors

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will do things and you're like,
oh did he do that? I forgot

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or I didn't realize or whatever.
Wow, And I started looking through and

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I've heard of them and heard positive
things, but I've never actually sat and

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watched ones. He's trust me.
He is a brilliant filmmaker. I know

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we're gonna talk about his filmography later
on. I'm not sure Election is the

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movie that I would have someone start
their Alexander Payne viewing. No, and

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I will say, like, I
I kind of right when you texted me.

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Was kind of the turning point of
if I didn't have to finish it

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for this podcast, I probably would
not have. Oh okay. So I

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stuck with it, and by the
end I was I don't ever want to

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watch it again, but I did
want to watch his other things. Okay.

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I was intrigued I'm like, so
he definitely has a perspective and a

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distinctive style, and so I'm intrigued
to see like what his other stuff is.

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Like, he absolutely does. He's
if I always tell people, if

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you enjoyed like the raunchy eighties comedies, you know, this is kind of

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like that. What he does is
sort of like that, only for intelligent

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people, like for like not well, I don't want say intelligent people.

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Let me strike that this is for
It's almost like it's almost like the raunchy

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teen people grew up and they're still
being offensive, and they're still saying things

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that are wildly inappropriate, and there's
some scenery that's going to be jarring at

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times and language is gonna be jarring
at time. That's that's kind of how

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I would say. It was like
biting on tinfoil at different points. Well,

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I I, well, I compare
it to like our ron Chi teen

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comedy because those are just you know, it's all about naked boobies and you

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know, boys saying defy things.
And this was incredibly offensive at times.

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Yes, I'm thinking I'm thinking about
the beginning so adult. Yeah, like

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the first at least half of it
is I could very adults, you know,

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you know, his his friend that
gets fired. Uh, oh god,

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he was so cross I could.
I could see how that would be

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incredibly jarring for someone that has never
watched this. So I will apologize for

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that because I mean his ever Lyne
is like disgusted. It's highly discussed matter

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with you. Yeah. I forgot
about that line for Matthew Broderick's character because

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he just kind of acts like he
made an off color joke or something.

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He is not. He's not horrified. He doesn't go immediately to the police

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and report him. Yeah, you
know, so all his like moral standing

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and everything is just worseshit because it
went confronted with illegality. He just kind

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of like, oh man, you're
that's not cool. Yeah. I have

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a I have a spot where I
want to talk about Matthew Broderick where I

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feel he he crosses the line,
you know. But before we get in

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that, let's talk a little bit
about the cast. So this is Reese

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Weatherspoon's film. You know, she's
playing Tracy Flick. She was initially interested

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in the role of Timmy Metzler,
who plays Paul's sister, but paying offers

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of the lead, which which takes
it away from Melissa Jonhart. And yeah,

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I think this is ninety nine.
So Melissa Jonhart is kind of she's

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happening, right, I mean it's
fair to say that she is her stars

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on the you know it's not on
the rise. It has risen. So

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I think she's very like soft though
I don't Melissa jim Hart. So I

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think like Tracy, is Tammy's the
more fun character. Yes, it's Tracy.

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I think is a really really challenging
character. And Reese like brings just

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kind of a hardness tour and a
coldness tour that I think makes it work.

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Yeah, what did you I mean? This is? I mean,

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I I you know, I trust
that you've seen plenty of Reese Wetherspoon's films,

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her other work. So how does
how does her performance here? How

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does it compare? Is this one
of her better films? Like what I

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want? I want to say better
film? Is this one of her better

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performances? Yeah? I think if
you don't fully appreciate her and you haven't

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seen this movie, this movie I
think would make you more impressed with her

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film. Absolutely. Yeah. She
receives a Golden Globe nomination for this best

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Actress in a music or comedy and
loses to Janet McTeer for Tumbleweed, which

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I'm not familiar with that one or
with miss mctears. So I'm familiar with

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Janet McTeer. I haven't seen that
movie, but I mean that's probably a

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fair okay loss, I would say, especially because I think I didn't look.

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I meant to look. But I
think this is Reese's like kind of

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transition from child actor to you know, kind of yeah, adults. She

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had, Yeah, she had.
She did the movie with Mark Wahlberg in

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ninety six called Fear, Yes,
you know, and then this was kind

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of like, I don't know what
she did in between the between that and

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this, but it is it's it's
kind of a segue. It's like,

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hey, Reese Wetherspoon is She's She's
the real She's the real deal. Uh,

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someone that is always the real deal. You mentioned one of his best,

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if not most iconic performances, when
you talked about Ferris Bueler Matthew Broderick

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playing Jim McAllister. So it's funny
he's he's fourth choice for this role,

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if you can believe it, because
I love him in this movie. But

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well, here's the thing. I
do not like adult Matthew Broderick at all,

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almost at all. So I was
really impressed with his performance in this

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movie because it was really good,
and I was shocked because it wasn't like

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anything else I've seen him. Do. Tell me you didn't you didn't think

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of Ferris when he has that little
fantasy in his head where he's driving the

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sports car, and that was the
only part that I thought was funny.

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Yeah, driving that sports He's great. So Tim Robbins was the one they

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wanted to play mister m and I
think he would have been better better than

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Brodrick, Yes, times better actor. Well I'm not gonna say whether or

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not he's a better actor, but
I think broad Brick, I don't know

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that Tim Robbins could play the goofy
weak character that Jim McAllister is. Maybe

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I'm wrong. I've always enough of
his movies then, because it's not all

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okay, okay, I mean I'm
thinking, you know, I was like

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nuke le loosh, I just thought
of nickel Lush. Yeah, you're right,

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So he could have done it,
but alas uh, they didn't get

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him. And Paramount actually wanted Tom
Hanks or Tom Cruise at the time they

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told out At the time they told
Alexander Payne, we want one of the

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Toms Cruise or Hanks, like that
will any Tom do or that? That

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was their round though we want we
want one of the Toms. Obviously,

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later Tom Hanks is kind of now
embracing more like villainous, kind of questionable

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characters. If the one time Tom
Cruise did it, it like turned my

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stomach, So Cruise could have done
this Tom Hanks, I think he could

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have done this. However, if
you want to see one of the greatest

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Tom Hanks as a comedic villain movies
ever, it's The Lady Killers. He

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is so good in that. I
mean, he is so good in that.

