Show full transcript 0:54 It might not be a memory. They cherish, but it's one you'll never forget if it's important to you 0:59 it's important to all state. Switch to all state and you could save hundreds on home insurance today. 1:05 Not available in every state. Potential savings vary subject to terms and qualifications. 1:10 All state North American Insurance Company and affiliates Northbrook, Illinois. 1:17 Can we talk about something embarrassing besides the sound of my voice? 1:21 Imagine you're at lunch. The server brings a Coca-Cola zero sugar while the food is still 1:27 on the way. You think, just a sip while I wait for my chili dog. So you take that sip, 1:32 but suddenly, you can't stop drinking that delicious ice-cold Coke Zero. 1:36 The food arrives and you're just sitting there, 1:39 emotionally unprepared, waiting for a life-saving refill. 1:43 Real Coca-Cola taste with zero sugar? 1:46 It's hard to resist. 1:47 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, too good to wait. 1:50 Enjoy the delicious taste of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar today. 2:01 Well, you know, I just can't get enough of that opening song. 2:05 I just think it's just great. 2:06 It's under our voices right now. 2:08 Can you hear it right under us? 2:08 Right, yeah, that's just kind of gets me going. 2:11 Oh, I'm being real buoyed by it. 2:12 I know, it's super buoyed by this. 2:13 Well, you always call me a robot. 2:15 It's kind of like my little theme song, right? 2:16 I know, yeah, yeah, it is like a little thing 2:18 for a little robot thing, 2:19 but it's playing underneath us right now. 2:21 It's gonna kick it in a second, kick it in. 2:23 Just kick my ass. 2:24 Kick it in, kick it in, kick it in. 2:24 Three, two, one. 2:26 Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. 2:27 Smart. 2:45 Now, so we had a little record earlier today, 2:48 and now we're having our second record. 2:49 There was a gap in between where lunch usually sits, 2:52 and I always, whenever this happens, 2:53 I'd love to know what Sean had. 2:54 Oh good, I had chicken curry with rice 3:00 and cauliflower and sweet potatoes 3:02 and then I had a huge bowl of ice cream after. 3:04 Wait, you had chicken curry with rice? 3:07 Yeah. 3:07 I did not know that chef, we already made that. 3:11 That's funny. 3:13 Yeah, but you see, I didn't change. 3:15 I'm still in my smart list merch shirt. 3:16 No, we got that, yeah. 3:18 Smart list merch, there's some good stuff in there. 3:20 I was, I guess I shouldn't be surprised 3:22 Cause we looked at it all before it went in there, but let me tell you something. I slept in this shops shop smart list calm 3:27 It's messed up. It's it's it's sleepable. Is that what it is? Wait, is it shop smart list I come for shop smart list calm 3:32 Yeah, what's it? Sorry Sean? What'd you say? 3:35 Shop smart list calm. It's great. It's I'm telling you are you sleeping the sweats you put the hat on when you roll out of bed 3:41 It's great who? 3:43 Did you design the blanket those big heavy blankets you did right you wanted to design them 3:48 But I, what's that? 3:49 You wanted the heavy blanket. 3:51 I wanted the heavy blanket 3:51 because I have an issue with a throw blanket. 3:53 A throw blanket covers one leg. 3:55 So I never understood the function of a throw blanket. 3:59 No, I'm saying I like it because it's weighty. 4:01 Yeah, it's weighty and it's big. 4:03 It covers your whole body. 4:04 And it's like, what do you call it? 4:08 Warm fleece? 4:09 Like fleece, I guess? 4:10 Hey, by the way, you know what I did? 4:12 Oh, definitely whisper. 4:14 For Scotty, I got him a surprise. 4:16 Guys, I got John Williams, the composer, 4:20 to sign a page of the E.T. score for Scotty's. 4:26 How'd you do that? 4:27 I just go over. 4:27 A friend of mine knows his friends with his daughter 4:31 and then we just kind of made it happen. 4:33 Are you guys good at that? 4:34 Are you good? 4:34 It sounds like you are, Sean, 4:35 where you sort of like, you remember 4:37 what your friend or partner or kid 4:41 or whatever he really loves 4:42 and you work on it for a few months 4:44 and you get the perfect gift. 4:47 Like, do you do that every year? 4:48 I love doing that. 4:49 Yeah. 4:50 Really? 4:51 Hey, Will, you don't need to go up high 4:54 like everybody in the world does it except you, Jason. 4:58 Like I don't do it, so that's why I'm saying. 4:59 Yeah, exactly. 5:00 I don't do it. 5:02 Will is very good at throwing money at a gift. 5:05 Of course, Sean, and I am very good at that. 5:07 You're very good at that. 5:08 Whereas Sean, you'll do sort of a sentimental thing 5:11 or I remember you said in July 5:13 that what you wanted for Christmas was. 5:15 That's right. 5:16 Like I clocked last year for Maple's birthday. 5:22 She just mentioned that she loved skateboarding. 5:24 So I got her a skateboard or a certificate 5:26 for a skateboarding thing. 5:27 Yes, and we went and spent the hell out of that. 5:29 Did you? 5:30 Remember that's how she broke all her teeth, remember? 5:32 Yeah. Thanks, Sean. 5:33 Yeah. 5:33 Remember that time she broke her arm and all her teeth came 5:35 and she had to spit her teeth out. 5:36 That's why she's got those flippers now. 5:38 And we've got this memory of her 5:40 and she takes her teeth out every night 5:41 She thinks of you when she has to take him out by the way though back to the ice cream thing. Yeah, I didn't tell you this Jay 5:47 Last episode we recorded you we talked about you having there. What is it called the root root canal? 5:53 Yeah, I had a cavity you had one and I just got yeah just last week 5:57 Okay, I got a crown not possibly your first. No. Oh my god. I have so many but it's 52 years old 6:03 I have a cavity. Oh, they're gonna start coming fast and that is strange. Let's take a look at your diet 6:09 Yeah, but what is strange about things on your body 6:12 degenerating as you get older? 6:14 Well, but I floss and I brush and I do everything. 6:16 So it's like, why don't teeth, teeth don't play by that. 6:18 No, because they're sitting in sugar all day. 6:20 Yeah. 6:21 I will say this. 6:22 You're having ice cream, when you're having dessert 6:24 for lunch, yes, you have a situation. 6:28 He had dessert for breakfast the other day. 6:29 Hey, I did have a thing where one of my favorite 6:33 sweeteners that I use, I don't want to say 6:35 which one with my coffee. 6:37 Cause I thought, oh, I'm not having sugar 6:38 for a few years, I've been using a sweeter. 6:40 And I see that one of its ingredients, 6:42 this study came out yesterday, a huge study saying 6:44 that it causes like strokes and heart attacks. 6:47 Yeah, oh, I saw that. 6:49 Yeah. 6:50 Really, I know. 6:51 So fuck, yeah, I'm so fucking bummed. 6:53 Well, so you don't want to say this publicly 6:55 since it's already public? 6:57 Well, just cause it's an other, 6:59 so I don't want to call out the one particular brand. 7:01 Yeah, it's being reported on or whatever. 7:03 Yeah. 7:03 Oh, so the sweetening component is the problem, 7:08 not the brand. 7:09 Right, one of the ingredients. 7:10 So then what is the ingredient? 7:11 Do you remember? 7:13 I forget what it's called. 7:15 Is it agave? 7:16 No. 7:17 It's in a lot of sort of stevia-centric sweeteners. 7:21 Have it in there. 7:22 Really? 7:22 Yeah. 7:23 Is that what you're using? 7:24 Yeah, I'm mainline stevia, Dan. 7:26 Yeah. 7:26 So a lot. 7:27 I don't know if purists, I don't know, 7:29 but I know that some of them have it in it. 7:31 Anyways. 7:32 Guys. 7:32 I know, kind of real uplifting, huh? 7:34 All right, let's get to it. 7:35 Are we ready for a guest? 7:36 Oh, I guess let's get to the guest. 7:38 Before I die, let's get it done. 7:40 At least we'll know why. 7:44 I gotta say, I get some of the best guests. 7:49 This guy has had not one. 7:51 Did you write this intro? 7:52 Did you write this intro? 