Bonus Episode: The Screening Room – A Star Is Born

This week in the Screening Room we’re talking about rising stars, falling stars, self-destruction, Sam Elliott impressions, and the 2018 film ‘A Star Is Born.’ Plus the mighty Hypothetical Theoretical Metaphorical Potentially Possible Mixtape with songs by The Cure, The Who, Quasi, and more. Become an All Access member and get ad-free listening by visiting disgracelandpod.com. 

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Speaker 1: Well, hello there, all you denizens of hollywood Land out there.

Speaker 1: My name is Zeth Lundy, writer, showrunner, and good doctor

Speaker 1: here at Double Elvis, and I want to welcome you

Speaker 1: to another installment of a little thing we like to

Speaker 1: call the Screening Room. This is our weekly episode of

Speaker 1: the Hollywood Land Podcasts, of course, in which I take

Speaker 1: you on a deep dive into one movie that connects

Speaker 1: with our subject this week. This week we featured a

Speaker 1: fully scripted and sound design episode from our archive back

Speaker 1: on Monday, all about Judy Garland, best known arguably for

Speaker 1: playing Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, but as she

Speaker 1: got older, he also became known for her live performances,

Speaker 1: like the one that was documented on the nineteen sixty

Speaker 1: one album Judy at Carnegie Hall, a bestseller thirteen weeks

Speaker 1: at number one on the Billboard Album Chart Album of

Speaker 1: the Year at the Grammys, the first woman in history

Speaker 1: to win that award, by the way, and she was

Speaker 1: known for other performances in films as well, particularly one

Speaker 1: called a Star Is Born, the nineteen fifty four George

Speaker 1: Kuker film in which she starred as an aspiring singer

Speaker 1: who is discovered by a former star played by James Mason,

Speaker 1: who happens to be on his way down, and the

Speaker 1: film tells this story of the rise of one star

Speaker 1: while the other stars once bright light is dimming fast.

Speaker 1: It was a remake of a nineteen thirty seven film

Speaker 1: directed by William A. Wellman, and then the nineteen fifty

Speaker 1: four version with Judy Garland was remade years later in

Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, directed by Frank Pearson, co written by

Speaker 1: husband and wife duo John Gregory Dunn and Joan Didion.

Speaker 1: By the Way, starring Barbara Streisand as the unknown Angenoux

Speaker 1: whose star is in the ascent, and Chris Christofferson as

Speaker 1: the weathered rock and roller who was in artistic impersonal decline.

Speaker 1: It would be over forty years later before the film

Speaker 1: was remade a third time for its fourth iteration total,

Speaker 1: and that was in twenty eighteen when Bradley Cooper decided

Speaker 1: that a new version of this film would be his

Speaker 1: first film as a director. Now before, Bradley Cooper, along

Speaker 1: with Will Fetters and Eric Roth, the latter being one

Speaker 1: of the most decorated screenwriters in the last fifty years

Speaker 1: before those three guys, wrote a brand new script to

Speaker 1: modernize this story and bring it to the screen again.

Speaker 1: There were many other attempts to bring this back. Will

Speaker 1: Smith was attached to this film for a while. Oliver

Speaker 1: Stone was allegedly high on making this with Jamie Foxx

Speaker 1: and Aaliyah starring Laurence Hill, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys. These

Speaker 1: are other singers who were reportedly either considering or being

Speaker 1: considered to make this film. And then around twenty eleven,

Speaker 1: Clint Eastwood was attached to the project as director, with

Speaker 1: Bradley Cooper starring alongside Beyonce. There was some other scuttle

Speaker 1: but here Tom Cruise was gonna start on this at

Speaker 1: some point. I feel like every major A list Hollywood

Speaker 1: actor and every major female pop star R and B

Speaker 1: star were somehow attached quote unquote to this film at

Speaker 1: one point or another. Will Fetters at least he had

Speaker 1: been working on the script back of the time that

Speaker 1: Clint Eastwood was attached to it, and he mentioned I

Speaker 1: believe at the time that the script he was inspired

Speaker 1: by Kurt Cobain, of all people. But anyways, the Clint

Speaker 1: Eastwood project never got off the ground. Beyonce became pregnant.

Speaker 1: I think things change, you know, things are always changing

Speaker 1: in Hollywood. If we knew of every single film that

Speaker 1: was supposed to have come out that never came out,

Speaker 1: I think our minds would be blown before long. You know,

Speaker 1: Clinton was off shooting American Sniper with Bradley Cooper instead.

Speaker 1: My point here is that a lot of people have

Speaker 1: been trying to remake A Star is Born for a

Speaker 1: long time before Bradley Cooper was able to make it happen,

Speaker 1: making this one of the most sought after and thought

Speaker 1: about gestating movie remakes in Hollywood history. And why why

Speaker 1: is it that some titles become the titles that get

Speaker 1: remade over and over. It's a business model, I guess.

