Zach and Danny chat with cinematographer Olivia Riportella about The Purge, how society is a true monster, Scream (again), and what it was like to work on the upcoming film The Forever Purge.
Zach and Danny chat with cinematographer Olivia Riportella about The Purge, how society is a true monster, Scream (again), and what it was like to work on the upcoming film The Forever Purge.
Follow us on Twitter: @imetyourmonster
Zach and Danny can be found on social: @zachwincik and @dannysalemme
Follow Olivia on Instagram: @oliviaroseriportella
Mentioned in this episode:
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;34;05
This is not a test. This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the U.S. government. Weapons of class four and lower have been authorized for use during the purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking ten have been granted immunity from the purge and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren.
00;00;34;12 - 00;01;09;29
Any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. when the purge concludes. Blessed be our new Founding Fathers and America. A nation reborn. May God be with you all.
00;01;10;02 - 00;01;39;20
Hello, everybody, and welcome to How I Met Your Monster episode for The Purge and only the Purge because I have not seen any of the other Purge movies. What about you, Danny? I too have only seen The Purge. That said, I have seen all the trailers for the other sequels, if that counts at all. Well, it does count, because that's exactly what I did last night when I watched The Purge for the second time ever.
00;01;39;26 - 00;02;04;09
I immediately jumped to the trailers of the other movies on Amazon Prime. You know what I have seen, though? The dead Meat channel on YouTube does these things. This thing called the kill count, where the host, James Engineers, will basically just cover Egypt. It will cover a different movie in a franchise and it kind of highlights all the kills, but it's also like a really comprehensive recap of the movies.
00;02;04;09 - 00;02;40;10
So I actually have seen all of the kill counts for the Purge franchise, but not in not recently enough where I could give you any like through details. Okay. Right. Yeah, I have heard of that. Does the episode of the Purge include all of the video footage at the beginning? so that's actually really funny. So that's he commented on the fact that he hated doing the Purge franchise because he was like, I was so not.
00;02;40;13 - 00;03;00;04
I guess I wasn't prepared for the fact that I would have to consider all of those scenes, like all of the background footage, which I guess kind of continues on into the franchise. So I remember that being like kind of a talking fire is like, God damn it. It's like, this is the worst franchise of. But yeah, long story short, he does he does include those things.
00;03;00;06 - 00;03;19;03
He's on in Search of Darkness, isn't he? Yeah, he's in both one and two. Okay. I like him. He's funny. Yeah, he's a cool dude. I actually have a friend of mine in Brooklyn who said that he was friends with James agencies, and I don't know if he was just saying that to, like, make me jealous, cause he was showing.
00;03;19;03 - 00;03;50;06
He was, like, flexing his. I don't know. Who knows in the community, but yeah. Well, that's cool. Good story. Dan, thanks. I've been saving that one in my back pocket. I'm glad it had some use. It was the perfect opportunity to pull it out and use it. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt, but I love got word. So you've been enjoying how I met your monster.
00;03;50;10 - 00;04;25;21
We would love it if you could leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to these podcasts. Reviews and ratings will really help us grow our audience so we can get our wonderful message of meeting psychotic killers out to more individuals who want to hear this. So amen. So follow us on Facebook at How We Met Your Monster on Instagram and how I Met your Monster and on Twitter and I met your monster.
00;04;25;24 - 00;04;54;29
We would really appreciate that. And tell your friends and warn your friends and warn your friends. That's right. So that would be greatly appreciated. Okay. On with the episode. You're listening to How I Met Your Monster, a podcast that explores the introductions to your favorite movie, Monsters. My name's Zack. I'm Danny, and I'm Casey. And together we dive into the world of horror to find out how filmmakers have introduced us to our favorite monsters time and time again.
00;04;55;01 - 00;05;02;19
This is how I met your mother.
00;05;02;21 - 00;05;54;05
You will meet. We met him 15 years ago. I was told there's nothing less explorers in the region, and his experience to humans, to Southeast Asia, is to others. And call me. Yes. Surprise. So real quick, before we introduce our guests for today. Dan, you can appreciate this, I would hope. Today I was listening to the Scream two soundtrack on the way home from work.
00;05;54;07 - 00;06;05;01
I can appreciate that. I had totally forgotten that Master P sings the title track on that album.
