The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #2310

00:00:13.000 Very, very nice to meet you.

00:00:14.000 Incredible to meet you.

00:00:15.000 Fucking gigantic fan.

00:00:17.000 Man, I appreciate that.

00:00:18.000 I just love what you've done, because like...

00:00:21.000 Anybody who could start their career off and make a movie for $7,000 is a hero.

00:00:27.000 That's just an incredible accomplishment to make a movie that people still watch and talk about today for seven grand.

00:00:34.000 It was an experience for sure.

00:00:37.000 I had a really good plan and it backfired.

00:00:42.000 So I tried to right away when it worked in a different way.

00:00:47.000 I wanted to share that experience.

00:00:49.000 I wrote a book called Rebel Without a Crew that really inspired filmmakers.

00:00:52.000 You did the audio for it too.

00:00:54.000 Just recently.

00:00:54.000 I couldn't believe it.

00:00:55.000 I hadn't read it since I wrote it.

00:00:57.000 And I had forgotten a lot of the details.

00:00:59.000 And now I can see why it inspired so many people.

00:01:02.000 Because, you know, when you're in your early 20s, six months feels like six years.

00:01:07.000 Right.

00:01:07.000 So when you read it now and go, oh my God, from inception to making it penniless by myself to toast to the town.

00:01:15.000 It's like that.

00:01:16.000 It was unbelievable.

00:01:17.000 I couldn't wait to shout from the rooftops to all the other filmmakers like me who thought they couldn't get in.

00:01:21.000 How I did it exactly.

00:01:22.000 I wrote a book about it.

00:01:24.000 And I'd read it now and I'd go, oh my god, this is an impossible story.

00:01:27.000 I keep laughing during the audiobook going, okay, what you're reading right now never happened before.

00:01:30.000 And it never happened again.

00:01:31.000 It was like lightning in a bottle.

00:01:33.000 And you would see, every time I thought something wasn't going my way, and I was really bummed about it, within weeks, an upshot beyond.

00:01:43.000 And it really taught you that you just got to follow your instinct.

00:01:46.000 If you have an idea, go.

00:01:47.000 Even if you know no one else has ever done this before.

00:01:50.000 And you'll end up someplace different.

00:01:52.000 I want to ask you about that because I know you end up doing the same thing a lot.

00:01:55.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:01:56.000 Where it's not manifesting so much in that way.

00:01:58.000 You're just kind of following your nose.

00:01:59.000 You're doing something that just sounds ridiculous.

00:02:02.000 Even when I tried to tell one of my teachers what I was going to go do that summer, I said, I'm going to go try and make a movie.

00:02:07.000 And he goes, oh yeah, who's going to be your director of photography?

00:02:10.000 And I said, I didn't want to tell him I'm the whole crew.

00:02:12.000 And I said, I'm the DP.

00:02:15.000 Oh, the actors are going to hate you.

00:02:17.000 You're going to be there setting up your lights all the time.

00:02:19.000 I'm like, okay, I'm not going to tell him I'm the rest of the crew.

00:02:21.000 It was just because I had read this advice that meant to be good advice, but it sounded really depressing.

00:02:27.000 It was someone had written, if you want to write screenplays, write three full screenplays, throw them away.

00:02:33.000 Your fourth screenplay will be it.

00:02:35.000 It's like, I haven't written a screenplay.

00:02:37.000 It's very hard to write a screenplay.

00:02:38.000 It's hard to write.

00:02:39.000 It's like, Three huge meals that you're just going to dump.

00:02:42.000 Why not?

00:02:43.000 Okay, write the script, throw it away.

00:02:45.000 But while you're throwing it away, why not also shoot it and direct it?

00:02:49.000 Light it yourself.

00:02:50.000 Do the sound yourself so that you're training yourself on each one.

00:02:54.000 So I thought, where can I do this where I can get paid to do that?

00:02:57.000 Like my own film school where I get paid to learn.

00:03:00.000 So I discovered that there were these straight-to-Spanish movies that are action movies.

00:03:05.000 You go to the...

00:03:06.000 You've seen the HEBs around here.

00:03:08.000 There used to be a video section to rent movies, and there was a Spanish section.

00:03:11.000 The Spanish section had movies like, they were just action movies.

00:03:14.000 They had a soap star.

00:03:15.000 They were made for $30,000, $40,000.

00:03:17.000 Shot on video, no action, but it had a title that looked kind of like a U.S. title, like, Perros Rabiosos Dos, written like Lethal Weapon 2. And you would rent it and be like, just crap, people in an apartment talking.

00:03:28.000 So I looked at the back of those and I thought, we can make a better one.

00:03:32.000 Probably for like...

00:03:33.000 $5,000.

00:03:34.000 Because I had made a short film called Bedhead by myself with a wind-up camera.

00:03:39.000 It was eight minutes, and it cost $800.

00:03:41.000 So I thought, multiply it times ten, I could do an 80-minute movie for $8,000.

00:03:45.000 But with dialogue and everything, I bet I could get it for under eight, probably more like five or six.

00:03:50.000 Let's go shoot a movie, write it, shoot it.

00:03:53.000 I'll be the whole crew.

00:03:54.000 So I learn all the jobs, and then we'll sell it to the Spanish home video market.

00:03:59.000 No one will know it's me, because it's Robert Rodriguez, a bunch of Robert Rodriguez's.

00:04:02.000 I'll make three of those, because I was so young.

00:04:04.000 I was winning a lot of film festivals with short films.

00:04:07.000 But I thought, if someone sees one of my short films that's winning all these awards, they're not going to hire me to do a short film.

00:04:12.000 They're going to hire me to do a feature, and I've never practiced that.

00:04:14.000 So I need practice.

00:04:15.000 So I'm going to practice three films, take the best scenes from them, have a demo reel, with the money I make from them.

00:04:22.000 I don't know how much I can sell it for, so I gotta make it really cheap.

00:04:25.000 Let's just do the first one, then we'll know.

00:04:27.000 Then I'll take that money and make my first American independent film, and that'll be more serious.

00:04:31.000 Because I threw it away like that, I just thought, well, let me just make something fun.

00:04:36.000 Action movie, I guess I could do action.

00:04:37.000 I started as a cartoonist, so it was more comedic than anything else.

00:04:40.000 I said, well, an action movie, let's make it fun.

00:04:42.000 Let's make it about a guy with a guitar case full of weapons.

00:04:45.000 Kind of like Road Warrior, who goes from town to town with a guitar case full of weapons.

00:04:48.000 But I can't afford Road Warrior on the first one.

00:04:51.000 How about I just do a Genesis story?

00:04:55.000 So I took out these cards and I go, okay, maybe he was a guitar player.

00:04:59.000 In fact, that'll be a funny title because I have this comedic sense.

00:05:01.000 I thought, I'm going to make a movie that's got so much action and it's actually shot on film, but I'll call it basically The Guitar Player, which promises no action whatsoever.

00:05:10.000 Put it on the shelf.

00:05:11.000 And if someone happens to be so desperate to watch it, they'll be surprised.

00:05:14.000 You know, that was like my joke to myself, but I just want to practice.

00:05:17.000 So I did this method where I just got the cards and I go, Because I'm used to making short films.

00:05:23.000 A guy with a guitar case walks into a bar looking for work.

00:05:27.000 They're refusing.

00:05:28.000 We don't hire people.

00:05:29.000 We use a synthesizer now.

00:05:31.000 He leaves.

00:05:32.000 A guy with a guitar case full of weapons walks in after.

00:05:36.000 Shoots the place up.

00:05:37.000 Says he's going after the guy who owns it because he did him wrong.

00:05:40.000 So I put those two cards down and I went, okay, that's how a short film would start.

00:05:44.000 But shit, this is a feature.

00:05:45.000 So let me put, it's going to need like three scenes before.

00:05:48.000 This is how fast you write.

00:05:50.000 Wow.

00:05:51.000 I wrote that script because it was, again, I'm throwing it away.

00:05:53.000 I'm just going to make something that I want to see because no one else is going to see it.

00:05:56.000 You're getting paid to practice.

00:05:58.000 If I can sell it, I'll be paid to practice.

00:06:00.000 So I thought, okay, we've got to figure out who this guy is.

00:06:02.000 Okay, how about he's the control provider who's coming into town?

00:06:05.000 But wait, who's the guy that shoots the play cell?

00:06:06.000 Let's start with him in jail.

00:06:07.000 I read a story about a guy in Mexico who was running his drug business from his jail cell, and he used it as protection.

00:06:13.000 He could walk out at any time.

00:06:15.000 If someone puts a hit on him in jail, he shoots them up.

00:06:18.000 Tells the bad guy, I'm coming after you now.

00:06:20.000 I'm coming to your town.

00:06:21.000 I'm going to shoot up your town.

00:06:22.000 He passes the mariachi on the road.

00:06:25.000 The mariachi is a mariachi, the guy who just wants to be a musician.

00:06:28.000 We get to know who he is.

00:06:29.000 And then he walks in the bar.

00:06:31.000 And then the guy comes and shoots the place up.

00:06:33.000 Well, now he's got to leave and go to another place.

00:06:35.000 So now he's got to go meet the girl.

00:06:37.000 And because it's a movie about a guitar player, he's got to have some kind of tragic past because Road Warrior had a tragic past.

00:06:44.000 Mad Max, he lost his wife and kid.

00:06:46.000 Oh my gosh, she has to die.

00:06:48.000 Because every movie is going to be like a sad song in a songbook.

00:06:51.000 So it kind of just wrote that fast.

00:06:54.000 I went and I shot it.

00:06:55.000 Did you do it like that with the index cards?

00:06:57.000 Index cards.

00:06:57.000 I do this for everything.

00:06:58.000 I do this for everything.

00:06:59.000 For everything.

00:07:00.000 I tell people, I do this talk where I, by the end of the talk, I say, I keep these in my...

00:07:07.000 In my bag.

00:07:08.000 It always makes me smile because I know I've made a million dollars with this before.

00:07:11.000 And that's a tiny little stack.

00:07:12.000 This is a tiny one you can carry anywhere.

00:07:14.000 I gave this to my kids one Christmas.

00:07:16.000 For people that are just listening, it's closed together with rubber bands.

00:07:18.000 With rubber bands.

00:07:19.000 I gave this in a cool little leather bag for my kids one Christmas.

00:07:23.000 I thought they would say, what's this shit?

00:07:24.000 They loved it.

00:07:25.000 I said, you can change your life with this thing.

00:07:28.000 Because a lot of times, you know, you go to a therapy.

00:07:31.000 Not for answers.

00:07:32.000 You go for questions.

00:07:33.000 We have the answers inside us.

00:07:35.000 Usually we ask ourselves.

00:07:36.000 Terrible questions.

00:07:37.000 The therapist asks you questions like, why did that make you feel?

00:07:40.000 Why did you do that?

00:07:42.000 What's going on?

00:07:44.000 If we do our own questions, like, what's next?

00:07:47.000 What goes before this?

00:07:48.000 Your mind comes up with the answer if you ask the right question.

00:07:51.000 So I've used this for, like, we usually ask unempowering questions.

00:07:55.000 You know, the words we use in ourselves are so important, but some of the questions, like, why am I such a loser?

00:08:00.000 Well, I can give you ten answers right now.

00:08:02.000 But if I change it to, what three things could I...

00:08:05.000 Come up with to start this week that will not just change my life, but everyone around me.

00:08:09.000 You don't come up with three.

00:08:11.000 You come up with like 15. Just keep coming out.

00:08:14.000 And as you look at them, you go, these kind of go together and are actionable.

00:08:18.000 I can actually start this right now.

00:08:20.000 I mean, you can literally change your life.

00:08:21.000 Business ideas, movie ideas, stories, just with a deck of cards.

00:08:26.000 By the time I build up and show all the examples of it, at the end of the talk, I hold up one of these with the rubber bands.

00:08:33.000 To the crowd.

00:08:34.000 And I say, who wants to change your life?

00:08:36.000 Everybody's hands go up.

00:08:38.000 I toss one out.

00:08:39.000 I catch it.

00:08:40.000 In fact, I remember my nephew about seven years ago caught one.

00:08:42.000 And it's funny because he's on Broadway now.

00:08:44.000 It's just like, lets you map out your life.

00:08:47.000 Another friend of mine, DJ Catrone, he's an actor.

00:08:49.000 He caught one.

00:08:50.000 And he said, wow, that talk you gave was so empowering on how you wrote it.

00:08:55.000 I went home and I picked up an old script I hadn't picked up in a while.

00:08:58.000 And I just cut off the phone for three days and I finished it.

00:09:01.000 And I said, you finished a script in three days?

00:09:03.000 I like the feedback loop that happens when you inspire somebody.

00:09:06.000 Well, I'm going to try that because I've got a bunch of half-baked ideas that I've never gone and done that with.

00:09:10.000 You did it in three days?

00:09:12.000 Yeah, if you shut the phone off, you can do it in three days.

00:09:14.000 And now that movie's coming out.

00:09:16.000 It's called Fight or Flight with Josh Harnett.

00:09:18.000 Wow.

00:09:19.000 After hearing the talk, he went and picked up this old thing that he thought.

00:09:22.000 And I get this a lot when I've talked to people.

00:09:25.000 It's really inspiring to them to hear other people.

00:09:27.000 That's why I'll ask you questions about it, too.

00:09:29.000 Where did you develop this approach?

00:09:32.000 Like, is this something you completely invented yourself just to map out life on index cards?

00:09:36.000 Writers will often put index cards up to just kind of block out a scene.

00:09:40.000 It's a visual way to see your story.

00:09:43.000 Like, when you lay it out, you go, oh, this works.

00:09:46.000 I'm missing a section here.

00:09:48.000 But again, like, this is asking, what can I put there?

00:09:50.000 You'll come up with a bunch of ideas.

00:09:52.000 It almost gives you like an overview.

00:09:54.000 But I started it when I was a cartoonist.

00:09:56.000 I had a daily cartoon strip.

00:09:59.000 So I would draw on different cards, different drawings.

00:10:02.000 And every day I had to come up with a comedic idea and a drawing and a story.

00:10:07.000 And it was tough.

00:10:08.000 You'd have to draw it out.

00:10:10.000 And you would sometimes make two drawings that you really liked and go, oh, this kind of is the setup.

00:10:15.000 One, two, three, pay off of the joke here.

00:10:17.000 And I come up with it like that.

00:10:19.000 So I kind of use it for everything.

00:10:21.000 I'm a more visual kind of person, so it helps you visually see something that's normally...

00:10:27.000 Like, written words and stuff.

00:10:29.000 So it started off with cartoons and then worked into writing, but I haven't seen too many people apply it the way you're explaining it.

00:10:39.000 Like, you could actually use that to fix your life.

00:10:41.000 Oh, fix your life completely.

00:10:42.000 Because it's another question.

00:10:43.000 It's just questions you're asking yourself.

00:10:45.000 And the amazing thing is once you start doing stories, that's why I like doing a lot of original franchises.

00:10:50.000 I probably made the most original franchises of a film because I don't usually direct other people's stuff.

00:10:55.000 Because...

00:10:56.000 You realize you're creating this story.

00:10:58.000 Like, I just made this guy's destiny happen.

00:11:01.000 And I can give him a good outcome or a bad outcome.

00:11:04.000 It's in my control.

00:11:05.000 And you realize you can do that with your own life.

00:11:08.000 So you're writing the story of your own life of who you're going to become, who you're going to be.

00:11:12.000 And as a parallel.

00:11:14.000 And you realize you've got that power.

00:11:16.000 And when you realize you've got that power, you can make literally anything happen.

00:11:21.000 And you realize art and life should be the same.

00:11:24.000 You know, so many people, I was telling this story to somebody, and they said, wow, you're really positive, and that kind of makes a lot of sense.

00:11:31.000 You know, I have a project that's pretty much all together.

00:11:35.000 Almost the pieces are there.

00:11:37.000 But I guess I'm just not ready.

00:11:39.000 It's going to be on your tombstone.

00:11:40.000 Here lies so-and-so.

00:11:42.000 He was never ready.

00:11:43.000 You can't wait.

00:11:45.000 To go do it.

00:11:46.000 Like, life, you don't know what's going to happen.

00:11:48.000 You wanted to work out today.

00:11:49.000 What happened?

00:11:49.000 Bunch of shit, right?

00:11:50.000 Got in the way.

00:11:51.000 Your tire's flat.

00:11:52.000 Fires went up.

00:11:54.000 You just got fired.

00:11:55.000 You're not ready for life.

00:11:56.000 You're like this.

00:11:57.000 But for some reason, people or artists think that they need to be ready to create art.

00:12:02.000 It's like, no, you've got to jump in and just start.

00:12:04.000 You just need to start.

00:12:04.000 You're not going to really feel ready until you're almost done with the project.

00:12:08.000 I didn't feel ready to make that $7,000 movie.

00:12:10.000 Until the last few days when I was like, okay, now I wrap my head around it.

00:12:14.000 I have to figure it out day by day.

00:12:15.000 Yeah, the procrastination really cripples people.

00:12:17.000 Yeah, we're thinking that they need to know more.

00:12:20.000 And you don't realize the answers you get that you need are not going to be figured out sitting at a desk, going to be on the floor.

00:12:26.000 I think it's kind of a fear of incompetence and failure, especially if you're undertaking something like starting a film.

00:12:32.000 Like some people just, for whatever reason they did, they don't have the confidence to just potentially fail.

00:12:37.000 And just try it.

00:12:38.000 Just get moving.

00:12:40.000 Just get, you know, Hemingway.

00:12:41.000 My friend Ari on his laptop has this quote, top of his keyboard, first draft of everything is shit.

00:12:48.000 Yeah.

00:12:48.000 And it's Hemingway.

00:12:49.000 I'm like, God, what a great fucking, it's like such an important thing to know.

00:12:53.000 Because he knows the process.

00:12:54.000 Yes.

00:12:54.000 If you trust the process, you don't have to worry.

00:12:57.000 And if you question, well, I don't know.

00:12:59.000 You're an artist.

00:13:00.000 That's what an artist should think.

00:13:01.000 But don't let that cripple you.

00:13:02.000 I call it fear forward.

00:13:03.000 Like, you should have some fear going into something.

00:13:05.000 Like, I might screw up, but that's good.

00:13:07.000 That means you're not wasting your time.

00:13:08.000 I think it's really important for people to hear someone like you, who's accomplished so much, say it that way.

00:13:14.000 Because they can internalize it and go, okay, this is what it is.

00:13:16.000 I just have to do something.

00:13:18.000 I just actually get moving.

00:13:19.000 I just can't sit around waiting for the perfect time.

00:13:22.000 Because it won't happen.

00:13:24.000 It's not going to happen.

00:13:24.000 And there's that thing.

00:13:26.000 Like, you have to, you know.

00:13:29.000 I always give people copies of The War of Art, Pressfield's book.

00:13:32.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:13:32.000 Amazing book.

00:13:33.000 It's a great book.

00:13:33.000 But it's all about that.

00:13:34.000 That book is, if you're trying to figure it out, that book's the guidebook.

00:13:38.000 Read that book.

00:13:39.000 It's a short little book, super easy to read.

00:13:41.000 And it gives you the tools to put in your head like, oh, this is resistance.

00:13:46.000 Like this procrastination, this is this weird fear of doing it.

00:13:50.000 Because it's not like the thing you're doing is painful, which is really crazy.

00:13:54.000 Like, writing out cool plot lines, that's got to be fun.

00:13:58.000 It's really fun.

00:13:59.000 Fun!

00:13:59.000 Now, the making of it might be very painful.

00:14:02.000 Tedious.

00:14:02.000 But it's a very short amount of pain versus a long-term pain if you're not living your dream.

00:14:07.000 That's the longest time.

00:14:08.000 That's the longest time you can spend.

00:14:10.000 That's the longest time in pain.

00:14:12.000 So just rip the Band-Aid off and jump in.

00:14:15.000 I mean, I'm sure there's a bunch of people out there that...

00:14:19.000 Are in the middle of that right now.

00:14:21.000 Oh, absolutely.

00:14:23.000 We have to keep reminding ourselves because we know and we've got to remind ourselves.

00:14:26.000 Sometimes we forget and we don't apply it to other areas of life.

00:14:28.000 I'll talk about that.

00:14:28.000 That's when I really found success when I took these ideas and moved it to another area.

00:14:33.000 But, like, I tried to figure this out when I was doing that other method, the wrong method, when I was cartooning because it would be so hard to come up with a cartoon strip each day.

00:14:44.000 But I needed the money, and I had a daily cartoon strip here at UT.

00:14:47.000 We had the biggest comics page in the country.

00:14:49.000 It was really, everybody wanted to be the next Burke Breed that he'd come out of there.

00:14:52.000 He did Bloom County.

00:14:52.000 He was a UT student, and his college art was like national stuff.

00:14:57.000 So we all wanted to be him, and so I would go like, this has got to be an easier process than sitting here and working it out.

00:15:03.000 I want to come home and develop a process where I sit on my couch, and I just picture it first.

00:15:08.000 I picture the comic.

00:15:09.000 I picture the jokes.

00:15:10.000 I picture the drawing.

00:15:10.000 Then I just go.

00:15:12.000 Draw it, right?

00:15:13.000 I'd be there two hours, three hours.

00:15:14.000 My deadline's coming up.

00:15:15.000 Shit, it's not working.

00:15:16.000 So I have to go, fuck, start drawing again.

00:15:18.000 Then be like, okay, this kind of goes with that one.

00:15:20.000 Oh, here it is.

00:15:22.000 And I realized something really profound.

00:15:24.000 Back at, you know, 19, and it's really carried into mariachi, which is when you pick up the pen or the keyboard or the camera and you start, it starts doing itself.

00:15:36.000 You realize it's not you.

00:15:38.000 It's coming through you because...

00:15:41.000 There's a creative spirit assigned to us that needs hands.

00:15:45.000 And it's not going to reward you if you're doing that.

00:15:48.000 Because it can do that.

00:15:49.000 But as soon as you pick it up, it takes over.

00:15:50.000 So I realize, oh, I just have to be a conduit or a pipe.

00:15:54.000 And if I just start, I'm going to be like, whoa.

00:15:58.000 And you've got to keep your ego out of it.

00:15:59.000 Because if you go, wow, how did I do that?

00:16:01.000 I wonder if I could do it again.

00:16:03.000 You just shut it.

00:16:04.000 You just shut it right back up because you think it's you and it's not you.

00:16:08.000 And I know this works because I taught it to my kids when they were younger.

00:16:11.000 I thought, I got to teach it to my kids.

00:16:12.000 And since they hadn't learned any bad habits, they went, oh, so we don't have to do anything.

00:16:17.000 We just have to start writing.

00:16:18.000 It's going to come out and go, yeah.

00:16:19.000 And they went and they wrote all this amazing stuff.

00:16:21.000 And I was like, they don't have to be reversed, you know, reversed.

00:16:25.000 But that was a very powerful...

00:16:28.000 And I saw when I did another $7,000 movie recently, I had a TV series based on Rebel Without a Crew, where I got independent filmmakers that only made short films, and I gave them two weeks.

00:16:39.000 You gotta do like Mariachi.

00:16:40.000 You can bring one person to be either a cameraman or your sound guy, but you gotta do the whole movie yourself.

00:16:45.000 Write it, direct it, edit it, and be shot in two weeks.

00:16:48.000 That's how long it took me to shoot Mariachi.

00:16:51.000 And they're all like, oh, we don't know how we're gonna do it.

00:16:54.000 Week they started shooting, they were already talking about their next three films.

00:16:57.000 Their idea of what was impossible has just dropped down.

00:17:00.000 So I was really curious to do mine.

00:17:02.000 I was doing one based on my medical experiments I did to pay for mariachi, which is another story.

00:17:06.000 I definitely want to get into that.

00:17:08.000 I brought my son, Racer, because I knew he hadn't been working with me on the movies for a while.

00:17:12.000 I'm going to make him my second guy.

00:17:13.000 He's going to be my co-writer, my co-lighter, and he's going to be doing the sound.

00:17:17.000 I didn't show him how to use the sound equipment until we're filming because we're documenting it.

00:17:20.000 We made a documentary about it.

00:17:22.000 And people really loved about how we made this movie today for $5,000.

00:17:26.000 And he was fumbling around and we're going.

00:17:29.000 And I thought, he's going to hate this.

00:17:31.000 He's got his own interest.

00:17:32.000 He doesn't want to work on a movie.

00:17:34.000 But I need him.

00:17:35.000 And so he comes to me at the end of the day with his brother and goes, Dad, the actor didn't show up.

00:17:41.000 The set didn't match.

00:17:43.000 The location didn't match the script at all.

00:17:46.000 Everything was falling apart.

00:17:47.000 We asked you how we're going to...

00:17:48.000 You finished the day, and you said, "Well, I don't know.

00:17:50.000 We'll see what happens." And we thought, "Oh my God, is this the movie that finally, you know, he can't figure out?" But by the end of the day, we figured it out.

00:17:57.000 Their eyes were all wide.

00:17:58.000 Oh, they don't realize that's the creative process, and that's every day, in life and in work.

00:18:03.000 In life, you don't know.

00:18:04.000 You're going to figure it out as you go.

00:18:06.000 Art should be the same way.

00:18:08.000 And by the end of the two-week shoot, they're interviewing him, and he's all waxing philosophical about the creative process like he's been doing it for years!

00:18:15.000 He goes, I never knew how my dad did mariachi.

00:18:18.000 And now I know because I just did this project.

00:18:21.000 He didn't know either.

00:18:22.000 He just started.

00:18:23.000 And he figured it out day by day.

00:18:24.000 Most people never start.

00:18:25.000 I mean, he succinctly encapsulated everything I tried to say in my book, which was you just got to go.

00:18:31.000 And identity is key.

00:18:33.000 Identity is the main thing.

00:18:34.000 All these people who are out there, you got to tell them this.

00:18:36.000 If you are listening and there's something you're not getting in your life that you really want, it's not a matter of desire.

00:18:44.000 You have the desire.

00:18:46.000 There's a missing element that I talked about in the book and I'd forgotten myself.

00:18:51.000 You know, we forget our own good advice.

00:18:53.000 Over the years, people would say, hey, in your book it says this.

00:18:55.000 I'd go, I wrote that?

00:18:56.000 I was so smart back then.

00:18:58.000 What happened?

00:18:59.000 I gotta go reread my own book.

00:19:01.000 But it was this thing where I told people, because they would come up to me a lot, because I was making films really early on, and say, I'm an aspiring filmmaker.

00:19:09.000 You might hear that.

00:19:10.000 I'm an aspiring comic.

00:19:11.000 I'm an aspiring filmmaker.

00:19:13.000 I go, stop aspiring.

00:19:15.000 You're calling yourself an aspiring filmmaker.

00:19:18.000 That's now your identity.

00:19:19.000 You're always going to be aspiring.

00:19:20.000 Just say you're a filmmaker.

00:19:22.000 Take one of these cards and make a business card, even if you have to handwrite it, who you are.

00:19:26.000 I'm a director.

00:19:27.000 I did one.

00:19:28.000 I had it printed up.

00:19:29.000 Director, cinematographer, editor, composer.

00:19:33.000 That's who I am.

00:19:33.000 Now you're going to have to conform to that.

00:19:35.000 And you're going to start making films.

00:19:37.000 I started making these films, even for Spanish video.

00:19:39.000 And so you have to think it first.

00:19:41.000 And I've forgotten that lesson.

00:19:44.000 And I wanted to use your gym because, you know, I like to work out now.

00:19:48.000 I never did.

00:19:49.000 You started as a cartoonist.

00:19:50.000 I'm surprised.

00:19:51.000 I was always an artist.

00:19:52.000 I was really tall, you know, for school.

00:19:54.000 Yeah, I was an illustrator when I was a kid.

00:19:56.000 I wanted to do comic book illustration.

00:19:58.000 Yeah.

00:19:58.000 That was my thing.