7:53 This is the intro, yeah. 7:54 Did you write it? 7:55 Of course I did, yeah. 7:56 This guy has had not one, but two songs written 8:01 about him by a huge pop star. 8:03 Most would agree he's Hollywood royalty being an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, 8:08 a heavy-hitting movie star who's portrayed a very famous DC comic book character on 8:12 screen multiple times. But most importantly, just an all-around great guy, 8:17 that I'm so happy to call a friend who I love a whole bunch, and I know you 8:20 fellas do too. Please welcome to smart list Mr. Benjamin Gaze Affleck Bolt. 8:25 He's going, Benj, we go, oh. 8:27 No, no. 8:29 There he is. 8:30 Oh, I love him. 8:32 I love him. 8:32 Very nice. 8:33 Your second, how did Sean get you and I don't? 8:36 God damn it. 8:37 Because I like him and he's a great guy. 8:40 You are a good actor. 8:41 You always feel like I'm liked when I'm around you. 8:44 Where are you? 8:44 Are you in the basement? 8:46 I'm in my lair. 8:48 Okay. 8:49 Lower lair. 8:49 Because crime might need to be fought. 8:52 Oh, God. 8:53 I am. 8:54 Wait, what songs have been written about you? 8:57 Dear Ben and Dear Ben Part Two. 8:58 The songs that have been written about me 8:59 have been written by the greatest performer 9:02 in the history of the world, Jennifer Lopez. 9:05 I don't know that they're exactly so much about me 9:08 as maybe inspired by because there's some negative things. 9:13 So they're aimed at you. 9:14 I was gonna say, are they flattering? 9:15 She's amazing, yes, can you imagine? 9:17 And also there is a third song written about me 9:21 but not by anyone gifted. 9:24 Jimmy Kimmel wrote a song about me 9:26 called Unfucking Ben Affleck. 9:28 Oh wait, did Jennifer write the songs about you 9:34 during or when you weren't dating? 9:39 Jennifer, you know what, Jason? 9:41 Uh huh, well I just wanna know if there 9:43 have been songs or sad songs. 9:44 Over and over and I tell you, 9:46 if you wanna ask Jennifer about her career, 9:48 if you're interested in her work, 9:49 Go ahead and screw your courage to the sticky bait and ask her. 9:53 I learned a lot about her with that great documentary. 9:57 I love that. 9:58 I loved it. 9:59 One that I made. 9:59 Yeah, I loved it. 10:00 Everybody watched that. 10:01 That was very good. 10:01 I thought that was incredible. 10:02 Yeah, and by the way, that's the first time. 10:04 I know we're going to interview you in just a second. 10:06 But Jennifer Lopez, who was on Will and Grace twice or three times or whatever. 10:10 She on Will and Grace, that's fun. 10:11 And I was, I was, I was one, two, no times. 10:14 No. 10:14 You were. 10:15 This is the story of my life. 10:16 Will was, I wasn't. 10:17 But she was, but that documentary blew me away 10:20 because I was like, my God, 10:22 the what the woman has accomplished is astounding. 10:25 Yeah, and she's so not done yet. 10:26 It takes a big man not to feel inadequate 10:28 in the face of my wife's image. 10:30 Many, many. 10:31 But no, but she, but you too. 10:34 You too, you've accomplished. 10:35 Oh, I don't feel bad about myself. 10:36 It's not, I'm not low self-esteem. 10:38 I'm not, well, I'm fishing a little bit, 10:41 but not the, no, the truth is it's amazed. 10:43 Sometimes I think I like completely forget 10:45 because here's this incredible actress and this incredible performer and then 10:51 we're sitting in the car you know and I'm humming along like I will you know 10:54 the radio and then a professional singer goes ahead and sings along and 10:59 you kind of feel like well that's embarrassing you know I should just zip 11:03 it do you know all her music don't lie I do know can you sing all of her 11:08 songs? Not to you. No but you know them though. I can't get a J-Lo song past you that you haven't heard. 11:16 Waiting for the night. That's the remix. There it is. I like when Sean does it 11:23 sound kind of sounds like Cher is doing a re-examining. That was like a Cher waiting for 11:28 something. Now you're making me self-conscious like oh gosh if I were on 11:34 like Jeopardy would I miss a question but I do love her music it's 11:37 Brilliant, and I know doesn't all of it. Thank you. Yeah Jason. Don't put him on the fucking spot 11:44 Remember your wife's birthday. Yeah 11:48 It is no wait a second now Ben hi 11:53 Hi Ben Affleck sign here. I don't really great. We don't know much. Thank you somebody. Yes 11:58 Hi, I don't have the pleasure of knowing you but everybody who knows you likes you a great deal 12:04 And there's often, like, Bateman, he's doing something with Bateman, which is really, so 12:08 I mean... 12:09 It's good for you. 12:10 It is surprising. 12:13 And as you know, yes, so you, but you and Jason have known each other for a number of 12:19 years? 12:19 Yeah, I've known Jason a long time, and I had the chance to do, like, now four movies 12:24 with the guy. 12:25 I know. 12:25 And by the way, the trailer for Air looks incredible. 12:29 It looks amazing for the new movie you guys did that you've invited Jason to 12:32 be part of and any regrets and you can be honest now you can be if you have 12:36 regrets about I gotta tell you I mean usually and I hate you know when people 12:41 come on shows and they're like you know you're great you bring because it's 12:46 just so fucking boring to listen to yeah but I'm gonna do it and let me tell 12:50 you why because it's actually true and I've lied so many times that it's 12:55 nice to get the chance. 12:56 Jason is fucking amazing in the movie. 13:00 And has the hardest part in the movie, 13:05 which is the part where you're supposed, 13:07 you know, the guy who's like, 13:08 but if we don't make it to the train station by six, 13:11 you know, the whole time, 13:12 you know, constantly having to tell the audience 13:14 what the stakes are, look out, what's gonna happen, 13:17 turn right. 13:18 And somehow, like, made himself, you know, 13:22 the most, I think, like the most compelling, real, 13:28 your drawn, it's brilliant. 13:30 A lot of it's improv and funny 13:32 and a lot of it's just humanity, 13:34 but it's just brilliant. 13:36 And it was such a, I was really lucky 13:38 because it's, well what Matt did, very easy. 13:41 You're the lead and you're that guy 13:43 and you have those lines. 13:45 Exactly. 13:45 You know what this scene is? 13:46 This is me looking at the window. 13:47 Music. 13:48 You know, that's gonna help you. 13:49 That's the wind at your back. 13:50 That was the one working. 13:51 Do you know, by the way, you should know, Ben, 13:53 that we were at, we watched the Super Bowl at Kimmel's. 13:58 And... 13:59 Oh yeah, I have a problem. 14:00 This is a problem. 14:00 Hang on, so we're watching, 14:01 and at that moment that the ad for your movie came on, 14:06 Jason, I remember sitting there, 14:07 and Jimmy happened to kind of drift in right between us. 14:10 And then I said, hey, quiet, everybody. 14:11 Here's the commercial for the big movie. 14:14 And Jason's all excited. 14:15 And then there was just a silhouette for a second, 14:18 and then nothing. 14:19 Silhouette. 14:19 And then Jason's daughter goes, 14:21 Dad, I thought you were in that room. 14:23 Oh my God. 14:23 In front of my kids, Ben, that can't be true. 14:26 It's a true story, right, Jason? 14:28 Is that true? 14:28 That's a true story. 14:29 But listen, there's many different commercials. 14:31 I mean, it's my fault in the sense 14:32 that I did see it and not notice. 14:34 Oh. 14:35 But it's not my fault since I didn't make it. 14:38 And let me, can I talk to your daughter? 14:41 Your daddy's very good. 14:42 This is all a joke. 14:44 But it was actually pretty funny. 14:46 It was like, hey, I thought you were in that room. 14:49 And everybody goes back to their chips, and watching the other films. 14:52 I've been there. 14:53 Things aren't panning out in your career, and you've been in the movie, and all of a 14:56 sudden you're like, I think I show up in this train. 15:00 No, the worst is when you're at the premiere, and they go past the point where you know 15:05 your big scene was, and it's now gone. 15:09 And they've moved on, and you're like, oh, guess that was cut. 15:11 You're like, mom, no, this is where I have the monologue. 