(clapper board clapping)
- Oh, can we get some water? Would you like some water? - Are you offering me water?
- Yeah. - You thinking about me in that nice way? - Yeah, a little bit.
- You're a nice person. - I mean, thoughts about myself took me to the thoughts about you. - I'm just gonna say you thought about me. - Okay. - Because that makes you a gentleman, which I know you are.
- Yeah, I did. I thought about you. Let me,
can I get you some water? - Sure, thank you. - Guys, can we get Jamie
Lee a water, please? (Jamie laughing)
Do you know what? I might have one as
well actually, fuck it. (Jamie laughing) Sold it, huh? (lively music) - Hi, Colin Farrell. - Hi, Jamie Lee Curtis.
- How are you? - I'm good, how you doin'?
- We met once before. - Tell me about that, if you would. It was Special Olympics, I believe, and I'll stop there.
- It was. - Over to you.
- It was in Dublin. My daughter and I were in Ireland. She was retracing her genealogical roots, and we went to Ireland. And we were there, and it turned out to be
the Special Olympics. And we were invited. I was invited to come at
the opening ceremonies and be a participant, and
we met in the green room. - Extraordinary experience, that. I've been to it... It's how the world should be. - It is how the world should be. It isn't how the world is.
- It's not how the world is. The world is far, far away from this. It was 2005 in Dublin, wasn't it?
- Uh-huh. - But what ends up happening
is just the sense of... There's competition there. All the athletes want to win those, want to get first place. It's not like, oh, people
who are differently abled, or special needs aren't... They're so competitive. But it's not competition.
- But that isn't the goal. - It's not the goal. And it's not competition at the sake of another person's
fulfillment of involvement. I mean, Ireland is a
fairly friendly country, but that three weeks-
- No, no, Ireland is an incredibly-
- Yeah, it is. - Friendly-
- I know, I just wanted you to say that.
- Country. - I just thought I'd low ball it. - I just... Well, no, you don't have to
low ball me with Ireland. I just came from there. - When I go back, 'cause I live here, I live
in Los Angeles like you do. And so I've been here
for 16, 17 years now. I've raised, and I'm
raising my two sons here. LA means more to me than I
thought this city ever would, by virtue of the emotional connections that one exists in when one has children. - Yes, but Ireland has an emotional connection.
- But Ireland has... Oh my god, when I go home there, it makes sense to me in
a way that this place, and no other place, would have the business
making sense to me. If I'm workin' in, say
I'm workin' in London, and I say I'm comin' back to Los Angeles, which is home in many ways, I say, "Yeah, I'm goin' home." If I'm in Los Angeles and
I'm goin' back to Ireland, I say, "I'm goin' home." I drop it. It's about two octaves. It's not intentional. It's just 'cause it's deeper in me. That place is deeper in me. - And you dropped it in this movie. - Oh-
- And you got to go home. - Yeah, I did. Accidentally... Not accidentally, but
not by design, certainly. I've gone home once every three years to do a film over... Where were you born? - Born and raised right here in the city of Angels.
- Born and raised. Wow.
- Yeah, yeah. I'm an LA girl. - Do you love it here?
- Raised my kids here. I do, it's my home. - Complicated place, or no? Do you see it or experience
it as a complicated city or... I don't experience Dublin
as a complicated city. Of course it is. It's full of complicated
humans, et cetera. But I just, I have a very clear idea
of how I feel about it. What's right with it,
what's maybe wrong with it, what it struggles with,
what it succeeds in, and I love all the above.
- Yeah. - But do you find... - You know, I went to
boarding school once. - Where? - Connecticut. And I went one year. Mistake. And-
(Colin laughing) - I did boarding school
for a year and a half. - I mean it's just-
- Mistake, mistake. - I mean-
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were half a year smarter than me. - That was my last year of high school. But I mean, I had a good experience because I learned a lot about myself. But I used to play Joni
Mitchell's "California" in my room and sob.
- Sob, did ya? - Just sob.
- Did ya? - Because when you're from somewhere, it's you.
- It's a part of you. It's like you saying your voice drops. There's an organic experience of you being from there. - Totally, there's an element I'm... There's an element that I'm in Ireland now waiting for me to return. - Mmhmm. - It's like there's so much
residual energy of mine there. The place shaped me. It formed me, chiseled me, and
sent me out into the world. - I know, but the movie
is so much about Ireland. - Yeah, it is. - It's such an Irish movie. It's so... It's so deep. And exquisite.
- Did you think that? That's cool. - Oh, it's exquisite.
- Oh, that's lovely to hear. - Sit somewhere else. - Huh? But I have me pint there, Colm. - It's just so simple and profound. - Martin's extraordinary. When people heard that the film was about two friends fallin' out, like literally one lad
sayin' to another lad, within the first five minutes of the film, "I don't want to be your
friend anymore," and that's it. Today's culture, you just
don't bother sending a text. I believe the kids call it ghosting. You just cut the person out.
- You just stop. - You just stop. Hard to do that on an island where there's one pub and one church - in 1923.
