Hey, I'm Osman Farooqui and this is the drop a culture show from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, where we dive into the latest in the world of pop culture and entertainment. I'm here with Thomas Mitchell and Mel Cambrai. Guys, it's Ari's day. Thomas and I are heading along to the ceremony tonight. It's Wednesday as we're recording this, but by the time the episode is out, all the winners will be announced. Any vibes? Any tips? Are you feeling the rush?
I am feeling the rush, which could be a medical thing, but yeah, I mean, look, obviously Troy, he's like one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now, so I don't doubt it'll be a big night for young Troye Sivan and for you.
Too, I imagine as well. That's one of my prediction.
I think we will also be feeling the rush.
At various different points. I mean, big week for Troy. I mean, he's presenting the Arias. He's like a hot favourite to win a swag of awards. But also over the weekend, him and Kylie Minogue both nominated for Grammys in the same categories. This is a new category. The Grammys introduced this year called best Dance pop.
Most Fabulous Australian.
Yeah, basically. So there's five nominees. Two of them are David Guetta and two of them are Australians, which is Troye and Kylie. It's for rush and for Padam. Padam. That's pretty exciting for for our compatriots. Yeah, that's.
Their two kind of living legends. Also, he was parodied on Saturday Night Live by Timothee Chalamet, which is like some kind of twink wet dream for people. But have you seen the video? In the video? It's very funny. Tori reposted it.
Did you guys think that like, I, you know, I've been seeing Troy kind of bubble up for a while. You know, the idol was was a moment for him as well. I was a bit taken aback by the SNL thing. And like Timothee playing him, I'm like, this guy's entered the stratosphere now. Yeah.
He's like, that's like proper pop culture, you know, at its finest.
Yeah, I think it's going to be Troys night, but one of my favorite categories at the Arias that I think is always a bit weird is the most popular international artist category. And I saw your mate Luke Combs is on there.
I'm sure he'll probably win.
Yeah. Luke Holmes, Morgan Wallen, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, like I'm.
Sure they're.
They're all hanging out to find out.
Sitting on zoom being like, fuck over, win this.
And I just like the idea of who the Australians love. Like, surely Ed Sheeran. I always feel like Australians have an obsession with Ed Sheeran.
I think Taylor just this year is the year of Taylor, and I think the Irish want to recognize that.
All right, well, I will eat my hat if Luke Combs doesn't win. Okay. All right. Are you wearing a hat and wearing a.
Ten gallon hat in honor of Luke Combs? Correct. Look, today on the show, we're going to be talking about the killer. It's the latest film from David Fincher, the director of Gone Girl, The Social Network, Fight Club, Zodiac, many, many others. We're going to talk about the film, which is number one on Netflix right now, how it sort
of fits in and relates to Fincher's wider filmography. We're also going to discuss the new show from one of our favorites, Nathan Fielder, the mind behind Nathan For You and The Rehearsal. This one is called The Curse. It's a drama kind of comedy, and it also stars the wonderful Emma Stone, who is excellent in this as she is in all things. All right, let's talk about the killer.
This is what it takes.
My process. It's purely logistical. If I am effective.
That's because of one simple fact I don't give a.
The 12th feature film from David Fincher. It's his second for Netflix. It's about an unnamed hitman played by Michael Fassbender, who's on a job in Paris. Unfortunately, the job goes wrong. Fassbender's character's forced to go on the run, he becomes a target himself, and we follow him on this globe trotting journey as he tries to figure out who is
trying to kill him and why. I thought this was a slick and fun and at moments like very, very funny film as well, but I am curious about the reaction to it more broadly from you guys, and also how you think audiences will react to it, because I think if you see something called The Killer on Netflix, you might expect a kind of extraction style, really intense, really violent action film with a lot of set pieces.
The killer has a couple of very extraordinary sequences that Finch is very well known for, but it's largely like a pretty interior melancholy, like, individually focused film. What did you guys make of it?
Well, I guess that's kind of what David Fincher does in a lot of his films is he takes a genre, and then he reworks it in the David Fincher style, and I think that's what he did here. Like on the surface. And you guys know, I've been hitting I've been hitting a lot of equalizer lately, so I'm a bit of an expert in this subject. On the surface, this is kind of a film about an assassin, which we've which we've seen plenty of, but I think he
pares back so much. And he it is so sleek and so methodical and cool and calculated that it is unlike those other films. I loved it, I thought it was fantastic. I don't think it's the best Fincher film. I don't think it's the most interesting Fincher film. But I think in terms of movies that are out at the moment, it's a really great one to watch.
Yeah, I really liked it. I feel like I watched it in what is the absolute like ideal scenario as I watch it on Sunday morning, I had like a very long Saturday, and I was incredibly hung over on Sunday and it was like the perfect film. Firstly, it's like almost exclusively narrated by Fassbender as this kind of nameless character. So it was good to have someone just like, talk at me. They did a really nice, you know, he's like his voice is quite like, yeah, it's like melancholic,
but it's like calming or something. And the whole film is kind of gloomy and just the way it, like pours over you. It is very funny. But also it's like it's kind of like foreboding and then you don't know what's going on. But then there is like this action I just like I loved it so much. I thought it was one of Fincher's best, actually. And yeah, I think people will definitely get sucked into the Netflix thing of like, oh, the kill this. Probably like a
Statham film. Yeah, and it's definitely not that. But I was very surprised by it.
Yeah, I we should talk about how it was released. Right. So so Fincher has been making these movies for Netflix. He made one called Mank a couple of years ago. We'll talk about that a bit later on in the episode. And then The Killer. And so they get this short cinema release for a couple of weeks, and then they go to Netflix. I'm sort of sad I didn't get the opportunity to watch this at the theaters, partly because, like, the sound design is one really interesting and unique part
of this. And also just like watching someone like Fincher, who is so precise and calculating about what his shots look like and the edits and stuff, would have been really fun. I watch it with my housemates at home and we like, kind of close the curtains and got it as close to a movie experience as possible, and
that was really fun experience. And then I thought I wanted to watch it again, and I watch on the plane on the way up from Melbourne, which not ideal on a phone, but I watch it with like my fancy Bose noise cancelling headphones, and that was pretty sick because there are a couple of really interesting sound choices that I didn't quite clock with it. Mel, I presume you saw it at home?
I did, I watched it on TV. I kind of agree with you. Seeing it in a cinema would have been the ideal way to watch it, because there are some beautiful scenes. Like one of the ones that stands out to me is when Fassbender's character is disposing of a gun that he's used, and there's this kind of tracking shot where he's on a motorbike and he's riding through Paris, and it's just so world scene.
