961. - Matt Spicer

[00:00] All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week. Jason, does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. [00:30] YouTube. [00:49] How long gone? Finally, God is pissing upon New York City. It's been a rough couple of days, Jason, but I think it's his way of saying, you guys got to calm down. [00:58] There's kind of been too much action. The Big Apple, them jeans was in town. The World Cup, you know, the Knicks. Too outside, we outside. We're too outside. The nutcrackers are flowing. Thank God that we've been kind of, you know, stuck in our houses for at least 24 hours. I think we need it. I didn't know that. Okay, so washing the streets clean of the Knickerbocker filth is what you're hoping for. Jason, unfortunately, I think those stains could be permanent, but we'll see what he can do with his power, capital H. His power. [01:28] It's nice over here in LA, going to be a high of 84, and just went for a little dog walk. Passed all the summer school students off to their summer school class. Dumbass. I would say it's kind of the opposite. I mean, losers in terms of the future of their life and adulthood, but...

[01:50] Back then, the coolest kids were the ones who would have to go to summer school. The slackers, the sluts. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. We're never going to talk badly about sluts on How Long Gone. You know that, Jason. Come on. I was just talking positively about sluts. I see. I was just saying sluts are so awesome, so busy doing great cultural work. That they don't, yeah. That they don't have time for whatever they're teaching nowadays. I did some. Adam and Steve, probably. I did some summer school. [02:20] but other place yeah i did some summer school as well i think only one time and of course for math my weakest subject um that's why i only know how to count in increments of 20 if you know what i'm saying uh wow okay i think i um i feel like i was so more like fives i was so asked that i think i was taking elective classes in summer school i think i took typing in summer school and i which is not a required well to be credit you know to be fair that's something you use on a daily basis [02:50] - Truly pointless. - My WPM is probably shitting on yours, not to-- - I don't, actually, I don't know about that. I don't know about that. I don't wanna set up a competition or anything, but-- - Okay, my WPM, [03:02] It's better than yours. No, it rivals. It's not shitting yours. It rivals. I would say. Rivals? So like one day I'll catch up to you? No, no, no. I'm saying that I think we're neck and neck. I think it's the last couple laps of the NASCAR track and it could be a photo finish for us. It's anyone's game. Okay. Well, did you? It's anyone's game. How often do you practice blind typing?

[03:21] Bro, I've been blind typing since I was 13 years old, bitch. I've been wearing glasses since I was fifth grade. I mean, blind typing I can do now. I mean, blind typing at its height for me was on the BlackBerry, unfortunately, which is not going to be something we're going to be able to test, you know, use this in the competition. Yeah. And also, I don't know if BlackBerry counts. It was almost like cheating with typing. It was, it was, that was, that's when mankind reached peak ergonometry. That's true. Actually, that's true. There's a lot, there's a lot going on. [03:51] Our queen is upset again. Our queen. This is the most ever we've talked to. I don't think we've ever talked about Anthony Fantano before on this podcast until the last two episodes because of his Olivia Rodrigo stuff and now him going toe-to-toe with Halsey, and she's crashing the F out on the timeline. I think I saw somebody else shitting on the Fantano man as well, but it's a pile-on. I guess these things happen every year or so, but I mean, I see both sides. [04:21] of Halsey's points. I don't. Whether you like him or not are technically correct. No, no. He's not a 4chan. He's not a 4chan. He's not a 4chan. I can't. We can't prove that. I mean, he looks very 4chan. A lot of people look like things, Jason. You know what I mean? What about him is not [04:38] 4chan what about him is throwing you off the scent of his 4chan i just think he's i just think he's a different kind of weirdo like i just think that's not his flavor of of behavior personally do you think you're qualified to speak on 4chan matters oh you're definitely more qualified but luckily on this podcast luckily on this podcast we both we both get to say what we want that's the beauty of this but i think that i think that uh i think that

[05:03] I just think that every artist knows that you cannot... It's a fool's errand to go against a critic. It's never going to end well for anybody. You're going to look butthurt. Whether they're right, wrong, or indifferent, everybody loses. And to be fair, it's probably just getting Tony more eyeballs. [05:20] Is the reality. Yeah, but, you know, is Halsey, quote unquote, arguing with fools, you know, or are we calling Big Tony, the Ant-Man, a fool? He seems to be a pretty like... Oh, I'm not saying he's a fool. I'm saying the audience is fools. The audience are fools. Like I'm saying, like this is the kind of thing where people who like him will agree with him and people who like her will agree with her. And there's going to be no minds changed. You know what I mean? No sway will be swayed. [05:50] Yeah, that's my issue with it. It's just like, who does this help besides him, really, at the end of the day? You know what I mean? People that didn't know his name now know his name. I don't know if they're converting, but regardless, awareness is awareness. Yeah, and early in his career, he should have changed it to Fanetto, just because Fantano, I don't like saying it. It's not fun to say out loud, rolls off the tongue poorly. Yeah, my tongue is. And Fanetto, great song from One Chief Keef. [06:20] Not me. Is it? Does that mean it's time to do all the laundry? That's Chris's motivational song? No, it is not. My motivational songs are a little less aggressive, I would say, but upbeat in their own right, I think, is a fair way to put it. The musical songs of Don Cavallaro will get the juices flowing. Don't bring up Don Cavallaro. Damn, I might put that on. Damn, I'm going to Atlanta this weekend, too. I might get my little vintage bag. You know what I'm saying?

[06:50] Open up a nice little 97 cab. Let it breathe for a minute. My 97 cab, I don't decant it. It's actually on CD. So it's a little harder to kind of get it to open up. More Rodrigo news, though. Big Shod interviewed her for Pitchfork. But we're talking about the pictures because I have to say that they're pandering to me in the t-shirt department. [07:12] Okay. And I think that a... We're getting hyper niche here. I like this. I mean, look, Mark Hundley is one of my favorites. He's a great artist. [07:20] to gallery legend, but he made those famous stencil Smith shirts that you've seen for years. And, and Olivia Rodrigo is wearing one of his shirts, a T-Rex version in the magazine, in the zine. And I've seen all the Olivia Rodrigo sites being like... [07:37] They can't find it. You know what I mean? They're trying to find out what that is and give a price to it, and they're failing. They've only looked on Brandy Melville, but still zero results so far. Still zero results found. But that, the La Tigre shirt, I mean, look, we're eating good out here if you have good taste, but she announced her festival. It's good. And I guess the bummer is the idea... [07:59] these these sort of stenciled shirts the one that she's wearing i was dancing when i was 12 which is a famous lyric um the idea is like here is a stencil it looks like it was made with a stencil i went to a store i bought stencils and i made this and everyone back in the day when you know when this was going on 70s 80s whatever they would say great i'm gonna go to the store and buy stencils and make it and now people are like why i'm gonna wait until it's on timu because yeah i

[08:29] have the attention span to stencil man sure this one was probably made with obviously we have diy shorties thriving nowadays but you know by and large most of them are making jewelry that's not selling but yes in theory we do have diy shorties pouring their own candles somewhere in east williamsburg as we speak um but she she announced her festival which i have to say is um i you know it re re-launching lilith fair basically great program it's great it's a plus and it's i i've [08:59] voices just like heaven of course august august 22nd august 22nd pasadena um i would say that i've seen a lot of interesting conversations now though saying like she has the best taste but i don't like her music you know from adults which i think is like a very measured and cool response [09:18] I think that's like a fair way to assess the situation if you're not interested in the music. It's fair. It's nicer. But it's a thing that people never used to say before. And I think the problem is more people are exposed to her taste in music than her music. Before, you would have to dig deep to find out what Stevie Nicks' musical taste was or Bikini Kill's musical taste was. [09:48] wake up [09:49] sit on the toilet, open your phone, and suddenly she's telling you that, you know, Quiet Light and Not For Radio are going to be appearing in Irvine or whatever, you'd have to really work for it. So, you know, now you have to work more to listen to the album than to listen to the person talk about the album. No, that's a good point. I mean, I'm just so, my eyes are glued to Can Lion with Spotify announcing all of their new partnerships. So, I'm having a hard time paying attention to anything right now, Jason. If I, I mean, you know,