00:19:59.000 Yeah.

00:20:00.000 Yeah.

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00:20:06.000 I want to know everything about everything.

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00:21:03.000 It's fun, right?

00:21:04.000 Love it.

00:21:05.000 Because it's just, it's not you.

00:21:06.000 You know, you start drawing and then suddenly...

00:21:08.000 When did you learn that?

00:21:10.000 I don't think I knew that.

00:21:11.000 I think I was doing that, but I didn't know it.

00:21:13.000 And until I started reading about it, like the concept of the muse, the concept of...

00:21:18.000 Oh, right, right, right.

00:21:18.000 Like that you just have to sit down and do the work and it comes to you.

00:21:22.000 Yeah, well, it started when I was 19 doing the comic, but then it kept getting repeated later.

00:21:27.000 But you realized it at 19. I realized it at 19 that that was the process.

00:21:30.000 It felt like something else, but then it...

00:21:32.000 It really hit me later on, and I'll get to that one.

00:21:39.000 It really hit me later on where I kind of put it all together, around 2001, 2002, when I was doing a movie where I was, again, kind of going back to the way I did Mariachi.

00:21:48.000 I was on a big movie, though.

00:21:50.000 I was the...

00:21:51.000 The writer, the director, the producer, the cinematographer, the editor, the composer.

00:21:54.000 I was doing all these things.

00:21:55.000 Plus, I was doing the production design now, and I was taking on more jobs to make it more like a handmade film, more like a lot of factory movies are being made.

00:22:02.000 I said, I want people just to feel different.

00:22:05.000 I think they'll get a feeling from it they don't get from, you know, a McDonald's process.

00:22:11.000 They're still good, but, you know, there's something about a home-cooked meal.

00:22:15.000 And I didn't even know how to read or write music, and I was writing music for...

00:22:20.000 A hundred piece orchestra.

00:22:21.000 And I was like, how am I figuring it out by notes going?

00:22:23.000 There's only 12 notes.

00:22:25.000 Even less than a scale.

00:22:26.000 So you hit three notes, four notes.

00:22:27.000 That's a bad note.

00:22:29.000 Okay, that's pleasing to the ear.

00:22:30.000 And I was just writing a note by note because it's a kid's movie.

00:22:33.000 So I figured it should sound like a kid wrote it.

00:22:35.000 And I'm like a kid.

00:22:36.000 It should sound like that.

00:22:37.000 And I was writing pretty complex stuff, not knowing what I was doing.

00:22:40.000 I go, how is this even possible that I'm doing all these jobs I wasn't trained in?

00:22:44.000 So I went on Amazon and I looked up any book.

00:22:48.000 That had the word creative or creativity in it.

00:22:50.000 I just ordered it.

00:22:51.000 I didn't know what section it came from.

00:22:52.000 They just arrived.

00:22:53.000 And I'm thumbing through them.

00:22:54.000 And one of them was really speaking about the creative process, how it worked.

00:22:58.000 And I was like, wow, wow, that's how it is.

00:23:00.000 That's how it is.

00:23:00.000 And then it said gels and mediums.

00:23:03.000 And I was like, oh, this is a book particularly about painting.

00:23:07.000 But it applies to all the other things I'm doing.

00:23:10.000 That's when I realized that it's all linked.

00:23:13.000 That creativity is 90% of any of those endeavors.

00:23:17.000 90% of it is just being creative.

00:23:19.000 The technical part, like reading or writing music, and there's a lot of great musicians who don't read or write music.

00:23:24.000 They're fantastic.

00:23:25.000 The technical part, you can fudge that, like how to shoot the movie.

00:23:28.000 You can fudge a lot of the technical stuff.

00:23:31.000 90% is creative.

00:23:32.000 And if you know how to be creative, you can literally jump from job to job and do it really well because you're coming with your own experience, your own point of view.

00:23:39.000 That's why I teach my actors to paint on the set because...

00:23:45.000 They've never painted before.

00:23:46.000 And they're already being creative by acting, but in between takes, we'll go paint a portrait of their character, where I take a photo of them in character and have them paint a background.

00:23:55.000 I said, just pick up the paint.

00:23:56.000 You can use these three methods, any color you want.

00:23:59.000 The paintbrush is going to know where to go.

00:24:02.000 Even though you've never painted before, it's going to know where to go.

00:24:04.000 And they do it, and I put a stencil of a line drawing of their face over it.

00:24:08.000 I'll show you some.

00:24:09.000 You're not going to believe it.

00:24:10.000 Josh Brolin was way into it.

00:24:12.000 Lady Gaga did one.

00:24:13.000 Bruce Willis did one.

00:24:14.000 And it's just like magic how it comes together.

00:24:16.000 And it's to teach them that you don't have to know.

00:24:19.000 You know, we always think, I need to know this, I need to know that.

00:24:22.000 What about the other side?

00:24:23.000 Half of the battle is knowing.

00:24:24.000 What about the other half?

00:24:25.000 Not knowing, I think, is the more beautiful and where the magic is because you don't need to know what's going to happen.

00:24:30.000 You just need to show up.

00:24:31.000 You just need to pick up the pen.

00:24:32.000 You need to do the keyboard because it just starts coming through you and they see it and it helps them go back to the set and solve any creative problem because it was much harder in the faint room figuring out gels and mediums and all this stuff.

00:24:44.000 They go back to the set and they can solve any problem instantly and you think...

00:24:47.000 That they're already in a creative mode by acting, but it fires off a whole other part of your brain to go do something else creative at the same time.

00:24:55.000 Remember on the set, Josh goes, is it okay I'm still thinking about the painting?

00:24:59.000 I go, I think so.

00:25:01.000 I think it's all right.

00:25:02.000 That sounds like Josh Brolin.

00:25:03.000 Let's see how it does.

00:25:04.000 That sounds like something he would say to you.

00:25:06.000 It's so funny.

00:25:07.000 That's like a Miyamoto Musashi quote from the Book of Five Rings.

00:25:11.000 Right, right, right.

00:25:11.000 Once you know the way broadly, you can see it in all things.

00:25:13.000 Yeah.

00:25:14.000 So that's where I started piecing together.

00:25:18.000 That it was something because I really wanted to look it up because it would feel like when I would go to write the music, I don't have to write very many notes before it feels like I'm being pulled by the hand.

00:25:28.000 Like, I didn't make that.

00:25:31.000 I didn't make that.

00:25:32.000 Right.

00:25:32.000 I didn't do that.

00:25:33.000 And I didn't do that.

00:25:34.000 A lot of musicians say that.

00:25:36.000 And a lot of comedians say that, too.

00:25:38.000 Well, if you ask all the disciplines, I ask Jimmy Vaughn, how did you play that?

00:25:44.000 That solo was amazing.

00:25:45.000 Did you have that worked out?

00:25:47.000 It's kind of like tuning a radio.

00:25:48.000 You know, if you get it just right, you can't even believe what's coming through.

00:25:51.000 Yeah.

00:25:52.000 You know, you always hear everyone's version of that.

00:25:54.000 And so I called it something.

00:25:55.000 I thought, I'm going to call it the creative spirit.

00:25:58.000 Like there's a creative spirit.

00:26:00.000 Imagine the creative spirit that's assigned to you.

00:26:02.000 And if you're someone who's just like, I don't think I can do this or that.

00:26:06.000 And they don't pick up the pen.

00:26:08.000 They don't actually start.

00:26:10.000 How frustrated that spirit must be.

00:26:11.000 The spirit's just hovering over you waiting to be summoned.

00:26:12.000 Hovering over you going, oh my God, will you just pick up?

00:26:14.000 It's not you.

00:26:16.000 It's not you.

00:26:16.000 Will you just let me through?

00:26:17.000 And it's crazy that that concept has been around forever.

00:26:20.000 This concept of the muse, but yet still...

00:26:23.000 I never heard it like that, where it's like, takes...

00:26:26.000 It still feels like you have to do a lot.

00:26:27.000 Well, that's how Pressfield talks about it.

00:26:28.000 You just go, I just need to be a pipe.

00:26:30.000 Yeah.

00:26:31.000 A clean pipe.

00:26:32.000 A conduit.

00:26:32.000 So more stuff comes through, and that means take your ego out of it.

00:26:35.000 I mean...

00:26:35.000 Just do the work.

00:26:36.000 Just show up and start.

00:26:38.000 Yeah.

00:26:38.000 Pressfield literally thinks that it's like an angel, or like some sort of a divine presence that presents...

00:26:46.000 I think...

00:26:48.000 I think there's something to it, man.

00:26:50.000 It sounds so kooky, but if something is super successful for amazing people, and they're all telling you the same thing, like, why do you have to...

00:27:00.000 Nah, man, I'm not stupid.

00:27:02.000 I'm not gonna believe in the concept that whatever the fuck it is There's something that happens when you're creative where you feel like an antenna You feel like you just take these ideas are coming to you.

00:27:13.000 They're entering into your mind.

00:27:15.000 It's not physical effort It's not like you're picking up bricks and stacking them on the wall like something is happening to you.

00:27:21.000 Yeah, you're tapped into I Had a friend my Tim Ferriss is over at my house and I was telling about some kind of very creative house really because it's That's where I do a lot of my creative work, and a lot of creatives like coming to this place.

00:27:33.000 See, you have to come check it out so you can see the Frazettas I have.

00:27:36.000 Oh, you have original Frazettas?

00:27:37.000 Yeah.

00:27:37.000 Oh, my God.

00:27:38.000 We'll get to that.

00:27:39.000 We'll get to that.

00:27:39.000 Oh, my God.

00:27:40.000 But it's just totally, totally...

00:27:43.000 You have to tell what your favorite Frazettas is.

00:27:45.000 It's totally a creative place, and I like people to come there, but it's just inspiring to be in an environment where...

00:27:51.000 Everything around you is about creativity because then you get in that headspace and you're able to do more because you realize it's not you.

00:27:58.000 It's just coming through you and you just have to witness it.

00:28:01.000 And it just takes a lot of the load off of you.

00:28:03.000 A lot of people can start easier if they know, oh, it doesn't have to be me.

00:28:06.000 My kids are like, oh, I don't have to do it?

00:28:08.000 I just have to actually pick up the pen?

00:28:10.000 Yeah, it's very freeing.

00:28:13.000 Yeah, it's something that everyone should learn.

00:28:16.000 With anything in life, anything that you're doing in life, is just to take action and trust this process that happens.

00:28:22.000 But you have to do things.

00:28:23.000 You can't just sit and wonder.

00:28:25.000 And it's that procrastination and the anxiety about starting that's crippling for people.

00:28:30.000 It keeps them from getting off the ground.

00:28:31.000 And they're doing that to themselves.

00:28:33.000 You're literally doing this to yourself.

00:28:34.000 So when you say, well, I don't know if I can...

00:28:38.000 You just chopped off your leg.

00:28:39.000 At the beginning of the race.

00:28:41.000 Right, right, right.

00:28:41.000 Well, I tried it once before.

00:28:43.000 You just cut the other one off.

00:28:45.000 I mean, you're literally doing, you're your own worst enemy.

00:28:48.000 I had this one gal, and fear of failure.

00:28:51.000 This is the best thing.

00:28:53.000 One gal in one of the talks, she said, okay, you're real positive, but what do I tell myself when I just spent a year and a half doing something and it didn't work out?

00:29:03.000 I said, well, that's a very negative way to ask that.

00:29:05.000 Can you rephrase the question first?

00:29:06.000 Then I'll attempt.

00:29:08.000 And she went, I learned a good lesson the hard way.

00:29:10.000 I said, no, that still sucks.

00:29:12.000 If you're focused on the failure, if you followed your instinct, And it didn't work out.

00:29:17.000 It doesn't mean you're wrong.

00:29:19.000 Sometimes the only way across the river is to slip on the first two rocks.

00:29:22.000 It's the only way.

00:29:22.000 And if you just stay there, you're not going to go.

00:29:24.000 So you have to embrace the failure.

00:29:26.000 Because if you're going on instinct, I mean, you're doing it literally on instinct, not like someone said, hey, go over there.

00:29:30.000 There's a money-making scheme.

00:29:31.000 Go do that.

00:29:32.000 Literally, you had the instinct.

00:29:33.000 And my best example is Four Rooms, a movie I did with Quentin.

00:29:38.000 Because if you study the ashes of your failure, you'll find a key to your next success.

00:29:42.000 That was the movie where there was four different stories playing simultaneously.

00:29:46.000 Four different movies, four different stories.

00:29:48.000 And I love short stories because I had made a bunch of short films.

00:29:51.000 I thought, oh, I want to do that.

00:29:52.000 So when Quentin asked, and I asked the audience, I like asking the audience, how would you answer this?

00:29:55.000 Quentin goes, hey, I'm going to make a movie called Four Rooms.

00:29:58.000 Four different directors.

00:29:59.000 You've got to use the bellhop.

00:30:00.000 It's New Year's Eve.

00:30:01.000 You're in a hotel.

00:30:01.000 You can't leave your hotel room.

00:30:02.000 You want to do it?

00:30:03.000 Hand goes up.

00:30:05.000 Now, just on instinct.

00:30:06.000 Now ask the audience.

00:30:07.000 Was I wrong to just go by instinct or should I study it a little bit?

00:30:11.000 Nobody really knows the answer.

00:30:13.000 What would you say?

00:30:14.000 Would you study?

00:30:15.000 Me?

00:30:15.000 Are you more instinctual?

00:30:17.000 100%.

00:30:18.000 Yeah.

00:30:18.000 I'm primarily instinctual.

00:30:20.000 Figured, because that's why you're here right now.

00:30:23.000 Because we're not that smart.

00:30:24.000 I'm not that smart.

00:30:25.000 I couldn't have figured this shit out.

00:30:27.000 It's because I was just at an instinct to go that way when everyone else was going that way.

00:30:31.000 And you're going to stumble.

00:30:32.000 You're going to fall.

00:30:33.000 But you're going to stumble upon.

00:30:34.000 You're going to stumble upon ideas no one thought of because you're going the way that's not picked clean already.

00:30:38.000 Right, right.

00:30:39.000 So I would just like four rooms.

00:30:41.000 I said, yeah.

00:30:42.000 Now, if I had just studied a little bit, I would have seen that anthologies like that never work.

00:30:45.000 Like even when it's Scorsese, you know, Woody Allen and Coppola, they did one.

00:30:50.000 Nobody goes to see it.

00:30:51.000 They don't know how to wrap their head around it.

00:30:52.000 What, is this three movies?

00:30:53.000 Is this anthology?

00:30:54.000 It doesn't work.

00:30:55.000 If I had studied first, should I have changed my answer?

00:30:58.000 Nobody knows that answer.

00:30:59.000 Well, I'm going to go on instinct.

00:31:00.000 I'm going to say, I say instinct anyway.

00:31:02.000 Movie bombs.

00:31:03.000 It doesn't do well at all.

00:31:04.000 Now, I could be really upset about that and go like, wow, I've got to be really careful now going forward.

00:31:09.000 I have to tiptoe around as an artist.

00:31:10.000 Well, that's not the state of mind I was when I won Sundance.

00:31:13.000 I was throwing stuff out.

00:31:15.000 Can I offer a counter to that?

00:31:16.000 Sure.

00:31:17.000 I only bombed financially.

00:31:18.000 Okay, no, no.

00:31:19.000 I'm not done with the story.

00:31:20.000 Artistically, it's a very good movie.

00:31:22.000 There's a lot of great stuff in it, but it goes even better than that.

00:31:25.000 My whole thing is examine the ashes of your failure.

00:31:28.000 And I don't find one.

00:31:29.000 I find two keys in there.

00:31:30.000 To my biggest movies, directly from that experience.

00:31:33.000 So my instinct was right, but again, sometimes the only way across the river is slipping on the first two rocks.

00:31:38.000 I was on the set.

00:31:39.000 Had to be New Year's, so I dressed everybody up in tuxedos.

00:31:43.000 And Antonio had just done Desperado.

00:31:45.000 The next week, he came and appeared in there.

00:31:47.000 The little boy from Desperado, he had a little brother, so I hired him.

00:31:50.000 And then I just found the best little actress, who's a half-Asian girl, Asian-American, so I cast an Asian mom.

00:31:56.000 So it would look like there were a family.

00:31:58.000 So I'm seeing Antonio.

00:31:59.000 And Tamla and Tamida all dressed up to the nines.

00:32:03.000 I went, wow, they look like a really cool international spy couple.

00:32:06.000 What if they were spies and the two little kids who can barely tie their shoes don't know it?

00:32:11.000 They get captured and the kids have to go see them.

00:32:13.000 So spy kids, there's five of those now.

00:32:15.000 The other key to success that I got on that set was I love doing short films.

00:32:19.000 That's why I signed up for it.

00:32:21.000 It didn't work.

00:32:23.000 But I'm going to try it again.

00:32:25.000 Not four stories, three stories like a three-act structure.

00:32:28.000 Not four directors, but the same director.

00:32:31.000 I'm going to try.

00:32:31.000 Why on earth would I try it again?

00:32:33.000 Except that I had just done one and I figured out there might be a different approach.

00:32:37.000 That's Sin City.

00:32:38.000 So Sin City and Spy Kids directly came from that thing you would call a failure.

00:32:42.000 If you focused on the failure.

00:32:45.000 So go back and look.

00:32:47.000 Tell everybody.

00:32:47.000 Go back and look at something that you had a real instinct for that you did and it didn't work.

00:32:53.000 And sift through the ashes of it, and you're going to find either that you've already had the success from it and you didn't realize it, which you really need is a boost of confidence in your instinct, or you will find something that will be the key to your success.

00:33:07.000 Well, that's also the magical part of the creative process is that it's not always going to work.

00:33:13.000 Actually good.

00:33:14.000 That means when it does work, it'll be even more rewarding.

00:33:17.000 Yeah, I mean, mariachi didn't work.

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00:34:45.000 I failed at that.

00:34:46.000 I was going to sell that to the Spanish Home Video.

00:34:48.000 This is what blew me away about rereading the book.

00:34:50.000 I went, oh my God, I was so bummed.

00:34:52.000 I finished making that movie.

00:34:54.000 And you see in the book, clearly I'm a penniless, clueless filmmaker making this movie.

00:34:58.000 I think by myself, I think it's going to work.

00:35:01.000 I don't know.

00:35:01.000 A borrowed camera.

00:35:02.000 I didn't even know how to use it.

00:35:03.000 I call a place in Dallas that rents this equipment.

00:35:06.000 I go, I've got an Aries 16S, you know, on the phone.

00:35:10.000 It has two motor-looking things.

00:35:11.000 One has one number and one's got many.

00:35:13.000 Oh, that's a variable speed motor.

00:35:15.000 It means, oh, can I do slow motion with it?

00:35:16.000 You know, I was literally learned like that.

00:35:18.000 And then I went and shot the whole movie.

00:35:19.000 And I had to shoot the whole movie in two weeks.

00:35:22.000 And I couldn't develop the film until I got back.

00:35:24.000 So I shot blind, not knowing if that camera was even working.

00:35:27.000 Is it true that you invented the walk away with the explosion behind you?

00:35:32.000 Yeah, that was an accident.

00:35:33.000 You invented that?

00:35:33.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:35:34.000 If you look at all the compilations, it starts with Desperado.

00:35:36.000 Wow!

00:35:37.000 Because it was an accident.

00:35:38.000 I didn't think, you know, this is what happens.

00:35:39.000 So in Desperado, in the script, it says he...

00:35:44.000 Throw some grenades over the side of this building to blow up the bad guys, and him and Salma walk away.

00:35:49.000 It was just supposed to see some body parts fly.

00:35:51.000 It was just a grenade.

00:35:52.000 You know, that was supposed to be a nuclear explosion.

00:35:54.000 Just some body parts, some shrapnel, and some smoke.

00:35:57.000 But it's two stories up, and we get there, and we're shooting so fast.

00:35:59.000 I went to my poor effects guy who was just, you know, so busy just having done a big shootout, and I went...

00:36:05.000 I know you don't have body parts, but do you have anything we can just throw?

00:36:08.000 It's so high up.

00:36:09.000 Is there anything you can launch up there?

00:36:11.000 He goes, oh, no, I don't have anything.

00:36:13.000 I need something to come up because I wanted some shit to fly up behind him.

00:36:17.000 He goes, I can give you a fireball.

00:36:18.000 I said, fireball?

00:36:19.000 Like what?

00:36:20.000 It'll go up 60 feet, but it's propane, so it's going to burn off like that.

00:36:25.000 How fast does it burn off?

00:36:27.000 Like that.

00:36:28.000 So, okay, I'll shoot slow motion.

00:36:29.000 Okay, I'll shoot slow motion.

00:36:31.000 I'll tell the actors, just keep walking.

00:36:33.000 Don't turn around.

00:36:33.000 It's supposed to be pretty big, and it might be really hot.

00:36:35.000 I don't want you to cinch your eyebrows.

00:36:36.000 Just walk fast.

00:36:37.000 Walk fast and determine, but I'm going to shoot.

00:36:39.000 It's going to feel funny, but when I shoot it in slow motion, it'll look like you're just walking normal speed, and it'll slow down the explosion.

00:36:44.000 Whoa.

00:36:45.000 It looks fantastic.

00:36:46.000 There it is.

00:36:47.000 See, they're just walking.

00:36:48.000 They don't know.

00:36:48.000 Look at her.

00:36:50.000 She's just so calm.

00:36:51.000 But if you split that up and played it in normal motion, it goes by like that.

00:36:55.000 It's crazy because...

00:36:57.000 That scene has been copied so many times.

00:37:00.000 It became an action staple.

00:37:03.000 They even used it for Fear Factor.

00:37:05.000 Now that I'm thinking about it, we used it for one of the ads for Fear Factor.

00:37:08.000 It was me walking away and they blew some shit up behind me.

00:37:12.000 It's this cool attitude.

00:37:15.000 I thought it was the dumbest shit ever.

00:37:16.000 Because it was a TV show about people eating dicks.

00:37:20.000 It wasn't an action movie.

00:37:22.000 It was just an action.

00:37:23.000 The accidents that you stumble upon.

00:37:25.000 There you go.

00:37:27.000 All right.

00:37:29.000 That's hilarious.

00:37:29.000 That's where I came from.

00:37:30.000 So that came out in August of 1995.

00:37:35.000 Just six months later, Dust Till Dawn came out.

00:37:38.000 And I made that.

00:37:39.000 I enjoyed it so much.

00:37:40.000 I fucking love that movie.

00:37:41.000 Oh, thanks.

00:37:42.000 I love that movie.

00:37:43.000 I showed this explosion shot, you know, the movie to Jim Cameron.

00:37:46.000 He was watching it.

00:37:46.000 I was waiting for it.

00:37:48.000 He was doing movies like Terminator 2, blowing the shit out of everything.

00:37:51.000 So I was wondering if he'd like my little rinky-dink thing.

00:37:53.000 And his hand went up in the air when he saw that moment.

00:37:55.000 So I thought, yeah, I'm doing that.

00:37:56.000 I'm going to do that in Dust Till Dawn.

00:37:58.000 Dust Till Dawn, I had it where the actors come out doing the dialogue, though.

00:38:01.000 And the explosion just keeps going.

00:38:03.000 And they're walking away while having a conversation.

00:38:05.000 Yeah.

00:38:05.000 So within six months, you saw two versions of that.

00:38:09.000 So people just started doing it.

00:38:11.000 You see it in Man and Fire.

00:38:12.000 I mean, you see whole combinations of it.

00:38:14.000 That's got to be weird for you.

00:38:16.000 You're like, bitch, that's mine.

00:38:18.000 No, no, because it wasn't mine.

00:38:19.000 Again, it came...

00:38:20.000 Of course.

00:38:21.000 If I had engineered it, yeah, I'd be really smart.

00:38:24.000 But again, like I said, I'm not that smart.

00:38:26.000 Sometimes you stumble upon...

00:38:26.000 But it's got to be pretty cool that it's become a part of action films.

00:38:30.000 Yeah.

00:38:30.000 First of all...

00:38:32.000 Who knew Quentin Tarantino would play such a good fucking psychopath?

00:38:36.000 Who knew?

00:38:37.000 What's so fun is he's in Desperado now.

00:38:42.000 I met him on the film festival circuit.

00:38:44.000 So in 1992, we both had movies with guys in black and violent movies.

00:38:49.000 In fact, I met him at the Toronto Film Festival for Reservoir Dogs.

00:38:53.000 I had mariachi because they put us on a panel together to discuss violence in the movies in the 90s, even though it was only...

00:39:01.000 92. And so we met there and became friends.

00:39:03.000 And he said, oh, my next movie's Pulp Fiction.

00:39:05.000 And I just thought, this crazy guy, he's so funny.

00:39:07.000 And I said, I'm going to ride him into Desperado.

00:39:09.000 It was before we did Pulp Fiction or any of that.

00:39:10.000 So by the time Desperado came out, Pulp Fiction was a phenomenon.

00:39:14.000 And then people cheer when he walks on set.

00:39:17.000 But when we were doing that Four Rooms, here's another thing that came from Four Rooms.

00:39:20.000 If I hadn't done Four Rooms, it'd be No Dusk Till Dawn.

00:39:23.000 When we're doing...

00:39:25.000 Four rooms.

00:39:26.000 He takes me into a room and he starts reading me.

00:39:28.000 It's on the internet.

00:39:29.000 I put it out.

00:39:30.000 Him reading me the first scene of Kill Bill.

00:39:33.000 This was eight years before he made the movie.

00:39:37.000 And then he said, my very first script I wrote, and I didn't get paid shit for, like $1,500, was Dusk Till Dawn.

00:39:45.000 And now, because of the success of Pulp Fiction, they want to make all my old stuff.

00:39:50.000 And these producers have it.

00:39:52.000 I didn't get paid dick, so I'll do a rewrite, and you and I will go in together.

00:39:55.000 You should be the director, because it takes place in Mexico, and you're Mexican.

00:39:58.000 So I was like, all right.

00:40:00.000 That's the second time he read me a scene in 2001.

00:40:04.000 There's one video where he's even younger, in four rooms, reading me a second version of it.

00:40:10.000 So over the years, we had an office next to each other when I was writing Desperado, and he was writing Pulp Fiction, so he'd read out scenes.

00:40:15.000 There he is.

00:40:16.000 And I would read out, you know, show him.

00:40:18.000 Scenes from Desperado.

00:40:20.000 Fuck.

00:40:20.000 And we just became friends there.

00:40:22.000 He was originally going to make Pulp Fiction for TriStar, and then they passed on it because they thought, it's weird, it's long.

00:40:27.000 And he went, did it for Miramax.

00:40:29.000 Did he want to be the serial killer?

00:40:31.000 I asked him to.

00:40:32.000 Because I knew he liked acting, and I just knew him as a person.

00:40:36.000 Like, a lot of times I'll cast somebody just by meeting them.

00:40:38.000 I'm going to cast you.

00:40:40.000 Because you realize there's something about them.

00:40:43.000 That captures you that's going to just be magnified when you put it 50 feet on screen.

00:40:47.000 That's why I've discovered a lot of talent that way.

00:40:49.000 That's why I found Salma.

00:40:50.000 I just knew she was going to be it.

00:40:53.000 But he was so great, and I thought, this is a really fun character.

00:40:58.000 I bet he likes acting.

00:40:59.000 I can get a performance out of him, and he'll come in with a take on it.

00:41:02.000 So I said, I'll do Death Till Dawn.

00:41:04.000 Would you be interested in playing Richie?

00:41:06.000 He goes, I'd love to play Richie.

00:41:07.000 So he was the first person we cast.

00:41:10.000 And he's fantastic in it.

00:41:12.000 He's really great.

00:41:13.000 He's really scary.

00:41:14.000 Got all into character.

00:41:15.000 He was terrified.

00:41:16.000 Kind of had this really cool haircut.

00:41:17.000 I showed him a picture of...

