Meryl Poster on Beautiful Girls

UM for many, many years has worked on Oh boy, I mean the list of films that she's had her fingerprints on as producer, executive producer, executive in charge of production, I mean, you name it, it's um really really stunning movies like Chicago and Chuck a Lot and Cider House Rules and Copland and Beautiful Girls, the movie that we decided to talk about actually UM because that was the one that she enjoyed working on the most. Um. It's

a really, uh pretty impressive resume. And uh, if I thought about it too much before we recorded, I probably would have been a little too nervous to sit down with her. But we had a great talk about producing and what that means and how she got her start in the business and how scrappy she was early on to to make her name as a woman in Hollywood,

and it was really really cool and enlightening. And um, I just want to say to the sort of the elephant in the room with Meryl is that she was Harvey Weinstein's a sort of right hand person for many many years and worked at Mirramax's head of production and amazing job during their great, great run of amazing films, and um, you know, she was obviously a little bit nervous about being interviewed, something that she doesn't do much anymore. But you know, she left Mirrormax I think about seven

years ago. I told her that that wasn't what this show was about, and that the criminal justice system had had taken care of that situation and there was no need to to drag her through that again. And she really appreciated that, and I think that was that was definitely the right call to make for this episode. And but I did want to throw that out there, um, because you know, she worked for Mirrormax for many many years, one of the one of the great production companies for

many many years. But we all know how that turned out, and I was just thankful that. Uh she is doing great and she has a great new podcast with our network. Uh not new, they actually have just been granted a season two called Call Your Grandmother, which everyone should listen to when we're gonna talk about that on this episode as well. So here we go with the great, legendary, super awesome Merrill Poster, my new pal on the movie Beautiful Girls, in kind of a little retrospective of her

whole career. Are you in New York right now? Yes? How's New York right now? I mean it was freezing yesterday. I wasn't here. I've been in Florida. I came back. I mean, truth be told, I came back from Florida last week and I was there for a month. So that's nice. As New York still pretty um ghost towny or kind of kind of. I mean, when you go to certain in my area, it's not. I'm on the Upper West Side, so my area isn't. But if you go to certain parts of the city, it's really strange.

Like if you're a midtown it's really really weird to see that. It's very upsetting when you see stores closed, it's it's beyond upsetting. I hate it. And everybody's going like there's like one place to go now, like happening place to go now for lunch and dinner. It's like the same place. Everyone's like, how come you were there? I said, because it's the happening place that everybody wants

to go to. So they picked that place because it used to be you know, you used to have choices, but now so you know, there the restaurant at Barney's or um, Michaels. I mean, there were so many choices. Now it's Avat for lunch and dinner. Really because they're doing it the right way. I guess it's a big restaurant.

Uh well, I'm kind of curious. You know. We always love to talk about the people's youth and on the show and kind of what inspired and we we don't get people of the likes of you on the show very often, So thank you for coming on, by the way, it's a pleasure. Um. But what was your childhood like as far as movies go, where did you first get that bug? Um? I probably first got my movie bug from my grandmother. My grandmother, UM grew up on the

Upper West Side and she loved movies. As a kid, and she been wrote about skipping school, leaving school to go to a movie. So she was more of the kind of grandmother who wasn't playing on the floor with us, but would take us to see my brother and I to see movies. That's when we were with her, That's basically what we did. Because she lived in Manhattan, it was easy to get there, and and and we went to movies. I remember seeing Uh, Well, this frightened me.

But I remember seeing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang scared me a lot. I think it's still yeah. And when I saw Wicked, the monkeys freaked me out. You know, I went back to that time. I thought it was a really scary moving Yeah, the monkeys and then the Wizard of oz To always had a problem with the flying monkeys, was very scary for me. And then, um, I remember her taking me to see Bed Knobs and Broomsticks, which is playing at Radio City Music Hall. Um. So she

took us to the movies. My brother and I a lot, and my parents were big movie goers as well. My parents, I think they thought they were in show business. My dad was in the garment center, and I think people in the garment center kind of felt there that they were part of the entertainment industry because they would go to the Copea Gabana and they would go UM two

different clubs. I mean, growing up, if we went to Florida, um for for Christmas for two weeks we went to a hotel called the Diplomat, and you would have a group they're called the Fifth Dimension who were playing. And so it's just a whole exposure to show business in a way. Um, My mom once had me stay home from school because she saw that Marjorie Morning Star was on TV. Really and she wanted me to see it. She thought it was very important that I see that movie.

So that's cool. So it was sort of always And you know, your brother is Randall Poster, one of the great music supervisors who done plenty of work but made his name with Wes Anderson in large part for his films. So you were Randy, we were. Yeah. We used to watch the Channel seven movie, um, the Million Dollar Movie if you know about that. It was in New York. It was in New York. It was the ABC, the Channel seven movie, and they had a theme each week,

and so like Tony Curtis was a theme. So my brother and I always used to watch that together you got your start in the business. I mean you always hear about these classic stories of starting in the mail room in Hollywood and that that was your story, right. Yeah, you know. I have to say, in my whole career, the biggest deal, the biggest thing, was that I got

the job in the mail room at William Morris. And I was the second female trainee to be in the mail room because they didn't have trainees, they didn't have women in the mail room before, and um, it was

really a hard job to get. I I went to Tulane and I was on this committee and the speaker symposium thing, and there was a dinner at the president of the university's home and Alexander Haig was being It was for Alexander Haig who was speaking, and I was sitting next to his aid, a guy named Woody Goldberg. And what he was talking to me And if you look at my name tag, it doesn't read Jewish Meryl poster. But I think if you look at me or talk

to me, you quickly realize that I am. So he said, um, Meryl, you know what are you doing after school? And I said, I don't know him a sophomore, and he said, I think you would make a great agent. So I said okay. So he said, I'm gonna put you in touch with a woman at William Morris and see see if you can get a job there this summer. Okay, thank you.

I get in touch with this agent at William Morris and she says that they only hire the children of agents there for the summer, and that, um, you know, there's no openings. Okay, so I had to take I was doing, of course at ny U for some credits, and at the end of the summer, I called personnel just randomly and I was fortunate to get this woman on the phone named Ruth Ann Cioni and she had just started there. She was an associate and I guess they call it human resources, but at the time they

called it personnel. And I asked her if I could get an informative interview and she said yes. So I went in there and I interviewed and talked to her, and she said to stay in touch, and I went. I studied in London that semester my junior year, and I sent her postcards. When I traveled somewhere, I would just sent her a postcard, and then I came home Christmas break and I saw her and she said, there's

still nothing available. To stay in touch. So the next semester I was studying in Florence, and I traveled all over and I sent to postcards from everywhere, and I called and there was nothing available. And by time, at some point my add stop sending money to the American Express office and I had to come back and uh. I worked as a receptionist in the garment center that summer.

