Episode 71

full
Published on:

31st Jan 2025

Conversation with Producer/Screenwriter Adam Simon

Adam G. Simon (also known as Adam Gregory Simon) is a Los Angeles-born screenwriter, producer, and actor for television and film who now resides and produces In Southeast Asia with his partner Larissa Andrade, where they are raising their son.

As a writer, Adam is known for his work as the writer of Point Blank (2019) an action film for Netflix, based on Fred Cavaye's French Action Thriller, "A Bout Portant". The film was directed by Joe Lynch and stars Anthony Mackie, Marcia Gay Harden, Frank Grillo, Teyonah Paris, Boris McGiver, and Markice Moore. While critics mostly panned the film, it went on to find a large audience and in 2024, years after its debut, reemerged on Netflix as the sixth most-watched film globally.

Adam is the lead writer of One Day in October (2024) an eight-episode series surrounding the events of October 7, 2023, and shot on location in Israel. The series is being distributed by Fox Global with a 2025 release date.

Adam also penned the screenplay for Man Down (2015) a psychological war drama directed by Dito Montiel which stars Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Jai Courtney, and Kate Mara. The film debuted at the Venice Italy Film Festival.

As a producer: Adam G. Simon is a Producer on The Dreadful a period horror film directed by Natasha Kermani. The film stars Sophie Turner, Kit Harington, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurence O'Fuarain.

In 2023 Adam reunited with Dito Montiel to Executive Produce Riff Raff (2024) A dark comedy that stars Jennifer Coolidge, Bill Murray, Pete Davidson, Ed Harris, and Gabrielle Union. The film was accepted to the 2024 Toronto Film Festival where it made its debut.

He executive produced The Performance (2023) a film by Shira Piven that stars Jeremy Piven, Robert Carlyle, and Maime McCoy based on the Arthur Miller short story of the same name.

Adam is developing Hit Kick Punch Kill an action-comedy he wrote and is producing with StoryBoard Media slated for 2025.


Adam and Filmmaker Joe Carnahan co-wrote The Brass Catchers, an action thriller that they are producing together.


Adam produced On Our Way (2021) a coming-of-age film that stars James Badge Dale, Jordana Brewster, Michael Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, and Keith Powers.


Before starting his professional career as a writer and producer, Adam worked as a bodyguard and close protection specialist.


He is an advocate for the homeless having been homeless himself while writing Man Down and speaks as an advocate for homeless veterans and survivors of abuse.


Kyle welcomes writer, producer, and actor Adam G. Simon for an engaging conversation that dives deep into the film industry and the impact of artificial intelligence on storytelling.

Adam shares his insights on the challenges of navigating Hollywood, emphasizing the importance of working with genuine talent who prioritize artistry over fame. He discusses his experiences with various actors, including the dedication of Shia LaBeouf, and how the industry's culture often leads to a disconnect between the art and its creators. The conversation also touches on the ethical implications of AI in filmmaking and how his platform, Nolan AI, aims to empower independent filmmakers by streamlining the production process. With a candid exploration of Hollywood's complexities, Adam's perspective sheds light on the need for integrity and authenticity in an ever-evolving landscape.

Adam G. Simon joins the podcast to share his journey through the multifaceted world of filmmaking, bringing a wealth of experience as a writer, producer, and actor. His reflections on working in Hollywood lead to a broader discussion about the nature of success, the struggles of creativity, and the evolving landscape of the industry. Simon's career has taken him from Los Angeles to Southeast Asia, where he finds inspiration and a fresh perspective on storytelling.


In his conversation, Simon engages with the realities of being in the industry, discussing projects like 'Point Blank' and 'One Day in October.' He paints a vivid portrait of the challenges artists face, particularly the pressure to conform to industry standards and the often toxic environment surrounding celebrity culture. His anecdotes reveal both the humor and the harsh truths of working in an industry that can be as rewarding as it is unforgiving.


Moreover, Simon addresses the rise of AI in filmmaking, advocating for the empowerment of independent creators through technology rather than allowing it to perpetuate the existing power dynamics. He emphasizes the need for integrity and authenticity in storytelling, encouraging listeners to consider the ethical implications of their work in an increasingly commercialized environment. This episode is not just a glimpse into Simon's life; it is a profound exploration of the values that drive creativity and a powerful reminder of the importance of genuine storytelling.

Takeaways:

  • Adam Simon discusses his transition from Hollywood to international filmmaking, emphasizing the freedom it brings.
  • He highlights the importance of genuine collaboration in filmmaking, valuing creative input from all team members.
  • AI technology is revolutionizing the film industry, enabling independent filmmakers to streamline production processes.
  • Simon criticizes the commodification of storytelling in Hollywood, expressing a desire for authentic narratives.
  • He shares insights on the challenges of working with major studios and the impact on artists.
  • The conversation touches on the need to support underrepresented voices in the film industry through innovative tools.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

  • Netflix
  • One Day in October
  • Mice
  • Lionsgate
  • CAA
  • Amazon
  • Blueprint
  • X40 Productions
  • Nolan AI
  • Runway
Transcript
Adam Simon:

Foreign.

Host:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie wars podcast.

Host:

We have another exciting interview series for you today.

Host:

A guy that I've been interacting with for a while, really stoked to finally get him on the show.

Host:

He's a screenwriter, producer, actor, originally from Los Angeles and we'll get into this later, but he's primarily based out of Southeast Asia these days.

Host:

You probably saw his movie because it was one of the.

Host:

It was one of the most highest watched films on Netflix when it came out.

Host:

Point blank.

Host:

I got to re watch it recently.

Host:

We'll talk about that.

Host:

He's got a couple other great projects coming out in production right now.

Host:

Like One Day in October, which is an eight episode series about.

Host:

And we got Elmo.

Host:

We got Elmo here.

Host:

But One Day in October, which is an eight episode series about the events of October 7th.

Host:

In:

Host:

Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Kmarra.

Host:

We got all kinds of credits here.

Host:

And then you have some other great projects coming up and we'll get into those as well.

Host:

But welcome to the show.

Host:

And you're coming from your car with Elmo and you're a warrior.

Host:

You've had a hell of a day, dude.

Adam Simon:

I've had such a fucked up day.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And look at this.

Adam Simon:

I'm literally coming to you live from a car in Newport beach with Elmo because my, my son just like retail.

Adam Simon:

Look at this.

Adam Simon:

I have a handicap decal that I'm.

Adam Simon:

I'm putting up here as a light diffuser to try to keep this as less of a horror film vibe as possible.

Adam Simon:

But yeah, I got this thing which is just pure horror.

Host:

It's amazing.

Host:

I better say your name too.

Host:

Adam Simon, ladies and gentlemen.

Host:

I forgot to even say your name.

Host:

I had my eye on the Elmo.

Host:

Welcome, man.

Host:

I'm so glad we made this happen.

Host:

And you're a warrior for, for having the day you had and still hopping on from the car, dude.

Host:

Thank you, dad.

Adam Simon:

No problem, man.

Adam Simon:

It's.

Adam Simon:

It's been amazing.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, no, it's been an incredible day.

Adam Simon:

I, I, you know, flew into town and hit the ground running, so.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, and mudslides and fires and you know, all that stuff.

Adam Simon:

But.

Adam Simon:

But we're here and I'm in a car, cuz.

Adam Simon:

Baby sleeping.

Host:

Yeah, man.

Adam Simon:

So, you know, me going, you know, talking shit about Hollywood and, and talking about how great it is to not live in this state anymore in a very loud voice is probably something that would wake my son up.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

So my, you know, Significant.

Adam Simon:

So Larissa's like, are you doing a podcast?

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, yeah.

Adam Simon:

And she goes, oh, my God.

Adam Simon:

Just don't do it in here.

Adam Simon:

That's amazing.

Adam Simon:

She's like, just don't do it in here.

Adam Simon:

I'm like, I know.

Adam Simon:

Wait, what do I got?

Adam Simon:

She's like, the car.

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, yeah, I can make the car work.

Adam Simon:

So here we are.

Host:

Yeah, man.

Host:

And you come back, you know, we'll get into your, Your.

Host:

Your travels and where you live now, but when you come back, it's a disaster.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Literally, dude.

Adam Simon:

And you know what's crazy?

Adam Simon:

I.

Adam Simon:

I was talking to somebody, and me and this guy, and we got things got a little heated as things do with old, old Simon, or as my buddy Patrick likes to refer to me, as the angriest man alive.

Adam Simon:

My acronym is ama.

Adam Simon:

Angriest Man Alive.

Adam Simon:

I think it's a bit unfair.

Adam Simon:

I'm not the angriest man alive.

Adam Simon:

That would be, I don't know, Tommy Lee Jones or Vince Vaughn.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, but.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, dude, but I remember talking to this producer and I said.

Adam Simon:

I said, you know, man, this whole place is gonna burn to the fucking ground.

Adam Simon:

So you, you know, it would behoove you to at least have an exit strategy.

Adam Simon:

And if not for yourself, then maybe for your family.

Adam Simon:

That was the last thing I said to him.

Adam Simon:

And his house burned down in the back.

Adam Simon:

Oh, my God.

Adam Simon:

I'm just like, you know, not to laugh, but it's.

Adam Simon:

It's just like, man, this.

Adam Simon:

This place literally is.

Adam Simon:

And anybody.

Adam Simon:

You know, I'm a die hard Angelino.

Adam Simon:

I grew up here.

Adam Simon:

I was born and raised here.

Adam Simon:

But, you know, I lived through the Northridge quake, the LA riots, you know, and back.

Adam Simon:

Back in.

Adam Simon:

In those days, we were having earthquakes all the time.

Adam Simon:

It felt like we were having an earthquake every.

Adam Simon:

Every weekend.

Adam Simon:

And fires were a regular thing.

Adam Simon:

We had a fire sweep through where we lived in Antelope Valley at one point in time.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

And it's just like, you always grow up with, like, this thing of, like, at any moment, either some natural disaster is going to sweep through and wipe everybody out, or people are going to turn on each other or, you know, fill in the blank with, like, whatever it is.

Adam Simon:

It's not like, you know, people.

Adam Simon:

People like to say, like, there's this.

Adam Simon:

Politicians like to say there's this sense of unity, that we're all kind of like, like one tribe.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, Californians, you know, we all stick together.

Adam Simon:

Not so.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, you know, when you start pulling levers on food, water, and resources.

Adam Simon:

People turn on each other pretty quickly.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, so you gotta.

Adam Simon:

And there's pockets.

Adam Simon:

You know, I'm painting with kind of a broad brush, but there's pockets of people and communities that will take care of each other and.

Adam Simon:

But, you know, it's.

Adam Simon:

It's that thing everybody's got.

Adam Simon:

Everybody's got leverage, and you start to go, hey, man, would you ever punch a newborn baby in the face?

Adam Simon:

And it's like, no, I'd never do that.

Adam Simon:

Well, would you do it for a hundred thousand dollars?

Adam Simon:

No.

Adam Simon:

Never.

Adam Simon:

200,000?

Adam Simon:

A million?

Adam Simon:

2 million?

Adam Simon:

5 million?

Adam Simon:

And then people start going, yep, maybe.

Adam Simon:

How hard is.

Adam Simon:

Am I punching this baby?

Adam Simon:

So anyway, that's to say that all this is to say that it's.

Adam Simon:

It's wild coming back here and to just kind of see the madness.

Adam Simon:

I mean, I've lived outside the US now for three years, and I've spent a lot of my life traveling around, but it's wild to see LA from outside of la, the United States, from outside of the United States.

Adam Simon:

And then to come back and.

Adam Simon:

And just go, whoa.

Adam Simon:

Like this just.

Adam Simon:

This is just kind of crazy.

Adam Simon:

And again, pockets.

Adam Simon:

Pockets of goodness.

Adam Simon:

But it's.

Adam Simon:

It's a sandwich that's punctuated by, you know, flavors of goodness.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

Well, what's.

Host:

I mean, what's even crazier?

Host:

I mean, you've taken your craft internationally.

Host:

We talked about that earlier when we were prepping for this call.

Host:

Like, you.

Host:

You.

Host:

You were able to.

Host:

To get outside of la, outside of the bubble, and continue to have success.

Host:

And you've got, you know, just as many, if not more exciting projects in the chamber.

Host:

So you.

Host:

You left the bubble, not just culturally speaking, but you.

Host:

You took your craft elsewhere, and you're having a good time, right?

Adam Simon:

Yeah, man.

Adam Simon:

And man, working with some of the most incredible people, just incredible people around the world, and you start to go, wow, you know, maybe.

Adam Simon:

Maybe there is something.

Adam Simon:

Something to this.

Adam Simon:

And, yeah, you're uncomfortable, I guess, like, you know, but I've always.

Adam Simon:

I've always been a nomad.

Adam Simon:

I've always been a bit of a gypsy.

Adam Simon:

I'm grateful for, you know, the time that I had where the bottom fell out.

Adam Simon:

I had to kind of readjust and.

Adam Simon:

And reconfigure things and figure out who I was, even my time on the street.

Adam Simon:

I just, you know, I'm.

Adam Simon:

I'm comfortable in moving around and being nomadic.

Host:

Mm.

Adam Simon:

And my amazing, amazing wife is just.

Adam Simon:

I mean.

Adam Simon:

I mean, dude, she's.

Adam Simon:

She's the same way.

Adam Simon:

Like, she, you know, lived kind of touring around the world and.

Adam Simon:

And you start to meet these artists, filmmakers, musicians, editors, directors, actors, you know, you name it, and they're just fantastic.

Adam Simon:

I mean, you know, there's a reason why South Korea is just banging out amazing films in.

Adam Simon:

In all types of genres.

Adam Simon:

You know, you got.

Adam Simon:

We've.

