FH Mini 157 - Gremlins: The Rough Cut, with Ian Grant

[0:00] hey everyone and welcome to another flop house mini of course this is the flop house it's a

[0:09] podcast normally where we talk about a movie that was critically or commercially rejected

[0:14] uh but uh you know on our off weeks on every other week we talk about whatever we just

[0:21] freeform it man what do you want from us it's content i guess a lot of attitude

[0:26] This is the new Dan

[0:29] I'm not taking any shit from you people anymore

[0:32] Yeah yeah

[0:33] That is a reference to

[0:35] We're going to delay this a little bit

[0:37] I texted Elliot and Stuart

[0:40] A picture of this rice pudding

[0:42] Restaurant in like

[0:44] I guess it's like Soho

[0:46] Very aggressive signage

[0:48] A lot of signage that just like

[0:50] You know like

[0:51] Enjoy the calories idiot

[0:54] It's like you're already fat eat it all

[0:56] And it's just like, wow, this pudding restaurant doesn't care who it offends, I guess.

[1:01] And it's like attitude continues.

[1:03] It's like signs everywhere give a lot of attitude.

[1:06] Like it's the rice pudding equivalent of Yosemite Sam telling you to back off.

[1:10] But it includes a sign that's like restaurants for customers only, idiot.

[1:18] Yeah, because they don't even deserve the humanity of a clean restroom to use.

[1:22] Yeah, but this isn't a podcast about signs I saw.

[1:27] Where we review the signs on rice pudding restaurants, yeah.

[1:30] Yeah.

[1:32] Of course, my co-hosts, Elliot Kalin and Stuart Wellington, they've been talking already.

[1:37] But we have a guest.

[1:38] We have a guest we would like to welcome and stop wasting time with pudding talk.

[1:44] His name is Ian Grant.

[1:46] He's the founder and proprietor of the Gremlins Museum.

[1:49] And he's also been in the news lately for his two-hour, 45-ish minute cut of Gremlins with a lot of extended and previously unseen footage.

[1:59] And he slowed a bunch of scenes down.

[2:01] A lot of the characters are noticeably talking slower, moving slower.

[2:05] Just to meet that run time, yeah.

[2:09] Bathroom buddy.

[2:11] Thank you.

[2:12] Great to be here, guys.

[2:14] And Ian, even though Dan said we're not talking about pudding stuff, if you have pudding opinions,

[2:18] This is the place to put them.

[2:20] We don't want to put limits on what you have to say about rice pudding

[2:22] or the town of Topeka, Kansas.

[2:25] For a while, this was a podcast where people aired their thoughts on Topeka, Kansas.

[2:29] Grievances, mostly.

[2:30] Yeah, but thank you so much for joining us.

[2:32] You are by far the premier scholar and collector and, I don't know,

[2:39] Torchbearer, advocate for gremlins.

[2:43] Dan, you're supposed to be running this thing.

[2:45] I have questions I'd like to ask, but maybe, Dan, you should ask the first question.

[2:47] Well, yeah, I should say also, you know, as this is an audio medium, a delight, of course, to see all of the gremlins in the background preserved in their little plastic boxes.

[3:00] These are the gremlins' puppets and props.

[3:02] They're not live gremlins who are bedeviling me right now.

[3:05] Screaming to get out.

[3:08] Normally well-behaved.

[3:10] This is how we contain the stench.

[3:11] These things, all the preservatives and stuff to keep them still in shape.

[3:15] It's the only way to kind of do it.

[3:18] I'm amazed that they still exist

[3:20] because I know that the foam and things

[3:23] that they're made out of deteriorate really quickly, right?

[3:26] Yeah, they weren't designed to last more than the production.

[3:30] And especially in scenes like in Dory's in the first movie,

[3:34] they were covered in beer and salt and all sorts of nasty stuff.

[3:39] And so when I get them,

[3:41] they're usually kind of rotting out and heads off.

[3:44] And, you know, the one on my right here, his face was basically melting off.

[3:50] It's, you know, they're pretty rough shape usually when they arrive.

[3:54] Yeah, I was actually, I was going to get into this later.

[3:57] Like, so the Gremlins Museum is, you can take a virtual tour, but at this point it's not open to the public.

[4:04] And part of it is that you do so much preservation work.

[4:07] And I was reading on your website about the preservation.

[4:09] And it really threw cold water on my own dreams of, like, having a Gremlin.

[4:15] Whenever there's, like, an auction somewhere with Gremlins, I'm like, well, this is, like, several thousand dollars.

[4:20] I can't afford it anyway.

[4:22] But also, like, I guess I can feel better about it now because it seems like it would be as hard as owning, like, an actual Mogwai and having to follow the rules.

[4:32] There's just three rules, Dan.

[4:33] They're not that hard to follow.

[4:35] There's never been an example of somebody saying you're wrong.

[4:38] Because, and I'm going to say two words, Billy Peltzer.

[4:41] I think he is not the best guy for taking care of models.

[4:43] Oh, wow, he's the villain.

[4:45] What do you think about this, Ian?

[4:46] What do you think about this Billy slander?

[4:49] What do you...

[4:50] I don't know.

[4:50] He did kind of break all the rules pretty quick, right?

[4:53] Like right away.

[4:55] And I feel like Dan has a lot in common with Billy Peltzer.

[4:58] Dan comes from a small town.

[5:00] Dan is a little bit of a doodler.

[5:04] Just like Billy, yeah.

[5:05] That's true.

[5:06] Dan's best friend is also a young actor, a child actor, just like the first Gremlins.

[5:12] Dan would also get very nervous around Phoebe Cates.

[5:15] I would get extremely nervous around Phoebe Cates.

[5:21] I'm curious about how these – first, my main question is how did the museum begin?

[5:26] But also, how did these Gremlins fall into your hands?

[5:28] Do they arrive on your doorstep in a basket?

[5:30] There's a note that just says, please take care of my Gremlin.

[5:33] Because what a life.

[5:33] What a great life.

[5:35] A lot of my earliest memories kind of revolve around Gremlins.

[5:39] And so, I don't know, I guess it's always kind of just been there.

[5:42] And I never really had any desire to own actual props

[5:46] until I think, I don't know, maybe Gremlins 2 came out.

[5:49] And then I was like, well, somebody's got to own this.

[5:52] Like somebody's got to, you know, there's got to be a way to get this.

[5:55] And it kind of always stuck with me that if I ever had any play money,

[5:58] that this would be something that I'd probably do.

[6:01] And at some point, right as we were kind of selling a business,

[6:05] this like first movie puppet basically showed up on eBay

[6:10] and I caught it within maybe like five minutes

[6:13] of it getting posted.

[6:14] And so I messaged the guy, I was like,

[6:16] hey, like, what do you want for this?

[6:18] Like, let's just work something out right now.

[6:20] And the guy was like, $200.

[6:24] Wow.

[6:25] And so I was like, send the invoice.

[6:30] Send the invoice, idiot.

[6:31] You have no idea what you do, what you have on your hands.

[6:34] He knew.

[6:35] Like he said, it was, you know, it's a puppet from the movie.

[6:37] Like it came from Warner Brothers.

[6:38] So it wasn't like I was trying to like rip some guy off or anything.

[6:42] But, you know, it was beheaded.

[6:44] It was in really rough shape.

[6:45] So, I mean, you know, he didn't want to deal with it essentially.

[6:49] And it was funny because, you know, I'm just sitting there like praying this thing arrives.

[6:56] Like who knows what the, you know, what's going to happen.

[6:59] And at the time, I lived in this house

[7:01] where it was like on a cul-de-sac

[7:03] where like two roads interconnected there.

[7:06] And I had a neighbor who had the exact same house number as me.

[7:10] And so we're constantly like sharing packages

[7:14] because inevitably they would never end up in the right place.

[7:17] And sure enough...

[7:18] The neighbor's like, what the hell is happening?

