Directed by… Paul Hoen

From “Cheetah Girls: One World” and “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam” to the “Zombies” franchise, Paul Hoen is the ultimate DCOM director! 

Hoen joins Will and Sabrina to talk about his career directing films for Disney, what’s to come from the next “Zombies” film and more! 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
So I think I always start these Park Copper episodes
by saying we have a very special episode, which makes
it sound like it's in eighty sitcom that always does
the very special episodes. But because all these episodes are
very special, and man, do we have one today for.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It just so lucky to get the coolest ones. I mean,
this is just yeah, this is big, this is big.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
We're lucky to get anybody, is how I look at it.
We're lucky to get anybody. But with some of the
people we've gotten, it's amazing. And we often hear people saying, oh,
I really like the ones where we talk to the
actors because you get that point of view. I've heard
a lot of people saying, oh, I like when you
talk to the writers. But when we get somebody like
we have today who's helped to kind of craft the
world a little bit, I mean, has been responsible or

(00:58):
or you know, one of the people most directly responsible
for some of the biggest names in the entire history
of decoms.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
I mean that's not Haryperberly. I mean literally.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Literally has worked with so many I mean, if there's
ten of them, this guy's worked with nine of them.
He is seriously, he is literally just I mean he
gets and what I love and you'll see when you
meet him.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Well, he's so humble and so just. He loves what
he does. He loves it. He absolutely enjoys every aspect
so well.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
I cannot wait to get the dish on certain movies like, oh,
I don't know Luck of the Irish. Oh yeah, jump
in Eddie's Million Dollar Cookoff.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
I mean, there's what redd and weep? Oh do we
mention the entire Zombies franchise and.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Still going pretty much has not slowed down.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
And then there was another one I'm missing that nobody
watched some other something about the cats or girls.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I chet a girls one World as well.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
One. Yeah, few people did watch that one.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Your old friend is joining us today, so I'm like, one,
I love these because I'll ask a couple questions, but
I'm going to sit back and watch two old friends talk.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
I can't wait. So this is going to be so cool,
So everybody, please please please.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
A big welcome for one of the coolest guests we've
ever had, Director Paul Howan.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Hi, Hi, how are you.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I'm good, Thank you so much for joining us. Sabrina
has been singing your praises since we started this podcast.

Speaker 5 (02:34):
More than kind.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, as I was texting back and forth with you,
I had no idea.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
I mean, cause I guess I just.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Kind of have a few years right of when I
was part of the channel of what I was involved
in and got some of the names of the dcoms
you did prior, but had no idea all of that.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
I mean, your list is just ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, you have worked with every major star I swear
from the channel in one of these movies, and a
lot of times, I'm sure it's amazing for you to
watch them after because you kind of start like you're
there when they're starting these huge careers that they end
up having. So I mean, and anyone that we have got,
we've gotten to do quite a bit of zombies of

(03:22):
those actors who've got to talk to them.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
We talked to Corbyn Blue.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
I mean, everyone just praises how fun you are to
be on set with, how awesome of a director you are,
and just your vision is something that they talk about
every single time, which I love because I walked on
a few of the sets of The Cheetah Girls One World,
and it was like, how did he see this like,

(03:48):
oh my gosh, it's giant, it's amazing.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
Okay, so good.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
So anyways, thank you so much for gracing us with
your presence.

Speaker 6 (03:57):
Paul, Wow, thank you for that movie, because that was
the first movie I think that I dealt with kids
that were a little bit older.

Speaker 5 (04:06):
So we could go to the after hours hotel.

Speaker 6 (04:11):
Oh yes, Oh, I can't wait to hear those and
commiserate over.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
Our It was different.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, I mean I remember drinking warm or lukewarm, at
least vodka sodas as well.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
You and I were drinking.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Because then you don't drink ice and you don't have
ice in your drinks.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
So it's just like it couldn't do it very many.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
It just was I don't know. The life we had
there was absolutely wild.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
And you guys were tough. I mean, you were there.

Speaker 6 (04:44):
It was not an easy shooting experience, at least what
I recall. No, I showed up day in and day out,
and I remember when the guy's hair caught on fire
and you walked up to me and went, Paul, I'm
going to go blind with the.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, wait a minute, we got all right, so we've
got let's start at the beginning. Because I want to
get to obviously, we've got to end with guys hair
on fire. Right, How did you get into this side
of the industry? I mean, had you worked for Disney
at the start of your career or can you take
us back to the beginning.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
I think the very beginning.

Speaker 6 (05:19):
I was working on a show called Well, you know,
I was just a PA and I wanted I had
gone to school to be a director, but you know,
you get out and you kind of like, I got
to learn to make coffee and make sanwiches correctly, right,
and so, and I when I finally got good at that,
I got on this show called Kids Incorporated, and I

(05:39):
was an ad and I moved my way up to
directing a few of them. And then that gentleman Tommy Lynch,
who I owe a lot to, did a show called
The Secret World of Alex Mack, which was a single
cameras show at Nickelodeon. And so I I was haunting
Nickelodeon for a while and doing those single cameras shows,

(06:00):
and Disney was just starting and they wanted to do
similar type shows. So when Rich Ross and a whole
bunch of people that were at Nickelodeon moved over to Disney.
I you know, got moved over to Disney too, and
did a lot of those single camera Disney shows like
Shias Show and Stevens and.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
Anyway, a whole bunch of them.

Speaker 6 (06:23):
And then they wanted to do these movies and they
needed somebody who knew how to work with kids on
these movies and bring them in on time and budget.
And I think the first movie I did was Lucky
the Irish and Now.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, Ryan Merriman turning into to Now. We rated it high.
You know, we rate all our movies. We rated it high.
We thought it was a little odd that the thing
they were having trouble telling him was that he was Irish. Yeah,
they finally sat him down and say, yes, son, in fact,
you're Irish.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Why a secret? Why is it so horrible?

Speaker 6 (07:00):
Tell him that he was eleprechn which I got a
different type of Irish. Right.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
It's so funny that you're you're bringing back names for
my past because I was original. I was an old
school Nickelodeon kid back in the eighties, and Rich Ross
was was very important in my early career. When I
mean I got slimed up on the original You can't
do that on television set.

Speaker 5 (07:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
So so the the old school Nickelodeon then moving to
Disney is very similar. But you I mean, some of
the best shows on both networks. If you're talking kids
in court, it just seems like wherever you are the
future stars of all of Hollywood Army.

Speaker 7 (07:38):
Well, I don't know if it's me, but I'll take
I did my part and and you know, I definitely
was a teacher and I think and helped those I think,
you know, everybody has it comes to the table with
a certain amount of talent that I can't really teach.

