The Sound Of Burning Felt (ft. guests Jennifer Lawrence & Lynne Ramsay; Elle Fanning & Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi; Sean Bean & Daniel Day-Lewis)

33:27It was in Glasgow. Okay. So this is basically just a ruse. We could just do this for the rest of the 15 minutes. Just name Scottish places for the Scottish. I could do that as well. Greece. Absolutely. I know. So in terms of that trust, because I know, Jen, you've talked about the first day being a doozy of a first day. not just things like dancing but the moment where Jackson and Grace crawl towards each other on all fours to the grass which is really really fascinating to me because that was something Lynn you came up with kind of on the fly and that is one of the few moments in the movie where Jackson who I think means well throughout the film but that's one of the few times that he actually sees Grace understands Grace and it wowed me that that was something that was just captured in the moment because you were losing light in a way.

34:21Can you talk about that? Was that something that... Well, it was going to be more of a kind of straightforward scene or flipping hamburgers and the decade he weirdly asked to marry her at the point where actually he's starting to get quite worried about her but it's this kind of last ditch attempt to save this and then it was getting very apparent we were shooting in reversal film stock as well so it was like really the light was going, we weren't going to get anything Wow The DP, Seamus McGarvey, was lying in the grass kind of looking in despair and I crawled over to him and it was just really nice light and stuff and it was like a kind of eureka moment between us and then I ran away to see if I could find Jen and Robert and say ditch that scene, we're doing it in the grass and they were like what the fuck I'm actually allergic to grass I just explained let's try and do it in this different way because I had this real feeling

35:37we winged it a bit but it felt like it was much more exciting than the scene we were just about to shoot much more exciting so I was really excited when we were shooting it I was like, this is so much better. And he really comes to her labeling. Absolutely. Yeah, he sees her. Yeah, he sees her and meets her where she is. I think she's just so surprised. And yeah, it's the first time that he's really meeting her where she is, seeing her, accepting her. And then the proposal happens, but it's almost like the least important part of the whole scene. yeah absolutely but yeah rob and i were just like hanging out at crafty waiting to do this scene where we're like flipping hamburgers and then they run over to us and they're like come to the field to the field i'm like what field what are you talking about and then it was the most beautiful scene i've ever seen yes really really gorgeous as well and was that that sort of that sort of fluidity and that sort of energy i imagine that there weren't not even two days they were the same on this movie for you um but two like a morning and an afternoon that you were just playing something that was wildly different from in the morning and then something completely different.

36:50Yeah, well you never shoot in chronological order. In the past I've done it with Rack, you know, he's tried as much as possible, you know, to do chronological, but this, I mean we, as much as possible keeping the scenes intact and never splitting anything up, like just doing it in, I don't know, sections where it felt like, you know, a meaningful section for the point that, for her, where she in our mind so tried as much to schedule like that but yeah we were jumping around some things were running on but more in the moment like that, I mean I like to be quite present and notice things that are offset rather than this is what you've got it's very rigid you have to be adaptable like that I think as a filmmaker but I was trying to give them sort of space to move around in that house as well you know let him be you know so it was a bit of a playground yeah amazing okay that was Jennifer Lawrence and Lynn Ramsey we'll be discussing Die My Love Die My Love which is German of course for Lee My Love later on in the podcast but right now it's time to talk about movie news thankfully there is nothing to talk about no no major 80s and 90s franchises have been revived this week at least to my knowledge.

38:14Prove me wrong, Silent Bob. I mean, obviously we're talking about The Mummy here. Well, too. There's another one that I don't think you're aware of. Oh, am I not? Oh, yeah, you're going to like it. Gremlins. Gremlins. Tell me, what is the news? Then we'll get onto The Mummy afterwards. There's a Gremlins in the works. There's a third one as well then. Well, actually. Yes. Is there? Oh my God, what is happening? Somebody tell me about The Gremlin. Okay, Hellspells. Okay, so Gremlins 3 has been set with a release date because it's always great to lead with a release date of November 2027. The good news, Steven Spielberg is going to be executive producing once again.

38:50He's never executive produced a bad movie, so that's great news. If you look at the list of projects that he's executive produced, it's just gold. Okay, look, nobody bats a thousand. He bats like 990. Shut up. Okay, and the director and producer is Chris Columbus. The Explorer. no oh the director the long dead Genoese explorer no the yes the director that would make much more sense he's going to be directing yes and writing also writer director okay well this is this is very interesting yeah because of course he wrote the first Gremlins Chris Columbus he did this is a return if you will this one however has been written by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein so they are the guys behind Final Lesson Destination Bloodlines so they know a kind of you know crazy horror franchise when they see one, I guess.

39:43They certainly do. Do we know anything else about this at this point in time? Pretty much everything you said there just got me excited. Those guys are, as they show with Bloodlines, although they didn't write the script for that, but I'm sure they had a lot of input into it. They know the way around reviving a franchise and drenching it in blood and the MRI sequence will live long in the memory and indeed genitals. If we learned anything from Gremlins 2, the new batch, and also from the Key and Peele sketch about Gremlins 2, the new batch. It's that anything goes in a Gremlins sequel. I disagree.

40:17I disagree wholeheartedly. You don't like number two? Well, let me say that for the Empire Christmas Party, I want to say, what, about three years ago, we went to the Prince Charles and we watched back-to-back Gremlins 1 and Gremlins 2. Did we? Yes, we did. I'm not sure that you came, but we did. We watched a Gremlins... It might have been only me and Nick who actually stayed for the second film. And I enjoyed Gremlins 2 when it came out, I saw it in cinema when it was first released. Looking back on it, Gremlins remains a classic. It is a horror film. It's quite traumatic. I pity any child under the age of 15, 40s of 15 who sees it.

40:49But it's a really good little film. I really like it. Gremlins 2 is absolute batshit anarchy. And while it's quite fun, it's utterly incoherent and deeply, deeply stupid. And watching it again, I would really like this film not to build on that. Not least because I don't think you could out-crazy Gremlins 2. and I really don't think people should try I think it would be nice to kind of pare it back and kind of try and recapture that Gremlins 1 feel which again does have wacky crazy energy to it but it's much more contained and much more horror focused but if it's out in a November that might suggest it is a Christmas movie and we are getting back to the small town roots if you like I hope so I hope so I would not be surprised if Chris Columbus wanted to return this to its roots and also Gremlins 2 despite being an amazing movie one of the greatest comedies of the last 40 years and a superior film to the original wow was not particularly well received at the box office.

41:39And his reputation has grown over time. See, as Helen said, the Key and Peele sketch, which comes from a place of pure love and big knowledge of that movie. But it was a flop, let's be honest, which is the reason why there wasn't a Gremlins 3 and hasn't been one for over 30 years. So I think that it would be wise for them to kind of ignore Gremlins 2, leave it on its own as a bit of an outlier in the franchise something for maniacs like me to embrace and to love although I'd love to see the brain grim in the return and embrace the first movie so any news in casting Phoebe Cates is retired essentially Sack Galligan still acting but are they looking at their phones hoping that they'll ring or they might be but there's been no announcements whatsoever about cast or plot so far Are they actually saying it's Gremlins 3 or just a new Gremlins film?

42:35Because I'd be very surprised if it was continuing. It has been called Gremlins 3. That is what the reports have said. But it may change also between now and then. Pretty certainly won't pick up chronologically after the second one with the events of the second one. I'm sure they won't call it Gremlins 3. They'll call it Gremlins something. It may be a reboot. But who knows? But in terms of casting... The new, new batch. Yes, the new, new batch. But in terms of the casting, I don't know. We shall see. but I don't think any studio right now is going to throw big coin at any film that brings back the cast of a beloved movie some 25-old years after the fact, say, a film that came out in 1999.

