Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie & More on The Curse | Episodes 8 & 9

The Curse cast members Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie, & Nizhonniya Luxi Austin and Executive Producer Dave McCary discuss the new series with FLC Programmer Dan Sullivan. Learn more: https://www.filmlinc.org/series/the-curse/#about

In this brilliantly discomfiting collaboration between Nathan Fielder (hot on the heels of his revelatory comic creation The Rehearsal) and Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems, NYFF57; Oppenheimer), Fielder and Emma Stone (La La Land; The Favourite, NYFF56) play Asher and Whitney Siegel, married entrepreneurs (don’t call them gentrifiers!) whose latest plan is to flip houses and convert them into eco-friendly homes for the struggling residents of Española, New Mexico—all for a home improvement-style reality show being overseen by an ingratiating producer (Safdie) with demons of his own. From this premise, which nimbly touches upon inescapable American issues of race, class, and capital, Fielder and Safdie branch out into an increasingly tangled network of ethical and moral gray zones, expertly balancing the tender and the merciless. Following the world premiere of episodes 1–3 at the 61st New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center is pleased to present the remaining seven episodes from this genre-defying, riotously funny series, directed by Fielder and David and Nathan Zellner. An A24/Showtime release.

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So I think I wanted to start with uh with Emma neonia um because the last time I was talking to Benny in this setting we were uh talking a little bit about some of the I think points of reference kind of uh real world real world uh influences on the the

Characterization of douge and um I was especially curious to hear from you two about uh uh sort of a similar line of questioning um that is like uh I think your character through your the relationship between your characters the show is uh maybe speaking most explicitly about some uh some really uh

Important themes uh concerning like uh you know white liberal guilt uh the role of or the art world and kind of the role of the Art Market and relationship to uh to various things that that the shows uh attending to and I was kind of Cur I was

Kind of uh hoping you two could talk a little bit about some of I mean if there are any like real world uh bases uh for the characterizations of Whitney and carara um or even just kind of like General sociological trends that were sort of on your mind when you’re um

Formulating your approaches to the characters and uh I think either of you could start here noan you start because no comment [Applause] you start please uh I guess in terms of like their relationship Um uh I I feel like it’s it’s a it is a common relationship with you know someone that’s your benefactor and there’s like that power Dynamic and um and yeah I don’t know I mean it’s it’s definitely a thing you know there’s always somebody that’s you know holding the cards and

Um yeah I don’t know my my approach to it um yeah speech was from your audition yeah I think we so so just so for people have some context uh we worked with neonia a lot on the the character you know and changed a lot of the script

Once we once we found her and and we’re like okay like uh you know this is the person who who can do Cara she brought so much to it that was different than what we expected but so real and honest that we kind of adjusted the whole

Script to uh incorporate it but we also had her just sort of like improvise in the audition at one point we had all these scripts but we have like very low confidence sometimes and our writing and we’re just like well let’s just see how it goes and we had the whole turkey

Thing I think we did an interview it was like a fake yes it was a fake like news interview about her about her art and um yeah she uh so we were just interviewing about we had the turkey scene was in the script and all that so

We were just asking her about like you know what is the meaning behind like the turkey and pretty much that speech that you saw in the episode was what she just improvised in that moment and it was incredible and um yeah and so at some point when we were

Shooting I think or or we were writing as we were shooting too and we were wanting to tweak that scene yeah we called her up and I was like like is it hey can we use uh that what you said in the thing and she was like oh yeah

Totally go for it um cuz it was just so uh kind of concise and poetic and sort of like summed up and it it felt like it came from you in the moment I don’t know what yeah where did that come from when you sort of um that was actually my

Thoughts while I was reading the scene on script I had no idea what the turkey meant even like up into the moment where like we were improvising it it just kind of like came out of me um and I honestly was curious about like did you guys even

Know what the meaning of the slicing of the meat meant before I said that it was a dumber version of that we didn’t know how we sort of didn’t want the character to explain it and I think originally like Cara wasn’t supposed to actually talk about it because because

We didn’t sort of want we like this idea that everyone around her was sort of talking about her art but she actually wasn’t but the way you said it was just so real and like hit us in that moment I think Emma and Dave were also like this

Needs to happen in the in in it you know there has to be this confrontation and it’s it’s amazing to see like the the the rehearsal and then see the final result because it was so much more cuz when you were standing in front of Whitney you know it just it’s really

