Ira and Louis discuss the best and worst Oscar nominations, FKA Twigs’ Eusexua, Timothee Chalamet on SNL, Super Bowl ads, and Paul Reubens posthumous outing. Christina Milian joins to discuss her role in Dexter: Original Sin, meeting Patrick Dempsey after starring in 2003’s Can’t Buy Me Love remake, and more.

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TRANSCRIPT

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III And we are back with an all new episode of Keep It. I am Ira “If you do not buy my fucking book next week. I’m canceling the show and murdering all of you.” Madison the third.

 

Louis Virtel As a nickname. I feel like that won’t catch on, but okay. I’m Louis Virtel and it’s Oscars nominations week. So as you know I’m at my fullest form I don’t know is that the anime term what is it when you like become your I explained Pikachu when he becomes the other thing right you anyway I’m a pop culture expert. Yes evolving

 

Ira Madison III Louis Chew.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah I fucking guess. Well you know painfully growing up my family would be called Squirtle because, you know, my last name is actually Virtel all secretly. So it would be like Jim Virtel, Louis or Louis Squirtle, Jim Squirtle, whatever. So it’s actually a painful topic. Maybe I just needed therapy this entire time and I’m. I’m bringing it up this way.

 

Ira Madison III I don’t know. You know, my grandmother recently sent me attacks with a photo of a comic book, trading cards, and also Pokemon cards that I have still at the house. And they I used to keep them all in one of those big ass binders.

 

Louis Virtel The way we would keep cards in a binder. Not There’s nothing I miss more than having my CDs in a binder. And I would bring them into school like a little librarian and then, like, go through them to find whatever Californication and put it in the desk. Man, what a life.

 

Ira Madison III Well, speaking of music, Louis, I am currently in a state of U.S.. Me too.

 

Louis Virtel Called me too. I have to say, I have to keep looking up the vowels in this word. It’s a very kind of confusing word. This is we’re talking about the new FKA Twigs album and one of the few albums in recent memory that I would say defy Zandra like it is Poppy, but it is also not. And it’s also reminds me of things lots of 90s influences. It reminds me as much of kind of Madonna’s moodier erotica bedtime stories music as it does things like Portishead, you know, that kind of what we used to call trip hop. Remember those words?

 

Ira Madison III I was exactly going to break up Trip Hop and Portishead, which I learned about, by the way, because Sarah Michelle Gellar and maybe like a Teen People interview or something, said Portishead was her favorite band. So.

 

Louis Virtel Well, also, let me tell you something. She hosted the Saturday Night Live once, and I’m still when I think of the band Portishead, I think of her introducing Portishead and being so psyched about it. So it was an unusually rad episode, certain SNL episodes, just like, Do you have any SNL episodes that just stand out in your mind for whatever reason? I have to. One, when Helen Hunt hosted with Musical Guest Hansen, that was a hilarious Christmas episode and also the most 1998 episode of all time, Scott Wolf with musical guest Natalie Imbruglia.

 

Ira Madison III I think I always remember, I think Britney Spears’s episode and the fact that you could never find online that sketch of the alleged dance battles she had with Justin Timberlake at a club after they broke up.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Yes, yes, yes, yes. She was very funny on that morning Later, which remains my favorite recurring sketch in the history of SNL with Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri. Speaking of SNL, though, did you watch Madame Shalamar on the episode last week?

 

Ira Madison III No, but I saw his fits, which is mostly what I need Timothy solemnly for.

 

Louis Virtel No, he’s always the hottest back to school sale. Look, you can wear, you know, like the coat, the. You know, the way cool kids look in a Coles commercial. Except he’s 27 or whatever he is. The musical performance is very interesting. As you know, he’s in this movie, a complete unknown. He is one of the Oscar nominees we’ll be talking about today and this all Oscars episode, as I mandated when I took this job. But he performed songs of Bob Dylan’s and not familiar ones. He actually began the episode by saying, you probably haven’t heard of this. And so it was an interesting choice. I’m sure the way they were orchestrated on stage is not at all like the original versions, but I thought they were sort of the best parts of the episode. I enjoyed Weekend Update too, which contained an awesome shout out to the WGA nominated game show Pop Culture Jeopardy! But the musical performance is great and the but a lot of the sketches he was in and I assume Timothy Zalmay is just sort of game to be a bit immature on SNL and wants to let loose and not be self-serious or whatever. A lot of the sketches felt to me like they were written for all that.

 

Ira Madison III Was he screaming a lot?

 

Louis Virtel They were loud. There was a fitness thing where they were all on bungee cords and they were like throwing cake in each other’s mouths. I was like, Girl, where is Lori Beth Denberg to orchestrate this? My God.

 

Ira Madison III That sounds like Randy and Mandy. The Chocolate Sketch.

 

Louis Virtel Ugh. You can’t just take me to Randy and Mandy like that. Angelique Bates, come on Keep It.

 

Ira Madison III Well, now I’m going to have to watch it because I feel like I have subterranean FOMO blues.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Yes. Yes. You do sound like a big Dylan fan, I can tell you go deep.

 

Ira Madison III Go down. Yeah. Going back to this album, though, you know, I was also being reminded of Nine Inch Nails who are going on tour this year, thank God, because when I got the news that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were not nominated for Challengers for Best Score, I was pissed. But then I saw Nine Inch Nails was going on tour, so I feel like that’s a good trade off. But a lot of U.S. were reminded me of that. And I want to ask you specifically, the song Girl Feels Good. Yes. Candy, Perfumed girl. Yes?

 

Louis Virtel Quite. Yes. Which is a B-side on Ray of Light, as you know. That’s Madonna’s moody esque indigo tinged albums. That’s when the the Kabbalah really came to the fore. And she was really speaking in mantras that somebody else taught her. And I don’t know if she processed them because there’s a lot of lyrics on that album that don’t make sense.

 

Ira Madison III But like Apollo Bracelet Era was very big in celebrity at the time. It was just like this red string that people wore. You were either wearing a Kabbalah bracelet or you were wearing a Livestrong bracelet.

 

Louis Virtel You are Livestrong, I would say followed shortly thereafter. But yes, if you were Gwyneth or Stella McCartney or Madonna, Yes. You wear these red strings. And it was, you know, a little creepy, but it was you knew something about yoga and mysticism that was kept from the rest of us and will forever not really understand what that is. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III It’s interesting because I feel like when Madonna always has eras that resurface. Right. You know, we we had our 80s moment. We had our like 90s moment, I guess in pop culture of those resurgences. And I feel like those were the songs that she played on the tour recently. And you know, we’re gay, so we’re always listening to the conventions on the dancefloor era. And Hard Candy is what you’ll hear sometimes when you go out, right? But I think we’ve really not had a resurgence of her Ray of Light era yet. Yeah, Musically.

 

Louis Virtel There was a moment when I was thinking about this era recently because that song Aquamarine by Yes and sort of harkens back to that also, she literally says the words ray of light in the lyrics, which is cheating either evoke the era. You either evoke the era or literally just talk about the era. It can’t be both. But yeah, I think people would be pleased to listen to that entire album back. Like Confessions. It feels like it flows from one song to another, not quite as literally as Confessions, but it’s just really pleasing music that sort of doesn’t feel just 90s or it feels 90s in a good way, like Clueless.

 

Ira Madison III It’s the music that I feel like I was really introduced to Madonna on because you know, kids don’t remember this, but when you wanted to watch a music video that you loved on VH1 or MTV, you had to sit through many videos. You get to the one that you actually wanted to watch. You can just pull it up on YouTube. And so I was constantly seeing Madonna Ray of Light era music videos when I turned on VH one because I wanted to see The Boy Is Mine or something, right?

 

Louis Virtel I see. You didn’t want to watch Madonna videos. You were trying to guess.

 

Ira Madison III I didn’t really know her yet. Yeah, no, I feel like I didn’t hear that much Madonna 80s stuff. It was before. It was before the 80s. Sort of really roared back in the 2000s and you would hear 80s music everywhere. But I feel like that was my first. Real introduction to Madonna. And then when music came out in 2000, I remember kids at school loved this song and it was like they were discovering Madonna for the first time, too.

 

Louis Virtel You also just put your finger on something I totally forgot about, which is Once upon a Time, you made music videos competitively like you needed to get on the air. So you had to have like a kind of hook that really brought people in. And that, I think, is a difference between, you know, music videos are still really popular now, but you can kind of do whatever you want. And, you know, because it’s going to live online forever. But once upon a time, you know, Madonna’s like, I’m going to be in the desert. It’s going to be blue and I’m going to turn into a dog and we’re going to sing the words frozen again and again. Okay. Anyway, wow, dude. Toward me. Into Madonna. I blame you. This Okay Twigs album. It’s a strange beast. I don’t have quite my arms around what this thing is, but I it. It even kind of intersects with Brat summer type music. A couple of times.

