David Dastmalchian on Street Fighter, Building M. Bison’s Cult, and the Tool-Fueled Soundtrack Behind the Role

0:00 [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are. [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media. [SPEAKER_01]: And welcome to another edition of Kyle Meredith with, it's the interview series presented by WFPK at WFPK.org Consequence and the consequence podcast network.

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1:07 [SPEAKER_01]: So much, we've had some great guests here lately, just talking with Valerie June and Billy Bragg, a comedian Jeff Arquiri, he's got a new special on Netflix, called Nice to Meet You, Slow Dive, Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes, Patrick Renner from the Sandlot and Daniel official to talk about their new YouTube series dugout dads, Grace Cummings and her record Blood Horses, Scott and Patrick from Weezer, Anthony Michael Hall, David Dukovny, [SPEAKER_01]: David Rizdahl, Lily Sullivan, Jay Shondra, Sikar from Super Troopers, Phoenix, Guster, Jane, Seymour.

1:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Just an example of what you get when you subscribe to the Kyle Meredith with podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's me, Kyle Meredith, today talking with David Duss Mollgin, one of my favorite actors out there right now, you've seen him in the dark night, late night with the devil, the suicide squad, Mergerbot, Duss Bunny, just a name of few, and he's now building [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, that's what we're going to be talking about, David says, the new Street Fighter finds invites him before he's mastered Psycho Power, which meant digging into dictators, religious movements, psychology of getting people to follow you instead of simply playing just the big bad boss.

2:16 [SPEAKER_01]: We're also going to get into the tool, nine inch nails, joy division, Nick Cave, and John Williams, heavy playlist that he used for the character, while director Kitau Securities Practical, anything goes approach, made the set feel like really living inside of a video game. [SPEAKER_01]: And becoming friends with his co-star, Orville Peck, who's also in the new Street Fighter movie.

2:36 [SPEAKER_01]: David's also going to talk about grave conversations, his talk show that he has on YouTube, and why putting celebrities in coffins gets them opening up fast, and how good-fein films his production company has become a landing spot for the kind of horror and sci-fi and comic book and genre stories where the weird stuff [SPEAKER_01]: can still carry some big ideas.

2:58 [SPEAKER_01]: All that's and more we're talking street fighter in its Kyle Meredith with David Dustmaltchian. [SPEAKER_02]: Hi, Kyle. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm so sorry, I'm so late. [SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, for as much as it looks like you always have going on, I think I would have felt weird if you were right on time.

3:12 [SPEAKER_02]: I have one of my lifelong dream projects is coming together in a beautiful way. [SPEAKER_02]: And we were on a production meeting this morning. [SPEAKER_02]: when it ended because I knew I had to get it but I just stuff done before I started talking to you. [SPEAKER_02]: I was like, okay, I gotta make these couple of quick phone calls which are never quick.

3:34 [SPEAKER_02]: But the exciting news is that what I'm currently generating is more content Kyle. [SPEAKER_02]: So that you and I can just keep, I'm keeping what I'm doing is the Lord's work here Kyle. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm keeping us all employed, okay? [SPEAKER_02]: Appreciate that. [SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate that.

3:49 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm here for you. [SPEAKER_01]: I saw an article today [SPEAKER_01]: uh... you know is satire uh... said it said something like a pair of phrasing that the u.s. was worried that we were too dependent on and half the ways projects keeping the uh... the uh... the the whole industry the whole you know country afloat and i think maybe that's half true it's you are the other half of that thank you i appreciate that on behalf of i'm actually privately and halfway i'm doing what i'm trying to achieve is an Oscar that's never been given out before [SPEAKER_02]: It's a life Oscar where you portray another human being 24 or seven for years at a time and it's there's going to be a big reveal so you you actually got the scoop here consequences sound broken first right there there's one thing about playing you know twins on on on on dexter or something you know two characters there's a whole other level that you like not that's nothing I got this hey

4:45 [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, I signed a vote street actually though at night speaking of Anne Hathaway. [SPEAKER_02]: I love her. [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, I've been seeing movies, but like catching like the 11 o'clock shows or the 10 o'clock shows because I've been so fucking busy in the best way. [SPEAKER_02]: Like I'm not mad about it at all, I've just...

5:05 [SPEAKER_02]: There's so many cool things happening right now and I just trying to stay on top of all of them. [SPEAKER_02]: But one of the things that's happening, obviously, is a little tiny independent film based on a little-known property called Street Fighter is going to be coming out very soon.