Speaker 5 (07:57):
But I can go, hey, here's where this is the
aspect where you're awesome and you go with this because
this is your star power right here.

Speaker 6 (08:08):
So I think that was And of course there's technical
things which I learned along the way.

Speaker 5 (08:14):
And I'm a big kid, I'm old, but I'm still.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
I feel the same way I always tell Sabrina, I
live my life by the rule that there's a very
big difference between childish and childlike.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yes, So okay, so then when you moved then to.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Disney from Nickelodeon, did you notice a big difference in
production style between the two different networks.

Speaker 6 (08:38):
I think the one thing which I really loved about
Disney is that it's a little bit more girl focused.
And when I say girl focused, I think it's just
a more of a gentle hearted type. Like I think
girls are a little bit more sophisticated at that age.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
As far as story goes.

Speaker 6 (08:55):
And being empathetic to characters and and so for me,
like for Nickelodeon, there's like, you know, big gags and
sweat and slime and you know, and all this kind
of stuff. But really for something to be successful on
the channel, it has to be sort of appealing to

(09:16):
the heart. Like I always talk about the suffering soul, right,
Like these lead characters are not They're going through I
Am an aspirational journey, but they're not really enjoying themselves
on the way. Like there's struggles and there's conflicts and
how do I you know, how do I.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
Be who I really am and what my father wants
me to be?

Speaker 6 (09:39):
Or you know, I part of this group musical group,
but somebody else wants me and should I be part
of that?

Speaker 5 (09:46):
You know?

Speaker 6 (09:47):
So how do I navigate life? I think is something
that Disney does well. I'm not sure that there are
shows on Nickelodeon that touch on that, but I don't
think that's their primary focus. It's comedy and and right
hop and gags and things like that, you know, which
I've done a lot of and I get it.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah, yeah, it's got its place.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
It is one thing we say over and over again
as we're watching this movie is that Disney knows how
to put across a storyline and a message like no
one else we've seen, especially when it's gearing towards this
age demo. So even if you know, maybe Will and
I don't necessarily relate to it, we can relate to

(10:31):
it on where the character is because it's such a
good message. You know, even if it's not the greatest
movie that's been made, it really is a good message
behind it. And you know, we we love that about Disney.
And you know, I really, honestly, I feel like I
watched Nickelodeon. But now that I've done all this, like
everything about Nickelodeon has blown out of my head and

(10:52):
it's deep dark, deep dark closet that I just don't
even really remember except for you know, a few of
the shows. But again I remember them just being really funny,
Like I'm just like laughing the whole time. I don't
remember a lot of messaging happening on Nickelodeon, so that
makes a lot of sense. Okay, So I got to
ask you, though, we're talking about Luck of the Irish,

(11:14):
and I know just from the time on the channel,
how hard it is to get the budgets to like,
you know, like, do you an you want me to Yeah,
you want me to pull this off, but you want
me to pull this off with how much?

Speaker 4 (11:27):
How did you do it?

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Because I don't think at that point Luck of the
Irish had big budgets quite yet.

Speaker 5 (11:34):
Up to that point did not?

Speaker 4 (11:36):
Right, how do you make that woman so tiny?

Speaker 6 (11:39):
Like?

Speaker 2 (11:40):
How did you do it with the budget that you
guys were given? I mean, and it looked great everything
that we saw in the movie.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
The whole top, Yeah, the whole sure, for sure.

Speaker 5 (11:50):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (11:51):
I think just in general, that's something that I'm really
good at as far as saying, Okay, it's going to
cost us this amount to do this, Is this really
worth it?

Speaker 5 (12:03):
Or would we rather not spend it on this?

Speaker 1 (12:06):
You know?

Speaker 6 (12:06):
So if you look at the basketball sequence, for example,
you know, the camera's awfully high.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
And you don't really see a lot.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
Of crowd right, so because there's not a lot because
in the beginning days Disney was very focused and and
not it kind of went wayward as.

Speaker 5 (12:27):
As it went along a little bit more, but it
was like, how are we going to do that?

Speaker 6 (12:32):
You get this many extra you get this package of
toys and that's all you get, and and how are
we gonna you know, you know, do this and I
don't want to get it onto cheater girls. But I mean,
you know, it's the same thing where I got off
the plane and was looking at Udaipor and went like, holy,
where is a Disney Channel movie in this place? You know,

(12:54):
because it was like a sob laden's like compound.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Wait to see this one. I haven't so I'm watching
it order. I haven't seen it yet.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
It won't look like but I'm just.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Saying I haven't seen I haven't.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
I've seen Cheatahirls one, and we're kind of watching as
we go because again I'm a little too old for
some of the dcoms. But uh, well, that's the one
thing I've noticed is that if if something is a
good project. Again, I think this shows a difference between
Nickelodeon and Disney, and I thin here one hundred percent right,
Nickelodeon and its content has its place, and it's a wonderful,

(13:27):
wonderful little niche that it has. That being said, the
thing that's wonderful about a well done movie, no matter
what age it's for, is there's always somebody to root
for or someone you can see yourself in. So now
that I'm older, I can identify more with the parent characters,
the adult characters, and I think that's a fun way
of going.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
But at the same time, when they hand you one.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Of these dcom scripts, I mean again, I know there's
a very big difference between say A read it and
weep and a Zombies. Is the first thing that's going
through your mind, okay, casting it properly, or is the
first thing that's going through your mind budgeting it properly?

Speaker 5 (14:06):
Neither?

Speaker 6 (14:06):
I think the first thing that's going through my mind
is Okay, who's the lead? Hopefully it's clear what's the story,
what's at stake, and are we dramatizing that story the
best we possibly can, Because you know, I can throw
a lot of bells and whistles at things, fire and

(14:28):
whatever effects. But if I'm not like, if you're not,
you don't keep watching these movies because of oh wow, there.

Speaker 5 (14:36):
Was a big explosion.

Speaker 6 (14:37):
It's just not It's not why you watch it because
you're engaged in that character and.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
You want to know.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
So I'm looking at the script and I'm going, Okay,
how oh this is what this person is going through?
Are we doing the best situations to highlight.

Speaker 5 (14:55):
The journey that this person is going to?

Speaker 6 (14:57):
And I just think if you have kids and you
watch them watch these movies, they all they do is
look at the character's eyes and what's going on inside
their head as the movie's going on. You just look
at all these kids. I think, you know, I watched

(15:17):
my own kids as they were growing up, watching them.
I've seen it a hundred times. We're all focused on oh,
wardrobe and hair and makeup and steps, and I mean,
you know, Disney is like on it forever. I'm like,
what's going on in the face of this kid, in
this kid's eyes and all the techniques that I do.

