JOHN WILSON Talks Concrete, Getting Jumped, and Avatar

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The festival that I was at set up a concrete walking tour of Warsaw. And we went to this one neighborhood. And they were like, you know, this is a Jewish neighborhood. And it was leveled. And when they rebuilt it, they used the ground up bones of the Jews to make the concrete. But then they added another really off-color comment where they were like, rumor has it that people live in these buildings will often see the ghosts of Jewish people when they're going to sleep, but only if they're late on the rent. I was like, this is like the most classic, like, anti-semitism. I'm like, the rent. I'm like, I don't even know what I'm doing here. but Annie take this as your sign to watch the film it's great and if you're in Denver Colorado please come and see me at Comedy Works downtown the 22nd to the 24th of October and next month November 13th I'll be at Town Hall New York Comedy Festival the big one please enjoy my conversation with John Wilson filmmaker documentarian John Wilson how are you just like that we're starting like that yeah I guess so okay we do like if you want we do like a baba booey kind of like interview thing like Howard on e okay what we're like we follow you down the hallway with the camera oh no that's okay I don't think we need that I don't want to start here but you uh obviously have a connection to great American tragedy um terrorist tragedy uh story which I believe is I can't believe you're bringing this up is the greatest story John the way you told me the story too I was I forgot where we were I've I've I've John and I've met numerous times like uh yeah you meekly said I was a victim of the Boston bomber which is the best way to phrase it well by like one of his good friends it wasn't Tamerlan Tsarnaev I thought yeah his I mean yeah I don't know where you want to start with this story to back up John says yeah what are you using happens he says I was a victim of the Boston bomber I said yeah you were in the Patriots Day bombing and you said no I was I was assaulted by his best friend um in 2009 2010 yeah maybe um yeah it was very odd I was like living in Cambridge in you know Massachusetts at the time and I was just out for a night with a bunch of friends and then we were in a 7-eleven parking lot and this guy uh got out of his car because um one of my friends hit the back of his car because he almost hit us and then um he got out and just started beating all of us up you know it was like one guy like like there were two guys but the main guy uh of course he was a trained boxer so I'm just putting yeah he was an MMA we later found out that he was like a like a really big MMA guy but um oh Tamerlan's friend Tamerlan's friend okay yeah so he punched me in the face and then um punched another friend gave him a fat lip and um there were just like eyeglasses everywhere it was you know embarrassing but um then the cops the guy in 7-11 calls the cops on him and then the cops come immediately and pull him over like a block away and then he tries to assault a police officer and then they pepper spray him and arrest him and then I'm getting like calls from the Boston Police Department Cambridge Police Department for months afterwards asking if I want to like press charges against him and you dropped the charges and I said no I don't care so you know and so but then like the final call I get from the cops is that the case has been dropped because the guy that beat us up was murdered and they couldn't tell us anything else you know um and then fast forward like a few months later and it turned out that he was murdered by Tamerlan Sarnia of um allegedly you know uh like throat slit um and him and his friends in this uh you know I think it was in Watertown maybe Massachusetts and uh their bodies were covered in money and weed it was like kind of an it seemed like kind of an honor killing oh kind of like uh boondock saints yeah they put quarters on their eye yeah it felt like ritual like ritualized somehow or like but and then again I'm condensing a lot here but but uh but then it turned out yeah they found out that Tamerlan murdered that guy right before the Boston bombing happened um and I don't know through the butterfly effect in my head I feel like had I maybe pressed charges against this guy I don't know or maybe like maybe there was like a lot of heat on this guy Brendan who beat us up like because of the 7-11 incident and then Tamerlan like uh just kind of marked him you know it I I a lot of this is just like speculation but there's a whole book um just called uh it's John's fault yeah called it's John's fault um by Marty Walsh uh no uh this uh Susan Zalkind uh a journalist in Massachusetts she wrote this book called the brothers and I think I mentioned in there at one point but I haven't like seen that part of it but yeah it was like even published in like a book this weird story total wimp John Wilson has his glasses knocked off in a 7-11 parking lot and I I also got like a big fat lip I have a photo from that uh from right after it happened I could send you it's pretty funny okay let's relate this to your work like when you've you have I think especially making how to and like I think by extension the new film the history of concrete let's get that out it's very good it's very good I watched it last night I would highly recommend it do you feel like there are convergences or serendipitous I wouldn't serendipity has a positive connotation hmm I think there are the weird things that happen to you when you're out and about that kind of like like the NXIVM thing yeah like you being at an office like thing and it being related you know like turning out that it was like uh like run by cult NXIVM grooming seminar yeah um I don't know I yeah I mean you could look at it in kind of a Forrest Gump Mr. Bean kind of way but I think also I don't know yeah I do I feel kind of strange sometimes it it almost feels like these these kind of these things like happen like in very close proximity to me sometimes um but I just think when you're just like breaking your routine in general like weird stuff just kind of happens to you um I don't know not everyone makes it into like a into an into yeah memoir or yeah or yeah thinks that it has anything to do with the Boston bombing but yeah it happens I don't know it's probably since it's happened to you shit seven us that was a funny night that we had the best night of my life we shared listen it was it was euphoric you and I are both rational gentlemen we believe in facts and logic right sure like I don't like it when people talk about the secret or the universe providing right I think that's all bupkis but but I was convinced that night that the magic of mr. David Blaine is real they're not illusions that it's real magic and I and I'm with you I felt it was enchanting it was kind of crazy what he did to us we met David Blaine first of all he doesn't stop doing magic like now that's the thing he is kind of like you with the with the camera right right you are a man of a code yeah I'm just like yeah you're kind of like blade I asked him like I would like throughout the night I was asking him questions in between tricks right and I'd be like how much do you think about magic he's like from the moment I wake up I'm thinking about magic yeah that's a good impressive but uh yeah I'm thinking about magic yeah that's a good impression but uh I don't know if I told you but at the end of the night he was like let me give you my number oh really like really and I uh was that a trick it was a trait he's never responded I'm texting him I'm like I would love you to come on my talk show damn that's I mean there was that