Alicia Silverstone: Irish Slang

0:00Or you've made this up. No, I've not. Listen, have your team go get, like, I would frame that bitch up.

0:20Hey, everybody. Welcome to Literally. Yeah, you're welcome already. Because we have America's sweetheart. She's here. Alicia Silverstone. I mean, who does not love Alicia Silverstone? I know I do. One of the nicest people around and just, she's like seeing a dolphin in the wild. Just makes her heart feel good. She's got some good stuff to talk about. And I don't know what she's going to talk about because at the moment I'm clueless. Let's bring her on.

1:02They don't do those big press days like we used to have to do. Like where it's like, okay, so now you're going to come to this set. And here's a mallet. And you're going to swing the mallet at this box. And then David Spade is going to pop up and talk about it. Do you remember all that stupid stuff? Well, I think yours, the one I'm remembering was with you. That's the only time I think I did something like that. And it was fun. We had a good time. But it was probably very silly. It was just fun because we were together and having fun. Because I'm sure they had us doing ridiculous stuff. You have a new show.

1:35I do. Tell me all about it. Is there an Irish connection to it? Is it shot in? I mean, obviously, it's called Irish Blood. But is that shot in Ireland, though, right? It's for sure shot in Ireland, the whole thing. It's for sure. For sure. I was there. And so what it is is a young woman. not young woman, I'm not a young woman, a woman who is, when she was 10 years old, her dad, who she loves so much, he was, you know, everyone loves their dad, but, you know, this was a particular bond they had. He unexpectedly out of nowhere abandons her and leaves at 10 years old. And when he leaves, she thinks he's beaten up her mother because she wakes up on her birthday.

2:26It's on her 10th birthday and she sees her mom has bruises and, you know, she'd heard ruffling in the night and now her dad's gone. And so for the next 30 years, she's built up quite a cold, you know, response. She's not, you know, she's not sorted out her trauma about the whole thing. And she goes to, you know, her relationship with men and whatever. So basically she jumps on, she finally hears from him. 30 years later, she gets this mysterious communication from him. And so she jumps on a plane to Ireland to go find him. So it's a mystery and she's trying to get to the bottom of it. And while she's trying to find her father, she's also sort of finding herself again.

3:06That's cool. How did you like shooting in Ireland? Because I shoot the floor, a game show that I do. I shoot in Dublin. Oh, you do? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, I love Ireland. Yeah, it's pretty sick, isn't it? It's so beautiful. There's so many beautiful walks to go on. And where I was living was so pretty, the village that I stayed in. And yeah, I went with my son's father when we were together years and years ago. And we drove for two weeks. And I remember thinking, I would just love to live here. This is such a beautiful place. So it's quite nice to be there. It really is. When they talk about like, it's the Emerald Isle.

3:49We get it. it's green, sure, whatever. You get there and go, oh, fuck, this place is green. And every shade imaginable. Well, when I was, it's true, but I was shooting during the winter time. And it was funny because the first day I got there, the man who was my driver, John, he said, he was like, listen, the weather's going to be terrible. Everything's going to be ugly. You're at the worst time of year. So everything was sort of a pleasure to me because I was expecting it to be so bad. And then in the end, he said, no, it wasn't so bad this time. But what I really love about Ireland, aside from the aesthetic, the beauty of everywhere you turn, is the people.

4:30I think that there's such a different vibration to them. They are so generous of spirit. Their Their hearts are big. They are warm. They are funny. They're so clever. So funny. So funny. So shooting there was just like, I loved my sound guy, John. I loved, you know, my costume set costumer, Emma and hair and makeup, Sandra and Tom. They were there. Everyone was so lovely. And their characters. Characters. Absolute characters. Absolute characters. Have you ever met a boring Irish person? No. Me neither. No. We just laughed all the time. And Sandra and Tom had a funny thing because Tom loved to make fun of Sandra all the time.

