When was the last time I took a road trip? How many national parks could I hit in two weeks? What about hotels? Wait.
How much am I spending on travel?
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BAS.com slash bonkers and use the code bonkers at checkout. Imagine Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds without the drama or the suspense.
but with 100% more machine guns, driving scenes, and birds that spit acid. We saw Birdemic, Shock and Terror, so you know what that means. Let's go in the mediocrity of Sambora.
Australia is the farthest from you
So he made it, so you have no excuse next time. We have an amazing movie here tonight. The movie is Birdemic, Shock and Terror. If you have not seen this movie, stop. Stop everything. Well, you in the crowd, you can't leave. But I would recommend everyone, if you're at home, watch it first. It's amazing. When you think about movies like The Room and Troll 2, they're good. This, better. Better.
Like, this is more, I don't even know, if Ed Wood is living through this director, and it's awesome. We have a great show for you. Not only do we have a very special guest to talk about Birdemic, but we have someone from the actual movie. That's right. Whitney Moore, star of Birdemic 1 and 2.
We're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about that later. She will be here to talk about it, tell us what it was like to be on this set. I hear the movie took place over four years. I don't know if that's true. I would like to believe that it was. As always, I am joined by my co-host, Jason Manzoukas. Welcome, Jason. Have a seat. Woo!
I haven't seen this lovely Mike Douglas kiss. Oh no, it's all done. You may have blown it out. The bit may have blown it out. Normally, June Diane Rayfield is here. She might be here. She is coming from a shoot and she was very late in coming, so she will join us eventually. But we have a very special guest. This guy...
What can you say about this guy who's our guest? He is amazing, a comedy genius, a New York Times bestseller, nominated for Grammys coming up, won Grammys, won more things than you ever want to know. And please welcome Al Yankovic. Amazing. Hello, Al. What's it called? Standing ovation. Wow. A standing ovation. Wow. Oh, my goodness. Oh, wow. Oh, wow.
Look at that. You got a standing ovation. That is awesome. I am furious that I did not get a standing ovation. How dare you? Well, we are so excited to have you here. Me too. And now you are a fan of Birdemic. I did not know that before we asked you to do this. Perhaps my favorite movie ever. It's pretty, what do you like more? Do you like the shock or the terror more? You know, it's 50-50. I like them both. Yeah.
have their merits. I'm finding that so distracting in a way that is like, no, not in a way to get rid of it, in a way that I'm like, all I want is to stare deeper into his eyes. For those of you at home that don't have the visual component, there is a screen on with a picture of the lead character. Yeah.
Rod. The people at home, the people at home do not matter to me. Yeah. They are irrelevant. And I will spend most of this podcast talking only to the beautiful people of this audience. Amazing. You're all that matters. You are the winners tonight. You got a, you got a one person standing ovation. You know what? Very nice. Thank you, sir or madam. All right. So let's get right into it. Uh,
By first, I think we should just go, let's take away the idea that the sound and the video elements are terrible. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You want to take that away? I mean, I think we could talk about it, but that is, I mean, we could just acknowledge that that is going to be a runner throughout the whole. The next movie. Yeah. Have a little sound matching from shot to shot. I could spend 15 minutes just talking about the wet kissing.
We'll get to the wet kissing. The kissing scene is the... I feel like whatever they shot was then dubbed in with like...
Just like hours of ADR to be like, no, that's not wet enough. We need a wetter kiss. There is some curious ADR in the movie, though, too, throughout the whole. There seems to be some re-record elements in there. They re-recorded the kids. Yes. But then for all the beach scenes, it's like you hear the roar of the ocean, like, I can't even understand what you're talking about!
I do like that I think the quality of this film is a little less than some of my home videos that I made in the late 80s. It was shot on Super 8. But yeah, alright, so...
That being said, the opening, another opening that is like seven minutes of driving. I have to say, I really did enjoy the opening titles. I thought Helvetica was a bold choice. That was nice. And I liked how the camera was slightly askew, a little Dutch angle on the camera for the whole driving sequence. Because that was foreboding. Oh, everything's a little askew here. Something's happening a little.
Do you, I feel like the reason why the movie is like the Dutch angles is because he couldn't fit in the car properly. So it was like just somebody like, go, go, drive, drive. Crammed his arm against the window. It was the same guy driving. They were shooting like, how's it? Is this good? Is this good? I felt like there was an element of this movie where they needed to show us how the characters got from place to place in real time.
As if to say, maybe those people are going to be from this town and they'll know you couldn't get there in a couple of seconds. It really was epic. It was a 10 grand budget. That was all gas, right? Oh yeah, yeah. In the very beginning, there is a static 30 seconds of a Chevron sign with gas prices on it. I was like, this is bananas. I was going to ask who the editor was, but editing implies something's taken out of the movie.
No. And they used every single frame. It's like, you know, we've got all this driving footage. Well, what are we going to do? Not use it? There's also, well, we could edit here when all of the characters have stopped talking. LAUGHTER
No, no, no. Let's let it go on ten more seconds. The fact that it opens up, it opens up like The Shining. A car is driving and you think, oh, they're going somewhere. But then you find out, no, they're all in the same town the entire time. They're not going anywhere. And the opening music is like a lethargic organ grinder. And it's just like...
I love the choices. There's one sequence where he literally goes from his home watching TV to his office in real time, pretty much. He gets in his car, he turns the ignition, he stops and gets gas. He stops and gets gas. And we stay, like you say, we stay on the sign. Oh, gas is $4.38 a gallon. Let me think about that for 30 more seconds while I'm looking at that sign. I gotta say, when I did stare at that sign, I was like, wow, that's pretty expensive. Uh,
And that, by the way, not the only getting gas scene. No. That is just the first...
Of three getting gases. Because, Jason, clearly there's a moral that gas is bad, right? Wait a minute, what? I never, I didn't glean that from the movie. Oh, guys, there's some really subtle morals going on in this movie. Some subtle messages. We'll get to some of those. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in the opening, the title sequence, it says supporting cast. Yes. Cast with an F. Yeah, so as if there were multiple supporting cast. Yes.
These are just a couple of them. The director is Vietnamese and English is not his first language. So you have to give him a little, you know. I'll give him leeway, but hopefully there was a proofreader. There was a point where I wondered if English was anybody's first language in this movie. I think that's the reason why they stay on signs like the Art and Pumpkin Festival for 30 minutes. Oh, yeah. So you can read it even if English is not your language at all. You can learn English at the time. You can get a book out. You can get a book. You can look at it, look it up. Oh, okay. Oh, $4.39 a gallon. Oh, okay.
Man, there's so much good stuff. I just want to give you guys a taste of what the dialogue is like. Our main character, Rod, goes into a restaurant, and this is when he sees Natalie for the first time. Here we go. Sound drops out. Keep the camera there. Complete sound dropout. Complete...
This is not creepy at all. They walk like Sims. I don't mean to bother you. What? I think I know you from somewhere. Really? Yeah, did you go to San Mateo High School? Yeah, how'd you know that? I went there too. I'm not a murderer. So are you from here? Not really. My mother lives up here, but I'm from San Francisco. What about you? San Jose. I remember you now. You were my English class.
I was. Yeah, I sat two seats behind you. You remember that far? Yeah. So, what do you do? There's a tree here now. I'm a fashion model. And a beautiful one, too. Thanks. It was nice talking to you, but I should really get going. I've got an audition for a modeling job. So, it's good talking to you. Same here. I'm going to chase you again.
