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This week, Louis Virtel is joined by TV writer Rheeqrheeq Chainey to discuss the Brooklyn Beckham family drama, Oscar nominations, the new Mel Brooks documentary The 99 Year-Old Man!, TikTok shop, and the never-ending Heated Rivalry press tour. Dylan O’Brien also joins Louis to discuss working with Rachel McAdams on his new film Send Help.

 

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TRANSCRIPT

Louis Virtel [AD]

 

Louis Virtel And we’re back with an all new episode of Keep It. I’m Louis Virtel and I’m in the large studio. I always love it here. The lighting is a little bit more gilded, a little more buttery, a little more Orville Redenbachery glow coming off of me.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I can’t.

 

And today I brought in one of my most fabulous partners in crime. It’s Rheeqrheeq Chainey.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Hi, I thought when you say Gilded, you were about to go into, you know, Audra McDonnell, Christine Baranski, Gild-It-Age when they first got electricity. Yes. That is what this lighting is giving.

 

Louis Virtel I always say about the Gilded Age that there’s one kind of lesbian coded actress that I always just think is on the show and then I’m wrong when I think about it like, oh wait, Cynthia Nixon is on this show, Sarah Paulson is not on this.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Sarah Paulson is not on the show, but honestly, we’re about to be in season four. They need some new sister who has like typhus to arrive. She could be there.

 

Louis Virtel And she has Broadway credits, because that’s the whole priority of the show.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yes, you have to be multiple-nominated Tony Award winner to bring in soup. Yes. So that’s like where we are.

 

Louis Virtel Debra Monk, please come in.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, racist Debra Monk, she’s doing great work on the other day.

 

Louis Virtel Obviously, by the way, it’s been a horrific weekend. We do not mean to say we have enjoyed the weekend even one bit, even though we had Oscar nominations this week, which, as you know, is the only endorphins I have left in my body. So I was initially excited about that, but fuck ice, fuck the weekend we just had. Let’s get into some chicanery and tomfoolery. The Beckhams are back in the news, and can I say something about this? When like Vicky Beckham and like whatever’s happening and they’re you know sort of strange Family Existence with Brooklyn Beckham, who just released a long Instagram story. Multiple slides. About their wedding and how Vicky allegedly sabotaged it, whatever. I kind of forget what we even think about Victoria Beckham. I know that the David and Victoria had a little docu thing a couple years ago that sort of endeared us to them, but otherwise I’m supposed to associate her primarily with the Spice Girls, but she so does not embody what I love about the SpICE Girls that I forget if I like her.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Look, this is a family that is a brand. That child, Brooklyn Beckham, so named because they fucked in Brooklyn and that’s when he was conceived, wrote five, six slides about his parents being meanies. Victoria is so omnipresent at this point in our lives, like she’s existed since we were kids, that we’ve gone through different phases of her. So there was the posh era. There was the coming to Hollywood docu when I think I was in high school where we watched her get glam for a DMV photo. And that is when I locked in.

 

Louis Virtel You said yes for me.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I said, yes, I was like, okay, so I can bring my own translucent powders to the DMV when I want to try to drive on the right side of the road. But yeah, like this, like, speaking of the Gilded, this is like the closest version of like extended aristocracy that the UK has. And in a time where the world is blowing up, this mess fed me in a way that like smoothed my brain. I love-

 

Louis Virtel I love it. She’s sort of like the Grace Kelly who remained in show business. You know what I mean? Like I became really famous, the top of what I do in one thing. Then I married the number one person in this sport. He runs, he kicks. Right, where they drink Capri Sun at halftime. Last time I played.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey They bend it like back, you get orange slices.

 

Louis Virtel Right, we had a soccer movie and we had to put him in the title. That’s how good he was.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey We put them in the title and at the end they’re like, oh my god, it’s Bex and they have like fake David and Victoria walking through an airport. I have watched this movie 20 times. But yeah.

 

Louis Virtel But you know that that aristocracy. Yeah, she just graduated to another level of fame, but it didn’t really have to do with the reason Now put her in fame

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And she stepped away from it. We haven’t heard her fake sing in so long, but the differences is like, you know, Grace got the bag named after her. Victoria is making the bags to name after herself. There is like this entrepreneurial spirit within that family. And you know that was one of Brooklyn’s complaints on his notes app, Leave Me Alone was like brand Beckham is number one. This isn’t a family. And it’s like, absolutely. You don’t go from not having much to having as much as they do. If Mommy like doesn’t put out a fake documentary as an ad for her fashion brand, which of course I watched. You’re complicit. I am completely a part of this. I saw someone say that like if you are over 30, you’re on the parent side. If you’re under 22, you are on Brooklyn’s side. Oh, that’s so gruesome. I am exactly there. Like I do not, Brooklyn Beckham, I would not know who you were if it wasn’t for your parents. Your mom was slutty on the dance floor of your wedding. You are not special.

 

Louis Virtel We’ve all been there.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey We’ve all been there. It’s like I remember your photography book that came out where one photo of an elephant was completely in shadow And the caption was so hard to photograph but incredible to see I’m never gonna be on your side my guy But I wish you well with your Trump funding billionaire in-laws

 

Louis Virtel And I’m also doing so much to cope with Guy Ritchie Madonna’s kid as an artist right now. So I don’t have the bandwidth for this.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I know, but like, you gotta remember, like, we still got Lourdes, so like, it’s okay, one of Madonna’s kids, and the younger girls, they’ll be fine, they have talent.

 

Louis Virtel Right, yeah, they play like piano and stuff.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And they, um, condemn.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, there’s that. There is an underrated Victoria Beckham era, which was after the height of the Spice Girls in the early 2000s, confusing time for everybody. She went into a real VH1 space and she had a couple of solo singles, namely called Not Such an Innocent Girl and A Mind of Its Own, where she wasn’t really in the SpICE Girls anymore. And I’m telling you from that moment on, she’s like, I guess I have to audition to be in the chorus. And she did not get in there, honey. But Ireland is Ireland for a reason.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think I think she also like this was a real tape in extension era for her This was when they were living in Spain and he you know was on the Real Madrid team I have really watched all of these people’s documentaries And I’m figuring this out as I start speaking, but she talked about in her doc She released on Netflix recently about how like I was trying to make it work And it really wasn’t like proper and I apologize for everyone for doing that accent. I realize I’m talking to a microphone But she obviously was a little lost and she’s like, but all I know how to do really is like Be thin and walk in stilettos. So I might as well like put that to good use and she has been building this fashion brand now for 20

 

Louis Virtel Which, by the way, points to the fact that her greatest contribution to pop culture is her 73 Questions interview. Yes. Which I think is the height of 2010’s culture. The 73 Questions Interview, if you don’t remember these, Vogue would do these questionnaires with people, which were clearly rehearsed, but they often had really good answers to this like strange narrator guy who, this was sort of the pre-Hot Ones thing we had. Yeah. You know, and I long for it because Hot Ones is so heterosexual, Koda.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Oh, Louis, I don’t care. I love it. You love hot ones? I watch hot ones. Every hot ones I drop, I think it’s the perfect… I love to watch white men sweat. I think its very funny that none of them can deal with the heat. Like, Brooklyn Beckham, I dont’ love that you have a hot sauce line because that feels like a colonizer stealing spices. But I do have the kit for hot ones in my house.

 

Louis Virtel Well, in this 73 questions of Victoria Beckham, where she is sort of illustrating she’s a big fashion mogul walking around wherever they sell her clothes. And at some point, the narrator asks, what’s something we need to get rid of? And she turns over her shoulder and says, AIDS, AIDS. No explanation needed. AIDS. By the way, she’s like kind of saying the consonants wrong. It’s like AITZ, the way she says it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey She was like, it’s with a little bit of brats, a little bit of Zazz. Right, it was 2000s culture.

 

Louis Virtel Brats are in the air. Brats and aides are lingering, you know.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, I don’t think she is someone who takes herself lightly that is a self-serious person and yes You know, I’m sad her oldest kid isn’t really talking to her right now But I’m I’ve loved Victoria since I was seven eight years old. I’m gonna stick to her

 

Louis Virtel But I’m glad you and I are both in this mystique space with her, where we’re like, I guess I’m signed on, and yet also, what do you do? But that’s a star. I can’t wait to see. Yes, it’s just about the stardom. But that’s the thing. It’s just about the stardom.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey The thing about it is we’re living in such microculture, where it’s like, oh, you know a lot about this person. It’s like yes, I do, because I think that Ann Dow deserves her flowers. But we used to have monoculture, and it’s the last remnants of when we all were on one side of this white lady will never speak to. And I think probably has a huge part of it. Whether or not anyone else who somehow saw these stories, Is this child posted? Also, I need to know what happened the day before that they posted this on a Monday. Yeah, right. Like, someone must have upset Ms. Nicola and like, oh, can’t upset Nicola. But it did feel like mommy yelled at him and he was like, and I’m gonna post about it.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. No kidding. No, you really touched on something when you said monoculture because today we’ll be talking about another remnant of monocultures, which are the Oscar nominations are out. And I have to say, going into the nominations this year, I was pretty, I don’t want to say unexcited, but I figured I knew exactly what we were getting. And the Oscars I thought made a couple of sophisticated choices that got me really for it so I’m really excited to get into it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, it’s going to be a fun time. Also some populist choices, which I think will be pretty interesting.