5:19And she's the hair. And so he would call her a bog hopper. And I learned all these different. And she would say, well, I'm, I'm cultured. No, he would say she's cultured. Or maybe she says cultured. It's like cultured. And she liked, and he's calling her a bog hopper, essentially. Like bougie, bougie, cold sheet. And I just love the sayings, right? Like Sherlock, Sherlock. And what's the crack? What's the crack? What's the crack? Or it's good crack. Good crack. Good crack. Good cracking. I just love all those things. And I love how, can you swear here? Yeah, we can swear. Hell yeah. So you know how they say fuck off?

6:01Fuck off can mean like 17 different things. If you said you want to have dinner tonight, I could go fuck off. like maybe you know I'm thinking about it do I have plans and then you could be like there I don't know they have just a million different versions of fuck off which are so fun it's so I did a um a play in London for a long time and the uh my British co-star had to say fuck a lot in the dialogue and before curtain he would come up to me and go say say fuck again because and I go fuck and you go okay thank you fuck fuck because they they're so embedded like they're fuck fuck it's like they don't they don't say it like we do no it's so great and in Ireland sometimes they say they used to say feck off but I didn't hear that in the people in that wonderful playwright has feck off all the time but I didn't hear them actually say feck feck anyway how long were you there how long the shoot is six episodes right yeah six episodes I think it was three months.

7:06Yeah. And how old is your little one? Not so little anymore? No, he's 14. So luckily in my contract with them, I thought for sure they would turn me away at some point. But when I said this, but the most critical thing for me was that every three weeks, we stopped production for a week so that I could go be with him somewhere, either at home or we ended up figuring out it would be better because I was so crazed with this schedule because I produced and was acting in it. So like sleep was a real commodity at that point. And so he came over and we would have a week, basically 10 days to go off on a trip.

7:51So we would just wander around. We went to the must. The notion of you coming back, the week gets eaten up very quickly. Very quickly. Yeah, that's what I was worried about. That's smart. I'm going to make a note of that. I'm going to call that the Alicia Silverstone clause. I mean, I had to, to survive. I'm not leaving my kid. Like, you know, I just had to say no to a play in England that I would have loved to do. But four months in England, when you have a 14-year-old boy, it's not doable because you can't leave for a week. You can't, You know, that run is, but I will tell you, it's funny that I mentioned it and then you mentioned it.

8:31It's heaven. I'm sure it is. I'm sure you had the most amazing time. Theater's the best. Oh, God. I just saw the picture of Dorian Gray for which Sarah Snook won the Tony. And it was fucking insane. It's so, and I'm working, doing this little movie right now with my friend Will, who won the Tony for Stereophonic. And like, I have such high regard for people who do that day in and day out. It's amazing, right? It's the best. Oh, my God. The plays I've done have been some of the most incredible experiences of my life. Have you done any in L.A.? L.A. theater, there isn't much of it, really. I did a play when I was really little here.

9:24And I was like 17. And then I've done three at the Geffen. Oh, wow. How is that theater to play? It's a beautiful theater. I've been to it. Never played it, though. It was great. I did it with David Mamet, and he's a brilliant genius. So that was incredible. I'm trying to get him on the podcast. Oh, he'd be so fun. Oh, my God. I'm actually kind of worried that we would both be immediately canceled somehow. If we just started going. because he is, he is, in all his books, I've read all his books. Have you read all of his books? No. Oh, you should. I will. I mean, I've read, he writes, he's written a million books.

10:02A million. Have you read Henrietta? He wrote a book. He wrote a Passover book. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I've read those. You know, you're right. I haven't read all his books. You're right. Thank you. But, but his nonfiction, his books on acting are unbelievable. And, and, you know, that famous memo that he wrote his staff on the CBS procedural he was doing is my all-time favorite thing. I don't know it. I want to see it. Yeah, it's kind of a, it's become infamous in TV writers' rooms. Oh. And it's literally David, all hands on deck memo to the staff of the unit. Yeah. And my favorite quote of it is, it's not the actor's job to provide the drama.

