Cary Elwes | Club Random with Bill Maher

Well, folks, if you're going to spend money on something, it might as well be something you actually like. That's what I always say. That's where the Club Random merch store comes in. That's right. Get yourself a cozy hoodie. Look at this. This is really well designed. That's right. Get yourself a cozy hoodie to snuggle away your sorrows or some new Club Random shirts. Look at all this shit I have. To attract a partner with similar interests and live happily ever after. I've seen crazier rom-coms, so head over to clubrandom.com and bring home some random. There's some directly inciting people. Look, you're talking about one of my favorite movies, okay? No, I'm just. I consider Kubrick like. We're not arguing. Club Random. Pulling kale. Pulling Kyle. Excuse me. Sorry, mate. Club Random. Hey. Hey, Bill. How are you? I'm good, man. How are you? You've aged well. You look very similar to when I first saw you on the screen. Thank you, Bill. Been a fan for a long time. Oh, thank you. You're a lot of fan. Thank you. I found out when I told people you were coming on. Thank you, Bill. All right. Well, that's it. Thank you for coming by. I just wanted to give you an affirmation for today. Take care. Appreciate you. Great to see you. And you have all your hair? Well, it's not a wig yet. What do you mean? What is it? Yeah, I don't know. It's my real hair, yeah. So do you. I think you have more. I don't want to get into a. Look, if this leads to a dick contest and I'm just. No, but yeah, you look like you have a few more than I do because, you know, it is a struggle to retain the things. that give the population the allure that you're still young. Right. And you can do it with two things. You're not fat, and if you have hair. True. And also, you can't drink a lot. No. Because then you look like Ted Kennedy in 1980. No, we don't want that. No. And it's just no good. I used to when I was a kid, but I. Me too. When I was a kid of 50, I did. Are you kidding? I mean, I only quit when I. That's hilarious. Well, it's true. No, I know. I always say. Like in basketball, or all sports, where they're just saying you take what the defense gives you. Right. And it's like that, I think, with the body. Like when my body gave me 30 drinks a week, I had them. Sure. And now my body gives me two. Yeah. And I've got one of them right now. Yeah. No, for real. Same thing. You know, when you're a teenager or in your 20s, you feel like you're immortal. You know, you can drink all night long, go out, party. You can do anything. Did you? Oh, for sure. You know, I was like any other teenager. You know, I rebelled and. No, I didn't mean like teenager. I wish I was like that as a teenager. I was a loser as a kid. No, I had to. I wish somebody invited me out to like do bad things. I lived in New York for 10 years. So a whole decade of New York in the 80s will do it to you, Bill. But you're British, right? Yes, sir. You grew up in Britain? Yes, sir. Moved to the States when I was 18. Okay. We invited you or you just barged away and like. I just barged my way in. All these other. I always wanted to work here. I always. British. A British actor who had a great appreciation for American film because I sort of came of age in the 70s when the. 60s and 70s when movies were really getting really interesting, right? Yeah. Counter-culture. Totally. And so my favorite actors besides some of the British ones I grew up with, were American actors. Especially New York ones, you know. Character acts like Dustin, Bob, Bobby Duvall, Al Pacino. You know, these people, you know, loomed large in my consciousness. You look more like Robert Redford. That really should have been your. Oh, thank you. God, I wish. That's a very nice compliment. Blonde. Yeah, right. You know, handsome blonde guy. I mean, the guys you mentioned are not like lookers. Yeah, no. I, when I was 18 or 20s, actually, when I did Princess Bride at 24, I thought, God, I'm just going to get nonstop, you know. What? Blonde, blue-eyed, you know, prince roles, which is what happened. I got offered every movie with a sword. You know what I mean? And I'm like, no. Or fairy tale. You meet the princess and you save the princess. Fight the dragon. They don't fight that. And I just thought, man, I. What do you do to fight that? You have to lend. Are you a bad guy? Well, yeah. So I was like, oh, God, I've got to change this face. I've got to mix it up, Bill. I've got to try and find a way to change my path or the path that people want me to take, right? And I'll tell you a quick funny story. I was in New York. By the way, living in New York, not working. I don't know if you've ever been through that. Not a great thing to do. I lived in New York as a comedian, which is someone who certainly doesn't work in the day. Right, right. But you got paid to go. You got paid to go up on stage and do your act. I mean, not at first, no. Oh, really? Oh, no. I sold drugs. Oh, okay. We all did. Well, that's a lucrative business. Yeah, there's no pay at the beginning. Right. But very soon, if you're good, when I say very soon, within a couple of years, you, you know, are you doing great? No, but you have enough to live. And that always made the actors in New York very jealous of us. Because the comedians didn't have to wait tables. Right, yeah, no, to wait tables. Waiting tables. Why, you did? Not in New York. In London, I did. I was a busboy. Well, I never did, bitch. Yeah, yeah. I never waited on a table. No, I remember we used to, comedians used to kind of like meet me in the diner or whatever it was. And there was like, you know, there was a kind of a, especially in the theater district, you know. That's hilarious. Because the improv was 44th and 9th. Sure, sure. It was created as a place for, I mean, the improv, which has spawned all the comedy clubs. Wow. The urban comedians. The urban comedians was created in 1962 by Bud Friedman as a place for the theater crowd. Wow. To go after the show. It wasn't originally. I didn't know that. That's interesting. Absolutely. Wow. It wasn't necessarily a comedy club, but it was, they put comics up. But like anybody who had just done their show. Right. And was loose and having drinks. Yeah. That was the hang of 44th and 9th. Wow. It was right, it was a block away from Times Square. Yeah, Times Square back when I lived there was kind of more like taxi driver, you know, when he drives. Sure. It was like that. Oh, yeah. It was intense. I lived close to, I lived in Hell's Kitchen. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, so I'm kind of not working in New York, which again is not great, because you know, you're starting to like figure out what you're going to eat, how you're going to make the rent, all that stuff. Yeah. I'm in a restaurant with a friend and he starts having a heart attack at lunch, my friend. And I'm like, what's going on? Are you okay? He's like, Al Pacino, three o'clock. I'm like, what? He goes, Al Pacino. Over there, over there. I look over and sure enough, Al's there. This is Cafe des Artistes, which he was, my friend was paying for. I couldn't afford that lunch. And- I remember it. You remember Cafe, right? Was that with the crayons on the table? I don't know. I think it was. What was this? It was one of those where they like, they had like, the tablecloth was paper, you know? Really? Yes. I don't remember. And there was crayons. He was supposed to like draw. It was so, it was so. Yeah. It was, you know. Anyway. So there's Al. He's at twice- That's why they hate us in the Midwest. Who can fucking blame them? There's crayons on the table. It's hilarious. Well, it doesn't- Be artistic while you're ordering. Anyway. So there's Al. And he's entertaining. He's got like 12 people at a long table. And he's at the head of the table. And my friend, who's an actor, also not working, by the way, he goes, "Hey, we're actors. We should go say hi to Al Pacino." I'm like, no, we really shouldn't. He's with friends. Let's not do that. Yeah. And as I'm saying. Let's not do that. He's up and out of the chair. He's over there. Oh, man. And I'm like turning the color of your curtain right here. And I'm just so embarrassed right now. I'm like, oh, God. I look over. And I see him gesturing. Al's like, who is this guy? Are you a waiter? What is this? And I see him point, my friend, point to me, saying that, over there. And Al looks over. And I can see him looking right at me. Now I'm really mortified, right? Why is he blaming you? Because he's saying, come over to come and say hello. Oh, oh, oh. Well, so your friend succeeded. He did well. Not that-- I'm wondering, like, do you really-- is this really what Al wants, to have people come up and introduce themselves, strangers all the time, while he's having lunch with his friends? And I'm thinking-- I walk over. And my friend says, oh, Mr. Pacino, it's my friend, Carrie. Always sees an actor. And he goes, oh, yeah? What are you doing right now? And I said, well, you know, I'm-- I'm going up on auditions. And I'm between jobs. And he goes, oh, so you're drifting. And I went, oh, great. This is great. Michael Corleone just called me a drifter. This is exactly my day is working out as planned. And he goes, let me ask you a question, Carrie. And he taps my heart, Bill, like that. He goes, what's this? I go, my heart? He goes, no. Then he taps my head right here. What's that?" And I said, "It's not my brain, is it?" And he goes, "No." He goes, "They're muscles, Carey." "Do you go to the gym?" I go, "Yeah." He goes, "What happens when you stop working out?" I said, "Well, you atrophy." He said, "That's right. These are muscles. You gotta go to the gym and go work 'em out." That's why I go, I do plays. I always keep my muscles loose so that I'm ready to work. - He said that. - He said that. So he said, he gave me his assistance. No, it's amazing. Gave me his assistance. He goes, "You know, you should go check out Lee Strasberg