Speaker 1: On the surface, you reboot ip or some generational hit

Speaker 1: in order to recontextualize it, to keep it fresh, but also,

Speaker 1: you know, keep the money rolling in, because if it

Speaker 1: ain't broke, honey, don't fix it. And if it was

Speaker 1: a huge hit in nineteen seventy six, and it was

Speaker 1: a huge hit in nineteen fifty four, then surely it'll

Speaker 1: be a huge hit in twenty eighteen. You know, Jake

Speaker 1: and I talked about cover songs and cover movies in

Speaker 1: the Rap Party this week. A few days ago. Here

Speaker 1: in Hollywood Land, you know, we hear cover songs all

Speaker 1: the time and we don't think twice about it. That's

Speaker 1: just the nature of popular music. You know, years ago

Speaker 1: before the Beatles broke the mold by performing songs that

Speaker 1: they wrote, That's how it was done. You had a songwriter.

Speaker 1: The songwriter wrote the song, and then you had performers

Speaker 1: who performed the song. And different performances by different artists

Speaker 1: gave you different flavors, gave you different ways of experiencing

Speaker 1: the same source material and such. So why does a

Speaker 1: cover movie, so to speak, Why is that any different?

Speaker 1: Why do we blame Hollywood for not being original enough

Speaker 1: when they remake a Christmas Carol for the one hundred

Speaker 1: and fiftieth time, as Ty West is currently doing with

Speaker 1: Johnny Depp starring as Ebenezer Scrooge. But when you know

Speaker 1: Johnny Cash covers Hurt by nine inch Nails, we treat

Speaker 1: that in the opposite kind of way. It's a revelation.

Speaker 1: It's not something that we should on. I realize this

Speaker 1: is a case of apples versus oranges, But you know

Speaker 1: what I'm saying, and I'm not saying we should normalize

Speaker 1: movie remakes because original ideas, original movies, original scripts, those

Speaker 1: are the thing. You know, that particular model should be

Speaker 1: protected at all costs. But when a remake comes along,

Speaker 1: like the Coen Brothers remake of True Grit or Bradley

Speaker 1: Cooper's remake of A Star is Born, I think these

Speaker 1: are examples that need to be celebrated because they prove that,

Speaker 1: you know, maybe the idea was solid, but the idea

Speaker 1: had yet to be executed in its best possible for him,

Speaker 1: and I do believe that Bradley Cooper did that, just

Speaker 1: the way the Coen Brothers did that with True Grit.

Speaker 1: But before I go deeper into A Star is Born,

Speaker 1: I want to zoom out and take a quick look

Speaker 1: at the history of movie remakes in general. What movies

Speaker 1: have been made over and over. What stories have Hollywood

Speaker 1: gone back to decade after decade, generation after generation to

Speaker 1: retell to try to reclaim a spark, or you know,

Speaker 1: just to get it right. Here are a few things

Speaker 1: that I dug up, and there are a lot of these,

Speaker 1: so I'm not gonna obviously this is not a fully

Speaker 1: comprehensive list, but the subject just kind of fascinates me.

Speaker 1: You know, First, of all, it was a movie called

Speaker 1: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This came out in nineteen

Speaker 1: fifty six. It was directed by Don Siegel, starred Kevin

Speaker 1: McCarthy and Dana Winter. It's awesome, by the way. It

Speaker 1: was remade a few decades later in nineteen seventy eight,

Speaker 1: directed by Philip Kaufman, starring Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams.

Speaker 1: It was remade again in nineteen ninety three, directed by

Speaker 1: Abel Ferrara, and then it was remade in two thousand

Speaker 1: and seven. It was called The Invasion at that point

Speaker 1: starred Nicole Kimman and Daniel Craig. The Longest Yard, which

Speaker 1: is the football film from nineteen seventy four with Burt Reynolds,

Speaker 1: that was remade. Let's see at least one, two, three

Speaker 1: times two thousand and one movie called Mean Machine starring

Speaker 1: Vinny Jones. There's a two thousand and five version starring

Speaker 1: Adam Sandler, and then there's a twenty fifteen Egyptian movie

Speaker 1: called Captain Maser, which is a remake of the Longest Yard.

Speaker 1: The Great Gatsby, the classic f Scott Fitzgerald book has

Speaker 1: been made one two, three, four times nineteen twenty six,

Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine, nineteen seventy four, that's the one with

Speaker 1: Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, and then twenty thirteen the

Speaker 1: Baz Luhrman version with Leonardo DiCaprio, Toby McGuire and Carrie mulligan.

Speaker 1: You know what strikes me as I'm going through these

Speaker 1: is that, you know, sometimes these movies that are remade

Speaker 1: over and over again, they're just they just they're not

Speaker 1: getting it right. Like The Great I don't the Great Gatsby.

Speaker 1: I don't really know that anyone's gonna be able to

Speaker 1: make a film version of that that rivals the book.

Speaker 1: I don't think that any of the ones that have

Speaker 1: been made have matched the novel. But that's just me.

Speaker 1: So in some of these cases, it's like, guys, maybe

Speaker 1: quit while you're ahead and move on to something else. Right,

Speaker 1: Speaking of classic novels, Little Women, let's see, there were

Speaker 1: two silent film adaptations back in the teens, the nineteen

Speaker 1: seventeen nineteen eighteen that was made in nineteen thirty three,

Speaker 1: in nineteen forty nine, in nineteen ninety four, in twenty eighteen,

Speaker 1: and then most recently in twenty nineteen, the Greta Gerwig

Speaker 1: version with Sarah Sha Ronan and Emma Watson, Florence Pugh

Speaker 1: and all those gals Romeo and Juliet has been made

Speaker 1: apparently over fifty times. Godzilla, Dracula, Frankenstein, Frankenstein might be

Speaker 1: the most egregious. Do we really need another Frankenstein? Did

Speaker 1: we need Gammel Del Toro's Frankenstein? Like, really, did we?

