February 8, 2024 • 49 mins
Sung and Emelia talk sit down with Playstation Productions producer, Carter Swan. Carter talks about the persistence and patience behind bringing the film Gran Turismo to life. They also reminisce about Paul Walker, discuss good (and bad) directors, and share their perspectives for aspiring actors.
Follow on Instagram and YouTube @CarStoriesPodcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back to another episode of Car Stories with some
and Amelia Hartford.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey Amelia, Hey, soorry? What's up?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Do you play the lottery?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
No? Ever, when I.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Was younger, I like to play because I thought it
was fun, specifically the scratchers. I don't like the idea
of gambling personally, and I don't like losing money, oh,
because I think I struggled to have it for so
long in my life. So a long answer to your
question is.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Not so much probably a good idea.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Do you play the lottery?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I only play when it's close to a billion dollars, okay.
Right then I started doing the math. I go, at
the end of the day, after billion Texas, blah blah blah,
maybe you'll bring home like three hundred million plus, right.
And then I started like fantasizing, and usually I'll played
like one, you know, like I'll just one pick a ball,
(01:02):
it's like two dollars, right, and then I'll go in
and literally pick the numbers because I realized I love
the fantasy of the idea of winning. Okay, I go,
so if I want a billion dollars, what would I do?
I would keep it like super quiet, not tell anybody.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I think in the state of California, you have to
identify yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Oh you do, I think so, well, that would suck.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, I guess I would leave. I'd just leave town.
I'd like leave town, right, yeah, because I don't want
to deal with all the nonsense, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Or the family you haven't heard from and that you
didn't know you had reaching out.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah. But then I think about, like what would I
do with that. I would open a school, I would
donate this, I would buy this, I would do that.
And then it's interesting because most of the time I
don't even get one number. But then I thought about it,
and I'm like, you know, I think I'll keep playing
when it gets to a billion, because the fantasy is
(02:03):
a lot of fun. Sure, right the can I drive
around like I'll pick up the number and I'll be
driving home and I'm going just thinking about, yeah, I
can buy this gas station and the giveaway gas to
all the guys with cool cars every Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I'll drive once in a while, you know, and you
pass a gas station or whatever store and they'll say,
you know, like nine hundred and eighty three million, and
You're like, Okay, it's time to walk in, and then
I'll drive to some obscure convenience store gas station, because
you always hear that the winning number came from some
(02:37):
podunk town, some obscure liquor store or something, and I'll
walk in and I'll give the guy two bucks, play
the power ball, and then walk out.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Have you heard of the lottery curse? Though?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Because most people end up going bankrupt and losing all
the money and more than what they had before, and
friends and families start using them and they end up
being miserable and not happy.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I think I would do something good with What would
you do? Okay, so if you want the billion dollar lottery,
what would you do with them? What was the first
thing you would spend that money on?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I thought, like, in my head, immediately comes free mental
health care. But I don't I don't know what that
would cost.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I mean for yourself, for.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Myself, like selfishly, if I buy something to help people with.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
It, no, just for yourself, just to put into your
garage and f forty forty ferrari? Yeah, which are.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Those two six three million?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, what about you?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I have no idea. I don't want anything nothing.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Car, no jet, no, no, no, no way.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Have you ever ridden in a private jet? No, it's
it's the bathrooms are very inconvenient. It's not what you think.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That's the last thing I'd be worried about.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I mean, going to the number two and a private
jet with people in there is very.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Very It's not like a dick thing to do. What
go poop in someone's plane?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, they have to, like at least the one I
rode right the fluid.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Do you know what kind of jet it was.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I think it was like a G four or G
five or something like that. Anyway, the interior, the flight
attendant had to come in and basically create the doors. Oh,
so is you have to announce like, hey, I need
to go pooh. And I was like, but this is
so inconvenient. Man, Like the private jetman, you have privacy.
(04:29):
But it's like at least the one that I wrote,
So I was like, I don't know about that. And
also I think it's a complete waste of money.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I mean, I'm not balder enough where I need a
private jet to hop around the world, right, I don't
know what I would buy I used to think I
would buy like a big building to put like a
whole bunch of cars and have a man cave and
have like an apartment so friends could come from out
of town and visit. I don't want to do that now.
That's like, that's I consider that like a waste of
(04:59):
money paying utilities on the place I'm not really using
all the time. You know, it's like I don't want
to to something nothing.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
You'll have any answer next week.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Next week.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, I believe it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I've been thinking about it though. Really, Yeah, there's zero oh, okay, okay, okay.
I would love to wear an original pair of Jordan ones.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That would be cool. I would feel so bad wearing them.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Though, because I that's something as a kid that I
always wanted was a pair of Jordan ones. And of
course my family can never afford to buy that for me.
And I think about today, like, I'd love to get
a pair of like Jordan one at least maybe not
from the original here, but something that I look like
that mm hmm. But I think I would never wear them. Yeah,
(05:49):
but I would go and buy a pair of knockoffs and.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Wear those, yeah, and just keep the real ones.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, but then what's the point of having them? Yeah,
Jordan Ones. Okay, anyway, let's let's do this intro, tell
you nonsense, all right, we want to start this. Who
do we have today?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, today's guest. We have Carter Swan coming on. Carter
is a huge inspiration to mine and I'm sure many
others as well. He's the producer of Grind Tarismo, The
Last of Us, Twisted Metal, and so many other incredible projects.
He's a producer at PlayStation's production and a big part
of why you guys are seeing his incredible adaptions come
(06:30):
to play And we had such a cool conversation that
I hope inspires many and I learned a lot from
And it's.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So refreshing to have a conversation with somebody in the
business that's just sincere and honest about like who they
are and their perspective. And it's always something to learn
every time you stay with Carter. So yeah, good, good conversation. Yeah,
all right, here we go. Where'd you come from, Carter?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Seattle?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Seattle, came to LA for the Hollywood Dream. Yes, yes,
And you give us a little context, like, yes, the
history of the Carter history.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I'm trying to make it quick. Yeah, So I went
to the Seattle Film Institute, which was the only film
school we had in Seattle at the time, and it
was in basically like the basement of a Kiwanis, two
nights a week. It's like an it's kind of like
an American Legion. It's like an old club, like one
of those hall kind of places where they would have memberships.
(07:28):
So finished that, went to USC summer Production Workshop with Universal,
which was awesome. I had a really great time at that,
was right at the top of my class and that
so I was thinking about going to film school, either
at USC or perhaps really old Merrimount, where our professor
at the time was sort of like starting his own
(07:49):
film course. And then my cousin I sat down with him.
So my cousin is directors get named John Dahl who
did Rounders and joy Ride and he's big TV director
to this day, and he's like, don't go to film school.
You're gonna spend twenty years making no money and you're
gonna have the six figure dead over your head and
(08:09):
it's gonna crush you. And just I've talked to you
enough to know that, like the film school, the stuff
you're gonna get education wise, you know it. You're good,
You've got it. You read the books, you do the reading.
You're like obsessed with this stuff. What you need now
is jobs on your resume. And he's like, and once
you get inside, no one cares about your education. They
(08:30):
just care about your resume once you start. And so
he said, I'll get you a job. I'll get you
a job on my next movie, which turned out being
joy Ride, which was this jj Abram's kind of horror
movie for Fox a long time ago. That's probably most
notable because it stars Paul Walker, and that was in
ninety nine. I started that the shoot started in Nevada,
(08:52):
So I packed up my Cherokee everything I own, went
to Nevada, drove around working on the movie, got back
to La got an apartment, and been here like ever since.
And in that time, I did every kind of development
job you could do. I wrote. I just tried to
keep doing different jobs and having different experiences and just
trying to wear a lot of hats. So I just
(09:13):
felt like I just kind of like a like a
basketball player, just trying to like make sure my game
was complete. So whether it was writing or production or development,
just any of those phases, post production, just having a
grasp of what it was and like seeing it firsthand
(09:36):
as much as I could and trying it myself. So
I did that for the next sixteen seventeen years, just
bounced around. I mean, the best job in that time
that I could probably talk to you about was obviously
an interesting experience was working for Paul Walker, because I,
after Joyride, became good friends with him. I've worked with
(09:58):
a lot of actors now over the years, and I
tell people, you know, I think the thing that was
special about him held it in the obvious things. He
was more he's in real life. He was exactly who
you would expect him to be in the best way
as possible, judging from just you know, because I always
find that weird. It's like, you guys are playing these characters,
(10:19):
so people kind of think they get to know you,
and you're a lot different usually than the people that
you're playing on screen, and it can be kind of
weird for them and for you obviously, But for him,
he was exactly who you thought he'd be. The person
he portrayed himself as, or he came off as. He
(10:40):
was exactly that guy in like again, the best way
as possible. So miss him all the time, think about
him all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I agree with you, you know, I mean he was
a teacher for me too, because when you know, being
able to watch and hang out with somebody that is
famous in the public at that level was a great
education for me. And the way he carried himself, the
things that we did together, there was no movie star nonsense.
(11:08):
It was we drove to the mall to go buy underwear,
yeah you know, and go buy flannel shirts that like
the old navy yeah right, and stopped anyone who would ask,
you know, for a picture or an autograph, stop, engage,
say hello, smile And I could see like there were
(11:29):
times where you know, it was inconvenience. There was just
not appropriate. It was such a struggle for him to
not be able to provide that he taught me. It's like,
you know, without the fans, like we do not have,
you know, food on the table. They are the reason
why we're here. We exist for them, right, And and
he meant it. I mean, he believed in his heart
(11:52):
was just so kind, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
It's like no, yeah, that's exactly him. He always had
time for everyone. Yeah, like even though he didn't, you
know what I mean, he would make time.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
The thing that he provided me the most. What we
all need when you're starting out in Hollywood is somebody
who's successful to point at you and go, you can
do this, like trust me, I'm look at me, I'm
at the top. I know you can do this. I
believe in you, and I'll help you if I can't.