I went back to tu Lane in the fall, and I was in touch with her, and at that point, I think at the end of the summer, she told me that I needed to know how to type to work in the room. So I didn't know how to type. Christmas Break, my senior year, I took a short methods Secretarial Skills at the Penta Hotel, which is across the street from the garden in the basement. I went there every day and learned how to type. I went back to school for the second semester of my senior year

and kids are starting to interview. At that time, different companies, advertising agencies and whatnot would come and interview students for jobs and my friends would say, well, aren't you interviewing and I said, no, I'm going to work at William Morris. I said, I know how to type, and I could be attempt. I now know how to type, it can be attempt. I'm not going to take some job I

don't want. I want to work. I want to work there. Okay, So now I'm finished with school and I go I actually now get to meet the head of personnel at William Morris and he says to me that, um that I need a connection, that you really need to know someone to get into the program. So I kept saying to my parents, don't you know someone? You must know someone, And finally they realized that the cantor at my temple was good friends with this guy named Lee Solomon. And

Lee Solomon was a personal appearance agent. In fact, when Kathie, Lee and Regis were on, they used to refer to him and sometimes you'd see him. He's a guy, you know, slick back hair. I think that, yeah, a flower in his pocket, very slick. And he booked, you know, for Atlantic City in Las Vegas. So I mean, it's not when everyone says to me, oh, the cantor your temple, but our temple was very small, and I had gone to Yeshiva, which is a Hebrew day school, when I

was younger, so I knew Hebrew pretty fluently. By time. It was my Bob Mitzvah, and so I was the best student he ever had. I was his prize student. It was like a breeze compared to everyone else. So I knew the cantor pretty well. It wasn't that bizarre. Um. So I met with him for like five minutes, lease Solomon, and he said okay, and then I was put through the process and it was to me, three different agents and they question you and then you start So what

is it about the mail room? I mean, it's such a path to kind of get your foot in the door. Why mail room? Is it just because it's the sort of entry position or is there something about the job specifically putting you in touch with people at the company constantly? Well, I mean at the time, it was it was what I should do, you know, I didn't know to be

I didn't know anything else. Maybe a page program at one of the networks, but I just knew of that as an entryway, and I didn't know what it really entailed. I just knew that that's how you get in. And so you really do work in the mailroom. I really did work in the mail room. UM you read at that time, you could read all the all the emails, not all the emails, all the memos. And they also

would um they would have all the meeting minutes. They would transcribe the minutes from all the meetings, the different meetings, whether it be from TV, talent, music, they all had their meetings and they were all too inscribed, so you could UM read the minutes. You could take home. You take home them. It's too hard to read all of them there, but you could take home the minutes, right,

and that's how you learn. And then they also would for the who their clients were, they were in bold and a memo clients were in bold, so that's how you learned too the clients were as well. And then UM and then you would uh read scripts. And when you delivered mail like the you would try to get the card to be on the floor of what you wanted to get into. So if you wanted to get into music, you would take that card or books or

whatever it was. So I wanted to be in UM in casting, I guess, and so I would take that car and then they'd ask you to read scripts sometimes the assistants and cover it so and then sometimes you'd fill in on a desk when somebody was out and it was really fun. I really enjoyed it. Um. But they didn't have women delivering packages, so that was good. Also, they didn't put us on the subway to deliver packages,

so we stayed in the house. I mean sometimes you did little um runs of some sort, but nothing big. And then about six months, no really, about three or four months into working in the mail room, I get a message that the president of William Morris wants to meet with me. And I'm like, oh god, I know I put the mail in and I took the mail out certain of it. And so he um asked me if i'd like to work for him. That he had a regular secretary and she came into like eleven and

he get in earlier. So, um, you know, when I come work, you know, and it's not like I can say no. So I was like, okay, it wasn't my ideal per se, because it wasn't a training desk. As he was the president, he didn't as many clients. It wasn't like I listened in on the phone calls. So um, in the morning, I would get there and he would call me from his apartment he was two blocks away, to ask me for breck, tell me what he wanted

for breakfast. And at the time, unfortunately for me, the cook had quit, so I had to order it from the deli across the street, and then I would have to call down to the mail room to pick it up because I couldn't leave my desk, so they would bring it to me and then I would transfer it into China. But it was nothing. It was like toasting coffee. It was really not a big deal what he ordered. Um,

And so how did I did that? And then I also read magazines and highlighted all the clients and the newspapers, and someone would come up and they'd see me reading people magazine like, oh my god. I said, no, this is my job. I have to do this and so um. Simultaneously, UM, I covered the visiting office that was next door, and that was when mostly board members from l A came into town and they used that office, so I worked

for them. So I got to know people from l A because and high ranking people because um they were working, I was helping them. And also the chairman of William Mars was in that suite also, so I got to know him as well. Wow, so you get a job where you're sort of know all the inside ins and outs and then you ingratiate yourself to people by working hard and hustling, and that's that's how you do it. Well.

Then I went to Mr Stevens and I said to him, because someone had someone had gotten a really good trainee job. It was actually on Kevin Eubane's desk, and I didn't have the opportunity and the girl, the girl who got it is actually one of my best friends now. But I despised her because she came from out. She came from not in the program at all, she just came from the outside and she got to be his assistant.