10:56It's yours. The writer's. The writer's. Yeah. It's amazing. A lot of people, as you know, have a hard time with David's theory on actors, which is if you want to be uncharitable about it, you could say it's shut up and say the lines. If you want to be charitable about it, it's you're there to be honest. You're there to be honest. And if the writers haven't given you good shit, that's on them. You don't need to put out your, ya-na-na-na-na-na, ya-na-na-na-na-na, ya-na-na-na. Uh-uh, that's on them. They give you good shit and you do it. I mean, I don't - Tell me your version of it. I don't want to disagree with David Mamet because, but if he was here, I would love to discuss it because I have seen people who do just shut up and say it.

11:45Yep. And that doesn't work. He thinks that's what he wants, but what he really loves, and this is where he'd be like, what do you don't know what I want? Like, I shouldn't speak for him. But as a person who has worked with him, I hear that he wants you to just say the words. And I understand that the words should carry the whole thing. But you have to, I think. I think Philip Seymour Hoffman brought all his work. And then you let go of it. And when I went and worked with him, I came with all my stuff. I'd wanted to do with this person, who this person, you know, I really did the work. Yes. So that when he says, just say the lines, you've already built in a whole thing.

12:27I think when you watch people who do just show up and throw the lines out there, it doesn't work as well. That's my opinion. You know, you're right. No, you're right. I don't believe they're mutually exclusive. I 100 % agree with that. And Philip Seymour Hoffman, what a fucking genius. Thank you. Yeah, he is a brilliant genius. I wasn't saying thank you. Somebody brought me something. I wasn't saying thank you like I'm Philip Seymour Hoffman. That's amazing. Are you Philip Seymour Hoffman? He's so brilliant. Yeah. Where are you living these days? Are you still in L.A.? I live in L.A. And I, yeah, I love when I get to go do theater.

13:07It's my favorite. And right now I've just been lucky to get to do a bunch of, you know, movies and shows, which is super fun. and I've been traveling a lot. It's been a lot because I did Pretty Thing, this film that I love that's out now and it's an erotic thriller. Okay, when I hear erotic thriller, I just go, who's the co-star? I know, I know. Who's the guy you're hooking up with? He's great, Carl Glessman. I'd like to hook him up. Yeah. He's not hard on the eyes, you know? He's really... Yeah, it's very important. and he's a very good actor. And so that was fun to work with him. And Justin Kelly is the director, and I love him.

13:52I've worked with him before. Is it in theaters or is it a streamer? We were in theaters. Now it's on, like, video on demand or something, I think. But it's really good, and it's really funny, and, you know, all the things that an erotic thriller should be. And then after Irish Blood, which I'm so excited about because it just premiered this week. So it's been fun. That's amazing.

14:31It's super good to have that sort of Irish, European flavor. It's so specific. There's just something about it that imbues the project. I find whenever I've worked over there, like it's kind of irresistible. And people love that. Yeah, it's a character. It feels so specific. All the locations, the feeling, the people. And you get great actors. That's the other thing. Like the actors. It's insane, right? It's insane. You know when you're here in the States and you have somebody who has one line or they have like one scene. I mean, no disrespect, but it can be harder to find people that are, you know.

15:12Yes. But in Ireland, I don't know what it is, but those people who come in and have one scene are amazing. Amazing. Amazing. They're trained. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a different world. They've all gone to, you know. Yeah. You're right. We had a guy who was, his whole part was to come over to me and he is sort of, he's just doing something very suspicious with his, he's like holding a metal detector. He's trying to find things on the floor. And then later on, he has one little scene and he's such an accomplished actor there. He's a writer, director, and he's just, I mean, when we were doing it, somebody said, hey guys, like this isn't a romantic comedy.

15:58because we were sort of getting lost in each other, ad-libbing and playing because he was so good, you know, and that was just for fun. But he was incredible. And then this other guy who plays, you know, I go to, I'm following this mystery and I go to find this guy who rides horses and he's so brilliant the way he would say, I can't do it. I'm going to do a terrible impersonation of him. But he would go, he called me, he said he called me a murderer, the murderer. Like the murderer had 15 syllables to it. Murderer. You know, but it came out. He called me a murderer. The murderer. And I just delighted in it.

