Ryan Coogler

23:34Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Tim Brown, Steve Smith, who was – Steve Smith I loved because he was short like I was and was still out there making it happen.

23:44Ryan Coogler:It's interesting. Athletes just like anyone else are, I find, looking for people that look like them. Absolutely. That are good because it's like – Absolutely. But I mean, I also knew that I would meet players like Maurice Jones, Drew, or Marshawn Lynch, like players I would play against, and I'd be like, man, they got a lot better than me. You know what I mean? You were like, oh, they're going to be. You come across players that's like, oh, that's something different happening there. And that was kind of how I also kind of could see earlier, maybe football wasn't going to be what I did for every.

24:21Ryan Coogler:How about Marshawn being like a comedy star now? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was he always funny? I mean, he's not funny when you're trying to tackle him. You know what I'm saying? You were not laughing. I used to really play against him. You know, like we came across each other a lot. And he would actually, in high school, he was trying to guard me. So I was dealing with him on offense and defense. I had some success on the offensive side against him. But like trying to tackle that man was impossible. So like, yeah, he was not funny on the field. No. But yeah, as a person, man, he's hilarious. You know what I mean?

24:57Yeah, yeah, yeah. His whole family is like that, though. Yeah, yeah. You know, like our family's from the same part of Auckland. And his mom, hilarious. You know what I mean? Like his brothers, you know, yeah.

25:07Ryan Coogler:But how do you go from, so you're playing in your finance major, and then you switch to becoming a film major? Nah, like so. You leave and go to USC after you play? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I went to high school in Berkeley. Yeah. And at this point, I was living in Richmond, another city that's even more blue collar than Oakland. Right. Yeah. And I got I got a scholarship to a school called St. Mary's College, which is in the Bay. I had a teacher there, Rosemary Graham, who read something that I wrote in a creative writing class. I was like, oh, you should write screenplays. But at that time, I was a chemistry major.

25:43So I figured I was going to try to be a doctor or something. Right. And then but the chemistry lives was not working out with my football practices. She's always having a real tough time. So I was like, y 'all got to get out this chemistry shit so I can keep my scholarship. And that football program collapsed. So I got another scholarship to Sacramento State. Went there and measured in finance, but I took filmmaking classes on the side, if that makes sense.

26:07Ryan Coogler:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when I've been learning about you, like USC, you met so many people there. Oh, yeah, everybody. Talking about a team, it's where you met your team. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You like old memories. Since I was grad school. Right. And I met, I mean, I guess out of all the people I worked with, Louis Vig was who I met first. Louis Vig Uranson, my composer. And then my co-writer on Creed, Aaron Covington. And then eventually I met Sev O 'Hanian. Yeah. Your producing partner. Yeah, who works with me and Zinzi at proximity. And you met your beautiful wife, Zinzi, there. Well, Zinzi, I met in Oakland.

26:48Oh, you didn't meet her.

26:49Ryan Coogler:Oh, you met when you were like 13. I was 13, yeah. You guys grew up together. Yeah, we did. You grew up together. Yeah, we did. I think it's so amazing when you talk about all the stuff that you make, you talk about the people that you make it with, which in my opinion, like really, I don't know. I so respect artists who remind people that what they make is a communal effort. Oh, yeah. But people don't always want to do that, right? Like they don't want, they, sometimes that's just not their first instinct. And it really is. And I know Zinzi makes your films with you. And how important is she in terms of like your process?

27:31Ryan Coogler:How do you guys work together? We just, like, since we, so we started dating in high school. We broke up for a little bit. And then. What happened there? I mean, you know, that's not for the podcast. Okay, okay. High school is shit. but we got back together right before we went to college and what we would do like that summer before we left because we was both on scholarship she went to Fresno State I went to St. Mary's like I mentioned in there Sacramento State but what we would do is we would just work out together to get ready for college and we'd go to the movies like that was it like we was either on the track working out in the weight room lifting weights or we was you know we was at the movies you know in Emeryville and Richmond in Oakland.

28:17And for us, we got really used to just pushing each other and supporting each other, you know, being at each other's meets, her being at my football games. She's incredibly shy, but like at my games, I could hear her voice, you know, while I was out there trying to catch touchdowns and everything. I tried to do the same for her at our track meets. And when I got interested in filmmaking, you know, she was just really supportive, you know, Like I was writing screenplays in Microsoft Word and kind of like venting to her. Like, man, one day I got this software that cost 300 bucks called Final Draft.