So I said, I complained to Mr Stevens about it, that it wasn't fair and being at his desk, I'm not having those opportunities. So then he said, okay, I hear you, and then ultimately put me with a woman who is head of casting for talent for head of casting at the department. It's called how it was called talent casting, then it's called talent now. Now is that Did you get your start before you started producing in casting? Yeah, I mean I wasn't really casting. You put together lists,

but it was being It was being an assistant. And the thing about being an assistant at William Mars or at any of the agencies is that you really trained. You don't get training at production companies the same way you do at an agency. You learn, you see the whole big picture. When you're at a talent agency, you know who everybody is, You have everybody's phone number. Those are the days of you know, there's no computer or cell phone. I still have certain numbers memorized. I tell

Susan by Mal, who's a manager. I said, I can still remember because she represented um Marissa Tomei, who I worked with a lot the client, and I still remember her phone number. There's some phone numbers that you just remember. Yeah, totally. Now we've talked a lot about on this show about and you know, my limited work in the film industry over the years. I used to p a and do art department stuff and the stuff you should know how a one season TV show, and I've tried to explain

to people. I think there's a lot of confusion to general listeners and movie fans about what producer means because there's so many kinds of producers. My wife was a producer for a while. Kind of can you break down sort of a bird's eye view of some of the different kinds of producers and then ultimately what you did as a producer? Okay, well, um, there really are all different kinds of producers. When people want you to define what does a producer do? There are all different kinds

of producers. And I think the number one thing about a producer is problem solving. That that's really a key, A key characteristic is problem solving. And um, I was an executive, but the way that my company operated was that we were very produced OIO. So we weren't like like they would they would call someone a suit. As an executive, we were in suits, we were in the we were in with them. We were in the trenches with the filmmakers and often guiding it much more so

than a producer. Okay, we would take a lot of responsibility. So uh, for I think the best way I can I can give you examples of movies and what the producer did on this one or that one? Um, well, should we talk about the movie that we're going to talk about and how I could say that producer or do you want to wait? Let's wait on that one. But can we go through some of your other movies, because you've you've worked on some of the greatest movies

that have ever been made and some of my favorite movies. Uh, And I did want to talk about Copland. I think that was James Mangold's first film, right, No, kate Leopold was no, Heavy was his first movie. Actually, that's right, that's right, Okay, with that he did, Yeah, then he did Copland and he did kate Leopold, right well, yeah, I think so for Copland, like, what did you do

on that movie compared to other films? Well, on that movie, I had worked with the producers, Carrie Woods and Kathy Conrad. I'd done a bunch of movies with them before, so I was really sort of part of their team. And he had wanted I remember that, it's the things that you remember. So Jim had wanted Nick Cage for the part, okay, for the Stollane part. Yeah, Okay, that's what he wanted. He wanted Nick cage and I don't remember what happened.

All I remember is that I've been in London on a movie and I came back to the office a Tribeca Film Center and I walked into a press a press um, what is it? A press press junk? No press conference, a press conference, and it they're sitting at it's being announced that Sylvester Stallone is playing the part. I didn't even know that was happening. And I'm not sure. I mean, ultimately Jim was very happy about it, but at the time I don't know how thrilled he was

about it. Yeah, it ended up being a great part for still and here and you know, a lot of accolades. I think. I think he was pretty great in it. Yeah, But I will say one of the worst part, one of the worst things about being in the movie business, at least for me, was research screenings. And we remember the first research screening we had. A research screening. I don't know if your audience knows, is when you recruit

people to see a movie. When the movie's over and you don't do and when the movie is over, you passed out a questionnaire. People fill out a questionnaire and then you select about twenty people to be the focus group, and someone leads the focus group and uh, talk about how they feel about the movie, what they should do. I mean in New York City, it's like they're all they're all go to film school. Feels like they're telling us and it is the worst, worst part. It was

the worst part by far. I think of what I did because like Slide was there for our first UM research screening and he was in UM. He was in Uh, I'm like losing my mind. He was in wearing something incognito. He was like incognito. So they start the focus group and the focus group is just tearing him apart. I thought I would die. It was talking about how bad he is. It's ridiculous and just going on and on. It's just so embarrassing. Oh my god, sitting and listening

to that and that. And I've been down that road. I've been, Like I said, if I ever wrote a book, someone said it should be I've been in the parking lot with all of them, because you go into the parking lot while they're taking doing the questionnaire. You go into the parking lot, you know, so they don't see the person and then they sneak in when they do the when they do the focus group. So I've been

in the parking lot with George Clooney, Sydney Paul. I've been in the parking lot with everyone, and it's very tense because they're worried about how it's going to be, and it's very very tense. So much power is put into that and so much goes into it's amazing, like they spend so much money on these movies, and then there's a room full of just movie goers kind of

deciding the fate on some very important calls. I what I'll tell you, what I found is that if a movie doesn't score well, anything you do doesn't really bring up the score very much. But if a movie scores well, like Chicago scored really well, of course right now we could have made it score. It scored say, and there were a couple of things that we could do to

take it to a hundred, and we did. We changed she re Renee rerecorded the last song um with more Heart, and there are a couple of little things we filled in, but it was basically it was basically that song and then just a couple of little things and it was we didn't need to do it, but it brought the movie over the top. And that's where I found it was only worth it if you have you know, like you have a an elephant, what do you say like

a pig? You can't put lipstick on a pig. And I went through this so many times, so many times. It was just so aggravating, and it was really only the movies that worked, Yeah, that that really made sense to put more money into it. Well, I mean, you've got a great list of credits, but what do you I mean, surely you've been in this situation before where everyone knows that the movie is not good despite the

best efforts. Like, what do you do in that situation? Cry? Really, it is so deflating, and you just and you and it's like beating you up. I mean, week after you know, you're doing all these screenings and speaking to these filmmakers, and it's just it's so demeaning and demoralizing. It really is. It's horrible. Let's talk more about Chicago, because that's a fantastic movie. It's one of my favorite movies and one of the movies that got me into musicals more than

I ever had been. Um, what else can you you know, we all we all want to hear insider stories. Oh my god, there's a million of them with that one. Just give me one or two. Um, I mean, was it all? I'm sure it was a tough shoot when you're talking. It wasn't the shoot. It was putting it together. You know, it had been put together before and and and actually I was on maternity thankfully when it fell apart. But initially it was it was owned by this producer

named Marty Richards. And Marty Richards was a very flamboyant theater producer who was married to Mary Lee Johnson of Johnson and Johnson. So she had she had been dead when we started the process. And he just threw money. He threw money in a lot of things. He had a beautiful apartment at the River River um terrorists, that was called the River Terrorists, I think, and he had the rights and he was piste off because um, the theater rights he did not have. So that kind of

bugged him because it was doing really well. It ended up, you know, blowing up on Broadway and was playing and he didn't get anything from that. The Weissler's Barry Weisler actually one thing that was funny was that Barry Weisler came to us that he wanted to direct it. Meeting with him. Yeah, what, Marty wasn't there, And I'm sitting there the whole time while he was talking about and I thought, I mean, I'm not telling this to Marty. He'll go crazy, He'll go nuts. And the guy went nuts.

