Welcome to A Little Unscripted. The show where
we pull a random title, spit a random genre,
and then try to create a film that honestly shouldn't
work. And is impossible. And is way too expensive.
And no one's asking for. But that's the fun.
One idea. One hour. And zero guarantees. Let's
make this thing. Hello, good day. I'm Ryan. I'm
Logan. And no matter what, we are going to make
a movie today. Today. It, again, feels good and
right to be here and to be doing this fine work.
As of yet, nobody's taken us on any of our particular
creations yet. No emails yet. We're waiting still.
But that's okay. And the idea of it is still
tickling us, so here we are. Keep trying. We're
going to keep coming to the bat. At Trivia last
night, not to peel back the curtain, but we hang
out outside of this. How dare. There were some
movie questions, and they were the book to, mostly
if I recall correctly, the book to TV, things
like that. Do you have an ultimate? scenario
where it does not fail because you know the general
consensus is that most movies do not live up
to expectations i think it's almost impossible
to to do how do you please everybody that reads
a thing and then do you have a personal one that
really nails it that like i think actually like
knocks it out of the park and is like the best
adaptation that i'm like yeah that's the one
oh let me think on that can i have you read jaws
i have not i haven't either What about Jurassic
Park? I wonder. That's a great one. And I think
it comes up in conversation as a pretty worthy.
How about same author, but Westworld? Interesting.
Are you going off the original movie with Yul
Brynner or the TV show? I mean, the first season
of the show, definitely for sure. Coma. Coma.
Have you seen that with Michael Douglas? That's
another Michael Crichton book. Interesting. I
think Jurassic Park is a wonderful answer to
that. I feel like some of the Hannibal, some
of the Thomas Harris books have been done some
justice to along the way, having read some. Maybe
Conan? Conan? Conan the Barbarian Sword. The
Barbarian Sword. Meaning from some comic book
source material? Yeah, maybe. I don't know. The
Schwarzenegger one was pretty great. Schwarzenegger
was cast well as Conan. Alright, so my favorite
bit of that is that he was too large to properly
swing a sword. You need to slim down. Imagine
being looking at him and being like, I need to
slim down. They had a training with a samurai
sword intentionally, but it's... That movie,
I'm obsessed with specifically the first one.
And I have no problem admitting that I enjoy
The Destroyer as well, so suck it. And the soundtrack,
I'm obsessed with. I think it's Basil Palidorus,
if I'm not mistaken. And that score has always
been so cool. That first movie, The Barbarian,
really bloody. There's a fucking orgy in it with
boobs. Yeah. And guts are coming out, and there's
a green goo. Darth Vader turns into a snake.
You know what I mean? If you see that early and
I did, I was like, all movies better be as good
as this. And I was disappointed for a while.
So I feel like I've influenced you into picking
Conan the Barbarian to be the correct answer.
Well, I don't know. And I was a huge fan of the
comic just because visually it represented things
I liked. They were all kind of gnarly. The beasts
were terrifying and I like that. And I'm forgetting
the name of the artist who crossed over into
a lot of like early heavy metal albums and stuff.
But I love the comics and I'm down sashaying
into current events. That idea of like the old
Conan. What do you think of that? Like current
day Schwarzenegger with a gray beard. Yeah, because
that's been a thing for a long time. That would
be an interesting one. Yeah, I mean, so we're
going to reboot a series. He's getting well up
there, though. I mean, like... He is, but I mean...
We're being honest. How many times have we CGI'd
him as a new character? Let's be real. The Terminator
crew's got him on lock. They don't exist anymore,
yeah. The Terminator crew's got him. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. We can make him in any way, shape, or form.
Because remember, at the end of Conan the Barbarian,
they show him as old and battle -worn. And then
at the end of The Destroyer, she says... Rule
Shadazar with me. How many years has it been?
When did the last one come out? It was the 80s.
Will Chamberlain was in it. Grace Jones. Remember
her for casting. I love every movie that I've
seen Grace Jones in. And I've seen a few. That's
just a weird stat. I don't know if that's something
to celebrate or not, but I really, including
the rare favorite James Bond, it's a top of mine
that a lot of people do not like. That's okay.
It's okay to have favorites. You stand on that
hill. I was thinking about our last movie, so
we should dive into this thing. We reminisced
about our last movie. I had to think about it.
It took us a moment to get the brains working
again. I won't lie. I do think. That was a fun
premise. It was a parody spoof. I like that we
went after those two kind of genres. Do you have
any strong recasts as it relates to the, let's
say, the Surprise Butler character or maybe even
the... Looking back now, I mean, I feel like
we really missed out looking at the tagline,
just looking back, because if I remember correctly,
you convinced me. The tagline, the kids aren't
not, the kids are all right. They're like, they're
all right. They're not all right. The kids are
not not all right, all right. Yeah, that one.
No wonder I can't say it. Still makes me laugh.
I don't know why. Yeah, so I feel like we really
missed out on the opportunity to like, if I'm
going to throw a curveball at you, can you tell
me what you think? Ricky Vaughn away. No, he's
just fastballing. He's heaters. uh instead of
tom hanks is our beautiful principal who who
does cocaine to die uh accidentally uh what if
it was mr matthew right on the nose yeah right
i feel like looking at that now like we missed
the opportunity to say that let me um try to
well again i'll volley that right back to you
whatever the correct sports terminology is um
in heavy prosthetic or not Do you think like
Tom Cruise, like Tropic Thunder, like we put
him in a fat suit and like bald cap because it
would be hysterical. And I think about that crossover.
Oh, he's a washed up hippie dude. Yeah. Washed
up hippie turned bureaucratic. And stuffed in
a suit. Yeah. But there's the very extreme version
of it. And again, just throwing it your way,
where you have. Colin Farrell, unrecognizable
as the Penguin. More recognizable as Richard
Kind. But you know what I mean? A situation where
it's McConaughey under there. But you're like,
what the hell? Or do you think... more recognizable,
and a take on one of his old characters. I think
more recognizable, but I still like the idea
of prosthetics where it's the Tom Cruise situation
where you get it, but you don't quite notice
it. What about Hemsworth in the newest In Furiosa?
What did you think of that nose situation? I'll
be honest, the nose didn't take me out of it.
I feel like he was just fine. I loved every second.
Yeah, the accent was great. So something interesting
like that on McConaughey or just a little more
subtle? Because in the movie Gold, did you ever
see that? Gold. A true story about literal gold.
He, balding, has some paunch on him. So it's
the makeup work and that is incredible. He looks,
it's pretty unrecognizable. And it's not like
having lost a lot of physical weight for a different
role. But he looks, it's him. But you're like,
what if you really let things go? Okay. In real
life, I think that's what he'd look like. So
you're thinking like he looks haggard. Maybe
that character, you should look it up, the character
in gold. Okay. And maybe make it like that. I'll
trust your word on this. And side note, you should
watch that movie. It's really... It'll go on
the checklist. For those of you who listen, I
have a whole checklist for Ryan's recommendations.
And it only gets longer. It only gets longer
the longer I've known him. Well... Any other
changes? I really... I love that. I think that
that's tremendous. And I like... We were current
with Handsome Frankenstein. Yep. Here's a question.
I know that we decided on George Clooney being
his Alfred, his butler, manservant, bodyguard,
because he's a foreign exchange student. As great
as it is, do you want to reunite Woody Harrelson?
Do you want him to be the guy? Is he our janitor
instead of Danny McBride? I feel like we made
Danny McBride the janitor, right? Oh, yes. Was
it any of this? Beautiful. So now Woody Harrelson.
We have it. Woody Harrelson and McConaughey pairing
again. Woody Harrelson as the take on the janitor
who calls everybody son. You're not my dad. Okay,
son. Okay, son. No, no. He goes around using
dad nicknames like Champs or that's my favorite.
For those of you who don't know, it's the best
game in the world. If you want to play it, all
you got to do is just, you know, Champ, sport.
