Filmmaker Oz Rodriguez

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:05.080
Hello everybody, and welcome back to
a Film by podcast. I'm Jeff Johnson

2
00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:35.520
and I am very happy to have
Oz Rodriguez on the show with us today.

3
00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:41.359
Oz. Hello, welcome, sir, Hello, Hello, thank you,

4
00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:46.840
Thank you for having me very excited
to talk anything that includes the word

5
00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:51.240
film in it. You were on
the right show, my friend. He

6
00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:57.840
look, our listeners know here we
we loved a wax intellectual about Hollywood's best

7
00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.039
directors, biggest directors. They're nderrated
hits, what we love about them,

8
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.200
and on occasion we get to talk
with the director. So this is absolutely

9
00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:12.359
a treat for us. Oz.
How about we start with how you got

10
00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:19.879
into the business. Uh, yeah, it started the beginning in the Caribbean

11
00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:26.480
jungle. I'm from the Dominican Republic
from Santo Domingo. Yeah, I grew

12
00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:33.400
up in the Caribbean, and we're
there is where I started watching movies and

13
00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:38.200
getting obsessed with them. My mom
is an avid film watcher. She can

14
00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:42.959
sit down and watch two or three
movies and on a Sunday and and you

15
00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.319
know, think nothing of it.
So yeah, I think she probably had

16
00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:55.239
parted that sort of love of of
cinema. Huh. And yeah, I

17
00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:00.599
think I growing up, I was
really attracted to movies, but in the

18
00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:04.959
Dominican Republic, I didn't know what
to do with this love for movies because

19
00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.599
there was no film school there at
the time. So then I graduated high

20
00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:15.280
school. I studied advertising actually at
university. And while I was doing that,

21
00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:21.080
I was saving money and doing research
and I found the school online.

22
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:24.840
It's called the LA Film School.
It was a year program. I'm like,

23
00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:29.120
that sounds great, let's do that. So I moved to La.

24
00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:31.280
I didn't know anyone. The little
money had saved, and I went to

25
00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:36.840
the school. It was a year
school, and I met a bunch of

26
00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.400
really good people that some of them
might still work with today. And you

27
00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:44.080
know, you go to film school, do the thing you learn, You

28
00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:47.520
watch movies and you have this knowledge. But then like when you're out there,

29
00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.560
you know, you're like, Hollywood, what can I do in Hollywood?

30
00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.840
It's like, ah, go away. So I think it's you know,

31
00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:59.360
it's always important for you to start
doing something yourself. So you got

32
00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:05.479
something to show and and and started
making a mark. So that didn't come

33
00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:08.360
right away. I actually started working
in the LA Film School, and I

34
00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:14.080
worked in the equipment room and That's
how I started borrowing some cameras to then

35
00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:17.319
make some sketches with my friends,
and then we put those online. And

36
00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:23.879
the beginning of like YouTube sounds like
a hundred years ago, but yeah,

37
00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:29.400
we we uh we we were doing
that and making a little bit of money

38
00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:34.560
and then we uh me and some
friends we got hired at Funnier Die.

39
00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:39.840
That website started with We'll Will Ferrell
and that on McKay And that was like

40
00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:47.520
another film school because I was working
with celebs of all kinds, like a

41
00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:53.360
too D list, and it was
like the first time I like worked with

42
00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:58.800
a red camera or like there was
like a truck full of lights, like

43
00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:04.680
an equipment truck. So that was
really a great experience, and I think

44
00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:10.400
it was sort of a low stress
preparation for what came next when the Major's

45
00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:15.159
called and SNL gave me a job. So I moved to New York City

46
00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:18.800
to the very chill job that is
Saturday Night Live with no pressure at all.

47
00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:27.040
We have all the time in the
world to do your work. Yeah.

48
00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:33.399
No, it was, Yeah,
it tremendously wild and different experience and

49
00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:38.519
you sort of just hold on to
that train and just try not to fall

50
00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:42.120
off. I mean obviously that changed
my life. Like getting a job at

51
00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:47.560
at that American cultural institution, Let's
say it was incredible, and I learned

52
00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:51.040
so much just because like there was
constant work, you were doing a sketch

53
00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:58.720
every week and and and definitely learned
really quickly what works and what doesn't because

54
00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:03.279
the audience tells you right away they're
like nope, not laughing. And then

55
00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:09.879
also like developed my sort of my
gut instincts. I because in my time

56
00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:13.360
there, everything that could go wrong
on a set went wrong for me,

57
00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.959
So I like I could sort of
see problems coming a mile ahead. Uh

58
00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:21.079
you know, I got a blizzard
dumped on me, a thunderstorm too,

59
00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:25.639
all kinds of shit. That was
how I got to SNL. That is

60
00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:30.040
a little bit of my story.
I gotta imagine leaving home for Los Angeles.

61
00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:35.079
That's got to be as frightening as
it is exciting. My question to

62
00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:39.000
you was was Hollywood? Was it? Was it what you expected, like

63
00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:43.279
Los Angeles, like the culture there, you know from what you had seen

64
00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:46.920
on TV or what you expected.
Was it was it a culture shock or

65
00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:48.839
was it like, Yeah, this
is exactly this is exactly what I thought

66
00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:51.199
it would be. Yeah, it
was a little bit of a shock.

67
00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:56.000
I mean I had family. I
had family in the East Coast, so

68
00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:59.439
New York, Miami, so I'd
been to the States. But LA is

69
00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:02.680
its own sort of different animal,
if you will. And like I remember,

70
00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:09.360
I remember going to like the Walk
of Fame and sort of where it

71
00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:12.199
starts, which is not in front
of the Chinese theora where it's a little

72
00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:14.160
grimy, let's say, and I
was like, oh, this is a

73
00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:18.600
dirty guys. Somebody has to clean
this these stars. That was sort of

74
00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:24.199
my first indication that like, huh, things are not as they seem.

75
00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:30.480
Uh, But yeah, I know, I think, like definitely a little

76
00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:31.480
bit of a culture shock. Man. I didn't have a car for like

77
00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:38.199
the first year, so that was
interesting. And they got it moved close

78
00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:40.480
to the LA Film School, Like
I was a few blocks away, so

79
00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:46.120
I like I didn't have to schlip
the camera to too far. But then

80
00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:49.800
like that that school was like a
year long program and it was an intense

81
00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:56.079
not intense, but like they give
you a camera the first day and like

82
00:06:56.120 --> 00:07:00.680
you you're expected to deliver a short
the first week, and they're really it's

83
00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:04.160
it's built, so you do shit
and I feel like that's something that's sort

84
00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:12.040
of tried to carry with me as
far as like, ah do stuff,

85
00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:15.959
because you can always rely on that
whenever you feel weird and you're like,

86
00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:20.120
where the fuck am I? I
guess let's go to work. So you

87
00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:26.519
know, you mentioned your mother kind
of helped you find this passion for filmmaking.

88
00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:31.439
Was there was there specific movies,
specific movie stars like who who inspires

89
00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.839
osre Riguez at this point? So
my mom, you know, I was

90
00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:40.360
watching all kinds of stuff and obviously
into genre stuff, like I loved Indiana

91
00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:44.800
Jones, that's my dude. But
you know, growing up in the Dominican

92
00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:48.560
Republic, every movie is foreign,
Like the most movies we got are American

93
00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:55.040
movies. But I was also exposed
to Spanish movies. And I've watched a

94
00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:58.680
lot of better on my lower movies
with my mom and my sister too.

95
00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:03.439
And I remember one time she maybe
she was like, you've seen these Indiana

96
00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:09.240
Jones movies way too many times.
You should check out this movie Vertigo by

97
00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:13.279
Hitchcock. Oh wow. I was
like yeah, And I was like,

98
00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.319
all right, mom, And I'd
heard her talk about how like she was

99
00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:20.360
affected by that movie and I remember
watching it, and by the end of

100
00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:22.680
it, I remember my feeling.
My first felom was like, Wow,

101
00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:28.639
could they make movies like that?
Like that, Like the ending is so

102
00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:33.000
shocking. So that's a movie that
I remember sort of being like, Oh,

103
00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:39.360
there's other stuff out there that like
is not just just sort of pure

104
00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.919
joy and fun and and and silliness. Like some stuff can make you think

105
00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:50.000
and and can make you feel not
great too afterwards. So yeah, I

106
00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:54.000
mean, I just devoured movies a
lot. I think by personality I myself,

107
00:08:54.360 --> 00:09:00.879
I like to not take things too
serious, so I tend to just

108
00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:05.000
want to make people laugh. But
but I'll watch anything. Sometimes I actually

109
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.720
watch less comedies than than other genres, only because, like, I work

110
00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:13.039
on it so much that sometimes you
want to like not like I don't even

111
00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.080
want to see people laughing. I
just had a great day filming with comedians.

112
00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:22.799
Let me give me some sadness or
like some some good crime. Yeah,

113
00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:26.639
I love it. This this past
August, Hulu, you know we're

114
00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:28.960
getting I'm seeing the promos, I'm
seeing this. I see this trailer for

115
00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.559
Miguel Wants to Fight, and just
based off the trailer, I'm like,

116
00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:37.240
Okay, that's that's got a unique
look to it that looks like it could

117
00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:41.080
be fun. I watched this,
you know, and you know, apologies

118
00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.200
because I didn't I didn't know.
I didn't know your work at that point.

119
00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:43.879
I mean, I knew your work, I just didn't know that I

120
00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:48.960
knew your work. So let's talk
a little bit about Miguel wants to Fight?

