# A Life In Movies: Greg Sestero

An episode of [All The Right Movies](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1471502633), 15 Jan 2025, 42 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO1813450043.mp3

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## Transcript

[0:04] All the right. Movies, everyone, thanks for
[0:06] tuning in to all the right movies.
[0:08] I know some of you may have been expecting our usual show.
[0:11] We were scheduled to talk about All the President's Men today.
[0:14] Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we're having to
[0:17] delay that release until next week, but we've got something
[0:20] fantastic in its place. You're about to hear the latest
[0:23] episode of A Life in Movies, our movie interview show.
[0:26] Today, I'm talking to the writer, director and actor Greg
[0:29] Sestero, probably best known as the star of Tommy Wizzo's
[0:33] bonafide cult classic The Room. So tune back in next week for
[0:37] All the President's Men, but for now, enjoy my conversation with
[0:41] Greg. Hi everyone, welcome to Life and
[1:13] Movies, the interview show from All the Right Movies.
[1:15] My name is Luke. On the show we talk to people in
[1:18] entertainment about three of their favorite films and today
[1:21] I'm talking to an actor, writer, producer, director and
[1:25] award-winning author of The Disaster Artists, which was
[1:27] adapted for the screen chronicling the making of story
[1:30] of the cult classic movie The Room, which was directed by the
[1:33] enigmatic Tommy Wizzle. It is a joy to welcome Greg
[1:37] Sestero. How you doing Greg?
[1:38] Good. It's great to be here.
[1:40] Thank you very much for joining me.
[1:41] Can't wait to hear what films you have in store for us.
[1:44] So where are you talking from? Where you're at?
[1:47] I'm in Austin, TX at the moment. It is about 100° outside.
[1:52] Austin is such a great, it's such a great city with so much
[1:55] culture and food, great film festivals.
[1:58] Yeah, the summertime you got to just be cautious of when you
[2:01] decide to go outside. Yeah, you've got to get that sun
[2:03] cream on. Have you been in the UK
[2:06] recently? I think I noticed on your
[2:08] Instagram you've been up here. I did.
[2:10] I tried to come to the UK twice a year.
[2:12] I love it there, the people, the culture, the cinema there, the
[2:16] crowds there. You know, I was doing some
[2:18] anniversary screenings earlier this year and I had a blast.
[2:21] I was in Newcastle, Liverpool, spent the day in Durham walking
[2:25] around, which is a, which is a really beautiful place.
[2:27] And I know I'm going to mispronounce this, but
[2:30] Nosborough, Nosborough, Nasbro, Nasbro and just getting a chance
[2:35] to get out there and see the, the towns and the, and the, the
[2:38] cities. So I had a blast.
[2:39] I'm hoping to come back again later this year.
[2:43] So I love yeah. Traveling has always been one of
[2:45] my passions. It's always been filmmaking and
[2:47] traveling. Yeah, yeah.
[2:48] I mean Durham, it's about 5 mile from where I am.
[2:50] Yeah, I walked the whole day. I did.
[2:52] I did the whole the whole mountain and walked around, had
[2:54] lunch with a friend on on the river there.
[2:56] So. Yeah, I mean, it's beautiful.
[2:58] Like there's a real there's a lot of history in those little
[3:00] towns. And they filmed some of Harry
[3:02] Potter, I think in, in Durham or a few months.
[3:05] Yeah, that's. Right.
[3:06] Yeah. And in Northumberland they've
[3:08] just, well, two recent films or two new films.
[3:10] The new Indiana Jones, the new Missing Impossible were both
[3:13] filmed in Northumberland. So it's becoming quite the venue
[3:16] for shooting. Oh, what's the name of that
[3:18] city? Northumberland, it's just north,
[3:20] it's kind of on the border of Scotland.
[3:22] OK, OK, now another place I got to check out.
[3:25] Now I got to come back. OK, so come to you live from
[3:29] Austin, TX. We're going to be talking about
[3:30] 3 movies that Greg has chosen. Are these your all time faves
[3:34] Greg, or ones that have just jumped out to you when I asked
[3:36] for them? I think there were definitely my
[3:38] top ten. My top 10 revolves around
[3:41] comfort. Like, do I throw these on
[3:42] because I love the score, the vibe, you know?
[3:45] How many times can I rewatch them or relive them?
[3:48] That's what I gravitate towards when I call a movie one of my
[3:51] favorites or one that I love to talk about.
[3:54] Yeah, you get the comfort from them.
[3:55] Yeah, I'm the same. And you've got a good section of
[3:57] films, I think, hitting quite a few genres.
[4:00] So let's get into it. What is your first pick, Greg?
[4:03] My first film that made the biggest impact on me that I've
[4:06] rewatched now for almost 40 years.
[4:09] Scary to say that is Back to the Future.
[4:13] Fantastic. Yeah.
[4:13] I mean, as iconic as they come, this one.
[4:16] Robert Zemeckis's 80s classic. Michael J Fox stars as Martin
[4:19] McFly, a high school slacker who was sent back to 1955 in a time
[4:23] machine. In order to get back home, he
[4:25] has to alter the course of history so that he can return
[4:27] home with his parents living happily ever after.
[4:30] I'm sure everybody listening knows the story.
[4:32] So what is it about Back to the Future that you love so much,
[4:34] Greg? I think it starts with something
[4:38] in that story that we can all relate to.