[10:19] coach launching a partnership with Spotify and I wasn't invited? This is fucking bullshit, dude. I can't. Troy Savant's there and I'm not? What the fuck is going on? Is there any justice? Troy Savant, your face is too symmetrical and you have ascended too far and you photographed too well to be attending Cannes Lion. It's a money grab. I think it's always been known that [10:49] but now we're learning that there's more money at Can Lion and less money in the film industry. So everyone starts sniffing around. Maybe I'm going to go see what's over at the Adobe... [11:00] The Adobe Illustrator tent. See what's popping over there? I'm at the Figma house tonight. They got Zara Larson at Figma house. Emily Sundberg was able to give me the list, so we're fucking turning up tonight, bro. Yeah, but you know, Zara Larson at the Figma house, at Kappa Gamma Figma house. [11:19] I saw photos of, you know, bless all of our friends who are out there, but, you know, they should have brought a lot of tech out to Cannes for Cannes Lion. They shouldn't have brought cameras. [11:31] We don't need to see what these people look like with a flash after two glasses of N.A. Orange one. I'd be happy to go. My invite must have gotten lost in the mail, but that's okay. I would also be happy to go. I don't think Can Lion is ready for it. We're not brand safe for Can Lion just quite yet. I don't know, man. There's some guys keeping it real out there about brand marketing in 2026 and how it affects all of us. Don't get it fucking twisted. They're spitting fire? They're spitting fire. Our guest is here. Matt Spicer is joining us. He's a director.

[12:01] uh film uh and there's a new movie called little brother directed by matt starring uh john cena and enemy of the show eric andre um so i'm i didn't know he was enemy of the show if he keeps acting we're gonna dig into that i know matt's about to get some lashings for letting andre do his little suit stunt at the fucking premiere but we'll get into that uh let's let's let's give matt a call [12:24] This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian, stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world. And I know you particularly have quite a lot of questions. A lot of questions, but how often? Because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot. How many times do they do? Three times a week. And I have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points [12:54] different stuff than we do that's just a guess the guardian is not some billionaire owned platform they're not afraid to say what they want to say brother yeah rupert ain't sniffing around in in what uh journalists kai wright and carter sherman are up to over there at uh stateside but yeah listen wherever you get your podcast you can watch on youtube it's three times a week and and who couldn't use more news you know especially especially when it's when it's not [13:19] you know from here let's say give it give it a listen give it a listen [13:24] All right, Jason, this episode of How I'm Gone has brought you by Superpower. And I don't know about you, but I'm sick and damn tired of leaving the doctor's office feeling like I got no useful info from these buzzos. You put on the white coat, you sit down, you say a bunch of stuff, but it's nothing I can use. You know, maybe you told me you're fine. Drink more water as if I could. I'm not leaving with no real data, no game plan, just a pat on the ass. And I'm sick and tired of it.

[13:54] my problems. Yeah. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who really cares about inside of my body and all the diseases. And now, you know, the doctors, they've been gatekeeping this info and they don't really care about me that much. Their head is out of the game. They're thinking about golf. They're thinking about what they're going to have for dinner. I care. I want to go through all these tests, hundreds of data points here, and I'm ready to go in with my internet research [14:24] how to help it because we don't know what's going on inside of our body. We don't know how much sleep we should be getting, what supplements we need, what foods we should be avoiding. And this info is all there thanks to science and technology. So make this year the year you stop guessing about your health with superpower. For a limited time, our listeners get $20 off to unlock their new health intelligence. Head over to superpower.com and use code howlong for $20 off your membership. [14:54] That's code howlong. And after you sign up, they'll ask you how you heard about Superpower. Do us a favor if you could and tell them how long gone sent you. And that'll help support the show. All right. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Revolve. I don't know if you've been paying attention, Jason, but guys really be caring about how they dress and how they look. Luckily, Revolve, man, is on the internet, super easy.

[15:24] essentials as well as our friends palms of course and it's not fast fashion it's not stuffy it's a sweet spot between looking intentional and not looking like you tried too hard good luck uh new arrivals drop twice a week with free two-day shipping and next day options plus returns are actually easy yeah it's true and that two-day shipping really is nice it really does happen i've used it a few times and it is surprising how nice things show up and you get excited to try [15:54] just throwing your shirt in a bag and kicking it down the hill so whenever it's a big night out a wedding a trip or you just need something last minute that actually works revolve man always has it go to revolve.com slash how long to shop and use code how long for 15 off your order free two-day shipping easy returns it just makes things easier that is revolve.com [16:18] slash how long promo code how long 15 off your entire order this offer ends soon [16:25] So do not sleep on it. [16:27] you [16:29] Matt, welcome to the pod. Let's get you crawling out of this hole that we've buried for you, okay? I want to say, you might be the first guy. Are you sitting in front of your Blu-ray collection right now? [16:38] I am. I am a full-on Blu-ray Criterion collector nerd. Dude, I have to say, this is an impressive collection. Bro, that's just the West Wall. You haven't even seen the rest of the space. That's a good... Do you have a dedicated room for your collection? This is my... I mean, this is like my sanctuary. This is my office. I've got all my posters. I got my vinyl. This is kind of my spot. You have every Taylor Swift album in every color, and you have all your Blu-rays. This

[17:08] story candles incenses things like that burning oils what does it smell like in there or have we not thought about the scent space here no i mean i've got some palo santo in the next room okay a classic [17:20] A classic. The bathroom? Some diptyques. Okay. We're keeping it 100. Okay. And I noticed that it appears that your computer screen is the first thing you see when somebody opens that office door. [17:35] So how... I didn't think too much about... How sanctuary... How sanctuous... I don't think about other people coming in here. Jason, he's beating the gooning allegations by having the screen face the door. [17:50] you live alone? Do you live alone? Is that how it works? No, this is kind of, this is like an ADU, so this is in the backyard. Okay, follow-up question. You're in the backyard, ADU. [18:00] Does your view sitting at the desk have a window where you can see an intruder coming from the main house into the backyard? You can hear people coming. You hear their feet hit the deck before they get to. So you've got enough time to slam the laptop shut before the door flies open. Once you hear your fourth footstep, you know, I can't save you now. No promises. You've got time. I don't know how good you are at minimizing windows. That could be, Jason, those buttons are getting smaller and smaller. I think a slam shut is the only way to do it. [18:30] Matt's saying. Slam shot. No, no, no. Slam shot. That's guilty. That's guilty energy right there. I'm more likely to, you're more likely to catch me watching a special feature on one of my criteria on Blu-rays than you probably are pornography back here. But that's just... I honestly, you know what, Matt? Special feature? I don't believe everyone, but I believe you. And I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, that's a good and bad thing, I think. I need to use special feature more. I mean, I only watch special feature

[19:00] So with these Blu-rays, because this is fascinating to me because I am not a physical... I buy books. Any other physical media, I think, is like a fool's errand. But are you... Obviously, picture quality is in play, but are you... You like the special... You like the extras? Is that what you're telling us? Do you like all the additional... I mean, it's kind of everything. It's like the picture's better, the sound's better. I've got on the other side of this wall, there's a 120-inch screen and a projector. So it's like the... [19:27] The quality is important to me. Let's just put it that way. And it changes, honestly. It changes the way that you watch it. [19:34] stuff. And this was really a COVID invention. This whole backhouse kind of situation was like, we couldn't leave the house. And I was like, I'm making a movie theater and I'm creating, I'm building out my physical media collection and we're going to do it right because we can't use the AMCA list. Damn, did Ingrid Go West do that well? Build a goddamn mini IMAX? I mean, I know it was... [19:59] Crowd fave, but I don't know if it's necessarily... You know, I do a lot of stuff. Jason, don't pocket check. He does a lot of stuff. He built a fucking baby IMAX in his backyard as a little COVID project. That's not cheap. I do a lot of commercials. Jason, you ever heard of a sports book? I do a lot of, you know, I do some TV. I write. You know, I do it all. For me, everybody wants to be a director. It doesn't seem like the best job. I don't know. I mean, honestly... It's not. I'm going to assume on this... Let's use this new movie as an example. [20:29] taking considerably less money than john cena for doing this but you're in charge considerably less yeah but he he's the man is a very storied career he's been doing it for you know almost three decades oh no this is this is no this is no no no no this is not a shot at john no john no deal if matt can't do it you know we'll find somebody else to knock it out i've got time i've got time although we're we're closer in age than i would like to admit but i guess i guess it's it's just