28:55And, you know, maybe one day I could get that, you know, in the meantime, I got to adjust the margins and all of that.

28:59Ryan Coogler:Yeah. And then she, you know, she said over her money, got that for me. And it wasn't just like, here, baby, here goes the draft. She was like, hey, where's that script at? You know, it was that thing you're working on. Yeah. You know, the athletic mindset. Yeah. So how it works is, you know, I always talk to her about what I'm thinking about working on and I kind of hone my pitch with her. She'll be the first person to read, you know, what I write, give me feedback. So my scripts are always going. I really, really hone at the early stages of my career in the film school. She was with me, you know, all the time.

29:35She would do all the classes with me at SC, work on the sets, you know, producing. and sometimes operating the camera, you know, if I had to jump in. You know, so it was that kind of support. And it just kind of stayed that way through Fruitvale when we shot at home. That was when we first moved in and started living together.

29:55Ryan Coogler:Wow. She was on set. Even though she had a day job, she would just come, like, get off work, come straight to set. How many days did you shoot Fruitvale Station in? Um, 20 days. 20? Yeah.

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32:11Ryan Coogler:What I'm learning or what I feel like I know about you, Ryan, is like you're super collaborative and also you know what you want. Like those two things are so important, I think, for any real leader, especially on set. But I don't think enough people know that a set is like a little town. Totally. It's like so many people working. No, totally, totally. And your parents were school teachers. Yeah. Yeah, so like you get it. Like that blue collar mindset, you know, the communal mindset, the need for communication. And for me, it really is, I think that's why movies work when they work, you know? Because you're talking about like mass entertainment, you know what I mean?

32:54Like a lot of people going to go engage with the story. But that's why you're such a genius is because it's hard to make a movie, number one.

33:03Ryan Coogler:Just hard to make a movie. Then it's hard to make a good movie. Yeah. Then it's hard to make a good movie that people enjoy making with you. Right. They walk away and go, that was a good experience. Right. Then it's hard to make a good movie that was enjoyable to make that people go and see. Yeah. Those things are really hard to make. You've done it over and over and over again. Yeah. And you've done it again with Sinners. So incredible. Oh, thank you, man. And I picture you going to your team and being like, I have an idea. And they were like, what was their first instinct was? So I went to Zinzi first.

33:35Yeah. And it wasn't fully baked. And she was like, man, I ain't ready yet. Yeah. Keep thinking on that. So I thought I wanted some more.

33:43Ryan Coogler:Yeah. I think I went to her like three times before she was like, okay, that makes sense. You know, and it was better for it. And then it goes to Sev O 'Hanian, who, you know, we're the three founders of Proximity. And we got a co-founder in Ludwig Urensen. And this is a music-based film. So we brought Ludwig in crazy early. Yeah, exactly. Before that was a script. You know, while it was just how I did. Oh, that's so interesting that Ludwig. So were you always thinking about Michael B. Jordan from that? You were always thinking about using him as the twins? And the twins was always an early. Yes.

34:19Ryan Coogler:Why twins? Why twins? It's hard to shoot. I know. Yeah. Like this extra work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, for sure. I mean, look, like it was a hook for me. It was so sticky, right? Like, and in this day and age, you need, I think you need multiple reasons to like lean in. You know, like when there's so many great things available. You know, like I was in the waiting room. I'm watching you and Julie Stryfuss talk. And it's so entertaining. It's an hour of two really entertaining people being intimate and talking. That's just on my phone for me to click. There's so many ways to spend time. So for me, I think that I'm a firm believer in things having multiple hooks.

35:03You know what I mean? And it's a hook for me because I have twins in my family, and I love them. I got a lot of homies as twins, but I also have a crippling fear of doppelgangers. Like a straight phobia. You know what I mean?

35:18Ryan Coogler:No, I don't. What do you mean? Yeah. What are you afraid of? That you're going to run across your own? Yeah, I've had nightmares like that. You have? Yeah, but also like. Because I know what you mean because no offense to twins, but twins, the idea of twins in general is a little creepy. It's a little creepy. Yeah, yeah. It's great. It's just creepy enough. Yeah. Like, so I think. Someone who was in the womb with you. Well, yeah, that's fascinating to me. Yeah. And we dug deep with Mike. Like I got two buddies who are filmmakers, Noah and Logan Miller. They actually wrote the script G20 that Viola was in.