Get ready. I want to chase you more. So, yeah. I have to say, I would be nervous if I were him because the only conceivable reason she would be interested in him is because she wants his kidney. And he's going to wake up in a bathtub full of ice cubes going, no! Because if this movie was not called Birdemic, you would think this is a movie about a crazy serial killer who has pinpointed a girl. For the first time.
The birds don't show up for 47 minutes. Okay? This is for real. 47 minutes of the movie are a autistic man's pursuit.
or an autistic man's pursuit of a beautiful woman for purposes I believe of murder. Well, James, well, James Wynn, he fashions, he tells himself the master of the romantic thriller. So this is the romance part. Although I think you might be confusing romance with rapey. It definitely has some rapey elements in it. Uh,
I have to say, though, the character Natalie is quite taken by the serial killer, though. She likes the vibe. She likes the vibe that he's giving out. Maybe that's the way to approach... This is like the anti-game. You know, just like stare longingly, have awkward pauses, and maybe they're into you. Like, what has he got going on there? I think all beautiful women will fall for a man with, like, a vacant stone look on his face.
Who, like, is given to statements of just flat effect. Just like, everything he says is just like, I really think you look good. Yeah. It was like somebody put the movie in Google Translator. It's like, yeah. Yeah.
Good, we got it. That works? Yeah, that works. I'm a software salesman. I'm a salesman because of my naturalistic delivery. Oh my God. And my comfort with people. Can we keep in contact? The monologue he gives about how he became a salesman is... Like, if you're an actor in the world and you need to memorize monologues for auditions, please do this in auditions. It's next level bananas. There...
I also like the little things. She's like, when they're out on their first date, she's like, what do you like? He's like, well, I like the 49ers. And I also like the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's like this long list of Facebook likes. It's really giving you everything. It's not going to skimp. I like pizza. I also like pepperoni pizza. I like yogurt and fruit at the bottom yogurt.
Did you notice how much it... Both when he's... He drives like a Mustang. He drives like a Mustang. Hybrid. Hybrid. It's a hybrid, which he explains later. Which you can still look cool and drive a hybrid. Message. But he both...
He both drives and walks so slowly everywhere he goes in this movie that I genuinely was like, he got a piece of direction that was like, just don't move fast. So you can see him very manneredly walking slowly. Well, it alternates. It's like the whole Ed Wood's kind of editing it because he's walking at a brisk pace and you cut to him going a little slower and then he's walking fast again. Well, in that scene we just watched, he bolts out of the restaurant and...
and then slowly creeps down the street. He's not, yeah, you don't know the intent of it. I have made up a story that he had incredible brain trauma, and that was part of the exciting addition to it, that he recovered and now is a very successful software salesman. Oh, by the way, I would love it if that became part of the canon of this movie. Yeah.
My fan fiction, my birdemic fan fiction. He is a sufferer of a brain trauma. I have to, in case you didn't know this, do you know what the director's occupation was where he got to earn all the money to make this movie? I know, what was it? Software salesman. What? I would have never imagined that. So did he catch a big fish and make a million dollars a day? I don't believe he did. Oh, by the way,
the dialogue where he makes the big sale. I love this. It's like he's on the phone with somebody and he says, okay, that's great. And we'll, and I'll take it, take off 50%. Great. Thanks a lot. Bye. I just made a million dollar sale. You just gave away a million dollars in the last 10 seconds. Like you had the deal almost wrapped up. We'll just cut off a million bucks.
I feel like he was on the phone with a crazy person who was like, I got a million dollars, can I have it? Yeah! In a normal movie, he would take the phone away from his ear and you would hear, like, if you would like to make a call, please hang up and try again. And they would be like, hey, you gotta clean up the shit in the bathroom and stop sitting at people's desks. I found the whole scene very Glengarry Glen Ross. That was me.
That dialogue between him and his buddy is just like generic business talk, business talk, business talk. Making deals. I'm making deals. It's kind of like if you were in Inception and then suddenly the camera drifted off the main characters and went to the background people. It's like, this is what they're talking about.
That is like, that's like, it's like, oh, it's like peas and carrots, peas and carrots. Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb. But I do think this is juxtaposed. This whole section of the movie is juxtaposed with Natalie, who has gotten a Victoria's Secret cover job. Yes. Right? But right now we're seeing her at one of her normal modeling jobs, which takes place in a one hour photo. Yeah.
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Now obviously there is some chemistry between those two characters in the first scene. No, I would say obviously there is not any. No, there's a lot, a lot of chemistry. There is zero chemistry. A lot of chemistry. There is more chemistry between Natalie and the birds. Well, let's see how he woos her for a date. Just another quick little scene here. So, how's your day? Middy's going well. How's yours? Great. I made a big sale today. Good. Fantastic. Thanks.
I closed a big job offer today with Victoria's Secret. Wow, congratulations. I think you'll look great in those lingerie. Thanks. So, how about dinner to celebrate your success? That was fast. I know a good Vietnamese restaurant. Sounds delicious. I'll see you then. For those of you at home, they've hung up and they're just sitting. Be still.
I'm really surprised he didn't give directions. Well, first you turn left on Marymount, and then you turn right at the gas station. He's like, I'm trying so hard to impersonate human emotions. I am the Birdemic. I am definitely not an alien from another planet. My first part of that scene was actually the favorite you cut out. He calls. This is like 10 minutes after the first opera scene. 10 minutes afterwards. And she gets a call in the car, and she goes, hello? And he goes, hi, is this Natalie?
Who's this? Oh, it's that rapey guy that you met 10 minutes earlier. Oh, friends. I also like he goes, how about dinner? And she goes, that was fast. Well, what would be the next step? A pre-dinner phone call. Hey, I would like to call you in a couple days to invite you to dinner.
Well then we'll go, like, you know, she's, yeah. And it's a Vietnamese restaurant, so it's James Wynn representing. Yes. That's nice. He says, I know a good Vietnamese restaurant. Oh, Vietnamese, yes, yes. Vietnamese. Vietnamese. I rewatched it because I was like, what the fuck did this guy just say? He says, I know a good Vietnamese restaurant. It is close enough. Do we need to do it again? No, no, we got it. Move on, move on. We got three more years to get it. By the way,
And by the way, that was like 30 takes in just to get Vietnamese in there. And then when they do get to the Vietnamese restaurant... Oh, in the day. Oh, the pan across the wall. Oh, oh, oh. We slow pan across a bunch of, like, restaurant art. Like a very... Not even that impressive piece of restaurant art. But for a long time, you really get to look at this, like, full wall. It's not just a pan. It's like, it's a pan slow down stop. And pan some more.
and stop and pan and stop. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. Okay, there you go. Oh my God. So they're hitting it off. Things are going good. There is one of my absolute favorites. Hi, Jim! Hey! Hey!
Welcome. You've missed, just to recap. Oh my God, so much. Are the birds out? No. No. We're not even near the birds yet. Oh my God, are you kidding? We're still within the 46 minutes of the movie without birds. We're at the Vietnamese restaurant. Vietnamese. Vietnamese restaurant. My favorite thing is, I became obsessed with, now I'm obsessed with
Bad movies that have their main characters play sports with each other. It's like this movie has him and his buddy playing basketball that in a way I'm like, all I want is for them to meet up with Tommy Wiseau and the guys from the room and play football. You know, like this basketball scene is as bad as that football scene. Well, what's really weird about the end of the scene too is that they're like, you know what, let's knock it off for a while. Let's close up shop. Then they start walking away and just stand in the shade. Yeah.
