Movie Wars Podcast welcomes one of Nashville's funniest comedians, Marianna Brown, to discuss the film Drive, a movie that defied audience expectations and studio intentions. Initially thought to be a high-octane heist film akin to Grand Theft Auto or Gone In 60 Seconds, Drive transformed under the creative vision of director Nicolas Winding Refn and lead actor Ryan Gosling into an arthouse masterpiece that left both viewers and financiers perplexed. The conversation dives into the film's unique elements, such as its minimal dialogue and striking visuals, which contribute to its hauntingly beautiful narrative. Marianna shares her insights on the characters and the moral complexities presented within the story, highlighting how even the 'bad guys' are not as straightforward as they seem. The trio explores the artistic decisions that made Drive a standout film, showcasing the synergy between directing, cinematography, and sound, ultimately leading to a deep appreciation for Refn's work in the realm of modern cinema.

Movie Wars welcomes Nashville's comedic talent, Marianna Brown, to discuss the unconventional film Drive. The conversation delves into the film's unexpected trajectory, transitioning from a presumed Fast and Furious-style action flick to an arthouse masterpiece under the direction of Nicolas Winding Refn. Both viewers and financiers were initially misled by the film's trailers and marketing, expecting a typical car heist movie. However, the deep emotional current and artistic sensibilities of the film set it apart, showcasing a unique blend of violence and beauty that Refn is known for. Mariana shares her personal journey with cinema and how 'Drive' influenced her perspective on filmmaking, drawing connections between her comedic career and the film's narrative structure, highlighting the importance of character depth over conventional dialogue.

The discussion further explores the film's visual and auditory elements, emphasizing how the cinematography and soundtrack contribute to the emotional weight of the narrative. Mariana reflects on the stark contrasts within the film, from the gritty Los Angeles cityscape to intimate moments of silence that speak volumes. The hosts analyze how the characters, particularly Ryan Gosling's Driver, embody a complex morality that challenges traditional hero archetypes, making him both a protector and a violent force. The episode paints a rich picture of how Refn's artistic vision transformed a simple heist story into a layered exploration of identity, love, and the darker sides of human nature, resonating with audiences on multiple levels.

As the conversation wraps up, the hosts and Mariana share their thoughts on the broader implications of 'Drive' within the indie film landscape, noting its lasting impact on modern cinema. They discuss how films that defy genre conventions can resonate with audiences and how 'Drive' paved the way for a new wave of storytelling that prioritizes mood and atmosphere over explicit action. Mariana's insights provide a fresh comedic lens on the serious themes of the film, making for an engaging and enlightening discussion that resonates well beyond the screen.

Takeaways:

• The podcast delves into how 'Drive' subverted audience expectations, shifting from a typical action film to a deeper, arthouse experience.
• Marianna Brown emphasizes the importance of strong visual storytelling, often surpassing the need for dialogue in film.
• Ryan Gosling's transformation from romantic lead to an intense, silent protagonist in 'Drive' showcases his impressive range as an actor.
• The discussion highlights how directing choices directly influence the emotional weight and aesthetic of a film.
• The impact of the film's soundtrack was a crucial aspect, enhancing its overall atmosphere and emotional depth.
• Nicholas Winding Refn's unique approach to filmmaking, particularly his reliance on visuals and minimal dialogue, sets 'Drive' apart from typical car movies.

Movie wars, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie Wars Podcast.

How we doing, baby?

We got an amazing guest here today, our dear friend, one of the funniest comics working in Nashville today, Mariana Brown, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome, welcome.

Yes.

And honestly, someone that really inspired the format.

You did my show at happen.

Chance and I, after movie wars 1.0.

I was like, how am I going to revamp this show?

And then you started posting all this midsommar shit.

You have an incense thing.

You've got posters.

And I'm like, my.

I have smart comedian friends that also know a lot about movies.

And here we are a couple of months later.

It's going very well.

So thank you for the faux inspiration for that.

So why don't you tell us about yourself?

Yeah.

Who are you?

Why do you love movies?

What kind of movies you like?

Tell us about comedy.

All the things.

Okay.

In 30 seconds.

Okay.

And go.

All right.

I'm a.

I'm a cat lady.

Hell, yes.

I originally went to art school for fashion design, like one of the directors we're talking about today.

Hey.

And I started a fashion design business with my friend in college, and she was an NYU film major.

Nice.

Who got me into Drive.

Drive's one of my first favorite movies ever.

Hell, yeah.

Of course.

1.

It started when I was.

Started smoking weed.

You know, you can get way more into movies that way.

Highly recommend it to anybody listening.

Doesn't do drugs.

Big, big drug advocate here.

And I've been doing comedy for, I guess, four years now, and I'm just obsessed with movies.

It's funny.

You mentioned midsommar.

I have a midsommar shower curtain, too.

Wow.

Yeah.

And I just ordered a tree topper that my husband does not know about.

Oh, that's perfect.

He's gonna find out soon.

He's not gonna.

Is he scared that his life is actually kind of falling in line with the plot of the film now, though, that's.

The moment you decide you're taking him to Sweden.

He's just like, I can't.

I'm done.

But at the same time, we could do a whole podcast about that.

But that guy deserved it.

Okay.

I mean, all those guys deserve to die, right?

Absolutely.

Every woman will agree with me.

They were horrible people, and it was fun to watch them die.

So.

Yeah.

And it was great.

Yeah.

So you lie.

But you and I discussed.

You love a 24 Blum house.

You love some of the indie horror stuff, but also Kubrick's top five.

So you and I connected on that.

Yeah.

Huge Kubrick Fans.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

So you're going to help us out with the Shining at some point.

Yeah.

So excited.

Stoked.

That's awesome.

Well, we're so glad you're here.

