A Conversation with Screenwriter/Producer Adam G. Simon
Adam Simon
00:00:00.160 - 00:00:00.740
Foreign.
Host
00:00:11.920 - 00:01:14.034
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie wars podcast. We have another exciting interview series for you today.
A guy that I've been interacting with for a while, really stoked to finally get him on the show.
He's a screenwriter, producer, actor, originally from Los Angeles and we'll get into this later, but he's primarily based out of Southeast Asia these days. You probably saw his movie because it was one of the. It was one of the most highest watched films on Netflix when it came out. Point blank.
I got to re watch it recently. We'll talk about that. He's got a couple other great projects coming out in production right now.
Like One Day in October, which is an eight episode series about. And we got Elmo. We got Elmo here. But One Day in October, which is an eight episode series about the events of October 7th.
In 2015, he wrote Man down with Shia LaBeouf. Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Kmarra. We got all kinds of credits here.
And then you have some other great projects coming up and we'll get into those as well. But welcome to the show. And you're coming from your car with Elmo and you're a warrior. You've had a hell of a day, dude.
Adam Simon
00:01:14.082 - 00:01:42.356
I've had such a fucked up day. Yeah. And look at this. I'm literally coming to you live from a car in Newport beach with Elmo because my, my son just like retail. Look at this.
I have a handicap decal that I'm. I'm putting up here as a light diffuser to try to keep this as less of a horror film vibe as possible.
But yeah, I got this thing which is just pure horror.
Host
00:01:42.468 - 00:01:57.404
It's amazing. I better say your name too. Adam Simon, ladies and gentlemen. I forgot to even say your name. I had my eye on the Elmo. Welcome, man.
I'm so glad we made this happen. And you're a warrior for, for having the day you had and still hopping on from the car, dude. Thank you, dad.
Adam Simon
00:01:57.452 - 00:02:17.436
No problem, man. It's. It's been amazing. Yeah, no, it's been an incredible day. I, I, you know, flew into town and hit the ground running, so.
Yeah, and mudslides and fires and you know, all that stuff. But. But we're here and I'm in a car, cuz. Baby sleeping.
Host
00:02:17.548 - 00:02:18.156
Yeah, man.
Adam Simon
00:02:18.228 - 00:02:57.430
So, you know, me going, you know, talking shit about Hollywood and, and talking about how great it is to not live in this state anymore in a very loud voice is probably something that would wake my son up. Yeah. So my, you know, Significant. So Larissa's like, are you doing a podcast? And I'm like, yeah. And she goes, oh, my God. Just don't do it in here.
That's amazing. She's like, just don't do it in here. I'm like, I know. Wait, what do I got? She's like, the car. And I'm like, yeah, I can make the car work.
So here we are.
Host
00:02:57.550 - 00:03:05.622
Yeah, man. And you come back, you know, we'll get into your, Your. Your travels and where you live now, but when you come back, it's a disaster. Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:03:05.686 - 00:05:10.676
Literally, dude. And you know what's crazy? I.
I was talking to somebody, and me and this guy, and we got things got a little heated as things do with old, old Simon, or as my buddy Patrick likes to refer to me, as the angriest man alive. My acronym is ama. Angriest Man Alive. I think it's a bit unfair. I'm not the angriest man alive.
That would be, I don't know, Tommy Lee Jones or Vince Vaughn. Yeah, but. Yeah, dude, but I remember talking to this producer and I said. I said, you know, man, this whole place is gonna burn to the fucking ground.
So you, you know, it would behoove you to at least have an exit strategy. And if not for yourself, then maybe for your family. That was the last thing I said to him. And his house burned down in the back. Oh, my God.
I'm just like, you know, not to laugh, but it's. It's just like, man, this. This place literally is. And anybody. You know, I'm a die hard Angelino. I grew up here. I was born and raised here.
But, you know, I lived through the Northridge quake, the LA riots, you know, and back. Back in. In those days, we were having earthquakes all the time. It felt like we were having an earthquake every. Every weekend.
And fires were a regular thing. We had a fire sweep through where we lived in Antelope Valley at one point in time. And.
And it's just like, you always grow up with, like, this thing of, like, at any moment, either some natural disaster is going to sweep through and wipe everybody out, or people are going to turn on each other or, you know, fill in the blank with, like, whatever it is. It's not like, you know, people. People like to say, like, there's this.
Politicians like to say there's this sense of unity, that we're all kind of like, like one tribe. And, you know, Californians, you know, we all stick together. Not so. Yeah, you know, when you start pulling levers on food, water, and resources.
People turn on each other pretty quickly.
Host
00:05:10.788 - 00:05:11.348
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:05:11.444 - 00:06:30.340
And, you know, so you gotta. And there's pockets.
You know, I'm painting with kind of a broad brush, but there's pockets of people and communities that will take care of each other and. But, you know, it's. It's that thing everybody's got.
Everybody's got leverage, and you start to go, hey, man, would you ever punch a newborn baby in the face? And it's like, no, I'd never do that. Well, would you do it for a hundred thousand dollars? No. Never. 200,000? A million? 2 million? 5 million?
And then people start going, yep, maybe. How hard is. Am I punching this baby? So anyway, that's to say that all this is to say that it's.
It's wild coming back here and to just kind of see the madness.
I mean, I've lived outside the US now for three years, and I've spent a lot of my life traveling around, but it's wild to see LA from outside of la, the United States, from outside of the United States. And then to come back and. And just go, whoa. Like this just. This is just kind of crazy. And again, pockets. Pockets of goodness. But it's.
It's a sandwich that's punctuated by, you know, flavors of goodness. Yeah.
Host
00:06:31.160 - 00:06:52.912
Yeah. Well, what's. I mean, what's even crazier? I mean, you've taken your craft internationally.
We talked about that earlier when we were prepping for this call. Like, you. You. You were able to. To get outside of la, outside of the bubble, and continue to have success.
And you've got, you know, just as many, if not more exciting projects in the chamber. So you. You left the bubble, not just culturally speaking, but you. You took your craft elsewhere, and you're having a good time, right?
Adam Simon
00:06:53.016 - 00:07:35.636
Yeah, man. And man, working with some of the most incredible people, just incredible people around the world, and you start to go, wow, you know, maybe.
Maybe there is something. Something to this. And, yeah, you're uncomfortable, I guess, like, you know, but I've always. I've always been a nomad.
I've always been a bit of a gypsy. I'm grateful for, you know, the time that I had where the bottom fell out. I had to kind of readjust and.
And reconfigure things and figure out who I was, even my time on the street. I just, you know, I'm. I'm comfortable in moving around and being nomadic.
Host
00:07:35.758 - 00:07:36.376
Mm.
Adam Simon
00:07:36.488 - 00:08:46.980
And my amazing, amazing wife is just. I mean. I mean, dude, she's. She's the same way. Like, she, you know, lived kind of touring around the world and.
And you start to meet these artists, filmmakers, musicians, editors, directors, actors, you know, you name it, and they're just fantastic. I mean, you know, there's a reason why South Korea is just banging out amazing films in. In all types of genres. You know, you got. We've.
Over the past little bit, we've had the Last Train to Busan, we've had Parasite, we've had Squid Game. You know, just these really kind of cool stories that are. That are being told.
And then I find the same thing coming out of Iran, coming out of Israel, coming out of Brazil, coming out of Portugal. Just incredible artists and filmmakers that I've been able to partner up with and make some really good projects.
Host
00:08:47.880 - 00:08:59.020
What was the straw? I mean, it sounds like you ruminated for a while. I mean, you were having success.
It's not like you didn't leave because of a lack of success, but there must have been some interesting straw that finally you're like, fuck it, I'm done.
Adam Simon
00:09:00.170 - 00:09:13.750
Yeah, man. I. It was a combination. It was kind of like everything. Everything kind of all hit at once at the same time. So it was like several straws.
Host
00:09:15.130 - 00:09:15.554
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:09:15.602 - 00:19:19.634
You know, start with the biggest, which is, you know, I met this incredible woman, like just a bolt of lightning, and really, really just an amazing human being who had done something that I'd never experienced before, like, at least in a relationship. And that was. She held me accountable. I. She. She would hold me accountable to things and. And call me on my. And we found out we were.
We were having a kid, and it was like, okay, where do we want to raise this child? And she's in the entertainment industry. And we were like, well, not here. You know what I mean? Yeah, like, not here. And. And we're like, so where's.
Where's the place, man? Where's home? And it really started over a dinner conversation where I said, where, you know, what's home to you?
And she's like, well, you know, I was born and raised in Brazil, but, you know, I've spent my whole life living. Living out of a suitcase and kind of traveling around the world. And I said, well, where do you think is the best place to raise a family?
And we started having those conversations. And then, you know, we decided to kind of travel around and look and see, you know, where. Where would it be? And so we've.
We go between Thailand and Brazil, predominantly in. In Thailand, but that. That's where we've been going for the Better part of two years. And it's fantastic. But that's the positive.
That's, that was the biggest motivating factor, like where do, where do we need to go? And it's, and it's not this place. But the other thing was the projects that I had started researching and being involved in.
One was this project called Mice, with this team of producers, really amazing people, this woman, Suzanne McDowell, Daniel Finkelman. But it's the story of Jonathan Pollard. And Jonathan Pollard was a spy who was around during the Reagan administration. Excuse me, he wasn't a spy.
He, he was a naval analyst who was accused of spying for Israel.
When in fact the reality is the guy was starting to uncover really kind of dirty, sinister shit that the United States was involved in, specifically intelligence agencies and subsidiary companies that were employed by intelligence agencies. And so he decided to let Israel know about it via the Mossad or via Mossad, because he felt that Israel was in danger.
So the guy was arrested, spent 32 years in prison.
Part of that, no matter what, you know, there's this ex CIA guy who has a podcast, Bustamante, and he's got another ex CIA guy who loves pushing out half assed propaganda points without really fully.
They have a broad knowledge of certain things, but they definitely don't research deeply into the things that they're talking about, specifically when they're talking about Jonathan Pollard.
One of the guys, I forget his name, just to put it bluntly, he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about and just puts out a lot of like agency talking points. But you know, the. So they call him a spy and a traitor and he's a traitor to America and all this other.
But the, the biggest kind of thing about Jonathan was he, And I'll tell you why this leads to me leaving the country.
But Jonathan, you know, uncovered amongst many things that one of the things was that the United States was manufacturing chemicals that forced Saddam Hussein in the United States.
That these chemical companies that were contracted by the CIA were making modified Lyme disease, modified West Nile virus mustard gas, sarin gas for Saddam Hussein to be used, which he did, and he used against Iran in a chemical weapons attack against the Geneva Convention is a war crime. And the CIA provided logistical support to Saddam Hussein in that attack.