And he was really one of the first people to
(12:25):
do that for me. Getting that kind of assurance early
on was really helpful because I think a lot of
people can go years without it and then it becomes
difficult because it's just you in your own head going
I know I'm going to make it. I know I'm
going to make this happen. Sure how yet, but you
just need along the way enough good role models and
(12:46):
people that come across you, be it luck or whatever,
that can just point at you and say what you're
doing is right, you made the right decisions here in
your life, and keep pursuing it, agreed. And then now,
of course working for PlayStation, which is like the double
dream come true because I get to work you know,
with the video game properties which I grew up loving
(13:08):
myself and of course, uh, you know, working on movies
and making adaptations, which is something I'm very passionate about,
my favorite thing to do in the world. And I
finally got Graham Turisma made.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
That's how you know each other.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, we know each other over a decade. Yeah, I
worked a decade.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It took ten years. I think everything happens overnight, I know, right.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
No, No, it certainly does.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Ten years.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
That's another one. You know, you go like, there were
so many times where I was like, am I just crazy?
Like I just because I was sort of one of
the people who just never gave up on it because
it died a few years And.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Why though, just what I mean, Yeah, explain to the
layman out there, like why people say that to make
a movie, it's it's actually harder than winning the lottery.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, you line up a lot of and a lot
of the things that line up to help get it made.
They're out of your control. There are things you don't
even see coming. And I think this is this story
is a good example of that. Because the idea that
somebody could play video games and become a professional race
car driver, to your average human being walking around doesn't
(14:20):
understand the sim world doesn't understand what's going on there
and what's been happening in the last decade or so.
That is a ridiculous premise. And so when you wrote
a story that was fictionalized based on something so outlandish,
it doesn't feel like something that actually happened. It feels
(14:40):
like a movie. The first writer I hired when I
got to PlayStation was my friend Jason Hall, who wrote
American Sniper and Thank You for Your Service. He wrote
and directed Thank You for Your Service. And my logic was, Okay,
let's get somebody who writes real life dramas to try this,
because I I don't think we need an action writer here.
(15:02):
I don't think the racing and all that's going to
take care of itself. You've got to really care about
these characters in this guy's life and these kind of
dramatic elements. That's what's going to make this fly. It's
kind of like Rocky, Right. When you talk about Rocky,
you don't go, oh, it's the fight scenes. The fight
scenes are what make that movie so good. No, it's
the character stuff exactly. So one of the producers that
(15:25):
worked on it with me all these years was Dana
Burnetti and he recommended to me. He said, have you
ever seen this kid's story Jon Martinborough And I hadn't.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Lean is the real life character.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah. Jan Marninborough, who the movie is based on, met
Yan through his manager, flew out to London, sat with them,
both explained what it is. Jason came with me what
it is we were trying to do and asked John
as many questions as we could and the time we
had with him, and so I think you take those
two things and then you sort of look at what
(16:04):
we were trying to do with the movie, right, which
was to do a video game racing movie that was
real at the time, was totally groundbreaking. Tetris I think
beat us a little bit to the to the pot,
which I was so upset about. But and then you
think about what Grand Turismo is the real racing simulator,
(16:28):
and you think about Kasnori's sort of obsession with reality
and why that game has become what it is, and
those two themes really marry well together, right of like
doing a real life story, doing this kid's true story,
marrying it to this adaptation, and then it just kind
of clicked for everybody, like, oh, this is a great idea.
(16:51):
This is a great movie. And then I think getting
Neil blanc Caamp obviously was a big deal for.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
US South African director direct The District nine.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yes, Chappie, Cheppie, Chappie, and Elysium, which was that was
interesting too because you know, first of all, how many
skylines has he owned? He's owned like three or four.
As a car guy, yeah, he's a huge car guy.
And then you know, he said, I've wanted to for
(17:22):
years do something hopeful, and every time I try to
generate my own material, it's hopeful, but it's still really
really really dark getting there. And then I read this,
this is exactly the kind of thing I've wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
A lot of his films have like this raw element
to it too, which I feel like was perfect to
tell this true story in this cool space.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, he's very I think he's very grounded in his
approach to storytelling. Like I don't think he likes big,
like theatrical performances, and I think he likes his characters
to feel real. I think he likes to kind of
create elevations and then have real people in habit of them.
If you look at sort of his resume and the
things that he's done. I think that that sort of
(18:09):
fits well in looking back with what it was that
we were trying to do, because this isn't sort of
elevated world in some ways, but it's skin how the
real people react to it that makes it really interesting. Right.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I know I'm biased, but I genuinely like I get
so many messages and I hear so much about how
it inspired a lot of people too, And I feel like,
if you can tell those stories that makes people feel something,
I feel like that's hugely important.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
No, me too. I'm so proud of it. And I
mean I worked on it longer than anybody, so you
know there's always that oh my god, what if I
spent ten years on something I don't even really like, right,
But that's not the case. I really love it, and
I think it fits well in our library of things
that we've done because I sort of obsess on always
(18:55):
making sure that every one of them is different in
its own thing, and I think that's if you look
at what we've done so far, like that's one of
the things I'm the most proud of. If you take
Uncharted and Twisted Metal and Last of Us in Grand
Turismo and you hold them all up. They're all so different.
The tones are different, the looks are different, the vibe
(19:17):
is different. And so we really try to make sure
that every single one of our projects it's just its
own thing, and we're not like falling into this kind
of formula that's going to be boring and not fun,
not really an interesting experience for anybody. So being able
to do something really different and still make the fans
(19:37):
feel good, it's always this like really careful balancing.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Act for us. I think in anything spoiled, especially in
our business of Hollywood. You know, I've always been told
(20:01):
it's not a sprint man, it's this long yeah marathon,
it's like an ultra marathon.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
When I think the listeners here, like Grant's MO took
ten years to make, Like what right? Like I mean,
how do you keep like the flame burning like opposed
to just like giving up?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
You know, you just think something's a good idea, you know,
you just have to believe in it. I mean, every
one of these movies or shows that gets made has somebody,
sometimes multiple people who thought let's not give up on this.
They're not always super easy and fast.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Were there times where you wanted to give up or
you're about.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
To oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean people ask me
like for Hollywood, like it took you so long to
make it, Like what's what's the key to success in Hollywood?
And honestly, my big thing I tell like the film
students and stuff is I'll go back to Rocky. I'm like,
you just got to be able to keep getting up
when you get knocked down. And if you can just
(21:03):
keep getting up and learn every time you get knocked
down why you got knocked down, and like how you're
not going to make the same mistakes the next time.
Eventually some opportunity will arise for you. But you just
have to be willing to keep getting up, even though
a lot of times it won't even make any sense.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Agree.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
That's why I would always produce short films. I'd write
scripts too. I would just just get those failures out
of you, learn those hard lessons anytime you can, and
just keep getting better and stronger. And there are ways
to improve yourself even when you're just sitting there in
your apartment thinking they're not well. Just start writing a script.
(21:45):
You know, that's an easy way to get better. Go
just do a free pa job on Craigslist and just
learn something crazy, because I swear to God you'll learn
one thing on every shoot, no matter how small or
weird or obscure it seems to you at the time,
you know, and just take it seriously, like if you
(22:05):
really care that much about it, try to do the
best work that you can. It doesn't matter how small
something you're doing is. It doesn't matter, like you should
treat it the same way you would treat working on
a two hundred million dollars James Cameron movie. You know,
take it all seriously, have fun doing it. But like
understand there's no such thing as like a small opportunity
(22:26):
or just always what you make of it.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
You just got to get up and go. Yeah, Like
I use like running as a great analogy and a
discipline to like this business as an actor and as
a filmmaker, because I would say, you know, most of
my career has been knows and still every day it's
like a no.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah they said no, you're in those movies. Yeah, but
they still say no to me every day, right, And
it's like like it's like running up you know, mountains
right first till is so hard and that's like first stage.
It's like, yeah, you've got an audition or you got
a meeting, and it's like to get that is so hard.
You got to run up that hill, right, and then
(23:10):
you get there and you're like did it. It's like, hey,
there's another one over there, because you've got to go
do the job. And even then that is a whole
journey and a hill climb. You get the job, and
then there's this like waiting for like post production. Is
the movie ever going to be finished?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I did like four movies last year. I think maybe
two of them will never even no.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
One will ever ever see.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You're like, how has that happened?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Right?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
And then you got to go promote the movie right exactly,
and do people even care?
Speaker 3 (23:41):
No, It's it's that thing, right if people always say this,
and I mean I'm a cliche saying this myself, but
there's never that day where it all turns around. Yeah,
and you can point back at it and go, that
was the day it all starts.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
After that it was smooth sailor because I was on
a whole other level and it's like, no, that day's
never coming. And anytime you do have those days, it
just means a lot more work. Yeah, that's coming your way.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I think people hope for an overnight success story because
I think sometimes it makes them feel like it's an
easy finger to point out of, like, oh, well, that's
why you know versus like the hard work, the trials,
the tribulations and everything that goes into it. And I
think too, as I get older, I now understand why
I would always have And I hear often people saying
(24:25):
that's why you have to find happiness in your day
to day because you can't always control everything. It's trying
to find peace and happiness and what you can't control
and knowing that you know, hopefully you can do one
day what you love for what you've always wanted to do,
and even then you know it's going to have its
own herds.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
You have moments like I remember being in Hungry on
Grand Turismo, like one in the in the first week,
and like sitting there and realizing, like we own this
f one track and looking at all these trailers. Right
if there's like thirty trailers, there's the movie trailers, and
then there's the trailers for the car for the movie.
