1 00:00:14,660 --> 00:00:18,300 Zack Beins: Good morning St. Roma's Village by way of Tromaville, 2 00:00:18,390 --> 00:00:21,020 Zack Beins: New Jersey and welcome to another episode of 3 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:29,280 Zack Beins: the Talkin' Troma podcast with your host me, Zack Beins. The show where we fall in a vat of toxic waste and 40 years later, 4 00:00:29,540 --> 00:00:32,099 Zack Beins: A studlier version of us does it again. 5 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,560 Zack Beins: That's right, over 40 years ago, Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz 6 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,300 Zack Beins: made a film about a 98-pound weakling who fell into a barrel of toxic waste. 7 00:00:42,740 --> 00:00:47,140 Zack Beins: Melvin Ferd then became international sensation, The Toxic Avenger. 8 00:00:48,140 --> 00:00:52,160 Zack Beins: Toxie got three sequels, The Toxic Crusaders, Children's Cartoon Show, 9 00:00:52,700 --> 00:00:56,380 Zack Beins: countless toys, comic books, video games, TV appearances. 10 00:00:56,950 --> 00:00:58,700 Zack Beins: He became Troma's Mickey Mouse. 11 00:00:59,300 --> 00:01:05,480 Zack Beins: Even if you don't know who Troma or Toxie is, you have at some point seen the iconic imagery 12 00:01:05,940 --> 00:01:11,300 Zack Beins: of the poster with Toxie and his mop. Your grandma maybe even seen Toxie somewhere and didn't even 13 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:17,500 Zack Beins: realize it. The toxic Avenger made its way to a hungry video market before the over saturation 14 00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:23,180 Zack Beins: of the big budget blockbusters, where such young whippersnappers like Peter Dinklage, Elijah Wood, 15 00:01:23,380 --> 00:01:28,680 Zack Beins: Macon Blair, and even yours truly could pick it up, be shocked, and entertain and say, "Hey, 16 00:01:29,090 --> 00:01:35,000 Zack Beins: I can make a movie too." Not too far after, horror remakes were becoming more and more commonplace 17 00:01:35,100 --> 00:01:40,260 Zack Beins: with new versions of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, The Nightmare on Elm Street, 18 00:01:40,590 --> 00:01:45,200 Zack Beins: and even Troma stepped in the ring with the Darren Limbosman-directed remake of Mother's Day. 19 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:50,720 Zack Beins: But this was Toxie, and all the stars needed to align for this to happen. 20 00:01:51,460 --> 00:01:56,380 Zack Beins: It went through development hell. Several studios, writers, directors were attached. 21 00:01:56,890 --> 00:02:00,620 Zack Beins: At one point, John Travolta and Arnold Schwarzenegger were slated to act in it, 22 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,580 Zack Beins: although who knows if they just got attached to keep Toxie in the trades. 23 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:12,220 Zack Beins: Enter actor, writer, director, Macon Blair. Filming in Bulgaria, right off the hills of 24 00:02:12,220 --> 00:02:21,440 Zack Beins: the pandemic, with a cast that was just as shocking as the rumors. Dinklage, Wood? Kevin 25 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,520 Zack Beins: movie we would get. Would it be family friendly? Will it have the same spirit as the original? 26 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,660 Zack Beins: Well, we would have to wait a little bit longer, because Toxie would need to find a distributor. 27 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:37,240 Zack Beins: Legendary produced the film, but they are not in the business of distribution. It took 28 00:02:37,300 --> 00:02:37,660 Zack Beins: a while. 29 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:45,420 Zack Beins: In the days, years, months, everybody was getting impatient, and they were getting news. 30 00:02:45,700 --> 00:02:50,400 Zack Beins: People instantly assumed something was wrong with the movie. There was even unsubstantiated 31 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,300 Zack Beins: reports that the movie was unreleasable. 32 00:02:53,260 --> 00:02:55,840 Zack Beins: It played fantastic-fest to glowing reviews. 33 00:02:56,500 --> 00:02:57,380 Zack Beins: And then Crickets again. 34 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:03,420 Zack Beins: I must confess, I saw an early cut of the film and was not entirely sure why it wasn't 35 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:04,080 Zack Beins: out yet either. 36 00:03:05,340 --> 00:03:05,900 Zack Beins: Intercineverse. 37 00:03:06,500 --> 00:03:10,960 Zack Beins: They had tremendous success with the release of Terrifier 3 and figured they could capture 38 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,580 Zack Beins: lightning again by putting out The Toxic Avenger. 39 00:03:14,420 --> 00:03:15,220 Zack Beins: Were they successful? 40 00:03:15,940 --> 00:03:17,860 Zack Beins: That's up to you, the listener. 41 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:24,840 Zack Beins: release of this episode, it is opening day of the Toxic Avenger. Are you showing the fuck up? I know 42 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:29,820 Zack Beins: I have my tickets, and I've invited all my friends to come along with me. You could be my friend too, 43 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:36,360 Zack Beins: at your local theater. One of my buddies, who's not too familiar with Toxie, saw the preview and 44 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:41,060 Zack Beins: asked me, "This is that thing you're always talking about, right? It's a pretty big deal, 45 00:03:41,260 --> 00:03:47,760 Zack Beins: isn't it?" It really is. At the end of the day, we get a new Toxic Avenger movie. It'll bring more 46 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:53,500 Zack Beins: eyes on the film I grew up with and love, and it changed my life. It will help cement 47 00:03:53,580 --> 00:03:57,680 Zack Beins: Troma's legacy and preserve them from being a footnote in the annals of film history. 48 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,520 Zack Beins: So today, what we bring to you is an in-depth interview with Macon Blair, 49 00:04:03,940 --> 00:04:08,840 Zack Beins: brought to you by producer extraordinaire Chris Lanphier. I wish I could have sat in on it, 50 00:04:09,220 --> 00:04:14,480 Zack Beins: but as the Hollywood interview machine is, it's ready, set, go, so we dropped everything 51 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:19,680 Zack Beins: to get this once in a lifetime opportunity. Warning, there are spoilers, so do with that 52 00:04:19,780 --> 00:04:25,200 Zack Beins: as you please. But enough of my rambling. Crack open an ice cold can of Toxic Waste, 53 00:04:25,540 --> 00:04:29,440 Zack Beins: and on behalf of myself, Chris Lamphere, and the rest of the Talkin' Troma crew, 54 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,480 Zack Beins: let me present to you our interview with Macon Blair. Be sure to show the fuck up 55 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:39,020 Zack Beins: see Toxie in the theater. And remember to stay Tromatized. 56 00:04:57,300 --> 00:05:02,860 Chris Lanphear: Macon Blair is a multi-hyphenate entertainer. You have seen him as an actor in films like Blue 57 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:08,220 Chris Lanphear: Ruin, one of my personal favorites, Green Room, and a little small micro-budget film 58 00:05:08,420 --> 00:05:09,100 Chris Lanphear: called Oppenheimer. 59 00:05:10,220 --> 00:05:15,420 Chris Lanphear: His 2017 directorial debut, I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, won the Grand 60 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,960 Chris Lanphear: Jury Prize at Sundance, and he wrote and directed the film we are here to talk about today, 61 00:05:20,980 --> 00:05:23,800 Chris Lanphear: 2025's The Toxic Avenger, which is in theaters now. 62 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:26,560 Chris Lanphear: Macon Blair, welcome to Talkin' Troma. 63 00:05:26,660 --> 00:05:27,180 Chris Lanphear: How are you? 64 00:05:27,410 --> 00:05:28,000 Chris Lanphear: I'm very well. 65 00:05:28,180 --> 00:05:29,180 Macon Blair: Thanks for having me here. 66 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:29,820 Macon Blair: Yeah. 67 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,780 Macon Blair: first movie was kind of a micro budget thing. 68 00:05:33,900 --> 00:05:35,380 Chris Lanphear: I don't feel at home in this world anymore. 69 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:37,560 Chris Lanphear: It had a budget of $1.5 million. 70 00:05:38,780 --> 00:05:41,340 Chris Lanphear: The Toxic Avengers budget, over $20 million. 71 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,520 Chris Lanphear: Did you feel an additional pressure to deliver 72 00:05:45,780 --> 00:05:48,000 Chris Lanphear: based on the larger scale of this production? 73 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:49,260 Macon Blair: Yeah, for sure. 74 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:50,620 Macon Blair: I mean, I don't think I would say 75 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,180 Macon Blair: one and a half million is a micro budget for me. 76 00:05:53,380 --> 00:05:55,360 Macon Blair: Even that felt fucking enormous 77 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,360 Macon Blair: as far as what I had been exposed to up until that point. 78 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,380 Macon Blair: So to go from that to something like Toxie, yeah, 79 00:06:04,460 --> 00:06:09,760 Macon Blair: was just extraordinarily bigger as far as anything 80 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:11,700 Macon Blair: I'd ever worked with before. 81 00:06:12,580 --> 00:06:15,080 Macon Blair: And there was certainly pressure there. 82 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,420 Macon Blair: But the studio that I was working with, Legendary, 83 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,480 Macon Blair: they had pursued the Toxic Avenger rights. 84 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,400 Macon Blair: They worked to form this partnership with Troma 85 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:29,780 Macon Blair: to do this new version. 86 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,780 Macon Blair: They were very supportive of it from the beginning. 87 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:34,160 Macon Blair: They had pursued it. 88 00:06:34,220 --> 00:06:36,480 Macon Blair: It was their movie that I came on to. 89 00:06:37,150 --> 00:06:40,360 Macon Blair: And so I didn't feel pressure from that direction. 90 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,760 Macon Blair: I always felt very supported from that direction. 91 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,540 Macon Blair: And I felt like they will budget it 92 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,800 Macon Blair: however they feel is appropriate for what they wanna do 93 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:50,240 Macon Blair: and we'll work within that. 94 00:06:50,860 --> 00:06:54,020 Macon Blair: The pressure that I did feel and continue to feel 95 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:59,420 Macon Blair: was wanting to honor what, however you wanna say it, 96 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,180 Macon Blair: a franchise, a character, a brand, whatever, 97 00:07:02,180 --> 00:07:05,100 Macon Blair: the whole Troma thing, and specifically, 98 00:07:06,140 --> 00:07:10,000 Macon Blair: Toxic Avenger is beloved by so many people for so long. 99 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,800 Macon Blair: And I just felt like I didn't want to do something 100 00:07:13,940 --> 00:07:16,780 Macon Blair: that felt like it would step outside of that too much 101 00:07:16,780 --> 00:07:19,120 Macon Blair: and just have the same title, 102 00:07:19,900 --> 00:07:22,560 Macon Blair: but not bear any spiritual resemblance 103 00:07:22,860 --> 00:07:24,300 Macon Blair: to the original thing. 104 00:07:24,300 --> 00:07:28,119 Macon Blair: I felt like that wouldn't do a service 105 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:33,680 Macon Blair: to the fans of the original and so that's really where I put 106 00:07:33,740 --> 00:07:37,200 Macon Blair: the pressure on myself from that direction, 107 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:39,040 Macon Blair: much more so than the budget. 108 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,940 Chris Lanphear: >> The spiritual succession is interesting because you have, 109 00:07:43,660 --> 00:07:47,540 Chris Lanphear: the bones of the story are certainly there in your Toxie. 110 00:07:48,180 --> 00:07:50,600 Chris Lanphear: But Winston Goose, played by Peter Dinklage, 111 00:07:50,740 --> 00:07:54,340 Chris Lanphear: is a very distinct character from Melvin Furd in the original film. 112 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,700 Chris Lanphear: Melvin Ferd is of course a janitor at a health spa, 113 00:07:59,220 --> 00:08:01,400 Chris Lanphear: and Winston is a janitor for 114 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:04,480 Chris Lanphear: a large health pharmaceutical company. 115 00:08:05,100 --> 00:08:08,420 Chris Lanphear: Can you talk about the decision to change these aspects of the plot? 116 00:08:08,620 --> 00:08:11,320 Chris Lanphear: Instead of having him be a nerd with a girlfriend, 117 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:13,260 Chris Lanphear: he's a father with a young son. 118 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:21,839 Macon Blair: >> Yeah. I had the gut feeling that if somebody is a fan of 119 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:23,920 Macon Blair: the toxic Avenger, right? 120 00:08:24,140 --> 00:08:26,760 Macon Blair: And they're telling somebody that hasn't seen it 121 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:27,500 Macon Blair: to check it out. 122 00:08:28,260 --> 00:08:30,540 Macon Blair: I kind of had this gut feeling that the things 123 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,539 Macon Blair: that they're talking about would have to do with, 124 00:08:34,070 --> 00:08:37,260 Macon Blair: you know, the sense of humor and the vibe of the world 125 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:38,860 Macon Blair: and the way the jokes play. 126 00:08:39,270 --> 00:08:40,940 Macon Blair: I don't think that they're saying, like, 127 00:08:41,300 --> 00:08:44,000 Macon Blair: "This is the storyline and this is why you're gonna like it. 128 00:08:44,020 --> 00:08:46,200 Macon Blair: It's because he's a nerd at a health club." 129 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,259 Macon Blair: That's part of it, but I don't think that's the thing 130 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,160 Macon Blair: necessarily that people fall in love with. 131 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:54,960 Macon Blair: And so I felt like what we needed to do 132 00:08:55,100 --> 00:08:59,820 Macon Blair: was carry over those things, the vibe, the sense of humor, 133 00:09:00,500 --> 00:09:03,460 Macon Blair: the sort of the entertainment value, 134 00:09:04,020 --> 00:09:08,420 Macon Blair: but have the actual details of the character's story 135 00:09:09,460 --> 00:09:11,680 Macon Blair: be its own thing so it didn't feel redundant. 136 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,860 Macon Blair: Like I wanted it to feel like the original 137 00:09:15,060 --> 00:09:17,540 Macon Blair: without being a literal retelling of like, 138 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:20,200 Macon Blair: okay, he's trying to get a date at the health club. 139 00:09:20,650 --> 00:09:22,980 Macon Blair: I felt like it kind of, to justify itself, 140 00:09:23,050 --> 00:09:24,700 Macon Blair: it needed to do its own thing 141 00:09:24,770 --> 00:09:28,080 Macon Blair: while staying true to the roots of the original. 142 00:09:28,700 --> 00:09:30,280 Macon Blair: And so if we're gonna do that, 143 00:09:30,660 --> 00:09:34,560 Macon Blair: then it stood to reason as far as I was concerned 144 00:09:34,860 --> 00:09:36,560 Macon Blair: that it should just be a different character. 145 00:09:36,650 --> 00:09:37,860 Macon Blair: He should have a different name 146 00:09:39,540 --> 00:09:41,800 Macon Blair: because there's kind of an inherent question 147 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,279 Macon Blair: in all of this, like the original Toxic Avenger 148 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:48,880 Macon Blair: is so singular that it's sort of like, why redo it at all? 149 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,180 Macon Blair: And so it's, and to me, the answer was like, 150 00:09:51,260 --> 00:09:53,740 Macon Blair: well, to sort of take the vibe of the original 151 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:55,100 Macon Blair: and do something fresh with it. 152 00:09:55,500 --> 00:09:58,240 Macon Blair: But if we're just gonna do literally the exact same thing, 153 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:00,720 Macon Blair: he's a nerd in a health club, he's trying to get a date, 154 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:03,720 Macon Blair: you know, the bullies at the health club 155 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:05,440 Macon Blair: trick him into the toxic waste. 156 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,060 Macon Blair: If it's a beat by beat retelling, 157 00:10:08,740 --> 00:10:11,020 Macon Blair: then it really puts a spotlight on the question 158 00:10:11,140 --> 00:10:12,440 Macon Blair: of why do it at all. 159 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,260 Macon Blair: And so that was sort of the reasoning 160 00:10:15,260 --> 00:10:16,060 Macon Blair: made sense to me. 161 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:23,760 Chris Lanphear: >> I agree. I've always felt that with reimaginings of beloved media properties that you have 162 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:29,680 Chris Lanphear: to introduce something new. You have to find a way to make that story yours because the 163 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:36,840 Chris Lanphear: story that you're reinterpreting, it's already been told. That version of that story already 164 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:37,500 Chris Lanphear: exists. 