00;06;05;04 - 00;06;33;00
Yeah, it's called Scream. wait, I didn't know that in the credits. Right? I don't know if it's in the credits, because when the movie in the in the the closing shot of Scream two, when the it's the aerial shot of the campus and she's walking out and it's just Yeah. It's just an amazing shot with the knowledge that anything, anything special about the shot is just a nice shot but it's the music.
00;06;33;02 - 00;07;00;16
When the credits start that really make it, it gives it a whole feeling. It's the same as the first scream when that song plays and Gale Weathers is giving her report outside and the sun is rising and that song's playing. I could watch Scream any Day of the week just to just to get to that scene and hear that music and have that feeling of, it's just it's unique.
00;07;00;16 - 00;07;26;12
I don't know what it is, but the same thing happens. He does Wes does the same thing in Scream two, which is its collective soul at the end, right? That's right. Yeah. She said she said that and the they should have had official cover there. Well they did and I turned it down. I was also it's like that's right.
00;07;26;18 - 00;07;48;11
We've established that there were like child labor laws that are conflicting, which is like really slowing down their production. So I was like, you know what? Just just pass along to someone else. This is a great opportunity just to be, you know, I'm happy to be considered. Right, Right. But I know another great story in my back pocket.
00;07;48;13 - 00;08;08;11
You told them that you were you already had plans to go to Full Sail University. And so you had you had to turn down. I said, I don't want anything to get in the way of those plans. That's right. But, yes, I don't know. I don't know really if Masterpiece Song is at the end of screen because I only focus on that.
00;08;08;11 - 00;08;29;24
And then as soon as that, like, fades out, I start paying attention. I know we have we have the she said song, and then it goes into the cover of my God, what is the song? I think I love You. And then maybe it goes into the masterpiece song. Well, I mean, you would know. I mean, masterpiece.
00;08;29;28 - 00;08;52;12
No, I should. That's what I don't. And I'm disappointed with myself. you don't know. Well, no, I just mean, like, do you know who M.P. is? I don't know. Give me a song. Okay. Okay. I don't know if I want to put this out into the the Internet world to, you know, make them say, Ah. yeah, that's Master P.
00;08;52;15 - 00;09;27;02
And so in the Scream song, it's just him saying, a bunch of times anyways. Got it. Yeah. This is going to really discredit me as, like, a scream lover. But, you know, I'm willing to make that sacrifice for the sake of this podcast. Okay, that's good. Lot of honesty in this podcast. That's right. Trustworthy source. So. Okay, let's go ahead and introduce our guest.
00;09;27;04 - 00;09;57;29
Actually, our first guest on How I Met Your Monster. Yeah, a little back. I wrote a I wrote a short script called Cottonmouth a little over a year ago, and we went into production last February right before COVID kind of took over. And, you know, in order to shoot Tynemouth, we needed a director of photography. And we reached out to actually we found the person who he ended up working with.
00;09;58;06 - 00;10;22;29
Yeah, she actually reached out to us, Yeah. Olivia Rotella Did I pronounce that correctly? You did? Yeah. Good job. Thank God. Some of my other friends have just resorted to calling me Olivia Ravioli. So. Yeah, we found Olivia lasagna on one of the message boards.
00;10;23;01 - 00;10;54;21
yes. Olivia Rigatoni? No, please. No, it never ends. It's fine. It's really fun, actually. Yeah, we. We found Olivia, and she was looking for some just some shoots to join in the Oklahoma City area. And we chatted. We all got along. We all kind of lined up on the vision that Zach and I had, and, yeah, she turned out to be the perfect addition to the crew.
00;10;54;21 - 00;11;20;26
And yeah, I mean, that's like absolutely, you know, like, that's the rest is history, as they say. Well, you know, it's, you know, it's funny about that. I don't know if it's funny at all, but it might just be a fact maybe. Okay. I need to stop drinking wine for real. I'm going to focus. I'm going to focus on something a little.
00;11;20;29 - 00;11;28;12
This is how the three of us suitcases.
00;11;28;15 - 00;11;54;21
Wow. It could be the marijuana, too. That's Olivia's actor. There it is. We were talking about how, like, I've got a glass of whiskey. A bottle of beer. Like, it's like we need help. This is like an intervention. Mean. So funny. I just. I just rewatched New Girl, which is like, I don't know if you've ever watched New Girl, but it's still a show that, like, is nothing really happens.