Speaker 5 (15:38):
I'm focusing on what are you thinking about? Now? What
are you afraid of? Who are you as a person?

Speaker 6 (15:46):
Because these kids, they see you getting hurt and they
they want you to they root for you and that's
why they and they keep watching because they get to
the end and it's ninety minutes. Not a long period
of time, but boy, a movie that doesn't have that
ninety minutes can seem like an eternity, and it canad

(16:08):
We've gone through the eternity before.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yes, we know that, we know what that drudge can
be like, it can be pretty uh pretty grooel yeah.

Speaker 6 (16:15):
Yes, So so you want the music and you want
the heart and then after that, you know, writers love
to write crazy things and then it's kind of like, oh,
this is cool.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
I think we can make this look good. I don't
think we can make this look good, you know.

Speaker 6 (16:30):
You know, I don't think a lot of the stuff
we did with Ryan was you know, raising other people
on apple boxes and there was really a low budget
kind of making his clothes bigger, kind of the legs
off of or raising the dresser up and he's like
below it.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
You know.

Speaker 6 (16:49):
So there's a lot of little tricks that are in
that movie.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
That the giant seatbelt. Then you make a giant seat belt.

Speaker 6 (16:57):
We made a giant shoe, you know, we did a
we a giant metal you know, things that were sort
of old school that you would have been done before
visual effects. We you know, we did there, But really
what's great about that movie is just Ryan and those
those kids, you know, they they they just committed and
and they were funny. And So there's one movie where

(17:20):
that I watched that I definitely don't have a sense
of me, which I think is a big, a big
thing to happen in a movie.

Speaker 5 (17:29):
When it gets to the point where.

Speaker 6 (17:30):
You're like, oh, I don't remember that, or or I'm
engaged in something that I didn't really remember, you know,
or was part of, then you really know that the
movie has sort of taken on a life of its own,
and it's not just you know, you say this line,
look here, do this or whatever.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
At what point or what movie I guess once you
started getting into because it seems like they just started.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
You went from there to I think it was.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Read It and Weep was shortly after that, and then
you've got you know, Eddie's Million Dollar Cookoff and jump
in all these different ones. At what point were you going, man,
like I am the go to guy for Disney, like
I am shooting, I am doing all of these movies.

Speaker 6 (18:22):
Maybe like last year, I think there's a lot of
I think there's a lot of times where people go, oh,
don't you want to do this or don't you want
to do that?

Speaker 5 (18:32):
But the thing I love.

Speaker 6 (18:35):
Is working and making movies and trying things and trying
to make it the best that's possible. And I've never
been All of those movies have drama to.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
Them, you know that. You know, there's not a movie
that doesn't have a story.

Speaker 6 (18:50):
Of behind the scenes craziness. Sometimes it's with the network,
sometimes it's cash related, all the it's not really often
cast related, but you know, there's always and I'm just
very passionate about the project. And I think for a
while it was like, oh, I can't do it with

(19:10):
these guys anymore. And then finally I realized, like, you
know what, I'm fricking lucky, Like I like, I make
a movie and now it's I'm still hanging in there, miraculously.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
I don't really know how.

Speaker 6 (19:23):
But it's just I get to make a movie sometimes
two a year, and I really get to shape this
thing and it's completely satisfied. At the time, it's like
horrifying and there's like, oh my god, this is this
is going to be a disaster and what am I
going to do? And fighting with you know, I mean
Gary marsh and I had many like arguments, although I

(19:47):
respect the.

Speaker 5 (19:47):
Man, sure anyone, but of course there was like.

Speaker 6 (19:52):
Arguments of this sometimes that this might be the last
movie I'm ever gonna do ridiculous over this up drama.
But then somehow you end up waking up and you go, well,
you know, I had a career, and I think I
would not have traded I know that I would not
have traded it for for anything, because you can do whatever.

(20:14):
You know, some Harry Potter movie or whatever. I mean,
that's pretty famous.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
But and you do.

Speaker 6 (20:21):
There four of them in the life of that that
you know you have and I've done you know, over
twenty I think at this point, and I think I
always feel like I'm going to do it better next time,
or I this was bad and I'm going to make
sure that I don't fall into that trap again.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
And yeah, that's the sign of that TRR artist, never
never being, never being happy.

Speaker 6 (20:43):
I just I just want to be better and do better.
And you know, now I'm they've changed everybody.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
At the channel. Basically there's nobody that's nobody, you.

Speaker 6 (20:54):
Know, and and you know, I'm going, well, you know,
we tried that once before.

Speaker 5 (20:59):
Here's what happened.

Speaker 6 (21:00):
And you know, and I'm trying to like gently lead
them to you know, you think you want that, but
let me tell you.

Speaker 5 (21:07):
Really because we tried it. We tried a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Right now, I'm curious, were you ever over your career,
and again we've talked about the films you've done. Were
you ever handed a script for a dcom and you're like, no,
not doing it, not going to do this one, don't
like it, not going to happen.

Speaker 5 (21:26):
Yeah, twice.

Speaker 6 (21:27):
Well once I was like the first time I didn't.
That second, well whatever, the movie with that girl, the
space girl what was her name, xenon Non, Yeah, the
one that she goes to the moon and she's floating
on I just read it and I was like, I
can't do it. And then there was a monster truck
movie that they had that I was moving along with it,

(21:51):
but I could not get them. You know, the message
seemed to me in the script.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
To be.

Speaker 6 (22:00):
If you learn how to hold if you're a girl,
a Southern girl, and you learn how to hold a
fork and wear a nice dress and get a guy,
you will be a great monster truck driver, and I
guess I could not.

Speaker 5 (22:16):
I have nothing, No, of course I could not do it.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
We heard that it was a possible sequel to Motocross, right,
was that?

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Was that?

Speaker 3 (22:26):
The one?

Speaker 5 (22:26):
Something like that was it was a monster truck movie.

Speaker 6 (22:30):
They had bought it and and you know, we had
we were gonna shoot it in Louisiana, and it was
all really interesting to me, like the situation. But I
really wanted it to be like the movie, you know,
where she's a cop and she doesn't.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
It's mister geniality.

Speaker 6 (22:50):
Yes, I really wanted to shape it to be that, and.

Speaker 5 (22:55):
It just was not happening.

Speaker 6 (22:57):
You know, we're getting it, and the executive at the time,
we're not getting it. And finally I just I also
thought that it was way too dangerous and they weren't
going to you know, like with these giant trucks are
like going to probably me. They finally shut it down
and I went home.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Well, that leads to a good question, then, which is
you said that maybe sometimes the writers don't get it,
and you know, it's a creative process all the way through,
but as the director, especially one as respected as you
are at the channel.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
Now, how much input do you have to the script
in the story.

