Freejack: Orphans of a Nihilistic God

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Smack My Pitch Up 96 - Freejack: Orphans of a Nihilistic God

Transcript at the bottom of show notes

Hobbit and Thandi enter the spiritual switchboard to remake and remix the 1992 dystopian sci-fi film Freejack starring Emilio Estevez, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, and Mick Jagger

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Transcript:

[00:00:00]

Hobbit: Hello geeks and welcome to another amazing episode of Smack My Pitch Up, the podcast that reboots, remakes, reimagine sequels, sidequels, and adapt some of your favorite and least favorite. And let's face it poorly. Created from the past,

Thandi: They're

Hobbit: that definitely the case for this one.

That's been the inspiration for this show in the first place was movies like this one that we're gonna talk about today, where the idea is good. It's an interesting concept, but the execution leaves a lot to to be appreciated

Thandi: And then they decide to cast Emilio Estevez. Yes. And it ruins the whole project.

Hobbit: Oh man. You know what?

Not all the time Repo Man was a perfectly good movie. Perfectly good and weird movie. But besides that, yeah, pretty

Thandi: Yeah. Repo Man's fun or repo man. Is it repo? It's repo man, right?

Hobbit: repo Man, repo Men was a movie with Jude Law enforced Whitaker years later. [00:01:00] That was weirdly close to the storyline of repo, the genetic opera.

Thandi: What was the one where he and his brother were garbage men together?

Hobbit: Men at Work

Thandi: Ah,

Hobbit: where they found a mo, a body the mob had dumped or something, I think was the,

Thandi: involved in movies of the era, both literally and on screen. Just the mob was fun at that point.

Hobbit: well, that was when the mob was like, get going on dateline and stuff to be like, yes, I do kill people. Like they were super about being publicly mobsters was the fun, fun time. Yeah. Right. But this movie, this is of that similar era. This is I think 91 or 92 when this movie was made.

Thandi: 92 I think, or no, 90.

Hobbit: yeah, 91.

Yeah. I think it was made in 91, released in 92 or whereabouts. And it definitely reeks of that early nineties. Sci-fi. There was not a lot coming out at that time that, oh, by the way, my co-host Thandi is here

Thandi: Hey, it's Thandi and I'm here and we've been talking. So does it [00:02:00] matter? Who knows?

Hobbit: Who knows? We'll find out. Hopefully you already know who is running this this thing.

So yeah, you've got 19 91, 92, you've got only a few sci-fi movies that you even remember from that era you've got, and this like demolition man and hackers and, what else do we got? Like virtuosity is around

Thandi: abyss. When did that come?

Hobbit: That was late eighties I wanna say. So that was still not. Of this era.

This was kind of a a lull in sci-fi around the time that Fredj Jack came out. There wasn't a whole lot happening.

Thandi: few years later, independence Day. What else stands

Hobbit: Independence Day was that was 1999. I

Thandi: No. Independence Day was like 95 or 96. I think it's

Hobbit: Was it? You might be. I think you are right. Actually.

Thandi: Yeah.

Hobbit: I am. 96. Yeah. Okay. So I guess that's, yeah, that would be where the upswing started happening, I think was post Independence Day. But movies like this the Independence Day was a more than sci-fi, a big budget action comedy extravaganza type of a movie, whereas this was not meant to be that.

We're [00:03:00] talking about Freejack. Listeners may not even be familiar with this film if you are interested in checking it out. It was available on basically all the free apps.

Thandi: I watched it on

Hobbit: Two. Which one? Tuby? Yeah, it was Tuby, Pluto TV free v I think even Roku channel. It was on. So you shouldn't have too much trouble tracking this down.

And it's kind of a shame that this movie doesn't get brought up more in the conversation of, inspiration for other films. Like I feel like this is a predecessor to movies like strange Days, which is also an underappreciated sci-fi movie or Johnny mnemonic. This is definitely like a pre Johnny Mnemonic movie this is, in the path that leads you to Johnny

Thandi: Well, leading to the ultimate extension of the idea, which is the matrix, it's like a Pokemon evolution and like the God version is the matrix.

Hobbit: This is, William Gibson Light. This isn't actually based on a William Gibson story. I forget the name of the writer that this was based off of, I think a short story, but it has very much that William [00:04:00] Gibson energy whereas Johnny Monic, I think, is actually an adaptation from William Gibson.

But it, it's that dystopian cyberpunk future kind of vibe. But the set dressing is way more streets of fire than it is a Blade Runner

Thandi: Yeah. Or the Wiz it's got an interesting look for the kind of sci-fi that it's doing.

Hobbit: also the time jump is fucking wild. In this movie, this is supposed to take place in, it's like 18 years and it goes from 1991, looking like 1991 with race cars and shit to, The world has fallen into the sewer and there's bone snatchers and time travel and tanks going through the street and utter fucking chaos.

And Renee Russo is apparently a vampire that just doesn't age.