That's the moped. I think that is one of the most, like, just low key, astonishing things. You just like this is just a guy. He's kind of on the run, but he isn't. And any other director could have done a fine version of that. But Finch is like, no, I'm going to make this, like, something that really stands out. Really, really interesting. Yeah.
Completely agree. And even the details, it kind of opens with him in this abandoned rework office and the details of his life and the routines, and there's just so much crammed into every shot. And, you know, it's all so deliberate because we know how Fincher works and how meticulous he is as a director that I do think seeing on a big screen, just purely because of the lighting setting, the sound setting, and the absence of kind of noise around you would have made for an even better viewing.
Let's talk about some of the specific, I guess, choices in the movie that have made it like feel a bit different because like you said at the start, I think you nailed it, that this is like a genre movie. It has a lot in common with a lot of movies about assassins. Also, that sort of samurai revenge kind of kind of genre. But he's done some things that
make this feel very new and interesting as well. And Thomas, you mentioned that the vast majority of the movie is just the perspective of the killer, the unnamed guy played by Fassbender, and the overwhelming majority of the script, like the dialogue, is not really dialogue. It's a monologue and a narration by him. He has this mantra that he repeats again and again. Stick to the plan.
Trust no one. Stick to the plan. Forbid empathy. Stick to the plan. Anticipate. Don't improvise.
Which is what you say, Mel, every time you come on the show.
Basically.
Absolutely. Guys, hold it together.
I thought that was a really interesting choice. And it's it's one that it's done so well that you don't really notice it because the story's so propulsive and the plot is really interesting until the very end and you realize, wow, I don't really remember the last time I saw a movie where every single thing I saw was just from the perspective of one character, and almost everything that was said was narration in a guy's head.
Yeah, totally. He has like, it's got to be only a handful of lines spoken out loud, and they kind of drive this home because repeatedly to create the sense of movement and fleeing. He's always at check ins for airports, train stations, blah, blah, blah, and they're always speaking to him. And he is never replying. He's always just taking his passport off them. And I think it just builds up, doesn't it, that you are so in his head and that's it.
Did that ever get tiring for you, Thomas?
I thought it was so cool and like, it was funny how basically he obviously narrates the entire film, but also you don't. There's never really a scene with like, two other characters that aren't the killer, so it's very like it is. I mean, again, this could have been like the crippling hangover. It was like slightly claustrophobic for me, but I still really did appreciate it. And I think Fassbinder is like so watchable and so like, yeah, you're
basically just like in this head. And you kind of touched on the sound design and we see it at the very start. So like, you know how the film opens at the we work and he's like about to do this assassination. And then like this is again we talked about how it's funny. This is like one of the funniest things to me. Like The Smiths being his like favorite band, which he has on like he's like killing playlist. Yeah, I.
Put Nano as well, I know, which is.
Weird. Yeah. And like the way the music cuts in and out there. So it goes from being like, we're hearing it like in his head, basically as this is about to take place, then it cuts into like his earphone and stuff. So it really does like you're like you're basically like almost like Being John Malkovich into the killer's head, which I thought was great. But then I.
Feel like it doesn't get tiring. And the thing that saves it from getting tiring is that it is a very funny movie. And even the idea of using The Smiths as his soundtrack. This band that is so synonymous with alienation and disconnected like it's so funny that that is his band of choice.
Like, do you hear me when you say. I hoarsely cried. You want to learn? Do you see me when we pass? I have died.
Even when he talks about the MacDonalds, you know he buys McDonald's every day and he says something like ten grams of protein for €1. Like, the narration is really funny because I think it's easy to see. And when we talk about it, to make it sound like it's a dark film because it's so kind of it is very cynical, kind of pared back film, but it is also very funny, and I think that stops it from being overwhelmingly grim or putting people off too much.
Yeah, that's what I think. It also would be quite a good cinematic experience, because I reckon those lines would land really hard in like a packed cinema. You know, he talks about he goes to New Orleans for a job and he's like 10,000 menus, 1 or 10,000 restaurants. One menu.
Which is like, I love New Orleans. I love the food, but it is really true. Completely. Yeah. And speaking of food, in that McDonald's scene, I kind of get the sense as to why you guys like this movie so much. Matthew. It's the mantras and Thomas for you. You sing a guy do what you do, which is get a sausage and egg McMuffin and take take the muffin. Just get.
The protein to eat.
The protein, you know, through the trill in terms of that sound bit like I also like I think I've said this once already about this movie, but I'd never really seen that done before in a movie. The sound designer Ren Klyce, the way that he cuts between was sort of hearing it through the headphones, like the calories, and then it just blasts like a soundtrack. And the way that sort of gets quicker and quicker those edits.
And this is the bit that I clocked when I was listening to it on my headphones rather than on a television, sort of, you know, without shitty TV speakers, the sound sort of pans from left to right as well. So in some scenes, when you're hearing what he's hearing, it's just the left channel, and then otherwise hearing it on the right, it's like really just interesting small choices that help you both get the perspective from the character, whilst also getting a broader lens on what's going on
as well. Even though we are just following this one character around is really, really smart and really well done. And like, you know, I thought the Smith stuff is so funny and it keeps coming back again and again and again. And I'm like, surely this guy's got other songs. I actually did a freeze frame on his Nano. When he's going through his playlists, he's got like a a yoga meditation playlist and a yoga workout playlist, as well as like on the job playlists, which is really, really good.
The yoga thing actually, too, is a very funny part of this, because he's doing yoga consistently throughout it and it's a strengthening for his emotion in his brain. But again, it's just the irony of using something which is about spirituality when he spirituality is kind of a kind of killer creed. Totally, very.
Very ruthless approach.
Yeah. There are all kinds of moments like that. The other thing I really enjoyed too was I know watching a Fincher film, you kind of know that there's no mercy. But multiple times in this film, civilians are killed. And I found myself thinking, oh, no, he's going to show a bit of soul here and a bit of heart. He's not going to kill this very nice civilian who they are often set up as completely innocent people, completely well-meaning people, and then.
Go out of their way to tell us that they have families and stuff. Yeah, but male famously, empathy is weakness, weakness, ability. Yeah.
I think the thing I really liked about it as well is that the structure of the film, I think Fincher famously structured his films really well, but he plays around with it. But in this one it's quite like linear and nice, but it's basically like split up into chapters. So it's like chapter one begins at the start with the assassination, and then we kind of follow the fallout as the killer looks to kind of, I guess, clean up what happens and takes him all over the world.
We go to the Dominican Republic, we go to New Orleans, and it's really good because like you basically it's almost like this. It's like Fincher has set himself up to do these set pieces that he's so good at. And it's like, this is exercise. It's like this chapter, this chapter, this chapter, and just the movie just plods along so well, very episodic.