15:14 Oh, maybe it comes later now. 15:17 I don't know. 15:18 I saved it for doing the credits. 15:19 Anyway, I'll do it for you at home. 15:20 It'll probably be the special features. 15:22 So, Ben, talk to me a little bit about, you know, 15:24 we had Matt who came and joined us on tour. 15:28 He came to Madison, Wisconsin. 15:29 When you think Madison, Wisconsin, you think Matt Damon? 15:31 That's the thing about Matt is he'll always do 15:33 something nicer than me. 15:35 Matt is like, Matt, hey, what you're doing is great. 15:37 You know, Matt went a whole lot further. 15:39 No, no, no, great. 15:40 No, but we did, but we talked to him about 15:43 about how you guys started, 15:45 and how you guys knew each other back in the day 15:49 and what that was like when you guys were kind of... 15:51 Yeah, it was really cool. 15:53 Yeah, it was great, really hearing from him 15:55 and I'd love to hear your perspective of how you guys, 15:58 and I'm sure you've told it a million times, 16:00 so forgive me if it's boring, 16:02 but for us it's really, I love that story. 16:05 And I told Matt, I remember we made this really bad, 16:08 I say bad, I'm my friend, but this really 16:11 pretty chintzy version of a movie called Southie 16:13 And you guys came to the rap party that I was in and then you guys were about to do goodwill hunting 16:17 And then our movie would like they buried it under a couch somewhere and then you guys went on to like amazing 16:23 But I just love the beginnings of what you and Matt did and I want to hear it from you 16:29 Because I think it's a great story. I had no idea you guys grew up so close to each other. No idea. Yeah 16:35 we did first of all, it's like 16:38 It's a really lucky thing, it occurs to me now. 16:41 I saw him the other day and we're doing this movie 16:43 together, there's very few people are lucky enough 16:47 to spend their life in the same line of work 16:49 with their best friend from when they were kids. 16:52 Manage to stay friends, not end up hating each other. 16:56 Actually be friends and love each other. 16:58 And not have one of them soar to the stratosphere 17:01 and the other one be have nothing ever happen. 17:03 That was brief. 17:05 But no, no, but I'm saying like, 17:06 That's like, that's what usually happens. 17:07 The fact that both of you guys are superstars. 17:11 Yeah. 17:12 So in context, the reason we're asking this hacky question 17:15 is because in air, the film that we're talking about, 17:19 Ben, for the very, very first time, directs Matt. 17:22 I love it. 17:23 It's full circle. 17:24 I love it. 17:24 I love it. 17:25 Yeah. 17:26 I mean, it was something that seemed really normal 17:28 that I took for granted, 17:29 because there were kids who, 17:31 he was a bigger kid for a brief period. 17:34 I was eight. He was ten. He was a big kid. He played baseball. He was really cool. 17:38 He had a bowl cut that was a little feathered that we all wanted, of course. 17:42 And he was, you know, nice to me. And we were both interested in the same... 17:49 I mean, just kids who grew up two blocks apart and both wanted to be actors, 17:55 for whatever reason it is that makes you want to do that thing, and hung out. 17:59 And then we're in the same friend group and then sort of went off and did, 18:03 And like, oh, let's, you know, we're just like dumb 18:05 and enough to think like, it'll pan out for us, 18:07 but we'll just go be actors. 18:08 We'll just go work, you know? 18:10 And kind of sort of believe in it and then live together. 18:14 But I think the reason why it wasn't a thing, 18:18 that sort of competition thing that you talk about 18:20 is because we did a lot of auditioning very early on 18:23 for the Mickey Mouse Club, for example. 18:26 Amazing. 18:27 I think maybe for some of Jason's early work. 18:31 Gosling got the Mickey Mouse job. 18:33 He did, he was one of those. 18:34 We did a Cory Hame film called Soul Man, 18:37 I remember we both auditioned for. 18:38 We did, we both auditioned for Robin 18:40 and the Clooney movie, no way. 18:44 Yeah, we were extras together all the time. 18:46 Matt did Mystic Pizza, he had a line in that, 18:49 I didn't get it. 18:50 And always the thing was we would get our, 18:52 you know, a little act together 18:53 and practice our scenes and do our workshop. 18:55 I mean, Nerdy doesn't even get to describe it. 18:59 Really? 18:59 And, but it really was a genuine thing where we were like, look, I hope I get the part. 19:04 But if I don't, I really hope you do. 19:06 And you know, for a while we had this thing where we were like, well, just split all our 19:10 money. 19:11 You know what I mean? 19:12 Why do you guys have high voices? 19:14 We like, oh, you know. 19:15 Did you really say that? 19:16 We really did. 19:17 And we really split the money. 19:19 No way. 19:19 We put it in the bank account. 19:20 At the time, I was in the lion's share of the money. 19:23 No way. 19:23 How old were you? 19:24 Yes, Sam. 19:24 We had a joint bank account. 19:26 I think I was, I was 14, that was 16, something like that. 19:30 Well, that's cool. 19:31 That's really cool. 19:32 Money in the ATM, and then it's like, 19:33 okay, what do you want to get? 19:36 I saw you made a big withdrawal last weekend. 19:39 Joking as much as you are, 19:40 but it does show that on a certain level, 19:42 there is a trust there that you guys, 19:44 just trust each other implicitly that there's just, 19:47 right, that that's on a very basic level. 19:50 I took for granted that he liked me 19:52 and rooted for me and wanted me to succeed. 19:54 We just didn't, we're lucky enough 19:55 not to have the friendship of that the whole like it's not enough that I succeed 19:58 all my friends have to fail thing like and I there people I've wanted to fail 20:03 I can be just as petty and bitter as any other actor but I loved them and he 20:09 loved me and it felt like we would work the scenes together and you know it 20:13 actually I think what made us sort of good writers and better actors was that 20:16 we learned very early on to hear like I'm not sure that works that choice you 20:20 know and you okay let's try something else you know and get our facts our 20:24 Let's try a lower voice. 20:25 Do you ever give that note? 20:26 I had to hit puberty. 20:28 And it's better than I've been in those years. 20:30 So wait, but when you say you grew up, 20:32 you grew up together in Boston, right? 20:34 But you were born or raised in California? 20:36 Like what's the California thing? 20:37 I was born in California. 20:39 My parents were at a teaching at an experimental school 20:43 outside Berkeley briefly. 20:46 And then, actually, yes. 20:48 And then I moved back to Boston around two or three. 20:50 I moved into Central Square and Cambridge 20:55 and then Matt moved there from Newton 20:57 when I was eight and he was 10. 20:59 And that's when you met at the basketball. 21:01 And you got a Burger King commercial. 21:02 That was your very first thing? 21:04 Listen, I had done a Burger King commercial. 21:06 Okay, I'm sure you remember the slogan was 21:09 sometimes you gotta break the rules. 21:11 Yeah, sure. 21:11 Oh yeah, wow. 21:12 I'm a little bit of a rule breaker. 21:14 Really quick, I did it. 21:15 These guys are gonna love this. 21:16 I did the McDonald's commercial. 21:18 One of my first things where I worried, 21:20 I was I worried about how I was going to impress a girl and the catchphrase from my guy scene partner was don't worry about it 21:26 I was like how am I gonna pay for the date? Don't worry about it 21:29 That's my story. So wait go back to the bird. Holy shit. You're good 21:33 You're gonna get a new way 21:35 Ben's guts ahead of steam going you're gonna be out of the job 21:38 You'll be without a podcast 21:40 One of these days 21:41 Out of gas 21:42 Jesus 21:42 Boy, you're fucking 21:44 Sorry, go ahead Ben 21:45 Anyway, let me just can I regroup to do my 21:47 I can't take all the time. 21:50 Shake it off. 21:51 I think he's crying. 