43:12I just don't see it. Do you guys? I do, yes. I see it specifically. They have announced a new Mummy movie with, crucially, both Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in talks to return and play their roles again because quite frankly, Maria Bello, love her, but her turn in The Mummy, absolutely no. Hard pass. These are the casting. These are the characters. That is the way it is. There is no discussion on this point. Has Bruce Horne's been the rage once said, that's the way it is. Can I offer a hot take? I don't know why, because Mummy Dragon Emperor 1, which we saw together in LA, as I recall, Chris, is not good at all.

43:51Scorpion King, not great. Mummy 2, also not great. mummy one is fine no this is where you're wrong I've always felt this I know I have always been on the minority end of this particular argument but I mean it's okay it's three stars hey Alex my brother from another mother thank you very much the film you're missing here

44:18look we're about to talk about spoiler for the rest of the news section we've already talked about gremlins we've got The Mummy. We also are going to be talking about, I guess, about Miss Piggy. Out of all of them, the most passionate fans are genuinely probably the Mummy fans. Yes. Because I'm part of that subculture. I can see that subculture online. It's definitely you. And they are crazy in the coconut. They're very, very happy about this. The Mummy's net has gone off the chain. Yeah, but I just think, watch the original films. I don't, just because you like something doesn't mean you should do shit.

44:53shit versions of it 30 years later I mean we've seen Indiana Jones 4 and 5 they shouldn't have been made I don't want to see these people in the middle age trying to pull off the same stuff especially when the films weren't very good in the first place they were good in the first place but it was King Solomon's Mines all over again whoa whoa whoa yeah but King Solomon's Mines is much less fun I'm sorry and crucially shitter as well and okay so The Mummy 1999 Stephen Sommers second best film we can all agree that Deep Rising is his best I mean genuinely true it is better than The Mummy fantastic film the film I watched on Halloween night.

45:25Now what? Oh, Treat Williams. We watched it recently. It's such a great film, Helen. It is a fantastic film. You have, within five minutes, you have a young Chimon Honsu and a young Cliff Curtis being killed. You have young Jason Fleming shouting wanker a lot. It's the perfect piece of Friday Night Entertainment. And so that's the movie that got Stephen Sommers, The Mummy. And The Mummy is a lot of fun. You know, it's obviously very derivative of Raiders of the Lost Ark. But if you look back at that film now, you know, I just remember being blown away by Brendan Fraser in that film. He is pure charisma in that movie.

45:58He is so much fun. Rachel Feis, luminescent, luminous, lovely Rachel Feis. She was so good in that film as well. John Hanna, who can forget John Hanna? Oded Fair, Arnold Fossloo as the mummy himself, Patricia Velasquez. I could go on and on and on. And indeed you are. And often will. It's such a good film. The second one's not that good. And it obviously has the worst piece of CG. in the history of mankind. But, you know, I'm up for this. Brendan Fraser, Oscar winner. Rachel Feis, Oscar winner. She doesn't do movies like this anymore. Black Widow accepted. So something has got them back. And yes, I know what you're going to say.

46:38I know they found the tomb containing all the gold. And they've given it to Fraser and Feis. Will it come with a curse? We'll find out. But this is directed by Radio Silence. It is. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillette who did Scream 5 who did Scream 6 Ready or Not Ready or Not Abigail these are guys who know the way around a scary film and how to make them funny crucially. Big scary film and funny and this is going to be the biggest canvas to date. What this means for Lee Cronin's The Mummy which is coming out next year I do not know and there's a much more horrific take on the premise but can't have too many mummies.

47:19You can't. I don't think it matters. I mean, we've got another Frankenstein film-ish coming soon. I just don't think... Do we? Yeah. I just don't think it really matters. I think Lee Cronin's and the Tom Cruise mummy had nothing to do with this original franchise. It's just a monster, you know. But this is universal and they're going to throw a lot of money at it and maybe finally this is a thing to get the dark universe off the ground. Oh, no. Welcome to the world of gods and monsters. Look, we've talked mummies, we've talked Frankensteins. Can I drop in some vampire news, even if it isn't 100 % film related?

47:52Helen, I'm going to say there was a big thump on my doorstep this week as Empire of the Dawn, the new Jay Kristoff novel, did arrive. And I'm very, very excited. I need these to be made into films. And I need them to be made into films now. Yes. Because they are amazing. I haven't got it yet, you bastard. This is the third in the Empire of the Vampire trilogy. Yes, and they are fantastic books. I actually have the first book. Have you? did you read it no okay Helen is going to see the author aren't you Helen I am I'm going to you know introductory talk thing he's doing anyway shall we talk about this Miss Piggy movie then yes don't don't adopt those tones of disrespect I implied no disrespect to my tone you did I fucking didn't I love the Muppets I heard it you heard nothing you're the Muppet alright shall we explain what this is and this will explain why we cannot show any disrespect towards this project.

48:50Yeah, this is the extremely exciting news that there is a Miss Piggy film in development right now with Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence producing and Cole Escaloia writing the script. Now, Cole Escaloia may be the film, maybe the name out of those three that you're not less familiar with. Cole is the, I think, Tony winning writer of O'Mary, which is a show on Broadway where they played Mary Todd Lincoln, and just sort of riotous comedy through her life up to the murder of her husband, Abraham. Anyway, so really, really hot, exciting writer, really, really hot, exciting producers, and really, really hot, exciting star in Miss Piggy, who is quite frankly overdue for her own starring project, potentially.

49:39So this could be pretty cool, I think. we should say as well that this is there's no official news about this this is something that Jennifer Lawrence has said on another podcast I can't believe she did this podcast in another podcast that's outrageous she did announce it in this podcast largely because I didn't ask but she did announce it on Las Culturistas podcast which is the Bowen Yang Matt Rogers podcast and said Emma Stone and I produced the Miss Piggy movie and Cole is writing it so yeah we shall see what happens but maybe it'll echo the same if it does happen which I'm slightly skeptical about.

50:12It may echo the same storyline as Oh Mary, what if it was Miss Piggy and, you know, leads up to the murder of Kermit. No, I don't want that. It's about fucking time. He's had it coming. He had it coming. I don't think there's ever been a Muppet movie that isn't just a Muppet movie with all the Muppets in it, right? There hasn't been one before that's been led by one character specifically. I think it's quite exciting. Muppet origins Piggy. That's what you're saying. Yeah, and those two, you know, women feel like perfect choices, you know, They're both kind of extremely, there's an anarchy to both of them, I think.

50:47They're both like really spirited and kind of furious. They've both got these quite eccentric tastes, I think. They're proper artists. And I think the fact that they're producing this bodes well. I mean, there hasn't been, look, Jason Segel rebooted the Muppets whenever that was. And that was good. That was a good fit. And that was a good voice. And it was a good film. I don't think there's been anything particularly great in Muppet World since. and the fact that these two women are spearheading this in some capacity makes me feel like there's something good going on and it feels like a good fit to me.

51:18Well, again, the Muppets kind of floundered to the box office because there's never really historically been a huge audience for Muppet movies. So the Muppets, the reboot, did pretty well at the box office and Muppets Most Wanted died on his arse. And even though it's a fun film, it's got a lot of stuff going for it, just is not well received at all or well thought of and that kind of killed it and they've done a couple of little you know Disney obviously have to write them up they've done some TV stuff but none of it's really worked and so if this doesn't work if this movie which presumably will also star Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence in some capacity alongside Miss Piggy if this doesn't work at the box office and that smell that you will soon detect in your nostrils will be the sound of burning felt I thought you were going to say Set ablaze I thought you were going to say burning hands.

52:09No, because they're not real. They're made of felt, material. Okay, right. You're all being disrespectful. No, come on. I admit they're not necessarily the biggest box office champs in the world. My, I guess, defense of this is that, first of all, nothing is allowed to die anymore, as this week's news has shown. That is entirely impossible. Apart from Ben Solo. Apart from Ben Solo. Maybe, so far. but second of all you know I feel like this is the right response actually to the success of Barbie a couple of years ago is to get interesting people together and give them an interesting you know something that women love I mean I personally genuinely draw inspiration from Miss Piggy on a regular basis every time I need to open a stuck door I find that channeling her hi yeah you'll genuinely help me open that door I'm not kidding metaphorically and actually A very commonly said thing in our household is, it does, doesn't it?