 

Ira Madison III Is it affecting Los Angeles? Because I feel like you bring up Brat Summer and there was constantly a brat, this brat going on in New York and I feel like first of all, this bitch has had a youth sexual rave every other week. She had across the globe. All across the globe. But also there have been several youth sexual parties or pop ups and listening things in New York. And I’m just wondering if it’s just because New York is ripe for that, because there are more clubs, there are more people who are into this sort of music, which she described as inspired by the techno clubs of Prague. I just I feel like she just didn’t want to say Berlin, right? Yeah. What’s going on in Prague? I went to Prague, but there wasn’t much going on. There was beer. There was some good food.

 

Louis Virtel I got the Danube.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, but Prague was. Prague was not Prague-ing.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Got it.

 

Ira Madison III For me.

 

Louis Virtel I’m going to Berlin for the first time in March. So we can we can come back to this conversation. But no, I would say people are aware of FKA twigs. And again, we are obviously in YouTube after his culture and she has constantly. She has if one thing is consistent about okay Twigs, it’s the wild ass videos where you’re saying.

 

Ira Madison III That death is a beautiful video. I think that just like the h r Britney womanizer of it all with the with the dancing in the chairs, I fucking love that video.

 

Louis Virtel She’s also a really awesome vocalist, though I will say this, I love the experimental nature of her music, which is always experimental. I don’t know that I’m always loving what she’s doing with her voice. Like there’s a kind of high pitch thing going through this music here that I don’t want to call it. It just feels a little bit cloying to me. I don’t know.

 

Ira Madison III I feel like my favorite era of hers was when she made Holy Terrain. I love that song with Future and I like to sort of like her hip hop trip hop vibes. And so I’m happy that it’s back on this album. I will say, Miss Twigs, you owe us a fucking song because I know you remember Dua Lipa’s future Nostalgia live that happened during Covid. Yes. And you remember when she was dancing on the stripper pole at one point? It’s an unreleased song of Dua’s and FKA twigs.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, well, that is unacceptable because Dua released everything from that era, seemingly, and yet not that.

 

Ira Madison III It has never come out. And it’s called Why Don’t You Love Me? And it’s people have put it onto SoundCloud so you can go and listen to it if you want. But come on girl, it could have been a radical optimism B-side.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, because radical optimism, as you know, I believe, was Besides, I wasn’t getting a contact from that.

 

Ira Madison III It’s so weird that that tour is happening later this year.

 

Louis Virtel I know. I mean, it’s not a terrible album. It’s just not like momentous, really. I’m still obsessed with the Dua Lipa song, That Kind Of Woman, which was released on the midnight edition or whatever of future nostalgia. I love that song.

 

Ira Madison III And If It Ain’t Me, which was originally supposed to include Normani, there was a leak of that, remember? And then Normani was snatched off the song, probably because she just didn’t come to the studio.

 

Louis Virtel That does sound like her, doesn’t it? Anyway, what’s going on this episode? What are we doing?

 

Ira Madison III This episode? We are, first of all, to go back to the era of music that we were talking about before. We have the Christina milian joining us this week.

 

Louis Virtel Who I routinely call Christina brilliant. If long time fans of the Keep It podcast know I innovated that.

 

Ira Madison III We in the early days of it were obsessed with the fact that she was the social media correspondent for The Voice.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Because it was a show that was figuring out what it was doing really like, did that show really need a social media correspondent? And so, yeah. Anyway, Christina milian of the tipping it low and picking it up slow she’s here.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah when I am thinking of anything what time it is when it goes from Am to. M It’s always our Ms. Millions here.

 

Louis Virtel She’s like, Yeah, she’s like Greenwich Standard Million. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III And of course, as we said before, this is all about the Oscar nominations. So when we’re back, we’ll get into those.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III Last week, the Oscars finally dropped this year’s nominations. There weren’t many surprises on who made the cut and who got snubbed. But I’ll tell you what. Nobody’s happier than that puta Emilia Pérez.

 

Louis Virtel Also, I mean, we’re pretending like that’s, like, harsh language. I was saying to you before we got on. People are angrier than ever about Emilia Pérez. I have not seen backlash like this to a movie in the Oscars conversation in a hundred years. And by the way, I want to say people I’ve heard a couple of statistics like there’s no lower. If it wins best-picture, it’ll be the lowest best picture rated best picture since like Crash. Guys, there have been plenty of worse Meta-critic-rated movies that were nominated for Best Picture. I mean, like, if you look at Joker alone or The Blind Side, like there are things that like barely pass like 50 on Meta-critic. Emilia Pérez is firmly like 71, like in the green scale. But that said.

 

Ira Madison III John Waters likes it.

 

Louis Virtel Oh does he? As far as I know, that’s the right side of history. So, you know, I’m I’m living in an uncomfortable space where I, generally speaking, like Emilia Pérez.

 

Ira Madison III Just you two pink flamingos hanging out.

 

Louis Virtel We’re going to we’re about to have female trouble because we’re about to get the shit kicked out of us. Yeah. I will say another thing about Emilia Pérez that’s interesting this year is that it got 13 nominations, which is almost ties it for all time. I think people are making a little bit too much hay out of this. The fact of the matter is, a musical is just going to be more eligible for certain categories than a regular movie. Like the fact that it has two original song nominations alone is going to set it apart from the pack. La La Land got the same amount of nominations, and I don’t think anybody is sitting here thinking, that’s a top 6 or 7 movie of all time.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I mean, la la land compared to Emilia Pérez. I mean, la la land is going to devour Perez.

 

Louis Virtel You know what’s interesting, though? People keep pulling out. We talked about this before, like pulling out scenes from Emilia Pérez, putting them on line and saying, look at this piece of shit. Okay? I will say, when you watch Emilia Pérez, that to me it is a movie that to me is saying, take it or leave it. And any given time, like it’s knowingly cookie knowingly ridiculous and it’s completely fair.

 

Ira Madison III Guess I’m leaving. I’m gone.

 

Louis Virtel I was about to say it’s completely fair to not like it and to think like the kookiness is more stupid than good or adventurous, I guess. But I feel like it’s pretty aware of that. It sort of reminds me of when people criticize TAA for being pretentious. It’s like, guys, that’s the whole point of the movie. You haven’t engaged with the content at all.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I mean, first of all, you know that I’m a Tar baby. Okay.

 

Louis Virtel Please don’t. Her name is Blanchett, which means white. Anyway, there’s there’s an essay here. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III But I will say that I have a soft. And in my old age, you know, I’m not as I don’t have as much vitriol to give towards Oscar nominations anymore. You know, I.

 

Louis Virtel You’re saving it for the fight. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III I you know, I’ve passed the high school era of Crash with everyone hating it, even la la land. When I was upset about it, it was only in contrast to wanting moonlight to win. Right. And it was also really just the dumb jazz storyline in it. I mostly enjoy la la la land and I rewatched it since I enjoy the movie for the most part. And I feel like Emilia Pérez. I don’t like it. But I will say that when I watched it at IFC. I was cackling. Yes, I was one of the first people to start cackling. And then the audience was people. You know, when people are realizing a movie is not great and they’re doing the soft cackles and then all of a sudden, like everyone gets into it, it’s infectious. I like I was carrying during that movie. At a certain point, you’re just like, okay, here’s what’s happening.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I will say, Does it? I mean, again, I like the movie, was amused by the movie, thought it was, you know, mostly on the rails, even though it’s a crazy movie. I don’t know that I needed to be a frontrunner in the Oscars conversation. That said, I would not call myself really bowled over by this year’s Oscar movies. So it’s sort of difficult for me to say where it really belongs. Like I’m looking at these other best picture nominations and it’s like, I really like to Nora. I’m sort of surprised to look at these and think, I guess a Nora’s my favorite. Like, it doesn’t feel like a favor to me. It feels like something that would be fourth or fifth ranked otherwise. I also, of course, really enjoyed the Brutalist outside of two plot points that make me scream when I think of them. And I don’t want to spoil that for you or anybody here. But woof. Guy Pearce, when you read that script, tell me, girl, what you went through and who you spoke to because it had to have been a deep conversation.

 

Ira Madison III I think of the films nominated for Best Picture, which are Anora, The Brutalist, a complete Unknown Conclave Dune Part two. Emilia Pérez I’m Still here. Nickle Boys, The Substance and Wicked. My favorite is Wicked. I think that.