Where's my other good ones? Well, being my last
name, I got a lot of buckaroos. Oh, yeah. Buckaroos.
Variants on that. And if others were, you know,
given that, I'd be like, yo, that's my chief
territory. Big dog. You ever had somebody call
you big dog before? You know how weird it is?
No, never. I'm having you spend a server. Like
I've had people be like, all right, big dog.
And you're like. Why are you using that vernacular?
Did you take it well, honestly? I would laugh.
I mean, it's clearly non -threatening, but it's
meant to be endearing. But were you like, oh,
that's cool. It was just like... Trying. At least
you tried something. Wow. Yeah, I don't know.
Were your pants on at the time? Always. Okay,
because we were talking about the slamming salmon
and wild things that servers do. Dang. All right,
well... I think I'm going to get us ready for
our numbers. And forgive me that I hadn't done
this in a suave and cool manner as we've been
talking. But, you know, it's going to be pretty
quick. All right. So as a reminder, what we must
do after we get the genre and randomly generated
name of our film, we must complete. A plot to
conclusion. Yes. Whatever that means. Whatever
that means. We've been pretty loose. Very loose.
But we've had fun with it so far. So kind of
like multi -acts. You know, we can get a room
of writers together and we can make this happen.
It's okay. Right. We can finesse this out. It
has to have a character. Singular. At least.
At least one. A character. We haven't done a
single Roman single character yet. This is good.
I like that. It must have a director. Uh -huh.
Somebody's got to make this thing. And a tagline.
I think that might be our secret favorite part.
And it is. And we have some good to have. So
composer, writer, locations. Along the way, we
found our way to put some things in there that
are kind of fun. So we're trying to make it as
easy for anybody. Yeah. Who's ever listening.
To make. If we can make this movie. We're giving
these to you. Yeah. Because we. Our actors may
be past, present, or future. Yeah. But you know.
Make it happen. We can still make it happen.
Not too AI -y, because we don't want it to look
fake. I mean, if the CG looks too real, I'm out
of it. We live in the now, so anything's possible.
Oh, my gosh. Well, again, all right. We have
generated our random number between 1 and 100,
and that is our title. That is number 84. 84
is our title. In our genre. Let's hear the genre
first. Is 19. Oh, gosh. What was 19? 19 is a
family movie. That's going to be. All right.
What is our title for our family movie? And the
title for the family movie. That was given to
us. This number, whatever it was, 88. 84. This
could be a real pickle. Real dilemma. Oh. Is
it good? The Last Reasonable Person. The Last?
I mean, that sounds like a family movie for sure.
Does it sound like a holiday movie? Interesting.
Interesting. All right. The Last Reasonable Person.
The Last Reasonable Person. And we will legit
start a timer and make this really cool. All
right. Well, hold on. Do we need to count ourselves
down? What I know before we go into this is that
we've kind of been out of our own personal wheelhouses.
Yeah, we're going different. Or do you always
write what you know? Well, that's fascinating.
And we do this for the fun of it. But we haven't
gotten anything that are the genres that we could
be like, oh, easy. I go to family and, you know,
family is not a very friendly word for everybody.
You know, they're like, family, no, thank you.
My family is terrible. I don't care how warm
and fuzzy this is supposed to make me. I'm triggered
by all of this. And fuck you, I'm not going to
sit here and watch Pollyanna or Double Trouble
or whatever. Cheaper by the dozen. Do you have
a favorite family movie? Favorite family movie?
Because there's a lot of interesting crossovers
from back in the day. Might I say like The Explorers?
Yeah, The Explorers. Meaning fantasy sci -fi.
Okay. And we've been pretty loose on some things,
interestingly, before. So it could go into that
territory. Lost in Space is a family movie. Yeah.
Flight of the Navigator. Yeah. Mine all go to
a certain place. Does Lord of the Rings count
as a family movie? About found family? Well,
I might retort with a Willow. Ooh, Willow definitely
falls into the family movie. He definitely is
a father figure. And Valley Kiln is the mother
figure for sure. The definition of family movies
that I even saw in the theater when I was young,
I think way different than when you were young
and you were coming out. They used to be dark.
If I remember correctly, kid family movies. And
I was in the movie theater when it was just PG
and R. Yeah, you either saw blood or no blood.
And then PG popped in. And then my dad had this
maniacal but kind of logical thought. That over
a certain age, we were still paying the adult
price. So between ages like 11 and whatever.
So you had to argue with people and say they're
paying the adult price. They can see an R -rated
movie that makes sense. That's logical. In defiance.
How punk rock is this? Go see any movie we want
and be loud about it. Yeah. These kids are going
to go see Behind the Green Door or whatever it
was. And I remember I got to walk into so many
fun. And sometimes we were taken out because
I think. Like they were onto us and he was so
obnoxious about it, but a lot of times. All right.
Random sidebar here. Yeah. I, I once did the
unthinkable. Nobody knows this. The unthinkable.
I know a friend and I went to go see an R rated
movie. Okay. Underage children's. Great. I know.
I drove there. So, you know, it's not like I
was like that underage. It was like, I was like
17, not 18. So I couldn't get into the, to, to
see it for reasons. Yeah. All right. I, So we
bought tickets for something else. I think the
movie, if I remember correctly, the movie was
Due Date. Robert Downey Jr. Zach Galifianakis.
Due Date. Family movie? No. Yes, technically.
It's about him trying to get back to his family.
Well, there's a lot of different latitudes. That's
a good point. But anywho. I've heard of an R
-rated family movie the night before. Brotherly
family. Okay. Interesting. Anywho. So my friend
gets in. And I made the mistake of talking to
the guys. I shouldn't have talked to the guys.
I just said like, I'm going to, Hey, I got friends
in there. I happen to have like a white hat on.
And as I got in there, there, my buddy had already
saved a seat and I take the hat off. I handed
to him and throughout the whole movie, I keep
seeing the attendants come in and they come in
like 10 times throughout this like 90 minute
movie. And so, yeah, as I'm like, I know they're
looking for me. Cause like this theater is packed.
They're looking for me. And so I hand my buddy,
my hat. I was like, Hey, Just take this out of
the car and I'll go with you, you know. And as
I walk out of the theater, this guy's like, I'm
looking for that kid in the white hat. Oh, wow.
These guys were mad. Just because of your ute?
Yeah, because I didn't want. You were a ute.
Yeah, I was a child. A child. A sweet, young,
innocent boy. Being corrupted by such filth.
Yeah. I've never seen a theater so. and spiteful
about this one child. I get you. I'm sorry for
that. Again, I was similarly traumatized by my
father protesting loudly that if he wants to
see Hudson Hawk, God damn it, he's going to see
it. All right, let's set this timer. Let's do
this thing. You ready? I think we've hit the
banter limit. I'm interested if you have notions
already. Ooh, all right. Are you interested in
it being truly like PG? Ooh, does family movie
require PG? Does it require parental guidance?
I don't think it does. I mean, I think we...
Well, here's what's interesting. Somebody refuted
Die Hard being a Christmas movie purely by a
fact that he could not bring his family to it.
People are murdered, and that's not family. That's
not Christmas to him. Fair. Christmas equals
family. So if we want to have a little fun, maybe
we try to be wholesome. All right. And make a
nice family movie called The Last Reasonable
Person. All right. So what's happened with this
last reasonable person? Do you have any books
from your youth that you love? Books from the
youth? Even if it's something different, something
obscure. Obscure. I mean, I was a big fantasy
kid growing up. That was my thing. So, you know,
if I remember correctly, like we used to have
fantasy and we used to have dark fantasy. yeah
i mean i don't know if we you know things are
different now and like fantasy is wholesome but
right i remember like in not a book but like
you remember the never -ending story yeah okay
how come that's never come back because uh because
it traumatized everyone yeah i was in the theater
you might have deserved it weeping outwardly
weeping when our text went down yeah in a family
movie and again that's a movie where i showed
it to my kids and they're like what the dude
yeah You're an asshole, and I can say our text.
