The Mosquito Coast with Sean Fennessey

Introduction

0:00Once I had believed in father, and the podcast had seemed small and old, now he was gone, and I wasn't afraid to love him anymore, and the podcast seemed limitless.

0:33I mean, yeah, I wasn't like, oh, Griffin better do this line. No, last line of the film. Now, I will say, the tagline for this film is extraordinary. I think potentially one of the best taglines we've ever covered. It's a good tagline. It's a good poster. It's very interesting, very intriguing. Tell me the tagline. The tagline is, This kosher be biting! No, it's not the tagline. As I said, one of the best taglines ever. Itchy. Ready to get, Harrison Ford, this summer is getting itchy. Scratch, scratch. No, he doesn't. The tagline is,

1:04How far should a man go to find his dream? Ali Fox went to the Mosquito Coast. Line break, he went too far. That fucking rules. Just to see this poster where you're like, Here's Harrison Ford, arguably the biggest movie star of that moment.

Harrison Ford's Career

1:22There's an article I read when this film came out and people were pushing back against it where they called out that Harrison Ford starred in more of the highest grossing films than any other star in history. Not just at that moment, he had a greater percentage of the all-time top 10, but no one had ever dominated an all-time top 10 to that degree. And this poster is just Harrison Ford looking not great. I mean, he looks out as hell. He looks all right. But the point is, Yeah, wearing glasses. He looks concerned.

1:53This is the guy who's unflappable. And the poster is, he looks a little out of sorts, and he looks rugged. And then the tagline's telling you, this guy fucked up. This movie should have made $8 trillion off the pitch of Harrison Ford fucks up. There's no world where this movie makes $8 trillion. Of course, no. This movie is designed to make people angry. I had never seen it before. I love this movie so much.

Mosquito Coast Discussion

2:17Yes.

Mosquito Coast Discussion

2:17Well, this is a real perfect movie. Sean, I think you and I are going to bond on a lot of things. I think this movie is great, to be clear. I don't, it's not like I'm contrarian. Are you both? Have you met this guy? Yeah, this is, this is the wavelength. Are you psychotic? The wavelength that Sean and I, yes. The answer is yes. The wavelength that Sean and I share. Ben texted us this morning and said, this movie, let me find the exact quote. I believe it was, this movie is anti-smile? Anti-smile. It sure is. Which is true. I thought of this when you were describing the tagline.

2:48If the poster featured Harrison Ford smiling, rather than that being used kind of half-grimace. Would the movie have been a hit? No, no, there's no one where this movie is a hit. If there was more, like, the wry, sarcastic charm. It would have, if we're just talking poster and the movie isn't strange. Maybe it makes a little bit more funny. It would have opened better and people would have been angry. If there were X's over his eyes, so we know from the start that this motherfucker dies. Whoa! It's, we're what, three minutes in?

3:20We've spoiled the film. God damn. What are you gonna do? Ben's quote, our finest film critic, Ben Hosley. God damn this movie a nasty bastard. It's true. And David said, it's not a feel-good film. No. Maybe don't move to the Mosquito Coast. And Ben texted, it's anti-smile. I truly would never. Not even for Harrison Ford. Now, my opinion is. That doesn't make it any less true a film, Ben.

Film Analysis

3:46There are so many articles from the release of this film that are fascinating, where they're like, notoriously press-shy Harrison Ford has pounded the pavement for this movie. He knows this one needs selling. Yes. Like, yeah, this isn't exactly a, like, we go to the coast and you'll have to find out what happens next. He's gotta do more than that. It's Leo during one battle. And he didn't want to. Like, whoa, why is Leo doing TikTok videos? Why is Leo on the big picture swumming it? He didn't want to missell it. He didn't want to trick people.

4:17But he was like, this is a tougher film. I'm hoping I built up the credibility with my audiences. And then when the movie comes out, he's like, critics savaged it. And he felt betrayed by the critics. Yeah, he was mad that it didn't get a fair shake from them. He was like, I thought you guys might at least get it. And that he felt like they were saying, like, I'm not buying Han Solo doing this. And he was like, this is a movie that needed you, and it's a challenging movie, and you're all going, like, how dare he try this? But the interesting fact when they're talking about, at the time they said it was the only

4:48movie he made that didn't make back its money. He says that, yes. He says that. Which means it must have, like, right, not even succeeded on home video or whatever. Even by the mid-90s, he still says it is the only movie I starred in that didn't make back its money. Because it's not like Frantic was, you know, cleaning up. No, but it did pretty good business, because it was just much more conventional. It's more of a thriller. Like, straightforward thriller. And he's going out there, and he's defending it. And in this article from The Hollywood Reporter, they say that it got a B-cinema score. So you're like, it's not like the people who saw it hated it as much as no one wanted

5:21to see it. A B-cinema score is really bad. That's bad. Bad. It's not. I'm not saying it's good. But I'm saying, if you put a smiling Harrison Ford face on the poster, this movie gets F.