Institute where my mentor is teaching there. Go audition. I'll help you get in the door, but the rest is on you." I went, I auditioned, I got in. Ended up training with his mentor, a guy called Charlie Lawton, not the actor, but the same name, and changed my life. I started working within a month or two. - That is a beautiful story when a celebrity gives you the absolute personal number of his own assistant. - Doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. - It touches this thing and this thing. You know what? And as far as this thing and this thing go, see, that is the difference between comedians and actors. And you know, I mean, we have a lot in common and we have some things that are not. I mean, when you're a comedian, everyone is always coming up to you and saying, "Tell me a joke." But when you're an actor, people don't come up to you and say, "Show me a menu." - Right. No, it's true. - I just had to get one more. - Go one more. - You guys were waiting. - A big one. - A big joke in there. - I was actually a busboy. I was never a waiter. It's even lower than a waiter bill. - But, you know, that acting stuff. See, I mean, I made my living as an actor in the '80s. You know, we all did as comics. We then went on to sitcoms and stuff like that. And it just, you just feel like you're doing every, I enjoyed some of it, but like you are doing things left-handed a little bit because it is your nature as a comic to not be a character, to be as real as you can, to be just at least my brand. - Yeah. - So it's always a bit of a stretch. And, you know, at some point, you know, the business taps you on the shoulder and says, "This is not what you're meant for." And, you know, but it does sometimes takes time to find that, but, you know, Al Pacino, I know him a little bit and he is a very generous soul person. - Generous. I mean, that story in and of itself. - And he also was a guy who, more than really almost all the other actors, he does take this shit seriously. Like he really, I mean, even if you're anything except Shakespeare is kind of second class. It's like Shakespeare is really what we're here in this business to do. - Right. - We will do other things. - Yes. - And Lord knows he's done plenty of other things. - Yes, yes. - But really, we're here to do Shakespeare. - For sure. - Yeah, I mean, that's. - I followed him on tour when he did American Buffalo. Do you remember that play? - Mammoth? - Yeah. - Mammoth's been here a few times. - I'm sure. - I loved it. - And he was brilliant. - We argue, but I love him. - I'm sure. But he was brilliant in that role, American Buffalo. I don't know if you ever saw it. - What is that about? - It's about, it's like three guys trying to figure out how to, I think they had trying to steal a nickel or something, I don't know. I've forgotten, it's been so long. But I remember there's a lot of drama and it's very tense. - No profanity. - It's Mamet. - No profanity. - No, of course not. It's David Mamet, please. No, but it's Al trying to change his life with a miracle. And he plays a very conflicted human being very, very well, I might add. - So you go back to the theater just because of the muscle thing. Muscle, heart, pointing, Al, restaurant, crayons. - So you. - So we're back to the crayon. This is great, Bill. - So you, whether you need me or not. - My interview with the waiter carry Al was, that's great. - Former waiter, let's be fair. Okay, Bill Maher, never a waiter. - No, it was about, the actors, Lee Strasberg is very similar to the actor's studio. They teach you Stanislavski, they teach you preparation, they teach you relaxation, they teach you character, they teach you background, they teach you, yeah, go on. - As a limey. - Yes. - And I say that with affection. - You can go ahead and steal your call. - Who, when I was a kid, the world's most famous, or at least the common opinion was that he was the greatest actor in the world was Laurence Olivier. - Yeah. - Who had no use for any of that stuff. - No, no. - Was he a great actor? Is it just the different styles of the times? Because when you watch old movies. - Right. - You know, you just have to forgive them for being pre-realistic era. We grew up in the era where, especially as the '60s, like we were saying before, those kind of movies. - Uh-huh. - Like, the audience no longer accepted just, I shoot you and you. - Right, right. - There's no blood. - Right. - And you just kind of fall in a heap. And, you know, you had to do everything realistically. - Yeah. - Olivier was pre-that. - Yeah, he was heightened realism. I mean, I was fascinated by him. - Oh, what a nice way to say him. - Oh. - No, I think it's a fair way to say it without being offensive to his talent. Olivier, you look at like Richard III or Hamlet or anything he did, Henry V. - I love him. - They're all great, but there's a heightened sense of reality with the way that he delivers, obviously one of the great Shakespearean actors of all time, but even when he's, when he's doing Rebecca or something like that, you feel like there's a, there's a realism, but it's heightened. For me, it's heightened. But then Marlon Brando comes along and he pushes that all aside and goes, I'm gonna sweat, I'm gonna sniff, I'm gonna be, you can smell me on screen, right? You can feel the dirt under my fingernails. That's-- - Actually, with Brando, you could smell him, and you could see the dirt under his fingernails. - No, I think that was the point, though, that he, he, was, he was being, Marlon started to be on screen, whereas other people before him were, were creating. Yeah, go on. - It also has to do with the roles you're taking. Now, I mean, Stanley Kowalski, yes, you have to be that. Spartacus, his nemesis, the noble Roman Crassus, who Olivier played in the movie Spartacus, directed by-- - Stanley Kubrick. - Thank you. Okay, and Stanley Kubrick, I love. He made, like, one, like, classic Hollywood movie, and then went, okay, now that I've shown you I can do this, now I'm gonna do always stuff that's ahead of the game. But I just wanted to show you. - Sure, that I can do it. - I can work with Laurence Olivier and Kirk Douglas, and I can make a big budget, and it's awesome. - And Charlie Lowen. - I still love that movie. - It's great. - Okay, so, but, like, he's playing this part of Crassus, the noble Roman who captures Spartacus, and it's, you know, I don't know if you really want to even be, you know, all that super-duper realistic. Don't you just want to be entertaining sometimes? - I think that was the point for me with Olivier, is that he knew how to entertain people. I read his autobiography. - He did The Entertainer. - He did The Entertainer, exactly. - That's a brand. - But he actually, believe it or not, suffered from terrible stage fright. And this is a guy who never did more stage plays than probably any other actor of his generation. And he used to go up to the curtain on the stage, while everyone was taking their seats, and to build up his courage, Bill, he would open the curtains and go, "You're about to see a performance "you've never seen before tonight." And then that gave him the strength to go out there and do that. - He said that to himself. - To himself. - Yeah. - To give him the courage and the strength. - Don't we all do that in our own way? - Yeah, we all do. - I mean, don't you kind of have to psych up-- - Psych yourself up. - Right before you, you know, do-- - But he had terrible fright, like-- - His close-up is coming after lunch, Mr. Elwes, right? And are you gonna go have a big fuckin' heavy lunch? No. - No. - You're gonna go to your trailer. - Yeah. - I've always hated that, like, when I thought I was gonna work in the morning-- - That's funny. - When we're fresh. - Right. - And they waste all morning doing the master shot, which they never use. - Right, right, never. - And then, okay, after lunch, okay, so now I'm hungry, but I can't eat, 'cause I can't act. - That's hilarious. - Or, by the way, fuck, if you're right after eating. - Right. - I don't know why people try either one, but they do. - That's hilarious. - But isn't it right? - It's true, always. No, it's always unpredictable. You're on their timetable, yeah? And so-- - Are there directors, though, who, like, are more cognizant of that? Because I would think, if I was a director, what I would, having at least done, I mean, not like I'm this great acting icon. I did some acting, so I know what it was. I would make sure that my actors got their close-ups at the optimum moment. - Sure. - I would re-rig it, so everything was working around that. - You should direct, though. - I should not direct. I should not direct. - No? - No, I'm not starting new careers at 70. - That's-- - I'm happy to keep the two. I've got going. - Okay. - I used to have three. I used to tour. I don't do that anymore, doing stand-up. But no, I'm not gonna direct. but that's what i would do because i do remember that frustrating feeling like um if we had just gotten to this earlier in the day sure and you know it's a funny thing the way i remember the concentration you know that you have to keep it's a it's a it's a nerve-wracking job because you can't quite ever relax no because when they call on you so you can't quite ever relax even though you have oodles of time to do nothing you still can't quite relax no you're always mulling the scene over in your head right and i i find i like it when directors move very quickly this picture i just did as dead man's wire with gus van zandt we only oh yeah i had gus here he's great you're great in it thank you uh we had 19 days so there was no sitting around there wasn't time to go back to your trailer and hang out 19 days 19 days wow so once you came out of your trailer that was the last time you saw the trailer and until wrap good and so the i like that it's like tv i mean i don't recommend it for every picture but when you have too much time on your hands and you're just sitting in the