WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.601 --> 00:00:01.968 "Good Time" is the new film from 2 00:00:01.968 --> 00:00:03.467 Josh and Benny Safdie. 3 00:00:03.467 --> 00:00:06.467 Robert Pattinson stars as a small-time criminal who attempts 4 00:00:06.467 --> 00:00:08.834 to get his mentally impaired brother out of prison 5 00:00:08.834 --> 00:00:10.868 after a bank robbery goes wrong. 6 00:00:10.868 --> 00:00:13.868 Manohla Gardis of "The New York Times" called the film pure 7 00:00:13.868 --> 00:00:17.334 cinematic pleasure about an often funny, sometimes shocking 8 00:00:17.334 --> 00:00:18.901 rush into the abyss. 9 00:00:18.901 --> 00:00:21.100 Here's a look at the trailer. 10 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:23.334 Listen, I gotta come clean with you about something. 11 00:00:23.334 --> 00:00:24.767 What? 12 00:00:24.767 --> 00:00:27.701 I told you about my brother, yeah? 13 00:00:27.701 --> 00:00:30.000 I told you about the program he's forced to attend 14 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.567 and how he shouldn't be there? 15 00:00:32.567 --> 00:00:36.267 Don't count your chickens before they hatch. 16 00:00:36.267 --> 00:00:38.133 Do you understand that? 17 00:00:38.133 --> 00:00:40.133 No. 18 00:00:40.133 --> 00:00:42.434 Something happened, I don't know exactly what. 19 00:00:42.434 --> 00:00:43.601 (YELLING) 20 00:00:43.601 --> 00:00:44.734 My brother's been arrested, he's being held 21 00:00:44.734 --> 00:00:45.734 at Rikers Island. 22 00:00:45.734 --> 00:00:47.000 (YELLING) 23 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:48.734 He could get killed in there. 24 00:00:48.734 --> 00:00:50.200 (BUZZING) 25 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:51.868 Sorry, I just have a client that walked in. 26 00:00:51.868 --> 00:00:53.067 We're good? 27 00:00:53.067 --> 00:00:55.767 You get another 10 grand, your brother will get out. 28 00:00:55.767 --> 00:00:57.868 (MUSIC) 29 00:00:57.868 --> 00:00:58.934 Where are you? 30 00:00:58.934 --> 00:01:01.534 How much money can you get right now? 31 00:01:01.534 --> 00:01:02.868 Come on, bro. 32 00:01:02.868 --> 00:01:03.868 Oh, my gosh. 33 00:01:03.868 --> 00:01:04.901 Are you kidding me? 34 00:01:04.901 --> 00:01:06.367 What do you think I'm doing this for? 35 00:01:06.367 --> 00:01:07.767 I want to get him out tonight. 36 00:01:07.767 --> 00:01:16.000 (MUSIC) 37 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.701 (SIRENS) 38 00:01:17.701 --> 00:01:28.734 (MUSIC) 39 00:01:34.267 --> 00:01:35.300 Don't be confused. 40 00:01:35.300 --> 00:01:37.267 It's just going to make it worse for me. 41 00:01:37.267 --> 00:01:43.667 (MUSIC) 42 00:01:43.667 --> 00:01:45.033 You ever do time before? 43 00:01:45.033 --> 00:01:47.701 (MUSIC) 44 00:01:47.701 --> 00:01:48.501 Is your brother OK? 45 00:01:48.501 --> 00:01:51.868 (MUSIC) 46 00:01:51.868 --> 00:01:53.300 Listen, I want you to come with me. 47 00:01:53.300 --> 00:01:55.000 (MUSIC) 48 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:56.601 Now you are going to love it. 49 00:01:56.601 --> 00:01:58.200 (MUSIC) 50 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:00.400 This place where we are now... 51 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:02.767 can be a lot of fun if you let it. 52 00:02:02.767 --> 00:02:04.667 (MUSIC) 53 00:02:04.667 --> 00:02:07.667 You're going to have a good time. 54 00:02:07.667 --> 00:02:13.434 (MUSIC) 55 00:02:13.434 --> 00:02:14.734 Joining me now are the two filmmakers, 56 00:02:14.734 --> 00:02:17.400 Josh and Benny Safdie, and star Robert Pattinson. 57 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:19.267 I'm pleased to have all them here at this table 58 00:02:19.267 --> 00:02:20.000 for the first time. 59 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:20.701 Welcome. 60 00:02:20.701 --> 00:02:21.701 Great to have you here. 61 00:02:21.701 --> 00:02:23.801 Honor to be at the table, in the abyss. 62 00:02:23.801 --> 00:02:26.801 Yes, there it is. 63 00:02:26.801 --> 00:02:28.167 This is a step up for you. 64 00:02:28.167 --> 00:02:31.400 Tell me the sense of how it is that, you know, 65 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:34.567 and what you hope to accomplish in this film. 66 00:02:34.567 --> 00:02:38.901 Yes, we have been basically on a highway trying to 67 00:02:38.901 --> 00:02:40.567 make this film that takes place in the Diamond District 68 00:02:40.567 --> 00:02:42.501 not far from actually the studio. 69 00:02:42.501 --> 00:02:46.200 And we have been trying to make that film for seven years maybe. 70 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:48.067 It's changed a bunch. 71 00:02:48.067 --> 00:02:50.167 And that was always kind of like this end destination. 72 00:02:50.167 --> 00:02:54.234 I have a cigar in my house and a bottle of Prosecco 73 00:02:54.234 --> 00:02:55.400 that someone gave me. 74 00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:58.133 And they said, you know, pop it open and light the cigar 75 00:02:58.133 --> 00:02:59.701 when you're ready to celebrate. 76 00:02:59.701 --> 00:03:04.968 And I think that when I die, the cigar will be put in my grave. 77 00:03:04.968 --> 00:03:08.267 And the bottle of champagne will be poured on the dirt because 78 00:03:08.267 --> 00:03:10.934 ultimately we're never going to find reason to really celebrate. 