[20:59] Sometimes being a director to me means being the boss. And sometimes maybe you don't want to be the boss is what I'm getting at. No, I love being the boss. It's the best feeling in the world. No, it's the, I mean, that's why I was a screenwriter for like 10 years before I did, I directed Ingrid. And, you know, writers get treated like shit. You get replaced constantly. You get rewritten. You know, the good ones get paid very, very well. [21:29] but there's nothing better. I mean, I made zero dollars directing Ingrid, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. So it wasn't about the money. It was just sort of like, you've got this giant sandbox. [21:39] And all these people that you get to, that are just there, like, awaiting your orders to make your vision come to life. And it's like, you get, like, a little bit of a power trip over it. When it ends, you're kind of like, shit, I got to go back to normal life. You know, this sucks. This sucks. People don't, I can't yell at people and they do what I say anymore. This is trash. I started having a standing weekly dinner with Marty. You know, he's different now. [22:09] kids coming up and now it's sort of is a blanket term for everything and you know i guess on the on the creative director side of things you used to be a creative person and now that you have achieved the highest level creative director now you are a manager of creative people does it feel like you're just a manager of a movie at the end of the day i think that's probably the biggest misconception of like directing because i think people just think that yeah you're like you know

[22:39] Yeah. [22:39] you're Stanley Kubrick, and you're like, you know, your vision is just being beamed out onto the screen. And it's really like, it's very mundane, kind of, a lot of meetings, a lot of managing people, [22:51] And you feel like you're almost like the CEO of the movie in some ways because you're like, all right, we got a budget. We got to make sure that we stay on track. We got to stay on schedule. We got to do all these things. And you have to make something artistic and good, ideally, which is that's the hardest part of the job is kind of not sacrificing the quality. Well, let's not forget about all these big personalities. You know what I mean? Yes. That to me is the that's the part I think that wouldn't bother me very much. [23:21] But that is something you get to avoid in the writers room when you're on your fucking six bag of gummy worms. You know what I mean? Yeah, well honestly even in the writers room, I feel like that's even harder in some ways because writers are like [23:34] I think they're, you know, like, they could be, like, texting each other behind your back or kind of snickering or, you know what I mean? Like, I think writers kind of can be the harder ones to manage in a way. Although I've always wanted to be in a writer's room. I've never had the pleasure of doing, like, a... [23:49] being in a writer's room on like a tv show you know that seems like oh you're so you're usually you're usually siloed out in the adu doing your thing solo dolo well i usually write actually with a writing partner i hate writing alone it's it's like the i tried it one time wow and i was like never again this is terrible you didn't like what you saw in the mirror when those facing the blank page me and my demons and the pad imagine podcasting alone you know it's just much better to do it with

[24:19] Don't tie it all together with a bow like that, Matt. It's too good. Two or three of the podcasting greats are solo artists. Jason and I talk about this all the time. Bill Burr, Tim Dillon, and technically Marc Maron. They all have producers and shit, but they're on the mic alone. Look, I respect the Marc Marons and the Tarantinos who can just sit in a room and just create these worlds by themselves. [24:49] fun and I don't I don't I don't think I'm good at that I think I'm much better bouncing off of other people's energy which is why part of the reason why I like being on set is like that's all it is is you're yeah yeah people coming up to you with problems or you're reacting to what other people are giving you good or bad and you gotta I don't I don't want to see you on day 29 of a 30-day shoot and sweet greens out of kale I'll tell you that no there's a lot of sad eating situations on sets it's just like huddled in a corner just like literally just shoveling food [25:19] you gain do you now when you're all right let's say you're making this movie you putting on weight you losing weight from stress what's the what's the outcome sadly i'm putting on weight i was like i have to say i was in like the best shape of my life going into making this movie and and i had i i moved to new york we shot in in new jersey new york and i moved to tribeca and i was like i got the gym membership i was like i'm gonna do it i'm gonna stick to the schedule and within i i [25:44] I'm not kidding. Within one week, I was like, this isn't going to happen. And I just let it rip. I was like, you know what? Just who cares? I'll just do whatever I need to do to get through it. And I sadly have not.

[25:56] I've not bounced back, and now we're about to have a kid in a month, and I'm like, I don't know if I'm ever going to get back on the horse. Look, Matt, I don't want to get dark here, but... [26:07] You got to lock in, bro. This is your month right now. We got to start new habits. We have to start new habits right now. Yeah, the old Matt's, your workout plan was who cares? So now that we're 30 days away, we're going to have to care. You guys help me. I need motivation. Like, what should I do? Well, the problem was you thought you were going to do Chris Black's New York. I'm going to move to Tribeca and join Seven Gyms. And then you're like, oh, yeah. Literally. I forgot I have to make a John Cena film in New Jersey every day. [26:37] and then you know maybe i'll friendship for dinner again and the fourth glass of white burgundy and now the 5 45 trainer we're getting a cancellation yeah we're getting a cancellation [26:48] And the studio's not paying for it. They're paying for Cena. They ain't paying for you. 100%. There's no meal plan. You're blown through diaper money. [26:57] It's funny, Jason, because I'm nearing the end of this Jay McInerney book, See You on the Other Side. And he's like such a wine guy, and he really inserts his knowledge into the book in a way that feels like you're learning something. And you could tell when an author or writer is very interested in something in their personal lives. [27:18] Sometimes you're doing your research, but this feels very... Obviously, knowing that about him is one thing, but you feel it when you're reading it. Matt, are you able to... What are your interests that you can shoehorn into something? You know what I mean? Do you have anything that you've been able to work in? Well, first, really quick, I want to know. I think Chris was... Sorry to interrupt, Matt. I think Chris was sort of dropping a little bait that maybe he wants us to test his wine knowledge. I think he's... No, no. I said white burgundy, and he's like, actually... No, because I was literally... I read right before I was reading...

[27:48] Confidential is like, damn, this boarding guy knows about food. Shit, he keeps talking. Keeps going long on oysters. Okay, sorry, go ahead. Yeah, what could you shoehorn? Like, what are your... You can't shoehorn Blu-ray into a movie. That's already a movie. So what are we doing? No. [28:03] I think I see myself as kind of a failed musician. Honestly, he became a filmmaker. You know, like I love music growing up. I see both of you guys as failed musicians as well. [28:16] Cycle completed. [28:20] I had, you know, I had the guitar. I did the lessons. I used to play piano and all that stuff. And I just was like, I just wasn't. [28:28] naturally gifted at it. So I, you know, I gave up, you know, because it's you sort of hit this point where you're like, I think in life where you're like, if I'm not, you go to the path of least resistance a little bit, right? You're like, I love movies, I actually feel like I have like a little bit of a knack for doing this. And I'm going to go down this path instead of like, fighting the uphill battle of trying to be a musician where it just feels like it's not clicking. And I could pour, you know, my 10,000 hours into this, and it's just never going to [28:58] what's great about film is that like, you know, you can combine a lot of different interests in one thing. So, you know, the soundtrack, music, that's a lot. I write to music a lot. I do a playlist for sort of every project, a sort of running Spotify playlist. And, you know, really just it's that sort of my inspiration, I would say more than anything. Do you get to do the thing where you have a little soundtrack budget, and then you get to kind of hit up whoever your

