Way back in 1992, music fans had their minds blown by the video for a Canadian dancehall artist’s No. 1 hit single. That’s right, “Informer” by Snow was a certified chart-topper, but the song’s video revealed an artist whose features appeared to be at odds with the way he sounded on the record. So, for this week’s episode of React Like You Know, we’re putting our panel of younger artists through the same mind-blowing experience of watching the “Informer” video for the first time.
Almighty Suspect probably sums it up best; “I didn’t expect a white boy to come with the reggae flow,” he admits. Guapdad 4000 agrees, “I didn’t know he was white!” Meanwhile, Blac Chyna takes a stab at guessing the meaning behind the lyrics. “He said he gon’ lick somebody’s pum-pum now?” she asks. Not quite, Chyna, but points for giving a little West Indies slang lesson (the song is actually about hunting down and shooting a supposed snitch — which, in a bizarre case of art imitating life, Snow actually served time for doing at the beginning of the song’s run).
Watch the latest episode of React Like You Know above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Whether these bottles are worth it or not is up to you. But when you can buy two or three bottles of perfectly great bourbon for the same price as a single bottle, conversations around quality-vs-value get a little nebulous.
In picking our ten favorite bottles between $100 and $125, we used taste as the only parameter. As always, these are general prices, not MSRPs. A few of these bottles might be significantly cheaper if you can drive to the distillery. Others might clock in at twice as much if you have a liquor store clerk who tracks the bourbon market closely.
This limited edition from Redemption is all about the barrel picking process. The whiskey starts with a mash of 60 percent corn, 36 percent rye, and four percent malted barley. That rye-heavy juice is then aged for ten long years. Then the Redemption team sorts through those barrels to find the perfect one to bottle untouched.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a definite sense of the whole vanilla bean (husk to oils) next to nuttiness and a mild floral flourish that’s fresh and… almost wet. The taste veers away from that and indulges in eggnog spices, rich and buttery toffee, pecans and walnuts, cedar, and a silken vanilla texture. The end is long-ish and has this very distant hint of lemon curd that leads back to those eggnog spices and egg custard creaminess, paired with a little high-proof buzz.
Bottom Line:
This is a complex sipper. The high ABVs will tempt you to add a rock, which will open up more of the lemon, cedar, and nutty nature. In the end, this is a testament to the power of great barrel selection from MGP’s famed warehouses.
This entry-point to the much older and much higher-priced, George T. Stagg, is killing the bourbon game right now. The juice is generally eight to nine-year-old bourbons, made at Buffalo Trace, and batched and bottled with no fussing, cutting, or filtering. The results are an award-winning bourbon that’s getting harder and harder to find for its MSRP.
Tasting Notes:
The 67.2 percent ABV has distinct and rich molasses with hints of pecan, dark and bold holiday spices, and vanilla oils on the nose. The palate holds onto those notes and adds a cherry sweetness with a hint of woody apple in the background and a touch of toffee. The end is long and very hot, leaving you with a spicy tobacco buzz on your tongue and senses.
Bottom Line:
This one is a little hot for us when it comes to ABVs. A little water or ice really helps mellow down that overwhelming buzz and warmth and lets the fruitier, nuttier, and sweeter molasses notes shine through.
This single barrel expression from Hye, Texas’ Garrison Brothers is all about highlighting the craft distillery’s grain-to-glass process. The juice is made from a mash of 74 percent local white corn, 15 percent estate-grown soft red winter wheat, and eleven percent Canadian malted barley. That spirit is then rested for three to five years, or until it’s just right to be proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There are going to be clear notes of cedar, cherry, old leather, vanilla, caramel corn, and sour apples on the nose. The palate should edge towards that sweet cherry with a counterpoint of dry cedar next to Red Hots, angel food cake, more apple, and a touch of spicy tobacco leaf. The end is long and warming with spicy cinnamon, white sugar cubes, and a cedar box full of tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This will vary depending on which bottle you come across. Still, it’s a great example of Garrison’s ability to warehouse great barrels of bourbon. Each one is worth taking your time with. You’ll want to nose, taste, add water, and dig in deep.