79 00:03:10.934 --> 00:03:16.400 But I think that when Rob reached out to us and said, hey, 80 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.567 I would like to do whatever you're doing next. 81 00:03:18.567 --> 00:03:20.501 And we realized -- 82 00:03:20.501 --> 00:03:21.434 That's an interesting offer. 83 00:03:21.434 --> 00:03:22.400 It was, yes. 84 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:24.767 He wasn't right for the other projects. 85 00:03:24.767 --> 00:03:28.801 And so began "Good Time," the project. 86 00:03:28.801 --> 00:03:32.667 It was from a pool of interests and inspirations. 87 00:03:32.667 --> 00:03:37.167 But it was -- the idea was OK, we have, you know, an actor 88 00:03:37.167 --> 00:03:40.934 we respect, a movie star which will come with an audience 89 00:03:40.934 --> 00:03:46.200 to some degree, and we wanted to make a piece of entertainment, 90 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:49.000 popcorn film, but a piece of termite art, like Manny Farber's 91 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:53.367 termite art where people can consume and these termites will 92 00:03:53.367 --> 00:03:56.801 kind of get inside of them and kind of force their way into 93 00:03:56.801 --> 00:03:59.667 your psyche after the movie and make you ask questions, 94 00:03:59.667 --> 00:04:01.534 why did this happen? 95 00:04:01.534 --> 00:04:02.968 When you called them and said I would like to 96 00:04:02.968 --> 00:04:07.100 make a film with you, what was it about them? 97 00:04:07.100 --> 00:04:11.934 Because you seemed to be a big star who likes the idea of 98 00:04:11.934 --> 00:04:16.067 finding really creative, small roles. 99 00:04:16.067 --> 00:04:18.100 I don't know if I'm a big star. 100 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:20.067 (LAUGHTER) 101 00:04:20.067 --> 00:04:21.834 Or they might not be small roles, either. 102 00:04:21.834 --> 00:04:23.734 (LAUGHTER) 103 00:04:23.734 --> 00:04:27.167 Yes, I mean, I just kind of -- I just want to 104 00:04:27.167 --> 00:04:33.701 surprise myself and, yes, just finding original material 105 00:04:33.701 --> 00:04:34.667 is pretty tough. 106 00:04:34.667 --> 00:04:35.734 Did you think I'll get it there? 107 00:04:35.734 --> 00:04:37.968 If I go to them, I'm more likely to get the kind of 108 00:04:37.968 --> 00:04:39.000 material that interests me. 109 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:42.200 Yes, I mean, initially it was just intuition. 110 00:04:42.200 --> 00:04:44.267 I literally knew nothing about their work. 111 00:04:44.267 --> 00:04:47.567 I'd just seen a still from their last movie and from that -- 112 00:04:47.567 --> 00:04:48.300 A still? 113 00:04:48.300 --> 00:04:49.667 -- that was the only thing. 114 00:04:49.667 --> 00:04:52.701 And I just kind of knew. 115 00:04:52.701 --> 00:04:53.734 And then I met them. 116 00:04:53.734 --> 00:04:57.834 They have a very dynamic energy in conversation. 117 00:04:57.834 --> 00:05:01.267 Then I saw the trailer for their last movie, and I was just -- 118 00:05:01.267 --> 00:05:06.567 I wanted to do something which was electric and kinetic. 119 00:05:06.567 --> 00:05:09.234 And their kind of the masters of that. 120 00:05:09.234 --> 00:05:11.667 Who is Connie? 121 00:05:11.667 --> 00:05:14.200 Connie -- how do I describe this? 122 00:05:14.200 --> 00:05:15.367 You had the best description saying, 123 00:05:15.367 --> 00:05:17.334 he's a romantic psychopath. 124 00:05:17.334 --> 00:05:19.300 (LAUGHTER) 125 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:22.934 A romantic psychopath who's panicked. 126 00:05:22.934 --> 00:05:24.534 Yeah, definitely, he is kind of 127 00:05:24.534 --> 00:05:26.868 having a bad day. 128 00:05:26.868 --> 00:05:28.567 Yes. 129 00:05:28.567 --> 00:05:32.434 But, yes, he is a small-time kind of criminal 130 00:05:32.434 --> 00:05:42.300 from Queens who is -- he gets obsessed and fixated with his 131 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:45.868 relationship with his younger brother who is 132 00:05:45.868 --> 00:05:48.067 kind of mentally challenged. 133 00:05:48.067 --> 00:05:48.934 And he doesn't want to talk about that 134 00:05:48.934 --> 00:05:49.868 or recognize it. 135 00:05:49.868 --> 00:05:50.601 Yes, he doesn't want to recognize 136 00:05:50.601 --> 00:05:51.467 it at all. 137 00:05:51.467 --> 00:05:55.501 That was one of the major things I loved about the story 138 00:05:55.501 --> 00:06:03.033 was an early moment in the movie, Connie breaks his brother 139 00:06:03.033 --> 00:06:06.434 out of his psychiatrist's office, and they're in a place 140 00:06:06.434 --> 00:06:09.334 where there are a lot of mentally handicapped people, 141 00:06:09.334 --> 00:06:14.133 and because Connie is the way he is, he refuses to accept 142 00:06:14.133 --> 00:06:15.868 that his brother could have anything wrong with him, 143 00:06:15.868 --> 00:06:17.801 because they share the same blood. 144 00:06:17.801 --> 00:06:22.100 He is a narcissist at the same time, but I've seen that happen. 