This week on Movies In A Nutshell we take on The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013), chosen by listeners Joel Robertson and Scott Wigglesworth! The visually stunning adventure-comedy starring Ben Stiller as a man whose vivid imagination propels him on an unexpected real-world journey.

Haven’t seen it? – We’ll help you decide to press play or skip with a quick spoiler-free movie breakdown.

Seen it? – We’ll make you want to watch it again by uncovering things you may have missed, even if you've seen it many times.

🎬 The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013) – In A Nutshell

PART 1 – The Nutshell – If you haven't seen it

A clear, spoiler-free basic plot/style breakdown, plus movies it can be compared with and all to help you decide if it’s your kind of movie.

PART 2 – Unboxing – If you've seen it

What Did You Miss? → Hidden layers, details, surprises and things you may have missed even after multiple viewings!

Paul’s Facts of the Day → Trivia, production stories, and film facts.

Hate It or Rate It? → Marc, Darren & Paul give their brief opinions, scores and see where it lands in the Legend League and the Listener League.

PART 3 – Listener Lounge

Listener questions, shout-outs, and movie requests — including a look at where The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty enters the Listener League.

📌 Movies In A Nutshell is a movie podcast with spoiler-free breakdowns, film reviews, and trivia in every episode.

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Hello and welcome to Movies in a Nutshell with me, Marc Farquhar, myself, Darren.

Horn, and I, Paul Day.

We help you spend less time browsing and more time watching.

If you've seen the movie, we'll reveal what you might have missed.

If you haven't, we'll give you a quick spoiler free breakdown.

We've got behind the scenes trivia including Paul's facts of the day, host ratings.

And a legend league table, plus your.

Chance to choose a movie.

So grab some popcorn and let's jump into this week's movie. Right then, listener choice. It is that time. So this was chosen by Joel Robertson and Scott Wigglesworth.

Oh, yeah, they had two on the wheel.

Two first time, two on the wheel. We still don't know. I mean, was that inevitable?

Maybe it was fate.

If someone's good at maths, please figure out two out of 27. What's the odds versus all the other movies had one out of 27.

I don't know.

I can't.

Well, instead of one in 27, it's two in 27.

We'll move along. It's fine.

With the chance that that was the first time we pressed the spin and it just came up.

You didn't say maths was a requirement for watching these movies. So move along.

So in part one we have the nutshell where we will break the movie down spoiler free to help you decide if this movie is worth your time. It's basically for the nutshell is if you've seen it. We do chapters here. So if you have seen this movie, skip onto the unboxing.

There will be spoilers.

Now this is the foreplay. This sets up the enjoyment that comes later. Never skip this part.

So here we are. Let's break this down in a nutshell. What is this movie about? I'm going to you got you guys jointly.

Oh, I don't know. I'm that distracted by Darren's sex. Sexy introduction of this podcast I think.

This is but I'm not sure what angle I want to take on this. But this is bas about like a life unlived. It's like it's in particular. It's about a guy who puts his life on hold to focus on his.

Family and his career.

Yeah, maybe puts his career. I'm not sure. I mean he's just. He's got a job and it's.

It's like a similar thing to those people who, like, have a kid and then you have to hang up your dreams because you now, to be a grown up, you know, I've got to make money, have a steady job, like a lot of people also did after, like, or during COVID or after Covid, it was like, security is number one right now, so let's just get a job. Don't care what it is. Don't care if I've got fulfillment, don't care if I enjoy it. I just need to be able to pay the rent and put food on the table.

So it's a little bit about how we can hang up our dreams to prioritize paying taxes. Basically. The other side of that is, is that a life unlived. You know, what are you supposed to do with your time here? It's almost.

It's nothing to do with social media, although it could easily have been, but it's almost that idea of you look at other people's lives and be like, that's the life I should be living.

Fomo.

It's. Yeah. It's a fear of missing out. It's fear of a wasted life. And it's about maybe being unhappy in life and wanting something more.

But I think whatever life you're living, you are living life. You're doing what you're supposed to do, and that's experience in life, whatever that looks like.

And don't be pressured into doing something that doesn't suit your personality. You know, just because you've got fear of missing out. That's. That's about as niche I can get it without kind of giving any spoilers.

I wrote down. This is a movie for anyone who's ever felt stuck in the routine of life.

Yeah.

Dreaming of adventure while afraid to take the first step.

And it's very. It's got vibes of kind of a mixture of like Office Space meets Scott Pilkin versus the world.

Yeah, I didn't do a meets for this one.

Well, I'll get you back.

Thanks, Darren.

I've got some of the films it's similar to, but I'll leave them for now. The word. I think that stuck with me. What you just said, Darren, is fulfillment. Yeah, it's very much about wish fulfillment.

And what you said, Matt, was spot on as well. And for me, it was Thomas about escapism as well.

So he escapes his normal, in inverted commas, boring life by visualizing, fantasizing about these crazy Be like, what am I, Walter, me at this point already?

But a bit like maybe what you do with movies, you go into this escapism world and you watch science fiction and fantasy and you escape to these other worlds to kind of leave your normal existence behind.

And then this film's very much about, well, how can your normal existence actually widen in scope to become something more and get that fulfillment that maybe you're missing?

And I wonder if you and I have a little bit more like, neuroticism over this because we're single. So I think we self reflect possibly quite a bit. And weirdly, this is genuinely true.

Whilst watching this, while I was getting it going, I was sitting up my setting on my Tinder profile because I got sick to death with Bumble and I was moving to Tinder and I was setting it up and it was like the about me part. Just as in the movie, he's filling in the about me part. And it does make you think, like, what am I supposed to be, like a circus clown here?

Like, am I supposed to be out of the monkey, like X Special Forces? Now I've. Then I was a successful pop singer and now I work in an orphanage for baby pandas. Like, I can't.