 

Louis Virtel I’m going to go ahead and leave. So you just talk to your fucking self. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I meant to say Anora. I’m sorry. My favorite is a Nora with Wicked and Nickle Boys. Probably in second.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Nickle Boys is a very interesting movie. I don’t know if we’ve talked about it much, but it’s from the perspective of these two boys. And literally, as in you’re watching the movie out of their eyes, which I don’t remember the last time I saw a movie like that. And it ends up I mean, it’s an incredibly harrowing movie. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor gives a performance as one of the boys mothers that really anchors it in this emotion we can latch on to also. It’s a it’s a really impressive movie. It’s also a bit frustrating. And there’s a lot of sort of filmic things that occur, like there’s like montage of things that I found a bit disorienting and I don’t know if the movie needed it, but I’m really glad that snuck into best picture. And also, have we talked about I’m still here yet? Have you seen it?

 

Ira Madison III I have not seen it yet, but it is still in theaters.

 

Louis Virtel So, yes, let me say this about this movie. Fernanda Torres was nominated. We talked about how she’s the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for best actress since her own mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who appears at the end of this movie, too.

 

Ira Madison III Wepa.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Thank you for that. Capoeira. I don’t know anything about Brazil. Okay? I think there’s a lot of heat behind this performance. I feel like she is now the frontrunner to win best actress. And this is an interesting year because all five nominees are from movies that are nominated for best Picture. It’s Cynthia Erivo in Wicked, Carlos, Sophia Gascon and Emilia Pérez. Mikey Madison in a Nora. Demi Moore in the substance and Fernando Torres in I’m Still Here. She, of course, won the dramatic Golden Globe category for best actress. And weirdly, it’s even though it’s about a real time of political upheaval in Brazil in 1971, they were under a military dictatorship and this woman’s husband is taken away from her. She’s thrown in prison for a second. It weirdly, to me, feels like a Oscar nomination from the 40s. And by that I mean Greer Garson would be in movies where something terrible would happen to her, and then she would do seven dignified things. And then that was the movie. So meanwhile, Fernando Torres is brilliant. Her choices make scenes that would otherwise be kind of obvious, like her looking around and seeing families with a father figure still present and having an emotional reaction that seems pretty obvious. And then you watch her do it. It’s like, Nope, I’m right there in it with you. This is extremely emotional, I think, based on quality of what she does alone. She’s my favorite of these. But at the same time, the character kind of has no flaws. Like she’s she’s a real life activist and we don’t get to see her play any internal struggle about what to do. That isn’t. That that isn’t her just making the right call.

 

Ira Madison III I hate to say this, but, you know, I’m a bit of an America first person when it comes to the Oscars. I. I just think that, you know, our actors aren’t being nominated in Brazil. We’re not being nominated that much for BAFTAs. And, you know, but it’s always a British actor. It’s always a Ford actor. The movies are always getting into best picture when we have best international feature.

 

Louis Virtel We have this ghettoized category for you and you won’t even use it.

 

Ira Madison III I just like not to be xenophobic, you know? But I feel like we have nonwhite actors in America, right? Who are constantly we’re constantly wanting them to be nominated for things. We’re constantly wanting opportunities for them. You know, and I feel like now you have people who are up against not just like the white people who are always getting nominated, but also now international people. And it’s like, Well, goddamn, you could watch Emilia Pérez, but you couldn’t watch a film with Danielle Deadwyler in it.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Oh no.

 

Ira Madison III Like, you couldn’t, you know.

 

Louis Virtel Don’t set me off on the Danielle Deadwyler thing, first of all. No, I don’t. I believe it. Is it, like, illegal to talk about Piano Lesson? I’ve not heard one goddamn person bring up this movie where she, again, like, is saddled with so much. She has to make this weird story about literally just a piano and what she’s going to do with it and the fight she has with her brother about it. Fascinating. And beyond just a play, we’re seeing films for Netflix and it’s a transcendent performance.

 

Ira Madison III I blame R.L. Stine, you know, because people still think piano lessons can be murder.

 

Louis Virtel Can be murder, right? Yes, That is a shame. Jane Campion, too. She got us all stigma stigmatized against pianos. I don’t want Harvey Keitel lingering by the keys.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, but, you know, I just feel like Divine Joy Randolph, You know, if she had been nominated in this year and obviously Oscars are all about luck to, you know, it depends when you’re nominated because you could have an amazing killer performance that would win any other year. But if you’re up against something else that has the momentum, etc.. But, you know, would she win in this year?

 

Louis Virtel I? Well, that’s a good question, because Zoe Saldana is, of course, dominating every frame of Emilia Pérez. Almost her.

 

Ira Madison III Category fraud.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Almost certainly belongs in the lead actress category. But I always think like routinely in my head, I’m like pairing old nominations against new ones. Like, for instance, I don’t think anyone ever could have beaten Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. Like everything was stacked in her favor. You know what I mean? Like, truly, she cooked up what’s my best? Like, if Sandy Dennison, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, my favorite winner in that category, we’re up against Jennifer Hudson. She would. She would lose. There’s just no question. And maybe Monique is a similar situation to that because it’s it’s not just a good performance. It is literally a booming performance. Like I think there are certain qualities about certain performances that make them undeniable.

 

Ira Madison III And that’s what no promo. Okay. Yeah. See, she she got it with no promo.

 

Louis Virtel No, she said I did Sundance, and I’m done.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, that is interesting. You know, and I’m sure you have a trophy drive coming out soon or you’ll talk about like, the nominations, etc.. But what I’m thinking about people who were nominated and historically in this category, you know, you’re looking at best actress for me. I would I’m still rooting for Mikey Madison. I know she’s not going to win. I think that she is just happy to be nominated at this point. And it’s such a boon for her as a young ingenue, as they say. You know, it feels sort of like a Jennifer Lawrence moment for her.

 

Louis Virtel I was going to say the same thing like Jennifer Lawrence and Winter’s Bone is what this performance reminds me of, where it’s like the whole movie is her. Like if you’re absorbed in the movie, that means she’s doing a good job. But she’s so new on the scene and so it’s sort of like a not a crowning moment, sort of. It’s like introducing ball introduction. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Right. Yes. Introducing Mickey Dandridge. Yes, as it were. But I think that these nominations stack up to I think Demi Moore winning or Fernando Torres winning. I think those are people who could definitely beat some other frontrunners in another year. I think that Jessica Chastain winning in 2022 was plenty of these nominations could have knocked that out of the water.

 

Louis Virtel Right. That was a case of, we all know what Tammy Faye looks like. And did she do a good job as her? Yes. Like, you know, sometimes that’s just that math of how did she play this person we’re familiar with successfully. You know, lots of biopic people end up taking the crown ultimately. Yeah. I mean.

 

Ira Madison III Here’s a question.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, go ahead.

 

Ira Madison III Amy Adams, who we love and we were hoping would maybe have something going on this season until we saw Night Bitch. Right? Do you think that

 

Louis Virtel And then we said, night bitch. Yes, right.

 

Ira Madison III You know, that’s the sequel to Night Mother.

 

Louis Virtel I’ve been waiting for it for years. I was like, That girl’s dead in that bedroom. But I want more. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Well, you find out the bullet missed all night, Bitch opens up and the mother is like, God damn it, I’ll do it myself.

 

Louis Virtel Instead of convincing her not to kill herself, she’s like, I’m after you now. Now that you’re wasting my time. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Here’s just a fun hypothetical question for imagine any of the other movies Amy Adams was in that we’ve wanted her to win for. She is nominated for best actress in this year. Do you think she would have a chance of winning or being a frontrunner?

 

Louis Virtel Well, it’s I mean, I have to say, I mean, there’s something that is very telling to me is that Nicole Kidman, for some reason didn’t get in. And I feel like what she does in that movie is kind of an Amy Adams performance. You know, it’s like a very insular we’re locked into her line of thinking and seeing her navigate a difficult situation and watching her almost have a panic attack at some point. That feels like a very. Amy Adams Sharp objects e roll.

 

Ira Madison III You know what I’ll say, though, that movie and I don’t know what your experience has been hearing people talk about it in L.A but baby girl more often than not is a movie that people are asking me if I’ve seen it and then telling me how much they hated it.

 

Louis Virtel Interest What’s weird is like I thought the eroticism of the movie worked like, which is the calling card of the film. The reason you would go and see it. I do think ultimately it didn’t do much with the power dynamics at play other than saying like, she’s a powerful woman and she has to manage it. Also, I do feel like there is something a bit trope about a woman like a 50 something woman who can’t have an orgasm like that to me feels a little first thought. I don’t know.

 

Ira Madison III And this is a just, you know, gays with opinions. Okay. I’m hearing this from, you know, friends who are like actual sex workers, you know, in New York who are just sort of like this is a divide. You know, they never been that client, you know, So they they’ve been in the room where it happened and they’re like, they’re not buying it. And everyone also, maybe we’re going to have a resurgence of this movie, but everyone keeps comparing it to unfaithful, to saying bring back real erotic thrillers. I think really the the third act. And the denouement of this film does not live up to the erotic thrillers of yesteryear. I think that’s what people are really sort of missing. Baby girl sort of falls flat for me now.