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But alas Matthew broder gets it.
So you know your your overall your

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thoughts, like you know you you
will you had you had one fun moment

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with him when he's fantasizing in the
sports car, but other than that,

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you're you're not liking adult Matthew Broderick. Well, I just yeah, like

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adult Matthew Broderick. My most of
what I think of when I think of

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his later work is filmed versions of
Broadway musicals and I think maybe live he

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had an electricity that obviously sold a
lot of tickets. But you know,

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he did the music man, he
did the producers, and it just didn't

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do it for me. But in
this he he didn't have all of the

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mannerisms and the kind of over the
top facial expressions and stuff like. He

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really embraced this like loser character.
He well, it's the anti Ferris.

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Yeah, well, he's very anti
Ferris. And it's not that he's I

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don't I don't look a him as
a loser per se. He is.

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He's definitely like a schlep who is
like, he's the nerdy teacher that you

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love you obviously, he you know, he's the he wins Teacher of the

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Year three times, three years out
of ten years. He cares about the

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students, but he's he's a bit
of a goofball. You know, we

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all had a teacher like him.
Not not the not when he not when

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he turns heel obviously, but you
know, the fun guy. You know,

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he's he participates in the pep rallies. He's he's he's the teacher that

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you you enjoyed his class. I
would say, until he he turns in

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this film and then he's just like, then he's rotten, you know,

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then he he he, he embraces
that loser mentality. But uh, and

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I know we'll get a little bit
well, we'll talk a little bit more

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about that probably, But Alexander Payne
is out doing location scouting for high schools

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for this movie, and that's when
he finds a young kid named Chris Klein.

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So this is Chris. This is
Chris Klein's debut film. You know,

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he's Paul Metzler, He's the he's
the popular jock who breaks his leg

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skiing. Now his football career is
over, and you know what can he

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do? Well, maybe he can
run for for for class president against you

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know. Uh, Tracy Flick,
what your thoughts on Chris Klein. I

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was surprised that this was his first
movie. He's got that kind of goofy

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charisma, like a Josh Hartnett kind
of kind of guy. I think you

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say that because because he like he
should have had a bigger career. I

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shouldn't say he should have had he
should have a bigger career, right,

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But I think I just really liked
his character. He was just a sweet,

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kind of goofy guy. Is he? I think? Am I right

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in saying that maybe he's the one
character and I'm talking like the main the

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main main cast here. Is he
the one person that we can we want

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to root for, we want to
get behind. I don't know. I

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really love Tammy so okay, well, let's okay. I was rooting for

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her too, But I think those
two kids are going to be okay.

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Yeah, Jessica Campbell as his little
sister, Tammy. So thora Birch was

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cast in this film to play Tammy, and I can only imagine how awesome

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that would have been. Yes,
I love her well, I love her

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too, but she leaves. She
leaves the set after three days, citing

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creative differences with the director. I
don't know what creative differences she could have

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had for the character of Tammy,
because what Jessica Campbell does on the screen

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is electrifying. I love She's She
might be my favorite character in the whole

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film. What do you think?
Yes, she definitely has just a great

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personality. She I love the way
she sticks up for herself. Hmmm,

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you know, she the way she
manipulates the situation to get what she thinks

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she wants and it turns out pretty
good for her. And I love the

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speech that she gives the election.
Her election speech is awesome. That was

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amazing. And I like her relationship
with her brother, Like they they fight,

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they scream at each other, and
there are I feel I felt like

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their their chemistry as brother and sister
was pretty authentic. Yes, you know

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you have brother, right, I
have a sister. So I felt like

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that. Yeah, I bought into
that. You know, it's like they

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like each other, but they also
want their space. You know. I

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like it. Amber. Let's take
a quick break and when we come back,

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we'll talk a little bit about the
film's background and production. We are

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back discussing Alexander Paine's nineteen ninety film
Election. So a couple of things here,

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Amber. It's based on a novel
of the same name by Tom Parata.

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And here's where we dig a little
because Parata's work was based on a

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nineteen forty one novel by Bud Schulberg
called What Makes Sammy Run? And it

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was in that novel the setting was
journalism and the old Hollywood studio system,

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and the ambitious character was not named
Tracy Flick. He was named Sammy Glick,

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and so this one, it's got
some deep history dating back to nineteen

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forty one. Additionally, Parada's novel
took inspiration from the nineteen ninety two presidential

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election when Ross Perrot entered as a
third party candidate. It's kind of where

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you get the Tammy character. And
also from a nineteen ninety two scandal from

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a high school in Wisconsin which involved
a pregnant student who was elected homecoming queen

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and the staff announced a different winner
and burned the ballots to cover it up.

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It just sounds how was that?
Of course? Yeah, of course,

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of course right. The film is
shot in and around parts of Nebraska.

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Most of Alexander Payne's films take place
in Omaha. Payne has said of

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election quote, it was set in
a high school, but it wasn't a

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high school story per se. Also
what attracted me was the formal exercise of

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doing a movie with multiple points of
view and multiple voiceovers. I'm gonna ask

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you, we don't we always get
like a narrator in movies that that's their

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diame ad dozen every now and then
we get multiple narrators like Scorsese probably does

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it best, but what's your take
on it? Do you like Do you

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like the multiple narrator format? I
definitely liked it in this because so much

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of the choices that they make,
you're like, what were you thinking?

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And the adults are all horrible,
so if you don't kind of know what's

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in their head, you know,
you're kind of like, how did you

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get to making these choices that you're
making? So I really liked it.

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I liked, you know, seeing
that there really wasn't anything more in you

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know, the football players head than
the air that you thought was there.

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And I liked that. You could, if you're looking on the outside,

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you could think that Tracy was just
this horrible, manipulative person. But the

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more you see her thought process,
you see kind of the choices that she

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makes them why she makes them.
So I liked getting everybody's perspective. Yeah,

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she's devious, but it's fun to
be inside her headspace at times and

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see her point of view and you
kind of at times you're like, Okay,

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I get it. There's a fine
line between like ambition and devious though,

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Like I spent a lot of time
thinking in her scenes. You know,

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if she were a boy, would
you think negatively about her choices,

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like would she just be ambitious and
go on after what she wants? And

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you know if it was a guy, would you feel differently about it?