145 00:06:22.100 --> 00:06:26.234 You know, people who have a sibling who has issues to deal 146 00:06:26.234 --> 00:06:30.968 with, and the sibling, maybe it's because their parents had 147 00:06:30.968 --> 00:06:33.167 to give a lot more attention to the other child or something, 148 00:06:33.167 --> 00:06:38.100 it really enrages another sibling, and I always thought 149 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:39.934 it was a really interesting and kind of very difficult 150 00:06:39.934 --> 00:06:43.400 family relationship. 151 00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:44.734 When I saw it, I thought, this is a film 152 00:06:44.734 --> 00:06:47.167 about brotherly love, too. 153 00:06:47.167 --> 00:06:49.067 In some regard, sure. 154 00:06:49.067 --> 00:06:51.667 Or is it something else? 155 00:06:51.667 --> 00:06:55.100 It's interesting because when you take this idea 156 00:06:55.100 --> 00:06:58.300 of brotherhood and the fact that Connie is trying to break 157 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:01.467 his brother out of this situation, it almost overshadows 158 00:07:01.467 --> 00:07:03.834 everything else and all the bad things he does. 159 00:07:03.834 --> 00:07:04.968 Because you feel some responsibility. 160 00:07:04.968 --> 00:07:05.701 Exactly. 161 00:07:05.701 --> 00:07:08.968 As an audience you're watching, you don't realize he put his 162 00:07:08.968 --> 00:07:11.334 brother in that situation in the first place, but you're moving 163 00:07:11.334 --> 00:07:15.000 so fast and at such a speed on his wavelength that you can't 164 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.501 even stop to be like, wait, it's moving at that speed, 165 00:07:18.501 --> 00:07:20.534 so you're like, what's going on, why did I just do that, 166 00:07:20.534 --> 00:07:21.767 why am I going along with this? 167 00:07:21.767 --> 00:07:25.501 Connie's character, the back-story is 168 00:07:25.501 --> 00:07:28.934 he was released from prison on good behavior, 169 00:07:28.934 --> 00:07:30.367 released on his good time. 170 00:07:30.367 --> 00:07:33.067 While he was in prison, like a lot of people, you know, 171 00:07:33.067 --> 00:07:37.000 who do time, they kind of adopt almost like a born-again 172 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.434 quality or they get extremely romantic in their ideas and then 173 00:07:40.434 --> 00:07:42.467 they're kind of re-indoctrinated into society and they're not 174 00:07:42.467 --> 00:07:45.667 equipped, you know, the penal system isn't designed to 175 00:07:45.667 --> 00:07:49.734 rehabilitate anyone, really, so while he is in prison -- 176 00:07:49.734 --> 00:07:51.000 That's why we have so much recidivism. 177 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:52.133 Exactly. 178 00:07:52.133 --> 00:07:57.167 And actually we had the former Connecticut commissioner who 179 00:07:57.167 --> 00:08:00.901 appears in our movie who has led the lowest recidivist rate in 180 00:08:00.901 --> 00:08:04.968 the country, side story, but he appears in the jail sequence. 181 00:08:04.968 --> 00:08:08.567 But Connie has kind of developed this idea while he was in prison 182 00:08:08.567 --> 00:08:13.300 that everything that is holy to him is his brother and his 183 00:08:13.300 --> 00:08:16.734 brother represents a purity that he wants to tap back into 184 00:08:16.734 --> 00:08:19.100 and he has a romantic idea that he is going to rob a bank 185 00:08:19.100 --> 00:08:21.234 and they will give on a farm forever. 186 00:08:21.234 --> 00:08:24.334 He has a scorn for institutional America 187 00:08:24.334 --> 00:08:27.133 and the Bureaucratic trappings of America. 188 00:08:27.133 --> 00:08:30.000 He doesn't -- wholly and I agree with Connie in this regard, 189 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.234 he wholly disagrees with the idea that you can change the 190 00:08:33.234 --> 00:08:36.100 brain from the outside, you can do it through questionnaires, 191 00:08:36.100 --> 00:08:39.400 through basically observation and through exercises, 192 00:08:39.400 --> 00:08:42.934 menial exercises, and he thinks if I can just change it from 193 00:08:42.934 --> 00:08:45.133 the inside, and the only way to change it from the inside is 194 00:08:45.133 --> 00:08:48.033 through experience, then I can induce some sense of 195 00:08:48.033 --> 00:08:50.367 independence in my brother, in his brother. 196 00:08:50.367 --> 00:08:53.200 The idea of that is very strong. 197 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:55.901 The execution is a little questionable. 198 00:08:55.901 --> 00:08:58.334 Bringing him to rob a bank with him is not the best idea. 199 00:08:58.334 --> 00:08:59.534 This is more than a character study. 200 00:08:59.534 --> 00:09:04.334 This is a movie with a message or commentary? 201 00:09:04.334 --> 00:09:07.367 When I say termite art, that is the 202 00:09:07.367 --> 00:09:10.767 overarching -- we wanted something that you can consume, 203 00:09:10.767 --> 00:09:13.300 something that is entertainment first, and then afterwards 204 00:09:13.300 --> 00:09:15.934 you start to ask yourself, wait a second, why did that happen? 205 00:09:15.934 --> 00:09:18.067 Why were the only two people in the park being arrested 206 00:09:18.067 --> 00:09:19.834 of color? 207 00:09:19.834 --> 00:09:22.501 Why are women treated in the way they are in this movie? 