[4:41] Yeah, yeah. The the film was developed by
[4:43] Bob Gale, the screenwriter, and he was home visiting his parents
[4:47] and he found an old yearbook and he was like, what?
[4:50] I've been friends with my dad. That's sort of how it started.
[4:54] And then it evolved into this amazing film.
[4:56] I saw it at the same theater that I watched Empire Strikes
[5:00] Back at. It was the local theater that
[5:02] played movies back then. Movies played for sometimes we
[5:06] months, sometimes years and saw back in the future with my dad.
[5:09] And I remember I came home after seeing him and I didn't, I
[5:12] didn't, I had so much like there was just movie magic in that
[5:15] cinema and I was like, what do I, what do I do with it?
[5:18] What do I do with this? So I, I randomly started playing
[5:21] with my Star Wars figures and recreated back to the future,
[5:26] the movie with my Star Wars figures.
[5:28] It was so bizarre, but I just think it's the idea it was the
[5:33] first time it was really time travel was introduced to us in a
[5:36] way that was accessible that we could sit here and be like, if I
[5:39] went into my car and I was able to go back to a time in my life
[5:43] and relive that, what would I do?
[5:44] It made it visceral. It made it seem almost possible.
[5:48] Another thing I really loved about the film was the
[5:51] relationship between Doc and Marty McFly.
[5:54] I never would understand why those two guys would be friends,
[5:58] and I never judged. I never judged their friendship.
[6:00] It wasn't like what's going on between them.
[6:02] I just sensed this bond that, that these two people in their
[6:07] lives, that they sort of needed each other.
[6:10] And there's no real specific reason why.
[6:12] It's just that they did and we accepted it.
[6:15] And, and, and I, I just kind of, I love the idea of him
[6:18] convincing Doc in the beginning. You know, I need to go back to
[6:24] 1985 and the idea, the fear and the love we have of the future
[6:29] of what's coming and what's there.
[6:32] And it just sort of, and there's another movie that sent a set of
[6:35] benchmark for us looking forward.
[6:37] What, what's life going to be like in 2015?
[6:40] What kind of things are, are ahead of us?
[6:43] What are, what are our lives been if our parents didn't meet?
[6:46] So it, it raised so many questions and, and again with so
[6:49] many other films as well. Is the the score, the music?
[6:55] Is that music? The music lives within your mind
[6:58] and you think about it. You can listen to the to the
[7:00] soundtrack and then back in the Future over something I watched
[7:03] again over time. And then I moved to a place in
[7:08] LA called South Pasadena and I had no idea that is where they
[7:13] filmed Back to the Future. So I'm taking a walk and I'm
[7:16] like, this street looks really familiar and I'm walking down
[7:19] the street with the trees over it and I, I literally walk in.
[7:24] It was like 9:00 PM at night. The streets were quiet.
[7:27] It was like it was beautiful night.
[7:29] And I look up and I see the tree that George McFly was on was the
[7:34] peeping Tom. And I just remember looking up
[7:37] at it and I was like, that's what that's what this movie has
[7:41] meant to me. It's sort of travelled with me
[7:43] for a lifetime. It it gave me sort of hope when
[7:47] I was in LA in the beginning and trying to become an actor and
[7:49] trying to find my way. And now I'm living in those
[7:51] sets, like I'm living in those neighborhoods.
[7:54] And then I found out Doc Brown's house is right like 10 minutes
[7:58] away. So I during all these nights, I
[8:00] would walk these locations, George Mcfly's house when
[8:03] they're like outside and he's talking and he's holding
[8:05] laundry. These all these Steven Spielberg
[8:07] love South Pasadena. So he films there a lot and all
[8:11] these sets were within a few blocks.
[8:13] And so it sort of became a movie that to me represented hope.
[8:18] Marty McLeod starts out with all these likes, hopes and dreams
[8:21] and and you know, he goes through this crazy journey and
[8:24] he comes back and you see that look in his eye where he
[8:28] appreciates it so much more. And and that always stayed with
[8:32] me. So it's been a movie just really
[8:34] has followed me my entire life and it's it's just one of those
[8:38] movies. Just studying about it, how they
[8:40] didn't know what it was going to be.
[8:41] They couldn't come up with the right title.
[8:43] It was supposed to be like the Man from Mars or something.
[8:45] Like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[8:48] So it was a movie. And I love movies where they
[8:51] don't, they're earnest. They don't expect it to be a
[8:54] blockbuster. They have no idea what it's
[8:55] going to, how it's going to go. And it came out around the 4th
[8:58] of July weekend. Like it's coming up for us right
[9:00] now. It came out this weekend in
[9:02] 1985. And so it's a movie with people
[9:06] again. Christopher Lloyd had done Taxi,
[9:07] I think, and he'd been in, yeah, a bunch of other projects.
[9:11] So it was just such a such a one of those movies that hits the
[9:14] home run where everybody who's cast is just meant to play that
[9:17] part. Yeah, yeah.
[9:19] I mean, Michael J Fox is just absolutely irresistible in the
[9:22] lead as well. Although Eric Stoltz almost got
[9:26] well, he had the part and then he got fired, I think six weeks
[9:28] into production because they wanted to.
[9:30] Talk He. Was on Family Ties.
[9:32] They talk about that too. And it's sort of, you know,
[9:35] making a movie is, is takes everything out of you.
[9:37] There's so much going on, you doubt yourself.
[9:39] You're wondering if you make the right decisions.