Thandi: That was hilarious. That was hilarious to me. I was like, they didn't even try, they didn't put like a gray streak or anything.

Hobbit: I thought that would've honestly made a more interesting. Conversation if Renee Russo looked like she [00:05:00] had aged 18 years and Emilio Estevez has hadn't, and how much does that affect their relationship? Because it's not just about looks, but it's also she's had 18 years of real hard living with the world basically falling apart.

Even though she's doing really well, she's had to probably, Ignore her morals a lot to get to where she was. She's had to beg, borrow, and steal to survive. And she's working for basically an evil omnipresent corporation. How does that translate to Emil? It's been a day for

Thandi: Yeah, and just what, 18 years of just general experiences and wisdom. Maybe a bunch of other stuff, maybe trauma, all kinds of stuff different loves. How does that translate? I mean, that's ultimately for that kind of movie, that's not a super important question because that bogs down the action or whatever.

But yeah, it's a relevant question of how these people who are now or should be completely different people because of their specific experiences, the world fell apart. How does that make them [00:06:00] different human being?

Hobbit: Renee Russo apparently is the most strong-willed human being to ever. Exist on the planet has not changed. A fucking iota is the same exact person from 1991. In the future of 2009 , this takes place.

Thandi: the very least she willed the wrinkles away, so

Hobbit: That's some serious fucking power right there. But I think the bones of this movie are good. It's the idea that that Emilio Vez is a race car driver who gets snatched right before he's in this fantastic and completely unrealistic. That happens where his race car, goes like off a ramp and then crashes into a bridge like in mid-air.

It's buck fucking wild. Like they chose the least realistic way to send him out in this movie.

Thandi: but it's fine that there's nothing is odd, that there's absolutely no body, no bones, anything. And they're like, eh, this shit happens. I guess

Hobbit: Yeah, I guess he was vaporized or whatever. Yeah, I love that. Brad Carter, the his best friend [00:07:00] basically in this movie played by New York Dolls David Johansen.

Thandi: Buster Poindexter,

Hobbit: Buster Poindexter in this movie with the largest mouth in film. I think he's massive fucking mouth. Which makes his laughter like both really unsettling and hilarious whenever he cracks up.

But he is bitching to Alex Furlong about how he couldn't get the insurance money because they couldn't find the body, which was fucking fantastic to me. He's like, oh, it's great. You're alive anyway.

Thandi: I kind of wish he was in more of the movie.

Hobbit: Seriously, he was such a fun, like he broke up some.

Unnecessary seriousness of this movie. It, this movie should have been more fun than it was. This the set dressing. You shouldn't be trying to play this straight at all. And Amelia was trying, but he just he's not that strong an actor. He just isn't.

Thandi: he's not that strong a presence either. I think that's the bigger thing for this kind of. he's a little dude, [00:08:00] but he's also got, his energy is not big enough. I don't know if he, if you turn this into more of a a fun movie and had Michael J. Fox as the little dude lead, then that would be a good time.

But Emilio Estevez doesn't really carry this very well, and his energy is weird in the way that people interact with him as little kind of Mousey. Emilio Estevez is also just. Like it feels

Hobbit: It is like nobody takes him seriously. He's supposed to be this like action lead in this movie and no, even the side characters are just don't give a fuck about him. Like he is nothing to anybody. Which is an interesting Kind of way to go about a movie like this. I like red Heat, think that the bones of this are good, but there is so much room to expand on this or add more depth or, undertone or more story to this.

They, there's not a lot to this. You're able to, I'm assuming you guessed who the big, bad at the end was at the beginning of the movie.

Thandi: That's the experience of [00:09:00] movie narrative, that's they don't hide it very well or sell it very well. It's just a thing and you don't even care about it. For most of the movie, it's like, whatever. I,

Hobbit: Yeah. When it's finally revealed, it's like, oh, it's your, it's been your boss all along. She's like, no, it's not. and the crowd was like, no it is. This isn't hard to believe, like this is, it was pretty clearly him the whole time. And the cast on this, Hurt Boss being played by one Anthony Hopkins in this movie.

Thandi: He had already done Hannibal Lecht or that movie had silence of the Lambs had already come out. But I think that he may have filmed this before his career blew up immediately after that. So he still had a stinker two to do or to show in there because

Hobbit: Sure. Sure. He is an unbelievable one, one of the greatest actors of our time, but he also will do a stinker or two from time to time. I mean, he's in a Transformers movie, so if that

Thandi: mean, the man has houses and cars to pay for too. So,

Hobbit: Yeah, true . So, Mine is set in the past [00:10:00] 1991 is 2000. I'm not doing like a 1991 version of this. Are you sticking around the same timeline? Are

Thandi: I am. I

Hobbit: it in the same genre?

Thandi: 2020 3, 20 20.