Also, first female ever on the show.

And I get.

Yes.

And I get shit from people because, like, why don't you ever have girls in the show?

It's like I ask.

It's just like, people just think we're nerds.

Like, I don't want to see this face.

You think they want to be on a podcast guy?

Like, whatever.

I'm doing really well right now.

I don't see how this will benefit me at all.

In fact, it will be negative for me.

So I've tried to get females in this show.

Show.

Thank you for breaking the mold.

Nice.

Here we go.

Look at us being progressive.

Yes.

Very progressive.

Yeah, I'm progressive.

Well, I am so stoked to talk about drive top 50 movie for me.

Hell yeah.

This movie was interesting for me because I.

And a lot of people did not know what this movie was when it came out.

Yeah.

I remember literally having conversations with people like, oh, it looks like they finally made something kind of like gta.

They thought it was.

You know, a lot of people went to this movie thinking it was somewhere in the realm of Fast and furious gone in 60 seconds, which was the original intention.

This is based on a book and they originally had an 80 million dollar budget and they really wanted.

They wanted Hugh Jackman in this movie.

It was going to be a Fast and Furious type knockoff.

And that's obviously not what we got.

There's.

I'll go into this in randos, but a lot of people didn't know what this movie was going to be.

And a lot of people making the movie and funding the movie did not know what this was going to be.

But it was an amazing, happy accident.

And I know for me, I knew nothing about Refn and I had a really negative perception of Ryan Gosling because I just thought he was Notebook boy.

Yeah.

And boy, was I wrong.

I mean, I always say this is the movie that convinced me that he could act.

Yes, yes, like 100%.

I completely forgot he was in the Notebook after watching.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, it washed away his, like.

Yeah.

Old perception.

Yeah.

I was like, who is this guy again?

Yes, totally.

I agree.

I had.

I.

And that was one reason I didn't want to see it.

But then, like, I started to see, like, I was like, there's something interesting about these trailers.

I had no idea who Nicholas Winding Refn was the director.

And so what ended up happening was, is I watched this movie and I was like, I loved it so much, I ended up just diving like head first into his entire repertoire.

And what's funny is that all of Refn's films were these movies.

I would just scan by on Netflix with zero interest, you know, Ballerizing Bronson.

I didn't recognize Tom Hardy as Bronson because he was so jacked.

Yeah, he didn't look like Tom Hardy.

And at the time, we didn't really know how great he was because he had been in Black Hawk down, but he had not done a lot of, like, dominant roles.

And then all of a sudden I'm like.

But I didn't know who that was.

So I love that one of his first roles was actually in a Star Trek show.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

And then, like.

And so I end up going through.

And now Refin is probably my third favorite director of all time.

Movies like Bronson, Valhalla Rising, the Pusher trilogy.

There's so many great films.

And so I somehow, you know, found a favorite director out of this.

Yeah.

And then I was.

This is a funny story, you know, the Belcourt Theater.

Yeah.

So for those that don't live in Nashville, we have a.

Of folks that like, don't even live in this country.

We have this indie theater that has like a small bar and a lot of amazing food.

And I took off work to go see Only God Forgives with Ryan Gosling and Refin.

Not, not as great as it's fun, but it's really aloof.

I was the only person I took off work at 12 o'clock eating candy on a Tuesday.

I'm just like, oh.

And I was like, I am a loser.

No.

Maybe that's why females don't do this podcast.

I am alone at the Belcourt Theater on a Tuesday watching Ryan Gosling movies.

I mean, granted, I'm the guy who literally sat in the dead middle of the theater for 12 and a half hours watching Lord of the Rings at the Bell Court.

So, no, I'm every much a loser as you are.

If that's how we are.

I knew I loved you.

See, I'm like, I'll be at home and I will watch all of these movies because I would like my weed and my snacks and my bathroom and all these things.

Like, I used to go to the movies once a week and then after the pandemic, I haven't gone or I went to see Midsommar actually.

Nice.

Hell, yeah.

I saw that in Theaters do.

This is about drive.

But, yeah, we're going to just keep talking about her favorite movies.

Yeah.

No, that's awesome.

No, I love it.

No, I totally get.

Yeah.

And I, you know, and, yeah, the theater experience is weird now, right?

It's like.

Because now, like, I do, like, home.

My TV is great, so I totally get that.

So.

But what were your Interact like?

How did you guys come into this movie?

You already kind of told your story.

A little bit, but I.

I watched it.

And he was hanging out with me and my girlfriend at the time, and we sat down, we watched it.

It was on Netflix, I guess.

And, yeah, that literally, other than knowing Ryan Gosling was in, I had absolutely no idea what it was going to be about.

And then, yeah, watched it.

And in the middle of that scene where they're, like, driving at night, my girlfriend just looks at us and she's just like, yeah, this is what a date with introverts looks like.

Everyone just sits there and doesn't say shit.

And that was my introduction to the movie.

Yeah, it was amazing.

Like, it was.

What was I, like, 19, maybe 20 at the time?

So it was definitely, like, one of the craziest dramas I had seen to, like, at that point.

But, yeah, I fell in love with it immediately.

Yeah.

And like, how unsettling, though, the first time you watch it is the hyperviolence.

Oh, yeah.

Like, it's so out of nowhere, like, hey, I like her.

She was a madman.

Oh, her brains.

Yeah, hi, her brains.

Her red hair is stuck to the mirror now.

Oh, my God, just so much.

And the fork in the eye and hammering the fingers.

I'm just like, yeah.

And if you don't know refn before, you don't know to expect it, and it's shocking.

And then you go and watch all of his other shit, and you're like, oh, yeah, this guy, he's pretty violent.

It's definitely, like, what would happen if Tarantino tried to direct, like, an indie romantic drama.