Adam Simon:

Over the past little bit, we've had the Last Train to Busan, we've had Parasite, we've had Squid Game.

Adam Simon:

You know, just these really kind of cool stories that are.

Adam Simon:

That are being told.

Adam Simon:

And then I find the same thing coming out of Iran, coming out of Israel, coming out of Brazil, coming out of Portugal.

Adam Simon:

Just incredible artists and filmmakers that I've been able to partner up with and make some really good projects.

Host:

What was the straw?

Host:

I mean, it sounds like you ruminated for a while.

Host:

I mean, you were having success.

Host:

It's not like you didn't leave because of a lack of success, but there must have been some interesting straw that finally you're like, fuck it, I'm done.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, man.

Adam Simon:

I.

Adam Simon:

It was a combination.

Adam Simon:

It was kind of like everything.

Adam Simon:

Everything kind of all hit at once at the same time.

Adam Simon:

So it was like several straws.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

You know, start with the biggest, which is, you know, I met this incredible woman, like just a bolt of lightning, and really, really just an amazing human being who had done something that I'd never experienced before, like, at least in a relationship.

Adam Simon:

And that was.

Adam Simon:

She held me accountable.

Adam Simon:

I.

Adam Simon:

She.

Adam Simon:

She would hold me accountable to things and.

Adam Simon:

And call me on my.

Adam Simon:

And we found out we were.

Adam Simon:

We were having a kid, and it was like, okay, where do we want to raise this child?

Adam Simon:

And she's in the entertainment industry.

Adam Simon:

And we were like, well, not here.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Adam Simon:

Yeah, like, not here.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

And we're like, so where's.

Adam Simon:

Where's the place, man?

Adam Simon:

Where's home?

Adam Simon:

And it really started over a dinner conversation where I said, where, you know, what's home to you?

Adam Simon:

And she's like, well, you know, I was born and raised in Brazil, but, you know, I've spent my whole life living.

Adam Simon:

Living out of a suitcase and kind of traveling around the world.

Adam Simon:

And I said, well, where do you think is the best place to raise a family?

Adam Simon:

And we started having those conversations.

Adam Simon:

And then, you know, we decided to kind of travel around and look and see, you know, where.

Adam Simon:

Where would it be?

Adam Simon:

And so we've.

Adam Simon:

We go between Thailand and Brazil, predominantly in.

Adam Simon:

In Thailand, but that.

Adam Simon:

That's where we've been going for the Better part of two years.

Adam Simon:

And it's fantastic.

Adam Simon:

But that's the positive.

Adam Simon:

That's, that was the biggest motivating factor, like where do, where do we need to go?

Adam Simon:

And it's, and it's not this place.

Adam Simon:

But the other thing was the projects that I had started researching and being involved in.

Adam Simon:

One was this project called Mice, with this team of producers, really amazing people, this woman, Suzanne McDowell, Daniel Finkelman.

Adam Simon:

But it's the story of Jonathan Pollard.

Adam Simon:

And Jonathan Pollard was a spy who was around during the Reagan administration.

Adam Simon:

Excuse me, he wasn't a spy.

Adam Simon:

He, he was a naval analyst who was accused of spying for Israel.

Adam Simon:

When in fact the reality is the guy was starting to uncover really kind of dirty, sinister shit that the United States was involved in, specifically intelligence agencies and subsidiary companies that were employed by intelligence agencies.

Adam Simon:

And so he decided to let Israel know about it via the Mossad or via Mossad, because he felt that Israel was in danger.

Adam Simon:

So the guy was arrested, spent 32 years in prison.

Adam Simon:

Part of that, no matter what, you know, there's this ex CIA guy who has a podcast, Bustamante, and he's got another ex CIA guy who loves pushing out half assed propaganda points without really fully.

Adam Simon:

They have a broad knowledge of certain things, but they definitely don't research deeply into the things that they're talking about, specifically when they're talking about Jonathan Pollard.

Adam Simon:

One of the guys, I forget his name, just to put it bluntly, he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about and just puts out a lot of like agency talking points.

Adam Simon:

But you know, the.

Adam Simon:

So they call him a spy and a traitor and he's a traitor to America and all this other.

Adam Simon:

But the, the biggest kind of thing about Jonathan was he, And I'll tell you why this leads to me leaving the country.

Adam Simon:

But Jonathan, you know, uncovered amongst many things that one of the things was that the United States was manufacturing chemicals that forced Saddam Hussein in the United States.

Adam Simon:

That these chemical companies that were contracted by the CIA were making modified Lyme disease, modified West Nile virus mustard gas, sarin gas for Saddam Hussein to be used, which he did, and he used against Iran in a chemical weapons attack against the Geneva Convention is a war crime.

Adam Simon:

And the CIA provided logistical support to Saddam Hussein in that attack.

Adam Simon:

Those chemicals were then made into what we now know are weapons of mass destruction.

Adam Simon:

So the weapons that we invaded Iraq to go get, we fucking made.

Adam Simon:

So that's a big deal.

Adam Simon:

So, you know, but one of the other things that happened and where things get Muddy is that there was a legitimate ease evil individual named Aldrich Ames who was a spy and did some horrific cost a lot of American lives and assets and resources.

Adam Simon:

And Pollard became the fall guy for Aldrich Ames until decades later when the United States sorted it out and was like, oh this, this wasn't our guy doing evil.

Adam Simon:

Reprehensible.

Adam Simon:

It wasn't Pollard.

Adam Simon:

It was actually this other dude.

Adam Simon:

So that's kind of the 30,000 foot view that research and me meeting with the man, talking to the man, taking a very unorthodox approach to writing the script, which was I met with arms dealers, I met with drug dealers, I met with people who are descendants of those that were directly involved in Iran Contra, met with the people that were facilitating the deals that the CIA says never fucking happened.

Adam Simon:

And they showed me all their receipts that made me go, I need to get the fuck out of here.

Adam Simon:

And because the script was out there and being kind of shown around Hollywood and being pitched around, I was scooped up by a legal attache to the State Department who interrogated me for three days about Jonathan Pollard.

Adam Simon:

And I was like, well this is a bunch of bullshit.

Adam Simon:

Like, you know, my tax dollars are going to you to fly from Langley to scoop me up in Bosnia and interrogate me.

Adam Simon:

That's kind of, that's kind of.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, so.

Adam Simon:

And you know, I'm, I'm not revealing anything in the script that you guys don't already know.

Adam Simon:

So I, I don't understand what the problem is.

Adam Simon:

So that gave me a different kind of.

Adam Simon:

And I know I'm hitting you with a fire hose of information, but like that gave me a different experience with the intelligence apparatus of the United States.

Adam Simon:

And then one other experience which was another straw that broke the camel's back, which was seeing kind of again, there's a different intelligence agency, the FBI, but just seeing how there's kind of this unholy relationship between law enforcement, Hollywood, some intelligence agencies in Hollywood.

Adam Simon:

And you know, everybody likes to say on, you know, American media outlets that Hollywood got better with the MeToo movement and the downfall of Harvey Weinstein, which yeah, he's a scumbag and needed to go, but it really didn't.

Adam Simon:

It just got more secretive.

Adam Simon:

It got more secretive.

Adam Simon:

Non disclosure agreements got way more complex.

Adam Simon:

Contracts got way more complex.

Adam Simon:

And the monsters are still monsters and they're still there.

Adam Simon:

They just operate, you know, differently.

Adam Simon:

And we talked a lot about men in Hollywood and rightfully so, you know, these scumbags who got taken down.

Adam Simon:

James Toback, Harvey Weinstein, some of These other guys, but not a lot about some of the female monsters, some of the, you know, LGBTQ monsters that are out there.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, monsters.

Adam Simon:

Abusers.

Adam Simon:

People who abuse the system and abuse others and kind of use Hollywood to obtain a position of power whereby they can step on the neck of somebody else.

Adam Simon:

Those people are black, white, gay, straight, male, female, transgender, you name it.

Adam Simon:

Like, they come in all shapes and shapes and sizes, but we've taken care of one little nugget, one little corner of that in this industry.

Adam Simon:

The only other industry that dwarfs Hollywood as far as corruption is concerned is Washington.

Adam Simon:

But, yeah, so kind of all this together, new family, my experiences kind of with the intelligence agencies in Hollywood itself, and just the scumbaggery of actors.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

In particular just made me just.

Adam Simon:

Just go, man, fuck this place.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, you find really great people, man, and there's great people here, but it's kind of like, you know, show me.

Adam Simon:

Show me 20, you know, decent, you know, hard working, you know, da, da, da, da.

Adam Simon:

Fill in the blanks of whatever it is.

Adam Simon:

And then you start to go, okay, maybe there's 10, maybe there's five.

Adam Simon:

Oh.

Adam Simon:

You know, and then you come around to the same usual suspects.

Adam Simon:

You come around to, like, oh, Keanu Reeves is great.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Everybody fucking knows.

Adam Simon:

Keanu Reeves is great.

Adam Simon:

He's wonderful.

Adam Simon:

He's an amazing human being.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

There's not a lot of people like that.

Adam Simon:

Everybody's still chasing.

Adam Simon:

They're just boys and girls that weren't hugged enough as kids.

Adam Simon:

That's.

Adam Simon:

That's who ends up being actors.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And people in positions of power, and that's scary, you know, because when they get that power, they're usually abusing it.

Adam Simon:

So.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Host:

Wow.

Host:

Thanks for sharing that story.

Adam Simon:

Big rant.

Adam Simon:

That was a lot of.

Host:

No, I asked, man.

Host:

Now that's why we're doing this, man.

Host:

I love that.

Host:

I love the free flow.

Host:

I appreciate you sharing.

Host:

I didn't, you know, because you've hinted at, like, elements of this on social, but, like, hearing the whole story, like, together was.

Host:

Was really informative.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

I mean, I.

Adam Simon:

I got.

Adam Simon:

I got to see this, which is why I jumped into AI Right.

Adam Simon:

Was to kind of, like, clean up this industry that needs a lot of cleaning up.

Adam Simon:

It's like, you know, and you hear stories like, people are like, do you remember, you know, back in the 80s and 90s when you would, you know, show up on a film set and then, you know, some.

Adam Simon:

Somebody would pay you in cocaine?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And it's like, yeah, you know, that some of that, some of that shit still goes on, but, like, particularly in the areas of film finance, film distribution, film sales, you're dealing a lot with money laundering, you're dealing a lot with just, just a lot of corrupt kind of angles that involve sex, money, power manipulation, those kinds of things.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And so I've always taken the position of, like, I'm not about that shit.

Adam Simon:

And I, I take, I don't really take this that seriously.

Adam Simon:

Like, there's more important in life.

Adam Simon:

Like, I'd rather sit on the playground and hang out with my kid than spend time with, you know, any of these fucks.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

But, but when we do the job, we take that very seriously.

Adam Simon:

Um, so.

Adam Simon:

So, yeah, man, I, I, you know, I've been privy to kind of some projects, conversations, people that I also think, you know, certain, certain individuals would, would find valuable that information from me, and I'm just not willing to give it up.

Adam Simon:

You know, there's, you know, you look at, like, the FBI, for example.

Adam Simon:

Man, I, I said this to an FBI agent one time that was asking me questions in relation to Jonathan Pollard, which then also led to other questions about individuals in Hollywood.

Adam Simon:

They were just fishing for information.

Adam Simon:

And I just said, and if you don't know this, the FBI building in la, massive, massive facility.

Adam Simon:

It's right across from the Veterans Memorial, right over on.

Adam Simon:

Was that Wilshire or Sunset?

Adam Simon:

It's one of, one of the two, kind of, kind of up near Brentwood.

Adam Simon:

And I just said, you guys have a massive facility here.

Adam Simon:

It's enormous.

Adam Simon:

On top of that, the LAPD has got a sex crimes unit.

Adam Simon:

They have a unit specifically tasked for, you know, human trafficking and things like that.

Adam Simon:

Yet I don't see you guys going after anybody unless it makes a TMZ headline.

Adam Simon:

Like, it seems like it's more politically motivated than anything else.

Adam Simon:

Because.

Adam Simon:

And why, why do I know that?

Adam Simon:

Well, here's the deal.

Adam Simon:

Here's the, here's the real deal.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, because people talk all the time about the evils of Hollywood and the Illuminati connections and human trafficking and all this other stuff.

Adam Simon:

Stuff.

Adam Simon:

The Diddy tapes, all this other, all this other stuff, right?

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, all that's valid.

Adam Simon:

All that's valid.

Adam Simon:

Let's talk about it.

Adam Simon:

But what I said to this FBI agent is I said, I can go to any massage parlor here on Sunset and, or Santa Monica, from Santa Monica itself, all the way to damn near downtown la, and almost every single one of them, you will find People that are trafficked, they're brothels that are masquerading as massage parlors, you know, And I'm not talking about guys who are talking about, you know, like, rubbing tugs or like somebody who's.

Adam Simon:

Who's doing something, a business that they set up themselves, and they're treating it like an only fans.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Like, I'm talking about people that are forced there against their will.

Adam Simon:

And it's a brothel, like a Pahrump, Nevada, Las Vegas, you know, brothel.

Adam Simon:

And nobody's doing about that.

Adam Simon:

Why, like, you guys aren't doing anything about that.

Adam Simon:

And that's a massive amount of people, and that's just one street.

Adam Simon:

That's not to say, like, the whole city or the whole state of California or the whole country, you know, and it's like.

Adam Simon:

It's like you guys aren't doing anything about that.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

So.

Adam Simon:

But you're coming to me about information, about a producer or somebody like that, because it's going to make headlines.

Adam Simon:

Why don't you do something about that?

Adam Simon:

Oh, it's because this gang, this, you know, criminal organization, runs this.