Those chemicals were then made into what we now know are weapons of mass destruction. So the weapons that we invaded Iraq to go get, we fucking made. So that's a big deal.
So, you know, but one of the other things that happened and where things get Muddy is that there was a legitimate ease evil individual named Aldrich Ames who was a spy and did some horrific cost a lot of American lives and assets and resources.
And Pollard became the fall guy for Aldrich Ames until decades later when the United States sorted it out and was like, oh this, this wasn't our guy doing evil. Reprehensible. It wasn't Pollard. It was actually this other dude.
So that's kind of the 30,000 foot view that research and me meeting with the man, talking to the man, taking a very unorthodox approach to writing the script, which was I met with arms dealers, I met with drug dealers, I met with people who are descendants of those that were directly involved in Iran Contra, met with the people that were facilitating the deals that the CIA says never fucking happened. And they showed me all their receipts that made me go, I need to get the fuck out of here.
And because the script was out there and being kind of shown around Hollywood and being pitched around, I was scooped up by a legal attache to the State Department who interrogated me for three days about Jonathan Pollard. And I was like, well this is a bunch of bullshit.
Like, you know, my tax dollars are going to you to fly from Langley to scoop me up in Bosnia and interrogate me. That's kind of, that's kind of. Yeah, so. And you know, I'm, I'm not revealing anything in the script that you guys don't already know.
So I, I don't understand what the problem is. So that gave me a different kind of.
And I know I'm hitting you with a fire hose of information, but like that gave me a different experience with the intelligence apparatus of the United States.
And then one other experience which was another straw that broke the camel's back, which was seeing kind of again, there's a different intelligence agency, the FBI, but just seeing how there's kind of this unholy relationship between law enforcement, Hollywood, some intelligence agencies in Hollywood.
And you know, everybody likes to say on, you know, American media outlets that Hollywood got better with the MeToo movement and the downfall of Harvey Weinstein, which yeah, he's a scumbag and needed to go, but it really didn't. It just got more secretive. It got more secretive. Non disclosure agreements got way more complex. Contracts got way more complex.
And the monsters are still monsters and they're still there. They just operate, you know, differently. And we talked a lot about men in Hollywood and rightfully so, you know, these scumbags who got taken down.
James Toback, Harvey Weinstein, some of These other guys, but not a lot about some of the female monsters, some of the, you know, LGBTQ monsters that are out there. And. Yeah, monsters. Abusers.
People who abuse the system and abuse others and kind of use Hollywood to obtain a position of power whereby they can step on the neck of somebody else. Those people are black, white, gay, straight, male, female, transgender, you name it.
Like, they come in all shapes and shapes and sizes, but we've taken care of one little nugget, one little corner of that in this industry. The only other industry that dwarfs Hollywood as far as corruption is concerned is Washington.
But, yeah, so kind of all this together, new family, my experiences kind of with the intelligence agencies in Hollywood itself, and just the scumbaggery of actors. Yeah. In particular just made me just. Just go, man, fuck this place. And.
And, you know, you find really great people, man, and there's great people here, but it's kind of like, you know, show me. Show me 20, you know, decent, you know, hard working, you know, da, da, da, da. Fill in the blanks of whatever it is.
And then you start to go, okay, maybe there's 10, maybe there's five. Oh. You know, and then you come around to the same usual suspects. You come around to, like, oh, Keanu Reeves is great. Yeah. Everybody fucking knows.
Keanu Reeves is great. He's wonderful. He's an amazing human being.
Host
00:19:19.722 - 00:19:20.082
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:19:20.146 - 00:19:31.750
There's not a lot of people like that. Everybody's still chasing. They're just boys and girls that weren't hugged enough as kids. That's. That's who ends up being actors.
Host
00:19:32.170 - 00:19:33.030
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:19:33.530 - 00:19:41.750
And people in positions of power, and that's scary, you know, because when they get that power, they're usually abusing it. So. Yeah.
Host
00:19:42.120 - 00:19:43.904
Wow. Thanks for sharing that story.
Adam Simon
00:19:43.992 - 00:19:45.984
Big rant. That was a lot of.
Host
00:19:46.152 - 00:19:58.580
No, I asked, man. Now that's why we're doing this, man. I love that. I love the free flow. I appreciate you sharing.
I didn't, you know, because you've hinted at, like, elements of this on social, but, like, hearing the whole story, like, together was. Was really informative.
Adam Simon
00:19:58.920 - 00:20:26.670
Yeah. I mean, I. I got. I got to see this, which is why I jumped into AI Right. Was to kind of, like, clean up this industry that needs a lot of cleaning up.
It's like, you know, and you hear stories like, people are like, do you remember, you know, back in the 80s and 90s when you would, you know, show up on a film set and then, you know, some. Somebody would pay you in cocaine?
Host
00:20:27.330 - 00:20:27.754
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:20:27.802 - 00:20:28.682
You know what I mean?
Host
00:20:28.786 - 00:20:29.114
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:20:29.162 - 00:20:58.818
And it's like, yeah, you know, that some of that, some of that shit still goes on, but, like, particularly in the areas of film finance, film distribution, film sales, you're dealing a lot with money laundering, you're dealing a lot with just, just a lot of corrupt kind of angles that involve sex, money, power manipulation, those kinds of things.
Host
00:20:58.954 - 00:20:59.266
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:20:59.298 - 00:21:17.746
And so I've always taken the position of, like, I'm not about that shit. And I, I take, I don't really take this that seriously. Like, there's more important in life.
Like, I'd rather sit on the playground and hang out with my kid than spend time with, you know, any of these fucks.
Host
00:21:17.858 - 00:21:18.290
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:21:18.370 - 00:23:57.174
But, but when we do the job, we take that very seriously. Um, so.
So, yeah, man, I, I, you know, I've been privy to kind of some projects, conversations, people that I also think, you know, certain, certain individuals would, would find valuable that information from me, and I'm just not willing to give it up. You know, there's, you know, you look at, like, the FBI, for example.
Man, I, I said this to an FBI agent one time that was asking me questions in relation to Jonathan Pollard, which then also led to other questions about individuals in Hollywood. They were just fishing for information. And I just said, and if you don't know this, the FBI building in la, massive, massive facility.
It's right across from the Veterans Memorial, right over on. Was that Wilshire or Sunset? It's one of, one of the two, kind of, kind of up near Brentwood. And I just said, you guys have a massive facility here.
It's enormous. On top of that, the LAPD has got a sex crimes unit. They have a unit specifically tasked for, you know, human trafficking and things like that.
Yet I don't see you guys going after anybody unless it makes a TMZ headline. Like, it seems like it's more politically motivated than anything else. Because. And why, why do I know that? Well, here's the deal.
Here's the, here's the real deal.
And, you know, because people talk all the time about the evils of Hollywood and the Illuminati connections and human trafficking and all this other stuff. Stuff. The Diddy tapes, all this other, all this other stuff, right? And I'm like, all that's valid. All that's valid. Let's talk about it.
But what I said to this FBI agent is I said, I can go to any massage parlor here on Sunset and, or Santa Monica, from Santa Monica itself, all the way to damn near downtown la, and almost every single one of them, you will find People that are trafficked, they're brothels that are masquerading as massage parlors, you know, And I'm not talking about guys who are talking about, you know, like, rubbing tugs or like somebody who's. Who's doing something, a business that they set up themselves, and they're treating it like an only fans. You know what I mean?
Host
00:23:57.262 - 00:23:57.574
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:23:57.622 - 00:24:29.388
Like, I'm talking about people that are forced there against their will. And it's a brothel, like a Pahrump, Nevada, Las Vegas, you know, brothel. And nobody's doing about that.
Why, like, you guys aren't doing anything about that. And that's a massive amount of people, and that's just one street.
That's not to say, like, the whole city or the whole state of California or the whole country, you know, and it's like. It's like you guys aren't doing anything about that.
Host
00:24:29.554 - 00:24:29.992
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:24:30.056 - 00:25:31.828
So. But you're coming to me about information, about a producer or somebody like that, because it's going to make headlines.
Why don't you do something about that? Oh, it's because this gang, this, you know, criminal organization, runs this. You don't want to step on their toes. You guys have a relationship.
You know, you're working whatever angle you're working. So. So I get it, you know, The United States is the number one consumer and producer of child pornography in the world. In the world.
So, like, what the. Are we talking about, like, some evil cabal that's over here? The cabal is everywhere. It's your neighborhoods. It's. It's your hometown. It's the.
You know, and I isolated one specific industry, but it's not just that. It's fucking everywhere. So, you know, like, clean up your own fucking neighborhood.
You know, be responsible for the people right around you instead of looking for the boogeyman that's pulling the strings, like, you know, on a BlackRock Vanguard level.
Host
00:25:31.964 - 00:25:33.380
Yeah, yeah.
Adam Simon
00:25:33.460 - 00:26:42.386
So. And I'm sorry for the rant. It's just, like, it is crazy to me. I was talking to Vincent Vargas about this.
I said, you know what's crazy to me, bro, is I said, I know the flight number and the colonel's name that flew this shit over to Iraq. Like, I know people's names, and we kind of say them. We see them pop up in Simpsons episodes. We see them come up in Comedians jokes.
And then when they finally get found out, people go, oh, shit, they weren't really joking. Like, that was some real shit. And it's like, yeah, but you didn't do Anything about it. Nobody did anything about it.
And that's the frustrating thing to me about America is we don't do. We are a nation of keyboard warriors, by and large. And I'm not speaking of, you know, military men and women or anything like that.
I'm just saying that, you know, this is a country that was founded on a revolution, and those revolutionaries are dead, and it's. It's just a nation of couch potato that sit there and talk about revolution and change and ain't changing.
Host
00:26:42.538 - 00:26:43.106
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:26:43.218 - 00:27:05.570
So I. I was just like, I can't do anything. There's more powers that be that are more powerful than me.
So I'm just gonna post up where I can look at this beautiful little boy every day, this amazing woman, you know, do. Do some fishing, write some stories, make some art, and meet some cool people. Like you.
Host
00:27:05.690 - 00:27:08.568
Yeah, man. Yeah. I'm the highlight, man.
Adam Simon
00:27:08.594 - 00:27:09.468
No, there you are.
Host
00:27:09.524 - 00:27:10.520
That's what I'm saying.
Adam Simon
00:27:10.820 - 00:27:15.916
Dude, I loved your guys. Deep Dive, dude, when you guys talk about the Crow, that's my.
Host
00:27:16.068 - 00:27:16.588
Yeah, man.
Adam Simon
00:27:16.644 - 00:27:21.516
Crow was my movie, dude. I love that movie. Love that movie.
Host
00:27:21.628 - 00:27:36.690
Yeah. I was so excited to finally do it. And when the reboot came out, I was like, finally my excuse to. To just f. Just fan. Fan over Brandon Lee.
