"David Leitch"

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Do you guys eat standing up at all, like lunch or breakfast, when you're doing like a horse sleeps?

Do you eat?

Does a horse sleep standing up or is that just a cow?

That's a cow.

That's a cow.

No, I mean, mean, they eat hay.

What do you, Sean?

You go.

Sorry, because you had, it seems like you had a thought about it.

Are you doing a lot of

standing counters?

What do you eat?

I do.

I eat standing cows.

Through open windows, what are you doing?

Anyway, talk about being open.

I love being open with you guys.

Welcome to Smart.

What just happened?

What happened?

Smart

Liz.

Smart.

Less.

Willie, so wait.

So when did you move into your new place?

I moved in yesterday.

I just got you.

Can you straighten out your fucking hat?

You're not Justin Bieber.

Hang on, first of all.

I'm very young.

I know.

Okay.

No.

Well, you don't.

Tell your face.

Okay.

Honestly,

why is it cocked?

I just did it like that for one second.

Thank you.

It feels good to put it on the side like that.

I do that too.

Shut up, Sean.

Wow, I think that's a record for a shut up, Sean.

Inside two minutes.

Inside two minutes, we're already at shut up, Sean.

You guys, I miss you.

Can't you?

I know.

We're going to see each other tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

I'm going to get all

over you guys.

Oh, it is on.

It's gummy city for me.

Oh, chew it up

and suck it down.

Chew it.

And then take a gummy.

Yeah.

Hey, so,

Will, how's your new.

Well, first of all, congratulations, Will, on finishing an incredibly hard period of work.

Thanks, Lizo.

Great.

What we have cooking in Hollywood's oven is

undoubtedly a masterpiece.

I'm going to call it right now.

Yes.

And I was there to witness the masterpiece.

It was so good.

There was a dash of Sean in it.

Thank you for sharing it.

Which is more than enough.

Sprinkle of Scotty.

Yeah, sprinkle.

Sean and Scotty were so great.

Can I just tell you, having them, it was so fun.

And I've seen a bunch of stuff, and it's really, really good.

This is a film, listener, that Will wrote and just finished acting in, directed by our friend Bradley Cooper, who's also in it.

On it?

What a film, mate.

What a guy.

Well, what an eye.

Yeah, exactly.

He was so great.

yeah and um yeah it was super fun and and jay are you done with yours yet no i got another six weeks left oh wow well that's something that's but it's uh that's that's also fun and going well but you're having a good time and you're working your butt off too i am it's very very hard but um but don't try to deflect you've just finished uh uh just like uh an incredibly uh large amount of work and it must feel nice to be done and you're back home in a new home yeah um your hat's kind of cocked and it's like it's all everything's yeah everything's happening well i'm wearing it high i'm i'm thinking about i'm i'm like vent von dutch adjacent right now

because listener he's got long hair and it's all kind of kinked and looking super sexy i'm going old school with my flaked hat you know what i mean you must just crushing ass out there huh hey man walking around with that hairdo can't wait for that headline you know what i mean how about we're all in the same city though for once I'm so excited to see you guys.

I feel like we haven't recorded one of these in a few weeks, too.

A few minutes.

It's been many weeks, yeah.

It's been a minute.

And what do we got on the menu for tomorrow night?

Has anybody made a request yet?

For food?

Yeah.

Can I make two guesses?

Yeah.

Well, there are only two guesses.

By the way, they're great.

They're great guesses.

They're great.

They're always good.

And if she's listening, listen.

They are in those two meals.

Those are two of my favorite meals.

No, they're the best.

There's a reason they're they're on

every rotation.

Yeah, we there's we always have an unbelievable time and a delicious meal, and we're very, very lucky.

And I haven't been able to be there for a long time.

Willie, you haven't been there for months and months and months since January, I think.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm very excited.

It's gonna be fun.

On the way back, I flew back yesterday.

I stopped in.

From Chicago, right?

Yeah, from Chicago.

I stopped in and I saw a play at my old high school with some friends that I was in that play with.

They did, you can't take it with you, you know, that old play.

And so, all of a bunch of friends.

Turns out you can take it with you.

Well, but wait a second,

you saw a show at your high school.

You're still in contact with the folks that run your high school theater program?

No, no, friends, my friends that I was in theater with in high school, and my friend Amy and Rob and Shireen.

And Shireen I went to prom with, and she's like, so we're all like, let's go see the the play that we were all part of.

Was she a beard situation?

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah.

Can I ask you this, too?

I actually thought that you were going to say, I was in Chicago and I stopped to check in with, I thought you were going to say a piece of chocolate cake.

I stopped to check in with Protillos.

Yeah, Pertillos.

That's the name of the place.

That's what I did.

By the way, I did.

I've got a phone call.

Shawnee,

I'm always impressed,

I don't know if that's the right word, with the amount of people you're still in contact with

from the

speaks to what a great, genuine person you are.

It really does.

It really does.

Yeah, yeah.

Because on the surface, you seem like such a world-class a-hole.

You will.

I was trying to figure out how to say it.

Yeah.

But then it turns out, no, you are such a caring and loving.

Surprisingly nice.

That's crazy.

Look at it.

That's her.

And that's my friend Rob, and that's me, Prom.

Oh, my God.

Anyway, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

The show was good.

The show was great.

The kids were great.

Do you have any notes for the person?

I had one line.

I had one line and it was you're right chief they have enough gunpowder down there to blow up the whole town

so when

wait do you say that with anxiety yes like have you just come back from a reconnaissance yeah exactly by the way when i was like kind of out of breath you were right totally totally

And when the guy came on, because we sent it back to you.

Do you remember the way you read it?

Yeah, I'm going to have it.

Ready?

I think I just did it.

No, just do it.

And you were right, Chief.

They have enough gunpowder down there and blow up them.

I hope you weren't laughing like that.