53:06Which is, of course, from Muppet Christmas Carol. Question, question, would they get Frank Oz? Because even though the guy who does Piggy these days is very good, unlike the Kermit, it's not Frank Oz. Well, maybe if he's decided not to do them anymore, then he's probably not going to be doing it. I don't think that... Even Frank Oz will say... Well, that does follow, yes. He'll say yes to... Yeah, but also, would he have the voice in his older age? You know, his voice is probably older and huskier. I don't know. I mean, could he... I mean, mind you, he did a good Yoda of not too far off. Yeah.

53:44Not too long ago. But I don't know. I feel like that probably won't happen. But I don't think it lives or dies by Frank Oz. No disrespect. Return to Oz. That's what I say. One last piece of news before we move on to our next guest and indeed the reviews section. The Beatles, a four-film cinematic event, which is the title that they're still persevering with. I'd keep the Beatles part of that, by the way. Really? You wouldn't just call it a cinematic event? A four-film cinematic event. I would lose that other part. Sam Mendes' four-film cinematic event. Oh my God, it trips off the tongue. We know who the Beatles are.

54:21They're a famous rock band from Liverpool. But we know who's playing them in this movie, which begins filming very, very soon, or they begin filming more accurately. But now we know who will be playing the Beatles' wives and girlfriends, the wags of the Fab Four, and they are, folks, Amy Lewwood, who is always brilliant in everything, is playing Patty Boy, George Harrison's wife. Very good. Saoirse Ronan. Saoirse Ronan. Saoirse Ronan. Come on, absolute powerhouse as Linda McCartney. Fantastic. Yes. A fascinating, fascinating person, Linda. and Anna Sawai from Shogun which I haven't seen but you are very much amazing you should her performance in it is extraordinary right well she's playing Yoko Ono which is I mean what a part to take on that is I mean the layers and layers of that one and Mia McKenna-Bruce from How to Have Sex who is brilliant is playing Maureen Cox who's Ringo Starr's wife and I don't know I am you know sceptical about what these films are but they've got four brilliant actors and now four brilliant actresses and a great director and i'm starting to feel like this is at least something exciting brewing yeah absolutely yeah and they've cleared their schedule for at least the next year i guess i don't know how long it's gonna take to make these movies but a long time a long time i mean the the guys have certainly been rehearsing for months i mean they were they they were like what in the summer they'd already been rehearsing for something like three months yeah you know and learning to play the instruments and get themselves in kind of Beatles order.

55:55So yeah, I hear they go nowhere without their instruments, which is a bit of a pain in the ass if you're Barry Keoghan, but, um, drum kit. Anyway. Uh, yeah, it's exciting. Uh, and we shall see, we shall see how this all pans out in 2028. I believe is when these movies come. So that's exciting. Or maybe 2027. It's a year in this decade anyway, but, but there we go. That is it for the movie news. Uh, Shall we have another pair of guests? Let's. Shall we have the stars of Predator Badlands? Sure. Let's do that then. So Predator Badlands is the latest film in the Predator franchise. And it is the return, of course, and the director's chair of Dan Trachtenberg, who directed Prey and Predator Killer of Killers, which is available, of course, in Disney Plus.

56:40That's the animated movie. And this is a film which turns the Predator franchise on its head by centering a young predator, a young Yautja warrior called Dek, D-E-K, played by Demetrius Schuster Kaloa Matangi, and strands him on a planet that is literally referred to in this film as the Death Planet. It's called Gena, and he wants to track down and kill a beastie that so far has proved unkillable. It's called Kalisk. And along his journey, he finds and teams up with, somewhat reluctantly, a very chatty Cathy a Wayland Yutani synth called Thea played by Elle Fanning and this is a fantastic double act we'll be talking about the movie in literally two shakes of a callus tale but I went along and spoke to them recently and we had a good laugh Elle Fanning you know her she's very very well established been in loads and loads of movies she's terrific Demetrius Schuster Koloa Motongi on the other hand is a young Kiwi actor and he this is essentially his big break and I wish him well he's very very good in this buried under layers of prosthetics and some CG stuff going on there too so I had a great time talking to him I hope you guys have a great time listening to it do please enjoy hey everyone it's Chris here just jumping in real quick because in listening back to the interview I remembered that we discuss it's not a spoiler thing but there is something that pertains in particular to Elle and her performance in this movie is towards the end of the interview, but some might see it as a spoiler.

58:17It is something that is out there that has been announced, but I didn't know about it going to see the film. And so perhaps don't listen to this until after you've seen Predator Badlands and then come back and listen to it. We also discuss something right at the end that isn't a spoiler, but again pertains to Demetrius's performance in the film. So be warned. Oh, and also I'm very aware that I said that smell in your nostrils is the sound of burning felt. I'm a fucking idiot. Anyway, here's the interview. Whenever you're listening to it, do please enjoy it. El Demetrius, welcome to the Empire Podcast.

58:51How are you both? Great. Fantastic, both. Good, good, good. I was just saying, I was just establishing the ground rules of the Empire Podcast, which is basically you can swear, you can say anything you want, but can you swear in yacha? That's the important question, because you guys learned this language. I know, Demetrius, you learned maybe a little bit more than El. Yeah, definitely. But yeah, what's where words included? Yes, they were. They were? Yeah. What? It was like, so one of them was like, I think, So that means if you're trying to cuss somebody up, like on the road, like, you know, they might cut you off in traffic.

59:24Yeah. Like, it's just going, if you're wanting to scare them a little bit. How dare you? Sorry. My mom might be watching this. Watch my language. You're going to rinse your mouth out of soap. That is absolutely wild. So you still have the language that's still within you? Yeah, I didn't think I would ever leave. Your last words in this world will be in Yautja. People are going to think he has dementia. He doesn't know how to speak. He's like, all I know how to speak is Yautja. And you'll say, Louch, what was it again? Louch. Those are great last words, right? I mean, put on your tombstone. And we'll know what he means.

1:00:04Yes, absolutely. This means we're not going to be around when... This is a dark way to go. I know, never mind. All right, Demetrius, I think that whenever you are about to shuffle off this portly coil, many, many years from now... I'll let you guys know. You'll be the first to know. We have to be around you. It'll be in my room. And then when you say... Machu twash. Now we'll know what it means. Okay. Oh, gosh. That is a done deal. Done deal. I have a contract drawn up. Elle, what about you? You learned a little bit of yautja? I did. I'm trying to think. I did, and I had some lines. She had some hard lines when she was doing it, because she was, like, inside a laptop.

1:00:51I know, and see, for me, it's kind of, I tried to forget them because they were so hard to say, so they've left my head. But I can roll the R's. I know it's a lot of like that. One more time?

1:01:07I wish I could So if you land in Yautja Prime for example Yes Could you ask where the library is? This is I mean that's what people need to know right? They need to know where's the library? Where are the shops? If I talk to Brenton on Zoom Yeah Who did our Yeah Who created the language I could do it You could do it It would all come flooding back to you It would It would To do all the clicks in The Yautja will appear man It would It certainly would because you know Thea in this I mean you had enough lines in English to worry about never mind Yautja because she's a muttermouth she just doesn't stop speaking from the she appears until pretty much the moment they were giving her some treacherous lines like on the spot like that she would have to do we're doing like some crazy like scenes in the rivers like on mountains she's having to like learn lines like wow yeah same fact I mean because also her personality too is like you know like you said she talks she's a fast talker and so And also it's sometimes it's very like scientific information with like big words.