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah, F1, remember that? Oh my god. The cars will go fast. You turn on the movie, the cars go fast!

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, honey, take that edible and watch it. I did it. It’s very interesting.

 

Louis Virtel Elsewhere in this episode, we will be talking about the new Mel Brooks documentary, the 99-year-old man. I have to just say it is nice that someone from that age, this is somebody who is a veteran of World War II, is with us and seemingly embodying the same spirit he always has. It’s still fucking funny. Yes. It’s a great two-part series. We’ll get into the impact of Mel Brooks, who he is, the movies he made, the stars he made out of those movies. And then, speaking of fabulous stars, our interview today is Dylan O’Brien, who wowed us last year in Twimless. And now he is in the new Sam Raimi movie with Rachel McAdams, Send Help, which you would think looking at like just the log line of this movie, oh, these two people trapped on an island, you don’t know what’s going to happen.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Surprise! They’re surprised.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, get ready. Rachel McAdams being good in a brand new way, not a surprise. I love her so much. She has a bouquet of talents. We’ll get into all that more when we’re back on Keep It.

 

Louis Virtel [AD].

 

Louis Virtel The Oscar nominations dropped last week, pretty much shaking out how we expected, but there were a few shocks, namely sinners getting a record-breaking amount of love. Not just one nomination over the record, two nominations over the records, 16 nominations, my gosh. That’s so hot. Wicked, on the other hand, I don’t even remember, was nominated for even eviction from the Big Brother house, won nothing. Rheeqrheeq, how are you feeling about the Sinners of it all?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey A win is a win. And we are so up right now. I loved Sinners. I don’t remember who I was in May, but I do remember she loved Sinner.

 

Louis Virtel That really is the most impressive part. It’s like when everything everywhere all at once got all those nominations. It’s like I honestly need to see this movie again.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I watched it last night. Oh, you did? I rewatched centers last night, I was going through what I still had on the list of Oscar nominees and I decided I would rather not kick him and I’m going to watch this. I think that it’s so amazing that the fact that this… unapologetically black movie now has the record for Oscar nominees, like if we weren’t having people executed on the street, I think the Fox News would be mad about this. And that also makes me- And they’re too distracted. They’re too distract with their other crimes. And I think that makes me so happy that the white right people are pissed about this somewhere. But aside from that, I was making my list of reasons why I’m so excited about this And I think the fact that Ryan Coogler did something incredibly original. While being so sexy, and we don’t talk about that enough.

 

Louis Virtel I just watched him on that Amy Poehler interview. I have to concur.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It is powerful, all respect to Zenzi. The fact of the matter is that it’s like to get that rewarded in this time where we are seeing the regurgitation of very similar tropes is pretty amazing and I’m really very excited about it.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, I think the thing about this movie that really is attracted to voters is, one, it is a hard homage to genres of film of old. And it warps genres so easily and so fluidly. But then at the same time, it’s very of the moment too. Like this movie could only exist this year. You know what I mean? Actually, you know what? I would kind of say about this movie. It’s sort of the cowboy Carter of this year because it’s the tributes it wears on its sleeve. You know where it comes from. Genre wise, it belongs to one main thing, horror in the case of cowboy Carter country, but it’s infused with so many other things that. It’s a movie that has done its homework while also being so streamlined and entertaining.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, it has like an anthropological depth where it’s like for those who are horny for reference, or for how… Right here, sweetie. I know, babe. Right there. But like to have blues integrated this way, and then also like the visual interpretations of a horror genre versus like mysticism and what it is to be in the Bayou and all of those things coming into one space, I think it’s really amazing. And the fact that we talk all the time about how Hollywood loves to congratulate itself in who it’s nominating. I think this is actually a sort of Trojan horse version of that, to say like, this is a filmmaker who is honoring what we have built before. And it just so happens that it’s mostly, you know, black and brown faces and Asian faces are the ones in the front of it. I think that’s pretty cool.

 

Louis Virtel And one of the triumphs of this year is that in the best supporting actor category, which I am sorry to say this, is the most fascinating category this year right now. All five of these nominees could go either way. It’s Benicio del Toro, Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein, Sean Penn in One Battle After Another, and Stellan Skarsgård in sentimental value. But the fifth nominee who had no other precursors other than a lifetime of not being awarded, and we’ve all been waiting for this moment to happen, is Delroy Lindo in Sinners.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It’s like to see an uncle of such distinction finally get his due. He’s 73 years old. And he’s been doing, like the work is continuously excellent. And no matter where it is, I’ve seen Gone In 60 Seconds on TNT a thousand times. He’s fabulous in that. And also for those of good fight experience, we are so up and we have never been more up. But like this man, I rewatched Sinners last night and this man’s portrait of like and alcoholism and love of music and sacrifice. Is so nuanced and I am so shocked that people saw it as beautiful as it is because often that stuff is ignored because he also is very funny in it. And often we do not, this is also a funny movie at times and like that is not something that everyone, you know, goes with us to tap for.

 

Louis Virtel Also, it’s such a genre topsy-turvy movie and his performance makes you just feel like you’re in good hands. Like, oh, there’s a familiarity even though nothing in this movie is familiar.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Well, I think for people who have family members who have dealt with alcoholism and are veterans and have different types of trauma like a lot of us do, he fills all of the silent moments with like some real beauty. And watching it last night in the safety of my home, it did feel like you were watching someone who knows his time is up and like, what are you going to do with it? There are some really painful… Threads through this film while wrapped in bosom-y vampires. And I think that like I’m just really happy to be a part of this industry right now with something that’s cool.

 

Louis Virtel In a Weinstein era campaign-y brain, I have to say I’m a little worried about how the title from Dusk Till Dawn is settling over this race. I feel like a lot of people are thinking it’s too similar to that movie. And I don’t know that I agree with that. It does remind me a bit from time to time, but I don’t want it to sink this movie.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, what we also have to look like, we just mentioned the fact that it came out in May. So like, this is already, we are one billion years later giving them the nomination. I think will allow it to get a little bit more steam. So if the conversations like Ryan is, you know, doing some press, the fact that Del Rolando is this surprise and he’s hopefully will pay a publicist to get him out there as well. We might get this another wind where it’s sort of if it is rebranded as like look at this is a tribute to Golden Age Hollywood, but this is not stomping on Rodriguez’s, you know stamp.

 

Louis Virtel Mm-hmm.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Hopefully people will give an eye towards it. I just worry that the applause that Hollywood will give itself enough of like, we nominated you the most and then we don’t give you anything. I remember the color purple.

 

Louis Virtel I remember India Ahri at the Grammys.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It’s like it could happen a black person will win. It just might not be

 

Louis Virtel I’m Cypher Women Misaka, who by the way is almost my exact age and I always instinctively root for people who were born in July, August 1986.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Lumi Masaku, Lovecraft Country, that woman’s face is so gorgeous and like she’s so utterly moving. I don’t… I’m just really…

 

Louis Virtel Great scene in that movie. Yeah!

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, I’m just like really really horny for all these people in this movie. Like even Haley Steinfeld playing the Octoroon was fabulous

 

Louis Virtel Excuse me, she was great.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey She was so good. She’s like, we’re gonna kill all of you. That was a bar and they put it in the trailer and even when you saw it in movie, it still hit.