5:20 [SPEAKER_02]: And I, uh, I just want to amplify, you know, uh, this tiny little property that nobody's ever heard of before. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, you know, independent filmmaking, independent films is really having a moment right now. [SPEAKER_01]: Sure. [SPEAKER_01]: So the fact that, you know, something as small as the Street Fighter movie could slip in on this new golden age of indie filmmaking.

5:43 [SPEAKER_01]: And, and find its way to the theater on top of that, like, congratulations. [SPEAKER_01]: That's a big mountain. [SPEAKER_02]: By the way, and I know the interview started 20 minutes ago, but without me, because I was that late. [SPEAKER_02]: But I, um, in all seriousness, [SPEAKER_02]: What's wild about Street Fighter talking about independent filmmaking is that legendary and paramount put it in the hands of probably one of the most like rebellious, dangerous, [SPEAKER_02]: people behind a camera out there right now with Kitau Sakurai.

6:17 [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, if you don't know the Eric Andre show, you need to go find it immediately. [SPEAKER_02]: If you've never seen that trip, like you have to go see, and the work that he did on beef, like he's just such a... [SPEAKER_02]: uh, subversive wild man, and he's such like a visionary, like, I was, my mind was blown when, and he's, and he's luckily for all of us, just like, so insanely passionate about the game Street Fighter, it's almost a problem.

6:50 [SPEAKER_01]: I think he needs help. [SPEAKER_01]: And it actually makes sense when you, when you framed it that way, uh, first off, uh, [SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, in those touchstones of your career and everything, he was one of the things that really changed my career was an interview with him one day, a handful of years ago, very familiar and the movie Bad Trip was it, but it's the reason, but, but to your point, when I did see who is directing it, it is one of those like, really, that thing.

7:16 [SPEAKER_01]: But then saying, like, oh, because, you know, we're all a bunch of nerds and, you know, they were just video game nerds and that meant something to them. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's who we should give it to, like, to our point about being serious, that's part of it because I, you know, it does, the perception is right now, especially in all of my viewing, that, that Indie is having a really big moment right now.

7:41 [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, in the last big time that happened what was 90s, early 2000s into that, but it took the studios having, you know, being able to, to take those chances. [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, and it's giant corporate organizations, which don't ever embrace risk. [SPEAKER_02]: So in the midst of that, you have to have somebody with really strong vision and real deep instincts.

8:12 [SPEAKER_02]: And we're very lucky. [SPEAKER_02]: because we have kaleboyter, who's producer from legendary, who also made dune and also made Minecraft. [SPEAKER_02]: And also just like goes, he said to me like, like off the cuff, I was looking at monitor. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was seeing what Ketal was doing.

8:32 [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, how that fuck did you, how do you get something like this? [SPEAKER_02]: It's, he's so bold, like his vision is so kickass, like how do you get that through all the, [SPEAKER_02]: You know, all the hoops, and he was like, you can't go make a Street Fighter movie and paint in by numbers.

8:51 [SPEAKER_02]: He's like, you just can't. [SPEAKER_02]: He's like, you have to find somebody who has such a powerful, like, strong vision for it. [SPEAKER_02]: And then you just have to support them. [SPEAKER_02]: And it was cool to see Ketau on the day creating and making [SPEAKER_02]: really, you know, bold choices and seeing him get support.

9:14 [SPEAKER_02]: I love that because you always hear the horror stories of like visionary directors who have really strong opinions about stuff and then just fighting and fighting and fighting to be able to get one little thing in like. [SPEAKER_02]: He had obviously spent years in his imagination making this movie and then he finally got the chance to do it and they were like, Okay, we'll figure out how to make that happen.

9:37 [SPEAKER_02]: And he wanted to do so much shit practically, which I love. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, luckily, for me, the M-Bison that you're going to meet in this movie is not the M-Bison who is totally a fight ready, he's like still trying to figure out how to get the power that he needs to become the M-Bison that he wants to be, but a lot of the characters show up like video game perfect.

10:01 [SPEAKER_02]: and getting them to do what they do in the game, you could easily pump into an AI generating machine and try and turn that out, but he wanted it. [SPEAKER_02]: He wanted it all, as much as he could get done practically. [SPEAKER_02]: So I was just watching these incredible, stunt teams, rigging crazy things and walls getting smashed and I was like, this isn't, this is nuts.