00;11;54;21 - 00;12;18;27
But it's so funny Now. In the last season there's like one of them becomes a mother and she like, tries to sit down and have lunch with an old friend and she's like literally pouring coffee in her wine, like. Yeah. So that happened in New Girl, and it's reminding me a lot of what's happening right now. So go ensure this is a shame free environment.
00;12;18;27 - 00;12;49;28
And though it may slow down the process, we may intoxicate ourselves with whatever intoxication I feel is necessary because I don't think without any form of what do they call those when it lowers your inhibitions. like a good Lord, what's the word for that? I don't know either one of your truck drugs? What's that word? Where?
00;12;50;01 - 00;13;33;24
yeah, drugs are right. Word inhibitors, inhibitor. I don't think without any inhibitors I would be able to talk this long. Listen to myself. While editing. We would normally have to do, like, five minute intervals of recording these acts, like, okay, I can't do this anymore. Right? But it was so fun shooting Cottonmouth because we all, like you had mentioned this, Danny, that we all just got along and it was just it was just so fun that night, actually.
00;13;33;24 - 00;14;02;16
Night I say night, but it was like two and a half days. But yeah, it was just a blast. And that was, that was just a good part of it was we really got super lucky. I feel like there was just like a really solid rapport overall, especially with something like an overnight shoot, which is there's obviously just like a lot of stress involved and yet it did feel like, I don't know, it's like a kind of a miniature summer camp where everyone just kind of came in.
00;14;02;16 - 00;14;27;25
We had fun, we did some prepping, planning and and that was it. And it was just I don't know if it's really a top tier memory for me that that is exactly how I would describe it. Just like horror summer camp. It was fun. It really was. So, Olivia, when you why what was there a reason why you were seeking out Oklahoma City specifically?
00;14;27;27 - 00;14;49;22
Well, I am from the Midwest, so in general, it just has a soft spot in my heart. I have some family in Oklahoma. I have some family in Missouri. I'm based in Los Angeles. So and there's a lot of reasons why I really love living in Los Angeles and why I moved here. And I work full time here.
00;14;49;25 - 00;15;23;01
But I have a bit of a travel bug myself. I think a lot of the reason why California is so expensive is because the film industry is so concentrated here, and there are places like Atlanta and New York, of course, but once again, we've seen those places just become concentrated. So and I it's such a funny thing because like when you vote for people here, like all the candidates are always like, well, I think I've helped keep California jobs in California.
00;15;23;04 - 00;15;47;17
And sometimes I'm like, I wish we would export some of them, right, because it's so expensive. And I and part of that is just because we just have such a massive population. And I'm really I'm grateful for that population. I think it's wonderful to live here and I love the melting pot that it is here. But I do I really believe that like a lot of what has happened in California should get exported all over the country.
00;15;47;17 - 00;16;07;04
So I like to keep myself open to working other places. I also just really liked your concept. Well, like so just as an even just in a aside from like, I could like go to Oklahoma and maybe start like working or I don't know, I would kind of work anywhere. But Oklahoma was really a nice place to like.
00;16;07;09 - 00;16;41;24
Was really a nice place to work. Yeah, but also, just like your movie itself was just extremely pleasant to work on and just had a really lovely time. well, thank you. We obviously felt the same way, but yeah, I could totally. I could totally understand that. I must feel like being somewhere where you like you said, it's so concentrated with that one specific type of I guess like work environment can be a little constricting almost because it's like everyone's kind of aiming towards the same goal.
00;16;41;24 - 00;17;00;25
So like you said, like share the wealth, There's so many opportunity. There are film industries in different states and different areas around the I mean, around the world. But in this case, just around the country. Yes. So that's exciting that I'm glad that we were all able to sort of it became that sort of like fortuitous thing for everyone where we were all kind of in the right place at the right time.
00;17;00;27 - 00;17;27;09
Yeah, I agree. Right. And Oklahoma is, you know, there's a lot of talk of it becoming the new hot spot because it is easy shooting. Yeah the new movie there. Yeah they're they're here now up and I think it's I think they're in Osage County which is like the northeast corner now like Bartlesville. I think they're shooting in They're kind of running.
00;17;27;09 - 00;17;51;12
Okay, well, hang on. Bartlesville. But then they'll run. I think they're going to go a little bit east. We got we got offered me and my husband both work in the same department, in the same field. And one of our we were we had just started a new show for All mankind on Apple TV and Plug when our guys literally left to go work on it.