Speaker 1: I don't think we. I don't think we ever needed

Speaker 1: another Frankenstein movie. After mel Brooks Young Frankenstein. I think

Speaker 1: that was the That was it, guys. I think we

Speaker 1: did it. I think we conquered that one and we

Speaker 1: can move on. Okay. The most remade movie of all time, however,

Speaker 1: and I'm not talking about a book that has been

Speaker 1: adapted time and time again, but an original film that

Speaker 1: has been remade. That distinction, according to the Guinness Book

Speaker 1: of World Records, is a twenty sixteen Italian film called

Speaker 1: Perfect Strangers. In just the last ten years since this movie,

Speaker 1: Perfect Strangers came out twenty sixteen, that film has been

Speaker 1: remade twenty four times in different languages twenty four times

Speaker 1: in the last ten years. It has not been adapted

Speaker 1: into an English version yet, however, because the US rights

Speaker 1: were acquired back in twenty sixteen. Around then they were

Speaker 1: acquired by the Einsteeing Company, and well, that company has

Speaker 1: been having some issues. So don't hold your breath on

Speaker 1: an English language American version of Perfect Strangers anytime soon,

Speaker 1: is what I'm saying. Now. Back when a Star is

Speaker 1: Born was announced that the Bradley Cooper Lady Gaga version

Speaker 1: here that we're talking about. I gotta say I had

Speaker 1: zero feelings about this. I like Bradley Cooper enough as

Speaker 1: an actor at that point, but you know, honestly, he

Speaker 1: was untested as a director, and I saw nothing in

Speaker 1: him to indicate that he would come through. Perhaps that

Speaker 1: was just me being myopic, or I don't know. I

Speaker 1: just had no evidence to get me psyched on Bradley

Speaker 1: Cooper as some visionary And again, you know, in the

Speaker 1: honesty department here, I could care less about Lady Gaga.

Speaker 1: Her music just wasn't my thing. It continues to not

Speaker 1: be my thing. I find her whole stick to be

Speaker 1: more performative than emotionally resonant to me. I'm reminded of

Speaker 1: an excerpt from Dave Marsh's old book The Heart of

Speaker 1: Rock and Sol which is basically a giant list of

Speaker 1: the greatest songs of all time, and this one excerpt,

Speaker 1: he argues that a song like Aretha Franklin's Respect is

Speaker 1: arguably stronger than a song like the Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever,

Speaker 1: because Strawberry Fields has this performative nature to it, you know,

Speaker 1: the thrill as it were, is the cut and paste wizardry,

Speaker 1: absolutely a groundbreaking piece of art. But when it comes

Speaker 1: to pure emotion into songs, doing what songs are supposed

Speaker 1: to do, something like Aretha's Respect is more impactful. Now,

Speaker 1: that's what Dave Marsh is saying. That's not what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: I'm saying this reminds me of this point of view,

Speaker 1: and I'm not going to go down the Dave Marsh

Speaker 1: rabbit hole right now. I can understand his argument. I

Speaker 1: think it's an argument that he needed to make in

Speaker 1: order to sell the order of the rankings of his

Speaker 1: own book. But suffice to say, there's plenty of room

Speaker 1: in the world and in my own list for both

Speaker 1: Strawberry Fields and Riespect. When it comes to Lady Gaga,

Speaker 1: I've come around a little since I actually like some

Speaker 1: of her latest stuff more than some of her earlier

Speaker 1: stuff that put her on the map, but that just

Speaker 1: wasn't my scene or my jam or whatever. So I

Speaker 1: had zero feelings about this movie. When it came out,

Speaker 1: there was a free screening here in town though one

Speaker 1: of the local theaters where I live. It was some

Speaker 1: sort of benefit. I forget the details. My wife and

Speaker 1: I went because why not. You know, a night of

Speaker 1: the movies is always a good time, no matter what

Speaker 1: the movie is. And I got to say, I was

Speaker 1: actually shocked. I loved it. I loved this film. I

Speaker 1: loved Lady Gaga's performance. I had never seen her so

Speaker 1: vulnerable and relatable before. I thought Bradley Cooper was incredible.

Speaker 1: I thought he was a steady hand behind the camera.

Speaker 1: He delivered this really simple yet extremely affecting story with

Speaker 1: grace and empathy. And when it comes to movies about singers,

Speaker 1: movies about musicians, I think this is one of the best.

Speaker 1: I don't think he's topped it either. I did like

Speaker 1: his second feature, Maestro, that came out on Netflix a

Speaker 1: few years ago, now right, That was his biopic on

Speaker 1: Leonard Bernstein. I really liked it. Actually, I've only seen

Speaker 1: it the one time, but I liked the big swing

Speaker 1: of the film, and I like that Bradley Cooper is

Speaker 1: obviously a music fanatic and is making movies about music

Speaker 1: and about artists and about what drives artists to make music,

Speaker 1: to make their life out of music and all that.

Speaker 1: I did not like his third movie, his latest one

Speaker 1: called Is This Thing On. That's the one in which

Speaker 1: Will Arnette plays a guy who's going through a separation

Speaker 1: with his wife and he tries his at stand up comedy.