Laws Four Grain is a great bourbon for expanding your palate. Their Bonded is their standard mash of 60 percent corn, 20 percent heirloom wheat, ten percent heirloom rye, and ten percent heirloom malted barley. That juice is barreled and matured for six years in a federally bonded warehouse. It’s then proofed down to 50 percent per the bonded law and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Cinnamon raisin toast with apple butter and cherry greet you on the nose. The palate edges away from those notes with a rush of orange oils next to freshly mowed grass, salted caramel, and a hint of tea bitterness. The end is medium-length and brings you back to that cherry with a slow, warming cinnamon spice.
Bottom Line:
This is a very dialed-in dram of whiskey. A little water really lets the fruit and spice shine. You’ll also likely be able to find this one cheaper the closer you are to the Colorado distillery.
This high-end bourbon from Jim Beam is worth every penny. The juice is a marrying of two of Beam’s mash bills from four whiskeys. The batch is a blend of Knob Creek 7 year, Baker’s 12 year, Basil Hayden’s 9 year, and Booker’s 11 year that’s then batched and bottled at barrel proof.
Basically, you’re getting the best of the best Beam has to offer in one bottle.
Tasting Notes:
This really feels like classic bourbon from the first whiff — with hints of rich crème brûlée next to cobweb-y cellar beams, dried roses, and maple syrup. The taste holds onto that “classic” feel with rich toffee notes, spicy caramel apples, oily vanilla husks, soft wood, and a hint of peppery spice and maybe a touch of cherry. The end is long, silken, and leaves you warmed, thanks to a slight tobacco buzz on the tongue.
Bottom Line:
“Classic” is the word that keeps coming to mind whenever sipping on this expression. It’s kind of like the mountaintop of what “typical” bourbon can be, flavor-wise. It’s also amazingly easy to drink neat. There’s a warming spice but it never overpowers the subtler aspects of the palate.
This Michigan whiskey is made to highlight a true grain-to-glass experience. The juice is made from a mash of 71 percent corn, 25 percent rye, and four percent barley. It’s then aged for four years in the extreme weather of the Great Lakes. Barrels are then hand-picked and bottled with no fussing.
Tasting Notes:
The milled corn comes through with a touch of orange zest, vanilla, toffee, and lemon jam. The taste amps up the toffee with a caramel kettle corn vibe next to hints of cedar and orchard fruit. The end is long and very clearly all about the velvety vanilla and toffee sweetness with a slight alcohol warmth thanks to a touch of spice and citrus.
Bottom Line:
This is very easy-drinking for a barrel-proof (that’ll also be cheaper if you’re in Michigan). It does lean towards the sweet and buttery more than spicy, which is why we like it. If you’re ready to get a sense of the good work happening in Michigan when it comes to whiskey, this is a great place to start.
Barrell Bourbon is one of the best blenderies and finishing houses in bourbon today. Their Armida expression is all about experimentation in finishing casks. The juice is a marriage of bourbons finished in pear brandy, Jamaican rum, and Sicilian Amaro casks. Those three barrels are then batched and bottled with no cutting or filtration.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a super clear pear note that is so pear, you’ll think you’re about to eat a perfectly ripe one. That’s next to a flourish of dark spices, plummy wood, and orange oils. The palate really delivers on the pear note while adding rum-soaked dried fruits, sweet and wet wood, and a slightly bitter edge that’s almost botanical. The medium-long end embraces the spice with a tobacco buzz, a touch of vanilla, and a last note of pear.
Bottom Line:
This release from last fall was a limited run of 3,700 bottles (with an MSRP of $90). This one isn’t going to be getting any cheaper. If you do snag a bottle, take your time with it and really learn the flavors built into the bourbon.
If you can bear it, try a Manhattan with this one — it absolutely rules in that classic cocktail.
High Wire New Southern Revival 100% Jimmy Red Corn
This South Carolina distiller utilizes a heritage red corn that nearly went extinct. The distillers worked with Clemson University to help bring back Jimmy Red Corn as a varietal, specifically because that was the corn used by local moonshiners way back in the day. The juice is also a unique bourbon that has a 100 percent corn mash bill.