165 00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:37,780 Chris Lanphear: >> Exactly. 166 00:10:37,820 --> 00:10:43,540 Chris Lanphear: >> With Toxie, it's been retold a few different ways with the cartoon series and the sequels 167 00:10:43,540 --> 00:10:46,440 Chris Lanphear: retconning the first movie and additional other things. 168 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,000 Chris Lanphear: If people want that story, 169 00:10:49,100 --> 00:10:50,000 Chris Lanphear: they've already got that. 170 00:10:50,460 --> 00:10:53,240 Chris Lanphear: But this movie gives people an opportunity to 171 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,340 Chris Lanphear: experience a very similar story that has the same bones, 172 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:02,180 Chris Lanphear: the same DNA of the original while still being its own thing, 173 00:11:02,630 --> 00:11:04,540 Chris Lanphear: which I appreciate and I think a lot of people 174 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,040 Chris Lanphear: will appreciate once they see the movie. 175 00:11:07,650 --> 00:11:08,940 Macon Blair: >> That's a great way to say it. 176 00:11:08,940 --> 00:11:12,240 Macon Blair: I think I use 177 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:17,360 Macon Blair: Batman analogy a lot where there's all these different Batman. You've got an Adam West Batman 178 00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:23,740 Macon Blair: that couldn't be any more different from the Christian Bale Batman, but they're all Batman, 179 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:30,580 Macon Blair: and they all exist side by side. And one doesn't preclude the other one from existing. It's just 180 00:11:30,650 --> 00:11:36,860 Macon Blair: sort of in addition to whatever tradition was started. So I kind of looked at it as this would 181 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:46,400 Macon Blair: just be a continuation of however you want to say it, the lore or the mythology. But 182 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:52,260 Macon Blair: as you say, it's in addition to all of those originals, the comics, the cartoons, 183 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:58,200 Macon Blair: the first four movies, not in place of. >> Yeah, I know that before the trailers 184 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:04,820 Chris Lanphear: were released and people started seeing dinklage in the suit and the look and feel of the new Toxie, 185 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,620 Chris Lanphear: there was a lot of discourse online with people saying, 186 00:12:07,900 --> 00:12:09,720 Chris Lanphear: "Oh, it's too different from the original," or, 187 00:12:09,860 --> 00:12:11,800 Chris Lanphear: "Oh, it's not exactly what I thought it would be." 188 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,060 Chris Lanphear: It's like, well, what you thought it would be, 189 00:12:14,260 --> 00:12:15,420 Chris Lanphear: you've had for 40 years. 190 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:20,660 Chris Lanphear: This is an opportunity to expand it and adapt it and 191 00:12:21,660 --> 00:12:24,300 Chris Lanphear: give it a fresh coat of paint and see where it goes. 192 00:12:24,380 --> 00:12:28,440 Chris Lanphear: Personally, having watched the movie several times now, 193 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:33,400 Chris Lanphear: I think it's a tremendous success because all the bones are there, 194 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,320 Chris Lanphear: all the heart is there, all of the silliness, 195 00:12:37,580 --> 00:12:41,880 Chris Lanphear: the slapstick, the stuff that Troma fans really love is there. 196 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:43,840 Macon Blair: >> I'm glad you said that. 197 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:50,960 Macon Blair: To be honest, I've faded away from online existence lately, 198 00:12:50,980 --> 00:12:55,260 Macon Blair: so I actually wasn't terribly aware of any discourse. 199 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:57,420 Macon Blair: But yeah, it's true, 200 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:58,860 Macon Blair: it's he looks different. 201 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,860 Macon Blair: We went through a process of different looks for him, 202 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,520 Macon Blair: and some of them were very, very close 203 00:13:05,570 --> 00:13:07,260 Macon Blair: to the original design. 204 00:13:07,540 --> 00:13:09,920 Macon Blair: And to me, it felt like a little too close. 205 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,960 Macon Blair: And some went way fucking far afield 206 00:13:13,100 --> 00:13:14,740 Macon Blair: where he was very melty and drippy. 207 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:17,880 Macon Blair: And some he looked like, almost like a vampire. 208 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,600 Macon Blair: We had designs where he had like white skin and stuff 209 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:22,580 Macon Blair: and none of them really felt right. 210 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,260 Macon Blair: And the way we landed on this one was the idea 211 00:13:25,420 --> 00:13:30,360 Macon Blair: of really wanting to be able to see the physical 212 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,680 Macon Blair: facial features of whoever the actor was that's playing, 213 00:13:33,900 --> 00:13:35,860 Macon Blair: you know, the human before he mutates, 214 00:13:36,420 --> 00:13:40,580 Macon Blair: seeing that in the makeup prosthetics. 215 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:41,580 Macon Blair: So it feels consistent. 216 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:43,620 Macon Blair: And the other thing you just, a moment ago, 217 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,120 Macon Blair: before I forget, you said something that I clocked to, 218 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:48,740 Macon Blair: that I really appreciated, which was, 219 00:13:49,030 --> 00:13:50,800 Macon Blair: you mentioned the word silly and you mentioned 220 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:51,580 Macon Blair: the word heart. 221 00:13:52,620 --> 00:13:56,480 Macon Blair: And well before I even had the job to work on this, 222 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,279 Macon Blair: when I was just having these preliminary conversations 223 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:03,040 Macon Blair: with Legendary, they had just hooked up with Troma 224 00:14:03,140 --> 00:14:05,220 Macon Blair: and gotten the rights to do a new version 225 00:14:05,340 --> 00:14:06,580 Macon Blair: and they were soliciting pitches. 226 00:14:07,980 --> 00:14:09,900 Macon Blair: So it wasn't even at a point where they were talking 227 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:11,720 Macon Blair: about what's the story, it was more just like, 228 00:14:11,780 --> 00:14:12,960 Macon Blair: what's the vibe gonna be? 229 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:15,300 Macon Blair: And that was, I didn't have a story, 230 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,280 Macon Blair: but I was like, the vibe should be, 231 00:14:17,980 --> 00:14:22,840 Macon Blair: like, it can't be a grim, dark, self-serious version. 232 00:14:22,980 --> 00:14:27,200 Macon Blair: It really should be silly and it should be heartfelt 233 00:14:27,300 --> 00:14:29,260 Macon Blair: in some way 'cause those are the things 234 00:14:29,260 --> 00:14:32,340 Macon Blair: always reacted to in the original movies. 235 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:34,860 Macon Blair: I felt like if we got too far away from that, 236 00:14:35,020 --> 00:14:37,120 Macon Blair: that it would be a bad move. 237 00:14:37,310 --> 00:14:41,700 Chris Lanphear: >> Agree. I think people love the violence, 238 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:43,640 Chris Lanphear: and the over-the-top gore, 239 00:14:43,740 --> 00:14:45,520 Chris Lanphear: and the nudity, and all those things. 240 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:49,360 Chris Lanphear: But I think what people really stick around for is the heart. 241 00:14:49,900 --> 00:14:51,280 Chris Lanphear: Do you remember the first time 242 00:14:51,580 --> 00:14:53,160 Chris Lanphear: that you saw the original Toxic Avenger? 243 00:14:53,550 --> 00:14:57,640 Chris Lanphear: >> Absolutely. That was how this whole thing came to be. 244 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:04,200 Macon Blair: I was in sixth grade and this was in the mid to late '80s. 245 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,620 Macon Blair: And in those days, in the olden times, 246 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,180 Macon Blair: you would find movies by, well, there was two ways. 247 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,720 Macon Blair: One was you look at the cover of the videotapes 248 00:15:13,780 --> 00:15:15,900 Macon Blair: 'cause they would put them face out in the video store 249 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:17,960 Macon Blair: and you just, whatever had the coolest cover. 250 00:15:18,860 --> 00:15:22,000 Macon Blair: And also it was older brothers and sisters 251 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,960 Macon Blair: would come around and tell you what the cool album 252 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:27,980 Macon Blair: is to listen to or what the cool movie is to see. 253 00:15:28,620 --> 00:15:31,180 Macon Blair: And my buddy, his older brother came around 254 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,560 Macon Blair: with this VHS tape that had this weird mutant guy 255 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:36,140 Macon Blair: on the cover with the American flag 256 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:38,860 Macon Blair: and the tutu and the mop, and it just looked insane. 257 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,260 Macon Blair: And he was like, "You have to watch this." 258 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:43,040 Macon Blair: And we did. 259 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,260 Macon Blair: We popped it in the VCR and watched it. 260 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,820 Macon Blair: And we're kind of flabbergasted on one level 261 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,700 Macon Blair: by how absurd and over the top 262 00:15:52,780 --> 00:15:54,900 Macon Blair: and a very entertaining way it was. 263 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,160 Macon Blair: We were laughing hysterically the whole way through. 264 00:15:59,220 --> 00:16:02,500 Macon Blair: But the other thing that was really significant 265 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,140 Macon Blair: was it was kind of one of the first times, 266 00:16:06,140 --> 00:16:07,220 Macon Blair: at least that I can remember, 267 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,340 Macon Blair: that I had seen a movie that really felt homemade. 268 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,620 Macon Blair: I was really fascinated and interested with movies 269 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,500 Macon Blair: from a young age, but it was studio movies. 270 00:16:17,500 --> 00:16:20,780 Macon Blair: It was Star Wars and big, big movies 271 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,240 Macon Blair: that seemed very magical and far away. 272 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,420 Macon Blair: and how they made them was very mysterious. 273 00:16:27,220 --> 00:16:29,200 Macon Blair: This looked like a bunch of people with a mask 274 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,140 Macon Blair: running around in their hometown, 275 00:16:32,300 --> 00:16:33,640 Macon Blair: like doing it on their own. 276 00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:36,940 Macon Blair: And we watched this coincidentally at a time 277 00:16:37,140 --> 00:16:42,100 Macon Blair: when we had gotten our hands on a video camera, 278 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,120 Macon Blair: like a VHS half-inch video camera. 279 00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:47,900 Macon Blair: And we were running around trying to make 280 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,260 Macon Blair: our own little movies. 281 00:16:50,570 --> 00:16:52,420 Macon Blair: They were terrible, but it was just sort of like, 282 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,720 Macon Blair: oh, we'll figure out how to do makeup and squibs 283 00:16:55,780 --> 00:16:58,400 Macon Blair: and shoot little action scenes and stuff like that. 284 00:16:58,460 --> 00:17:01,620 Macon Blair: And so watching Toxie, the sense of humor, 285 00:17:02,100 --> 00:17:05,020 Macon Blair: and which we were the right age for it, 286 00:17:05,060 --> 00:17:07,540 Macon Blair: it has this juvenile kind of sense of humor 287 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:10,040 Macon Blair: that really appealed to us right at that right time. 288 00:17:10,959 --> 00:17:14,740 Macon Blair: But also just the sort of do-it-yourself quality to it 289 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:16,459 Macon Blair: was kind of inspirational. 290 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:18,140 Macon Blair: And we took both of those things 291 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,500 Macon Blair: as we were starting to figure out how to make our own movies 292 00:17:21,500 --> 00:17:25,400 Macon Blair: and it became influential in that way. 293 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:27,699 Macon Blair: The style of the jokes and 294 00:17:27,740 --> 00:17:32,520 Macon Blair: the deliberate tastelessness of it as a way to be funny, 295 00:17:33,060 --> 00:17:37,100 Macon Blair: became a big part of the things that we were trying to make at that time. 296 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,480 Chris Lanphear: >> It's the movie that's not afraid to show it seems, 297 00:17:41,260 --> 00:17:45,280 Chris Lanphear: and the fact that it gives it that homemade quality and 298 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,420 Chris Lanphear: that DIY punk rock ethos. 299 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:54,120 Chris Lanphear: >> Troma is often credited with bringing the punk rock aesthetic to filmmaking, 300 00:17:54,970 --> 00:17:56,780 Chris Lanphear: and that's very clear in that film. 301 00:17:57,090 --> 00:17:59,920 Macon Blair: >> Yeah. You mentioned seeing the seams. 302 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:02,480 Macon Blair: I find that very charming. 303 00:18:02,940 --> 00:18:06,380 Macon Blair: So there was something about on this movie, 304 00:18:06,650 --> 00:18:08,540 Macon Blair: we had a lot of talks internally, 305 00:18:09,130 --> 00:18:11,040 Macon Blair: in particular with the DP, 306 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,000 Macon Blair: who's a really sharp guy named Dana Gonzalez, 307 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:16,720 Macon Blair: and also the designer, Alex Cameron. 308 00:18:18,380 --> 00:18:21,600 Macon Blair: And it was this idea that like on one hand, 309 00:18:22,260 --> 00:18:24,820 Macon Blair: it's a big movie and, or I mean, 310 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,660 Macon Blair: relative to what I was used to, it was a very big movie. 311 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,580 Macon Blair: And so we're sort of trying to appeal 312 00:18:30,780 --> 00:18:33,620 Macon Blair: to a broad audience in that way, but at the same time, 313 00:18:34,340 --> 00:18:38,060 Macon Blair: and it goes back to the question of tone and vibe, 314 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,020 Macon Blair: without having it be too obvious, 315 00:18:42,020 --> 00:18:45,220 Macon Blair: we kind of wanted to bake in the feeling that like, 316 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,520 Macon Blair: we just had one camera and a tripod, you know? 317 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,680 Macon Blair: And like, so we tried to avoid overly complicated 318 00:18:54,060 --> 00:18:56,600 Macon Blair: camera moves or things that made it seem like, 319 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:58,560 Macon Blair: look how flashy the budget is. 320 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,060 Macon Blair: We tried to deliberately sort of constrain ourselves. 321 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:03,000 Macon Blair: And we broke this rule here and there, 322 00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:05,720 Macon Blair: but for the most part, we tried to sort of keep it 323 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:11,100 Macon Blair: a little contained and a little smaller 324 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:15,360 Macon Blair: so it had the feeling of that kind of homemade quality 325 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:18,440 Macon Blair: that I found very appealing about the originals. 326 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,700 Macon Blair: So we tried to sort of feather that into our choices whenever we could. 327 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:27,520 Chris Lanphear: >> Part of the legacy of the original film is that it's a movie that's kind of definitively 328 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,940 Chris Lanphear: 80s but also has a certain timelessness to it that's allowed it to live on for as long as it has. 329 00:19:33,980 --> 00:19:37,420 Chris Lanphear: When you made your Toxie, did you approach to making that 330 00:19:37,700 --> 00:19:41,300 Chris Lanphear: with the idea that it'd be a similar time capsule of here and now? 331 00:19:41,300 --> 00:19:44,040 Macon Blair: >> Totally. It was like, I mean, 332 00:19:44,290 --> 00:19:47,680 Macon Blair: there are aspects to it like, 333 00:19:48,460 --> 00:19:51,960 Macon Blair: there's a reference to social media and there's smartphones, 334 00:19:52,460 --> 00:19:53,840 Macon Blair: and there's little things here and there that 335 00:19:54,100 --> 00:19:56,920 Macon Blair: suggest it's a contemporary story. 