10:25 [SPEAKER_02]: It was like a living in a living in a video game. [SPEAKER_02]: That's what it felt like. [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll take a quick break to remind you, if you enjoy what you're hearing right now, please do hit that subscribe button. [SPEAKER_01]: It really does help more than you think. [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll be right back right after this.

10:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back, it's Kyle, Meredith with David Duss Malchin. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, you're taking on the advice, and then is it written that way or is that something you brought in? [SPEAKER_01]: Because obviously, you know, everybody knows this is two different movies, but you know, for a lot of the audience in the affection they had for Raujulia back then, and everything.

10:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't know if it's like, it's that a question is like, oh, is the weight of the character on your shoulders, but it really sounds like you got the opportunity in any way to take it somewhere else. [SPEAKER_02]: Probably, before this, I would say the biggest way on my shoulders was creating Mr. Three for one piece, because you know that globally there are millions of people who adore this world and this character.

11:24 [SPEAKER_02]: So I was like, I got, I did Mr. Three and it was such gratifying and incredible. [SPEAKER_02]: experience, so I was like, Whew, did it. [SPEAKER_02]: And then I get a call from, you know, Ketal Sakurai saying he wants me to be embice, and I was like, are you fucking kidding me? [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I love a challenge.

11:41 [SPEAKER_02]: I love being scared, but this was like, this was like, you know, you've been trying to make it as a football player, your whole career, and all of a sudden you get thrown into being, you know, the middle linebacker in the, in the Super Bowl. [SPEAKER_02]: It's an intense thing and I was so grateful when he started talking to me about his vision for the movie and the story and the plot because what was more important to him as he establishes this world was less of bison's [SPEAKER_02]: physical prowess and mastery of the psychopower, and it was much more about this organization, this movement, this religion basically that he has built around the concepts of Shadalu, and now he has an entire army ready to see it go into action.

12:38 [SPEAKER_02]: and he's completely impotent, like he privately secretly does not have the psychopower yet and he does not have the abilities that he's supposed to have. [SPEAKER_02]: But when you, when you play the video game, you know that he could do all these things like because he's finally mastered them.

12:51 [SPEAKER_02]: The story we're telling is like before that. [SPEAKER_02]: So [SPEAKER_02]: For me, internally, even though I'm on these big giant sets in these big crazy awesome costumes seeing all these big crazy actions happen, in behind my eyes, I have to present as a guy who's in control of an entire, you know.

13:13 [SPEAKER_02]: cult, criminal organization, movement, and no secretly that if everybody finds out that I haven't been able to do what I say I can do, I'm fucked. [SPEAKER_02]: So it leveled up this sense of stakes and urgency that as an actor, it was such a joy. [SPEAKER_02]: And it's like, I got to Sydney, I put on the costume, I looked in the mirror, I knew exactly what Ketal and I were going for, which was this like, [SPEAKER_02]: Almost like idiomine, or if you think about force, Whittaker's performance of idiomine in last King of Scotland, like something, somebody who has so much personality charisma and power of the mind that like, he can make so many things happen while literally everything is falling around him, or maybe David Koresh, or a little bit of, there's a little bit of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of,

14:09 [SPEAKER_02]: little yasser airfad definitely some Mussolini so we just read book after book and we get on these calls and we'd have these long conversations about the psychology of how you get people do you and then we'd laugh with like and it's street fighter and when do I get to do the cycle crusher like when does that happen [SPEAKER_02]: And one last thing I'll say about that, if this makes sense to anybody reading your interview or to you, one of the big things that helped me, I put on the costume, I looked in the mirror, I stepped onto that set, I bring my own soundtrack with me, I built this whole idea and I'm so still like feeling the sense of like, [SPEAKER_02]: How do you do this?

14:47 [SPEAKER_02]: And then I remembered, and I, this often happens to me in my film career. [SPEAKER_02]: I remember the many, many years that I spent on stages, bringing to life characters that have been beloved for hundreds of years by people. [SPEAKER_02]: I've played roles in Shakespeare in Tennessee Williams in Sam Shepard, in Edward Alby, in William Inge, [SPEAKER_02]: people have such strong opinions about like, well, this is the way that Hamlet is done.

15:16 [SPEAKER_02]: This is the way that, you know, Eago is done. [SPEAKER_02]: This is, so that gave me a, I was like, you know what, it's, I have to own this completely. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I did. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I also love that that much thought went in before. [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't like you're deconstructing it afterwards.

15:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Going, oh, I can see where I kind of, you know, it was headed there. [SPEAKER_02]: uh... you know that that that that that that that's already on your mind as you enter it because it's all about it is still seven pillars of shadow i i like we wrote out this whole like religion this idea because i'm in um... like twelve steps i have been for quarter of my life no god half my life um... and so concepts and ideologies where there are like [SPEAKER_02]: Pillars, big ideas, my brain, they make sense to my brain.

15:59 [SPEAKER_02]: So I was like, if I'm going to start a movement, I want the pillars of like how you break down the ego, the human, become the animal, and then from the animal, evolve into the next stage of who you have the potential of being physically, mentally, spiritually. [SPEAKER_02]: So what Bison's doing in this world of Street Fighter, it's not just for Bison.

16:20 [SPEAKER_02]: He literally, everybody who joins the movement, [SPEAKER_02]: their families benefit from it. [SPEAKER_02]: They benefit from it. [SPEAKER_02]: They're all of a sudden, he finds like the poorest, most desperate, you know, people in these like island nation states. [SPEAKER_02]: and brings in ways of making money, of feeding their families, maybe they're illegal according to man's laws, but shadow is not about mankind's laws, about the shadow law, like the next devolution.

16:45 [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like people looking and like holy shit, this guy came along and all of a sudden, I have like, I can provide, and I feel powerful. [SPEAKER_02]: And he's like, so it was fun with even the background actors, you got all these soldiers who normally just have to stay and they're all day and try not to look at their phones and I was like, let's have fun with this.

17:04 [SPEAKER_02]: So we would like, I wanted each of them to figure out what their core animal was like who they evolved into, who they got to become and like read out these great conversations about [SPEAKER_02]: Who you are in in this and if you fuck up your debt like they I wanted them in abject fear of bison like you make one false move Then it proves to me that you're not worthy of the movement and so everybody's constantly on pins and needles Oh, that's so so before I forget pass it up What was on the soundtrack that you made me know?

17:37 [SPEAKER_02]: Let's pull it up for you. [SPEAKER_02]: Well, of course there's a lot of John Williams. [SPEAKER_02]: Like whenever I would walk to set, I couldn't help but have some imperial march, but genuinely dude for the energy of it, so much tool. [SPEAKER_02]: Like if you look at the anima album, like for Bison did look at each of his soldiers and say, learn to swim, he's not saying it is like, [SPEAKER_02]: You need to learn to swim or you'll drown.

18:01 [SPEAKER_02]: It's learned of fucking swim. [SPEAKER_02]: It's too late. [SPEAKER_02]: There's no excuse in Bison's mind. [SPEAKER_02]: And honestly, the darker part of my mind and probably the darker part of a lot of our minds, when you turn on your phone every day or you look at like whatever you digest, whatever filter that you're choosing to look through at the state of the world right now, and you go, there's no fucking excuse.

18:30 [SPEAKER_02]: 2,026 supposed years into contemporary civilization that this is the state of humanity. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, if you want to be really dark about it, you could be like, you're fucking pathetic. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, what's wrong with you people? [SPEAKER_02]: That like, a quarter of you, a quarter of you, don't know where you're eating today.

18:52 [SPEAKER_02]: Almost half of you can't have clean water. [SPEAKER_02]: And then 30% of you cry if your coffee order is wrong, you're just a broken species that needs to be completely demolished and rebuilt. [SPEAKER_02]: That was the bison. [SPEAKER_02]: Now, that's not David, but there's a darker part of me that lives in there.

19:18 [SPEAKER_02]: So let's say we've got [SPEAKER_02]: the fragile from nine inch nails. [SPEAKER_02]: It's a great way to start the day. [SPEAKER_02]: My favorite of the trends records. [SPEAKER_02]: Atmosphere from Joy Division. [SPEAKER_02]: Shadowplay from Joy Division is a great fucking song for Bison.

19:32 [SPEAKER_02]: Heart and Soul. [SPEAKER_02]: I love that song. [SPEAKER_02]: Nick Caves O Children. [SPEAKER_02]: Like when I'm thinking about the the followers. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh Nick Caves right there. [SPEAKER_02]: Imperial March the M. Bison like the original theme. [SPEAKER_02]: I would listen to all the time like the actual video game themes Right of the Valcrease no joke as I would come to work.