And like he has made shows, you know, he famously brought a House of Cards to Netflix and he's worked on Mindhunter. So he's very familiar going through that genre. But to create like kind of distinct episodes and distinct locations, and each of those has a new character and almost its own internal storyline, and to do it in like just under two hours is pretty exciting.
Yeah. It's amazing. So well done.
Yeah. And those scenes with like those standout scenes you're talking about, and there's one with Tilda Swinton. I found that they were really remarkable pieces, and the film really needed those, and they were kind of the highlights of the film for me.
One thing I thought was funny and I kind of read about this somewhere else, and I didn't clock it initially, but like this whole because obviously the the narration is like such a big part of the film and like the whole idea of the unreliable narrator and like I think again, because I was just like letting it wash over me. I just took everything he said as like, oh,
this is narrator's just like telling us what's what. But then I read like a review about it that talked about, well, he's actually not the most truthful narrator, and he does like make a lot of mistakes and some of the stuff he says is like, untrue. And I get then like, having read that, maybe I want to revisit the film now and be like, now that I know that this guy, I'm not just like taking everything he says as truth, like different experience.
I think also what the movie does quite well is we see him unravel throughout the like the way that the plot progresses, like at the start, we're convinced that he is so precise, so perfect, so. Like his method is amazing. The way he assembles his rifle Disassembles his rifle. One of the really funny bit in that process when he's about to do that first assassination and he's in the we work. As you guys have mentioned, he uses the standing desk to like, raise up the gun. I'm like,
that is so funny. Like standing desks as a concept are hilarious. And for Fincher to be like, I'm going to, like, turn them into a weapon of like, murder is pretty, pretty cool. And then as as this story kind of goes on, you see him repeat his mantras about never improvise, never do this. But there's this uncertainty that starts to creep in as he, you know, we hear him say, never improvise as he's like in a Home Depot, buying a bunch of random shit to do an improvised sort
of a job. And and you realize that this guy maybe isn't quite as good as we thought he was. He's realizing he's not quite as good. The unreliability kicks in as quite, quite a lot of like, I think, complexity to the story. Yeah, I.
Agree, I got the sense that he was trying to convince himself that those are the mantras that he could live by and should live by, but was always falling short. There's also another really brilliant moment talking about the standing desk when he's wearing kind of some kind of Fitbit watch, and he's monitoring his heart rate because he thinks it needs to be below 60 to have the perfect kill. So there are all kinds of moments of where he's
seeking control. I think in this kind of game that he really can't control.
Absolutely. I want to talk a bit about some of the different readings around this movie, and I think to do so, probably we need to wade into spoiler territory a bit. So I think, you know, if you haven't seen the movie, hit pause in the podcast, go watch the movie. It's on Netflix. You can do it. Oh, otherwise, you know, if you want to skip ahead, we'll probably be about five minutes on this bit. Scrub through. Don't yell at us if you get bored. We've warned you
about it. So there are a few different, I guess, analyses to this film in various reviews. There's one that seems to be like kind of getting the most traction. It's this idea that the story of the killer is a bit of a metaphor for Finch's own career, or the idea of directors generally. Right? The idea of this mercenary filmmaker who is hired to work on everything from film to TV to music videos to ads for giant companies which, like Fincher famously, has done brands like The
Gap and Nike. There are these lines at the start of The Killer in particular, where Fassbender's explaining to us his lack of ideology. He's like, you know, if you're trying to hire me for a job and you can afford to pay me, you don't have to convince me about ideology or like your worldview. I'll just do the job and I'll get the money. And I think, you know, it's quite possible that Fincher is having a bit of
fun with his own life and career there. He's also himself extremely meticulous in the way that he makes movies, not just in the way, as you mentioned, Mel, the way he sort of frames and edits and sequences shots, but he's known for doing hundreds of takes on his films, like that opening scene in The Social Network with Rooney Mara and Jesse Eisenberg, which is just like two kids in a pub having a breakup. There are probably 94
takes or something like that. And Jake Gyllenhaal has talked about on Zodiac, the horrific experience he had filming takes hundreds and hundreds of times. So we're talking about a director who is very meticulous, who has these mantras, who just has this process. He follows making a movie about a hired gun who was following a lot of interesting specific processes as well. You guys think about that sort of rate.
Yeah. I mean, well, he obviously is a control freak and this is about a control freak. I think he did a Q&;A because he's been doing like most of the press, because this is like falling in the the kind of strike window which is over now. But I think he's specifically said, oh, no, like, this is not me navel gazing, but like I really think it is.
I mean, every director and writer says that. And it's like even when they're literally like.
Yeah, like, I mean, you kind of have to say it's weirder. I think if you come in and be like, yeah, this is yeah.
This is about me, man.
Yeah. But yeah, like I do think it is, it is pretty clear. And I guess especially when you are like when you are the director of a film that most people know, I just have a vague idea of how film works. But like, there's so the director is like the trickle down effect of, like, if something goes wrong, the amount of people that can be affected by that. And that's very much what happens in this film, like a single mistake has such a domino effect where, like,
all these things unravel. And I think that's like a very much reflected in how the filmmaking process goes.
Yeah. I don't think this film is any more autobiographical than any of his others. Like he's always interested in people who feel disaffected from their lives and feel like they are cogs in the machine. You know, I think the character in this says something like, I serve no God, I serve no country. And that is a is a motto that could apply to so many of the characters in his films. And I think he probably Fincher has
a really dark worldview. And yeah, I guess you could read it into this film, but I also think you could probably read it into Fight Club, into Zodiac, into a lot of his other films about men who don't really know what their point is and what they're serving.
Fincher also does dress a lot like the killer, though, right?
Yeah. We haven't talked about. To kill his fit, which is extraordinary. Like this bit early on in the movie, where he describes his camouflage as like a German tourist because he's like, no one in Paris wants to talk to German. There's a lot of very funny memes about, like, where to get the bucket hat and the glasses.
Yeah, the cocky, but I think, I mean, Finch is like Finch's looks are normally pretty. Like he could just blend in. Yeah.
Look, I think I think.
I could see him eating a single egg.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. That's why. I mean, I agree with you, Matt. I don't think this is like a deviation or like, radically new ideas in terms of finches or thing and in fact, like the way the killer monologues and talks about that kind of like, slogan style critiques of capitalism is very like Fight Club, right? Which is more than 20 years old now. But I feel like there's maybe a little bit more of himself and his own experiences in this than we've seen in other films.
