Final Four Picks & Ryan Gosling on Project Hail Mary, Diva Puppets & Being a Liability at DB | Ep 183

21:31It's not just optimism for the sake of it. You know, he reminds you in his work that like all the great innovations in human history We started as impossible ideas and human beings made them possible, you know, and that we make the impossible possible all the time. It's kind of like our thing. And that's such a unique thing to celebrate, you know, oddly enough, right? It's like we're so inundated with like apocalyptic scenarios that it feels like they're inevitable, that it's so bleak, the future. And then he writes this book that says, no, maybe the future isn't something to be afraid of. Maybe it's just something to figure out.

22:12And being a dad, having two young kids, and I feel like everything is just designed to scare them. I was so grateful just as a, as a father to, to, to get to make a story for my kids, maybe not to be too lofty, but like for their generation, that kind of reminds you of what we're capable of as human beings. It doesn't pretend that there's not going to be problems, but that we can solve them, you know? And anyway, he's a unique writer in that way. I think that's why people love this book so much. And yeah, so to get to spend the last almost six years now being around that and thinking that way and surrounding myself with people like that has been a real, yeah, just, I don't know how to say it, just a gift, you know?

23:00That's awesome.

23:01Jason Kelce:I love everything you just said. I really do. And it comes through in the film. It really does the optimism and the resilience and the persistence to figure things out. And this endless, I don't know, man, it's, it's so well done. You know, a movie is good when like you're experiencing every emotion while you're watching it, right? Like you're, you're laughing, you're crying, you're the height of happy, the lowest of like, man this sucks like that's when you're really involved in it yeah you even in this i think do the laugh cry which is really hard to get you know like you're often you're crying you love you and then you're like oh fuck it i'm just gonna laugh and cry because i'll just get them both out at once but these directors are really they're so unique in that regard like i don't know if you've seen their other films but they did like 21 jump street and the lego film and cloudy with the chance of meatballs and the spider verse.

23:55It's like, everything is so much better than it should be. They have this unique ability to kind of sneak up on you and make you feel all the things. And they're so funny. So for me, it was like, it had to be them, you know, and this is just such a perfect marriage of material and directors, you know, like they are just, it just had to be them. When you were reading the book, did you see it as like, there was some comedy in it? I don't I can't imagine the book having this much like fun that it seems like you were having throughout the movie, though. Yeah. Andy Weir does write. He understands that like, well, first of all, he's like a former engineer.

24:33He is as brilliant as this character. Oh, wow. And so he the science, the science is very important to him that it be accurate. Even like it's funny. He said, I knew I was different when I was watching Titanic. and when Jack is dying, I looked up at the constellations above them in the water and I said, those aren't the constellations that would be there. That's different. He was like, that bothered me and I knew no one else was thinking that. I thought, I'm different. It's so dense, the science. It's so scientifically grounded that he understands that it has to be funny. Otherwise, you know, it's just not going to work.

25:18You know, no one's going to be able to stick with it. So he did create a lot of humor throughout it. And then we just got a lot of funny people on board. You know, Chris and Phil are so, you know, they're just, everybody was funny. And so everyone added their funny. And so it became, I think, funnier. But it was already there, I think, in the DNA. That's awesome, man. That makes sense. You got to help me figure out some of this magic that was shot. So the whole time you're talking to Rocky, we're not giving away too much by saying Rocky, right? No, we should talk. It's funny. It's like when we first came out with it, people didn't want us to talk about Rocky.

25:54But it's like pretending E.T. is about a kid whose parents got divorced.

26:03You know, it's about an alien. We got to talk about it. So please feel free. All right, cool. So during these scenes, are you having a conversation with yourself the whole time? Like what's the difficulty of not really being in a scene with somebody else? So this was, this was what I think is the magic of the movie is that he was there. We went, we went puppet. Oh, we didn't go CGI. We went full puppet. He's in the room. He's there. And not only is he there, he's got five puppeteers, each operating one of his arms. They're dressed like ninjas. They're dressed like ninjas. Guys, they're dressed like ninjas.

26:45They're all black, just their eyes. Like, that's not distracting at all. You know, his name's Rocky. They call themselves the Rocketeers. He rolls in with an entourage. It's like... That is so good. And, but James Ortiz is basically the lead puppeteer. And it would have been so much easier had we gone CGI, you know, but there would be no magic, right? Because he's there in the room, I can talk to him. He's moving around. We end up, we can improvise. We can take the scene in different directions. It's real. I mean, there were times that I felt like I had like an alien friend, you know, because it was so like the artistry in which they do what they do made it so real.