one moment like near the end of the night where like uh you know my uh good friend and producer Clark Vileo we were just sitting you know standing in kind of uh he was he was standing in kind of a semi-circle around him and he just had a wine glass you know that he had been drinking out of and then Clark just said to him here eat this glass and then David just took it and ate it right there and and uh then Clark ran up to me and was like put this in your bag and it was like a it was like a jagged piece of glass of of unfinished like wine glass do you still have it no I threw it out I'm not gonna bring I thought you like collecting autodesk no I don't want to I'm not gonna like put a bunch of jagged glass in my tote bag to bring back to my house it's just like your guests like step on glass yeah I don't like I don't know I mean I think I I under I can understand his excitement around uh it felt like a holy object in the moment but then like once you kind of like remove this story from it or anything it's just like what is this broken glass in your backpack yeah you're just yeah you're it's like um yeah it's like the piano teacher the moment the moment my mind was blown I think you're gonna remember because I think we text each other the next day I was like it's real magic it's real I can't stop thinking about it the moment my mind was blown was um uh my old partner Nick Mullen was there and um he asked us uh to take a group selfie right and then after the group selfie he asked someone to to choose any card from a deck of cards right and then he was trying to find the card and he couldn't do it he's like oh wait wait hold on one second like check check that that group picture that I took right and you remember it was someone held he asked someone to hold their wallets and he was like oh wait wait hold on one second like check check that that group picture that I took right and you remember it was someone held he asked someone to hold their wallets and he was like oh wait hold on one second like check check that that group picture that I took right and you remember it was someone held he asked someone to hold their wallets and he was like oh wait hold on one second like check check that that group picture that I took right um held he asked someone to hold their wallet with the ID sleeve with that with their like ID taken out and in the picture from before we had selected the card yeah was the card in in the prison's wallet yeah it was it was crazy in how to you uncover a phenomenon that my dad experienced which was um my dad went into a depression after he saw Avatar oh really yeah oh wow I was oh I was worried you were gonna say he cut his like nuts off yeah my dad cut his dick off like how to cut your dick off episode of how to hear which I thought was an incredibly bad taste and also the most linear episode you're like I want to cut my nuts off yeah I know you don't really meander at all you don't really talk to anyone I know that would be uh yeah you're like that was a really radical it's three and a half minutes long I can't believe how did you get it past years and practices you know they just like the shorter stuff sometimes yeah they're like this this is the one episode we understand John yeah the rest of your stuff is so highfalutin well you wait he sank into a depression after Avatar my dad saw Avatar IMAX 3D and he got bummed out for like a month or two really I think that like it was the first time he wasn't living on this planet and he felt immersed in another world yeah it is really like I don't know it's it I think it's a confusing message it's like you know I'm like especially like you have this guy in a wheelchair in the movie and he is able to become this able-bodied like kind of tall creature by the end of it and sexy too hot hot and and then you know it ends and you're kind of like you you're given this vision of this like utopia and the you know also like escaping whatever like physical like problems you have and it offers kind of it offers no kind of option for us as like people living in like a fixed reality you know outside of the Avatar Navi world and I don't know it's like I I watched the Avatar fire and ash on a plane uh recently just kind of like exactly like James intended yeah with the sound kind of off and it was cool I loved it I just I just want him to stop making avatars just so he can like so it's like a finite experiment you know of his and and like he can get in I don't know maybe he can make something well I made that Billie Eilish like documentary James Cameron made a Billie Eilish documentary yeah it's called like hard and soft or something hard and soft I don't know I forget what it's called um what is that what is that a reference to I don't know I don't know but the hit me hit me soft whatever whatever James's brain came up with I'm just kind of mad at Avatar you're mad at Avatar yeah because um and I'm glad you brought me here so I could talk about this but um Avatar kind of up movie theaters a lot of theaters converted to these like these these digital projectors to play it it like in in this like you know whatever 3D uh digital thing he had going on and I feel like it was it was a real kind of like extermination of a lot of analog like kind of 35 setups in uh a lot of movie theaters yeah and I mean I you know that the Odyssey kind of like brought back uh I mean I think like is Nolan the last guy that's actually using film I don't care you don't care I don't care I don't know I don't the camera seems heavy and hard to use I haven't seen it I haven't seen it yeah so let's talk about it I'm waiting to go on a plane what was your favorite part I saw a rip of it like a French cam rip of it uh and it just seems like a lot of faces I don't know like have you ever done a cam uh cam uh thing yourself that seems like very Wilson yeah yeah um I recorded um anyone but you that Sidney Sweeney movie really yeah Glenn Powell really was on on Christmas Day okay that was the most recent one wasn't that on Netflix it was in theaters oh you went to the theaters yeah did that feel like a subversive act it was yeah it was thrilling but it's funny you know because sometimes you'll go to you know I'll go to like Williams Williamsburg cinema and they will you know they'll look in my bag before I go in and I'll have a huge camera I'll be like okay that's fine yeah and it's just like it doesn't seem like piracy is like like as much of a threat I don't know what they're looking for yeah I want to back up just getting into you a little bit and like uh you're born in the city you grew up Long Island yeah um when when did you get your first camera 14 15. yeah yeah it was my dad's 40th birthday I think and uh my mom gave him a camera and I just kind of took it immediately and it became my camera it was a handy cam yeah it was like a Sony handy cam we all had that yeah it was great I don't know jackass videos on those I got a concussion because my friends oh really yeah because we were doing a shopping cart thing yeah I think lot of us hurt our penises and heads because of jackass yeah i was jumping into a lot of bushes at first too and stuff like that um but it's cool does that qualify as documentary yeah jackass i think i don't know everything's some kind of document i don't know you did you definitely have developed kind of like uh your own aesthetic but also like style like like how did you how did you like get there i suppose for like jackass videos yeah boring question no no i i mean i feel like i i spent a lot of time just experimenting making like skit type things or i mean the the largest span was when i was a kid was making movie spoofs you know but they all had john in the title like space john or you know uh robo john you know space