Usually as it was, this was just like I'm laughing inside, like there's no way this is happening. But when we I saw it. I initially saw it when it was done City Center and they had just read it, you know, they used to do plays, and I had no idea what it was really about or what to do with it. And I was tasked with making a movie out of it, and I really had no idea what to do. And I would read the play over and over again and then read some background on it to get an idea

of it. So what its statement was about about fame? So I learned. I really literally lad the play every week to see more and more of what was in it, and UM met with a lot of directors and writers. It was a very very one time. At one point at the beginning, Madonna and Goldie harn were attached. I think I knew Madonna was at one point. Yeah, which makes sense. And at that time one point, Stanley Donning, the legendary director Stanley Donna did Singing an the Rain

directed Singing in the Rain and Charade. He was up for directing it, and we had had some meetings with him, and then I had to fly out to um to l A over Fourth of July weekend with him to meet with Madonna. And my grandmother was still alive. You talked about my grandmother told me all about movies, talked about movies all the time. And I called her and I said, I'm taking Stanley Donnin out to uh to l A to meet with Madonna for Chicago. And then

I said something Stanley, and she goes. She said, that's disgusting. He's a star. He has to fly to her. And I said, I know, I know, it's just the way it is. And when I said something Stanley, I said, and he makes me call him Stanley, he won't let me call him Mr. Donnon. Wow, that's funny. That didn't work out. Um There was one point, Oh my god, there's so many incarnations of this. So we had done

a movie called she's all that. Yeah. Course, and it was immensely successful for the company, and rob Iskov had directed it, so there was a thought that, you know, he should be doing He wanted to kind of do Chicago. We made the company a lot of money. Um, so he was given the job to direct it. It wasn't un universally UH agreed to unanimously. It wasn't met with great UH enthusiasm and then not through him. But we then hire Larry Gilbert to write it, or I think

Larry was hired before. I can't remember. But Larry decided that, um. And you know Larry Gilbert, you know, he didn't he wrote mash he wrote he wrote on favorite show as a kid, Tutsie. He you know, he's done a lot and anyway, so Larry decided that he's not going to talk to Rob Biscoe. He's decided he's not talking Rob Biscoe. He then decides he's not talking to Marty Richards, the producer, nor is he talking to the head of my company.

He's only going to talk to me. He decided. He's like, I'm only talking to And I said, Larry, I'm very flattered, but really like, this is not good for me. This is not helping me. And I was like, really, I like, we can hang out, but this is not really helping

me at all. That part, that whole grouping disintegrated and um, and then Nick Heitner was going to direct it and this, and then he was going to have Charlie's in it, and I don't remember the other I think Charlie's was gonna play Roxy and Marty Richards had a relationship with Katherine Zeta Jones and she was going to play Valma. I was a matary leave, and I really took my maternity leave because I was setting a precedent for everybody

following me that I really did not. I did the things I had to do, but I really took my maternity leave, and the whole thing blew up. I was not a part of it, thankfully. And so when I came back from maternity leave, we were on square one and I met with so many people. I met with David Fincher, I met with Robbie Bates, I met with Curtis Hansen. I mean just so many, so many people, and no one had a take that spoke to me at all. I didn't it just didn't feel it is

a gut thing you're looking for. I mean, for me, it's a good thing. But when I hear it, you know, I just it just didn't sound. It just didn't feel right. And I was passing on all these pretty big people. And Robbie Bates was he still brings it up. I think that He's like, wow, you were brutal. When he gave me a sake, I was like, that's terrible. And Uh, Anyway, he acknowledged to me later on that the movie was great and he understands why. So Um, I got a

call from an agent and I see um. And he said to me, and at that time, we had the rights to Rent, although we did not make I have nothing to do with the movie Rent. It ended up being sold. Had nothing to do with it, but we had bought it. I had bought it but didn't make it. And so he said to me, Um, would you meet with Rob Marshall. He just directed Cinderella on television? And uh, and I know an Annie. I'm sorry Robiscoe did Cinderella. He said, he just did Annie for television and I said, oh,

I saw that. Um, it was pretty good. He goes, would you meet with him for Rent? So I said sure. So Rob wasn't big enough to come in for Chicago. Yeah, previously, and Chicago is going to be a big event movie. Whereas I think that Rent, we could take more of a more of a shot, a swing, you know, we could take a swing on that. So Rob comes in and he says to me, Uh, do you mind if

I give you my take for Chicago? And I said sure, And he proceeds to tell me exactly how the movie opened, which is how the movie opened, and he said, you go, you go through her eye. You go through not renee, he said, you go through her eye and you see her on stage. I mean, he set the whole thing up, and he took me through the whole thing. And I said, that's it. That's so cool. And so when you hear it,

you know it. Yeah, I guess. And Rob was so dynamic that I knew he could draw a talent like he's very charming, Like I knew that wouldn't be a problem. And also with us supporting it, you know, we could get the talent right. And you weren't worried about just the lack of experiences as a film director either. I don't know, I wasn't you know. I thought that this take was so amazing. Um, and he had the right sensibility and um. And then we interviewed different writers. I

think it was four writers in Marty's house. I remember where a lot of action took place and um, and it turned out like Bill Bill Condon got the gig and it went. The script came in pretty great. Yeah, I mean that's a movie. I will anytime I see it's playing, I will, I will turn it to that channel and I'll tell you what happened with Renee so so UM. So I had done. I had done a movie called Price Above Rubies with Renee and I became friendly with her on that movie. And um, and the

first person we went to, uh, Reese Witherspoon. We went to and she said she couldn't sing. So now obviously with coal Miner's daughter, we found out that you can walk the line. Yeah, yeah, what did I say, daughter? Same same idea, Yeah, mark the line, which Jim Angel directed, and um. And then the other person they had to have like a real innocence to them. And we couldn't go to Kate Hudson because of the history with Goldie Hawn and I don't know. I don't know what. I

don't know. I don't know if we went to I don't know what if we went to Gwyneth or or not. But there weren't really any choices, and we had Katherine Zada Jones attached, and I said, you know, I can, I can. There are plenty of people who can play the part of Alma, you know, Michelle Peiffer. There's a lot of people who can play that part. But but this part, she had to be innocent. There was a lot to it. They had to be an innocence to it. And I felt that Renee would be perfect for the part.

So I called her agent and she calls me back and she said, Renee, uh said she can't sing and dance. And I said, you know, um, I'll be judge that. No, I'll tell you something. This This sounds so pretentious, but we had made the movie Talented Mr Ripley, And when Anthony Manguela cast Jude Law and cast Matt, I said to him, how do you know they can sing? And he said, I if you act well enough, you can act singing well enough. And Matt stood in my mind.