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Because she's a girl. I mean
she does she does some some things that

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are wrong, but ultimately she's aside
from just being annoying, you know,

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she's not really doing a lot of
bad things. Right, you can make

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well And even like even the poster
thing, it was like an impulsive meltdown.

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It wasn't. I don't think it
was a malicious so you know I'm

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gonna ruin his campaign the poster.
Yeah, the poster meltdown. I don't

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think it's malicious until she creates the
cover up and then is willing to watch

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a student take the fall for her. So that's where she that's where she's

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like, right, but you know
she's sixteen years old. Oh she doesn't

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excuse it. But she's a child
making child like choices, that's right.

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And when the principal stood up in
that assembly and was like if you're not

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going to act like adults, said, you're not gonna get treated like adult,

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I fell off the couch. I
was like, you pompous ass,

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like these are children, they're not
adults. It's the entire point. You

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listen, you're talking about one of
my favorite characters, Principal, the principal

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director, director Walt Hendricks, played
by Phil Reeves. He he's one of

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those you see him in this and
then you immediately he's that guy, because

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you're like, where have I seen
him before? And name any of your

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favorite shows from the last twenty or
thirty years he was in him. But

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the funny thing here, I hope
you like, I hope you at least

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liked him a little bit, because
you're gonna see him again in another Alexander

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Payne movie playing the same person.
Oh no way, Like literally he is.

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He is. Literally. He is
credited in Election as Walt Hendricks.

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He will also be credited in Sideways
as Walt Hendricks. So, oh my

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gosh, yeah, you know,
fun little spot for him. But I

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love Phil Reeves. This is of
course, written by Alexander Payne and his

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longtime writing partner Jim Taylor Amber.
We don't usually do this for the background

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on the film, but I gotta
ask you, do you do you know

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anything about Jim Taylor. I don't
think so, but I have a feeling

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I'm gonna find out this guy.
This guy's background is awesome. So Jim

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Taylor started out in Hollywood in nineteen
eighty seven working for Canon Films. And

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if you have listeners, if you
have listened to this show for any of

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our nineteen eighty six stuff, you
know we love Canon films. That's the

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Chuck Norris movies, the Charles Bronson
movies that you know, Canon was awesome.

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We love that this guy worked for
Cannon in eighty seven. That was

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like the height of Cannon's popularity in
power. But it's then that he met

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Payne on a tempt job. He
became his roommate, and you're gonna love

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this Samber. After winning money on
Wheel of Fortune, he took that money.

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Yes, he took the money for
tuition, and he entered the Titch

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School of the Arts and with pain, he co writes Citizen Ruth election Jurassic

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Park three. Yes, I did
say. Alexander Payne co wrote Jurassic Park

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00:22:57.039 --> 00:23:04.240
three about it sideways, I now
pronounce you Chuck and Larry and Downsizing,

279
00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:07.359
which came out a couple of years
ago. This guy's awesome. This guy's

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00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:11.400
as the best use of Will fortune
money. I think I've ever heard you

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00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:15.759
got you gotta wonder like people go
on money on will of fortune, they

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00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.559
win five grand, ten grand whatever. What do they do with that money?

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Some of them are going to film
school and they head to Hollywood.

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So uh, this film was nominated
for Best Adapted Screenplay at the two thousand

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00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.680
Academy Awards. Now I ember it
does not win, and I'll tell you

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00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:41.279
this is this is some tough,
tough company. The cider House Rules wins

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00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:48.319
for Best Adapted Screenplay that year.
Election was also against The Green Mile,

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00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:52.519
The Insider, and the talented mister
Ripley, So it was never going to

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win. That's some tough competition.
I mean every every film that I just

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I just said, what is an
amazing film, yes, and amazing source

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00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:08.240
material, But yeah, that's just
not your year. Yep, it's just

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not gonna happen. Already be nominated. Yeah, so this scene, you

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know, this is this is one
of those dark comedies. People say very

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crude things, people do very crude
things. There's a lot of immoral behavior,

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00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:27.400
which is funny because mc allister,
you know, Matthew Broderick's character,

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he's he's his whole lesson plan is
all about morals versus ethics, and that

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00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.319
plays up the whole film because people
are are being very immoral, They're they're

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being very unethical. I'll ask you
this, Outside of the fantasy scene where

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he's driving the sports car, was
there any other scene where you you gotta

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you gotta, you gotta laugh or
you were like, this is this is

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a great scene. I mean I
did chuckle a little bit during the campaign

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00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:04.799
speeches when Paul finished his speech and
you could hear literal crickets in the background

303
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because nobody was applotting, and usually
you know, it's that's subtext, but

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he actually put the SoundBite in there. I thought that was funny, but

305
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yeah, the rest of it,
no, I was too uncomfortable. I

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00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:23.559
love I love that moment because you
should expect the place to erupt for Paul,

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because he is he's the quarterback,
you know, he's he's he's the

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00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:33.279
jock, and instead it erupts for
his little sister who starts off, you

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00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:37.279
know, like you said, the
principal has to calm the class down at

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the PEP rally, and then she
starts going on on a rant about how

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it's all you know bullshit anyways,
and don't vote for anyone and then and

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00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.680
they erupt, they go they go
nuts for you know, until she gets

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00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:52.960
gets herself kicked out of school.
But you didn't. I got to ask

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00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.640
you this though, what about the
beasting moment with Matthew Brodrick that you didn't

315
00:25:57.640 --> 00:26:02.599
even like that? Like where he
he's slowly starting to get his come up

316
00:26:02.599 --> 00:26:06.319
and no, I mean I didn't
think it was funny. Okay, all

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00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:10.759
right, I thought it was a
little rotten, you know, well,

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00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:15.680
it was kind of more. It
felt more to me like one of those

319
00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:21.279
everything that could go wrong will go
wrong with this guy from now until the

320
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end of the movie. Like,
all right, what about what about to

321
00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:29.039
catch a break? Okay? What
about a pivotal moment? Was there anything

322
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:32.920
in here where you're like, this
is the scene that the film needs.