(25:00):
It was pretty cool and all these people and cars
flying everywhere and realizing like wow, I did it. And
there was like a moment where I kind of sat
over on a pit wall and was like watching all
this and like I made this happen. Like if I wouldn't,
if I would have given up this, none of this
would be here. And that was fun watching Amelia get to,
(25:21):
you know, sort of like spread her wings and act
in a big movie.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
But which is your biggest movie up to up to
that point? Right?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Yeah, I I'm so grateful to you for that opportunity
to try to dismiss.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
It because I'll let you. Yeah, I don't want to
like talk over your here. No no, no, no no. She
we didn't have a lot of car people, believe it
or not, in the mix of Neil's definitely knows cars,
but it's like from a technical standpoint, he's very much
like an engineer. I know a little bit more about
(25:56):
like influencers and YouTube channels and things like that. So
I'd become a fan of Amelia's when I watched Fastest
Car And so we were just talking with the casting
people one day on all these zooms. When it comes
to the car stuff, they kind of all just like
look at me throughout a few names. Yours was definitely
(26:16):
one of them, and they said great. And then next
thing I knew, like a couple of weeks later, the
audition tapes came in and they were all like, she's
really really great, she's really great. We got to put
her in this. I was like, of course, yeah, that'd
be awesome. And so, you know, Amelia likes to say
(26:37):
that I got this for but I didn't do anything.
She got it for herself. But I was really thrilled
because I mean even from day one, I don't even
know if you know this, Like I got emails from
the other producers and stuff saying like, wow, so great.
She brought so much to this kind of thankless character
within the academy. We're going to try to bolster her
character a little bit more. Great, great job, yeah for
(26:59):
day one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
The lesson is is that you can't find these people
if they're not laced up and running up that hill. Yeah,
if you're looking for runners. That's why she was out
there like being proactive and doing her thing. Is it
wasn't luck or you make your own luck, right, So
for young folks out there, or actually anybody, because even
(27:20):
you know I'm learning from this too, is that it's
been said that there is no small role, right, Like
it's what you make of it, right, Is that what
Carter's talking about It is like you approached it that way.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So the role was it was an under five and
I see under five lines, and I remember being so
excited for this opportunity, and I felt like I'd been
preparing for this role my entire life, being you know,
in the car world. I felt like I had this
(27:52):
fresh perspective on especially being a female in the space.
So I was really excited to tell that story. Regardless
of what the word said on the paper. I feel
like I got to bring this energy to this part.
And I guess the feedback was good enough where you
guys put me into more of the movie and had
me fly back and come back for another month to
(28:15):
be part of the ending, which was really cool, really
special and really humbling it And I guess I did
something right.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
No, you earned all that you earned, all that that
was all you. You know, when I talk to young actors,
I look at like Johnny Depp, right, and I think
one of the things that's made him special over the
years is that it seems to me like he kind
of reads a script and goes, all right, there's the
(28:42):
obvious qualities that this character has that seems like they
should be like no brainers when you read them. I'm
going to cross all those out and I'm going to
do this in a totally different way where I throw
out all those obvious traits and characteristics. More often than
not in the past, I've looked at auditions and we've
cast people. It's just the person who just found something
(29:06):
different than everybody else where. It's like, oh, you know,
we didn't really think of this. This person found something
we didn't even realize about this character.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It's funny you say that, because for Gran Turismo, I
was like, why does every woman who plays a card
shiok have to be this like bitchy, badass, tough, And
it's funny. When I read for the audition, I consciously
made a note of that. I was like, no, I
don't think that's you know, you have to like stereotype that, yeah,
(29:38):
that person and try to bring some new life to
it of like, you know, this isn't once in a lifetime,
I mean for a real Emeli and then also for
the character of like going out and making a dream
of something, right.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
So that was that's great because that's you too, right, And.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I'm not trying to think about myself. I'm second, oh.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
No, but please do. But like that's true, like you're
you were that person in real life, so you knew that, right,
So you were able to bring that to the character
and say, like, we're not all like this and so
obvious way that most girls would come in and play
this part, I'm gonna play it like exactly the opposite.
I remember seeing this, like Ryan Gosling interview that he
(30:18):
did for some documentary about how bad auditioning sucks. But
he said, like, you walk in and you know you're
wearing the cowboy hat. Every guy's I thought, I thought
the cowboy hat, so you have to. It's a it's
a next level layer of thinking like that. But I
do think try things and be different when I'd say,
(30:42):
is like what makes people stand out and get roles.
I remember talking to you about fast and furious. It's
the eating thing, right, and how much that changes the
dynamics of that character, right, instead of being a bitter, smoking,
older guy, like being so many that people would like
and like look for that and think that that's cool,
(31:03):
and again relate to that.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I remember when I was doing that, I'm fast and
Tokyo drift. People are looking at me like I was crazy. Yeah,
I remember, you know, one producer grabbed the snacks out
of my hand. Really, you know, I like, do that snacks?
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Like what are you doing? But I felt like I
was a five and under character. I probably was really
if you think about it, because I probably spoke like
three lines in the film, you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Know, and with that character choice.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
I need an activity. So you can use the snacks
to act, you know, like you could. You can emote
you know, some type of like you know, inner dialogue
with the snack. If you're like curious to slow it
down and disgusted, you can throw the snack down, right
I was, you know, And it's like and I didn't
make that up. Like I watched Steve McQueen behind the
(31:50):
scenes with Magnificent Seven, and he was like the youngest
and like least famous actor in this movie. And he
was always next to You'll Brenner. Yeah, and he's like, hey,
they had no lines, so he always had something. He
was always doing something, and You'll Brenda would get all
pissed off He's like, what are you doing, man, You're
just supposed to stand there and do nothing. It's like, well,
(32:12):
I'm in his mind. He's like, I'm gonna steal this
fucking scene, right, and and so people start focusing on
what's this guy doing in the back?
Speaker 3 (32:20):
No exactly, So I heard that story too. And then
you told him like, just remember that you're you're behind
me in the frame, and all I have to do
is lean my head this way.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
You know, you gotta do it with respect, you know,
you know, there's you can't ever come off like thirsty, right,
like you have to go to class. And yeah, because
I another old timer gaming great advice is like, hey, man,
you know, did you know that there's a tree in
the Mona Lisa painting? And I was like what, And
he goes, yeah, there's a tree. Yeah right, you didn't
(32:53):
know that, right, he goes because everyone's focused on the
Mona Lisa and he's like, that's the star of the movie.
So make sure you're the best fucking tree. We should
put an apple on that tree. But you know, make
sure that people don't go, oh, it's a it's a
painting about a tree and a lady be careful because
(33:15):
that right, you know, I had a prospective change to
(33:36):
auditions when I auditioned for Christopher Nolan years ago. He
was one of his Batman movies. I don't know how
men he did, but I think it was his first one.
And the casting director was like very supportive of me, right,
and he's like, hey, you know, I think you know,
he's very interested in you. So this is a role
for you to lose basically, you know, and I'm like okay,
(33:59):
And it was still at a time where like I
wasn't like one hundred percent sure of like my choices
and even like what I had to offer, right, like
you know, why me? And so I walked into the
audition and I was prepared. But then my first question
and he was he was so chip where he was
like so welcoming, and it was like it was really cool,
you know, like you know, I'm actually getting to meet
(34:22):
him in person, and he was like very charming and
very warm, very gracious, and then you know, we had
our brief conversation and I was like, oh, so, you
know when I ask you first, is you know, do
you think this character has a you know, Hong Kong dialect?
You know, like, what do you think he sounds like,
and he just switched and he's like, I don't know,
(34:45):
that's your job. And then I didn't get the role
right and and I walked out of there and I
was like, dude, like that was a great, great lesson
to go in with strong choices. I don't need to
be asking him what do you think? He's not that
He's like, I'm not the actor, like, that's your job, man, right,
(35:06):
and made me realize like I can't be doing that,
like I can take direction if you don't like this
choice or if you're like, hey, let's adjust this, right,
but it may It totally changed the way I approach
my work is like I'm not asking your opinion. I'm
going to go do my work because that's my job.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Right, So that as it's like you know, the tire
you're going to the tire guy when you're the transmission
dude going hey, what do you think? Like, I know
that's your job. You put it into that like analogy.
I was like, what am I doing? Why did I
do that?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Well? How much in your career have you worked with
a director to help craft a character together or does
it usually fall where you take the initiative on that
and if there's guidance and it's less of a collaboration
with the director.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I would say, like beginner directors, they want to be
doing that. They want like their fingerprints on everything.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Hm.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
But on the professional side, right, like I've barely ever
even done table reads like you're a pro athlete. You
show up and you're like you're supposed to go hit
a home run, right, and and that is up. That
is your job to do, right. I realize that. So
like the directors, we don't talk about like, hey, this
is you know I would I when I was younger,
(36:22):
I wanted that. I was like, hey, here's here's here's
my book of like the backstory, the biography of this
character that has three lines in this film. But I
wrote a whole you know, biography of who they're like,
good for you. I'm busy, dude, right, So I still
do that work, but I keep it to myself and
if they have a question, they know that I'm ready
(36:43):
because I can fire off, like where you know the
character was born, what his blood type is, what his
favorite like pizza is, what is video favorite video game
with colors underwear? And that's I think the difference between
like a student film and then when you get into
the studio systems, like no one has time for that.