19:51 [SPEAKER_02]: I would listen to it because I think about what Marlon Brando did is Kurt's in Apothelebs now And it just got me fucking excited. [SPEAKER_02]: I Loved listening to obviously anima 46 into duh Like how could you not? [SPEAKER_02]: Cersei's the deftones jam right um dual of the fates which is always has a special place in my heart from John Williams Temple of Doom.

20:19 [SPEAKER_02]: I thought a lot about like Kali Ma and like that that cold nice um Filter I can't I know it's like I love filters. [SPEAKER_01]: I do man those words do records. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh [SPEAKER_02]: uh... ceremony from devtones like you name it like that was kind of the vibe when i would walk into set and i think about again i think about and uh... and i just think about like bison wants to just flood he wants a great mighty flood to come wash out all the bullshit and it's it's so easy and boring to be like he just wants power he just wants money [SPEAKER_02]: No, like, the insecure part of him does wants, you know, a claim and people to, like, respect him.

21:04 [SPEAKER_02]: But like, he had, I think it's, I think it's so fucking boring to see a big bad villain surrounded by people in the same looking uniform. [SPEAKER_02]: who all will just run straight at whatever hero they're battling to get their ass kicked obviously because we always know that like the foot soldiers aren't going to be the ones that trip up the hero they're just like fodder and that's boring anymore for audiences.

21:30 [SPEAKER_02]: I want you to feel like at any given moment like foot soldier number 12 could shank you know Ken because that's how much everybody cares about what we're doing. [SPEAKER_01]: and we'll take a quick break to remind you, if you enjoy what you're hearing right now, please do hit that subscribe button, it really does help more than you think, and we'll be right back right after this.

21:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back, it's Kyle, Meredith with David Dustmullchin. [SPEAKER_01]: just a funny coincidence. [SPEAKER_01]: Earlier when you were talking about getting the call right after thinking you were already climbing the mountain and all of that stuff, the thought that ran through my head was the first time Manard from tools people reached out to me and said hey do you want to talk to Manard and my question right back was do people do that?

22:16 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I stressed about it for, you know, like the two weeks leading up to it, just thinking like this is going in and I did it and I did it and we got it done it was good enough and I thought thank God I never have to do that again and then one year later he was like hey can we do that again.

22:31 [SPEAKER_01]: So the fact that you're using that, it's one of the greatest albums of all time. [SPEAKER_02]: I've had two of those experiences. [SPEAKER_02]: One, I helped produce every time you lose your mind. [SPEAKER_02]: Did you watch that? [SPEAKER_02]: It's on Hulu, do you know the band failure?

22:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: That's the new one, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Now, I've been, no, that's on the list that I do. [SPEAKER_02]: We made a documentary, I'm friends with Ken and Greg and Kelly and so I helped, and by helped, I mean, literally all I did was like, [SPEAKER_02]: do interviews and introduce them to some people and like help connect them with the folks at Hulu, which is where the film ultimately got its release, so they were kind enough to put my name in the credits, but when it's like they were interviewing Maynard, I was like with the a perfect circle cover.

23:16 [SPEAKER_02]: And also their history together, you know, I first saw the reason I discovered failure I was at a tool show and the mid-90s when tool was just on their first major like like amphitheater tour, they came to Kansas City. [SPEAKER_02]: I was a teenager and opening for them was failure in the flaming lips.

23:36 [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, I had heard one song by the flaming lips. [SPEAKER_02]: I'd never heard of failure before. [SPEAKER_02]: The stage, like production was literally Christmas lights, strong around a stage. [SPEAKER_02]: They didn't have the budget for it. [SPEAKER_02]: They didn't have the show.

23:50 [SPEAKER_02]: It was mainered downstage center, you know, half naked, leaning in front of the audience, screaming at us. [SPEAKER_02]: and it changed my life and so that's how I discovered failure and then obviously they just imploded in like a few years after that and now they're back. [SPEAKER_02]: But that and then when Trent and I did I got to do interview magazine where Trent interviewed me and I interviewed him and heard technically I guess him interviewed me.

24:18 [SPEAKER_02]: But that [SPEAKER_02]: That was, these are the musicians or the people I get freaked out around the most. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, it's a, you know, of course, Meryl Streep walks in here, I'm probably going to faint. [SPEAKER_02]: But generally, I get excited and I get so thrilled when I meet actors in artists that I love, but musicians are the ones that I just shit my pants around.

