Joe Rogan Experience #2240 — Roger Avary & Quentin Tarantino Transcript

Transcript

0:00 The Joe Rogan Experience. And one of them, this guy, Mikey, which isn't his real name. I think he's actually named, they name Find out what the savory guys about maybe or just keep an eye on him or whatever and they told me right up front like when I became an operator, blah, blah, blah. gives them a heart attack and it's untraceable. And he was a medic and so he was kind of identified as someone who knew how to kill somebody very easily

3:18 is the guy still alive? Uh huh. I think this guy, if I had to guess, some guy who got fucked over. well, actually all insurance I live in California and I used to live in Belle Canyon, and you know it was fucking it was rough of calamity. Maui And they're like, and there was all these reports that no, Bruce Willis and his family Yeah, it's I think it's over development which is the cause of these insane

7:42 Driving home took me 55 minutes on the five to get home and the entire time the right side of the highway was on fire for and it's coming over the hill. But I'm the guy who for some reason always decides I'm gonna stay And they're all there, like, hanging out By the way, my Spec Ops friend, That's ridiculous. That's what it is. It's like they have all these huge pensions and everybody thinks they're heroes. They're not heroes. I like the way he breaks it

10:29 It's like, when you live in the Hollywood Hills, you're paying actually pretty decent Has that happened to you? I left the room with the pot on the stove Yeah, exactly. It's a hard fucking job when it's a hard job though. I'm okay with the fire guys. Career you guys work together. Yeah. Yeah. No shit. Yeah, you guys met. Yeah, that's how we met Wow

13:47 Everybody was confused. What I didn't think film was gonna vanish either yeah, I don't think the theater experience was gonna go away either but one of the things though that was the So there's a lot of people that like invested in this stuff and it seemed like a good idea. The Of course, you'll have some cassettes that don't rent as well, Well, bookstores need to get new stuff too but it's not a library like life doesn't

16:12 Within three to four years, you're bursting out of the seams of videos. And you've got to really, and it just never stops. pop store and you have a bike store you don't have to keep getting new bikes Blockbuster came onto the scene, they would go in and they would kind of do this sort of gray market Because everyone wants to see it. You know, for $10 a piece, you know, once the desire has died down.

18:25 the shopping center that we were in and yeah well you're missing the best the okay, we're going into Manhattan Beach. And they still manage to survive across the street from warehouse. you can only get three or 12 top guns, whatever it is, it's not as many as Blockbuster is getting. All right, we have what we have. And there's no algorithm to tell them what to do. We're the algorithm. Yeah, you have to know. Oh this guy

21:28 Because invariably, anybody who comes in, they have- Without the benefits. no, there was about like 15 customers that like, They watch what they watched on TV Took his own life at a certain point of his father owned another video store that I worked out as well But you're making like legit horror films. They love movies. And so they were easy to pull in and to be in the film.

24:17 No, no definitely sex lies and videotape, but I remember you coming to me and saying Okay, it's an artistic movie. It's our it's already. It's funny Because it's entertaining. and say each and every one is a genre film. It was like Thackeray wrote them in like an episode. I want to keep one foot in exploitation. and he's like, hey, I'm calling all the writers I know.

27:07 And then I just quickly wrote one based on the location. and I had just traveled through Europe No, you kind of made Roger Takes a Trip, Henri, Jean, Claude, all the characters from the movie. So, he doesn't quite know that this is all gonna happen, that everything else has been a preamble to this. I'm like what about the cops aren't the police gonna say anything?

29:34 You know, like, you think, you know, But it was. movie and because of the experience I had just had, and the way he carries a gun and the way he walks around. and then you're raising that child to become the movie. But at the same time you have to be willing to you know be strong with it as well. That's a very underappreciated movie Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, Quentin did that. Actually.

32:30 But it's the scene. My favorite scene is the scene with Hugh Ung Lahn when he walks into I will. The movie was shot for very little money. We had no money to make it. Don't tell me what you filmed about at that moment. Because there was like a little sewer man hole in the bottom of the bank. cause he leaves the scene and then comes back angry. I just set up a single camera.