1986 Film Industry

5:33Should we do the 1986 episode of The Big Picture, where the Mosquito Coast has just come out, and it's made $1.8 million, and it's got a B-cinema score? You're spiraling. And we're like, goddammit! This is why we can't have nice things! No original storytelling. No literate adaptations of thoughtful men exploring the world. I think it's not even that, Sean. I think it's you in your quiet, focused mode going, I just need to accept that VHS has arrived, and cinema is not what it used to be. So depressing. Well, I just want to shout out, well, what's our podcast, but who's our guest?

6:04And then I want to say something. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David. It's a podcast about filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their careers, and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. And sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they use the checks to buy a town and rebuild civilization from scratch. Try to make an ice machine the size of a, like, house. Ideas! In the jungle! Good ideas! This is a miniseries on the films of Peter Weir.

6:35And then when a militia shows up, they're like, it's okay, I'll trick them.

6:40It's like, hmm, I bet these guys are afraid of ants! Ali Fox did nothing, though. Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. To be clear, what I love about this movie is not that much. What I love about this movie is that Ali Fox is one of the most fundamentally broken protagonists. He's a damagant. You like it because it's a peer into the soul, not because you're, like, taking notes. No. Although, I want to explore if there's any goodness in his ideas. It's a question. Well, it's more like, what's the temptation, I guess, right? Like, well, yeah, like, the temptation of the goodness.

7:10Yeah, obviously. Like, what is there? An egomaniac narcissist. But, getting older, a couple things are sparking. I kind of feel like his analysis is correct and all of his actions are wrong, if that makes sense. Well, maybe I'm painting too broad a brain. I know, is it too soon to go to this place? It's too soon to go to this place. We're going to get there. I promise you we're going to get there. David, what did you want to say? This is the measures on the films of Peter Weir. It's called Podnik at Hanging Cast.

7:42I didn't know that. Today, we were talking about, what is his first proper blank check movie?

Peter Weir's Films

7:47Certainly, his first Hollywood blank check. Sure. The success of Witness is immediately rolled into, I'm tying myself to Harrison Ford. It's the passion project. I couldn't get made right before Witness. I can now get made. Success of Witness, movie star, plus the, you know, building credibility of his Australian films, which had almost gotten the movie made before, all put together to make a very, uh, tough movie about an unlikable person doing something largely, uh, negative and unsuccessful,

8:20I guess. And the movie ends with like, yeah, that didn't work out, you know, like, which is not something you can easily pitch in a boardroom. What did you want to say? Uh, Sean Fantasy is our guest. Uh, my friend. Steve from the big picture. And, uh. Our friend. Excuse me. I know, but I'm, I'm speaking. I'm so happy to be here for Podnik. Podnik. Podnik. That's good. Now, I wanted Podster and Castmander, the pod side of the cast. How many times are you going to bring this up? Every episode, basically. Okay. And David said, Podnik is the funniest word I've ever heard.

8:51Which I think is funny. Well, that explains it. It is. However, I do think there was a case for Podless. Yeah, but you see, this is, there's a, there's a, to me, a fine balance between too short, which what you're doing, and kind of like the joke is just the length. I said, let's go as hard as we can. We're rarely going to get an opportunity to put in two pods and two casts. I don't like it. I think it doesn't roll off any tongues. I also don't like that Master and Commander has a subtitle. I think that's a huge mistake. What about, well, they're building a franchise. Pods have become battlefields.

9:21Yeah, but then, okay, well, now we're just throwing rules out the window. Right. You know, that's what, right, we can say that. That's what it was at the live show. It was, it was blank check in the big picture. It was. And we were on the pod battlefield. We were in the, so, okay, so that's what I wanted to talk about. We did a live show with you guys. We'll be six months old by the time this comes out. You can watch it. Sure. And we did a draft, and we wisely did New York movies and played to the crowd, all that. But if the initial plan, before it was going to be a live show. Yes. Had been that we were going to do 1986 films. In studio.

9:52Of which this is one. Oh, interesting. That's what I'm saying. Okay. And that's my birth year. But it was also basically like one of the, one of the, like, available years. One of the last ones. Exactly. One of the last big ones that we haven't done yet. And so I was like, hell yeah, 1986. I think I watched 30 movies from 1986. Sure. Like, to prepare for this draft that did not happen. Now, we may do it eventually. We had the New York idea, and you got upset because you said I've already been grinding. I was just so deep in 1986.