trailer doing that you can overthink the scene and really like okay what if or your life or your life really uh because there's a lot of time yeah too much time and so i i like moving quickly and that's a trailer i mean i remember being in honey wagons which is um if people don't know a trailer is like when you're the star you get your own trailer and like big stars like have like a permanent trailer that is made for them and wherever they go they fly right it's just it's like you know a home away from home as much as a trailer can be a honeywell is like a little cubby hole that's attached to like five others so like when anybody else in the next one walks up the steps it's like boom boom boom you can't sleep there no no i mean the toilet is like that thing yeah not going to but it is a toilet of sorts but you certainly are you know it's a trailer life it's true yeah but that's honey that's honey honeywagons even worse and also when you're in the honey wagon you know you're not important they they have to keep you with some sort of roof over your head but it it can be the shittiest it's true you know i i did a picture in dublin one time and uh to work with the irish is just hilarious and uh so - Transpo, I know. Well, I'm part, I have some Gaelic in me. Anyway, so this transpo guy comes over and goes, "Oh, you're in luck, Mr. Elwes." I go, "Why?" He goes, "You have John Wayne's trailer "from 'The Quiet Man.'" - Wow. - I'm like, "The Quiet Man?" Wasn't that 1950? - '35. - '50-something? - 1935. - Was it really? - Yes. - They take me over, Bill. They open it, and I can smell it before I go inside. And there's oil dripping from the ceiling. And I go, and it's like staining the couch. And I go, "What's that?" He goes, "Well, that was broken when Mr. Wayne was here, "and we've decided not to fix it." And I thought, "What a great character trailer this is." Or "Honeywang." - Oil dripping from where? - From the ceiling, I don't know. - But what's in the ceiling that had oil? - It was 1930, what is it? - '05. - There you go. - I still don't know what would be in the ceiling that would drip oil. - I think they didn't know either, and didn't wanna try and find out why there was oil. - So what, you stayed in it? - That was my trailer. I had no choice. They're like, "You're lucky. "You got John Wayne's trailer. "We selected just for you." I thought, "Oh, wow, special." - What was this? - It was a Showtime movie. - Oh, I see. - Timothy Dalton. But it was fun. I loved all of it. - Oh, James Bond. - Yeah. But great fun, Ireland. Great fun, love the Irish. - Yeah. I mean, I went in, what? I mean, they're my people. - Yeah, you're a people. - I went in '99. - Okay. Where'd you go? - I was in Europe. I do remember, as the plane landed, I did get very emotional. Without intending to, and I'm not like that. - Sure. - I mean. - No, no, sure. - You don't even know what I'm gonna say. - No, no, there is something to that. - Yeah, no, but I'm saying, they've been trying to get me to cry on TV for 33 years. It's not gonna happen. I'm not a cry, but for some reason, it hit me, and then around the country for a week was fascinating, sometimes infuriating. I mean, the signs, first of all, you can't read the language. People think, oh, the Irish and English, same thing. Not the same thing. - Not even. - A completely different language, different people. I mean, they weren't, they didn't look as different as the people that England conquered in Africa and India and the Indochina, but just as different a culture. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I mean, it was just as much a conquest of a different people who just said, I'm gonna make you my bitch, and they did. That's your people, the English, fuck you. - Yeah, yeah. - No, and so you would see the signs, and it would say the name of the town, like they'd give the direction. Now, we do that here. Like if you're on the freeway here, it says to San Diego. You have to know San Diego is south. It's kind of a dirty trick. We don't all know that. - Yeah. - We do. - Yeah. - But you know, or you know, San Francisco, to San Francisco, there are people from Germany, which I don't fucking know where San Francisco, I know it's in California, sort of. So you know, there would be like the sign, Magilla, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. - That's hilarious. - These 18 letter names for towns. - Yeah, sure. - This way, I'm like, oh, that's helpful. - That's great. - And of course, this is pre-GPS. - I was gonna say, it must have been before that. - But it was also kind of cool, because then you would have to engage in people. - Yeah, yeah. - You'd walk into the pub. - It's great. - You know. - All of a sudden, someone's got a guitar, right? There's singing and there's beer, yeah. - The drinking, I mean, there were people, like frequently I saw this over there, passed out sitting on the stool. - I know, it was incredible. I worked at this place called Ardmore Studios. It's a very famous studios in Dublin. And they have a bar upstairs for the cast and crew. And I'm looking around the wall, Bill, and there's pictures of famous people. You can't quite make them out, but there's Peter O'Toole lying like this. There's this Richard Burton, like that. - Huge, huge drunk. - I'm like, this is amazing. Albert Finney. And I'm like, this is-- - Well, you're naming all the-- - All of them came here and drunk at this bar and passed out. - That was such a, Michael Caine. - Michael Caine. - I'm not telling this out of school. I think he said, you know, like they would put it away by the bottle. - Yeah, Burton. - Like a bottle of vodka. - Yeah. - A day. - Yeah. - And then, I'm like, have wine at lunch, as if it was like a corrective to their, oh, let's have some health food to even out the vodka we had all morning. Let's have some rosé, because it's made from grapes. - Oh, that's hilarious. That's hilarious. - It's sort of true. And then-- - It's true. - Another one is Oliver Reed. - Reed. Oh, please. - What? - He was legendary. - For drinking. - Oh, please. - Right. - It was, he's like, he was determined to outdo Burton and O'Toole, this guy. He was-- - Right, because he was a great actor, if you remember-- - Great. - If you remember Gladiator. - Great, but before that, Oliver-- - He's the slave trader. - Yeah, he was great. - It's a great part. - Yeah. - He, you know, it's a pivotal part, and he kills it. But he, yes, known for that-- I mean, the English would call it getting pissed. - Yeah. - Which means drunk, very, like, very drunk. - But they were, a lot of these guys were, it's the phrase, they were able to drink and still deliver. You know, they were-- - Plainly. - Right, so look at Princess Anne, right? - Because they were all in the bag by lunch. - By lunch, and after lunch. So check out Beckett, for instance, a great story about Beckett. Remember Beckett? - Of course. - Right, O'Toole and Burton, great movie. - Catherine-- - Catherine Hepburn. - Oh, Hepburn, right. - Whom O'Toole picked to play that part, and-- - She's Eleanor of Aquitaine, right? - Eleanor of Aquitaine, brilliant. - And this is Henry II. - No, no, that's Lion and Winter, you'll think of. Beckett is before, he plays Henry in both, O'Toole. So Lion and Winter was Catherine Hepburn. - Okay. - Beckett was the precursor to that, and that was Burton and O'Toole. - Based on the real priest who would not give in to the king. - Correct, correct, brilliant. - It's one of those stories. - Brilliant. And they found a local pub that they really both enjoyed. And they found themselves in this pub at closing time. And the owner of the bar said, "Gentlemen, last call." O'Toole's like, "There's no such thing as last call. "Don't be silly." You know, something like that, right? And the guy goes, "No, sir, please." And there's no one else. They're the last people in the bar. Peter O'Toole said he was so infuriated that he and Burton bought the bar to keep it open. They negotiated a price. - I love show business. - Isn't that a great story? - That's all I'm going to say about that. I love fucking show business. - Isn't that great? - Where we can buy the bar. - Buy it. - Fuck you. - That's it. - You rule makers. - Right. - And I may keep you here to keep your job if you're lucky. If you give me another drink. - We left out Richard Harris. oh richard was great but also it was great it's amazing the way they they this like drinking club like it was incredible richard burton richard by the way do you remember sctv oh dude you know rob reiner who you had on your show recently director of the princess god bless him he turned me on to sctv i had no idea who they were short eugene levy changed my life this is brilliant this is the american early 80s monty canadian tv absolutely brilliant they once did a sketch that was called three kings in a poem and it was it was just all right a mash-up of all these kind of movies great medieval i gotta see that one yes yeah if you can youtube it oh that's great john gandy well i don't remember who played who but you know it was like they all talk like you know one did burton you one did richard harris and then just it's all about medieval kind of they were brilliant yes those guys absolutely yeah i didn't know who they were and rob's like you never seen so he arranged to have a crate of vhs tapes sent to england sure and on pal mind you because a different system so i could watch them in my trailer and i was like this is waiting for it to shoot suddenly became actually like i'm hold on yeah and you know you know i mean you can see i mean they were all brilliant brilliant but you see that like all these years later katherine ahara brilliant marty levy they're they're still and just went on to be bigger stuff i mean i saw martin the other last week and you know he's a he's a straight up a-lister now they're all amazing i was i was blown away and of course rob's like huh did i tell you right i'm like this brilliant absolutely