And obviously there's a couple of rough middle ones, but the. The Crow 94 is just, you know, know. I didn't realize you loved it so much, bro.
Adam Simon
00:27:36.730 - 00:28:12.626
I'm. I'm such a massive fan. Like, the soundtrack, everything. I bought a trench coat. I was running around thinking I was the. I was the Crow.
And you know what the amazing thing is? His performance was so good. It was so good. Everybody was on the level in that movie. Every. Everybody. Everything about it. Like, I just. It.
It was so wonderful. And everything that's come since. I haven't seen the new movie, but the trailer, I'm just like, get the out of here. Like, I. I just. I.
The one with Brandon Lee just smokes. It kills.
Host
00:28:12.738 - 00:28:17.938
I had to subject myself to the new one. I. I took a bullet for you. Don't worry. I did.
Adam Simon
00:28:17.994 - 00:28:18.674
I did. I didn't.
Host
00:28:18.722 - 00:28:19.746
Against my will.
Adam Simon
00:28:19.898 - 00:28:31.804
God damn it. I didn't want to watch what you guys were saying about that because I haven't seen it yet, but I'm just like, what are you doing? Like, what the.
What are you doing?
Host
00:28:31.972 - 00:29:06.626
The word. The word that came to mind instantly was soulless. It was just. When I say that, it just did not have, you know, like.
And you know this, like, one of the reasons I Love older films versus newer films is just because there's so much, like, reasons they don't get made or there's reasons like holding back or creative decision, like sacrifices, lack of budget. And like, the Crow had so much of that. And whenever you take that away, I feel like it reduces.
Everyone has that comfort level, you know, and the movie kind of loses that soul. Like, man, this movie may not get made. Like, who is Brandon Lee? Like, why is he our protagonist? Like, what's happening here? You know?
And, yeah, it just had none of that, man.
Adam Simon
00:29:06.778 - 00:29:24.524
Dude, I loved seeing. Wow, Adam, you're really going to forget his fucking name. Shit, I love seeing what's his name pop up again in. Nope.
Oh, the guy who played the villain in the Crow.
Host
00:29:24.652 - 00:29:27.680
Oh, not Polito. Well, Polito passed.
Adam Simon
00:29:29.540 - 00:29:35.916
He was also. He was top dollar. Yeah. Prince. Prince of Thieves. Yeah.
Host
00:29:35.948 - 00:29:39.164
I don't know how I could forget his name. I literally talked about him for four episodes straight.
Adam Simon
00:29:39.212 - 00:29:42.604
He goes, I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do an impersonation for you.
Host
00:29:42.692 - 00:29:43.360
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:29:44.420 - 00:29:46.316
Bang. I'm dead.
Host
00:29:46.508 - 00:29:51.538
That was spot on. That was spot on. Yeah, my fault, My fault.
Adam Simon
00:29:51.714 - 00:30:02.150
Yeah, yeah. Or then when he goes in Robin Hood, when he goes, but why a spoon cousin? Why not a fork or a knife? Because it'll hurt more, you twit.
Host
00:30:02.490 - 00:30:10.562
Oh, incredible, man. They just never. And they never. They never even got close to that again in that franchise. Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:30:10.626 - 00:30:17.480
Ever. It's wicked. It was emotional. It was. It was great. The editing, every. Everything is just fantastic, dude.
Host
00:30:17.610 - 00:30:27.960
David Patrick Kelly as a. Ah, there we go. Incredible. As. As God. Why. Why is it escaping me now? I. I researched it for hours.
Adam Simon
00:30:28.260 - 00:30:29.756
Yeah, I'm gonna look that up.
Host
00:30:29.828 - 00:30:38.044
But he played Souls solely in Commando as well. He's just a great, snarky, kind of, you know, slarmy bad guy, you know, it's really good.
Adam Simon
00:30:38.132 - 00:31:34.482
Really good elephant actor. And Brandon Lee was fantastic. Fantastic. I mean, his emotional performance, physical performance, everything about it, it was. It was just great. I was.
I was in that, man. I listen unapologetically. Everybody loves to go, yeah, man, it was all about, you know, NWA and Black Flag, bro. Like, I was. I love those guys. But it.
I'll say it. Depeche Mode and PM dawn was my growing up. And Nine Inch Nails, forget it like that. That was always also great. K. Fd, which.
Which I think stood for Kill, Depeche Mode, kmfdm. But everybody that was on that soundtrack, they. They were all people that I was with and rocking with. Same with the Natural Born Killer soundtrack.
That Soundtracks. Out of Control. Judgment Night soundtrack. You remember that?
Host
00:31:34.586 - 00:31:35.138
Mm.
Adam Simon
00:31:35.234 - 00:31:36.098
Oh, that was great.
Host
00:31:36.154 - 00:31:39.630
Yeah. Stone has a thing with soundtracks, man. He does great.
Adam Simon
00:31:39.930 - 00:31:41.962
Yeah, it's fantastic.
Host
00:31:42.146 - 00:31:42.986
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:31:43.178 - 00:31:45.210
Those movies, do you think?
Host
00:31:45.250 - 00:31:48.030
I guess. I mean, we're just free flowing now, baby. We got an agenda.
Adam Simon
00:31:48.770 - 00:31:52.538
Talking about Point Blank earlier. Yeah, that's got a hell of a soundtrack.
Host
00:31:52.634 - 00:32:14.342
Yeah, dude. It's a lot of fun, dude. I know.
I was, when we were talking yesterday, I, I was like, oh, this is a good reason to re watch it, you know, because it had been a while and I just, I was telling you about the car wash scene and I was just. I forgot how badass that whole thing is.
And then when she, she tells him to, that she gives him money and tells him how to wash his car and he's like, I gun in my.
Adam Simon
00:32:14.366 - 00:35:09.035
Pants, I got pepper spray in my purse. I got a gun in my pants. Yeah. No, dude, that was a lot of fun.
And that came from the producer calling lynch and I and saying, hey, there was a chase scene that was supposed to take place on a, on a bus. And it was like a tourist bus. So it was like this, this crazy, crazy kind of chase scene.
And there was supposed to be something that happened at the train station. And they called us up and they said, we, we don't have it. Like we don't have the location and it's going to cost us too much money.
And they were like, shit, well what do we have? And so then we started asking those questions and looking through locations and lynch, you know, goes, gas station. We got a gas station.
There's a car wash next to the gas station. And then he goes, I don't think there's ever been a fight scene in a car wash. And I said, no, there's been a fight scene at car wash.
And he goes, no, I don't think there is. He's like, google it. So then we sat down and started looking around. We're like, oh no, we found this film.
It was like some obscure European film that had a fight outside of a car wash that spilled kind of into one, but not really. And they were like, no, fuck it, let's just do. We got the car wash, let's do it in the car wash.
And then we kind of came up with this thing and it was, it's so fun like, you know, doing that shit with Lynch. He's a blast. Yeah. And we're doing another, we're doing another one together. We have a film we're doing right now. We're finishing packaging it up.
It's called Meat Paw. Nice. Yeah, Meat Paw. And it's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever put the paper. I mean, it is clinically insane, but it has a lot of heart.
But when I just think when people, like, if I'm watching a trailer for me paw, I'd just be like, what the fuck is this? Like, what in the hell is this? This looks so nuts. But, yeah, we on the car wash, I just remember the conversation.
It was like, okay, so then they get from there and they get into the car wash, and then. And then. And lynch is like. And that's where they jack a car. A PT Cruiser. It's got to be small, you know, it's got to be a slow car.
And I'm like, that's hilarious. And even in the script, it says, and then begins the slowest car chase scene in history. And that's how we wrote it.
It didn't get necessarily executed that way just because there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. There's a lot of producers and stuff. But had it gone the way we wanted, it literally would have been like, you know, the. Literally.
The PT Cruiser couldn't go over 40 miles an hour. And so they would have to figure out a different way to get out of this situation.
Host
00:35:09.227 - 00:36:00.360
Yeah, dude, it's. It's great. Like, one thing, for one thing, it's. It's an hour and 26 minutes, and the pace is just boom, boom, boom.
And I, you know, not to be overly critical, but, you know, a lot of Netflix native properties. What I'll say is, like, you know, obviously there's all these production companies and they sweep up and buy, like, a lot of them.
The commonalities I see is. Is pacing and, like, maybe a really strong start, but the plane doesn't always land. I don't know why specifically to Netflix.
I'm not even talking about all streaming platforms, Netflix properties, but point blank. And it gave me Lethal Weapon vibes. It gave me 90s vibes. It gave me Buddy Cop vibes, even though they're not cops. Right.
But it gave me some of that Lethal Weapon dynamic that I loved. And the pace that hour and 26 minutes goes by, by, and it's just boom, boom, and it's over. And you're like, that was exhilarating.
That's why I love it. Because you just don't get that kind of pace all the time. I don't feel like.
Adam Simon
00:36:00.400 - 00:37:27.186
I don't know why. Yeah, we talked about that, man. We talked about that all the way through is like, it was like that was the great thing.
And also not being beholden to the genre itself, you know what I mean? I mean, there's some gnarly deaths in Point Blank and, and some really like fog, man. Like that's, that's pretty crazy when you think about it.
There's. But there's also great comedy and there's great, you know, kind of, kind of levity and, and even romance to a certain extent.
Like, there's there's some really great, great things. And you know, the movies that I loved growing up, like, everybody talks about this conversation the other day. So we were all sitting at the table.
Oh, it was with Lynch. It was, it was Joe Lynch, Patrick Hibbler, Max Bricklin, a bunch of other people.
We were all sitting around this table and they're just like, all right, go around. Who's everybody's top five favorite movies.
And of course it was like on the Waterfront, you know, this stuff and the works of Truffaut, you know, shit like that. And I'm. And it gets to me and I'm like, I don't know, man. Groundhog Day, Lethal Weapon Babe, Pig in the City, like, you know what I mean? I loved.
Oh God, Lethal Weapons. Just so great like that. It's just got, it's got that thing.
Host
00:37:27.258 - 00:37:47.246
You know, it's bang bang. The dialogue's bang bang. The action, everything about it, like, it advances, but it doesn't sell you short.
Like the dialogue, the interactions, it's just, it's moving, but it's. You're there like you're not like, what's happening? You're like laughing your ass off. And then action. It's like.
I can't describe it, but Lethal Weapon has, it has that thing.
Adam Simon
00:37:47.398 - 00:38:19.314
Yeah. And I, I got a lot of for this, but not a lot. A little bit.
Definitely not as much I got from man down, but I did get some of somebody's like, oh, and look, you know, a very filmmaker, you know, privileged white dude thing to put in point blank to have the drug dealer be a William Friedkin, you know, aficionado, you know, whatever, or a William Friedkin fanboy, I can't remember how they put it.