208 00:09:22.501 --> 00:09:25.901 What is happening at the end of the movie when we are left with 209 00:09:25.901 --> 00:09:29.400 this emotional wallop just because we are being reminded 210 00:09:29.400 --> 00:09:31.968 of how the handicapped are treated in this world? 211 00:09:31.968 --> 00:09:36.467 The very fact you're moving at his speed and 212 00:09:36.467 --> 00:09:40.067 hitched on to Connie's point of view and you believe what Connie 213 00:09:40.067 --> 00:09:43.534 believes, but you don't have the time to think about it. 214 00:09:43.534 --> 00:09:45.734 It's only after you leave the theater you can ask yourself 215 00:09:45.734 --> 00:09:47.968 these questions and they're important questions. 216 00:09:47.968 --> 00:09:49.300 And they're ones we want you to ask. 217 00:09:49.300 --> 00:09:50.534 In terms of understanding why he thinks 218 00:09:50.534 --> 00:09:51.601 the way he does. 219 00:09:51.601 --> 00:09:53.434 For sure, I mean, it's a reflection of society 220 00:09:53.434 --> 00:09:57.534 and if once you reflect anything back to a group of people, 221 00:09:57.534 --> 00:09:59.501 messages occur. 222 00:09:59.501 --> 00:10:01.834 Norman Mailer was the king of this. 223 00:10:01.834 --> 00:10:03.534 Sometimes the way you can get the best 224 00:10:03.534 --> 00:10:07.133 reflections is by focusing on a very specific person in society. 225 00:10:07.133 --> 00:10:10.100 Someone who is breaking those rules, if you focus on them 226 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:13.033 it will shine a light on everything else. 227 00:10:13.033 --> 00:10:15.667 How did you try to shape him in terms of what 228 00:10:15.667 --> 00:10:19.067 you did for research, what you did in terms of who you wanted 229 00:10:19.067 --> 00:10:22.501 to see, what you wanted to visit, how you wanted to, 230 00:10:22.501 --> 00:10:24.667 you know, feel the character? 231 00:10:24.667 --> 00:10:28.434 I mean, one of the great things about this, 232 00:10:28.434 --> 00:10:32.000 the script wasn't finished when we started developing it, 233 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:37.801 and so Josh and Ronny, the co-writers, they would 234 00:10:37.801 --> 00:10:40.434 send me little chunks of back-story or sequences 235 00:10:40.434 --> 00:10:43.501 and most of the sequences that they sent me over the preceding 236 00:10:43.501 --> 00:10:48.868 nine months before I even went to start proper pre-production 237 00:10:48.868 --> 00:10:50.467 aren't even in the movie. 238 00:10:50.467 --> 00:10:55.834 I just saw the writing process and the world and just what do 239 00:10:55.834 --> 00:10:58.667 they want to draw from, really, and then started getting 240 00:10:58.667 --> 00:11:01.133 a voice, and then -- 241 00:11:01.133 --> 00:11:02.667 A voice, how he sounded? 242 00:11:02.667 --> 00:11:06.000 Yeah, and also, it's funny, because people 243 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:09.334 are talking about, you know, doing an accent. 244 00:11:09.334 --> 00:11:13.367 Normally you have a script and you try and paste your accent 245 00:11:13.367 --> 00:11:16.467 or just figure out how to say something which is written in 246 00:11:16.467 --> 00:11:17.667 a standard American accent. 247 00:11:17.667 --> 00:11:20.300 But with this, they're from Queens, everybody's from Queens, 248 00:11:20.300 --> 00:11:24.367 and I think it's written in a Queens dialect. 249 00:11:24.367 --> 00:11:29.267 So it starts -- its fun to say in the accent. 250 00:11:29.267 --> 00:11:35.501 In terms of research and stuff, me and Benny, I mean, for one 251 00:11:35.501 --> 00:11:39.934 thing, we spent multiple days sort of just improvising 252 00:11:39.934 --> 00:11:43.501 kind of in character in the real world, in Dunkin Donuts 253 00:11:43.501 --> 00:11:49.534 in Yonkers and got jobs at a car wash. 254 00:11:49.534 --> 00:11:51.701 I've never done anything like it before. 255 00:11:51.701 --> 00:11:52.767 How many people recognized you when you 256 00:11:52.767 --> 00:11:54.067 came to wash their car? 257 00:11:54.067 --> 00:11:56.167 Zero the entire time. 258 00:11:56.167 --> 00:12:01.234 There was a moment as well when we were trying to play out the 259 00:12:01.234 --> 00:12:05.400 kind of family drama in the car wash and Benny is looking like 260 00:12:05.400 --> 00:12:07.934 he is going to start snapping people's windshield wipers off 261 00:12:07.934 --> 00:12:10.567 and throwing wax at people. 262 00:12:10.567 --> 00:12:12.234 We kind of got into a little fight there. 263 00:12:12.234 --> 00:12:18.200 No one had any idea it was just two actors doing a bit. 264 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:22.033 But it definitely got close to -- 265 00:12:22.033 --> 00:12:24.667 It felt real and there was a moment when Rob kind 266 00:12:24.667 --> 00:12:28.400 of grabbed me and stopped me from doing some of those things. 267 00:12:28.400 --> 00:12:30.701 We weren't thinking about the movie, we were just thinking 268 00:12:30.701 --> 00:12:32.667 about being these people. 269 00:12:32.667 --> 00:12:33.701 Thinking in the moment. 270 00:12:33.701 --> 00:12:34.868 Exactly, thinking in the moment. 271 00:12:34.868 --> 00:12:38.200 When he grabbed me, I kind of seized up and I almost 272 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:40.133 threw him against the wall. 273 00:12:40.133 --> 00:12:42.200 He felt that, too. 274 00:12:42.200 --> 00:12:44.667 It just became internalized. 