[7:22] Sure enough, this gremlin arrives on like his doorstep.

[7:25] You know, this, you know, as my wife calls him,

[7:28] you know, car-priced, you know, foam things.

[7:32] And I went over there, grabbed it,

[7:36] and sure enough, like, that was it.

[7:37] And I think it's probably, like,

[7:39] the best preserved gremlin that exists.

[7:42] There's probably less than 20 in the world

[7:44] of these things from their first movie.

[7:47] So it's, you know, finding anything like that

[7:49] is like winning the lottery, essentially.

[7:51] That's amazing.

[7:52] Yeah, well, let's stick with sort of the museum stuff.

[7:57] Like, we're all big Gremlins fans on this show.

[8:01] Elliot is very vociferous in his admiration of Gremlins 2 specifically.

[8:09] I mean, I love the first one, too.

[8:10] The first one was the movie I probably watched the most growing up.

[8:13] Yeah, we're all Grimheads.

[8:15] Grimheads.

[8:15] I don't have any puppets, but one of the first—

[8:20] Well, you don't have any Gremlins puppets.

[8:21] You have other puppets.

[8:22] I do have other puppets.

[8:23] That's true.

[8:24] I am the sort of man who owns puppets.

[8:26] but also one of the first and best gifts that my wife got for me

[8:31] is a Polish Gremlins poster.

[8:32] I have a Gremlins corner not too far away,

[8:36] including a painting I made of a shot from Gremlins.

[8:42] I assume you have sort of an origin story

[8:44] as the foremost Gremlins collector.

[8:49] Gremlinologist.

[8:50] Gremlinologist.

[8:51] What would you say that is?

[8:53] I think what first got me into it,

[8:56] I remember distinctly seeing the first Gremlins in a drive-thru theater as a kid.

[9:01] So I was born in 81.

[9:02] Good way to say it.

[9:02] And so, you know, I was like kind of a youngin'.

[9:05] It was rated PG.

[9:06] Parents, you know, across the country sent their kids to see this horror movie.

[9:12] So I was into it.

[9:13] Learning about Santa Claus.

[9:15] Yeah.

[9:16] Right.

[9:18] And I remember distinctly, it must have been 85,

[9:22] Because my dad made the astute decision to go buy a Betamax player.

[9:27] And Gremlins was one of the first tapes.

[9:30] And the guy who sold it to us, he's like, I think you should have this.

[9:33] And it was this very 80s Gremlins rub and play, like play set.

[9:39] And it was those things, they're almost like, they come on like, it's like little illustrations.

[9:44] And then you have to kind of scratch them with a nickel.

[9:47] And they transfer to like the background or like this chaos.

[9:50] Yeah, yeah, I think I had that same set.

[9:52] Yeah, yeah.

[9:53] I had that and I had the like color forms one where you can, yeah.

[9:57] I may have had that too.

[9:58] I definitely had the, they did a set of like,

[10:01] what was the fast food place that did like a set of records

[10:05] that was like Hardee's?

[10:07] It was Hardee's?

[10:08] Yeah.

[10:08] It was Hardee's, yeah.

[10:09] Because my mom to this day will quote,

[10:12] I think the opening of the final record

[10:14] where it just goes, Kate and Billy.

[10:19] Those are huge.

[10:19] They're still around all over the place.

[10:22] You know, it's such a weird movie

[10:24] because they rated it PG.

[10:25] So kids were all over this

[10:27] and they had commercials where, you know,

[10:29] you buy your Gremlin cereal,

[10:30] buy enough of it, you get your own gizmo.

[10:32] And they had great commercials.

[10:34] Like, I don't know.

[10:35] It's such a weird,

[10:37] like it doesn't exist anywhere else.

[10:39] That was also, the 80s was the time

[10:40] when kids were allowed to have anything

[10:43] because like the fact that there was

[10:45] a talking Freddy Krueger doll,

[10:47] like you could get a lunchbox

[10:48] with Freddy Krueger or Jason on it.

[10:50] And it's like, this doesn't make sense.

[10:51] Why does Rambo have his own cartoon show?

[10:55] You want to keep Freddy away from children.

[10:58] Even on the Gremlins lunchbox,

[11:00] there's Gremlins smoking on the bottom of it.

[11:02] Like, it's crazy.

[11:03] That would never exist today.

[11:04] No, well, that's everybody smoked back then.

[11:05] I have this lunchbox that has the Minions dropping acid.

[11:12] Yeah, in preparation for this,

[11:14] I just got curious and I was Googling

[11:17] like people's like thematic takes on gremlins and i got to some terrible medium article by

[11:23] some person who was like well you know like gremlins uh is actually good this movie that

[11:29] everyone thinks is bad i'm like what are you talking about i can only assume this is a younger

[11:35] person who like is baffled in part by like exactly what we're talking about like how was this a thing

[11:42] that was allowed for white audiences.

[11:46] Like, it's so mean, but it's also for kids.

[11:49] Yeah, I mean, there's shooting, there's drinking,

[11:51] there's smoking.

[11:52] Like, it's all the kind of things

[11:54] that you would never see in, like, a kids' movie nowadays.

[11:56] I mean, people genuinely get hurt.

[11:57] Like, Mrs. Deagle is dead.

[11:59] Like, there's no scene of them pulling her out of the snow.

[12:02] And people get hurt who don't deserve it.

[12:04] Also, there's the guy who's just putting his mail

[12:06] into the mailbox and basically gets eaten.

[12:08] And it's like...

[12:10] what is it Mr. Futterman

[12:13] has some pretty

[12:14] negative attitudes towards

[12:16] non-Americans

[12:17] I've read

[12:21] once a really good take on

[12:22] the idea of it as

[12:24] the way that

[12:26] it's talking about kind of like where the

[12:28] American mindset was at the time

[12:30] and the kind of like

[12:32] seesawing back and forth of how people felt

[12:34] in the Reagan era where it was like a pride in

[12:36] America but also a feeling that America was kind of like

[12:38] falling behind and there's a lot of that that i feel like that's the kind of stuff that like

[12:42] it's such a it's a good movie and so there's rich things in it that are where i don't think

[12:46] joe dante was like chris and chris columbus were like we got to do something about america in

[12:49] decline even though it thinks it's doing well you know well it's hard to define exactly what

[12:55] it's saying which is kind of what i mean what it's saying is do not feed them after midnight

[13:00] do not get them wet like it's pretty clear what the message of the movie because i know that like

[13:04] i mean from what i know about joe dante's politics like he is not like a xenophobic guy

[13:09] but i think that the movie is like satirizing xenophobia to some degree in a way that can be

[13:15] mistaken for like also being xenophobic itself um once you get into that sort of like deeper like

[13:21] well what does this mean level of things i don't know yeah that's true um i don't know so uh so

[13:27] So Ian, you have all these,

[13:31] so now you have this amazing collection

[13:33] of the gremlins, puppets, and props.

[13:35] And I'm curious about how,

[13:36] so did you have to teach yourself

[13:38] basically the preservation techniques

[13:39] or did you have any past history

[13:40] with art preservation or archiving

[13:43] or anything like that?

[13:44] No, I work with kind of restoration artists.

[13:47] That's like way above my skill set.

[13:49] Oh, okay.

[13:50] Actually doing the restoration work.

[13:51] Nevermind that,

[13:52] because I really imagined you in your garage

[13:54] with like, you know, Q-tips and things like that.

[13:56] That's my nightmare.