[9:41] And that was such a bold choice for for the producers because
[9:44] you know, they're watching the dailies of this film that
[9:47] they've shot a lot of and you you're looking at it and they're
[9:52] not we're we're just not getting the laughs.
[9:55] Like this is a this is a funny, quirky story and we're not
[9:57] getting any laughs. So I think for them to go back
[10:00] and reshoot the movie all over again just took so much like
[10:04] confidence and and belief in this film and in, in, in Michael
[10:08] J Fox, who was meant to play that part.
[10:10] So yeah, they're with behind every classic great movie,
[10:14] there's always those stories of, of taking risks.
[10:17] And I think back to the future, the characters, what they're up
[10:21] against, you know, their bodies disappearing on that photo if
[10:24] you don't make the right decision, if you don't come
[10:26] through this, there's just the high stakes that I love about
[10:30] the movie. And of course, in any great
[10:32] movie, you need that, that the comedy, you need some of those
[10:35] laughs. And that's what it does so well.
[10:38] Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely incredible.
[10:40] Yeah, and and and something else that's funny again, this movie
[10:44] following, following me my whole life.
[10:46] When I, when I first moved to LA and I was auditioning, they
[10:48] would have pilots audition for for TV pilots on the universal
[10:53] lot, right. And on the universal lot, you
[10:55] can take a studio tour, you can do the studios.
[10:59] So I had a audition at one of the sound stages and I peeked
[11:03] back and I see this long pathway.
[11:06] I didn't get the damn part. My audition went terrible.
[11:08] So I'm like, hey, I'm here. Yeah, I'm just going to, I'm
[11:10] just going to start walking. So I start walking and I'm not
[11:12] supposed to be back there because it's for studios and
[11:15] executives and all that. So I walk all the way around the
[11:17] corner. There's carts passing me where
[11:20] they're taking people. And I walk in to Hill Valley.
[11:26] And you're not supposed to be back there.
[11:28] It's closed off. But I got to walk around Hill
[11:31] Valley all by myself. Wow.
[11:34] Nobody told me leave. Nobody said anything.
[11:36] And I was like, you know, I'd been in LA for almost a year.
[11:40] I'd only gotten a movie called Retro Puppet Master and a
[11:43] soapbox. I was, it was a tough time
[11:45] because you know, you got on 6070 auditions and you're,
[11:48] you're just trying to keep your hope up.
[11:49] But I remember thinking I'd never get anything if I this
[11:52] was, this was my purpose to come to LA to walk around Hill Valley
[11:55] by myself. It was like that.
[11:58] That was worth it. And it was funny how much
[11:59] smaller the set felt, felt in person.
[12:02] But it was the old school backed feature of the clock tower of
[12:05] the town. It was, it was incredible.
[12:07] And then a few years later, there's a fire that destroyed a
[12:10] lot of it, right? But I really I got a chance to
[12:13] have my moment in Hell Valley around that time.
[12:16] Cool. Do you have a favorite scene
[12:18] from Back to the Future, Greg? I would say I just love just
[12:23] from an imagination standpoint. I love when Marty goes back to
[12:28] 1955 because it's just one of those things, I think.
[12:33] I don't know whether it's implanted from that movie or
[12:36] imagination, but there's times where you wake up or you go
[12:39] somewhere and you wonder, did I just go back in time?
[12:42] Like, am I? You're kind of going through a
[12:45] Deja Vu feeling. And so when he goes back and
[12:48] walks around in 1955, to me as, as someone who loves movies and
[12:53] loves creativity of dressing that set and dressing that town
[12:57] 30 years earlier, it's just so much fun how he, how he has to
[13:01] discover he's in a different time.
[13:03] And I remember I, I took it kind of far.
[13:05] I, I tend to do this when I love movies, but I was, I must have
[13:10] been 12:00. So I had the idea of tricking my
[13:12] dad into thinking he went back in time.
[13:15] So I got up super early one morning and my dad would save
[13:19] these front page of newspapers of historic events, right?
[13:22] So whether a sporting event or presidential election.
[13:24] So I went into his drawer and I found this old headline that
[13:30] went back like 10 years. And I went outside, got the
[13:34] newspaper and rewrapped it and put it there.
[13:37] And then I was like, I'm going to pretend I'm like 7 or
[13:39] whatever, or whatever I would have been.
[13:41] And so he opens the newspaper and he starts reading it and
[13:45] he's like, what the hell. Like what?
[13:48] I thought this already happened. And he completely was like
[13:51] completely, fully, had no idea I could have thought of that and
[13:54] gone that far and done it. And so I just, yeah, I think
[13:58] when I, when I think about the future, I think of that, that
[14:01] complete mind warp of what that would feel like to be back in an
[14:05] era where you're stuck. It's exhilarating, it's
[14:08] terrifying. And I think that's when the
[14:09] movie to me becomes most exciting again.
[14:14] It's a movie that that it has that sort of feeling where you
[14:18] want to live inside it. And I think that the the scene
[14:20] that really that I always come back to is, is Marty discovering
[14:24] his life in 1955? Do you know where 1640 Rivers.
[14:28] Are you going to order something, kid?
[14:32] Yeah. Give me, give me a tab.
[14:35] Tab. I can't give you a tab.
[14:36] Let you order something, Right. Give me a Pepsi, free.
[14:40] You want a Pepsi, pal? You're going to pay for it.
[14:43] Look, just give me something without any sugar written.