They used to have emotion. They used to have
character. You felt something when our text died.
I would love to create something that's like
that. All right, so you're thinking we're going
fantasy now? Family fantasy? Yeah, but of that,
if you want to have some real meaning, I think
that's really pretty cool. I'm down. It runs
the route of having, obviously, maybe you need
antagonists and protagonists to root for. I mean,
even the last, think of it this way, I would
imagine Treasure Planet counts as a family movie.
That's a great movie. It's a great movie, and
Disney definitely didn't give it the props it
deserved to be. But it's a family movie, and
it speaks to it. exact demographic that they
stopped targeting immediately after. They're
like, just go watch superhero movies instead.
Being a little bit of a joker slash riddler,
what other types of movies than sci -fi or fantasy?
I was recently told that The Giving Tree is a
horrible shit book. I don't know if that's true.
Because that kid is just a real fucking asshole.
But isn't that the point? I don't know. Are you
supposed to take morals out of it? Like you shouldn't
be that person. No, I, I, it exploded my mind.
I was like, I never thought of it that way. It's
like, yeah, it's all about perspective. All right.
So that is very interesting. Let's get to it.
So what if this family movie, what if, uh, what
if it, you're our character is, uh, it dispels
all the myths of the old books. No. What if instead,
like, I don't know, you never get to see, uh,
the bad guys, kids. Well, isn't there that Disney?
with Enchanted and the universe where all their
kids are going to school. There's that version
of it. But what draws you to that? What draws
you to the bad guys' kids? I don't know. Like
Mike Yagubian in Meet the Robinsons. I love that
they hated me. And they're like, hey, good job,
Goob. You know, like he just will not be as singularly
focused on his hatred and anger and will not
swivel from it, which is fascinating. I feel
like because the family thing, everybody's like
i think the idea is that family can be found
so the idea is that not everybody comes from
a stable household no matter what so no matter
what life is i think life is complex all right
well instability leaning into something that's
maybe a little rough yeah i think drama yeah
i mean look shameless the show yeah there's a
show about family super familiar it's like great
definitely worth your time but like it's A lot
of fame, like big actors now had been on that
show. It's cool to go back and look at it and
be like, yeah, 15 years ago was a long time.
But yeah, like the family dynamics are crazy
because like you realize that not everything's
white fences and suburbia, you know, there's
the drunk negligent parents. Yeah. If we're doing
a family fantasy, we can do it about it. Like
if I remember correctly, like. not a not wicked
but there's a like a uh like alice kills dorothy
or is that like kill dorothy is like a like a
canon spin -off of like hey now a free character
because public domain yeah and like this character
it's also comes from kansas and like yeah she
comes from a trailer park And it's like, Dorothy
came from a house out here. It's like, I'm from
a trailer park and now Dorothy's this rich, arrogant,
you know, like lives in a castle. I've always
been fascinated and forgive me if this is a movie,
but in the concept where if I could go back with
what I know now and maybe like that happening
and it going wrong, like you get to choose. five
like there's a fantastical world where you get
to go back and relive five critical moments okay
with everything you know now and if you like
that bully you want to rail on you go okay so
you're thinking like a magic orb shows up and
you get to go relive if you want to go into fantasy
because that's a concept i mean this is not super
dramatic But, you know, the truth may be in what
you choose, and there can be a lesson or a learning
from it along the way that you just kind of end
up seeing a different perspective or what have
you. But the idea, and I've had it, but I think
it's been done. I just can't think of a movie,
you know, of that kind of. I can see it going
on. you know i think about it like with what
i know now i would destroy the spelling bee and
heal that trauma that i had you know like if
you can only you know and there's been movies
if you can only fix that one moment but if i
went back with what i know now would you still
be you though when you came out the other side
yeah i don't know but it's just it's just like
maybe the fantastical concept of yeah you know
travel um and then what does it end to like You
get to see how your life ends when you handle
these moments differently. Are we looking for
a star? Are we looking for a director to kick
us off? Do you like the idea of that? I like
the idea of a fantasy family movie. The idea
of fixing key moments. Do you want that to be...
It's kind of like The Family Man with Nick Cage.
do we want this idea to be wholesome or do you
want it to be like, let's say, I don't know,
like this dark entity is promising, like, look,
you can go back and fix these things. I like
wholesome. I kind of, you know, you were trying
to get into serious territory and I fucked it
there with the trailer park. But in the thing
about Dorothy, yeah, not being, but, and there's,
you know, I remember seeing Kids, the movie,
and being like, holy shit, AIDS, and oh boy.
Oh no. Okay. Um, uh, suburbia, you know, and,
and those movies, um, even, um, with Keanu Reeves,
the river's edge, you know, that was like real
stuff about isolated kids. And we're like, Oh,
gnarly slayers in the soundtrack and that stuff.
Here's a question. Does family movie necessarily
require kids movie? No, I don't know. Okay. Okay.
Cause like, again, like the family man, Nicholas
cage is that cool one where like, He gets to
figure out what his life would have been like
had he stayed with his girlfriend. Do we have
a rough tagline? Maybe this will give us a direction.
Something we're thinking. I don't know. We approach
the tagline markedly different. I work into it.
I'm with the actor thing because I would love
William H. Macy in this. As the dad? As a character
who I think... Has the potential. Because I've
seen him in so many things. Including a movie
where he plays a gay man. And gets his heart
broken. He's so fucking versatile. And he's so.
He's awesome. He's pretty great. At what he does.
That if you want to have an emotional moment.
He's your guy. You're locked in. Any period of
his career. True. Especially early. Fargo. But,
like, he's just, I think he does emotion super
fucking well. Definitely shows it on his face.
So not maybe as the lead character, if there
is a lead, you know, but as a pivotal character.
All right. Fantasy Family, William H. Macy. Is
our character going, like, to a fantasy world?
Or is a fantasy thing happening to them? Or is
it sci -fi? Well, I like that idea where, you
know, like, something triggers this event. Yeah.
and is it a tragic event like let's say his child
dies let's say he's got a kid dies like he thinks
that the main character yeah dies yeah like these
events because i mean tragedy happens all the
time doesn't necessarily need to be happy we
can end on a happy note maybe the changing of
these events if that's the case Well, yeah, that's
the thing. You get to change the outcome of this.
So it feels like it's a sci -fi thing. It feels
almost like a game show. That's a little heavy
if the premise is you get to go back and... And
if you figure out the things to do correctly.
Because it feels like Adam Sandler could be in
it. I get to go back and... It does feel like
Click. But the... Oh, what is Click again? He
gets a remote to fast forward through time -space
and see his family and he realizes what the things
he does wrong. I like the idea of being able
to choose a couple of moments that you could...
pick okay that you think may have changed the
trajectory almost like a christmas with like
with what i know now and and that could be um
and what if it's like back to the last reasonable
person that's our title forgive me so what if
uh last hear me out person hear me out what if
it's uh like him retelling a story kind of like
princess bride style but instead of like he's
telling a story book like he's recanting his
story okay And this is where he's at now. William
H. Macy is the older version of this person.
Yeah, yeah. All right. Is it Jesse Plemons? I
just went on visual. I went on visual. Okay.
I like that a lot as retelling this. Yeah. Or
like he's sitting around like a fire or something
like that. Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. Yeah.
It feels very adventury. Because you clearly
know that he ended in a way that at least includes
a grandchild. Or somebody. Which makes it very
interesting. And I think maybe other movies have
set it up that way, but I don't really give a
shit. I think that's really exciting. But do
you like the idea of you get to change not one,
but multiple key moments? Because the idea is
everybody is way more than one. Yeah, you get
to change every moment, every day. Sorry. Maybe
too heavy. Interesting. Anywho. And he's retelling.