1:02:07And so to get your mouth around that of like. And she did amazing. Absolutely. You were my support system. I'd be like, oh, Dimitri, I have to learn this. And you had to learn the youcha. We were in it together. We were in it together. Yeah. Dimitri, so do you feel that you got off a little bit of light below compared to Al? Yes, you have to learn youcha and swear words, disgusting swear words in youcha. I know you. I'm so sorry. But he's a man of few words, his dick. So, you know. But he was just sweating to death in the suit. And had to take most of my weight. I mean, carrying me, you know. There was that.

1:02:45So it was equal. It was equal. That's fine. It's fine. We'll call it a draw. We got the movie. Yeah. And it was a very, very fun experience. It was a very joyful set. and the crew was, they were with us, like raising us up too. Like the New Zealand crews are like the most hardworking, amazing people. And it felt like this real unit that they were, they loved the story and were invested. And, you know, sometimes you don't always get that, you know. Some crews, it's like they don't read the scripts or they don't know what really is happening. But this, it just felt like, I don't know, their hearts were in it with us.

1:03:24Yeah, absolutely. And, of course, you're sitting beside each other right now. As you mentioned, Elle, you know, for a lot of this movie, Thea is literally on deck's back, which is a hell of a thing. And you were. I mean, so tell me, talk me through how they did it, how you actually were strapped to Demetrius. Well, there was many different rigs that they had. There was like these wire rigs that, you know, we would put harnesses under our costumes and holes would be cut out. those Those little hooks. Yeah, we would kind of be screwed in, honestly, to each other. So it's not like we couldn't get out if we wanted to, because also we're flying through the air.

1:04:05So, you know, for first. There was a lot going on. Yeah, there was a lot going on. But you want to be you want to be secured in because if you're not enough. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we're flying together through the air. So a lot of the time. So we had the wires and my legs would be in like blue stockings and that would be out in a sling. And all these were created like for the movie through our stunt team. I don't think they'd ever had these wires particularly before. Yeah. Yeah, true. They were like making it up. They were making it up. Yeah, to try to make it the most comfortable. Yeah, there was the wheelbarrow chariot one where I would sit on the wheels and that would go around and that would hook up to your hips that you would pull me up hills and things.

1:04:48And then we also did some where it was practical where that was in the very end of shooting. We couldn't have done On the mountains We couldn't have But when we were in the studio We didn't get hooked up as much Because we kind of did it where We would choreograph our steps together So I'd be on my tiptoes And I would be going Right, left, right And I'd be walking backwards And he'd be walking forwards And we weren't hooked together We just had to find But even those ones would be tricky as well Those were Yes Those are still Because we had to choreograph Because then if we were stepping at the wrong time That wouldn't work Just look unnatural.

1:05:25So yeah, it was a lot of thought that went behind all the rigs. It's like the ultimate trust test, right, for actors in a weird way? This isn't how the two of you met. You were going, oh, hey, El. Nice to meet you. Great. Nice to meet you. That is wild. So what was it like for you physically with El on your back? El, stop listening. No, it was actually fine. It was um, I had a whole month kind of before to prep and just train like to be able to Yeah, would stand not only L's weight, but just the weight of the suit like the suit itself was quite heavy So um, yeah kind of just getting into shape to be able to last the distance and but to be honest We had like rigs to help even out like L's weight and then like that was taking some of it Um, yeah, like it was a deck wouldn't complain exactly.

1:06:17That's hardcore. You take it on the chin If you take it on the chin, that's the wrong place. Oh, yeah, you're right. Take it on the back. Take it on the back. You're right. You're right. So I want to ask you about your kind of when you were first introduced to this franchise, because you were both born not just after the first Predator came out, but after Predator 2 came out, which is disgraceful, quite frankly. How dare you. Yeah, but also you're kind of the right age to grow up with these movies in a weird way. So when were you first exposed to Arnie and all that jazz? That's a different movie.

1:06:56My dad loves Arnold Schwarzenegger. So all of his movies would be playing while I was growing up. And Predator was one of those ones I was scared. Every time he'd be playing it. So I was introduced quite early to the first film. I would have been maybe five or six. Wow. That's younger than I was when I saw the first one. Yeah, it was real young. But yeah, I think it's just something like a character that I just always knew about. And you were scared of the Predator or of Arnie? Because that guy had muscles. I can imagine a five-year-old looking at him and going, what is that? I think I wanted to be Arnie.

1:07:32I was watching him like, man, I need to get that book so I can kill a Predator. And then years later, I become the Predator. So I'm like, yeah, it was cool. My stomach is like growling. It's the Predator in there. It's the Clicks. Yeah, it's the Clicks. Yeah. No, I get mine. I mean, I, I was told that I do the predator click in my sleep when I was younger. Okay. So I was like, what is the predator? Like, I was like, probably like a teenager. And so then I then watched the, the original film from there. And I mean, get to the chopper. I mean, come on. I didn't realize that that had come from that film, you know?

1:08:12Oh, true. Yeah. When I was like, oh, and I was kind of all putting it together. And I mean, that movie, it's a great film. And then for me, I kind of watched like Prey next, to be honest, like in like with my life. But I was really taken with Prey. And I mean, I know this isn't an alien film, but me being like a Weyland-Yutani. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've definitely, I've seen the alien movies a lot. So it was exciting for me to be an android. So your loyalties were leaning towards the alien side of things. The company. Yes. Yes. Yes. Company. Sorry. You've changed me, though. Yeah. Well, that's very, I mean, that's an interesting wrinkle to introduce as well.

1:08:59But it's also like, that's what's nice about this film, is we were saying, I think it will introduce a whole new generation to these films. Yeah, very much so. And you don't need to have seen the previous films to enjoy this one at all. I think it really stands on its own. It really does. And it inverts everything. And it comes out from such a bold and interesting original direction as well. But, Al, am I right in thinking you haven't seen Predator 2? Is this a confession you're willing to make right now? I was thinking about it. I was just sitting there. You could have said, I've got the secrets of the meaning of life, Chris.

1:09:34All I'm hearing is, I haven't seen Predator 2. All of them. I did. I mean, I went through. Dan told me what I needed to watch. Well, luckily, I prepared a four hour PowerPoint presentation. Hey, bring it on. It's actually twice as long as the film. Bring it on. We're going to go frame by frame on the second one, which is pretty good. But it's interesting you mentioned the company there. I think this is out there at the time we were recording this, but you're playing two roles. Yes. And that's out. That's out there. Okay, that's out. Yes. Okay. All right. So you're playing Thea and Tessa, who is her synthy sister in a way.

1:10:14And, I mean, wildly contrasting performances. Can you talk about approaching Tessa as well? Yes. Yes. I mean, I think that's what, you know, Dan and I wanted to do, really differentiate the two. And, I mean, they're written. They're quite different personalities. And, you know, Tessa, I guess you could say she's a bit of a villain. But I didn't want to fall into like that cliche. I think she's more loyal to the company and the task at hand. And so she's a little more, I guess, robotic or her feelings aren't as present as Thea was. And I think like the history for me there was that Thea is very broken.

1:10:54And the things that she's seen on Gena and the life that she's seen by, you know, when Deck finds her, her personality has grown by being stuck in one place and seeing kind of the beauty of the planet, even though the planet is a very dangerous planet where everything is trying to kill you. But instead of her seeing that everything's trying to kill you, she sees the beauty in it. And so that kind of what makes her spunky and have this personality, whereas Tess is kind of on the opposite spectrum. And yeah, I think we wanted to make very contrasting characters. and that was yeah a challenge for sure i mean i definitely spent more time in thea while we were on set so when i had the tessa scenes it'd be like nervous to to get that oh wow right yeah yeah also i think her you know her emotions are a little more she doesn't want to let the emotions out whereas thea is very comfortable with her emotions so there was a lot of like that playing with that stifling of that and um yeah we were in the where was it in the the overturn trailer Yeah, we spent a lot of time in the overturn trailer as as both yes Yes, as both Characters and and yeah playing against yourself.