[13:57] tutorials yeah these guys um you know i i don't want to even like touch them like it's crazy

[14:04] because the registration guys they're just like manhandling these things and just you know all

[14:08] right we got to fix the ear and they just shove it back you know and meanwhile i'm just like i have

[14:13] my gloves on and you know something needs to get moved and so uh yeah it's just too for me it's

[14:20] just too nerve-wracking um i'm only really happy when these things are in their collect cases and

[14:25] nobody could touch them they're holding together like we're good um this i'm sure this is the sort

[14:32] of question you've gotten a million times before but i have to ask like is there like one or two

[14:36] like things in your collection like this is my prize this is the best thing this is my uh crown

[14:42] jewel um it's kind of like an accumulation of things like i don't know i i see things as sort

[14:48] of like a um it's like a set of work like so i'm very like um i'm very intentional about what i buy

[14:54] at this point um and so i've kind of like worked out like a lot of the um kind of filler pieces

[15:00] but i i would say if i had to pick one it would probably be the i have a mohawk mogwai that uh

[15:06] he looks like he just walked off set like the the detail on him is just so freaking good and

[15:11] they're just you know such intricate hair work and um it's just gorgeous gorgeous piece of art i

[15:18] think um do you guys have more like sort of more general questions before i get into stuff about

[15:25] this cut that uh ian put together or i don't know i mean what is what do you have a security system

[15:30] at at the at the location if so what's the code yeah i kind of have to after their own little

[15:35] insurance policy and all that you know um until the day comes where i get a mysterious benefactor

[15:41] that will let me have my own place to that people can visit um you know that's kind of where it's

[15:47] that but you know occasionally i do tours for people like if they're in town um it was funny

[15:53] uh two of hugh hefner's kids came over like a couple weeks ago kind of random but they're like

[15:59] we're huge fans let's you know i want to see this so um it's awesome yeah it's kind of fun you know

[16:05] it's it's not meant to to a collection like this isn't meant to be hoarded away um and you know

[16:12] I've had people come over, it's, you know, like Gizmo is like my security, you know, creature

[16:18] growing up. And so like seeing a lot of these pieces in person, like it can kind of evoke an

[16:24] emotional response out of some people, which is, you know, that's awesome. Like that's what it's

[16:28] all about. I had a similar moment. I went to the Museum of the Moving Image not that long ago,

[16:35] and they had a large Jim Henson collection on display. And obviously seeing Big Bird crushed

[16:42] me like seeing big bird in person is so incredible and then of course seeing the love of my life miss

[16:48] piggy in wedding dress yeah yeah yeah i mean you can see photos of these things but it's like really

[16:56] in person where it's you know you can look around and see all the detail that was put into it like

[17:01] some of the best artists in the world were working on these yeah and um you know these are you know

[17:06] for movies you've seen a million times growing up like actually seeing the characters you loved is

[17:10] really special thing, I think.

[17:13] There's something so, yeah, there's something incredibly

[17:14] special about it being the real

[17:17] stuff, too.

[17:18] I had the opportunity recently, there was

[17:20] to see the armature

[17:23] from the inside of the stop-motion

[17:25] terror dog from

[17:26] the first Ghostbusters, and it was

[17:28] just amazing to be like, oh, well, this, I mean, this looks

[17:30] really cool, it's amazing, but this is literally,

[17:32] this is what the artists working on the film

[17:34] were handling. Like, this was the, this is the thing that

[17:36] made it possible.

[17:38] And I always, I still regret, there's the

[17:40] that famous guerrilla actor Bob Burns

[17:43] who passed away not too long ago

[17:44] that he had the King Kong armature

[17:46] and apparently if you just got in touch with him

[17:48] and were like can I come by and see it

[17:49] he'd be like yeah sure go ahead

[17:50] there's something about like

[17:52] knowing that these things exist as physical objects

[17:55] that are still real

[17:56] that makes the movie that much more real

[17:58] and makes it much more of a

[18:00] it can't help but bring you into a little bit of connection

[18:02] with the thing itself

[18:04] and the people who made it

[18:05] and I just imagine it's worth the fear

[18:08] that they will come alive in the middle of the night

[18:10] and kill you and your family, you know, to have them around you.

[18:14] These are the actors, you know.

[18:16] If you think about Gremlins, like, yeah, you got, you know,

[18:18] Billy and Kate and stuff.

[18:19] But if you think about, like, you know,

[18:21] Gizmo is the star of both Gremlins films.

[18:23] And so, you know, it's kind of like having an actor.

[18:27] You don't really get that with CG.

[18:28] These are the physical embodiments of, you know, what was on screen.

[18:32] And in some ways, it's even better than an actor

[18:35] because meeting the actor, they were a person,

[18:37] a human being

[18:38] with a full life

[18:40] playing a part

[18:41] as opposed to

[18:41] problematic views

[18:42] potentially

[18:43] but

[18:44] not always

[18:46] but like

[18:47] the prop is so like

[18:49] it's so specific

[18:50] and it's like

[18:51] I don't know

[18:52] it's like super intense

[18:53] and you don't have to

[18:54] like when you meet an actor

[18:55] and you're like

[18:55] oh I loved you in that movie

[18:56] they're like

[18:57] oh yeah great

[18:58] anyway that was an experience I had

[18:59] and it's freighted with

[19:00] what my life was like at the time

[19:01] and I'm not that person

[19:02] but yeah if you would

[19:03] if you're engaged with the prop

[19:04] the prop is not like

[19:04] yeah I remember back

[19:05] when I did Gremlins

[19:06] anyway I'm getting divorced now

[19:07] It's like, no, it still is.

[19:09] That's its whole existence.

[19:10] And you can be a huge freak when you meet them

[19:11] like I did with Miss Piggy.

[19:13] Exactly.

[19:14] Miss Piggy can't be like,

[19:15] oh, actually, I'm married to Scott.

[19:17] He's, you know,

[19:18] Piggy's just a character I play, you know.

[19:23] It's the worst Miss Piggy impression I've ever done.

[19:25] I've developed a little bit of a relationship

[19:27] with Zach Galligan in the last year.

[19:30] And it's funny talking to him on the phone

[19:33] because it's like you're talking to like freaking Billy,

[19:35] you know.

[19:36] Except, you know, everyone's raw, throwing an expletive in or, you know.

[19:40] But he still enunciates the same way Billy would, you know.

[19:43] And so it kind of just like reboots your brain.

[19:45] You're just like, this is so weird.

[19:49] Let's talk about this recent cut that's been in the news.

[19:53] Because I want to start out by saying, like, I have to admit, like, when I first started seeing these, like, articles about, like, nearly three-hour cut of Gremlins Discovered.

[20:02] And there had been, like, a rash of these articles out there from modern entertainment writers who were just, like, you know, writing clickbait or whatever, who didn't appear to understand, like, there are these things called assembly cuts where you just, like, put everything into the movie.

[20:21] And that doesn't mean, that's not the same as a director's cut.

[20:24] That doesn't mean that, like, for all these other movies, like, this is what they wanted.

[20:27] It's like, no, this is, like, a step along the way to the movie that they wanted.

[20:31] And no one is going to want to watch that as their experience of the movie, like certainly for the first time.

[20:38] Nobody was fighting.

[20:39] Joe Dante was not like, I need a three-hour cut.

[20:41] He was not fighting with Warner Brothers to get a three-hour cut released.

[20:44] But then I read about what you did and, you know, it is a little different.

[20:49] And you should be ashamed of yourself.

[20:51] How dare you, sir.

[20:53] Read about what you did.

[20:55] No, but you like put in work to make this watchable as a thing.

[20:58] Again, a thing that is primarily going to be of interest to gremlins nuts like us,

[21:02] but like a watchable experience.

[21:05] Can you talk about sort of like what you did with the material?

[21:10] Yeah, so I got two VHS tapes from Joe Dante,

[21:14] and he was nice enough to send them over.

[21:18] This has been sort of like rumored for decades,

[21:21] and Joe's been kind of like pushing it off like, oh, it's gone.