Yeah. I like that. Yeah, yeah. Because, again,
you can make this PG very, very easily. And with
him. You can still have your action. We can still
have our whimsy. Yeah. I'm going to vote it's
definitely our 80s. So this idea is like with
what I know now, like with what I, oh man, if
I only, if I confronted that person with what
I knew now, if I said yes, and maybe it's not
that kind of thing, but it's, you know. All right,
let's see. Is he telling, is our grandfather
character here, is he telling it to a singular
person or a group of people? Oh, oh, oh, oh,
that's fascinating. Yeah. Because there could
be a group of people you could assume are his
family or not. Yeah. And then there could be
a twist at the end. It could be a twist. Retelling
to a group of people. Like, yeah. But, and it
could be just the whole family and they're like,
we love when you tell this story. Yeah. But,
I mean. And they think he's crazy. You could
even play it where like, you could almost do
a vignette where like everybody's seeing it differently.
I mean, I could see that where like everybody's
seeing it from a different perspective. Yeah.
That could be interesting. Okay. This is great.
Do we need a tragic event to trigger this occasion?
And how should William H. Macy's younger self
be visited? Ooh, be visited? You know, like by
this intervention, by this sci -fi intervention
where... You know, and I think it maybe could
be something mundane, like maybe like job related.
Like if I only, you know, and is about to make
a terrible decision and then somebody steps in,
you know, in a supernatural looking over your
shoulder like and says, you've got the chance.
Right. And you get key moments to choose. Okay.
So are you saying that he's also the last reasonable
person going back? convincing himself like these
are better selections in time that's interesting
the title yeah because this is the so is our
premise a little bit too soft for this yeah i
like the idea i'm thinking instead of leaning
into the mundanity i think i'm leaning more into
the princess bride of like it should be an adventure
it should be whimsy fun the last reasonable person
i mean it could be his heroic telling of his
life and how he got here and it's like In your
sense, it could easily be like, hey, instead
of doing this, I decided to do this. I was laying
out a pretty heavy premise that's all kind of
hinged on that. And it's that bit of dopamine.
I'm like, yeah, if I would have had this thing
happen. It could definitely be a retelling. The
last reasonable person. The last reasonable person.
Right. Because, I mean. I would like to see the
idea of like everybody's telling him to do this
thing. And he's like, no, I'm going to trust
my gut. And at the end, it turns out like he
was right. Yeah. He trusted his gut enough to
actually succeed. And like, turns out everybody
was wrong. You know, and I honestly think the
title, even if we did lean into that premise
of fixing those things, we could work our way
into that title. Yeah. And a tagline, I bet.
Okay. I'm sure. So if we just, if we work with
that. There's an event that triggers something.
What's something that you wish you could go back
and fix in your life? Not to be too personal,
but like if I could go back and had this wisdom
now. I would have bought a house straight out
of college. What do you mean? Times have changed.
Interesting. That's probably the biggest one.
Interesting. Play the market is what I'm saying,
everybody. Do hot tub time machine. If you know
it's coming, buy in now. Yeah, absolutely. I
think it would be, maybe it's cool if it is something
job -related. Okay. And he's about to make just
a bad mistake, and somebody intervenes like that.
All right. So it's like, I wish I would have
done, and I didn't, and he's about to do something.
So he's retelling a story, and he's... recanting
and he's like, all right, cool. I missed the
call to adventure. It would have doomed my life
had I done this and I got this intervention and
somebody says, you get however many, four just
comes to mind. You get four moments that you
can go back to with all the knowledge that you
have now and you can't freak anybody out. You're
like, cars are flying. But you can relive those
moments. And thusly, there are rules. You can't
say, I know this because I'm from the fucking
future. So that is interesting because that puts
some points on it. Let's say you go back and
you confront a fifth grade bully just because
you want to destroy him. Just because? Are you
as strong as you were in fifth grade? And there
could be other things like, you know, there could
be perspective towards the end of how those things
affected those people. Okay. Like a la Cobra
Kai? In a way. Oh, interesting. Yeah, exactly.
Well, maybe it's fun to think about who is younger
William H. Macy. Younger William H. Macy. Any
suggestions? I'm going to space on it. In a way,
I'd love a young Paul Newman in this. Paul Newman
as a young... Yeah. The blue eyes, definitely.
For sure. For sure. Paul Newman to the age of
William H. Macy. And it's a little bit out of
character. Okay. But if you put him in these
kind of modern times to be able to go back and
do a bunch of different things. All right. All
right. So Paul Newman is our young William H.
Macy. Yeah. So William H. Macy is recanting the
story. Yep. And Paul Newman's like the guy living
it out. Who's our ghost that's going to come
back and communicate with him? Yeah, that's what's
interesting. I like this. This definitely feels
like a Christmas carol now, unfortunately. Is
it his ghost? I don't know. I think it's a real
person. Initially, it's like, and there has to
be this moment of belief. I keep going back to
the family man, where it's Don Cheadle. But something
kind of similar to that. I'm thinking more not
quite the movie. Or maybe it's something totally
different. Yeah. I'm thinking not quite the movie,
the butterfly effect, but more like random people
are like, why don't you go do this thing that
you actually want to do? And then he gets to
play that out and see what it actually would
have been like. It's what sounds like you're
trying to convince me of. He's trying to play
out the fantasy of like, these are the regrets
I had in life and wish I had done differently.
But it shows a lot about him because he's just
got to choose them, do them, and then get the
output. Yeah. You know what I mean? So he doesn't
get to, and the point is he doesn't consider
along the way what the output is. You know what
I mean? So there you kind of have a first, second,
and third act situation. And then your final
is him. So at the final bit, is it him saying
like, I regret the choices, but I'm okay with
making them? because uh the last reasonable person
would be like hey all life comes down to making
choices and you regret no matter what you choose
you just have to be comfortable with the choices
you make yeah okay so you're thinking like and
also think about that really you know okay like
you live the moment the way you're supposed to
live it and there are other people in that moment
too you have infinite things to say and do and
whatever you said and did Was supposed to be
sad and dead, unfortunately. Hopefully it was
your best self at the time. You know, that kind
of thing. You can only make the decisions you
know with the choices you have. So it has the
ability to have some humor. Okay. Got some heart.
Because I think you get some fun into what these
four things are. Okay. These four past moments.
So if you have a younger Paul Newman, but who's
like, no, William H. Macy is, what are we saying,
like 70? Yeah, some 70 age him up or whatever.
Yeah. Age him up a little bit. So I'm up a little
more. Maybe some, you know, you have this thing
happen when he's 50. You could. You could. And
then you could age, you know, have Paul Newman
de -aged throughout the film going backwards.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You know, depending on what's
chosen. So what is a cool event? You know, so
yeah. So like a career comes to an end. Yeah.
He's about to make a terrible choice. And what
if it's somebody who's been a pal all along who
steps up and is like, listen, go do this other
thing. I've been here all along. Maybe it's corny,
but you're like, you're out of your mind. Okay.
Who's this friend who saves him? Who's like,
go, go do this thing. Because he's recanting,
he's retelling his story through different, through
things he actually didn't do. So I feel like
this is where the fun comes in of like, this
is where the event, because you could almost
do like a Munchausen syndrome. Yeah, exactly.
Like it's all made up. Not necessarily like could
do. Yeah. I like somebody who's different than,
you know, young to middle -aged Paul Newman energy.
Okay. You know, and not in a Butch Cassidy and
Sundance kind of way. But I mean, he's tough,
but he can be caring, he can be sensitive. So
you want him to go off on an adventure. So out
of high school, he gets a corporate job. Yeah,
maybe somebody, you know, this person who's been
a friend along the way, like a Jeremy Piven.
Okay. Jeremy Piven, the friend, Jeremy Piven.
Who is an unlikely friend, but there's your comic
relief right there. Because I've been thinking
about the goods, live free or sell hard or whatever.
Forever. And I think Jeremy Pittman is so funny.
