00:00:00.57 alexei sayle Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 66 of the Alexi Sale Now Weekly Podcast. And our last podcast was with Andrew Feinstein.

00:00:13.89 alexei sayle And Feinstein is how he pronounces it.

00:00:18.84 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Someone in the bloody YouTube comments was like, actually, the German, the Feinstein is a German name and the pronunciation should actually be Feinstein, as in Einstein.

00:00:22.72 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:00:27.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'm like, don't tell a guy how to pronounce his own name, for fuck's sake. He can call himself what he wants.

00:00:32.78 alexei sayle Indeed.

00:00:34.74 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Did you see that comment?

00:00:36.08 alexei sayle I did. Yeah. Yeah.

00:00:38.22 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That was funny.

00:00:40.06 alexei sayle um Yeah.

00:00:41.39 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Lovely chap, lovely man. I just, it's, it's, uh, yeah, it's just a really warm, warm person.

00:00:43.53 alexei sayle yeah

00:00:48.04 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I wasn't expecting, uh, that might sound bad, but I wasn't expecting him to be so like kind and huggable and and lovely.

00:00:54.69 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:00:56.43 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Cause he's always so serious when you see him on double down news and all that, I've never actually heard him just talk about himself in a comfortable, he is, yeah.

00:01:03.59 alexei sayle Yeah, he's funny, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and very inspirational. I do feel, um you know, in this, in this hellscape that we are traveling through at the moment, I think that his, as I understand his ideas, that you're every, um I mean, that the way, the way that you get around,

00:01:29.29 alexei sayle you know, having these top-down socialist parties that never really work is that you, is that you build, it has to be built on on a geographical location, really, that, you know, each, each group, you know, you campaigns locally, and then works through to maybe getting councillors elected, and then eventually an MP.

00:01:51.04 alexei sayle And I mean, it may, you know, that it does seem like a sort of viable strategy, really.

00:01:54.97 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:01:56.54 alexei sayle I mean,

00:01:56.79 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Well, we don't have the same access to like global networks of billionaires that these elites have.

00:02:01.30 alexei sayle No.

00:02:01.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal So we have to work with what we've got.

00:02:04.21 alexei sayle Yes.

00:02:05.27 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And they try to make us feel like we're so connected with everyone around the world, but that you can only do so much with that.

00:02:05.38 alexei sayle Well, our power. Yeah.

00:02:10.10 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:02:12.10 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And we have to realize that our neighbors and our community, we're all on the same side.

00:02:12.37 alexei sayle I mean, yeah.

00:02:16.34 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No matter what disagreements we have, we have to realize we're on the same team.

00:02:18.08 alexei sayle Exactly. I think that that's our only real advantage that we have over there down with with them their money and their weapons and their control of the media is that we're everybody.

00:02:30.72 alexei sayle you know We are theoretically, every more or less, everybody. you know and if you can You can't do that on a national level, but you can connect.

00:02:34.47 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal yeah

00:02:37.91 alexei sayle you I mean, that's how Jeremy made it work. you know, in Northeastern people voted for him because he knows them all. And when people, when the media tells lies about him, they know that they're not true because they've, you know, they've got personal experience of what a wonderful man he is.

00:02:54.32 alexei sayle And so ah it seems to me that that is the only way that I left.

00:02:55.63 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Right

00:03:00.09 alexei sayle a left party can really, that we can advance really is by building locally, by you literally.

00:03:01.94 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:03:08.11 alexei sayle tim And that's not, it's not for me to do, but I mean, he's, I mean, he's, I mean, he was always going to be a much more, much better candidate and held in Melbourne and St.

00:03:08.94 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And that's not just the Pollard.

00:03:17.17 alexei sayle Pancras than me because yeah, I can't, you know.

00:03:17.56 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal ah Feinstein. Yeah.

00:03:21.39 alexei sayle I don't want to meet everybody now.

00:03:21.73 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You don't like people.

00:03:24.01 alexei sayle I like people when they're, you know, when they're in a room and I'm up on the stage with lights in the sound system and they're sitting down. They paid to see me. I love them then.

00:03:33.09 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No, no, you do like people.

00:03:34.41 alexei sayle No, I don't.

00:03:34.49 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Don't let's not let's not give it. I've seen you talk to strangers and you have you're very warm and open, but.

00:03:40.13 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:03:40.84 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You I think it's that you need to be a different animal, really, because, you know, I think your life experience hasn't led you to to be the guy knocking on fucking doors and stuff.

00:03:44.13 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:03:51.05 alexei sayle Yeah. And certainly me, you know, sending in people's assemblies and listening to people's.

00:03:54.64 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But I did want to say it's not just a politician's job to get to know their community. I think that should be, we need to instill that responsibility in us personally as well.

00:04:02.79 alexei sayle Okay. Well, yeah. What do you mean the activists?

00:04:07.56 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No, no, ah the every man, you know, just if you see your neighbor, talk to them every now and then, you know, ah talk to the shopkeeper and ask them how they are.

00:04:08.45 alexei sayle Ooh.

00:04:18.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Little things like that is what it takes to build a community. You know, you look at these tower blocks and you know My friend lives in a big block of flats and hasn't ever spoken a word to anyone in the same building he lives in.

00:04:29.24 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:04:30.06 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You all live in such tight, confined spaces, and yet there's no community there. And that's what's happening. We're being separated.

00:04:37.99 alexei sayle But I mean, that's, yeah yeah, I understand that comrade, but I mean, I think that you it's not just, yeah I mean, it, I mean, yes, I mean, that's one of the things also, I think that this form of socialism offers is is that you will get to meet your neighbours and work with your neighbours through campaigning with them, you know, just saying the cheery hello is not really.

00:05:00.23 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal and but Hello leads to, like Yoda said, hello leads to how are you, leads to how are your kids, lead leads to you actually caring about them, once you know someone's story.

00:05:08.14 alexei sayle Yeah, I still think it's better. Well, thats yeah, ah I still think it's better if you, you're doing that and, um, I'm pushing the message of anti-capitalism as well.

00:05:19.37 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Fuck yeah, of course.

00:05:20.67 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:05:21.10 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Comrade, yeah, that goes without saying, but i'm um not everyone can be a full on activist, not everyone has that in them, but, ah but, ah

00:05:22.89 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:05:30.17 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah, we that is the ultimate goal, is fighting that that message that know this system needs to change.

00:05:34.14 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:05:38.01 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um But we also have to fucking care about each other. Otherwise, there's no motivation and there's no strength. Like you said, the advantage we have is that we're everyone.

00:05:48.33 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But if we're all separate, living in our own little comrade,

00:05:48.46 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:05:51.39 alexei sayle Yeah, but well, yeah, but it's just doing it. I think if it's done it with, if it's done, if it's kind of connected to a kind of ideological struggle, it has more meaning. Just saying a cheery hello to the postman is that, you know, it's it's all very nice, but I don't think I want to spread them all. My message is more focused than that.

00:06:12.86 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Well, don't, don't think, um ah yes, I agree. it's it's i' I'm not just saying, yeah, that's not going to save the world saying hello to your neighbor, but that's the start.

00:06:20.92 alexei sayle there Yeah, yeah, it's just.

00:06:22.16 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But I'm saying if ah if it's if we expect our politicians to be building these communities, it's good if we help them. And that's how the message spreads better.

00:06:32.20 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Like if I've been affected by a movement, I'm more likely ah to share that if I'm, if I know the people I'm, around me, you knowm more likely to bring it up in conversation.

00:06:44.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'm getting lost in my thoughts now. Let me reflect on this, Comrade, and then maybe we'll we'll widen the discussion.

00:06:49.24 alexei sayle Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he might have a, I think we might have a staff to have a, I think you're, you're indulging in cheery, helloism. I think he may have to be up. I think he may, you may have to be subjected to an intense, an intense, critical self-criticism comment and then the session and then maybe have to go to a camp for reeducation for a little while.

00:06:59.19 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal but

00:07:17.76 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Fine. But I think it's better than a keyboard warrior who who wants to fight capitalism but doesn't know anyone, doesn't have anyone to talk to about it.

00:07:29.68 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um

00:07:30.19 alexei sayle That's what that's a good thing or a bad thing I'm sorry you've lost me now.

00:07:33.25 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal ah's It's better to have someone to talk to about your your your passion and your activism rather than just being stuck on your phone and doing it on Instagram, you know?

00:07:43.89 alexei sayle Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

00:07:46.45 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal talk to my shopkeeper and say, these prices are too high, we need to fucking destroy capitalism. and then

00:07:53.29 alexei sayle I think we've got off to a very bad start here.

00:07:56.37 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal yeah Yeah, blame Feinstein.

00:07:57.20 alexei sayle but

00:07:59.41 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um Lovely bloke. um And what did you think of the video?

00:08:07.69 alexei sayle Oh, I know you looked at that still. it's It's fine. It's ah one. I know it's just another person on YouTube was worried by that cup balanced on the on the poof really.

00:08:15.55 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yes, on a poof.

00:08:17.94 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:08:20.16 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No, the cup was safe. I think the wide angle lens added a curve to the image which made it look like it was more

00:08:24.26 alexei sayle Yeah. Although, interestingly enough, it is a family trait that drives them to mad that we the sale family were all terrible balances of things on other things that we would often put, it seemed to be a genetic kind of inheritance that we would, um you know, put cups on sort of the arms, very narrow arms of things where they would, or plates.

00:08:46.54 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal of course and course everyone knows about the short-lived sale family circus acrobatics act very ah shortly i think they did once one show

00:08:47.45 alexei sayle My mother used to, as well, as she she would, yes you know, just balance things badly on top of other things, really. And then those things would fall down sometimes.