121
00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.919
Can you? Can you share a
little bit. Let's start off with

122
00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:54.519
the writing process. You write this, You co write this with with Chay

123
00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:58.320
Serrano and Jason Kossop Soon Is that
correct? No, they they were the

124
00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:03.320
writers, and I was lucky enough
to just sort of get sent the script

125
00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:07.720
one day, and uh yeah,
I really responded to it. It had

126
00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:11.919
so many things that I was sort
of looking for in movies and I'd like

127
00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.559
to watch too. I uh,
well, first, his name is Miguel,

128
00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:18.320
so that immediately I'm like, well, he's a Latino kid, so

129
00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:26.799
almost I basically was in right away. And then I loved the sort of

130
00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.720
the story and how it deals with
sort of the coming of age aspect and

131
00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:33.679
sort of finding yourself and being comfortable
in your own skin. And then you

132
00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:39.200
add some fun actions, action beats
and some funds or recreations of movies that

133
00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:43.200
I've grown up loving. So it
felt like a no brainer to me,

134
00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:48.519
like I need to be involved.
Okay, so we've got four sensational young

135
00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.039
actors in this film. Were you
were you involved in the casting process or

136
00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:56.200
you know, did you read with
these actors or can you tell us a

137
00:10:56.200 --> 00:11:00.120
little bit about that? Yeah?
No, that was that was the That

138
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:05.200
was basically the Hulu basically was like, let's see if we can find these

139
00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.279
actors, because if we don't,
like the movie is these four kids.

140
00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:11.600
So if like if we don't find
these teenagers and we don't make this movie.

141
00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:16.159
So uh now we looked all over
the world literally and and we we've

142
00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.799
we It's one of those things where
like, you know, you see a

143
00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:26.320
bunch of people and people feel okay, but then like someone like Tyler shows

144
00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:28.200
up and you're like, oh,
yeah, that's it. That's that's the

145
00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:33.320
one. Or Christian who who plays
Dave David or Surge who plays a SERENI

146
00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:37.879
like they're there, they had that
like they you just knew something. You

147
00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:43.600
just like you saw them and you
knew. But we're doing this in in

148
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:48.399
over zoom, so we're still living
in a post pandemic world. So you're

149
00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:54.440
casting with people on zoom, and
that's that's tricky because when you're in the

150
00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.360
same room with someone, it's easier
to sort of exchange ideas and something and

151
00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:05.000
and something's just like the zoom sucks, the connection sucks some random dude outside

152
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.600
of the leaf flower and you can't
control that. Uh. So we we

153
00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:15.440
we found the four actors that we
wanted for the teenagers, but we needed

154
00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:18.360
to see if they could work well
together, because that's that's the whole movie.

155
00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:28.360
So we did a chemistry read but
also on zoom gosh the actors as

156
00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:31.639
well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's there's a lot of that

157
00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.879
happening right now. But it's yeah, it's tough. It's tough, and

158
00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:43.200
uh somehow we we we did it. And even with like it's like in

159
00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:46.720
this form, which is not the
ideal form, and and one of the

160
00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.919
actors, like internet was off,
so like he was like coming in a

161
00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:56.519
little late. But even even like
that, you could tell there's something here,

162
00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:01.720
like there's this core is fun and
I think I think this is the

163
00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:05.559
right way to do it. Yeah, and then once we found those four

164
00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:09.399
actors, sort of like that led
to getting people like oh, well,

165
00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:15.360
I see you, and and just
filling out the cast. But yeah,

166
00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.960
it all started with them. And
I think one of the biggest compliments I've

167
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.279
received is people think they were best
friends before we shot the movie, and

168
00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:28.279
they actually met in person a week
before we shot, so the us to

169
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.879
them. Yeah, the chemistry that
these four have, it's it's so impressive

170
00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:37.919
because when you know, when you're
watching a film and it's and it's got

171
00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:41.000
young young you know, the characters
are young actors or I'm sorry, the

172
00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:46.120
characters are our young people. Sometimes
there's a preconceived notion of what their dialogue

173
00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:50.000
would sound like, right, And
I gotta tell you, you guys nailed

174
00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:54.240
it with this because they're having conversations
like that kind of took me back to

175
00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:56.840
high school and I thought, yeah, this is how we This is how

176
00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:00.679
me and my best friends talk,
this is this is how we treated each

177
00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:05.279
other. So there, their chemistry
is fantastic. One question I have for

178
00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:09.559
you the character of Miguel, he
is he's such a sweet kid, you

179
00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:15.879
know, and the irony is that
when you when you pull up Tyler Dean

180
00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:20.519
Flores on IMDb. His the first
picture you see of him, he looks

181
00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.159
so intense. I mean, he
looks like he's gonna whip your ass.

182
00:14:24.759 --> 00:14:28.000
So was that was that a situation
where are you looking at headshots before you're

183
00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:31.159
seeing him on zoom? Because if
I'm looking at this picture of Tyler Dean

184
00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:35.000
Flores, I'm like, this isn't
I'm googling. I'm googling it right now

185
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.559
because I need to know what photo
it is. Oh, I'm telling you,

186
00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.159
oh interesting, Yeah, so you
see it what I'm seeing. It's

187
00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.159
I have a story about this photo
actually, but it's not about Miguel.

188
00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:48.360
No. He came in, he
came in, he didn't have braids,

189
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:52.919
he had his long he looked very
much like he looks in the movie.

190
00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:56.240
And because we were like just keep
that same the like had his long hair

191
00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:00.159
sort of in a ponytail and rare, like, yeah, just keep that

192
00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:05.159
look. It looks it looks cool
and like you don't look different than other

193
00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:09.320
type of heroes and movies. So
I loved it. But yeah, that

194
00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:15.559
photo actually is from some other movie. But uh, I ended, uh,

195
00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.159
well, i'll tell you later.
Well, we talked about we talked

196
00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:22.200
about the future projects. I'll bring
up that photo okay, story. Yeah,

197
00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:26.120
because I'm telling you right now,
you look at that photo. I'm

198
00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.960
if I'm the director, I'm making
a mistake of saying, you know what,

199
00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:33.720
that's not Miguel, but let's let's
read him for Damien because he looks

200
00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:39.639
he looks scary. So yeah,
uh, you mentioned we got we got

201
00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:43.159
a couple of other great actors actresses. What was it like working with with

202
00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:48.879
Dasha? Because I loved I loved
her on Orange's New Black, So when

203
00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.399
I saw her in the film,
I was like, oh, right,

204
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.480
you know, and she's got one
of the She's got some very funny scenes

205
00:15:54.519 --> 00:16:00.519
too. She's awesome. Dasha's a
dream. I have known her for a

206
00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:04.639
little bit, so honestly, it
was I asked her for a favor.

207
00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.240
I texted her and I was like, do you uh, would you mind

208
00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:15.159
come to this ridiculous role. I
have to call you tell you what happens

209
00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.399
to her because I do not want
to text what happens her? Oh man

210
00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:27.240
uh And I yeah, I basically
asked her for a favor. I was

211
00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:30.639
like, this is the story,
and this is what we're doing, and

212
00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:33.840
you don't mind giving us a couple
of days of your time? And she's

213
00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:37.559
the best. She said, Charlotte, do is she went up to Syracuse

214
00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:44.039
and got punched. We'll leave it
at that because I want to I don't

215
00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:47.320
want to spoil that for for our
listeners haven't yet seen this, because it's

216
00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:51.120
it's one of the funnier moments.
And I mean, Miguel has some very

217
00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:56.840
embarrassing moments in this movie. Uh
and outside of Bona Lisa, that's definitely

218
00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:00.559
one of the more embarrassing moments for
him. The world is telling him not

219
00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:06.000
to get in a fight, and
he's absolutely, so absolutely you. I

220
00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:10.880
know, we mentioned you mentioned earlier
just shortly ago. This film kind of

221
00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:15.599
pays amage to like a couple a
couple of classic films, a couple of

222
00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:21.480
big films entered The Dragon and the
Matrix. Most notably were other films considered

223
00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:23.960
early on in the writing process or
in the filming process, or is it

224
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:26.839
was it always like this is who, this is the these are the movies

225
00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:33.960
that Miguel responds to. There were
other films considered, for sure. I

226
00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:37.160
think any of The Dragon and the
Matrix were always sort of what they were.

227
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:44.240
The last battle was something else.
Actually, it was a Matt Max

228
00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:48.160
Fury Road thing, and I was
like, guys, we can't afford that

229
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:53.200
there's no desert in Syracuse. But
I think also like it opened up the

230
00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:56.680
conversation. I was like, well, the movie starts talking about one punch

231
00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:00.079
Man, what if it's an anime? So that that sort of came from

232
00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.519
that. And yeah, I mean
I think Entered the Dragon and Matrix,

233
00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:08.559
But in those scenes, there are
so many other little nods to other films,

234
00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:12.039
like getting End of the Dragon.
I'm a big old action movie nerd,

235
00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:17.359
so that Enter of the Dragon sequence
there's nods to three different Bruce Lee

236
00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:22.160
movies. There's nods to Jackie Chan, there's nods to Steve mi Shao and

237
00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:26.680
Donnie Yen and probably one more I'm
forgetting right now. Well, let's you

238
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.000
got the QT reference too, you
know when he walks in. Yeah,

239
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.400
we made fun. Why you just
like the girl from Kill Bill Scheme of

240
00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:37.680
Death? You know? Yeah,
dude, I loved it. It's it's

241
00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:41.039
fascinating to me. I mean,
Enter the Dragon celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this

242
00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:45.839
year. Yeah, and it's still
relevant, you know, and and and

243
00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.519
it's because of it's because of filmmakers
like you that that's that's keeping it alive.