Powerful but yeah I mean it occurred to me in watching these episodes that um that the character of Cara is almost like the closest thing the show has to like an audience surrogate um at times and and soia I I was I was hoping you could talk a little bit about this you

Know it’s kind of like a complicated thing to have to perform uh discomfort cynicism and and uh and you know um uh like ambivalence like all at the same time and and and and have to like shift registers from moment to moment so so

Yeah I was I mean I was wondering if you had any thoughts about kind of that that dance you know um yeah I mean my my discomfort definitely um we’ve kind of talked a little bit about like moments of silence and how like Cara does really have like

A lot of those moments where you can see that there’s so much going on like inside but not really actually like seeing her emotions and um yeah I mean it’s she’s totally comfortable with that silence that’s the hard that’s the crazy yeah I also love how in episode 8 it

Feels sort of like Cara has like softened to Whitney for like a little moment like you sort of are like don’t make fun of her like you sort of are like defending her a little to your friend she’s nice or whatever and then later it just becomes there’s so much

Disgust yeah too yeah it’s um yeah um and and uh so I want I I want to turn to uh Benny and Nathan a little bit um uh here which is just uh as like pertaining to episode 8 just because I think it’s like pretty revelatory for some things

About like the the friendship between uh douge and Asher and um it actually it occurred to me in watching episode 8 that like i’ perhap I perhaps like overestimated how well friendship had been explored in like movies and TV and so on and and um the idea of of a

Genuinely like truthfully complicated uh friendship and so um I was kind of yeah I was curious to hear from both of you sort of about like conversations you had and kind of um arriving at what the exact shape of this friendship would be and sort of how it would um gradually be

Revealed by the show because there I feel like um we don’t have that strong of a sense of sort of uh certain aspects of like your shared past or whatever up until this point and sort of how you like te how you guys talked about teasing that out um well it’s it’s it’s

One that I thought was just like outside of that that is kind of that adds to that is that Nathan and I are sometimes friends you know and and in the show we had to kind of have that but then add this layer to it and Nathan was really

Kind of adamant about this idea of like this there’s a sadness to somebody not understanding a social situation and Mis misunderstanding kind of um somebody being mean and you know kind of just out of defense and that that was the Crux of their relationship is like dealing with

That spoken and unspoken and I think that for a lot of it you know the show you’re watching it you have a certain idea of who douge is and what he’s doing but when you actually see douge the bully like what does that do you know how does that feel because you’ve come

To your own conclusions about somebody based on everything else but then when you actually see their relationship yes it’s in episode 8 but we w we like purposely held off till this moment so that it kind of all can kind of bubble up cuz you’ve dealt with

All of these kind of pressure cookers between the two of them and I don’t know it was just though that that scene was we that was it was oddly fun in a weird way because we were we did a it was really a long scene

We did that all as one run right what scene are you talking about the interview oh yeah yeah yeah the interview and then that into like I call it the Asher douie date you know where they go on they have their kind of reconnection and again it’s just this

Uncomfortableness at like knowing that you’ve done something to somebody and that they don’t actually know something and you can’t really get forgiveness because you don’t want to be truthful about it so it’s there’s a lot of complicated things you have to deal with when you have friendships or you’ve said

Certain things and I don’t know it’s but it is it was just fun it was it was not fun is the wrong word because I don’t think it’s fun to watch but I do actually um that’s maybe the messed up thing I don’t know and also Asher not like being able

To like admit to himself the truth about their relationship because it sort of means that he had no friends if it’s true and so he sort of has to believe he was part of the fun even though they were sort of but also like kids you know

So like I don’t know do they know what they’re really doing or so everyone’s a little uh has their own little delusions I guess but you’re you’re pulling from past relationships and ideas and you’re just kind of trying to make it into what seems right for these

People and I don’t know the fact that they’re working together and making this thing is so complicated because one person has so much more power in that certain situation but yeah I mean um uh I mean a equally sort of pivotal relationship here is obviously Asher Asher and Whitney and um

I think uh given some of the things that are foregrounded in these two episodes um it makes me especially interested to hear from Nathan and Emma about um about sort of the the conceptualization of kind of the arc that the relation or the depiction of the relationship uh in the

Show and um and yeah it occurs to me that there’s like um uh there’s something about the relationship where it’s like everything is sort of marked by some kind of like uh capitalist striving or or what have you so like um so yeah I was just kind of curious about