35:25 He's ready to do something else and he walks into a close up and it all hits him. care how the sausage was made, I like the sausage. I wanted you to talk about the sausage, Well, I had Tom Savini on the set cuz and I couldn't afford Tom Savini, but I when your head gets knocked off, like he's seen all this stuff. worked on the film and he made that burn makeup

37:48 Where you were asking earlier on about, like for a long, long time, and always figured I would do that eventually. But it's dream-adjacent. It's close to my dream. It's close to my dream. Rub you didn't have the fire. I didn't have the fire and like five years younger mentally or emotionally yeah Yeah, yeah. And, um, but... And so we're roommates, and there's this one night that he's kind of like all, he's kind

41:22 you could work at liquorice pizza for a couple of years, to get, but you can work at Warehouse Records and Tapes tomorrow because you just had three years But I knew he was. 20s were like you your group of friends or your family you know and like well we We went to movies together. This is coming from somewhere. And then all of a sudden, he still hung around

44:19 When you turn 30. just like nail it. I was like, look, the problem is that I'm living in the South Bay and four days at that place, well then that's fine. And that was close enough. Because they weren't too special right? Yeah, you know, that's the weird realization that you end up having Well, shit, I would make $10,000 a year opposed to talking to your buddies about comedy in Minnesota, your buddies who like comedy,

47:59 There's the funny neighbor guy. but my friend Joe could do it can you you, how about giving Joe a chance? This is exactly what we tried to do It was crazy in November of 2020 nights Monday and Sunday and Monday night. So there's always a chance to get on stage. There's always Okay, but let me ask you a question let me ask you a question because it you know

50:34 all right, or eight years before they actually You have to fail. Yeah, you have to have the opportunities to fail Well, that's when you're a real comic. Well, also to be a headliner, you actually have to be enough of a name of a draw to actually draw This should be great. So you get a little bit of an education from that. like comedy doesn't exist in a vacuum.

52:57 that are doing it. I knew I was hearing the truth mmm and I knew I was hearing a coming important for young people to hear because there's a lot of people out And the thing about it was, you know, I did get comfortable, but I got comfortable in Right, right, right. in the world, but you're not going on stage. but my entry point into that movie was all the kids who like love surfing you know like Stacey Peralta or Tony Alva or

56:16 And that if a video store is the closest thing But then also there was also the situation of, you know, I became like a little film But the thing is, I'm usually gearing it towards the people. gearing it in a certain in a certain way and that's that that felt And so everyone kind of knew us. I'm like, I'm at the working at the store, Those are the VDR guys, guys.

59:16 Come back behind with us. I don't think they talk like that I actually felt part of the Manhattan Beach community. know, Quentin had this amazing screenplay and it was like we were gonna try to do it Cone Brothers style. We had just seen Blood Simple and we were We strategized about it a lot, but we never actually... what i had was i felt like i was a a reporter deep undercover all right on the opposite side

1:02:03 very risky. And I think I can think differently than these people do. Yeah, they're really really terrible. All right, they some of the when they go through the sausage factory oftentimes they get better The D-Girl doesn't become the head other than their highly evolved opinion. But it's refreshing to them yes you know And he was talking and they're like, well, I've seen these jokers out there and you know,

1:05:36 between himself and a director See, he's a real director because he sees the movie. I'm just doing my best. Like, oh, God. this is what you're gonna get and he's like, no, I quit. I quit everything and I'm gonna Constantly and yeah I'm running around town, my car is like, I go into his office and I sit down and cops has just started and it started Because it wasn't called cops, it was called the real Miami Vice. The problem was it doesn't scale out to the whole country like cops do.

1:09:33 your way up the ladder. Don't try to be a grip, work your way in. Just be a director. that was the most audacious, ballsy thing. But I told people what I was and what I was doing and eventually it stuck I heard the story came back to me later and then Maggie mentions to John about what happened. Really? That's actually happening? you know, cause I had some shit happen to me in my life.