1:12:12It was I got to do my Lindsay Lohan Every actor's dream Because it's like black and white, you know when she's beer, you know, yeah, so like when she'd be on sit like I'd be Friendly around fear and she's an otis or get up and I'm a but like I didn't know that one. But, yeah, no, just props to Elle's performance. This isn't out there yet, but I don't think it's a spoiler. But, Demetrius, you also pulled double duty on this. You're the voice of the father in this. So, clearly you're not. Yeah, well, maybe we will talk about that. Maybe we won't talk about that. But I'm just interested by that sort of duality as well.

1:12:51I said it. Okay, you're in trouble. Yeah. Yeah, so I voiced the father. And... uh the brother as well if you didn't know that one oh my god it's triple duty i didn't know that i didn't even know about the father thing but yeah no it was fun it was cool um i think it was uh yeah when we'd be in the studio kind of doing it because the father and the brother were played by reuben and mike homick so they were um they'd be on set in the um you know in the suits as well sweating but um yeah once we got into the ADR studio and yeah I got to play a little bit more with the you locked him out and you were like this is mine now but it was cool like yeah because Dick has his own way of speaking and his own cadence and then you know the father's a bit more gravelly and down here like yeah I just got to play a lot it was fun I like it I like it guys I'd like to go Al Demetrius it's been an absolute pleasure and I'll see you in about 50-60 years brand new deathbed my first call to say your yatcha curse word curse them and you're gonna say latiutwish amazing I can't get it so I just have to have him Dimitrius, El it's been a pleasure thanks so much thank you thank you okay that was El Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster Koloa Motangi talking about Predator Badlands Predator Predator Badlands and now it's time for us to kick off the reviews section by talking about all the films that are out this week in the multiplex and on your silverplex and I think there's only one place to start and that is of course with the return of an icon who has been away from our screens for a long long time and we're so glad to see him back no it's not Daniel Day-Lewis it is the Yautja Warrior the Predator turn around turn around anytime over here over here it is of course Dan Trachtenberg's Predator Badlands yes once again I couldn't say it Predator Badlands Predator Predator Badlands I should recuse myself of course because I hosted the Predator Badlands panel at NCM Comic Con.

1:14:59So obviously, people are going to dismiss what I say. I'm in the pocket of Big Yautja. But believe me, folks, when I say this is a fucking brilliant film, I think it's the second best film in the Predator franchise and the best one since the original movie. And now I've said my piece, Jimbo. Yes. I disagree with some of the things you've just said, but let's get into this. So Dan Trachtenberg, who I love at the moment because he is on a mission to make Predator great again. and I really respect that. First with Prey, then with Predator Killer of Killers, and now with this. MPGA? What? That doesn't make any sense.

1:15:31Put it on a cap. MPGA. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, it doesn't matter. So anyway, this sees a young Yautja. It's the first time the word Yautja has been used in the Predator franchise as well, properly. Like, you know, it's wild. Yautja. But this is Deck played by, as you say, Demetrius Schuster, Kaloa Matangi, and he embarks on this coming-of-age hunt to the death planet Genna to bring back the head of the unkillable Kalisk. And yes, that is genuinely the plot of this film. And the idea is he's going to prove his worth to his clan, he'll earn his cloaking device, demonstrate his worth to his father, who, it has to be said, demonstrates some highly questionable parenting techniques.

1:16:02There, he kind of encounters all manner of mammals, reptiles, birds, trees, and grass that are basically trying to kill him. But he also runs into El Fanning as this kind of damaged Weyland-Yutani synth. Yes, this is technically Alien vs. Predator canon approved. And they set about hunting this callus together. The shooting title for this film was, absolutely true, Backpack. And that is 100 % how he carries her around and I fucking love that they called it that. But what I love about this is Trachtenberg is slightly unpredictable. So with Prey, which is fucking fantastic and is in fact the second best Predator movie after the original.

1:16:35No, that's incorrect. It is absolutely correct. He tried to and succeeded in recapturing everything that made the first film good. It is tense. It has all of that suspense built into it. It's kind of like a thriller, horror film. It's edge of your seat stuff. It's really, really good. Now, what he did with Killer of Killers which present us with interesting ideas and let us see these kind of creatures in different ways and different scenarios and different timelines. That's a lot of fun as well. But this is something else entirely because this is the first PG-13. It is the first family-friendly Predator film.

1:17:03It is basically a mismatched buddy comedy. And I mean, I kind of pity the kid who watches this. This is great. I'll go and watch the original, dear God. I mean, we were watching the original at... Yeah, 100%. 12? Basically. Yeah, and look at you both. And look, we turned out fine. but this film is fun it is funny it is hugely entertaining The Predator speaks entirely in Yautja which is subtitled and that makes for its own very very funny moments it's I mean in many ways it's kind of fan fiction to a certain extent because you could I could totally imagine if you were to write out the plot of this film you could imagine someone just bashing this out on Reddit we'll take this and we'll just make it huge and it'll be great and we'll throw this in so it could have been so excruciatingly awful but it is not because it is brilliant because it is done so well.

1:17:50And because the fan service, there are so many fan service moments that just land perfectly. And they're never quite awkward. They're never quite cringed. They always feel authentic. And yet they are the kind of stuff that you can imagine. So what if this, I'm not going to give anything away. What if this character did this crazy thing? And it does, it doesn't work on paper, but it works in practice. And I do wonder whether part of that is, this is such an inventive film. I saw at least 12 things in this film I have never seen before. And I don't just mean in terms of monsters. I mean, just in the way that they frame and structure the action set pieces.

1:18:21There's so much creativity that goes into this. And although I had a big grin on my face, I'm like, this is fucking wild, like, that they've come up with these ideas. Because it's a really kind of basic storyline. It's not particularly complicated. It's not particularly plotty. You kind of, the structure of it is fairly simplistic. But it's executed with panache and sort of joie de vivre. And it just, it made me really, really happy. I think there are a couple of moments where the CGI on CGI kind of monsters hitting each other occasionally gets a little bit tired but there are only a couple of moments in the entire film like most of it it really is quite engaging stuff and I think the character comes out and all that I think you don't need to have seen any of the other films at all and I think even if you ain't got time to bleed you should make time to watch this film Helen okay when you're watching this movie were you saying I'm going to have me some fun I'm going to have me some fun now I was I was having a great time I feel like you know my thing about like turning the villains into the heroes I don't like it and when this was announced i was a bit like oh so you want me to empathize with a predator get fucked um that's not going to happen it totally happened i was really invested in in deck's whole arc and his whole like struggle for well i won't spoil too much but like you know just struggle for to become a predator i guess i just saw it the character work was great the location work was fantastic i feel like this is like it's basically the revenant it looks like the revenant like it's it's really cool it looks fantastic and they've just added just enough kind of alien-ness to make it interesting without taking it completely kind of too far and too weird and I had a great time I thought the crossover elements worked really well yeah I can't look out when it's set in the timeline but I just didn't really watch it very far in the distance it's beyond any alien and predator movie we've seen so far okay I don't think like I can nitpick and I absolutely will if we if I get spoiler special this I absolutely will nitpick a few things but generally speaking I was just having too much fun to care MMO to self do not invite Helen to Predator Badlands spoiler special we don't want this nitpicked we want this celebrated it is the third best of all Predator films it is the and not even close okay here's my controversial ranking I'm going to say this real quick before I do before I do and I'm not counting the Aliens and Predator movies no that's fine alright one is Predator Badlands Predators Prey Two, The Predator.

1:20:46That's it. Oh, and Killer of Killers, which I put above. Oh, God. I don't think Avian understood your ranking. There were just random numbers and names. Predator. Yes. Badlands. No. Predators. What? Definitely not. What is this craziness? Two. No. Two, Killer of Killers, The Predator. Okay, no. All of those are correct. Absolutely madness. That is the correct and canonical ranking of The Predator movies. This movie is pure fucking joy. I was absolutely swept away from the first 12 minutes, which is this kind of Frank Frassetta, kind of pulpy, hard fantasy that then starts to blend into this really wonderful sci-fi movie.