More than just the shade, they stand in the corner of the basketball court. It's too hot because of global warming. And you've got to respect those trees because in the future, when you're playing basketball, there will be no trees. Enjoy them now. And his friend is like that classic friend archetype. He's a real horn dog. He's beyond horn dog. He's like, a date without sex is a date wasted, man. Yeah, they've got to be...
That guy is my favorite person in this movie. I do want to say that we skipped over my favorite part, which was after the dinner, they go dancing, but CGI dancing. So they clearly couldn't get a club. They just dropped the green screen down and just put club stuff behind them. They're the only ones in the whole club. Yeah, they're the only ones in the whole club just slowly dancing. Hang it up! Hang it up!
Oh, that one. That's another dance one. This is a CGI one. Which one are you talking about? This is after they go out to the enemies. No, this is the first dance scene. The first dance scene where it's only on CGI. Oh, sorry. They're not even in a club. It's an inexplicable green screen dance sequence.
Yes. The hardest thing to shoot is a dance club, so sometimes you need the CGI. Yes. That was the craziest stuff. I may be repeating something you've already covered, but have you talked about the size of the TV Bethlehem has
No. Nor have we talked about the glacially paced newscasts that happen throughout this movie. And I love how the newscaster is in the lower right hand corner. She looks like she's on her tiptoes. And so the polar bears are. As you can see. The camera's almost knocking her head out of frame. That's how they always frame newscasters. Like a bug in the corner. Yeah.
And it's such a generic newscast. She has a line where it's something about the polar bears or the birds or whatever. Due to not finding enough food, such as seals. Such as seals! Such as seals!
Just in case you didn't know what kind of a... These are the people that are giving our characters the news. And then she stares at the camera for three seconds, as newscasters are wont to do. Yeah. Just stare at it. And then she says, deliver the news and look vacantly into camera for an impossible amount of time.
That's why CNN is number one right there. Oh, yes, yes. Oh, man. Oh, my God. Jerry from Solar Power Accessories. Oh! Solar Power Accessories. Getting an estimate for a solar panel on your roof. You'd think that everybody would be
So that he'd sort of, because of the birdemic, would come to the realization that solar energy is really important, he's going to turn green, but the way that it's set up in this movie, he's already decided that. Oh, yeah. Well, the arc was just very quick. Very quick. Yeah, he saw the newscast and he was like, oh, I get it, all right.
Done. Wait, wait, wait. I didn't put this together. You're saying that that newscast made him get the solar panels? Yes. No. I would like that. I like that. Because he's already driving a hybrid car. He already has green fever. Okay. I think. Well, he also starts a green company the day after he gets a million dollars, and that sells for $10 million. He starts a green company...
after the company is bought by the other company for a billion dollars. And it's a billion dollars even, by the way, which is nice. For a company that appears to have 15 people. I wonder if when they made the billion dollar deal, the last minute they went, okay, 15% off. No, no, no. I also like how he delivered a billion dollars. He goes, we're going to buy this company for...
A BILLION DOLLARS! And then he takes a nice head tilt into it. Then there is a solid minute and a half of clapping. Easily. This is totally real. You'll see it at home. You'll hear it. Here we go. Prepare to have your minds blown. I'm assuming this is all the employees. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me give a warm welcome for our CEO, Bill Stump. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have some great news. Our board of directors has agreed to the acquisition of NCT Software by Oracle Corporation for a billion dollars!
Anybody else clapping? I think the more people are clapping. You guys have worked hard. You've all earned your stock option. Congratulations. There must be no more clapping. There must be no more clapping.
I do want to point out something. This is something that no one at home will be able to see, but it's so worth it here. Look at this. There are just power strips on the table. Empty power strips. There are literally two empty power strips pointing at each other on a table. This is a billion dollar company.
This is the shit that's worth a billion dollars. That's what sold it. That's amazing. I've never seen that. I wasn't going to steal the deal, but then I saw the power strip. Those guys have a need for power. At any point, you can plug in at this company. Oh, man. The awkward sex scene.
Between the... Wait, which one? Well, between the creepy... No, the sexed-up friend. Okay. And his girlfriend, which starts off with the worst poster on the wall, Imagine Peace. Which is something she's involved with because she has T-shirts she wears. Everything is... Subtle message again. That's on his website. It actually is. No. It is. Really? It is. Yes. I checked. Yes. What is happening? What...
And I guess she's supposed to be some kind of doppelganger for Yoko Ono, obviously. Well, her name is Mai. And Todd is supposed to be Paul McCartney. And the whole analogy goes deep. It's very deep. It's a very deep analogy. It's amazing. I believe her name is... Is her name Mai? Which is the name of John Lennon's Lost Weekend lover, right? Oh, okay. Here's a bigger question. Guys, we need to... Why was she wearing a bathing suit?
And why was he fully clothed? Because it was fucking awesome. Well, I love that Natalie calls her. She answers the phone and she goes, oh, are you busy? And she goes, what does it sound like? Like you're talking to me on the phone? Like there was like, unless she was able to hear what was going on in the room before the phone call went on. Which was actually just some kissing. Yeah. What does it sound like? Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary. Yeah.
Oh man, that sex scene was pretty hot. That sex scene was bonkers. I hardly noticed that Tippi Hedren was in that scene. Oh, let's talk about this. The third build person in the movie is Tippi Hedren. She's on the TV set in the background during the sex scene. That's it. Third build in the end credits and Tippi Hedren.
She's on the TV. She's not even in the movie. Was she a part of supporting casts? She's above supporting casts. She may be an above-the-title player of Birdemic Chocantere. And you don't even focus on her in that scene. It's not even really focused. And the reason they add that footage is because she was in the director's first movie. Yes, which was a romantic... Romantic? Romantic, maybe. There was no thriller element? I don't know. I don't know.
His second movie, did you hear about this? What was it called? Replica. Yes. Which is a total Vertigo ripoff. He's like going through his career ripping off Hitchcock. He said he only watched Hitchcock movies and Vertigo and The Birds are his two favorites. He's like a cross between Gus Van Sant and Ed Wood. Totally.
Oh, man, I want to see that Vertigo movie. We could do that on the show. Let's just wrap this up right now and I'll go watch it together. All right, so they go out on a double date. They see Inconvenient Truth. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Holy shit, that was crazy. And the sexed up buddy has a real, like, epiphany. He's like, he really gets into it. Check him out a little longer. Yeah. More than a newscast for him. I thought I wrote it down for what he said, but, oh yeah. He goes, I gotta get back to work. And they go, it's so late, you got work? He goes, sensual work. Oh!
- Girls love that. - They really do. - I'm sorry to get back to the bathing suit, but do you think it was that they didn't have lingerie that matched, but she happened to have a bathing suit with her? Or do you think the actress felt like, I know I look really good in this orange bathing suit. - Was that a bathing suit or just really opaque underwear? I couldn't tell. - It was definitely a bathing suit. - It was a bathing suit because it had the hooks around the waist. - I think that was a choice that made total sense for me.
I was maybe into that bathing suit. I think they told that actress, bring some lingerie, and the actress was like, I don't have any. I'm just going to bring my bathing suit. That's what I think. I feel like they said, you're going to do a naked scene, and she was like, no fucking way. I'm wearing my bathing suit. I absolutely bet that's it.
It is orange colored, so maybe they were trying to get away with flesh colored there. This is where I wrote, 30 minutes in and still no bird attacks. Please, someone, get attacked by a bird. Instead of getting attacked by a bird, they go to a parade. How happened was the director, oh, it's the Arden Parade, we'll spend eight minutes at the parade.