 

Louis Virtel Once. Once. I mean, this is a spoiler, so if you haven’t seen it yet. But like, once Antonio Banderas gets into a fight with Harris Dickinson, I said, I do not believe that scene for a second. Right. My favorite erotic thriller is Damage, with Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons and always bring it up. The final act of that where his wife who finds out about it the moment she gets is like, I did not see that coming, wasn’t anticipating it because I was too busy watching the hot sex between Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. Those kinds of surprises are what Baby Girl needed. Now, speaking of other snubs, let me get through this quickly. Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard truths, okay. It felt like people didn’t really see that movie or like, dial into it. The movie itself is sort of. Unassuming in a way. Like in a way where it’s like maybe not even clamoring for Oscar attention, even though she gives such a brilliant performance in it. This one pissed me off so much that her not getting into this and she is nominated for the BAFTA and I’m kind of hopeful for her there. But anyway, it wouldn’t bother me so much if Kieran Culkin and A Real Pain weren’t giving an extremely similar performance. And the other front runner in the category where it’s about a prickly person where we’re like, why can’t they just fit in with everybody? What is their what’s what, their vibe? Why are they such a. What is lurking in their brain that’s making them act this way?

 

Ira Madison III It’s succession. It’s people’s familiarity with Kieran Culkin and you sort of a love of him within the industry that has gotten him this nomination. And that’s not to say I didn’t love that performance. I really do enjoy that. It was a good performance, but I think it’s definitely coming off the heels of succession. Him and Jeremy Strong being nominated in the same category. Jeremy Ford, The Apprentice. I think that’s what it is.

 

Louis Virtel And of course we have now there are a number of famous Roy Cohn performances now, Jeremy Strong’s own idol, Al Pacino in Angels in America is a very famous example of it. There was that guy and fellow travelers who played Roy Cohn, and it almost feels like you just dial into this one mode of talking when you’re being Roy Cohn. You know, there’s like footage of him. We know that he’s this blowhard. So in a way, it feels to me like the level of difficulty is low. That said, the movie The Apprentice, I’m not mad at it. I thought it was like kind of well done. I don’t know about Tasteful, but I got a surprising Trump performance out of it. And we have Sebastian Stan as a first time nominee here. Viva Romania. Okay. But I don’t know that I’m I thought initially that I was sort of over Jeremy Strong’s performance and now I’m sort of happy it’s there.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I just wish that anything about Roy Cohn would give us something new and different, you know, like he died in 86. I want someone to get into, you know, this closeted gay man who went to the Celine Dion and concert tour in 1985 secretly, you know, I’m assuming he did. Okay. I was like, did you do that investigation yourself? Yeah. Maybe he went to the Private dancer tour. You know, I would love to see Roy Cloud going to see Private Dancer.

 

Louis Virtel The last thing he did was perform typical male lip synching for his friends and Palm Springs. Right.

 

Ira Madison III Also, speak of Tina Turner. Did you know that we got a lost song this weekend?

 

Louis Virtel Okay. My friend Dan Zach posted it, and I still haven’t listened to it yet. Is it good?

 

Ira Madison III It’s good. It’s called Heart for You, baby. You can see why it was left off the Private Dancer album. You know, it’s not as maybe nuanced as some of those other songs. It sort of feels a bit one note, and towards the end you sort of say, okay, this song is maybe gone on too long, but it feels like a fun song that you could throw on at a party or remix. And it’s just it’s just nice to hear Tina in that era again.

 

Louis Virtel That is particularly and I was just thinking of her this week because as you know, in L.A., we got rain and this version of I Can’t Stand the Rain on the Private Dancer album is banger riffing. I mean, no offense to Mr. Elliot, who I believe, you know, should be on like Mount Rushmore. But I think this is the definitive version of that number.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. All right. When we are back, we have a lot more Oscar nominations to talk about.

 

Louis Virtel [AD]

 

Ira Madison III And we are back with more Oscar nominations. Chat on Keep It Louis. Isabella Rossellini. She got it.

 

Louis Virtel I know. And also, not only did she get it, she was not lingering in fifth or sixth place like she was probably in the three zone in terms of likeliness on these nominations. So I can’t even say I’m surprised. As you know, we have first of all, we have had that woman on the show. She is, of course, a genius. Her interest in animal sexuality is second to none. She is a truly strange bird. And she will tell you how strange birds fuck. She will tell you.

 

Ira Madison III She is so sweet. I have at least three friends who saw Death Becomes Her the musical the night that she attended it. And they all have photos with her. They said she was so nice to everyone in the audience.

 

Louis Virtel I’m sure. I’m sure. And of course, like she’s the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and seems every inch of that, like, love the family, love Roberto Rossellini. I will say about this performance. People keep claiming she has a big moment, like she delivers this monologue in its slayer, whatever I would call it, half of a monologue. And also, is that really what you remember? Or is it just that she is the only woman in the movie? That is what is memorable about the performance that I think also makes me mad at the nomination because it’s just it’s just that Kim Basinger, an L.A. Confidential thing, it’s like, no, there was one pretty woman in 90. What guys like that’s the novelty of the performance. So she is memorable. But I think it is like a ratios thing.

 

Ira Madison III I think you sort of need a moment from her toward the end of the movie, especially considering the twist.

 

Louis Virtel Correct? Correct.

 

Ira Madison III She drops out right after that scene.

 

Louis Virtel No, correct. I would actually this isn’t quite the same thing, but Monica, Barbara, up for a complete unknown, where she plays Joan Baez for an up for Oscar nominated performance as I liked everything I saw on screen from both of these people, it did feel like they were a scene and a half short, you know, just like like where’s the other moment where they have a turn or something? Because Monica Barbaro has a very winning presence. And she also has that strange calm that Joan Baez had, which if you’ve seen the documentary on Joan Baez, you know that her life is riddled with anxiety, as in, I still have anxiety thinking about that documentary. But she she conjured something very real and palpable about Joan Baez in that movie. But I just it’s almost like the Elle Fanning character should have had one last scene and she should have had one more.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, a movie about a bad musician gives a short shrift to the women involved.

 

Louis Virtel I know it seems crazy, right? Not a complete unknown to me. I’ve seen it before.

 

Ira Madison III Ariana Grande day. I’m happy for the nomination.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I mean, I’ll say this about I can’t deny that almost every time she had a comedic line, I’m laughing at the line like she she was dialed into the comedy of the role. And also, Wicked is a phenomenon. It belongs in this conversation. And also, I think at this point, it’s fair to say she is like the runner up to win because Zoe Saldana I don’t know that Arianna has won much of anything in the in the run up to this, but because Zoe Saldana is almost certainly going to take it. But I think she’s in second place here. Felicity Jones is really good in the Brutalist. It’s nice to see her again. She was nominated once for The Theory of Everything, a movie that I have to say, a very an amazing score. That’s the thing I remember most about that movie, other than, you know, Eddie Redmayne doing one of his famous Guess Who Impressions, which is what he does on the silver screen.

 

Ira Madison III And the stage.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, quite.

 

Ira Madison III If you saw Cabaret.

 

Louis Virtel Apparently that Day of the Jackal show was good. I haven’t seen it yet, but Felicity Jones in this movie has. First of all, one of the definitive handjob scenes of the 2020s had jobs under represented in cinema. Do you know what I think is the most the one that sticks out of my mind most? Nicole Kidman. You are correct.

 

Ira Madison III Killing of a Sacred Deer.

 

Louis Virtel That. First of all, there’s like five scenes in that movie where it’s just like that, like the introduction of Barry. That was how Barry Keoghan was introduced to us. And we’re like, he’s like a crazy person. Okay? But that handjob that Nicole Kidman gives in that movie, I’m still being jerked around by that scene. I’m still being jerked around.

 

Ira Madison III She was going in for her life, okay? She was up for elimination.

 

Louis Virtel The gutting of a sacred deer. My God.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Best supporting actor. I was shocked, actually, at Yuriy Borisov getting a nomination for a Nora, which is. I don’t know why I’m shocked because he was maybe one of my favorite parts of the film outside of Mikey, but. Well, I think that was a shock for me. His nomination. I thought that the the Russian Timothee Chalamet was going to get in.

 

Louis Virtel I fucking loved that performance. I loved Russian Timothee Chalamet. I love actors who are just. All clavicle, You know, you just see everything jutting out of the skin. But also, people are not only into this performance and into him, obviously, he’s like, looks like a model, but they are defensive about this performance. They’re like, if you’re not locked into this performance, you’re you’re not getting an aura. Like this movie needs this performance. And by the end, I guess you do get an arc from him. And I like where their relationship goes. And he obviously holds her during the crucial emotional moment of the film. I do think he is a bit of a white knight as a character, though, for me, like he appears in the movie, he’s on the bad guy side and then he has this conscience that sort of grows and grows and he builds this rapport with a Norah that turns emotional. He does that well. I just think that character. It never felt real to me. I don’t think anybody. You know.