Host
00:38:19.402 - 00:38:19.666
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:38:19.698 - 00:38:21.954
And I'm like, that's a real motherfucker.
Host
00:38:22.082 - 00:38:22.482
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:38:22.546 - 00:38:37.750
So my, my dude who if you would love to speak to him, his. His street name is Big D. Wow. He's here in California. Shout out to Big D, shout out to Lou. And that motherfucker loves movies.
Host
00:38:38.330 - 00:38:38.754
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:38:38.802 - 00:39:40.170
You know, you know, I Would say, retired. He doesn't do that shit anymore. Yeah, he's going to be like, yo, don't put me on blast, like that. But he's very much that way.
Like, you know, and every, you know, criminal, any. Any.
Any individual that's, you know, in from that world as portrayed in movies in the past, they've always been, like, running Scarface in the background or running Goodfellas in the background. It's like, those aren't the people that I knew, you know, like, they were. Especially this guy, you know, he was all about it.
He's like, man, sorcerers. Like that. That's a crazy movie, you know, and so it was based off of a real person who.
Who, you know, really loved movies, and I wanted to see something different, you know, and. And he was right. Everything the Big D says in there is right.
He's like, when motherfuckers were tripping about, you know, lightsabers and shit, you know, this guy was telling the real. He was talking about the real, you know, it's true.
Host
00:39:40.250 - 00:40:05.142
And he's talking about to live and die and, you know, in la, and he's like, you know, going, yeah, dude, I know. And he was. And at that point in the film, you're kind of settled with the characters. You're kind of like, all right, we're. We're halfway through.
These are our characters. And then you add Big D in, and there's this new, like, uplift. You're like, oh, we got another, like, really great character. And you fall in.
I fell in love with him instantly. Once he starts talking about movies, I'm like, he's me. You know, it's like, it was amazing.
Adam Simon
00:40:05.206 - 00:40:36.668
So. And I don't know if you noticed this at the end, but that's Big D's car that's going after Abe.
At the end, when his car is driving off and the music starts, that's his car that's going after him. So there was a whole kind of. And Marquis Moore is just an amazing actor. He's incredible. He's so good in that role.
Like, there was a whole sequel that we had planned and wanted to do, but, man, there's no way that's happening.
Host
00:40:36.764 - 00:40:41.260
Like, yeah, you don't. No chance. I'd love to see it.
Adam Simon
00:40:41.380 - 00:40:58.730
I'd love to see it, too. I. I would like to do, you know, more on that. And if it's not, you know, Mackie's. I.
I talked to Mackie a few weeks ago about this other project, and he's like. He's like, man, I'm Marvel owns my ass.
Host
00:40:58.850 - 00:40:59.818
I was gonna say.
Adam Simon
00:40:59.954 - 00:41:43.162
He's like, I cannot move. I cannot breathe. I cannot without, you know, I'm. For the next two years, you know. And he's like, but I love it. I love the project.
You know, Tell everybody. Send everybody my love. That was on something different. But we. We had talked about it, and even if it wasn't with Mackie, you know, it.
It might be, you know, we talked about Marquis's character. We talked about Big D and doing, like, an origin story of Big D or. Or carrying on, you know, what happens, you know, after the credits roll.
But I think how we would have to start it. Start that movie is with Frank Grillo's car blowing up and him dying in the first five minutes. That's the only way that movie gets done.
Host
00:41:43.266 - 00:41:50.846
Yeah, yeah. Grillo rocks. Yeah, yeah. But that. It makes sense, though. I mean.
Adam Simon
00:41:50.978 - 00:41:51.718
Yeah, yeah.
Host
00:41:51.814 - 00:42:10.090
He. He. His delivery. A lot of the comedy is because I don't know if I've seen him in other stuff, right? And I.
I haven't seen him have to have delivery, comedic delivery. And he has incredible timing in that movie. I was like. Because I had seen him in a couple of TV shows before. I wasn't super familiar before.
I was really impressed by his comedic timing.
Adam Simon
00:42:10.910 - 00:44:02.650
Yeah, man. Like, he did a good job, I thought. I thought, you know, and part of that is. Is, you know, just the roles that they settled into.
Like, you know, he's playing. He's playing it straight. You know, he's playing it that way. And I think, you know, just. Just playing the real of. Of the situation.
Like, playing comedy, particularly now, I don't know why this is.
But a lot of, like, comedic movies or comedic shows, they're just written like, I don't know, Disney, like, they got that Disney, like, fucked up Nickelodeon thing going on. Yeah, they're like, you know, oh, well, I don't know what I. You know, like, everybody's got this, like, cartoony, weird thing going on.
They're not human. They're like, I'm a funny robot. And. And you see these characters and you're like, nobody I know acts like that. Nobody. Nobody fucking talks like that.
And, like, great comedy, at least for me, is, like, not playing it funny, it's playing it straight. And you find the comedy, like, in the. In the moment, which is a lot of fun.
Like, you know, when Frank reaches into his pocket and pulls out the flash drive and everybody flips the fuck out, you know, And Marquis is like, whoa, what the Fuck is that? You know is that. And it's funny because you're like, oh, this tough guy is like now scared shitless because he thinks.
And he's like, it's a flash drive. And he's like, what the. Are you rolling up in here pretending like you got a grenade and. And gonna blow us out? Yeah, man, get the bag.
You know what I mean? And it's like, it's so funny because he's. He's playing it straight. Yeah, Yeah, I freaking love it. What's it.
What's your, like, top three comedic movies of all time? Like comedies of all time?
Host
00:44:02.780 - 00:44:16.318
Well, it's tough because, like, to me, there are comedy movies and then there's movies that are like point blank where comedy is a crucial asset, but you wouldn't classify it as comedy, right? Going pure comedy. I'm gonna say Naked Gun.
Adam Simon
00:44:16.494 - 00:44:19.950
Oh, my God, I'll just lump all.
Host
00:44:19.990 - 00:44:32.676
Three of them together because they're all equally perfect. That's amazing, the Naked Gun movies, man. Like, it was one of the. My dad was a. He was a narc. He was a narcotics officer and he loved cop movies.
Really?
Adam Simon
00:44:32.748 - 00:44:36.052
Yeah, yeah, dude. My dad was LA County Sheriff's Department.
Host
00:44:36.156 - 00:44:36.920
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:44:37.260 - 00:44:40.740
Retired in corrections, but he was undercover narcotics for 12 years.
Host
00:44:40.860 - 00:44:47.920
Dude. That's. What a weird world, man. Yeah, my dad was a narc, Arkansas State Police, man. PTSD out the ass.
Adam Simon
00:44:50.220 - 00:44:51.220
Arkansas.
Host
00:44:51.380 - 00:44:57.012
Yeah, meth, dude. He had some of the biggest meth bust, rest his soul. But yeah, man, and.
Adam Simon
00:44:57.036 - 00:44:59.370
But he went, sorry to hear that, man. I didn't know that.
Host
00:44:59.460 - 00:45:11.534
Oh, it's all good, dude. No, he unfortunately did it to himself, but. Oh, yeah, it was just deterioration, man. But how long ago was that? He died.
Adam Simon
00:45:11.662 - 00:45:15.130
And I lost you. Word. Nothing is off limits here.
Host
00:45:16.070 - 00:45:40.010
You're seeing the real people. You're seeing the real 2015. Yeah, yeah, it's often geo cancer. Yeah. But, you know, it was one of those things, his ptsd.
He lived real hard, you know, and he drank. He drank probably, you know, nearly a handle a day, if not every two days. You know, that's just.
But I mean, if your dad was a narc, I mean, you probably saw it too, man. I mean, that's a rough life.
Adam Simon
00:45:40.310 - 00:46:10.968
That's very rough. There's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he wired. Yeah, I won't go down the rabbit hole of that, but he put a. Put a wire on a.
On a kid, I think he was 19, and they found it and killed him and he heard the whole thing go down and that really affected him. There's a Lot of. A lot of things like that that really kind of contributed to him. But yeah, I saw that. I know exactly what you're talking about.
Host
00:46:11.104 - 00:46:20.970
Yeah, but linking it back to comedy. Sorry. I'm so used to it. I'm so used to going down that road. It doesn't even faze me anymore. But yeah, no Naked Gun.
Adam Simon
00:46:21.120 - 00:46:26.182
No. Dude, I love this because that is. That is the thing. Look at that.
Host
00:46:26.286 - 00:46:26.614
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:46:26.662 - 00:46:35.174
You know, that's a perfect example. Like, we're just talking about this and we're talking about PTSD and suicide in the same sentence as Naked Gun and undercover narcotics.
Host
00:46:35.222 - 00:46:39.238
Yeah, that's just life, man. We're older, man. We know that's life.
Adam Simon
00:46:39.374 - 00:46:40.090
Yeah.
Host
00:46:40.430 - 00:46:43.450
But yeah, God, I just had. Oh, Fletch.
Adam Simon
00:46:43.790 - 00:46:44.726
Fletch is great.
Host
00:46:44.798 - 00:46:51.848
Fletch is just monumental. And I know it's a Christmas movie, but Christmas Vacation is way up there. I'm a big Chevy Chaseman.
Adam Simon
00:46:51.934 - 00:46:52.308
Are you?
Host
00:46:52.364 - 00:47:08.404
Dude, I actually look forward to Christmas just to watch that movie. It's like my. That is my Christmas gift to myself is watching it a couple times and hilarious. But those are. Those are probably. I would say.
I think those would be probably my top three. I do love a lot of the spoofs. Like the. Do you remember Charlie Sheen's Hot Shots?
Adam Simon
00:47:08.532 - 00:47:15.012
Come on, dude. Hot Shots do. Yeah, Hot Shots part do is freaking amazing.
Host
00:47:15.076 - 00:47:18.584
We don't. That. That genre does not exist anymore. We do not have the guys.
Adam Simon
00:47:18.632 - 00:47:28.696
The guy's literally like standing two feet in front of him, shooting him with a. With a friggin M16 and he pulls out the bow and arrow slowly and shoots him. And he explodes.
Host
00:47:28.808 - 00:47:29.336
Yes.
Adam Simon
00:47:29.448 - 00:47:30.344
So great, dude.
Host
00:47:30.392 - 00:47:35.784
And he's up to his. His, his chest in shells and it's like a perfectly stacked pyramid of.
Adam Simon
00:47:35.952 - 00:47:36.920
Of shells.
Host
00:47:37.000 - 00:47:37.736
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:47:37.928 - 00:47:38.920
I love it.
Host
00:47:39.040 - 00:47:39.384
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:47:39.432 - 00:49:52.580
And the Christmas vacation when Chevy Chase flips the out after the cat's been electrocuted and everything and he goes on that crazy rant just using every expletive in the. In the. In the book is one of. One of the most epic things and just makes me laugh every time I see. It's great. The Chevy Chase movies in my.