336 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:58,800 Macon Blair: But I really like the idea that it is 337 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,300 Macon Blair: a self-contained little weirdo universe 338 00:20:02,700 --> 00:20:04,380 Macon Blair: that is slightly out of time. 339 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:09,280 Macon Blair: So we didn't really specify exactly when or where it was, 340 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:11,400 Macon Blair: but when we were choosing picture cars 341 00:20:11,500 --> 00:20:13,000 Macon Blair: that you would just see in the background or whatever, 342 00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:16,600 Macon Blair: we tried to push for things that were 20 or 25 years old. 343 00:20:16,740 --> 00:20:19,020 Macon Blair: When we were talking with Vanessa Porter, 344 00:20:19,140 --> 00:20:20,060 Macon Blair: the costume designer, 345 00:20:20,740 --> 00:20:22,420 Macon Blair: what sort of clothes people would wear, 346 00:20:22,540 --> 00:20:26,000 Macon Blair: we would sort of try and push it towards a more 90s 347 00:20:26,650 --> 00:20:29,440 Macon Blair: kind of look without making it hopefully feel like, 348 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,600 Macon Blair: oh, this is taking place in 1995, 349 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,720 Macon Blair: but just so you have this kind of feeling 350 00:20:35,820 --> 00:20:38,120 Macon Blair: that it's not exactly precisely connected 351 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:43,280 Macon Blair: to a particular time period that felt just as important as what I was just saying about 352 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:48,180 Macon Blair: the camera moves and the makeup and everything else, having it felt a little bit outside 353 00:20:48,180 --> 00:20:48,680 Macon Blair: of time. 354 00:20:49,420 --> 00:20:51,300 Chris Lanphear: >> Let's talk about Peter Dinklage for a second. 355 00:20:51,940 --> 00:20:58,240 Chris Lanphear: Because it's still, despite the fact that it was announced and there were so many other 356 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:02,240 Chris Lanphear: rumors of people being attached to it, like Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached to it before 357 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:03,500 Chris Lanphear: you came on at one point. 358 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,880 Chris Lanphear: been a strange journey to get here and even though I've seen the movie, 359 00:21:08,590 --> 00:21:12,800 Chris Lanphear: it still boggles my mind that Peter Dinklage plays the toxic adventure. 360 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,940 Chris Lanphear: He's been traditionally known for heavy dramatic acting, 361 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:19,180 Chris Lanphear: but he gets to have a lot of fun in this movie. 362 00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:23,680 Chris Lanphear: Can you talk about your approach to working with an actor of his caliber? 363 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:29,360 Macon Blair: >> Yeah. I had met him at a film festival and he had seen 364 00:21:29,460 --> 00:21:33,360 Macon Blair: my first movie and he reached out to me and was just very kindly, 365 00:21:33,420 --> 00:21:34,480 Macon Blair: was like, "Hey, I like this. 366 00:21:36,620 --> 00:21:37,880 Macon Blair: You wanna get a beer sometime?" 367 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:38,560 Macon Blair: Like that kind of thing. 368 00:21:38,660 --> 00:21:42,900 Macon Blair: And so we just, we sort of met semi-informally that way. 369 00:21:43,060 --> 00:21:44,660 Macon Blair: And then we kind of stayed in touch 370 00:21:46,540 --> 00:21:48,420 Macon Blair: where every couple of times a year 371 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:50,140 Macon Blair: I would send them a script to read 372 00:21:50,140 --> 00:21:51,300 Macon Blair: or he might send me a script 373 00:21:51,380 --> 00:21:52,840 Macon Blair: and just sort of like trying to see 374 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:54,380 Macon Blair: if there was anything we could work on together. 375 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,080 Macon Blair: So when we got to the point of Toxie was, 376 00:21:58,500 --> 00:21:59,400 Macon Blair: you know, we had a script 377 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,140 Macon Blair: and Legendary was committed to make it. 378 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,460 Macon Blair: and we were getting into the casting, 379 00:22:05,860 --> 00:22:10,860 Macon Blair: it just felt to me that we've got about 25 minutes, 380 00:22:10,940 --> 00:22:13,720 Macon Blair: maybe 30 minutes at the start of the movie 381 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,000 Macon Blair: where the audience really needs to connect with this guy. 382 00:22:18,780 --> 00:22:23,580 Macon Blair: And he doesn't have a big monologue, 383 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:28,960 Macon Blair: or there's not a big arc for him to latch onto 384 00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:31,980 Macon Blair: to connect him to the audience. 385 00:22:32,020 --> 00:22:34,000 Macon Blair: He's just kind of, with his presence, 386 00:22:34,500 --> 00:22:36,480 Macon Blair: he's just got to be sympathetic 387 00:22:36,650 --> 00:22:38,660 Macon Blair: and they've got to get on his side very quickly 388 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,060 Macon Blair: before he mutates into the makeup 389 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:43,800 Macon Blair: and then we don't really see him anymore. 390 00:22:44,900 --> 00:22:48,280 Macon Blair: And I just thought like he has this quality of, 391 00:22:48,580 --> 00:22:53,700 Macon Blair: my theory is like, I think people who watched Game of Thrones 392 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:56,100 Macon Blair: tended to say that Tyrion might've been 393 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:57,820 Macon Blair: their favorite character for this reason, 394 00:22:57,900 --> 00:23:01,460 Macon Blair: that he just has this charismatic quality 395 00:23:01,460 --> 00:23:04,180 Macon Blair: that while doing or saying very little, 396 00:23:04,230 --> 00:23:06,040 Macon Blair: he can connect with the audience. 397 00:23:06,580 --> 00:23:09,380 Macon Blair: He's also, you mentioned he does these dramatic roles 398 00:23:09,380 --> 00:23:11,240 Macon Blair: and that's true, but he's also very funny. 399 00:23:11,500 --> 00:23:15,860 Macon Blair: And so I felt like this would be a great use of him 400 00:23:15,980 --> 00:23:18,540 Macon Blair: to in that short amount of time at the start of the movie 401 00:23:19,020 --> 00:23:20,900 Macon Blair: where he could deploy all of that, 402 00:23:21,940 --> 00:23:25,560 Macon Blair: those comedy skills and also the gravitas 403 00:23:25,810 --> 00:23:29,299 Macon Blair: and also the emotional depth and all of that 404 00:23:29,300 --> 00:23:32,320 Macon Blair: in a short amount of time to kind of rope people in. 405 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,600 Macon Blair: And I sent it to him with no expectation 406 00:23:35,780 --> 00:23:37,300 Macon Blair: that he would say yes, 407 00:23:37,310 --> 00:23:40,320 Macon Blair: 'cause it was a strange script. 408 00:23:40,460 --> 00:23:44,240 Macon Blair: And especially if you're not familiar with the original, 409 00:23:44,290 --> 00:23:47,300 Macon Blair: you might wonder, are we being serious? 410 00:23:47,700 --> 00:23:48,800 Macon Blair: Is it a joke? 411 00:23:48,860 --> 00:23:50,140 Macon Blair: Is this whole thing a gag? 412 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:52,640 Macon Blair: But he knew the original, he got it. 413 00:23:52,690 --> 00:23:54,440 Macon Blair: He got the sense of humor and he said yes. 414 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,180 Macon Blair: And then it was a very, it was just a very fun process. 415 00:23:59,270 --> 00:24:00,580 Macon Blair: We had a great time on set. 416 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,340 Macon Blair: And what he did was he came in 417 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:08,460 Macon Blair: and basically performed the whole movie on videotape, 418 00:24:09,140 --> 00:24:11,140 Macon Blair: playing all of the Toxie choices, right? 419 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,580 Macon Blair: His pauses and how he moves, even like the running 420 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,960 Macon Blair: and certainly how he said all of the lines. 421 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:20,520 Macon Blair: And so we had all these videotapes 422 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:22,160 Macon Blair: of him doing that as himself. 423 00:24:22,860 --> 00:24:29,500 Macon Blair: Then we had another performer named Luisa Guerrero who came in and basically studied 424 00:24:29,500 --> 00:24:35,560 Macon Blair: all of those tapes and performed Toxie as Peter in the suit. 425 00:24:36,290 --> 00:24:40,000 Macon Blair: Then Peter came back later and put his voice over that performance. 426 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:46,840 Macon Blair: It was like a three-tier dual shared performance situation. 427 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,140 Chris Lanphear: It works really, really well. 428 00:24:49,350 --> 00:24:51,680 Chris Lanphear: You see his mannerisms. 429 00:24:51,820 --> 00:24:53,380 Chris Lanphear: And like you said, he does a lot with, 430 00:24:53,860 --> 00:24:58,620 Chris Lanphear: with very little in terms of like what he says, but especially when he finds 431 00:24:58,630 --> 00:25:05,760 Chris Lanphear: out that he has the, uh, the mystery illness, which I gotta say is just a 432 00:25:05,980 --> 00:25:09,160 Chris Lanphear: fucking hilarious moment when he's like, Oh, you have a case of, and then 433 00:25:09,540 --> 00:25:10,620 Chris Lanphear: construction's downs in the back. 434 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:10,940 Chris Lanphear: Yeah. 435 00:25:11,090 --> 00:25:15,840 Chris Lanphear: It's just like, this is brilliant because rather than, you know, weighing it down 436 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,580 Chris Lanphear: with, you know, you have this or you have that, it's just, you're sick. 437 00:25:20,020 --> 00:25:21,960 Chris Lanphear: You know, the, the details don't matter. 438 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,020 Chris Lanphear: We're yeah, we're sticking with what matters, but even in those moments, like 439 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,840 Chris Lanphear: you, you instantly connect with him and you feel for him and, and you, you 440 00:25:32,340 --> 00:25:37,260 Chris Lanphear: empathize with the situation of him being a stepfather with a young son who. 441 00:25:37,860 --> 00:25:40,860 Chris Lanphear: Maybe he doesn't have the best relationship with, especially because, 442 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,480 Chris Lanphear: you know, his wife passed or his girlfriend passed and you feel 443 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:46,640 Chris Lanphear: an instant connection with him. 444 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,820 Chris Lanphear: and someone that we are used to feeling a connection with as well is Elijah Wood, 445 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:54,780 Chris Lanphear: who I feel steals every scene that he's in. 446 00:25:55,180 --> 00:25:55,960 Chris Lanphear: >> He's so fun. 447 00:25:56,050 --> 00:25:56,660 Chris Lanphear: >> Yeah, dude. 448 00:25:57,650 --> 00:26:03,000 Chris Lanphear: >> Because he's a self-professed huge horror fan and you stick him in 449 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:09,320 Chris Lanphear: this riffraffy looking makeup that just allows him to ham every scene up. 450 00:26:09,470 --> 00:26:09,820 Chris Lanphear: >> Totally. 451 00:26:10,410 --> 00:26:13,520 Chris Lanphear: >> You had worked with him in I Don't Feel at Home in This World anymore. 452 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,240 Chris Lanphear: What was his reaction when you sent him the script for Toxie? 453 00:26:17,890 --> 00:26:21,800 Macon Blair: >> My recollection is that it was just a very quick yes. 454 00:26:21,830 --> 00:26:27,840 Macon Blair: I mean, I had written that for him because I 455 00:26:27,940 --> 00:26:31,980 Macon Blair: just had such a great time working with him on the first movie. 456 00:26:36,460 --> 00:26:39,600 Macon Blair: He's such a kind, sweet guy, 457 00:26:39,730 --> 00:26:41,960 Macon Blair: and to me it's very funny to put him in. 458 00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,900 Macon Blair: He was, it's not that he was a bad guy. 459 00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:48,120 Macon Blair: He was a little obnoxious in the first movie, 460 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:49,340 Macon Blair: but I thought it would be really fun 461 00:26:49,420 --> 00:26:50,860 Macon Blair: to just make him a straight up villain. 462 00:26:51,500 --> 00:26:53,660 Macon Blair: 'Cause he's been a villain so rarely. 463 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,400 Macon Blair: I mean, I guess, maniac, 464 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,640 Macon Blair: and that's the only one I can think of. 465 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:05,940 Macon Blair: And so to me, it was written to be like one of those roles 466 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,560 Macon Blair: where if you didn't already know 467 00:27:08,620 --> 00:27:09,920 Macon Blair: that Elijah Wood was in the movie, 468 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,340 Macon Blair: there's a possibility that for the first couple of minutes 469 00:27:12,340 --> 00:27:16,360 Macon Blair: not know that's him. You know, I thought that would be fun to have him sort of disappear into 470 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:23,540 Macon Blair: a makeup situation or a costume situation where he would just be this totally other thing as a 471 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:29,660 Macon Blair: villain. And yeah, it was definitely riffraff. It was definitely the Danny DeVito penguin. 472 00:27:31,420 --> 00:27:42,320 Macon Blair: All of those things sort of mushed together to make him this sort of greasy, squirmy type of 473 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:48,040 Macon Blair: of raspy voice figured out and sort of a posture that he wanted to do and a way of moving that 474 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,780 Macon Blair: he wanted to do. And it was just, um, it was just a lot of fun to sort of turn them loose 475 00:27:52,860 --> 00:27:57,840 Macon Blair: in that way. Because it's like, you know, I think maybe in a lot of situations it would 476 00:27:57,940 --> 00:28:03,780 Macon Blair: be all right, let's tone it down. Let's keep it, let's keep it kind of realistic. Let's 477 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:12,300 Macon Blair: keep it, you know, kind of grounded. But this was a movie where it felt like there was a 478 00:28:12,300 --> 00:28:17,120 Macon Blair: and very broad. I said the same thing to Kevin Bacon about his character. 479 00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:20,140 Macon Blair: Like, you know, we can always scale it back if we need to, 480 00:28:20,140 --> 00:28:24,760 Macon Blair: but at least initially feel encouraged to go very big, 481 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,080 Macon Blair: go very gonzo with it and just see what happens. 482 00:28:28,300 --> 00:28:29,960 Macon Blair: And that ended up being a lot of fun. 483 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,580 Chris Lanphear: Everybody goes gonzo in this movie, which is something I love. 484 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:37,500 Chris Lanphear: I mean, even the newscasters who serve as sort of this sort of like 485 00:28:37,740 --> 00:28:40,180 Chris Lanphear: running commentary throughout the movie, 486 00:28:40,180 --> 00:28:40,840 Chris Lanphear: >> Yeah. 487 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,060 Chris Lanphear: >> They're going ham in every shot that they're in. 488 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:43,700 Chris Lanphear: >> Totally. 489 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:50,140 Chris Lanphear: >> It's really just a joy to watch because I feel like most people's instincts 490 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,780 Chris Lanphear: when they're acting is to dial it back less is more. 491 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:55,320 Chris Lanphear: In a lot of circumstances, 492 00:28:55,540 --> 00:28:56,840 Chris Lanphear: that's the best approach. 493 00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:58,180 Chris Lanphear: But for something like this, 494 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,360 Chris Lanphear: you just throw that down and say, 495 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:02,900 Chris Lanphear: let's just go for it. 496 00:29:03,340 --> 00:29:09,300 Macon Blair: >> Totally. That was the vibe in a lot of the scenes for sure. 497 00:29:09,740 --> 00:29:11,900 Macon Blair: In the editing too, a lot of just like, 498 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:17,220 Macon Blair: how can we, what's the silliest version of this that we can do? 499 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,120 Macon Blair: That was a fun goal to chase. 500 00:29:20,580 --> 00:29:23,140 Chris Lanphear: >> What was personally seemed the silliest to me was 501 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,000 Chris Lanphear: the moment when Toxie is trapped in that dungeon and he's like, 502 00:29:27,700 --> 00:29:28,660 Chris Lanphear: I got to get my dick out. 503 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:30,420 Chris Lanphear: [LAUGHTER] 504 00:29:32,020 --> 00:29:34,140 Chris Lanphear: Not something you had expected and I read the script. 505 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,200 Chris Lanphear: Seeing it, it's one thing to read it on the page and not everything sticks in your brain, 506 00:29:38,220 --> 00:29:41,440 Chris Lanphear: but then you see it on film and it's like, holy shit. 507 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,620 Chris Lanphear: So the film premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin 508 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,420 Chris Lanphear: and to this kind of massive success, 509 00:29:48,500 --> 00:29:49,980 Chris Lanphear: everybody seemed to come out of that 510 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:51,440 Chris Lanphear: just sort of loving the movie. 