How you guys envisioned uh the relationship playing out across the whole of the the series because um because I don’t think it’s like a very linear kind of depiction of like the dissolution of a relationship I don’t want to hijack this but I want to just hold on backtrack for one second because

When I said no comment that was who this could be maybe based on or like who was maybe inspiration I want to just go back to the carer relationship for one second I think that the car Whitney relationship is one of the most pivotal vital elements to this show I think that

Everything that’s happening between the two of them silently or spoken is very definitive um in terms of what this show is saying and without being prescriptive about what I believe this all means I think that what naon brought to Cara and the the way that she played this

Character and also improvise these lines that eventually made it into the show are to me the most vital of the entire series and the way that I understand Whitney and what she is reacting to and what she’s melting down internally about so I just wanted to say that really quickly

Because I said no comment and it’s extremely I have many comments com internally exactly many comments uh she’s [ __ ] incredible and it’s a very very important uh Dynamic so to Asher the I mean that’s for yeah she’s yeah okay so Asher whatever you know no I’m kidding you’re great the um

Asher and Whitney what what was your idea about that relationship wa you acted in it you don’t um yeah I I think like uh I mean what’s so amazing too is it’s interesting like watching it with the audience and everything and like Whitney is very uncomfortable watching with an audience

I think W yeah it was it was uh it was it was uncomfortable it was it was Whitney like watch it just feels like you really see on the big screen and everything just like Whitney is really feels like she’s trying really hard to do kind of the right thing and there’s

These like pressures like what you were saying about just like capitalist structures like there are these pressures around her that are on everyone that are so the norm that you don’t really think about it unless it’s like seen like in a show like this really because it’s just she’s sort of

Trying to do and the discomfort like when you see that cut of the show and and like she’s doing what she feels she’s supposed to do she truly believes in the show and it’s so painful to watch she truly believes she’s doing the right thing all the time but she is a human

Mood ring yeah who’s reacting to anyone’s you know look at her so she’s you know any look or any feeling it’s a weird combination because narcissists don’t have empathy but she weirdly has a comp of like feeling the room yet being deeply deeply narcissistic you can be a partial narcissis that’s actually that’s

An amazing or because she isn’t she she doesn’t actually she sees it and understands it but doesn’t necessarily feel it she knows what she has to do yeah it’s a very Str it’s a very common Affliction and I think she’s taking these thoughts no but it’s like a very

Modern Affliction I think that that you you you know you know what’s the right thing to do do you know what you’re supposed to be saying posting doing in a circumstance and yet you don’t necessarily feel it all the way in your bones because you want everybody to

Think you know you it’s she was fascinating to play for so many reasons because there are so many people and I and I understand it like I get it like you you know you’re like I’m supposed to do all these things correctly and and be

And then you just turn into a and I’m not saying I’m Whitney maybe I am am I Whitney [ __ ] well it was based on a lot of our conversations we met yeah that is interesting the but there is like a you know there is something so so modern

About her um it does feel like one of the most brutal things you can do to someone to say that they’re respons you’re like you’re responsible for telling your own story it’s a real like burden when you’re a person like Whitney and like what how do you tell your own

Story and what’s the way to do do it cuz your mind is blocking out certain things so like it’s not only the Asher and Whitney but the douge element and this pressure for Whitney to have to tell her own story and be sincere about it and she eventually comes to a place with

Douge where they both agree on what her story is everybody’s delusion and it feels honest it feels like she’s saying what she actually feels which is weird she’s able to do that in the show she she almost becomes Doug right at the moment where douge un becomes himself you know so it’s like

It’s just a little too late in a lot of ways but it’s just funny because yeah she’s she does not become doggy but when you see her sitting with carara in that like in that moment say it as a s like you see these instances where she’s

Basically being the producer in that way and I don’t there’s just there was there was definitely like to to what Nathan was saying this idea that the show is going to be this ultimate representation of who she is and that’s the one thing Whitney is deathly afraid of actually

Doing which is showing to the world what she actually believes in and what she thinks so that’s why the show is going in such a pingpong way because she doesn’t know what she wants to say and she’s very nervous about that all the time so yeah well

Yeah like well what wait I mean I guess I should have just said nothing there and my mistake was saying a sound but I do I think Benny’s a pro he’s been at all of these this is my first one the thing the thing that I do Benny the

Thing that’s really the thing that I find what you’re saying about like this realistic form of friendship or this realistic kind of I feel like a relationship that’s what was really kind of hard was to show a marriage that’s new and struggling but with all of these kind of miscommunications that happen