 

Louis Virtel There was something about that line reading. It had that why is no one ready, Devil Wears Prada thing where it’s like, I want to be able to replicate the way she said it. And there’s some real magic going on there.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And like when you think about the fact that woman has committed to living in Buffalo, New York, you know, sad It’s a way she’s supposed to be warm

 

Louis Virtel Talk about the blues, talk about the Blues. Okay, elsewhere here, we may as well talk about One Battle After Another, which I think it’s safe to say, even though it doesn’t have quite as many nominations as Sinners, is the dominating factor this year. I think the most locked-in category this year is Best Director. I don’t feel like, even though Ryan Coogler did the thing, quote Ariana DeBose on that movie, I feel like it has to be Paul Thomas Anderson, just the sheer amount of, you know, it’s kind of like Delroy Lindo. It’s like there’s been so much anticipation. Until this man will inevitably win. Nobody thinks this man isn’t worthy of an Oscar.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Well, I mean, that’s another category that we text about too much when we should be working is who deserves a career Oscar? And I don’t think you can say that that little man from Venice doesn’t deserve a career Oscar. Paul Thomas. A scraggly man. Exactly. You know, I think that Maya Rudolph should see an Oscar in her house and that’s where I’m voting for it. But yeah, I feel like that is the conversation right now and it doesn’t, the water does not seem to be moving away from it. Again, but I don’t know, we sometimes get these surprises and like because one battle came out in the fall and it has been like a consistent, well PTA is going to get it, PTA’s going to get it. Whether or not people will move against that, I don’t t know, but I think he’ll probably get it

 

Louis Virtel I do think people get sick of certain conversations. Again, I believe Coda won Best Picture because people were sick of talking about the other movies. They’re like, you know what? Actually, Marlee Matlin seems so nice.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Well, and I think it’s like, you know, who is throwing the right dinners in the next month? Right. And I think like, I know that centers did a couple, a bit of publicity push before the Christmas break and we’re seeing the benefits of that. So it could all move. But I mean, I think PTA is going to win it and I’d be totally fine with that. I just would like a little, I like to mix it up.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Yes. I’d like something to pop off, but I feel like that’s kind of where we can expect the Sentimental Value Awards Hall to show itself. Because that, I think, is a surprise that all four of the main actors are nominated here. That is, even Elle Fanning, which is maybe the most, no, I guess Del Rey Lindo is still the most surprising, but Elle Faning in that movie kind of has a no fun part. If you’ve seen, if you’ve sentimental value. It’s about. This guy, this director artist putting together a movie and he wants to cast his daughter who has become a famous actress but she has personal objections to their own relationship and they have to sort through it in order to make it work and Elle Fanning is the American actress. He hires to play her and then in the movie, she sort of figures out she shouldn’t be playing the part. So anyway, this Elle Fannings role is sort of a stopgap character in the movies. She’s just not as exciting as what else is going on.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Well, I mean, she’s also a fantasy. To be booked and say no? That’s crazy.

 

Louis Virtel Well, there’s multiple fanings. They’ve got to be somewhere at all times.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But she also also the fawning fanning in this movie the you know Still in scars our picks her because he gets the look from a daughter that is not his own that he really wants But this cast is so beautiful And I will say that like honestly I thought L had a much harder job than even Renata had like if you were to Rank these actors. I mean Inga playing the sister of the lead is my favorite actor in the film It’s so painful watching her watch her life be as complicated as it is But yeah, no, that is a character film where everyone was playing the part exactly. And like, good for Elle. She seems like a nice girl with a fat ass. There’s several words as well!

 

Louis Virtel I just saw her do a video about how she’s obsessed with Jack Black and like was literally fanning herself

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, it’s like she’s a little freak, and I think that that’s nice to know. I think like sometimes we don’t give blondes the opportunity to be like have eclectic cool taste. They’re like having a crush on that man. Also the video of Jack Black seeing that she has a crush.

 

Louis Virtel He was BAMBOOZLE

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey He was like, I have been in North Carolina for decades, how did you find me? It was pretty fun.

 

Louis Virtel You also just brought up the other actress in that category, Inga Ill’s daughter, Lilius, who’s pretty much a new actress. And in the movie, there was some heat about this performance going into nominations that I sort of doubted because she’s sort of watchful over the movie. She doesn’t really have a big monolog or anything. She has a sort of sweet moment with Renata Reinsva, the lead actress who was nominated. You of course remember her from The Worst Person in the World. But in this movie, there’s just an intensity about this character that’s resting, and it fits the tone of the movie really well. And when I watch interviews with this cast, and they are actually all brilliant interviewees, Inga has that same quality. Like she’s listening really, really hard, and then what she says is really studied and sincere. I’m gonna call it classically Scandinavian, I don’t know. But I’m happy to see her in this category because like Stellan Skarsgård, what I remember about her in the movie, is just the look in her eye that is so concentrated into the themes of the movies that make you believe in the movie.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Well, she, I mean, very early on, she throws a cutting look to Renata, seeing that her sister is on her way towards a depression. But she, it’s the first instance we feel like that where this is going. But we talk about sometimes about like proper supporting characters, proper supporting roles. And like that is where she slides in what by being sort of like the researcher and historian as to why the rest of my family is crumbling.

 

Louis Virtel Mm-hmm.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And finally putting words to it towards the end of, you know, the easiness of abandonment of their father and like how to deal with having the attention of someone you love so deeply taken away from you, ripped from you so quickly and how you have to keep going forward. It’s a small little scene with Stellan Skarsgård and it is so potent and it’s, you know, why we go to Scandinavia to feel the most and I’ve said it.

 

Louis Virtel Now you know who’s not in this category, Ariana Grande. Now I have to say though, I’m not somebody who is hard and fast about these kinds of rules, but I will just call this a triumph over category fraud. She is the lead of that movie, Full Stop.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Okay. I will say this. I did not like the second movie, but I am happy that Ariana and Cynthia have been nominated for these roles. They have been nominating for them. I’m sure that’s what voters thought. Exactly. And you got to go to the picture. You did the big picture with everyone. You are not Oscar nominated, and that’s fine. I also, you cannot start the press campaign for the second move that I did enjoy saying that the second movies cover was pink, whereas the first one was great. You just told us. John Chu did a full interview talking about how like, oh, this whole second movie is Ariana’s movie. Okay, she is the emotional core to the film and she did it beautifully. I think she just got railroaded by the fact that people didn’t enjoy it as much. But like, mama believing yourself and like those sort of negotiations, I think, you know, not to bring up the favorite, but we talked about the fact that like those three women had to have a conversation around who is going to go lead, who is gonna go support.

 

Louis Virtel And where that landed was weird, by the way.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, and they’d like, they, okay, I can have this fight in public. But the fact that there is this like sort of internal industry thing of like, okay so are we all, have we all decided, everyone say aye? That’s how it felt a little bit about deciding not to switch it because it’s like no one has like category loyalty that she had to stay there. She might be tiny, but she could be a lead.

 

Louis Virtel Right. No, it does feel like the decision, like you said with the favorite, comes down to a general vibe of gravitas. Olivia Colman, we just know somehow that she belongs in royal garb, whereas Emma Stone is our friend. So we have to put her in the supporting in that case. By the way, speaking of that Emma Stone nominated for Begonia, it’s so weird to see her in The Best Actress category and definitely fifth.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, like, I, you, mmm, in acting or in both?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, excuse me. We better say fourth. Because if Kate Hudson wins this Oscar for Song Song Blue, I have to leave the business. By the business, I mean life.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I know exactly where I’m going to watch these Oscars. And when I walk into Mulholland, and look, Miss Kate Hudson is a star. Again, that is someone who is a start. I have been so blessed to watch this woman step out of Sunset Tower in a fur and light a cigarette. Okay, it was shock. I was like, no, that’s what Entertainment Tonight told me Hollywood would be. That is beautiful. I don’t understand how this happened, but also sometimes, people have been in a city for a very long time and they have friends and like that i guess that’s part of it

 

Louis Virtel Well, I will say this about Kate Hudson being nominated for this movie song sung blue, which I think is for I mean, honestly, the main crime of this movie is it’s too goddamn long for being like a traditional biopic in certain ways. But anyway, I kind of do like that it’s a throwback to 1940s and 50s best actress nominations where once upon a time, people like Susan Hayward or Greer Garson, these are people we would nominate where they would kind of be playing real life people and the movie was just three terrible things happen to them, and then they got a sweet moment at the end.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And then they sang a song.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, she may have fallen down the stairs, but she has a song to sing or whatever happens in the movie.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey She might’ve got her gawk gored in, but she still believes in herself. Like, there’s one of the few clips available of this film on YouTube. Which, by the way, I hate looking at. This is an ugly movie. I mean, the thing that is really, like, hurts my spirit is that no one’s wig age matches the age of their face. And I understand it because we have to go over a period of time. But we’re dealing with dewy, young follicles and aged skin. And it just drives me bananas. But Kate’s character, when she’s first meeting Hugh Jackman, who is a uga about this woman playing, doing a Patsy Cline cover, says, nostalgia pays. And this is exactly where we are. Kate Hudson is a name that people have known for a very long time. You know, we have access to screeners that we give our parents, even though we don’t. And I’m off the record on that. But a lot of. Older voters are going to click on that. It just feels like, you know, in a world where the Spring Sting movie didn’t get as much attention, this one is a sort of tranquilizing bath that some people might have enjoyed.