511 00:29:52,379 --> 00:29:55,660 Chris Lanphear: What's your recollection of the night that premiere happened? 512 00:29:56,660 --> 00:29:57,300 Chris Lanphear: It was delightful. 513 00:29:57,700 --> 00:29:59,240 Macon Blair: I love Fantastic Fest. 514 00:29:59,540 --> 00:30:03,600 Macon Blair: I do think that like we got graded 515 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,500 Macon Blair: on a little bit of a curve 516 00:30:05,500 --> 00:30:08,600 Macon Blair: because the audience there is like genetically designed 517 00:30:08,860 --> 00:30:12,300 Macon Blair: to like the Toxic Avenger and like movies like this 518 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,020 Macon Blair: and they were fired up for it. 519 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:16,520 Macon Blair: I'll take it though. 520 00:30:16,700 --> 00:30:19,320 Macon Blair: I mean, I feel like, you know, 521 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,900 Macon Blair: you spend a lot of time working on the movie. 522 00:30:23,020 --> 00:30:26,820 Macon Blair: There's this whole, it had taken years, you know, 523 00:30:26,980 --> 00:30:30,640 Macon Blair: because it was also very slowed down because COVID happened 524 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,760 Macon Blair: and it took forever to sort of get it going. 525 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:35,500 Macon Blair: there was the writing the script, 526 00:30:35,620 --> 00:30:36,700 Macon Blair: there was the shooting it, 527 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:38,900 Macon Blair: there was this long post-production process. 528 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,120 Macon Blair: And after all of that, at least for me, 529 00:30:43,380 --> 00:30:45,000 Macon Blair: you get to a point where you're kind of like, 530 00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:47,400 Macon Blair: I think I know what we're doing here. 531 00:30:47,700 --> 00:30:51,600 Macon Blair: You know, I think I still have my eye on the target, 532 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,640 Macon Blair: whatever it is, but like, you kind of lose context 533 00:30:55,740 --> 00:30:57,900 Macon Blair: and you lose a little bit of perspective, at least I did. 534 00:30:58,860 --> 00:31:01,660 Macon Blair: So you don't know how it's going to land with an audience 535 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:03,940 Macon Blair: who hasn't been there for every step of the way 536 00:31:03,940 --> 00:31:07,940 Macon Blair: They don't know why every choice was made and they're just seeing it cold. 537 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:13,200 Macon Blair: I was very nervous because it could just as easily have gone the other way. 538 00:31:13,500 --> 00:31:14,360 Macon Blair: This shit sucks. 539 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:20,880 Macon Blair: And so when the joke started landing and people were reacting in real time, I was in the theater 540 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:22,960 Macon Blair: watching it with them. 541 00:31:23,660 --> 00:31:28,600 Macon Blair: It was really, really gratifying and it took this weight off my shoulders of kind of like, 542 00:31:28,860 --> 00:31:32,540 Macon Blair: "Okay, this is like, at least we're landing it 543 00:31:32,660 --> 00:31:36,140 Macon Blair: with Fantastic Fest and that is a good step forward. 544 00:31:36,220 --> 00:31:38,060 Macon Blair: I'll take that as a victory." 545 00:31:38,060 --> 00:31:41,260 Macon Blair: And then we had a subsequent one at Beyond Fest, 546 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,420 Macon Blair: which had a similar sort of audience. 547 00:31:46,620 --> 00:31:47,900 Macon Blair: The audience seemed similar 548 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,380 Macon Blair: to the Fantastic Fest audience 549 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,440 Macon Blair: in terms of the things they were responding to. 550 00:31:52,110 --> 00:31:55,080 Macon Blair: And so that felt great just because, you know, 551 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:57,440 Macon Blair: it's not just like, I hope people like my movie. 552 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,380 Macon Blair: It's like a lot of fucking people worked really, 553 00:32:00,500 --> 00:32:01,380 Macon Blair: really hard on this. 554 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,440 Macon Blair: Like a lot of set decorators and costume designers, 555 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,680 Macon Blair: the makeup people, the whole cast, 556 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:15,040 Macon Blair: Louisa was in 25 pounds of foam and like 105 degree heat. 557 00:32:16,199 --> 00:32:19,340 Macon Blair: And everybody just like really, 558 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:21,100 Macon Blair: really broke their backs for the movie. 559 00:32:21,100 --> 00:32:25,480 Macon Blair: And so I want their efforts to be rewarded 560 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:27,880 Macon Blair: by people applauding the movie and digging it, 561 00:32:28,060 --> 00:32:31,440 Macon Blair: um, as much or more so than just for my own, 562 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:33,320 Macon Blair: like, "I hope people like what I did," you know? 563 00:32:33,799 --> 00:32:36,820 Macon Blair: A lot of people really contributed to it, 564 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,180 Macon Blair: so that felt good, coming out of those two screenings. 565 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:41,980 Chris Lanphear: What was your first interaction with Lloyd like? 566 00:32:42,340 --> 00:32:44,700 Chris Lanphear: And what was it like working with him on this movie? 567 00:32:45,140 --> 00:32:47,260 Macon Blair: Let me think. I mean, it was-- it was great. 568 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:51,620 Macon Blair: There was... I think the first time I met Lloyd... 569 00:32:52,460 --> 00:32:54,600 Macon Blair: I don't know exactly when it was, 570 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:56,320 Macon Blair: but it was before we shot anything 571 00:32:56,700 --> 00:33:00,260 Macon Blair: and he was doing some sort of event in Austin 572 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:04,640 Macon Blair: and I went and met him and his wife, Pat, 573 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:06,440 Macon Blair: at a diner and we had breakfast. 574 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,300 Macon Blair: There's a little, in the background of the main street 575 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,480 Macon Blair: in Chumaville in the movie, there's a butcher shop 576 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,320 Macon Blair: called Pat's Carcass Shop, 577 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:18,540 Macon Blair: and that's for Pat Kaufman, Lloyd's wife. 578 00:33:19,260 --> 00:33:22,140 Macon Blair: And so we just met with them and it was very casual. 579 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:26,520 Macon Blair: he seemed to go out of his way to make it clear 580 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,340 Macon Blair: that he really wanted us to go and do our own thing. 581 00:33:30,350 --> 00:33:31,860 Macon Blair: And he wasn't going to, 582 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:35,040 Macon Blair: like he kept saying over and over again, 583 00:33:35,100 --> 00:33:36,840 Macon Blair: like, "It's gonna be your thing, you do it, you do it. 584 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:37,700 Macon Blair: We're not gonna get in the way, 585 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:38,340 Macon Blair: you're not gonna get in the way." 586 00:33:38,340 --> 00:33:40,000 Macon Blair: And I wasn't worried about that, 587 00:33:40,060 --> 00:33:42,360 Macon Blair: but I found it very charming and very sweet 588 00:33:42,460 --> 00:33:44,340 Macon Blair: that he really wanted to make it clear 589 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:48,480 Macon Blair: that he wasn't going to insert himself into the process. 590 00:33:48,980 --> 00:33:49,860 Macon Blair: Not that I would have minded, 591 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,900 Macon Blair: but he was just like, I'm gonna stay out of it. 592 00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:58,540 Macon Blair: I knew very, very early on in the writing process, 593 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:02,640 Macon Blair: even before we really had a storyline 594 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,080 Macon Blair: that there needed to be a Lloyd cameo in there somewhere. 595 00:34:06,780 --> 00:34:10,620 Macon Blair: And so one of the first things I started figuring out 596 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,220 Macon Blair: was that's why I play a character in the movie 597 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,500 Macon Blair: where it's like the JJ character 598 00:34:16,500 --> 00:34:17,540 Macon Blair: doesn't really need a roommate. 599 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:22,080 Macon Blair: But I gave her a roommate so that I could play the roommate 600 00:34:22,179 --> 00:34:25,600 Macon Blair: to kind of set up this pattern of him kind of like 601 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:28,780 Macon Blair: applauding for things or booing for things 602 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:30,220 Macon Blair: in the background of scenes, 603 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:32,760 Macon Blair: specifically so that at the end of the movie, 604 00:34:33,659 --> 00:34:34,800 Macon Blair: the guy that I was playing, 605 00:34:35,020 --> 00:34:37,000 Macon Blair: this sort of like nobody background guy 606 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:39,320 Macon Blair: could be applauding for something 607 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:41,340 Macon Blair: and then it would pull a little wider 608 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,560 Macon Blair: and Lloyd would be standing there and basically shush me 609 00:34:43,679 --> 00:34:45,820 Macon Blair: and like tell me to like knock it off, 610 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:48,080 Macon Blair: which to me was just kind of like, 611 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,980 Macon Blair: I wanted to make a little gag out of like 612 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:55,500 Macon Blair: the original maestro being like, settle down, you know? 613 00:34:55,720 --> 00:34:58,740 Macon Blair: And so he came out to, we shot in Bulgaria 614 00:34:58,810 --> 00:35:00,700 Macon Blair: and he came out to film that obviously, 615 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:04,720 Macon Blair: but he also got to walk around the sets 616 00:35:04,980 --> 00:35:07,780 Macon Blair: and see all the, like the Tromaville set that we had 617 00:35:08,300 --> 00:35:10,360 Macon Blair: on the lot and kind of look at the props 618 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:12,900 Macon Blair: and meet some of the cast and stuff like that. 619 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,400 Macon Blair: And he seemed very excited by that, 620 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:17,920 Macon Blair: the sort of getting to be on set 621 00:35:18,020 --> 00:35:19,360 Macon Blair: and see all this stuff happening. 622 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:21,700 Macon Blair: So that was a lot of fun. 623 00:35:23,140 --> 00:35:25,460 Macon Blair: The only, (laughs) 624 00:35:25,900 --> 00:35:30,380 Macon Blair: the only suggestion that he had for me in the whole process, 625 00:35:31,220 --> 00:35:34,240 Macon Blair: and he gave me this note at like, 626 00:35:34,900 --> 00:35:36,800 Macon Blair: I think it was like the last week of filming 627 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:37,380 Macon Blair: or something like that. 628 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:38,920 Macon Blair: So there was no way we could do it anyway, 629 00:35:39,060 --> 00:35:39,980 Macon Blair: which I thought was hilarious. 630 00:35:40,140 --> 00:35:42,840 Macon Blair: but he was like, he just calls me up 631 00:35:43,620 --> 00:35:47,420 Macon Blair: and he left this voicemail on my phone and was like, 632 00:35:47,650 --> 00:35:52,080 Macon Blair: "All right, so I saw this news article 633 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:53,720 Macon Blair: about a woman that smothered a man. 634 00:35:53,900 --> 00:35:56,420 Macon Blair: Her breasts were so big that she smothered a man 635 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:57,620 Macon Blair: with her giant breasts. 636 00:35:58,450 --> 00:36:00,460 Macon Blair: And I think that should go on the movie." 637 00:36:00,460 --> 00:36:04,400 Macon Blair: And it's kind of like, one, you're not wrong. 638 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:09,680 Macon Blair: That's the type of gag that you would advocate for, 639 00:36:09,740 --> 00:36:12,940 Macon Blair: but it was also like we had like three days of filming left and there was no 640 00:36:13,020 --> 00:36:16,740 Macon Blair: like there was no way to just like create this random gag and put it in the 641 00:36:16,940 --> 00:36:20,160 Macon Blair: movie. So I reluctantly had to be like, I don't, I don't think we can do that, 642 00:36:20,220 --> 00:36:22,120 Macon Blair: but I do appreciate the input. 643 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:27,100 Macon Blair: No, he was, he was very supportive and has remained so, um, 644 00:36:27,340 --> 00:36:27,940 Macon Blair: the whole time. 645 00:36:28,820 --> 00:36:32,240 Chris Lanphear: That's actually a perfect segue that story, because you know, 646 00:36:32,300 --> 00:36:35,420 Chris Lanphear: one of the things the original is known for in addition to the over the top 647 00:36:35,420 --> 00:36:39,620 Chris Lanphear: violence is the gratuitous unnecessary nudity. 648 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:44,920 Chris Lanphear: But your Toxie, I don't want to say avoids it, 649 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:49,040 Chris Lanphear: but doesn't go out of its way to follow those same notes. 650 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,040 Chris Lanphear: Can you talk about the thought process 651 00:36:51,180 --> 00:36:54,680 Chris Lanphear: of why to or to not include nudity in a movie? 652 00:36:55,380 --> 00:37:00,100 Macon Blair: Yeah, I mean, not to sound overly precious with it, 653 00:37:00,180 --> 00:37:04,140 Macon Blair: but it's like, what's going on in the story? 654 00:37:04,300 --> 00:37:06,940 Macon Blair: And it seemed to me that in the original, 655 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:09,040 Macon Blair: the story's about a horny teenager 656 00:37:09,500 --> 00:37:12,240 Macon Blair: that wants to hook up with girls 657 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:13,280 Macon Blair: and wants to get a girlfriend. 658 00:37:13,500 --> 00:37:16,780 Macon Blair: And getting a peek at naked girls 659 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,400 Macon Blair: is kind of part of the hormonal, horny adolescent thing 660 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:22,920 Macon Blair: that was going on in that movie. 661 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:27,740 Macon Blair: In this one, the guy's older, he's widowed, 662 00:37:28,540 --> 00:37:29,860 Macon Blair: he's losing his health insurance. 663 00:37:30,240 --> 00:37:32,780 Macon Blair: It's just sort of like getting a peek at some titties 664 00:37:32,780 --> 00:37:35,580 Macon Blair: is not what he's about, you know? 665 00:37:35,700 --> 00:37:37,760 Macon Blair: And so we could have put it in. 666 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,860 Macon Blair: And as a matter of fact, in the early draft of the script, 667 00:37:41,020 --> 00:37:44,620 Macon Blair: there was a scene where we had to cut it 668 00:37:44,820 --> 00:37:48,020 Macon Blair: because of, we just didn't have enough days in the schedule. 669 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,540 Macon Blair: But there was a scene where Toxie kind of like 670 00:37:50,860 --> 00:37:53,200 Macon Blair: goes on a rampage and he was going to run through 671 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:57,140 Macon Blair: a version of the health club and crash through the shower, 672 00:37:57,260 --> 00:37:59,460 Macon Blair: you know, and do the thing where there's like a cutout 673 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:01,740 Macon Blair: of his body in the bricks. 674 00:38:01,780 --> 00:38:04,540 Macon Blair: and he was gonna go through both of the shower areas 675 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,880 Macon Blair: and the point of it would just to be like a pan 676 00:38:08,020 --> 00:38:10,700 Macon Blair: across like a dozen naked people specifically 677 00:38:10,980 --> 00:38:13,160 Macon Blair: for like, look how gratuitous this is. 678 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:15,700 Macon Blair: And if we had the days in the schedule 679 00:38:15,780 --> 00:38:17,360 Macon Blair: that probably would have been in there, 680 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:21,340 Macon Blair: but the joke of it was like, look how gratuitous this is. 681 00:38:21,700 --> 00:38:23,400 Macon Blair: The closest thing we have to that, 682 00:38:23,860 --> 00:38:25,860 Macon Blair: and this one is like a quick flash 683 00:38:25,940 --> 00:38:27,980 Macon Blair: of some people showing their stuff 684 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:30,920 Macon Blair: at the community festival 685 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:32,480 Macon Blair: where there's like a rock concert going on. 686 00:38:32,540 --> 00:38:35,300 Macon Blair: But even that was sort of intended to be like, 687 00:38:36,180 --> 00:38:38,320 Macon Blair: the joke of it was that it didn't really need to be there, 688 00:38:38,420 --> 00:38:40,340 Macon Blair: that it was just kind of like, you know, 689 00:38:40,940 --> 00:38:42,300 Macon Blair: nudity for the sake of itself. 