24:38 [SPEAKER_01]: That's sort of the same way in both worlds, too, for the musicians, it's the actors. [SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, that's, I came from the music world first and took on the acting world second. [SPEAKER_01]: And hearing all of that all the time, [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and it's always interesting too, like it's rare, like a lot of time if you know we get to this point in the interview and where I get to talk, you know, about the other side with whoever with a lot of actors, you know, their favorite music ends up being like musical theater or something like like the, oh yeah, no, I like prints or something and that's fine or whatever, but it's it's interesting to me that it is it's it is more rare.

25:14 [SPEAKER_01]: that you'll find an actor who's like, that's, you know, yeah, like what you're saying. [SPEAKER_01]: Like you can go deep on any of these topics that we've just, any of these artists. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know why that is, but, you know, there it is. [SPEAKER_02]: And how lucky I am that it was the last time tool was an integral part of my character's soundtrack was my first movie, the Dark Knight.

25:37 [SPEAKER_02]: I remember I utilized undertow that album a lot [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm very, very selective about when I'm going to dip into the power of a band like 9-inch nails or tool and like they inspire me every day, but when I actually think about like tapping into that power to try and like harness that for the work I'm doing, I'm actually like intensely selective about it, but someday we could do a whole conversation about the soundtracks to the different roles that I've done, because now that I'm looking at my [SPEAKER_02]: My, you keep the playlists.

26:14 [SPEAKER_02]: I see like the Bison one, the piter defries one, the polka dot man one, the like it's fun. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it. [SPEAKER_01]: Speaking of, by the way, orval is in the movie too, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Sorval pack. [SPEAKER_02]: Fuck yeah dude. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was a fan and then we got cast in the movie together and then the producers introduced us by email and he was still doing cabaret in New York.

26:36 [SPEAKER_02]: So the first time I met him, [SPEAKER_02]: was after a production after a night of scene cabaret which he just owned. [SPEAKER_02]: He's so awesome. [SPEAKER_02]: I love him. [SPEAKER_02]: I love his music. [SPEAKER_02]: I love people that can take and establish genre of music. [SPEAKER_02]: and reintroduce it to us.

26:53 [SPEAKER_02]: I feel that way about a horrible pack when it comes to country and western because unfortunately music anymore is so like commercialized, it's also politicized, it's also like culturalized in weird ways and culturalized culturalization of music is important but at certain points it can become gatekeeping and feeling like you're not allowed into certain things or you don't even wanna go around certain things because you're like, you don't know what they mean anymore [SPEAKER_02]: And, and, and, and, and Orville's done this phenomenal job with like, just getting to the root of storytelling and music with the tradition that comes from like American country western and full and I love it.

27:34 [SPEAKER_02]: I feel the same way about I'm a huge do-op and like 50, 60s music fan and when you see what twin temple is done with [SPEAKER_02]: their form of music. [SPEAKER_02]: People go to a twin-tempo show expecting to hear like black metal. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, they see a picture of Alexander with blood dripping down her face and Zachary looking like fucking, you know, god of darkness.

27:57 [SPEAKER_02]: And they go like, oh, we're about to get our ears blown out. [SPEAKER_02]: And you hear the most beautiful music, you know, that just makes your heart smooth. [SPEAKER_02]: But it's just all about, say, go figure. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, nobody's going to the show [SPEAKER_01]: How cool about Jenny?

28:15 [SPEAKER_01]: I need a good beef and in music right now, you know, it's like, oh, this is fun. [SPEAKER_01]: This is low-stakes fun, you know, right here. [SPEAKER_02]: I love Jack White's like, like, speaking, calling a cartoon cowboy, you know, in the last one, yeah, that was. [SPEAKER_01]: And I do, I enjoy both their music quite a bit, so like I said, you guys just keep doing what you're doing.

28:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I am entertained. [SPEAKER_01]: For what? [SPEAKER_01]: Sure. [SPEAKER_01]: It fills entertaining. [SPEAKER_01]: Outside of Street Fighter, I do want to hit one of the other things, or a few of the other things, real quick, too, because grave conversations is fantastic. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

28:52 [SPEAKER_01]: The first one I saw was with Kate Segel, who's been on the show for quite a on my show quite a few times, too. [SPEAKER_01]: But just as someone who does it, as someone who does the interviewing, [SPEAKER_01]: there are a few people out there at yourself being one of them. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so invious of that you're such a great conversationalist to begin with.