27:31So I think you feel it. You know, I think in the movie, it's like it actually it is a relationship. It's not like what you're used to seeing because everything is so like effects driven now. Yeah. No, it's awesome. I mean, it makes you feel like Rocky's all of our friends in a sense. I mean, it just blows my mind.

27:48Jason Kelce:How does it feel to be a supporting actor in Rocky's film? I mean, really. Rocky stole the show. To a faceless Rocky. What's funny is that he's real. Like they've been having him come to some of these junkets. Yeah. So they'll tell me, like, oh, Rocky's here in the hotel. He was at the presidential suite at one of these hotels we stayed at recently with 24-hour security. He's living like a king. This dude's changed, man. This dude has changed. He doesn't text. He's not like, I'm in town. What's up? Nothing. Dude, I was sitting on the couch watching this, and my kids are watching something else on Disney or whatever.

28:33Jason Kelce:And they're like, what are you watching, Dad? I'm like, watch this movie. I'm like, oh, can we watch it? And all of a sudden Rocky comes in and they are like glued from that moment. And I'm like, dude, this is how you know this is a good, like if you're distracting from a cartoon over here, that's like pixelated and geared to get their like retina and attention span and all that other stuff happening. They were locked in. I mean, they loved Rocky, like could not get enough Rocky. So it's, it really works for anybody. I mean, the film is, it's, it's awesome, man. It's cool because, you know, I think like Andy really put a lot of thought into what, you know, there's no, it's not the trick of like, he doesn't have big eyes.

29:12He's not cute in a traditional sense, right? He's got no face. He's got five arms. He's made out of rock. He doesn't speak like, you know, he has his own kind of sounds that he makes. It's like, it's so hard to connect to him. I mean, I think the challenge of the movie was a bit like, will people connect to this faceless rock, you know, without using any of the kind of tricks that we would normally use? But the beauty is that you kind of can't imagine you're going to be crying over this faceless rock at the end of a film. But that's like the magic trick of the movie is like when it's over, people are like, Rocky, you want to die for him.

29:54It's cool. So do we believe in aliens now? Do you want to go to space? There we go. I have no interest in going to space. Do you? I do. I want to go. You do? I do. I want to go. I don't know.

30:03Jason Kelce:Just Travis does. Where do you want to go? The moon, I guess, is the closest thing. Okay. Yeah, I'll go there. I don't want to get too far away that I miss too much time. Just there and back, just a quick shuttle. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to go. I want to pretend to go. You didn't want to go in the movie either. We found that out. That I related to. A crazy shoe drop right there. But I do think it's fun to talk about, like, that we're in a period of time where we're not really saying, like, it feels like the conversation has shifted away from are there aliens to more like where are they and when are we going to see them?

30:38Yeah. Right.

30:38Jason Kelce:For sure. Yeah. The question growing up was definitely the other version of, like, are there aliens out there? Now it's like, oh, no, there's definitely aliens out there. Just have they, are they with us right now is the conversation. Yeah. I don't think that they're like crashing. Yeah. You know, that they, they're like coming to earth and then they're like, what? Like they, they're losing the brakes. Like what happens? Like, Oh no, the brakes. Like they're not, I don't think they're crashing. That's my only, that's all I know. If they're technologically advanced to get here, they're probably.

31:10They're losing brake fluid on the way in or whatever the hell happens.

31:14Jason Kelce:Oh God. That's good. But I do think Andy put this, like all this thought into this idea of like, Like, okay, so maybe they don't come to us. You got to go to them. Maybe, you know, like this, all this stuff, like he exists in his own atmosphere, right? So you can't even like really be in the same place with him. He has to make this kind of ball to be in. He wouldn't speak the same language. He wouldn't have the same kind of features that we have. Like, it's a pretty like credible stab at what that might be like, you know, it's done in an entertaining way, but it does feel like it's very scientifically grounded in a way that I don't, I don't, I've never really read or seen before.