00:09:06.72 alexei sayle The flying Saylovskis, yeah. Yeah. um But anyway, I think it was on a, the cup was resting on a coaster, wasn't it?

00:09:16.99 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It was on a coaster on a very large poof.

00:09:19.33 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:09:19.35 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal There was no chance of it.

00:09:21.32 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:09:21.38 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And also, if there's anyone you can trust, it's Feinstein with a cup.

00:09:24.59 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:09:25.65 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I think he wouldn't have played.

00:09:26.13 alexei sayle But it made my, ah it made my house look nice, I thought.

00:09:28.49 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It did, yeah. So one person was like, look at them sitting in his Spanish filler talking to Feinstein.

00:09:29.72 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:09:35.06 alexei sayle Yeah, well, like I would be flown.

00:09:35.93 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal ah they

00:09:39.31 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It's quite a modest little house in London, actually, that you were sitting.

00:09:40.25 alexei sayle but Yeah, it's done.

00:09:43.39 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal We didn't fly Feinstein to Spain.

00:09:45.04 alexei sayle No, no.

00:09:48.74 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It's funny. I do enjoy it. I've started enjoying it um reading some of the comments.

00:09:52.22 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:09:53.14 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um But a big love to everyone who puts comments down and gets raises the interaction levels.

00:09:58.43 alexei sayle and Indeed. Yeah.

00:10:00.95 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal uh, comments in the, uh, the, the, the Patreon community chat room popping off over the last month. I've been, as you know, quite unwell over the last month. So I haven't really been as, um, involved in, in, in corresponding with everyone, but I did see all your well wishes and stuff and I'm much better now.

00:10:21.51 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I think it was like the second or third of January.

00:10:21.82 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:10:24.29 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I woke up for the first time without any pain in my stomach and i breathed a massive sigh of relief yeah it was um yeah really makes you appreciate your health and i've started to doing more exercise straight away like twice a week or something um look after yourselves people we can't fight the capitalists if you're not fit

00:10:32.50 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:10:44.16 alexei sayle Good for you. Good for you.

00:10:51.27 alexei sayle You can't. No, it's true. No, I don't know. I was, um, no. What else have we got to talk about?

00:11:01.25 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I've watched all of... ah go We've got a film to talk about, yeah.

00:11:04.28 alexei sayle ah just

00:11:05.57 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But I also...

00:11:05.72 alexei sayle and well That's what else we got to talk about. Cause I think this could be our, after the highs of Andrew Feinstein last week, I think this could be our lowest, our lowest ever listened to podcasts. I think, I think I'd listened to this podcast.

00:11:19.31 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Come on. ah Can you tilt your screen down a little bit so that your face is a bit more central?

00:11:20.73 alexei sayle but

00:11:23.23 alexei sayle Oh yeah.

00:11:25.03 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Because, as promised, I'm going to put a video version of our podcasts on the Patreon from now on, whenever possible.

00:11:25.26 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:11:31.36 alexei sayle Oh yeah, that's it.

00:11:35.70 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal ah So if you want to watch our faces with big clunky headphones on talking at each other through screens, you can join the Patreon, patreon dot.com forward slash Alexis L podcast and watch the video edition.

00:11:41.27 alexei sayle Yeah. I need to get my head on, don't I? I need to come see you.

00:11:51.71 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal We need to start thinking, yeah, look at me, I wore a shirt. I've got a shirt, I've got my chest hairs out, got my Palestine flag behind me.

00:11:54.65 alexei sayle all right yeah you've given it more and you're you changing your look aren't you this we might as well just completely let's go for this let's go for this the most the most tedious podcast ever you've changed let's lean into it as they say you've changed your look as well because you used to be shaving head i thought you were bald really but you're not

00:11:58.38 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I've i've thought about this stuff maybe.

00:12:12.14 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah, yeah.

00:12:17.21 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No one cares what I look like. But yeah, i'm I'm growing my hair out a bit and I've shortened my beard.

00:12:19.55 alexei sayle I mean, you used to do that bold with but the big beard and now you look you know much more normal, really.

00:12:21.81 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:12:29.31 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'm trying to slowly transform into my dad because um I want to.

00:12:32.05 alexei sayle Oh, that's right, trying to get this part in the film, yeah.

00:12:34.39 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal We had anything we've talked about it on the podcast, but yeah I want to play him in the upcoming drama about the Iranian embassy siege.

00:12:37.00 alexei sayle um He had florid mustachios, your father.

00:12:40.32 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I don't know.

00:12:43.09 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah, so um on top of this beard, there is a...

00:12:44.85 alexei sayle Oh, he actually did look like him then, yeah, suddenly I saw him.

00:12:48.10 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal He had long hair with a bald spot and a mustache, and that that's...

00:12:50.56 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah.

00:12:54.12 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'm slowly crawling towards that. um Just for when the day comes that I get to audition, I just need to make myself undeniable, make myself the obvious choice.

00:13:01.99 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:13:04.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um It's a role that could change my life, you know?

00:13:08.49 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah.

00:13:09.63 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um

00:13:09.90 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:13:10.67 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal but

00:13:10.84 alexei sayle I never, that's one of the things, again, we talk about my act.

00:13:11.18 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But...

00:13:13.60 alexei sayle That's one, you know, with a lot of us, particularly when I was in Hollywood, you know, A lot of actors, when they auditioned for a role, they would um yeah they would dress as the character and spend days thinking, I i never even let the fucking line up.

00:13:29.09 alexei sayle I really never put enough. um and remember audition it but I remember auditioning for Jim Wilder once at some movie he was directing and scaring the shit out of him.

00:13:38.37 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Wow.

00:13:40.62 alexei sayle He was just so frightened of me.

00:13:43.88 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Well, did you scream at him or something?

00:13:46.27 alexei sayle No, no, no, we just don't know what it was. He just he's just, he's very timid sort of man, really.

00:13:49.31 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh yeah. Oh, that's funny.

00:13:52.47 alexei sayle But that's quite a good, that's an interesting study. So tell auditions. Have we talked to somebody about this? oh did Because I, you know, i but he's ah he's a forgotten figure now.

00:14:04.10 alexei sayle There was a guy called Peter Greenaway, who um had been an advertiser and then made these really incoherent art films that were inexplicably popular for a while. The Draftsmen's Contractors, perhaps the most famous, and then there was one called The Thief, The Thief, His Wife, and His Lover or something.

00:14:21.94 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal the cook, the thief, his wife and his lover. Yeah.

00:14:24.12 alexei sayle The Cook, The Thief, The Wife.

00:14:24.22 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You, you, you auditioned for that yourself and Peter Greenaway.

00:14:25.60 alexei sayle Did I talk about that? Yeah, I auditioned to be the driver in that. and Never have two people not gone. Never have a director in it. Yeah.

00:14:36.46 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I do like that film quite a lot.

00:14:36.98 alexei sayle Did not get on. Eh?

00:14:39.86 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I do like that film quite a lot.

00:14:41.06 alexei sayle Really?

00:14:41.19 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal do Would you like to share any details about why you didn't get on?

00:14:43.93 alexei sayle I just thought he was a prick and I thought he thought his films were rubbish. Shouldn't have gone to the audition really, should I?

00:14:51.12 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Probably not.

00:14:53.41 alexei sayle um

00:14:53.45 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And any more to tell us about Gene Wilder?

00:14:54.77 alexei sayle Lindsay Anderson, Lindsay Anderson, we didn't get on.

00:14:55.09 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal What an amazing...

00:14:57.85 alexei sayle I had auditioned for Britannia Hospital. I think this was really before even I was well known. They gave the part to Richard Griffith.

00:15:09.45 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Man, the the life trying to make it in this acting gig for an unknown like me who does care and really tries is fucking...

00:15:17.42 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:15:20.27 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal tedious and like just this tiresome and I just audition and audition and tape and tape and tape like every other day I rearrange my living room so I could stand in front of a blank wall and fucking tape a thing.

00:15:30.91 alexei sayle Really.

00:15:33.97 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I didn't audition yesterday. I really hope I get it because it's such an easy gig and it pays a fuckload. um It's one line in the commercial.

00:15:44.46 alexei sayle All right.

00:15:46.40 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal but they were like, I wanna see a few takes of the line, ah give us some variety. It's one line, very quick.

00:15:53.20 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:15:54.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I found myself recording like seven minutes of me saying this line over and over and over again until it lost all meaning. And I just stood there and like, I stood there like, what am I doing?

00:16:08.12 alexei sayle Yeah, we never had in a month.

00:16:08.15 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I still had a moment of of existential crisis.

00:16:10.88 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:16:11.18 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And then I'm watching the tape trying to edit it and select four clips out of possibly 50 times I said this line.

00:16:16.53 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:16:19.72 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I was losing my fucking mind. And I just know you're not gonna get, you know, any audition you do, there's a one in a thousand chance you'll get it, you know?

00:16:27.26 alexei sayle Yeah. At least we never we never had the horror of self-taping.

00:16:32.23 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It's so fucking shit.

00:16:34.07 alexei sayle Although, I mean, it was pretty bad going into a room and seeing a room full of, you know, a room full of versions of you in it.

00:16:42.15 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's so true. Every audition in person, yeah.

00:16:44.16 alexei sayle If I told you, I'll tell you, actually I actually, now I think about it, I have a stream of, um, Bad Audition stories with often with directors who I actually like, but did I, I told you one without me and Paul Verhoeven.

00:17:00.15 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No, please tell. It's Paul Verhoeven, director of Robocop.

00:17:01.68 alexei sayle I'll tell this one Starship Trooper, which is one of the greatest films ever made.

00:17:04.84 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal True Lies. No, not not True Lies.