Drafting Movies

10:19We plan to do, I would love to do a draft with you guys every year for as long as we possibly can. Right. I love the year drafts because I like the scarcity. Like, I find that the best format because, like, in terms of the gamesmanship, it's the most interesting. New York drafts is the opposite sort of gamesmanship where it's like, pick of the litter. There's a million movies. What route do you take? Right? Like, I would say, you know. But 86 was going to be recorded, and New York was always going to be live. So I said, you guys want to come do the live show. But you're right. 86 is a really fun year. And when does Mosquito Coast go in 86?

10:50I think it might go, but it would be a later choice. Would you draft it in drama? Well, it ain't a comedy. I haven't prepared for 86. I guess no spoilers for future drafts. No comedy. No Oscar wins. No. Not a blockbuster. So, yeah, it's only a couple spots it goes. I mean, you could sort of call it a thriller, but it's kind of a stretch. Wild card, or if you did an attempt at rebuilding civilization from scratch category, I think it would definitely go there. I might draft it. It's very possible.

11:21I have a lot of affection for this movie. I feel like this is a Sean movie. Not that it's not anyone else's movie, but it's definitely a Sean movie. Yeah, it's not. It is deeply imperfect. And Ben, I understand. I understand exactly what you mean. It is an anti-smile movie. I love an anti-smile movie. I love a movie that is essentially a confrontation with something that is under the surface of human existence, which is we are fucked. We are so fucked. So with you here. But this movie makes me want to punch it in the face.

11:51I think it kind of wants that, right? I think it does want that. And what the author of this book, how he feels about Allie Fox, too, I think is an interesting part of this and why the filmmaker is interested, why Ford, famously a curmudgeon with a bit of a down look on society, the world, his own success. All these smart, thoughtful guys arriving at this project is interesting to me. It's very interesting. Ben, you often say when we cover movies in which someone finds a bag full of money and their life spirals out of control, like many of the Coen films we've covered recently, that if you were in that movie, everything would turn out great and it would end with you owning an island.

12:35Now, how do you think you would have handled the circumstances of Mosquito Coast? I know they're different because you're not given the money in the first place, but the design is almost the same. It would burn down immediately. The town would be burnt in hours. You're not municipal. That's not your direction. I'm not a planner. If you were in Mosquito Coast, things would have gone worse. Yes. I would smoke one cigarette and then the town would just go up in flames. And then it'd be like, all right, let's get out of here.

13:06But you're also, you're not an ideologue. Like if you meet Spaulding Gray, I mean, not Spaulding, Andre Gregory, not Spaulding Gray. Spaulding Gray is another movie I watched recently for Sean's podcast. Killing Fields. Or no, different one. Well, he is in the Killing Fields. But no, Spaulding Gray is in Stars and Bars, the forgotten Daniel Day-Lewis film. Oh, wild. It's only pure comedy. Yeah, giving a performance I might describe as a touch broad. Just a touch. Fair to say. He's a horny Southern judge. Yes.

13:35Classic Spaulding Gray typecasting. While Daniel Day-Lewis is like, oh, oh, oh, oh. That's his whole performance. Yeah, it is Daniel Day-Lewis trying to be Hugh Grant in, what? I don't even know what the, in My Cousin Vinny. That's essentially the framework. Yeah. And then Hugh Grant said, pull my lager and made Mickey blue eyes himself. It does feel like, but Daniel Day-Lewis does Stars and Bars. It's probably like, ah, it didn't work. And then sees Hugh Grant's early. And it's like, right.

14:05That's not, that's not a string to my bow. He's got it. Anyway. Yeah. You would meet Andre Gregory, the priest. And you'd be like, yeah, you seem like you can run things. Like, yeah. I don't want to be in charge here. Like, right. Like, yeah. You got some ideas. Like, I feel like you, this is a thing that's been replicated before in other places. Whereas Allie is like, no. You guys got an infrastructure. Go off. But then you are a false god. You know, like, Allie just sees, he sees like a stop sign. He's like, I won't stop.

14:35Like, that's just his vibe. This country used to go. This sign can't run my life. Ben, would you kneel before God, though? No. I mean. God used to kneel before America. I am not religious at all. Because that's what Andre Gregory wants, right? He wants you to bend the knee to him and to. I know. I just feel like Ben just wouldn't have the where, like the sort of energy to be like, you know, fuck you, man. You wouldn't get as riled up. I feel like you know, I guess.