It's like bad home movie footage. You see an apathetic vampire tossing candy to kids off a float. Tractor. Off a tractor. This is real. This is real. That's how it happens. There is stuff in this movie that I feel like somebody was like, ugh.
I shot my movie and it's 40 minutes short. I think it was like I shot my movie and it's 15 minutes. I need to fill the rest. That's what I mean. It's 40 minutes short. I need 40 extra minutes. There's a parade going on. Oh, good. It's a good idea. Why not just show people driving every place they go? Wicked slow.
It's like Lars von Trier without the art. Yeah. The dogma movie. It's a real dogma movie. And then there's, then this is at the point where there is the second piece of where he, he sells his revolutionary green tech company where he gets funding rather. He starts that, that company, which happens the day after he gets his million dollars. Yes. This dude's life is happening so fast. And then he goes on another date with Natalie and he goes, I was so lonely.
Until now. Well, that's it. By the way, too, the number of people are telling Natalie that she needs a backup plan to her modeling career. At some point, it's very rude. She's a beautiful woman. She's doing great. She's a Victoria's Secret cover model. She's doing amazing.
Yeah. She's got the whole thing with her and her mom. Oh, yeah. We have to talk. She goes, my mom is not supportive. But every time you see the mom, the mom's pretty supportive for the first three quarters of the scene. And at the end, she starts to take her down. She says to her mom, like, Mom, I think I might have a guy that's interested in me. Her mom says, you're kidding. Like, oh, yes. How unusual that a hot woman would have a guy that was interested in her. And I also love that the mom is like, you need to get into a solid career, like real estate.
You know, something that the bottom will never drop out on. You'll always be making millions in real estate. Vitamin Water was born in New York because New Yorkers wanted more flavor to pair with all the amazing food in the city. Vitamin Water is so New York, its three favorite cheeses are chopped cheese, bacon, egg, and cheese, and a slice of cheese pizza. Drink Vitamin Water. It's from New York.
Every sandwich has bread, every burger has a bun, but these warm, golden, smooth steamed buns? These are special. Reserved for the very best. The Filet-O-Fish. And you. You can have them too.
Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.
It's minute 44, there's still no bird attacks, and this is a little, I'm going to play this scene, we'll watch it and we'll... I think this is audience participation time actually. Last week, the company NCT Starboard that I worked for was bought for a billion dollars by Oracle Corporation. And this week, my startup company that I founded, Mass Solar, got funded $10 million by Evergreen Capital. Congratulations.
It looks like it's not a mini mall, it's a show at that YouTube video. Just hanging out, hanging out, hanging out with the family, having ourselves a party. Just hanging out, hanging out, hanging out, having ourselves a party.
What kind of fun party song is that?
Yeah, we're going to go eat with my grandma. They are also the only people in this restaurant slash dance club. There's a man singing on stage and there are our main two characters. There's not another person in the environment. I'm just looking now. There's sandwich between two tables and there are drink special cards out and ketchups and
This is just the most unsexy spot. It's about to get unsexier because they're about to have a sex scene. Finally, Rod and Natalie consummate their love. Oh, shit. Yeah. Okay, because
scene though where they decide where to go because correct me if i'm wrong they don't go to her apartment right they go to a hotel he lives in a beautiful house i tell you this guy is ready to kill her the birds didn't attack she would have been in that bathtub with all the ice yes this welcome to the wonderful world of aids whole section freaked me out from the motel sex scene to the
wet, wet kissing to the birds. See, this part really scared me, actually. I was pretty upset. I was pretty... I was pretty upset.
Well, first of all, when she's changing into her lingerie, and she does actually wear lingerie, and she looks great, she comes out. He's been watching television? I assume so. Which is disturbing. And she comes in. And he's watching television. No, he's not watching it on the bed. He's standing in the corner of the room watching television and a black wife beater tee.
Like it's waiting for her. Nobody moves to turn the TV off. That TV's just on. And the TV is, I don't know, like a quarter of the screen? The TV and its imagery is a prominent part of the shot. The proportions of televisions in this movie play a large role. Again, that's a message. I need to know why this couple doesn't believe in tongue-kissing.
They only believe in this kind of kissing. Okay. I'm going to say that is a choice of the actresses, and I applaud them both for not getting naked and not tongue-kissing those two dudes. I agree. By the way, I agree. Strong-willed women. We applaud that there. 46 minutes without a bird attack. So when they wake up... So they have an uncomfortable sex scene. They wake up the next morning...
To a bird. She sees birds. Oh, no, we know they had sex. Well, we don't because when they wake up in the morning... I think the intermingling of their feet says they've had sex. Well... You've got to talk about the big bird reveal. I mean, they have the sex scene. You're right. And then we go through like 40 minutes of B-roll. Like, oh, here's a nice shot of the ocean. Yes. Here's an English pub and here's some horses. And it goes on forever. Then it fades out. Then fade up to bird apocalypse! Oh, yeah. Yeah. And what is happening when the birds crashed out?
It's that stark because they're showing just buildings. It's just buildings. You're falling asleep or you're like being lulled into this calm thing and then all of a sudden, well, I have that scene. So here we go. Oh boy. This is it.
Why do birds explode? Why are the birds exploding? Birds not only explode, but they dive bomb and bomb. They shoot acid. They make the sound of a falling airplane from World War II. They're like the Red Baron. Just explodes.
There we go. That is bird apocalypse. I cannot get over the hovering birds. It's like a screensaver. It's like a flying toaster from when computers first came out. Now, let's talk about these birds. When they do come, I don't understand. Yes, they sound like a dog squeaky toy. They sometimes can secrete acid.
They sometimes sacrifice themselves to a gigantic explosion. They are kamikazes. They are like suicide bomber birds. But then sometimes they'll just land and rip out your eyeballs too, right? They're a multifaceted bird. Which is explained by the fact that they have the bird flu.
Right. Right? Oh, of course, yeah. Because the bird flu makes birds spontaneously combust. And become bombs. Flammable. They keep asking, like, what's going on here with the birds? And the answer is always, because of global warming, maybe. Yes, definitely. Could be.
I can't commit to that, but... I also like when they're trying to escape. The reason why they can't get out of the place is Rod's like, oh, the battery's dead in my phone. And he's like, oh, I can't find my keys. Like the two worst ideas. It's like, oh, the two... Really? Those are your obstacles that you can't... You lost your keys and you didn't charge your phone after your hot fuck session? Yeah.
So, obviously they get attacked by these birds. Now they have to escape and they escape with an even crazier couple, which there's no reason to switch couples in this movie. No reason at all. None. Not really. And those two guys are very similar. And they're fairly interchangeable. Yes. Except that this guy has automatic weapons.
A lot of them. But before he has an M16s, he has the coat hangers. Yes, of course. It's the best coat hanger fight scene since Mommy Dearest, I gotta tell you. It's great. It's awesome. And then afterwards, like, oh, you had M16s? Oh, why didn't you tell us? We had the coat hangers. That's the thing is, like, they appear to be able to move almost effortlessly amongst the birds. Yes. If coat hangers are doable. And then just get to him. It's like a shitty minivan running.
full of weapons. Right. Again, this man was there to kill his girlfriend too. Yeah. This is where the crazy people take their girls to kill them. This is murder island. Yeah. What I love is you can tell that the actors didn't know how crappy those special effects were going to be. They were like committed like, ah! Yeah. They thought they were in a Michael Bay movie. Yeah.