This guy is not at the moment.

But the guy that came out and said my line, I was like, woo!

They clapped really hard.

Oh, my God.

They were great.

They're all great.

Anyway.

Well, listen, you could have used some direction, which, and maybe you could have used direction.

from

our guest today.

Oh, nice, Will.

Yes, because,

Segway Alert, because this is a guy who's become one of our more accomplished directors that that we have today.

Not only is he prolific,

but he is also a fantastic director.

And what he came to me.

Miles Format is and he came at it.

Listen, again, he's one of those guys.

Once you name some of his credits, you're going to go exactly who it is.

But what I, and I know this guy, and I got to know him because he's worn a bunch of different hats in what we do.

He

for many years was started as a stunt guy, David Leach.

Stunt guy, stunt person.

David Leach.

And then he became a stunt coordinator, and then he became a director and a producer.

And Jason, you already guessed it because he did Deadpool 2, Hobbs and Shaw, Bullet Train, Fall Guy.

It's my friend David Leach.

No way.

David Lee knows what's going on.

The second you say it.

Because he's such a legend.

He's such a legend.

He's very good at what he does, everybody.

He is very good.

And

one of the things, David, that I want to say, right?

First of all, welcome to Smartlist.

Welcome.

I'm excited, guys.

Thanks for having us on.

Hey, yeah.

I'm nervous.

One of the things I love about you, David, is that I knew you back when you were still coordinating, when I first met you, and you were also second unit directing.

Yeah.

And you have not changed a bit.

You've become like this huge director, and you are still the same guy.

You're still very hungry.

You're still very normal.

You're still very grounded.

And so I really, it's a real testament uh you're i before we get going everybody needs to know what a great dude you are

i just want to say that off thanks

we we had a great thank you

well you know we had a great time on teenage mutant ninja turtles we did we did we had a great time david made me look really good because he shot all this stuff of this 18 wheeler driving down a mountain right and so he went and he shot all this stuff this insane 18 wheeler thing in the they shot it like two months before and then like two months later, I got to just sit in the cab of a truck on a parking lot outside Standard Studios in Brooklyn and just hyperventilate and pretend I was doing that.

But I want to say that was a great performance.

Thank you.

Very brave.

Very brave.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Very brave.

I had to get out of my escalade, then get into the front cab of the thing.

And then take off your warming coat.

Take over what time is lunch.

But David, don't you think you have to be as prolific as you are and a bunch of directors that are as successful as you and Mr.

Bateman here, don't you think you have to have that kind of personality that Will just described you are, which is a peacekeeper and like, you know, you can't get a hot head and everybody's, you know, keep everything in order because you can't have a temper, right?

Well, I mean, you, there are directors that have it that are prolific.

There's plenty that have made it made it work that I've worked with as a sure as a stuntman or a department head you know i look i was really lucky i got to mentor under a lot of great directors you got to see what worked for you and and and what doesn't work for you and being an asshole really doesn't work for me it really

doesn't work it doesn't it doesn't you you would not wear asshole well

it is interesting isn't it like a lot of people don't realize it that most directors don't work with other directors so they don't know whether what they're doing is good or bad or efficient or not or not or you know and so actors or cameramen or really anybody on the set has the opportunity to sort of cherry-pick from you know a bunch of directors that how to how to do it if they get a chance to do it and and so david you've uh you you've can you mention any that you've that you've picked some some great points from yeah i mean i worked with the wachowskis for a long time oh yeah and they you know on the matrix movies on the matrix movies um and then after that we did a v for vendetta we did uh ninja assassin the classic ninja assassin

but we did we did a lot of films and

you know there's a precision to what they do there's the the the um homework that they do to be prepared like all of that stuff and they really build a family with their department heads and they you know they're really close and And they allow their department heads to be creative and bring them ideas.

And

that's where I really enjoy it.

You know, I think there's other directors that are like...

collaborative.

Yeah, the collaborative spirit of a director, whereas especially coming from production, you want your ideas to be heard.

You know, you design a sequence as a stunt coordinator.

You want to, you want to be heard.

That kind of goes to Jason.

Jason, kind of, you know, it's interesting the point you make.

Both of you guys

became directors, but you came from, Jason, you were an actor for many years since you were a kid.

And then you came to, so you got to witness and cherry-pick pieces as you went and bring it into.

And David, you started as a STEM

performer and then and then coordinator.

So you also got to work under, whereas, you know, Jason, as you were mentioning, a lot of directors who start as directors don't have that breadth of experience working with directors.

You guys do.

To know how to manage.

To know how to behave and to know how to collaborate, right?

Do you think there's something to that?

Yeah, I do, David.

And you were kind of touching on it that

you get exposed to a few work environments, you know, sets that have that collaborative spirit or that we're just basically like a, you know, to, you know, minimize it, it's sort of a good vibe.

And what that yields is, is, is a, is just a better product.

And it's, and it's applicable to any industry where, and I've said this before, I apologize to anyone who's heard this, but,

you know, no one gets fired for doing 75%.

Like you can hold your job for 40 years if you, if you deliver 75%.

That's what kind of people expect but if you want that extra 25 from people it's they've got to feel a little bit of ownership a little bit of buy-in a little bit of um you know equity in in the process and uh that comes from people feeling like they kind of uh it's it's partly theirs it's like if it's your house you put a coaster underneath your drink without even being asked to but if it's not your house you might put your drink on the wood table and leave a ring as you don't really give a fuck you're gonna drive home so if you let people feel like they're a part of the process, you get that extra bit and then the product really soars, especially

in what we do.

And I, and that's really, really long said.

That's really long said.

And I think it applies to many jobs.

At least true, though.

Thank you.

David, thoughts on that?

No, I mean, it's 100% true.

I mean, again, like having been on set, you know, my entire adult life as a performer or a department head, it just, you want to be included.

