The Wicker Man w/ Jonah Ray (HDTGM Matinee)

You know that feeling when you're watching a movie and you can't stop analyzing every choice?

Well, that's where Claude comes in.

It's the AI that helps you dig deeper into the things that fascinate you.

Whether you're researching the production history behind Hollywood's strangest decisions or exploring the context that made these films possible, Claude works with you to uncover the stories behind the stories.

Try Claude for free at claude.ai/slash hdtgm and see why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner.

What if you had the smartest smartest Wi-Fi?

If you did, it'd be Xfiniti and it'd come with their best state-of-the-art equipment.

It would boost speeds to the devices that needed them most, whether you were streaming, gaming, or gaming while pretending to work.

It would even power your mobile connection so you could bring faster, secure Wi-Fi speeds with you where you use it most.

If you had the smartest Wi-Fi, everything would work together seamlessly to keep you connected.

Xfinity, imagine that.

Restrictions apply.

Tron Aries has arrived.

Hostiles.

Repeat, we have hostiles.

Mayday, Mayday.

Oh my god, there's hundreds of them.

This Friday.

We came here from the digital world.

The war for our world begins.

What in God's name is that?

You and I, Max.

This is the end to this world.

No, it's not.

I can help you.

Tron Aries.

We did PG-13.

Maybe inappropriate for children under 13.

In theaters Friday, get tickets now.

Nicholas Cage goes to a pagan island island run by women to solve a crime of a girl that may or may not exist and definitely not get stung by bees.

We saw the Wicker Man, so you know what that means.

Hello, people of Earth, and welcome to How did this get made the show where we try to make sense of the movies that make no sense we have actually a really big show for you today not only are we going to talk about the wicker man but we have a special call-in guest that's right the producer and co-writer of skyline is going to call in and talk a little bit about the movie answer some of our questions and we will get to that a little bit later in the episode we got a lot of show today as always I am Paul Scheer and I am joined by June Diane Rayfield and Jason Manzoukis how are you guys hi Paul hello what's going on?

Nothing much for all of our new listeners here on Earwolf.

This is how the show works.

We watch a bad movie, we sit around, we talk about it.

That's it.

Each week we have a special guest.

This week is no different.

We have a fantastically, a funtastic.

Fantastic.

Great guest.

You know him from the Nerdist podcast.

Please welcome Jonah Ray.

Hello.

How are you?

Good day.

It's me, Fontastic Jon Ray.

Don't you ever call me Fantastic.

I like Fontastic.

Well, all right, guys, the Wicker Man.

Oh, guys.

Where do we start on this movie?

I mean.

Well, the beginning of the movie, which has nothing to do with the rest of the movie, opens up in this coffee shop, and it's like he's looking at a self-help book on tape, but it's like the weird dialogue that was like written in a high school play.

Like, if I just ate one of them burgers, I'd be in a trance, too.

Like, just, yeah, it's like the bad part of a horror movie where you just like get to the horror part of the movie, you know.

And you know that that guy was Aaron Eckhart in the.

That's because it's a Neil Abutte movie, I assumed.

I'm I'm like, but I, but, but it did that thing to me where I was like, I'm sorry, the guy at the diner was Aaron Eckhart?

The first guy, not the

cop, the guy that pays first and leaves is Aaron Eckhart.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

And I was like, oh, because it's Aaron Eckhart, I was like, oh, that's part of the movie.

It took me a long time to be like, he's not coming back.

Yeah, yeah.

It's almost like that opening scene was just like, hey, this is what happens when our characters are not in the movie.

It had nothing to do with anything, just a small character.

So it wasn't like somebody was like, hey, Aaron Eckhart's going to stop by and say hi today.

Should we just shoot a scene?

Why not?

I mean, we've got some wardrobe.

What if we just sat in that diner across the street?

I love the picture that was on the cover of the Everything's Okay.

I want to know who that is.

You know, it's someone's friend or dad.

I love it because this gesture was so like, I know.

I know it's not.

It's not.

And that only comes back once.

One time.

Yeah.

One time.

And then there's like a comedy of errors where it's like, it's called Everything is Okay.

All right.

Well, the here's, I mean, basically, the movie starts off with Nicholas Cage as a motorcycle cop who may or may not be bored with his job.

I don't know what they were trying to set up there, but a girl throws a doll out the window.

He picks up the doll

of a moving car.

Yes, yes, sorry, of a moving car.

He picks up the doll, he pulls over the car, and he gives the doll back to the girl who was very rude.

Very rude girl.

Very precocious girl.

You think it'd be foreshadowing, but it's not really.

Really?

And then she throws the doll back out the window of the car nick cage goes to pick it up and the car is promptly hit by a giant like tractor trailer and the car explodes yeah killing two people inside not killing two people but then not killing two people

wait a minute this is immediately where the movie becomes like absolutely untenable for me because i was like he's then like he's been given like commendations and awards yes for what though because he's like well this they're still having fun the bodies in the car.

And they're like, no.

The charred car had no bodies in it.

So basically, he was exploded next to an empty car and got citations for it.

He tried.

He got an effort.

He seemed to hit it.

For what, though?

By the way, it's

outside eyes.

He caused the accident.

He did.

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

So that's what he was commended for.

He was commended for not getting hit by that Mac truck, I think.

And then it's like, then the movie again, it's like, have we started this movie?

I'm not sure.

Like a cop comes over to his house.

This is all just, you're, what am I watching?

Like, and he gets this letter from an ex that he reads.

It's like a letter.

It's a wonderful calligraphy.

I was just going to say, the letter is like from Anne of Green Gables.

Yeah, it's like so

much.

It's nice quill pen writing, I thought.

And Nicholas Cage gives one of his best reactions of all time, like reading this letter.

He's like, oh, oh, and his hands are to his head.

He's like, oh, the letter basically says, we had a daughter.

I didn't tell you, but now she's kidnapped.

Come find her.

I live on this crazy island.