One of my favorite things is... They didn't realize that the birds were two-dimensional. One of my favorite things of this movie is clearly they're stealing shots in and amongst just normal life. So, like, there's scenes where the guys are running around shooting birds with giant weapons and traffic, normal traffic... Oh, yeah. Yes. Normal meandering traffic is just driving behind them and they're like... You hear it in the background. And it's just... Like, there's no... 45 miles an hour.
No hint that there is any sort of pandemonium or anything at all. You just hear in the background, there's like... Yeah. Yeah.
And it's clear that they are able to, in a densely populated area, shoot automatic weapons any place. There's a point where there's like, they're standing there, there's some birds, and behind the birds is just homes. And they're just like... You are just shooting homes. I mean, Natalie later on in the movie takes a gun and aims directly at a bird that's attacking her friend. And like, there's no room for error in that shot.
And has no problem, it's like bam, got it. And then sometimes they're like trick shots. They're just getting these birds with the machine gun, one falls from the sky. Other times, they're shooting at a flock of them and none of them are affected at all. So it is random. When the bullets work and when they don't work. It's like the Terry Gilliam animation when the birds die. Boom!
How about this? Sometimes they have acid in them too and they fall down. How about this, guys? If you're being attacked by birds, roll your fucking windows up. How about that? Roll the fucking windows up. How about this? Go inside. Stay inside. Stay inside, dum-dum. Don't shit outside. Well, wait. Don't shit outside unless you want to die. Don't cook outside? Don't eat outside. Can we just talk about the eating? They're hungry because they've been fighting and they get food from a convenience store and they go
I'm picnic! I'm picnic! Okay, I want to... This is what I want to talk about. The first half of... The first 46 minutes of this movie takes place inside without a bird epidemic. The second half of the movie, when the bird epidemic happens, they never go inside another building.
Except to get snacks to eat outside. Yes, except to get snacks to have a picnic with children who are having the best time even though their parents were murdered hours before. A girl was afraid to get out from underneath the car. They literally dragged her out of the car and then two seconds later she's playing a PSP. They still can't, they give these kids way too much candy. Oh.
Oh, yeah. They're not good parents. They're not good parents. They're terrible surrogate parents. Oh, also, did you notice when they're in the convenience store, Natalie is shopping for champagne.
After they get the sandwiches, there is a cutback and they're in the wine aisle. Well, let's celebrate after all. If you're going down, go down with an ice glass of Pinot Grigio. I confess, I actually watched the director's commentary on this movie. Oh my God, what do you have to learn? In that scene where the clerk's eyes are pecked out, the director's saying, well, the shopkeeper's eyes are being pecked out. That's my homage to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
Oh, like the rest of the movie. All right. Along the way on their adventure, they run into a weird forest guy. Oh, my God. And a scientist. Yeah. The Dr. Jones. Oh, the old man. There's an old man on the bridge. He must be in his 40s. Look at that. Yeah, not old at all. And he's like, get out of here. Get out of here. These birds are contagious. And then they walk closer.
I told you. They're just like... Well, we want to see what's going on. Go, go. Well, you come over to our picnic table and talk to us? All right. And he goes over it. And he gives the most insane lecture to them about the bird flu and its cosmic global warming. And he's like, I can't say for sure, but science tells me for sure that this is what it is. He is... He has...
He has the verbiage of a person you might run into when you leave the drawing room late at night. Like, you know, like the bar late at night and you're like, "Oh, birds are full of flu! It's bad and I know and I have proof and they're coming for us!" Beware. I think this movie does more to discredit Global Warning than anything else. He does this whole nice speech about Global Warning that says, "There's also proof that birds pecked out cavemen's eyes!" Yeah! He's an insane man! And they went back in for the kill later.
Why have a picnic outside? Literally on the beach where the seagulls are. I just wrote down picnic and I circled it so big. A picnic? I wrote, why are they eating outside? And put a hundred exclamation points and question marks. You think they couldn't, I mean really, why were they outside? Eat and shit in the car.
Drive away. Drive away from where you're going. Drive to a home. Go inside of it. You have homes. You're in the same town. But they are exclusively going to the coast. Because it's like, even if you thought, well, we're definitely not going to make it through this birdemic, I would rather have a dignified death in a home, like a human being. Well, there you go. Well, that's your first mistake. These are not human beings. Oh.
They are all robots. Somewhere during the birdemic, they start calling the birds eagles. No, eagles and vultures, I guess. Yeah, eagles and vultures are the birdemic. Yeah. It is called birdemic, but eagles and vultures are the birds they're referring to. That's the demic. I think that's getting all of the bad names right away. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's too much. I loved when they're sitting there. It's like it's after the picnic, and they're still with the couple who's not the couple from the beginning. It's the new couple with the machine guns. And he's like, well, where's your girlfriend or whatever? And he goes, she's taking a shit.
She's taking a shit? And that was a deleted scene on the DVD. Really crass. Really crass. And then cut to, she's like a roll of toilet paper and a gun. And she's shitting outdoors. And guess what? She fucking dies. She fucking dies. That's what you get for shitting outside. And then he goes, he goes, oh, they killed Becky. And then the other guy, the robot guy goes,
Sorry. Here is the taking a shit scene, just so you can hear him say he's taking a shit. Respect. He's taking a shit. Pretty good at shitting. How come you're still not in the Marines? I just got tired of all the fucking killing I ran. Oh, this is amazing. Oh, oh, oh, okay. Why can't we just get a piece of change? What? What? What?
Why can't we just give peace a chance? It's like an anti-war movie after all this global war. It's sort of like a guy carrying a legalized pot sign at an Obama rally. Keep your messages concise. There's so many messages going on here. Uh,
But this is also like you feel like this is a chance for them to really have this acting scene about his time in the military. Oh yeah. Oh boy, oh boy. And she fucking, Becky gets her fucking shit killed by that bird. Yes, she does. I wrote, shit endures you fucking dummy. Then they try to rescue people on a bus. And this, the people are safe, right? We don't want to leave. No, we're going to get her off the bus. They forcibly pull her out.
out of their safe zone. It's like, no, we're good. These people have survived. We're going to have a picnic. Come on! And all of these people are killed, in my understanding, by the acid secreted from the birds, which I've previously never seen in the movie. So I was like, did these birds just piss on them? What the fuck is happening? They're all like, oh no, and then like,
A massive amount of liquid hits them. It's kind of like, you can't do that on television. Someone said, I don't know. It's like some sort of birdemic bukkake shot that just fucking kills everyone. Google it, guys. By the way, all those tourists that were killed on the bus were all a part of the same family, the Osbournes.
What? I watched the end credits and it said, did you see that at the very end? That it was like Mary Osborn, Karen Osborn, Doug Osborn. Those were all just one fact. That's probably their holiday photo. They probably own that bus. Oh, I bet you they own that bus. Oh my god. They probably do. Have we gotten to $100 for a gallon of gas? I mean, there's shit in this movie that is fucking straight bonkers. Yeah.
It's another gas station where he's trying to get gas, and the guy's like, it's $100 a gallon, but we don't have any left. And then our guy, in typical robot fashion, unfazed by everything, goes, but that's a ripoff. LAUGHTER
And then he goes, all right, I'll buy it. And he immediately gets it. This guy, he's not a master of the hard sell. I mean, it was like, all right, charge me. Then he got a lot of gas. Then he got a lot of gas and left it behind on the street. He's like, hey, dum-dum, take your stupid gas.