(37:03):
You know, they can tell you like, oh, this is
you know, based off of like their personal experience if
they wrote it. They're like, hey, this is where this
character was inspired from and share some antidotes, and a
good director will go, now it's yours. You're the ingredients.
Now it's yours. Yeah, right, No, I.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Mean right, And that's it's funny because that's really the
skill of a professional movie star actor. But what it
boils down to is you're supposed to be like somebody
who can come out and do it right away. Because
we're spending a lot of money closing down the street
and all these people and having like lights up and
all these things. We need people who can come in
(37:41):
and deliver quickly, like and not somebody who's supposed to
come in and it's going to take two hours to
get you that take that you want.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
And they can make adjustments quickly, right, and they're not
there to argue with you, but they've done the work.
Like when I was younger, like I had so much sympathy, right,
or empathy for like younger, there's not being prepared, and
now it's like, well, go do the student film first,
a whole bunch of them, and then when you get here,
you better hit home runs because if you're not, it's
(38:09):
cold man, if people just stop talking to you, and
you better come and deliver and.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Care like I've worked with multiple Academy Award winners Now
they care about every take. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And it's also I've learned from hiran directors right that
are screaming at people. Great advice I got. I got
from this legendary director and he was like, you know
why I never yell at you? And I'm like why,
He's like, you never leave set. You're not looking for
your chair. I know you smoke, but you don't leave
(38:43):
to go have a bunch of cigarettes. You're there, you're watching.
It's like, you know that dude over there. You know
why I'm screaming at that dude is that he can't
wait to go and have a cigarette. And then you
know why I'm screaming at the ades, like because she
doesn't know what the two next setups are are. They're like,
but how does she got to know? That's like, that's
our job. She needs to care.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Yeah, right, there's the word. There's a word, you care.
The best directors they care the most, and they want
They were forceful personalities that do anything they can to
achieve that vision that's in their head already. Right. I
also say, you know, like whenever you see an actor
freak out like on set, I like, well, first of all,
(39:26):
you know, their tool is their emotions. They're buying large
emotional people, some of them more internally emotional, some of
them are more external. But when you see emotion like that, one,
it's just who they are a lot of times. But two,
let's take a look at that project that they're on,
and I'm pretty sure that nine out of ten times
(39:47):
it's a pretty terrible wor And what has happened is
they're in the middle of something they didn't sign up for, right,
and they realize it, and they realize that this bad
movie there's is going to be on the screen and
on the posters, and you know they've they've tried it
in their own ways, push it in directions that the people,
(40:08):
you know, the director and the producers didn't listen to.
And so now you know they're in a place where
they're frustrated and they can't just show up and go, well,
this thing sucks, but they want you to know that
they're not happy, and so they will look for other
things to vent about. But when you hear one of
these tapes of one of them yelling on set or something,
(40:31):
I'm like, it's probably not because of exactly what they're
screaming about. It's probably more of an indictment of the
process that they're in.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
That's such great perspective.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Carter. It's I mean, it's just the way it is.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
And it's just such a whyse you know. It's like
because it's coming back to like they care so much,
because if they ain't cared, they but I don't care.
I'm going to go to a craft service, go eat
the doughnut. Right. Yeah. I've been doing a lot of
soul searching on what we just spoke about, because if
I do like four or five projects, like maybe one
of them is something that I go, oh, this is
(41:08):
I'm very proud of this. And the people I've worked
with like they all are, you know, potential masters of
their craft and they care. And then there are projects
that I've been on I'm like, Yo, they don't give
a flying f at all. They're like as soon as
it's like, you know, called like the martini, they're already
(41:30):
at the bar. Yeah, you know, and I'm like, why
are you here? Like what are you guys doing? Right?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
And it makes me sad to see that because I
just think of how many people would kill for the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
No, I know. And it's it's hard, and that's something
you learn in the filmmaking process. It's like, it's really hard,
and I have to struggle every time you give up
something you realize like, oh, it just went from being
like one hundred percent of what I wanted to ninety
nine and I'm never getting it back. Like if you
give up on quality or something you believe in or
(42:04):
like allow like, oh you know what, I'm not going
to fight on this. I'm just gonna just do it
this way, the cheaper way, the easier way. You have
this percentage of how good the movie is and you're
just watching it drop and you're never getting it back. Yeah,
And in order to keep it really, really high, you
got to fight for every little single battle that you
(42:25):
can all along the way because any of these compromises,
once you start compromising, once it's just it tends to
like waterfall after that. So it's it's really tough. And
that's why I understand and like I always do say,
a lot of the best directors in history are not cuddly,
understanding people. Yeah, they don't have that reputation of being
(42:47):
like just the friendliest, nicest, listens to everything. They're forceful
visionmongers who are not going to like be your best
friend a lot of time.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
But most people that are like great at something, they're not.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Like, yeah, all the greatest basketball players pretty much jerks.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Yeah, it makes me question, you know. I think that's
why I've been questioning lately, like, you know, do I
want to stay an actor because I don't know if
I have the tolerance to do it anymore. That's that's
why I love directing. Yeah, right, It's like I can
be the first one there and the last one to leave,
and I can like really like set a tone and
(43:32):
like really make a difference. Right, And as an actor,
you can do your part on one movie you're the
tire guy, like you do the tire You just your job.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Is just replace the tires man, that's all.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Don't be messing with the turbos.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Right now, you know, I get it. That's my favorite.
My favorite part of this job is helping directors tell
their vision. Yeah, Like I love directors and filmmakers, and
so the thing that always helps me, even when it
gets hard, is when I have that director that I'm
working with and I'm like, I don't care. I'm trying
(44:05):
to help them do this vision, create this vision of theirs.
I see it, I get it. I want to be
a part of it. I want to help them, And
so fighting any of those battles to help them is
always fine with me.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
What do you think makes a great director in your
expense that you've worked with, Because it doesn't mean that
they're always going to make hit movies, right, Yeah, because
the movies like it's subjective, so it could be an
amazing film, but it doesn't mean that it's going to
go make a billion dollars. But in terms of directors
that you go, this is a person that should be directing.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
I just think, you know, whatever process they have, there's
somebody who just has a strong vision in their head
and knows how to get a group of people together
to execute it. And whether that's they start using the
same people and fine tune the process, whether they're forceful personalities.
Whatever that is, it's just that idea that they know
(44:57):
that story well, they see it in their head and
they know how to get it out in like a
way that everyone else will see it and understand it
the same way that they did. Right. And again, there's
different ways that people go about that. You know, the
best ones are either geniuses themselves, so they see like
a vision like James Cameron of like how to do
things technically different nobody else has even thought of yet,
(45:21):
and he's able to go out and execute that, or
you know, in some cases, just being really smart about
who they hire and who they listen to and piecing
together like, you know, the best ideas from a bunch
of people that they were able to put together. And
I think, again, just having a clear vision and good
taste of what's different. You know, I was point the
(45:43):
original Halloween movie. I love that movie so much. I
love Johnny Carpenter, and I think, you know what's cool
about that movie and people have tried to do like
slasher movies and copy that movie millions of times since
it first came out in nineteen seventy seven, I think
is that you know, you had these kids out of
(46:04):
usc that basically were like, we're gonna take this story
about a guy in a mask on Halloween night just
stabbing babysitters to death. Right, there's a million ways to
make that movie like terrible or like you've seen it
a million times even at that point, we're gonna make
it like an Alfred Hitchcock with me. We're gonna make
(46:26):
it super suspenseful. We're gonna drag it out. We're gonna
like make you like want him to strike because he's
hovering around them so much, and it's not gonna have
all these bodies and gore shots and things like that.
And just that approach and that idea and actually pulled
it off is what makes that movie timeless and special
(46:47):
and still to this day. Why when you watch it
with any other guy with a mask killing teenagers somewhere
like that movie, there's something more quality about it and
a little higher brown why it's still like looked at
as like the ultimate movie in its space. Right, And
it's been very easily for them to just take the
money make a stabby movie. Some sex scenes like give
(47:10):
the audience to know exactly what they expect out of
something like that took a lot of guts to be like,
we're not going to have a lot of stabbing and murder,
and but again them being able to pull it off,
like that's we're going to make this specially good. So
I think you always got to have a good take
on the material too, that makes it different and makes
it cool. As you get more up in Hollywood, it's
(47:32):
easier to like just make things that seem like other
things that are successful, and you don't want to.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Do that, Carter, this has been just a fantastic conversation.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
We could talk with you forever, I know, no like
me too.
Speaker 3 (47:46):
I hope I can come back and we'll actually tell
more car stories. Yeah, the next time. But I really
enjoy talking about the business with you and just such
big fans of both of you, and I like this
podcast so much. It's such an honor to be here.
Really really cool. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
It was a great conversation because not only it's so
sincere and it's a window into I think a lot
of what the listeners are not aware of, the lessons
of you know, this is a this is a long marathon,
and you got to love what you're doing and try
to be different right with class with class right.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely everything is never stop learning, like every
single day, like I learned something new all the time still,
and I'm always grateful when I do.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Amen to that. Yeah, well, you're a huge inspiration and
look forward to seeing you continue to kick ass and
take over this world and the stories that you tell.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Right back at you, right back at you. No, thanks again,
and I love being on this and any other time
you guys need a time filler, I'm here. Appreciate you,
Thank you so much.