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I mean, I think if I
were telling someone, you know, someone

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00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:41.000
was asking me about it, should
I watch it? I would say,

325
00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:47.319
like, just stick with the first
half because you have to get through the

326
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:53.400
backstory. M hmm. I think
to understand why he hates Tracy so much

327
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:59.559
and why he starts making the choices
that he makes. It doesn't none of

328
00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:06.240
it makes sense none of it is
right, but you can at least he

329
00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:12.160
explains himself kind of. I think
the pivotal moment here is when he's in

330
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:21.359
the car with the neighbors, the
friend Doug's, Doug's ex wife. Yeah,

331
00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:22.920
yeah, when he's everything, you
know, he's at this point he

332
00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:27.160
is still like the goofy white Knight. He's still the nice guy. You

333
00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:30.319
still are kind of rooting for him
a little bit. And then he then

334
00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:33.279
he gets slimy, you know,
and he has the you know, what

335
00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:36.640
do you think should we get a
room? You know? He points at

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00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:40.119
the motel, makes her uncomfortable and
she's like, you know, that's not

337
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:42.440
very funny, you know, And
right there that is the moment where you're

338
00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:47.279
like, Okay, this guy has
veered off the path. He's going to

339
00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:51.640
get whatever's coming his way. You
know, he's gonna deserve it because he's

340
00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:56.319
he's about to do a lot of
immoral things and it's just it's it's jarring

341
00:27:56.359 --> 00:28:00.200
to see Matthew Broderick be that guy. But it's also kind of fun to

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00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:07.440
watch him just completely melt down and
and just just lose everything he's got.

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Because you think about this being the
movie he's he's up in the morning,

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00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:15.480
he's running the track, he's eating
salads, he's he's everyone's a mister,

345
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.640
id McAllister. Everyone loves him.
And by this point in the movie,

346
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:22.880
he's I don't know if you noticed
this, but he's starting junk food a

347
00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:26.279
lot. He's not he's not running, he's starting to look a little beat,

348
00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:30.559
little haggard, and he's starting to
get nasty with the students. So

349
00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:34.039
for me, that that's the moment
that does it. I think the pivotal

350
00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:41.920
part of that scene is his reaction
to what she says, because he could

351
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:47.279
have just fluffed it off like a
joke. M like, no, it

352
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:49.240
was just kid, you know,
we were driving past, and I'm sorry.

353
00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:52.759
I thought it was funny and tried
to like save face or whatever.

354
00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:56.839
But he kind of like doubles down, and yeah, it just makes it

355
00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:00.400
slimier and more uncomfortable. Yeah,
he's he's he's extra slammy there. He

356
00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:07.119
doesn't read the situation and he presses, which you know, you could argue

357
00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:11.640
almost works for him, but until
until the neighbor has a conscious and you

358
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:14.920
know, reports everything to his wife, and then you know, well,

359
00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:17.519
and a lot of the two you
can see it was all in his head

360
00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:21.519
because it kind of comes out of
left field. And she her face is

361
00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:25.960
like what yeah. Oh. When
he's like we're in love, she's like,

362
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:27.279
no, we're not. What's problem
with? Yeah? What are you

363
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:37.319
even talking about? So let me
tell you about Constantine Alexander Payne. First

364
00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:40.720
off, Amber, if your name
is Constantine, why are you? Why

365
00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:42.920
are you going by your middle name? That's awesome? I mean I'm not

366
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:49.039
going by Constantine. You're not going
by maybe as an adult, but yeah,

367
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:53.039
no as a kid. I jump
out a window before I tell people

368
00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:02.720
Constantine. Pain. No, that's
that sounds live in like Imperial Russia?

369
00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:08.160
All right? He's He is a
screenwriter, director, and producer. He

370
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:11.880
grew up in Omaha, Nebraska,
and has an affinity for placing his films

371
00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:15.440
there. And Amber, you have
never seen any of his work, so

372
00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:18.599
you probably don't realize that, but
you will. You'll start to notice.

373
00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:26.440
There's a theme running at the end
when Matthew Roderick decides to move to New

374
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.880
York. When he's sitting at the
traffic light, I found myself thinking,

375
00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:34.079
like, you know, if you
ever wondered like who lives in Nebraska?

376
00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:38.880
Anyway, Like, it's not like
you think Montana. You might think cowboys

377
00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:44.000
or whatever, but like who lives
in Nebraska? Like what do they even

378
00:30:44.039 --> 00:30:49.480
do there? I have no idea, and I wonder how this movie how

379
00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:56.559
they feel about I'll caution you,
we have listeners in Nebraska, So any

380
00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:00.039
of you from Nebraska listening to this
one, please let us know, Like

381
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:04.440
what do you do there? Because
Amber is curious because I've never been there.

382
00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:07.960
I've never even driven through it.
I don't know. I believe the

383
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:12.400
successful people of Nebraska have something to
say about it. Hopefully we'll find out.

384
00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:18.160
Is it reflected by anything in the
movie election No, no, no,

385
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:22.039
no, no other than the location. No. I think this is

386
00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:27.599
just Payne enjoying making films where he
grew up. But he did receive his

387
00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:33.599
Master of Fine Arts in nineteen ninety
from UCLA Film School. He has won

388
00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:37.359
two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes
and Amber he is one of the very

389
00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:45.000
few directors who have final cut rights
for their films. I felt like he

390
00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:49.400
kind of reminded me of Wes Anderson, just from the standpoint of like you're

391
00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:55.119
watching a movie and you know this
is a Wes Anderson movie like and I

392
00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:57.559
felt like, like I said,
I was intrigued. I want to watch

393
00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:02.400
more of his filmography and say,
like, he definitely has a point of

394
00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:07.000
view. I dig that you say
that he has a style because you've only

395
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:10.200
seen one of his films and he
absolutely does have a style. And I

396
00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:15.119
think you're I think you're gonna enjoy
And I don't think his style is gonna

397
00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:19.000
I don't think the rest of these
movies are gonna give me the will he's

398
00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:22.480
like this, No, I can. I can tell you one one or

399
00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:27.079
two might, but not in the
way that election does. You know,

400
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:30.240
they're they're not gonna be as jarring
as election. I can. I can

401
00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:32.160
tell you that. Uh, let's
take let's take one more break, and

402
00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:37.759
when we get back, we will
go through his filmography and uh and talk

403
00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:43.519
about some of these films that you
definitely need to see. Amber. We

404
00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:47.720
are back with Amber Lewis, ready
to discuss the filmography of Alexander Payne.