 

Ira Madison III No shade. He is giving Lennie from of Mice and Men for about half the movie.

 

Louis Virtel What are your favorite literary references?

 

Ira Madison III Add shade. I also think I also think it’s I don’t know that scene at the end. I was rooting for their sort of relationship and I was locked in from the beginning.

 

Louis Virtel You were shipping them as we used to say.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, I was. I was on the message boards. I said. Move over Mulder and Scully, Anora and the Russian. But I will say, as much as I love the film and like I said, it’s my favorite in the best Picture race, the one rough scene for me is that, like, not their final moment, the moment before their final moment where we’re just throwing like, around fag and rape every two seconds. I was sort of like, this felt like a acting exercise that someone filmed.

 

Louis Virtel Right? This is when they’re like randomly watching the news for a whole year. Who picked this. It’s it’s such a weird way to end the movie. Like, it’s like I think it’s supposed to build a certain chemistry between them, but it’s film jarringly. It’s like from this downward angle and they’re on the couch. It almost looks like you’re watching like Paranormal Activity or something. Yeah, that is a really strange part of the movie.

 

Ira Madison III It was a Cassavetes rough cut. I love Sean Baker, but could have done a little less with that. I think that we see we talked about Kieran Culkin already. I love Edward Norton in anything, even The Incredible Hulk, you know?

 

Louis Virtel So I think we talked about Primal Fear before, but I find it very like a kind of Agatha Christie like performance. If you’ve ever seen like witness for the Prosecution or something, you know, what’s up with this witness? And then are we getting the real story? It’s a fun performance to dig into.

 

Ira Madison III One of the few white actors who Spike Lee has sort of like been able to work with and like turn it out with him In the 25th hour.

 

Louis Virtel He has a big speech about actors in Birdman that I love, where he name drops people like Geraldine Page. And once you do that, it’s forever with me about We’re going the long haul.

 

Ira Madison III He’s a page boy.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Page Boy. I pretend like he wrote it anyway. He didn’t. But we should talk about Best Original song because what the fuck is going on here, babes? We’ve got.

 

Ira Madison III Do we have to?

 

Louis Virtel Two from Emilia Pérez. The Journey from 6888, which is written by Diane Warren, who has now been nominated, I believe, eight years in a row. I think she has six nominations altogether and none are for Guantanamo, where she should be sent.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking of, I’m still here.

 

Louis Virtel She’s the I’m still here-est who ever lived.

 

Ira Madison III I believe that the Oscars, I believe the official ballot at this point just has Diane Warren’s name on it. And a blank space where you write in the song each year. I know.

 

Louis Virtel It’s like Putin. Yeah, right. Like did you check the Putin box? Because it’s not fitting into fitting in unless you do also, I mean, I mean to say she has terrific songs, some of the best ballads ever. I love. How do I Live? I love There You’ll Be From Pearl Harbor and stuff. But the past decade of nominations, I mean, I would be hard pressed to remember any one of those songs. I’m like the lyrics to Applause from a couple of years ago or a year ago. Absolutely. But it’s weird, like she doesn’t have a ton of competition. I guess a song from Emilia Pérez will take it, right? It’s like the musical that’s eligible in this, so it makes sense that that would win.

 

Ira Madison III But unless, you know and this comes sometimes happen when two songs are nominated, maybe they, you know, cancel each other out.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, she and she has an honorary Oscar already. So now we’re just like gunning again until she finally claims. Because I’m saying.

 

Ira Madison III And then best original score, as I said at the top of the episode was the thought with challengers not getting in. And I don’t know how much I believe this, but I’ve heard that, you know, Luca was really sort of pushing for Trent’s score for Queer instead of challengers. And did he see that movie?

 

Louis Virtel That is a tough movie that got totally shut out here. One snub, you could say, is in the best actor category. Daniel Craig didn’t get in for queer, though. I would say this and I get into this in my trophy Strive episode about the Oscar nominations coming up. Queer is not a movie that is really best defined by any one of its elements. You know, like it’s just a big directorial experience. I don’t think like I didn’t come away from that movie thinking like Drew Starkey or Daniel Craig. Gave anything in particular that was needing to be awarded, Like they fit into the tableau of what we’re seeing perfectly. But it’s just not like a No. One element was break out. I did love the score during the scene where there’s a snake attack that turned into something. Trent, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross game Marley hits kind of vibe, which as you know, they specialize in.

 

Ira Madison III You know, Queer is sort of a stone soup of movies, if you will. You know, everyone tossed something in and I guess it tasted great at the end, if you like the taste of shoes.

 

Louis Virtel It was a very muddy, murky movie. And afterwards there’s there’s no version of watching that movie where you don’t take a moment afterwards to be like, okay, what did I get out of that?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, It’s so weird to have a movie where I love so many elements of it, but at the end I’m just sort of like, I’m sending it back to the chef.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, sure. And I hate to say this. I think the meal and I hate to say this, I think the actor nominations outclassed the actress ones this year because I’m looking at best actor. And this to me is the most interesting race. Adrien Brody is probably still ahead, even in the midst of this conversation about how they used A.I. to tweak his Hungarian accent or make it more authentic. I don’t think anybody is watching this movie and thinking, well, he’s a bad actor and I made it possible. Like Adrien Brody is a good actor. I’m so sorry.

 

Ira Madison III Timothy sang. Nicki Minaj was able to deliver Hungarian. When she does on the Flawless remix. And he should have been able to do it too.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. I do not need to hear him on the flawless remix, but we also had Timothy Salaman, a complete unknown. Colman Domingo and sing Sing, by the way. That’d be a good that’d be a good win. Wouldn’t hate that. Ray finds and conclave. It’s so weird that Ray Finds is not a nominated for best actor and I think he’s definitely in fifth place. Like there’s just nothing about that performance that’s clamoring for a win here. It’s not like an emotionally demanding performance. Even though he’s perfectly lovely and in a way it feels sort of like conclave could have been a TV show and he would be like the Emmy nominee lead for that. And then, of course, Sebastian Stan in just as Donald Trump and I’ve got to tell you, it’s pretty rare for someone to be nominated for a movie where they play the sitting president who rapes his wife. That is a major scene in the film.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I love Sebastian, Stan, you know that a Different Man was maybe my favorite film of the year and it didn’t get a Best Picture nomination or really any nominations. It sort of got shut out. But I love Sebastian. Stan would love a win, if only because it would piss off Donald Trump so much.

 

Louis Virtel But he will definitely be watching the Oscars. So, of.

 

Ira Madison III Course, of course, she’s a fan. She double taps. Okay. But I am pretty sure that Adrien Brody is going to win. And my question is, and Emma Stone is so funny and so game for doing shit like this. And usually the best actress winner. Yeah. Presents to best actor. Yes.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. You want her to win? You, like, celebrate.

 

Ira Madison III And kiss Adrien Brody like he did to Halle Berry? Come on. Come on. That would be.

 

Louis Virtel But she’s so short, too, So that would be, like, hilarious. I like the instinct. I like the instinct. I also really enjoyed, by the way, Nicky Glazer’s joke about Adrien Brody at the Golden Globes, two time Holocaust survivor. That was very funny. Very funny. And now to wrap up this conversation, I want to bring up something that Siskel and Ebert used to do. And if you know who they are, they are a couple of complete bitches who posed as straight men to talk about movies. These ladies, every year while talking about Oscars nominations, would pick the single worst nominee of the year and explain why they thought it was the worst one era. I challenge you to pick the single worst Oscar nomination of 2025 for you.

 

Ira Madison III Mine is actually going to go to conclave for best costume design.

 

Louis Virtel Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Now we’re setting actually now we said, yeah, the Vatican designing those costumes. Okay, bitch. Like, what are we really doing with best costume design? Okay. You probably called up the pope and asked for some of his extra clothes. Like, You’re fucking kidding me. I hate I actually hate when movies like this get into, you know, best costume design because it’s like, well, what did you really do?

 

Louis Virtel Right? Did you did you Google what did the costumes look like over there? Over there in the palace? And then how much can we can we borrow some? Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. I mean, I feel like Camille Grammer here, but, like, you need to be honest. And now we said it.

 

Louis Virtel I have to say, that is a really qualified choice. I’m not upset with that at all. Now, I have to say, my standard is, of course, Isabella Rossellini in conclave. I believe, as you know, operates a scanner and points at a computer.