I don't mean to nitpick. I don't mean to nitpick. But he bought it on a charge card, which means that this convenience store guy is like, well, when that clears, I'll be rich. Not like I'm going to die today on any cash money. He's totally fine with it. Can you write me a check? I'll take it. Apparently the birdemic has not stopped any of the computer systems from working. No. Everything's fine. Well, that's my problem. It's like, oh, the reason why he can't call someone is that...
His phone battery is dead now that the phone lines are down. Considering that town is destroyed like a World War II, it looks like the Blitzkrieg has. Yes, yes. It is like Beirut. Obviously, we have a very strong opinion about it, and I wasn't able to find many people who had a different opinion than us. But now it is time for a second opinion.
These are reviews on Amazon that kind of look at the movie slightly differently. Five-star review from Brian Strait. On a pure movie-making standpoint, this movie achieves negative stars. So many negative stars it has to.
This movie is so terrible, it makes every movie ever made a five star movie. The Room through Plan 9 up to Inception and through Citizen Kane and Casablanca. Every one of them now a five star movie. And then Sarand writes, words alone won't do Birdemic justice. This isn't a movie, it's an experience. Like having your brain fried on LSD, spritzed with lemon juice, and tossed into the Grand Canyon.
Which I think is probably the best way to describe this movie. - Which I believe is the plot summary for Birdemic 2. Why are the woods on fire?
Does anybody know why the woods were on fire? Because they think the explosion. Why do they even go in the woods? They clearly got a whole case of bottled water at the convenience store. The kids pick up some more. They kind of got through it that quick. They're like, oh, let's find some fresh water in a stream somewhere. It's irrelevant. I wanted to know why they did that. And then after that, they meet the hippie guy in the woods. Then they leave and they go fishing. They get fishing poles to go fishing. These people are so fucking hungry. He instantly is like, I caught a fish.
I just feel like all they're doing is eating. These people have an eating disorder, really. They're eating once every 45 minutes. They need a full meal. I feel like I don't understand the timeline of the movie because it appears to take place in one day. But I believe if I heard it from the director, he would be like, it's one month.
You know, like, I don't know what is... Time is irrelevant in this movie. It is a foreign concept. Obviously, one of the big things in the movie is the bird squawk, the squeaky dog toy thing. And I want to give a chance for you guys to participate here. And I want to go up to you. Do you think you have the great bird squawk? Can you turn around the house lights? You guys will judge which has the best bird squawk here. Guy from Australia, get that bird squawk ready. Pretty good. Pretty good. Pretty good. Pretty good.
Pretty damn good. Raise your hand if you've got a bird squawk. I'm coming around here. One more. Australia guy, you better knock it out of the park. We want to hear the Australian bird squawk. Who has one? Anyone? Bird squawk? Bird squawk? You have a bird squawk. Yeah! Yeah! Wait a minute. Wait a minute. For real? For real? Your bird squawk is a bird screaming, yeah, yeah? Yeah.
Oddly better than the sound effect used in the movie. I would love it if all the birds were like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kick ass, kick ass. Doing it. Where's my Australian guy? It's happening. Bro. All right. Australian guy, show me what you got. Represent Australia. It's just called a kookaburra. Kookaburra. Get rid of that guy. Get rid of that guy. When that movie gets dubbed to Australian, you'll go, you'll get that. That.
Too complex. Too complex. All right. That was very good. That was a little audience participation. Anybody, any final thoughts before we bring up our special guest? I still have no idea why the birds leave at the end. Nope. They go fishing. They catch fish. They're on the coast. The birds come and then they turn around and leave. Oh, there they go. Yeah. It seems like the birds made their point. Yeah. That's exactly what I feel like. I feel like the birds are just kind of like, get us.
Cool. You got that? Is that it? You got it? The birds are just like, you know what?
You know what? We've killed everybody else. Yes. You guys are pretty cool. So we're going to leave you guys. I see the hybrid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's work, bro. Cool. You guys get it. You're hip to solar energy. And, but I don't feel like they were, I mean, yeah, they just, they fly away, but I don't feel like they, I feel like it was a communal choice to stop attacking, like just to stop attacking, not even just direct at them. It was like,
It was a good day. Let's go home. You know what I loved? One thing that was pretty impressive was the kills were kept heightening. You know, like you've got dive bombing birds that explode. When our guys have their gas and a cowboy holds them at gunpoint to steal their gas, a bird slices his throat with its wing. That was amazing. Ninja. A bird is like, shing!
When birds get bird flu, their feathers become like steel blades. That was pretty awesome. Well, I'm sure that a lot of our questions can be answered by our special guest that we have tonight. This person, you've seen her in the clips here. I think that she actually does an amazing job with the dialogue that she has given. Comes off the most naturalistic out of anyone in the movie. Please welcome Natalie Whitney Moore.
Come on up. Have a seat. Have a seat. Thank you so much for being here and talking with us. How's it going? Awesome. Have we captured the tenor of this movie? You guys have reminded me of so many things that just went down. Just so much. My first question is, how long was it from start to finish, the shooting of this movie? Seven months. Seven months. Whoa. Seven full months? Yeah.
Like, that's like an absurd amount of time. It was mostly like four days at a time. Okay. And then would you, would you in fact shoot real time for four days? Yes. And just like you guys were like blue Valentine, just living in the movie. Yeah. I would, I would believe that. What, what, I mean, I have so many questions. I'm sure we all do, but talk to us a little bit about the whole process. Like, how did you find out about this movie? Was there an audition? Yeah.
Anything from that? Well, I had just turned 18, and I was very excited to be in a movie and start acting on film and all that good stuff. And I got an email from a casting website saying, would you like to come and audition for this feature for the lead? And I said, yes, sir, I would. And I auditioned in the parking lot of a high school.
Oh my god. Red flag number one. So you, your real life is paralleled in the movie.
So like, that might as well be a modeling shoot in a one hour photo. Just come meet me in this high school parking lot and we'll audition. So you audition and then when you look at the sides, did you read the script? The sides were from Replica, his last movie, which I found out later. He called me about an hour later, said, you got the part? And I said, star. Yeah, awesome. And I said,
The scene that you were auditioning with, so it wasn't set in a parking lot. This wasn't a screen test. No. Where was it set? It was set in a bar. It was like, hey, I'm a girl. And did he say anything like, I'm sorry, this is weird. I know we're in a parking lot.
And so you get the part and now when do you start to realize that things may not be on the up and up? You know, people have asked me that question a lot and I think the actual first red flag that came up was when he didn't give any of us the whole script. It's a sign. Kind of like Woody Allen. Very Woody Allen. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, but by then we had committed. Yeah. And now you're doing it... Did you do it in sequence or did you do it out of sequence? Like...
We were supposed to film the love scene first. Instead, what we did was the Vietnamese restaurant scene. I believe it's pronounced VET-na-me. I mean, listen, I know you're in the movie, but like, it's Vietnamese. And is he, another director, was he, like, how was his directing technique? LAUGHTER
That pretty much says it. I mean... Does it give anything? It was really, it was a strange experience because there was no crew, there was no anything. It was just him and Alan who played Rod and myself. So oftentimes... There's no crew? Wait, wait, there's no crew? I know, right? Weird. Were there cameras? Awesome.
You're like, we shot for a month without cameras. Yeah, well, there was never, you'd never had any microphones or there was no boom operator or anything like that. At one point, and this is a story I like to tell, is that I held the boom between my legs as we did a talking scene because you sort of, about how everything was going down.
Wow. No offense, that's usually a union job. So you're taking a job away from a union sound man. We brought you here to find you. How dare you. How dare you. But what I'd love to know is, did he ever let you improv, or did you have to stick to the script? No, he was really actually very insistent that we stuck to his unique style.