Adam Simon:

You don't want to step on their toes.

Adam Simon:

You guys have a relationship.

Adam Simon:

You know, you're working whatever angle you're working.

Adam Simon:

So.

Adam Simon:

So I get it, you know, The United States is the number one consumer and producer of child pornography in the world.

Adam Simon:

In the world.

Adam Simon:

So, like, what the.

Adam Simon:

Are we talking about, like, some evil cabal that's over here?

Adam Simon:

The cabal is everywhere.

Adam Simon:

It's your neighborhoods.

Adam Simon:

It's.

Adam Simon:

It's your hometown.

Adam Simon:

It's the.

Adam Simon:

You know, and I isolated one specific industry, but it's not just that.

Adam Simon:

It's fucking everywhere.

Adam Simon:

So, you know, like, clean up your own fucking neighborhood.

Adam Simon:

You know, be responsible for the people right around you instead of looking for the boogeyman that's pulling the strings, like, you know, on a BlackRock Vanguard level.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Adam Simon:

So.

Adam Simon:

And I'm sorry for the rant.

Adam Simon:

It's just, like, it is crazy to me.

Adam Simon:

I was talking to Vincent Vargas about this.

Adam Simon:

I said, you know what's crazy to me, bro, is I said, I know the flight number and the colonel's name that flew this shit over to Iraq.

Adam Simon:

Like, I know people's names, and we kind of say them.

Adam Simon:

We see them pop up in Simpsons episodes.

Adam Simon:

We see them come up in Comedians jokes.

Adam Simon:

And then when they finally get found out, people go, oh, shit, they weren't really joking.

Adam Simon:

Like, that was some real shit.

Adam Simon:

And it's like, yeah, but you didn't do Anything about it.

Adam Simon:

Nobody did anything about it.

Adam Simon:

And that's the frustrating thing to me about America is we don't do.

Adam Simon:

We are a nation of keyboard warriors, by and large.

Adam Simon:

And I'm not speaking of, you know, military men and women or anything like that.

Adam Simon:

I'm just saying that, you know, this is a country that was founded on a revolution, and those revolutionaries are dead, and it's.

Adam Simon:

It's just a nation of couch potato that sit there and talk about revolution and change and ain't changing.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

So I.

Adam Simon:

I was just like, I can't do anything.

Adam Simon:

There's more powers that be that are more powerful than me.

Adam Simon:

So I'm just gonna post up where I can look at this beautiful little boy every day, this amazing woman, you know, do.

Adam Simon:

Do some fishing, write some stories, make some art, and meet some cool people.

Adam Simon:

Like you.

Host:

Yeah, man.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

I'm the highlight, man.

Adam Simon:

No, there you are.

Host:

That's what I'm saying.

Adam Simon:

Dude, I loved your guys.

Adam Simon:

Deep Dive, dude, when you guys talk about the Crow, that's my.

Host:

Yeah, man.

Adam Simon:

Crow was my movie, dude.

Adam Simon:

I love that movie.

Adam Simon:

Love that movie.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

I was so excited to finally do it.

Host:

And when the reboot came out, I was like, finally my excuse to.

Host:

To just f.

Host:

Just fan.

Host:

Fan over Brandon Lee.

Host:

And obviously there's a couple of rough middle ones, but the.

Host:

The Crow 94 is just, you know, know.

Host:

I didn't realize you loved it so much, bro.

Adam Simon:

I'm.

Adam Simon:

I'm such a massive fan.

Adam Simon:

Like, the soundtrack, everything.

Adam Simon:

I bought a trench coat.

Adam Simon:

I was running around thinking I was the.

Adam Simon:

I was the Crow.

Adam Simon:

And you know what the amazing thing is?

Adam Simon:

His performance was so good.

Adam Simon:

It was so good.

Adam Simon:

Everybody was on the level in that movie.

Adam Simon:

Every.

Adam Simon:

Everybody.

Adam Simon:

Everything about it.

Adam Simon:

Like, I just.

Adam Simon:

It.

Adam Simon:

It was so wonderful.

Adam Simon:

And everything that's come since.

Adam Simon:

I haven't seen the new movie, but the trailer, I'm just like, get the out of here.

Adam Simon:

Like, I.

Adam Simon:

I just.

Adam Simon:

I.

Adam Simon:

The one with Brandon Lee just smokes.

Adam Simon:

It kills.

Host:

I had to subject myself to the new one.

Host:

I.

Host:

I took a bullet for you.

Host:

Don't worry.

Host:

I did.

Adam Simon:

I did.

Adam Simon:

I didn't.

Host:

Against my will.

Adam Simon:

God damn it.

Adam Simon:

I didn't want to watch what you guys were saying about that because I haven't seen it yet, but I'm just like, what are you doing?

Adam Simon:

Like, what the.

Adam Simon:

What are you doing?

Host:

The word.

Host:

The word that came to mind instantly was soulless.

Host:

It was just.

Host:

When I say that, it just did not have, you know, like.

Host:

And you know this, like, one of the reasons I Love older films versus newer films is just because there's so much, like, reasons they don't get made or there's reasons like holding back or creative decision, like sacrifices, lack of budget.

Host:

And like, the Crow had so much of that.

Host:

And whenever you take that away, I feel like it reduces.

Host:

Everyone has that comfort level, you know, and the movie kind of loses that soul.

Host:

Like, man, this movie may not get made.

Host:

Like, who is Brandon Lee?

Host:

Like, why is he our protagonist?

Host:

Like, what's happening here?

Host:

You know?

Host:

And, yeah, it just had none of that, man.

Adam Simon:

Dude, I loved seeing.

Adam Simon:

Wow, Adam, you're really going to forget his fucking name.

Adam Simon:

Shit, I love seeing what's his name pop up again in.

Adam Simon:

Nope.

Adam Simon:

Oh, the guy who played the villain in the Crow.

Host:

Oh, not Polito.

Host:

Well, Polito passed.

Adam Simon:

He was also.

Adam Simon:

He was top dollar.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Prince.

Adam Simon:

Prince of Thieves.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Host:

I don't know how I could forget his name.

Host:

I literally talked about him for four episodes straight.

Adam Simon:

He goes, I'm gonna do.

Adam Simon:

I'm gonna do an impersonation for you.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Bang.

Adam Simon:

I'm dead.

Host:

That was spot on.

Host:

That was spot on.

Host:

Yeah, my fault, My fault.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, yeah.

Adam Simon:

Or then when he goes in Robin Hood, when he goes, but why a spoon cousin?

Adam Simon:

Why not a fork or a knife?

Adam Simon:

Because it'll hurt more, you twit.

Host:

Oh, incredible, man.

Host:

They just never.

Host:

And they never.

Host:

They never even got close to that again in that franchise.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Ever.

Adam Simon:

It's wicked.

Adam Simon:

It was emotional.

Adam Simon:

It was.

Adam Simon:

It was great.

Adam Simon:

The editing, every.

Adam Simon:

Everything is just fantastic, dude.

Host:

David Patrick Kelly as a.

Host:

Ah, there we go.

Host:

Incredible.

Host:

As.

Host:

As God.

Host:

Why.

Host:

Why is it escaping me now?

Host:

I.

Host:

I researched it for hours.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, I'm gonna look that up.

Host:

But he played Souls solely in Commando as well.

Host:

He's just a great, snarky, kind of, you know, slarmy bad guy, you know, it's really good.

Adam Simon:

Really good elephant actor.

Adam Simon:

And Brandon Lee was fantastic.

Adam Simon:

Fantastic.

Adam Simon:

I mean, his emotional performance, physical performance, everything about it, it was.

Adam Simon:

It was just great.

Adam Simon:

I was.

Adam Simon:

I was in that, man.

Adam Simon:

I listen unapologetically.

Adam Simon:

Everybody loves to go, yeah, man, it was all about, you know, NWA and Black Flag, bro.

Adam Simon:

Like, I was.

Adam Simon:

I love those guys.

Adam Simon:

But it.

Adam Simon:

I'll say it.

Adam Simon:

Depeche Mode and PM dawn was my growing up.

Adam Simon:

And Nine Inch Nails, forget it like that.

Adam Simon:

That was always also great.

Adam Simon:

K.

Adam Simon:

Fd, which.

Adam Simon:

Which I think stood for Kill, Depeche Mode, kmfdm.

Adam Simon:

But everybody that was on that soundtrack, they.

Adam Simon:

They were all people that I was with and rocking with.

Adam Simon:

Same with the Natural Born Killer soundtrack.

Adam Simon:

That Soundtracks.

Adam Simon:

Out of Control.

Adam Simon:

Judgment Night soundtrack.

Adam Simon:

You remember that?

Host:

Mm.

Adam Simon:

Oh, that was great.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

Stone has a thing with soundtracks, man.

Host:

He does great.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, it's fantastic.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Those movies, do you think?

Host:

I guess.

Host:

I mean, we're just free flowing now, baby.

Host:

We got an agenda.

Adam Simon:

Talking about Point Blank earlier.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, that's got a hell of a soundtrack.

Host:

Yeah, dude.

Host:

It's a lot of fun, dude.

Host:

I know.

Host:

I was, when we were talking yesterday, I, I was like, oh, this is a good reason to re watch it, you know, because it had been a while and I just, I was telling you about the car wash scene and I was just.

Host:

I forgot how badass that whole thing is.

Host:

And then when she, she tells him to, that she gives him money and tells him how to wash his car and he's like, I gun in my.

Adam Simon:

Pants, I got pepper spray in my purse.

Adam Simon:

I got a gun in my pants.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

No, dude, that was a lot of fun.

Adam Simon:

And that came from the producer calling lynch and I and saying, hey, there was a chase scene that was supposed to take place on a, on a bus.

Adam Simon:

And it was like a tourist bus.

Adam Simon:

So it was like this, this crazy, crazy kind of chase scene.

Adam Simon:

And there was supposed to be something that happened at the train station.

Adam Simon:

And they called us up and they said, we, we don't have it.

Adam Simon:

Like we don't have the location and it's going to cost us too much money.

Adam Simon:

And they were like, shit, well what do we have?

Adam Simon:

And so then we started asking those questions and looking through locations and lynch, you know, goes, gas station.

Adam Simon:

We got a gas station.

Adam Simon:

There's a car wash next to the gas station.

Adam Simon:

And then he goes, I don't think there's ever been a fight scene in a car wash.

Adam Simon:

And I said, no, there's been a fight scene at car wash.

Adam Simon:

And he goes, no, I don't think there is.

Adam Simon:

He's like, google it.

Adam Simon:

So then we sat down and started looking around.

Adam Simon:

We're like, oh no, we found this film.

Adam Simon:

It was like some obscure European film that had a fight outside of a car wash that spilled kind of into one, but not really.

Adam Simon:

And they were like, no, fuck it, let's just do.

Adam Simon:

We got the car wash, let's do it in the car wash.

Adam Simon:

And then we kind of came up with this thing and it was, it's so fun like, you know, doing that shit with Lynch.

Adam Simon:

He's a blast.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And we're doing another, we're doing another one together.

Adam Simon:

We have a film we're doing right now.

Adam Simon:

We're finishing packaging it up.

Adam Simon:

It's called Meat Paw.

Adam Simon:

Nice.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, Meat Paw.

Adam Simon:

And it's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever put the paper.

Adam Simon:

I mean, it is clinically insane, but it has a lot of heart.

Adam Simon:

But when I just think when people, like, if I'm watching a trailer for me paw, I'd just be like, what the fuck is this?

Adam Simon:

Like, what in the hell is this?

Adam Simon:

This looks so nuts.

Adam Simon:

But, yeah, we on the car wash, I just remember the conversation.

Adam Simon:

It was like, okay, so then they get from there and they get into the car wash, and then.

Adam Simon:

And then.

Adam Simon:

And lynch is like.

Adam Simon:

And that's where they jack a car.

Adam Simon:

A PT Cruiser.

Adam Simon:

It's got to be small, you know, it's got to be a slow car.

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, that's hilarious.

Adam Simon:

And even in the script, it says, and then begins the slowest car chase scene in history.

Adam Simon:

And that's how we wrote it.

Adam Simon:

It didn't get necessarily executed that way just because there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

Adam Simon:

There's a lot of producers and stuff.

Adam Simon:

But had it gone the way we wanted, it literally would have been like, you know, the.

Adam Simon:

Literally.

Adam Simon:

The PT Cruiser couldn't go over 40 miles an hour.

Adam Simon:

And so they would have to figure out a different way to get out of this situation.

Host:

Yeah, dude, it's.

Host:

It's great.

Host:

Like, one thing, for one thing, it's.

Host:

It's an hour and 26 minutes, and the pace is just boom, boom, boom.

Host:

And I, you know, not to be overly critical, but, you know, a lot of Netflix native properties.

Host:

What I'll say is, like, you know, obviously there's all these production companies and they sweep up and buy, like, a lot of them.

Host:

The commonalities I see is.

Host:

Is pacing and, like, maybe a really strong start, but the plane doesn't always land.

Host:

I don't know why specifically to Netflix.

Host:

I'm not even talking about all streaming platforms, Netflix properties, but point blank.

Host:

And it gave me Lethal Weapon vibes.

Host:

It gave me 90s vibes.

Host:

It gave me Buddy Cop vibes, even though they're not cops.

Host:

Right.

Host:

But it gave me some of that Lethal Weapon dynamic that I loved.

Host:

And the pace that hour and 26 minutes goes by, by, and it's just boom, boom, and it's over.

Host:

And you're like, that was exhilarating.

Host:

That's why I love it.

Host:

Because you just don't get that kind of pace all the time.

Host:

I don't feel like.

Adam Simon:

I don't know why.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, we talked about that, man.

Adam Simon:

We talked about that all the way through is like, it was like that was the great thing.