Tasting Notes:
This barrel-proof expression doesn’t feel overly alcohol-forward. Instead, you’re greeted with mild notes of honey, dried roses, eggnog spice, and caramel corn with a nice hint of salt. The palate is warm but sweet with a continued note of salted caramel corn and buttery toffee next to hints of cherry candy and maybe even salted peanut shells. The end is long and ends with a hint of banana next to that caramel corn and a final savory note.
Bottom Line:
This much-sought-after bottle of bourbon is a good candidate for expanding your palate with a true outlier. While the MSRP is $100, these tend to sell out very fast, meaning you’ll find them for far more than that in most cases.
This much-lauded and beloved bottle from Buffalo Trace is classic whiskey making. The spirit is from Buffalo Trace’s low-rye mash bill. The juice is then aged in warehouses built by the Colonel over 100 years ago. The best barrels are selected yearly for batching and bottling with no fussing whatsoever.
Tasting Notes:
The sip draws you in with a spicy berry jam next to a perfumed note (kind of like wet potpourri) and buttery toffee sweetness. The taste, on the other hand, leans into vanilla oils, dry cedar, and a dusting of white pepper that leads back to the spice without the jam. The end is kind of long and really smoothes out, thanks to the vanilla and toffee as the peppery spice builds towards a tobacco-filled cedar box and a very distant hint of fresh mint.
Bottom Line:
This is a very hyped whiskey (its MSRP is $75). The prices are going to vary wildly and reach very high, depending on which release you find. All of that being said, this whiskey deserves the buzz it gets. It’s amazingly smooth and easy-drinking for a barrel-proof. Though, adding water really does let this one bloom.
Though it’s a pricey option, we’d argue that it’s an incredible cocktail base for boulevardiers or old fashioneds.
Knob Creek is what Jim Beam becomes with a little massaging, the right aging locations in warehouses, and some luck from the whiskey angels. The juice is made from Beam’s standard 77 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and ten percent malted barley mash. Then it’s left alone for 15 years in the Beam warehouses on specific floors in specific locations.
The best barrels are small batched and proofed down to 100 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Old saddle leather mingles with musty oak cellar beams and dirt cellar floors with and an undercurrent of sweet dark fruits and mild caramel. The palate holds onto that caramel as the fruit becomes dried and a cedar note arrives with a rich and almost sweet tobacco. The dry cedar woodiness carries on through the end as the tobacco leads towards an almost oatmeal raisin cookie vibe with a good dose of cinnamon and nutmeg, leaving you with a sweet buzz on your tongue.
Bottom Line:
This is woody but sweet. It’s a really interesting sipper that could have just been wood on wood on wood. Instead, it’s complex while maintaining its accessibility. And while it’s a limited release from last summer, you should be able to find it somewhat close to its $100 MSRP… maybe.
Michigan head coach Juwan Howard gave his side of the story of his ejection during the Big Ten Tournament in an appearance on Jalen & Jacoby on Thursday, explaining that Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon told Howard to sit down in a threatening way. That, coupled with Turgeon’s presence near the Wolverines’ bench, made Howard feel as if he had to defend himself and his team.
“I would never, ever react the way that I did unless I felt like I was being threatened,” Howard said.
Howard is notoriously calm and poised, which only made his ejection during a Big Ten Tournament game more puzzling. Rumors swirled that Turgeon had commented on the Fab Five’s banners coming down in the arena, but Howard set the record straight with his former Michigan teammate, Jalen Rose.
“I’m looking forward to moving on from that situation,” Howard added. “I think now there’s a true understanding that I’m not going to allow anything like that to happen.”
The Wolverines went on to win the game and claim a No. 1 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament bracket, so Howard got the last laugh. There’s an outside chance that the two Big Ten rivals could meet again in the Elite Eight, but it seems like Howard wants to put the issue to bed.