This occurred to me on the first viewing, but it became even more obvious to me on my second viewing that I think there is like another layer to this movie, and Mel's already laughing, because this is what I try to shoehorn into, like, every film, basically. But there's just one too many deliberate references to certain things going on. So can I can I lay out my take for you guys on this?
I love it, I just feel, I hope everyone's back who was who really wanted to avoid the spoilers. I hope they're back for this.
I think like we talked about the we work a bit at the start, right? And we work is synonymous with this idea of venture capitalism and startup culture. And, you know, it is a home for gig workers alienated from traditional businesses trying to create something in this disconnected, alienated, complicated world that is like the opening basically set up of the movie. But then we talk about a bunch of other giant companies very deliberately, as you mentioned, McDonald's.
We have a whole thing to do with Amazon as well. Like there is a point in which he uses Amazon to help get this product that he needs to to break into a building and like basically confront someone. And he himself, like, is described as a subcontractor, right? Like he is a gig worker who was relying on these kind of tools of current American corporate structures to execute his job. He's working on behalf of powerful, shadowy figures. He doesn't really understand. He thinks he's in control. But
as the movie goes on, he realizes he isn't. At the start of the film, he talks about the world being divided into the few and the many and says, no matter what you do, be part of the few. But as the film progresses, we see him kill a series of people who are basically avatars of himself, other gig workers in the kind of assassin underground world, and each time he does, he realizes more and more that
they're basically just like him. And I think that culminates in him realizing that he no longer wants to participate in that structure. And the movie ends with him literally saying, I'm now part of the many, not the few. And I think that is a pretty sharp analysis. Or I guess, Fincher trying to take a swing at how. Even though we've always been like this and these ideas have been there since Fight Club, we are now even more like alienated,
disconnected than ever. Most of us who feel angry about the state of the world are taking it out on people at our same level, rather than the people at the top. And I don't think I don't think this is like Fincher being like, I'm trying to make a movie about this stuff. I think he's just found interesting ways in this film to take some swings at the way the economic structures operate in America right now.
So did you. That was a great take. Actually, I think we can all.
Well, it really makes me like, think twice now about the UberEats guy that delivered my meal that mid.
When you were hung over.
I broke where a half a heart is it, man? Like, how hard is it? You come here every week.
I mean, even in being on the moped, it's like you know who's on mopeds most of the time in our cities these days.
Hot Italians.
Or Uber Eats delivery drivers, you.
Know.
Okay, wait. So I have you. Did you find this a narrative of redemption or futility to speak? To your point? Yeah, a little bit of.
Both, to be honest. And I actually think the end is maybe the weakest bit of the movie.
A little bit hopeful. Yeah. It's a bit.
Just like a little bit unclear. Like, I think there's a lot of stuff that is super sharp and it's super intentional. And I think at the end it's a bit like, why did he not make that choice? And then why has it just ended with like, it's optimistic but confusing. That's my ride on the end. So I don't know. I'm not trying to suggest that there's a whole big thesis that he delivers at the end, because I just not quite convinced that that is the case.
And I think it's unfair to sort of hold him to a standard that I don't think he's trying to go for. I think it's more in the the kind of middle part of the movie is where I think a lot of this stuff comes up. The subtext arises for me.
Yeah, I think I probably don't see Fincher as having such a political message in this film. Like, I think maybe he thinks it's all bullshit. And that is kind of where I saw the film as ending, not kind of a not a real call to action. I know you're not saying it was a call to action, but I feel it's less a takedown of the man and just what matters. Nothing matters like that is how I read it.
The, um, the reason why I think I'm sort of pushing myself to this position. Because I hear you. Because I think generally you watch Fincher movies and the take on him, he's like this Gen-X nihilist who's very influenced by the kind of Seattle grunge world and like this idea of just the corporations one. And we've got to
make what we've got to make. And I think that is the overwhelming bulk of his films, the one movie that is not like that, that has a lot of heart and sentimentality and politics.
Seven Benjamin Button No.
Is the one no one's seen Mank, right? Which no one is saying, which is a Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried. It's it's a really good movie, and it is about Herman Mankiewicz, who's the guy who wrote Citizen Kane. Heard of it. Very big movie, Orson Welles. That movie is obviously extremely political in and of itself, about powerful billionaire industrialist media barons in the way that they kind of control America. And this movie goes into the politics of that.
But it also has like a significant storyline that has to do with the socialist writer Upton Sinclair and his socialist campaign for governor of California in the 1930. And I'm like, you're not just putting that stuff in a
film for the sake of it. You're doing it because you are trying to either remind people of a time where Hollywood and America debated these kinds of ideas and how distinct that is, and almost if you if you go from like Mank to this and these are the two movies that are back to back, you have Fincher talking about a world that used to exist that was a bit more hopeful, a bit more us working together
as actors, as writers. There's stuff about Hollywood strikes going on when there was power to organize through art or through society against the people that controlled it. You have that and you follow that up with the killer, which is super cynical. Basically, 100 years on from the Mank story, we're fucked. We're all turning against each other. We have no power. We works. Destroyed society, Amazon destroyed society. McDonald's
is destroying society. So I think there is some coherence in his ideology across those films.
Yeah, I think that's actually quite true. And I think you're right about Mank having that kind of that kind of ambition. And yeah, I guess I hadn't thought of seeing the killer in direct light of Mank. But yeah, when you read it like that, that does make sense. Mank I wasn't talking about it earlier. It's such an underrated film. I think a lot of people were put off by the black and white of it, like Mank.
Very exciting. I must have been. I haven't seen it.
Citizen.
Kane, I think the way people thought, but it is so funny. I actually think it's one of Fincher's funniest films, and.
Fincher is a funny guy for a guy who is seen as like a dark out of circular stuff, he's very funny.
It's such a it's so funny looking at his filmography, though, because it's like he goes through waves. Like obviously pre Mank was Gone Girl, which is like, yeah, kind of like, you know, also a great film, but like more of a big studio film like Ben Affleck. It's based on a bestselling book. And then within that same period you have Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which again, similar kind
of source material. Curious case of Benjamin Button like. It's he really kind of like, flutters between like, this is everything that's consuming me right now. And here's a film that reflects it. And then I guess, like, here's another film I was thinking of making based on a best selling book.
We are getting into what I want to talk about next, which is just the general Fincher of it all. But the one thing I just wanted to say on On the Killer, that only I just was reminded of now when I spoke to Steven Soderbergh earlier in the year. So Steven Soderbergh does this thing every year where he lists everything he's watched. And at the end of last year, he had the killer like 5 or 6 times. And I asked him, I'm like, is this the unreleased Fincher film?