Adam Simon:

And also not being beholden to the genre itself, you know what I mean?

Adam Simon:

I mean, there's some gnarly deaths in Point Blank and, and some really like fog, man.

Adam Simon:

Like that's, that's pretty crazy when you think about it.

Adam Simon:

There's.

Adam Simon:

But there's also great comedy and there's great, you know, kind of, kind of levity and, and even romance to a certain extent.

Adam Simon:

Like, there's there's some really great, great things.

Adam Simon:

And you know, the movies that I loved growing up, like, everybody talks about this conversation the other day.

Adam Simon:

So we were all sitting at the table.

Adam Simon:

Oh, it was with Lynch.

Adam Simon:

It was, it was Joe Lynch, Patrick Hibbler, Max Bricklin, a bunch of other people.

Adam Simon:

We were all sitting around this table and they're just like, all right, go around.

Adam Simon:

Who's everybody's top five favorite movies.

Adam Simon:

And of course it was like on the Waterfront, you know, this stuff and the works of Truffaut, you know, shit like that.

Adam Simon:

And I'm.

Adam Simon:

And it gets to me and I'm like, I don't know, man.

Adam Simon:

Groundhog Day, Lethal Weapon Babe, Pig in the City, like, you know what I mean?

Adam Simon:

I loved.

Adam Simon:

Oh God, Lethal Weapons.

Adam Simon:

Just so great like that.

Adam Simon:

It's just got, it's got that thing.

Host:

You know, it's bang bang.

Host:

The dialogue's bang bang.

Host:

The action, everything about it, like, it advances, but it doesn't sell you short.

Host:

Like the dialogue, the interactions, it's just, it's moving, but it's.

Host:

You're there like you're not like, what's happening?

Host:

You're like laughing your ass off.

Host:

And then action.

Host:

It's like.

Host:

I can't describe it, but Lethal Weapon has, it has that thing.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And I, I got a lot of for this, but not a lot.

Adam Simon:

A little bit.

Adam Simon:

Definitely not as much I got from man down, but I did get some of somebody's like, oh, and look, you know, a very filmmaker, you know, privileged white dude thing to put in point blank to have the drug dealer be a William Friedkin, you know, aficionado, you know, whatever, or a William Friedkin fanboy, I can't remember how they put it.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, that's a real motherfucker.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

So my, my dude who if you would love to speak to him, his.

Adam Simon:

His street name is Big D.

Adam Simon:

Wow.

Adam Simon:

He's here in California.

Adam Simon:

Shout out to Big D, shout out to Lou.

Adam Simon:

And that motherfucker loves movies.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

You know, you know, I Would say, retired.

Adam Simon:

He doesn't do that shit anymore.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, he's going to be like, yo, don't put me on blast, like that.

Adam Simon:

But he's very much that way.

Adam Simon:

Like, you know, and every, you know, criminal, any.

Adam Simon:

Any.

Adam Simon:

Any individual that's, you know, in from that world as portrayed in movies in the past, they've always been, like, running Scarface in the background or running Goodfellas in the background.

Adam Simon:

It's like, those aren't the people that I knew, you know, like, they were.

Adam Simon:

Especially this guy, you know, he was all about it.

Adam Simon:

He's like, man, sorcerers.

Adam Simon:

Like that.

Adam Simon:

That's a crazy movie, you know, and so it was based off of a real person who.

Adam Simon:

Who, you know, really loved movies, and I wanted to see something different, you know, and.

Adam Simon:

And he was right.

Adam Simon:

Everything the Big D says in there is right.

Adam Simon:

He's like, when motherfuckers were tripping about, you know, lightsabers and shit, you know, this guy was telling the real.

Adam Simon:

He was talking about the real, you know, it's true.

Host:

And he's talking about to live and die and, you know, in la, and he's like, you know, going, yeah, dude, I know.

Host:

And he was.

Host:

And at that point in the film, you're kind of settled with the characters.

Host:

You're kind of like, all right, we're.

Host:

We're halfway through.

Host:

These are our characters.

Host:

And then you add Big D in, and there's this new, like, uplift.

Host:

You're like, oh, we got another, like, really great character.

Host:

And you fall in.

Host:

I fell in love with him instantly.

Host:

Once he starts talking about movies, I'm like, he's me.

Host:

You know, it's like, it was amazing.

Adam Simon:

So.

Adam Simon:

And I don't know if you noticed this at the end, but that's Big D's car that's going after Abe.

Adam Simon:

At the end, when his car is driving off and the music starts, that's his car that's going after him.

Adam Simon:

So there was a whole kind of.

Adam Simon:

And Marquis Moore is just an amazing actor.

Adam Simon:

He's incredible.

Adam Simon:

He's so good in that role.

Adam Simon:

Like, there was a whole sequel that we had planned and wanted to do, but, man, there's no way that's happening.

Host:

Like, yeah, you don't.

Host:

No chance.

Host:

I'd love to see it.

Adam Simon:

I'd love to see it, too.

Adam Simon:

I.

Adam Simon:

I would like to do, you know, more on that.

Adam Simon:

And if it's not, you know, Mackie's.

Adam Simon:

I.

Adam Simon:

I talked to Mackie a few weeks ago about this other project, and he's like.

Adam Simon:

He's like, man, I'm Marvel owns my ass.

Host:

I was gonna say.

Adam Simon:

He's like, I cannot move.

Adam Simon:

I cannot breathe.

Adam Simon:

I cannot without, you know, I'm.

Adam Simon:

For the next two years, you know.

Adam Simon:

And he's like, but I love it.

Adam Simon:

I love the project.

Adam Simon:

You know, Tell everybody.

Adam Simon:

Send everybody my love.

Adam Simon:

That was on something different.

Adam Simon:

But we.

Adam Simon:

We had talked about it, and even if it wasn't with Mackie, you know, it.

Adam Simon:

It might be, you know, we talked about Marquis's character.

Adam Simon:

We talked about Big D and doing, like, an origin story of Big D or.

Adam Simon:

Or carrying on, you know, what happens, you know, after the credits roll.

Adam Simon:

But I think how we would have to start it.

Adam Simon:

Start that movie is with Frank Grillo's car blowing up and him dying in the first five minutes.

Adam Simon:

That's the only way that movie gets done.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

Grillo rocks.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

But that.

Host:

It makes sense, though.

Host:

I mean.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

He.

Host:

He.

Host:

His delivery.

Host:

A lot of the comedy is because I don't know if I've seen him in other stuff, right?

Host:

And I.

Host:

I haven't seen him have to have delivery, comedic delivery.

Host:

And he has incredible timing in that movie.

Host:

I was like.

Host:

Because I had seen him in a couple of TV shows before.

Host:

I wasn't super familiar before.

Host:

I was really impressed by his comedic timing.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, man.

Adam Simon:

Like, he did a good job, I thought.

Adam Simon:

I thought, you know, and part of that is.

Adam Simon:

Is, you know, just the roles that they settled into.

Adam Simon:

Like, you know, he's playing.

Adam Simon:

He's playing it straight.

Adam Simon:

You know, he's playing it that way.

Adam Simon:

And I think, you know, just.

Adam Simon:

Just playing the real of.

Adam Simon:

Of the situation.

Adam Simon:

Like, playing comedy, particularly now, I don't know why this is.

Adam Simon:

But a lot of, like, comedic movies or comedic shows, they're just written like, I don't know, Disney, like, they got that Disney, like, fucked up Nickelodeon thing going on.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, they're like, you know, oh, well, I don't know what I.

Adam Simon:

You know, like, everybody's got this, like, cartoony, weird thing going on.

Adam Simon:

They're not human.

Adam Simon:

They're like, I'm a funny robot.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

And you see these characters and you're like, nobody I know acts like that.

Adam Simon:

Nobody.

Adam Simon:

Nobody fucking talks like that.

Adam Simon:

And, like, great comedy, at least for me, is, like, not playing it funny, it's playing it straight.

Adam Simon:

And you find the comedy, like, in the.

Adam Simon:

In the moment, which is a lot of fun.

Adam Simon:

Like, you know, when Frank reaches into his pocket and pulls out the flash drive and everybody flips the fuck out, you know, And Marquis is like, whoa, what the Fuck is that?

Adam Simon:

You know is that.

Adam Simon:

And it's funny because you're like, oh, this tough guy is like now scared shitless because he thinks.

Adam Simon:

And he's like, it's a flash drive.

Adam Simon:

And he's like, what the.

Adam Simon:

Are you rolling up in here pretending like you got a grenade and.

Adam Simon:

And gonna blow us out?

Adam Simon:

Yeah, man, get the bag.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Adam Simon:

And it's like, it's so funny because he's.

Adam Simon:

He's playing it straight.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, Yeah, I freaking love it.

Adam Simon:

What's it.

Adam Simon:

What's your, like, top three comedic movies of all time?

Adam Simon:

Like comedies of all time?

Host:

Well, it's tough because, like, to me, there are comedy movies and then there's movies that are like point blank where comedy is a crucial asset, but you wouldn't classify it as comedy, right?

Host:

Going pure comedy.

Host:

I'm gonna say Naked Gun.

Adam Simon:

Oh, my God, I'll just lump all.

Host:

Three of them together because they're all equally perfect.

Host:

That's amazing, the Naked Gun movies, man.

Host:

Like, it was one of the.

Host:

My dad was a.

Host:

He was a narc.

Host:

He was a narcotics officer and he loved cop movies.

Host:

Really?

Adam Simon:

Yeah, yeah, dude.

Adam Simon:

My dad was LA County Sheriff's Department.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Retired in corrections, but he was undercover narcotics for 12 years.

Host:

Dude.

Host:

That's.

Host:

What a weird world, man.

Host:

Yeah, my dad was a narc, Arkansas State Police, man.

Host:

PTSD out the ass.

Adam Simon:

Arkansas.

Host:

Yeah, meth, dude.

Host:

He had some of the biggest meth bust, rest his soul.

Host:

But yeah, man, and.

Adam Simon:

But he went, sorry to hear that, man.

Adam Simon:

I didn't know that.

Host:

Oh, it's all good, dude.

Host:

No, he unfortunately did it to himself, but.

Host:

Oh, yeah, it was just deterioration, man.

Host:

But how long ago was that?

Host:

He died.

Adam Simon:

And I lost you.

Adam Simon:

Word.

Adam Simon:

Nothing is off limits here.

Host:

You're seeing the real people.

Host:

You're seeing the real:

Host:

Yeah, yeah, it's often geo cancer.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

But, you know, it was one of those things, his ptsd.

Host:

He lived real hard, you know, and he drank.

Host:

He drank probably, you know, nearly a handle a day, if not every two days.

Host:

You know, that's just.

Host:

But I mean, if your dad was a narc, I mean, you probably saw it too, man.

Host:

I mean, that's a rough life.

Adam Simon:

That's very rough.

Adam Simon:

There's.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he wired.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, I won't go down the rabbit hole of that, but he put a.

Adam Simon:

Put a wire on a.

Adam Simon:

On a kid, I think he was 19, and they found it and killed him and he heard the whole thing go down and that really affected him.

Adam Simon:

There's a Lot of.

Adam Simon:

A lot of things like that that really kind of contributed to him.

Adam Simon:

But yeah, I saw that.

Adam Simon:

I know exactly what you're talking about.

Host:

Yeah, but linking it back to comedy.

Host:

Sorry.

Host:

I'm so used to it.

Host:

I'm so used to going down that road.

Host:

It doesn't even faze me anymore.

Host:

But yeah, no Naked Gun.

Adam Simon:

No.

Adam Simon:

Dude, I love this because that is.

Adam Simon:

That is the thing.

Adam Simon:

Look at that.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

You know, that's a perfect example.

Adam Simon:

Like, we're just talking about this and we're talking about PTSD and suicide in the same sentence as Naked Gun and undercover narcotics.

Host:

Yeah, that's just life, man.

Host:

We're older, man.

Host:

We know that's life.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Host:

But yeah, God, I just had.

Host:

Oh, Fletch.

Adam Simon:

Fletch is great.

Host:

Fletch is just monumental.

Host:

And I know it's a Christmas movie, but Christmas Vacation is way up there.

Host:

I'm a big Chevy Chaseman.

Adam Simon:

Are you?

Host:

Dude, I actually look forward to Christmas just to watch that movie.

Host:

It's like my.

Host:

That is my Christmas gift to myself is watching it a couple times and hilarious.

Host:

But those are.

Host:

Those are probably.

Host:

I would say.

Host:

I think those would be probably my top three.

Host:

I do love a lot of the spoofs.

Host:

Like the.

Host:

Do you remember Charlie Sheen's Hot Shots?

Adam Simon:

Come on, dude.

Adam Simon:

Hot Shots do.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, Hot Shots part do is freaking amazing.

Host:

We don't.

Host:

That.

Host:

That genre does not exist anymore.

Host:

We do not have the guys.

Adam Simon:

The guy's literally like standing two feet in front of him, shooting him with a.

Adam Simon:

With a friggin M16 and he pulls out the bow and arrow slowly and shoots him.

Adam Simon:

And he explodes.

Host:

Yes.

Adam Simon:

So great, dude.

Host:

And he's up to his.

Host:

His, his chest in shells and it's like a perfectly stacked pyramid of.

Adam Simon:

Of shells.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

I love it.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And the Christmas vacation when Chevy Chase flips the out after the cat's been electrocuted and everything and he goes on that crazy rant just using every expletive in the.

Adam Simon:

In the.

Adam Simon:

In the book is one of.

Adam Simon:

One of the most epic things and just makes me laugh every time I see.

Adam Simon:

It's great.

Adam Simon:

The Chevy Chase movies in my.

Adam Simon:

My top three.