16:43And he was so good. And yeah, so the actors are great. I think that people are really liking the show. And I think they'll really like that it moves very quickly. And they're great performances. It's really a good drama. But it's also a mystery and that's all really fun. I'm psyched. I'm psyched for you. And you executive produce it and that's always fun. Yes. And gives you a little bit of added comfort and control. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, exactly. I came on at a very early stage on this one. It was just an idea on a page. Wow. Yeah. Not even a script. Nope. No script. It was just like. You actually got it made.

17:24Congratulations. It was just, yeah, it was two paragraphs. And it was sort of like a girl with a briefcase and the mystery of the dad and going to Ireland. That's basically it. So I got to work really hard on every script, all the editing, all the casting, every key hire, really. And so, yeah, it was great to be, you know, it felt really rewarding to be so deeply involved here. And like you said, it gives you a sort of feeling of security and preservation. Yes, self-preservation is key. Self-preservation producing. You don't get to stick around as long as we've sticked around with a healthy dose of self-preservation.

18:08Right. Funny the things that you remember. I'm having this image of a picture of you, cover of you in a magazine. I'm going to guess it's Los Angeles magazine. And you're holding the Columbia torch. Do you remember this? No. I feel like it's... But you did Clueless for Paramount. I did, but I don't remember that at all. But that's not surprising. I don't remember a lot of things, especially photo shoots. But I mean, I see pictures and I go, I don't remember being there. I have no recollection of this at all. But after I did Clueless, I did do a deal with Sony. Okay, there it is. Okay, I'm not crazy.

18:55And I had a production company in an office there where I produced that movie, Excess Baggage, with Benicio Del Toro and Christopher Walken and Harry Connick Jr. So that was my first producing experience. And maybe that's why I was holding the torch. You were literally holding the torch. Or you've made this up. No, I've not. Listen, have your team go get, like, I would frame that bitch up. If there was a picture of me holding the fucking Paramount Globe on my back. I'm going to look. Are you kidding me? be in my living room. That's a lot of pressure. How was your, how was working with Christopher Walken?

19:31Did you get any good face time with him? Yeah, we've worked together three times. No way. Yeah, and he's so lovely. You know, he, when I did the first film with him, Excess Baggage, there was one night when I went out with Rosie Perez and a bunch of other actresses and he pulled, He was coming to this club with us. We were going to go to a dance club or whatever, like a cool club. And I was young. I was 19, something like that. And why were we in New York? That doesn't really make any sense. I guess we'd already finished the film. I don't know where we were, but we were somewhere where we all ended up going to this thing together just for fun.

20:13And we arrived and he sort of said like, he stayed for a very short period of time. And then he pulled them aside and said, take care of Alicia. And I thought that was so sweet. And, you know, he really wanted to make sure that I was going to be properly cared for because I was probably underage for sure. And I was in this really cool club. And it was a great club. I would wish there were clubs like this still. I know. The New York clubs of our youth. You know what ruined clubs? Bottle service. Yeah. It's terrible. Ruined them. It's terrible. The notion of like every five seconds some rich idiot is proving how big their dick is by a giant bottle of champagne with sparklers on it being paraded to a table that you have to pay.

20:59Because that's the other part of it is the minute you had to pay for a table. Yeah. It killed what was great because what was great about the clubs were you had people from all walks of life. Oh, yeah. You didn't have to be a rich guy. No, I think at this particular evening, I was the only white girl in the place. And everyone was like grinding to the music. And I was in heaven. I was just like, it was so alive and rich and vibey. And the journey from the bathroom, from where we were sitting to the bathroom was, it took forever. Because you're like dancing your way and people start, you know, it's just incredible.

21:35By the way, the journey in the bathroom was, I remember that like fucking the first time I went to a New York City club bathroom. Yeah. It's like, you're just like, but what? Like, you cannot believe what you're seeing. Yeah. I mean, that can be very interesting. I'm sure we have lots of bathroom stories. Those were, you have to. Yeah. But I wonder if, I don't know if you have them today. I don't, I think like anything else, everything is changed so much. But yeah, so Christopher Walken was lovely. And then we worked together two more times. And he's just always been so sweet to me. And I just think he's an incredible actor.