 

Ira Madison III She also tells Ray Finds. Don’t speak to her.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Four words that are important to the picture. I can’t deny that. I’m wondering if there’s anything crazier that’s upsetting me. And nope, I think it has to be that I’m looking at the original song options, too, and those are competitive. This is just not a shining year for Diane Warren. And as you know, I’m begging for one of those. But I’m going to go with Isabella Rossellini just because if she’s nominated for this, like she just had so many other roles where it would make more sense if she were up for, I don’t know, Blue Velvet, if she were up for she got a guest nomination for 30 Rock or something there. There’s other places I would rather see her than up for this acting nomination this year. But man, conclave costumes. You you chose well.

 

Ira Madison III I mean my second was going to be best cinematography for Emilia Pérez because I’m like, okay, slap some Instagram filters over this movie. But that’s really what we got. I thought I mean, I thought the film was kind of ugly to look at.

 

Louis Virtel Also, final trivia question. One actor this year is in two different best picture nominees. And this is the third time this has happened to that actor. Do you know who it is?

 

Ira Madison III Timothée Chalamet.

 

Louis Virtel It is, yes. He is up for doing part two and a complete unknown. A couple of years ago he was up for Dune and Don’t Look Up, which was a real film and we all saw it. And. You can’t take it back. Sorry, God. And then also he was up in 2017 for Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird.

 

Ira Madison III Who is doing it like Timothee Chalamet I’m sorry. The other white boys of the moment just really cannot compete with. They cannot compare.

 

Louis Virtel No. He is a walking hot, cool tongue depressor. And every time.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, like, is it any shock that he is with Kylie Jenner? I mean, that is just like what a celebrity, a male celebrity of, you know, like the 50s and 60s and 70s like would have done to, you know, that’s like you’re bagging Marilyn Monroe, right?

 

Louis Virtel Precisely. Precisely. Wow. I do not need to see his plays if he’s going the Arthur Miller route. I’m worried.

 

Ira Madison III Okay.

 

Louis Virtel Stay in the DiMaggio lane. Hit your home runs on the silver screen. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III All I’m saying is at some point, someone will be Oscar nominated for starring in My Week with Kylie.

 

Louis Virtel I think Instagram basically is my week with Kylie.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. All right. When we’re back, we are joined by Christina Milian.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III We have been rocking with this week’s guest ever since she Dipped it Low. She’s the reason I can even tell time from her song AM 2 PM. her music got our attention first and then her roles in cult phase like Love Don’t Cost a Thing. Be Cool. And one of my favorite franchises. Bring it On: Fight to the Finish. Kept our eyes glued to her every move. She’s now here to talk about her latest role as detective Maria LaGuerta in Dexter: Original Sin. Please welcome to Keep It,  Christina Milian.

 

Christina Milian Hello. Hi. I’ve been around for a while, I mean, that intro just tells it all. Don’t ask my age.

 

Louis Virtel It’s giving Kennedy Center honors. Yeah. Look out.

 

Christina Milian Yeah. Yeah. It’s giving way back in the day. Like, put me on a penny or something.

 

Louis Virtel No way. I don’t feel like you’ve ever had a role like this before. How like new a venture is this for you to play something like this?

 

Christina Milian Wow. You know, so. Okay, so claim real great. This is my first, like, detective role. I played cops before and I’ve played some other, like, really serious roles and like step up and stuff. But this is my second time that I’ve actually played a character that was like preexisting. I in this, this time the only difference is this is such a legendary show and like it’s so epic that the whole Dexter series, people still talk about it. And it’s been, you know, the first series ended back in like 2013 and people still talk about it to this day. So when I booked this role to play Maria Lagertha, I, you know, delved right back into watching the show again. I was like, Damn, this is crazy. You know, I had prayed that I wanted to do something that my family was going to be proud of, but I was like, I had no idea I was going to get a challenge like this. So it’s fun. It’s fascinating. It was challenging. Like I was I was nervous as hell the whole time, you know, just because I just wanted to do it well, because, you know, people make comparisons instantly, You know, they want to compare you to something that they already know and love. So I just wanted to make like a younger, fresher. I mean, obviously she’s 15 years prior, so allowed me to kind of like create this life that came before that. But I just wanted to see, like, what were her circumstances, what, what, what, what was happening in her life that made her different 15 years prior and also what made her like captain of Miami Metro. So it was fun. But I was I like I said, I was shitting my pants the whole time. Can I curse here?

 

Louis Virtel Yes you can, yes, yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yesss!

 

Christina Milian Ok good. I was literally so nervous. And then on top of that, you add the layers of Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Sarah Michelle Gellar, they’re all on the show. And and the legend that is Dexter. So, you know, no pressure at all. But total pressure, like, I don’t know if everyone else felt this exactly the same way that I did, but from beginning to end, I was just like, Lord, please. I just pray I’m doing good. So far, we’re doing pretty good. People like it.

 

Ira Madison III No, I’m really, really enjoying the series. I mean, I was a big fan of the original Dexter, and so I love the throwback vibe of it all, and it’s really, really been a fun watch.

 

Christina Milian Its been. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III I want to.

 

Christina Milian Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, you’re welcome. I want to ask you about this cast. First of all, you mentioned the great people that you’re with. And I have so many questions like, you know, Sarah Michelle Gellar is in there. So you I feel like you two are people who’ve been around since that period. You know, like did you have memories of maybe interacting with her before in the past? And then you have Patrick Dempsey on this and Love Don’t Cost a Thing was a remake of Can’t Buy Me Love the movie he starred in.

 

Christina Milian Finally someone talks about it. No one has talked about that like nobody’s picked up on Hello Connection Can’t buy me Love Love don’t cause the thing is the same movie, hello.

 

Ira Madison III Yes.

 

Christina Milian You know, I felt like one of the days that I was working with him, I told him I was like, hey. So I finally slipped it in there because I was like, I feel, you know, I’m kind of nervous anyways. And I finally was like, But he’s so nice. Everyone’s so nice, by the way. But he I said to him, You know, I did this movie with the same producers who did Your movie Can’t Buy Me Love, and it was called Love Don’t Cost a Thing. And so we just had this whole conversation and I meant to take this picture with him. I wanted to take this picture with him where he was in his character from Can’t Buy Me Love. And I was those were again, you know, we were just going to do like us, you know, side by side or he had to put me on his back. Something, something that looked like the cover of one of our movies. But, you know, he didn’t make it to our our press junket in New York. And that was when I was going to get it done. I was like. I told them I was like, when we get when we get time and we’re not in our character clothes. Can we take a picture as our characters? And I said, people, the fans will go crazy.

 

Ira Madison III The streets are waiting for that.

 

Christina Milian I have to make it happen. If I see him anywhere, I’m doing it and I’m finding him and I’m going to do this. But yes, no. That would have been legendary. And he’s a legend. He’s dope. And he’s actually he’s. It’s an honor to work with him and with Christian Slater. My gosh. Christian. And of all the people, he’s. Well, him and Patrick are of my earliest memories, like the both of them, because I just remember so many movies in the 80s. I’m an 80s baby, so 80s and 90s watching all their films and like high school movies, all that stuff that they really implemented in my life and like Tiger Beat and all those like posters and all that stuff, I had that stuff. So when I was working with them, I’m looking at them like, my gosh. Like I didn’t I didn’t think about it until I was there. And I was like, All of a sudden you had these flashbacks and you’re looking at them and you’re playing off a scene as your character. But in the meantime, you’re having this dialog in the back of your head about like, my God, my God, you know, that so-and-so. I really trip out. I still talk about that kind of stuff to this day. Like, I’ve been doing this for 30 something years and I trip out about the people that I’m working with or the place that I’m at at that moment. I’m just like, Whoa, this is this is this feels. I’m grateful. It’s a blessing. And then Sarah Michelle Gellar, I love her. She is like, you know, we did it. Did. I found a picture of us sitting at a fashion show together just recently. And so I actually didn’t remember that. We’ve had a lot of time over hand over time, But, so I guess I did meet her at that time. Maybe we took a nice picture, but since then and now being in her, in her and her presence now, she’s actually so, so nice and she’s so, like, aware and like, she makes you feel so comfortable. And I guess, like, for me, Sarah Michelle Gellar is, you know, recognizing some of the stuff that I’ve done or talking about like, yeah, blah, blah, blah, you know what I mean? I’m like, wait, you paid attention to me like you knew who I was. So and while meanwhile I was like watching her movies, like, what was it? I know what you did last year. My gosh. I was like, that was my dream career to have. I was like this. I want to be part of this group of people and doing these movies at that time, that was like my goal. Like my, you know, they had the secret back then. I didn’t have that, but that was my that was my visually, it was on my board. And I was like, I want to I want a career like that. Like because I’m really an actress first, to be honest with you. And the music came along and that happened, But I became more famous, I guess, from the music. So but yeah, altogether, like I feel like actually my, my career is kind of rounding up to what my goal was. So it’s pretty awesome I get to work with her.