- When you've got goals like that, why would you wanna dip? - Exactly. - Were there any lines that you remember being particularly difficult to do? - I think the scene with Natalie's mom was hard to get through. - Oh yes, because we used to forget her lines a number of times. - She forgets her lines. - They use it. - Yeah, they use it. - Yeah, that's fine, it's good. - Yeah, she corrects herself. She's like, "Did you remember?" Like, "Did you remember too?" And it's all in there.
The other one, you're walking on the beach with Rod, and it's like jump cutting in the same shot, which means obviously they're using different takes. Was there not like one take? The scene where you can't hear anything? Right, right. That was the second weekend we filmed. We started at 7, ended at 4.
To get that scene. Wow. I waited one scene all that time? Wow. Well, there were sound problems. Yeah, sound problems. There were sound... You're telling me there were sound problems in this movie? What? You can't tell? You cannot tell? That is news to me. Do you know anything about that orange bathing suit? I don't know anything about that scene. The only thing I can confirm is the Imagine Peace...
That being in there was something that was aligned with James' vision of being an environmentally aware movie. But he did buy the underwear and pick it out. So he bought the bathing suits? He bought the bathing suits, you guys. Oh, wow. All right. He bought the bathing suits. Was there... Okay, I have a question. Was there...
What were you guys instructed to do when you were fighting the birds? What was that like as a day's work? The coat hanger thing was something that happened...
I'm sure you can imagine out of nowhere because originally he was supposed to take part of the closet off and like be the first with that closet but it turns out you can't do that at Motel 6 you can't rip a bar out of the closet
So he stole a bunch of coat hangers instead. Now, was that... Do you think... Do you think that was a... Do you think that was a subtle... He improvised a piece of movie history, really. Oh, yes. Well, see, I understood it to be a pretty subtle abortion message. We gotta get in there and abort these birds. Messages, messages all over this movie. Um...
So, Whitney, did you go to Sundance with the movie? I did not. James was the one, I think you mentioned, that did in the van that was in the movie. That was his van. Oh, okay. That was the one that got sprayed with blood and feathers and he drove all up and down the strip. And if he had not done that, I would have never met Weird Al. But I mean, now that's... I feel like...
I feel like, I mean, it's been amazing. The movie has taken on this, like, cult-like status. And I have to say, we were talking about this backstage, like, I think you come off the best out of it. Oh, yeah. By far. By far. Oh, go on. You and Bird 2. It's totally like you were edited in from a much better movie. But you have to feel a certain amount of pride to be like,
I was in one, like, there's a lot of bad movies, but you were in quite possibly the worst movie. I mean, it's definitely, I mean, really, you're in the top tier. I mean, that's the one that you would want to be in out of everything, right? I mean, and when was the first time you saw it with a crowd? Was that...
first time I saw it with the crowd was a special friends and family screening. It was before we did all the midnight movie stuff and before everyone kind of realized how hilarious it was. And it was being treated as a serious film. And I hadn't seen it. And none of the actors had seen it. Only James had seen it. And it was all friends and family. So you invite everybody. You're like... I'm like... I'm in a movie. Yeah.
- I did not go out. - What, where, what, was this also in a high school parking lot, this screening, or was it? - But does your character, where did your character think? - June likes to get into the character. - Well, no, I'm curious, like, what happened between the restaurant scene and going back to the hotel? Like, why didn't you go to your place or his? - Why didn't you go to either of your homes? - In the script, it's actually supposed to be my apartment.
So, well, I did notice in the exterior shot of your apartment when he drops you off, I think after the first date, it looks like you live in like a tenement house. Your address has like six numbers and two letters. Yes. It was like 336AB. So they were playing that as your apartment or no? Yeah.
And that's how... But it's a motel. As a fashion model, I would decorate. Well, as a fashion model, you live in a hotel. You know, you have a very exciting life. You can't be affording to stay in one place. You can't play that, right? Yeah, but we've already seen the exterior of it. The exterior of the hatch is like a disgusting motel. Yeah.
The one thing I will say is you know how dirty that motel is because you see your feet in it and your feet are black.
From whatever has been on that floor. When you guys had to move the bed against the wall, I was like, don't touch any of it. I was like, that, you all just got hep C. It's disgusting. I actually, I hadn't noticed the feet thing until like the second or third midnight screening. And people kept coming up to me after being like, what's up with your feet?
By the way, stay away from those people. Your feet. Those people that are like, your feet are so dirty in that movie. The scene where your feet are dirty is my favorite scene in the movie. Come meet me in a parking lot. I want to pitch a movie to you. But truthfully, your feet are doing a version of Blackface in this movie. Yeah.
It's a very interesting racial message. Another one. Now, just very quickly, your co-star in the movie, he is a robot, am I right? He is a robot. Don't make her talk bad about it unless you want to. No, delightful man, I'm sure. But he is an alien who is trying to learn human emotions over the course of the movie. I can neither confirm nor deny that. I have a question. I have a question about... I did notice he never touches water in the movie. LAUGHTER
I have a question about the tree man at the very end. Now, he's wearing a wig in the movie. Yes. Okay. There's like a shock of black hair. What was up with that? What was the actor's hair...
Was it a problem? I can tell you. He was a clean-cut guy, and James' rationale behind that was that he needed to look more like a hippie. And I was someone who he hired me to do the makeup fun fact on the movie. Wow, so you did make the double dude. After the first two makeup artists quit. So did you do the special effects of people's eyes and stuff like that? Oh, yeah.
Nice. Whoa, that looks amazing. Wow. Great work. Nice.
So, like, any other moments from that film where you were like, this is amazing? Like, was there a point where you were just like, we'll just roll with it? Because you're seven months in. So I imagine at month three you're kind of like, all right. A couple weeks in. I mean, the first, like I said, the first two makeup artists quit. That was already, like, the first two weekends. We sort of realized what we were signing up for and we're like, just do it. And then seven months later we're like, okay.
And you know, you guys pointed out a lot of really awesome stuff that's like, this doesn't make sense. Why would you ever do this in anything ever? And we had those questions too on set and we would ask him, we were like, James, it doesn't make sense that we would go to a forest and fill up a million water bottles
Oh, well that, I do want to ask, do you have any insight into how long a period of time the movie is supposed to unfold over? I have zero insight about anything. Okay, great. What would he say to you when you said, why are we going into the woods? He would say, because it's a movie.
Good answer. That's a great director. At what point was James on board with it being a quote-unquote comedy? Because obviously he didn't set out to make a campy movie. Not until, I would say, three or four months into three or four months into Severin signing with them and they had to sit him down and be like, James, we could do something and have a lot of fun with Birdemic, but you need to understand that it's
Not the action movie that you think it is. So he is, when it first came out, he was like, did it, done it. Yeah. Like, you're welcome. You know, James really does, he really does to a certain extent still really believe in it, which I think is great. He really believes in the message. He really believes in everything. Wait, what's the message again? Yeah.
I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But now, speaking of the message of the first movie, so Birdemic 2 is real. It's happening. It's happening. So are you in it now? Or is it pre-production? Where are you at in this stage of Birdemic? I'm in it. We start filming in the next couple of weeks. Have you seen it? Sweet. I cannot wait. Have you seen a script for it yet? I saw the script. Yeah.
Is the magic recreated? It is. You know, it's going to be really interesting because everything is supposed to be just like, let's let James do his thing. You know, we're going to play it straight. We're not going to be like winking at the camera. It's going to be all reading James' dialogue like we did first. But it will take... What will be taken away, I think, is...