[29:28] to spill is and say, hey, we got $7,500 for you for this flick, and then you can be, you know, I fucking changed your life, bro. We did the last... Yeah, well, sometimes the musicians say no. You have to show them the movie, and then they're like... Sometimes or oftentimes? Alright, who told you no straight up, though? Let's get... Sometimes. I would say most people are happy to have the money. Any income coming in whatsoever? There's... I'm blanking on their name. There are these two brothers who's... They put on an album... [29:58] it was like came out years later on light in the attic chris maybe you know about it it's like the cover is like blue and it's got these two guys are in like white jumpsuits and they're back-to-back playing guitar and they're brothers you know this album that i'm talking about no look this up they had a song called baby that i think went really yeah donnie and joe emerson actually donnie and joe emerson that's it i love that they didn't i love they didn't pretend to come up with a band name they're just like you know what we're not we're not even gonna go emerson brothers we're gonna go donnie and joe [30:26] Rolls off the tongue. No, I think Casey Affleck played one of them in a movie. They made a movie about the making of this album. What? Yeah. Is this like an old thing that Light the Attic reissued? Yes, it was like an old kind of a lost, forgotten album that they put out. And it kind of caught fire. From the 70s. Their late 70s work, largely unknown until it was rediscovered by a new generation of fans in the 21st century. So we wanted to use one of their songs in Ingrid Goes West.

[30:56] because there was drinking in the scene. People were using alcohol. [31:01] And they did not want... We all know how Donnie feels about that. They did not want their music. Let me tell you something. As somebody who's been sober for 10 years, if you send me a scene of somebody doing coke, that's what I want. That's the best thing that can happen to me. A tear of joy runs down the face. Yeah, that's the ultimate... Finally, someone gets it. I'm sorry, guys. I don't know if they're still in the shot, but that's loser behavior, I have to say. You can't, I mean... Look, we were disappointed. It was a great song. I don't remember which... I have to look up which song it was. [31:31] They denied us. But yeah, I think that's the... Fuck you, Donnie. Usually, a lot of times, you get denied because they ask for too much money. And sometimes you just can't. You're like, we can't swing it. But with Ingrid Goes West, they know there's only... I mean, if you have a brain, you realize there's only so much money for something like this. Totally. You know what I mean? Yeah. We're literally going to be like, can you give us this for free? And then they say, no, we want 5K. And then you're like, all right. We can make it work. But Ingrid actually was interesting because we did... [31:59] I mean, I was like so crazy about the soundtrack for that movie, and it was a super indie movie. And we went to Sundance, and we did what you're not supposed to do, which is we did festival rights for the song. So when you do festival rights, it's basically saying... [32:14] you pay a little you could use it for this one time yeah yes in this context but you can't release the movie with this you have to pay us more money if you want to actually release the movie once we get picked up by a24 yeah exactly we're just banking on somebody and and i think the the music budget ended up being like a quarter of a million dollars or something so it was like i remember the face of uh yeah the distributor when we told them the amount that they would have to pay for

[32:44] bad do we want this movie yeah that's like that's have you checked out ai you have some great solutions over there we're gonna kick this well i you know ingrid goes west though i will say i feel like the subject matter was very ahead of its time i feel like that i i feel like it was really like that sort of thing has become even goes west nowadays right exactly it's mostly east it's mostly east but i think i i really do think like influencer culture and that obsession like [33:14] is such a, I don't know, my mom would get it now, you know what I mean? Whereas 2017, maybe not. Well, that's, I mean, we were, even when we were writing it, we were like, there was kind of this urgency of like making the movie because we're like, is this going to be a flash in the pan kind of thing that in two years, nobody's going to care about or, you know, or not. And so we didn't really know. So there was this urgency of like, we got to make this movie. We got to make this movie now. And it's really gratifying that like 10 years later, people are still like, [33:44] but still discovering it so it's had a life it's had a life beyond the initial splash zone totally i mean if any it's grown you know if we were like you know we came out the same time as like good time like the same weekend you know and it was like it's tough it's yeah we actually did about the same amount of money but it was sort of like it felt like that movie made the bigger splash at the time and then but over time i think [34:10] it was sort of like a snowball rolling down the hill that like it was like up to a year two years later people were still finding it as aubrey kind of got more famous and lizzie and everybody in that movie kind of popped off o'shea jackson o'shea yeah he's grown so much the best he was he was bubbling he was but he was bubbling 2017 o'shea only the real heads knew that was yeah that was real heads only los angeles residents only knew knew o'shea from the clubs okay well that's cool

[34:40] about influencer culture. It's happening right now. And then 10 years later, maybe almost a little too early, a little too ahead of the curve because there's no end in sight for the influencer culture. I mean, all we have is influencer culture. Now it feels like this. We changed it to creator culture. Dude, I swear to God. Even more. The word creator has taken on a new... Thanks to our friends at CanLion, Jason. It's really... Well, what's worse? Creator or founder? What's worse? [35:10] a little bit more well founder is more definitive i would say like creator is too wide open create like literally creator gets applied to anything and anyone whereas founder there there's sort of some guardrails on that i feel i feel like founder means that you created something and built a website for it you got the domain exactly whereas a little more creator means i take pictures of myself or i take pictures of other people or i make movies or i make it's just it doesn't it [35:40] lost all meaning at this point it's it's like what is that what is a creative even these days well i think you could be called a creator and you'd be like no bitch i'm a director like put some respect on my fucking name but but let's narrow it but for an influencer they'd rather be called a creator do you see what i'm saying like that's the problem for some people it's positive for some people it's negative and that's the i think that's the issue with the word i think you're right about that i don't don't call me a fucking creator i'll call jason a creator now to get under his skin but i

[36:10] creates if that's a crime lock me up okay let's let's talk thank you for for blessing my netflix inbox with an early viewing feature so i could watch your film with my email address um stamped across it i want to give a quick shout out to netflix and this is completely earnest they're the only people that make it easy to watch something before it is out and i want to give [36:40] they're partnering with, that shit doesn't bother me. The fact that I can turn on my TV like a regular fucking person and click watch on this thing versus having to log into a third-party website and not be able to maximize the window, that puts you far and ahead of everyone else. Isn't it cool? Yeah, I was kind of impressed. I was like, man, but it kind of scares me because I'm like, now they must see everything. They can see everything you've watched on there. They know everything about you from... [37:04] from your viewing habits. They already knew that shit anyway. Take my habits. I don't give a shit. Yeah, we're way past that. Yeah, I've watched every episode of Selling Sunset three times. Fuck you want. I don't give a shit. Hulu has all my fucking data too, but they don't make it easy to watch a screener. That's true. It's honestly fascinating, because we talk about this in the music business all the time, because it's the same thing. It's like a splintered system, and we always joke, like, why doesn't Apple or Spotify just make this their thing? Right. And do it exactly like Netflix does. A creator corner. Exactly. Give us a creator corner and let us rock, man. [37:34] Yeah, we have Spotify for podcasters. Instead of having to go to like a Dropbox or something. I wish it was Dropbox. It's fucking, fuck no, bro. It's like 1999 GeoCities looking shit. Well, the real issue is you can't. You gotta download a new app and log in system. Yeah, what I was gonna say is the real issue is that you can't really easily listen to things on your phone, which I think is where most people, especially if it's a new record you really like, that's where you want to take it with you.

