"Shawn Levy"

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Speaker 1 Hey guys, get ready to get your socks knocked right back onto your feet.

Speaker 1 I don't think that's a saying, and if that's your attempt at an intro,

Speaker 1 we just lost half the audience.

Speaker 1 Will your turn?

Speaker 1 Get ready to get your socks knocked back onto your feet.

Speaker 1 Because that'd be a hell of a podcast. What were you thinking about? Come on.

Speaker 2 Were you trying to do an intro? Yeah, that was good.

Speaker 1 Because I reversed that. I reversed that.
Get ready to get it. Hey, get ready to get your hair blown back onto your hips.

Speaker 1 Like, what?

Speaker 1 This is going to unblow your mind, right? This is gonna tighten your socks and laces up on your shoes. God damn it.

Speaker 1 Just say welcome to Smart List. Welcome to Smart List.
Smart.

Speaker 1 Hey, welcome, everybody. Hey, guys.
Hey, how how excited? I will. Well, look, have you ever had apple juice and ice like this? It tastes really delicious.

Speaker 1 Is that what you wash down your egg salad with? Yeah, a little bit. I had a little bit of eggs today and a bagel with cream cheese.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 1 If we turned you inside out, will we just see a big American flag?

Speaker 1 Absolutely.

Speaker 1 Bless your heart. Sean, so

Speaker 1 what did you start with today? You started with the bagel?

Speaker 1 Half of the bagel. Plain bagel.
I do a full bagel. Half is cream cheese, half is butter.
Okay. But it's plain.
It's plain, right?

Speaker 1 Make no doubt. It's a plain bagel.
It's a plain bagel. Do you ever, like, do you ever try to like save the time? Because you got to slice it and put it.

Speaker 1 Do you ever just like take a slug, like a bite of the bagel and then just a big sliver of cream cheese and put it in? And eat that and then some butter just straight down the hatch.

Speaker 1 It'd be faster, that's for sure. Right? Because you're wasting a lot of time, it seems like.
But you're, but you're a plain bagel eater. I've, I, I've, I, I don't know any of you.
Um, well, why?

Speaker 1 Why, why put it? You're going to put stuff on it. Why have it in there? That's like just eating straight white bread.

Speaker 1 Most people go.

Speaker 1 It's some kind of a flavor.

Speaker 1 No, you put the flavor in the sandwich. But have you not tried an onion bagel, sesame bagel, copy seed bagel, everything bagel? No.
No, but have you ever tried it? No, I can smell it.

Speaker 1 So then therefore I've tried it. You've never tried it? No, I've only eaten plain bagels.
I mean, it's undeniably better than just a flat-tasting piece of

Speaker 1 round white bagels. Okay, look, I'll try it.

Speaker 1 I'll try that. You're 52 years old.
At least. I know.
Another thing I'd like to get you in on is this

Speaker 1 torture that

Speaker 1 Will has dropped me into this torture chamber that

Speaker 1 Sam Jones, our friend who directed

Speaker 1 the behind-the-scenes tour thing of Smartless. The special that's coming out, yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then also one of our guests, Matt Damon, is also involved in this torture chamber. So it's kind of a Smartless torture chamber.
And the only person missing is you and also Scott.

Speaker 1 So I'll do it. We're doing this.
Yeah, we do the wordle, quirtle, and octortal every morning. Yeah, and it's and then we have to do an aggregate score, and it's torturous.

Speaker 1 Well, it's it, I've, I have, I have an issue with the octortal people and listener. This is the eight puzzles.

Speaker 1 But they think of these like, we get it. You're bright.
You come up with these words that no one's ever heard of. But that's a hat on a hat.
It's already difficult to figure out the eight words.

Speaker 1 We don't need to also figure out words in a basically a different language. Can I just say something, man? It's hard to figure out the five-letter word.
Can I just say something, Jason?

Speaker 1 Good for you, man. You know,

Speaker 1 I'm standing up. I need to finally speak out.
I've been afraid to speak out because I don't want blowback. Man.
Hey, have you guys ever played mafia? Remember I talked about mafia like a year ago?

Speaker 1 It's not a word game.

Speaker 1 Sean, are you just doing loose association of ideas? No, I'm doing that.

Speaker 1 Us finishing talking is not your cue to come up with a different subject.

Speaker 1 No, I was telling you what I was doing last night. Speaking of played mafia, because you guys are talking about games.

Speaker 1 Our guest today, guys, you see that? Oh, we're just going to get right into it. We're going to be tired of talking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, but it's just this person.

Speaker 1 I haven't even said like, hello. Because this man is a director.
What? And there are very few. Jason, I love bringing directors in for you because I just see you get all giddy and all

Speaker 1 nervous.

Speaker 1 He sets up shots and how he lights certain angles. And he's not just a director.
He's a a director of some of the biggest comedies and the biggest films of all time. Incredible blockbusters.

Speaker 1 And also has produced some of the biggest, if not arguably the biggest now television show.

Speaker 1 Certainly in Netflix history, question mark.

Speaker 1 This is somebody who's Canadian. This is somebody shown that, Jason, you know, talk about nice hair.

Speaker 1 Talk about great hair. I can't wait to see the outcome.

Speaker 1 Lily, Lily.

Speaker 1 Right on. How about this guy? How about this guy? Oh, hi, guys.

Speaker 1 Are you in a looks like you're in a sort of an economical hotel?

Speaker 2 It's just a Hungarian hotel.

Speaker 1 Are you in a hotel?

Speaker 2 I'm in a hotel room where I have lived for four and a half months in Budapest, which is the longest I've ever been on location and the furthest that I've ever been on location and probably the last time that I will go this far away for this long.

Speaker 1 But hi, friends. Hi, Sharon.
why are you there?

Speaker 1 Oh, you're lucky, listeners. This is a good

Speaker 1 fucking. I can't wait to talk about Stranger Things.
I can't wait to talk about all the movies. This is so exciting.

Speaker 2 But Sean, I feel like there's no way we can let go today without, I feel like we had a moment, apparently in a casting session of a Knights Museum. Because yes, I've listened to every episode.

Speaker 1 That's right.

Speaker 2 So I've already gotten into Bateman's anti-turtleneck manifesto, but I handle that off air.

Speaker 1 But you're one of the three people that can pull it off.

Speaker 1 Yeah, well, to remind the viewers, or the viewers, the listeners, that I auditioned for one of the Night of the Museum movies, and you were so kind to call me in. And it was for Napoleon, I think.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. And

Speaker 1 I...

Speaker 1 Who did?

Speaker 1 Joaquin. It's just an inside joke.

Speaker 1 He just wrapped it. He just wrapped it.
Just wrapped it. Oh, he's right.
He played Napoleon.

Speaker 1 He's playing with it. Bridley Scott.
Yeah. Pushing

Speaker 1 in with it. I went in with a bunch of ideas and like a dick wad, and you were like looking at me like, uh-huh, maybe you can direct it too.

Speaker 2 Oh, really?

Speaker 1 No, but I feel like, no, so yeah, Sean, did you come with that line?