00:41:19.000 Burt Reynolds in Deliverance said, dude, you got the haircut of Deliverance.

00:41:23.000 That was really cool.

00:41:24.000 He's like, oh, wow.

00:41:25.000 He just really slipped into it.

00:41:26.000 He was always in character and he was always intense on the set.

00:41:30.000 It was really fun to see him get to do that.

00:41:31.000 He was very believable.

00:41:32.000 He really enjoyed that performance.

00:41:34.000 I said, dude, you're so good in this movie.

00:41:35.000 Anyone talk shit, they're just talking shit.

00:41:37.000 Bullshit through gritted teeth.

00:41:38.000 Don't listen to anybody.

00:41:39.000 You're really great in this movie.

00:41:40.000 Yeah, no one can listen.

00:41:41.000 You can't listen.

00:41:42.000 Anybody who's talking shit about Quentin in that movie, shut up.

00:41:45.000 Oh, yeah.

00:41:46.000 He nailed it.

00:41:46.000 He scared the fuck out of me.

00:41:48.000 Well, when you get a lot of success, people would tend to, you know, connect you with Target.

00:41:52.000 Of course.

00:41:53.000 So they would say stuff about him.

00:41:55.000 And being in a way, he shouldn't be acting in his movies.

00:41:58.000 Of course.

00:41:58.000 You know, just bullshit like that.

00:41:59.000 It's like, dude, this will shut him up.

00:42:01.000 And if it doesn't, it's just bullshit.

00:42:02.000 Because you're really great in the movie.

00:42:03.000 Yeah, you just have to tune out the noise.

00:42:05.000 How do you get past the noise?

00:42:07.000 I just tune it out.

00:42:08.000 I'm busy.

00:42:09.000 I stay busy.

00:42:10.000 I don't read anything about me.

00:42:12.000 That's the big one.

00:42:13.000 Yeah, don't read it.

00:42:14.000 Don't engage.

00:42:15.000 Like, sometimes people send me things.

00:42:16.000 I'm like, don't send me that, man.

00:42:17.000 I don't want to read it.

00:42:18.000 I'm not going to read it anyway.

00:42:19.000 They send it to you.

00:42:20.000 Yeah, friends.

00:42:21.000 If they don't know any better, my sister might send me something.

00:42:24.000 Yeah, it's just...

00:42:25.000 Just leave me out of it.

00:42:27.000 I got some really good advice early on.

00:42:29.000 I like to share this with my actors because they get a lot of shit sometimes.

00:42:34.000 I was afraid to even do like a bigger movie because I was flying under the radar with, you know, Mariachi and Desperado and then Spielberg sees Desperado wants to do Zorro with Antonio and me directing, right?

00:42:45.000 So I go, cool, I'm working with Spielberg.

00:42:47.000 And it's like, oh shit, I'm working with Spielberg.

00:42:48.000 You probably remember this time because we were about the same age.

00:42:51.000 Remember the 80s and 90s?

00:42:53.000 People would just throw shit on him all the time.

00:42:55.000 All the time.

00:42:56.000 There's no respect for this guy.

00:42:57.000 They were so jealous.

00:42:59.000 Press, public, everything.

00:43:00.000 He was just like, he couldn't catch a break.

00:43:01.000 And he was making like the coolest movie.

00:43:03.000 Ah, that movie sucks.

00:43:04.000 Ah, Jurassic Park sucks.

00:43:06.000 Unbelievable.

00:43:07.000 So I thought, oh shit, it's because he's got his head way up.

00:43:10.000 Maybe I should fly into the radar.

00:43:11.000 If I can make a movie with him, what chance do I have?

00:43:14.000 I went back and re-watched, you know, like Temple of Doom, which people say, ah, that's not as good as Raiders.

00:43:19.000 I watch it and go, if I can make a movie that has an eighth of that.

00:43:22.000 I'd be lucky.

00:43:23.000 He made Close Encounters.

00:43:25.000 I know.

00:43:26.000 That's a fucking incredible movie.

00:43:27.000 But you get that much success and then people kind of resent it, right?

00:43:32.000 It comes with the territory.

00:43:33.000 Yeah, but how do you get past it?

00:43:35.000 I was curious for him.

00:43:36.000 So I said, hey man, I just saw Temple of Doom.

00:43:40.000 I don't know how I'm going to make this movie for you.

00:43:41.000 He goes, oh, don't worry about that.

00:43:42.000 Just make a great movie.

00:43:43.000 So then I go to him and I say, I'm afraid that if I make a movie at the bigger level, I'm just going to be a target like him.

00:43:51.000 I mean, he's the best filmmaker and he's getting shit kicked out of him.

00:43:54.000 I said, how do you do it?

00:43:55.000 How do you do it?

00:43:56.000 You just get rocks thrown at you all day long.

00:44:02.000 He goes, oh, Robert, you just don't blink.

00:44:04.000 I was like, wow.

00:44:05.000 I was on like a Clint Eastwood line.

00:44:07.000 I go, wow, that's how he did it all his time.

00:44:08.000 It's just like, just don't blink.

00:44:12.000 Commit to making.

00:44:13.000 A body of work.

00:44:14.000 I try to tell filmmakers sometimes if they have a success for the first one, they get really afraid of the second one because they think, oh shit, now I might fail, right?

00:44:20.000 The fear of failure cripples a lot of people.

00:44:23.000 If you commit to just making a body of work, a body of work, like he did.

00:44:28.000 He just made any movie he wanted.

00:44:30.000 Some hit, some don't.

00:44:31.000 Some overperform, some underperform.

00:44:33.000 A movie like Mariachi that was not supposed to go anywhere way overperforms.

00:44:38.000 And you can't tell what's going to be the one.

00:44:41.000 So just commit to a body of work.

00:44:42.000 And now no one gives them any shit.

00:44:44.000 I think it's also important to recognize that the people that are tossing shit your way, they're doing it to distract themselves from the fact that they're not contributing anything.

00:44:51.000 It's almost always the case of that.

00:44:53.000 That's what the critic is.

00:44:54.000 The critic would not be a critic if they had something to contribute.

00:44:57.000 So they see other people that are taking that chance and going out there and they're acting on their instincts and they're putting something together and they try to attack all those things as being garbage.

00:45:10.000 Because really, they're not contributing.

00:45:13.000 And they may very well want to.

00:45:15.000 It's very easy to attack.

00:45:16.000 And they may very well want to, but they've been hurt by the fear.

00:45:19.000 Most of them, yeah.

00:45:19.000 The same instincts that make them want to attack successful people are the same things that hold them back from being creative.

00:45:26.000 Talk about closing that pipe.

00:45:28.000 Yeah, I mean, doing it to yourself.

00:45:30.000 Doing it to yourself and by doing that to other people.

00:45:32.000 If they were just...

00:45:33.000 Commit to a body of work.

00:45:34.000 Don't blink.

00:45:35.000 And just keep making shit.

00:45:36.000 Don't get somewhere.

00:45:37.000 That's great advice.

00:45:37.000 Commit to a body of work.

00:45:39.000 A body of work.

00:45:40.000 I mentioned this, and a friend of mine, a businessman, called me and said, wow, that really spoke to me.

00:45:46.000 I tend to look at all the different businesses I've created that failed instead of looking at the whole body of work.

00:45:53.000 And I fixate on the ones that didn't work.

00:45:56.000 And it's like, you never know what's going to work or not.

00:45:58.000 That's not your concern.

00:45:59.000 Just go make shit.

00:46:00.000 Follow your instinct.

00:46:01.000 Because again, maybe...

00:46:02.000 Maybe that one that didn't work is your four rooms.

00:46:05.000 And you get two other great ideas out of it.

00:46:08.000 I've forgotten that Dustal Dawn came out of that as well.

00:46:10.000 So that's the third one out of that four rooms.

00:46:13.000 That thing gave and gave and gave.

00:46:15.000 Dustal Dawn was so fun because it was two different movies.

00:46:18.000 That's why it couldn't get made.

00:46:20.000 Really?

00:46:20.000 So when he first wrote it, he couldn't get made because people...

00:46:23.000 Okay, so this is what happened.

00:46:24.000 The effects company hires him.

00:46:26.000 And they said, we want a movie that'll...

00:46:31.000 Showcase our effects in this vampire bar.

00:46:33.000 It's about two brothers who go to a vampire bar.

00:46:35.000 Quentin starts writing, and he starts writing Quentin-style.

00:46:37.000 He gets way into the brothers.

00:46:38.000 So much into the brothers that it turns into, like, a Desperate Hours-type movie.

00:46:42.000 For half the movie!

00:46:43.000 He waits half the movie to get to the bar.

00:46:45.000 So now, for financiers, it's now, like, a mixed bag.

00:46:50.000 It's like two movies in one, right?

00:46:51.000 But it was a negative then.

00:46:53.000 It was like, this movie's all wrong.

00:46:55.000 It's like, suddenly they're...

00:46:57.000 It's one thing and then suddenly it turns into a vampire bar.

00:46:59.000 We can't make this.

00:47:00.000 But then Pulp Fiction comes out.

00:47:02.000 And now everybody wants to make it.

00:47:04.000 Oh, it's two movies in one.

00:47:05.000 It's great.

00:47:05.000 You know, a whole different perspective change.

00:47:07.000 What a little success will do for you.

00:47:09.000 Four Rooms.

00:47:09.000 Oh, Four Rooms.

00:47:10.000 Oh, yes.

00:47:10.000 Four Rooms.

00:47:11.000 Four times the fun, you know.

00:47:12.000 So you never know.

00:47:13.000 So I told Quentin, let's make it right now.

00:47:16.000 Because we made it our next movie right after Four Rooms.

00:47:19.000 So Desperado, Four Rooms.

00:47:21.000 So Desperado came out in August 1995.

00:47:24.000 Four Rooms in December.

00:47:25.000 Dust Till Dawn was in January.

00:47:26.000 That's how fast those came out.

00:47:28.000 We were working that fast back then.

00:47:29.000 Wow.

00:47:30.000 So I said, let's make this right now because you're starting to steal from the script.

00:47:33.000 That Ezekiel speech that Sam Jackson says in Pulp Fiction, that's from the original Dust Till Dawn script.

00:47:40.000 Really?

00:47:41.000 He was pulling stuff out of it because it was just not going to get made.

00:47:45.000 Oh, no.

00:47:45.000 He's scrapping an old car.

00:47:45.000 So I said, before it gets picked clean, let's go make this thing.

00:47:50.000 And we'll shoot it now.

00:47:51.000 We'll shoot it right now.

00:47:52.000 Wow.

00:47:53.000 And it was so fun.

00:47:54.000 It was so fun.

00:47:54.000 I love that movie.

00:47:55.000 It was so fun.

00:47:56.000 Cheech is so great.

00:47:57.000 You know, we did a table read.

00:47:58.000 And we have a table read with your actors.

00:48:00.000 You only have your main actors there.

00:48:01.000 So sometimes you'll assign other parts to other people who are there.

00:48:04.000 So it was like, Cheech, why don't you go ahead and take, you play the main guy at the end, but go ahead and read for the, oh no, he made it, the guy who gives the speech in front.

00:48:12.000 He was playing that character.

00:48:13.000 Read for the border guard and for the guy who comes at the end, Carlos, who I was going to get like, you know.

00:48:18.000 Eric Estrada or something.

00:48:20.000 So he starts reading and he does each one.

00:48:22.000 He's a comedian.

00:48:22.000 He does everything in a different voice.

00:48:24.000 And by the end, I was like, wow, he should play all three characters.

00:48:27.000 And so I asked Quentin.

00:48:28.000 Quentin goes, hey, what if we get Cheech to play all three characters?

00:48:31.000 And I was thinking the same thing.

00:48:33.000 So I go and tell Cheech.

00:48:34.000 Cheech is just freaking hilarious.

00:48:36.000 And he goes, hey, man, you're going to play all three characters.

00:48:37.000 Do I get paid three times?

00:48:40.000 This is why I love having comedians on the set, you know, because we're out there shooting that desert scene, you know, at the end.

00:48:48.000 When the Cheech comes and the whole place is burned down, it's 125 degrees in the shade.

00:48:54.000 We're in Barstow in a dry lake bed.

00:48:56.000 So freaking hot.

00:48:57.000 We're all just not moving.

00:48:59.000 So I'm going to have to go get something.

00:49:00.000 Cheech is like this in a suit with a hat.

00:49:02.000 He goes, Hey, Robert, this is going to be a while.

00:49:06.000 Can I go to my trailer?

00:49:07.000 I was like, Oh, man.

00:49:08.000 By the time you go, this guy's going to be back and we'll have to start.

00:49:11.000 We should just stay right here.

00:49:13.000 Okay, I'll go into my mental trailer.

00:49:14.000 Okay, high school drinks, air conditioning.

00:49:17.000 It lines up the whole set.

00:49:19.000 Okay, this guy's going to be in every movie.

00:49:22.000 He's been in 10 movies of mine because it's that attitude.

00:49:24.000 You like that attitude of somebody who can find levity and torture.

00:49:28.000 Sometimes movies can be torturous sometimes.

00:49:31.000 So having people like that that are really on your team that can really lighten up a set is just the best.

00:49:36.000 You've done so many different kinds of movies.

00:49:38.000 It's so interesting because you never got, you know, Quentin essentially does these wild, chaotic action movies that just blow you away.

00:49:46.000 You do everything.

00:49:47.000 Like, you're doing, like, kids movies.

00:49:49.000 There's a similarity to them.

00:49:53.000 I'm still that cartoonist.

00:49:55.000 So what they all have is they're all comedic.

00:49:58.000 Like, even the action movies are kind of just fun.

00:50:01.000 I mean, think of Desperado.

00:50:02.000 It's like a James Bond movie.

00:50:03.000 He's got a guitar case that fires missiles.

00:50:05.000 He's got this one that's got a weapon design.

00:50:07.000 Spy Kids is very much the same thing.

00:50:08.000 It's just some are for big kids and some are for little kids.

00:50:11.000 Even Sin City.

00:50:12.000 Yeah, even Sin City is very playful.

00:50:14.000 The Sin City one was so dark.

00:50:15.000 I remember the first book, the one that Marv, that Mickey Rourke plays.

00:50:19.000 It was so dark.

00:50:20.000 I was going like, oh my God, it's going to be dark.

00:50:21.000 I have to add some levity to this.

00:50:23.000 And Mickey will bring humor to it.

00:50:25.000 And it's the funniest episode.

00:50:26.000 It's really funny.

00:50:27.000 But he's in the book.

00:50:28.000 It's just like, oh my god, he's just killing everybody.

00:50:31.000 But you're really with him because of the way he portrayed it.

00:50:34.000 We didn't change very much.

00:50:35.000 We just added some humor to it.

00:50:37.000 And that gallows humor really helps.

00:50:39.000 Yeah.

00:50:40.000 Like when the yellow guy gets shot in the dick.

00:50:42.000 Oh, that's...

00:50:42.000 Yeah, that was a good one.

00:50:45.000 That was a really good use of color.

00:50:47.000 That, by the way, was one of the fucking creepiest characters ever in a film.

00:50:51.000 And it looks like that in the drawing.

00:50:52.000 And I just wanted to...

00:50:54.000 My whole idea was...

00:50:56.000 Because I'm so respectful of someone's artwork.

00:50:59.000 You read Sin City and you realize that art is half of it.

00:51:03.000 If anyone else in Hollywood were to make that into a movie, they would just make it like a gritty crime thriller.

00:51:08.000 Right.

00:51:08.000 And take out the whole visual element, which is that stark black and white where people's eyes glow in the dark.

00:51:13.000 Yeah.

00:51:13.000 And it has all these layers of unreality.

00:51:15.000 And I went to Frank Miller and I said, I want to just make this move.

00:51:19.000 I went, this is like the coolest movie never made.

00:51:23.000 And he actually wrote it because he had been in Hollywood writing a couple of screenplays, and he got shit on and screwed around, the whole Hollywood thing.

00:51:31.000 Jamie, can you show me the scene with Mickey Rourke and the yellow guy?

00:51:35.000 Oh, this is Bruce Willis and the yellow guy.

00:51:36.000 Excuse me, Bruce Willis and the yellow guy?

00:51:38.000 There's three stories.

00:51:39.000 I just want to, like, while you're talking about this, I want to look at it.

00:51:43.000 Yeah, so he went and made this comic.

00:51:46.000 He said, fuck Hollywood.

00:51:47.000 I'm going to go make a comic that can never be made into a movie because it's so dark.

00:51:52.000 Sexy and so...

00:51:53.000 And I'd call him up, man, let's make a great movie.

00:51:57.000 God, it was so interesting.

00:51:59.000 Oh, Bruce loved this.

00:52:00.000 I gotta tell you this funny story.

00:52:01.000 This is the fastest I think any Hollywood movie's ever gotten made.

00:52:07.000 Really?

00:52:08.000 Yeah, I'll show you the process.

00:52:09.000 It's kind of like this cards thing.

00:52:11.000 It's gonna blow your mind.

00:52:13.000 What is it now?

00:52:14.000 It's April?

00:52:15.000 Okay, so imagine...

00:52:16.000 If this is 2000...

00:52:19.000 If this is 2004...

00:52:21.000 April.

00:52:23.000 Last year, I had two movies out.

00:52:25.000 In the summer, it was Spy Kids 3D.

00:52:27.000 It was the number one movie.

00:52:28.000 A couple months later, Once Upon a Time Mexico, another number one movie, but also both of them ended a trilogy that I had started.

00:52:35.000 So I was looking for my next thing, and I opened up my Sin Cities again, and I was like, oh shit, I know how to do this now.

00:52:41.000 I just did a whole movie on green screen, which was really new back then for Spy Kids 3D, because I wanted it in 3D.

00:52:46.000 It was the first digital 3D movie.

00:52:47.000 Because when you're in Austin, you just innovate a lot.

00:52:50.000 George Lucas told me that.

00:52:51.000 It's a good thing you're in Austin.

00:52:52.000 That's why I'm in Marin County.

00:52:53.000 When you live outside of that box, you think outside of that box automatically.

00:52:56.000 You're just going to stumble upon innovations.

00:52:59.000 So I thought, I'm going to go take this process and utilize it to make Sin City.

00:53:04.000 So I did a test, a little test of it.

00:53:06.000 I went, oh shit, this is going to work.

00:53:08.000 So it was October when I got that idea.

00:53:10.000 I filmed it.

00:53:11.000 I contacted Frank Miller.

00:53:12.000 Met him in New York.

00:53:13.000 I showed him my laptop.

00:53:15.000 It looks like his art, but then it starts moving.

00:53:17.000 It's an actor.

00:53:18.000 And he's like, wow!

00:53:19.000 And he gets all into it, right?

00:53:20.000 It's November.

00:53:22.000 And he goes, oh, no, but then we have to write a script, and the studio's going to have notes.

00:53:26.000 No, that's not how it works.

00:53:27.000 I got my own studio.

00:53:29.000 I'll write the script.

00:53:30.000 It's going to be unremarkable.

00:53:31.000 I'm going to copy it right out of your book, and I'm going to edit it down.

00:53:33.000 I'm going to edit three of the stories together.

00:53:34.000 I'll write it this month.

00:53:36.000 I'll show it to you in December.

00:53:39.000 And then in January, we'll get a couple of actor friends, and we're going to shoot the opening scene as a test.

00:53:43.000 You don't give me the rights yet, because I understand this is your baby.

00:53:45.000 You've never given up the rights.

00:53:46.000 I know what it's like for an artist to make something.

00:53:48.000 Let me take all the risk.

00:53:49.000 I'll go ahead and write the script.

00:53:52.000 We'll shoot the opening scene.

00:53:53.000 I'm going to fly you down so you can watch.

00:53:55.000 We brought Josh Harnett, Marlee Shelton.

00:53:56.000 That opening scene in Sin City, that was our test.

00:53:59.000 10-hour shoot day.

00:54:01.000 Marley Shelton comes up to me and says, why did I hire this guy to kill me?

00:54:05.000 I don't know.

00:54:05.000 Let's go ask Frank.

00:54:06.000 He should know.

00:54:07.000 It's not in the book, but I'm curious myself.

00:54:10.000 So Frank answered her question and said, I want to do this movie.

00:54:13.000 And let's wait.

00:54:14.000 We had a whole process.

00:54:15.000 I'm going to shoot the opening.

00:54:16.000 I'm going to cut it together.

00:54:17.000 I'm going to put in the effects.

00:54:18.000 I'm going to put in the music.

00:54:19.000 I'm going to put in fake titles.

00:54:20.000 Then we're going to watch it.

00:54:22.000 And if you like what you see, then we do the rights and we make the movie.

00:54:26.000 If you don't like it...

00:54:27.000 And you're still on the fence about it, just keep it as a short film.

00:54:30.000 Keep the gift.

00:54:32.000 So we committed to the process.

00:54:34.000 We make the opening sequence.

00:54:35.000 He loves it.

00:54:36.000 He wants to do it.

00:54:38.000 I take it to Bruce Willis first, which was cool about doing it that way, which is unheard of.

00:54:43.000 When I went to his agent, his agent was like, wait.

00:54:49.000 He leans forward very dramatically.

00:54:51.000 You brought actors down.

00:54:54.000 Oh, because I told him, this is Frank Miller.

00:54:55.000 He's one of our greatest artists.

00:54:56.000 He wrote in Hollywood and he got screwed around.

00:54:58.000 And the guy goes, welcome to Hollywood.

00:55:00.000 You know, like that.

00:55:01.000 I'm like, yeah, whatever.

00:55:02.000 I just respect the artist.

00:55:03.000 So I just thought, hey, you'll be a partner.

00:55:05.000 You're going to co-direct this with me.

00:55:07.000 And we're going to make this.

00:55:08.000 I'm going to take all the risks.

00:55:09.000 You're going to come down.

00:55:10.000 We shot this opening, which I have.

00:55:11.000 I'm going to show it to Bruce so he can see the book.

00:55:13.000 But then he can see how it gets translated.

00:55:15.000 And the guy gets very dramatic.

00:55:16.000 He goes, wait, you brought the actors down.

00:55:19.000 You shot this.

00:55:20.000 You did the effects for it.

00:55:21.000 And you didn't have the rights?

00:55:22.000 And I leaned in and I went, welcome to Texas.

00:55:26.000 All these little monkeys spit out water.

00:55:28.000 Frank was dying.

00:55:29.000 It was super annoying.

00:55:30.000 They said, okay, you can meet me.

00:55:31.000 Then he saw it.

00:55:32.000 He went, okay, you can go meet with Frank.

00:55:33.000 You can go meet with Bruce.

00:55:34.000 So I show it to Bruce and he's watching it.

00:55:36.000 He looks at the book and he looks at the thing and he goes, damn, this is really great.

00:55:42.000 And then fake titles come up.

00:55:44.000 His name's in the titles.

00:55:45.000 And I go, look, you have to be in the movie.

00:55:47.000 Your name's in the titles.

00:55:47.000 And he's like, I'm in.

00:55:49.000 So he was in and we were shooting the actual movie by March.

00:55:54.000 Wow.

00:55:55.000 So April, we're already done with it.

00:55:56.000 We're filming the second story by April.

00:55:58.000 It was out the next year.

00:56:00.000 I mean, that's as fast a movie's ever gone into production.

00:56:02.000 All these actors jumped on right away once we had Bruce.

00:56:05.000 And he loved doing this film noir type thing.

00:56:08.000 And we're doing something very experimental, which is green screen.

00:56:11.000 Nobody knew what green screen back then was.

00:56:13.000 And what I told them was, well, it's kind of like theater.

00:56:15.000 But instead of being in front of a black curtain or in front of a green curtain, you'll still have some props.

00:56:20.000 You might have a steering wheel, like Clive just there just had a steering wheel.

00:56:23.000 You might have, but just mainly you and the actors, and everything else goes away.

00:56:27.000 And I'll fill in the...

00:56:29.000 Later.

00:56:29.000 So what's cool is their performances are so focused on each other because there's no other stimulus around that you got these great performances.

00:56:37.000 We only built the bar.

00:56:38.000 Hey, Frank, we'll build the bar so that we have a place to hang out with and do our story meetings.

00:56:43.000 But everything else will just be on the same.

00:56:45.000 You're going to come see this green screen when you come visit my studio.

00:56:47.000 The whole movie was shot in an area smaller than this room by the time you bring your lights in where the actors actually had the playground.

00:56:56.000 It's unbelievable.

00:56:57.000 Wow.

00:56:58.000 That's incredible.

00:57:00.000 And it was so inspiring, too.

00:57:02.000 That movie was so...

00:57:03.000 Because when I left the theater, I remember thinking, I've never seen anything like that before.

00:57:07.000 It was like the comic, because the comic was that way.

00:57:09.000 It was so different.

00:57:11.000 When someone does something that really just steps up and enters into kind of just a new area of art, because that's what it felt like.

00:57:18.000 It felt like a real, legitimate comic book art movie.

00:57:21.000 And this is before 300.

00:57:23.000 Yeah, 300 actually.

00:57:25.000 So 300 kind of took that as well.

00:57:27.000 Oh, yeah.

00:57:27.000 That called and said, how did you do that movie?

00:57:28.000 I said, I just put out a DVD.

00:57:30.000 I put all the secrets on there.

00:57:32.000 And they went and they shot the same way.

00:57:34.000 It was such a good movie.

00:57:35.000 And it was so fun.

00:57:36.000 Because it was also a Frank Miller movie.

00:57:37.000 The thing about the...

00:57:38.000 Yeah, right?

00:57:39.000 Same thing.

00:57:39.000 The thing about those kind of films where someone, like, does something new, it's like, when you see something new, and I felt this way about Pulp Fiction, too, you're like, wow, wow.

00:57:48.000 You leave the theater, like, everything's different.

00:57:50.000 You know?

00:57:50.000 Like, the world's different.

00:57:51.000 Like, that got made?

00:57:53.000 Like, now I know.

00:57:54.000 And the thing about...

00:57:56.000 People today, like young people today that don't know how revolutionary Pulp Fiction was when it came out.

00:58:03.000 When it came out, it was like such a different kind of feeling that you got after you saw the movie.

00:58:09.000 There's so many what-the-fuck scenes that you left that theater.

00:58:14.000 You're like, Jesus Christ!

00:58:16.000 The world was different.

00:58:17.000 The world was different.

00:58:18.000 Quentin Tarantino changed the world with Pulp Fiction.

00:58:21.000 That's how profound it was.

00:58:22.000 And I'm not exaggerating.

00:58:24.000 It changed what was possible in film after that.

00:58:27.000 No, I was there during it.

00:58:29.000 I remember the studios were just like, we don't understand why this movie's a big head.

00:58:34.000 We don't have anything like this coming out except...

00:58:39.000 Except your movie, Desperado, maybe, because Quentin was in it.

00:58:41.000 I was like, yeah, yeah, we got our pulse on what people want.

00:58:45.000 We don't know.

00:58:46.000 So I got to tell you two things.

00:58:49.000 First of all, George Lucas told me that, and he's like, I showed him the Sin City thing, because we'd both been early adopters of digital, and DPs, directors of photography, didn't want to even look at digital.

00:59:00.000 They were like, fuck that.

00:59:00.000 They already spent all their time learning film.

00:59:03.000 By sticking your head in the sand and not seeing where the times are going.

00:59:06.000 To the detriment.

00:59:07.000 Now the cameras are designed and they don't look as good as they could look.

00:59:11.000 But they weren't a part of the conversation where I was shooting my own movies.

00:59:14.000 I wasn't going to let some DP who didn't want to get in digital keep me from making Sin City.

00:59:20.000 So I just shot it myself.

00:59:21.000 I figured it out myself.

00:59:22.000 So I showed it to Luke because he was like, this movie will show people what digital is capable of.

00:59:26.000 Finally.

00:59:26.000 More than the Star Wars movies I'm doing.

00:59:28.000 Because it's just so avant-garde and so crazy looking.

00:59:31.000 But I only made it for me.