Adam Simon:

Three Amigos.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, I could watch.

Adam Simon:

I could watch Three Amigos all the time.

Adam Simon:

And the reason I love.

Adam Simon:

One of the reasons I love Three Amigos, I said to you on the, on the phone was I didn't say I love three Amigos.

Adam Simon:

I just said, hey, you know, think of this character.

Adam Simon:

Because we were talking about actors and a lot of the actors that I've Met have this quality about them.

Adam Simon:

Some of them that are either at the top of the food chain or at one time, we're at the top of the food chain and have fallen off and are trying to gain that back.

Adam Simon:

They all have this Martin Short, three amigos quality about them.

Adam Simon:

Like completely disconnected from whatever the fuck is happening to everybody else around them.

Adam Simon:

And all that matters is that.

Adam Simon:

That, that.

Adam Simon:

That moment.

Adam Simon:

That thing talking about the art of the.

Adam Simon:

No, it's like the Hollywood Roundtables.

Adam Simon:

Actors talking to actors about acting.

Adam Simon:

Actors on acting.

Adam Simon:

Acting, acting, you know, and.

Adam Simon:

And not to just harp on actors, but, you know, it's.

Adam Simon:

It's like when Martin Short is sitting there with all the kids in that village who don't have electricity, who've never seen one of his movies, you know, they don't even have running water.

Adam Simon:

And I don't know the actress's name that he was saying, so I'll just throw a name in there.

Adam Simon:

But he was like.

Adam Simon:

He goes.

Adam Simon:

And there I was on set and Martin Dench came walking down, and she looked at me and she said, my boy, you've got it.

Adam Simon:

And ha.

Adam Simon:

It's a true story.

Adam Simon:

Really happened.

Adam Simon:

That really happened to me.

Adam Simon:

Wow.

Adam Simon:

You know, and it's just like, what the fuck, man?

Adam Simon:

Like, nobody cares.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

But yeah, it's.

Adam Simon:

And I know guys who are about it, you know, like Shia's about it.

Adam Simon:

Like, Shia LaBeouf is the real freaking deal.

Adam Simon:

And what do I mean by that?

Adam Simon:

Well, that's somebody that will give you 100% when he commits to something, it's over.

Adam Simon:

It's a wrap.

Adam Simon:

Like, he is in 100%.

Adam Simon:

And there's a lot of guys in.

Adam Simon:

In the industry.

Adam Simon:

There's a lot of guys in his orbit that talk about being about it, but they're not about it.

Adam Simon:

Right.

Adam Simon:

They really aren't.

Adam Simon:

And he'll make all the other actors fall in line.

Adam Simon:

Directors love him.

Adam Simon:

And he's fantastic.

Adam Simon:

Like, he's probably the best at what he does currently that's working right now.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, and I see actors getting off on this weird thing.

Adam Simon:

You know, there's an actor.

Adam Simon:

I'll leave him nameless.

Adam Simon:

But I saw him at a.

Adam Simon:

You know, talking to other actors, and he's like, you gotta.

Adam Simon:

You gotta want to die for this shit.

Adam Simon:

You gotta die for this shit.

Adam Simon:

You gotta be about it or get the fuck out, man.

Adam Simon:

Because this is life or death.

Adam Simon:

Acting is life or death.

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, it's really not.

Host:

Yeah, not really.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

No.

Adam Simon:

So not.

Adam Simon:

But keep saying that.

Adam Simon:

And keep talking like that.

Adam Simon:

If it makes you feel cool or real.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Is that a subliminal message?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Anyway.

Adam Simon:

But.

Adam Simon:

But, you know, with.

Adam Simon:

With.

Adam Simon:

With.

Adam Simon:

But when you get to it, when you are doing the thing, then, yeah, then, yeah, it is serious.

Adam Simon:

It is your.

Adam Simon:

Your all in.

Adam Simon:

It is.

Adam Simon:

You're.

Adam Simon:

You're giving it your all.

Adam Simon:

But the lead up to it is more about.

Adam Simon:

An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure.

Adam Simon:

And Shia is the kind of guy that.

Adam Simon:

He goes, okay, we're shooting here in six months.

Adam Simon:

Okay, I'm going to go there and I'm going to start feeling out the terrain, checking out the sets, checking out the locations, getting the DNA of the area into my body and figuring out how I'm going to approach this.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Adam Simon:

And so the guy's always got my respect.

Adam Simon:

Any project that I get, I always run to him first, which he gets tired of.

Adam Simon:

He will answer my text for a while and then.

Adam Simon:

And then we'll start talking again.

Adam Simon:

But, like, I always go to him first because why.

Adam Simon:

Why not?

Adam Simon:

Why would I bother to work with anybody but the best.

Host:

Yeah, what's that dynamic?

Host:

Like, let's go down that rabbit trail.

Host:

So, like, you're saying he's in it and he.

Host:

He.

Host:

You know, that's where he is.

Host:

And there's a handful probably of actors that I could think of that I assume are that way.

Host:

I don't know them.

Host:

You do, but what is it like, though, when the other actors aren't, or maybe someone on set or someone's not at the level, but you have a Shia who's there, who lives there.

Host:

You know, what's that dynamic like?

Adam Simon:

You know, I had that experience.

Adam Simon:

I think he'd be.

Adam Simon:

I think he'd be cool with me saying this.

Adam Simon:

I think he'd be cool because I'm working with him on something else.

Adam Simon:

So Tory Kittles, who's a great actor, I remember showing up on man down, and he came, came.

Adam Simon:

He saw me in the.

Adam Simon:

In the lobby of this place, and.

Adam Simon:

And he goes, oh, man, I'm having a tough time.

Adam Simon:

And I was like, what's up?

Adam Simon:

And he goes, well, shy wants an actual drill instructor, like, for this role.

Adam Simon:

Like, he doesn't think I can.

Adam Simon:

I can do it.

Adam Simon:

I'm like, what's the problem?

Adam Simon:

He's like, well, you know, I got this, you know, thing.

Adam Simon:

And he started talking about, you know, how he was approaching it.

Adam Simon:

And I go, this is, you know, and he's.

Adam Simon:

Since, you know, modified some things since then, but I was like, this is the.

Adam Simon:

You're thinking about this the wrong way.

Adam Simon:

Like, you're thinking about the actor, how the actor is going to approach from the acting, acting, acting, Right?

Adam Simon:

But when you show up there and you.

Adam Simon:

And the director says, action Shy is actually a Marine in boot camp, he's actually like, whatever you tell him, he will respond as somebody who is a Marine in boot camp, and he believes that.

Adam Simon:

So you're the drill instructor.

Adam Simon:

He's in your world, not the other way around.

Adam Simon:

You're approaching this from the perspective of somebody that is walking into his world.

Adam Simon:

And now you got to figure out how to approach this character when in reality, at any moment, you could be like, drop down and give me 50.

Adam Simon:

What did you say to me?

Adam Simon:

You know, shut the fuck up.

Adam Simon:

Like, you're in my world now, bitch.

Adam Simon:

Like, this is this.

Adam Simon:

You're.

Adam Simon:

This is it.

Adam Simon:

I run the show.

Adam Simon:

There's nobody higher than me at this.

Adam Simon:

At this point.

Adam Simon:

So you're gonna do what the fuck I say.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

And if you approach it like that.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, that's how.

Adam Simon:

That's how this is gonna work.

Adam Simon:

And he was like, roger that.

Adam Simon:

Okay, understood.

Adam Simon:

And then, man, when he showed up, it was a different fucking world, man.

Adam Simon:

And he put a world of hurt down on anybody that was trying to look at him sideways because he just.

Adam Simon:

He showed up and he's like, yeah, I am.

Adam Simon:

I am that guy.

Adam Simon:

I am that guy.

Adam Simon:

That's it.

Adam Simon:

And I.

Adam Simon:

I just think that's it, you know?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, I just think I'm directing a movie this year, and we've already started the process of that, and I just want to be with people that are about.

Adam Simon:

Yes.

Adam Simon:

Living truthful under imaginary circumstances.

Adam Simon:

That's something very famously coined by Sanford Meisner.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, I'm less about that.

Adam Simon:

I just want to see people having a real experience.

Adam Simon:

Imaginary circumstances.

Adam Simon:

Okay?

Adam Simon:

I don't give a fuck about that.

Adam Simon:

I just want to see people having a real, truthful experience.

Adam Simon:

That then is my job to figure out how am I going to capture that in a way where it's communicated to the audience?

Adam Simon:

Because sometimes you can have an actor acting his or her ass off, but the director is not capturing that in a way that can emotionally connect to the audience.

Adam Simon:

So you got to figure that out.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, and an editor can fuck that up as well.

Adam Simon:

You know, an editor can take the work of a director and edit it in a way where you're cutting that emotional umbilical cord between the audience and the.

Adam Simon:

And the screen.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

So, yeah, it's A lot.

Adam Simon:

It's a lot to think about, but I've been in those situations.

Adam Simon:

Or you're in a situation with a really talented actor who's doing.

Adam Simon:

Doing the work and pulling out a great performance, but they're a piece of.

Adam Simon:

Or.

Adam Simon:

They're an.

Adam Simon:

And as soon as you say cut, it's, where's my room temperature water?

Adam Simon:

Where's my towel off?

Adam Simon:

You know, or they're hitting on, you know, every female within 50ft.

Adam Simon:

And that.

Adam Simon:

That becomes, you know, problematic as well.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, Yeah.

Host:

I hate hearing that.

Adam Simon:

No, man, I just got off a thing.

Adam Simon:

Not just got off a thing, but I did.

Adam Simon:

I was involved in a project this year and I've just.

Adam Simon:

I've pulled back completely.

Adam Simon:

I'm like, I'm not gonna promote this thing.

Adam Simon:

I'm not gonna talk about it.

Adam Simon:

I'm not gonna be involved in it.

Adam Simon:

And yeah, there's a.

Adam Simon:

It takes a village.

Adam Simon:

There's a lot of people involved in a film production, and that fucking sucks.

Adam Simon:

But I'm not going to give the person running that train one more ounce of my juice.

Adam Simon:

Because it's been used, it's been abused, and motherfucker stepped out of line and, you know, and if he, you know, sees this or something and wants to push back or say something, fuck around and find out, because I will drop your name.

Adam Simon:

And I still got the receipts.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

So, like, just, you know, leave it where it is.

Adam Simon:

But I'm not promoting our shit.

Adam Simon:

I'm.

Adam Simon:

I'm that kind of person.

Adam Simon:

Like, if something.

Adam Simon:

Even if it's mine, like, I did this movie called Synapse.

Adam Simon:

It's a terrible film.

Adam Simon:

I wrote it, I acted in it.

Adam Simon:

But, you know, it's okay.

Adam Simon:

I mean, we made it for 20k and shot it in LA.

Adam Simon:

And that's something to be said.

Adam Simon:

That is an accomplishment.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, we learned a lot from that in doing it.

Adam Simon:

But I say we.

Adam Simon:

There was no we.

Adam Simon:

You know, I never saw a dime.

Adam Simon:

It was sold to Amazon.

Adam Simon:

I never made a cent off that film.

Adam Simon:

Not one penny.

Adam Simon:

I put money into it.

Adam Simon:

I had people put money into it that made up that 20k, but I never saw anything from it.

Adam Simon:

And so I don't promote it.

Adam Simon:

I don't really talk about it other than this.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, But I'm not one of those people that is like, oh, I gotta promote this because I'm in it and business is business.

Adam Simon:

Fuck that.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, like, if it's a bunch of, you know, if the fruit is rotten, I don't want to pass that off to other People I don't want to meet.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

If it's bad, bad business, bad juju.

Host:

And you're in it, I mean, especially because you, you know, you do the whole spectrum.

Host:

You write and you produce.

Host:

So you're, you're early in the process.

Host:

And you have to live with that project for the length of it.

Host:

And so if you have a piece of shit out there that you have to tolerate and you're talking the way you're describing the situation, you have to live with that, you know, and you have to be in that situation for two years, three years, depending on the scale of the film.

Host:

And it's like.

Host:

Yeah, it's like you have to ask yourself, do I really want.

Host:

Especially after the epiphany you had that's moved you around the world.

Host:

It's like, is this.

Host:

Do I really want to be in this for two to three years and then promote it?

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Life is short.

Adam Simon:

Life is.

Adam Simon:

Life is painfully short.

Adam Simon:

And we, we all could go any minute and, and just be gone.

Adam Simon:

So I only want to be working with people where it's like, good for.

Adam Simon:

That's.

Adam Simon:

It seems like anti, you know, a thing doesn't exist, but I just want to be working with people that's good for my soul.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Now, that doesn't mean we're going to agree that's not a bunch of yes people.

Adam Simon:

We might, you know, iron sharpens iron.

Adam Simon:

We're going to go at each other, we're going to butt heads.

Adam Simon:

But, you know, at the end of the day, I want to work with people where I don't, you know, I want to work with lions, I want to work with tigers, I want to work with bears, that's fine.

Adam Simon:

But I don't want to make roar.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Adam Simon:

I don't want to say cut and then find out that two of my, you know, actors have been drug off into the woods and eaten by my lead actor.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Adam Simon:

And I see a lot of these interviews of people talking about certain individuals, certain actors that were sexual abusers or verbal abusers or physical abusers or just rotten people or producers that ran schemes and doubled, tripled budgets, ripped off financiers, ripped off people of their money, you know, and I see interviews with actors and directors and the like, going, I didn't know.

Adam Simon:

I just didn't know about this person.

Adam Simon:

Like, you get somebody on a.

Adam Simon:

On a set and even before the conversations that you have, you know exactly what you're getting into, which is why, you know, the Second that I started dealing with this one particular actor on set.

Adam Simon:

And then our conversations post how he treated people close to me, particularly in my family.