Speaker 2 I think I might have, according to Sean Hayes, Sean Levy, a young Sean Levy, said, Oh, did you want to direct it too?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Here's the thing, Sean.

Speaker 2 You don't know me that well. I don't do dry.
Seani don't play dry. So I think I was going.
That's like an Arnett move. That's a Bateman fucking superpower.

Speaker 2 But as you know, and as you can probably tell already, I don't do drive very well.

Speaker 1 It did make sense.

Speaker 2 But I think I'm not sure the humor came across because I was off tone.

Speaker 1 And now I've learned to stay in my lane.

Speaker 2 No, I like to be obvious with my humor.

Speaker 1 But while we're overseas, though, let's get back to Hungary. What are you doing in Hungary? And you've been there four and a half months.
I'll bet it's something fabulous. Let's hear it.

Speaker 2 It is something fabulous.

Speaker 2 And so that is kind of what gets me to it.

Speaker 2 I am doing, there was a book. I don't know if any of you read it called All the Light We Cannot See.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 And this book

Speaker 2 came out for real no see i don't you drive that's a callback also used in comedy

Speaker 1 um sean leaving just so you know if you ever reference a book again and neither of them has read a book in tv guide was the last i read by the way i read three this week go ahead okay well there was a book

Speaker 2 There was a book called All the Light We Cannot See. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and it was a bestseller like seven years ago.

Speaker 2 And they were going to do it as a movie, and I couldn't even get a meeting on it. And then I kind of waited and waited because I'm all about the long-term, long-term goals.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 I found out about three years ago that the rights were available. And I chased it and I said to the novelist, what if we do it as a limited series?

Speaker 2 Cause that is such, you know, in the seven years and you get all your book in there. It's exactly right.
And so then I decided to direct all of the episodes myself.

Speaker 1 So I am here.

Speaker 2 It's intense.

Speaker 1 How many episodes?

Speaker 2 There's, it's only four episodes, but it's like a 90-day shoot, which is even the, even my biggest movies are 70-day shoots.

Speaker 1 What's the elevator pitch? Like, what's it about?

Speaker 2 It's World War II. There's a blind French girl and her father who are running from the Nazi invasion in France, and they're living in a coastal city in France.
Her dad is Mark Ruffalo.

Speaker 2 Her uncle is Hugh Laurie. And I cast, I decided I wanted to do this with an actress who was actually blind.

Speaker 2 So we did a global search and we found this young woman named Aria Liberti who has never been auditioned for a part.

Speaker 1 and she is legally blind and as you can imagine it has been unlike any shoot that I've ever done now Sean not to get in a levy not to get into the weeds but so when you have a legally blind actor

Speaker 2 what do you do about like if you have a real specific mark that an actor needs to hit because of technical issues with a dolly move or a light or something like that like how do you get around that well uh very often what we do is you put a little piece of rope sandbags a sandbag is a tripping hazard i've learned that the hard way so you literally put a little piece of twine underneath tape.

Speaker 2 And the truth is, when you don't have sight, all your other senses you use so intensely, including touch, and you use your feet as other things that can feel. So she finds her mark with her feet.

Speaker 2 When she asks where the camera is, she's asked us to, we literally will snap where the camera is because she uses sound to echo, locate, and map the room.

Speaker 1 That's fascinating.

Speaker 2 Every day is fascinating. And we have this kind of 20-something playing, the grown-up version of this character, Marie.

Speaker 2 And we have this seven-year-old who is also blind named Nell, who we found in a small town in Wales. And she is playing the younger version.

Speaker 2 And so you've got these experienced people like Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie. And, you know, it's this big epic World War II kind of drama.

Speaker 1 How old is the young woman playing the blind character?

Speaker 2 She is in her mid-20s and the and the younger is now seven.

Speaker 1 So that's got to be wild for somebody in their mid-20s, not only just an actress with sight, but an actress without sight, learning the ropes of camera blocking, lighting, like cues and just all of that.

Speaker 1 It's fascinating.

Speaker 2 Well, we've all had visitors come to a set at some point, and you see that people don't understand this strange workplace that is not like any kind of normal workplace.

Speaker 2 And so she's got that, but she's also, she's never even acted. She never even was aspiring to act.
She found out about this search from a teacher she had when she was 11.

Speaker 2 And she sent in an iPhone video out of hundreds, and she made it round after round after round after round, and then she got the part.

Speaker 1 Well, let me ask you this because this makes sense.

Speaker 1 Obviously, she's never seen a film or a television program by virtue of her not having the power of sight. But has she,

Speaker 1 well, I was going to say, well, no, I mean, sometimes you got to connect the dots for me. No, now I'm with you.
Obviously, it stands to reason, but I was going to say, is she aware of just

Speaker 1 what I was asking? Has she heard a lot of that stuff? Is she in touch with stuff in that way, Paul? Very much.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Like she's seen every Marvel movie.
She came into this.

Speaker 2 I did a movie two years ago called Free Guy that she'd seen a bunch of times. She knows stranger things.
So she is very steeped in pop culture, but she's not watching it.

Speaker 2 She is, she is using audio description and she loves it, but it's just in a different way.

Speaker 1 So that's how I watch Ozark with my eyes closed. Same thing.
Yeah. So an act, well, at least I'll speak for myself.

Speaker 1 I watch what I do and learn how to be better by noticing the things that I don't do well. If I didn't have my eyes, I wouldn't be able to see that.
So how does one,

Speaker 1 how does one become a good actor if you've never seen not only what good actors do, but how you look when you feel an emotion, how knowing how that comes across, how you're able to.

Speaker 2 That's the crux of it. That's it.

Speaker 2 That's literally, we go through this almost every day where she'll play a scene and she might play it great, but maybe she's doing stuff with her face that is too busy and she doesn't see herself or other actors.

Speaker 1 And she's never seen a smile. She's never seen different versions of a smile.

Speaker 2 And she's not seen herself in a mirror. Yeah.

Speaker 2 So it's, it is, it is profound every day. And so what I, what, what she's learned is, oh, okay, understand where the camera is.

Speaker 2 Like we've all learned, calibrate what you're doing based on the size of your face on that screen and the side of the lens.

Speaker 2 And she'll ask, and I've taught her like like mini film school boot camp like this is a medium shot i'm at your waist then we're gonna move the camera and suddenly it's more head to toe so you can be a little freer but what i've learned also i mean i've directed 13 movies now and i hadn't and jason i've directed you obviously but like i use my face to direct so much so like I might say cut, Jace, let's,

Speaker 2 and I'll make a face, right? And I'll indicate what I want in the next video.

Speaker 1 I got that one a lot from you.

Speaker 1 That was, listener, that was a, that was a not so much face I got that from Sean a lot like hey great Jason but maybe it's kind of it's suggesting 180 degrees like the absolute opposite of whatever you're doing can we just flip it or are we

Speaker 2 we have that no I prefer this one

Speaker 2 for we got that version correct that's high eyebrows

Speaker 2 thank you that's great high eyebrows and I'll do this hand gesture like when Kobe used to make a shot and run back to play D and he'd do the settle down hands

Speaker 2 just the settlement yeah yeah And so some of that would just go to, I'm like, hey, Jace, Jace.