And he's like, yes. And I'm like, what's going on there? And he's like, well, Fincher and I like very close friends, and we give each other notes on movies a lot. So basically David's been showing me cuts of this film, and then I'll give him notes, and I find that really fascinating. Interesting. These are two amazing directors who I think they're similar in ways. They make these very stylish, interesting movies that very rarely have obvious politics in them.
But then when you drill down, there is a bit about the world and how it all works there. So I love the idea of Soderbergh kind of secretly being involved in putting this together. That is.
Very cool. I love that he keeps like a list as well. Yeah, yeah. What else was on there? Do you remember.
We talked about like Below Deck. He loves Below Deck, like the reality show. It's a really good list. But yeah, I wanted to ask you maybe the first obvious question in terms of, like, David Fincher as a director, how do you think this movie fits in? Like, does it feel did it feel familiar to you straight away? You're like, I see the touchstones of David Fincher in this movie. And are there any particular previous films he's made that this one reminded you guys of?
Yeah, to me, it was quite recognizably Fincher, but not in in a bad way. I love his style, and it's not as kind of it is. Well, it's kind of this very distinct style. It's not an over-the-top style in the way of Baz Luhrmann. Like, I think when you look at his filmography and you were just kind of going through it. Thomas like you, it's hard sometimes to think that the guy who did Benjamin Button also
did this film, like very different films. But yeah, it kind of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I guess that reminded me of Zodiac, of course. Seven. I mean, even elements of Gone Girl in a I think it's that kind of it's both the stylistic way, the actual construction of really careful shots and scenes, but also the way that his characters are kind of lost in the world and that profound sense of cynicism about the world. And I will say, like, for all the talk of Fincher,
kind of he's he's meticulousness on set. He does collaborate with the same people again and again and again. And I think the sound designer for The Killer is one that he has used consistently. So sometimes I think when people have those constant collaborators, they just get better and better at working together.
I mean, we should, in that vein, mention Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Nine Inch Nails, who have been doing Fincher soundtracks, I think, since The Social Network and, you know, Gone Girl and Dragon Tattoo. There is a Nine Inch Nails reference in this movie. Did you guys catch it when he the assassin, the killer uses a nail gun to kill someone? He says in his head, you know, 45 year old man X number of kilos, three Nine Inch Nails, like he's got seven minutes to live or.
Something like that.
And he dies in like a minute. Yeah, yeah, I think it definitely felt recognizably Fincher. He's just. Yeah. I mean, Mel just said it way more eloquently, but he's just got such a specific mood to his films. Like, you watch a film and you're like, even like, I remember there's a really specific scene in Gone Girl when they do the press conference after Ben Affleck's wife has gone missing, and the way it's lit is just so like, it feels like House of cards. It feels like this movie.
He just he's so good at creating these kind of, like, unnerving, like, scenarios and scenes. I mean, we haven't really spoken that much about Fight Club. I feel like Fight Club. I know her eyes are rolling in her head. The first rule of Fight Club is that Mel hates it. I think it's the movie itself has become like almost like a parody or a punch line for a certain type of particularly certain type of young man. And you know,
that all makes sense. But it's still an interesting film, and I still think there is a lot of like Fight Club DNA in this, and, you know, Tyler Durden and that whole character and everything he stood for has become so manipulated. But there is a lot of that, like same soul and messaging I think has been transplanted to this film.
I agree, and I think sort of Fight Club, it's sort of unfair. It's like American Psycho, right? Where the people making these books or movies knew what they were critiquing. And unfortunately, a lot of the audience just missed that and has taken like the text at face value and missed the subtext. And I almost wonder whether that could happen with the killer as well, where a whole bunch of like, Reddit bros just start like tattooing his mantra
on themselves and being like, empathy is weakness, right? And not understanding that that's all deconstructed by the end of the film.
And in defense of me being the complicated person that I am, who will shock you? My club is my favorite Fincher film by far. I love it.
I hate women. Up. I went.
Through a phase of watching American Psycho Fight Club, a kind of, oh, you.
Do hate women, okay.
No, but I mean, as we were just saying, obviously read it as, like a critique and a satire and like, the fact that men exist who are like that in the world is probably, you know, something we should investigate and be interested in.
Yeah. Yeah.
I think Fight Club is so good, I watch it. Maybe, maybe that's my once a year watch. Really? Yeah. Mean, I was talking about Raging Bull the other day in Taxi Driver two, and I've got a bit of a genre there. But yeah, I think in my head, you know that line where Edward Norton's character like, really bashes someone and he's like bloody and bleeding and Brad Pitt's like, why do you do that? And he said, I felt like destroying something beautiful. I think that once a day.
As you edit my.
Column, yes, I edit your column.
So if I clubbed your favorite Fincher, that's like a good a good pick, like I sideways one. But I back it, I back it, I feel.
Like it's kind of it's a bit obvious, maybe, but I don't know something.
About it at all. Yeah, yeah.
And the soundtrack to I will say yeah.
When, Where is my mind comes on. Yeah. It's pretty sick. Thomas, do you have a favorite Fincher?
I do, it's probably I loved seven like. And I think we can all agree seeing Guinness head in the box.
It's like a.
Pretty special moment in film. But I love The Social Network. I think it came at a time when I was like going through a big film phase. I was like, I'm going to be a film guy, and it's like, it's a very talky film, which I love. The script is amazing. It was a story that was so reflective of our time because we all grew up on Facebook, and so I just thought it like brought together so much.
And the performances are amazing. Like, Timberlake is great. Yeah, the Winklevoss twins and Jesse Eisenberg being like, fool, Jesse Eisenberg. So yeah, The Social Network, I think like plucked a lot of my favorite things and like put them in one film. So that's one of my favorite.
And how did being a film guy go?
Here was a short phase.
And then I became a guy, obviously for a bit.
Yeah, I.
Love The Social Network. I think it's one of the best movies, like ever. Honestly, I think it's in that conversation. It's my number two, though. My favorite Fincher film is Zodiac. Yes. Which I think is also like a little bit underrated. Like, I think film bro's like really go for this movie, but I think it came out in 2007. It didn't have a huge box office, and that was the year where the Oscars will I completely dominated by there Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men Like This.
Just Zodiac didn't quite get the reception that it deserves. So you think? Look at its cost. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Chloe Sevigny, John Carroll Lynch, Dermot Mulroney like, there's a lot of stuff going on in this movie. It is about the Zodiac Killer, the murders in San Francisco in the late 1960s, in the 1970s. It is a journalism movie. It is about journalists trying to solve the crime. It is a police procedural.