Adam Simon:

I was like, man, fuck this guy.

Adam Simon:

Like, I'm not.

Adam Simon:

I'm not.

Adam Simon:

I'm not doing this and I'll drop it.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

And that's fine because I'm not chasing an Oscar.

Adam Simon:

I'm not chasing a Golden Globe.

Adam Simon:

I'm not chasing $150 million Marvel deal.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

You know, I don't have to, you know, go on, you know, this YouTube show or that thing and pretend like I'm blue collar, working class or.

Adam Simon:

Or a born again Christian who just found Christ and I'm now, you know, a faithful, God fearing, Bible thumping, you know, whatever the fuck and lie and pander and do all the things that a lot of these professional liars do to sell tickets.

Adam Simon:

I'm not about it.

Adam Simon:

You know, we have one of the top actors in the world who runs a fucking cult, and nobody seems to care just as long as he does the monkey dance and entertains us all, you know, and it's like, yeah, I just don't.

Adam Simon:

I don't care about that.

Adam Simon:

I want to.

Adam Simon:

There's so many talented but disciplined talent.

Adam Simon:

Disciplined, consistent artists who execute at like a top, top level, who aren't getting breaks and who aren't seeing the light of day.

Adam Simon:

I want those people.

Adam Simon:

I want to.

Adam Simon:

I want to lift those people and work with those people.

Adam Simon:

And I give a fuck about a name.

Adam Simon:

Somebody walks in and they sit down, they go, well, I'm so and so.

Adam Simon:

I don't give a shit who you are.

Adam Simon:

I don't care.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And guess what?

Adam Simon:

The rest of the world doesn't.

Adam Simon:

There's been a massive tide of public opinion that's shifted.

Adam Simon:

And it happened over Covid.

Adam Simon:

The second that people were dying, losing their businesses, right?

Adam Simon:

Like, stuff was going to shit and celebrities came out and did what celebrities usually do.

Adam Simon:

Imagine all the people, we're gonna sing a cappella.

Adam Simon:

Everybody went, fuck you.

Adam Simon:

We are done.

Adam Simon:

We're done with your Hollywood Reporter roundtable fucking bullshit.

Adam Simon:

We don't want to see it anymore.

Adam Simon:

Like, do what you do, but don't fucking pander to us and be like, oh, you poor people that are dying.

Adam Simon:

We're gonna sing you a little lullaby as you, you know, is your ventilator fucking shuts off, you know, That's a bunch of.

Adam Simon:

It's a bunch of bullshit, man.

Adam Simon:

And we're seeing it now with the fires, the fires in the.

Adam Simon:

In the Palisades.

Adam Simon:

We're Seeing the same thing happen.

Adam Simon:

I just saw this video of these inmates who were working, you know, helping fire crews, and they're taking a break.

Adam Simon:

They're all sitting around picnic benches and John Legend is sitting with them singing.

Adam Simon:

We're just ordinary people, like doing an acapella thing.

Adam Simon:

And it's like, why are you here?

Adam Simon:

Yeah, why are you here?

Adam Simon:

Showing your support.

Adam Simon:

Cool.

Adam Simon:

Give some money or pick up a bucket or pick up a shovel or fucking donate or do something that's actually tangible.

Adam Simon:

Like, well, you didn't see what he gave Adam.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, you're right.

Adam Simon:

But that dude set that time up to be filmed to sit there and sing to these guys who don't give a fuck and who don't know who he is.

Adam Simon:

Because that song came out forever ago and nobody gives a shit, you know.

Adam Simon:

Oh, and now we got so and so doing Mambo number five or the Macarena, you know, for, for Mangione as he does his death walk to the gallows.

Adam Simon:

Nobody gives a fucking shit.

Adam Simon:

Get out of here.

Adam Simon:

Get out.

Adam Simon:

Like Meghan Markle.

Adam Simon:

Get out of the camera lens.

Adam Simon:

No one cares.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, and there was this shift that happened, and it's happened even more so now, whether you like it or not, whether you voted for the guy or not.

Adam Simon:

Trump's in office, you know, and there is this kind of new opinion where people, I mean, man, shit, Hurricane Katrina, right?

Adam Simon:

Any of the natural disasters, tornadoes, earthquakes, whatever we've seen around the country.

Adam Simon:

What has been our reaction as Americans donate, give blood, give clothes, give food.

Adam Simon:

What happened with the fires?

Adam Simon:

And I mean, predominantly, I don't, I don't mean there are, there are people that are donating, giving money, helping out.

Adam Simon:

But by and large, the attitude on social media was fuck em, like, let it burn, we don't care.

Adam Simon:

This is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods.

Adam Simon:

Malibu got burned.

Adam Simon:

Like people were just checking, going, please, God, please, did Nobu burn down?

Adam Simon:

Oh, Nobu, Nobu made it okay.

Adam Simon:

Please, Soho House, Malibu.

Adam Simon:

Please let that fucking place burn.

Adam Simon:

I just want to see it burn.

Adam Simon:

That's what they were checking on and that's.

Adam Simon:

That says something.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, so, you know, it's a commentary on celebrity.

Adam Simon:

So I'd rather be, you know, with the people, you know, who are, who are about the work and that's it.

Adam Simon:

And they treat people with respect and with dignity.

Adam Simon:

That doesn't mean they're not, they're not holding them to a standard.

Adam Simon:

Right, but they're about the work and not about that Oscar, Golden Globe, circle jerk bullshit.

Adam Simon:

And we're more elevated and, oh, more holy.

Adam Simon:

And we're gonna hold each other's hands and fucking cry at every fucking interview.

Adam Simon:

I don't give a shit about any of that.

Adam Simon:

Fuck all that.

Host:

Yeah, man, I love that.

Host:

And you're.

Host:

You're doing the same with AI, right?

Host:

I mean, we talked about that yesterday.

Host:

So, I mean, not.

Host:

Not only is it's cool to hear your passion on that side with actors and with the way you, you know, cast and pick your crew, but you're also leveling the playing field with Nolan AI.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, I mean, and that's.

Adam Simon:

That's led into this new thing that, you know, it's Nolan AI.

Adam Simon:

We have these other companies, the Blueprint, X40 Productions, X4 Productions.

Adam Simon:

got involved with AI back in:

Adam Simon:

And I had asked him, I said, what's the.

Adam Simon:

You know, because he was on the cutting edge of, of tech and we were doing interocular 3D.

Adam Simon:

And I said, what's the future?

Adam Simon:

Like, what's the thing that's gonna flip over the table on the industry?

Adam Simon:

And he said, AI.

Adam Simon:

And I was like, are you talking about.

Adam Simon:

He's like artificial intelligence?

Adam Simon:

I'm like, I have no idea what that is.

Adam Simon:

The movie like, with the robot boy like Steven Spielberg and.

Adam Simon:

And he's like, no, this is, this is what's being developed now.

Adam Simon:

The, the military has had access to some of this stuff way before we got our hands on Chat GPT.

Adam Simon:

So this has been in development for a while.

Adam Simon:

Right.

Adam Simon:

And so I got to work on some things in, in the Skunk works there, but then started keeping my eyes out and looking out for it.

Adam Simon:

And basically what Nolan AI is, is we've developed a platform that empowers independent filmmakers to bypass a lot of the bullshit in the development, pre production, production phases of, of making a film.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, now with Blueprint, we're offering those same solutions to production companies and even studios.

Adam Simon:

But, you know, it's a funny thing to have studios talking about the evils of AI and how it's going to take over.

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, huh, that's interesting.

Adam Simon:

And then carting out their golden boys and girls to sit on some panel and pontificate about the evils of AI and what, what it can and cannot do.

Adam Simon:

Ben Affleck, you know, and Ben Affleck's sitting there and going, AI is never going to be able to, you know, because basically it's like these tubes and like these language models, but they're never, ever going to be able to do, you know, the things that they're able to.

Adam Simon:

It's like, ben, stop.

Adam Simon:

Like, stop.

Adam Simon:

You're woefully misinformed about what AI is.

Adam Simon:

You're speaking about one little aspect of it, and you're doing terror.

Adam Simon:

That that is combined with territorial pissing.

Adam Simon:

And I know you're in a rough spot.

Adam Simon:

I know JLo's got you in a rough spot.

Adam Simon:

I know the back tattoo, you know, that goes from your neck to the bottom of your ass cheeks of a rising phoenix.

Adam Simon:

I know that takes a lot of, you know, work to maintain.

Adam Simon:

But just stay in your fucking lane and talk about what you're talking about, because now you're fucking with my business.

Adam Simon:

So then I got to come out and, and tell you that you don't know what you're talking about.

Adam Simon:

So what is Nolan, AI?

Adam Simon:

And my point in that is they are doing this and getting the support of independent filmmakers going, yeah.

Adam Simon:

AI bad.

Adam Simon:

No way.

Adam Simon:

I good.

Adam Simon:

While they're signing deals with the biggest fucking Darth Vader, you know, blowing up planet.

Adam Simon:

AI companies in the business, like Lionsgate signed a deal with Runway.

Adam Simon:

Warner Brothers is signing a deal with Google.

Adam Simon:

Like, all of these studios are signing deals with AI companies.

Adam Simon:

And by the way, actors are signing deals with AI companies.

Adam Simon:

Brad Pitt signed a deal for.

Adam Simon:

For his likeness to be used in perpetuity.

Adam Simon:

Harrison Ford is working on the same thing.

Adam Simon:

So it's like you motherfuckers are going to run out to picket lines and.

Adam Simon:

And stand with actors who are struggling to get by as day players and background actors.

Adam Simon:

And you're going to take pictures with them and go, yeah, buddy, we're on the same team.

Adam Simon:

I'm going to go sign my $50 million deal to use my likeness as a flesh puppet after I die and laugh all the way to the bank.

Adam Simon:

And you guys are just used as pawns to stall the process as long as possible.

Adam Simon:

So I can get to a point where the studios need it to be to fucking replace you.

Adam Simon:

You.

Adam Simon:

You are literally open sourcing your own replacements and you don't even know it.

Adam Simon:

So our approach to this was to say, look, we got to be on the side of ethical AI.

Adam Simon:

So let's make sure we are following the guidelines of the wga, of all the guilds.

Adam Simon:

Let's make sure we're paying attention to people and what they're saying, and let's give independent filmmakers, production companies, producers, directors, the weapons that they need to be able to fight what's coming.

Adam Simon:

Because what's coming.

Adam Simon:

And I mean, this year is gonna be somebody going, I wanna see the Hulk fight Superman in a feature film.

Adam Simon:

And I want Wolverine to ride in the opening scene on the back of the Hulk, and then the Hulk throws him at Superman and Superman melts Wolverine with his heat vision.

Adam Simon:

And then I want the cast of Downton Abbey to come to the rescue.

Adam Simon:

And click.

Adam Simon:

And I got it.

Adam Simon:

And I got a script.

Adam Simon:

I got it.

Adam Simon:

I got everything.

Adam Simon:

And then there it is.

Adam Simon:

There's the movie.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, now, that's a bad example.

Adam Simon:

But basically, they just want homogenized AI, you know, algorithmic based storytelling at the push of a button, and they're gonna get it, and it's gonna look fucking fantastic.

Adam Simon:

The stuff that I'm seeing now, you cannot tell it's not real.

Adam Simon:

And we still see wonky examples on the Internet, but that's not what we're fucking with right now.

Adam Simon:

What we're fucking with is I'm talking about stuff that looks like this, you and me talking to each other, and it's indiscernible from the real thing.

Adam Simon:

So what Nolan AI is, is if you have an idea, if you have an outline, if you've got a concept even, you can go there and use our copilot feature as a co writer to bounce ideas off of, help flesh out your idea, and get you to a script, and it'll do some writing for you.

Adam Simon:

But once you have a script, so if Kyle's written a script, you upload that thing into NOLAN, and within 10 minutes, you can have coverage of your entire script.

Adam Simon:

So it'll.

Adam Simon:

It'll tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Adam Simon:

It'll tell you where there's plot holes, where maybe your characters aren't fully fleshed out, where your characters don't have real defined arcs, where you're missing beats in the story, maybe where the story's kind of dropping off.

Adam Simon:

And it's not based on an algorithm of views of trying to get you stuck, you know, in views.

Adam Simon:

It's based off storytelling itself.

Adam Simon:

So our AI is trained off of the hero's journey, the hero of A Thousand Faces, but also the Odyssey, you know, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the works of Shakespeare, and, yes, Sid Field and Save the Cat and all that shit.

Adam Simon:

Screenwriting 101 masterclasses, all that stuff.

Adam Simon:

But it's trained on storytelling itself.

Adam Simon:

So it will give you better coverage than five interns at CAA that are all, either, you know, stepped outside and were vaping weed or didn't have lunch or going through a breakup with their boyfriend and are going to give you coverage on your screenplay that varies wildly and is a bunch of subjective bullshit, you know, thrown into the coverage after they check the boxes.

Adam Simon:

But ours is not.

Adam Simon:

And it's dead accurate.

Adam Simon:

In fact, we had.

Adam Simon:

Not to diss ca.

Adam Simon:

We actually had a meeting with CAA last week, and they were like, this is the best coverage on any of our scripts that we've ever gotten.

Adam Simon:

So there's that.

Adam Simon:

We give you script coverage, but again, 10 minutes script coverage.

Adam Simon:

But you also get your entire film storyboarded, a pitch deck for your film and a budget and a schedule.

Adam Simon:

That's sick.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

So the budgeting, to be honest about that, we're still working out a lot of the.

Adam Simon:

There's some kinks in that because there's so many different variables that change where you're filming what you're above.

Adam Simon:

The line is so actors that you're using and what pay scale they're at and all that stuff.