john was a parody of space balls no space jam space jam yeah of of course but yeah and then i kind of just like would make these kind of comedic things for a little while but you know with friends but when i reached a certain age and i was doing like festival stuff with them like i just would make them and then i would nothing have nothing to say about them you know they would just kind of be this like this skit you know and i kind of just like wanted to stop down and think about like what the purpose of of making this stuff was and i kind of just like accidentally fell into this like memoir tutorial type thing just because like i kind of i always just like hated the sound of my own voice and my kind of like written word like i was really scared of writing and and i kind of just wanted to like do it all in the same kind of container just to kind of like get over that yeah um and it makes it personal too because like how to becomes like i think i i saw in an interview you said you start with the title right yeah but a lot of it is about you or like trying to understand the world through the from the vantage point of your camera is it is that fair yeah sure who is the character john is the character john 100 or does it feel like it's like a is it a 10 borat i mean i think like i mean it's all really tongue and cheek you know there's there's like a yeah there's an elevated aspect of you of you right yeah honest still but yeah it's like dripping with irony but it's also like extremely honest you know about how you actually i mean that's what i think satire does a lot of the time yeah um but like yeah i am i feel a bit kind of like straightjacketed sometimes uh like conversationally and it's just like i wasn't really able to say the things i wanted to say like like in the company of others sometimes and i just like wanted to just have a place to say all this stuff that i was thinking and just like not necessarily even for an audience just to like to deposit it somewhere just so it like it it it like these thoughts had a home and then you know yeah i don't know is it because like your subjects are are disclosing personal things so you feel like you have to like match that or something yeah i think i i i i film a lot of people in public i film a lot of people you know in really intimate environments you know whether they're like naked on their own bed or something like that and or you know revealing some personal tragedy that they're living through and it's kind of like i i do feel like that there is a bit of a scale and and like tossing myself into the mix i i try to do it sparingly because i don't i don't want it to be like so like ham-fisted yeah but i do yeah like you're saying it it is like this this thing that it's where i feel like almost an equal measure need to kind of put my own like personal life into it like to match the vulnerability yeah it's not always necessary but i think that like i try to keep it pretty generic also because like it allows you know like in this concrete movie i'm talking about like you know i speak in the second person as a way to you know help you identify with what you're seeing a bit more um and like i'm it's like i say like oh your house has a problem your house is leaking i was going to ask about the second person yeah i feel like that's like a universal problem but then like when you when it becomes not universal and so hyper specific that it is only me but i'm still talking broadly i think there's something really funny there about like right you're trying to relate to the audience right yeah having a conversation with the audience right i yeah yeah and you think that this is something that happens to everyone yeah i don't know it's like obviously it i think that the comedy there is like is is you know partially what you identify with even though i'm i'm telling you that this is all happening to you and that this is you yeah when it's like you know some of it might be but you know other other parts it's like laughable does it feel confining sometimes like you're trapped in a character or like trapped in a i saw you talking to louis through and like i'm also like a massive fan i've seen everything right yeah and like like they stopped being funny at a certain point right yeah i think his his stuff right like they're still funny moments but like at first they're like really like they're really cheeky yeah really cheeky in that sense do you feel like you know as you evolve as an artist does it feel like uh confining or do you feel trapped ever like in a certain voice like i i'm not saying no i feel that i feel like i love the boy i mean i love the show and your work yeah uh no no i i i yeah that was something i was just thinking when i was like watching the documentary last night well yeah i mean it is the same old you know which i think is kind of interesting within the you know within the film because it's like everyone kept wanting me to evolve you know like my you know my agent and then like uh like other people were pitching the movie to it's almost like they wanted like something different you know and i i don't know i didn't arrive here because i just thought it was like kind of interesting i just think this is the right way to do a lot of things a lot of like individual components i think are like are just how i think i like to do them also you get better right and you get better but yeah i mean i also i i i i hear you with like evolving like and maturing over time and well i don't i wasn't it wasn't like an accusatory i was just like like uh there's like a comedian uh that like had a character of like a puerto rican transvestite and they got so big that he was opening for the character right and like uh like at a certain point like like he like i imagine he felt trapped right yeah no no people don't want it seems like people don't want me to do this anymore is that true i don't know i mean it's i i think that was part of the struggle of making the movie is like they they want to do it they want to make the movie they wanted like it to be of something other than how to you know and it's like i totally get that and i you know i have problems with change like change in general but um you know i wasn't getting any support like or the kind of support i was with the hbo show so i was just like i'm just gonna do it the way i've always done it and you know but i think the work i think this film is is more i think politically in a lot of ways and i think it kind of like i it's it's more going in a direction that i i want it to go um where it's it's it's not like yeah it's not like louie's like early you know through his early stuff where he's like look at this what's going on here yeah um but yeah that's that's what i was going to say because i think people were introduced on a larger scale to you in the how-to series but when you go on vimeo and you watch your early stuff like this has just been something that you've been doing throughout right and something that you've been refined like a format that you you've invented and refined throughout so like that's what what came across to me watching the documentary is like you are like like uh you are like uh i guess perfecting this thing that you've invented or this voice that you've created and this format that you've created yeah and and you never will be perfect right like well that's the thing i just i think that the whole format was just born out of this idea that like i think being an expert on anything is funny like calling yourself an expert is funny like anyone i don't know like the world is a confidence game in a lot of ways ways and you know it's just like the people that are really overconfident i i feel like end up having a lot of influence in spheres that that it