And then, you know, being in the director chair and knowing all those people are there to make you look good, you take the good ideas and then you steal all the credit.

That's

but David,

David, so

I mean, you know, when you look at your,

just your, first of all, your resume as a director is impressive enough considering, you know, the films that you've made so far as a director, but the films that you performed as, performed in, Fight Club.

I mean, this is one of the great, that's a classic.

People often reference it, especially dudes, as their favorite film of all time.

You were Brad's stunt double in Fight Club.

Is that true?

I was, but it was kind of like one of those movies where you're not doing a lot.

You know, when you think about it, it's funny.

It's like the name is Fight Club.

And then you go back and watch the film.

I actually watched it a couple months ago.

There's only like three.

fight sequences in it.

Right.

But what we were doing, and you often do as a stunt performer, is train the actors.

So we were training the actors for a long time,

sort of in this messy style of fighting.

And then I might have doubled Brad on

two or three little moments.

Right.

Because at that time he was like super fit, dude.

By the way, still super fit.

Still super fit.

The guy's ripped.

I know.

I know.

By the way, Dave,

these guys know nobody loves Brad more than me.

Yeah, right.

So

everybody loves him.

He's an awesome human being.

Yeah, I love him.

And

yeah, so it really was like one of those movies where I was working a lot, but we weren't, you know, the stunts I had to do were like very, very

simple.

Although I do remember one great, this goes back to Fincher being the sort of like perfectionist that he is.

I had to throw the

Ed Norton stunt double down that set of stairs at the end of the movie.

Sure.

12 times.

No.

12 times.

No.

12 takes.

And

I ran into David, you know, this is like a couple years ago, and I ran into him and I asked him, like, hey, what take did you use?

And he's like, oh, yeah, take two.

No, I.

Oh, yeah.

So, so

while while we're on, um,

who is my, one of my favorite, favorite directors of all time, um, David Fincher, um,

he is incredible.

His level of

specificity and precision does require

a lesser amount, perhaps, of kind of not contribution, but

or even collaboration.

I'm not sure what the right word would be, but he knows exactly what he wants.

And so the sort of the

arena for, hey, well, what do you guys think?

You know, how should we do it?

Like, there's a great deal of planning and precision going into every shot that he's doing.

And so

how do you recommend, even in other industries, room for other people to fit into that yeah their own ideas i mean with david i think you you you buy into the vision right and so i think you know part of like your the excitement with his crew is like you know the vision is so strong that you want to make sure you're providing the details for it and so like in like if you're if you're a professional and you love this business and you get to work with somebody who has this really strong vision, then you just, you know, you,

you, you ratchet the gear and looking in that way and like okay how can i serve service this vision i mean you're doing a lot of that though too like you know um

but uh bullet train is i got the title right oh yeah i mean i there was so much incredible technical execution on that that like there's no room for fucking hey guys let's all kind of figure this out you know we'll just rehearse until lunch and then we'll just shoot after lunch let's just it's like no you coming in with a plan you know exactly what so um um, well, I would say this.

Sorry to interrupt, but I think that that was a mixture of those two styles.

I think, you know, I had shot listed that movie with Jonathan Sella, and we were very, very precise.

But we allowed for, like, when you look at Aaron Taylor Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry, they're playing these Lemon and Tangerine.

Yeah.

When I was in my setups, I let them go.

Like, they were just brilliant.

And I was just like rolling, like, you know, like,

and just mining for gold.

So

the composition and the editorial style and like all of the production design, like that was really my department heads.

And we curated it and we had a plan going in.

And, but we let the actors riff a lot.

Right.

But once you get into the action sequences or stuff that where the cameras being the performer, you've got to, you've got to keep them somewhat reined in.

They got to toe the marks.

They got to make sure their look doesn't turn until the camera gets around.

Like they, they need to be good soldiers.

And Jay, as you probably know and david we've talked about it you you made that film under very tough circumstances it was uh right in right during the pandemic and it takes place takes place in japan and you guys shot it in culver city primarily yeah right totally we know that we shot it yeah it was right height of the pandemic you know before the vaccine and we were green lit and we were actually getting ready to like sort of prep it for tokyo And we were going to go shoot it on location.

And then it's like,

they decided they want to do it, but they're going to do it.

Can I do a version on stage?

And so, um, well, wait, you weren't you, but you, you had to assume that a lot of that was going to be a build, right?

Like you weren't going to shoot it on a practical train, all that stuff, were you?

No, no, no.

But I really wanted to go to Japan and like get some,

you know, some real environment and like, you know, and real grit and texture.

And even the tone of the movie is now completely different because I'm like, okay.

We're going to shoot it on stage.

What's the anime version of this film?

And then I think we did a big pivot you know with the production design and the music and like the costumes and i'm like i'm gonna make this sort of an anime graphic novel yeah movie because we really have one big sound stage we can you know do it on but you knew you were gonna you were gonna go with a splinter unit or or a second unit or whatever and get all the exteriors and the establishing yes and actually we did that crazy enough during the pandemic on whatsapp yeah oh what do you mean i had a i had a cinematographer i know i had a cinematographer Oh my goodness.

I love this story.

Cinematographer in Japan.

Yeah.

And a first AD in Japan.

And we had,

you know, had them for weeks scouting, sending location photos, sending video, because no one was allowed in Japan.

You couldn't travel there.

It was like, there was a lockdown.

So you did it through.

We did it.

All the plate photography we did.

with a remote unit.

And I would get up in

two in the morning and get on WhatsApp and watch on a camera.

No way.

That's crazy.

And so he's directing remotely oh my god from the space through whatsapp and you're like yeah maybe frame it up a little bit you know that's crazy you know what i mean

so your video tap was through whatsapp as well or was there another piece of no we had another we had another piece of software to give us the video and i got you can't remember what it was exactly but it's so insane it was crazy we'll be right back

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So we've never had a stunt person on before, and I'm fascinated with that life and why you chose it and what was the first, like,

you know, I just watched Smoking the Band and I was like, that guy was a stunt guy.