 

Louis Virtel I also feel like this is the only movie this year where it is the screener you share with your parents. Yeah, exactly. Like the wholesome thing, you know, which we don’t really have elsewhere here. You wouldn’t want your mom to be like, Mom, sit down and watch Marty Supreme.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, spoiler alert, I have white people in my family and I did make them watch one Bella of another without me because I was like, y’all can have that conversation and I want to see your eyes when you come back, but I don’t need to watch Tiana’s ass get panned over with you sitting next to me. I think that’s something I can take a step back from.

 

Louis Virtel And to wrap up, we will now talk about Best Picture, where F1 got in. Let me just say, by the way, and so did Train Dreams, which means that we have Carrie Condon from Banshees of Inner Sheeran is in two Best Picture nominees this year.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey She missed her pale ass. She’s, I mean, let’s all go back to Ireland. She was so good in that movie. This is also a really interesting case of like, so what can the 10 nominees do, right? This is a real span of, we have some populist sentiments and we have the couple in the middle that we all agreed on, and then there’s some that only this branch saw and we are happy for it. But it’s like, I, For once, I think I’ve seen all of these already, which is very early for me. I’m very proud of myself. And like, it’s gonna go the way it’s going to go. I don’t know what we’re proving to ourselves by nominating F1.

 

Louis Virtel It’s just I do feel like this is a year we could have been fine with seven nominees. What happened guys?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, I think that like that is a conversation that the next time we call the board we should talk about it’s like Let’s go with the number that we think fits not stick to ten I don’t think that that’s really necessary But you know like we our big money movie in f1 and as someone who what’s saw Beyonce in that Racing outfit in November. I’m going to Vegas to see a race sooner rather than later I get it, but I just like that wasn’t even a fun film

 

Louis Virtel Or it’s just like so standard, exactly what you expected, I find.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Shit going fast. I like things blowing up. It did not rush any sort of adrenaline in me, but yeah, we’re all sedated if it were

 

Louis Virtel If it were about the first ever lady F1 driver or something and she had like Bonnie Bedelia here like in the movie heart Like a wheel from the 80s look it up

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey She’s wearing a scarf, the scarf gets caught in the ignition, she does go flying.

 

Louis Virtel Isadora Duncan shit. Exactly. It’s done. You’ll be pitching this later, right?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, that is where I’m going at 11.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, one bet off to another I think is safe to say is going to win, but sinners were rooting for you. And I think sinners might get the casting Oscar, not that I care about the casting Oscar because I think casting often comes down to who responded to the email.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Let’s talk about that. We’ve been on both sides of this, of like, as producers, casting, as people who’ve been self-tape. You know, it’s a really difficult thing and sometimes it’s who it’s available. But some of these nominees in casting are true, like had to find specific faces in specific communities and I think they’re wonderful. And honestly, I’m sorry, my vote is for Mari Supreme.

 

Louis Virtel Well, there’s a lot of interesting things going on in there, like you have the appearance of Fran Drescher or Sandra Bernhardt or Christopher Lloyd is in that movie, which by the way, if this movie won Best Picture, Christopher Lloyd would have starred in two Best Picture winners 50 years apart, because he’s in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which is 1975, and then 2025. Life, can you believe it?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Come on, gay math? But yeah, no, it’ll be a fun Oscars. It always pisses me off or makes me happy in a way that I’ll talk about it for 48 hours. Oh, don’t worry. So I’m excited.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got 48 years of this ahead of me, so get ready. And before we close this conversation, really, I’m afraid I have to ask you to stuff my box with your Oscar ballot.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey You haven’t texted me that in ages. I know. So should I run you through? Please. All right. So what I have, and you know, most of this is vibes of I’m going one battle after another for best picture. Me too. Timmy Chalamet, please stay normal for a couple more months. Best actor. Jessie Buckley for best actress because some women in musical theater deserve more awards. Stalin Skarsgard, supporting actress. It’s Tiana Taylor. Thank you for what you have done supporting Actress. PTA and best casting this is the one that I think is my favorite and I follow this casting director online. She’s wonderful

 

Louis Virtel I agree with everything except I’m going sinners for best casting.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, I.

 

Louis Virtel It really is like a provocative question, I guess. I just don’t know that we need to settle this with Oscars.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think that Oscars are votes and taste, and that is what really casting is.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. So, let me…

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Let me, let me stuff it to the front.

 

Louis Virtel And if you want to fill out an Oscars ballot, guess what? You can go to the Keep It Instagram page and do it right then and there. Post it. We’ll repost it. We’ll be right back with more Keep It. But first, some quick housekeeping.

 

Louis Virtel [AD].

 

Louis Virtel This week’s guest gave one of my favorite performances last year in the film Twin Lifts, earning himself a Spirit Award nomination. And he’s certainly not slowing down this year as his upcoming film, Send Help, in theaters this weekend is opening to rave reviews from critics and fans alike. You also know him from the Maze Runner movies, Caddo Lake and this little known show called Teen Wolf. Please welcome to keep it Dylan O’Brien.

 

Dylan O’Brien Wow, thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

 

Louis Virtel My God, there’s so much to dig into with this movie Send Help. But first of all, Let’s just get into the Rachel McAdams of it all right away. I love movies where two people are stuck together and there’s contrasting personality types. There’s a lot of tension there. Rachel Mc Adams has never given two performances that feel like they belong to the same actress. So when you meet this person, what do you expect you’re gonna get and what do get and what is it like working with her?

 

Dylan O’Brien Yeah, that’s so interesting. I guess. I mean, it’s it’s Rachel McAdams, right? So like, there is definitely an air of this has been somebody who’s been so I’ve known well, very well who she is since I was, you know, 12. So a lot of my existence. So yeah, I don’t know, you’re kind of nervous and wondering, I guess what they’re like and if you’ll be sort of accepted by them. I guess that’s like kind of a big piece of it, you know? And she just is so immediately somebody who is so incredibly like in touch and present and grounded. She’s just like on her feet, you now? So she kind of just out of the gate makes you comfortable and is just, she’s just a human. You know, she just a humans. She’s a very, very smart human. She’s very seasoned actor. She’s very thoughtful and prepared. Actor and she’s very open. So it’s sort of like the most amazing combination of somebody who is like otherworldly talented and you know um and then I kind of had the absolute pleasure of getting to see in person front row seats as to the inner workings of that um and then you know as a person somebody again who is just so utterly open and giving and wanting you to succeed and those things just go such a long way such a way in in making something evolve and turn into hopefully something that flourishes, something that can be great and special and unique. And yeah, we feel like we really, I don’t know, hopefully achieved that together, but certainly had a blast doing it and hope that shows up.

 

Louis Virtel You and her are on a plane that crashes. You are her douchebag boss. And I love the choices you make to play this character because they’re subtler than you’d expect. In a movie where it’s about two contrasting personality types, you feel like, oh, well, here’s the really nasty guy and anyway, you play down some of this character’s nastiness in such an interesting way. And I was wondering how much fun is it to dig into a character who is so, God, like the rancor I have for this person, just, he’s so bad. How much fun is it to play this guy?

 

Dylan O’Brien Yeah, it’s really fun. I love a flawed character. I feel like we’re getting slightly away from that a little bit. I feel that we have a fear of flawed characters, we studios do, I guess, these days. And so it’s rare that you get to sort of play one and lean into that, specifically for the purpose of the piece. Like it was so vital to the dynamic that I was flawed, but also at the same time, I think what made the script so juicy and enticing was that… I mean, just like you said, there is such opportunity for depth and humanity and just, and the swimming in the gray a little bit is like Rachel and I would always love to say, you know, we were not interested in doing these, you know one dimensional black and white, like, you know dynamic set movie happens like version. And I think the grounds was certainly set. It was bred for this kind of like, you know. Um, nail-bity, like, oh wait, you think there’s sort of one person, you know, you just found out something about their history that kind of colors in a different view of them. There was constant perspective shifting. It was constant sort of like ground shifting underneath you as an audience member and a lot of depth and humanity behind who these people really were. You know, they were, they are very colored in characters. There was a lot, um, meat on the bone there to kind of play with, you know what I mean? And so. I was certainly interested in him being vicious, but not necessarily it being like delivered or colored in, in like a cartoonish way. Although there was a lot of discussions of that too, because it’s Sam and Sam is so… He’s got such a specific vision and he’s so… Can be stylized, can really like achieve a heightened version of a grounded world, you know? And again, movie starts with like a plane crash sequence, you know, so it’s like There is an element of like how in reality are you already that you’re operating from? So these things are all conversations and calibrations. There was definite versions of takes that I did that were more cartoonish. And I’m really happy though, I’m happy that kind of what we swim in for the most part feels like a really authentic version of somebody that you do know on this earth.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, no, it’s a dialed in insidious performance. I’m glad they chose those takes also. Yes, frightening. I was gonna ask about Sam Raimi too. This movie to me, while it departs from a lot of the stuff he’s done, still feels very much of a piece with his work somehow. When you’re preparing to work with him, do you go and watch his old movies? You’re like, well, I must watch The Evil Dead again. I must see the old Spider-Man movies again. Or do you just start on a new page with him? Like, what’s your preparation for meeting with Sam Raime?