Speaker 6 (23:29):
I think I have a lot of input, And there's arguments,
and writers love their little vignettes and their things, and
but what I love is how somebody's talking to somebody
and how they're interacting and with how they're feeling vulnerable

(23:52):
and things like that that are in the script. And
and so I'm always like, we need to do this,
and we need to hold this back a.

Speaker 5 (24:01):
Little bit, and you know, so so it's I you know,
a lot of you wish was you know, I.

Speaker 6 (24:10):
Basically took that script and I cut and pasted it.
I put in blank pages and said, we need a
scene that's this, And you know, and the writers, you know,
they asked for more money to do it.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
But they did it, and and then you know, I'm
proud of the way those that they turn out.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, I mean, I know it probably changes film to film,
But what do you feel like your typical timeline is
before you actually hit hit the ground running with actually filming,
like going out to set and doing it. How much time,
like I mean, for writers for you to be able
to go through and cess out changes that you see

(24:54):
things that you need to be done to the script.
How much time is that process before you go? And again,
I know it's changes, but what's like kind of a normal,
a normal.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
Timeline that you get brought onto the project.

Speaker 6 (25:05):
There's like an eight like it's all sort of set.
There's the director portion of it, which is all sort
of set by the DGA, which is I think eight weeks,
and then shooting is you know, they give you it's
like it used to be only twenty five days, and
then I think they started to realize that it's ridiculous
that we're just putting this lid on this, so that

(25:28):
went longer. So I think we're up to thirty one
or thirty four days on Zombies, and then there's four
weeks of editing, and then there's you know, there's posts
and effects. But now these movies are becoming so big
that it's I get hired as an executive producer first,

(25:49):
and then we get to work on the script.

Speaker 5 (25:51):
So by the.

Speaker 6 (25:51):
Time the you know that was beginning whatever eight weeks starts,
you're already pretty much deep into the line is kind
of blurred nowadays, and you know, the Zombies thing, I'm
still after I'm done with you, I have looping still
to be done, and every Monday and Thursday and Fridays

(26:12):
I have the effects to review.

Speaker 5 (26:13):
So the things go on now for it.

Speaker 6 (26:16):
You know, used to be like six months of your
life and you're done. Now it's kind of like a
year of your life. Almost two and you're done.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Jesus. I want to get to Zombies obviously because of
everything that has become with that franchise.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
But what was the first musical that you did?

Speaker 1 (26:42):
And was the musical something that you had any experience in,
because now it seems like you're one of the go
to for the big lavish productions. Is this something that
you had experience with before? Or were you kind of
thrown into the deep end with the camp Rock movie.

Speaker 6 (26:55):
No, I wasn't. I well, I love musicals like as I.
I wouldn't be in this business if it wasn't for
a girlfriend I had in eighth grade took me to
a play Two Gentlemen of Verona the musical, and I
was just like, oh my God, like what is this?

Speaker 4 (27:12):
You know?

Speaker 5 (27:12):
I just so to me. I thought it's the coolest.

Speaker 6 (27:16):
Like I thought, oh, I'll be an electrical engineer or
some stupid job that I was probably going to.

Speaker 5 (27:20):
Be unhappy with.

Speaker 6 (27:21):
And then I saw a musical and I thought, oh,
this is I want to do this. I've never seen
anything like this before. And my parents were doctors and
in the medical profession, so I had like nothing, wow.

Speaker 5 (27:33):
They I don't think they ever took me to a
musical at all.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
Oh wow.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Oh.

Speaker 5 (27:39):
So they were not big theater people.

Speaker 6 (27:41):
And so the first thing I did was I did
Jump In, which had some dance and it was more stunty,
but it had some It was kind of a hip
poppy kind of movie.

Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (27:55):
And then then the the first musical I did was
actually Cheetah Girls.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
They yes, that was wow. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was.
I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 6 (28:10):
Well I'm sure it was Cheetah Girls because they were
a little like, I don't know, you know about is
you're gonna be able to do it? And then I
did that that boat song you know where you were
in the Swans on the Fountains, I can't wait, And
Michael was like was running around showing like the cut

(28:33):
to look how great this is going to be.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
And that wasn't even like a crazy I mean performance,
it was a performance routine, but that was more theatrical
and like telling the story of what our characters were
going through.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
Versus being like like cheatah love, I love me some
cheata love, I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Will loves the movies like Step Up and stuff. When
he sees when he.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
Sees it's me if you can't he's good love. Oh
it's good. It's a battle. It's a battle for.

Speaker 5 (29:05):
A long it's a long battle, so long, it's a
long song.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
It was so this is like the stuff that I
was kind of telling Will about working with you and
showing up to set. Of course, everything we went to
in India was just so big was there. Everything was
so grand and such a huge scale. We were filming
at palaces and you know, it was just it was
it was unreal. And so we're walking up this big

(29:31):
step these this big driveway because it was too steep
I think for like even really cars to go up.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
So we walked up.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
It and came across those well I don't even know
what they're called, but they were like the pole like
the yes, and it was the dancers were practicing in it,
and the lighting and the background.

Speaker 4 (29:54):
Behind the dancers.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
We were just like, holy cow, like this looked like
me walking up it looked like a feature film set.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
It was.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
That was so amazing, and then you know, we have
our dance and it was it was so fun and.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
The whole movement of the camera. Oh, it's so good.
I really loved all of our musicals. Well, that's I.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Mean, that's a good question then, is how I mean,
do you have to approach shooting a musical differently than
you approach shooting a film that is it musically inclined
or is it just kind of the same process just
on a different scale.

Speaker 6 (30:28):
You know, it's it's it's almost the same process. Some
parts are a little bit easier, in some.

Speaker 5 (30:35):
Parts are a little harder. I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 6 (30:38):
You know, the great thing is that you have a
choreographer and so you know I can go. So for me,
it's like wow, when they'd be great, here's a budget
and you can imagine what a dance might be like here,
and then you end up working with the choreographer who
who lays it out basically and rehearses with the cast.

(30:59):
So for me, in that sense, it's just like oh wow, yeah,
and you just look at it.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
I don't have to do all the blocking and write
us on this line.

Speaker 6 (31:08):
And do this, and because if you saw me dance,
you would, you know, still be better than me.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
We had a fantastic choreographer. We had Fatima who had
worked with Black Eyed Pete. I mean she's worked with
just everyone Big and Missy Elli, everyone, everyone, So her
and the sets she's always been on for these giant
movie videos or music videos are huge. So her eyes,
like she knows exactly when she's choreographing what she's wanting.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
She films.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
It brings I mean, you came into rehearsal to see everything,
which not always happens when you have, you know, a director,
like they don't always come in right at the rehearsal time.
They kind of just see the films, and you wanted
to see exactly how we were interacting.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
It was.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
It was such a fun experience in such a crazy everything.