Yeah.

Like, just out of nowhere, just heads exploding, people getting the shit beat out of him.

Yes.

Marlin from Finding Nemo is cutting dude's arms open.

Like, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

The main bad guy is Marlon from Nemo Albert Love.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Well, he was a taxi driver, too.

I know.

I knew.

I knew him from somewhere.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, yeah, He's.

He's a comedian by trade.

He's a comic actor, but he did Taxi driver And then, like, yeah, there was a lot of.

There was a lot of criticism when ref and cast him.

They were like, really?

And he turns out to be perfect.

He was insane.

So good.

Perfect casting all around, honestly.

And Ryan Cranston.

Oh, my God, yes.

Yeah.

Just in a little side role, man.

I mean.

Yeah.

Well, that was kind of before Christina Hendricks was on Mad Men.

I think it was kind of during, like, in the early days.

Right.

In the first couple seasons.

And then Brian Cranston before Breaking Bad, and I just feel like it was before they got all their big hits that I knew them from.

Yeah.

I was like, wow, this guy can cast.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think it was kind of similar situation.

Like, Breaking Bad had just started, but he'd also been in Malcolm in the Middle, so he.

He had some clout wine.

But it was mostly as, like, a comedic actor.

Yeah.

So, yeah, to see him in this, especially because I've never seen a single episode of Breaking Bad, so, like, to see him in that kind of role outside of everything else I knew him from, it's just.

It's so funny to see him pull off such a beautifully serious role.

Yeah.

Are you just holding out on Breaking Bad?

Are you just trying to be a contrarian?

I know the emotional toll it's going to take on my mind and body to watch that show, and I'm basically just waiting until I have three weeks of uninterrupted time to just watch the whole thing, cry my eyes out, and then move on with my life.

Okay.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

I just haven't gotten there yet.

Yeah, I had the flu when I finally watched it, so I was both puking and sad and miserable.

It was good.

Hell, yeah.

Yeah.

Before we get to the questions here, I know you got a Ryan Gosling fan in your life.

This movie made $40 million.

I know one of you has watched this movie.

Share it with your friends.

Once again, your grandma is waiting for the Movie Wars Podcast.

Hit that share button.

Share the love the questions.

Yeah.

Point.

Point at the camera right now.

Yeah.

It's so weird pointing out a tiny little iPhone.

Such a.

Just really robust budget here on the Movie wars podcast.

Hey, you can do it all with a phone.

That's what they say.

All right, all right, first question.

Isn't it a little bit too nice of an apartment for a struggling single mom who works at Denny's?

That is a.

That's nicer than my house.

A multiple room apart.

Yeah.

With space and a dinner table.

Huge in la.

Like, it's not a cheap city.

It wasn't a cheap city back then.

It's even worse now.

But yeah, no, 100%.

There's also nobody in LA at all.

In the whole movie.

There's like four people and then the baseball game and that's it.

Yeah.

Literally, I didn't even know it was set in la.

Honestly, I was like, oh, this is in Indiana.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This could very well just be Indiana with palm trees.

Yeah, it is in the mob.

Yeah.

You've heard of the Indiana mob, right?

Obviously.

Oh, big time.

That's what Fargo.

Fargo gets the Indian out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're out there cutting wheat and, you know, selling black market wheat.

The Amish mafia.

Yeah, the buttermilk mafia.

Yeah.

And again, I think this is a near, for me personally is a near perfect film.

But there are some weird things like that where it's like, that is just a too nice apartment, you know, I don't know.

I remember Oscar Isaac is like a criminal, so he probably had a bunch of shit stashed away that she was living off of.

Maybe it was part of the protection money.

Yeah.

That got him killed.

Yeah, good point.

Oh, by the way, I watched this a million years ago before I knew who Oscar Isaac was.

Again with the casting.

Yeah.

I think nobody.

I think a lot of us didn't know at the time.

I mean, I.

I barely recognized him this time.

Yeah, like, he just.

It was such a different character than anything he's ever played before.

I love it so much.

Yeah, he kind of felt like someone that could have been typecast as a criminal.

And then all of a sudden he just has all this range.

Yeah, he just is doing Dune, but.

Then he still also is like Apocalypse.

Like he's.

He also playing the villains at times.

Then he comes in and does po in Star Wars.

Like, dude's got some crazy range.

And Annihilation, like to bring up Annihilation, one of my favorites.

There you go.

Big fan.

I haven't seen it.

Oh, you should.

Okay.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah, he's great.

Number two questions.

The questions.

Should it be mandatory for everyone to wear a jacket with a creature on it so we know what we're getting into at all times?

Absolutely.

100.

Yeah.

What?

Okay, now the question I have about that though.

Would it be like your spirit animal that you're putting on on your jacket?

Like, and if so, what would.

What would yalls be?

I think if.

I just want to know if you're unstable.

Yeah.

Like if you're gonna smash a guy's head in an elevator while I'm in there, I probably will take the next one.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

I mean, that's the scorpion.

That would do that.

Yeah, the scorpion's a good indicator, I think.

Me, like, what's the.

I'd probably be a sloth or a golden retriever.

There you go.

Oh, yeah.

I've got two golden retrievers.

That's because I think they mimic my personality.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm cute, but I'm not very bright, so.

Yeah.

But very loyal.

Very loyal.

I'll follow you right into a volcano.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

That's a good quality.

What would yours be?

I feel like it'd be a rabbit.

I feel like I'm kind of a rabbit or a cat or something.

Okay.

Yeah.

I wish it would be, like a bear, like a wolf.

Yeah.

But I don't know if that's true.

I don't know if that's authentic.

Mine would definitely be Seth Rogen.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

He is 100% my spirit animal, so I would just have his face on the back of a jacket.