 

Dylan O’Brien Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting, like the short answer is no, I didn’t dive back in. I think there’s two reasons for that. A, I’m very familiar with Sam’s work. I’ve been a huge Sam fan my whole life. And B, if you are someone who is familiar with his work, you know he is a very eclectic array of work. He’s a director who, you know, you were not necessarily going to be subscribing to one clear and cut vision. I wanted to kind of go in as malleable as possible to what? The experience would be and how he would see this one in particular, right? So I think that was more the approach. And what’s really cool is that there’s obviously, there’s elements of Sam Lace throughout. He’s definitely got his fingerprint on it, but like most of his career, it’s again, it’s a movie that can fall into a different category. It isn’t necessarily just sort of like his repeated language, which I think is. So much of what he makes him one of my favorite filmmakers ever, and he’s adaptable, you know? And he treats each piece individually as its own. And I think that that goes a long way, you know, especially like as an actor coming in. Because that requires a lot of communication, you know? So immediately, you’re having those conversations with him. He has the vision. And he’s able to paint it for you.

 

Louis Virtel I feel like your career, I mean, this is just an outside perspective. Everything you’ve done, you’ve definitely belonged in these projects. Like it could only be you in a way, but at the same time, it feels like your career is filled with pivots too. You know, like when you embark on something that is like a completely new genre experience for you, does it feel like treacherous to you? Or do you feel dialed in just based on what you read in a script?

 

Dylan O’Brien Oh, that’s so interesting. Yeah, I mean, thanks. First of all, I appreciate that. And dial that. Yeah, there’s a gut instinct thing, I think, that I listen to for sure. And I have maybe honed a little more as the years have gone on in terms of knowing what to pay attention to. And then in terms of my interest and what gets me excited, I think changing directions and doing things that I haven’t gotten to do yet certainly entices me. So I think those are two key elements that I really operate alongside of. I kind of am always sort of thinking of the piece as a whole, even just as an audience member, okay, where does this kind of exist right now? And in the grand scheme of films being made, my own career, you know, like, have I ventured down this path? Is this, like a version of it that, you know, would be a good opportunity to do that? Do I speak the language of this kind of, like this tone, you know, this tenor? Is this a filmmaker I like really believe in and want to be in the hands of, you know? And, you know, is there a connective kind of intangible gut thing? Into this character, where I can just see it, hear it, feel it. It’s in my bones. I don’t know why yet, but if I go on this journey, I’ll discover why at some point. You know what I mean? I think those are all things that, yeah, I guess maybe is some type of combination of what hats out to how you put it.

 

Louis Virtel Not that Twinliss has almost anything in common with this movie, other than maybe a glimpse into the macabre, but something I do love about both of them is just the way you handle dialog in one-on-one scenes with Rachel McAdams in this movie but also in Twinlis. And I was wondering, do you have a favorite moment of just filming a conversation, of filming a one- on-one, either a confrontation or just two actors sort of battling and you’re one of them.

 

Dylan O’Brien I think such a huge piece of cinematic language that I’m really in tune with maybe, or believe in is like a cadence, whether that be a cadence for one character or a cadence that a film possesses, you know? I mean, look at like, Harry Met Sally, for example, right? Just like throwing one out there, right. It’s like, it has a specific cadence. These characters have like a language together, and it’s identifiable. It doesn’t feel… Like messy, it feels like the fabric of something. And so I think that that has been something that, I don’t know, I think going back to even the first character I ever played, I felt like really, hopefully too, sounded very specific and hopefully no one I ever have has sounded as specific as that one did, cause all people sound different and people speak differently. And I think, that that’s something that for me is a way into… I don’t know, the fabric of a film, and what makes something feel cinematic. I think a voice goes a long way, and I feel like the way two characters can sound in a conversation go a long away. And hopefully, I go to Twinless, I think immediately of sort of like those early scenes of Roman and Dennis at the support group in the diner, that dialog was so rich, and it was untouched, and it such a specific cadence of, like, contrasting characters, like… Conversing you know that hopefully if the movie you know has like a beautiful shelf life um at some point when we look back you know it was identifiable to that film and that film only and those characters and those characters only you know so yeah i don’t know that’s such a cool question though because that is something that i i think a lot about you know i think a lot of actors are very like physically inclined it can be so many different ways into but I certainly am very like inclined to tap into a cadence of some sort.

 

Louis Virtel Congrats on the Spirit Award nomination. One, because I do believe that is like the most fun award show. Like, so just have fun at the actual ceremony. Like, I’m always like cackling at the hosting on that show, too. But secondly, your performance in Twin List really is an accomplishment. Like there’s this character is very fascinating. Everything you do feels like organic. It’s not like you’re making any extreme choices. And yet I found myself constantly surprised by the character. What’s your favorite coloration you put on this character that maybe wasn’t on the page? When you picked it up.

 

Dylan O’Brien I mean, uh, maybe voice, James, uh Sweeney, my filmmakers and co-star on that. When we read this script out loud together for the first time, which was actually really funny because it was already technically four years into.

 

Louis Virtel The saga of this is unreal, yeah.

 

Dylan O’Brien It’s crazy, yeah, I didn’t even realize that I had never, we start reading it out loud and he kind of stops and he’s like, you’re doing like a voice. And like I immediately kind of got insecure, actually. I was like, oh no, like does he hate it? And I was, yeah I guess, I don’t know, it’s just sort of always how he sounded to me. And then if I start breaking it down, I’m like, I dunno, I think there’s a shelteredness to it, there’s weight on its shoulders, there’s I donno, it’s how he sounds. And he’s, no, I love it. He’s like, and I want to hold you to it, though. Like, are you OK with that? I don’t want you. I’m going to call you out if you sound like you. And I was like, OK. And he fucking did. And especially because he’s on camera with me. Sometimes I’d be like, he’d be like, you sent a little Dylan on that take. And I’d like, well, he sounded a little fucking James on that last one. But. But yeah, I mean, that was certainly something that colored in the character and something that made me hear him from day one. And I just felt like I really, that’s something that’s a specificity that goes a long way, I feel like. And then when you’re supported by a filmmaker who really appreciates and supports filmically specificity, it doesn’t get lost either. So I have to credit him so much because there’s sometimes so many things that you can do as an actor. You can bring ideas, you can bring specificities, You can bring nuances that. If your filmmaker’s not seeing them, they’re getting lost, you know, and then no one’s gonna see them. So I can’t believe how quietly I played this character, how muted I was and slow I was able to speak and deliver and James held that in his hands, like as a filmmaker and supported those things. So I have him so much to thank, you now.

 

Louis Virtel Is it important at all to have like, maybe actors your age, but whomever that you admire, that you think about and like want to, I don’t want to say emulate what they do because when I look at you, like what you do with roles is you’ll be really grounded and yet also you have the power to make strange choices within being grounded. And some, like an actor I thought of who’s like that is I don’t know if Christopher Abbott, I don’t know if you follow his career at all. But it’s like, I kind of feel like there’s some synergy there. Are there actors who, when you see them on screen, you think, Oh, like, maybe I would have made a choice like that too, or I relate to what they’re doing up there.