[21:25] i think he told me at some point too it like somebody stole it out of his house

[21:29] so but um i was talking with chris whales and he was saying oh like uh there's 20 we shot like

[21:39] 20 minutes of uh there's 20 minutes of footage of dory's alone um out there somewhere and so

[21:46] joe found these tapes and sent them to me and um what i saw in there was just it was incredible

[21:52] like just scenes that nobody has ever seen before um and uh like like scenes that look normal are

[22:01] now like three minutes longer or they're completely alternate takes um so it's like you said it's not

[22:08] a director's cut this is meant for gremlins fans um but what was on the tape though uh it was

[22:15] pretty rough like it was straight dialogue basically like no score no sound effects and

[22:21] the temp creature sounds could best be equated to like like a moaning woman um so so dan this is

[22:29] very close to your fantasy about about credit gremlin yeah yeah i mean it pulls you right out

[22:34] of the movie and so like when i saw the stuff i'm like people need to watch this this is incredible

[22:39] and so it seemed pretty obvious to me like okay well we need to turn this into something that

[22:44] could be screened for for fans um and so that's kind of what got the whole project going yeah and

[22:50] if i understand it from reading previous things like you had sort of uh what was kind of an

[22:58] assembly cut and then you had also a tape of deleted scenes some of which hadn't even made

[23:04] it that far and you also reinterpreted some of that material uh yeah in there it all got put

[23:10] into um so there were some extra scenes that were actually really important i thought on this extra

[23:14] tape and so they kind of got put into like their correct place in this in the um in my version and

[23:22] so yeah it actually works out to be like a really watchable movie and like the first hour is just

[23:30] getting to know basically everybody in kingston falls and it really the character development's

[23:35] incredible um you really kind of get to know everybody a whole lot better than in the final

[23:40] film and not to say it's better than the theatrical but it's just for a fan it's really interesting

[23:46] no it's uh so there is like material within this that has been like available before in different

[23:53] like deleted scenes and stuff but um i found one of the things i found really interesting about

[23:59] what you're saying is there's so much mrs deagle stuff in there that like is uh you know in the in

[24:08] the theatrical cut you get a lot of uh miss miss miss deagle is like like miss gulch uh from wizard

[24:17] of oz like that feels like the maiden touchstone with all the like i'm gonna get your dog stuff in

[24:22] there but there's so much extra about how she has she owns like half the town and wants to like

[24:31] kick people out at christmas that isn't in the theatrical cut that really made me think like oh

[24:38] okay, well, this is a Mr. Potter thing, too.

[24:40] Like, this is really drawing on It's a Wonderful Life.

[24:43] Like, that's one of the main, I don't know, revelations, I thought.

[24:47] Like, is there stuff in there that you particularly are like, wow.

[24:51] Like, this is new to me.

[24:53] Like, this is important, you know.

[24:55] Yeah, like the whole scene where, you know, in the theatrical,

[24:59] you see Barney get kind of tied up with the Christmas lights outside, you know.

[25:03] And it's sort of just assumed that the Mogwais did this.

[25:07] And I'd seen the storyboards for the first film

[25:10] and they'd shown,

[25:11] they'd storyboarded the heck out of that scene

[25:13] of the mogwais like coercing Barney down the stairs

[25:18] and outside and tying him up and stuff.

[25:20] And I was like,

[25:22] I can't believe they didn't shoot this.

[25:23] This is like so many pages of storyboards.

[25:26] And so actually seeing it is incredible.

[25:30] And it's funny too,

[25:31] because this came out right before Critters.

[25:33] And that's how the mogwais get downstairs.

[25:36] they roll into balls and bounce down the stairs.

[25:39] And so you don't see that ever in the final theatrical.

[25:47] And you do get a full body shot of Stripe as Mogwai walking around.

[25:54] You never see a Mogwai from a distance that way.

[25:57] Just strutting.

[25:59] It's so adorable.

[26:01] I talked with Chris Wales about that shot,

[26:03] And apparently they had this whole rig for like a wide shot of the Mogwai walking and they just couldn't really get it all that great.

[26:12] And in the scene, you can see like there's a line on the floor where, you know, like clearly, you know what's going on.

[26:19] But it's a really funny scene because like you can see Rand Peltzer has like his invention hooked up to the bed or something.

[26:28] they're sleeping and then stripe the mogwais walking by their door and and ran farts and it

[26:34] startles stripe and uh it's just like it's so crazy there's just so much going on so quickly

[26:42] in that scene um but it's never been seen before um also like one thing that particularly stuck out

[26:49] uh the i the the science teacher i don't remember his name mr hansen mr hansen there's like a whole

[26:56] scene where he's studying the you know like the the the magua that he has and says outright like

[27:04] oh this water multiplication thing uh only works when the environmental temperature

[27:10] is above 40 degrees like a line that's clearly in the movie to be like for people who are like

[27:17] well why aren't they multiplying when they're walking through all this snow and like right

[27:21] rightfully it's been cut out

[27:23] because it's like

[27:24] who cares

[27:24] like none of this

[27:26] makes any sense

[27:26] but it was really interesting

[27:27] to me to see that like

[27:29] they tried to address

[27:30] some of these

[27:30] objections that have

[27:32] bedeviled Gremlins fans

[27:33] for years

[27:34] right

[27:35] what if you go over

[27:36] a time zone or something

[27:37] and you get something

[27:37] stuck in your teeth

[27:38] you know

[27:39] yeah

[27:39] there's a lot of things

[27:40] about the movie

[27:41] it doesn't make any sense

[27:42] and so at least

[27:42] they tried to address

[27:43] you know

[27:44] they're in snow

[27:45] why aren't they multiplying

[27:46] they're like

[27:47] Glenn we need you

[27:48] to make up something

[27:48] on set about why

[27:49] it doesn't make them multiply

[27:51] and he's like, I'll think of something.

[27:53] Hold on, it's the temperature, temperature.

[27:55] Sure, sure.

[27:56] Hi, I'm Justin McElroy

[28:03] and I host Sawbones with my wife, Sydney.

[28:05] I'm here with Max Fun, Member of the Month, Amanda Adams.

[28:08] Thank you so much for being a supporter

[28:10] and thank you for being our Member of the Month.

[28:13] Woo-hoo, you're so welcome.

[28:15] How long have you been listening to Sawbones, Amanda?

[28:18] It's been probably a good 10 years.

[28:21] I very much enjoy Dr. Sidney and everything she does.

[28:24] And it's wonderful to be able to support it.

[28:26] Let me ask you about the most important moment in your life

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[28:46] It has been a good month already.

[28:49] Support the shows you love, including this one.

[28:51] Check the show notes for a link or go to MaximumFun.org slash join.

[28:58] Hi, everybody. It's Ellen Weatherford.

[29:00] And Christian Weatherford.

[29:01] People say not to judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree.

[29:05] But we can judge a snake by its ability to fly or a spider by its ability to dive.

[29:10] Or a dung beetle by its ability to navigate with the starlight of the Milky Way galaxy.

[29:16] On Just the Zoo of Us, we rate our favorite animals out of 10 in the categories of physical effectiveness, behavioral ingenuity, and of course, aesthetics.

[29:23] Guest experts like biologists, ecologists, musicians, comedians, and more join us to share their unique insights into the animal kingdom.

[29:32] Listen with the whole family on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

[29:40] We here at the Flophouse have some things we want to tell you about, and I'm going to take a moment to tell you about them.

[29:45] We are, of course, performing live September 18th in Louisville, Kentucky at Whirling Tiger.

[29:50] It's going to be our first live show in a while.

[29:52] We're super excited about it.

[29:54] If you've never been to a Flophouse live show, then you need to know that what you hear when we release the audio is only part of the show.

[30:00] You also get our pre-episode stuff.

[30:03] We each do presentations.

[30:04] We do a lot of messing around on stage.

[30:07] It's really fun.

[30:07] It's really funny.

[30:08] We hope you can join us.

[30:09] We're going to be talking about the movie Glitter, starring Mariah Carey, and we're going to be joined in the show by our own Alex Smith, a.k.a. Howell Doughty, Louisville's own.

[30:18] So we're very excited to be with him on stage and to be doing that show.