35:59She was the president, like doing action shit.

36:01Ryan Coogler:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they're from Northern California, a little bit farther north than where I'm from. And I actually asked him if they would be open to being consultants on the movie, like to work with me and Mike on developing the characters. and man we dug so deep into like the into like the mindset and the dynamics of what it's like to have you know you know essentially a copy of yourself next to you all the time you know but Michael B he just like he just knocked he just knocked knocked me back by his brilliance and how he portrayed these characters where did you first see Michael? did you see him before you knew him?

36:38Ryan Coogler:did you see his did you see did you watch The Wire? I did so good in that yeah No, he was heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Yeah, Wallace. Yeah. Wallace is... I knew a lot of kids like that. Yeah. You know, both, you know, friends of mine and also when I was working with my dad. Mm-hmm. You know, so yeah, like it was a brilliant portrayal and, you know, kudos to Mike for his performance and David Simon for, you know, for writing the character and HBO for having the show, you know what I mean? That show was a next level. Yeah, and then he was great in Friday Night Lights. Yeah, that's right. And did you, like, do you think it's important for directors?

37:18Ryan Coogler:A lot of directors have an actor that they get to kind of, you've had a few, but like an actor that you get to kind of keep working with and working stuff out with. Why is that helpful to work with the same person more than once? Yeah, I mean, I think it's great, man. Like, it's funny because it actually comes back to football for me. Because I play a receiver and I play with a lot of different quarterbacks. you know especially in college and it was tough because i never felt like i found my rhythm with one with one person you know um and and that's so important like i think uh finding a rhythm is is like a um it's like fundamental to i think to achieving greatness you know um so it's phenomenal to have to have um found a actor um who's so who's so talented you know gifted um uh uh ambitious, you know, because Mike is constantly trying to push himself and get better at his craft.

38:14He's professional. He's also like a good person, you know, like he's like when you're doing a movie with him, if he's number one in your car, you know that you're going to have a safe set for people.

38:23Ryan Coogler:Yeah. He'll be able to do great work without making people's lives miserable. He's going to treat people with kindness. He got nothing to prove. So he learns the PA's name. He learns the camera operator's name. Yeah. The same way he'll know the producer's names, you know. Right, right. And that is something that I think permeates the set, like, at a foundational level. I've been very blessed in that. Well, one could argue, too, that you—that's also what you transmit, give off. That's your station. Like, your channel is attuned to that, so people take their cue from you. I try to. You know? But it's great to have Mike there to amplify it.

39:02Yeah. You know, because that's who he is. Yeah. And he's ridiculously talented. And he was doing work that required a lot of focus. You know, like he was still generous to people.

39:12Ryan Coogler:Yeah. Even though he'll come to sell in a day where he's got to be, you know, two different people. Was it fun to call him up and be like, you're going to be a vampire? What's crazy is— Because I would be psyched if someone called me and said that. What's crazy? Hey, we might have to make the call or something. Man, we might have to figure it out. But for me, what it was was how it ended up working. I was trying to get the screenplay together because Mike's busy, you know? And I didn't want to say, hey, I got a thing. Yeah. And then have him waiting for, you know, for a script. I didn't need him blowing my phone up.

39:48I didn't wear a shirt. But what ended up happening was he called me and pitched me something while I was working on this for him. And then I was like, at first I was like, Mike, I can't, you know, I can't work on that right now. And he got upset. Like, hey, man, what's going on, man? Like, you know, I want to get this going.

40:05Ryan Coogler:Yep. Like it's something you're not telling me So I'm like look I'm working on a thing Oh it's interesting You're like I have a secret But I'm not ready to tell you yet Yeah I'm bringing this to you Wow This is what it is It's twins You know it's period It's vampires And I remember how he reacted Because he just got quiet for a long time And I was like Oh shit did I lose him You know and he's like He's like man you know what That sounds pretty interesting man He was like okay okay When you want to do it And so I got the script done and got it to him and then he was in. I mean, I, there's a lot, I'm not a big horror, I, I get kind of scared at movies and I'm not really a big horror fan.