1:21:32Once Deck lands on the death planet, Gena, I cannot emphasize enough that they literally call it the death planet in this movie, and he teams up with Thea. The movie is sheer delight. Dan Traktorberg told me that Midnight Run was indeed an inspiration for him and this is one of the best movies I've seen since Midnight Run at getting that dynamic right between the grouchy, grumpy guy which is of course Deck and the motor mouth who just won't shut up which is Thea. And the action scenes are so wild and inventive and there are callbacks that just tickled me. pretty much every few minutes I was cackling with delight at some new character turn or an invention or revelation of some kind.

1:22:18There's a character in this called Bud. There's a creature in this called Bud I think will defied Predator fans and I think Predator fans will be divided by this movie because of the aforementioned PG-13-ness. The harshest language in this movie is shit. Yeah. And it is gnarly in terms of the gore but the gore is all aliens and robots so it doesn't count as gore. Yes. but I think some diehard Predator fans or just diehard Predator fans will be going this is not my Predator and you should not be doing this to Predator and there shouldn't be a cute creature and we don't need a fucking Predator Grogu this is disgraceful I was just absolutely won over by this I loved it I would hijack kidnap's a strong word but I would take Dan Trachtenberg and I would force him to make a Predator movie every two or three years and not allow him to make anything else that's how good he is at these movies If this does do possibly well, there is another one he wants to make.

1:23:11Yes, and damn straight. So go and see it in your millions. That's what I say. So we gave this one four stars. Four stars for Predator Badlands. Next up is return of an icon who's been away from our screens for a long, long time. And now he's back and we all love him. And it is, of course, Sean Bean who is back in Anemone. And he's brought his mate, Daniel Day-Lewis, with him. Alex. Hello. Tell us about this. You are the Anemone Whisperer. You're the Daniel Day-Lewis Whisperer. If I'm in the pocket of Big Yautja, you're in the pocket of big DDL. Very, very strangely, because up until about three months ago, we were under the impression that Daniel Day-Lewis rarely, rarely grants interviews.

1:23:48I've interviewed him three times in the past few weeks. Once in New York, once on stage when we screened Anemone and for the pod, which we'll hear later on. Yes. And I think one of the reasons why he is doing more press than usual is because he co-wrote this film with his son, who directed the film, Ronan Day-Lewis, who is an artist. And this is his first feature film. It's also Daniel Day-Lewis' first screenwriting credit. And I think it's very, very good. They basically, they've done a lot of things privately at home over the years, worked on creative things together, and then just started organically cooking this up a few years ago.

1:24:26And it's about a man, sort of, I don't want to be too spoilery, it's sort of, some of it unfolds quickly, some of it doesn't, but he's a man living in like a cabin in the woods. He's intentionally estranged himself, not just from his family, but from society. He's a hermit. He's a recluse. He's very gruff. He's very antisocial. He's just, he looks mean and sort of upset even when we just see him on his own. He fends for himself. He sort of lives off the land in the middle of the woods. And Sean Bean plays his brother, Jem, who comes to find him on a mission of sorts. so as it does unfold pretty soon in the film Ray took off around the time his son was born, maybe about 20 or so years ago, maybe a bit less, hasn't seen any of his family, already maybe any other human since and in that time Jem, Sean Bean's character, has shacked up with Ray's wife Nessa who's played by Samantha Morton and has raised their kid Brian, played by Sam Bottomley who was in How to Have Sex and Brian is getting into lots of trouble, he's becoming violent and he needs some help and Jem and Nessa believe that Ray could be the answer or could provide some help.

1:25:37I don't want to go into any more plot, but most of the film is Sean Bean and Daniel Zellis just having it out in this cabin, just arguing and philosophizing and going up against it mentally, physically. It's sort of brutal thematically and physically. It's very, very tactile. It's quite harrowing. It's about fathers and sons and trauma and cycles of violence. Guess what? Daniel Day-Lewis is very, very good in it. It's a very intense performance. But also I was very, very struck by Sean Bean. And it's a very contrasting couple of performances. Because Daniel Day-Lewis is almost kind of, I mean, it's a very big, strong performance.

1:26:18And Sean Bean is almost like a bit of an audience proxy. He's sort of very grounded, very, very, very naturalistic. And just sort of can't believe what is going on in this place. it's a brilliant pairing, I've got to say. And as a director, I think Ronan DeLos does a lot of beautiful work. He works with the world around them. There's lots of stuff with the weather, the landscapes, the wind blowing in the grass. There's something sort of foreboding and almost godlike about it. And it's going for something really, really grand, which I think mostly pulls off some of it as a bit of a reach, but I think it's got grand intentions.

1:26:54And I think at the end of the day, it is really quite powerful and a pretty haunting film. I've stayed it. I've watched it a couple of times and it's really, really stayed with me. It's got a really thick atmosphere. I liked it a lot. I was also in the positive camp, I think, more than many people for this film. I did think some of the kind of more surrealist flourishes to this were distracting rather than helpful, to me at least. But I'm interested to see what Rona DeLewis does next. I think he's got some chops. As a first film, I mean, it's got a lot going for it. I'm excited to see Sean Bean in this movie some people may think I was being facetious earlier on when I said he was one of our great actors he's not, he's fucking terrific Sean Bean and I'm glad that he's going toe to toe with DDL and I hope that Day-Lewis sticks around for a little bit longer after this he's said he's open to doing more now I've got to say, when I saw Sean Bean is so good in this film and I did think he's deserved a bigger and better cinematic career than he's had, he's so good I think he's been stuck in TV a bit here and there.

1:27:58Fully agreed. Fully agreed. TV is inferior to film. We can all agree on that. Four stars then for An Enemy. All right, next up, Die My Love. Helen, that was an introduction, not a threat. It was. Thanks. Yes, this is the new Lynne Ramsey with Jennifer Lawrence as Grace Robert Pattinson as Jackson. Characters who were not named in the novel which it's based by Argentine writer Ariana Haritz. But this is the story of basically this couple who are mad for each other, who moved to an isolated house in the country that he has inherited. And as anyone who has seen Mother knows, Jennifer Lawrence, isolated house in the country, it's not going to go smoothly.

1:28:41And sure enough, it does not go smoothly. Instead of her writing the great American novel and him recording the great American album, they find themselves parents to a small child. He is mentally and physically sometimes checked out of their life together and she is potentially losing herself and maybe suffering postpartum psychosis, maybe suffering something else, but basically just completely losing the run of herself. This is a portrait of a woman who has absolutely given up on all convention, all inhibition, all respectability, I guess. She loves her son, she loves her baby, but everything else is really wearing on her last nerve, I think it's fair to say.

1:29:27It's an incredibly committed, naked physically and metaphorically performance from Jennifer Lawrence. It's absolutely amazing. You can see why she's in the Oscar conversation on this. It's also, in a slightly quieter way, a very good performance from Robert Pattinson as this guy who just is a little bit clueless and doesn't seem to know what's going on and and is sort of you know at times trying his best and at other times absolutely being the worst so um really really great kind of almost a chamber piece uh much much uh tighter focused uh than a lot of films that any of these people uh have made in in the recent past in terms of uh lawrence or uh pattinson i find it hard going at times I'll be honest but I think it's meant to be and I think it's it's really interested in delving into the stuff that we don't talk about we don't say that women are not supposed to feel after having a baby and that kind of thing so from that point of view it's really really interesting we give it four stars four stars yes this is a hard sit a tough a tough watch but Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely astonishing in this and I found it really unsettling.

1:30:37I thought in many ways it was a bit as you heard in the interview I thought it was a ghost story in some ways where the house is almost haunted but it's not a literal ghost story but it's such a weird film. It's constantly keeping you off kilter and off balance and there's some images and moments in this that have stayed with me even though I saw it about three weeks ago now and well worthy indeed of that four stars. Four stars then for Die My Love. We don't have a lot of time left. We said we would try and review Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein this week. Sadly, we are running out of time. We don't have enough time to give it the review that it deserves, quite frankly.