31:53Jason Kelce:Yeah, I do remember, I listened to Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about stuff a lot. And one of the things he's often said about sci-fi films is the lack of creativity in outer space and extraterrestrials. Like they're always like bipedal and like, they just have weird eyes, but they still have hands. And it's like, no, no, no, this thing probably is going to be unlike anything you've ever seen. and you guys accomplish that perfectly i mean with every facet of it right like the astrophage what the astrophages exactly yeah yeah yeah okay jason yeah man just casually dropping astrophages you watch the movie you watch it we get it okay let me ask you another silly one i love asking dumb questions um if you had to show an alien one movie which one would you show him it could be any movie in the world so his name was rocky right and then i realized you know we were making this film with mgm and i was like wait you guys have all the rights to all the rockies right and and the creeds and they were like yeah of course and i was like well i have to show him all of those so we watched all the rockies we watched all the creeds i i think that's a good choice.

33:11I think showing an alien Rocky is not a bad way to go. Which Rocky is your favorite? The first one just for the whole... I mean, you know this story, but he had to sell his dog.

33:22Jason Kelce:Do you know that? I've seen it so many times I forgot. Stallone had to sell his dog to get this movie made. And then when he made the money back from the script... Oh, you're talking about in real life? In real life, he sold his dog. What? You can get that much money for a dog? God, we got to see what Patty's worth. No, I'm sorry. He sells his dog. Then when he sells the script, he buys his dog back. And that's the dog in the movie. That's sick. Stop it. The levels to which what was going on for Stallone, it seems in his life and the story of what was happening for Rocky are so closely linked.

34:05You know that there's like a meta in this to the first one. That's a great point. That's hard to to beat. but I like the Dolph Lundgren one. That one's amazing. The training sequence there, like the futurist, him with the, you know, like out in the log in the snow.

34:22Jason Kelce:Yeah. Four is just like a guilty, just like, so, it's like you're eating the most luxurious chocolate cake of patriotism and masculinity you can indulge in. But yeah, one is, I do find myself. he gives in Balboa to his son on the street is also I mean when does that not work if you need it you're right everyone in Philadelphia still uses that speech every day of their lives I'm getting goosebumps even just thinking about that speech what about over the top a little trucker arm wrestling action yeah baby because sometimes in life you gotta turn the hat around

35:02sometimes you there you go sometimes you just gotta turn the hat around guys

35:10Jason Kelce:so good that movie talk about ridiculous but still a guilty pleasure that'll make me cry that whole the way the way he is with his son those pep talks he gives him yeah that'll get you going he's the greatest like pep talk that thing with creed where he says to him in the mirror that's your worst that's your worst enemy or your like greatest opponent or something i mean he's just just alone he's that bad he still does it in tulsa king too i've been i've been stuck on that fucking show i love it there we go what's the next big guy are we uh are we sticking in the sci-fi are we like star wars movies next uh how do we get right is there another is there a sequel to this are we already thinking how we're gonna do this uh i'm hoping andy has an idea because i would love that but i just finished the star wars uh a star wars film which will come out next year what really oh yeah hell yeah are you able to give us any information on that like what's it's not part of the timeline of the other Star Wars films.

36:07It takes place in its own timeline and it's all original characters and it's directed by Sean Levy who did Deadpool Wolverine most recently but he also The Stranger Things and just so many things, A Night at the Museums. He's such a perfect director for this. He just completely got the tone. and um yeah it was crazy it was crazy to to be working on a star wars film that's so awesome

36:40Jason Kelce:are you guys star wars fans i love it i mean i wouldn't say like we're as plugged into like the very minor like minutiae but yeah very big fans yeah same it's like i didn't really like i didn't see it until i was older but i had star wars sheets you know oh yeah definitely had everything Star Wars. Yeah. Like I, it was always around, even if I hadn't seen it, it was just such a, it's like the Beatles. It's like always been there, you know? And you don't realize how much a part of you it is, how it defined your idea of what's a hero, what's a villain, what's a, what's score, you know, what is font, what is, uh, what's a sound effect, you know, on all the levels, it just is so permeated.

37:24Like my sensibilities as a, as a, as a person who, who likes film i didn't know until i got there just how deep it went you know so that was that

37:35Jason Kelce:was interesting well you just said good and evil are we a part of the empire are we jedi like what are we a problem with the reception it's

37:47Jason Kelce:fair enough fair enough there's gonna be a lightsaber that's just gonna come in and just yeah said too much all right We're going to get to this section. We got to ask. Okay. All right. Your co-star and Blade Runner, Harrison Ford, was on Jimmy Kimmel and was asked if he has had sex while playing soundtracks from his films. And his answer was, of course I have. It's a dumb question. Ryan, we have the same question to you, I guess. Is that? No, that's a hard no. That's an easy, easy no. It's a surprising yes, of course, from Harrison, I guess. But of course Harrison has. I always say, I would say like never meet your heroes unless they're Harrison Ford.

