Lovely to meet you and congratulations on the film.
I saw this film, I think two weeks ago an absolutely
rammed screening and the reaction was extraordinary.
Oh, good.
How does that make you feel, hearing all these sort of reactions?
Love it. It's yeah.
You know, we spent almost four years making this movie in our bubble.
And to finally be able to show it to people and get those kind of reactions,
it's makes it really the only downside of making films.
It's not like theater where you get that instant reaction or sitcoms.
So to be able to finally see the finished product with
an audience is the most gratifying thing in the world to know that you weren't,
you know, wasting your time going off in the completely wrong direction.
So outside of the premiere, as obviously, have you been able
to sort of sneak in to some of some public screenings?
We intend to do it on the release day.
Yeah, we're going to we're going to go theater
hopping just to kind of fulfill our our egos.
Let me ask you, where are you both fans of the game?
Obviously, that's I think that's what most people want to know.
What made you decide to sort of take on this project?
Yeah, we both played I played as a kid
and John played as a kid and then again more recently as an adult.
And I think, you know, for me it was just about the freedom of the game
that you could
you can create the game as you go, which is a lot like moviemaking in a way.
You're writing a screenplay and creating characters and an ensemble,
sending them on an adventure.
And we saw the potential to do a fantasy movie
that was different from the ones you've seen.
I mean, you've
been to have worked on, I believe, three or four projects so far.
With direction wise, what's different about this one
was because you lean towards comedy, obviously,
and sort of more sort of reality rather than fantasy.
What was so different about this project?
Well, we we dipped our toe in the in
the water of genre straddling with Game Night.
And we definitely wanted to embrace the thriller components of that film movie.
Oh, thank you so much.
So this was kind of the next step for us.
It's a big step because it's much bigger movie
and many more genres that we're kind of playing within.
But we knew we wanted to do something that was ambitious and grand
and prove that you can really tell a story
that is unique in how it's told.
So yeah, that was our intention.
And for the fans of the game, obviously.
Are there any tidbits that like personally, I have never played the
but I know so many people who do.
Are there any Easter egg peppered inside?
Yeah, there are. There are. There are dozens of Easter eggs.
Not even Easter eggs.
They're right there on the surface.
Every spell, every monster in here comes from the lore.
But you don't need to know that to enjoy it.
Exactly.
Another thing about about the film that I loved,
I think loads of people are saying this reminds them
a lot of sort of the old adventure like eighties and nineties adventure
movies like The Goonies and yeah, like that, you know.
But that's not a coincidence.
That's and that's what I want to ask you.
What kind of movies did you grow up on?
The first movie that I remembered seeing as a kid, that totally changed
my perspective of how a movie can really change.
You know, everything was Jurassic Park, and I remember the moment
I saw it in theaters and how I wanted to become a filmmaker after that.
And I think part of it was because it is evergreen.
You can watch it now and it's just as good as it was when it first came out.
And to me it was also just the simplicity of that story
and characters
that you can get behind and understand the intentions of immediately,
but also on a technical level, the way that Spielberg was able to fuse
practical and visual effects in a way that was kind of mind blowing
is really interesting that I was probably Richard Donner's Superman for me.
I mean, just it came right at the right moment in my childhood.
And even though the effects now look somewhat rudimentary, it just
it blew my mind. And, you know, Superman was one of my favorite characters.
And to be able to see it on the screen, that's a great spirit of camaraderie
between your cast as well, which is very unusual because usually
it does feel like the sort of
these kind of adventure films have been churned out,
but there's something really special about this.
You feel like they've really got to know each other, what was cast in them.
Like, you know, it was a lengthy process.
It often is, but it was so great as it came together,
it kind of felt like we were really assembling our adventuring party.
Chris Pine came on board and we we talked through the role a lot with him
and through those conversations we revised the character a bit and
and then Hugh Grant came on and that was a real get.
He's who we had in our heads when we were writing the part.
And, you know, we didn't expect him to do it, and neither did he.
He told us his agent, given the script and he said, that's not going to be for me.
And then he read it and he just got pulled in. He loved the script.
Yeah, But, you know, there's always a risk when you're
when you're casting something like this with so many different types
that there could be absolutely no chemistry between them.
And you've made a horrible mistake, but I mean, I think
the fact that they are so desperate and the fact that there are so unique in
their own way is what makes it special, because they all do
have this common ground that they all found
when when doing film, which is much akin to the common ground
that players of the game have, you don't have to be like
your fellow player too to find something in common that you know helps you.
Yeah.
I want to go back on to the subject of Hugh as my last question, because,
I mean, I don't know
if you're aware of his status here as a British national treasure.
And I think every single I think he gets all the best lines in the movie.
By the way, how was working for him?
How did you write specific things for him?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
You know, once you have we always have a certain voice in our head
when we're writing a part.
And the hugh voice is so specific and easy to kind of
do the great thing about writing curlicue as you can underwrite it because you know
he's going to sell it with his attitude and with the tone he gives it.
He always puts a spin on it that's interesting and unexpected.
And we would be able to play out the line in our heads a million times
thinking that this is how he's going to say it, and then he surprises you.
And that's what's so great about it.
That bit with the Tea, the Tea is I'm sorry, it's scorching hot.
I just that cracks me up every time.
And he also gives you takes every time.
They're different from from the last one.
Thank you very much and congratulations on everything.
And it's really a fabulous movie. Yeah.