244
00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:53.519
I loved those moments in this film, you know, absolutely loved it.

245
00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:59.240
Thank you, thank you. Yeah, it's Bruce Lee's a turtle man,

246
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:04.200
It's it's a It was so fun
to like build that action scene in

247
00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.480
like in the middle of punches where
we're like, oh, what if we

248
00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:11.519
reference this thing? And what if
we referenced that thing right there? And

249
00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:17.079
that. It was such a blast, dude to to to think about it.

250
00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:22.079
It was definitely hard to shoot,
but I can imagine the dreaming part

251
00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:26.000
was very fun. Yeah. Well, this movie as funny as it is,

252
00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:30.000
and there's so many great comedic beats. I really appreciate the fact that

253
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:33.480
there's a there's a real heartfelt story
here, you know, a father and

254
00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:37.480
son's story. I wasn't expecting because
I didn't really see that in the trailer,

255
00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:40.599
so I wasn't ready for it.
But it really makes an impact.

256
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.480
Yeah, I mean, I think
it all. It all sort of goes

257
00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:49.519
back to Miguil and his world and
like his like drive to like want to

258
00:19:49.559 --> 00:19:55.519
fight and his drive don't want to
fight is related to his environment, his

259
00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:59.599
friends, his family. In a
way, he's surrounded by violence and people

260
00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:04.640
are fighting in the town. His
dad's a boxing coach and he there's there's

261
00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.640
a lot of sort of teenager feelings
there that I wanted to sort of like

262
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:15.279
capture because we've all sort of had
those emo emotions. So I think,

263
00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.640
yeah, it was a vital part
of the story as far as like,

264
00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.839
this is a person that his dad
like accepts him for who he is and

265
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.039
tells him that they love him for
who he is. He doesn't have to

266
00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:33.400
fight and they just want him to
be his self, his dorky as self

267
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.559
that makes Naruto videos at the park. So yeah, it was a nice

268
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:45.799
like it was a nice way to
sort of comment on on sort of boyhood,

269
00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:48.119
if you will, and like what
it means to be a man and

270
00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:51.440
sort of like violence, do you
have to partake in it? All these

271
00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:53.960
heavy things that like obviously we're not
like let me tell you about these things,

272
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:57.200
but like I think those are sort
of interwoven in that relationship, and

273
00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:02.640
also just show a loving relationship between
a dad and his son, which is

274
00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:08.559
like sometimes not shown as much.
So this film comes out, I feel

275
00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:14.200
it's coming out at a very important
time because we are we are coming towards

276
00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:18.000
the end like you know, it's
obviously it's it's a Hispanic Heritage Month.

277
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:25.400
We celebrate that annually from September fifteenth
to October fifteenth, OS as we strive

278
00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:30.400
to champion diversity, equality inclusion.
Do you have any any thoughts you can

279
00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:34.079
share on how Hispanic heritage can be
celebrated in the film industry or how we

280
00:21:34.119 --> 00:21:41.319
can do a better job. I
would say it could be celebrated by giving

281
00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.480
me and other Latino directors more jobs. That would be the best way to

282
00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:52.839
absolutely, yes, more opportunities.
And also like also I think Hispanic Heritage

283
00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:59.880
Month is amazing, but also not
just like saving everything for that month.

284
00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:06.240
I think sort of having a plan
for Latino stories, not just for that

285
00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:11.559
chunk of time, but just for
like the future. And uh, I

286
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:18.720
add some of it is by giving
writers, Latina writers, directors, cinematographers,

287
00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:22.799
everyone that works in the crew a
chance. So yeah, I mean

288
00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:29.359
I am hopeful for the future.
I think I think I would be facetious

289
00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:37.480
if I wasn't because I've made two
features with a lot of latinos. I

290
00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:41.880
can't believe they let me have all
those Latinos in there. And then I

291
00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:45.440
just finished this pilot for a show
that comes out in October nineteenth about this

292
00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:52.640
kid that moves to Miami to make
it in the Regaton industry, also starring

293
00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:57.240
Tyler Dean Flores who plays Miguel,
And that is also another show with a

294
00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:02.400
bunch of people from the Caribbean Diannaeus. So, you know, I started

295
00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:04.440
the answer with like, I feel
like there could be more, but there's

296
00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:08.839
we're also making stride, So you
know, I feel like you always want

297
00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:15.680
more, but I must admit that
we some things are happening and it's up

298
00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:19.039
to all of us to sort of
push it through and hopefully and also support

299
00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:23.559
it and demand more of it.
I guess, well, yeah, So

300
00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:30.079
I mean I'm thinking like this summer, we DC finally gives us our first

301
00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:34.079
Latina superhero, you know, with
the Blue Beetle Solomon Dwight. He did

302
00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:37.039
amazing in that film. I don't
know if you saw it. I'm a

303
00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:41.039
you know, I love the superhero
genre. I don't care how many they

304
00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:45.480
make, I'll go see them.
I wasn't even familiar with that character that

305
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:48.799
much, and I feel it's one
of the better DC films that they've made

306
00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:53.160
in the past, you know,
five ten years so I agree with you.

307
00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:57.720
I feel like, yeah, we're
starting to see progress. We just

308
00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:04.119
need more of it, right mm
hmm yeah, I I uh, I

309
00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:11.519
hope there's a Latino superhero Marvel and
another and the Latino Superhero Team one day

310
00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:15.079
and like all the things uh uh
and not just uh. I think representation

311
00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:19.920
all kinds, and it's superheroes in
horror movies. I'll take anything. Uh

312
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.359
yeah, it's it's it's slowly,
slowly making gains here. Yeah, you

313
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.960
know you mentioned horror films. I
always think of Julie Carmen in Fright Night

314
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:33.759
Part two because look, I'm a
hot take. Fright Night two is better

315
00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:38.000
than Fright Night. I'm gonna say, well, it's it's, it's it's

316
00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:44.079
listen. I love Chris Saranon,
but when Regime comes on the screen at

317
00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:48.480
that age, I was mesmerized,
you know, absolutely loved her. So

318
00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:52.400
now I gotta go watch Fright Night
too. Yeah you've not seen it's been

319
00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:56.079
well while it's almost like I haven't
seen it because it's been so long.

320
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.359
Okay, good, because I did
see Fright Night, but Fright Nights for

321
00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:07.119
when I was prepping vampires. But
I I must admit I did not catch

322
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:12.200
up on two again, So it's
time. It is time. Oz ms

323
00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:18.000
Carmen is just sensational, you know. I A all right, Well,

324
00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:22.759
we're gonna take a quick break and
when we get back, we'll continue to

325
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:26.680
talk with Oz and we'll we'll dip
into his his background, his filmography,

326
00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:33.920
as it were, Welcome back,
we are talking with filmmaker Oz Rodriguez.

327
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:40.160
Oz, you have got some great
stuff that I want to talk about,

328
00:25:40.359 --> 00:25:44.400
if you, if you'll indulge us, let's start off with you know you

329
00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:48.440
you'd already talked about Saurday Live.
Uh, like what ten years with Saturday

330
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:53.599
with SNL. I gotta imagine you've
got some uh maybe some favorite favorite cast

331
00:25:53.640 --> 00:26:00.720
members, favorite crew to work with. Uh. Yes, yes, it's

332
00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:04.240
the answer to all that. Yeah, I mean I came in the year

333
00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:10.599
that, like people like Adie Bryant
and Kate McKinnon came in and Cecily and

334
00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:15.000
like I met Pete Davidson when he
was twenty years old, So yeah,

335
00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:21.559
another lifetime ago. And I loved
working with them so much, Like shooting

336
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:23.720
twin Bed, it was such a
fun Doing my twin Bed was such a

337
00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:30.400
fun moment because we were talking like
you know, Lonely Island had just left

338
00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:36.519
and they had such a profound impact
on the show, especially with music videos,

339
00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:41.920
but there never been any like female
led music video and that was the

340
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:44.319
first time that the show had tried
it and it was a success, and

341
00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:48.480
that was like a real That was
one of one really nice, awesome night

342
00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:53.000
that like it feels really nice when
something works, like when you bust your

343
00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:56.279
ass and it works. There's nothing
like it. Yeah, And then as

344
00:26:56.279 --> 00:27:02.920
far as crew, like, man, I I so I did this show.

345
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:08.759
I did this docu series called Creating
SNL and it's a short series on

346
00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:15.039
YouTube. Yeah, I did that
because I was surrounded by all these amazing

347
00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:21.279
crafts people, like everyone behind the
scene was so incredible aut their job,

348
00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:26.400
and I felt like the documentaries that
I had seen about SNL were talked about

349
00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:32.279
the history, the cast, lorn
and maybe the writers, but I'd never

350
00:27:32.599 --> 00:27:37.279
seen anything on makeup. Here,
the sets, the photos and all that

351
00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:44.240
shit is like amazing. So that
was one of my favorite things that I've

352
00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:47.799
done, just to like interview all
these amazing people I work with and just

353
00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:55.279
sort of share their expertise and knowledge
and how insane and challenging their job is

354
00:27:56.079 --> 00:28:02.079
so I think that just the crew
in general that puts together eight Age is

355
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:06.480
there is nothing like it like the
eight Age the studio for us and now

356
00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:11.240
there's just nothing like the people that
work there. It's after you work there

357
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:12.279
and you work another job, you're
like, oh, this is easy,

358
00:28:12.359 --> 00:28:17.480
this is chill. The great thing
about Creating Center Live, like you're saying,

359
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:21.640
it's kind of like pulling the pulling
the curtain back and getting like a

360
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:26.079
behind the scenes look at everything that
goes into this show, and it's it's

361
00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:33.039
fascinating. You're nominated Creating Center Live, It's nominated for three mice and you

362
00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:36.720
take one home in twenty nineteen,
what what was that experience? Like?