00:17:08.85 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Starship Troopers amazing. Fucking incredible film. And then there's the Arnie one where he his face comes off.

00:17:12.01 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:17:15.29 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal What's that? ah Total Recall.

00:17:16.33 alexei sayle uh, total recall.

00:17:19.61 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh my God.

00:17:19.72 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:17:20.84 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh my God. What a movie. Yeah. So you and Paul Verhoeven.

00:17:22.58 alexei sayle So I had this, I got it, Paul Verhoeven was gonna, was, was, was making a film with Arnold called Crusade, which, uh, really good idea, but it didn't get made in the end, but it, it, it,

00:17:39.16 alexei sayle They'd already, I think they were in pre-production they'd built that was going to be filmed in Malta. Anyway, I've got the, this is, this is, I mean, this doesn't make me, I don't know what it makes me seem like, but I've got it into my head.

00:17:53.95 alexei sayle At this point that I didn't want to act. I was done with acting for some reason.

00:18:00.01 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal When are we talking?

00:18:01.76 alexei sayle I don't know. This must be in the nineties, I think, or maybe late eighties.

00:18:05.42 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Was this pre stuff post stuff?

00:18:06.05 alexei sayle I don't know.

00:18:09.16 alexei sayle probably post, but I can't remember, to be honest. Cassie was my agent, and so it was sort of roundabout stuff. Maybe early 90s.

00:18:20.88 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Okay, and you're deciding you you're going to stop.

00:18:22.05 alexei sayle I said, I don't wanna, they want you to play this part. I want you to play this part in, Paul Verhoeven's very keen to have you in this film. And I'm like, oh, God, I don't wanna do, I mean, I got these ideas in my head and then,

00:18:38.46 alexei sayle You know, people are annoying people around me so much. I said, no, I don't want to. And then my agent ka came back and says, no, he really wants to meet. You know, I i think Paul, von is was ah I mean, he's made some.

00:18:52.02 alexei sayle bad choices, but he has directed several of, you know, the top 20 or 30 films of all time, like the Starship Trooper, and yes, which is one of his bad choices, but Total Recall as well, it's a masterpiece.

00:18:57.57 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah. Striptease. Yeah. Yeah.

00:19:08.58 alexei sayle So I went in to meet him, and he said, oh, we've got this part for you, and I said, no, I don't want to do it.

00:19:16.23 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You said to him.

00:19:16.66 alexei sayle And he's like, yeah, I said to Paul Verhoeven, I don't know what I was thinking. And I said, you know, thanks. And he said, well, will you do anything? and So have you got a part where I could just like come to Malta for a week and then, you know, maybe I was fed up with being on location or something. Maybe it's after I'd spent nine months in in Australia.

00:19:40.66 alexei sayle um So, ah so we, said oh yeah, we got this part as like a monk, you know, and you can come out and do it. And I was like, Oh, all right. Yeah. I remember bumping into Chris Fulford. It was a very good actor. It was in the thing I wrote in the, in the, you know, it's kind of the anti-chamber before going in. And he said, Oh, what are you here for? And I said, Oh, I'm not, I'm not here for anything. I don't want to be in this film.

00:20:05.34 alexei sayle You must have made him want to punch me in the fucking face.

00:20:07.96 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Uh, yeah

00:20:08.82 alexei sayle So anyway, so I said to Paul Verhoeven anyway, yeah, all right. Well, ah yeah, I'll play this monk then. If you really insist, I'll play this and then the money fell through anyway.

00:20:18.92 alexei sayle So it never got made.

00:20:21.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal so angry at you right now paul nah she can't be arsed but i can't you know yeah i can't

00:20:24.63 alexei sayle I know it's annoying, right? I mean, it is. It is. Yeah, I know. I mean, it's ah you're you're right to be angry. I mean, it's such a dick. It's such a dick mood, you know. I know, I was like, no mate, I can't be, I can't be in your film with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

00:20:45.38 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I can't even put myself in your shoes. You've done it all by that point. like I get it.

00:20:50.44 alexei sayle I still have, I don't know, it's just me being stupid.

00:20:52.26 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Anything becomes tiresome, doesn't it?

00:20:56.52 alexei sayle I mean, this is just just a an example of rank stupidity, really. Just let me know.

00:21:01.24 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Right, okay. You said it.

00:21:03.58 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:21:04.70 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Jesus Christ. And what did you spend nine months in Australia for?

00:21:08.64 alexei sayle Oh, this is, we could, we, we, we, I mean, another terrible film I was in called Wreck, no, Reckless Kelly.

00:21:12.22 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Was that solar babies?

00:21:16.88 alexei sayle Wreck, we talked about that.

00:21:17.20 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Who's, who's the lead in that? We did talk about it.

00:21:22.44 alexei sayle Yahoo serious.

00:21:24.07 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yes. We talked about that ages ago.

00:21:26.42 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:21:27.33 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal God, that looks, doesn't look great. Oh no.

00:21:30.77 alexei sayle It's not great. It's me, if you go weaving, of course, is.

00:21:32.35 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Okay.

00:21:34.90 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Wow.

00:21:34.96 alexei sayle my fellow Batty who was Agent Smith in The Matrix and many other fine movies.

00:21:43.37 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I just pictured you as Agent Smith and that would have been amazing.

00:21:46.66 alexei sayle But we yes, i' um I don't know if it was before, but we so we' the film main film and location was in this place where Yahoo used to go on his holidays.

00:21:49.49 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It was before Matrix.

00:21:54.32 alexei sayle There was a place called Nelson's Bay in north in New South Wales and we were filming in the sort of I think the grounds are a mental hospital which was also like more or less jungle and crawling with snakes and anywhere else.

00:22:08.03 alexei sayle I was there for so long and the movie was also so bad.

00:22:10.45 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Fucking hell.

00:22:14.59 alexei sayle that It's perfectly possible that I i was rude to Paul Verhoeven before that. I mean I'm making out like that would be a reason why I didn't want to go away, but it's it's perfectly possible that the two were unconnected really.

00:22:33.13 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Those wild parts of Australia are terrifying and uncomfortable. I had some time out there in my cup yard when I was 18, 19.

00:22:45.45 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um I landed in Sydney and went to the cash machine and my card got rejected. I'd i'd i'd spent all my money in a week in San Francisco.

00:22:59.04 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um on sushi basically and landed in Sydney with no money. So the next morning at 5 a.m. I was working on a building site with a bunch of with a bunch of tongons.

00:23:08.92 alexei sayle really well they're not they're they're tough people as well as these and you know they're not you know i've never heard the word mate said with such malice yeah i mean impressed that you managed to work on a building site in sydney because they're tough fucking people right yeah

00:23:19.24 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Malice, yeah. Yeah. Well, after a month on this building site in Sydney, I had to get out of there and I found a job on an island

00:23:30.84 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah, I was working with Tongans. There was like eight Tongans who are ah Polynesian kind of natives and ah naturally built as fuck.

00:23:42.04 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:23:42.71 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And there was like eight really hench dudes and then one elder who was like skinny and always smoking cigarettes and was like everyone kind of respected him and all that.

00:23:53.39 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And they were they were terrifying at one point.

00:23:53.44 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:23:55.11 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal They, i so you know, I spoke out a line, I made the wrong joke.

00:23:59.70 alexei sayle Right.

00:23:59.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And they all surrounded me and were like, have you ever been knocked out, mate?

00:24:02.40 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:24:03.54 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal you know And then I... managed to just I made a joke made them laugh and the next thing you know they had their arms around me and i'd I'd won them over kind of thing but after a month of that I had to get out of there and I found a job on a website on an island called Great Keppel Island which is off off the coast of Rockhampton uh I've got this is a bit of a yarn if you if you don't if you don't mind or shall I cut it do you want the short version

00:24:11.32 alexei sayle Right.

00:24:20.29 alexei sayle Right. Right.

00:24:28.39 alexei sayle see we're going I think i think what i say we're leaning into the TD in many ways.

00:24:31.95 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal but Two blokes chatting, you know, what the fuck?

00:24:33.51 alexei sayle I yeah think people have moved on to Aleister Campbell and George Stewart.

00:24:34.55 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's what most podcasts are.

00:24:39.29 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal So I found this job.

00:24:44.31 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal The rest is bullshit.

00:24:44.44 alexei sayle Go on.

00:24:45.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um i So I found this job on a great Keppel Island off the coast of Rockhampton, up in Queensland, I think.

00:24:54.13 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I spent 21 hours on a bus going there on a ferry to the island. And I arrived and it was working in this little hostel. And the when I arrived, I said, hi, my name's Talal Karkouti, and I'm here to work. The guy welcoming me, his eyes widened. He went, you're Talal? And I said, yeah. And he goes, I thought you would, thought you would be a Korean girl.

00:25:19.12 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I was like, what? The website I'd found a job on was for Korean travelers to find temporary work. And they just assumed I was a Korean woman.

00:25:28.82 alexei sayle Right.

00:25:28.89 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal So he had this maid's costume ready for me, like put the maid's costume away and pulled out a cook's an outfit and give me some cook whites, chef whites. And I was like scrubbing dishes and the chef there was a fucking nutter.

00:25:41.28 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And he threatened to kill me, you know, probably 50 times and like chop my head off.

00:25:42.70 alexei sayle The blood chefs are like that.

00:25:46.18 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal and He'd get so angry. He'd ended up dying of a heart attack while I was there.

00:25:51.44 alexei sayle Blimey.

00:25:52.80 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal He was so wound up like just one of those guys. And I was living in a shed in the middle of a jungle.

00:26:02.28 alexei sayle That's, yeah.