[38:04] Or put it on Spotify. When you're watching YouTube and you click into another window... [38:08] Or just like I can't, like I have to get YouTube premium to like listen to something and with my phone in my pocket. I'm like, I don't want the video to be playing like while my phone's in my pocket. It makes no sense. Yeah. And more people listen to music on YouTube than every streaming platform combined times. What do you think, Matt? What do you think your monthly? If we stuck you in rocket money, how bad do you think your subs are looking right now with all this content? [38:38] cart prices all these blu-rays or all the streaming what's worse what's taking money out of your child's mouth god yeah do you are there like criterion channels that we don't even know about there's boutique blu-ray labels that would blow your mind that you've never heard of that's like that's what that's how steep this sickness has gotten where i'm like on uk give one of these a shout out give one of these a shout out for the real head what's your favorite blu-ray distributor [39:08] called radiance out of the uk that's like boutique criterion like criterion's become like the the behemoth of i would say oh you're saying you're saying criterions for bitches anybody can get that the radiance is the real shit no i'm not look i was just in the criterion closet when i was in new york i'm not going to talk that's the first closet you've been in too i'm sure um come on is that okay okay sorry too easy so that's why we asked because we i figured the criterion is

[39:38] radiance films yeah they're just the one that i think most people have heard of and then but there's a lot of other ones there's arrow video there's uh there's vinegar syndrome that's like one of the that's like the sort of like punk rock horror vinegar vinegar syndrome feels like something that would come out of light in the attic so that does track with your okay cult film preservation okay let me ask you a question are these so these companies are are they finding [40:08] Blu-ray exclusively. Is that the business? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, sometimes they're, and they're digging up like, especially like places like Vinegar Syndrome and Radiance are finding shit that's been in a, [40:17] you know, warehouse for 40 years that's never gotten a home video release, right? That's maybe only someone, you know, screened it, you know, in the late 60s and then never watched it again. So it's like they're kind of unearthing these like old classics, I would say, or in like Vinegar Syndrome's case, like kind of schlocky horror movies from like the 80s that like, you know, were shot on VHS or something, you know, there's stuff that like real heads are [40:47] frustration and like oh i see i see okay so it'll be like the worst film of like a like a taiwanese zombie film but then the the it has like a [40:58] t-shirt that was made by braindead and there's a keychain and an archetyrex collab for it and all that's totally i mean there's a tweet that i wanna that i wanna i'm gonna butcher it but it's basically like you know people being like like a director's like this is my worst movie i wouldn't show it to my you know my my greatest enemy of all time and it's like now coming from vinegar syndrome in like a 69.99 box set you know it's like they just take like you know it's some of

[41:28] not necessarily deserve the treatment that the criterion treatment, you know, but I think that's the like, I own sliver, for instance, on 4k Blu Ray, you know, a Sharon Stone. Don't speak ill of sliver. [41:42] Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. As a person who's never owned a Blu-ray in his life, and Jason, you probably haven't owned a Blu-ray in your life either. I have owned Blu-rays. Yes, I have. Okay. I didn't mean to speak out of turn. [41:57] When I'm paying that Criterion upcharge, what am I getting? The packaging is the same. It's on the... The Blu-ray is the gift. There's no extra stuff in the actual packaging. That's not true. Sometimes there's... It depends kind of on the release. Some of them are more bare bones. Some of them have like essays and they always do like a really nice... Like they'll interview people like the director or people connected with the film. Some of them even have like... [42:23] like the director's like early work like shorts and stuff or like obscure documentaries and things so there's like it really is kind of all your old old spice commercials on there and a little subcategory there's a poster to put up in your goon cave exactly that'd be really cool that'd be really cool if people included their commercials that nobody knew about that's actually smart and funny well do you remember those there was like those uh they called it like the director series there were these dvds back in the day of course of course those were like those are the coolest [42:53] Michelle Gondry. Spike Jonze. Yeah. It was Michelle Gondry, Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze. And there's probably like two, because you would get a box. It was like four or was it, maybe it was more than four. Maybe it was six or eight. I think they did six. Yeah. Jonathan Glazer. They've had sort of a, those have had sort of a comeback. Those, I think that the younger generation has discovered that, that series a little bit. I bet they're more expensive on eBay than they used to be, I guess is what I'm saying. For sure. For sure. But those were like, I would, I think they should do that more.

[43:23] that you could do that for. For sure. Yeah, definitely. Like Fincher, you know, like dig up all Fincher's old commercials and stuff would be cool. Fucking Fincher. Yeah, I'm sure. Well, I think there's a lot of collectability going on, like where people will buy 11 different versions of a Taylor Swift record, not because they need it, but because you have to catch them all. Do you experience a little bit of that with the Blu-rays, like just the pure collectability of it and the competition with other ray dogs? I definitely feel like, yeah, [43:53] it can become a little bit of an addiction. I think having a kid on the way has helped with that a little bit. I'm like, how badly do I need this $600 Kubrick, you know, 4K box set that's coming out? Like, you start to have weigh those things a little bit. But yeah, I mean, I just think it's, I do think it's cool. It seems like the younger generation is like more into physical media. It like skipped a generation or two. And now it's coming back, you know, like people want [44:23] streaming and you know, they want to, [44:25] They want to hold it in their hand in a way that's cool. Or maybe... [44:29] Just stick to the films that like in the languages that you can speak, you know, as a good place. We don't need Wings of Desire, Japanese edition, just at the moment. Well, Matt, look, we all have the things that we spend too much money on. Do you have a self-imposed price limit? Because this is something that I have with t-shirts. And then unfortunately, that scale does slide depending on the item. Sure. Yeah. I mean, it's, look, we've. I don't want to get you to trouble with your wife or anything, but let's see.

[44:59] listen to this i might have to you know my number is written in cement but the cement is not dry yeah yeah i used to i used to matt i used to be 200 then it was 250 then it was 300 now now it's like inflation now we're touching 500 and it's a little psychotic you know [45:16] Jason, this episode is brought to you by BetterHELP.com. You know, for some of us, summer is our favorite season. The sun is shining. You're taking road trips. You're in the ocean. You're in the pool. You're having maybe a cocktail. We're traveling. The kids are out of school. They're down, you know, they're skipping rocks at the creek. But for others, juggling all that summer fun can be tough. Counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school ain't healthy for anybody. You can't waste the days of sunshine, but more importantly, you can't waste [45:46] being. [45:47] about if you're using the Days of Sunshine. [45:50] the best that you could, Jason. Yeah. Overthinking summer. It happens to a lot of us workaholics out there, or let's say, you know, you just, you're, you're about to go spend a lot of time on the beach at the pool and you don't want to be one of those guys that always has to pull their shirt down every time you lift your hands up or do a cannonball with a little therapy with our friends at BetterHelp. We'll be able to, you know, fall, do a tumble, do a cartwheel without... [46:13] Quickly pulling that shirt back down to cover your stomach. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, serving over 6 million people globally. And it works with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5. Based on 1.7 million client reviews, you don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash howlongthatisbetter.com.

[46:42] H-E-L-P.com slash howlong. All right. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Poshmark. Jason, I know you've used the site before. It's a really easy way to shop. And it's one of my favorite fashion resale marketplaces. I don't know if you're into brand names. I can be, depending on how I'm feeling. But you want to talk Levi's? You want to talk Blundstone? Or you want to talk Chrome? You want to talk Prada? You want to talk Mew Mew? You want to talk Bottega? We got it all at Poshmark. [47:12] look for less, as they say. Yeah, I'm a big hunter. I like going on eBay and digging around, and sometimes stuff isn't there. Same thing with Carol and my wife. She's a wardrobe stylist, and she's like, you know, the real shit's on Poshmark. For the real heads that know, you can find those, you know, little grail pieces that you can't find anywhere else, some kind of archival stuff going on, but also, you know, the day-to-day regular kind of staples, [47:42] Poshmark. And when you're ready for a closet refresh, you can earn some real money selling the pieces that you're ready to part with. Reaching more than 80 million users on the platform. I like that sound of that, Chris. Is there something that you're trying to track down on Poshmark specifically? I'm actually in the market for a new dop kit, a secondary dop kit. A backup dop. Probably LV to keep with my suite of products or maybe a Prada nylon because that's also very