363
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:41.680
I forgot to give you also a
fun story of real quick Oh please do

364
00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:47.359
my first show night? I was
so like that first week hit me like

365
00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:51.960
a ton of bricks because I just
moved to New York fall whether we're starting,

366
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:55.039
I was getting cold. I got
so busy, So I got a

367
00:28:55.079 --> 00:29:03.400
cold and Saturday morning, Uh,
I popped a dake Will just to like

368
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:07.559
make it through the day. But
then I realized I had actually taken a

369
00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:12.039
night wall Oh that's Saturday. I
was like, Hi, out of my

370
00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:17.960
just like Zong, just like living
in another world and also the pressure of

371
00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:19.599
Saturday night life like my first show. So I was I was just like

372
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:30.200
in another dimension, like dimension is
world and finished our sketch as the previous

373
00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:36.880
sketch was on TV. So,
uh, when I work. When I

374
00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:41.240
worked at SNL, I didn't have
any great hair listener. My hair is

375
00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:48.200
full. Hey yeah, but listen
it might be, but it is a

376
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:52.039
very impressive man. I mean you
can you can see me. As soon

377
00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:53.119
as I realized, like I'm not
gonna have hair like that, I just

378
00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:56.559
started shaving it. So I was
like, yeah, but yeah, this

379
00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:00.039
is this is a handsome guy we're
talking about it. I love it.

380
00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:03.440
Thank you? Sorry? So what
was your ship? I now forgot the

381
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:11.680
question the Emmy. Let's have about
Emmy? I mean crazy, like you

382
00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:17.359
know, truly being nominated is amazing, Like you go to this fancy ass

383
00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:21.720
event and you wear tucks and you're
surrounded by famous people and you're in this

384
00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:30.559
insane, insane event. Uh.
So, yeah, we got nominated twice.

385
00:30:30.599 --> 00:30:32.920
It was nice to go. But
then the third year, I don't

386
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:34.200
know why. I was like,
I feel like I feel like we got

387
00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:36.559
it. This year. I don't
know why. I was like, I

388
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:38.799
gotta I don't know why. I
got a good feeling. So I was

389
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:41.720
like, I feel like I should
prepare a speech. I guess. And

390
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:48.319
I remember at the event being like, you don't know when your thing's coming

391
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:53.599
up. So and and the Emmys
are actually a three night event. There's

392
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:57.720
so many Emmy categories that they do. There's a big show where they give

393
00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:02.680
the awards to know the actors and
whatever, and the HBO shows and all

394
00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:07.359
that, but then all sort of
the other departments are done the previous weekend

395
00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:12.359
on a Saturday and Sunday event that
is then sort of rebroadcast on effects or

396
00:31:12.359 --> 00:31:18.680
something. But anyway, that's where
they're like best Choreography, best Cinematography,

397
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:25.240
like a lot of sort of the
craft's awards. So a lot of awards

398
00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:27.240
are given out that weekend, so
you don't know when yours is coming.

399
00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:33.200
I had to pee, Oh no, and I was like, please God,

400
00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:37.240
please, please please please let us
be soon because I have to pee,

401
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:41.720
and I also need a drink because
I'm too nervous, and I need

402
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:45.319
to get over and we need to
either win or lose. Thankfully, it

403
00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:49.000
happened in like the first thirty minutes
for forty five minutes, and it was

404
00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:53.839
incredible. I honestly don't remember much
because I think I just blacked out from

405
00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:57.640
like the insanity. I remember walking
towards the stage and thinking, don't fall,

406
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:02.599
don't fall, please, don't fall, and then I said something and

407
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:07.839
then we were out. It was
so fast. They gave me a huge

408
00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:13.759
statue. Uh super heavy. But
yeah, man, it was a wild,

409
00:32:14.200 --> 00:32:19.039
wild experience, wild night and uh
uh yeah, pretty cool, pretty

410
00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:22.240
pretty cool. So you had you
you worked with with Funnier Die. Uh

411
00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:27.400
can we talk a little bit about
John Carpenter presents Funnier Dies Halloween from twenty

412
00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:34.960
eleven. This is wow. I
haven't I don't think I've ever been asked

413
00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:39.440
that question. I can't wait.
Really, let's see, Well Carpenter clearly

414
00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:43.799
like you know, I mean I'm
a big Carpenter fan. Yeah. Yeah,

415
00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:47.480
And and he is what I'm seeing
in the in this sketch, it's

416
00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:52.599
just him being himself. I mean
he's just being very much. Yeah.

417
00:32:52.119 --> 00:32:54.759
Was that was that? Was that
him just going, hey, I'll say

418
00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:57.400
what I want, do what I
want? Or is it like is he

419
00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:00.880
taking direction? Like? How what
was it? Like to do a director,

420
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:07.119
I guess my first question. Okay, so where to start. Yeah,

421
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:16.000
at Funnier Guy, sometimes we would
just creates like a situation where we

422
00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:20.640
could then ask people we wanted to
work with to come over. We were

423
00:33:20.680 --> 00:33:24.119
like, what if we just make
some Halloween shit and treated almost like tails

424
00:33:24.119 --> 00:33:27.640
from the Crips and we need a
host and then they make a bunch of

425
00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:32.559
weird sketches. And that was kind
of the beauty of Funnier Diet that you

426
00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:36.279
could like go to the bosses and
be like what about this? And I'm

427
00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:44.160
like, okay, especially if if
if it was cheap, and you know,

428
00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:49.440
he came into the office, so
I think somebody one of the producers

429
00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:55.359
wives knew his wife and somehow got
to him, and I don't know,

430
00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:59.039
I think he was like all right, and he just showed up. He's

431
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:02.319
like what the fuck is this?
Or like we were all like it was

432
00:34:02.440 --> 00:34:07.519
it was half like it was three
parts. There was the whoa John Carpenter.

433
00:34:07.840 --> 00:34:12.199
There was the embarrassment of like,
oh my god, he actually said

434
00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:16.239
yes this, this is so stupid, and the awkwardness of directing this.

435
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:22.800
Uh sometimes cranky man, lovable cranky
man. Yeah. So yeah, we

436
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:29.039
directed it and like, uh kind
of let him do his thing, and

437
00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:32.559
I mean if he was uh cranky, it only made it funnier. And

438
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:37.079
uh we let him rip on the
piano and I mean, I see he

439
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:40.119
said yes to this is wild.
Like we all got our posters signed.

440
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:44.679
It was a wonderful thing to say. That was that like a little bit

441
00:34:44.679 --> 00:34:45.559
of like a hey, I'm on, I'm on the set, I'm the

442
00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:49.880
boss, but I get to be
I can kind of get the fan fan

443
00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:52.840
boy out a little bit because this
is Scarpenter. I'm want his auditor.

444
00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:55.280
I can't imagine what that be.
Like. Oh yeah. We were like

445
00:34:55.440 --> 00:35:00.440
at the end, we're like,
I'm sorry, we had to. We

446
00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:05.400
had to, And I I do
that a lot. I have no shame

447
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:08.199
of like asking autographs for it some
of the people that I beat, because

448
00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:13.800
like it's crazy the people in of
it. So uh, if I can,

449
00:35:14.119 --> 00:35:16.519
I'll do it afterwards after we've we've
done the work. It's not I

450
00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:23.400
don't open with like, uh,
anyone else on funni er guy that you

451
00:35:23.400 --> 00:35:28.480
you just had a positive experience with, And I mean I imagine that's a

452
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:30.599
lot of it, but anyone stand
out where you're like, man, this

453
00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:35.679
this one sketch we did. You
know, anyone come to mind, Yeah,

454
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:37.440
yeah, I mean I think one
of the first sketches that like kind

455
00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:40.000
of like it wasn't the first sketch
we did, but it was one of

456
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.440
the first. So and it kind
of got us like no, I mean,

457
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:46.960
we already had the job, but
it got us a little bit I

458
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:50.440
don't want to say respect in the
office, but like people were like,

459
00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:53.639
oh, these dudes can do their
thing. Like we did this sketch with

460
00:35:54.039 --> 00:36:02.679
Tim Roth called Prostitute, and uh
we were with fucking bringing Tim Roth and

461
00:36:04.199 --> 00:36:08.280
North Hollywood, shooting on a five
D this ridiculous idea where he is a

462
00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:14.280
pimp for bros. So you can
have someone to hang with, and but

463
00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:19.679
we shot it in this like very
grounded docu style, Like basically it was

464
00:36:19.719 --> 00:36:24.800
those like it was it was inspired
by those documentaries about sex workers and HBO

465
00:36:24.920 --> 00:36:30.679
that that that you'd see in the
nineties, So we try to like give

466
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:38.639
this such stupid idea a very like
gravitas type look. And it was the

467
00:36:38.679 --> 00:36:43.039
best time. Tim Roth like got
it and he was so down to clown

468
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:49.039
and and man like, when you
have a talent like that, and he

469
00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:52.239
is so committed and doing the lines. I mean, there's nothing like it.