You know, Pal Need.

Hell Needle.

What's that?

Yeah.

Hell Need him.

Legends.

If anybody needs him, hell does.

So, you know,

so like, what makes you want to do to do that?

Yeah, how does somebody wake up one day and go, hey, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to beat the shit out of myself.

Yeah.

I hope somebody throws me down the stairs today.

Yeah.

And don't you just, aren't you constantly aching?

Anyway, go ahead.

Well, I actually, I am a little achy.

I'm not going to lie, but I've been doing a lot.

I do a lot of PT and I stayed, try to stay healthy.

And I did get out earlier than some of my friends who are still calling me, hey, I hear you got a movie going.

And I'm like, got a couple days for me on that show.

And you're like, you know, you're 50, dude.

You're not jumping out of the car.

Yeah.

But like, were you constantly, were your parents constantly driving you to the emergency room when you were a little boy?

We were always jumping off shit and hurting yourself.

No stuff.

I actually came into the stump business right around the time everyone was like specializing.

And so they were looking for like martial artists.

And I

competed in martial arts as a as a kid and like all through college.

And

I was getting really excited about using this knowledge in movies.

Like, you know, because you learn so much in martial arts that's completely useless.

Let's be honest.

Like there's all these moves that don't work.

And you're like, why am I studying all of this stuff?

And then you realize, oh, because I can make up a fight with it.

And it could be really cool and look cinematic.

So there was a group of guys that I was competing with that were in LA and they were working on, you know, these bad blood sport movies and things like that.

And I went and visited them in Mexico on the set of this movie called Perfect Target, starring Daniel Bernhardt.

And

I watched them put together fight scenes, jump off of stuff and like, yeah, fall into pads.

And I'm like, That looks fun.

I'm in.

Yeah.

I just like packed in my car and left.

I was teaching second grade in Minneapolis.

I just graduated from college.

Wow.

And you're like, instead of...

Where are you going?

They're like, where are you going?

You're like, I'm going to be a stunt performer.

Yeah, I'm like, moving to L.A., I'm going to be a stuntman.

And then, of course, nothing in this business is easy.

And so I moved into a house in Redondo Beach.

There were six of us that

were all trying to be stunt people.

I mean, this is a show in its own right.

And we dug a we dug a trampoline in the backyard without telling our landlord.

We

our pads.

We bought an airbag.

We went out to the desert.

We built high fault towers.

We were just going to train to be stunt people until somebody

gave us a shot.

No way.

And those, are you still friends with that group of people?

Yeah, they're all.

By the way, they're all really successful stunt coordinators, second year to directors.

Wow.

Chad Stihelsky was the other

guy he directed, John Wick with me.

Yeah, you guys co-directed John Wick.

Yeah, that's amazing.

We have a mutual friend too, the great Wade Allen, who we both know.

Oh, yes, Wade.

He was around in their early years as well.

Oh, just

love me, Wade Allen.

Love you.

Stupid question, but what's the biggest injury?

Like, what's like, you're like, okay, I'm out.

I can't do this.

So, the big, this is a great one.

So, I'm thinking, like, you know, the training ground for stunt performers is the live show.

Right?

And so, I hadn't even done a movie yet or a TV show, but I was trying out for the Batman

live show at Magic Mountain.

I was, by the way, trying out.

I wasn't even the guy.

Yeah.

And And

to play Batman?

To play Batman.

Excellent.

And I was showing off.

I was like swinging from the car goes under this catwalk.

I grab the bar and I'm supposed to do a bat.

Well, I'm not supposed to do a backflip, but I'm going to show everybody how I'm going to do a backflip.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

Famous last words, hold my beer.

Right.

And then I was like,

I completely under-rotate it, put my wrist down, and I shatter it in.

four places.

Oh my goodness.

Wow, wow.

I'm like,

surgery,

you know, I I have a big halo on my wrist.

And, you know, and it's super embarrassing because, again, I'm not even a stuntman yet.

I am just like the beginning of my career

trying to break into.

And do you think like, oh, shit, I'm not, I don't have what it takes because I broke my wrist?

Like, is there part of you that were you, were you discouraged?

I, I, I was embarrassed more than discouraged.

I think, you know, there was a great group of guys that we were all like, we just really believed it.

You know, we really believed we could make it.

And

part of it was this conversation we overheard in a diner we always tell each other this today it was pretty funny there was two women in a diner sitting behind us and they were like preparation plus opportunity equals miracles sister preparation plus opportunity and so we would jokingly we'd always say that but we really meant it it's like just get good just get good and then someone will open the door and then you're good all right get to do stuff and so we would just train all we did was train like i mean it's crazy like tron which i love.

Tron, the Born movies.

Yeah.

Born Ultimatum.

I mean, that is what I'm.

There are very few movies that I watch on repeat, and the Born movies are in there.

There are like five.

Do you guys have like five movies that you will

repeatedly watch?

Yeah, yeah.

I have The Bourne movies.

Yeah.

Ronin.

Yeah.

Midnight Run.

A Midnight Run.

And With Nail and I.

That's it, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's it.

Midnight Run.

So good.

David,

what's sort of agreed upon as the, when you say that the stuntmen, sometimes I now specialize, what is sort of the agreed upon hardest thing, the high water for all stuntmen?

Is it driving stuff?

Is it firework?

Is it free falls?

Is it, yeah.

Well, look, in the fall guy, we got to like, you know, sort of play homage to all the old school stunts, right?

We did this like incredible car roll.

Dar Robinson.

Yeah.

And we did the high, we did a high fall.

Yeah.

And that was

Bob Brown's kid, and who was a legendary high fall artist.

Like that, that is really like the lost art.

Down into like down into an airbag.