brilliant well i don't know how we got on to that about the british actors but you being a british actor i guess you have to take some responsibility but you never had a drug problem a drinking problem no no no i mean why because i i honestly al kind of made me oh geez back to this was really sorry watch my foot this was really an important moment well it was for me i see i mean i had al pacino amazing basically the power of celebrity it is it is oh it's a little christy you know the way he could heal the lepers or whatever because like some of that like i'm not i'm an atheist i don't believe any of that but right but like we do know that um the power of the mind to affect actual health is real yeah no question i mean we don't quantify it it's not something i believe in that but no it's it's it's true because before like uh 200 years ago that's all we had sure was the placebo effect because they do studies now with placebos and they very often work as well if you think you're getting better yeah you get better sure oh i forgot why i started talking about that it was so interesting to me what were you talking about hey i'm the one who stoned you asked me if i did al pacino i'm the one who stoned he basically forced me to really re-examine my career and where i was mentally physically spiritually everything and and when i started working with his mentor that meant a lot to me he was sharing his teacher with me yeah and i i didn't take that lightly that's a huge responsibility and of course i was early for every class bill you know i just couldn't wait i know what i was the power of celebrity the power it's almost christ-like the way people revere celebrities so much i've done it myself sure you know i mean i've healed marriages you know like if i say that like you just command so much respect you can be like look you two you love each other and like they wouldn't do that for like a civilian wow but a celebrity and like he did that for you he did that it's just like there is this power that comes out of you and you're like oh my god i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i'm so happy i mean people give it to us we don't deserve it he earned it al he this is a guy as you mentioned earlier who took his takes his career very seriously yeah but right um he does he always delivers a great performance as an artist i don't know if that rivals to me um people who achieve things that are of practical value you know i don't think it rivals like what obama did or george waltz right no no for sure people like that or people who invented things that that changed our whole world no question the better for the worse no question you know we're not doing we're not help we're not curing cancer or you know anything like that but there is something to if you're meeting a young actor an impressionable young actor who's having a hard time for me that was magic that was essentially drifting that was right you know it was the curtain opening it was you know it was well it's healing the leper yeah well and the leper my to my earlier digression like the i don't think you could cure a leprosy but there are definitely things where people have gotten better because the belief is so strong for some reason sometimes it is religion yeah you know if you i mean you know about christian scientists yeah sure okay well it's a great way to go to jail because if you're a if you're a parent with a child and you're a christian scientist and you don't get the medical attention because you actually believe jesus is going to handle this yeah jesus take the wheel and he doesn't right he flakes yeah doesn't show up to help you out they'll put you in jail because yes you killed your kid yeah for your belief yeah i'm not a big fan of of you know religion well i'm more of a spiritual person organized religion to me has i don't want to get into it here i promised i wouldn't discuss politics or religion on your show but i for me i just i have my own spirituality and uh i don't need a church to pray and i can pray anywhere and so i'm not an atheist like you i don't know and i don't judge anyone it's what works for the individual absolutely yeah and by the way people think atheists care a lot about care a lot more about the subject than we do right really we just don't give a shit uh we you know it's hilarious no it's true like that's great i was uh singing some songs at my birthday party did the night and like one of them was had some you know religiously and i was said to the people like just because i'm singing these words i don't give a shit right you know i my sweet lord by george harrison i love one of the great great i'll sing along i don't i don't even believe that right you know i'm not it's like my sweet lord can't wait to see you that's not me for sure but the song is good yeah mostly we don't care you know we just uh we we're not dogmatic about like there definitely is no god there could be anything plainly there's something other than just well whatever because we're here right and is it all a dream is it uh you know is it the matrix and we're not really living it or is there a alternative universe like this on another planet are there other planets how did it all begin what was before the big bang i mean i can give you a million questions that that you know nobody can even come close to answering atheists are just people who go yeah so we don't give a shit like and the rest of you are like no i think i know yeah i think i know i think i know what it is and i think i know who it is and i think what happens is reincarnation i think what happens is you i don't know nobody knows nobody knows nobody knows if you and if you do have the answer that you need to share it with all of us no i i i i i just believe in in in i believe there is a god i don't know if it's a male or female i don't know i have never met him or i so i'm just saying i i don't know even such a concept as a god it must be so beyond male and female right a hundred percent i i agree and no one has the answers i know i don't pretend i do i i'm not omnipotent none of us are i just like the idea of here's an example when i stumble and fall i find myself on my knees physically yeah mentally spirit yeah when i stumble and fall sometimes i find myself on my knees and then i'm in a good position to pray that's just me yeah right and it's helped me i'm not saying it's right or wrong or should be for you or someone else i'm saying for me in moments of crisis i've found that that having that connection yeah is helpful for me i have no issue with this yeah yeah no i know i know you were saying you know you don't care you know what my issue with this and it's positive is i'm thrilled that anybody in this earth yeah has something that makes them not be a total fucking nut dangerous dangerous violent that's hilarious conspiracy theory like anything that keeps you calm yeah sure anything i'm so down with it i'll even go fund it i love it but it's a form of meditation great right i can't do that either i'm trying though they're almost one in the same thing if you think about it right yeah Well, I mean, look, don't get mad at me, but I'm going to quote my friend Sam Harris because it always makes me laugh. Go. He says, if you got your hair dryer out and you said you were speaking into it, and when you were speaking into it, you were communicating with this being in outer space, they would take you to the mental institution. But take away the hair dryer and you're praying. That's funny. That's funny. And it's good that you couldn't admit that it's funny. No, no, it has to be. And also, who knows who's right? Nobody. And maybe they do hear you. No. But I would use the hair dryer. Plus, you sound funnier when you're talking. Yeah. But no, no one knows the answer. And I also will admit this. Sometimes there are things that are coincident-y that make even a skeptic like me go, well, that was weird. Right? For sure. For sure. We don't have the answers. We don't know. That's the great unknown. We don't know. And there does seem to be some level of a channel where people are picking up a radio station that most of us don't pick up with our five senses that does seem to be a little extra. I mean, I keep talking to magicians. No question. I keep running into magicians. I keep running into magicians for some reason these days. Really? I don't know what that means. Are you spending time at the magic castle? I'm not. That's what I'm saying. It's just happening to me. Right. I can only imagine what the psychiatrist would say if I had one, which I don't. I'd rather go to a magician. That's hilarious. But I just, and I want to know, because I certainly have seen things that magicians do nowadays that seem to be crossing the line from magic into magic. To sort of telepathy. Metaphysical, yeah. And it's like, it just seems impossible that they could do this. And yet, the reason why I'm skeptical is because they do other things that are just pure magic. And I can't imagine how they could do that to me. I mean, I'm literally holding the thing in my hand. I open it up. Now it's a bunch of, you know, pigeon shit or something. Whatever they're doing, it's like, oh, my God. Like, how could you possibly have done that? Right. So, I wonder. But, you know, again, just don't know. We don't know. And I think the atheist view is like you only give yourself gray hairs trying to figure it out. So, just be a decent person for the sake of it. Not because there's, you know, I mean, Catholicism, which I was raised in, is very, oh, you too? Yeah. I'm very big on scaring you. Yeah. About if you don't, this will happen. Yeah. This is, yeah. Purgatory. Not a great thing. Purgatory would be, that would be a relief from, at least you're not in hell. Damnation. Eternal death. Purgatory is like the middle. No, I know. But you're on your way to eternal death. I know. But still, yeah. What is purgatory like? Like, I know in hell it's like a devil hot poking you with