As if Matthew McConaughey’s plate wasn’t full enough with launching his own YouTube channel and contemplating a gubernatorial run, the actor is reportedly attached to star in a new series for HBO that will see him reprise his career-making role from A Time to Kill. In the 1996 film from director Joel Schumacher (based on the John Grisham novel of the same name), McConaughey played attorney Jake Brigance, who later appears in the follow-up novel A Time for Mercy, which will be the basis for the new series. Via Variety:
In “A Time to Kill,” Brigance defends a Black man (Samuel L. Jackson) who killed the two white men who savagely raped and murdered his daughter. In “A Time for Mercy,” Brigance must defend a young man who killed his mother’s boyfriend, a deputy sheriff, with the boy claiming the man was abusive towards his mother, himself, and his little sister.
Following Schumacher’s death in June 2020, McConaughey joined the chorus of tributes to the late director and credited him for starting his acting career, which McConaughey believes would’ve never taken off without his breakout role in A Time to Kill.
“Joel not only took a chance on me, he fought for me,” McConaughey told Variety. “Knowing the studio might never approve a relatively unknown like myself for the lead in ‘A Time to Kill,’ he set up a secret screen test for me on a Sunday morning in a small unknown studio because as he stated, ‘Even if you do great, you may not get the part, so I don’t want the industry to ever think you screen tested and DID NOT get the job.”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League has finally arrived to present the director’s original vision on HBO Max. The end result is a vast improvement over Joss Whedon’s theatrical cut with a hefty runtime (about four hours) to make that happen. Within that extravagant runtime, it’s a bit of a revelation to see a lot of newfound character development, and one character who’s been un-shafted would be Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, who ends up emerging as the unquestionable heart of the story. In turn, Cyborg’s backstory is finally giving some screentime to a minor character (portrayed by Amanda Maud), a waitress and struggling single mom, who ended up on Whedon’s cutting room floor.
HBO MaxHBO Max
Come to think of it, Linda’s onscreen time might be the best part of the entire movie. Cyborg, who posses the ability to control any operating system and hack into anything he damn well pleases, observes her plight (she’s evicted from her apartment and only has a few dollars in her bank account), and his response reflects upon his own traumatic history after being rebuilt by his father after a car accident that killed his mother. While observing Linda, he decides to use his powers for good, and he drops a cool $100,000 into her back account. It’s a touching scene, and Amanda Maud (who appears to be overseas and unable to access the new film on HBO Max) took to Twitter on Thursday morning and asked if anyone had seen her in Snyder’s version.
“#SnyderCut I was cut from the Wheedon version,” Maud tweeted. “Can someone please let me know if I’m in this version? Trying to figure out how to view it but please let me know if I made this cut. I’m the single mom waitress in Cyborg’s back story.”
#SnyderCut I was cut from the Wheedon version. Can someone please let me know if I’m in this version? Trying to figure out how to view it but please let me know if I made this cut. I’m the single mom waitress in Cyborg’s back story.
OMG YOU ARE IN 9NE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OARTS OF THE FILM!!!!
YOU HAVE TO SEE IT!
It is simply breathtaking
— Metron on the Morbius Chair (@LiveLoveLupe) March 18, 2021
In turn, Amanda was understandably excited, which makes the Snyder Cut an even more positive experience for fans than it’s already turning out to be. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me before,” Maud tweeted. “Thank you EVERYONE for all the kind words and support. Thank you to everyone that made the #SnyderCut possible.”
Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Thank you EVERYONE for all the kind words and support. Thank you to everyone that made the #SnyderCut possible.
Donald Trump just got a major beat down. Or, at least, his wax figure did.
According to a news report by the San Antonio Express, a replica of the former president currently being housed at Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in San Antonio, Texas, had to be moved to storage… for its own safety. The museum, a branch under the Ripley Entertainment Corp and owned by the great-grandson of Marie Tussaud, had been home to the sculpture for at least the last four years. A popular tourist destination, Trump’s statue had been a literal punching bag for patrons who left so much damage — mostly deep scratches on Trump’s face — that management was forced to take it off the floor.