That stayed in my mind, and so she came back and said no, and this agent owed me a favor, and I said, I'm calling in my favor. I said, um, Renee has to come in and meet with Rob and just meet with him. That's the favorite. Just meet with him. And so she did and he worked with her dancing, and then on that we went to dinner at a place called West which is right near where I live now. And somehow Rob got her to sing Somewhere over the Rainbow and that was it, huh. And that was it,

and we negotiated. At the time, there was so much business with her for oh and know so we've done Bridget Jones Sirey with her, uh huh, that Bridget Jones Diary two Cold Mountain in Chicago. It was a combined negotiation, right, And I literally was bereft. I was so I was like, I need her for the movie. I need her for the movie. I can do without, I can do with the other parts, but I need her to play that part. Yeah, And that's why she thanks me for the Cold Mountain.

I didn't have anything to do with her being cast in Cold Mountain, but when she won the Oscar for Cold Mountain, she gave me a lot of props because of the because of the Chicago thing. You've been thanked on that Oscar stage quite a bit over the years. Yeah, I guess so. Well, there are different levels of can't sing. You know, there are people who genuinely can't sing and

I cannot sing tone deaf. And then if you get someone that can carry to him but maybe don't feel strong, uh, you can coach them up and get vocal coaches and sweeten it a bit and you can work with that, you know. Yeah, it worked out great. She was fantastic. She was absolutely fantastic. She was absolutely really she she was absolutely fantastic. Yeah. And Katherine's Ada Jones was someone I think I was sort of medium cool on until. I mean, I like tor Find but after Chicago I

was just blown away. I was like, man, she has got the goods. I did not know that she could do that stuff. I didn't know she could dance and sing and uh. And Richard Gear and John c Riley. I mean, it was just Richard Gear was my idea. Yeah, because I remember seeing um in the credits of a Pretty Woman that he had composed that piano tinkling that he had done, so it made me think that he

was um musical okay. And then the funny thing is, so then we did Chicago and he and he learned how to dance and did all the dancing and he was really great to work with. And that's the most acclaim he's ever gotten, critical claim he's ever gotten for a part. And then we had the movie. I was working on the remake of Showy Dance, uh, and I went to him first, and of course at first he passes, which they all do. And I said, listen, Richard, I spent a lot of money on dance lessons for you.

You owe me this. And his agent, who was the biggest agent in Hollywood, ed Lamotto at the time. I was so scared of him before because when I was an assistant at William Morris, he was scary and he had yelled at my friend. I never spoke to him, and every time, you know, there was a call that I was delegated, I was like, I can't call back at La Motto. I can't go back at La Matto. And the funny thing is that when we hired Richard, he would call me and and thank me. It was

just so crazy. I couldn't believe Ed La motto. And I used to call my friend who I sat next to as an assistant at Willie Marson, I said, can you believe that? La Motto called me. I mean, I would say, can you believe at La Motto? And then when I spoke to him about Shawe Dance, he said, you make Richard do it. We'll make Richard do it.

I mean, it was just mind blown. That's amazing. It's so cool to hear these stories because I think, I know people know it's tough to make movies, but I don't think anyone understands how tenuous it can be before those cameras start rolling on day one, and how it can just go away and fall apart, and really good projects with great people attached. Yeah, I mean that's I gave an interview and I would saying when I got into television, and when I had a TV show that

was ordered, we had um Project Runway All Stars. It was a new version of Project Runway. I was in charge of it, and we were vera Wang pulled out a week before shooting. Oh my gosh. And someone's like, people, aren't you nervous? Like what are you gonna do? I said, I don't know someone's going to be in that chair. I said, it's not going to fall apart. Someone is going to be in that chair. And it's easier with that feeling like we'll find the person. It's going to

be someone. Well, that's the producers do. My wife, we it's so funny. You can't stop producing. She hasn't done that. She runs her own business now, but she hasn't produced in fifteen plus years and she still produces everything. And we always laugh. I'm like, you'll always be the producer, no matter what the problem solver. And you know, it's great she's and I think many many women who work in as producers are scrappy and smart and get the job done and are just not to be fucked with.

And that's who I married. Well, Kathy Conrad was one of those producers for sure. And I learned a lot from her. Yeah, because she came out of physical production. She knew a lot about physical production. Right now, what do you mean by that by physical production? She uh, the things that a line producer knows, um camera, also about VP, the camera, the days at a day, all the a lot of that stuff, all the money known about that. Yeah, And I learned a lot from her.

That's so cool. Well, before we talk about Beautiful Girl some I do want to talk about your podcast project, um, which is really really wonderful. I heard you just got picked up for a season two. It's called Call Your Grandmother. And tell us about this idea and how it's been working on it and why podcasts. Well, first of all, I can't believe what a success it's become. It happens to be a huge success. We've been on the Apple homepage for two weeks, UM, so I'm really excited about

I I can't believe it. And as a lot of projects I do, this came from my own personal life. UM, my mom is a big character. And someone had said to me, my my niece and my and my daughter had put together an Instagram account called illy Grammy Graham, which means I love you Grammy. They call a grammy gram and they put all the things of my mother's singing and dancing on the podcast on the Instagram. And someone had said to me, you know, your mother should

really have a show. And I thought, all right, well, I'm not giving my mother a show. I'm not going to do that. But I started thinking about podcasts because podcasts were starting to take off, and I started to think about the popularity of Golden Girls and the Barber streisand kind of character the barb streisand kind of grandmother Jewish grandmother thing that people found that they love and there's an attraction to it. So I thought about all that,

and I mean, I would really scrappy about it. My niece was home. She had taken a she deferred a year from college. I made her do a deck for me, put together a deck for me. I had an old intern help her do it, and I gave a lot of revisions. She saw me in a totally different light, my niece from that, instead of being Aunt Meryl yeah and deadline wannot And so I called um. I called the head of Serious who I had worked with before, and I said, I don't want to meet with you.

I said, I want to meet with your podcast person and he said okay, and he set me up. And I said, to the guy, let me hear you know. I want to know everything about podcasts. I want to learn about how to and I asked a lot of questions and he gave me some background. So I said, okay, I said, I have I have a podcast for you. I said, I'm not going to show you my paper. I'm not going to show you. I just want you to listen to me. So I tell him about Graham.

I give him a whole spiel about grandmothers and golden girls and and I said, there's something to be had for easy listening and not being so caught up into a thriller or being having to dedicate hours and hours that you know, if you're driving, it's a fun bite. And when after I told the whole thing, he said, and I was only Ellie Grammy Graham at the time, and he said, you know, I thought I heard every idea, but that is a great idea. I've never heard it.