Hobbit: Okay. So you're jumping from 2023 into the distance future of like

Thandi: no, I'm not. We'll get into it in the take, but no, I'm not,

Hobbit: So, well, let's get into it. I mean, there's not a lot more to say about this film. It's

Thandi: uh, The director Jeff Murphy. Interesting career under Siege Two young guns two, and most interestingly to me, dude was a second unit director on all of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Hobbit: Really? Wow. Okay.

Thandi: So he is had a career of not obscurity, not complete obscurity, but I think most everything I saw that was involving him that was listed was pretty mediocre, except being a second unit director on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Hobbit: Do you think that while he was shooting Lord of the Rings as second unit, that he was like bragging about his time [00:11:00] working on directing Mick Jagger, on Freejack, like back when I was directing Jagger back on Free Jack Set

Thandi: Yeah. And then he follows it with the Steven Segal story. So Segal and I are tossing back some beers,

Hobbit: Ian McConnell was like, I fucked Mc Jagger in 1996.

Thandi: Oh let's go listen to Sir Ian's story. That's a much better story.

Hobbit: me and Bowie look, had 'em tied up like a pair of Chinese finger cuffs

Thandi: we were in shade of pasty tall men and it was the most beautiful thing that you had ever seen.

Hobbit: It was like the human centipede, but with cum,

Thandi: man. Is that appropriate for this show? I think it is cuz I think I've gone there before, but I haven't heard you go there.

Hobbit: Hey, you know what, like this is marked as explicit, so I think we're okay. I think . Yeah. Okay, so yeah let's lay it down. We got formerly by the second unit director of Lord of the Rings, bringing down the original. What are we doing for [00:12:00] your real take on this?

Thandi: So for my real take, I'm going with a tried and true modern genre, which is action, not really action comedy, but fun. Action.

Hobbit: Sure. Action Romp

Thandi: an action romp something with some high energy maybe a little bit of cynicism or probably a lot of cynicism, but more in keeping with what is popular in the modern time, cuz this is a 2023 movie that takes place in 2023.

Hobbit: Sure.

Thandi: So, in my movie I got rid of the time travel altogether I was like, this doesn't work the way it's presented. Really like how, that works. But what does work to take its place that's all over modern culture is multiverse stuff. So he is bone jacked across the multiverse to another 2023 Earth that's similar enough that you're like, oh it is 2023, I guess, but different enough where, it's a completely different place almost immediately

upon.

Hobbit: some like more totalitarian like little peppering [00:13:00] in there. Okay.

Thandi: So, same race, car accident. Race car crashes, blows up. He's bone jacked to this other reality and escapes in much the same way. But in going around and looking at things, he's like, wow, there's so much that's the same but different. This is not where I'm supposed to be. He runs into a nun who tells him that he's a free jack and lets him know basically the scenario.

She does a little exposition dump for him. I wanted to introduce that nun as a bigger part of this property, of this movie so that she's actually directly involved in a lot of of the movement, of the narrative. So I'm gonna introduce that nun as a person, as an actor right now, which is Kat Dennings is my nun in this. Yeah. And so she is the one who is the main secondary character the Robin to the character's Batman as they move through the the narrative. Although he does run into his his girlfriend in this reality, she comes off she [00:14:00] sold to him as a friend as are other people that he knows from his own reality are kind of sold to him as friends.

They try to bring him. But it's all part of a scheme to bring him back into the clutches of the person who brought him to this reality in the first place. And that person exists as a, like a head on a screen. And you see him throughout the movie much as Sir Anthony Hopkins was a head on a screen as we go through the movie.

But the outcome with that character's a little bit different. So they get adventures trying to escape the powers that be. He's introduced ultimately to Morgan, who was the character that was played by, I think his name is John Shea. John Shea was Lex Luther on Lois and Clark. So that's how I know that actor, like immediately when I see him.

Oh, it's Lex Luther from Loon Clark. And John Shea is like the rebellion leader or whatever, or Morgan is the rebellion leader. So, they hook up with Morgan and the nun of the Morgan help him. We reached the same climax where everybody comes together and they try to do the consciousness [00:15:00] transfer.

The big bat is revealed. It turns out that the the image of Ian McCandless was not who the character actually was. The real, super powerful, multi-billionaire that's driving this whole scheme. Is Alex Furlong himself, the lead himself. It's his alternate reality version that is dying and needs his body from an alternate reality.

Hobbit: Nice. I like that.

Thandi: In the the process of coming together and doing the climax he dies. And Julie, the girlfriend dies as well. But it plays out where they think that he's done the mind transfer, and of course, Victor Vacendak, who was. The character that was played by Mick Jagger helps him with his subterfuge.

And because Julie dies and we want kind of a classic turn at the end, the Nun Kat Dennings, who's been helping him through the whole project what he finds out after becoming a multi-billionaire and ruling the world and going onto a new a. Is that in a casual conversation with Victor, he finds out that [00:16:00] nuns in this world don't take a valve chastity, and they do the furtive look and the like, the wink freeze take at the end.