40:46Ryan Coogler:Yeah. But what's so cool about vampires is vampires are sexy. Exactly. Zombies are not. Zombies not sexy. Nah. Vampires are sexy. There's, it's true. And, and your film has a, like there's so much going on. It centers so amazing and original IP and like beautifully written and beautifully acted and shot an incredible cast. The chemistry between the characters in your film is so real. And the way in which you basically create in the midst of horror, like love and romance and sex, it's just like you do a lot of things in this movie really, really well. And I would just like to say the most of the many things in the film that I loved, can I just get small for a second to talk about the scene the dancing scene in the film um uh Autumn your incredible DP first female DP to shoot in this IMAX format Archipaugh Autumn Archipaugh yeah and and Autumn uh but how did you guys approach the scene there's that beautiful scene where everyone's dancing and kind of enjoying themselves before the horror starts and their ancestors kind of, they join them.

42:00Ryan Coogler:How did that scene look on the page? Yeah, I can tell you. Because I outlined the script before getting into Final Drive and writing it. Yeah. And I didn't have that surreal element to it. It was just going to be that, you know, preacher boy sings and people like it, you know. That's what it said in the script? No, no, no, no. I just said in the outline. Okay, the outline. In the outline. When I got to it in the script, like I felt strange because I had fallen in love with all these characters and I didn't want them to die. You know what I mean? Like that was, I realized in this movie, they all got to like get bitten in the neck and check out.

42:43You know what I'm saying? And I felt bad and I realized that this scene was the midpoint and it dawned on me that like these people the real people, not in my script, but the real people that they based on these black folks in 1930s who were like of age to be in this juke joint they were living in Clarksdale during Jim Crow they all were sharecroppers because it was nothing else that the society allowed them to be their grandparents were enslaved their children their children's children would still be sharecroppers but somehow they invented you know probably the most impactful American contribution to global popular culture and they invented it just because they wanted to feel alive for a few hours you know Friday and Saturday night you know and they had no I don't think they had any idea that the music that they listened to would change the world you know like Like, so I thought about that.

43:53I said, man, I'm about to kill him by vampires. You know, like I got to have something else in the movie that is like some type of victory moment, you know. And that was where the idea of depicting just how powerful and transcendent Sammy's voice is. If it could call a vampire, you know, maybe it could call these people's ancestors and descendants too. so I wrote the script I wrote it all in italics I clicked italics on it and I kept it all in one chunk you know almost like a stream of consciousness and left it like that in the script for when my partners read it and everybody read it to know to really read that differently

44:41Ryan Coogler:yeah it's so powerful and thank you for putting that giving that context to it because that's what it felt like It felt like you were loving those characters in real time. That's what it felt like. I appreciate that. It felt like a loving gesture. And we felt that when we saw it. It was so, so beautiful. I'm right on. And so beautifully shot. Just the way the camera moves. I mean, it was everybody working in concert with each other. We brought in Akemon Jones, who's a choreographer. Works a lot with Usher Raymond. The choreographer pitched perfect. and he did all the Panther films. I actually met him through Chadwick Boseman.

45:20I'm rest in peace. And, you know, every department was in on that, like from Hannah Buechler to our visual effects supervisors, Michael Rowland and James Alexander. They're all archipartic cinematographer, obviously. We had a brilliant steadicam. Yeah, the steadicam work was incredible. Yeah, it's a kid named Rennie, Haitian-American kid, ex-football player. His shoulder must have been hurting in that one. He used to be a strong dude, man, and sharp. And everybody had to work together. The actors, the incredible dancers, Ruth Carter with our costumes. Yeah, beautiful. And it was like that was the most team effort of everything that we did.

46:03That scene as well as I used to call it the twin counterpart, which is the step dancing scene that happens a little bit later in the film.

46:12Ryan Coogler:Yeah, it's so beautiful. And I want to say you talk about your work on Black Panther and Chadwick. You gave a beautiful speech recently at the Hollywood Walk of Fame about Chadwick, which is beautiful. And I don't think people ask you enough or I don't hear enough. Like, what did you guys laugh about when you would work together on Black Panther? Me and Chad?

46:37Ryan Coogler:When you think about the times where you laughed together. Have you seen Chad on SNL? Oh, yeah. He's hilarious. He is hilarious. Like, you know, he played James Brown. I mean, he can do anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but his natural way of being, I think. Would he, did he like to tease? All the time. Yeah, no, no, no. He was, no, but he would do it in accent, which is what was crazy about him on set. Yeah, he was very disciplined. So he's constantly in accent. Yeah. And just being, and just being like, you know, he'll be ridiculous. Like, in between takes. Yeah. In between, you know, like, like, like I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of like.