become kind of scary sometimes and i just like i i take myself down like you know a couple of pegs like whenever i make something like this or i you know i try to make people rethink what they what they're certain about you know where it's like like i think it's really funny when someone's super confident about anything you know i think i i don't know i just i think that like self-doubt is like really important and when people have like zero self-doubt in them you know even in an art as an artist like anyone that makes something and they're like this is the greatest thing ever they're usually a charlatan right like anytime you go back and watch anything you've made you're gonna have a million problems with it and say i would change this this and this yeah and it's like i mean there are certain things that are like you know like you know like you know like you know like you know like like you could talk to a concrete expert who knows how the mixture is is made you know and i i feel like that's something that you know i wouldn't say that person's a charlatan you know but i think that like with like certain lifestyle coaches or you know you just watch youtube and i i just the confidence sometimes that people have in in you know how to how to uh fix a stove or you know some some weird like domestic thing i think is is is really funny and you know i i i wanted to see initially what it was like to throw in like really uh like kind of agonizing self-doubt into something even as like simple as that yeah yeah how do you find like a john ending right because from what i understand like you you have correct me if i'm wrong you start with the name right and then and then you meander and like the character john is this confused guy like navigating the world and meeting all these people and and also like you don't exploit people in the sense where like you you meet them in earnest right there's like a heart to the show right and like there's and especially to an ending there's always like a sincerity and like a heart to your work um i imagine you have to be sometimes in the middle of a project struggling to find that ending and like is there an anxiety around it and when does it feel like you've in a satisfactory way found kind of closing the narrative arc i think that's where like like i'm i'm a i'm like a nervous wreck like for most of the production of anything it's like it's you know and and you know like my collaborators like i i give i i thank them so much and like give them so much credit for like kind of dealing with me sometimes when i'm just like because you're just staring in front of this like sudoku puzzle that just feels impossible you know and you're just like i don't know i find that like it's good to just start with like a title like you know how to find a parking spot or something like that and then you kind of just like you talk to people that you know that have something to do with the title that has something to do with the original like subject matter and then you kind of like follow that and then you have like multiple things that you're shooting that have an like a structure to them like whether it's a contest or like some kind of event um it's like okay we know these are things pre-existing out in the world that have like a structure and then you can kind of like lean on those if you want to um but you don't and it all just depends on what reveals i i think something really interesting or you know like maybe even takes you farther away and reveals something more illuminating about like the the issues of the original title but like i don't know i mean working with fielder at first in the beginning of how to you know his criteria in the first season was just like we'll start with a title and then we'll start with a title and then we'll start with when we've captured something that the audience cannot believe we captured you know and I I feel like I still kind of do that or try to in a way where it's like you know in the ending to this movie I don't want to give anything away but it's like when that happened that was like what how does this what does have to do with anything you know but then you just like think about it for a while and it's like oh there are themes in here that it kind of like attaches to and it actually and then you kind of go back and take inventory and then you reshape like the beginning and like first and second acts just to kind of like to maybe like tee up tee it up like a little better but like not so much that people see anything coming really which is how filmmaking kind of works right you find things in posts that you don't see. you find things in posts that you don't see. are like that are cohesive right like sure time right i don't know how other people do it i don't fucking know why but uh have you have you ever been stuck and like just been unable to find i know that you tell that story about burning man which ultimately yeah you're the burning man doc is out right now is it out the the one that that stopped us from which were the nexium people too yeah well they took nexium classes they took classes okay to back up john uh in the how to find a bathroom yes you go to burning man yeah how long did you you spend an entire week in the beating sun filming it was awful yeah i was hanging out with the septic people yeah yeah you know because i just wanted to see what the infrastructure that was like there and they were always like you know it was really dramatic there were there were people begging them to remove the shit from their rvs you know all this gray water and like all this like terrible stuff and you had to schedule it they were very strict i had i don't know all those guys and but it's just those guys are the ones that are gonna like end humanity yeah that's the thing it's like they're talking about the singularity and that you're just watching their shit like watching it it was like i i i don't know man i i'm the the place is not for me i i i feel like i i have you have more freedom on the sidewalk in new york than you will ever have in burning man do you think that we should just hit it with maybe an intercontinental ballistic missile i didn't say it okay uh just to conclude uh john you should just hit it with maybe an intercontinental ballistic missile i didn't say it okay uh just to conclude uh john you should just hit it with maybe an intercontinental ballistic missile i didn't say it okay uh just to conclude uh john did that and then there's another did that and then there's another did that and then there's another documentary crew documentary crew documentary crew who ironically were also the team behind who ironically were also the team behind who ironically were also the team behind the hbo nexium documentary the hbo nexium documentary the hbo nexium documentary which ironically john was at an which ironically john was at an which ironically john was at an acapella acapella acapella this is just like your life is you are this is just like your life is you are this is just like your life is you are kind of a rambling man like you are kind of a rambling man like you are kind of a rambling man like you are you are borat i mean you're like i'm poor you are borat i mean you're like i'm poor you are borat i mean you're like i'm poor yeah borat gump yeah yeah borat gum but yeah borat gump yeah yeah borat gum but yeah borat gump yeah yeah borat gum but like uh okay yeah but they like uh okay yeah but they like uh okay yeah but they they uh said that they had the rights to they uh said that they had the rights to they uh said that they had the rights to exclusive rights they petitioned or paid exclusive rights they petitioned or paid exclusive rights they petitioned or paid for the exclusive rights and they