21:57 I've established that we were very nerdy and a little weird. 22:00 We used to have business lunches in what was called the Media Cafeteria, 22:05 which at the time, there was a big ESL portion of our public high school, 22:11 which was like 2,600 kids, and that was where the ESL kids... 22:15 I don't know why that was where we like to be surrounded by people who spoke 22:18 of the languages. 22:19 I'm not sure what it was, 22:21 but maybe we didn't want him to actually hear 22:22 our business lunches because no business was conducted. 22:26 But we plotted things. 22:27 We planned our careers. 22:28 But look at you now. 22:29 Look at the business you guys are in now. 22:31 Artist equity, yes? 22:33 Yeah. 22:34 Yeah, it is bizarre to have gone this far. 22:39 And definitely a lot of, 22:41 I don't think I would be sane, 22:44 as sane to the extent that I am, 22:46 Had I not had somebody who was from where I grew up and who was my best friend and who was going through the same thing 22:52 So you could because I'm sure you guys all know there are these moments in this business where you look around and go like is this 22:59 completely insane. Yeah, I feel as though, you know, I'm coming unglued and 23:05 Having that when someone to share that perspective and then so as we went on and on so finally got to a place where like with last 23:12 was like, why haven't we just, we had so much fun. 23:16 Every day on that set was so much fun. 23:18 And we're just like, let's just do this. 23:20 Let's just do movies together and with people we like. 23:23 Mm-hmm. 23:24 And we will be right back. 23:27 Hey guys, I know how hard it is to make like goals 23:29 for yourself and like to commit to them 23:31 and not back off from them. 23:33 But look, committing to yourself starts 23:36 with building habits that you can stick to. 23:38 Make a better for you choice 23:40 that you actually look forward to 23:42 with Stars and Honey protein bars. 23:45 Stars and Honey bars have 15 grams of protein 23:48 and only four grams of sugar, 23:49 making them an easy, better for you option 23:52 to work into your everyday routine. 23:54 Throw one in your gym bag for a post-workout snack, 23:57 keep one in your glove compartment, 23:59 or take a couple to the office to share with coworkers. 24:01 And here's the really cool part. 24:03 With Stars and Honey, you don't have to compromise 24:05 between better nutrition and taste. 24:08 Choose from delicious dessert-inspired flavors 24:09 like ice lemon cookie, mint chocolate chip, red velvet, and peanut butter mousse. 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That's better 27:38 HELP.com slash smartlist 27:44 And now back to the show 27:47 Going back that the the first thing that kind of launched was was it dazed and confused or was it something before that? 27:53 And what's the story about Vince Vaughn? 27:55 He's asked a two-parter there. You can take him one at a time or you can ask him to repeat it 28:00 I get excited. I get excited. 28:02 I know it. I know it. 28:03 Do you ever write these things down? 28:05 I had trapped in the pre-interview the Vince bit. 28:06 No, dad. 28:07 I don't know where you're going with that. 28:08 No, but I heard. 28:09 I heard that. 28:09 I do know, yeah. 28:11 No, the seven years. 28:12 I do know that we... 28:13 I had done a couple of... 28:14 I was the more experienced. 28:16 I don't want to make Matt feel insecure. 28:18 Sure. 28:18 I had some early experience with professional acting. 28:20 You're selling burgers, you know. 28:21 I was... 28:22 Well, not only I sell burgers, 28:23 but I don't know if you know 28:24 your public television history. 28:25 I was on a show. 28:27 Voyage of the Mimi. 28:28 Voyage of the Mimi. 28:29 Yeah. 28:29 Yeah, science. 28:31 It was also shown to sixth graders 28:32 for their science class, 28:34 because I think because it was so gripping. 28:35 And a young boy and his grandpa, 28:39 renting out a boat to scientists for experiments. 28:43 And so I would periodically go off 28:45 into a little voyage of the Mimi. 28:46 So Matt was a little threatened by that. 28:48 And when I got to the high school, 28:49 he kind of pulled me aside. 28:51 And he said, listen, man, all right, this is the theater. 28:55 It's not about your looks, okay? 28:58 Hey, it's about the work. 29:00 And I took that very seriously. 29:02 I felt that I was hearing something real 29:04 like the words of wisdom from a guy who understood it. 29:07 I didn't know until that time he felt 29:09 that I'd been entirely bow guarding my way through life 29:11 on like hit and charm and looks of which there were very few. 29:15 Well, but no, it sounds like actually 29:17 you came roaring into high school just killing it. 29:20 Yeah, you were crushing it, Matt, and Matt, 29:23 I mean, by the way, I mean, again, no insult to Matt, 29:26 but it sounds like he felt threatened by you, Ben. 29:29 And I want to just... 29:30 I think maybe... I think maybe he's a little... 29:32 I'm gonna show this on the guy. 29:33 The other thing he said to me was like, 29:34 you know the thing about Hoffman and Salesman? 29:36 Is you can see the wheels turning, 29:38 but he wants you to see the wheels turning. 29:43 That didn't 15 years old, man. 29:45 No way. That's hysterical. 29:47 That's a true story. That's fucking amazing. 29:50 However... Well, that's why he's brilliant, 29:52 because that guy has been absolutely convinced 29:56 and has paid attention to very little else in his free time 30:01 other than acting, since he was a little kid 30:04 doing Wheelock Community College Theater 30:07 when he was 11 years old. 30:09 And he's been with absolute conviction 30:11 that this is what he was going to do. 30:12 And he was a lot smarter about it than me. 30:15 He understood a lot earlier on. 30:17 He was like, it's just all about the director. 30:20 I'm just going to focus on the director. 30:21 He was like passing on parts when we were broke. 30:24 I said, what are you passing on? 30:26 You can't pay the gas bill. 30:28 What's like this, how is this not good enough for you? 30:30 Because he didn't like the director? 30:31 Yeah, he just didn't feel, he didn't have anything to offer. 30:35 You know? 30:35 Wow. 30:36 I was, I'm like, I'm doing after school specials 30:38 about steroid abuse and you're passing on like movies. 30:43 That's pretty great. 30:44 But I will say this, you gave him a piece of advice 30:47 that he has since paid for and given 30:51 and he led us in on it last year when he came to join us, 30:54 which was apparently you said to him, 30:57 if somebody asks you to do something down the road, 31:01 imagine that the same, you know, we get it all the time. 31:03 Hey, will you come and do this six months from now 31:05 and come and show up at this thing? 31:07 Imagine that you would have to do it tomorrow 31:10 and then let that be your answer. 31:12 If you don't want to do it tomorrow, say no. 31:15 Yeah, I did give him, 31:17 I never thought that was particularly wise. 31:18 I just thought no it's because that was constantly saying yes, and then be like hey man 31:23 Can you call them and tell them I'm sick right? 31:25 And that's bullshit. It's a me. I've told I've told minimum 50 people that piece of advice is it as if I came up with it 31:31 My own and they have people love it and have latched on to it, right JB. We've talked about I live it 31:38 I did it today. I got asked to do something like three months from now that sounds kind of interesting 31:43 I'll be kind of fun 31:44 But then I thought well actually if it was on the calendar for tomorrow 31:47 Would I would I wish that it was canceled if the answer is yes pass 31:51 You know the thing about that that I can't completely co-sign like my dirty little secret is I might pass on everything 32:00 I almost never want to get off. Did you think about that this show today about passing on this show? 32:05 Oh, I mean 32:09 They had to talk you out of it 32:12 So for the guy who likes to do nothing 32:15 except sit on his couch every day like I do, 32:18 I find it interesting that you're actually able 32:21 to get up and work as hard as I think 32:24 anybody could possibly work when it comes to directing. 