Speaker 1: The whole thing is shot and like very uncomfortable close ups,

Speaker 1: which I guess is the point, but it was just

Speaker 1: not a comfortable watch. I'm being honest, and I am

Speaker 1: since you know, not once but twice now or maybe thrice,

Speaker 1: I've made pit stops here at the Department of Honesty.

Speaker 1: A Star is Born. The fourth version, the twenty eighteen version,

Speaker 1: the Bradley Cooper helmed version, is a movie about big breaks,

Speaker 1: about long slow falls, about addiction and regret and opportunity,

Speaker 1: and perhaps above all, it's about voices, the voices we

Speaker 1: are given, the voices we nurture, and the voices we

Speaker 1: want to possess. And I'm going to get into it

Speaker 1: right after This Star is Born is about a country

Speaker 1: singer more the Americana you know, Chris Stapletons, Sturgel Simpson,

Speaker 1: Jason Isabel, Lucas Nelson kind of country, rather than the

Speaker 1: Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, Luke Combs kind of country. You know.

Speaker 1: A country singer named Jackson Mayne who is in his forties,

Speaker 1: played by Bradley Cooper. He's an addict and when we

Speaker 1: meet him, he's about to perform in front of a

Speaker 1: huge crowd with his band, and he's knocking back pills

Speaker 1: with some booze, and then he's giving this incredible performance

Speaker 1: of this hard driving rock song. Really it's a rock

Speaker 1: song with some country tinges on the edge. It's a

Speaker 1: song called black Eyes. But you can tell by how

Speaker 1: Bradley Cooper looks and acts that this character, Jackson Maine,

Speaker 1: he's really struggling to get through this performance. Cut to

Speaker 1: another struggling character, Ali, this waitress played by Lady Gaga.

Speaker 1: She's breaking up with someone over the phone, she's getting

Speaker 1: chewed out by her boss. She's going through some shit

Speaker 1: in her life. But then she's singing beautifully into the

Speaker 1: night as she walks down the street after her shift.

Speaker 1: The two characters meet later that evening at a drag bar.

Speaker 1: Jackson is there just to get out of the limelight,

Speaker 1: just to go somewhere where he knows he won't be

Speaker 1: hounded and he won't have to deal with his own

Speaker 1: fame or his own reality or mortality or whatever. And

Speaker 1: Ali is there, hanging out with her friends, and she

Speaker 1: sings a rendition of Edith Pioff's l Van Rose, which

Speaker 1: totally blows Jackson away, just completely levels him. So he

Speaker 1: makes his presence known, He introduces himself. They strike up

Speaker 1: this friendship, you know, they become lovers, musical collaborators. First,

Speaker 1: he convinces her to come with him on his massive tour.

Speaker 1: It's like this dream come true for her. You know,

Speaker 1: she's out here quitting her stupid day job. She's flying

Speaker 1: on a plane. She's watching Jackson mane this superstar from

Speaker 1: the side of the stage, and then, despite her protests,

Speaker 1: she's being dragged out from the wings to center stage

Speaker 1: to perform with Jackson in front of this huge crowd.

Speaker 1: And we're off. You know, Ali's starr is on the rise,

Speaker 1: but it's not hard to see the problems lurking just

Speaker 1: below the surface. Jackson is a drunk, he's self destructive,

Speaker 1: and as much as he wanted this for Ali, the success,

Speaker 1: I think he wanted this for her, it becomes harder

Speaker 1: for him to see her do so well and be

Speaker 1: embraced by the public and lauded by the critics, while

Speaker 1: he is increasingly being written off as as it has

Speaker 1: been through you know, through his own his own actions,

Speaker 1: and this leads to some unnecessary confrontations, It leads to

Speaker 1: embarrassments and humiliations, and ultimately it leads to a tragedy

Speaker 1: which casts a dark shadow on all that Ali is

Speaker 1: continuing to accomplish. There's something so lived in and so

Speaker 1: true and spontaneous about this film, which is kind of

Speaker 1: a small miracle. I mean, these are major, major stars,

Speaker 1: Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, and yet so many moments

Speaker 1: in this movie feel like you're a fly on the

Speaker 1: wall watching these real people have these real moments. You know,

Speaker 1: a lot of times there are moments that feel uncomfortable

Speaker 1: because for us, because they're so raw and they're so personal,

Speaker 1: it's like you shouldn't be watching them. Lady Gaga in particular,

Speaker 1: is just absolutely revelatory in this movie. She's so dynamic,

Speaker 1: her range, she's got power, she's got subtlety. And as

Speaker 1: much as I love Bradley Cooper doing his Sam Elliott impression,

Speaker 1: Sam Elliott plays Bradley Cooper's character's older brother, and Cooper

Speaker 1: is deliberately doing Sam Elliott's voice because his character idolizes

Speaker 1: his brother. But as much as I love all that,

Speaker 1: Lady Gaga gives the all time performance here. It's just

Speaker 1: so great. And I think what makes all of this connect,

Speaker 1: what grounds it all in this true real world, is

Speaker 1: the music. It's like the music that was written for

Speaker 1: almost famous. The songs that Bradley Cooper's character sings and

Speaker 1: that Lady Gaga's character sings, they were written by Some

Speaker 1: of them were written by Bradley Cooper in collaboration with

Speaker 1: Lucas Nelson who I mentioned earlier, and Lady Gaga and

Speaker 1: Mark Ronson and Diane Warren, Jake Brennan's favorite songwriter and

Speaker 1: in history there are different combinations of writers for different songs.