didn't for the exclusive rights and they didn't for the exclusive rights and they didn't let this poor gentleman just let this poor gentleman just let this poor gentleman just just film just film the feces the crap just film the feces the crap just film the feces the crap the crap all the crap yeah i was trying the crap all the crap yeah i was trying the crap all the crap yeah i was trying to explain to them i can tell you're to explain to them i can tell you're to explain to them i can tell you're actually like still pissed off about it actually like still pissed off about it actually like still pissed off about it yeah i don't know but you know i i i was yeah i don't know but you know i i i was yeah i don't know but you know i i i was in a prison of my own design you know in a prison of my own design you know in a prison of my own design you know it's like i go to burning man it's like it's like i go to burning man it's like it's like i go to burning man it's like what did i think was going to happen what did i think was going to happen what did i think was going to happen everyone there is a little cop everyone there is a little cop everyone there is a little cop and they just like are all about these and they just like are all about these and they just like are all about these insane rules that like don't exist insane rules that like don't exist insane rules that like don't exist anywhere else in the world could you anywhere else in the world could you anywhere else in the world could you verbally explain some of your favorite verbally explain some of your favorite verbally explain some of your favorite uh like uh selects from that from that uh like uh selects from that from that uh like uh selects from that from that week week week there was one guy there was one guy there was one guy drive riding around with a trump pence drive riding around with a trump pence drive riding around with a trump pence flag i thought that was kind of flag i thought that was kind of flag i thought that was kind of interesting because there's a no like interesting because there's a no like interesting because there's a no like branding branding branding thing um thing um thing um yeah i mean i brought a city bike there yeah i mean i brought a city bike there yeah i mean i brought a city bike there i shipped it all the way i shipped it all the way i shipped it all the way to nevada uh i found it on the street to nevada uh i found it on the street to nevada uh i found it on the street in soho in soho in soho and i rode it all around and i rode it all around and i rode it all around burning man and it was the only bicycle burning man and it was the only bicycle burning man and it was the only bicycle out of everyone's bike that didn't get a out of everyone's bike that didn't get a out of everyone's bike that didn't get a flat flat flat oh really and like was actually yeah so oh really and like was actually yeah so oh really and like was actually yeah so shout out to city bike shout out to city bike shout out to city bike you guys can handle city bikes can you guys can handle city bikes can you guys can handle city bikes can handle extreme desert conditions handle extreme desert conditions handle extreme desert conditions yeah um but i don't know i mean i mean yeah um but i don't know i mean i mean yeah um but i don't know i mean i mean the my favorite part was the lost and the my favorite part was the lost and the my favorite part was the lost and people put like an image of their people put like an image of their people put like an image of their driver's license on i'll print it out driver's license on i'll print it out driver's license on i'll print it out and put it on a water bottle for some and put it on a water bottle for some and put it on a water bottle for some reason as it like because of how you reason as it like because of how you reason as it like because of how you know scarce resources are there i guess know scarce resources are there i guess know scarce resources are there i guess but but but the phone the phone the phone retrieval system was was retrieval system was was retrieval system was was i've never seen anything like it where i've never seen anything like it where i've never seen anything like it where like it's uh this kind of like it's uh this kind of like it's uh this kind of district nine kind of computer setup district nine kind of computer setup district nine kind of computer setup that they have like covered in dust and that they have like covered in dust and that they have like covered in dust and they just have an endless grid they just have an endless grid they just have an endless grid that you scroll through of the lock that you scroll through of the lock that you scroll through of the lock screens of phones screens of phones screens of phones that like you and you have to find your that like you and you have to find your that like you and you have to find your phone um in the this grit and people there were just like hundreds and hundreds of lost phones um and and just watching people deal with like the the kind of post office yeah all the bureaucratic stuff of that was like and i basically wanted to make an episode of cops in burning man like where i film all the police officers as they respond to like you know like all of the but like the cops were really uncooperative the all the volunteer um kind of security people there were super uncooperative um yeah yeah it was like um sodom and gomorrah yeah it's not for me um i don't know i just i don't like sunlight uh any good celeb sightings no no good celeb sightings um yeah it was just i don't know i don't think i'll be back um we gotta go dude you want to go all right yeah i'll go back but now i'm getting so much burning man content on my phone right now yeah just like uh because i guess it's happening like in or like around now yeah people are disgusting i know yeah it is kind of like ending the world yeah and it's just like well that's the thing it's like they were blocking us from filming and like but they are like i can understand that people on privacy maybe don't want to have this experience documented but it's like they're just they're doing that in a way worse way you know yeah like and i don't know it's just such a bloated whatever i saw on youtube there's a q a you do you did with the the late frederick weisman yeah it might have been the last one he ever did it might have been the last which is crazy and he was being he was a little cagey i mean yeah weisman is like really impossible to do a q a with which is why i kind of love him because like every every q a i've ever seen like of him in person he's always like really difficult with the q a person yeah do you take inspiration from weisman though like a lot of his films are about institutions and like public institutions and i saw a lot of that in your new movie yes yeah i mean i love my son's stuff yeah is he your goat who's your goat he might be my goat borat maybe yeah he's my borat yeah um yeah i mean you know the stuff that weisman does is like it's just so smart you know and he just like i mean it's like a dream career even though he he didn't always have the money to make stuff it just like to spend your life documenting these institutions and like having them just go on pbs and then you know you make another one and it's just like i just thought it was so cool and you know obviously like formally his stuff is so amazing but i just love all the in-between stuff you know there's like the large set piece kind of moments in the in his movies and then all the stuff where he's like kind of scene setting and like establishing the environment right like it's always it's just like candy you know and i was just kind of like you