While it’s going on um and then I think what I’ve been so excited to even get to this point of episode 9 because I think it’s so funny to be in the room while each person is witnessing kind of a version of themselves on screen and

Having to deal with that you know yeah actually well uh that that Segways uh beautifully into what I wanted to ask about now which is I think like all of your answers and on some level kind of spoke to this but the the kind of the

Experience of watching the show in a in a cinema and the way that that enlarges certain aspects maybe it pushes other things to the background or whatever I’d be curious to hear from all of you kind of about the experience of watching the curse in a movie theater Dave this seems like a

Great question for you you know Dave has said for weeks now they don’t want to talk to me they don’t have any questions for me if I I mean if I was just a fan of the show I would not want this guy you are just a fan I thought you were

Just a fan that walked on stage thought you just walked on stage I should for I just want to say for those who don’t know Dave McCary he was a instrumental part of this show in CRA helping craft the tone and being there every day part of all these conversations about H how

We were executing it and and um and kind of maintaining this like Arc to the whole season that is like as you’re shooting 70 uh or 70 days but every scene’s like out of order and everything was the only exclusively onet executive producer you guys were writing or

Directing show running he was banging just there so everyone take out a pen and write this name down and I want you to look up this man’s IMDb this man is brilliant and I want you to watch his other work the director of brigsby bear for those that don’t

Know director of my favorite amazing film the director no whatever the director of the sketch group Good Neighbor that’s true oh a little less Applause than brigsby bear interesting okay but it was Dave was a was like like a compass I called him super glue at

Episode the last time we were here so please take it away Dave anyway what was it like to watch in the theater Dave what’s what is what were we talking like watching it in a theater um that that is very sweet that you guys said that cuz then now they have some content

I do feel more confident now um uh what was it like what I’m really enjoying coming to the theater watch I I’ve was just talking to n about this like I this is one of my favorite things that we’ve been as a film maker being a part of behind the scenes of

These things like there’s nothing like this and this show always felt as we were making it like it was a 10-hour film and I I wish more people in the world got to experience it like this um and the the energy coming off you it’s very depressing to watch by yourself I would

Imagine but then you you feel some laughs and it it it actually really shifts the way scenes play in an interesting way and and now seeing many iterations of these cuts and and feeling very uh Bleak about and then coming here and everyone’s like

Yeah I I will say if you have been here before we’ve done very long q&as I’ve warned everybody that we’re going to do that again so either way we’ll try as hard as possible to and everyone was against it besides Benny there so there’ll be a that’s the tone get up and

Walk out whatever tension you’re observing up here is a result of that there will be a very strong emphasis on as hard as possible in yeah anyway uh let’s open it up uh if you have a question raise your hand I’ll call on you we’ll bring you a mic

And we’ll start right here in the cardigan hi okay so I have a question mostly for Nathan actually you are directing and maybe for Benny too a little bit if you want to pipe in um sounds good uh you’re directing a lot of these episodes and you’re also doing

This like very intense acting that at least I don’t think we’ve seen you do before in like any of your other projects what is that like to do like when you’re you know watching the Monitor and seeing yourself like get very intense are you just like not thinking about that at

All the really intense moments are are definitely uh weird to to look at because it’s like um I’m like is that look like normal or is it is that do people does that look like a person or um but yeah I I you know I I started like

Making stuff on YouTube like in 2005 when like YouTube started and so I would edit my own stuff and sort of like make these shorts so I like got used to that being like a part of my process where I I’m directing myself and then I’m like

Watching it so it’s not I’m sure it was weird for everyone else me doing that because you know but I’m you know concerned about my acting too you know more than the pros you know up uh up here right H am I am I right poor things La La Land

Opener uh why are you saying open uh two Good Fellas um um but anyways no I’m always a little insecure about that but uh yeah you know I think it’s like it is you know you like that’s why this was was like an extremely collaborative process with me

And Benny because there’s a lot of scenes like we’re not in together so we’re each looking out for each other with that and like looking at the Monitor and everything you see on screen has been like heavily discussed with both of us and we’re always trying to

Like put up there stuff that it’s a true collaboration so we want to make sure we’re on the same page about everything that we’re doing and checking in so it would be harder to do if it was like Benny wasn’t there or Dave wasn’t there other people aren’t there to like give

Us an opinion on that um it was exciting for me to see you go and show all that you know like cuz you’re that that final that scene in episode 9 is like it’s insane you know and it was like I know you were nervous to do that but it was