No, no action. Just a thing that says, yeah, he's gonna be fighting in this world cuz he's gonna have sex with cat denning, basically end of movie. So that's my version of Freejack starring as Alex Furlong. I have Joe Keery. I feel like Joe Keery has the right energy, and he's also. He's taller.

I'm saying this is a short guy too. putting this out there. Just it's more believable for the way that people interact with him for what he's supposed to be. That his screen presence is a little bit better in always. So Joe Keery is my Alex Furlong.

Hobbit: I can see just the scene from the original movie where he gets fucking hammered on one drink in the bar and he is talking to the camera people and he is like, I don't give a fuck. Fuck this dude. I can see Joe Curie having so much fun with

Thandi: Like a good

Hobbit: Like something similar to Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Thandi: For my Victor Vacendak I thought about going with a rockstar, but there [00:17:00] are no more rock stars. I'm not gonna have like Drake play my Victor Vacendak. So, Jason Statham is my Victor Vacendak. Jason Statham has the right British guy energy to be this kind of tough guy. This the. Kind of tough guy. That Victor Vacendak is

Hobbit: a guy that says

Roy a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

Thandi: Croy. And then but not much else. It's very quiet otherwise.

Hobbit: Occasionally it's just a low guttural growler.

Thandi: My Julie Redland, the girlfriend character. I wanted somebody who falls into a trope that is not as prevalent in modern times. Which is the the strong, handsome woman trope. And I couldn't really think of anybody for a while. But Carrie Mulligan is my strong, handsome

woman, As Julie Redland, who is not a friend, but a foe.

And I think that especially in that aspect, Kerry Mulligan would work really. For Ian McCandless, who's not an actual person in the movie. So Ian McCandless was the Anthony Hopkins ultimate bad guy in the original [00:18:00] movie. In this movie, he's just a face and he's a ai like deep fake. He's a deep fake.

He's not actually a person. Kevin Bacon is my Ian McCandless, Lucia the right combination of charm and gravity. I think that yeah, he could do. Without being Anthony Hopkins. He's got his whole different thing going, but with the gravity and the charm. My mark Michelette, who was God, what's that actor's name in the original movie?

Hobbit: Mark. Oh, that's Jonathan Banks. He from breaking Bad. Yep.

Thandi: As Mark Michelette, I have Colin Ferrell. Colin Ferrell can portray the right kind of menace. And, he's willing to play all different kinds of characters as he ages, not just the handsome guy. I think he would work out well under these circumstances.

He holds the screen. He has the right kind of menace. Yeah, him for my nun, we already introduced Kat Dennings for Morgan, the revolutionary leader who's played by Lois and Clarks. Lex Luther. I have Smallville, Lex Luther, Michael Rosenbaum. I like Michael [00:19:00] Rosenbaum. I don't get to see him in many things, but yeah, I just like the idea of having Lex Luther in there as the same character.

Hobbit: I would say he's turned out to be a really nice podcast host. I've really enjoyed some of the interviews that he's done on his show. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum

Thandi: Nice. I've heard clips, of his podcast, but I I have not listened to the show. I'll have to check it out though, because like I said, I do like Michael Rosenbaum.

Hobbit: He has a very, how do you say, calm kind of energy when he's on the show. There's no rush to him speaking. He is very casual and comfortable on the microphone. And so therefore, the guests really do feel like they're comfortable when they're

talking,

Thandi: I'll have to put that on the

list. I think the only celebrity cast to listen to is Sarah Silverman. So,

Hobbit: Oh,

nice.

Thandi: it'd be interesting to pick up something new. But and as my final character that I've casted as Brad, who is the Buster Poindexter character, David Johansen Busta Rhymes

is my Brad and the version that I have in my mind, Brad lasts a little bit longer.

Busta Rhymes gets to do more [00:20:00] stuff. He hasn't acted in years, but he does have acting experience and he's also very an interesting character to see on the screen.

Hobbit: I'd be interested to see if there were any measurements of like mouth size between Buster Poindexter And Buster Rhymes cuz both of them, they both could fit like a softball in their mouth. They both have these massive

Thandi: That's probably the one of the reasons that Buster took on that name. So, or Busta took on that name.

But for my director, I have Sean Levy, who was the director of Free Guy and Night at the Museum, real Steel.

Hobbit: That's smart. That's a good call. I like that. Somebody that is able to do kind of bigger action sci-fi stuff, but also can play in the comedy range as well. Yeah, exactly. Cool. Yeah, I think that's a a really smart choice for a real take here and. Alternate universe, I mean, timely.

So you're really right in that wave of multiverse that's happening everywhere. Literally the best movie of 2020 two for most, for a lot of people was a multiverse movie with everything everywhere, all at once. DC Marvel, all going multiverse. it's, I'm just waiting for the sliders revival to come [00:21:00] through.

Thandi: Oh, would

love rem

Hobbit: keep waiting probably. Yeah. They redid fucking Quantum Leap, but they can't do sliders. All right. That's fine. That's fine. I'll wait. That's cool. Yeah. Crying man. Oh, love Rembrandt. So, and yeah, and what's his face from Lord of the Rings and IA Jones?