- Well, and, and it's a very clear statement from him. It's so confusing and
confounding and understandable in what he's trying to say. - It is, I was shocked by how much... And it's a testament, of
course, to Martin's writing, but also Brendan Gleeson, of course, who is an extraordinary actor
and an artist and a musician, and a just a man of unfathomable depth, that I sympathized with his character when I watched the film. When I could find my way
through my discomfort, and it wasn't a gesture of self-judgment that I didn't really side with my own. Of course I understood
my character, Pádraic, and where he's comin' from. But I felt such a deep sympathy for the struggle of Brendan's character and for the lengths that he
had to go to find this peace, this solitude that he could
reckon with his own mortality. - You're younger than I am. I'm at that place right now, where that time is much shorter that I have left on the earth. It's just shorter. - It's funny, well, I- - And that resonated so deeply. - [Colin] Did it really, love?
- Well, because ultimately you're gonna have to say to some people, "I don't wanna be your friend anymore." - Yeah, ugh, it's heartbreaking.
- You're gonna have to, because in order to be able-
- And everyone pays for that. - To separate from people- - Everyone pays for that, whether you're the dumper or the dumpee, the separation of church and state that signifies the
dissolution of a friendship is always going to be painful. It's like "Withnail & I." You know "Withnail & I," the
film with Richard E Grant? - Sure.
- And Paul McCann, among others, and it's such a funny film. It's so irreverent. It's so beautifully written. But at the end, one of them, they're two actors who are out of work in London in the early 80s,
and at the end of the film... I think it's early 80s,
late 70s, early 80s, at the end of the film
one of them gets a role. It's not a great role,
but he just gets a role. And they have that
scene on the park bench, Paul McCann and Richard E.
Grant, and it's raining, and the most flamboyant
character in the film, and the funniest, but also ultimately
the most heartbreaking, was Richard E. Grant. And Paul McCann is goin' off gettin' a train somewhere in England. It's not like a huge break. Hollywood isn't comin'
callin', but he gets a job. And the sadness of that, the sadness of one person leaving, the sadness in the human experience of one person leaving
another person behind one. One person's aspirations
creating a separation. - But leaving-
It's essential. - But leaving somebody behind for a reason.
- It's essential. I totally agree with it.
- It was for... He was going to die-
- Totally. - Unfulfilled. - Absolutely.
- Unexpressed. - Absolutely.
- If he stayed in this relationship. - That's why I sympathized with him. - And I understand. I sympathize with him, too.
- That's why I sympathize with him. - And yet you're wide open, not understanding. It's so powerful because
you don't understand. It's not clear. - Yeah, no, it's not, yeah.
- What he's saying. - It doesn't connect. - Just tell me what I've done to ya. And if I've said somethin' to ya, maybe I said somethin' when I was drunk and I've forgotten it, but I
don't think I said somethin' when I was drunk and I've forgotten it. But if I did, then tell me what it was, and I'll say sorry for that, too, Colm, with all me heart. - And your sister, Kerry. - Oh, she's brilliant, isn't she? Isn't Kerry brilliant? And she said to me-
- I think she has the hardest part in the movie. - Well, she does, because she's... She's the future. She's the hope. She is- - She chooses hope.
- What needs to happen. She chooses hope. And that's, again, it's like, it's like Brendan's character doing what he needs to do to survive. And the cruelty that that
inflicts upon my fella, but also the cruelty that inflicts upon... I mean, by the end of the film, me and Brendan are standin' on the beach. And I said to him, when I saw it, I said, "You look almost like a goblin at the end. "Like you've lost two feet in height." He's standin' on the beach
and I walk up to him, and he looks at me like this. And he's lost two feet in height. He's so diminished as a spirit. It didn't work out for him. Whatever the reason. The permutations of why it didn't work out are kind of irrelevant. Everyone pays a price. Siobhan pays such, Kerry's
character, Kerry Condon, pays such a huge price for what is ultimately
a leap of painful faith into the abyss of uncertainty. And that's what she needs. And I just, I can't say enough about Kerry's work. I just think she's brilliant. I worked with her, last time I worked her we
weren't brother and sister like we are in this film. I punched her in the
face, knocked her cold, broke her nose, and stole the, robbed the till in a coffee shop that opened up a film in "Intermission" that we did years ago. But I've known Kerry for 20 years. We've all known each other a long time. To see her be given the
opportunity to do this work... 'Cause often an actor, you don't judge their ability
by the jobs that they do. You can see bits of ability. Sometimes they're not
given the opportunity. It's like, I never worked any... I didn't work any harder on
this than on any of the films... - I understand. - But with certain things ask- - Of course.
- Of you. And what this asked of
Kerry and what she did, the grace, the dignity, the strength she had to hold her own pay. And when she looks at me, she
says, "Will ya mind me books? "They're all I have left
apart from the obvious." Aye aye, aye, I get choked
up thinkin' about it. Like I, she-
- She gutted me. - She messed me up. - She messed me up, too.
- She gutted me as well, totally, watching her in that film. I just thought, oh my god. Anyway, enough of my stuff. Talk to me about yours. Will you?