275 00:12:44.667 --> 00:12:47.133 It's not in the movie but these textures of things, 276 00:12:47.133 --> 00:12:49.200 being in his performance. 277 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.300 It's interesting these performances 278 00:12:50.300 --> 00:12:53.934 when you're not doing it for an audience or for a camera, 279 00:12:53.934 --> 00:12:57.767 you feel crazy, you feel like there is an element of danger 280 00:12:57.767 --> 00:13:00.834 because no one is watching and you're literally just doing it 281 00:13:00.834 --> 00:13:05.100 for each other, and it's crazy. 282 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:06.534 What's interesting about that to me, 283 00:13:06.534 --> 00:13:09.801 it seems to me, if you as a director can create that kind of 284 00:13:09.801 --> 00:13:12.567 feeling on a set, that is good. 285 00:13:12.567 --> 00:13:14.501 Yeah, I mean, we were -- you know, developing 286 00:13:14.501 --> 00:13:18.667 his character was as informative for him as it was for me. 287 00:13:18.667 --> 00:13:22.868 Me and my partner Ronnie, we spent so much time writing 288 00:13:22.868 --> 00:13:24.234 this character's back-story. 289 00:13:24.234 --> 00:13:26.100 We realized we couldn't overlook three months of his 290 00:13:26.100 --> 00:13:29.934 life because we're trying show basically a world that exists 291 00:13:29.934 --> 00:13:33.167 this day and age and we couldn't write -- this is a very 292 00:13:33.167 --> 00:13:36.267 plot heavy movie and we couldn't figure out what the character 293 00:13:36.267 --> 00:13:38.067 did until we knew everything about him. 294 00:13:38.067 --> 00:13:42.033 In the process we write this insane basically psychiatric 295 00:13:42.033 --> 00:13:45.200 portrait of this guy Connie with all these landmarks 296 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:47.400 and he is questioning all the little details. 297 00:13:47.400 --> 00:13:51.234 Then when he comes to New York, we're sitting with people from 298 00:13:51.234 --> 00:13:55.434 fortune society, we're sitting with -- going on walking tours 299 00:13:55.434 --> 00:13:59.467 of local legends and these weird petty crimes they kind of 300 00:13:59.467 --> 00:14:03.033 enacted in and we're going to jails and he is going to jails 301 00:14:03.033 --> 00:14:05.667 in character but the character couldn't speak yet, so he never 302 00:14:05.667 --> 00:14:08.968 spoke a word the whole tour of the Manhattan Detention Center, 303 00:14:08.968 --> 00:14:13.067 it was -- all these things were like, definitely done for his 304 00:14:13.067 --> 00:14:17.400 benefit, but they ended up being duly productive. 305 00:14:17.400 --> 00:14:18.834 And of course we wanted to incorporate that 306 00:14:18.834 --> 00:14:22.934 into the set that we had, we wanted that feeling of just 307 00:14:22.934 --> 00:14:25.167 kind of -- even though we had permission to shoot at these 308 00:14:25.167 --> 00:14:27.734 places, we wanted there to be an element of danger 309 00:14:27.734 --> 00:14:30.033 that we necessarily didn't have permission. 310 00:14:30.033 --> 00:14:32.467 If everything went wrong, would we still have it? 311 00:14:32.467 --> 00:14:36.000 I think that it hopefully comes across in Rob's performance, 312 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.200 or it comes across in just the texture of the feeling 313 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:39.234 of these places. 314 00:14:39.234 --> 00:14:41.601 Have you seen any of the films by John Alpert? 315 00:14:41.601 --> 00:14:42.934 Sure, oh yeah, I know a lot of them. 316 00:14:42.934 --> 00:14:44.534 He was at PBS when I was there. 317 00:14:44.534 --> 00:14:47.434 I started a long time ago at PBS with Bill Moyers and he was 318 00:14:47.434 --> 00:14:50.834 there and what was amazing about him is he went to Cuba, I mean, 319 00:14:50.834 --> 00:14:53.100 he was the first guy I know to go to Cuba. 320 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:56.667 This is, like, in the '70s. 321 00:14:56.667 --> 00:14:58.234 Ok. 322 00:14:58.234 --> 00:15:01.801 Have you ever seen "Life of Crime," an HBO film that he did? 323 00:15:01.801 --> 00:15:02.200 Yes. 324 00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:06.300 Also, we showed that downtown in a theater, 325 00:15:06.300 --> 00:15:10.667 we showed it yesterday and did a Q&A with him and I think people 326 00:15:10.667 --> 00:15:14.033 watching the movie who have seen "Good Time" can see that 327 00:15:14.033 --> 00:15:15.701 was one of the first things, because he was in Ireland 328 00:15:15.701 --> 00:15:19.767 shooting "Lost City of Z" so I'm trying to bring the characters 329 00:15:19.767 --> 00:15:24.234 to him, sending him "The Belly of the Beast" and I'm sending 330 00:15:24.234 --> 00:15:28.701 him John Alpert films so you can see and feel these things. 331 00:15:28.701 --> 00:15:32.501 The camera style you use, define it for me 332 00:15:32.501 --> 00:15:34.901 and tell me what it adds to the movie. 