00;17;51;15 - 00;18;18;19
And she joked about her husband. He joked with my husband about doing it. And he was like, no, because because the the department that we would be working in and like the the style of work, we were like, we can't do that for nine months there. Sure. But yeah, it's pretty crazy. Like I know a couple of people on it.
00;18;18;21 - 00;18;43;08
It was really exciting to see it go there. that's awesome. Yeah, and they just did. Minari was shot there, right? Yeah. Yeah. And incidental. Lee our first, the first A.D. and second aid on Cottonmouth on our short. We're also the first and second on Minari, which is great. So cool. So that was Jeff Do and Ludeke Yeah.
00;18;43;10 - 00;19;01;08
Yep. I waited for the credits too. I can see their names. It was just so cool. Very cool. And I know also, I don't know if this is official, if it was like an official credit thing, but Henry Gates, who worked on our makeup team, I saw her post something about that. But I didn't want to, like, make it an official statement.
00;19;01;10 - 00;19;21;16
Right. That wasn't the fact, right? Yeah. It's so cool. It's it's so funny how, you know, you always hear, like, the industry is such a small community, but then when you get down into, you know, even like the small, you know, like you go the deeper and deeper you go, then you get to like Oklahoma and already, you know, we've done one move.
00;19;21;16 - 00;19;42;04
I mean, Zach, you do you did your short guessing game a year before we shot Cottonmouth. But just speaking personally, I work there once and I've already, like, seen these, like, very specific connections, like very small connections to people, you know, from, you know, Olivia from you to Jeff to then you have the Oscars and it's in Martin Scorsese.
00;19;42;08 - 00;20;07;08
And it's just kind of crazy how, you know, how connected everything is. Right, right. And they just they like the sports, what do you call it, the sports arena. That convention center. They just built a new one right next to the old one. And so the the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA team will move to the new arena.
00;20;07;15 - 00;20;44;07
And then a I think the Los Angeles company came in and just bought the old convention center and they turned it into a film studio. Wow. brilliant. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. In Oklahoma City. Yeah, right downtown. It's called I think I think it's Prairie Surf Studios. cool. Prairie set. But we only get one. The Los Angeles company comes in and yeah, Midwest, actually they're like, what are some keywords, guys ready to put it to be on brand here?
00;20;44;09 - 00;21;11;02
You know it's you know what's funny is that like I never put the two together until right now. You guys laughed about and I mean I feel like I mean, this goes we obviously know this. It's common knowledge at this point, but it's funny that Olivia, you kind of have a similar setup to Heather Lang in camp who who started Cottonmouth because she grew up in Oklahoma.
00;21;11;09 - 00;21;42;05
It was, I believe. Yeah, Yeah. And then and now she also lives in Los Angeles. Yeah, it's it's where all the misfits go. Yeah. Other really cool misfits though. Well, I was wasn't speaking of getting along on set wasn't Heather just a delight to work and to work with Cody is still he still gets, like, so excited because he didn't grow up like any grow up.
00;21;42;05 - 00;22;06;25
He he's just not interested in horror as much. And so he wasn't, you know, he understood who Heather was, but it wasn't like us. So we were like, my God, like horror icon, This is great. But now he loves, like, throwing it in my face. He was like, Yeah. Heather kept complimenting me when we were on set, and because I remember at some point she goes, because I think she just loved, you know, because Cody didn't really have a set job and he was running around just sort of cleaning things up.
00;22;06;25 - 00;22;27;25
And she's like, What would we do without Cody? And he always is like, Wow, what a moment. What a life highlight. Yeah, that's up there. I think deserved it too, because he really did. He did so off. That was great. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So do you guys want to talk about the Purge? We did not have to purge.
00;22;27;28 - 00;22;50;03
We talked about the purge. Olivia, when have you seen the purge? I have seen the purge. I Okay, we have only seen the first purge. okay. I thought. I thought there was, like, all this pressure of, like, Olivia is going to know so much more, but then we could just sort of, like, really let Olivia lead this conversation.