As the friend? Yeah, but he can play... There's
a lot of movies, we can't list them here, where
he's quite serious. And he's fucking great. Judgment
Night being one of them. So I imagine as somebody
who's been there along the way, but then steps
up as this... As having these gifts. And maybe
was once the recipient himself. And that gets
us out of the whole... Like, there's just suspension
of disbelief, but whatever. All right. And so,
again, like with a lot of things, like, you know,
it takes some convincing. With previous movies,
the person just has to, like, realize they're
out of their life. But he needs to know that
he is able to make these choices. So he's having
a midlife crisis. Yeah. And then we're retelling
his midlife crisis from old age is what you're
saying. Yeah. But again, the idea is. His friend
has saved him from doing a really bad thing that
he knows just somehow. And so he convinces him,
I have the power to give you the chance to go
back and relive four moments of your life with
everything you know now. All your perspective,
all of your knowledge. I feel like you could
do it with a sci -fi twist of almost total recall,
like it's a drug or it's this government thing.
Oh, fascinating. yeah fascinating yeah i feel
like that's the way you'd have to do it where
like there's this thing that lets you go back
into your mind and kind of rewrite the stuff
and like he's telling it as a man who's actually
survived it it's like you get to decide can't
we just do it with just and again i forget why
some of these are there's like no explanation
in some of these movies yeah and it's not explained
as religious it's just like magic yeah that's
Does it bother you that it might not have an
exact origin story of why Jeremy Piven can do
this? Other than just because? Yeah. I mean,
you could say if it's sci -fi or fantasy. But
it's a fantasy for sure. and maybe we table like
you find out why okay but and there's there can
be fun and like convincing that this is real
this is so it turns out that yeah so he has to
try the first one so let me run this by so the
the idea that just hit me is what if it's like
him telling it from his deathbed And we don't
find that out to the very end. Like him telling
it around the story is him like coping and like
actually making like the last decision. But still
telling a group of people you don't know who
they are. But like it turns out they're all standing
around his deathbed. And you could still use
William H. Macy maybe in the last thing he decides
to change, right? Yeah. So like young Paul Newman.
He gets to do three of the four things. William
H. Macy, as is, or under less prosthetics, does
the last thing. Yeah. That's rad. I can see that.
This is fun. We might end on a sad, happy note,
but bittersweet's okay. Do you remember how we
ended our romance? Just a little bit. A little
bitter, a little sweet. I mean, the poster was
like the melanoma. Yeah. Already. I don't know
if we can even go lower than that. That's rough.
All right. This is really fun. So if it's a traditional
family movie, there needs to be a family dynamic
of some sort, maybe traditional or otherwise.
So do you want to approach a traditional female
lead for young Paul Newman that, again, just
can be of any sort, any person, any... Do you
have any recommendations? Yeah. Any recommendations?
Because we're having fun. We are. Yeah. Because
we could be loose with it. We can pick anybody
from anywhere. Well, again, Paul Newman is pretty
serious. He's pretty, you know, even when he's
loose, he's pretty serious. Do you need somebody?
I think you need a really strong actor in this
position who can really. Gravitas? Are we looking
for like. I think that would be rad. Okay. Somebody
big. Somebody who really does bring a lot to
it. Can be seen as an equal, maybe not a love
lost, but like somebody who like is important
to him, but really. I think an old school, new
school. Give me a, give me a. I'm wondering if
it's not new school because that's more fun to
me. I would like to suggest Dame Judi Dench.
In her prime? In her prime. Oh my God. Yes. I
feel like she would hold her own as the mother
figure. So we're doing a traditional family.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. I love it. Do we use
the accent as a part of the story? I think we
could. Okay. Cool. All right. I love it. We do
not. All right. So we have some basic ideas of
this. This is cool. I love that the last group
of people is unknown. Yeah. Could be family.
Could be a board. Because do you like the idea
of setting him up as a businessy person? Yeah.
Yeah. Business, business, business, success,
piles of money, cool car. Do you have an idea
or an industry that is fun for young Paul Newman
-ish to be in? That's exciting to think about,
exciting to write about, like finances, like
things that... Do you want him to be a particularly
wealthy person or maybe more middle class identifiable?
I think he should be a traveling salesman. He's
always on the move. Somebody who has a job. Somebody
who's in logistics. It's kind of funny because
what they do is moving things around. I know
somebody in logistics and I think logistics are
fucking fascinating. If one boat stops, Hotels
don't get their renovation furniture. You know
what I mean? Everything. Everything's connected
to something. You're only seven steps from Kevin
Bacon. It's apparently very stressful. Not throwing
shade, but shit. All right. I like that idea.
And the inciting incident is having worked up
to, and that's identifiable. it goes nowhere
it has he's not fired but something the job has
ended yeah and something his friend just very
much i'm gonna go with this other firm or what
have you and he's like i need to stop you right
now this is killing you or something to that
effect like this is not what you signed up for
and then they have the discussion okay you know
and i've been your friend for a long time but
i need to disclose this and he whips out his
magical weird genitalia and it's cubed I'm just
glowing. It's cute. Cubed and glowing genitalia.
That'd freak you out. Does that too much in a
family film? I feel like that might be too much.
But it's very sci -fi. I don't think Disney will
let you do it. It's only alluded. It's like the
shots from the chest up. It's like, all right,
I have glowing cubed genitals. And he's like,
we've been showering together since high school.
And he's like, we hit puberty at 30. No, I don't
think we're that fast. And then he's like, wah.
And he's like. All right. Jeremy Piven can hold
that. Yeah, everything's Shakespeare for him.
All right. Glowing cubed genitals are out. Yeah,
I'm going to axe that one, I think. That feels
like a very different movie. That feels like
one of those things, like the musician contracts,
like, did you read the contract? It was like,
no, I didn't read that. There's a song titled
Cubed Genitals. It's got its own theme song.
Yeah, what? When he does the reveal, it's got
like a reveal song. It's neon green, I'm telling
you. It's going to be cool. James Gunn is directing
this. You're going to love it, I'm telling you
guys. Holy fuck. Never heard of him. He's about
to do the Avengers or something. Do you have
a director in mind? James Gunn. You want James
Gunn to make this movie? Early James Gunn. Like
Slytherin. Like Slytherin, like the superhero
with Ryan Wilson. Because I know he can do the
suite. I know he can do the soundtrack would
be amazing. Not necessarily written because I
think writing, I think we should dig a little
harder, but yeah, I think indie. okay you're
feeling you're feeling very low budget yeah absolutely
okay um so the idea that he is given this opportunity
let's say and we know that so for for story's
sake we've got 29 minutes uh what are the moments
that he decides to go back to all right so in
my head i'm imagining like if he's on his deathbed
and he's getting to relive or slash change his
uh his moments i feel like if it's a drug administered
like They're kind of inception. I think it doesn't
have to be that. It's just magical realism. But
the idea is once you start the journey, there's
no stopping. You go from one moment to the next.
You don't get to see the aftermath. You just
get to behave differently. I think you definitely
get to start with childhood bully. I feel like
that's pretty easy. Low fruit to grab, but I
feel like it's a pivotal one to grab. After that,
definitely First Love. And it's not Dame Judi
Dench or it is? Good question. Maybe it's not.
Maybe it's not, but it doesn't necessarily mean
because, I mean. Because they're being honest.
Yeah. And he's like, you know, the thing is you
just have to bet on the outcome. Yeah. Yeah.
The last reasonable person. First Love, not Dame
Judi Dench. Not. I mean, what a fucking shocker.
Let's be real here. He's got a secret, yo, because
clearly is she at the end? Dame Judi Dench is
at the end and not the person that we see. Yeah.
Yeah. Dame Judi Dench. And then everybody's like,
oh, no. Turns out his real love. Okay. First
love, not DJD. Anything. job -related. Maybe
I should have asked for more money. I should
have stood up for myself in this situation. Yeah,
definitely needs to stick up for himself. Something
kind of mundane, because this is his last one,
FYI. I think the big one... So Paul Newman's
last. I think the big one is he, much like Click,
should have fought for family time, realized
at the end. Oh, yeah. I think all of this should
lead to that, for sure. Even Scarface is like,
he got everything he ever wanted, and then at
the very end... I'm fixated on this first love
thing. What a scandal. What a scandal. Because
he's like, it's just us. Yeah. Oh, I love it.