15:06I mean, you're making a great point. I find the missionary practice problematic. You've got quite a history there. Yes. Of problematic behavior. More of a reverse cowgirl kind of guy. Ben, I feel like you get very. I really like that, actually. We need to call that out. Hey, 100 comedy points. Social breakout. Yeah. You get riled up, Ben, when people disrespect you. Sure. And you get riled. Who doesn't? You get riled up when you come up against, like, injustice.

15:37Yeah. But I feel like if someone is arguing ideological points with you in this way, you're just like, I don't have fucking time for this. If I'm in the jungle and I'm sweating and getting bit by mosquitoes, I think I'm also just going to be like, I can't deal with this. Right. That's the thing with this movie is this. I'm not going to the jungle. Ever. I will never go to the jungle. Ever. Ever. There's no way you can convince me to do that. It's not a climate that appeals. No. The mosquito coast. I'm not. The penguin coast? Maybe. I mean, as you put it right there in the title, you're identifying my least favorite kind of insect. I don't like mosquitoes.

16:08Living creature on the planet? Quite possibly. I hate mosquitoes. I do, too. Yeah. They love me, too. It's the worst. They love me. And you know why, Sean? Because you're so sweet. Thank you. Thank you for saying so. Isn't it always gross when grown-ups would say that? When you'd, like, complain about being bit and they'd be like, that's because you're so sweet. You honestly made me feel gross. It's disgusting. Or they're like, yeah, you taste good. Like, shut up. 1986. I just have considered 1986 in more depth than, like, other years recently because of this. And you're talking about Harrison Ford, major movie star.

16:40I do think he might be inarguably the biggest movie star at that moment because this sort of, you know, Stallone's moment is waning. Uh-huh. Schwarzenegger's moment has not, like, totally solidified. Willis is in, uh, before. We haven't got to Willis yet. Cruise. Eddie Murphy is curdling slightly. Cruise is just beginning with Top Gun is this year. Yeah. You know, like, so, like, Cruise is on. No, I think at this moment. I would argue it's not close. It's not close.

17:10At this moment, it's inarguably him. And this is a movie where, what were the top three movies of 1986? Top Gun. So, Cruise is, again, beginning. Platoon, which wins Best Picture. And Crocodile Dundee.

Harrison Ford's Later Career

17:21Crocodile Dundee doing this well is kind of a, like, we don't have any stars right now. Is this guy one of our top biggest stars? Yeah. It's like, maybe we throw in with Croc? Yeah. Two things happen in the 80s for him. One, obviously, you've got two Star Wars movies, two Indiana Jones films, right? Yeah. He has locked down that specific thing. But I think Witness is the clincher. I was going to say, this is the movie. That's the thing. And we talked about it. That confirms this. That's the thing. It's him having two franchises under his belt and then being taken seriously as an actor and his serious adult drama playing, if not like a blockbuster, surely being a hit.

17:54But it's kind of like, it's that moment that happened with, like, Jennifer Lawrence, where you're like, she has Silver Linings Playbook and the first Hunger Games in the same year. You're telling me she's unstoppable. It's a really good comparison. And he, I think, is doing something in this next stretch of movies that is pretty admirable that great stars do, where they get passion projects, interesting filmmakers, they balance between genres. You know, his next few movies, Mosquito Coast, Frantic, Working Girl goes back for Last Crusade and then Presumed Innocent regarding Henry.

18:26That's a really interesting run of movies. Not all of them work. No. Only one of them, to me, does not work regarding Henry. Yeah. But I love that movie. It's bad, but I do love it. Written, of course, by Jeffrey Abrams. JJ. Lil' JJ. He, I saw some interview with him where he said that he really likes working with directors two times. That he feels like, to a certain degree, making a movie with someone he's never worked with before is to test out whether they can do a second one. Not that the first one's a wash, but that he likes being able to hit the ground running

18:58and have that built-in language. And a lot of what you're talking about there, it's like, two weirs, two nickels. One Polanski, you know? He obviously does three Spielbergs. Two Pollocks. Yeah. Yeah. Like, he would double up on people. And all of these are, you know, once you get past Spielberg and Lucas, they're like grown-up directors. Mm-hmm. They are serious, grown-up directors. It's Philip Noyce. Noyce, too. Yeah. His 90s, it's not like his stardom wanes and he makes hits.