Speaker 1: Jason Isbell and someone else I mentioned earlier. He wrote

Speaker 1: the song maybe It's Time for This, a song that

Speaker 1: he still performs at his own shows. And then Lucas

Speaker 1: Nelson and his band promise of the real They are

Speaker 1: here in the movie as Bradley Cooper's backing band, and

Speaker 1: it's not just the songwriters and the songs, but it's

Speaker 1: the locations. They actually shot at the Stage Coach Festival

Speaker 1: in India when that was happening. They literally had minutes

Speaker 1: to set up and shoot each scene because they were

Speaker 1: I think they were doing it in between real sets

Speaker 1: by real bands at this festival. You know. They shot

Speaker 1: stuff at Coachella and Glastonbury. Lady Gaga was headlining Coachella,

Speaker 1: which helped them get access. But also Chris Christofferson was

Speaker 1: there as a performer, and he's got some skin in

Speaker 1: the game when it comes to this film where he

Speaker 1: was in it back in the seventies, so he was

Speaker 1: cool with letting some of the filming of the movie

Speaker 1: eat into his set. They shot the SNL scenes at SNL.

Speaker 1: They shot Chateau Marmont at Chattah Marmont. All these real locations,

Speaker 1: these real festivals, these real songs. You just you can't

Speaker 1: deny the results here, even if the songs aren't like

Speaker 1: your favorite songs. These aren't necessarily any of my favorite songs.

Speaker 1: I'm not you know, I'm not walking around singing shallow

Speaker 1: all the time, but there are songs that sound absolutely

Speaker 1: faithful to the characters. I buy Bradley Cooper singing these songs.

Speaker 1: I buy Bradley Cooper leading a band featuring Lucas Nelson

Speaker 1: in front of a huge crowd of real music fans.

Speaker 1: And speaking of music fans, which I know all of

Speaker 1: you are, I want to make a hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical,

Speaker 1: potentially possible mixtape inspired by this film. So give me

Speaker 1: two shakes of a lamb's tail and I'll be right

Speaker 1: back to do just that. All right, gang, we are

Speaker 1: back here in the screening room in Hollywood Land, and

Speaker 1: as usual as always, I want to create a hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical,

Speaker 1: potentially possible mixtape. I'm going to trademark that, by the way,

Speaker 1: inspired by the twenty eighteen Bradley Cooper film A Star

Speaker 1: Is Born. Lots to think about here, guys, stars, rising stars, falling,

Speaker 1: self destruction, self sabotage, love, depression, addiction, opportunity, man dudes

Speaker 1: talking like other dudes. The first song I thought of,

Speaker 1: there's always a first song. In the first first place

Speaker 1: my mind went to is this great song called on

Speaker 1: Your Way Down, written and performed by Alan Too Saint

Speaker 1: from his nineteen seventy two album Life, Love and Faith.

Speaker 1: Life Love and Faith is one of my favorite records

Speaker 1: of all time. I'm going on record here. It's in

Speaker 1: my top ten. I love this album so much. Alan

Speaker 1: Too Saint, just what can you say? Legendary New Orleans producer, songwriter,

Speaker 1: and performer in his own right. This guy wrote Mother

Speaker 1: in Law for Ernie k. Do. He wrote Working in

Speaker 1: the coal Mine for Lee Dorsey. He produced The Meters,

Speaker 1: He produced Doctor John. He did the horn arrangements for

Speaker 1: the band for their Rock of Ages show. He's got

Speaker 1: The Meters as his band on this album. And this song,

Speaker 1: on your Way Down, it's basically like a you know,

Speaker 1: it's like a dude unto others how you want them

Speaker 1: to do unto you. It's been a while since I've

Speaker 1: said that, so I got it wrong, I think. But

Speaker 1: it's basically like, hey, be nice to everybody while you're

Speaker 1: on your way up, even the little people, because you

Speaker 1: might meet him again on your way down, right, And

Speaker 1: of course Jackson Mayne is on his way down in

Speaker 1: this film, And so I thought of this song right away.

Speaker 1: It's just it's gospelly, it's swampy, it's funky, it's incredible.

Speaker 1: And again, this whole record, Life, Love and Faith is

Speaker 1: just you can't you can't fuck with this album. This song,

Speaker 1: by the way, was covered in the seventies by Little Feet,

Speaker 1: and then Alan Usaint did it again with Elvis Costello

Speaker 1: when they collaborated on an album together called The River

Speaker 1: in Reverse. I believe this song opens that record on

Speaker 1: your Way Down, Alan Toussaint, all right, my next song

Speaker 1: here for our hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical, potentially possible mixtape is