So the third thing, is it potentially money related?
Because he thinks it won't end the way it just
ended if he makes a different choice relating
to a job. Yeah, maybe. So he's job related and
it won't end the way it just does. So now. Maybe
like much like in today's age where they're like
AI this and AI that, we're going to phase everything
out. It's like he's freaking out because things
change. And a lot of it, well, so with the first
love, we don't have things that are necessarily
about confrontation, let's say. Just maybe is
it about being smarter, being wittier? Because
what's the real thing when you think like you,
Logan? Not necessarily as young Paul Newman,
YPN. No, no, that's what you got to think of.
What is, if you think about going back and confronting
a childhood bully, is it just because maybe you
think you can fight better? Because again, you
may not have your strength in this situation,
but you have your knowledge. So you've seen more
movies. You know you can out -karate this person.
Is it about that or is it about you want to tear
this person down with your mind and your mouth?
I think the idea is that you personally want
to change the outcomes and regardless of the
outcome that might have, you're like, I'd rather
go down that road and find out. I might not win
this fight. Fight or not. But having not picked
the fight is something I regret. Somebody's like,
I don't know. I never fought my childhood bully,
so that's bothered me my whole life because they
never thought maybe they might die. It's a possibility,
but it's like going back as an adult and be like,
hey, if I just confronted this thing, this thing
I feared, I might have been a better person for
it. What if in this scenario, he picked the fight
with the bully? What if he was the bully? Sorry,
did I stun you? By perception, you're like, oh,
he realizes he was the bully. Yeah, I like that
turnabout. I mean, much like the Karate Kid,
like, again, with this perspective. Well, actually,
I might lean in on this one. Like, I like that
he later on finds that he really fucked up this
kid, you know? So he does lean in on the bully.
And it's not like the bully's getting beat at
home. What I think people forget is kids are
ruthless, and they don't know their own power.
Yeah. They don't understand, because how can
they? Because... as an adult you have the capacity
to look back on your life and be like I can make
better decisions but when you're like I don't
know say under the age of 18 yeah 18 laps around
the sun is not very many laps to be like I have
enough capacity to actually draw on events to
be like I make good decisions right say you inherently
make bad decisions just it's tough to have life
value to draw on And so you'll say things and
then you'll change and be like five years later,
you're back. Oh, wow. I should not have said
that thing because you realize how hurtful and
terrible that is. Yeah. I'll walk into the well
on this. I'll say the idea is you go back, you
confront a fourth grade bully and you verbally
decimate them. And you're like, ha ha, took care
of that. Like it prevented the fight. You felt
that everybody's like, yeah, that moment. But
what you didn't know is your use. of your current
vernacular, the normal kid just couldn't cope
with and kills himself. That's what you find
out at the end. Brutal. Not that they were being
beat. It was just a bully, but what you did was
so hard that they couldn't reconcile it, and
it drove them nuts, and they killed themselves.
Because that's everybody's thing. They want to
go back and just step into that verbal confrontation
with all your great knowledge now. Everybody
wants a slam dunk on somebody. cute but what
if you're like oh fuck how did that like how
did it actually that was insane like how did
it was like a different person i swear it was
like a demon because you would maybe seem like
a demon if all of a sudden you just were like
all right i'm gonna walk into this you've planned
it you know what i mean is walking into his memory
seeing all this from a new light is that well
i mean yeah but he i think that's part of the
thing he gets a debrief sometime before this
He knows all these results. This is all part
of the thing. He's sharing this. Little did I
know. Little did I know what I was actually signing
up for. This little kid's brain could not deal
with it. He could share with his parents, but
at the time, nobody shared shit with their parents.
Turns out, I got the slam dunk, but at what price?
The last reasonable person, but at what price?
At what price? Is that our tagline? I'm writing
that down. dang see you walk right well it's
a family movie so we hopefully do we it's heavy
it's yeah it's a family drama honestly the more
you were saying this i was like This feels real
heavy and real heady. And I was like, I don't
know if anybody's bringing their kids to see
this movie where somebody verbally abuses their
bully and the bully commits suicide. As much
as I want to see that movie. All right. The bully
becomes a motivational speaker fueled by their
love for the knowledge of the words that they
just heard. Oh, okay. Is that what it is? You
could turn it around easily. And that person
today became a successful James Gunn. So James
Gunn for sure. with the needle that's what i
threw out that's what you threw out there i don't
know if james gunn as much as i want to say james
gunn who writes who else who else come on it
feels very drama filled and not say james gunn
can't do that i don't think that and i don't
know again it feels sci -fi yeah it feels do
you want the whimsy or do we want this darker
i think there should be there should be humor
there should definitely be humor he's going back
first not being yeah Dame Judi Dench is pretty
funny. I think that should be some humor. That's
definitely got to be a comedic bit. The bully
could be fun. Again, seeing a little kid articulate
like a 50 -year -old without using swears or
whatever. Using new words. Because he's going
back in time, he's actually the progenitor of
these slang words that the future kids are saying.
Yeah, and it could be those kind of things, but
it's just we're picking moments where I think
a mass group of people would identify with. All
right. I'd love to take another swing at that
moment. Okay. With everything I got now. Just,
hey, with all the things I got, I'm going to
do it better. Everything that you have now is
a sum total of all the choices that you previously
made. You know what I mean? So at the end. So
he's the last reasonable person and everybody's
like, what do you mean? They don't want him to
do this. And he's like, no, no, no. I'm going
to do this because it needs to be done. Is that
what it is? Oh, well, I'm interested in what
you think William H. Macy. So we have these do
-overs. We've not landed on what happens with
this childhood bully situation. First love, clearly,
because when you're going to these flash forwards,
Dame Judi Dench is in the room. Yeah, it turns
out that was his first wife and she died in an
accident or something. You don't know. And then
this job decision. And in either way, you know,
you could have Jeremy Piven there as his light
childhood friend. So he's, you know, that's how
you kind of put him in the background of these
scenes. Yeah, always kind of there. This is why
there's trust in this. What's going on is fine.
I'll try whatever, you know, so he's desperate.
He will try. I'll try anything. So we come to
the fourth thing. And this is a, you know, a
later on his deathbed. Well, no, like this is
quite. Yeah. I mean, late, clearly later after
job success or failure, you never know. Well,
what's another kind of do over that he could
have later? Maybe Dame Judi Dench is in the picture.
Yeah. Maybe this is where we find out like he,
his first love and him fall out of love. Well,
I like the idea that he. He tries to make a different
situation. Yeah. What kind of situation? Okay.
Interesting. Yeah. Does he fall in love with
his first love? I'm running into narrative challenges
because he's got three and he's starting as old
man William H. Macy. He's got four different
things. And again, he's young Paul Newman. Yes.
Going back. Sorry. We can't have old William
H. Macy in. Any of the flashback -y stuff. No.
So it's all got to be Paul Newman stuff. Yeah.
Okay. Until the very end. All right. So the fourth
thing can't be William H. Macy. It's got to be
young Paul Newman. So after the job, what's the
fourth thing that he decides? The fourth situation.
The fourth that he decides to come back with
all of his current knowledge and all of his current
what -have -you that he's going to take another.
And the idea, this is like Yahtzee. Yeah. Not
really. But the idea is if he re -rolls the dice
on these four things, then he thinks his life
is going to be infinitely better. It could always
be that maybe he himself didn't have the best
family growing up. I don't know. Oh, there's
a surprise one where as a kid, he decides to
say a nice thing to his dad. Yeah, yeah. very
much like so that's the last one yeah like save
that for last yeah you save that one for last
i'm in tears right now yeah like his he finally
gets an i love you from his dad who never said
no no he would have to be him right making a
decision yeah and he decides to like give his
dad some encouragement in a time or something
yeah dad and cur like when he just blew him off
yeah you don't realize you don't realize how
much Time's precious. Yeah. And with writing,
you can, you know, like, like, and these are
all interesting because you get a bunch and you
get to like disarm people with the first three.