1:12:37 me back in the saddle. I kept a really detailed super detailed journal about like everything that's going on around me. I had golf pencils. I could it became my escape, being able to write, That's actually good practice for dialogue. Oh, yeah. No, totally totally. No, actually I heard some And I'm like, Oh man, this is going to be great. know, it was such a vivid depiction. I'm like, well, I'm

1:16:36 Like on every page, it's like, holy crap. I had fallen into the very bad habit losing an entire section and so it reconnected me with that. I couldn't agree with you more. something. Sure. I would think as far as writing stuff down, it's like notes and ideas and funny word phrases It's the way you tell the story. That has to hold up as writing. So you open up your mind about, okay,

1:19:55 document. That's what you mean. Yes, I know. And then all of a sudden you're like, So when I write, I write like that, the one art form that literally cannot be practiced in solitary. You have to do it. My little analogy of it is you can't write poetry on a computer. because you just you're just getting it out there you're getting it out there Can we stop for a second while I run the restroom?

1:23:03 Should talk about are we on yeah, can I go? Yeah this. Yeah, you should talk about it. Maybe I should talk about... are we on? What are you saying about fun? I don't do anything fun. Well, you know, after Yeah. You're a vegetarian? Why'd you do that? and stuff and I just couldn't like after a while. I just couldn't do it. Yeah You've been around feral people, right?

1:25:43 No, I've- it's where you're getting your animals from are you getting your animals from? I am not like one of these people who are like, oh never, never. That's the greatest thing in the world. We have 15 checkers. There's nothing like They like to hang out with each other He had a Hitler for a while. I think I can make it happen. I'll make it happen. He just decided he

1:29:28 it made me think about it I've got due process at least and so I'm in this like sure. It's by design. It's like you're placed into a and, and, um, so about once a week, like in what I was in population, um, about once a week, the So you're up there with like, you know, And usually they're looking for tar heroin or a shank or a weapon of some kind they take it off and maybe it gets answered. I'd never had one answered.

1:32:10 like a idiot. Like I still was, uh, you know, I'm writing about, oh, And so I noticed that whenever I was taken out of my cell to shower, to go to yard, to that letter to my daughter, who would then type up the pages that I was writing. So that's you're there and you're incarcerated but it's it's a light incarceration almost. And I had access to Like he, he suddenly decided that he would tell every, and like all of a sudden one day

1:35:07 People, like, I've got a- Well, he's still there. He's like hundreds of days in jail of how it went down. Those guys weren't planning on an insurrection. What about that? attributed to it, you know, sort of like when, you know, anything happens to They're walking him around. Fuckin yeah, we're all doing it and then you've got literal government agents encouraging you to do it moving barriers letting you

1:37:59 That guy doesn't right and most of those guys don't yeah Because you don't want to be that guy It's a big one. when we did our episode on the Andersonville trial. Yeah, you know is Yeah fucking trash chaos is chaos like direct questions that can really help my book. Well, that's conspiracy. And so they'll wait and like, man, I'd like to kill that DA. Well, that's conspiracy.

1:40:56 Or what you said about killing the DA. incriminate you deeper well, I Maybe a little like this. it, some wild exploitation thing that I, you know, what the fuck is this, let's watch it we started doing what we used to do during the pandemic. Yeah. And then we were sort it's like, Roger, I'm starting, it's three movies we're going to watch the film, I've kind of learned that it's like, Roger, I'm starting, it's three

1:43:35 And that's it. You know, um, it's it's a beautiful thing though, because it's so open, you know, there's no one telling like there's no Yeah, yeah It's me and Quentin who decide everything. is the same thing we used to do. That's true you've used it on your own. and we hadn't talked for, I mean, of agents and attorneys and Hollywood and money and fame and the press and the press's

1:47:05 even when everyone is telling you you're wrong. And is that a joke or two got made? I like He's a guy. I never really listened to his show or anything like that. He's fucking brilliant But when he was on your thing talking about the election and when he described Tim Walt is like is a rare talent. And so because of that, he's got this crazy muscle You know what I love watching is videos of like outtakes of those guys like bitching at each other fucking hated each other

1:49:53 Well, he had cancer of a mouth. Well, I think that might have led him. It's so strange that we can show violence But we can't show sex and I know they tried to do that with like you ever see the lines outside the movie theater when deep of see it. And like, oh, hey, maybe this will be a thing. Right, right. Maybe this will We're going to have a sexy night. We're going to go out and see,

1:51:59 But we all agree that consensual sex is way better I think it's actually gone too far, I think. The moment I've fallen in love with the character suddenly. They vivisecting their genitals you know it's like and This is real and now you have to fight for the next five years against the rats It they're using cinematic language, all right, to get you caught up in it.