 

Dylan O’Brien Yeah, I mean, especially, well, I mean, kind of all performers, all actors, I guess, right? Ones that we grow up with, ones who you’re side by side with a little bit, you know? I draw inspiration from so many actors. And it’s actually really cool. I feel like they’re such a cool crop of actors in my kind of age range doing amazing work. And, uh, there’s a bit of a bar raise element to it, right? Like there’s like, there’s certainly like an inspiration to it and yeah, it keeps you invigorated and energized. And I love watching great actors, you know? So I think it’s like it’s really fun to see how many in my age range are like doing such great work. And certainly I’ve always drawn inspiration from even in ways that you don’t even you may not even realize. You know, I remember when I was younger and just first getting into this, you know, there were so many, so many actors. You know my friend Emery Cohen, like is the first top of mind as an example to me. You know Emery was somebody who before I became great friends with, because I had the pleasure of working with him. He was somebody I saw and was just like, who the fuck is this guy? You know like, and I was like, this is unbelievable. And like what I would do to just like. Pick this dude’s brain, get to know him, is he really like that, like Emory’s so good that when I feel like before he was in enough things to be like, okay, no, no no, he’s like an actor. And also before I knew him, I knew that he grew up acting. I thought that Derek, Sean Frantz, sorry, I don’t know the pronunciation of his last name. I thought he found him off the street when he did Place Beyond the Pines or something. I was like, this guy is this guy. He’s that good, he is that believably authentic in this role, you know? And I don’t know, so yeah, I’ve always felt that way. I’ve also felt like I’ve, you know, I don’t know, maybe even like in ways that I haven’t realized have fabric of other people’s work that I’ve been inspired by, you now.

 

Louis Virtel Well, I want to encourage everybody to go see, send help. You are a blast in it. Rachel McAdams is also a blast. Oh wait, can I hold you to, what’s your favorite Rachel McAdam’s performance before I let you go?

 

Dylan O’Brien My favorite McAdams performance of all time. That’s correct. That’s pretty brutal. I mean, I mean the notebook is crazy.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah

 

Dylan O’Brien But Regina George for me, I think, is top for me. I was a big Red Eye fan. Love Red Eye, love Red Eye. By the way, just because of The Plane, we are getting it being mentioned to us a lot. It’s comforting and validating to sort of watch, like even Rachel, like have to go through it. 21 years, 21 years it’s been since that movie. And just because this movie has a plane, no other similarities. But people are just like, so do you only just do plane movie? You know what I mean? I’m like… His brain on that similarity is really funny. Yeah, I guess, me and girls. But then also, wedding crashers. There’s a moment in wedding crashars I always even just so remember as a kid. There’s something, I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know, there’s something so visceral and sensitive and honest about her. Even just, I dunno, when I was observing that, I probably saw wedding crash as when I wasn’t even an actor yet, but I was a fan of acting and I really loved like performances and movies. Yeah, there’s something that’s always been so present and human and raw and rangeful and thoughtful about her. She’s just incredible.

 

Louis Virtel And she’s so Canadian, she’s not going to shove it in your face. You have to discover it for yourself.

 

Dylan O’Brien She’s so like, oh, I don’t know, I didn’t mess that one up for you, did I? And I’m like, what are you talking about? What are you talkin’ about?

 

Louis Virtel Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret, also a fabulous performance. But Dylan O’Brien, thank you so much for being here and you were such a joy in this movie and such a D-bag. I wanna emphasize D- bag.

 

Dylan O’Brien I appreciate that so much. Thanks.

 

Louis Virtel [AD]

 

Louis Virtel Living legend Mel Brooks is the subject of The 99-Year-Old Man, a new HBO documentary by Judd Apatow. And boy do you know it’s Judd Appatow when he’s making this thing, keeps popping up saying shit. The series explores the comedy legend’s rise, career, and indelible mark on basically a century in entertainment. Rheeqrheeq, how are you feeling about Mel after watching The Doc?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I feel exactly as I felt before that I want to have soup and a sandwich with this man.

 

Louis Virtel And believe me, he’s having those right now.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And there’s something like very, I was lucky enough to be here when we talked about Marlon Scorsese a couple of months ago. And there are these guys, so tiny, biggest glasses, who have been famous our entire lives, right? And you just, they’re part of the lexicon. The fun thing about Mel Brooks for me, because I was introduced to him when Producers became a musical, because you could not go anywhere. Back in my day when there were five channels. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about this musical on Broadway that is taking it by storm. And I realized, oh, it was written by this man named Mel Brooks who made a movie. And then, you know, I’ve loved Gene Wilder my entire life. Oh, his first major role is from Mel Brooks. And so I kind of, you now, yellow brick road back to a man who took his comedy very seriously and put some of his anger from the world. As into mocking those who torment others. And I think that part is what resonates the most on this very normal Tuesday.

 

Louis Virtel I think a huge part of why he is legendary, aside from the movies, which are as classic as they come. Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, the producers, as you said, even his lesser hits like High Anxiety.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I watched that last this weekend was so fun

 

Louis Virtel It has so many funny parts in it when Madeline Conn is dressed to match her car. On his dress to match her car.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It’s just a double take of, this bitch is matching her car, it’s so funny.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, there are two things that I think really make his legend what it is one these movies in addition to being funny He is such a movie dork. I mean like these are all with the exception of the producers. These spoofs are also like slavishly Attracted to the details of the of the actual movies. They’re spoofing So it’s like young Frankenstein is kind of a frightening Frankenstein movie here and there in addition being downright hilarious and Everybody in that movie is a fucking 10 Cloris Leachman gives one of the funniest performances I’ve ever seen it’s crazy She didn’t do way more with him

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Like the specificity she has in young pregnancy, but also in high anxiety, which

 

Louis Virtel It was real. No fruit cup or whatever that is. Yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, don’t forget if you’re even 30 seconds late to dinner. But the fact that in his directorial style, and like there’s a clip of him on Queens and Cars getting coffee with Seinfeld the first season, and he’s on the cover of the DGA. And he said, like, they never acknowledged my work as a director. But what you’re pointing to is the fact his overbearing and slightly slavish commitment too detailed in skewering and honoring these styles of film. Is what makes them so good. Because if you were painting with such a wide brush, in the comedy, swinging, and always hardly missing, but that texture to Frankenstein’s castle, to what the 12 chairs would look like on that seat, really makes it interesting. And it’s introducing stuff that folk didn’t know, that Chappelle didn’t that, John Stewart didn’t at the time, and they learned as kids.

 

Louis Virtel I also just think in general, he embodies the spirit that people want to make comedy with. I think there are so many comedy creators who have maybe a resting dourness about them or a self-seriousness or it’s just pure workman-like. Sometimes you don’t want to know how the sausage is made, but literally every time you see an interview with this guy, it’s like, oh, that makes me want to make a movie. I think he gets people excited about the idea of making movies, period. And being silly and like going for rambunctiousness and what some people might even call offensiveness, but doing it with such a joie de vivre that it’s hard to be mad at Mel Brooks even if you think certain things in his movies don’t hold up anymore.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey You know, they address it a little bit at the top. The Mel Brooks we know from couches and late night shows is a character, right? He, but he- He’s very on. He’s on, but it’s obvious that he’s made that decision. There’s some things that he wants to write about, that he want to share. You know? Fuck Nazis, great, I’m down with that message. He’s going to do it every time. But to get that message out there, I have to be like, what’s your name? Nice to work your table. And that is something that, like, you know, folk of… Marginalized communities know that we have to sell you our message and like our worthiness in some interesting way. And so Give Hitler’s springtime a great song

 

Louis Virtel I listened to it yesterday. It really is a banger. He has a couple of bangers in different movies, that one in History of the World Part One about the Inquisition. That gets stuck in your fucking head. Not a great movie. It’s definitely like my least favorite Madeline Kahn performance in one of his movies.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, I think that, you know, I spent some time on the producer’s Wikipedia page yesterday, but the fact that, like, Mel Brooks has this gorgeous voice, and, like you find out that he was a drummer as a kid, and he casts himself in sort of a Frank Sinatra role in High Anxiety, and then you imagine him singing a Tang Bancroft at home, and you’re like, well, this, they were fucking the night. But the fact at the age that he was to do the producers and be like, and had to have other folk tell him, no, you can write the entire score for this, you’re Ready for that. What, almost 70, is pretty fascinating. Like, I guess believing yourself over and over again and you’ll be fine. Who knew? Working on it every day.

 

Louis Virtel Now, you just brought up the other star of this documentary, which is Anne Bancroft.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Ha!

 

Louis Virtel There’s something about that couple in particular in pop culture history where there’s just a halo around them. And what do you think that is?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think that, you know, let’s start baddie funny man, okay, you got to just a stone cold baddie and her really funny husband, but there is when they look at each other in public and you know they, it took a very long time before they were actually in a movie together, but when they would do public appearances, you could feel the vibration between them. And often we don’t see that in people’s Architectural Digest tours, you Bye!