Into an airbag.

It's not any does it anymore, right?

Yeah.

This is all cable drops now, isn't it?

Yeah, we use, you know, visual effects lets us erase the wires and we can use high-speed winches or we can use descender rigs.

And there's a lot of ways to do that, you know, in a safer manner.

But like when we did it in the movie, we had Troy, Troy Brown come out, who's, you know, Bob's kid, and he's one of the few people that can, that do it and like has trained that old school sort of stunt.

But look, it's such a wide discipline of stuff.

Like, and that's why you have to be specialized because, you know, everything got more and more technical as we tried to make it safe.

And so.

The drivers specialize in driving.

But is there one stunt that exists in cinema, like in film, that is, that is heralded as the stunt.

Well, you know what you don't see anymore, and I wonder if this is the answer,

is the fire gag.

Like, you never see somebody lit on fire anymore, walking around, like, oh my God, put me out.

Yeah, because they're in like

a Michelin man suit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, now there's like

they've invented this great gel.

Actually,

there's a stunt performer.

He's got a company called Action Factory, and he just won, or he was,

he was recognized by the Academy for a Technical Achievement Award for his gel, the stunt gel that allows you to basically burn for a long period of time without the big suit and without the prestige.

You rub it on your body?

Well, it's

there's the

gel underneath it, but it's really the fuel that burns cooler.

It's a combination of the water gel, which is like an aloe-based gel, and then the fuel that burns cooler.

But look, it's all like the circus.

Like there's all these sort of secrets.

Jay, what's that story from you when you were 18?

You had to use a gel for burning.

What was that?

What was that whole thing?

Hey,

hey, hey.

But is there, but I guess what I'm asking is, is there one thing that everybody uses as, you know, Jason said, you know, like there's a particular style of stunt that's the high watermark.

But is there one performance, stunt performance that everybody goes, that's the granddaddy of them all.

Somebody who did like a jump or a thing or a fall or a ball.

But what about that jump in the one of the born movies where the guy jumps from one building into another building through through a side window right and the camera follows him in yes i think about that all the time yeah it's it was pretty amazing it's a really amazing

matt must have loved it i mean you know sitting there with his dunkin' donuts uh coffee in his hand

he was already on a yeah you know what that looks really fucking good from over here yeah do it one more

is the one where we can see his face a little bit less that'd be great just so people believe it's me

i don't want anybody taking my time to fix his hair you know matt you know how matt is he probably was sitting on first unit i mean i don't know if we shot it on second unit i can't really remember that but yeah it was um it was a pretty amazing i by the way i drive matt crazy with questions about the born movies all the time i i make him insane i ended up frank marshall ended up giving me like a rap gift like from the first one with the briefcase and the jacket and stuff because i wouldn't stop bothering him about it.

How'd you guys do that?

And then what did you do when you did that?

I'm like, I'm so annoying.

I love those movies.

David, how do you feel?

Are you excited about this?

You know, the Academy Awards are going to be.

Well, this is what I was going to bring up.

Yes.

This is David's.

David has been leading the charge on this, Jason.

Do you know this?

No, not at all.

David sort of really grabbed the reins on.

And David, I want you to say it in your words, but I want to tee you up.

Tell Tracy what this is.

Yeah, you have

a real breakthrough in entertainment and in our new category in the Academy Awards.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Look, it's been a long journey.

And

look, for 20 plus years inside the Academy, there's been a lot of stunt coordinators working on it.

You know, Jack Gill, Greg Smurs, Melissa Stubbs, there's been a lot of people trying to move the needle.

And

after, you know, we basically, we, we made Fall Guy.

We're coming back from making Fall Guy.

We are all feeling really excited about this giant commercial we made for why there should be an Academy Award for stunts.

And I just went in with Kelly, my wife and producing partner.

We went in and talked to the Academy of like,

what's been the stumbling blocks?

How do we get this done?

You know, casting found a way to get this done.

How can we find a way to get this done?

And they really did.

There was a tremendous amount of support inside the Academy.

And they just said, look, we have a roadmap you follow.

And

it's just been

some sort of lack of clarity.

And so Kelly and I really went down the road of like trying to rebrand what we were asking for.

And I think, you know, the Academy obviously has these legacy of honoring design, like production design, costume design.

And I think when people think stunts, they're like, well, are you going to give the stunt to the

award to the performer?

Are you going to give the award to the person that rigged the stunt?

And it's like, no, we're going to give it to the stunt coordinator, the department head.

The tradition is you give it to the designer.

And so we rebranded um

our credit on the fall guy and this was kelly's idea to uh stunt designer and chris o'hara the stunt coordinator on that we went kelly went to the guilds she got it uh approved by the wga and um and the dga i'm sorry the dga and and sag and it was like we we got the credit stunt designer and that was sort of the first really cool brand now and so now this year and the next oscars uh uh stunts uh are going to be recognized or maybe not.

It's going to be two years.

I think, you know, that's kind of like

we have some internal things to do

in terms of like how it's going to be awarded.

Right.

And they want to do it on the 100th

anniversary.

Do we know if that's going to be a part of the primetime awards or is that going to be the technical awards?

I think it's all open for discussion and really wasn't what we voted on this time around.

But

it's exciting.

Like, look, I think it's long overdue And I was happy to be instrumental inside the Academy, like really getting on the Zooms with all the governors I could and like really canvassing it.

And then, you know, for our final vote, I curated a video presentation with a lot of

director friends, celebrity friends that were really advocates for it.

Well, honestly, David, kudos to you for doing it.

I think it's awesome.

And I think it's awesome that the Academy recognized it too.

So kudos for them for that.

And

as we all know, and Jason, I've heard you talk about it before, and we all know here on this, and people should know.

You know,

everybody who's on set, when you're there, everybody is a filmmaker at that point.

Everybody is part of the filmmaking process.