19:29Yeah. But the movies get worse. And he has- There's a lot of bad movies. He has a couple bad things. The second half of the 90s is a bit of a steep fall. Yeah. But I, also, the second half of the 90s, the Star Wars movies get re-released and like Han Solo is renewed. Like, even as the movies are falling off, his stardom is almost more solidified, at least in terms of like Hall of Fame iconography. I also, there's an interview, maybe it's for Return of the Jedi or Empire Strikes Back, I think, where they're interviewing the three stars and they ask them what your first feeling

20:04was when Star Wars hit, right? And, you know, Hamill has some gee whiz, like, I can't believe it. I grew up watching these movies. I'm a star now. There are people around the block. And they ask Ford and he just rubs his hands together and goes, let's get to work. And they were like, what do you mean? And he was like, I was like 37. It hadn't happened. It happened overnight. I said, this is my moment. You know, and he's got Star Wars movies lined up. He's gonna get Indiana Jones lined up. But this run we're talking about, the start of it feels like him cashing in.

20:35What he saw in his eye the moment Star Wars hits is like, so you're telling me I can get movies made now? I know exactly what kind of movies I want to make. I know who I want to work with. I know which characters I want to play. It got delayed a little bit in him having to fulfill sequel obligations. But like, this 80s run is, let's get to work. One of the things that I like about this movie from this kind of metatextual perspective that we're talking about it from is that it reveals that when you are a movie star, you

21:06are still in a cage. In all of his films, he is either desirable, heroic, or wrongfully imperiled. Except for this movie. This is the one movie where he's just kind of a heel. He's just, he's wrong. Everyone knows he's wrong. He's wrong from the start. Yes. It's not, yes, it's about a descent into madness, but he's basically no good from the beginning. Yes. And we are meant to follow him closely and be engaged with his journey. Like Helen Mirren, you know, well, I'm sure we'll talk about it.

21:36Does not have a ton to do. She does nothing to do in the movie. No, it's him and it's Phoenix are the two perspective characters. We covered Robert Zemeckis' What Lies Beneath many years ago now. And that movie, the juice of that movie was, you're going to go into this so confident that there's no way Harrison Ford could be the bad guy. And when he turns out to be like epically, you know, absurdly villainous, that movie like electrified people and it was a massive, massive hit. And it's a last five minutes reveal.

22:07Totally. And that was like, you can't get away with this, but that's like a fun house movie that can have that construction be entertaining to people. Overall, this feels like a movie where the public's response to it was, I'm confused. Am I supposed to be rooting for this guy because it's Harrison Ford that rather than saying like, oh, it's interesting that he's playing a guy I don't like. People were confused where they were supposed to line up. And I think part of that trickiness, what makes him so good in this role, but what must have just absolutely befuddled everyone is so much of Harrison Ford's thing at this

22:40time is I seem like an asshole, but I actually care. See, that's okay. So that's the thing that I also think is really interesting about the movie. I don't know Harrison Ford personally. I've certainly seen him on talk shows and in interviews. I don't think he has the same ideas as Allie Fox. I do think he's not that far temperamentally from Allie Fox. He has a slightly antisocial vibe. He likes to fly plane and live in ranch. And crash plane. And crash plane and smoke mountains of ganja, which I don't think Allie is doing that, but

23:12like... He could use it. There's a world where Allie should be doing that. Exactly. He should be a weed dad. Yeah. He's an inventor for fuck's sake. He's the most weed dad ever. Man, I heard a story from a film production driver. I forget what movie it was on, but who had to pick up Harrison Ford every day and said one day he was late coming out of the house and he was like, I can't find my bong. Give me five minutes. And then he came out five minutes later with a saucepan.

23:40And he was like, what are you doing? He's like, hold on. And he took the lid off the saucepan. He sucked up the smoke. That's awesome. But he was just like, you don't understand how much weed that guy has taken in a day. Well, you certainly hear. Then there's these moments with him now, like there's the famous David Blaine video, where you see kind of like... Because he's a good crank on... Like, he's a good crank on a publicity tour and all that. He plays into it. He enjoys it. And he's very funny. The thing where Josh Horowitz...

24:11Right? Is it Josh? Yeah. He's asking about Red Hulk, our president. Our president. Nothing but respect. Yep. You know, about like, do you feel silly? And he's like, the money, you know, poof, it's gone. Like, I watched... The Schlansky bits. Yes. I watched the... Have you ever seen... I assume you've seen the video of Alison Hammond interviewing him for Blade Runner 2049, where he's with Gosling. And you can tell it's like early morning in London. He's doing fucking junket shit. He's not interested. And she's so like delightful and funny and silly. And you watch him wake up and be like, wow, I like this woman.