22:16And I have super fun with him. So that's great. Yeah. I was able to do a play with him. So being on stage with Chris was. Oh, that's really different. He was amazing. He was not a big believer in projecting. I could see that. And so he would routinely, there would be people in the audience yelling. I can't hear you. Yeah. And he would come on and go, I love when it becomes like a ball game. Oh, you did that well. I was like, Chris, they can't hear you. They can't hear you. It's kind of critical. He's a national treasure. He really is. How he has, I bet you he has to have gotten like a, like the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

23:09I mean, if I were the president, my first order of business would be give Christopher Walken the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Can you imagine the speech? It's good to be here. What was your time like with him? Insane. Insane? Mid-80s. This was in the mid-80s? Mid-80s. Good for you, Mr. Rob Lowe, doing theater in the mid-80s. The mid-80s. What? You can't be old enough to have done that. Mid-80s at the Williamstown Theater Festival. Were you just born at Williamstown? Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were up there doing, she was directing Golden Boy. Steven Spielberg was up there because his then wife, Amy, and Kate Burton.

23:58Kate Burton? Oh, yeah. Gwyneth, I think, was up there with Blythe. It was Amy Irving. Sounds like an amazing experience. But Chris was great. We did Three Sisters. Oh, wow. And he played Vershinin. And he used to drive Amy berserk because he refused. He was Chris Walken. And he refused to pay attention to punctuation. So he had one line that I loved. And listen, this is, it's like David Mamet. You don't fuck around with David Mamet. You don't fuck around with Anton Chekhov. No. But his line was, well, there you have it, period. You know a lot of useless things, period. And he would say, well, there you have it, you know.

24:54A lot of useless things. and stuff like that all the time. And I remember there was one line he had, and forgive me if I've told this story on the podcast before. I have done so many episodes now and I'm getting old. Fuck it. If you've heard it before, you can tune out. But he had a line that I would go to the side of the stage every night to hear him deliver. It's like your version of murder where you just can't get enough of it. Yeah. And in the play, the village burns down. And Chris and I are hiding in an attic. And the people who've come from the village come in. And Chris asks, how's the fire?

25:38That's the line. And there's something about the way he would do it. He would go, how's the fire? And it used to make me laugh out loud every night. And then one day. How's the fire? I picked up what I thought was my script, but it was his. Oh, my God. And it was open to that page, and I saw his notes. What were the notes? And the note in the dialogue, how's the fire? He's crossed out the word fire and written in barbecue. What does that mean? How's the barbecue? But he never said that. No, but that's... That's what he was thinking. How's the... Yeah. Isn't that great? One of my all-time favorite looks behind the curtain of an actor.

26:30Fun. He's so silly. He would try and distract me all the time before a take. Just make it so silly. Have you ever seen him in fucking, dude, At Close Range? Sean Penn? I did see it, but so long ago that I can't remember it at all. First of all, if you guys haven't seen At Close Range, it's insane. It's got the famous Madonna live to tell song as its theme. And it's the bleakest, darkest, most intense movie ever. It's basically about a father who, spoiler alert, right now, big spoiler alert, ends up running a crime mob and when he thinks his sons are about to turn on him, kills them. Oh, God. And so I'd seen it a bunch of times and I said, And Chris, I just got to tell you how much I love this movie.

27:28Yeah, well, it's really a Father's Day picture.

27:34I love him. I miss him. Chris, I hope you're listening. Make a note. Can we get Chris Walken on this show? I don't even care if he's promoting something. Can I come back and be here when he's on? We need Chris Walken and we need David. Let's do a panel. A panel. You, me, Walken, and David Mamet. Yeah.

28:07Well, my new David Mamet is Yorgos Lanthimos. You know, not to make them in the same, they're different. But what I mean is I'm obsessed with Yorgos Lanthimos. Do you know his work? No, I'm afraid I don't. Oh, my God. Okay. So you have to make a note to watch a movie called Dog Tooth. Okay. And then did you ever see The Favorite or Poor Things? Oh, The Favorite. I feel like I saw. What is The Favorite about again? I'm just drawing a blank. Well, The Favorite has, what's her name? She's so wonderful. Well, it has Emma Stone too, who's so wonderful. But she's like the queen. And it's, I think it was up for best picture or something like that.