Welcome back to another episode of Car Stories with some
and Amelia Hartford.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey Amelia, Hey, soorry? What's up?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Do you play the lottery?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
No? Ever, when I.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Was younger, I like to play because I thought it
was fun, specifically the scratchers. I don't like the idea
of gambling personally, and I don't like losing money, oh,
because I think I struggled to have it for so
long in my life. So a long answer to your
question is.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Not so much probably a good idea.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Do you play the lottery?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I only play when it's close to a billion dollars, okay.
Right then I started doing the math. I go, at
the end of the day, after billion Texas, blah blah blah,
maybe you'll bring home like three hundred million plus, right.
And then I started like fantasizing, and usually I'll played
like one, you know, like I'll just one pick a ball,
(01:02):
it's like two dollars, right, and then I'll go in
and literally pick the numbers because I realized I love
the fantasy of the idea of winning. Okay, I go,
so if I want a billion dollars, what would I do?
I would keep it like super quiet, not tell anybody.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I think in the state of California, you have to
identify yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Oh you do, I think so, well, that would suck.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, I guess I would leave. I'd just leave town.
I'd like leave town, right, yeah, because I don't want
to deal with all the nonsense, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Or the family you haven't heard from and that you
didn't know you had reaching out.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah. But then I think about, like what would I
do with that. I would open a school, I would
donate this, I would buy this, I would do that.
And then it's interesting because most of the time I
don't even get one number. But then I thought about it,
and I'm like, you know, I think I'll keep playing
when it gets to a billion, because the fantasy is
(02:03):
a lot of fun. Sure, right the can I drive
around like I'll pick up the number and I'll be
driving home and I'm going just thinking about, yeah, I
can buy this gas station and the giveaway gas to
all the guys with cool cars every Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I'll drive once in a while, you know, and you
pass a gas station or whatever store and they'll say,
you know, like nine hundred and eighty three million, and
You're like, Okay, it's time to walk in, and then
I'll drive to some obscure convenience store gas station, because
you always hear that the winning number came from some
(02:37):
podunk town, some obscure liquor store or something, and I'll
walk in and I'll give the guy two bucks, play
the power ball, and then walk out.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Have you heard of the lottery curse? Though?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Because most people end up going bankrupt and losing all
the money and more than what they had before, and
friends and families start using them and they end up
being miserable and not happy.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I think I would do something good with What would
you do? Okay, so if you want the billion dollar lottery,
what would you do with them? What was the first
thing you would spend that money on?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I thought, like, in my head, immediately comes free mental
health care. But I don't I don't know what that
would cost.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I mean for yourself, for.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Myself, like selfishly, if I buy something to help people with.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
It, no, just for yourself, just to put into your
garage and f forty forty ferrari? Yeah, which are.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Those two six three million?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, what about you?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I have no idea. I don't want anything nothing.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Car, no jet, no, no, no, no way.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Have you ever ridden in a private jet? No, it's
it's the bathrooms are very inconvenient. It's not what you think.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That's the last thing I'd be worried about.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I mean, going to the number two and a private
jet with people in there is very.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Very It's not like a dick thing to do. What
go poop in someone's plane?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, they have to, like at least the one I
rode right the fluid.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Do you know what kind of jet it was.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I think it was like a G four or G
five or something like that. Anyway, the interior, the flight
attendant had to come in and basically create the doors. Oh,
so is you have to announce like, hey, I need
to go pooh. And I was like, but this is
so inconvenient. Man, Like the private jetman, you have privacy.
(04:29):
But it's like at least the one that I wrote,
So I was like, I don't know about that. And
also I think it's a complete waste of money.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I mean, I'm not balder enough where I need a
private jet to hop around the world, right, I don't
know what I would buy I used to think I
would buy like a big building to put like a
whole bunch of cars and have a man cave and
have like an apartment so friends could come from out
of town and visit. I don't want to do that now.
That's like, that's I consider that like a waste of
(04:59):
money paying utilities on the place I'm not really using
all the time. You know, it's like I don't want
to to something nothing.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
You'll have any answer next week.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Next week.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, I believe it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I've been thinking about it though. Really, Yeah, there's zero oh, okay, okay, okay.
I would love to wear an original pair of Jordan ones.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That would be cool. I would feel so bad wearing them.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Though, because I that's something as a kid that I
always wanted was a pair of Jordan ones. And of
course my family can never afford to buy that for me.
And I think about today, like, I'd love to get
a pair of like Jordan one at least maybe not
from the original here, but something that I look like
that mm hmm. But I think I would never wear them. Yeah,
(05:49):
but I would go and buy a pair of knockoffs and.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Wear those, yeah, and just keep the real ones.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, but then what's the point of having them? Yeah,
Jordan Ones. Okay, anyway, let's let's do this intro, tell
you nonsense, all right, we want to start this. Who
do we have today?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, today's guest. We have Carter Swan coming on. Carter
is a huge inspiration to mine and I'm sure many
others as well. He's the producer of Grind Tarismo, The
Last of Us, Twisted Metal, and so many other incredible projects.
He's a producer at PlayStation's production and a big part
of why you guys are seeing his incredible adaptions come
(06:30):
to play And we had such a cool conversation that
I hope inspires many and I learned a lot from
And it's.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So refreshing to have a conversation with somebody in the
business that's just sincere and honest about like who they
are and their perspective. And it's always something to learn
every time you stay with Carter. So yeah, good, good conversation. Yeah,
all right, here we go. Where'd you come from, Carter?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Seattle?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Seattle, came to LA for the Hollywood Dream. Yes, yes,
And you give us a little context, like, yes, the
history of the Carter history.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I'm trying to make it quick. Yeah, So I went
to the Seattle Film Institute, which was the only film
school we had in Seattle at the time, and it
was in basically like the basement of a Kiwanis, two
nights a week. It's like an it's kind of like
an American Legion. It's like an old club, like one
of those hall kind of places where they would have memberships.
(07:28):
So finished that, went to USC summer Production Workshop with Universal,
which was awesome. I had a really great time at that,
was right at the top of my class and that
so I was thinking about going to film school, either
at USC or perhaps really old Merrimount, where our professor
at the time was sort of like starting his own
(07:49):
film course. And then my cousin I sat down with him.
So my cousin is directors get named John Dahl who
did Rounders and joy Ride and he's big TV director
to this day, and he's like, don't go to film school.
You're gonna spend twenty years making no money and you're
gonna have the six figure dead over your head and
(08:09):
it's gonna crush you. And just I've talked to you
enough to know that, like the film school, the stuff
you're gonna get education wise, you know it. You're good,
You've got it. You read the books, you do the reading.
You're like obsessed with this stuff. What you need now
is jobs on your resume. And he's like, and once
you get inside, no one cares about your education. They
(08:30):
just care about your resume once you start. And so
he said, I'll get you a job. I'll get you
a job on my next movie, which turned out being
joy Ride, which was this jj Abram's kind of horror
movie for Fox a long time ago. That's probably most
notable because it stars Paul Walker, and that was in
ninety nine. I started that the shoot started in Nevada,
(08:52):
So I packed up my Cherokee everything I own, went
to Nevada, drove around working on the movie, got back
to La got an apartment, and been here like ever since.
And in that time, I did every kind of development
job you could do. I wrote. I just tried to
keep doing different jobs and having different experiences and just
trying to wear a lot of hats. So I just
(09:13):
felt like I just kind of like a like a
basketball player, just trying to like make sure my game
was complete. So whether it was writing or production or development,
just any of those phases, post production, just having a
grasp of what it was and like seeing it firsthand
(09:36):
as much as I could and trying it myself. So
I did that for the next sixteen seventeen years, just
bounced around. I mean, the best job in that time
that I could probably talk to you about was obviously
an interesting experience was working for Paul Walker, because I,
after Joyride, became good friends with him. I've worked with
(09:58):
a lot of actors now over the years, and I
tell people, you know, I think the thing that was
special about him held it in the obvious things. He
was more he's in real life. He was exactly who
you would expect him to be in the best way
as possible, judging from just you know, because I always
find that weird. It's like, you guys are playing these characters,
(10:19):
so people kind of think they get to know you,
and you're a lot different usually than the people that
you're playing on screen, and it can be kind of
weird for them and for you obviously, But for him,
he was exactly who you thought he'd be. The person
he portrayed himself as, or he came off as. He
(10:40):
was exactly that guy in like again, the best way
as possible. So miss him all the time, think about
him all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I agree with you, you know, I mean he was
a teacher for me too, because when you know, being
able to watch and hang out with somebody that is
famous in the public at that level was a great
education for me. And the way he carried himself, the
things that we did together, there was no movie star nonsense.
(11:08):
It was we drove to the mall to go buy underwear,
yeah you know, and go buy flannel shirts that like
the old navy yeah right, and stopped anyone who would ask,
you know, for a picture or an autograph, stop, engage,
say hello, smile And I could see like there were
(11:29):
times where you know, it was inconvenience. There was just
not appropriate. It was such a struggle for him to
not be able to provide that he taught me. It's like,
you know, without the fans, like we do not have,
you know, food on the table. They are the reason
why we're here. We exist for them, right, And and
he meant it. I mean, he believed in his heart
(11:52):
was just so kind, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
It's like no, yeah, that's exactly him. He always had
time for everyone. Yeah, like even though he didn't, you
know what I mean, he would make time.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
The thing that he provided me the most. What we
all need when you're starting out in Hollywood is somebody
who's successful to point at you and go, you can
do this, like trust me, I'm look at me, I'm
at the top. I know you can do this. I
believe in you, and I'll help you if I can't.