1:54:32 And then I watched the first season. And in the first season, I'm kind of talking, this is like a movie, this is like a big movie, They've introduced you to a bunch of characters. You actually kind of know all their backstories. But you don't remember it five years from now. But there's not a payoff on this stuff. for season two or season three. of it when it was finished.

1:57:24 Okay. Here's the difference. Okay. Okay, I'll give you an example of one that is more than a soap opera. And here's the difference. That first season of Homeland. before he does it she doesn't know what he's gonna do but she gets that little Right. Exactly. I don't expect you to do that every week, but at the end of the arc I mean, this is the weirdness of the theater experience

2:00:12 he's a half-breed Indian and he's working at the Ponderosa for a while, and he gets somebody's going in and they're pitching their show even a really really good would maintain that for the rest of Deadwood after Carradine's gone, it's real story that is that you know that stays with me for the for the rest of my I haven't seen since I was 22 and I felt like the day had opened

2:03:17 It was one of those things where we were doing a thing a So we get together with Eli, and we're going to watch these four movies. I mean, we've got we had a little Congress about it. We've got three movies. No, okay. Let's just watch it. We'll just watch it We've seen the movie a bunch of times, but something about watching it with the three thing it's like I saw things in during that screening because of, because of feeling watching the movie with you guys

2:05:41 See, this is the better version of Cisco and Ebert out and and we had a partner with Sirius XM back then and this season you know So we actually had about like two million listeners which was like hey that was pretty good for us for us doing our little stupid sit through the other three for that one the devil lady was fucking amazing but I They want to listen to it.

2:08:11 have a deeper appreciation of why these guys love movies. But one of the things that was I did it like the real Don Steele. They're great. I don't like just let them give me every ad. pay, if you pay $5, you get our show. Boom, boom. And if you pay $8, then you get an extra and the chicken wings and that was my dinner yeah so I get that you know and

2:10:56 We're doing it for the people who care about the show And the general feeling is, wow, this is like a $5 film school. anymore politely. They don't know how to like enjoy an argument with each other before. It's not about we recommend you watch this movie. But I don't care if you do or not. movies not every week but at least I want it they're not easy to find I want

2:13:41 and we can trade it with everybody else. and then she has to, she doesn't have that access. However, when she goes, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have the Myra Breckinridge. I like that movie. kind of hot in this. That's one of those weird ones that's difficult to find. Yeah, he's right. You have Gore Vidal fighting with fucking Norman Mailer. is really fascinating.

2:17:03 You know what I'm saying? and that's the beautiful thing about it. you know, well the thing is one of the things that like and something well they they were usually born in the 80s so they don't know what And we do there is a little bit of yanking stuff out of your ass They maybe didn't see these movies and in theaters and the thing is, you know, it's like, you know, my my

2:20:21 That's a good start. I like their personality It's audacious. It's audacious. I don't know if I loved it, but I liked it a lot. You like this star. I want 1941 he was like one of the champions of his star champion No, but that is the kiss of death. of like had their full freight on the movie. I'm sure. Right. But when a film does get labeled as a bloated film though that that's that is the kiss of death

2:24:07 I never saw The Postman, but I actually like Kevin Costner. Showgirls there's nothing wrong with showgirls. I can do that as an entertainment piece the fucking shit out of the guy, I was like, yeah, Elizabeth Berkeley, go! It still has Robert Davi in it. I saw it at the theaters. I love the film. I love the film. And then at the end of it, But it seems like a cocaine movie.

2:27:22 The world kind of shifted from a psychedelic thing from the keeping a heart on? I'm thinking from her point of view, that's I'm not thinking about it from his point of view. I'm thinking about from the water hitting her face bring in like a rock of cocaine? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Drop it on the counter, like a rock of and come back whenever he wanted.

2:29:24 Like a baseball like a baseball and it bounce off of you. There you go, boy. See you later. See you in two weeks. But for a few months, we were like, holy shit, we're in the fucking, we're in the powder. And his name was Tuttle. There's guys who just took the cocaine certain comics they just wanted to get paid in coke cause we can't afford that shit.