00;22;50;05 - 00;23;17;07
Well, I mean, I watched it recently, so I have plenty of thoughts. I also worked on the most recent purge. You did? I did know that. And I'm very excited that you are actually here to talk about that. Yeah, it seems it seems to be like it's it's clawing toward the finish line. I can see that it was one of those unfortunate cases of a film like I made before the pandemic was supposed to be released while the pandemic was raging and then got pushed back and pushed back and pushed back.
00;23;17;09 - 00;23;42;10
Yeah. You were talking about it when we were on set. Yeah. Yeah, it was. It was a little bit traumatic to work on it now because it's scary. It was just like the conditions. Wait, can you elaborate on any of that or is it sensitive material? no. Well, I mean, some of it I'm sure it is. But like the part that, you know, so we I worked on hiccups.
00;23;42;12 - 00;24;04;22
So most of the movie is done and they had to go back and reshoot the stuff that they screwed up. So they called me. Okay. Not for anything important, clearly, But, you know, I was. Go sell yourself short. I'm sure it was important. Yeah. Yeah, we were super busy. We really like exercise of the most of our talents on that set.
00;24;04;22 - 00;24;28;03
Absolutely. So they called us, and it was. I didn't really. This is this happens a lot like it. And I get asked about this. Sometimes people go, well, like, what if you like it? Asked to work on a movie that you don't agree with the content of it or it's weird or whatever. And I'm like, They never tell me what I do until I get there.
00;24;28;09 - 00;24;57;11
So, you know, in most cases you don't. So so they, they were like, hey, we're going to we've got to shoot, you know, like up in the air, up in the desert. Anybody who's from Los Angeles shout out to four aces in Lancaster. It's a very well-known set because it's in the middle, but stark nowhere. You complete me out of you.
00;24;57;13 - 00;25;19;16
no, no, it's it's so far. And it was in the winter, so you're like, in the desert. I remember I got this picture on Instagram. We're like the we got there, and like, all of our cable was like, frozen. my God. It was. It was intense. I think it was literally like in there, like the end of January, early February, when we did it.
00;25;19;19 - 00;25;44;12
And the the director I was working in the lighting department on that one. So the director of photography from that one is the person who shot who shoots Narco. Okay, so he's very like he likes a lot of natural light. He doesn't like a lot like which shoot which sorry shoots since the purge really well because it's kind of post-apocalyptic.
00;25;44;14 - 00;26;03;15
Yeah. In small in like small doses, of course. Hopefully that's not too much of a spoiler, but. But I feel like every Purge movie is like a small apocalypse unto itself. So it's just. Yeah. And I think they kind of hint at that in the promo stuff they've put out so far. Yeah, you kind of pick up on that.
00;26;03;18 - 00;26;29;21
Yeah. So he, so he did really well for the style. But it was funny because our there were other people in the departments that wanted to do more to it, to doctor the look a little bit. So we wanted to putting like all these lights up and then the director photography would come in and be like, Looks great you guys, why, to turn that one off and that one off and that one.
00;26;29;21 - 00;26;52;27
And then like the little one. So there were some of that kind of stuff. Yeah. Which is not uncommon on film sets, but you know, it was just particularly funny. So he was pleasant about it. It was just like, No, that's not good. Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty funny. We had some stuff that was in the desert.
00;26;52;28 - 00;27;16;11
Then we came back to town and we did some stuff with Universal. I think we shot in the Universal. We rolled over some cars with some heavy artillery. It was a really it was just really fun. It was a lot of like working at night and kind of doing big effects with either as minimal lighting or as atmospheric type of lighting as possible.
00;27;16;14 - 00;27;37;19
Like that's what I can contribute to the conversations. It's like, look, they didn't do anything. They're like, Yeah, but yeah, so, but it was, it was just a super like despite the elements being a little bit harsh, it was a super pleasant set to work on. Yeah, everybody was just very kind, like in the middle of that.
00;27;37;19 - 00;27;59;18
Like they must have known, like everybody was like, tired and cold, like all the time. Because on our last night they were like literally, like called in a mariachi band or was like, like in morning. And we're all sitting around and it's pre-COVID. So we're sitting in this kind of trailer so that we've all stay warm. But this mariachi band comes out and played us, you know, into the night.
00;27;59;18 - 00;28;35;15
It was kind of lovely to see that. That's that's the spoiler. That's how the movie ends as a mariachi band plays into the crowd. We got out, you guys, about the mariachi band, ordinary people knowing that, right? Yeah. So like harsh conditions, super pleasant crew, lovely memories. Yeah. I think overall, I, I probably can't say more than that, but now the trip so you had mentioned that you saw some when you're on set there was some I guess like special effects.