32:28 Like that's a really, really all-encompassing job. 32:32 So are you like me where it's like 32:33 either all or nothing? 32:35 I'm either working full or out. 32:37 I think you and I have that in common, yes. 32:40 And I think that part of it is, it's a little bit like, 32:46 it's more sort of social things. 32:47 Like I feel actually kind of shy. 32:50 I don't really want to go say hi to people. 32:51 I feel a little bit like, oh, I'm gonna, you know, 32:53 something's gonna happen. 32:54 This is gonna make me feel awkward. 32:56 But I love directing movies. 32:58 And that movie in particular was the best experience 33:01 I've had. 33:02 And directing is hard and terrifying. 33:04 And at first I thought like, okay, 33:06 even if I don't know anything about this, 33:08 I know that I can at least work harder than everybody else and so I thought well 33:12 You put in 20 hours a day and that's what you do and it made it 33:15 excruciating and I got migraines, but like to the extent that the movies 33:20 You know where I was happy with I I thought well it must be because I worked 20 hours a day and did nothing else 33:25 I'm thought of nothing else and 33:28 Eventually realized that you don't quite have to do it that way and that actually this movie 33:33 Which is my favorite movie I ever made. I love this movie 33:36 it benefits entirely from the writing and acting 33:40 of Jason and Matt and Chris and Viola 33:42 and Chris Pesina and Matt Mayer. 33:45 But it was so much fucking fun every day. 33:48 Well, it's your fault. 33:51 I mean, he, well, we don't have to do a whole thing 33:53 on the kind of set you run and your talent and everything. 33:55 But it was, it was- 33:56 No, no, no, we can actually, I think we have time. 33:58 Actually, I don't understand. 33:59 Do we have 25? 34:00 It was actually incredibly easy. 34:03 Guys, we shot this down the street. 34:05 We shot it in a business, in an office building 34:09 that we're supposed to be in an office building. 34:12 So they basically just flipped the lights on. 34:13 Now that's to take nothing away from Bob Richardson, 34:16 who is like the best DP in the history of movies. 34:19 But it was very fast. 34:23 I think after, wasn't it after like seven days 34:26 we were already three days ahead? 34:28 Yeah, we went, I wanted to go quickly 34:30 and then you and Matt showed up. 34:32 And like having not directed Matt, 34:34 I didn't appreciate it. 34:35 When you're a director, right, you have your plans. 34:37 You're worrying about all these other things. 34:39 Yes, you're worrying about the performances, 34:40 but I thought, okay, well, I won't have to worry 34:42 about the performances, and I'll just worry 34:44 about all the other sort of bullshit I'm doing 34:46 that I think is relevant when really the actors 34:48 are the only thing the audience is paying attention to. 34:50 And like, you know, camera moves and that kind of thing. 34:53 And Jason and Matt are such pros that no, 34:58 I mean, it was like a dance 35:00 to watch these two guys together. 35:01 They've done it so much and so well so that as soon as you start to feel the dolly is late 35:06 It's not gonna be all of a sudden Jason's looking in his pocket for something that might be behind him 35:10 And that looks bad and all of a sudden maybe he makes maybe a little more mournful choice on that line delivery 35:15 Cuz it's gonna give him an extra half step to the turn to where he knows a steady cam's gonna come 35:19 The two of the guys. Yeah. Yeah. I started feeling like you're but you're like making it for me 35:23 Oh, that part is so fun. I love that it really was amazing to see in fact it got to the point where 35:32 because Bob's crew and everyone was so good, 35:34 they started anticipating and trying to do it. 35:36 And then the guys who were really good 35:38 and women who were doing it were like, 35:40 it started to just speed up. 35:41 And finally I was like, Matt, Jason, 35:43 don't do their job for them. 35:45 You don't have to do everybody's job. 35:46 Yes, I know you're great at it, 35:48 but just worry about the scene. 35:49 Cause I think they kind of started having fun with it. 35:52 Like because I had wonters and you'd have to see this 35:54 and Matt and Jason would know like, 35:55 you're probably gonna want that magenta in the background. 35:58 So I thought you'd like the window. 35:59 and I was like, you son of a bitch. 36:01 Yeah, I did want the window. 36:02 I didn't think I was that transparent. 36:05 Did you, can you remember having any sort 36:09 of significant creative negotiation with Matt, 36:11 either in the writing process or in the directing process, 36:14 like giving him a note that he didn't want to take 36:16 or writing a scene that he thought was kind of fine 36:19 already or- 36:20 Because didn't you have the writing process 36:22 like Goodwill Huntingham back in college 36:24 where you would- 36:25 Well they won an Oscar. 36:25 You would what you would you would talk about it or improv it and record it. We record it 36:31 Yeah, on what were audio cassettes at the time kids those were small brown. No, because that's really put in the devices 36:37 Wait, really you guys talked out the script. Yeah, because we never thought of ourselves as formal writers, right? 36:43 We had a great 36:44 Teacher drama teacher in high school who taught us kind of sort of writing directing acting and didn't sort of put them in 36:49 and distinct silos. 36:50 So he was, we would actually end up making plays, 36:53 which we later, I later realized we were act, right, 36:56 direct them in effect, but we just thought 36:58 we would improvise them and kind of distill them down 37:00 and find a story. 37:01 Such a great idea. 37:02 So that's just how we know how to do it. 37:03 So Matt and Matt- 37:04 This person did you such a favor by doing that 37:07 by sort of putting it all together, right? 37:08 There's no question without Jerry Speck and Matt 37:11 or I, or my brother, or Matt Mayer, 37:13 or Max Casala, or Niko Larsen, 37:15 or all the people that came out of the program 37:16 and who are working and who are terrific 37:18 would, I think, be working. 37:21 Because he taught us that, 37:23 and he taught us to not take ourselves seriously, 37:27 respect other people, 37:28 but take the work that we were doing incredibly seriously. 37:32 And that was like that kind of, 37:33 and there's that great time of life 37:35 when you have the older person who's the mentor 37:37 who you look up to who's doing the thing you wanna do 37:40 who says, this is meaningful, 37:42 but you really have to work hard at it. 37:45 And so we did. 37:46 Ben is that that's it so that was a teacher that you guys had at your public high school 37:50 I went to that fucking school just lucked out and got this guy who's a genius 37:54 That's amazing and he was amazing for kids that didn't even end up wanting to be in theater 38:00 And he was I could do a whole thing on him 38:03 But the truth is I I think that's part of why I learned to be collaborative is that Matt and I never fought 38:09 Or argued about stuff 38:11 It was always that we and we never got our feelings hurt because most of the ideas are bad 38:16 So I'll have a bad idea, he'll have a bad idea, 38:18 I'll have a bad idea, he'll have a bad idea. 38:19 I'll have an idea with that's a little bit that may be better. 38:22 And then that kind of keys something in math 38:23 that's mediocre. 38:25 You know what I mean? 38:25 So we know we're building from there 38:26 and it's never about, 38:27 and then it just becomes about like finding the best thing 38:30 until both of us feel like it can't be improved. 