Oh, she doesn't say that we had a daughter.

She says, I had a daughter after we left.

And that was the strangest storytelling.

One of the many reveals.

Oh, I don't make sense and that's a good idea.

And then he brings the letter and shows it to his buddy, and his buddy's like, I mean, ignore this, right?

I mean, like, who is this?

But is she an ex-girlfriend?

He goes, no.

Ex-fiancé.

And I was like, no, fuck.

And then he says, and then he says, he's like, my ex-fiancé, we were close.

Oh, I'd hope so.

I'd hope you were close before you got engaged to the lady.

It was, I feel like for like three quarters of this movie Neil But was secretly giving Nicholas Cage like downers because his performance is like really kind of sleepy

and then the last 30 minutes I feel like he just gave him like crack cocaine and was just like go mental everything's crazy.

Well, yeah, cuz it feels like the the his sleepiness feels like they taped the rehearsals They were just like or I'm just reading this.

I'm just reading this for the first time.

I don't know

yeah, okay, all right, yeah, and everyone's saying saying stuff with importance, but I feel like no one really knows what they're saying.

It's like the guy, his buddy, though, is the is like a comic actor in the middle of a movie that has no comic actors where he's like, Oh, the plot thickens.

I didn't even know there was a plot.

Yeah, he goes, I didn't know you had a plot.

He goes, I didn't know either.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, they're buddies.

Now I'm realizing, so he must have been suffering.

Was he suffering from anxiety before this all happened?

Is that why?

Yeah, because then he was on medication after he's been wearing sweaters and wearing comfy comfy sweaters.

But is he suffering from anxiety or

does he just have crazy hallucinations?

Because this whole movie, he's having, like, his hallucinations have hallucinations.

He hallucinates that he jumps into the water to find a dead girl.

Then he comes back out.

And then

he's like, oh, God, that was a bad hallucination.

Looks down, finds a dead girl in his life.

Then he wakes up again.

He's like, oh, okay, I'm back.

No, but he does that reaction where it's like, it's like, it happens all the time where he's like, oh, man.

Yeah.

Again.

And he just has a pop a pillow immediately.

Whenever he has a hallucination, he pops a pillow.

But you think it's going to be like a pain medication, but not like a crazy medication.

I feel like the movie, every 15 minutes, somebody, or every couple of days, somebody would whisper into Neil Butzi, like, hey, this is a horror movie.

And he'd be like, oh, fuck, fuck.

I'm sorry.

Sorry.

We got to shoot something kind of scary today.

You know, like, I feel like he would forget and then be like, well, waterlog one of the kids and put him in Cage's lap.

let's roll on that do it do it it really makes those that's he so nicholas cage goes to find this girl who's on this

pretty much female run pagan island that makes honey not the island where wonder woman is from no no no different different pagans and he gets on the island by bribing a helicopter pilot who's like i wouldn't want to i can't i can't risk my pilot's license i can't i can't get i can't bring you there i can't bring you there and then nick cage is like how about i hear 150 150 bucks and he's like oh okay yeah sure

like that was it like this guy's whole life and contract 150 bucks and then like one of the worst green screen flying shots oh just the

terrible yeah terrible yeah and it wasn't a helicopter it was a seaplane oh it was a seaplane you're right and now they get to this island run by women and this is where the movie takes off to full-on weird.

Yeah.

One of my favorite lines is he arrives on the island.

He's like trying to walk.

He's trying to get his bearings.

And he goes to like the bar or whatever and the woman is like this here is mead it's one of the pleasures of our island and i was like what

the fuck is happening it's the same woman who when he says do you think

like the black kathy bates yeah yeah

he goes do you think you can like i need a room for the night do you think you can swing it and she's like swing it what is that city talk yeah yeah i was like what

this movie this is like the island of furtive glances to everyone here it's like a lot of close-ups on people's eyes going from left to right like ooh ooh ooh

And it's super weird, like when he first gets to the island, like these guys are carrying a bleeding bag.

And it's like it's wiggling around, and then they're talking to him, like, oh, you're a cop, aren't you?

And he goes, what's in the bag?

A shark?

Like, that was his verse.

No, the best was the sassy 20s response.

Like, it's like, he's all, it helps to look at the picture when you're trying to figure it out.

And then they're just like, hmm, huh.

Oh, you know.

By the way, he keeps on asking everybody on that island

if they recognize this picture of Rohan.

It's like, there are 12 people on this island.

It's a population of 20 people.

Arrived on the line.

They're all lying to you.

And immediately treats everyone like they're a hostile witness.

He has, A, no jurisdiction.

None.

Zero.

They keep on telling him that, too.

He's like, I'm a cop from the mainland.

It's like, you're from California.

We're an island off of Washington.

This is private property.

He has no business being there.

It's also like,

and I just don't understand why he didn't question what the fuck was happening on this island.

He's Like this child is the least of our concerns.

There's systematic child abuse and potentially like there are bigger things happening.

Well look when he goes to the shark bag when he goes what's in the bag the shark and they open it for him he looks at it he's like oh and then he busts

at him but what was in that fucking bag embarrassment for Nick Cage I really wanted him to I kept on imagining the movie was a lot more fun for me when I imagined him as the same character from Bad Lieutenant.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

That's exactly what I was thinking too.

Like this is a prequel to him.

Yeah, exactly.

This is before he gets really into drugs and really crazy.

I also love that he wore that wool suit like every single day without eyelashes.

And that terrible hair.

Every day he had to get up and put that horrible hair on.

That hair was like jet black.

That was a black that does not occur in nature.

Now, once again, like these people are being weird to him, but they're not being outrightly...

They're not being outright mean to him.

And when he does that thing with the mead, he takes the glass of mead and starts banging it on the thing like a gab like,

all right, you're all suspects.

I'm interviewing all of you.

It's like, what?

Where did that come from?

Have you ever had mead, Paul?

Oh, it's crazy.

It's tough stuff.

I just thought, like, I was like, of course, they want to kill this guy.