And he was really one of the first people to
(12:25):
do that for me. Getting that kind of assurance early
on was really helpful because I think a lot of
people can go years without it and then it becomes
difficult because it's just you in your own head going
I know I'm going to make it. I know I'm
going to make this happen. Sure how yet, but you
just need along the way enough good role models and
(12:46):
people that come across you, be it luck or whatever,
that can just point at you and say what you're
doing is right, you made the right decisions here in
your life, and keep pursuing it, agreed. And then now,
of course working for PlayStation, which is like the double
dream come true because I get to work you know,
with the video game properties which I grew up loving
(13:08):
myself and of course, uh, you know, working on movies
and making adaptations, which is something I'm very passionate about,
my favorite thing to do in the world. And I
finally got Graham Turisma made.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
That's how you know each other.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, we know each other over a decade. Yeah, I
worked a decade.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It took ten years. I think everything happens overnight, I know, right.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
No, No, it certainly does.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Ten years.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
That's another one. You know, you go like, there were
so many times where I was like, am I just crazy?
Like I just because I was sort of one of
the people who just never gave up on it because
it died a few years And.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Why though, just what I mean, Yeah, explain to the
layman out there, like why people say that to make
a movie, it's it's actually harder than winning the lottery.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, you line up a lot of and a lot
of the things that line up to help get it made.
They're out of your control. There are things you don't
even see coming. And I think this is this story
is a good example of that. Because the idea that
somebody could play video games and become a professional race
car driver, to your average human being walking around doesn't
(14:20):
understand the sim world doesn't understand what's going on there
and what's been happening in the last decade or so.
That is a ridiculous premise. And so when you wrote
a story that was fictionalized based on something so outlandish,
it doesn't feel like something that actually happened. It feels
(14:40):
like a movie. The first writer I hired when I
got to PlayStation was my friend Jason Hall, who wrote
American Sniper and Thank You for Your Service. He wrote
and directed Thank You for Your Service. And my logic was, Okay,
let's get somebody who writes real life dramas to try this,
because I I don't think we need an action writer here.
(15:02):
I don't think the racing and all that's going to
take care of itself. You've got to really care about
these characters in this guy's life and these kind of
dramatic elements. That's what's going to make this fly. It's
kind of like Rocky, Right. When you talk about Rocky,
you don't go, oh, it's the fight scenes. The fight
scenes are what make that movie so good. No, it's
the character stuff exactly. So one of the producers that
(15:25):
worked on it with me all these years was Dana
Burnetti and he recommended to me. He said, have you
ever seen this kid's story Jon Martinborough And I hadn't.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Lean is the real life character.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah. Jan Marninborough, who the movie is based on, met
Yan through his manager, flew out to London, sat with them,
both explained what it is. Jason came with me what
it is we were trying to do and asked John
as many questions as we could and the time we
had with him, and so I think you take those
two things and then you sort of look at what
(16:04):
we were trying to do with the movie, right, which
was to do a video game racing movie that was
real at the time, was totally groundbreaking. Tetris I think
beat us a little bit to the to the pot,
which I was so upset about. But and then you
think about what Grand Turismo is the real racing simulator,
(16:28):
and you think about Kasnori's sort of obsession with reality
and why that game has become what it is, and
those two themes really marry well together, right of like
doing a real life story, doing this kid's true story,
marrying it to this adaptation, and then it just kind
of clicked for everybody, like, oh, this is a great idea.
(16:51):
This is a great movie. And then I think getting
Neil blanc Caamp obviously was a big deal for.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
US South African director direct The District nine.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yes, Chappie, Cheppie, Chappie, and Elysium, which was that was
interesting too because you know, first of all, how many
skylines has he owned? He's owned like three or four.
As a car guy, yeah, he's a huge car guy.
And then you know, he said, I've wanted to for
(17:22):
years do something hopeful, and every time I try to
generate my own material, it's hopeful, but it's still really
really really dark getting there. And then I read this,
this is exactly the kind of thing I've wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
A lot of his films have like this raw element
to it too, which I feel like was perfect to
tell this true story in this cool space.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, he's very I think he's very grounded in his
approach to storytelling. Like I don't think he likes big,
like theatrical performances, and I think he likes his characters
to feel real. I think he likes to kind of
create elevations and then have real people in habit of them.
If you look at sort of his resume and the
things that he's done. I think that that sort of
(18:09):
fits well in looking back with what it was that
we were trying to do, because this isn't sort of
elevated world in some ways, but it's skin how the
real people react to it that makes it really interesting. Right.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I know I'm biased, but I genuinely like I get
so many messages and I hear so much about how
it inspired a lot of people too, And I feel like,
if you can tell those stories that makes people feel something,
I feel like that's hugely important.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
No, me too. I'm so proud of it. And I
mean I worked on it longer than anybody, so you
know there's always that oh my god, what if I
spent ten years on something I don't even really like, right,
But that's not the case. I really love it, and
I think it fits well in our library of things
that we've done because I sort of obsess on always
(18:55):
making sure that every one of them is different in
its own thing, and I think that's if you look
at what we've done so far, like that's one of
the things I'm the most proud of. If you take
Uncharted and Twisted Metal and Last of Us in Grand
Turismo and you hold them all up. They're all so different.
The tones are different, the looks are different, the vibe
(19:17):
is different. And so we really try to make sure
that every single one of our projects it's just its
own thing, and we're not like falling into this kind
of formula that's going to be boring and not fun,
not really an interesting experience for anybody. So being able
to do something really different and still make the fans
(19:37):
feel good, it's always this like really careful balancing.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Act for us. I think in anything spoiled, especially in
our business of Hollywood. You know, I've always been told
(20:01):
it's not a sprint man, it's this long yeah marathon,
it's like an ultra marathon.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
When I think the listeners here, like Grant's MO took
ten years to make, Like what right? Like I mean,
how do you keep like the flame burning like opposed
to just like giving up?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
You know, you just think something's a good idea, you know,
you just have to believe in it. I mean, every
one of these movies or shows that gets made has somebody,
sometimes multiple people who thought let's not give up on this.
They're not always super easy and fast.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Were there times where you wanted to give up or
you're about.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
To oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean people ask me
like for Hollywood, like it took you so long to
make it, Like what's what's the key to success in Hollywood?
And honestly, my big thing I tell like the film
students and stuff is I'll go back to Rocky. I'm like,
you just got to be able to keep getting up
when you get knocked down. And if you can just
(21:03):
keep getting up and learn every time you get knocked
down why you got knocked down, and like how you're
not going to make the same mistakes the next time.
Eventually some opportunity will arise for you. But you just
have to be willing to keep getting up, even though
a lot of times it won't even make any sense.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Agree.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
That's why I would always produce short films. I'd write
scripts too. I would just just get those failures out
of you, learn those hard lessons anytime you can, and
just keep getting better and stronger. And there are ways
to improve yourself even when you're just sitting there in
your apartment thinking they're not well. Just start writing a script.
(21:45):
You know, that's an easy way to get better. Go
just do a free pa job on Craigslist and just
learn something crazy, because I swear to God you'll learn
one thing on every shoot, no matter how small or
weird or obscure it seems to you at the time,
you know, and just take it seriously, like if you
(22:05):
really care that much about it, try to do the
best work that you can. It doesn't matter how small
something you're doing is. It doesn't matter, like you should
treat it the same way you would treat working on
a two hundred million dollars James Cameron movie. You know,
take it all seriously, have fun doing it. But like
understand there's no such thing as like a small opportunity
(22:26):
or just always what you make of it.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
You just got to get up and go. Yeah, Like
I use like running as a great analogy and a
discipline to like this business as an actor and as
a filmmaker, because I would say, you know, most of
my career has been knows and still every day it's
like a no.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah they said no, you're in those movies. Yeah, but
they still say no to me every day, right, And
it's like like it's like running up you know, mountains
right first till is so hard and that's like first stage.
It's like, yeah, you've got an audition or you got
a meeting, and it's like to get that is so hard.
You got to run up that hill, right, and then
(23:10):
you get there and you're like did it. It's like, hey,
there's another one over there, because you've got to go
do the job. And even then that is a whole
journey and a hill climb. You get the job, and
then there's this like waiting for like post production. Is
the movie ever going to be finished?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I did like four movies last year. I think maybe
two of them will never even no.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
One will ever ever see.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You're like, how has that happened?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Right?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
And then you got to go promote the movie right exactly,
and do people even care?
Speaker 3 (23:41):
No, It's it's that thing, right if people always say this,
and I mean I'm a cliche saying this myself, but
there's never that day where it all turns around. Yeah,
and you can point back at it and go, that
was the day it all starts.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
After that it was smooth sailor because I was on
a whole other level and it's like, no, that day's
never coming. And anytime you do have those days, it
just means a lot more work. Yeah, that's coming your way.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I think people hope for an overnight success story because
I think sometimes it makes them feel like it's an
easy finger to point out of, like, oh, well, that's
why you know versus like the hard work, the trials,
the tribulations and everything that goes into it. And I
think too, as I get older, I now understand why
I would always have And I hear often people saying
(24:25):
that's why you have to find happiness in your day
to day because you can't always control everything. It's trying
to find peace and happiness and what you can't control
and knowing that you know, hopefully you can do one
day what you love for what you've always wanted to do,
and even then you know it's going to have its
own herds.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
You have moments like I remember being in Hungry on
Grand Turismo, like one in the in the first week,
and like sitting there and realizing, like we own this
f one track and looking at all these trailers. Right
if there's like thirty trailers, there's the movie trailers, and
then there's the trailers for the car for the movie.