00;28;35;17 - 00;29;19;06
Yeah. Did you get to witness any of like the kills from the movie? I did actually. really? cool. Yeah, I, I was there for a while. A little gunfight in an alley. I was there for the dramatic monologue that prompted the gunfight in the alley. Think let's. Yeah, the biggest. Yeah, the biggest special effects I was there for was like, I think at some point, like there's a, there's a building that kind of like it doesn't explode but like the, the electric inside of it kind of explode and like there's a, there's a big thing on wheels that destroyed some cars, set a lot of fires.
00;29;19;06 - 00;29;46;22
It's kind of have you guys what's it called? There's a new movie on Amazon that's really, really good. And it's kind of like a it's also kind of apocalyptic. sorry. Who? Jodie Foster. no, no, no. But she's good. my God. It's Jodie Foster and Jeff Goldblum. Wait, I know it's like that with no press.
00;29;46;29 - 00;30;05;20
It's a fantastic movie. And when you said, Do you want to talk about the Purge or and you were like, or do you want to talk about something else? I thought about suggesting it, but this phenomenal movie and it's kind of a it's kind of a like sci fi, post-apocalyptic horror thriller. okay. Not Hotel Artemus. Yes.
00;30;05;22 - 00;30;31;29
I heard about that. I do want to know. But now I'm going to it's. it's. I really liked it. Okay. It's it's a super fun movie. It's kind of like it's it's kind of Riverdale ish, if that's like kind of candy colored. really? Well done film. And I really liked it. And if you like Hotel Artemis, you will really like the purge.
00;30;32;04 - 00;30;57;22
The well, see what's it called now out to believe they finally. Yes, they finally named it The Forever Purge. Yeah well it's funny because I remember I was on like I was out grabbing drinks with a friend of mine who works for Vanity Fair, and this was a couple of years ago. And he had he had literally just come back from a screening of Hotel Artemus and I was like, What did you think?
00;30;57;22 - 00;31;20;01
And he's like, Well, I can't you know, I haven't read out my official review yet, but I remember him just kind of being like, it was interesting. So I was a little like on the fence. I guess that you're bad. So now. Now I'm like, super intrigued. Yeah, I liked it. I could see how it wouldn't be like, for everybody, but for me, who's a super visual person, I just thought it was really, really beautifully done.
00;31;20;01 - 00;31;46;26
Okay. You know, Jeff Goldblum goes a long way with me. Yeah. Jodie Foster has no idea he was in that movie. Yeah, Yeah. So. Okay, well, I'm telling you, I would watch it again. So another one that I always when Hotel Artemis came out, I always got it confused with one which either that one came out first or bad times at the El Royale came out.
00;31;46;26 - 00;32;08;12
I'm not sure which one was love. yeah, I never saw that one. I heard about that one, that style. And that was really good. And the movie is just amazing. Talk about, you know, Olivia, you're talking about visually striking movies. You haven't seen that. You will love it. That's why you wanted to see it. Like the trailer just looked like beautiful.
00;32;08;14 - 00;32;40;28
And then I can't remember what it's about now. It's kind of like it's it's yeah, it's from Drew Goddard, who did He did like Cloverfield and the Cabin in the Woods on it. I guess it sort of has some thriller elements, but it's definitely not horror and it's basically just about all these random people who show up at this motel called the El Royal and the whole kind of, I guess, gimmick of the motel is that it straddles the line between California and Nevada, I believe.
00;32;41;01 - 00;33;05;13
So you can either stay in you can either stay in one state or the other, and it's like split down the middle. But there are some seedy characters who are there and everyone kind of has their own little, you know, weird like backstories and personal needs. And they all sort of like, you know, unravel as they all merge together and yeah, it's it's fun.
00;33;05;14 - 00;33;30;01
It's set in the sixties as a hippie culture and a lot of fun. Yeah. And the acting is phenomenal. Jeff Bridges Sorry, I'm looking it up on IMDB now. no, it's good. Jeff Bridges is awesome as always. Yeah, yeah. And Chris Hemsworth does really, he does a really good job. And that was the first movie I've seen and maybe, maybe I've seen some other ones of hers.