405
00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:52.480
I gotta I gotta think this might
take Uh, this might not take long

406
00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:55.799
at all, Amber, because I
haven't seen anything. But uh. He

407
00:32:55.880 --> 00:33:04.119
does make his directorial debut in nineteen
ninety six with a film called Citizen Ruth

408
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.480
and this one. It's been so
long since I've seen it that I've kind

409
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:15.599
of forgotten it. But I remembered
just because all anybody talked about that award

410
00:33:15.640 --> 00:33:22.519
season was Laura Dern. Laura Dern
is amazing in the film. So for

411
00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:25.480
that reason alone, I say,
I say check it out, and I

412
00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:31.319
result in it what it is,
it's very topical, unfortunately it is.

413
00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:35.200
Yeah, you know, and for
those that haven't seen it, you know

414
00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:39.079
we're talking about, you know,
an irresponsible, drug addicted, recently impregnated

415
00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:45.319
woman finds herself in the middle of
an abortion debate when both parties attempt to

416
00:33:45.319 --> 00:33:49.519
sway her to their respective side.
Topical in nineteen ninety six, as you

417
00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:53.559
mentioned, very topical in twenty twenty
four, and you know that's so,

418
00:33:53.559 --> 00:33:58.440
I will say. But there's some
amazing performances in it. One of my

419
00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:02.640
favorite guys, kurtwood Smith, best
known as Red Foreman from that seventy show

420
00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:08.719
I love him in Robocoppus, Clarence
Bottecker, He's in it. It's good,

421
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:13.199
it's worth it's worth checking out for
sure. Amber, what do you

422
00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:17.079
I'm sure you've heard about his two
thousand and two film about Schmidt starring Jack

423
00:34:17.159 --> 00:34:22.880
Nicholson, And yeah, that one
I kind of wasn't sure i'd want to

424
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:29.760
watch because like I tolerated the movie
as good as it gets, I didn't

425
00:34:29.800 --> 00:34:32.719
love it the way other people.
So I feel like, I'm definitely not

426
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:36.440
gonna like this one. I'll tell
you right now, if you did not

427
00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:42.239
like as good as it gets,
probably stay away from this one because Jack

428
00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:49.360
is fantastic in it and Kathy Bates
is definitely awesome in this film. Yeah,

429
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:55.159
might might sway a little bit.
Yeah, Yeah, you know Schmidt

430
00:34:55.199 --> 00:35:00.320
Basically, he's this retired guy.
He's trying to get back to together,

431
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:04.639
make it, make a relationship happen
with his estrange daughter, and uh,

432
00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:07.480
he's learning a lot of life lessons
after his wife passes away. Basically,

433
00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:12.280
and it's you know, when I
when I think back to watching it,

434
00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:14.639
one of the funny one of the
funny things I liked that Jack, did

435
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:17.199
you remember those? Like what was
it? Sally was it? Who was

436
00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:22.480
it? Sally Field used to do
those for just thirty cents a day,

437
00:35:22.599 --> 00:35:24.360
the cost of a cup of coffee. You can sponsor one of these children

438
00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:30.679
from Africa. You know, you
remember those those infomercials. Yes, I

439
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:32.400
don't remember Sally Field doing it,
but yeah, I know what's talking about.

440
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:37.679
I'm sorry, not Sally Field.
Who am I thinking of? From

441
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:43.079
all in the family, Yeah,
Sally, Sally Strauthers, thank you.

442
00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:47.599
Yes, At no time did Sally
Field endorse I mean, I'm sure she

443
00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:53.199
cares about children. I'm sure.
Yeah, for it on television. Yeah,

444
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:55.760
No, we we know Normal Ray
cares about the children. We're just

445
00:35:55.880 --> 00:36:00.679
you know, she's not doing infomercials, right, Yeah. She shout out

446
00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:04.519
to your You're a Film at forty
five episode when you guys did Norma Ray

447
00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:07.840
earlier this year? Yes, love
that one. But the thing is,

448
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:14.639
h Nicholson's character ends up adopt you
know, quote unquote adopting one of these

449
00:36:14.679 --> 00:36:20.719
children, and like his whole ventting
process is that he writes letters to this

450
00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:25.119
little boy I want to say,
was named nidogu So and he just it's

451
00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:31.360
like him venting all his frustrations about
life and his wife and everything to help

452
00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:35.480
us. He just writes that.
That's but that's his therapy, that's his

453
00:36:35.599 --> 00:36:38.760
therapy how he gets through life.
So I don't know, I you know,

454
00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:44.199
I would say give it a shot. It's it's not it's not Jack

455
00:36:44.280 --> 00:36:47.840
Nicholson being the character that he wasn't
as good as it gets where he's very

456
00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:53.199
confident and full of himself and ecocentric. Schmid's more. But he's so offensive

457
00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:58.400
to everyone around him, Like yes, and that's kind of what I was

458
00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:01.480
thinking this was going to be,
was Jack us it's being everybody like garbage.

459
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:08.119
No, not so much, well
a little bit, but I lived

460
00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:13.280
through this one. I'll watch for
Kathy Bates all right. Two years later,

461
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:15.280
in two thousand and four, he
does what I'm gonna go ahead and

462
00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:21.159
tell you is my all time favorite
film from Alexander Payne, a film called

463
00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:24.440
Sideways and see this one. I
don't know how I missed it because Sandra

464
00:37:24.519 --> 00:37:28.519
O is in it. Sandra oh
yeah. He was actually married to her

465
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:34.639
after this movie for a time.
But I love her so so so much.

466
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:38.400
I don't know how I missed this
her Her performance in this film is

467
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:42.880
awesome. I don't want to spoil
I can't now, I can't. I

468
00:37:42.920 --> 00:37:46.280
gotta watch what I say because I
don't want spoil anything, you know,

469
00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:51.320
But I love Jim Autie and I
mean I love everybody in it, so

470
00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:53.159
yeah, well, the only thing
I could say is I had a four

471
00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:57.199
year old and yeah, it's not
a four year old kind of movie.