Speaker 2 And I would just kind of like push my palms downward to stuff down this.

Speaker 1 This is a dramatic scene. Yeah.
Easy on the comedy.

Speaker 1 Now, Sean, is it because of like, you know, Canadians are known for just being the nicest people in the world, but you have this energy about you because we had a breakfast like decades ago and you were so charming and so funny and so witty.

Speaker 1 And you

Speaker 1 have this infectious joy, joyous energy i'm sure i'm not the only person to ever say that that you must so good to be around yeah that that just must create this atmosphere on set it's just a statement i have no question i just i just find you incredibly joyful it's real too it's you know you go you don't you don't know how somebody is how somebody really is until you until you either play around to golf with them or you work a long schedule on a movie right because you can't hide in those situations i guess my question to that is what when you're filmmaking what really gets under your skin because i I can't see you throwing a fit or getting angry.

Speaker 2 Well, it's funny because

Speaker 2 a mutual friend of a bunch of ours, I heard Ryan Reynolds do your show, and I've now done two movies in a row with Ryan. And his favorite thing,

Speaker 2 thank you. His favorite thing is when he's like, oh, Shawnee's going dark.
Shawnee's going dark. And the truth is my version, well, you probably have, Jace, but it's like...

Speaker 2 maybe the extent of his like, guys, we got to go.

Speaker 2 Why are we not shooting?

Speaker 2 But I just get more absurd.

Speaker 2 My voice gets a little screechy and I use my hands even more so but you know I think I mean I know a little bit about your backstory Sean because I've listened to smartlist and and I just like my mom she liked the bottle and it was not always an easy childhood and I just I feel like I just willed myself towards happiness.

Speaker 2 Like I'm not going to have a sad life.

Speaker 2 I'm going to have a happy life and I want the things I make to put that in the world. Was dad around growing up or he was around and I would go over,

Speaker 2 you know, like for two days a week.

Speaker 2 And then when I was 13, I moved in with him and my stepmom and that family full time because I just, I needed to kind of be safe.

Speaker 1 Was this in Montreal, Sean? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It was in Montreal.

Speaker 1 So your parents were split from when you were very, very, very young?

Speaker 2 Yeah, from the time I was three. Oh, wow.
And I didn't, it's weird because I didn't even, I never even talk about that stuff because A, who cares? And B, I do. Some sense of privacy.

Speaker 2 But now that I'm, you know, in the middle part of my life, I see like everyone's like, I'm doing a drama now, right? I've done a lot of comedies.

Speaker 2 And, but what I've, what I've found is I just want to take feeling and put it on screen.

Speaker 1 And plus, you're like an incredible dad, too, with incredible daughters and incredible.

Speaker 2 I've had a lot of practice. I have four daughters.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And we will be right back.

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Speaker 1 So you have four daughters. How old are your daughters?

Speaker 2 They are 22 down to 11. So 22, 20, 15, 11.
So it's, and a wife of 28 years.

Speaker 2 And so it's that's I mean it says it all.

Speaker 1 Are they with you in Hungary? They're not with you in Hungary.

Speaker 2 Actually, you know what? They, they, they've mostly not been, but they were here until a few hours ago.

Speaker 2 And literally my wife's parting words to me when I dropped out for the airport is she's like, don't push shit on Smartlist.

Speaker 1 Don't, she literally, she knows that the more I love something.

Speaker 2 And this circles back to your question about like on set, I do tend to be pretty energetic because I love being there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I love your show. I've never, I told your producers, like, I don't do, I can't think of doing press with something I love.

Speaker 2 And I've listened to pretty much every episode, and it feels so authentic and funny as shit.

Speaker 1 And I'm so glad that I'm really thrilled to be such a fit right in. Well, that's very kind of you to say.
We're surprised always. I was telling my buddy Todd and down in St.

Speaker 1 Bart's, good friend of mine. We're always surprised that people listen to the show.
So thank you. I will say, I want to ask you a little bit about,

Speaker 1 so you're in Montreal,

Speaker 1 and how does a guy from Montreal

Speaker 1 go on to direct huge movies and be

Speaker 1 Sean Lee? For Tracy, let's just rattle off.

Speaker 2 I know, because I feel like Tracy and many of your listeners are like, who is this?

Speaker 1 No, and then

Speaker 1 it's hard for us because here's one of the things.

Speaker 1 When I start to describe who it is, and I start listing off your credits, then I know that immediately Bateman and Hayes are going to get it really quickly. So, I'm trying to do it.

Speaker 1 So, you directed 13 films, some of which are all the Night of the Museum movies. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Did you direct Cheaper by the Dozen? I did.

Speaker 1 Cheaper by the Dozen. Free Guy.
You did.

Speaker 2 The recent one was called The Adam Project.

Speaker 1 You also directed Stranger Things.

Speaker 2 Stranger Things is the weird.

Speaker 2 It started with a conversation with you, Jason, because we did a movie called This Is Where I Leave You.

Speaker 2 And in my experience, when you think you're making the thing that's going to change everything, it ain't the thing that's going to change everything.

Speaker 1 That's so true.

Speaker 2 Right. So like, because I was the family comedy guy and I'd done like Pink Panther and Cheaper by the Dozen and Date Night and Night at Museum.

Speaker 2 And I found this book called This Where I Leave You and I chased it for five years and I got the cast of my dreams.

Speaker 2 It's Jason with Adam Driver and Jane Fonda and Ben Schwartz and Catherine Hahn and Tina Faye. It was ridiculous.

Speaker 1 It was like a murderer's row every day in the little house.

Speaker 2 Corey stole and no one went to their trailer. We stayed in the house and we just we shopped 28 days and it was great.

Speaker 1 So good.

Speaker 2 And then it didn't do very well.

Speaker 2 And I then had to do a panel and Jason was the moderator and i was i was hurting because when you fail in this job it's public and it hurts and all of us have felt it and i was like jason i don't know if i can kind of like turn it on tonight and he said he goes hey

Speaker 2 we made someone's favorite movie might be one person's might be a couple of dozen but this movie The people who are seeing it and who it resonates for, they're going to hold on to it.

Speaker 2 And it was this revolution. You don't even remember this conversation, Jason, but it was, I had lived and died by the sword of box office for so long.
There was one metric of success.

Speaker 2 What's your opening weekend? What's your worldwide growth?

Speaker 2 Right. And I made those kinds of movies and I had a good run.
But that was the beginning of, wait, maybe there's other measurements of why you do things.

Speaker 1 And there's other movies that don't lend themselves to popcorn box office.

Speaker 1 And there are plenty of movies that you know in the history of the cinema, if I can borrow that term from a bunch of young actors who have no reason or right to use it.

Speaker 1 Give me a fucking break. It's like I hear a guy going, in the cinema, I'm like, you grew up in a fucking trailer in Florida.
Shut the fuck up.

Speaker 2 But there have been a lot of, you know, there are a lot of,

Speaker 2 I guess my point is this.

Speaker 1 Sean, if you're ever trying to figure out how to deal with getting kicked in the nuts in show business and how to deal with it, just call me, man. Because I've got tons of experience.