And I said, okay, you know, let me come back to you. So then I was having breakfast with my very good friend is the head of Spotify, don Ostro, and I don't think of her in terms of being the head of Spotify. I really think of her as my friend. But at the end I realized and I said to her, oh, by the way, I have a podcast, and I don't think you're gonna like it. I don't think it's gonna appeal to you. But if I sell it, I don't want you to think I didn't bring it

to you. No, No, I said, I think I'm gonna sell it, and I don't want you to. So she said, we'll tell me what it is. So I told her. She goes, I love it. She said, can you bring it to my people and pitch it? And I said sure. So, um I did that and they really liked it, and I said, I'll come back to you. I wasn't committing to anyone. And then I was having dinner with my friend Mindy Grossman, uh, who's had of weight Watchers now, and I was telling her this and she said, I

just met the most fabulous woman at my heart. She's the head of marketing. She's incredible. I want you to talk to her and I said okay. So she said, will you meet with somebody in my New York office and I said sure, and I met. I met with Man Guesh, and literally five minutes into the meeting, I said, I'm doing this with you. That's great. I thought he was amazing. Yeah, Man is great. Uh. You know one of my work buddies, and we were talking kind of

offline before. One of the nicest guys you're ever going to meet. He is, like, don't be fooled. He is. I agree with that. He is super smart and not saying he can't be nice and smart, but he will. He will lull you into his charms with just what a kind of hearted soul he is. But he's really got his ship together and is super smart and awesome. Well, they actually bought two podcasts for me. I have to get working on my other podcast. Can you talk about

that yet or no? Yeah, it's called how to Produce a Divorce. I had created the show girlf i Guide to Divorce. There's no book called Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce. I made that title up and and so it's not really talking about divorce. It's talking about putting together movies and talking about like I didn't know how to get divorced, so I thought about getting divorced like making a movie. So, um, when you hire a lawyer, it's like hiring a director, um,

and so like that. So I can talk about the movies that I've done and how it relates to that. Very interesting, but I have to I have to. I have to get onto that call. Your grandmother is great. I understand that you've been renewed. Now for season two, which is super exciting. It is exciting, and we get to go right away because my stars are so uh yeah, we don't have any time to waste, although they're going to be around a very long time. I guarantee you

that they're incredible. I always say I say that they're my best talent I've ever worked with, because you know what, They're always available and they always say yes. They never say no. Oh, I love it, and I bet they're excited, and it's just what a kick for them. Yeah, they are. They said that during this time they were so isolated that they couldn't see their family and that this has been the greatest experience. They're so thankful. They're incredibly respectful

to the team. At my heart, really sweet and uh they're always on there. Really it's it's incredibly the most dynamic personalities. That is so cool. My wife's uh, my grandmother in law is a hundred Oh my god. This year I had her hundredth birthday and I can't hear great but as sharp as attacks still, which is really cool. So she's have your your wife close to her? Oh yeah, really close. Have her listened to the last episode of Call Your Grandmother it's it's so tough, it's so great,

and it's not the one with my mother. It's really great. How many episodes are in the season six and then we're gonna we're putting together a bonus episode. Okay, cool, Yeah, I mean it's I think the show that listeners to this show will really love It's it's so easy to listen to. It's so relatable. You learn about lives. You know. One of the questions I had asked is where were you when Franklin Roosevelt died? Not John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt.

And it was so interesting. You know. One grandmother had said that she didn't understand because her whole life he had been president and no one knew of a different another president because he'd been in term almost for it was going on his fourth umb Yeah, yeah, yes, fourth term. So, um, there's that. I think that there there's want to be Their joy of life is very apparent. Um. I think

that they feel badly about kids today, teenagers today. That and there's one line that um, a grandmother had said that for women that it was much easier because they knew what their role was. It was very well to fine. Interesting Yeah, that's really interesting to consider. Yeah, I mean it's it's it's a great history lesson, and that's part of what I wanted to I wanted to UM bring forth because I know in my family that you learned

about UM historical based on your ancestors. It's it was very tied in and you know, it's it was so universal. And I knew this was going to be the case that I had I asked them, had asked them the question was post how did you feel about your grandmother? Every single one of them said, oh, my grandmother was an old lady. And they said, and I'm telling you, trust me sixty what I'm talking about, but she was an old in the fifties, even she was such an

old lady. Yeah, it's that perspective. And I think a lot of people have. You know, I lost my grandparents largely when I was in elementary and high school, so I wasn't you know, I was close to them, but I just I so wish I could speak to them as an adult now with that perspective. And uh, and I think your show is a little bit of a conduit to that for people that didn't get to do that. Yeah,

people have been It brings them closer. You know, when someone's left you the more when you talk about them, it makes you feel close to them. Or when something is brought up it's it's not you know, some people are under the myth they think that, oh, if you bring up someone who's died, it's sad for them, but it's not. Really. They like talking. I mean, I know how I feel that you want to talk about the person. Yeah, absolutely, Um, all right, so we can move on to Beautiful Girls.

What we usually do on the show is sort of deep dive on someone's favorite all time movie. But since we were having you in, you had the great idea of talking about kind of your favorite movie that you actually worked on, but it's my favorite movie altogether. Also, of course, is it okay? I watched it against the morning? And what about this movie made it your favorite work experience? Well, it was my favorite work experience because we were all about the same age. Demi was the director, head was

the funnest, funnest guy ever. Matt Dylan was my heart throb from high school of course all of our right so, and Lauren Holly was my age and Tim Hutton was really fun. He was really he really Uh, he's a real character. Tim and I mean all the casts we were just all around the same age. Uma Thurman and Michael Rappaport and Mira Sorvino, Rosie O'Donnell and Abeth Gish, Martha Plimpton, Noah Emerick is so underrated. Well this was

was first moving, was it really? Yeah? It was supposed to be Oliver Platt and then he couldn't do it, and then we cast a no Namer named Noah Emmer. He's such a good actor. I don't think he's a nice guy to but I mean right down the line, even like Pruett, Taylor, Vince and Matt's Purlick. In these little parts, like everyone was a person that you know and like a recognizable face. And I'd love to talk a little bit about the Yes, Sam Robards, what was

casting like for that movie? I felt like I did the casting hand in hand with um Carrie Woods was the producer and Kathy Conrad was the producer, and Ted and myself, and that's how it really kind of had Marjorie Simpkin. I can't believe Marjorie Simpkin was the casting director, and I think, well, she must have brought forward Noah Um and I remember making the deal for for all those actors. It was with a guy who was a lawyer at the time named Billy Rose. He was the