Speaker 1: However Much I Booze by the Who from the nineteen

Speaker 1: seventy five album Who by Numbers. Now. Like many of

Speaker 1: Pete Townshend songs, this one is highly personal to look

Speaker 1: at his own self destructive tendencies. But it's also one

Speaker 1: of those kind of rare Who songs that is sung

Speaker 1: by Pete as well. And I Love Me a good

Speaker 1: WHO song with Pete on lead. I Gotta confess. Roger Daltrey,

Speaker 1: you know I love you. You've got one of the

Speaker 1: greatest screams in rock and roll. But there's something so

Speaker 1: vulnerable about Pete's voice that Rogers just so is just

Speaker 1: so sure of himself and and cocky, and you know

Speaker 1: like the I like the sort of the more tender

Speaker 1: vibes that Pete brings this album, Who by Numbers gets

Speaker 1: my vote for the Who's Dark album. It's low key

Speaker 1: my favorite album on some days, some days, not all days,

Speaker 1: but some just the opening four tracks alone here slip Kid,

Speaker 1: however much I booze, Squeezebox and Dreaming from the Waist,

Speaker 1: so good man. And then you compare this song that

Speaker 1: I'm talking about, however much I booze with another song

Speaker 1: on the second half of this record, how Many Friends,

Speaker 1: which is all about you know, how many friends do

Speaker 1: I really have that I can rely on and trust

Speaker 1: and all that. This is a very depressing record. I

Speaker 1: guess it's like I'm drinking too much. I don't have

Speaker 1: enough friends. You know, it's got heavy Jackson Maine vibes,

Speaker 1: So that's why it's going on this mixtaper. Right, however

Speaker 1: much I booze by the Ow, the bloody Ow all

Speaker 1: right now, next song here a great song by one

Speaker 1: of my favorites. You guys know this rim. This song's

Speaker 1: called Don't Go Back to Rockville from their second album, Reckoning,

Speaker 1: came out in nineteen eighty four. This has one of

Speaker 1: my favorite shout out loud sing along song or choruses

Speaker 1: in Arim's catalog. It's so cathartic. It's got the killer

Speaker 1: backing vocals by Mike Mills. You know Mike Miles, of course,

Speaker 1: not only Arim's basis, but also the worst kept secret

Speaker 1: in Arim, because the dude is just the goat at

Speaker 1: background vocals. In this song, I hear themes of regret,

Speaker 1: of inevitability, of repeating old patterns, of not doing the

Speaker 1: thing that you're probably gonna do, and so many of

Speaker 1: those themes resonate for me so much in A Star

Speaker 1: Is Born. So that's why I'm including it here. Plus

Speaker 1: it's just a fucking great song, all right. The next

Speaker 1: song here in our hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical, potentially possible mixtape

Speaker 1: is called Love Song by the Cure, because I think

Speaker 1: we need a love song on this mixtape, but we

Speaker 1: need a love song that feels doomed, you know what

Speaker 1: I mean? And I think that love song all one

Speaker 1: word No Space by the Cure from their nineteen eighty

Speaker 1: nine album Disintegration is a doomed love song. My college

Speaker 1: roommate and one of my great friends, Dave. He's the

Speaker 1: world's biggest Cure fan, and I think this is his

Speaker 1: favorite Cure record behind Pornography. Right? Did I get that right, Dave?

Speaker 1: I don't know that Dave listens to the show. Maybe

Speaker 1: he does, Hi, Dave, if you're listening, hope all is

Speaker 1: well down under in Australia. Doesn't this song feel doomed

Speaker 1: to you? Guys? Whenever I'm alone with you, you make

Speaker 1: me feel like I am whole again. The delivery, the atmosphere,

Speaker 1: the production, the music. Damn, that's the satisfucking love song

Speaker 1: I've ever heard. It's like the relationship that Jackson and

Speaker 1: Ally have. It's so sad, perfect love song for this film.

Speaker 1: Love song, by the way, by the Cure a favorite

Speaker 1: of Olivia Rodrigo, who is name checking The Cure on

Speaker 1: her new record numerous times and singing live with Robert

Speaker 1: Smith at her shows. Now I know this because my

Speaker 1: daughter is crazy for Olivia Rodrigo. She's also crazy for

Speaker 1: Benson Boone and I get to take her to a

Speaker 1: Benson Boone show in Boston next month. So say your

Speaker 1: prayer for Me please okay. Next song on our mixtape here,

Speaker 1: inspired by A Star Is Born, is a track by

Speaker 1: Derek and the domino Is called Nobody Knows You When

Speaker 1: You're Down and Out. This, of course, is from the

Speaker 1: only studio album that Derek and the Dominoes ever put out,

Speaker 1: Layla and other assorted love songs from nineteen seventy, Laila

Speaker 1: being the song that Eric Clapton wrote to be like, Hey,

Speaker 1: George Harrison, I'm stealing your wife. Incidentally, there was not

Speaker 1: a guy named Derek and Derek and the Dominoes. It's

Speaker 1: kind of a Ben Folds five situation. You know, there's

Speaker 1: only three guys in ben Fules five. There's not five.