a. I haven't been there. I know. But, like, we have a. No, but I'm just saying, like, people have a mental picture of hell. Like, you're in, it's fucking hot. It's the flames. Right. The devil is poking you with his pitchfork. It's just pain. Right. Like, internally. And heaven, we know that. Cloud, God, whatever, whenever somebody dies, they do a cartoon of them, and they're, like, doing the thing in heaven that they did on earth. Like, Bob Hope is up in heaven with a golf club. Right. Okay. So that, so I know what heaven is, and I know what hell is. What's purgatory? I think purgatory, the idea is that you're on your way. Oh, I know the idea. Right. Dude, I, honestly, I didn't pay much attention to Sunday school. That was the thing for me. There was so much mythology attached to it that I was like, you had me lost on the third Sunday school class. I don't know if you want to get involved with me on a business level, but I'm telling you. Why? I think purgatory is wide open. Series. It's an epic movie. I'm thinking Ridley Scott. That's hilarious. I see you. I've worked at some shows that seemed like purgatory. Yeah, they really did. No, I think we need a guy just like you, you're the writer, to run purgatory. Okay. You're neither a good guy nor a bad guy, because you're in purgatory. That's excellent. And it's about the dichotomy. Sure. I'm thinking Al Pacino. Hilarious. That's hilarious. Too funny. As the OG purgatory dude. Right. Oliver Reed is in there somewhere. Well, we wish. I know. Al could still do it. Yeah. Not so much Oliver Reed. No. This is the strangest conversation I've had with anybody in a long time. It's riveting. I keep telling people Club Random is not like the other podcasts, and they just won't listen to me. I mean, I don't know what I have to do. I'm doing it. No, it's great. It's great. I'm getting high and talking to somebody I like. Oh, thank you, Bill. And I just don't ever want to, like, have an agenda. It's like, it would be as ridiculous for me to do this show with an agenda, which, again, the other shows do, and that's fine. Yeah. It's what we watched on TV for 70 years, talk shows. You have a card, you have questions. But it's like if I went out to dinner with you, which I would love to. Like, if I showed up with a card. Before we order, Carrie, I understand that your new project is. That's hilarious. But actually, you know what? That's hilarious. What is your new project? Maybe we should be plugging something. Okay. Stranger Things? No. Are you plugging that? Been there, done that. But I did work with somebody I work with. Dead Man's Wire. We want to plug that. And Day Come, I'm Going to Rain. I'm a professional, too. I'm not just a pothead. Although, I'm going to have a pot. Okay. Great. Yeah, it's actually Bill Skarsgård is the lead. He plays this guy called Tony Kiritsis. He's great. So, he's the son of. Stellan. The best. The best. I was at the Golden Globe Sunday. Okay. And when he won, I was like, fuck, I have a chance. No, he's great. This woke town, I can't believe they nominated me. I can't believe that. It's hilarious. But if they gave one to Kellen Skarsgård. Stellan. Yeah. Stellan. Even he won it. Yeah. And then a kid. The kid from the British show, the genius show on Netflix, Adolescence. Yeah. Great. The kid's amazing. He's amazing. Stellan. And they gave it to a kid. Anybody could win this thing. And then I didn't. Anyway, so it's called Dead Man's Wire. It's directed by Gus Van Zandt, who you had on the show. Yeah. And it's based on a true story about a kidnapping that took place in Indianapolis in 1977. And Bill plays this guy. Real story. Real story. Which I didn't even know about. I didn't either. Bill plays this guy called Tony Kiritsis, who believes that his mortgage broker has screwed him over. So he decides to take matters into his own hands and kidnaps his broker and holds him hostage in a police standoff for 63 hours and ends up airing all his grievances on live TV. I mean, it's a very apropos movie, even though it's about the 70s for an era that we live in now. Totally. Yeah. Where income inequality is such a big issue. Right. And people are fed up with, you know, I mean, what is the big issue now? They call it now affordability. Right. That's the new word. Right. Which, I mean, it was always a word and it was always valid. But right now, it's like the thing, affordability and just people having the idea that everybody is ripping us off. And somehow, like half the country can, you know, afford Taylor Swift tickets. And, you know, half the country is. Working three jobs. Right. So, in that atmosphere, you know, this thing that happened in 70s, very timely. Very timely. You know. Very timely. So, I thought it really resonated. Oh, you saw it? Yeah. Oh, cool. Of course. Yeah. It's very much like a 70s film. Gus wanted to shoot it like Dog Day Afternoon. Right. And French Connection. And he wanted to give it that gritty feel to it. So, it's really a film. It's not a movie. It's more like cinema. And it was. We're very proud of it. Al Pacino was in it. He plays the guy who's the owner of the mortgage broker firm. That must have been a nice full circle moment. It was. It was a nice Easter egg for me, definitely. No, but like, you didn't have any scenes together? No, but I came and I went to. Yeah. I showed up when he worked. And you reminded him of what happened? I don't have to. I mean, you know, Al's a very important part of my life. Oh, I see. It's like, you know. So, you kept up from that? Of course. Of course. Changed my life. Changed my life. Oh, I thought it may have just been that. No, changed it. Changed it. Yeah, I know that. But then maybe you did. No, I'm not that kind of fly-by-night kind of guy. Like, gee, thanks, Al. I'll see you when I see you. You know, when someone like that kind of, as you say, cures your leprosy. Yeah, but if Bob Dylan did it for you, I mean, like, I just don't. Well, good luck trying to reach Bob Dylan. It could have been one of those situations, you know? Like, I don't see Bob, like, sending Christmas cards. No, but I just, like I said, as you said earlier, he's a very generous person by nature. Yeah. He doesn't. Well, he must be very proud of you. It's like he created this thing and you went on to, like, all the success. And that's a nice show business. I mean, he is one of my heroes. Yeah. Like I said, I grew up watching his work. I remember seeing Dog Day Afternoon when I was a kid and I became obsessed with Sidney Lumet, but also with him. I mean, he did that. He did Serpico. He does Godfather. And then, you know, Scarface later. I mean, after each one, it's like no net. You know, it's incredible. No, that's a part Laurence Olivier could have done. Because it's operatic. It calls for over the top. That's what makes it great. You can take. You can take me here, there. It doesn't matter. Say hello. There's nothing you wouldn't do to me that Castro has not already done. Say hello to the bad guy. Remember that? Yes. That'd be a funny sketch. Yeah. It would be very funny, Olivia. But it is. It's over the top and it's supposed to be over the top. It's Brian De Palma. Right. And it's. Al stays in character. He's very much a guy who stays. Yeah. That's what part of his training. And so he's he is that that guy on and off camera. But the the resonance that movie has. Yeah. I've had with succeeding generations. Yes. I mean, I saw a stripper with a with a tattoo of Scarface on her leg. You sure it's her leg? I'm not sure it was a stripper. No. Yes. I mean, kids. Sure. All ages. No, they look up to Scar. No, it became I don't know if that's a good thing. No, it became you go down to South Beach today anywhere, which is where all of that shooting scenes took place. Right. It's it's like you can't recognize it today. You know, I watch people getting searched for weapons going into restaurants. I'm like, OK, this is definitely Miami Beach has definitely changed over the years. You go there a lot. No, I was shooting a series. Oh, I see. I like Miami. I love it. I couldn't live there. No. It's like Vegas with a beach. Right. It's just too much. It's too much now. It's too much. Well, too much for us. Yeah. You know, if you're 20, I guess. Right. But it's it's I love it that there's a great vibe to it. Great energy. Different. I love all the food. I love all the culture. I love all of that. But the late night stuff is it's a lot. There's a city in America that's not an American city. Right. Right. I mean, I wouldn't. I don't know. I mean, they will look at you cross if you if you if you speak English instead of Spanish. Right. It's like, hello. I think that's what makes it interesting is that you have, you know, people from Colombia, from Puerto Rico. I went to see. Right. It's every Spanish speaking place in the world. No, really. No, it's true. It's true. And they all have different. Well, it just gives the city a different feel, which is a good feel. If you. Like, like La Dolce Vita. Sure. You know, I mean, there's just a certain, I don't know, joie de vivre. Yeah. And, you know, carnival. Yeah. You know, there's things that go on. Right. In the southern hemisphere that don't go on with us cold whiteys. Sure. You know. Yeah. And it's nice to have a place like that. It is. It has that vibe. It really is. It really is. But it is, you know, it is for 24 hour party people. It certainly is that. And I'm not. I'm not that person. No, no. So I need to get a room high in the hotel so I don't hear the nightclub thumping all night on the second floor. That's that. Exactly. Because I got a 4 a.m. call time and. Right. You know, that's just about when it starts up. And kids, do you have kids that are with you? I do. That are young enough to be with you on the road? I always, I try to always bring my family with me, Bill. You do? Try to, yeah. It makes me feel more relaxed, actually, to have them around. Yeah. Well, it's family. I mean, if you have one, you might as