Thandi: John Reese

Hobbit: John Reese Davies.

Yeah. Oh, man. As a professor. Fantastic. Yeah I think you've got a really solid idea for Freejack that, not that it's a high bar, but I'd say that's a little better than the original

Thandi: Yes. Once again, not a high bar. It's not a high bar.

Hobbit: Yeah. I think giving some more of these characters, some agency is not a bad call that like most of these characters are just set dressing in the original movie. There's not a whole lot happening for them. Giving Julie A. Little bit more to do giving Brad Carter or Buster Poindexter's character, a little bit more to do, I think is really smart

Thandi: Well, you know, that's indicative of the time generally. Like everything focused on the leads, everybody else is set dressing. And [00:22:00] then in the modern time, you need a team around the start to make interaction more interesting and to actually push narrative over set pieces. So yeah, by and large, the base formula for movies makes for more interesting movies in the modern time.

Hobbit: A, and actually thinking about it around this time, I'm remembering two more movies that they were definitely depending on. Cult to personality for these sci-fi movies because two that came out in 90 and 91 Arnold Schwarzer movies, I believe total recall was 1990 and 91 was the Running Man. And both of those movies would've sucked with like an Emilio estevez level like actor in the role.

You needed a bigger than

life person to carry. Such a ridiculous,

Thandi: have an interesting concept and then loads of set pieces.

Hobbit: yeah.

Thandi: like video. They're structured like video games. They don't have relationships or real complexity

like that.

Hobbit: So I think, yeah, Emilio was definitely not the best choice for this, but is definitely not the only reason why Freejack work. I think Sean Levy would be a great choice [00:23:00] for Modern Director. I decided to go the opposite direction of you with my remix version of this

Thandi: Remix!.

Hobbit: You went with the like, action romp.

Role of it, because there isn't a lot to do with the plot from the original. The, it can be dressed up as just like a fun action romp and still have more depth to it than the original did. I went the other way where I looked for almost entirely just depth in this empty husk of a movie plot. So I decided that this is gonna be a conversation about what it is to be, to exist about the conversation of personhood and analog versus digital which is something that we're talking about in media nowadays, and also our presence on the internet versus who we are in real life. And there's a conversation that's happened in The Matrix and a number of other films, but with this, with time travel being the element and transferring a person's like consciousness, it's not gonna be that the physical body was transferred to the future so much.

[00:24:00] It's basically almost like a transporter. Built the body in the future and transferred the consciousness into it. But they needed the consciousness basically to like jumpstart the body like with, they couldn't just build the body and then have the the in mechanics character jump into it. It needed to be kind of jumpstarted by the original consciousness first, which, whatever, it's all pseudoscience.

Who fucking cares if that's like a real thing or not? So that I think gives it a little bit more. believability, I think is the idea of just taking almost like the DNA from the past to build a, to like transfer a consciousness into the future kind of thing.

Thandi: also in keeping with giving it more weight, that already starts off with a very intriguing philosophical question.

Hobbit: And then also that, how did that transfer go? The Alex Furlong character throughout this is having trouble, remembering things, having trouble like knowing what is real and what is suggested by the people like that. He runs into like his old friend, Brad Carter. He can't really remember how, if their relationship was like strained or not in the [00:25:00] past.

There's parts of his memory you can remember and there's stuff that's coming back, but he doesn't know how much is coming back or if it ever will. And so he's trying to put this together as the plot is like unfolding and he's not entirely sure if this is real or some kind of fantasy made up in his brain as he's dying.

He's. Completely removed from anything that he is familiar to him. So everything is up for question,

Thandi: and you also get like a real really strong ship of Theseus discussion under those circumstances.

Hobbit: Right. Yeah, absolutely. Like, yeah. Is it the same person at the end of the day? I thought that was beautifully done in the in the modern version of that in John dies at. Where it was about a hammer that you re, you replaced the head of the hammer and the actual like handle of the hammer.

Is it the same hammer that you bought? It's the same ship of Theseus thing, but do that with the human body. Yeah. When, When you reconstruct the consciousness to a degree, is it the same consciousness? It's if it's a different body. At the same time, the plot is the same. You've got the Ian McCann's character, or there's this like [00:26:00] presence that is the puppeteer of this whole thing.

And then you've got Alex Furlongs estranged girlfriend, originally played by Renee Russo. I really wanted to have the age conversation more in this version. So, for Alex Furlong, I casted Aronofsky is my

Thandi: Oh.

Hobbit: off. Yeah. And his whole thing is about obsession and addiction. And also being the orphans of an nihilistic God is a common theme in his

stuff.

Thandi: And making movies that say, man did I like that. Yeah, I like that. Did I? Did. I like that.