There's no one there that doesn't need to be there, especially when it comes to rigging up a stunt, is such

serious work.

It's so much safety and rigging.

Yeah.

And that recognition is long overdue to all the incredible stunt performers out there.

So, so, really, kudos to you.

It's awesome.

And

that's great.

I have a question about overall stunt work.

From Will and Grace.

There was some Brad Falls in Will and Grace.

By the way,

one of my entrances on the David.

Nobody says me.

I don't do it.

One of my

entrances on David Letterman when he had his talk show.

They let me jump off the balcony onto a.

What?

Yeah.

I jumped off the balcony onto, what is it called?

Like a pad?

Yeah.

Like it was made of air, like an airbag.

Like an airbag.

Yeah, an airbag.

I can't believe they let me do that.

Go ahead, Sean.

No, I was just going to say, so is it, by the way, that's whatever that is.

But is it true that.

Oh, sorry.

Sorry.

Hang on.

Yeah.

No, no, no.

I just meant, like, I can't believe somebody let me do that.

And I wasn't even tired of that.

Best stunt performance at a talk show appearance.

There was no stunt coordinator on set.

There was none.

Was there a bump?

Did you get, or did you just get the appearance fee, or was there a bump?

Jason, you always did a bump before Letterman, didn't you?

I always loved a good bump on Letterman.

And not Letterman.

But anyway, so,

but is it true that do you guys get, or the stunt people get paid every single take?

Is that right?

It's not like a regular acting fee or whatever.

Is it true that that's how they get paid?

I heard that.

Well, that's a great trend.

That's a great, we can explain what bump means in the stunt world.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So every time.

Yeah.

Well, in the 80s, it meant two things, I'm sure.

Yeah, It probably meant one, like, how am I going to get ready?

And two, how am I going to get paid?

Yeah.

But it's really, it's called the stunt adjustment.

And you get, you get money for each time you do something that's dangerous.

And that's sort of, it's this, it's decided by the stunt coordinator in production and like sort of agreed upon.

And so, yeah, if you did this, that stair, that stairfall I was talking about in Fight Club, I mean, he was probably getting $500 each time.

By the way,

on top of his salary.

David, I like the idea that

he's like, hey, man, listen, my kid needs needs new braces.

Just throw me down a couple more times.

Fuck it up.

Exactly.

And we will be right back.

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And now back to the show.

You mentioned that

your wife is your producing partner.

Yeah, Kelly.

Talk to us about that.

That's

awesome.

I mean,

how long you've been doing that?

I mean, the fact that you never have to be separated because so much of what we do necessitates a separation from your family.

And I know Boohoo, you know, these are high-class problems.

But, you know, it is kind of tough.

It's so great.

It sounds like you guys get to stick together all the time.

Talk to us about that.

It really is, actually.

I mean, so we've been, we've been married 12 years.

Yeah.

And it we and it's been it's been amazing.

Like, look, I, it, we, we met a little later in life and that that was great.

Um, she's just was she a was she a producer when you met her?

Yeah.

Is that how you got?

I mean, she hit, she came, she worked at Scott with Scott Rudin's company and then she ended up in LA.

And she is 100% responsible for me turning, becoming a director.

I will give her all the credit.

So she sort of, she wasn't a manager, but she hit pocketed Chad and I when she was working at this company called Sierra Affinity, which is a foreign sales company.

And she was curating their slate of projects.

And she was like, I'm going to get you guys.

And Nick Meyer, the guy that owned that company, allowed her to do that.

And so she really, you know, taught us how to take meetings and like

really was a champion to the agencies about these guys direct action, but they also tell stories.

And she was like a big advocate for us.

And she ended up up

finding John Wick.

It came through Sarah Finnity's office and she sort of slipped it to Chad and I and she's like, you guys should meet on second unit and then you should pitch yourselves as directors because it's all action.

And was that your first film as a director?

Yeah.

And was that the first John Wick?

The first John Wick, yes.

Wow.

Now, Keanu Reeves is notoriously very picky and snobby in the best way about directors, as is Brad Pitt.

Like these guys just work in director vehicles, even though they're enormous stars and can work in and create star vehicles and just get any director that'll listen to whatever the hell they want to do.

They don't do that.

They love to work for.

So what a huge compliment that you ran through whatever gauntlet creatively through Keanu, who's so discerning.

That's awesome.

Yeah, he was incredibly supportive from the beginning.

And he is, you're right.

He's like a director's actor.

Like he loves loves the director.

And he,

we had worked with him for so long on the Matrix sequels.

Okay.

We had trained him for those sequences and Chad was actually.

He was familiar with you guys.

Yeah.

And he,

um,

and then we had helped with

choreography on Mana Tai Cheeth, something that he directed.

And so we were like, we maintained that relationship and friendship.

So then when it came up, hey, there's a lot of action in this movie.

We'd love to be considered.

And we put together our presentation, our lookbook, our sort of, you know, our character sketches and our arcs.

And we pitched it to him.

He said, let's go to Lionsgate and tell him you want to do it.

Do you ever see yourself,

Dave?

Do you ever see yourself doing something kind of moody and small and talky just as just as a gear shift?

Yeah, do you?

You have a screenshot you want to submit, Will?

Yeah.

Yeah, if you got one.

It's real talky.

It's just me basically talking in a room.

It's, you know, it's hard because, I mean, I have so much fun.

You know, since Deadpool,

everything has had a real fun tone.

And I do enjoy comedy.

You know, that's why I'm, you know, not only the reason, but I'm a huge fan of all your work, you know, all you guys.

Like, you're just so freaking funny.

And that's why we have to do something together, please.

The smartless stump movie.

I see it.

Let's do it.

Where you just throw me down the stairs and that's over and over and over.

By the way, by the way, before you get into it, because

I want to hear your answer of what you want to do, just to remind our audience, the films that you've done, that you've directed, just that you've directed John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobson Shaw, Bullet Train, Fall Guy.