 

Louis Virtel You know, you can see that. Much respect to Sarsgaard and Gyllenhaal.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Exactly, and we’re really happy you’ve made it, but I think that there was this bemusement with each other that you could tell that they were both really like liked each other And that’s you know, you we see people horny for each other or intellectually curious But to really like I vibe with him and that’s why I want to spend my time with him. I think it’s pretty

 

Louis Virtel You really would watch them get more excited to be around each other as the seconds would pass. And also they’re not two people that you would think would be intuitively alike in certain ways, but together it’s like the same baddiness emerged. It’s almost like they became one character together. And I think something else that I just fucking love about Mel Brooks being married to, of course, Oscar winner Anne Bancroft, one of the great best actress wins for The Miracle Worker. And she’s also a Broadway legend, etc. It’s Rob.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Mrs. Robinson, Heartbreakers, Starrings, Courtney Weaver.

 

Louis Virtel Please, we can have a whole Heartbreakers episode sometime.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I was talking about it

 

Louis Virtel I also love that they were two artists whose artistic paths probably did not need to ever run together. They did make a movie together, To Be or Not To Be, and she appears in minor roles in some of his movies. One that’s a funny homage to old Wolfman fortune teller people in Dracula Dead and Loving It. But otherwise, they were independent artists. She’s like, I’m a dramatic actress, mostly. You know, and if you watch movies like Night Mother or Agnes of God or The Pumpkin Eater, I mean, none of that reminds me of Mel Brooks. And all of what he does doesn’t remind me of her. So the fact that they just found common personality, even though their work has nothing to do with each other, makes them like a universe unto themselves.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But I think also, you know, they were both each other’s second marriages and like, when you, I don’t think that folk who are both artists who live in the same house are actually individual artists. So you know their son Max refers to Mel as the water and Ann as the glass, which, you know because she’s stacked, but that back and forth of you know Mel saying she’s the one who told me I was I was worth it to do this. And I, you know, respect this person, this nice old man that I don’t know enough to think that he also bolstered her. And so whereas, you, they have a clip of her in the Elephant Man produced by Mel Brooks under a pseudonym, so people didn’t mistake its emotional core as something that’s going to go, and ba-da!

 

Louis Virtel Which is very smart, because I could see the PR getting out of control by now.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey You know, the photos would get a little loopy, but there is this one shot of Anne Bancroft, and you’re like, oh, that’s Anne Banchroft. But this is, she’s, you know, showing this side of herself under the umbrella of her very funny husband who has a creative center that makes him also make these things and put David Lynch on for the first, or second time, but first time.

 

Louis Virtel And that’s very interesting hearing how he and David Lynch vibed and how Mel Brooks got on board producing The Elephant Man. But I do want to say, if I have a criticism for this, and by the way, this is four hours of material, so you’re getting through a lot. Yes. A couple of things occur. One, Judd Apatow is the one asking most of the questions. And look, I understand in even a documentary about the most talkative man who ever lived, you need to hear somebody ask questions. You need to here an interjecting voice, basically. It interjects quite a bit.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey He’s a fan, and I think that Judd Apatow has been very articulate, overly so one might say, about the fact that he was a student to these men and came when he got to LA, has been blessed to be invited into the inner lives of some very funny men who have crafted comedy as it were. I did not need the shot over his shoulder for half of the shots of Mel Brooks. It felt incredibly intrusive, and it’s just like, I don’t know why that choice. Just put yourself in a talking head separately in the movie. Whereas we had, and that is a different conversation about the documentary industrial complex of how much the interviewer should be in it. But whereas we had a great example of it this year in Pee Wee Herman as himself. Yeah, that was really lovely. Where Paul Rubin’s relationship to the director was part of the film. This didn’t feel completely necessary.

 

Speaker 4 Yeah, right.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And it just, it really, really bugged me. It was a really weird shot.

 

Louis Virtel And also, I want to say, I don’t know that Judd Apatow got any particularly interesting answers out of their relationship. I felt like Mel Brooks could have been giving that interview to anybody. And in fact, they use lots of archival interviews with him where he gives similar answers or

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And playing with that, they do say, you know, like, judges ask him, what stories do I not know because I know the big stories. And they do show him say them over and over and again. So what’s the detail we’re missing?

 

Louis Virtel Right. The other thing I would criticize about this is I wish they got into his relationship with some of these actors a little bit more. They talk about Gene Wilder a little bit and you see some fun interviews with Gene Wilde who of course gives a bonkers performance in The Producers for which he was nominated. He’s insanely funny, over the top funny in Young Frankenstein, a movie he co-wrote which people forgot he was nominate for the screenplay Oscar for that. But like we didn’t hear really a thing about Madeline Khan, who I think gives some of the definitive actress. Comedy performances of the 70s in his movies. We see some moments in Blazing Saddles and we see some moments in Young Frankenstein but it’s like she is such a particular kook and how they vibed and connected and how he would know she would be like you know a regular member of his uh uh what a coterie. I just wanted to hear that.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, but we are the audience who wants to understand how she went from there to flames on the side of her face. I think that that is something specific. But is that a consequence of the fact that this is the 99-year-old man? Yeah. Like when you look at the people who are available to be giving talking heads, the fact like one that we are blessed and it was also a little tough to see was Rob Reiner speaking about the relationship that Mel had with his dad Carl Reiner. And the one nice thing to think about, as horribly as he was taken away, is that that man grew up with the funniest people in the world in his house in Palm Springs.

 

Louis Virtel Please.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Babe, if I was seeing, like in real time shtick, you’re seeing the 2000 year old man and at some point you’re like, you both can stop. He lived a really nice life.

 

Louis Virtel It must also be said about Rob Reiner. He remains underrated in a way, because as productive as he was in making all these classic comedies, he was just as articulate and obsessed with getting the articulation out about the people whose comedy he admired. He felt always like a fan, like somebody who was like an apprentice to masters.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Well, yeah, to be a son of must be really tough, but he did the work and as someone who watched American President and Harry Met Sally in One Day last week, he left his mark in an indelible way.

 

Louis Virtel Ugh, I’m not betting in that movie I’ll let you dead dry! And we had so much time to get those interviews with Cloris Leishman. And I’m sure we do have them somewhere, but they weren’t in this movie. Yeah, no, that was actually a problem I had with the recent Dionne Warwick documentary. I’m like, damn, we don’t even have fucking Bacharach anymore. And he lived to be 6,000.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean it and like and so I will give Judd not flowers but a carnation and the fact that like Thank you for getting this footage of him You know like and and going back and finding the footage of Carl like the fact that we have to speak to folk while we have them and Or see him at Langer’s and get a half pastrami half Mesa soup favorite Mel Brooks movie Oh, it’s it’s definitely young Frankenstein. Oh, really? Yeah, and why is that because it plays its show straight for so long Yes And like, because, you know, we’re completionists, so it’s like you make it your way through it. And that, I’m a whore for production design. So the fact that he was like, no, we are going to honor this type of film. We’re going to honor this director and what he did. And he’s going to touch his own meat.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Is, like, I’m down.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, the director Rheeqrheeq’s referring to is James Whale, who is, if you want to see a biopic about him, there’s Gods and Monsters with Ian McKellen from the late 90s. Great bitchy queen movie. I brought it up in our conversation with Ethan Hawke a couple of weeks ago. I also have to say Young Frankenstein. The most great performances in a Mel Brooks movie. Every single person is exactly right. Imagine if that was anybody but Marty Feldman. I mean, truly, it was like he was built in a 3D printer for this movie.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And really, speaking of casting, baby, Matt is the person who was like, no, we wrote this the whole time. We had his face on the wall. It was terrifying.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. And also, I love the conversation about there’s a famous performance of putting on the ritz in the movie and Mel was unconvinced and then Gene defended it vigorously for two seconds and then Mel snapped information and said, actually it’s in. And that I think is key to his personality too is he’s always up to the good idea. He has strong ideas himself, but he believes in the comedy prowess of other people and that synergy I think, is so fun to see.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, I worked in a room once where someone established level of caring, where it’s like when you’re fighting for your joke, for your storyline, and someone else’s too, we’re going to keep going and see who’s level of care. Now, this was tiring. It made me cry often, but it is a, I don’t know, it is- It moves the needle. Yeah, it’s a way of thinking that I think it’s, like, no, then we’ll, then Jean will shoot it. And it’s- I love a soft shoe.

 

Louis Virtel And I do believe there are some people who are probably really good at manipulating the idea of level of caring. Karen.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Oh yeah, they’re not well people. Also, none of these people are well people, you know, like also like Maurice Grazzezi, tiny man, anger issues.

 

Louis Virtel Right. And some anger issues with Mel, too, which they get into.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Anger issues of mal, you know, how often do you see daddy? Like there’s, you now, it is a complicated person and I think sometimes we do put a grampy wash over folk. They don’t dive into it the most, but you know he has some of his older kids being like, and we then did not see dad for a couple years, but you now he didn’t have a dad and that is also evident in some of the things he makes. So it all plays into who the artist is.