00:26:02.56 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Like a temporary, this structure was like just wooden boards put together with a bed in it.

00:26:07.67 alexei sayle Especially Queensland, presumably full of wildlife that wants to kill you.

00:26:10.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal full, possums in my walls, spiders, lizards all over the walls.

00:26:11.67 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah.

00:26:15.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'd catch lizards and made a little lizard farm in the corner of my room.

00:26:15.55 alexei sayle yeah

00:26:19.29 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal and ah there was a ah But at night we'd sit on the beach and and smoke fucking bushweed and and stare at the phosphorus glistening in the water, fucking unbelievable sights.

00:26:28.92 alexei sayle Mm.

00:26:31.76 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I heard this noise like coming out of a bush.

00:26:37.89 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I was like, what the fuck was that? And this goes, ah, don't worry, mate. it's it's It's just a bird spider or a huntsman. I said, aren't they like the deadliest spiders on earth? And he's like, yeah, yeah, but don't, don't mess with them and you'll be fine.

00:26:51.84 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal So I was shaken up. But then later on that night when I was in bed, lying in bed, about to fall asleep, I heard from the corner of my room, I heard the same fucking noise.

00:27:00.07 alexei sayle They're not, I don't think they are deadly.

00:27:01.37 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And so like these,

00:27:04.47 alexei sayle so The readers can, I think, I mean, they're huge, they're the size of a Volkswagen, but they're not deadly, I think, on some surprises.

00:27:10.20 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal They eat birds.

00:27:12.13 alexei sayle Yeah, but they don't attack people, I don't think.

00:27:15.12 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Well, let us know listeners.

00:27:16.73 alexei sayle Yeah. All right. My story is while I was stuck on Nelson's Bay, uh, for, um, I decided to rent a Ute, you know, the Ute kind of iconic Ozzy pickup truck, basically.

00:27:18.81 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:27:30.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah. Like a pickup truck. Yeah.

00:27:32.46 alexei sayle Yeah. But based on a car chassis, indigenous.

00:27:32.75 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal you

00:27:36.49 alexei sayle And the only place I could find, they didn't really rent them. The only place I could find was, um,

00:27:43.97 alexei sayle a video shop for some reason in yeah when you used to rent video cassettes in in the town of Newcastle.

00:27:52.53 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal but you rented a ute from a video shop. Okay. Just wanted to make sure I heard that right.

00:27:58.56 alexei sayle I gave them a deposit of $100 and they were like they were very pretty unpleasant and then I don't damage it mate. and The first thing I did, I was so wound up, um is I drove into the back of a bus with it and then ah drove around for a week in this fucking stupid year.

00:28:16.02 alexei sayle Anyway, took it back and tried to pretend that, you know, it didn't have a bus shaped dent in it. I'm like, I don't know how that happened. And they're just, that's when they said, you know, mate, you know, you're not getting a deposit back.

00:28:30.40 alexei sayle You know, it's like, mate.

00:28:30.97 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Did you have to deal with the bus driver as well? What happened there?

00:28:33.50 alexei sayle No, I don't think they did. You know, it was not the bus didn't notice that this used to come to the back of it. Um, yeah.

00:28:41.41 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's funny. on the and and At the tail end of my gap year, after Australia, I went to New York State to visit my friend who was ah training to be a chef.

00:28:43.26 alexei sayle but

00:28:52.36 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal There's a famous cookery school near Poughkeepsie.

00:28:56.36 alexei sayle All right.

00:28:56.82 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal In between Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park, upstate New York.

00:28:59.17 alexei sayle Famous line from the, uh, the French connections you pick your feet.

00:29:01.13 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah, you're picking your toes in percipse.

00:29:04.28 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:29:05.06 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Wasn't that, how was that?

00:29:06.10 alexei sayle Yeah. Picking your feet in Poughkeepsie. I think it's feet rather than tight.

00:29:10.76 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um I would say that repeatedly when I was walking around there.

00:29:11.96 alexei sayle There's nobody, it's literally nobody listening to this now.

00:29:15.19 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No, there is.

00:29:15.33 alexei sayle list it's

00:29:18.46 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I didn't have a driving license and my mate would lend me his pickup truck while he was at school.

00:29:18.88 alexei sayle All right.

00:29:24.13 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And he gave me a map, like an OS map and circled like three points and said, I have a mate who lives here, mate who lives here and mate who lives here. Random spots in rural areas.

00:29:35.70 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I was driving his pickup truck. He just gave me like a crash course in how to drive it.

00:29:39.53 alexei sayle there oh my god yeah yeah oh no i didn't know how that's how that story was gonna go yeah

00:29:41.17 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And i I bumped into a lady in front of me in traffic in Hyde Park. And I'm 19, terrified now. And she like pulls into a car park and like gesturing to me to come and so we can exchange information. And I don't feel proud of this. I fucking took a left and zinged off into the woods.

00:30:04.86 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um It was a very light hit, but maybe there was a small dent or a scratch or something, but

00:30:10.37 alexei sayle yeah oh that's Yeah.

00:30:11.33 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I didn't know what to do. Like I would have going going to American jail as an Arab, young Arab man after 9-11 with no driving license.

00:30:18.89 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah.

00:30:19.16 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Like I was, I was ah just had to, ah my instincts had fucking run and I just went, well, am I a bad person?

00:30:29.99 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:30:30.66 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal OK, I thought so terrifying.

00:30:35.00 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:30:35.98 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And one last thing, I've got a fun job tomorrow. Oh, it's the I wanted to. So it's it's technically an ADR job, but it's a voiceover job. Basically, they've taped a show. I can't tell you the name of the show or anything, but I'm I'm revoicing a character in a show.

00:30:52.53 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal and So he he's meant to be a Syrian ah art dealer.

00:30:54.10 alexei sayle Right.

00:30:57.23 alexei sayle Right. Mm hmm.

00:30:59.20 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal but they cast a Moroccan so his accent is wrong but he's got a really good face like for the role I understand why they cast him I guess but they needed someone with a Syrian accent to come in no no I can't say anything else about it but uh

00:31:02.10 alexei sayle Right.

00:31:05.07 alexei sayle Right.

00:31:08.91 alexei sayle OK, it's just like a TV. If we can say what it is, I mean, TV show. Well, I've done that as well. It's interesting. I've there's a film called Meeting Venus.

00:31:22.54 alexei sayle which is directed by a guy called Istvan Sarbo. And to enjoy this film, you really need an intimate and wide ranging knowledge of the Wagner opera Tannhäuser.

00:31:35.70 alexei sayle um So it wasn't really a huge success, but they had a Czech guy in and who'd learned English phonetically. And was you know so and I re-voiced him, so if you ever see the film, Meeting Venus.

00:31:45.03 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Wow, yeah.

00:31:51.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Meeting Venus.

00:31:53.59 alexei sayle The other interesting thing about this was that everybody on the film, a lot of people on the film, was called Stephen Taylor, but in different languages. Because I think, I might have made this up, I think Istvanzabo means Stephen Taylor in Hungary, in Magyar.

00:32:09.90 alexei sayle And there was a guy on it called Stefan Schneider, I think, which is Stephen Taylor in German. And then there was a guy called Stephen Taylor on the crew.

00:32:19.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal from Aerosmith.

00:32:21.73 alexei sayle No, not him, but the same. So everybody on the film, more or less, was called Stephen Taylor, yeah.

00:32:26.30 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's wild.

00:32:30.19 alexei sayle Meeting Venus. It's actually quite an interesting film, but And Tanho, despite it being Wagner, there are bits of it that are amazing.

00:32:40.32 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal ah A lot of actors who get re-voiced don't know that's happened until they watch the thing.

00:32:45.76 alexei sayle Really.

00:32:47.20 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal How would you feel if you watched the bride and suddenly Ian McKellen's voice comes out of your face?

00:32:51.79 alexei sayle That's the least of least of you know these are the problems in my performance on The Bride. um I don't know, really.

00:33:03.85 alexei sayle I also, I also voiced, re-voiced, there's a children's TV animation series that was on Nickelodeon, then called Olive the Ostrich.

00:33:12.07 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Hmm.

00:33:12.62 alexei sayle And I re-voiced the whole of the second series of Olive the Ostrich, because the original voice was, or Faris.

00:33:21.99 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, I was that at the time when when the...

00:33:23.05 alexei sayle So, yeah, it was right at the time. and

00:33:27.09 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh,

00:33:27.74 alexei sayle Well, but I live the ostrich was a bit of a psychopath anyway, but, um, yeah, so I've, I've written.

00:33:35.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal ah what a shame.

00:33:36.11 alexei sayle So again, I suppose being, losing, being, re-voiced, being re-voiced with all of the odds was the least of raw viruses problems at that point, that time.

00:33:36.88 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal We didn't, yeah, we didn't bring up.

00:33:43.16 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal We didn't bring up Rolf when we were talking about separating the art from the artists.

00:33:50.28 alexei sayle Oh, right. Well, it's not really.

00:33:51.59 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal yeah Another, when I was a little kid, that I was his main audience for his ah songs and for Animal Hospital. you know a Big part of my childhood, that guy.

00:34:01.69 alexei sayle Right. Um, yeah.

00:34:03.92 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Big part of my childhood, yeah.

00:34:05.84 alexei sayle Well, yeah.

00:34:06.84 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal What a shame. um

00:34:08.81 alexei sayle I also, I don't know. I don't think this is really betraying any conferences, but but when i I was friendly with Billy Conley and Pamela Stevenson, and I think at one point they lived on the Thames and he was next door and they moved, they had to move because he kept coming round with his musical instruments.

00:34:21.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Rolf.

00:34:26.43 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Fuck off. Fuck off.