472
00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:00.880
No, but let's let's be how
I missed. Let's uh, let's go,

473
00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:07.199
let's talk oscars. Okay, it's
It's nominated for Best Picture, It's

474
00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:12.519
nominated for Best Performance by an Actor
in a Supporting Role for Thomas Hayden Church,

475
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:16.559
nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting
Role for Virginia Madson, who is

476
00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:24.400
also amazing in this film. Uh. Payne gets a Best Director nomination for

477
00:38:24.559 --> 00:38:30.800
for this one, and ultimately he
wins the adapted screenplay that he that he

478
00:38:30.840 --> 00:38:34.079
would that he lost out the last
time for Election, he wins it this

479
00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:37.760
time sideways. What can I tell
you that that doesn't spoil it. It's

480
00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:42.400
it's a it's a musty film.
I'll say that for you Amber. Yeah,

481
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:47.239
yeah, that was definitely when I
started cycling through uh after watching Election,

482
00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:51.159
I was like, oh, now
I have to watch it, like

483
00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:54.679
I'm gonna I'm gonna double Yeah,
I'm gonna double down. When I told

484
00:38:54.719 --> 00:39:00.519
you to watch u Shalo may In
in the King, you know you said

485
00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:01.840
if I like that? So did
you wait? Did you watch it.

486
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:07.159
Yeah, not yet, Okay,
it's still you. Remember you remember I

487
00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:09.199
told you you watch that and if
you don't love it, you can pick

488
00:39:09.239 --> 00:39:13.760
any director, any any movie.
We'll talk about it. You know it'll

489
00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:16.320
be the Amber Lewis takeover that that
week, I'm doubling down, and I'm

490
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:20.119
telling you right now, you watch
Sideways, and if you don't love Sideways,

491
00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:24.159
I'll I'll owe you another one.
You might get let's but I'm confident

492
00:39:24.239 --> 00:39:30.280
that you're gonna love Sideways. So
there you go. All right, I'm

493
00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:34.760
doing he uh. In two thousand
and six, he does a he does

494
00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:37.519
one of the segments for Paris I
Love You. I did not see that

495
00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:42.679
one, can't tell you much about
it. He directed one episode of the

496
00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:46.360
HBO series Hung, starring Tom Jane. Never saw that one. Never saw

497
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:49.760
that show, So I can't tell
you much about it. But here's what

498
00:39:49.800 --> 00:39:53.400
I can't tell you. In twenty
eleven, he does a film that we

499
00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:58.719
almost were talking about, like I
was looking at this one and then ultimately

500
00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:00.760
I was like, you know what, election, Let's let's have some fun,

501
00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:04.639
let's talk about election. But in
twenty eleven, he does a film

502
00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:07.880
with George Clooney called the Descendants.
I turned that one on. It's streaming

503
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:13.119
on the Hulu and I turned it
on when I finished Election. I haven't

504
00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:16.039
finished it yet, but I love
this movie so far. Okay, So

505
00:40:16.039 --> 00:40:20.920
all right, so you've seen a
little bit more of his stuff. This

506
00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:22.400
one's fantastic. This is one I
own, this one. I mean,

507
00:40:22.440 --> 00:40:25.679
George is so good. Yeah,
it's streaming on Prime all right, I'm

508
00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:30.880
streaming on Hulu right now. Yes, but I'd recommend by this one.

509
00:40:30.920 --> 00:40:35.440
And again that theme, you know, like Alexander Pain does a lot of

510
00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:39.440
stuff where people are disconnected from their
relatives or their friends and they're trying to

511
00:40:39.440 --> 00:40:43.760
work towards getting back, you know. And this one, Clooney plays a

512
00:40:44.079 --> 00:40:45.960
plays a guy who's trying to reconnect
with his two daughters after his wife's been

513
00:40:46.079 --> 00:40:51.280
hurt in a boating accident, has
to go go back home. It's it's

514
00:40:51.320 --> 00:40:54.679
interesting, you know, I really
I really like it though. It's it's

515
00:40:54.880 --> 00:40:59.320
it's one of those is it a
comedy with some dramatic moments or is it

516
00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:01.599
a drama with comedy. It's it's
it's a dramedy, I might say,

517
00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:07.000
Yeah, and one of one of
Clooney's better performances. I'll say that too.

518
00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:08.519
Yeah, I mean so far,
I'm like, like I said,

519
00:41:08.559 --> 00:41:13.880
I'm like halfway through and loving it, loving it all right. Well,

520
00:41:14.639 --> 00:41:17.360
a couple of years later, twenty
thirteen, he does another film I think

521
00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:22.559
I think you would enjoy this time. Now he's not with his buddy Jim

522
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:27.480
Taylor. This one was written by
by a guy named Bob Nelson. But

523
00:41:27.559 --> 00:41:30.800
I'm talking about Nebraska, and as
we talked about, like, you know,

524
00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:34.679
he likes to Bruce Den. Yes, did you see this one?

525
00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:37.880
No? But I remember that was
kind of like with Citizen Ruth, everybody

526
00:41:37.960 --> 00:41:43.519
was talking about Laura Dern. I
remember with this one, everybody was talking

527
00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:47.000
about Bruce Dern and how amazing he
was. Oh, Bruce Dern, this

528
00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:52.239
is this is like a performance for
the ages what he does in this and

529
00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:59.039
uh, he's more for Liam because
Liam loves Bruce Den. I've kind of

530
00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:02.159
gotten cold with him. I promise
you if you want to see just an

531
00:42:02.199 --> 00:42:07.360
amazing Bruce Den performance, it's Nebraska, and it's you know, he makes

532
00:42:07.360 --> 00:42:10.679
the choice to go black and white, which gives it this really really cool

533
00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:15.079
artistic merit. And there's a lot
of callbacks, like as you If you

534
00:42:15.159 --> 00:42:20.440
go through his filmography, he does
enjoy working with the same same group a

535
00:42:20.480 --> 00:42:25.400
lot. So Nebraska brings some some
familiar faces, uh you know, back

536
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:30.199
to uh, back to his h
his world. But man, Nebraska.