Speaker 6 (32:02):
She was the most uncommunicative person that I think I've
ever worked with, but I totally got it like I
would she would, you know, she'd show me the dance
and then she pushed me over here and and I
think Bamboo, remember he was the ad, said to me
at one point, do.

Speaker 5 (32:22):
You have any idea like what we're going to do.

Speaker 6 (32:25):
When we get on this, nobody else had seen everything,
and I go, oh, yeah, it's gonna be fine. It's there,
she's going to do this and it's this and you know,
don't you know, don't worry, and then you know, and
then then it was, you know, I think she had
ideas and I did those.

Speaker 5 (32:43):
And then when I felt like there was we needed
a little more pop or.

Speaker 6 (32:47):
Something, then you know, I'd going, Okay, let's just do
this and this is gonna, you know, help this situation.
So I, you know, I she's amazing and I think
she was an amazing person and to work with, and
I don't know, it's just sort of a relief kind
of to have somebody to walk. There's a large part

(33:07):
of the movie is taking care for you.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, so do you I mean then do you prefer
doing musicals over non musicals?

Speaker 5 (33:14):
Uh? I do. I love it, And I just think,
you know, it sets to me.

Speaker 6 (33:19):
You know, when something's happening, you know, you can't talk
about it anymore.

Speaker 5 (33:23):
You have to sing about it.

Speaker 6 (33:24):
That's what usually this is, and that's kind of in
my realm, right, you know, when when the drama is happening,
and it's too much and you can't there's nothing else
you can say.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
You got to sing about it, right, So I think that's.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
And speaking of the resurgence, have you been following in
the Minnesota Vikings at all and what's been going on?

Speaker 6 (33:45):
Which was very weird because I remember sitting there on
the set and they were coming in and there's just
a march into camp and I told Rosario, I go, dude,
we gotta they gotta they can't.

Speaker 5 (34:00):
Just come in here like walking.

Speaker 6 (34:01):
We got to come up with some stomp like something
or other. And he's like, okay, okay, give me a minute.
And then you know they did it.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
So that was like basically.

Speaker 6 (34:13):
Basically only it was like a thing and just and
you know, they all pulled it off.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
And the Jonas brothers were very intense on not dancing.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, you know that was their life because they saw
the first camp rock.

Speaker 5 (34:28):
Yeah hit their sticks, which I thought.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Okay, that'll work.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
Okay, So now we've got to get in to zombies
because this has become a phenomenon, I mean, absolutely huge,
and and you know, in all fairness is I'm surprised
Tona did not lead with this. For me, musicals where
people just break into song and dance out of nowhere
were never my favorite thing. I'm always the guy going,
did you get together early in rehearse?

Speaker 3 (34:56):
How did you know to break into dance?

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Like?

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Never really got it? He can't let me let it go.
And then we started watching These and Descendants. Okay, those
gray it was nice with the.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
High school music, and then we got to Zombies one
and I loved it, and I did.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
I loved everything.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
It was such a clever story, a world I'd never
seen before, the music work, the romance work, the acting work.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
And so I'm curious not only how.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
That project came across your desk, obviously the way that
they normally do, but is this one of those things
by this point where you know what something's going to
be when it's handed to you.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
I mean, could you tell what this was going to become?

Speaker 8 (35:36):
No?

Speaker 6 (35:36):
And so you know, there was another director that was
on that at the very beginning and had shot or
I think thirteen days or something like that, and in
those thirteen days he had managed to be ten days
over budget, like they just kept you know, and I thought, oh,

(35:58):
you know, it's I was with my friend and I'm
helping him do an adu and I'm just like this,
And I go to get tacos and I leave my
phone and I come back and there's this long chain
of panic text from from the network saying what are
you doing?

Speaker 5 (36:15):
Can you call me? You know, bah blah blah blah blah.
My agent then called. They were all like they're all
looking for you. Like it was just like this panic
of one hour. When I was eating cocke, you know, I.

Speaker 6 (36:29):
Look at my phone and I go, oh God, I
gotta I have to take this call and what are
you doing? And I said I'm nothing, and they go,
can you would you be interested in we're having problems
on this set. Would you be interested in in? Could
you fly to Toronto tomorrow start shooting, meet the cast

(36:49):
on Sunday, and start shooting on Monday.

Speaker 5 (36:52):
And I was like, uh, okay.

Speaker 6 (36:56):
And so they had a script and they had shot
some scene. So I looked at all the scenes and
I thought, uh, this looks kind of interesting.

Speaker 5 (37:05):
It was a little weird to me, you.

Speaker 6 (37:07):
Know, because there was a lot of pink and blue,
and there's a lot of jazz hands and the acting
was way like over the top.

Speaker 5 (37:16):
In my offensibility you know, and I was, you.

Speaker 6 (37:20):
Know, and then I tried to figure out, well, am
I going to be there with the other director?

Speaker 5 (37:25):
No, no, he's going to be gone, So okay.

Speaker 6 (37:27):
So I came there and basically the entire time that
I was there on that first thing, but the script
had all pages were all like mixed up, and there
were ideas like we're going to take out these three
scenes and move all these three scenes together, but they
were just shifted and he was keeping the script from
the channel.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
And they had Chris.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
Scott, who was the choreographer who you know, I totally
admire and who's done Wicked and and you know, he
was good friends with this director. So I came into
this situation, which I have to say, it was completely
There was a lot of the cast it was like
what's happening?

Speaker 5 (38:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (38:10):
And then I just showed up on Monday and basically
just took it a day at a time and basically
just sort of prepped and try to put together what
he had.

Speaker 5 (38:22):
Shot, what had been planned to be shot.

Speaker 6 (38:27):
I tried to There's all issues with the kids because
they were showing up and not working, and you know,
to me, I just tried to make it put all
I could into it. But I did show it too.
I showed the rough cut to my son, who at
the time was young, like he's seven or eight and

(38:47):
a boy, right, and he watched it and put his
hoodie over his head and oh, Dad.

Speaker 5 (38:55):
Gotta take it. You got to take your name off this.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Movie, the first Alan Smith in the history of.

Speaker 6 (39:09):
I go, oh, come on, man, you know, like, but
you know, a lot of the things that are appealing
to boys in that movie, like.

Speaker 5 (39:18):
The zombieing out and a lot of the effects and
the world. You know, I don't know. I saw like
what it could be, and I thought it.