00:59:33.000 I really wanted to see it made.

00:59:35.000 I literally didn't think it would be successful on its theatrical run.

00:59:39.000 In fact, we didn't even test screen it.

00:59:41.000 They're like, can we do a test screen?

00:59:43.000 I'm like, no.

00:59:44.000 What for?

00:59:44.000 Everybody's going to say, it's black and white.

00:59:46.000 Why is it black and white?

00:59:47.000 Why are there three stories?

00:59:48.000 That's all wrong.

00:59:49.000 It's voiceover.

00:59:49.000 That's all voiceover.

00:59:50.000 That's all wrong.

00:59:51.000 We know it's that way.

00:59:52.000 Why would we go hear people tell us that that's not what a movie's supposed to be?

00:59:56.000 Let's just put it out.

00:59:57.000 I figure it won't do well.

00:59:58.000 Theatrically, because you see the first trailer and go, okay, black and white, it's not for me.

01:00:02.000 It's very counterintuitive, which is most of the things I do, just like always go a different way.

01:00:06.000 But they'll find it on video later, and that's good enough for me.

01:00:09.000 But then it was a big hit, theatrically.

01:00:11.000 Let me tell you about Pulp Fiction, because groundbreaking doesn't look groundbreaking to you or anyone around you necessarily when you're doing it.

01:00:20.000 I've forgotten about this, but I journal.

01:00:21.000 I ran across an old journal, and I brought it up to Quentin when I...

01:00:25.000 I interviewed him for my director's chair episode.

01:00:27.000 I have a show called The Director's Chair.

01:00:28.000 I interviewed writer directors.

01:00:30.000 His was so big, we did two episodes.

01:00:33.000 We talked about all his movies.

01:00:34.000 And I said, do you remember this time I found in my diary?

01:00:37.000 Right down to the hour.

01:00:38.000 We went out to dinner.

01:00:39.000 I mean, he was so into Pulp Fiction.

01:00:40.000 Ever since I met him, my next movie's going to be Pulp Fiction.

01:00:42.000 I visited the set.

01:00:44.000 He was into it.

01:00:45.000 He finished the movie.

01:00:47.000 And I said, hey, how did...

01:00:48.000 Because I live here in Austin.

01:00:49.000 I'm going to hang out with him, except when I go to L.A. How did your movie come out?

01:00:53.000 He goes, yeah.

01:00:54.000 It's not the one.

01:00:55.000 It still feels like a movie Quentin would make.

01:00:58.000 I'd be like, what do you mean?

01:01:01.000 It just doesn't feel like a real movie.

01:01:02.000 It feels like another movie Quentin would make.

01:01:04.000 And I was trying to be the supportive friend because I knew how much he would put in.

01:01:08.000 It should be different.

01:01:09.000 It was like 2 in the morning and I was dropping him off at home after we'd been out.

01:01:14.000 And so I went back to Austin and he had had a screening for all his director friends that I couldn't be at because I lived in Austin.

01:01:20.000 So I called one of them.

01:01:21.000 I said, how was the screening?

01:01:22.000 He was a little bummed about it.

01:01:23.000 He goes, nah, this isn't the one for him.

01:01:25.000 I was like, really?

01:01:26.000 Yeah, it's just too, yeah, it's just not it.

01:01:30.000 And I asked him this, and he goes, you're right.

01:01:32.000 You know, he'd forgotten about that moment.

01:01:34.000 He goes, in fact, yeah, people didn't get it.

01:01:36.000 And in fact, and he didn't get it either.

01:01:38.000 He wasn't sure if it was it.

01:01:40.000 In fact, one filmmaker even said, I want to sit you down and tell you all the things that are wrong with this movie.

01:01:47.000 But I'll wait till you get back from Cannes.

01:01:50.000 He goes to Cannes.

01:01:51.000 He wins Cannes.

01:01:52.000 And the friend left him a message.

01:01:53.000 What the hell do I know?

01:01:54.000 I've only made one movie.

01:01:56.000 Everyone's mind was changed.

01:01:57.000 So he was surprised by it, too.

01:01:59.000 So I just want people to hear that because you're making something groundbreaking.

01:02:03.000 It's not like you're going, I'm making something groundbreaking.

01:02:05.000 You don't know that it's going to do that.

01:02:07.000 Sometimes things overperform.

01:02:08.000 That's why if you just commit to a body of work, you're not going to know which one's going to be your Pulp Fiction, which one's going to be your Four Rooms.

01:02:15.000 And if you just do that, because I saw a lot of people get hurt, like John Carpenter.

01:02:19.000 Made the thing.

01:02:20.000 He thought he made a great movie.

01:02:22.000 He thought he made an amazing movie.

01:02:24.000 Bombs.

01:02:25.000 Critics called it pornography at the time, if you remember.

01:02:28.000 Like, just the makeup effects of it.

01:02:30.000 Audiences didn't go.

01:02:31.000 It came out the same weekend, unfortunately, as E.T., right?

01:02:35.000 Why did they call it pornography?

01:02:36.000 Just because it was just so self-indulgent and gross and nasty.

01:02:39.000 I mean, they really, like, reamed him to the point...

01:02:42.000 So the special effects?

01:02:43.000 Yeah, the special effects are really crazy.

01:02:45.000 Really?

01:02:47.000 If you don't remember the time, it was really like that.

01:02:49.000 There was repulsion towards this movie.

01:02:52.000 Wow.

01:02:52.000 I know you don't think that now, because ten years later...

01:02:55.000 I thought it was a hit.

01:02:56.000 No, it was not.

01:02:57.000 Wow.

01:02:58.000 Ten years later, it was suddenly considered a classic.

01:03:03.000 Now, if he had committed to a body of work, he would have just let that roll off his shoulders and just don't blink.

01:03:07.000 But it really fucks you up if you think, my instincts must be off.

01:03:11.000 I thought I made a great movie.

01:03:12.000 It's a great fucking movie.

01:03:13.000 It's a great fucking movie, but if no one else is saying that...

01:03:16.000 So I asked Quentin, who...

01:03:18.000 George Lucas had the same thing.

01:03:20.000 He showed famously Star Wars to all his director friends.

01:03:23.000 And they're all like, poor George.

01:03:25.000 He's wasted all his time on this movie.

01:03:27.000 And Spielberg was the only one who was like, it's naive.

01:03:30.000 It'll do good.

01:03:32.000 And so I asked Quentin, was there anybody in that director's group?

01:03:35.000 And he goes, yes, there was one.

01:03:37.000 Catherine Begalo.

01:03:38.000 She was the one who was championed and said, this is something new and different.

01:03:42.000 No one else was saying that.

01:03:44.000 That's pretty amazing, right?

01:03:45.000 That's super amazing.

01:03:47.000 It's really...

01:03:47.000 And I would have forgotten it if I had not written it down.

01:03:49.000 There's a lot of films that slip through the cracks for whatever reason or they don't get received.

01:03:56.000 You know what I saw recently that I fucking loved?

01:03:58.000 The Monkey.

01:04:00.000 Did you see The Monkey?

01:04:01.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:04:02.000 It's a Stephen King book.

01:04:04.000 Or it might have been a short story.

01:04:06.000 It was a short story.

01:04:08.000 It was adapted.

01:04:09.000 Skeleton crew or something.

01:04:10.000 It's fucking fun, man.

01:04:12.000 My youngest daughter loves horror movies.

01:04:14.000 We watch a lot of horror movies together.

01:04:16.000 And we were looking for something the other night.

01:04:19.000 And we were like, alright, let's take a chance on this.

01:04:21.000 Had no idea what it was.

01:04:23.000 Watched the trailer.

01:04:24.000 I'm like, are you in?

01:04:25.000 She's like, okay, this is good.

01:04:27.000 So, it's...

01:04:28.000 Fucking chaos.

01:04:30.000 It's such a chaotic, insane, hyper-violent movie.

01:04:35.000 Right, right.

01:04:35.000 But funny and just, you know, kind of scary.

01:04:40.000 It was really good, man.

01:04:41.000 It was like a classic, what I really love about the early Stephen King work.

01:04:46.000 Like, his early work was like...

01:04:48.000 Here's one that fell through the cracks.

01:04:50.000 And I was there at Sony when we were doing...

01:04:53.000 Mariachi Desperado, when this movie came out, I remember the marketing team said, we have a really great movie.

01:04:57.000 Unfortunately, no one's going to see it because of the title.

01:04:59.000 So what is it called?

01:05:00.000 Shawshank Redemption.

01:05:02.000 Oh, my God.

01:05:03.000 And it bombed.

01:05:04.000 What?

01:05:05.000 Oh, Shawshank Redemption bombed.

01:05:06.000 What?

01:05:07.000 It was a bomb.

01:05:08.000 How?

01:05:09.000 Nobody went to see it.

01:05:10.000 It's called Shawshank Redemption.

01:05:11.000 And what the hell is it?

01:05:12.000 Guys in prison?

01:05:13.000 Nobody went to see it.

01:05:14.000 And this was Sony marketing.

01:05:15.000 They just couldn't get anybody to go see it.

01:05:17.000 Wow.

01:05:18.000 But you've...

01:05:19.000 History gets rewritten.

01:05:20.000 Now, again, you can be Frank Darabont and be, like, really down.

01:05:23.000 But fortunately, he didn't have to wait 10 years.

01:05:25.000 As soon as it got to video, it became a phenomenon in video.

01:05:29.000 And now it's considered, if you go on IMDb, it's always neck and neck with The Godfather is the best movie of all time.

01:05:35.000 Wow.

01:05:35.000 That is a movie nobody saw.

01:05:37.000 So again, look, don't blink.

01:05:39.000 Commit to a body of work.

01:05:40.000 You may make a classic.

01:05:41.000 It might be the thing, and you're not going to hear about that for 10 years.

01:05:43.000 Just keep going.

01:05:45.000 That's incredible.

01:05:45.000 Don't let it make you question your instincts, because your instincts...

01:05:49.000 I would have never guessed Shawshank was a failure.

01:05:52.000 There's a lot of movies that are like...

01:05:53.000 Incredible.

01:05:54.000 That was a time when people could really get a second life on video.

01:05:59.000 Now it's different with streaming and all that.

01:06:01.000 Look at this.

01:06:01.000 Opening night to see the audience to view their film, Darabont and Glotzer went to the Cinerama Dome and found no one there.

01:06:08.000 The Cinerama Dome.

01:06:09.000 Oh my god.

01:06:11.000 Oh my god.

01:06:12.000 Can we imagine?

01:06:13.000 Just like...

01:06:15.000 I thought, you know, as an artist, you're going to be going, I must be wrong.

01:06:20.000 I must have just don't have the instinct.

01:06:21.000 That's clearly a fault of the marketing.

01:06:24.000 No, it's also just...

01:06:25.000 I'm blaming them.

01:06:26.000 Yeah.

01:06:27.000 I mean, because if anyone showed up, they would have gone and screamed it to everybody else.

01:06:31.000 Sometimes it's just the way it goes.

01:06:34.000 It's supposed to go that way.

01:06:35.000 Now I'm going to tell you an alternate one.

01:06:37.000 There's a movie called Body Parts.

01:06:39.000 With a guy named Jeff Fahey.

01:06:40.000 I loved that movie Body Parts by Eric Redd.

01:06:43.000 He did The Hitcher.

01:06:44.000 You would never hear about it because the timing of it.

01:06:47.000 And Jeff Fahey was a big Jeff Fahey fan.

01:06:50.000 I remember in the early 90s, I kept going.

01:06:52.000 I was at my mother-in-law's and across the street was a dollar theater showing body parts.

01:06:55.000 I'd go every night at 7 p.m.

01:06:57.000 I'd go for a dollar.

01:06:58.000 It was at the second run and watch it just to hear how an audience responds to it.

01:07:02.000 And he was just great in it.

01:07:04.000 I just felt a connection to this guy.

01:07:05.000 I go, I wish I was making movies because I would work with this guy.

01:07:08.000 He's really a cool actor.

01:07:09.000 What is this about?

01:07:11.000 It's about a guy who gets in a car accident, loses his arm, and he's given the arm of a killer just to kind of just replace him.

01:07:17.000 Suddenly he starts doing things.

01:07:19.000 Oh, I remember this.

01:07:20.000 That's the same dude that was Lawnmower Man.

01:07:23.000 Yeah, he was in Lawnmower Man too.

01:07:25.000 So this should have been something that was it for him, but this week it came out, they had just caught Jeffrey Dahmer like the week before, so they pulled back on the marketing completely.

01:07:37.000 So no one saw it.

01:07:39.000 And so he didn't get that boost to his career.

01:07:41.000 But the silver lining, the key in the ashes was me.

01:07:45.000 I saw it.

01:07:47.000 Every night.

01:07:48.000 So when I went to do Grindhouse, he retired from acting.

01:07:51.000 He was in Afghanistan.

01:07:52.000 I asked for him to send a tape.

01:07:54.000 He was in Afghanistan?

01:07:54.000 Yeah, he was doing work out there.

01:07:56.000 What kind of work?

01:07:57.000 I don't remember some kind of, you know, like helping people stuff.

01:08:01.000 He sends me a tape.

01:08:03.000 And so I hired him.

01:08:04.000 I hired him to be in it.

01:08:05.000 And because he was in that movie, in fact, I'd already hired Michael Biehn.

01:08:09.000 And I went, oh shit, Jeff sent me a thing.

01:08:11.000 God, Jeff's great too.

01:08:12.000 I'll just make them brothers.

01:08:13.000 So they play brothers in Grindhouse.

01:08:15.000 Because he did that movie, he got lost, that show Lost.

01:08:19.000 His whole career came back.

01:08:21.000 So we were talking about it.

01:08:22.000 I just recently was telling him, man, it just came out on 4K.

01:08:25.000 You've got to come see.

01:08:25.000 You've probably never seen it.

01:08:26.000 He goes, I've never seen the finished movie.

01:08:28.000 And I said, you're great in it.

01:08:30.000 I was showing him some scenes.

01:08:31.000 It was blowing his mind.

01:08:31.000 He goes, yeah, this movie didn't do well.

01:08:33.000 I remember now.

01:08:34.000 Why?

01:08:34.000 Because the Jeffrey Dahmer thing just threw it.

01:08:36.000 I went, that's just how it's supposed to go.

01:08:38.000 But I saw it.

01:08:39.000 And that's why I hired you, and that's how you got that second career later on.

01:08:43.000 Because I was there every night because it was in the Dollar Theater so quick.

01:08:46.000 I wouldn't have been able to afford it.

01:08:48.000 So that's how weird shit happens, right?

01:08:50.000 It's so cool.

01:08:52.000 It makes you see that sometimes that's just how the balls roll.

01:08:56.000 It's just all interconnected somehow.

01:08:58.000 Yeah, somehow it's interconnected.

01:08:59.000 And you have to trust the process.

01:09:00.000 You just have to trust the process.

01:09:01.000 I had someone in the audience recently, I was talking about brass knuckle films, and getting everybody all stirred up about it.

01:09:10.000 And one gal goes, you're real positive, but do you have any doubts?

01:09:14.000 I was like, I wonder if I've been asked that question before.

01:09:16.000 So whenever I don't have an answer, I'll ask them first.

01:09:19.000 What do you guys think?

01:09:20.000 What do you guys think?

01:09:21.000 How would you answer?

01:09:22.000 How would you answer that?

01:09:23.000 Do you have doubts?

01:09:24.000 Do you have any human doubts?

01:09:26.000 Everyone has doubts.

01:09:28.000 It's what you do with them.

01:09:29.000 Do you let your doubts overwhelm you?

01:09:31.000 Or do you take them into consideration?

01:09:33.000 Like, are these doubts valid?

01:09:35.000 And what do I have to do to make sure that these fears don't manifest themselves as reality?

01:09:41.000 Do I have to do extra work?

01:09:43.000 Do I have to work harder?

01:09:44.000 Do I have to be more objective?

01:09:46.000 You know, you have to take into consideration that anything you're going to do that's going to be exciting...

01:09:52.000 It also carries the possibility of risk.

01:09:54.000 And the risk of failure is a thing that keeps a lot of people from acting.

01:09:59.000 So if you're going to commit to a body of work and not blink, you don't have to worry about that stuff.

01:10:05.000 There's a jiu-jitsu expression.

01:10:07.000 A lot of people use it in MMA as well.

01:10:09.000 You don't lose, you learn.

01:10:10.000 Yeah.

01:10:11.000 So if you know that's the process, this is my answer.

01:10:13.000 I said, no, I don't have any doubts.

01:10:15.000 Because I like to be counterintuitive.

01:10:17.000 Yeah, your process is long.

01:10:19.000 The thing is long.

01:10:21.000 It's not a sprint.

01:10:23.000 You're not running to a telephone pole.

01:10:24.000 You're running to the other side of the world.

01:10:26.000 Right.

01:10:26.000 Yeah.

01:10:27.000 So I tell them, no, I don't have any doubts.

01:10:31.000 Just to be counterintuitive.

01:10:32.000 And I say, why?

01:10:33.000 Because if you understand the process, why should you have a doubt?

01:10:36.000 You might fail, but it might be four rooms.

01:10:38.000 If you have an instinct to go there, or you don't know how you're going to do it, what's half the battle?

01:10:43.000 Not knowing.

01:10:44.000 That's what the magic is.

01:10:45.000 I don't have to know.

01:10:46.000 I'm going to figure it out when I'm almost done.

01:10:47.000 All those things come together.

01:10:50.000 Risk-averse early on, and it becomes a pattern.

01:10:53.000 And it's very hard to break out of.

01:10:55.000 And I always tell them, find something that you can have success in.

01:10:58.000 Find something that you enjoy doing.

01:11:00.000 It doesn't have to be a career.

01:11:02.000 It could be a game that you enjoy playing.

01:11:04.000 It could be anything.

01:11:05.000 Painting, writing.

01:11:06.000 It could be a thing that you enjoy.

01:11:08.000 Because you love it, you probably will have success at it.

01:11:10.000 Yes.

01:11:11.000 Because I'm sure you were drawing, too, in school.

01:11:13.000 I would be drawing.

01:11:14.000 All day in school.

01:11:15.000 All day.

01:11:16.000 I'd make these flip cartoon books in the sides of the dictionaries, paper dictionaries, flip cartoon movies.

01:11:22.000 I'd get the dictionary that's biggest and fattest.

01:11:24.000 I'd make these very elaborate stick figure animations.

01:11:26.000 And everyone in class loved them.

01:11:28.000 And I'd be like, I'm going to be broke.

01:11:30.000 I used to do cartoons.

01:11:31.000 Because I can't pay attention to class.

01:11:33.000 I used to do cartoons of the teachers in high school.

01:11:36.000 Yeah, and everybody loved them.

01:11:37.000 Yeah, I'd pass them around the class.

01:11:38.000 And I got in trouble a bunch of times for it.

01:11:40.000 And one time I had this...

01:11:42.000 Science teacher, Mr. Holman.

01:11:44.000 And Mr. Holman was very odd, very eccentric guy.

01:11:48.000 And so I drew a cartoon of him behind his screen.

01:11:53.000 So he had a screen that he pulled down where he could show like films.

01:11:56.000 And then when he pulls the screen up, he had no idea that on the chalkboard I had written, I had drawn this cartoon of him and the whole fucking...

01:12:04.000 Class starts laughing.

01:12:05.000 The power of the pen you had back then, right?

01:12:07.000 Yeah, it was like my first introduction to being a comedian.

01:12:10.000 It's very satisfying.

01:12:12.000 But did you think you were going to make a career out of that?

01:12:14.000 No!

01:12:15.000 No, of course not.

01:12:16.000 I was thinking, oh my god, I'm going to be so broke.

01:12:18.000 I can't understand what they're talking about.

01:12:20.000 I'm way behind.

01:12:22.000 And I'm not the best artist, so it's not like, I'm going to...

01:12:25.000 Like I'm some protege or something.

01:12:28.000 I'm fucked.

01:12:28.000 But that's ended up being my career, was just doing that stuff.

01:12:31.000 Because you love it so much.

01:12:32.000 So I ask people, if you want to find what you're passionate, what is that thing that you run off to do on the weekend?

01:12:36.000 Right.

01:12:37.000 I was always going to making movies and I was doing that.

01:12:39.000 Once you're done punching the clock all week, what is it that you go run to?

01:12:42.000 That's probably your passion.

01:12:43.000 Put more effort into that and you'll actually find.

01:12:46.000 Success doing it.

01:12:47.000 100%.

01:12:47.000 You put stuff together, suddenly opportunities are going to fall in your lap.

01:12:52.000 And if that's not it, at least you'll have learned that you could follow this process to get good at something or get really deeply involved in something, and you could apply that to other things.

01:13:00.000 It might be a new thing that you get excited about.

01:13:02.000 So this is what I applied it to, because I'd forgotten this lesson, which was, just say you're this person.

01:13:08.000 Stop aspiring.

01:13:09.000 Right.

01:13:09.000 Our words we use are so powerful.

01:13:11.000 If you say, well, you know, I'm probably not going to be successful.

01:13:15.000 Well, that's your lot in life.

01:13:16.000 You just did that to yourself.

01:13:18.000 Yeah, self-defining.

01:13:18.000 So I had a friend of mine, I mean, like, I always hated working out.

01:13:25.000 I didn't follow any sports, didn't know sports in high school.

01:13:29.000 They go, we need you.

01:13:30.000 It's a small school.

01:13:31.000 We need you on the team.

01:13:32.000 You're tall and everything.

01:13:33.000 You play basketball.

01:13:34.000 I don't know how to play any of these things.

01:13:36.000 I hate working out.

01:13:37.000 There's a line in the faculty that I gave to Elijah Wood because that was my line to teachers when they'd make me one run and go, I don't think a person should run unless he's being chased.

01:13:44.000 And they would leave me alone.

01:13:46.000 But I hated it.

01:13:47.000 And so then I became a filmmaker.

01:13:49.000 Oh, when I was a cartoonist, my back kept going out.

01:13:52.000 19, I'm like, have a cane and my back would be out for like a month because I would sit.

01:13:56.000 Oh, wow.

01:13:57.000 Kitchen table drawing.

01:13:58.000 I was so tall that it was just, it would throw my back up.

01:14:01.000 I would just, disc would go out.

01:14:02.000 And then when I started filmmaking, every year it would just go out like clockwork.

01:14:06.000 So I'm operating the camera, I'm operating the steady cam.

01:14:08.000 And when I was doing, you know, Spy Kids 2, I think, with Ricardo Montalban had a bad back that he got surgery and it fucked him up.

01:14:15.000 And he was in a wheelchair.

01:14:16.000 He was paralyzed.

01:14:17.000 So he's in a wheelchair and I'm with a walker because my back went out and he goes...

01:14:21.000 Robert, I'm 84 years old.

01:14:23.000 What's your excuse?

01:14:25.000 You gotta work out, Robert.

01:14:26.000 He was always in shape, Ricardo.

01:14:28.000 That chest in Star Trek II, that's his chest.

01:14:32.000 I know, and he was in his late 60s, or his mid-60s.

01:14:36.000 They fused his spine, is that what they did?

01:14:38.000 Yeah, they did something and fucked him up.

01:14:39.000 God damn it.

01:14:41.000 Every time I hear a story like that, I wish I could talk to that guy before he did that.

01:14:45.000 I know.

01:14:46.000 And he went to a good place, but they just hit something wrong.

01:14:48.000 They fucked him up.

01:14:49.000 It happens to so many people.

01:14:51.000 So I go, okay, I don't want that to happen to me.

01:14:53.000 But I don't know how to work out.

01:14:54.000 So the next year I worked with Stallone.

01:14:56.000 Class Stallone.

01:14:57.000 I got to get in shape because my back keeps going out and I don't like to work.

01:15:01.000 He goes, get thee a trainer.

01:15:02.000 Anyone you've ever seen in Hollywood who got in shape, they had a trainer.

01:15:05.000 What about you?

01:15:06.000 Oh, I need a trainer.

01:15:07.000 You need a trainer.

01:15:08.000 Well, then if you need a trainer, Mr. Rocky, what chance do us mortal men have?

01:15:14.000 So I hired a trainer.

01:15:15.000 And guess what happened?

01:15:16.000 Hated it.

01:15:17.000 Hated it.

01:15:17.000 I'd hide from the guy.

01:15:18.000 He'd come to my house.

01:15:19.000 I'd pay him not to show up.

01:15:20.000 I'd hate it.

01:15:21.000 I'd hide.

01:15:22.000 I'd call in sick.

01:15:23.000 And then when he did get me, I'd be like half-assed in the workouts, you know, because I hated it.

01:15:29.000 And then one year, it was just torture.

01:15:32.000 I knew I had to do it, but...

01:15:33.000 So this is my point, is that sometimes it's not a lack of desire.

01:15:38.000 So when people really want to become something, they're not getting it.

01:15:41.000 It's not because I have to change their minds.

01:15:43.000 There's something that goes with it.

01:15:44.000 I have plenty of desire.

01:15:46.000 I was paying this guy.

01:15:47.000 I wanted to get in shape.

01:15:48.000 I didn't want my back going out anymore.

01:15:49.000 I had the desire.

01:15:49.000 I was missing another key element that I figured out.

01:15:52.000 And it's a lesson I already knew, which was stop aspiring, but I forgot it.

01:15:56.000 So this woman, a friend of mine from Mexico, shows up.

01:15:58.000 She's a production manager.

01:16:02.000 I have to stop smoking.

01:16:03.000 My doctor said I have to stop smoking or I'm going to die.

01:16:05.000 I've been smoking since I was eight years old.

01:16:07.000 I said, well, you're going to go back to smoking.

01:16:10.000 Because you just told me that's your identity.

01:16:12.000 You've been doing this since you were eight.

01:16:13.000 So right now you're a smoker who's not smoking.

01:16:16.000 Eventually, you're going to conform to your identity.

01:16:19.000 You have to change your identity.

01:16:20.000 You have to say, I'm a non-smoker.

01:16:22.000 I'm a non-smoker.

01:16:23.000 Because what does a non-smoker do?

01:16:24.000 They hate smoke.

01:16:25.000 They get sick of the smell of smoke.

01:16:26.000 She was like, okay, I'll try it.

01:16:28.000 I don't know what happened to her, but I thought...

01:16:29.000 The voice is killing me.

01:16:31.000 She really talks like that.

01:16:33.000 So then I go, wait a minute.

01:16:35.000 Shit, I used to...

01:16:36.000 I used to apply to filming, but that's all I was back there.

01:16:38.000 Where else in my life can I do a 180?

01:16:41.000 And it's got to be a 180.

01:16:43.000 Because if it's just a matter of degrees, it's bullshit.

01:16:45.000 Yeah.

01:16:45.000 It's much easier if it's just opposite day.

01:16:47.000 So I went, oh my God, working out.

01:16:49.000 I hate working out.

01:16:50.000 Of course I hate working out.

01:16:51.000 Because I tell my trainer and everyone who will listen how much I hate it.

01:16:54.000 I'm an athlete.

01:16:56.000 Ooh.

01:16:56.000 I'm an athlete.

01:16:57.000 The last thing I would ever call myself, Mr. Cartoon Guy.

01:17:01.000 Wow.

01:17:01.000 I'm an athlete.

01:17:02.000 By the next day, what does an athlete do?

01:17:06.000 Loves to work out.

01:17:06.000 Makes time to work out.

01:17:08.000 Eats right.

01:17:09.000 And it's got to be opposite day.

01:17:10.000 It's much easier.

01:17:11.000 One goes lay on the couch and they just kind of, no, I'm going to go work out.

01:17:13.000 Or there's a donut.

01:17:15.000 Not going to cut it in half and eat half.

01:17:16.000 That's bullshit.

01:17:17.000 Those degrees fuck you up.

01:17:19.000 Opposite day.

01:17:20.000 There's a donut?

01:17:21.000 No, I'm going to reach for an apple.

01:17:23.000 Not only was I able to work out, this was 14 years ago.