1:31:19So we'll do that on next week's show. But it is terrific. We give it four stars, four stars for Frankenstein, which is on Netflix right now. So if you want to see a really interesting Guillermo del Toro amped to the max take on Mary Shelley's novel, then that is what you should be doing this weekend. as well as the Impredator Badlands of course and Die My Love and An Enemy because they're all great films as is in my opinion Hell's Bell's The Coral I really love this film what about you? what did you think? I know you did I'm a little bit more mixed on this one this is the Nicholas Heitner film adapting the Alan Bennett script which is about it is literally called A Coral but a choir in Yorkshire during World War I so about 1916 and it's a kind of a portrait of a small town through this choir.

1:32:05So you have Ralph Fiennes playing a new choir master who they rather reluctantly take on after their previous one signs up and volunteers and goes off to fight. He is seen as suspicious by many locals because he has spent many years of his career in Germany working with musicians there. But he's back and he has given this group to try and lick into shape basically and try and come up with some music that isn't German for them to perform. because during a quite funny scene early on, they point out that basically all the big composers are German. What are you going to do? And obviously it's a choral.

1:32:39It's a serious thing. So you can't have any Italians or whatever. That's not going to happen. No, we wouldn't want that. Nightmare. But yeah, so this is an interesting film. I thought it was beautifully written, beautifully drawn. It looks spectacular. It's just gorgeous kind of honey-coloured tones throughout. A decent ensemble cast. I did feel a little bit, it got a little bit sort of Sunday night TV drama for me at times. And I didn't think it entirely kind of escaped that slightly safe feel in the way that I would have maybe liked, but it is an incredibly good cast. I haven't mentioned even half the people that are in this.

1:33:20There's like Roger Allen, there's Simon Russell Beale, there's a huge number of like talented youngsters coming through. So I liked it, but for me, I didn't fall in love with it the way that I think you did, Chris? Well, I wouldn't say fell in love, not the way I did with Predator at Badlands, but I really, really liked this film. It was very unexpected to me. I thought, oh, this is going to be a bit of a tedious slog, isn't it? Yeah, Alan Bennett is brilliant. Yes, we all love him. And he and Nicholas Heitner have teamed up to Oscar winning effect in the past, of course. But I thought, oh, this feels a little bit like I might have to take my medicine.

1:33:53But I was beguiled right from the off because it wrong-footed me. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be, which was a kind of, I thought it was going to be a very stirring sports movie almost about how this choir rises up and against all the odds proves themselves worthy. And it's not really that at all. It's a really quite bittersweet and at times sad movie about the impact of war on people in 1916. Obviously, you can extend that to the modern day as well. But it's an ensemble cast. Ralph Fiennes has the big showy role. He's terrific in it. but there's a group of younger guys that we begin to follow as the movie goes along and we begin to see that their early jollies about the prospect of going off and fighting for the country begin to dissipate as they see the real impact that war has on people psychologically and physically.

1:34:43And yes, music is used a little bit as a bit of a bomb and a bit of a redemptive factor as well but there's a really sort of melancholy tone to this film. that emerges after the first 30 minutes or so, which I thought was absolutely delightful. I think you're going to give it three, right? Three stars? Yeah, I'm writing the review right now. I mean, that's probably fine. I think Sunday afternoon drama, yes, I see you can mean it as an insult, but actually I thought, you know, it's the sort of film that I quite like to watch in the Sunday afternoon. Take my mind off watching whatever Manchester City are going to do to Liverpool this weekend, that's for sure.

1:35:20But yeah, I really, really enjoyed it. But we're going to give us one three stars. three stars in for the coral all right we're nearly nearly up against two of our four have hard outs in three minutes so can we bring this podcast home in the next three minutes let's find out because here are our final guests folks it is of course we mentioned earlier on that alex is the daniel day lewis whisperer and he sat down with daniel day lewis during the london film festival and of course sean bean and chatted all things anemone did you ask sean bean what the colour of the roof of the boathouse in Hereford is?

1:35:52No, I wish he would have asked me beforehand. I wonder how many times he gets asked that, genuinely. We did talk about him laying a new garden path. I don't know if that's made the cut, but I mean, I didn't ask about that, but it was quite a detailed story. I haven't heard it yet, but let's see if it makes the cut. Here is Sean Bean and Daniel Day-Lewis talking to Alex Godfrey. Do please enjoy. Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean, welcome to the Empire Podcast. Thank you for joining me. How are you both? You're in the midst of promoting this incredible film. How's it going? Good. How are you doing?

1:36:26All right, actually. Yeah, all right. It's all good. You sound surprised, Sean. Yeah, usually it can be a bit of a grind, these things, but I've thoroughly enjoyed this time around, yeah. Well, it's a nice atmosphere, a really nice atmosphere at the festival, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, actually. Yeah, lots of people. Yeah. Yeah, I should explain for the listeners. So the film is about these two brothers, Ray, Daniel, your character, and Jem, Sean, who haven't seen each other for, I guess, 20-odd years. And Ray has intentionally estranged himself, not from you and Jem, but from the outside world, and has confined himself to this place for reasons I won't go into, because they are, but they transpire, they reveal themselves later in the film.

1:37:18But so really all I should say is it's about these two brothers who reunite after a long time and Jim is on a mission to affect change in Ray, I should say. I don't want to go too much into the plot. And then much of the film is you two sort of just working that out mentally, spiritually, physically. um daniel you wrote it with with your son ronan who's done the most incredible job on the script and the direction of this film it's it's it's a beautiful as i said on stage last night it's a beautiful brutal piece of work it's really haunting um i know the process was kind of organic um it took you and you i think you first maybe had an idea even pre-2020 was it 2018 or something you did you first start thinking about it?

1:38:11Yeah, I think it was maybe a bit like, I'm a terrible head for dates, maybe a little bit later than that, but certainly the first seed of an idea, which really began just with the desire to try and do something together, no matter what it was. But that would have been five or six years ago, yeah. Had you, so that would have been maybe three years since you'd been out of the game, as it were, I guess you would have filmed Phantom Thread maybe 2016, I think. It came out 17. Probably, yeah. During that time, had you missed it at all? What I'm trying to get at, I think, is had that time away of not acting and not even being involved in the film industry, do you think that was necessary to then refuel you and make you ready for when an idea came back.

1:39:07That's definitely always been true in the past for me, that cycle of work and then moving away from the work. That's always initially, I suppose, when I was younger, I thought, what's wrong with me? Why don't I just keep working? But I settled into myself. I settled into understanding that if I was going to keep going and I wanted to do it for a long time, this work, It was a vocation from an early age. And I thought, well, I haven't got limitless, you know, that your imagination isn't limitless, that it, you know, sometimes you need to let things lie fallow for a bit and re-engage with the world and people and normal things through whatever it could be.

1:39:57Other interests, yeah. Yeah, other interests, whatever it might be. um so yeah so in that sense it was it it had felt initially like it was gonna that i might not find my way back to it again but i always have yeah um in the past and really the mistake was for me to open my mouth about it when i did but yeah well it's good to sort of set your intention out i guess but yeah sean have you have you do you you've just been sort of nodding just there have you ever had similar thoughts yourself over over your career over the decades have you ever thought i could do with a few years of not doing this yeah yeah sometimes depends what i've just done you know i mean i gotta get this arrest for a while i don't wish it that would i just but uh no i just uh kind of lied low for a while but i've never no i've done that i'm just uh I'm just having a laugh there.

1:40:55And I think what I did with shit, I think I've done some pretty, you know, and again, I think we've all done the Duff film, you know, not through any fault of our own, but perhaps because the project that we first enrolled upon was diluted through, by other means, somewhat by a committee. And the original intention of the film, which was so pure and so emotional and heartfelt, felt was kind of diluted and pulled apart by various other people, maybe their producers or investors or whatever. And what I liked about Daniel and Ronan's film is that it was so pure and so organic, it came straight from the heart, and it was just a joy to read and an absolute joy to perform, especially alongside this fellow and his son.