It is about the kind of, you know, influence of the hippie movement and the death of the hippie movement and how America went from those ideas to a much more scared, insular sense of itself, partly egged on, by the way that media and and films were being constructed in response to the Zodiac Killer. It's also like an incredible whodunit as you try to figure out the clues and piece it all together. It's a really astonishingly well-made film, I think.
Yeah, I think.
It is so good, and I'll throw in another one. Gone girl as well, I think is fantastic. And Ben Affleck's character in that is just an incredible oh yeah, true.
That was her first no.
Love for Panic Room, then Jodie Foster. Panic room is good.
Panic room is good. It's probably not in the top five for me. Yeah, I.
Watched it a lot growing up.
And it's maybe worth noting, too, that given we were talking about all the David's making prestige TV last week, that David Fincher was one of the first kind of big name directors to cross over into TV making with House of cards.
Yeah, he's basically responsible for Netflix.
Yeah, yeah, totally.
And I like to I like per season of House of cards really good. I think it kind of lost its way, but yeah, also a great TV series.
He was briefly attached to this 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea adaptation. So Fincher's like famously been attached to heaps of stuff that just never come through. I think it was going to adapt, like the Bourdain book, and that ended up becoming like either Burnt or Chef, like one of those weird movies, terrible movies. Yeah, I think.
If I was a famous director, I would take that approach. I would just say like, it's like shotgunning stuff. Yeah, I would attach.
Myself to loads of projects, so like.
No one else could get it and be like, oh, Thomas Mitchell is attached to like the you know.
That's really funny. Mel, you and I were talking before about how Fincher's like non film TV work is also pretty astonishing. Like the ads and the music videos.
Oh he's gap ads around 2014. Have you seen any of them? They are incredible works of art and I feel sad that we don't have that advertising anymore. There's like one particular gap ad that I love where there's a woman kind of dancing in gap clothes. It's all in black and white, and there's a guy taking a shot of golf, if that's what you do with golf, a shot of golf.
I guess. You take a shot. Yeah. He's at a.
Driving range, just like paying her no attention. And it's so funny. And it's kind of the humor we're talking about from his films are so obvious in these ads where he's kind of making fun of it all at the same time, as he's obviously participating in a.
Lot of money from it as well.
Yeah. And music video wise, he's responsible for George Michael's Freedom 90 with all the supermodels and Madonna's Vogue, which is pretty iconic, so very eclectic. Like. List of achievements.
Freedom nine.
Great film clip, great song. Your guy.
Yeah I know you all. It goes all right.
Let's pivot to the curse.
There's no such thing as a perfect city. But to me, this city is as close as it comes. That's why we're proud to call Espanola my home.
Oh, shit.
Our home.
All right, you got it. It's okay.
This isn't your typical home flipping show. My homes are reflecting the local community and we're husband and wife. This is care for them. So what could go wrong?
Let's grab a quick shot of you. Thomas, you.
Want to talk us through, give us a bit of a refresh on Nathan Fielder and tell us what the curse is all about.
Yeah, so Nathan Fielder is. I mean, for those unfamiliar, he's a very strange comedic talent. That's really like. I start making a lot of waves lately. He's first kind of big project was Nathan for you, which I think you both watched. Yeah, I love Nathan. He basically plays like a fictionalized, weird version of himself that uses his background in business to kind of help these ailing companies with absolutely batshit insane ideas that are never going to work.
And it very much is the introduction of the Nathan Fielder method, where it's like, is this real? Like is what I'm seeing actually happening at these people, you know, are they not in on it? And that is kind of like the vortex you get trapped in, but it makes for such uncomfortable cringe viewing. But you can't look away. And that's the kind of come the fields are calling card. We have the next iteration of that last year with The Rehearsal, which was available to screen here on binge.
And basically the rehearsal was a similar concept. It was Nathan Fielder, kind of like taking these ordinary subjects that had issues in their life, whether it was, you know, they'd lied to some of their friends about their university degree or they were unsure if they wanted to have kids, and he would set up like a full wide scale rehearsal using actors in order for people to kind of, like,
prep themselves to tackle this moment in their lives. And again, it really put you in this mindspace of like, is this real? Are these real subjects actually being used by Nathan Fielder? Are they in on the act?
Because it's so I mean, it's like it's almost borderline like abuse in a way. So you're like, is this real? Is it not because it's so intense? Well, that's the thing.
And it's like, it's not quite like a Borat thing. Well, this is mostly funny. It's like there was a lot of ethical questions, especially around the rehearsal. And I think a lot of people were unsure how to take it. You know, fielder is seen by many as like this kind of genius, like absolutely off the wall kind of guy, but others that have big question marks around his methods. And then that brings us to The Curse, which is airing here on Paramount. One episode is available now. They
dropped weekly. The curse is probably more I mean, I use this with air quotes conventional for fielder, and it's not conventional at all, but it is more of a TV show. He directs it and it stars a married couple. So he plays Asher and he's married to Whitney, who played by Emma Stone. And basically they're this kind of like white savior couple who are launching a reality show called Flip Anthropology, which is like almost like a renovation
reality style show. Imagine, like, you know, a couple go into a community and they plan to turn things around. And that's kind of where we find ourselves there in Espanol or in New Mexico. And they're basically going to help the town, like, regenerate itself. They're going to sell a bunch of these kind of eco homes that are totally reflective and, you know, don't use any energy, but essentially that, you know, this couple, while seeming to present as good people, are not really they have kind of
nefarious intentions. And, and they basically want to use these cheap properties and flip them for a massive profit and, and basically get out of this community before they've done any good. And that's kind of where we meet them. They're accompanied by a very dodgy producer who basically will do anything to get the shot, and he's probably the best character in the show for me. His name is Doogie, played by Benny Safdie of the Safdie brothers fame, and I think Benny.
Safdie is also like a producer or co-writer as well.
Yeah. So he's he's part of the creative team of this show, and basically the first episode sets up that they're in this community, they're there to do good. And then during this altercation with a young girl in a car park where Asha, which is played by Nathan Fielder, his character, you know, gives her $100 in this kind of like show of faith that be caught on camera to make himself look good. He then rescinds the offer, takes the money back, and then she puts a curse
on him. And then from there, it kind of all unfolds the show.
What do you start with this show? It's like there's heaps going on and it's all pretty good, I think. And I think the start of it, as you described, it's like the satire of these shows that they're more popular in America than they are here, like this network that they reference HGTV. It is a real network. Yeah.
Home and.
Garden TV. It's. Yeah, flippers. And like, you know, this idea of these couples going into town seems to be a real thing that is going on. One of my favorite bits from that sort of side of things is they're talking about this like cafe that's coming in, that's going to like help create jobs. And, you know, they're
being accused of gentrifying. So there's this conversation. And of course, when you go into the cafe and it's a cafe selling like drip filter coffee and flat whites in America, it is run by a white Australian woman.