That's incredible.

I know.

These are all big,

big cinematic, you know, event movies that people love to go with.

Just to remind our listener, these are the movies that you love.

And the degree of difficulty is super high.

It's super super high.

So having said that, so you've done these big movies that take a lot of planning and a lot of resources.

So

do you see yourself making something simpler?

Yeah.

No.

Well, I do.

I mean, look,

the fun moments for me right now, it's not the big action sequences.

I mean, again, I love making them.

But they're the sort of like earnest, dramatic moments.

You know, I'm thinking of the fall guy, like some of the scenes with Ryan and Emily that are really sort of emotional.

They're both such good actors.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And like watching those, collaborating with those great actors and like bringing, you know, some real humanity to the screen.

Yeah.

I think separates,

if I pat myself on the back for a second, I think it separates what, you know, people go to see my movies because they're big action movies and there's subversive comedy and all that, but they're.

They remember them because they love the characters so much.

And it's because you actually cared about them.

Right.

Well, I think, and it goes to David, also like how I kicked it off, which is you are such a great guy and you are such a,

you are a very thoughtful person.

And so it doesn't surprise, it wouldn't surprise me if you did something like leaning more that way.

And you're right, your movies do have those elements in it.

So it would be cool to see.

I think you can.

I would love to do, you know, a straight up drama.

I think right now I'm actually in Pittsburgh and I'm prepping the next movie.

It's called How to Rob a Bank.

And it's the, the it is sort of a new

you know taking a heist movie and turning it on its head and I have Nick Nick Holt and and Pete Davidson amazing

that's awesome yeah there's a lot of dramatic elements in this project that was why I'm attracted to it yeah talk about that for a sec like would you have been as excited earlier earlier that that that a project like this is sort of led with

you know just sort of

you need to be able to talk actor bullshit lingo and you need to be able to talk fucking you know lighting and editorial pace and but but but do you know what i mean like how was how was that a comfortable transition for you or uh or not transition was it a comfortable process for you to learn and get as familiar with talking actor or talking gaffer or talking camera operator as it was talking stunts like was that was that was that one of the big things that was like oh you know i can coordinate a fight but the other part of this directing stuff is being able to like help an actor kind of find a moment or try or talk to, you know, the, the, the gaffer about, you know, what the lighting strategy might be in this thing or talk about that stuff.

Or tell Jason Bateman that his wig is slipping off.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, you've got to take him to the side, you know, because no one knows.

No one's going to tell.

Yeah.

Well, I will say, yes, you get, you get better each time out.

And I think, but i did you know i had

for better or worse i had the training wheels of second unit okay and yeah so with second unit you're still working with actors and like you know a movie like um

this you know this blockbuster teenage mutant ninja turtles that will and i work on like i mean i worked it was a block it was a blockbuster it was number one for three weeks go ahead it was we um

we um

i worked with will you know i got to work with actors and we were working on performance even inside the action.

So you were constantly like, you were learning actors speak at that way, at that point.

Right.

Right.

Is that well.

But then, you know, obviously sitting in the first unit chair becomes, it's a different animal.

But I felt really,

really comfortable from the get-go.

But I think it was, you know, having years of like,

you know, being a second unit director, getting more and more, a bigger piece of the, of the film each time out, you know, like these big commercial films like

you might have like six weeks of second unit you know it's a lot and it was that's more than we had to shoot john wick yeah the first movie what would be what what would what would what would folks listening who were not in who are not in this business what what what part of the process as a director uh would they be surprised to hear is really not enjoyable not really pleasant is it is it is it the is it sort of the start of things like sort of pitching you know, trying to describe what you're going to do to these studio heads when you're sitting in an office?

You know, or is it is it marketing it, like talking to the press afterwards about what to expect?

Like, there's so many different parts.

Is there a part that's particularly unpleasant to you or a part that you're still kind of getting used to or making friends with?

I mean,

getting them off the ground is always the hardest.

I think, you know, it's just

selling.

Selling it, you know, and and getting people involved and getting their schedules right and like getting your key collaborators to believe in it.

Even once you've sold it, just from the, even once they say yes,

even from the yes to first day to actually showing up, you're like right to the end, right?

You're like.

We're supposed because never a hard time.

Are we green lit?

Are we green lit?

And you're working on the budget.

Like the week before, they're like, it's kind of approved budget, right?

Explain a little bit how how that works like yeah you you know you

they say they want to make it for something and then you get it into that box and then the you know you have a creative idea and then it's like that's a great idea and then you're like the yeah the money box yeah and then it's like the box expands and then you try and get it back in and it's constantly like trying to hit a number whether it's a you know 100 million dollar movie because there's all these expectations that drive those costs up or it's a 25 million dollar movie like these ones that we produce that

you know the it like nobody would never agree that nobody's coming out nobody 2 is coming out in August that's another exciting

with the great Bob Odenkirk who I yeah I love who we all know very well

I just saw him on stage at Glenn Gary Glenn

so good my god was he great yeah so great he's he's amazing he's so good and uh nobody too I'm really excited about it we've had we've had we had a great time making it I was actually one of those where

Kelly produced it, but I was on set quite a bit.

It was really fun.

Like we weren't that Sean, that's your handle on Grindr is just nobody, right?

That's correct.

Yeah.

And just my photos are just the one neck down.

So you don't get it.

You don't get a lot of downtime to just go travel or do anything.

I mean, it seems like you just go project to project to project.

Right now, it's been that.

Like the last 10 years has been pretty busy, I have to say.

Like with this movie, movie number seven, and then plus the ones we produced,

violent night with david harbor and uh the nobody with bob so but again i i love it i guess i kind of grew up i said my adult life was all physical production i loved it i love the set life i love

my fellow friends on there i love like waking up eating the bad burrito and like how do we get this done like yeah yeah so i miss it it's been two years since we were on set.