[14:45] OK, Some of that sugar. OK, now for Film 2, Greg, what
[14:51] have you got for us? Film 2 is not quite as uplifting
[14:55] as Back to the Future. It's a movie that I saw now in
[14:59] high school, so I'm slightly more grown up, and this one has
[15:02] a very different tone. It's a movie called Fire in the
[15:05] Sky. Yeah, directed by Robert
[15:07] Lieberman and based on the true story Fire in the Sky stars DB
[15:11] Sweeney, Robert Patrick and Peter Berg, members of a logger
[15:14] team who encounter extraterrestrial life form in
[15:16] the woods. When one of the crew disappears.
[15:18] The remaining team are the lead suspects when the town and the
[15:21] police suspect foul play. So what does fire in the sky
[15:24] mean to you, Greg? Fire in the Sky.
[15:26] I watched it on ABHS late at night, and it's still to this
[15:30] day stands as the most terrifying alien abduction scene
[15:34] I've ever witnessed. Oh, terrifying.
[15:36] It's a movie that it's a movie even that my mom was absolutely
[15:40] fascinated by because I think the scenes were done by ILM,
[15:45] George Lucas's company. Yeah, it revolves around these
[15:49] these dudes that are out in the Arizona desert and there's this
[15:54] bright red light that comes out and one of the the loggers goes
[15:59] running out. His name was Travis Walton.
[16:00] And he stands under it and he gets sacked.
[16:03] And then they they get scared, they leave and they come back
[16:05] and he's gone. And then so over the next 5
[16:08] days, they're being interviewed by the cops.
[16:10] They think something tragic happened to them.
[16:12] They think, you know, some sort of foul play.
[16:15] But they pass all these lie detector tests.
[16:17] And then all of a sudden at a gas station late one night, he
[16:21] shows up with no clothes on and talking about this insane story.
[16:25] So I think it was obviously the back then the the fear of the
[16:29] unknown. I mean, I think that movie
[16:31] really made you believe in aliens.
[16:33] What could happen now? Since then, I've progressed to
[16:36] where I interviewed the real life subject, Travis Walton.
[16:40] I spoke to him. About.
[16:42] We got in touch. A very interesting man.
[16:45] He's about my dad's age and he still lives in the same small
[16:49] town that he was living in. He's still friends with the the
[16:54] guy who who drove off and and and the friendship in that
[16:57] story. But we talked about it.
[16:59] He tells me that there was even more to the story than that was
[17:03] put in the film. And I guess he wrote a book and
[17:06] it's talked about a lot of different stories about what
[17:08] happened. But to me, what it sounds like
[17:11] is they were probably out on property they weren't supposed
[17:14] to be out on, probably back in the 70s, doing some sort of
[17:18] interesting party paraphernalia that they had and probably had
[17:22] to avoid getting targeted or getting in trouble.
[17:26] That's what it's kind of sounds like the more you look into it.
[17:28] But what I love so much about, what I love so much about the
[17:31] film is as the viewer, you're in that car with them.
[17:36] You don't know what happened. You obviously know what you saw,
[17:40] but you're having to deal with the police and everyone asking
[17:43] you and not believing you in a way that makes you frustrated
[17:47] and makes you want to know where the hell did Travis go?
[17:50] Like So what the film does is then it it it goes back and
[17:54] builds up the back story of the friendship of where they were
[17:56] and how they became close friends.
[17:58] So it makes you care even more about that relationship and you
[18:02] wonder where Travis is. You got these guys, these guys
[18:04] that come out of nowhere with like a business card that talk
[18:06] about UFOs, that talk about what they think they might know what
[18:10] happened to Travis. So I think for for me now, and I
[18:14] think nowadays, if this film was made presently, I think you'd
[18:18] have a lot more influx of the UFO scenes, right?
[18:23] So I think, you know, there's there's it's spread out in the
[18:26] in, in fire in the sky, but I think you'd have a lot more
[18:29] excessive effects and and over the top scenes.
[18:33] So what I do like the simplicity of Fire in the Sky, it's it's at
[18:37] the end of the day, it's a story about this group of friends and
[18:40] can they survive the the doubt that is placed upon them.
[18:45] Now I have done a lot of Rd. trips around the American
[18:48] Southwest, New Mexico, Arizona and what I love about Fire in
[18:53] the Sky is it never left my imagination.
[18:55] When I'm down there, when I see late night stars, when I'm in
[18:57] those areas, I always think about that story that took place
[19:01] and the mystery of did it happen?
[19:03] Was it drugs? Was it their imagination?
[19:07] And it also it stars Robert Patrick fresh off of Terminator
[19:11] 2 I think. Yeah, yeah, a couple of years
[19:13] after, I think. Yeah.
[19:14] And Henry Thomas as well, who was in ET and at that time,
[19:19] Legends of the Fall. Yeah.
[19:21] Fire in the Skies. Yeah.
[19:21] It's one of those movies that was a Paramount film that had
[19:25] sort of, you know, it's about 8-8 years after Back to the
[19:30] Future, but it still had, it was still, it was movie that was
[19:32] shot on film. And so that earnestness and
[19:35] sincerity that I think movies did up until that point.
[19:38] And like I said, to me, it had the best alien for what we think
[19:43] of in our imagination of, of being abducted or what it's like
[19:46] to be on a spaceship or what that might look like or feel
[19:50] like. You know, there's obviously
[19:52] interest in knowing what the visuals might be, but it's
[19:55] something about the way they orchestrated that experience was
[19:59] such, such a perfect blend of fear of fascination, of wonder,
[20:06] of like being abducted, of what that might feel like.