 

Louis Virtel If I have a takeaway from this whole documentary, it’s also see Silent Movie, which he made, which is a silent tribute to all these movies. It’s a very cynical movie, but there’s one particular gag in it that is very legendary and you should see for yourself. Okay, when we’re back, it’s the saltiest part of the episode. It’s Keep It. And we’re back with the most upset part of the episode. It’s keep it. Rheeqrheeq, what’s pissing you off?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Oh, unfortunately so much.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, we don’t have time.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey We don’t have time. So the way I’m going to deal with this is my keep it is to TikTok specifically TikTok shop I Deleted my account yesterday after jumping through a lot of hoops and I could talk about you know The oligarchical control of free media, but what I will talk about instead is the fact that they have me on the teat of this Capitalistic machine for the last two years TikTok shop like getting blessings to people who needed the Creator Fund to like engage with you know paying bills and being American at the same time. But they were just, you’re being pushed ads that are shaped like sketches. So it’s a lot of like, hey, babe, your ass is looking great in those leggings. Where’d you get them from? It’s like, well, they’re 12.99 and someone is dying making them. I’ve been under the guise of like the way that we are interacting with commerce is driving me insane. But the list of things that I bought that I did not need include. The split machine. I really thought at the tender age of 36, I was going to be able to do splits. It is under my bed. A silicone bread pan that melted, four types of Metacube, a glitter setting spray, and this t-shirt that I fucking love, but I still am mad I bought it.

 

Louis Virtel I want to say that buttercup is on this shirt if we can’t see it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But as a Powerpuff Girls heavy metal t-shirt, I know that the capitalist machine is going to keep us on it, but the fact that we have folks scrolling in the middle of the night thinking that this will be the time I finally learn how to do backflips if I get a shake plate is really, really tough. And so it’s another reason I’m very, very happy I deleted the app from my phone. I’m already in withdrawal. It’s only been 18 hours.

 

Louis Virtel I feel like all you need to know about Rheeqrheeq is that I think literally 25% of her brain at any time is devoted to wondering if she can do the splits.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I just, I, it’s a rant I give to all of my friends, as every—

 

Louis Virtel Your drag adjacent.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Every, as every child is born, I whisper to a friend, put them in gymnastics. I just think that like every, you should have the skill set to do a split in case the occasion comes that you need it. It’s kind of like reading. I just feel like it’s, because you don’t want to get embarrassed and then you’re 30 and your friend can do a desk drop and you can’t. That’s really upsetting to me personally.

 

Louis Virtel No, I agree in tricks culture. Yes. I still do, I do the most beautiful cartwheel I’ve ever seen. Excuse me, you don’t know this. Once upon a time, we did a bit at Kimmel where Gabby Douglas was teaching him how to do a cartwheel and I was the writer on set. And then Gabby Douglass, lovely girl, wasn’t really a teacher, isn’t really a teacher. Sure, sure, sure. And afterwards I said to Jimmy, I was like, you should put your hand, it goes down in this order and it should feel this smooth. And I did one. And he goes, that was the most beautiful cartwheel I’ve ever seen.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Is it the reason I’m still at that show? Who knows? That’s how we got, we get you on screen, baby. He was like, well, that’s grace that the media needs.

 

Louis Virtel That said, I also think a really good cartwheel is inherently gay, so he’s just disadvantaged.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey A cartwheel is gay, a round off is lesbian, and as a bisexual I can do both.

 

Louis Virtel It’s a dog’s cat’s thing. Exactly. All right, Lewis. Oh, yes. My Keep It goes to people I love.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Mmm

 

Louis Virtel Which is the cast of Heated Rivalry, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, who are, I think, 90% of the internet right now, and remain 90% the internet. I just saw footage of them at the Winter Olympics in Italy, I believe, and I was sure, the first 500 times I saw this clip, it was AI. Why are they there? You know, I mean, I get that kind of randomly. We let people hold the torches or whatever. They’re torches, yes? Yes, baby. They’re flaming. Flaming. And they walk places with them. It looked so like a drawing. I could not believe they were there. Like, it’s cold in Italy, and Connor Storrie with his tendrils is just hanging out there. It didn’t make any sense to me. We’re just still at the end of the most endless interview cycle with these two men. We are still interviewing them. There have been, excuse me, there were fewer questions at Nuremberg. Oh, Louis. I have nothing left to ask these people about. How their butts move that way. I wanted to keep it to a mystery, in fact. I have my own poetic ideas about why the cakes flip and flop.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I can’t with you. I mean, look, we’ve all seen The Reader. Yeah, there are more questions happening now. But to be fair, it’s only been two months. We’re just insane.

 

Louis Virtel We’re just insane, we’re just insane. You know what’s also the problem? It has been two months, but the fandom has switched entirely. It started with just the most internet people were into this show and telling each other about it. And now it’s like trad wifey. Mamdani? Yeah, oh and that.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But I like telling people to stay in during the blizzard on Sunday or to use the New York Public Library access that they get to read heated rivalry, which is meaning that he wants them to be even sluttier, like people to be sluttiers in their minds before watching the show.

 

Louis Virtel No, he’s giving um, Joycelyn elders. He’s like stay home and masturbate

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean, but that’s you know, that’s America we need yes And the thing about look they’re at the Winter Olympics. I predicted three weeks ago. I was like there’s no way they’re not in Milan plus fashion week Because you also had Hudson was in the D squared show Connors face is pretty You know like that makes sense. This is the track for queer-coded actors, like go walk in a show, be in an assless chat, go to Jockemos. Everyone says Jockelmos. It’s fine. Everyone needs to calm down. They’re going to disappear in three weeks. I don’t see any pending IMDBs. I’m not think they’re going be out recently.

 

Louis Virtel And apparently Connor Storrie met up with Luca Guadagnino over there, too.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yes. Am I-

 

Louis Virtel It might be too soon for that.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I… No, it’s not.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, no, he’s a great enough actor for it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey For it Luca does need to take a bit of a nap he is on a movie every 14 months situation right now and I think that like bubba take some time

 

Louis Virtel Time after the ho-

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Sombra. Take some time after the hunt. Because the hunt, no, we’re before, after, and always the hunt but the fact is I think that they’re going to go away and everyone be fine and all gay people leave them alone. Leave them alone… Also, it’s…

 

Louis Virtel Also, straight women leave them alone.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Old straight women who are applying to 90-day fiancé to go to Canada, leave Hudson alone. Connor come home. You know, Connor find me. I’ll see you at high tops. We’ll have a good time.

 

Louis Virtel Anyway, no, I guess I need to re-watch the show again. No, I won’t, because it won’t be an awards player.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey No, I mean, and which is also just because of this acquisition. They’re not going to call it. Yeah, I can’t watch the

 

Louis Virtel I can’t watch the Juno Awards. I know I can. I can watch the June Awards.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Everyone, please touch grass and just aura ass nearest to you. It’s a fun show. I had a fabulous time watching it, and I’ll probably rewatch it in a month or two when I need something to have on the background. It’s totally okay. Francois, cool. But at the same time, it’s like they are just young children who don’t know how to put their glass down before they do an interview. They’ll go to slumber and rise again when they’re needed.

 

Louis Virtel Anyway, Rheeqrheeq, it’s been another productive evening with you, and by evening, I mean early morning, and you are still-

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I mean I had half a Celsius so that’s why I have been talking at this rate you’ve been doing

 

Louis Virtel You’ve been doing a fabulous job as always. Where can the children find you? And I do mean children. That’s who listens to the show.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Hi, guys. You can find me at resquared, it’s R-H-E-Q squared on Instagram and, you know, at your local Gelsons. Just. Just vibing, buying kimchi. But this is fun, you always have a good time. And we’ll have fun at the Oscars.

 

Louis Virtel That’s I cannot wait cannot wait. Thank you to the marvelous Dylan O’Brien for being with us We’ll be back here next week after the Grammys on Keep It Don’t forget to follow Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. You can also subscribe to Keep It on YouTube for access to full episodes and other exclusive content. And if you’re as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review. Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our producer is Bill McGrath. Our associate producer is Kennedy Hill. And our executive producers are Louis Virtel, Ira Madison III, and Kendra James. Our digital team is Delon Villanueva, Claudia Sheng, and Rachel Gaewski. This episode was recorded and mixed by Jerik Centeno. Thank you to David Tolles, Kyle Seglin, and Charlotte Landes for production support every week. Our head of production is Matt DeGroot. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

 

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