Adam Simon:

It works.

Adam Simon:

And the storyboards are phenomenal.

Adam Simon:

And you can have it traditional cinematic style.

Adam Simon:

It's consistent all the way through.

Adam Simon:

You could do photorealistic adaptations of your storyboard to help hair, makeup, wardrobe, set designs.

Adam Simon:

You could previs all of your stuff.

Adam Simon:

And so what's happening is a lot of the fuckery that we have to deal with after you get your script written of like, oh, go create a pitch deck.

Adam Simon:

Oh, storyboard your film.

Adam Simon:

Oh, create a budget.

Adam Simon:

You know, what is the budget for this film?

Adam Simon:

What do you think?

Adam Simon:

You know, who do you want to attach to this project?

Adam Simon:

Those are all things that take time and money and money that.

Adam Simon:

That a lot of these people don't have.

Adam Simon:

And so we're saving time, we're saving money.

Adam Simon:

We're not getting rid of positions, but we're moving the goalpost of collaboration.

Adam Simon:

And yeah, because before you would have to go to somebody and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking for this character.

Adam Simon:

You.

Adam Simon:

You don't need to do that anymore.

Adam Simon:

You can articulate your vision and your idea perfectly, and then there's no back and forth.

Adam Simon:

It's just.

Adam Simon:

This is what I.

Adam Simon:

I have in my head, my vision for this particular script.

Adam Simon:

What do you guys think?

Adam Simon:

And then.

Adam Simon:

And then the riffing starts, you know.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Adam Simon:

But, you know, and that's also.

Adam Simon:

We're now going to text a video, but again, it's not to make a movie in the sense of, like, we're just gonna press a button and out pops a movie.

Adam Simon:

We're.

Adam Simon:

We're making it so that, you know, we can.

Adam Simon:

And, and these people, you know, people charge basic coverage on a script, 100 bucks, massive coverage or extensive coverage on a script, 300 for a pitch deck.

Adam Simon:

You're looking at anywhere from five to $10,000.

Adam Simon:

Storyboarding, forget it.

Adam Simon:

You know, sitting down with a storyboard artist for months and getting your thing done.

Adam Simon:

Now you can get it done instantly.

Adam Simon:

These are all important.

Adam Simon:

And you know, where a lot of the fuckery takes place is in this window.

Adam Simon:

It's in development, it's in pre production.

Adam Simon:

And here's a great case in point.

Adam Simon:

And this is why the budgeting is so important.

Adam Simon:

And this is why we're locking it in in the next two months.

Adam Simon:

And then we're going to launch that aspect of it and just hit, hit a thermonuclear button in the middle of independent film.

Adam Simon:

And it's why we've gotten 30,000 subscribers.

Adam Simon:

It's why we're, we're taking off, is because of the value of it.

Adam Simon:

And it's this.

Adam Simon:

If I'm a line producer and a lot of people will do this, and this is a dirty little secret, but I will get a budget for a film, right?

Adam Simon:

And then I'll go, first of all, I'll take a month to get you the budget, right?

Adam Simon:

That, that'll cost again anywhere, you know, five, five grand or, or a little bit less if it's somebody who likes you and is, is like a friend or more like 10 grand.

Adam Simon:

Right.

Adam Simon:

But once you have that budget, then the line producer goes to work and starts getting deals for that.

Adam Simon:

Starts saying, I can get this deal on this camera package.

Adam Simon:

I can get this thing here, I can do this, I can do that.

Adam Simon:

And they start making these savings.

Adam Simon:

But those savings typically will go to the line producer and then the other producers take a cut.

Adam Simon:

It doesn't go to the, it doesn't go to the production.

Adam Simon:

It doesn't go to make the film any better.

Adam Simon:

It doesn't go back into the artist pockets or the people that are working day wages.

Adam Simon:

You know, cast and crew doesn't go to any of those people.

Adam Simon:

And that's.

Adam Simon:

And so you start to see the budget increasing, but you have all these savings.

Adam Simon:

Where the fuck is the money going?

Adam Simon:

And the money's going into the pockets of the producers.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, you know, I won't say what.

Adam Simon:

I worked on a production and I just found out, and this was years ago, I just found out the producers on that production each walked away with a million dollars.

Adam Simon:

Wow, that's a sore spot for me.

Adam Simon:

And then I'm gonna stop coughing and then you're gonna tell me your whole life story and I'm gonna shut the up.

Adam Simon:

Maybe that's the universe saying to call it, but I remember this producer calling us in.

Adam Simon:

This is a big ass production by the way, this producer calling us in and saying, okay, we gotta, we gotta cut, guys, we got to do a shave and a haircut here, you know, so everybody, we're all going to take a cut.

Adam Simon:

I'm taking a cut, this guy's taking a cut.

Adam Simon:

You know, this, this, this gal's taking a cut.

Adam Simon:

You know, we're all, we're all making sacrifices, but that's what we got to do.

Adam Simon:

And for that project, I got 80k.

Host:

Wow.

Adam Simon:

That's before taxes and that's not including the bumps that I got after production residuals and stuff like that.

Adam Simon:

But these guys gave us all that speech, right?

Adam Simon:

To cut breaks, to cut days, to shave days off of the production.

Adam Simon:

And those walked away with a million dollars.

Adam Simon:

And they walk out of there going, well, I'm worth it, you know, I bring the value to this thing I did, I, I, I.

Adam Simon:

And it's like if you would have taken a half of that, you would have still been able to pay for your fucking Maserati, you know, and, and given back to the crew and everybody would have had breaks and proper, you know, days to film and work and people wouldn't have gotten hurt.

Adam Simon:

You know, that's another thing.

Adam Simon:

So it's really kind of an insidious thing that they do.

Adam Simon:

They raise money for the film, then they cut days, then they, they make cuts, cuts, cuts and put the pressure on the crew to make a profit.

Adam Simon:

And by make a profit, I mean a profit, their profit, before the movie is even sold.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, so with this AI technology, we're able to bypass that shit and hold people accountable and go, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Adam Simon:

The AI tells us this is what the budget is.

Adam Simon:

And by the way, it's already worked out the best deal for us.

Adam Simon:

So line producer, you still manage the money.

Adam Simon:

You're still handling the offices and cash flow and paying department heads and payroll and all that.

Adam Simon:

But your fuckery ends here, like, that's over.

Adam Simon:

And your guys's business of bridge loans and personal guarantees, foreign sales estimates and all this mumbo jumbo bullshit that just ensures that you get paid is over.

Adam Simon:

Like we're not doing that anymore.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, and the same thing goes, you know, for, for these guys that are kind of like running a racket on these different levels and Just, look, I get it as a.

Adam Simon:

As a, you know, somebody who's a set builder, somebody whose hair, makeup, wardrobe.

Adam Simon:

I've grown accustomed to a collaboration where I read the script and I go, well, I created this mood board and this vision board, and I have this idea and this flavor for what I think this character should be.

Adam Simon:

And everybody's reading bones and the tea leaves, but let's save some time.

Adam Simon:

Let's save money time, and let's be efficient so that the director can go, now, this is what I'm seeing.

Adam Simon:

This is.

Adam Simon:

This is my vision.

Adam Simon:

Now, what do you guys think?

Adam Simon:

Do you think it's like this, or should it be lit like this?

Adam Simon:

Let's do all of that so we don't get to set and have these conversations on set.

Adam Simon:

And now we're missing hours and days and all of that stuff.

Adam Simon:

Let's be very clear on what the vision should be, and we can do that with the help of AI.

Host:

Yeah, it's so cool, man.

Host:

Just giving opportunities, man.

Host:

Like, so much of that stuff you said feels inaccessible.

Host:

You and you kind of.

Host:

I love one thing you said.

Host:

It really, as a.

Host:

Just a creative that really spoke to me was there are some brilliant, hardworking, unnoticed people out there.

Host:

Oh, man, there's so many of them, man.

Host:

And inex, you know, inaccessible.

Host:

Inaccessibility.

Host:

That's a fucking hard word to say right now.

Host:

I don't know why that limits people because they.

Host:

They have this gift, but they don't necessarily know, you know, well, you know, where to plug it.

Host:

Or they don't.

Host:

Maybe they don't know.

Host:

Maybe they're in Idaho, you know, and maybe they're just, you know, they don't know.

Host:

But you have this new thing.

Host:

It's like, well, it's not guaranteeing them a feature.

Host:

It's not guaranteeing it's going to get purchased, but they.

Host:

It's going to get them closer than they've ever been before.

Host:

And absolutely, they can plug that concept in.

Host:

In a week later, they can say, God, I mean, I could go stay at my uncle's house outside of LA and.

Host:

And maybe go try to rub elbows with this thing I didn't have a week ago because I live in Idaho, you know, and I have Nolan.

Host:

AI.

Adam Simon:

Dude, It's.

Adam Simon:

It's so true.

Adam Simon:

And it's like, nobody tells you that.

Adam Simon:

And they tell you a lie.

Adam Simon:

They sell you a lie.

Adam Simon:

The acting schools sell you a lie.

Adam Simon:

The.

Adam Simon:

The writing gurus sell you a lie.

Adam Simon:

They.

Adam Simon:

They all sell you a lie.

Adam Simon:

It's like, I'M going to watch Aaron Sorkin's masterclass on screenwriting.

Adam Simon:

Now, he's got some nuggets in there.

Adam Simon:

He's going to give you some valuable information.

Adam Simon:

However, I don't want to write like Aaron Sorkin.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, you know, Aaron Sorkin writes like Aaron Sorkin.

Adam Simon:

I want to find my voice.

Adam Simon:

That should be the focus, that should be the focus of an actor.

Adam Simon:

That should be the focus of a writer.

Adam Simon:

Finding your particular, as a director, your, your particular voice, your way of speaking, because that's what, that's what people are looking for, you know, and with, you know, these tools, we're able to do that.

Adam Simon:

We're able to, to get to that and, and get to that quicker.

Adam Simon:

And I think that's, that's the value of this, that, you know, the lie they tell you as a writer.

Adam Simon:

Is Hollywood starving for good content?

Adam Simon:

They're not starving for good, good content.

Adam Simon:

They're just not making good content because they're more interested in what sells.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, they're not interested in good stories right now.

Adam Simon:

They're interest.

Adam Simon:

They're interested in good stories.

Adam Simon:

If it sells like it's commerce.

Adam Simon:

It's, it's commerce based.

Adam Simon:

People keep treating it like there's an HR department in Hollywood.

Adam Simon:

Like, you walk up and you go, hey, I got an idea.

Adam Simon:

I got an idea about this movie about female firefighters.

Adam Simon:

And it's an all female firefighter group.

Adam Simon:

I want to see it now.

Adam Simon:

Give it to me now.

Adam Simon:

And I'm going to yell and I'm going to protest and you're going to give it to me.

Adam Simon:

And it's like, what the fuck are you talking about?

Adam Simon:

If nobody is buying that, then the marketplace is.

Adam Simon:

The marketplace is determining the content.

Adam Simon:

Now.

Adam Simon:

That's where we've gotten.

Adam Simon:

So we have.

Adam Simon:

It is on us to make the art that we want to make.

Adam Simon:

You can't go in there and just say, I want you to paint this painting of me because you work for me, asshole.

Adam Simon:

It doesn't work that way.

Adam Simon:

Like, we're not making art by democracy or.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, like some democratic process or whatever.

Adam Simon:

Like, it's like Rick Rubin says, he's like, I'm making what I want to fucking make.

Adam Simon:

And then maybe you like it, maybe you don't like that.

Adam Simon:

That's where great kind of films come from.

Adam Simon:

Not I want to see all the Spider man in all the spider verses and all of creation, you know, like, yeah, whatever.

Adam Simon:

And still I think Spider man is a banger, but still, like, it goes back to that thing.

Adam Simon:

We want to help these Independent voices be enabled with as many tools as they can to be able to do it.

Adam Simon:

And this, you know, the lie that they sell to writers back on that, is that content thing.

Adam Simon:

There are close to 60,000 scripts generated within the Hollywood system, within production companies, within, you know, services.

Adam Simon:

Netflix has its own content creation, like they're writing their own scripts.

Adam Simon:

There isn't a shortage of content.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, like, there's.

Adam Simon:

There is a.

Adam Simon:

Like, I hate this why I keep using this word, but a homogenization of the storytelling process because they figured out that audiences love sex, violence, and the simple, formulaic hero's journey.

Adam Simon:

You know, hero lost everything at the beginning.

Adam Simon:

He's got to work his way up.

Adam Simon:

And he fights the big bad guy and all he loses it looks like he's gonna lose everything, but then he triumphs.

Adam Simon:

The end, you know, that's it.

Host:

Seen it a few times.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, it's a few.

Adam Simon:

And they're just doing it over and over and over again.

Adam Simon:

And then people just go, I don't know, man.

Adam Simon:

Like, yeah, okay, his parents died when he was a kid, and so he put on a costume.

Adam Simon:

Now he fights crime.

Adam Simon:

I got it.

Adam Simon:

And he'll never die.

Adam Simon:

And we'll get endless sequels.

Adam Simon:

No one ever really dies, you know, and now we're here.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

The reason that Lucas's original Star wars films were so great is because he relied heavily on myth, that he relied on, you know, stakes that people do die.

Adam Simon:

There is an end.

Adam Simon:

And then when we go, well, nobody ever really dies because of the midichlorians of the forest and everybody.

Adam Simon:

Well, then there's no stakes.

Adam Simon:

There's no stakes.

Adam Simon:

If you could bounce around to different universes and continue to find Tony Stark in perpetuity, there's no stakes.

Adam Simon:

And that may work in first to market advantage, but once you start seeing that over and over again and your friends are dying and this person's dying and your house just burned down in the fire, you.