01:17:25.000 I didn't need a trainer again.

01:17:28.000 Ever.

01:17:28.000 I would just be like making myself do it because I'm an athlete.

01:17:31.000 That's how powerful the mind is.

01:17:34.000 So, I was saying, if someone says, ah, I want to go do this thing on the weekend, you might have the desire, but you've got to get the identity, too.

01:17:41.000 You've got to say you're that.

01:17:42.000 And it sounds a little awkward.

01:17:44.000 Like, I asked somebody, Alex Friedman, I said, do you consider yourself a creative person?

01:17:49.000 And he went, well, you know...

01:17:52.000 That's a good impression!

01:17:53.000 I said, you're stuttering there, man.

01:17:55.000 You're stuttering, you're stuttering.

01:17:57.000 He goes, I know, I know.

01:17:58.000 I said, no, no, no, you've got to say...

01:17:59.000 And are you technical?

01:18:01.000 And he goes, yeah.

01:18:01.000 Okay.

01:18:02.000 You're technical and creative.

01:18:03.000 That was the first thing that stuck in my ear.

01:18:06.000 It's also what Jim Cameron is.

01:18:08.000 It's also what George Lucas is.

01:18:09.000 Technical and creative.

01:18:10.000 When I first had my first job, my dad had a friend who owned a photo shop.

01:18:15.000 And he said, go work for my friend Mario for your summer job when I was 16. I went to work for Mario processing film for photos.

01:18:21.000 And he gave me a camera and film and said, go home and take pictures with this because I need you to know.

01:18:25.000 How to use that camera so you can help me sell the cameras.

01:18:27.000 So I went home, and I'm from a family of nine kids.

01:18:30.000 I mean, ten kids, nine siblings.

01:18:32.000 Taking all these pictures of them, doing cool stuff.

01:18:35.000 Go back, he looks at the pictures, and he goes, Whoa, these are really creative.

01:18:38.000 You're creative.

01:18:40.000 You've got to now learn how to be technical.

01:18:42.000 Because most creative people always need technicians, and technicians always need creative people.

01:18:46.000 Now, it's against you.

01:18:47.000 It's just a gift you have.

01:18:49.000 They can never really be creative.

01:18:50.000 They'll just be technical.

01:18:51.000 Because you have creativity, if you apply yourself, it's against your nature, but if you apply yourself and learn the technical part, you'll be technical and creative, and you'll be impossible, and you'll be unstoppable.

01:19:01.000 And I was like, whoa, unstoppable, 16. Go great advice.

01:19:05.000 I know, sometimes, and I'm going to ask you about who did that for you.

01:19:09.000 Who was, because if you look at all the different turning points in your life, there was probably somebody who sent you in a direction.

01:19:19.000 It comes through them.

01:19:21.000 Because if I were to go back and ask that guy, hey, that advice you gave me, he'd be like, what?

01:19:24.000 I don't remember saying that.

01:19:26.000 It kind of just came through him at the time.

01:19:28.000 Yeah, right, right, right.

01:19:28.000 So he pointed me that way, and that's why I went and made a mariachi by myself.

01:19:32.000 I didn't want to take anybody because I wanted to learn.

01:19:34.000 I didn't know how to use that camera, but if you go ask somebody to do it for you, your I need list, if you make a list of all the things you need before you can make your dream happen, the longer that list is, The less that's going to happen.

01:19:47.000 You've got to reduce it down to nothing.

01:19:48.000 Me, my hands, my bootstraps, this camera, I'm going to figure it out on the day.

01:19:53.000 Be technical and creative.

01:19:55.000 So I told Lex, now you've got to own it.

01:19:58.000 When I say, are you creative?

01:20:00.000 Yeah, I'm creative.

01:20:01.000 And I'm technical.

01:20:03.000 And I don't blink.

01:20:04.000 I'm going to create a body of work.

01:20:06.000 He just walks out of there supercharged.

01:20:08.000 Lex needs a guy like you in his life all the time.

01:20:10.000 He's too self-deprecating.

01:20:12.000 He's such a brilliant guy.

01:20:14.000 And it's nice to be self-deprecating.

01:20:15.000 It's kind of a joke.

01:20:16.000 A little bit.

01:20:17.000 But the words you use in yourself are very powerful.

01:20:19.000 He beats himself up.

01:20:20.000 The words you use.

01:20:21.000 And you're doing that to yourself.

01:20:22.000 Yeah.

01:20:22.000 The guy throwing cabbages at you on stage.

01:20:25.000 Look close.

01:20:26.000 It's fucking...

01:20:26.000 It's you!

01:20:28.000 You're doing that to yourself.

01:20:30.000 You're the one who's like...

01:20:31.000 Yeah, he's doing it to himself.

01:20:31.000 You do that to yourself with your words.

01:20:33.000 He'll make, like, Twitter posts about how down he is, and I want to go over to his house and fucking shake him like a baby.

01:20:38.000 Yeah, dude, you're down.

01:20:39.000 You're going to stay down.

01:20:40.000 I have this theory called baseline.

01:20:42.000 I talk to some of my kids, and we just laugh about it.

01:20:43.000 I go, okay, when shit fucks up, but shit's not going right.

01:20:47.000 Don't be down about it.

01:20:48.000 Don't feel like you're in a slump because now you just stuck yourself in a grave and it's gonna be hard to climb out.

01:20:52.000 Right.

01:20:53.000 When shit isn't going right.

01:20:54.000 Oh, the tire's flat.

01:20:55.000 Oh, I got fired.

01:20:56.000 I call that baseline.

01:20:58.000 You're a baseline.

01:21:00.000 Anything above baseline.

01:21:02.000 Like this right now.

01:21:03.000 We're here having this weird talk.

01:21:04.000 This is way above baseline.

01:21:05.000 Yeah.

01:21:05.000 I'm on the Joe Rogan show.

01:21:07.000 You know, so way above baseline.

01:21:09.000 Celebrate that shit.

01:21:10.000 Yeah.

01:21:10.000 Because it's not always there.

01:21:12.000 Don't say that you're gonna go down.

01:21:14.000 You're just gonna go to baseline.

01:21:15.000 It's much easier to accept, and then you're not in a negative position.

01:21:18.000 You're just kind of at a normal.

01:21:20.000 I'm at a normal, and I'll really appreciate when anything above baseline happens.

01:21:23.000 My daughter, I'm about to go play an arena show.

01:21:25.000 She's going to sing.

01:21:26.000 I'm going to play with my band.

01:21:27.000 I told her, way above baseline.

01:21:29.000 We're going to get a nice hotel.

01:21:30.000 We're going to really celebrate this, because this shit doesn't always happen.

01:21:35.000 And when everything is going really, really wrong, baseline.

01:21:38.000 Only when things are really down would you call yourself low and you don't want to do that.

01:21:42.000 Otherwise you'll stay there for a much longer time.

01:21:45.000 If you're just a baseline, that's just life.

01:21:47.000 Oh yeah, I tried to go make that movie and it didn't work.

01:21:49.000 Baseline.

01:21:49.000 That's such solid advice.

01:21:51.000 It's really, it's mindset.

01:21:52.000 It's all mind.

01:21:53.000 It's all stuff you're doing to yourself.

01:21:54.000 Yes.

01:21:55.000 And these are things I like to pass on to people because when they come back and give it back to me, I don't know if you'd give your kids advice as you learn it because you learn so much.

01:22:03.000 You've got the best job in the world.

01:22:04.000 You're learning all day.

01:22:05.000 I bet you don't know if it's going to stick with them.

01:22:08.000 I was shocked how much stuff not only sticks, but they come back and they feed it back to me.

01:22:13.000 Oh yeah.

01:22:14.000 Dad.

01:22:15.000 It's just like you taught me.

01:22:17.000 They also learn by watching you do it.

01:22:19.000 I've seen you move through the world.

01:22:21.000 You're the dad and you're making all these films.

01:22:24.000 You're involved.

01:22:25.000 You have action.

01:22:27.000 There's a lot of action.

01:22:28.000 You're constantly in motion.

01:22:29.000 You're doing things.

01:22:30.000 You're creating things.

01:22:31.000 That's inspiring to them.

01:22:32.000 They absorb that.

01:22:33.000 If you're down on yourself all the time, they go, okay, that's life.

01:22:39.000 That's going to happen to me.

01:22:40.000 Or you can reject that and be the opposite.

01:22:43.000 I have a friend and his...

01:22:44.000 His family was alcoholics.

01:22:46.000 He's never had a drop of drink in his life.

01:22:48.000 And he's super disciplined because of that.

01:22:54.000 I'll tell you my secret.

01:22:54.000 I've never done drugs.

01:22:56.000 None?

01:22:57.000 None.

01:22:57.000 Nothing?

01:22:58.000 I've never been drunk.

01:22:58.000 Yeah, you don't even drink coffee, you were saying.

01:22:59.000 I don't even drink coffee.

01:23:00.000 You were telling that story because it's so hilarious.

01:23:02.000 Oh, a friend of mine.

01:23:03.000 What was his name?

01:23:04.000 He was working at the Sony when I first got there for mariachi.

01:23:09.000 And I was like, this kid.

01:23:10.000 And there were people my age who were assistants.

01:23:12.000 And he was like...

01:23:14.000 Falling asleep at his desk.

01:23:15.000 And I'm like, why are you falling asleep?

01:23:16.000 And he goes, I'm trying to get off coffee.

01:23:19.000 And I was like, oh my god, I'm never going to get on coffee.

01:23:21.000 I want those guys getting their hooks in me.

01:23:23.000 And then over the years, I see Starbucks showing up.

01:23:25.000 Everybody like zombies going in there having to get their coffee.

01:23:28.000 As I drink some right now.

01:23:29.000 It's fucking all marketing.

01:23:30.000 It's made to be addictive, like nicotine and all that.

01:23:33.000 And then your buddy can't create that.

01:23:35.000 And I already stay up for days as it is.

01:23:38.000 I don't want anything like that.

01:23:39.000 Do you really?

01:23:40.000 Normally?

01:23:41.000 I just did this.

01:23:43.000 What's your favorite workout music?

01:23:45.000 Mine?

01:23:45.000 Wu-Tang Clan.

01:23:46.000 I just did a...

01:23:48.000 I love classic stuff like Van Halen and stuff, but I did a music video for Wolfgang Van Halen and we shot it in two days and I was up two days cutting it because I just wanted to see what was going to happen next.

01:23:59.000 Two days?

01:24:00.000 Two days.

01:24:00.000 I was just like, I want to see what happens next.

01:24:02.000 You don't even notice.

01:24:03.000 My shoulder is getting all fucked up and I'm like, what's wrong with my shoulder?

01:24:06.000 Did I pull a muscle and doing some shrugs or something?

01:24:08.000 I went back to sit in that chair and was like, oh, because I've been sitting like this for two days.

01:24:13.000 Sitting just doing this.

01:24:14.000 That's insane.

01:24:16.000 But it's really cool.

01:24:17.000 Don't you hit a point of diminishing returns where it's like you're so tired that you really will be better off sleeping?

01:24:22.000 It's different with editing.

01:24:23.000 Editing is a weird...

01:24:25.000 I was thinking that as I was doing it.

01:24:26.000 I go, I wish I could do this with writing, where I could just write for two days straight.

01:24:30.000 But your words will knock me out, put me to sleep after a while.

01:24:34.000 Editing is just visual stimulus, and you're so excited.

01:24:36.000 I kept going, okay, one more hour, one more hour.

01:24:38.000 And you just can't stop.

01:24:40.000 You just can't stop because now you're seeing it.

01:24:42.000 It came out so cool.

01:24:43.000 It's going to drop like next week.

01:24:45.000 It rips your head off.

01:24:46.000 It's a great workout song for sure, but it's just really entertaining.

01:24:49.000 That's incredible.

01:24:50.000 The kid's telling me he does all the instruments himself.

01:24:52.000 Really?

01:24:53.000 Yeah, he plays every instrument.

01:24:54.000 He plays the drums, the bass, the guitar, sings, writes the songs.

01:24:58.000 When he goes on tour, he takes this really great band with him because he can't play all the parts.

01:25:01.000 But the album is his third album.

01:25:03.000 He's working on his...

01:25:05.000 He plays all the instruments.

01:25:07.000 Wow.

01:25:07.000 Super talented.

01:25:08.000 Really, really fun.

01:25:09.000 But I like working with people who just do more than...

01:25:12.000 Than other people.

01:25:13.000 They're just at that level, and it's so inspiring.

01:25:16.000 It inspires you.

01:25:17.000 It's fuel.

01:25:18.000 Yeah, definitely fuel.

01:25:19.000 That's why I always tell people, if you can surround yourself with other people that are really getting after it in life, it will 100% motivate you.

01:25:25.000 Completely.

01:25:26.000 In a different way.

01:25:27.000 Completely.

01:25:27.000 Instead of having that procrastination feeling, you get up excited.

01:25:30.000 You have to.

01:25:31.000 And it's like, you know, your parents tell you, be careful who your peers are when you're younger, because it means one thing.

01:25:36.000 Oh, yeah.

01:25:37.000 But later, even more.

01:25:38.000 Like when I started going to the film festival, and there's Quentin.

01:25:41.000 And then I meet Jim Cameron.

01:25:42.000 And then you meet like George Lucas.

01:25:43.000 It's like, you can't hang with these guys if you're not accomplishing something.

01:25:46.000 Right.

01:25:46.000 So then when they say, hey, what are you up to?

01:25:48.000 Well, I'm down in Texas and I got my own studio and I'm pioneering digital filmmaking and green screen technology and I want to make the first digital 3D movie.

01:25:54.000 And they go, oh, okay, cool.

01:25:56.000 So you can hang out.

01:25:56.000 I'm like, oh, okay, I can hang out here for a while.

01:25:59.000 God, I got to be doing something.

01:26:01.000 That's a great one, by the way.

01:26:02.000 But still, compared to what they're doing, you know, when I first met Jim Cameron.

01:26:05.000 Yeah, but it's still exciting.

01:26:06.000 When I first met Jim Cameron.

01:26:07.000 That's why you don't want to be around people who you're the best.

01:26:10.000 You're better, you know.

01:26:11.000 Right.

01:26:12.000 You want to be the one that they're swinging higher than you.

01:26:14.000 Yes, yes, yes.

01:26:14.000 So surround yourself with those people and do something so that they let you hang with them.

01:26:19.000 But you want to learn.

01:26:20.000 Like here's to Jim Cameron, for instance.

01:26:22.000 When I met him, I really wanted to impress the hell out of him.

01:26:23.000 So I said, I'm about to go do Desperado and I can't afford a Steadicam operator.

01:26:28.000 So I took a three-day Steadicam course and I'm going to operate it myself on the movie.

01:26:33.000 I'm going to operate the Steadicam, that big beast of a camera.

01:26:36.000 And he went, I bought a Steadicam.

01:26:39.000 But not to operate it.

01:26:41.000 I'm going to take it apart and design a better one.

01:26:43.000 So I was like, that's completely who he is.

01:26:46.000 Us mere mortals are like trying to operate the thing.

01:26:49.000 He's designing whole new systems.

01:26:51.000 And if you think of it, that's very consistent with who he is.

01:26:53.000 That's the person you want to hang out with.

01:26:54.000 Not someone, the guy had said, oh, me too.

01:26:57.000 I'm doing the same thing.

01:26:58.000 Didn't he go to the bottom of the Mariana Trench or some shit?

01:27:01.000 In the summary that he designed?

01:27:03.000 Yeah, it's on his desk.

01:27:05.000 It's like this big.

01:27:06.000 On his desk.

01:27:06.000 This green machine.

01:27:08.000 And I was looking at it going like, weren't you afraid?

01:27:12.000 I mean, I've got kids and a wife.

01:27:14.000 You've got kids and a wife.

01:27:15.000 Weren't you afraid of going down that deep and something happening?

01:27:20.000 He was like, no.

01:27:22.000 I said, why not?

01:27:25.000 Oh, I designed the escape vehicle.

01:27:28.000 So if any other bozo had done it, I'd be afraid.

01:27:30.000 But because he did it, he had all the confidence in the world.

01:27:33.000 Talk about Simon, no doubt.

01:27:35.000 That's so insane.

01:27:36.000 Isn't that hilarious?

01:27:36.000 That's great, though.

01:27:37.000 That's him, though.

01:27:38.000 It's like, yeah, if someone else had designed this escape vehicle, I'd be afraid.

01:27:41.000 But no, I did it.

01:27:42.000 So he had no pause at all.

01:27:43.000 That's so crazy.

01:27:45.000 So that's kind of confidence.

01:27:47.000 That's the people you want to hang out with.

01:27:48.000 Yeah, that's a legitimate genius.

01:27:50.000 It changes your perception of life.

01:27:52.000 And by osmosis, you pick up, I call it this...

01:27:55.000 Proximity phenomenon.

01:27:57.000 I took a painting class with Sebastian Kruger, a painter in Germany.

01:28:01.000 I saw this class that he gives for a week.

01:28:03.000 I went, I'm going to go do that class.

01:28:05.000 Not to learn how to paint so much.

01:28:07.000 I know I'll be a better director by learning paint because it's another way into creativity.

01:28:11.000 Again, you just want to get better at creativity.

01:28:13.000 So just do as many jobs as you can and that you're interested in.

01:28:16.000 Because if you just do one job, you barely know that job.

01:28:18.000 You have to do all these other ones to kind of inform it.

01:28:21.000 So I went out there.

01:28:22.000 He doesn't teach you anything.

01:28:23.000 He just paints.

01:28:25.000 I'll show you the examples before and after.

01:28:28.000 I thought for sure I did a pre-painting before we went out there.

01:28:31.000 It looks like crap.

01:28:32.000 I went, I don't know what brushes he's using and the kinds of paints.

01:28:35.000 It's a different method.

01:28:37.000 He must have some trick.

01:28:38.000 I go and he's painting this amazing Mick Jagger photo reel in front of us.

01:28:42.000 And we all can paint alongside him.

01:28:44.000 I go, what paint are you using?

01:28:46.000 It's regular paint.

01:28:47.000 What brushes are you using?

01:28:48.000 Regular brushes.

01:28:48.000 How come I can't do that?

01:28:50.000 I go back and suddenly it's a different painting.

01:28:53.000 I'm going to try one more.

01:28:54.000 It's more photoreal.

01:28:55.000 When I show it to you, it's going to blow you away.

01:28:57.000 I dropped the brush.

01:28:58.000 I was like, holy shit.

01:28:59.000 It's because I've finally given myself permission to do it.

01:29:03.000 Because you have the ability, but you're blocking it because you go, I don't know.

01:29:07.000 There's something I don't know.

01:29:08.000 Again, you're just chopping off your own leg.

01:29:10.000 By being around somebody who's doing it at that level, suddenly you can do it too.

01:29:14.000 It's like breaking the M field.

01:29:15.000 As soon as I made Mariachi, no one had ever done anything like that.

01:29:18.000 Suddenly there's 10, 12, 13 movies made.

01:29:21.000 You know, very low budget because they go, "Oh, it's possible." Now suddenly you can do it too.

01:29:25.000 And when it's in the room, when you're right near it, it's just a phenomenon that you can just glean off them without them teaching you anything, just by being around and seeing how they move through the world and seeing what they've accomplished and that they're regular people that are just accomplishing at a high level.

01:29:39.000 It just blows your mind.

01:29:41.000 That's really important in stand-up comedy.

01:29:43.000 I was having this conversation last night in the green room.

01:29:46.000 We were talking about this area of the country that's falling apart, and I was like, comedy is top-down, man.

01:29:51.000 You have to have a bunch of assassins all working together in the same location.

01:29:56.000 They all feed off each other, and then all the people coming up below, they see that.

01:30:00.000 They see these young guys that are coming up.

01:30:02.000 They see these people working really hard and constantly creating and hustling, doing all these different sets, and constantly working on new material, and they get inspired by it.

01:30:10.000 And then you see these guys get Netflix specials and it's all happening at the club.

01:30:14.000 So this club that we're doing in Austin is all about that process.

01:30:18.000 We have specifically designed it to have two open mic nights, Sunday and Monday.

01:30:23.000 So new people, no experience, get up there.

01:30:27.000 People from all across the country moving here so they can be a part of the process.

01:30:30.000 But there's like a real path to success that you could see because...

01:30:35.000 Guys like Ron White are there, guys like Shane Gillis are there, Tony Hinchcliffe, and these young guys, Derek Post, and all these young guys that are coming up that are really exciting.

01:30:45.000 It's really fun.

01:30:46.000 There's a vibe of creativity that everybody feeds off of.

01:30:50.000 I love what you've built.

01:30:51.000 You've come here, you've only been here like four years, and you've already like built this whole community.

01:30:56.000 Well, it kind of built itself, man.

01:30:58.000 It's the same thing we were talking about before with instincts.

01:31:01.000 First of all, I had the instinct to escape LA.

01:31:04.000 I was like, this is not going to change.

01:31:06.000 It's going to get worse.

01:31:07.000 I got to get the fuck out of here.

01:31:08.000 And Ron had already been here.

01:31:10.000 Ron was here in 2018.

01:31:12.000 And once my family was interested in doing it, it was pretty easy.

01:31:17.000 Because I'm one of those guys like, I just can just...

01:31:21.000 Pick up stakes and go.

01:31:23.000 I'm like, okay, life is different now.

01:31:24.000 Let's live in Texas.

01:31:25.000 I want that.

01:31:26.000 I like change.

01:31:28.000 I like not having any fucking idea what's going to happen.

01:31:32.000 I'm excited by that.

01:31:33.000 And so then once we got out here, and then Ron's like, we've got to open up a club.

01:31:36.000 I'm like, okay, we've got to open up a club.

01:31:37.000 And so then I started looking for locations, and luckily The Ritz was available.

01:31:43.000 Wow, that's right.

01:31:45.000 I'd been under contract for this One World Theater that was owned by Colt.

01:31:50.000 That fell apart.

01:31:51.000 There's a lot of issues.

01:31:51.000 Ritz is cool.

01:31:52.000 It's right down there with all the line.

01:31:53.000 Oh, the Ritz was the perfect spot.

01:31:55.000 When the Ritz was available, it was like, oh my god, this is it.

01:31:58.000 And then we walked in and it was still the Alamo, so it was set up for a movie theater with the angle, slope seating.

01:32:06.000 And then we had to change everything, but I'm like, this is it.

01:32:08.000 And then I started bringing in other comics to help me.

01:32:11.000 I'm like, what would you do?

01:32:12.000 And Louis C.K. came and he was like, I think you should make this stage smaller.

01:32:15.000 Make the stage smaller.

01:32:16.000 I think you should make the ceiling lower.

01:32:18.000 Make the ceiling lower.

01:32:19.000 So we were able to do whatever we wanted to do and design the club from scratch just for comics.

01:32:27.000 And once everybody knew that it was happening, people just started moving here, man.

01:32:31.000 So great.

01:32:32.000 It was nuts.

01:32:32.000 You build it, they will come.

01:32:33.000 It really was like that.

01:32:34.000 But it was like the universe wanted it to happen.

01:32:38.000 And I say that and it sounds so...

01:32:40.000 Self-important.

01:32:41.000 No, no.

01:32:42.000 I believe that.

01:32:43.000 It's just you're stumbling upon these ideas.

01:32:45.000 So many things had to happen in this order for it to happen this way.

01:32:50.000 And then you had to have someone who's like me, who's accustomed to just going by instinct.

01:32:56.000 And I've always done that.

01:32:57.000 My whole life, I'm like, fuck it.

01:32:59.000 Let's do this.

01:32:59.000 I'm like, that's what I do.

01:33:01.000 And so when this came up, I'm like, okay, well, you're not going to stop doing what you do now.

01:33:05.000 Don't be a pussy.

01:33:06.000 This is what you do.

01:33:07.000 You're going to...

01:33:08.000 Throw a bunch of money at this thing.

01:33:09.000 Let's make this happen.

01:33:11.000 And tell everybody you're doing it.

01:33:12.000 And call all your friends in L.A. and call all your friends in New York.

01:33:16.000 Come on down, man.

01:33:17.000 We're making this happen.

01:33:18.000 Wow, wow.

01:33:19.000 I tell people that after Mariachi, it's like, I never thought I could get into the industry because I didn't live in L.A. and you need contacts and all that.

01:33:27.000 So I just, you know, again, I made a practice film.

01:33:29.000 But then when it got bought and it was getting released, and it won Sundance, my practice film, I thought...

01:33:36.000 I don't have to move to LA, but they won't even know I'm not there.

01:33:39.000 Between an airplane flight and FedEx, I'll just stay here in Austin.

01:33:43.000 So for the past 35 years, people are like, why do you live in Austin?

01:33:46.000 I don't understand.

01:33:46.000 It's like, now they're all moving here.

01:33:47.000 But it's because you could just think outside of the box here.

01:33:51.000 So yeah, I would tell people...

01:33:52.000 Filmmakers, who all thought they needed to move to LA, stay where you are.

01:33:56.000 Build up your community around you.

01:33:57.000 We built this amazing community of filmmakers here.

01:33:59.000 All they made here were westerns before that.

01:34:01.000 Suddenly I was making Spy Kids, Sin City, you know, these crazy movies that really changed the ripple effects to the whole community.

01:34:07.000 It's huge because you're changing the workforce.

01:34:10.000 Yes.

01:34:10.000 And so you just...

01:34:12.000 By doing that thing, it is like an instinct.

01:34:15.000 It's like it's pre-laid out.

01:34:17.000 I tell my artist, when you come to my house, you're going to feel it.

01:34:20.000 You'll feel these connections.

01:34:22.000 And I go, I think we realize we're not that smart.

01:34:26.000 We're not smart enough to predict all that stuff.

01:34:28.000 I think we've lived this life many times before, and we forget a lot of it.

01:34:32.000 So we have a barely impression of what we're supposed to do.

01:34:36.000 But it's because we did it a thousand times and we forgot it each time.

01:34:39.000 Like a dream when you wake up from a dream.

01:34:41.000 That might be true.

01:34:42.000 Because, you know, you wake up from a dream and you go, I was a filmmaker in that dream and I had five kids.

01:34:49.000 You know, that's what it's going to be like when our life is over.

01:34:51.000 You'll wake up and it'll be like your past lifetime just goes away and then you go start again and only now you're a fish or something.

01:34:58.000 But I had this thought, wow, what if I wake up and I can barely remember the dream?

01:35:04.000 And that's it.

01:35:05.000 Because it feels like sometimes you feel like you can predict the future, but not like you can predict it.

01:35:09.000 You recognize it once it happens.

01:35:11.000 Like, oh, yeah, this is right.

01:35:13.000 But how did I know to go this way?

01:35:15.000 I didn't, on purpose, like you said, I didn't set all the things that needed to fall into place.

01:35:19.000 Too coincidental.

01:35:21.000 What is that about?

01:35:22.000 So that's why, even more, just follow your instinct.

01:35:25.000 Follow your instinct, even if it sounds bonkers.

01:35:27.000 Follow it.

01:35:28.000 And if it fails, keep going because that might be your four rooms or something.

01:35:31.000 Just keep going.

01:35:32.000 That really is an important piece of advice too.

01:35:34.000 If you're outside of a hive of like-minded thinking, you could, when you're outside of that, you can think on your own.

01:35:41.000 Go another way.

01:35:42.000 Yeah.

01:35:43.000 I mean, it's like high school.

01:35:45.000 You go back to, you know, someone famously leaves high school and goes off to college and goes off and sees the world.

01:35:50.000 They come back to their old hometown and they find their old friends still driving the same streets.

01:35:54.000 That's L.A. Yes.

01:35:56.000 They're still doing the same shit the same way.

01:35:58.000 And you just went off the reservation and discovered a whole world.

01:36:02.000 It's also their opinions.

01:36:04.000 Are only based on what's popular.

01:36:06.000 It's like you were talking about Pulp Fiction.