00:34:28.62 alexei sayle Like the doorbell had gone. It's always wrong for us again. In the end, I think they moved because this, again, before, you know, long before any, you know, bad shit had come out about him.

00:34:39.60 alexei sayle but So Billy and Pamela actually sold up because their house rather than infested with Huntsman spiders, this was actually infested with Rolf Harris.

00:34:43.66 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's so funny.

00:34:49.42 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Another dangerous, deadly Australian creature.

00:34:51.91 alexei sayle Yes!

00:34:52.35 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal creature

00:34:52.56 alexei sayle And yes! We made that link after 34 minutes. It's all come round. It all links up the show. It's like, it's connected under the surface.

00:35:03.52 alexei sayle There are these links. Yes. Another dangerous, your story about living in that check now has a point. A comedian has reached the comedic climax because yeah, Billy and Pamela's house was infested with another dangerous Australian mammal.

00:35:18.76 alexei sayle In this case, Rolf Harris.

00:35:19.74 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's funny.

00:35:22.05 alexei sayle Yes.

00:35:22.55 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I've got another story about Great Keppel Island, but I've got another story about Great Keppel Island, but I'll save it for another time when it comes up organically.

00:35:23.90 alexei sayle So if you're listening, the one person is still listening, you see it all links, what?

00:35:30.48 alexei sayle Oh yeah, please. Yeah. You don't want to blow it all.

00:35:33.25 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um No, ah fascinating place. um oh maybe Speaking of films as well, I don't think there's only one person listening.

00:35:43.35 alexei sayle ah

00:35:43.66 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Come on, there's gonna be let us know if you've made it this far into the podcast.

00:35:47.72 alexei sayle This is for you, the one person. I think you're called Jackie and you live in, um, you live in, um, where's that place? Um, up in York's Hebden bridge.

00:36:00.81 alexei sayle Hi, Jackie.

00:36:01.79 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Hi Jackie and Hebden bridge.

00:36:03.77 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:36:04.75 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Um, if you've made it this far into the show, please leave a comment saying, hello, my name is Jackie and I'm an Alexi Hollick.

00:36:12.07 alexei sayle Oh God.

00:36:14.42 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Um, right let Let me have a quick ah pee.

00:36:17.95 alexei sayle Uh,

00:36:19.05 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'm sorry. And then we'll do a film club.

00:36:20.23 alexei sayle All right.

00:36:20.37 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal All right. Does that sound all right?

00:36:20.83 alexei sayle All right. Yeah.

00:36:22.13 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Sorry.

00:37:11.23 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, sorry about that.

00:37:15.91 alexei sayle That's alright.

00:37:17.58 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um You know, we give them a heavy, substantial, wonderful conversation with ah political a would you call him?

00:37:33.39 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Guests such as Andrew Feinstein. And now we can just have an episode where we're talking bollocks.

00:37:35.31 alexei sayle Yeah. Yes.

00:37:38.32 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It's the little podcast man.

00:37:38.52 alexei sayle Yeah. Easy. Easy like Sunday morning.

00:37:41.74 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um but it is we normally do this on the first podcast of the month but because of illness it's been moved to the second podcast of the month it's it's time for the alexisale film club yeah

00:37:48.19 alexei sayle Right. Mm-hmm. Dad, they've got theme music. It's the Alexey cell film

00:38:08.54 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal and Alexi has an existential crisis wondering what's the point of it all.

00:38:13.39 alexei sayle Well, I'm a bit, I'm a bit goofy because I was talking before coming to the podcast, i was talking to Rich Morris, the producer of Sandwich Bar, which is, listen to the edit, is amazing, but there are, it's a little bit cute.

00:38:28.13 alexei sayle I've got to find, we're doing some re-records on, I think before the news quiz on the 6th of February, if people want to try and get any tickets for that, but, um,

00:38:38.56 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh.

00:38:40.74 alexei sayle ah so' kind of find And also the world's changing so fast, you know, when we recorded sandwich bar, you know, in December and and now, but the sort of spectre of Vilom Musk, is it's like you're in a

00:38:52.63 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal In December.

00:39:01.77 alexei sayle It's like you're in a ute that you've rented from an on unfriendly video shop in Newcastle, New South Wales, and a bus is kind of, you go in the back of a bus, it's going closer and closer towards you.

00:39:15.65 alexei sayle I don't think this analogy is quite working, but, um um you know, it's just, I mean, just, just think I've got to think of some Elon Musk Trump material, but you can't really until,

00:39:19.79 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Elon bus.

00:39:28.52 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Not just that about him influence trying to influence British politics too.

00:39:29.09 alexei sayle and

00:39:32.52 alexei sayle I know, I know it was one of the things that some of the, uh, some of the, I mean, there's a lot of hatred for Starmer in, in this new series. Now you sort of think, well, I think people are starting to feel protective, but he's like, I'll leave him alone.

00:39:45.26 alexei sayle It's this big bully Trump, uh, Musk.

00:39:45.60 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:39:49.65 alexei sayle So, you know, it's all right for us to say he's a little shit, but you know, he's our little shit.

00:39:55.17 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:39:55.92 alexei sayle Um, so the the kind of anti-Starmer material feels a little,

00:39:58.85 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh no.

00:40:02.98 alexei sayle I don't know so I'm gonna have to anyway I'm gonna have to do a bit of rewriting but it is most of it is magnificent to to to be able to do comedy in this world that we are in at the moment I think it is it is a comedy in which the word I mean it's a comedy radio comedy series in which the word were genocide is repeated more often than any ah any any comedy series has ever has ever you know been repeated before um uh but now i'm really i'm tapped out um uh yeah it'll be fine it'll be fine but yeah it makes my head spin

00:40:32.49 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah, tricky little. You want to brainstorm some ideas then? Do a little brainstorm session right now.

00:40:40.72 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um Okay. Good luck. Good luck with that. So that's a good tip though. You'll be re-recording before news quiz.

00:40:50.83 alexei sayle I think it's before the news quiz in the radio theater on February the 6th of...

00:40:54.33 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal February the 6th so listeners if you want to go to that if you missed your chance to catch him in December what's this BBC tickets there's a few Google BBC tickets you'll find it um okay it's near my birthday

00:40:55.81 alexei sayle February the 6th. Yeah, we'll be recording. We'll be doing about 40 minutes. Yeah, ticky. in

00:41:08.44 alexei sayle February the 6th of February.

00:41:12.43 alexei sayle All right, shall we get onto Film Club now?

00:41:15.15 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Um, well, but okay, fine.

00:41:17.95 alexei sayle No, we don't have...

00:41:18.20 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I think I wanted to say i've I finished, I watched all of day of the Jackal and I agree with you that it's, it's spectacular. It's really a masterpiece. It's quite classy. It's a classy show.

00:41:26.80 alexei sayle apart from the ending.

00:41:28.46 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal The ending was shocking what you didn't like the ending.

00:41:31.71 alexei sayle But I thought it was a so cop-out, really. and what you know he so suddenly yeah With bound, he was suddenly, spoiler alert, yes.

00:41:35.07 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, spoiler alert.

00:41:42.79 alexei sayle he was just you know who was it How did he get away from all the policemen who were following him in that? It's never really explained. i mean was certainly iner I mean, it was certainly a bold choice for him to kill the son, you know, to the protagonists that he, but,

00:41:58.19 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Bianca, yeah, that was.

00:42:03.08 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But very moving to see that happen, like that is a bold choice, but it is effective.

00:42:07.29 alexei sayle yeah.

00:42:09.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um

00:42:09.96 alexei sayle I mean, Rowan and Bennett, I think, is ah is a very interesting character in himself, I think, writer-producer of that series.

00:42:17.26 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I wonder where it'll go in the next season without one of the leads in it. Yeah, he did have a bit of it. He became quite smarmy and suave after all, you know, in the final scene.

00:42:31.05 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I mean, he's like, got some business to take up first, but I wasn't that let down by it.

00:42:32.30 alexei sayle I think it's always with those things. They're always a letdown, ultimately, really, wouldn't they? Because you said, really, I was...

00:42:37.85 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um I didn't feel that way, and but I'm very easy to influence. So now you're making me second guess myself, but I just want to say, I understand why you liked that show, you little gun, not you.

00:42:49.74 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It was very gunpawny.

00:42:50.12 alexei sayle all that. Yeah, it was very gunny.

00:42:54.75 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal and And I think the word enhance has been replaced by enlarge. There was like episode one or two when they the MI6, they're watching some footage and she's going enlarge, enlarge, enlarge.

00:43:07.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You know, that old trope, you know, and they zoom in on the footage because enhance, enlarge.

00:43:09.41 alexei sayle Right. Right.

00:43:13.17 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um I recommend it though. It's a good show. I didn't think it was fucking great.

00:43:17.65 alexei sayle Yes, I thought ready read man. I mean, a posh and titled.

00:43:20.49 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And it was, I think it was a very pro-Palestine show.

00:43:24.40 alexei sayle Yes. Well, because Ron and Bennett is, uh, yeah, well, I, cause he, cause he was in the, uh, right. I mean, he's, he portrays the, I think he was.

00:43:30.07 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, I didn't know that, but it has Khaled Abdullah in it who reveals at one point that his character was Palestinian and he is a very pro-Palestinian actor and Charles Dance is an advocate for Palestine as well.

00:43:32.63 alexei sayle I'm not producing him here. Lock him up.

00:43:37.52 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:43:43.42 alexei sayle Yeah. Is he? Oh, great.

00:43:46.59 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah. So that made me think it's quite a pro-Palestine show, but then they did play a Radiohead song. who are Zionists.

00:43:52.70 alexei sayle Yeah. The swings and roundabouts. Yeah.