47:12Ryan Coogler:Like, do you guys, did you guys goof around when you were, I mean, it's, you're working hard. I was, I was ridiculously stressed out. Yeah. You know, like, like, like, like unbelievably stressed out. I bet. And, um, and, and we know, we know now what all Chad was dealing with, you know? Um, but he was, he was incredible, man. And like, and like deeply, deeply funny, you know, deeply funny, man. Like he would, he would, he would tease with, with, uh, with Lupita and Danai, um, you know, uh, constantly, constantly cracking jokes, man. Like, like, and, and, um, you know, we would laugh, we would laugh most about the costumes, you know, like, like just, just how, how, how.

47:51Ryan Coogler:And I bet it must be fun to like introduce a new costume. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, man. Like, like, like, um, uh, yeah, but, but I, like we, like the, like some of the props too, man. Like we would joke, we would joke and say that he was, we was going to give him, like it was a walking scene and we would joke and say we was going to give him the, um, like the, the, the, the giraffe tail. that he can like swipe flies away while he was walking with Lou Pizza. And he was a martial artist. So he took the little thing. He had the ability to clown. He was so talented. So talented. Yeah, he was gifted, man.

48:30But he just had a great sense of humor.

48:32Ryan Coogler:I feel like comedy sometimes is where we stay connected sometimes with the people that have passed. Like thinking about the times we laughed with them. 100%. And they, I feel sometimes like they make us laugh. Yeah. We see something that makes us laugh that makes us think of us laughing with them. I don't know. I just think that like it's fun sometimes to think about those times. No, for sure, man. Like, and I think for me, when I look back at my relationship with him, man, it taught me so much. but the biggest thing is like to not take things for granted you know like even all of this Amy like the success of the film being invited to do podcasts with you doing awards press with my cast like before losing him you know I would be not present in those moments you know like I would be overwhelmed or be considering it to be work or dealing with like imposter syndrome what have you.

49:40But since losing him, because he would be the one to like snap me out of that. You know, like when I would be stressed on Panther, I would say, man, I got to hurry up and do this and I'm going to get fired. You know, and he would say, hey man, stop saying that. He actually pulled me to the side. It was like, yo, stop saying that, man. You know, and I'm like, no, I truly believe that. He was like, yo, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. He told me, I'm not letting nobody fire you, bro. Like me. Like, so please stop. You know, please stop saying that. Relax, man. and do your work, enjoy it.

50:11And that very act of being present, he was so good at that. So I think about that all the time. Even walking in here with you, I'm like, man, I'm really here. I've seen this set on a podcast and I'm here talking. I've seen you perform and watch all your movies and your shows. And it's like, damn, I'm being invited to come sit in this same spot. Just being present. I literally learned that from him. No.

50:37Ryan Coogler:It's, that lesson is like, I feel like the lesson we just have to keep remembering and being reminded of over and over again, like be where you are. Yes. Be where your feet are, be where you are. It's hard. It's not easy, but you're right. It's a gift every time you're reminded of it. So are you getting to enjoy the fact that you have a gigantic, successful movie that's like being rewarded and will be awarded? and you're with these people that you've worked with now for really long. It's awesome. Yeah, I have a time in my life. And so we do this thing on the show where we talk to people who know our guests.

51:12Ryan Coogler:We kind of talk well behind their back before we talk to them. And we talked to Ludwig today. Okay. Oh, man, that's crazy. Okay. First of all, so Swedish. Yeah. My brother lives in Sweden, so I tried to talk a little Swedish to him. How'd it go? It didn't go well. He talked back to you in English? No, he talked back to me in Swedish and I panicked. Like, I totally panicked. Well, you got through the first step. I said like two words and then he answered me and I froze. Usually when I try to speak another language, people who are native speakers, they just talk back to me in English and be like, hey, stop it.

51:45You know what I'm saying? Oh, I know.

51:46Ryan Coogler:There's nothing sadder than when they talk back to you in English and they're like, don't. Please don't. They're like, what are we trying to do here? Yeah. So you got Swedish back. So I did get, thank you. You're right. Maybe I should look at it as a win. So I got Swedish back. You got the first base. You know what I mean? Exactly. He definitely, he was humoring me. And he's so, I mean, what an incredible talent. And the music, it's so interesting to me that you brought him in so early because you can tell that, I mean, this is a movie about the power of music too. And, you know, you have Buddy Guy be like the embodiment of kind of like the before and now, you know, he's just like a living person.