know partially i'm just like you know what what if that's like all it is you know you said that for history of concrete its biggest inspiration was claude landsman's showa is that correct i haven't seen it you haven't seen it it's the best documentary of all time they say showa it's nine hours it's about the holocaust come on brother oh yeah i mean that's one thing as a documentarian is that like people always come up to you and tell you that they have footage from the holocaust or something you know or they're just like like family photos yeah of them like at the at the the common dots uh i don't know it's it's it seems like people just assume if you make non-fiction that like you want you will eventually be making a movie about the holocaust i think people just think you're jewish yeah that too you aesthetically present jewish yeah i know well yeah you're an irishman i learned it from you guys no uh yeah i'm an irish irish and czech and czech yeah what do you what side do you like better i don't know i went to warsaw for the first time recently that's not in neither place but but it was the closest to czech republic that i've ever been and um i don't know i've never been ireland so i feel like i think gaza is a lot like warsaw yeah well not current warsaw warsaw they were like kind of the anti-semitism in warsaw was really interesting they really rock with it still i i've i've never seen so much like they were like welcome to the nazis like let's let's get this let's get it going i had a really good time there but oh you did just yeah well they gave me you let it you could let it rip finally especially working in hollywood you definitely haven't pent up yeah exactly guys yeah i know yeah i can't yeah boys stop collaborating with you guys yeah but the no the funny thing they they the the festival that i was at set up a concrete walking tour of uh warsaw and we went to this one neighborhood and they were like they were like this neighborhood was actually leveled um and you know this is a jewish neighborhood and it was leveled and when they rebuilt it they used the ground up bones of the jews to make the concrete okay and um why didn't you put that in your movie i wasn't uh recording it i was already done i was showing i was there to show the movie well you could have added it that would have been good well this is this is it okay good well just when you're watching the movie think about the ground up bones of the jews yeah in the concrete uh but then they added in like another like really off-color comment where they were like again this is like a tour guide in front of a bunch of people and they were like um rumor has it that people live in these buildings will like often see the ghosts of jewish people when they're going to sleep oh no but only if they're late on the rent oh that's a good joke and like everyone there was laughing and i was just like what i was like this is like the most classic like anti-semitism like like i don't know it was a nice tour but yeah it was like kind of funny how casual it was what was the like scariest place you've been scariest felt like your safety was like does checking your bank statements feel like digging through a dusty attic full of forgotten subscriptions and old free trials experian can help take the pain out of canceling by handling it for you think of it as operation get your sanity back over 200 subscriptions are cancelable so get started in the experian app and see how much you could save results will vary not all subscriptions eligible savings not guaranteed paid membership with connected payment account required to see experian.com for details tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college that's why she shops at bj's wholesale club saving up to 25 off grocery store prices beef jerky microwave meals laundry pods even they can't screw up have you met my kids and with bj's gas she gets there for less they call me the road warrior this is your home road warrior mom the save join for just twenty dollars at bjs.com mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save this episode is brought to you by google chrome you think you know a browser but gemini and chrome that's new it can help you with practically anything on the web like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks gemini and chrome is here for it ready to make anything online make sense there's no place like chrome check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18 plus not like uh i don't know it would be cool how to you just like find yourself in sinaloa province mexico with the cartel yeah well that's what i remember how to go to a party so i decided to go fight for cocaine yeah where cocaine is like is born uh i don't know i usually have people around me that help me feel pretty safe but i don't know i mean the most unsafe i felt was like in college when i was making this documentary about balloon fetishists and they like i was started by making this documentary about a strip club and then i found these balloon fetish parties that would like happen there and then you know people who like were attracted to the inflation and popping of balloons and but then when i started to pivot to make it more about the lunars the strip club got really upset with me and like locked me in a room and like uh tried to basically i don't know man it was yeah they wanted me to make a commercial for them basically and i got really really upset um and thankfully the balloon fetishist that i was covering like knocked on the door and kind of came and took me out like before things got too heated anyway that was the scariest thing that comes to mind and the owner of that strip club was muhammad atta from the 9 11 attacks full circle no that's your club is now gone it's leveled oh really yeah it's i went there recently um it was under a highway in binghamton it was very like sin city it was really kind of cool looking oh like neon just like shack under a massive overpass that like you know girls girls girls kind of you know thing is is a amateur pornography is that documentary depends i don't know because the acting side what do you watch what are you thinking about it you don't watch any of that it's too contrived i think it can be i don't know i i feel like pornography yeah it can go either way do people assume you're a pornographer or is that when the cameras go off like right before i started the concrete movie i tried i was going to make a movie about the atlantic city convention center and go to every single event like over a course of a year and i was like all right day one i'm gonna go down i drove down i didn't know what the event was and i just showed up and i was like oh my god i'm gonna go down and i was like oh my god i'm gonna go down and i was like oh my god i'm gonna go down and i was like oh my god show up and uh i buy a ticket and then i walk in and it's like this like tween like cheerleading competition you know and i had my camera up just like and i was like i wanted to film the venue you know and then within four or five minutes all of the dads in the all the dads that were there were just like all right we found the guy the guy is he's he's finally here the pervert like we found the pervert and they all like came up to me and kicked me out and so i ended that project but it's like you still gave it the college try i had driven all the way down to ac yeah i was like you don't want to waste the gas yeah and i was just like all right i'll just shoot i'm gonna shoot some like employees that work here or something like that but like yeah i i was i mean i should have known but it's it's just like i don't know yeah they've got all angry at me for like not having a kid there or something but it's like he's being