00:43:56.14 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Swings in random parts, but anyway, okay. Film club, Alexis Hill, film club.

00:44:00.36 alexei sayle There's a film club. like the until I'll talk about films.

00:44:03.53 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal This is the time I'm talking about films. um

00:44:08.00 alexei sayle Mmm.

00:44:08.16 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal and So it's broadcast news from 1987. I'll introduce it then i'll and then you can talk. yeah i'll do my I wrote a little intro again.

00:44:18.28 alexei sayle Okay.

00:44:20.58 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal i always get a little I always have a couple drinks when I watch these, so by the time I write the synopsis, I'm on one. ah James L. Brooks is the director and writer.

00:44:30.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal He did As Good As It Gets, Terms of Endearment, and other films a starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Albert Brooks. In James L. Brooks' smash 1987 hit broadcast news, national news producer and reporter duo Jane and Aaron's national news reporting relationship gets flipped turned upside down when local news anchor and straight up bimbo Tom gets promoted into their national news team. His charm, way with words and good looks help elevate their team to the upper echelons of national news broadcasting.

00:45:09.41 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But his lack of knowledge and his preference for sensation over substance makes Jane wonder if this is the news she really wants to produce. Also Jane loves Tom, but Aaron's loves Jane and Jack Nicholson is also in the film. News! Broadcast news.

00:45:26.95 alexei sayle I thought that description really missed everything about the support and about the film. No, it was a fine description. Broadcast news is, yeah, James, what else has he done?

00:45:40.09 alexei sayle He's a really interesting guy, I think. But it brought together interest in, yeah.

00:45:44.29 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal James L. Brooks, as good as it gets in terms of endearment, are two of his biggest films.

00:45:47.95 alexei sayle What?

00:45:50.32 alexei sayle Did he done anything sort of lately? oh

00:45:59.14 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'll edit out this big pause. Anything lately, he's asking. More recently, he's done a film called Spanglish. He worked on The Simpsons.

00:46:12.61 alexei sayle Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

00:46:14.54 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal he And he's done a lot on The Simpsons.

00:46:14.64 alexei sayle I mean, he was one of the originators of the Simpsons. and

00:46:17.01 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And he wrote The Simpsons movie, which was surprisingly good considering how bad recent Simpsons episodes are.

00:46:19.22 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Simpsons is terrible now.

00:46:25.58 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah, but the movie, it does hold up. The movie is great.

00:46:27.18 alexei sayle Yeah, I agree. Spider pig, spider pig. Um, yeah, so he was an interesting guy. He'd done some interesting work. Um, uh, Albert Brooks is not really that well known in this country, but he was sort of partly Jewish kind of Hollywood aristocracy.

00:46:41.19 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No.

00:46:45.01 alexei sayle His father had been a comic, I think. And he, Albert Brooks used to appear on like the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and

00:46:55.49 alexei sayle We're on Late Show with Letterman and stuff like that and do really interesting films. I'm slightly self-indulgent, I think, because because he because he was so kind of p plugged into to Hollywood, really. he was I mean, it's interesting. And that the the sorts of films that he did are often not as funny as he thinks he did. He also has made some, we wrote some movies, but this, um And Bill Heath, of course, who I think is in some ways an underrated, I mean, he's very, well, and when I worked with him, he was very, he was a very difficult person to be around, but a great actor. I particularly like him in a history of violence.

00:47:44.58 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I haven't seen that.

00:47:45.10 alexei sayle which we figure most so which is really I mean which is the sort of I mean there's a bit in sandwich bar about how about the special forces or hit man hiding out in suburbs and being forced to be drawn back into there you know They're killing ways by, you know, figures from their past.

00:48:03.79 alexei sayle But this was one of the first films that used that trope, really.

00:48:06.16 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Mm.

00:48:07.39 alexei sayle And I think it's, I mean, it's, I think William Herr is particularly fantastic. he's ah And he's fantastic in this film. And Holly Hunter is also.

00:48:14.86 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal He is very well suited to the role.

00:48:16.65 alexei sayle Yeah yeah i mean beautifully subtle performance i think hollywood it's also about kind of love triangles in a sense it's about the impossibility of the difficulty of love the difficulty of love with somebody with whom you have profound ideological disagreements but it's also about a crucial moment when

00:48:24.22 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal who

00:48:36.69 alexei sayle the story a when journalists suddenly became the story. Like if you look at ITV News now and Tom Bratby will make a little, you know, will make yeah a speech about how he feels about the news. And it's like, fuck you, you not that you shouldn't be the story. you know But this is when that, this is a kind of,

00:49:01.66 alexei sayle part of, I mean, before the internet, and but the start of the descent into, that's when everything started to get worse, I think, is it is is chronicled in this point and in broadcasting.

00:49:14.43 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal yeah sensationalism um and that's uh jane's character does like a lecture early on about how they should she's at like and a local news conference and she's doing a lecture about how there's this danger of news becoming

00:49:14.87 alexei sayle It's also got a lot of, yeah, but also just the, the men manipulat of the I mean, news has always been manipulated, but it's when news went from being a sort of sober kind of analysis to being just another branch of the entertainment industry, I think.

00:49:40.71 alexei sayle yeah yeah they'll walk out yeah yeah but that's the thing

00:49:43.76 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal all about puff pieces and not about actual news and the audience are like fuck off and they all start leaving and then that's when Tom meets her he walks up to her and goes that was great and but he's probably lying because he becomes anchor and yeah he gets caught out he gets caught doing that and faking it yeah

00:50:03.76 alexei sayle Yes, he's faking a a thing where he, yeah. um But I don't think, but that's the thing, that's the cleverness of the writing and the acting is that he's not, he't he's not, he's sincere.

00:50:14.53 alexei sayle He's a sincere and honest person.

00:50:16.75 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah. I think he's, he's very, he's very open about being ignorant and he's just, he feels like an imposter, but he keeps getting told, stop complaining, go along with it.

00:50:17.97 alexei sayle He's just, but but he's just dedicated to something wicked, really. And I think that that's just one of the fascinating things about this movie.

00:50:35.82 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I guess that's what he ends up doing. So yeah, you're right.

00:50:38.87 alexei sayle yeah it's tremendous yeah it's just a really interesting character that you don't I mean again you don't you know you just don't see subtle characterizations anymore really and this is this is just a marvelously complex it's also got some great lines I always like that line I always use when I'm if I'm teaching screen right now is

00:50:39.41 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal He's not lying. He's just a dumb, dumb.

00:50:52.04 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:51:01.05 alexei sayle which i makes me sound like i something I've done twice or something.

00:51:03.24 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal When you do those famous screenwriting lectures, yeah.

00:51:06.12 alexei sayle yeah when when I went yeahd give it one of my famous McKee style ah lectures on screenwriting because of all the great films I've written. and But I say that just to one of the greatest lines in movie making is that where he wants to tell it about, he says to her over the phone, let's meet at the place where we went that time.

00:51:25.80 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

00:51:26.61 alexei sayle And I just think that is the greatest. I probably, I may have talked about that before, but just, yeah, that is just because it says so much in a simple line.

00:51:30.46 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I um made a note of that. Go on.

00:51:36.41 alexei sayle It says so much. It says, it gets over the information that they want. He wants to meet her, but it also gets, it also tells you about the depth of their friendship that he doesn't have to say where the place is.

00:51:45.43 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Indeed, yeah.

00:51:46.97 alexei sayle And it's just, it's where a line, you know, does two or three things at the same time. And and it's a magnificent piece of writing.

00:51:54.70 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I'll meet you at the place near the thing where we went that time." And she instantly knows exactly the spot that says so much about their relationship.

00:51:57.98 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brilliant. Absolutely. One of the greatest lines in movie writing, I think. um It's brilliant.

00:52:06.33 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal i and turn ah Regarding the dialogue of the film, I did find that the dialogue was so clever and really like really funny, you know comical.

00:52:07.64 alexei sayle yeah

00:52:18.74 alexei sayle Hmm.

00:52:19.14 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal language and dialogue like you'd you'd think it's unrealistic because no one actually is that smart and witty in the moment when they talk to each other but yet you really believe the conversations and they feel real and the relationships feel real ah so I think that is such a ah tight balance between writing and directing you have to make it feel natural that they're so sharp and witty with each other

00:52:25.12 alexei sayle No.

00:52:32.30 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah. Those are the great lines. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. There's that where the the guy's just been fired and he's the boss says to him, oh yeah, if there's anything I can do, he says, I said, I hope you'll die soon.

00:52:51.56 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal um yeah good And another one is like, I think I need to be alone for a while. And he goes, all right, I'll come with you. Just thank you.

00:53:01.85 alexei sayle Yeah. It's like, it doesn't move.

00:53:04.50 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Great line.

00:53:04.86 alexei sayle It's slightly dated, isn't it? It's, ah you know, there's aspects of it, that but it's, ah I think it's a really.

00:53:11.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Dated in the sense of tone and pace is what I noticed because if you'd had given that dialogue to like Tarantino or Wes Anderson or something, because this is pre those directors kind of changing the the language of cinema, if you'd had given those lines of dialogue to a director like that, they would have been like,

00:53:14.93 alexei sayle Mmm.

00:53:22.85 alexei sayle Mmm. Absolutely. Yeah.

00:53:33.03 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal uh jump cuts zoom in like really stylized a punchy little zing on the on the bass line give it some music punch and these lines would have made you fucking think oh this is the coolest character in the world

00:53:35.26 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:53:45.15 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal because he said this thing and the camera zoomed in and the the music did that thing. So now I think this character is super cool. Whereas these, they're all schlubs working in a messy office, saying the same quality, like incredible dialogue at each other, but the the editing and the pacing isn't trying to grab our TikTok brains and tell us this is cool.