[48:12] Okay. [48:13] I feel good about it, but because new deals and styles are listed every single day, so do not wait. Download the Poshmark app today. Use code HOWLONG when you sign up and get $10 off your first purchase. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How I'm Gone is brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. [48:43] Something put together? A cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need... [48:50] TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. And I mean, how it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up. [49:20] just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive. And that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at taskrabbit.com

[49:50] especially for same-day tasks. So book Trusted Home Help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code HowLong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. [50:04] you [50:05] She did actually, there was, I think it was, I don't think it was last year, it was maybe two years ago, she said, you know, [50:10] I want you to just add up what you've spent on this year. Hell no. And I was sweating a little bit as I was doing it because I was just seeing that number climb. I think it was $7,000 or $8,000 or something. It was like... Oh, that's not that. Do you have any other hobbies? I read. I listen to music. I'm talking about hobbies that cost money, like things that you could spend money, like fellows' golf trips. How bad could it get for you? You're a hockey player? [50:40] What else we got? Iguanas. Reptile guy. I buy clothes, too, by the way, Chris. Okay, so you're buying clothes. [50:49] Yeah, I buy clothes. I read Blackbird Spy Plane. You know, I do the whole, I know what Laura Lee is. All right, so you're wearing some mantle and Evan, we can't see the Evan Kinory brown slacks below the window here. What color are your socks, Matt? What color are socks? I'm just wearing the white Nikes right now. The socks aren't fancy right now. I see what you mean. So it feels like you spread it relatively evenly, but there's a slight, the bucket for this stuff's a little bit larger. [51:19] find something you love and let it kill you kind of vibe of like, I just love movies, I love film and so that is kind of my hobby became my job so now I'm like, I probably should have another hobby but it's just this, I just love doing it, I love watching movies No, I think this is refreshing actually, I think people have too, I don't have any hobbies either, I mean Jason, you don't really have any hobbies As long as you're not fat, it seems to work out alright, you know

[51:49] have to scrub under your arms when you're sitting on the couch watching uh toy story five yeah i mean i don't really have any hobbies either my hobbies is just my life i just do i was gonna say what i want being me as a hobby this motherfucker my whole life is a fucking hobby bro catch up i mean i think that jason you're pretty handy though i know that's not a hobby but that's like a virtue that i think of yeah you love cooking when i think of you cooking i'm cooking i'm [52:19] Dodge, you know, shit like that. Matt, are you a wife guy? Power spraying? Are you a wife guy or are you able to operate on your own? Jason's not. I'm a wife guy. We're pretty independent, though. I mean, she's, like, all last year, she was in Chicago... [52:33] shooting the bear and doing and her other show that she does there and i was in new york living at the bowery hotel like fucking working on this movie hell yeah matt said nuts out baby shit you were living okay hold the fuck on hold the fuck on she's in a two-bedroom in chicago dead of winter and your ass is ordering another pomodoro from the bowery room service look it wasn't she's the one she's again hold on bro she's the on camera you're behind it this is [53:03] all right that's all we need when she told me that the pregnancy test was positive she was like you better get your ass over here like she's like you're and so basically like every weekend i was flying to chicago like uh bro that whole for that whole time that'll take the wind out of a brother sails right there it's like oh oh every babe friday through sunday every every week you know that new york is awesome right not every not every weekend but almost every weekend no no

[53:33] What is this being her place of business? What is your relationship to Chicago? Because I found myself coming around on over the years. I would hope the same for you. Look, I loved it. I mean, the winters are tough. Like as advertised, they are brutal and cold. And, you know, walking your dog in negative 20 degree windchill like weather is like there's no coat. [53:57] and hat that can protect you from that. Like it's just seeps into your bones. Yeah. Yeah. It's serious. You're right. It's serious. [54:04] The city's cool. Like there's a lot of great restaurants. We met great people. And like, anytime we would party with like the bear guys, like it was just like that. They just own that city in a way that is crazy. Like, um, they can walk into anywhere and, you know, [54:18] get a table and it's like so i'm like she my wife is kind of like a chicago lebrity and that like she can she knows all the restaurateurs now and like could get a table anywhere just be by chicago lebrity is that a word that existed before five seconds ago i wish i could have coined that but that's that that that that feels like maddie matheson no that flows off the tongue that honestly flows like rap a twister came up with something like that that flows really nicely [54:48] is just all fat boy. Like, I mean, I know you can go outside of those bounds, of course, but like in, I would say most options, you know what I mean? That's kind of what it's leaning towards. It's a waning stereotype, but it's still there. You need the extra meat on the bone to survive the winter though, is the thing. Like there's a very practical reason for that, I think. That's true, shit. That's just seeped into the culture. They're like if Vikings got fat in Chicago.

[55:18] But that is a good point. I mean, it's the same thing with Montreal. The food is heavy as fuck, and the weather is the same. It's the similar situation as far as weather goes. Yeah, we have to drink mugs of goose fat just to stay alive. Have you ever been there in the summer, though? Yeah. We went three times in one month last summer, actually, for different stuff. And it was beautiful. The weather was great. The weather's great. And people are really fit there, actually. People jog around the lake, and they're laying on the hot concrete on their lunch. [55:48] take off their suits and just like lay on the on the burning hot concrete like by the concrete beaches of chicago are they've had a moment they've had a moment lately on twitter where people like are y'all for real and they're like yeah bitch we're for real this is what we got like what the fuck do you want i mean every summer there's the great chicago beach meme and it's just you know chicago mf be like quote unquote beach day right it's like two people playing in like a [56:18] you go see it in real life and you're like, oh, this is real. This isn't just like a stupid meme. It is real. I mean, it's cool. I love to walk along that path. Have a little edible, put a little iced coffee in the hand and you're just cruising down and you're like, I guess this is a beach day in the same way that [56:34] I guess you're being productive in jail or something like that. You know what I mean? You get your burpees in and reading the Quran. How did you get so fit? Oh, I was in jail. I was actually in jail. That's why I'm a religious studies expert because I was in jail. I've read them all. Going back to collectible merch and t-shirts, I noticed in Netflix's Little Brother 2026, there was a scene where John Cena,

[57:00] He is a giant man and he's wearing a vintage Dave Matthews band tee that looked like something that would cost around $170 to $300. It fit him in a way that I've never seen a vintage tee fit somebody. It's usually on somebody like Chris and I, where it's a regular guy or somebody spindly or maybe a little sweaty and fat, a little Dijon stain on the shirt. [57:25] You got fucking jacked ass him. The neck is holding on for dear life. And it was a juxtaposition I've never seen before. Are you a Dave Matthews head? [57:34] I certainly was back in the day, but I think I'm so glad that you picked up on that because there were so many conversations about like we had to get that shirt cleared much similarly to a song. We had to get the approval of the band and the logo, whoever, you know, it's like. Bravado owns it. It's not a clear. It's not like a nine inch nails logo, like a huge N.I.N. across a white tee. No. You have to really. Is that a Dave Metz? Because they probably don't own the rights. It was Bravado or someone. [58:04] owns like the merch right it's i'm sure that was a lot of emails about that t-shirt but yeah and we had backups just in case but they none of them were as good and um but yeah no i think we were like wanted to the heart i think the thing is because john's so huge like you have to humanize his character a little bit and make him you know like a regular guy in a way so we were coming up with ways to try to humanize him yeah we were like look he's a guy he loves dave matthews band

[58:34] fat 100 millionaire in Manhattan who loves Dave Matthews, man. Hey, look, to be honest, I would say that that is historically, if we go back to high school, those were the kind of guys that liked Dave Matthews. True. You know what I mean? Maybe they didn't have the TRT that Cena's got access to, but I'm saying that that kind of bro jock guy was actually the fan of Dave Matthews. A solid guy at his core. Yeah. Yeah. [59:04] home no funny business exactly exactly i'm glad you were able to get that because i feel like with all this clearance stuff and and getting things over the line in general like you were saying earlier it feels like sometimes you just have to put your sword down and say this this battle i'm not going to win i feel like you have to do that several times for every movie no there's plenty of them but i do think that like those little details like even just using the actual instagram [59:34] Yeah, yeah. You know, I hate when I'm watching a show and they're like pulling up their like fake Instagram on their phone. You're watching Emily in Paris and it's like bloop. Yeah. Phones don't do that sound anymore. Or when the graphics go on the screen. I hate that too. It's like, I'm like, so. That was a real moment. That was a real moment when people were doing that a lot. That one Native American long haired guy who always plays the weird stoner best friend. He's always texting like, oh, well, what with an emoji that doesn't exist in real life.