Adam Simon:

You go, this is fucking bullshit.

Adam Simon:

You're selling me a lie.

Adam Simon:

So I don't believe you.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, I'm kind of entertained, but not really.

Adam Simon:

And the lie that they tell the actors is you're broken.

Adam Simon:

Something's broken in you.

Adam Simon:

You go to these acting seminars and acting schools, especially here in la, and they go, yeah, you know, I think.

Adam Simon:

I think maybe you didn't have a good relationship with your father or your mother.

Adam Simon:

And we got to work through that.

Adam Simon:

And once we work through that, then you'll be good enough to audition for that Coca Cola commercial.

Adam Simon:

But until you go through My four year program and all of my master classes.

Adam Simon:

You're not good enough to audition and it's bullshit.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, bullshit.

Adam Simon:

Shy has never stepped foot in an acting class ever.

Host:

Yeah, I mean, a lot of the greats didn't, you know.

Host:

I don't think Bernthal did anything.

Adam Simon:

Well, no, he did.

Adam Simon:

Bernthal trained with the Moscow Theater Company.

Host:

Oh, God.

Host:

Okay.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, yeah, he and, and did Stanislavski and did, did a bunch of.

Host:

I was way wrong on that one.

Adam Simon:

No, no, it's all good.

Host:

He went deep on it.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, no, I can't figure.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, I can't figure that out.

Adam Simon:

I'm, I'm still trying to figure out what, you know, what, what hood baron thought Bernthal's from.

Adam Simon:

He sits down with a, with, with a lot of people and rocks the handlebar mustache and the beanie.

Adam Simon:

And he's like, yo, dog, like, I think, you know, I, I saw this comedian one time, he said, he said Bernthal is the most angry listener.

Adam Simon:

Interviewer.

Adam Simon:

The most angry interviewer.

Adam Simon:

It's so like, if I'm interview, if I'm Bernthal, I'm interviewing you.

Adam Simon:

I'm like.

Host:

Kind of recoil, just scowl, just kind of down posture and then.

Adam Simon:

But then he goes on Rogan and he's in a button up, he's clean shaven.

Adam Simon:

He's like, well, after studying with the Moscow Theater Company and have you ever heard of this play Little Bird?

Adam Simon:

Well, fantastic.

Adam Simon:

When I saw it put on, on Broadway, you know, and it's like, who the is this guy?

Adam Simon:

Because like, you know, the last episode I saw you going, yo, dog, this is what it is.

Adam Simon:

Yo, bong bong.

Adam Simon:

And I'm like, who is this guy?

Adam Simon:

Yeah, yeah.

Adam Simon:

And why is that?

Adam Simon:

That's funny.

Adam Simon:

There's a funny, funny, funny fucking friend of mine who's, he's, he's trying to work his way up the comedic circuit.

Adam Simon:

It's freaking hilarious.

Adam Simon:

African American.

Adam Simon:

And he says, he says, he goes, I got a question, man.

Adam Simon:

I go, yeah.

Adam Simon:

And he goes, why is it that white people.

Adam Simon:

He's like, it's just white people.

Adam Simon:

He's like, why is it.

Adam Simon:

He goes, he goes.

Adam Simon:

And he like stopped himself and he goes, let me phrase it this way.

Adam Simon:

He's like, when you get around an Australian, do you start talking with an Australian accent?

Adam Simon:

I'm like, no, I don't, I don't think so.

Adam Simon:

He's like, you get around, you know, somebody from east la, Mexican, you know, Chicano.

Adam Simon:

It was, what you doing?

Adam Simon:

You start talking like that.

Adam Simon:

I was like, no, I don't think so.

Adam Simon:

He's like, all right, cool.

Adam Simon:

Then why the fuck, when you get around me, or when you guys get around me, you start trying to have this affectation that you guys are all fucking up and coming mumble rappers.

Adam Simon:

Like, what the fuck is wrong?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And I was like, oh, that's interesting.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

I was like, that is interesting.

Adam Simon:

I go, I don't know.

Adam Simon:

And he was.

Adam Simon:

He was formulating a joke.

Adam Simon:

He was, like, trying to form, like, a set.

Adam Simon:

But then.

Adam Simon:

Then we got into a real conversation, and I was like, no, no.

Adam Simon:

I want to know why that is.

Adam Simon:

Like, why is it that we, you know, we sit down and it's like, yo, homie, what's up?

Adam Simon:

You know?

Adam Simon:

Why.

Adam Simon:

Why are we doing that?

Adam Simon:

Why are we doing that?

Adam Simon:

What's.

Adam Simon:

Where's that coming from?

Adam Simon:

And he goes.

Adam Simon:

He said something really profound.

Adam Simon:

He goes, do you know where that takes place?

Adam Simon:

The only other.

Adam Simon:

Other.

Adam Simon:

Other place in the world without takes place?

Adam Simon:

I go, no.

Adam Simon:

And he goes to Animal Kingdom, because animals will mimic other animals because they're afraid.

Adam Simon:

And I was like, that's interesting.

Adam Simon:

Maybe.

Host:

Wow.

Adam Simon:

So that was a long loop.

Host:

It's a good loop, though, man.

Adam Simon:

That was a good loop.

Adam Simon:

But maybe.

Adam Simon:

Maybe that's it, you know?

Adam Simon:

Maybe that's it.

Adam Simon:

Yeah, but that's wild.

Adam Simon:

I don't.

Adam Simon:

I don't know why people do it, but I see a lot of these guys.

Adam Simon:

Andrew Schultz does that.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

I don't get it.

Adam Simon:

Like, I watch him, and I'm like, that's not you.

Adam Simon:

You know, but, you know, maybe.

Adam Simon:

Maybe that's.

Adam Simon:

Maybe that's how you act when you're not beating your girlfriends.

Adam Simon:

I don't know.

Adam Simon:

Sounds fire.

Host:

Oh, yeah.

Host:

Across the bow.

Adam Simon:

I love.

Adam Simon:

I love when he got called on that.

Adam Simon:

He was like, you know, it's like you beat your girlfriend and she was underage.

Adam Simon:

It's like, she wasn't underage.

Adam Simon:

Oh, how dare you.

Adam Simon:

I'm gonna do a podcast about how she wasn't underage.

Adam Simon:

And I was like, well, you skipped that other part where you made her clean the bathroom with your.

Adam Simon:

Where you clean the bathroom with her toothbrush.

Adam Simon:

And all kinds of reprehensible is bypassed all that.

Adam Simon:

Anyway, have fun in Madison Square, guys.

Host:

I didn't know all this.

Host:

This is all new to me.

Host:

I got some research to do.

Adam Simon:

Nah, man.

Adam Simon:

I'm a pop culture junkie.

Adam Simon:

But also, here's the thing.

Adam Simon:

This is the other thing.

Adam Simon:

Like, I'm just not a dick, like, talking shit for clicks.

Adam Simon:

We talked about this.

Adam Simon:

I spent 12 years as a close protection specialist.

Adam Simon:

So I was a bodyguard.

Adam Simon:

Glorified babysitting, but I did a lot of work for celebrities.

Adam Simon:

I worked the security, the green room and the media tent for the Golden Globes one year, did the MusiCares event three years in a row.

Adam Simon:

Did the Oscars once, and then I attended the Golden Globes once.

Adam Simon:

And I said this to you, all of those experiences over more than a decade made me never want to attend the Golden Globes or the Oscars.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Because you see people as they really are.

Adam Simon:

And there's lovely people, but there's a lot of pretending, a lot of pandering, a lot of selling shit.

Adam Simon:

The guys that are talking about family values are typically the one.

Adam Simon:

And selling family values to everybody are typically the ones that are, you know, not getting home on time because they're out with three escorts.

Adam Simon:

You know what I mean?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And it's like the ones that are talking about sobriety all the time got to be sober.

Adam Simon:

Sober, sober, man.

Adam Simon:

Like, you know, sobriety is the key, man.

Adam Simon:

To my happiness.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Oh, sobriety.

Adam Simon:

Let's talk about sobriety, you know?

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

And.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, it's funny to, you know, kind of kick.

Adam Simon:

Kick against that shit, but I also feel a lot of empathy for those people because the thing that you struggle with most is the thing you typically rail against the most, at least in this town.

Adam Simon:

And, and I've.

Adam Simon:

I've.

Adam Simon:

You know, that's sad.

Adam Simon:

I feel sorry for that.

Adam Simon:

But I'm.

Adam Simon:

I talk a lot of shit because I have kids and, you know, I have a son, he's turned 20.

Adam Simon:

I have a daughter who's 24.

Adam Simon:

And now I got this little one who's 2 years old.

Adam Simon:

And, you know, my son went through that period of watching all these videos of all these people who he idolizes and going, like, I need to be like that.

Adam Simon:

I'm like, yeah, but that's.

Adam Simon:

That's a lie, number one.

Adam Simon:

And what he's selling you is kind of some hyper masculine version of this thing.

Adam Simon:

It's not real.

Adam Simon:

And, and it.

Adam Simon:

There's no truth to it.

Adam Simon:

Sometimes somebody could be lying, but they're telling you they're lying in the presentation but what they're saying is true.

Adam Simon:

And, and that is true.

Adam Simon:

You could have somebody who's pretending to be a devout Christian give you some nuggets of truth about Christianity, somebody who's lying about being sober, giving you nuggets of truth about how to be sober, like that is all true, but when they're selling you some and doing some False prophet that becomes dangerous.

Adam Simon:

Then you get guys like, you know, the pastor, that was Justin Bieber's pastor, who's all these, you know, girls and trying to seduce all these underage girls.

Adam Simon:

It's like, it's like, man, when you, when you start doing that, making money and getting up to a certain level of affluence and stature where you're affecting my kids, I got to take shots at you because I used to be the guy driving you, driving you motherfuckers around in cars and getting your.

Adam Simon:

Making sure your water was a certain temperature and, you know, dropping you off at the, at one of the massage parlors that we referenced at the beginning of this podcast.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

You know, and I still have those receipts or.

Adam Simon:

And this one was heartbreaking for me.

Adam Simon:

I remember taking my son to a comic Con that I was working.

Adam Simon:

I was working security at this comic Con, and I went to go meet this actor that he was a fan of, and I walked him up and he was up on stage and he was talking about getting back to his family, reading his daughter a bedtime story, like some really cool shit.

Adam Simon:

And also talking about, you know, kind of all the things that we had mentioned.

Adam Simon:

Blue collar, working class, family values, all this stuff.

Adam Simon:

And when he stepped off stage and I got around to go meet him because I had stepped away from security, so other guys were managing it.

Adam Simon:

He had let these, this, like, gaggle of, of hookers in, and they were all waiting for him when he, when he stepped off stage.

Adam Simon:

Now he steps off stage and he's walking off with these gals.

Adam Simon:

And now I gotta go, ah, hey, this is my son.

Adam Simon:

You want to know, like, a thing and a thing and really looks up to you because you're that guy who's like the symbol of this and that and oh, who.

Adam Simon:

Oh, great.

Adam Simon:

Oh, you know, and he's got these guys.

Adam Simon:

Wow, your son's so cute.

Adam Simon:

Like, what's your name?

Adam Simon:

You know, and it's like, dad, who are those girls?

Adam Simon:

Son, those are whores.

Adam Simon:

You know, it.

Adam Simon:

They just don't understand.

Adam Simon:

And just like actors don't understand that when they commit to a project, for example, and then they go, ah, fuck it, I'm not doing it.

Adam Simon:

I'm not doing it.

Adam Simon:

I'm pulling out of this, you know, or I got a beef with the director.

Adam Simon:

Fuck it, I'm out of here.

Adam Simon:

I'm not doing this.

Adam Simon:

You've just cost the jobs of hundreds of people, if not more.

Adam Simon:

Your tantrum has now cost the jobs of all these people.

Adam Simon:

Or when you do something that increases the budget, delays shooting, you know, does all of that like you're fucking with the livelihoods and the lives of hundreds of work of actual working class individuals who are dependent upon you to show up, do, do your job in a, in a, in a efficient manner in order for them to pay the bills and then get their next gig, you know, in the hopes that maybe this is, you know, semi successful or, or just a good film, you know.

Adam Simon:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

All these guys laying cable, camera crews, you know, all these guys, stunties, all these people.

Adam Simon:

And so I got, I got no patience for the prima donna, star loving star ecosystem that this town has created though.

Adam Simon:

Idol worship.

Adam Simon:

I'm not about any of that.

Host:

Yeah.

Adam Simon:

Any of it.

Adam Simon:

Kind of here to like flip over the tables and chase the money changers out of the temple of art.

Host:

Yeah, man, I'm glad you're out there doing it, bro.

Host:

I think it's, I think it's good stuff.

Host:

I'm, I'm glad we got somebody doing.

Adam Simon:

It, but I appreciate you, brother.

Adam Simon:

Appreciate the combo.

Host:

You too, man.

Host:

This was truly a blast.

Host:

Yeah, man, you got it, man.

Adam Simon:

Conversation going and reach out anytime and I'll.

Adam Simon:

I'll be reaching out to you.

Host:

Sounds good, man.

Host:

Dude, it's been good.

Host:

You have a good night, man.

Host:

You love it.

Host:

Go love on that baby.

Adam Simon:

Thanks, brother.

Adam Simon:

Talk soon.

Host:

Take it easy.

Host:

See ya.

Adam Simon:

See you.

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About the Podcast

Movie Wars
A panel of standup comedians deliver deeply researched and thoughtful film analysis.
A panel of stand-up comedians blends humor with deep film analysis, using their unique ‘War Card’ system to grade movies across key categories. Each episode delivers thoughtful insights and spirited debate, offering a fresh, comedic take on film critique. New episode every Tuesday!
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Kyle Castro