690 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:45,160 Macon Blair: So, you know, it was just kind of like, 691 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,400 Macon Blair: it's not that there was a decision to like avoid it 692 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,140 Macon Blair: or not avoid it or whatever. 693 00:38:52,300 --> 00:38:54,680 Macon Blair: It was just sort of like what felt right naturally 694 00:38:54,860 --> 00:38:57,500 Macon Blair: for the story with some outside dictations 695 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,300 Macon Blair: of how many days we had to shoot. 696 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,180 Chris Lanphear: I had just ended up how it ended up. 697 00:39:03,750 --> 00:39:05,380 Chris Lanphear: >> That makes sense. I feel too, 698 00:39:05,540 --> 00:39:08,400 Chris Lanphear: and I don't know if this was going on in your brain, 699 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:10,780 Chris Lanphear: but 40 years ago, 700 00:39:11,260 --> 00:39:12,300 Chris Lanphear: even 20 years ago, 701 00:39:12,620 --> 00:39:14,480 Chris Lanphear: people seemed in general to be 702 00:39:14,490 --> 00:39:16,540 Chris Lanphear: a lot more comfortable with nudity in film. 703 00:39:18,119 --> 00:39:21,800 Chris Lanphear: Now, with the exception of movies like Nora, 704 00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:24,640 Chris Lanphear: which had its own discourse 705 00:39:24,860 --> 00:39:27,120 Chris Lanphear: around nudity and sex work and those things, 706 00:39:27,700 --> 00:39:29,240 Chris Lanphear: it seems to be something that people 707 00:39:29,240 --> 00:39:30,840 Chris Lanphear: are more sensitive of these days. 708 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:33,020 Chris Lanphear: And I feel like it's a lot easier 709 00:39:33,340 --> 00:39:36,780 Chris Lanphear: from a marketing standpoint to sell over the top 710 00:39:36,900 --> 00:39:39,500 Chris Lanphear: silly violence than it is to sell nudity. 711 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:41,180 Chris Lanphear: Maybe, yeah. 712 00:39:41,300 --> 00:39:44,040 Chris Lanphear: I don't, I have heard like, 713 00:39:44,380 --> 00:39:46,660 Macon Blair: I've heard conversations about how like 714 00:39:46,940 --> 00:39:50,860 Macon Blair: younger generations are less interested in sex scenes 715 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:52,680 Macon Blair: and stuff like that, which is kind of interesting. 716 00:39:53,140 --> 00:39:59,220 Macon Blair: I mean, to me, you know, I was a teenager in the 80s 717 00:39:59,220 --> 00:40:01,120 Macon Blair: there was no internet, you know? 718 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:05,220 Macon Blair: And so like, if you were trying to look at a naked person, 719 00:40:05,460 --> 00:40:07,920 Macon Blair: then like a lot of times the best you could do 720 00:40:08,180 --> 00:40:11,120 Macon Blair: was the Toxic Avenger or movies like that 721 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:11,920 Macon Blair: or something like that. 722 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,300 Macon Blair: You know, it would like, I just have to imagine 723 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,740 Macon Blair: without being in a younger generation's perspective, 724 00:40:18,870 --> 00:40:21,020 Macon Blair: but just sort of guessing that like, 725 00:40:21,180 --> 00:40:25,520 Macon Blair: when there is access to all kinds of everything naked 726 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,260 Macon Blair: you can possibly imagine on your fucking phone 727 00:40:28,260 --> 00:40:31,500 Macon Blair: at the drop of a dime for anything you want, 728 00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:35,100 Macon Blair: then it needs to justify itself to be in a movie. 729 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,260 Macon Blair: Because just being like, "Ooh, like porkies, 730 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:40,440 Macon Blair: we're going to get a shower scene," is like, "So what?" 731 00:40:40,780 --> 00:40:44,900 Macon Blair: It feels like it's not as exciting as maybe as it was when it was 732 00:40:44,980 --> 00:40:47,980 Macon Blair: so scarce in terms of where it existed in media. 733 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:50,960 Chris Lanphear: >> Sure. It needs to be at this point, 734 00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:53,700 Chris Lanphear: like you said, because there's so much accessibility now, 735 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:55,820 Chris Lanphear: if you're going to include a scene like that, 736 00:40:55,820 --> 00:40:57,280 Chris Lanphear: it needs to be driven by the story, 737 00:40:57,420 --> 00:41:03,080 Chris Lanphear: And this story was very much not that, you know, didn't a story or a joke or something. 738 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:10,100 Macon Blair: But if, but if it's like, if it really is just like within the movie, we're going to have this little like. 739 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:12,260 Macon Blair: Period, adolescent moment. 740 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:19,000 Macon Blair: Then it's sort of like, yeah, I could see how that would, that would maybe stand out in a way that sort of takes you out of the movie. 741 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:26,040 Macon Blair: But, you know, mainly it was just like, we wanted to keep it moving quick and we wanted to keep it joke oriented. 742 00:41:26,220 --> 00:41:28,840 Macon Blair: So at the end of the day, a lot of the conversations, 743 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:31,480 Macon Blair: not just with nudity, 744 00:41:31,580 --> 00:41:34,840 Macon Blair: but with anything in the movie came down to, 745 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:37,120 Macon Blair: is it going to get a laugh or not? 746 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:39,840 Chris Lanphear: >> Once the film was done, 747 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:42,220 Chris Lanphear: once everything's completed and it's locked, 748 00:41:42,660 --> 00:41:44,100 Chris Lanphear: what's been the most challenging part of 749 00:41:44,140 --> 00:41:46,280 Chris Lanphear: the process of getting this into theaters? 750 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:51,760 Chris Lanphear: Because your first film was premiered as part of a deal with Netflix, 751 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,220 Chris Lanphear: so it had a built-in audience for Netflix, 752 00:41:54,420 --> 00:41:57,340 Chris Lanphear: but didn't necessarily have a long theatrical run. 753 00:41:57,460 --> 00:41:59,960 Chris Lanphear: So this is your first big theatrical film. 754 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:01,860 Macon Blair: >> Oh, yeah. The first one didn't have it. 755 00:42:01,900 --> 00:42:04,780 Macon Blair: I mean, it did a film festival or two, 756 00:42:04,940 --> 00:42:06,700 Macon Blair: but it didn't have any theatrical presence. 757 00:42:06,820 --> 00:42:09,300 Macon Blair: It was just Netflix had financed it. 758 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:13,740 Macon Blair: So it was a Netflix original and that was my first movie, 759 00:42:13,820 --> 00:42:17,100 Macon Blair: and I was delighted to get it out there any way I possibly could. 760 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,520 Macon Blair: So I had no complaints about that. 761 00:42:19,820 --> 00:42:24,480 Macon Blair: with this one, it took a while to get it out there. 762 00:42:24,620 --> 00:42:27,060 Macon Blair: And so I think the hard part was just the sort of waiting 763 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:31,540 Macon Blair: and not really knowing because once I turned it in, 764 00:42:32,060 --> 00:42:34,720 Macon Blair: so to speak, that I wasn't really part 765 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:35,560 Macon Blair: of the process anymore. 766 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:39,360 Macon Blair: I didn't really have anything to do with sales conversations 767 00:42:39,700 --> 00:42:41,580 Macon Blair: or distribution conversations, anything like that. 768 00:42:41,850 --> 00:42:42,700 Macon Blair: I would get updates. 769 00:42:42,820 --> 00:42:44,500 Macon Blair: They would sort of keep me in the loop periodically 770 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:45,680 Macon Blair: about how things were going, 771 00:42:46,500 --> 00:42:49,620 Macon Blair: but I wasn't really involved in a detailed way. 772 00:42:49,700 --> 00:42:53,900 Macon Blair: So it was just a lot of waiting and, you know, 773 00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:56,120 Macon Blair: a little bit of time goes by and a little bit of time, 774 00:42:56,260 --> 00:42:58,600 Macon Blair: and eventually a year has gone by and it's, 775 00:42:58,780 --> 00:43:00,160 Macon Blair: it's hard not to feel like, oh shit, 776 00:43:00,180 --> 00:43:02,260 Macon Blair: is this gonna like totally vanish? 777 00:43:02,380 --> 00:43:05,540 Macon Blair: Or is this gonna like just wind up on a shelf 778 00:43:05,980 --> 00:43:07,040 Macon Blair: for eternity or whatever? 779 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:10,000 Macon Blair: Like who knows what could happen these days? 780 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:15,260 Macon Blair: So I know that Legendary was really working overtime 781 00:43:15,620 --> 00:43:20,580 Macon Blair: to get it out there, but some time went by. 782 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,440 Macon Blair: And I think because I wasn't involved 783 00:43:22,470 --> 00:43:24,240 Macon Blair: and I was kind of on the sidelines of that, 784 00:43:24,900 --> 00:43:28,200 Macon Blair: it was just a lot of anxiety kind of waiting 785 00:43:28,300 --> 00:43:29,460 Macon Blair: to see what was gonna happen. 786 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:32,180 Macon Blair: But on the other side of that, 787 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:34,200 Macon Blair: having gotten to where we are now, 788 00:43:34,870 --> 00:43:38,420 Macon Blair: I feel like the timing ended up really working out 789 00:43:38,580 --> 00:43:42,800 Macon Blair: in our favor because all of the sudden Cineverse 790 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:45,960 Macon Blair: was in a position where they were able to partner 791 00:43:46,100 --> 00:43:48,720 Macon Blair: with Legendary and not just take the movie 792 00:43:48,780 --> 00:43:50,820 Macon Blair: and be like, "I'll take it and we'll, I don't know, 793 00:43:50,900 --> 00:43:51,820 Macon Blair: we'll do something with it." 794 00:43:51,820 --> 00:43:56,660 Macon Blair: But like really energetically and enthusiastically design 795 00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:00,580 Macon Blair: a promotional campaign and a distribution plan 796 00:44:00,780 --> 00:44:04,740 Macon Blair: to get it out there in front of as many people as possible. 797 00:44:05,340 --> 00:44:08,300 Macon Blair: And so I kind of feel like if the cost of that 798 00:44:08,340 --> 00:44:10,300 Macon Blair: was waiting for two years to wind up 799 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:12,080 Macon Blair: with the right partner for the movie, 800 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:15,280 Macon Blair: I would have been happy to wait six years, you know, 801 00:44:15,460 --> 00:44:17,580 Macon Blair: like in the moment it was difficult, 802 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,720 Macon Blair: but now with the benefit of hindsight, totally worth it. 803 00:44:20,860 --> 00:44:21,980 Macon Blair: Wouldn't have it any other way. 804 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,100 Chris Lanphear: Yeah, and from the outside looking in, 805 00:44:25,370 --> 00:44:28,060 Chris Lanphear: there was a time, hell at this point last year, 806 00:44:28,500 --> 00:44:29,980 Chris Lanphear: you know, some news made the rounds 807 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,740 Chris Lanphear: that the film was quote unquote unreleasable 808 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:34,980 Chris Lanphear: was the quote that we heard. 809 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:38,040 Chris Lanphear: And having seen it by that point, 810 00:44:38,540 --> 00:44:40,960 Chris Lanphear: my thought was how could this be unreleasable 811 00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,160 Chris Lanphear: when you have things like Terrifier out there. 812 00:44:43,820 --> 00:44:48,440 Chris Lanphear: Lo and behold, the people who got Terrifier out there are like, 813 00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:50,060 Chris Lanphear: "Hey, we can do the same thing with Toxie. 814 00:44:50,180 --> 00:44:53,940 Chris Lanphear: We know how to put out a movie like this." 815 00:44:54,100 --> 00:44:58,040 Macon Blair: >> Precisely, and I think that's why the timing worked and why 816 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,180 Macon Blair: Cineverse was great was because of the success of Terrifier. 817 00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:06,080 Macon Blair: I feel like it positioned them to be able to grab this one, 818 00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,880 Macon Blair: and they knew how to do it. 819 00:45:08,980 --> 00:45:10,520 Macon Blair: As far as it being unreleasable, 820 00:45:10,740 --> 00:45:13,540 Macon Blair: I mean, I wasn't totally aware of that, 821 00:45:13,620 --> 00:45:16,680 Macon Blair: but somebody forwarded me a repost or something. 822 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:18,400 Macon Blair: So I kind of was aware of the headlines, 823 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:21,760 Macon Blair: but I didn't know the whole context, 824 00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:25,800 Macon Blair: but I suspect that is like a game of telephone 825 00:45:26,180 --> 00:45:29,940 Macon Blair: because what it sounded like was this movie is unreleasable 826 00:45:30,140 --> 00:45:32,400 Macon Blair: because it is so bloody, 827 00:45:32,500 --> 00:45:36,840 Macon Blair: or at least that's the way the headline that I saw read. 828 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,500 Macon Blair: And that's obviously not the case. 829 00:45:39,660 --> 00:45:48,580 Macon Blair: I mean, it's got some blood in it, but it's not even in the realm of being so bloody that 830 00:45:48,660 --> 00:45:49,740 Macon Blair: you couldn't release it. 831 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,140 Macon Blair: It's got a little bit of blood, but it's basically a comedy. 832 00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:59,820 Macon Blair: I suspect it was like somebody felt like it was unreleasable because the mainstream distributors 833 00:45:59,860 --> 00:46:04,240 Macon Blair: were not interested in it, and incidentally, it's got a little bit of gore in it, and somehow 834 00:46:04,240 --> 00:46:11,460 Macon Blair: that maybe that got conflated that like, um, it was unreleasable because of gore, but that's 835 00:46:12,220 --> 00:46:18,560 Macon Blair: completely not the case. And in fact, I, the thing that really got me anxious about that was not the 836 00:46:19,060 --> 00:46:26,260 Macon Blair: presumption that it's unreleasable was, but I didn't want people to have this incorrect 837 00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:31,820 Macon Blair: expectation for the movie, because if you, if you put it out there that like, dude, this movie is 838 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,020 Macon Blair: banned, it's unreleasable because it's so gory. 839 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:36,560 Macon Blair: And then people go see this movie, 840 00:46:37,060 --> 00:46:39,700 Macon Blair: they're going to be expecting a gore score like that. 841 00:46:39,780 --> 00:46:42,320 Macon Blair: They're going to be let down because it's not- 842 00:46:42,340 --> 00:46:45,780 Macon Blair: it doesn't have the gore score of something like Terrifier. 843 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:46,560 Macon Blair: It just doesn't. 844 00:46:46,660 --> 00:46:47,600 Macon Blair: And it wasn't meant to be. 845 00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:50,360 Macon Blair: It was meant to be a comedy with a little bit of gore 846 00:46:50,460 --> 00:46:51,320 Macon Blair: sprinkled in. 847 00:46:52,140 --> 00:46:55,400 Macon Blair: So I got kind of nervous about not wanting people 848 00:46:55,540 --> 00:47:01,600 Macon Blair: to have an incorrect expectation going into the movie about what 849 00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:08,120 Macon Blair: was going to be and I really wanted to clarify like, I don't know, it's a comedy and go in 850 00:47:08,140 --> 00:47:14,300 Macon Blair: expecting a comedy and you'll be okay but it's not going to be like the most diabolical 851 00:47:15,660 --> 00:47:18,520 Macon Blair: bloodthirsty movie anybody's ever seen. It's just, it's not that. 852 00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:26,380 Chris Lanphear: >> DAVID: So you know, we going out of our way not to call the Toxie, your version of Toxie, 853 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:30,980 Chris Lanphear: a remake or a reboot because I feel like those terms are kind of reductive in terms of what it 854 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:37,040 Chris Lanphear: is. But, you know, there have been many different types of reinterpretations of beloved horror 855 00:47:37,140 --> 00:47:42,320 Chris Lanphear: films and franchises over the years. What are some of those ones that you've liked and 856 00:47:42,340 --> 00:47:45,220 Chris Lanphear: did they have any influence on how you approached Toxie? 