333 00:15:34.901 --> 00:15:38.267 We have been making feature films ten years 334 00:15:38.267 --> 00:15:40.901 and we've basically been in a room with a closed door going 335 00:15:40.901 --> 00:15:44.300 not now, dad, in a weird way, as teenagers in a weird way, 336 00:15:44.300 --> 00:15:46.033 we wouldn't let anyone in. 337 00:15:46.033 --> 00:15:51.467 We were making these movies in like a -- in kind of an 338 00:15:51.467 --> 00:15:55.033 adolescent fashion but they were getting released and we were 339 00:15:55.033 --> 00:15:58.467 able to support ourselves with commercials but we were using 340 00:15:58.467 --> 00:16:03.067 our features to hone our craft, basically, and get deeper 341 00:16:03.067 --> 00:16:05.767 and deeper into how we want to speak. 342 00:16:05.767 --> 00:16:08.467 We've developed on the previous film, we've developed this 343 00:16:08.467 --> 00:16:13.133 kind of enamored effect with the long lens, what it does when 344 00:16:13.133 --> 00:16:15.434 it feels like you're pushing in on someone's personality, 345 00:16:15.434 --> 00:16:17.267 someone's soul, almost. 346 00:16:17.267 --> 00:16:20.267 We got almost perversely obsessed with it, with our 347 00:16:20.267 --> 00:16:23.067 last one, but then thought, ok, we're going to do a thriller. 348 00:16:23.067 --> 00:16:24.834 We want it to actually be thrilling, we want it to feel 349 00:16:24.834 --> 00:16:27.300 like at any point, real cops could come in, so we wanted 350 00:16:27.300 --> 00:16:30.200 to heighten that with a certain level, a certain kind of 351 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:32.901 "mise en scene", a certain way of shooting and we kept things 352 00:16:32.901 --> 00:16:35.801 in close-up a lot and it helps add I think to the tension 353 00:16:35.801 --> 00:16:38.501 that an audience can be feeling walking through the movie. 354 00:16:38.501 --> 00:16:40.534 How did you want to shape him beyond 355 00:16:40.534 --> 00:16:42.667 what you saw in the text? 356 00:16:42.667 --> 00:16:50.701 What were you looking for to create your own image of him? 357 00:16:50.701 --> 00:16:57.267 I mean, there's definitely -- 358 00:16:57.267 --> 00:16:59.701 Part of him is a bad guy. 359 00:16:59.701 --> 00:17:00.667 Yes. 360 00:17:00.667 --> 00:17:02.734 Part is a loving brother. 361 00:17:02.734 --> 00:17:07.000 Yeah, I was always kind of interested in, 362 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:12.100 you know, you can say you love someone, but it doesn't 363 00:17:12.100 --> 00:17:17.100 necessarily mean anything to the target of your love. 364 00:17:17.100 --> 00:17:18.467 Was that true here? 365 00:17:18.467 --> 00:17:23.667 Yes, I mean, I think Connie sort of decided 366 00:17:23.667 --> 00:17:26.434 -- part of the back-story is they have been estranged for 367 00:17:26.434 --> 00:17:30.467 years and when he is in prison, he gets fixated on his brother 368 00:17:30.467 --> 00:17:34.567 whom he hasn't seen for 12 years and just comes out of prison 369 00:17:34.567 --> 00:17:39.601 and is just at full speed loving him, but he has no idea. 370 00:17:39.601 --> 00:17:40.701 That's an interesting back-story. 371 00:17:40.701 --> 00:17:43.601 And he has no idea who he is really at all. 372 00:17:43.601 --> 00:17:44.868 And can't see who he is. 373 00:17:44.868 --> 00:17:46.934 And refuses to see who he is even when 374 00:17:46.934 --> 00:17:48.400 it's right in his face. 375 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:53.934 He says -- Connie is a lonely person and loneliness suddenly 376 00:17:53.934 --> 00:17:57.300 hit and he doesn't know how to process it and the only thing 377 00:17:57.300 --> 00:18:02.167 he really has is a sibling and that is it because the rest of 378 00:18:02.167 --> 00:18:06.701 his family clearly has nothing to do with him. 379 00:18:06.701 --> 00:18:10.501 But, yes, he doesn't actually want to love his brother 380 00:18:10.501 --> 00:18:11.767 for his brother. 381 00:18:11.767 --> 00:18:15.267 He just loves him because it's his. 382 00:18:15.267 --> 00:18:17.767 He is his. 383 00:18:17.767 --> 00:18:19.434 So when did each of you decide that you wanted 384 00:18:19.434 --> 00:18:21.901 to be in films? 385 00:18:21.901 --> 00:18:24.567 When did you know? 386 00:18:24.567 --> 00:18:25.934 Were you seven? 387 00:18:25.934 --> 00:18:26.834 No. 388 00:18:26.834 --> 00:18:33.467 I mean, I fell into it sort of by accident, which I'm pretty 389 00:18:33.467 --> 00:18:37.234 happy about, because every year that goes by I get 390 00:18:37.234 --> 00:18:39.534 more and more invested into it. 391 00:18:39.534 --> 00:18:44.033 I don't think I'll ever really get sick of it. 392 00:18:44.033 --> 00:18:47.701 More invested in it to try as best you can to 393 00:18:47.701 --> 00:18:50.534 master it knowing that in the end you will never master it? 394 00:18:50.534 --> 00:18:55.934 Yeah, it just sort of -- because I think 395 00:18:55.934 --> 00:18:59.167 the only thing I've ever been fighting against is that fear of 396 00:18:59.167 --> 00:19:06.267 feeling like an imposter and the fear of -- 397 00:19:06.267 --> 00:19:07.968 Do you have that feeling? 398 00:19:07.968 --> 00:19:09.968 That is literally the only thing 399 00:19:09.968 --> 00:19:12.467 I'm ever doing. 400 00:19:12.467 --> 00:19:13.501 I find a script. 401 00:19:13.501 --> 00:19:17.300 I have one burst of inspiration and when I first saw the still 402 00:19:17.300 --> 00:19:20.667 of theirs and met them, I don't know what you guys felt, 403 00:19:20.667 --> 00:19:23.234 but I felt extremely, extraordinarily confident 404 00:19:23.234 --> 00:19:25.868 in the first meeting, yes, I can do anything. 