00:54:01.31 alexei sayle No. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:54:04.44 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It is it really takes a lot of

00:54:04.73 alexei sayle And there's Yeah.

00:54:07.30 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal the trust to that the audience are just gonna sit and soak it in and take it and not be forced to pay attention like films make you do and in the late, in the 90s started making you do in the early 2000s.

00:54:18.36 alexei sayle Yes, that's a very good point. That's a very good point. Yeah.

00:54:21.83 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That I found and i I was struggling at first for that very reason to to kind of dive into the film and like be bought over by it, be won over by it.

00:54:27.33 alexei sayle Hmm. Yeah.

00:54:33.80 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But it did it took me like half an hour and I was like, I understand the language now.

00:54:37.19 alexei sayle Yeah, it's very smart screenplay.

00:54:38.04 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And really smart, even background characters having conversations behind them, it's all relevant and it's all telling you the story of the landscape of news.

00:54:47.98 alexei sayle Yeah, yeah.

00:54:49.46 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal you know

00:54:50.49 alexei sayle Yeah, no, it's a it's a it's a underrated masterpiece, I think.

00:54:55.25 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I thought it was a shame that Holly Hunter is third build in the cast. She is the lead, she is the lead character.

00:55:01.65 alexei sayle Yes, she's the lead really. Yes, it's true. Yeah.

00:55:04.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I found that a real shame, but she's got a great voice. Is she tiny or is Joan Kuzak humongous? Because when they hugged, there's Joan Kuzak's towering,

00:55:17.04 alexei sayle I think holly onto is tiny. I suspect.

00:55:20.28 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Joan Kuzak is great. She has a great scene when she has to get the tape.

00:55:24.56 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:55:24.70 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal This is it. So this is analog. I've been in newsrooms like this and i've it's all very realistically portrayed.

00:55:26.92 alexei sayle Yeah.

00:55:31.06 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal But i was I've never been in a newsroom when things were analog like this.

00:55:35.42 alexei sayle right yeah

00:55:35.48 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Like they're editing editing these broadcasts.

00:55:39.05 alexei sayle and

00:55:40.04 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal on a tape and she has to run it to the newsroom.

00:55:44.42 alexei sayle yeah

00:55:44.95 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal She's got like 10 seconds to get across the building and put it in the newsroom's tape deck in time for it to be shown on air.

00:55:49.19 alexei sayle yeah yeah yeah so anyway so yeah we'd be interested to hear what people have got to say about that

00:55:51.53 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And she does this like gauntlet through the office and it was a great scene and cool stunts as well. um Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. Yeah, go on.

00:56:10.62 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal yeah Yeah, it would be. I don't think um because of the change in schedule, I don't think people ah got their questions in to us, but also I've not been as um not been as aware of what people are sending me at the moment as well. But I think, okay, so what have we seen? We've seen three quite different films. well uh what was the first we've seen three with nail and eye and uh no and the tom cruise one tomorrow yes that was the first one edge of tomorrow that's it um there's

00:56:41.80 alexei sayle We've seen terrible with Nell and I and broadcast news.

00:56:49.86 alexei sayle Oh, did we watch that collectively? Oh, okay. All right, okay. Edgy tomorrow, right.

00:57:03.69 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal some lovely messages we've been getting. Nick emailed in fantastic, stimulating podcast, really enjoyed it about the fine scene episode. ah Thank you, Nick, for your message, all the comments. And the Patreon members, the Patreon members are ticking up. We're like at 301 members. If you remember, Alexi, we promised once we get to 500, we're going to do a live episode no do the show naked but it'll be live and our listeners will have the chance to jump in i thought it would be like strangers on a train basically strangers on a podcast so our listeners will be able to join the live stream and you can have a chat with them um a way to go but it has been ticking up i'm really grateful patreon dot.com forward slash alexis our podcast to support the show

00:57:31.13 alexei sayle Show naked.

00:57:40.81 alexei sayle Okay. Okay. All right. We still got a way to go. It's 299.

00:57:58.61 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Keep the machine going. um Yeah, is there anything else to discuss? Any other points of business?

00:58:07.92 alexei sayle Well, we can't I suppose which when did we discuss what film we're gonna watch next?

00:58:13.97 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Let's take a week to think about that.

00:58:15.65 alexei sayle All right.

00:58:15.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal We don't have to make a decision now. Or unless, do you have an idea?

00:58:18.75 alexei sayle No, not really. I just think we could do, we could do directors I've insulted at auditions. There's quite a choice there, Peter Greenaway, Paul Verhoeve and David Lean.

00:58:33.44 alexei sayle I won't tell the David Lean story. I knit more or less, killed David Lean.

00:58:35.63 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You won't?

00:58:38.96 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Fuck off.

00:58:40.43 alexei sayle Who else?

00:58:40.46 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Gene Wilder, you didn't insult him, but, or did you?

00:58:41.67 alexei sayle Jim Wilder.

00:58:44.34 alexei sayle I just remember him just being really frightened of me and must have been in that, you know, in that period when I had a frightening kind of stage presence. Also, I auditioned for Henry Winkler, I remember.

00:58:58.30 alexei sayle Who makes an appearance in?

00:58:58.42 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal He directed something?

00:58:59.82 alexei sayle Yeah, I think so. He makes an appearance in, he's one of the, he's one of the, I'm not giving it away now, but he's one of the customers in the Machini sandwich bar. ah

00:59:13.62 alexei sayle Or we could just do interesting films. I'm sure there's probably more.

00:59:19.01 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Do you remember what the Gene Wilder film was that you auditioned for?

00:59:22.54 alexei sayle Yes, I think it was called Haunted Something Brother. He's making it over here, actually. It was a remember, it didn't do very well. It was called Haunted. No, maybe it's called Haunted Honeymoon? No. I think it ended up with people like Mel Smith in it and stuff.

00:59:41.26 alexei sayle um Sort of horror film.

00:59:42.82 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal yeah

00:59:46.77 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal What's your favorite Gene Wilder? film.

00:59:49.77 alexei sayle I'm not a huge fan.

00:59:51.45 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, oh, the producers is fantastic.

00:59:51.71 alexei sayle His performance is a bit over. I mean, it's interesting those, the other partnership that he had with Richard Pryor was very, I mean, there's the producers.

01:00:04.31 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah. Um, and here no, here no evil.

01:00:05.36 alexei sayle I never, I mean, again, Mel Brooks is somebody who I have a problem with. me I ah went for some reason I was invited to the premiere of whatever. and history, I think he did history of the world part two or is you some movie anyway and I was at the at the premiere and I was chatting to Alan Yentop, Alan Yentop for those in the, was I think he rose to, he started off in it, I've known Alan a long time, he rose up Arena and then I think was controller of BBC two or something, I think it was the ISD Rosen.

01:00:22.11 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah Wow

01:00:41.46 alexei sayle Anyway, somebody famous to know is that knowing everybody anyway. So he said, Mel Brooks was on the, that had come for this audition. And Alan took me over to Mel Brooks and said, Mel, this is a you know young comedian called Alexei Sal. And Mel Brooks said, I haven't got time for that now, Alan.

01:01:04.22 alexei sayle That's the time I met Mel Brooks.

01:01:08.69 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Wasn't solar babies something to do with Mel Brooks?

01:01:10.96 alexei sayle but and Mel, but that was Mel Brooks had a development deal for some reason. And yeah, I'm sure the babies was directed by his choreographer, the guy who had choreographed the the dance routines in, you know, in springtime for Hitler and the producers.

01:01:17.82 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's wrong.

01:01:26.59 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Right.

01:01:27.37 alexei sayle And so for some reason, Mel Brooks had chosen to give him his big chance as a director, the chance he never got again.

01:01:35.90 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Um, producers is,

01:01:37.95 alexei sayle Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah. Off the back of like, you know, we had had the string hits. I think, you know, they gave him a development deal, which is basically, you know, you have funds to develop films and the studio will finance them. And I think, I think his development deal probably stopped after solar babies.

01:01:56.05 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal probably yeah no you got producers blazing saddle and blading blazing saddles and young frankenstein i think are the three are the three good mel brooks films and i tried watching space balls recently and i couldn't yeah i couldn't get through it it was it was atrocious and the recent he did the history of the world part two i think was the recent thing

01:02:03.50 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah.

01:02:09.46 alexei sayle Oh, yeah.

01:02:18.71 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It was a five-day television event such arrogant fucking thing to do and it was trashed.

01:02:21.26 alexei sayle Yeah.

01:02:24.51 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It was really bad He's not done anything. Yeah history the world part one might have been But Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor did the speak no evil here no evil which I haven't seen in a long time But I remember loving that film as the kid ah Yeah, Paul Verhoeven maybe maybe Starship Troopers could be an interesting one.

01:02:38.65 alexei sayle yeah

01:02:46.37 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Let's have a think about that.

01:02:46.69 alexei sayle Yeah, I was thinking that. I mean, it is, it is.

01:02:47.97 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I

01:02:48.77 alexei sayle Yeah, you certainly could be. Yeah. I mean, I mean, i mean sometimes i I'm much on misunderstood.

01:02:56.43 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Um, yes.

01:02:56.88 alexei sayle Neil Patrick Harris, of course.

01:03:02.17 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Uh, and, uh, I forgot to mention Jack Nicholson in our, uh, it was a very brief chat about broadcast news, but, uh, Jack, Nicole, you should be know that we really, the listener deserves more, but no, uh, we running out of time, but Jack, Jack Nicholson stole the show.

01:03:08.70 alexei sayle yeah Was it? i'm so I'm sorry. Yes. I often think about.