He's abusing them.

I have a clip actually from when Nicholas Cage breaks into a schoolhouse to question a teacher and kindergarten students.

He gets all the girls from Village of the Damned.

Yes.

Will you tell us what man represents in his purest form?

Yes.

Phallic symbol, phallic symbol.

You stand there and frighten my children.

Sorry, I'm Edward Malis from California.

Oh, I'm a policeman.

What?

See my badge?

Put that back.

Put that back.

Sorry, you're gonna have to bear with me.

There you go.

Little liars.

He's accusing the kids.

And you're the biggest liar of them all.

I am warning you.

You tell me another and I'll rescue myself.

That is a promise, Miss.

Rose, sister, Rose.

Of course.

Another plant.

Rose.

But that is...

That is the level of dialogue that you're getting.

That is the scene where he interrogates people in a school, like you said, girls from the children of the dam.

And he's calling everybody liars.

What has been cut out of that scene?

Yes.

I mean, like, I can't believe we didn't keep it in.

Shame on us.

Is the part where he opens a desk and finds a bird in it?

Wild.

leave that in,

but

you can't see him.

You can't see it.

He opens up a desk, yeah, and it goes, oh, why was that crow in there?

It's like, because we were trying to keep it and see how long it would live inside that desk.

And he's like, what a terrible assignment.

Everybody's weird.

He also like erases the blackboard and writes his own island.

Like, what?

I had a fantasy that that island was there just to try and figure out a theorem, like a mathematical theorem that was going to solve world hunger.

And they almost had it.

He's like, hold on, he just erases all the work.

Well, again, he writes nothing important.

It just is the name.

And then, like, and then, like, he goes and gets the,

they say, no, they never heard of this girl, they never heard of this girl.

And then he gets the class registry and he sees her name.

It's just a line.

It's beautifully written.

Beautifully written.

And then just it's just crossed out with one line.

Well, this is the.

Wait, can I ask you guys a question?

Because there was something I was not tracking in this movie.

For a while, I felt like they were saying she had

already been killed the year prior, and that's why the harvest was so bad.

And then it was that she was going to be killed now because the harvest was so bad.

Somebody explained that to me?

I see a little girl.

There's a rebirth and birth thing.

Didn't they have that whole thing where they're like, you die, the celebration of death, and rebirth?

Yeah.

So maybe she was killed and then rebirth, but then they have to kill her again because the harvest is bad.

I don't know.

I couldn't figure it out because I was like, at a certain point, I was like, oh, that's kind of cool.

She's dead already.

Yeah.

So he's searching for a dead girl.

Cool.

Okay.

And then, nope, she's not dead.

Why?

Who knows?

And the mother's just like, that's not her grave.

And he's like, okay, I guess I believe you now.

Rowan?

Rowan?

Also, that red sweater.

That red sweater showed up in like five different sites.

He's always on your spot.

He's always a different condition.

Well, he definitely is having these hallucinations.

But then the hallucinations turn out not to be hallucinations because they are real.

Like,

he is finding the red sweater all over the place.

Like, he is seeing this girl.

And I mean, the whole...

The island is terrible about hiding clues, by the way, too.

If they wanted to cover up that this girl was here, when the guy comes to the island, just hide that, I'll hide all the clues.

There's a lot of brush you can put over things.

Yeah, basically,

everywhere he went, it was like, I gotta find a picture.

Oh, here it is.

Like, nothing was ever in the game.

I mean, like, without spoiling the end of the movie, spoiler alert, kill him.

That being said, like, I'm assuming, like, that's the point of it.

They want him to find these clues.

They want to put him through the movie.

The whole movie was the whole eggs now.

But then, what did who fucking knows?

Why are we going through all this trouble?

Because it just to burn him in the Wicker Man, which spoiler alert.

But I mean, that's basically the end.

They burn him alive in the Wicker Man.

They go, you came here to be burned.

Yeah, and you realize

the last 10 years of his life were all set up for this moment.

Which is crazy.

I mean, first of all, I want to go back to one other thing, too, which is about 25 minutes into the movie, they do black and white flashbacks to the first 25 minutes of the movie.

Like, literally, they have a five-minute sequence that relives the first 10 minutes of the film.

It's like that crappy friend.

It's like, remember when we were at that party?

It was great, man.

We were sitting here.

Yeah, man.

It was great.

It was a good time.

I love that there's the shit in this movie where Nick Cage,

it's lost at its worst.

When something obvious happens that you should just ask a definitive question about and you simply don't.

It's like he's talking to Molly Parker in the school, right?

Who's the teacher?

Then he walks down the hill and sees Molly Parker again because apparently there's twins everywhere on this island.

Oh, yeah.

He sees sees Molly Parker again.

Oh, maybe the little girl was a twin.

Maybe I was thinking that there was two of them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Punch twins.

And the creepy blind twins.

Oh, I didn't like that idea.

Yeah, no, they weren't any good.

Anyway, so he sees Molly Parker again, and he goes, hey, wait, didn't I just talk to you?

And she's like, no.

And he's like, all right.

Yeah.

And I'm like, wait, you are literally the worst police officer.

You're a police detective.

And you are doing the worst job.

What is it?

He's a bike cop.

That's also not putting anything together.

I mean, because you're right, there were twins.

Everywhere he went, all he saw were twins.

So, yeah, he's not, there's nothing connected.

There's also like Frances Conroy talks to Frances Connery in her house.

She's the doctor and photographer.

And then two girls in beekeeper outfits show up and like escort her away.

And I'm like, scary thing.

Scary beekeeper outfits.

Scary nice.

And instead of following the people, he breaks into her house.

I was like, hiding behind the bush and running.

The worst.

Yeah, I also,

back of the scene with the bar when when he's like yelling at everybody, and then the bee goes and like he slams the mug down on the bee and kills it.

She's like, why would you do that?

I really like when I first saw the movie, I was like, oh, they're all bees in human form.