 

Louis Virtel It’s actually, it’s actually interesting to me that you are seemingly is kind of pulled over by other stars as as you are. It’s like it’s cool to see, but who else like, have you kind of tangled with that, like knocked your socks off?

 

Christina Milian Oh my gosh. You want to know who I cried over? But I think anybody would do this. Janet Jackson.

 

Louis Virtel My God of course.

 

Christina Milian My gosh. But this was like years ago. If I see her now, now we can have a conversation. But this is a the like the helm of like the beginning of my career. And I was at MTV when TRL had its heyday. And I’m having a meeting and they were like, you know, Janet’s downstairs. She’s here as a surprise, a surprised everybody on the show. So you want to meet her? I was like. That’s my. That was my idol. That’s my idol. That’s. That’s. So I was like, Yeah, I would love to. I was like. Call me down. Do you know, I walked into this room and, like, I, I was at a I couldn’t speak like I was at such a loss for words. I said, Hi, nice to meet you. But, like, when I looked at her, it was like she had this glowing aura around her. And I was. And then. And then she was, like, telling me about myself. She’s like, I saw your music video and this and that. And she’s telling me again, one of those things that I’m like, Whoa. And I like, I introduced it to my mom and then she was talking and talking. I just I couldn’t say anything else. And the second she left the room, I literally bawled for two hours of happiest tears ever. But yeah, those that that was a moment that was and I’m sure she’s heard this story before. But yes, I just felt like I can remember that story to this day and I could feel it.

 

Louis Virtel So there’s also like a quality about Janet Jackson, too, where, like, you almost don’t know how she’ll be socially because she’s sort of kept to herself. So, like, when you actually meet her, I’m sure it’s like, I don’t even know what to do. Like, I have no sense of her, like, vibe or whatever.

 

Christina Milian I know you’re like, Could we be friends? Could we not? I guess, you know, you don’t know, but. And then she’s got that sweet tone, you know, So nice tone. And it’s just like it’s I’m. And here I am with my big old loud voice. Like, I wish I could be cute like that. I was like, she’s a queen.

 

Ira Madison III Well, speaking of, I know what you did last summer and movies from that era. Seriously, I was also on Scream two. I love the Scream franchise and I’m a big Wes Craven fan. Now, you were in Pulse.

 

Christina Milian I forgot about that.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Christina Milian Well.

 

Ira Madison III He co-wrote that.

 

Christina Milian I was.

 

Ira Madison III You know, that was a fun scream queen like for you. Do you have moments from like, that movie or from other movies like that that are little known that you really enjoyed?

 

Christina Milian I think so. I really enjoyed doing it. I was in we were in Romania, we shot it in Romania. So that was an experience like early 2000s. They just came out of like communism came over. There is like dogs everywhere, gypsies everywhere. Like it’s an experience. But when you look at it now, I’m like the actors that I worked with, like.

 

Ira Madison III Kristen Bell.

 

Christina Milian Kirsten Dunst and I mean Kristen Bell and and Ian Somerhalder and some really great and gosh, what’s her name?

 

Ira Madison III Also Octavia Spencer.

 

Christina Milian Octavia Spencer. Yes. She was in that.

 

Ira Madison III Yes.

 

Christina Milian Yeah. Octavia. Octavia is crazy, by the way. I like that. Yeah. There’s some really great actors. It was a crazy concept. It was fun. I forgot that that was a Wes Craven. It was a Wes Craven film. Yeah. So, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel It’s also interesting to me that you said you kind of always knew you were more of an acting person than a music person. I want to put you maybe on the Mandy Moore track there who talks about how that was kind of a disorienting time for her, like doing pop music. Did it feel strange like like having success in one thing when you sort of had always planned to have a, you know, express yourself otherwise?

 

Christina Milian Yeah. Not at all. I was like, One of these things is working. Thank God I’ve been doing this for so long that nothing about it, none of it felt weird at all, you know? And my at my time when I was started acting, we just didn’t have as many roles and that many options back then and fewer roles, especially for leading roles. So I was used to being like girl number two in a movie or girl number four, like, you know, best friend number two, you know, until you could finally work your way into finding these lead roles. And so the music just really hit it off. And when I got into the music, I mean, I was doing music for a long time. So don’t get me wrong, it was kind of like hand in hand. But when I finally got my record deal and I came out with Am to PM and I came out with all those songs in the albums, that’s when I started to like, I got Love Don’t Cost A Thing off of an offer. And I did a movie called Talk Off of an offer. There were both offered and I was like, What people offer people movies, you know, I’d been I had been auditioning my whole life to just play mediocre roles and all of a sudden they’re offering me and greenlighting movies at a studio off of my name. And just the fact that I had this fame off of the music, you know, business. So nothing about that was overwhelming. I was super happy. Like, hell yeah, this is what I’ve been waiting for.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I have to say that, first of all, the we are a gay man who watch music videos that after parties and dip it low is always frowned on. I mean you you in the in like the the ink.

 

Christina Milian The paint yeah.

 

Ira Madison III The Paint, yes. Beautiful I love that video but I think you ask of all your singles and music that you made, how does it feel that I feel like the song that people know you the most for now, especially thanks to TikTok is the Kim Possible theme song.

 

Christina Milian I mean, that’s. That’s crazy. Well, I think it makes sense. It makes sense because the TikTok generation. I mean, I still hear people play that song as like a ringtone on their phones. So it was a huge song for Disney. And I you know, I felt it at the time, like I would get like these awards from like Radio Disney, like number one for 26 weeks. So I was like, cool. You know? But I didn’t think much of it because I was like on the road and I wasn’t a kid watching, you know, cartoons. But it really it really did something like I didn’t know that it would be part of like, my, you know, discography as like a thing, you know, And it’s paid us to do like a little to do that song. It’s it’s fun because I just did a TikTok with one of my friends and it always blows up every time. That’s like a Kim possible thing, like a choreography or like, you know, me singing it. It’s like it blows up, like, with the people. So people like nostalgia. I like the.

 

Louis Virtel Speaking of nostalgia, too. I mean, obviously we talked about how Aim 2 p.m. and Diplo are like the songs we’ll be listening to forever. It’s now becoming clear that that era, that TRL era, like 25 years ago, is like the best pop era, like the one that the songs will be listening to forever and ever. And may I ask a question to you is if there’s a song that wasn’t years from that time that you could have claimed or had a version of, what would it be?

 

Christina Milian It would have been Slave For You.

 

Louis Virtel What a song.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah. My gosh.

 

Christina Milian Britney was the reason why to this day, I have. You know what they say? Muscle memory. She’s the reason I have a six pack. Like, even if it’s under some fat, like right now, it will always come back because I work my ass off for a six pack back then. Because that video, that song. My gosh. What the what Pharrell did with that track. It’s that is epic. That was a time that, like, these kids have no idea what they missed. What a time I would have loved that would have been a song like If I could have stolen that song that that one.

 

Louis Virtel Also, if it’s fitting, I can picture you doing that song.

 

Christina Milian Yeah, maybe I can come back with it, you know? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. What are we saying? Of course. Yeah.

 

Christina Milian Now keep your song. Keep your song with me. Just lay back.

 

Ira Madison III Before we let you go. I do have to say, I was such a huge fan in 2004. Like this is right when? I’m sorry? 2006 when I am in college at this point. But I loved the album so amazing. And say I and especially the song that you have with three six of your work, you’re still on playlists of mine.

 

Christina Milian Tell me who’s going to riiiiii—iii–iiii.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Christina Milian You know what? Those who know know that album. That album was Fire. First off, my label did me so wrong with that album because, you know, that album was like it was like a it was they knew and they had planned with me. We were going to do like a whole shift, like the shift. This is the sound like we’re going to move more urban and then you can kind of like grow back into your pop like they had. We had this whole plan anyways. I had such a good time making that album with Cool and Dre in Miami, and it was such a vibe. But the time we put out that single and we put up like the people were already like saying like, the second single is going to be, was this a I did it at my room. I’m lighting candles, land in my hand thinking, Wow, how could I let a situation get the first time? Okay, So the fans decided that was the second single and it was blowing up on its own, I’m telling you on its own. And why do my label Let me like in the album came out, album came out and sold, I think 70,000 the first week, which back then is considered low. It was like 60 or 70,000. Sorry I don’t wrong. But it’s between those and that’s considered low back then. But they dropped me two weeks after the album came out and they dropped what it who else. They job the job like a couple other people the same label the drop like four really big artists at that time I think it was like budget cuts or whatever they were doing, but they let us go. And so that album just never got to like continue to flourish. Only fans really know about that, that album, and they still talk about that album, and that’s still one of my favorite albums to this day.