- No, no, no, no. I wanna talk about this. No, what I wanna talk about is exactly- - Well, you are the boss.
We've established that today. - Well, I am the boss.
- So come on. - I'm the therapist. - (laughing) So come on. I should be lying down.
- Dr. (indistinct). Yeah, yeah.
- Can we get a chaise in here? - Yeah, exactly.
- Go on, carry on. - No, what I wanted to talk about just came up because you just said it. You and I have been
doing this a long time. I've been doing it longer than you, because I'm older than you, but we've both been doing it a long time, and we've both had a lot
of focus on us at times. - Yeah.
- And then a lot of focus on other parts of us at times. And then a lot of time away and not playing in the game. And why are we sitting here today? Because you did that work in that film. I did this work in the
movie with the Daniels, and- - "Everything Everywhere All at Once." - And I don't know... Thank you, look at you saving me. And I don't know how a
movie made two years ago in Simi Valley, California in 38 days in an abandoned office building has landed me in this chair opposite you anymore than you running
off and making a movie- - No clue.
- That's so deeply Irish. That's such a beautiful, intensely quiet, conversational movie about human emotions. And ours is a movie about- - Well yours is about
the exact same thing, but it's not-
- Of course. - Of course it is, and they all are. I know there's an argument for that. But how yours comes around and the chaos, which yours arrived to me at a moment's deep emotional
reckoning and peace. ("My Life Without You") The chaos and the movement
and the tumult of your film, and I thought I'd heard
so much about your film, and your extraordinary in it,
and the film is extraordinary, I'd heard so much about it. I thought it can't be. And then the first 15,
20 minutes, I thought, this is obviously really clever, and it's really fun and fool me, because by the end of it,
the profundity of, again, these filmmakers seem to be interested in, your lads, my fellow Martin, they seem to be interested
in the themes that we, whether we're conscious of it or not, we all really struggle with, themes of loneliness, themes of purpose, and your film regret was such a big thing. And the awareness of the
ticking of the clock. And as long as the clock has enough breath to go from 11 to 12 or three to four, as long as there's enough
breath in the clock to make that one movement of the hand, there's an ability to reverse course. There's an ability to reverse.
- There's a redemption. - Ugh.
- And a reconciliation. And a healing.
- It's so beautiful. 'Cause the only two things
I know, certainties, is we're gonna die and we're
gonna make serious mistakes. Whether we atone for our mistakes, whether we live before we die- - Did you know that before you got sober? - No. I had suspicions before
I got sober of things, of the depth of life and experience and how painful life could be and would be for us all eventually, and all that stuff. But I had no ability to hold that without being somewhat self-destructive and without kinda living in it. I don't live in that now. I feel these things that we're talking about at times.
- Yeah, me, too. - And I consider life greatly at times. And other times I'm as frivolous as I was when I was six years old on a good day back then.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - So I don't live in it. Back then when I wasn't considering it with any kind of consciousness I lived in it more
unconsciously, in a way. But, so no, I didn't. But your film, will you tell me, I wanna know a little bit about
what your film meant to you. - Well, I recently, we've... Now obviously we're all
doing this dance now. - Yeah, yeah.
- So we're talking about the movie a lot.
- Yeah, yeah. - We didn't talk about the movie. - Same here. I've learned more about
the movie doin' this stuff, we were saying to Brendan.
- Oh, totally. - Totally, I'm like-
- We do some panels. And I sit there with Daniel
Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the two guys, and I sit there like this, and I'm staring at them as they talk about what the movie was. And Kwan talked about
the origins of the movie, the early construction of it. And he talked about our phones and the society we live in, which is this digital
input where in one second we're seeing the catastrophe of the nightclub shooting last night. And then one swipe of our finger, and then it's a cat video, and one swipe of our finger
and it's politics and Twitter. And then it's... And the amount of information
that we are processing as human beings now... Ooh. It's that, demanding it from our brains. - Where are we processing it, here? Not, 'cause it's so (snapping)- - And that's where the movie
is so beautifully made. And I didn't know when we were making it.
- So clever. But it's that's construction-
- That's the chaos I was talking about.
- It's the chaos and the kaleidoscope. - They transposed that chaos,
that kind of instantaneous, agitational-
- And found this center. - Yeah, they-
- Which is love, kindness, family, forgiveness, living with regret. We all live with regret.
- Yeah, of course, of course. Why did it... Why did a scene with two boulders, two rocks speaking to each
other, mess me up so much. Moving.
- Didn't it kill you? Killed you.
- I swear I thought it was one of the best written
and performed scenes. It was so meta, but not in a highbrow way. And that's another thing about the film. It's obviously so meta, it so goes on top itself
and on top of itself, multi-dimensional, same characters, playing different characters, different perspectives, as we
all do in our lives of course. But then ultimately the strain of music that was heard at the end
was one of simplicity, one of redemption, one of the forgiveness. 'Cause you don't just... To get over regret, I suppose you have to
forgive yourself regret. Not forgive yourself even
the thing you regret, like regret in itself is
almost, it's totally natural. But if you live in it so long it almost can become a
sin against the self, depending how it's articulated. So I just felt, yeah,
everyone got a second chance. - Are you a, just hearing you talk, when you work are you
an articulated actor? Do you articulate your work? - I don't like to talk too much.