Oh, no way.

Really?

Yeah.

So for me, it's like, I'm ready to dig in and shoot some stuff.

How are you liking Pittsburgh?

What have you found up there in Pittsburgh that you're liking to do?

We play, honestly, we play pickleball.

Oh, yeah.

Have you experienced any life-scarring injuries from pickleball?

Because you can really recognize.

Yes.

I knew somebody that works in the ER just recently.

She said most of the people that come in here are big pickleball.

I swear to God.

I'm not at all.

David, no offense.

I'm not a fan.

I'm not a a fan of pickleball.

You're not.

Did you play tennis?

Do you remember?

I'm not curious.

I just, I don't know.

I think that pickleball, it's a fat man sport.

It's replaced racquetball.

You stand in the middle of the thing, the ball's going to come to you eventually.

Racquetball, I love racquetball.

I know.

You used to play with Johnny Schwartz.

Remember JB back in the day?

Did you love it?

There's even places to play racquetball anymore.

I love it.

When you find them, you're like, oh my God, look at that big white room.

No, I started squash because it was harder you know what i mean and you had to get running yeah but there's a very unsatisfying sound and and and and hit how dare you say that about squash we always enjoyed it immensely

um

uh so you play a lot of pickleball which is good yeah our nephews go to carnegie melon

nephews and so it's been odd like being here they're both in college and we're now here on prep and it's like hey you guys want to hang out it's saturday night and they're like uh

yeah we're in college Yeah.

Yeah.

And you're and you're 50.

Yeah, exactly.

And you're 50.

Yes, exactly.

Well,

again, David, I just want to say, I want to reiterate how cool it is what you've done for the stunt performers.

And really cool.

To bring them, you know, yeah, to get them recognized and that the Academy did that is really awesome.

And so congrats to everybody.

And

again, another testament.

What a great dude.

And what an awesome guy.

What a great director you are that you've become.

And increasingly, it's just so

thanking Rad.

I'm happy to know you and continued success, my friend.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's great to have talked to you for a bit about all this, man.

Thank you for doing this.

Thanks for having me on.

Yeah, man.

It's been so fun.

Send my love to Kelly, if you will, please.

I will.

And yeah.

And we'll talk to you really soon.

And have a great time out there in Pittsburgh.

I appreciate it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

See you guys.

Cheers.

Bye.

See you guys.

Bye.

Bye.

that was a great guest there willie yeah

super guy such a fan of his i'm really stoked it worked out uh and that that the skedge worked out and and uh he's such a great guy and i have had the pleasure we also made a commercial together that that uh hasn't aired for a bunch of reasons but uh uh and so and it was something that it was great but we didn't really have to do much and we were just on a stage for three days at paramount yeah he seems like a really fun hang so we just like kind of hung out for three days and we did this thing.

It was fine and the people were really nice and we did a nice thing.

But I just got to spend an additional three days with him like four months ago and it was so great.

He's such a good thoughtful dude.

I think we should workshop what the smartless movie would be that we can pitch together.

It should be stunt intensive.

Of course.

The three of us get kidnapped by a disgruntled listener.

Yeah.

And

we're tied up in the back of a van.

Disgruntled listener.

And Sean is held hostage at the donut factory.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Oh, I'm back in.

I'm back in.

And he's just to keep him fucking quiet.

He's got a dozen donuts in his mouth the entire time.

By the way, by the way, the last day, our last day, mine and Scotty, because Scotty's in Will's movie as well, we sent donuts to everybody.

They did.

They did.

They sent donuts.

And then I asked him if he'd had any.

He said, of course.

And then I had a great moment.

I will say, I won't say where,

but I had a great moment.

There was this big, Sean and Scotty sent this like, I don't know, like 30 boxes of donuts

on this big table.

And at one point, I see, I see like four cops standing over it.

And I didn't have my phone, I never had my phone.

I was like, where's my fucking phone?

It's real.

I know.

It was pretty good.

It's real.

Yeah, they were great guys.

David's great, though.

You know, the one thing.

No, no, no, no, this isn't it.

This isn't it yet.

But I did want to ask him because he does seem so level-headed and like really cool, like you're saying.

He is really cool.

Really like down-to-earth.

And Jay, you're the same way, I imagine on set where you're just, but it's like those, you're, those types of personalities that are

like just down to earth and have to keep everybody happy on a set.

What do you do when you get so fucking pissed about a person or something?

How do you stuff it?

And then how does it come out later?

Well, let's ask Amanda because she's usually

she bears the brunt of most of the frustration.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Sean, I was sorry.

I was actually reading something.

All right.

Say that one more time.

Oh, my God.

No, no, no.

Honestly,

we just got a pitch for a buy.

But what was the

when somebody says something that you don't like, how do you keep your...

No, no, no.

Like you guys have personalities where you're very level-headed and you have to keep the piece on set all the time.

And when somebody or something really pisses you off, you can't let it out.

So how do you let it out later?

Or what do you do about stuffing all that?

Yeah, I know.

I mean,

I am not perfect with this.

I'm sure some will attest.

But I guess you just like it in anything, like you or Will or anybody else in this world.

You just hope that you have managed your day properly leading up to that point where you are living in a place of patience and compromise

that you need to sort of

what the fuck?

Like all day long when you're directing, like when anybody's directing.

And you're just mad yourself.

You're already worked up.

I know, because I feel like I would be that way that's why it is part of the job though right it is part of the job to to manage all the incoming uh if you're gonna raise your hand for a leadership position there's a lot that comes with it so unless you can do it all no you know what you know what it is i think that you got to do i think that in those moments when you have that stuff

no you just got to become and you got to think about what what certain people would do like you know historically people who were good so you think about great people and thing you might think about this and you think about about God, and whatever you do, you can always look it up in the bite book,

or you might need to just fight.

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