Like cuz it was you really couldn’t we had to kind of set it up like where you were kind of going and like you were going to say when you went right but he only did it twice that’s what I’m saying is at first we were going to just

Remember the first take we were just going to do it he was like I’m not going to go all the way I’m going to stop right before I go into the whole spe oh yeah yeah we were going to cuz I I worked on because it’s there’s so many

Lines that don’t logically connect it’s like the like one line doesn’t make sense with another so it was very hard to memorize and like I worked on it all week and I was like okay I’m going to go up until like the Clapping part and then

We’ll like do a new take before I do that but I was like because we started at the TV screen I think or like when we were watching and I guess I just like was in it and I started doing it and then I just did the whole thing and then

After we tried to do it again and it was bad and I was I think I was sort of like I guess I cuz I like doing lots of takes if I can but I I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore so it was just after the

Second one I think we bailed on it yeah and that was it but it there’s definitely it was like it was like there there’s there’s like moments of kind of like true hurt that that Asher shows that I was I’m always so excited to see it on the screen you know because it’s

It is it’s it’s not like it the stakes aren’t if you like a if you were to just like ask what happened and it doesn’t necessarily sound like that big of a deal but to the the characters in the screen it’s a big deal you know everything that’s happening and and as

It is in kind of your everyday life if you’re outside and you get into an interaction with somebody I’ve had the feeling where it’s like if if I get into like not necessarily a fight or like somebody does something to you and you kind of think like oh like you kind of

Walk away getting really angry and then you think oh I should have I should have said this or I should have said that and you kind of want to go back to the moment and find the person just tell it to them but they’re never there you know

You have and then you have to live with that but if you somebody asked you why you’re so upset and you’re just like oh well I was waiting online and somebody accidentally bumped into me while I was on the phone that’s it and then you’re

Like oh but why were you so angry angry and then you have to go into all of the backstory of what it is who you were on the phone with all that stuff so that’s kind of where I guess the show is trying to take you maybe what does

That it’s it’s to put you in the moment of all of these people you know oh that answers the question totally does that answer your question all right um and this is what happens every time more questions pop up as we speak uh let’s go to the back the room orange over

Here or I think it’s orange I can’t tell Coral coral Coral nice Coral hi hello um so I have a question about the character of douge kind of just about his motivations for doing something um and I I I hope this isn’t something that just

Comes up in the finale and if so feel free to just no comment me but um so douge has a breathalyzer and douge uses it it but he never uses it until he’s already like on the highway and I just was curious about that um well I think he’s already in the

Middle of driving like mil I think exactly I think what it is is that he doesn’t understand where he’s at right when he gets into the car it’s only after a few minutes or like probably 20 minutes of driving that he realizes where he is is and he’s like okay I

Should probably do something about that and he he tries to make the right decision you know so Dogg’s an alcoholic yeah and it’s all yeah in that moment it’s it’s a delayed reaction to how he acceptance of being an alcohol when do you use

Yours I mean I think if you have one of those things like that I mean anything’s game right like if you have one on you no that’s true and it’s you’re probably doing it all but it was it was something we thought about you know we could have

Gone for the keychain version we went with a very good breathalyzer you know it’s something that he takes seriously and it’s just there there I guess it’s it’s interesting because there’s things like that that he’s doing to kind of and he says it to Asher I I could see you

Were feeling uncomfortable so that’s why I’m doing this yeah he keeps doing it to reassure the other person he’s saying so it’s it’s almost like if you think oh really I’m I’m drunk let me prove it to you and then you’re like oh yeah you’re [ __ ] wasted you know and it’s almost

Like it’s only because the number tells him that he has to stop so I think also like 0.008 on those things is actually very high you can drink a lot and so yeah he’s probably always drunk and trying to prove to people he’s not but you can be drunk and still blow under

Cuz it’s it’s actually when you look at the actual law that level is extremely I think it is like five or six beers to and it’s like so you actually we did the math and all this stuff of like how much you could actually get away with you

Know and then there’s discretion at at the hands of the person who pulls you over but this was there was a lot it’s it’s interesting it’s such a simple question but there is a lot of weird information that went into choosing that speci we could talk for hours about

About this but let’s not let’s uh yeah right there in the black T-shirt how are you deciding on people I’m curious cuz you’re sort of like it’s uh it’s my gut oh nice yeah guys um I’m not going to load this question is there a strategy to how much penis appears in each