That's going to get your profile up there, surely?

Yeah, I would hope. But he said, I'm just like, you know, I live in company and I teach film and this is what I do.

Oh, I did. I did do a meet. I forgot. I've written this down. I struggled for ages. Up in the Air.

George Clooney.

Yeah. Meets into the Wild.

Interesting.

It is a bit about regret or like, not.

I don't think he seemed regret. It's just.

Well, there is parts of it when he's questioning what have I done?

But also. So anyway, so I'm sitting on my dating app.

Sorry.

At the same time, earlier that day I'd. I've got a longboard which light up, the wheels light up. It's lush. I can allow to have that anyway.

And I don't want to put it away in the cupboard because if I had this thing where if it's out of sight, it's out of mind. Like, I forget I've got it. So I've been hanging it on the wall, it's in my entrance way.

So every time I walk out the door I'm like, oh, my skateboard says, should I go skateboarding? Say, what's the weather like? And this movie's obviously heavily got a skateboard in it. All I'm saying is this movie is about me.

No, this movie's about me. But maybe that's the point of the movie. Maybe it's meant to be relatable. It's meant to put you in that pilot seat of is this me?

Because I maybe watched it and did the opposite of Darren and didn't fill out a dating profile and thought, to hell with that. I'll just daydream instead.

And it just gets you thinking that further step. Like, it's not really necessarily about unfulfilled dreams, but it makes you think, like, oh, man, I really want to go to Japan.

When am I ever going to do that? Or when am I ever going to do the exciting thing? And we keep saving and be like, well, I can't spend that money because what if my car breaks down?

Or I've got the MOT coming up.

And no, it's about me then.

And part of me just wants to be like, screw it, put it on credit card, go. But I know, you know, that's why my life's a disaster.

It's not completely a disaster.

Well, I've got one of the most successful podcasts, highest rated.

So that's in. When we went. When we did the live, my hint was reality meets imagination and daydreaming.

The two gave it away.

Merge. Well, we'll see.

See if anyone guesses just gave it away. I mean, again, for me, even though I put myself in that place, I'm not that adventurous.

So sometimes the FOMO stuff hits me thinking, oh, I should be on a beach in the middle of wherever, adventuring away. I'm not that adventurous.

So for me, I'd probably be freaked out about bugs or living on the beach or all the things that everyone seems to on Instagram, like, oh, my God, it's amazing out here. I'd be like, mosquitoes. And I'm not that.

It's hard to do when we live close to the lakes because everyone on dating apps is. I love paddleboarding. I love wild swimming. I love going up in the Pals.

And then my friend Mark would drag me up to a fell, and I think, yeah, that seems like a good idea. That's what we should do. And I'm up the top of a foul being. What the am I doing up here? It's windy, I'm cold, my legs hurt. Well, why. What was.

What was the value of this?

Maybe don't put that on your profile. I love walking in the mountains. And then you get like, oh, what am I doing?

Yeah, I'm not putting out my profile.

But maybe that's an important thing, isn't it? Sometimes the. The bits that we're not putting out there might be our favorite things that we keep to ourselves.

And there's a bit in this film which I'm not going to spoil that's really the spoiler section because we can't give it away yet. But you know the bit I mean.

I do. You're adorable.

Thanks. But.

Yes. Isn't he?

But sometimes. Thanks guys. But sometimes the stuff you keep to yourself is.

I once wrote an album called behind the Scenes Plug that was all about that fact of do we have to put everything out there on the stage or can we keep some of it behind the scenes? And maybe they're the most important things. I was very deep. It was a few years ago. But. But I still think it kind of holds up.

And social media's got more. The next generation seem to. Not if you haven't put it on social media. Have you even done it?

Yeah.

Because you haven't documented it. But actually I might walk up a mountain and look at the view and think this is amazing. But not take any pictures and put it on social media.

Does that mean it didn't happen?

Yes.

So this. This movie is in part about maybe trying to make some of your dreams become reality.

Yeah. It's a guy who's got like maladaptive daydreaming where he kind of really disappears into a day. What might could happen.

And then gradually his life starts to mirror the daydream a little bit and he starts to live his life. So it's a bit of wish fulfillment.

In terms of the tone and the ones I thought of. Obviously the ones you were saying.

But just this. Obviously the ones you were saying on that side of the desk.

This. Like this dismissing.

Let me just correct you.

I was saying them ones plus.

Ah.

You see. One minute I'm sweet. Now I've just been knocked down.

Knob.

Yeah.

He's like a roller coaster.

I'm a Gemini. I'll turn on you in a second.

Like a roller coaster. This thing. I'm just gonna go and cry now.

He just walks off. Headphones off out the door.

Like you'll AI me into something. It's like you won't even notice. I'm going. So the ones I thought of were there's a film called Stranger Than Fiction.

Will Ferrell where he kind of what he's writing becomes true. Similar sort of vibes to that film. There's one called welcome to Marwan with it's Robert Zemeckis and it's Steve Carell. Everyone seemed to hate it.

But I quite enjoyed it. That was based off a real life thing where he kind of escaped into his photography and it was kind of a reality for him. So similar to that.

Maybe there's a film called Ruby Sparks I seem to remember watching with Paul Dano, but that was a bit like the character in a book or character he was writing came to life. So that fiction meets reality thing. And then another film that everyone seemed to hate that I quite liked was one called Downsizing with Matt Damon.

I haven't seen it yet.

Yeah, it's not what it's. It's marketed as one thing. So you watch the trailers, they go. It's a daft movie where everyone goes to this.

And then halfway through the film, it becomes like a different sort of film where it's about his emotional journey and it's not really about the downsizing bit at all. But I think most people are just by that point, they're like, ooh, this isn't what I thought it was. I thought it was a daft comedy.