“When it’s a highly political figure, attacks can be a problem,” Clay Stewart, the regional manager of the museum told the San Antonio Express. Apparently, workers had first relocated the figure to the front lobby so security could keep a better eye on it but, when that didn’t deter visitors from “punching” and “scratching” the visage of the former president, the call was made to remove Trump’s wax double all together — placing him in storage along with other figurines like George Washington.
It’s not the first time Trump’s wax replica has borne the brunt of the public’s frustration with the reality-TV-star-turned-commander-in-chief. In October 2020, Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin tossed Trump in the trash, literally as part of an exhibit change meant to denounce his administration’s policies. Madame Tussauds in London followed suit, outfitting Trump in golf attire following his loss in the presidential election to “reflect his potential 2021 wardrobe.”
But we have a feeling the loss of the spotlight might hurt Trump the most. Our thoughts and prayers to his wax double, which really doesn’t deserve any of this.
“There’s old sayings in Texas about, you know, ‘find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree.’ You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that — round up all the bad guys,” Roy, who was born in Maryland, said. He also grumbled about the Chinese Communist Party “running the country of China” and expressed his concern about the hearing and how “it seems to want to venture into the policing of rhetoric in a free society, free speech, and away from the rule of law and taking out bad guys.” Again, the hearing was about discrimination and violence targeting the Asian-American community, two days after a white gunmen killed six Asian women in Atlanta-area spas.
Later on, Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) offered a strong rebuke to Roy’s remarks.
“I want to go back to something that Mr. Roy said earlier,” the congresswoman, who is of Taiwanese descent, began. “Your president and your party and your colleagues can talk about issues with any other country that you want, but you don’t have to do it by putting a bullseye on the back of Asian-Americans across this country, on our grandparents, on our kids.” Meng added that this hearing was meant to “address the hurt and pain of our community and to find solutions, and we will not let you take our voice away from us.”
Rep. Grace Meng on surge of anti-Asian violence: “Our community is bleeding. We are in pain. And for the last year, we’ve been screaming out for help.” https://t.co/iJkXE1Vxp6pic.twitter.com/8lNOM8n6bf
Meng also appeared on CNN’s New Day, where she discussed the racist voice messages she received after the House passed legislation condemning the wave of anti-Asian racism last year. “Look, I have pretty thick skin,” she said, so “my heart goes out to so many families who are afraid to let their elderly parents and grandparents go outside to the supermarket for fear of being harassed. For the parents, some of who have been texting me saying they’re not going to let their kids play outside anymore because they don’t want them to get bullied. I just feel so sorry for the Asian-American community.”
Given that the coronavirus pandemic is still far from over, most news we get about music festivals is negative. Just this morning, it was reported that Coachella and Stagecoach may be pushed back to 2022. The good news is that another major California festival, Outside Lands, still intends to make its 2021 event happen, albeit with some tweaks.
When Outside Lands canceled its 2020 festival, they set their sights on early August for the 2021 installment. They’ve revealed today, though, that they’ve had to slightly delay the event, which is now scheduled from October 29 to 31, aka Halloween weekend.
ranger dave hopes you’re ready for the ultimate halloween weekend – outside lands is moving to october 29 – 31, 2021! 3-day tickets are on sale now. https://t.co/wMSL1BSTYUpic.twitter.com/9BVA7QSH8M
The new dates mean that some artists can’t make the festival now, so artists like The 1975, Beach House, Polo & Pan, Big Thief, Parcels, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, The Beths, and others won’t be at Outside Lands this year. They’ve got some solid replacements, though, as added to the bill are Glass Animals, Kaytranada, Lord Huron, Claud, Bartees Strange, Sofía Valdés, 24kGoldn, SG Lewis, Flo Milli, Cannons, Jessia, Q, Brijean, and Shilan.
Allen Scott, President of Concerts & Festivals at Another Planet Entertainment and Co-Producer of Outside Lands, says, “We have been eagerly anticipating our return to Golden Gate Park for over a year now and although we have to wait a few months longer, we couldn’t be more excited to present an epic Halloween edition of Outside Lands. The shift in dates allows us to work collectively to determine any new safety measures necessary to implement during the festival weekend. We ask fans to use this time before the festival to continue exercising common sense COVID safety practices and we look forward to being together again soon.”