00;33;30;01 - 00;33;47;28
But the first movie was actually recognized Cynthia Erivo as like an actor that I want to see in other movies. And then of course, she ended up blowing up and yeah, she gets an Oscar nomination. And so I was like, Yes. And I saw her when she was in Harriet. I was like, Yes. I was like, There we go.
00;33;47;29 - 00;34;08;25
Okay, I want to see more of her. She's so good. yeah, I have not seen her in anything yet, so that is good to Now, I think you'll I think you'll enjoy it. Okay. Good to know. Especially if you can. I mean, it's not I wouldn't say it's super violent, but there's definitely some violence. So if you could stand I think the being I'd say of the purge.
00;34;08;27 - 00;34;32;19
Yeah I, yeah I did. I did do pretty well with that. So I'm gonna use the hotel Artemus. So now I'm going to have to. Yeah, you're well, I'll, I'll watch Hotel Artemis as you watch that and then and that way if you're not seeing her. Yeah. No I have, I have. I have not seen Hotel Artemus. All right, so we'll have to catch up.
00;34;32;22 - 00;34;53;29
Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I was surprised by that too. Like, that's just my automatic response to a movie is like, I am. I can't believe it got a six. That's really surprising to me. Yeah. I don't understand either. And you're listening. Don't judge the review by the time to be for this. Never. Never. Right. I know I'm being a little hypocritical here, but.
00;34;54;01 - 00;35;22;29
Well, I hate things like rotten tomatoes. I, I, I don't ever go to rotten tomatoes. I don't like rating reviews because, you know, they'll just, you know, it doesn't matter if it's a I don't know, this is my opinion. It doesn't matter if it's a quote unquote bad movie. If you enjoy it, then it doesn't matter. Yeah. And I mean, it goes without saying that a review by definition is a subjective thing, but that's the thing.
00;35;22;29 - 00;35;46;29
It's like, well, what what were you going for? What were you expecting? What mood were you in? What are you like when you are sitting down to write that particular right, really say anything about the movie itself? Or is it just how you know your personal outlook on things? Yeah, well that's that's, that's funny because Spiral was just released and you guys know about this New York Post article.
00;35;47;01 - 00;36;28;22
No, no. is that the one where they were tearing apart like horror fans? Yeah. So this guy some some guy reviewed the new saw movie Spiral for the New York Post and he basically offended the entire fan base of the entire horror genre. He said basically, I'm not going to get the exact quote here, but fans of these movies should not be allowed around animals or they're he called it he called fans of the saw films, Depraved Lunatics.
00;36;28;24 - 00;37;00;26
he's he said that these types of movies should not even exist on the periphery. I think periphery of film, of cinema. You know what? He's right. We need to bring out we need to re, you know, like reintroduce art censorship into the world that all that saw at a really it's just like, like, you know, it was weird because like reading a movie review from the New York Post and I was like, it like, hurt my heart, you know what I mean?
00;37;00;27 - 00;37;23;28
Because, yeah, it's just, I don't know, offending an entire group of people that for the most part are kind, loving, gentle people, you know? Well, yeah, I always hear some are vegans. Yeah. I hear all these stories about horror filmmakers who turn out to be like some of the nicest people that you'll ever meet. And I think it was I don't know what I was listening to.
00;37;23;28 - 00;37;51;18
It may have been a post Mortem podcast with Mick Garris and he had mentioned something that this is a this is an episode from a couple of years back. He had mentioned that, you know, the great thing about making horror movies or telling kind of horror story is that you're sort of acknowledging the fact that horror exists in the world and your your, your I guess, expressing that internal part of you.
00;37;51;18 - 00;38;14;28
You know, not to say that everyone's like a serial killer, but you're sort of expressing that part of you in a way that suggests you're, you know, like, what's the best way to say it is that are you trying to fit enough in yourself? Yeah. It's like, well, you're it's kind of like saying I'm so confident in the fact that I'm not psychotic that I can, you know, express these certain horror elements.
00;38;14;28 - 00;38;40;17
Right. You know, whereas other people, it's just sort of keep it in, you know, they harbor it. Those are the people you want to be afraid of. Well, yeah, yeah. Where it was in a documentary, I think about why we love, why we love horror so much. And it was basically because we're all animals and we have like this instinct very deep within us from hundreds and thousands of years ago.