52:29Totally.

52:29Ryan Coogler:and in many ways almost feels like a vampire yeah in the way that like he's still here he's still here and was there then it's so cool it wasn't that long ago yeah that's like kind of like what the movie is saying yeah right and a very good reminder it's actually like it's actually like I cheated him for younger cause like yeah if the character would have actually been Buddy's age it would have put the movie into the 2000s it would have put it in 2002 as opposed to 92 which would have put the fashion like it is today so it would have probably confused oh right yeah because you need a little bit it would have confused audience that's really interesting and you and Ludwig he's talking about how amazing it is to work with you how collaborative it is to work with you he also said there were a bunch of different versions of sinners that before the final version and working on that together and figuring out what that was.

53:34Ryan Coogler:And how his dad and your family, the blues. It brought us together. It did. How did it bring you guys together? Well, yeah, so the history of how the blues kind of became this instrument of global cultural change was really interesting. Like the Delta Blues, when the record industry came, they made those records, race records. And this was a time where, you know, the country was segregated. And the record industry was a product of that. So they would kind of put race records over here, anything made by a black person. The same record made by a white person, I'd call that maybe rock and roll or bluegrass or country.

54:26and black musicians, when the record industry was burgeoned, they couldn't tour, you know. But their records would travel, you know, overseas. And a lot of, you know, bands in Europe kind of fell in love with the music. Like maybe most famously, the Rolling Stones, for instance, or the Beatles. and then those guys would come to the States and seek out these musicians and then take them on their European tours

55:01Ryan Coogler:as opening acts. And in Sweden, Ludwig's father saw, I believe, John Lee Hooker and Albert King. Yeah, that's what he said. Yeah, yeah, and was so inspired by seeing them that he decided that he wanted to become a Bulls guitarist and became one. Um, and, and when he had his, when he had his, his, his, his first son who was Ludwig, you know, he introduced him to, to guitar lessons, you know. Um, and, and, and his dad made money as a guitar teacher. And, and what's crazy is Ludwig, you know, how he tells me it was, it was something that he, he liked spending time with his dad, but he wasn't necessarily crazy about, about the music that his dad was listening to until he heard Metallica, you know.

55:47and then and then boom we fell in love with it and you know became a became a you know a guitarist had a jazz quartet all kind of different stuff went to music school and eventually came to came to to the States to learn how to become a film composer and that's how we met we met in school

56:05Ryan Coogler:yeah you know in 2008 yeah you met at a party we did yeah I mean if you want to call it that yeah it was it was pretty it was pretty it was pretty dead A bunch of people sitting around Yeah, it was a bunch of nerds sitting around And we was two of them, you know what I mean? But thank God I found him Yeah, his question to you is like a perfect musician guitarist question Which his question that he wanted me to ask you was How is your guitar playing going? Oh my God He wants to know how it's going I'm so busy Okay, so maybe there's one thing you're not great at It's a lot of things I'm not great at You should bring Zinzi in here.

56:45She'll tell you all of them. But no, no, I'm terrible. Yeah, like it's not going well. Yeah, it's not going well. Good.

56:54Ryan Coogler:It makes the rest of us feel a little better that you're also not excellent at guitar, blues guitar yet. Nah, nah. Yeah, but you're learning. Better at typing. Yeah. But the guitar is still there. You know, my kids play now, you know. But I got to get back on my lessons. Yeah, he wanted to check in. No, that's not going well. Okay, we'll let him know. Well, I just want to say, you know, before we wrap, is that the effect that Black Panther had on, you know, I went to the movies to see that with my sons, my teen sons. That's what's up. And to see something together, a shared experience like that together, and to kind of walk out, to your point, out into the world after feeling completely changed.

57:40Ryan Coogler:like the color of the sky is different and the way we're talking to each other is different and the things we've heard is different. The way in which their lives were truly changed by that film is so special to me. I really, I thank you for it because it's not always easy to find that, especially like a mom and her boys and teen boys and like to find something that you can share in together and love equally. It's such an incredible piece of art. They would want me to ask you If you're making another one. Yes. Okay. That's all I want to know. They want me to know. No, no. My mom was my movie buddy, you know?