And actually it's a bit deeper. I forgot the name. Alexander Payne. Yeah, I think he directed it, did.

The election and stuff like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's got a bit more levels to it, and I can see why people hate that film, but it gave me a few of them vibes anyway.

In conclusion, it's a movie that makes you realize some of life's greatest moments can come from stepping out of your comfort zone. A bit of courage. If you've not. If you've not shown any of that or done any of that in the past.

I think stepping out your comfort zone and facing the fear is often a good way of living your life. But. But facing the fear could be going down to the shops or asking someone out.

It can be a really small things, just small steps. Cool. Okay, thanks, gentlemen. That takes us on to part two, which is the unboxing. And this is the section, if you have seen it.

We are in part two, which is the unboxing.

So if we've piqued your interest and you feel like you now want to go watch the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, go and do so, and they can come back because there will be spoilers from this point forward. So in the unboxing, we have what did you miss? Where we will highlight things you may have missed. Even if you've seen the movie many times.

Paul will have his amazing facts of the day and then we'll round off with hate it or rate it, where we each give it a rating out of 10, we combine our score and see where it ends up in the Legend League. So let's begin with what did you miss? I'm gonna go to Paul.

Yes.

Oh, what did we miss? We covered a lot of what we missed, I suppose in that opening there with the unboxing, without actually getting into the film itself.

I suppose what we did miss is this is kind of a Ben Stiller directed film we made. We kind of brought up all the serious bits in that first nutshell. We probably didn't mention it was Ben Stiller.

So there's plenty of zany moments as well within the fantasies.

So there's plenty of him parody in superhero films and things like that where he imagines fighting with his boss but then they end up smashing through buildings and things. So there is different genres kind of covered in it.

It's also kind of horrible because in those daydreams he's wishing he was someone else.

That's true. And he's kind of projecting himself as the romantic lead or something like that.

I mean, the one that made me laugh was I haven't seen Benjamin Button. It's on my to watch list. They do a parody thing of that. That's a bit. It reminded me of Tropic Thunder kind of thing, which obviously was BE as well.

So there is the deadpan parts of it, but then there's also these very wild bits of it. What did we miss in that?

We missed the fact that if you think it's just going to be the crazy stuff, you're going to be maybe swayed differently because there is a lot of heart in this film as well. So it is a very close mix of the crazy Ben Stiller stuff you might be used to with Tropic Thunder in the mix somewhere.

But then also this sort of the. The heartwarming going on a journey. What was the one you used into the Wild? Which I haven't seen, but yeah, I can imagine that's that sort of film.

And I've seen similar ones like the ones I mentioned where it's more about finding your way in the world. And of course all the corporate are kind of ott. And is it Adam Scott? He seems to play all the corporate.

Oh yeah, I hate that guy.

It's like he seems quite nice when I see him in interviews and then every time I see him in a film I'm like, I hate that guy. Is it this is 40 as well? He plays like the annoying neighbor or something like that.

I mean some of his daydreams are just like what you really like to say to someone.

Yeah.

Versus what you actually say to them.

Just say it.

Or it's like the. The draft email you write before you delete it.

And it's quite clever sometimes. Or it's clicking back and forth as to. Is this the daydream?

Or.

It must be, because it's gone that over the top. But then as the film goes on, there's less daydreaming.

Yeah.

And I must admit, there was the bit in it where he does start going on the real adventure. And I wrote down, if this. If this is a daydream, I'm going to be quite disappointed when he goes on the search to Iceland and all that.

I was like, this is a daydream. It's going to be quite disappointing because he hasn't. But then obviously it turns out it isn't a daydream and it is reality.

And that's what kind of builds his character. And his character starts very flat at the start. You know, there's not much to him, but that's intentional. So then he kind of grows as it goes along.

So maybe it's a bit more of a downplayed style for Ben Stiller. Maybe a bit more like Jim Carrey was doing in the Truman show. Even though I know he was Originally.

Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Who's a producer on this, who is the son of the producer of the original version of this.

That's right.

Had the idea of doing this for Jim Carrey, I think, in the 90s or something.

You could see him doing something in a true mini show. Yeah. So I don't know if there's much we've missed beyond that. I think it's a story of all the things we said in the intro there.

It's about try to find yourself, where's your place. And there's lots of cool edit things as well. I thought where there was things on walls and writing and messages and I did like that.

Things that you might pick up on as it's.

Oh, the cinematography was outstanding.

Yeah. Yeah. There's some really cool edits and I wasn't quick enough to write down some of the things on the walls.

Be faster.

Go back, rewind. It was almost like I've just remembered now. I remember thinking it was a bit like they live, where it's like, eat, work, live, consume.

Yeah. Money is your God, Money's your God.

Just get on with it kind of thing. But actually by the end of the film, he's kind of found the horizon.

That's what it feels like to me, it's like it starts off quite small and then he finds the horizon by the end of the film. What do you think, Darren?

So I didn't really tweak on this until earlier, later on in the film because the sister was really freaking winding me up. And I was like, his family are shitbags. But his father died when he's young, didn't he? That's what happened.

And he obviously, he used to be a skateboarder, but we can assume Tony Hawk levels of skateboarding based on the fact he can still do some tricks.

Whoa.

And then he used to love skateboarding, used to love traveling, but then his dad dies and it feels like he's put his family first. And I was like, this is freaking, like, nonsense. You shouldn't be doing that. So firstly, I kind of. I kind of missed that.

Maybe because I wasn't paying attention. And then. But then I realized that the family, professional, as always. Oh, the. I think the family look out for him.

There's points where the sister is like a little bit later on in the film isn't so self centered. But also one of the key pivots of the film is the mother finding the wallet.