- Are you an intellectual actor?
- No, I, no, no, no. - I don't know, I mean, we haven't worked together-
- I don't like to talk too much.
- In that process. - No, god I'd-
- Yeah, see I don't like love to work with you.
- To talk too much either. - I don't like to talk too much about it. - And you just do the work yourself. - I do the work meself. I
do me work in me hotel room and in me bed at night-
- Me, too. - And goin' up for a hike and thinkin' and findin' a piece of
music that stirs me, and then I listen to that for the film. And a few pieces of music that... Things turn up, of course. - Tell me a piece of music for this movie. - A piece of, let me see if I can find it by an Irish composer. And it wasn't, that wasn't the intention. - Okay, here. ("Vide Cor Meum") - It's nice, huh? ("Vide Cor Meum") It was an accident that
it's an Irish composer. - It's not an accident. - [Colin] Oh no, it's not an accident. Patrick Cassidy is his name. - Wow.
- Vide Cor Meum. But yeah, such again, I think in that, not the intention, but
there's forgiveness, there's revelation, there's hope, there's the acceptance of sadness. Not just the presence of sadness, not the acknowledgement of
sadness, the witnessing of it, but the acceptance of it as
a part of our life, you know? So that was all, I listened
to that quite a bit. But not so much that, sometimes you wanna, you're listenin' to somethin' so much you can almost feel it
begin to lose its voice- - Sure, of course.
- Inside, so you have to stop.
- Sure, sure, sure sure. (Colin laughing)
Sure sure. And I have that. I didn't have music for... It's funny when you know someone. I know so many women
like Deirdre Beaubeirdre. - I was just hoping you could enlighten me as to how, as a laundromat owner, a karaoke machine could
constitute a business expense. - I am a singer. - (sighing) Of course you are. - [Waymond] It's true. - I do, I've met them.
- Who are they? How do they present themselves in their lives?
- I've met them in recovery. - [Colin] Wow. - I've met people who... I've met them just in the process of being in life with them. People who wield power in their job as a replacement for having
any actual human contact. - Ugh. - Any love or affection
or physical affection or that no one recognizes them anywhere other than in their position of power. That that is the only thing that they've spent their life nurturing so that that's what gets
them off is that power. And then what happens to
them at the end of the day when they go home and they
sit alone in their apartment? It's incredibly sad. And so she, as much as
I completely knew her, like from the first 95%
of my work in that movie was shot in the first two days. - Really?
- Mmhmm. - In that office building in Simi Valley. - Did it hurt you, the film in a way? Not in a bad way. Did it- - You know-
- Did it haunt you? Did it?
- What surprised me was when we did the hotdog universe, 'cause both of our movies involve- - (laughing) Hotdog universe. - Involve fingers and hands.
- Yes, digits, yes indeed. - Digits. - Extremities. - But that, when we first met, and Michelle and I met, and the Daniels talked
about the hotdog universe- (Colin laughing)
I didn't understand. I didn't understand-
- I know, I would've loved to have been there for the conversation. - I didn't understand much of it. And I was trying to figure it out. And then we went into the set. And what happened, which
was so beautiful, was we, Michelle and I just found this gorgeous emotional place with each other. - Just fluidity. - And there was no dialogue. And it was written that we were breaking up in this universe, that we had hot dogs for hands. (Colin laughing) And that we were breaking up. And this scene ended up becoming an improvisation about a loofah, that when you break up with someone and you are sharing the things
that you bought together, and if we broke up right now... We're not gonna break up, but, if we broke up-
- I hope not. I wouldn't see that coming.
- I would say, "Well, "I bought this so I'm gonna
take this little succulent. "You can have the big one."
- A loofah. - So it became about a loofah, and for some reason it had to be benign. It had to be an object
that would never have emotional resonance.
- Emotional attachment or resonance, yeah. Not a dog, not a cat, not a living thing, yes, yes.
- Nothing like that. It had to be a loofah. And the whole scene became about a loofah. That Deirdre was saying to Evelyn that, although she bought the
loofah in the relationship, she was leaving it because
Evelyn had used it more than- - Oh gorgeous. - And it was just this-
- Gorgeous. - This beautiful-
- Ugh. - Dance with her. And that level of finding reality within a
universe that looks so bizarre. And yet it's not bizarre at all. You see the movie-
- No, of course. - And you believe everything about it. - Of course. Of course,
'cause what it does is it gives shape and
form to the ridiculous. And the ridiculous is
something we all contend with. Life is very ridiculous. I mean, you and I, I've said before that I dunno why or how I'm on the right side, so far on the right side of
wrong, like the preferred side. - That's a by the way, if
you're gonna write a book, I don't know if you are,
that's the title for you. The right side of wrong.