[30:22] So that's in Louisville, Kentucky, Whirling Tiger, September 18th.

[30:25] Go to FlophousePodcast.com slash events for tickets and more information.

[30:30] If you can't make it to Louisville, well, I'm disappointed.

[30:34] But you can still see us perform because Flop TV is coming back.

[30:39] That's right, season four of Flop TV

[30:40] starts September 5th at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific.

[30:44] It's the first Saturday of every month,

[30:46] September through February,

[30:47] and the theme this year is the best of the worst,

[30:51] or rather the worst of the best.

[30:53] It's Best Picture winners,

[30:54] and we're gonna look at a bunch of ones

[30:55] that are probably not very good,

[30:57] and one in particular that is a fine movie,

[31:01] but Stewart just doesn't like it.

[31:03] Go to theflophouse.simpletix.com,

[31:06] and you will find a list of all the movies,

[31:08] And you'll be able to buy tickets there.

[31:09] You can either buy a ticket for an individual episode

[31:11] or you can buy a season pass,

[31:13] which gets you six episodes for the price of five.

[31:16] And if you can't make it to watch us live on your TV screen,

[31:20] if you can't be there to watch us live on your computer screen

[31:23] when we perform the first Saturday of each month

[31:25] from September through February,

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[31:30] to the recording of the show.

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[31:33] and they will stay up through the end of February

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[31:38] That's The Flophouse live in Louisville, Kentucky,

[31:41] September 18th.

[31:42] Go to flophousepodcast.com slash events

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[31:47] first Saturday of the month,

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[31:49] starting September 5th.

[31:50] Go to theflophouse.simpletix.com.

[31:54] I, of course, have my own regular personal plugs,

[31:56] my book, Joke Farming,

[31:57] How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense,

[31:58] continues to be in stores and existing,

[32:01] and I want you to buy it and read it.

[32:03] There's also the audiobook version of it,

[32:05] which I read myself, so enjoy my beautiful voice.

[32:09] My comic book, Barbarian Behind Bars from Mad Cave Studios

[32:12] should be out in its collected edition right now.

[32:15] That is the story of a Conan the Barbarian type barbarian

[32:18] from another dimension who ends up in jail

[32:20] in the United States, and he's gotta get out.

[32:23] It is a real pulp, kind of violent,

[32:27] B-movie, grindhouse type of story.

[32:29] I hope you enjoy it.

[32:30] And of course, Harley Quinn from DC Comics.

[32:32] I continue to write that each month.

[32:33] pick it up for something that is a little bit less violent

[32:35] and a little bit funnier and more heartfelt in many ways.

[32:40] And now, back to the rest of the show.

[32:43] Um, I have some more questions.

[32:46] Do you all have questions?

[32:48] I was going to say, was there a specific scene

[32:50] that you remember, like, finding on the tape

[32:52] and being like, oh, my God.

[32:54] Like, I can't believe we actually have this now.

[32:58] I actually put together, like, a little Facebook chat group

[33:01] when I first got the digitized tapes back.

[33:05] And so it was kind of like the biggest Gremlins fans that I know.

[33:09] And so I was kind of like going through the footage and stuff, you know.

[33:13] So we all got to kind of experience it at the same time.

[33:15] And it was definitely the Rand farting scene.

[33:18] I was just like, you're never going to believe this.

[33:19] Because it's so absurd.

[33:23] But that's something dads do when they're sleeping.

[33:26] You know.

[33:27] But if you think about Gremlins 1 and 2.

[33:31] you never you're always seeing gremlins from the waist up for the most part all the hero puppets

[33:36] are basically like half body puppets um somebody has their hand in there and is holding them up

[33:41] it's so rare that you see a full body puppet because it would have to be like a marionette

[33:46] or some sort of like special rig and so in this one there's a few scenes where you see full wide

[33:53] shots and um so like in that ran scene it's it's wild i mean we all just kind of like it blew our

[34:00] mind like one of my friends is like i'm taking the rest of the day off this is a lot to process

[34:03] i gotta lay down i gotta examine my life yep um well we've been sort of taunting our audience

[34:12] with all this stuff that they can't see uh is there any way that in the future it will be

[34:18] seeable or is is is do are people just gonna have to rely on the word picture we've painted for them

[34:26] um well for since about like april i've been working with um the british film institute over

[34:33] in london to try to do like a screening um when word got out that i had this i got easily like

[34:39] 50 requests to screen this at various theaters or festivals or whatever and bfi seemed like kind

[34:45] of the best best way to do it and so they were working and using sort of their connections at

[34:51] warner brothers to try to get this happening and do it in like a legit way because i've been saying

[34:56] from the start that like i don't own this i can't just freely distribute it or show it or anything

[35:03] and so um they finally got through to um warner the other day by means of warner legal and uh

[35:13] so i'm having to relinquish basically everything that i have to them which is a whole joy but

[35:21] But, you know, I'm still trying to get, like, screenings happening.

[35:25] They seem like, you know, if I was playing along with them,

[35:29] that we could get, you know, we could work out some sort of way

[35:32] to potentially make that a thing.

[35:34] So that ultimately is the goal.

[35:36] Like, I'm not trying to make money from this.

[35:37] I'm trying to just get this out to the fans so, you know, they can see it.

[35:42] I hope that that is, you know, like, I have not been, like, bragging around,

[35:50] like oh you know we're talking to this guy but like i have gotten questions from my few like

[35:57] very close gremlins fans that i've like mentioned like oh you know we're gonna do this episode like

[36:01] uh they're all like but how do i see this cut and i'm like i i don't think there's a way right now

[36:08] i'm sorry i'll let you know if i hear anything they have this idea that i'm trying to like keep

[36:12] it away from them i'm like no i'm just trying to not get sued you know that's really what it comes

[36:16] down to um you know i want to share this with fans that's really the end goal that's always

[36:21] been the end goal and so if warner brothers wants to play along um fantastic and i've been trying to

[36:26] you know give them the merits of like hey gremlins 3 comes out you're inevitably going to make a

[36:31] three disc set why not throw it on there you know how do you get people to buy gremlins for the

[36:36] nth time well include the rough cut done the uh that i think there's also such a like clearly so

[36:44] much work goes into making as you've said something like that fully watchable like it's a movie like

[36:50] you're saying this adding the score adding that the sound effects like putting the scenes together

[36:55] and it's the kind of thing that only happens because someone loves the material and wants to

[37:00] wants to make that material viewable and so clearly like this this is obviously such a

[37:05] passion project and like you're saying you're like i'm not trying to make money off this if

[37:09] there was a way to make a lot of money off of it warner brothers would have done it already and so

[37:13] you think and so i think i don't know i don't seem to like to release movies no they would have done

[37:18] it and then buried it so that they could get the tax write-off yeah but i think the uh but i think

[37:23] it's it's a i mean i applaud you for for the for the labor of love that it is to to take those

[37:28] elements and make them into a viewable thing so that people can have this larger view of something

[37:33] that they love and something that meant so much to all that like i think about um gremlins is one

[37:37] of those things where like if you ask me you're like how do you feel about gremlins i'd be like

[37:41] oh yeah i love gremlins and then the more i think about it the more i'm like well yeah and it was

[37:44] like the movie i watched the most and i went as gizmo for halloween because my mom made me a gizmo

[37:48] costume for like three straight years and i think about all time and seeing gremlins 2 was like a

[37:53] major piece of my like development as a creative person and it's like oh yeah well this is and so

[37:59] it's a so i just want to say like i had a very similar experience like in the run-up to doing

[38:05] the show where i'm like well you know like neither of the gremlins movies like i don't i don't have

[38:09] them in my like top four on letterboxd or whatever but then i was like thinking about like

[38:14] they're the thing that i certainly have the most memorabilia of around my apartment i'm like are

[38:20] these my favorite movies i don't know and and even i saying all that it's all to build up like i i

[38:26] it turns out i have such a it's such a deep part of me but even i would not have the patience or

[38:31] the or the or the the so much love to like really get in there and and unearth the things that are

[38:37] available of it and bring these new

[38:39] aspects to light so I really

[38:41] applaud you Ian for doing it and I'm so thankful

[38:43] that you're engaged in this sacred work

[38:45] and I hope Warner

[38:47] Brothers can get their

[38:49] act together you know so that this is something that

[38:51] gets the wider view

[38:53] that it deserves you know

[38:55] it's kind of the search is really honestly

[38:57] the best part of all this is just like

[38:59] it's amazing that you know 40 something

[39:01] years later there's still things to be unearthed

[39:04] and the fact

[39:05] that Joe Dante is kind of playing along with all this

[39:08] and playing along with my weirdness.