His outline.

Yeah, Yeah.

I found out recently how much, like, you're sending me your, like, Black Friday shopping list and stuff.

I'm like, I didn't even know Seth Rogen had a company.

Oh, yeah, look at this thing.

He has a company.

He has a weed company.

And I just bought a.

What, like an old school car lighter that he mounted in some green marble, so it's here on Tuesday.

Okay.

Well, yeah.

You got tchotchkes around.

Oh, yeah.

You got a tchotchke filled house.

Isn't it funny when you find out an actor or a celebrity owns a business?

It's like talking about a toddler.

It's like, oh, isn't that cute?

You have a business.

That's so cute.

You're not just a dumb idiot that reads lines for other people to entertain.

You have a business.

Yeah.

You use Excel just like the rest of us.

So cute.

Oh, my God.

Right?

He must love Slack.

Yeah.

He's always Microsoft Teams.

Yeah.

Oh, God.

We cannot let corporate culture leak into this podcast.

We can't do it.

He's got.

He's got the enterprise.

Microsoft.

We don't even know.

I turn my notifications off on the weekends.

I like to center myself.

Yeah.

But let me know when that thing shows up.

That's really cool.

Oh, absolutely.

Seth Rogen does not sponsor this podcast.

But Houseplant.

You should.

Randos.

Randos.

Yes.

Randos.

You gotta say it.

Randos.

Yes.

It's an honorary Thing.

So, Seth for upgrade.

He wanted to upgrade, and I let him say he's the first person.

You're the first girl.

He's the first person besides me to ever be the first to say randos.

It was very nerve wracking.

But he got it.

That chit right here.

Yeah, Right in the diaphragm.

Randos.

You got to feel the vibrations, right?

Do you feel it, Randos?

I mean, I feel it all over my body when you say it.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

When I add the compression and shit.

Oh, yeah.

Pro Tools.

Oh, it's like Kyle versus the Volcano in here.

All right, so this story is interesting.

After you watch all of Refn's movies, this story makes sense.

But if you know nothing about Refn.

So Gosling wanted to work with Refn after he watched Bronson.

He loved Tom Hardy's performance.

And even though he was kind of known as like a Notebook guy, that guy, he was a.

He's a person that wanted to do indie films, and that was his inspiration.

So he connected with Ref and Ref, you know, bounces between New York and Copenhagen.

So that's kind of his life.

And I guess Refn went to a tarot card reader and said, you will have much success in Hollywood if you go to Hollywood.

And so he's like, okay.

Because, you know, he did the Pusher trilogy, which is where Mads Mikkelsen, he met him.

He's in the Pusher trilogy, Valor Rising.

Okay.

So that's kind of his scene.

And so.

But he hadn't had a lot of box office success or anything because he was very indie.

And so he comes over and he's connected with Gosling.

And in the meantime, during all this time, they had the rights to this book for Drive had been bought, and it was going to be an $80 million budget that Hugh Jackman was attached to.

It was going to be like a Fast and Furious knockoff.

Even though the book is kind of.

It's not super in line, but it's pretty in line with the movie.

It's got the bones of it.

So it's kind of funny.

They're like, hey, let's buy this kind of semi artsy book and just still make it another Fast and Furious movie.

I wish Drew was here to commentate on that because, you know, all right.

Yeah, yeah, he's not dead.

He's not dead.

He's just driving back from Memphis.

So he might as well be dead.

Living a quarter mile at a time, as he likes to say.

I can't believe we ended up saying his catchphrase while he's not here.

Yeah.

So anyway, we have the situation where.

So basically Ryan Gosling then gets brought on by the producer and he's like, I don't want to do this type of movie.

He's like, this is not what this should be.

And so he.

And then he.

He's the reason Refin got brought in, because he wanted to work with Ref.

He's like, well, maybe Refin will be good.

So Refin comes into la, he flies in, he gets sick on the plane, and he's supposed to meet with Gosling about Drive.

And it's not called Drive at the end.

It's still a very early.

And he.

This medication, whatever he takes, makes him super wonky.

He can barely, like, make sentences happen.

He's sick and, like, they're talking at dinner and nothing's really happening.

And he finally just says in.

Ryan Gosling knows LA really well.

So he actually gave him tours of la, showed him la.

The LA river scene in Drive is Ryan Gosling's idea because he lives there and loves it anyway.

And so finally, Ref just like, can you please take me home?

And so he.

He's taking.

He's taking Refen to wherever he's living at the time.

And Aro Speedwagon song Can't Fight this feeling comes along and it makes Ref and emotional.

They both start singing this song at the top of their lungs.

And Refn says to Gosling, he says, I want to make a movie about a guy that the only way he can emotionally express himself is driving around LA in his car listening to music.

And Ryan Gosling said, that's the movie hell.

Yeah, that is the.

That's the movie hell.

That's kind of how Drive kind of became.

It went from this fast and furious.

And then of course, though, on the back end, the financiers were like, we're not giving you $80 million for a fucking art house movie with no.

We have no REO Speedwagon.

We have no idea what you're talking about.

And so the budget went down to like 15 million, which is still solid.

For what they did.

Like, that's.

I mean, that's three times the budget for Upgrade.

So, I mean, that.

Yeah, that's a solid budget right there.

It really is.

Yeah.

And so anyway, the studio started passing on it, right?

And they're like, we don't want to do it.

And so they had to get like a French.

This French based distributor company that was going to distribute it.

And all these People, like, they're like, I don't know what he wants to do.

And so people are like, before it premieres, it can.

They're, like, removing their name from it.

Like, they're still financing, but we don't want to be attached to this flaming piece of.

We have no idea what you're doing.