(25:00):
It was pretty cool and all these people and cars
flying everywhere and realizing like wow, I did it. And
there was like a moment where I kind of sat
over on a pit wall and was like watching all
this and like I made this happen. Like if I wouldn't,
if I would have given up this, none of this
would be here. And that was fun watching Amelia get to,
(25:21):
you know, sort of like spread her wings and act
in a big movie.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
But which is your biggest movie up to up to
that point? Right?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Yeah, I I'm so grateful to you for that opportunity
to try to dismiss.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
It because I'll let you. Yeah, I don't want to
like talk over your here. No no, no, no no. She
we didn't have a lot of car people, believe it
or not, in the mix of Neil's definitely knows cars,
but it's like from a technical standpoint, he's very much
like an engineer. I know a little bit more about
(25:56):
like influencers and YouTube channels and things like that. So
I'd become a fan of Amelia's when I watched Fastest
Car And so we were just talking with the casting
people one day on all these zooms. When it comes
to the car stuff, they kind of all just like
look at me throughout a few names. Yours was definitely
(26:16):
one of them, and they said great. And then next
thing I knew, like a couple of weeks later, the
audition tapes came in and they were all like, she's
really really great, she's really great. We got to put
her in this. I was like, of course, yeah, that'd
be awesome. And so, you know, Amelia likes to say
(26:37):
that I got this for but I didn't do anything.
She got it for herself. But I was really thrilled
because I mean even from day one, I don't even
know if you know this, Like I got emails from
the other producers and stuff saying like, wow, so great.
She brought so much to this kind of thankless character
within the academy. We're going to try to bolster her
character a little bit more. Great, great job, yeah for
(26:59):
day one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
The lesson is is that you can't find these people
if they're not laced up and running up that hill. Yeah,
if you're looking for runners. That's why she was out
there like being proactive and doing her thing. Is it
wasn't luck or you make your own luck, right, So
for young folks out there, or actually anybody, because even
(27:20):
you know I'm learning from this too, is that it's
been said that there is no small role, right, Like
it's what you make of it, right, Is that what
Carter's talking about It is like you approached it that way.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So the role was it was an under five and
I see under five lines, and I remember being so
excited for this opportunity, and I felt like I'd been
preparing for this role my entire life, being you know,
in the car world. I felt like I had this
(27:52):
fresh perspective on especially being a female in the space.
So I was really excited to tell that story. Regardless
of what the word said on the paper. I feel
like I got to bring this energy to this part.
And I guess the feedback was good enough where you
guys put me into more of the movie and had
me fly back and come back for another month to
(28:15):
be part of the ending, which was really cool, really
special and really humbling it And I guess I did
something right.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
No, you earned all that you earned, all that that
was all you. You know, when I talk to young actors,
I look at like Johnny Depp, right, and I think
one of the things that's made him special over the
years is that it seems to me like he kind
of reads a script and goes, all right, there's the
(28:42):
obvious qualities that this character has that seems like they
should be like no brainers when you read them. I'm
going to cross all those out and I'm going to
do this in a totally different way where I throw
out all those obvious traits and characteristics. More often than
not in the past, I've looked at auditions and we've
cast people. It's just the person who just found something
(29:06):
different than everybody else where. It's like, oh, you know,
we didn't really think of this. This person found something
we didn't even realize about this character.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It's funny you say that, because for Gran Turismo, I
was like, why does every woman who plays a card
shiok have to be this like bitchy, badass, tough, And
it's funny. When I read for the audition, I consciously
made a note of that. I was like, no, I
don't think that's you know, you have to like stereotype that, yeah,
(29:38):
that person and try to bring some new life to
it of like, you know, this isn't once in a lifetime,
I mean for a real Emeli and then also for
the character of like going out and making a dream
of something, right.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
So that was that's great because that's you too, right, And.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I'm not trying to think about myself. I'm second, oh.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
No, but please do. But like that's true, like you're
you were that person in real life, so you knew that, right,
So you were able to bring that to the character
and say, like, we're not all like this and so
obvious way that most girls would come in and play
this part, I'm gonna play it like exactly the opposite.
I remember seeing this, like Ryan Gosling interview that he
(30:18):
did for some documentary about how bad auditioning sucks. But
he said, like, you walk in and you know you're
wearing the cowboy hat. Every guy's I thought, I thought
the cowboy hat, so you have to. It's a it's
a next level layer of thinking like that. But I
do think try things and be different when I'd say,
(30:42):
is like what makes people stand out and get roles.
I remember talking to you about fast and furious. It's
the eating thing, right, and how much that changes the
dynamics of that character, right, instead of being a bitter, smoking,
older guy, like being so many that people would like
and like look for that and think that that's cool,
(31:03):
and again relate to that.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I remember when I was doing that, I'm fast and
Tokyo drift. People are looking at me like I was crazy. Yeah,
I remember, you know, one producer grabbed the snacks out
of my hand. Really, you know, I like, do that snacks?
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Like what are you doing? But I felt like I
was a five and under character. I probably was really
if you think about it, because I probably spoke like
three lines in the film, you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Know, and with that character choice.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
I need an activity. So you can use the snacks
to act, you know, like you could. You can emote
you know, some type of like you know, inner dialogue
with the snack. If you're like curious to slow it
down and disgusted, you can throw the snack down, right
I was, you know, And it's like and I didn't
make that up. Like I watched Steve McQueen behind the
(31:50):
scenes with Magnificent Seven, and he was like the youngest
and like least famous actor in this movie. And he
was always next to You'll Brenner. Yeah, and he's like, hey,
they had no lines, so he always had something. He
was always doing something, and You'll Brenda would get all
pissed off He's like, what are you doing, man, You're
just supposed to stand there and do nothing. It's like, well,
(32:12):
I'm in his mind. He's like, I'm gonna steal this
fucking scene, right, and and so people start focusing on
what's this guy doing in the back?
Speaker 3 (32:20):
No exactly, So I heard that story too. And then
you told him like, just remember that you're you're behind
me in the frame, and all I have to do
is lean my head this way.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
You know, you gotta do it with respect, you know,
you know, there's you can't ever come off like thirsty, right,
like you have to go to class. And yeah, because
I another old timer gaming great advice is like, hey, man,
you know, did you know that there's a tree in
the Mona Lisa painting? And I was like what, And
he goes, yeah, there's a tree. Yeah right, you didn't
(32:53):
know that, right, he goes because everyone's focused on the
Mona Lisa and he's like, that's the star of the movie.
So make sure you're the best fucking tree. We should
put an apple on that tree. But you know, make
sure that people don't go, oh, it's a it's a
painting about a tree and a lady be careful because
(33:15):
that right, you know, I had a prospective change to
(33:36):
auditions when I auditioned for Christopher Nolan years ago. He
was one of his Batman movies. I don't know how
men he did, but I think it was his first one.
And the casting director was like very supportive of me, right,
and he's like, hey, you know, I think you know,
he's very interested in you. So this is a role
for you to lose basically, you know, and I'm like okay,
(33:59):
And it was still at a time where like I
wasn't like one hundred percent sure of like my choices
and even like what I had to offer, right, like
you know, why me? And so I walked into the
audition and I was prepared. But then my first question
and he was he was so chip where he was
like so welcoming, and it was like it was really cool,
you know, like you know, I'm actually getting to meet
(34:22):
him in person, and he was like very charming and
very warm, very gracious, and then you know, we had
our brief conversation and I was like, oh, so, you
know when I ask you first, is you know, do
you think this character has a you know, Hong Kong dialect?
You know, like, what do you think he sounds like,
and he just switched and he's like, I don't know,
(34:45):
that's your job. And then I didn't get the role
right and and I walked out of there and I
was like, dude, like that was a great, great lesson
to go in with strong choices. I don't need to
be asking him what do you think? He's not that
He's like, I'm not the actor, like, that's your job, man, right,
(35:06):
and made me realize like I can't be doing that,
like I can take direction if you don't like this
choice or if you're like, hey, let's adjust this, right,
but it may It totally changed the way I approach
my work is like I'm not asking your opinion. I'm
going to go do my work because that's my job.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Right, So that as it's like you know, the tire
you're going to the tire guy when you're the transmission
dude going hey, what do you think? Like, I know
that's your job. You put it into that like analogy.
I was like, what am I doing? Why did I
do that?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Well? How much in your career have you worked with
a director to help craft a character together or does
it usually fall where you take the initiative on that
and if there's guidance and it's less of a collaboration
with the director.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I would say, like beginner directors, they want to be
doing that. They want like their fingerprints on everything.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Hm.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
But on the professional side, right, like I've barely ever
even done table reads like you're a pro athlete. You
show up and you're like you're supposed to go hit
a home run, right, and and that is up. That
is your job to do, right. I realize that. So
like the directors, we don't talk about like, hey, this
is you know I would I when I was younger,
(36:22):
I wanted that. I was like, hey, here's here's here's
my book of like the backstory, the biography of this
character that has three lines in this film. But I
wrote a whole you know, biography of who they're like,
good for you. I'm busy, dude, right, So I still
do that work, but I keep it to myself and
if they have a question, they know that I'm ready
(36:43):
because I can fire off, like where you know the
character was born, what his blood type is, what his
favorite like pizza is, what is video favorite video game
with colors underwear? And that's I think the difference between
like a student film and then when you get into
the studio systems, like no one has time for that.