[39:10] And I don't think he quite knew what he was getting into

[39:14] when he passed those tapes over.

[39:18] He was like, this will open up a little bit of space in my closet.

[39:22] I think that's what he was thinking, yeah.

[39:23] But it was like, you know, I was kind of the right person for it

[39:26] because, you know, anyone else could have just been like,

[39:29] watched it and then threw it in the closet and that was it.

[39:32] And so it was kind of like, you know, getting to know the film about as well as anyone can know it, you know, when you're in there and having to retime the score because, you know, the scene is three minutes longer.

[39:45] And or, you know, I have a new appreciation for Howie Mandel doing Gizmo because, you know, thankfully now you can isolate, you know, voice.

[39:56] And so I was able to isolate all the mogwai sounds and creature sounds and everything.

[40:01] And just hearing isolated gizmo, it was freaking awesome.

[40:05] It was really good.

[40:07] It's sort of background noise a lot for the movie.

[40:10] It's there, but when you hear it just isolated, you're like, wow.

[40:14] He's really riffing off of what Billy's saying or Pete or whatever.

[40:18] It's really good.

[40:20] I mean, it doesn't surprise me that they probably were like, okay, you're the character.

[40:25] like what is he

[40:25] what is he doing

[40:26] we need stuff

[40:26] and it's the opposite

[40:28] of the

[40:28] when they isolate

[40:29] David Lee Roth's

[40:30] voice tracks

[40:31] and it just sounds

[40:32] like a

[40:33] like a

[40:33] like a guy's going

[40:34] the thing is

[40:37] is that cocaine

[40:37] makes you crazy

[40:39] it's true

[40:40] I guess it's true

[40:41] the

[40:41] yeah I mean

[40:42] I can't stress enough

[40:43] I mean

[40:44] I think we all

[40:45] had

[40:46] it was a foundational

[40:47] memory for all of us

[40:48] to go through

[40:49] DVDs

[40:50] and go through

[40:51] deleted scenes

[40:52] and I feel like

[40:53] I can also speak

[40:53] for all of us

[40:54] in that most of those deleted scenes

[40:55] were kind of a disappointment

[40:56] because they are separated from the film

[40:59] and also they often lack

[41:01] some of those additional polishes,

[41:03] whether it's score, sound effects, et cetera.

[41:06] So it's like the fact that you were able to do this

[41:10] and it makes it like a very,

[41:12] I mean, it's a very watchable cut of the movie.

[41:15] It's obviously a little bit long

[41:17] and not the director's vision,

[41:19] but like it works as a movie and that's incredible.

[41:23] Yeah, it's been a wild ride.

[41:26] And I'm glad it kind of worked out in the end.

[41:29] And Joe's been very supportive.

[41:31] Zach's been supportive.

[41:33] Zach said if a lot of these extra scenes were in there,

[41:36] maybe his career would go a different track.

[41:40] Which I thought was pretty funny.

[41:43] But yeah, no, it's been a lot of fun.

[41:45] It's been a cool ride.

[41:47] I essentially, I mean, you guys are obviously free

[41:51] to like toss in any extra stuff you have.

[41:53] I essentially just had one last written question that I had,

[41:58] which was like, has this experience encouraged you?

[42:04] Are you like, has it inspired you or perhaps de-inspired you

[42:07] toward any like other big Gremlins project in the future?

[42:14] Dan is like low-key asking, when's the five-hour Gremlins 2 cut?

[42:19] I've been asking Joe about that for a while now,

[42:21] And he's doing his normal kind of dismissive,

[42:25] oh, there's nothing in there.

[42:26] I was like, look at the trading cards.

[42:28] There's more stuff.

[42:30] My one interaction with Joe Dante,

[42:32] he seemed like somebody who was not eager

[42:34] to like dig into old stuff.

[42:36] Was kind of like, eh, you know,

[42:38] very dismissive of past work.

[42:40] He's been surprisingly supportive.

[42:42] And, you know, as a former editor,

[42:45] like getting editorial notes from Joe is like,

[42:47] it was kind of awesome.

[42:49] You know, because originally in the assembly, they had cut out the Kate-Santa speech.

[42:55] And I thought it was really funny.

[42:58] Like on the tape, it just says, scene missing.

[43:02] Scene missing, parentheses, you know the one.

[43:05] Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[43:06] I mean, it's kind of a quick blip, but, you know, nevertheless.

[43:08] And then it was kind of this moment in time where Joe was sort of battling Warner.

[43:17] And essentially, he wanted the more violent Mr. Hanson death, you know, the teacher.

[43:22] And the compromise was removing the Santa speech.

[43:26] But Joe was like, no, Santa speech stays.

[43:29] And so that's why we got the kind of like less violent, you know, the one needle instead of the, you know, 20 needles in the face.

[43:37] Instead of a gremlin digging his eyeballs out of his sockets.

[43:41] So, no, but Joe's been like super supportive about as much as I could imagine.

[43:47] And it's been a lot of fun just finding a lot of his old treasures and working on projects and doing kind of articles and stuff about it.

[43:56] Because it just – I don't know.

[43:57] I think at a certain point with the puppets, there's only so much you can do unless you're a billionaire and just have endless money and just buy everything.

[44:09] Like Daniel Clamp.

[44:13] So just doing these articles and doing the rough cut to me is actually kind of a bit more fulfilling in the end.

[44:19] It shows you, I think, one of the things that makes Gremlins so great, in addition to the fact that it looks amazing, the Gremlins characters and Gizmo are such fully realized living creatures, is that tradeoff you're talking about where it's like you can either have the more violent death or you can have the Santa Claus speech, the Phoebe Kaye speech, that it's like, oh, well, then I want the Santa Claus speech.

[44:41] that like the human characters

[44:43] feel really richly observed too.

[44:45] And that's exciting about the longer cut.

[44:46] Like you're saying that

[44:47] you get to see these characters

[44:49] so much more developed.

[44:51] And that's, it's like,

[44:52] even though the scenes were either cut

[44:54] or cut down,

[44:57] it's like, you know, a rich reduced sauce,

[45:00] you know, like all, you know,

[45:01] it's thicker, but it's got more in there.

[45:04] And it just shows you what,

[45:05] one of the things that makes it such a great movie

[45:07] is that this town,

[45:08] when it's being attacked by the monsters,

[45:11] doesn't feel like, yeah, yeah, yeah, people, whatever,

[45:13] get to the monsters, get to the monsters, you know.

[45:15] And it feels like so much the right choice

[45:17] to include that speech, which is so memorable,

[45:20] over another kill scene, basically.

[45:22] Well, also, I mean, was it Spielberg as producer or Dante?

[45:26] Like, someone said, like, that's the movie in miniature.

[45:28] Like, it's, like, it's funny.

[45:30] And that's what the producers were like,

[45:31] yeah, that's why we don't like it.

[45:34] Upsetting.

[45:35] Like, you know, like, some of the more violent stuff

[45:38] that is in this longer cut,

[45:40] I mean, there's stuff in the Peltzer's kitchen that's, like, grosser.