My top three. Three Amigos. Yeah, I could watch. I could watch Three Amigos all the time. And the reason I love.
One of the reasons I love Three Amigos, I said to you on the, on the phone was I didn't say I love three Amigos. I just said, hey, you know, think of this character.
Because we were talking about actors and a lot of the actors that I've Met have this quality about them.
Some of them that are either at the top of the food chain or at one time, we're at the top of the food chain and have fallen off and are trying to gain that back. They all have this Martin Short, three amigos quality about them.
Like completely disconnected from whatever the fuck is happening to everybody else around them. And all that matters is that. That, that. That moment. That thing talking about the art of the. No, it's like the Hollywood Roundtables.
Actors talking to actors about acting. Actors on acting. Acting, acting, you know, and. And not to just harp on actors, but, you know, it's.
It's like when Martin Short is sitting there with all the kids in that village who don't have electricity, who've never seen one of his movies, you know, they don't even have running water. And I don't know the actress's name that he was saying, so I'll just throw a name in there. But he was like. He goes.
And there I was on set and Martin Dench came walking down, and she looked at me and she said, my boy, you've got it. And ha. It's a true story. Really happened. That really happened to me. Wow. You know, and it's just like, what the fuck, man? Like, nobody cares.
Host
00:49:52.740 - 00:49:53.560
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:49:54.460 - 00:51:10.842
But yeah, it's. And I know guys who are about it, you know, like Shia's about it. Like, Shia LaBeouf is the real freaking deal. And what do I mean by that?
Well, that's somebody that will give you 100% when he commits to something, it's over. It's a wrap. Like, he is in 100%. And there's a lot of guys in. In the industry.
There's a lot of guys in his orbit that talk about being about it, but they're not about it. Right. They really aren't. And he'll make all the other actors fall in line. Directors love him. And he's fantastic.
Like, he's probably the best at what he does currently that's working right now. And, you know, and I see actors getting off on this weird thing. You know, there's an actor. I'll leave him nameless. But I saw him at a.
You know, talking to other actors, and he's like, you gotta. You gotta want to die for this shit. You gotta die for this shit. You gotta be about it or get the fuck out, man. Because this is life or death.
Acting is life or death. And I'm like, it's really not.
Host
00:51:10.946 - 00:51:13.514
Yeah, not really. Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:51:13.562 - 00:51:21.460
No. So not. But keep saying that. And keep talking like that. If it makes you feel cool or real.
Host
00:51:22.400 - 00:51:23.016
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:51:23.128 - 00:51:26.056
Is that a subliminal message?
Host
00:51:26.168 - 00:51:26.552
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:51:26.616 - 00:52:26.310
Anyway. But. But, you know, with. With. With. But when you get to it, when you are doing the thing, then, yeah, then, yeah, it is serious. It is your. Your all in.
It is. You're. You're giving it your all. But the lead up to it is more about. An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure.
And Shia is the kind of guy that. He goes, okay, we're shooting here in six months.
Okay, I'm going to go there and I'm going to start feeling out the terrain, checking out the sets, checking out the locations, getting the DNA of the area into my body and figuring out how I'm going to approach this. You know what I mean? And so the guy's always got my respect. Any project that I get, I always run to him first, which he gets tired of.
He will answer my text for a while and then. And then we'll start talking again. But, like, I always go to him first because why. Why not? Why would I bother to work with anybody but the best.
Host
00:52:26.430 - 00:52:52.780
Yeah, what's that dynamic? Like, let's go down that rabbit trail. So, like, you're saying he's in it and he. He. You know, that's where he is.
And there's a handful probably of actors that I could think of that I assume are that way. I don't know them.
You do, but what is it like, though, when the other actors aren't, or maybe someone on set or someone's not at the level, but you have a Shia who's there, who lives there. You know, what's that dynamic like?
Adam Simon
00:52:53.960 - 00:55:14.958
You know, I had that experience. I think he'd be. I think he'd be cool with me saying this. I think he'd be cool because I'm working with him on something else.
So Tory Kittles, who's a great actor, I remember showing up on man down, and he came, came. He saw me in the. In the lobby of this place, and. And he goes, oh, man, I'm having a tough time. And I was like, what's up?
And he goes, well, shy wants an actual drill instructor, like, for this role. Like, he doesn't think I can. I can do it. I'm like, what's the problem? He's like, well, you know, I got this, you know, thing.
And he started talking about, you know, how he was approaching it. And I go, this is, you know, and he's. Since, you know, modified some things since then, but I was like, this is the.
You're thinking about this the wrong way. Like, you're thinking about the actor, how the actor is going to approach from the acting, acting, acting, Right? But when you show up there and you.
And the director says, action Shy is actually a Marine in boot camp, he's actually like, whatever you tell him, he will respond as somebody who is a Marine in boot camp, and he believes that. So you're the drill instructor. He's in your world, not the other way around.
You're approaching this from the perspective of somebody that is walking into his world. And now you got to figure out how to approach this character when in reality, at any moment, you could be like, drop down and give me 50.
What did you say to me? You know, shut the fuck up. Like, you're in my world now, bitch. Like, this is this. You're. This is it. I run the show.
There's nobody higher than me at this. At this point. So you're gonna do what the fuck I say. And. And if you approach it like that. Yeah, that's how. That's how this is gonna work.
And he was like, roger that. Okay, understood. And then, man, when he showed up, it was a different fucking world, man.
And he put a world of hurt down on anybody that was trying to look at him sideways because he just. He showed up and he's like, yeah, I am. I am that guy. I am that guy. That's it. And I. I just think that's it, you know?
Host
00:55:15.014 - 00:55:15.422
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:55:15.486 - 00:56:38.456
And, you know, I just think I'm directing a movie this year, and we've already started the process of that, and I just want to be with people that are about. Yes. Living truthful under imaginary circumstances. That's something very famously coined by Sanford Meisner. Yeah, I'm less about that.
I just want to see people having a real experience. Imaginary circumstances. Okay? I don't give a fuck about that. I just want to see people having a real, truthful experience.
That then is my job to figure out how am I going to capture that in a way where it's communicated to the audience?
Because sometimes you can have an actor acting his or her ass off, but the director is not capturing that in a way that can emotionally connect to the audience. So you got to figure that out. Yeah, and an editor can fuck that up as well.
You know, an editor can take the work of a director and edit it in a way where you're cutting that emotional umbilical cord between the audience and the. And the screen.
Host
00:56:38.568 - 00:56:39.260
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:56:40.000 - 00:57:10.614
So, yeah, it's A lot. It's a lot to think about, but I've been in those situations. Or you're in a situation with a really talented actor who's doing.
Doing the work and pulling out a great performance, but they're a piece of. Or. They're an. And as soon as you say cut, it's, where's my room temperature water? Where's my towel off?
You know, or they're hitting on, you know, every female within 50ft. And that. That becomes, you know, problematic as well. Yeah, Yeah.
Host
00:57:10.742 - 00:57:12.582
I hate hearing that.
Adam Simon
00:57:12.766 - 00:57:56.306
No, man, I just got off a thing. Not just got off a thing, but I did. I was involved in a project this year and I've just. I've pulled back completely.
I'm like, I'm not gonna promote this thing. I'm not gonna talk about it. I'm not gonna be involved in it. And yeah, there's a. It takes a village.
There's a lot of people involved in a film production, and that fucking sucks. But I'm not going to give the person running that train one more ounce of my juice.
Because it's been used, it's been abused, and motherfucker stepped out of line and, you know, and if he, you know, sees this or something and wants to push back or say something, fuck around and find out, because I will drop your name. And I still got the receipts.
Host
00:57:56.418 - 00:57:56.802
Yeah.
Adam Simon
00:57:56.866 - 00:59:06.870
So, like, just, you know, leave it where it is. But I'm not promoting our shit. I'm. I'm that kind of person. Like, if something. Even if it's mine, like, I did this movie called Synapse.
It's a terrible film. I wrote it, I acted in it. But, you know, it's okay. I mean, we made it for 20k and shot it in LA. And that's something to be said.
That is an accomplishment. And, you know, we learned a lot from that in doing it. But I say we. There was no we. You know, I never saw a dime. It was sold to Amazon.
I never made a cent off that film. Not one penny. I put money into it. I had people put money into it that made up that 20k, but I never saw anything from it. And so I don't promote it.
I don't really talk about it other than this. Yeah, But I'm not one of those people that is like, oh, I gotta promote this because I'm in it and business is business. Fuck that.
Yeah, like, if it's a bunch of, you know, if the fruit is rotten, I don't want to pass that off to other People I don't want to meet. Yeah. If it's bad, bad business, bad juju.
Host
00:59:07.030 - 00:59:38.574
And you're in it, I mean, especially because you, you know, you do the whole spectrum. You write and you produce. So you're, you're early in the process. And you have to live with that project for the length of it.
And so if you have a piece of shit out there that you have to tolerate and you're talking the way you're describing the situation, you have to live with that, you know, and you have to be in that situation for two years, three years, depending on the scale of the film. And it's like. Yeah, it's like you have to ask yourself, do I really want. Especially after the epiphany you had that's moved you around the world.
It's like, is this. Do I really want to be in this for two to three years and then promote it?
Adam Simon
00:59:38.742 - 01:00:04.282
Yeah. Life is short. Life is. Life is painfully short. And we, we all could go any minute and, and just be gone.
So I only want to be working with people where it's like, good for. That's. It seems like anti, you know, a thing doesn't exist, but I just want to be working with people that's good for my soul.
Host
01:00:04.426 - 01:00:04.794
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:00:04.842 - 01:00:30.090
Now, that doesn't mean we're going to agree that's not a bunch of yes people. We might, you know, iron sharpens iron. We're going to go at each other, we're going to butt heads.
But, you know, at the end of the day, I want to work with people where I don't, you know, I want to work with lions, I want to work with tigers, I want to work with bears, that's fine. But I don't want to make roar.
Host
01:00:31.070 - 01:00:33.718
Yeah, yeah.
Adam Simon
01:00:33.814 - 01:01:58.356
You know what I mean? I don't want to say cut and then find out that two of my, you know, actors have been drug off into the woods and eaten by my lead actor.
You know what I mean?
And I see a lot of these interviews of people talking about certain individuals, certain actors that were sexual abusers or verbal abusers or physical abusers or just rotten people or producers that ran schemes and doubled, tripled budgets, ripped off financiers, ripped off people of their money, you know, and I see interviews with actors and directors and the like, going, I didn't know. I just didn't know about this person. Like, you get somebody on a.
On a set and even before the conversations that you have, you know exactly what you're getting into, which is why, you know, the Second that I started dealing with this one particular actor on set. And then our conversations post how he treated people close to me, particularly in my family. I was like, man, fuck this guy. Like, I'm not. I'm not.