Hobbit: And because it's so artistic that you're like, feel obligation to like it. if I'm gonna be a movie guy, I have to like it, which is the feelings I had walking outta the whale, which I hated. And I know I saying that I might get shit on for it, but I don't care. Like, I think the performances were incredible.

I think that Brendan Frazier deserves all of the accolades that he's getting. I think the movie was exploitative and kinda shitty and didn't serve any [00:27:00] purpose really, in my opinion. But

Thandi: I'm sure there's a creative thesis at the bottom of that would make you be like, all right, I get it. I don't like this movie, but I.

Hobbit: yeah I've had conversations about it since, and I get what maybe was trying to be done, but I think that the ends didn't justify the means. For me anyway, with that movie. But that being said, I am a fan of Aronofski. I think that he's done some very challenging and very interesting work pie.

It was an incredible film. Black Swan Requiem for a Dream, which was great, and I'll never watch ever again. Same with Mother. The Fountain was an interesting

Thandi: not like mother or the fountain. I did not like the fountain.

Hobbit: The Fountain I think, had some very interesting concepts that it, that he took six. To make that movie. I think it was one of those situations that he had too long to develop the story and it ended up working against him.

If he had less time to develop it, it was overworked and came off hollow in its delivery. But the themes of conquering death [00:28:00] I think are gonna be echoing in this version of Freejack. Also Aronofsky is known for taking. Actors that are on the end of their popularity and pulling 'em back into focus again.

He did that with the wrestler and then he did that also with the whale, with with Brendan Frazier. So for Alex Furlong, Taylor Latner from Twilight is gonna be pulling the the weight of of Alex Furlong in

Thandi: would ni be nice to see his return to pop culture.

Hobbit: And also I think, He's done a couple things since Twilight. I don't know how good an actor he can be, cuz I don't think he's ever really been given the chance to stretch those legs fully.

So,

you've give

Thandi: martial arts spy guy movie in an airport theater or coming from the airport at layover. And man, like after watching that, I know why he's not, he dropped out of of usage in Hollywood. But yeah, everybody deserves a chance and it just takes some training. Spend your time in acting school and get your muscle.

Hobbit: Yeah, just, and I mean, he can do the action stuff and he can [00:29:00] come off as like a hothead young, like race car driver type character. I think he that's not too much of a push for him. And he's like 31 or 32. So he's young enough that he can play like a young hothead racer guy.

Julie, his girlfriend in the future is gonna be played by Laura Dern. wanted to have an attractive, but definitely older than the main character actress Laura, as you were saying, like a handsome

Thandi: Yeah, she was who I thought of actually. Actually as I was trying to think of somebody who was an A, a handsome actress. she's too old for what I was going for, but yeah, she did come to

Hobbit: for what I'm going for. I wanted there to be a clear. Differentiation in age between the two. So Taylor Latner and Laura Dern, it does seem a little bit mismatched with their ages when you were to say put 'em together on screen. But I want that's what I'm going for, is that time is not just showing on their face, but also in their experiences that, Laura Dern has had to get harder as a person has had to go through a lot of shit and like remove the [00:30:00] part of herself that probably was mostly.

Alex fell in love with in the first place. Her softness, her warmness her her optimism of the world. So like how much of that is left and if there's not much of that left, then is he just in love with the idea of the person or still the person? And that goes into the conversation about our consciousness, who we are.

Are we like the layers of our skin? That every like seven years, it's an entirely. Set of skin on our bodies like the ship Theseus. If we are totally a different person than we were 10 years ago, 20 years ago, is it a ship theseus thing with our consciousness? Are we still the same person or are we actually a different person?

And so that's the conversation that I'm putting into free Jack. It's like this evolution of consciousness, and Alex is going through it with him being basically scanned into a cloned body. Julie's going through it through the passage of time. And Ian McCandless, the main character, Anthony Hopkins, is [00:31:00] actually in what they called what do they call it?

The spiritual switchboard. But he hasn't been there for three days. He's been there for literally years and it's been hush hush within his corporation and his handler. Mark Michelette has been basically speaking for him. He has been a ghost in the machine, the whole time.

And so the, he has this feeling of omnipotence, a narcissistic God that has removed himself from morality by being part of this machine for so long. But the one thing that he doesn't have is companionship. And he does want that from Julie who he has had interactions with, virtually.

And so that's why he needs the body is just the one thing that he can't get from being omnipresent on the net. The digital version of himself is like physical love, and so that's why he goes for Alex Furlong and he, but he needs that consciousness in there briefly. The argument at the end of it is whether or not Alex is the same person, if Ian is the same person, if it's a combination of the two, [00:32:00] because at the end of Freejack.

They have basically a mind fight, which is like the dumbest shit in the world that like, is so poorly portrayed on screen. There's like screens that are flipping, like

Thandi: the screensaver from windows xb or Windows 95

Hobbit: like it's a prison thing that Zod is in and Superman floating through the phantom zone. And there's fire behind Emilio Estevez.