[45:44] And, I mean, I think that, like, including the Santa speech and not the meaner death is the right call because, like, you know, I'm a horror fan.

[45:53] I like seeing the meaner stuff, but it is such a delicate tone that is struck.

[45:58] And I think that the, like, the meaner version of Gremlins doesn't quite work as well.

[46:04] Like, we got the right mix in the theatrical cut.

[46:07] It's certainly harder to laugh at it.

[46:10] When it's that much, when it gets too mean, for sure.

[46:14] I know that like in the, was it in the original script

[46:17] that Chris Columbus wrote, like Billy's mom dies,

[46:20] like her, like her, he comes home

[46:21] and her like head rolls down the stairs.

[46:23] And it's like, yeah, it'd be hard to,

[46:24] it'd be hard to laugh too much after that.

[46:28] She's such a nice lady, you know.

[46:30] What works so well with this is, you know,

[46:32] I mean, the problem with so many modern movies is like,

[46:34] do you actually care about any of these characters?

[46:36] Yeah.

[46:36] And I feel like in Gremlins, like you care about like

[46:39] a lot of these people like it's it's i don't know i mean how many people in this do you actually

[46:44] like really get to know it's it's pretty wild i feel like when i watch it i am as invested in

[46:49] phoebe cates's life basically in it like that that she is that she seems to have no real future at

[46:56] the moment and you hope that she's going to get out and have one um as much in as invested in that

[47:01] as in can they keep this mogwai dry you know and and you love the peltsers even though arguably

[47:08] they have destroyed this town

[47:10] through their foolishness.

[47:13] Well, yeah, that's true.

[47:14] There's such a, there's a,

[47:16] and this is the kind of thing that I feel like

[47:18] you don't, now if

[47:20] they made this movie now, Billy's

[47:22] dad would have these inventions, and they never

[47:24] quite work, or they're rich.

[47:26] They're a rich family that has great inventions.

[47:28] And then at the end, the inventions would

[47:30] save the day or something. Like, all the inventions

[47:32] they set up would be like, now the one that cracks the eggs

[47:34] open, we can use it to kill the gremlins this way.

[47:36] And now the bathroom buddy, oh, we're going to use that

[47:38] to like, to do this.

[47:39] And the fact that

[47:40] they do not really play a part at all.

[47:42] It's just character texture.

[47:43] It's just, this guy is a dreamer.

[47:45] That was the original intention though.

[47:46] I imagine, yeah.

[47:47] So I have a copy of the actual shooting script

[47:53] and they were,

[47:56] they actually came up with a chainsaw scene

[47:57] at the end, like on the fly.

[47:59] That was like an homage to like Texas Chainsaw.

[48:03] And originally Ran was going to come in

[48:05] and spray Stripe with the bathroom buddy.

[48:08] Oh, that would have...

[48:09] It's good they didn't.

[48:11] It would have sucked.

[48:12] It would have been so bad.

[48:13] And I love...

[48:14] Because one of the things that's so great about that scene, too,

[48:16] is it's like, it really feels like they're just pulling the stuff

[48:18] from the sporting goods store.

[48:19] Like, they're just handling what's around them.

[48:20] And the only question I've had ever since I was a kid

[48:23] was why do they have such a small chainsaw?

[48:25] Like, why are they selling a chainsaw

[48:27] that is small enough for Stripe to use?

[48:29] But is that a child's chainsaw?

[48:31] Like, what's going on?

[48:32] But it's...

[48:32] I put together a whole, like, article on the chainsaw scene,

[48:35] And I talked to Zach about it specifically.

[48:37] I was like, you know,

[48:38] how did you feel like having this bat

[48:40] like between you and an actual chainsaw?

[48:44] It's like they would never do that nowadays.

[48:46] Like there's no way they would do it.

[48:47] It's their lead actor.

[48:48] Like even if it didn't cut through the bat,

[48:50] it could have easily got a freaking wood

[48:53] stuck in his eye or something, you know?

[48:54] That's the most, that's one of the reasons,

[48:56] that's when I was a kid,

[48:57] that was one of the most terrifying scenes to me

[48:59] because he has his bloody wounds on his,

[49:01] you know, scalper, on his face, right?

[49:02] And the wood chips are just flying at him.

[49:04] And I would just as a kid imagine like, oh, your cuts are getting full of wood chips.

[49:07] Like this is terrible.

[49:09] It's so much better than his dad coming in and going, we set this up in Act 1.

[49:13] Now we're going to use it in Act 3, which is – I have to imagine Spielberg was like, you got to use all that stuff later on in the movie.

[49:18] Well, I love that the only payoff is like the old man comes in at the end and he's like, oh, smokeless ashtray.

[49:24] Yes, the man tried to sell me one.

[49:27] Another like making fun of this guy for being a shitty inventor.

[49:31] It's funny because I've seen this movie so many freaking times now,

[49:34] just editing each scene and going to such depth.

[49:37] And the only scene that I feel like pulls you out of it now is that last part.

[49:43] Because it's sort of like when he pulls out the smokeless ashtray at the very end,

[49:47] you're like, no, we're going outside and this is the end.

[49:50] And he's walking away.

[49:51] I feel like the ashtray just like kills the momentum so much.

[49:55] I had a thing like that with something I'm working on now where I was writing a script

[49:59] and they were like, we need this character to come in at the end

[50:01] and be part of the climax.

[50:02] And I was like, oof, really?

[50:05] It really just restarts the, like, it feels like the problem is over

[50:08] and then a guy comes in and has to restart.

[50:10] And I just cut that out and was like, I hope the executives don't notice.

[50:14] And they didn't.

[50:14] And I was like, oh, if they didn't notice,

[50:16] it really doesn't need to be in there.

[50:19] But it's a, I don't know, my admiration for what you're doing

[50:26] with the Gremlins material is only tempered by my envy.

[50:29] and my wish that I had thought of it first

[50:31] and had the skills for it, but I don't.

[50:35] Is there anything I feel like that was,

[50:39] that really surprised you

[50:41] about your relationship to the material

[50:44] as you were working on that rough cut

[50:46] or as you're kind of caring for the props?

[50:49] Is there anything that like,

[50:51] that you kind of didn't think about

[50:54] in terms of how you relate to the movies

[50:56] that you've come to understand or anything like that?

[50:59] Not to get too personal.

[51:00] If you're like, yeah,

[51:01] it really helped me come to terms with this tragedy.

[51:03] I'd be like, that's too much.

[51:05] Don't tell them.

[51:06] I've always been a Gremlins 2 fan.

[51:08] That's always been my favorite movie.

[51:10] And after doing this Rough Cut project,

[51:13] I don't know,

[51:13] I've kind of come around to the first one.

[51:15] I think that's kind of my biggest takeaway

[51:17] because it's sort of like a running joke with my friends.

[51:19] It's like, you know,

[51:20] oh, you're doing all this Gremlins 1 stuff now

[51:22] and, you know,

[51:23] you watch, that's going to be your favorite.

[51:25] And I don't know,

[51:26] Like, I have a much deeper relationship now

[51:29] with the first movie than I think I ever did.

[51:32] Grundless 2, I think, is, like,

[51:33] the greatest sequel of all time.

[51:35] It's so amazing.

[51:37] It's incredible.

[51:37] I've talked about it on the podcast before,

[51:39] but when I saw that in the theaters as a kid,

[51:41] I was like, I can't, I don't know,

[51:42] you could do this in a movie.

[51:44] It felt like it just opened my head up

[51:46] and threw a bomb in there.

[51:46] Changed the game, you know?

[51:47] Changed it.

[51:48] Perfect to me in different ways,

[51:50] but, like, the first one is, like,

[51:51] sort of the peak of, like, Amblin-style,

[51:55] Like, you know, this is going to have like some thrills and chills, nothing too scary, but it's just going to be like a fun, like blockbuster filmmaking.

[52:05] And it's going to have jokes and it's going to be a little weird, but it's, and then the second one is like, let's just rip all that up.