Yeah.

And be like, she said, oh, no, I always save your knickknacks. And I think, well, what dreams has the mum given up over the years because she had a kid?

So, yeah, there's a point when the sister is less self centered. It's all about her. And she actually becomes quite kind. And she's played by the brilliant Catherine Hahn. Yes.

Who marries.

And so I think one nice thing about is she hasn't given up on her dreams. Like, she's like, no, I'm going to play fucking Rizzo in Greece. And he's like, yeah, come on, you're a bit too old for that now. She said, no, like.

And she went from annoying in my mind to, all right, she's pursuing her drive. Yeah, she's got a bit of drive. So that really, it was interesting to me. And then the fact that Walter Mitty doesn't have a life.

But again, we're using judgment over what counts as a life. What is a worthy life, what you're supposed to have achieved. Like, what the hell? And he works at Life magazine, but also Life magazine is dying.

It's a dinosaur. It's physical media. It's going to go away.

No, no, don't let it go away.

That's deep.

Save it.

And as it kind of collapses, it's going to move into online it already.

Looks shit when they go online at the end, keep that physical copy.

So there's. There's that kind of depth to it. But also it's this whole thing about it kind of reminded me of Spy a little bit.

You know, how Melissa McCarthy is idolizing the spy.

I've only seen bits of it.

Another movie I've seen that you haven't. This is incredible.

She's like, you're so great. You're flying here. You're saving this. And she's just like an admin person. Had vibes at that.

But we are watching Walter's life and Waters, watching Sean the photographer's life and hearing about all his adventures and wishing he was on those adventures. Meanwhile, Sean has snuck back and is watching his life with his relationship with his mother and his sister. And he's like, oh, that's.

And he's idolizing that because he's like, he doesn't have. That's what he doesn't have. Right.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side, which I keep coming back to in my life sometimes, like, oh, I want that over there. But then it doesn't necessarily mean always.

Have a bit of both.

Yeah, that's the. Finding the balance.

And so we're kind of watching it thinking, oh, we should go and live our lives more like water does on these quests for living it like Sean does. But Sean wants to live it more like we live in. It's just. It gives you a lot to think about. Yeah, but it is. I think he uses this phrase.

What is the quintessence of life? What are we supposed to do with this? We're all going to make our own judgments on that.

And it reminded me, mainly because, you know, I'm seeking love of the movie. Everything, everywhere, all at once. And there's a bit where. See that film, the guy from Goonies, what's his name?

He.

Juan, I want to say.

He's in. In the reality they're in. His wife wants a divorce and. Because she wants a more exciting life, basically. And he's like, you don't understand.

You know, in another life, I would have happily just done laundry and taxis with you. And I'm like, that's the kind of love I want. Like when you're just complete doing a mundane thing with someone, but the fact you're together is.

Makes magical. It makes it a fantasy. It makes it all you want in life. And that's very sweet.

I'm gonna put some music in that.

Yeah, I think you should listen back.

And then, of course, the other side of it is you should grow a beard again.

It's a theme. Yeah.

I did laugh when I'm like, oh, no.

Poetry Falcon.

They're going to mention the beard again, aren't they? Like, you need to grow a beard. It's the only way you can expand your horizon.

It is.

And get the accent, of course, as well. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah.

And what's crazy is, I think. I mean, he only has a weekend adventure, basically, and, you know, improves his dating profile superbly. But also that skateboarding scene is insane.

And I think, wasn't there, what, two years ago, there was a guy skateboarding on TikTok and he did it to a song by. I can't remember now.

I mean, the bit when he's going really long for ages on his longboard. Yeah.

And he's drinking like Mountain Dew or something. And it just went viral. And then sales.

I mean, in the film, you talk about where he's going, really? He goes, yeah, he just. Down Iceland.

Yeah. But there was a guy who did that on TikTok. And then he had this great song. I think. I want to say it wasn't Fleetwood Mike.

It was like Stevie Nicks, I think. And then he was drinking. I'm sure it's drinking Mountain Dew. So Mountain Dew bought him a pickup truck with.

Full of Mountain Dew and, like, the set, the sales of the song went up and he became a mini celebrity.

But I feel like that the thing is now, because everyone's aiming to become that. Yeah, everyone's. They don't do it. I've seen a few videos on YouTube about this recently about, like, a hobby's dying.

Because everyone wants their hobby to become their thing.

Yeah.

So instead of, oh, I'm gonna play guitar, because I just like playing guitar. It's.

Everyone just. I've got a thing.

I've got to get it on TikTok and I've got to get followers and I've got to get likes instead of just. I'm just enjoying playing my guitar.

Absolutely. Like, he went on this massive adventure and skateboarded, you know, down this amazing hill in Iceland.

He has no witnesses, so he's going to come back and be like, hey, just so you know, I'm one of only three guys, whatever, who have jumped into the North Atlantic or whatever he did. And I did this. And they're going to be like, no, that's not the person we know you to be. Why are you lying?

Yeah, you're just Making it up.

So he's saying, if it doesn't exist on social media, it doesn't exist.

And this is it. And that's sad. And that was the bit I was alluding to before in the intro, but I didn't want to spoil it, where he's with Sean Penn's character.

He's called Sean, isn't he? Yeah, Sean Penn's character. Yeah. And Walter Meat, he says, oh, when do you take the photo? And he goes, well, sometimes I don't.

But there's also a social media commentary. How many times do we think the laugh is the people at concerts, isn't it? And they're all just recording it.

Yeah.

And I'm like, it's filmed.

He's going to watch that.

Yeah.

I think Sean Penn's character represents the calm of wisdom, living in the moment rather than trying to capture it.

Yeah.