38:33 And we kind of go like, 38:35 and if there is a kind of difference of opinion, 38:38 it always ends up coming down to who cares more. 38:40 I go, man, I don't know, I really think 38:42 this is about the, and he's like, 38:44 Man, that, and I go, uh-huh, all right, all right. 38:46 If you don't want to do it more than I want to do it, 38:49 then we're not going to do it, you know? 38:51 Or if I want to do it more than you don't want to do it, 38:53 we're going to do it. 38:54 Like, that's just common. 38:56 Amanda and I try to live by that. 38:57 There she is. 38:58 Oh, look, it's Jennifer. 38:59 Special guest talk. 39:00 There she is. 39:01 Hi. 39:02 You can't hear us. 39:03 Hi. 39:04 Hi, Jen. 39:05 Hi, guys. 39:06 You were just doing very well. 39:07 We were talking about you in very favorable terms 39:09 and so was your husband. 39:10 Oh, thank you. 39:11 I was singing some of your songs back to you. 39:13 Oh, sing, please sing. 39:15 We're waiting for the night, oh! 39:18 Oh my love, it's waiting for two nights. 39:21 Waiting for two nights. 39:26 Oh, that's the mic drop right there. 39:28 But thank you. 39:29 You crushed it. 39:30 That's when we were lucky that we had those actors. 39:35 Thank you for saying hi. 39:37 Yes, of course. 39:39 Bye Jennifer. 39:39 We're looking forward to doing this with you. 39:41 Oh good, I love you. 39:42 There's the part that will make the show. 39:44 By the way, we just bypassed Jason's, 39:47 I didn't know this term, creative negotiation. 39:51 Yeah, you know what I'm doing. 39:52 Way to take the yard out of it, man. 39:54 You fucking find a way every fucking time. 39:57 Just business, my friend. 39:58 I know you're fucking negotiating street. 40:00 How much for the batteries? 40:02 Hey Picasso, how much paint did you use? 40:04 How many cubic liters of paint did you use? 40:06 That's the beautiful thing. 40:07 Just take the fucking art out of it, babe, and fuck you. 40:11 You see, Picasso had never had to negotiate with anybody 40:13 because it's just a single thing. 40:15 Well, what we're doing is like team stuff, right? 40:18 So you've got to always negotiate who wants to do that. 40:21 I mean, the lucky thing is when you don't have to negotiate, 40:23 when you go like, you know, you do something, 40:26 you write it, you give it to him 40:27 and then Jason sits down and reads the scene 40:28 and they're like, he made me cry. 40:31 And then you feel like a jerk 40:32 because you feel like that guy who just like, 40:35 was it Marty Short or whatever, who's to go? 40:36 and then, you know, you just want to give one of those. 40:41 What's the name of that character played, Joe? 40:43 Jiminy Glick? 40:43 Jiminy Glick, I just watched him last night. 40:46 I have a question, Mr. Affleck. 40:48 Damn. 40:51 So to wrap up the Matt stuff, 40:53 we'll leave him out of the rest of the interview, 40:56 but the, because we've had enough of Matt, right? 41:00 I mean, Will, with you, with your wordle, 41:01 quartle, and squirtle every morning. 41:03 I want to get in on that. 41:04 And Matt was like, you're not ready. 41:05 I was thinking about it. 41:07 Jason dropped out. 41:09 He couldn't take the heat. 41:10 No, it's not the heat. 41:11 It's Will likes to tell you how much better 41:13 his score could have been had he done X, Y, or Z. 41:17 Anyway, that's really... 41:18 Wait, wait. 41:19 I wanted to close the map part of it. 41:21 Tell for the... 41:22 And you could... 41:23 I know I would love to do a full podcast with you 41:25 about artist equity and all the studio economics 41:28 that you're embodying. 41:29 They didn't tell me you didn't want to do this one. 41:31 We put our audience to sleep. 41:32 So for those that have narcolepsy, 41:34 Do the quick version of generally what the concept is what you guys are doing versus what exists 41:42 And why that makes sense for you guys doing this since your buddies and you want to kind of spread that kind of buddy feeling in the process 41:50 It's it's a tough elevator pitch and I over talk and go on too long. So it's a bad calm 41:57 Basically what it is is like over the years as I'm sure you have we start to kind of know it like there 42:03 There's money that gets spent on things that don't end up making the movie any better. 42:08 And the more money that you spend on what you do, the more obligation you have, the sort 42:12 of more risk there is, and the less likely people are to do things that you consider 42:16 more interesting and they want to be more conventional. 42:20 And then I looked around and I just, as a director, started to really understand 42:27 and value the people on the crew who made such a significant difference to the quality 42:32 of what you're doing, both in terms of speed 42:34 and in terms of the environment 42:36 and the way in which you're able to perform it. 42:38 I'm a big believer that the performance 42:40 really ultimately is what draws people in 42:43 and performance and the writing. 42:45 And so we came up with this idea 42:47 of never thinking anyone would ever actually fund us 42:50 to do a movie studio that was predicated on two things. 42:54 Basically, allowing the crew and the artist being 42:58 the writer, and I consider the crew the artist, 43:00 which is the whole group. Actors, directors, writers, so on, as well as cinematographers, 43:06 sound mixers, everybody who collectively create the value in what we're doing to benefit from the 43:14 upside of it in a really meaningful, significant way, but also to be responsible for it. In other 43:18 words, listen, if it goes over, you're going to get less. If it comes in under, you're going 43:22 to do better, but all of us have to make it good. Otherwise, we're not going to get anything 43:26 and sort of treat people like grown-ups, believe they can be accountable, and also believe 43:30 that, you know, when, because incentives have not historically been aligned between the people 43:35 financing movies traditionally, and the people making them always. And so without going into 43:41 too great a detail, the idea was like, let, and let's separate this out from like, what is the 43:47 value of a movie? Well, usually they'll use comps like, well, what's the budget? And what did 43:53 you make on your last movie? And, and especially now, because there's no back end and no gross, 43:57 that's sort of it right right well I've always felt that was akin to going into 44:02 the Apple Store and saying I'll tell you how much I give you for the iPhone when 44:06 you tell me how much you paid the guy that put it together but that's you know 44:10 you don't that's not how it works right so why does it have to work in the 44:13 other way so what by being agnostic as a financier and producer this studio and 44:19 we had to then you know hire all the business affairs and legal and physical 44:22 production so on so that we could be an entity significant enough to take 44:26 on the entire creative responsibility of developing, 44:30 producing, shooting, and delivering the movie. 44:34 And in exchange, we got to say, 44:35 look, this is what it's gonna cost. 44:37 It won't cost a dime more than that. 44:38 If it goes over, we pay for it. 44:40 But you have to sort, we're gonna be the ones 44:43 who take on the burden, the role of saying, 44:45 we're gonna deliver something good. 44:47 If it's terrible, it's our fault. 44:48 But you are gonna sort of put your trust 44:52 in us to be able to do this. 44:53 I'm sure whatever partners that we work with, 44:55 They're excellent brilliant people with distributing and marketing movies. We don't do that 44:59 We don't want to do very many movies, but we want to just really make good movies with people we like 45:05 I love that and that's it and then and we think you should be people should be paid more for 45:10 You're basically taking on the financial risk by by funding the production effectively and then you're saying 45:16 We don't need you you don't get the leverage financier by giving us the money to make it 45:21 Assuming that we don't have it to make it 45:24 We actually do we're gonna spend the money to make it and we're basically coming to you and saying we'd like to sell you this 45:29 Product we're gonna take care of the wholesale part. Here's the retail price who wants to buy it exactly. Yeah, exactly 45:35 It makes a lot of sense. That's what he just said. He just tried. I'm trying to see if my brain heard it, right? 