The last we heard from St. Louis band Foxing, it was 2018 and they had just released their third album Nearer My God. The group have been pretty quiet ever since, but they were evidentially hard at work on new music as the group is now ushering in a new era with the new single “Speak With The Dead” featuring Why?, their first new song in three years.
“Speak With The Dead” arrives alongside a cinematic video directed by Hayden Molinarolo, Dylan Schnitker, and vocalist Conor Murphy. Rather ambiguous, it depicts Murphy performing a ritual with his trusty sword before taking a ride on a lawnmower that he repaired.
In a statement alongside the single’s release, Foxing wrote: “For over a year now, we’ve all either faced a direct encounter or a biting proxy for death. When it feels like the ones we love are lost entirely, this song is meant to be a reminder, we couldn’t shake them if we tried. Wherever we go there they are.”
While the video marks the song’s official release, the band gave clever fans access to the single earlier this month. A few weeks ago, the band had started teasing something called Draw Down The Moon. They had linked out to a 90’s looking website with nothing but six “rituals” on-screen, including an Ouija-style puzzle to solve. Fans who were able to successfully crack the code were given early access to “Speak With The Dead.”
The weird thing about interviewing Benedict Cumberbatch is he’s hilarious. And it’s an easy thing to forget because he’s not exactly known for making uproarious comedies. But during an interview, he’ll wait for his moment to strike with just the right amount of sarcastic wit and, well, it gets me every time. (On this occasion he wasted very little time.)
Though, on this occasion there was a slight sense of frustration radiating from his usually cool demeanor. And, honestly, it’s understandable. Cumberbatch is starring in The Courier and he’s pretty fantastic in it. It’s a role you can tell Cumberbatch put his heart fully into, going as far as to lose a dramatic amount of weight to portray the real-life Greville Wynne, a British businessman who was enlisted by the government to spy on the Soviet Union during the Cold War. (If you look back at photos of Cumberbatch from late 2019, he’s impossibly thin, representing Wynne after he was released from Soviet custody.) Yet, this is a movie flying under people’s radars. Cumberbatch is diplomatic about the whole thing, but, yes, it’s obvious he really wants people to see this movie and he’s got a really good case.
Also, as we were literally out of time, I asked Cumberbatch if we could just cut to the chase and he could say something hyperbolic about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the, again, always hilarious Cumberbatch did not disappoint. But, first, he asked why my Zoom video wasn’t working.
Honestly, I don’t have a good background and I’ve given up on the whole thing.
It’s alright. We all know you’re naked, it’s is absolutely fine. Don’t worry about it.
At one point I thought about putting a big poster up of whoever I was talking to behind me to see if they’d bring it up, but I never did that.
Life is too short, so don’t beat yourself up either.
See, you always catch me off guard because I always forget you’re hilarious. And it usually involves cuss words.
That’s cool. Thank you, Mike. I’ll try to be fucking funny this time too.
See. And the last time we spoke it was for The Grinch and you kept using phrases like “Grinchy” with cuss words. Combine the two, it’s very funny.
There must be an adult version waiting for me out there somewhere to play the Grinch. It’s like Bad Santa or something. It’s a market that Billy Bob Thorton cornered for a while. But I think the time is right for an angry Christmas movie.
I really enjoyed The Courier. I am curious, when someone initially comes to you with a spy movie, is your initial reaction, “Come on, I was in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?
For me, the hook here was just the one about the character. It was Dominic [Cooke] who I’ve worked with before, who I wanted to work with again. And we’d been looking for a project for a while and he beat me to it. He directed me in Richard III.
Well, I’m glad you read this one.
Well, Dominic came and pitched it to me. I was like, this is an extraordinary story, an unknown character. The least likely candidate for a spy film. This will be a different version of the ticking bomb spy thriller genre. It’s not your usual starting point to have a charming, but highly dyslexic, to the point of near illiterate, businessman. There’s nothing James Bond about him. You look him up and the comparative between him pre-spy and post-release, which we’ll talk about in a minute, is physical transformation. There’s very little known about him.