38:31He's as cool as you want him to be.

38:35Jason Kelce:That's awesome. He punched me one time in a scene. And then when they brought me ice for my face, he took the ice away. Out of my hand. He put his, he put his fist in it. And he said, I forgive you. and then when they brought me advil i was like went to take two advil and he took the whole thing and he just went like and he housed like 15 of them you can't do that you can't do that he's not like us oh my god i love this dude he could just house half a bottle of advil as a joke he doesn't care he's just dude when he you know in um in uh you know i think it's raiders you know when he's riding and his hat kept coming off when he's riding the horse he stapled it to his head just to his scalp they were trying to tape it and he said forget it give me a stapler and he stapled it to his head.

39:37Jason Kelce:Is this like a well-known thing about Harrison Ford that he's just a lunatic? He's not like us. He's one of those aliens among us, man. He's that guy. That is fucking hilarious. That line where she says, princess Leia says, I love you. And he goes, I know that's him. He said that.

39:55That's him. He's the real deal. Oh, what a legend, man. Is it true? You were suspended from first grade because you brought steak, nods and started throwing them at kids on at recess i didn't throw them at kids i might have thrown near them i i i think i might have just been doing them in the ground but yeah i did get

40:17Jason Kelce:in a bit of trouble for that nice man well you're you're speaking to two other i was expelled from preschool for stabbing a kid with a spork what i did yeah yeah if you're gonna do it with something a spork is well and it was also it was a retaliatory stab right it wasn't like i was just like, you know, psycho in this and just stabbing random kids.

40:42And the dullness of it would just really, we just heard it in a different way, which is like more like psychological. Oh yeah. No, it broke skin. It broke skin. I saw it. I saw it. It broke skin.

40:54Jason Kelce:Yeah. It was not good. Not good. Anyways, how do you feel about being the unofficial face of Taco Bell inflation? um this is the first i'm hearing it what is this the beefy five-layer burrito 89 cents and the beefy five-layer burrito now five dollars and 36 cents i'm not getting a dime for this i'm not even getting i'm not even getting food burritos for this oh my god is that real i i would assume so i mean it's real on the internet oh my god i guess it's real now the internet is undefeated man undefeated internet's gonna internet that's one thing you can count on no doubt what is your taco bell favorite i mean i don't want to keep giving taco bell bad space yeah but i don't know i'm more of a cheese and gordita crunch guy myself all right what do you have a welcome to hollywood moment oh like what like like what do you mean it could be good or bad or like something where you're just like oh this is hollywood right where it just dawned on you i mean you were it's hard i guess because you were in it so young i had a moment um at like a a party where i did i like was trying to sneak in and out like just to not you know whatever i whatever i went in through the kitchen yeah and i saw stallone he was hiding in the kitchen too and i got to talk to him for for like he was hiding in the kitchen too yes and you know he had just been such an inspiration to me in so many ways you know and like i got to yeah talk to him in the kitchen of his party it just felt like such like a pretty hollywood moment you know but he didn't disappoint either he gave me great advice and he was like yeah he was he was just how like that went down how you would hope that it would what's your hollywood moment oh yeah i'm still i ain't got a hollywood moment yet we got nfl moments travis might have Hollywood moment.

42:52The closest thing to Hollywood moment for me was, uh, I was doing SNL and I was already like, I have no fucking business doing being the host SNL. And as I'm doing, as I'm doing the table reads, which I can't read at all. So I am like already nervous as hell just to try and get through the reads, let alone having all these writers come up to me, trying to get me to really nail that punchline. I'm sitting here like stuttering through everything. Same by the way, you're not alone will ferrell just comes kind of coasting through and i just like freeze in the middle of my read i'm like full circle moment of like being at snl i've only like watched snl because of guys like farley and and will ferrell and sandler and those guys so it's like to feel that man coming come walking through and uh and see me struggling trying to read a script It was like a full fucking, it was a clusterfuck.

43:51And in my head, I was just like, what is life? He's the best, man. Just the absolute best. Another one that I had too, is when I went involving him was like, when I first moved to Hollywood, I went to see the taping of a talk show. And one of the guests was late or something. So they had us like sit on the floor and then they were like throwing three musketeers at us, like to feed us. It was just awful the way they were treating, treating everyone. And we were all like, this sucks. Like, you know, it was not the experience we wanted. And then we showed up and we sat in the audience and, you know, like telling us when to laugh and everything felt pretty like rehearsed.