Speaker 1: So Derek and the Dominoes is the brief supergroup of

Speaker 1: sorts I guess that Eric Clapton formed with Dwayne Almon

Speaker 1: of The Alman Brothers, keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Rattle,

Speaker 1: and drummer Jim Gordon. This is one of my favorite

Speaker 1: Clapton records. I mean, the title track is canon obviously,

Speaker 1: but the blues tunes on here, like this one, are

Speaker 1: just awesome. They sound incredible. This record was recorded by

Speaker 1: the legendary Tom Dowd, legendary engineer. Nobody Knows You when

Speaker 1: You're Down and Out is an old, old blue standard

Speaker 1: written by Jimmy Cox back in the nineteen twenties. It's

Speaker 1: been performed by Bessie Smith, Otis Redding, Van Morrison, Nina Simone,

Speaker 1: Janis Joplin. The list goes on and on and on

Speaker 1: and on, and it just gives me the down and

Speaker 1: out vibes that Jackson Mayne is going through in this movie. Right. Okay,

Speaker 1: I got one more song for you for this mixtape. Okay,

Speaker 1: hang with me here. This is called only Success Can

Speaker 1: Fail Me Now. This is by Quasi from their nineteen

Speaker 1: ninety eight album Featuring Birds. Quasi is the ex husband

Speaker 1: and wife duo of Sam Coombs on keyboards and guitar

Speaker 1: and Janet Weiss on drums. Their sound is very distinctive

Speaker 1: because Sam often plays, or used to play, I think

Speaker 1: maybe it's broken now and there's not a lot in

Speaker 1: existence or something I forget. But he plays what's called

Speaker 1: a roxy chord, which is like an electric harpsichord, and

Speaker 1: it's often like distorted. It's turned up so loud or

Speaker 1: put through an amplifier or pedals or whatever. You may

Speaker 1: know Janet Weiss from her time in Slater Kinney. She

Speaker 1: was the drummer in that band for a very long time.

Speaker 1: You may know Sam Combs from his time as the

Speaker 1: bass player in heat Miser. That was Elliott Smith's band

Speaker 1: back in the day in Portland, Oregon. This Quase record

Speaker 1: was one of my most listened to albums back in

Speaker 1: the late nineties. Sam Combs writes these wicked, catchy songs

Speaker 1: that are funny and caustic and dead serious, with titles

Speaker 1: like I Never want to see you again or you

Speaker 1: fucked yourself. There's a song on this record called California,

Speaker 1: and it has the line life is dull, life is

Speaker 1: gray at its best, It's just okay. But I'm happy

Speaker 1: to report life is also short. That's kind of the

Speaker 1: quasi vibe in a nutshell. They actually they toured with

Speaker 1: Elliott Smith on his Exo tour, his first major label tour.

Speaker 1: They were the opening act and then they were his

Speaker 1: backing band for his set. And I saw that tour

Speaker 1: at the Paradise in Boston, and as Will Ferrell would say,

Speaker 1: it was transplendent. This song only success can fail Me

Speaker 1: Now is a rare example of a quasisong without lyrics.

Speaker 1: I believe it's just guitars and drums, but the title

Speaker 1: is so evocative of one of this movie's many themes.

Speaker 1: So I'm putting it here in the mixtape. And there

Speaker 1: you go, some songs to get this hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical,

Speaker 1: potentially possible mixtape off the ground. Let me know if

Speaker 1: you've got any additions for this one's songs about big breaks,

Speaker 1: songs about rising stars or falling stars, about self destruction.

Speaker 1: You can get at me on the telephone six one

Speaker 1: seven nine oh six six six three eight. You can

Speaker 1: send me an email at Disgrace lamppod at gmail dot com.

Speaker 1: And while you're doing that, I'm gonna pause real quick,

Speaker 1: but stay put, guys. I'm gonna be right back by

Speaker 1: Hollywood Land. Peeps. We are back, and I hope you

Speaker 1: all dug that deep dive into the fourth iteration of

Speaker 1: star is Born from twenty eighteen? Have you guys seen this? Curious?

Speaker 1: What your thoughts are? Are you into God Guy's performance?

Speaker 1: What did you think of Bradley Cooper's Sam Elliott impression?

Speaker 1: What's your favorite song from this movie? Do you have

Speaker 1: a song. Do you like the songs from this movie? Again,

Speaker 1: not my favorite songs per se, but songs that I

Speaker 1: completely believe, just like I completely believe these characters. Hey,

Speaker 1: real quick, relevant to our interests here. I've kind of

Speaker 1: been doing this like little detour here at the end

Speaker 1: of these episodes to kind I kind of miss the

Speaker 1: random movie recommendations portion of the rap party that I

Speaker 1: no longer do because I do these more thematic recommendations

Speaker 1: with Jake now over there, So I've been kind of

Speaker 1: slotting those here at the end of this end of

Speaker 1: the screening room episodes just kind of feels right for now,

Speaker 1: but again relevant to our interest movies. I finally saw

Speaker 1: Obsession at the theater a few days ago. This is

Speaker 1: the new horror film by a filmmaker named Curry Barker.

Speaker 1: This is a guy who's known for his YouTube comedy channel,

Speaker 1: another guy just like Jordan Peele and Zach Kregor, who

Speaker 1: came from the comedy world and is now making horror films,

Speaker 1: and Obsession is has quickly become one of the phenomena

Speaker 1: of the year. It cost well under a one million

Speaker 1: dollars to make. I think it costs between five hundred

Speaker 1: and seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It's already done

Speaker 1: something like three hundred million worldwide. It is the highest

Speaker 1: grossing film that Focus Features has ever produced, which is wild.

Speaker 1: I'm going to go out on a limb and say

Speaker 1: it might be the most successful sort of grossing movie

Speaker 1: of all time based on how much it costs to

Speaker 1: make versus how much it made at the box office.