[52:14] Let's go mad.

[52:15] I was just watching, so my younger son, we watched Gremlins on Halloween last year.

[52:20] He's eight now, but he was seven at the time.

[52:22] And then he – and we watched Gremlins 2 like three days later.

[52:25] And he was so excited by Gremlins 2 that he was spinning in place.

[52:28] Like he could not stop it from his body.

[52:30] And we just rewatched it the other day, rewatched Gremlins 2.

[52:33] And he goes, the only part I don't like is when they kill the guy who's talking about the first Gremlins movie.

[52:38] And I'm like, you're objectively wrong.

[52:39] You're objectively wrong, son.

[52:41] Like that's one of the most brilliant moments in any movie ever when Leonard Maltin is giving a bad review to the first –

[52:46] his actual bad review to the first movie and they kill him for it.

[52:50] Yeah, it's crazy.

[52:52] I have a little five-year-old, and when he first saw Gremlins 2,

[52:57] he really liked Daffy a lot.

[52:59] And I was like, look, he's right there,

[53:00] because I have a bunch of puppets up in my movie room.

[53:03] And I have the close-up Daffy,

[53:06] the one where he's eating the chicken wings and cord and all that.

[53:10] And so I'm like, look, that's the puppet right there.

[53:12] And he's like, sure, Dad, whatever.

[53:16] All right.

[53:19] It just goes to show you that children are never impressed by their parents, no matter what.

[53:25] But if he went to a friend's house and they had it, he'd be like, can you believe they have this, Dad?

[53:29] But it has your stink on it.

[53:31] So, yeah, he's not impressed.

[53:32] My older kid is 14, and whenever friends come over, the first place they go is they hightail it's my office.

[53:40] They're like, let's look at the gremlins.

[53:42] They don't go upstairs and hide in their room.

[53:44] They're like, you know, let's go check out all the gremlins first.

[53:46] And first you're like, okay, we need to decontaminate you guys before you go in.

[53:52] Don't touch nothing.

[53:55] And don't get them wet.

[53:57] My kids think that everyone's parents have kind of weird collections like this.

[54:01] I'm like, eh, maybe.

[54:04] They go to their friend's house.

[54:05] Don't get up puppets because your dad collects.

[54:07] Yeah.

[54:08] Dan has a nice collection.

[54:10] I could show you.

[54:11] They're in his bedroom.

[54:12] They're stuffed under the bed.

[54:13] a variety of body parts

[54:16] and textures

[54:18] yeah

[54:19] okay

[54:20] and those you are made to get wet

[54:24] I

[54:25] can't think of a

[54:27] I don't know how we've somehow gotten back

[54:30] so many times to the Dan is a perv well

[54:32] in this episode about gremlins

[54:34] and the gremlins museum

[54:35] because I think at heart we're kind of like gremlins

[54:38] I guess so

[54:40] chaos agents

[54:41] I think it shows you what the – I mean my kids, they love the Minions characters, right?

[54:47] And I feel like the Minions, they're a softer version but they're the closest thing that kids' entertainment has now to the Gremlins where it's just like, yeah, they go out and they do all the crazy stuff kids wish they could do.

[54:57] Like they go out and they break stuff.

[55:00] They kill people.

[55:00] And they accidentally kill people.

[55:02] I hadn't seen any of these things but Minions and Monsters had gotten such like surprisingly good reviews.

[55:11] It's the best of the Minions movies by far.

[55:13] Cthulhu's in it, right?

[55:15] Well, a Cthulhu-like character is in it, yeah.

[55:17] It's very enjoyable, but I was sort of, like, surprised in a delighted way by, like, all the people they accidentally kill in the course of that movie.

[55:26] And the only thing they don't do is drink and smoke.

[55:28] And, like, that's because, you know, we live in more prudish times in some ways.

[55:31] In more prudish, much more racist times, which is an interesting combination.

[55:35] I don't know.

[55:36] The Minions kind of strike me as, like, just blue-collar dudes with their little overalls.

[55:39] They should be drinking and smoking a lot.

[55:41] They should be drinking and smoking a lot.

[55:42] That's true.

[55:44] But it's – the thing that – the most exciting thing to me, I have to admit, about the rough cut is the longer stuff at the bar because like the – after I watched Gremlins with my younger son, he goes, you know what the best part is?

[55:58] And I'm like, when they're at the bar?

[55:59] And he goes, yeah.

[56:00] And like the – I could watch – as a child, that was just my dream.

[56:05] can I go and hang out

[56:06] with the gremlins

[56:06] at that bar

[56:07] and just watch them

[56:07] being gross

[56:08] and like causing trouble

[56:09] and I don't know

[56:10] that's why I opened the bar

[56:11] that's the most gremlins

[56:12] 2 part of the movie too

[56:13] because it's like

[56:14] up until that point

[56:15] it's sort of like

[56:16] a normal monster movie

[56:18] they're little monsters

[56:18] but there it's like

[56:19] oh yeah

[56:19] they're putting on hats

[56:21] like they're role playing

[56:23] as different characters

[56:24] that's where they got

[56:25] a lot of the gremlins 2

[56:26] material

[56:27] where like

[56:28] they figured out

[56:28] that like gremlins

[56:29] dressing up as humans

[56:30] like really worked

[56:31] so like

[56:32] we need more of that

[56:33] I mean it's your first

[56:36] appearance of a female coded

[56:38] gremlin because there's that one wearing the like

[56:40] fur stole and the makeup and everything

[56:42] and it's to say yeah

[56:43] it's amazing it must have felt like such a

[56:46] it must have felt like such an exciting discovery

[56:48] to be like if we put

[56:50] hats and clothes on these gremlins

[56:52] and they do human stuff

[56:53] it takes it to another level

[56:55] it's way funnier

[56:56] yeah it's good stuff

[57:00] well

[57:01] as promised I said

[57:03] uh we'd only keep you for uh around 45 minutes to an hour and we're about halfway in between those

[57:10] two marks uh so i feel like we should wrap up we should uh say thank you for coming ellie i see

[57:16] that you you're just raring to say one last thing about the gremlins no no what i'm ready to do is

[57:22] as my doorbell just rang so this is an excellent time for us to end the episode so i can answer it

[57:26] yeah um thank you so much for uh coming on and talking to us about all this obviously we're uh

[57:33] cut from the same cloth so it was the same deteriorating polyurethane foam cloth is there

[57:40] anything you want to plug before we say goodbye um just look up gremlins museum online and if

[57:46] you want to go on the deepest dive uh possible gremlins material you can read all about the

[57:51] puppets and various articles about very very specific things and uh you know hopefully uh

[57:58] people that share the love of gremlins can uh enjoy it too yeah i just started following

[58:02] Grimmons Museum on Instagram. I recommend that

[58:05] highly.

[58:06] Thank you to Ian Grant for being here.

[58:09] This has been the Flophouse.

[58:10] We're part of the Maximum Fun Network. Go to

[58:12] MaximumFun.org. Check out the other great shows.

[58:16] Check out

[58:16] HowlDotty online.

[58:19] Alex Smith, that's his real name,

[58:21] but he does a bunch of stuff

[58:22] by the name of HowlDotty. It's all worth

[58:25] checking out. But for the

[58:26] Flophouse, I've been Dan McCoy.

[58:29] I'm Stuart Wellington. I'm Elliot

[58:30] Kalin, and we've been joined by

[58:33] Ian Grant.

[58:34] Bye.

[58:37] Wipe out.

[58:39] That wasn't particularly

[58:40] gremlin-y.

[58:40] I was trying to go for

[58:41] a gremlins thing

[58:41] but it didn't work.

[58:48] Maximum Fun.

[58:49] A worker-owned network

[58:50] of artist-owned shows.

[58:52] Supported

[58:53] directly

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FH Mini 157 - Gremlins: The Rough Cut, with Ian Grant

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