Oh, this is gonna be great.

Bevy, nope, no.

I did love, though, during the End Harvest Festival when they were all in their costumes getting ready to kill the Worker Man, that there were two little girls dressed up as bees.

Oh, those are, yeah, no.

My girlfriend Deanna, she's like, we have to be those bees for Halloween.

Like all these elaborate, weird, like, carnival costumes, and then just like store bombs.

Yeah, do like blind melon

costumes.

Yeah, exactly.

On October 17th, discover the secret behind the mask in Black Phone 2.

Critics are calling it a cold-blooded masterpiece, and it's the rare sequel that's scarier than the original.

Ethan Hawk is pure nightmare fuel and returns as the Grabber and Mason Thames as Finney.

This time, Vengeance isn't going to let death stand in its way.

Spine-chilling and heart-pounding, it'll get under your skin and into your dreams.

Scott Derrickson's anticipated sequel asks the question: Do you you know what happens when you die?

Find out on October 17th when BloodClone 2 arrives in theaters.

This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace.

Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online, whether you're starting out or growing your business.

I love Squarespace, okay?

We are going on tour and I was able to update all my websites.

Dinosaur Improv, how did this get made?

Paul Shear, with the click of a button.

Now, Squarespace gives you everything you need to offer services and get paid.

You can showcase consultations, events, and more with customizable websites that are built to attract clients and grow your business.

And let me tell you, they are now allowing you to get paid faster with professional invoices and easy online payments.

That's right.

I have never had.

such a good looking website, okay?

Squarespace is the only space that you need to be in if you have a business space.

That's not a line from them.

That's a line from me.

And that's why I don't work in ad copy.

Check out squarespace.com slash bonkers for a free trial.

And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code bonkers to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

If you're still overpaying for wireless, it's time to say yes to saying no.

At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no.

No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS.

Plans start at $15 a month.

All plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.

Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts.

It's that easy, people.

Not only is it easy, you're going to be saving some money like our producer Scott, who switched to Mint Mobile.

He says his sel service is just as good as before and it costs $40

less a month.

All right.

All of a sudden, Scott, he's going to get one of those rooms like Scrooge McDuck has, you know, and start diving into coins, which I imagine would hurt.

But you know what?

He's saving money.

Are you ready to dive into some hard coins?

Well, get ready to say yes to saying no.

Make the switch at mintmobile.com/slash hdtgm.

That's mintmobile.com/slash hdtgm.

Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month, limited time, new customer offer for the first three months only.

Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on the unlimited plan.

Taxes and fees extra.

See Mint Mobile for details.

Well, I mean, the whole idea too that, I mean, this is the whole rub of the story: is that Nicholas Cage is allergic to bees

and he's going to an island where their main output is honey and bees.

I like that shot of him putting, like, he has his gun in, and then he gets like the little bee allergens.

Yeah, like he has an EpiPen with him.

And his EpiPen, by the way, is giant.

Like, he has like a metal box with two, like, it was like a comical-sized box of EpiPen.

It's like, all right.

Well, I feel like they made so many, like, wickedly obvious moves to be like, and here is his B medicine.

You better have this.

But he also doesn't travel with his B medicine.

No.

The B medicine stays in the hotel.

He doesn't travel with his tapes, though.

Yeah, yeah.

He does.

Oh my God.

That's what they're doing.

That's the craziest moment.

The morning that he woke up in that hotel lodge place, he looks downstairs over the banister and those two fucking creepy twins start talking in unison.

And his response is, who moved my everything okay tapes?

Like that is.

He was really worried about who took his.

And then why did did they take his audiobook?

Why did it be the great scheme of everything?

Take his gun.

Take his gun away from him.

Well, maybe that'll make him feel safer.

One of the best moments, though, is toward the end when Sister Rose is, I think she purchased him on our bicycle.

He gets so mad at her and he wants that bike.

He's like, get off the bunny.

He pulls a gun at a woman.

He pulls a gun.

He's on a bicycle.

He's going to take her bike.

Step away from the bicycle.

My favorite crazy crazy girl.

Which was a callback to Con Air.

Step away from the bunny rabbit.

Oh, my God.

that's amazing my one of my favorite things is anytime nicholas cage was anywhere and heard a sound he would think it was his daughter yeah

it's just like who he has no connection he's on a fucking island with trees and birds and animals

and i mean also he loves to get information but cut people off at the same time he's like just tell me what i need to know and it's like okay well listen okay where's the thing all right well i'll tell you now we all go over here okay shut up where do you go like he's always cutting them off in the middle of what they're saying I love the bike riding.

Every time he was on a bike, me and Deanna would just crash.

He's on like an old-school bike.

And you don't even see when he originally gets the bike because

he shows up on a bike.

Can we also talk about his love interest?

Who looks like Fiona Apple?

Yeah, yeah.

And they met 10 years ago, which means that she was like in her early 20s.

If not younger.

She's a child.

And Nicholas Cage is just, you're like, oh, 10 years ago, like they met.

And she, they have the most awkwardness.

Okay, that was so upsetting that was so upset there was that it was like mormons

yeah there was also him being like what happened you know like he wants to talk about how she left him at the altar or whatever

Her daughter is missing.

There are things that are more important right now than her giving you an excuse as to why she left.

What about the tongueless men?

Yeah.

Yeah, there were so many other bigger things going on on this island, but like, and he was only concerned with the very basis of like, why don't you call in some backup?

I mean, first of all, he doesn't have a phone that works, which is uh well, they didn't get reception, man.

Yeah, they don't get reception, I have a stripary.

But, um, this is this is one of the scenes he finds um, the doll that was thrown out the window earlier in the movie.

Uh, he digs through a grave and then finds that doll again, but the face is slightly burnt off of it.

And also, he thinks at this point the girl was burned to death, maybe, maybe, right?