well. No, I'm all about my family. Really? All about my family. And were you always that way before you had a family wanting that? Yeah. Really? Because, you know. How old were you when you got married? Oh, God. We've been together over 30 years. But here's the deal. I knew that the life of an actor is sort of a vagabond. You live out of a suitcase. You go, you know, pick up, pack up, and you have to be ready to split at a moment's notice. And oftentimes. Sometimes you're away from home for long periods of time, yeah? And I knew that if I had a family, I always wanted one, that I didn't want to be that dad who wasn't there and missed the play or the recital or the hockey game or the bus game. You can't see the recital on the road. No, I'm saying. If they weren't in school, right, and I happened to be working. Otherwise, I would fly home and be with them every weekend if I could. Really? Oh, yeah. From anywhere? Anywhere. Well, not in Thailand. Right. Right, right. Anywhere. Within reason. Of course. But, yeah, I would either make sure I could be home to be with them on a weekend because then I would, you know, hopefully I can catch a late night flight on a Sunday and be ready for work on Monday. But if the kid's out of school, then all bets are off and they come with me and that's it. Yeah. I guess I just don't understand children never having had them. It's the greatest thing. But I certainly. I've known enough human beings to know that I'm in the minority. It's okay. And that they're totally okay. Yeah. Oh, I'm not apologizing for it. Yeah. I'm just saying it is so interesting, humans, to me, that we can be so different. Like, to me, nothing. I've said this before. Like, people say, if you have a kid, you'll love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would be the first person to look in the basket and go, still nothing. That's hilarious. That's hilarious. I don't think it's just I didn't like them when I was a kid. Right, right. But I certainly recognize that the majority of humanity has this level of love and devotion and I'll do anything. Yeah. That I just, you know, it's just not in my DNA. No, sure. And who knows? Maybe, you know, I'll get to purgatory and they'll take me aside and hit me to a lot of stuff and I'll find out, wow, your big sin was you never had the love that you feel when you have a child. And so you have to be here in purgatory. When you get that, then maybe we'll send you off to heaven. I'm making this up. But it is a love that I just don't understand and I know how real it is because I see how it manifests. How does it manifest? I'm going home every weekend. Yeah. That's reality to me. Like, you can bullshit me, not you particularly, but anybody can bullshit, anybody can say anything, actions speak. People do things like that. They just do things. Do. That I respect. That I think is real. Thank you. When you do something. Thank you. And they just, but the idea that I would have to juggle my life and these squalling, mewling rats who want every minute of my attention and are giving me nothing back. That's hilarious. Except their cuteness or whatever. So this future belief. It's hilarious. Which always makes me think of Nikki Glaser's great line, we love kids, but why? It's just going to grow up to be some guy named. Doug. Isn't that the greatest joke? That's excellent. Who said that? Nikki Glaser. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. That's very funny. It is. No, she's the best production I'll ever do. How old? She's 18. Oh, grown. You know, she blew the budget for wardrobe and hair within the first 10 years, but the dailies look great, Bill. Dailies look great. Does she have to always deal with? People asking about her famous father is that, you know, she's actually very cool about it because she's a, she got bit by the bug and she wants to act and she said, I don't want to be a regular NEPO baby. I don't want to go. Where did you study? I told her I said, I studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute and she said, did they have a school here in LA? I go, I think they do. She went and auditioned. She got in at 11 and started learning the method. Then she, she got bored of that after a couple of years. And she said, I want to learn improv. I said, you know, I'm just getting warmed up to improv myself. And she goes, I'm not going to wait that long, dad. And she went off and joined the groundlings. Oh, wow. So she's great. She's a good kid. It's very smart. Got a good head on her shoulders. I feel like improv is a great training as far as me wanting to watch it actually itself. Right. Never. Um, it always looked like a magic trick to me. Like, okay, where's the, they're there. I get it. It's fast, right? But there's, I mean, it's great. Um, sometimes, um, but the people who are trained in it go on to be, I mean, all the cast of SNL who then go on to be all our comic movie stars for good reason. They're there. They do it the best. Phil Hartman, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig. I mean, Tina Feck and go on for, I mean, the, the factory that, that place has been for great, terrific comic actors. They're, they're, you know, I mean. People think, uh, the movie business is a bunch of bullshit. Yeah, it is. They also like are basically putting out the best product we had why because that's what will make the money You know hundred percent. I mean and hopefully and if you I'm a fan of movies I'm not a fan of like I know I was a shitty write-ups they get from critics like fuck you, you know Just you know, why are you doing this as a job? I still don't like I study. I know I start reading reviews a long time ago I Can what if I happen to be at the premiere, which I often am asked to do I'm my own worst critic I'll watch that I'll see all my mistakes and go. Oh god, really because they did it after lunch Yeah should have been before lunch wisdom no, but it's all of it I can only see my mistakes So that's why I can't watch myself after one time. That's it. I see it and it's done So I don't need to read some guy who you know First of all, he feels like his review is is valid by giving away the entire plot for a page Like that's a review, right? Anyway, okay. The trailer is gonna do that right before he gets right But I mean they think that that can take up some space by telling the entire story of the movie You know that doesn't bother me like when people say spoiler alert. I always say go ahead. No, but there's some of them done Anyway, my point being is that? Kids don't really read reviews anyway, they they get word-of-mouth a people don't know no, but yeah on the whole What are we on the subway reading USA Today in? 1995 no was reading reviews of it. I mean Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah, that's what people go by we don't go by a review of it. It's just a number eight reviewers of all right Susan Sontag or Kenneth Tynan right didn't review movie. No, but well Kenneth did did theater but Sontag was one of the great reviewers of all the movies of all time of movies. Yeah, I don't remember that Yeah, and but she was an intellectual and she yeah understood Pauline kale pulling Kyle Excuse me, sorry me Anyway, you know what but she was amazing Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, she was right, but she reviewed movies. I don't remember that about Susan So maybe I could be wrong about you know, she just wrote the film theory. But anyway, you're right Pauline Understood film there were there were some who did who really got it? Yeah, and you know, I think a lot of it now just becomes the reviewer sure Showing off flexing look at look at okay. It's one thing to say this is not my cup of tea this right, right But to use three columns, yeah to basically show how clever you are with language to shit on this movie a hundred times I mean, it's like I get it. It's more about you But I thought critics were really there to service the reader. Yeah service the reader I'm just looking for you because I didn't see the movie and I feel like they used to do that I would read a review of like, you know Stallone's latest like, you know what not my cup of tea But if you like a kick-ass movie, it's actually good for this and this and this and and that's you know Because I do sometimes just want to watch a kick-ass movie damn straight No, it's true. No, you're right It's tough. I think it's tough for for critics now. I think you're right Not a lot of people really what about a John wick like franchise for you. What do you think you like? I'm open the game to anything. I mean, you know, I really well it wasn't we're going air you died British guy Kicking ass might be a good new way to go with it might be because usually You know, it's it's some not that he's a Neanderthal but a big hulking guy like Liam Neeson, right, you know I mean, you know, it's great by the way. Yeah But it's a terrific actor and lovely human being just terrific and he's great in that that franchise just amazing I I like him. I can't watch any movies that are 90% just guys killing killing It's just you know, I mean if it has a good plot to it I would definitely or a good character development and then that that would interest me. It's It stretches the Bounds of credulity so far, right? I mean I remember when it was a big thing when the hero could like defeat like three guys coming at him, right? Right, but 300. Yeah. No, it gets to be I yeah, I can't yeah, I just can't yeah, I understand Suspension of belief for sure. I don't think about the ghosts of Rambo. I had no one could kick Rambo's ass, right? He killed anybody who got in his way. Yes, right, but three, you know the ghosts in Hamlet, right? Do I really believe in ghosts? No, no I'm okay with it. Yeah But not 300 ghosts. That's hilarious It's hilarious, I mean, yeah, come on man. Yeah, just no it's a lot. It's a lot I think that audiences are I think that for him he'd listen wait Like I said Keanu who's made that turn