405 00:19:25.868 --> 00:19:28.234 Almost immediately afterward, it's like, actually, 406 00:19:28.234 --> 00:19:29.934 I have no idea what I'm talking about. 407 00:19:29.934 --> 00:19:31.434 I can't do anything. 408 00:19:31.434 --> 00:19:33.667 I'm just some random guy. 409 00:19:33.667 --> 00:19:39.801 And you do sort of get addicted to that feeling. 410 00:19:39.801 --> 00:19:44.033 I always love -- I loved the world. 411 00:19:44.033 --> 00:19:49.234 I love people who are interested in telling stories, 412 00:19:49.234 --> 00:19:52.901 and, I mean, it's like on a job like this, we're working 413 00:19:52.901 --> 00:19:54.968 18 hour days, every single day. 414 00:19:54.968 --> 00:20:00.767 No one minds, no one's being paid anything, it's just crazy. 415 00:20:00.767 --> 00:20:06.734 There is no other industry which people are so invested in it. 416 00:20:06.734 --> 00:20:17.234 (LAUGHTER AND CROSSTALK) 417 00:20:17.234 --> 00:20:19.067 What's interesting about that is it's 418 00:20:19.067 --> 00:20:21.767 not just acting but in so many professions, in my own as well, 419 00:20:21.767 --> 00:20:25.234 I mean people say they know and they are doing good work 420 00:20:25.234 --> 00:20:28.934 and they know they're good but somehow think, you know, 421 00:20:28.934 --> 00:20:31.667 I'm not as good as they think I am. 422 00:20:31.667 --> 00:20:36.167 Or they say if they only knew how much I don't know, right? 423 00:20:36.167 --> 00:20:37.434 Yes. 424 00:20:37.434 --> 00:20:39.234 Luckily most people don't say I'm that great. 425 00:20:39.234 --> 00:20:40.501 (LAUGHTER) 426 00:20:40.501 --> 00:20:42.000 Every time he would do a great take, 427 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:44.667 it would be like, that was really great, I thought it -- 428 00:20:44.667 --> 00:20:48.300 And then he would look at us like we were foreigners. 429 00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:49.567 Like, what do you know? 430 00:20:49.567 --> 00:20:51.834 Or, why do you say that? 431 00:20:51.834 --> 00:20:52.901 Just in disbelief, like, 432 00:20:52.901 --> 00:20:53.934 you're lying to me. 433 00:20:53.934 --> 00:20:54.667 Yes, you're a liar. 434 00:20:54.667 --> 00:20:57.200 He didn't believe it was a great take. 435 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.067 Why is that? 436 00:21:00.067 --> 00:21:01.667 I don't know. 437 00:21:01.667 --> 00:21:04.601 I've been in therapy about it but, I mean, yeah, what I love 438 00:21:04.601 --> 00:21:08.701 about working with guys like these guys, they can just 439 00:21:08.701 --> 00:21:12.868 charge up a scene so much it's as if you were playing music. 440 00:21:12.868 --> 00:21:15.434 I used to play music when I was younger and the whole point 441 00:21:15.434 --> 00:21:18.467 is to get disoriented and completely lost. 442 00:21:18.467 --> 00:21:20.834 But most of the time people spend so much time on setting up 443 00:21:20.834 --> 00:21:26.167 another take and so much discussion and blah, blah, blah, 444 00:21:26.167 --> 00:21:28.868 it's impossible to stay at the same level of intensity. 445 00:21:28.868 --> 00:21:32.667 I mean, you do another take and it's just rolling the dice. 446 00:21:32.667 --> 00:21:34.300 Hopefully something will come out. 447 00:21:34.300 --> 00:21:36.167 And every single time, it feels like you're gambling, it feels 448 00:21:36.167 --> 00:21:41.133 like anything can happen and that is the kind of fun part. 449 00:21:41.133 --> 00:21:44.567 We want to catch up to the movie always. 450 00:21:44.567 --> 00:21:47.834 We want to feel like we can -- that this is life or this is 451 00:21:47.834 --> 00:21:50.100 the story that you've created and you just want to 452 00:21:50.100 --> 00:21:51.567 get right up against it. 453 00:21:51.567 --> 00:21:55.000 It's like in the subway in New York City, you get the express 454 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.767 train and the local trains are running at the same speed 455 00:21:57.767 --> 00:22:02.834 and you can see in and all of a sudden you get the window and 456 00:22:02.834 --> 00:22:06.300 someone will give you the finger or say what's up. 457 00:22:06.300 --> 00:22:09.534 But that moment there, that is kind of like us making a movie. 458 00:22:09.534 --> 00:22:13.167 We want to sidle up against the local train, or vice versa, 459 00:22:13.167 --> 00:22:16.567 the express, and just capture it. 460 00:22:16.567 --> 00:22:20.000 Once you push that rock off the cliff and it 461 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.501 keeps going, we just are riding that all the way down, and with 462 00:22:24.501 --> 00:22:27.334 the full speed and velocity, that is what we want. 463 00:22:27.334 --> 00:22:30.400 We want to bottle that energy up and throw it on to the screen. 464 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.234 I do think there's a book that every 465 00:22:32.234 --> 00:22:33.968 aspiring actor should read. 466 00:22:33.968 --> 00:22:38.834 We have been reading online for promotional stuff for 824. 