Speaker 1 It's almost all all I've had. I always joke that if it wasn't for bad movies, I wouldn't have made any at all.

Speaker 1 So if you ever want to make yourself feel better, ever,

Speaker 1 you can call me. Thank you for that resource.
And then you just go, oh, I'm a fucking success. What am I talking about? I just talked to Arnett.
What a loser.

Speaker 1 Wait, Sean, can I ask? Because you couldn't tell by his tan, though. The guy looks like a trillion dollars.

Speaker 1 But you got Paul Anka type of tan going right now. Thank you.
Another great Canadian. That's deep.

Speaker 1 So wait, hang on.

Speaker 1 We never answered this.

Speaker 2 So you've noticed that. But Sean,

Speaker 2 are you going to remember your question or should you want to ask?

Speaker 1 I don't remember.

Speaker 2 I was just going to say that at the end of that year, 2014, that happened. I made the Last Night Museum movie, and then Robin Williams, with whom I'd made three movies over 10 years, died.

Speaker 2 And I was just knocked out. And I said at that point, like, I'm going to say no for a while and see what happens.
I'm going to have, because I'd done a movie a year for a decade.

Speaker 2 And in that breath came Arrival.

Speaker 1 Yes. One of my favorite movies.

Speaker 2 And in that same moment came Stranger Things. Wow.
And those things changed everything and have changed everything since.

Speaker 1 That's right. I was going to mention those are the two.
I mean, Arrival is one of my favorite movies of all time. I've seen it like 10 times.
I mean, the Twitch, have you guys seen it?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I've seen Arrival. But I want to get back to Sean.
Before we get into that, I want to get back to right that moment you were just saying, that that moment changed your life.

Speaker 1 It was a shift of perspective that you had. Yes.
Right. And once you were able to kind of get out, as you said, stop chasing this thing.

Speaker 1 Stop looking for that. Stop looking to measure your own success.
We've talked about this based on

Speaker 1 what you do or how you do in the box office, but more, I'm going to say no because I'm going to find something because I don't know anymore, right? In a certain way, you're just kind of,

Speaker 1 it's that ability to just let go and surrender to the process and just go, fuck it, I don't know.

Speaker 2 And also just to like, why did you guys start Smartlist? Because

Speaker 2 as, as near as I can figure, you wanted to see what it was like, right? The pandemic was happening, and who knows if this will be something. I remember texting with Jason early on.

Speaker 2 No one knew if it would become something. You did it because you wanted to.

Speaker 1 And it seemed like it would be

Speaker 1 fun and interesting. Right here, yeah.

Speaker 2 The same thing, Stranger Things. No one wanted that show.
I wasn't even in the TV business. I'm a movie director.
And these boys, these duffers came in with the best script I'd ever read.

Speaker 2 And I literally brought them into my office and I said, I don't know what's what's going to happen if anyone will watch it, but I definitely want to help you get it made.

Speaker 1 I'm sure I'm not the last or the first person to say this, but you know, it gave me a lot of my childhood back.

Speaker 1 It was like, that's exactly how I live. Hopefully, you're the last to say that.
I mean, I know you're not the first, but I would ride my bike to my friend's house. We'd play Dungeons and Dragons.

Speaker 1 So cool. But so, Sean, it was just another example of

Speaker 1 how keen your eye is for stuff that is going to be appealing for

Speaker 1 many, many, many people

Speaker 1 in addition to the fancy folks. Because the fancy folks love all the commercial movies that you've done, including Stranger Things, but these things all get great reviews too.
So, what is it about?

Speaker 1 We can just take Stranger Things for example. You said you're not sure if people are going to watch it, but you definitely saw something of value there to push forward and want to champion it.

Speaker 1 So, what was it about that show and your eye in general that can find the populist thing that also is married to kind of the sophisticated thing?

Speaker 2 Well, I think the populist thing is if it has a theme that I think everybody wrestles with,

Speaker 2 that's what I say yes. So like Stranger Things, yeah, it was about a missing kid and another dimension and a monster, but it's really an anthem to outcasts.

Speaker 2 That is about the AV club, the people who don't fit in, who find each other and their connection is their superpower. That's everybody,

Speaker 2 every human has felt at points, whether as kids or teens or as adults, like, wait, where is my place in this constellation of people for whom life seems so much fucking easier?

Speaker 2 Right. And when I just have a feeling that a lot of people can relate to an idea, to a theme, those are the ones they said yes to.
Like I said no to Free Guy five years ago when I read it as a script.

Speaker 2 But when Ryan read it and called me over and said, look, I'm not a big gamer either, but it's about someone who feels helpless in their world. It's about

Speaker 2 an actual literal background character living in a world that is shitty and they feel powerless in it and considers that maybe they can do something in it. That's the theme of Free Guy.

Speaker 2 That's why I did Free Guy. The gaming stuff helps sell it, but it's not why we made it.

Speaker 1 Right, right. Right, right.

Speaker 2 So I'm always looking for a theme, and that's what it was on Stranger Things.

Speaker 1 I love that. It's such a great success.

Speaker 1 It changed so much. It's just, it came along at the right time.

Speaker 1 Where is

Speaker 1 Stranger Things now? In its second to last season, question Mark? Yes.

Speaker 2 Yes. In fact, by the time people are listening to this conversation, we will have launched volume two of our fourth season.

Speaker 2 So we launched seven episodes called Volume One, and we're doing only one more season.

Speaker 1 You're going to do another season after this one?

Speaker 2 Yes, we are doing season five, and that will be the last.

Speaker 1 Wow, that's super cool. Are you going to get in there and direct any of those? Always, always.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 1 every season you have.

Speaker 2 Correct. Every season, I have directed episode three and four.
And

Speaker 2 some of it is superstition, but it started off. The idea when we sold it to Netflix was the Duffers wanted to direct all of them.
And they were directing the first few episodes.

Speaker 2 And it became clear that they were never going to finish writing the season. So I basically said, I'll come to Atlanta where we film, and I'll do a couple of episodes, go hibernate with the script.

Speaker 2 So I came in and I ended up doing episodes that.

Speaker 2 you know, the Christmas lights episode in season one and these moments that, I mean, I've never directed horror, but what i love about the job it's probably what you do too jason which is okay what tone does this story want yeah right there's some directors like wes anderson or baz luhrman where their stamp is the same on everything they make right that's not the kind of director i am i'm gonna change the free guy looks different than the atom project looks different than night of the museum so i'm always and i learn new visual muscles or i gain more visual muscles on stranger things and ever since then two episodes a season and that'll be the same thing next year.

Speaker 1 That's so cool. So cool.
So great.

Speaker 1 It's that Spielbergian

Speaker 1 type of cinematic approach that, you know, your stuff has always looked great, but

Speaker 1 there's a muscularity to the way in which those duffers established kind of that cinematic

Speaker 1 heft.

Speaker 2 Well, do you know what it is that's interesting? Sean was saying it brought back his, you know, a certain period of his life, Me Too. The Duffers were born in 84.

Speaker 2 So for me, I'm doing a nostalgia trip, right?

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 2 their show,

Speaker 2 what they're doing is the movies of the 80s that they watched on VHS in the 90s.

