00:00It's also fun to see all these, everyone freaking out about how similar he is to his dad.
00:04And he is, though. It's amazing.
00:06Thank you for bringing us Jenna with a smile.
00:09I'm not sure I've seen it on screen before.
00:13For you, it must be quite the joy getting to direct someone with her talent.
00:18What was that like? Because she is phenomenal.
00:20She's phenomenal.
00:21Even in here. She is amazing.
00:22I've been watching her for years, and what was really cool about her,
00:26I've just found it interesting, is that she was a kid who grew up acting.
00:29She was a child actor and being in a lot of things,
00:31but didn't follow the same path or make the same choices that a lot of the other kids had made
00:36and go along a more traditional path.
00:40She made really bold choices and started to go into horrors
00:43and then play really dark characters and quite heavy characters.
00:47So I was like, yeah, it's great that she doesn't care what other people are doing.
00:53She's just going to do her own thing.
00:56And I was like, well, this is, you know, everyone loves her and they love that Wednesday show,
01:00but it would be great to see her and, you know, sort of breaking away from that.
01:05And this is a very, very different role.
01:07She's so enthusiastic and optimistic.
01:10It's what we need more of in the world.
01:12Yeah, that's right, yeah.
01:12So actually it's great.
01:14And she's also kind of in some ways like, you know, a clown character in this,
01:18you know, because she's so big and expressive.
01:22And it's pretty bold to do that for, you know,
01:24when you're playing the main character in a movie,
01:26because everyone's, all actors are about being subtle and never moving,
01:31you know, always wanting to be internal.
01:33And she's like, out there.
01:34I loved it.
01:36It's not a spoiler because it's in the trailer,
01:38but the Star Wars reference, whose idea was that to put that in?
01:42Oh, I see.
01:43This is not the droid.
01:43Yeah, it made me smile.
01:45It made me smile.
01:46Yeah, that was my idea.
01:47I wrote that.
01:48Just as a little nod to what we hope is still coming.
01:51Oh, there was no reference at all.
01:53I wasn't talking about that at all.
01:54It was just a nice, dumb joke.
01:56And it was also, I just feel like more and more young people
01:59won't understand that reference.
02:01Oh, listen, I'm the right age, though.
02:03Yeah.
02:03It made me smile, at least.
02:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:05I loved that we have AFs for like mundane things, like a scarecrow.
02:12Is there anything mundane in your life that you would like to have an AF for?
02:15I like the mundane stuff.
02:17I like the boredom.
02:18I like being bored and I like doing nothing.
02:20So I don't want an AF to help me with that.
02:22I'm really happy when I just sit and stare at a wall
02:26or lie and stare at the ceiling and switch off everything.
02:29I'm kind of like a robot.
02:31I can just turn off like that and just like that.
02:38And I'll just reset my brain.
02:40I'm really good at napping as well.
02:42I can fall asleep instantly.
02:43You sound really like me right now.
02:46I love sleeping.
02:47You're staring at a wall, sleeping.
02:49I don't like, yeah, I don't necessarily even need music.
02:52After a long day of people yapping in your ear on set and stuff,
02:56I come home, no music, silence, stare at a wall.
03:01They're exactly the same.
03:02That is very interesting.
03:05But they are friends to teens in this movie.
03:09Like that's what they're for, right?
03:11They are artificial friends.
03:13Which of your previous characters do you think from any movies would be a terrible AF to a teen?
03:20Probably the father character I play in the movie Boy, I'd say Rachel House in Hunter of the Wilder People.
03:31That character would be a terrible AF.
03:34And Hulk wouldn't be a great AF.
03:37But cool though.
03:37Not reliable.
03:38Cool.
03:39Cool now and then if you really needed them.
03:41Yeah.
03:42Wouldn't do what you asked.
03:44Wouldn't listen to you.
03:45And listen, you have Aaron Murphy in here as well who has just taken off.
03:50And I know this was filmed like so long ago but he's everywhere right now.
03:54Did you see it back, like you must have seen it back then.
03:58I could see his talent and I saw that he was like an amazing up and coming actor.
04:03But I'd never seen anything he'd done.
04:05I never knew, I didn't know if he would.
04:07That's the thing with young actors, you never know if they're going to work again.
04:12And so I, you just don't know.
04:14You know, some people, some people they try it once and then they think, no, it's not for me.
04:18And I'm really happy that he's, you know, he's really going there and he's doing it.
04:22It was fun to see.
04:23And it's also, it's also fun to see all these, everyone freaking out about how similar he is to his
04:28dad.
04:29That's everywhere.
04:30That is literally the only discourse.
04:32It's hilarious.
04:33And he is though.
04:34It's amazing.
04:35Right?
04:35Are there any other books that you've read that you're like, I really want to do something with that or
04:41bring that to the screen?
04:42Because this one is so huge.
04:43I'm actually developing an adaptation of a book by Percival Everett called James, which is a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn
04:52from the point of view of Jim, the slave.
04:54And so it's a real, it just kind of flips the whole story around and the whole point of view.
05:00And it's satirical, super heavy, but really, it's a really great book.
05:08It's a really great story.
05:09So we're adapting that at the moment.
05:10Don't know that one, so I will make sure to check it out.
05:13You should check it out.
05:13Just on the Pulitzer Prize.
05:14And I almost feel like you've got a nod to Jenna's character, by the way that you're sitting on, with
05:19one leg.
05:21Oh, yeah, no, no, it's just more like, these old hips need to be stretched while I sit inside.
05:25And he'd like, open them out.
05:27Is there anything that you do that you, do you have any weird quirks like that that you do?
05:32Because I saw her doing that.
05:34And I was like, oh my God, I did that all the time.
05:36Yeah, but she and Jenna also does do that.
05:40Oh, she does?
05:40And she used to do that as a kid.
05:42And I'd written that and I did not know that about Jenna.
05:44And she, she said, oh, weird.
05:47This is what I used to do as a kid.
05:50But my things, what are my things?
05:54I trace everything with my eyes whenever I'm looking at something.
05:58So like, oh, in my hand.
06:00So you won't see it, but like, I'll be looking at you and everything around you.
06:03And I'm, with my finger, I'm like, just drawing around all of the outlines of everything.
06:07Is that for any reason?
06:08Or is it just, um, it's just that?
06:09I don't know what it is.
06:10I've only met one other person who does that.
06:12And we connected deeply on that.
06:17Because it's not, I don't think it's anything weird.
06:19I think it's just, there's bound to be millions.
06:22I bet there's like 20 million people who do it.
06:24I'm sure it's very common.
06:25We all have weird quirks.
06:26I've been guilty of oversharing in junkets before about my weirdness.
06:30And I won't be doing that this time.
06:33All right, okay.
06:35Because I did it too recently.
06:37Oh, no.
06:37About some cod liver oil capsules, which is weird enough.
06:41Good luck with this one, Taika.
06:43Thank you so much for bringing it to the screen.
06:44It's such a lovely story.