857 00:47:46,180 --> 00:47:52,140 Chris Lanphear: One of my favorites is Bram Stoker's Dracula, which, you know, there's been a bazillion 858 00:47:52,240 --> 00:47:59,400 Macon Blair: Draculas, but there was something about that one that just had, it felt very, I mean, I 859 00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:05,040 Macon Blair: I think because it came out right on the edge of before things started getting super, you 860 00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:10,160 Macon Blair: know, there was still a couple of years before things got heavily digitized and it had a 861 00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:15,480 Macon Blair: very, I mean, it was immaculate, but it had a kind of handmade quality to it. 862 00:48:16,620 --> 00:48:23,880 Macon Blair: You could feel the sets and, you know, the effects and the makeup all had, to me, it 863 00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:25,740 Macon Blair: seemed like human fingerprints on them. 864 00:48:26,380 --> 00:48:34,700 Macon Blair: And that was something, obviously that movie is much more operatic and sensual and dignified 865 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:37,480 Macon Blair: and all sorts of things that this movie is not. 866 00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:48,440 Macon Blair: But that sort of quality was something that I looked to and we spoke about a lot in terms 867 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,200 Macon Blair: of design and sort of set building. 868 00:48:51,980 --> 00:48:52,840 Macon Blair: That would certainly be one. 869 00:48:53,740 --> 00:48:59,520 Chris Lanphear: DC was originally rated R and was conceived of as an R rated film, but Cineverse, you 870 00:48:59,540 --> 00:49:02,480 Chris Lanphear: know, to their credit is going full bore with this. 871 00:49:02,580 --> 00:49:04,320 Chris Lanphear: They're releasing this movie unrated. 872 00:49:05,060 --> 00:49:09,980 Chris Lanphear: How does the unrated version of the film up the ante and what can people expect from this 873 00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:12,980 Chris Lanphear: that differs from the original R rated intention? 874 00:49:13,540 --> 00:49:15,200 Macon Blair: There are some different shots in there. 875 00:49:16,020 --> 00:49:24,680 Macon Blair: There are small tweaks in there, but we didn't have a whole sequence that we didn't use that 876 00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:25,600 Macon Blair: we put back in. 877 00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:34,300 Macon Blair: So the changes, the editorial changes that were made between the two versions are pretty 878 00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:35,660 Macon Blair: subtle as a matter of fact. 879 00:49:36,420 --> 00:49:42,240 Chris Lanphear: So yeah, so it differs from, if you've ever seen the R-rated version of the original Toxic 880 00:49:42,380 --> 00:49:44,580 Chris Lanphear: Avenger, there's like 20 minutes that are missing. 881 00:49:45,380 --> 00:49:47,320 Chris Lanphear: All the head crushings are gone, 882 00:49:47,380 --> 00:49:48,940 Chris Lanphear: a lot of the nudity is cut down, 883 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:50,360 Chris Lanphear: some stuff is cropped out. 884 00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:55,340 Chris Lanphear: It's cool to see that people can expect to see 885 00:49:55,600 --> 00:49:57,820 Chris Lanphear: something that's released in the way you want to release it, 886 00:49:57,860 --> 00:49:59,280 Chris Lanphear: I think is the most important thing. 887 00:49:59,900 --> 00:50:03,380 Macon Blair: >> Yeah. Honestly, that's true. 888 00:50:04,060 --> 00:50:09,740 Macon Blair: Also, one thing that I was pleasantly surprised by, 889 00:50:10,500 --> 00:50:13,560 Macon Blair: yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by was the fact that 890 00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:16,880 Macon Blair: both Cineverse and Before Them Legendary, 891 00:50:16,980 --> 00:50:19,000 Macon Blair: when we were working on the movie, 892 00:50:19,660 --> 00:50:23,940 Macon Blair: they were really into everything that we pitched to them. 893 00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:27,080 Macon Blair: There is a scene in the movie, 894 00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:30,860 Macon Blair: I'm assuming if people are listening to this podcast, 895 00:50:31,100 --> 00:50:33,320 Macon Blair: they've probably seen it, we're sort of talking spoilers, 896 00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:34,800 Macon Blair: but there's a scene in the movie 897 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:39,900 Macon Blair: where Toxie's battling some bad guys 898 00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,540 Macon Blair: and he punches one guy in the butt so hard 899 00:50:43,540 --> 00:50:46,260 Macon Blair: his small intestine out of his butt. 900 00:50:49,100 --> 00:50:55,860 Macon Blair: And there was a moment where this gag sort of occurred to us. 901 00:50:56,220 --> 00:50:59,540 Macon Blair: And I was talking amongst my crew, 902 00:50:59,540 --> 00:51:02,320 Macon Blair: and this gag came to light. 903 00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:06,580 Macon Blair: And one of the assistant editors had actually was like, 904 00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:07,720 Macon Blair: maybe this should happen. 905 00:51:07,780 --> 00:51:09,500 Macon Blair: And I was like, oh, shit, that's a good idea. 906 00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:12,020 Macon Blair: And immediately-- it was very late at night. 907 00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:13,200 Macon Blair: Everybody was kind of punchy. 908 00:51:13,260 --> 00:51:16,520 Macon Blair: we were cutting very late and the idea of it 909 00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:19,140 Macon Blair: made us laugh so much that without thinking, 910 00:51:19,790 --> 00:51:22,960 Macon Blair: I very quickly got out my laptop and wrote out this email. 911 00:51:23,620 --> 00:51:26,440 Macon Blair: In my memory, it was like all caps, it probably wasn't, 912 00:51:26,500 --> 00:51:28,360 Macon Blair: but it felt like I was typing in all caps 913 00:51:29,290 --> 00:51:30,400 Macon Blair: to the head of the studio 914 00:51:31,859 --> 00:51:34,360 Macon Blair: and like sort of frantically describing like, 915 00:51:34,420 --> 00:51:35,560 Macon Blair: and then he's gonna put his fist up 916 00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:36,580 Macon Blair: this other guy's butthole 917 00:51:36,590 --> 00:51:38,620 Macon Blair: and then he's gonna pull the stuff out. 918 00:51:39,020 --> 00:51:40,480 Macon Blair: And I woke up the next morning and I was like, 919 00:51:40,540 --> 00:51:42,740 Macon Blair: oh shit, I'm gonna, they're gonna fire me. 920 00:51:42,900 --> 00:51:46,940 Macon Blair: that they're going to fire me off this. 921 00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:48,360 Macon Blair: And I felt really embarrassed. 922 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:50,560 Macon Blair: And then about 30 minutes later, 923 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:53,260 Macon Blair: she wrote back and was like, let's do it. 924 00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:56,380 Macon Blair: And so I think my point is that like, 925 00:51:57,180 --> 00:52:02,420 Macon Blair: for such a movie with maybe an appeal 926 00:52:02,580 --> 00:52:04,360 Macon Blair: to a certain niche audience, 927 00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:10,900 Macon Blair: this studio was very game for stuff like that. 928 00:52:10,940 --> 00:52:13,200 Macon Blair: and didn't really need a lot of convincing. 929 00:52:14,100 --> 00:52:16,880 Macon Blair: They were just, it was kind of like a very two-word, 930 00:52:16,960 --> 00:52:19,000 Macon Blair: like, yeah, let's do it, approved. 931 00:52:20,919 --> 00:52:23,340 Macon Blair: Start working on the effects or whatever, go for it. 932 00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:25,580 Macon Blair: And so that was a lot of fun to see. 933 00:52:25,610 --> 00:52:26,760 Macon Blair: It was just sort of like, 934 00:52:27,220 --> 00:52:29,280 Macon Blair: everybody was kind of down to make the same movie. 935 00:52:29,520 --> 00:52:33,940 Macon Blair: And so there wasn't a lot of having to convince people 936 00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:36,500 Macon Blair: that like, no, this is what's gonna work 937 00:52:36,660 --> 00:52:38,060 Macon Blair: for the movie better, 938 00:52:38,100 --> 00:52:40,700 Macon Blair: and the fans are gonna want this, and this and that. 939 00:52:40,740 --> 00:52:43,440 Macon Blair: everybody was kind of down for the same program, 940 00:52:43,700 --> 00:52:44,400 Macon Blair: which was very cool. 941 00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:45,800 Chris Lanphear: And if I'm not mistaken, 942 00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:48,920 Chris Lanphear: that sequence became known as Butt Guts, correct? 943 00:52:49,660 --> 00:52:50,340 Macon Blair: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 944 00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:54,320 Macon Blair: There's a separate section in the credits for that 945 00:52:54,380 --> 00:52:56,760 Macon Blair: because we had a different camera unit shoot it, but yeah. 946 00:52:57,300 --> 00:52:59,400 Chris Lanphear: Which leads into the next logical question. 947 00:52:59,620 --> 00:53:01,820 Chris Lanphear: If your Toxie were to also get his own 948 00:53:02,380 --> 00:53:04,280 Chris Lanphear: family-friendly spinoff children's cartoon, 949 00:53:05,380 --> 00:53:07,980 Chris Lanphear: what is an important lesson you would like him to teach? 950 00:53:09,220 --> 00:53:15,300 Macon Blair: that it is not just okay, but really good to be yourself. 951 00:53:16,900 --> 00:53:22,880 Macon Blair: It feels like there's a lot of, there's this, I don't know, 952 00:53:23,700 --> 00:53:29,320 Macon Blair: feels like there's a wave right now of a lot of like, 953 00:53:31,620 --> 00:53:39,200 Macon Blair: I don't know, trying to dictate things to people 954 00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:46,520 Macon Blair: choice and I think Toxie teaching kids that who you are is great and enough and not to 955 00:53:46,540 --> 00:53:48,220 Macon Blair: fuck with that I think would be a good lesson. 956 00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:54,020 Chris Lanphear: And that's reinforced in the film with Jacob Tremblay's character who I mean he does a 957 00:53:54,200 --> 00:53:59,440 Chris Lanphear: phenomenal job given the amount of screen time he has relative to the rest of the movie. 958 00:53:59,940 --> 00:54:00,580 Chris Lanphear: Yeah, he's great. 959 00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:04,680 Chris Lanphear: He seems to be going through this kind of existential crisis and really finds himself 960 00:54:04,680 --> 00:54:12,340 Chris Lanphear: by the end, thanks to repairing the relationship with Winston and everything. Yeah, that's 961 00:54:12,340 --> 00:54:14,600 Chris Lanphear: a message that I feel like is sorely needed right now. 962 00:54:15,470 --> 00:54:21,540 Macon Blair: >>AJ: Yeah. And I like that, again, that whole sequence at the end was designed to 963 00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:29,880 Macon Blair: be a joke in that what finally gets people on his side is this lowest common denominator 964 00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:34,800 Macon Blair: sort of like smashing melons and prop comedy stuff, 965 00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:38,660 Macon Blair: which is just, that part is a gag, 966 00:54:38,900 --> 00:54:42,140 Macon Blair: but the idea that like he can authentically be himself 967 00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:45,460 Macon Blair: and have people get psyched up and cheer for him. 968 00:54:47,059 --> 00:54:50,920 Macon Blair: And that was something that like was, 969 00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:52,940 Macon Blair: we sort of had that scene 970 00:54:53,260 --> 00:54:55,380 Macon Blair: as we were writing the rest of the script, 971 00:54:55,440 --> 00:54:58,060 Macon Blair: but that scene was always sort of, 972 00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:00,380 Macon Blair: we knew that was going to be the ending. 973 00:55:00,910 --> 00:55:03,980 Macon Blair: In other words, the kid having a victory at school 974 00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:06,200 Macon Blair: and Toxie being there to witness that. 975 00:55:06,860 --> 00:55:10,480 Macon Blair: So it ends with Toxie up in the balcony 976 00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:15,220 Macon Blair: watching his son have a victorious moment at school. 977 00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:17,220 Macon Blair: And that was always, we didn't really know 978 00:55:17,380 --> 00:55:18,760 Macon Blair: exactly how we were going to wind up there, 979 00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:22,080 Macon Blair: but we knew that that was going to be the end moment 980 00:55:22,220 --> 00:55:24,320 Macon Blair: and we kind of worked from there. 981 00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:26,740 Chris Lanphear: I've heard you tell this story before, 982 00:55:26,940 --> 00:55:28,540 Chris Lanphear: but I wanted more people to hear it 983 00:55:28,540 --> 00:55:30,140 Chris Lanphear: just 'cause I absolutely loved it. 984 00:55:30,260 --> 00:55:32,800 Chris Lanphear: Can you talk about the significance of the security guard? 985 00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:35,880 Macon Blair: Yeah, yeah, good eye. 986 00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:38,940 Macon Blair: The security guard, okay, so earlier on, 987 00:55:38,940 --> 00:55:41,280 Macon Blair: you were asking me about when the first time was 988 00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:43,280 Macon Blair: that I saw "The Toxic Avenger," right? 989 00:55:43,960 --> 00:55:47,180 Macon Blair: And I said, we got a videotape from my buddy 990 00:55:47,260 --> 00:55:49,500 Macon Blair: and my buddies who were making movies together, 991 00:55:50,580 --> 00:55:52,960 Macon Blair: watched it, and that's one of the guys. 992 00:55:53,460 --> 00:55:55,280 Macon Blair: His name is Chris, and I've known him 993 00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,360 Macon Blair: since we were in kindergarten together. 994 00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:00,700 Macon Blair: So Chris, myself, Jeremy Saunier, 995 00:56:00,900 --> 00:56:03,360 Macon Blair: who just made Rebel Ridge and Green Room 996 00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:06,080 Macon Blair: and a lot of other great stuff, 997 00:56:06,580 --> 00:56:08,820 Macon Blair: we're all in that group in Virginia. 998 00:56:09,420 --> 00:56:13,160 Macon Blair: And he played the lead in Jeremy's first movie, 999 00:56:13,180 --> 00:56:14,380 Macon Blair: which was called Murder Party, 1000 00:56:14,500 --> 00:56:19,460 Macon Blair: which was a very low budget comedy horror movie 1001 00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:20,720 Macon Blair: that Jeremy wrote and directed. 1002 00:56:21,720 --> 00:56:24,140 Macon Blair: I think it costs like $200,000 to make. 1003 00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:29,060 Macon Blair: We shot it on video and Chris played the lead in that. 1004 00:56:29,060 --> 00:56:33,840 Macon Blair: He was a parking enforcement officer who gets kidnapped 1005 00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:36,900 Macon Blair: and brutalized on Halloween by this group of weirdos. 1006 00:56:37,860 --> 00:56:41,420 Macon Blair: That's him playing the same character in Toxie as 1007 00:56:41,460 --> 00:56:43,900 Macon Blair: a security guard when Winston robs 1008 00:56:44,020 --> 00:56:48,020 Macon Blair: his job to get some money to pay for his medical care. 1009 00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:52,800 Macon Blair: I put Chris in the movie because I wanted to have my buddy on set, 1010 00:56:52,840 --> 00:56:56,540 Macon Blair: but also I thought it would be cool to have him sort of reprise that same role 1011 00:56:57,220 --> 00:57:04,760 Macon Blair: as a hapless, you know, some sort of officer that's always finding himself in difficult, abusive situations. 1012 00:57:05,300 --> 00:57:08,260 Chris Lanphear: So that had to be a huge full circle moment for you. 1013 00:57:08,860 --> 00:57:14,560 Chris Lanphear: Because you go from watching this movie as a kid with your friends on videotape, 1014 00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:22,960 Chris Lanphear: you know, 30 some odd years ago to now directing the largest, 1015 00:57:23,060 --> 00:57:28,400 Chris Lanphear: most expansive version of that same story with more than just your friends, 1016 00:57:28,500 --> 00:57:33,360 Chris Lanphear: with tons and tons of other creatives and crew members and studio money behind you. 1017 00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:36,060 Chris Lanphear: I've got to assume that you took 1018 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:39,080 Chris Lanphear: at least a moment or two when you were shooting that to go. 1019 00:57:39,900 --> 00:57:41,300 Chris Lanphear: Man, what a journey. 1020 00:57:41,920 --> 00:57:43,660 Chris Lanphear: Not a moment or two. 1021 00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:47,980 Macon Blair: Constantly, constantly, absolutely. 1022 00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:51,120 Macon Blair: I mean, you know, there's like, 1023 00:57:52,880 --> 00:57:54,780 Macon Blair: you're there to do a job, everybody's professional, 1024 00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:57,440 Macon Blair: so you've got this going on and you do that. 1025 00:57:57,440 --> 00:57:59,400 Macon Blair: And that's true, conduct yourself professionally. 1026 00:57:59,940 --> 00:58:01,960 Macon Blair: Behind that, absolutely. 1027 00:58:02,660 --> 00:58:05,800 Macon Blair: Mind fucking blown every minute of the day. 1028 00:58:06,280 --> 00:58:09,960 Macon Blair: We had that group of friends that I was talking about 1029 00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:12,960 Macon Blair: when we were kids, our group, 1030 00:58:13,800 --> 00:58:15,320 Macon Blair: there was like six or seven of us 1031 00:58:15,820 --> 00:58:20,420 Macon Blair: and we called it a production company. 1032 00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:22,400 Macon Blair: It was just like kids with a camera, 1033 00:58:22,480 --> 00:58:24,580 Macon Blair: but we called it Butt Stupid Films. 