production lawyer. He then became an agent at U T A. And now he's like a real estate mobile, I think. And he and I would make those deals together. And I remember it was schedule left. It was called, which was fifty dollars that they all got scheduled left, uh schule. I so clearly remember that I got them all blankets, um, heavy blankets with beautiful girls embroidered on it, which they loved. And um. We were holed up at the Hyatt Hotel

in Minneapolis and yeah, my daughter's popping in here. Sorry, that's okay, and um and we would all have dinner together. It was very, very cold. There was one instance when we were shooting the scene on the ice skating rink with Natalie and it was so cold out, it was freezing, and I was standing next to a heater, a portable heater, and my um my jacket went up in flames, like

like feathers coming out everywhere. Yeah, and I was so mortified, you know, as the studio exact um, having my jacket, you know, being on a set like like The City Girl Come to the Country or Yeah, and you know, the other thing that happens to in a movie like this is one of the most fun things that can happen when you're working on a even the TV commercial is when you go to sort of a smaller town and you stayed in mane it and you just sort

of take it over and descend upon this this town. Um, that's a lot of fun going on location like that, I imagine. Yeah, I mean I went to the Mall of America with Tim once. I remember the largest it was the largest mall in the country. But we really didn't leave the hotel that much because it was really cold. Yeah. Hey, kiddo, I told you couldn't interrupt this one. Okay, sorry, can you go upstairs give me kiss upstairs? All right? Or stay down here and to speak quiet? Sorry about that.

I got one of those, okay, two of them. Actually get there older. I have a girl and a boy. Okay, Um, well, actually I always think about uh, I know, I can figure out what a movie was by where what happened with my kids? I mean, in my life, I got I met my husband at the ex husband during Copland, I got engaged. During Price Above Rubies, I got UM.

I was pregnant with my daughter during Cider House Rules, which was really freaky, and I was first and I was, yeah, they thought that I was in this, and when I was on location, they thought I was in it. And I gave birth to my son while we were making Chicago. Wow. So it's sort that serves as the timeline for your life. Totally my timeline. That's so cool. Um. One of the things I also wanted to talk about with Beautiful Girls was just executive in charge of production? Is what your

title is listed as? And right, what does that mean? You're just they're kind of at all times overseeing everything. You know. A lot of the titles are kind of we're kind of made up whatever you wanted them to be. Um. I Carrie Carrie Woods was the producer UM and Carrie produced Kids, he produced Rudy, he produced So I married an axe murderer before and Carrie I knew when I was an assistant at William Morris. He was a visiting agent. Remember I said I worked for visiting agents. He was

a visiting agent that I worked for. And so I knew him from that and I just didn't. I didn't. I learned a lot about being a production executive from him and um and so I guess I don't know how my title came up for that, because that's the only I don't. I think I have that credit on some other movies, but in the end end credits, but not the way it is on this movie. Um, but You're in the weeds basically. I was definitely in the

weeds on this one. Definitely, very much so. Scott Rosenberg, the writer we uh we did things to do in Denver when You're dead, um, And Scott has a big personality and he was on set every day. I mean, it's just personalities that are very warm and inviting. And Joel Stillman was Ted's producing partner, who's a great guy, and he was a producer on the on the movie. UM. Ted was friends with um Greg the singer Greg Dully.

Yeah he died? Oh did he? Greg Dolly? I might be I might be wrong, but I think so Afghan Wiggs, like or the barber end in this movie, right, Yeah, I thought I recognized him. Um, Matt Dylan, he's alive, by the way. I just had to look okay, sorry, Vakota, Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um So, Matt Dylan is sort of an intematic, enigmatic guy, and he's always somehow maintained to this private life that is sort of unmatched in Hollywood. I don't want you to betray anything, but what's he what's he kind of

like as a dude. I mean, I really like I think that I'm always going to sort of that crush from a far thing with Matt. And actually, when we were on set, I mean we're all young. I was single, and Ted goaded me to go into um, Matt's trailer. He's like, you know you want to, you know you want to make out with him, you know you want to, and he just goaded me that I don't. I went, I started, I went into his trailer, and Matt started walking towards me. I was like, I can't do this.

I'm too professional. He still kind of teases me till this day about that. Yeah, you should have made out with Matt Dylan. I know, I know, but I was, you know, I was young at the time. I wanted to be I was so professional. I wouldn't do that. Yeah, No, of course, I think that was probably the right call.

He even wrote something on the poster, the one sheet to me about free the Beast any And the funny thing was, I was on the street a couple of years ago with my daughter and we ran into Matt and she had just seen The Outsiders and she was like, oh my god. She couldn't believe when he said a low and this and that. Um. So, you know, my favorite moment in that movie is when he and Uma see Che's in the car and UMA's walking by, walking home at night, and she says, you know, I'm easy.

It only takes three words. And she says good night, sweet girl, and she walks away and Matt looks in the mirror with that face and he says, good night, sweet girl. I mean, I mean every time, that just

completely melts me. Yeah, that's a good scene. And you know, it's a movie that I love the sort of I love movies where you can't go home again kind of plot line, and in the people in a small place that are kind of stuck and the one person that manages to get out and they come back and how easily, um, they fall right back into that place. You know, as soon as Willie comes home he's he's right back in there. He's not the city guy anymore. He's getting drunk with

his friends every night at the same bars. And uh, I really just of that kind of movie for some reason. What's sort of a precursor Entourage. Also, I think that there's some qualities, some qualities in there, but um, it's I think, you know, he never really says it's Scott, but it is somewhat semi auto autobiographical. Really. Yeah. Rosie O'Donnell has that great scene too, and it made me

sort of miss her as an actor. And I think she she could have been so huge, and you know, she had a good career as an actor, but I think when she was in the right role, she could just do anything. And and you know she went into TV and all that. But when I when I saw this last night or this morning, I was just like, man, she was fantastic. Well it's like the part was written for her. Yeah. But um I did another movie with her after that called Wide Awake, where she played and none.