- The right side of wrong. It's like the world is
so unfair and imperfect, and it's unfair and imperfect in the human articulation
of our shared experience. Not in how the natural, of course the natural world works with a certain kind of
cyclical perfection. But I dunno why we've
gotten to where we are. But it is ridiculous. And some of the ridiculousness
in the world is joyful. And some... I even find that that fella can write that piece of
music to be a bit ridiculous. You know?
- Mmhmm. - Or that those two lads, those two Daniels can write
that script to be ridiculous. That's all beautiful ridiculousness. Then there's the ridiculousness of what we see on the
streets when we go out here and what we read about
or we scroll through, that's another kind of ridiculousness. So we actually are ready
to be presented with that, which is absurd, because it has a reflection
of our experience and lives. And when absurdity has
kindness and mutual interest and shared affection like it
does with sausage fingers? Why is it so healing? Why is that so healing?
(Jamie laughing) Honest to God. I was the one that brought
up the two boulders having a conversation. Why is it so healing? - The human condition-
- Does it loosen up a certain childishness in us as well? Give us permission?
- By the way, these two movies are
about the human condition. And I was sitting here and thinking about, here we are sitting in fake velvet chairs in a fake mid-century
coffee lounge somewhere talking to each other. And there are actors hustling
out on Hollywood Boulevard, very near here, just trying to get a gig. Any gig.
- Totally. There's three Spidermans 150 yards away.
- Exactly. - Who are actors? They didn't necessarily, and I'm not speaking
down about them at all, but that wasn't... The actors, there's 98,
99% of us are unemployed. - I know.
- I have no idea. - I'm unemployed today. I like to tell people- - I will be on Monday and I can't wait. - I'm a freelance actor, which means I'm an unemployed actor. - I just say I'm around. If somebody says, "I have a
script," I go, "I'm around." 'Cause I am. It's like I'm not, there's nothin', certainly nothin'..
- But aren't you going to play-
- Plenty above me, nothin' beneath me. A character? Aren't you gonna play- - Eventually. Someday, someday. - Some job. Aren't you gonna play Penguin? - Yeah, yeah. - Well that's a job.
- That was fun. - Oh, you've already done it?
- Oh I am. No, no, no, no, no, that was fun to do it. I did in a film. I did like six scenes.
- Good, but aren't you gonna do it?
- I am. I hope I'm gonna do it, yeah. In February or March. - Well, so you'll be employed. - So I'll be employed.
- I'm not employed. - You have nothin' on the horizon.
- I have nothin', I'm- - So, wait, let me ask you, 'cause you know...
(Jamie laughing) So legacy, what Brendan's
character, Colm' sonny Larry, what he struggled with, or what he was saying
he was struggling with was the importance of leaving- - Legacy, yeah.
- Something of note. Of leaving something behind, some way in which his
existence is marked by beauty and something that can change maybe the perspective of others
or allow them to experience the beauty of his playing
and his composition. Do you think about
legacy at all, Jamie Lee? In relation to your... Or what is, of course
you think about legacy, what does legacy mean to
you on your journey on this? - Well, I'm at that age where I'm- - I also think, I also know the road-
- I'm thinking about it. - Is shorter ahead than it is behind. It's funny.
- I think about it a lot. Being sober is gonna
be a legacy, for sure. - Yes.
- Because you're, you're stopping what has
been a generational issue. - Yeah, true. - In my biological family. So for me, sobriety is the greatest, it will be the single greatest thing I do, if I can stay sober.
- Yeah. - I mean this without question. - And you will, yeah.
- Because generations of people have had their lives ruled and ruined by alcoholism and drug addiction. So for me, sobriety is
sobriety first always. - [Colin] So cool. - Art is... I write books for children. - Do ya? - I do, and I-
(Colin laughing) - That makes sense. I wrote a book about competition, which is called, "Is There
Really a Human Race?" And it's about a race, you know, the metaphor of the race.
- Yes, yes, of course. - About as a child, is it really, was I born into a race that
you didn't tell me about? It was... And we do it in the sense of
school and competition and- - Gorgeous. - All of the things. - And what happens is
this child freaks out in the middle of the book, understanding that if everyone is racing and everyone is spinning, that
there's gonna be a collapse. That we're all gonna slam into each other, and it's gonna be this big catastrophe. And this child is a little freaked out. And then the mother steps into the book. And this is what the mother
says at the end of the book. She says, "Sometimes it's
better not to go fast. "There are beautiful sights
to be seen when you're last." - Mmm. - "Shouldn't it be that
you just try your best "and that's more important
than beating the rest." - [Colin] Mmm. - "Shouldn't it be looking back at the end "that you judge your own race
by the help that you lend? "So take what's inside you
and make big bold choices. "And for those who can't
speak for themselves, "use bold voices." - That's cool.
- "And make friends "and love well and bring art to this place "and make the world better
for the whole human race." - (laughing) Oh my god. - So ultimately it's about art. - Yeah, yeah, absolutely. - It's about bringing art to this place.