470
00:36:53.639 --> 00:36:57.719
Before we get away, Uh we
get too far away from messin l

471
00:36:59.199 --> 00:37:02.320
Can we can we talk on the
whole uh piece on earth little rummer boy

472
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:08.480
sketch? Yeah, because I got
I listen. So here's the thing you're

473
00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:15.519
bringing them. I'm complimenting you.
You know, thirteen years ago the first

474
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:20.480
time I see this, because obviously
it's a it's an iconic everyone knows the

475
00:37:20.519 --> 00:37:24.880
whole Crosby Bowie thing. When I
see uh Ferrell and Riley doing this,

476
00:37:25.599 --> 00:37:29.480
I remember saying, I don't know
who came up with this or who's behind

477
00:37:29.480 --> 00:37:31.320
this, but they're brilliant, they're
genius, and they're gonna they're gonna make

478
00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:35.599
a big impact because this is awesome. Like, how do you do you

479
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:37.639
recall like how that came to be, like in the writing room, or

480
00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:47.559
I don't recall how it came to
be because that was a typical funnier duy

481
00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:52.559
thing where someone would say something and
then people would find it funny, and

482
00:37:52.599 --> 00:37:55.639
all of a sudden you were on
set the next day shooting that thing.

483
00:37:57.159 --> 00:38:00.719
So it might have been like my
had even been like a will Ferrell like,

484
00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:05.519
oh, what did you do this? Uh? Yeah, I don't

485
00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:07.840
remember. I don't honestly remember where
it came from because like as far as

486
00:38:07.840 --> 00:38:12.280
the writing, there wasn't like a
ton of writing because we were kind of

487
00:38:12.280 --> 00:38:15.920
recreating a shot for shot. Uh
but yeah, I think once I heard

488
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:19.679
about it, I was like,
oh, I'm in I need to work

489
00:38:19.679 --> 00:38:24.719
on that. And yeah it was
so it was again just so much hard

490
00:38:24.760 --> 00:38:30.119
work for something so stupid. You
were like rented out all the frames and

491
00:38:30.199 --> 00:38:35.480
we figured out all the shots and
the angles and we built the set and

492
00:38:35.519 --> 00:38:39.840
then it was it was so fun
that we also, like, you know,

493
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:43.320
there was a shoot day, but
the previous day we went to the

494
00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:45.840
studio to record it. So I, you know, you're you're singing this

495
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.079
song. I was sinking, but
I'm listening to a world Farrell and John

496
00:38:51.079 --> 00:38:53.519
c Riley crack up and crack each
other up as they're recording. Uh,

497
00:38:53.719 --> 00:38:59.159
drummer boy. It was. It
was incredible. You have to like pinch

498
00:38:59.159 --> 00:39:02.199
yourself. You're like, what the
hell is happening here? Yeah, that

499
00:39:02.280 --> 00:39:06.119
was a really fun. It was
just a fun That was a really fun

500
00:39:06.119 --> 00:39:10.400
shoot because like, uh, it
was it was truly a Christmas miracle because

501
00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:14.960
everything went right, everything went great, there was no problems. I had

502
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:16.320
a great time, and we did
a killer video at the end. So

503
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:21.559
it was it was, it was
cool. Well, I'll be honest with

504
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:25.320
you. Every Christmas, Uh,
there are staples in my house. Things

505
00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:30.559
I'm gonna watch obviously, you know, the Peanuts Christmas Special, die Hard

506
00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:37.199
and thanks to the Internet, I
always pull up the the your version of

507
00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:42.039
of Bowie and Crosby. I love
that one. Nice. Nice, Well,

508
00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:44.519
I'm glad you like it. That's
awesome. I uh ship, I'm

509
00:39:44.519 --> 00:39:50.039
gonna pull it up again. I
see it in a while. So earlier

510
00:39:50.199 --> 00:39:52.880
you were you were talking, we
were talking about some of your some of

511
00:39:52.880 --> 00:39:59.400
your inspiration you you mentioned, we
talked a little bit about Vertigo. And

512
00:39:59.480 --> 00:40:04.320
as I'm looking and through you your
filmography, I noticed one of your one

513
00:40:04.360 --> 00:40:10.119
of your your shorts talking about Latino
Vortex. Has the has that Vertigo styled

514
00:40:10.559 --> 00:40:14.719
poster for it. Yep, you
got it. Let's talk. Let's talk.

515
00:40:14.760 --> 00:40:19.880
Let's talk about Latino. So Latino
Vortex. First off, it's hilarious.

516
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:23.320
Let's talk a little bit about that
one. Because one thing I'm kind

517
00:40:23.320 --> 00:40:29.480
of curious about. I want to
like the process directing a short versus an

518
00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:36.119
a television episode versus a feature.
Let's let's talk a little bit about the

519
00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:39.280
differences, the challenge, the different
challenges you might face. Mm hmm.

520
00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:50.880
Well, I mean that was a
short that we did for the the YouTube

521
00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:57.039
channel Mashart MHM and they were associated
to Broadway Video, which is the production

522
00:40:57.119 --> 00:41:01.559
company that does SNL. So yeah, they were like a Latino YouTube channel,

523
00:41:02.119 --> 00:41:05.800
and they were in the same building. They were in thirty Rock.

524
00:41:06.360 --> 00:41:07.360
So I went up and I was
like, I want to make a short.

525
00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:10.360
I want to make a short with
Dominicans. Yeah, I'd love that.

526
00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:13.920
You guys can give me somebody to
pay for it. And they were

527
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:17.440
like, here's a couple of thousand
dollars. When you see something and they

528
00:41:17.440 --> 00:41:20.840
put this in front of you,
are you looking at it like Okay,

529
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:22.760
this is funny because it's true,
or like, okay, this is a

530
00:41:22.760 --> 00:41:29.719
little ridiculous. It's not like this, but I'm gonna go for because definitely

531
00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:35.280
it's definitely true. It is something
very hard to leave a party like that.

532
00:41:36.719 --> 00:41:39.159
We all relied on our own experiences, and obviously you heighten in to

533
00:41:39.199 --> 00:41:44.199
make it ridiculous, but it is
definitely based on a kernel of truth.

534
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:49.320
Sometimes it is hard to leave.
That's why sometimes you have to do the

535
00:41:50.320 --> 00:41:52.880
was it Irish goodbye where you don't
say goodbye, just get the f out

536
00:41:52.920 --> 00:41:57.599
of there. That is very true. So we just took it to the

537
00:41:57.760 --> 00:42:01.280
nth degree and and it was it
was a blast. We like, it

538
00:42:01.320 --> 00:42:06.679
was basically like a bunch of favors
and I really just I knew those performers

539
00:42:06.760 --> 00:42:12.760
like my Dias, and I kind
of just wanted to do something fun with

540
00:42:12.840 --> 00:42:17.920
it. Mike. It was truly
like a fun fun uh and exercise and

541
00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:21.719
fun. It was all for fun. So so yeah, not a ton

542
00:42:21.719 --> 00:42:28.920
of money, so uh the location
was the main actress apartment, so there

543
00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:31.639
didn't have to pay for location.
Nice. So yeah, I just like

544
00:42:31.719 --> 00:42:36.079
got a little bit of money for
renting, forgetting the camera and paying the

545
00:42:36.280 --> 00:42:40.719
uh andy coogler who shot it the
DP and then we paid uh sound dude,

546
00:42:42.920 --> 00:42:45.760
and then ask a bunch of friends
that come over and then we got

547
00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:50.119
the pizza at the end. So
that that was like that was very much

548
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:55.880
like film school, you know,
back to basics kind of shooting and then

549
00:42:57.360 --> 00:43:00.119
you know, features are definitely the
complete up a set of that it's like

550
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:06.880
you prep for a month or more
and so many movie pieces and you want

551
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:12.719
to be also more ambitious. But
at the same time, like when you're

552
00:43:12.760 --> 00:43:15.679
actually shooting it, it is the
same thing. Even if you are on

553
00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:17.360
a huge production or if you're a
small thing and you sort of have to

554
00:43:19.280 --> 00:43:22.039
You have the scene and you have
to capture in the best way possible.

555
00:43:22.079 --> 00:43:28.960
Sometimes you just have more expensive cameras
to do it right. Well, let's

556
00:43:28.960 --> 00:43:31.960
talk about a feature let's talk about
your your feature film. Uh, let's

557
00:43:31.960 --> 00:43:37.840
do it. Yeah, Vampires Versus
The Bronx. This is twenty twenty.

558
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.519
First off, again, I'm seeing
I'm watching this a couple of years ago.

559
00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:46.559
I'm like, man, this this
is pretty damn good. So it's

560
00:43:46.599 --> 00:43:52.480
exciting to get to talk to the
guy that made that film. Were you

561
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:55.280
inspired? I know you you kind
of mentioned, you know, you said,

562
00:43:55.280 --> 00:43:58.960
hey, I watched I watched The
Fright Nights to get ready for Vampires.

563
00:44:00.679 --> 00:44:04.639
The eighties kind of gave us this
this kids versus monsters sub genre.