Episode cuz it seems really carefully placed but I mean I got to enough yes it’s fair yeah yeah this is how I’m deciding who to call on the answer is yes yes next question all right going going back to the back uh over here in the this person

Holding right dead center has been holding their hand up for a long time Dam all right we call on her no but he has a thing where he’s like he sees that but he’s like I’m going to not it’s like the New York filmfest way

Oh um so I just recently listened to an interview with the great Rick Ruben wow I know where to every Straight Ahead thank you you listen to an interview with who Rick Reuben okay and he was saying that every piece of art is at first a diary

Entry so my question for the creators is what did you pull from your own lives that inspired the curse wow Rick Ruben’s wrong [Applause] period next question no no no no no yeah he’s not letting us off the hook on that one um tell Rick rubben I just went to a Q&A

With Nathan Fielder and he said that nothing is a diary entry um I get I can I I can try and answer um I think that that actually is very truthful and I don’t necessarily I I I was very open to kind of talking about myself you know and and certain

Feelings and just like the way that you go through and how susceptible I am to certain marketing and all that stuff and that you have to be kind of truthful about that stuff in order to I think specifically for this to to work if it

Does you know so I think that it is definitely you can’t be afraid to look in the look at yourself and talk about that and it was definitely like conversations you know just about how you move through how you move through kind of the world and try and go through

Things but um it’s not I don’t know I don’t know if it’s as beneficial as a as it maybe it is you know as a diary entry because you’re not really you’re doing it against what you’re like being told in a lot of ways but I don’t

Know I mean also just when you feel like those natural like tension in your life and like you’re like why do I feel that way you want to uh it’s like interesting to kind of explore those things I think in general and stuff so what happened to you

Nathan what happened to you that might have inspired this show Nathan do they already do you guys already know this story about the like birth of the show with the curse never mind then no there’s I mean there’s a there’s a lot uh you know yes Rick Rubin is a I’m sure he’s

Whatever I don’t know stop stop talking about Rick rubben it’s like just feels like such a a normal statement I don’t want to but uh yeah things come from from life and uh and uh yeah I think uh you seem uncomfortable well Emma wants me to tell

The story of when that woman said the curse thing to me but I’m like uh I’ve told it a lot but just in short someone the Genesis of the show was someone did say to me uh I was in Westwood going to get a cell phone when I first moved to

America and a woman asked me for money and I didn’t have any and she said I curse you and then I went to to the store to to to get the phone but the entire time I like couldn’t get that out of my head and it was bugging me even

Though I don’t believe in this stuff and uh so after I went to the ATM and I took out $20 and I I I gave it to her and I said is the curse gone and she smiled and said yes so that me telling Benny about that

Story and how it was like what that did to my mind uh that’s when we started talking about just how words and the things you can project onto other people and it was just like a good basis for like a show because narratively too in like shows like this like lines and

Words mean things and so to have that experience where you’re not sure at any point what means what and I think the characters like feel that way a lot of the time too um was seemed like an interesting jumping off point a few years ago did you guys ever sorry this

Is I mean it it makes sense to what you’re saying but I I just did you ever hear that episode of This American Life where they were talking about this man on the subway that was walking around to people and he wasn’t saying anything but

He was like walking down the line and he would e either give you a thumbs up or a thumbs down yes do you remember that did you guys hear did anybody hear this episode It’s amazing yes and it was like a bunch of people were like I don’t you

Know nobody knew who this guy was and he was just silently walking around he would walk like one by one and he would just go like and people were haunted by it they were like what does it mean I’m like is it and it reminded me so much I remember

Hearing that episode and then the you talking about this it’s such a weird idea aidea that someone can just say something to you or do something to you that you don’t necessarily believe in but it will hang over you forever I mean just the experience of like leaving a conversation and feeling

Like did I say something stupid or that didn’t go well like I feel like that’s common nope maybe right guys thumbs up or none of us have ever been through that Nathan you ever give a hat but anyways I think that’s like this like a lot of in this show is like the

Characters are really sort of concerned about how they leave these conversations with people and and it’s also I guess yeah it’s like normally you may see a conversation very quickly but we try to show the whole conversation so you can kind of see how people react when that

Feeling is hitting them you know where it’s like oh should I have said that should I have not said that I don’t know but in short yes we all love Rick Rubin and we’re all big big fans and of uh and uh yeah uh we we’ll check out that podcast for