2:31:19 Let's bring it together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. Well, yeah. Wanted to have excess or I didn't oh, I wasn't that interested in it. Yeah, you want to take it to 12 That's scary when that happens. In the classic Jinn sense of the word, And where is that coming from? Where is that coming from? What would Jesus do? you believe in something that's superstitious or ridiculous. So you don't believe in religion,

2:34:50 Brando's kurt tells the story of uh going into the village and inoculating And I cried like a baby. Then I Where he's a god. The way to really be in control of people like you have to use violence And you know, you look at his Genghis Khan script and he's realistically talking about Conan the conqueror, Conan the king. Eventually, you're- When things are too good.

2:38:43 Well, it does feel a little, like we're in kind of neo-feudalistic times where there's highwaymen not take it personally, just disagree about the points. We've lost that in our society. Why am I a fucking asshole? Well, I think he's fucking missing out Archive that goes back to Rocky. Yeah, you know goes back to you know on the waterfront goes back to Rocky. Yeah. It goes back to, on the waterfront.

2:41:38 I like French Foreign Legion movies, any old way. And it's like a little 20 seat cinema like a little clubhouse I mean it's open to everybody but for our core fans and It was just it was emotional. the different windows of opportunity in your life. So you might see a movie and Really? No, I was really hard. I was really hard on movies. Like Roger would say, she's been called Blade crawler

2:44:46 not an easy thing to it's not. So when I watch a movie now, I'm applying my life experience but we covered about 70 movies altogether Demonite is amazing. Well, yeah, that movie in particular is actually a tough one to because it's is this demon killer hand on the loose movie it's a mexico exploitation movie They have a limited budget. because they just figure it out how to do it on camera

2:48:03 Well, the horror genre is hard to do That was an important place to them I wanna be the next Eddie Murphy. And because that's who you love and that's what you're copying. I do too. Kubrick. Huge fan. I like I like everything about his work Oh, wow, and so he's making a movie that's really about like kind of the rise of And so the whole movie is about sound.

2:51:51 Elsa Elsa and they cut to an empty shot of a stairwell and you hear her Elsa and But I think I got the wrong part. He's the guy who directed Excalibur, and Hope and Glory, Yeah, and John Borman and then Roman Plansky. I think those three guys for me and their Nothing wrong with that. movie that's because the movie was recut and and changed after his death and

2:55:29 It's definitely missing a narration, a third-person narration. in that film. what's happened at the end of the movie and there's an incident where when they but I think when they finished the movie no not unless you crack it open and there's no way anybody thing they would OK, we got that tool on Tuesday. It would be funny was gonna direct it myself was to make it leak you know in Iceland you know

2:59:54 It's like sushi every day, champagne, like what he was doing in that film, Whoa. because what year was that? Easily, I thought about fixing. I mean the difference is that this was actual like performances and so we could take you I, so I was gonna make this movie myself. I had set it up initially at on the film, which were considerable. But I wanted to make the movie really bad.

3:03:29 working on this film in Canada and I'm just trying to finish it and every hour And he says, listen, if I don't make this film with Samakus, He said, listen, everybody's got a price. I want this. to learn about, you know, why Vikings had beards, et cetera, I'd never done something for money before. me and Neil to be at his side and collaborate with him. And it was a fabulous experience.

3:06:06 What does it all mean? My wife was in the backseat of the car and we were, um, I told my There was another vehicle, but they led the scene. happen there well it was pretty bad there was a telephone pole and I hit the telephone They showed up shortly afterwards. But when I jumped out of the car, I came running around OK, it was a completely fucked up scene.

3:09:48 It all went, you know, out. and and and suddenly everything is gone career is gone everybody stops calling And I found myself then alone in jail for her to come back to health, even, um, of that experience, at least I came out of that experience, and you know I looked at tank and I'm watching him win like for Django. So while Quentin is like at the height of

3:14:05 you're, you think you understand things. No, I'm gonna take you and put you at the bottom. You know, oh like when I like I said when I was in jail he loaned me money and he gave me my first job when I got out that was our customer who did that and so um like I your control. But you know, people are suffering and people are struggling. And I used to be a lot more cavalier about people and kind of fuck with people and and be forceful people and not really

3:17:11 Thank you so much, Dan. Patreon.com. Patreon.com. Patreon.com. Patreon.com. Patreon.com. Patreon.com. Patreon.com. Bye!