564
00:44:05.559 --> 00:44:07.480
I can think of a couple of
great ones that I loved. Any of

565
00:44:07.559 --> 00:44:10.000
them? Were they like, did
you take inspiration from Meriam? When you

566
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.320
when you're putting this this uh this
cast together and coming up with this story

567
00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:19.599
from all of them, yes is
the answer, and from all of them

568
00:44:19.639 --> 00:44:23.559
yes, uh yeah No. I
mean it's very much like wanting to make

569
00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:30.639
something that felt like those movies,
but set in set now, make contemporary

570
00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:37.159
story and set in a location that
was not Suburbia that was the you know,

571
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:42.119
the Bronx that had this huge Dominican
diaspora, which was something I was

572
00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:44.840
really interested in. Like it really
started with like, I want to make

573
00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:47.960
a fun, sort of kids genre
movie, but I want the kids to

574
00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:52.000
look like myself and my friends when
we were growing up. Like that was

575
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:55.559
sort of like the seed of the
idea. So so one hundred percent Monster

576
00:44:55.599 --> 00:45:00.199
Squad, Gooonies, Lost Boys,
Fright Night. Yeah, yeah, for

577
00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:04.320
sure you mentioned Monster Squad and that
that's the double feature I go with with

578
00:45:04.840 --> 00:45:07.360
Vampires versus Brox. I'm like,
all right, we're gonna we're gonna do

579
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:10.079
Monster Squad. We're gonna do Vampires
versus the Brocks, because like I feel

580
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:15.280
like those kids that you know,
you captured that essence like this is this

581
00:45:15.320 --> 00:45:19.280
is how kids talk, this is
how they behave. Yeah, fantastic film.

582
00:45:19.320 --> 00:45:22.719
It's on Netflix. One thing again, you know what I love about

583
00:45:22.760 --> 00:45:29.119
your trailers. Uh to to these
these films, I'm yeah, I'm all

584
00:45:29.159 --> 00:45:30.199
in because it's like, Okay,
this looks like it's gonna be a fun

585
00:45:30.199 --> 00:45:35.159
movie. And then there's a message, there's like a different there's another message,

586
00:45:35.159 --> 00:45:37.159
there's there's more to the story.
Uh, you know with vampires,

587
00:45:38.400 --> 00:45:43.800
there's definitely a message about gentrification in
there, and and it's an important conversation

588
00:45:43.880 --> 00:45:47.400
to have. And you know again
obviously it's yeah it's vampires. Uh love

589
00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:52.039
love the real estate name, you
know, based off of the whole not

590
00:45:52.119 --> 00:45:53.920
sparatu. I was like, you
know, because I'm a horror I'm a

591
00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:57.159
horror guy. I love I'm a
movie nerd. I was like, wait

592
00:45:57.320 --> 00:45:59.960
that I know what, I know, what's up? You know, and

593
00:46:00.199 --> 00:46:01.719
uh, you know it. So
it has like a little bit of sailing

594
00:46:01.719 --> 00:46:06.760
slot feeling where the vampires are kind
of taken over, but but it's something

595
00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:10.639
that's it's it's own thing too.
So uh, you're working with method man,

596
00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:15.840
Zoe Saldana, Shaye Wigham, Like
that's got to be an amazing experience

597
00:46:15.840 --> 00:46:22.239
with these with these guys. Yes, I can't believe I got all those

598
00:46:22.280 --> 00:46:25.679
people metha man came in to read
for something else and then he was like,

599
00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:28.760
what if, what if? What
if I do this? This father

600
00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:32.920
Jackson roll I was like, yeah, yes see you once said we got

601
00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:39.400
it and Shae Wiggam, I can't. I it's amazing that he was into

602
00:46:39.400 --> 00:46:44.639
it, like I can't. It's
so cool that he was like he was

603
00:46:44.639 --> 00:46:47.920
set to script and yeah. I
remember like face timing with him and I

604
00:46:49.159 --> 00:46:52.679
like, uh, you know,
at first, You're like, well,

605
00:46:52.679 --> 00:46:55.159
it's this guy always plays intense dudes. I'm literally scared. But he was

606
00:46:55.199 --> 00:47:00.199
so cool. He's so cool.
I love Shaye Wigham. He should be

607
00:47:00.199 --> 00:47:04.239
in everything. He's the ultimate pro. I learned so much from him,

608
00:47:05.079 --> 00:47:10.880
like the best. And then so
he saw Dania. I wrote her a

609
00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:20.639
long letter to try to basically asking
her for his favor, and I told

610
00:47:20.679 --> 00:47:24.400
her what the movie's about and always
I'm a Dominican filmmaker and still to this

611
00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:28.719
day can't believe she said yes.
She was like, I'll be in New

612
00:47:28.800 --> 00:47:31.679
York that day. Let's go.
I love it man. Yeah, so

613
00:47:31.800 --> 00:47:35.920
any and I got Sue. It
was amazing. We got super lucky.

614
00:47:36.960 --> 00:47:38.639
Now I know we're gonna we're gonna
talk about what's coming up next for you

615
00:47:38.679 --> 00:47:42.599
here in a couple of minutes.
But before we you know, just to

616
00:47:43.199 --> 00:47:45.039
Yeah, I'm gonna cheat a little
bit. You ever have thoughts on like,

617
00:47:46.119 --> 00:47:49.880
you know, more of the of
the vampire story, like, you

618
00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:53.320
know, bring these kids back doing
another another film? Because it ends it

619
00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:57.519
ends kind of like, hey,
you come to our neighborhood. This is

620
00:47:57.559 --> 00:48:00.400
what happens, you know. Yeah. I love the mean, like the

621
00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:04.440
community comes together. So I was
wondered, like what if what if there's

622
00:48:04.440 --> 00:48:07.960
a different threat, you know,
different creature, different monster, Like could

623
00:48:07.960 --> 00:48:10.800
we do something more in this year? There's definitely you know the stories uh

624
00:48:12.400 --> 00:48:19.079
from your mouth to Netflix ears?
Uh yeah, I would love that.

625
00:48:19.119 --> 00:48:22.360
I I don't have one right now, okay, but yeah, I mean

626
00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:28.320
do zombies versus the Bronx UFOs versus
the Bronx ideas are endless man? So

627
00:48:28.360 --> 00:48:31.599
many things? Yeah? Yeah,
yeah, uh no, I love it.

628
00:48:31.639 --> 00:48:36.440
I I you might have inspired something, who knows? Okay, all

629
00:48:36.519 --> 00:48:38.400
right, we'll have to talk about
that. Ye yeah. Yeah. And

630
00:48:38.519 --> 00:48:43.400
let's let's talk a little bit about
ap Bio. This is one of those

631
00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:47.159
incredible shows that you're telling your friend, like why aren't you watching this,

632
00:48:47.599 --> 00:48:51.440
you know, and then it gets
big and then and then it you know

633
00:48:52.199 --> 00:48:55.480
it, you know, it finds
new life on Peacock. It's like aby

634
00:48:55.519 --> 00:49:00.840
Bio was a dream come true.
Also, like I met Michae O'Brien,

635
00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:07.519
the showrunner and the creator on SNL
and really clicked with him. We did

636
00:49:07.519 --> 00:49:13.719
some really fun stuff. It was
some of my favorite videos, stuff like

637
00:49:13.760 --> 00:49:17.440
Sad Mouse and Monster Piles on SNL
and we just had a really great relationship.

638
00:49:17.559 --> 00:49:24.159
And yeah, he had sold this
pilot and I I was very lucky

639
00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:30.239
to have been asked to direct it, and it was the first pilot I

640
00:49:30.280 --> 00:49:34.239
did, so it was a big
deal and I had to sort of prove

641
00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:37.639
myself And to this day, I
can't believe they okay some of the wild

642
00:49:37.760 --> 00:49:42.920
visual ideas that we threw out,
that it's a wild show man, I

643
00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:46.079
mean, yeah, but they were
very down. They were very into sort

644
00:49:46.079 --> 00:49:52.000
of the the the wild scripts,
the interesting look. Yeah, and it

645
00:49:52.039 --> 00:49:57.079
was really fun because like Mike and
I collaborated on SNL so much, so

646
00:49:57.960 --> 00:50:00.239
it was just sort of like it
was the job, but it just also

647
00:50:00.239 --> 00:50:04.440
felt like I'm working with my friend. And then I brought over Blake McClure,

648
00:50:04.559 --> 00:50:07.800
who was a cinematographer who had shot
a lot of my SNL shorts.

649
00:50:09.480 --> 00:50:16.599
So yeah, really it was a
really special special project because I've done other

650
00:50:16.639 --> 00:50:22.880
pilots before and they don't all feel
that way, like where you forget the

651
00:50:23.079 --> 00:50:28.280
responsibility and the stress, like it
felt really fun. So yeah, it

652
00:50:28.320 --> 00:50:30.519
was a blast to work on that
show. And I kept coming back,

653
00:50:30.559 --> 00:50:36.199
and I would keep coming back and
was still round. It was the It

654
00:50:36.280 --> 00:50:42.159
was one of my favorite working experiences
and and the like I said, still

655
00:50:42.199 --> 00:50:46.119
surprised that they let us go without
interesting color palette. I mean, all

656
00:50:46.119 --> 00:50:51.559
that time working with Glenn Howerton,
is there is there any hope we might

657
00:50:51.599 --> 00:50:55.440
see you direct a little bit of
a Sonny in the future, ever that

658
00:50:55.639 --> 00:51:00.920
conversation ever come up, or because
seeing what you can do on ap bio,

659
00:51:01.639 --> 00:51:04.519
I would love to see what you
could do on Sonny. You know

660
00:51:04.559 --> 00:51:07.960
you talk about those there's interesting color
palettes and stuff like. Yeah, as

661
00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:09.960
wild as that show gets, like, I can't imagine, you know,

662
00:51:09.960 --> 00:51:14.320
if you were free to run around
that world, what you could do.

663
00:51:14.920 --> 00:51:19.039
Send him that email. Man,
let's go all right, I'm on it.