That's what you were just saying there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He doesn't push click on the snow leopard that he's. He just wants to take it in. If you don't take the picture and you put it all over Facebook and get the likes, then did it even happen?

But also it's why he hasn't got lost in it. Like, he, he. If you take a moment to appreciate the beauty, then you understand the value of it when you're photographing it.

Otherwise, it's just a commodity. And if it's always a commodity, you're going to lose the ability to see the beauty.

And that's good.

That's the quote of the episode.

And that's the bit I found inspiring about it, that taking the moment to enjoy the moment, rather than, I need to capture this.

Yeah.

And I've done this at concerts. I mean, I don't go at that many anymore, but when I do go to one, I genuinely don't take. I maybe take an odd video, 10 seconds here and there.

I'll take a couple of the beginning and maybe one towards the end, but that's it.

Yeah.

And it's just to remind me on my phone of, oh, I did that more than anything else, because like you said, most of it's filmed. It's probably going to be somewhere. And even if it isn't filmed, I look at the concert because I've got lots.

Take it in.

I've got lots of them on physical media.

And you watch, you know, when it gets to a certain point with smartphones, because all the concerts up to it look like they're having so much more fun without the phones.

I was at this thing and, like, a music thing, and my friend Mark and I ended up in, like, this kind of big bathroom. And in behind us, like, three people came in. And we just end up just chatting in there. I don't know why.

And then these two gay guys and this girl came in and just got chatting. And they're like, wait, why are you guys hanging out in the bathroom? We were just chatting, but we had this really cool moment.

And the guy, I think his name was Justin, had got an analog camera.

Old school film camera.

And there was a sign behind me that said, our happy place. And he was like, oh, my God. Everyone just freeze. Like, Mark, just do what you're doing. And we're like, what? He's like, I just want to take a photo.

I want to capture this moment. And he took it on analog. And then I saw him briefly while I was dancing. Then I never saw him again.

And I was like, there's a photo of me in this bathroom from when I was talking to these two gay guys in this girl that I'm never going to see again. Then he posted on social media on again. I found it. And it's a really, really cool photo, but it's an exact.

But I didn't take many photos of that weekend. So it's kind of just a moment caught in time. So I understand the value of it.

Yeah.

But also, it was a weird story that that happened anyway. I know.

And if you hadn't taken that photo, if he hadn't taken the photo, you'd still have that moment and you still remember it. Essentially. I always feel like if.

I don't know, say I run into a celebrity walking in the countryside somewhere, I'll say Taylor Swift, because you used to be referencing her on every single podcast. I don't know, say Harrison Ford. You run into Harrison Fallen, Lake District. You know he hates press. You know he hates whatever.

I don't think I'd want to hassle him for photo. I just want to enjoy that moment of, holy shit. I once met Harrison Ford walking in the Lake District and got to say, I love what you do. Right.

Leave him in peace. Let him go.

I would do both. I'd have a chat and take a photo. I just would. I'd have a selfie. I don't get, like, signing things. Just. No, I mean, you take a selfie quick.

I'd probably do that thing seconds I'd be like, I enjoy that moment. And now I'm going to regret not taking the photo because no one's ever going to believe me. Like, oh, really, Paul?

You're just trying to harrod some Ford on the country line.

Yeah.

All right.

Anyway, anything else that we've missed from this movie?

Am I reading too much into this? So he gets to Greenland, and it's quite funny because the pilot is like, there's only eight people in Greenland.

And then apparently, according to the Internet, Waters Mitty only meets eight people.

So that's my first fact of the day.

You got to do better. So. So he's there and he's like, yeah, can I. Can I rent a car? And he's like, yeah, we've got a.

Red one and a blue one.

Or a blue one.

You're going to go into my next fact.

Well, I don't know if it's a fact, but red or blue seems very Matrix like. And he takes the red one, which is the one where you wake up. Right. And this is a movie about him basically waking up from like a.

You go into the rabbit hole. You go down the rabbit hole.

Yeah. Nice.

Totally. So that feels a little bit too on the nose because he could have said red and green.

Probably could have been any other mix of colors, but red and blue.

No, I think that's intentional.

You got a matrix. Not there.

Something I picked on. I might be way off on this, but the negative itself, number 25, symbolizes purpose.

Like, oh, nice.

Something Walter has been missing that he has to go on an adventure or he has to get outside of his.

Comfort zone to get the MacGuffin, as we often say.

Don't know if I'm.

No, I think you're right. It's the. Maybe it's the spark that sets him on his journey.

He also. He also used to have a mohawk like you used to have.

Yes. Wish I would get my haircut tomorrow. So it will be back. Not quite like that. His look like it was like six foot in the air.

Yeah, but.

Which is interesting, though, because you see the character that he's portrayed as at the start of that film, where he's very much, you boring office worker, if that's how you want to look at it. And it's the last thing you'd expect to have the giant mohawk, Potentially.

Yeah.

I was once in Kuala Lumpur. I think I was Kuala Lumpur. Whereabout? Is it Malaysia? Yeah, it's in Malaysia.

I haven't. Because I am. Well, to me.

So I was in Kuala Lumpur and I was just waiting to catch a night train sleeper down to Singapore. And I was at loose end. So I rang my parents and it was like I didn't realize the time difference. It was like 2:00am they're like, hey, are you okay?

I said, yeah, sorry, I'm just about to catch the night train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. There's no evidence I did that, but I did. They still talk about that today.

And the reason I'm mentioning that is I've done a lot of stuff with my life that I think is valuable. But being able to say that line is such a kind of the great Water Mitty adventure that does carry value of people.

And I don't think it should carry as much value as. Because it's unusual, I suppose. But it's only unusual in certain circles. Like there's other circles where, you know, all the.

Everyone's traveling around like Southeast Asia, you know.