01:03:16.97 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I think in one scene it was great.

01:03:17.75 alexei sayle yeah Yeah. And he's, he's it made me think, you think about those kind of, um, that, those alpha news presenters, like epitomized by somebody like Hugh Edwards. I mean, he's a kind of Hugh, I mean, but they were bigger in the States, weren't they?

01:03:31.21 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yeah.

01:03:31.22 alexei sayle Those Ed Morrow. I don't know. I mean, I don't know, but they used to have these real alpha male news presenters there who were, you know, Titans in the, in the field really.

01:03:42.24 alexei sayle And he plays one of those really.

01:03:45.02 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Wolf Blitzer. And what did you think of the framing device at the beginning where you see all the three lead characters as children? This is kind of like the cold openness of the film.

01:03:54.88 alexei sayle Yeah, I like a framing device me.

01:03:56.23 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You see what the three leads Yeah, we've established that.

01:03:58.61 alexei sayle I'm very I like a framing device. I always like a framing device. um

01:04:03.21 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal So you see them all as kids in three little scenes at the beginning and you just, the children, the child actors are incredible at portraying these personalities as what they would have been like as kids.

01:04:12.47 alexei sayle Yeah, and that's it. And then Albert Brooks character says to this bullies who have beaten him up, you're never going to earn more than

01:04:19.85 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal 19,000.

01:04:20.87 alexei sayle $19,000 a year and they said they beat and they goes, $19,000 a year. It doesn't sound that bad. Very clever, very clever. And you know, again, it gives the film depth.

01:04:32.85 alexei sayle I think a framing device is often a worthwhile thing. You shouldn't forget that they have them in like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, of course, as a framing device.

01:04:40.95 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal That's the one you brought up before, yeah.

01:04:42.24 alexei sayle Yeah, I wonder whether um another thing I like is a time lock. a when this A time lock is when characters have to complete a task in a certain time. There's a really good time lock film.

01:04:57.60 alexei sayle called I think called Around Midnight and there's another I'm just trying to think what there's another really good one I like see whether it stood up I might suggest that it's with it's with Bill Murray and um is it Gina Davis where they've just they've robbed the bank and they've got to get out of Manhattan and 10 hours or 12 hours or something, but it's a really interesting film.

01:05:22.07 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal well Whoa.

01:05:26.21 alexei sayle Bill Murray rubs bank dress as a clown. That might be one too.

01:05:29.36 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Never heard of that one.

01:05:31.09 alexei sayle It's really interesting again when I'm talking to my students in these medical lectures that I don't give. It's a film I often say.

01:05:37.87 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal There's one with Bruce Willis and most deaf and Bruce Willis, most deaf is like a witness to a crime and Bruce Willis has to get him across town.

01:05:40.93 alexei sayle Yes, that's it.

01:05:45.68 alexei sayle Yeah, it's like 12 bridges or something. Is that the one on nine streets or something?

01:05:49.14 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal you know 30 blocks or something he used to get something like that and he has to get into the courthouse in time for the without him getting killed and time lock does speed count as a time lock Phil that's a speed lock

01:05:50.20 alexei sayle Yeah. 30 block. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

01:05:56.08 alexei sayle Yeah.

01:05:59.26 alexei sayle That's a time lock. for Yeah, maybe we'll do two. We'll have a think about which time lock.

01:06:08.49 alexei sayle Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I think it does. Yeah. I mean, it's not, it's not a convention time lock in the sense, is it? But yeah. It does.

01:06:16.74 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Time lock, I like that. All right, speaking of time, we're out of time.

01:06:21.62 alexei sayle All right. Well, I hope, I hope you enjoy this change.

01:06:27.94 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal What was her name, Jane?

01:06:32.86 alexei sayle Yes.

01:06:33.32 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Was it Jane? I hope I remembered the name correctly.

01:06:35.68 alexei sayle Inhabitum bridge.

01:06:36.94 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Thanks for sticking with us.

01:06:38.48 alexei sayle Yeah.

01:06:41.62 alexei sayle She's

01:06:43.30 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I think that was a corker, if you ask me.

01:06:45.06 alexei sayle Yeah. Yeah. I know I get too fixated because most of it's partly because I've been working on a sandwich, wall which is so tightly written, you know, that I get fixated on that there also is a role for the, you know, back here kind of entertainment.

01:07:03.59 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Yes, the podcast isn't traditionally a scripted type thing.

01:07:08.64 alexei sayle Yeah.

01:07:09.28 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal It's the feeling of camaraderie and have and sitting in a coffee shop with your friends having a chat and it can be aimless and wondering.

01:07:13.76 alexei sayle Yeah.

01:07:16.97 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I wonder if our listeners enjoy this aspect of the show. But um they've enjoyed it ever since we've gone weekly. It has mostly been this.

01:07:26.10 alexei sayle Yeah, yeah.

01:07:26.63 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal No, we're talking in circles again. but Yeah, ah I don't think it's an issue. If it's ever too much, let us know. I know actually don't. ah There's already people in the comments who let us know.

01:07:35.95 alexei sayle But those of us who you watch the footage, is it only Patreon members who get the footage?

01:07:41.39 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal They're going to see this footage. Yeah, you were pulling quite a funny face earlier.

01:07:43.78 alexei sayle I pull faces when you're talking, yeah.

01:07:48.68 alexei sayle That's another reason to become a Patreon member, isn't it?

01:07:54.27 alexei sayle I've not listened to you at all, just like...

01:07:54.56 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal a You're not.

01:07:57.22 alexei sayle ah I'm sorry, I felt guilty.

01:07:57.52 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You insulted my intro for broadcast news and it was, it did cover everything in the film.

01:08:03.71 alexei sayle I know, I'm sorry.

01:08:04.98 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I know that was very funny. Don't, don't feel guilty, it but it did cover the fucking topics of the film.

01:08:08.02 alexei sayle ah

01:08:10.93 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal You just weren't fucking listening.

01:08:11.37 alexei sayle You're dead.

01:08:14.59 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Do you remember what happened to me in Australia? Name one thing that happened to me in Australia.

01:08:18.67 alexei sayle Oh, not everything. The cook died of a heart attack. The Tongans looked as scanty. Actually, there's a lot more. in mean it's quite yeah there's a lot I mean, we I was sort of panicking because at the start I was thinking, is this too baggy?

01:08:33.71 alexei sayle But there's a lot. yeah and It is like an entitled Londoner a way and a gap year. But on the other hand, um you know there's a lot in there.

01:08:41.34 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal I had no money and I was working the whole time.

01:08:42.73 alexei sayle Yeah. yeah Yeah, I remember the first, we were before we went to Nelson's Bay, um we shot a bit of Reckless Kelly and Sydney in the time block.

01:08:55.77 alexei sayle And I remember the crew just having a huge punch up with each other.

01:08:59.98 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Fuck.

01:08:59.99 alexei sayle I thought, is this, I don't know what the thing, you know, I mean, this is like 90s. I thought, it's just, you know, everybody was like, oh yeah, that's, you know,

01:09:12.17 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Australia's crazy. They're so openly, casually racist as well.

01:09:16.58 alexei sayle Yeah.

01:09:16.75 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Like, oh, it's the Lebo. They'd call me Lebo.

01:09:19.38 alexei sayle Oh really?

01:09:19.55 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, it is the Lebo area. It's my favorite Lebo. I'm like, ah okay, yeah. And you just embrace it. Cause they're not being mean. I don't, I don't fucking, I am, I do, I am aware of my privilege and my entitlement, but I was,

01:09:27.66 alexei sayle I think they are. I think they are. Let's not get into that now. Let's save that for another episode. yeah

01:09:39.93 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal At the time, my gap year, there was something called STA, Student Travel Accommodation. And I don't think that company exists anymore, but you could book. If you were about to become a student, you could get really cheap tickets and you can arrange working visas. And so it was a working gap year. I was so broke. I got kicked out of my Sydney hostel multiple times and I had to sneak in up the fire escape and sleep under someone's bed, someone ah I'd made friends with, let me sleep under their bed on the floor.

01:10:10.25 alexei sayle Wow.

01:10:10.47 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And they knew they, the coastal were aware that I was sneaking in and they were doing random spot checks on the rooms and I'd have to just hide under this bed with like the blanket covering.

01:10:16.60 alexei sayle Right.

01:10:21.33 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal And I'd be there like hoping they wouldn't stick their head under the bed.

01:10:21.62 alexei sayle Right.

01:10:24.05 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Like, and so I spent a few nights doing that. It was it.

01:10:29.01 alexei sayle Well, then my stories are obviously not, you know, I don't, I remember we got so bored in Nelson's Bay that we, there was somebody had a pet sheep. And me and Linda became obsessed with the sheep and seeing it every day.

01:10:43.21 alexei sayle yeah And they didn't really, I think they'd sort of left it to get all kind of, cloud they didn't share it.

01:10:48.59 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, that matted and dreadlocked sheep.

01:10:49.31 alexei sayle i remember I remember the last day when we were going to the airport, yeah. We got really worried because we but couldn't see the sheep. Wasn't in the person's front garden. But then finally, just as we were, the car was taken to the airport, we saw the sheep.

01:11:03.71 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal In a moussaka.

01:11:05.38 alexei sayle So we felt that no, it was just a sheep in a garden.

01:11:07.55 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, right.

01:11:09.03 alexei sayle Um, we felt relieved.

01:11:11.45 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Oh, thank God for that.

01:11:14.85 alexei sayle Yeah.

01:11:15.63 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal All right, okay, say goodbye.

01:11:17.28 alexei sayle Bye bye.

01:11:41.56 Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal Bye-bye.