1034 00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:27,740 Macon Blair: And I said to my, I was texting my buddies, 1035 00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:31,500 Macon Blair: I was like, from set this big vaulted ceiling, 1036 00:58:32,500 --> 00:58:36,720 Macon Blair: it looks like a James Whale set with like blinkers and shit 1037 00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:39,980 Macon Blair: and Kevin Bacon's in full body makeup 1038 00:58:40,340 --> 00:58:41,820 Macon Blair: and Elijah Wood is over here 1039 00:58:41,940 --> 00:58:43,640 Macon Blair: and it's the Toxic Avengers over here. 1040 00:58:43,700 --> 00:58:46,280 Macon Blair: And I was just like, dudes, it's like, 1041 00:58:46,660 --> 00:58:49,360 Macon Blair: they let me make a fucking butt stupid movie 1042 00:58:49,740 --> 00:58:52,700 Macon Blair: on a gigantic budget over here 1043 00:58:52,860 --> 00:58:54,980 Macon Blair: and nobody has put a stop to it yet. 1044 00:58:55,680 --> 00:58:58,920 Macon Blair: It really, it was really, really surreal. 1045 00:58:59,200 --> 00:59:00,980 Macon Blair: And to this day, I'm like, 1046 00:59:01,020 --> 00:59:06,600 Macon Blair: I'm never not gonna be immensely grateful for all of that. 1047 00:59:06,640 --> 00:59:08,240 Macon Blair: and just overwhelmed. 1048 00:59:08,480 --> 00:59:10,620 Macon Blair: It was a lot of fun. 1049 00:59:11,010 --> 00:59:12,640 Macon Blair: It was a tremendous amount of work. 1050 00:59:12,640 --> 00:59:14,240 Macon Blair: It was difficult in a lot of ways, 1051 00:59:14,340 --> 00:59:16,840 Macon Blair: but yeah, man, it was really, 1052 00:59:17,160 --> 00:59:18,620 Macon Blair: really mind-blowing. It really was. 1053 00:59:20,140 --> 00:59:21,160 Chris Lanphear: >> I feel like the, 1054 00:59:21,620 --> 00:59:23,200 Chris Lanphear: sounds like I'm waxing your car, 1055 00:59:23,300 --> 00:59:26,960 Chris Lanphear: but I feel like the fun you were having comes 1056 00:59:27,180 --> 00:59:30,860 Chris Lanphear: through in every frame of celluloid on that movie 1057 00:59:30,950 --> 00:59:33,760 Chris Lanphear: just because everybody just seems to be having fun. 1058 00:59:33,920 --> 00:59:36,620 Chris Lanphear: Yes, making movies is a job and it's 1059 00:59:36,620 --> 00:59:41,540 Chris Lanphear: difficult and it's hard and there are tons and tons of obstacles and especially in this 1060 00:59:41,640 --> 00:59:47,860 Chris Lanphear: climate getting anything made is nothing short of a miracle. But man, you guys are having 1061 00:59:47,860 --> 00:59:48,900 Chris Lanphear: so much fun up there. 1062 00:59:50,270 --> 00:59:59,360 Macon Blair: Yeah, dude. I mean, I do believe that I couldn't articulate why this is and maybe it's not 1063 00:59:59,360 --> 01:00:05,820 Macon Blair: always the case, but I do feel like there is some sort of molecular thing where like 1064 01:00:06,060 --> 01:00:14,460 Macon Blair: if there is a positive energy, a fun energy on set, then it translates into the camera 1065 01:00:14,650 --> 01:00:21,420 Macon Blair: somehow and it comes across in what you watch. Which is not to say that great movies can't 1066 01:00:21,420 --> 01:00:25,040 Macon Blair: come from horrific experiences, 1067 01:00:26,300 --> 01:00:27,420 Macon Blair: apocalypse now, whatever. 1068 01:00:28,600 --> 01:00:32,780 Macon Blair: But generally speaking, I think if people are rocking and rolling and having 1069 01:00:32,860 --> 01:00:37,360 Macon Blair: a good time on set that will be reflected to some degree in the movie. 1070 01:00:37,540 --> 01:00:41,360 Chris Lanphear: That's what we were trying to harness on set for sure. 1071 01:00:42,050 --> 01:00:43,360 Chris Lanphear: >> It's the punk rock ethos. 1072 01:00:44,980 --> 01:00:47,120 Chris Lanphear: The question one of our producers wrote was, 1073 01:00:47,120 --> 01:00:48,420 Chris Lanphear: do you feel like you brought back 1074 01:00:48,500 --> 01:00:50,840 Chris Lanphear: the punk rock ethos of Troma to the big budget world? 1075 01:00:50,940 --> 01:00:53,500 Chris Lanphear: But I mean, I think it's safe to say yes. 1076 01:00:54,090 --> 01:00:55,000 Macon Blair: I don't know about that. 1077 01:00:55,460 --> 01:00:56,660 Macon Blair: That's not something, 1078 01:00:58,510 --> 01:01:00,980 Macon Blair: I didn't think about it that way. 1079 01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:03,560 Macon Blair: I understand where you're coming from, 1080 01:01:03,640 --> 01:01:05,520 Macon Blair: but that sort of line of thinking 1081 01:01:08,740 --> 01:01:10,860 Macon Blair: as a punk rock fan, 1082 01:01:11,700 --> 01:01:14,780 Macon Blair: that line of thinking didn't really cross my mind. 1083 01:01:14,860 --> 01:01:19,160 Macon Blair: What I thought of was that it was like, 1084 01:01:19,220 --> 01:01:21,780 Macon Blair: if I could get like-minded people 1085 01:01:21,960 --> 01:01:23,740 Macon Blair: who were gonna have fun with this together 1086 01:01:23,980 --> 01:01:25,660 Macon Blair: and we could all sort of have fun together, 1087 01:01:26,500 --> 01:01:27,940 Macon Blair: that that would result in a movie 1088 01:01:28,060 --> 01:01:30,820 Macon Blair: that some portion of the audience was gonna respond to 1089 01:01:30,820 --> 01:01:33,380 Macon Blair: and hopefully it would be the Toronto audience 1090 01:01:33,680 --> 01:01:35,100 Macon Blair: plus a wider field. 1091 01:01:36,080 --> 01:01:39,440 Macon Blair: But that was sort of my philosophy going into it. 1092 01:01:39,540 --> 01:01:43,080 Macon Blair: So if that makes it punk rock or not, I don't know, 1093 01:01:43,220 --> 01:01:47,200 Macon Blair: but that was sort of the intention. 1094 01:01:47,840 --> 01:01:51,960 Chris Lanphear: Well, I mean, I would personally counter and say, I think it is, it is punk rock 1095 01:01:52,180 --> 01:01:59,240 Chris Lanphear: because, you know, a lot of people in the position you were in would feel so 1096 01:01:59,400 --> 01:02:02,860 Chris Lanphear: grateful to just have the job that they would do everything safely. 1097 01:02:03,820 --> 01:02:10,100 Chris Lanphear: And the fact that you were willing to gestate this crazy idea like butt guts 1098 01:02:10,820 --> 01:02:13,720 Chris Lanphear: and then go, you know what, I'm going to go to the head of legendary 1099 01:02:14,080 --> 01:02:16,800 Chris Lanphear: and suggest this insane idea. 1100 01:02:19,760 --> 01:02:24,100 Chris Lanphear: seemingly without any regard for the job security that that that might threaten. 1101 01:02:25,260 --> 01:02:28,000 Chris Lanphear: I think is pretty fucking punk rock. 1102 01:02:30,660 --> 01:02:31,100 Chris Lanphear: That's funny. 1103 01:02:31,940 --> 01:02:32,560 Chris Lanphear: Yeah, I don't know. 1104 01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:40,400 Chris Lanphear: Lloyd often, you know, pulls from Shakespeare and he says to that on self be true. 1105 01:02:41,060 --> 01:02:44,599 Chris Lanphear: How do you stay true to yourself when trying to bring your vision to the screen when I'm 1106 01:02:44,600 --> 01:02:49,900 Chris Lanphear: also answering to other masters and restrictions and constraints. 1107 01:02:49,930 --> 01:02:55,080 Chris Lanphear: But it sounds like you were able to do that pretty easily, right? 1108 01:02:55,120 --> 01:03:00,240 Chris Lanphear: You had people that you were working with that were just as game as you were. 1109 01:03:00,740 --> 01:03:05,980 Macon Blair: >> Yeah. That's a good question. 1110 01:03:06,140 --> 01:03:10,820 Macon Blair: I don't know. I think it comes down to how I would try to do anything, 1111 01:03:11,040 --> 01:03:16,760 Macon Blair: whether it's making a movie or getting my kids to school 1112 01:03:16,880 --> 01:03:19,860 Macon Blair: or anything, which is just to try and listen 1113 01:03:20,060 --> 01:03:21,700 Macon Blair: to what the other people are saying 1114 01:03:22,100 --> 01:03:29,180 Macon Blair: and try to calmly, respectfully communicate 1115 01:03:29,360 --> 01:03:29,940 Macon Blair: what you're saying. 1116 01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:30,940 Macon Blair: 'Cause I think a lot of times, 1117 01:03:31,020 --> 01:03:32,260 Macon Blair: if it's just kind of like, we're not, 1118 01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:36,520 Macon Blair: everybody's trying to make the best version of the movie, 1119 01:03:36,960 --> 01:03:38,820 Macon Blair: right, or everybody's trying to get out of the house 1120 01:03:38,820 --> 01:03:39,560 Macon Blair: on time, whatever. 1121 01:03:40,040 --> 01:03:41,820 Macon Blair: But if you can just sort of like, okay, 1122 01:03:41,880 --> 01:03:43,060 Macon Blair: this is where I'm coming from. 1123 01:03:43,880 --> 01:03:46,720 Macon Blair: I think we should have a scene here that does this. 1124 01:03:46,980 --> 01:03:50,020 Macon Blair: And then they can sort of reflect on that 1125 01:03:50,100 --> 01:03:54,640 Macon Blair: and not have it be like a thing 1126 01:03:54,700 --> 01:03:56,060 Macon Blair: that needs to be battled over, 1127 01:03:56,240 --> 01:03:58,780 Macon Blair: but just sort of like agree that we're all on the same team. 1128 01:03:58,900 --> 01:03:59,980 Macon Blair: And, you know, by the way, 1129 01:04:00,660 --> 01:04:02,180 Macon Blair: there were certainly things that like, 1130 01:04:03,550 --> 01:04:05,480 Macon Blair: you know, needed to be compromised upon. 1131 01:04:05,700 --> 01:04:09,380 Macon Blair: And that like, as an example, just full disclosure, 1132 01:04:09,480 --> 01:04:13,720 Macon Blair: But like that, the opening scene where it sort of, 1133 01:04:13,860 --> 01:04:17,860 Macon Blair: it starts out with like a, like a flash forward. 1134 01:04:18,540 --> 01:04:21,420 Macon Blair: And it's sort of like, it shows you some clips or whatever, 1135 01:04:21,480 --> 01:04:23,200 Macon Blair: and it resets. 1136 01:04:24,880 --> 01:04:27,280 Macon Blair: Initially, I didn't really want that in the movie. 1137 01:04:27,820 --> 01:04:31,300 Macon Blair: We did a commentary track for the Blu-ray the other day, 1138 01:04:31,360 --> 01:04:32,660 Macon Blair: and I told this story, 1139 01:04:32,760 --> 01:04:36,160 Macon Blair: but that was something that the studio had suggested. 1140 01:04:36,560 --> 01:04:40,340 Macon Blair: And the reason why was because we had done an audience 1141 01:04:41,160 --> 01:04:43,300 Macon Blair: screening, like a feedback screening. 1142 01:04:43,660 --> 01:04:47,640 Macon Blair: And the main thing that we got from that 1143 01:04:47,760 --> 01:04:50,940 Macon Blair: was that the audience was saying for the first 10 or 15 minutes, 1144 01:04:51,060 --> 01:04:53,880 Macon Blair: they weren't really sure if the movie was supposed 1145 01:04:53,980 --> 01:04:55,900 Macon Blair: to be funny or serious. 1146 01:04:56,320 --> 01:04:58,220 Macon Blair: Because when they test these movies, 1147 01:04:58,340 --> 01:05:00,660 Macon Blair: it's sort of like they don't even tell you what the title is. 1148 01:05:01,140 --> 01:05:02,820 Macon Blair: And they're not recruiting Troma fans. 1149 01:05:02,960 --> 01:05:04,540 Macon Blair: It's just random people off the street. 1150 01:05:04,540 --> 01:05:06,060 Macon Blair: So they have no idea what anything is. 1151 01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:08,180 Macon Blair: So they watched the first 10 minutes of the movie 1152 01:05:08,180 --> 01:05:08,940 Macon Blair: and they were kind of like, 1153 01:05:08,960 --> 01:05:11,820 Macon Blair: is this supposed to be serious or funny or whatever? 1154 01:05:12,540 --> 01:05:14,460 Macon Blair: And I was very stuck in this like, 1155 01:05:14,520 --> 01:05:17,560 Macon Blair: oh, well, no, we don't want that record scratch, 1156 01:05:17,880 --> 01:05:19,480 Macon Blair: look how I got here moment at the beginning. 1157 01:05:19,780 --> 01:05:21,960 Macon Blair: And I kind of pushed back against it 1158 01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:24,060 Macon Blair: and we went back and forth and eventually we did it. 1159 01:05:24,900 --> 01:05:27,820 Macon Blair: And as soon as we did it, the scores went up. 1160 01:05:28,040 --> 01:05:30,920 Macon Blair: And that note about like tonal confusion, 1161 01:05:31,180 --> 01:05:34,520 Macon Blair: about is it supposed to be comedy or serious 1162 01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:37,260 Macon Blair: until Ferd gets killed and then you're kind of like, 1163 01:05:37,340 --> 01:05:38,600 Macon Blair: okay, now I know it's a comedy. 1164 01:05:39,860 --> 01:05:41,140 Macon Blair: That note kind of went away. 1165 01:05:41,310 --> 01:05:44,920 Macon Blair: And it was a great lesson for me to be like, 1166 01:05:45,700 --> 01:05:46,300 Macon Blair: shut up. 1167 01:05:48,119 --> 01:05:49,860 Macon Blair: It's cool to sort of advocate 1168 01:05:49,910 --> 01:05:51,260 Macon Blair: for your own position for things, 1169 01:05:51,260 --> 01:05:56,100 Macon Blair: but also you can kind of be open to outside ideas 1170 01:05:57,880 --> 01:05:59,360 Macon Blair: that you weren't leading with, 1171 01:05:59,370 --> 01:06:01,380 Macon Blair: or maybe you were even resistant to, 1172 01:06:01,520 --> 01:06:05,720 Macon Blair: and it ended up making the whole thing ultimately better. 1173 01:06:07,320 --> 01:06:08,860 Macon Blair: That was a great lesson for me. 1174 01:06:09,900 --> 01:06:11,580 Macon Blair: I forget where I was going with that. 1175 01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:17,160 Macon Blair: But anyways, I think it's about just communication is the key to everything. 1176 01:06:17,720 --> 01:06:19,580 Macon Blair: If you lead with, 1177 01:06:20,280 --> 01:06:25,680 Macon Blair: let's just communicate where we're coming from and not have it be a clash, 1178 01:06:25,780 --> 01:06:27,900 Macon Blair: then it's going to be better for everybody. 1179 01:06:28,320 --> 01:06:32,320 Chris Lanphear: Knowing that now about the about the opening of the film. 1180 01:06:33,080 --> 01:06:39,240 Chris Lanphear: Kind of gives the voice over some some interesting added context because he has that's why I didn't want any of this. 1181 01:06:39,940 --> 01:06:41,620 Macon Blair: That's why I wrote that line. 1182 01:06:42,940 --> 01:06:44,200 Macon Blair: I didn't want any of this. 1183 01:06:45,900 --> 01:06:46,080 Macon Blair: Not. 1184 01:06:50,800 --> 01:06:52,620 Video: Wait, wait, stop. 1185 01:06:53,340 --> 01:06:55,040 Video: Fuck, we'll get to all that. 1186 01:06:55,480 --> 01:06:58,380 Video: Just relax, Jesus. 1187 01:07:00,220 --> 01:07:01,340 Video: [CLEARS THROAT] 1188 01:07:02,260 --> 01:07:03,680 Video: I didn't want any of this. 1189 01:07:04,520 --> 01:07:08,660 Video: Not the grief, not the illness, certainly not 1190 01:07:08,820 --> 01:07:10,020 Video: the heroic voiceover. 1191 01:07:10,680 --> 01:07:12,020 Video: That's not who I am. 1192 01:07:12,920 --> 01:07:15,720 Video: But sometimes you got to do something. 1193 01:07:17,080 --> 01:07:17,460 Macon Blair: Exactly. 1194 01:07:17,880 --> 01:07:21,020 Macon Blair: I mean, and that was sort of like- 1195 01:07:21,020 --> 01:07:22,360 Macon Blair: that's what I pitched as the compromise. 1196 01:07:22,460 --> 01:07:24,380 Macon Blair: I was like, OK, so look, we'll do this, 1197 01:07:25,080 --> 01:07:26,900 Macon Blair: but we'll kind of make fun of what we're doing. 1198 01:07:28,060 --> 01:07:31,540 Macon Blair: Like as we're doing it, like we are actually doing that thing, 1199 01:07:31,660 --> 01:07:33,440 Macon Blair: but we're also kind of like, I know I'm doing that thing. 1200 01:07:33,920 --> 01:07:37,060 Macon Blair: And so that's, that's how it wound up like that. 1201 01:07:37,800 --> 01:07:39,960 Chris Lanphear: Having that context now that's fucking brilliant. 1202 01:07:42,080 --> 01:07:43,560 Chris Lanphear: Cause I liked it when I first saw it. 1203 01:07:43,580 --> 01:07:48,520 Chris Lanphear: I liked the opening because it was very tongue in cheek and because it was very, 1204 01:07:49,800 --> 01:07:53,800 Chris Lanphear: it's kind of like the traditional sort of superhero idea of, you know, 1205 01:07:53,800 --> 01:07:59,820 Chris Lanphear: the origin story but then also riffing on it and being like, "Hey, this is not what 1206 01:07:59,860 --> 01:08:00,680 Chris Lanphear: I set out to do. 1207 01:08:00,770 --> 01:08:03,340 Chris Lanphear: In fact, why am I doing this voiceover?" 1208 01:08:03,340 --> 01:08:08,360 Chris Lanphear: So you're breaking the fourth wall right away and getting people engaged. 1209 01:08:08,980 --> 01:08:11,860 Chris Lanphear: And I gotta say, having that context makes me love it more. 1210 01:08:12,160 --> 01:08:12,680 Macon Blair: Oh, good. 1211 01:08:14,560 --> 01:08:18,859 Chris Lanphear: Outside of the Toxic Avenger, what are some of your favorite Troma films? 1212 01:08:19,400 --> 01:08:21,160 Macon Blair: I always like Nuke 'Em High. 1213 01:08:22,560 --> 01:08:24,980 Macon Blair: I mean, you saw that, right? 1214 01:08:25,310 --> 01:08:26,759 Macon Blair: Mm-hmm, yeah, there's a couple different 1215 01:08:26,920 --> 01:08:28,460 Macon Blair: Newcombe High references in the movie. 1216 01:08:28,819 --> 01:08:33,160 Macon Blair: Yeah, so I don't know if anything will ever come of that, 1217 01:08:33,220 --> 01:08:36,339 Macon Blair: but if it does, that's why that's there. 1218 01:08:36,600 --> 01:08:38,080 Macon Blair: 'Cause I just felt like, you know, 1219 01:08:39,000 --> 01:08:41,440 Macon Blair: if this is the sort of the tone of the world 1220 01:08:41,540 --> 01:08:46,740 Macon Blair: that got established, that sort of expanding that 1221 01:08:46,819 --> 01:08:52,540 Macon Blair: into teenage adolescent stories would be a good idea. 1222 01:08:52,540 --> 01:08:58,839 Macon Blair: be a fun area to go and take it off of the street gang sort of thing and make it more 1223 01:08:58,940 --> 01:09:06,380 Macon Blair: kind of a breakfast club type of thing, but with that same kind of Tromaville vibe. 1224 01:09:07,140 --> 01:09:13,660 Chris Lanphear: Well, Legendary does have the rights to Nuke 'Em High for a TV series, wink wink, to 1225 01:09:13,720 --> 01:09:17,440 Chris Lanphear: our friend Alex over at Legendary. I would love to see that. 1226 01:09:17,700 --> 01:09:19,600 Chris Lanphear: I feel like that would be a lot of fun. 1227 01:09:19,759 --> 01:09:23,580 Chris Lanphear: I mean, the possibilities are endless. 1228 01:09:24,400 --> 01:09:26,120 Chris Lanphear: Talking about the references to other things, 1229 01:09:26,299 --> 01:09:29,839 Chris Lanphear: like there are tons of in-universe references in the movie. 1230 01:09:30,020 --> 01:09:31,080 Chris Lanphear: Everything from like Bill Goody, 1231 01:09:31,220 --> 01:09:33,100 Chris Lanphear: Bill Bonds, which I personally loved, 1232 01:09:34,420 --> 01:09:39,080 Chris Lanphear: to the background for the newscasters being the Troma cityscape. 1233 01:09:39,200 --> 01:09:40,060 Macon Blair: Good eye. 1234 01:09:40,259 --> 01:09:43,460 Chris Lanphear: That was one of the first things I noticed. 1235 01:09:43,540 --> 01:09:44,640 Chris Lanphear: I was like, "Holy shit." 1236 01:09:44,640 --> 01:09:47,000 Chris Lanphear: I was like, "The Troma cityscape's in there." 1237 01:09:47,000 --> 01:09:50,380 Chris Lanphear: I do think the idea of having it be St. Roma's village, 1238 01:09:50,980 --> 01:09:52,420 Chris Lanphear: but with the letters all fucked up 1239 01:09:52,500 --> 01:09:54,500 Chris Lanphear: to it to be for it to be Tromaville, 1240 01:09:54,960 --> 01:09:56,320 Chris Lanphear: I thought was kind of fantastic. 