Speaker 6 (39:28):
Was they did something you know, where they just hadn't
done in other movies where they just they chose a
color palette, like it or not. You know, it had rules,
and the world had a definite I could see what
that world could look like. And they created a world
of zombies and they had the great mythology to it.
And so, you know, for me, it was, okay, how

(39:49):
can we just give this some scope because I think
at the beginning it just didn't. It had a lot
of those ideas, but they were like a corner of
a room, you know, And and so I think what
we tried to do is really like sort of blow
out the world and try to just give it scope

(40:13):
and you know it. There was a moment like the
comedy was just so interesting and just weird. I like, Trevor,
I remember, maybe we should just try You need to
just take it down a notch.

Speaker 5 (40:29):
And let's let's see. You know, you did it for
me like one take and I go, yeah, just keep
doing what you're doing.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
Take us to the day.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
How much anxiety did you have when he said, no, Paul,
I have to be the one that jumps through that
giant poster.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
It has to be me.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
How well as a director, no, you're not going to
just like injure yourself.

Speaker 4 (40:57):
Well, we've got so many days left of shooting.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Look, but it was so good, so well, like well,
I was fastly.

Speaker 6 (41:05):
Sort of surprised by things that I don't know that
I necessarily would have gone okay, Because I walked into
this room that had this big, huge like runway that
was built like it was thirty yards long, and.

Speaker 5 (41:21):
Two things of this poster that they had printed which
were huge.

Speaker 6 (41:24):
And boxes set up for to crash into it, and
I was like, what the hell is this this is
literally spent all this money just for him to run
through this post. The whole thing to me was and
it was a visual effects thing, right because he didn't
actually jump through.

Speaker 5 (41:46):
He jumped through the size of a thing that was
his head.

Speaker 6 (41:49):
But then it had to be put on to where
the poster was actually hanging.

Speaker 5 (41:54):
Oh couldn't. You couldn't actually build it, you know the way, So.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
You definitely mean that. We got to interview him, and honestly,
I don't know how.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
Long it's lasted, but he absolutely loved and is so
proud and like that was his favorite thing that he
did on that first movie, hands down.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
That was it.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
He was like, that was the most amazing thing. I
cannot believe I convinced.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
Paul to actually let me do it because.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
There was somebody hired to do it.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
Yeah, he convinced him, Like, no, no, that's got to
be me.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
I'm like, oh, okay.

Speaker 5 (42:30):
I believe it.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
I feel like I couldn't convince you to do anything.
You were like, are you sure? Like yeah, I got this,
You're like all right?

Speaker 2 (42:38):
Or he is.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
Either just an incredibly talented guy.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Yeah, And.

Speaker 6 (42:47):
There's always like it's not just that that he does
that I think it's crazy. It's all the other stuff,
the tumbling and the flipping, and then you just ask him, oh,
you need to make an entrance here can you do
like some back layover thing and then ended with the
jazz hands.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Okay, So the movie comes out, it's a smash hit.
It becomes kind of one of their big tent pole
franchises for the for the channel.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Yeah, what can we expect from the new one?

Speaker 5 (43:22):
Well, what can I say about? Definitely handoff to some
younger talent.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
Okay, we've heard, We've heard that.

Speaker 6 (43:33):
Yeah, we we have new monsters that we have God,
I don't know if what I can say, like the
Super Trouble your Penama.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
The is the the chip the chip in your neck
from Disney is going to explode?

Speaker 3 (43:47):
Yes, I know.

Speaker 6 (43:50):
We have vampires and we have day Walkers. We have
two fantastically talented kids. One Frea who's in it is
She's she's very unexperienced and wonderful and he hasn't done nothing.

Speaker 5 (44:06):
She is a trooper.

Speaker 6 (44:08):
And then Malachi who's on he was on stuck in
the middle, and I think on the Villains of Valley
Square that right, also talented, and you know, it's it's
you know, the idea is we're just trying to grow
it and I think it's a handoff to sort of
a new generation of bombies fans.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
And it's a new world. It's a world of vampires
and day walkers. You know.

Speaker 6 (44:39):
Day walkers control the power of the sun and vampires
control the power of the wind.

Speaker 5 (44:44):
So they have this elemental thing about and we shot
it in Zealand.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
Yes, that is so rad.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
I feel like Disney hasn't gone to New Zealand And forever.

Speaker 5 (44:59):
Since Eddie's Million Dollar Cookoffs.

Speaker 4 (45:01):
Really, so you've now gone twice.

Speaker 5 (45:04):
I've gone three times.

Speaker 4 (45:05):
Three times. Where's the third one?

Speaker 5 (45:08):
That was you wish?

Speaker 6 (45:09):
Okay, Eddie's Million Dollar Cookoff, and then it was this
one I tried to get back sooner for because I
thought zombies. It seems like the right place for zombies
because it has a little different of a world already.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
Yeah, there's a lot of.

Speaker 6 (45:26):
So so I really pushed to go back there, and
it's changed a lot. But it's a great place to shoot.
We had a great crew and I think you'll love it.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
It compared to shooting in a vegetarian village, as you
did in India.

Speaker 4 (45:45):
Do you remember when we went.

Speaker 5 (45:46):
To that the vegetarian village? Wasn't everything vegetarian?

Speaker 4 (45:50):
Didn't we No, there was chicken, chicken, Oh, you're.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
Right, I think we had chicken screws.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
It was when we stayed at that Prince's palace, remember
he had Oh yeah, I gotta tell a little this story.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
You don't see any of this part in the movie
at all.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
But we walked into the Prince's palace that we're staying at.
We're literally staying at this place, and one of the
rooms was his hunting room, and I just like remember,
I was like like they were everywhere.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
He had a table.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Like giant hunts, not not small, not not even buffalo like,
these things were giantormous. And he had a table that
was sat on like on animals, like feet, like hoofs
of different Okay, so we had already had kind of
different things that would happen with catering.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
The food did not sit well with me anyway.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
So now we now we don't even get to have chicken,
which was fine sous basically eating peanut butter and apples
at that point. But we were walking around and this
place was so it was so such a cool experience.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
It was different. It made some of the things with
production hard. But the village hadn't had anyone like us around.
So it's me, Keeli and Adrian walking around and we
might as well have been purple, pink and blue.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Like.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
They had never seen someone with blonde hair before. They
had never seen someone look like Kiley, like our whole
you know, our whole crew that was from the States
that was there. The filming for me was just eye
opening of Wow, we're really going to be in a
world for Disney that they haven't gone to before, and
this is going to hopefully open the eyes and you know,
Disney will hopefully expand here and all this stuff.

Speaker 4 (47:31):
And it just felt like when we were.

Speaker 5 (47:32):
Doing something India Disney Channel.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
So that yeah, yes, geez it, synergy Disney.