Like, it's a car movie, but he's driving, like, a Nissan or whatever, or Ford Escape, whatever, that Focus.

1 driven car in.

Yeah, we gotta talk about the first scene of this movie.

It's amazing.

So anyway, they're, like, slowly detaching themselves from it and no one knows what's going on.

And finally they pronounced.

They.

They announced that they're going to be a can.

And he gets best director at Cannes for this movie.

And it was love.

Like, it was a hit.

It ended up making $40 million, which is really strong for, like, an artist.

15 million dollar budget.

That's fantastic for a guy that never had any mainstream success.

Yeah.

And.

And so basically they're like, oh, we want.

So they start attaching their name back to the movie.

So that's kind of the story of how this movie came to be.

The trouble it went through.

And it's kind of incredible because it's such a fantastic film.

Seriously, though, the soundtrack also.

We have to talk about the soundtrack.

It is the most perfect soundtrack of just about any movie I can think.

I legitimately have a very hard time thinking of any movie that has a better soundtrack.

Yeah.

Or more recognizable, honestly.

And it's like those two major songs, Real Hero by college.

And I forget.

What was it?

Nightwolf or something?

Night Call.

Night Call.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like, it was that.

That whole era was defined by those two songs.

I just listened to them both on repeat on the way here.

Same.

Yeah, I mean, I wanted to listen to the rest of it because I love Cliff Martinez.

But I mean, those two really.

They put you.

They pull you into the movie, but they also just put you there when you're not watching it to.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm like, oh, well, I'm driving an Impala.

Where are my gloves?

You know?

Yeah.

At the time, I put them both on my downtown driving playlist for when I would just be driving at night.

Like, it was so perfect.

And that song for the very beginning scene, that is such a good scene when you're.

Oh, the Tik Tok Chromatics.

Yeah.

It's.

It gives you a panic attack.

Yeah, that's a good dishwashing song.

It's like, when you have four kids, you need a pump up song, you know?

Yeah, it's Mom, Daddy's going crazy again.

Yeah.

No, the soundtrack, it's.

It's.

It's one of the first things you notice, too.

Like, again, if you.

If you're not familiar again.

But Refn doesn't have that with any of his other films.

Like, the music's good in his other movies, but, you know, this movie is not an organic film.

Like, it's very much about the aesthetics and the colors and the visuals.

There's very minimal dialogue.

But that being said, even though the film itself isn't super organic, the music feels organic to the aesthetic of the film.

So it kind of feels like it could sprout out of what we're seeing.

It's a visual feast.

Yeah.

And so it's.

I love how it perfectly aligns.

And I got some stuff about Cliff Martinez here too, but just really extraordinary.

And I saw it on vinyl.

I almost nabbed it the other day, but I should have.

I had four other vinyls in my hand, so the price has gone up, bro.

I know.

I just bought five vinyls for.

For Black Friday.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

I got the entire Sleep Token trilogy and a couple of Dayseker records.

I just bought four children.

Deli Meat.

There you go.

So there you go.

You should feed four kids in this economy.

It's a blast.

Yeah, I think I'm good.

Yeah?

Yeah, you should try it.

You should come over.

Deli Meat.

I don't know.

No, we had a good time, me and Deli me.

I didn't realize that I was, like, not fancy.

This is my friend Boar's Head.

No, for a half second, I thought Deli Meat was like a new rapper.

I kind of did, too.

And I was like, I'm gonna take a shot.

Yeah, we need another mumble rapper named.

Salami on tour with Jelly Roll, man.

We could make a whole podcast about this.

But why are there so many types of salami?

I know Genoa, Calabrese, they all look like maybe just a slight shade of pink or red.

Different.

Yeah.

Or they're a little spicier.

But I've tried them.

Like, they taste exactly the same.

Yeah.

All right.

Thanks, Italy.

I'm not gonna, you know, fight you on this.

I just think more dried meat is fine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's not gonna hurt anybody.

I like a good charcuterie board.

I'm a Big Soprasada fan.

Okay.

Yeah.

Spicy.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

All right.

We kind of just sidled into your expertise in this area.

All of a sudden, I'm like, agree with me.

Yeah.

Tell us in the comments, what's your favorite deli meat?

Is it sabersada?

They'll probably just tell us we said something wrong.

And.

Yeah.

Wish.

Wish that I get cancer.

That is not gabagool.

Actually.

This was one of my favorite randos that I uncovered.

So the pink hues are really cool, like the neon.

A lot of the stuff with color grading.

And this actually is very consistent, especially when you look at Drive Onward when Only For God Forgives a Neon Demon.

Refn is colorblind.

Yeah.

Oh.

So is Christopher Nolan.

Really?

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sense for their movies.

They make.

Yeah.

Honestly.

Yeah.

And so.

And I.

I'm not gonna sit here.

I am blind in different ways.

I was born with cataracts, but I'm not gonna sit here and be pretend.

Like.

I'm a specialist on colorblindness.

But based on the research, I didn't want to get this wrong.

Colorblindness does not mean you can't necessarily see color, but it's how you perceive color.

Yeah.

And apparently for Refn, for the type of colorblindness he has, really hot pink neon is what stimulates.

He can actually tell.

And the way he works, though, and what's amazing is how vivid and awesome the color is.

Yeah.

All of his movies, I think it's his.

Like.

It's his.

Like, you can see a movie visually and not hear anything and think that's a Reffn movie.

Yeah.

Is that.

He has his editor, Matt Newman, works with him on set and describes color grade to him.

And they.

They actually strategize it.

And he's, like, trying to explain.

So he has to use words.

Yeah.

To explain to Ref.

He's like, well, this was.

If we did these colors, and Refn doesn't know what green.

So he's like, sitting there.

He's like, well, I think this type of color grade, and this is why it would work.