24:44And, you know, the moment where she says, so, you know, when you wanted to, when you offered this movie, what do you think? How much? And he goes like, show me the money. And you're just like, there he is. He's a silly guy. It is. I think now he plays into it as a bit. And I, you look back at all this press I was doing for Mosquito Coast talks about how press shy he is, how private he is. And then you watch the actual interviews and he's measured. He's open. He is so fucking articulate. He's not like doing some De Niro like mumble thing, but he's not doing like movie star razzle

25:19dazzle. He's speaking as if he's like Gore Vidal. Like he's speaking in this very measured, thoughtful way. And I think that confused people and it was received as he's cold because he's not smiling and telling stories about pranks. And now he realized I can just lean into being a crank and people find it funny. My favorite forward interview moment ever. It's after Disney acquires Lucasfilm. And, you know, part of the announcement is Disney buys Lucasfilm episode seven.

25:49Right. Yeah. And he goes on Conan to promote whatever movie he had coming out like a month or two after that. Yeah. And he says, so the cowboys and aliens are big news recently. Disney purchased Star Wars and Harrison Ford like looks over his shoulder, like plays like, am I allowed to say anything, you know, cagey? And he's like, now I'm sure you're being told not to say anything, but just to incentivize you. And then Conan takes out like a thousand dollars in cash, hands him like ten hundred dollar bills. And he's like, does this make you want to say anything?

26:20And Harrison Ford like grabs the money quickly, counts it, shoves it in the inside of his jacket pocket and then like casually leans into his chair and goes, I, I hear they're thinking about making another one. And it's just really good. Destroy it. The audience laughs for a minute straight. And the fact that he can now lean into I'm a grump, I hate everything and I love making money and that no one thinks he's an asshole, that it's like it scores him brownie points.

26:53Yeah. It's great. He earned it. I mean, he's freaking Harrison Ford. He's he's in 20 movies. You're like, God, I love this movie. But that's like, that's a that's a great way to be. But this has always been the thing of people saying like, oh, he's no nonsense. He's this and that. And then everyone who works with him is like, he cares about acting so much. He cares about the movie so much. It's all this cover. It's what makes him a star with fucking Han Solo is the moment he comes back. I think he's also just a he's a gifted actor, probably an underrated actor. Didn't really get a lot of opportunity. Wasn't challenged a lot because of the work that he was best known for, but a very shrewd

27:26movie star, a good picker of projects. By and large, until that late 90s. It dips. It dips for everybody. And it's the classic late 90s. It's the classic movie star thing of like, Harrison, you're getting older. You don't automatically match up with your female leads anymore. Like, you know, it's like, where do you go with this? And then stuff like Random Hearts is him being like, well, Pollock. And so I just saw that for the first time last year. Right. Your favorite movie of all time. And I had I had a nice time with it. Sure. And because it is largely representative of the canard that all of us say all the time

27:59about they don't make them like they used to, right? But they really don't make them like that movie. That movie is a very strange, morose drama about two sad people. That still costs like 60 million dollars. Yeah. And the hearts are random. I was going to say, hell of random. It's random as hell. Yeah. And it's not a very good film. The movie is pretty random. It's actually a big inspiration for Family Guy. Yeah.

28:21People forget the giant chicken is like third build in Random Hearts. Actually, third build is Charles S. Dutton. This movie sounds pretty good. Carry on. You haven't seen it? No. I know the twist. It's fine. Or whatever. That's the least interesting part of it. He's just a sad cop for two hours wandering around New York trying to figure out what he should do with his life. And it's a it's like a real test of his late period stardom. And he couldn't really hold on to it. You know, six days and seven nights like these movies where he's he's trying to touch all the different strains. He's trying to like, oh, maybe can I working girl it again?

28:52You know, can I Indiana Jones it again? Can I Jack Ryan it again? And he can't. You know, he's that moment has passed. There's a run that because Fugitive is obviously like the best movie ever made. And then after that, it's like he did Clear and Present Danger does well. Yeah. Not a bad movie. But then it's like Sabrina mistake. Devil's Own mistake. Yeah. Air Force One, not a mistake. Great idea. Sure. Everyone loves it. It is so funny that in this movie, he has a moment where he says, get off my land. Get off my mosquito coast.

29:22He says, get off my land. I know, I know, I know. Six days, seven nights, mistake. Random Hearts, mistake. What Lies Beneath? Good pick. But he's, you know, he's sort of a secretly supporting. Big hit though. Big hit. Huge hit. K-19, The Widowmaker, mistake. Hollywood homicide, mistake. And that's when he finally clocks. It's like, what am I? I'm two for 10 here. Yeah. I think I'm going to stop being a leading man in this way. Hollywood homicide is the first time I think he looks embarrassing. Right. He's like, what the fuck am I doing? It's not just that the movie flops.