Speaker 2 That's the love letter they're doing.

Speaker 2 I'm doing a love letter to my high school years.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 And it's interesting that we have different access points. And now my stepmom, who's in her mid-70s, loves a show, and so do my daughters.

Speaker 2 And that's the unicorn thing about Stranger Things is the demographic crossover.

Speaker 1 Let me ask you something about comedy because, you know, obviously you're a pro in it. And what do you do when you get somebody on set that you, an actor,

Speaker 1 is there like a trick do you do or some kind of exercise you do when you take a, quote, non-funny person or like somebody who's not known in comedy and tries to...

Speaker 1 It takes me to my question about Ryan Reynolds. Yeah.
Why do you keep working with him?

Speaker 1 He's just a scene killer.

Speaker 1 Do you just go into the editing room and you just go, okay, let's let's rework it.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I've had actors who you definitely go in the edit room.
You're like, fuck, I got to save this one. I got to save it.

Speaker 1 But and someone who's not, who's not, whose strength isn't completely. Oh, no, I've had it.

Speaker 2 Like, look, I would love to.

Speaker 1 By the way, Hayes, you're putting it really nicely for some fucking people who are just not funny and you have to make them funny.

Speaker 2 Here's what I've learned, guys.

Speaker 2 I have learned this repeatedly, and I so want to give you the famous names as examples because they're really famous and they're phenomenal in their in their own like lane.

Speaker 2 But here's what I know: you can get a great dramatic performance from a comedic genius of an actor.

Speaker 2 We've all seen it, we've done it. You cannot make someone unfunny hear the music if they are tone deaf.

Speaker 2 And I've literally, there was an actor on Night Museum where I'm like, no, no, do you hear like take, take the pause, like, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.

Speaker 2 And then, and then that actor would go

Speaker 2 nope nope listen to me

Speaker 2 and it's literally on on free guy that's what she got Jodi Comer had never done comedy we got the name guys no it's not Jodi Comer because she ended up being great because

Speaker 2 she's really funny she's really funny but here's how she for the first few days she was like Jane Fonda was on our movie This Where I Leave You, where she's watching the funny swirl around her.

Speaker 2 And she's like, where do I fucking get my boat in this river? Like,

Speaker 2 it's moving too fast. How do I get my boat in the water?

Speaker 2 And with Jodi, with Jodi Comer, I said, you're like an accent, Savant. I've seen Killing Eve.
You're like, your ear is insane. That's how you think about comedy.

Speaker 2 It is, it is sound, it is inflection, it is rhythm. Hear the rhythm, hear the pitch.
That's where you'll find the funny.

Speaker 2 And she's working with Ryan Reynolds and Tyka Waititi and Utkarsh and Budkar, who are all such Jedi masters at funny that she used her ear.

Speaker 2 So I'll usually, Sean, sometimes they cannot be saved and I'll cut around them, or I just won't go to them for comedy. I'll literally go, you're the backboard.
Everyone just keeps shooting.

Speaker 2 This is the backboard. Their name is X.
They happen to be in a scene with you. But I try to

Speaker 1 come with it. That's my career.
Wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 2 Funny, funny, funny, and then cut to Bateman for real.

Speaker 1 Levy, Levy, slow down because Sean's writing all this down. He's trying to make his mouth funny.
So slow down. And he got the last bit, right? And so just listen, Sean.

Speaker 1 You just play it it back for yourself later, Sean when it's pleased.

Speaker 1 I love, you know, we always joke around. We talk about it sometimes, not even just in work, just in life.
People who aren't necessarily that funny.

Speaker 1 And by the way, I'm not saying that we are the fucking end-all or we're particularly funny.

Speaker 2 You're extremely funny. I'll say it because you can't, you're super.

Speaker 1 No, but I will say that again, like there's always somebody funnier.

Speaker 1 But people who aren't necessarily funny, they come at you sometimes because they think like, oh, you guys rib each other. So all they do is they come at you really hard in a really weird way.

Speaker 1 And I was doing a tennis match once, a

Speaker 1 one of these things at the U.S. Open

Speaker 1 years ago. Playing in the match?

Speaker 1 It was like a charity sled thing to raise money for the U.S. Open.

Speaker 1 And it was me and Pharaoh against a couple of guys. And one of the guys, this is a long time ago, so I feel confident, but maybe I'll know.

Speaker 1 And all he did was just come at Pharaoh so hard in this way that I kind of looked at Will and I was like, geez, he's like, yeah, what the fuck, man? Just fucking kick your foot off the gas.

Speaker 1 Because they had that, their instinct. And I have seen it at work before a couple times too.

Speaker 1 And it's really awkward. You're like, man, just cool it.

Speaker 2 Just don't. No, no.

Speaker 2 I had this. somewhat recently where an actor was like, like, no, no, but I'm like,

Speaker 2 just stop trying.

Speaker 1 Just, I'm begging you. Yeah, stop trying.

Speaker 2 This is not your thing. But that's youth.

Speaker 1 I think that's like young.

Speaker 1 That's how I was probably in that audition with you, or probably in lots of auditions or whatever. You're just so young.
You're just like, I got to try really hard. And you don't know.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but Sean, your attitude is different there. You're actually trying to do something.
You're not trying to, you're not doing out of

Speaker 1 fear.

Speaker 2 But you know what else it is? I think, and I talk about this with my daughters a lot.

Speaker 2 I think that at a certain point, we all want to to have an idea of who we want to be, right? But we are each given certain gifts and we are lacking certain skills.

Speaker 2 And at a certain point in life, you have to look at what you are

Speaker 2 and you have to distinguish it from what you want to be. That's right.
Because no one ever got to a happy life hitting their head against a wall if it's not. dovetailing with the gifts they have.

Speaker 2 And I do feel that maybe

Speaker 2 it took me a lot of years. Like I remember after Night at the Museum, I wanted to do a dark drama.

Speaker 2 And I remember Chris Columbus, who was a producer on Night Museum, he said, why are you running from the thing that comes easily to you?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Because then it doesn't feel like you're doing anything.

Speaker 2 That's right. That's right.

Speaker 1 That's exactly right. But it's actually, you know, you've just identified the thing you're natural at.
Enjoy. Yeah.
But you know what? It's weird too. I don't know if you guys feel the same way.

Speaker 1 I feel at this age, it's almost like within, you know, I'm 52. It's within the last two years.
You don't look at man. Thank you.
You don't look at it. You don't look at it.

Speaker 2 But when that tan fades, I'm concerned.

Speaker 1 Yeah, then then you're 70 yeah you are yeah you are i woke up this morning i already felt like a fucking loser but but but i i it was i think it was quite honestly it was 50 that made me realize all these things and start to and all these things these hang-ups that i had or these ideas or the story that i would tell myself about myself yeah i just started to change it yeah and i and the things I was worried about or I cared about, I don't care about anymore.

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 2 It is what if I'm at, I'm right at the, I'm 53, and it is definitely like, there's a lot that's shitty about midlife, but there are some things that are really fun.

Speaker 2 And the two that I found is acceptance, God willing, some fucking acceptance of what and who you are.