self-righteous like yeah it's like what you guys are doing is weird yeah it's like this is disgusting yeah like i am you should have made the documentary about them i don't want to get the dads the dads of pageant girls yeah i don't want to do that i don't want to like i don't know yeah i yeah you don't touch that stuff rapid fire what's your favorite place in new york city for what i don't know pass what's your favorite building my favorite building um my own really i don't know it's better than the chrysler building i they don't let me in there i mean it just looks amazing it looks great i like that with no windows in tribeca that like that weird like oh the verizon one yeah that verizon building that people think the cia runs yeah that one's crazy yeah um i don't know i haven't really thought about it my favorite place in new york is the shade the shade yeah yeah how do you on like on the street shoot so much with irish skin um this i i just i'm like uh i'm magnetized to the shade i don't know yeah i try to just shoot with even light so that's my favorite place in new york city i don't know that ends up being in either harsh sunlight or all shade a lot of the time you're basically like a war correspondent yeah i'm like a wardrobe card i'm a war photographer would you go to a war ever no what if i don't believe it i'm a pacifist yeah but what if you're trying to find out like how to like how to like how to dress cooler and then you find i don't know i you know i don't want to never say never i i just like people i'm glad that i don't need to make money or like art about like stuff that is like like war based a lot of the time yeah i just it feels like i mean a lot obviously credit to the people that do but i just like you know yeah yeah i don't like to shoot that um you recently teamed up with mayor zoron oh yes fellow friend friends i'm friends with him oh yeah he was on this wasn't he yeah that's cool yeah what you guys announced recently uh you affected public policy yeah yeah you want to say why which one the bqe the bqe and the scaffolding i can't take credit for the bqe but the scaffolding yeah i think i i yeah i i think i might have had something to do with that um i still don't yeah i don't know i mean he wants to take it down i think that's cool i'm still just trying to figure out what the whole plan is really the bqe yeah it's terrifying like i think it's really courageous of him to kind of put his finger on it because like i think like it's been in such a quagmire for so long because once you kind of touch it and say like this is my project then you're kind of responsible yeah you know and especially with all the kind of nimbyism i think around it it's like it's impossible to please everybody but you kind of need to be a bit kind of iron-fisted about it yeah but like i don't know i don't know if like just to just to explain you you might explaining like what we're talking about with the bqe oh yeah yeah um yeah there's a portion in my concrete movie about uh the bqe and the you know specifically the triple cantilever section um in brooklyn heights area um and how that is is uh very close to disaster you know and it seems like you know from what i was reading about the plan i think they want to rehabilitate it build a temporary highway kind of near firman street or something like that to take a lot of the traffic but i don't know it's like are we cursing that area for another 60 years you know with like the worst like traffic in the whole city and i don't know what's a solution is really because that's where so much uh like a freight and you know a lot of goods coming in out of the city or like through the tri-state area like you have to go through there in some like nasty way so i don't know i again i'm not like a civic engineer or i i don't like i'm just like a schmuck with like a camera under the bqe talking to people yeah wasn't it that the it was supposed to take the weight of like 10 percent of the amount of traffic or something i don't know if it's 10 is the right number but like the amount of traffic that it has every day yeah yeah i think it's like it was only rated for so many years like it's well beyond it's it's it's kind of expiration date um like 30 or so years beyond it and people are constantly using like overloading trucks to drive through it you know it's like there's usually like supposed to be a weight limit um and people just you know i don't know obviously violate that yeah um yeah you can see why it was so hard to get this movie uh um financed really at the end of cinema right where they cancel movies and tv yeah exactly do you feel like you're making work at the end of at the end of the world no i don't want to think about it like that i think we're i think it's kind of i think it's crazy that we're all born now yeah i think it's a crazy time to be alive i think it's cool you know i kind of do miss like just going to the movie theater and just seeing whatever crap they give us yeah like i just go see like the scorpion king with the rock and just because they gave it to us soul plane but this is going back to the avatar thing yeah where i think movie theaters got too big like and kind of all congealed into these like amc type things yeah i like the the wall-e seats i don't like to fall asleep when i when i go to see a movie i don't know it just like it puts me out yeah i feel like we just need to open more small movie theaters well you want to give a little plug not trying to give a plug i'm just saying why don't you give a little plug we'll sell some tickets run don't walk to low cinema that is a nice small movie theater that has character it's got personality and original programming that will knock your socks off yeah and regal essex uh regal essex is also cool i support i support all kinds of venues that's my that's my uh that's my uh well the best theater in new york city was court street i don't know if you do you remember court street yeah i saw it was anarchy yeah i saw some big ones there yeah yeah i saw i remember i saw one of the john wicks there there was a lady who just had it like basically like 12 tons of money and she was like oh my god i'm gonna go to court street i'm gonna go to court up her wares of like she had thanksgiving basically that she brought into the theater and uh she uh the first time he kills someone she goes okay there you go and then so i started laughing and then uh laurence fishburne shows up like uh like uh 10 minutes later she goes and they got morpheus wow i think she said murphius i saw john wick in that same theater with nathan yeah at the premiere and or john wick three i think it was john wick three were you there kiana was there i know i didn't know you weren't there for that no no no i wasn't that was a big event that was like right when we were making the first season yeah yeah it's a great theater yeah so as for the new film uh what was it like first of all working with kim kardashian huge i've heard that kim kim k do you love her what was that this one she she's she's she's as fire in real life as she is on the on the silver screen ravishing ravishing yeah did you form any type of relationship do you think she's gonna see the movie i don't know if she'll see it i'm kind of worried about what's when this movie comes out really um i don't know i mean i don't think i have anything to be really scared of but there's like you know there's stuff in it that like you know there's there are public figures in there that you know that may not know that they're in it yeah you know that'd be good for the movie i don't even know if i should say that yeah but yeah i don't know if you're like a public figure you had a big event other people are filming it's like usually fine ray j kardashian yeah