And so Refn sitting there approving.

Yeah.

In real time, the color grades.

That's fantastic.

Yeah.

It's pretty incredible considering how beautiful these movies are.

I mean, that is something.

And at this point, I'm really only comparing the two.

Him and Christopher Nolan.

But that is something I've noticed about both of their movies, is that the colors are so striking, and the contrast, especially, like, something that I love about the coloring and drive, is the contrast is both otherworldly but also incredibly natural at the same time.

Like, you.

You.

You have these very dramatic shadows at times, but they.

While they seem placed, they also seem very natural.

Like it's.

It's a weird juxtaposition that.

That he and Christopher Nolan tend to follow where.

Where the.

The colors kind of come out of nowhere, but you're still, like.

You're not confused by them.

They all seem to make sense.

Yeah.

I like how understated it all is, and I love neons.

And especially at this time, it kind of set off this whole.

I just wore black and neon yellow after this.

Yeah.

Because I'm not colorblind.

So, you know, hot pink has a whole different meaning for women, too.

I'm like, well, I'm not that kind of person.

But neon yellow feels really authentic.

There you go.

So I just.

I liked it.

And then this is kind of how.

With a lot of my favorite movies, it's like a team of people that work together well.

So I love that that's how it was described to him, the color grading.

So it's like, you know, it's not just him that made the movie amazing.

Yeah.

So I like that.

It just.

You work with this team and everybody kind of gets what you're doing.

Yeah.

So it all worked.

I mean, again, that's something that we've discussed over the last few episodes, is you can.

You tend to see the movies get better when it's not just everybody's there and doing their job, but when everyone is 100% on board with what is happening.

You can tell when people like it.

Yeah.

When they like what they're doing.

Yeah.

And they're probably doing it more because the passion project.

Because, like, I wonder what people get paid on these movies when they're art house.

Well, that's something we were talking about with the first couple of Crow movies.

You could tell with the first Crow movie how dedicated every single person was on that set.

And then as the movies keep going, you just keep seeing how detached everyone got from the process.

It's like a bureaucracy at the end.

Yeah.

Or they made that movie.

Yeah.

Literally.

Can I work from home?

You're the cameraman.

Don't care.

Yeah, I got PAs.

Yeah.

I'm going to sit here and just eat, like Kellogg's and.

Yeah, yeah, you guys.

We'll get the key grip and the best boy to do it.

It's always the key grip.

Damn key grip.

Nobody knows what a best boy is.

The best boy doesn't know what the Best boy is.

Yeah.

Well, and on that, like, you know, Tarantino's used the same editor.

Yeah.

For his whole career.

And they're, like.

They're, like, tied at the hip and, like, he just gets Tarantino.

Yeah.

And same with this editor.

And some of the producers, like, these are just people that have worked with Refn, and they.

He's kind of unpredictable on set because it's funny when you hear him in interviews, he's kind of quiet and, you know.

You know, he's got this, you know, accent and he's kind of chill.

He's very artistic, like, just incredibly creative.

He's, like, really best friends with Kojima, the guy that created Metal Gear Solid.

They're like, best friends, which is why he was in Death Stranding, you know, that I didn't know Refn Hartman in Death Strand.

There's so many big people.

And, like, I love the fact that Guillermo del Toro's in there.

Yeah.

And Conan O'Brien.

Yeah.

Yeah, I forgot about that.

Yeah.

Conan pops up in the weirdest places.

I don't know if you guys know this.

Quick sidetrack.

He won a contest that got him a walk on role in an episode of How I Met yout Mother.

Oh, really?

He's in the background of.

And they.

Once they realized it was him, they were like.

You could say.

He's like, no, I want to just be on camera.

I don't want to say anything.

I just want to be there.

And there's one episode where he is prominently displayed in the background of the bar.

He just pops up all over the place of weirdest places.

That's why Conan's amazing.

Yeah.

He's so unserious, but loves everything thing.

Yeah, man.

So anyway, like, it's weird how quiet he is, but then when you watch footage of him on set directing, he's, like, yelling and, like, clapping, and he looks like he's gonna kill somebody.

I can't remember.

He has a nickname.

He has, like, a Japanese nickname they've given him.

But, like, on set, they refer to him as this.

And, like, he's like a different person.

I mean, when you put someone in their element like that, that's.

That's when the real them comes out.

Because it's like, a lot of times the rest of it's just the mask that we do to, like, stay away from people.

But then once.

Once you're in it, you're just like, no, no, no.

All bets are off.

I'm getting exactly what I want out of this.

Yeah, that's like, how it is when I'm on stage, I feel like I'm a completely different person.

I'm like, oh, this is who I would be if there were no other people in the world.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A crazy person.

Yeah.

Oh, gosh, yeah.

Throwing water.

Oh, yeah, man.

You drank a whole jug of water in my last show.

I really did.

You were choking on air and.

Yeah.

And then you told me after it was your worst fear.

I'm like, I'm sorry that happened on my show.

No, I guess it needed to happen.

You know, you got to face your fears at some point.

Why not when you're talking in with a microphone, you know?

Sure.

Yeah, yeah.

I like to.

I like to work it out in front of people.

Yeah.

The only time it works, honestly, like.

Here, I'm going to have my first aneurysm right here.

Yeah.

My brain exploding is kind of a fear I have.

Yeah.

Mine is getting stuck in a tunnel or hole upside down, and I can't turn around.

That happened to.

What is it?

There was some story that got really popular about a guy that.

They go spelunking and some guy got stuck.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, I've heard about this.

Well, a guy actually climbed into a statue once and then died upside down.

Oh, my God.

So you could just climb into a statue?

Yeah, no, I'm good.

See, I won't.

But then it was a Robert E.