Speaker 5 (47:41):
It was.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
It was awesome. It was fun because things just weird
stuff kept happening.

Speaker 5 (47:47):
Stories could just do it.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
I know they asked me for stories. I'm like, I
don't think I can tell.

Speaker 6 (47:51):
Any like, but that place, for example, I was like
dusting off a file folder in my office and we
had to move out of food I pour for and
I picked up these pictures of this that location that
were like in the bottom of a drawer in the desk,
and I hadn't seen them, and.

Speaker 5 (48:10):
I go, what what is this place? Like, why aren't
we shooting here?

Speaker 8 (48:13):
Look at this, look at this like courtyard, and and
you know, the production designer came, you know, I'm coming
over to see right now and hung up the phone,
and I was like, like, people wanted to shoot there,
but there were some politics, yeah, and they couldn't shoot there,

(48:34):
and so I don't know, we we had to relocate
and we made it work. And it was like this
whole long sequence of you guys driving to get there.
And so as we were driving the whole cast going
to this location.

Speaker 6 (48:50):
I remember we had this elephant because when you walked
around there, you saw these things that were amazing, Like
you really saw women was sorry's carrying thatch on their head.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
And a giant bowl of like cement blocks. Like the
women were just hardcore.

Speaker 5 (49:09):
They worked on the road.

Speaker 6 (49:11):
They did everything they they and the men sat around
and smoked and sat at these like checkpoints and pulled
the arm of.

Speaker 5 (49:19):
The gate up beautiful by for god knows like what
that job is.

Speaker 6 (49:23):
But anyway, and so on our way there, and I
don't know if you were there.

Speaker 5 (49:31):
I know you guys were in the car, and we
did a lot of the driving thing, but.

Speaker 6 (49:35):
We were shooting the points of view, and we had
this elephant that we that walked like fifteen miles to
get there.

Speaker 5 (49:41):
And as we were.

Speaker 6 (49:42):
Shooting at this little location that I had perfectly sought out, like, okay,
if we look this way, this is where the women
on the sticks, and over here the goats can come,
and over here the elephant can walk, you know. And
as we're setting up for this carefully, suddenly over the mountains,
like two thousand people and I am not exaggerating come.

Speaker 5 (50:02):
Over to watch what's going on down below in this valley.

Speaker 6 (50:07):
Yeah, I'm like and B like going, tell me what
do you want to shoot? And I'll like clear them away?
And I go, it's impossible, this sun setting. We can't
do anything. So I get in.

Speaker 5 (50:19):
I say, get in the car. So we get in
the car and I sit on the hood.

Speaker 6 (50:24):
With the camera on my shoulder, and we start to
drive down the highway and I'm on the foot of
the car waiting to make a left turn just to
get off of the highway into the cause I'm figuring like,
if I just get anywhere, I'm going to see all
this stuff and it's going to be fine.

Speaker 5 (50:40):
And I go, we turn off the road.

Speaker 6 (50:44):
Right as we turn off the road, I see this
goat herder with his goat coming down.

Speaker 5 (50:49):
I go, what's roll? And my GANI comes out of
the car and rolls and.

Speaker 6 (50:53):
I'm literally like filming this thing as like ghosts come down.
And then we drive by and like, oh look there's
a woman working in the field. Oh look there's some
un stacking bricks on the thing. You know.

Speaker 5 (51:03):
Just me like twenty minutes that the sun was like setting,
you know. And I got back in the car.

Speaker 6 (51:10):
And Donnie like the DB's like, now that's fricking filmmaking.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Oh well, we are going to have to do an
entire episode about the Cheetah girls. But for the end
of this one, if you don't mind, I'm going to
throw two questions that you're not gonna like to answer,
because I know they're going to be very difficult, but
I'm gonna throw out there anyway. I'm gonna put you
on the spot. The first one is what's your favorite
d com that you shot?

Speaker 5 (51:39):
Oh my god, I don't think I can. I don't
even think I can. I can't even answer.

Speaker 6 (51:46):
That because they're also they also want It's like asking like,
which child is your favorite child?

Speaker 1 (51:53):
But I've been told parents really all do have a
favorite child, they just don't say it out loud, right,
I'd be closer.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
How about this, Since you did have kids that did
grow up obviously watching them because you were a part
of a lot of them, is there one that your
kid that was their favorite that you just couldn't seem
to get away?

Speaker 6 (52:15):
I would think there, let It Shine is one that
they are huge fans of. And then I would say
Lucky the Irish. Those are the two.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Luck of the Irish keeps is at the top of
most people's It's like, really at the top of a
lot of.

Speaker 4 (52:29):
People, it really is. And it still plays a lot.

Speaker 5 (52:33):
Yeah, yeah, like it's such a little simple thing too.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
People loved it.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
And then the last question, and again putting you on
the spot. I won't say favorite because favorite's difficult when
it comes to talking about people. But what actor did
you work with that the second you saw him or
her on screen you.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Knew this person was going to be a superstar.

Speaker 4 (52:54):
Oh I hope I know this one for you, not me.

Speaker 6 (53:00):
You already you were already doesn't wow that I knew
they were going to be a superstar. I don't, well, Shia,
I knew.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
I was wondering if you were going to say Shia.

Speaker 6 (53:14):
I mean, I think because I remember Gary called me
and said, what do you think about this kid? I go,
I think he's freaking awesome. I think you we should
do something with him, for sure, you know, I don't gosh,
I don't know, Sabrina, who what.

Speaker 5 (53:32):
Were you gonna?

Speaker 4 (53:33):
I would think it would be Milo.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
Oh yeah, Milo's pretty, he's he stole that movie.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
I mean, he's phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
I mean, and it's the second he gets on camera
that you're like, whoa, Yeah, well, I'm.

Speaker 5 (53:47):
Glad you had that of Milo and I were not always.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
Like okay, fair enough, fair enough, some of the greatest relationships.

Speaker 5 (53:58):
I mean, my god, he's awesome and he's super talented.

Speaker 6 (54:01):
Like I'm not taking anything away from that, but he
had never done a movie or anything, yeah at all?

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Yeah, or he just seems like a leading man and
he can dance and sing, I mean, and he's great
at it. I think he's one of the best that
the channels seen in that aspect. So, I mean he
was really great. Again this is and I know I
didn't say it yet, but Will told you is. I

(54:31):
loved the movie so much that first one. I haven't
seen the second one. I had never seen the first one, right,
I loved it so much, And I was like, Will.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
If he does like this movie, I swear god I did.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
I loved it. I thought it was great, super entertaining.

Speaker 4 (54:45):
You made him a fan of musicals, Paul. Something I
thought you did it would never happen.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
You did it.