29:12 [SPEAKER_01]: And then you found the hook, you know, like, it's, I wish I could be credit for it. [SPEAKER_02]: Elon Gale found the hook. [SPEAKER_02]: That was his idea. [SPEAKER_02]: Him and Bill [SPEAKER_02]: are right or like they write the show and you line is who got me involved with Titancast getting the first place, but I just I was I was kind of kicking and screaming at first I was like, I don't think this is a good idea.

29:35 [SPEAKER_02]: I think it might not work I don't think people are gonna want to do it [SPEAKER_02]: And man, they were, I was so wrong, they were so right. [SPEAKER_02]: And now it's one of my favorite things that I do. [SPEAKER_02]: Like I love it so much. [SPEAKER_02]: And we just got, you know, oh my God, so many incredible new guests from Tim Heidegger and Sarah Sherman to Weirdo and Neil Degress Tyson and like Orville, I love it.

30:00 [SPEAKER_01]: So, so do you think, now that you've done it in a ton, [SPEAKER_01]: like what does the coffin do as far as, you know, it's sort of the bartender thing, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Like you roll up to the bar and and suddenly you're telling all of your secrets to the stranger here, because there's something about the bar you did with me during this interview, like you gave me an opportunity to talk about music, talk about something that I don't normally get to talk about in my normal press runs.

30:30 [SPEAKER_02]: which become, they can, if you're not very on top of it, they can become, they can lose their joy. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's a sad thing where people talking about the thing that they love the most starts to lose the joy because it can feel so mechanical. [SPEAKER_02]: And like, there's, you know, the studios tend to have a real system, the way they do things.

30:51 [SPEAKER_02]: And unfortunately, that gets passed down from one person. [SPEAKER_02]: Well, this is the way that it's done. [SPEAKER_02]: It's the way it's done, this is how we do it. [SPEAKER_02]: This is how interviews are done, this is how things work. [SPEAKER_02]: So when you can just jar people for a second and put them into an environment where they're feeling and thinking about something, they don't normally get to feel and think about, especially on camera, you get more opportunities to snipe our moments of authenticity.

31:17 [SPEAKER_02]: And obviously death and dying is the thing we just, [SPEAKER_02]: for many reasons, don't love talking about. [SPEAKER_02]: And so it's always an honor for me that people are willing to get in and even get vulnerable like that, you know? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and you do, you're like, you go deep, pretty quickly.

31:35 [SPEAKER_01]: And now I can see like, [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if expectation is the right word, but they're ready for it. [SPEAKER_01]: It seems like they're like, yeah, this is... [SPEAKER_02]: Some people I can tell have never watched the show and they're like, wait, what are we doing? [SPEAKER_02]: I love that.

31:50 [SPEAKER_02]: I love it when it's like, oh, oh, you weren't joking. [SPEAKER_02]: Like we're getting in a coffin. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're good. [SPEAKER_02]: It's a beautiful experience. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm grateful for the show. [SPEAKER_02]: So you've already taken another season? [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we do it seasons, we do usually 10 episodes seasons.

32:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, I'm an invious of that, too, is just someone who doesn't stop. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I get to have great conversations with people like you all the time, so that's not a complaints. [SPEAKER_02]: It's hard because, you know, you have to set up the two-casts, get you have to find the location where you can set it up, light it, get everything ready.

32:24 [SPEAKER_02]: You can't do, it's, it's cost, it's already a cost prohibitive show. [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't make any money, but like, it's especially cost prohibitive if you think about like, well, we're going to do one this day, and then two weeks from now, this actor's ready or the, so you have to find a window of two days where there are ten people [SPEAKER_02]: who are free, willing, and available to show up within the schedule time that we have, it's kind of a logistical nightmare and yet the team that works around it is all, I've got the good theme, Molly Lawn, and the quagmire team, and then you've got the Titan folks, we all just like put, it's always a miracle.

33:03 [SPEAKER_02]: We get to that last episode, and then we all are like, we did it again, holy shit. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, and you the way you talked about like them coming up with the concept and sort of bringing it to you like that's got to also be [SPEAKER_01]: That's got to be cool, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Because when we see you on screen, there might be an expectation of what type of project this is.