[1:00:04] like that emoji was made for the scene it's all fucked up i got you well was it hard to clear [1:00:09] the Instagram UI for that? Or was it still early days enough? We just didn't. We just didn't do it. And we actually hired the lawyer who did. We're currently in a legal battle with them right now. Well, honestly, I was like, let them sue us. This would be the best press for this movie if we get sued by, you know. Ingrid goes to court. Zuckerberg. We got another. [1:00:31] We got the spinoff right now. Let's see if everybody's available because we got the spinoff coming. Ingrid goes to court. [1:00:39] from watching the film last night, I felt that... [1:00:43] Everyone is talking about how the problem with society and the world and films is we don't have those blockbuster comedy films anymore. It's all superhero stuff or weird indie dramas. There's no straight ahead Tommy Boy or Anchorman or any shit like that. [1:01:13] of sticky slapstick kind of stuff. [1:01:16] but then reined in with a modern touch where... [1:01:20] you're still taking it seriously. I think it's like a good sort of... [1:01:24] because we can't just duplicate whatever that was back in the day. Yeah. A lot of the jokes are just like, holy shit, that was bad. But then, you know, there's magic. But I feel like you did a good job of...

[1:01:35] you know, making a contemporary [1:01:37] version of that kind of slapsticky stuff because it's people are they have their [1:01:43] their senses up when it gets like kind of cringy like that. And some people don't want to see Eric Andre rolling down the stairs for the time for like a pratfall gag. But then when it works, it really works. That's the thing. I mean, it's hard. It's comedy is really hard. I think I heard, I heard, um, [1:02:01] Seth Rogen say on a podcast that like that what's embarrassing like comedy is kind of embarrassing because you're I know yeah I know Chris loves hearing how much he loves weed um I'm just surprised he talked about something besides weed on a podcast so I'm happy I'm happy to hear this actually this is illuminating for me well let him finish the story we don't know he works a bubbler into it it could come back um no he said like you because you're announcing that I'm gonna try and make you laugh and there's something that's embarrassing and kind of earnest about [1:02:31] i mean when you're doing comedy and i think that's what's kind of scary about it the tightrope walk of like you said like you're like is this gonna work and um honestly i was like until the premiere because we hadn't screened it for like a that big of an audience the finished finished movie we had tested it and whatnot but like uh until last thursday and so we were literally sitting in the [1:02:56] is this going to work? You know, you just really don't know. And then you're sitting there and you're just hoping. And so it's kind of that, like, excitement of, like, when you get that first big laugh and you're like, you know, you can kind of breathe a sigh of relief. And then, like, you're kind of

[1:03:09] watching them [1:03:11] react to all those things in the movie and the way that you intended and i mean i don't think there's a better feeling in the world so it's it's kind of like you're doing the like babe ruth thing like pointing to the you know like i'm gonna hit a home run but then sometimes you don't and hit a home run and it's embarrassing it's like going up to a group of women and be like i'm about to try to fuck one of you right now anyways what's up i'm jason no no no bueno no bueno well [1:03:41] like up until a week ago? No, no. Like we, like through the editing process, you do like testing various versions of it. So you throw it, like Netflix will throw it up on their, like they have a platform. Hey Jason, hey Jason, Netflix is a data company first. You know what I mean? They're not gonna, they're not gonna just. We're testing thumbnails. I don't know how many thumbs you got. They're not gonna let Matt just throw whatever out there. They're gonna get. I guess I'm asking because I had the pleasure of seeing the Anthony Bourdain biopic yesterday at an early screening. [1:04:11] Oh, how was it? Thanks to our friends at 824. I don't know. I don't think I could say anything about it, but I will say... You can't speak on it. It is a positive. It is a win. But somebody was saying like, oh, I saw an earlier version of it. And it was like kind of a different storyline. And the version that we saw yesterday was different than that. And, you know, how many different movies did you make for this movie? Or do you have to make for these where you're like... [1:04:38] This is the one where it's like a little bit more boy gets girl. This is like the friendship between a mentor and the son. And this one's more about...

[1:04:47] you know, ice dancing or whatever it is. Totally. I mean, it's so funny because you read online when, like, these people are like, oh, I heard this movie did reshoots. Must be a troubled production. You know, and you're like, I don't know a director in the world that wouldn't kill to get a second, you know, crack at the movie if they could. You know, and, like, there's some shit that you do that you're like, it just doesn't work. When you put it on its feet, you're just like, oh, this, you know, this didn't work. [1:05:17] - Well, we tried. - Yeah, we gave it our best shot. But, and then the audience always tells you, you always know right away if it's working, 'cause people, [1:05:26] you know they'll just tune out they'll just like especially on the netflix thing you see the drop offs that's like what they measure is like when people just turn it off for the retinal scans or for when they turn it off or we're not supposed to talk about those yet don't worry i just turned off i turned off a netflix movie just the other night not yours uh i turned off the one with zoe deutsch that was unbelievable the isabel voicemail shit oh i never heard of it and i gotta i made it through the j-lo and i'm just saying there's a right now if right now it feels like netflix is [1:05:56] kind of going like fun down the middle. It feels like there's three or four things on the homepage right now that are not dissimilar from what you made. Well, they're... [1:06:05] they're filling this hole that the, that the, uh, studios have stopped doing, right? Like the studios kind of are like, we'll do, uh, obsession, which is like an, a sub $10 million horror movie, or we'll do these big IP driven things that cost $150 million, you know, but there were, you know, when we, I was growing up in the, you know, the nineties, like there were every weekend,

[1:06:35] know, for you to choose from there'd be four or five movies out that you're like, oh, do we want to see a rom-com? We want to see a comedy? We want to see a, you know, a thriller? What do we want? You know, and I think it's just there's honestly fewer movies being made and a lot of like those mid budget as they're called. [1:06:51] movies went to streaming i think netflix just sort of saw the hole in the market was like we're gonna we're gonna make that they saw the whole 17 million for you we got to give j-lo 60 million to have a rom-com with a gay guy this thing's gonna go fucking this thing's gonna go fucking crazy but do you think that because because there's fewer and fewer of these types of films being made [1:07:13] Do you think like not shooting itself in the foot, but like where you have to cram in a little bit of too much of everything into each one? Like, like if Caddyshack had to also have like a black friend and a gay friend and this and you know, there's a guy in a wheelchair and now we're dealing with this, you know, like, do you do you think it's better or worse that we sort of have to? [1:07:35] Every film has to check all those boxes. I know it's a little bit of a treacherous cue. No, no. I mean, I'll just say from my experience, like they didn't, we didn't get, like I heard all the stories and I was a little nervous about doing a movie with them or I was like, okay, I've heard that. Are they going to make me say the name of the movie three times within the first minute or, you know. I don't have any explosions in my film. I don't know how we're going to make what happened in the first 80 seconds.