- But that's what it is. I mean, I do think that- - That's legacy. - Oh, that's so beautiful,
what you shared. I do think that sometimes art can be held aloft as the purview of the few. You know? And it's not. The whole reason art exists is because it's an expression
of the human condition. And the one thing that I, no matter what blessings I have, or what wealth I experience in my life, I have no more or less
of the human condition than the gentleman who's living without a roof over
his head on the street. We're in exactly the same place. - And that's-
- Internally. - And that's the gift sobriety gives you. - Yeah. - Is that the rules apply to you just like they apply to other people. - Yeah, of course.
- Yeah. - Yeah, that's so, it's so beautiful. - But so that's, to me, what legacy is, that legacy ultimately
is about making friends and loving well. - Mmm. Totally.
- Loving your people really well.
- Totally. - And bringing art here. Because art, I mean, I
got to see Cate today, Blanchett, and I've seen "Tár". And although she's a very
complicated character, Lydia Tár, the music that
she is communicating through, that was written long ago still- - Resonates.
- Moves us. - Of course it does. Yeah, absolutely.
- And that's the beauty of art, and-
- And that's it. But life is the, as twee as it is, as quaint as it is a sentiment, life is the great art, isn't it? - Mmhmm. - It really is. I mean, it's the great art that we are all capable of expressing. I can't do anything beyond matchstick men. But I love my children
with an artist's heart. I love my friends with an artist's heart. And what do I mean by an artist's heart? I mean, just a heart that's open, that's at times, not all the time, at times not afraid of its pain. Also at times not afraid and finds great aspiration
in the reaching for joy, not with a clenched fist,
not with white knuckles, but with an open hand. And so I think, I just love when what we could call art or what what you decide to
call art is really accessible. Whether it's music, whether it's... I don't give a shit really for the, well, if you don't play an instrument, then you're not an artist. Or Justin Bieber's an artist. I don't know if he plays
an instrument. He may. But I remember someone havin'
a slag at him publicly, I think it was Prince,
who's obviously a genius, but art comes in so many forms. Nobody gets to say to somebody
else what is and isn't art. I mean, they do, some critics do, and they choose to and that's their path, and good look to them. But art is everywhere. It's happening when we're not looking. You know? And our privilege, I suppose is that... And I grew up on like, I saw Michael J. Fox last night and the... Aye aye, aye, aye, aye, that speech. I mean, Michael J. Fox meant
so much to me as a kid, and what I'm saying is
I love entertainment. There's art all over "Back to the Future." There's art all over "Withnail & I." There's art all over the "Indiana Jones." There's art... There's art everywhere. There's art on the street. There's graffiti, there's, the whole world is buzzing with people trying to articulate their confusions and trying to reach each other through the frivolity of
laughter and entertainment or the depth of soul-searching story and narrative and performance. And yours was both. Your film was both. Was both of those worlds colliding in this kind of chaotic, as
you said, kaleidoscopic reaching out to the audience.
- Aren't we lucky? - Yeah, like mad lucky. - Aren't we mad lucky?
- Like mad lucky. - Mad fucking lucky.
- Yeah, yeah, totally. Like don't wanna say it too many times. - Mad lucky.
- Or I'll... - Mad lucky.
- Mad to say it too many times. Yeah, it's not Candyman. Say it too many times.
- No. Was it the same for you
guys when you reunited? - Oh God, yeah. It was like yesterday.
- Because "In Bruges" was when?
- 14 Years ago. 14 years ago. - So your, the child I
met today was just born. - Henry wasn't even-
- Henry was a baby. - He wasn't even born.
- Not even born. - Henry wasn't even born.
- Wow. - I don't think... I hadn't-
- Isn't that amazing? - Amazing.
- To think that that human being who I've just had the pleasure of spending 15 minutes with- - Yeah. - And all of his life and all of the influences and all of the choices in his
life that have made him him- - Him as special, brilliant-
- Didn't exist when you went off and made that movie? - Mad. - Mad.
- Yeah. Well it's also as well like when you think about
film has given me Henry. - Yeah. - You know?
- Yeah. - And Henry's brother James. Film has given my mother a husband. I did a film called
"Fright Night" years ago. It was a remake of the film, and it was great crackin' all that, and I loved... Gorgeous Anton Yelton,
lord rest him, was in it, a bunch of others. And we made it. Nobody really saw it. Got okay reviews, whatever. It kinda... And it was made for people to see. Got better reviews than
it's kinda made for, but the thing it's made for didn't happen. Nobody went to see it. But the producers of that film, Alison Rosenzweig and Michael Gaeta, who've since become
friends, they said to us, me and me sister who
was working on the film, halfway through the shoot, "Does your mother have a partner?" 'Cause they met our mother, Rita, who was whatever age she was that time. That was close. (Jamie laughing) Still learning, duly.
- It's all right. - And we said, "No she doesn't. "We'd love her to, but
she's not interested in it." 'Cause my mother was all like,
"Nope, had one, your father, "no, thank you very much, I'm done." And they said, "We have
someone that maybe..." Long story short, I won't
tell you exactly the steps, but they're married now. They got married in my back garden seven years ago.