Sure all right uh Nathan who do you who do you want to hear no no I trust you no it’s okay choose someone and then we’ll give you see I I all right uh just because it’s the first person I saw the guy over here in the blue explaining

Now I’m so sorry see what that does to someone now he’s being watched the magic of language oh my God I had a question about the casting uh I was pretty surprised a few episodes ago to see Dean Kane pop up how did that come

About and what was it like to work with him we just try to include as many of our friends in the show as we can so it’s basically like you know Emma Dean we’ll just call um it it was just you know it was it it was it made sense you

Know I i’ I’d been a fan of Ripley Believe It or Not Lois Lois and Clark this this is all true and it was just the there was something there was something about him that seemed to make sense you know for that role and it that

We we reached out we had a conversation with him and then he was in the show he was great he was really good to work with and really Pro on set like fully just just like even like they like little things like when um when he goes

To shake Whitney’s hand and she doesn’t want to shake it he’s I’m all right there’s like a lot of it was an interesting thing to to kind of work with and play with but um yeah he was great you know he had a good time and

Yeah I don’t know and the casting is just really who’s right for that part and every every part we really put poured a lot over you know there was a couple of times where we would get somebody we would see their tape and then we would have a conversation with

Them and do some kind of an improv with them and one time we didn’t do that and it was like and we we all when that happened we kind of always kind of caught ourselves like we needed to do that for almost all of the parts where somebody spoke because it was everything

Kind of hinged on all these different moments even if somebody came in for a brief second if they read false it was it hurt the whole thing you know but good question um thank you um no it’s to the person who asked but no ST here over

Here in the well I was going to go to the Tie a Tie oh this has become I’m sorry I brought it up I like uh I wanted to kind of ask about improving in the cinematography style that you use which kind of has this the camera so far

Away does that kind of allow for more improvisation and kind of exploring those scenes as it’s going on and just to be clear in general with that like there’s not a lot of improv in the show like we really if anything we would sort of explore moments when we met someone

Outside of it and then incorporate it into the script if we thought but it had to be sort of like regimented because the lines and where the scenes went had such a structure to it over many minutes and it’s actually the opposite what you would think you’d think that being far

Away would allow more freedom but it doesn’t because you’re literally shooting from so far away through such a small window F literally and figuratively that if you miss your blocking or you miss this thing you’ve missed the entire scene and then you have to shoot it all over again because

Everything is connected that’s a good point so it is like it it’s it’s contradictory to what you’d think but this style actually made us have to be really really specific but of course there is you use improv to kind of take the script and mess it up you know to

Make it feel more natural Because the actual words don’t really matter as much as the kind of sentiment behind them so if if I were to say a word like um I’m trying to think of a a big word what’s a good big word a Kimbo arms a Kimbo

That’s a good that’s a small big word a Kimbo you know what that means it means arms at your sides but I don’t necessarily feel comfortable saying the words oh yeah he had his arms a Kimbo like if that was that was good though

But if I if I had but if I had that in the script oh yeah they were stand look look she’s standing there her arms a Kimbo you know that doesn’t sound right so I would say can I say arms at the side are on her hips that sounds better

Okay great it means the same thing but it’s not technically the same word that’s only six letters it’s not that big but it’s big word it’s a big word in the sense that it’s a word you don’t know and has it kind of sounds a little pretentious to say yeah I was just

Thinking like esophagus or something okay like which word esophagus esophagus yeah that’s a part of the body though that’s easy yeah yeah no I know it’s just bigger well let’s let’s think of another hernia and your esophagus is what’s the what’s the word for when you mix up like sense and words

If question uh were you what is it synesthesia there you go I have a recommendation I have a recommendation for the rest of the the Q the Q&A yeah hit us this is very this is very dope well no there I mean I’m seeing like 40 hands and I I’m very

Curious but I feel like we should actively try to do a rapid fire like the most lightning round oh wow lightning this is a nice new thing give a powerful sentence like give a meaningful answer but like let’s not go on this the tangents all right but this we’re

Answering the question Dave so this is how it happens this is how this is how the magic is made you got mced rapid all right now that everyone’s been raining now all of the hands all right boom lighning round right in front of you yeah um why was the choice made for like

The long lenses and how early in Pre was that decided uh from the beginning and it was inspired by old 60s and 70s Candid Camera nice excellent excellent excellent yes she’s she’s had her hand for a long time yeah oh you need a m oh wow oh that’s the thing that

Was with the lightning round the the the mic there we go yeah hi um my sister and I have been Nathan fans for a long time N9 and a half years and I would love if you could talk a little bit about and a