45:42 We'll be right back 45:45 We all like appliances that know what they're doing, which is why you'll love the Vitamix Ascent X5 45:50 It has 10 automatic lending programs. 45:53 10, we have what? 45:55 Maybe three, work, eat, avoid work? 45:58 Meanwhile, the Ascent X5 is making smoothies, 46:02 soups, sauces, frozen cocktails, nut butters, 46:05 and a bunch of other stuff 46:06 you wouldn't even think to make at home. 46:09 Just press a button and it handles the rest. 46:11 And when you're done, 46:12 there's even a self-cleaning program 46:14 instead of the typical leave it in the sink 46:16 and hope someone else deals with it program. 46:18 Scotty! 46:19 Honestly, at this point, the Ascent X5 is contributing more around the house than anyone else. 46:24 And that's okay. 46:26 The Vitamix Ascent X5, only the essential. 46:29 What I love is having a smoothie after a workout that's sitting in the fridge pre-made 46:35 that I made myself. 46:37 No, I didn't. 46:38 Scotty! 46:39 But it was made with the Vitamix Ascent X5. 46:41 That's for sure. 46:41 Shop at Vitamix.com. 46:43 Start the day strong with Quaker protein products. 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And back to the show. 48:08 So now but then once you have finished the completion of a film, you now have to enter 48:13 into a whole nother thing because you're you're going out there to distributors. 48:16 Yeah, so are you working with all different distributors all different businesses like there's all sorts is changing a lot 48:22 You have streamers you have yeah 48:23 The companies are theatrical and streaming and so and that's nobody's quite figured that out yet 48:28 My feeling is people are watching things and interested in them and that's gonna be ongoing 48:33 How they figure out the economics of where they place value on it, you know 48:38 They're if we keep our focus to a few things and make them make try to make them really good 48:43 And also, I really just felt like, you know, interesting original dramas, 48:47 comedies, sort of ideas were starting to fall away from theatrical world. 48:51 Yes. 48:52 It was kind of like, nah, that's not in movie theaters. 48:54 And so with this movie, and this movie's themes are kind of 48:57 congruent with with the ideas and the philosophy of this business. 49:01 Like, what are the people worth and how should they be compensated? 49:04 And isn't this the story itself, I think is interesting. 49:07 Me, I want people to go see movies like this. 49:09 Yeah, I watch watching your trailer. 49:11 I thought that very thing, the first time I saw it, 49:13 I thought nobody gets to make movies like this anymore 49:16 because we've lived in a world where, 49:19 and everybody has benefited and participated 49:21 to a certain degree in these sort of, 49:23 whatever you call them, these temples or these- 49:26 Include me. 49:27 Yeah, no, that's what I mean. 49:28 Everybody, all of us have benefited in certain ways. 49:30 However, what happened was the result of that 49:33 is that these other kinds of movies 49:35 that you're talking about- 49:36 Without special effects. 49:37 Without special effects and that are story-driven 49:39 and that are- 49:39 Well, your hair, but beside that, yeah. 49:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 49:43 Those things don't really, 49:45 those kind of movies don't really exist as much anymore. 49:48 Not in the theaters. 49:49 And this one's going to 3,000 screens, right? 49:51 Well, part of the problem is fucking Ozark. 49:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 49:53 Because it used to be that, you know, 49:55 to put on movie, you're competing, you know, 49:57 like Lawn Order or whatever, Magnum. 49:59 You know what I mean? 49:59 You had an 11-inch black and white 50:01 and you could watch Simon and Simon, 50:02 or you could go see, well, you know, 50:04 Carter at 1,600. 50:06 Oh my God. 50:06 And now, you've got Succession and Ozark 50:08 and really good fucking stuff where people at home go, 50:12 you know what, I can pause, I can watch tomorrow. 50:14 That's made it very difficult. 50:16 But it looks like they're approaching a good combo 50:18 where you're getting a nice window of time 50:21 in the brick and mortar theaters. 50:23 You can see it on a big screen if you want. 50:24 Or you can wait, what is it? 50:26 I think it's now basically six weeks 50:28 before it'll be at your home 50:30 as opposed to the old method was like three months. 50:32 I'm really grateful to Amazon. 50:34 The first time they're really going for the, 50:36 We're going to do a theatrical, traditional, you know, 50:39 3,500 screens out in the theaters. 50:41 Go see, don't, you can't like wait to see it for free. 50:43 Like, not sort of upstaging it with a sub, 50:45 a very impending free version at home. 50:48 This is Amazon, right? 50:49 Yeah, Amazon, yeah. 50:50 And they really are taking a flyer on this. 50:52 And I really, I mean, I hope it works honestly for, 50:55 obviously for the movie, 50:55 but also so that we can do it again. 50:58 And the reason why going back to that model, 51:00 the one thing that we do ask is that like, 51:03 The Hollywood model is kind of like I get paid in failure. 51:07 Like I still have the money, I spent it, 51:09 but like I made money on Gilead. 51:11 I didn't have to give it back. 51:13 Right. 51:13 You know what I mean? 51:14 Like everyone else went broke and I got a car, you know? 51:17 So this is like, we're not gonna get paid here. 51:20 We're just gonna spend what it costs 51:21 to make the movie itself. 51:23 And we're all gonna show up and invest our time and energy 51:26 and if it works and if it's successful 51:28 and if it's financially successful, 51:29 you'll get paid whether you're the cinematographer 51:32 whether you're the writer's right much more otherwise than you would have but the relationship between how you're compensated and 51:39 How much it connects to audiences is really direct versus just like hey, man 51:44 You know I don't get out of bed for less than whatever and that's what I kind of you know that that and such a nice thing to not have that 51:51 Vibe, you know where the people who are doing it just want to be there 51:54 And I think this this film's got a real good chance of 51:57 of hitting that sort of zeitgeist thing, 52:00 only for two reasons. 52:01 Number one, it's a story we all think we know, 52:04 but we don't. 52:05 The whole story about how and why Nike got into business 52:10 with Michael Jordan when Michael Jordan entered the NBA 52:12 and when this whole start of this sneaker, 52:15 this whole Air Jordan thing, 52:16 like it's an incredible American business story 52:19 that no one really knows how it went together. 52:22 And this movie explained it. 52:23 And you're releasing it during March Madness, 52:25 which I think is genius. 52:26 And first of all, I hear it's great 52:28 from a few different people who've seen it. 52:30 Two of them are in the movie, but they say it's great. 52:34 Believe them. 52:37 You can come by the house and watch it anytime, by the way. 52:40 I told Jason, he didn't invite you 52:41 because I told Jason two or three times, 52:43 please ask him to come. 52:44 He did not. 52:44 I think you broke up to bring up 52:46 that part of the phone call. 52:47 I'm desperate to see it. 52:48 And I think Bradley saw it. 52:50 Anyway, whatever it is, I'm desperate to see it. 52:52 I think it sounds amazing. 52:53 Bradley won't let me see this movie until it's mixed. 