1:41:45and um uh but uh but in regard to having distract i like having distractions i don't like to work all the time you know i feel as though when i've worked i've i have worked you know i put my heart and soul into it and i and i you know i'm not complaining but i you you kind of feel tired you feel as though you've completed something yeah i can't go on to something straight away maybe when i was younger i could do that but i have to let it settle and just like let it kind I kind of filter away a little bit and then look into other interests. I like going, I like being outside, like working with my hands.

1:42:19I like playing the piano now and again. Different things, reading. And I think that's so essential for an actor to then come back fresh. Yeah. And you think, oh, you rediscover why you wanted to be in this game. All you really have to offer is yourself. It doesn't matter how far away from, apparently far away from your own character is. You're just offering yourself through that life theory you're exploring. And if you're just lurching from one film set to another, what precisely have you got to offer? Because you don't really learn anything on a film set. You're giving out. You're giving what you have to offer.

1:42:57But the learning process happens in between times, I think. Yeah, yeah. In a way. Well, you told me when – so for those people listening, we met at the end of August, I think it was, in New York, to talk about it all. And you said one, I think you told me one of the things you'd been doing in your time away was making violins. Yes. Yeah. How, is that similar in any way to what you do? Because I can imagine once you, when you're concentrating on something that specific, you must get into an almost meditative state, into a zone where, you know, because that's an only feat, building a violin. How was that for you and how did it help you as a person?

1:43:37If I was challenging as anything I've ever attempted in my life, what it has in common, you sort of hit the nail on the head there, is it's just the sort of the loss of yourself through work. It's not the abandonment of the self, but the loss of the self. In other words, the hands on the clock keep turning, but you're unaware of the passage of time. That's the beauty of the arts, isn't it? You may wake up and suddenly you're 68 years old or anything. I don't want to say it. What just happened? But those periods, when you invest yourself in a certain kind of way in the work, be it making a violin or acting or whatever, it is a form of meditation in that you see – it's odd.

1:44:30It's like it is the letting go of the ego. It's not. It's the character. It's your, because you live with your, you think of yourself as being your character, but that's not yourself. Yourself is your soul, your spirit. It's not the same thing. And your character is just a sort of like a thing that you've become over the years through circumstances and through DNA or whatever. But that's not, I don't think, at the essence who you are. Yeah. But it's a tremendous relief to let go of that. Yeah. Do you have the same feeling? I do, yeah. It's like you put on a persona or a mask for a certain thing.

1:45:07Not just literally in acting, you do it, but you also do it as a person. And then when you get away from that, I'll take time to get away from that. And as you said, it's a soulful experience to have time on your own. I like time on my own. Yeah. It's essential. Now and again. Yeah. But it is essential. Recharge your batteries and find out, you know, how you think, who am I? What was interesting? What makes me tick? And, you know, and then go back and feel excited about it all again. I think that's probably similar to what you were describing about the violin, but, you know, to make a violin and to do the things that you did, it requires 100 % concentration.

1:45:51It's impossible to think of anything else. It's like playing a instrument. You can't be... thinking about something else when you're doing that. And it's so great to get away and then come back, and you learn so much quicker. I find learning lines is much. I mean, in terms of the actual process itself, it's the antithesis, I think, of what we do in the performing arts because that's got a wildness to it. It's the unconscious that really, and the imagination, that informs everything if it's working properly. So, but making things, and Sean makes things as well, and he's a great gardener too. What do you make, Sean?

1:46:37Sorry. Oh, sure, bird books. I kind of make things. I'm making a big path. I'm planning out a new kind of aspect of the garden in order to be able to get some stuff from one place to another. in order for it to do with it, I have to build a small bridge and a path and turn it out. And I take great interest in that. I find it fascinating, probably because it's so far removed from the imaginative. Well, you're still obviously using your imagination, but performing in front of someone, I like it so different, it's so far away, and I need something to be so far away from what I usually do. It's my job.

1:47:16Yeah. In order to kind of function properly in my life. and you're not sure use your hand yeah and gardening and you can be doing something so tiny you know planting a few seeds in the greenhouse and doing this and that and it's so distant from what you do but you can come snap back into it it's an answer though isn't it because it because it's quantifiable it's like what we do is not it's a matter of taste whether people like like it don't like it it's a matter of taste it's not about the quality of what we're doing probably for the most part. Some people want to look at our faces. But when you're making something, you look at it and you think, well, that's good.

1:48:01That's rubbish. It's like you know what it is. It's more effective. You know if it's a good thing that you've made. The quality of it is that it's undeniable. If you run a race and you come in first, you've won the race. If you come in second, you're doing all right. But this is all kind of like speculative, isn't it? You can measure the degree of success in the thing that you've done. So it's a good antidote in a way. Because we're just sort of working in unknown terms all the time. Yeah. Just chasing ghosts. With what you do, there's a certainty to it. This is all speculation acting. Yeah. All right.

1:48:42Well, we've got to wrap up. But that's a great note to end on. Thank you so much, both of you. Oh, it's a pleasure. Thanks, Alex. Thanks, Alex. Yeah, thanks. Okay, that was Alex talking to Sean Bean and Daniel Day-Lewis. And on that note, that is it for this week's Empire Podcast. Join us next week for more film-related fun when we'll be joined by... I mean, take your pick. Isla Fisher, Rosamund Pike from Now You See Me, Now You Don't, Michael Shannon from Nuremberg, Edgar Wright, the director of The Running Man. I mean, there's probably another two or three of that book. I don't know how. I'm going to have to figure this out somehow.

1:49:16Now, there's also going to be an interview special going up with Ronan Day-Lewis, and the full Daniel Day-Lewis-Sean Bean interview will be in that special. There's another interview special next week with the great Jenny Bevan, the Oscar-winning costume designer from The Coral, talking about her life as a costume designer, essentially. She's delightful in that. So keep them peeled, and there's going to be loads of supportive specials coming your way. We're doing one for Predator Badlands, The Running Man, Now You See Me, Now You Don't, Frankenstein, Wicked For Good, Jesus H. Christ. Anyway, goodbye Alex Godfrey.

1:49:49Bye, I'm off to watch Seinfeld. Again. It's like looking in a mirror. Why do I sound like Alan Arkin? It's goodbye from James Dyer. Goodbye. Listen to the Barley TV podcast anytime. Anytime at all. It's goodbye from Helena Hara. He says quoting a film. That's true. Damn it. It's goodbye from Helena Hara. Toodaloo, I'm off to watch 1999's The Mummy. A magnificent film. You're all wrong. Except for me, who agrees with you. Yes, except for you, who agrees with me. And it's goodbye from me. I am off to start preparing for our next live show, which I completely forgot to mention earlier on in the show because episode 700 ostensibly is coming up, folks.

1:50:31And we're going to be doing another one of those epic live celebrations at King's Place in London. We have the date. Tickets have now gone on sale. It is Friday, January 9th. Join me, James, Helen, Alex, hopefully. Are you free that night? Do I have to buy a ticket? No, you can get in backstage. You're standing on my shoulders. Yes, like Predator. Like Predator. Alex will be in the room before you even know he's in the room. It's going to be all your Empire favorites. There's going to be some amazing guests as well. It's going to be a three-hour bonanza. We're going to be talking about bonanza for three hours.

1:51:07It's going to be a ton of fun. Tickets are on sale right now, and they are going pretty damn fast. already not Taylor Swift fast but pretty swift and they're available at kingsplace.co.uk and we would love to see you there on the night and then yes hopefully we'll be offering a streaming service as well for those of you who are in other countries and who are too lazy to get on a plane and fly over to see us so there you go kingsplace.co.uk and yes that is the way I'm signing off this podcast thank you for listening see you next time bye bye

1:51:44Thank you.