(Jamie snapping) - Of course they did.
- My mom, Rita Farrell, formerly Farrell, now Rita
Michaels, married Joe Michaels in my back garden in Las Villas with Henry and James and
all the family, 80 people. And it was amazing seven years ago. And they now live an
apartment on Sunset Boulevard, and it's extraordinary. And that is what makes "Fright Night" the second most important film in whatever nonsense I've been
doing for the last 20 years. The first most important film, of course, is "Ondine," which is
where I met Henry's mother. So I'll just tell, I'll push my mom and her
husband and happiness into second place where it belongs. And I'll say-
- And I'm gonna tag team. - Come on, lay it on me. - So I made a movie called "Halloween." - [Colin] Yes, you did. - I did.
- Go on. - 1978. The producer of that movie's
a woman named Debra Hill. - Yes. - In April of 1984... That was in 1978. In April of 1984, I was looking through
Rolling Stone Magazine, with Debra Hill sitting next to me, and I turned the page and
saw a picture of a man and said to Debra Hill,
"Oh, I'm gonna marry him." She said, "Who?" I said, "That one right there." She said, "Oh, he was an actor. "I tried to put him in a movie once. "His name is Chris Guest." I said, "Oh, I'm gonna marry him." I called his... She said, "He's with your agents." And the next day I called the agent. Guy picked up the phone, he said, "I know all about it, Jamie, Chris Guest." I said, "Oh my, look,
I think the guy's cute. "Here's my number, blah blah blah." He never called me. Dated somebody else for like two months. Broke up with that person. Took that person to the airport, left the airport, went to Hugo's Restaurant
in West Hollywood, sat down, and two tables away- - No.
- Was Chris, who looked at me like this. (Colin laughing)
And then I went like this. And then he got up to leave, and he stood there and he went... And I went... And he left. And he
called me the next day. And the reason I'm telling
you this long-winded story is- - Wow, it's not long winded at all. - Halloween-
- I want you to pad it out a bit more. - Halloween, Chris and
I went out July 2nd. We got married December 18th,
that same year, 38 years ago. And our daughter Ruby was married in our backyard this last May. - I mean, for good luck. - So talk about how... And by the way, Debra Hill, the reason I know Debra Hill-
- Go on. - Is because she wrote "Halloween." So I'm now 64 years old.
- Oh, god, I love it. - And again, a movie
changed my entire life. - But, my god, films have given to me much more than I could ever think I've given an audience or anything. I've been so spoiled by
opportunity and love and adventure. You know? And I just, as you said, we're so lucky. - Can we talk about the donkey, please? - Yeah, Jenny, yeah, go on. - [Speaker] Him and his little donkey. - What about me little donkey? - So-
- It's beautiful, obviously.
- My husband is obsessed with miniature donkeys. - He is not, is he?
- He's obsessed. But I mean like-
- Really? - I've looked into it, if
you know what I'm saying. - [Colin] Oh yeah. (laughing) - Our anniversary is coming up.
- Everything you were afraid to know about sex, but too afraid to ask. Gene Wilder with the sheep
in the bed. I'm gettin'- - No, it's just our
anniversary's coming up, and I've looked into it, as they say. But tell me about her. - Jenny was lovely. She was-
- Tell me about her 'cause she's so beautiful.
- It was her first film. She's gorgeous. - She's gorgeous.
- She's gorgeous. And she is a perfect
canvas for the project, the projection of the human wish that everything would stay younger. You know that thing
we've all had as parents? - Sure.
- Where I just wish, why can't it just stay? - Sure.
- Seems like it's simple and innocent and it's enjoying the purity
of life and it's not... But she was also a bit of a nervous wreck, which is understandable. 'Cause film sets, if you don't know what you're doing, can be a very awkward place to be. There's so much movement. People have a definite purpose. Like I visited friends on film sets, and I go, ugh, get me outta here. I'm gonna start tryin' to hold a boom or make someone a sandwich
or gimme a line at least. Can I say something or hit a mark? So she was very, when Jenny... I'm obviously taking her
very seriously, as I should. When she arrived she was, she actually had a support donkey. (Jamie laughing) She did. She had a support donkey. And I'm so ashamed I don't remember the support donkey's name. (Jamie laughing)
I do, I do, Rosie. Rosie was Jenny's support donkey, right? Only takes two people to have an- (Jamie laughing)
As you and I know, it only takes two people to
have an AA meetin', right? (Jamie laughing)
So Jenny was the star. - Oh my god.
- Rosie was her support donkey. They called Rosie Jenny's,
quote unquote, stand in. - Oh, I see. - And she did sometimes. But literally Jenny
would be always lookin' to see where Rosie was. And Rosie had a little kind of a peaceful effect on her constitution. You could see it. But funny thing happened was- - Okay, I just can't that
she had a support donkey. - But people didn't give Rosie much of the time of day, 'cause she was literally-
- Because she was the support donkey.
- We anthropomorphized- - Yeah, yeah.