Oh yeah, um, and she was she was really good in that too. Uh. Who else didn't want to talk about I'll tell you something. So we did the one sheet for that movie for beautiful Girls. They had made her face thinner. Oh really, and she and she would not have it, and she saw it, she would not have it. Did they change her? Yeah, they had to change about it for her. I love that. And then and it's sort of a smallish part. Emma Thurman signs on and this was kind of, um, well that was

Scott's dream. Yeah, And it was very very hard to make her schedule work. It was really hard because everyone was coming in and out with the schedule and she had to be boarded in such a way that she could finish her part. I remember, I remember very clearly that it had to be someone like her, Like I can't imagine anyone else in that role, because this person

comes into town. One of the themes of the movie is just through Michael Rappaport is sort of this obsession with beautiful women and models and uh and then you know, she kind of sweet sweeps into town and takes everyone's breath away. M hmm. Yeah. Yeah, she was perfect for it, but it was it took a lot to get her, not to get her, agree, it was it took a lot. Took a lot to get her for the part. There was so much. It was after polpe fiction. Oh okay, sure,

So it wasn't easy to make all of that happen. Yeah, but you know it's funny because I did. I don't think I think that Michael had done zebra Head before he did Beautiful Girls. I think so, And then I had done Um. I did Copland with him and Paul Bearer with him. I said a lot of time with Michael, and he was young, you know when I first met him. I've met him a couple of times. I don't think of him the way everyone else does. I don't think. I only think of him as from those days. Yeah,

I mean, he's a cool guy. He's he's super nice guy. I met him at a podcasting one time, and I liked him a lot. I thought he was super cool. You know, I'm working so now I just um option Steve Madden's biography Steve Madden The Shoe Guys had a crazy life, and Michael's attached to play the part is based on Steve, but it's not gonna be all Steve and Michael's going to play that part. Oh cool, So getting back together, yeah, I mean, and that's you know,

that's a big project for him. Well, I think we're all lucky and it'd be fun to work together. It's perfect for it. I mean. The cute thing was that Natalie Portman because Natalie was thirteen years old when we did it, Okay, I was curious, So she was twelve actually, and she invited a couple of people that are about Mitzvah. And when we had big dinners together, her mother would be at the dinner. It was hard, you know. Her mother balanced it very very well. She really did, because

her kid was younger than every It was. It just it just was handled really well well that she wasn't made to feel like a little girl, but she It was just everyone was super appropriate. Um. It's funny because all the people in Hollywood it was known as like the cool set to go to. So agents came there and they just hung out. They just wanted to be round. It was just a cool set, fund set to be on. Oh yeah, just because of that amazing cast and Ted

really said a great tone. Ted was a very unique person, very unique. What a how many movies had he done at this point he'd done the ref and that was such a good movie. I think that's it, really, man. I always forget that we lost him. That's just I don't I definitely don't. Died. He died the night before my son's bristly, seven days after my son was born, and I got a phone call and they said Ted died. I said, Ted, Who. I just couldn't believe it. What a talent, and you know, what a talent. What a

great guy, great guy, unique guy. No one is like Ted, No one was like Ted. Was just something else, a whole other kind of person. What was he like as a director, Like what what? What magic did he ing? You know, I don't know what kind of magic? He was just such a great guy and the way he brought everyone together. I can't really say I wasn't involved. I really didn't think about that at that time. I was young, you know, and I had other things to do.

Once he was hired. It wasn't me who necessarily hired him. I did know him because he had worked at MTV with a really good friend of mine from college. But um, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't know about that yet. I wasn't. I wasn't that um savvy at that point about things like that. But I mean, that's that's one of the biggest parts of the job of a director, right is your personality and managing personalities and bringing people together. Yeah yeah, I mean Rob Marshall has

that quality for sure as well. Definitely. Well, I know I've kept you for a while. Do you have any other thoughts on Beautiful Girls or anything else? Um? You know they were going to It's so sad because we were making the movie Flirting with Disaster at the same time as we were making Beautiful Girls. We discovered that on the show what that we were doing that at the same time, Flirting with Disaster. That was Michael ian Black's favorite. Yeah, yeah, I heard him. But we made that.

And actually we've been speaking to Ben Stiller about directing Beautiful Girls, and he said that he wanted to be in Flirting with Disaster. Um, yeah, okay. If you had said to me that Verdon with Disaster is going to be a way bigger, a bigger hit than Beautiful Girls, no one would believe it. For Girls was the project and what really heard us and I've learned a lesson. And actually, when my heart came to me and they said that they wanted to change the title of my

show from Billy grahmmy Graham to call your grandmother. I was like shore and they were shocked that I was so acquiescent. And the reason I learned was on Beautiful Girls, Uh, about two weeks before we're supposed to open, they wanted to change the name because Show Girls had come out not long before it, and all the creative people UM wouldn't um. I wouldn't give into it, and they should have should me too. What I had so much? What

was the title going to be? I don't know what the new title was going to be, they didn't say, but just the notion of changing it from Beautiful Girls, I just couldn't. We couldn't fathom it. And it's stupid because what the thing is titled is no reflection really on the content. It's the marketing to get people to see it or listen to it. And I learned that lesson interesting. Well, maryl this has been great. Thank you for taking the time. We don't think the people of

your caliber on this show much. Thanks sharing that that insight for for all this big time Hollywood stuff. It's my pleasure. I love talking about that movie. I have to say it was a great time. It really was, and I love what it turned out. Well, thank you. It's just fantastic, thank you, thank you so much. And yeah, we're in for a new season of Call Your Grandmother, and everyone should really check it out. It's it's a it's a really special special show and it's not a

major commitment like it's twenty five minutes an episode. Yeah, totally agree, very very cool episode if you can. If you don't, you listen to an episode and don't like it, you're I don't know, you're a little you're a little dead inside. All right, Well you said it not men. All right, thanks, all right, take care, thank you, bye. All right, everyone, I hope you enjoyed that. I gotta tell you, I could talk to Meryl all day long and just basically listen to stories about the movies that

she's worked on. I love this stuff. I love hearing insider stories about movies in Hollywood. And I just put it in, put it right in my neck, everybody. Maybe she'll come on again one day, who knows, Maybe I can take her to lunch one day when I'm in New York. Who knows. She's a very nice person and uh a force to be reckoned with in in production and I'm so glad that she has decided to do her podcast All Your Grandmother with us at I Heart.

It's a super cool addition to our roster and I hope to get to meet her in person one day. She's awesome. So big thanks to Merril for coming on check out her show. Season two was just announced that it was renewed, so more great Granny's come in your way. And uh, I hope you enjoyed the show. And until next time, take care of yourselves and go watch one of merril Posters great movies. Go watch Chicago again. That's

my advice. Movie. Crash is produced and written by Charles Bryant and Merl Brown, edited and engineered by Seth Nicholas Johnson, and scored by Noel Brown here in our home studio at pont City Market, Atlanta, Georgia. For I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.