664
00:51:19.079 --> 00:51:21.519
I'm on it. I'm on it. Oz No. I mean,

665
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:24.079
you know, it was I We
definitely talked about that a lot of anyone

666
00:51:24.079 --> 00:51:29.920
that like, you know, go
for it. I definitely threw some some

667
00:51:30.119 --> 00:51:32.719
hints there. But it was amazing
to see Glenn work. Like he is

668
00:51:32.840 --> 00:51:39.000
so talented and he is a real
a real proper actor, and like he

669
00:51:39.159 --> 00:51:44.320
was giving these like two page monologues
like the night before and he comes down

670
00:51:44.360 --> 00:51:50.400
and he just like kills it,
and that is that's amazing to work with

671
00:51:50.440 --> 00:51:53.119
because like you're just like it makes
your job some of you. You're just

672
00:51:53.199 --> 00:51:59.599
literally an audience member too, just
watching this guy rip through a monologue like

673
00:51:59.679 --> 00:52:04.440
it's not and he's he's he's something
else. He's really cool, he's really

674
00:52:04.480 --> 00:52:07.239
good. Well talk about something else. Let's talk about what's next for Ozrodriguez.

675
00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:13.639
You know we we've just now we're
getting the the WGA, that's that

676
00:52:13.719 --> 00:52:19.079
strikes resolved or getting resolved. Still
working on the SAG after situation. But

677
00:52:19.239 --> 00:52:22.079
once these things, once these resolutions
happen. Are there any projects you're planning

678
00:52:22.119 --> 00:52:27.360
next anything you can share with us? Definitely planning some projects. Can't share

679
00:52:27.559 --> 00:52:31.719
everything, but I will share that
neon this show I worked on, I

680
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:36.960
shot at the pilot. It's coming
out October nineteenth. It's a series on

681
00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:40.360
Netflix and it's a comedic series about
this group of friends that moves to Miami

682
00:52:42.519 --> 00:52:45.960
to make it in the reggaeton music
scene. It's kind of like Reggaeton Dave,

683
00:52:46.039 --> 00:52:52.320
maybe reggaetn Entourage without the problematic stuff. And this is this is the

684
00:52:52.320 --> 00:52:54.079
one with Tyler. Correct, Yeah, so this is the one with Tyler.

685
00:52:54.199 --> 00:53:00.639
So Tyler got that role because they
looked at his IMDb or but he

686
00:53:00.679 --> 00:53:04.039
got the audition because they looked at
the IMDb and they saw him in that

687
00:53:04.119 --> 00:53:07.079
cool photo with braids, and they
were this guy was a cool look,

688
00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:12.400
and they came in for an audition. He nailed it and then they're like,

689
00:53:12.639 --> 00:53:15.280
actually, why don't you use that
look? So he looks like that

690
00:53:15.320 --> 00:53:22.079
in the show, all nice and
he actually like, kudos to him.

691
00:53:22.119 --> 00:53:25.639
He It definitely feels like a different
character than than Miguel, Like it's really

692
00:53:27.679 --> 00:53:31.559
it's really fun creating a different personality. So yeah, that's really exciting.

693
00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:38.000
It it's a show about reggaeton and
it's a comedy and uh, you know,

694
00:53:38.079 --> 00:53:40.960
going back to what we discussed the
show with Latinos, so we definitely

695
00:53:40.960 --> 00:53:45.280
have some great representation there and hopefully
everybody likes it. I mean, it's

696
00:53:45.519 --> 00:53:49.639
at the end of the day,
it's it's Raton is the soundtrack. But

697
00:53:49.719 --> 00:53:53.039
it's about these three friends and their
relationships and basically how they started from the

698
00:53:53.079 --> 00:53:58.840
bottom and want to get to the
top of the Okay, October nineteenth on

699
00:53:58.880 --> 00:54:01.360
Netflix. So we're looking at like
what was just like eight eight eight episode

700
00:54:01.400 --> 00:54:07.960
series ten episode like eight episodes,
eight episodes, eight episodes. Thirty minutes

701
00:54:07.079 --> 00:54:10.320
goes by real quick. You can
even watch it twice the same day if

702
00:54:10.320 --> 00:54:14.199
you want, we might Okay,
we got to check that one out.

703
00:54:14.199 --> 00:54:15.320
We might have to have you come
back and talk about it then. If

704
00:54:15.320 --> 00:54:21.000
that's you know, it's right around
this morn. But Oz, I got

705
00:54:21.039 --> 00:54:25.599
to ask you. Let's let's get
hypothetical for a minute. Is there a

706
00:54:25.599 --> 00:54:32.599
writer that you'd love to collaborate with
on a future project? Oh it's easy

707
00:54:32.599 --> 00:54:37.239
to say what what star? What
what actor? What actress? But but

708
00:54:37.360 --> 00:54:38.679
uh, but you know, as
a writer, you're a writer, Like,

709
00:54:39.039 --> 00:54:42.360
is there a writer you'd like?
Man, if this guy would write

710
00:54:42.360 --> 00:54:45.360
me something, this guy would write
me something, I'd love to direct it.

711
00:54:45.679 --> 00:54:50.199
Anyone come to mind? No,
Uh, only because like, I

712
00:54:50.199 --> 00:54:53.599
mean, there's obvious amazing screenwriters that
if I had a crack at it,

713
00:54:53.639 --> 00:54:58.119
I would be like, yes,
please, I would do Aaron Sorkin thing

714
00:54:58.199 --> 00:55:01.000
or something. But it's uh uh, it's not really about It's like I

715
00:55:01.079 --> 00:55:07.519
just want to I would like to
keep reading or have that script that has

716
00:55:07.880 --> 00:55:13.760
an interesting, amazing story with Latinos
in it, Like that's I just want

717
00:55:13.800 --> 00:55:15.599
to see more of that. So
not necessarily I don't know who that person

718
00:55:15.719 --> 00:55:20.840
is, but whoever that person is
that can deliver another great script with sort

719
00:55:20.880 --> 00:55:25.400
of Latino identity and characters and and
and if it's fun, then that's the

720
00:55:25.400 --> 00:55:32.360
person that work with. Okay,
let's say, whether we're talking film or

721
00:55:32.360 --> 00:55:37.360
television, is there a franchise you'd
love to be involved with as a writer

722
00:55:37.679 --> 00:55:40.880
or as a writer director or as
just a director, anything anything come to

723
00:55:40.920 --> 00:55:45.159
mind there? You know what?
I uh, that's a great question.

724
00:55:47.440 --> 00:55:54.519
I leve me some I do.
I love spy movies, so I I

725
00:55:54.559 --> 00:55:59.880
would take any spy movie that you
throw on me. A mission impossible born

726
00:56:00.119 --> 00:56:06.920
uh or yeah one bond, oh, one bond? There you go,

727
00:56:07.440 --> 00:56:15.039
yeah, yeah, yeah, you
know what. I that's uh, that's

728
00:56:15.039 --> 00:56:19.480
a great question for which I am
hopefully ill prepared, only because like I

729
00:56:19.519 --> 00:56:23.599
don't even see myself, Like I
guess like I'm I'm truly like excited to

730
00:56:24.199 --> 00:56:32.000
work on stuff that has different kind
of heroes. And sometimes I because we

731
00:56:32.039 --> 00:56:37.599
don't see these kind of people in
these bigger projects. My my immediate thought

732
00:56:37.679 --> 00:56:39.360
is like I think we have to
create these projects. But you know,

733
00:56:39.519 --> 00:56:44.519
I I was really down on Star
Wars for a little bit, and I

734
00:56:44.559 --> 00:56:50.280
think and Or brought me back up. Oh gosh, yeah, you know,

735
00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:55.360
I think I am of the generation
where something like Star Wars had a

736
00:56:55.480 --> 00:57:00.039
crazy impact. So like, I
guess if they call me for a show,

737
00:57:00.119 --> 00:57:04.159
I'd be available. Well, I
mean, we got season two of

738
00:57:04.199 --> 00:57:07.599
V and Door comming, so Felony's
got to get on the on the call

739
00:57:07.800 --> 00:57:10.760
with you. I think you know
we could see a couple. Yeah,

740
00:57:10.760 --> 00:57:15.320
come off alone, come on,
Dave, help us out. Ah.

741
00:57:15.239 --> 00:57:20.840
Well, you know one more question
I have for you, whether whether we're

742
00:57:20.880 --> 00:57:28.239
talking comfortability or you know, happiness. Where Where do you where? Where

743
00:57:28.280 --> 00:57:30.159
you? Where are you best at? Well, I don't want to say

744
00:57:30.199 --> 00:57:31.360
best at. Where are you?
Where do you? Where do you like

745
00:57:31.400 --> 00:57:37.599
to work? Is it feature films
or is it television more because you've you've

746
00:57:37.599 --> 00:57:39.440
had you, You've been in both
worlds, So like, where do you

747
00:57:39.440 --> 00:57:45.840
Where do you like? Where do
you like being? I? I think

748
00:57:46.400 --> 00:57:50.079
i'd be lying to you if I
didn't say I would love to keep making

749
00:57:50.119 --> 00:57:53.880
more features, more movies. That
is so satisfying, so cool and so

750
00:57:53.960 --> 00:58:01.599
exciting and a different kind of challenge. But I also love TV and it's

751
00:58:01.599 --> 00:58:07.559
a place where i've worked. Sorry, I've learned so much. So yeah,

752
00:58:07.719 --> 00:58:09.159
like if I had to pick one
right now, I'd probably say I'd

753
00:58:09.159 --> 00:58:14.360
love to make more movies. But
I also love working on TV because you

754
00:58:15.199 --> 00:58:20.960
work on stuff that there's always something
to learn, and you get an opportunity

755
00:58:21.039 --> 00:58:24.000
to like work with some big things
that you maybe couldn't afford in your smaller

756
00:58:24.039 --> 00:58:29.519
movie. So yeah, ultimately would
like to make more films. Ultimately we'd

757
00:58:29.559 --> 00:58:32.800
like to see more films from you, so as I can't thank you enough

758
00:58:34.159 --> 00:58:39.400
for spending some time with us today. Definitely looking forward to October nineteenth,

759
00:58:39.920 --> 00:58:46.199
or we can check out Neon on
Netflix and hopefully we're seeing another feature film

760
00:58:47.000 --> 00:58:52.880
relatively soon from you. But thank
you for your time. We have loved

761
00:58:52.880 --> 00:58:58.039
having y'all today. Thank you man. This is really fun, fun quote.