- The donkeys so that the support
donkey, the stand-in donkey didn't get-
- Yeah, it was just a donkey. Yeah. - She wasn't the star. I saw that and I was like, I watched it. People not knowin'. Now it's no harm. But I watched and I was like, it's actually happening.
- Yeah, yeah. - With donkeys.
- Yeah, yeah. - The star.
- So you can imagine what happens to people.
- The star donkey. So, you know what happens to, totally. But she was, Jenny was great. I mean, she was the boss. Animals are so... People say don't work
with animals and children. You must only- - [Both] Work with animals and children. - I totally agree with you.
- 'Cause that's where the honesty exists. We learn to lie. We learn to- - But see, I don't even wanna
know it was a movie set. I don't even wanna know there was a grip.
- Sure. - I don't know where the grip was-
- But if it's any use to ya- - I didn't see the grip. I didn't see the dolly track. - [Colin] Yeah, yeah, yeah. - I didn't see the-
- If it's any use to ya, this whole thing meant a lot
to a lot of people on it. Well look, we were livin' on Aran Islands for three or four weeks, rehearsed in Galway City for two weeks, then we moved to the Aran Islands and we shot there-
- So you rehearsed for two weeks?
- Sorry, three. Martin loves a bit of rehearsal. And we did, yeah, exactly. When we did... (laughing) When we did "In Bruges"
I did the same thing. I was like why are we gonna
rehearse for three weeks? We're gonna be floggin' a dead donkey. Pardon the recent- - (laughing) Yeah, you can't say that. - But his stuff is so good,
and there are so many, I dunno if he incorporates them constantly into his storylines
and things, but not, like if something's organic
and pure and comes from a muscular mind and a decent warrior heart like Martin has as an artist, there'll be layers in there. Of course, the person doesn't even... They'll just create this
panoply of the human experience by taking care with integrity of the main narrative
they're concerned with. And then all these other
things will just ripple. And so I noticed doing the
three weeks on "In Bruge," week two, I was like, "Brendan, "every time we ask a question, "there's five more questions." And that's what happened. So by the time we finished
three weeks on "In Bruge," I was chompin' at the bit,
and I was a bit concerned, but we never took it to 100%. The most we take any of the
emotional scenes was 70, 80%. And so anyway, look, we were all ended up in the Aran Islands doing
this one, "Banshees," and everyone ended up sharin'
stories with each other about our parents and our grandparents and who was from what part of the country and who left and went to America. So it became kind of a, a very gentle and very
undeclarative experience of shared history. And I mean like the most healing
stuff happened off camera. You know? In what we were all sharin'. We were on the islands,
so a thing happened that doesn't happen often now, which is the crew and the
cast were all living together. So those who drank were out
drinkin', havin' a laugh. Those who didn't would be there for the first hour of first half hour of said laugh that evening, we'd go away. But it was an amazing... It didn't feel like work. As upsetting as it was to
tell the story sometimes, it felt like, and I'm guilty, shamefully, of it not always feeling
like the privilege that it always is, just 'cause I haven't connected to certain things in the past, so I've struggled with that, 'cause it is always a privilege. But this, as difficult
as it was for some of us, and it was such a privilege
to share it together, all of us in front of
and behind the camera. There was just hands kind
of metaphorically being held everywhere you looked, and there was support
everywhere you looked, and there was laughter
everywhere you looked. And there was sunrise
every day outside that pub, John Joe's pub, we'd all just... There was no let's break
for the sunrise, sundowners. Who's got the... We'd all, Pimm's. We'd all just walk out
as the sun was settin', every day, of course, set differently and the ocean responded
in a different way. And it was just magic. And nobody said
(indistinct) to each other. And we just sat there in silence for eight to 12 minutes
every day the sunset. We sat there, stood there
in silence, looking at it, and then we'd all 50 of us turn around and go back into the pub
and continue shooting. It was unspeakably beautiful
and harmonious, have to say. - And we did the exact same thing. - Did you? - On "Everything Everywhere All at Once," except we would exercise
together as a crew. - Get outta town.
- So every- - What do you mean, drop and give me 50? - Every morning someone
would lead the crew- - Get outta town. - In some sort of exercise. - That's brilliant.
- And so, they would play music. - Even just jumpin' jacks or- - Whatever it was. (Colin laughing)
We would gather together, and then they gave crew awards
every week, the directors. They loved their crew. - They loved their whole thing. - They loved the whole thing.
- They loved the whole thing. - But it was very similar. - Oh, that's beautiful.
- We gathered together- - No, I get it deeply. That's beautiful.
- We kind of got our hearts going, and then we went into an office building. We weren't on an island in Ireland. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, you needed in.
- We were in Simi Valley, California.
- Yeah you needed it. You needed that kinesis.
- By the way. - That shared kinesis.
- But thank you for this- - Thank you for this.
- Lovely- - This was incredible for me.
- Lovely (indistinct). - Oh god, I loved it so much. - Yes.
- So moved. - Very happy to know you.
- You wrecked me. You, too.
- Nah. (lively music)