52:55 It's really got movies. I heard I heard I read the script and I and I remember saying to him like this is you know 53:02 This is the talking about my stress dude. My shirt really. Yeah incredible the test. It's amazing 53:08 It's fucking amazing talk about movies that nobody's the best script. I've ever read that it's really really good 53:13 And but I was gonna say for your movie 53:15 What's great is because it is like as Jason says it does tell the story and it's so great and you know 53:19 People like Jason 53:20 This is where they learn stuff is from the movies because they've never read a book before 53:24 They have no life experience. 53:25 Right, they have no life experience. 53:26 So, but truly, everybody says, and even Jason says this, 53:31 which you never say, you weren't talking about yourself 53:33 about how much you love the movie. 53:35 I can say that he legitimately loves it. 53:38 So it's, I'm very excited to see it. 53:40 Now, let's talk about Batman. 53:42 Let's talk about the real thing that everybody's saying. 53:44 Can I jump in here for a minute? 53:45 Let's get down to business. 53:46 No, because the only time we really hung out 53:49 was when we did that thing with Kimmel about Batman 53:52 and then I stuck my head in as Lego Batman 53:54 and you guys all laughed at me. 53:56 I thought it was funny. 53:56 We do have two Batman's on the podcast, Sean. 53:58 I know. That's kind of cool. 53:59 It's very cool. 54:00 One real and one cartoon. 54:02 But I saw the trailer for The Flash and everybody was like 54:04 freaking out when you came on the screen. 54:06 You know what? That movie's good. 54:08 I hear it's amazing. 54:08 That movie's really good. 54:09 It looks good. 54:10 I hear that movie's fucking cool. 54:12 Yeah, I love that. 54:13 And it's my best shit I've done. 54:15 I finally figured out how to play the guy. 54:17 No, really? 54:17 I got it for real? 54:18 I was like, hold on. 54:19 I quit. 54:20 I know I quit, and I know I came back to it. 54:23 But I got it now. 54:24 It's like, you know, you do the audition 54:25 and you're on your way home, and you're like, no. 54:27 Wait, what was the moment? 54:29 What, why did the penny drop? 54:31 What happened? 54:32 I mean, I don't want to get a spoiler, 54:33 but it was a scene where I got, I get caught, 54:38 I get saved by Wonder Woman during a conflagration 54:41 with some bad guys. 54:44 And she saves me by, I mean, 54:50 She saves you with the lasso of truth. 54:54 And so what happens is that Batman divulges 54:58 some of his real feelings about his life and his work. 55:03 And it helps you see the character 55:05 and now you want another chance to play it. 55:07 I was like, wait a minute, I got it. 55:11 And I still, can I, guys? 55:13 Are we still rolling? 55:14 Can we write another story? 55:14 That's a story in my fucking mind. 55:16 By the way, Ben, one time I remember years ago 55:18 And I asked him about it. 55:20 I remember Alec Baldwin saying in an interview 55:23 that he was driving home from Nautzland 55:25 when he was on Nautzlanding. 55:27 And like on a Friday night and just going like, 55:30 oh, fuck, that's how you do the scene. 55:32 And he's like, from that moment on, 55:34 he made a deal with himself that he would never leave it, 55:36 that he would always figure out the scene 55:38 while he was there. 55:39 And it always stuck with me, 55:39 especially because it was Nautzland. 55:41 So funny, Alec told me a similar story 55:42 but totally different. 55:44 Is that true? 55:45 Yeah, he loves this metaphor. 55:47 He's like, you know why I'm a good actor, 55:48 but not a great actor." And I was like, uh, no, Alec, and I don't want to answer that. 55:52 It was like because I was playing Skowalski on Broadway. And I, uh, uh, it was the door, 55:59 he was supposed to leave the screen door, and I guess in some, and, and the screen door wouldn't 56:03 open, and he was exiting it. It wouldn't open. I shook it once, and I shook it twice, 56:07 and it wouldn't open. And so I stepped around it. And right then, I realized what would Brando 56:13 to do. He would have kicked it down. 56:15 He would have kicked it down. 56:16 And I was like, so, oh, kick it down. 56:20 But he's very focused on that moment after thing. 56:25 Dude, that's hilarious. 56:27 I want to ask you about, you won two Academy Awards, 56:29 Good Will Hunting and Argo Light. 56:30 Thank you. 56:31 I was wondering if we were going to get to that. 56:34 It's been the Jason Bateman show. 56:36 Your publicist is all over me about that. 56:38 I was like, OK, he got it. 56:41 Texting, texting. 56:42 Yeah, no, but I want to talk to you about Argo 56:44 because he wrote me one of the funniest emails, 56:46 which I want to read right now. 56:47 And we can cut it if you want, but it's really funny. 56:49 Anyway, Victor Garber, who's a friend of ours, right? 56:51 He was staying in my guest house here 56:53 while you were filming Argo with three houses down. 56:57 But go ahead. 56:57 What's that? 56:58 He said you were in his guest house, 56:59 but he was in his guest house here. 57:00 Yeah, sure, whatever, we swap. 57:01 We share, like you share a bank account, 57:03 we share a guest house. 57:05 We don't want to still share a bank account with Matt. 57:07 All of a sudden the deal's over after born, you know? 57:09 But you shot Argo three houses down for me 57:14 and I would walk over my pajamas 57:15 and sit down and watch you direct. 57:17 And it was super, super fun. 57:19 And then you won the Oscar and I was there at the Oscars. 57:24 And I wrote an email to you and I said, 57:26 I'm so proud of him, so thrilled for you. 57:28 I still, then all the other sentences had question marks. 57:31 I said, I still haven't seen it. 57:32 I probably won't add to it. 57:34 I'll probably have to Netflix it 57:36 and someone will have to read the subtitles to me 57:38 But I'm sure I'll love it like everyone in Iran says they do and then I said 57:41 I love your speech blah blah blah and you wrote back 57:43 I saw your little sweet face when I was standing up there accepting my Oscar in the middle of the greatest triumph of my 57:49 Professional life. I thought I have got to tell Sean to go tanning 57:59 So when I was doing all this research for you today like all this stuff 58:03 I found that old I was like I'm gonna look at old emails 58:05 I laughed out loud and then you wrote me another one haven't taken me up on it 58:11 Still pasty 58:12 No, not at all. I'm translucent 58:16 Benjamin this has been amazing 58:18 Way too much is it over. They told they told me it's too out. So only an hour for me 58:23 You don't usually do it to just feel great. You go three, right? I'm a big fan 58:28 I got to tell you guys. I love the Mark Maron show you are 58:31 Oh, I'm sorry, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. 58:35 No, the truth is you guys are, 58:36 you guys are, do a great job. 58:38 You manage to be very interesting to listen to. 58:41 And yet very little of substance has ever had. 58:44 We distract you with all the constant noise. 58:46 That's all it is. 58:47 It feels like, kind of wonderful. 58:50 I enjoyed it. 58:50 It's an honor and a pleasure to be on the show. 58:52 Thank you for having me. 58:53 You're so honest to God. 58:54 You are fucking amazing in the movie. 58:55 From the first time I met you 58:57 on the day of smoking aces, 58:58 when I walked into that scene 58:59 And you did the monologue about about congenital alcoholism and herpes in a small penis 59:04 I have never you cannot if you go back and watch that is not a shot of me 59:08 Yeah, that's not from the movie dude. He was just telling somebody we're just hanging out and remember he put it in the movie 59:17 It was I was like this guy is a genius of 59:21 Genius, and I have never forgot it and then Joe Carnahan fault, you know 59:26 Oh, he wrote a great scene and directed a great movie. 59:29 No, no, your fault. 59:31 Genius. 59:32 Love, Joe. 59:32 Great in that, great in extract. 59:34 I have loved it. 59:35 It's been my pleasure. 59:35 We had fun on extract. 59:36 I think you're a genius. 59:38 Yeah, you are a genius.
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