[20:08] And it's just crazy because 30 years, I think it came out 30
[20:11] years ago. What's going on with movies
[20:13] coming out? And on the 1993, I think it was,
[20:17] yeah, yeah, yeah. The Jurassic Park as well.
[20:20] That's right, yeah. Ten years later, 10 years later,
[20:22] we all know what happened. But of course, and it was funny
[20:27] because I bring up Fire in the Sky to a lot of film makers and
[20:29] a lot of film fans and they always say the same thing.
[20:33] That movie was the most terrifying experience of my
[20:35] teenagers or, or watching, you know, watching the movie.
[20:38] That scene in particular DMA, that is that is terrifying.
[20:42] In that scene, that is ABS I had the I had goosebumps.
[20:46] I was I was genuinely terrified. It was it was a great horror
[20:49] movie scene. Yeah, I mean, because, because,
[20:52] because we heard a lot of stories of the animals being
[20:55] abducted or cows being abducted or and then we thought, we
[20:59] thought what happens to us if we get abducted and they do all
[21:02] those weird and weird things to, you know, as, you know, as you
[21:06] know, in the movie. And then you wonder what kind of
[21:09] damage does that do? And that's so it's so
[21:11] interesting. When he returns to Earth, he's
[21:13] not really injured, right. So it's like, is there some sort
[21:17] of technology that they have or some sort of advanced, do they
[21:20] they obviously don't want to kill him or interim.
[21:22] So it's like, what is what is that about?
[21:24] And then where do they go after that?
[21:26] Or there's just so many questions that it that it
[21:28] brought out. And being a teenager, I thought
[21:30] that was like it said, based on true story.
[21:32] I'm like, that happened. Like this is what happens for
[21:35] sure. Like you don't think it's an
[21:37] account? So it was especially terrifying
[21:39] at 14. Anytime you'd see a light in the
[21:41] sky or a movement, you always think, stay indoors because that
[21:44] could happen to me. Yeah, yeah.
[21:46] Great. So do you.
[21:47] Is that your favorite scene for the film or do you have another
[21:51] one? Greg?
[21:51] I think for me, so you have the opening with with the abduction
[21:55] scene I always loved as well. And of course the the alien
[21:58] stuff is is I think the strongest part of the film.
[22:02] But the scene that I really liked was when the guys were
[22:06] approached by those weird science planet people.
[22:12] Because I think the movie up until that point, you're
[22:13] wondering, you're wondering. And then they brought in a
[22:15] really nice moan of question of bringing it back to the unknown.
[22:21] Because you have so many groups of people that always say, oh,
[22:25] for sure, alien exists. Like you got to be, yeah, you
[22:28] got to be stupid not to believe that.
[22:30] And then you have the flip side of being like, you have no proof
[22:33] why? Why would aliens exist?
[22:35] It's all hype. It's all, you know, it's all
[22:37] fiction. And so just seeing those two
[22:39] sides come together of, of those people coming in with the
[22:43] knowledge and then opening their eyes.
[22:45] And I think it's a really nice moment because now as a viewer,
[22:48] you're totally lost of what's coming or you're confused.
[22:52] And then, of course, the phone call comes in at the perfect
[22:55] moment and that, and that brings it all together.
[22:57] But I really love rewatching it. I thought there was way, way
[23:00] more alien stuff in it than I remember.
[23:02] I think so. Mike Rogers.
[23:06] Excuse me, Mr. Rogers. Mr. Whitlock.
[23:09] I'm Jarvis Powell. From afar.
[23:11] We had a lot of experience in these matters, and I think we
[23:15] might be able to help each other out.
[23:20] Well, we just wanted to let you know that there are those of us
[23:24] out there who know the truth. And finally, Greg, the final
[23:32] piece of the jigsaw. What's the third film?
[23:36] The third film is my favorite movie of 2022 and that is a
[23:41] movie that was released by a 24 called Pearl.
[23:46] Fantastic. Yeah, the prequel to Thai W 70s
[23:49] said horror movie X Pearl stars the outstanding Mia Goth as
[23:53] Pearl, a small town gal with dreams of making it big in the
[23:56] world of showbiz. But Pearl's behavior threatens
[23:59] all around her as she embarks on a disturbing rampage of
[24:02] violence. An outstanding film.
[24:05] Why do you love this one, Greg? So I love this movie, obviously
[24:09] for many reasons, but I saw it. So I saw X and I really enjoyed
[24:14] X for what it was. I thought it was enjoyable and
[24:16] and I, I love that that style of horror film.
[24:19] So I was in Chicago with some friends and we had a morning to
[24:23] kill and I remember seeing the poster of Pearland.
[24:26] I thought, whatever, I don't, I didn't need to see it.
[24:29] I didn't, I didn't. I was what I whatever on it.
[24:31] And so it was a matinee showing. It was about 11:30 in the
[24:35] morning. We had time to kill, but like,
[24:38] let's just go see Pearl. There was about 7 people in the
[24:41] theater. And This is why it's to me, it's
[24:43] so important to go see a movie in a theater.
[24:45] I sat in there and from the moment it started, I was just
[24:49] like, this movie was made for me.
[24:51] I love the this the character based story.
[24:55] It had a Wizard of Oz feel to him, like one of my all time
[24:59] favorites. And it had a, it was just such a
[25:03] like isolated feeling that I think is an artist from when
[25:08] you're living, you live in a small town or you're from a
[25:10] different place. We all feel what she felt.