So, she was burned with the doll, she will, or she, she will, or she will be burned to death because Molly Parker is like she'll burn to death and he was like what did you say and she said she'll she'll she she burns to death

like really like really awesome

she's right behind me I'm sorry to backtrack can someone explain to me the wordplay of the day of tomorrow I wrote that down

I don't understand he was like what happens the day after tomorrow it's like oh in two days Yeah, nothing.

No, no, I mean tomorrow.

Oh, tomorrow?

Like it was like there was some weird ass.

And then take me with you.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Lily Sobieski.

All right, well, this is a clip of him trying to get some information about the burnt doll from this girlfriend.

This movie became amazing.

Yeah, at this point, it kicks in here in the third act where it goes bonkers.

Here you go.

How to get burned.

How to get burned?

How to get burned?

How to get burned?

I don't know.

Tell me.

Can we just play it again?

Because I need to hear this again.

How to get burned.

How to get burned.

How to to get burned!

I don't know!

Tell me!

Wait a second.

Is he talking to the Fiona Apple woman?

Oh my god, I forgot about that.

Holy shit.

You don't know where she's coming from the entire time.

The entire time, you're like, is she just really bad at covering up the conspiracy?

Is she happy that he's going to die?

Is she sad?

No idea.

No idea.

My favorite part is when he's interrogating someone

and they're doing gardening and some bugs fly into his face.

So he's like asking her questions and a bug flies into his eyes.

like, oh, fuck.

Yeah, yeah.

That's foreshadowing.

That's foreshadowing.

I love that it's the middle of the day.

He finally is talking to Ellen Burston, who runs the place, right?

Yes, yeah.

She's fucking beautiful.

Look at radio.

Radio until she's wearing like football face to the front.

No, but it's like her.

Is she like cheering on like fucking Utah or something?

Like what is happening?

She had like she was a cheerleader for Miami Dolphins there.

I was gonna say it was kind of like a brave heart because she's from a bunch of people.

They may never take our lives, but they'll never take our honey.

Anyway, he's talking to Ellen Burst and he's like, so do I have your permission to dig up the grave?

And she's like, well, I think I already gave it to you, right?

It's the middle of the afternoon.

And he's like, well, okay, got to dig up that grave.

Guess I'll do it in the middle of the night.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, near the creepy cemetery.

He literally goes and digs up a child.

Like, you're a police officer.

Like, there's a worst time to gather evidence.

Yeah, well, I said to you, and I said, like, I felt like this whole movie was like, like, they shot it in order and then they edited it way out of order.

It's like, when did he get the bike?

Why is it night?

How many days has he been here?

Like, is it night already?

Like, what is he doing to pass his time during this?

Like, how he was planning on enforcing, should he figure out this crime, like, what was the plan beyond, like, figuring it out?

He could not enforce anything.

No, it's nailpower.

But when does, I guess, my biggest question still is, what is a hallucination and what is not a hallucination?

Because he gets stung by bees.

Oh, yeah.

He runs into this, like, beef and he's like, oh, bees.

And he starts running and he runs deeper into the beef field, gets more stings.

He passes out and he wakes up with only one bee sting on him.

Oh, wait a minute.

And then and then and then Francis Connery is like, oh, we did it the old-fashioned way.

And I was like, what is that?

Yeah,

I'm so interested in that.

And then he walks around the house and he opens up all these weird doors.

Oh, the beard.

And there's

a woman with a bee beard.

And then a guy in a bed with like bee stings all over his face.

And an eye missing.

Yeah, and I was wondering if he wasn't going to be able to do it.

And then he walks by Ellen Burston's room and doesn't go in.

No.

And he's trying to find her.

And Ellen Burstyn is in a bed that's like

a shining light and she's like sitting in this beautiful...

She's the Queen Bee.

Yeah, it's oh let's be honest the the movie is she is the guys

uses men for a

movie is pretty gorgeous though It's like if you're not paying attention, it seems like a capable really well-shot movie.

Yeah, the silence of sets yeah like the locations was all it's all very good.

I want to go there wherever that is

Disney's Summer Isle Summer Isle.

I did think that one of the cool moments in the movie that I did enjoy actually is when he's getting stung by the bees and is like racing through the bee fields and then it pulls out into like an overhead shot.

That's it.

And the trails that walk through that area are all honeycombed.

That was.

So like the whole field looks like a honeycomb.

I thought that was neat.

Wait, so I'm sorry, did we ever find out what the old-fashioned way was too?

Okay.

My theory on it was...

You guys watched the unrated cut.

Well, I didn't.

My theory was that

she transferred all of his bee stings to that guy in the room who had all the bee stings because he had no bee stings on him.

Like he was getting stung in the face and he like two minutes later he was totally fine.

I don't get it, guys.

All right, but I did.

I really wish I did, guys.

I think there's something there, but you just got to be real dumb.

Now, third act kicks in, and it's amazing.

Like, he is having a full-on meltdown.

He gets into like a karate fight with Lily Sobieski, like, literally, kicking her in the gut, and she flies back in.

With the weirdest, longest pass-out scene, where she just keeps on going, huh,

by the way, what was her end game?

Because she seemed to want out, and then no, she didn't.

That's the end scene.

Who fucking knows?

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

Also, to upset the patriarchy?

I don't understand, man.

It made no sense.

And then the best part of the movie, in my opinion, is after he cold cocks another woman, he steals her bear costume.

Oh, yeah.

He puts on a bear costume to get in a processional of other people.

That's where the B costumes were.

He's in a bear costume.

He's the only bear, though.

He's the only bear because

he's stealing the mother's

sister Beach's bear costume.

Which is a great conversation they have.

Oh, I can't fit in the bear guys.

I'm going to have to get some bear guys.

That is so crazy because that is one of the only scenes in the movie in which we're watching people that aren't Nicholas Cage.

And it stuck out like you almost never have scenes that don't feature him in it, right?

Because that would be misleading.

But there is one scene where Sister Beach and the other woman are talking, and it's all about how Sister Beach can't fit in the bear costume anymore, and it's really big, and blah, blah, blah.