537
00:42:31.159 --> 00:42:36.079
I watched it thinking I'm not gonna
probably not gonna like this, but it's

538
00:42:36.360 --> 00:42:37.679
it's a Bruce Dern movie. I
love Bruce Dern, so I'm gonna try

539
00:42:37.719 --> 00:42:44.760
it. And yeah, Bruce Dern
his character's quest too, you know,

540
00:42:45.960 --> 00:42:50.480
go from uh Montana Nebraska. He's
he claims he's got this million dollar lottery

541
00:42:50.480 --> 00:42:52.039
ticket or something, you know.
I think it's I can't remember if it's

542
00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:55.400
a lottery ticket or like a sweepstakes
thing, but no one believes him.

543
00:42:55.599 --> 00:43:00.480
And it's all about his quest to
get back to to Nebraska so so he

544
00:43:00.519 --> 00:43:04.800
can cash it in. It's pretty
awesome. Now here's where we go.

545
00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:07.280
He's got two more movies, Amber. I have not seen either one of

546
00:43:07.320 --> 00:43:12.519
these, but both of them are
on my list. Twenty seventeen, he

547
00:43:12.559 --> 00:43:16.840
did a film, a little known
film with who was it? Who do

548
00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:22.800
I want to say? Matt Damon
movie called Downsizing. You remember you didn't

549
00:43:22.840 --> 00:43:27.079
see the previous like this is the
one where someone where like Matthew if I

550
00:43:27.079 --> 00:43:30.199
remember, if I remember right,
he's like a guy who uses this is

551
00:43:30.199 --> 00:43:31.199
more of like a sci fi thing. This is kind of new territory for

552
00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:40.199
Alexander Payne. But Matthew Damon or
Matthew Matt Damon, Yeah, yeah,

553
00:43:40.639 --> 00:43:44.400
I'm not. I'm not. I'm
not that close with him yet. No,

554
00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:50.519
matt Damon is just sick of it
of his life and has this idea

555
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:52.480
he can go to this this new
place where they basically they shrink you down

556
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:57.239
to like five inches tall and then
they put you in this whole other like

557
00:43:57.360 --> 00:44:00.920
it's just like utopian society where you
live away from him like the rest of

558
00:44:01.039 --> 00:44:06.880
like the world. And it looked
really weird, and really it was just

559
00:44:06.960 --> 00:44:10.400
a strange looking film. I don't
know if it connected. Yeah, yeah,

560
00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:19.119
I don't remember even hearing anything at
all about this. Okay why Uh,

561
00:44:19.559 --> 00:44:21.800
Like I said it, it kind
of came and went quickly because I

562
00:44:21.800 --> 00:44:23.880
don't think people understood how to take
it. Is it? Is it a

563
00:44:23.920 --> 00:44:28.280
comedy, is it a sci fi
movie? Is it something different? You

564
00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:32.960
know, Matt Damon, Kristin Wig, Mmm, I can't remember who else

565
00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:39.159
was in it. Uh, let
me look hopefully, hopefully h Christoph Waltz

566
00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:44.519
I love Okay, okay, okay, so see I don't like Kristin Wig,

567
00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:46.880
but I love Christoph Waltz. So
all right, so they'll balance each

568
00:44:46.920 --> 00:44:51.119
other out. Gotta check it out. I'm gonna I'm gonna check that one

569
00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:53.840
out. Listeners like it sounds kind
of weird? Yeah, listeners, let

570
00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:58.639
let us know. Do we need
to check out downsizing because I can tell

571
00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:04.119
you the one. I'm definitely it's
my queue on same on what do we

572
00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:07.400
want to call it? Peacock,
peacack, peacock? Yeah, yeah,

573
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:15.440
peacock twenty twenty three The Holdovers.
This is Paul Giamatti. You know,

574
00:45:15.519 --> 00:45:17.920
cranky history teacher is out of prep
school. They're kind of what are they

575
00:45:17.960 --> 00:45:22.119
snowed in or are they like the
kids? It's like winter break and okay,

576
00:45:22.159 --> 00:45:27.280
I think these kids just aren't going
home, like they're just you know,

577
00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:30.400
their families or have other plans or
whatever, so they're just staying.

578
00:45:30.280 --> 00:45:34.280
It looks like you watched the trailer
for it, and it looks it looks

579
00:45:34.280 --> 00:45:38.559
fantastic. Yeah see I watched the
trailer and rolled my eyes and said,

580
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:45.679
I've seen dead poet Society oh,
okay, poets okay and interesting in Dayton

581
00:45:46.280 --> 00:45:52.400
from Docum Bay seventy seven watched it
and lost his mind and was talking about

582
00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:58.119
how amazing it was, and then
you know, of course it was all

583
00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:01.280
over the Awards season. I'm like, perhaps I misjudged. All right,

584
00:46:01.320 --> 00:46:05.400
Well, we'll have to We'll have
to check that one out for sure,

585
00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:09.159
because I mean, I love Paul
Jammotty, so why not. Yeah,

586
00:46:09.519 --> 00:46:15.039
So we always discuss what's next for
this director. Right now he has nothing

587
00:46:15.079 --> 00:46:20.400
in development. But so here's my
question to you, Amber. He's directed

588
00:46:20.519 --> 00:46:24.599
nine people to OSCAR nominations. Uh. And in The Holdovers. Uh.

589
00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:29.920
Divine Joy Randolph. She recently she
won, she wins Best Supporting Actress for

590
00:46:29.920 --> 00:46:35.000
The Holdovers. So just looking at
this, I made a little list here.