1241 01:09:57,200 --> 01:09:58,640 Macon Blair: With that, it was sort of like, 1242 01:09:59,360 --> 01:10:01,160 Macon Blair: if we make it literally Tromaville, 1243 01:10:02,220 --> 01:10:05,460 Macon Blair: then you really are stepping on Melvin Ferd 1244 01:10:05,460 --> 01:10:06,700 Macon Blair: and the original, 'cause then what are you, 1245 01:10:07,000 --> 01:10:09,540 Macon Blair: are you saying that there's two toxic Avengers 1246 01:10:09,800 --> 01:10:10,940 Macon Blair: that exist in the same time? 1247 01:10:11,220 --> 01:10:13,820 Macon Blair: Like the way that like timelines and universes 1248 01:10:14,800 --> 01:10:16,280 Macon Blair: are organized in my brain, 1249 01:10:16,400 --> 01:10:23,560 Macon Blair: I felt like it needed to be a different universe entirely to not feel like we already had a 1250 01:10:23,580 --> 01:10:25,880 Macon Blair: toxic Avenger 30 years ago. 1251 01:10:27,180 --> 01:10:27,940 Macon Blair: So that's why we did that. 1252 01:10:28,130 --> 01:10:28,800 Chris Lanphear: Which is awesome. 1253 01:10:28,960 --> 01:10:33,600 Chris Lanphear: And I think people, you know, the fact that Kevin Bacon says nobody calls me Bozo anymore 1254 01:10:33,800 --> 01:10:36,060 Chris Lanphear: with Bozo being a villain from the original film. 1255 01:10:36,780 --> 01:10:40,020 Chris Lanphear: Someone saying I never record and hold me a blind bitch, but getting cut off before 1256 01:10:40,020 --> 01:10:40,940 Chris Lanphear: he says blind bitch. 1257 01:10:42,280 --> 01:10:47,640 Chris Lanphear: down to like the logo for Miss Meat uses the same text effects as the original Toxic Avenger 1258 01:10:47,820 --> 01:10:53,200 Chris Lanphear: logo like there is there are tons of things in there for fans to to dissect and find. 1259 01:10:53,800 --> 01:10:58,320 Macon Blair: Somebody mentioned and this was not deliberate and I think it's a it's it's a little bit of a 1260 01:10:58,540 --> 01:11:03,960 Macon Blair: stretch but just the the guy we called him Chicken Head one of the bad guys that wore a chicken mask 1261 01:11:04,060 --> 01:11:12,260 Macon Blair: being a reference to uh Poultry Geist which it was not intended that way but if it if it makes sense 1262 01:11:12,260 --> 01:11:14,080 Macon Blair: say that it was intentional, but it wasn't. 1263 01:11:14,160 --> 01:11:19,720 Chris Lanphear: Hell yeah. Well, and even down to the mutated duck that somehow makes it through the entire 1264 01:11:19,840 --> 01:11:24,920 Chris Lanphear: film. There's a mutated duck in the Return to Newcomb High films. So I mean, there's 1265 01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:28,940 Chris Lanphear: tons of fun stuff in there, whether intentional or not. And if it wasn't intentional, I think 1266 01:11:28,960 --> 01:11:29,940 Chris Lanphear: that makes it even better. 1267 01:11:30,140 --> 01:11:36,180 Macon Blair: It was definitely like wanting to, as we're going through, they are just Easter eggs, 1268 01:11:36,320 --> 01:11:42,240 Macon Blair: but to me it sort of seemed like a wave to people who are watching this from a place 1269 01:11:42,240 --> 01:11:44,640 Macon Blair: for the originals to just be like, 1270 01:11:45,360 --> 01:11:47,580 Macon Blair: wherever this one goes and whatever this one, 1271 01:11:47,860 --> 01:11:49,400 Macon Blair: this version is trying to do, 1272 01:11:50,060 --> 01:11:52,280 Macon Blair: we have our eye on this as well. 1273 01:11:52,400 --> 01:11:56,000 Macon Blair: And it was just like a little, like, you know, 1274 01:11:56,340 --> 01:11:59,480 Macon Blair: a little wave hello to folks is how I thought of it. 1275 01:11:59,860 --> 01:12:02,340 Chris Lanphear: Yeah, and it's nice to have just that little wave 1276 01:12:02,780 --> 01:12:04,800 Chris Lanphear: versus like the very obvious fan service 1277 01:12:04,880 --> 01:12:05,960 Chris Lanphear: that you see in other films. 1278 01:12:06,080 --> 01:12:09,040 Chris Lanphear: Like if you watched the most recent Alien film, 1279 01:12:09,280 --> 01:12:11,400 Chris Lanphear: like there's literally a moment where he says, 1280 01:12:11,400 --> 01:12:12,660 Chris Lanphear: get away from her you bitch. 1281 01:12:15,240 --> 01:12:20,920 Chris Lanphear: And you know that's the sort of thing that is kind of fun on paper but in practice just 1282 01:12:21,020 --> 01:12:22,280 Chris Lanphear: completely takes you out of it. 1283 01:12:22,780 --> 01:12:23,760 Chris Lanphear: Yeah I could see that. 1284 01:12:25,240 --> 01:12:26,300 Chris Lanphear: But that's a whole other thing. 1285 01:12:27,240 --> 01:12:31,360 Chris Lanphear: What were some of the movies and records you watched or listened to while you were writing 1286 01:12:31,440 --> 01:12:32,960 Chris Lanphear: and making the movie? 1287 01:12:33,860 --> 01:12:35,200 Chris Lanphear: Repo Man and Repo Man. 1288 01:12:38,480 --> 01:12:42,720 Macon Blair: That was a big one. I mean, I think like the way that they dealt with Edge City in that 1289 01:12:42,920 --> 01:12:48,260 Macon Blair: where it was kind of like, it's sort of Los Angeles, but it's this other thing and you 1290 01:12:48,260 --> 01:12:55,040 Macon Blair: know, like the products are weirdly labeled and, and it just, it felt a little bit outside 1291 01:12:55,240 --> 01:12:59,200 Macon Blair: of the real world, but still being the real world. That was, that was a really big one. 1292 01:13:02,080 --> 01:13:06,840 Macon Blair: a lot of the old Universal monster movies, 1293 01:13:07,300 --> 01:13:13,160 Macon Blair: certainly all the Frankenstein ones with the doctor's laboratory and everything, 1294 01:13:13,340 --> 01:13:14,940 Macon Blair: that was a big influence. 1295 01:13:15,540 --> 01:13:17,660 Macon Blair: Listened to the Suburbia soundtrack a lot. 1296 01:13:18,380 --> 01:13:21,220 Macon Blair: On repeat, that was comfort food for me. 1297 01:13:23,120 --> 01:13:26,920 Macon Blair: I think RoboCop, we talked about a lot. 1298 01:13:27,400 --> 01:13:33,520 Macon Blair: The score for the taking of the Pelham 1-2-3 was one that I was listening to a lot. 1299 01:13:34,420 --> 01:13:44,420 Macon Blair: But there's a couple of cues in our score for this one that you can really see that big boom, boom, boom influence. 1300 01:13:45,400 --> 01:13:47,680 Macon Blair: And, oh, you know what else? 1301 01:13:48,760 --> 01:13:53,540 Macon Blair: One that the DP and I got really excited about, 1302 01:13:55,480 --> 01:13:57,980 Macon Blair: for some reason we got excited about the conformist 1303 01:13:58,580 --> 01:13:59,920 Macon Blair: and we were filming in Bulgaria. 1304 01:14:00,160 --> 01:14:03,400 Macon Blair: So there was a lot of this great older, 1305 01:14:04,940 --> 01:14:06,660 Macon Blair: I don't know how to describe it. 1306 01:14:06,660 --> 01:14:07,700 Macon Blair: I don't have the terminology 1307 01:14:07,740 --> 01:14:10,740 Macon Blair: 'cause I'm not versed in architecture, 1308 01:14:10,980 --> 01:14:13,360 Macon Blair: but this very cool older architecture, 1309 01:14:14,020 --> 01:14:18,780 Macon Blair: European architecture that just sort of made us think of the conformist a lot. So there's 1310 01:14:19,240 --> 01:14:24,100 Macon Blair: some shots in Toxie where we were kind of like kind of looking at frames from that and 1311 01:14:24,220 --> 01:14:29,040 Macon Blair: trying to kind of recreate it in our own way, even though that's a much more somber and 1312 01:14:29,260 --> 01:14:34,580 Macon Blair: serious and poetic type of movie. And this one is kind of the opposite of that. But we 1313 01:14:34,640 --> 01:14:40,840 Macon Blair: were just kind of inspired by the Bulgarian cityscape to kind of go in that direction. 1314 01:14:42,260 --> 01:14:47,680 Chris Lanphear: is your go-to karaoke song and do you now feel like you have to dip into adding Motorhead 1315 01:14:47,680 --> 01:14:48,280 Chris Lanphear: to your repertoire? 1316 01:14:49,620 --> 01:14:53,440 Macon Blair: You know, I would try to do Ace of Spades and then I would just embarrass 1317 01:14:53,560 --> 01:15:01,400 Macon Blair: myself. I would try to do Brandy by Looking Glass and I would also embarrass myself. So 1318 01:15:01,500 --> 01:15:08,940 Macon Blair: then I would probably go back to, I don't know, King of Rock or something like that 1319 01:15:08,940 --> 01:15:11,240 Macon Blair: where I don't have to actually carry a melody. 1320 01:15:12,960 --> 01:15:16,760 Macon Blair: That'll be because I can't sing for shit, man. 1321 01:15:18,180 --> 01:15:21,300 Macon Blair: It's best for the audience if I stay away from that. 1322 01:15:21,960 --> 01:15:23,040 Chris Lanphear: >> I mean, it's okay though. 1323 01:15:23,080 --> 01:15:24,800 Chris Lanphear: You can act, you can write, you can direct. 1324 01:15:24,920 --> 01:15:29,880 Chris Lanphear: I think you've been bestowed with enough talents that if you can't sing, 1325 01:15:29,980 --> 01:15:32,720 Chris Lanphear: I'd say that's okay to leave on the table. 1326 01:15:33,000 --> 01:15:33,560 Chris Lanphear: >> I think so. 1327 01:15:35,020 --> 01:15:40,460 Chris Lanphear: >> Last question, in the final moments of the film, 1328 01:15:40,580 --> 01:15:43,420 Chris Lanphear: there's what seems to be potentially a throwaway gag that says, 1329 01:15:43,500 --> 01:15:46,140 Chris Lanphear: Toxie will return into Toxie to Venger. 1330 01:15:48,300 --> 01:15:50,700 Chris Lanphear: Do you have ideas for a potential sequel? 1331 01:15:50,880 --> 01:15:53,140 Chris Lanphear: Is that something that you would like to do? 1332 01:15:54,100 --> 01:15:56,920 Macon Blair: If somebody were to ask me to do it, 1333 01:15:57,160 --> 01:15:59,320 Macon Blair: I would do it in a heartbeat, of course. 1334 01:16:00,220 --> 01:16:01,320 Macon Blair: I have thought about it. 1335 01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:03,760 Macon Blair: I was thinking about it while I was writing, 1336 01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:08,060 Macon Blair: I wouldn't say I have a whole story to pitch, 1337 01:16:08,060 --> 01:16:10,680 Macon Blair: but I have some general ideas. 1338 01:16:12,320 --> 01:16:18,980 Macon Blair: And part of it would be trying to figure out a way to- 1339 01:16:18,980 --> 01:16:23,380 Macon Blair: probably by owning it and being really obvious about it, 1340 01:16:23,420 --> 01:16:25,900 Macon Blair: bring back people that died in the original. 1341 01:16:26,980 --> 01:16:30,840 Macon Blair: And I don't know if that's like twin brothers or time travel 1342 01:16:30,890 --> 01:16:32,800 Macon Blair: or what the situation is, but I just 1343 01:16:32,740 --> 01:16:36,640 Macon Blair: think it would be funny to kind of come back with the same cast and be like, no, they're 1344 01:16:36,720 --> 01:16:43,580 Macon Blair: still here. Yeah, I don't know if if if there's if anybody wants that to happen, I would I 1345 01:16:43,660 --> 01:16:46,660 Macon Blair: would love to to talk about that, of course. 1346 01:16:47,480 --> 01:16:51,280 Chris Lanphear: Well, I think you left the door open, too, because you do, you know, spoiler alert, obviously, 1347 01:16:51,400 --> 01:16:56,240 Chris Lanphear: but you do leave Fritz alive, you know, at the end of the movie. So he could easily go 1348 01:16:56,280 --> 01:16:58,080 Chris Lanphear: on some sort of, you know, revenge tour. 1349 01:16:58,220 --> 01:16:59,760 Macon Blair: And frankly, Chelsea is alive too. 1350 01:17:00,080 --> 01:17:02,020 Macon Blair: So any number of things could happen. 1351 01:17:02,100 --> 01:17:03,820 Macon Blair: But that final title card was, 1352 01:17:04,260 --> 01:17:06,600 Macon Blair: there was a lot of things in the movie where we, 1353 01:17:07,140 --> 01:17:09,280 Macon Blair: there was a, for the most of the movie, 1354 01:17:09,280 --> 01:17:11,660 Macon Blair: we had a great editor named Brett Bachman, 1355 01:17:12,060 --> 01:17:15,420 Macon Blair: and then Brett went to go do another show 1356 01:17:15,500 --> 01:17:17,800 Macon Blair: and another editor named James Thomas came in. 1357 01:17:18,900 --> 01:17:21,280 Macon Blair: And in both of those instances, 1358 01:17:22,200 --> 01:17:27,180 Macon Blair: a whole lot of the movie kind of like came together 1359 01:17:27,700 --> 01:17:29,480 Macon Blair: with us just in the editing room 1360 01:17:29,580 --> 01:17:31,020 Macon Blair: trying to make each other laugh. 1361 01:17:31,140 --> 01:17:32,940 Macon Blair: Like what if just sort of like, 1362 01:17:33,160 --> 01:17:36,240 Macon Blair: okay, we've got a cut that makes sense and it plays fine, 1363 01:17:36,320 --> 01:17:39,380 Macon Blair: but what if we like move this shot over here or do this 1364 01:17:39,460 --> 01:17:41,000 Macon Blair: or add a sound effect here, 1365 01:17:41,180 --> 01:17:44,020 Macon Blair: add a voice that's off camera here 1366 01:17:44,220 --> 01:17:45,700 Macon Blair: and then add another voice. 1367 01:17:45,780 --> 01:17:46,460 Macon Blair: And next thing you know, 1368 01:17:46,520 --> 01:17:48,340 Macon Blair: we've got like a dozen off camera voices 1369 01:17:48,660 --> 01:17:49,520 Macon Blair: commenting on things. 1370 01:17:49,960 --> 01:17:52,520 Macon Blair: And that card at the end was definitely one of them 1371 01:17:52,580 --> 01:17:53,900 Macon Blair: where we were just sort of like, 1372 01:17:54,820 --> 01:17:58,760 Macon Blair: we're getting ready to send it in to be, you know, 1373 01:17:59,620 --> 01:18:02,400 Macon Blair: finally finished like the final file. 1374 01:18:02,820 --> 01:18:06,620 Macon Blair: And it was like a very last minute, like, let's just put a, uh, 1375 01:18:06,900 --> 01:18:09,680 Macon Blair: like a James Bond style, um, 1376 01:18:09,800 --> 01:18:13,740 Macon Blair: Toxie will return in octopusy type of, uh, 1377 01:18:14,100 --> 01:18:17,340 Macon Blair: card at the ends. And then, but we didn't have any text for it. 1378 01:18:17,460 --> 01:18:21,640 Macon Blair: So in like 20 minutes, cause it had to go out that day, we were like, 1379 01:18:21,660 --> 01:18:27,960 Macon Blair: let's just do this and we just sort of like typed it in and put it and then just left it in the movie. 1380 01:18:28,540 --> 01:18:33,740 Chris Lanphear: It's brilliant too and I think it potentially wets the whistle for people who want to see more of it 1381 01:18:33,780 --> 01:18:39,620 Chris Lanphear: and hopefully we get a little bit of that terrifier magic where we make 15 of them. 1382 01:18:40,100 --> 01:18:40,780 Macon Blair: That would be cool. 1383 01:18:41,520 --> 01:18:41,580 Chris Lanphear: I 1384 01:18:41,580 --> 01:18:44,060 Chris Lanphear: would personally love to see nothing more than that. 1385 01:18:44,420 --> 01:18:44,580 Macon Blair: Yeah. 1386 01:18:45,380 --> 01:18:46,800 Chris Lanphear: Well, that's everything I've got. 1387 01:18:47,280 --> 01:18:50,740 Chris Lanphear: Macon, I want to thank you for taking the time to chat with me today. 1388 01:18:50,960 --> 01:18:53,800 Macon Blair: Oh, it was my pleasure. This was a fun. This was a fun chat, man. 1389 01:18:59,560 --> 01:19:02,380 Chris Lanphear: A special thank you again to writer, director 1390 01:19:02,660 --> 01:19:05,580 Chris Lanphear: Macon Blair for taking the time to sit down with us today. 1391 01:19:06,280 --> 01:19:08,400 Chris Lanphear: Everyone show the fuck up. 1392 01:19:08,440 --> 01:19:12,220 Chris Lanphear: The Toxic Avenger is in theaters now, both in the US and internationally. 1393 01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:16,320 Chris Lanphear: Cineverse has teamed up with the nonprofit Undo Medical Debt 1394 01:19:16,320 --> 01:19:22,720 Chris Lanphear: and have pledged to cancel at least $5 million of medical debt for people in need. 1395 01:19:23,320 --> 01:19:28,220 Chris Lanphear: And for every million dollars the film makes at the box office, they will cancel another 1396 01:19:28,480 --> 01:19:30,560 Chris Lanphear: million dollars of medical debt. 1397 01:19:31,280 --> 01:19:32,880 Chris Lanphear: This is a fantastic idea. 1398 01:19:33,140 --> 01:19:34,660 Chris Lanphear: We're in full support of this here. 1399 01:19:34,840 --> 01:19:38,980 Chris Lanphear: Medical debt is a very serious problem that affects tons and tons of people in the US. 1400 01:19:39,920 --> 01:19:41,180 Chris Lanphear: And it can't be overstated. 1401 01:19:41,480 --> 01:19:43,880 Chris Lanphear: If you want to see more movies like this made 1402 01:19:44,240 --> 01:19:45,380 Chris Lanphear: and released in theaters, 1403 01:19:45,540 --> 01:19:48,520 Chris Lanphear: then it is important to see this movie in theaters. 1404 01:19:49,160 --> 01:19:54,380 Chris Lanphear: Go to toxitix.com, T-O-X-I-E-T-I-X.com 1405 01:19:54,840 --> 01:19:56,860 Chris Lanphear: for information on the closest theaters 1406 01:19:56,940 --> 01:19:58,660 Chris Lanphear: showing Toxic Avenger in your area. 1407 01:19:59,180 --> 01:20:01,140 Chris Lanphear: Tell your friends, see it again, 1408 01:20:01,620 --> 01:20:02,740 Chris Lanphear: review it on Letterboxd. 1409 01:20:03,420 --> 01:20:04,180 Chris Lanphear: Thanks for listening. 1410 01:20:04,590 --> 01:20:06,740 Chris Lanphear: We will see you next time on Talkin' Troma. 1411 01:20:07,620 --> 01:20:09,280 Announcer: Talkin' Troma with Zach Bynes 1412 01:20:09,280 --> 01:20:14,280 Announcer: hosted and produced by Zack Beins, Chris Lanphear, and Chaz Kangas. Our head of 1413 01:20:14,500 --> 01:20:19,100 Announcer: research is Dr. Nolan Stolz. The show is recorded at Loudspeaker Studios in Fort 1414 01:20:19,320 --> 01:20:23,940 Announcer: Collins, Colorado. Executive producers for Loudspeaker are Chris Lanphear and 1415 01:20:24,020 --> 01:20:30,260 Announcer: Charles Joseph Kelly. Our theme music is by J57 and Bald Halfwit. Talkin' Troma is 1416 01:20:30,320 --> 01:20:34,880 Announcer: a listener-supported production of Loudspeaker Studios, a non-profit public 1417 01:20:34,880 --> 01:20:38,380 Announcer: radio service. To support the show, please consider making a 1418 01:20:38,620 --> 01:20:42,300 Announcer: donation at loudspeaker.org. Catch new episodes of the show 1419 01:20:42,620 --> 01:20:46,820 Announcer: Thursdays at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific Streaming at 1420 01:20:47,000 --> 01:20:50,940 Announcer: loudspeaker.org and the Loudspeaker mobile app. Past 1421 01:20:50,960 --> 01:20:54,280 Announcer: episodes of the show can be found at TalkinTroma.com and you 1422 01:20:54,360 --> 01:20:57,260 Announcer: can find us on social media at TalkinTroma. Thanks for 1423 01:20:57,420 --> 01:20:58,880 Announcer: listening, and we'll see you in Tromaville. 1424 01:21:01,600 --> 01:21:05,640 Announcer: This has been a listener supported production of Loudspeaker Studios. 1425 01:21:06,020 --> 01:21:09,960 Announcer: For more on this and other programs, visit loudspeaker.org.