Speaker 2 And the other is, I do find Brian talks about this sometimes when we're on set, because like we'll walk on, and I can, I, I can block that scene and know my shots in about three minutes now.

Speaker 2 It did not come that easy and that smoothly a decade ago. And you get a competence at your work as you get into midlife that is,

Speaker 2 I'm finding it enjoyable, like really enjoyable.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 We'll be right back.

Speaker 3 20th Century Studios presents the upcoming comedy, Ella McKay, from Academy Award-winning writer-director James L. Brooks.

Speaker 3 Emma Mackey plays Ella McKay, an idealistic young woman who juggles her family and work life.

Speaker 3 in a story about the people you love and how to survive them, featuring an all-star cast including Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Loudon, Kumale Ninjani, Iowa Deborey, Julie Kavner, with Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson.

Speaker 3 Ella McKay. In theaters December 12th.

Speaker 4 Don't miss Sebastian Maniscalco's new stand-up special, It Ain't Right, premiering on Hulu November 21st. Filmed live at the sold-out United Center Arena in Chicago.

Speaker 4 Sebastian's newest special features his larger-than-life presence, one-of-a-kind physical comedy, and hilarious everyday observations that will keep you laughing non-stop.

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Speaker 4 Watch Sebastian Maniscalco, It Ain't Right, on November 21st, streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundled subscribers. Terms apply.

Speaker 5 The family that vacations together stays together. At least, that was the plan.
Except now, the dastardly desk clerk is saying he can't confirm your connecting rooms. Wait, what?

Speaker 3 That's right, ma'am.

Speaker 6 You have rooms 201 and 709.

Speaker 5 No, we cannot be five floors away from our kids. Uh, the doors have double locks, they'll they'll be fine.
When you want connecting rooms confirmed before you arrive, it matters where you stay.

Speaker 1 Welcome to Hilton.

Speaker 5 I see your connecting rooms are already confirmed. Hilton, for this day.

Speaker 1 And now back to the show.

Speaker 1 Your work ethic is just incredible, the amount of work you're able to put out and at a high level.

Speaker 1 Do you think that's part of it

Speaker 1 now, even more so?

Speaker 1 Because you're so confident with what you're doing, you're so comfortable with what you're doing, that you can take on so much because, Sean,

Speaker 1 your output is just stunning. I mean, your company is just

Speaker 1 thriving.

Speaker 1 Do you feel, I bet you don't feel overwhelmed. I bet you don't feel like you're under

Speaker 1 servicing anything.

Speaker 2 I rarely do.

Speaker 2 I mean, the whole goal, especially once I had that like 2014, 2015 moment where I was like, oh, wait, I can't control outcomes. So I'd better stop living for it.

Speaker 2 I'd better stop living for box office as if I can control it.

Speaker 1 That was always a fable process, right? Process.

Speaker 2 You cannot like,

Speaker 2 you don't know if your movie or show is going to do well. You do it because you believe in it.
And then you better goddamn well have fun while you're making it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And enjoy the people that you've hired to work with.

Speaker 2 Yes. And that's definitely, that's definitely where I've been at the last several years.

Speaker 1 I've had people look at me funnily when I, because I've sort of said something similar where I said, like, if I'm going to do something, it's going to take me away from my family and my kids, which is obviously that stuff becomes more, comes into more and more into focus of like, of course, it's more important than anything else.

Speaker 1 So if I'm going to do it, it better be fun. And I have had people in a professional setting be like, look at me kind of strangely like, oh, that's important to you to have fun.
It's work.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. We don't get another crack at this.
This is it now. Yeah.
You're in it now.

Speaker 1 There is no, it's not like, and then I'll do this and then I'll do the thing and then I do this. No, no, it's now.
It's now. Yeah, for sure.
It's now. For sure.
What's now? When?

Speaker 1 What are you waiting for? Yeah, to do that. But Sean, to that point and everything you said earlier about just kind of reaching

Speaker 1 middle age and kind of figuring out who you are and staying in your lane or kind of veering off just ever so slightly, but still kind of staying in that, on the same road at least.

Speaker 1 Just looking at

Speaker 1 what you have coming up, you're like 17 things in production as a producer. Are you one of those personalities that has to have all of these things going?

Speaker 1 Or are you reaching a point in your life where you're like, you know what? I have to find balance because I have, that's what I'm kind of talking out loud for myself.

Speaker 1 Balance about like, yes, to Jason's point, you have this company that's just massive and doing all of these things, but are you afraid of downtime?

Speaker 1 Because I'm just reaching that point where I'm figuring out that balance.

Speaker 2 I used to be. I am not anymore.
This long location gig crystallized a lot for me.

Speaker 2 And I think we're making something special, but that's still five months that I missed of my daughter's life.

Speaker 2 And to your point, I mean, I think you put it so beautifully, like it's happening right now.

Speaker 2 The thing that you're planning for and goal, you know, goal create, like, it's it. This is happening.
And this is all part of it.

Speaker 2 So, um, and that's the other, I don't know, Will, I think you have some kids who are maybe teens.

Speaker 2 And I don't know with the ages, Jace, I think yours are a little young still, but that was a big part of that 2014, 2015 crucible moment where my oldest was in 11th grade, I think.

Speaker 2 And I was like, wait a second, they're not going to live with me forever? Like, that was a revelation.

Speaker 2 I somehow never thought about it with terror and the heartbreak of, oh, these years that we are a family together, they are finite and they end. And that changed things too.

Speaker 1 You know, this summer, so I'm out on the East Coast in the summertime because when I'm not in St. Barnes, I'm in East Hampton.

Speaker 1 And sorry, I'm just, I'm just, sorry, you guys should know I'm going for douchebag of the year, so I'm trying to say as much as I can. I think you just walked it.
You just walked it.

Speaker 1 But no, actually, you know what? I drive a GMC picketbow. I'm out here because I'm also kind of a contrarian.
Oh, is it professional grade? Because if it is, that would make sense.

Speaker 1 I'd say it's professional grade. Yeah, and it's got the multipro tailgate,

Speaker 1 which was developed by GMC

Speaker 1 for professional grade. Sound just like the guy who does the commercial.
But the point is this. So I'm out here and my son, Archie, who's 13,

Speaker 1 he

Speaker 1 said to me like last week, he goes, hey, can I borrow your, it's like, I'm going to go work out. And I said, okay, which has become like kind of a new thing.

Speaker 1 And he's like, hey, can I borrow your shoes? And I said, sure. And then he's 13 and he's wearing my size 12 shoes.

Speaker 1 And I don't know why that it felt like such a, like a bucket of cold water on my face. I was like, my baby is wearing my size 12 shoes.
Wow. What?

Speaker 1 And I just wanted to hug him with like, keep them small, just be like,

Speaker 1 what the fuck? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It, uh, it starting at fifth grade, they actually start to be like, I'm no, I'm kind of good.
I got, I want to hang out with my friends this weekend.

Speaker 1 And like, and then when, of course, when they're 18, they're just gone. And then they come back once or twice a year, if they like you, for some holiday visits.