I'm not doing this and I'll drop it. And. And that's fine because I'm not chasing an Oscar. I'm not chasing a Golden Globe. I'm not chasing $150 million Marvel deal.
Host
01:01:58.508 - 01:01:58.884
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:01:58.932 - 01:03:14.936
You know, I don't have to, you know, go on, you know, this YouTube show or that thing and pretend like I'm blue collar, working class or.
Or a born again Christian who just found Christ and I'm now, you know, a faithful, God fearing, Bible thumping, you know, whatever the fuck and lie and pander and do all the things that a lot of these professional liars do to sell tickets. I'm not about it.
You know, we have one of the top actors in the world who runs a fucking cult, and nobody seems to care just as long as he does the monkey dance and entertains us all, you know, and it's like, yeah, I just don't. I don't care about that. I want to. There's so many talented but disciplined talent.
Disciplined, consistent artists who execute at like a top, top level, who aren't getting breaks and who aren't seeing the light of day. I want those people. I want to. I want to lift those people and work with those people. And I give a fuck about a name.
Somebody walks in and they sit down, they go, well, I'm so and so. I don't give a shit who you are. I don't care.
Host
01:03:15.088 - 01:03:15.608
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:03:15.704 - 01:06:56.058
And guess what? The rest of the world doesn't. There's been a massive tide of public opinion that's shifted. And it happened over Covid.
The second that people were dying, losing their businesses, right? Like, stuff was going to shit and celebrities came out and did what celebrities usually do. Imagine all the people, we're gonna sing a cappella.
Everybody went, fuck you. We are done. We're done with your Hollywood Reporter roundtable fucking bullshit. We don't want to see it anymore.
Like, do what you do, but don't fucking pander to us and be like, oh, you poor people that are dying. We're gonna sing you a little lullaby as you, you know, is your ventilator fucking shuts off, you know, That's a bunch of.
It's a bunch of bullshit, man. And we're seeing it now with the fires, the fires in the. In the Palisades. We're Seeing the same thing happen.
I just saw this video of these inmates who were working, you know, helping fire crews, and they're taking a break. They're all sitting around picnic benches and John Legend is sitting with them singing. We're just ordinary people, like doing an acapella thing.
And it's like, why are you here? Yeah, why are you here? Showing your support. Cool.
Give some money or pick up a bucket or pick up a shovel or fucking donate or do something that's actually tangible. Like, well, you didn't see what he gave Adam. Yeah, you're right.
But that dude set that time up to be filmed to sit there and sing to these guys who don't give a fuck and who don't know who he is. Because that song came out forever ago and nobody gives a shit, you know.
Oh, and now we got so and so doing Mambo number five or the Macarena, you know, for, for Mangione as he does his death walk to the gallows. Nobody gives a fucking shit. Get out of here. Get out. Like Meghan Markle. Get out of the camera lens. No one cares.
Yeah, and there was this shift that happened, and it's happened even more so now, whether you like it or not, whether you voted for the guy or not. Trump's in office, you know, and there is this kind of new opinion where people, I mean, man, shit, Hurricane Katrina, right?
Any of the natural disasters, tornadoes, earthquakes, whatever we've seen around the country. What has been our reaction as Americans donate, give blood, give clothes, give food. What happened with the fires?
And I mean, predominantly, I don't, I don't mean there are, there are people that are donating, giving money, helping out. But by and large, the attitude on social media was fuck em, like, let it burn, we don't care. This is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods.
Malibu got burned. Like people were just checking, going, please, God, please, did Nobu burn down? Oh, Nobu, Nobu made it okay. Please, Soho House, Malibu.
Please let that fucking place burn. I just want to see it burn. That's what they were checking on and that's. That says something. Yeah, so, you know, it's a commentary on celebrity.
So I'd rather be, you know, with the people, you know, who are, who are about the work and that's it. And they treat people with respect and with dignity. That doesn't mean they're not, they're not holding them to a standard.
Right, but they're about the work and not about that Oscar, Golden Globe, circle jerk bullshit. And we're more elevated and, oh, more holy. And we're gonna hold each other's hands and fucking cry at every fucking interview.
I don't give a shit about any of that. Fuck all that.
Host
01:06:56.194 - 01:07:11.972
Yeah, man, I love that. And you're. You're doing the same with AI, right? I mean, we talked about that yesterday. So, I mean, not.
Not only is it's cool to hear your passion on that side with actors and with the way you, you know, cast and pick your crew, but you're also leveling the playing field with Nolan AI.
Adam Simon
01:07:12.146 - 01:17:53.926
Yeah, I mean, and that's. That's led into this new thing that, you know, it's Nolan AI. We have these other companies, the Blueprint, X40 Productions, X4 Productions.
And I got involved with AI back in 2014 when I was working for James Cameron's company as a sales producer. And I had asked him, I said, what's the. You know, because he was on the cutting edge of, of tech and we were doing interocular 3D.
And I said, what's the future? Like, what's the thing that's gonna flip over the table on the industry? And he said, AI. And I was like, are you talking about.
He's like artificial intelligence? I'm like, I have no idea what that is. The movie like, with the robot boy like Steven Spielberg and.
And he's like, no, this is, this is what's being developed now. The, the military has had access to some of this stuff way before we got our hands on Chat GPT. So this has been in development for a while. Right.
And so I got to work on some things in, in the Skunk works there, but then started keeping my eyes out and looking out for it.
And basically what Nolan AI is, is we've developed a platform that empowers independent filmmakers to bypass a lot of the bullshit in the development, pre production, production phases of, of making a film. And, you know, now with Blueprint, we're offering those same solutions to production companies and even studios.
But, you know, it's a funny thing to have studios talking about the evils of AI and how it's going to take over. And I'm like, huh, that's interesting.
And then carting out their golden boys and girls to sit on some panel and pontificate about the evils of AI and what, what it can and cannot do.
Ben Affleck, you know, and Ben Affleck's sitting there and going, AI is never going to be able to, you know, because basically it's like these tubes and like these language models, but they're never, ever going to be able to do, you know, the things that they're able to. It's like, ben, stop. Like, stop. You're woefully misinformed about what AI is. You're speaking about one little aspect of it, and you're doing terror.
That that is combined with territorial pissing. And I know you're in a rough spot. I know JLo's got you in a rough spot.
I know the back tattoo, you know, that goes from your neck to the bottom of your ass cheeks of a rising phoenix. I know that takes a lot of, you know, work to maintain.
But just stay in your fucking lane and talk about what you're talking about, because now you're fucking with my business. So then I got to come out and, and tell you that you don't know what you're talking about. So what is Nolan, AI?
And my point in that is they are doing this and getting the support of independent filmmakers going, yeah. AI bad. No way. I good. While they're signing deals with the biggest fucking Darth Vader, you know, blowing up planet.
AI companies in the business, like Lionsgate signed a deal with Runway. Warner Brothers is signing a deal with Google. Like, all of these studios are signing deals with AI companies.
And by the way, actors are signing deals with AI companies. Brad Pitt signed a deal for. For his likeness to be used in perpetuity. Harrison Ford is working on the same thing.
So it's like you motherfuckers are going to run out to picket lines and. And stand with actors who are struggling to get by as day players and background actors.
And you're going to take pictures with them and go, yeah, buddy, we're on the same team. I'm going to go sign my $50 million deal to use my likeness as a flesh puppet after I die and laugh all the way to the bank.
And you guys are just used as pawns to stall the process as long as possible. So I can get to a point where the studios need it to be to fucking replace you. You.
You are literally open sourcing your own replacements and you don't even know it. So our approach to this was to say, look, we got to be on the side of ethical AI.
So let's make sure we are following the guidelines of the wga, of all the guilds.
Let's make sure we're paying attention to people and what they're saying, and let's give independent filmmakers, production companies, producers, directors, the weapons that they need to be able to fight what's coming. Because what's coming. And I mean, this year is gonna be somebody going, I wanna see the Hulk fight Superman in a feature film.
And I want Wolverine to ride in the opening scene on the back of the Hulk, and then the Hulk throws him at Superman and Superman melts Wolverine with his heat vision. And then I want the cast of Downton Abbey to come to the rescue. And click. And I got it. And I got a script. I got it. I got everything.
And then there it is. There's the movie. Yeah, now, that's a bad example.
But basically, they just want homogenized AI, you know, algorithmic based storytelling at the push of a button, and they're gonna get it, and it's gonna look fucking fantastic. The stuff that I'm seeing now, you cannot tell it's not real.
And we still see wonky examples on the Internet, but that's not what we're fucking with right now.
What we're fucking with is I'm talking about stuff that looks like this, you and me talking to each other, and it's indiscernible from the real thing.
So what Nolan AI is, is if you have an idea, if you have an outline, if you've got a concept even, you can go there and use our copilot feature as a co writer to bounce ideas off of, help flesh out your idea, and get you to a script, and it'll do some writing for you.
But once you have a script, so if Kyle's written a script, you upload that thing into NOLAN, and within 10 minutes, you can have coverage of your entire script. So it'll. It'll tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.
It'll tell you where there's plot holes, where maybe your characters aren't fully fleshed out, where your characters don't have real defined arcs, where you're missing beats in the story, maybe where the story's kind of dropping off. And it's not based on an algorithm of views of trying to get you stuck, you know, in views. It's based off storytelling itself.
So our AI is trained off of the hero's journey, the hero of A Thousand Faces, but also the Odyssey, you know, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the works of Shakespeare, and, yes, Sid Field and Save the Cat and all that shit. Screenwriting 101 masterclasses, all that stuff. But it's trained on storytelling itself.
So it will give you better coverage than five interns at CAA that are all, either, you know, stepped outside and were vaping weed or didn't have lunch or going through a breakup with their boyfriend and are going to give you coverage on your screenplay that varies wildly and is a bunch of subjective bullshit, you know, thrown into the coverage after they check the boxes. But ours is not. And it's dead accurate. In fact, we had. Not to diss ca.
We actually had a meeting with CAA last week, and they were like, this is the best coverage on any of our scripts that we've ever gotten. So there's that. We give you script coverage, but again, 10 minutes script coverage.
But you also get your entire film storyboarded, a pitch deck for your film and a budget and a schedule. That's sick. Yeah. So the budgeting, to be honest about that, we're still working out a lot of the.
There's some kinks in that because there's so many different variables that change where you're filming what you're above. The line is so actors that you're using and what pay scale they're at and all that stuff. It works. And the storyboards are phenomenal.
And you can have it traditional cinematic style. It's consistent all the way through. You could do photorealistic adaptations of your storyboard to help hair, makeup, wardrobe, set designs.
You could previs all of your stuff. And so what's happening is a lot of the fuckery that we have to deal with after you get your script written of like, oh, go create a pitch deck.
Oh, storyboard your film. Oh, create a budget. You know, what is the budget for this film? What do you think? You know, who do you want to attach to this project?