Yeah. Bully. Yeah. First love. Yeah. Job. And
then, oh shit. Go back to seven and be like,
or 13. Okay. And be like, you know, good luck
in that thing, dad. Yeah. Because you forget,
you know, he has a family. Yeah, you forget.
You know, and there's people around him. So,
okay, we have 17 minutes. Lots of time. Going
to the end, the people around him, are they,
do you assume they're... I would make it his
whole family. Okay, because you could film it
in a way that it's the board, and you assume
that the move he makes to help his... is very
successful because, again, what he ultimately
wants, you have to set up is success in his job.
Okay. And, you know, he realizes along the way
that he's neglected the family part, blah, blah,
blah, right? But... He reveals to the board all
the things he would have changed. So the idea
is you could be filming this flash -forward bit
in a way and you see these people that you don't
know really at all. Could it be a board meeting
or is it a family... You show a bunch of people
in business casuals. But I like the idea that
it's the family. Is it a fantasy space world
to where it's like mom and dad are clearly happily
alive. They're holograms. They're all holograms.
Floating in the back. He's the last living. Again,
I'm hooked on the first love not being Dame Judi
Dench. Just from a writing standpoint, you can
have this like... I have a director only because
I feel like it's... Oh, yeah. Sorry. We got drama.
Not to say that James Gunn couldn't do it. I
just don't know if it's quite the voice I want.
Facing the drama part of it, I don't know if
it hits the fantasy whimsy that we might be after.
Maybe potentially. Maybe more subtle. I'm going
to nominate Clint Eastwood. Oh, geez, Louise.
Just, I feel like... It's heavy. Heavy. It's
heavy enough that he could do it. What period?
Ooh, definitely, I would say, an unforgiving
time frame. Like, right, late 90s, like, yeah,
him taking over right around there. Wow. Yeah.
That's interesting. I think him doing it then,
yeah. This feels pretty indie. Yeah, I don't
know. And he could shoot it that way. Yeah, he
could definitely shoot it that way. He would
definitely shoot it pretty cinematically, too.
It would be pretty grandiose, I feel. I'm thinking
of somebody he did The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Oh, yeah. Did you ever see that? I did see that.
Stephen Chbosky. I could see that movie being
very similar. Did you see him doing it? I could
see it. And I think he wrote that, too. I mean,
we could ease out on another writer, director,
but who did, and I should know this, who did
Sideways? That one I could not tell you off the
top of the head. Have you seen Sideways? I have
not. You haven't seen Sideways? No, who did it?
Alexander Payne. Alexander Payne, all right.
You know, he did Election. uh nebraska the descendants
okay he's the one he's the one yeah okay and
i think maybe because i think it's a little too
hardcore for clint eastwood it's maybe a little
little it's close but not quite his track is
what you're saying yeah so like like directed
by alexander pain because i think he could handle
the sci -fi and I don't know why. I just think
he could. And then Stephen Chbosky writes it.
Okay. You get that kind of awkward family dynamic
and just, okay, I can see that. I'm down. It
feels like we're definitely going to have some
awkward comedy in this. Some growing up comedy.
Death at a funeral. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we
definitely like to angle towards these black,
dark comedies, don't we? Yes, we do. There's
something to be said about the awkwardness to
be like, you got to laugh in light of. Yeah.
I feel like this movie is. Frank Oz did the remake
of Death at a Funeral, by the way. That's an
interesting choice. Should Frank Oz be our director?
I feel like Frank Oz is a great director. I mean.
Yeah. I kind of love Frank Oz. I actually like
Alexander Payne as the writer and Frank Oz. See,
you never know when you hit that eureka moment.
And Frank Oz as the director. Oh, fuck yeah.
Does he have a role in it? Yes. Doing any voice
he wants? Absolutely. I hope it's Miss Piggy,
to be honest. And I hope it's in some weird -ass
flashback. There's somehow we get the Muppets
in here. Okay, so in the flashback... It is a
family movie. Is this a Muppets movie? Young
Paul Newman. Is this a Muppets movie? Don't judge.
You put that on me, Ricky Bobby. It's too hard.
It might be. So Young Paul Newman can do an uncanny
Miss Piggy, but the whole time it's actually
voiced by Frank Oz, like in post. I like that.
I just love the idea of somehow it's a Muppets
movie, but we tell nobody until the last second.
Because Death at a Funeral is so, I mean, the
original is so good. I don't know who did the
remake. I don't know. Something about Frank Oz
doing this movie. Because you can handle the
serious and having the comedic moments I think
are important. And they could be delivered in
all of these little ways. Do we have a composer
in mind? Anybody that you would think would fit
with the musical themes? Are we still leaning
towards this kind of whimsy, dramatical? You're
going to kind of have a dark edge to it. Like
Danny Elfman, I feel I could do it. That's fascinating.
I think that's a little dark. I'm going to go
with something a little more... Lighten the mood
slightly? But what's your favorite Danny Elfman
movie? Like score -wise, do you have one? I couldn't
even tell you off the top of the head. Batman,
I will tell you, changed my life. When I saw
that movie in the theater... A huge part of it
was I was in from the beginning because of the
soundtrack. There's something to be said about
soundtracks in movies. Yeah. I would choose 100
% John Barry for this. John Barry. All right.
And Somewhere in Time is the movie that I'm talking
about right now, which ironically stars William
H. Mason. But most notably, he did Out of Africa.
He's IMDb top for Out of Africa, Dances with
Wolves, Living Daylights. He did a Bond film.
Somewhere in Time is beautiful and filmed in
northern Michigan. I will accept these terms.
It sounds like a good selection. He can do the
fantasy, can do the adventure, but I think this
should have a phenomenal theme that really hits.
That soars and gives him a moment. Some big heart
swells. Like a lot of cool moments throughout.
But like John Barry, 100 % is, I think would
be amazing for it. For bonus points. And that's
older. I get that. But, you know, started out
early too. Like really early. All right. I keep
forgetting he did Star Crash. King Kong 1976.
Getting them all. Sounds fun. It sounds like
he's got it. But up through a lot. Like, yeah,
just. I don't know. He's just perfect for this
because it's not just a romantic comedy. It's
a broader thing. And he'd crush, I believe. Last
in 2011. Well, not in our universe. It's okay.
We can still get him. Yeah. We said we're going
to be more untethered this time. We're going
to be wild. We're going to do it wild. We've
kind of been dancing around some taglines. Do
you have any lines in the movie? Like, what would
you like to say to a bully? What would you like
to say as you ask for more money? You know? In
a crude way. In a crude way? Maybe not. That's
a way to put a guy on the spot. Yeah. Well, it's
what we do. It is what we do. A little unscripted.
Nice plug. You're welcome. I'm here all week.
Well, you know, I'm really fascinated by the
idea of doing a surprise moment where he says,
I'm going to encourage my dad. Okay. You know
what I mean? And did you say something about
having a nickname or something? I did not. Well,
maybe there's a nickname that he's given, but
early, like, you find his dad, and he just says,
like, you got to champ to his dad. Oh, yeah.
Like, just something encouraging. You know, something
like that that ties into that. Yeah, I think
that's super cool. And then what was the last
thing he was going to do? Oh, yeah, the dad encouraged
him. A childhood buddy. The job decision, I think
it's just asking for more money. All right, that's
too stressful. I get that. So the tagline, we
have... At what price? That's interesting, because
I would argue, where's the price? Is he paying
one? Because at the end, you... Oh, interesting.
All right, so we're finding out there's ramifications
for all these things. Yeah, I think that's why...
Potentially, you don't think too heartbreaking
ramifications for the childhood bug. You don't
think these things are... Nobody thinks the ripples
of their life are going to come back to bite
them. Okay, the big idea is that potentially...