Yeah. But I think it was like what, 20 odd years ago. I think it was more unusual then.

20 odd years? More like 27 years or something.

Yeah. You did a few years before me.

Yeah, I'm older than you.

But the value thing's a good point, isn't it? Because who. Who gives it value? Do you give it value yourself or do you only get value from the people who are giving it value by their reaction?

When I ran an MMA studio, like, you know, I was mainly like boxing and kickboxing and wrestling.

You're dating out.

Get on the.

But we'd get. But I wasn't big into Brazilian jiu jitsu. I was like a blue belt and. But we'd get black belts to come over and train us.

And everyone idolized the black belts. They were just like, oh my God, like you're a black belt. Like, you know this.

And they would just be like, if you keep doing it, they'll give you one eventually.

Yeah.

Because in their keep at it, they knew tons of black belts. They were just like, they knew people who were above them, like red belts who do you know, really rare, legendary people.

So to them it wasn't a big achievement.

Just, I've been doing this a long time. I've stuck at it and here I am.

Yeah.

And it's the thing of whatever level you get to, there's always someone better.

Oh yeah, always. This movie did what a lot of movies did. The. The colors were bit more beige.

Yeah.

Dull beginning. And by the end everything was very colorful and well, it was big.

It was the daydreams that were really, really colorful. And gradually that filters into the real world. Yeah.

And I noticed there's. There's a telephone call he has with Kirsten Wiig where she's still in the office and he's on his adventure.

And the color saturation where he is is very bright and vibrant where she is, it's grayed out and dull. And as it's going back and forth, I'm like, ah, See what they're doing there?

He's living his life and she's stuck in this office where she's going to get laid off.

The quote at the end. Beautiful things don't ask for attention. Ties back to the film's. The film's kind of quiet message of fulfillment. Doesn't need fanfare.

Yeah.

Okay, let's move on to Paul's facts of the day.

I think I said most of them.

We seem to be doing that at the minute. Sorry, Paul.

So Darren said all of the facts of the day. That concludes it.

Facts of the day. Darren.

There is. He just wants to take over this section. I mean, you can't. Can we share this section? No, you just want to keep the pun in there and then you want to.

He just wants to mock me. Okay. Facts of the day. Did you know that the helicopter pilot. Oh, wait, there is a few. There's not masses, but this is where.

So you need to keep going deeper.

Oh, yeah, I know. I can go deep. I can go deep.

That's what you get that on your dating app.

Get that on the app.

What's the best thing you've ever said?

Well, that went off the rails. All the Greenland scenes were actually shot in Iceland.

I had to hold back saying that because I had that. I put that there.

Yeah, I was gonna say that I.

Had my honeymoon in Iceland.

Did you?

Lovely.

It was lush.

That's where all the Greenland scenes were shot.

Authenticity.

Gorgeous. In Iceland.

Yeah.

And local Icelandic media reported on the willingness of residents and municipalities municipal thank yous. To assist in the film production. A townhouse in a place that I'm never going to pray about. To pronounce.

A town in sky on the peninsula in the west was painted black. I'm going to cancel that.

Wait, can just clarify. They use Iceland to represent Greenland.

Well, didn't he go from. He went to both or didn't he?

Greenland scenes were shot in Iceland.

Why don't it just say is Iceland.

A townhouse in a place I can't pronounce on the something I can't pronounce. Peninsula in the west was painted Black. The inhabitants in in East Iceland agreed to keep a low profile for a day.

I feel this is racist somehow, but I'm not sure why.

Well, you. How would you pronounce this? Okay.

Okay.

I wish I practiced it.

Here's the fact of the day says this a forder. All right.

Why don't you read out that fact of the day?

Easy as that Seducer. I have no idea if that's.

I don't know. It's probably less bad than what I tried to pronounce. I'm bad enough on names. Anyway, moving along, moving along.

So there isn't actually one there, even though that's kind of a plot point. And he's. Oh, it's the same. And it. He worked in one. Yeah.

While Kirsten Wiig did sing David Bowie's Space Odyssey in the Greenland bar scene, she admits she cannot play guitar. She took lessons before filming so she could strum and move her hands.

No.

Because I'm old or.

No, just because you said you like skateboard stuff.

Yeah. You longboard, so.

Yeah, longboard now.

It must have been a thing in the 80s.

The law made strip teases illegal and banned any club from making a profit based on an employee's nudity.

It's also really hard to get alcohol in Iceland.

Did you try?

Yes. You want a major quest to get alcohol?

Of course you were.

Yeah.

Did you get any?

Yes.

Okay.

I didn't even.

Is there a story?

No, not really. It's just. It's hard to get there.

Jim Carrey, Owen Wilson, Mike Myers and Sacha Barron Cohen were all considered for the role of Walter Mitty. Patton Oswald claims he was one of the script doctors during the years of this in development hell.

So Patton Oswald played the E. Harmony guy at the end. On the end of the film.

He was a good guy. I love that. I love it. We're going to a volcano. What the fuck?

No, it was quite a nice touch that he was there as a bit of a sounding board, I suppose, for him.

Yeah.

In the film's theatrical release, the music playing as Walter leaves life and he goes to Greenland is Wake up by Arcade Fire. But in subsequent television broadcasts, the song is replaced for that scene, as often happens to a copyright and things like that.

Filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Mark Walt Waters have all been considered to remake this project. It says remake this project, but I assume they mean the remaking from the original. So they were all in the run to possibly make this film.

And obviously Ben Stiller Staddon, and during one phase, still his close friend and frequent friend Frat pack co star Owen Wilson was attached as well. So maybe. I know he's had some. He had some personal problems around that time, so maybe that might be why he dropped out.

Final one, which is a techy one about the Cameron system. So one of the. This is one of the first major film projects to utilize Hawke's new 1.3 anamorphic lens system.