Speaker 1 But other than that, their next stop on the family run is with people they haven't even met yet. And those are going to be their family.
Yeah, that's great. That's great.

Speaker 1 And it's just like, I literally just put Franny on the plane this morning for camp in Europe for five weeks. Literally, I had to get up to the house.

Speaker 2 Maybe I can look in on her because she's probably close to where I am right now.

Speaker 1 I can pop over and I can hover if you want.

Speaker 1 If you're near Amsterdam, get over there.

Speaker 1 Oh, she had to go to Amsterdam first, too. She kept saying you need to go to Amsterdam.
Yeah, you got to fill up the backpack.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 so,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 I'm trying to train myself to

Speaker 1 be okay with...

Speaker 1 kissing goodbye and enjoy life. Go ahead.

Speaker 1 How was the goodbye, though, Jay, today?

Speaker 1 I mean, is she excited to go?

Speaker 1 She was. She was awesome.
She was very brave, very happy, you know, nervous, but

Speaker 1 on it. She's got coping skills.

Speaker 1 And that's the thing I think is all you can really hope for is to try to build them that healthy, you know, decision maker on top of their shoulders.

Speaker 2 And then with a good dollop of self-esteem.

Speaker 2 Because the way that they expect and feel worthy of being treated in the world,

Speaker 2 that's what we're trying to build, right?

Speaker 1 Is that

Speaker 2 they go out there and they find relationships that deserve them.

Speaker 2 And that they don't settle or think they should settle for less.

Speaker 1 Right. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, Jace, I can tell you in your case, you're lucky because she's got a great head on her shoulders and she's a great kid.
She's going to be tall and you're going to be fine.

Speaker 1 Yeah. She's an awesome kid.
Objectively. She's an awesome kid.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And the camp goodbye is just warm up for the eventual college goodbye.
That one is brutal.

Speaker 1 I've done that twice.

Speaker 2 twice it wrecked me even the college tours going just driving around and seeing the places where they are going to be going even two years before they go i'm going to be a disaster it's such a cliche i realize that but i mean that college tour is a real kind of watershed memory builder but the goodbye because now they don't live with you anymore and they won't again They might, but, you know, in some ways you hope they won't.

Speaker 2 But that's, yeah, I mean, it's just all these kind of, you realize all these moments are, they're not going to be reclaimed. So you better be savoring them now at work, at home.

Speaker 1 Hayes, Hayes, you're lucky. Your dad left when you were young.
Because you didn't have to go through. He didn't, you spared him all this shit.
Yeah, you know? Now, Sean,

Speaker 1 Sean, do you worry that you're going to gas? and

Speaker 1 run out of steam right at the moment that you're an empty nester when it's like it's time to get to work because you don't have to worry about the kids back at home and being like that i i worry about that i worry about like working super hard while they're they're still at home and then running out of gas and now the house is empty except for me and Amanda.

Speaker 2 I mean, if I have a thousand other terrors, the gas tank feels full every morning, like someone snuck in and refilled it at night. That's how, and that is, and I know, I feel really lucky about that.

Speaker 2 And by the way, Sean, the dad backstory is, if anything, it's given Will Arnett comedy gold.

Speaker 1 He doesn't miss any of those pitches. No, he hits them all hard.

Speaker 2 And it's for like over 100 episodes now.

Speaker 2 So on behalf of all listeners, thank you, Dad.

Speaker 1 When you see the documentary for giving Will Arnett such fun. Thank you.

Speaker 1 You get to put a face to all those jokes of the time. Oh, no.
I don't know if I want the face. I don't know if I can answer it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, by the way, anybody can make a joke on any subject, but try making a thousand jokes on the same subject. Good fucking luck.
Bring it.

Speaker 1 Fucking bring it. Oh, my God.
We do a bunch of stuff on food, too, which, Sean, I know you and I have gone round and round on. Although you're naturally beautifully thin and narrow.

Speaker 1 Just like a little, get a little high. I know why are you so and shit? Yeah, you do.
You have the body of a Frenchman. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I don't know what, I mean,

Speaker 1 I've heard these things.

Speaker 2 I'll take it. Thank you.

Speaker 1 You and me.

Speaker 1 But no, speaking of service, what does service look like on a set with you and Ryan and the caterers?

Speaker 1 There's a salad bar set up every day, right?

Speaker 2 I'm not big on salad, but I do get super bitchy if I don't eat protein every three hours. I have learned this about myself.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 2 this is where I go for the douche award. You and me are neck and neck now, Will, because

Speaker 2 one of the job duties of whoever's my assistant on a movie is you got to get protein in my body every three hours or the whole crew is going to pay the price.

Speaker 1 Is this plant protein? It's plant protein, isn't it?

Speaker 2 No, it's like, you know, the Ryan Hugh diet. It's like the chicken, the boring chicken breast, maybe the sashimi.

Speaker 1 It's like, go ahead. Go ahead, Will.
I know. Oh, he doesn't know about it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 This is on the tour. Okay,

Speaker 1 which I really must. We don't have to ruin it.

Speaker 1 We don't want to ruin the joke. No, no, no.
You will not ruin it. It's got four or five uses in it.
Guys, you know, I was going to make something else, but I got Japanese food instead. Sashimi.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 1 just to take that sashimi.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but it's an evergreen.

Speaker 1 I feel like that one's an evergreen.

Speaker 2 Like, I feel like I've heard them laugh at that joke on this show before.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I probably have. And it's still landing.
It's still lanting.

Speaker 2 But wait, do do you ever eat like crap food?

Speaker 1 Do you ever like

Speaker 2 I love sugar and if I start I'm like if I had a bag of uh like caramel corn right now, I would finish it like it's my job. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 And so now I and like if I'm when I'm in an airport, especially if I'm alone and I'll get like one of the, you know, the mega-size MMs with peanut butter in it, forget it.

Speaker 1 What is your number one?

Speaker 1 I want to go around the horn because I don't actually know this. What's everybody's number one dessert?

Speaker 1 If you could have only one, like you're top of the list, go uh dessert uh ice cream it's always like hang on it's not your turn oh i thought you pointed at me what the god god not only you can't even wait you can't wait to get it out and you can't wait to get it in i mean jesus

Speaker 2 um i'm partial to a creme brulee i like i like a good creme brulee but again i'm not like snappy top with i like a little crunch top i like to work through the crunchy surface to get to the mushy innards yeah you like it when it gets that real methy uh lighter when they yeah it's even better if they do it at the table so i see someone working sean's still dying from you can't wait to get it out and you can't wait to shove it in

Speaker 1 how many times has scotty said that to you

Speaker 1 um wait bateman go yeah

Speaker 1 you're not a big dessert guy either

Speaker 2 i can't even imagine you eating dessert just Jason.

Speaker 1 I do. You want to know how douchey and terrible it is? I do like Cargo Light.
That's the frozen yogurt with no sugar, no fat, no dairy.

Speaker 1 I have no idea what it is, but it's cold, it's colorful, and you can eat it with a spoon. It's so, by the way, that's so fucking lame.

Speaker 1 One of the first times Jason and I, like over 20 years ago, he was like so excited. And he goes, right down on Crescent Heights in Beverly.
Remember that place in the fucking mall?