that franchise into something phenomenal and he's a wonderful actor. Wonderful. Well, um, well I'm happy for him because it gives him now the freedom to do meaningful work. Yeah You know, I think that's the point too. I mean you I mean, I never met him He seems like a sweet guy terrific guy, but if he ever said to me, you know John wick I feel is very profound. I'd be like, oh, well, I'm sorry I can't like you as much right, but I don't think he would say that No, I think he would say it's entertainment people want to be entertained. This is what their taste is now Can you go after him for glorifying violence? Yes Yes, I remember doing an editorial on my show After the Uvalde thing and saying well, you know Guns, is that part of the equation? Of course, but let's not pretend that Hollywood Glorifying guns and we showed montages of people looking slow motion. So cool Wiring guns endlessly. Yeah, let's not pretend that going into the minds of kids at a rate of I mean They have stats on this like 10,000 images a year or something Let's not forget that that's also a big part video games, you know, okay. Yes, they have a lot It's a big equation. It is it as well violence is somehow Part of the culture and again, I was saying before realism in the in the 30s and 40s when you got shot No blood right? No gore, right, you know, it was just indicating This is what happens to you when I will commit adultery Or whatever it was that they were they remember the production show sure sure the Hays code The Hays code, right? Yeah, he's was the guy's the guy he was the censor But yeah, no, I think I'm with our industry has made a lot of money out of people grabbing a weapon and getting rid of the bad guys, it's the super mensch versus the Yeah, right. And so People for better I can't judge people but people like to see that I personally can't watch too much violence unless it unless by the way Let me let me preface that by saying unless it services the story and the character. Yeah, if it's not gratuitous I'm okay with I wouldn't take a frame out of Goodfellas right? Not one or Clockwork orange. No, not one, you know No violence is a big part of life And and by the way, or 1917 movie came out kids were going around dressing up as The characters for the work and going around and beating people up and he pulled the film Wow He pulled it really he pulled it saying I don't want my film To be responsible for anyone being harmed and I thought that showed enormous character I don't know but you can't you I don't you cannot give in to the That you cannot say a page of them of the papers well people were being I don't care if it's the it's a ten-point Headline on the front page of the papers. Yeah, it's the principle of the thing. Yes idiots and borderline people will use Art and Depictions as a reason to commit heinous crimes We can't cancel art. No for that reason. No, I mean I get it Okay I think it was more work orange should not have canceled one showing no, that is not the answer to that in my view No, I hear you. I think that that I think it was more than one Incident so I think there was a feeling of like maybe this is catching on I could be wrong Look, I get what you're saying if you're talking about a direct Incitement yes, and that is prescribed by the First Amendment. I mean we don't have a free speech. You can't do that You can't you know famously? Fire in a crowded theater and you can't incite people to riot that directly I mean England right had a Muslim preacher who was basically calling for the overthrow of the government Right and they put up with it for a while on one. Oh, no Maybe that was the guy that Obama killed with the drone and forget his name. How do we charge this charge Audrey? Yes He was and they eventually said no you're going to jail, right? I mean you are just you are directly inciting right Clockwork Orange isn't directly inciting people. It is about one of my favorite movies. Okay. No, I'm just I consider Kubrick like We're not arguing. Yeah, we're not he felt he felt yeah that somehow it was sparking some well i'd like to dig him up and yell at him yeah no i mean he then re-released it obviously what did you think of eyes wide shut his last i think it was brilliant to me it was like a fever dream you know um okay see lots of people don't like it yeah i do right even though some of it is nutty yeah some of it is like are you kidding me yeah yeah or you know for real but it never bores me never boring that you can never accuse the first half hour is is like a whole different movie yeah then the fever dream starts right but the first half hour is probably the best depiction of a relationship certainly a serious relationship marriage since virginia wolf no question about it it's nicole kidman and berlin cruz when they were really married yeah and it's a half hour of them they're at a party they're they're married but she's dancing with this guy this older guy who's trying to her and he's getting attention from young girls and they go home and she wants to pick a fight about it and he wants to get laid he's horny and she's just in the and it's just it's great the things that she taunts him with and it's great and then the fever dream starts and then it's it is weird it's weird and it ends with something that is either stanley was i mean he was near his demise yeah either he was going nuts or we were but you know the whole uh orgy thing yeah and and then the way they kind of wrap it up by bringing in um sydney pollock right i think right because you know he kept them captive there nicole and tom for like two years two years yeah it was supposed to be like an eight-month shoot and then yeah like and what are you going to do it's stanley kubrick yeah and you're the bleeds yeah no he's never boring they're never boring they're always entertaining they're always different i mean the thing is about stanley is that he's so different his movies were events right because he only made one a year even if that no not close to that like every four years or something like that yeah right they were events and you heard about it you read about it like i would follow the periodical yeah and one had nothing to do with the young man none i mean none 2001 a space odyssey is nothing like barry lindon no and barry linden when it came along i was i saw that in 70 millimeter when it came out and it was immense just immense and he had done it in one no no barry barry linden 2001. beautiful movie beautiful film and he had wanted to make napoleon a movie about napoleon's life and mgm who just made a fortune off of him with 2001 bought the rights to a film called waterloo with rod steiger directed by sergey bundachuk and the you know bundachuk had done great with war and peace right and then he put out this film with steiger as napoleon and it bombed and mgm came to stanley kubrick and said yeah we we did this behind your back we're sorry but we bought this film and it didn't do any business so all bets and they actually turned him down he would have made the greatest i've read the script it's amazing a napoleon film about napoleon's life well they just did it no i know not good no anyway was that was that that wasn't cubic anyway but the point i'm trying to make is that is that he then took all that research right that he'd done for napoleon and shifted it onto barry linden right all of all of the ideas that he had from that time period because he was going to do a whole life story of napoleon he just took that segment right of thackeray and used all the research he had brilliant absolutely brilliant yeah i don't think it was a popular movie it's a little slow but so is 2001 you know um they're fine wines but yeah they're to be sipped um not gulped yeah that's not my thing no i'm not uh it's like do you like paths of glory i'm glad i said uh yes great great that's that's old school that's before the the uh stanley kubrick i'll do whatever the i want i mean i think lolita is great i think dr strangelove is great i think um full metal jacket brilliant is great i i love eyes wide shut even though it's it's weird um what am i leaving out oh um the shining um again there are parts that are like wow you know he tests your patience as just like a normal kind of audience you can't look away you're never bored that's not true i have been bored i i mean absolutely that is exactly what i am during a lot of 2001 is bored i'm watching i'm watching this wheel uh in space it takes like 10 minutes and i'm hearing that and then say okay i get it it's hilarious you know it's so like please no but you know he's stanley kubrick and it's it's and and not all of them and and i mean there's not a minute where i'm bored during dr strangelove no i mean it's just one funny skit after i recommend if if when they're rebuilding the uh cinerama dump now yeah and they have set them 70 millimeter prints of all the great kubrick films and other directors if and when they reopen it which i'm praying they do it's a great theater go see 2001 as it was meant to be seen in cinerama in 70 millimeter i'm telling you it's a great theater it's a great theater it's a great theater you're telling you you'll you'll have a different opinion if i was 50 years younger i still wouldn't do it really no it's just no i it's it's not your scene it's bad enough i had to watch it at home while i was in the bathtub doing 10 other things it was still boring i am not going to go you know what you'd have to do to get me to see that what you'd have to put the things from clockwork on my eyes that's hilarious remember the guy with another genius movie that doesn't bore for one second clockwork orange not one second the the the amazing thing about him is that every movie is like from a completely different universe completely different director it seems a completely different director right talk about not repeating yourself talk about artists wow amazing stanley kubrick absolutely shout out to you yeah really we are just