And then, oh, here's Nicholas Cage.

Yeah.

So he can get it.

It misses the the conversation.

I was like, This is

absolute insanity that this is what they're doing.

It's so crazy.

I mean, but he's even in when he's in that bear costume, you can see his face.

Oh, yeah,

it's not Sister Beach.

But he then, when he runs into Fiona Apple, lifts the mask up to be like, Even though we're walking in public with everybody else

on Threatening Island, I'm going to show you my face so you know, hey, it's me.

I thought, I thought I told you to stay at the house.

And she's like, I had to come because we're about to kill you, you maniac.

And

by the way, I found this out today looking on Wikipedia.

Who were two actors in the movie that were bar patrons?

Did you see it?

Oh, no.

Did you?

James Franco?

Yes,

and someone else was.

And Jason Ritter, right?

Jason Ritter.

Yeah, both in the movie.

I did not see that.

No, I did not see that.

Where were they?

I looked on Wikipedia too, and I think it was a deleted scene.

Wait, it was in my movie.

When Lily Sobieski and

Fiona Apple goes to a bar afterwards.

Yeah, see, that's what happens.

I read that, that and I was waiting for it.

Wait, so we didn't see this.

It was so weird.

I didn't see the bees scene.

Oh, wow.

There's two cuts of this movie out there.

All right.

So, wait, what happened?

Okay, he saw it.

I just wrote it out.

Okay, so at the end of the movie, right, they kill Nicholas Cage and the Wicker Man.

Yes.

He's like, ah!

And also, another thing.

My legs are broken.

Yeah, that's the thing.

Did they break his legs in your version?

I didn't see it.

You just hear him ADR line.

That's the thing.

Bro, my legs.

Yeah,

in the unrated version, they break his legs violently.

With a mellow.

With a mallow.

Really?

They hobble him like Kathy Bates.

Okay.

So

they burn him in the Wickerman, and then it cuts to six months later.

Okay, there's a tag that says six months later, and it's a bar scene, and it's James Franco and Jason Ritter.

And they're student there, like, oh man, this sucks.

Yeah, man.

They're looking around.

It's all like yuppies or whatever.

And then one of them catches sight of a hot girl walk by, and they're like, come on, let's go.

Yeah, bro.

And they walk over, and it's Lily Sobieski and Fiona Appler sitting there.

And they just instantaneously sit down and they're like thank god you guys are here we thought this place was all lawyers and stuff and they're like ha ha ha

and then the guys are like instantly the girls are like dtf

uh jersey shore um the girls are dtf and the conversation they have is absolute insanity Whoa.

James Franco pairs up with Lily.

So basically, it turns out they're going to do to these two guys what they did to Nicholas Case.

Right.

These guys are also.

They're the next Wickerman.

They're the next Wickerman.

These guys also, inexplicably, just graduated from the police academy.

So they also prey on policemen.

Well, it's because they'll have the drive to like be, I can come by myself

and help out.

Why two this time?

Why two?

They had a really bad harvest.

They needed two.

They got to set it up years in advance.

You never know what's going to happen.

That's true, right?

10 years, a decade-long plan.

Yeah, exactly.

Wow.

So they got to hang out with them and then get pregnant by them.

Yep.

And then

almost get married, bail, and then other girls come and join the force as well wow that's pretty because you know that was a reveal

yeah yeah that the female cop was the one yeah the weird like buddy yeah yeah yeah who came in to visit him to give him the letter yeah she gave him the letter she had a lot of weird looks if you watch that series she just has like a little

she's kind of as she walks away

the the effort that these women have gone to To just get honey.

I mean, like, the effort they've gone to for their harvest is, I mean, like, millions of dollars were spent on this.

Yeah, like the woman had to get a job as a policewoman, send them to the mainland, and also in a very specific and not even off the shore of Washington, D.C., no, California, far away.

Well, Jason, you missed the part that we saw, which I actually do have a clip of.

So, can we play that clip?

This is the torture scene that happened.

So, this was not in the

cut that you saw.

No, he is getting his legs broken by mallets in this.

You can't see it, but you can.

You bitch!

Just murdered!

Murdered!

No, I'll be guilty!

Oh my god.

And you're doing it for nothing!

Killing me won't bring back your goddamn honey!

What is it?

What is it?

They're putting a bee thing on his head.

What is that?

What is that?

What is it?

Oh!

No, not the beast!

Oh my god!

Not the beast!

Ah!

Ah!

Oh my god.

So that is my human being.

I was going to say, if I knew I was going to be killed and the first thing I felt was bees, I think I'd be actually kind of relieved.

Yeah, like, oh, this will kill me before I burn.

But then they do.

They revive him.

And then just

really?

Yeah, they revive him.

She shows up.

The lady who did the old-fashioned one, she shows up with one of his things.

What do they call it?

Oh my god,

and then like goes up.

She's like, okay, we'll do it your way this time.

What?

And they make him alive so they can burn him alive.

Now, holy shit, that's insane.

None of that was in the cut I saw.

How about the fact that at the end of the movie it is dedicated to Johnny Ramon?

Oh, yeah, that's it.

How good?

What weird is that?

I forgot about that.

This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios' new film, Springsteen.

Deliver Me from Nowhere.

Don't miss the movie critics are raving is the real deal, an intelligent, deliberate-paced journey into the soul of an artist.

Scott Cooper, director of the Academy Award-winning movie Crazy Heart, brings you the story story of the most pivotal chapter in the life of an icon, Springsteen.

Deliver me from nowhere.

Only in theaters, October 24th.

Get your tickets now.

Why do we want to learn a new language?

Well, it's probably not about memorizing grammar tables or topping a leaderboard, right?

It's because we want to speak it in the real world with real people.

And Babel gets you there fast.

I love Babel because it lets you practice real-life conversation step by step without the stress.

You build confidence to speak up when it matters, from ordering a coffee to chatting with new friends.

I have found my learning on Babel to be so much fun, right?