Lee statue, so then they tore it down and found his body and posthumously.

They labeled him a racist.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Actually, I think it was a kid trying to get a TikTok video.

You, honestly.

Yeah.

He was canceled in death.

Yeah.

What a life we live.

Aren't we all?

He should have stuck with the aneurysm.

Aneurysms aren't racist.

They don't care what color or what race or religion you are.

No, they just hate everybody.

They don't seem to.

We don't know.

We don't really know yet.

There's some weird scientists out there who's like, have we done a study on this, man?

Man, aneurysms.

Love the Mormons.

Yeah.

Do you know any black people who died of aneurysm?

No.

Hates the whites.

That was a great side side note, though.

I don't remember what I was talking about.

You mentioned Cliff Martinez earlier, so this is incredible.

He was the drummer in between Jack Irons, who also played for Pearl Jam.

Okay.

He was in between.

You know, Pearl Jam had 94 drummers.

That's an exaggeration, but I think it's like 21 drummers.

91.

Yeah.

Yeah.

91 in one day.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was called Drummer Fest.

It was weird.

And then they played Little Drummer Boy because it was Christmas.

It was weird.

Brought all of them out at the same time.

Yeah.

Pearl Jam sucks.

No, I'm kidding.

I love Pearl Jam.

Yeah.

But get ready for the Pearl Jam fans to come after you.

The way the deftone fans.

He does not represent me.

I love Pearl Jam.

I love their first three records.

He loves the Deftones.

The Pearl Jam.

Yeah.

I'm the lesbian Eddie Vedder.

Oh, be there.

Raise your hand.

Pearl.

It's perfect.

Absolutely.

You can't move your mouth when you sing.

Pearl.

Pearl.

It's nothing but vowels.

And you can't move your mouth, girl.

He like, if a dog were singing.

Yes.

Cliff Martin.

Eddie Vedder is just a husky on stage.

This is amazing.

This is what happens when you get three comedians on a couch.

Yeah.

Two couches.

So the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Cliff Martinez was the drummer in between Irons and Chad Smith.

Yeah.

So anyway, and he said that when he did this film.

So first of all, they did a lot of the movie without him.

So.

And the way they were kind of curating the feel was they would do a playlist.

Ryan Gosling would drive around LA and listen to it, and he would curate songs, and that was how they established the field.

But they actually.

It was like a.

It was a fourth quarter decision to get Martinez in.

Oh, wow.

And he said before this movie he didn't get a lot of calls.

And he said after drive came out, everyone.

His phone wouldn't stop.

And so he's been endlessly busy.

Famous.

Good for him.

Which is funny when you.

Another guy, when you hear him interviewed on the special features, he's like an introverted, creative guy.

I'm like, you were in the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Those guys play concerts with socks on their junk.

Yeah.

Like, with nothing else.

And you were like.

He's like, yeah.

I mean, Nicholas called me.

Or Nick.

They called me and Nick called me and he's like, I think I could do that.

Yeah.

I mean, Anthony Cletus is kind of the same way.

Like, if you just watch him get interviewed when he's not on drugs.

Is that the Arkansas version of Anthony Kiedis?

Oh, is that his name?

I thought there was in there.

Yeah.

My bad, Anthony.

That's hilarious.

Sorry, I don't.

I could help her.

Cletus.

Anthony.

But he's like.

He's super chill when he gets interviewed and then he gets on stage and he's like, you said sock on his junk.

Jumping around.

Let's put a sock on and then we'll read Nietzsche.

Yeah.

And two more random.

I'm telling you, I had to stop myself with these randos.

Cranston came up with the.

The demise for his character.

He told GQ magazine that he was like, he dreamt this way.

And it's a humane killing.

You know, we know you can tell by his limp that Ron Perlman's character.

These can be vicious people.

Even though they're wannabe gangsters, they're kind of like low, low level.

But he.

He didn't want to do it.

And so Cranston actually is the one that came up with this idea for the vertical.

Yeah, I guess.

Not that I know this.

This is based on research, not from experience, but apparently vertical vein cutting is fast and painless.

My favorite Family Guy joke is when Peter is.

Is trying to kill himself, and he's just like, which way am I supposed to cut my arms?

And you just hear Megan in the background.

She just.

She's just like, sideways for attention, lengthways for results.

Down the street.

That's what I've always heard.

What season is that?

Oh, God, who knows?

It's one of the middle seasons.

Oh, I stopped at the vibe.

That's amazing.

I should pick it back up.

And last, the driver is near silent in this movie.

116 lines of dialogue for Ryan Gosling's character in this movie.

Maybe that's why he's such a good actor in this movie, is because he doesn't say much.

Well, I would have thought he had 12 lines.

Honestly, it doesn't even feel like he has 116.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But that's what I like about his character is he's not a people pleasing asshole.

No.

I really wish I could be more like him.

Yeah.

Seriously.

I mean, not like sometimes I just.

Need to shut up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Especially in comedy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No kidding.

Yeah.

When I'm wordsmithing jokes, I am, like, overwrought.

Yeah.

I'm like.

I delete, like, paragraphs from my jokes.

Yeah.

But now I love it.

He does.

He's a very.

Actually, let's get into this with.

We're going to start the score card because this is our first category, actually.

It's actually a great segue because we will talk about Ryan Gosling.

You guys ready to drive?

Yes.

Are we ready to war?

Work hard.

Work hard.

Your first work car.

I can't even say it.

It's my own podcast.

I do this every episode.

War card.

How long have I been doing this?

I mean, it has been a solid like few weeks since we've done this.

Yeah, we had to cancel for flu and all kinds of things.

So hangover and.

Yeah, Birthday hangover.

Boy.

Yeah, that was.

We were up till 4am until I finally kicked everyone out.