29:54It's that it's like, this looks silly. Why did you do this? What's with the earring? You're dating Ally McBeal. Like, everything about it, suddenly it was like, is Harrison Ford, like, lame dad having midlife crisis? Yes. He lost his cool. And then Firewall is forgotten, but it's this transit moment to like, he's more playing dad, older generation. And then like, it's like, from then on, he is grandpa. Crystal Skull, you know, Morning Glory, Cowboys, right?

30:24It's like, now he's the old guy. It's grandpa, but the other part of it is, I'm going to do Blade Runner again, I'm going to do two more Star Wars, I'm going to do two more Indiana Joneses. But Crystal Skull starts there. Yeah, but then it's like, Extraordinary Measures, Morning Glory, Cowboys, and Aliens, 42 Enders game. You know, like, it's like, it takes him a while. Also, I think Force Awakens is when he's like, fine. A lot of him being number two on the poster behind a newer A-list. Daniel Craig, fucking, of course, Brendan Fraser and his... Yeah.

30:54So powerful. Just like, weird choices. Um, yeah. I mean, I remember, I've invoked this so many times, but it's just such a distinct memory of my broken brain. Asa Butterfield and me, the big two. I think he's the future. My dad and I walking by a billboard for Random Hearts, and my dad just going, that's going to be a big hit. And I was like, why? And he went, because Harrison Ford's in it. And I was like, that's how it works? Like, certain stars, no matter what they do, and yet that was a moment where it was like, it's proven wrong here?

31:26Um, I have invoked this before, and one of the previous times we've talked about Harrison Ford, but his Inside the Actors Studio is amazing. I'm sure I've seen it, I can't remember. They get into Mosquito Coast, and Lipton asks, asks him the thing that people love to ask him, of like, do you feel like you're stuck in a gilded cage? That your level of stardom and iconography and the blockbusters have become so big that there's certain things the audience won't let you do as an actor. And he, like, is very measured about it, and he basically says, like, I was very proud of that movie, and it was something I wanted to do.

31:57And it was very clear that the audiences weren't going to go with me there, and I adjusted. And I'm never going to complain about the fact that people like me doing other things in movies, right? Like, he has an answer that's basically like, I have no sour grapes over this. I tried. I'm not going to be an asshole about, like, oh, they want me to be a different kind of A-list movie star. But it is clear that I think, and this is maybe where things start to fall apart a bit in the 90s, is post Mosquito Coast, he's like, got it, notes taken.

32:27I want to challenge myself. I want to push boundaries. But I've identified a thing you don't want me to do. And, like, Working Girl is an interesting swing, but it's safer, right? Like, other things like that. I think by the time he gets to the mid-90s, he's like, I don't know what I'm trying to prove anymore, and it's too early for him to do the grandpa swing, where he can really shake off the shackles of his persona. We don't need to spend, like, three hours on his last, his 90s movies, but I do think that Sabrina the Devil's Own, Six Days, Seven Nights, Random Hearts are really instructive, because they all do okay.

33:03Sabrina made 88. Yep. Devil's Own made 140. But it stays in Seven Nights, made 165. Random Hearts made 75. Who directed Six Days, Seven Nights? Evan Reitman. Reitman. And so, Tupaculas. The Tupaculas and the Tupaculas, it's kind of like this kind of, right. You're going back to the guys who were 80s, you know, big shots, and are now getting a little long in the tooth. But he is not able to, one, the material's not as good, right? So Witness probably makes a somewhat similar amount of money as those movies, relatively speaking,

33:35but it's not a forever movie the way that Witness is. No, and you compare the interviews for those films to the interviews for Witness, Mosquito Coast, Working Girl, what have you, where there does not seem to be the same animating passion of, this is what really spoke to me in this script and why I really wanted to play this character. Right. They feel like, yeah, that's like a, feels like good material. Yeah, an adult movie. Good lineup of people. Yes. My audience will respond to this.

34:06David. What's the matter? I'm going to share for you a horrifying tale. A tale of woe and suffering. Whoa, this is scary. It's a tale of human error, of failing on my part. Tell me. We went to the Wisconsin Film Festival. Sure. Visited our dear researcher, J.J. Birch. I'm scared already. We participated in a screening. We dined out. We had fried cheese curds. We drank Wisconsin beer. What was the mistake?

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34:31Tell me.

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37:14David. Yes. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul. They do say that. What does that make our glasses? The windows? The window frames? I don't know. The curtains? Yeah, the curtains. The point is, if you are a glasses wearer like I am or like our own producer Ben is. True. It's a big decision. Sure. Because this is how you introduce yourself to the world. This is how you engage with other people. You make eye contact through the frames. Sometimes it's just time for a refresh. Totally agree. All right. Well, so what about Zenni Optical?