And the system imparts a 33% squeeze to the image as opposed to a full 2 times squeeze, which allows the use of an entire 3 perf Super 35 negative or an entire 16.9digital sensor to capture a CinemaScope image. If you wanted nerdy, there it is.

I was just about to yell no. I was starting to breathe like the seagull meme and I was about to unleash nerd right at you.

I don't know what any of that means.

It was also shot film, which was fitting considering it's a little bit of a love letter to analog, I guess.

Yeah.

And the cinematography is off the scale. Beautiful. And it's a lot of practical lighting, not very many special effects.

I haven't seen the original either, but.

Danny K, I think.

Yeah. And from the description, it sounds like a very different sort of film to this one.

Thank you, Paul.

And thank you, Darren.

No eyes.

Yeah. Okay, we move on to hate it or rate it. I'm gonna go to you, Paul, first.

Okay. Didn't know what to expect with this one. I kind of missed it when it came out. Wasn't that bothered about it. Didn't know what to really take from it.

Watched it. Yeah, I loved it, really enjoyed it. I liked all the layers that we've talked about. I like the daft bits in it as well.

And the kind of deadpan Ben Stiller comedies because I do like them anyway and I like the layers. And like Darren said before, maybe it's because it's kind of reflecting the place that some of the stuff we're considering around FOMO and Life and.

What did you say? Love Letter to Analog. That was a nice way of putting it. And I appreciated that about the film, these sort of films. I do like the Journey films.

I am partial to them. It's kind of the coming of age films or whether it's this sort of thing where they're stuck in a rut and then they have to get out of the rut.

I always seem respond to them probably because I'm always having some kind of crisis myself. And I'm thinking, is the grass always greener on the other side, etc.

It took me by surprise, I think, because it started off and the daft kind of cutaways and I was thinking it was going to be one kind of movie. And then as it developed across. But yeah, I did like that layering of the loop and the Sean Penn.

Because at first I was thinking, what's this all about? It's a bit of a daft quest. But then as it developed, it became interesting and it was clear to build on his character. So, yeah, really loved it.

Took me by surprise. And I really want to watch it again, actually. Thank you to the two people who recommended it, our Wheel of listeners.

What's your grade? What's your grade?

You know when films stick with you a couple of days after you've watched them? I always feel like the grade needs to be higher because they keep kind of playing in my mind.

And this one does to the point of I think I need some physical media of this now. I'm gonna give it an 8, you know, which surprises me even. But the way it stuck with me, I took a lot from it. I enjoyed the filmography.

I think it's probably one of Ben Stiller's more maybe personal films. I'm not sure I like Kirsten Wiig. That was good introduction. Pat Nozzle was good on the other side of the phone. Maybe it's where I am in my life.

But yeah, eight solid.

Don't.

I'm coming up 50. And it does make you reflect on what you're doing with your life.

And I can realize I haven't left the country now for like a decade and should I be doing more and.

But then you know, I've also achieved great things in the last few years, so I don't know, I was a bit bored and the creative team annoyed the shit out of me because it feels like it's a little bit of that squad who did. Was it life begins at 40? Is that what you said?

Oh, this is for.

This is 40 and Judah kind of knocked up squad. And then it's. Yeah, exactly. And it's the 40 year old virgin. It's one of those movies that ends with them just singing Age of Aquarius for no reason.

Like Paul Rudd's in it.

Is that. Is that not Anchorman?

I don't think so, but it could be.

I feel like it's Anchorman there.

Either way, it's that guy you said with the beard who's annoying. Wig is kind of annoying. And her playing the guitar. I'm just. Just like, I hate you all. And I just think for me, just felt a little bit dated.

But maybe it's because these conversations are happening more these days.

Maybe.

I know. I just. And I can't work out what the final message is other than to live your life small.

It's okay, because maybe a photographer will put you on the front of Time magazine for doing the mundane.

I saw one review that didn't like it on IMDb say it's basically a full film. That's like the Nike just do it slogan.

But also not doing it's okay as well because the people who are doing it also secretly admire the people who aren't doing it. So I don't know really where to go with that. No, I. I will give you enjoy it though. I just was a little bit bored.

It felt like on the whole, lots of music video scenes in between, people whittering on about nothing.

That's why I like Seinfeld.

Okay, here's a song. Oh, I'm enjoying it now, but I like this song. And he's on the skateboard, so why wouldn't I? And okay, now I'm in. Okay, there's a shark. That's weird.

It just. I. Yeah, I kind of. It's got some mixed messages, but there's people online who freaking love this movie.

And there's people talking about how they've just like survived cancer or something and this movie is going to make him.

Loads of people in comments all over YouTube are saying they quit their job after watching this movie or they went on an adventure to Japan, or one guy is like my girlfriend. I just quit our jobs after watching this. And we're Gonna go on this adventure across, like, Asia. Like, she's the world to me.

Like, just totally in love with her. I was like, oh, my God, to be young and frivolous and able to just go live your life. And then I think, well, what. What am I not doing?

And actually, I think this podcast is the kind of thing keeping me going, because it's like, we've got skin in the game, we're in the arena, we're trying something, and maybe we can make this work.

When you've got skin in the git. So I'm going to go into Hamilton.

What are you gonna give it?

I was gonna give it a three, but actually, the insightful comments that I made made me think, like, it even more.

So it does have a bit of depth. The message, overall, message is good.

I give it a 3.5.

No, I was good. You know, don't give it too much, Darren, you know, See, I never know what he's going to say. I'm like, oh, maybe you like this one. No, I like.

I enjoy this film. With Darren. I did get bored towards the end. I liked his initial goes going into his fantasies and his daydreams.