First of all, they have these AI-built models that allow you to have real, actual conversations.

You are learning tons of words, but they're coming so naturally.

You know, I'm about 60 days in and I feel like I have made such leaps and bounds.

I'm kind of surprising myself.

Anyway, here is a special limited time deal for our listeners.

Right now, you can get up to 55% off your Babel subscription at babble.com forward slash bonkers.

Get up to 55% off at babble.com forward slash bonkers.

Spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com forward slash bonkers.

Rules and restrictions apply.

All right, now it's time for a second opinion.

Here are some reviews from Amazon from people who liked the movie.

I can't believe the negative reviews.

So what?

He punched three females.

It was required.

Get over it.

Put yourself into his situation.

He's trapped in a cult and discovering he can't escape.

So you feminist groups need to chill out and stop bashing this film.

Yeah.

Feminist groups really were against this movie.

Spooky chick wrote, I love it.

Oh my god.

While I'm not lucky enough to be a mother myself, I dream of birthing children.

So this type of story really hit all the small windows of just the sad lives.

Did she like this movie?

Because she hasn't have children.

She goes, you can really feel the agony of this woman's lost daughter, especially if you're a parent.

Or have

or if you have extensive child care experience, like me, to choose.

An advertisement.

Wait, so this is Rebecca Des Mornay from.

And then the final one, I like this one.

This is a guy who agrees with you, Jenna.

I like the settings.

I like the colors.

The acting was excellent.

The plot confusing.

The end gross.

Four stars.

And Hartman.

Wow.

He's coming from a different angle.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my gosh.

Now, you may think,

what does Nicholas Cage think about this movie?

And let's let him explain.

He has a hoarse voice, but you can hear it.

There is a mischievous mind at work on the Wicker Man, you know?

You know what I mean?

But, and I finally kind of said, yeah,

I might have known that that movie was meant to be absurd, you know.

But saying that now after the fact is okay, but to say it before the fact is not, you know, because like you gotta let

the movie have its own life, you know.

You have to let the audience have its own connection connection and bash it or not bash it or love it or whatever they want to do with it.

That's up to the audience.

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty pig, assume.

That's the Peggy Sue voice he had in who Peggy Sue got married.

He is faux blow.

He is like one

second away from Gary Goosey.

Oh my gosh.

Well, we have a very special segment here on the show today.

Two weeks ago, we reviewed, or two episodes ago, we reviewed the movie Skyline.

We were contacted on Twitter by the writer and producer of skyline liam o'donnell so we're gonna go to the phone to him right now to uh talk to him about skyline please welcome liam o'donnell hello how are you i'm good thanks for having me

um yeah i'm i'm a i'm a long time fan of human giant i was followed paul on twitter i saw it come up and uh dreaded it for two weeks but ended up actually enjoying

all the uh the things you guys had to say about the movie and and got a real kick out of it.

Did you take issue with anything that we said?

Were we mean?

Did you feel like we were mean?

No, I didn't feel like it was mean.

I thought it was like one of the, there was a couple, I like that you guys at least acknowledged that it was done with this kind of independent spirit and that

there was like a lot of cool things about the world, but it just didn't really come together the way the way you wanted, which is kind of, I think, how we feel about it too.

So it was, at the end of the day, I kind of, you know, I see all the criticisms.

So correct me if I'm wrong, but it seemed like you put this whole project together fairly quickly, kind of outside the traditional studio system.

Yeah, we really just kind of did it on our own.

And it's kind of like we had like a three to five page treatment and like some artwork, and people were already like, gave us like, we already got like investments for like 800 grand.

Like, go do it, because it was all going to be set in

Greg's apartment.

So there was really like, and it was so low budget.

So I think it was one of those things where you got like such early success off of like

minimal amount of figuring things all the way through.

Like you guys even said, you're making fun of Faison's quote about like, yeah, they wrote it in a month.

Like, we literally did write it in a month.

There was a point where we were going to just do improv, and we're like, you know, maybe we should write something down.

And then so we wrote a draft in a month and then kind of rewrote it in another month.

And then it was like already cast and ready to go.

And so, yeah, I think it was just one of those situations of being so frustrated with development and how long it takes to get something done.

And then being like, I have we have the cameras,

we have this visual effects facility, we have the setting, you know, we've got talent signed up, let's just go, go, go.

And there was really no reason to go so quickly other than our own kind of like,

you know, ambition and naivete about how difficult it was going to be.

I didn't know what Donald Faison did.

Was he a movie star?

No, no, he was a visual effects guy.

He was a visual.

Yeah, you're right.

He's a visual effects guy.

He's actually based on.

I just won $100.

He's based on you?

He's based on greg strauss one of the directors and you're saying that that was greg strauss's apartment you guys shot it in yeah it was his apartment it's his ferrari and uh wow and it's his automatic blinds

yeah

it's his uh it is kind of attitude my other my co-writer uh joshua cordez like it it's kind of when he came out here like 10 years ago it was kind of the wild west days of visual effects and they were there was like you know all these kind of young nerds with all this money but but you know that gets translated into like uh cooler stars with money yeah totally

that was the real story okay and then my other question that we were talking about in the movie was how did they uh how we there was a like a kind of a question of the cheating right because in the beginning of the movie like they uh you guys yeah you guys totally ripped apart this like this whole thing that got cut it was a whole different location and like uh a dancing scene at a nightclub We missed dancing?

Yes, you missed it.

How dare you cut out dancing, Liam?

How dare you?

So they exactly cut around it.

You guys are like, how did they warp upstairs and people are in the bathroom?

And it's one of those things where you're like, you know, just hands over your eyes in the editing bay.

But

yeah, so

that whole part's a bit of a mess.

Okay, so that was just cutting for time, I imagine.

You're cutting for time.

You cut a whole scene where there was like

more conflict between them before that fight.