 

Ira Madison III Platinum in my house. Okay.

 

Christina Milian Thank you. Thank you so much. That means a lot to me. No, I know. Believe me. Like my real either my real fans are people that love music at that time, like R&B. That was a really fun R&B song. Album and it said a lot. I spoke to a lot of people’s lives and that’s what I loved about it.

 

Ira Madison III And well, thank you so much for joining us.

 

Christina Milian Yeah, thank you.

 

Ira Madison III It has been really lovely to talk to you today.

 

Christina Milian I hope I didn’t talk your heads off.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. No, no, please.

 

Louis Virtel We’re just so glad you’re safe from Dexter, obviously.

 

Christina Milian Safe for now. Give me another 15 to 15, 20 years.

 

Ira Madison III It’s nice to know, and you’re in the prequel too that Dexter didn’t off you.

 

Christina Milian Not yet, no.

 

Ira Madison III In the original series.

 

Christina Milian If anything, we might have to find out eventually what that whole crash was about in that first the first first season, it was like a. Happening and you’re like and then it just disappeared by episode three. So we’ll see what happens. Yes. I don’t know. We’ll have to build that. We’ll build it up. So hopefully everybody watch Dexter Original Sin now. Okay, We’re in episode number seven this week and so you have plenty of time to catch up and watch the rest. So yeah, it’s good. I hope. I hope we get another season because I actually now that I’m. I’m not nervous anymore. I just want to have fun and shoot.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you.

 

Louis Virtel Thank you so much for being here. My God. It was so much fun. Come back in every time. You’re so much fun.

 

Ira Madison III Bye.

 

Christina Milian Love you guys. Thank you so much.

 

Ira Madison III Catch Dexter: Original Sin on Paramount. Plus, I love it. So you’ll probably love it, too. And we’ll be right back with Keep It.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III And we are back for our favorite segment of the episode it’s Keep it. Louis. What’s grinding your gears?

 

Louis Virtel One of my least favorite things about very, very mainstream pop culture is Super Bowl commercials, culture. It just gives me nothing. It’s all about mixing like icons of the past with, you know, brands that won’t go away. And it’s supposed to be a fun irony we’re all in on, but it’s just extremely corporate and kind of humorless to me anyway. I believe I just saw in a campaign for Ubereats that Martha Stewart and Charlie XCX are paired up and doing kind of comedy bits with each other. Martha Stewart says, I saw the name Charlie Cook and I thought it was somebody’s Netflix password or whatever. She said jokes anyway. And then Charlie said, I saw your I saw your name attached to this and I thought you’d be catering it. It’s not Laurel and Hardy. Okay. It’s not Alvin and Costello. Just a random pairing of people that doesn’t really do anything for me. I am excited for the Grammys coming up because I want to know how much Charlie XCXs Brat phenomenon will register with these voters who are as as you know are in their late 100 and 30s. So if they had a brat summer at near killed them I have to say but just keep it to Super Bowl commercials in general. It’s just such a weird thing to be excited for. It’s crazy that I feel like I have to kind of beg people to be into Oscar nominated movies, like they feel like homework to these people, and yet you really are wrapped up in like what Doritos are up to in 2025. It just kind of sucks a little bit.

 

Ira Madison III Also, I hate the Super Bowl commercials now are basically not even Super Bowl commercials. They all debut before the Super Bowl.

 

Louis Virtel No, Right. There’s no right. And we’re amped for them. Like there’s like a whole campaign to prepare you for the commercials, too. So it’s just this, like, horrible situation that’s really annoying.

 

Ira Madison III The only person who did it last year, well, was Beyonce.

 

Louis Virtel Correct. And as you know, she just stages the Super Bowl whenever she wants. She’s like, I’m going to perform on this Christmas thing and it’s the Super Bowl now. I was kind of I did laugh when Martha Stewart apparently told Jimmy Fallon the other day that she was offered to host SNL after being released from prison, but her parole officer said no. So maybe someday, maybe that might be kind of fun for her. We’ll see.

 

Ira Madison III That could have been her original. Come back.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Ira Madison III And then she fighting doors universe. She’s never besties with Snoop Dogg.

 

Louis Virtel Right. And he continues being the guest artist on 175 pop singles from 2000 to 2020.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, he is the reason I knew all the names of the other Pussycat Dolls. Ashley, Nicole, Jessica, Melody, Kimberly.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. And Kermit is in there, too. Yeah. And also, it must be said now that you brought up Pussycat Dolls. There was a recent lip sync to Pussycat Dolls buttons on Drag Race, and neither of the girls stepped up. That is like the drag race song of all time. Also, if Paddington ever does drag, he should do it to buttons. Picture him like rubbing that marmalade down his shirt as the buttons come off. That’s the bear from Peru.

 

Ira Madison III I thought he would do Michael Jackson’s jam.

 

Louis Virtel That could work, too. Would Michael Jordan also be in that video with Paddington?

 

Ira Madison III Good. All right. My keep it this week goes to. Pee-Wee Herman, star Paul Reubens. Bigger as you now is dead.

 

Louis Virtel Quite. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III But apparently he is dead and loving it because of the new documentary. He comes out as gay bonkers, mostly. What in the documentary, which is titled Pee Wee as Himself. It’s a two part docu series that debuted at Sundance Film Festival, which I thought was just a place for Lisa Barlow to wander around taking photos with people.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, and like 50 Cent like throws you a vitamin water or whatever. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III It’s going to air on HBO Max later this year, but in it, Ruben says, I was as out as you could be. And then I went back in the closet. My career would have absolutely suffered if I was openly gay. So I went to great lengths for many, many years to keep it a secret. That’s why your career would have suffered. Not not the not the goon in in in the front row.

 

Louis Virtel The good thing is the theme of the episode. Did we not say that? I’m tired. Sorry about that. Well, it’s just also one of those. It’s like, okay, maybe your career would have suffered. Like, I’m sure the politics at that time were very fraught. And also he’s playing like a very weird character. So maybe if people hear they’re gay, there’s they could be repulsed or something. But at the same time, coming out posthumously, I mean, does it get darker than that? Like you didn’t come out it you’re you’re in a crypt. You’re in the crypt. You’re not coming out of the crypt. You’re stuck in the crypt.

 

Ira Madison III Well, you know, have you heard some of the tales from the Crypt?

 

Louis Virtel My God. I miss that guy.

 

Ira Madison III He was doing poppers. Yes, you’re right.

 

Louis Virtel He was lit, shall we say.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Also, Paul Reubens died in 2023. There was plenty of time.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, right. He could have done some of his sickos out. Yes. Also, by the way, doesn’t he come from, like, the Groundlings and stuff like that? I know he had, like, lots of gay associates who were out and stuff. I don’t mean to blame him. I don’t know what’s happening in his life. It’s just like, this is a depressing story that’s meant to be spun another way. And I can only see the depressing parts.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, like, we already knew he had a movie called Big Top. Pee Wee.

 

Louis Virtel My God. And if anybody was, it was Mr. Herman.

 

Ira Madison III He was a bit of a blouse. Okay.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I was. And I was a bit of a cherry, you know, plush and ready to be sat on.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Well, you know, I think this is a first. I don’t think I’ve ever yelled at a gay man for coming out after death.

 

Louis Virtel No. Yeah, in a way, it’s impressive. Maybe in the future, more holograms will come out.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I’m just. I’m just standing at a Hollywood forever cemetery. Go ahead. Never in my life have I yelled at a girl like this.

 

Louis Virtel I have one photo in my hand. It’s of you, Pee-Wee.

 

Ira Madison III It’s from your obituary.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. I printed it out.

 

Ira Madison III Also, speaking of gay at funerals, it just makes me think of Heathers. I love my Dead Gay Son.

 

Louis Virtel Right. I love my dead gay Pee-Wee. Yeah, right. Here it is.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Anyway. Something to muster. Something to think about.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you to Christina Milian for joining us. And thank you to our listeners for listening to us talking about jacking off all episode.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Jesus Christ. Whats, it’s diagnosable. Get Freud in here.

 

Ira Madison III I’m waiting for a gun oil ad. Okay, we’ll do one.

 

Louis Virtel You think we’re not above that?

 

Ira Madison III See you next week. 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 for review or leaving comments on the YouTube page.

 

Louis Virtel Keep It is a Crooked Media production, our producer is Bill McGrath. Our associate producer is Kennedy Howell and our executive producers are Ira Madison, the third, Louis Virtel and Kendra James. Our digital team is Megan Patsel, Claudia Sheng and Rachel Gaieski.

 

Ira Madison III This episode was recorded and mixed by Vasili Fotopoulos. Thank you to Matt DeGroot, David Toles, Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landes for production support. Every week our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East and as always, Keep It is filmed in front of a live studio audience.

 

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