44:26And it just wasn't like aligning with your what you wanted it to be. And suddenly this was before Will Ferrell was known, but he started like pretending he was lost on the set. So he would like show up behind the host and then like move along and then get lost. and we were all like he was crashing this person's interview and it was so funny and it kind of it just made the whole experience for us you know we were like this sucked until he showed up and now everything's better yeah he's always like that like i'm not surprised to hear you were having a hard time and then will ferrell showed up and suddenly things got better you know he's just like it's so crazy let me ask you this before we get out of here i know we usually end on the the uh the Hollywood moment question, but you were obviously in Hollywood at a young age and a lot of what you were doing was music.

45:19Have you ever thought about like kind of venturing or like getting back into the music side of things or having more of a career in that? I feel like it's, it's been cool to be able to do it in, in some films, you know, to find a way to explore that. I mean, I kind of got in, you know, my uncle was an Elvis impersonator. And so it's how I, I, I came home one day when I was eight and my uncle was bedazzling a white jumpsuit in the living room. And I was like, what are you doing? He was like, I'm going to be Elvis for a little while. Okay. So he became Elvis. He was like doing karate in the backyard and talking like Elvis and wearing the outfit in the house.

46:02And he was showing me how to like method act basically.

46:04Jason Kelce:So not even birthday parties or events. He was just doing this. He was just Elvis. He was just going to be Elvis for a little while. Full time. This is so good, man. But then he put us all in the air. So he said to me, you're going to be my head of security. I'm eight.

46:28This is so good. He got me like a gold lame jacket that said head of security. and like I was serious I was like okay that's my job and then he would perform at the mall and you know like it just it kind of changed everybody's life right like we all felt like we were hanging out with Elvis we felt like we had seen Elvis the whole town was like came alive people were singing and dancing and they had their talents it was this amazing impact that he had and then he decided not to do it anymore and everything got real boring again but my sister and I were like, can we do that again? You know, we kind of liked you better as Elvis.

47:07My sister and I started singing at weddings, you know, that's where the music thing kind of started. It just felt like a way to stay in that vibe, you know, to keep, to keep, not go back to normal life, to just keep going with the circus, you know? So then music became a thing that I was doing, you know, just as a way to stay, to keep things from becoming normal, you know? And again, and And then, you know, I found acting and then I found filmmaking. And so it kind of was a thing to get me there. But yeah, anyway, that's awesome, man. Well, Ryan, I appreciate the stories. Thank you for your time, dog.

47:43Everybody project Hail Mary in theaters Friday, March 20th. Make sure you see it on the biggest screen possible. Brother, I just want to say, man, you're one of my favorites of all time, dog. From La La Land, Crazy Stupid Love, bro. This is so cool to just pick your brain on how you got here and happy for you, man. Project Hail Mary is a home run. The fact that you guys would have me knowing I'm a liability at the corners and say, it means a lot to me, honestly. It like legitimizes that.

48:13Jason Kelce:We're all about team play. Yeah, we're team play. That was a team move. Thank you. You and Charlie Conway, the only guys that have pulled themselves out. Your team would get better. anyways you're the best ryan i appreciate this thank you so much guys dude that guy is an electric sob he does not disappoint i mean how it's funny charming good looking god damn how many fucking things do we have going for us ryan what else what well i mean we forgot to ask him about throwing the football for the baseball that's a wrap trap how about it man thank you to ryan gossam for being here check out project hail mary in theaters on march 20th and make sure you subscribe to the new heights channel on youtube and wherever you get your podcasts fill out those brackets ladies and gentlemen boys and girls once again new heights a wondery show brought to you by reese's follow the show on all social media at new heights show with one s for fun clips throughout the week and thanks our production team for always making us look way better than what we actually are man we love you guys and we love you 92 percenters for always tuning in this was a fun one man hope you guys enjoyed it we'll see you next week peace peace

49:30Jason Kelce:Ryan, we're not experts at this. We're just going to have a conversation. Well, that makes three of us. What a cool gig, though, for you guys. This is amazing. Still don't know how we got here, Ryan. Still don't know how we got here. You're just talking to each other about stuff, but you turned it into an amazing job. Who worked this deal for you? Can me and my sister get in on... Brandon, Carly, come back in. We need questions. Yeah.