Speaker 5 (54:51):
Well, especially that one. I would be surprised.

Speaker 6 (54:54):
I would be like, oh, you like all these other
movies like Hair, and you didn't like watch the like those?

Speaker 3 (55:01):
Now I was.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
I liked West Side Story because I was a huge
Natalie I had a big crush on Natalie would so
and so West Side Story I liked.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
And I mean, I guess technically it's a musical.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
Willie Wanka and Chocolate Factory is one of my favorite
movies of all times.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
So Jeane Wilder can do no wrong.

Speaker 5 (55:16):
In my eyes, you have it in your heart.

Speaker 4 (55:19):
I do.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
I think I just don't have it in my feet.

Speaker 5 (55:21):
Jean Wilder and very similar and west Side story. Zombie
is one is the same story.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
Yeah, but we're so stoked to see the second, and
yeah we can and the whole franchise, because if this
isn't even the first one, isn't even your favorite, it's like,
oh god, what is about to hit us?

Speaker 4 (55:42):
Like, oh my gosh, it's going to be so.

Speaker 8 (55:43):
Good, guys, like the other ones.

Speaker 6 (55:47):
I'm sure the two especially, you know, we got to
start at the beginning and right, it's good. I think
two is a lot of people's favorite.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Okay, yeah, well, last question.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Has there ever been an idea for a dcom that
you had that you wanted to do?

Speaker 6 (56:06):
Oh yeah, several of them I had. I just recently
pitched The Luck of the Irish Too, which I loved,
and I'm like, god, I just wanted to write anything.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
Looky theirs two would be great.

Speaker 6 (56:19):
So fine, Yeah, but the rules of the channel sort of,
I did. I have a synchronized swimming movie which I
thought I saw the Spanish team like on those some
Olympics like a few years ago, and so we pitched
the Sink or Swim, And then I had another Mermaid movie,
which you know, so there's several of them that I

(56:42):
keep pitching that I want to do and we'll just see.

Speaker 5 (56:45):
I still believe in them.

Speaker 6 (56:47):
But you know, right now the channel is well of
the channel, it's really Disney branded television.

Speaker 5 (56:53):
They are all going through, you know, changes.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
The whole industry really is going through these changes.

Speaker 6 (56:59):
So yeah, so it's so they need to figure out
what they want to do. And I don't think this
is the death of children's programming by any means, but
it's definitely a reset and a recalibration of of you
know what, you know, what's the possibilities because that was
definitely the golden age of programming and I don't think

(57:22):
that it's over with, but.

Speaker 5 (57:26):
There's hunger for it and we'll just have to see
how it goes.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Or I told you, if there's a Grandma cheerleader or
something needed in the Zombie seven, I'm there's five.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
I don't care whatever one it is, I'm I'm down.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
He's like, I don't think you're ready for grandma stuff yet.

Speaker 5 (57:48):
I know for sure you're not ready for No.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
Definitely, Hey, if you ever need anybody who can either
sing nor dance, I'm your guy. I'm telling you, thank you,
thank you so much for joining us busy.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
This has been so cool.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
I hope you don't mind, but we would love to
have you back sometime to continue the conversation because there's
just so much.

Speaker 4 (58:07):
To cover, so many of your movies we haven't seen yet.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
I know, I know, we can't wait, we can't wait long.

Speaker 5 (58:13):
Hopefully after you watch them you go like we were
totally wrong.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Wow, we don't need to talk to about Thank you
so much, welcome, thanks, bye bye. It's just it's one
after another, one after another, tent pole movie, smaller movie,
giant movie, media movie. I mean, it's like when you
can say you've done just just running the DCM gam it,

(58:38):
when you can say you've done Look of the Irish
and Zombies, it's like, man and then oh yeah, by
the way, one of the Cheetahirls movie, it's like, come on, I.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Mean, and how amazing is it? And I mean, definitely
would that's hard. We didn't even ask him this question
about coming into the Cheetah Girls on their third movie
or Camp Rock on their second movie. How much the
channel had to have believed in him and been knew
or even what they especially what they did with zombies
one knowing Okay, this isn't working out.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
This is the guy. This is the guy that we
can pull in, not lose all this money and keep
this production going.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
You know, it's like su Kreeger right where it's it's
kind of like, we need somebody to write that's your guy.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
We need somebody to direct, that's your guy. Like that's it.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
It seems like they act knew what they had and
that's the person that I.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Love knowing just knowing him again, and he touched on
it a little bit of how he would go in
there and fight for his how he felt the movies
would be better and the storylines would be better, and yeah,
and you know, always with a big heart and everything,
but like to know that like your director would fight

(59:47):
for your character that way.

Speaker 4 (59:49):
That's why so many of the actors we've talked to
already that have worked with him love working with him
because the level of trust that you have in your director.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
Well, he's an actor's director, you can tell.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Just for the thing he was saying where it's like,
now I care more about the relationships and why are
you what are you afraid of right now?

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
What are you thinking right now? That's an actor's director.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
That's that's the director you pray you get on the
set where yes, I can do the visual stuff and
I'm very good at the visual stuff, but let's talk
about your performance and what you're feeling and how that's
Oh God, you pray for that every day as an act.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
And I think I think one of the interviews we
had said like they'd.

Speaker 4 (01:00:26):
Be like, oh no, Paul, I think I could do
it again. He's like, Nope, you got it. Like you did.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
It's like you're good, and that right there gives you
confidence of going that far or whatever, you know. And yeah,
So I loved working with him, and like he said,
there's just probably too many stories to talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
Oh man.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
It also seems like these are stories where you need
to go have dinner with them because you probably It's like,
here's stories we can't really talk about on the pod,
but here's what happened.

Speaker 4 (01:00:49):
They're not bad.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
It's just that we're filming a Disney version of India
pretty much. And the same time our movie came out
was when slum Dog Millionaire came right, right. But the
filming process of it was it was pretty tough. You know,
I imagine coming against quite a bunch of things that
were just popping up on.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
A daily so man, awesome conversation. Thank you so much
Paul Holan for joining us. That was really cool and
I'm you know, absolutely want to have him back on
the show. And thank you all for joining us to
get again a little bit of a glimpse behind the
curtain to see how some of these awesome movies are made.
We can't wait, so join us next time over on
the other feed as we talk about I don't even

(01:01:31):
know what our next movie is going to be over there?

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
Is it is Get a Clue? Next over there? Probably?
I don't think it is.

Speaker 4 (01:01:36):
I think that's the next one.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Lindsey Lohans Get a Clue, which was one so well fun.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Well we'll talk about it. Yikes. Go back over and
check us out, and thank you all for joining us.
We will see you next time. Bye.