37:46Oh, the fine folks' Zenni glasses. The eyewear. They got fun shapes, sizes, and colors. They got a lot of colors. Right. Statement pieces. Bold statement pieces, they call them. And they're inexpensive, I would say. They're an online eyewear shop with prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light lenses, all starting at under $30. That's crazy. That is very low. I feel like glasses often cost more than $30.

38:17Way more. But you go to Zenni.com, you pick a frame, you upload your prescription, they ship it to your door. No appointment, no store, no upsell at the counter. Easy. At that price, something kind of shifts. You're not like, do I need new glasses? You're like, why don't I try something fun? Right? Sometimes you got an old pair, they got a scratch on them, it's annoying, but you're like, am I going to go through the hassle? Or the screws start to get loose and you find yourself taking out that microscopic little screwdriver over and over again to tighten them up. At this price, why not just get another pair?

38:48Ben, I ordered a pair of the Magoo. I think this is funny. Okay. We all know from Mr. Magoo, the cartoon character who can't see. And Zenni is saying, let's solve that problem. Let's give you glasses called Magoo. They're blue and green, two of my favorite colors. A nice boxy frame. You're not agonizing over one pair that has to do everything for the next two years. Get the ones for work. Yeah. Get the fun ones. Get some options. Get the pair that only matches one outfit at under $30.

39:19You don't have to justify it. Exactly. They've got 150,000 five-star reviews. Yeah. And if you've never run glasses online before, they have a virtual try-on so you can see how it's going to look on your face before you commit. If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now's the time. Go to zenni.com slash podcast and use code podcast15 for 15% off your first order. The styles sell out, so don't sit on it. That's Z-E-N-N-I dot com slash podcast promo code podcast15. Here is a quote I found in that same piece where he is pleading audiences to consider the movie Mosquito Coast after being ransacked by critics.

40:04He says, The job of acting is the same in every film regardless of the material. It's storytelling and logical steps. In a good script, it is fairly easy because you have ideas to chain yourself to. Otherwise, it's party tricks. There are few complications to the characters of Han Solo or Indiana Jones, but the demands of playing either of them are no less difficult than playing Fox. In many ways, a character with as much experience as Fox is allowed, is easier to play. You need only to note the variety of his emotions. That is one of the best descriptions of acting in an unpretentious way I have ever read.

40:40That is so like just fucking cut through the bullshit brass tacks. This is what it is. And explaining the two sides of what he can do well without putting greater importance on either. He's clearly very smart. He's smart. He knows who he is and what he can do. I'm going to open the dossier. But to me, I do think the big question with Mosquito Coast is, is Harrison Ford too sort of inherently Harrison Fordy to play this guy? Like when you look upon...

41:10It's a William Hurt part. Right. Like you're kind of like, I'm not sure I believe that Harrison Ford would be so kind of like, you know, amoral or sort of, you know, unfeeling towards his family. It's just like, he's Harrison Ford. Like, can he pull that off? I buy it. And I think that innate tension with his persona gives this movie an extra electricity for me. But obviously audiences and I guess critics, like we're kind of like, I don't buy it, I guess. I think he's just a really good angry actor. And he has so many great moments of being angry.

41:43And this is a very angry character. You know, get off my plane is an angry moment. I think it's playing with, you're watching him and going, this guy can't actually believe everything he's saying in that Han Solo way. Right? Surely at some point, if his children and his wife plead with him, he will break with this act. And I think that gives the movie a really interesting dramatic tension. I agree. Do you know who we're originally wanted to? Well, let's open the dots. Let's open the dots. Let's let David tell us. Because these are the conventions of your podcast.

42:13Thank you. Author Paul Theroux. Uh-huh. Uncle of Justin. Yes. Indeed. Who later played Allie in Apple TV Plus' The Mosquito Coat. I tried to watch this. I didn't. I did not. Did you know there are two seasons and 17 episodes? This is my question. I'm like, this movie I think is good, but it's a tough hang at two hours long. Why on earth would I want this stretched to TV like? David, I have a piece of news that is going to make you slam your own head against the Bible. Go ahead. There is a quote.

42:43Let me see if I can find it here from... I thought you were going to say season three coming soon. Yeah, right. It was Neil Cross, the creator of the TV show, the guy who did Loofah. Yes. And Tom Bissell was the co-writer of this series. He was a wonderful writer. In a 2023 interview with Deadline Hollywood, the original novel's author, Paul Theroux, hoping for a third season that would segue into the events of his novel, praised the