[25:13] We feel like the trying to get away from your, your family,
[25:17] your chores, that life is such a hard breakaway.
[25:21] And so when she has these like internal moments of darkness of
[25:24] wondering, can she make it? Is she great?
[25:27] Does she have it? And just the dark, the, the slow
[25:31] turn to darkness to me was just so interesting.
[25:36] Again, we're watching at 11:30 AM in a in a small theater.
[25:40] I didn't know what was coming, but I was so hooked on her
[25:44] character. I also thought it was really
[25:46] fascinating because we still were going through part of the
[25:49] pandemic and they filmed this during the pandemic.
[25:51] So they're the people were still wearing masks because they were
[25:54] set during the last pandemic. And so it was such a simple
[26:00] setup with just these like intense characters that I feel
[26:04] like it was a movie we we don't get to see that often.
[26:06] We don't get to see sort of a throwback to that era, what that
[26:10] be like. And and I love that it took
[26:12] risks. I mean, obviously if you saw it,
[26:13] the scarecrow scene was like insane made made you made you
[26:18] laugh in a way that you're like, they're going for it.
[26:22] And it was, to me, it was like X was sort of the traditional
[26:27] general horror film, right? Pearl gave you something that
[26:31] that was like way beyond that. It was a horror, much harder
[26:35] horror film to make that I just was so thrilled with.
[26:38] And I I felt the dread coming for every character.
[26:43] And I think one of the strongest scenes is the audition scene
[26:47] because that's something we can all relate to.
[26:49] You know, we go out there and we believe we're something and then
[26:52] we're dealt that reality. And that's the way it was shot.
[26:54] Mia Goth was such a powerhouse and then having grown up with
[26:57] European parents and with the German mom and and the dad, it
[27:02] was just something that just was such a creepy element of
[27:06] disturbing that who I would just admired in so many ways.
[27:12] I mean Mia Goth's performance, it's it's Oscar worthy.
[27:16] She is outstanding in well throughout the film, but there
[27:19] are about 3 or 4 standout moments, the kind of out of
[27:23] place for a horror movie. Kind of accept that horror
[27:27] movies the acton's never really that great, but in this and it
[27:32] is so much different to X. Like you said, X, it's a great
[27:36] horror movie, but this it's gone up another 3 levels and I'm I'm
[27:42] just thrilled as well because you wouldn't normally get these
[27:45] kind of films. A 24 put a lot of emphasis on
[27:49] artistic films and independent films and you know it's paid
[27:52] off. Ty W as well.
[27:53] He's been slogging in the industry for a while and he's
[27:57] made some great films, but this is it's something else, this
[27:59] one. Yeah, and it was also, I know I
[28:02] think they'd made it because they were down in New Zealand
[28:04] during the pandemic. And, and, and So what I, what
[28:07] again, I love about this movie is sort of the, the spur of the
[28:10] moment creativity, not like just saying, hey, let's, let's go
[28:15] make this film. Let's go, let's write it.
[28:18] We, we don't need tons of people to do this.
[28:21] Let's sit down. Mia Goth and I think it was Ty
[28:22] West and they're like, let's just write this together.
[28:25] Let's you know, we got this character, we have this time.
[28:27] Make the most of this, this moment.
[28:29] You don't need a lot to go out and make a film that sometimes
[28:32] the planning takes away from that.
[28:34] Like that raw movie making moment where you're, you're
[28:38] ready to go. Like you just I, I love the
[28:40] idea. They just made this during the
[28:42] pandemic. Yeah, there was a spontaneity of
[28:44] it. Favorite scene for Pearl?
[28:47] Greg? Which one is it?
[28:48] There are a number of them. I think the monologue at the end
[28:51] was, was something that probably I admired the most in the sense
[28:54] of acting, because it's really hard to let a camera keep going
[28:58] and let that genuine performance come out so unfiltered.
[29:02] But I think for me, the, the scene that I like, I've shown
[29:06] this movie now to a couple of people and they, they thought
[29:10] that for some reason that I said this movie's inspiring.
[29:14] That's what they went in watching it.
[29:17] And so they're watching it and it gets to the scarecrow scene
[29:20] and they look over me and they're like, you're ridiculous.
[29:23] I was like, what? This is an inspiring film, but I
[29:28] love the, oh, something else I didn't touch on.
[29:31] I also love the relationship with the film projectionist that
[29:35] to me has sort of an underbelly feel of darkness of where the
[29:40] Wizard of Oz could have gone. Like this could be a prequel to
[29:43] The Wizard of Oz. That relationship, I thought, I
[29:46] loved how it represented a lot of toxic relationships in the
[29:51] film industry. That desperation of of, of of
[29:55] clinging and why, you know, I thought that was really, you
[29:59] know, I thought that was very, very well done.
[30:01] But I said my favorite scene has to be the audition that goes
[30:05] very, very poorly. And then the play out of that
[30:07] with the with the blonde girl who then goes to see Pearl.
[30:12] I think that section to me is when it's just it's, it's, it's
[30:16] a scene I can watch over and over because you can feel the
[30:20] dread coming. What's in the suitcases?
[30:23] All my things I need for going on the road.
[30:26] Wow, you're confident. Rumour has it they may only be
[30:31] taking one gallop per town. It has to be me.
[30:40] I don't think you meant to say that out loud, Pearl.
[30:43] Well, if it's not me, then I hope it's you, Right?