Those are all things that take time and money and money that. That a lot of these people don't have. And so we're saving time, we're saving money.
We're not getting rid of positions, but we're moving the goalpost of collaboration. And yeah, because before you would have to go to somebody and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking for this character. You.
You don't need to do that anymore. You can articulate your vision and your idea perfectly, and then there's no back and forth. It's just. This is what I.
I have in my head, my vision for this particular script. What do you guys think? And then. And then the riffing starts, you know.
Host
01:17:54.078 - 01:17:55.286
Yeah, yeah.
Adam Simon
01:17:55.318 - 01:21:48.340
But, you know, and that's also. We're now going to text a video, but again, it's not to make a movie in the sense of, like, we're just gonna press a button and out pops a movie.
We're. We're making it so that, you know, we can.
And, and these people, you know, people charge basic coverage on a script, 100 bucks, massive coverage or extensive coverage on a script, 300 for a pitch deck. You're looking at anywhere from five to $10,000. Storyboarding, forget it.
You know, sitting down with a storyboard artist for months and getting your thing done. Now you can get it done instantly. These are all important. And you know, where a lot of the fuckery takes place is in this window.
It's in development, it's in pre production. And here's a great case in point. And this is why the budgeting is so important. And this is why we're locking it in in the next two months.
And then we're going to launch that aspect of it and just hit, hit a thermonuclear button in the middle of independent film. And it's why we've gotten 30,000 subscribers. It's why we're, we're taking off, is because of the value of it. And it's this.
If I'm a line producer and a lot of people will do this, and this is a dirty little secret, but I will get a budget for a film, right? And then I'll go, first of all, I'll take a month to get you the budget, right?
That, that'll cost again anywhere, you know, five, five grand or, or a little bit less if it's somebody who likes you and is, is like a friend or more like 10 grand. Right. But once you have that budget, then the line producer goes to work and starts getting deals for that.
Starts saying, I can get this deal on this camera package. I can get this thing here, I can do this, I can do that. And they start making these savings.
But those savings typically will go to the line producer and then the other producers take a cut. It doesn't go to the, it doesn't go to the production. It doesn't go to make the film any better.
It doesn't go back into the artist pockets or the people that are working day wages. You know, cast and crew doesn't go to any of those people. And that's. And so you start to see the budget increasing, but you have all these savings.
Where the fuck is the money going? And the money's going into the pockets of the producers. Yeah, you know, I won't say what.
I worked on a production and I just found out, and this was years ago, I just found out the producers on that production each walked away with a million dollars. Wow, that's a sore spot for me. And then I'm gonna stop coughing and then you're gonna tell me your whole life story and I'm gonna shut the up.
Maybe that's the universe saying to call it, but I remember this producer calling us in.
This is a big ass production by the way, this producer calling us in and saying, okay, we gotta, we gotta cut, guys, we got to do a shave and a haircut here, you know, so everybody, we're all going to take a cut. I'm taking a cut, this guy's taking a cut. You know, this, this, this gal's taking a cut.
You know, we're all, we're all making sacrifices, but that's what we got to do. And for that project, I got 80k.
Host
01:21:48.880 - 01:21:49.448
Wow.
Adam Simon
01:21:49.544 - 01:24:48.250
That's before taxes and that's not including the bumps that I got after production residuals and stuff like that. But these guys gave us all that speech, right? To cut breaks, to cut days, to shave days off of the production.
And those walked away with a million dollars. And they walk out of there going, well, I'm worth it, you know, I bring the value to this thing I did, I, I, I.
And it's like if you would have taken a half of that, you would have still been able to pay for your fucking Maserati, you know, and, and given back to the crew and everybody would have had breaks and proper, you know, days to film and work and people wouldn't have gotten hurt. You know, that's another thing. So it's really kind of an insidious thing that they do.
They raise money for the film, then they cut days, then they, they make cuts, cuts, cuts and put the pressure on the crew to make a profit. And by make a profit, I mean a profit, their profit, before the movie is even sold.
Yeah, so with this AI technology, we're able to bypass that shit and hold people accountable and go, no, no, no, no, no, no. The AI tells us this is what the budget is. And by the way, it's already worked out the best deal for us. So line producer, you still manage the money.
You're still handling the offices and cash flow and paying department heads and payroll and all that. But your fuckery ends here, like, that's over.
And your guys's business of bridge loans and personal guarantees, foreign sales estimates and all this mumbo jumbo bullshit that just ensures that you get paid is over. Like we're not doing that anymore.
Yeah, and the same thing goes, you know, for, for these guys that are kind of like running a racket on these different levels and Just, look, I get it as a. As a, you know, somebody who's a set builder, somebody whose hair, makeup, wardrobe.
I've grown accustomed to a collaboration where I read the script and I go, well, I created this mood board and this vision board, and I have this idea and this flavor for what I think this character should be. And everybody's reading bones and the tea leaves, but let's save some time.
Let's save money time, and let's be efficient so that the director can go, now, this is what I'm seeing. This is. This is my vision. Now, what do you guys think? Do you think it's like this, or should it be lit like this?
Let's do all of that so we don't get to set and have these conversations on set. And now we're missing hours and days and all of that stuff. Let's be very clear on what the vision should be, and we can do that with the help of AI.
Host
01:24:49.070 - 01:25:47.900
Yeah, it's so cool, man. Just giving opportunities, man. Like, so much of that stuff you said feels inaccessible. You and you kind of. I love one thing you said. It really, as a.
Just a creative that really spoke to me was there are some brilliant, hardworking, unnoticed people out there. Oh, man, there's so many of them, man. And inex, you know, inaccessible. Inaccessibility. That's a fucking hard word to say right now.
I don't know why that limits people because they. They have this gift, but they don't necessarily know, you know, well, you know, where to plug it. Or they don't. Maybe they don't know.
Maybe they're in Idaho, you know, and maybe they're just, you know, they don't know. But you have this new thing. It's like, well, it's not guaranteeing them a feature. It's not guaranteeing it's going to get purchased, but they.
It's going to get them closer than they've ever been before. And absolutely, they can plug that concept in. In a week later, they can say, God, I mean, I could go stay at my uncle's house outside of LA and.
And maybe go try to rub elbows with this thing I didn't have a week ago because I live in Idaho, you know, and I have Nolan. AI.
Adam Simon
01:25:48.320 - 01:29:52.780
Dude, It's. It's so true. And it's like, nobody tells you that. And they tell you a lie. They sell you a lie. The acting schools sell you a lie. The.
The writing gurus sell you a lie. They. They all sell you a lie. It's like, I'M going to watch Aaron Sorkin's masterclass on screenwriting. Now, he's got some nuggets in there.
He's going to give you some valuable information. However, I don't want to write like Aaron Sorkin. Yeah, you know, Aaron Sorkin writes like Aaron Sorkin. I want to find my voice.
That should be the focus, that should be the focus of an actor. That should be the focus of a writer.
Finding your particular, as a director, your, your particular voice, your way of speaking, because that's what, that's what people are looking for, you know, and with, you know, these tools, we're able to do that. We're able to, to get to that and, and get to that quicker.
And I think that's, that's the value of this, that, you know, the lie they tell you as a writer. Is Hollywood starving for good content? They're not starving for good, good content.
They're just not making good content because they're more interested in what sells. Yeah, they're not interested in good stories right now. They're interest. They're interested in good stories. If it sells like it's commerce.
It's, it's commerce based. People keep treating it like there's an HR department in Hollywood. Like, you walk up and you go, hey, I got an idea.
I got an idea about this movie about female firefighters. And it's an all female firefighter group. I want to see it now. Give it to me now.
And I'm going to yell and I'm going to protest and you're going to give it to me. And it's like, what the fuck are you talking about? If nobody is buying that, then the marketplace is. The marketplace is determining the content. Now.
That's where we've gotten. So we have. It is on us to make the art that we want to make.
You can't go in there and just say, I want you to paint this painting of me because you work for me, asshole. It doesn't work that way. Like, we're not making art by democracy or. Yeah, like some democratic process or whatever.
Like, it's like Rick Rubin says, he's like, I'm making what I want to fucking make. And then maybe you like it, maybe you don't like that. That's where great kind of films come from.
Not I want to see all the Spider man in all the spider verses and all of creation, you know, like, yeah, whatever. And still I think Spider man is a banger, but still, like, it goes back to that thing.
We want to help these Independent voices be enabled with as many tools as they can to be able to do it. And this, you know, the lie that they sell to writers back on that, is that content thing.
There are close to 60,000 scripts generated within the Hollywood system, within production companies, within, you know, services. Netflix has its own content creation, like they're writing their own scripts. There isn't a shortage of content. Yeah, like, there's. There is a.
Like, I hate this why I keep using this word, but a homogenization of the storytelling process because they figured out that audiences love sex, violence, and the simple, formulaic hero's journey. You know, hero lost everything at the beginning. He's got to work his way up.
And he fights the big bad guy and all he loses it looks like he's gonna lose everything, but then he triumphs. The end, you know, that's it.
Host
01:29:52.820 - 01:29:54.076
Seen it a few times.
Adam Simon
01:29:54.228 - 01:30:14.730
Yeah, it's a few. And they're just doing it over and over and over again. And then people just go, I don't know, man.
Like, yeah, okay, his parents died when he was a kid, and so he put on a costume. Now he fights crime. I got it. And he'll never die. And we'll get endless sequels. No one ever really dies, you know, and now we're here.
Host
01:30:15.110 - 01:30:15.774
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:30:15.902 - 01:31:42.500
The reason that Lucas's original Star wars films were so great is because he relied heavily on myth, that he relied on, you know, stakes that people do die. There is an end. And then when we go, well, nobody ever really dies because of the midichlorians of the forest and everybody.
Well, then there's no stakes. There's no stakes. If you could bounce around to different universes and continue to find Tony Stark in perpetuity, there's no stakes.
And that may work in first to market advantage, but once you start seeing that over and over again and your friends are dying and this person's dying and your house just burned down in the fire, you. You go, this is fucking bullshit. You're selling me a lie. So I don't believe you. Yeah, I'm kind of entertained, but not really.
And the lie that they tell the actors is you're broken. Something's broken in you. You go to these acting seminars and acting schools, especially here in la, and they go, yeah, you know, I think.
I think maybe you didn't have a good relationship with your father or your mother. And we got to work through that. And once we work through that, then you'll be good enough to audition for that Coca Cola commercial.
But until you go through My four year program and all of my master classes. You're not good enough to audition and it's bullshit. Yeah, bullshit. Shy has never stepped foot in an acting class ever.
Host
01:31:43.200 - 01:31:49.340
Yeah, I mean, a lot of the greats didn't, you know. I don't think Bernthal did anything.
Adam Simon
01:31:50.000 - 01:31:56.128
Well, no, he did. Bernthal trained with the Moscow Theater Company.