I like them at first, but I got a bit bored of that and then I got a bit lost. When you start not knowing which one was a dream and which one's not a dream. And then, yeah, I just. It just didn't. I didn't connect with me.

I didn't land. I just. Like I said, I do like the overall message of the film. It doesn't mean you have to do all this crazy shit. It's just have a think.

Is there, like, small things you could do just to push yourself? Coming, Tom. Because when you do that, you learn something about yourself or the world.

You grow as a person by trying different things, being at your comfort zone. But it's about balance. It's about finding that sweet spot. Don't have to go crazy. But, yeah, I got bored.

There was times when I paused it to do something else. I was, oh, I must go and do something. Like, I wouldn't do that. If it was a really good film, I would have gone, I can wait.

So overall, I'm going to give it a 6.6. Okay, so that puts it in 28th out of 42. So it's just below Snatch and just above the Bourne Identity.

Okay.

Born identity got 18. This got 18.1, snatch got 18.2. Empire Records got 18.5, as did BlackBerry.

There's lots in the mix now, isn't there.

Yeah, that's disgusting about Empire Records.

If I recall, Mark did not enjoy Empire.

It's amazing how much it hurts when someone hates a film, doesn't it?

Take it. There we go.

Okay, so I'm getting used to it now. It used to hurt more, but it's.

It's.

Maybe, you know, maybe that's that thing of stretching. What did you say? Getting out of comfort zone.

This podcast would suck if we agreed, I guess.

Yeah, it would. Okay, so, yeah, that's where. That's the Legend League, if you want to go and have a look.

The links are in the show notes, so you can go to movies in a nutshell dot com. Check it out there. And that takes us into part three, which is the listener lounge.

Okay, so in the listener lounge, we have the lobby where we'll read out your questions, your comments, and your messages, and then we ask the question of the week. And we finish by revealing next week's movie. If you want to get in touch with us, you can email us helloviewiesinutshell.com.

you can leave us a voicemail@moviesinachell.com Also, there's a. There's a tab on the side of the website or the bottom, if you're on mobile, it just says voicemail. Click on that.

It'll open up the voice recorder on your phone. You can send us a message straight to us, and we'll read them out on the show.

Can we get people to do impressions of different actors?

They can say whatever they want. Yeah, give us your best Arnie quotes.

Yeah, that'd be cool.

So, yeah, we asked after Awakenings, we asked, what's the happiest movie you've ever seen? What did you say, Paul?

I had a few.

There's one in particular you said, oh.

It'S probably because I went to the musical recently. So it popped in my head. 13 going on 30 with Jennifer Garner and Matt Ruffalo.

Well, Scott Wigglesworth has said, oddly, Lord of the Rings. It's a comfort thing.

I get that. I'm a bit like that with the original Star Wars.

For me, I guess past the future.

Yeah, same. Just same Back to the future.

I can't remember who it was, but when we did the other live, someone commented Happy Feet. We joked about that, but it's one of the. Yeah, Hooky. Not be.

Notting Hill.

Notting Hill, yeah. There you go.

Notting Hill. Where the press conference scene and everything. You know, how can you not smile at that? Heart of ice. Any happy ones for you?

Darren, actually, Happy Feet is a really good suggestion. Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Why are you looking at me strangely? That's a freaking quality choice.

I feel like you slagged it off at the time when we talked about it.

Did we do an episode on Robin Hood Heaps?

We did a pilot episode on Robin Hood of Heath.

We did.

It makes me smile. I look, I'm sure you said it.

Was really bad maybe. Yeah, you're right. I think everything was. Became a costume in was. Shite.

Love that word. Shite.

How is that?

Yeah, maybe your Empire records used to be in my happy film.

The hot Shots used to be mine. Tosser.

Well, we got 40 odd episodes in. We did pretty good before.

It was a good podcast.

Mudslaying.

Okay, so we will move now on to this week's question of the week.

Okay.

Which is going to be if you could step into one of your daydreams for real, where would you go? What would you do?

Natalie Portman.

We don't have to answer now. Why don't we. We've got a whole week or two to come up with our answers. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.

If you can't think of anything, don't.

Natalie Portman.

No, that's just stepping into Natalie Portman too much.

What's crazy is that's her daydream as well.

I very much doubt that, though.

Someone. Someone asked her that in a press conference. She was like, there's this musician called Poor Day.

Lives in Cumbria.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, I think this is in Walter Ma now. This is very much.

There we go. So that is this week's question. If you could step into one of your daydreams for real, where would you go? What would you do? You can email us.

Hello, Movies in a Nutshell Dot Com. You can send us a voicemail at movies in a nutshell.com or the link will be in the show notes for this. Or send us a link via our socials.

You can get in the show notes as well. Okay, that takes us on to next week's movie, which is me. Back to me. Oh, I'm going Tom hanks.

Okay.

Is he on an island?

Yeah. Castaway. I'm going Cast away.

That's going to be weird. That's going to be. I feel like it might be similar themes as to taking things for granted. You know what your life should be. Okay, cool.

I haven't seen it for a long time.

Film. But yeah, I've not watched it for years. I want to watch it again. I know our listeners think of it.

I know he has a mate called Wilson who's.

Well, sir.

Well, sir. And that's pretty much all I can remember about that film.

That's what you need to know. Tom Hanks and his friend Wilson. Yeah, There you go. So that is next week's movie, Castaway. It is on. It's on that BBC iPlayer for free.

I think I got it at the charity show.

I was gonna say you must own it on physical. Course you do.

I think. I think I got that for a pound sterling.

A pound?

A pound.

Two thousand. I. Until I looked it up.

Julie. That's only a couple years ago.

Five years ago. So there you go. That is next week's movie. This episode is officially over. This is Mark saying goodbye.

Diamond saying goodbye for now.

That sucks. Do your work.