The initial, like, all the sound dropping out, all the technical errors. And so that'll be really interesting. That'll be nice. You can hear it. So there'll be a sound guy added to the crew on this one. I read somewhere that James wasn't going to do a sequel unless he had a $20 million budget. So did he ever get that? James said a lot of things. A lot of things. Why did the birds leave? Gosh. Well...
The way it was explained to me was... It's a movie. It's a movie. I got that. I got that. More than that, I think, Paul, you sort of touched on this, which is that, hey, you know, these birds realize that we are cool with nature. They're cool. They're on it. Yeah. You guys did a lot of research in that one day of running away. You talked to a doctor. You talked to a forest hippie. Is there anything that you guys shot that didn't make it into the movie?
Because I feel like there's connective tissue missing all over the place. Everything that we shot made it in except...
Amazing. I'm not surprised by that. Except the pumpkin scene was originally a green screen scene. Oh. But then we just, the movie kept happening. So the pumpkin festival came up? It came up. Wow. Did everybody in that festival scene have to sign a release? Or did they? No. Oh, big trouble. Big trouble. Ha ha ha ha.
Now, can you give us, I don't know if you can contractually, but can you give us a little taste of where Natalie and Rod are now in the second film, which is in 3D, right? They are living in Los Angeles. No, I don't think it will be in 3D. Oh, it won't be in 3D. Number three in 3D. Oh, okay, all right. 3D. This time it's personal. All right, yeah, all right. Rod and Natalie, as you can imagine, are both very successful now. Oh, my God. Yeah.
The two of you together must be worth billions of dollars. You're the Brad and Angelina of Half Moon Bay. And you know, the movie is sort of focused on how to make it in Hollywood. Now that James has made a successful movie...
So it's reflecting that experience then as well. Yes. But there will be birds attacking. There will be birds. So will you be an actress in Hollywood in this one? Will you maybe be auditioning in a parking lot? There's some auditioning in it. There's some... Are birds running the casting session? Are you in any kimonos again?
Hopefully. Again, to the movie, how long is the supposed shoot going to last?
Rough. I mean, it's not going to be seven months. No, I think that it's going to be on the weekends again because I'm in school. And I'm going to be, I would say, about three months. Okay, wow. That's a good chunk of time. Just a super quick question. Do you think there'll be any dirty feet? Hey, hey. Hey. Sorry. If there are my feet in it, then yeah. I'm just wondering, do you think there's any dirty feet in this one? Like running around with your feet getting all dirty? Uh...
Man alive. I may open it up to one or two questions for you, if that's okay. If we missed anything. Any questions for Whitney? I'll repeat them. Was there any choreography in...
In the movie. Or were you left to your own... No, the robot was an artistic choice of mine. Yeah, I like that robot. Yeah, because he doesn't look like he's ever danced in his life. He almost looks like... And I noticed that in that shot, it's like a two-shot of you guys, that he looks like he's hiding from the camera. Like he doesn't want to be seen dancing. It seemed like it was upsetting. It took us a little while to get into hanging out with my family, but...
and by the 30th take, we were... You were hanging out with your pet robot. Yeah. That's my question. Do you have Hanging Out With My Family on your iPod? Yes. I think I need to get that on my iPod. How long did it take to shoot that scene? Like, how many times did you have to listen to Hanging Out With My Family? Oh, a bunch. Yeah, I bet. And that should ultimately be an easy scene, because just the two of you dancing, you just put that music in later, but I guess it was... That's one of those things that I feel like they play in Prisoner of War camps. Yeah.
Just like that. That's how they hang it out is they just play hanging out with my family over and over and over again. All right. One more one more question. Was was everything in Rod's performance a actor's choice or is he actually like that in real life?
I'm going to say... You can take the fifth, too. None of it was how he is in real life, but I'm going to say it was 80% actor's choice and 20% James moving the dolly very slowly. It's like that episode of Dawson's Creek when he's in the wheelchair. You gotta go, you know. It's exactly like that episode of Dawson's Creek. Thank you.
Get on it. Dawson's Creek. When Joey climbs through the window and they decide to make the movie. So good. Gran is pissed because they run away. Our last question over here. Yes. You give a great performance. You're great in the film. But there are moments where you seem angered or bothered. Is that real life coming through or is that a character choice? I think that kind of thing is really hard to hide. And so I'm going to...
Yeah, I mean, I imagine there must have been some very tough days in that seven months. There were weeks where James wouldn't talk to me. Wow, like Kubrick style. That's Hitchcock. That's Hitchcock, too. All of his directions would come from Alan. And Alan was the camera guy who was slightly off center, right?
- No, Alan is a robot. - Oh, Alan's a robot. Oh, wait, he would give it to another actor to tell you? Whoa. That does not help with chemistry on set. Wow, how did he do it? - What if he needed you to put makeup on somebody? Would he talk to you, the makeup artist, but not you, the actor?
There was a period of two weeks where I forget what was the catalyst to this, but he kept comparing me to Katherine Hagel and her relationship with ER. He wouldn't talk to me at all. Because you were questioning when he said, it's a movie? Yeah. Yeah, you were feeling some real tantrums there. These things don't make sense. Very difficult. Yeah, she's so difficult.
She wants to see the whole script. Oh boy, actresses. She wants to say all of her lines in a row without 40 second pauses between them. Which doesn't make sense because it would make it impossible to cut awkwardly around them.
So now you're back in school right now. You've done some other movies. Overall, it was a positive, fun experience, right? After it happened, yes. Absolutely. Because we did the Minute Movie Tour. We screened it at CineFamily all the time. And there's one coming up. And it's...
become sort of like a really weird fun thing in my life whereas before I was very worried about where it would fit into my life but now it's just kind of an awesome weird thing do you get recognized a lot do people come up to you and are like holy shit you're Natalie from Birdemic the only time that's happened was at Comic Con really can I just say if somebody does do that if somebody's like oh my god shit you're Natalie from Birdemic you should be like
Yes, I am. Give it up for Whitney Moore. Whitney Moore. Thank you guys all for coming out to Largo tonight. We really appreciate it. Give it up for Whitney Moore. Give it up for Al Yankovic who came out here. The first time we've ever had a standing ovation. Amazing.
So thank you. I do want to, just while we're all here, just because we have a second, I want to show you something that we can never do on the podcast because it's just too visual. Here we go. One of the people who listened to the show decided to make a graph of how many times we say literally. Wait, how is it broken down? By person? It's broken down by episode.
And then also by person. Yeah, so let's see. So the greens are Jason. Blues are me.
Red is June. There's no reds. June, you're off the literally. June, you gotta start saying literally. It's cool. And the guests are purple. But by far, if you want to hear the most literallys, which is 15, that is the John Daly episode. Followed closely behind the Nick Kroll episode and the Adam Scott episode. But we've done better now. We do. We've done all the way to Joe Mandy. Our literallys were just down to only one.
I don't think tonight we did any literally. Oh, I'm sure I did.
Not on purpose, I just can't stop myself. This is the best chart of all time. I love it. I love that someone made a pie graph of it. It was one of the first things that I feel like when we started the podcast and there was a comment or boards that people would comment on, that people would infuriatingly be like, please stop saying literally so much. You literally don't need to say literally in every sentence. I was like, man, people are literally pissed off at this.
It's like the people who correct grammar on Twitter. Actually, it's there was. Well, thank you guys so much for coming. You were a great audience. Give yourselves a hand.
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