Which is.
Astonishing. Like, I love that. And that comes up a couple of times. I found that whole satire bit really, really good, and it reminded me of that show unreal, which was a similar sort of dark satire on dating reality shows. But then the show, like, changes gears, like, like, like really hard and becomes something completely else.
Yeah. Agree the second half of the first episode and I won't give too much away. Is such an unexpected tone shift. Do you think you know where you're going with this? And you think you've kind of got the genre? And then I guess, as is Nathan Fielder's want, he kind of shifts the gear and that second half is just wacky. I was watching it in the office at my desk, actually, and then suddenly I felt, maybe this is not an appropriate office. Watching this.
Watching several.
Prosthetic.
Penises.
Yeah, yeah, I've been blacklisted at work, but I've read a few reviews of this beforehand, and maybe we should check in as we keep watching it. And it was like, people will love this or loathe this, but in that first episode is I loved it and I think, I do think it will be pretty generally loved.
I think it's a.
Very well-made show. I think there are some people seem to be finding it hard to watch, like a lot of field is stuff, because it's a bit cringe, I guess. And I think what's interesting about this show is we haven't talked about Emma Stone much yet. She's quite good in it. I think if she wasn't in it, I would almost think this is like the Rehearsal or Nathan for you, that it's not a scripted show, that this is just like him doing a reality show and satirizing it.
But obviously her involvement makes it more clear that this is like a drama and that adds a whole layer.
To it as well. And I agree.
And I think they are still playing with the idea of whether it's scripted or not, because a lot of the kind of other actors in it are supporting.
So many of these characters. You're like, can't be actors. Yeah, you're not actors.
And even Nathan Fielder kind of plays Nathan Fielder, really. So I think even though Emma Stone's got her lines, they're still kind of questioning what is fake and what is real in this, which I think at the heart, this is like a good extension of what he's been doing, because to me, while it does have this interesting like white savior complex and like environmental kind of do good
ism and all of that and it's hard. It's kind of to me about how TV and documentaries are made, which is kind of what he has explored in his last two works as well. He's just kind of doing it in a slightly different form.
Yeah, it really does start out as you think you have an idea of what they're kind of satirizing. And then just like he fully like opens up and it just takes on everything. I thought it was hilarious, like very way funnier than I thought it was going to be as well. I do understand why some people are like, this is way too fucking weird for me. But yeah, I definitely I reckon people should stick with this one because it's probably one of the most unique shows on TV, I think.
So I was thinking about our our conversation last week about prestige TV and what it is. And one of the things we discussed that Mel shut it down, but I think everyone else agreed on was this idea that, you know, shows that do something new or like push the medium forward. And I think a lot of fielder shows have done that. This one certainly does that to me.
And I think that's great. Like, it's cool to get some smart people together to get a really interesting and amazing actress who's an Oscar winner, who is in the conversation for the Oscars again for her role in Poor Things and You, Yorgos Lanthimos film that's coming out soon, and just do something completely insane with it.
So you've actually.
Come round to my point of view that prestige TV is not dead.
I mean, fair, yeah.
I guess I have I'm.
Like, well, we.
Called it dead. And then now we're back with a great show.
The week after.
Maybe they heard, maybe they heard, you.
Know.
Just like Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone, like, because part of this is as well as all this other stuff we're talking about, their their marriage and their dynamic, I think is kind of at the heart of this show as well. And they are so good together. I saw a Guardian review called Emma Stone the greatest mouth actor of our generation, and what she does with her face. It's like it's worth watching just for Emma Stone, even if you kind of find the rest of it too kooky.
It's so funny that you saw that Guardian article, whereas I read a news article that's headline was like Oscar winners wacky sex scene. I was so shocked that news.com.au covering love you guys.
Yeah yeah.
Yeah. And then I was like that's weird. Oh okay. It's yeah, it's this scene.
All right. Time for our Impress Your Friends segment where we share a bit of pop culture that caught our eye this week. Might go first with this one treading on your territory. Well, Melanie, I've just finished reading a book called MCU Cullen The Reign of Marvel Studios. It's written by Dave Gonzalez, Gavin Edwards, and Joanna Robinson. I've been a big fan of Joanna Robinson since she used
to write and podcast for Vanity Fair. She's now a great podcast at The Ringer, talking about all things kind of pop culture and awards. I feel like this is the second week in a row I've talked about Marvel, but this is not really a book. I mean, if you're a big Marvel fan, you'll probably get more out
of it. But to me, this this book, which is essentially a history and a behind the scenes, it's done with lots and lots of interviews and really great storytelling of how, from Iron Man to now, this company built up the biggest thing in film in the last like couple of decades, if not ever. And as someone who is really interested in the history of Hollywood and how these stories get made and that kind of behind the scenes stuff, I found it fascinating and really gripping. It's
really well written. It's really, really interesting. And I just think if you're vaguely interested in the movies and vaguely interested in how Hollywood works and where it is all going, there's conversation around consolidation that we were having last week as well, and the Disney ification of everything. It's a pretty good text and I think it is a very good.
To why we are in the state we're in when it comes to films, and hoping to actually get Joyner on the podcast in the next week to talk about it a bit more, which would be really exciting.
Can I put you on the spot and ask, favorite Marvel film?
I also have a follow up on the spot question for oh my gosh, favorite film?
I mean, I think it's Black Panther, like the first Black Panther, I think, but that was like a really good film that had like the fun action stuff. Great performances, obviously, from Michael Jordan, Chadwick Boseman and had really interesting politics compared to a lot of them.
Yeah, I don't I'm not really a marvel guy. That's my favorite. Followed by Iron Man. My follow up question for you is, do you think and this may be worthy of a whole separate pod? So I read the big Jacob Elordi GQ chat yesterday, and he talked about how he read for Superman and was like, not a chance. Do you think the pendulum is almost swung the other
way now? And a similar thing recently with Jeremy on White, where it's no longer cool to be attached to Marvel, even though it used to be like a career maker. And we may almost see, like all these new up and comers be like, there's not a fucking chance I'm doing a marvel movie because I don't want to. Chris Hemsworth did it when he was on the up and it like, set him up for life, but now, like, Marvel is a bit tainted.
I think that's 100% the case. I think there's a few reasons behind. I think one, the shine of Marvel has worn off, and so it's not what it was like. Signing up to Marvel was a guaranteed ticket to stardom and like, lots and lots of money. And now it seems to be a ticket to a bunch of mediocre movies that a lot of people don't like. And you're locked into a system that means you can't do interesting projects that you'd really want to do.