591
00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:39.000
Jack Nicholson, George Clooney, Bruce
Den, Paul Jammotty all nominated for

592
00:46:39.039 --> 00:46:44.920
Best Actor, Thomas Aytan Church nominated
for Best Supporting Actor, and then you

593
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:50.159
got Kathy Bates, Virginia Mattson,
June Squibb, and the aforementioned Divine Joy

594
00:46:50.280 --> 00:46:55.360
Randolph, all nominated for Best Supporting
Actress. This guy like the Oscars like

595
00:46:55.440 --> 00:47:00.920
this guy. So my question to
you, is there someone you'd like to

596
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:06.079
see work with him in an upcoming
film? Maybe my new favorite guy,

597
00:47:06.199 --> 00:47:10.400
John David Washington. Love John David
Washington. I can see that. I'll

598
00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:15.039
follow him anywhere. So all right, that's that's a good that's a good

599
00:47:15.039 --> 00:47:19.360
call. It be neat to see
him do something kind of different, all

600
00:47:19.480 --> 00:47:24.519
right, I'm with you on that. This film is currently streaming on max

601
00:47:25.239 --> 00:47:30.800
I for one, definitely recommend it
for anyone who enjoys cynical, slightly offensive

602
00:47:31.599 --> 00:47:39.800
comedies with quirky characters brought to life
by fantastic performances. Amber you you kind

603
00:47:39.800 --> 00:47:44.679
of put your cards on the table
at the beginning of this, so so

604
00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:49.920
I'll ask you, like, any
chance that you might recommend this for Alexander

605
00:47:49.960 --> 00:47:57.119
Payne viewers or Alexander Payne followers.
Well, sure, like if they're interested

606
00:47:57.159 --> 00:48:02.880
in his movies and yeah know his
body of work. Absolutely, anybody who

607
00:48:04.679 --> 00:48:07.360
this is my girl Reese, I
would tell them to watch this, okay,

608
00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:12.599
because she's amazing in it. I
just am not going to be like,

609
00:48:12.679 --> 00:48:16.880
oh, it's so funny and you
know, edgy and whatever. It's

610
00:48:17.119 --> 00:48:24.719
it's not. It's gross and offensive
in many places, but like I said

611
00:48:24.760 --> 00:48:29.960
by the end of it, it
wasn't like I am never like what was

612
00:48:30.320 --> 00:48:31.599
what did we do? A few
weeks ago? And I was like,

613
00:48:31.639 --> 00:48:35.639
I'm never watching this movie again,
and I don't ever want to watch anything

614
00:48:35.639 --> 00:48:39.199
this person does. What was that
movie? Maybe watched the Nicole Kimman movie.

615
00:48:39.480 --> 00:48:45.599
Oh, I've blogged it from my
memory. I don't even remember.

616
00:48:45.639 --> 00:48:49.280
Hold last second, Hold last second, you're oh wait, oh oh you're

617
00:48:49.280 --> 00:48:52.960
talking about the paper Boy. Yes, yeah, like great, great one

618
00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:55.239
time watch and you never want to
go back to it, right, That's

619
00:48:55.239 --> 00:49:00.440
what I think, And I'm moving
on with my life. But this one,

620
00:49:01.199 --> 00:49:06.599
I would say there's value there.
You might you might go back and

621
00:49:06.599 --> 00:49:10.840
watch this one again, right maybe? Yeah, okay, all right,

622
00:49:12.159 --> 00:49:17.000
we'll take that. I love how
divided we are on our recommendations this time.

623
00:49:17.039 --> 00:49:22.599
That's that's fantastic because I don't want
to like have the listeners feel like

624
00:49:22.639 --> 00:49:25.360
they just wasted an hour, but
it is. It was worth my time.

625
00:49:25.519 --> 00:49:30.079
It intrigued me about this filmmaker.
But maybe maybe we'll have a couple

626
00:49:30.119 --> 00:49:32.719
of people email us or hit us
up on social media and tell it.

627
00:49:32.760 --> 00:49:36.239
You know, yeah, I'm team
Amber. This movie. This movie is

628
00:49:36.239 --> 00:49:40.599
not for me, but I don't
know. We'll find out listeners. Yeah,

629
00:49:40.760 --> 00:49:44.880
listeners, what what did you think
of election? Because we know what

630
00:49:44.920 --> 00:49:49.360
Amber thinks. Let us know on
social media. You can find us on

631
00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:52.840
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. You
can check out a film by podcast dot

632
00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:58.599
com. You'll find all of our
stuff streaming free there. You can write

633
00:49:58.599 --> 00:50:00.920
to us at a film by a
Podcast at gmail dot com with your questions,

634
00:50:00.960 --> 00:50:05.760
comments and concerns. We may just
read your response on the show and

635
00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:08.159
send you some film by swag.
I can tell you, Amber, I've

636
00:50:08.199 --> 00:50:12.360
got I got to go to the
post office here the next air step because

637
00:50:12.360 --> 00:50:15.800
IVE got like six or seven boxes
I got to send out people or just

638
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:16.840
emailing us a love I love it, but I'm like, man, I

639
00:50:16.840 --> 00:50:22.039
can right, I gotta invest.
Gotta invest in some cardboard boxes or something.

640
00:50:22.079 --> 00:50:25.199
We love hearing what people think we
do. Amber, thank you for

641
00:50:25.280 --> 00:50:32.280
joining me for this divided conversation today. Thank you. I've got a whole

642
00:50:32.320 --> 00:50:38.000
new you know you got a new
directory. Yeah, dive in so No,

643
00:50:38.440 --> 00:50:42.039
I'm when you get through that filmography, I'm gonna have to ask you,

644
00:50:42.079 --> 00:50:45.880
like, okay, top three pain
films or you know, maybe you'll

645
00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:50.519
give me your top three most pain
full films you don't want to watch again?

646
00:50:50.559 --> 00:50:53.119
I don't know, we'll we'll find
out. But uh, you have

647
00:50:53.159 --> 00:50:58.239
anything coming up on your home away
from home the docu based seventy seven podcast

648
00:50:59.559 --> 00:51:04.400
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Crouching
Tiger. Huh yeah, I will be

649
00:51:04.480 --> 00:51:08.400
the host for that one. You're
hosting it again? We love Yeah,

650
00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:15.119
Hop on over and we'll talk some
kung fu. Yes. Please check out

651
00:51:15.239 --> 00:51:20.760
Amber Lewis on the Docking Base seventy
seven podcast. You can check her out

652
00:51:20.800 --> 00:51:24.199
on several episodes now on a film
buy, and you can check her out

653
00:51:24.199 --> 00:51:30.880
on our Patreon where she has done
some awesome work with us for our long

654
00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:37.000
lost nineteen eighty six films. So
we got plenty plenty for you, and

655
00:51:37.079 --> 00:51:40.159
for those of you out there listening
hitting the like, subscribe or follow button

656
00:51:40.480 --> 00:52:00.199
and catching our exclusive content on Patreon, we thank you,