[1:08:05] I think that they just want stuff that works and that is good, you know? And I think that they're... [1:08:12] You know, it's honestly a lot of the stuff. Yeah, they were concerned about like how long do we see hold on like the shot of [1:08:19] Eric's [1:08:20] dick with the catheter in it you know like stuff like that where they're like because we still have to get fair concern i would say not not to be the t's and c's i would have liked another beat on it you could have gone a beat longer it happened so fast yeah jason said check my letterboxd i went deep on this actually if you see the elasticity i don't know if i was buying it but it did work well i guess that that question sort of reminds me of when i was watching the film last night [1:08:46] There's the two kind of TV execs, friend of the show, Caleb Heron and Ego Nuodum from SNL. They're sort of like the gay, Gen Z, millennial... [1:09:01] I don't know, comic relief, or they're the people that say, "Yes, Queen," and all that stuff. Do you think [1:09:07] As our diversity and equality continues to grow over the years, we're going to get a straight person to play one of these roles, one of these yes-queeners? Is that outside of the realm of possibilities? This is Jason's way of asking nicely if Chris could be in your next film, because he's this straight guy you've been looking for that could play believably gay. Like if Lloyd from Entourage was a straight person, you know what I mean? I think the pendulum swung back.

[1:09:37] guys can play gay guys now again. I think we've... Do you have any examples of that Blu-ray? I'm waiting. Tom Holland could definitely do it. I don't know if they're asking him. He said straight guys. Oh, my bad. My bad. My bad. My bad. Look, we don't know the... [1:09:53] you know orientation of the of the heated rivalry guys you know like both like we don't you know don't ask don't tell in industry speculation i know that they i know that all i can say is they dress like shit i don't know what's in their mouth like now we got straight guys playing hockey players there goes now i've heard everything i i i think that i think see i think the season two of that show is going to be one of the most spectacular fall-offs in ratings that maybe [1:10:23] just think that some things are just sort of lightning in a bottle, and any... [1:10:27] any way of replicating or trying to continue is just a fool's errand i really now that they're actual rivals in real life yeah maybe things will be heated who knows you think it's like a tiger king i really do i really i i think we talked about this a lot on the show but it's like it is like i think sometimes when something does well everybody's going back to the teat to get more milk and it's like dude that might have just been a one and done thing we should count our blessings and make something else i just don't know what you can do i mean i didn't watch that i don't know [1:10:57] There's like a lot of story to expand upon, but it just doesn't seem like that level of, like I haven't seen someone get that famous that quickly in years, maybe ever. We're going to need another pandemic. We're working on it with the fire downtown, but you know, it's going to take a pandemic to have another tiger King, like, like thing happening. I just, all right. So now that this movie is out in the, it's out now, right? Or is it out this week? It's out. A couple days. Friday. Yeah. Let me ask you, let me ask you a question that always fascinates me.

[1:11:27] All right, from the inception of this, when you got the call... [1:11:30] about this till till friday what is the timeline like how long did it take really fast honestly for movie i got the script in december of 2024 oh yeah i i [1:11:42] Got the job. [1:11:43] you know, in March of 2025. And I was prepping the movie in May of 2025. We shot last summer, and now it's out. Like, that's crazy. That's a crazy quick turnaround. Yeah, that's really fast. That's really fast. And I think a lot of that is because of Netflix, they can just, they can just put something out, you know, like that once you deliver them the movie, they're just like, they got to upload it to the server. It's like, you know, [1:12:13] page and you know that's the greatest thing they could do. They did spend a lot of time talking about [1:12:19] that strategy. Um, but we did get some billboards. I think there's more so than billboards. Yeah. We, I mean, they, their strategy is with the billboards was I was, I suspected this, but they kind of confirmed it, uh, [1:12:32] They love to do the billboard by the house of the person who made the film. So there's a billboard right near my house. And I'm like, I think I'm on to you guys. I don't know if this Normandy and Hollywood billboard is. Is this the best thing? You're like, bro, you could have just. Little Armenia is going to love. You could have given me an extra hundred grand and we could have called this even, guys. I don't really care. I don't need to see this every day. You know what I mean? I thought it was kind of cool. But I was like, yeah, I see the strategy here.

[1:13:02] They're like, in lieu of money, we've spent six grand for this billboard by our house. You're welcome. Well, I guess I had another question. Yeah. In the film, we're taking in Eric Andre, who's a troubled little brother into the house, and the wife has a little bit of a backstory of rescuing animals, the handicapped wiener dog with the stroller. I don't know if we can talk about this or not. If it's embargoed. Spoiler alert. [1:13:32] And so like [1:13:34] she had that nature of like, we need to, you know, bring this troubled creature into the home and take care of it. Do you feel like we all have that one friend who's like at the kill shelter a little much? I feel like when I was watching that scene, I was like, everyone who's watching this. [1:13:51] has that friend in the back of their head who's like be at the kill shelter a little too much no it's my yeah i have i have uh one of our closest friends is uh rachel she's always got the she's always at the shelter this dog is about to be put down within three hours like somebody please help this did you tell rachel ahead of time it has one eye and like you know did you tell rachel like hey just let you know like when you write about somebody in your in [1:14:21] up like, hey, there's going to be a little bit of the show where you might come to mind as a warning? I think... [1:14:27] she'd be flattered you know i think i think we need people like those like the bleeding heart people who actually care because so much of us are just like you know i'm like oh it's a cute dog and then swiping left you know i'm like it's it's i can't left means kill no you can't on my shelter dating app i swipe left i don't know i don't know about you guys but i kind of keep it moving when it that's that is such a california that whole i mean it exists in new

[1:14:57] obviously, but that culture is so California to me. New Yorkers don't have the time to rescue. I think New Yorkers have a problem with dogs right now. Do you not agree, Chris? After being there for a year, I feel like everybody's got a dog in New York and there's dog shit everywhere in a way that LA was like that. Matt, I've been on the front line of this fight for a decade. Yeah. [1:15:21] I don't understand it. Unfortunately, I've been getting a lot of cute dogs on my reels lately. And now I'm noticing, like, I see all these cute dogs. Why don't I see them when I only see little mutts? Like, what the fuck? There's a difference between the marketing and the reality. I'm like, I see all this. Twos and fours. Where's the Italian greyhounds? Where's my big old? Yeah, I want the golden doodle that just got groomed. I don't want these fucking mutts you got from fucking the shelter. [1:15:51] I mean, I love dogs, but I do not, I don't think they need to be... [1:15:54] in maru coffee you know what i mean like i don't think yeah yeah in the restaurant or in the supermarket with us there was there was jason remember we were eating we were eating an unnamed restaurant that we love and there was a dog i swear to god the size of jason's right leg sitting under a table staring at us the whole time and i was just like and the owner the owners literally and they kept having to calm him down the whole i'm like you if you're gonna bring a dog of that size into a restaurant it better be docile or on dog's and like there's got to be you can't or it [1:16:24] be military trained yeah like it has to bring something to like

[1:16:30] I remember the server was walking by me and like, oh, can you tell your 80-pound dog to move so I can give you the food that you ordered? And they don't know what's going on. But that dog needs to be able to do backflips, shaking hands. You know what I mean? You can get into the kitchen and start rolling out pizzas. I want that dog to be able to disarm an intruder. You know what I mean? You better be able to jump up. He knows which wire to cut on the bomb. Exactly. Yeah. [1:17:00] jumping up, taking the nine out of the holster. You know what I mean? I don't want this shit. If you're a dog is, quote unquote, a certified, it went to the school, it has the vest, it's not a stolen valor, you know, wearing the fatigues. Ordered off Amazon. Yeah. Service dog medallion. Yeah, I know. Yeah, the fake service dog medallion can't service nothing. Get out of here. You got to be able to prove it. Jesus Christ. All right. Thank you, Matt, for joining us on How Long Gone. It's a pleasure. Thank you, guys. [1:17:30] Friday. Ingroup Goes West, I'm sure is available everywhere. See it if you haven't. Available on Delta. Yeah. And congratulations, bro. I know this is a big hump to get over. So happy for you. Thank you guys. And also congratulations on your child being born next month. [1:17:44] Thank you, sir. July 23rd. Don't sound too excited. [1:17:49] July 23rd, in stores everywhere. July 23rd, it's all over after that. In Dassenettes, everywhere. Yeah. [1:17:57] All right. We appreciate it, man. Thanks again. We'll see you soon.

[1:18:14] Upside down Is this real or old Or am I dreaming