Host
01:31:56.264 - 01:31:57.600
Oh, God. Okay.
Adam Simon
01:31:57.680 - 01:32:05.104
Yeah, yeah, he and, and did Stanislavski and did, did a bunch of.
Host
01:32:05.272 - 01:32:06.880
I was way wrong on that one.
Adam Simon
01:32:07.000 - 01:32:08.320
No, no, it's all good.
Host
01:32:08.440 - 01:32:09.760
He went deep on it.
Adam Simon
01:32:09.880 - 01:32:41.700
Yeah, no, I can't figure. Yeah, I can't figure that out. I'm, I'm still trying to figure out what, you know, what, what hood baron thought Bernthal's from.
He sits down with a, with, with a lot of people and rocks the handlebar mustache and the beanie. And he's like, yo, dog, like, I think, you know, I, I saw this comedian one time, he said, he said Bernthal is the most angry listener. Interviewer.
The most angry interviewer. It's so like, if I'm interview, if I'm Bernthal, I'm interviewing you. I'm like.
Host
01:32:45.450 - 01:32:52.386
Kind of recoil, just scowl, just kind of down posture and then.
Adam Simon
01:32:52.538 - 01:34:25.134
But then he goes on Rogan and he's in a button up, he's clean shaven. He's like, well, after studying with the Moscow Theater Company and have you ever heard of this play Little Bird? Well, fantastic.
When I saw it put on, on Broadway, you know, and it's like, who the is this guy? Because like, you know, the last episode I saw you going, yo, dog, this is what it is. Yo, bong bong. And I'm like, who is this guy? Yeah, yeah.
And why is that? That's funny. There's a funny, funny, funny fucking friend of mine who's, he's, he's trying to work his way up the comedic circuit.
It's freaking hilarious. African American. And he says, he says, he goes, I got a question, man. I go, yeah. And he goes, why is it that white people.
He's like, it's just white people. He's like, why is it. He goes, he goes. And he like stopped himself and he goes, let me phrase it this way.
He's like, when you get around an Australian, do you start talking with an Australian accent? I'm like, no, I don't, I don't think so. He's like, you get around, you know, somebody from east la, Mexican, you know, Chicano.
It was, what you doing? You start talking like that. I was like, no, I don't think so. He's like, all right, cool.
Then why the fuck, when you get around me, or when you guys get around me, you start trying to have this affectation that you guys are all fucking up and coming mumble rappers. Like, what the fuck is wrong?
Host
01:34:25.182 - 01:34:25.598
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:34:25.694 - 01:34:28.254
And I was like, oh, that's interesting.
Host
01:34:28.382 - 01:34:28.734
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:34:28.782 - 01:35:12.700
I was like, that is interesting. I go, I don't know. And he was. He was formulating a joke. He was, like, trying to form, like, a set. But then.
Then we got into a real conversation, and I was like, no, no. I want to know why that is. Like, why is it that we, you know, we sit down and it's like, yo, homie, what's up? You know? Why. Why are we doing that?
Why are we doing that? What's. Where's that coming from? And he goes. He said something really profound. He goes, do you know where that takes place? The only other. Other.
Other place in the world without takes place? I go, no. And he goes to Animal Kingdom, because animals will mimic other animals because they're afraid. And I was like, that's interesting. Maybe.
Host
01:35:13.760 - 01:35:14.540
Wow.
Adam Simon
01:35:16.000 - 01:35:18.232
So that was a long loop.
Host
01:35:18.376 - 01:35:19.784
It's a good loop, though, man.
Adam Simon
01:35:19.872 - 01:35:30.510
That was a good loop. But maybe. Maybe that's it, you know? Maybe that's it. Yeah, but that's wild. I don't. I don't know why people do it, but I see a lot of these guys.
Andrew Schultz does that.
Host
01:35:31.690 - 01:35:32.114
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:35:32.162 - 01:35:44.898
I don't get it. Like, I watch him, and I'm like, that's not you. You know, but, you know, maybe. Maybe that's.
Maybe that's how you act when you're not beating your girlfriends. I don't know. Sounds fire.
Host
01:35:45.034 - 01:35:47.830
Oh, yeah. Across the bow.
Adam Simon
01:35:49.330 - 01:36:14.350
I love. I love when he got called on that. He was like, you know, it's like you beat your girlfriend and she was underage. It's like, she wasn't underage.
Oh, how dare you. I'm gonna do a podcast about how she wasn't underage.
And I was like, well, you skipped that other part where you made her clean the bathroom with your. Where you clean the bathroom with her toothbrush. And all kinds of reprehensible is bypassed all that. Anyway, have fun in Madison Square, guys.
Host
01:36:14.950 - 01:36:18.862
I didn't know all this. This is all new to me. I got some research to do.
Adam Simon
01:36:19.046 - 01:37:10.232
Nah, man. I'm a pop culture junkie. But also, here's the thing. This is the other thing. Like, I'm just not a dick, like, talking shit for clicks.
We talked about this. I spent 12 years as a close protection specialist. So I was a bodyguard. Glorified babysitting, but I did a lot of work for celebrities.
I worked the security, the green room and the media tent for the Golden Globes one year, did the MusiCares event three years in a row. Did the Oscars once, and then I attended the Golden Globes once.
And I said this to you, all of those experiences over more than a decade made me never want to attend the Golden Globes or the Oscars.
Host
01:37:10.396 - 01:37:10.832
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:37:10.896 - 01:37:37.070
Because you see people as they really are. And there's lovely people, but there's a lot of pretending, a lot of pandering, a lot of selling shit.
The guys that are talking about family values are typically the one. And selling family values to everybody are typically the ones that are, you know, not getting home on time because they're out with three escorts.
You know what I mean?
Host
01:37:37.190 - 01:37:37.726
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:37:37.838 - 01:37:47.810
And it's like the ones that are talking about sobriety all the time got to be sober. Sober, sober, man. Like, you know, sobriety is the key, man. To my happiness.
Host
01:37:49.350 - 01:37:50.210
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:37:51.430 - 01:37:54.318
Oh, sobriety. Let's talk about sobriety, you know?
Host
01:37:54.374 - 01:37:55.118
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:37:55.294 - 01:40:17.586
And. And, you know, it's funny to, you know, kind of kick.
Kick against that shit, but I also feel a lot of empathy for those people because the thing that you struggle with most is the thing you typically rail against the most, at least in this town. And, and I've. I've. You know, that's sad. I feel sorry for that. But I'm.
I talk a lot of shit because I have kids and, you know, I have a son, he's turned 20. I have a daughter who's 24. And now I got this little one who's 2 years old.
And, you know, my son went through that period of watching all these videos of all these people who he idolizes and going, like, I need to be like that. I'm like, yeah, but that's. That's a lie, number one. And what he's selling you is kind of some hyper masculine version of this thing. It's not real.
And, and it. There's no truth to it. Sometimes somebody could be lying, but they're telling you they're lying in the presentation but what they're saying is true.
And, and that is true.
You could have somebody who's pretending to be a devout Christian give you some nuggets of truth about Christianity, somebody who's lying about being sober, giving you nuggets of truth about how to be sober, like that is all true, but when they're selling you some and doing some False prophet that becomes dangerous.
Then you get guys like, you know, the pastor, that was Justin Bieber's pastor, who's all these, you know, girls and trying to seduce all these underage girls.
It's like, it's like, man, when you, when you start doing that, making money and getting up to a certain level of affluence and stature where you're affecting my kids, I got to take shots at you because I used to be the guy driving you, driving you motherfuckers around in cars and getting your.
Making sure your water was a certain temperature and, you know, dropping you off at the, at one of the massage parlors that we referenced at the beginning of this podcast.
Host
01:40:17.758 - 01:40:18.298
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:40:18.394 - 01:42:59.960
You know, and I still have those receipts or. And this one was heartbreaking for me. I remember taking my son to a comic Con that I was working.
I was working security at this comic Con, and I went to go meet this actor that he was a fan of, and I walked him up and he was up on stage and he was talking about getting back to his family, reading his daughter a bedtime story, like some really cool shit. And also talking about, you know, kind of all the things that we had mentioned. Blue collar, working class, family values, all this stuff.
And when he stepped off stage and I got around to go meet him because I had stepped away from security, so other guys were managing it. He had let these, this, like, gaggle of, of hookers in, and they were all waiting for him when he, when he stepped off stage.
Now he steps off stage and he's walking off with these gals. And now I gotta go, ah, hey, this is my son.
You want to know, like, a thing and a thing and really looks up to you because you're that guy who's like the symbol of this and that and oh, who. Oh, great. Oh, you know, and he's got these guys. Wow, your son's so cute. Like, what's your name? You know, and it's like, dad, who are those girls?
Son, those are whores. You know, it. They just don't understand.
And just like actors don't understand that when they commit to a project, for example, and then they go, ah, fuck it, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. I'm pulling out of this, you know, or I got a beef with the director. Fuck it, I'm out of here. I'm not doing this.
You've just cost the jobs of hundreds of people, if not more. Your tantrum has now cost the jobs of all these people.
Or when you do something that increases the budget, delays shooting, you know, does all of that like you're fucking with the livelihoods and the lives of hundreds of work of actual working class individuals who are dependent upon you to show up, do, do your job in a, in a, in a efficient manner in order for them to pay the bills and then get their next gig, you know, in the hopes that maybe this is, you know, semi successful or, or just a good film, you know. Yeah. All these guys laying cable, camera crews, you know, all these guys, stunties, all these people.
And so I got, I got no patience for the prima donna, star loving star ecosystem that this town has created though. Idol worship. I'm not about any of that.
Host
01:43:00.080 - 01:43:00.424
Yeah.
Adam Simon
01:43:00.472 - 01:43:07.400
Any of it. Kind of here to like flip over the tables and chase the money changers out of the temple of art.
Host
01:43:07.860 - 01:43:13.052
Yeah, man, I'm glad you're out there doing it, bro. I think it's, I think it's good stuff. I'm, I'm glad we got somebody doing.
Adam Simon
01:43:13.076 - 01:43:16.364
It, but I appreciate you, brother. Appreciate the combo.
Host
01:43:16.492 - 01:43:20.556
You too, man. This was truly a blast. Yeah, man, you got it, man.
Adam Simon
01:43:20.628 - 01:43:24.220
Conversation going and reach out anytime and I'll. I'll be reaching out to you.
Host
01:43:24.340 - 01:43:28.588
Sounds good, man. Dude, it's been good. You have a good night, man. You love it. Go love on that baby.
Adam Simon
01:43:28.684 - 01:43:30.546
Thanks, brother. Talk soon.
Host
01:43:30.618 - 01:43:31.826
Take it easy. See ya.
Adam Simon
01:43:31.938 - 01:43:32.330
See you.