she jacob lord yeah he's in there i don't know it's just like a it was a freakish kind of environment you know i don't know what i was doing in there or why i had like a name card uh and why i was sitting one seat away from chris kardashian or you know chris yeah kardashian jenner chris jenner i don't fucking know yeah um that's the mom yeah yeah did you like make any connections do you bring your card at least no john wilson hbo movie theater movie theater owner i don't know i mean i i didn't really want to network when i was there i think i just wanted to take in the scene i've just never seen an uninterrupted of kim kardashian before and i was that's why i was just kind of excited to capture that and i think that's gonna that's gonna sell some tickets i think that's gonna sell some if you guys want an uninterrupted shot uninterrupted raw uh looking you straight in the eye the one thing that really hung with me after the movie was over what do you what what part do you think that was tattoos the tattoos no no okay the judge oh yeah yeah yeah that stuck with you oh i'm still thinking about it it's really interesting that's the that's the thing i was talking about where it's like you just i stuck i i filmed with that guy for like a year and a half and i i really did genuinely just meet him in the liquor store and like you know but he was like a great swimming buddy because he was super positive all the time and you know he loved yeah he loved everything he was doing really sweet relationship with him and he was like oh my god i'm so happy to be with you i'm so happy to be with you it was really nice yeah but then this thing happens in his life that is just like i'm kind of like how does this what does this mean is it spoiler to yeah yeah it's spoiler okay we're not gonna say but like that's all i'll say i do and we can cut this if you want but my favorite line from the movie is a line that you deliver what's that related to the aftermath of the judges uh you know whatever the thing that happens to the judge can you guess what line that is oh what advice would you give to an aspiring young asian judge my girlfriend was in the other room and she like walked and she's like what and i was like i screamed that's the best line the whole movie yeah i'm glad that that i'm glad you like that that was like that i was just like so i i had no idea what i was doing in that room and i was just like that's the product of like like the most insane boredom and and kind of like it was genuinely like the only thing i could think of to say i was like trying to relate with anybody there but it was like i didn't speak mandarin you know it's the best character john which is like you're in a room full of people that you are are clearly like because of language barriers and because of like cultural barriers like you're an outlaw liar and you're trying to relate to someone by saying what what advice would you give to a aspiring young asian judge yeah uh okay but he didn't really have you guys could figure this out i i like the little easter eggs you guys can figure out what that means um uh i guess in conclusion like uh a lot of the new film is about your struggles to find people to back the new film and like to finance the new film and to make the new film in your career itself like what what is the thing that's propelling you and motivating you like what like do things occur to you or is there like i still haven't done this you know i have two big things i'm working on right now that came a lot easier so far it has nothing to do with kim kardashian yeah two yeah yeah no i just uh i don't know i you know i don't leave much of the imagination in the concrete moment i don't know i don't leave much of the imagination in the concrete moment i don't leave much of the imagination in the concrete moment i don't leave much of the imagination in the concrete about like how i came up with this concept and why it was so difficult and i think there is something really masochistic there you know just like like if i had to pitch it's just something i like about doing that you know it's like what's the hardest possible thing to make funny and interesting to people in certain ways and it's like if i had to pitch any number of the i have two episodes as a standalone movie i would have had the same problem yeah and it's like i don't know so i kind of i understand how to work within what people want i think to a degree now and i i kind of i want to experiment within that universe a tiny bit to be really vague well it's a fantastic movie and i i don't love it for everyone to go see it um i was thinking we could we're gonna go all the way all the way with it i was thinking we could close on one thing what i'm gonna try to close on one thing and i'm gonna try to close on one thing and i'm gonna try to close on one thing call blade and see if he picks up call who blade okay he said at the end of the night he was like take my number and i was like wow he wants to be friends with me because i was asking him questions all night it wasn't some kind of magic number i don't know i hope it's just all right let's just try all right he picks up and then we could just leave him a voicemail he's calling david blaine i feel like we left an impression leave him a voicemail just say like how much i'm just thinking like i don't know what just say what happened maybe he disappeared what his voicemail was like telephone number six four no no "at the tone please record your message when you finished recording simply hang up or press pound for further options" uh hello david uh my name is adam freeland we met like a couple years ago i'm with my friend john wilson who i was with when we met you and we were just uh you uh your ears must be burning we were just talking about how phenomenal it was to meet you he uh john just wanted to say hi he's a filmmaker and he wanted to send you his video so i'm gonna go ahead and pick up the phone and we'll see you in a few minutes and he wanted to send you his new his new movie his new movie oh yeah history of concrete so uh yes hello david blaine this is john wilson i really would like you to see in my new movie the history of concrete i think you'll really enjoy it it's a magical film and being a magician yourself i think you'll really relate to it um and i am also surprised that your mailbox uh is not full uh so i hope this is your real number i think it's your real i mean it's okay uh anyway uh hope this message finds you well uh if you wanna uh uh my number is 702 uh it is three you can say your number on tuesday uh afternoon and i'm getting married next month also i don't know why i said that oh okay all right bye i don't know that should work wow john wilson everyone thanks so much for watching i hope you enjoyed the video and i'll see you in the next one bye does checking your bank statements feel like digging through a dusty attic full of forgotten subscriptions and old free trials experience can help take the pain out of canceling by handling it for you think of it as operation get your sanity back over 200 subscriptions are cancelable so get started in the experience app and see how much you could save results will vary not all subscriptions eligible savings not guaranteed paid membership with connected payment account required to see experience.com for details Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, saving up to 25% off grocery store prices. Beef jerky, microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Have you met my kids? And with BJ's gas, she gets there for less. They call me the road warrior. This is your home, road warrior mom. Home of the Save. Join for just $20 at BJ's.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's. Home of the Save.