I wasn't invited.

I'm not gonna lie.

Really?

I wasn't even invited.

And I'm telling them because you guys didn't invite me.

I'm just kidding.

I wouldn't have come.

And I'm.

I'm like a super judgmental father of 437 going on 65.

Just judging.

You like canceling because of a hangover.

What is.

We don't work at Dick Sporting Goods.

This is a podcast.

If it makes you feel any better, three of the four comedian friends I didn't invite all canceled on me.

Other than Nick Galoose.

Shout out to Nick Galooz.

You're a bro.

But yeah, you canceled on me.

I didn't cancel.

I just said to remind me and you didn't remind me.

I didn't remind you When?

Over text.

You even brought it up yourself.

I really did want to come.

I'm sorry.

It's probably better I didn't.

He does have a really good excuse, though.

He has four children.

I have four children.

Yeah, but at the age of 10.

That'S an excuse for anybody to do anything for me.

I'm like, you couldn't.

If you today, 10 minutes before I left, I'd be like, yeah, well, he has four kids.

You were to cancel, I'd be like, yeah, he has four kids.

Here's my promise to you.

I'm going to take you out for your birthday.

Buy a big boy drink.

Old fashioned.

Just one.

Thanks.

Now that's a dad just talking right there.

Yeah, you're drinking that a little fast, so enjoy the flavor.

Savor it.

Save.

That was a $14 drink.

We haven't even.

Are we even to be able to tip top bill cast so we can finally.

Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan.

Both amazing.

Love, Carey Mulligan.

Did we figure out what we're saying for yes or no?

Yes.

Great.

I always forget to say it.

So.

The affirmative.

Yes.

We dig it.

Like it.

I drive.

I drive.

Okay.

And if you didn't like it, fork to the eye.

Hell yeah.

Because there's not a lot of dialogue to pick from.

So I kind of had to go for the second one.

I thought you were gonna say drive and break, but okay.

Fork to the eye that works for me.

Yeah, that was rough.

That was a rough moment.

Love them.

They were both incredible.

Like I.

Like I said at the beginning, this was the movie that convinced me Ryan Gosling could act.

All of it was so much in his facial expressions and his body language.

Like, as we just said, he had barely any lines in the whole movie.

And, yeah, he is one of the few times I've seen someone carry a movie without saying much.

So, no, I think he did a great job.

Carey Mulligan, always amazing.

Like, everything I've seen her in, she's crushed.

Yeah, yeah.

They really, like, hold space in the screen when they're saying nothing.

There's so much said in the moments where the nobody's talking.

I'm like, how do they do this?

Yeah.

Because I don't know how, but it's.

It's almost like the way he carries himself in the scenes.

Like, I really believe he's this guy.

Yeah.

Who just lives alone and he doesn't seem to have any family.

And I don't know exactly what his story is, but I'm just like, yeah, this guy, he's a mechanic and he drives at night and does the sun.

Driver.

This is his life.

If you were to tell me that was Ryan Gosling's real life that they filmed for this movie, I'd be like, yeah, yeah, believe it.

Ryan Gosling goes to the laundromat.

Yeah.

Ryan Gosling just goes to McDonald's.

Yeah, they in the life.

So, yeah, I drive, I drive, I drive, I drive.

I say I drive as well.

I think one of the most interesting things I found out in the research was that refin this is.

This story is really two things in.

First, it's a fairy tale.

He's like obsessed with the grim fairy tales and hicks.

So the love story element of it is a fairy tale.

But then it's like the other part of it.

It's the hero's journey.

Yeah.

But I've never heard someone so artistically but profoundly describe the hero's journey.

What he says is that it's the job of the hero.

The biggest sin that a hero can commit is not.

Not using their power or not using their.

Like that is.

But in order to be a superhero, you have to be a narcissist.

You have to be self obsessed because you won't do good in life.

Now you could argue what kind of good he's doing because he's actually a criminal.

Yeah.

But he's also killing criminals.

So.

And that's the whole relativity Thing.

But at the end of the day, in order for him to become the ultra violent, sadistic guy who he really is, which in this situation is the hero, he has to play off this quiet.

Yeah.

This puppy dog look and like, it makes the violence that much more.

Like to me it's not even the violence.

To me, the scariest moments when he slaps Christina Hendricks.

Yeah.

And he's like trying to get info that that to me was worse than the violence.

I was like, holy.

Like.

Well, I mean, remember when you're watching him, he clearly has his code.

He's only going to drive you.

He's not going to be involved in the actual crime.

He's not going to do anything.

The only time he gets violent is when this person he's discovered he loves is in danger.

And so I think that's where even though it could be considered like an anti hero kind of situation.

Yeah.

He still is this type of knight in shining armor during this movie because he's only doing the horrific things to protect someone he loves.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

I think it's a good description.

Yeah, it's very good.

But anyway.

And Mulligan's fantastic too.

Oh my God.

Amazing.

Yeah.

In the book she's actually.

So there's actually a more of a Hispanic element and her name I think is.

I can't remember her name but she's like actually Hispanic and like.

But then like she really also wanted to do a ref in movies.

Like.

Ah, we'll change it to a British person.

You know, even though she's not British.

Movie, we'll take a British actress.

Why not?

How different is the movie from the book?

It's pretty bare bones.

It's the, the language in the book is a little more hard boiled.

Okay.

So it's written more like a hard boiled thriller.

Like what you would almost see in Heat.

But the, the bones of it are still artistic.

But you know, based on my research, like Cranston's character is a composite of like five different characters in the book.

Okay.

The book's not very long.

Okay.

But he has more friends, there's more group.

There's more people in his life that you meet.

Okay.

Okay.

Cranston's like a mixture of all the people.

They boiled him.

I mean.

Yeah.