01:36:07.000 Like, before, they're like, what the fuck is this?

01:36:09.000 And then they're like, oh my god.

01:36:11.000 Now we gotta make something like this.

01:36:12.000 Let's make Dust of Dawn.

01:36:13.000 Like, that's what it is.

01:36:14.000 Like, they don't...

01:36:15.000 Their opinions are bullshit.

01:36:17.000 It's like, it's all just based on...

01:36:18.000 They lick their finger and they find out which way the wind's blowing and that's how they think.

01:36:23.000 And that's how they are politically.

01:36:24.000 That's how they are socially.

01:36:26.000 It's like they're nonsense people.

01:36:27.000 And you gotta get away from nothing.

01:36:29.000 Get away and just create your own thing.

01:36:30.000 The problem with comics is that we all got...

01:36:33.000 We're trapped in the velvet prison of television.

01:36:35.000 Right, right.

01:36:36.000 So television's the velvet prison.

01:36:38.000 The real art form is what we do on stage.

01:36:40.000 That's what everybody really loves.

01:36:42.000 What do you mean by being on television?

01:36:43.000 You mean like sitcoms?

01:36:44.000 Yes, sitcoms, game shows.

01:36:45.000 It seems like it's come back the other way.

01:36:47.000 So many comics have such great, like Netflix specials are massive.

01:36:51.000 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:36:52.000 Where it's basically them doing stand-up, but...

01:36:54.000 They've got a huge audience.

01:36:56.000 Exactly.

01:36:56.000 Well, what happened was the internet came along and a bunch of unconventional people became very famous on the internet without the help of Hollywood.

01:37:05.000 The Tim Dillons of the world that don't fit into this.

01:37:08.000 television box but when you get them on the internet and they can get buck wild like oh my god then they have this massive following the Theo Vaughns all these different people that have this very unconventional approach that for whatever reason wouldn't fit in and certainly couldn't host the tonight show right but you know once they get on their own and that now they develop these like there's more arena acts now for stand-up comedy than ever before in the history of comedy Yeah.

01:37:36.000 That's amazing.

01:37:37.000 Yeah.

01:37:37.000 I mean, not even close.

01:37:39.000 I mean, the only arena act in the 1980s was Andrew Dice Clay.

01:37:44.000 So first it was Steve Martin, then it was Andrew Dice Clay.

01:37:47.000 And Steve Martin kind of decided that the popularity of it all was so confusing to him that everything that he said was funny and it didn't make any sense.

01:37:54.000 And he stopped doing comedy.

01:37:55.000 He stopped doing stand-up.

01:37:56.000 Which he had a very different kind of stand-up anyway.

01:37:59.000 He played the banjo and he sang songs.

01:38:02.000 So Dice comes along and Dice Clay is selling out Arena.

01:38:05.000 It's like the first comedian ever to do that.

01:38:08.000 And then later in the 2000s, it was Dane Cook because Dane Cook figured out how to use MySpace and developed this gigantic following online.

01:38:15.000 Same kind of thing.

01:38:17.000 And so then...

01:38:19.000 By the time the pandemic hit, I was like, we don't need to be in L.A. We're not going to be on TV.

01:38:24.000 The only reason why we're in L.A. is the Comedy Store, and the Comedy Store is closed for the next fucking year and a half because of these idiots that are running the city.

01:38:34.000 We came to Texas.

01:38:35.000 And once we were out here, I was like, oh, this is so much better.

01:38:40.000 Because now, instead of being around these Hollywood people that don't really have opinions, they just go whichever way the breeze is going.

01:38:47.000 Now you're hanging out with regular folks.

01:38:49.000 Yeah.

01:38:50.000 Like regular people.

01:38:51.000 People that are cops and firemen and auto repair guys.

01:38:56.000 You're just humans.

01:38:57.000 Yeah.

01:38:58.000 So all the people I interact with are just normal humans.

01:39:00.000 That's what I always loved about living here.

01:39:01.000 It's like there weren't any filmmakers here.

01:39:04.000 So much better.

01:39:04.000 It's infinitely better.

01:39:06.000 Nicer.

01:39:07.000 Everyone's waiting.

01:39:08.000 You'll get a lot more done.

01:39:09.000 Sometimes I have two movies out a year.

01:39:11.000 I would be making this so fast because I just had a studio where it's like, let's just make more stuff.

01:39:15.000 There also has to be something cool feeling about doing it on your own, away from the hive.

01:39:20.000 Oh, way better, way better.

01:39:21.000 Yeah.

01:39:22.000 That's why it's like I try to create original franchises.

01:39:24.000 Because if you go direct one of the James Bonds, you're one of the James Bond director.

01:39:27.000 But if you create your own franchise, like a spike, it feels so much better.

01:39:31.000 Right.

01:39:31.000 When that's successful and someone says, wow, I really love that movie, you go, oh, I did that voice.

01:39:36.000 Floop us, man, man, help us, save us.

01:39:37.000 That's you?

01:39:38.000 Oh, my God, I grew up with that.

01:39:39.000 You know, it's like, oh, yeah, it's a homemade movie, you know, so it's much more gratifying.

01:39:44.000 And, yeah, I did the right thing by moving out.

01:39:46.000 One movie that seemed like it could be a franchise is Alita.

01:39:49.000 Oh, yeah, we want to do another one for sure.

01:39:51.000 For sure.

01:39:51.000 It was part of a graphic novel series.

01:39:53.000 Yes.

01:39:53.000 You got to come to my studio.

01:39:54.000 I want to go.

01:39:55.000 That city is still in my parking lot.

01:39:59.000 Really?

01:40:00.000 20-foot ceilings, seven streets.

01:40:02.000 It's like the largest standing set.

01:40:04.000 In the country, if not the world.

01:40:06.000 Can I come on Friday?

01:40:07.000 Yeah, come Friday.

01:40:08.000 You're not going to believe what's here.

01:40:09.000 Okay, we're in.

01:40:10.000 And you're going to go like, okay, because I'm putting you in a movie.

01:40:12.000 Okay.

01:40:12.000 Because talking about what you just said about how people are different here, I just started a new label.

01:40:18.000 Like the label I gave myself, I'm an athlete.

01:40:21.000 When you create a label, it's a business thing too.

01:40:24.000 What a label is is a filter.

01:40:27.000 So I'm doing an action slate so that already you get a bunch of ideas because it's just action.

01:40:32.000 An action slate of four pictures.

01:40:34.000 It's called Brass Knuckle Films.

01:40:35.000 And you're going to be in the first one because I'm going to direct the first one.

01:40:38.000 I've already got which one it is.

01:40:38.000 What are we doing?

01:40:39.000 I'll show you.

01:40:40.000 It's a great part for you.

01:40:42.000 You're going to come to the studio and I'll tell you about it.

01:40:44.000 Okay.

01:40:44.000 But Brass Knuckle Films is cool because it's the first time that it's an investable film slate.

01:40:51.000 So fans can invest in a movie.

01:40:53.000 They get perks and stuff, but it's not crowdsourcing or crowdfunding.

01:40:56.000 Like you can get killed in the movie if you put in a certain amount of investment.

01:41:00.000 But what's cool about it, I just want the audience to win because the audience is an afterthought.

01:41:04.000 Like you say, you go to the studios and the people in Hollywood and you go, they barely even watch movies.

01:41:09.000 And then you come meet the real audience and they're so into it.

01:41:12.000 They're so behind it.

01:41:14.000 It's like, where's your cut of it?

01:41:15.000 Studios only show up to an audience at the end when they want you to go get your friends to come spend money on their overpriced movies.

01:41:21.000 So I'm going to do this thing where even at $250, the lowest level, you put into this thing, any of the four movies, One of which I'm going to direct for sure, producing all of them there at Troublemaker to keep the cost down so they go to profit sooner.

01:41:34.000 Any one of these movies' success, you share in that success all the way through sequels.

01:41:39.000 And for even the $250, anyone who puts money in, you get to have that proximity effect because we have a whole group together.

01:41:47.000 That's such a great idea.

01:41:48.000 And everybody gets to pitch their action movie idea.

01:41:51.000 And I'm committed to making at least one of the movies on the slate from a fan investor's idea.

01:41:55.000 So not only will you be an investor, but you be a creator.

01:41:59.000 So we're almost already topped out.

01:42:01.000 We're going to hit our...

01:42:02.000 We still have 20 days left and it's going to surge again.

01:42:06.000 We're going to raise like 1.5 million in development funds.

01:42:11.000 And yeah, we're almost at a million already.

01:42:14.000 22 days left.

01:42:15.000 So I'm telling everybody who's listening, come in at the lowest level.

01:42:18.000 Just be part of our community because people who come here get proximity.

01:42:23.000 And the lowest level is $5?

01:42:25.000 $250.

01:42:27.000 But, you know, you...

01:42:28.000 Make that back on success of any of the movies.

01:42:32.000 That's awesome.

01:42:32.000 And it just hedges your bets.

01:42:35.000 And it's just action because there's always an appetite for action.

01:42:37.000 Like if you ask Netflix right now, what kind of movies do they need?

01:42:40.000 They'll say, action, action, action.

01:42:42.000 We don't have enough action.

01:42:42.000 Of sure.

01:42:43.000 And internationally, so we're going to make the thing that people always buy and they're also really fun to make and you're going to be perfect in it.

01:42:49.000 I want to bring you back to Frazetta.

01:42:51.000 Oh, yeah.

01:42:51.000 Because this is the thing that I wanted to pitch this to Quentin and maybe I could pitch this to you.

01:42:56.000 Sure.

01:42:57.000 Somebody.

01:42:58.000 Needs to make a real Conan the Barbarian.

01:43:01.000 Yeah.

01:43:01.000 A real Conan the Barbarian that's like the Robert E. Howard books.

01:43:04.000 Yeah.

01:43:05.000 The real Conan the Barbarian.

01:43:07.000 Those are amazing books.

01:43:07.000 Because the Arnold ones are great.

01:43:09.000 They're fun.

01:43:09.000 And Momoa, I think, is the best Conan of all time.

01:43:13.000 Because he was that...

01:43:14.000 The guy...

01:43:15.000 What was his name in Game of Thrones?

01:43:18.000 I don't remember.

01:43:19.000 Yeah.

01:43:19.000 Kirill Drago.

01:43:21.000 Yeah.

01:43:22.000 In...

01:43:23.000 He's the most realistic of all Conan's.

01:43:26.000 That's what Conan's supposed to look like.

01:43:27.000 He didn't look like a bodybuilder.

01:43:29.000 He looked like a fucking super fit assassin.

01:43:32.000 He came from the mountains of Samaria.

01:43:35.000 But the books...

01:43:37.000 Books are awesome.

01:43:38.000 They're fucking awesome.

01:43:39.000 And it's right up your alley.

01:43:40.000 It's about...

01:43:42.000 The barbarian is actually the one who's got code and who has morality.

01:43:46.000 And all the bigwigs are the ones that are like fucking crooked and shit.

01:43:49.000 It's just so classic.

01:43:51.000 And the barbarian's god crawl.

01:43:52.000 And that guy was from Texas.

01:43:53.000 Robert E. Howard was from Texas.

01:43:55.000 Outside of Dallas.

01:43:55.000 Back where I have a house where I made all these movies, it's in the land that he looked over and saw and said, that's Samaria.

01:44:04.000 That's where Conan's from.

01:44:06.000 So I always felt this connection.

01:44:07.000 I wanted to do a Conan movie.

01:44:08.000 So I almost did a Conan movie.

01:44:10.000 I even wrote Jim Cameron into wanting to do it.

01:44:13.000 Really?

01:44:13.000 We were going to do kind of like what we did with Alita.

01:44:15.000 I said, dude, let's do a Conan movie and we'll make it look like the paintings.

01:44:19.000 Technology wasn't there yet.

01:44:21.000 And I ended up doing Sin City instead.

01:44:23.000 I'd already written, it was going to be three movies.

01:44:27.000 So he does different occupations.

01:44:29.000 It's kind of built like a James Bond series, you know, where you follow him on his different.

01:44:33.000 So it starts with him as a thief.

01:44:35.000 And the second movie is him as a buccaneer mercenary.

01:44:39.000 And the third one is when he becomes king.

01:44:41.000 So the actor can grow with the role.

01:44:43.000 You know, like you took Daniel Craig and started him in Casino Royale, and by the end, he's no time to die.

01:44:48.000 You've got to get an actor who does the whole journey.

01:44:51.000 So I had a whole trilogy marked out.

01:44:54.000 Let's go, dude!

01:44:55.000 Let's go!

01:44:56.000 Netflix had it.

01:44:57.000 I went and pitched it to them, and they let the rights lapse.

01:45:00.000 Like, they had too much...

01:45:01.000 Sometimes it's too much baggage for a character.

01:45:05.000 Dude, let me call them.

01:45:06.000 Let me get on the phone with Ted Sarandos.

01:45:08.000 Let's go make it.

01:45:09.000 Hey, Jamie, can you pull up Frazetta, Conan the Usurper?

01:45:15.000 It's probably a painting called Chain.

01:45:17.000 Is that the one with the chains?

01:45:18.000 I don't.

01:45:20.000 There's a bunch of the...

01:45:21.000 He named them different than the books because of the copyright issue.

01:45:25.000 Oh, I see.

01:45:27.000 You'll find the cover of it, but the painting itself might have a different name.

01:45:30.000 If you just pull up Frazetta, Conan, because he did a bunch of them.

01:45:33.000 So you'll love this.

01:45:35.000 Yes, here we go.

01:45:36.000 Chained.

01:45:37.000 The barbarian.

01:45:39.000 Man ape.

01:45:40.000 The one when he's standing over the bodies with the sword pointed to the ground.

01:45:43.000 That's called the barbarian.

01:45:44.000 Yes, that's the one.

01:45:46.000 I remember seeing that when I was a kid.

01:45:48.000 Because I was always into graphic novels and I was always into comic books.

01:45:52.000 And I saw that when I was a kid at a comic book store.

01:45:55.000 I was probably like 11 years old and I was like, holy sh...

01:46:00.000 Shit.

01:46:00.000 That is the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen in my life.

01:46:03.000 And he's still a comic.

01:46:04.000 Let me tell you today, he has this very triangular way of composing that tells a story.

01:46:08.000 The posters still look like this.

01:46:09.000 That fucking...

01:46:10.000 Look at the one with the snake.

01:46:11.000 Again, if you see the triangular design, your eyes go immediately to the snake and then down to him.

01:46:16.000 Yes.

01:46:17.000 It tells a whole story.

01:46:18.000 I have a theory of why his art is the way it is.

01:46:21.000 Now, you know, I knew him.

01:46:22.000 Did I tell you?

01:46:23.000 Really?

01:46:24.000 Okay.

01:46:25.000 So first you get to Hollywood, right?

01:46:27.000 So I'm just this kid who's an artist.

01:46:29.000 You get to Hollywood, first thing you want to do is work with all your heroes.

01:46:32.000 So, Dusk Till Dawn, I said, I want to work with Frazetta.

01:46:34.000 Because he used to do some movie posters, like The Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood, that gauntlet one he did.

01:46:39.000 Look up The Gauntlet, Clint Eastwood, Frazetta.

01:46:44.000 And so I called him and he said, yeah, I'll do it.

01:46:46.000 In fact, when I showed him the movie, he goes, where'd you find this gal?

01:46:50.000 And I said, yeah.

01:46:52.000 That was Frazetta?

01:46:53.000 Yeah, he did that.

01:46:53.000 Wow.

01:46:54.000 So I wanted to get that for Dusk Till Dawn, right?

01:46:57.000 He said, why'd you find this gal?

01:46:58.000 I wish I had a gal like that to paint.

01:47:00.000 She's based on all your paintings.

01:47:01.000 The girl that's always in your paintings, I made Salma dress like that because it's a Frazetta come to life.

01:47:06.000 He goes, oh, that's all you need on the poster.

01:47:08.000 Well, you added all the other actors.

01:47:10.000 So when you come to the house, you'll see the painting he did.

01:47:12.000 It was the year he got his first stroke.

01:47:15.000 By the time I got the painting, we'd already made posters.

01:47:17.000 We thought, okay, it's not going to come.

01:47:18.000 And then it showed up at the last minute.

01:47:20.000 But we gave it away at comic book stores.

01:47:21.000 But it's really cool.

01:47:22.000 But at the bottom of the painting, there's some of the actors.

01:47:25.000 Peyton Harvey could tell.

01:47:26.000 He's like, the other actor's Quentin.

01:47:28.000 And then instead of vampires, he just did his monkey dudes.

01:47:31.000 He always does.

01:47:31.000 And it's really cool.

01:47:33.000 It's really cool.

01:47:34.000 But I got to know him and I got to go visit his studio because we kind of, again, it's that similar mindset.

01:47:39.000 And I didn't realize he had all his originals.

01:47:44.000 I see that little monkey dudes on the bottom.

01:47:45.000 Wow.

01:47:46.000 He had all his originals next to his house in his museum.

01:47:50.000 Like all those that you were just looking at.

01:47:52.000 They were all there.

01:47:53.000 I didn't realize, as an illustrative artist, sometimes you don't own your own material.

01:47:56.000 He made it a point to own his own originals.

01:47:59.000 So, like, the ones you just were salivating over, those were in my house.

01:48:03.000 Wow.

01:48:04.000 I wish I knew you seven years ago.

01:48:06.000 Damn.

01:48:06.000 His kids...

01:48:07.000 Oh, my God.

01:48:08.000 His kids are so impassioned about the art.

01:48:11.000 Even his granddaughter, Sarah Frazetta, she has Frazetta Girls.

01:48:14.000 This is...

01:48:15.000 They're so always, you know...

01:48:17.000 Bringing up his legacy and keeping it alive.

01:48:21.000 So cool.

01:48:21.000 But I really wanted to go do like a...

01:48:26.000 Conan-type movie or John Carter.

01:48:28.000 I wanted to do one based on Fire and Ice, which is the only one he had actually...

01:48:31.000 It was an animated film.

01:48:32.000 I thought, well, maybe if Conan's been used too much, let's do Fire and Ice as a movie because he worked on that as an animated film.

01:48:38.000 Let's just make his...

01:48:39.000 I just want his paintings to move.

01:48:40.000 Like, I had Frank Miller's art move.

01:48:41.000 I want Frazetta's paintings to move because he was transporting us to another world that we all recognized.

01:48:46.000 If you could make that Conan with the sword...

01:48:50.000 Make him look like that.

01:48:51.000 Yeah.

01:48:51.000 Go back to that photo again, Jamie.

01:48:54.000 With the sword?

01:48:55.000 It's called The Barbarian.

01:48:58.000 You could say that Conan's been done too many times.

01:49:04.000 No, the one with the sword?

01:49:05.000 Yeah, that one.

01:49:05.000 Yeah, they've never seen it like that.

01:49:07.000 Yeah.

01:49:08.000 But the thing is, it's like...

01:49:10.000 And look, that's not a guy that's just been in a gym.

01:49:12.000 Right.

01:49:12.000 He looks like a freaking beast.

01:49:13.000 He's been swinging a sword and cutting off heads.

01:49:15.000 And with technology, you can do that.

01:49:16.000 That's why I'd gotten Jim interested in it.

01:49:18.000 Let's make him look like that.

01:49:20.000 Yeah.

01:49:21.000 It's like a made-up...

01:49:22.000 Even anatomy in a way.

01:49:24.000 The books were so fucking good, man.

01:49:25.000 Even though Conan's been done a bunch of times, it hasn't been done right.

01:49:28.000 Never been done the right way, yeah.

01:49:29.000 No, it hasn't been done like the books.

01:49:31.000 And it's so ripe.

01:49:34.000 And because it was done that way first, like with Arnold in it, people just figured, oh, we'll just hire a bodybuilder to be a barbarian-type character from then on.

01:49:43.000 But to do it really like that, he's more like a James Bond character.

01:49:46.000 He goes from movie to movie.

01:49:47.000 Yes.

01:49:48.000 And he's really fucking smart.

01:49:50.000 Yes.

01:49:51.000 And he's just...

01:49:52.000 No, but I got to meet Frazetta, so keep that up for a second.

01:49:56.000 So I went to his...

01:49:57.000 We talked about his paintings and how he did it, and I got a theory on how he did this.

01:50:02.000 But when I went and saw the original, I was like, holy shit, you got all the originals.

01:50:07.000 How did you make the...

01:50:08.000 And he really loved to live life.

01:50:09.000 Like, he'd go play golf, he'd go play baseball.

01:50:11.000 He'd get an assignment, and he'd wait to the last minute and go and paint it.

01:50:17.000 So what happens when you wait to the last minute?

01:50:19.000 You have to just open up the pipe and let it through, right?

01:50:21.000 Yeah.

01:50:21.000 I think that's why we all know this place.

01:50:24.000 Collectively, Jim Cameron would come over to my house.

01:50:28.000 Del Toro, George Miller, Jon Favreau.

01:50:31.000 To see these originals in person, when you see them in person, it blows your mind.

01:50:34.000 It feels like you're being transported.

01:50:36.000 I think because he did them at the last minute, they just came from the universe.

01:50:39.000 Because that's why people relate to them.

01:50:41.000 People would just buy these paperbacks for the art.

01:50:44.000 Yes.

01:50:45.000 Conan was created in the 30s.

01:50:46.000 Yeah.

01:50:47.000 These books came out in the 60s.

01:50:48.000 Right.

01:50:48.000 They didn't become a big hit until these books came out because of the art.

01:50:51.000 Exactly.

01:50:51.000 And then when you read the stories, the stories were really great.

01:50:53.000 But they got them for the art.

01:50:55.000 100%.

01:50:56.000 And he was showing me his layout of paintings and he went, two days.

01:51:01.000 One day.

01:51:02.000 Three days.

01:51:02.000 Wow.

01:51:03.000 Four days.

01:51:04.000 Two days.

01:51:05.000 I was like, holy shit.

01:51:06.000 Just locked in.

01:51:07.000 Just locked in.

01:51:08.000 And it's just coming out.

01:51:09.000 Because he had to, and his wife would say.

01:51:11.000 Yeah, his paint was still wet when I was taking it to get shipped because he would wait until the last minute.

01:51:15.000 But these masterpieces would come out.

01:51:18.000 And I just was really inspired by him.

01:51:20.000 So when he passed away, you know, his kids said, what should we do with the art?

01:51:22.000 I said, well, let's make a movie based on the art.

01:51:24.000 Who's got this now?

01:51:26.000 They've sold some of them, but the kids, like if you go to Frank Jr., Frank Jr. still has the museum up there.

01:51:33.000 He still has a lot of the masterworks.

01:51:35.000 Each kid has some of the masterworks.

01:51:38.000 And they're all great and keeping his legacy going.

01:51:41.000 And I want to make a movie about it just to get his name back up.

01:51:44.000 You know, we're blown.

01:51:45.000 We were all inspired by him.

01:51:46.000 Oh, so inspired.

01:51:47.000 So what was so cool was...

01:51:48.000 How did he find out about those books?

01:51:51.000 I think it was just an assignment.

01:51:52.000 And he would barely read the book.

01:51:53.000 He would just be like, ah, he would just do his own thing.

01:51:55.000 So they start putting the books out more mass publishing in the 1960s.

01:52:00.000 So he does these illustrations.

01:52:02.000 He does the paintings.

01:52:03.000 Flying off the shelves.

01:52:04.000 Flying off the shelves.

01:52:05.000 Because of the paintings.

01:52:06.000 Because of the paintings.

01:52:07.000 Wow!

01:52:08.000 And those paintings and those books, no matter, even the best art book today, when you see the original, they cannot capture what the original has.

01:52:17.000 You'll be blown away.

01:52:18.000 You've got to see.

01:52:18.000 I've got like 14 different Frisettas that you've got to come see.

01:52:20.000 God!

01:52:21.000 That's so cool.

01:52:22.000 Especially as an illustrator, you're going to freak out.

01:52:24.000 We have one of the prints.

01:52:26.000 We have one of the prints.

01:52:27.000 Go back to those images, Juan.

01:52:29.000 The one that we have, Jamie, with him with the giant gorilla.

01:52:32.000 Yeah.

01:52:33.000 We have one of those where he's fighting the gorilla.

01:52:35.000 He's on its back.

01:52:36.000 He's got a red cape.

01:52:37.000 Yeah, that's called Man Ape.

01:52:39.000 Man Ape, that's right.

01:52:40.000 We just pan over to the left and it's on the left side.

01:52:42.000 I saw it.

01:52:42.000 There it is.

01:52:43.000 That's it.

01:52:43.000 We have a print of that.

01:52:45.000 That was in my house.

01:52:46.000 Oh!

01:52:47.000 The real one?

01:52:47.000 The real one.

01:52:48.000 Okay, so here's what happened.

01:52:49.000 We have that out by the pool table.

01:52:50.000 The kids said, hey.

01:52:51.000 Look how fucking cool that is.

01:52:53.000 The kids said, can you take our paintings first and show them to influential people?

01:52:57.000 Because hurricane season's coming.

01:52:59.000 They lived in Florida.

01:53:00.000 And we don't want anything to happen.

01:53:01.000 They're insured, but...

01:53:02.000 Oh my god.

01:53:03.000 They could be gone.

01:53:03.000 Oh my god.

01:53:04.000 Can you take it?

01:53:05.000 I was like, fuck yeah, I'll take them to my house.

01:53:07.000 So for a year and a half, I had these...

01:53:10.000 The barbarian one you were just, the one with the sword standing?

01:53:12.000 I had that one in my house.

01:53:13.000 Oh my god.

01:53:14.000 So I would have everyone who came to South by Southwest or was just in town, they'd come to my house and make a pizza and we would just stare and drool over the Frazettas.

01:53:23.000 Those inspired me so much as a kid to be an illustrator.

01:53:27.000 Yeah.

01:53:27.000 The Frazetta paintings and some of the drawings from the graphic novels that people had made of these inspired me so much as a kid.

01:53:38.000 It just was dreaming.

01:53:39.000 Yeah, fantasy.

01:53:41.000 It would feel like we dreamt this, too, and recognized it.

01:53:44.000 Yes.

01:53:45.000 And every young kid went, oh, I wish I was Conan.

01:53:48.000 Yeah.

01:53:48.000 You're a skinny little kid, and you're going like, is that what I'm going to be when I grow up?

01:53:52.000 No, I hate working out.

01:53:52.000 You're 11. You're like, oh, God, I wish I was that.

01:53:54.000 I wish I had that kind of power and strength.

01:53:57.000 So I don't know if you've ever read these books, but they were based on Ms. Comics.

01:54:01.000 They were based on the books.

01:54:02.000 They would just translate the books.

01:54:05.000 There was a comics code.

01:54:06.000 So the Conan, the barbarian comic, had to follow the code.

01:54:09.000 But then there's a black and white magazine called Savage Sword of Conan.

01:54:13.000 Oh, I read those.

01:54:14.000 They didn't have to follow the code.

01:54:15.000 Right.

01:54:15.000 That's why people would get killed.

01:54:17.000 And Roy Thomas would just take the book and put the book in several chapters.

01:54:21.000 Yeah, they were brutal.

01:54:22.000 They're really great.

01:54:23.000 Yeah.

01:54:23.000 So I grew up with that, drawing out of that, learning how to draw anatomy from the Conan books.

01:54:27.000 The Marvel comics were fun, but they were...

01:54:30.000 This was still under Marvel, but it wasn't under the code because it was considered a magazine.

01:54:34.000 That's what I'm saying.

01:54:35.000 The Marvel comics were fun, but they weren't brutal enough.

01:54:37.000 They weren't brutal because they had a comics code.

01:54:39.000 Yes.

01:54:40.000 Because they're comic-sized.

01:54:41.000 By doing a magazine...

01:54:42.000 Yeah.

01:54:42.000 They got around it.

01:54:43.000 See if you can find the Savage Sword of Conan.

01:54:44.000 Yeah, look up Savage Sword of Conan number one.