[30:46] It has to be me. So Greg, you've got a lot going
[30:51] on in your world at the moment, keeping very busy obviously.
[30:54] I'd be remiss not to bring up The Room, which I believe is
[30:57] celebrating its 20th anniversary this week.
[31:00] It's was the 27th of June was the 2003 was the premiere.
[31:05] Yeah, premiere in LA on June 27th, 2003.
[31:08] It was a night I'll never forget.
[31:09] It was a movie that obviously I had Avhs rough cut of it and I'd
[31:14] showed my friends and family and we had enjoyed it and talked
[31:17] about it and laughed about it and quoted it.
[31:19] So it became a different reality when all of a sudden now the
[31:21] public was going to see this film.
[31:24] And then that became super interesting because in LA, Tommy
[31:27] had put up billboards like he was going for it.
[31:29] And so now we got a theater full of people.
[31:31] I'm now seeing it with the crowd for the first time.
[31:34] And people just had a blast. They laughed, they started even
[31:40] quoting it the first night. And you saw this masterpiece of
[31:44] of comedy or whatever it was come to life.
[31:46] We were all just super confused because we had no idea what the
[31:49] hell with it, what it was. And, and Tommy, where Tommy saw
[31:54] there was a draw and he stuck to it and he kept the Billboard up.
[31:58] There were screenings of it. And, you know, it just built up
[32:02] this huge cult following in Los Angeles and kept growing.
[32:08] And so here we are 20 years later.
[32:09] And I went from thinking, oh, you know, I, I don't know what
[32:13] people think of The Room when they see me in it.
[32:14] Is it something I, I should steer away from?
[32:17] But now, 20 years later, I'm like, no, this is a movie that
[32:19] has done what so many film makers would really hope that
[32:22] their films do. It's got longevity, it's
[32:24] timeless. It's now travelled through
[32:27] generations, it's travelled the world.
[32:29] And that's something that I've, over 20 years, have come to
[32:32] appreciate and admire in a lot of ways.
[32:36] Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a it's an incredible story as well,
[32:39] Like the the story of the production and the story of how
[32:42] it's grown over the last 20 years and and up through all
[32:46] your trials and tribulations. You're obviously still friends
[32:48] with Tommy. You've you've been in a few
[32:51] movies together. You obviously still love working
[32:53] together. Yeah, I think with The Room it
[32:55] was a different experience because Tommy, it was, you know,
[32:58] his brainchild, he masterminded it.
[33:00] So you were sort of existing on Tommy's planet making The Room.
[33:04] But from meeting Tommy in that acting class, I met him in 1998
[33:07] in San Francisco in an acting class and I immediately was
[33:10] drawn to his persona, his character, his comedy.
[33:15] He's just, he's just a larger than life character.
[33:17] And so when we became friends, I was always engaged with how he
[33:22] saw the world. So a few years, a few years ago,
[33:25] I wrote and produced a movie called Best Friends.
[33:27] And Tommy's in that movie and he plays a a vampire mortician.
[33:32] And we did some screenings in the UK.
[33:34] We actually Lionsgate released it worldwide on streaming.
[33:37] And so therefore working with him on that project, I really
[33:40] enjoyed it because you could tap into his persona, his character,
[33:44] his strengths as an actor. And I think that's what I've
[33:47] really enjoyed, is being able to embrace that.
[33:50] Grace Yeah. And I was very interested to
[33:52] find out doing a bit of research that there is a a remake of
[33:55] sorts on the way, Star and Bob Odenkirk and yourself reprising
[33:59] the role of Mark. Can you tell me a bit more about
[34:01] that? Oh yes, so so for the 20th
[34:03] anniversary they did this. They did a stage reading for
[34:05] charity on a green screen and Bob did the lines of Johnny, I
[34:10] did the lines of Chris R and it's supposed to come out
[34:13] sometime this year, but it's, yeah, it's a reading for for
[34:16] charity. And Bob Odegreu's one of my
[34:18] favorite actors. I mean, you look at the last 10
[34:21] years of of TV and he's given us just endless amount of of
[34:26] incredible work. So it was a fun time.
[34:29] And anytime you get to get to be around you're some of your
[34:32] heroes, it's it's really fun. And especially getting to see
[34:34] him read some lines as Johnny was great.
[34:37] Yeah, fantastic. And the charity, the charity is
[34:39] called acting for a 'cause that's when they recreate the
[34:43] great they did The Great Gatsby, Julius Caesar, classic works of
[34:48] cinema. So how the room ended up in
[34:50] there is pretty interesting, but.
[34:53] I think it fits perfectly. So I would rewatch The Disaster
[34:57] Artist. How much kind of artistic
[34:59] license was taken in the film compared to, you know, real life
[35:04] and how it was for you and in your book as well?
[35:07] So the book The Disaster Artist, for me, it was the obviously
[35:11] telling the story of my journey coming to Los Angeles, making
[35:14] the room, my friendship with Tommy.
[35:17] And you know, if you're going to turn that into a film, there's a
[35:23] lot of crazy moments of Tommy's back story, you know, explaining
[35:27] my my journey through the friendship.
[35:29] So I think with the with the adaptation, it's much more
[35:34] condensed version of, of the friendship of two guys following
[35:37] their dreams. So I think the book is
[35:39] definitely like, darker and weirder and more, more insane in
[35:43] a lot of ways. So I think they kind of made it
[35:46] more cohesive in a story that people don't love, you know,
[35:49] don't love making up movies, don't know the room.