Speaker 1: It's really connecting with audiences. It's connecting with younger roddens audiences.

Speaker 1: These audiences are going back to the movie theater to

Speaker 1: see this film numerous times, which is rad for movies

Speaker 1: and for the traditional movie going experience that some would

Speaker 1: have said was taking its last breaths back in the

Speaker 1: wake of the COVID pandemic. But anyway, this movie, guys,

Speaker 1: it freaked me the fuck out. I think I spent

Speaker 1: the last two thirds, at least the last half, with

Speaker 1: my hoodie pulled up to my bottom lips so that

Speaker 1: I could easily cover my face at a moment's notice.

Speaker 1: It strikes this tone early on that's tough to describe,

Speaker 1: but it's like you don't know if you should laugh

Speaker 1: or scream. You let your guard down only to be

Speaker 1: stunned into terror and vice versa. You're stunned into terror

Speaker 1: and then you find yourself laughing. And it has incredible

Speaker 1: sound design. It has a dynamic shape shifting performance by

Speaker 1: Indie Neverrette. In some ways, it sort of subverts the

Speaker 1: typical tropes of your typical horror film. Yes, it has

Speaker 1: jump scares, but the jump scares are delivered in a

Speaker 1: way that feel fresh to me. This whole movie feels fresh.

Speaker 1: It's far from perfect, but it feels super fresh while

Speaker 1: also still being rooted in this like old school nineteen eighties,

Speaker 1: nineteen nineties era indie filmmaking or horror filmmaking pedigree. I

Speaker 1: highly recommend this. Just be prepared to watch it through

Speaker 1: your fingers. It's freaky as hell. Check it out. Okay,

Speaker 1: crystal Ball time here looking ahead to next week. Coming

Speaker 1: at you Monday, We've got our fully scripted and sound

Speaker 1: design episode from the archive on Bob Crane. Bob Crane

Speaker 1: was this dude who was in Hogan's Heroes back in

Speaker 1: the day, this sitcom that ran Naked Night ran reruns

Speaker 1: of this back in the nineties. He seemed like this wholesome,

Speaker 1: all American dude, and it turned out that he was

Speaker 1: talking about freaky stuff. He was doing some freaky, deky

Speaker 1: stuff behind the s and it resulted in homicide. Okay,

Speaker 1: is wild wild story. Make sure you check that out.

Speaker 1: And then coming Wednesday and the rap party here, I

Speaker 1: want to know from you guys, thinking about Bob Crane right,

Speaker 1: thinking about all the dirty little secrets that you wouldn't

Speaker 1: imagine a dude like Bob Crane with Harbor. For our

Speaker 1: question of the Week next week, I want to know

Speaker 1: what Hollywood scandal straight up shocked you when it happened, Like,

Speaker 1: what scandal was the most scandalous? You can get at

Speaker 1: me six one seven nine oh six six six three eight,

Speaker 1: leave me a voicemail, send me a text. You can

Speaker 1: also email me disgracelandpod at gmail dot com. If you're

Speaker 1: a member of Disgraceland All Access over in Patreon, just

Speaker 1: leave me a leave me something in the chat there,

Speaker 1: comment on this, or jump in the chat. If you're

Speaker 1: not a member of Disgraceland All Access on Patreon, you

Speaker 1: are missing out on our video podcast that is exclusive

Speaker 1: to that platform. It's called this film should be played loud.

Speaker 1: I know you've heard me talk about it well We've

Speaker 1: got a brand new episode that just dropped two days ago,

Speaker 1: all about Dazed and Confused. We're talking about Aerosmith, We're

Speaker 1: talking about Black Sabbath, We're talking about Alice Cooper and

Speaker 1: Lowrider by War and Black Oak Arkansas and Nazareth and

Speaker 1: other bands that you find you know, thirteen million copies

Speaker 1: of their records and they used record binds. This film

Speaker 1: should be played loud. Is all about the greatest soundtracks

Speaker 1: of some of our favorite movies. This new episode on

Speaker 1: Days and Confused it just might be our best. So

Speaker 1: check it out. Disgraceland all Access. You can just go

Speaker 1: to disgracelampod dot com and right on the homepage is

Speaker 1: more information and a link to sign up. Okay, and

Speaker 1: if you've been busy this week, by the way, and

Speaker 1: you haven't had a chance to check out Jake's new

Speaker 1: episode on Sonic Youth over in Disgrace, lamb damn kid,

Speaker 1: fix that shit. This episode is so so, so so good.

Speaker 1: Do yourself a favor. Tune in over there. Great writing,

Speaker 1: great production as always by the team here at Double Elvis.

Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna leave you guys today with this. All right,

Speaker 1: this is what America was watching at the movies. In

Speaker 1: October of twenty eighteen, the month that A Star Was

Speaker 1: Born was released in theaters. Number one Venom, directed by

Speaker 1: Ruben Fleischer. Number two, A Star Is Born directed by

Speaker 1: Bradley Cooper. Number three Halloween directed by David Gordon Green, Smallfoot,

Speaker 1: Number four small Foot directed by Kerry Kirkpatrick and Jason

Speaker 1: Nights the House. Number five Night School directed by Malcolm

Speaker 1: d Lee. Number six Goosebumps two Haunted Halloween directed by

Speaker 1: Ali Sing. Number seven, Quit Talking and start mixing.