01:54:47.000 Ah, there it is.

01:54:48.000 Yeah, look at the one where he's nailed to the cross.

01:54:50.000 That's Boris Vallejo.

01:54:52.000 Oh, this is a great Frazetta story.

01:54:53.000 He's another one.

01:54:54.000 He came out later in the 70s, so this is a great Frazetta story.

01:55:00.000 Several of his paintings, when you see them, they're not very big a lot of times because they were for paperbacks, so they didn't have to be that big.

01:55:05.000 But then there were some, like in the early 70s, that were big.

01:55:09.000 Silver Warrior, Aetherius Corp.

01:55:12.000 And I asked Frazetta, I said, what was this era here?

01:55:15.000 Because a lot of these were in the 60s.

01:55:17.000 What's these four bigger ones that you didn't, what was that for?

01:55:20.000 He goes, oh, they were saying I was washed up, that I was finished.

01:55:23.000 It's because Boris Vallejo was coming out, and they're like, oh, he's the new Frazetta.

01:55:26.000 So I did one.

01:55:27.000 Two, three, four.

01:55:28.000 Beauties.

01:55:29.000 Shut them all up.

01:55:31.000 That's so cool.

01:55:32.000 That's incredible.

01:55:33.000 Shut them all up.

01:55:34.000 Shut them all up.

01:55:35.000 Pull up Boris Vallejo Conan.

01:55:37.000 Because Boris had a different style.

01:55:38.000 It was like a little more...

01:55:40.000 And also you could feel...

01:55:42.000 Sexual or something.

01:55:43.000 But you could...

01:55:44.000 You know, I love his art, but you could almost feel the model in it.

01:55:47.000 You could almost see that there was a model he was painting from.

01:55:50.000 Well, it was very cool, but it was a different feeling.

01:55:53.000 Frazetta was more raw.

01:55:54.000 Very raw.

01:55:55.000 Boris Vallejo, it was great, though.

01:55:57.000 I mean, he's doing the Frazetta style.

01:55:59.000 Yes.

01:55:59.000 I mean, you know, Frazetta was the Jimmy Page of art.

01:56:02.000 Everybody wanted to be him.

01:56:03.000 So everyone couldn't, you couldn't unsee Frazetta's work when you were doing your own work.

01:56:07.000 I mean, this is Man Ape.

01:56:09.000 Yeah, he's doing Man Ape again.

01:56:10.000 He's doing Man Ape in a different version of it.

01:56:12.000 And, you know, I drew a lot of things that were like that, like a different version of Frazetta stuff.

01:56:17.000 Everybody did.

01:56:18.000 But yeah, I was more of a Frazetta guy than a Boris Vallejo guy.

01:56:21.000 I loved it.

01:56:22.000 It was great.

01:56:22.000 I was happy that he was doing it.

01:56:24.000 There's several.

01:56:24.000 Like the one where he's crucified to the cross.

01:56:26.000 That's pretty dope.

01:56:27.000 That one's pretty dope.

01:56:28.000 Oh, and the one on the far bottom left is the first issue of Savage Sword.

01:56:31.000 That one was really cool.

01:56:33.000 Yeah, I thought that was cool.

01:56:36.000 Yeah.

01:56:36.000 But it doesn't come close to, you know.

01:56:38.000 No, it's just Frazetta just had a, it was more fantastical.

01:56:43.000 I think it's because of that process.

01:56:44.000 It was just the way he did them.

01:56:46.000 Yes.

01:56:46.000 There's some magic to them.

01:56:49.000 And I'll show you a couple of things that will blow you away when you see them in person.

01:56:52.000 But the in-person thing will really floor you.

01:56:55.000 Just how much even the best books cannot capture the art as it exists.

01:57:00.000 I saw your gym.

01:57:01.000 Your gym is awesome.

01:57:02.000 I thought I had the best gym.

01:57:04.000 You've got a great gym, but I got one thing you don't got.

01:57:07.000 You gotta come see.

01:57:08.000 What?

01:57:08.000 I don't have mirrors up.

01:57:10.000 You don't have mirrors on purpose?

01:57:11.000 It's because I just have the original Drew Struzan painting for First Blood Stallone.

01:57:20.000 Oh, wow.

01:57:21.000 And because it's got glass over it, you can kind of see yourself in it, but I just stand in front of it and I go, I'm not there yet.

01:57:28.000 I'm not there yet.

01:57:29.000 That's my inspiration.

01:57:30.000 Mirrors are good for form.

01:57:31.000 Just say for form.

01:57:32.000 I can kind of see the form.

01:57:33.000 But that's my mirror when you come.

01:57:36.000 It's the Stallone painting.

01:57:37.000 And that's one.

01:57:39.000 See, like that one.

01:57:40.000 But it doesn't capture the painting at all.

01:57:44.000 Even this digital copy of it.

01:57:46.000 Like, look at the original poster of it that has the writing on it.

01:57:49.000 The way they printed it was like ass.

01:57:51.000 Look at that thing.

01:57:53.000 So when you see the original one, you're like, oh my god, this is like fine art.

01:57:56.000 Oh, that's bad.

01:57:57.000 And that still doesn't capture it, but it's closer than the poster.

01:58:01.000 But there's something about seeing the actual physical things someone's created.

01:58:03.000 When you see the real thing, it's so inspiring.

01:58:05.000 And then when you see the physique that he has, you're just like, okay, I'm going to work harder.

01:58:08.000 But that's in my gym, so you've got to come check that out.

01:58:10.000 I've got a photo of Alexander Karelin out there.

01:58:12.000 That's my photo to remind me every day what a pussy I am.

01:58:16.000 It's Alexander Karelin, who's like the greatest Olympic wrestler to ever come out of Russia.

01:58:20.000 There's a photo that...

01:58:22.000 The photo that we have in the gym.

01:58:23.000 He was a freak.

01:58:24.000 They called him the Science Project because his parents were like 5 '5".

01:58:28.000 And he was like 6 '2", 300 pounds.

01:58:31.000 And just built like a panther.

01:58:33.000 Look at that.

01:58:33.000 That's him.

01:58:34.000 Oh, geez.

01:58:34.000 Yeah.

01:58:35.000 That's the picture.

01:58:36.000 I have that picture up in the gym.

01:58:38.000 That's my inspiration.

01:58:39.000 Every day I work out.

01:58:41.000 Because he was just such a fucking physical freak.

01:58:44.000 And it's just that particular image, that intensity.

01:58:48.000 If I'm ever tired, I look at that image.

01:58:50.000 What's your workout routine?

01:58:51.000 How often do you get to work out?

01:58:53.000 I work out every day.

01:58:55.000 Basically every day.

01:58:55.000 First thing in the morning?

01:58:57.000 Occasionally I feel like I need a day off.

01:58:58.000 I'll take a day off.

01:58:59.000 But yeah, first thing in the morning.

01:59:01.000 Yeah, that's the thing.

01:59:02.000 Get up, get going.

01:59:03.000 Get up, get going.

01:59:04.000 Cobwebs out of your head.

01:59:05.000 Well, it's like you said, like you decide I'm an athlete.

01:59:08.000 I sort of decide I'm this person who gets up and...

01:59:13.000 Gets in the cold plunge first thing in the morning.

01:59:15.000 I'm this person that does these two-and-a-half-hour workouts and then gets in the sauna.

01:59:18.000 That's what I do.

01:59:19.000 I do it every day.

01:59:20.000 I do a thing.

01:59:21.000 This might inspire some people.

01:59:24.000 So I don't have a trainer, but I like watching other people see what they do in their routine, so I adopt some of that.

01:59:30.000 I saw Josh Brolin all freaking in shape for the Deadpool movie, and I was like, dude, I texted him, what is your workout?

01:59:36.000 Could you tell me?

01:59:36.000 He goes, oh, I'll send it to you.

01:59:37.000 He sends me a PDF of his whole workout routine.

01:59:40.000 You know, the trainers have given up.

01:59:41.000 It's intense.

01:59:42.000 It was like, okay, if I do one-fourth of this, I'll have a quarter of his results.

01:59:47.000 I'm fine with that because I'm going to have this shit to do anyway.

01:59:50.000 So I would be in and out of there a half hour.

01:59:52.000 So you don't have to commit all the way.

01:59:57.000 As long as you're doing something, you're getting up and you're working out and you're doing it very strategically, if you don't have a lot of time, there's no excuse.

02:00:04.000 You can get a lot done in a short amount of time.

02:00:07.000 Yeah.

02:00:08.000 Reverse pyramid train or something.

02:00:10.000 Three minutes in between each one, you can get work done.

02:00:12.000 You certainly can.

02:00:13.000 In fact, there was a study that just came out recently that showed that you get more results from one set to failure than you do with three sets.

02:00:24.000 Yeah.

02:00:24.000 Sometimes I would then just keep holding the bar after I was done, just like for ten more seconds.

02:00:29.000 Yeah, there was some study.

02:00:31.000 See if you can find this?

02:00:32.000 It was a very recent study that was very counterintuitive because a lot of people think more work, better results.

02:00:37.000 Right.

02:00:38.000 But this...

02:00:38.000 In this study, they were showing that they got more strength gains and more muscle recruitment in one hard set to failure.

02:00:48.000 There's a lot of counterintuitive stuff.

02:00:50.000 Yeah.

02:00:50.000 I like when I hear stuff like that, I try it.

02:00:51.000 I just roll it into the routine and give it a try.

02:00:54.000 Yeah.

02:00:54.000 Because you don't know what's going to work for you.

02:00:56.000 There's no one right way to do anything.

02:00:58.000 So I try to just get advice and adopt it.

02:01:01.000 I had this funny Stallone once.

02:01:04.000 Have you ever had Stallone on the show?

02:01:05.000 No.

02:01:05.000 He's a great interview.

02:01:06.000 My best interview on the director's chair is him, because it's the most one that any layman could identify with.

02:01:11.000 That guy really is Rocky.

02:01:12.000 His story is unbelievable, and he's really funny.

02:01:16.000 I interviewed him before for the UFC.

02:01:18.000 He called me and said, he asked if an actor friend of mine could be in one of the Expendables.

02:01:23.000 He's like, my actor fell through.

02:01:25.000 Can you ask, what's his name?

02:01:27.000 You know, friend of mine.

02:01:29.000 Yeah, so I asked my friend.

02:01:30.000 My friend goes, oh, no, it's too short notice, you know, because it was a last-minute replacement.

02:01:35.000 I need to get in shape.

02:01:36.000 Okay, that makes sense.

02:01:37.000 But it's not a physical role.

02:01:39.000 You're just wondering, you know, I wouldn't want to be in a Stallone movie and not be in shape, so I have to get in shape.

02:01:43.000 And I don't have enough time, you know, just going to shoot in a week.

02:01:47.000 So I go to Sly, and I say, Sly, yeah, he said, you know, I figured Sly would understand.

02:01:51.000 Yeah, he has to get in shape.

02:01:53.000 Get in shape!

02:01:55.000 Get in shape!

02:01:56.000 You don't get in shape.

02:01:58.000 Stay in shape.

02:01:59.000 I was like, yeah, that makes sense.

02:02:01.000 You gotta stay in shape.

02:02:03.000 There's a photo of Stallone walking around Malibu looking like he's nine months pregnant.

02:02:07.000 Have you seen that photo?

02:02:08.000 No.

02:02:09.000 I don't know if he did that for a movie.

02:02:10.000 It was probably for Copland.

02:02:11.000 No, it wasn't for Copland.

02:02:13.000 It was recent.

02:02:14.000 It was like within the last few years.

02:02:15.000 What is he now?

02:02:16.000 He's like 70. No excuses.

02:02:19.000 No excuses.

02:02:20.000 Stay in shape.

02:02:21.000 Stay in shape.

02:02:22.000 Yeah.

02:02:23.000 That dude.

02:02:24.000 Such a great interview because I've watched the Rocky movies.

02:02:26.000 When was the last time you saw the Rocky movies?

02:02:28.000 Yeah, here it is.

02:02:28.000 Study finds higher training volume increases size, not strength.

02:02:31.000 Oh, this isn't it.

02:02:32.000 No, this is in May of 2024.

02:02:34.000 It was very recently.

02:02:36.000 It was about one set.

02:02:39.000 Doing one set to failure shows strength and muscle recruitment benefits over three sets.

02:02:48.000 Yeah, so, I mean, I don't know when the last time we saw the Rockies.

02:02:51.000 Yeah, here it is.

02:02:51.000 New research says you could build strength and muscle with single-set training.

02:02:55.000 No, this isn't it either.

02:02:57.000 It might be December 2024.

02:02:58.000 It might be it.

02:03:00.000 So, just one hard set per exercise delivers impressive results.

02:03:03.000 At least try that.

02:03:05.000 Yeah.

02:03:06.000 Get in and out.

02:03:07.000 They were saying that it actually works better.

02:03:09.000 So maybe this is another thing.

02:03:12.000 Because I read it just a couple of days ago.

02:03:13.000 It doesn't matter.

02:03:14.000 We get it.

02:03:15.000 But that is also very counterintuitive.

02:03:18.000 Because most people think, oh, it's all about the amount of time you spend.

02:03:23.000 But I do a lot of different...

02:03:26.000 I do full body workouts almost entirely.

02:03:31.000 Unless one day a week I do heavy leg stuff where it's just legs.

02:03:35.000 Because there's so many muscles in the legs.

02:03:38.000 When I want to make sure that I'm doing that, it just takes too much time.

02:03:42.000 Because I'm doing leg curls and leg presses and lunges.

02:03:47.000 I can't do other stuff too.

02:03:50.000 But I like working out by myself.

02:03:54.000 It's time to think.

02:03:56.000 Yeah, time to really...

02:03:56.000 It's like meditative.

02:03:57.000 It's very meditative.

02:03:59.000 Yeah.

02:03:59.000 And you're working the body, and you're getting ideas, and I keep my computer there, and I write down ideas.

02:04:03.000 Oh, nice.

02:04:04.000 Did you see the...

02:04:07.000 I was watching the Rocky movies again, and I was like, we watched the first one, showed it to my lady.

02:04:11.000 She loved it.

02:04:12.000 So I said, we've got to watch the second one, watch the second one.

02:04:14.000 The next time we watched the third one, I finally got to the fourth one.

02:04:18.000 I said, okay, I'm going to write Stallone.

02:04:19.000 I said, dude...

02:04:20.000 You are consistently moving that character through the different eras, and you need to go back to directing, because when I worked with him, he'd done a bunch of movies in the 90s, and he was telling me why the movies didn't work.

02:04:33.000 I said, you've got to go back to directing.

02:04:34.000 No one was at your level.

02:04:36.000 Directing yourself, getting career bests out of your other actors, while you're also not just the star, but the franchise, and being in insane shape back then, which was way before anyone knew anything about training.

02:04:45.000 You were probably in the gym much longer than you needed to be.

02:04:48.000 And he said, very perceptive.

02:04:52.000 I was like, you probably were way over training because people didn't know.

02:04:55.000 There were no science to it back then.

02:04:57.000 Right.

02:04:57.000 And getting all that work done.

02:04:59.000 So how can you work with another director now?

02:05:01.000 They've got to have their respect.

02:05:03.000 You've got to go back to directing because you can't argue with the result.

02:05:07.000 And he was like, okay, go back to directing.

02:05:09.000 Well, we did this movie together.

02:05:11.000 It was his biggest opening ever when Spike hits 3D.

02:05:15.000 Two years later or a year later, he goes, I'm writing another Rocky.

02:05:19.000 And that was that new Rocky.

02:05:21.000 He hadn't directed in 22 years.

02:05:23.000 Whoa.

02:05:24.000 He went back to directing and writing, did another Rocky, another Rambo, and then a whole new franchise, Expendables.

02:05:32.000 Crazy, like, for your career to come back like that.

02:05:34.000 Only that did stunts and expendables and broke his fucking neck.

02:05:37.000 Crazy, but because he went back, and that's sometimes, you know, that's the key to success.

02:05:42.000 It's gotta be late 60s.

02:05:43.000 And I say, yeah, it's harder.

02:05:44.000 And he's doing his own stunts.

02:05:45.000 It's harder to go do it all yourself, but look, you can't argue with the results.

02:05:49.000 Look at the results you got back then.

02:05:51.000 And I'm so glad he went back to it, because it inspires me all over again.

02:05:54.000 I'm sure you've done that.

02:05:56.000 Someone that really inspired you.

02:05:57.000 I want to know, who are your heroes that you got to inspire back in some way?

02:06:00.000 And then you're just like, oh my god, they inspired me so that I could be here for them when they needed to hear that to go on.

02:06:07.000 It was like all part of the universe of that creativity.

02:06:09.000 You're the one who goes whispers in their ear.

02:06:12.000 Another one with him, because he inspired me so many times, was I started working with my kids more.

02:06:18.000 It's very counterintuitive.

02:06:19.000 Like, I don't know if you work with your kids or whatever, plan to work with your kids, but I would say to anybody, if you have an opportunity to work with your kids, take it.

02:06:26.000 Because when I was, like, when I turned 50, I thought, I guess I could keep making movies.

02:06:30.000 It's been good to me.

02:06:31.000 I guess I could just make more.

02:06:32.000 I mean, I was way into it, you know, when I was younger, and it's been good to me.

02:06:36.000 But I bet there might be another job I can take.

02:06:40.000 With the knowledge I have, I could probably make just as much money or something.

02:06:43.000 I don't even know what jobs exist.

02:06:44.000 I got this job when I was 21. So I got jobs for dummies.

02:06:48.000 And I started looking at where all the other jobs were.

02:06:50.000 Oh, I want that job, I want that job.

02:06:52.000 And then I get to Filmmaker.

02:06:54.000 It has a little icon of a guy with his hands up like this.

02:06:57.000 And it says, this is the best job.

02:06:59.000 Just make movies with your friends.

02:07:01.000 You sit back, watch the money roll in.

02:07:03.000 But 99% of film students can't get this job.

02:07:06.000 Give it up.

02:07:07.000 So I went, I actually got the best job.

02:07:09.000 So I stick with it.

02:07:10.000 But there still wasn't enough desire until I made that $7,000 movie with my kids.

02:07:16.000 And they got so into it, and I realized, that's my next 10 years.

02:07:19.000 I'm going to work with my kids.

02:07:20.000 I'm going to make them all work on movies.

02:07:23.000 Because it's not about making movies.

02:07:26.000 It's about life lessons.

02:07:27.000 It's a huge project that you have to, you don't know how you're going to get through even the day, much less the project.

02:07:32.000 But that's life.

02:07:33.000 It's like...

02:07:34.000 I felt so good afterwards saying, you know the process now.

02:07:37.000 If I get hit by a bus, you guys are going to be fine.

02:07:39.000 Because it's just like the movies.

02:07:40.000 The story of life is just like the stories we make up.

02:07:43.000 You go get your plan together, which is kind of like your script.

02:07:47.000 You attack it, try to make it as bulletproof as possible.

02:07:49.000 Go for your goal, whether it's building a comedy club or whatever.

02:07:52.000 Watch it all fucking fall apart.

02:07:54.000 And then that's when you roll up your sleeves, turn chicken shit to chicken salad.

02:07:58.000 The finished result's way better than your original vision.

02:08:01.000 Wash, rinse, repeat.

02:08:02.000 That's life.

02:08:03.000 It's a microcosm of how life works.

02:08:05.000 So I made them work on the movies.

02:08:06.000 And I did this manifesting thing.

02:08:09.000 My son said, well, I'd like to do a VR movie.

02:08:11.000 So let's make a company together.

02:08:13.000 We'll call it Double R. You all have Double R names.

02:08:15.000 Double R Company.

02:08:16.000 Watch.

02:08:17.000 I'm going to show you how this works.

02:08:18.000 Because I did this with Brass Knuckle Films, which is creating a label.

02:08:22.000 Double R, that'll be our logo.

02:08:23.000 And I made T-shirts and little notepads, and they got way into it.

02:08:27.000 Because now that we have a company, you have to do stuff to fill the company.

02:08:29.000 So we'll call a VR company and say, y 'all need to sell headsets.

02:08:33.000 Give us some money to make a movie, and we'll make you a movie.

02:08:35.000 We did one with Michelle Rodriguez and Norman Reedus called The Limit.

02:08:38.000 They made us a big Double R logo in the front.

02:08:41.000 That was like in...

02:08:42.000 March.

02:08:43.000 Later that year, we made that $7,000 movie.

02:08:45.000 That also had the Double R logo.

02:08:46.000 Then I went to Netflix and they said, could you make us a Spy Kids type thing?

02:08:50.000 That always does well.

02:08:51.000 So I thought, okay.

02:08:52.000 I kind of came up with it in the room.

02:08:53.000 I thought, little kids superheroes who have to save their superhero parents.

02:08:57.000 That's We Can Be Heroes, another Double R movie.

02:08:59.000 My kids wrote it with me.

02:09:01.000 It's the most watched and re-watched movie in Netflix history.

02:09:04.000 Nothing can touch it.

02:09:05.000 Kids cannot stop watching it because it's little kids superheroes.

02:09:08.000 No one's ever done that before.

02:09:09.000 And my kids are like, Dad, it really works, this thing.

02:09:14.000 And I was like, shit, better than I thought.

02:09:16.000 I was just making an example.

02:09:18.000 But that's how it happens, right?

02:09:20.000 Like, it feels predestined, but also you're like, let me just show you how it works.

02:09:24.000 And you go to show someone an example, and that becomes your bread and butter.

02:09:27.000 And so I just tell people, if you have an opportunity to work with your kids...

02:09:32.000 You're mentoring them.

02:09:33.000 They're mentoring you because they're the age I was when I was making Mariachi and Desperado.

02:09:37.000 They got so many great ideas.

02:09:38.000 And you're taking on this big project that's teaching them about life.

02:09:41.000 And because you're both in the same boat, you both know what it's going to take.

02:09:47.000 And it's family time.

02:09:48.000 So you're like checking all the boxes.

02:09:49.000 When I was telling this to Sly, I was so excited back in 2019.

02:09:53.000 And his wife Jennifer was like...

02:09:56.000 You don't work with your daughters.

02:09:58.000 She hits him.

02:09:58.000 You don't work with your daughters.

02:10:00.000 And he's like, eww.

02:10:02.000 And I was like, oh shit, maybe I should dial this story back.

02:10:04.000 I was so evangelical about it, but I get people in trouble.

02:10:08.000 But they couldn't then hear it.

02:10:09.000 And the next year, the daughters started a podcast, and he would show up for once in a while.

02:10:15.000 Rating's up.

02:10:15.000 Now they have a TV show.

02:10:16.000 Second season.

02:10:17.000 Family's still on.

02:10:18.000 They're all working together.

02:10:19.000 They're all living the best life.

02:10:21.000 So I tell anybody who listens, because it's something I stumbled upon, because it's very counterintuitive, because you would think, oh, if I work with my kids, doesn't that look like privilege or whatever?

02:10:30.000 So I'll tell you this.

02:10:31.000 What happens when we die?

02:10:32.000 Don't you just give everything that you've created over your life to your kids because they have your last name?

02:10:38.000 They weren't a part of it.

02:10:39.000 If you have a chance to work with them and build it with you.

02:10:42.000 You have that next-level mentorship relationship.

02:10:46.000 Don't just parent, because after a while, once they're in the teens, they don't really need you geppettoing over them.

02:10:51.000 Partner with them.

02:10:53.000 Become their mentor, their Obi-Wan, and they mentor you back.

02:10:55.000 It gives them such a boost in confidence when they teach you some shit.

02:11:00.000 You'll have that next level experience.

02:11:01.000 That way, when you pass on, you give them the stuff, they'll go, yeah, I made this with my dad.

02:11:04.000 That's great advice.

02:11:06.000 Especially when you do something like you do.

02:11:09.000 Depends on what you have.

02:11:10.000 Find your version of, you know, like not everybody can necessarily work with a kid, but you have an opportunity to do it, do it.

02:11:14.000 Right, but like this thing that you were saying about jobs for dummies, 99% of people are not going to be able to do this.

02:11:18.000 Well, that's the thing.

02:11:19.000 It's like, but yeah, but it's possible.

02:11:21.000 It is possible, yeah.

02:11:22.000 And part of the 99% not going to do it because they don't know anybody who's done it.

02:11:27.000 Right.

02:11:28.000 That's part of the problem, right?

02:11:29.000 And once you see, like, oh, look how he did this.

02:11:32.000 He just did...

02:11:33.000 I think I could...

02:11:34.000 He told me how he made El Mariachi.

02:11:36.000 I think it could be done.

02:11:37.000 That wasn't taught in film schools.

02:11:38.000 That was completely...

02:11:39.000 Again, they don't teach you...

02:11:40.000 They teach you how to do one job so that you can go pull cables on someone else's movie.

02:11:45.000 My thing was, like, be the owner, be the creator, be everything.

02:11:48.000 And you cut the line, and suddenly you're at the film festival.

02:11:50.000 And no one had really done that before you.

02:11:52.000 Nobody had done that before.

02:11:53.000 It was the first time.

02:11:54.000 That's why, even when I was doing it, I was like...

02:11:58.000 I kind of have the idea this can do it because I did that short film and I'm doing the math, but somebody must have done this already.

02:12:04.000 Even when the studio, in the book it shows, even when the studios were flying me up because they saw Mariachi and wanted to do a deal with me, I went, I've never heard of anyone getting in the business like this.

02:12:13.000 This must happen all the time where they find some filmmaker, student, they wine and dine them, and then you never hear from them again because I've never heard a story like this, and I was the first one.

02:12:22.000 That's why.

02:12:23.000 That's wild.

02:12:23.000 It was really crazy.

02:12:25.000 And I didn't even want them to release it.

02:12:27.000 I didn't want them to release it because it was my practice film.

02:12:31.000 I just threw it away.

02:12:32.000 They said...

02:12:33.000 Wasn't everything one take?

02:12:35.000 One take because I was shooting on film.

02:12:38.000 And if I shot two takes of everything, I'd double my budget because most of the money went to the film.

02:12:43.000 I wrote the script around everything I already had so I wouldn't have to buy anything.

02:12:47.000 So it's like, well, what do we have?

02:12:48.000 We took stock in what we have.

02:12:49.000 And this is a lesson for life.

02:12:50.000 Like, if you think you can't do anything, well, look around.

02:12:53.000 You've got a lot of resources.

02:12:54.000 It's about being resourceful.

02:12:56.000 We have a turtle we found.

02:12:57.000 We have a dog.

02:12:58.000 We've got a ranch.

02:13:00.000 Your brother-in-law has a bus line.

02:13:03.000 We'll bar one of the buses.

02:13:04.000 When you see what we do with a bus, he crashes into it.

02:13:07.000 We have to bar.

02:13:08.000 Let's ride everything around that.

02:13:09.000 So we just have that.

02:13:11.000 And if I shoot two takes, we double their budget.

02:13:13.000 How about let's shoot one take of everything?

02:13:14.000 I know not everything's going to come out because I'm doing everything myself.

02:13:16.000 I'm pulling focus.

02:13:17.000 I might meter it wrong.

02:13:18.000 Who knows?

02:13:19.000 But I don't want to shoot a safety take or it's going to double the budget.

02:13:22.000 We'll go home after I finish shooting the whole movie.

02:13:25.000 I'll see what stuff didn't come out and I'll go just reshoot that.

02:13:29.000 Of course, you get home and you're like, I'm not going to fucking go back to Mexico and reshoot anything.

02:13:32.000 I'll just figure out a way to edit around all the stuff that didn't come out.

02:13:35.000 Not everything came out.

02:13:37.000 Yeah, it was merely just following your nose and not knowing if it was going to work.

02:13:41.000 Somebody must have thought to do this already, but no one had ever done that before because it's so counterintuitive.

02:13:45.000 You're told...

02:13:46.000 But that's how movies started.

02:13:48.000 You know, you think back in the old days, Charlie Chaplin and a guy behind the camera doing this.