[35:51] They can sit down and watch it and still enjoy it.
[35:54] And that's what's. So yeah, that's what's so cool
[35:57] is over the years, like all around the world, people saw the
[35:59] disaster artists and they loved it and it inspired them and they
[36:03] wanted to find out more about it.
[36:04] So the movie was Disasters was not an easy movie to make.
[36:08] And you got to just give so much credit to James Franco and Seth
[36:11] Rogen, the screenwriters. We did a great job really
[36:14] thinking it through. What?
[36:15] What can we make something that's a timeless story about
[36:18] the making, you know about? Yeah.
[36:20] A story about Hollywood. Yeah, it's a great film.
[36:23] And you working on a new film right now, Forbidden Sky.
[36:26] I've noticed today that it's just been 100% funded on
[36:29] Kickstarter, which is absolutely incredible news.
[36:31] You've got to be excited about that.
[36:33] Yeah, I saw. I So I made Best Friends Volume
[36:36] 1 and 2 with Tommy. Then I made a movie called
[36:39] Miracle Valley, which is a again, it's sort of got an X
[36:41] quality. Somebody was telling me when
[36:43] they they saw Miracle Valley, I wrote directed star produce.
[36:47] Sounds familiar, but they said it was a seven.
[36:50] It was a 70s horror eccentric vibe.
[36:52] And and so they said reminded them of X, which is obviously a
[36:56] big compliment. So again, I love genre stories.
[36:59] So I'm I the next thing I want to work on is a movie called
[37:03] Forbidden Sky about a UFO abduction.
[37:07] And oddly enough, I'm trying to get Travis Walton from Fire in
[37:10] the Sky, the real life subject to have a cameo in this film.
[37:14] And we're going to make it in Roswell, NM.
[37:16] But we, yeah, we teamed up with Kickstarter.
[37:18] I'd never done anything like this before, but with those
[37:20] being The Room's 20 year anniversary, I thought what a
[37:22] great chance to involve all those fans who have supported
[37:25] you for 20 years now. To give them the chance to be in
[37:28] the film and be part of production calls and see what
[37:30] it's like to to get out there and make a film.
[37:33] So we're hoping to make it early next year.
[37:35] Yeah, it's called Forbidden Sky. The Kickstarter campaign is
[37:37] still live for I think 2 more days.
[37:40] We have some crazy stretch goals we're trying to get.
[37:43] So the idea is that the stories about a small town radio host
[37:47] who used to be an actor in a really bad sci-fi TV show think
[37:52] kind of Galaxy Quest. And so so the show got cancelled
[37:55] and he was like, wait, the show was really saying something.
[37:57] People don't get it. So he's kept living as that
[38:00] character in his life that he played in the show.
[38:03] So now all of a sudden he's like, he's a radio host for a
[38:07] really crazy conspiracy show that nobody listens to.
[38:10] But late one night this alien race comes down to earth and
[38:15] they only want they're orbiting Earth and they only want to
[38:17] speak to him. So all of a sudden he's this
[38:20] important figure in this thing. So within the movie is a is is
[38:24] flashbacks to a really bad sci-fi TV show.
[38:27] So we're trying to get some cameos, maybe get like a guy
[38:30] like, I don't know if you know, Neil Brain getting other.
[38:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's kind of like a kind of like
[38:37] an underground director. Sure, sure, sure.
[38:39] So let's try to incorporate different, you know, obviously
[38:43] we're making, you're going out and trying to make a good film,
[38:45] something of a fire in the sky or something that stands on its
[38:49] own, but also working in these kind of undercurrents of cult
[38:53] weirdness as well. I've seen the the artwork for
[38:57] what? What may be the provisional
[38:59] artwork for Forbidden Sky and is that an homage to Fire in the
[39:03] Sky? The the one sheet for Fire in
[39:05] the Sky. So the poster is I'm working
[39:08] with this artist in Spain. He's great.
[39:10] He did he did the covers from Miracle Valley as well.
[39:13] But we're going for just sort of a vintage aesthetic.
[39:16] I don't think he's ever seen fire in the sky, but maybe just.
[39:19] The. Soul of what we're trying to
[39:21] make, I think is there, but yeah, I think we're going to try
[39:25] to tie in a few of these movies that I love.
[39:27] Another another 824 film I love was Ex Machina and that was
[39:31] another big inspiration for this as well.
[39:34] Cool, so you're filming the start of next year.
[39:36] When can we expect to see it? Probably, I'd say late 2024, you
[39:41] know, we don't get abducted, you know, yeah.
[39:45] Or 2025. We'll, we'll see how we how we
[39:47] do. But it's one of those projects
[39:48] to be really fun to take your time with it and and do it
[39:51] right. Great.
[39:52] Yeah, excited to see it and hopefully I'll be able to see
[39:55] that remake of The Room. That sounds.
[39:56] That's really interesting and it's your birthday in a couple
[39:59] of weeks, Greg. That's is that right?
[40:01] That's right. That's right.
[40:02] That's right. Yeah.
[40:03] July 15th. Many happy.
[40:05] Returns to do. Thank you very.
[40:08] Much. OK.
[40:09] Well, thanks so much for coming on the show, Greg, and talking
[40:11] movies with us. It's really been great to have
[40:14] you on. Anytime.
[40:15] Thank you. Big thanks to Greg for stopping
[40:24] by. Don't forget to check out his
[40:25] new films. As for all the Right Movies, our
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[40:30] President's Men. That'll be out Friday, 7th of
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