And

and yeah and and it made sense you you actually saw phased on kind of uh pair off with the the younger girl uh crystal reed was the actress and uh and go into the bathroom and as far as the camera she she was established as it was actually her camera and all this stuff got cut you're answering all of our questions answering all of our questions it was actually her camera it wasn't the uh the the new york guy's camera because she was supposed to be kind of a young photo girl who worked for him and the visual effects all on the editing room floor.

But

very astute viewers that you guys are.

Now,

is there a potential for the sequel?

Because I feel like it's set up so clearly for a sequel.

It was successful at the box office, wasn't it?

Yeah, I mean,

it was disappointing, but it ended up making around 80 million worldwide.

It's amazing.

China and Japan, but domestic, yeah, I was just, it was obviously would have been a little more because you know when you do an independent like this you sell all the foreign and you don't make anything off.

Oh, that sucks, Harry.

And so,

but yeah, no, there, I mean, that's a big enough number that it's possible.

It's just

trying to figure out how to get something, you know, that tells the kind of more epic story that we're trying to, you know, yeah, but when we when the movie ends, when the movie ends, they're like deep inside the sky gina.

You know, like I feel like that sets it up perfectly.

Yeah, and it's one of those things where like the script, like it was originally like, okay, they just get sucked in and we want to end super bleak and that's it.

And then like, you know, your team is like, you got to do something at the ending.

And we

started with like, okay, how about she just wakes up and there's like a mysterious voice on there and

we'll get to that later.

And then it just kept getting, people wanted more and more of what was on the ship.

And then it ends up being like it's an entire prologue for another movie, which is where it all kind of ended up.

Yeah,

and his brain was affected.

His brain was affected because he had seen it enough that he became like that's how his brain became that hybrid.

Yeah, it's just like

Venom, you know, like you know, bitten by enough snakes, and it, you know, the idea was that he had been exposed enough that he was no longer affected.

But yeah,

so that's why it ends up being like, it's like, it feels like it's the beginning to another act, and then it kind of ends, but but yeah, but it was a kick-ass ending.

I mean, it's like it comes up because you don't think that that's gonna happen.

I mean, there's that great scene at the end where they kind of get sucked up, which is really awesome to look at, and then it just goes on, yeah, and it really takes a turn there.

I really enjoyed it when

I felt like it was really bleak when they ripped when you guys ripped Eric Balfour's head off.

Yeah,

that was

so much better before the NPA got it because it was in the wide and we cut to a close-up, and you really saw his head get ripped off and I do like throwing his limp body into the waist.

Is there anything else that was cut out or anything that you couldn't do for the theatrical cut?

Yeah, the whole red brain, blue brain thing, which is just completely asinine, that is because of the MPA.

It was actually like just kind of wet, normal brains, and his brain had kind of the veiny effect on it.

And they said you can't do that.

You have to make these brains look sci-fi.

So we had to add,

but then when they're all glowing blue, how could you tell who's apart?

And someone's bright idea was make it red.

So

that's one of those things that really pisses me off from the NPA.

And just there was cooler brain-ripping shots from David Zayas in the garage and

stuff like that.

They just said it was too prolonged violence, too.

I think he might have beat up that the big vagina drone for a longer period of time.

Oh, you got to beat up those big vaginas.

Begging for it.

And David Dayus said you wrote the part for him.

Did you know him before the film?

No, we didn't know him.

We just knew Dexter.

Oh, you know what?

There is something else that got cut off.

Because the whole

pregnancy from the first act, that was a reshoot because originally they had known they were pregnant, but they weren't sure if they were going to keep it.

And that's why Zayas' character was kind of a

the tension between him and Belafour, he was a little bit of a traditional Catholic

badass.

And so they had a different scene together at night where he was kind of giving him a little shit.

And of course, the studio, when they bought it, they didn't want to touch any like abortion thing with the 10-foot pulp, which I don't necessarily blame them.

So that all got cut out.

And that might have helped explain some of the.

I think it was a little bit more of a media role for David.

But yeah, we were big fans of Dexter, and so we wrote for him.

And now I see here that you're producing a movie right now that's directed by Barry Levinson.

What's that?

Yeah, that's that's kind of more

that through just kind of us doing the visual effects for it.

Okay,

not really as much of a creative impact, but it is an awesome script and it's going to be really, really creepy.

It's kind of the

next step of the found footage movie, kind of making that a little bit more epic.

Cool.

Now, what is coming up?

What is the thing that you're most excited about that's coming up next?

What is the movie you're doing that you hope we don't do on this show?

I think it's kind of perfect for the show, even if it's successful, because it's a kind of gonzo crazy concept.

It's called War of the Ages, and so it's pretty much like Bill and Ted meets 300.

All of the

emperors and

conquerors from history kind of get brought together into a big epic battle royal.

So you're bringing in...

This movie sounds amazing.

So you're bringing in all famous people from history to fight each other.

It's like Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, and Alexander the Great, and

it's a lot of big epic battles like that.

But it's with its sense of fun.

But I actually met Keanu Reeves once, and I was telling him about it, and I pitched it as Bill and Ted Meets 300.

And he put his hands over his head like the guitar thing and did like excellent in his

amazing.

Well, Liam, thank you so much for calling in and talking to us.

Yeah, thank you guys.

Keep up the good work.

And, you know, hopefully I'm not on the next one.

See you later.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

So that is the end of How Did This Get Made.

Thank you to everybody.

Jonah, thank you so much.

Where can people find you?

What do you want to tell people?

They can go to Jonahray.com.

They could go at Jonah Ray on Twitter.

And they can listen to the Nerdist Podcast or watch the soup.

All right, perfect.

Anybody else?

Got anything else?

At Miss June Diane.

I am at Paul Shear.

Jason.

I'm not on Twitter.

I'm

follow Bob Duca's Twitter.

I'll follow

Bob Duca's Twitter.

Also, just a reminder: NTSF SD SUV is still on Adult Swim.

We're in our final episodes here, so check that out.

Thursdays at 12:15.

Thank you very much.

Tune in next time.

Bye-bye.