like playing in this universe yeah which is boring i grew up with that as a kid though that when i first saw my first stanley kubrick film i was like okay this guy is a true artist and really understands the language of cinema what movies have you seen lately that you're crazy about well i loved um i loved one battle after another i think paul thomas has a wonderful director i really do yeah sinners i liked it ryan coogler is a phenomenal filmmaker i liked it i'm never crazy about vampires no me neither but i but somehow i would have loved it more as just a straight-up movie about that era that that right roadhouse right but you know i get it i i'm 70 and that's not what they they want vampires and they like mixing those genres and and you know it had it it had its reasons to do that and it was uh it was a great movie but um yeah that's that would be my taste i mean i love straight up historical me too i mean look about my body of work it's mainly yeah history was my thing at school well me too so i i thought what period were you most interested in gosh uh so funny enough in england you had to learn both british history and american history so we had to study this american civil war war revolutionary war all the way up to world war ii which was pretty up to d-day which was pretty cool actually so for me i was like getting the best of both that's what made me fascinated by it right and so for me it was like every class that i took was like i'm receiving this information about one of my favorite sayings i can't pronounce his last name properly george santanaia i think it is yeah he says uh those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it believe that and so i i ended up studying history for that reason and being fascinated by it because we do we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again so what's your favorite period my favorite period uh is i i fascinated by world war ii i'm fascinated by let's see i'm fascinated by the american civil war i'm fascinated by that i'm fascinated in british history i would say all the wars war of the roses right i was fascinated by charles the first being having being removed from power and having his head cut off i was fascinated by french history the revolution i loved all of that you know i was trying to tell somebody recently about a period of history like they were asking about queen elizabeth i said well the first queen elizabeth that's after which we know the elizabethan era is named okay reigned for a long time yes and was the time that shakespeare was writing we're talking about the second half of the sixth century century she becomes queen in 1558 right defeats the spanish armada brilliant 1588 which if she had hadn't done that we would be in a very different world because that was protestant england correct against catholic spain and france right um and dies in 1603 and and you know your stuff no i do i'm a history major wow and when you were major yeah and she was the daughter of henry the eighth right of course okay so um who became king after and she was known as the virgin queen i know well you say that like i wish i fucked her you know but she didn't bathe in your eye like don't forget she didn't bathe a lot they did back then oh she had ladies and that's why she couldn't get well i mean she's queen and she smelled so bad that nobody still wanted to listen hygiene personal hygiene back then yeah i know it's a thing okay but other people got over it she must have not have been cute i mean come on i don't know we don't well somebody was fucking there well i know was definitely interested he got pretty close to it we don't know what happened there right okay i think he explored he explored it's good it's good bill very good explored it's very good that's very good and then of course you had uh uh james the first i'm fascinated by that whole thing he's a scottish king who doesn't even speak english okay but here's what i've forgotten can't answer in my own mind what okay so she dies in 1603 yes the virgin queen yes who took over who was the king in 1603 now you mentioned james james james yeah so how did he get the job because there's no line mary queen of scott's son okay mary's queen we'll be back with more history no that's great history major of bill maher so mary queen of scott is it was was cath was elizabeth's rival for the throne yes right and she is catholic you know your stuff man she's catholic i'm impressed oh yes there's a great scene where they were elizabeth the first year and she's in the church and she's in the castle and the and the catholics are marching on the castle they wanted england to be catholic again and they have all these big what they call tapers right giant candles the church loves candles i remember this when i was a kid me too and and they elizabeth goes to the window and and then says to the garden away with these candles we see very well that's a good line we could put it in three kings in the away with these candles we see very well very good what made you fascinated by history is people it's people it's so much more interesting than fucking chemicals sure or rocks me too or you know like it's it's stories it's it's storytelling the movies yeah it is the movies it was like the movies for me movies have taken a lot a lot from yeah you know saving private ryan is a real story and they made it into a movie and yeah you know i mean your movie is one of the many many many many movies where they show the movie and the credits they show what the real people that the movie is based look like and that's when you go wow hollywood's really full of shit real people are a lot uglier that's funny that's funny well no i love that you love history i didn't know that yeah that's really interesting where did you start i love that you knew that answer so james so james and then his son is the one that cut his head off in 1649 charles and then the restoration is 1660. i believe cromwell took over cromwell took over who was very he was very much not a party animal right well he didn't believe in the divine right of kings right asshole what an asshole where did he get that idea right so he was like yeah that's a good thing but well he went a little nuts he created his own new model army and practiced it on irish people which you're you should know from your yes your ancestors your ancestors your ancestors your great people and and the fact that he tested them out by wiping out tons of irish people i thought that was a little a little over the top in my humble opinion remember braveheart that was great it was great braveheart's a great movie great movie i mean i i mean mel gibson's a great movie maker he just is you know what okay so he gets a little loaded and pops off to the police when he's pulled over so what but like there's a great line in there when uh uh patrick mcgohan lovely one of my favorites really the prisoner the prisoner exactly oh my god diana rigg god no no that's the 12 year old that's the avengers the prisoner was where he right a spy who'd been excommunicated right and sent to this this desert prison right a resort really and this big ball big ball was shaking he came up was like a fish so it was so ahead of its time brilliant yes absolutely okay but patrick mcgohan yeah who was in this one yeah the prisoner right correct okay he played king edward yeah fighting braveheart this is this is the 14th century and scotland trying to get their independence and they're having this big battle with the scottish people or we're going to finally get our independence we're going to kick the ass of the british yeah and the british are on the hill waiting for the battle to start and the guy says to the king patrick mcgohan uh should we uh have the archers fire sir because that's what they used to do and that was like the artillery you'd fire just in the air all the arrows would come down and kill like them one out of ten people would be dead before the battle started and he goes no arrows cost a dollar a piece send in the irish oh wow i forgot that send in the irish cannon fodder they cost nothing wow arrows are expensive see that's mel he knows how to do that apocalyptic it's totally apocalypse brilliant brilliant brilliant i i had the the the good luck to tell him in person after i saw that film oh really what traffic stop no it was a full house i saw it in like vancouver and people applauded at the end i told it's a brilliant brilliant brilliant film it's a chase movie it is exactly right it just happens to be set in set in the jungle of um central america brilliant uh in i would guess the late 1400s because it has one of the great endings yeah because he finally escapes from and also i love it that it it blows the myth off that all primitive peoples were perfect people who were just riding unicorns and singing kumbaya no all people were horrible to each other yeah yeah and then the horrible tribe captures this guy from the nice tribe they pursue him the whole movie it's great finally pervade prevails and gets away from them gets back to his home and saves his wife and then he looks out on the ocean and there's the ships coming in from the new world so great oh so great you can almost hear the uh you know curb your enthusiasm music coming in he's a remarkable filmmaker mel you think of this as an actor who got to work with great directors peter weir dick donner and uh i picked his brain about it he goes yeah carrie i picked up on obviously i had the good fortune to work with these great filmmakers so i would study them and learn what they were doing i wasn't just there as an actor for hire i thought okay one day i want to do this and of course when you're working with phenomenal artists like that it's bound to rub off let's put him in our movie about purgatory there you go thank you thank you club random random random random what a joy all right what a joy man thank you for having me i can talk to you all night for real i go back to my real job