00;38;40;19 - 00;39;07;00
And either you release it by like punching somebody in the face or you could release it by watching Nightmare on Elm Street. You know what I mean? And so and it's I think that's I think that's a big part of it. Yeah. And horror creators are acknowledging the fact that these you know those you know those aspects of you know that you know the animal, you know, side of humanity, if you will, is ridiculous.
00;39;07;00 - 00;39;25;26
It's it's crazy. So we're sort of painting it as crazy as it is. It's like, look how ridiculous this is. Like, obviously we would never do this, but this is what it is. And then you have other people who, you know, don't do that. And it's not this if you're not a horror creator, that you're psychotic, but you're right.
00;39;25;28 - 00;39;48;16
But if you're if you're against it so passionately, then it suggests that you have your own little, you know, issues with it. Whatever they may be, that maybe you should get checked out if it bothers you that much. Yeah. Like, it's so funny when you hear a review like that because you're like, do you actually, like, think like, do you just actually think that people are that depraved?
00;39;48;16 - 00;40;26;04
Like. Right, right, right. These aren't documentaries. People. Yeah. my gosh. Well, this is actually kind of a great segway into literally what the Purge is all about, which is about sort of, you know, acting on that, you know, quote unquote, animal side of them. Right. And so, okay, I need to I want to go back to a little bit earlier in the conversation, Olivia, when you were talking about working on the Purge, and I don't know if it was someone specifically said this to you or you just had it was from the past.
00;40;26;04 - 00;40;52;21
But when someone says, what if you're working on a movie that you don't agree with the content? And so in light of today's episode and the question that is at the core of the purge. I want to I want to ask you, Olivia and Danny. If the purge existed, would you participate? And I will let you take this one.
00;40;52;24 - 00;41;20;04
Yes. Yes. Well. no. I asked him this. I was like, Do you think that you would? I know. I said, Do you think that anybody would kill you if there was a purge option? And he said, no. But I think there's some people that I would kill. So there you go, buddy. That's my man. That's hysterical. That's very funny.
00;41;20;10 - 00;41;38;12
I told him that I said, I think I would probably steal stuff, but I don't think that I would kill somebody because that's the ironic part, is like, crime is all legal in this world and there's all kinds of things that you could do. Right? Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I don't understand. That's one thing, cause. All right, so just.
00;41;38;12 - 00;42;10;13
Yeah, to answer your question. No, I don't think I'd kill anyone. I'm way too sensitive. God, I even told you that. That, like, my love of horror, has sort of evolved. Even like, within the past couple of years, where I can watch, you know, bloody, gory horror. But it's all depends on the context. Like body horror has just for whatever reason, has become a real, I don't know, like I just have I struggle with it more than I used to.
00;42;10;13 - 00;42;38;00
So the fact I must be watching it on TV or on a movie, I must be I must be somehow channeling that energy into mind and into my brain. Because for the past like year I have that's I've just that's been my go to I've been all about body horror. That's David Cronenberg, all that anyways. Yeah, yeah. But I think I'm pulling it out of you.
00;42;38;03 - 00;43;10;20
Yeah. Which feels like a very David Cronenberg plot device. Exactly. And that's why I'm writing this down right now. Yeah, I know. But yeah, that's the thing. Like I could watch like a, like that, sort of like Cronenberg horror when it's so far beyond reality. I can, I can appreciate it and if it's practical and it's not, and if it's not for the sake of just, you know, like, you know, like the famous term torture, torture porn, which just becomes so exhausting.
00;43;10;20 - 00;43;28;29
I was just rewatching the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise with my friend Jimmy, and we got, you know, and I'm and I'm enjoying it. And like, to be honest, even when they do get to the gory parts, I'm like, okay, I can appreciate it for what it is. I understand. Like, you know, given the context of it, of course we're going to get some chopped off limbs.
00;43;29;01 - 00;43;53;09
But by the time we got to the prequel, the beginning, which which was released during that era of when like torture porn was very prevalent, I was just kind of bummed out. I was like, this is an entertaining like, there's no suspense. You know, they're leaning into, you know, aspects of storytelling and specifically in horror that sort of strip away all the fun of it.
00;43;53;09 - 01;47;31;08
It's just like, This is GROSS. We want you to see how gross it is. Roll credits. So, yeah, yeah, I was actually inspired. I saw a tweet this morning that someone said about how Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the original is a comfort movie to them. And.