58:19Yeah. And she still is. You know, so, yeah, I got that.

58:25Ryan Coogler:Hearing that story, I can't tell you how many times I've been in the car with my mom going to go see a movie she was excited about. She would go, when I was too young, they'd go to see movies. she would come back from dates with my dad and if the movie was good, you know, she would stand there in the living room and act out the movie for me. Like walk me through everything that happened. That's so cool. My fondest memory was her doing that with the fugitives. You know what I mean? She's like, yeah, and the Harrison Ford jumps down the waterfall and then Tommy Lee Jones says, I don't care. And then like, you know, that was my mom.

59:00So like hearing that you watched it with your boys, y 'all had a nice time. That means everything to me.

59:05Ryan Coogler:Thank you. It meant a lot to me too. I really appreciate it. And I, the, the last question I want to ask you is, um, your relationship to comedy. You have, you, you, you, I think in all of the stuff that you do, you, you have fun, you like have fun with the, the ways. And again, which you're, you don't put boundaries on how your characters are going to react to things. Sometimes they're like light and comedic. You have a, you want to have fun in the stuff that you make and you want people to have fun when they go and see your films. what are your what were some influential comedic films for you growing up and what's making you laugh now how do you laugh man it's so funny a lot of it for me these days it's coming like it's coming from the internet like big time man like but coming up you know like one of my favorite movies is Coming to America.

1:00:01Ryan Coogler:Oh my god. Incredible movie. Like that's my, you know, that's my that's got my heart to this day. And I love, I love like I love Friday. Yeah. You know? Like that's a big one. Yeah. I love like McKay's work. Like one of my favorite movies is The Other Guys. Oh yeah. I mean. I think that gets slept on. I totally agree. That's my favorite movie of his. You know, you make some great ones. That is a stupid, fun movie. I can't. Like, it's so much. It's like, it's so much. Yeah. It's so much in that movie that's so deeply hilarious. Yeah. You know, and yeah, like, obviously, SNL. Do you watch SNL? Yeah, big time.

1:00:48You do? Yeah. I got homies that's been on there and just, you know, like, I love what Mike did on there. Yeah. The State Farm bit. Wait, let's watch that.

1:00:58Ryan Coogler:Wait, tell me again. Explain again the State Farm bit. So Mike is Jake from State Farm. And it just goes dark. Like from there, it becomes like a David Lynch movie. Oh, yeah, Jake from State Farm. Okay. He just totally replaces this. He becomes this man's worst nightmare. Like he replaces him. I can see why you would like this. He's teaching his kid how to play. He's got his hand on the small of his wife's back. Yeah. Oh, he just gave him a look.

1:01:47Ryan Coogler:Okay, so you watch Sketch to get... I do. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I do. I love it. I love it. That's why I'm so excited to be here. I mean, obviously. Fine. I mean, that enjoy from Pixar, you know what I'm saying? But all of the comedy stuff, man, I'm like, I think it's like the highest level of what we do. So like, you know, any of y 'all that can kill it on multiple levels and multiple ways, you know what I mean? Live, scripted, or improv, it's like, you know. But you wouldn't know that from my work. But yeah, I'm definitely in there. Yeah, I get it. And I know you're like beyond busy. It means a lot that you came.

1:02:30Ryan Coogler:Thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having me. It was such a, such a, such a pleasure. And thank you to every, your incredible team of people too who made it happen. So thanks, Ryan. It means a lot. Thanks so much for coming. Thank you so much, Ryan. That was awesome. And I learned so much about you and about films and your love of them. So thanks for joining me today. And for this Polar Plunge, as we finish, You know, I asked Ryan what kind of posters were hanging on his wall, and I thought it was only fair to share what was hanging on my wall when I was growing up. So you should know that I had a poster of the band Whitesnake.

1:03:08Ryan Coogler:Okay, that's number one. Number two, I think I must have had like a movie poster. It was probably, you know, something like Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler and like Big Business or something like that. I don't remember. I probably had an 80s motivational poster, like a cat hanging on a branch saying, hang in there. When I was really young, I used to look at a magazine called Teen Beat, and I would rip out posters of Sean Cassidy and put them on my wall and put lip balm on my lips and then kiss the picture.

1:03:51Ryan Coogler:So, I don't know. Just felt like you guys needed to know that. Okay. Ryan, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for listening. Bye.

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