Speaker 1 And you were like, well, let's go get the Fro Froyo, Fro Fro, Go, Go, or whatever the fuck you called it. And it was like, it was like plastic.
Yeah. He's like, isn't this great?

Speaker 1 And it's nothing, right? And I'm like, no, this is fucking

Speaker 1 disgusting. Listen, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not above admitting.
I love dessert and I love ice cream like Sean.

Speaker 1 Hayes.

Speaker 1 Sean Levy, you're in Hungary right now.

Speaker 1 Tell us, what do you do in your free time there? Tell us like any kind of crazy stories about the.

Speaker 2 I wish I had crazy stories. I did have, I did,

Speaker 2 you know, I I've definitely fought the blues here a bit I have to admit like it's just it's a long haul I've been alone for most of it I've had so much goulash just and and it is as it sounds right like that's just kind of that that should be an adjective for how it's been for five years you're pretty east there in hungary eastern european is a different look there's a palette there literally that is a little bit grayer and and you feel the history you feel centuries of occupation And you, yes.

Speaker 2 So, but I did. So I finally realized, wait, I am a happy person.
Why am I not happy? I got to go places on the weekend. So I went to Berlin and there I did have a wild weekend.

Speaker 2 I did exactly what you imagine in your head you would do. And like age inappropriate.
I was with my brother. We went to a club till 4 30 a.m.

Speaker 1 Like that was the song. Yes, exactly right, Jason.

Speaker 2 And it's weird. The clubs in Berlin, I mean, what I kind of noted, like there's no aggressive, kind of creepy vibe.

Speaker 2 It's just everyone is actually there to listen to that beat that Jason can do with his mouth. Freakishly well, by the way.

Speaker 1 And just dance. I started as a beatboxer.
I love, I love Berlin. I'm with you.
I love Berlin. I think it's one of the great cities.
It's so much fun. Great restaurants.

Speaker 1 How much longer do you have there, Sean?

Speaker 2 One day. Truly? This is literally one day more, guys.

Speaker 2 This is why I'm like, I'm flying through this because I have my last day of shooting tomorrow and then we move to France for the final two weeks of shooting there in France and then back home.

Speaker 1 Where in France? Are you going to be in Paris? Are you in the countryside?

Speaker 2 No, we're in the country. We're in the town where the novel is set called Saint-Melo, which is right in Brittany on the coast.
It's the westernmost coast of France. Beautiful.

Speaker 1 So we're shooting there.

Speaker 2 It's beautiful, these huge ramparts and the ocean, massive beach.

Speaker 2 And it's where this actual event happened, where the Germans occupied it and the Americans came over and they bombed the shit out of the town in order to liberate it.

Speaker 2 And that's kind of the part of the story that we're shooting.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 Sean, we have taken up way too much of your time. I love it.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much for delighting us.

Speaker 1 Absolutely.

Speaker 1 You've delighted us with your art, like I said, and you've delighted us with your presence here today and your character and your perspective. And you're just a great guy, and so happy for you.

Speaker 1 And you seem so happy, legitimately.

Speaker 1 We deserve all your successes. Sean is always a great hang on or off work.

Speaker 1 I mean, buddy, uh, more, please. Lots, lots more.

Speaker 2 Well, I've loved chatting with you guys, and I love your show. I'm such a fan, and hopefully, I can tell Sweeney I didn't push too hard and blow the whole thing.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 1 you were great, you were incredible, you were truly. We're totally thank you for having me, fellas.
Excellent, thank you. I miss you, Sean, a bunch, buddy.
Hurry up, miss you too.

Speaker 2 All right, bye, guys.

Speaker 1 Love you, pal. Bye-bye, bye, buddy.
Bye-bye.

Speaker 1 That guy, I

Speaker 1 Sean Levy is just one of my favorite people in the whole world.

Speaker 1 You know, I try to quit him emotionally and spiritually, you know, because he doesn't live here anymore.

Speaker 1 He does go. He's literally got 17 projects in development.
It's crazy. I know.
And Hayes, you were saying like his attitude and his energy is so sort of

Speaker 1 infectious. And yeah, it is.
It's infectious.

Speaker 1 And it's so buoyant and upbeat. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. You know, like I can imagine what that must be like on a set with a personality like that that's just always supportive.

Speaker 1 Never, it's never like, you know, I don't know if that really worked, you know, kind of like attitude. You know, you don't want to be around that.
Let's go again and suck less. Yeah.

Speaker 1 He does never, you'll never hear that from him. Right.
No, he's, he's, he's happy and capable. Like that's like a great combo.
It is a great combo. That's a wonderful.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I love all the stuff in the middle about like all when I was, I joked around, I was like, this is the best therapy session because he's, and even you, Will, were like, it's now, now's the time.

Speaker 1 I love that to just do what you want to do like the only person holding you back is you that all that kind of stuff it's it's one thing to know it I mean to to to hear it but you have to incorporate it it's the next it's the hardest one of the great things that we joked a lot about my my dumb vacation which was it should be noted the first vacation since before yeah I'm cool you did that for yourself you and Alessandra deserve that yeah and and we you know it's been a crazy two years and the baby and he was born prematurely and all this stuff just all the stress and we kind of let it all go we were down there you guys haven't been just the two of you, for

Speaker 1 like

Speaker 1 ever. Since January, since before COVID.
And again, I know that's like, oh, poor boohoo. There's a lot of people who are like, I've never fucking been.

Speaker 1 Any couple needs to have just one-on-one time. Yes.
Yeah, you do.

Speaker 1 And I will say one of the great things was we were able, we talked a lot about it. And I was like, look, it is.
Fucking now. Life is happening.
Yeah, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1 And you got to like get out into it and well, speaking of, I want to go back to the things that you guys, that you guys said, no more no more dinners in restaurant i like to go out to dinner in restaurants still yeah yeah we just did it as a family last night and and a man and i said this morning it's like let's just say i i literally referenced you will i said to a man i said let's let's do what our nett's family was like no one in no one out on sunday like just any day of the week um it's nice to just commit to

Speaker 1 just having that bond or just taking a walk. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And by the way, Alex Arnett, my mom will be so happy to hear that Sunday night, nobody in, nobody out uh is still alive great yeah it is great it's so important to have those moments and we have we all have a lot of look we you guys are my family you guys are my extended family too and uh but we need those moments with our kids and our significant other where we sit down and we're just kind of quiet with each other yeah super important or that my dad just lived my own

Speaker 1 did he yeah who was who are the people he was doing it with yeah

Speaker 1 they were folks that didn't mind the long drive.

Speaker 1 No one in, no one out.

Speaker 1 You think he just drove until he ran out of gas or did he have a destination? Like, what was the

Speaker 1 I'm not pumping at the next station? You in the back. What was your name again? You're going to do it.

Speaker 1 He loved hitchhikers. He sure did.
But you know what? He was nice to the way he left was nice. He didn't, it wasn't a long, like,

Speaker 1 you know, thing like, well, see you later.

Speaker 1 It was just a really quick

Speaker 1 bye.

Speaker 1 nice, nice, nice, Sean. Smart

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