I guess he wouldn't know if his life turns out
the same. Yeah, he gets to die at the end. Is
that the sad news? Well, I don't know. Maybe
he's not on a deathbed is what I'm saying. Okay,
he's just retelling. No, I don't think he's on
a deathbed. Okay, he's just retelling a story.
So could there be a way that he'd know... you
know how things turned out differently otherwise
because as the audience you'd be like well how
does he know how you know i think that's where
the fantasy part of it comes in and like you
don't know if he was telling the truth or not
oh interesting i think you have to steer into
that like so do you have other characters like
checking this stuff in post no no i mean honestly
like all right we've heard this and then there's
a little bit of like uh after credits scene where
like there's a wink and a nudge at the end and
like oh childhood polo died or something we we
do the like shows that all these things were
true we do the classic thing of like you get
like the half screen of the credits where it
shows like all of the like yeah all the bits
i love that by the way yeah we need to bring
that back that is so i don't know how we lost
that but i could see that i think that's a director's
choice on that interesting i'd leave oh so leave
it like how do you know what happened like yeah
how do you know did it work out what worked out
what we end on a ambiguous happy note but would
you be satisfied by that like would you want
to know what happened to the bully and and and
if his life turned out better or not i don't
know the way hollywood's going right now they'll
tell you anyway We'll just reboot it. Well, let
me tell you what happened to the bully. Don't
worry. I'll tell you in 20 years. I'd want some
closure. You'd want some closure. You want to
know what happened to the bully. And it's interesting
to create that element of fantasy where you do
have that scene where somebody is like, all right,
like. Always telling that story and somebody
is like and looks these things up and is like,
wait a second. You could always have it be like
it's a talk show. Right before the almost I.
In a strange pivot, you could have it be like
the five people you meet in heaven or on the
way to heaven. But instead of that, it's a literal
talk show. We're good at what we do. I'm going
to say, what if you get the idea that he knows
what the path is going to be, but he gets to
roll the dice on this. That's the point. So he
knows how it's going to end. So you're saying
his life is the same no matter what. Because
Jeremy Piven is able to show him. Okay. It's
not bad, but it ain't great. Okay. And then,
but you can roll the dice on these four things
and see how your life turns out. So he has a
point of reference, at least in his story, that
he says, I know that my life, and he told me
how it was going to turn out. It kind of sounds
like he finds a magic item. He gets a genie lamp,
something to that effect, and this is our family.
If you just look down. Just unzip. Nope. More
like the never ending story. Like he goes to
a pawn shop or something, gets something. So
I think it's important that he knows what the
alternative was. So he knows what he's risking.
And he's risking not much because he has belief
in Jeremy Piven and his semi -comedic ways in
this. We don't need the full piv. No. We need
you to pivot. good classic clever i love you
know um and and you have and i again i like the
idea that you know um dame judy dentures in the
room and she's non -committal to this she's she's
always like yes tells it every year is it true
yes it's true she's just in on it how do you
know and she's just i know she she's the one
who gives you the wink at the end but like i
thought like the postscripts were like A kid
starts looking up, like, somebody finally wrote
this down. It's like, well, shit. He's been lying
to me this whole time. And you see, you know,
what did happen to these people. And it's either
what, you know, again, director's choice, how
interesting it is, whatever happened to these
people. Yeah. I think that I find that. And you
know that during or it is postscript, like either
way. Yeah. You bury it at the very end. Yeah.
After all this. And you can have another scene
because it kind of started with, you know. princess
bride style i believe you mentioned like yeah
so maybe one kid he makes a connection with the
one kid early or maybe it is just one kid he's
talking to back and the kid's finally like and
he's like he he figures it out and gives him
the thing cube The glowing Q. I distracted you
with that, but... And then that's his key to
making similar or different decisions. Turns
out. I like that. This alien artifact. All right.
I think we've got... We have... He's the last
reasonable person. And then some. All the things
that we need to... Frank Oz directed. I... 2028
release. This is very true. Please be the Muppets.
This is very true. Somewhere in there. What?
What if he is standing up to Billy Zane? In prison?
We have some time. No. Somehow they're in prison?
No, no, no. In the job thing? What if Billy Zane
is the boss? I could see that. That'd be fun,
Billy Zane. Because we don't do a lot of maybe
side characters always. That's true. We're trying
to get this. I don't know. That would be fun.
That could be real fun. All right. I really like
this movie as well. This is great. At what price,
though? Is that what we want it to be? We have
a minute and 44 seconds. At what price? I feel
like it fits the title. It's ambiguous. Do you
want to see that? Does it scream family? It still
is a family movie. It definitely feels like a
drama. I think it should be a little bit family
at what price? Family at what price? Oh, man.
How, what if it kind of, do you know what's important?
Ooh. What's reasonable? No, no, no. Like the
last reasonable person. And then the tagline
is, do you know what's important? I can see that.
Like asking the person, asking everybody. I could
see that. And it may be in like, and we didn't
say it didn't have to be an existing tagline,
but like, again, do you know what's important?
Because what is important? Yeah. And it's family,
everybody. Surprise. And then that's the thing.
Then we figure that out. There's kids and there's
the young guy. There's a pinata and fireworks.
Sparklers. Children riding tricycles. I don't
know. I like Jeremy Piven with a young Paul Newman.
I'm more excited about James. And he's just annoyed
with him. Just annoyed with him always. Always.
And I think the childhood bully scene, it needs
to be... Like, truly childhood and Jeremy Piven,
even at, like, eight years old, should be bald.
Bald. Just always. Same Jeremy Piven hair. Should,
in fact, just be his. I vote for rat tail. But
balding. But balding. Like, skull it. Yeah. Skull
it, but rat tail. Yeah. And he, you know, I am
a huge. All right. Cool. I didn't make a terribly
loud buzz. Well, that's zero if anybody was counting.
Yeah. If anybody cared. We actually had 60 minutes.
We did it. I did turn it down to. Zero sound.
Oh, yeah. So nobody will hear us. Look at us.
This beeping at us. Do we do all the things we
set out to do? There's a multitude of Jeremy
Piven movies I want to watch right now, including
Rush Hour 2. His cameo in that is fantastic.
All the Rush Hours are great. Let's be real.
I agree. They're classic. And I know Jackie Chan
is so glad he's still with us. We're so lucky
he's given us more. I mean, it's several lifetimes
worth of gift that he's given to us in his acting,
his singing, his books, everything. World treasure.
But I'd take another one of those. Yeah. He's
still doing stuff, Jackie Chan. I think they're
confirming a fourth. No kidding. Chris Tucker
was awesome in that movie Air about the... shoe
of the name oh did you watch that movie the one
about jordan and nike and all that it's a it's
a multiple rewatch in this household it's so
good okay and chris tucker because a lot of people
are like he's back i don't know he's somebody
who i haven't followed too much and maybe he
hasn't been in a lot of the latest movies lately
he's in it and he's just awesome and they're
just man i miss chris tucker and he's not shrieking
like the fifth element and again i'll always
have that Call me my man. I don't feel good.
I feel really good that you settled into young
Paul Newman. Again, I know we're leaning into
this show. It's ideas and parameters. But I think
if we're just letting ourselves run wild. It
forces you to think deeper than be like, all
right, give me an actor in the last 20 years.
And then you're like, oh, let's put Robert Redford
in it. So I want us to be better than that. And
I think we can be because of you mostly. You
know all the really cool, good, and modern hip
stuff. I don't know if that's true. I try. Well,
well done. I would see this movie. I would see
this movie. If anybody wants to make this movie,
I mean, we can't use the same actors, but, you
know. We're willing to work with some rules.
There's talk about what can and can't be done
in Hollywood now. You know what I mean? It's
all about rights. Who signed their rights away
before they left this mortal coil? Let's be real
here. You could get James Earl Jones' voice.
I know. Nice job making this movie. I'm glad
we got to make this movie. We should make another
one. Until next time. See ya.