He's like, ah, it's so cheesy. I think. The part where he has to read off his human code or whatever to Mick Jagger in the original, the joke at the end is that Mc Jagger, it was totally wrong, and Mc Jagger just said that it was correct, so that he had a change of heart. Fuck that. He got it right because he's now a combination of Alex Furlong and.

Mc Candless, but that combination actually gives him the opportunity to better identify with Laura Dern's character. He now has levels of experience over those years from his incorporation of the two people. He has, he's got like the humanity from Alex Furlong and he's [00:33:00] got the experience and.

Success from Ian McCandless. And so he actually has a chance to be with Laura Dern by being a combination of parts of these two people.

Thandi: It functionally leaves him as a new person

Hobbit: Yeah, a new person that she's gonna give it a shot, and have this ambiguity at the end. Like, is this gonna work? I don't know. I don't even know who, you don't even know who you are yet, but we'll find out together kind of thing.

So Freejack is all about who we are and if we are different people at different points in our lives, or if we're just a evolution the actors. Taylor Latner for Alex Furlong, Laura Dern for Julie Redland. Ian McCandless, I wanted the virtual version of this person.

It's not gonna be like an older character. It's gonna be also. World is rife with disease. It doesn't have to be an old man that's dying. It could be somebody that just you know, all the pestilence the world. Let's give it a Bradley Cooper. Let's have somebody that is classically super handsome, as the [00:34:00] villain. You don't have to have an old man that's dying.

Thandi: Yeah, and he's a strong actor. he can do. what he can do.

Hobbit: yeah, I think he can do it. and then Mark Michel Gillette. I wanted somebody that has this calmness to them, Jonathan Banks in most of what he does. There is no rush to the way he speaks. He feels confident in the scenes.

He feels like he knows what's going on more than anybody else in the scene. And I wanted somebody that had that level of, gravitas that there's this energy around them that they are both calming and also like, Ooh, I don't know if I wanna fuck with them. And. Dramatically underrated actor, in my opinion, is Sterling K. Brown, who, he had a very small, scene in Black Panther as N'Jobu, he was, this Is Us. But also what really sold me on him was his portrayal of the defendant in Marshall. He was so good in that role and just brought it, and I think it's criminal how under.

Thandi: Oh, he's a great actor

Hobbit: great Discussed he is as far as like dramatic actors.

Yeah, he's fantastic. So, definitely check out Marshall if you haven't. He's the defendant. I forget the name of [00:35:00] the character, blew me outta the water. Fantastic. Only reason I think there wasn't more conversation is you've got Chadwick Bozeman in there, so kind of a Scotty Pippen and Michael Jordan situation going.

Thandi: Look, I got a wife that looks just like yours.

Hobbit: So Then we got the rock stars, we got Mick Jagger and Buster Pointdexter. We got two actors that aren't good actors. One is a little bit better than the other, as of Cult a personality, at least that's David Johansen from the New York Dolls.

I'm getting Tom Waits in there. Also a big weirdo that has been acting for years, have a lot of fun with it.

Thandi: Yeah, he was, renfield.

Hobbit: And well, and he's in mystery men, as well. all of the, uh, like coffee and cigarettes and, uh, Jim Jarmusch all of those. Then I wanted a rockstar, quote unquote, that would not be a good actor.

I don't know if I've ever seen them in a movie. I cannot imagine. They're good at acting. They don't need to be. They're just the hot rock star, character. Adam Levine as Victor Vacendak, just stand there with covered in tattoos [00:36:00] looking like a weird, like bone jacker thug from the future with all of his, like tattoos that he got in like a three year period.

Thandi: I'm not threatened by you, Adam Levine Vacendak. I, I can't I

can't even take you seriously.

Hobbit: That's exactly why I chose him, because there's nothing threatening about Mick Jagger in his role either. he's, just. A weird placeholder character and I said, let's just keep going with that. Let's just carry that energy over with Adam Levine. So yeah, I think that's it. So the whole point of this Freejack version is to, discuss the nature of, personhood.

What makes you a person

Thandi: Yeah. And, that's your gift with these pitches to add meat to the bone

Hobbit: Yeah, absolutely. Speaking of meat to the bone, the real meat of this show is, the trailers , the, uh, the trailers

Thandi: I remember my pitch enough to actually do a trailer out of it.

Hobbit: God. Yeah. That's the hard part of going first is, trying to remember everything. So let me get that queue up.

Thandi: The years [00:37:00] 2023 and Stranger Things, Joe Keery is Alex Furlong, a race car driver who's about to die and go to 2023. Freejack, a movie that finds Joe Keery in a situation that is his own, but very much not his own, starring as his alternate universe. Girlfriend Carrie Mulligan as the nun who helps him along his way.

Kat Dennings. And also starring Michael Rosenbaum. Busta Rhymes. Kevin Bacon, Colin Farrell and Jason Statham from Director Sean Levy. Take yourself to an alternate version of your life and make it better freejack

Hobbit: yeah.