467 00:22:38.834 --> 00:22:43.133 It's a book I found in the evidence section of the NYPD 468 00:22:43.133 --> 00:22:45.968 called "Disguise Techniques Fool All of the People 469 00:22:45.968 --> 00:22:47.367 Some of the Time." 470 00:22:47.367 --> 00:22:48.501 It's basically a book on acting. 471 00:22:48.501 --> 00:22:50.667 It's up there with Stanislovsky, it's amazing. 472 00:22:50.667 --> 00:22:51.567 Is it really? 473 00:22:51.567 --> 00:22:53.400 It's for con men. 474 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:55.434 You just sold a bunch of books. 475 00:22:55.434 --> 00:22:56.567 It's one penny on Amazon. 476 00:22:56.567 --> 00:22:58.067 One penny. 477 00:22:58.067 --> 00:23:00.501 I bought it for one penny when I saw it on this evidence website. 478 00:23:00.501 --> 00:23:01.534 What is the title again? 479 00:23:01.534 --> 00:23:03.067 "Disguise Techniques: Fool All of 480 00:23:03.067 --> 00:23:04.968 the People Some of the Time." 481 00:23:04.968 --> 00:23:08.200 It's basically about how to con groups of people. 482 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:09.300 It's as good as any acting book 483 00:23:09.300 --> 00:23:09.968 you've ever seen. 484 00:23:09.968 --> 00:23:11.734 I really think so it talks about this idea 485 00:23:11.734 --> 00:23:13.501 of non-being. 486 00:23:13.501 --> 00:23:16.868 It's a deep book with a purpose. 487 00:23:16.868 --> 00:23:19.934 It's like try to sneak into this group and fool these people 488 00:23:19.934 --> 00:23:22.400 into giving you a job, or try to steal -- 489 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:24.200 it's a book for criminals. 490 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:26.601 Really is a book for criminals back when there used to be books 491 00:23:26.601 --> 00:23:27.434 that you can buy. 492 00:23:27.434 --> 00:23:28.567 Help people get a job. 493 00:23:28.567 --> 00:23:30.434 (LAUGHTER) 494 00:23:30.434 --> 00:23:32.033 What's next for you? 495 00:23:32.033 --> 00:23:33.968 We're doing a movie in the Diamond District. 496 00:23:33.968 --> 00:23:34.934 We've been trying to make -- 497 00:23:34.934 --> 00:23:36.000 Another New York movie. 498 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:37.267 Another New York -- one day we'll get out 499 00:23:37.267 --> 00:23:38.200 of New York. 500 00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:41.667 It's called "Uncut Gems" and it's a thriller that takes place 501 00:23:41.667 --> 00:23:46.334 in the Diamond District but it's kind of -- it takes place in 502 00:23:46.334 --> 00:23:50.701 the bling culture and it's more of a shot at Freud -- 503 00:23:50.701 --> 00:23:53.167 It's similar, but not, it's a much funnier movie. 504 00:23:53.167 --> 00:23:57.767 Yeah, we're doing that with Scorcese and Scott Rudin 505 00:23:57.767 --> 00:23:59.868 and it's like this wild, beautiful thing and, you know, 506 00:23:59.868 --> 00:24:01.534 Jonah Hill will play the lead. 507 00:24:01.534 --> 00:24:04.534 Do you choose them? 508 00:24:04.534 --> 00:24:09.167 Scorcese saw "Heaven Knows What" and said our names 509 00:24:09.167 --> 00:24:11.000 and we were ready to commit suicide. 510 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:11.767 That was it right then. 511 00:24:11.767 --> 00:24:13.968 Yes. 512 00:24:13.968 --> 00:24:17.801 And Scott involved with the script -- but it's been -- 513 00:24:17.801 --> 00:24:21.434 yeah, the text, we have been working on it for seven years. 514 00:24:21.434 --> 00:24:22.901 What's Marty doing? 515 00:24:22.901 --> 00:24:24.167 He is executive producing it, yes. 516 00:24:24.167 --> 00:24:27.100 And you, what's next? 517 00:24:27.100 --> 00:24:28.200 I'm working with a director called 518 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:31.767 Claire Denis, French director who's one of my all-time 519 00:24:31.767 --> 00:24:38.367 favorites, doing a sci-fi movie. 520 00:24:38.367 --> 00:24:39.501 In France? 521 00:24:39.501 --> 00:24:41.367 In Germany, Cologne. 522 00:24:41.367 --> 00:24:48.133 It is all set on a spaceship, a very sci-fi horror house. 523 00:24:48.133 --> 00:24:50.200 You know the French call all the lead actors 524 00:24:50.200 --> 00:24:51.367 of their movies. 525 00:24:51.367 --> 00:24:52.200 They are just called the hero. 526 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:53.133 No matter what they do. 527 00:24:53.133 --> 00:24:53.901 They are heroes. 528 00:24:53.901 --> 00:24:56.601 Yes, so romantic. 529 00:24:56.601 --> 00:24:57.434 I've always wanted to go to Cologne. 530 00:24:57.434 --> 00:25:00.501 My father was in World War II during the Battle of the Bulge 531 00:25:00.501 --> 00:25:05.501 and he was part of a team of people who recaptured Cologne. 532 00:25:05.501 --> 00:25:06.834 I've never seen Cologne. 533 00:25:06.834 --> 00:25:08.033 They didn't capture the cathedral, right? 534 00:25:08.033 --> 00:25:10.200 That was a very important. 535 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:11.033 Congratulations. 536 00:25:11.033 --> 00:25:12.000 It is great to meet you guys. 537 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:12.701 Thank you very much. 538 00:25:12.701 --> 00:25:13.267 Thank you. 539 00:25:13.267 --> 00:25:14.667 Thank for having us. 540 00:25:14.667 --> 00:25:17.033 Come back. 541 00:25:17.033 --> 00:25:17.767 We'll be right back. 542 00:25:17.767 --> 00:25:18.601 Stay with us.