762
00:58:59.159 --> 00:59:00.880
I trust me, I will definitely
be bugging you to get you back

763
00:59:00.880 --> 00:59:04.480
because, uh, you know,
I love to talk more with you man.

764
00:59:04.760 --> 00:59:07.159
Like you said at the beginning,
you know, if we're talking about

765
00:59:07.159 --> 00:59:09.760
film, I'm in and we are
definitely in for that. So, uh,

766
00:59:09.760 --> 00:59:14.280
we appreciate you, sir, and
we can't thank you enough. What

767
00:59:14.440 --> 00:59:17.679
was the last great movie you saw
or the last movie that the last the

768
00:59:17.719 --> 00:59:21.320
last Well, I'll tell you that's
a thank you. I don't I don't.

769
00:59:21.559 --> 00:59:23.880
I don't usually get the good questions. Uh, but uh, my

770
00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:27.920
time now, your time now,
okay, So I will tell you that

771
00:59:28.639 --> 00:59:31.000
just last night I got to go
see you. We're talking Star Wars.

772
00:59:31.079 --> 00:59:35.159
Just recently, Uh, I just
got to go see the Creator. Uh

773
00:59:36.599 --> 00:59:44.400
new film visually stunning, an incredible
story. Hans Zimmer's score is just brilliant.

774
00:59:44.920 --> 00:59:47.039
Uh you know really, it kind
of felt I haven't seen it.

775
00:59:47.079 --> 00:59:52.079
I actually am gonna check the please
checking. I'm checking those show times right

776
00:59:52.159 --> 00:59:54.679
now. I'm not being the no
no no, if you, if if

777
00:59:54.719 --> 00:59:58.400
you, if I can, if
I can persuade you to go see the

778
00:59:58.440 --> 01:00:02.039
Creator, I would love to hear
your thoughts on because I'm talking. I

779
01:00:02.079 --> 01:00:06.719
see it a a friend of the
show, Dayton Johnson, who works on

780
01:00:06.760 --> 01:00:09.280
the docum based seventy seven podcast.
We went and see this thing, and

781
01:00:09.360 --> 01:00:14.920
my first comment to him when the
credits are rolling, this is amazing.

782
01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:17.639
It actually felt like a Christopher Nolan
film. Did you did you get that

783
01:00:17.719 --> 01:00:20.599
vibe? And He's like, I
kind of got that vibe. And you

784
01:00:20.639 --> 01:00:22.599
know, I mean you got you
got guys like John David Washington, Kim

785
01:00:22.599 --> 01:00:27.480
wan Anaby, I mean, You've
got some incredible performers in this film.

786
01:00:27.519 --> 01:00:31.280
But man, absolutely incredible film.
I hope you I hope you check it

787
01:00:31.280 --> 01:00:34.679
out because it's and it needs to
be seen on a big screen. It's

788
01:00:34.719 --> 01:00:37.960
one of those films I think I'm
going today. I just found the one

789
01:00:37.960 --> 01:00:40.320
in an hour, so I think
I can make it. Oh fantast All

790
01:00:40.400 --> 01:00:42.960
right, Well I want to hold
you back, but real quick, I

791
01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:46.480
gotta ask you last great movie that
you saw this this year? Go to

792
01:00:46.519 --> 01:00:53.039
my letterbox, well that came out
this year? Or I saw how about

793
01:00:53.079 --> 01:00:58.760
this? How about Oz Rodriguez recommends
this film? What what? What do

794
01:00:58.800 --> 01:01:02.480
our listeners need to go see today
or go rent today or stream today?

795
01:01:02.480 --> 01:01:06.880
What would you what would you have
them watch aside from Wants to Fight if

796
01:01:06.920 --> 01:01:08.719
they haven't seen it, obviously,
aside from Miguel Wants to Fight. I

797
01:01:08.760 --> 01:01:15.360
saw Past Lives. Actually I hadn't
seen it. That is a very wonderful

798
01:01:15.400 --> 01:01:23.599
movie. Okay, that came out
this year and it is a romance and

799
01:01:23.800 --> 01:01:30.800
it is wonderful. It's a wonderful
movie and it really yeah, I really

800
01:01:30.840 --> 01:01:39.639
connected to it because it's it's about
these these uh, this man and a

801
01:01:39.679 --> 01:01:46.480
woman that were childhood friends in in
South Korea. But then the woman that

802
01:01:46.559 --> 01:01:52.639
the young girl, then leaves and
comes to America, and uh, they

803
01:01:52.719 --> 01:01:58.079
sort of stay in touch and then
then in you know, years past and

804
01:01:58.159 --> 01:02:04.239
he shows up in New York and
things get complicated. But uh, it

805
01:02:04.320 --> 01:02:07.880
was it was really it was really
really nice, really nice, beautiful movie.

806
01:02:07.880 --> 01:02:12.119
It's one of those movies where everything
seems very effortless and simple, but

807
01:02:13.559 --> 01:02:20.159
nothing is effortless and simple. I
rewatched Sleepy Hollow, which was still amazing,

808
01:02:20.880 --> 01:02:27.199
always amazing, Yes, so fun, and then I got oh,

809
01:02:27.440 --> 01:02:30.880
I really enjoyed No One Will Save
You. That was really fun, okay,

810
01:02:31.519 --> 01:02:36.519
Hulu. Yeah, my co host
Brad Kozo, he was just telling

811
01:02:36.559 --> 01:02:37.199
me the other day, like,
hey, we checked this out. It's

812
01:02:37.199 --> 01:02:39.239
actually pretty cool. You might want
to let you might want to check it

813
01:02:39.280 --> 01:02:44.199
out. So yeah, I think, yeah, watch it on a big

814
01:02:44.199 --> 01:02:47.039
screen, watch it loud. I
think that one's it's a shame they didn't

815
01:02:47.039 --> 01:02:52.280
go to the theaters because that one's
really really fun. I will tell you

816
01:02:52.280 --> 01:02:55.480
anything else, okay. And then
a real weird movie that I saw.

817
01:02:55.519 --> 01:03:00.320
I sung songs from the second floor. Songs from the second floor. I

818
01:03:00.360 --> 01:03:07.639
have truly never seen anything like this. This is a Norwegian movie and it

819
01:03:07.679 --> 01:03:14.960
is about everything in life like I
don't. It's such a bizarre movie and

820
01:03:15.519 --> 01:03:22.599
it is directed by this guy called
Roy Anderson. And every scene is one

821
01:03:22.679 --> 01:03:28.000
take. There's not a lot of
camera movement, and it's big white shots

822
01:03:28.840 --> 01:03:35.760
and everything's made. Everything's a set, and it's very deadpan and sometimes that

823
01:03:35.800 --> 01:03:40.840
people have like grayish faces. Everything
I'm describing as wild. But by the

824
01:03:40.920 --> 01:03:44.880
end of it, I was like
really moved. So these are some of

825
01:03:44.920 --> 01:03:47.360
the crazy movies I've seen recently.
All right, well, there you have

826
01:03:47.440 --> 01:03:54.199
it, listeners. Turn on Hulu
watch Miguel Wants to Fight. Then turn

827
01:03:54.239 --> 01:04:00.480
on Netflix watch Vampires Versus the Bronx. And then when you when you got

828
01:04:00.480 --> 01:04:03.679
those two done. Check out Past
Lives, check out songs from the second

829
01:04:03.719 --> 01:04:08.440
Floor. Check out no One Will
Save You. Because we've been talking with

830
01:04:08.480 --> 01:04:12.239
Oz Rodriguez, and not only is
he giving us great films, he is

831
01:04:12.239 --> 01:04:17.039
giving us great film recommendations. Oz, thank you one more time and uh,

832
01:04:17.199 --> 01:04:23.360
listeners, we'll catch you next time. Thank you. Picture it.

833
01:04:24.760 --> 01:04:28.360
You are a star. We have
to show them that we're not just loser

834
01:04:28.400 --> 01:04:33.559
wannabes. Now, the three of
us currently live in the two thousand and

835
01:04:33.599 --> 01:04:43.760
nine Toyota Coal. I am impressed. You're right, you produced, you

836
01:04:43.880 --> 01:04:46.280
perform. You know how rare that
is. It'll be the biggest throng star

837
01:04:46.320 --> 01:05:09.119
in the world. Side soon,
one side so on the side one side

838
01:05:09.280 --> 01:05:18.400
one. Okay, this is our
destiny. You will not regret this,

839
01:05:18.440 --> 01:05:24.719
daddy, Oh mister yankee. That
okay, I'm gonna go