33:28 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, are you to the point now where you're finding people are coming to you? [SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's I want that mood or what it like. [SPEAKER_01]: Are you still searching this stuff out or are you finding most of these projects? [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not really exciting. [SPEAKER_02]: We're in an exciting moment right now.

33:42 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm coming to you from the offices of Goodfeeing films. [SPEAKER_02]: This is my office and then Jenny and Leah and Natasha and the rest of the monsters, we all tend to take up this space. [SPEAKER_02]: Just it was originally a place where my ideas could grow in the mad scientist lab and then stand up off the slab when they were ready.

34:05 [SPEAKER_02]: And now we are currently [SPEAKER_02]: probably in some form of development, pre-production or production on 70% of our slate or things that people have brought to us. [SPEAKER_02]: But they're always stuff that we're like friends, a long time collaborative. [SPEAKER_02]: It's very rare that somebody we don't know, but we're always open to it, you know, just like, in fact, Jenny had to like close the gate [SPEAKER_02]: about a month ago, she was like, we cannot take any more submissions right now, like, we are stacked.

34:35 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's a honor. [SPEAKER_02]: It's such a great feeling that people think are seem to believe that based on the work that we've put out, that we have some kind of insight into this genre. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: I love anything like science fiction, superhero, you know, comic book, video game horror, [SPEAKER_02]: anything in that space, which tends to be written off as like color by numbers, this is how these things are done.

35:03 [SPEAKER_02]: I think that there are perfect places where you can go wrestle with big crazy ideas and still tell a compelling story. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's why it's special, that's why it's connecting. [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I throw that compliment. [SPEAKER_01]: I hope so. [SPEAKER_01]: That's why we care honestly and seeing you in everything too.

35:20 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, what I know I hope we get to talk about With the second team in my butt when it rolls around and so yes back in that too and just all this stuff, man I love what you do seriously. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm such a fan of everything you do If you get a chance go to your local comic shop and pick up the accessories [SPEAKER_02]: And Kingdom of Earth, they're both out right now, my long-time creative and writing partner, Leah Kilpatrick and I came up with these two new ideas and they happened to both be coming out at the exact same time.

35:55 [SPEAKER_02]: So if you get a chance, please check out the accessories, Kingdom of Earth, Ghostsy Street Fighter and Theater is October 16th. [SPEAKER_02]: See it on the biggest screen possible. [SPEAKER_02]: With Bicing comes on screen, feel free to boo as much as you want. [SPEAKER_02]: I want, I want, I want so badly for people to love it and you just can't create anything interesting from a place of desiring people's approval.

36:24 [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm just putting out a hope and a prayer that people have, if they have 10% as much fun watching this thing as we had making it, then we'll be fine. [SPEAKER_01]: I'll be there and I'll probably be able to tell my friends as well. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_01]: David, it's such a pleasure, man.

36:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much. [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk about the more the soundtrack stuff at some point too. [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to do that. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it. [SPEAKER_01]: My thanks to David, look for the new Street Fighter movie. [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks to you for checking out the episode.

36:52 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're not already again, please do hit that subscribe button before you get out of here. [SPEAKER_01]: They keep up with all the interviews that I put out every single week. [SPEAKER_01]: You can grab us at Spotify, Apple Podcast, NPR, WFPK.org, Consequence. [SPEAKER_01]: YouTube for the video versions are again anywhere you get your podcast from you can subscribe to Kyle Meredith with and Pleased to give this series a rating leave a review where every listing or watching from after that You can head over to wfpk.org where I do a show every week nights It starts at six p.m. Eastern.

37:23 [SPEAKER_01]: It's four hours of classic alternative in Indyrock and Maricana the best in new music They're bonus interviews lots of music and film news as well [SPEAKER_01]: uh... one of my recent shows in fact featured some uh... classics and favorites from a few sweet genesis of usu social distortion delimitory jombias lino coan elviscustelo can improve prints shy and wise body prints billy and my interviews with everyone from neco case and jeff tweede from willco [SPEAKER_01]: Keanu Reeves, Jack Black, Ben Barnes, Erica Christianson, Hannah Joy, Cayman, let's see Michael Chickless, Alan Walker, Gene Simmons, Rob Halford, that's what you can hear when you turn in weeknights, six p.m. Eastern at WFPK.ORG.

38:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Consequence has your music and film news, you can also find me on any of the social media sites, the address is always at Kyle Meredith, please do like, follow along, and that does it for another [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are. [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media.