Half n what you said yeah years n and a half years yes okay um and I would love if you could talk about the World building because I’ve seen a lot of Easter eggs that I recognize oh interesting T I’m not going to go on tangent though so um you can tangent we

Can’t tangent that’s the thing you can the MC rule is just we can’t um I’ll say a couple one is like the Laughing comedy thing reminded of like a haha thing that happened in Nathan on your side as well as deep like the episode seven with your

With the distorted face in the mirror there was like a also distorted thing on Nathan on your side and then in the Simon C episode of Nathan for you he talks about the actor that plays abir and then there he is you know okay

Wow okay I see I see um I didn’t even know what Nathan on your side was he had to quiet go those from Canada oh yeah holy [ __ ] Vancouver uh yeah some things uh that you might see as Easter eggs uh might be more uh uh about my limited

Range in uh how my brain works uh but you know Co comedy is like you know I think a lot about comedy and there’s various like forms of comedy and people trying to do comedy uh unsuccessfully is often uh kind of like it’s an interesting character trait when

Someone wants to be funny but they don’t have the natural tcy but generally I I just like to be a Kimbo about [Laughter] it great lightning round wait oh anyone first thought no but there’s isn’t there someone in particular she handed the microphone all right wait hold hold on we’ll bring a microphone

See the thing that’s this is what I I don’t know how you deal with this I’m just going to say speak to my inner I know you said no tangent but when you have to when you have to describe who gets the microphone that’s a very complicated position be it’s fraud yeah

It’s hard to be like oh what do you choose as the description for the person to hand the microphone thank you for seeing me yes it’s hard I’ve been told this is a stupid question so please prove this person wrong where is the person you think where is the person

That said it was stupid okay all right I love him very much do you think that your characters are bad people oo o nice not a stupid question at all not a stupid question very but it’s hard you know that’s like you know you get into the meaning of life when

You start talking about that stuff exactly can I can I this would be interesting though can we show of hands if you guys think these characters are bad people whoa well what do you here’s a question for you right’s Whit Whitney hands Asher dou interesting here here’s a question

For you what do you think is a quality that makes someone a bad person wait Cara one I saw some hands two nice okay what’s a quality that makes someone a bad person in your eyes okay that’s a question that I wasn’t ready to answer I think a bad person is probably

Someone who really only thinks about themselves and is using like the world around them as like to their advantage and is taking advantage of other people people less fortunate probably taking advantage of people less fortunate in order to build themselves up now do you see Whitney is someone who only thinks about

Herself yes so why do you take it when she does these other things for people that no one’s seeing well yeah how do you how do you what what’s that well that’s why I’m asking because characters are three-dimensional people right and you guys are I mean your charact I’m I’m

Going to assume that you build from yourselves with these characters and that you guys are not bad people which is sort of why I’m asking the question to get a sense of like how you feel about the actions of your characters and like where you pull from so I’ve got a

Rapid fire answer okay good and bad is just two things you know I feel like there is a range more than binary about how people are and who they are that’s [Applause] great uh it’s question for Nathan um all right so I look at the like Nathan for you the rehearsal and now

This some more your recent work is kind of like a sliding scale of reality so like Nathan for you is is probably the most reality show the rehearsal is somewhere in the middle and this is the most like I guess scripted but it feels it yeah but you know it feels super real

And I guess where do you see this in the context of your work and did was it flexing the same muscles doing this or did it feel like a total stretch out of your comfort zone it’s like the goal in everything is just to like you know I

Think Benny and I share this like feeling when we were trying to make something we just want the viewers watching at home there’s so many things I I watch where I just sort of feel nothing and I like that sometimes but we like it if the viewer can like feel

Something when they’re watching something and like engage with it and you know it comes in different forms and it’s there’s not a strategy in terms of like oh this is this it’s just sort of like this project just made sense in the moment and we were excited to do it so

We’re we’re trying things and uh look you know things are what they are what they are and the the the world’s a beautiful [Applause] place it’s my mom right there everybody Benny’s mom yeah but generally speaking I just want to say with whatever like I make and and

I know these guys feel the same way like with everything it it’s really hard hard to make something and we’re trying our best to like give you something new and entertaining so it really means a lot that you’re like engaging with the show and like coming out to these screenings

And it’s just so great and special we love it and we thank you for for supporting it and uh it’s awesome it’s really cool so thanks so much thank you guys