And especially if you are someone on the cusp like a Jacob Elordi, you're always saying is like part of the problem and you don't want to. It's like bad optics to be like, oh, well, now you're just becoming a marvel guy. Like, whereas, you know, you were doing cool stuff before, right?
And even with directors, there was this period where, like, Marvel was signing up indie directors to do films like Black Black Panther, like Ryan Coogler, and everyone was excited by that. And they made a couple of really good ones. But now it's like, oh, you got Nia DaCosta into the Marvel ecosystem that is going to ruin her and ruin Marvel movies because there's no match there. So look, the book does touch on a lot of this stuff as well.
Marvel's over, Marvel's over.
Mel, what have you got?
Well, I've done it for all of us. I've gone and watch the Robbie Williams documentary four parter on Netflix, directed by Joe Pearlman. First thing I have to say is he spends, like, the entire documentary in his bed, in his undies. Like that is, it is. And there are so many shots of him just in his little briefs walking around.
He's always been like a he's always been a briefs. Guys.
I didn't know that about.
You is like, yeah. And when he's.
Not in his briefs, he's in this like incredible dressing gown Gucci thing wandering around his palatial home. So that's very funny. Are you a.
Brief sky Thomas? I should have asked you that.
Yeah, I'm a bricks guy. Yeah. Me too.
Yeah, yeah.
Good. Happy for you guys. You might get a bit of inspiration from Robbie Williams undergarment game. So it's a kind of interesting framing device. They've got all this footage of him over 30 years and they kind of see in his bad. He's all cozy because he's a hermit and an insomniac, and they show him the footage and you kind of see it on the screen, and then he speaks to it from his, from his bed, you know, from his time in Take That when he was a 16 year old kind of drop out. Joining that to
his solo career. It's getting a lot of comparisons to the Beckham documentary, but I think because the only person who speaks in it is Robbie Williams, that you kind of lack the perspective on him, that speaking to other people you got in the Beckham documentary. But I will say there's some incredible footage and like the highlight of it for me was seeing him and Geri Halliwell, Ginger spice. I didn't know that they were kind of a love affair for a while on their Mediterranean holiday, and all
this footage that she shot of them together. So I think the footage is kind of what makes this, but you never really get past because it's only him speaking. You never really get past the sense that this is just another act of mythmaking and propagating of a certain kind of myth. But the footage from that time, and obviously just hearing Angel about 50 times is is good.
Yeah, I've actually checked out a bit of this and I thought a similar thing. Firstly, there is like a sick part of me that's like one day I too would love to be in a bed, as someone showed me clips from my heyday that you've kind of fucking made at that point.
Just clips of us recording this podcast.
We were.
So, so crazy.
Young and.
Handsome and funny and smart. This is great stuff. Yeah, it.
Really is like the ultimate egomaniacs.
You guys really like yourselves.
I remember we.
Talked about wearing briefs. That was pretty.
Good. That was right. What a crazy.
Time. But I think the one thing you do take from this is that you forget, just like how famous Robbie Williams was for a while there, he really was like, this guy sold like 1.3 million concert tickets in a day or something like that. Kind of angels, like Let me entertain you, period. When he was playing Wembley, like, my mum was obsessed with Robbie Williams, as is, like
the suburban mother. Yeah, yeah. And I don't really love him, but he definitely has like had a moment and it's interesting to reflect on that.
Yeah I was while.
I was watching this I was thinking that I reckon we're almost too young to because I think Robbie Williams was kind of uncool when we were kind of teenagers. So maybe it is like we were winning.
Was like that record was big and like, yeah, he.
It was duet with.
Kylie cuz.
Grafana with Delta. Yeah, that was.
Actually a great performance. It was his AFL Grand Final performance was.
One of the best. I mean the.
Guys born entertainer.
And I also enjoy during that performance. I remember he played one of his new songs and he was like, sorry guys, I got to do this like.
Which I thought was very funny to the fans. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I thought it was funny in the documentary though, he says, like, oh, I want it to be riding Karma Police, but instead I'm writing Karma Chameleon.
I fucking shoot for the stars.
Robbie. Yes, my recommendation this week is. The Buccaneers on Apple. Okay, so let me ask you a question. Do you like Bridgerton?
The answer's no.
Well. I'm sorry. I'm like, scurry a little bit here. Yeah. Okay. This is more of.
A safe bet. Do you like Edith Wharton?
Absolutely. Anything she's written or not finished writing?
I'm here for so Edith Wharton. Osmond was a Pulitzer Prize winner, and her unfinished novel was The Buccaneers. Okay. This show is based on that. And basically it's essentially is Bridgerton again. But it's really fun. And I was kind of dragged into this one by my wife. She was like, it's like a period thing. So it's a period thing. I think it's like the set in the 1870s in New York. And basically this group of friends and two sisters, they're like, you know, kind of new money.
And then one of their friends gets married to, like, a rich duke from London. And then essentially they all go to London together to find, like, you know, it's basically like the melding of, like, new money and old titles to kind of create this future, like these, like strong partnerships. The main character is Nan, and she's kind of a protagonist, and she's very much of that, like, you know, I guess like Jane Austen, vintage like, doesn't want to buy into this system. Is happy on her own.
But yeah, it's really fun. Very funny. You know, friendship matters. All that type of stuff. Can I ask you a question?
So one of the things I did like about Bridgerton was how they use, like, contemporary pop songs in like, the way they played music and stuff. Is this, like, fun like that?
I'm glad you asked.
Yes it is. Oh, right.
In fact, I'm pretty sure Taylor recorded like a special song for the trailer. Wow. Olivia Rodrigo is also on the soundtrack, so it very much is that same brand. They know what they're doing here, but I really enjoyed it. I think great escapism.
That's interesting because there is another show set in New York in like the 1870s about socialites interacting that I am watching. It's called The Gilded Age on HBO. That's like a fun, similar film. Julian Fellowes yeah, Julian Fellowes and stars Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski, who I really, really like. It's fun. But yeah, I think you've convinced me on the Buccaneers.
I'll give it a go.
And have you seen Dickinson? Because it's getting a lot of comparisons to Dickinson, so that might be next on your list.
Perfect. I'll just make my way through all the adaptation classics.
Film guy well, great. I feel like.
Between the three of us, there's quite a few bits to watch, to read, to listen to, to enjoy. Thomas I'll see at the arches in a couple of hours.
Perfect. Anticipate. Don't improvise.
Thanks so much, Milton. Have fun. This episode of The Drop was produced by Kai Wong. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of The Drop, make sure to follow us in your favorite podcast app. Leave us a review or better yet, share the episode with a friend. I'm Osman Farooqui. See you next week.