What you just said is dead-on when I was watching this. You don’t know how it’s going to turn out. At least I didn’t and it doesn’t go the way you think it’s going to go. It’s not such a famous story where a person knows this already.
No, exactly. I think because of that element of leeway, it’s just a new angle to work with. I don’t reject projects because of them stepping on genres I’ve done before. I would reject them if the character was something I felt very repetitive from what I’ve done before.
What I meant by that was I bet you get pitched spy stuff all the time.
Not all the time. I said no to a few, so maybe you could get the idea that I’m not super keen to do it all the time. It’s really “for me.” My choices are based on who I’m working with, whether they can get me there and challenge me, and ask of me things I haven’t done before. And, whether the character could do that as well.
You mentioned we’d get to your character’s transformation, meaning weight loss. I take that as a lot of people were asking you about that.
The most cursory glance at him on the internet, you’ll face images, a very portly middle-aged spread of a man, who’s comfortably coasting towards early retirement. He’s got a round face, and he fills his suit, and he looks very healthy on one too many pub lunches. Then you cut to him being released in the same clothes and he’s absolutely lost in them. They are huge on him. He’s this shrink-wrapped skeleton, sort of. He looks like a hunted animal. Haunted and destroyed.
Did you do lose weight or is that movie magic?
No, I did that. We took three months off production. I took it very seriously and lost weight and exercised. A lot of exposure to cold. Then, obviously, the dietary thing as well, especially near the end. Apart from honoring his legacy, by showing what he endured, it also really helps you to put you in a place of vulnerability and weakness and confusion and disorientation. That being: that sort of calm, deprived, and weak, it mostly makes you very available and vulnerable. That was a small window into what he must have endured for months, if not years.
Well, it seems like when you put this film in front of people, people really like it. You obviously threw yourself into this. You lost all that weight. I’m wondering if, and I don’t really know the word, maybe frustrated, that it feels like this is like flowing under the radar a bit and it shouldn’t be. I know what happened in the world has a lot to do with that.
I mean, I think a lot of things that played into that. I think it’s going to find its place. It’s frustrating that the release is delayed and obviously that’s the COVID of it all. I would want to talk to Lionsgate about that a little bit. They’ve got other things in competition and it’s all those politics. To be honest, you just sort of push all that aside. And you just go, I’m really happy this film’s coming out. I’m really, really, really happy with the way people have responded to it. I don’t think my work’s been wasted. I don’t have to be standing somewhere giving an acceptance speech to feel that my work’s been validated. I really don’t. I understand what you’re saying…
Right, I’d just want people to see it.
But the important thing is actually really to do with it being seen. That’s the thing I’ll have a lot to say about. If it doesn’t have the life it deserves because of everyone’s work on it, not just mine. To be honest, whether this was going to be a small TV drama, or a big film, or medium-size film that it sort of is, I suppose, it feels important enough historically. I think, especially in this time, it’s going to resonate. You’ve got countless examples of people stepping up to the plate who have no form of experience of what it’s like to live under a pandemic. We’re also being exposed to the truth of the backroom heroes, the people in the backgrounds of our lives that keep the whole thing going, whether they’re cleaners or delivery people.
All the conditions at the front of the health care crisis, the doctors and nurses, as well as the specialists working on vaccines. There’s this huge machine that’s trying to sort this. Not just that. All the political movements we’ve seen exploded over the last year and continue. Whether it’s the Black Lives Matter movement, or Me Too, and the global climate crisis movements. It’s just, the point I’m making… the positive message that it’s a celebration of someone who we don’t know that much about. We’ve seen a lot of that and we need to continue to do that within our culture.
We are out of time. But before we go, if you say something hyperbolic about the next Doctor Strange movie, people will come to this and read it. Like, “Oh, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, you aren’t even ready for that?” Or just something like that and we’re off to the races and everyone will read about The Courier.
The multi-verse is going to twist your noodle into a pretzel in multidimensions in a way you’ve never experienced before!
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