Thandi: Wow.

Hobbit: Yeah, I think that was a good choice. The intro music for that one I think fit relatively well. Nice. Nice. All right. Now onto my fucking, I have no idea how I'm gonna do this Aronofsky version. So we're gonna find out together. Always the best [00:38:00] not plan ahead. Go for it.

Thandi: Yeah, straight from the dome is not my favorite way

to do it

but, uh, I

Hobbit: Here we go, .Okay, cool. Let's light this turd candle. Here we go. Who are you? Who am I? What is it To be alive this fall, Alex, Furlong, finds out as he's transported to the future of 2041. Alex Furlong, a race car driver with a loving fiance, Julie. Dies in a horrifying car wreck, or does he, his consciousness transferred to the future and put into a clone version of his own body only to be chased through this dirty dystopian streets by a menacing presence. Taylor Lautner is Alex Furlong. Julie Redland, it played by Laura Dern, [00:39:00] fights against. Bradley Cooper and Sterling K. Brown, as Darren Aronofski asked the question, what is it to be alive? Also featuring Tom Waits Free Jack.

Thandi: the trailer that asks you,

I love it, or

do I.

Hobbit: I think Freejack should be in the conversation more about the progression of sci-fi movies and what they were trying to do and what they were trying to say. But that doesn't mean it's a good film. I think it's one of those films that, it had some tools that it could have used a lot better. Other movies did use them a little bit better, but, I think it's still worth a mention from time to time.

Thandi: No, it's interesting actually, on Tubi, there were a whole just truckload of, of B sci-fi movies from that era that I'm sure most of 'em were straight to video, but that were the end of that. If you like this, you'll like this. That I was very curious Will I ever watch them?

Uh, I still drink [00:40:00] sometimes, I guess so, uh, there's

Hobbit: These, These, kind of movies, Freejack, if you have the opportunity, it is a perfect movie to throw on with some friends and a few drinks or a few, uh, other inebriates and enjoy for sure. And that's what I love about this era of sci-fi is they're bad. Most of them are really bad, but. This used to be my Saturday afternoons.

Uh, When Ms. Amy Bogarde was still working on Saturdays, I would have the whole afternoon to watch this garbage. I would never ask her to watch with me love her too much. I wouldn't put her through that. And I'd watch like the core, uh, ,,like the

2004,

Thandi: Man, that was a dumb ass era of movies.

Hobbit: oh so bad. But there's something kind of special about how. Unfortunately bad they are, and they're still happening. There's still the geo storms and hurricane heists out there that are just as bad.

It's just that their budgets are

bigger for

some reason, because

Thandi: year,

moon fall.

Hobbit: moon fall

is the biggest pile of hot fucking garbage. And I'm also like weirdly into [00:41:00] it at the same time, like I'm angered by the fact that it got so much money to be made. that was a hundred million dollar movie. This is a sci-fi channel movie. This isn't a, this shouldn't be a real, like a real real movie

Thandi: When you have a

legacy,

you can make poop

monster movies

Hobbit: Oh God.

That's right. That was rolling Emrick, wasn't it? That's why. Yeah. Oh God. But watched Moon, uh, fall more than once, I think three times now. I've seen it.

Thandi: Wow. How does that work?

Hobbit: Once out of morbid curiosity the other time, because I kept talking about it,

Thandi: Man, you a PopCultist about your infatuation with Moon fall

Hobbit: Amy jokes that it's my favorite movie because then we watched it together and she's like, wow, this is real, this is worse than you even described. And then I, I forget, I maybe watched it with another friend at some point, but yeah, it's just, it's. So bad that I just, I can't wrap my brain around the fact that it actually exists.

Like this is something that like is in the world [00:42:00] that was made, people signed on, like actors were in this movie and acted at it and.

Thandi: The halle Berry had to pay for houses and cars too, I guess.

Hobbit: There was a special effects person whose marriage fell apart because they were working so many long hours on the special effects for this garbage fucking movie. And so they're like signing the divorce papers the weekend that this movie comes out and they see it in the theater.

They're like this, this is what I sacrificed my marriage for is moon fall. This is, this is what I think about when watching Moon fall, because it's definitely not the plot. Thanks so much everyone for listening to this episode of Smack My pitch up, and, uh, Thandi. Thank you so much for, begrudgingly, going through this Mick Jagger, movie. The future of

Thandi: thank you mate.

Hobbit: Crikey, make sure To rate, review, subscribe, tell you friends, repost our stuff on social media.

Please, please share our stuff. , that's the best way for us to get around to New Ears is for you to repost the stuff from our social media. And, we will find you next time [00:43:00] for another episode of Smack My Pitch Up. I'm Mike The Hobbit,

Thandi: I'm Thandi.

tdy.

Hobbit: and you just got, uh, the pitch smacked outta ya

from the future

Thandi: Yeah. Little pitch, and a swing, and a miss.. Pitch and a swing Oh, and a Miss

Hobbit: mist,