(37:03):
You know, they can tell you like, oh, this is
you know, based off of like their personal experience if
they wrote it. They're like, hey, this is where this
character was inspired from and share some antidotes, and a
good director will go, now it's yours. You're the ingredients.
Now it's yours. Yeah, right, No, I.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Mean right, And that's it's funny because that's really the
skill of a professional movie star actor. But what it
boils down to is you're supposed to be like somebody
who can come out and do it right away. Because
we're spending a lot of money closing down the street
and all these people and having like lights up and
all these things. We need people who can come in
(37:41):
and deliver quickly, like and not somebody who's supposed to
come in and it's going to take two hours to
get you that take that you want.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
And they can make adjustments quickly, right, and they're not
there to argue with you, but they've done the work.
Like when I was younger, like I had so much sympathy, right,
or empathy for like younger, there's not being prepared, and
now it's like, well, go do the student film first,
a whole bunch of them, and then when you get here,
you better hit home runs because if you're not, it's
(38:09):
cold man, if people just stop talking to you, and
you better come and deliver and.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Care like I've worked with multiple Academy Award winners Now
they care about every take. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And it's also I've learned from hiran directors right that
are screaming at people. Great advice I got. I got
from this legendary director and he was like, you know
why I never yell at you? And I'm like why,
He's like, you never leave set. You're not looking for
your chair. I know you smoke, but you don't leave
(38:43):
to go have a bunch of cigarettes. You're there, you're watching.
It's like, you know that dude over there. You know
why I'm screaming at that dude is that he can't
wait to go and have a cigarette. And then you
know why I'm screaming at the ades, like because she
doesn't know what the two next setups are are. They're like,
but how does she got to know? That's like, that's
our job. She needs to care.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Yeah, right, there's the word. There's a word, you care.
The best directors they care the most, and they want
They were forceful personalities that do anything they can to
achieve that vision that's in their head already. Right. I
also say, you know, like whenever you see an actor
freak out like on set, I like, well, first of all,
(39:26):
you know, their tool is their emotions. They're buying large
emotional people, some of them more internally emotional, some of
them are more external. But when you see emotion like that, one,
it's just who they are a lot of times. But two,
let's take a look at that project that they're on,
and I'm pretty sure that nine out of ten times
(39:47):
it's a pretty terrible wor And what has happened is
they're in the middle of something they didn't sign up for, right,
and they realize it, and they realize that this bad
movie there's is going to be on the screen and
on the posters, and you know they've they've tried it
in their own ways, push it in directions that the people,
(40:08):
you know, the director and the producers didn't listen to.
And so now you know they're in a place where
they're frustrated and they can't just show up and go, well,
this thing sucks, but they want you to know that
they're not happy, and so they will look for other
things to vent about. But when you hear one of
these tapes of one of them yelling on set or something,
(40:31):
I'm like, it's probably not because of exactly what they're
screaming about. It's probably more of an indictment of the
process that they're in.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
That's such great perspective.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Carter. It's I mean, it's just the way it is.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
And it's just such a whyse you know. It's like
because it's coming back to like they care so much,
because if they ain't cared, they but I don't care.
I'm going to go to a craft service, go eat
the doughnut. Right. Yeah. I've been doing a lot of
soul searching on what we just spoke about, because if
I do like four or five projects, like maybe one
of them is something that I go, oh, this is
(41:08):
I'm very proud of this. And the people I've worked
with like they all are, you know, potential masters of
their craft and they care. And then there are projects
that I've been on I'm like, Yo, they don't give
a flying f at all. They're like as soon as
it's like, you know, called like the martini, they're already
(41:30):
at the bar. Yeah, you know, and I'm like, why
are you here? Like what are you guys doing? Right?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
And it makes me sad to see that because I
just think of how many people would kill for the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
No, I know. And it's it's hard, and that's something
you learn in the filmmaking process. It's like, it's really hard,
and I have to struggle every time you give up
something you realize like, oh, it just went from being
like one hundred percent of what I wanted to ninety
nine and I'm never getting it back. Like if you
give up on quality or something you believe in or
(42:04):
like allow like, oh you know what, I'm not going
to fight on this. I'm just gonna just do it
this way, the cheaper way, the easier way. You have
this percentage of how good the movie is and you're
just watching it drop and you're never getting it back. Yeah,
And in order to keep it really, really high, you
got to fight for every little single battle that you
(42:25):
can all along the way because any of these compromises,
once you start compromising, once it's just it tends to
like waterfall after that. So it's it's really tough. And
that's why I understand and like I always do say,
a lot of the best directors in history are not cuddly,
understanding people. Yeah, they don't have that reputation of being
(42:47):
like just the friendliest, nicest, listens to everything. They're forceful
visionmongers who are not going to like be your best
friend a lot of time.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
But most people that are like great at something, they're not.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Like, yeah, all the greatest basketball players pretty much jerks.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Yeah, it makes me question, you know. I think that's
why I've been questioning lately, like, you know, do I
want to stay an actor because I don't know if
I have the tolerance to do it anymore. That's that's
why I love directing. Yeah, right, It's like I can
be the first one there and the last one to leave,
and I can like really like set a tone and
(43:32):
like really make a difference. Right, And as an actor,
you can do your part on one movie you're the
tire guy, like you do the tire You just your job.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Is just replace the tires man, that's all.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Don't be messing with the turbos.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Right now, you know, I get it. That's my favorite.
My favorite part of this job is helping directors tell
their vision. Yeah, Like I love directors and filmmakers, and
so the thing that always helps me, even when it
gets hard, is when I have that director that I'm
working with and I'm like, I don't care. I'm trying
(44:05):
to help them do this vision, create this vision of theirs.
I see it, I get it. I want to be
a part of it. I want to help them, And
so fighting any of those battles to help them is
always fine with me.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
What do you think makes a great director in your
expense that you've worked with, Because it doesn't mean that
they're always going to make hit movies, right, Yeah, because
the movies like it's subjective, so it could be an
amazing film, but it doesn't mean that it's going to
go make a billion dollars. But in terms of directors
that you go, this is a person that should be directing.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
I just think, you know, whatever process they have, there's
somebody who just has a strong vision in their head
and knows how to get a group of people together
to execute it. And whether that's they start using the
same people and fine tune the process, whether they're forceful personalities.
Whatever that is, it's just that idea that they know
(44:57):
that story well, they see it in their head and
they know how to get it out in like a
way that everyone else will see it and understand it
the same way that they did. Right. And again, there's
different ways that people go about that. You know, the
best ones are either geniuses themselves, so they see like
a vision like James Cameron of like how to do
things technically different nobody else has even thought of yet,
(45:21):
and he's able to go out and execute that, or
you know, in some cases, just being really smart about
who they hire and who they listen to and piecing
together like, you know, the best ideas from a bunch
of people that they were able to put together. And
I think, again, just having a clear vision and good
taste of what's different. You know, I was point the
(45:43):
original Halloween movie. I love that movie so much. I
love Johnny Carpenter, and I think, you know what's cool
about that movie and people have tried to do like
slasher movies and copy that movie millions of times since
it first came out in nineteen seventy seven, I think
is that you know, you had these kids out of
(46:04):
usc that basically were like, we're gonna take this story
about a guy in a mask on Halloween night just
stabbing babysitters to death. Right, there's a million ways to
make that movie like terrible or like you've seen it
a million times even at that point, we're gonna make
it like an Alfred Hitchcock with me. We're gonna make
(46:26):
it super suspenseful. We're gonna drag it out. We're gonna
like make you like want him to strike because he's
hovering around them so much, and it's not gonna have
all these bodies and gore shots and things like that.
And just that approach and that idea and actually pulled
it off is what makes that movie timeless and special
(46:47):
and still to this day. Why when you watch it
with any other guy with a mask killing teenagers somewhere
like that movie, there's something more quality about it and
a little higher brown why it's still like looked at
as like the ultimate movie in its space. Right, And
it's been very easily for them to just take the
money make a stabby movie. Some sex scenes like give
(47:10):
the audience to know exactly what they expect out of
something like that took a lot of guts to be like,
we're not going to have a lot of stabbing and murder,
and but again them being able to pull it off,
like that's we're going to make this specially good. So
I think you always got to have a good take
on the material too, that makes it different and makes
it cool. As you get more up in Hollywood, it's
(47:32):
easier to like just make things that seem like other
things that are successful, and you don't want to.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Do that, Carter, this has been just a fantastic conversation.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
We could talk with you forever, I know, no like
me too.
Speaker 3 (47:46):
I hope I can come back and we'll actually tell
more car stories. Yeah, the next time. But I really
enjoy talking about the business with you and just such
big fans of both of you, and I like this
podcast so much. It's such an honor to be here.
Really really cool. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
It was a great conversation because not only it's so
sincere and it's a window into I think a lot
of what the listeners are not aware of, the lessons
of you know, this is a this is a long marathon,
and you got to love what you're doing and try
to be different right with class with class right.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely everything is never stop learning, like every
single day, like I learned something new all the time still,
and I'm always grateful when I do.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Amen to that. Yeah, well, you're a huge inspiration and
look forward to seeing you continue to kick ass and
take over this world and the stories that you tell.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Right back at you, right back at you. No, thanks again,
and I love being on this and any other time
you guys need a time filler, I'm here. Appreciate you,
Thank you so much.
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.