02:13:51.000 They didn't have 200 people.

02:13:52.000 It turned into a business, just like with comedy, and it turns into a business to where you think that's the art form.

02:13:57.000 That's not the art form.

02:13:58.000 That's the business of the art form.

02:13:59.000 The original art form is you by yourself doing it.

02:14:02.000 This is how by myself I was.

02:14:06.000 It was like...

02:14:07.000 You've got one guy here now, right?

02:14:09.000 Because you have all these digital cameras.

02:14:10.000 I had one camera and I had the sound.

02:14:12.000 And I can't do them at the same time.

02:14:14.000 Because the camera sounds like this.

02:14:17.000 Really noisy.

02:14:19.000 And it sounds like all your money is going away.

02:14:21.000 So I'd have no slates.

02:14:22.000 I would just say, run!

02:14:23.000 The guy starts running.

02:14:26.000 Stop filming.

02:14:28.000 Cut!

02:14:29.000 I would just shoot my little pieces like this much.

02:14:32.000 After I would do a whole scene.

02:14:33.000 One take, one take, one take, one take.

02:14:35.000 Put the camera down.

02:14:36.000 Get the microphone really close to them like that.

02:14:39.000 Okay, see all your lines again.

02:14:41.000 Pick up the glass again.

02:14:43.000 Do all that stuff again.

02:14:44.000 Wow!

02:14:44.000 Cut it in by hand.

02:14:46.000 So you cut in the audio by hand and try to sink it to the mouth?

02:14:51.000 Because they're non-actors.

02:14:52.000 A lot of times, like, repeat what you just said.

02:14:56.000 Wait, so you cut it by hand and it would match.

02:14:58.000 Yeah.

02:14:58.000 And if it didn't match, I would cut away to the dog or to the knife or the other person.

02:15:03.000 That's why it's got a really fast cutting style, which became my cutting style, was just to get them back in sync because I didn't want it to look like a low-budget, rubbery lip thing.

02:15:10.000 But if you watch it, you see them in sync.

02:15:12.000 Every time they're on screen, they're in sync.

02:15:13.000 And then as they start to go out of sync, it cuts.

02:15:16.000 And it cuts back.

02:15:17.000 But this is about being resourceful.

02:15:19.000 But it saved me a ton of money.

02:15:22.000 Doing it that way.

02:15:23.000 And it made it actually interesting to watch.

02:15:25.000 It makes it more interesting to watch.

02:15:26.000 Yeah.

02:15:26.000 Oh, so anyway, so originally, I didn't have any ideas.

02:15:30.000 I was going to make three of these movies before making my serious American independent film.

02:15:37.000 But my first movie, I gave it to an agent in Los Angeles, and he said, I can get you to work off this right now as a writer-director.

02:15:43.000 And I went, writer-director?

02:15:45.000 I'm not a writer.

02:15:46.000 I guess I wrote the script.

02:15:47.000 I guess that makes me a writer.

02:15:48.000 Again, I didn't know how to own stuff yet.

02:15:50.000 It's like, you just got to say you're a writer.

02:15:51.000 I still thought, well, I...

02:15:53.000 I'd even written a movie.

02:15:54.000 I didn't consider myself a writer.

02:15:55.000 That's the shit we do to ourselves, right?

02:15:58.000 So I said, okay.

02:15:59.000 So he sent it around.

02:16:00.000 All these studios were flying me up.

02:16:01.000 It's in the book.

02:16:02.000 It's just crazy how fast it happened.

02:16:04.000 And they were offering me these deals because they saw that I went and did something.

02:16:07.000 That's why you just got to go make something because people sometimes are so impressed that you even did anything.

02:16:11.000 Most people never start.

02:16:13.000 And they went, wow.

02:16:14.000 And I thought, well, it's actually a good calling card now.

02:16:16.000 If you like the cinematography, I did that.

02:16:18.000 Hire me as a cameraman.

02:16:19.000 If you like the editing, I did that.

02:16:20.000 Hire me as an editor.

02:16:22.000 But they hired me as a writer-director.

02:16:24.000 And they said, what movie do you want to do?

02:16:26.000 I go, this all happened so fast.

02:16:27.000 I didn't really have a chance to think about it.

02:16:29.000 I was going to do three of these practice films and then make a real one.

02:16:33.000 But you like Mariachi, why don't we remake that?

02:16:36.000 And they said, with like Antonio Banderas.

02:16:37.000 Okay, okay.

02:16:39.000 But audience might not like that the girl dies.

02:16:42.000 So we're going to screen this version that you have now to an audience.

02:16:45.000 So we screened it to an audience.

02:16:47.000 And they liked it the way it was.

02:16:48.000 So they said, we're going to take this to some film festivals.

02:16:51.000 I was like, no, don't show this movie.

02:16:53.000 It's my practice movie.

02:16:54.000 Literally, no one's supposed to see this one.

02:16:56.000 They go, no, no, you got something really special.

02:16:58.000 I said, no, dude, I'm telling you, I can do much better than that.

02:17:01.000 Give me $2,000, I'll go reshoot half of it, just knowing that people are going to see it now and do completely differently.

02:17:07.000 And they go, you got something.

02:17:09.000 They're smart enough.

02:17:09.000 Mark Kenton there said, you got something really special here.

02:17:11.000 We're going to take it to the festivals.

02:17:13.000 And we won Sundance.

02:17:15.000 Because I made it for myself.

02:17:16.000 It was a real lesson in that.

02:17:18.000 Like, if I was trying to think about what all the audience was going to want to see, I would have changed so many things.

02:17:23.000 But because I knew no one was going to see it.

02:17:25.000 It's probably the only movie in history ever made where people were guaranteed not to see it.

02:17:29.000 Just by the title.

02:17:29.000 I titled it that way so nobody would see it.

02:17:31.000 I didn't want anybody to see it.

02:17:33.000 I wanted to just throw it away and practice.

02:17:34.000 I figured maybe the third one might be the better one.

02:17:38.000 You know, like that advice.

02:17:39.000 Throw three scripts away and then do a four.

02:17:41.000 Well, I'm going to throw three movies away so that by the fourth, I'm so savvy, know how to film and do all these things.

02:17:46.000 This first practice film is not going to be it.

02:17:48.000 That's the one that's going to be it.

02:17:50.000 Wow.

02:17:50.000 So commit to a body of work.

02:17:52.000 Throw shit away.

02:17:53.000 Don't be precious about it.

02:17:55.000 Just go make it.

02:17:56.000 Don't blink when people criticize it.

02:17:59.000 And just keep going.

02:18:00.000 Make a body work.

02:18:01.000 That's it.

02:18:01.000 That's the secret.

02:18:02.000 And that's the secret to life, too.

02:18:03.000 Just keep trying to make it the best.

02:18:05.000 That is phenomenal advice.

02:18:07.000 And coming from a person like you that has accomplished so much, it's so resonant.

02:18:10.000 That's why I accomplish it, by doing those things, which everybody can do.

02:18:14.000 It's not because I'm not that smart.

02:18:15.000 I'm telling you, I'm not that smart.

02:18:17.000 Just follow your instinct like you did.

02:18:19.000 When you follow your instinct, you're letting the universe do all the talking.

02:18:22.000 And something that sounds wonky, but I just call it that.

02:18:24.000 Because it is from some other place.

02:18:25.000 And you're just an instrument.

02:18:27.000 You're just a pipe.

02:18:28.000 Yes.

02:18:28.000 The soul that gets into your body.

02:18:30.000 And you realize that when you have kids, I don't know if you had that experience.

02:18:32.000 As soon as I had my first kid, I was like, this isn't my kid.

02:18:36.000 You can just tell it's not my kid.

02:18:38.000 I mean, it has physical characteristics.

02:18:40.000 It may even mannerisms in my walk.

02:18:42.000 But there's another soul in here that's from some other place.

02:18:46.000 And each one is so different.

02:18:49.000 I have five kids, and I have nine siblings.

02:18:51.000 They're from different planets.

02:18:53.000 And so you realize that the soul is on a communication level with some other thing that our human bodies are just very primitive to do.

02:19:03.000 So when we get a voice, we can't tell if it's coming from the universe, if it's for our own mind, or if it's just...

02:19:11.000 Because it all sounds like fucking Morse code.

02:19:13.000 Because the brain is so...

02:19:15.000 It's a three-pound meat computer.

02:19:16.000 It's why we can't remember shit.

02:19:17.000 It's like we're limited by the body our soul got put into.

02:19:21.000 Just like we'd be limited if we were put in a fish.

02:19:23.000 Because they got an even smaller brain.

02:19:24.000 They only go forward and backwards.

02:19:26.000 That's why a lot of people say you have to learn how to get out of your own way.

02:19:30.000 Because you think, I'm so limited.

02:19:33.000 Yeah.

02:19:33.000 But you actually...

02:19:35.000 Also, maybe you don't, and maybe you're cocky, which is equally bad.

02:19:40.000 Yeah, because that's beginning your own way in a different way.

02:19:42.000 It's a false where you think, I can do anything because I'm just so cool.

02:19:47.000 No, you can do anything because you're just a pipe.

02:19:49.000 Be that, and then you'll see much more flow happening.

02:19:52.000 You'll see things just falling in your lap.

02:19:54.000 Yeah, don't think about you at all.

02:19:56.000 Yeah, get you out of it.

02:19:57.000 You have to be very humble.

02:19:59.000 It's a very humbling thing.

02:20:00.000 The more humble you are...

02:20:01.000 The more shit happens, not just for you, but everyone around you.

02:20:04.000 Being creative.

02:20:05.000 And I figured this out, like, one year, there was a book called The One Thing.

02:20:10.000 A business book called One Thing.

02:20:12.000 Like, do one thing and just do that well.

02:20:14.000 I thought, okay, that book's not for me.

02:20:15.000 And I was doing this talk where they introduced me.

02:20:17.000 They said, Robert Rodriguez is a writer, director, editor, composer.

02:20:20.000 It's a long list of all the jobs I do.

02:20:21.000 And I went up there like, wow.

02:20:23.000 I get tired just hearing that list.

02:20:26.000 And I keep seeing that book, The One Thing.

02:20:28.000 And I thought...

02:20:29.000 At first I thought, that's not me, but I realized, you know what?

02:20:32.000 I don't just do all those things.

02:20:34.000 There's one thing I really do that ties all those together.

02:20:38.000 When you think about it, I do one thing, and it's I live a creative life.

02:20:42.000 And if you commit to living a creative life, like literally applying creativity to everything you do, your workout in the morning, how you interact with your kids, the meal you cook, what you're going to do that night, a business call you take, be creative.

02:20:53.000 I love my business meetings now the most.

02:20:55.000 I make people pizza, I make them my chocolate, we talk about creativity, and they want to be in business with you.

02:21:00.000 It's like so good because you're adding creativity.

02:21:02.000 It enriches your life and everyone around you.

02:21:04.000 And that way, anything that touches creativity, whether it's painting, drawing, sculpture, music.

02:21:11.000 Is available to you because 90% of that job is just being creative.

02:21:15.000 And if you're doing it all day, you're always going to be in a flow.

02:21:17.000 If you don't embrace that and you go about your daily life and you don't apply creativity, well, when you go home that night to write your novel or something, you're going to be blocked because you're not in a creative flow.

02:21:27.000 But if you've just been applying creativity all day long to everything, I'm going to do this talk creatively.

02:21:33.000 I'm going to bring some cards.

02:21:34.000 I'm going to go do this.

02:21:35.000 You're applying creativity.

02:21:36.000 You're always in a flow.

02:21:37.000 So when you go back to go do your main job...

02:21:40.000 You've already been doing it.

02:21:41.000 And you're living your best life.

02:21:42.000 Because I found I was most successful, happiest, and most fulfilled when I was being creative.

02:21:47.000 So why not just do that 24-7?

02:21:49.000 And it's been a life changer.

02:21:50.000 It's been doing that like 15 years with consciousness.

02:21:53.000 Like consciously say.

02:21:54.000 Because people don't like to say they're creative.

02:21:57.000 Like when I ask, are you creative?

02:21:58.000 Yeah, you know, like stumbling through.

02:22:02.000 Because people think being an artist means you have to have the mustache and the hat.

02:22:05.000 And it's like, no, artists are regular people.

02:22:08.000 And regular people are flawed.

02:22:09.000 And that's why you relate to something that they do because it's flawed.

02:22:13.000 If you made it perfect, they couldn't relate to it because humans are flawed.

02:22:16.000 And if you think of it that way, you go, well, I can create flawed stuff.

02:22:19.000 I can do that all day long.

02:22:20.000 And then that gets out of your way.

02:22:22.000 Because then somebody who comes to you and they go, really love that part where the explosion is, oh, well that was an accident because I didn't get what I really wanted and I had to make this work and that was an accident.

02:22:30.000 They respond to those accidents in a big way because they're from another universe.

02:22:35.000 They're the part that's magic.

02:22:37.000 The part you didn't know and the part you couldn't have predicted.

02:22:40.000 And so if you set up, I purposely make my budgets smaller and my shooting schedules shorter so that more of that stuff happens.

02:22:48.000 Because that's the stuff people will relate to, and it gives you complete creative freedom.

02:22:52.000 Like, you have a lot of creative freedom here.

02:22:55.000 I'm probably the director who's worked with the most outcast, ostracized, or people who are considered difficult than any other filmmaker, mainly because I'm independent.

02:23:06.000 And I don't have to listen to a studio if they're like, oh, you can't work with that person.

02:23:10.000 So, like, Mel Gibson.

02:23:13.000 Couldn't get a job back when I hired him.

02:23:15.000 I was just always a big fan of his.

02:23:16.000 Always look at creativity first and talent first.

02:23:19.000 Bullshit controversy.

02:23:21.000 Not even distance.

02:23:22.000 It's not even considered.

02:23:23.000 And I get to work with these amazing people.

02:23:25.000 Steven Seagal, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan.

02:23:28.000 And then people who are considered difficult were like Michael Parks.

02:23:31.000 I got this from Quentin.

02:23:32.000 Michael Parks was in...

02:23:35.000 Dustal Dawn, he's the sheriff at the beginning, the Texas Ranger.

02:23:38.000 Quentin said, man, I love this guy, Michael Parks.

02:23:40.000 He was going to be the next James Dean.

02:23:41.000 He had a show on TV in the 70s called Then Came Bronson.

02:23:44.000 But then he kind of got difficult for people to work with, and so he was relegated to these low-budget grindhouse films.

02:23:50.000 But check him out.

02:23:51.000 He's always really great.

02:23:51.000 I want to put him in Dustal Dawn.

02:23:53.000 But here he's difficult to work with.

02:23:55.000 You work with him first.

02:23:57.000 And if he's great to work with, I'll work with him.

02:24:00.000 I was like, all right, sure.

02:24:01.000 So I work with him.

02:24:02.000 It was a dream.

02:24:03.000 It was amazing.

02:24:03.000 He was really great.

02:24:04.000 No bullshit.

02:24:05.000 Of all the people like that.

02:24:07.000 And then we both kept putting him in movies.

02:24:09.000 Mickey Rourke was considered.

02:24:11.000 He couldn't work.

02:24:12.000 He couldn't get a job.

02:24:13.000 I gave him once upon a time.

02:24:14.000 But once I met him, I was like, oh my God, he's just like Mickey in the old days.

02:24:18.000 You know, Quentin and I actually wanted him in Dusk Till Dawn.

02:24:21.000 We both wanted Mickey Rourke in the lead role.

02:24:23.000 But he...

02:24:24.000 He retired from acting.

02:24:25.000 He was just boxing.

02:24:26.000 He didn't even look at the scripts.

02:24:27.000 We're like, oh man, we can hire Mickey Rourke and there's no Mickey Rourke now.

02:24:30.000 We're just so bummed.

02:24:31.000 But then years later, I went back to him and no one was hiring him.

02:24:34.000 So I met with him.

02:24:35.000 I said, okay, I'll meet with him.

02:24:36.000 I was like, holy shit, he still has that charm and everything.

02:24:39.000 So I put him in, gave him a small role in Once Upon a Time Mexico and I kept writing him more scenes.

02:24:44.000 He was broke.

02:24:45.000 I mean, I gave him money to go buy his own suits because he always dressed to the nines in his movies.

02:24:49.000 It's like, look, I'm all out of time costume designing this thing.

02:24:52.000 I'll give you.

02:24:53.000 Some money.

02:24:54.000 Go buy your own clothes.

02:24:55.000 You're always going to dress.

02:24:56.000 He came with these Billy Martin suits and stuff.

02:24:59.000 I said, I'm going to put a bullet hole in the back of one digitally, just so you can keep, because he wanted to keep the clothes, so you can keep the clothes.

02:25:05.000 Thanks, brother.

02:25:06.000 And then I put him in Sin City, and it relaunched his career.

02:25:10.000 But he was always a dream to work with, and I would hear from people later, oh, he's been difficult again.

02:25:15.000 I was like, really?

02:25:16.000 So he'd come back again?

02:25:16.000 No, again.

02:25:18.000 100% of the time...

02:25:19.000 I've never had any difficulty with even the difficult ostracized one.

02:25:23.000 So it makes you think.

02:25:24.000 And you know that because you have anybody you want on your show.

02:25:26.000 But it makes me wonder, what environment are you putting them in that makes them like that?

02:25:32.000 Because somebody said that about Redger Hauer.

02:25:35.000 It was amazing.

02:25:35.000 Hard to work with.

02:25:37.000 Really?

02:25:37.000 No, it wasn't at all.

02:25:39.000 But for some people.

02:25:40.000 I didn't know he had a reputation.

02:25:41.000 I don't know, but somebody told me.

02:25:43.000 I fucking loved him and Blade Runner.

02:25:43.000 Loved him and stuff.

02:25:44.000 Blade Runner.

02:25:45.000 Oh.

02:25:46.000 Hitcher.

02:25:48.000 Bruce Willis, people would tell me it was difficult to work.

02:25:51.000 I was like, Bruce, I've worked with him four times.

02:25:53.000 Let me tell you, this is what Bruce is like when he walks in the set.

02:25:56.000 Hey, Hefe, what's going on, man?

02:25:58.000 Hefe means boss.

02:25:59.000 Does that sound like somebody who's difficult?

02:26:01.000 That's going to be somebody who's just so happy.

02:26:04.000 One time, I was doing this Kobe Bryant Nike commercial.

02:26:08.000 I was going to be in with Kobe, and I was directing it.

02:26:11.000 And I was working out at the gym where Stallone works out, Gunnar Peterson's gym.

02:26:17.000 And Bruce was there, and I was trying to get an actor to do a cameo in this commercial.

02:26:22.000 I was shooting that weekend.

02:26:23.000 I was working out because I was going to be on camera.

02:26:25.000 And so then I go to Bruce, and I go, hey, what are you up to?

02:26:28.000 And he goes, ah, I'm just looking for a job.

02:26:30.000 And I said, well, are you a basketball fan?

02:26:33.000 So I'm shooting a Kobe Bryant commercial Saturday.

02:26:35.000 Why don't you come by the set?

02:26:37.000 It's downtown.

02:26:38.000 You play this role.

02:26:39.000 Bring a couple of suits, because it's the very last minute, but last minute replacement.

02:26:43.000 Yeah, yeah, sure, I'd love to meet you.

02:26:45.000 Okay, good.

02:26:47.000 Going back to the Nike people and said, Bruce said he's going to be in it.

02:26:49.000 Well, we'll call his agent.

02:26:50.000 No, no, don't call his agent because he probably didn't tell him.

02:26:53.000 And he said he'll come down.

02:26:54.000 I think he will because he's cool like that.

02:26:56.000 Oh, we think we should call him anyway.

02:26:58.000 So they call the agents.

02:26:59.000 The agents go, Bruce Willis is not going to be in a Nike commercial.

02:27:01.000 Well, he talked to Robert.

02:27:02.000 Oh, okay.

02:27:03.000 I guess he is going to be in a Nike commercial.

02:27:04.000 So then we're down there in the set.

02:27:06.000 We're downtown LA.

02:27:07.000 We're filming Kobe.

02:27:07.000 We're filming everything else.

02:27:08.000 And it's like almost time for him to show up.

02:27:10.000 And they're like, are you sure he's going to come?

02:27:12.000 He said he would.

02:27:13.000 He said he'd bring two suits.

02:27:14.000 And now I'm thinking how ridiculous that sounds that I told him in the gym and said, come down with a couple of your suits from your own closet.

02:27:21.000 Like there's no wardrobe.

02:27:22.000 There's no time to get a wardrobe fitting.

02:27:24.000 And just show up.

02:27:26.000 He shows up.

02:27:27.000 Shows up, does it.

02:27:28.000 I'll film you out in an hour because he knows how we work together.

02:27:31.000 Had a great time.

02:27:32.000 He's great in it.

02:27:33.000 Takes off.

02:27:34.000 Brought his two suits.

02:27:36.000 That's amazing.

02:27:37.000 That does not sound like somebody who's difficult.

02:27:38.000 No, it's the environment that you put these people in.

02:27:41.000 Totally the environment you put them in.

02:27:42.000 Because I was watching like a dog whisperer and it's like, if you have a pit bull, some of these guys can be alpha male pit bull if you put them in a situation where aggression is needed.

02:27:51.000 Like if you have a chaotic set.

02:27:53.000 And producers are coming down going, no, you can't wear that.

02:27:56.000 You can't talk like that.

02:27:57.000 Of course you're going to piss these guys off.

02:28:00.000 But if you put them in an environment where they know there's somebody who's the boss.

02:28:03.000 I mean, they show up.

02:28:03.000 It's my studio.

02:28:04.000 I'm operating the camera.

02:28:05.000 I'm the DP.

02:28:07.000 I'm there acting with them.

02:28:09.000 We're shooting it in record time.

02:28:11.000 Getting them out of there fast.

02:28:12.000 They're having a ball.

02:28:15.000 Pitbull just wants to follow.

02:28:16.000 He doesn't wonder if I can take over the show.

02:28:19.000 And so that was my theory on it anyway.

02:28:21.000 I think it's just the environment.

02:28:22.000 Because they always say, oh, if you have a dog that's misbehaving, it's the owner.

02:28:27.000 It's the owner and the environment.

02:28:28.000 It's not the dog.

02:28:29.000 There's nothing wrong with the animal.

02:28:31.000 The animal is fine.

02:28:32.000 The animal can be very calm and assertive.

02:28:34.000 Even submissive.

02:28:35.000 Well, it's also these exceptional actors with these eccentric personalities, they're oftentimes, like, if you put them in a bad environment, you're going to get a fucking terrible result because it's part of what they are is, like, a little bit of chaos.

02:28:47.000 Well, they're also just going to have to protect themselves.

02:28:49.000 Yes.

02:28:49.000 They have to protect themselves if this environment is fucked up.

02:28:52.000 Think about the type of guy that told you that, like, wait, you filmed this and you didn't get the rights.

02:28:57.000 Yeah, yeah.

02:28:58.000 Those fucks.

02:28:58.000 Those are the guys that are going to drive you up a wall.

02:29:01.000 Exactly.

02:29:01.000 We've all encountered those executives.

02:29:04.000 Yeah.

02:29:05.000 I remember I talked to Mick because I'd heard, you know, he'd been in trouble and something.

02:29:08.000 So maybe his head got big and was in trouble.

02:29:10.000 So I said, well, what was wrong?

02:29:13.000 Everything had to be what Mickey wanted to say, what Mickey wanted to wear, what Mickey wanted to do.

02:29:16.000 So, okay, well, maybe he's gone back to some...

02:29:18.000 I'm about to work with him again.

02:29:20.000 So he comes.

02:29:21.000 No, it was a dream again.

02:29:23.000 So at the end, I go, man, you always bring it, brother.

02:29:25.000 What?

02:29:26.000 You're always bringing it.

02:29:27.000 It's just so great to see.

02:29:29.000 Yeah, with some people, you deserve it.

02:29:30.000 Most people don't deserve it.

02:29:32.000 Because he remembers I gave him his shot back.

02:29:34.000 So I was like, okay, he didn't give me any shit.

02:29:36.000 Maybe he gives other people shit.

02:29:37.000 That's awesome.

02:29:38.000 Listen, brother, I've really enjoyed this.

02:29:40.000 Oh, man.

02:29:41.000 We'll have to bring you to the studio.

02:29:43.000 I want to see the studio, but I think a lot of things you said are really going to help a lot of people.

02:29:47.000 Yeah, hopefully.

02:29:49.000 It's been helpful to me to then tell people, and then the feedback loop, they tell me back.

02:29:54.000 Something I said, but they morphed it into something new.

02:29:58.000 Like they've added their own thing to it.

02:30:00.000 And I go, that's not what I told you.

02:30:03.000 Oh, we've added to it.

02:30:04.000 No shit, but now I'm taking your advice that came from my advice.

02:30:07.000 My kids do that all the time.

02:30:09.000 They go, it all comes back to what you taught us, Dad.

02:30:12.000 What was that?

02:30:12.000 What did I tell you?

02:30:13.000 That one time you said, you know, basically like the glass is half full, half empty.

02:30:17.000 Okay, but I didn't tell you all this other stuff.

02:30:19.000 Where'd that come from?

02:30:20.000 Oh, we added to it.

02:30:21.000 I was like, well, shit, that's the cool part.

02:30:24.000 My son was a Japanese knife maker in his teens.

02:30:28.000 He just wanted to get into Japanese.

02:30:30.000 This is a guy from another lifetime.

02:30:32.000 You obviously knew this was his path.

02:30:34.000 That's when you know it's a soul born in there.

02:30:35.000 Didn't get that from me.

02:30:37.000 Making these Japanese-style knives, selling them for like $1,000 or pop.

02:30:40.000 By the time he was 18, he got on that show Forged in a Fire and won.

02:30:45.000 And I was like...

02:30:47.000 How did you?

02:30:47.000 You didn't even know how to use most of the equipment they gave you.

02:30:50.000 You got $10,000?

02:30:51.000 How did you?

02:30:51.000 What was your mindset?

02:30:52.000 He said, I imagined I had won already.

02:30:55.000 Somehow I had won.

02:30:57.000 And so when I'd come up against a challenge that I wasn't sure how I would get by.

02:31:02.000 I just had to remember what I did to get by it rather than trying to be freaked out about it.

02:31:06.000 I was like, whoa!

02:31:07.000 That's some freaking samurai shit.

02:31:11.000 You've obviously been in another life before to come in armed with that.

02:31:15.000 You didn't learn that from me.

02:31:17.000 It's like, well, it's kind of like, no, it's nothing like anything I ever told you.

02:31:20.000 Wow.

02:31:20.000 So the feedback loop, when you share with people, I love people coming and telling me, hey, I was really inspired by your book and you said this.

02:31:27.000 I'm like...

02:31:27.000 I don't remember saying that in the book.

02:31:29.000 I think you added to it a lot.

02:31:31.000 It triggered something in you, and we all keep compiling our ideas.

02:31:35.000 Yeah, we all do that.

02:31:36.000 That's why I'm all interested in everybody else's perspective, because we all have our own relationship to creativity and the universe and all that.

02:31:41.000 Yeah, and the more you interact with things, the more you contribute.

02:31:46.000 But come be in a brass knuckle film.

02:31:47.000 That sounds like a great reality.

02:31:49.000 Let's do Conan or Frazetta something.

02:31:51.000 You've got to come see that.

02:31:52.000 Definitely do something.

02:31:53.000 I can't wait to see your show.

02:31:54.000 Because you'd be great.

02:31:55.000 I can already tell.

02:31:56.000 I've got a great part for you.

02:31:57.000 Where you will knock it out.

02:31:59.000 I will talk.

02:32:00.000 Thank you very much.

02:32:01.000 Thank you, sir.

02:32:02.000 It was awesome.

02:32:02.000 I really appreciate it.

02:32:03.000 All right.

The Joe Rogan Experience - April 24, 2025

Joe Rogan Experience #2310 - Robert Rodriguez

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